THIRD PERIOD 458 EDINBURGH CASTLE prisoners at the beginning of this century. Owing to the sudden fall of the rock at the west end, these vaults are partly two stories in height. The original parapet walk along the top of the wall still remains outside the wall of the hall, and gives access to these vaults. The vaults beneath the hall and other buildings have recently been carefully explored by Major Gore Booth, with the result that the kitchen seems to have been situated on the basement floor at the west end of the hall, and communication between the two was obtained by means of a staircase, long built up, but still partly existing. FIG. 398. Edinburgh Castle. View of East Side of Courtyard. We now proceed to the east wing of the Palace (Fig. 398). Here are the apartments occupied by Queen Mary, and the room in which King James vi. was born. This wing was renovated in Queen Mary's i time. Over the entrance doorway (Fig. 399) there is a monogram of l M. and H., for Mary and Henry Darnley, with the date 1566, besides a ^shield higher up containing the Royal arms. From the style of this door- way, and the panel above, it is however very doubtful whether they , belong to Queen Mary's time. We think it much more likely that they were inserted by her son as a memorial of his parents and his own birth- place, at the time when other alterations were carried out during his reign, as indicated by the date (1615) over the doorway to the staircase in the central turret (Fig. 4-00). This date is shown in this position on
