... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
a right to dues to nearly the same amount from the royal revenues at the port of ...
Book 10 p. 5
(Score 0.73)
... OLD AIVD NEW EDINBURGH. [Hope Park.
?a broadsword, a real Andrea Femara blade, hung
by his bed-side, and over ...
Book 4 p. 352
(Score 0.72)
... 26 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
of one of them as it still exists, with the wooden frame-work that sustained the ...
Book 10 p. 137
(Score 0.72)
... 111.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES IK TO THE
BATTLE OF FLODDEN.
- -_ --._ .- -7
/ -,
___ --.. .
' ...
Book 10 p. 24
(Score 0.72)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
months afterwards. From the effects of this wound he suffered occasionally as
long as ...
Book 9 p. 301
(Score 0.72)
... .
203 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of the Royal Society, Dr. Browne, advocate, and several other gentlemen ...
Book 9 p. 271
(Score 0.71)
... QUEENSFERRY To MUSSELBURGH.
General Monk succeeding him, took up his residence in the town-greatly to
its ...
Book 11 p. 157
(Score 0.71)
... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. t37
tainhall records, 11th March 1685, a reduction pursued by the ...
Book 10 p. 148
(Score 0.7)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
placed on board a Swedish ship, in which he arrived at Falmouth in ...
Book 8 p. 263
(Score 0.7)
... GEORGE HERIOT. 363
diameter and 22 feet high; one school-room, 52
feet long by 26 wide ; and two ...
Book 4 p. 363
(Score 0.69)
... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORA TION. I11
that, when they were assembled in St Giles’s Church, and it was ...
Book 10 p. 122
(Score 0.69)
![urgh Castle.] THE ROYAL LODGING. 77
for woodwork in the ? Gret Ha? windois in the
Castell, gret gestis and dowbill dalis for the myd
? chalmer, the king?s kechin, and the New Court
kechin in David?s Toure,? and for the Register
House built in 1542 by ?John Merlyoune,? who
first paved the High Street by order of James V.
On the east side of the square is the old palace,
or royal lodging, in which many stirring events
have happened, many a lawless deed been done,
where the longest line of sovereigns in the British
Isles dwelt, and manv have been born and
gorgeous landscape is spread out, reaching almost
to the ancient landmarks of the kingdom, guarded
on the far east by the old keep of Craigmillar, and
on the west by Merchiston Tower.? Besides the
hall in this edifice there was another in the fortress ;
for among the items of the High Treasurer?s accounts,
in 1516, we find for flooring the Lord?s
James VI. was unable to take with him to England
-lay so long hidden from view, and where they are
now exhibited daily to visitors, who number several
thousands every meek. The room was greatly
improved in 1848, when the ceiling was repaired
with massive oak panelling, having shields in bold
relief, and a window was opened to the square.
Two barriers close this room, one a grated door of
vast strength like a small portcullis.
In this building Mary of Guise died in 1550,
and a doomay, bearing the date of 1566, gives
1 have died. It is a handsome edifice, repaired so
~ lately as 1616, as a date remains to show ; but its
octagonal tower, square turrets and battlements,
? were probably designed by Sir James Hamilton
of Finnart, the architect to James V. A semioctagonal
tower of considerable height gives access
to the strongly vaulted and once totally dark room
EDINBURGH, FROM THE KING?S BASTION, 1825. (After EwJank.)](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p089.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 77")
... Castle.] THE ROYAL LODGING. 77
for woodwork in the ? Gret Ha? windois in the
Castell, gret gestis and ...
Book 1 p. 77
(Score 0.69)
... SKETCHES. 449
Dunkeld. Subsequently he spent a few years as tutor in one or two respectable
families ...
Book 9 p. 600
(Score 0.68)
![Leith] THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French servants o
Mary.
U In a small garden attached to one of the house:
in Little London,? says a writer, whose anecdote
we give for what it is worth, ? there was a flowerplot
which was tended with peculiar care long
after its original possessors had gone the way 01
all flesh, and it was believed that the body of a
young and beautiful female who committed suicide
was interred here. The peculiar circumstances
attending her death, and the locality made choice
of for her interment, combined to throw romantic
interest over her fate and fortunes, and
her story was handed-down from one generation
to another.?
In Bernard Street, a spacious and well-edificed
thoroughfare, was built, in 1806, the office of the
Leith Bank, a neat but small edifice, consisting of
two floors ; a handsome dome rises from the north
front, and a projection ornamented with four Ionic
columns, and having thin pilasters of the same.
decorates the building. It is now the National
Bank of Scotland Branch.
Since then, many other banking offices have been
established in the same street, including that of
the Union Bank, built in 1871 after designs by
James Simpson, having a three-storeyed front in the
Italian style, with a handsome cornice and balustrade,
and a telling-room measuring 34 feet by 32 ;
the National Bank of Scotland ; the Clydesdale
and British Linen Company?s Banks; many insurance
offices; and in No. 37 is the house of the
Leith Merchants? Club.
Bernard Street joins Baltic Street, at the southeast
corner of which is the spacious and stately
Corn Exchange, which is so ample in extent as to
be frequently used as a drill-hall by the entire
battalion of Leith Rifle Volunteers.
North of Baltic Street are the old Glass Works
The Bottle House Company, as it was named,
began to manufacture glass vessels in North Leith
in 1746, but their establishment was burnt down
during the first year of the partnership. Thus, in
1747 the new brick houses were built on the sands
of South Leith, near the present Salamander Street,
and as ~e demand for bottles increased, they
built an additional one in 1764, though, according
to Bremner, glass was manufactured in Leith so
early as 1682.
Seven cones, or furnaces, were built, but in later
years only two have been in operation. In the
year 1777 CO less -than 15,8834 cwts. were made
here in Leith, the Government duty on which
amounted to A2,779 odd ; but as there are now
many other bottle manufactories in Scotland, thetrade
is no longer confined to the old houses that.
adjoin Baltic and Salamander Streets.
A writer in the Bet, an old extinct &dinburgh,
periodical, writing in 1792, says that about thirty
years before there was only one glass company in.
Scotland, the hands working one-half the year in
Glasgow, and the other half at Leith, and adds :-
?NOW there are six glass-houses in Leith alone,.
besides many others in different parts of the
tountry. At the time I mention nothing else
than bottles of coarse green glass were made there,
and to that article the Glass House Company in
Leith confined their efforts, till about a dozen yearsagoI
when they began to make fine glass for phials.
and other articles of that nature. About four yearsago
they introduced the manufacture of crown
glass for windows, which they now make in great
perfection, and in considerable quantities. After
they began to manufacture white glass, they fzll
into the way of cutting it for ornament and engraving
upon it. In this last department they havereached
a higher degree of perfection than it hasperhaps
anywhere else ever attained. A young
man who was bred to that business, having discovered
a taste in designing, and an elegance of
execution that was very uncommon, the proprietors
of the works were at pains to give him every aid in
the art of drawing that this place can afford, and
he has exhibited some specimens of his powers in
that line that are believed to be unrivalled. It is.
but yesterday that this Glass House Company (who
are in a very flourishing state), encouraged by their
success in other respects, introduced the art of
preparing glass in imitation of gems, and of cutting
it in facets, and working it into elegant fomis for
chandeliers and other ornamental kinds of furniture.
In this department their first attempts have
been highly successful, and they have now executed
some pieces of work that they need not be ashamed
to compare with the best that can be procured
elsewhere.?
The works of the Glass House Company at
Leith were advertised as for sale in the Courani
of 1813, which stated that they were valued at
~40,000, with a valuable steam-engine of sixteen
horse power, valued at E2 1,000.
Quality Street, and the fine long thoroughfare
named Constitution Street, open into Bernard
Street. Robertson gives us a drawing of an old and
richly-moulded doorway of a tenement, in the
rorrner street, having on its lintel the initials P. P.,
E. G., and the date 1710. At the corner of Quality
Street stands St. John?s Free Church, which was
built in 1870-1, at a cost of about A7,500, and](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p058.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 239")
... THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French ...
Book 6 p. 239
(Score 0.68)
... BEARING DATE OF 1692.
discovery was made in one of our churches. Some
years ago a chest, without ...
Book 1 p. 186
(Score 0.67)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
Mr. Shiells was married, and had a daughter, who died young. He was
much respected in ...
Book 8 p. 554
(Score 0.67)
![The Mound.] GEORGE WATSON, P.R.S.A. 91
of John Watson of Overmains, in Berwickshire,
his mother being Frances Veitch, of the Elliock
fimily. He was a cousin of Sir Walter Scott?s, and
was born in I 767. He studied art under Nasmyth
and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and before the time of
his election had won a high reputation as a portrait
painter. From 1808 to 1812 he was President of
the Associated Artists of Scotland. His brother,
Captain Watson, R.N., was the, father of Sir John
Watson-Gordon, also a president of the Academy ;
and his nephew, William Stewart Watson, was an
artist of some repute, whose chief work is the
?? Inauguration of Burns as Poet Laureate or Grand
Bard,? now in the Masonic Hall, George Street, and,
as a collection of portraits, is historically curious.
George Watson?s son, W. Smellie Watson, was
also R.S.A., and died in No. 10 Forth Street in
1874, the same house in which his father had held
some early exhibitions about the close of the last
century or beginning of the present. ?
The President and Council resolved that the first
exhibition of their infant Academy should take
place early in February, 1827, in two large galleries
which they rented, in 24 Waterloo Place, for three
months at eighty guineas, and subsequently at
one hundred and thirty pounds per annum.
Opposed by those who should have aided it, the
Academy had a hard struggle for a time in the first
years of its existence. Application was made to
the Home Secretary, the future Sir Robert Peel, for
. a charter of incorporation, and it was favourably
viewed by those in office, and submitted to the
Lord Advocate. Eut though the application was
generously and warmly seconded by Sir Thomas
Lawrence, then President of the Royal Academy of
London, it was put off for two years, ?and
ultimately refused,? says Sir George Harvey ?? on
grounds which the Academy could never learn;
and though they applied for permission to do so,
they were never allowed to peruse the document
which induced his lordship to decide against their
claim. . . . Curiously enough, although the
request of the Academy for a charter of incorporation
was at this time denied, the Institution had
that distinction conferred upon it, and henceforth
came to be designated the Royal Institution.?
The first general exhibition of the Scottish
Academy being advertised for February, 1827,
? the Royal Institution, under the immediatepatronage
of His Mq>siY,?? was, in a spirit of genuine
opposition, advertised to open at the same time ; but
by the time of the third Exhibition, ? the Royal
Institution,? says Sir George, ?? was fairly driven
out of the field ; ? and among the contributors were
the future Sir Francis Grant, John Linnell, and
John Martin, and one of Etty?s magnificent works,
now the property of the Academy, was for the first
time hung upon its walls, while many Scottish
artists in London or elsewhere, watched with patriotic
interest the progress of art in their native land,
and the Institution rapidly began to take a
subordinate position ; and by a minute of the 10th
July, 1829, twenty-four of its artists, weary of its
rule, were admitted as members of the Scottish
Academy, thus raising the numerical force of the
latter to thirty-nine. Eventually the number of
Academicians became forty-two. In the rank of
Associate Engravers was the well-known William
Lizars, for as the law stood then he could not
be elected an Academician, engravers being then
limited to the position of Associate, but after a
time they were rendered eligible to occupy any
rank in the Academy.
George Watson, the first President of the Scottish
Academy, died on the 24th of August, 1837, at
No. 10 Forth Street, in his seventieth year. For
a long time previously his occupation of the chair
had been nominal, his age and declining health
precluding his attendance at council meetings-
A white marble slab in the west .wall of the West
Kirkyard marks his grave and that of ? Rebecca.
Smellie, his spouse, who died 5th May, 1839, aged
74 years.?
In the subsequent November William Allan,
RA. (afterwards knighted), was elected president,
and during his term .of office the long-desired
object was accomplished, and the Academy came
to be designated at last ?The Royal Scottish
Academy,? incorporated by royal charter on the
13th of August, 1838, consisting now of thirty
Academicians and twenty Associates-a consummation
of their wishes for which they were greatly
indebted to the warm and earnest interest of Lord
Cockburn.
By its charter the Academy is to consist of artists
by profession, being men of fair moral character and
of high repute in art, settled and resident in Scotland
at the dates of their elections. It ordains that,
there shall be an annual exhibition of paintings,
sculptures, and designs, in which all artists.of distinguished
merit may be permitted to exhibit their
works, to continue open six weeks or longer. It
likewise ordains that so soon as the funds of the
Academy will allow it, there shall be in the Royal
Scottish Academy professors of painting, sculpture,,
architecture, perspective, and anatomy, elected
according to the laws framed for the Royal Academy
of London; and that there shall be schools to
provide the means of studying the human form with
respect both to anatomical knowledge and taste of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p103.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 91")
... Mound.] GEORGE WATSON, P.R.S.A. 91
of John Watson of Overmains, in Berwickshire,
his mother being Frances ...
Book 3 p. 91
(Score 0.67)
![The Royal Excharge.] THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. 183 -
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE-THE TRON CHURCH-THE GREAT FIRE OF NOVEMBER, 1824.
The Royal Exchange-Laying the Foundation Stonc-Ddption of the Exchange-The Mysterious Statue-The Council Cbarnber-hventiom
of Royal Burghs : Constitution thereof, and Powers-Writen? Court-The ? Star and Garter? Tavern-Sir Walter Scott?s Account
of the Scene at Cleriheugh?s-Lawyers? High Jinks-The Tron Church-Histor] of the Old Church-Tht Gnat Fire of rSa~-lnciden~s
of the Conflagration-The Ruins Undermined-Blown up by Captain Head of the Engineers,
Ira 1753 we discover the first symptoms of vitality
in Edinburgh after the Union, when the pitiful
sum of A1,500 was subscribed by the convention
of royal burghs, for the purpose of ? beautifying
the city,? and the projected Royal Exchange was
fairly taken in hand.
If wealth had not increased much, the population
had, and by the middle of the eighteenth
century the citizens had begun to find the inconvenience
they laboured under by being confined
within the old Flodden wall, and that the city was
still destitute of such public buildings as were
necessary for the accommodation of those societies
which were formed, or forming, in all other capitals,
to direct the business of the nation, and provide
for the general welfare ; and so men of tas?te, rank,
and opulence, began to bestir themselves in Edinburgh
at last.
Many ancient alleys and closes, whose names
are well-nigh forgotten now, were demolished on
the north side of the Righ Street, to procure a
site for the new Royal Exchange. Some of these
had already become ruinous, and must have been
of vast antiquity. Many beautifully-sculptured
stones belonging to houses there were built into
the curious tower, erected by Mr. Walter Ross at
the Dean, and are now in a similar tower at Portobello,
Others were scattered about the garden
grounds at the foot of the Castle rock, and still
show the important character of some of the
edifices demolished. Among them there was a
lintel, discovered when clearing out the bed 01
the North Loch, with the initials IS. (and the
date 1658), supposed to be those of Jaines tenth
Lord Somerville, who, after serving long in the
Venetian army, died at a great age in 1677.
On the 13th of September, 1753, the first stone
of the new Exchange was laid by George Drummond,
then Grand Master of the Scottish Masons,
whose memory as a patriotic magistrate is still remembered
with respect in Edinburgh. A triumphal
arch, a gallery for the magistrates, and covered
stands for the spectators, enclosed the arena.
?The procession was very grand and regular,?
says the Gentleman?s Magazine for that year.
each lodge of maSons, of which there were
thirteen, walked in procession by themselves, all
uncovered, amounting to 672, most of whom were
operative masons.? The military paid proper
honours to the company on this occasion, and escorted
the procession in a suitable manner. The
Grand Master and the present substitute were
preceded by the Lord Provost, magistrates, and
council, in their robes, with the city sword, mace,
&c., carried before them, accompanied by the
directors of the scheme.
All day the foundation-stone lay open, that the
people might see it, with the Latin inscription on
the plate, which runs thus in English :-
? GEORGE DKUMMOND,
Of the Society of Freemasons in Scotland Grand Master,
Thrice Provost of the City of Edinburgh,
Three hundred Brother Masons attending,
In presence of many persons of distinction,
The Magistrates and Citizens of Edinburgh,
And of every rank of people an innumerable multitude,
And all Applaudipg ;
For convenience of the inhabitants of Edinburgh,
And the public ornament,
Laid this stone,
Wdliam Alexander being Provost,
On the 13th September, 1753. of the Era of Masonry 5753,
And of the reign of George II., King of Great Britain,
the 27th yea.?
In the stone were deposited two medals, one
bearing the profile and name of the Grand Master,
the other having the masonic arms, with the collar
of St. Andrew, and the legend, ? In the Lord is
all our trust.?
Though the stone was thus laid in 1753, the
work was not fairly begun till the following year,
nor was it finished till 1761, at the expense of
A31,5oo, including the price of the area on which
it is built ; but it never answered the purpose for
which it was intended-its paved quadrangle and
handsome Palladian arcades were never used by
the mercantile class, who persisted in meeting, as
of old, at the Cross, or where it stood.
Save that its front and western arcades have
been converted into shops, it remains unchanged
since it was thus described by Arnot, and the back I
view of it, which faces the New Town, catches the
eye at once, by its vast bulk and stupendous height,
IOO feet, all of polished ashlar, now blackened with -
the smoke of years :--.?The Exchange is a large
and elegant building, with a court in the -centre.
,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p195.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 183")
... Royal Excharge.] THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. 183 -
CHAPTER XX.
THE ROYAL EXCHANGE-THE TRON CHURCH-THE GREAT FIRE OF ...
Book 1 p. 183
(Score 0.67)
... 447
I waa built up in Gotothk times,
And have stood several hundred reigns ;
Sacred my mem’ry and my ...
Book 10 p. 486
(Score 0.67)
... JAMES IV. 61
whose contract is still preserved in the city archives.
A minute account of her reception ...
Book 3 p. 61
(Score 0.66)
![2 1 9 Fountainbridge.] INDIA-RUBBER COMPANY.
flesher would venture to kill any beast till all the
different parts were bespoke, butcher meat being
then a very unsaleable article.?
At the southern extremity of Fountainbridge
stood, till within the last few years, an antique villa,
a little way back from the road, named Bainfield,
for years the residence of an old and well-known
citizen, Bain Whyt, a W.S. of I 789, who was senior
lieutenant and afterwards adjutant of the First
Edinburgh Volunteers formed in 1794, and who
is still remembered in Edinburgh as the founder
of the Wagering Club in 1775. Yearly, on the
night of the 30th January, the members of this
club meet and solemnly drink to the memory
of ?? Old Bain Whyt,? in whose honour songs are
occasionally sung, the character of which may be
gathered from the following two verses of one sung
at the ninetieth anniversary :-
?? Come all ye jolly wagerers, and listen unto me,
And I will sing a little song, composed in memorie
Of the fine old Scottish gentleman, who in 1775,
Did plant the tree that still we see, right hearty and
alive.
Chorus-Right hearty and alive,
In this its ninetieth year !
With mirth and hearty cheer !
?Ihen drink to-night, to old Bain Whyt,
6? When haughty Gaul did fiercely crow and threaten swcird
Bain Whyt among the foremost rose to guard our native
A soldier good, full armed he stood, for home and
The pattern of a Ioyal man, a British volunteer !
in hand,
land ;
country dear,
Chorus-A British volunteer,
And an adjutant was he !
To him with three times three ! ?
Then fill the cup, and quaff it up,
The wagers, for small sums, a bottle of wine, a
dinner, perhaps, are made on the probable course
of current public events. They are then noted and
sealed up, to be opened and read from the chair
that night twelvemonth-the club holding no meetings
in the interim ; and the actual results are often
so far wide of all human speculation as to excite
both amusement and interest.
North of Bainfield, in what is still called Gilmore
Park, are two of the largest and finest manufactories
of India-rubber in the world, and the operations
conducted therein illustrate most ably the
nature and capabilities of caoutchouc. They stand
near each other on the western bank of the Union
Canal, and belong respectively to the North British
Rubber Company, and the Scottish Vulcanite
Company.
In 1855 an enterprising American brought to
Edinburgh the necessary capital and machinery
for an India-rubber manufactory, and acquired
possession of a great quadrangular block of fine
buildings, known as the Castle Silk Mills, which
had long been vacant, the projectors having failed
in their expectations. This edifice consists of two
large blocks of five floors each, with a number of
adjacent buildings.
Here the India-rubber arrives in different forms,
according to the fashion of the countries that produce
it, some shaped like quaint bottles, and some
in balls, of five inches diameter, and it is carefully
examined with a view to the detection of foreign
substances before it is subjected to the processes of
manufacture. After being softened in hot water,
the balls are crushed into thin pieces between
cylinders, the rubber being sent through and
through again and again, until it is thoroughly
crushed and assumes the form of a web. If further
reduction is necessary, it is sent through a third
set of rollers, and to rid it completely of foreign
matter, leaves or bark, &c., washing and cleansing
machines are employed. So adhesive is its nature,
that cleansing would prove abortive in a dry state,
and consequently jets of water flow constantly on
the rubber and cylinders when the machines referred
to are in operation. After being thus
cleansed, the webs are hung in the warm atmosphere
of the drying-room for several weeks.
From thence they are taken to ?? the mill,? which
occupies two entire floors of the main building.
The grinding machines; to the operation af which
the rubber is subjected, consist of two cylinders,
one of which is moderately heated by steam, and
the webs formed by the washing-machines are kept
revolving round and round the cylinders, until the
material becomes quite plastic. At this stage, sulphur,
or other chemical substances, are incorporated
with it, to determinate its ultimate character, and it
is then made up into seven or eight pound rolls,
while all further treatment depends upon the purpose
to which it is to be applied.
Great is the variety of goods produced here.
One of the upper floors is occupied by shoemakers
alone. There boots and shoes of all sizes are
made, but more especially the goloshes for wearing
over them; another floor is occupied by the makers
of coats, leggings, cushions, bags, and so forth. The ?
light-coloured coats foi India are the finest articles
made here.
The North British Rubber Company have paid
much attention to that department which includes
the manufacture of mbes, springs, washers, drivingbelts,
tires for wheels, &c They made the latter
for the wheels of the road steamer invented by
Rfr. R W. Thomson, of Edinburgh-huge rings of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p039.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 219")
... 1 9 Fountainbridge.] INDIA-RUBBER COMPANY.
flesher would venture to kill any beast till all the
different parts ...
Book 4 p. 219
(Score 0.66)
... OLD AKD NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mound
and ten elders, of whom five shall retire ?by
rotation from year to year, ...
Book 3 p. 98
(Score 0.66)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith .
choice of the inhabitants whether they will make
their dwelling where they do ...
Book 5 p. 186
(Score 0.66)
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