and conveyed her to Dunbar." We may gather from these particulars, that although the confederated Lords had declared against Bothwell, they had not yet resolved on imprisoning Queen Mary herself. When Bothwell's escape was made known, the blockade of Borthwick was instantly raised, although the place had neither garrison nor means of defence. The more audacious enterprise of making the Queen prisoner, had not been adopted by the insurgents, until the event of the incidents at Carberry-hill proved the Scottish Queen's increased unpopularity. There seems to have been an interval of nearly two days betwixt the escape of Bothwell from Borthwick Castle, and the subsequent flight of the Queen in disguise to Dunbar.* If during that interval Mary could have determined on separating her fortunes from those of the deservedly detested Bothwell, we might have been spared the recital of her subsequent life and unhappy end. As the fifth Earl of Bothwell was a faithful adherent to the Scottish Queen, his grandson John, the eighth Lord, was a follower of the King, during the great civil war. Upon this occasion, Borthwick Castle, with all the other strongholds near Edinburgh, were garrisoned for the King, which greatly annoyed and straitened the invading army under Oliver Cromwell; and, joined to the cautious tactics of Lesley, compelled the Protector to retreat from Edinburgh, which, but for the insolent and pragmatical ignorance of the presbyterian ministers, would have been both disgraceful and destructive. But when these false prophets had, by their meddling interference, occasioned the fatal battle of Dunbar, and the surrender of Edinburgh, the detached fortresses in MidLothian fell one by one into the hands of the English. Borthwick Castle held out gallantly, and the garrison employed themselves to the last in annoying the victorious army of Cromwell, which was the cause of the following * Provin. Antiq. Vol. I. p. 43. characteristic summons, dated Edinburgh, 18th Nov. 1650, and sent to the governor of Borthwick Castle. a "Sir, I thought fit to send you this trumpet to let you know, that if you please to walk away with your company, and deliver the house to such as I shall send to receive it, you shall have liberty to carry off your arms and goods, and such other necessaries as you have. You harboured such parties in your house, as have basely and inhumanly murdered our men; if you necessitate me to bend my cannon against you, you must expect what I doubt you will not be pleased with. I expect your present answer, and rest, "Your Servant, "O. CROMWELL." Notwithstanding this very significant epistle, the governor of Borthwick held out the fortress until the artillery was opened upon it. The Castle then was surrendered, upon condition that Lord Borthwick was to have fifteen days to remove his property from the Castle. The effects of Cromwell's battery still remain, his fire having destroyed part of the stone-work facing the eastern side of the Castle. Borthwick Castle was long the principal seat of that baronial family, until the death of the direct male heir John, ninth Lord Borthwick, when it passed to a collateral descendant; and having since been repeatedly sold, has at length become the property of John Borthwick of Crookston, Esq. descended from, and claiming to represent the original founder as a peer, under the ancient title of Lord Borthwick. It is gratifying to consider, that so fine a specimen of ancient architecture, connected as it is with so many historical associations, is now in the possession of a family so deeply interested in its preservation; and it will doubtless be the pride of that family, to preserve so splendid a memorial of the grandeur of their ancestors, by arresting the farther progress of its dilapidation. The great hall of Borthwick Castle is highly deserving of particular notice. It is perhaps the most noble specimen of feudal magnificence and hospitality now in existence. "It is so large and high in the roof, that a man on horseback might turn a spear in it." The ceiling consists of a smooth vault of ashler work, the joining of the stones being curiously fitted together. The roof has been painted with such devices as occur in old illuminations. There can still be traced the representation of a castle with its battlements, towers and pinnacles, and the legend in Gothic characters, "Ye Temple of Honor." Stately and magnificent in itself, the Hall of Borthwick is no less rich in associations. Here probably the Abbot of Unreason was permitted to exercise his frolics. Here too Cromwell, "the stern protector of the conquered land," received the keys of the Castle, through the walls of which his cannon had made a passage. But above all, the image of Mary Queen of Scots, feasting with her unworthy Bothwell, startled from revelry by the voice of insurrection, and throwing aside the pomp and circumstance of monarchial dignity for the lowly habit of a page, in which she escapes, presents a most exquisite picture to the glowing imagination, and invests this noble structure with an interest, which will never cease to be felt while the page of history points out the ancient "fane." |