Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/403

1329 A.D.] , where that of the Queen had gone before. Through the dry records of the chamberlain's accounts the sorrowful procession may be traced, winding its way past the foot of Loch Lomond to Dunipace, thence to Cambuskenneth, and so to the last resting place of the King of Scots. It seems that the King had, about a year before his death, ordered a marble monument to be made in Paris. The sum of £12, 10s. was paid for its carriage, through Bruges and England to Dunfermline, and the mason who set it up over the tomb received £38, 2s. An iron railing was put round the monument at a cost of £21, 8s. 2d. in addition to the gift of a robe worth 20s. to Robert of Lessuden, charged with the work. John of Linlithgow was commissioned to paint the iron work, and 1100 books of gold leaf, bought at York, were used in its decoration. A temporary chapel of Baltic timber was set up over the grave on the day of the funeral, and large sums were disbursed in vestments for the ecclesiastics and mourning for the Court. It may seem rather trivial to dwell on these details, but, in the absence of information of greater moment, every circumstance which reveals the means taken by the Scottish people to do honourable obsequies to their departed hero, acquires an interest which it would not otherwise possess.

It might have been expected that the Scottish nation, which owes its very existence to the strong will and ready arm of Robert the Bruce, would have guarded his tomb with sleepless vigilance, so long as marble and mortar would cling together