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Chap. XXVII.
FAAREVEILE.
417
know how subtle were the poisons in those days, and
how easy would it have been for Mary, had she desired
it, to have instilled death in a purple harebell or bunch
of mountain heather, and have presented it to her
lord when sick of the small-pox, through which she so
tenderly nursed him. Of these subtle poisons the
Scotch knew nothing, nor indeed the English either.
Hemlock and simple infusions (King John, if I recollect
right, was poisoned by a toad squeezed into his
winecup by a doctor monk), easy of detection, were the
climax of their art. In the present century
adulteration does more havoc than the Borgias did in the
middle ages.
FAAREVEILE.
At eight o’clock the carriages come round, we drive
to Faareveile, pick up the ladies of the party, and
adjourn to the church. On the iron-bound door
appears the dragon, titular patron, I suppose, of the
place. The interior is simple, of good architecture,
with pulpit and altarpiece of Christian IV.’s date,
and in sound repair—telling of a resident landlord
who prides himself in the prosperous appearance of
all around him. And now they raise a. folding trap
in the chancel; a ladder leads to the vault below: on
the right lies a simple wooden coffin encased in an
outer one for protection; the lid is removed, a sheet
withdrawn, uncovered within which lies the
mummycorpse of Scotland’s proudest earl. The coffin in
earlier times reposed in a vault of the chapel of the
Adeler family, but was removed by the baron to its
present place for the convenience of those who desire to
visit it without intruding on the dormitory of the
VOL. I. 2 E
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