Stirling was at one time the seat of the Kings of Scotland. It was here that the Stuarts held forth in their glory. Stirling Castle for hundreds of years was the residence of Scotch rulers. This castle played a large part in the history of the country. It was here that the Romans built a fort. It was here, too, that the Picts and the Scots fought their bloody battles. It was within a short distance of Stirling Castle, at Bunnockburn, that Robert Bruce defeated a great English army. Bruce had only 30,000 men. The English had 100,000 men. The Scotch had orders for each man to slay one Englishman. Thirty thousand Englishmen fell in the great battle. James II and James V of Scotland were both born in this castle. Within the Douglas room James II murdered the Earl of Douglas whom he had invited to visit with him. Mary,

Quuen of Scots, was crowned in the castle when she was only eight months old. It was here also that James VI of Scotland, afterwards James I of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was baptised. The view from Stirling Castle is one of the finest in all Scotland. At the foot of these perpendicular cliffs, the lovely valley of the River Forth stretches away for miles to the Trossachs. Its fields where cattle and sheep feed or where oats grow are separated by stone walls so old and grey they look as if they were natural part of the landscape. Through this lowland the Forth winds in broad curves. It was in this castle that Scott laid the last scene of the "Lady of the Lake" when Ellen came to court to save her father and sweetheart.