Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/225

 1573] THE MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW. 205 neck, and everywhere else falling off in precipices. The ridge itself runs nearly east and west. The High Street of the Old Town follows the line of the crest, rising from Holyrood and the Canongate to what is now the parade ground in front of the Castle. At the time of the siege the defences extended beyond the pre- sent moat in a projecting work then called the Spur, the angle of which was within 300 feet of the opening of the street. Through this lay the ordinary entrance from the town to the Castle, the road leading circuitously upwards through a series of intricate turnpikes and passages to St Margaret's Chapel and the old Palace on the summit, overhanging the Lawn Market. The area enclosed within the fortifications was a rude oval, the sides for four-fifths of the circuit being inaccessible everywhere except to practised climbers, and made im- possible to them by the faintest resistance from above. The attack of such a place by artillery was a novel experiment. The main assault could only be made at the Spur, which was defended by tiers of guns rising one above the other. The trenches for the principal battery were dug at the head of the High Street, and a high bank of sand was thrown up behind them, to cover the inhabitants from the Castle shot. A second smaller battery was to be placed on the south, where Heriot's Hospital now stands ; two more towards the west and north-west, and a fifth about the middle of Princes Street. The object was to leave no part of the place unsearched by the fire, and especially to cover the ap- proaches to the principal water- spring, which was on