Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/495

 STIRLING CASTLE 475 - THIRD PERIOD stone. The two upper jambs in the sketch are distinctly Renaissance in design, and have a striking similarity to the fireplace of " Queen Mary's Room " at Linlithgow, leading to the inference that the same hand may have been engaged on both these buildings. The basement floor is now so filled with stores and difficult of access that the use of each portion cannot be distinctly ascertained. The apart- ments are all vaulted, and seem to have been chiefly cellars, but the rooms on the south side, where the aspect is open, were devoted to the kitchen, and offices connected with it. The remains of a straight stair- case can be distinctly traced in the corridor lying on the inside of the eastern member of the square. This staircase led from the kitchen to the principal floor, and seems also to have been continued from that floor to the upper or attic floor above. The latter contained good rooms, which were no doubt used as the apartments of the officers and others con- nected with the Court. The upper floor was originally lighted by means of dormer windows behind the parapet. Some of these still exist, with the initials M. R., and one contains the date 1557. These may either stand for Queen Mary, or her mother, Mary of Guise, who was Regent at the above date, while Queen Mary was still in France. At a later date, probably during the last century, while these rooms were occupied by the Governor, windows were cut through the wall, in order to give better light in the rooms, but sadly to the disfigurement of the building, as seen in Figs. 411 and 412. The exterior of the Palace (Fig. 411) is of very fantastic design, but it is interesting as being probably the earliest example of the introduc- tion of the Renaissance style into Scotland. We here find in the flat arched recesses, enriched with cusped work, some last traces of the Gothic design which is so apparent in the Parliament Hall, while in the round and baluster-shaped columns, and in their caps and enrichments, we have clear evidence of the Renaissance style. The mode in which the statues are placed upon the building, being set, as it were, in shallow niches, is rather Gothic than classic, but in the grotesque figures them- selves there is no difficulty in tracing a rude attempt to imitate some of the well-known models of antiquity. Some of the figures on the south front (Fig. 412) are more native, and better worth attention. One of these represents a crossbow-man bending his bow, another a soldier taking aim, a third one bearing a sword, and a fourth one with a fanciful shield, while some of the other figures are effective, but somewhat coarse grotesques. Here, as we shall see was the case at Falkland, there are clear evidences of the work of Frenchmen brought over by James v. after his sojourn and marriage in France. The cusped work round the arches, the Renaissance details mixed with Gothic forms, and the free use of sculpture, are all features which were much in vogue in France at the time of James's visit, and we may remark in this Palace