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462 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in
the Custom-House, Liverpool.
No. CCCXXVI.
TWELVE ADVOCATES,
WHO PLEAD WITHOUT WIGS.
THE Portraits in the present Etching, beginning at the top, and ranging from
left to right, are-
1.-ADAM GILLIES, afterwards LORDG ILLIEofS w,h om a short notice has
been given at page 418.
11.-ALEXANDER IRVING, aftenvwds LORD NEWTON, was the son
of George Irving of Newton. He was admitted to the bar in 1’788 ; and for
many years held the office of Treasurer to the Faculty of Advocates. He was
distinguished for extensive legal acquirements ; and in 1800 was appointed
assistant and successor to Mr. John Wilde, Professor of Civil Law in the University
of Edinburgh. On the retirement of Lord Robertson, in 1826, he was
promoted to the bench, when he assumed the title of Lord Newton. His lordship
filled the judicial seat only a few years. He died on the 23d of March
1832. During the short period he sat as a judge he gave general satisfaction.
Though a very indifferent speaker, he was an excellent lawyer, and his decisions
were seldom altered in the Inner-House. He was mild and gentle in his manners.
He was fond of music, and was an excellent performer on the violincello.
Lord Newton married Miss Irving, a relation of his own, by whom he left an
only son.
111.-JAMES MILLAR, admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in
1788, was proprietor of the estate of Halhill, in Lanarkshire, which he sold
some time before his death. From his ruddy complexion, and short round
figure, he was known at the bar by the soubriquet of “ Cupid.” He was much
devoted to the Lanarkshire pastime of curling ; and on one ozcasion, when he
was engaged to plead a case before Charles Hay, the first Lord Newton, he left
the Parliament House to pursue his favourite amusement. When the opposite
counsel insisted on taking decree, the good-natured judge said--“ No, no j the
cause may wait till to-morrow, but there is no security that the frost will wait
for Mr. Malar.”

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in the ...

Book 9 p. 616
(Score 0.9)

158 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
however-and the consequent regret of those to whom the offer had been made
-may be imagined, when, by due return of post, intelligence was brought that
the very ticket, which had concerned him so much to get rid of, had turned up
a prize of &10,000 !
He died in 1788.
He married the beautiful Miss Chalmers, sister of the late lady of the venerable
Lord Glenlee, and daughter of an extensive grain merchant in Edinburgh. By
this lady he left one son' and six daughters, most of whom were advantageously
married.
Mr. Thomas Cumming (the son) predeceased his father.
No. CCXXVI.
REV. JOHN WESLEY,
DR. HAMILTON, AND THE REV. MR. COLE.
THIS '' Triumvirate of Methodist Clergymen " was etched by Kay when Mr.
Wesley visited Scotland for the last time, in 1790, The three gentlemen are
portrayed as they appeared in company, while returning from the Castle Hill,
where Mr. Wesley had delivered a sermon. The inscription bears-" Ninetyfour
years have I sojourned on the earth, endeavouring to do good ;" but the
artist must have been misled as to the age of the patriarchal preacher, as he
was then only in his eighty-seventh year,
The leading incidents in the life of the REV. JOHN WESLEY have already
been given with his Portrait in a preceding portion of this Work. With respect
to his voluminous writings, we may remark, that many of them are extensively
known and duly appreciated, especially by the very numerous sect of which he
was the founder; but it is perhaps not generally understood that the talents of
this ceFbrated individual were by no means confined to religious topics aIonephilosophy,
medicine, politics, and poetry by turns engrossed his pen j and he
was a strenuous defender of the administration of Lord North.
The stout figure, supporting the right arm of Mr. Wesley, represents DR.
JAIVES HAMILTON, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.
Dr. Hamilton was born at Dunbar in 1740 ; and his medical studies, it is
This gentleman, now dead, was in person something like his grandfather ; about the same size,
but had a much greater rotundity of back. He did not, however, possess the old man's penurious
feelings ; on the contrary, he was exceedingly fond of the turf, and was usually on the race-grounds,
although he seldom left his carriage.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. however-and the consequent regret of those to whom the offer had been made -may be ...

Book 9 p. 212
(Score 0.89)

BIOGR APH 10 AL SKETCHES. 343
No. CXXXVIII.
ALEXANDER OSBORNE, ESQ.,
AND FRANCIS RONALDSON, ESQ.,
TWO OF THE ROYAL EDIK'BURGH VOLUNTEERS.
MR. OSBORNE was right-hand man of the grenadier company of the First
Regiment of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers. His personal appearance must
be familiar in the recollection of many of our readers. It was not merely his
great height, although he was probably the tallest man of his day in Edinburgh,
but his general bulk, which rendered him so very remarkable. His legs in particular,
during his best days, were nearly as large in circumference as the body
of an ordinary person. He was a very good-natured and well-informed man.
Shortly after the Volunteers had been embodied, Lord Melville introduced his
huge countryman, dressed in full regimentals, to his Majesty George 111. On
witnessing such an herculean specimen of his loyal defenders in the north, the
King's curiosity was excited, and he inquired-" Are all the Edinburgh Volunteers
like you 1" Osborne, mistaking the jocular construction of the question,
and supposing his Majesty meant as regarded their status in society,
replied-" They are so, an' it please your Majesty." The King exclaimed-
(( Astonishing ! "
Mr. Osbone was frequently annoyed by his friends taking advantage of his
good nature, and playing off their jests at the expense of his portly figure.
One day at dinner, the lady of the house asked him if he would choose to take
a pigeon. Bailie Creech, who
was present, immediately cried-" Give him a whole one j half a one will not
be a seed in his teeth."
In his youth, Mr. Osborne is said to have had a prodigious appetite ; so much
so, as to have devoured not less than nine pounds of beef-steaks at a meal. He
was no epicure, however j and in later times ate sparingly in company, either
because he really was easily satisfied, or more probably to avoid the observations
which to a certainty would have been made upon his eating. On one
occasion, the lady of a house where he was dining, helped him to an enormous
slice of beef, with these words-'' Mr. Osborne, the muckle ox should get the
muckle win1an"-an observation which, like every other of a similar import,
he felt acutely.
On another occasion, he happened to change his shoes in the passage of a
house where he was dining. Mr. Creech, of facetious memory, having followed
He answered-"Half a one, if you please."

... APH 10 AL SKETCHES. 343 No. CXXXVIII. ALEXANDER OSBORNE, ESQ., AND FRANCIS RONALDSON, ESQ., TWO OF THE ...

Book 8 p. 480
(Score 0.89)

Grassmarket.] THE GREYFRIARS MONASTERY. 233
while behind the noble pile of Heriot?s Hospital thereof, Henry granted to them a charter empowertowers
above them, as a counterpart to the old I ing the latter to trade to any part of England,
Castle that rises majestically over the north side of subject to no other duties than those payable by
the same area Many antique features are dis- the most highly favoured natives of that country,
cernible here. Several of the older houses are in acknowledgment, as he states, of the humane
built with bartizaned roofs and ornamental copings, i and honourable treatment he met with from the
designed to afford their inmates an uninterrupted
view of the magnificent pageants
that were wont of old to defile through
the wide area below, or of the gloomy
tragedies that were so frequently enacted
here between the Restoration and the
Revolution. ?
Towards the south-east end of the market
place stood the ancient monastery of Grey
Friars, opposite where the Bow Foot Well,
erected in 1681, now stands. James I., a
monarch, who by many salutary laws and
the encouragement of learning, endeavoured
to civilise the country, long barbarised
by wars with England, established this
monastery. In obedience to a requisition
made by him to the Vicar-General of the
Order at Cologne, a body of Franciscans
came hither under Comelius of Zurich, a
scholar of great reputation. The house
prepared for their reception proved so
magnificent for the times, says Arnot, that
in the spirit of humility and self-denial
they declined to live in it, and could only
be prevailed upon to do so at the earnest
request of the Archbishop of St. Andrews
; consequently a considerable time
must have elapsed ere they were finally
established in the Grassmarket. There
they taught divinity and philosophy till
the Reformation, when their spacious and
beautiful gardens, that extended up the
slope towards the town wall, were bestowed
on the citizens as a cemetery by Queen
Mary.
That the monastery was a sumptuous
edifice according to the times, is proved
by its being assigned for the temporary
abode of the Princess Mary of Gueldres, who after
her arrival at Leith in June, 1449, rode thither on
a pillion behind the Count de Vere, and was visited
by her future husband, James II., on the following
In 1461, after the battle of Towton, its roof
afforded shelter to the luckless Henry VI. of England
when he fled to Scotland, together with his
heroic Queen Margaret and their son Prince
Edward. The fugitives were so hospitably entertained
by the court and citizens, that in requital
day.
78
EAST END OF THE GRASSMARKET, SHOWING THE WEST BOW,
(FaC-iitRik of an Eichiwg by Jam8 S h of RnbXaw.)
THE GALLOWS, AND OLD CORN MARKET.
Provost and burgesses of Edinburgh. As the
house of Lancaster never regained the English
throne, the charter survives only as an acknowledgment
of Henry?s gratitude. How long the latter
resided in the Grassmarket does not precisely
appear. Balfour states that in 1465, Henry VI.,
? having lurked long under the Scotts King?s wing
as a privat man, resolves in a disgyssed habit to
enter England.? His future fate belongs to English
history, but his flight from Scotland evidently
was the result of a treaty of truce, in Feb., 1464. I

... THE GREYFRIARS MONASTERY. 233 while behind the noble pile of Heriot?s Hospital thereof, Henry ...

Book 4 p. 233
(Score 0.89)

34 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
devil out of his heart.” Here he
continued until he removed to the shop in Nicolson Street, afterwards occupied
by his successor Mr. Tait, with whom he entered into partnership. The
business was afterwards carried on under the firm of Guthrie and Tait.
Few men were more
universally benevolent. Never forgetting the hardships and struggles of early
life, his hand was open to the truly necessitous ; and, as far as his circumstances
mould permit, he promoted, both by advice and assistance, the endeavours of
the industrious poor to earn an honest livelihood. He was also a constant, and
frequently a liberal, contributor to the religious and philanthropic institutions
of the city.
Mr. Guthrie was an Episcopalian when that form of worship was at a low
ebb, but lived long enough to witness its gradual revival and increase. His
primitive mode of transacting business was the effect of early habit, and could
not easily be laid aside by change of circumstances. He died on the 10th May
1824.
He next opened a shop at the Nether Bow.
Mr. Guthrie was a very inoffensive, worthy person.
He was married, but had no children.
No. CLXXXIII.
WILLIAN BUTTER, ESQ.,
AND
SIR JOHN MORRISON.
THE figure to the left represents MR. BUTTER in the attitude of applying a
‘‘ social pinch,” and engaged in an ‘‘ accidental crack ” with his friend Sir John
Morrison.
The father of Mr. Butter originally belonged to Peterhead, but came in early
life to Edinburgh, where he successfully carried on the business of a might and
cabinetmaker ; and at his death left his son, the subject of the Print, in possession
of considerable property.’ His workshop was at the foot of Carrubber’s
Close, where he also resided ; and it is yet told, as illustrative of the old man’s
mechahical genius, and as a matter of wonder in those days, that he built an
additional story to his dwelling-house without taking down the roof. This he
accomplished-as has been frequently done more recently-by means of screws.
After the death of his father, Mr. William Butter continued to carry on
business in:the same premises, but on a more extensive scale. He was Carpenter
to his Majesty j and, among other extensive buildings in which he was engaged,
Mr. Butter senior ww a member of the Town Council in 1749 and 1750.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. devil out of his heart.” Here he continued until he removed to the shop in Nicolson ...

Book 9 p. 43
(Score 0.88)

88 B I 0 GRAPH I CA L S KE T C HE S,
newspapers-denounced as a coward and a scoundrel-and pointed to as one
deserving magisterial surveillance. “ I bore it all,” says poor Tytler, “ with
patience, well knowing that one successful trial would speedily change the
public opinion.” Accordingly, on the third occasion, he did not trust to his
friends j he had the stove enlarged nearly a foot, and with great hopes of success
proceeded to the trial. So early as five o’clock in the morning the balloon was
inflated, and when he took his seat it rose with much force ; but having come
in contact with a tree, the stove was broken in pieces, while the adventurer
himself narrowly escaped injury. This disaster put an end to the speculation,
although not to the spirit of the projector, who remained firmly convinced of
the practicability of his invention.
Tytler’s first wife being dead, he married, in 1779, a sister of Mr. John
Cairns, flesher in Edinburgh, by which union he had one daughter. On the death
of his second wife in 1782, he was wedded, a third time, to Miss Aikenhead in
December following, by whom, says Mr. Kay’s MS., “he has two daughters
(twins) so remarkably like each other, though now four years of age, that they
can hardly be distinguished from each other, even by their parents, who are often
obliged to ask their name, individually, at the infants themselves.” Kay also
mentions, and while he does so, admits his own belief in the practicability of the
invention, that he (Tytler) “is at present engaged in the construction of a machine,
which, if he completes it according to his expectations, will in all probability make
his fortune.” This machine was no less than “the perpetmm mobile, or an
instrument which, when once set agoing, will continue in motion for ever !”
Kay further adds-“ He has just completed a chemical discovery of a certain
water for bleaching linen, which performs the operation in a few hours, without
hurting the cloth.” This was a practical and beneficial discovery ; but, like the
other labours of Tytler, however much others may have reaped the benefit, it
afforded very little to himself.
To add to, or rather to crown, the misfortunes of the unlucky son of genius,
he espoused the cause of the “Friends of the People,” in 1792, and having
published a small pamphlet of a seditious nature, was obliged to abscond. He
went to Ireland, where he finished a work previously undertaken, called “A System
of Surgery,” in three volumes. Immediately afterwards he removed to the
United States, where he resumed his literary labours, but died in a few years
after, while conducting a newspaper at Salem His family were never able to
rejoin him.’
The third, in the background on the left, represented, when first executed,
In a life of Tytler, Edinburgh, 1805, 12m0, it is said that he had “ a brother a medical gentleman
of a respectable character on the Staff of Great Britain, well known to the literary by his
translation of Callimachus, highly cornmended by the great Quintilian ; ” a strange fact, certainly,
and one which, however creditable to the Roman’s prophetic knowledge, says very little for his
critical acumen, for more wretched stuff can hardly be figured. Tytler’s anonymous biographer
further informs his reader-“He h a also adaughter in Edinburgh, in the capacity of a servant-maid,
mrhose conduct, I have remon to believe, is such 89 to be no dis,mce to her respectable connexions.”.

... B I 0 GRAPH I CA L S KE T C HE S, newspapers-denounced as a coward and a scoundrel-and pointed to as ...

Book 8 p. 125
(Score 0.88)

86 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. XXXVIII.
A GROUP OF AERONAUTS.
IN this group the principal figure is LUNARDIo, f whom we ,am previously
given some account. The next, to the left, is MR. JAMES TYTLER, chemist,
and well known in Edinburgh as a literary character of some eminence. He
was born at the manse of Fearn, of which place his father was minister. James
received an excellent provincial education ; and afterwards, with the proceeds
of a voyage or two to Greenland, in the capacity of medical assistant, he llemoved
to Edinburgh to complete his knowledge of medicine, where he made rapid
progress not only in his professional acquirements, but in almost every department
of literature.
At an early period he became enamoured of a sister of Mr. Young, Writer
to the Signet, whom he married. From this event may perhaps be dated the
laborious and poverty-stricken career of Tytler. His means, at the very outset,
were unequal to the task of providing for his matrimonial engagements, and from
one failure to another he seems to have descended, until reduced to the verge of
indigence.
He first attempted to establish himself as a surgeon in Edinburgh ; and then
removed to Newcastle, where he commenced a laboratory, but without success.
In the course of a year or two he returned to Leit,h, where he opened a shop
for the sale of chemical preparations ; and here again his evil destiny prevailed.
It is possible his literary bias might have operated as a drag upon his exertions.
These repeated failures seemed to have destroyed his domestic happiness. His
wife, after presenting him with several children, left him to manage them as best
he could, and resided with her friends, some time in Edinburgh, and afterwards
in the Orkneys.
Previous to this domestic occurrence, Tytler had abandoned all his former
religious connexions, and even opinions j and now finding himself thrown upon
his literary resources, he announced a work entitled, “Essays on the most
important subjects of Natural and Revealed Religion.” Unable to find a bookseller
or printer willing to undertake the publication of his Essays, Tytler’s
genius and indefatigable spirit were called forth in an extraordinary manner.
Having constructed a printing-press upon a principle different from those in
use,’ and having procured some old materials, he set about arranging‘ the types
of his Essays with his own hands, and without previously having written down
his thoughts upon paper. Mr. ‘Ray states in his MS., that twenty-three
Supposed to have been the origin of those afterwards manufactured by the ingenious John
Ruthven. -Chambers’s BiogTaJhy.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. XXXVIII. A GROUP OF AERONAUTS. IN this group the principal figure is LUNARDIo, f ...

Book 8 p. 122
(Score 0.88)

346 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
In Mr. Ronaldson’s callections are to be found many very amusing and
humorous articles, strongly indicative of his relish for the ludicrous. The
following may serve as a specimen :-
‘‘ [Taken from a Church-door in Ireland.]
“ RUN AWAY FROM PATRICK M‘DALLAGH.
--
“ Whereas my wife, Mrs. Bridget M‘Dallagh, is again walked away with herself, and left me
with four small children and her poor old blind mother, and no body to look after house or home, and I
hear has taken up with Tim Guigan, the lame fiddler, the same that was put in the stocks last Easter
for stealing Barney Doody’s game-cock, This is to give Notice, that I will not pay for hit or sup on
her or his account to mau or mortal, and that she had better never show the marks of her ten toes
near my house again. PATRICK M‘DALLAGB.
“ N.B.--Tim had better keep out of my sight.”
Mr. Ronaldson belonged to the right centre company of the Volunteers, but
was occasionally drafted to other companies ; in consequence of which he was
sometimes brought to cover Mr. Osborne. In this position little Francis, from
his convenient height, was of important service to his gigantic friend, by helping
him to his side-arms when ordered to fix bayonets-Osborne, owing to his
immense bulk, finding great difficulty in reaching the weapon.
The regimental firelocks being rather too heavy, Mr. Ronaldson had one
manufactured specially for himself. One day at a review, General Vyse, then
Commander-in-Chief, happening to observe the difference, remarked the circumstance-‘‘
Why,” said Ronaldson with great animation, “if my firelock is light,
I have weight enough here/” (pointing to his cartridge-box). The General
complimented little Francis on his spirit, observing-“ It would be well if every
one were animated with similar zeal.”
Although in the Print allusion is made to the “game-laws,” Mr. Ronaldson
was no sportsman ; that is to say, he was not partial to roaming through fields
with a dog and a gun ; but he affected to be a follower of Walton in the art of
angling. On one of his fishing excursions on the Tweed he was accompanied
by a gentleman, who was no angler, but who went to witness the scientific
skill of a friend. Francis commenced with great enthusiasm, and with high
hopes of success. Not a leap was observed for some time ; but by and by the
water seemed to live as it were with “the springing trout ;” yet, strange to say,
all the deherity of the angler could not beguile even a single par from its
element. After hours of fruitless labour, Francis was perfectly confounded at
his want of success. In vain he altered his flies-all colours and sizes were
equally ineffectual ; and at length the closing day compelled him to cease from
his labours. On his way home he was accosted by an acquaintance-“ Well,
what luck to-day, Mr. Ronaldson P” ‘‘ Very bad,” he replied ; “plenty raised,
but not a single take.” This apparent plenty, however, did not arise from the
abundance of fish, as Mr. Ronaldson supposed-his friend, who always kept a
little to the rear, having amused himself by throwing small pebbles into the
water, in such a way as led to the deception. The gentleman kept the secret,

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. In Mr. Ronaldson’s callections are to be found many very amusing and humorous ...

Book 8 p. 483
(Score 0.88)

54 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Sciennes.
of the latter is a grand old thorn, which has always
borne the name of ?? St. Kathanne?s Thorn.?
In 1544 the convent at the 1Sciennes was destroyed
by the English ; and by the year 1567 its
whole possessions had passed into the hands of
laymen, and the helpless sisters were driven forth
from their cloisters in utter peniiry; nor would the
who also raised a cairn of stones from the
venerable building in his grounds at St. Eennet?s,
Greenhill. When St, Kathanne?s Place, near it, was
built, a large number of skulls and human bones
was found, only eighteen inches below the surface;
and thirty-six feet eastward, a circular stone well,
four feet in diameter and ten feet deep, was dis-
WW. VIEW, 1854. (dffera Drawing6y t/re Aut&.)
magistrates, until compelled by Queen Mary, says
Arnot, ? allow them a subsistence out of those very
funds with which their own predecessors had
endowed the convent.? The ? Burgh Records?
corroborate this, as in. 1563 the Prioress Christian,
Reatrix Blacater, and other sisters, received payment
of certain feu-duties for their sustenance out
of the proceeds of the suppressed house. At that
time its revenues were only A219 6s. sterling,
with eighty-six bolls of wheat and barley, and
one barrel of salmQn. (Maitland?s Hist.) Its
seal is preserved among king?s Collection,
No. 1136.
Dame Christian Ballenden, prioress after
the dispersion of the nuns (an event referred
to by Scott in his ? Abbot ?), feued the lands
in 1567 to Henry, second son of Henry
Kincaid of Wamston, by his first wife,
Margaret Ballenden, supposed to be a sister
I or relation. How long the Kincaids possessed
the lands is unknown, but about the middle
of the sixteenth century they seem to have
passed to Janet McMath, wife of William
Dick of Grange, and consequently, ancestress
of the Lauders of Fountainhall and Grange,
as shown in a preceding chapter.
~ A small fragment of the convent, twelve feet
high, measuring twenty-seven feet by twenty-four,
having a corbelled fireplace six feet six inches wide,
served-till within the last few years-as a sheepfold
for the flocks that pastured in the surrounding
meadow, and views of that fragment are still preserved.
The site of the convent was commemorated
by a tablet, erected in 1872, by George Seton,
Esq., representative of the Setons of Cariston,
,N1
In Pitcairn?s ? Criminal Trials ? we read
that in 1624 ?Harie Liston, indweller at the
back of the Pleasance, callit the Bak Row, was
delatit ? for assault and hamesucken on Robert
Young, ?( in his pease lands,? beside the Sciennes,
stabbing him, cutting his clothes, and drawing
him by the heels ?to ane brick vault in St.
Geillies Grange,? where he died, and was secretly
bhried; yet Liston was declared innocent by
RIOK OF THE RUINS OF THE CONVENT OF ST. KATHARINE,
SCIENNES, 1854. (Affirr a Drawing ay Ue Rvthm.) ?
the Court, and ?acquit of the slaughter and
murthour.?
In the Courant for 1761 ?the whole of the
houses and gardens at Sciennes, and the houses at
Goodspeed of Sciennes, near Edinburgh, at the
east end of Hope Park,? belonging to Sir Tames
Johnston (of Westerhall), were advertised for
sale.
The entrance-door of Old Sciennes House, entering
from the meadows, and removed in 1867, had

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Sciennes. of the latter is a grand old thorn, which has always borne the name of ...

Book 5 p. 54
(Score 0.88)

420 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Knapp died at his house, Bedford Row, London, on the 24th of October
He had attended the London Session the
He was succeeded in the clerkship by his brother, Thomas
1816, after a few hours’ illness.
day previous.
George Knapp, Esq.
No. CCCXIV.
THREE SOCIAL FRIENDS.
MR. ROBERT KAY, MR. LOUIS CAUVIN,
AND
MR. DAVID SCOTT.
THE first of the three, to the left, is the late MR. KAY, architect, of whom
a short memoir is given in a previous page.
The centre figure is the late LOUIS CAUVIN,’ founder of the Hospital
which bears his name, near Duddingston. He was born in the parish of South
Leith, in that house (opposite the Jock’s Lodge toll-bar) which occupies the
angle formed by the Portobello and Restalrig roads. His parents were Louis
Cauvin and Margaret Edgar.’ It is not correctly ascertained in what year, or
on what account, the father was induced to leave his native country of France,
and settle in the metropolis of Scotland. According to some accounts, he was
forced to expatriate himself in consequence of the fatal issue of a duel in which
he was implicated. According to others, he was brought over to Edinburgh as
a witness in the ‘( Douglas Cause,” having served in the capacity of a footman
in the family of Lady Jane Douglas for a considerable time during her residence
in Paris. A portrait of him in his youth in a military garb is still preserved.
After a residence of a few years in Edinburgh, he betook himself for support
to giving lessons in his own language in public classes. Not many years subsequently
he became tenant of a small farm at Jock’s Lodge ; and, until within
a short time of his death, in 1778,s he carried on simultaneously the occupa-
Cauvin (or Chauvin, according to the French) is the same surname as that of the famous
reformer Johu Calvim, who is so called from the Latinised form of the name which he afExed to hie
WritingsJohannes Calwinw. * His mother was a relative of Admiral Edgar, and through her Mr. Cauvin wm nearly related
to the late Baron Bume.
Over his tomb in Restalrig burying-ground is the following inscription :-“ In memory of the
late Mr. Louis Cauvin, French Teacher in Edinburgh, who died September 22, 1778.”

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Mr. Knapp died at his house, Bedford Row, London, on the 24th of October He had ...

Book 9 p. 562
(Score 0.88)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 425
The figure on the right of Mr. Cauvin is meant to represent MR SCOTT,
farmer, Northfield, who survived, and was long an intimate friend of the
Founder of the Hospital. An intelligent and skilful agriculturist, he was greatly
esteemed in the neighbourhood, and by none more so than those who were his
dependants. One man is said to have been in his employment between thirty
and forty years; and another, who died at a very advanced age, had been
servant in the family for upwards of sixty years. Mr. Scott waa an elder of
the parish church of Duddingston. His wife, a Miss Graham, by whom he
had several children, died in 1834.’
No. CCCXV.
MRS. SMITH,
IN THE COSTUME OF 17 9 5.
THAT this Portraiture was sketched without a sitting may be conjectured
from a memorandum by the artist, which states that when the lady heard of
his intention to publish her likeness, “she sent for him to come and get a
proper look at her; but he did not choose to accept the invitation.” Those
who remember Mrs. Smith will have little difficulty in recognising a strong
likeness to her in the Etching.
MRS. or rather LUCKIES, MITH(fo r so in her later years she was uniformly
styled) is dressed in the somewhat ridiculous fashion prevailing towards the
close of last century. The Print bears the date 1795 ; and at that period she
resided in South Bridge Street. Some years afterwards she removed to a
house purchased for her in Blackfriars’ Wynd.
Mrs. Smith was a native of Aberdeen, and had in early life been married
to a trader of the name of Kinnear, by whom she had a son and two daughters.
After the death of her husband she resumed her maiden name of Smith.
Her favourite walk was the Meadows. She was a stout, comely-looking woman,
and usually dressed well. She lived to old age, in the enjoyment of two
annuities-one of which she derived from a gentleman of fortune, the husband
of one of her daughters. The other daughter was also well married, and
we believe settled in America. Mrs. Smith died in January 1836.
His eldest son, Andrew, was s Writer to the Signet ; and David, who formerly assisted him in
the management of Northfield, was a large sheep-farmer near Gala Water. Three of his five
daughtera were respectably msrried ; the eldest to John Parker, Esq., S.S.C., who was appointed to
the office of Principal Extractor in the Conrt of Session ; the second to I&. George Law, farmer,
Morton ; and the second youngeat to Adam Paterson, Esq., W.S.
VOL. 11. 31

... SKETCHES. 425 The figure on the right of Mr. Cauvin is meant to represent MR SCOTT, farmer, ...

Book 9 p. 569
(Score 0.87)

208 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
In these nine volumes he comprehended all that was contained in the original,
which consisted of sixteen large quarto volumes. The method he pursued of
rendering it into the English language was somewhat unusual. Instead of
translating literally, paragraph by paragraph, and sentence by sentence, he
deliberately read over six or eight pages at a time, making himself perfectly
master of their substance, and then wrote down the whole in English, in his
own words and arrangement. The greater part of this task he performed in a
small correctingroom connected with his printing-office, amidst the continual
interruption farising from the introduction of proof-sheets of other works for
his professional revisal, and the almost perpetual calls of customers, authors,
and idle acquaintances. Yet kuch was his self-possession, that, as usual with
almost everything he wrote, he gave it out to his compositors page by page,
as fast as it was written, and hardly ever found it necessary to alter a single
word after the types were set up from his first uncorrected manuscript.
In'Aupst 1781, Mr. Smellie drew up the first regular plan for procuring a
statistical account of the parishes of Scotland. This plan was printed and
distributed by order of the Society of Antiquaries ; and although no other result
followed at the time than a st,atistical report, by the Earl of Buchan, of the
parish of Uphall, in which his lordship then resided, along with three or four
others, which were printed in the Society's Transactions, yet it is proper to
mention the circumstance, as it was the precursor of the scheme which the late
Sir John Sinclair afterwards brought to maturity.
On the death of Dr. Ramsay in 1775, Mr. Smellie became a candidate for
the Chair of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. The patronage
being in the gift of the Crown, his friends made strong and ardent applications
in his favour to Lord Suffolk ; but from the superior political influence of his
opponent, Dr. Walker, these exertions were unsuccessful,
Mr. Smellie was one of the original founders of the Society of Antiquaries.
In 1781 he was appointed Superintendent of its Museum of Natural History ;
and in 1793 he was elected Secretary. It is not intended here to give a history
of that Society ; yet, as a considerable portion of the strange and inexplicable
opposition which that Association encountered, in their application for a royal
charter, from two highly respectable public bodies, originated out of circuinstances
intimately connected With Mr. Smellie's history, a short account of these
transactions may be given. Mr. Smellie having announced his intention of
giving a course of lectures, at the request of the 'Society, on the Philosophy of
Natural History, to be delivered in their hall, this proposal gave great dissatisfaction
to Dr. Walker, the recently elected Professor of Natural History, already
mentioned ; although every attempt was made by the Earl of Enchan to satisfy
him that Mr. Smellie's lectures would not interfere with those of the University,
and although Dr, Walker had not given even L single lecture for nearly seven
years after his appointment. Nothing, however, would satisfy him ; and his
answer to the Earl's pacific endeavours was-'' In the professorship P am soon
to undertake I have foreseen many difficulties, which I yet hope to surmount ;

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. In these nine volumes he comprehended all that was contained in the original, which ...

Book 8 p. 293
(Score 0.87)

HISTORICAL INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORA TION. I01
was permitted to retain arms in his possession without a warrant from the Privy Council ;
and religious persecution was carried to such a length, that the people were driven to
open rebellion. ‘(The King’s Majesty resolved
to settle the Church government in Scotland,” but the settlement thereof proved a
much more impracticable affair than he anticipated. One of the first steps towards the
accomplishment of this, was the consecration of Bishops, which took place on the 7th
of May 1662, in the Abbey Church of Holyrood. On the following day, the Parliament
assembled, and the Bishops were restored to their ancient privileges as members of
that body. They all assembled in the house of the Archbishop of St Andrews, at the
Nether Bow, from whence they walked in procession, in their Episcopal robes, attended
by the magistrates and nobles, and were received at the Parliament House with every
show of honour.’
The annals of Edinburgh, for some years after this, are chiefly occupied with the
barbarous executions of the Presbyterian Nonconformists ; in 1663, Lord Warriston,
an eminent lawyer and statesman, who had taken refuge in France, was delivered up by
Louis XIV. to Charles 11. He was sent to Edinburgh for trial, and, though tottering on
the brink of the grave, was condemned and executed for his adherence to the Covenant ;
the only mitigation of the usual sentence was, permission to inter his mutilated corpse in
the Grepfriars’ Churchyard. Others of humbler rank were speedily subjected to the
same mockefy of justice, torture being freely applied when other evidence failed, so that
the Grassmarket, which was then the scene of public executions, has acquired an interest
of a peculiar character, from the many heroic victims of intolerance who there laid down
their lives in defence of liberty of conscience.
The’Bishops, as the recognised heads of the ecclesiastical system, in whose name these
tyrannical acts were perpetrated, became thereby the objects of the most violent popular
hate. In 1668, Archbishop Sharp was shot at, as he sat in his coach at the head of Blackfriars’
Wynd. The Bishop of Orkney was stepping in at the moment, and received five
balls in different parts of his body, while the Archbishop, for whom they were intended,
escaped unhurt. The most rigid search was immediately instituted for the assassin. The
gates of the city were closed, and none allowed to pass without leave from a magistrate ;
yet he contrived, by a clever disguise, to elude their vigilance, and effect his escape, Six
years afterwards, the Primate recognised in one Mitchell, a fanatic preacher who eyed
him narrowly, the featura .of the person who fled from his coach after discharging the shot
which wounded the Bishop of Orkney. He was immediately seized, and a loaded pistol
found on him, but, notwithstanding these presumptive proofs of guilt, no other evidence
could be brought against him, and his trial exhibits little regard to any principle of
morality or justice. He was put to the torture, without eliciting any confession from
him ; and at length, in 1676, two years after his apprehension, he was brought from the
Bass, and executed at the Grassmarket, in order to strike terror into the minds of the
Covenanters.*
The year 1678 is memorable in the annals of the good town, as having closed the career
of one of its most noted characters, the celebrated wizard, Najor Weir. The spot on
The consequence of all this is well known.
.
Bicol’s Diary, p. 366. ’ Arnot, p, 148. Wodrew’a Hkt., TOL i. pp. 875, 613.

... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORA TION. I01 was permitted to retain arms in his possession without a warrant ...

Book 10 p. 110
(Score 0.87)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 185
No. ccxxxv.
CAPTAIN JAMES BURNET,
THE LAST CAPTAIN OF THE CITY GUARD.
THE formation of the City Guard of Edinburgh, about the year 1696, is
generally believed to have been a political measure, devised for the purpose of
controlling the Jacobites, and protecting the city from any sudden tumult.’
The Guard consisted of about one hundred and twenty men,’ divided into
three companies, armed and equipped in a style peculiar to the times. The
Arnot, in his “History of Edinburgh”-published in 1788-gives the following account of the
origin of the Guard :-“Of old, the citizens performed a species of personal service for defence of
the town, called watching and wrding. By this, the trading part of the inhabitants were bound,
in person, to keep watch alternately during the night, to prevent or suppress occasional disturbances.
In the progress of manners, this personal attendance was found extremely inconvenient ; and the
citizens were convinced that their own ease would be promoted, and the city more effectually
protected, by a commutation of their services into money, to be paid by them for maintaining a
regular Guard.
“Conform to this idea, the Town Council, in A.D. 1648, appointed a body of sixty men to be
raised, whereof the captain to have a monthly pay of fll : 2 : 3 sterling ; two lieutenants of 22
each ; two sergeants of El : 5s. ; three corporals of El ; and the private men of 15s. each per
month. No regular fund being provided to defray this expense, the old method of watching and
warding was quickly resumed ; but those on whom this seiice was incumbent, were become so
relaxed in their discipline, that the Privy Council informed the Magistrates, if they did not provide
a sufficient guard for preserving order in the city, the King’s troops mould be quartered in it.
Upon this, forty men were again (1679) raised as a Town Guard. This body was, in the year
1682, augmented to one hundred and eight men, at the instigation of the Duke of York. The
appointment of the officers was vested in the King, who was also declared to have a power of
marching this corps wherever he thought proper. To defray the expense of this company, the
Council imposed a tax upon the citizens ; and the imposition was ratified by the King.
‘‘ Upon the Revolution, the Town Council represented to the estates of Parliament that they
had been imposed upon to eatablish a Town Guard, and complained of it as a grievance which they
wished to have removed. Their request was granted, and the citizens had recourse once more tu
watching and warding. So speedily, however, did they repent themselves of the change, that the
very next year they applied for the authority of Parliament to raise, for the defence of the city, a
corps of no fewer than one hundred and twenty-six men, and to assess the inhabitants for discharging
the expense.
“Since that period, the number of this corps, which is called the Town Guard, has been very
fluctuating. For about these thirty years it has consisted of only seventy-five private men ; and,
considering the enlarged extent of the city, and the increased number of inhabitants, it ought
undoubtedly to be augmented. This, however, cannot be the case, unless new means are devised
for defraying the expense, since the cost of maintaining the present Guard exceeds the sum :llowed
by Parliament to be levied from the citizens for that purpose.
The men are properly
disciplined, and fire remarkably well. Within these two yean, some disorderly soldiers, in one of
the marching regiments, having conceived an umbrage at the Town Guard, attacked them. They
were double in number to the party of the Town Guard, who, in the scuffle, severely wounded
some of their asuailant.q, and made the whole of them prisoners.’’
“ The Lord Provost of Edinburgh is Commander of this useful Corp.
During the disturbances of 1715 and 1745, the number way considerably augmented.
VOL. IL 2 B

... SKETCHES. 185 No. ccxxxv. CAPTAIN JAMES BURNET, THE LAST CAPTAIN OF THE CITY GUARD. THE formation ...

Book 9 p. 249
(Score 0.86)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 61
means he soon waxed warm, and by degrees his imagination became dreadfully
excited. Before leaving Edinburgh, he was so miserably reduced in his circumstances
as to be committed to prison for debt, where his pupils attended his
lectures. His liberation from jail was principally attributable to the exertions
of the eccentric but amiable Lord Gardenstone.
Shortly after his arrival in London, the peculiarity of his appearance as he
moved along-a short, square figure-with an air of dignity, in a black suit,
which made the scarlet of his cheeks and nose the more resplendent-attracted
the notice of certain '' Chevaliers d'lndustrie," on the look-out for spoil in the
street. They addressed him in the dialect of his country: his heart, heavy as
it must have been from the precariousness of his situation and distance from his
native land, expanded to these agreeable sounds. A conversation ensued, and
the parties by common consent adjourned to a tavern. Here the stranger was
kindly welcomed to town, and, after the glass had circuIated for a time, something
was proposed .by way of amusement-a game at cards or whatever the
Doctor might prefer. The Doctor had been too civilly treated to demur ; but
his purse was scantily furnished, and it was necessary to quit his new friends in
search of a supply. Fortunately he applied to Mr. Murray the bookseller, who
speedily enlightened him as to the quality of his companions.
A London sharper, of another denomination, afterwards tried to take
advantage of the Doctor. This was an ingenious speculator in quack medicines,
He thought a composition of the most powerful st,imulants might have a run
under the title of " Dr. Brown's Exciting Pill ;" and, for the privilege of the
name, offered him a sum in hand, by no means contemptible, as well as a share
of the contemplated profits. Poor Brown, needy as he was, to his honour
indignantly rejected the proposal,
By his sojourn in London Brown did not improve his circumstances : he
persisted in his old irregularities, projecting at the same time 'great designs,
and entertaining sanguine expectations of success ; but on the 7th of October
1788, when he was about fifty-two years of age, he was seized with a fit of
apoplexy, and died in the course of the night.
No. XXVII.
DR. BROWN IN HIS STUDY,
Writing, we have little doubt, his " Elements of Medicine," a new edition of
which, revised and corrected by Dr. Beddoes, was printed in two vols. 8v0, in
1793.

... SKETCHES. 61 means he soon waxed warm, and by degrees his imagination became dreadfully excited. ...

Book 8 p. 87
(Score 0.86)

396 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
extensive tour of the Highlands, affords a tolerable specimen of his wandering
life. If he is to be credited, he visited the abodes of many people of the
highest rank and respectability ; and the kindness he everywhere experienced
seems for the time to have considerably softened his democratic ravings, for
“fair ” scenes and (‘ fair ” ladies are the chief themes of his poetical aspirations.
The exquisite absurdity of his compositions is a sufficient apology for indulging
our readers with a specimen or two of his sublime wooings of the muse. After
celebrating the “Troshes (as he calls them) of Menteith,” and admiring the
(‘ ladies fair at sweet Aughry,” we find the Doctor at Auchline, which is thus
immortalised in his “Book of Fame :”
“ Through famed Breadalbane I did rove,
And saw Benmore, the hill of Jove,
Where I beheld the palace fine,
And ladies fair at sweet Auchline.
Sure, by all the Powers above,
The Dochart is the river of love,
To bathe and wash dfhs CampbelL&e :
Miss Auchallader like the sun doth shine ;
To love such ladies can be no sin,
So I’ll pass on to sweet Killin ! ”
Ardvodich and Invercauld next claim his attention :-
“ Sweet rural shades of Invercauld,
Which calls to mind the days of old ;
Such planting upon mountains high,
Whose lofty summits touch the sky,
Does honour to that Chieftain’s name ;
Improvement is the way to fame.
Your Highland reel I love to dance,
It well might grace the Court of France.”
’ The author must obviously have cut a handsome figure in a Highland reel ;
but lest such condescension in a philosopher should prove derogatory to his
character, or any mistake exist’w to his identity, he concludes the sonnet with
the following important information :-
“ I am neither Lord Fife, nor Duke of Nar, .
But Dr. B-n, from a country far
And since you have deigned on me to look,
I hope one day you’ll get yow book.”
It would be fatiguing to accompany the Doctor farther in his tour ; enough .
has been giyen to prove the harmony of his versification, and the sublimity and
beauty of his ideas. Amid all the fair scenes and kind hearts he describes,
however, his recollections of the excise suddenly cast their gloom around him,
and he bursts into the following impassioned description of (‘H unger-him-ou %it
Gauger :”-
“ Would you the dregs of mankind trace,
Or know a gauger by the face

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. extensive tour of the Highlands, affords a tolerable specimen of his wandering life. ...

Book 9 p. 530
(Score 0.86)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. xxxv.
THE SAPIENT SEPTENVIRI.
KING‘S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN.
THE original design of this curious Print was sent to Kay by a Mr. ROSSa,
native of Aberdeen, and formerly. student of medicine, of whom all that is
known is, that he obtained the situation of a surgeon in the navy, but lost it in
consequence of having made his brother officers the victims of his talent for
caricatura.
The Seven Professors of King’s College, caricatured in this Print, were all
hostile to a scheme of the day (1786) for the union of King’s and Marischal
Colleges.’ There is perhaps still in existence a similar effort of Ross’s pencil, in
which some of the Professors of Marischal College make a not less ridiculous
figure. This last Print we have never chanced to see, but we have been informed
that the famous Principal Campbell occupied a conspicuous place in it,
and that attached to his effigies was the punning interrogatory-“ What do the
Scriptures Principal-ly teach P ”
In the above print DR. SKENE OGILVY is represented as inculcating
on the Septemviri the duty of returning good for evil. The Doctor was senior
minister of Old Aberdeen, and was formerly minister of the parish of Skene.
He was a man of great natural talents, but was never remarkable for much
application. His powers as a preacher were of no ordinary cast, and many yet
remember the stirring effect of his eloquence on his hearers. He was remarkable
for a vein of broad humour, and abounded with amusing anecdote, but
unfortunately his many happy sayings have “ left but their fame behind.”
The Doctor carried his contempt of external appearances of religion to a
length which some were disposed to regard as inconsistent with the gravity of
the clerical character. In reference to this trait, he used to relate with great
glee the following anecdote : Soon after his settlement at Skene, he overheard
the beadle and sexton of the parish discussing the merits of their new minister !
“ I dinna think,” said the sexton, ((that our new man has the religion 0’ the
Weel,” continued the beadle, ‘(if he has nae religion he pretends to as
little.”
When the Doctor was a student at College, it was customary for the aspirants
to the degree of A.M. to deliver a thesis in the public hall of the College:
when Skene’s turn came, he mounted the rostrum, and began to make diligent
search in all his pockets for his MS. ; no papers, however, were forthcoming.
Nothing disconcerted, he very coolly took out an immense mull, and, after a
This union was at length effected in the year 1860.

... SKETCHES. No. xxxv. THE SAPIENT SEPTENVIRI. KING‘S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. THE original design of ...

Book 8 p. 109
(Score 0.86)

Canongate] SIR ARCRIBALD ACHESON. 27
polished ashlar, with sculptured dormer windows,
dine stringcourses, and other architectural details of
:the period. The heavily moulded doorway, which
measures only three feet by six, is surmounted by
&he date 1633, and a huge monogram including the
initials of himself and his wife Dame Margaret
Hamilton. Over all is a cock on a trumpet and
scroll, with the motto Yzgilantibzls. He had been a
puisne judge in Ireland, and was first knighted by
Charles I., for suggesting the measure of issuing
out a commission under the great seal for the sltr-
If Hawthornden and of Sir William Alexander
Earl of Stirling.
A succession of narrow and obscure alleys
ollows till we come to the Horse Wynd, on the
LINTEL ABOVE THE DOOR OF SIR A. ACHESON?S HOWL
east side of which lay the royal stables at the time
of Darnley?s murder. In this street, on the site of a
school-house? &c., built by the Duchess of Gordon
for the inhabitants of the Sanctuary, stood an old
tenement, in one of the rooms on the first floor of
which the first rehearsal of Home?s ?? Douglas ?
took place, and in which the reverend author was
assisted by several eminent lay and clerical friends,
among whom were Robertson and Hume the
historians, Dr. Carlyle of Inveresk and the
author taking the leading male parts in the cast,
while the ladies were represented by the Rev. Dr.
Blab and Professor Fergusson. A dinner followed
in the Erskine Club at the Abbey, when they were
joined by the Lords Elibank, Kames, Milton, and
Monboddo. To the south of this house was the
town mansion of Francis Scott Lord Napier, who
inherited that barony at the demise of his grandmother,
Lady Napier, in 1706,and assumed the name
of Napier, and died at a great old age in 1773.
At its southern end the wynd was closed by an
arched gate in the long wall, which ran from the
Cowgate Port to the south side of the Abbey Close.
CHAPTER V.
THE CANONGATE (continued).
?Separate or Detached Edifices therein-Sir Walter Scott in the CanongattThe Parish C%urch-How it came to be built-Its Official Position
--Its Burying Ground-The Grave of Ferguuon-Monument to Soldiers interred there-Ecceotric Henry Prentice-The Tolhth-
Testimony as to its Age-Its later uses-Magdalene Asylum-Linen Hall-Moray House-Its Historical Associations-The Winton House
-Whiteford House-The Dark Story of Queensbemy House.
THE advancing exigencies of the age and the of the court suburb, but there still remain some
necessity for increased space and modern sanitary ? to which belong many historical and literary
improvements have made strange havoc among the I associations of an interesting nature. Scott was
ald alleys and mansions of the great central street ~ never weary of lingering among them, and recalling

... SIR ARCRIBALD ACHESON. 27 polished ashlar, with sculptured dormer windows, dine stringcourses, and ...

Book 3 p. 27
(Score 0.86)

192 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. lThe High S e e a
and Sweden, tells us, at the storming of Boitzenburg,
there was ? a Scottish gentleman under the
enemy, who, coming to scale the walls, said aloud,
?Have with you, gentlemen ! Thinke not now
you are on the streel of Edhlburgh bravading.? One
of his own countrymen thrusting him through the
body with a pike, he ended there.?
In the general consternation which succeeded
* the defeat of the army at Flodden a plague raged
within the city with great violence, and carried off
great numbers. Hence the Town Council, to prevent
its progress,
ordered all shops
and booths to be
closed for the space
of fifteen days, and
neither doors nor
windows to be
opened within that
time, but on some
unavoidable occasion,
and nothing
to be dealt in but
necessaries for the
immediate support
of life. All vagrants
were forbidden
to walk in the
streets without hiving
each a light;
and several houses
that had been occupied
by infected
persons were demolished.
*
In 1532 the
High Street was
first paved or causewayed,
and many of
the old tenements
?These, however,? says Arnot, ?are not to be
considered as arguing any comparative insignificancy
in the city of Edinburgh. They proceeded
from the rudeness of the times. The writers of
those days spoke of Edinburgh in terms that show
the respectable opinion they entertained of it. ? In
this city,? says a writer of the sixteenth century-
Braun Agrippinensis--? there are two spacious
streets, of which the principal one, leading from
the Palace to the Castle, is paved with square
stones. The city itself is not built of bricks,
ANDREW CROSBY. (Fmm the Portrait in tkePadiament Haii.)
[The orkinal ofCuunseZZnr PLydelZ in ? Guy Mamneiing.?]
renovated. The former was done under the superintendence
of a Frenchman named Marlin, whose
name was bestowed on an alley to the south. The
Town Council ordered lights to be hung out by
night by the citizens to light the streets, and Edinburgh
became a principal place of resort from all
parts of the kingdom.
Till the reign of James V., the meal-market, and
also the flesh-market, were kept in booths in the
open High Street, which was also encumbered by
stacks of peat, heather, and other fuel, before every
door; while, till the middle of the end of the seventeenth
century, according to Gordon?s map, a fleshmarket
was kept in the Canongate, immediately
below the Nether Bow.
but of square freestones,
and so
stately is its app
ear an c e, that
single houses inay
be compared to
palaces. From the
abbey to the castle
there is a continued
street, which on
both sides contains
a range of excellent
houses. and the
better sort are built
of hewn stone.?
There are,? adds
Amot, ?? specimens
oT the buildings of
the fifteenth century
still (1779) remaining,
particularly
a house on
the south side of
the High Street,
immediately above
Peeble?s Wynd,
having a handsome
front of hewn stone,
and niches in the
walls for the images of saints, which may justify
our author?s description. The house was built
about 1430 (temp. James I.) No private building
in the city of modern date can compare
with it.?
The year 1554 saw the streets better lighted,
and some attempts made to clean them.
The continual wars with England compelled the
citizens to crowd their dwellings as near the Castle
as possible ; thus, instead of the city increasing in
limits, it rose skyward, as we have already mentioned
; storey was piled on storey till the streets
resembled closely packed towers or steeples, each
house, or ?land,? sheltering from twenty to thirty
families within its walls. This was particularly thc

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. lThe High S e e a and Sweden, tells us, at the storming of Boitzenburg, there was ? a ...

Book 1 p. 192
(Score 0.86)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
that the baker affected to be learned in astronomy, the Philosopher, taking
advantage of the first opportunity, walked up to him, and with his best bow
inquired if he had seen the strange alternating star outside. The baker
expressed his surprise at the question, but by the application of a well-timed
compliment, was induced to follow his interrogator. Mackcoull led him to the
end of a house, where, by looking upwards in a line with the gable, he professed
to have seen the phenomenon, which only appeared at intervals. Before the
baker was placed in a proper position, our hero eased him of his pocket-book ;
and while the astronomer, whoseaenthusiasm had been fairly kindled, went home
to fetch his glass, in order to examine this erratic wonder more thoroughly,
Mackcoull embraced the opportunity of a retnrn chaise; and, urging on the
driver by a liberal reward, was speedily at his old haunt in Drury Lane. Here
he found his associates, whom he treated, and boasted that he had given the
baker a lesson in astronomy which he would not speedily forget.
After experiencing all the varieties of fortune to which the life of a gambler
is subject, Mackcoull, at the age of twenty-eight, married a female with whom
he had been long intimate, and who kept a swell lodging-house. Previous to
this, he had become so notorious that the police had their eye on him in all
directions, and he now deemed it prudent to act with circumspection. He
avoided his old haunts ; and being amply supplied with pocket-money by his
wife, he amused himself as an amateur pugilist, attended the houses of the
fancy, and occasionally the theatre, taking advantage of any inviting opportunity
that might occur.
Although he deemed it prudent to give over general practice with his own
hand, Mackcoull entered with great spirit into the ‘‘ receiving department.”
For some time he made the house of his mother and sister the depdt of the
stolen goods ; but this resort becoming insecure, he converted a portion of his
own house, much against his wife’s wishes, into a receptacle for articles of value.
The recess chosen for this purpose, from its having formerly been a window, he
called “Pitt’s Picture,’’ in allusion to the w-indow taxes. This impolitic step,
as he afterwards admitted, was unworthy of an adept. “ Pitt’s Picture ” was
discovered, and a warrant issued to apprehend Mackcoull. All attempts at
negotiation were found unavailing j and he was under the necessity of proceeding
on his travels. In the spring of 1802 he went to Hamburg, where he
assumed the name of Moffat. Here he took out a burgess ticket-rented the
ground flat of a counting-house, and professed to be a merchant collecting goods
for the interior of Germany. As soon as he acquired a sufficient smattering of
the German language, he frequented gaming-houses of the higher order, where,
as Captain Moffat from Scotland, he is said to have played frequently at billiards
with the then Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin, and lightened his highness of
his superfluous cash.
While residing at Hamburg, he occasionally passed into the interior of
Germany, and visited the fair of Leipsic. Having been at length compelled
to seek safety in flight, he removed to Rotterdam ; but here he was particu

... SKETCHES. that the baker affected to be learned in astronomy, the Philosopher, taking advantage of ...

Book 9 p. 475
(Score 0.86)

YAMES VI. TO RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. 93
Memyss, his next door neighbonr, who sent a party of servants to his aid, and had the
unfortunate prelate brought to the shelter of the Earl’s own mansion.’
In the Greyfriars’ Church the service-book met with a similar reception, while most
of the other cler,gy prudently delayed its use, till they should see how it was relished by
the people. This memorable day was afterwards distinguished by the name of Stoney
Sunday.’ ‘‘ The immortal Jenet Geddis,” as she is styled in a pamphlet of the period, survived
long after her heroic onslaught on the Dean of Edinburgh. She kept a cabbage-stall at
the Tron Kirk, as late as 1661, and, notwithstanding the scepticism of some zealous
investigators, the Society of Antiquaries for Scotland still show, in their museum, her
formidable weapon-the cutty stool,-with which this heroine struck the initial stroke in
the great civil war.’
The multitudes of,all ranks, who speedily assembled in Edinburgh, determined to unite
for mutual protection, They formed a league for the defence of religion, each section being
classified according to their ranks, and thus arose the famous committees called the Fow
TABLES. On the royal edict for the maintenance of the service-book being proclaimed at
the Market Cross, on the 22d February 1638, a solemn protest was read aloud by some of
the chief noblemen of that party deputed for that purpose, and five days afterwards, between
two and three hundred clergymen and others assembled at the Tailors’ Hall (a fine
old building still existing in the Cowgate), and took into consideration the COVENANTth at
had been drawn up.
This important document was presented to a vast multitude, who assembled on the
following day in the Greyfriars’ Chtrch and Churchyard. It was solemnly read aloud, and
after being signed by the nobles and others in the church, it was laid on a &t tombstone
in the churchyard, and eagerly signed by all ranks of the people. The parchment on which
it was engrossed was four feet long, and when there was no longer room on either side to
write their namee, the people subscribed their initials round the margin.
The same National Covenant, when renewed at a later date, was placed for signature
in an old mansion, long afterwards used as a tavern, and which still remains in good
preservation, at the foot of the Covenant Close, as it has ever since been called.
In the year 1641 Charles again visited Edinburgh, for the purpose of ‘‘ quieting distrac-
- tion for the people’s satisfaction.” The visit, however, led to little good ; he offended his
friends without conciliating his enemies, and after another civic entertainment from the
magistrates of the city, he bade a h a 1 adieu to his Scottish capital. He is said to have been
fond of the game of golf, and the following anecdote is told of him in connection with it:-
While he was engaged in a party at this game, on the Links of Leith, a letter was delivered
into his hands, which gave him the first account of the insurrection and rebellion
in Ireland. On reading which, he suddenly called for his coach, and, leaning on one of his
attendants, and in great agitation, drove to the Palace of Holyrood House, from whence
next day he set out for London.’
The Covenanters followed up their initiatory movement in the most resolute and effective
1 (!hambera%~ Rebellions in Scotland, vol. i p. 66,
1 Edinburgh’a Joy, &c., 1661. ’ W. Tytler of Woodhouselee, Esq., Archceologia Scotica, voi. i p. 603.
* Arnot, p. 109.
Chambers’s Winor htiq., p. 180.
Charles’s immediate departure for London, ae he stayed till the diaaolution of the Scottish Parliament.
The anecdote is 80 far incorrect aa to.

... VI. TO RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. 93 Memyss, his next door neighbonr, who sent a party of servants to his ...

Book 10 p. 101
(Score 0.85)

48 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
QUARTER-MASTER TAYLOR, the portly figure in the fourth division,
was one of the famous defenders of Gibraltar.
The last and most indescribable of the “All~’~-to use the artist’s own
language-is “ a Caricature of a Potentate, commonly called the PRINCE OF
THE AIR,” who in former times was supposed to have considerable dealings
in Scotland, judging from the innumerable trials for witchcraft with which the
records of the Court of Justiciary are disgraced. Why his Satanic Majesty
has been thus introduced among the worthies of Edinburgh, the artist has not
explained, and we leave the gentle reader to find out,
No. CLXXXVIII.
REV, DR. THOMAS HARDIE,
MIKISTER OF HADDO’S HOLE, AND REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DMNITY AND
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGII.
DR. THOMAHS ARDIEw as the son of the Rev. Thomas Hardie, one of the
ministers of Culross, in the Presbytery of Dunfermline. Of the early part of
his history little is known, but it is believed he studied at the University of
Edinburgh. His first presentation was to Ballingry, in Fifeshire (June 16,
1774), where he continued to discharge his clerical duties for several years, and
acquired a degree of local popularity, which promised, at no distant period, to
call him away to a more enlarged sphere of action. He was of an active disposition,
and by no means a passive observer of events. He felt much interested
in the divisions which then, as now, existed in the Church ; and while he personally
tendered his exertions on that side which he espoused, his pen was not
idle. We allude to the pamphlet which he published in 1782, entitled “The
Principles of Moderation : addressed to the Clergy of the Popular Interest in
the Church of Scotland.”
The object of this publication was to review, in a dispassionate manner, the
real cause and state of division in the Church ; and he certainly succeeded in
calmly, if not successfully, vindicating the conduct of the moderate party, or
“ the Martyrs to Law,” as he called them, to which he belonged. The address
was written with ability, and displayed considerable acumen and acquaintance
with the history, as well as the law of the Church. At that time patronage was
the principal cause of dissent, and had led to the secession of a numerous body
of the people. This he lamented ; and, while he viewed patronage as an evil
to which the Church ought to bow solely and only so long as it remained law,
he was desirous of uniting all parties in procuring an amicable change in the

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, QUARTER-MASTER TAYLOR, the portly figure in the fourth division, was one of the famous ...

Book 9 p. 64
(Score 0.85)

108 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
English supremacy. No sooner, therefore, were the articles made public, in the month of
October 1706, than a universal clamour and uproar ensued. The outer Parliament House
and the adjoining square were crowded with an excited multitude, who testified their
displeasure at the Duke of Queensberry, the Commissioner, and all who favoured the
Union. On the 23d of the month, hhe populace proceeded to more violent acts of
hostility against the promoters of the scheme. They attacked the house of Sir Patrick
Johnston, their representative in Parliament, formerly a great favourite when Provost of
the city, and he narrowly escaped falling a victim to their fury. From this they proceeded
to other acts of violence, till they had the city completely at their mercy, and were only
prevented blocking up the ports by the Duke ordering out the military to take possession
of the Nether Bow Port, and other of the most important points in the city.
Three
regiments of foot were on constant duty; guards were stationed in the Parliament Close and
the Weigh-house, as well as at the Nether Bow ; a strong battalion protected the Abbey ;
a troop of horse-guards regularly attended the Cornmissioner, and none but members were
allowed to enter the Parliament Close towards evening, on such days as the house was
sitting. His Grace, the Commissioner, walked from the Parliament House, between
a double file of musketeers to his coach, which waited at the Cross ; and he was driven
from thence at full gallop to his residence at the Palace, hooted, cursed, and pelted by the
rabble.
The mob were fully as zealous in the demonstration of their good will as of their
displeasure. The Duke of Hamilton, whose apartments were also in the Palace, was an
especial object of favour, and was nightly escorted down the Canongate by several hundreds
of them cheering him,*and commending his fidelity. It was on one of these occasions, after
seeing the Duke home, that the excited rabble proceeded to the house of the city member,
when he so narrowly escaped their fury.’ Fortunately, however, for Scotland the popular
clamour was unavailing for the purpose of preventing the Union of the two kingdoms, though
the corrupt means by which many of the votes in Parliament were secured, was sufficient
to have justified any amount of distrust and apposition. A curious ornamental summerhouse
is pointed out in the pleasure grounds attached to Moray House, in the Canongate,
where the commissioners at length assembled to affix their clignatures to the Treaty of Union.
But the mob, faithful to the last in their resolution to avert what was then regarded as the
surrender of national independence,‘ pursued them to this retired rendezvous, and that
important national act is believed to have been finally signed and sealed in a ‘‘ high shop,”
or cellar, No. 177 High Street, nearly opposite to the Tron Church.2 This interesting
locality, which still remains, had formed one of the chief haunts of the unionists during the
progress of that measure, and continued to be known, almost to our own day, by the name
of the Union Cellar. On the 16th of January 1707, the Scottish Parliament assembled for
the last time in its old hall in the Parliament Close, and having finally adjusted the Articles
of Union, it was dissolved by the Duke of Queensberry, the King’s Commissioner, never
again to meet as a National Assembly+
The general discontent which resulted from this measure, and the irritation produced by
The Commissioner, and all who abetted him, were kept in terror of their lives.
.
Lockhart’s Mem., 1799, p. 229-229.
a Tales of a Grandfather, vol. vi. p. 327.
Smollett’s Hist., p. 469. Arnot, p. 1S9.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. English supremacy. No sooner, therefore, were the articles made public, in the month ...

Book 10 p. 118
(Score 0.85)

190 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
and again ‘made his obeisance. “Well, old boy,’’ said the latter, with his
wonted good humour, how did you fare at the hall P” ‘‘ Very so so, indeed,”
replied Hnntly ; “ nothing but cold beef, sour bread, and stale beer.” (‘ You
must truly be a saucy scoundrel!” exclaimed the gentleman, nettled by the
arrogant reply. “ Not exactly that,” continued Huntly, “ but I have never been
accustomed to such low fare.” Irritated beyond endurance by the provokingly
cool impudence of the supposed mendicant, the gentleman threatened to have
him caged, and actually called some of the domestics to lay hands upon him,
when, like the Gudeman 0’ Ballangiech (in one of his nocturnal adventures), he
doffed his
“ Duddie clouts-his meally bags an’ a’”’
and stood forward in his own proper person, to the utter amazement of the
bystanders, and the conviction of his defeated friend, whose wrath was quickly
changed to merriment.
No. LXXIX.
SIR JAMES MONTGOMERY OF STANHOPE
AND
DAVID STUART MONCRIEF, ESQ. OF MOREDUN,
HIS MAJESTY’S BARONS OF EXCHEQUER.
LORD CHIEF-BARON MONTGOMERY, who is represented by the figure
on the left, was the second and youngest son of William Montgomery, Esq. of
Macbiehill,’ Tweeddale, and was born in 1721.
Sir James, being educated for the law, became a member of the faculty of
advocates soon after he had attained his majority. His talents were by no
means of the highest order ; yet, by judicious mental cultivation-by throwing
aside all ingenious subtleties, and boldly grasping at the solid practical view of
every question, he in time acquired the character of a sound lawyer.
In 1748, when the Scottish heritable jurisdictions were finally abolished, Sir
This gentleman was a devoted agriculturist at a period when that useful branch of knowledge
was too little attended to in this country. He had the merit of introducing an early species of peas
and of oats, which were named after his estate of Macbiehill ; but the latter has for these last forty
years been more generally known as the “red-oat.” So early 89 1745, he cultivated potatoes, to
the extent of several acres annually ; but the land so cultivated was uniformly sown down with bear
and artificial grasses. He sold his potatoes by the Tweeddale oat-firlot streaked, at sixteen shillings
per boll, an amazingly high sum at that period.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, and again ‘made his obeisance. “Well, old boy,’’ said the latter, with ...

Book 8 p. 267
(Score 0.85)

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