Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/339

 NOTICES OF AltCUAKuLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 203 the comoun bell," whilst the women were exhorted to cease their clamour, and repair to church, to pray for the welfare of the state. We must hastily follow Mr. Wilson through his interesting recital of the long minority which succeeded ; the influence of foreign manners and fashions introduced by the young king's alliances ; first with a princess of France, daughter of Francis I.; her melancholy death, the theme of some exquisite lines from the pen of Sir David Lindsay; and the second marriage of James with Maiy of Guise. We pass on to the period when Scotland, under an infant queen, was again exposed to aggravated calamities, internal faction, and foreign cupidity ; until the ambition and enmity of Henry VIIL, foiled in his scheme to secure a match between the unfortunate INlary and Prince Edward, brought upon Edinburgh the calamity of devastation and plunder, few buildings, the churches and castle excepted, escaping con- flagration, after the capture of the city by the Earl of Hertford. The fatal slaughter at Pinkie was followed by a moment of popular excitement, during which, the Queen-motherolttained aid from the Court of France, where Mary had taken refuge. One of the earliest opera- tions of the French commander was the fortifications of Leith, a post of importance, where may even now be traced vestiges of buildings erected at that period. We ai-e enabled, by Mr. Wil- son's kindness, to give the annexed repre- sentation of a pictu- resque relic of olden time, demolished only in 1845, and pointed out by local traditions as a chapel founded by JNIary of Guise. The events of the subseqiient period, and all the reminis- cences which Edin- burgh presents in connexion" with the disorder which accom- panied the great events of the Refor- mation, the wreck of the monasteries and churches, in which Ancient Chapel, Kiikgate, LeiUi.