Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/483

EDINBURGH CASTLE 463 THIRD PERIOD The porch forming the entrance to the chapel (shown on Plan, Fig. 403B) is modern. I I I I 11 I II I FIG. 403B. Edinburgh Castle. Chapel. Adjoining the chapel is the battery named after the celebrated cannon jf^r* " Mons Meg," which is there preserved. This gun (contrary to the legend on the carriage) is said by Wilson and others to have been made by the M'Lellands in Kirkcudbrightshire, and by them presented to James n., when he went to besiege Threave Castle, belonging to Earl Douglas, in 1455. The story goes that the gun was made at a place called Mollance in Kirkcudbrightshire, hence the name Mollance Meg, corrupted into Mons Meg. But this story has in its turn been called in question. Mr. Burnet, the Editor of the Exchequer Rolls, thinks it very unlikely that any country smith in Kirkcudbrightshire would have the necessary skill and appliances for the manufacture of such a piece of ordnance. He refers to several entries for the expenses of conveying the guns, especially for one gun called the King's great Bombard, from Linlithgow to the siege of Threave Castle. It also appears from the Rolls that the King imported his bombards from Flanders, and it seems most likely after all that Mons Meg is of foreign extraction.