Edinburgh Bookshelf

Edinburgh Bookshelf

Search

Index for “tron church edinburgh”

NEW YEAR?S EVE AT THE TRON CHURCH.

... YEAR?S EVE AT THE TRON ...

Book 2 p. 186
(Score 4.27)

NEW YEARS EVE AT THE TRON CHURCH.
A CUDR NEW YEAR TO ANE AN' A'.
AN' MONY MAY WE SEE.'

... YEARS EVE AT THE TRON CHURCH. A CUDR NEW YEAR TO ANE AN' A'. AN' MONY MAY WE ...

Book 11 p. 88
(Score 4.09)

CHAPTER VI.
THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW.
N the centre of the High Street, not far from the site of the Tron Church, there stood I in ancient times the Tron or public beam for weighing merchandise; generally .
styled in early deeds and writings the Salt Tron, to distinguish it from the Butter
Tron, or Weigh-house, already described. It is shown in the curious bird’s-eye view of
the siege of Edinburgh Castle, drawn in 1573, in the form of a pillar mounted on steps, and
with a beam and scales attached to it. This central spot was the scene of many singular
exhibitions during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more especially in the
exposure and punishment of culprits. While traitors and political offenders of all sorts
expiated their crimes at the Cross, the lesser offences of perjury and knavery were reserved
by a discriminating system ofjustice for the more ignominious, though less deadly, penalties
of the Tron. One of the liveliest of the scenes which-were enacted there during the 17th
century, occurred on the arrival of the news in June 1650, that Charles 11. had landed in
the north. The Estates of Parliament were then assembled at Edinburgh, and the fickle
populace were already heartily tired of trying to govern themselves. Nicoll, the old diarist,
tells us, (‘ All signes of joyes wer manifested in a special1 maner in Edinburgh, by setting
furth of bailfyres, ringing of bellis, sounding of trumpettis, dancing almost all that night
through the streitis. The pure kaill wyfes at the Trone sacrificed thair mandis and creilh
and the verie stoolis thai sat npone to the %e.’’
. It has been hastily concluded from this, by certain sceptical antiquaries, that, as Jenny
Xicoll’a Diary, p. 16.
VIoNElTE-Ancient Doorway, Blackfriars’ Wynd.
21

... VI. THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. N the centre of the High Street, not far from the site of the Tron ...

Book 10 p. 270
(Score 3.79)

5% EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
Scotland were finally subscribed in a celIar opposite the entrance to the Tron
Church. The place is presently occupied by a wicker-worker j the bath on
the left of the Engravingis used for steeping the osiers.
CcLLAH IN WHICH THB UNION WAS SIGNED.
ANCHOR CLOSE. CRAIG'S CLOSE.
At the foot of Cockburn Street (so named after the famous Imd of
Session, whose country residence, BonaIy Tower,' is figured at page vi), is
1 Now in possession of Professor Hodgson, Edinburgh University.

... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. Scotland were finally subscribed in a celIar opposite the entrance to the ...

Book 11 p. 91
(Score 2.86)

428 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
IIL CHURCHES.
TRONCH nRcE.-The Tron Church, or Christ’s Church at the Tron, as it should be more correctly termed,
ia one of two churches founded about the year 1637, in consequence of want of accommodation for the citizens
in the places of worship then existing. They proceeded very slowly, impeded no doubt by the political disturbances
of the period. In 1647 the Church at the Tron was so far advanced as to admit of its being used for
public worship, but it was not entirely finished till 1663. On the front of the tower, over the great doorway,
a large ornamental panel bears the city arms in alto ~eEieuo, and beneath them the inscription BDEM HANO
CHRISTO ET ECCLESI~ SACBARUNT CIVES EDINBURQENSES, ANNO DON. MDCXLI. Some account has been given
@age 260) of the changes effected on the church in opening up the southern approaches to the city, in the
year 1785. It is finished internally with an open timber roof, somewhat similar to that in the Parliament
House j but its effect has been greatly impaired by the shortening of the church when it was remodelled externally.
In 1884 the old steeple was destroyed by fire. It wa built according to a design frequently repeated
on the public buildings throughout Scotland at that period, but the examples of which are rapidly disappearing.
Old St Nicholas’s Church at Leith still preserves the model on a small scale, and the tower of Glasgow College
is nearly a facsimile of it. The old tower of St Mary’s Church, as engraved in our view of it, was another
nearly similar, but that has been since taken down ; and a destructive fire has this year demolished another
similar erection at the Town Hall, Linlithgow. The site chosen for the second of the two churches projected
in 1637 was the Castle Hill, on the ground now occupied by the Reservoir. The building of the latter church
was carried to a considerable extent, as appears from cfordon’s View of Edinburgh, drawn about ten years later ;
but the Magistrates discovering by that time that it was much easier to project than to build such edifices, they,
according to Arnot, “pulled down the unfinished church on the Caste1 Hill, and employed the materials in
erecting the Tron.” There is good reason, however, for believing that Arnot is mistaken in this account of the
interruption of the former building. It is unquestionable, at any rate, that at no period since the Reformation
has the same zeal been manifested for religious foundations as appears to have prevailed at that period. In
1639, according to Amot, David Machall, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, left three thousand five hundred
merks, or, as in the Inventar of Pious Donations, I‘ 1000 merks yearly, to maintain a chaplain in the Tron
Church of Edin’ to mak Exercise every Sunday from 8 to 9 in the morning.” In 1647, Lady Yester.founded
the church that bears her name ; and in 1650, Thomas Noodie, or as he is styled in Slezer‘s Theatrum Scotia,
Sir Thomas Moodie of Sachtenhall, bequeathed the mm of twenty thousand merks to the Town Council, in
trust, for building a church in the town, and which, after variou.3 projects for its application to different purposes,
was at length made use of for providing a church for the parishioners of the Canongate, on their ejection
from Holyrood Abbey by James VII. in 1687. Such does not seem to be a period when a church which had
been in proopess for years, and, as would appear from Gordon’s View, was advancing towards completion,
would be deliberately levelled with the ground, from the difficulty of raising the necessary funds. The following
entry in the Inventar of Pious Donations, throws new light both on this and on the object of Moodie’s
bequest : ‘‘ Tho’ Mudie left for the re-edyfing to the Kirk that was throwne doun by the English in the Castle
Hill of E@, 40,000 merks,-but what is done fin I know not.” There is added on the margin in a later
hand, seemingly that of old Robcrt Milne, circa 1700.; “ The Wigs built the Canongate Kirk yrw’.” From this
it appears that the church on the Castle Hill shared the same fate as the old Weigh-house, its materials having
most probably been converted into redoubts for Cromwell’s artillery, during the siege of the Castle, for which
purpose they lay very conveniently at hand. In the year 1673, a bell, which cost 1490 merla and 8 shillings
Scots, was hung up in the steeple, and continued weekly to summon the parishioners to church till the Great
Fire of 1824, when, after han@g till it was partly melted by the heat, it fell with a tremendous crash among
the blazing ruins of the steeple, Portions of it were afterwards made into quaichs and other similar memorials

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. IIL CHURCHES. TRONCH nRcE.-The Tron Church, or Christ’s Church at the Tron, as it ...

Book 10 p. 467
(Score 2.65)

Tron Church.
sum had been paid but once in ten years, yet, if it
had been properly managed, the accumulated sum
behoved to have exceeded ~16,000 sterling."
The old spire had been partially built'of wood
covered with lead, according to a design frequently
repeated on public buildings then in Scotland. It
was copied from the Dutch ; but the examples of it
are rapidly disappearing. A bell, which cost 1,490
merks Scots, was hung in it in 1673, and continued
weekly to summon the parishioners to prayer and
-
EXPLANATION.
A The principal Entry.
B The mea 01 thrSyuare.
C The Piazza,
I3 The Coffee-room inthe west Coffec-hare.
d Rwnis aod Closets in diLlp.
a The Coffee-mm in the middk Ccffec
e Rmpis and Closets in ditm.
F The Coffee-room in the la t Coffeehoux.
f Raoms io ditto.
G The Great Sair leadiog to the Custon
H The P a q e Ieadioi 10 ditt-.
I 'An open for 1etriI.g in li6ht to the Houses
in the Writer's Court under the level of
the Square.
E The Passage belwecn the Square and
Wriicr's Court.
1. Seven Shops withiu the Square
m Four Shops behi d the raqe tvthe srect.
N Ten Shop an a line with the street.
0 An open of four feet for dcoopirg eaws
P Part ot the M'riter-5 Court.
g Area of ditto.
house. -
H0"W.
of the neighbouring houses
B
pounds yearly. It is an edifice of uninteresting
appearance and nondescript style, being neither
Gothic nor Palladian, but a grotesque mixture of
both. It received its name from its vicinity to the
Tron, or public beam for the weighing of merchandise,
which stood near it.
A very elegant stone spire, which was built in
1828, replaces that which perished in the great
conflaggation of four years before.
The Tron beam appears to have been used as
GENERAL PLAN OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. (Frmn an Engraviw in fhe "Scofs Mafizzine" fm 1754.)
sermon till the great fire of 1824, when it was
partly melted by heat, and fell with a mighty crash
through the blazing ruins of the steeple. Portions
of it were made into drinking quaighs and similar
memorials.
In 1678 the tower was completed by placing
therein the old clock which had formerly been in
the Weigh House.
Towards the building of this church the pious
Lady Yester gave 1,000 merks. In 1703 the
magistrates appointed two persons to preach alternately
in the Tron Church, to each of whom they
gave a salary of forty guineas, as the Council Re-,
gister shows ; but about 1788 they contented themselves
with one preacher, to whom they gave fifty
a pillory for the punishment of crime. In Niccol's
'' Diary" for 1649, it is stated that " much falset
and cheitting was daillie deteckit at this time by
the Lords of Sessioune; for the whilk there was
daillie nailing of lugs and binding of people to the
Trone, and boring of tongues; so that it was a
fatal year for false notaries and witnesses, as daillie
experience did witness."
On the night of Monday, the 15th of November,
1824, about ten o'clock, the cry of "Fire ! " was
heard in the High Street, and it spread throughout
the city from mouth to mouth ; vast crowds came
from all ,quarters rushing to the spot, and columns
of smoke and flame were seen issuing from the
second *floor of e house at the head of the old

... Church. sum had been paid but once in ten years, yet, if it had been properly managed, the accumulated ...

Book 1 p. 188
(Score 2.58)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. a7
Mr. Foote considered it necessary to reply to this attack ; and, accordingly,
in 1771, appeared an “Apology for the Minor, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Baine.”
In this defence the dramatist rests his argument solely upon one point-that
he merely satirised the follies and the vices of those who were only pretenders
to the character of the religious. The general opinion was, that his comedy
could never have been so keenly relished, but for the too ready disposition
of a large class of mankind to take hold of everything connected with the
imperfections of the professors of religion. In common with all perforinances
of a like nature, the Mimr was liable to the blame imputed to it by Mr. Baine,
and justified his strictures, though considered by many too severe. Upon
the mind of the reverend gentleman himself, the effect tended only to increase
his indignant feeling against so daring an outrage on the cause of religion and
morals.
Mr. Baine departed this life, 17th January 1790, having reached his
eightieth year, and sixtieth of his ministry. Though he experienced in his latter
days what has happened to many worthy ministsrs-a decline of popularitywhen
the novelty of their first appearance had subsided, his name stands conspicuous
in the history of the Relief Church, as one of the most remarkable of
its early and venerable fathers.
No. CCI.
E B E N E Z E R WI 1, S 0 N,
BRASSFOUNDER.
THIS worthy of the old school-long known as the Tron Church bellmanserved
his apprenticeship as a brassfounder with Mr. Robert Brown, Lawnmarket,
and became a member of the Incorporation of Hammermen in 1774. He carried
on business in a small way on his own account in Libberton’s Wynd ; but he
was never remarkable for activity or enterprise. In 1788, he obtained the
appointment of ringer of the Tron Kirk bell,’ with a salary of ten pounds a-year.
This small sum, with a trifling pension from the Hainmermen, was latterly his
chief support. At one period, when far “ down in the wind,” Eben petitioned
the Incorporation for a little money, saying he had neither work nor metal. Some
of the waggish members observed, what was he going to do with metal if he
had no work !
Eben was well known to the “ Hie Schule laddies,” by whom he was much
annoyed. They used to call him “ Ninepence,” in allusion to his old-fashioned
three-cornered hat. Almost every night a band of them assembled at the door
He succeeded an old man of the name of Nimmo, a dyer.

... SKETCHES. a7 Mr. Foote considered it necessary to reply to this attack ; and, accordingly, in 1771, ...

Book 9 p. 117
(Score 2.55)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 155
No. CCXXIV.
THE CITY T R 0 N -31 EN ;
CHPNNEY-S WEEPERS.
THE personal history of these men is almost entirely unknown ; and probably
few incidents in their humble progress through life would be found worthy of
recording. The elder of the two, DAVIDG ILCHRISTw,a s a worthy enough
person in his way ; and he is still remembered by some of the sable fraternity
of Edinburgh. He lived in the College Wynd, off the Cowgate.
At a remote period, there was only one individual of the name of Hamilton
-resident in the West Port ‘--who devoted his attention solely to the sweeping
of chimneys. He kept a number of men and boys in his employment;
but the city, notwithstanding, was very indifferently supplied. In order to
remedy this state of things-as well as to avoid the barbarous system of
“ climbing boys ” twelve men, previously porters, were appointed chimneysweepers
for the city, with an annual allowance of one guinea, and certain other
perquisites. They were called “ Tron-men,” from the circumstance of their
being stationed at the Trone,’ or public beam for weighing, which formerly
stood in front of the Tron Church.
A small wooden apartment was subsequently erected for them at the east end
of the City Guard-House, in which to deposit their apparatus ; and where the
men themselves were daily in waiting, ready to supply, in rotation, the demands
of their customers. In case of fire occurring, the duty of keeping watch at
night in the Guard-House devolved on one of their number alternately.
In the Print, the dress and apparatus of the “ City Tron-men ” are accurately
described. They wore flat bonnets--a coat peculiarly formed-and kneebreeches
and buckles-with a short apron. A ladder-a besom-with a coil
Hamilton resided a little to the west of the Vennel, and w89 known by the name of “ Sweep
The Trone appears to have been used as a pillory for the punishment of crime. In Nichoh Diary
for 1649, it is stated that “much falset and cheitting was dailie deteckit at this time by the Lords of
Sessioune ; for the whilk there was dailie hanging, skucging, nailing of lugs [ears], and Ending of
people to the TRONE, a d boring of tongues ; so that it was one fatal year for false notaries and
witnesses, as dailie experience did witness.” The wagh-house, wbich stood at the head of the West
Bow, built probably about the beginning of the seventeenth century, 85 a substitute for the Tmm,
was removed in 1822, on the King’s visit to Scotland, in order to make way for the Royal procession
to the Castle.
Jack.” He died about the end of last century.

... SKETCHES. 155 No. CCXXIV. THE CITY T R 0 N -31 EN ; CHPNNEY-S WEEPERS. THE personal history of ...

Book 9 p. 208
(Score 2.52)

Truir Church 1 THE TRON CHURCH. 187
is, into which the sun scarcely penetrates. But it
once contained a tavern of great consideration in
its time, ?The Star and Garter,? kept by a man
named Cleriheugh, who is referred to in ? Guy Mannering,?
for history and romance often march side
by side in Edinburgh, and Scott?s picture of the
strange old tavern is a faithful one. The reader
. of the novel may remember how, on a certain
Saturday night, when in search of Mr. Plzydell,
Dandie Dinmont, guiding Colonel Mannering,
turned into a dark alley, then up a dark stair, and
then into an open door.
While Dandie ?was whistling shrilly for the
waiter, as if he had been one of his collie dogs,
Mannering looked around him, and could hardly
conceive how a gentleman of a liberal profession
and good society should choose such a scene foi
social indulgence. Besides the miserable entrance,
the house itself seemed paltry and half ruinous.
The passage in which they stood had a window to
the close, which admitted a little Irght in the daytime,
and a villainous compound of smells at all
times, but more especially towards evening. Corresponding
to this window was a borrowed lighl
on the other side of the passage, looking into the
kitchen, which had no direct communication with
the free air, but received in the daytime, at second.
hand, such straggling and obscure light as found
its way from the lane through the window opposite.
At present, the interior of the kitchen was visible
by its own huge fires-a sort of pandemonium,
where men and women, half-dressed, were busied
in baking, boiling, roasting oysters, and preparing
devils on the gridiron; the mistress of the place,
with her shoes slipshod, and her hair straggling
like that of Megzra from under a round-eared
cap, toiling, scolding, receiving orders and giving
them and obeying them all at once, seemed the
presiding enchantress of that gloomy and fiery
Tegion.?
Yet it was in this tavern, perhaps more than any
other, that the lawyers of the olden time held
their high jinks and many convivialities. Cleriheugh?s
was also a favourite resort of the magistrates
and town councillors when a deep ,libation was
deemed an indispensable element in the adjustment
of all civic affairs; thus, in the last century,
city wags used to tell of a certain treasurer d
Edinburgh, who, on being applied to for new rope
to the Tron Kirk bell, summoned the Council to
consider the appeal. An adjournment to Cleriheugh?s
was of course necessary ; but as one dinnei
was insufficient for the settlement of this weighty
matter, it was not until three had been discussed
that the bill was settled, and the old rope spliced !
Before proceeding with the general history ot
the High Street we will briefly notice that of the
Tron Church, and of the great fire in which it was
on the eve of perishing.
The old Greyfriars, with the other city churches,
being found insufficient for the increasing population,
the Town Council purchased two sites, on
which they intended to erect religious fabrics.
One was on the Castle Hill, where the reservoir
now stands ; the other was where the present Tron
Church is now built. This was in the year 1637,
when the total number of householders, as shown
by the Council records, could not have been much
over 5,000, as a list made four years before ?shows
the numbers to have been 5,071, and the annual
amount ofrents payable by them only ;EI~z,I 18 ss.,
hots money.
Political disturbances retarded the progress of
both these new churches. The one on the Castle
Hill was totally abandoned, after having been
partially destroyed by the English during the siege
in 1650 ; and the other-the proper name of which
is Christ?s Church at the Tron-was not ready for
public worship till 1647, nor was it completely
finished ,till 1663, at the cost of A6,000, so much
did war with England and the contentions of the
Covenanters and Cavaliers retard everything and
impoverish the nation. On front of the tower over
the great doorway a large ornamented panel bears
the city arms in alto-relievo, and beneath them the
inscription-XDEM HANC CHRISTO ET ECCLESIE
SACRARUNT CIVES EDINBGRGENSES,, ANNO Doxr
MDCLI. It is finished internally with an open roof
of timber-work, not unlike that of the Parliament
House.
Much of the material used in the construction of
the sister church on the Castle Hill was pulled
down and used in the walls of the Tron, which the
former was meant closely to resemble, if we may
judge from the plan of Gordon of Rothiemay. 10
1644 the magistrates bought 1,000 stone weight of
copper in Amsterdam to cover the roof; but such
were the exigencies of the time that it was sold,
and stones and lead were substituted in its place.
In 1639 David Mackall, a merchant of Edinburgh;
gave >,so0 merks, or about ;E194 sterling,
to the magistrates in trust, for purchasing land, to
be applied to the maintenance of a chaplain in
the Tron Church, where he was to preach every
Sunday morning at six o?clock, or such other hour
as the wgistrates should appoint They may be
truly said, continues Arnot, ?to have hid this
talent in a napkin. They did not? appoint a
preacher for sixty-four years. As money then
bore ten per cent., although the interest of thii

... Church 1 THE TRON CHURCH. 187 is, into which the sun scarcely penetrates. But it once contained a tavern of ...

Book 1 p. 187
(Score 2.46)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 299
He was also connected with several literary and theological societies formed
among his fellow-students; and was a member of the Newtonian Society, instituted
in 1760, which for several years continued to meet weekly in one of the
rooms of the College, and which may be said to have been the precursor of the
present Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He was
at the time very young, and not sufficiently practised in the art of literary condensation.
When it came to his turn to produce an essay for the evening, he
had entered so sincerely and fully upon the subject that he appeared at the
forum with an immense bundle of papers under his arm, and commenced by
stating that his discourse consisted of twelve different parts ! This announcement
alarmed the preses for the night so much, that he interrupted him by
declaring that he had twelve distinct objections to the production of such a mass
of manuscripts. The preses accordingly stated his twelve reasons, and was followed
on the same side by six other members, who prefaced their observations
by a similar declaration, During this opposition the temper of the young theologian
remained unruffled ; and it was not till the last speaker had finished his
oration that he took up his papers, and, without deigning to reply, walked out
of the room.
In 1770 Dr. Hunter was presented to the New Church of Dumfries, and
soon afterwards became the purchaser of the estate of Barjarg in that county,
which had previously belonged to James Erskine of Barjarg and Alva-one of
the Senators of the College of Justice. He remained at Dumfries for nine years,
and was much esteemed by all classes of the community.
In 1779 he was presented to the New Greyfriars’ Church, Edinburgh; and
whilst there was appointed the colleague of Dr. Hamilton (father to the late
eminent physician), in the Divinity Professorship of the University ; and, until
the death of that gentleman, continued to teach his class without any remuneration.
In 1786 he was translated by the Magistrates to the Tron Church, where
he became associated with Dr. Drysdalel-a clergyman much esteemed for his
Dr. Drysdale, whose presentation to Lady Yester’s Church made much noise in Edinburgh, was
a native of Kirkcaldy. He received his early education at the village school taught by Mr. David
Miller, and was the intimate associate of Dr. Adam Smith, Janies Oswald of Dunnikier, and several
other distinguished men, to whom Mr. Miller had the honour of imparting instruction. Dr. Drysdale
waq presented to Lady Yester’s Church by the Town Council in 1763. For some time prior, the
election of ministers for the city having been allowed to remain with the general sessions, the resumption
of power by the Council in this instance gave rise to much cavil and commotion. A civil process
w &t~he consequence, which was ultimately decided in favour of the corporation. Notwithstanding
the unpleasant circumstances connected with his presentation, the great talents and natural
eloquence of Dr. Drysdale, together with his known character as a man, soon rendered him a popular
minister. In 1766, he was still farther honoured by the Town Council, in being translated to the
Tron Church on the death of Dr. Jardine. Dr. Drysdale was much esteemed by his brethren ; and.
in 1773, was chosen Moderator of the General Assembly. In the affairs of this court he took an
adive interest ; and was the steady supporter of his friend Dr. Robertson, on the moderate side.
In conjunction with his venerable colleague Dr. Wishart, he was appointed Clerk to the Court ic
1778 ; and, in 1784, had the peculiar honour of bcing a second time solicited to be put in nomina-
An anecdote is told of Dr. Hunter in connection with this Society.

... SKETCHES. 299 He was also connected with several literary and theological societies formed among his ...

Book 8 p. 419
(Score 2.14)

$52 ? OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
remainder of the structure cannot be earlier than
the close of the sixteenth century, and the date
on the steeple, which closely resembles that of the
old Tron church, destroyed in the great fire of 1824,
4?St. Ninian?s chapel still occupies its ancient
site on the bank of the Water of Leith, but very
little of the original structure of the good abbot
remains : probably no more than a small portion
of the basement wall on the north side, where a
small doorway appears with an elliptical arch, now
built up and .partly sunk in the ground. The
There is a more modem addition to the new
church, erected apparently in the reign of Queen
Anne, and into it has beeeuilt a sculptured lintel,
bearing in large Roman letters the legend :-
present edifice on the old one, erected a parsonage,
and in i 606 obtained an Act of Parliament erecting
the district into a parish, named North Leith, which,
even after the Reformation was achieved, had nu
pastor in place of the old chaplain till 1599, when
a Mr. James Muirhead was appointed to the
ministry.
is 1675.??
After the Reformation, when the chaplain?s
house, the tithes, and other pertinents of the chaDei,
- -
?BISSSED. AR. THEY. YAT. HEIR. YE. VORD. OF. GOD,
AND. KEEP. 1600.
were ?acquired by purchase- from John Bothieli
the Protestant commendator of Holyrood, the new
proprietors immediately rebuilt, or engrafted, the
When erected into a parish Ehurch, it was endowed
with sundry grants, including the neighbouring
chapel and hospital of St. Nicholas.

... ? OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith. remainder of the structure cannot be earlier than the close of the sixteenth ...

Book 6 p. 252
(Score 2.12)

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES. 57
crowd, the eye rests on the Tron gial, and the words of Hugh Miller on the
approach of the New Year occur to the mind-‘After marking the red glare
of Ztna reflected in the waves that slumber round the moles of Syracuseafter
glancing on the towers of the seven-hilled city, and the hoary snows of
the Alps-after speeding over France, over Flanders, over the waves of the
German Sea, it will be with ourselves, and the tall ghostly tenements of Dun-
Edin will re-echo the shouts of the High Street.’ James Smith, in his
sketches of Edinburgh life five-and-twenty years ago, graphically describes
the scene :-‘ I sallied forth for a stroll along the busy streets. Every
shop-window was looking gayer than another, particularly those of the
bakers and confectioners, that presented a sight that was enough to gladden
the eye of Epicurus. Currant loaves in thousands were there, buns of every
hue and colour, cakes of shortbread containing proverbial expressions and
happy wishes on their outside, done up tastefully with lemon-peel--“A
happy New Year when it comes, an’ mony returns”--“ Mind twelve o’clock”
-“Ye ken wha frae J J - ~ ~ Dinna forget ”-“ Hoo’s a’ wi’ ye ?”-cc The simple
man’s the beggar’s brither ”-‘<A merry Christmas, and a happy New Year”-
May the mouse never leave yer meal-pock wi’ a tear in its e’e ”-“ Happy
W? muckle, and canty wi’ mair ”-“ Absent freen’s ”-“ May the last year be
the warst year, an’ the next ane be the best ane.” Loud rang the cheery
cries on every side--“ Almanacks 1 Almanacks ! Belfast Almanacks 1 ” I
wandered up and down the streets until it was within a few minutes of the
last hour of the dying year, and then joyfully formed one of the happy band
of daredevils that encircled the Tron Church ; and when the momentous
hour began to chime-the hour of tweZw-I joined lustily in &e cheery cry,
“A happy New Year I ” that rolled on the wintry air like thunder. Friend met
friend, and stranger met stranger, with the right hand extended and the everwelcome
salutation--l‘A happy New Year-hurrah ! a happy New Year 1”
Here’s to the Year that’s awa’ 1 ”
‘‘ Happy we’ve been a’ thegither,
Canty we’ve been ane an’ a’.”
“A gude New*Year to ane an’ a’,
An’ mony may we see,”-
GC
‘ Now and then,
ora
song of brilliant but unfortunate poor Sandy Hume, who now lies mouldering
in the dust-a thorough musician and a true poet as well-fell on the ear
like sweet music.‘ The custom is very similar at the present day.
There is a tradition that the Articles of Union between England and
H

... AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES. 57 crowd, the eye rests on the Tron gial, and the words of Hugh Miller on ...

Book 11 p. 90
(Score 2.07)

156 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of ropes and a ball, completed their equipment. Besides enjoying a species of
monopoly within the city, they formed themselves into a Society, the entry money
to which was jive pounds, and the quarterly dues 3s. 6d. This high rate was
no doubt suggested from exclusive motives. As the city increased, many new
sweepers had commenced on their own account in the suburbs, and not a few
had been admitted to participate in the privileges of the Don-men ; although
the annual allowance of a guinea continued to be limited to the original number ;
and, as a distinguishing mark, none but the twelve were permitted to wear the
broad bonnet.
The Society of Tron-men, like most other exclusive bodies, were not without
entertaining a due estimate of their own importance and respectability. As an
instance, one of the members-Robert Hunter-was expelled the Society, and
virtually banished to Leith for the space of five years, for having brought
dishonour on the fraternity, by assisting the authorities at the execution of
Captain Ogilvie-the paramour of the celebrated Catharine Nairne-on the 13th
November 1765.
After his condemnation, every exertion was made by the friends of the
Captain to procure a reversal of the sentence, by an appeal to the House of
Lords. The competency of such a proceeding had not then been finally settled ;
and, with the view of giving time for considering the question, four successive
reprieves were obtained for the prisoner-the first three for fourteen days, and
the last for seven. He was then warned to prepare for death, an appeal from
the High Court of Justiciary having been deemed irregular by the officers of
the Crown. Finding all other means of escape impossible, the Captain’s friends
contrived to bribe the finisher of the law ; in the fallacious belief that if the
rope failed he could not legally be thrown off a second time. Accordingly, on
the day of execution, no sooner had the culprit been turned off than “ the noose
of the rope slipped, and he fell to the ground.” The Captain was immediately
laid hold of; but he resisted with great vigour. By the “ assistance of the city
servants,” he was again dragged up the ladder and despatched.’ As one of the
“ city servants,” Hunter had rendered essential aid, for which, as affirmed, he
received a reward of five pounds ; and his conduct having been greatly censured
by his brethren of the Tron, he was expelled the Society in the manner already
described. Hunter died about 1812.
When the City Guard-House was demolished in 1785, the Tron-men, along
with the Guard, were accommodated in the Old Assembly Rooms-a part of
the premises being appropriated for their use, to which they entered from Bell’s
Wynd. Owing to the great increase of the city, and sundry other causes, the
chimney-sweepers began to feel the attendance exacted from them extremely
This is not the only instance in which the non-men were associated with the common executioner
in the performance of his duty. In 1746, when the standards belonging to the army of Prince
Charles were publicly burned at the Cross, by order of the Duke of Cumberland, they were carried
in procession from the Castle by the hangman and thirteen chimney-sweepers. The standards were
destroyed one by one, a herald proclaiming to whom they respectively belonged.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. of ropes and a ball, completed their equipment. Besides enjoying a species of monopoly ...

Book 9 p. 209
(Score 1.98)

246 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
as that in which she spent the last night in the capital of her kingdom; the last on which
though captive, she was still its Queen. The magnificent and imposing character of this
building, coupled with the historical associations attached to it, have given it an exaggerated
importance in popular estimation, so that tradition assigned it a very remote antiquity,
naming as its builder, King Kenneth III., who was slain A.D. 994; not without the
testimony of heaven’s displeasire thereat, for “ the moon looked bloody for several nights,
to the infinite terror of those that beheld her,” besides other equally terrible prodigies I
Maitland, the painstaking historian of Edinburgh, detecting the improbability of such
remote foundation for this substantial building, obtained access to the title-deeds, and found
a sasine of the date 1461, conveying it to George Robertson of Lochart, the son of the
builder, which would imply its having been erected early in the fifteenth century. From
other evidence, we discovered that it belonged in the following century to George Crighton,
Bishop of Dunlreld, and was in all probability either acquired or rebuilt by him for the
purpose of the religious foundation previously described. This appears from an action
brought by “ the Administrators of Heriot’s Hospital, against Robert Hepburn of Bearford,”
in 1693, e for ‘‘ a ground-annual out of the tenement called Ro6ertson’s Tnn,” and which
at a subsequent date is styled, “ his tenement in Edinburgh called the Black Turnpike.”
The pursuers demanded the production of the original writs from the Bishop of Dunkeld,
and it would appear from the arguments in defence, that the building had been conferred
by the Bishop on two of his own illegitimate daughters, and so diverted from the pious
objects of its first destination, perchance as a sort of compromise between heaven and
earth, by which more effectually to secure the atonement he had in view for t,he errors of a
licentious life. To all this somewhat discrepant evidence we shall add one more fact from
the Caledonian Mercury, May 15th, 1788, the date of its demolition:--“The edifice
commonly called the Black Turnpike, immediately to the west of the Tron Church, at the
head of Peebles Wynd, one of the oldest stone buildings upon record in Edinburgh, is
now begun Qo be pulled down. . . . It may be true what is afimed, that Queen Mary was
lodged in it in the year 1567, but if part of the building is really so old, it is evident
other parts are of a later date, for on the, top of a door, the uppermost of the three entries
to this edifice from Peebles Wynd, we observe the following inscription :-
PAX a INTRANTIBVS a SALVS EXEVNTIBVS * 1674.”
The whole character of the building, however, seems to have contradicted the idea of
so recent an erection, and tlie inscription-a peculiarly inappropriate one for the scene
of the poor Queen’s last lodging in her capital-is probably the only thing to which the
date truly applied.
We have passed over the intermediate alleys from the New Assembly Close to the
Tron Church, in order to preserve the connection between the ancient lands of the
Bishop of Dunkeld, that formed at different periods the lodging of Queen Mary.
Stevenlaw’s Close, the last that now remains of that portion of the High Street, still contains
buildings of an early date. Over a doorway on the west side, near the foot, is this
1 Abercrombie’s Martial Achievements, vol. i p. 194. ’ Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. i. pp. 683, 688.
J We have stated reasons before fur believing that dates were sometimes put on buildings by later proprietors.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. as that in which she spent the last night in the capital of her kingdom; the last on ...

Book 10 p. 267
(Score 1.91)

250 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Geddes, the heroine of 1637, was one of the kail wives of the Tron, her famous stool-the
formidable weapon with which she began the great rebellion, by hurling it at the Dean of
St Giles’ head-must have perished in this repentant ebullition of joy, and accordingly
that the relic shown in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries is undeserving of credit.
We must protest, however, against so rash an hypothesis, which would involve the
destruction of the sole monument of the immortal Janet’s heroic onslaught; seeing there can
be no reasonable question that a dame so zealous and devout would reserve her best stool for
the Sunday’s services, and content herself with a common creepie for her week-day avocations
at the Tron I There is no doubt, however, that Jenny gave unequivocal proofs of
her loyalty at a later period, as she is specially mentioned in the Mercurius Caledonius, a
newspaper published immediately after the Restoration, as having taken a prominent share
in similar rejoicings on the coronation of the king in 1661. “But among all our bontados
and caprices,’’ says the curious.annalist, ‘‘ that of the immortal Jenet Geddis, Princesse of
the Trone Adventurers, was most pleasant, for she was not only content to assemble all her
creels, basquets, creepies, frames, and other ingredients that composed the shope of her
sallets, radishes, turnips, carrots, spinage, cabbage, with all other sort of pot merchandise
that belongs to the garden, but even her leather chair of state, where she used to dkpense
justice to the rest of her langkale vassals, were all very orderly burned; she herself
countenancing the action with a high-flown flourish and vermillion majesty.”
Halkerston’~W ynd, which is the first close now remaining on the north side of the
. High Street below the Tron Church, had once been a place of considerable note, but
nearly every vestige of antiquity has disappeared. We have already given a view a of a
very curious ancient lintel still remaining on the east side, which bears on it the monogram
IHS, and a cross-Jeury, with a coronet surmounting the letter D. The whole style
and character of this doorway indicates a date long anterior to the Reformation, but the
building to which it belonged has been demolished, all but a portion of the outer wall,
and we have failed to obtain any clue to its early history. It was in its later state a
timber-fronted land, having a good deal of carving along the gables, and an ornamental
stone stair-case projecting beyond, altogether indicatiug the remains of a magnxcent
and costly mansion of the olden time. Adjoining this, another doorway, forming a
similar vestige of a more modern building, bears the common inscription, BLISSIT . BE
GOD . FOR . AL . HIS . GIFTIS . and the initials and date RD * D - 1609.. This ancient
alley formed one of the accesses to the city from the north, previous to the erection of the
North Bridge. Fountainhall’ gives a curious account of an action brought by Robert
Malloch in 1701 against the magistrates of Edinburgh, for shutting up the Halkerston’s
Wynd Port. From this it appears that a suburban village had sprung up on Moutrie’s
Hill, the site now occupied by James’ Square, in which a number of poor weavers and other
tradesmen had set up in defiance of the incorporations of the Gude Toun. The deacons
finding their crafts in danger, took advantage of an approaching election to frighten the
magistrates into a just sense of the enormity of tolerating such unconstitutional interlopers
Even Jenny Geddes’s well-earned reputation “cannot live out of the teeth of emulation.” Kincaid (Hist. of Edin.
p. 63) puts forward a new claimant to her honours, “ an old woman named Hamilton, grandmother to Robert Mein,
late Dean of Guild officer in Edinburgh”
Ante, p. 118. Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. ii. p. 110.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. Geddes, the heroine of 1637, was one of the kail wives of the Tron, her famous ...

Book 10 p. 271
(Score 1.87)

16 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
of the gentler memory of Dandie Dinmont with his iron-grey topcoat and
his huge whip, and of Guy Mannering knocking at the door of Paulus
WARRISTON CLOSE. WRITERS‘ COURT.
Pleydell, Esq., and finding that he is away at High Jinks, it being ‘Saturday at
e’en,’ and by the name of Pleydell recalling you a step or two back to his and
his creator‘s chosen haunt, the Parliament House, with its ten thousand
histories of forensic eloquence, lynx-eyed acuteness; deferred hope, mortified
ambition, misapplied genius, worlds of wasted wit, humour, and ingenuity,
personal, legal, and political intrigue, justice often omitted in her own sanctuary
by ‘ special desire,’ or meted out with severest accuracy,-as much the
tempIe of human nature as of law.
Then under the wing of the Tron Church, skirting the Bridges, and showing
to the eye on one hand the Register House and Post-Office, and on the other
the College ; then plunging into the Canongate, once the royal region of the
city, and which, long after kings had ceased to haunt it, was fined with old
hotels which Gom the street opened up into paved courts and gardens, seeming
to retain and conserve the spirit of monarchy and nobility, as the deep cool
recesses of the forest retain the morning dew long after it has melted on the
wide savannas,-and which bore for its arms the proud escutcheon, Sic ifur

... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. of the gentler memory of Dandie Dinmont with his iron-grey topcoat and his huge ...

Book 11 p. 24
(Score 1.84)

456 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
standing on that pillorie, with his heid and handis lyand out at hoilis cuttit out for that end, his rycht lug was
cuttit af; and thaireftir careyit over to the toun of St Johnnestoun, quhair ane uther pillorie wes erectit, on
the quhilk the uther left lug wes cuttit af him. The caus heirof W&B this ; that he haid gevin out fah calumneis
and le@ aganes Collonell Daniell, governour of Peirth. Bot the treuth is, he was ane notorious decevar and
ane intelligencer, sumtyme for the Englisches, uther tymes for the Scottis, and decevand both of thame:
besyde mony uther prankis quhilk wer tedious to writt.”
(‘ Last of Apryle 1655.-The Marschellis man, quha weB apoynted to haif cuttit Mr Patrik Maxwell haill lug,
bot being buddit pribed] did onlie cutt a€ a pairt of his lug, was thairfoir this day brocht to the Mercat Croce
of Edinburgh, and set upone the pillarie, and thair his lug boirit for not obeying his oommissioun in that
“23 Marche 1657.-Thair wes ane Engliache sodger bund naikit to the gallous of Edinburgh, and first
scourgit, and thaireftir his lugges naillit to the gallous by the space of ane hour or thairby, and thaireftir hia
lugges cuttit out of his heid for cunzieing and forging two halff crounes. The quhich two half crounea war
festned and naillit to the gibit, quhair they remayne to this day.”
These are ody the minor punishments inflicted on offenders, The same annalist recorda hanging and
burning for more heinous crimes, with painful frequency ; proving either a period of unusual depravity, or of
unwonted strictness in searching after secret offences that am now scarcely ever heard of before our criminal
Wurt&
The mode of public pillory, by nailing the offender’s ear to the Tron, continued in use in the eighteenth
century, though it was latterly only resorted to for the punishment of graver offenders, others being simply
exposed, with a label a x e d to them publishing their infamy, On the 24th July 1700, as appears by the Acta
of Sederunt, John Corse of Corsemlin was convicted of using a vitiated bond, the same having been altered
with his knowledge, “and therefore the Lords ordain the said John to be sent to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh,
and from thence on Friday next, before eleven o’clock in the forenoon, to be taken by the hands of the common
hangman to the Tron, and there to have his ear nailed to the Tron and to stand so nailed till twelve hours
strike, and to have these words in great letters fixed on hk breast, as he goes down the street, and upon the
Tron, For his kno~ledgeof , and using a vitiate bond”
popt.”
NOSEP mcHmCt.-The following notices of a sw later date show the same process of nailing continued,
with the addition of an entirely novel means of torture, called Nose Pinching. This, we presume, must have
been effected by screwing some instrument like a hand-vice on the nose, which, in addition to the acute pain
it inflicted, must have presented 8 singularly ludicrous appearance to the by-standers, as the culprit stood
nailed to the post with his pincAw dangling from his nose, hugging &B it were the instruments of his torture.
The following notices are extracted from a “List of Precedents excerpte from the Records of Warranda to
vouch the use and exercise of the Town of Edinburgh’s Jurisdiction of SheriGhip by the Lord Provost and
Baillies.”
(‘ 29 October 1723.-The trial and process against James Stewart, alias M‘Pherson, a vagrant thief, whipt
“28 December 1726.-The trial against George Melvil, notour thief; set on the bone, and his nose
(‘ 17 October 1727.-The trial against David Allison for theft. Pillar’d, pinch’d in the nose, and sent to the
“29 Mych 1728.-The trial against Jean Spence, notour thief; pillar‘d, her lug nailed, and her nose pinched.”
.
and sent to the Correction House for life.”
pinch’d”
Correction House.”

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. standing on that pillorie, with his heid and handis lyand out at hoilis cuttit out for ...

Book 10 p. 496
(Score 1.8)

260 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
be considered its culminating point. It descended thereafter to Bellevue House in
Drummond Place, built by General Scott, the father-in-law of Mr Canning, which house
was demolished in 1846, in completing the tunnel of the Edinburgh and Leith Railway ;
and now, we believe, the exciseman no longer possesses a ‘ I local habitation ” within the
Scottish capital.
On the southern side of the High Street, below “the Tron,” some few remains of
antiquity have escaped the ruthless hand of destruction, though the general character of
the buildings partakes largely of modern tameness and insipidity. Previoua to the
commencement of the South Bridge in 1785, the east end of the Tron Church, which has
since been considerably curtailed, abutted on to a large and stately range of building of
polished ashlar, with an arched piazza, supported on stone pillars, extending along nearly
the whole front. A large archway in this building, immediately adjoining the church,
formed the entrance to Marlin’s Wynd, in front of which a row of six stones, forming
the shape of a coffin, indicated the grave of Marlin, a Frenchman, who, having first paved
the High Street in the sixteenth century, seems to have considered that useful work his
best public monument ; but the changes effected on this locality have long since oblite- ‘
rated the pavior’s simple memorial. The same destructive operations swept away the whole
of Niddry’s Wynd, an ancient alley, abounding with interesting fabrics of an early date,
and associated with some of the most eminent citizens of former times. Here was the
civic palace of Nicol Udward, Provost of Edinburgh in 1591, a large and very handsome
quadrangle building, of uniform architectural design and elegant proportions, in which
King James VI. and his Queen took up their residence for a time in 1591.‘ This
building appears, from the description of it, to have been one of the most magdcent
private edifices of the Old Town.’ In the same wynd, a little further down on the
opposite side, stood St Mary’s Chapel, an ancient religious foundation dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. It was founded and endowed by Elizabeth, Countess of Ross, in 1504,
the widow of John, Lord of the Isles, who was outlawed and forfeited by James III. for
treasonable correspondence with Edward IV. of England. She was the eldest daughter
of James, Lord Livingston, Great Chamberlain of Scotland, and appears to have held
considerable property by special charters in her own behalf. A modern edifice has been
substituted for the ancient chapel before the demolition of Niddry’a Wynd, which formed
the hall of the corporation of wrights and masons. It was acquired by them in 1618,
since which they have borne the name of the United Incorporations of May’s Chapel.
The modern erection appeared from it,s style to have been built early in the eighteenth
century, and its name is now transferred to their unpretending hall in Bell’s Wynd.
On entering Dickson’s Close, a little farther down the street, the first home the visitor
comes to on the left hand is a neat and very substantial stone edifice, evidently the work
of Robert Mylne, and built about the period of the Revolution. Of its first occupants
we can give no account, but one of its more recent inhabitants is calculated to give it a
peculiar interest. Here was the residence of David Allan, ‘‘ our Scottish Hogarth,” as
he was called, an artist of undoubted genius, whose fair fame has suffered by the tame
insipidity which inferior engravers have infused into his illustrations to Ramsay and
Burna. The satiric humour and drollery of his well-known ‘‘ rebuke scene ” in a country
...
l Bnte, p. 89. ’ For a detailed account of this very interesting old building, vide Minor Bntiquitieq p. 207,

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. be considered its culminating point. It descended thereafter to Bellevue House ...

Book 10 p. 282
(Score 1.76)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 49
system. But, while he deprecated patronage in the abstract, he was equally
averse to popular election. The plan which he promulgated, in his address, was
similar in principle to the act in 1732. He proposed that one entire vote
should remain with the patron, a second with the heritors, and a third with the
elders ; the majority of these three bodies to decide the election of the minister.
In order to obtain the concurrence of the patrons to this partial divestment
of their power-“Let it be provided,” he says, “ that all vacant stipends
shall be declared to become their absolute property, instead of being conveyed
in trust for any other purpose ;” and, by way of explaining such an extraordinary
clause, the Rev. gentleman adds-“ The vacant stipends are appropriated
in law to pious uses within the parish, but indeed are very seldom so bestowed,
and parishes would in fact suffer nothing by their total abolition !” This plan,
as might have been foreseen, was not at all calculated to meet the views of the
popular party ; but it had the effect of introducing the author to public notice,
and of paving the way for his subsequent advancement,
In 1784, only two years after the publication of his “Principles of Moderation,”
Dr. Hardie was called, by the Town Council of Edinburgh, to be one of
the Ministers of the High Church. Here he soon attracted notice as a preacher ;
and an exposition which he gave of the Gospel according to St. John, was so
generally esteemed, that an Edinburgh bookseller is said to have offered him a
very considerable sum for the copyright. On the proposal being made to him,
however, it was discovered that the lectures had never been written out, but
delivered from short notes only. In consequence of delicate health, and finding
himself unable for so large a place of worship as the High Church, he was
at his own request removed, in 1786, to Haddo’s Hole, or the New North
Parish, where he continued the colleague of Dr. Gloag until his death.
In 1788 Dr. Hardie was elected to the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History
in the University, vacant by the death of the Rev. Robert Cumming.
For many years previously this important class had been in a languishing condition
; but the appointment of Dr. Hardie infused a new spirit among the students.
His course of lectures was well attended ; and his fame as a Professor
soon equalled, if it did not surpass, his popularity as a preacher. His views of
church history took an extensive range ; and the boldness of his sentiments was
not less vigorous than the manly tone of his eloquence.
Although thus placed in a situation of high honour and importance, and his
time necessarily much engaged, Dr. Hardie still interested himself actively in
matters of public moment. He was one of the original members of the “ Society
for the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy of the Church of Scotland;” and in
1791, preached the first anniversary sermon before the Society: which was
afterwards published. Other sermons, preached on public occasions, were also
“ The Benevolence of the Christian Spirit ; a sermon preached in the Tron church of Edinburgh,
31st May 1791, before the Society for the Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy of the church of
Scotland. By Thomas Hardie, D.D., one uf the ministers of the city, and Regius Professor of
Divinity and Church History in the University of Edinburgh.” Creech, Is.
VOL. IL H .

... SKETCHES, 49 system. But, while he deprecated patronage in the abstract, he was equally averse to ...

Book 9 p. 66
(Score 1.75)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 229
wages were to be given away in charity. One day, while engaged with his fellowbarrowman
in carrying up stones to the masons, as might have been expected
he felt much fatigued; and a passage of Scripture-“Do thyself no harm’-
coming opportunely to his recollection, he at once laid down his portion of the
barrow. His companion behind, still holding the shafts, and provoked by the
untimely delay, broke out into a volley of dreadful oaths and imprecations ; to
prevent which Andrew resumed the burden sooner than he intended. When
the labours of the day were over, he was asked by a friend, to whom he
repeated the occurrence, if he had forgot the sum of the second table of the
law, which says, “ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself 1” Andrew replied
that it did not occur to him at the time. On his friend reminding him that,
had he been the undermost bearer of the barrow, his own safety would have
dictated a different course, he cordially assented--“ You say right ; that is very
true.’’
His opposition to the prevailing customs of society arose from an indiscriminate
and rigid interpretation of particular portions of the Sacred Writings ; and
probably the same cause led to his dissent from the ordinary modes of public
worship. He used to say that he had read of a church in Ethiopia, where the
service chiefly consisted in reading the Scriptures. ‘‘ That,” said he, “ is the
church I would have attended.” He preferred reading the Bible in the original ;
and to his extreme fondness for expounding the Scriptures, the attitude in which
he is portrayed in the Print evidently refers. At the time the building of the
South Bridge was in progress, Andrew has been often seen at a very early hour
on the Sabbath morning-long before his fellow-citizens were roused from their
slumbers-seated in the fresh air to the south of the Tron Church, with hie
Hebrew Psalter in his hand.’
He frequented those churches where the greatest portion of Scripture were
read, and generally visited more than one place of worship in the course of a
forenoon. He repaired first to the Glassites, who met in Chalmers’ Closethen
to the Baptists, in Niddry Street, or to the Old Independent Church in
the Candlemaker Row, The former he preferred for their Scripture reading,
and the latter for the doctrines taught. In short, the Bible was the standard
to which he seemed desirous of assimilating himself, not more in faith than in
manners ; and his language formed on the same model, abounded in Scripture
phrases and quotations, applicable to almost every circumstance in life, Mistaken
he might be in some of his views, and over rigid in others; but in
1 On the fint leaf of a Hebrew Grammar, which he occasionally used, he had inscribed two lines
“ I rise each day from my bed with the impression that it may be, and with the purpose of spendof
classical Latin, copied from Melancthon, somewhat to the following effect :-
ing it aa if it were to be, my last.”
After which was mitten, as under :-
‘‘ Nothing but GOD, and GOD done you’ll find,
Can fill a boundless and immortal mind.”

... SKETCHES. 229 wages were to be given away in charity. One day, while engaged with his ...

Book 9 p. 305
(Score 1.72)

CONTENTS. B
CHAPTER XV.
. THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES. PAGE
SL Giles?s Church-The Patron Saint-Its Wgh and early Norman style-The Renovation of xEzg-History of the StrucsPmcession of
the Saint?s Relics-The Preston Relic-The Chapel of the Duke of Albany-Funeral of the Regent Morray-The ?Gude Regent?s
Aisle?-The Assembly Aisle-Dispute between James VI. and the Church Part-Departure of James VI.-Haddo?s Hole-The
Napier Tomb-The Spire and Iantun--Clak and Bells-The Krames-Restoration of 1878 . . . . . . . 1.38 . .
CHAPTEK XVI.
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ST. GILES?S.
St Giles?s Churchyard-The Maison Dieu-The Clam-shell Turnpike-The Grave of Knox-The City C-The Summons of Pint-
Executions : Kirkaldy, Gilderoy, and othe-The Caddies-The Dyvours Stane-The LnckenboobThe Auld Kirk Style-Byre?s
Lodging--Lord Coaktoun?s Wig-Allan Ramsay?s Library and ?? Creech?s Land?-The Edinburgh Halfpenny . . . . . 1 4
f .
CHAPTEK XVII.
? THE PARLIAMEXT HOUSE.
Site of the Parliament Iiouse-The Parliament Hall-Its fine Roof-Proportions-Its External Aspect of Old-Pictures and Statues-The
Great South Window-The Side Windows-Scots Prisoners of War-General Monk Feasted-A Scene with Gen. DalyeU-The Fire of
17-Riding of the Parliament-The Union-Its due Effects and ultimate good Results-Trial of Covenanters . . . . . 157
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE (continued).
The Faculty of Advocates-The Wr:ters to the Signet-Solicitors before the Supreme Court-The First Lords of Session-The Law Courts-
The Court of Session: the Outer and Inner HousesXollege of Justice-Supreme Judicature Court-Its Corrupt Nature-How Justice
used to be defatec-Abduction of Lord Dune-Some Notable Senators?of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Lord0
Fountainhall, Covington, Monboddo, Kames, Hailes, Gardenstone. Amiston, Balmuto, and Hermand . . . . . , I66
CHAPTER XIX.
THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE.
Probable Extinction of the Court of Scion-Memorabiliaof the Parliament Close?and Square-Goldsmiths of the OldenTime-Gearge Heriot-
HIS Workshop-His Interview with James VI.-Peter Williamson?s Tavern-Royal Exchange-Statueof Charles 11.-Bank of Satha-
The Fire of 17-The Work of Restoration-John Row?s Coffee-house-John?s Coffee-house-SylvesterOtwaFSir W. Forbes?s Bank-
6ir Walter Scott?s Eulogy on Sir Willkm Forks-John Kay?s Print-shopThe Parliament ShirsiJames Sibbald-A Libel Gsc-Fire
in Junz IllatDr. Archibald Pitcairn-lhe ?Greping Office?-Painting of King Charles?s Statue White-Seal of Arnauld Lzmmiua 174
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL EXCHAGGE-THE TRON CHURCH-THE GREAT FIRE OF NOVEMBER, 18%
The Royal Exchange-Laying the Foundation Stone-Description of the Exchanee-The Mysterious Statue-The Council Chamber-
Convention of Rayal Burghs : Constitution thereof, and Powers-Writers? Court-The s? Star and Garter ? Tavern-Sir Walter
Scotth Account of the Scene at Clenheugh?s-Lawyers? High Jinks-The Tron Church-History of the Old Church-The Great Fire
of 18z4-1nddents of the ConAagration-The Ruin9 Undermined-Blown up by Captain Head of the Engioew . . . . 183
CHAPTER XXI.
T H E H I G H S T R E E T .
A Place for Blawling-First Paved and Lighted-The Meal and Flesh Market-State of the Streets-Municipal Regnlations 16th Ccntury-
Tulzies-The Lairds of Airth and Wemyss-The Tweedies of Drumrnelzier-A Montrose Quarrel-The Slaughter of Lord T o r t h d d
-A Brawl in 1705-Attacking a Sedan Chair-Habits in the Seventeenth Century-Abduction of Women and Girls-Sumptuary
Laws against Women . , . . - . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . , . 191
CHAPTER XXII.
THE HIGH STREET (continucd).
Thc City in 1598-Fynes Morison on the Manners of the Inhabitants-Tle ?Lord? Provost of Edinburgh-Police of the City-Taylor the
Water Poet-Banquets at the Cross-The hard Case of the Earl of Traquair-A Visit of H-The Quack and his Acrobats-A
Procession of Covenanters-Early Stages and Street Caaches--Salc of a Dancing-girl-Constables appointed in Ip-First Numher of
the Courrmt-The Cnledomian Mercwy-Carting away of the strata of Street Filth-Candition of old Houses . . . . . 198

... B CHAPTER XV. . THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES. PAGE SL Giles?s Church-The Patron Saint-Its Wgh and early ...

Book 2 p. 387
(Score 1.63)

298 .BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CXXI.
DR, ANDREW HUNTER,
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY, AND MINISTER OF THE TRON
CHURCH, EDINBURGH.
DR. ANDREW HUNTER was the eldest son of Andrew Hunter, Esq. of Park,’
Writer to the Signet. His mother, Grise1 Maxwell, was a daughter of General
Maxwell, of Cardoness, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright-a gentleman alike
distinguished for his bravery and his piety. He was a zealous supporter of the
Protestant interest; and, at the Revolution in 1688, was one of those who
accompanied the Prince of Orange from Holland.
Dr. Hunter was born in Edinburgh in 1743, and, at an early period, gave
evidence of that mildness of temper and goodness of disposition which so much
endeared him in after life to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He
was educated at the school taught by Mr. Mundell, one of the most distinguished
teachers in Edinburgh at that period. Nearly fifty years afterwards, out of
respect to him, a club was formed, consisting of those who had been his scholars
--imong whom we may enumerate the Earl of Buchan, Lord Hermand, Lord
Polkemmet, Lord Balmuto, and other distinguished individuals, including Dr.
Hunter. The members were in the habit of dining together at stated periods
in honour of his memory. At these social meetings the parties lived their boyish
days over again ; and each was addressed in the familiar manner, and by the
juvenile soubriquet which he bore when one of the “ schule laddies.” Any deviation
from these rules was punished by a fine.
After passing through his academical studies at the University of Edinburgh,
Dr. Hunter spent a year at Utrecht, which he chiefly devoted to the study of
theology-such a course being at that time considered highly necessary to perfect
the student of divinity. Thus prepared for the Church, I)r. Hunter was
licensed as a probationer by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1767 ; but he refused
to accept of any charge till after the death of his venerable father, towards
whom he manifested the utmost degree of filial affection, cheering the evening
of his days by his kind attention and solicitude.
While attending the University, Dr. Hunter became intimate with severa1
young gentlemen, afterwards distinguished in their various walks of life : among
others, Sir Robert Liston (for manyqears ambassador to the Ottoman Court) ;
Ik. Alexander Adam (rector of the High School) ; Dr. Sommerville, minister
of Jedburgh (the historian) ; and Dr. Samuel Charteris, minister of Wilton.
Descended from a branch of the fa.mily of Hunter of Hunterstone in Ayrshire.

... .BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. CXXI. DR, ANDREW HUNTER, PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY, AND MINISTER ...

Book 8 p. 417
(Score 1.62)

THE OLD TOWN. 29
and motive with the clear vision and minute anatomy of a Fielding or a
Shakespeare j and thence again to the 'large upper room' where Chalmers
was discoursing with all the vehemence of the pulpit on theism and antitheism,
Clarke, Hobbes, and Butler, and sometimes snatching up his AstrommfcaZ
Discourses and reading a passage from them with the fire and freshness
with which he had given it originally, fifteen years before, in the Tron Church
of Glasgow j and thence once more to the hall where Sir William Hamilton
was spreading out his enormous treasures of knowledge to an audience, few
if fit. It seemed almost as if Plato and Aristotle, and Chrysostom and
Copemicus, had come down from the higher spheres and alighted beside each
other !
' Such spells are past, and fled with these
The wine of life is on the lees.'
But still the College can boast of ingenious, learned, and celebrated Professors,
among whom we name, because they are best known to us, the
elastic, eloquent, eccentric, endless Blackie ; the strong, plodding, invincible
Masson ; the profound and clear-headed Tait ; the massive and erudite Flint j
not to speak of Sir Robert Christison, Sir Wyville Thomson, Hodgson,
Bdfour, Calderwood, Lister, Spence, Sellar, Geikie, and others. Let us be
permitted to step back out of the circle of the present Professors to others of
the past-to one ' clearer than the rest,' the great-souled John Goodsir, and
to the eminent Professor Sir James Y, Simpson, Bart., and also to drop a
word of sorrow as we recall the untimely fate of the late accomplished and
gifted Secretary to the University, our speciak friend the poet Alexander
Smith; and among the many in Edinburgh who do not but might grace
Professors' Chairs, let us not be accused of too much personal partiality if
we single out Dr. Hutchison Stirling, the learned and ingenious author of
The Secret of Hegeef.
Pursuing our way southward, passing the Surgeons' Hall, we reach
Nicolson Square, in the Methodist Chapel (hired for years for the use of
his' congregation) at the south-west corner of which we remember ofte-n
hearing in our early days the Rev. John Bruce, since of Free St. Andrew's
Church, holding forth with all that weird power, that fervour and originality,
*which rendered him, till the advent of Dr. Candlish, the most
attractive preacher to the intellectual classes in Edinburgh, and where
such youths as then were the late Patrick MacDougall, Professor of
Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh College, the late Dr. Eadie of Glasgow,

... OLD TOWN. 29 and motive with the clear vision and minute anatomy of a Fielding or a Shakespeare j and thence ...

Book 11 p. 47
(Score 1.6)

X CONTENTS.
111.
EDINBURGH FROM WARRISTON CEMETERY,
AS SEEN FROM THE GRAVE OF SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON.
By the Author of ‘ lhe Hotel du Petit St. Jean,’ ‘ VJra,’ etc.
PAGE
Influence of Cities upon the Mind-What Citizenship implies-Charles Lamb
-The Nineteenth Century-Our Great Towns-London-Great Men
-Paris-Rome-Venice-Florence-keneva-Edinburgh perhaps the
most beautiful City-Natural Scenery-Inferior Climate-Queen Mary
-John Knox and other Celebrities-Dean Ramsay-Sir Walter Scott
-Professor Sipson, . . . . . . . . . . 4954
IV.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES.
BY WILLIAM BALLINGALL.
Royal Exchange-Presentation of the Keys of the City to Queen Victoria-
Unveiling of the Albert Memorial-New Year’s Eve at the Tron Church
-Tradition concerning the Signing of the Articles of Union between
England and Scotland-Cockburn Street-North Bridge-Historical
Associations-St. Giles’ Cathedral-New Royal Infirmary-Park Place
-Archbishop of Canterbury-Convent of St. Catherine of Sienna-
Bruntsfield Links --Merchiston Castle-Dr. Chalmers-New Royal
Blind Asylum-The University-Reminiscences of the High School
Wynd-The Old High School-Cowgate-Canongate-Boswell-Dr.
Johnson-Adam Smith-The Setons Earls of Winton-John Coutts
-Baroness Burdett Coutts-The Dean Cemetery-Water of Leith-
Botanic Gardens-Waniston Cemetery-Scott’s House in Castle Street, 55-78
V.
MODERN DWELLINGS OF;,THE PEOPLE.
BY H. G. REID,
Author of ‘ Pnsf and Present,’ &LVe of the Rev: rohn Skinner,’ etc.
Falling of the Old Tenement in the High Street in 1861-Desertion of the
Old Town Mansions-Overcrowding-The origin of the movement to
produce better House-accommodation-I ts beneficial results, . . 79-82

... CONTENTS. 111. EDINBURGH FROM WARRISTON CEMETERY, AS SEEN FROM THE GRAVE OF SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By the ...

Book 11 p. xiv
(Score 1.54)

Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf

Creative Commons License

The scans of Edinburgh Bookshelf are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.