rance through great gates.
_c._ Bow-window projecting toward the water. _d._ Den where they kept
a lion. _t.t._ Trees.]

There was a beautiful fountain in the center of the court-yard, where
water spouted out from the mouths of carved images, and fell into
marble basins below. The ruins of this fountain and of the images
remain there still. The den at _d_ was a round pit, like a well,
which you could look down into from above: it was about ten feet
deep. They used to keep lions in such dens near the palaces and
castles in those days. A lion in a den was a sort of plaything in
former times, as a parrot or a pet lamb is now: this was in keeping
with the fierce and warlike spirit of the age. If they had a lion
there in Mary's time, Janet often, doubtless, took her little charge
out to see it, and let her throw down food to it from above. The den
is there now. You approach it upon the top of a broad embankment,
which is as high as the depth of the den, so that the bottom of the
den is level with the surface of the ground, which makes it always
dry. There is a hole, too, at the bottom, through the wall, where
they used to put the lion in.

The foregoing plan of the buildings and grounds of Linlithgow is
drawn as maps and plans usually are, the upper part toward the north.
Of course the room _a_, where Mary was born, is on the western side.
The adjoining engraving represents a view of the palace on this
western side. The church is seen at the right; and the lawn, where
Janet used to take Mary out to breathe the air, is in the
fore-ground. The shore of the lake is very near, and winds
beautifully around the margin of the promontory on which the palace
stands. Of course the lion's den, and the ancient avenue of approach
to the palace, are round upon the other side, and out of sight in
this view. The approach to the palace, at the present day, is on the
southern side, between the church and the trees on the right of the
picture.

[Illustration: PALACE OF LINLITHGOW--Queen Mary's Birth-place.]

Mary remained here at Linlithgow for a year or two; but when she was
about nine months old, they concluded to have the great ceremony of
the coronation performed, as she was by that time old enough to bear
the journey to Stirling Castle, where the Scottish kings and queens
were generally crowned. The coronation of a queen is an event which
always excites a very deep and universal interest among all persons in
the realm; and there is