... burned, and ?? that ilk mail in Edinburgh have
his lumes (vents) full of watter in the nycht, under
pain of ...
Book 1 p. 122
(Score 0.66)
... SKETCHES. 27
from which they had been absent for many years. On this auspicious ...
Book 9 p. 36
(Score 0.66)
... VI. TO RESTORATION OF CHARLES 11. 91
In the following year, the Common Council purchased the elevated ground ...
Book 10 p. 99
(Score 0.65)
... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
De Quincey’s Grave, . . . 35
Hamilton’s Entry, . . . 36
Scott’s first ...
Book 11 p. xviii
(Score 0.65)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
that upwards of two hundred thousand patients had derived benefit from ...
Book 9 p. 73
(Score 0.65)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Laith.
escape by a mast that fell between the wreck and
the shore.
In I 692 Leith ...
Book 5 p. 190
(Score 0.64)
... S TICAL ANTIQUITIES.
themselves to the restoration of the ancient palace of their fathers, would almost ...
Book 10 p. 448
(Score 0.64)
... AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES. 59
situated the Waverfey Bridge and East Princes Street Gardens ; here, from
a ...
Book 11 p. 94
(Score 0.64)
... little change of system, save that in 1809
their number was increased from twenty-one to
twenty-eight, and ...
Book 3 p. 84
(Score 0.64)
... end we might pass to Heaven with all this
gear! But fie on the knave Death !-that will
come whether ye will ...
Book 3 p. 68
(Score 0.64)
![Leith] BUILDING OF THE WESTERN DOCKS. 283
I Government advanced A25,ooo to the city of
Edinburgh on security of the future dock revenues,
imd on the 14th of May, 1801, the foundation-stone
of the wet docks was laid by Robert Dundas, of
Melville, Deputy Grand Master, in absence of
Charles, Earl of Dalkeith, Grand Master of Scotland.
An immense concourse of masonic brethren
and spectators attended this ceremony, and the
procession left the Assembly Rooms, and proceeded
along the quay to the southeast corner of the first
dock, where the first stone was laid.
When the procession reached that spot, the substitute
Grand Master, after the usual formula, placed
in the cavity of the stone a large phial, containing
medals ?of the first characters of the present age,?
coated with crystal, and two plates, whereon were
engraved inscriptiohs so long that they occupy each
half a column of the ChronicZe.
A salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the
squadron in the roads, under Captain Clements,
R.N., and the militia formed the escort for the
Grand Lodge ; and the Dumfries-shire militia and
other corps stationed in Edinburgh and its vicinity
contributed largely by their manual labour, being
employed by companies, and even battalions, in the
excavation and general formation of these docks,
the first of which, called now the old dock, was
opened to the shipping in 1806 ; and in the preceding
year a further sum of A;25,000 had been
advanced by Government on the dock property.
The Western, or Queen?s Dock, begun in 1810,
was finished in 1817, the suite being at a cost of
about Az85,ooo.
These two are each 250 yards long, and IOO wide,
with three graving docks on their north side, and
all protected from the sea by a retaining wall of
enormous strength, composed of vast blocks of
stone. The third, or largest dock of all, designed
to reach nearly,to Newhaven, was then projected;
but this and all kindred matters which accorded
hith the magnificence of Mr. Rennie?s design, and
the intentions of his employers, the magistrates of
Edinburgh, were thrown into abeyance during his
We by a total failure of funds.
On the occasion of the jubilee of the 25th of
October, 1809-the anniversary of the accession of
George 111. to the throne-the foundation-stone of
what was named ? King George?s Bastion ?? was
laid by the Earl of Moira, in the north-west angle
of the western dock, amid a magnificent assemblage,
and followed by a procession, including all the
tnagnates of Edinburgh, escorted by the troops and
volunteers, under a grand salute of heavy guns,
fired by the crew of H.M.S. Egeria, on the west
side of the basin, followed by a general salute of
fifty rounds from all the shipping in the roads, and,
as the Sots Magazine has it, ?the acclamations
of twenty thousand people ;? and a grand banquet
was given in the Assembly Rooms, George Street.
The gates of the old dock were renewed, and
the sill deepened in 1844.
The Western, or Queen?s Dock, when the George
Bastion had been built, was for some years mostly
used by the naval service for repairing and fitting
out
In 1S25 the city of Edinburgh borrowed from
Government A240,ooo more on security of the
dock dues (after there had been a proposal to sell
the whole property to a joint-stock company, a
proposal successfully opposed by the inhabitants of
Leith) j and after Mr. W. Chapman, of Newcastle,
hadmade surveys and plans for further improve
ments, as the result of his report and of subsequent
voluminous correspondence with Govemment
on the subject of a naval yard and store
yard, it was decided to extend the eastern pier
about 1,500 feet, so as to have an entire length
there of 2,550 feet, or more than half a mile.
The ceremony of driving the first pile took place
on the 15th of August, 1826, the fourth anniversary
of the landing of George IV. at Leith, and was
made the occasion, as usual, of an imposing
demonstration. All the vessels in port were gdy
decorated, and the various public bodies, accompanied
by three regimental bands and escorted by
Hussars, proceeded from the Assembly Rooms to
the end of the old pier, where the Dock Commissioners
and Lord Provost occupied a platform.
The Provost having cut a rope, and allowed a
heavy weight to fall upon the upright pile, wine,
oil, and corn, were placed upon it, and the company
then embarked in a tug and crossed to the other
pier, where the same ceremony was repeated, and
a banquet followedl
A western pier and breakwater were next erected,
to the extent of r,Soo feet, terminating within 200
feet of the other.
The insolvency of the city of Edinburgh in 1833
led to important re-arrangements in connection with
the management of their now valuable docks ; and
by virtue of an Act of Parliament passed in 1838,
the care of the docks and harbour was vested in
eleven Commissioners-five appointed by the Lords?
of the Treasury, three by the city of Edinburgh,
and three by the town of Leith.
In the winter of 1838-9, Messrs. Walker and
Cubbitt, two eminent engineers of London, were
sent down by the Lords of the Treasury to undertake
jointly the duty of providing their lordships
?with such a plan as will secure to the Port of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p102.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 283")
... BUILDING OF THE WESTERN DOCKS. 283
I Government advanced A25,ooo to the city of
Edinburgh on security of ...
Book 6 p. 283
(Score 0.63)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [North Loch.
whose windows perhaps the accident occurred
?that the fox will not set his ...
Book 3 p. 82
(Score 0.63)
![202 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
.armorial he adopted was argent, a tree or, with two
ships under sail.
It was still time of truce when Henry, mortified
by the defeat of his five ships, exhorted his most
.able seamen ? to purge away this stain cast on the
English name,? and offered the then noble pension
of &I,OOO per annum to any man who could
accomplish Wood?s death or capture ; and the task
was taken in hand by Sir Stephen Bull (originally
a merchant of London), who, with three of Henry?s
largest ships manned by picked crews, and having
on board companies of crossbowmen, pikemen, and
many volunteers of valour and good birth, sailed
from the Thames in July, 1490, and entering the
Firth of Forth, came to anchor under the lee of
the Isle of May, there to await the return of Wood
from Sluys, and for whose approach he kept boats
scouting to seaward.
On the morning of the 18th of August the two
ships of Wood hove in sight, and were greeted with
exultant cheers by the crews of Bull, who set
some inlets of wine abroach, and gave the orders
to unmoor and clear away for battle.
Wood recognised the foe, and donninghis armour,
gave orders to clear away too ; and his brief ha-
Iangue, modernised, is thus given by Lindesay of
Pitscottie and others :-
? My lads, these are the foes who would convey
us in bonds to the foot of an English king, but by
your courage and the help of God they shall fail !
Repair every man to his station-charge home,
gunners-cross-bowmen to the tops-two-handed
swords to the fore-rooms-lime-pots and fire-balls in
the tops ! Be stout, men, and true for the honour
of Scotland and your own sakes. Hurrah!?
Shouts followed, and stoups of wine went round.
His second in command was Sir David Falconer,
who was afterwards slain at Tantallon. The result
of the battle that ensued is well known. It was
continued for two days and a night, during which
the ships were all grappled together, and drifted
into the Firth of Tay, where the English were all
taken, and carried as prizes into the harbour of
Dundee. Wood presented Sir Stephen Bull and
his surviving officers to Jarnes IV., who dismissed
them unransomed, with their ships, ? because they
fought not for gain, but glory,? and Henry dissemkled
his rage by returning thanks.
For this victory Wood obtained the sea town as
well as the nether town of Largo, and soon afteI
his skilful eye recommended the Bay of Gourock ta
James as a capable harbour. In 1503 he led a
fleet against the insurgent chiefs of the Isles. Hi$
many brilliant services lie apart from the immediate
history of Leith. Suffice it to say that he was pre.
I
sent at the battle of Linlithgow in 1526, and
wrapped the dead body of Lennox in his own
scarlet mantle. Age was coming on him after this,
and he retired to his castle of Largo, where he
seems to have lived somewhat like old Commodore
Trunnion, for there is still shown the track of a
canal formed by his order, on which he was rowed
to mass daily in Largo church in a barge by his
old crew, who were all located around him, He is
supposed to have died abodt 1540, and was buried
in Largo church. One of his sons was a senator
of the College of Justice in 1562 ; and Sir Andrew
Wood, third of the House of Largo, was Comptroller
of Scotland in 1585.
Like himself, the Bartons, the shipmates and
friends of Sir -4ndrew, all attained high honour
and fame, though their origin was more distinguished
than his, and they were long remembered
among the fighting captains of Leith.
John Barton, a merchant of Leith in the time of
James III., had three sons : Sir Andrew, the hero
of the famous nautical ballad, who was slain in the
Downs in 151 I, but whose descendants still exist ;
Sir Robert of Overbarnton in 1508, Comptroller
of the Household to James V. in 1520; John, an
eminent naval commander under James 111. and
James IV., who died in t 5 13,and was buried at Kirkcudbright.
The Comptroller?s son Robert married
the heiress of Sir John Mowbray of Barnbougle, who
died in 151 y ; and his descendants became extinct
in the person of Sir Robert of Overbarnton, Barnbougle,
and Inverkeithing. Our authorities for these
and a few other memoranda concerning this old
Leith family are a ?Memoir of the Familyof Barton,
&c.,? by J. Stedman, Esq., of Bath (which is scarce,
only twelve copies having been printed), Tytler,
Pinkerton, and others.
For three generations the Bartons of Leith seem
to have had a kind of family war with the Portuguese,
and their quarrel began in the year 1476,
when John Barton, senior, on putting to sea froin
Sluys, in Flanders, in a king?s ship, the ]iZiai?nnn,
laden with a valuable cargo, was unexpectedly
attacked by two armed Portuguese caravels, commanded
respectively by Juan Velasquez and Juan
Pret. The JiZiana was taken ; many of her crew
were slain or captured, the rest were thrust into a
boat and cut adrift. Among the latter was old John
Barton, who proceeded to Lisbon to seek indemnity,
but in vain; and he is said by one account to
have been assassinated by Pret or Velasquez to put
an end to the affair. By another he is stated to have
been alive in 1507, and in command of a ship
called the Liun, which was seized at Campvere, in
Zealand-unless it can be that the John referred to](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p021.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 202")
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
.armorial he adopted was argent, a tree or, with two
ships under sail.
It was ...
Book 6 p. 202
(Score 0.63)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Infirmary Street.
He had, moreover, to say prayers twice weekly,
and be ever ready to ...
Book 4 p. 300
(Score 0.63)
... OLD THEATRE ROYAL, IN PROCESS PP DEMOLITION.
CHAPTER XLV.
EAST SIDE OF THE NORTH BRIDGE ...
Book 2 p. 353
(Score 0.62)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. ? [Surgeon Square.
We may close our notice of the Old Royal
Infirmary by a reference ...
Book 4 p. 302
(Score 0.62)
![The Mound.] THE EQUIVALENT MONEY. 85
houses for the French weavers, who, in memory of
their native land, named the colony Little Picardy,
.and thereon now stands Picardy Place. This was
in 1729. The men taught weaving, their wives
and daughters the art of spinning cambric yarn ;
and by the trustees a man well skilled in all the
branches of the linen trade was at the same time
brought from Ireland, and appointed to travel the
country and instruct the weavers and others in the
best modes of making cloth.
'' Secondly, to indemnify for any losses they
might sustain by reducing the coin of Scotland to
the standard and value of England ; and thirdly, in
bribing a majority of the Scottish Parliament when
matters came to the Zasf push.
" Of the whole equivalent, therefore, ono
~40,000 was left for national purposes ; and so lost
to public spirit and to all sense of honour were the
representatives of Scotland, three gr four noblemen
alone excepted, that this balance was supposed to
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.
Before proceeding further, we shall here quote the
comprehensive statement concerning the Board ot
Trustees which appears in Knox's "View of the
British Empire," London, 17Sg :-
" By the Treaty of Union it was stipulated that
;6398,085 should be paid to the Scots as an
equivalent for the customs, taxes, and excises to be
levied upon that kingdom in consequence of the
English debt, jC~o,ooo,ooo, though estimated at
~17,000,000. This equivalent, if it may be so
called, was applied in the following manner :-
"Firstly, to pay off the capital of the Scottish
India Company, which was to be abolished in
favour of the English Company trading to the East
Indies.
be useless in the English Treasury till the year
1727, when the royal burghs began to wake from
their stupor, and to apply the interest of the
~40,000 towards raising a little fund for improving
the manufactures and fisheries of the country."
'' An Act of Parliament " (the Act quoted before)
'' now directed the application of the funds to the
several purposes for which they were designed, and
appointed twenty-one commissioners, who were
entrusted with the management of the same and
other matters relative thereto."
In Lefevre's Report of July zoth, 1850, it is stated
that "having regard to the origin of this Board as
connected with the existence of Scotland as a
separate kingdom, and to the unbroken series of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p097.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 85")
... Mound.] THE EQUIVALENT MONEY. 85
houses for the French weavers, who, in memory of
their native land, named ...
Book 3 p. 85
(Score 0.62)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Nicolson Sheet
There was then in Edinburgn a merchant, named
Charles Jackson, to whom ...
Book 4 p. 334
(Score 0.62)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Nicolson Sheet
There was then in Edinburgn a merchant, named
Charles Jackson, to whom ...
Book 4 p. 335
(Score 0.62)
... STUARTS TO THE DEATH OF YAMES 111 17
The increasing importance which the royal capital was now assuming, ...
Book 10 p. 18
(Score 0.62)
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
of a royal order that every one should give him that title. He was succeeded in the ...
Book 10 p. 252
(Score 0.62)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a sum of money for the purposes of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. ...
Book 9 p. 243
(Score 0.61)
![Echo Bank.] THE DICK-CUNNINGHAMS. 57
Albany and York, and his having adopted energetic
measures with some of the students of the college,
for their Popery not in 1680, was supposed to
have excited a spirit of retaliation in their companions
; hence a suspicion arose that the fire was
designed and executed by them. The Privy Council
were so far convinced of this being the case, that they
closed the university, and banished the students till
they could find caution for their good behaviour.
Sir James?s house was rebuilt by the Scottish
Corstorphine, in 1699, to the second and younger
sons of his only daughter, Janet, who was married
to Sir William Cunningham, Bart, of Caprington,
by whom he was succeeded at his decease, in
1728.
His son, Sir Alexander Dick (paternally Cunningham),
had attained under the latter name a
high repute in medicine, and became President of
the Royal College at Edinburgh; and he it was
who entertained Dr, Johnson and Boswell for
OLD HOUSES, ECHO BANK.
Treasury as it now exists. When he was coming
from London in 1.682 with the duke, in the
Gloucester mankf-war, she was cast away upon a
sandbank, twelve leagues from Yarmouth, and then
went to pieces. Sir James relates in a letter that
the crew were crowding into a boat set apart for
the royal duke, on which, the Earl of Winton and Sir
George Gordon of Haddo had to drive them back
with drawn swords. Sir James, with the Earls of
Middleton and Perth, and the Laird of Touch,
escaped in another boat; but the Earl of Koxburgh,
the Laid of Hopetoun, and 200 men, were
drowned.
As Sir James Dick died without male issue, he
made an entail of his estates of Prestonfield and
104
several days at Prestoniield, where he died, in his:
eighty-second year, in 178s.
The Mayfield Estate, which belongs to Mr..
Duncan McLaren, was laid out for feuing by the.
late Mr. David Cousin; and more? recently the,
adjacent lands of Craigmillar, the property of Mr.
Little Gilmour, and all are now being rapidly
covered with houses.
Proceeding along the old Dalkeith Road, near
Echo Bank, a gate and handsome lodge lead to
Newington Cemetery, with a terrace and line of
vaults. This was the second that was opened
after that of Warriston, and was ready for interments
in 1846. It was laid out by Mr. David
Cousin; but as the designs were open to public](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p068.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 57")
... Bank.] THE DICK-CUNNINGHAMS. 57
Albany and York, and his having adopted energetic
measures with some of the ...
Book 5 p. 57
(Score 0.61)
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![Canongate.] MONTROSE.
OF all the wonderful and startling spectacles witnessed
amid the lapse of ages from the windows
of the Canongate, none was perhaps more startling
and pitiful than the humiliating procession which
conducted the great Marquis of Montrose to his
terrible doom.
On the 18th of May, 1650, he was brought across
the Forth to Leith, after his defeat and capture by
:he Covenanters at the battle of Invercarron, where
he had displayed the royal standard; and it is
THE GOLFERS? LAND.
impossible now to convey an adequate idea of the
sensation excited in the city, when the people became
aware that the Graham, the victor in so
many battles, and the slayer of so many thousands
of the best troops of the Covenant, was almost at
their gates.
Placed on a cart-horse, he was brought in by the
eastern barrier of the city, as it was resolved, by
the influence of his rival and enemy, Argyle, to
protract the spectacle of his humiliation as long as
CHAPTER 11.
THE CANONGATE (continpud).](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p025.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 13")
