Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/525

 FALKLAND PALACE 505 THIRD PERIOD The south front of the palace is quite unique, and is very effective. While the introduction of the buttresses is unusual, and rather foreign to Scottish work, the forms of the cornice, pinnacles, etc., are quite Scotch, and seem to indicate the attempt of a native architect to intro- duce a novelty, rather than the work of a foreign designer. The gables over the entrance block have crow-steps, each of which is " gabled," a form occasionally, but not generally, employed in Scotland. It is how- ever to be seen at the hall of Edinburgh Castle. FIG. 433. Falkland Palace. Interior of Hall. As already mentioned, the corridor along the inside of the courtyard (Fig. 434) was added by James v. On the plinth under each column occur alternately the inscriptions I. R.5.D.G. and MRIA.D.G., i.e. Jacobus Rex v. Dei Gratia and Maria Dei Gratia, the latter being for Mary of Guise, the Queen of James v. This part of the palace was therefore added between 1539, when James brought Mary home, and 1542, the date of his death. The design is very pure early Renaissance, and has considerable affinity with the similar work at Stirling. There is probably no other building in Scot-