On one side of the quadrangle we found the roofless chamber where Mary,
Queen of Scots, was born, and in the same range the bedchamber that was
occupied by several of the Scottish Jameses; and in one corner of the
latter apartment there is a narrow, winding staircase, down which I
groped, expecting to find a door, either into the enclosed quadrangle or
to the outside of the palace. But it ends in nothing, unless it be a
dungeon; and one does not well see why the bedchamber of the king should
be so convenient to a dungeon. It is said that King James III. once
escaped down this secret stair, and lay concealed from some conspirators
who had entered his chamber to murder him. This range of apartments is
terminated, like the other sides of the palace, by a circular tower
enclosing a staircase, up which we mounted, winding round and round, and
emerging at various heights, until at last we found ourselves at the very
topmost point of the edifice; and here there is a small pepper-box of a
turret, almost as entire as when the stones were first laid. It is
called Queen Margaret's bower, and looks forth on a lovely prospect of
mountain and plain, and on the old red roofs of Linlithgow town, and on
the little loch that lies within the palace grounds. The cold north-wind
blew chill upon us through the empty window-frames, which very likely
were never glazed; but it must be a delightful nook in a calmer and
warmer summer evening.
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