Edinburgh Bookshelf

Edinburgh Bookshelf

Search

Index for “A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings”

KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. I43
The poet was extremely proud of his new mansion’, and appears to have been somewhat
surprised to fiud that its fantastic shape rather excited the mirth than the admiration of his
fellow-citizens. The wags of the town compared it to a goose pie ; and on his complaining
of this one day to Lord Elibank, his lordship replied, ‘‘ Indeed, Allan, when I see you in
it, I think they are not far wrong! ”
On ‘the death of Allan Ramsay, in 1757, he was succeeded in his house by his son, the
eminent portrait-painter, who added a new front and wing to it, and otherwise modified its
original grotesqueness; and since his time it was the residence of the Rev. Dr Baird,
late Principal of the University. Some curious discoveries, made in the immediate neighbourhood
of the house, in the lifetime of the poet, are thus recorded in the Scots Magazine
for 1754,-(‘ About the middle of June, some workmen employed in levelling the upper
part of Mr Ramsay’s garden, in the Castle Hill, fell upon a subterraneous chamber about
fourteen feet square, in which were found an image of white stone, with a crown upon its
head, supposed to be the Virgiu Mary ; two brass candlesticks ; about a dozen of ancient
Scottish and French coins, and some other trinkets, scattered among the rubbish. By
several remains of burnt matter, and two cannon balls, it is guessed that the building above
ground was destroyed by the Castle in some former confusion.” This, we would be inclined
to think, may have formed a portion of the ancient Church of St Andrew, of which so little
is known; though, from Dlaitland’s description, the site should perhaps be looked for
somewhat lower down the bank. It is thus alluded to by him,--“ At the southern side of
the Nordloch, near the foot of the Castle Hill, stood a church, the remains whereof I am
informed were standiiig within these few years, by Professor Sir Robert Stewart, who had
often seen them. This I take to have been the Chnrch of St Andrew, near the Castle of
Edinburgh, to the Trinity Altar, in which Alexander Curor, vicar of Livingston, by a
deed of gift of the 20th December 1488, gave a perpetual annuity of twenty merks Scottish
money.” In the panelling of the Reservoir, which stands immediately to the south
of Ramsay Garden, a hole is still shown, which is said to have been occasioned by a shot
in the memorable year 1745. The ball was preserved for many years in the house, and
ultimately presented to the late Professor Playfair.
An old stone land occupies the corner of Ramsay Lane, on the north side of the Castle
Hill. It presents a picturesque front to the main street, surmounted with a handsome
double dormer window. On its eastern side, down Pipe’s Close, there is a large and
neatly moulded window, exhibiting the remains of a stone mullion and transom, with which
it has been divided; and, in the interior of the same apartment, directly opposite to this,
there are the defaced remains of a large gothic niche, the only ornamental portions of which
now visible are two light and elegant buttresses at the sides, affording indication of its
original decorations.
Tradition, as reported to us by several different parties, assigns this house to the Laird
of Cockpen, the redoubted hero, as we presume, of Scottish song ; and one party further
a5rms, in confirmation of this, that Ramsay Lane had its present name before the days
of the poet, having derived it from this mansion of the Ramsays of Cockpen.’ Its
Maitland, p. 206.
* The Lairds of Cockpen were U branch of the Rameays of Dalhousie ; Douglas’s Peerage, vol. i. p. 404. Maitland in
his List of Streets, &e., mentions a Ramaay’a Cloae without indicating it on the map.

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. I43 The poet was extremely proud of his new mansion’, and ...

Book 10 p. 154
(Score 0.95)

L UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. . 213
custom, part of the bride’s plenishing ; but the brooch and wedding-ring no doubt
demanded a similar errand to the goldsmiths’ booths, and would form a still readier
introduction to the whole secrets of courtship. On such occasions the customer paid
for the refreshments when giving the order, and the trader returned the compliment on
his second visit to receive and pay for the goods, which were then rarely to be found on
hand ready for sale.
The external appearance of the old Parliament House has been. rendered familiar to
thousands who never saw it in its original state by the view of it on the notes of Sir
William Forbes and Co.’s Bank. Tradition pointed to Inigo Jones as the designer,
not without some coniirmation Gom its general style. It was no model of architectural
beauty certainly, yet it presented a highly picturesque appearance and individuality
of character, which, with its thorough accordance with the age in which it wits erected,
ought to have secured the careful preservation of its antique turrets and sculptures,
as a national monument associated with great historical events. There was a quaint
stateliness about its irregular pinnacles and towers, and the rude elaborateness of its
decorations, that seemed to link it with the courtiers of Holyrood, in the times of the
Charleses, and its last gala days under the Duke of York’s vice-regency. Nothing can
possibly be conceived more meaningless and utterly absurd than the thing that superseded
it. The demolition of the adjoining buildings, and the extension of the Court
Houses, so as to make the older part form only a subsidiary wing of the whole, have
given some consistency to what is, at best, a very commonplace design ; but the original
screen of stone, now forming the west wing of the Court Houses, which was built to hide
the antique faqade of 1636, had neither relation to the building it was attached to, nor
meaning of its own.
Over the main entrance of the old fabric were the royal arms of Scotland, boldly sculptured,
supported on the right by Mercy holding a crown wreathed with laurel, and on the
left by Justice having the balance in one hand, and a palm-branch in the other, with the
appropriate inscription, Stunt his felieia regna, and immediately underneath the national
arms this motto, Uni unionum. This entrance, which stood facing the east, is now completely
blocked up. Over the smaller doorway which forms the present main access to the
Parliament Hall, the city arms occupied an ornamental tablet, placed between two sculptured
obelisks, and underneath this inscription, on a festooned scroll,-Dominus custodit
introitum nostrum. The general effect of the whole will be best understood by a reference
to the view on page 99.
An amusing anecdote is told of one of the old frequenters of the Parliament Close,
regarding the ancient doorway we have described. James bbertson, Esq. of Kincraigie,
an insane Jacobite laird, on being pressed on one occasion by the Honourable Henry
Erskine to accompany him into the Parliament House, somewhat abruptly declined the
invitation,--(-( But I’ll tell you what, Harry,” added he, pointing to the statue that
stood over the porch, ‘‘ tak’ in Justice wi’ ye, for she has stood lang at the door, and
We have the authority of an experienced matron for the following as a complete inventory of the bride‘s plenishing,
according to old Scottish notion#, and which is often still regarded asindispensable:-1. A cheat of drawers, “split new,”
and ordered for the occasion ; 2, Bed and table linen,-or nai.;cl aa it is styled,-with a supply of blankets j 3. The
silver spoons; and, in wme districts, 4. An eight-day clock. But the Sine pecd m of all waa-5. A LADLE !

... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. . 213 custom, part of the bride’s plenishing ; but the brooch and ...

Book 10 p. 232
(Score 0.94)

298 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
in becoming the leader of a new denomination. But while he laboured for the
purity of the Church, and exhibited the fervency of his zeal by engaging with a
liberal hand in the scheme of purchasing advowsons, in order to secure the
presentation of efficient clergymen, yet his philanthropy extended. to all classes
of Christians.
Possessing considerable wealth and extensive influence, Mr. Simeon, as may
be augured from his character, was an active and generous promoter of all societies
which had for their object the propagation of the gospel, and the welfare of
mankind. For the conversion of the Jews he seemed particularly solicitous,
and took a prominent interest in the Society established for that purpose. Towards
erecting a Chapel at Bethnal Green he subscribed two hundred guineas,
and engaged in many extensive tours throughout England and Scotland in their
behalf. In 1818, on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, he preached at
Amsterdam for the benefit of the Society ; and again at Paris in 1825.
The life of Mr. Simeon was one of continued activity, mental and corporeal.
His printed works, besides occasional publications, extend to twenty-one large
octavo volumes, and contain a series of two thousand five hundred and thirtysix
discourses, from Genesis to Revelation. Many of these are of great merit ;
and immense as the labour expended in their production must have been, it
appears doubly augmented when we are told by his biographer, that in the
manuscripts before him " several of the outlines are written over four, five, and
even six times, till he could bring them to that point of precision and force in
which he so much delighted. Many preachers labour for quantity, and some for
splendour ; Mr, Simeon laboured for brevity and effect. He rarely preached
more than thirty or thirty-five minutes; and his problem seemed to be, Iww
much useful truth he could condense into the shortest possible time, with the greatest
possible efect upon the heart and conscience. On the Monday, as he told the
writer of these lines, he employed perhaps as much as eight hours more in
writing them fairly out for the press, with the enlargements that had occurred
to him in preaching, and his latest improvements. So careful was he in his
preparation for preaching, that he sometimes read his sermon jive times over in
private, and twice as nearly as possible with the tone, attitude, and manner he
purposed employing in the pulpit."
It would be surprising if the private life of such a man as Mr. Simeon did
not at least equal his public character. While ample testimony is borne to
his many virtues, it must be admitted that he possessed a warm and somewhat
irritable temper, and was not without a due share of the imperfections of
human nature ; but these were checked and held in abeyance by the constant
action of more noble qualities of the mind. The besetting, and probably
the most unconquerable of all the human passions with which genuine piety
has to contend, is the love of approbation. However much mere human praise
may be condemned, few indeed are superior to its influence. In this assailable
point Mr. Simeon does not appear to have been more impregnable than
others. By way of illustrating his personal piety, it is related that " besides

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. in becoming the leader of a new denomination. But while he laboured for the purity of ...

Book 9 p. 397
(Score 0.94)

BI 0 GRAPH I GAL SKETCH E S. 317
cxxx.
CAPTAIN JAMES JUSTICE OF JUSTICE HALL,
AND
A LADY IN THE COSTUME OF 1790.
SIR JAMESJ USTICdeEsc,e nded from a family of that name in England, came
to Scotland about the end of the seventeenth century, and held the office of
Clerk to the Scottish Parliament. He acquired the estate of Crichton, with the
celebrated castle, in the county of Edinburgh, which he left to his son, James
Justice, Esq., who was one of the principal Clerks of the Court of Session. This
gentleman was very fond of horticulture ; and was the author of a book entitled
“Justice’s Scots Gardener ”-a work which, as the result of practical experience
with reference to the soil and climate of Scotland, was formerly in great repute,
and is still worthy of consultation. The author was so great an enthusiast in
this favourite pursuit, that he spent large sums in importing foreign seeds,
roots, and trees. The collecting of tulips being one of the fancies of his day,
Nr. Justice was so deeply affected with the mania, that he has been known not
to hesitate giving 350, or sometimes more,’ for a single rare tulip root. The
extravagance of this propensity, with other causes, rendered it necessary for
him to part with his estate of Crichton; and about the year 1735 it became
the property of Mark Pringle, Esq.’ With the residue of the price of this large
property Mr. Justice purchased some lands in the vicinity of the village of
Ugston, or Oxton, in the parish of Channelkirk and county of Berwick, where
he built a mansion-house, which he called Justice Hall-a name which it still
retains.
By his second marriage Mr. Justice left an only son (the subject of the
Print), who was born about the year 1755 ; but at what period he succeeded
his father is not exactly known. He entered the army as an officer in the
marine service ; served abroad during the American war, and attained the rank
of Captain. He was above six feet in height and well proportioned. His
“he rage for tulips was, for a long series of years, peculiar to the Dutch, who used to give very
large prices for single roots of a rare description. For a short period it was very prevalent in Britain,
where a gentleman is reported to have given a thousand pounds for a black tulip-he being at the
time the owner of another root of the same description. Upon making the purchase he put the
root below hi heel and destroyed it, observing that nuw he was the possessor of the only black tulip
in the world I ! !
a This gentleman killed William Scott of Raehurn, great grand-uncle of Sir Walter, in a duel.
They fought with swords, aa was the fashion of the time, in a field near Selkirk, called, from the
catastrophe, the Rseburn Meadow. Mr. Pringle fled to Spain, and was long a captive and slave in
Barbary.-l;ockhart’s f i f e of Scott, p. 4, vol. i

... 0 GRAPH I GAL SKETCH E S. 317 cxxx. CAPTAIN JAMES JUSTICE OF JUSTICE HALL, AND A LADY IN THE COSTUME OF ...

Book 8 p. 446
(Score 0.94)

366 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moultray?s Hill.
-
dedicated to him,?) but by whom founded or when,
is quite unknown ; and from this edifice an adjacent
street was for ages named St. Ninian?s Row. ?The
under part of the building still remains,? to quote
Arnot; (?it is the nearest house to the RegisteI
Office on the south-east, except the row of houses
on the east side of the theatre. The lower storey
was vaulted, and the vaults still remain. On these
a mean house has been superstructed, and the
whole converted into a dwelling-house. The baptismal
font, which was in danger of being destroyec
was this year (1787) removed to the curious towel
built at Dean Haugh, by Mr. Falter ROSS, Write
to the Signet.? The ?? lower part ? of the building
was evidently the crypt, and the font referred to,
neatly-sculptured basin with a beautiful Gothi
canopy, is now among the many fragments built b:
Sir Walter Scott into the walls of Abbotsford. Thi
extinct chapel appears to have been a dependenc:
of Holyrood abbey, from the numerous notice
that appear in licences granted by the abbots o
that house to the Corporations of the Canongate
for founding and maintaining altars in the church
and in one of these, dated 1554, by Robert Stewart
abbot of Holyrood, with reference to St. Crispin?,
altar therein, he states, ?? it is our will yat ye Cor
dinars dwelland within our regalitie. . .
besyde our chapel1 of Sanct Ninian, out with Sanc
Andrews Port besyde Edinburcht, be in brether
heid and fellowschipe with ye said dekin anc
masters of ye cordinar craft.?
In 1775 one or two houses of St. James?s Squart
were built on the very crest of Moultray?s Hill
The first stone of the house at the south-eas
corner of the square was laid on the day that news
reached Edinburgh of the battle of Bunker?s Hill
which was fought on the 17th of June in that year.
? The news being of coul?se very interesting, wa:
the subject of popular discussion for the day, and
nothing but Bunker?s Hill was in everybody?s
mouth. It so happened that the two buildeE
founding this first tenement fell out between
themselves, and before the ceremony was concluded,
most indecorously fell to and fought out
the quarrel on the spot, in presence of an immense
assemblage of spectators, who forthwith conferred
the name of Bunker?s Hill upon the place, in
commemoration of the combat, which it retains to
this day. The tenement founded under these
curious circumstances was permitted to stand by
itself for some years upon the eminence of Bunker?s
Hill; and being remarkably tall and narrow, as
well as a solitary Zana?, it got the popular appellation
of ?Hugo Arnot? from the celebrated historian,
who lived in the neighbourhood, and whose
slim, skeleton-looking figure was well known to the
public eye at the period.?
So lately as 1804 the ground occupied by the
lower end of Katharine Street, at the north-eastem
side of Moultray?s Hill, was a green slope, where
people were wont to assemble, to watch the crowds
returning from the races on Leith sands.
In this new tenement on Bunker?s Hill dwelt
Margaret Watson of Muirhouse, widow of Robert?
Dundas, merchant, and mother of Sir David Dun- ?
das, the celebrated military tactician. ?We
used to go to her house on Bunker?s Hill,? says?
Lord Cockbum, when boys, on Sundays between
the morning and the afternoon sermons, when we
were cherished with Scottish broth and cakes, and
many a joke from the old lady. Age had made
her incapable of walking even across the room;
so, clad in a plain silk gown, and a pure muslin
cap, she sat half encircled by a high-backed blackleather
chair, reading, with silver spectacles stuck
on her thin nose, and interspersing her studies and
her days with much laughter and not a little
sarcasm. What a spirit! There was more fun
and sense round that chair than in the theatre or
the church.?
In 1809 No. 7 St. James?s Square was the residence
of Alexander Geddes, A.R.Y.A., a well-known
Scottish artist. He was born at 7 St. Patrick Street,
near the Cross-causeway, in 1783. In 1812 he removed
to 55 York Place, and finally to London,
where he died, in Berners Street, on the 5th of May,
1844. His etchings in folio were edited by David
Laing, in 1875, but only IOO copies were printed.
A flat on the west side of the square was long
the residence of Charles Mackay, whose unrivalled
impersonation of Eailie Nicol Jarvie was once the
most cherished recollection of the old theatre-going
public, and who died on the 2nd November, 1857.
In
1787 Robert Bums lived for several months in
No. z (a common stair now numbered as 30)
whither he had removed from Baxter?s Close
in the Lawnmarket, and from this place many
3f the letters printed in his correspondence are
dated. In one or two he adds, ?Direct to me
xt Mr, FV. Cruikshank?s, St. James?s Square, New
Town, Edinburgh.? This gentleman was one of
;he masters of the High School, with whom he
passed many a happy hour, and to whose daughter
ie inscribed the verses beginning-
This square was not completed till 1790,
? Beauteous rosebud, young and gay,
Blooming in thy early May,? &c.
It was while here that he joined most in that
irilliant circle in which the accomplished Duchess ?

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moultray?s Hill. - dedicated to him,?) but by whom founded or when, is quite unknown ...

Book 2 p. 366
(Score 0.94)

392 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
The change8 effected .on the north transept, though equally radical with any we have
described on other parts of the church, were accompanied with some beneficial effects, calculated
to atone in a slight degree for the destruction of its ancient features. This transept
remained in ita original state, extending no further than the outer wall of the north aisle
of the choir. Beyond this, and within the line of the centre aisle of the transept, was the
belfry turret, with its curious and picturesque stone roof, which is accurately represented
in the view from the north-west. This turret was entirely removed and built anew, with
a crocketed spire in lieu of the more unique though rude form of the old roof, in a
position to the west of the transept, so as so admit of the latter being extended aa far north
as the outer wall of the old building. This was accomplished by the demolition of an aisle
which had been added to the old transept, apparently about the end of the fifteenth century,
and which, though equally richly finished with groined roof and sculptured bosses
and corbels, wa.s used till very shortly before its demolition as the offices of the town-clerk.
The appropriation, indeed, of the centre of the ancient Collegiate Church, was perhaps an
act of as disgraceful and systematic desecration as ever was perpetrated by an irreverent
age. The space within the great pillars of the centre tower was walled off and converted
into a stronghold for the incarceration of petty offenders, and the whole police establishment
found accommodation within the north transept and the adjoining chapels. The
reverent spirit of earlier times, which led to the adornment of every lintel and fapade with
its appropriate legend or Scripture text, had long disappeared ere this act of sacrilege was
so deliberately accomplished, otherwise a peculiarly suitable motto might have been found
for St Giles’s north doorway in the text : ‘( My house shall 6e called the louse of prayer,
but ye lave made it a den of thieves ! ”
In the subdivision of the ancient church for Protestant worship, the south aisle of
the nave, with three of the five chapels built in 1389, were converted into what was called
the Tolbooth Eirk. Frequent allusions, however, by early writers, in addition to the
positive evidence occasionally furnished by the records of the courts, tend to show that
both before the erection of the new Tolbooth, and after it was found inadequate for the
purposes of a legislative hall and court house, the entire nave of St Giles’s Church was
used for the sittings of both assemblies, and is frequently to be understood as the place
referred to under the name of the Tolbooth. In the trial, for example, of ‘‘ Mr Adame
Colquhoune, convicted of art and part of the treasonable slaughter and murder of umqIe
Robert Rankin,” the sederunt of the court is dated March 16, 1561-2, “ In Insula, vocat.
Halie-blude Iill, loco pretorii de Edr.,” and nearly a century later, Nicoll, the old diarist,
in the midst of some very grave reflections on the instadilitie of man, and the misereis
of kirk and stait in his time, describes the frequent changes made on “the Eirk callit
the Tolbuith Kirk, quhilk we8 so callit becaus it we8 laitlie the pairt and place quhair the
criminal1 court did sitt, and quhair the gallous and the mayden did ly of old ; lykewyse,
this K&k alterit and chayngit, and of this one Kirk thai did mak two.’’4 During the
interval between the downfall of Episcopacy in 1639, and its restoration in 1661, a constant
succession of changes seem to have been made on the internal subdivision of St Giles’s
Church, though without in any way permanently affecting the original features of the
building.
Pitcairn’s Crim. Trials, Supplement, p. 419. ’ Nicoll’s Diary, p. 170.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. The change8 effected .on the north transept, though equally radical with any we ...

Book 10 p. 430
(Score 0.94)

NOTES TO VOL. I.
Page 257, DEACONBR ODIEA ND THE EXCISEO FFICE.
The Excise Office was then in Chessels’ Court, Canongate. In the reign of Charles
11. it stood a little below John Knox’s house, just within the Nether Bow Port, From
thence it was removed to a fine old building in the Cowgate, on the site of the southeru
arches of George IV. Bridge, originally the mansion of the Earl of Haddington, the
favourite of James I. Froni this it was transferred to Chessels‘ Court in 1772, and
then to the fine mansion of Sir Lawrence Dundas in St. Andrew Square, now the Royal
Bank.of Scotland. Brodie’s own house was in .the Lawnmarket, a little below the
West Bow, styled after him Brodie’s Close.
Page 281, Dr. ALEXAXDEMRO NRO.
Among the earliest Scottish photograph portraits, taken with paper negatives, by
the late D. 0. Hill, R.S.A., is a very characteristic photograph of Dr. Alexander
Monro Tertius.
Page 287, EARLO F BUCHANH’SO USE.
The Earl of Buchan’s house was at the north-east corner of St. Andrew Sqnare, with
its east windows on North St. Andrew Street. There the Society of Antiquaries was
originated ; and there the eccentric nobleman figured in such scenes as that of Apollo
and the Muses, described in the following note.
Page 305, HADDOH’SO LE.
The Little Kirk, or Haddo’s Hole, waa the north-west division of Old St. Giles’s
Church. Until near the close of last century it was entered through a beautiful
Norman porch, the last remains of the earliest structure ; and over this was a chamber
to which Maitland gives the name of the Priest’s Prison. In this apartment Sir John
Gordon of Haddo was imprisoned in 1644, previous to his trial, and beheading by the
Maiden. Hence the name of Haddo’s Hole.
Page 306, MUIR of Huntershill and his MONUMENT.
The monument referred to as in prospect was at length successfully raised in spite
of the proceedings which interdicted its erection for a time, and wasted the funds in law
proceedings ; thereby reducing the scheme to the poor obelisk now in the Old Caltou
Eurying-ground.
Page 315, LORDP RESIDENBLTA IRA ND LORDM ELVILLE.
The houses referred to in the note were, it is presumed, in Brown Square. Lord
Melville occupied the most westerly house on the north side of the square. The next
house was occupied for a time by Sir Ilay Campbell, the predecessor of Lord President
Blair. The locality was conveniently near the Parliament House, with easy access by
the Cowgate and Old Parliament Stairs. Hence the square was a favourite resort of
the Judges. Lord Justice-clerk Miller was succeeded in the centre house on the same
side by his son, Lord Glenlee, who continued to occupy it long after the general fashionable
migration to the New Town.
Page 41 7, APGOWAN’MS USEUM.
Pennant, in his Second Tour, gives some account of the contents of Mr. John
Macguan’a “ small but select private cabinet.” Some of the objects found in the neighbourhood
of Edinburgh appear to have possessed considerable local interest; and
especially a fine Roman bronze, representing a beautiful Naiad, with a wine-vat on her
head, and a small satyr in one arm.

... TO VOL. I. Page 257, DEACONBR ODIEA ND THE EXCISEO FFICE. The Excise Office was then in Chessels’ Court, ...

Book 8 p. 603
(Score 0.93)

136 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Church,
and by an assessment on the real property within
the parish; the expense for each inmate in those
days was only A4 IS. 6d. On the demolition of
the old church, its pulpit, which was of oak, of a
very ancient form, and covered with carving, was
placed in the hall of the workhouse. The number
of the inmates in the first year was eighty-four.
The edifice, large and unsightly, was removed, with
the Diorama and several other houses, to make
space for the Caledonian railway, and the poor
of St. Cuthbert?s were conveyed to a more airy and
commodious mansion, on the site of the old farmhouse
of Werter.
When the Act of Parliament in 1767 was obenclosed
by a wall, on which a line of tombs is
now erected.
In the eighteenth century the building of note
nearest to the church of St. Cuthbert, on the opposite
side of the way, now named Iathian Road, was
a tall, narrow, three-storeyed country villa, called,
from its situation at the head of the slope, Kirkbraehead
House. There the way parted from the
straight line of the modern road at the kirk-gate,
forming a delta {the upper base of which was the
line of Princes Street), in which were several cottages
and gardens, long since swept away. A row
of cottages lay along the whole line of what is now
Queensferry Street, under the name of Kirkbraehead.
OLD WEST KIRK, AND WALLS OF THE LITTLE KIRK, 1772. (FmVJ alr Engraving of a Drawing fro?# a Moder.)
tained for extending the royalty of the city ol
Edinburgh, clauses were inserted in it disjoining
a great portion of the ground on which the future
new city was to be built, and annexing it to the
parish of St. Giles, under the condition that the
heritors of the lands should continue liable, as
formerly, for tithes, ministers? stipends, and A300
annually of poor?s money. Thus the modern
parishes of St Andrew, St. George, S t Mary, and
St. Stephen-all formed since that period-have
been taken from the great area of the ancient
parish of St Cuthbert
No very material alteration was made in the
burying-ground till April, I 787, when the north
side of it, which was bordered by a marsh 2,000
feet in length (to the foot of the mound) by 350
broad-as shown in the maps of that year-was
drained and partially filled with earth. Then the
walls and gates were repaired. The ground at
the east end was raised a few years after, and
The villa referred to was, towards the close of
the century, occupied by Lieutenant-General John
Lord Elphinstone, who was Lieutenant-Governor
of the Castle, with the moderate stipend of
LISO 10s. yearly, and who died in 1794.
At a subsequent period its occupant was a Mr.
John Butler, who figures amocg ? Kay?s Portraits,?
an eccentric character but skilful workman, who
was king?s carpenter for Scotland; he built Gayfield
House and the house of Sir Lawrence Dundas,
now the Royal Bank in St. Andrew Square. He
was proprietor of several tenements in Carmbber?s
Close, then one of the most fashionable portions of
the old town.
The villa of Kirkbraehead had been built by his
father ere the Lothian Road was formed, and concerning
the latter, the following account is given
by Kay?s editor and others.
This road, which leaves the western extremity of
Princes Street at a right angle, and runs southward

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Church, and by an assessment on the real property within the parish; the expense ...

Book 3 p. 136
(Score 0.93)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 393
He was, in short, the very last specimen (Lord Balgay perhaps excepted)
of the old race of Scottish advocates. He was universally allowed to be a
“ capital lawyer ;” and, notwithstanding his hasty demeanour on the bench, and
the incautious sarcasms in which he occasionally indulged at the expense of the
advooates before him, he was a great favourite with the younger portion of the
bar, who loved him the more for the peculiarities of his manner. He was himself
enthusiastic in the recollection of bygone days, and scorned the cold and
stiff formality which the decorum of modern times has thrown over the legal
character. Of the warmth of his feelings in this respect, a very characteristic
instance is related in Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk ;-“ When Guy Mannering
came out, the Judge was so much delighted with the picture of the life of the
old Scottish lawyers in that most charming novel, that he could talk of nothing
else but Pleydell, Dandie, and the high-jinks for many weeks. He usually
carried one volume of the book about with him ; and one morning, on the bench,
his love for it so completely got the better of him, that he lugged in the subject
head and shoulders, into the midst of a speech about some most dry point of
law ; nay, getting warmer every moment he spoke of it, he at last fairly plucked
the volume from his pocket, and, in spite of all the remonstrances of all his
brethren, insisted upon reading aloud the whole passage for their edification.
He went through the task with his wonted vivacity, gave great effect to every
speech, and most appropriate expression to every joke. During the whole scene
Sir walter Scott was present, seated, indeed, in his official capacity, close under
the Judge,”
Latterly his lordship sometimes made strange mistakes. A somewhat amusing
instance of his forgetfulness occurred during one of the circuit trials. A point
of law having been started, the counsel on either side cited their authorities.
The prisoner’s counsel founded on the opinion expressed by Mr. Burnet in his
treatise on Criminal Law ; whilst the Crown counsel appealed to Mr. Baron
Hume’s authority, which happened to be the other way. Lord Hermand heard
the former very patiently ; but, when the name of Hume was mentioned, he
interrupted the barrister, saying, that during the course of a long life he had
heard many strange things, but certainly, this was the first time he had ever
heard a novel-writer quoted as a law authority. Accordingly, without farther
ceremony, to the amazement of all present, he decided the point against the
Crown. In the evening some one of the young men present at the circuit
dinner ventured to ask his lordship, who was in admirable humour, for an
explanation, when it turned out that the venerable Judge, being accustomed to
see Baron Hume and Sir Walter Scott sitting together for a series of years at
the Clerk’s table in the First Division of the Court, had, by some unaccountable,
mental process, confounded the one with the other; and the fictions of the
latter being always present in his mind, the valuable legal treatise of the former
had entirely escaped his memory.
The following assumed speech by Lord Hermand, in a supposed divorce case
3E

... SKETCHES. 393 He was, in short, the very last specimen (Lord Balgay perhaps excepted) of the old ...

Book 8 p. 548
(Score 0.93)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 403
of Edinburgh, their chaplain, in a most impressive prayer. The battalion was immediately after
inspected by Brigadier-General Graham and Colonel Callander, who expressed themselves highly
pleased with the appearance and discipline of the corps. To those pieces of ceremony succeeded
the presentation of an elegant silver cup to Colonel Bennet, from the non-commissioned officers and
privates of the regiment, delivered by Field-Serjeant Thomas Sommers, who, upon the occasion,
addressed the Colonel in a most impressive manner. This being over, the battalion marched upon
a visit to the Commander-in-Chief (the Earl of Moira), at Duddingston House, when his lordship
took a view of the regiment in line ; and, when formed into a hollow square, addressed them in a
manner truly complimentary and striking. They immediately after returned to town, when,
upon depositing the colours in the Colonel’s house, they were regaled by him in a very liberal and
handsome style of hospitality.”
About the same period, Mr. Bennet received another testimony of respect,
by having the freedom of the city of Londonderry conferred upon him. It was
transmitted in a silver box by William Leckie, Esq., senior magistrate, to Mr.
Bennet for his kindness and attention to his son-a student at the Universitywho
fell in a duel near Duddingston. The following short account was all that
was given of this fatal affair at the time :-
“Wednesday morning, July 3 (1805), a duel was fought, in the neighbourhood of Duddingston,
between Mr. Romney and Mr. Leckie, students attending the medical classes in the University, when
the latter received a wound in the groin, in consequence of which he died next Saturday morning,
Four shots were, we understand, exchanged. Mr. Leckie received his wound by the first 6re, but
did not discover it. After shaking hands with his antagonist, he declared he was mortally wounded,
and desired Mr. Romney, the seconds, and the surgeon who attended, to make their escape, which
they accordingly did. ”
The personal appearance of Mr. Bennet is’ accurately delineated in the foregoing
etching ; even so minute a peculiarity as the mole on his right cheek has
not been overlooked by the artist. His form was exceedingly spare ; and his
legs, in particular, were remarkable for their tenuity. Perfectly sensible how
niggardly nature had been of her gifts in this respect, Mr. Bennet used to anticipate
the observations of his friends by occasional humorous allusions to the
subject. One day, having called on his tailor to give a fresh order, he facetiously
inquired if he could measure him for a suit of small clothes. “ 0 yes,” rejoined
his friend of the iron ; “hold up your stick, it will serve the purpose well
enough.”’
Among other amusements, Mr. Bennet was particularly partial to the sports
of the field ; and
“ When westlin winds and slaughtering guns
Brought Autumn’s pleasant weather,”
he annually repaired to the moors with his dog and gun. On the morning of
the 10th of October 1805, he left Edinburgh, attired in his “shooting Faith,”
with the view of enjoying a day’s excursion in the kingdom of Fife. A gentleman,
who crossed over with him in the morning at Queensfemy, mentions that
he had seldom seen him in higher spirits. After passing the ferry, Mr. Bennet
proceeded in the direction of Kinghorn, where he had been invited to dine with
There are two portraits of Nr. Bennet painted by Sir Henry Raeburn-one is preserved by
his family, and the other is in the possession of his old friend and associate Lord Panmum.

... SKETCHES. 403 of Edinburgh, their chaplain, in a most impressive prayer. The battalion was ...

Book 8 p. 561
(Score 0.93)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 83
Mr. Lunardi again visited Edinburgh the year following (1 786), and ascended
the third time from Heriot’s Hospital Green, on the 31st of July. On this
occasion a lady (Mrs. Lamash, an actress) was to have accompanied him, and had
actually taken her seat in the car ; but the balloon being unable to ascend with
both, Lunardi ascended alone. In consequence of little wind, he came down
about two miles distant. On his return to the city in the evening, he was
carried through the streets in his car by the populace, and received other
demonstrations of admiration,
Very little is known of Mr. Lunardi’s personal history, save that he was a
native of Italy, and some time Secretary to the then late Neapolitan ambassador.
In 1786, he published an account of his aerial voyages in Scotland, which he
dedicated to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. This small volume, although
proving him to be a man of education, and some talent as a writer, throws very
little light upon his history. It consists of a series of letters addressed to his
guardian, (‘ Chevalier Gerardo Compagni.” These letters were evidently written
under the impulse of the moment, and afford a connected detail of his progress in
Scotland. They are chiefly interesting at this distance of time, as showing;the
feelings and motives of one, who, whether his “labours were misdirected” or
not, obtained an extraordinary degree of notoriety. In short, the volume is
amusing in this particular, and adds another proof to the many, that few, very
few, seek the advancement of society, or of the sciences, for humanity’s sake
alone, Fame is the grand stimulus. A portrait of the author is prefixed, which
corresponds extremely well with Mr. Kay’s sketches of him. Lunardi must have
been at that time a very young man.
The young adventurer, on his arrival in the Scottish capital, is much pleased
with its ancient and romantic appearance. He expresses himself with great
animation on all he sees around him, and apparently with great sincerity. As
a specimen of the man and his opinions, we are induced to make one or two
extracts. In the first letter, after describing his arrival, he says :-
“ I have apartments in Walker’s Hotel, Prince’s Street, from whence I behold
innumerable elegant baildings, and my ears are saluted with the sounds of
industry from many others similarly arising. It
vibrates more forcibly on the chords of my heart than the most harmonious
notes of music, and gives birth to sensations that.1 would not exchange for all
the boasted pleasures of luxury and dissipation.”
These sentiments would have done credit to one less gay and youthful than
Lunardi. In another letter he says, ‘‘ I am now happy in the acquaintance of
the Hon. Henry Erskine, Sir William Forbes, and Major Fraser.” True to his
clime, however, the letters of Lnnardi betray in him all the volatility and passion
ascribed to his countrymen. At one moment he is in ecstasy, the other in
despair, He had chosen George Square for his first display, and had contracted
with Isaac Braidwood of the Luckenbooths, who had actually begun to enclose
the area, when an order from the Magistrates stopped farther proceedings. The
Hail to the voice of labour !

... SKETCHES. 83 Mr. Lunardi again visited Edinburgh the year following (1 786), and ascended the third ...

Book 8 p. 118
(Score 0.92)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 223
This municipal squabble was of come too good a subject for the genius of
Kay to overlook; accordingly we are presented, in the foregoing print, with a
group of the persons most zealous and interested in this bone of contention
The figure on the left represents MR. ORLANDO HART, who carried on
business as a shoemaker in the High Street, opposite the Old City Guard-
House, and was considered one of the most fortunate of the city politicians.
For a series of twenty or twenty-five years he was almost constantly a member
of the Town Council, or a Deacon, or a Trades Councillor,-having been first
elected Deacon of the Cordwainers in 1766, and thereafter Convener of the
Trades in 1771. He possessed a happy knack of suiting himself to circumstances,
and was.peculiarly sagacious in keeping steady by the leading men in
the magistracy j the consequence of which was, in addition to extensive patronage
in the way o€ his calling, the enjoyment of the pretty lucrative situation of
Keeper of the Town’s Water Works, etc. He was of course favourable to the
Lord Provost’s, plan of levelling the street.
The popularity of Mr. Hart among the jolly sons of St. Crispin appears to
have been of very early growth. In 1757 he was the victorious candidate for
the honour of monarchy, in the spectacle of King Crispin, in opposition to
Deacon Malcolm, whose party, determining not to be thrown into the shade,
crowned him king also ; so that, what was perhaps unprecedented’ in the annals
of Christendom, two rival kings and their subjects actually walked in the same
procession, without producing a single “ broken bane or bluidy head.”
Mr. Hart, though never famed among his friends for the depth of his understanding,
appears, nevertheless, to have had a pretty good opinion of himself.
On one occasion Mr. (afterwards Provost) Creech happened to put the question
to Daft Davie Erskine-“ Who is the wisest man in the city P ” He received
for reply, “Mr. Hart.” The next time Mr. Creech met the Deacon, he told
him the story j upon which the latter modestly replied, “ Davie is no sic a fool
as ye tak’ him for.”
The Deacon and Provost Dalrymple resembled each other extremely in personal
appearance ; so much so, that a gentleman meeting the Provost one day
challenged him’ for not sending home his boots. The Provost, comprehending
the mistake, which doubtless bad occurred on other occasions, good-humouredly
replied, “ I will attend to it to-morrow.”
Mr. Hart built the front, or centre house, on the north side of Charlotte
Square, which we have been informed, cost Sl0,OOO. He died on the 9th
September 179 1 ; and was followed to the grave, in seven days afterwards, by
his widow, His son, Macduff Hart, whom he had assumed as a partner, under
the firm of Orlando Hart and Son, continued to carry on the business, and
was elected Deacon of the craft in 1782. He was particularly celebrated for
his vocal powers.
’
No parallel can be found, excepting in the instance of the two kings of Brentford, whose exploits
are recorded in “The Rehearsal.”

... SKETCHES. 223 This municipal squabble was of come too good a subject for the genius of Kay to ...

Book 8 p. 315
(Score 0.92)

ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 381
others. The pillars are decorated with foliated capitals, elaborately finished with sculptured
shields and angels’ heads ; the shafts are fluted according to a regular and beautiful
design, and their bases are enriched with foliated sculpture ; while the other pillars of the
choir are plain octagons, with their capitals formed by a few simple mouldings. The arching
and groining, moreover, of this extended portion of the aisles entirely differs from the
western and earlier part ; for whereas the latter are formed of concentric arches springing
from four sides and meeting in one keystone, so that the top of the windows can
reach no higher than the spring of the arch, the former is constructed on the more nsual
plan of a goined roof, running across the aisle, and admitting of the two eastmost windows
on each side rising nearly to the top of the arch. No less obvious proofs are discoverable of
the addition of the clerestory at the same period. There are flaws remaining in the
lower part of its walk, marking distinctly how far the old work has been taken down.
A slight inclination outward, in part of the wall immediately above the pillars, shows
that the roof of the choir had corresponded in height with the old nave ; and portions of
the original groining springing from the capitals of the pillars still remain, only partially
chiselled away. The extreme beauty of the clerestory groining, and its remarkably rich
variety of bosses, all furnish abdndant evidence of its being the work of a later age than
the other parts of the building. On €he centre boss, at the division of the two eastmost
compartments of the ceiling, is the monogram fQ$, boldly cut on a large shield; and on
the one next to it westward, the following legend is neatly arranged round a carved
centre in bold relief :-%be + gCil .. pbl . bnpl + teCU +-an abbreviation evidently of the
salutation of the Virgin,-Ave Maria, gratia p Zena, dominus tecum,-though from ita
height, and the contractions necessary to bring it within such circumscribed dimensions,
it is not easily deciphered. These, it is probable, stood directly over the site of the high
altar, which does not appear to have been removed from its original position at the east
end of the old choir upon its enlargement and elongation in the fifteenth century, as we
find that Walter Bertrame, burgess of Edinburgh, by a charter dated December 20, 1477,
founded a chaplainry at ‘‘ the Altar of St fiancia, situate behind the Great Altar,” and
endowed it with various annual rents from property in Edinburgh and Leith.l
Another striking feature of the additions made to St Giles’s Church in the fifteenth
century, is the numerous heraldic devices introduced among the ornaments, which afford
striking confirnation as to the period when they were executed., The north-east, or King’s
Pillar, as it is generally called, of which we have already given a view; bears on the east
and west sides the royal arms of Scotland ; on the north side those of May of Gueldersthe
Queen of James 11. and the founder of the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinityimpaled
with the royal arms ; and on the south side the arms of France. James II. succeeded
to the throne, a mere child, in 1438, and was killed by the bursting of a cannon at
the siege of Roxburgh Castle in 1460 ; and the remaining armorial bearings afford further
proof of the erection of this addition to the church between these two periods. On the opposite
pillar there are, on the south side, the arms of the good town ; and on the west those
of Bishop Remedy, the cousin of James IL and his able and faithful councillor, who was
promoted to the metropolitan see in 1440, and died in 1466. The other arms are those
of Nicolson, and Preston of Craigmillar. On the engaged pillar, on the north side of the
Maitland, p. 271. Inventar of Pious Donations. MS. Ad. Lib. ’ Ante, p. 24.

... ANTIQUITIES. 381 others. The pillars are decorated with foliated capitals, elaborately finished ...

Book 10 p. 418
(Score 0.91)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 361
hoisted Blue Peter; while all agreed that he set the darbies and .u$les charmingly,
and that nothing was wanting to complete his full dress but a nosegay,
which he would easily procure among the Flowers of Edinburgh.” The prisoner
arrived in Glasgow on the 8th of April 1812-was committed for trial-and
while in jail offered to put the bank in possession of $1000 of their money,
which their agent in London actually procured from Mr. Harmer, who was then
Mackcoull’s solicitor.’ He also gave a bill for $400, granted by himself on
Ann Wheeler, his sister, with her endorsation. Notwithstanding this implied
admission of his guilt, he ran his letters against the King’s Advocate ; and it
being supposed that sufficient proof could not be procured to convict him
capitally, he was liberated on the 2d July 1812.
Mackcoull now returned to London, and with great activity set about cashing
his Scotch notes. Besides employing a confidential individual in the business,
he made several journeys to Scotland, buying bills on London in various
names. On the last of these expeditions, in 181 3, having been seen by Mr.
I)enovan, who then superintended the Leith Police, his motions were carefully
observed, After purchasing bills, amounting to nearly $1 000, at various banking
establishments in Edinburgh and Leith, he was again apprehended on the
5th of March, when just on the eve of sailing by one of the smacks. He was
next day examined before the Magistrates of Edinburgh ; but, from a belief
that he could not be legally prosecuted after having “run his letters” on the
former occasion, Mackcoull was again set at liberty. His bills and money,
however-with the exception of 336 (in English notes)-were retained in the
hands of Mr. Callander, the City Clerk. That he did not insist on having the
whole of the money restored to him at that time was probably owing to his
anxiety to escape.
In October 1813, while Mackcoull was confined in Newgate for a breach of
the peace, committed in the house of his wife (for at that time he was not
living with her), the Paisley Union Bank obtained possession of the bills from
the Magistrates of Edinburgh, on lodging a bond of indemnity and relief; but
it was not till 1815 that he mustered assurance enough to demand restitution.
He first wrote several letters to Mr. Callander-next came himself to Edinburgh
-called at the British Linen Company’s Office, and imperiously demanded the
bills he had purchased from them in 1813. He wrote a statement of his case
to the then Lord Advocate (Colquhoun of Killermont) ; and, failing to procure
his interference, made personal application to the Council Chambers, where
his conduct was such as to cause the city officers to turn him out.
Mackcoull first brought his case before the Sheriff Court, but not meeting
with success, he commenced a series of proceedings in the Supreme Court,
which lasted several years, and in which he had well-nigh been victorious. The
1 This snm had been deposited for the purpose by Mackcoull’s mother. As an instance of his
villany, after the death of Old Uunpowder (as he called her), he instituted a process against Mr.
Harmer, on the ground that he had no authorityfvom him for paying away the money, and was
actually successful.
VOL. IL S A

... SKETCHES. 361 hoisted Blue Peter; while all agreed that he set the darbies and .u$les ...

Book 9 p. 480
(Score 0.91)

322 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
overpowering force. Conjecture is vain as to the depositor of this hidden treasure ; but
we may fancy the prowess or cunning of some hardy burgher achieving sudden victory
over a stray band of the insolent invaders, and concealing here the hard-won spoils, for
which he never returned. Beyond the arch of the bridge, from whence the busy crowds
of the modern city look down on this deserted scene of former magnificence, we again
come to antique memorials of other times. Here was a steep and straitened alley ascending
towards the southern side of the town, which formed in remote times the avenue to the
Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields; and at a more recent, though still early
period, the public approach to the Old College of Edinburgh. This ancient avenue possessed
interesting associations with successive generations, from the period when Dominicans
and Greyfriars, and the priests and choristers of St Mary’s College, clamb the steep
ascent, down to a time, not long gone by, when grave professors and wily practitioners
of the law shared among them itsjuts and common stairs.
This ancient thoroughfare formerly bore the name of “ The Wynd of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in-the-Field,” as appears from the charters of property acquired by the town for the
establishment of King James’s College.’ About the middle of the wynd, on the east
side, a curious and antique edifice retained many of its original features, notwithstanding
its transmutation from a Collegium Sacerdoturn, or prebendal building of the neighbouring
collegiate church, to a brewers’ granary and a spirit vault. Such, at least, we conceive to
have been its original destination. The ground floor had been entirely refaced with hewn
stoue ; but over a large window on the first floor there was a sculptured lintel, which is
mentioned by k n o t as having surmounted the gateway into the inner court. It bore the
following inscription, cut in beautifd and very early characters :-
Bbe flaria, QDratia plena, Damintter tecum.
At the close of the chapter, a sketch of a beautiful, though mutilated, Gothic niche is
given, which was on the front of the building. It is said to have originally stood over
the main gateway above the carved lintel we have described, and without doubt it contained
a statue of the TTi.rgin, to whom the wayfarer’s supplications were invited. These
interesting remains, so characteristic of the obsolete faith and habits of a former age,
afforded undoubted evidence of the importance of this building in early times, when it
formed a part of the extensive collegiate establishment of St Mary in-the-Fields, founded
and endowed apparently by the piety of the wealthy citizens of the capital. To complete
the ecclesiastical features of this ancient edifice, a boldly-cut shield on the lower crow-step
bore the usual monogram of our Saviour, fbs-and the windows presented the common
feature of .broken mullions and transoms, with which they had originally been divided.
Internally the building presented features of a more recent date, indicating that its earliest
lay occupants were worthy neighbours of the aristocratic denizens of the Cowgate. A
stucco ceiling in the principal apartment was adorned with a variety of ornaments in the
style prevalent in the reign of Charles I., the most prominent among which was the winged
“Shaw’s tenement in the Wynd of the Blessed &ry in-the-Field, now the College Wynd. Item, an instrument
of aaaine, dated 30th June, 1525, of a land built and waste, lying in the Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Mary in-thsField,
on the weat aide thereof, &e., in favour of Alex. Schaw. son of Wrn. Schaw of Po1kemrnet.’”-From Descriptive Inventory
of Tuwn’q purchases for the Gllege, Burgh Charter Room.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. overpowering force. Conjecture is vain as to the depositor of this hidden treasure ; ...

Book 10 p. 350
(Score 0.91)

I 2 2 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Convivialii
CHAPTER XII.
THE OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS.
Of Old Clubs, and some Notabilii of Edinburgh Life in the Last Century--The Horn Order-The Union Club-Impious Clubs-Assembly of
Birds-The Sweating Club-The Revolution and certain other Clubs-The Beggars? Benison-The Capillaire Club-The Industrious Company-
The Wig, asculapian, Boar, Country Dinner, The East India, Cape, Spendthrift, Pious, Antemanum, Six Feet, and Shakespeare
Clubs-Oyster Cellars-? Frolics ?-The ?Duke of Edinburgh.?
As a change for a time from history and statistics,
we propose now to take a brief glance at some old
manners in the last century, and at the curious and
often quaintly-designated clubs, wherein our forefathers
roystered, and held their ? high jinks ? as
they phrased them, and when tavern dissipation,
now so rare among respectable classes of the community,
? engrossed,? says Chambers, ?? the leisure
hours of all professional men, scarcely excepting even
the most stern and dignified. No rank, class, or
profession, indeed, formed an exception to this
rule.?
Such gatherings and roysterings formed, in the
eighteenth century, a marked feature of life in the
deep dark closes and picturesque wynds of (( Auld
Reekie,? a sobnpet which, though attributed to
James VI., the afore-named writer affirms cannot
be traced beyond the reign of Charles II., and
assigns it to an old Fifeshire gentleman, Durham of
Largo, who regulated the hour of family worship
and his children?s bed-time as he saw the smoke
of evening gather over the summits of the venerable
city.
To the famous Crochallan Club, the Poker and
Mirror Clubs, and the various golf clubs, we have
already referred in their various localities, but,
taken in chronological order, probably the HORN
ORDER, instituted in 1705, when the Duke of
Argyle was Lord High Commissioner to the
Scottish Parliament, was the first attempt to constitute
a species of fashionable club.
It was founded as a coterie of ladies and gentlemen
mostly by the influence and exertions of
one who was a leader in Scottish society in
those days and a distinguished beau, John, thud
Earl of Selkirk (previously Earl of Ruglan). Its
curious designation had its origin in a whim of the
moment. At some convivial meeting a common
horn spoon had been used, and it occurred to the
members of the club-then in its infancy-that this
homely implement should be adopted as their
private badge; and it was further agreed by all
present, that the ?Order of the Horn? would be a
pleasant caricature of various ancient and highlysanctioned
dignities.
For many a day after this strange designation was
adopted the members constituting the Horn Order
met and caroused, but the commonalty of the city
.
?
put a very evil construction on these hitherto unheard
of reunions ; and, indeed, if all accounts
be true, it must have been a species of masquerade,
in which the sexes were mixed, and all ranks confounded.?
The UNION CLUB is next heard of after this,
but of its foundation, or membership, nothing is
known ; doubtless the unpopularity of the name
would soon lead to its dissolution and doom.
Impious clubs, strange to say, next make their
appearance in that rigid, strict, and strait-laced
period of Scottish life; but they were chiefly
branches of or societies affiliated to those clubs in
London, against which an Order in Council vas
issued on the 28th of April, 1721, wherein they
were denounced as scandalous meetings held for
the purpose of ridiculing religion and morality.
These fraternities of free-living gentlemen, who were
unbounded in indulgence, and exhibited an outrageous
disposition to mock all solemn things, though
cenhing, as we have said, in London, established
their branches in Edinburgh and Dublin, and to
both these cities their secretaries came to impart
to them ?as far as wanting, a proper spirit.?
Their toasts were, beyond all modern belief,
fearfully blasphemous. Sulphureous flames and
fumes were raised in their rooms to simulate the
infernal regions ; and common folk would tell with
bated breath, how after drinking some unusually
horrible toast, the proposer would be struck dead
with his cup in his hand.
In I 726 the Rev. Robert Wodrow adverts to the
rumour of the existence in Edinburgh of these offshoots
of impious clubs in London ; and he records
with horror and dismay that the secretary of the
Hell-fire Club, a Scotsman, was reported to have
come north to establish a branch of that awful community
; but, he records in his Analecta, the secretary
?fell into melancholy, as it was called, but
probably horror of conscience and despair, and at
length turned mad. Nobody was allowed to see
him j the physicians prescribed bathing for him,
and he died mad at the first bathing. .The Lord
pity us, wickedness is come to a terrible height ! ?
Wickedness went yet further, for the same gossipping
historian has among his pamphlets an account
of the Hell-fire Clubs, Sulphur Societies, and Demirep
Dragons, their full strength, with a list of the

... 2 2 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Convivialii CHAPTER XII. THE OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS. Of Old Clubs, and some Notabilii ...

Book 5 p. 122
(Score 0.91)

242 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Cowgate.
mentioned as residents in it in 1501. He was
Provost in 1425, and was succeeded in 1434 by
Sir Henry Preston of Craigmillar.
Other alleys are mentioned as having existed
in the sixteenth century : Swift?s Wynd, Aikman?s
Close, and ?the Eirle of Irgyllis Close,? in the
Dean of Guild?s Accounts in 1554, and Blacklock?s
Close, where the unfortunate Earl of Northumberland
was lodged in the house of Alexander Clarke,
when he was betrayed into the hands of the
Regent Moray in December, 1569. ,In a list of
citizens, adherents of Queen Mary, in ?1571, are two
glassier-wnghts, one of them named Steven Loch,
probably the person commemorated in Stevenlaw?s
Close, in the High Street.
From Palfrey?s bustling inrrj at the Cowgate-head,
the Dunse fly was wont to take its departure
twice weekly at 8 a.m in the beginning of the
century; and in 1780 some thirty carriers? wains
arrived there and departed weekly. Wilson says
that ?Palfrey?s, or the King?s Head Inn, is a fine
antique stone land of the time of Charles I. An
inner court is enclosed by the buildings behind,
and it long remained one of the best frequented
inns in old Edinburgh, being situated at the junktion
of two of the principal approaches to the town
from the south and west.?
In this quarter MacLellan?s Land, No. 8, a lofty
tenement which forms the last in the range of
houses on the north side of the street, has peculiar
interest from its several associations. Towards the
middle of the last century this edifice-the windows
of which look straight up the Candlemaker-rowhad
as the occupant of its third floor Mrs. Syme, a
clergyman?s widow, with whom the father of Lord
Brougham came to lodge, and whose daughter became
his wife and the lady of Brougham Hall.
He died in 1810, and is buried in Restalrig churchyard.
Mrs. Broughain?s maiden aunt continued to
reside in this house at the Cowgate-head till a
period subsequent to 1794.
In his father?s house, one of the flats in Mac-
Lellan?s Land, Henry Mackenzie, ?the Man of
Feeling,? resided at one time with his Wife and
family.
In the flat immediately below Mrs. Syme dwelt
Bailie John Kyd, a wealthy wine merchant, who
made no small noise in the city, and who figures
among Kay?s etchings. He was a Bailie of 1769,
and Dean of Guild in 1774.
So lately as 1824 the principal apartments in
No. 8 were occupied by an aged journeyman
printer, the father of John Nimmo, who became
conspicuous as the nominal editor of the Beacon,
as his name appeared to many of the obnoxious
articles therein. This paper soon made itself
notorious by its unscrupulous and scurrilous nature,
and its attacks on the private character of the
leading Whig nobles and gentlemen in Scotland,
which ended in Stuart of Dunearn horsewhipping
Mr. Stevenson in the Parliament Square. The
paper was eventually suppressed, and John Nimmo,
hearing of the issue of a Speaker?s warrant against
him, after appearing openly at the printing office
near the old back stairs to the Parliament House,
fled the same day from Leith in a smack, and did
not revisit Edinburgh for thirty-one years. He
worked long as a journeyman printer in the service
of the great Parisian house of M. Didot, and for
forty years he formed one of the staff of Ga&-
nanr?s Messenger, from which he retired with a
pension to Asni?eres, where he died in his eightysixth
year in February, 1879.
In this quarter of the Cowgate was born, in 1745,
Dr. James Graham (the son of a saddler), who was
a man of some note in his time as a lecturer and
writer on medical subjects, and whose brother
William married Catharine Macaulay, authoress of
a ?? History of England? and other works forgotten
now. In London Dr. Graham started an extraordinary
establishment, known as the Temple of
Health, in Pall Mall, where he delivered what were
termed Hyineneal Lectures, which in 1783 he redelivered
in st. Andrew?s Chapel, in Carrubber?s
Close. In his latter years he became seized with a
species of religious frenzy, and died suddenly in his
house, opposite the Archer?s Hall, in 1794.
In Bailie?s Court, in this quarter, lived Robert
Bruce, Lord Kennet, 4th July, 1764, successor on
the bench to Lord Prestongrange, and who died
in 1786. This court-latterly a broker?s yard for
burning bones-and Allison?s Close, which adjoins
it-a damp and inconveniently filthy place, though
but a few years ago one of the most picturesque
alleys in the Cowgate-are decorated at their
entrances with passages from the Psalms, a custom
that superseded the Latin and older legends towards
the end of the seventeenth century.
In Allison?s Close a door-head bears, but sorely
defaced, in Roman letters, the lines from the 120th
Psalm :-?? In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
and he heard me. Deliver my soul, 0 Lord, from
lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.?
In Fisher?s Close, which led directly up to the
Lawnmarket, there is a well of considerable
antiquity, more than seventy feet deep, in which a
man was nearly drowned in 1823 by the flagstone
that covered it suddenly giving way.
The fragment of a house, abutting close to the
northern pier of the centre arch of George IV.
.

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Cowgate. mentioned as residents in it in 1501. He was Provost in 1425, and was ...

Book 4 p. 242
(Score 0.91)

64 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
out on a short tour to France during the Christmas recess. He travelled for
some distance with Montgolfier, the inventor of balloons, and on his arrival in
Paris was kindly received by Necker, then Prime Minister. “ The ladies of
the family,’’ says his biographer, “seemed to have resolved on giving their
Scottish guest an agreeable reception. He found Madame Necker reading
Blair’s sermons, and Mademoiselle Necker, afterwards the celebrated De Stael,
playing Lochber 710 more on the piano.” On his return to Britain, Mr. Sinclair
communicated hints to Government respecting several improvements with which
he had become acquainted in France ; and the title of Baronet was conferred on
him (4th February 1786) as a reward for his public services.
In 1786, Sir ,John proceeded on a more extended tour, in the course of
which he visited Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Poland ; from Warsaw he proceeded
to Vienna- from thence to Berlin, Hanover, Holland, Flanders, and
returned to England by France, having, in the short space of seven months,
performed a journey of more than 7500 English miles. During his progress
he was introduced to nearly all the courts of the various countries-was everywhere
received with the utmost kindness and attention, and established a
correspondence with many of the most eminent and remarkable men on the
Continent. In Sweden, Denmark, and Russia, he met with several countrymen,
particularly at Stockholm, where he found many of the nobles descendants
of Scotsmen who had fought under Gustavus during the Thirty Years’
War.
Not long after his return, Sir John again entered into the married relation,
by espousing, on the 6th March 1788, the Honourable Diana, only daughter
of Alexander first Lord Rlacdonald. The ceremony was performed in London,
where the parties resided for a short time ; but they eventually settled in Edinburgh,
taking up house in the Canongate.’ During his residence there, each
day, with the exception of an hour or two, was laboriously devoted to study or
business. His exercise usually consisted in a walk to Leith, between the hours
of two and four; and it was one of his favourite sayings that “whoever
touched the post at the extremity of the pier, took an enfeoffment of life for
seven years.” To Caithness he performed regular journeys, generally diverging
from the direct route to extend his agricultural acquaintance.
On resuming an interest in Parliamentary affairs, he became gradually
estranged from the support of the administration of Pitt, conscientiously differing
with the Premier on many important points. The abandonment of Warren
Hastings by the minister he considered an unworthy sacrifice to popular feeling
-and on the “Regency Question” he was decidedly opposed to the ministerial
propositions. Thus disaffected he naturally fell in with the “ Armed Neutrality,” a
party so called from their profession of independence, of whom the Earl of Rloira
was considered the head.
Sir John now entered on a series of projects of great importance to the
He afterwards removed to Charlotte Square, and latterly to George Street.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. out on a short tour to France during the Christmas recess. He travelled for some ...

Book 9 p. 86
(Score 0.9)

INDEX TO VOL . I1 .
PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES .
A’
No . Page
ADVOCATES. Twelve. with wigs on .... cccxx 436
Advocates. Twelve. without wigs ... cccxxvi 462
Alls. The Five ........................... clxxxvii 46
Anderson. Mr . Francis. W . S ............. ccli 241
Angouleme. Duc d‘... ........................ ccxl 198
Austin.Mr . John. author of a “System
of Stenographic Music .............c cxcvii 376
Aytoun. Major-General Roger. ............c. cxl 196
B
BAILLIE, William. Lord Polkemmet ... ccxliii 216
Baillie. William. Lord Polkemmet ........ ccc 380
Baine. Rev . James. A.M., first minister
of the Relief Congregation. South
College Street .............................. cc 82
Baird. Rev . George Husband Baird.
D.D. Principal of the University.
and one of the ministers of the
High Church ........................... cccix 411
Bannatpe ............................. ccxciv 370
Barclay. John. M.D. ..................... cccxxii 448
Beggar’s Feast .............................. cccliii 480
Baird Rev . Principal ........................ cccx 412
Bannatpe. Sir W . M‘Leod. Lord
Bannatyne. Sir W . M‘Leod. Lord
Bannatyne .... ..........................c. cc 380
Bell. Mr . Benjamin, surgeon ..........c lxxxvi 45
Bell, Mr . Hamilton. W.S., carrying s
vintner’s boy from Edinburgh to
Mnsselburgh ........................... cclxiv 282
Bell, Mr. Hamilton. W.S ...............c. clxVi 289
Bell. Robert. Esq., Procurator for the
Bell, George Joseph. Profeasor of the
Law of Scotland .................... cccxxvi 464
Billair. Captain. and his Wife .......... ccxcix 379
Kirk ..................................... c c c a 437
No . Page
Black. Rev . David, of Lady Yester’s
Church .............................. ccxxxviii 192
Black. Donald. chairman ................. ccxcii 367
Blucher. Field.Marahal ................... ccclxi 477
Booksellers, Two ........................... clxxxii 30
Boswell. Claud Irvine. Lord Balmuto cclxii 277
Boswell. Claud I n h e . Lord Balmuto .... ccc 380
14
Boyle, Right Hon . David. Lord Justice-
Clerk ..................................c.c. cxii 417
Braidwood. Mr . Francis. cabinet-maker ccxiii 122
Breadalbane. John first Marquis of .. ccxlviii 233
Breadalbane, Lady ......................c cxlviii 23 4
Brown. Dr . John. alias “the Devil
Killer” .................................... cccv 394
Browne. Citizen M.C., one of the delegates
to the British Conventionccxxd 177
Buchanan. Rev . Dr., of the Canongate
Church .................................. ccxxii 152
Burnet. Captaii James. the last captain
of the City Guard ................... ecxxxv 185
Burnett, John. Esq., advocate ........... cccxx 436
Bums, Miss, a celebrated beauty ......... cxcii 60
Burns, Miss, a celebrated beauty ........c ccvi 399
Butler. Hon . Simon ...................... ccxbx 176
Butter. Mr . William .................... clxxxiii 32
Boyd. Mr . George. clothier ............. c l d
Brougham. Henry .................... cccxxxviii 478
a
CAMPBELLC,o lin. Esq., of Kd berry ... chxii 5
Campbell, Sir James, Bart. of Ardkinglass
.................................. clxxxix 61
Campbell, Sir Ilay. Bart., Lord President
of the Court of Seasion ................. ccii 89
Campbell, Sir Ilay. Lord PreSide .nt ....... ccc 380
Campbell, Mr . John. precentor ............ cciii 92
Campbell, ldr . Alexander .................. cciv 95

... TO VOL . I1 . PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES . A’ No . Page ADVOCATES. Twelve. with wigs on .... ...

Book 9 p. 676
(Score 0.9)

L UCKENBOOTNS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 215
appropriately suspended on the walls, and mentioned in a MS. volume of last century,
as ‘‘ taken down when the Court was repaired.” These ancient decorations have since
been replaced by statues of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President Blair, son of
the poet, Lord Melville, Lord Chief Baron Dundas, Lord Jeffrey, Lord President Boyle,
Lord Cockburn, &c.; and by portraits of Lord Abercromby, Professor Bell, Lord
Brougham, Lord Justice-clerk Hope, Lord Colonsay, &c. There are also specimens by
.the celebrated Jamesone, the earliest Scottish painter, who studied under Rubens at
Antwerp. This great hall is now used as a waiting-room and promenade by the advocates
and the various other practitioners connected with the Supreme Courts, and during
the sitting of the courts presents a very attractive and animated scene.
To a stranger visiting the Scottish capital, no one of its public buildings is so
calculated to excite a lively interest as the scene of its latest legislative assemblies ; for
while it shares with the deserted palace, and the degraded mansions of the Old Town, in
many grand and stirring associations, it still forms the Hallaf the College of Justice,
founded by James V.,-at once the arena of the leading Scottish nobles and statesmen
of the last two centuries, and the scene of action of many of the most eminent men of
Beneath the old roof, thus consecrated by sacred historic memories, the first great
movements of the civil war took place, and the successive steps in that eventful crisis
were debated with a zeal commensurate to the important results involved in them, and
with as fiery ardour as characterised the bloody struggles which they heralded. Here
Montrose united with Rothes, Lindsay, Loudon, and others of the Covenanting leaders,
in maturing the bold measures that formed the basis of our national liberties; and
within the same hall, only a few years later, he sat with the calmness of despair, to
receive from the lips of his old compatriot, Loudon, the barbarous sentence which was
executed with such savage rigour.
When the fatal overthrow of the Scottish army at Dunbar at length laid the capital at
the mercy of Cromwell, new scenes were enacted within the Parliament House-“ witness
sindry Englisch trouperis quha oppinlie taught there.” ’ If Pinkerton ’ is to be believed,
even the General, Cromwell himself, occasionally laid aside the temporal for the spiritual
sword, within the same august arena, to the great scandal of the Presbyterian citizens,
who were horrified to find that ‘‘ men war not aschamed to tak upone thame the functione
of the ministrie, without a lauchfull calling.” But while such novelties were being
enacted in the great hall, the laich Parliament Hous ” was crowded with Scottish
prisoners, and the building strictly guarded by bands of the same English troopers,
equally ready to relieve guard on the outer parade, or to take their turn within, where
. our own day.
Pulpit drum Ecclesiastic
Was beat with fist instead of a stick.
The Scottish strongholds, however, proved insufficient for the detention of their old
masters, under the care of foreign jailers. On the 17th of May 1654, the whole number
of prisoners in the “ laich Parliament House,” effected their escape by cutting a hole in
the floor of the great hall above, and all but two got clear OK Only ten days afterwards,
Supplement to Court of Session Garland, p. 4. * Nicoll’s Diary, p. 94. Ante, p. 96.

... UCKENBOOTNS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 215 appropriately suspended on the walls, and mentioned in a MS. volume of ...

Book 10 p. 234
(Score 0.9)

30 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the various royal servitors, affording a curious insight into the crafts of the period.
brief extract will s&ce :-
A
Cunyouris, carvouria, and carpentaris,
Beildaris of barkis, and ballingaria ;
Masounis, lyand upon the land,
And schip wrichtis hewand upone the strand ;
Glaaing wrichtis, goldsmythis, and lapidaria,
Pryntouris, paptouris, and potingaris ; &c.
The introduction of printers in the list, shows the progress literature was making at this
time; as early as 1490, the Parliament enjoined the education of the eldest sons of all
barons and freeholders, in the Latin language, as well as in science and jurisprudence;
but it was not till 1507 that the art of printing was introduced into Scotland, under the
royal auspices, when a patent was granted to Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar, conferring
on them the exclusive privilege of printing there. Some of Dunbar's own poems
seem to have been among the very first productions that issued from their press, and form
now very Bcarce and highly valued reliques of the art. It affords evidence of the success
that attended the printing press, immediately on its introduction, that, in the year 1513,
Walter Chepman founded a Chaplainry at the altar of St John the Evangelist, on the
southern side of St Giles's Church, and endowed it with an annuity of twenty-three
marks.' But, perhaps, the most lively characteristics of the times,. occur in " The
Flytings " of Kennedy and Dunbar, already referred to,--a most singular feature of the
age, afterwards copied by their successors,-in which many local and personal allusions
are to be found. These poems consist of a series of pungent satires, wherein each depicts
his rival in the most ridiculous characters, and often in the coarsest language.
This literary gladiatorship originated in no personal enmity, but seems to have been a
friendly trial of wits for the amusement of the court. A few extracts, in connection with
our local history, will suffice, as specimens of these most singular literary effusions. Dunbar
addresses Kennedy,'-
Thou brings the Carrick clay to Edinburgh Cross,
Upon thy buitinga hobbland hard aa horn,
Strae wisps hing out quhair that the wata ar worn ;
We sal1 gar skale our Schulia all thee to acorn,
Come thou again to skar us with thy straea,
And atane thee up the oahy as thou gaes.
The boys of Edinburgh, as the bees out thaws,
And c y s out ay, Heir cum8 our awin queer Clerk I
Then fleia thou like a houlat chaist with craws,
Quhyle all the bitches at thy buitinga bark,
Then carlings cry, Keip curches in the merk,
Our gallows gapes, 10 I quhair ane graceless gaes :
Anither saya, I see him want a eark,
I red ye, Kimmer, tak in your lining dais.
1 Maitland, p. 271.
a These extracts from a' The Flyting" are taken, with a few verbal exceptions, from Ramssy's Evergreen, an being
more easily understood by the general reader, than the pure version of Mr Laing.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. the various royal servitors, affording a curious insight into the crafts of the ...

Book 10 p. 32
(Score 0.89)

264 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
In a Postscript to his Memoirs, which were published two years subsequent
to his decease, his son (the editor) thus describes the latter years of his life :-
Indeed,
from the result of private correspondence, and the casual information I have been able to obtain,
it would but indifferently gratify the reader, were I to record the fortuitous events which clouded
the last few remaining years of the author’s chequered life. His sensibility had been severely
wounded by the contumelious and repulsive behaviour he had experienced from tyrannic
managers, and a series of unpropitious circumstances which attended him through the progress
of his professional career. His spirits were broken, and his powers evidently on the decline,
by a melancholy concomitancy of mental inquietude and bojily suffering, being liable to a
periodical attack of an anasarcical complaint, which advanced from his legs to his thighs, and
eventually brought the vital parts under its influence. Having taken lodgings at the Middleton’s
Head, Saddler’s Wells, for the benefit of his health, on the 22d July 1803, in the sixty-third
year of his age, he supped with Yr. Townsend, of Covent Garden Theatre, and some friends,
apparently in his usual state of health and spirits ; and on the following morning was found
dead in his bed. He was buried at St. James’s Chapel, Pentonville, his funeral being attended
by a few of his relatives and friends.”
“ I have to regret the apparently abrupt conclusion of these dramatic memoirs.
Lee Lewes appeared on the stage for the last time on the 24th of June
previous to his demise ; when, as he stated to the public, “ in consideration of
seven years’ ill health, and consequent embarrassment, the Proprietor of Covent
Garden Theatre had kindly given him authority to announce a Play and
Entertainments.” The
house was filled to overflowing, and he was loudly and repeatedly applauded.
On this occasion he performed Lissardo in the Wonder; and Violante was
enacted by Mrs. Jordan.
‘
This appeal was responded to in a warm manner.
No. CCLVIII.
DR. THONAX HAY,
CITY CHAMBERLAIN,
AND SIR JAMES STIRLING, BART.
DR. *THOMAS HAY, the figure to the left, was City Chamberlain at the
period referred to in the Print (1796); and Sir James Stirling, whom he is
saluting, had for the second time held the office of Lord Provost during the
two years previous. Dr. Hay was the youngest son of Lord Huntington,’ one
of the Senators of the College of Justice. After completing his medical studies,
he commenced the practice of surgery in Edinburgh, which he prosecuted with
much success throughout a long course of years. A member of the Royal
College of Surgeons, he was elected Deacon of the Incorporation in 1784-5 ;
Thomas Hay of Huntington was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1725. He
was appointed Keeper of the Signet in 1742, and raised to the bench in 1754. On the 4th of February
the following year he wag suddenly taken ill while occupying hia seat on the bench, and died in
the course of a few minutes afterwards in the Parliament House.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. In a Postscript to his Memoirs, which were published two years subsequent to his ...

Book 9 p. 348
(Score 0.89)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 257
this degrading vice to account as a source of revenue ; and it appears, from an
action raised against him by one Hamilton, a chimney-sweeper, that he did not
scruple to have recourse to the usual tricks resorted to by professed gamblers.1
In the gratification of this ruling passion, he was in the habit of meeting, almost
nightly, a club of gamblers at a house of a most disreputable description, kept by
a person of the name of Clark, in the Fleshmarket Close. Xotwithstanding his
profligate habits, Brodie had the address to prevent them from becoming public ;
and he contrived to maintain a fair character among his fellow-citizens. So
successful was he in blihding the world, that he continued a member of the
Council until within a short period of the time he committed the crime for which
he afterwards suffered ; and it is a singular fact that, little more than a month
previously, he sat as a juryman in a criminal cause, in that very court where
he himself soon afterwards received sentence of death !
Although Brodie had for many years been licentious and dissipated, it is
believed that it was not until 1786 that he commenced that career of crime which
he ultimately expiated on the scaffold. About that time he became acquainted
with his fellow-culprit, George Smith ; and shortly afterwards, at the gambling
haunt, with Ainslie and Brown-men of the lowest grade and most abandoned
principles. The motives that induced Brodie to league himself with these
desperate men are not very obvious. In comfortable circumstances, and holding
situations of trust among his fellow-citizens, it is not easy to guess what could
impel him to a line of conduct so very unaccountable. Let his motives have
been what they might, however, Erodie, from his professional knowledge and his
station in society, had great facilities for furthering his contemplated depredations,
and he became the leader of these miscreants, who acted by his orders,
and were guided by his information.
About the latter end of 1787 a series of robberies were committed in and
around Edinburgh, and no clue could be had of the perpetrators. Shops were
opened, and goods disappeared, as if by magic.' The whole city at last became
alarmed. In the most of these Brodie was either actively or passively concerned ;
but it was not until the last " fatal affair "-the robbery of the Excise 05cethat
he was discovered, and the whole machinery laid open.
This undertaking, it appears, was wholly suggested and planned by Brodie.
In this action he is accused of having used loaded or false dice, by which Hamilton lost upwards
of six guineas. ' An old lady mentions that a female friend of hers, who, from indisposition, was unable to go
one Sunday to church, was, during divine worship, and in the absence of her servant, surprised by
the entrance of a man, with a crape over his face, into the room where she was sitting. He very
coolly took up the keys which were lying on the table before her, opened her bureau, and took out II
considerable sum of money that had been placed there. He meddled with nothing else, but immediately
re-locked the bureau, replaced the keys on the table, and, making a low bow, retired. The lady was
panic-struck the whole time. Upon the exit of her mysterious visitor, she exclaimed, "Surely that was
Deacon Brodie ! " But the improbability of a person of his opulence turning a housebreaker, induced
her tu preserve silence at the time. Subsequent events, however, soon proved the truth of her aunnisea.
2 L

... SKETCHES. 257 this degrading vice to account as a source of revenue ; and it appears, from an action ...

Book 8 p. 361
(Score 0.88)

kiv PREFA CE.
some of those curious associations with which the picturesque haunts of Old Edinburgh
abound. My own researches have satisfied me that the clues to many such still lie
buried among the dusty parchments of old charter chests; but their recovery must,
after all, depend as much on a lucky chance 18 on any very diligent inquiry. It has
often.chanced that, after wading through whole bundles of such dull MSS.-those of
the sixteentli century frequently measuring singly several yards in length-in vain
search for a fact, or date, or other corroborative evidence, I have stumbled on it quite
unexpectedly while engaged in an altogether different inquiry. Should, however, the
archsological spirit which is exercising so strong an influence in France, Germany,
and England, as well as in other pmts of Europe, revive in Scotland also, where
so large a field for its enlightened operations remains nearly unoccupied, much
that is valuable may yet be secured which is now overlooked or thrown aside a8
useless.
Antiquarian research has been brought into discredit, far less by the unimaginative
spirit of the age than by the indiscriminating pursuits of its own cultivators, whose sole
object has too frequently been to amass ( ( a fouth 0' auld nick-nackets." Viewed,
however, in its just light, as the handmaid of history, and the synthetic, more
frequently than the analytic, investigator of the remains of earlier ages, it becomes B
science, bearing the same relation to the labours of the historian, as chemistry or
mineralogy do to the investigations of the geologist and the spe~ulations of the
cosmogonist. In this spirit, and not for the mere gratification of an aimless curiosity,
I have attempted, however ineffectually, to embody these MEMORIALOSF EDINBURGIHN
THE OLDEN TIME. D. W.
EDINBURGCHhh,r istnzas 1847.
NOTE .BY THE PUBLISHER.
This edition of the MWORIALSO F EDINBURGiHs an exact reprint of the original work, with the
exception thak, where buildings have been removed, or other alterations made, the fact is stated
either in a foot-note or otherwise.

... PREFA CE. some of those curious associations with which the picturesque haunts of Old Edinburgh abound. My ...

Book 10 p. xvi
(Score 0.88)

Previous Results More Results

Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf

Creative Commons License

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