e, it was
already a frequent residence of royalty, and with all its amenities of
parks and gardens would be more fit for the reception of a young queen
coming straight from princely Windsor than the narrow chambers in the
castle. Among the many presents which she is said to have brought with
her from England there is a special mention of fine tapestries for the
adornment of her new habitation.

Thus the royal pair took possession of their kingdom, and of the
interest and affection of the lively and eager crowd for which Edinburgh
has always been famous--a populace more like that of a French town than
an English, though with impulses sometimes leading to tragedy. James
would scarcely seem to have been settled in that part of the ancient
establishment of the abbey which was appropriated to the lodging of the
King, or to have exhausted the thanksgivings of Easter and the
rejoicings of the restoration, when he set himself to inquire into the
state of the country and of the royal finances, to which he had been so
long a stranger. There was no Civil List in those days nor votes of
supply, and the state of the Crown lands and possessions, "the King's
rents," was doubly important in view of the ransom yet to be paid, of
which only a fourth part had been remitted as the portion of the Queen.
The result of this investigation was anything but satisfactory. It was
found that during the reign of Albany many of these possessions had been
alienated, made into fiefs, and bestowed upon the leaders of the faction
which supported the Regent. "There was nothing left to sustain the
Crown," says Boece, "except the customs of burrows. He was naething
content of this," adds the chronicler with pithy conciseness, "howbeit
he shewed good will (gud vult) for the time." James had already griefs
enough against the family of his cousin without this startling
discovery; and his "gud vult" would seem rather to have been the serious
self-control of a man who was biding his time than any pretence of
friendliness with his unfaithful relations and stewards. Amid the early
pageants and festivities it is indeed recorded that he knighted Walter
Stewart among the other candidates for that honour, the flower of the
noble youth, a band of twenty-six gentlemen of the best houses in
Scotland; but this was probably a step which was inevitable, as it would
have been impossible to leave his own nearest relative out of the list
until he had finally made up his mind h