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132 ROSLIN, HAWTHORNDEN,
exqbisite, quaint, grotesque, from the beautiful spiral foliage cut upon the
‘ Prentice’s Pillar,’ to the heavenly host playing upon the bagpipes. Successive
generations of Earls of Rosslyn have been buried, coffmless, and weighted
with armour, in its vau1t;‘and it is an old belief that, the night before any
calamity befalls a St. Clair, tongues of ruddy flame are seen shooting from the
Chapel roof.
Roslin Moor, a little to the north of the village, was the scene of a famous
battle, fought in 1302 between 8000 Scotch, under Comyn, and the great
English army of 30,000 men. The Scotch were victorious, and the English
fled. It is said that the names in the neighbourhood are witnesses to the
carnage of that day, ‘ Shinbanes field ’ is where bones were found many a year
afterwards ; ‘ Stinking-rig’ was the general burying-ground ; the ‘ Kill-burn’ was
a brook which ran blood-red for three days after the battle ; while ‘ Mountmarle,’
a farm on the Hawthornden estates, was named after one of the English
leaders, who, towards the end of the day, received the warning command,
‘ Mount, Marle, and ride I ’ So they say.
H,A W T H 0 RN D E N.
‘What sweet delight a quiet life affords,
And what it is to be of bondage free,
Far from the madding worldlings’ hoarse discords,
Sweet flowery place, I first did learn of thee.’
The ‘sweet flowery place’ was Hawthornden and the writer was the poet
Drummond. We will introduce them by an extract :-
‘ Halfan-hour’s rail from Edinburgh, if you have not preferred walking
(and the distance to the pedestrian is but about seven miles), brings you to
a quiet country-road, in which you see a lodge and gate marking the avenue
to a mansion. Having obtained the necessary adrnkion, you pursue this
avenue, which descends slightly from the road, with trees in rich abundance
on both sides, and a fine view of the Pentland Hills in front. Hardly have
you noticed this view of the Pentlands when the farther descent veils it, and,
passing through grounds where a few quaint clipped yew-bushes remind you of
old gardening tastes, you face a venerable and most picturesque-looking edifice.
The left side, as you face it, consists of a hoary mass of ivy-clad masonry,
perhaps six hundred years old, while the more inhabited part to the right is a
pleasant irregular house, with gables and a turret, in the style of the early part

... ROSLIN, HAWTHORNDEN, exqbisite, quaint, grotesque, from the beautiful spiral foliage cut upon the ‘ ...

Book 11 p. 189
(Score 0.79)

338 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
with laughter, with one solitary exception. Who the stoical individual was
who did not share the general mirth may be guessed, when we mention that
the giver of the feast, after an unsuccessful attempt to affect indifference, and
unable longer to contain his wrath, at last, with much bitterness ejaculated-
“ Very amusing, Mr. Robert-very amusing, truly : ye’re a clever lad-very
clever; but just let me tell you-that’s no the way io &se at the bar/”
He had entered, in latter
life, into marriage with a servant girl of the name of Russell, by whom, however,
he had no issue. Although a woman of rather plain appearance, and destitute
of fortune, she nevertheless, after his lordship’s death, obtained for a second
husband a gentleman of property in the West Indies, where she died in
1818.
Lord Cullen died on the 28th November 1810.
No. CCLXXXIII.
THE EDINBURGH FISH-WOMEN.
THE artist has not favoured us with the name of the ‘‘ OYSTER LASS ” whom
this figure represents. The omission is probably a matter of no great moment,
as the characteristics of individuals of her class are usually pretty much the same.
Wovdsworth‘s description of the “ Calais Fish-women ”-
“Withered, grotesque-immeasurably old,
And shrill and fierce in accent ”-
will not apply to the goodly fish-dames of Modern Athens. Stout, clean, and
blooming, if they are not the most handsome or comely of Eve’s daughters,
they are at least the most perfect pictures of robust and vigorous health ; and
not a few of them, under the pea-jacket and superabundance of petticoat with
which they load themselves, conceal a symmetry of form that might excite the
envy of a Duchess. Their cry,
‘‘ Wha’ll 0’ caller ou !” echoing through the spacious sheets of the New Town,
though not easily understood, especially by our southern visitors, has a fulness
of sound by no means unpleasant to the ear.
In some of the late numbers of “ Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal,” the character
and habits of the fish-women form the substance of one or two interesting
articles.
Neither are they “ shrill and fierce in accent.”
We quote the writer’s description of their dress :-
‘‘A cap of cotton or linen, surmounted by a stout napkin tied below the chin, composes the
investiture of the head ; the more showy structures wherewith other females are adorned being
inadmissible from the broad belt which supports the “ creel,” that is, fish-basket, crossing the
forehead. A sort of woollen pea-jacket, of vast amplitude of skirt, conceals the upper part of
the person, relieved at the throat by a liberal display of handkerchief. The under part of the

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. with laughter, with one solitary exception. Who the stoical individual was who did not ...

Book 9 p. 449
(Score 0.79)

82 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [North Loch.
whose windows perhaps the accident occurred
?that the fox will not set his foot on the ict
after Candlenias, especially in the heat of the sun
as this was, at two o?clock; and at any time tht
fox is so sagacious as to lay his ear on the icf
to see if it be frozen to the bottom, or if he heal
the murmuring and current of the water.?
In I 7 I 5, when the magistrates took measures foi
the defence of the city, the sluice of the loch was
completely dammed up to let the water rise, a pre.
caution omitted by their successors in 1745. Ir
Edgar?s plan, twenty years later, the bed of thc
loch is shown as ?? now devised,? measuring 1,70c
feet in length, from the foot of Xamsay Garden tc
the foot of Halkerston?s Wynd, and 400 feet broad
at the foot of the gardens below the Advocate?s
Close. From the upper point to the West Church
the bed is shown as ?bog or marsh.?
? Yet many in common with myself,? says
Chambers, ?must remember the by no means
distant time when the remains of this sheet oi
water, consisting of a few pools, served as an ex.
cellent sliding and skating ground in winter, while
their neglected, grass-grown precincts too fre
quently formed an arena whereon the high and
mighty quarrels of the Old and New Town cowZie3
were brought to lapidarian arbitration j ? and until
a very recent period woodcocks, snipe, and waterducks
used to frequent the lower part of the West
Princes Street Gardens, attracted by the damp oi
the locality.
?? The site of the North Loch,? says a writer in
the Edinburgh Magazine for 1790, ?is disgusting
below as well as above the bridge, and the balus
trades of the east side ought to be filled up like
those of the west, as they are only meant to show
a beautiful stream, not slaughter-houses.?
The statute for the improvement of the valley
westward of the mound was not passed until 1816 ;
but Lord Cockburn describes it as being then an
impassable fetid marsh, ?open on all sides, the
Teceptacle of many sewers, and seemingly of all the
worried cats, drowned dogs, and blackguardism of
the city, Its abomination made it so solitary that
the volunteers used to practise ball-firing across it.
The men stood on its north side, and the targets
were set up along the lower edge of the castle
hiil, or rock. The only difficulty was in getting
across the swamp to place and examine the targets,
which could only be done in very dry weather and
at one or two places.?
In the maps of 1798 a ?new mound? would
seem to have been projected across it, at an angle,
from South Castle Street to the Ferry Road, by
the western base of the castle rock-a design, fortunately,
never carried out. One of the greatest
mistakes committed as a matter of taste was the
erection of the Earthen Mound across the beautiful
valley of the loch, from the end of Hanover
Street to a point at the west end of Bank Street.
It is simply an elongated hill, like a huge railway
embankment, a clumsy, enormous, and unreniovzble
substitute for a bridge which should have been
there, and its creation has been deplored by every
topographical writer on Edinburgh.
Huge as the mass is, it originated in a very
accidental operation. When the bed of the loch
was in a state of marsh, a shopkeeper, Mr. George
Boyd, clothier, at Gosford?s Close, in the old town,
was frequently led from business or curiosity to
visit the rising buildings of the new, and accommodated
himself with ?? steps ? across this marsh,
and he was followed in the construction of this
path by other persons similarly situated, who contributed
their quota of stone or plank to fill up,
widen, and heighten what, in rude compliment to
the founder, was becoming known as ?Geordie
Boyd?s Mud Brig.? The inconvenience arising
from the want of a direct communication between
the old town and the new began to be seriously
felt about 1781, when the latter had been built as
far west as Hanover Street.
Hence a number of residents, chiefly near the
Lawnmarket, held a meeting in a small publichouse,
kept by a man called Robert nunn, and
called in burlesque, ?Dunn?s Hotel,? after a
lashionable hotel of that name in Princes Street,
and subscriptions were opened to effect a communication
of some kind ; but few were required,
zs Provost Grieve, who resided at the corner of
Hanover Street, in order to fill up a quarry before
his house, obtained leave to have the rubbish from
the foundations of the various new streets laid
down there. From that time the progress of the
Mound proceeded with iapidity, and from 1781
till 1830 augmentations to its breadth and height
were continually made, till it became the mighty
mass it is. By the latter date the Mound had bezome
levelled and macadamised, its sides sown
with grass, and in various ways embellished so as to
issume the appearance of being completed. It is
ipwards of 800 feet in length, on the north upwards
if 60 feet in height, and on the south about IOO feet.
[ts breadth is proportionally much greater than its
ieight, averaging about 300 feet. It is computed
:o contain more than z,ooo,ooo of cartloads of
ravelled edrth, and on the moderate supposition
:hat each load, if paid for, was worth Gd., must
iave cost the large sum of ~ 5 0 , 0 0 0 .
It was first enclosed by rough stone walls, and

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [North Loch. whose windows perhaps the accident occurred ?that the fox will not set his ...

Book 3 p. 82
(Score 0.78)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 143
compensated by his many good qualities-by his constant equanimity, his cheerfulness,
his simplicity of character, almost infantine, his straight-forwardness,
his perfect freedom from affectation ; and, above all, his unconquerable good
nature. He was, indeed, one of the most placable of human beings; and if,
as has been thought, he generally had a steady eye, in his worldly course, to his
own interest, it cannot be denied that he was, notwithstanding, a warm and good
friend, and a relation on whose affectionate assistance a firm reliance could ever
be placed.” One slight blemish,
however, has been overlooked-personal vanity ; for, strange to say, although
in the eyes of others the worthy knight was very far from an Adonis, yet in his
own estimation he was a perfect model of male beauty.
The general appearance of Sir John is well represented in the Print which
precedes this notice. He was short and corpulent-of a florid cemplexion ’-
and his front teeth projected considerably. In later life his corpulence increased
; * he walked with difficulty ; and he became rather slovenly in his mode
of dress-a circumstance the more surprising, as his anxiety to be thought
young and engaging continued undiminished.
In this character we are disposed to concur.
No. CCXX.
OLD JOHN TAIT,
THE BROOM-MAKER.
THE venerable personage represented in the Print died at the Old Kirk of
Gladsmuir, East Lothian, on the 8th January 1772, in the hundred and tenth
year of his age. He had been a miner or collier, in his younger and more robust
days ; but having, by an accident, been disabled for the pits, he was under the
necessity of having recourse to the
“ Making of brooms-green brooms”-
and was long famed throughout the Lothians as a dealer in that important
branch of industry.
What the natural colour of his hair may have been we cannot say ; but in consequence of the
use of some tincture-Tyrian dye it is said-it generally appeared somewhat of a purple hue.
When unbending his mind from severer labours, the knight resorted to Apicius ; and to his
success in reducing to practice the gastronomical propositions of that interesting writer haa been
ascribed his somewhat remarkable exuberance of abdomen. A legal friend, now, alas ! no more,
once witnessed an amicable contest between Sir John and an eminent individual, celebrated for his
taste in re wZinu&. The latter was invincible in the turtle soup and cold punch, but the former
carried all before him when the “sweets” were placed on the table, To show how easily the
victory was won, besides other fruits produced with the dessert, the knight, without any effort.,
devoured nearly a couple of pounds of almonds and raisins.

... SKETCHES. 143 compensated by his many good qualities-by his constant equanimity, his ...

Book 9 p. 192
(Score 0.78)

305 Leith Wynd.1 THE DUCHESS OF LENNOX
Pont, an illustrious Venetian who came to Scotland
in the train of Mary of Guise-the last Provost of
Trinity, in 1585, sold all the remaining rights that
he had in the foundation, which James VI. confirmed
by charter two years afterwards. When the
old religion was abolished, the revenues of the
church amounted to only A362 Scots yearly.
Its seal, Scotland and Gueldres quarterly, is
beautifully engraved among the Holyrood charters.
In May, 1592, Sophia Ruthven, the young Duchess
of Lennox, was buried with great solemnity at the
east end of the church. She wss a daughter of the
luckless Earl of Gowrie, who died in 1584 andwas
forcibly abducted from a house in Easter Wemyss,
where she had been secluded to secure her from
the violence of the Duke?s passion. But he carried
to Parliament for assistance, to enforce the payment
of his rents in Teviotdale.
In June, 1526, its Provost sat in Parliament. In
1567 the Earl of Moray, then Regent of Scotland,
gave to Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar, then
Provost of the City, the Trinity College church with
all that belonged to it ; and the latter bestowed it
on the city. Robert Pont-an eminent churchman,
judge, and miscellaneous writer, the son of John de
18th of December, 1596, by her will, dated 9th of
that month, bequeathed IOO merks to the Trinity
College church, for a ?burial1 place there.
The church and other prebendal buildings
suffered with the other religious houses in the city
during the tumults of the Reformation, and, according
to Nicoll, in later years, at the hands of Cromwell?s
sordiers. While trenching the edifice, seeking
for the remains of the Queen, those of many others,
all Iong before violated and disturbed, were found,
together with numbers of bullocks? horns, and an
incredible quantity of sheep-head bones, and fmgments
of old Flemish quart bottles, the de?bris
doubtless of the repasts of the workmen of 1462 ;
and every stone in the building bore those marks
with which all freemasons are familiar.
~ her OE on his own horse in the night, and married i her in defiance of king and kirk. This was on
the 19th of April, 1591, consequently she did not
long survive her abduction.
Lady Jane Hamilton, youngest daughter of the
Duke of Chatelherault, and Countess of the Earl of
Eglinton, from whom she was divorced, in consequence
of the parties standing in the fourth degree
of consanguinity, who died at Edinburgh on the

... Leith Wynd.1 THE DUCHESS OF LENNOX Pont, an illustrious Venetian who came to Scotland in the train of Mary of ...

Book 2 p. 305
(Score 0.78)

I72 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
.but the3ittle .warlike episode connected with Inchkeith
forms a part of it.
In the rare view of Holyrood given at page 45
.of Vol. II., Inchkeith is shown in the distance, with
its castle, a great square edifice, having a round
tower at each corner. The English garrison here
were in a position which afforded them many
.advantages, and they committed many outrages on
the shores of Fife and Lothian; and when it be-
.came necessary to dislodge them, M. de Biron, a
French officer, left Leith in a galley to reconnoitre
to the island, and evident selection of the only
landing-place, roused the suspicions of the garrison.
Finding theirintentions discovered, they made direct
for the rock, and found the English prepared to
dispute every inch of it with them.
Leaping ashore, with pike, sword, and arquebus,
they attacked the English hand to hand, drove
them into the higher parts of the island, where
Cotton, their commander, and George Appleby,
one of his officers, were killed, with several English
gentlemen of note. The castle was captured, and
@he island-the same galley in which, it is said,
little Queen Mary afterwards went to France. The
English garrison were no doubt ignorant of Biron?s
object in sailing round the isle, as they did not fire
upon him.
Mary of Lorraine had often resorted to Leith
since the arrival of her cour.trymen ; and now she
took such an interest in the expedition to Inchkeith
that she personally superintended the embarkation,
on Corpus Christi day, the 2nd of June,
1549. Accompanied by a few Scottish troops, the
French detachment, led by Chapelle de Biron, De
Ferrieres, De Gourdes, and other distinguished
.officers, quitted the harbour in small boats, and to
.deceive the English as to their intentions sailed up
and down the Firth ; but their frequent approaches
the English driven pell-mell into a corner of the
isle, where they had no alternative but to throw
themselves into the sea or surrender. In this combat
De Biron was wounded on the head by an
arquebus, and had his helmet so beaten about his
ears that he had to be carried off to the boats.
Desbois, his standard-bearer, fell under the pike
of Cotton, the English commander, and Gaspare
di Strozzi, leader of the Italians, was slain. An
account of the capture of this island was published
in France, and it is alike amusing and remarkable
for the bombast in which the French writer indulged.
He records at length the harangues of
the Queen Regent and the French leaders as the
expedition quitted Leith, the length and tedium of
the voyage, and the sufferings which the troops

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith. .but the3ittle .warlike episode connected with Inchkeith forms a part of ...

Book 5 p. 172
(Score 0.78)

diere is no proof that the shallow waters of the
Leith, as they debouched upon the sands of what
must have been on both sides an uncultured waste
of links or moorland, ever formed a shelter for the
galleys of Rome ; and it is strange to think that
there must have been a time when its banks were
covered by furze and the bells of the golden broom,
and when the elk, the red deer, and the white bull
of Drumsheugh, drank of its current amid a voiceless
solitude.
GAYFIELD HOUSE.
the gorge of the Low Calton, and descends Leith
Walk till nearly opposite the old manor house of
Pilrig; it then runs westward to the Water of
Leith, and follows the latter downward to the Firth.
The parish thus includes, besides its landward
district, the Calton Hill, parts of Calton and the
Canongate, Abbey Hill, Norton Place, Jock?s
Lodge, Restalrig, and the whole of South Leith.
? Except on the Calton Hill,? says a statistical
writer, ?the soil not occupied by buildings is all
The actual limits of Leith as a town, prior to
their definition in 1827, are uncertain.
South Leith is bounded on the north-east by the
Firth of Forth, on the south by Duddingston and
the Canongate, on the west by the parishes of the
Royalty of Edinburgh, by St. Cuthbert?s and North
Leith. It is nearly triangular in form, and has an
area of 2,265 acres, The boundary is traced for
some way with Duddingston, by the Fishwives?
Causeway, or old Roman Road; then it passes
nearly along the highway between the city and
Portobello till past Jock?s Lodge, making a projecting
sweep so as to include Parson?s Green ; and
after skirting the royal parks, it runs along the
north back of the Canongate, debouches through
susceptible of high cultivation, and has had imposed
on it dresses of utility and ornament in keep
ing with its close vicinity to the metropolis. Imgated
and very fertile meadows, green and beautiful
esplanades laid out as promenading grounds, neat,
tidy, and extensive nurseries, elegant fruit, flower,
and vegetable gardens, and the little sheet of
Lochend, with a profusion of odoriferous encb
sures, and a rich sprinkling of villas with their
attendant flower-plots, render the open or unedificed
area eminently attractive. The beach, all the
way from South Leith to the eastern boundary is
not a little attractive to sea-bathers ; a fine, clean
sandy bottom, an inclination or slope quite gentle
enough to assure the most timid, and a limpid roll

... is no proof that the shallow waters of the Leith, as they debouched upon the sands of what must have been ...

Book 5 p. 165
(Score 0.78)

352 OLD AIVD NEW EDINBURGH. [Hope Park.
?a broadsword, a real Andrea Femara blade, hung
by his bed-side, and over the clock (a very old
French one), on the chimneypiece, were attached a
broken pipe and withered rose.? The pipe was
the gift of a comrade, and a secret story attached
to the withered rose ; but, the writer adds, when
he handed me his snuff-box, the rniniufum on the
lid told everythkg-a blue bonnet, a white rose in
it, the graceful flowing tartan, and the sfar upon the
breast? He was the son of a Jacobite exile, whom
having perished by fire about the beginning of the
eighteenth century, little is known of its constitution
prior to the time of Queen Anne. A society
for the encouragement of archery was first formed
in the reign of Charles II., by order of the Secret
Council, in 1676, though with what military utility
at that time is not very apparent; its seal bore
Cupid and Mars, with the motto, IN PEACE AND
WARR. They were ordered to ? be modelled and
drawn up in a formal company, with drums and
THE ARCLIERS? HALL.
none knew ; but when he died, he had nothing to
bequeath to his friend but his foreign cross, the
snufi?box, the claymore, and the pipe, and his
story, whatever it was, died with him
The Archers? Hall, in this district, is famous as
being the head-quarters of the Royal Company of
Archers, or King?s Body Guard for Scotland.
This remarkable corps, which takes precedence
of all royal guards and troops of the line, is composed
entirely of nobles and gentlemen cf good
position, under a captain-general, who is always a
peer of the highest rank, with four lieutenantsgeneral,
four majors-general, four ensigns-general,
sixteen brigadiers, an adjutant, and surgeon.
The ancient records of the Royal Company
colours, whereof the officers are to be chosen by
the said Counsill, and which company, so formed,
shall meet on the Links of Leith,? or elsewhere ;
each archer, ?? with sufficient shuting graith, carrying
the Company?s. seal and arms in their hatts or
bonnets as their proper cognisance.?
The Marquis of Athole, with the Earl of Kinghorn
andLordElphmstone, commanded, and the Scottish
Treasury gave a prize worth Azo sterling to be
shot for. This corps, sometimes called the King?s
Compapy of Archers, frequently met during the
reigns of Charles 11. and James VII., but little can
be traced of it after the Revolution.
Upon the accession of Queen Anne and the
death of the Marquis of Athole, they elected 3s

... 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 0.77)

30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No less remarkable for his wit and convivial powers, than for his more solid
qualities, Dr. Webster was as great a favourite at the social board as in the
pulpit.
A friend on whom he called one
day, and who was aware of his predilection for this liquor, said he would give him
a treat, adding that he had a bottle of claret which was upwards of forty years
old. The bottle was accordingly produced, but proved to be only a pint bottle.
“ Dear me,” said the disappointed Doctor, taking it up in his hand, “ but it’s
unco little 0’ its age !”
Upon another occasion, after he had, with a few friends, not spared the
bottle, some one inquired, “What would hie parishioners say if they met
him thus 1”-‘‘ What 8” says the Doctor, “ they wadna believe their ain een
although they saw it.”
This excellent and much-respected man died on the 25th January 1784, in
the seventy-seventh year of his age.
He was particularly fond of claret.
No. XI.
DR. JAMES GRAHAM GOING ALONG THE NORTH
BRIDGE IN A HIGH WIND.
HE is here represented in the dress’ in which he attended the funeral of Dr.
Gilbert Stuart, who died 28th August 1786, in white linen clothes and black
silk stockings, his usual attire. The lady walking before him is said to
resemble a Miss Dunbar, sister of Sir James Dunbar, Bart.
Dr. James Graham was born at the head of the Cowgate, Edinburgh, 23d
June 1745.
His father, Mr. William Graham, saddler in Edinburgh, was born in Burntisland
in 1710. He married in 1738, in Edinburgh, Jean Graham (born 1715),
an English lady; they had issue three daughters and two sons. The eldest
daughter was married to a Jlr. Smith ; the second to the celebrated Dr. Arnold
of Leicester, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh ; and the
third ta Mr. Begbie, town smith. James was the eldest son j both he and his
younger brother William studied medicine. The two brothers, in their early
years, were not unfrequently mistaken for one another, from their strong family
likeness, and from following the same profession. William, after practising
some time as physician, abandoned medicine entirely, and entered into holy
orders. He was an Episcopalian, and married the celebrated writer, Mrs.
Catharine Macaulay: sister to Alderman Sawbridge j she died at Binfield, in
1 This lady’s writings were 80 enthusiastically admired by the Rev. Dr. Wilson, prebendary of
Westminster, that during her lifetime he caused a statue of her, as the Goddess of Liberty, to be
aet up in the chancel of his church in Walhrook, which was, however, removed at hi8 death, by his
successor in office.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No less remarkable for his wit and convivial powers, than for his more solid qualities, ...

Book 8 p. 39
(Score 0.77)

and play, the students went into the fields around
the Burgh loch, or elsewhere, and returned at four,
for examination at six.
In summer they held their conferences concerning
the lectures till three. From three to four
they were examined by the regent, and from four
to six were again permitted to ramble in the fields.
Even on Saturdays each of the professors held a
disputation in his own class-in winter from seven
till nine a.m., and in summer from six till nine,
and was similarly occupied from ten till twelve.
?That is,? says a writer on this subject, ??a
few tourists who came to Edinburgh in those days.
?? What is called the college,? wrote an Italian
traveller in 1788, ? is nothing else than a mass of
ruined buildings of very ancient construction.
One of them is said to be the house which was
partly blown up with gunpowder at the time it was
inhabited by Lord Darnley, whose body was found
at some distance, naked, and without any signs of
violence. The college serves only for the habitation
of some of the professors, for lecture rooms,
and for the library. Here resides, with his family,
the celebrated Dr. William Robertson, who is head
THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR THE EAST FRONT OF THE XEW BUILDING FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBUKGH.
From the Plde in ? I The Work in Architecture of Robw&madJmes ddatn,? London, 1789-1821.)
regent in those times taught as many hours on a
Saturday as his successors at the present devote to
their students in the course of a whole week.
In short, the saving of human labour in teaching
seems to be the great glory and improvement of
the age.?
The examination on the students? notes had
become that which the commissioners of 1695
regarded it-the most useful and instructive part
of a professor?s duties.
On the aznd November, 1753, one of the most
shining lights of the old university-Dugald
Stewart-was born within its walls, his father, and
predecessor in the chair of mathematics, being Dr.
Matthew Stewart, who was appointed thereto in
=747.
The poverty and dilapidation of the old university
buildings excited the coninlent of all the
of the university, with the title of principal. The
students, who amount annually to some seven or
eight hundred, do not live in the college, but
board in private houses, and attend the lectures
according as they please. Dr. Robertson thinks
this method more advantageous to youth than
keeping them shut up in colleges, as at Oxford
and Cambridge. He says that when young men
are not kept from intercourse with society, besides
that they do not acquire that rude and savage air
which retired study gives, the continual examples
which they meet with in the world, of honour and
riches acquired by learning and merit, stimulate
them more strongly to the attainment of these;
and that they acquire, besides, easy and insinuating
manners, which render them better fitted in
the sequel for public employments.?J
Elsewhere the tourist says, ?The results are such,

... play, the students went into the fields around the Burgh loch, or elsewhere, and returned at four, for ...

Book 5 p. 20
(Score 0.77)

X PREFACE.
“Traditions.” The author has there struck out an entirely new path, and with the
happiest results. The humour and the pathos of the old-world stories of Edinburgh in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ere New Town and Old Town improvements were
more substantial than the dreams of future reformers, are secured-not without occasional
heightening touches from the delineator’s own lively fancy. It is only surprising that
the ‘‘ Traditions of Edinburgh ” have not diffused an antiquarian taste far more widely
than is yet to be found among the modern dekizens of -the Scottish capital,
The following Memorials of Old Edinburgh differ perhaps as much from the picturesque
traditions of the latter writer, as from the statelr historic quarto of Amot, or from Maitland’s
ponderous folio. They are pen and pencil sketches, professing, in general, considerable
minuteness of outline, though with it rapid touch that precludes very elaborate
finish. Accuracy has been aimed at throughout, not without knowingly incurring the
risk of occasionally being somewhat dry. I am well aware, however, of having fallen
short of what was-desired in this’ all-important point, notwithstanding an amount of
labour and research in the progress of the work, .only 8 very small portioa of which appears
in its contents. Some hundreds of old charters, title-deeds, and records of various sorts;
‘in all varieties of unreadable manuscript, have been ransacked ‘in its progress ; and had it
been possible to devote more time to such research, I have no doubt that,many curious and,
interesting notices, referring to our local antiquities, would have amply repaid the labour.
Of the somewhat inore accessible materials furnished in the valuable publicatbns of our.
antiquarian . book;clnba, abundant use has been made ; and personal observation . hw.
supplied a good deal more that will probably be appreciated by the very few who find any
attraction in stich researches. In the Appendix some curious matter has been accumulated
which readers-of moderate antiquarian appetites will probably avoid--to their own loss.
I amnot altogether withbut hope, however, that should such readers be induced to wade
through. the work, they.may find antiquarian researches not quite SO dull as they are
affirmed, on common 1 report, to- be ; s h e , in seeking to .embody the Memorials of my
native city, I am fortunate in the possession of a subject; commanding. associations with
nearly all the most picturesque legends and incidents of our national annals.
‘-L
:In selecting the accompanying illustratfona, .the, chief aim .has been -to furnish .and
example ofallfhe varieties ofstyle and character that were: to be found in the wynds and
qloses of OldEdinburgh., .The majority bf them have some curious or valuable associations?
to add to tbeir’.interest, .but some.Fexe:.chosen for ,no..other reison than .to illushat&

... PREFACE. “Traditions.” The author has there struck out an entirely new path, and with the happiest results. ...

Book 10 p. xii
(Score 0.77)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 95
Mr. John Campbell died in 1795. He was succeeded in the precentorship
by his son, Mr. Charles Campbell, who held the situation during forty years.
He resided in the Canongate, where he long taught a respectable school for
writing, arithmetic, and other branches of education.
No. CCIV.
A MEDLEY OF MUSICIANS.
THIS curious Print is one of the artist’s retaliatory pieces. It appears that MR.
ALEXANDECRA NPBELLo, ffended at the etching of his brother the precentor,
and having some skill in the art of drawing, produced, by way of revenge, a
caricature of Kay-in which John Dow was represented as dragging him by the
ear to the Town Guard, while Bailie Duff brought up the rear, in the attitude
of administering a forcible admonition with his foot. The caricature, although
rudely executed, afforded considerable amusement to Mr. Campbell’s friends,
among whom it was chiefly circulated. Kay retaliated by producing the
“ Medley of Musicians,” in which Mr. Alexander Campbell, then organist in a
non-juring chapel, appears with a hand-organ on his back-his brother of the
Canongate Church is straining his vocal powers in the centre-Bailie Duff, to
the right, is chanting it on the great Highland bagpipe-while behind, MEEK,
the blind Irish piper, and the city FISH-HORNB LOWERa,r e lending their
“ sweet sounds ” to aid the general harmony. The figure sharping a saw in the
background, whose labours may be supposed to afford an excellent counter *or
tenor to the deep bass of the two long-eared amateurs, is in allusion to Mr.
John Campbell’s former occupation. The scene altogther is not an inapt illustration
of the couplet quoted from Hudibras-
“ Let puppies bark and asses bray-
Each dog and cur will have his day.”
The early history of Mr. Alexander Campbell is already partially known from
the sketch of his brother. Of a warm and somewhat romantic temper, he was
attached to the small body of Jacobites, who still brooded over the fate of the
young Chevalier-enthusiastic in his national prepossessions-and passionateIy
fond of the music of his country. In addition to vocal music he taught the
harpsicord, for which many of the Scottish airs are peculiarly adapted.1
Mr, Campbell was known as a poet and prose writer as well as musician.
In Chanders’s Sed. Bwg. Diet. it is stated that “Mr, Campbell was music-master to Sir
Walter Scott, with whom, however, he never made any progress, owing, as he used to say, to the
total destitution of that great man in the requisite of an ear.”

... SKETCHES. 95 Mr. John Campbell died in 1795. He was succeeded in the precentorship by his son, Mr. ...

Book 9 p. 128
(Score 0.77)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 19
While Mackay was a subaltern, he travelled through France and Italy, and
other parts of Europe, for the purpose principally of acquiring a knowledge of
modern languages. While the members of the
Royal Family of France resided at Holyrood House, where the Adjutant-
General’s office was then kept, he often had occasion to meet them, and sometimes
to act as an interpreter, particularly at dinner parties, to which he was
frequently invited.
At the commencement of the second French war, in 1803, he became a
Major-General ; and at different periods subsequently the Chief Command of
the Forces in Scotland devolved upon him.
The Print affords an excellent portraiture of the Adjutant-General.’ He
obtained the soubriquet of ‘‘ Buckram,” from the stiffness of his appearance. In
military phrase, he walked as if he had swallowed a halbert; and his long
queue, powdered hair, and cocked hat, were characteristic of a thorough-bred
soldier of the olden time. He was much esteemed by all with whom he was
connected. He was rather abstemious in diet, and singularly correct and
methodical in all his habits of life. He lived a bachelor, and died after a short
illness, at his house, South St. Andrew Street, on the 26th April 1809, in the
sixty-eighth year of his age. He had thus been on the Staff in Scotland during
a period of not less than thirty years ; and, in discharging the important duties
of his various appointments, his conduct was characterised by the strictest
fidelity and honour.
A handsome tribute was paid to his memory by Lord Cathcart, wllo was
then Commander of the Forces in Scotland.
He spoke French fluently.
No. CLXXVII.
ALLAN DIACONOCHIE, LORD MEADOTVBANK.
THE late LORDM EADOWBANKso, n of Alexander hfaconochie, writer in Edinburgh,
was born on the 26th January 1748. He was in early age placed
under the tuition of Dr. Alexander Adam, afterwards Rector of the High School
of Edinburgh, who acted as his private teacher, and from whom he acquired
that taste for classical studies which he retained throughout life. He subsequently
entered the University of Edinburgh ; and being destinqd for the bar, attended
the usual classes. In 1764 he and other five students: with the view of
1 Wet and dry the old General was daily to be seen with the umbrella under hi8 arm.
These were, William Creech (bookseller) ; John Bonar (afterwards Solicitor of the Excise) ;
John Brace (Professor of Logic) ; Henry Mackenzie (author of “The Man of Feeling ”) ; and Mr.
Belches. Eilr. Charles Stuart was admitted a member at their firat meeting.

... SKETCHES. 19 While Mackay was a subaltern, he travelled through France and Italy, and other parts of ...

Book 9 p. 25
(Score 0.77)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 89
an ingenious artist, but who, from a feeling of modesty, prevailed 04 the limner
to alter it.
The fourth, or extreme figure on the left, is MR. JOHN MITCHELL,
of the firm of Mitchell and White, hardware-merchants, at that time residing
in North Bridge Street. He was a respectable trader, and a great admirer of
balloons.
The fifth, in the background on the right, is a capital likeness of MR.
JAMES NEILSON, writer and clerk to the Rev. Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood,
Bart., and his predecessors, Mr. Stewart and Dr. Webster, as collectors of the
Ministers’ Widows’ Fund. He lived in Turk’s Close, a little to the west of the
Luckenbooths, and died a bachelor, in March 1797. He was a particular friend
to Lunardi. He belonged, at a former period, to the first volunteer regiment
raised in Great Britain, viz. the Edinburgh Defensive Band,
The sixth is a striking likeness of JOHN SPOTTISWOOD, Esq., one of
the magistrates of Edinburgh, a most respectable gentleman. He was at one
time a dealer in Carron-wares in the Grassmarket, and afterwards in Adam
Square (South Bridge). Kay has in his MS. preserved the following anecdote
relative to him :-This Print had hardly appeared when the Bailie came up to
the limner, and challenged him for publishing such a scandalous print, saying he
ought to be horsewhipped, and adding that he ought rather to have paid a compliment
to Lnnardi, than to have classed him with Lord North the caddy. “ I
don’t know,” said Kay, “ but Lord North is as good a man as he ; but I should
like to see the man who would horsewhip me.”-“It is one of the horriblest things
on earth,” replied the Bailie, “to put me on a level with a caddy.”--“ Oh! Bailie,
are you there toot’’ exclaimed Kay, by way of interrogation. “Yes, sir,” returned
the magistrate, “you know I am there ; I have a daughter only five years old,
who points me out at first sight.”-“ She must be a smart girl,” said the limner;
“ but if you please, Bailie, I shall do another print of you by yburse1f.”-“I’d see
you hanged first,” answered our hero. “Oh! Bailie, Bailie!” said Kay, “I hope
you are not angry.”-“ Angry ! I’m shocking angry !” returned the provoked
magistrate, stamping the ground with his foot, to the no small amusement of
the spectators who happened to be looking at the prints in Kay’s window, in
the Parliament Square, at the time.
The Seventh, or extreme figiire on the right, is MYLES M‘PHAIL, better
known by the name of LORD NORTH, the Caddy. This sobriquet was
bestowed in consequence of his personal resemblance to Lord North, afterwards
Earl of Guildford. M‘Phail, besides his occupation as a caddy, kept a tavern in
the High Street, and was much esteemed for his activity ; he was also officer of
the Caledonian Hunt. On the occasion of Lunardi’s ascent from the .Green of
Heriot’s Hospital, Lord North collected the money.
N

... SKETCHES. 89 an ingenious artist, but who, from a feeling of modesty, prevailed 04 the limner to ...

Book 8 p. 126
(Score 0.76)

258 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
believe, was the place whither the Reformer withdrew for private study and devotion, and
where the chief portion of his history was written.
The plaster ceiling of the hall appears to be a work about the time of Charles II., but a
great portion of it has now given way, and discloses the original oak beams and planking
of the flo’or above, which are painted in the style we have already described in the account
of Blpth’s Close. Tradition has industriously laboured to add to the associations of the
old building by such clumsy inventions as betray their spuriousness. A vault underneath
the street, which contains a covered well, is exhibited to the curious by the tenant of the
laigh shop,“ as the scene of secret baptisms of children before the Reformation ; at B
time when it more probably formed a convenient receptacle for the good Abbot’s wines,
and witnessed no other Christian rites than those over which his butler presided. The ‘‘ preaching window ” has also been long pointed out, from whence the Reformer, according
to the same authority, was wont to address the populace assembled below. The
interesting narrative of his last sermon in St Giles’s Church, and the scene that followed,
when. his congregation lingered in the High Street, watching, as for the last time, the
feeble steps of their aged pastor, seems the best confutation of this oft-repeated tradition,
which certainly receives no countenance from history. Among these spurious traditions,
we are also inclined to reckon that which assigns the old Reformer’s house to the celebrated
printer, Thomas Bassandyne. Society Close, in its neighbourhood, was indeed
formerly called Bassandyne’s Close, as appears by the titles; but even if this be in
reference to the printer, which we question, it would rather discredit than confirm the
tradition, as another land intervened between that and the famed old tenement.’ There is
an access to Knox’s house by a stair in the angle behind the Fountain Well, in the wall
of which is a doorway, now built up, said to communicate with a subterranean passage
leading to a considerable distance towards the north.
It is impossible to traverse the ruined apartments of this ancient mansion without feelings
of deep and unwonted interest. To the admirers of the intrepid Reformer, it awakens
thoughts not only of himself but of the work which he so effectually promoted ; to all it
is interesting as intimately associated with memorable events in Scottish history. There
have assembled the Earls of Murray, Morton, and Glencairn; Lords Boyd, Lindsay,
Ruthven, and Ochiltree, and many others, agents of the Court, as well as its most resolute
opponents ; and within the faded and crumbling hall, councils have been matured that
exercised a lasting influence on the national destinies. There, too, was the scene of his
1 We have discovered in the Burgh Charter Room a deed of disposition referring to part of this property, and of an
earlier date than any now in the hands of the propridora, viz DiSpositiOn of How in N e t k Bow, March 1,1624,
Alesounc Bassdyw and other8 to John Binning.” One of the others is Alexander Crawford, her husband, while the
property appeara to have been originally acquired by her as spouse of umq- Alexander Ker, two of whose daughters
by her are named, along with their husbands, an joint contracting parties in the disposition ; and, it may be added,
‘‘ umq” Alexander Richardson, some time spouse to me, the said Aleaoune,” 8II intermediate husband, is mentioned in
the deed. The house ia situated down the close, and is bounded “by the waste land descending north to the wall of
Trinity College on the north . . . and the waste land of umquile James Baeaendyne on the south parts.” Thia deed ia
dated only forty-eeven years after the death of the printer; so that James was, in all probability, a contemporary or pra
deceaeor. Neither he nor Aleaoun is referred to among the printer’s relatives in his will (Bann. Misc. vol. ii. p. 203),
but Alesoun Bassindyne, my dochter,” ia appointed one of the executors in the will of Katharine Norwell, the widow
of the printer, who had married a second time, and died in 1693 (ibid, p. 220), and to whom she leaves her twa best
new blak gowneis, twa pair of new cloikis, and twa new wylie cottis, with ane signet of gold, and ane ring with twa
stanein.” She was probably the old prink's only child, and an infant st the time of hie decease. The house, which
WO believe to have been that of Thomas Basaendyne, is described towarda the close of thii chapter.
*

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. believe, was the place whither the Reformer withdrew for private study and devotion, ...

Book 10 p. 280
(Score 0.76)

76 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith.
~ ?? Raeburn married Ann Edgar, daughter of Peter
Edgar, Esq., of Bridgelands, Peebles-shire, and
widow of James Leslie, Count of Deanhaugh, St.
Bernard?s. Ann Leslie had by her first husband
one son, who was drowned, and two daughters
-Jacobina, who married Daniel Vere, Sheriffsubstitute;
and Ann, who married James Philip ?
Inglis, who died in Calcutta, and left two sons-
Henry Raeburn Inglis, deaf and dumb, and Charles
James Leslie Inglis, late of Deanhaugh . . . .
was a favourite residence for those connected with
art and literature; for, in addition to her father,
the professor, and Robert Chambers, many others
bad their dwellings here at different times.
The chief of these was Sir Henry Raeburn, who
was born on the 4th of March, 1756, in a little
slated cottage that stood by the side of the mill-lade,
where the western part of Horn Lane now stands.
It was within a garden, and pleasantly situated,
though immediately adjoining the premises of his
ST. RHRNARD?S WELL, 1825. (Afi?wEwbik.)
father, Rob& Raeburn, who was a yarn-boiler.
Northward of it was a fruit orchard, where Saunders
Street now stands. Southward and west Iay the
base of the beautiful grounds of Drumsheugh, where
now India and Mackenzie Places are built.
In his sixth year Henry Raeburn lost both his
parents, and he was admitted into Heriot?s Hospital
in 1765, and in 1772 he left it, to be apprenticed
to a goldsmith, Mr. James Gdliland, in the
Parliament Close, to whom he soon gave proofs of
his ingenuity and artistic taste We have already
referred to Raeburn in our account of the Scottish
Academy, and need add little here concerning his
artistic progress and future fame.
?At the age of twenty-two,? says, a writer,
Raebum painted a portrait of his much cared-for
half grandson, Henry, holding a rabbit, as his
diploma picture, now in the private diploma room
of the Royal Academy, London.?
? He received a handsome fortune with Mr. Edgafs
daughter, with whom he had fallen in love while
painting her portrait ; and after travelling in Italy
to improve himself in art, he established himself
in 1787 in Gorge Street, where he rapidly rose to
the head of his profession in Scotland-an eminence
which he maintained during a life the history of
which is limited to his artistic pursuits. His style
was free .and bold ; his drawing critically correct ;
his colouring rich, deep, and harmonious; his
accessories always appropriate. He was a member

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith. ~ ?? Raeburn married Ann Edgar, daughter of Peter Edgar, Esq., of ...

Book 5 p. 76
(Score 0.76)

53 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
broken at the east end of Princes Street by the tall column of the Melville
Monument. Comparatively modern as this is, it has also a tale to tell. It
is a tale of civic changes, and of the influence of a great legal and political
house over Scotland and over India, until the passing of the first Reform
Bill put power and patronage into other hands.
At the opposite end of the perspective we have St. John’s Chapel, invested,
through Dean Ramsay’s name, with a peculiarly national interest. Few
figures were for half a century better known in Edinburgh than that of the
kindly Scotsman who understood his country-folk so well. The mind of
Dean Ramsay was as a link between the present and the past, and being a
stranger to all party-spirit, his long ministrations were powerfully effective for
the purposes of kindliness and holiness, piety and peace.
It is but just that the most beautiful object in a beautiful city should be
the monument of Sir Walter Scott, for in his head and heart Edinburgh truly
might be said to live. He saw, as in a vision, her kings, her fair women, her
heroes and. her fanatics, her burghers and her nobles, and over her his fancy
has flung all the charm of his marvellous genius, until it has become impossible
for the cultivated traveller to see Edinburgh except through the medium
which he has created. When we approach it we are ready with Marmion
to stand’and call it the fairest scene we e’er surveyed j when we leave it we
almost look for the coach that conveyed the Antiquary and his companion
to Queensfeny, and if our walk is by the ruins of St. Anthony’s Chapel
we find that Scott has been there before us, and returning cityward, it is to
confess that on the Heart of Midlothian his name is engraved for evermore.
. And now, as the writer of these lines closes the ramble which brings this
panorama before his eyes, a few red leaves suddenly rustle to the ground at
his feet. With the mention
of his name we pass from the worlds of history and poetry into the walks of
domestic lie, and awaken regrets and memories which can never be dispelled.
Great in his art and peerless in resource, he had qualities which so attached
and endeared him that the world is a colder and a sadder place since he left
it. The man who fought with the dragon of physical pain and put his foot
upon its neck was one of the most unassuming of the children of genius,
9nd his grave is in keeping with his life. At his own request he was buried
here beside the children whom he had lost and mourned, and in sight of
the town where his name, his fame, his very manners and gestures, will be
remembered with a loving and lasting regret.
Called to the art of healing,.he conceived of it as of the highest of human
They have fallen on Sir James Simpson’s grave.

... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. broken at the east end of Princes Street by the tall column of the ...

Book 11 p. 80
(Score 0.76)

TALLY-STICK, BEARING DATE OF 1692.

discovery was made in one of our churches. Some
years ago a chest, without any address, but of
enormous weight, was removed from the Old
Weigh House at Leith, and lodged in the outer
aisle of the old church (a portion of St. Giles?s).
This box had lain for upwards of thirty years at
Leith, and several years in Edinburgh, without a
clainiznt, and, what is still more extraordinary,
without any one ever having had the curiosity to
examine it. On Tuesday, however, some gentlemen
connected with the town caused the mysterious
box to be opened, and, to their surprise
and gratification, they found it contained a
the power which the chamberlain had of regulating
matters in his Court of the Four Burghs respecting
the common welfare was transferred to the general
Convention of Royal Burghs.
This Court was constituted in the reign of
James III., and appointed to be held yearly at
Inverkeithing. By a statute of James VI., the
Convention was appointed to meet four times in
each year, wherever the members chose; and to
avoid confusion, only one was to appear for each
burgh, except the capital, which was to have two.
By a subsequent statute, a majority of the burghs,
came, by whom it was made, or to whom it
belongs, this cannot remain long a secret.
We trust, however, that it will remain as an
ornament in some public place in this city.?
More concerning it was never known, and
ultimately it was placed in its present position,
without its being publicly acknowledged
to be a representation of the unfortunate
prince.
In this Council chamber there meets
yearly that little Scottish Parliament, the
ancient Convention of Royal Burghs.
Their foundation in Scotland is as old,
if not older, than the days of David I.,
who, in his charter to the monks of Holyrood,
describes Edinburgh as a burgh holding
of the king, paying him certain revenues,
beautiful statute of his majesty (?), about
the size of life, cast in bronze. . . . .
Although it is at present unknown from
whence this admirable piece of workmanship
?and having the privilege of free
markets. The judgments of the ( F Y O ~ Scoftish ~ntiq7rurirm -w7?scunr.)
magistrates of burghs were liable
TALLY-STICK, BEARING DATE OF 1692.
to the review of the Lord Great Chamberlain of
Scotland (the first of whom was Herbert, in
IIZS), and his Court of the Four Burghs. He
kept the accounts of the royal revenue and
expenses, and held his circuits or chamberlainayres,
for the better regulation of all towns. But
even his decrees were liable to revision by the
Court of the Four Burghs, composed of certain
burgesses of Edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, and
Berwick, who met ahiiually, at Haddington. to decide,
as a court of last resort, the appeals from
the chamberlain-ayres, and determine upon all
matters affecting the welfare of the royal burghs.
Upon the suppression of the office of chamberlain
(the last of whom was Charles Duke of Lennox, in
1685), the power of controlling magistrates? accounts
was vested in the Exchequer, and the reviewd
of their sentences in the courts of law ; while
. .
or the capital with any other six, were empowered
to call a Convention as often as
they deemed it necessary, and all the other
burghs were obliged to attend it under a.
penalty.
The Convention, consisting of two deputies
from each burgh, now meets ancually at Edinburgh
in the Council Chzmber, and it is
somewhat singular that the Lord Provost,
although only a meniber, is the perpetuai
president, and the city clerks are clerks to
the Convention, during the sittings of which
the magistrates are supposed to keep open
table for the members.
The powers of this Convention chiefly
respect the establishment of regulations concerning
the trade and commerce of Scotland ;
and with this end it has renewed, from time
to time, articles of staple contract with the
town of Campvere, in Holland, of old the
seat of the conservator of Scottish privileges.
As the royal burghs pay a sixth part of the
sum imposed as a land-tax upon
the counties in Scotland, the
Convention is empowered to consider
the state of trade, and the revenues of individual
burghs, and to assess their respective portions
The Convention has also been iii use to examine
the administrative conduct of magistrates in the
matter of burgh revenue (though this comes more
properly under the Court of Exchequer), and to
give sanction upon particular occasions to the
Common Council of burghs to alienate a part of
the burgh estate. The Convention likewise considers
and arranges the political seffs or constitutions
of the different burghs, and regulates matters
concerning elections that may be brought before it.
Before the use of the Council Chamber was
assigned to the Convention it was wont to meet
in an aisle of St. Giles?s church.
Writers? Court-so named from the circumstance
of the Signet Library being once there-adjoins the
Royal Exchange, and a gloomy little cuZ de sac it

... BEARING DATE OF 1692. discovery was made in one of our churches. Some years ago a chest, without ...

Book 1 p. 186
(Score 0.76)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 269
also wrote a “ Life of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Murray: Professor of Oriental
Languages in the University of Edinburgh,” which was prefixed to a work by
the Professor, entitled “ Researches into the Mnity and Origin of the Greek
and Teutonic:Languages.” A Treatise on the Constitution of the Church of
Scotland, which had formed an appendix to the Life of Erskine, was reprinted ;
and another volume of Sermons was published posthumously. These were
well received by the public ; and prove the author to have been a writer of no
common ability.
Sir Henry married in 1773, Susan, daughter of Mr. James Robertson Barclay,
of Keavil, W.S., who was his cousin. She died in 1826, and Sir Henry
only survived her one year.
So highly sensible was the General Assembly of the services of this excellent
divine, that a character of him was drawn up at their unanimous request,
by the Rev. Dr. Macgill, Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow,
and ordered to be inserted in the records of Court, ‘‘ an honour which has been
bestowed on but few individuals in the Scottish Church.” Amongst other traits
of his amiable disposition, it is stated that “pious young men were always
sure of his protection j and he left nothing unessayed to promote their improvement
and their success in life.”
He died in the month of August 1827;
No. CCLXI.
SERGEANT WILLIAM DUFF,
OF THE 4 2R~EG IMENT, OR ROYAL EIGHUNDERS.
THE 42d Regiment, or, as it is commonly called in Scotland, the “Forty-
Twa,” was originally formed about the year 1729, and obtained the name of
the ‘‘ Black Watch,” from the nature of the duty, and the appearance of the
soldiers, whose Celtic dress was of a mo,& sombre description than the showy
scarlet uniform of the regular troops.
The corps consisted
of six independent companies, raised by gentlemen favourable to constitutional
principles, and was scattered over the Highlands in small detachments, for the
purpose of averawing the disaffected, and checking plunder and ‘‘ lifting of
Dr. Mmay was altogether unknown and destitute of patronage ; notwithstanding, he became,
in very early youth, and entirely by his own exertion, completely master of the Greek, Latin, and
Hebrew languages. While living in an ohscure situation in the country, almost without any
assistance whatever, and hardly able to procure the most ordinary elementary books, he is said to
have made himself proficient in aeven languages before he was twenty years of age. ’ A very elegant tablet was erected in the weat porch of St. Cuthbert’s Church by the kirksession
and congregation in 1841, on which there is inscribed a rare specimen of composition.
The services of the (‘ Black Watch ” were strictly local,

... SKETCHES, 269 also wrote a “ Life of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Murray: Professor of ...

Book 9 p. 359
(Score 0.76)

I48 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. rportobeiio.
angles from this Parade there was constructed in
1871 a very handsome promenade iron pier, 1,250
feet long, at a cost of L7,ooo ; and in the following
year a fine bowling-green was formed in Lee Crescent,
off Brighton Place, measuring 40 yards by
45 ; and a roller skating-rink was opened in Bath
Street in 1876, comprising a hall-rink, an out-door
rink, a gallery or orchestra, and retiring-room.
In Portobello are to be found quarters for all
classes of visitors and summer residents. ? Many
A house in Tower Street was the residence of
Hugh Miller-that self-taught and self-made Scottish
genius, author of ?? The Old Red Sandstone,?
and other geological works, with lighter productions,
such as ?? My Schools and Schoolmasters ; ??
and there, worn out by the ovenvork of a highly
sensitive brain, he shot himself with a revolver in
1856. The event caused great excitement in
Edinburgh, and his funeral was a vast and solemn
one. ?You should have been in Edinburgh toof
the private houses,? says a recent writer,
?? the mansions and villas, are the homes of capitalists
and annuitants, who have adopted Portobello
as their constant retreat, and who people it in sufficient
numbers to give its resident or unshifting
population a tone of selectness and elegance. In
winter the town is far from having the forsaken and
wan aspect which pervades a mere seabathing
station ; and in summer it has an animation and
gaiety superior to those of any other sea-bathing
station in Scotland.? In 1839 a valuable oysterbed
was discovered off the town.
The Town Hall, with the Council Chambers and
offices of the Commissioners of Police, is a handsome
building in the principal thoroughfare,
JOCK?S LODGE.
day,? wrote Sydney Dobell to a friend, ?and seen
the great army of the body that debouched inexhaustibly
through all its main streets-a waving
parti-coloured river, where a fallen child or a blind
beggar made an instant mob, as in a stream at
flood so much as a walking-stick set straight will
make an eddy. It was curious to walk up the
same streetson Monday, as I walked often past Hugh
Miller?s house, and to think what different causes
could produce the same ?pomp and circumstance?
of populous life. Never since the death of Chalmers
has Edinburgh been so unanimous in honour.
Even Christopher North?s funeral was sectarial and
cold in comparison. The shops were shut j the
common people drew back in thick masses on each

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. rportobeiio. angles from this Parade there was constructed in 1871 a very handsome ...

Book 5 p. 148
(Score 0.75)

Arthur?s Seat.] . ORIGIN OF
battle of Camelon, unsupported tradition has always
alleged that Arthur?s Seat obtained its name ; while
with equal veracity the craigs are said to have
been so entitled from the Earl of Salisbury, who
accompanied Edward 111. in one of his invasions
of Scotland, an idle story told by h o t , and ofter,
repeated since.
Maitland, a much more acute writer, says, ?(that
the idea of the mountain being named from Arthur,
a British or Cimrian king, I cannot give into,? and
305 THE NAME.
?Do thou not thus, brigane, thou sal1 be brynt,
With pik, tar, fire, gunpoldre, and lynt
On Arthuris-Sete, or on a hyar hyll.?
And this is seventy-seven years before the publication
of Camden?s c?Britannia,? in which it is so
named. But this is not the only Arthur?s Seat in
Scotland, as there is one near the top of Loch
Long, and a third near Dunnichen in Forfarshire.
Conceriiing the adjacent craigs, Lord Hailes in a
note to the first volume of his Annals, says of ?? the
THE HOLYROOD DAIKY.* (firm a CarOtypr (5. Dr. Tkmmu Keith.)
[The circular structure in the background to the right waq a temporary Government store.]
adds that he considers (? the appellation of Arthur?s
Seat to be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard-na-Said,
which implies the ? Height of Arrows ; ? than which
nothing can be more probable; for no spot of
ground is fitter for the exercise of archery, either
at butts or rovers, than this; wherefore Ard-na-
Sad, by an easy transition, might well be changed
to Arthur?s Seat.?
Many have asserted the latter to be a name of
yesterday, but it certainly bore it at the date of
WalterKennedy?s poem, his ? flyting,? With Dunbar,
which was published in 1508 :- 1
precipice now called Salisbury Craigs; some of
my readers may wish to be informed of the ongin
of a word so familiar to them. In the Anglo-
Saxon language, saw, sme, means dty, withered,
zcrasfe. The Anglo-Saxon termination of Burgh,
Burh, Barrow, BUY^, Biry, implies a castle, town,
or habitation ; but in a secondary sense only, for it
is admitted that the common original is Beorg a
rock . . . . Hence we may conclude, &m>bury,
Sbisbuv, Salisbury, is the waste or dg hbifafion.
An apt description, when it is remembered that the 1 hills which now pass under the general but corrupted
Dr. J. A. Sidey writes: ?The Holyrood Dairy, which stood at the enhance to St. Aone?s Yard, had no reference to the F?alaoc (from
which it was 19 feet distant) except in =gad to name. It was taken down about 1858. and was kept by R o b McBan, whose sm was afterwards
m e of the ? Keeperr? d the F?ab(as Mr. Andrew Kar tdL me) and Rad the old sign in his porrasion. Mr. K a says the dairy Man@
m the Corpont;on of Path, and was held for charitable purpmq and sold frr the sum of money that wuuld yield the ame amount as the reatal of
the dairy.?
87

... Seat.] . ORIGIN OF battle of Camelon, unsupported tradition has always alleged that Arthur?s Seat ...

Book 4 p. 305
(Score 0.75)

tion, such as David Laing, Robert Chambers, and
Cosmo Innes. In his ? Diary? Scott writes of him
as ?a very remarkable man. He has infinite wit
and a great turn for antiquarian lore. His
drawings are the most fanciful and droll imaginable
-a mixture between Hogarth and some of those
foreign masters who painted ?Temptations of St.
Anthony ? and such grotesque subjects, My idea
is that Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, with his oddities,
tastes, satire, and high aristocratic feelings,
resembles Horace Walpole.?
THE EXCISE OFFICE, DRUMMOND PLACE
portraits, some on the walls, but many more on the
floor. A small room leading out of this one was
the place where Mr. Sharpe gave audiences. Its
diminutive space was stuffed full of old curiosities,
cases with family bijouterie, &c. One petty object
was strongly indicative of character, a calling card of
Lady Charlotte Campbell, the once adored beauty,
stuck into the frame of a picture. He must have
kept it, at that time, about thirty years.?
This lady, one of the celebrated Edinburgh
beauties, was the second daughter of John, Duke of
The resemblance in their abodes was more
strictly true. The house of Sharpe, No. 28 Drummond
Place, was one of the sights of Edinburgh to
the select few who found admittance there, with its
antique furniture, tapestries, paintings, and carvings
-its exquisite enamels, weapons, armour, bronzes,
bijouterie, ivories, old china, old books, and cabinets-
the mighty collection of a long life, and the
sale of which, at his death, occupied six long days
at the auction rooms in South Hanever Street.
Robert Chambers deseribes a visit he paid him
in Princes Street. ?? His servant conducted me to
the first floor, and showed me into what is called
amongst us the back drawing-room, which I found
carpeted with green cloth and full of old family
(From a Drawing Sy She&%?, #&shed in 1829.)
Argyle, who died in 1806, and the visit referred to
took place about 1824.
To Mr. Sharpe Sir Walter owed many of the
most graphic incidents which gave such inimitable
life to the productions of his pen ; and a writer in
the Gentleman?s Magazine justly remarked that
?his collection of antiquities is among the richest
which any private gentleman has ever accumulated
in the north. In Scottish literature he will be
always remembered as the editor of ?Law?s Memorials?
and of ? Kkkton?s History of the Kirk of
Scotland.? His taste in music was no less cultivated
than peculiar, and the ~ curious variety of
singular and obsolete musical instruments which
enriched his collection, showed how well t b ~

... such as David Laing, Robert Chambers, and Cosmo Innes. In his ? Diary? Scott writes of him as ?a very ...

Book 3 p. 192
(Score 0.75)

L UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 207
pedestal. Its panegyric we suspect had proved too fulsome even for the sycophantish
period in which the statue was erected ; but it now forms the most interesting, and we
may add amusing, feature of this old monument of civic royalty.’
A view is given of the new Parliament House at page 99, as it appeared when first
erected, standing disengaged from all other buildings, with an open area to the east and
south. The same isolated position is s h o h in the bird’s-eye view in Gordon’s map of
1648, where the ground slopes down in open terraces from the Parliament Close to the
Cowgate ; but the value of this central spot through which the nobles, judges, and magistrates,
and all their numerous attendants and solicitors, were daily passing, soon led to
its selection as a convenient Bite for building. So early as 1628 the southern side of the
church walls had been concealed by krames and booths stuck on between every buttress
and angle; and about the year 1663 the open ground was let out by the magistrates for
the purpose of erecting small shops. These were succeeded, in 1685, as appeared from
the date on one of the lands, by the loftiest buildings existing in the Old Town, which
towered in their southern elevation to the height of fifteen stories, and converted the once
solitary churchyard into the busiest and most populous nook of the ancient capital.
We have examined a set of original documents,’ relating to a judicial sale of the property
in the Parliament Close, drawn up in the year 1698, which furnish some curious
and minute information as to the extent and occupation of the old lands, and introduce
the names of citizens of note and influence at the period, as concerned in the various
transactions. “ My Lord Pountainhall, George Warrender, ane of the present bailies,”
ancestor of the Baronets of that name, ‘‘ George Home, merchant, and now Provost,”
knd others, appear as creditors and trustee^.^ A few extracts will furnish a peep into the
domestic arrangements of the fashionable residenters in the Parliament Close towards the
close of the seventeenth century. Sir George Campbell of Cessnock, ancestor of the
Earls of Marchmont, occupied a lodging on the fourth story above the close, (( entering
by the scale stair from the Parliament Close and Kirk-heugh,” at a yearly rent of five
hundred and fifty merks Scots, and (( consisting of seven fire rooms, and a closet with
ane fire ! ” and above him was Sir Williarn Binning of Wallyfordz in the fifth story, with
equal accommodation, at a somewhat lower rental.
In the next scale stair entering from the close, “ The Lord Mersington ” is mentioned
as occupying a house of eight fire rooms and a cellar on the fifth floor, at the rent of two
hundred pounds Scots, Alexander Swinton, who assumed this title on his elevation to
the Bench in 1688, is a character of some note among our older citizens. So zealous
A correspondent of the Cirledonkm Mercury, Nov. loth, 1788, who dates from 8t Eernard’s (Walter Rosa, Esq.,
we presume), supplies aome intemting facts regarding this monument:-“ The statue of Charlea II., placed on the spot
intended for that of Cromwell, and superior to everything of the kind in Britain, is said by Naitland to have been
erected at the expense of the citizens. The
statue was placed by the Xagistrates and Council. In the accounts of George Drurnrnond, the town treasurer, in 1684-6,
he charges E2580 Scots (E215 sterling), the contents of a bill of exchange drawn by ‘ James Smith upon him, for the
price of King Charles II., his atatue.’
If he means that it was by a contribution for the purpose, it is a mistake.
The bill seems to have come from Rotterdam.”
. * In the possession of David Laing, Esq., Signet Library.
a The property is thus described :-“A11 and haill these great lodgings, duellingkouaea, shops, vaulta, sellars, and
pertinent6 of the same, lying within the brugh of Edinburgh, betwixt the King’s High Street therein, called the Cowgate,
on the south, the Veonel commonly called the Kirk-heugh, and the tenement of land belonging to me, the aaid
Thomas Robertson, on the east; the Parliament Closa on the north, and the Parliament House, and little yard belonging
to the same, and the void commonly called the Leather Mercatt on the west parts,” &.

... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 207 pedestal. Its panegyric we suspect had proved too fulsome even for the ...

Book 10 p. 226
(Score 0.75)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 229
The ‘I severe and lengthened disease” under which Mr. Moss had been labouring,
terminated in his death on the 11 th of January 18 17. The following notice
of this event occurs in the newspapers of the period :-
“ Died, at Edinburgh, Mr. Moss, after a lingering disease of nearly three
years’ duration, the pains of which he bore with exemplary fortitude, Mr. Moss
was long the great dramatic favourite of the Edinburgh public ; and many still
recollect the excellence with which he portrayed Lingo, and many characters
of the same stamp.”
No. xcv.
NR. ROBERT MEIKLE.
THIS gentleman maintained a very respectable professional character in Edinburgh
as a writer, and was Assistant-Clerk in the Court of Session. He is
said to have been extremely attentive. to business, and was much esteemed by
his friends for the possession of many of those ‘‘ social qualities” which, in the
Bacchanalian spirit of last century, were as much a passport to good society as
temperance and decorum are in the present. We need scarcely add that he was
a most zealous member of the honourable fraternity of free-masons, and seldom
failed to join his brethren on the annual festival of the good Saint Andrew.
A ridiculous incident, arising out of his ‘‘ social qualities,” is preserved of
the “ Grand Clerk,” and a bottle friend, the “ Grand Secretary.” They had
been enjoying themselves in Douglas’s tavern, Anchor Close-a favourite resort
at that period--over a goodly dose of “ nut brown ale,” with a due proportion
of Glenlivet, by way of stimulant ; when, staggering forth about ten o’clock at
night, both perfectly “ glorious,” the one carelessly remarked to the other,-
“ Robbie, ye’re fou’.” Robbie, misunderstanding his friend, replied, “ Confound
you, sir! wha’s a sow B ’-at the same time aiming a terrible blow at his
unconscious companion ; but the blow falling short, the “ Grand Clerk” tumbled
into the gutter, and was ultimately carried home in a state much more easily
conceived than described.
Such scenes were by no means of rare occurrence in those “ golden days ; ”
and what would now destroy the respectability of any professional gentleman,
did not then at all affect his reputation. MR. MEIKLE filled the situation of
Clerk to the Grand Lodge for fifteen years, with great credit to himself and
benefit to the society; and was afterwards chosen Secretary in 1796. This
latter office he held only fifteen months, in consequence of his death, which
happened on the 18th of February 1797.
He was succeeded in the
clerkship by Mr. Thomas Sommers, glazier ; and, on this gentleman’s death, in
1799, the office was devolved upon Mr. James Bartram, brewer, who took his
place in the grand centenary procession on St. Andrew’sday, 1836.
Mr. Meikle was married, and had a family.

... SKETCHES. 229 The ‘I severe and lengthened disease” under which Mr. Moss had been ...

Book 8 p. 323
(Score 0.74)

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