L I N L I N 671 square in front of the town-house is a striking piece oi grotesque carved work in stone, originally erected, it i; believed, in the reign of James V., but rebuilt in 1807. The burgh school goes back to the pre-Reformation times. Shoemaking and tanning are the leading industries ; but a large distillery and (in the neighbourhood) two paper mills, glue works, and a soap factory add considerably to the business of the place. Linen bleaching is altogether a thing of the past. A grain market is held every Friday. The riding of the marches of the burgh is still performed annually by the magistrates and trades. The population of the burgh was 2282 in 1792-93, 3843 in 1861, 3690 in 1871, and 3913 in 1881. Linlithgow Palace is by general consent the finest ruin of its kind in Scotland. Heavy but effective, the sombre walls rise above the green knolls of the promontory which divides the lake into two nearly equal portions. In plan it is almost square (168 by 174 feet), enclosing a court (91 by 88 feet), in the centre of which stands the ruined fountain used as a model for that erected in front of Holyrood Palace. At each corner there is a tower with an internal spiral staircase, that of the north-west angle being crowned by a little octagonal turret known as " Queen Margaret s Bovver," from the tradition that it was there that the consort of James IV. sat and watched for his return from I lodden. The oldest portion of the building is probably the west side, whoso massive masonry, hardly broken by a single window, is supposed to date in part from the time of James III.; but the larger part of the south and east sides belong to James Y. , about 1535 ; and the north side was rebuilt in 1619-20. Of James V. s portion, which is architectur ally the richest, the main apartments are the Lyon chamber or parliament hall, and the chapel royal. The grand entrance ap proached by a drawbridge, was on the east side ; above the gate way are still some weather-worn remains of rich allegorical designs, once resplendent with colour. A few yards to the south of the palace is the church of St Michael, a Gothic (Scottish Decorated) building (180 feet long internally excluding the apse and the steeple, by 62 in breadth excluding the transepts) probably founded in 1242, but mainly built in th; 15th century. The central west front steeple was till 1821 topped by a crown like that of St Giles, Edinburgh. 1 Linlithgow (wrongly identified with a Roman Lindum) was a royal burgh with a royal castle and an endowed church as far back as the reign of David I. Edward L, who had encamped there the night before the battle of Falkirk (1298), wintered at Linlithgow in 1301, and next year built "a pole (castle) mekill and strong," which in 1313 was captured by the Scots through the assistance of William Bunnock or Binning and his famous hay-cart. Later in the century (1369) the customs of Linlithgow yielded more than those of any other chief town except Edinburgh ; and the burgh was taken along with Lanark to supply the place of Berwick and Roxburgh in the court of the Four Burghs (1368). Robert II. granted it a charter of immunities, the oldest still preserved, in 1384. The palace becoming a favourite residence of the kings of Scotland, and often forming part of the marriage settlement of their consorts (Mary of Guelders, 1449 ; Margaret of Denmark, 1468 ; Margaret of England, 1503), is frequently mentioned in Scotch history. James V. was born within its walls in 1512, and his daughter Mary, December 7, 1542. In 1570 the Regent Murray was assassinated in the High Street by Hamilton of Bothwell- haugh. In 1600 the title earl of Linlithgow was bestowed on Alexander, Lord Livingston, by James VI., who after his accession to the English throne retained an affection for the palace, and visited it again in 1617. The university of Edinburgh took refuge at Linlithgow from the plague in 1645-46 ; and in the same year the national parliament, which had often sat in the palace, was held there for the last time. The public burning of the Cove nant (1661), the passing of Prince Charles through the town in 1745, and the burning of the palace by Hawley s dragoons in 1746 are the chief remaining facts in the local annals. Most of the privileges which Linlithgow enjoyed have dropped away. The rise of Bo ness gave the last blow to the prosperity of its port at Blackness ; its burgh lands Lave all been sold ; and, after gaining its case three times in the Court of Session, it was deprived (1859) by the House of Lords of any claim to levy bridge toll and custom from the Edin burgh and Glasgow Railway. Besides the Statist. Account of Scotland, see Sir Robert Slbbnld s Hist, of the Sheriffdoms of Linlithyoie ami Stirlingshire, Edinburgh, 1710; Penney, Hist. Account of Linlithgoicskire. Edinburgh, 1832, extracted from Chalmers s Cale donia; J. Trotter, General Vine of Agriculture of W. Lothian, Edinburgh, 1794, new and enlarged edition, 1810; J. P. Wood, Tlie Ancient anil Modern State of the Parish of Cramond, Edinburgh, 1794 ; James Collie, The. Royal Palace of Lin- lithgnw. with architectural plates, Kdinburgh, 1S4Q; George Waldlc, J/iit. of the Toicn and Palace of Linlithgow, Linlithgow, 3d ed., 1879. 1 See "BUling s Antiquities; Collie s monograph ; and Characteristics of Old Church Architecture of Scotland, 1861. LINNAEUS (1707-1778). Carl von Linne, better known under his earlier name of Carolus Linnaeus, was born 13th May 1707 o.s., at Rashult, in the parish of Stenbrohult, in the province of Smaland, Sweden. 2 His parents were Xils Linnaeus, the comminister, afterwards pastor, of the parish, and Christina, the daughter of Brodersonius, the previous incumbent ; Carl, the subject of our notice, being their eldest child. When only four years old he was much impressed with his father s con versation with some of his people concerning the properties and names of certain of the local plants of economic value ; from that time he constantly asked his father about the quality and nature of every plant he met with, often asking more than his father could answer ; at other times, having forgotten the information previously given him, he was threatened with a refusal to answer his queries unless he promised to remember what he was told. To this early discipline Linnaeus afterwards ascribed his tenacious memory, which, added to his extreme sharpness of sight, laid the foundations of his eminence as a reform ing naturalist. His formal education began in 1714, when he was put under the private tuition of Telander, and three years later he entered the primary school at Wexio. In 1719 he was committed to the care of Gabriel Hb k, who afterwards married his pupil s sister Anna Maria ; this preceptor had greater skill as a teacher than his predecessors, and was less severe ; still he was unable to overcome the distaste the youth had acquired for ordinary scholastic studies. During his last years at school Linnaeus took advantage of the greater liberty then allowed him to ramble in search of plants. In 1724 he passed from the school to the gymnasium, carrying with him the same dislike for all those studies which were considered necessary for admission to holy orders, his father s intention being to bring up his son in his own profession. Botany, a science at that time entirely neglected, almost wholly engrossed his attention; he formed a small library of the few Swedish writers who had treated of plants, which he was constantly poring over, although unable to comprehend all he found in their volumes. In 1726 his father came to Wexio, hoping to hear a good report of the two years study of his son ; but, whilst there was no complaint as regards his moral deportment, his progress in the prescribed studies had been so unsatis factory that his father was recommended to apprentice him to a tailor or shoemaker, in preference to giving him a learned education, for which he was evidently unfitted. The old clergyman, deeply grieved at this poor return for his struggles to keep his son at school during the previous twelve years, went to visit Dr Rothman, a medical practi tioner and lecturer on physics in the town, to consult him regarding a bodily ailment from which he was suffering. In the course of conversation he mentioned his mortifica tion at his son s dulness, when Rothman expressed his con fident belief that he could end the troubles of both father and son, and that Carl, though extremely backward in theo logical studies, would yet distinguish himself in medicine and natural history. Rothman further offered to board and lodge Carl during the twelvemonth more which must be passed in the gymnasium. A short time after this, Rothman gave his pupil a course of private instruction in physiology with great success, the young man acquitting himself excellently on examination. His tutor also gave 2 The new style being then in process of gradual adoption in Sweden, the year 1704 was regarded as a common year in that country, consequently the true date of Linnaeus 8 birth, according to our present reckoning, was 23d May 1707, the commonly received date, 24th May, ing an error due to supposing the calendar in Sweden and Russia at
- hnt time to be identical.
