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Book 10 p. 65
(Score 2.44)
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Book 11 p. 3
(Score 1.74)
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Book 5 p. 2
(Score 1.7)
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Book 8 p. 471
(Score 1.58)
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Book 10 p. 95
(Score 1.49)
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Book 10 p. 68
(Score 1.42)
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Book 10 p. 115
(Score 1.42)
![192 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. lThe High S e e a
and Sweden, tells us, at the storming of Boitzenburg,
there was ? a Scottish gentleman under the
enemy, who, coming to scale the walls, said aloud,
?Have with you, gentlemen ! Thinke not now
you are on the streel of Edhlburgh bravading.? One
of his own countrymen thrusting him through the
body with a pike, he ended there.?
In the general consternation which succeeded
* the defeat of the army at Flodden a plague raged
within the city with great violence, and carried off
great numbers. Hence the Town Council, to prevent
its progress,
ordered all shops
and booths to be
closed for the space
of fifteen days, and
neither doors nor
windows to be
opened within that
time, but on some
unavoidable occasion,
and nothing
to be dealt in but
necessaries for the
immediate support
of life. All vagrants
were forbidden
to walk in the
streets without hiving
each a light;
and several houses
that had been occupied
by infected
persons were demolished.
*
In 1532 the
High Street was
first paved or causewayed,
and many of
the old tenements
?These, however,? says Arnot, ?are not to be
considered as arguing any comparative insignificancy
in the city of Edinburgh. They proceeded
from the rudeness of the times. The writers of
those days spoke of Edinburgh in terms that show
the respectable opinion they entertained of it. ? In
this city,? says a writer of the sixteenth century-
Braun Agrippinensis--? there are two spacious
streets, of which the principal one, leading from
the Palace to the Castle, is paved with square
stones. The city itself is not built of bricks,
ANDREW CROSBY. (Fmm the Portrait in tkePadiament Haii.)
[The orkinal ofCuunseZZnr PLydelZ in ? Guy Mamneiing.?]
renovated. The former was done under the superintendence
of a Frenchman named Marlin, whose
name was bestowed on an alley to the south. The
Town Council ordered lights to be hung out by
night by the citizens to light the streets, and Edinburgh
became a principal place of resort from all
parts of the kingdom.
Till the reign of James V., the meal-market, and
also the flesh-market, were kept in booths in the
open High Street, which was also encumbered by
stacks of peat, heather, and other fuel, before every
door; while, till the middle of the end of the seventeenth
century, according to Gordon?s map, a fleshmarket
was kept in the Canongate, immediately
below the Nether Bow.
but of square freestones,
and so
stately is its app
ear an c e, that
single houses inay
be compared to
palaces. From the
abbey to the castle
there is a continued
street, which on
both sides contains
a range of excellent
houses. and the
better sort are built
of hewn stone.?
There are,? adds
Amot, ?? specimens
oT the buildings of
the fifteenth century
still (1779) remaining,
particularly
a house on
the south side of
the High Street,
immediately above
Peeble?s Wynd,
having a handsome
front of hewn stone,
and niches in the
walls for the images of saints, which may justify
our author?s description. The house was built
about 1430 (temp. James I.) No private building
in the city of modern date can compare
with it.?
The year 1554 saw the streets better lighted,
and some attempts made to clean them.
The continual wars with England compelled the
citizens to crowd their dwellings as near the Castle
as possible ; thus, instead of the city increasing in
limits, it rose skyward, as we have already mentioned
; storey was piled on storey till the streets
resembled closely packed towers or steeples, each
house, or ?land,? sheltering from twenty to thirty
families within its walls. This was particularly thc](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p204.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 192")
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Book 1 p. 192
(Score 1.36)
![BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 39 1
tion of an impartial and unbiassed guardian of public opinion. ‘( He is a Scotsmn,”
says a Cockney writer, “without one particle of hypocrisy, of cant, or
servility, or selfishness in his composition [I I] He has not been spoiled by
fortune-has not been tempted by power-is firm without violence, friendly
without weakness-a critic and even-tempered-a casuist and an honest man ;
and, amidst the toils of his profession, and the distractions of the world, retains
the gaiety, the unpretending carelessness and simplicity of youth.”
The strictures of the Review, however, were in many instances too severe,
or too honest and candid, to be palatable. Moore was provoked to demand
the (‘ satisfaction of a gentleman ;”l and Byron, smarting under the castigation
inflicted on his (‘ Hours of Idleness,” produced the well-known tirade entitled
“English Bards and Scots Reviewers ;” while, among the many pasquinade5 by
offended authors of less degree, the following epigramic description of the
Editor has no little merit :-
“ Witty as Horatius Flaccus ;
As great a democrat as Gracchus ;
As short, but not so fat m Bwchus-
Here rides Jeffrey on his Jack-nss/”’
Sir Walter Scott was at the outset a contributor to the Review, but he
gradually became estranged on account of its politics. In 1809 he was among
the first to lend his aid in establishing the London Quurterly, a journal of
avowed Conservative principles ; and, though still continuing friendly with
Jeftrey, their intimacy was on more than one occasion disturbed by the critical
remarks of the latter.
The bitterness of offended authorship however, in as far as regards Lord
Jeffrey, became a thing of the past, Byron read his recantation-Moore became
“On Monday morning, August 11 (1806) two gentlemen met at Chalk Farm, near London,
with an intention to fight a duel, when they were immediately seized by three Bow Street officers, .
disarmed, and carried before Justice Read, at the Police Office, who admitted them to bail to keep
the peace, themselves in 2400 each, and two sureties in $200 each. The parties were, Francis
Jeffrey, Esq., advocate, of Edinburgh, and Thomas Moore, Esq., known by the appellation of
Anacreon Moore.” The cause of this meeting originated in a critique of the “Epistles, Odes, and
other Poems,” by Thomas Moore ; in which the Reviewer commented with much severity on the
corrupt tendency of the author’s writings. ’ “ There is nothing, it will be allowed, more indefensible,”
says the article, “than a cold-blooded attempt to corrupt the purity of an innocent heart ; and we
can scarcely conceive any being more truly despicable than he who, without the apology of unruly
passion, or tumultuous deaires, sits down to ransack the impure place of his memory for inflammatory
images and expressions, and commits them laboriously to writing, for the purpose of insinuating
pollution into the minds of unknown and unsuspecting readers. It seems to be hi (Nr. Moore’s)
aim, to impose corruption upon his readers, by conceding it under the mask of refinement. It is
doubly necessary to put the law in force against this deZinquent, ainca he has not only indicated a
disposition to do mischief, but seems unfortunately to have found an opportunity. * * Such
are the demerits of ‘this work, that we wish to see it consigned to universal reprobation.” Mr.
Moore, greatly offended, sought the author of the article, and Nr. Jeffrey, then in London, came
forward boldly, and avowed himself the writer.
The lines are attributed to the Rev.
Sydney Smith ; and were suggested, it is said, from the circumstaucea of Mr. Jeffrey having been
found on one occasion, greatly to the amusement of his friend’s children, actually mounted on the
back of one of that much vilified race of animals-a donkey.
.
3 By the jack-ess is meant the Edinburgh Review.](images/thumbs/kays_thumb_pages/kays_v2__Page_530.gif "Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Page 522")
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Book 9 p. 522
(Score 1.34)
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Book 10 p. 424
(Score 1.28)
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Book 10 p. 436
(Score 1.26)
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Book 5 p. 130
(Score 1.21)
![Moming+3c] THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM. 39
sions and villas seem to crowd and jostle each other,
till it has become an integral part of Edinburgh;
but the adjacent hamlet of Tipperlinn, the abode
chiefly of weavers, and once also a summer resort,
has all disappeared, and nothing of it now remains
but an old draw-well The origin of its name is
evidently Celtic.
Falcon Hall, eastward of the old village, is an
elegant modem villa, erected early in the present
century byawealthy Indian civilian, named Falconer;
but, save old Morningside House, or Lodge, before
that time no other niansion of importance stood
here.
In the latter-which stands a little way back kom
the road on the west side-there died, in the year
1758, William Lockhart, Esq., of Carstairs, who
had been thrown from his cliaise at the Burghmuir-
head, and was so severely injured that he expired
two days after. Here also resided, and died
in 1810, William Coulter, a wealthy hosier, who was
then in office as Lord Provost of the city, which
gave him a magnificent civic and military funeral,
which was long remembered for its grandeur and
solemnity.
On this occasion long streamers of crape floated
from Nelson?s monument ; the bells were tolled.
Mr. Claud Thompson acted as chief mourner-in
lieu of the Provost?s only son, Lieutenant Coulter,
then serving with the army in Portugal-and the city
arms were borne by a man seven feet high before
the coffin, whereon lay a sword, robe, and chain
of office.
Three volleys were fired over it by the Edinburgh
Volunteers, of which he was colonel. A portrait
of him in uniform appears in one of Kay?s
sketches.
In 1807 Dr. Andrew Duncan (already noticed
in the account of Adam Square) proposed the
erection of a lunatic asylum, the want of which
had long been felt in the city. Subscriptions came
in slowly, but at last sufficient was collected, a
royal charter was obtained, and on the 8th of June,
1809, the foundation stone of the now famous and
philanthropic edifice at Morningside was laid by
the Lord Provost Coulter, within an enclosure, four
acres in extent, south of old Morningside House
Towards the erection a sum of LI,IOO came from
Scotsmen in Madras.
The object of this institution is to afford every
possible advantage in the treatment of insanity.
The unfortunate patients may be put under the
care of any medical practitioner in Edinburgh
(says the Scots Magmine for that year) whom the
relations may choose to employ, while the poor
will be attended gratis by physicians and surgeons
appointed by the managers. In every respect,
it is one of the most efficient institutions of the
kind in Scotland, It is called the Royal Edinburgh
Asylum, and has as its patron the reigning
sovereign, a governor, four deputies, a board of
managers, and another of medical men.
The original building was afterwards more than
doubled in extent by the addition of another, the
main entrance to which is from the old road that
led to Tipperlinn. This is called the west department,
where the average number of inmates is
above 500. It is filled with patients of the humbler
order, whose friends or parishes pay for them 6 1 5
per annum.
The east department, which was built in 1809, is
for patients who pay not less than A56 per annum
as an ordinary charge, though separate sitting-rooms
entail an additional expense. On the other hand,
when patients are in straitened circumstances a
yearly deduction of ten, or even twenty pounds, is
made from the ordinary rate.
In the former is kept the museum of plaster
casts from the heads of patients, a collection continually
being added to ; and no one, even without
a knowledge of phrenology, can behold these lifeless
images without feeling that the originals had
been afflicted by disease of the mind, for even the
cold, white, motionless plaster appears expressive
of ghastly insanity.
In the west department the patients who are
capable of doing so ply their trades as tailors,
shoemakers, and so forth; and one of the most
interesting features of the institution is the
printing-office, whence, to quote Chambers?sJournal,
?is issued the Morningside Mirror, a monthly
sheet, whose literary contents are supplied wholly
by the inmates, and contain playful hits and puns
which would not disgrace the habitual writers of
facetious articles.??
From the list of occupations that appear in the
annual report, it would seem that nearly every
useful trade and industry. is followed within the
walls, and that the Morningside Asylum supplies
most of its own wants, being a little world complete
in itself.
Occupation and amusement here take the place
of irksome bondage, with results that have been
very beneficial, and among the most extraordinary
of these are the weekly balls, in which the patients
figure in reels and in country dances, and sing
songs.
At the foot of Morningside the Powburn takes the
singular name of the Jordan as it flows through a
farm named Egypt, and other Scriptural names
abound close by, such as Hebron Bank, Canaan](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p050.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 39")
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Book 5 p. 39
(Score 1.05)
![Holyrood.] THE ABBEY CHURCH IN RUINS. 59
and cannon were two ship?s masts, fully rigged,
one on the right bearing the Scottish flag, another
on the left bearing the English. ?? Above all these
rose the beautiful eastem window, shedding a flood
of light along the nave, eclipsing the fourteen
windows of the clerestory. The floor was laid
with ornamental tiles, some portions of which are
yet preserved.?
In the royal yacht there came to Leith from
London an altar, vestments, and images, to complete
the restoration of the church to its ancient uses.
As if to hasten on the destruction of his house,
James VII., not content with securing to his
Catholic subjects within the precincts of Holyrood
that degree of religious toleration now enjoyed
by every British subject, had mass celebrated there,
and established a college of priests, whose rules
were published on the zznd of March, 1688, inviting
people to send their children there, to be
educated gratis, as Fountainhall records. He also
appointed a Catholic printer, named Watson (who
availed himself of the protection afforded by the
sanctuary) to be ? King?s printer in Holyrood ;?
and obtained a right from the Privy Council
to print all the ? prognostications at Edinburgh,?
an interesting fact which accounts for the number
of old books bearing Holyrood on their
title-pages. Prior to all this, on St. Andrew?s
Day, 30th November, the whole church was
sprinkled with holy water, re-consecrated, and a
sermon was preached in it by a priest named
Widerington.
Tidings of the landing of William of Orange
roused the Presbyterian mobs to take summary vengeance,
and on being joined by the students of the
University, they assailed the palace and chapel royal.
The guard, IOO strong-? the brats of Belia1?-
under Captain Wallace, opened a fire upon them,
killing twelve and wounding many more, but they
were ultimately compelled to give way, and the
chapel doors were burst open. The whole interior
was instantly gutted and destroyed, and
the magnificent throne, stalls, and orgab, were
ruthlessly tom down, conveyed to the Cross, and
there consigned to the flames, amid the frantic
shrieks and yells of thousands. Not content with
all this, in a spirit of mad sacrilege, the mob, now
grown lawless, burst into the royal vault, tore some
of the leaden coffins asunder, and, according to
Amot, camed off the lids.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the rooG
which had become ruinous, was restored with flagstones
in a manner too ponderous for the ancient
arches, which gave way beneath the superincumbent
weight on the 2nd of December, 1768; and again
the people of Edinburgh became seized by a spirit
of the foullest desecration, and from thenceforward,
until a comparafively recent period, the ruined
church remained open to all, and was appropriated ?
tu the vilest uses. Grose thus describes what he
saw when the rubbish had been partly cleared
away :-? When we lately visited it we saw in the
middle of the chapel the columns which had been
borne down by the weight of the roof. Upon
looking into the vaults which were open, we found
that what had escaped the fury of the mob at the
Revolution became a prey to the mobwho ransacked
it after it fell. In A.D. 1776 we had seen the body
of James V. and others in their leaden coffins;
the coffins are now stolen. The head of Queen
Margaret (Magdalene?), which was then entire, and
even beautiful, and the skull of Damley, were also
stolen, and were last traced to the collection of a
statuary in Edinburgh.?
In 1795 the great east window was blown out
in a violent storm, but in 1816 was restored from
its own remains, which lay scattered about on the
ground. In the latter year the north-west tower,
latterly used as a vestry, was still covered by an
ogee leaden roof.
The west front of what remains, though the W0i-k
perhaps of different periods, is in the most beautiful
style of Early English, and the boldly-cut heads
in its sculptured arcade and rich variety of ornament
in the doorway are universally admired.
The windows above it were additions made so
latelyas the time of Charles I., and the inscriptions
which that upfortunate king had carved on the
Ornamental tablet between them is a striking illustration
of the vanity of human hopes. One runs :-
Ultimately this also fell.
?Basiluam ham, Carolus Rex, @firnus imtaxravit, 1633.?
The other :-
?HE SHALL ESTABLISH ANE HOUSE FOR MY NAME, AND I
WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOR
EVER.?
In the north-west tower is amarble monument to
Robert, Viscount Belhaven, who was interred there
in January, 1639. His nephews, Sir Archibald and
Sir Robert Douglas, placed there that splendid
memorial to perpetuate hisvirtues as a man and
steadiness as a patriot. A row of tombs of Scottish
nobility and others lie in the north aisle. The
Roxburgh aisle adjoins the royal vault in the
south aisle, and in front of it lies the tomb of the
Countess of Errol, who died in 1808. Close by.
it is that of the Bishop of Orkney, already referred
to. ? A flattering inscription enumerates the.
bishop?s titles, and represents this worldly hypocrite](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p071.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 59")
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Book 3 p. 59
(Score 1.01)
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