James IV., under whom Scotland enjoyed a rare interval of prosperity, delighted in his beautiful palace of Linlithgow, where he indulged in all the manly sports of the time. Like his contemporary, Henry VIII., he revelled in tournaments, to which he invited all the lords to come and tilt with him, making of Linlithgow another Hampton Court, where great merry-making took place. Under his wise rule, Scotland was at peace and prosperous, the Court maintained a higher level of refinement and luxury, and science and art were encouraged. Unfortunately, James's chivalrous and rash temperament led him into war with England and the disaster at Flodden Field. Before starting on the expedition, a council was held at Linlithgow, after which the King attended evensong in the church. According to the story described by eye-witnesses, a strange man, dressed in a blue robe belted with a linen strap, with reddish hair hanging to his shoulders, pushed his way up to where the King was kneeling. Addressing him with slight reverence, the man warned the King against proceeding to battle, saying, "Sir King, my mother has sent me to you desiring you not to pass at this time where thou art purposed," saying it would bring disaster and shame, also warning him against visiting any woman on his journey. While the lords and everyone round were astonished and amazed at this apparition, the man suddenly disappeared "like a blink of the sun." In spite of the fact that the superstition of the time credited the man with being St. John appearing upon earth, the King persisted in his undertaking to meet his death upon the battlefield, and to plunge Scotland into mourning for the flower of the land. Doubtless the man was an imposter, got up for the part, by those who wanted to dissuade the King.
A little room in the south-west corner of the palace is pointed out as Queen Margaret's Bower, being said to be the room from which the King's English bride watched for the messengers bringing her news of her husband's fate.
When James V. became of age he also loved the palace, building the stately hall known as the Parliament Hall. He brought his French wife, Mary of Guise, there, who said she had never seen a more princely residence. His only child, Mary Queen of Scots, was born in the palace, but he never saw her, for he was at Falkland Palace when the news of her birth was brought to him, dying of grief after the shameful defeat at Solway Moss.
The infant Queen was declared by some to be extremely delicate, but Sir Ralph Sadler, the English Ambassador in Scotland, gave quite a different account. The Queen-Dowager took him into the room where her baby was lying, and showed him how healthy she was. He writes to Queen Elizabeth: "I assure Your Majesty it is as goodly a child as I have seen of her age, and as like to live, with the grace of God."
LINLITHGOW PALACE.
The Birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Though from very early times a royal manor-house, the existing building is purely the work of the Stuart Kings.
After the thrones were united, the palace, like so many others in Scotland, became neglected, but it received its final ruin in 1746, when General Hawley's soldiers quartered in the palace. They had been defeated at Falkirk by the Jacobites, and were retreating. In spite of remonstrances to the General, the soldiers were allowed to make great fires in the palace, which were so carelessly watched that the building caught fire, leaving it the ruin which it is to-day.