Balmawhapple, however, having in his recollection the unfriendly greeting
which his troop had received from the battery at Stirling, had apparently
no wish to tempt the forbearance of the artillery of the Castle. He
therefore left the direct road, and, sweeping considerably to the
southward so as to keep out of the range of the cannon, approached the
ancient palace of Holyrood without having entered the walls of the city.
He then drew up his men in front of that venerable pile, and delivered
Waverley to the custody of a guard of Highlanders, whose officer
conducted him into the interior of the building.
A long, low, and ill-proportioned gallery, hung with pictures, affirmed
to be the portraits of kings, who, if they ever flourished at all, lived
several hundred years before the invention of painting in oil colours,
served as a sort of guard chamber or vestibule to the apartments which
the adventurous Charles Edward now occupied in the palace of his
ancestors. Officers, both in the Highland and Lowland garb, passed and
repassed in haste, or loitered in the hall as if waiting for orders.
Secretaries were engaged in making out passes, musters, and returns.
Pages:
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573