11
(canons regular of St. Auguftine) were brought from Scone, in upi
by Robert, bifhop of this fee. By aft of parliament, in the time*
James I. the prior had precedence of all abbots and priors andjoJ
the days of feilival wore a mitre, and all epifcopal ornaments3
Dependent on this priory were thofe of Lochleven, Porlnmk, f l
mmujk, the iile oiMay, and Pitienween, each originally a feat of til
Culdees.
. The revenues of the houfe were vaft, viz. In money, 2237/. w.iojd
38 chaldrons, 1 boll, 3 firlots of wheat; 132 ch. 7 bolls of be*
114 ch. 3 bolls, 1 peck of meal; 151 ch. 10 bolls, 1 firlot, 1 peel
and a half of oats ; 3 ch. 7 bolls of peas and beans: 480 acreioi|
land alfo belonged to it.
.Nothing remains of the priory except the walls ofthepreciii*
which ihew its vail extent In one part is a moil artlefs gatew*
formed only of feven flones. This inclofure begins near the cathe|
dral, and extends to the ihore.
The other religious houfes were, one.of Dominicans, founded,Ini
1274, by bifhop Wijhart-, another of Obfervantines, founded by
ihop Kennedy, and finifhed.by his fuccefior, Patrick Graham, in Mi]
and, according to fome, the Carmelites had a fourth.
Immediately above the harbour flood the collegiate church|f|
Kirk-beugh, originally founded by Conftantine III. who, retiring®
the world,' became here a Culdee. From its having been firlt
on a rock, it was ftyled, Pritpofiturafanbta marine de rape.
On the eaft fide of the city are the poor remains of the caille, oil
rock overlooking the fea. This fortrefs was founded, in I40I> y|
* Kiitb, 237,
■hilltop ‘frail, who was buried near the high altar of the cathedral,
|vith this fingular epitaph :
Hie fuit ecclefiae dire&a columna, feneftra
Lucida, Thuribulum redolens, campana fonora.
The entrance of the caille is {till to be feen ; and the window is
hewn out of which it is pretended that cardinal Beaton leaned to
[glut his eyes with the cruel martyrdom of George 'Wijhart, who
Iras burnt on a fpot beneath. This is one of thofe relations, whofe
■ferity we fhould doubt, and heartily wiih there was no truth in
It*; and, on enquiry, we may confole ourfelves that this is
Bounded on puritanical bigotry, and invented out of hatred to a
feerfecutor fufficiently deteflable on other accounts! Beaton was
■he direilor of the perfecution, and the caufe of the death of that
Ipious man; and in this caille, in May, 1546, he met with the
jeward of his cruelty. The patience of a fierce age, as the able Dr.
■tfon obferves, was worn out by this nefarious deed. Private
levenge, inflamed and fandtified by a falfe zeal for religion, quickljr
pound a fit inflrument in Norman Lejly, eldefl fon of the Earl of
lubes. The attempt was as bold as it was fuccefsful. The cardt-
■al at that time, perhaps infligated by his fears, was adding new
itrength to the caille, and, in the opinion of the age, rendering it
Impregnable. Sixteen perfons undertook to furprize it. They en-
lered the gates, which were left open by the workmen, early in the
iiormng, turned out his retinue without confufion, and forced open
Pe door of the cardinal’s apartment, which he had barricaded on
Pe firit alarm, The confpirators found him feated in his chair;
* Brown's V ulga r Errors,
C c they
C a s t l e ,
C a r d in a l
B e a t o n .