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ST LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND CO WGATE. 327
gentlemen, January 22, 1729 ; ” and Chambers has preserved, in his “ Minor Antiquities,”
the bill of fare presented in the same place on the 20th of March 1747, “ By Desire of a
Lady of Quality, for the Benefit of a Family in Distress ; ” probably one of the last performances
there by a regular company. A handsome tenement stands immediately to the
west of the Tailors’ Lands, surmounted with two ornamental gables, bearing on them the
initials of the builders, and over the main doorway the following inscription :-
R - H
0 MAGNIFIE THE LORD WITH ME
AND LET US EXALT HIS NAME TOGETHER. I - H
ANN0 DOMXNI 1643.
Over another door of the same tenement, a sculptured tablet bears the device of two sledemen
carrying a barrel between them, by means of a pole resting on the shoulder of each,
technically styled a sting and lileg. It is cleverly executed, and appears from the character
and workmanship to be coeval with the date of the building in which it is placed,
although the purposes to which the neighbouring property is now applied might suggest a
much more recent origin.’ Various antique tenements of considerable diversity of character
remain to the westward of this, all exhibiting symptoms of ‘‘ having seen better days.”
The last of these, before we arrive at the arches of George IV. Bridge, is another of the
old ecclesiastical mansions of the Cowgate. It is described in an early title-deed as “ some
time pertaining to lime Hew M‘Gill, prebender of Corstorphine,” and, not improbably, a
relative of the ancestors of David Macgill of Cranstoun-Riddel, King’s Advocate to King
James VI., who is said to have died of grief on Sir Thomas Hamilton, the royal favouriteafterwards
created Earl of Melrose and Eaddington-being appointed his colleague. We
find, at least, that the property immediately adjoining it, now demolished, belonged to that
family, and came afterwards into the possession of his rival. The operations of the Improvements
Commission were no less effectual in the demolition of the interesting relics of
antiquity in the Cowgate than elsewhere. Indeed, if we except the old Mint, and the
venerable Chapel of St Magdalene, no other site could have been chosen for the new
bridge where their proceedings would have been so destructive. On the ground now occupied
by its southern piers formerly stood Merchant’s Court, a large area enclosed on three
sides by antique buildings in a plain but massive style of architecture, and containing
internally finely stuccoed ceilings and handsome panneling, with other indications of former
magnificence suitable to the mansion of the celebrated Thomas Hamilton, first Earl of
Haddington, the favourite of James VI., and one of the most eminent men of his day.
Some curious anecdotes of TAM 0’ THE COWGATEa,s the King facetiously styled his
favourite, are preserved in the Traditions of Edinburgh, derived from the descendants of
the sagacious old peer, and many others that are recorded of him suffice to confirm the
character he enjoyed for shrewd wit and eminent ability. Directly opposite to this, a
building, characterised by very remarkable architectural features, was peculiarly worthy of
the attention of the local antiquary. Tradition, which represented the old Earl of Had-
At Society, in the immediate neighbourhood, a company of brewers was eatabliahed -so early 1598.-Hist. of
Kiiig Jamea the Serb, p. 347.

... LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND CO WGATE. 327 gentlemen, January 22, 1729 ; ” and Chambers has preserved, ...

Book 10 p. 356
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244 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
dreaded. In this dilemma he had recourse to Will Armstrong, a worthy descendant of the
famous mosstrooper executed by Jamev V.,-who owed to the Earl’s good fiervices his
emape from a halter. Will promptly volunteered to kidnap the President on learning
that he stood in his patron’s way, and watching his opportunity when Lord Durie was
riding out, he entered into conversation with him, and so decoyed him to an unfrequented
spot called the Figgate Whins, near Portobello, when he suddenly pulled him from his
horse, muffled him in his trooper’s cloak, and rode off with the luckless judge trussed up
behind him. Lord Durie was secured in the dungeon of an old castle in Annandale called
the Tower of Graeme, and his horse being found on the beach, it was concluded he had
thrown his rider into the sea. His friends went into mourning, his successor was
appointed, the Earl won his plea, and Will was directed to set his captive at liberty. The
old judge waa accordingly seized in his dark dungeon, mufHed once more in the cloak,
and conveyed with such dexterity to the scene of his capture that he long entertained the
belief he had’ been spirited away by witches. The joy of his friends was probably
surpassed by the blank amazement of his successor, when he appeared to reclaim his old
office and honours. Accident long after led to a discovery of the whole story; but in
those disorderly times it was only laughed at as a fair ruse de gumre.‘ In the ballad the
bold moss-trooper alights at Lord Durie’s door, and beguiles him with a message from “the
fairest lady in Teviotdale.” Sir Walter, however, confesses to such ekeing and patching
of the traditionary fragments of the old ballad, that we must content ourselves with the
fact of the stolen President’s dwelling having stood on the site of the Heriot’s school in the
Assembly Close. Of this there can be no doubt, as it ia referred to in the boundaries of
various early deeds, in most of which the alley is styled Durie’s Close.
The Covenant Close has already been referred to:
with its interesting old land, surmounted with three
crow-stepped gables, forming the most prominent
feature in the range of the High Street as seeu from
the south. The front lands immediately below this
and the adjoining close again direct us to associations
with the olden time, though only as occupying the
site of what once was interesting, for fire and modern
reform together have effected an entire revolution in
this part of the town. Over the doorway immediately
above Bell’s Wynd an escallop shell? cut upon the
modern stone lintel, marks the site of the ‘‘ Clam
Shell Turnpike,” an edifice associated with eminent
characters, and some of the most interesting eras in
Scottish history. Maitland only remarks of it, in
this close there ‘( is an ancient chapel, which is still
plainly to be seen by the manner of its construction, though now converted into a dwelling-
1 Chrktie’s Will, Border Minstrelsy. There is little doubt of the general truth of thia tradition.
Ante, p. 93.
The leading facts,
though without the names, are related in Forbes’s Journal, and Scott tells UE that some old stnnzas of the ballad were
current on the Border in hia youth.
VIGNETTE-CIBIII Shell Turnpike, from Skena Taken down lT91.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. dreaded. In this dilemma he had recourse to Will Armstrong, a worthy descendant of ...

Book 10 p. 265
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3 78 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
of the Church of Megginche, one of the dependencies of the Abbey of Holyrood.L It is again
mentioned in an Act of the reign of Robert the Bruce, dated 1319, wherein the Bishop of
St Andrew’s confirms numerous gifts bestowed at various times on the Abbey and its
dependencies. One of these is a gift of all her possessions made by the Lady Donoca,
with the consent of her husband and son, in presence of a full consistory held at Edinburgh
in St Giles’s Church on the Sunday before the Feast of St Thomas, in the year 1293.’ Still
later we find evidence of additions to the original foundation in 1359, when David II.,
by a charter under his great seal, confirmed to the chaplain officiating at the altar of St
Katherine’s Chapel in the Parish Church of St Giles, all the lands of Upper Merchiston,
the gift of Roger Hog, burgess of Edinburgh, There can be no question, however, of
its existence at a much earlier date, as is proved by some of its original architectural
features, described hereafter, of which we possess authentic evidence. The Collegiate
Church of St Giles, as it‘ now stands, is a building including the work of many different
periods, and though no part of its architecture indicates an earlier date than the fourteenth
century, its walls probably include masonry of a much more remote era. The prevalence
of Norman remains among such of the ancient Parish Churches of Midlothian as still
retain any of their original masonry, proves that a very general impetus had been given
to ecclesiastical architecture about the period of the founding of Holyrood Abbey, in
the 12th century. This entirely accords with what is usually found in the architectural
chronology of any populous district in the neighbourhood of an important ecclesiastical
foundation; and, indeed, the history of the erection of St Giles’s Church is almost
entirely comprised in three periods, each of which was marked by the founding of other
ecclesiastical buildings. The first of these is the early part of the 12th century, when the
example of David I., derived from his experience at the splendid court of Henry I. of England,
led to the founding or enlargement of numerous religious housea. The next is 1380-
soon after which Dalkeith Church was founded-when numerous chapels were added to the
Parish Church ; and again, during a succession of years ending in 1462-the year in which
the charter of foundation of Trinity Collegiate Church is dated-when the choir of St Giles’s
Church seems to have been enlarged and completed in its present form ; in anticipation, no
doubt, of its erection into a collegiate church, which took place a few years thereafter.
It must be a subject of unfailing regret to every true antiquary, that the restoration of
St Giles’s Church in 1829 was conducted in so rash and irreverent a spirit, in consequence
of which so many of its peculiar features have disappeared, along with nearly all those
traces of its adaptation to the ceremonial of Roman Catholic worship, which had escaped the
rude hands of the equally irreverent, but far more pardonable, Reformers of the sixteenth
century. Had its restoration been delayed even for a few years, the increasing study of
Gothic architecture, which is already so widely diffused, would in all probability have
secured the preservation of much that is now beyond recall. All that can now be done is to
endeavour to convey to the reader such idea of the original edifice, and of the successive
alterations and additions that it had received, as seemed to be indicated by the building
previous to its remodelling in 1829.3
Liber Cartarurn Sande Crucis, p. 55. Ibid, p. 81.
? The restoration of the original edifice is now (1872) being proceeded with, under the auspice8 of n number of
public-apirited citizens.

... 78 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. of the Church of Megginche, one of the dependencies of the Abbey of Holyrood.L It is ...

Book 10 p. 415
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 65
country. The first was the establishment of a Society for the improvement of
British wool. The breed of sheep never had been a subject of proper inquiry,
and so deteriorated had the wool become, that manufacturers were under the
necessity of importing great quantities of the finer descriptions. The Society
was ultimately formed at Edinburgh in 1791. In order to excite public attention
on the subject, a grand sheep-shearing festival was held, under the patronage
of the Society, at Newhalls Inn, near Queensferry. At this novel fete the
utmost enthusiasm prevailed. The company wore pastoral decorations ; sheep
of dxerent breeds were exhibited-the process of shearing was performed by
rival clippers-and at the close a collation followed, at which a toast, “ The
Royal Shepherd of Great Britain, and success to his flock,” was given by the
chairman, and received with great enthusiasm, followed by a salute of twentyone
guns from the Hind frigate at anchor in the Firth. By the exertions of the
Society, great improvements were effected in the pastoral districts ; and many
lands were nearly doubled in value by the new mode of sheep-farming.
Sir John’s great national work, “ The Statistical Account of Scotland,” was
undertaken about this period, and completed seven years afterwards, in twentyone
volumes octavo. The expense, labour, and difficulties in the way of such
an immense undertaking, had been considered insurmountable by all who had
previously contemplated it, and nothing short of Parliamentary authority was
deemed equal to the task? The indomitable perseverance of Sir John ultimately
prevailed, and his magnificent work stands unparalleled in any age or
nation. M7hile it gave an impetus to the study of statistics generally, the only
true foundation of all political economy, the “ Statistical Account” has tended
both directly and indirectly to promote the national character as well as prosperity
of Scotland,
Soon after the commencement of hostilities in 1’193, such a stagnation prevailed
in commerce, in consequence of a deficiency in the circulating medium,
that universal bankruptcy seemed almost inevitable. In this emergency Sir
John came forward with a plan, which, althougli emanating from one who had
stood opposed to them on some questions, met with the ready approval of Pitt
and Dundas. This was the issue of Exchequer Bills to a certain amount, by
way of loans in small sums to the merchants and manufacturers. The plan
speedily passed, and proved the means of preventing general ruin. Several
papers were afterwards drawn up by the Baronet, recommending measures for
the better regulation of the circulating medium.
Sir John had early contemplated the formation of a Board of Agriculture,
to promote, improvements, and act as a centre for the general diffusion of ab&
cultural knowledge ; but it was not till 1793, after experiencing great opposition,
that he succeeded in its establishment. With the small funds placed at his
In 1781, a8 noticed in a former article, the late Mr. Smellie, author of the Philosophy of
Natural Eistory, drew up a plan for procuring a statistical account of the parishes of Scotland, which
waa printed and circulated by order of the Society of Antiquaries. The result of this attempt was
a report of the parish of Uphall, by the Earl of Buchan, in which he then resided, and three others,
which are printed in the Transactions of the Society.
VOL 11. K

... SKETCHES. 65 country. The first was the establishment of a Society for the improvement of British ...

Book 9 p. 87
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136 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Church,
and by an assessment on the real property within
the parish; the expense for each inmate in those
days was only A4 IS. 6d. On the demolition of
the old church, its pulpit, which was of oak, of a
very ancient form, and covered with carving, was
placed in the hall of the workhouse. The number
of the inmates in the first year was eighty-four.
The edifice, large and unsightly, was removed, with
the Diorama and several other houses, to make
space for the Caledonian railway, and the poor
of St. Cuthbert?s were conveyed to a more airy and
commodious mansion, on the site of the old farmhouse
of Werter.
When the Act of Parliament in 1767 was obenclosed
by a wall, on which a line of tombs is
now erected.
In the eighteenth century the building of note
nearest to the church of St. Cuthbert, on the opposite
side of the way, now named Iathian Road, was
a tall, narrow, three-storeyed country villa, called,
from its situation at the head of the slope, Kirkbraehead
House. There the way parted from the
straight line of the modern road at the kirk-gate,
forming a delta {the upper base of which was the
line of Princes Street), in which were several cottages
and gardens, long since swept away. A row
of cottages lay along the whole line of what is now
Queensferry Street, under the name of Kirkbraehead.
OLD WEST KIRK, AND WALLS OF THE LITTLE KIRK, 1772. (FmVJ alr Engraving of a Drawing fro?# a Moder.)
tained for extending the royalty of the city ol
Edinburgh, clauses were inserted in it disjoining
a great portion of the ground on which the future
new city was to be built, and annexing it to the
parish of St. Giles, under the condition that the
heritors of the lands should continue liable, as
formerly, for tithes, ministers? stipends, and A300
annually of poor?s money. Thus the modern
parishes of St Andrew, St. George, S t Mary, and
St. Stephen-all formed since that period-have
been taken from the great area of the ancient
parish of St Cuthbert
No very material alteration was made in the
burying-ground till April, I 787, when the north
side of it, which was bordered by a marsh 2,000
feet in length (to the foot of the mound) by 350
broad-as shown in the maps of that year-was
drained and partially filled with earth. Then the
walls and gates were repaired. The ground at
the east end was raised a few years after, and
The villa referred to was, towards the close of
the century, occupied by Lieutenant-General John
Lord Elphinstone, who was Lieutenant-Governor
of the Castle, with the moderate stipend of
LISO 10s. yearly, and who died in 1794.
At a subsequent period its occupant was a Mr.
John Butler, who figures amocg ? Kay?s Portraits,?
an eccentric character but skilful workman, who
was king?s carpenter for Scotland; he built Gayfield
House and the house of Sir Lawrence Dundas,
now the Royal Bank in St. Andrew Square. He
was proprietor of several tenements in Carmbber?s
Close, then one of the most fashionable portions of
the old town.
The villa of Kirkbraehead had been built by his
father ere the Lothian Road was formed, and concerning
the latter, the following account is given
by Kay?s editor and others.
This road, which leaves the western extremity of
Princes Street at a right angle, and runs southward

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Church, and by an assessment on the real property within the parish; the expense ...

Book 3 p. 136
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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
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KING‘S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 135
so generally placed on them, all afford tests as to the period of their erection, fully a6
definite and trustworthy as those that mark the progressive stages of the ecclesiastical
architecture of the Middle Ages. The earliest form of the crow-stepped gable presents a
series of pediments surmounting the steps, occasionally highly ornamented, and always
giving a rich effect to the building. Probably the very latest specimen of this, in Edinburgh,
is the h e old building of the Mint, in the Cowgate, which
bears the date 1574 over its principal entrance, while its other ornaments
axe similar to many of a more recent date. After the adoption
of the plain square crow-step, it seems still to have been held as an
important feature of the building ; in many of the older houses, the
arms or initials, or some other device of the owner, are to be found
on the lowest of them, even where the buildings are so lofty as to
place them almost out of sight. The dormer window, surmounted
with the thistle, rose, &c., and the high-peaked gable to the street,
are no less familiar features in our older domestic architecture.
Many specimens, also, of windows originally divided by stone mullions, and with lead
casements, still remain in the earliest mansions of the higher classes ; and in several of
these there are stone recesses or niches of a highly ornamental character, the use of which
has excited considerable discussion among antiquaries. A later form of window than
the last, exhibits the upper part glazed, and finished below with a richly carved wooden
transom, while the under half is closed with shutters, occasionally highly adorned on the
exterior with 8 variety of carved ornaments.
Towards the close of Charles 11,’s reign, an entirely new order of architecture was
adopted, engrafting the mouldings and some of the principal features of the Italian
style upon the forms that previously prevailed. The Golfers’ Land in the Canongate is
a good and early specimen of this. The gables are still steep, and the roofs of a high
pitch; and while _the front assumes somewhat of the character of a pediment, the crow:
steps are retained on the side gables ; but these features soon after disappear, and give way
to a regular pediment, surmounted with urns, and the like ornaments,-a very good specimen
of which remains on the south side of the Castle Hill, as well as others in various
parts of the Old Town. The 6ame district still presents good specimens of the old wooden
fronted lands, with their fore stairs and handsome inside turnpike from the fist floor, the
construction of which Maitland affirms to be coeval with the destruction of the extensive
forests of the Borough Muir, in the reign of James IV. We furnish a view of some other
remarkably picturesque specimens of the same style of building in this locality, recently
demolished to make way for the New College. All these various features of the ancient
domestic architecture of the Scottish Capital will come under review in the course of the
Work, in describing the buildings most worthy of notice that still remain, or have been
demolished during the present century.
f
Immediately below the Castle rock, on its south side, there exists an ancient appendage
of the Royal Palace of the Castle, still retaining the name of the King’s Stables, although
no hoof of the royal stud has been there for wellnigh three centuries. Thie district lies
without the line of the ancient city wall, and was therefore not only in an exposed sitna-
- -

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 135 so generally placed on them, all afford tests as to the ...

Book 10 p. 146
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iv OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. -
CHAPTER VI.
THE VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH.
PAGE
Lady Sinclair of Dunbeath-Bell's Mills-Water of Leith Village-Mill at the Dean-Tolbwth there-Old Houses-The Dean and Poultry
-Lands thereof-The Nisbet Family-A Legend-The Dean Village-Belgrave Crescent-The Parish Church-Stewart's Hospital-
Orphan Hospita-John Watson's Hospital-The Dean Cemetery-Notable Interments there . . . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER VII.
VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH (continued).
The Dean Bridge-Landslips at Stockbridge-Stone Coffins-Floods in the Leith-Population in ~74z-St. Bernard's Estate-Rods Tower-
" Chritopher North " in Aune Street-De Quincey there-St. Bernard's Well-Cave at Randolph Cliff-Veitchs Square-Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in the Locality-Sir Henry Raeburn-Old Deanhaugh House ' 70
CHAPTER VIII.
VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH (concluded).
E.niiuent Men connected with Stockbridge-David Robert7. RA.--K Macleay, R.S.A.-James Browne, LL.D.-James Hogg-Sir J. Y.
Simpson, Bart. -Leitch Ritchie-General Mitchell-G. R. Luke-Comely Bank-Fettes Collegc--Craigleith Quarry-Groat Hall-Silver
Mills-St. Stephen's Church-The Brothers Lauder-Jam- Drummond, R.S.A.-Deaf and -Dumb Institution-Dean Bank Institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -The Edinburgh Academy -78
CHAPTER IX.
CANONMILLS AND INVERLEITH.
CanonmillgThe Loch-Riots of 1784-The Gymnasium-Tanfield HalL-German Church-Zoological Gardens-Powder Hall-Rosebank
Cemetery-Red BraesThe Crawfords of Jordanhill-Bonnington-Bishop Keith-The Sugar Refinery-Pilrig-The Balfour Family-
Inverleith-Ancient ProprietorsThe Touris-The Rocheids-Old Lady Inverleith-General Crocket-Royal Botanical GardensMr.
JamesMacNab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
CHAPTER X.
THE WESTERN NEW TOWN.
Coltbridge-Roseburn House-Traditions of it-Murrayfield-Lord Henderland-Beechwood-General Leslie-The Dundaxs-Ravelston-
The Foulises and Keiths-Craigcrook-Its fint Proprietors-A Fearful Tragedy-Archibald Constable-Lord Jeffrey-Davidson's
Mains-LauristonCastle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IOZ
CHAPTER XI,
C O R S T O R P H I N E .
ContorphintSupposed Origin of the N a m t T h e Hill-James VI. hunting there-The Cross-The Spa-The Dicks of Braid and con^
phine-" Contorphine Cream '%onvalerent House-A Wraith-The Original Chapel-The Collegiate Church-Its Provosts-Its
Old Tombs-The Castle and Loch of Cohtorphine-The Forrester Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 12
CHAPTER XII.
rHE OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS.
Of Old Clubs, and some Notabilia of Edinburgh Life in the Last Century-The Horn Order-The Union Club-Impious Clubs--Assembly
of Birds-The Sweating Club-The Revolution and certain other Clubs-The Beggars' Benison -The Capillaim Club-The Industrious
Company-The Wig, Exulapian, Boar, Country Dinner, The East India, Cape, Spendthrift, Pious, Antemanurn, Six Feet, and
Shakespeare Clubs-Oyster Cellars-" Frolics "-The "Duke of Edinburgh" . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. - CHAPTER VI. THE VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH. PAGE Lady Sinclair of ...

Book 6 p. 394
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ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 415
cularly by the gift from Macbeth of Liberton, of the tithes and oblations of Legbernard
-a church of which all traces are now lost-onferred on it in the reign of David I., previous
to the foundation of Holyrood Abbey. The Chapels of Corstorphine and Liberton
pertained to it. The Crown lands surrounding the Castle were bestowed on it by David
I., and it claimed tithes of the fishing on the neighbouring coast ; so that it was then the
wealthiest church in Scotland, except that of Dunbar ; but from the date of the foundation
of St David‘s Abbey of Holyrood it became a vicarage, while the Abbey drew the
greater tithes. Besides the high altar, there were in St Cuthbert’s Church several altars,
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, to St Anne, and other saints, of most of which no very
accurate account is preserved. The ancient church was subjected to many viciseitudes, and
greatly modified by successive alterations and repairs, so that comparatively little of the
original fabric remained when the whole was demolished about the middle of last century,
and the present huge, unsightly barn erected in its stead. In Gordon’s bird‘s-eye view it
appears as a large cross church, with a belfry at the west gable, and a large square tower,
probably of great antiquity, standing unroofed at the south-west corner of the nave. The
ancient church was nearly reduced to a heap of ruins by the Duke of Cordon, during the
siege of the Castle in 1689; and little attempt was likely to be made at that period to
preserve any of its early features in the necessary repairs preparatory to its again being
used as the parish church.
Among the dependencies of the ancient Church of St Cuthbert there were the Virgin
Mary’s Chapel, Portsburgh, of which nothing more is known than its name and site; and
St Roque’s and St John’s Chapels on the Borough Muir. About half a mile to the west
of Grange House there stood, till the commencement of the present century, the ruins-of
the ancient Chapel of St Roque, dedicated to the celebrated saint of that name. A later
writer derives its title from the unconsecrated surname of its supposed founder, Simon La
Roque, French ambassador,’ but without assigning any authority. In the treasurer’s
accounts for March 20th, 1501-2, the following entry occurs :-“Item, to the wrichtis of
Sanct Rokis Chapell xiiij a.” This, it is exceedingly probable, indicates the erection of
the chapel, as it corresponds with the apparent date suggested by its style of architecture.
It cannot, however, be certainly referred to the chapel on the Borough Muir, as a subsequent
entry in 1505, of an offering (‘ to Sanct Rowkis Chapell,” describes the latter as
at the end of Stirling Bridge. Of the following, however, there can be no doubt:-
‘( 1507, Augt 15. The Sanct Rowkis day to the kingis offerand in Sanct Rowkis Chapell
xiiij s.” That this refers to the chapel on the Borough Muir of Edinburgh is proved
by the evidence of two charters signed by the king at Edinburgh on the same day. The
shrine of St Roque was the special resort of aflicted outcasts for the cure of certain
loathsome diseases. Lindsay, in The Monarchie, describes the saint as himself bearing
a boil or ulcer as the symbol of his peculiar powers :-
Sanct Roche, weill seisit, men may see,
Ane byill new broki on his knee.
1 HiSt. of Weat Kirk, p. 11. Possibly Monsieur Lacrak, ambaeaador in 1567, here meant. It is, at any rate,
without doubt, an error, originating probably in the similarity of the namea

... ANTIQUITIES. 415 cularly by the gift from Macbeth of Liberton, of the tithes and oblations of ...

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210 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
of recusant members were set apart for the formation of a library, and a few years afterwards
their collection was greatly auapented by a gift of rare and costly books from
William, first Duke of Queensberry.
The Great Fire which we have described scattered and nearly destroyed the accumulation
of twenty years, and had it not been for the strenuous exertions of the keeper, Mr
John Stevenson, advocate, not one of the books would have been saved. The result,
however, was the removal of the library to safer and more permanent quarters below the
Parliament House, where it has ever since continued, though with extensive additions,
corresponding both in dimensions and style to its increasing importance. These lower
. apartments, dark and gloomy as they now look, when contrasted with the magnificent
libraries that have been erected above, are associated with names of no mean note in
. Scottish literature. There Thomas Ruddiman and David Hume successively presided in
the office of keeper, which post was also filled by Dr Irvine, the biographer of Buchanan,
and author of the “ Lives of Scottish Poets ; ” and within the same hall Dr Johnson was
received by some of the most eminent men of the last century, during his visit to Edin-
The creditors, who were baulked of their expected returns in the very midst of their
exertions, appear, from the documents already referred to, to have proceeded immediately
after the fire to dispose of the sites. In the accounts consequent on these latter transactions,
new characters appear, and among the rest Robert Mylne, the royal Master Mason,
who is due, “ for the area of the houses in the Parliament Closs,” a sum thus imposingly
.rendered in Scots money, %00,600, 00s. Od. No time appears to have been lost in rebuilding
the houses unexpectedly demolished. The Royal Exchange, which bore its name
cut in bold relief over the doorway, had on it the date 1700, and the adjacent buildings
towered again to an altitude of twelve stories towards the south, maintaining their preeminence
as the loftiest lands in Edinburgh. On the east side an open piazza, decorated
with pilasters and a Doric entablature, formed a covered walk for pedestriana, and the
whole produced a stately and imposing effect. The aristocratic denizens of the former
buildings returned again to the accommodation provided for them in the Parliament
Close, and with them, too, came the renters of ZaigA stories and garrets, to complete
the motley population of the Zands, as they were then subdivided in the Old Town
of Edinburgh. An amusing illustration of this is furnished in the trial, to which we
have already frequently referred, of William Maclauchlane, for his share in the Porteous
mob. He was footman to the Countess of Wemyss, who resided in a fashionable
flat in the .Parliament Close, and on the forenoon of the eventful 7th of September
1736, he was despatched on an errand to Craigiehall, from whence he did not return
till the evening. The libel of his Majesty’s Advocate sets forth, that having delivered
his message, “ the pannel went from my Lady Wemyss’ house to John Lamb’s alehouse
in the Bame stair,” from whence he issued shortly after in a jovial state, attracting everybody’s
notice by his showy livery during the stirring scenes of that busy night, in which
he mingled, perfectly oblivious of all that was being enacted around him, and running a
very narrow risk of being made the scapegoat of the imbecile magistracy, who only wanted
a decent pretext for sacrificing a score of blackguards to the manes of Porteous, and the
wrath of Queen Caroline.
’ burgh in 1773.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. of recusant members were set apart for the formation of a library, and a few years ...

Book 10 p. 229
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ST LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND COWGATE. 323
and crowned heart, the well-known crest of the Douglases of Queensberry ; suggesting
the likelihood of its having been the town mansion of one of the first Earls, not improbably
William Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig, created Earl of Queensberry by King
Charles I. during his visit to Scotland in 1633. The projecting staircase of the adjoining
tenement to the south had a curious ogee arched window, evidently of early character, and
fitted with the antique oaken transom and folding shutters below. A defaced inscription
and date was decipherable over the lintel of the outer doorway, and one of the doors on
the stair possessed the old-fashioned appendage of a tirling-pin. Many of the buildings
which remained till the total demolition of the Wynd were of an early character; and
some 01 them bore the initials of their builders on an ornamental shield sculptured on
the lowest crow-step, with the date 1736-the only specimens of the kind that were known
belonging to the eighteenth century.
At the head of the wynd, on the east side, and on ground partly occupied by North
College Street, once stood a house which would now have been regarded with peculiar
interest as the birthplace of Sir Walter Scott. The elder Mr Scott then lived,
according to the simple fashion of our forefathers,. on a Jut of the old tenement,
approached from a little court behind by a turnpike stair, the different floors of which
sufficed for the accommodation of equally reputable tenants, until its demolition about
eighty years since to make way for the projected extension of the College. Here also,
near the top of the wynd, was the residence of the celebrated chemist, Dr Bla’ck; and
doubtless, many of the learned professors were distributed, with other eminent persons,
among the densely-peopled lands of this classic locality ; where, to complete its literary
associations, tradition delights to tell that Oliver Goldsmith lodged, while studying
medicine at the neighbouring University.
The accompanying engraving represents a portion of the antique range of edzces that
extends between the College and the Horse Wynds. Here again, however, we are
baffled in our search after their earlier occupants. The building to the east of St Peter’s
Close was a very substantial stone edifice of a highly ornamental character, which
undoubtedly formed the residence of noble proprietors in early times. It appeared to be
an ancient building, remodelled and enlarged, probably
about the close of James VL’e reign. Three large and
elegant dormer windows rose above the roof, the centre
one of which was surmounted by an escallop shell, while
a second tier of windows of similar form appeared behind
them, and sprang from what we conceived to have been
the original stone front of the building. The antique ;
staircase projected forward in a line with the more recent ,
additions, and on its lintel the initials of the original
proprietors, as represented in the accompanying woodcut.
On the other side of St Peter’s Pend was the singularly picturesque timber-fronted tenement,
the cu;iously-carved lintel of which forms the vignette at the head of this chapter. An
outside stair, constructed in a recess formed by the projection of a neighbouring building,
1 The College and Horse Wynrh have, with the exception of a land of each, suffered at the hands of the Improvementa’
Commission. St Peter’s Closey standing as it did between the two wpnds, haa been totally extinguished.

... LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND COWGATE. 323 and crowned heart, the well-known crest of the Douglases of ...

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L UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. I97
Bow, . . the buildings on each side of the way being all of squared stone, five,
six, and seven stories high.” When I came first into the High Street,” says another
traveller, writing more than a century after him, ‘‘ I thought I had never seen anything
of the kind more magn3cent.” Gradually, however, the traveller learned, from his
civic entertainers, to mingle suggestions of improvement with his admiration. ‘‘ You
have seen,” says Topham, writing from Edinburgh in 1776, “the famous street at
Lisle, la Rue Royale, leading to the port of Tournay, which is said to be the finest in
Europe, but which, I can assure you, is not to be compared either in length or breadth
to the High Street at Edinburgh.” He adds, however, ‘‘ would they be at the expense
of removing some buildings which obstruct the view, nothing could be conceived .
more magnificent.’’ ’ Similar remarks might be quoted from later travellers ; we shall
only add that of our greatest living landscape painter, k n e r , expressed since the removal
of the Luckenbooths, that ‘‘ the old High Street of Edinburgh was only surpassed in
Europe by that of Oxford” Imposing as the effect of the High Street still is,-
although scarcely a year passes without the loss of some one or other of its ancient and
characteristic features,-we doubt if its broad and unencumbered thoroughfare will ever
again meet with the praise that it received from travellers who had to pass through the
narrow defile of the Purses, or thread their way along by the still more straitened
Krames that clung on to the old church walls. So far as picturesque effect is concerned,
this improvement very much resembles a reform effected of late years in Salisbury
Cathedral. An ancient screen which divided the Lady Chapel from the choir had long
been an eyesore to certain men of taste, who found in the glimpses of the little chapel
that they caught beyond, far too much left to their imagination. It was accordingly
demolished, under the direction of Mr Jamea Wyatt, when, to their surprise, much of the
rich effect of the chapel vanished along with the screen, and they began to think that it
might have been a part of the original designer’s intention to conceal the plain shafts of
the pillars, while their capitals, and the rich groinings of the roof, alone appeared. We
strongly suspect our city reformers fancied that every bit of the old church which the
Luckenbooths concealed was to disclose features as rich as the fine Gothic crown they
saw towering over the chimney-tops.’
The ancient buildings that occupied the middle of the High Street, between the
Tolbooth and the Cross, formed a range of irregular and picturesque lands, nearly all
with timber fronts and lofty peaked gables projecting into the street. Through one of
these, an alley, sometimes called the Old-Kirk Style, led from the head of Advocates’
Close to the old north porch of St Giles’s Church, obliterated in the remodelling of that
venerable edifice. This ancient alley is alluded to by the name it generally received
to the last in Dunbar’s Address to the Merchants of Edinburgh, written about the year
Letters from the North of Scotland, 1754.
Topham’s Lettem, p. 8. There is an amusing tendency in many-minds to regard every near object aa obstructing
the &U, without the least consideration of what liea beyond it. We heard lately of an English lady, who, on her arrival
in Edinburgh, took up her abode in fashionable lodgings at the west end of Princea Street. On B friend inquiring how
she liked the proapect from her window, she replied, that the view would really be very fine, were it not for that great
castle standing in the way I
The chief ornament of Edinburgh is St Giles’s Church, a magnificent Gothic pile, the beauties of which are almost
wholly concealed by the Louses in ita near neighbourhood, particularly the Luckenbooths, which, it is expted, will
shortly be pulled down.”-Campbell’s Journey, 1802, rol. 5. p. 125.
a

... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. I97 Bow, . . the buildings on each side of the way being all of squared stone, ...

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172 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
representing the Adoration of the Wise Men, was said to be the work of Alexander
Runciman.
We have endeavoured thus far to conduct the reader through this portion of the
ancient capital, pointing out the various associations calculated to excite sympathy or
interest in connection with its time-honoured scenes. But all other objects of attraction
to the local historian, within this district, must yield before those of the Old Bank Close,
the site of which was very nearly that of the present paving of Melbourne Place. The
antique mansion, that formed the chief building in this close, excited very great and
general attention from the time that it was exposed to view in opening up the approach
to George 1V.k Bridge, until its demolition in 1834, to make way for the central
buildings of Melbourne Place, that now occupy its site. It stood immediatel) to the east
of William Little’s Land, already described, in Brodie’s Close, from which it was only
partially separated by a very narrow gutter that ran between the two houses, leaving them
united by a mutual wall at the north end.
This ancient building was curiously connected with a succession of eminent and
influential men, and with important historical events
of various eras, from the date of its erection until a
comparatively recent period. ‘‘ Gourlay’s House, ”
for so it continued to be called nearly to the last,
was erected in 1569, as appeared from the date on it,
by Robert Gourlay, burgess, on the site, and, partly
at least, with the materials of an old religious house.
Little further is known of its builder than the fact
that he had been a wealthy and influential citizen,
who enjoyed the favour of royalty, and made the
most of it too, notwithstanding the pious averment sculptured over his door, 0 LORD
IN THE IS AL MY TRAIST.’ This appears no less from numerous grants of
privileges and protections of rights, among the writs and evidents of the property,
attested by King James’s own signature, than by the very obvius jealousy with which
his favour at Court was regarded by his fellow-citizens.
One of these royal mandates, granted by the Kiig at Dumfries, 21st June 1588, sets
forth, ‘‘ Lyke 8s ye said Robert Gourlay and Helen Cruik, his spouse,’haa raisit ane new
biggin and wark upon ye waste and ground of their lands and houses foresaid, wherein
they are quarelled and troubled for enlarging and outputing of ye east gavill and dyke of
their said new wark, on with ye bounds of ye auld bigging foundit and edified thereupon,
of design, and presumed to have diminished and narrowit ye passage of ye foresaid transe
callit Mauchains Close, &c.,’ We, therefor, . . . . . give and grant special liberty
On the demolition of the building, the words I‘ 0 Lord,” which extended beyond the lintel of the door, were found
to be carved on oak, and so ingeniously let into the wall that this had escaped observation. One could almost fancy that
the subservient courtier had found his abbreviated motto liable to a more personal construction than was quite agreeable. ’ In the earlier part of the same writ, the property is styled ‘I ye landa of umq’ Alexander Mauthane, and now of ye
said Robert Gourlay.” We learn from Maitland, that in the year 1511, “ the Town Council twoarda inlarging the said
Church of St Giles, bought of AEezander MaucAanes, four landa or tenementa, in the Booth-raw,” or Luckenbo0tha.-
Maitland‘a Hist., p. 180. This can acarcely be doubted to be the same individual.
VIoaEnE-carved Stone from Old Bank Close, in the posse&on of C. K. Sharpe, Esq.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. representing the Adoration of the Wise Men, was said to be the work of ...

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THE CANONGATE AND ABBEY SANCTUARY. 291
were removed in 1779. It is not at all inconsistent with the character of the fierce
old cavalier that he should have erected.a private chapel for his own use. Death fortunately
stepped in, eays his fellow-soldier, Captain Crichton, in allusion to the dilemma
in which the General was placed on the accession of James VII., and ‘‘ rescued him from
the difEculties he was likely to be under, between the notions he had of duty to his
prince on one side, and true zeal f o r his religion on the other.” The main idea that seems
to have guided him through life was a chivalrous loyalty. He allowed his beard to grow
as a manifestation of his grief on the beheading of King Charles, and retained it unaltered
till his death, though it latterly acquired a venerable amplitude that attracted a crowd
whenever he appeared in public. The early history of chivalry furnishes many examples
in proof of the perfect compatibility of such devoted loyalty with the cruelties which have
rendered his name infamous to posterity.
The Shoemakers’ Lands, which stand to the east of Jack’s Land, are equally lofty and
more picturesque buildings, One of them especially, immediately opposite to Moray
House, is a very singular and striking object in the stately range of substantial stone tenements
that extend from New Street to the Canongate Tolbooth. A highly-adorned tablet
surmounts the main entrance, enriched with angels’ heads, and a border of Elizabethan
ornament enclosing the Shoemakers’ Arms, with the date 1677. An open book is inscribed
with the first verse of the Scottish metre version of the 133d Psalm,-a motto that appears
to have been in special repute, toward8 the close of the seventeenth century, among
the suburban corporations, being also inscribed over the Tailors’ Hall of Easter Portsburgh
and the Shoemakers’ Land in the West Port, The turnpike stair-the entrance
to which is graced by this motto, and the further inscription, in smaller letters, IT IS AN
crowned with an ogee roof of singular character, flanked on either side by picturesque
gables to the street. The first of the two tenements to the west of this, at the head of
Shoemakers’ Close, has an open pannel on its front, from which the inscription appears to
have been removed; but the other, which bears the date 1725, is still adorned with the
same arms, and the following moral aphorism :-
HONOUR FOR MAN TO CEASE FROM STRIFE-rises above the roof Of the building, and is
BLESSED IS HE THAT WISELY DO
TH THE POOR MAN’S CASE CONSIDER.
The hall of the once wealthy Corporation of Cordiners or Shoemakers of Canongate,
to whom this property belonged, stood on the west side of Little Jack’s Close, adorned
with the insignia of the Souters’ Craft, and furnished for the convivial meetings of the
fraternity with huge oaken tables and chairs ; and with a substantial carved oaken throne,
adorned with the arms-a paring knife surmounted by a crown-and the date
1682, for the inauguration of King Crispin on the 25th of October, or St Crispin’s Day.
It was long the annual custom of the craft to elect a king, who was borne through the
town, attended by. his subjects, dressed in all sorts of fantastic and showy attire;
after which he held his court at the Corporation Hall, and celebrated his coronation
with royal festivities. Unhappily for the Cordiners of Canongate, the sumptuary laws
1 Memoirs of Captain Crichton, Swift’s works, London, 1803, vol. xiv. p. 318.

... CANONGATE AND ABBEY SANCTUARY. 291 were removed in 1779. It is not at all inconsistent with the character of ...

Book 10 p. 316
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3’AME.Y TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARE: 79
A loud explosion about two o’clock in the morning, while it shook the whole town and
startled the inhabitants from their sleep, satisfied the conspirators that their plot had
succeeded. An arch still exists in the city wall, behind the Infirmary, described by Arnot
as the door-way leading into the Provost’s house, which was built against the wall. Itg
position, however, is further to the east than the house is shown to have stood; and
Malcolm Laing supposes it to have been a gunrport, connected with a projecting tower,
which formerly existed directly opposite Roxburgh Street ; but its appearance and position
are much more those of a doorway, and no port-hole resembling it occurs in my other
part of the wall. In a drawing of the locality at the time of the murder, preserved in the
State Paper Ofiice (a fac-simile of which is engraved in Chalmers’s Life of Queen Mary),
the ruins of the Provost’s house seem to extend nearly to the projecting tower, so that the
tradition is not without some appearance of probability.
The murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, proved fatal to the hapless Queen of
Scotland. She took refuge for a time in the Castle of Edinburgh, and only left it, on
the urgent remonstrance of her Council, who dreaded injury to her health from her “ close
and solitary life.”
On Saturday, the 12th of April, the Earl of Bothwell was arraigned in the Tolbooth,
on the charge of the murder, but no evidence appeared against him, and he was acquitted.
It is not our province in this history to follow out the narrative of his forcible ravishment
of the Queen, and the fatal consequences in which she was thereby involved. On the
15th of June 1567, she surrendered to the Earl of Morton, at Carbery Hill, near Musselburgh.
It was late in the evening before the captive Queen entered Edinburgh, but she was
recognised as she passed along the streets, and assailed with insulting cries from the rude
populace. She was lodged in the Black Turnpike, the town house of the Provost, Sir
Simon Preston.’ This ancient and most interesting building stood to the west of the
Tron Church, occupying part of the ground now left vacant, as the entrance to Hunter
Square, and the site of the corner house. Mrtitland describes it as a ‘‘ magnificent edifice,
which, were it not partly defaced by a false wooden front, would appear to be the most
sumptuous building perhaps in Edinburgh.” The views that exist of it, show it to have
been a stately and imposing pile of building, of unusual height and extent, even among
the huge “ lands ” in the old High Street. At the time of its demolition, in 1788, it was
believed to be the most ancient house in Edinburgh.
Here Queen Mary passed the night, in a small apartment, whose window looked to the
street; and the first thing that met her eye on looking forth in the morning was a large
white banner, ‘‘ stented betwixt two spears,” whereon was painted the murdered Darnley,
with the words, “ Judge and revenge my cause, 0 Lord.” The poor Queen exclaimed to
the assembled multitude,--“ Good people, either satisfy your cruelty and hatred by taking
away my miserable life, or release me from the hands of such inhuman tyrants.” Some
of the rude rabble again renewed their insulting cries, but the citizens displayed their
ancient standard, the Blue Blanket, and ran to arms for her deliverance ; and hadnot the
confederates removed her to Holyrood, on pretence of restoring her to liberty, she might
probably have been safe for a time under her burgher guards.
See the VIGNETTaEt t he head of this Chapter.

... TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARE: 79 A loud explosion about two o’clock in the morning, while it shook the ...

Book 10 p. 86
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L UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 219
Hospital are still termed, who claimed this office by long prescription, and their acknowledged
skill in the art of loyal decoration, acquired in the annual custom of decking their
own founder’s statue.‘ This formed one of the chief attractions to the citizens throughout
the day, as well as to their numerous rustic visitors who crowded into the capital
on the occasion, to wituess or share in the fun. Towards the afternoon the veteran
corps of the city guard were called out to man the eastern entrance into the Parliament
Close while the guests were assembling for the civic entertainment, and thereafter to
draw up in front of the great hall, and announce with a volley to the capital at large each
loyal toast of its assembled rulers. Never did forlorn hope undertake a more desperate
duty! The first volley of these unpopular guardians of civic order was the signal
for a frenzied assault on them by the whole rabble of the town, commemorated in
Ferguson’s lively Address to the Muse on the Dead dogs and cats,
and every offensive missile that could be procured for the occasion, were now hurled
at their devoted heads ; and when at last they received orders to march back again to their
old citadel in the High Street, the strife became furious; the rough old veterans dealt
their blows right and left with musket and Lochaber axe wielded by no gentle hand,
but their efforts were hopeless against the spirit and numbers of their enemies, and the
retreat generally ended in an ignbminious rout of the whole civic guard. All law, excepting
mo6 Zuw, was suspended during the rest of the evening, the windows of obnoxious citizens
were broken, the effigies of the most unpopular public men frequently burnt, and for
more than half a century, the notorious Johnny Wilkes,” the editor of the North Briton,
and the favourite of the London apprentices, was annually burnt in effigy at the Cross
and other prominent parts of the town-an incremation which ‘ has lately altogether
fallen into desuetude.
Previous to the remodelling of the Parliament House, while yet the lofty lands of the
old close reared their huge and massy piles of stone high above the neighbouring buildings,
and the ancient church retained its venerable though somewhat dilapidated walls, the
aspect of this quadrangle must have been peculiarly grand and imposing, and such as we
shall look for in vain among the modern erections of the capital. It would be folly, bowever,
after recording so many changes that have passed over it at successive periods, to
indulge in useless regrets that our own day has witnessed others as sweeping as any that
preceded them, obliterating every feature of the past, and resigning it anew to the S~OW
work of time to restore for other generations the hues of age that best comport with ita
august and venerable associations. We shall close our notice with the following extract
from a local poem referring to the same interesting nook of the old Scottish capital :-
King’s birthday.”
A scene of grave yet busy life
Within the ancient city’s very heart,
Teeming with old historic memories, rife
With a departed glory, stood apart.
High o’er it rose St Giles’s ancient tower
Of curious fret work, whence the shadow falls,-
As the pale moonbeams through its arches pour,-
Tracing a shadowy crown upon the walls
1 One of the graceful and innocent customs-of earlier times, which was for sometimeiu abeyance, but is now happily
again revived.

... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 219 Hospital are still termed, who claimed this office by long prescription, ...

Book 10 p. 239
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HISTORICAL INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORATION. 1 I7
terior, with the embrasures and loop-holes, aa it appeared before the erection of the Infant
School there.
We have already mentioned the erection of the wall in Leith Wynd, a considerable
portion of which still remains, by virtue of an Act of Parliament in 1540.' Maitland
describes another addition in 1560, extending from thence to the end of the North Loch,
at the foot of Halkerston's Wynd.' The southern wall of the west wing of Trinity Hospital
included part of this ancient defence. It stood about six feet south from the present
retaining wall of the North British Railway, in the Physic Gardens: and was a piece of
such substantial masonry, that its demolition, in 1845, was attended with great labour,
requiring the use of wedges to break up the solid mam. In 1591, the citizens were
empowered, by Parliament, to raise money on all lands and rents within Edinburgh, towards
strengthening the town, by an addition of height and thickness to its walls, with forcing
places, bulwarks, or flankers, 8;c. ; * and finally, the Common Council having, in 1618,
bought from Tours of Innerleith ten acres of land at the Creyfriars' Port, they immediately
ordered it to be enclosed with a wall, a considerable portion of which forms the western
boundary of the Heriot's Hospital grounds. It only remains to be added, that the last
attempt made to render these walls an effective defence, wa.s in the memorable year 1745;
with how little success has already been narrated. From the evidence brought out in the
course of Provost Stewart's trial, they seem to have been, at that period, in a most ruinous
condition, and it is improbable that any efforts were made after that to stay their further
decay.
The changes wrought upon the town itself during the same period are no less remarkable.
Owing to its peculiar situation, crowning the ridge of the hill, on the highest point
of which the Castle is perched, and sloping off to the low grounds on either side, its limits
seemed to our ancestors to be defined almost beyond the possibility of enlargement. The
only approach to the main street, from the west, previous to the commencement of the
North Bridge, in 1765, was up the steep and crooked thoroughfare of the West Bow, by
which kings and nobles so often entered in state, and from thence it extended, in unbroken
continuity to St Mary's and Leith Wynds. The remainder of the street, through the
Canongate, has fortunately, as yet, escaped the revision of '' improvements commissioners,"
and presents, in the continuation of the principal thoroughfare through the Nether Bow to
the Palace, many antique features, awaking associations of the period when the Scottish
nobility resided there in ciose vicinity to the Court.
A very few years, however, have sufficed to do the work of centuries in the demolition
of time-honoured and interesting fabrics. St Giles's Church has been renovated externally,
and reduced to the insipid standard of modern uniformity. George IV. Bridge, and its
approaches, have swept away nearly all the West Bow, Gosford's and the Old Bank Closes,
Libberton's Wynd, and some of the most interesting houses in the Cowgate. The projectors
of the New College have taken for its site another portion, including the Guise Palace,
in. Blyth's Clow, which bore, on its north front, the earliest date then existing on any
private building in Edinburgh ; and the same parties, in their zeal to do honour to Knox's
,
1 Ante, p. 44.
a Maitland, p. 20, where it ia defined aa at the foot of Libbwton'r Wynd, but this is obviously an error. ' So called from having long been the site of the Botanical Gardens. ' Kaitland, p, 45.

... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORATION. 1 I7 terior, with the embrasures and loop-holes, aa it appeared before ...

Book 10 p. 128
(Score 0.64)

of an age as different in every respect from tht
present as the wilds of North America are differenl
from the long-practised lands of Lothian or Devon,
shire.?
In James?s Court was the residence of Sir Islaj
Campbell, Lord President, whose mother was Heler
Wallace, a daughter of the house of Ellerslie. Ad.
OAK DOOR, FROM THE GUISE PALACE.
(From th OrigiMZ in ihe Scoflish Antiquarian Museum.)
mitted to the bar in 1757, he was one of thecounsel
for the defender in the famous Douglas case, and,
on the decision of the House of Lords being given,
he posted to Edinburgh ere the mail could arrive,
and was the first to announce to the crowds assem.
bled at the Cross the great intelligence. ?? Douglas
for ever ! ?? he cried, waving his hat in the air.
A shout from the people responded, and, untrac.
ing the horses from his carnage, they drew it in
triumph to his house in James?s Court, probably
the same in which his father, who was long one oi
the principal clerks of Session, resided.
This court is a well-known pile of building
which rises to a vast height at the head of the
Earthen Mound, and was erected between 172s
and 1727 by James Brownhill, a speculative builder,
and for years after it was deemed a fashionable
quarter, the denizens of which were all persons of
good position, though each occupied but a flat or
floor ; they clubbed in all public measures, kept a
secretary to record their names and proceedings,
and had balls and parties among themselves ; but
among the many local notables who dwelt here the
names of only three, Hume, Boswell, and Dr. Blair,
are familiar to us now. Burton, the biographer of
the historian of England, thus describes this great
fabric, the western portion of which was destroyed
by fire in 1858, and has erected on its site, in
the old Scottish style, an equally lofty structure for
the Savings Bank and Free Church offices; consequently
the houses rendered so interesting by the
names of Hume, Blair, Johnson, and Boswell, are
among the things that were. ?Entering one of
the doors opposite to the main entrance, the
stranger is sometimes led by a friend, wishing to
afford him an agreeable surprise, down flight after
flight of the steps of a stone staircase, and when
he imagines he is descending so far into the bowels
of the earth, he emerges on the edge of a cheerful,
crowded thoroughfare, connecting together the old
and new town, the latter of which lies spread before
him in a contrast to the gloom from which he
has emerged. When he looks up $0 the building
containing the upnkht street through which he has
descended, he sees that vast pile of tall houses
standing at the head of the Mound, which creates
astonishment in every visitor of Edinburgh. This
vast fabric is built on the declivity of a hill, and
thus one entering on the level of the Lawnmarket,
is at the height of several storeys from the ground
on the side next the New Town. I have ascertained
that by ascending the western of the two stairs
facing the entry of James?s Court to the height of
three storeys we arrive at the door of David Hume?s
house, which, of the two doors on that landing place,
is the one towards the left.?
The first fixed residence of David Hume was in
Riddell?s Land, Lawnmarket, near the head of the
West Bow. From thence he removed to Jack?s
Land, in the Canongate, where nearly the whole of
his ? History of England ? was written ; and it is
somewhat singular that Dr. Smollett, the continuator
of that work, lived? some time after in his sister?s
house, exactly opposite. The great historian and
philosopher dwelt but a short time in James?s Court,
when he went to France ag Secretary to the Embassy.
During his absence, which lasted some

... an age as different in every respect from tht present as the wilds of North America are differenl from the ...

Book 1 p. 98
(Score 0.64)

THE HIGH STREET. 231
Lord Philiphaugh, one of the judges appointed after the Revolution. He sat in the Convention
of Estates which assembled at Edinburgh, 26th June 1678, and was again chosen
to represent the county of Selkirk in Parliament in the year 1681, when he became a
special object of jealousy to the government. He was imprisoned in 1684 ; and under the
terror of threatened torture with the boots, he yielded to give evidence against those
implicated in the Rre House Plot. He had the character of an upright and independent
judge, but his contemporaries never forgot ‘‘ that unhappy step of being an evidence to
save his life,”’ a weakness that most of those who remembered it against him would
probably have shown in like circumstances.
A little further down the close another doorway appears, adorned with an inscription
and armorial bearings. At the one end of the lintel is a shield bearing the arms of Bruce
of Binning, boldly cut in high relief, and at the other end the same, impaled with those of
Preston, while between them is this inscription, in large ornamental characters,
GRACIA DEI * ROBERTUS * BRUISS
In the earlier titles of property in this close, it is styled Bruce’s Close, and the family have
evidently been of note and influence in their day. We were not without hope of being
able to trace their connection with the celebrated Robert Bruce, who, as one of the ministers
of Edinburgh, became an object of such special animosity to James VI. ; and the vicinity
of the old mansion to the ancient church where he officiated renders it not improbable in
the absence of all evidence.’
Still farther down, another doorway, ornamented with inscriptions and armorial bearings:
gives access to a large and handsome dwelling on the first floor, adorned at its entrance
with a niche or recess, formed of a pointed arch, somewhat‘ plainer than the (‘ fonts ”
described in Blyth’s Close. Here was the residehce of the celebrated Sir Thomas Craig, who
won the character of an upright judge, and a man of eminent learning and true nobleness
of character, during the long period of forty years that he practised as a lawyer, in the
reign of Queen Mary and James VI. One of his earliest duties as a justice-depute was the
trial and condemnation of Thomas Scott, sheriff-depute of Perth, and Henry Yair a priest,
for having kept the gates of Holyrood Palace during the assassination of Rizzio. He
appears to have been a man of extreme modesty, and little inclined from his natural disposition
to take a prominent part in public affairs. Whether from timidity or difEdence, he
left Sir Thomas Hope to fulfil the duties which rightly devolved on him, as advocate for
the Church, at the famous trial of the six ministers. He was of a studious turn, and readier
in the use of his pen than his tongue. His legal treatises are still esteemed for their great
learning ; and several of his Latin poems are to be found in the “ Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum,”
containing, according to his biographer Nr Tytler, many passages eminently poetical.
It is a curious fact, that although repeatedly offered by King James the honour of knighthood,
he constantly refused it ; and he is only styled (‘ Sir Thomas Craig,” in consequence
Hackay’s Memoirs. ’ In the Book of Retoum, vol. ii., Nos. 26 and 30, in the year 1600, Robert Bruce, heir male of Robert Bruce of
Binning, his father, appears as owner of various hnds in Linlithgow, anciently belonging to the F’rioress and Convent
of the B. V. Yary of Elcho, with the chuich lands of the vicarage of Byning.
a The inscription, now greatly defaced, is, Gratia Dei, Thiromas T . . . .

... HIGH STREET. 231 Lord Philiphaugh, one of the judges appointed after the Revolution. He sat in the ...

Book 10 p. 251
(Score 0.63)

416 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
And again, in speaking of domestic pilgrimages, he assigns to this saint the virtues for
which he was most noted by the citizens of Edinburgh in early times :-
Sa doith our commoun populare,
Quhilk war to lang for till declare,
Thair superstitious pilgramagie,
To monie divers imagis :
Sum to Sanct Roche, with diligence,
To naif thame from the pestilence :
For thair teith to Sanct Apollene ;
To Sanct Tredwell to mend thair em.
The Chapel of St Roque has not escaped the notice of the Lord Lyon King’s poetic eulogist,
among the varied features of the landscape that fill up the magnificent picture, as Lord
Marmion rides under the escort of Sir .David Lindsay to the top of Blackford Hill, in his
approach to the Scottish camp, and looks down on the martial array of the kingdom covering
the wooded links of the Borough Muir. James IT. is there represented as occasionally
wending his way to attend mass at the neighbouring Chapels of St Katherine or St Roque ;
nor is it unlikely that the latter may have been the scene of the monarch’s. latest acts of
devotion, ere he led forth that gallant array to perish around him on the Field of Flodden.
The Church of St John the Baptist, which was afterwards converted into the Chapel of the
Convent of St Katherine de Sienna, was then just completed; but Geoge Lord Setoun,
whose widow founded the convent a few years later, and Adam Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell,
her father, were among the nobles who marshalled their followers around the Scottish
standard, to march to the fatal field where both were slain. In accordance with the attributes
ascribed by Lindsay to St Roque, we find his chapel resorted to by the victims of
the plague, who encamped on the Borough Muir during the prevalence of that dreadful
scourge in the sixteenth century ; and the neighbouring cemetery became the resting-place
of those who fell a prey to the pestilence. Among the statutes of the Burgh is the following
for December 1530, “We do yow to wit, forsamekle a8 James Barbour, master and
gouernour of the foule folk on the Mure, is to be clengit, and hes intromettit with sindry
folkis gudis and clais quhilkis ar lyand in Sanct Rokis Chapell, Thairfor al maner of personis
that has ony clame to the said gudis that thai cum on Tysday nixt to cum to the officiaris,
and thar dais to be clengit, certyfyand thaim, and thai do nocht, that all the said clais gif
thai be of litill avail1 sal be brynt, and the laif to be gevin to the pure folkis.”’ k n o t
relates that this ancient chapel-an engraving of which is given in the re-issue of the
quarto edition of his history-narrowly escaped the demolition to which its proprietor had
doomed it about the middle of last century, owing to the superstitious terrors of the workmen
engaged to pull it down. The march of intellect, however, had made rapid strides ere
its doom was a second time pronounced by a new proprietor early in the present century,
when the whole of this interesting and venerable ruin was swept away, as an unsightly
encumbrance to the estate of a retired tradesman !
The teinds or tithes of the Borough Muir belonged of old to the Abbey of Holyrood;
but this did not interfere with the acquirement of nearly the whole of jts broad lands by
private proprietors, aud their transference to various ecclesiastical foundations. The name
Acta and Statutes, Burgh of Edinburgh. Mait. Misc, vol ii. p. 117.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. And again, in speaking of domestic pilgrimages, he assigns to this saint the virtues ...

Book 10 p. 456
(Score 0.63)

KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 141
brother, united with it the title of Earl of Stair; a combination of titles in one person,
that afforded the wits of last century a favourite source of jest in the supposed recontres of
the two noble Earls.
The mansion appears to have passed into this nobleman’s possession very shortly after
its erection, as among the titles there is a declaration by William Earl of Dumfries, of
the date 20th March 1747, “that the back laigh door ol passage on the west side of
the house, which enters to the garden and property belonging to Mr Charles Hamilton
Gordon, advocate, is ane entry of mere tolerance given to me at the pleasure of the
owner,” &c.
The Earl was succeeded in it by his widow, who, exactly within year and day of his
death, married the Honourable Alexander Gordon, son of the second Earl of Aberdeen, On
his appointment as a Lord of Sesaion in 1784, he assumed the title of Lord Rockville,
from his estate in East Lothian. He was the last titled occupant that inhabited this
once patrician dwelling of the Old Town ; and the narrow alley that gives access to the court
behind, accordingly retaina the name of Rockville Close. Within this close, towards the
west, there is a plain substantial land now exposed to view by the Castle Road, originally
possessed by Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Hyndford, and sold by her in the year 1740,
to Henry, the last Lord Holyroodhouse, who died at his house in the Canongate in 1755.l
Various ancient closes, and very picturesque front lands that formed the continuation of
the southern side of the Castle Hill, have been swept away to give place to the new
western approach and the Assembly Hall. One of these, ROSS’SC ourt, contained ‘‘ The
great Marquis of hgyle’s House in the Castlehill,” described by Creech, in his “ Fugitive
Pieces,” as inhabited, at that degenerate period, by a hosier, at a rental of S12 per annum.
Another of them, ‘Kennedy’s Close, though in its latter days a mean and dirty alley,
possessed some interesting remains of earlier times. It probably derived its name from a
recent occupant, a son of Sir Andrew Kennedy of Clowburn, Baronet ; but both Gom the
antique character, and the remains of faded grandeur in some of its buildings, it had doubtless
afforded residences for some of the old nobles of the Court of Holyrood. The front land
was said to have been the town mansion of the Earls of Cassillis, whose family name is
Kennedy. It was adorned, at the entrance to the close, with a handsome stone architrave,
supported on two elegant spiral fluted pillars, and the rest of the building presented a
picturesque wooden front to the street. Within the close there was another curious old
wooden fronted land, which tradition reported a0 having been at one period a nonjurant
Episcopal chapel. An inspection of this building during its demolition, served to show
that, although the main fabric was substantial and elegant stone work, the wooden front
was an integral part of the original design. It was found that the main beams of the ~ O U S ~ ,
of fine old oak, were continued forward through the stone wall, so as to support the wood
work beyond, and this was further confirmed by the existence of a large fireplace on the
outside of the stone wall; an arrangement which may still be seen in a similarly constructed
land at the head of Lady Stair’s Close, and probably in others. Within this house there
was one of the beautifully sculptured gothic niches, already alluded to, of which we furnish
a view, in the state in which it existed when the house was taken down. This we presume
*
Douglk’s Peerage.

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 141 brother, united with it the title of Earl of Stair; a ...

Book 10 p. 152
(Score 0.63)

56 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
interfering with a high hand, even to the ‘t ordouring of everie mannis house,” and regulating
with a most rigid economy the number of dishes at each man’s table, according to
his degree. But the most interesting is, that against printing without licence, furnishing
an insight into the variety and character of the writings then issuing from the press, and
already strongly influencing the public mind. ‘‘ l%at na prenter presume to prent ony
buikes, ballattes, sanges, blasphemationes, rime, or tragedies, outher in Latine or English
toung,” without due examination and licence granted, under pain of confiscation of goods,
and banishment of the realm for ever.’ Sir David Lindsay had already published his
Tragedie of tAe Cardinal, and it seems to have been about this time that he put forth
The Historie and Testament of Spuyer Meldrum, one of his most pleasing poems, though
in parts exhibiting a licence, as to incident and language, common to the writers of that
age. This poem is the versification of a romantic incident which occurred under his own
observation during the unsettled period, in the earlier years of the minority of James V.
(August 1517.)’ The rank of Sir D a d Lindsay, and the influence he had enjoyed
during the previous reign, had continued to preserve him from all interference ; nor was
’ it till the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England, and the steps in favour of the
Protestant party that followed thereon, that the Catholic clergy at length denounced his
writings as the fruitful source of movement in the popular mind.
The object of the Queen Dowager, in her recent visit to France, had been mainly to
secure the interest of that Court in procuring for herself the office of Regent. The Earl
of Arran, who still held that office, seems to have been altogether deficient in the requisite
talents for his responsible position ; swqyed alternately by whichever adviser chanced to
hold his confidence, his government was at once feeble and uncertain.
No sooner had the Queen Dowager secured the approbation and concurrence of the
French King, than her emissaries departed for the Scottish capital, empowered to break
the affair to the Regent, with such advantageous offer as should induce him to yield up
the office without difficulty. Threats were held out of a rigid reckoning being required as
to the dilapidation of the revenue and crown-lands, which had taken place during his
government.
Chatelherault, with ample provision for his eldest aon at the French Court, while like
liberal promises secured to the Queen’s party many of the nobility.
The kchbishop of St Andrews, who had latterly influenced all the motions of the
Regent, chanced at this time to be dangerously ill, so that Arran was left without counsel
or aid, and yielded at length a reluctant consent to the exchange.
On the return of Mary of Guise from France, she accompanied Arran in a progress
through the northern parts of the kingdom, in which she exhibited much of that prudence
and ability which she undoubtedly possessed, and which, in more fortunate times, might
have largely promoted the best interests of the country: while such was the popularity
she acquired, that the Regent became highly jealous of her influence, and when reminded
of his promise, indignantly refused to yield up the government into her hands.
The Queen Dowager, however, already possessed the real power ; and while the Regent,
with his few adherents, continued to reside at Edinburgh, and maintain there the forms of
government, she was holding a brilliant court at Stirling, and securing to her party the
.
On the other hand, he was offered the splendid bribe of the Dukedom of .
l Scots Acta, vol. i. p. 286. * Pitscottie, vol. ii. p, 305.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. interfering with a high hand, even to the ‘t ordouring of everie mannis house,” and ...

Book 10 p. 61
(Score 0.63)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 271
the front land ; and owing to the alteration in the level of floors, and other changes consequent
on the wedding of this wrinkled dowager of the sixteenth century with its spruce
partner of the eighteenth, an explorer of its intricate labyrinths finds himself beset by as
many inconveniences as Mr Love1 experienced on his first introduction to the mitred Abbot
of Trotcosey’s Grange, at Monkbarns. On ascending the winding stair, by which he
reaches the door of the first floor, he has then to descend another ; and after threading a
dark passage on this lower level, somewhat in the form of the letter Z, he reaches a third
flight of steps equally zigzag in their direction, whose ascent-if he have courage to persevere
EO far, lands him in “ that other tenement of land, commonly called the Fountain, a
little above-the Nether Bow, on the south side of the High Street of Edinburgh; and
which tenement of land, formerly called the Backland, some time belonged to Nicol and
Alexander Bassandene, lawful sons to Michael Bassandene, lying in the closs called Bassandene’s
Closs,” &c. Such is the description of this ancient fabric, as given in the earlier
title-deeds of the present proprietor. The same building is repeatedly referred to in the
evidence of the accomplices of the Earl of Bothwell in the murder of Darnley, an event
which took place in the lifetime of the old printer. In the deposition of George Dalgleish,
one of those who was executed for his share i; that crime, it is stated, that ‘‘ eftir thay
enterit within the [Nether Bow] Port, thai zeid up abone Bassyntine’s house, on the south
side of the gait, and knockit at ane dur beneth the sword slippers, and callit for the Laird
of Ormestounes, and one within answerit he was not thare ; and thai passit down a cloiss
beneth Frier Wynd, and enterit in at the zet of the Black Friers.”l This reference
clearly indicates the tenement which we have described ; the only question is, whether it
was that of Thomas Bassendyne, the printer, referred to in the imprint of his rare 4to
edition of Sir David Lindsay’s Poems, printed in 1574, while “ dwelland at the Nether
BOW.” In the statement of debts appended to his will, there was “ awand to Alesoun
Tod, mother to the defunct, for half ane zeiris male of the house iiii 1. ; ” while there was
due to him, “be Michael Bassinden, bruther to the said vmquhile Thomas, of byrun
annuellis, the soume of ane hundreth ten pundia.” From this, it seems probable that his
mother was liferented in that part of the house which formed the printer’s dwelling and
establishment, while the remainder, belonging to himself, was occupied by his brother.
At all events he leaves in his will, “his thrid, the ane half thairof to his wyf, and the
vthir half to his mother, and Michael, and his bairnes ; ” in which we presume to have
been included the house, which we find both he and his bairns afterwards possessing,
and for which no rent would appear to have been exacted during the lifetime of the
printer.
The name of the Fountain, by which the old tenement is distinguished in the titles, is
curious. The well, which nom bears the same name, had in all probability formerly stood
either in front of this building, or more probably-from the speciality of the name, and
the narrowness of the street at that point-it had formed a portion of the building itself;
for it is not styled the Fountain Land, according to usual custom, but simply Tde Fountain.
In the evidence of the Earl of Bothwell’s accomplices, already referred to, it is
stated by William Powrie, that after thai hard the crack, thai past away togidder out at
the Frier Yet, and sinderit quhen thai came to the Cowgate, pairt up the Blackfrier
.
Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, Supplement, p, 495. Bannatyne Misc., vol. ii p. 202

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 271 the front land ; and owing to the alteration in the level of floors, and other ...

Book 10 p. 294
(Score 0.63)

74 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
tions, and being withal a man of strong sense, and of a frank and social humour-
an easy landlord-a reasonable master1-a skilful farmer-and very
intelligent in country affairs, he was much liked and respected in his rural circle ;
and was often resorted to by his neighbours of all ranks, as a safe and a fair
referee, for the settlement of such controversies as occasionally arose among
them. He was, moreover, a correct and careful man of business-understood
figures well-and seemed indeed to find a pleasure in arithmetical operations ;
insomuch, that he never engaged in any material undertaking, of which he had
not. previously calculated, as far as possible, the utmost cost of the ultimate
result.
In allusion to this habit of his, his brother the historian expresses himself
thus, in a letter (19th March 1751) written to his relation, Mrs. Sandilands
Dysert, on the eve of John’s marriage-“ Dear Madam,-Our friend, at last,
plucked up a resolution, and has ventured on that dangerous encounter. He
went off on Monday morning ; and this is the first action in his life, wherein
he has engaged himself, without being able to compute exactly the consequences.
But what arithmetic can serve to fix the proportion between good and bad
wives, and rate the different classes of each? Sir Isaac Newton himself, who
could measure the courses of the planets, and weigh the earth as in a pair of
scales, even he had not algebra enough to reduce that amiable part of our species
to a just equation ; and they are the only heavenly bodies whose orbits are as
yet uncertain.”
Though not to be termed a scholar (in the English sense of the word), John
Home was, however, not without a fair tincture of literature, classic as well as
modern, especially history and belles lettres ; and ordinarily enjoyed the evening
over a book, Latin or French, as ofte,n as English. He was about the middle
stature-not much under six feet-and of a: stout and muscular, but not a
fleshy frame. To this he did not spare to give ample exercise on all occasions j
by which means, joined to the most temperate habits, he maintained uniform
good health till towards the close of a life of seventy-seven years,* He was of a
keen and animated countenance, with a florid complexion, a clear grey eye, and
well formed features, which were set off to some advantage in his old age, by his
grey locks, which fell in full curls (though these are not given in the Print) on
,
1 “Add Patie Johnston,” tenant of Ninewells’ mill, used to allege that he and his forefathers
had held the mill as tenants for at least as many generations as the Homes had held the property.
They certainly had possessed the mill for a very long period of time.
Joseph
Watson, the gardener, had never been in any other service ; and he died at the age of ninety, in the
gardener’s house at Ninewells. He had long been relieved of the labours of the garden by a worthy
and ingenious young man, his son Thomas.
a He never followed the hounds, or used the fowling-piece ; but he was a keen and a deadly hand
with the leister or salmon spear. The Whitadder runs along the lands of Ninewells ; and the clear
waters of that pleasant stream were often stained with the bloody tokens of his prowm in that
joyous and manly sport Occasionally, on an emergency, in the cloae of 8 wet and broken harvest,
the old gentleman did not think it unsuitable to join his servants for some hours in their exertions
to save the crop, and was seen to follow the loading wain along the ridge, and deliver the sheaves
(which he did with much euergy and rapidity) from the pitch-fork in his own hand into the wain.
David Waite, John Home’s house-servant, held that station for sixty yean or thereby.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. tions, and being withal a man of strong sense, and of a frank and social humour- an ...

Book 9 p. 98
(Score 0.63)

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