Edinburgh Bookshelf

Edinburgh Bookshelf

Search

Index for “dean bank institution”

Canongate.] THE TENNIS COURT. ? 39
Scotland, and who for some years had been Commissioner
to the General Assembly. In this house
he died, 28th July, 1767, as recorded in the Scots
Magazine, and was succeeded by his son, Major-
General the Earl of Ancrum, Colonel of the 11th
Light Dragoons (now Hussars). His second son,
Lord Robert, had been killed at Culloden.
His marchioness, Margaret, the daughter of Sir
Thomas Nicholson, Bart., of Kempnay, who survived
him twenty years, resided in Lothian Hut
till her death. It was afterwards occupied by the
dowager of the ? fourth Marquis, Lady Caroline
D?Arcy, who was only daughter of Robert Earl
of Holderness, and great-grand-daughter of Charles
Louis, the Elector Palatine, a lady whose character
is remembered traditionally to have been both
grand and amiable. Latterly the Hut was the
residence of Professor Dugald Stewart, who, about
the end of the last century, entertained there many
English pupils of high rank. Among them, perhaps
the most eminent was Henry Temple, afterwards
Lord Palmerston, whose education, commenced
at Harrow, was continued at the University
of Edinburgh. When he re-visited the latter city in
1865, during his stay he was made aware that an
aged woman, named Peggie Forbes, who had been
a servant with Dugald Stewart at Lothian Hut,
was still alive, and residing at No. I, Rankeillor
Street. There the great statesman visited her, and
expressed the pleasure he felt at renewing the
acquaintance of the old domestic.
Lothian Hut, the scene of Dugald Stewart?s
most important literary labours, was pulled down
ih 1825, to make room for a brewery ; but a house
of the same period, at the south-west corner of the
Horse Wynd, bears still the name of Lothian
Vale.
A little to the eastward of the present White
Horse hostel, and immediately adjoining the Water
Gate, stood the Hospital of St. Thomas, founded
in 154r by George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld,
?dedicated to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
all the saints.? It consisted of an almshouse and
chapel, the bedesmen of which were ?to celebrate
the founder?s anniversary obit. by solemnly singing
in the choir of Holyrood church yearly, on the
day of his death, ?the Placebo and Dinie for the
repose of his soul ? and the soul of the King of
Scotland. ? Special care,? says Amot, ? was taken
in allotting money for providing candles to be
lighted during the anniversary ma.ss of requiem,
and the number and size of the tapers were fixed
with a precision which shows the importance in
which these circumstances were held by the founder.
The number of masses, paternosters, aye-marias,
and credos, to be said by the chaplain and bedesmen
is distinctly ascertained.?
The patronage of the institution was vested by
the founder in himself and a certain series of representatives
named by him.
In 1617, with the consent of David Crichton of
Lugton, the patron, who had retained possession
of the endowments, the magistrates of the Canongate
purchased the chapel and almshouse from the
chaplains and bedesmen, and converted the institution
into a hospital for the poor of the burgh.
Over the entrance they placed the Canongate arms,
supported by a pair of ?cripples, an old man and
woman, with the inscription-
HELP HERE THE POORE, AS ZE WALD GOD DID ZOV.
JUNE 19, 1617.
The magistrates of the Canongate sold the patronage
of the institution in 1634 to the Kirk Session,
by whom its revenues ? were entirely embezzled f
by 1747 the buildings were turned into coachhouses,
and in 1787 were pulled down, and replaced
by modem houses of hideous aspect.
On the opposite side of the Water Gate was the
Royal Tennis Court, the buildings of which are
very distinctly shown in Gordon?s map of 1647.
Maitland says it was anciently called the Catchpel,
from Cache, a game now called Fives, a favourite
amusement in Scotland as early as the reign of
James IV. The house, a long, narrow building,
with a court, after being a weavers? workhouse,
was burned down in 1771, and rebuilt in the
tasteless fashion of that period ; but the locality is
full of interest, as being connected not only with
the game of tennis, as played there by the Duke
of Albany, Law the great financial schemer, and
others, but the early and obscure history of the
stage in Scotland.
In 1554 there was a ??litill farsche and play
maid be William Lauder,? and acted before the
Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, for which he was
rewarded by two silver cups. Where it was acted
is not stated. Neither are we told where was perlormed
another play, ? made by Robert Simple ?
at Edinburgh, before the grim Lord Regent and
others of the nobility in 1567, and for which the
mthor was paid ;E66 13s. 4d.
The next record of .a post-Reformation theatre is
in the time of James VI. when several companies
came from London for the amusement of the court,
including one of which Shakspere was a member,
though his appearance cannot be substantiated.
In 1599 the company of English comedians was
interdicted by the clergy and Kirk Session,
though their performances, says Spottiswoode in ... THE TENNIS COURT. ? 39 Scotland, and who for some years had been Commissioner to the General ...

Book 3  p. 39
(Score 1.12)

ECCLESIA STICAL ANTIQ U’TIES. 391
The plan of the architect proved after all a total failure, and a new hall had to be provided
elsewhere for the meetings of the General Amembly of the Church. The removal of this
important national monument was not effected without considerable oppositich, and itd
destruction in the face of repeated remobstrance8 teflects indelible disgrace oli all who had
a share in it. The brass plate, with the inscriptioh prepared by Buchanan for this tomb,
has been rescued from the general wreck, and is now preserved by the descendants of the
Regent at Dunnybristle House. We trust it is preserved to be again restored to the place
where it so lohg formed the chief point of attraction. The same transept, styled the Old
Church,’ was the Bcene of Jenny Geddea’s famous onslaught on the Deab of St CCiles’s,
owing to the alterations *hich were in progress on the choh at the period when the
use of the liturgy ka8 attempted to be enforhed, in order to adapt it €ot the cathedral
service.’ A very characteristic episode 6r by-play, which was enacted in B corner of the
church while the heroihe of the Cuttg Stool was playing her more prominent part with
the Dean, is thus narrated by a contemporary :-“A good Christian woman, much deeirous
to temove, perceaving she could get no passage patent, betooke herselfe to her Bible in a
remote corner of the chutch. As she waa there stopping hep eates a€ the V O ~ C !o~f popische
chapmers, %htme she remarked to be veri6 headstrong in the pablict practise of their antichristiane
rudiments, 8 young man sitting behind het beganne to sodnd foatth, A m ?
At, the hearing therof, she quicklie turned her about, and after she had warmed both his
cheekes with the weight of her hands, she thda schott against hiui the thunderbolt of her
zeal-‘ False theefe I (said she) is thete no nthet parte of the kirke to sing masse in but
thou mud sing it at my lugge I ’ The young man, being dashed with such ane hote uhexpected
rencounter, gave place to silence in siglie of his recantatione.” The erection of
the Bishoprie of Edinburgh in 1633, and the appointaent of the Collegiate Church of St
Qiles to be the cathedral of the diocese, led to its temporary restoration internally to bornething
like its alicient appearance. But ere the royal dommands codd be carried into
effect for the demolition of all ita galleries and subdivisions, and its adaptation as the
cathedral church of the new bishop, the entire syateui of Church polity for which these
changes were designed had come to a violent end, involving many more important things
in its downfall. ‘6 In this Isle,” sayd Kincaid, (( are sundry inscriptiohs in Sason characters,
cut on the pavement, of very coarse sculpture.” Similar ancient monuhents cgvered
the floor in other parts of the church, but every vestige of them has been swept away in
the impoaementa of 1829. A large portion of one, boldly cht and with the date 1508, waa
preserved in the nursery of the late firm of Messra Eagle & Henderson. The inscription ran
round the edge of the stone in Gothic characters, and Contained the same and date thds :-
gacobi . lame . qui obiit e ano Pm . m* + bo + ocfabo.
A shield in the centre bore 8 lamb, well executed, lying with its feet drawn together,
Other two of these monumental stones, now completely defaced, form the paving front
of the Fountain Well !
Lord Rotheal Relation, Append. p. 198.
“In the year 1636, the Town Council ordered one of the Bailiffs and one of the Clerhe of Edinbtugh to desk
Jam- Hanna, the Dean of St Gilea’a Church, to repair to Durham, to take a Draught of the Choir of the Cathedral
Church in that city, in order to fit up and beautify the inside of St Qiles’a Church after the eame manner.”-Maitland,
p. 281. A Breefe and True Relatione of the Broyle, &a, 1637. ... STICAL ANTIQ U’TIES. 391 The plan of the architect proved after all a total failure, and a new hall had ...

Book 10  p. 429
(Score 1.11)

APPENDIX. 435
of Auchinleck ; but a passage in Father Hay’s MS. History of the Holpodhonse F d y , seem to confirm the
tradition beyond the possibility of doubt. Recording the children of Bishop Bothwell, who died 1593, he tells
us-‘ He had also a daughter named Anna, who fell with child to a sone of the Earle of Mar.’ Colonel
Alexander’s portrait, which belonged to his mother is exceedingly handsome, with much vivacity of corntenance,
dark blue eyes, a peaked beard, and moustaches :-
‘ Ay me ! I fell-and yet no queetion make
What I should do again for auch a sake.”’
Father Hay has thus recorded the seduction of Anna Bothwell, in hia Diplomatuna CoZZectiO (MS. Advoc.
Lib. vide Liber Cart. Sancte h c i s , p. xxxviii.) :-‘‘ Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, became Abbot of Holyrudehouse
after Robert Steward, base son to King Jam= the Fift by Euphem Elphinstone ; who was created
Earle of Orkney and Lord Shetland by King Jamea the Sixth, 1581. This Adam was a younger brother to Sir
Richard Bothwell, Provost of Edinburgh in Queen Maries time, and a second sone to Sir Francis Bothwell, lord
of the Session in King James the Fifta time, and was begotten upon Anna Livingstone, daughter to the Lord
Livingstone. He married Margaret Murray, and begote upon her John, Francis, WiUiam, and George Bothwells,
and a daughter Anna, who by her nurse’s deceit, fell with child to a sone of the Earle of Mar.”
Both the face and figure of Colonel Sir Alexander Erskine are very peculiar, as represented in his portrait.
He is dressed in armour, with a rich scarf across his right shoulder, and a broad vandyke collar round his
neck The head is unusually small for the body; and the features of the face, though handsome, are sharp, and
the face tapering nearly to a point at the chin. The effect of this is considerably heightened by ths length of
his moustaches, and hb peaked beard, or rather imperial, as the tuft below the under lip, which leaves the
contour of the chin exposed, is generally termed. The whole combines to convey a singularly sly and catclike
expression, which-unless we were deceived when examining it by our knowledge of the leading incidents of
his history-seem very characteristic of the “ dear deceiver.”
The orignal portrait, by Jamieson, beam the date and age of Colonel Erskine-1628, aged 29. Two stanzas
of the ballad, somewhat varied, occur in Brome’s Play of the Northern Lass, printed in 1632-not 1606 as
‘erroneously stated before. From this we may infer, not only that the ballad must have been written very
shortly after the event that gave rise to itpossibly by Anna Bothwell herself-but also that the seducer must
himself have been very young, so that the nurse is probably not unfairly blamed by Father Hay as an active
agent in poor Anna’s mongs.
I.
VIII. ARMORIAL BEARINGS.
BLYTH’BC LosE.-The armorial bearings in Blyth’s Close, with the +initialsA . A., and the date 1557 (page
148), may possibly mark the house of Alexander Achison, burgess of Edinburgh, the ancestor of the Viscounts *
Gosford of Ireland, and of Sir Archibald Achiaon, the host of Dean Swift at Market Hill, who, with hb particularly
lean lady, became the frequent butt of the witty Dean’s humour, both in prose and verse. The old burgeea
acquired the estate of Glosford in East Lothian by a charter of Queen Mary, dated 1561. Nisbet says, “The
name of Aitchison carries, argent, an eagle with two heads displayed, sable j on a chief, vert, two mullek,
or.”
QOSFORD’S CLose.-Since the printing of the text (page MO), we have discovered the ancient lintel
formerly in Qosford’s Close bearing a representation of the Crucihion, and have succeeded in getting it removed
to the Antiquarian Museum. It has three-shields on it, boldly cut, and in good preservation. On the centre ... 435 of Auchinleck ; but a passage in Father Hay’s MS. History of the Holpodhonse F d y , seem to ...

Book 10  p. 474
(Score 1.1)

150 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet.
of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope
and that famous old literary officer General Stewart
of Garth, who had been wounded under its colours
in Egypt; and nothing could surpxss the grand,
even tearful, enthusiasm with which the veterans
had been welcomed ?in every town and village
through which their route from England lay.
Early on the ~gth,? says the Scots Magazine, ?vast
crowds were collected on the streets, in expectation
of their arrival. The road as far as Musselburgh
was crowded with people ; and as they approached
the city, so much was their progress impeded by the
multitude that their march from Piershill to the
castle-less than two miles-occupied two hours.
House-tops and windows were crowded with spectators,
and as they passed along the streets, amid
the ringing of bells, waving of flags, and the
acclamation of thousands, their red and black
plumes, tattered colours-emblems of their wellearned
fame in fight-and glittering bayonets, were
all that could be seen of these heroes, except by
the few who were fortunate in obtaining elevated
situations. The scene, viewed from the windows
and house-tops, was the most extraordinary ever
witnessed in this city. The crowds were wedged
together across the whole breadth of the street, and
extended in length as far as the eye could reach,
and this motley throng appeared to tnove like a
solid body, till the gallant Highlanders were safely
lodged in the castle.?
To the whole of the non-commissioned officers
and privates a grand banquet by public subscription,
under the superintendence of Sir Walter Scott, was
given in the Assembly Room, and every man was
presented with a free ticket to the Theatre Royal.
Asimilar banquet and ovation was bestowed on the
78th or Ross-shire Buffs, who marched in a few
days after.
It was in the Assembly Rooms that Sir Walter
Scott, on the 23rd February, 1827, at the annual
dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association,
avowed himself to be ?the Great Unknown,?
acknowledging the authorship of the Waverley
Novels-scarcely a secret then, as the recent exposure
of Constable?s affairs had made the circumstance
pretty well known, particularly in literary
circles.
In June 1841 a great public banquet was given
to Charles Dickens in the Assembly Rooms, at
which Professor Wilson presided, and which the
novelist subsequently referred to as having been
a source of sincere gratification to him.
The rooms underwent considerable improvements
in 1871 ; but two shops have always been
in the basement storey, and the western of these
.
is now occupied by the Edinburgh branch of the
ImperiaI Fire and Life Assurance Company.
In immediate connection with the Assembly
Rooms is the great music hall, built in 1843? at
the cost of more than .&IO,OOO, It is a magnificent
apartment, with a vast domed and panelled
roof, 108 feet long by 91 feet broad, with orchestral
accommodation for several hundred performers,
and a powerful and splendid organ, by Hill of
London.
It is the most celebrated place in the city for
public meetings. There, in 1853, was inaugurated
by Lord Eglinton and others, the great Scottish
Rights Association, the ultimate influence of which
procured so many necessary grants of money for
Scottish purposes; in 1859 the first Burns Centenary,
and in 1871 the first Scott Centenary, were celebrated
in this hall. There, tooJ has the freedom of
the city been bestowed upon many great statesmen,
soldiers, and others. There has Charles Dickens
cften read his ?Christmas Carols? to delighted
thousands ; and there it was that, in 1856, the great
novelist and humourist, Thackeray, was publicly
hissed down (to the marked discredit of his audience,
be it said) in one of his readings, for making disparaging
remarks on Mary Queen of Scots.
The new Union Bank of Scotland is on the
south side of tbe street, Commenced in 1874, it
was finished in 1878, from designs by David
Bryce, R.S.A. It is in the Tuscan style, with a
frontage of more than IOO feet, and extends southwards
to Rose Street Lane. It exhibits three
storeys rising from a sunk basement, with their
entrances, each furnished with a portico of Ionic
columns. The first floor windows are flanked by
pilasters, and furnished with entablatures and
pediments ; the second floors have architraves,
and moulded sills, while the wall-head is terminated
by a bold cornice, supporting a balustrade. The
telling-room is magnificent-fully eighty feet long
by fifty feet broad, and arranged in a manner alike
commodious and elegant. In the sunk basement
is a library, with due provision of safes for various
bank purposes, and thither removed, in 1879, the
famous old banking house to which we have more
than once had occasion to fefer, from its old quarters
in the Parliament Square, which were then
announced as for sale, with its fireproof interior
?of polished stone, with groined arches on the
various floors ; its record rooms, book and bullion
jafes of dressed stone, alike thief and fire proof.?
Here we may briefly note that the Union Bank
was incorporated in 1862, and its paid-up capital
is .&I,OOO,OOO; but this bank is in reality of a
much older date, and was originally known as the ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet. of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope and that famous old ...

Book 3  p. 150
(Score 1.1)

Hawthornden,] HAWTHORNDEN. 353
ROSLIN CHAPEL :-THE @' 'PRENTICE PILLAR." (From a Phtogra#h by G. W. WiAm Ct Co.)
CHAPTER XLII.
THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH-(codinwed).
Hawthornden-The Abernethys-The Drummonds-The Cavalier and Poet-The Cavern+Wallace's Cave and Camp-Count Lockhart's
Monument-Captain Philip Lockhart of Dryden--Lauwade-The Ancient Church-The Coal Seams-"The Gray Brother "--soolt-De
Quincey-Clerk of Eldin.
HAWTHORNDEN, the well-known seat of the Drummond
family, stands on the south bank of the
North Esk, amidst exquisitely picturesque and
romantic scenery. Constructed with reference to
strength, it surmounts to the very edge a grey and
almost insulated cliff, which starts perpendicularly
up from the brawling river. There it is perched
high in air amid a wooded ravine, through which
the Esk flows between two walls of lofty and
141
abrupt rock, covered by a wonderful profusion of
foliage, interwoven with festoons of ivy-a literal
jungle of mosses, ferns, and creepers. The greatest
charm of the almost oppressive solitude is due
to the bold variety of outline, and the contrast of
colour, which at every spot the landscape exhibit.
On the summit of that insulated rock are still
the ruins of a fortalice of unknown antiquity4
vaulted tower, fifteen feet square internally, with ... HAWTHORNDEN. 353 ROSLIN CHAPEL :-THE @' 'PRENTICE PILLAR." (From a Phtogra#h by G. W. ...

Book 6  p. 353
(Score 1.08)

I80
the bids Pitsligo. He bestowed charity daily upon
a number of pensioners, who were in the habit of
waiting on him as he entered or left the bank, or as

? Far may we search before we find
A heart so manly and so kind !
But not around his honoured urn.
[Parliament Close.
a great portion of the upper barony of Pitsligo, in- canto of ? Marmion,? thus affectionately and
cluding the roofless and ruined old mansion-house of forcibly :-
he passed through the Parliament Close, where for I Shall friends alone and kindred mourn 5
THE PARLIAMENT STAIRS. 
years, as we are told in ?The Hermit in Edinburgh,
1824,? might be seen the figure of ?that
pillar of worth, Sir William Forbes, in the costume
of the last century, with a profusion of grey locks
tied in a clu5, and a cloud of hair-powder flying
about him in a windy day; his tall, upright form
is missed in the circles of moral life; the poor
miss him also.?
His friend Scott wrote of him, in the fourth
The thousand eyes his care had dried
Pour at his name a bitter tide ;
And frequent falls the grateful dew,
For benefits the world ne?er knew.
If mortal charity dare claim
The Almighty?s attributed name,
Inscribe above his mouldering clay,
T4c wtifow?s skGZd, the ovhan?s sfay I?
Near his banking-house, and adjoining the Parliament
(or old back) Stairs, was long a shop occu ... bids Pitsligo. He bestowed charity daily upon a number of pensioners, who were in the habit of waiting ...

Book 1  p. 180
(Score 1.08)

CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER XLVII.
MOULTRAY'S HILL-HER MAJESTY'S GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE. PAGE
The Moultrays of that Ilk-Village of Moultray's Hill-The Chapel of St. Ninian-St James's Square-Bunker's Hill-Mr. Dundas-Rob&
Bums's House-State of the Scottish Recdrds-Indifference of the Government in 174a-The Register House built-Its Objects and
Size<urious Documents preserved in this House-The Ofice of Lord Clerk Register-The Secretary's Register-The Register of
Sashes-The Lyon King of Arms-Sir David Lindesay-Si James Balfour-Si Alexander Erskine-New Register HoustGreat and
privy Seals of Scotland-The Wellington Statue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE S O U T H B R I D G E .
Marlii's Wynd-Legend of the Pavior-Peebles Wynd-The Bridge Founded-Price of Sites-Laing's Book Shop-The Assay Office and
Goldsmith's Hall-Mode of Marking the Plate-The Corporation, and old Acts concerning it-Hunter's SquarGMerchant Company's
Hall-The Company's Charter-"The Stock of Broom"-Their Monopoly and Progress-The Great Schools of the Merchant
Company-The Chamber .of Commerce-Adam Square-Adam's Houses-Dr. Andrew Duncan-Leonard Homer and the Watt
Institution-Its Progress and Vitality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE PLEASANCE 'AND ST. LEONARDS.
The Convent of St. Mary-Friends' Burial PlactOld Chirurgeon's Hall-Surgeon's Square-" Hamilton's Folly "-The Gibbet-Chapel
and Hospital of St. Leonard-Davie Deans' Cottage-The .. IMOCCnt Railway "-First Public Dispensary . . . . . . 382
KEYS OF THE CITY OF EDINBURGH. ... ix CHAPTER XLVII. MOULTRAY'S HILL-HER MAJESTY'S GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE. PAGE The Moultrays ...

Book 2  p. 391
(Score 1.08)

THE Castle Hill,? says Dr. Chambers, ? is partly ?
an esplanade, serving as a parade ground for the
garrison, and partly a street, the upper portion of
that vertebral line which, under the names of Lawnbeen
characterised as ? hovels that are a disgrace
to Europe.?
In lists concerning the Castle of Edinburgh,
the first governor appears to have been Thomas de
Cancia in I 147 ; the first constable, David Kincaid
of Coates House, in 1542 ; and the first State prisoner
warded therein Thomas of. Colville in 12 10,
for conspiring against William the Lion.
We may fittingly take leave of the grand old
?( Archzologia Scotica,? which contains an ? Elegie
on the great and famous Blew Stone which lay on
the Castle Hill, and was interred there.? On this
relic, probably a boulder, a string of verses form ,
Castle in the fine lines of Burns?s ?Address to
Edinburgh ? :-
~ ? There, watching high the least alarms,
Thy rough, rude fortress gleams afar;
Like some bold ver?ran, grey in arms,
And marked with many a seamy scar ;
The pond?rous wall and massy bar,
Grim rising o?er the rugged rock,
Have oft withstood assailing war,
And oft repelled th? invader?s shock.?
market, High Street, and Canongate, extends to I the doggerel elegy :-
Holyrood Palace f but
it is with the Esplanade
and banks we have
chiefly to deal at
present.
Those who now see
the Esplanade, a peaceful
open space, 5 10 feet
in length by 300 in
breadth,with the squads
of Highland soldiers at
drill, or the green bank
that slopes away to the
north, covered with
beautiful timber, swarming
in summer with little
ones in care of their
nurses, can scarcely
realise that thereon
stood the ancient Spur,
before which so many
men have perished
RUNIC CROSS, CASTLE BANK.
sword in hand, and that it was the arena of so
many revolting executions by the axe and stake,
for treason, hereay, and sorcery.
It lay in a rough state till 1753, when the earth
taken from the foundations of the Royal Exchange
\vas spread over it, and the broad flight of forty
steps which gave access to the drawbridge was
buried. The present ravelin before the half-moon
was built in 1723 ; but alterations in the level must
have taken place prior to that, to judge from
?Our old Blew Stone, that?s
His marrow may not be;
Large, twenty feet in length
His bulk none e?er did
Doiir and dief, and run with
When he preserved men.
Behind his back a batterie
Contrived with packs of
Let?s now think on, since
We ?re in the Castle?s
dead and gone,
he was,
ken ;
grief,
was,
woo,
he is gone,
view.?
The woolpacks evidently
refer to the siege
of 1689.
The Esplanade was
impraved in 1816 by a
parnpet and railing on
the north. and a fea
years after by a low mall on the south, strengthened
by alternate towers and turrets. A bronze statue of
the Duke of York and Albany, K.G., holding his
marshal?s b%ton, was erected on the north side in
1839, and a little lower down are two Celtic memorial
crosses of remarkable beauty. The larger and
more ornate of them was erected in 1862, by the
officers and soldiers of the 78th Ross-shire Highlanders,
to the memory of their comrades who fell
during the revolt in India in 1857-8 j and the ... Castle Hill,? says Dr. Chambers, ? is partly ? an esplanade, serving as a parade ground for the garrison, and ...

Book 1  p. 79
(Score 1.08)

I02 OLD AYD NEW EDINBURGH. [The Lawnmarket.
Duke of York and Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke made
some noise in London during the time of the
Regency. The house below those occupied by
Hume and by Boswell was the property and residence
of Andrew Macdowal of Logan, author of the
? Institutional Law of Scotland,? afterwards
elevated to the bench, in 1755, as Lord Bankton.
In another court named Paterson?s, opening on
the Lawnmarket, Margaret Countess Dowager of
Glasgow was resident in 1761, and for some years
before it Her husband, the second ead, died in
1740.
One of the handsomest old houses still existing in
the Lawnmarket is the tall and narrow tenement of
polished ashlar adjoining Tames?s Court. It is of
a marked character, and highly adorned. Of old
it belonged to Sir Robert Bannatyne, but in 1631
was acquired by Thomas Gladstone, a merchant
burgess, and on the western gable are the initials
of himself and wife. In 1634, when the city was
divided for the formation of sixteen companies, in
obedience to an injunction of Charles I., the
second division was ordered to terminate at
?? Thomas Gladstone?s Land,? on the north side of
the street.
In 1771 a dangerous fire occurred in the Lawnmarket,
near the head of the old Bank Close. It
was fidt?discovered by the flames bursting through
the roof of a tall tenement known as Buchanan?s.
It baffled the efforts of three fire-engines and
a number of workmen, and some soldiers of the
22nd regiment. It lasted a whole night, and
created the greatest consternation and some loss
of life. ?The new church and weigh-house were
opened during the fire,? says the Scots Magazine
of 1771, ?for the reception of the goods and
furniture belonging to the sufferers and the inhabitants
of the adjacent buildings, which were kept
under guard.? Damage to the extent of several
thousand pounds was done, and among those who
suffered appear the names of General Lockhart of
Carnwath ; Islay Campbell, advocate ; John Bell,
W.S. ; and Hume d .Ninewells; thus giving a
sample.of those who still abode in the Lawnmarket.
CHAPTER XI.
, THE LAWNMARKET (continued).
Lady Stair?s Close-Gay or Pittendrum-e?Aunt Margarct?s Mmor?--The Marshal h l and Countess of Stair-Mm Femer-Sir Richard
Stcele-Martha Countess of Kincardine-Burns?s Room in Baxter?s Close-The Bridges? Shop in Bank Street-Bailie MacMonm?s
PRIOR to the opening of Bank Street, Lady Stair?s
Close, the first below Gladstone?s Land, was the
chief thoroughfare for foot passengers, taking advantage
of the half-formed Earthen Mound to reach
the New Town. It takes its name from Elizabeth
Countess Dowager of Stair, who was long looked
up to as a leader of fashion in Edinburgh, admission
to her select circle being one of the highest
objects of ambition among the lesser gentry of her
day, when the distinctions of rank and family were
guarded with an angry jealousy of which we have
but little conception now. Lady Stair?s Close is
narrow and dark, for the houses are of great height ;
the house she occupied still remains on the west
side thereof, and was the scene of some romantic
events and traditions, of which Scott made able
use. in his ?Aunt Margaret?s Mirror,? ere it became
the abode of the widow of the Marshal Earl of
Stair, who, when a little boy, had the misfortune to
kill his elder brother, the Master, by the accidental
discharge of a pistol; after which, it is said, that
his mother could never abide him, and sent him
.
in his extreme youth to serve in Flanders as a
volunteer in the Cameronian Regiment,.under the
Earl of Angus. The house occupied by Lady Stair
has oyer its door the pious legend-
? Feare the Lord and depart from cuiZZ,?
with the date 1622, and the initials of its founder
and of his wifeSir Wiiam Gray of Pittendrum,
and Egidia Smith, daughter of Sir John Smith, of
Grothall, near Craigleith, Provost of Edinburgh in
1643. Sir William was a man of great influence in
the time of Charles I. ; and though the ancient title
of Lord Gray reverted to his family, he devoted
himself to commerce, and became one of the
wealthiest Scottish merchants of that age. But
troubles came upon him; he was fined IOO,OOO
merks for corresponding with Montrose, and was
imprisoned, first in the Castle and then in the
Tolbooth till the mitigated penalty of 35,000 merks
was paid. Other exorbitant exactions followed, and
these hastened his death, which took place in
1648. Three years before that event, his daughter ... OLD AYD NEW EDINBURGH. [The Lawnmarket. Duke of York and Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke made some noise in London ...

Book 1  p. 102
(Score 1.08)

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

Book 10  p. 187
(Score 1.06)

OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. (South Bridge. 378
then paid for the dean?s gown. This Hugh Blair was
the grandson of the eminent Covenanting clergyman
Robert Blair, who accompanied the Scottish army
into England in 1640, and assisted at the negotiations
which led to the Peace of Ripon; and he
was the grandfather of his namesake, author of the
famous Sermons and ficttires on 3dZes-fiitres.
One of the earliest movements of any importance
in the history of the company was its acquisition
.of a hall. Bailie Robert Blackwood, who was master
in 169i, found a large mansion in the Congate, belonging
to Robert Macgill, Viscount Oxenford, the
price of which would be about IZ,OOO merks, or
A670 sterling ; and this house the company purrhased
with subscriptions. It was a large quadrangle,
surrounding a courtyard, and in a portion
.of it several persons of rank and position had apartments,
including the widow of the temble old
?persecutor,? Sir Thomas Dalyell of Binns. It
contained one large apartment, that was adopted
as a hall, which one of the company, Alexander
Brand, a bailie of the city-who had a manufactory
for stamping Spanish leather with gold, then used
for the decoration of rooms, before paper-hangings
were known-liberally offered to decorate, and
only to charge what was due over and above his
own contribution of A150 Scots. ?? Ten years afterwards,
when accounts came to be settled with the
then Sir Alexander Brand, it appeared that a
hundred and nineteen skins of gold leather with a
black ground had been used, at a total expense of
A253 Scots, including the manufacturer?s contribution.
There was also much concernment about a
piece of waste ground behind; but the happy
thought occurred of converting it into a bowlinggreen
for the use of the members in the first place,
.and the public in the second. Many years afterwards
we find Allan Ramsay making Horatian
.allusions to this place of recreation, telling us
that now in winter, douce folk were no longer
seen using the biassed bowls on Thomson?s Green
(Thornson being a subsequent tenant). It is not
unworthy of notice,? continues Dr. Chambers,
?that from the low state of the arts in Scotland,
the bowls required for this green had to be
brought from abroad. It is gravely reported to
the company on the 6th of March, 1693, that the
bowls are ?upon the sea homeward.? Ten pairs
cost &6 4s. 3d. Scots.?
Brand got himself into trouble in 1697 for
making what were called ? donations ? to the Pnvy
Council. In 1693, he, together with Sir Thomas
Kennedy of Kirkhill, Provost in 1685, and 6ir
William Binning, Provost in 1676, had contracted
with the national Government for a supply of 5,000
,
stand of arms at a pound each ; but when abroad
for their purchase, he alleged that the arms could
not be got under twenty-six shillings a stand. To
obtain payment of the extra sum (tf;1,500), the
two knights bribed the Earls of Linlithgow and
Breadalbane by a gift of 250 guineas. Hence, when
the affair was discovered, the then contractors, ?fox
the compound fault of contriving bribery and de.
faming the nobles in question,? were cast in heavy
fines-Kennedy, in A800, Binning in A300, and
Brand in A500, ? and to be imprisoned till payment
was made.?
It is long since the company?s connection with the
Cowgate ceased, and even the house they occupied
there has passed away, being removed to make
room for a pier of George IV.?s Bridge; and in
that quarter no memorial of the company now
remains but the name of Merchant Street, applied
to a petty line of buildings behind the Cowgate ;
but the company has still a title to ground rents in
that part of the city.
Rich members died, leaving bequests to the
company for the relief of decayed brethren ; but
so wealthy and prosperous was the body, that
when a legacy of A;3,5oo was left to them in 1693
by Patrick Aikinhead, a Scottish merchant of Dantzig,
they had not a single member in need of monetary
aid ; and soon after, the company became engaged
in the erection of a hospital for the education
of the daughters of the less prosperous members, on
the ground now occupied by the Industrial Museum.
Though originally designed by Mrs. Mary Erskine,
a scion of the House of Mar, the principal expense
of the institution fell on the company, and the
governors were made a body corporate by an Act
of Parliament in 1707.
In 1723, a merchant named George Watson,
who, in 1696, had commenced life as a clerk with
Sir John Dick, died and left the company AI 2,000
sterling for children of the other sex, and enabled
them to found the hospital which still bears his
name.
After the Union, long years followed ere national
enterprise or industry found a fair field for action,
and produced the results that created the Edinburgh
of to-day ; and it was not till the reign of
George 111. that her merchants, like those elsewhere,
had ceased in any degree to depend upon
prohibitions and the exclusive rights of dealing
in merchandise.
In the eighteenth century a considerable aristocratic
element was infused into mercantile life in
Edinburgh. ?To take the leading firms,? says
Chambers, ?among the silk mercers: Of John
Hope and Company, the said John Hope was a ... AND NEW EDINBURGH. (South Bridge. 378 then paid for the dean?s gown. This Hugh Blair was the grandson of the ...

Book 2  p. 378
(Score 1.06)

of 6 1 0 each. The benefits of the endowments are
still destined to burgesses, their wives or children
not married, nor under the age of fifty years.? Ten
others have pensions of 6 1 0 each out of the funds
I
whole area occupied by the church and collegiate
buildings of the Holy Trinity was then included
in the original termini of the. Edinburgh and
Glasgow, the North British, the Edinburgh, Perth,
GROUND PLAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE CHURCH, 1814
following succinct account in the Scofs Magazine
for 1805:-
?In 1741 Captain Alexander Horn, of thecity of
London, by his last will bequeathed &3,500, old
and new South Sea Annuities, to be disposed of at
the discretion of the Lord Provost, Bailies, Dean
of Guild, and Treasurer of the city of Edinburgh,
on account of their early appearance and noble
stand in the cause of liberty (was this a reference
to the Porteous mob ?) as follows :-The interest
of &1,5oo on Christmas-day yearly, to such day
labourers of Edinburgh as by the inclemency of the
weather may be set idle and reduced to want;
interest of &I,OOO to day labourers as aforesaid,
in the Potter Row, Bristo, and West Port; and
I
boundary-wall of its garden, in which he shows
parterres and three rows of large trees, and also a
square lantern and vane above the roof of the large
hall; and in Edgar?s map, a hundred years later,
the waters of the loch came no farther eastward
than the line of the intended North Bridge, between
which and the hospital lay the old Physic Gardens.
?Its demolition brought to light many curious
evidences of its former state,? says Wilson. .?? A
beautiful large Gothic fireplace, with clustered
columns and a low, pointed arch, was disclosed in
she north gable, and many rich fragments of Gothic
ornament were found built into the walls, remains
no doubt of the original hospital buildings, used in
the enlargement and repair of the college.? The ... 6 1 0 each. The benefits of the endowments are still destined to burgesses, their wives or children not ...

Book 2  p. 308
(Score 1.06)

222 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Thus, so far from misapplying their funds, they might at once produce E beautiful summerhouse,
or termination of a vista, and discharge an imperious debt they owe to their countrymen
and t o posterity-the preservation and transmission of those specimens of Scottish workmanship
of remote ages. Such a building, composed chiefly of antique carved stones, may be seen near
St. Bernard‘s Well, in the policy, or pleasure-grounds of the gentleman last-mentioned ;l and
Portobello Tower, built by Mr. Cunningham, consists principally of the sculptured and ornamented
stones found in the houses which were pulled down to make way far the South Bridge.”’
The suggestions of the I antiquary were not attended to by the Managers.
The Hospital, which was opened in 1802, is capable of containing sixty-six
pensioners, but the Governors have never been able to make provision for more
than forty-two persons.8 The internal management is committed to the charge
of a House-Governor, or Chaplain, and a Governess, who act under the immediate
direction of the Treasurer-the whole being under the control of the Board of
General Governors.
In the Council Room of the Hospital is a capital painting of the founder,
by Sir- James Foulis of Woodhall, Bart., in which the venerable proprietor of
Spylaw is represented as seated on a rudely formed chair, or summer-seat, in the
garden, with his hands resting on his staff. His countenance has all the mildness
of expression observable in the Etching by Kay.‘
The School endowed by Mr. Gillespie stands entirely detached from the
Hospital. The number of children taught average one hundred and fifty. The
first teacher was Mr. John Robertson, who held the situation at the opening
of the school in 1803 ; and was aided by an assistant.
1 “ Mr. Walter Ross, a gentleman of much taste and suavity of manners, whose memory is cherished
by all who knew him, and know how to estimate probity, honour, and rare accomplishments,
of which Mr. Ross possessed an eminent share indeed. The delight which he took iu works of art
and antiquities led him to collect some curious fragments of old buildings about Edinburgh, some
of which he has preserved by fixing them in and about the tower, under which his remains lie buried:
In the middle of the field in which this turret is built, a huge block of freestone stands erect ; it is
partly cut out in the form of a human figure, and, if report speaks truly, it was intended by the then
magistrates of Edinburgh to form the effigy of Oliver Cromuell : but the Restoration put an end to
the design ; and the fine equestrian statue of Charles II., to be seen in the Parliament Square, was, by
the prudent magistrates, ordered in its stead. In consequence, the above shapeless mass lay upwards
of a century and a half neglected and unknown, till Mr. Ross, having obtained possession of this
precious piece of antiquity, placed it upright with its face fronting the city; in which position it
remains a standing joke against the unsteady loyalty of the times.”-Camphell‘s Journdy from
Edinburgh. Among other curiosities collected by Mr. RQSS, were four heads, in alto relieve, which
formerly were placed over the arches of the Cross of Edinburgh : also the baptismal fonts belonging
to St. Ninian’s Chapel, which stood near the Register House.
a Many of the carved stones of Wrytes House are preserved at Woodhouselee.
a In a late article in the Scottish Pilot newspaper, this circumstance WBS earnestly recommended
to the notice of the public, with the view of promoting the funds of the Institution. “The cost of
the establishment,” says the statement, “for the maintenance of each Inmate, is from &12 to 215 per
annum-the rate varying according to the price of provisions and other contingencies. If the latter
sum ia assumed to be necessary, and BS the Governors can dispose of money bearing interest at five
per cent. a-sum of S7000, or thereby, would sufiice for the required object-the support of twentyfour
additional inmates-that being the number of vacancies in the Institution.” ‘ At the time Kay executed the Print he resided in one of the flats above the shop of the tobacconists,
from wbom, it is said, he received five pounds to suppress it. It is more probable that the five
pounds were given for the miniature. The one appean to be a copy of the other. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Thus, so far from misapplying their funds, they might at once produce E beautiful ...

Book 9  p. 295
(Score 1.06)

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

Book 6  p. 252
(Score 1.05)

78 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
genius-where lie bnriecl John Goodsir, ‘ Christopher North,’ Sir William
Allan, Jeffrey, Cockburn, Rutherfurd, Playfair, David Scott, Dr. Warburton
Begbie, and other illustrious men-we ramble on by the village of
the Water of Leith, the Dean Bridge, St. Bernard’s Well, and visit the Royal
Botanic Gardens, in order to enjoy the delightful vistas of the city, and to
turn to the old yew-tree flourishing as in its younger days when it grew in
the Physic Gardens. To the north-west lies Fettes College, a magnificent
modern edifice; nearer is situated Inverleith House, for many years the
residence of the learned Professor Cosmo Innes. Warriston Cemetery is the
last resting-place of Adam Black, the eminent publisher, Professor Simpson,
Sir George HaNey, and Alexander Smith, whose words-as we look at
Mr. Bough’s drawing (see Frontispice), taken from a point close by, occur
to the mind-‘ with castle, tower, church spire, and pyramid rising into
sunlight.’ Returning cityward by Pitt Street and Dundas Street, we turn
to the right, along Queen Street, passing No. 52, where Sir James Simpson
died. The first opening on the left is North Castle Street, with its memories
of Sir Walter Scott. 6 French critic has said that it was appropriate that
the three Graces and the nine Muses should take up their abode there-at
No. 39. How fondly Scott loved this residence is told in his own touching
words:-‘Mardz 15, 1826.This morning I leave No. 39 Castle Street for
the last time. ct The cabin was convenient,” and habit had made it agreeable
to me. . . . So farewell, poor No. 39 ! What a portion of my life has been
spent there ! It has sheltered me from the prime of life to its decline j and
now I must bid good-bye to it.’ (See Engraving, page 51.)
TABLET FORMFRLY AT IIUDRY CASTLE. ... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. genius-where lie bnriecl John Goodsir, ‘ Christopher North,’ Sir ...

Book 11  p. 123
(Score 1.05)

KING‘S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. I57
devices, and divide the ceiling into irregular square and round compartments, with raised
and gilded stars at their intersections. The fifth painting-of which we have endeavoured
to convey some idea to the reader-possesses peculiar interest, as a specimen of early
Scottish art. It embodies, though under different forms, the leading features of the immortal
allegory constructed by John Bunyan for the instruction of a later age. The Christian
appears fleeing from the City of Destruction, environed still by the perils of the way,
yet guided, through all the malignant opposition of the powers of darkness, by the unerring
hand of an over-ruling Providence. These paintings were concealed, a8 in similar examples
previously described, by a modern flat ceiling, the greater portion of which still remains,
rendering it difficult to obtain a near view of them. Mr Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe has,
in his interesting collection, another curious relic of the decorations of this apartment,
consisting of a group of musicians, which may possibly have been one of the ‘‘ paintit broddis
” mentioned among “ the Quene Regentis Paintrie.” One of the band is playing on
a lute, another on a horn, &c., and all with their music-books before them. This painting
was rescued by its present possessor, just as the recess or cupboard, of which it formed the
back, was about to be converted into a coal-cellar. Fragments of a larger, but much ruder,
copy of the same design were discovered on the demolition of the fine old mansion of Sir
William Nisbet of the Dean, in 1845, which bore above its main, entrance the date 1614.
Most of the other portions of the interior have been renewed at a later period, and exhibit
the panelling and decorations in common use during the last century.
This building appears, from the various titles, to have been the residence of a succession
of wealthy burgesses, as usual with the ‘‘ fore tenements of land,”-the closes being then,
and down to a comparatively recent date, almost exclusively occupied by noblemen and
dignitaries of rank and wealth.
Painted Oak Beam from Mary of Guise’s Chapel. ... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. I57 devices, and divide the ceiling into irregular square and ...

Book 10  p. 171
(Score 1.03)

302 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. ? [Surgeon Square.
We may close our notice of the Old Royal
Infirmary by a reference to the Keith Fund, established
by the late ME.. Janet Murray Keith and
her sister Ann for the relief of incurable patients
who have been in the house. These generous ladies
by trust-deed left a sum of money, the interest of
which was to be applied for the behoof of all who
were discharged therefrom as incurable by the loss
of their limbs, or so forth. The fund, which consists
of Bank of Scotiand stock, is held for this
purpose by trustees, who are annually appointed
by the managers of the Royal Infirmary, the
annual dividend to which amounts to Lz50. In
1877 there were on the list of recipients IOI
patients receiving allowances varying from AI to
A4; and in their deed of settlement the donors
express a hope that the small beginning thus made
for the relief of such sufferers, if well managed,
may encourage richer persons to follow theiI
example. Although this trust is appointed to be
kept separate for ever from the affairs of the Royal
Infirmary, the trustees are directed to publish
annually, with the report of the managers, an abstract
of the fund, with such other information %
they may deem desirable.
In the account of the west side of the Pleasance
we have briefly adverted to the ancient hall of the
Royal College of Surgeons,* which, bounded by the
eastern flank of the city wall, was built by that
body when they abandoned their previous place ol
meeting, which they rented in Dickson?s Close foi
L40 yearly, and acquired Cumehill House and
grounds, the spot within the angle of the wall
referred to. This had anciently belonged to the
Black Friars, but was secularised, and passed suc.
cessively into the hands of Sir John and Sir Jamer
Skene, judges of the Court of Session, both undei
the title of Lord Cumehill. Sir James Skene
?l succeeded Thomas, Earl of Melrose, as Presidenl
on the 14th Feb., 1626, in which office he con.
tinued till his death, which took place on the 15tk
October, 1633, in his own lodging beside thc
Grammar School of Edinburgh.?
After them it became the property of Samue
Johnstoun of the Sciennes ; and after him of thr
patrons of the university, who made it the housc
I of their professor of divinity, and he sold it to thc
surgeons for 3,000 merks Scots in 1656.
This house, which should have been described ir
its place, is shown by Rothiemay?s plan (see p. 241:
in 1647 to have been a large half-quadrangular four
storeyed house, with dormer windows, a circulai
turnpike stair with a conical roof on its north front
Vol. I., pp. 381-3.
md surrounded by a spacious garden, enclosed on
he south and east by the battlemented wall of
he city, and having a doorway in the boundary
wall of the High School yard on the north. On
he site of this edifice there was raised the future
Royal College of Surgeons, giving still its name to
he adjacent Square.
On the west side of that square stood the hall of
.he Royal Medical Society, which, Amot says, was
:oeval with the institution of a regular school of
iiedicine in the University ?by the establishment
if professors in the different branches of that
science. Dr. Cullen, Dr. Fothergill, and others
if the most eminent physicians in Britain, were
imong the first of its members. None of its
records, however, of an earlier date than A.D.
1737, have been preserved.?
Since that year the greater number of the students
of medicine at the University, who have
been distinguished in after years by their eminence,
diligence, and skill, have been members of this
Society, to which none are admitted until they have
made some progress in the study of physic.
In May, 1775, the foundation stone of their new
hall in Surgeon Square was laid by Dr. Cullen in
the presence of the other medical professors, the
presidents of the learned societies, and a large
audience.
This Society was erected into a body corporate by
5 royal charter grantedon the 14th of December,
1778, and lC is intended,? says Amot, writing of it
in his own time, ? l as a branch of medical education,
and a source of further discoveries and improvements
in that science, and those branches of
philosophy intimately connected with it. The
members at their weekly meetings read in rotation
discourses on medical subjects, which, at least Six
months previous to their delivery, had been assigned
to them by the Society, either at their own request
or by lot. And before any discourse be publicly
read it is communicated in writing to every member,
three of whom are particularly appointed to
impugn, if necessary, its doctrines. From these
circumstances the author of every discourse is induced
to bestow the utmost pains in rendering it as
complete as possible ; and the other members have
an opportunity of coming prepared to point out
every other view in which the subject can be rendered.
Thus, emulation and industry are excited,
genius is called forth, and the judgment exercised
and improved. By these means much information
is obtained respecting facts and doctrines already
published ; new opinions are often suggested, and
further inquiries pointed out. -4nd it is acknowledged
by all who are acquainted with the Univer ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. ? [Surgeon Square. We may close our notice of the Old Royal Infirmary by a reference ...

Book 4  p. 302
(Score 1.02)

I08 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Craigcrook
Local tradition makes Craigcrook the scene of a
murder, but this is a mistake, though there was
such a crime connected with it.
Mr. John Strachan before-mentioned-whose
charitable bequest is still known as ?the Craigcrook
Mortification?-in 1707 had a house in
the High Street of Edinburgh, which was kept
for him by a servant named Helen Bell, and as
she was l&ft in town a good deal by herself, ?as
other young women in her situation will do, she
two bottles and the large house-key to carry, that
her burden might be lightened,
No doubt she had been intending to take the
old road that led by the Dean to Craigcrook, but
on coming to a narrow and difficult part of the
way, called the Three Step, at the foot of the
Castle Rock, they threw her down and cruelly slew
her by blows of a hammer.
In a confession made subsequently by Thomson,
they hurried back to town, with the intention of
RAVELSTON HOUSE.
admitted young men to see her in her master?s
house.?
On Hallowe?en night, in the year of the Union,
two young craftsmen came to visit her-William
Thomson and John Robertson-whom she chanced
to inform that on Monday morning, the second
morning thereafter, she had to go westward to Craigcrook,
leaving the house in the High Street empty.
At five in the morning of the 3rd of November,
the poor girl locked up the house and set forth on
her short journey, little foreseeing it was the last
she would take on earth. As she was traversing
the dark and silent streets, Thomson and Robertson
joined her, saying they were going a part of the
way, and would escort her. On this she gave them
ransacking Mr. Strachan?s house for money or
valuables, and on passing through the Grassmarket
they swore, mutually, to give their bodies and souls
to the devil if either should inform on the other in
the event of being captured.
?In the empty streets,? says the ?Domestic
Annalist of Scotland,? quoting Wood?s ? History of
Cramond,? ?in the dull grey of the morning,
agitated by the horrid reflections arising from their
barbarous act and its probable consequences, it is
not very wonderful that almost any sort of hallucination
should have taken possession of these
miserable men. It was stated by them that on
Robertson proposing that their engagement should
be engrossed in a bond, a man stated up between ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Craigcrook Local tradition makes Craigcrook the scene of a murder, but this is a ...

Book 5  p. 108
(Score 1.02)

Ceorge Street.] MRS. MURRAY OF HENDERLAND. f 43
teen, Mr. Bartlett, six, Mr. Hay, four-in all, fortyeight
shares.? From that time he grew in wealth
and fame with the establishment, which is now
merged in the Joint-stock Union Bank of Scotland.
Si John Hay died in 1830, in his seventy-fifth
year.
No. 86 was the house of his nephew, Sir
William Forbes, Bart., who succeeded to the title
on the death of the eminent banker in 1806, and
who married the sole daughter and heiress of Sir
John Stuart of Fettercairn, whose arms were thus
quartered with his ovn.
In May, 1810, Lord Jeffrey-then at the bar as a
practising advocate-took up his dwelling in No.
92, and it was while there resident that, in consequence
of some generous and friendly criticism in
the Rdinburgh Reviaer, pleasant relations were
established between him and Professor Wilson,
which, says the daughter of the latter, ?led to a
still closer intimacy, and which, though unhappily
interrupted by subsequent events, was renewed in
after years, when the bitterness of old controversies
had yielded to the hallowing influences of time.?
Lord Jeffrey resided here for seventeen years.
In the second storey of No. 108 Sir Walter Scott
dwelt in 1797, when actively engaged in his German
translations and forming the Edinburgh Volunteer
Light Horse, of which he was in that year, to
his great gratification, made quartermaster. Two
doors farther on was the house of the Countess of
Balcarres, the venerable dowager of Earl Alexander,
who died in 1768. She was Anne, daughter of
Sir Robert Dalrymple of Castleton.
No. 116, now formed into shops, was long the
residence of Archibald Colquhoun of Killermont,
Lord Advocate of Scotland in 1807. He was
Archibald Campbell of Clathick, but assumed the
name of Colquhoun on succeeding to the estate of
Killermont. He came to the bar in the same
year, 1768, or about the same time as his friends
Lord Craig and the Hon. Henry Erskine. He
succeeded Lord Frederick Campbell as Lord
Clerk Register in 1816. His mind and talents
were said to have been of a very superior order ;
he was a sound lawyer, an eloquent pleader, and
his independent fortune and proud reserve induced
him to avoid general business, while in his Parliamentary
duties as member for Dumbarton he was
unremitting and efficient.
The Edinburgh Association of Science and Arts
now occupies the former residence of the Butters
of Pitlochry, No. ?17. It is an institution formed
in 1869, and its title is sufficiently explanatory of
its objects.
An interesting lady of the old school abode long
He died in 1820.
in No. I 22-Mrs. Murray of Henderland. She was
resident there from the early part of the present
century. The late Dr. Robert Chambers tells us
he was introduced to her by Dr. Chalmers, and found
her memories of the past went back to the first
years of the reign of George 111. Her husband,
Alexander Murray, had been, he states, Lord
North?s Solicitor-General for Scotland. His name
appears in 1775 on the list, between those of
Henry Dundas and Islay Campbell of Succoth.
?? I found the venerable lady seated at a window
of her drawing-room in George Street, with her
daughter, Miss Murray, taking the care of her
which her extreme age required, and with some
help from this lady we had a conversation of about
an hour.? She was born before the Porteous Mob,
and well remembering the ?45, was now close on
her hundredth year.
She spoke with affection and reverence of her
mother?s brother, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield ;
?and when I adverted,? says Chambers, ? to the
long pamphlet written against him by Athenian
Stuart, at the conclusion of the Douglas cause, she
said that, to her knowledge, he neyer read it, such
being his practice in respect to ail attacks made
upon him, lest they should disturb his equanimity
in judgment. As the old lady was on intimate terms
with Boswell, and had seen Johnson on his visit to
Edinburgh-as she was the sister-in-law of Allan
Ramsay, the painter, and had lived in the most
cultivated society of Scotland all her life-there
were ample materials for conversation with her ;
but her small strength made this shorter and slower
than I could have wished. When we came upon
the poet Ramsay, she seemed to have caught new
vigour from the subject ; she spoke with animation
of the child-parties she had attended in his house
on the Castle Hill during a course of ten years
befoie his death-an event which happened in 1757.
He was ? charming,? she said ; he entered so heartily
into the plays of the children. He, in particular,
gained their hearts by making houses for their
dolls. How pleasant it was to learn that our great
pastoral poet was a man who, in his private capacity,
loved to sweeten the daily life of his fellow-creatures,
and particularly of the young ! At a warning from
Miss Murray I had to tear myself away from this
delightful and never-to-be-forgotten interview.?
From this we may suppose that the worthy publisher
never saw the venerable occupant of No. 123
again.
No. 123, on the opposite side, was the residence
of the well-known Sir John Watson Gordon,
President of the Royal Scottish Academy, who
died June Ist, 1863, and to whom reference has ... Street.] MRS. MURRAY OF HENDERLAND. f 43 teen, Mr. Bartlett, six, Mr. Hay, four-in all, ...

Book 3  p. 143
(Score 1.01)

of the most brilliant conversationalists and the
kindest-hearted of men in Edinburgh.
Among the prizes competed for are the gold
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
medal was first awarded." The appendix to
Stevens's history of the famous school contains a
most interesting list of 180 boys, medallists or
city for Greek in the Rector's class ; the Ritchie
gold medal, presented in 1824, by Mr. William
Ritchie, for twenty-three years a master of the
school; the Macdonald, a third class medal,
given by Colonel John Macdonald, of the regiment
of Clan Alpine, son of the celebrated Flora
Macdonald, and presented for the first time in
1824.
The College Bailie silver medal for writing, the
personal gift of the gentleman holding that office
for the year, was first presented in 1814, and for
the last time in 1834.
"The head boy or dux of the school, at the yearly
examination, till about the close of the eighteenth
century," says Dr. Steven, '( usuallyreceived from the
city, as a prize, a copy of the best edition of one of
the classics. This was prior to I 794, when a gold
63
a gold medal given by Lieut.-Colonel Peter
Murray, Adjutant-General in Bengal in 1794, and
the name of which was changed to the Macgregor.
institution in the kingdom has ever sent forth SO
many pupils who have added fresh laurels to the
glory of their country.
In it is still preserved as a relic the carved
stone which was over the principal entrance of the
first school from'1578 to 1777. It bears within a
panel the triple castle of the city, with the initials
I. S., and, under the thistle, the date and legend :-
MVSIS : RESPUBLICA
FLORET. 1578.
Above t6is in a pediment is an imperial cronm,
with two thistles and the initials I. R. 6.
The High School Club, composed of old
scholars, was first instituted in 1849.
At a great entertainment given in the city to Mr.
(afterwards Lord) Brougham, on the 25th of April,
1825, presided over by Henry (afterwards Lord)
Of the distinguished men in every department of
life who conned their studies in the class-rooms, even
of the new High School, it is impossible to attempt ... the most brilliant conversationalists and the kindest-hearted of men in Edinburgh. Among the prizes competed ...

Book 3  p. 113
(Score 1.01)

282 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord PmYoss.
tion of five new professorships. A few years after
his death a bust of him by Nollekens was erected
in their public hall by the managers of the Royal
Infirmary.
In 1754 the Lord Provost, dean of guild, bailies,
and city treasurer, appeared in November, for the
first time, with gold chains and medals, in lieu of
the black velvet coats, which were laid aside by all
save the provost, and which had been first ordered
to be worn by an Act of the Council in I 7 I 8.
In 1753, on the 17th February, died Patrick
Lindsay, Esq., late Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and
Governor of the Isle of Man.
In 1768 the Lord Provost was James Stuart.
In the following year, during spring, the great Benjamin
Franklin and his son spent six weeks in Scotland,
and the University of St. Andrews conferred
upon him the honorary title of Doctor, by which he
has since been generally known. On his coming
to Edinburgh, Provost Stuart and the Corporation
bestowed upon him the freedom of the city, when
every house was thrown open to him, and the most
distinguished men of letters crowded round him.
Hume, Robertson, and Lord Kames, became his
intimate friends ; but Franklin was not unduly
elated, ?? On the whole,? he wrote, U I must say
the time I spent there (in Scotland) was six weeks
of the dearest happiness I have met with in any
part of my life.?
Stuart?s successor in ofice was John Dalrymple,
whose eldest son succeeded to the baronetcy of
Hailes (which is now extinct) on the death of Lord
Hailes, the distinguished judge and writer.
In the year 1774 there was considerable political
strife in the city, originating in the general parliamentary
election, when exertions were made to
wrest the representation from Sir Lawrence Dundas,
who unexpectedly found as opponents Loch of
Carnbie, and Captain James Francis Erskine of
Forrest. A charge of bribery being preferred against
Sir Lawrence, some delay occurred in the election,
and the then Lord Provost Stoddart came forward
as a candidate. The votes of the Council were-for
Sir Lawrence, twenty-three ; for Provost Stoddart,
six; and for Captain Erskine, three. One of the
Council, Gilbert Laurie (who had been provost in
1766) was absent. Messrs. Stoddart and Loch protested
that the election had been brought about by
undue influence.
The opposition to Sir Lawrence became still
greater, and a keen trial of strength took place when
the election of deacons and councillors came
in 1776, and many bitter letters appeared in the
public prints ; but the friends of the Dundas family
proved again triumphant, and united in the choice of
Alexander Kincaid, as Lord Provost, His Majesty?s
Printer for Scotland. He died in office in 1777,
in a house situated in the Cowgate, in a small court
westward of the Horse Wynd, and known as Kincaid?s
Land, and was succeeded by Provost Dalrymple.
Two years afterwards the city was assessed in
the sum of iC;1,500 to repay damage done by a mob
to the Roman Catholic place of worship, fo; the destruction
of furniture, ornaments, books, and altar
vessels. In this year, I 779, there were 188 hackney
sedan chairs in the city, but very few hackney
coaches; and the umbrella first appeared in the
streets. By 1783 there were 1,268 four-wheeled carriages
entered to pay duty, and 338 two-wheeled.
At Michaelmas, 1784, Sir James Hunter Blair,
Bart., was elected Lord Provost, in succession to
David Stuart, who resided in Queen Street, and
who was a younger son of Stuart of Dalguise. The
second son of Mr. John Hunter of Ayr, Sir James,
commenced life as an apprentice with Coutts and
Co., the Edinburgh bankers, in 1756, when Sir
William Forbes was then a clerk, and both became
ultimately the principal partners. He married the
eldest daughter of Blair of Dunskey, who left no
less than six sons at the time of this event, all of
whom died, and on her succession to the estates,
Sir James assumed the name and arms .of Blair.
As Lord Provost he was indefatigable in the
activity of his public spirit, and set afoot the great
operations for the improvement of Edinburgh, and
one object he had specially in view when founding
the South Bridge was the rebuilding of the
University.
Sir James lived only to see the commencement
of the great works he had projected in Edinburgh,
as he died of fever at Harrogate in July, 1787, and
was honoured with a public funeral in the Greyfriars?
churchyard. In private life he was affable
and cheerful, attached to his friends and anxious for
their success. In business and in his public exertions
he was upright, liberal, and, as a Scotsman,
patriotic; he possessed in no small degree those
talents which are requisite for rendering benevolence
effectual, uniting great knowledge of the
world with sagacity and sound understanding.
Sir James Stirling, Bart., elected Lord Provost,
after Elder of Forneth, had a stormy time when in
office. He was the son of a fishmonger at the
head of Marlin?s Wynd, where his sign was a
wooden Black BUZZ, now in the Antiquarian
Museum. Stirling, after being secretary to Sir
Charles Dalling, Governor of Jamaica, became a
partner in the bank of Mansfield, Ramsay, and Co.
in Cantore?s Close, Luckenbooths, and manied the ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord PmYoss. tion of five new professorships. A few years after his death a bust of ...

Book 4  p. 282
(Score 1.01)

302 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, the Bank, St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, and Westminster
Bridge. He desired to have the exact dimensions of the latter, but the fogs and damp weather
have hitherto prevented him seeing any external objects with pleasure and satisfaction. He wm
highly delighted with his reception, both at the India House and at the Bank ; at both which
places he was received in a princely style.
“Last Sunday evening the Mirza sent a message to Mrs. Morier, requesting that she would
permit him to pay her a visit. This being accepted, he shortly after made his appearance, and
remained with her and her family, and myself, nearly two hours. On inquiring what were the
books he saw upon the table, he was informed that they were the Bible and some books of sermons.
He then desired to have explained to him the nature of the latter, and seemed to approve niuch
the study of such books on days set apart for devotion. The Miss Moriers then sung a hymn to
him, without telling him what was the nature of the music. When they had ended, he thanked
them, adding -‘ I am sure that must be sacred music, it affected me so yery much-’ He said
that among the many of our customs which he approved, he admired none more than that of not
suffering the servants to remain in the room when not wanted. He added, that he was endeavouring
to introduce this excellent custom into his own house ; and for that purpose he was ever
driving his servants out of the room, but they returned like flies in spite of all he could do, I
never beheld him in such high spirits and so merry as he was during that whole evening.
“ Every thing seemed to conspire to please him ; the smallness and neatness of the house
gave him an idea of comfort he had never experienced before. He repeated more than once,
‘ What could any person in the world wish for more than you have here 0 ’ Mrs. Morier showed
him a miniature of one of her daughters when a child. This delighted him so much that Mrs.
M. begged he would accept It. He was ,so much pleased with the present that he would not
part with it for a moment during the remainder of the evening. He is uncommonly fond of
children, and the younger they are the more he likes them. The first time he saw my youngest
daughter, who is eleven years of age, he seemed quite enchanted with her, and made her sit by
him the whole evening, when not dancing. He afterwards saw a little girl.of Mr. Elliot’s, who
is not yet six years of age, and he seemed still more delighted with her, if possible, than he was
with my daughter. He said, ‘About
sixteen.’ I remarked that in India they married at a much younger age ; he replied, ‘ It was
true ; but in Persia they liked children as children, but women as wives.’ He has but one wife,
which he says is enough for any man, adding, that ‘ there can be no good or use in having more.’
The first time he heard my daughters sing a trio, he was much struck with it, saying, ‘This
music quite delights me, but at the same time it puzzles me beyond measure ; for, though I can
plainly discover that all of them are singing in different tones, yet it seems to produce but one
pound : all is in unison, as if their very souls understood each other.’ *
“A circumstance has just come into my recollection, which certainly ought not to be omitted.
On the third or fourth day of the Ambassador’s arrival, the Turkish Ambassador paid him a visit.
‘What are you about ? ’ cries the Turk. ‘ Writing English ! why, you
have scarcely been here three days, whilst I have been in England seven years, and I know not;a
syllable of the language, or even how to form a single letter.’ Thanks to Mr. J. Morier’s kind
attention and instruction, the Mirza writes daily copies that would do credit to any boy of
twelve or fourteen.”
I asked him at what age girls were married in Persia !
‘ I am writing English ! ’
Though ignorant of European Literature, his Excellency was versant in that
of his own country. His knowledge of oriental history was apparently extensive;
and he seemed intimately acquainted with the productioluj of Hafiz, Zadi, and
other celebrated eastern poets. Besides the Persian, he spoke Arabic, Hindostanee,
and Russ. It is said he was indebted for much of his refinement and
knowledge to the circumstance of having been for some time in disgrace at
the Persian Court. The period of his exile was chiefly spent in travelling; and
for three pears he had resided in India, under the administration of the Marquis
Wellesley. Returning to Bombay, he learned from the Decan that the King of
Persia had discovered hia innocence, and granted him permission to return home. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, the Bank, St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, and ...

Book 9  p. 403
(Score 1.01)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 355
dominions; and he died in exile. He
bore a respectable character as an honest and industrious tradesman ; and had
been twenty-four or twenty-five years a member of the Corporation of Goldsmiths,
during a considerable period of which he held the office of Treasurer
to the Incorporation.
He was married and had a family.
His shop was in the Parliament Square.
No. CXLII.
MR. THOMAS BLAIR,
LATE OF THE STAMP-OFFICE, EDINBURGH.
THIS is an excellent portraiture of the little gentleman. The upcast eye,
and cocked hat, set perpendicularly on the forehead, are highly characteristic.
MR. BLAIR was Deputy-comptroller of the Stamp-Office. To this situation
he had been appointed in 1784 ; and he continued until his death to discharge
the duties of the office with credit to himself and advantage to the establishment.’
In growth the Deputy-comptroller was somewhat stunted j but however niggardly
nature had been to him in point of‘ length, she amply compensated for the
deficiency in rotundity of person. To use a common phrase, he was “ as broad. as
he was long.” This adjustment, however, by no means proved satisfactory to
the aspiring mind of Mr. Blair. Like a certain nobleman, of whom Dean
Swift had said-
“ Right tall he made himself for show,
Though made full short by God ;
And when all other Dukee did bow,
This Duke did only nod ”-
the Deputy was anxious on all occasions to make himself “ right tall ;” and,
we doubt not, would have eagerly submitted to any process by which his stature
could have been increased. As it was, he managed matters to the best advantage,
and even with some degree of ingenuity. He always wore a high-crowned
cocked-hat ; and his neatly frizzled and powdered Wig was so fomed, by the aid
of wires, that it sat at least an inch above the scalp of his sconce j thus to keep
up the deception which the high-crowned hat could not in all circumstances be
supposed to maintain.
Notwithstanding these little weaknesses, Mr. Blair was a worthy sort of personage,
and a jolly companion at the social board. The gentlemen of the Stamp-
Office were not deficient in the spirit of good-fellowship peculiar to the times.
Once a year they were in the habit of dining together (at their own expense)
in Fortune’s tavern, Old Stamp-Office Close ; and as the friends of the higher
He was succeeded by Mr. Jamea Crawford. ... SKETCHES. 355 dominions; and he died in exile. He bore a respectable character as an honest and ...

Book 8  p. 496
(Score 1.01)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 399
It is entreated that every honest person will give the Magistrates of Edinburgh, or Johnston and
Smith, notice of any circumstances that may fall under their observation for discovering the offenders ;
and farther, the said Johnston and Smith will give the informer a reward of Five Pounds sterling for
every hundred pounds sterling that shall be recovered in consequence of such information. Aa some
smith may very innocently have made a key from an impression of clay or wax, such smith giving
information, BS above, so as the person who got the key may be discovered, shall be handsomely
rewarded.”
“BY ORDER OF THE HONOWABLE THE XAGIBTRATE¶ OF EDINBURGH.
“Whereas, on Sunday night last, the 14th inst, there was laid down or dropped at the door of
the Council Chamber of this City, the sum of two hundred and twenty-five pounds sterling, in bank
notes, wrapped in a piece of grey paper, which was found by Rubert Burton, a porter, and immerliately
after delivered by him to one of the Magistrates : This is to give notice, that the above sum is
now sealed up, and in the hands of the City Clerks, and will be delivered to any person who shall
prove the property thereof, with deduction of a reasonable allowance to the porter who found it.”
“he notes were proved to be the property of Messrs. Johnston and Smith.
In addition to the reward, a proclamation was issued by the King, promising a
free pardon to any one, except the principal, concerned in the robbery, who should
make a disclosure ; and, as a farther inducement, fifty guineas additional were
offered by Johnston and Smith to the informer. These measures were ineffectual
; and no traces of the delinquent could be found, till the apprehension of
Deacon Brodie, twenty years afterwards, induced strong suspicion that he was
concerned in it.’
Not long after this affair, the firm experienced some severe reverses, arising
from a sudden depression in trade, besides losing a box containing one thousand
guineas, which fell into the sea at Leith, while being handed from a boat to
the ship in which it was to be forwarded to London. Immediately after this
accident the firm stopped payment, and compounded with their creditors at the
rate of fifteen shillings in the pound. Various attempts were made to recover
the box. Among others who dived for the treasure was a tailor in Leith, somewhat
famous for his aquatic dexterity. All his exertions, however, although
repeated with great perseverance for some time, proved unsuccessful.
The copartnery was now broken up ; after which I&. Smith commenced
business on his own account, as a private banker ; and, during the remainder of
a long life, was highly successful and respected, and filled the office of Lord
Provost in the years 1807 and 1808.’ Mr. Johnston also continued, for several
years, to discount bills in a small way, until a Mr. John Alston, hardware and
It was then recollected that, prior to the robbery, the Deacon had been employed in making
various repairs on the premises of Johnston and Smith, and had occasion to be frequently in the
bank. The key of the outer door, from which it WBS ascertained he had taken an impression in putty,
usually hung in the passage, which was rather dark and narrow. The premises were afterwards
occupied by E. Adam Luke, draper, and treasurer to Heriot’s Hospital.
3 Mr. Smith married Miss Palmer, daughter of an eminent cabinet-maker in Chapel Street, by
whom he obtained considerable property. He died at his home in West Nicolson Street, in 1814,
aged seventy-five. His son, the late Alexander Smith, Eqq., who carried on the banking business,
met with a tngical fate, having been killed in the spring of 1833, by the falling in of the floor of a
house in Picardy Place, during the sale of the collection of pictures belonging to the late John Clerk
of Eldin, Esq., one of the Senators of the College of Justice. ... SKETCHES. 399 It is entreated that every honest person will give the Magistrates of Edinburgh, or ...

Book 8  p. 556
(Score 1)

  Previous Page Previous Results   Next Page More Results

  Back Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf

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