Kelso, and Jedburgh, display in their ruins the magnificence of their architecture. Those with the royal residences in Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, Holyrood, Linlithgow, Falkland, and Soone, no doubt showed some attainment in comfort; but as for household furniture, the highest in the land possessed few things which in the present day could claim to be ranked in the servant's hall. "Queen Mary brought with her from France arras hangings, carpets, and various kinds of household furniture, and it is uncertain if these were known in Scotland at an earlier date; even then they were so rare and valuable es to be used only on high festivals, after which the hangings were taken from their tenterhooks, and carefully deposited till returning Christmas."[1]
The interior walls were frequently lined with wood, but as frequently showed simply the bare stones or plaster, which, as at Craigaillar and Borthwick Castles, were sometimes ornamented with rude paintings or inscriptions. The only furniture in the hall of a great baron were large standing tables, forms, and cupboards without locks and keys. The inmates took their meals out of wooden dishes which they called treen (i.e., wooden) plates, used wooden or horn spoons, and drank out of wooden cups. "To see silver, except in the monasteries and cathedrals, was a miracle, and even pewter vessels were esteemed so rare and costly as to be used only upon Christmas and other high festivals." Wretched as these articles were it would appear from Arnot's account that Scotland could not produce them; they had to be purchased abroad. In 1430 "eight dozen of pewter dishes, a hundred dozen of wooden cups, a bason and ewer, three saddles, a dozen skins of red leather, five dozen ells of woollen cloth, and twenty casks of wine were imported from London for the use of the Scottish King, Robert III. If their furniture was mean it was also scanty, for when a great baron removed from one of his houses to another, he found it necessary to carry along with him his beds, hangings, kitchen utensils, etc."[2]
Froissart, in his acoount of the reception of John de Vienne, Admiral of France, when he came to Scotland with his troops in 1385 to assist Robert II. in his invasion of England, mentions that "the French founde a wylde countrey of Scotland," and there being only four thousand houses in Edinburgh altogether, and not sufficient to accommodate the Frenchmen, "therefore
