“Item, deliuered to Margarett Hartsyde a ring sett all about with diamonds, and a table diamond on the head, which she gaue me to vnderstand was by her Mats. direction, price xxx li.”
This item in reference to Margaret Hartsyde is remarkable, because it appears that this female, who had been in the royal household, was tried in Edinburgh on the 31st of May, 1608, for stealing a pearl, worth 110l. sterling belonging to the queen. She pretended that she retained these pearls to adorn dolls for the amusement of the royal infants, and believed that the queen would never demand them; but it appeared that she used “great cunning and deceit in it,” and disguised the jewels so as not to be easily known, and offered them to her majesty in sale. The king by special warrant declared her infamous, sentenced her to pay 400l. sterling as the value of the jewels, and condemned her to be imprisoned in Blackness castle till it was paid, and to confinement in Orkney during her life. In December, 1619, eleven years afterwards, “compeared the king’s advocate, and produced a letter of rehabilitation and restitution of Margaret Hartsyde to her fame.”
Heriot’s Hospital.
There is a memorial of queen Anne of Denmark’s fondness for dogs in a large whole-length portrait of her, surrounded by those animals, which she holds in leashes. In Heriot’s accounts there are charges for their furniture: e. g.
| “Item, for the garnishing of vj doge collers, weighing in silver xix ounces | iiij li. xvs. |
| “Item, for the workmanshipe of the said collers | ij li. xs. |
| “Item, boght to the said collers ij ounces iij quarters of silver lace, at vs. vjd. ounce | xvs. id. ob. |
| “Item, for making wp of the said collers at ijs. the peice | xijs.” |
Her majesty’s perfumes seem to have derived additions from Heriot. He furnished her with “5 ounces and a half of fyne civett, at li. 4 the ounce:” also
| “Item, for fower ounces of fyne musk de Levant, at xxxviijs. the ounce | vij li. xijs. |
| “Item, for a glass of balsome, | ij li. |
| “Item, for a glass of whyte balsome, and a glasse of black balsome | j li. xs.” |