Such was the official description of the place we were now visiting.  As our guide conducted us through the archway into the castle, he showed us the old chains that worked the portcullis.  We noted how cautious the old occupants of these strongholds were, for while one of the massive doors was being drawn up the other went down, so that the inner entrance was always protected.  From the top of the walls the sites of seven battlefields were pointed out to us, including those of Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge.  The Battle of Stirling Bridge was won by Wallace by strategy; he had a much smaller army than the English, but he watched them until they had got one-half their army over the narrow bridge, and then attacked each half in turn, since the one could not assist the other, the river being between them.  In the following year he was defeated himself, but as he retreated he reduced Stirling and its castle to ruins.  The Bridge of Allan, which could be seen in the distance, was described as a miniature Torquay without the sea, and the view from the castle on a clear day extended a distance of nearly fifty miles.  We were shown the aperture through which Mary Queen of Scots watched the games in the royal garden below, and of course we had to be shown the exact spot where “our most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria with the Prince of Wales” sat on a much more recent date.  The castle stood on a rock, rising precipitously on two of its sides, and was now being used as a barracks.  It was a fine sight to see the soldiers as they were being drilled.  The old Chapel Royal was used as the armoury, and our guide told us of many objects of interest which were stored there; but we had no time to see them, so, rewarding him suitably for his services, we hastened back to the town to refresh the “inner man.”

It appeared that in former times none of the members of the Town Council accepted any gift or emolument while in office; and, before writing was as common as it is now, the old treasurer kept his accounts in a pair of boots which he hung one on each side of the chimney.  Into one of them he put all the money he received and into the other the vouchers for the money he paid away, and balanced his accounts at the end of the year by emptying his boots, and counting the money left in one and that paid away by the receipts in the other.  What a delightfully simple system of “double entry,” and just fancy the “borough treasurer” with a balance always in hand!  Whether the non-payment for services rendered by the Council accounted for this did not appear; but there must have been some select convivials even in those days, as the famous Stirling Jug remained as evidence of something of the kind.  It was a fine old vessel made of brass and taken great care of by the Stirling people, who became possessed of it four or five hundred years before our visit.