Edinburgh Bookshelf

Edinburgh Bookshelf

Search

Index for “Royal Edinburgh Volunteers”

74 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Holyroob
chateau of Chantilly, from plans by the royal
architect, Sir William Bruce of Balcaskie and
Kinross, the palace as we find it now was built by
Charles 11. and James VII., with a zeal that has
been supposed to imply forethought of having a
fit retreat in their ancient capital if driven from
that of England. The inscription in large Roman
letters-
FVN . BE. RO . MYLNE . MM . IVL . 1671-
marks the site of the foundation of the modern
additions ; it is in a pier of the north-west piazza.
Before the Antiquarian Society in 1858 was
read a statement of the ? Accounts of Sir William
Bruce of Balcaskie, General Surveyor of H.M.
Works, 1674-9.?? The re?ckoning between these
years was it;160,000 Scots, of which sum four-fifths
were spent on Holyrood, the new works on which
had been begun, in 1671, and so vigorously carried
on, that by January, 1674, the mason-work had been
nekly completed. The Dutch artist, Jacob de
Urt, was employed to paint ? One piece of historia
in the king?s bed-chamber? for A120 Scots. The
coats-of-arms which are above the great entrance
and in the quadrangle were cut from his designs.
Holyrood Palace is an imposing quadrangular
edifice, enclosing a piazza-bounded Palladian
court, ninety-four feet square. Its front faces the
west, and consists of battlemented double towers
on each flank. In the centre is the grand entrance,
having double Doric columns, above which
are the royal arms of Scotland, and over them an
octagonal clock-tower, terminating in an imperial
crown.
The Gallery of the Kings, the largest apartment
in the palace, is 150 feet long by 27 feet broad,
and is decorated by a hundred fanciful portraits
of the Scottish kings, from Fergus 1. to James VII.,
by Jacob de Urt, and there is an interesting
portrait of Mary and of the latter monarch, and at
the end of the gallery are four remarkable paintings,
taken from Scotland by James VI., and sent
back from Hampton Court in 1857. They represent
James 111. and his queen Margaret of Denmark
(about 1484), at devotion; on the reverses
are Sir Edward Boncle, Provost of Trinity College
; the figure of St. Cecilia at the organ represents
Mary of Gueldres, and the whole, which are by
an artist of the delicate Van Eck school, are
supposed to have formed a portion of the altarpiece
of the old Trinity College Church. In this
gallery the elections of the Scottish peers take place.
Beyond it are Lord Darnley?s rooms ; among the
portraits there are those of Darnley and his
brother, and from thence a stair leads to Queen
Mary?s apartments above. The Tapestry Room
contains two large pieces of arras, and among
several valuable portraits one of James Duke of
Hamilton, beheaded in 1649.
The Audience Chamber-the scene of Mary?s
stormy interviews with Knox-is panelled and
embellished with various royal initials and coatsarmorial
; the furniture is richly embroidered, and
includes a venerable state-bed, used by Charles I.,
by Prince Charles Edward, and by Cumberland on
the night of the 30th January, 1746. Mary?s bedchamber
measures only 22 feet by 18 feet, and at
its south-west corner is her dressing-room, The
ancient furniture, the faded embroideries and
tapestries, and general aspect of this wing, which
is consigned peculiarly to memories of the past
are all in unison with the place ; but the royal
nursery, with its blue-starred dome, the Secretary
of State?s room, with the royal private apartments
generally now in use, are all in the south and
eastern sides of the palace, and are reached by a
grand staircase from the south-east angle of the court.
CHAPTER XI.
HOLYROOD PALACE (concZdaf).
The King?s Birthday in 1665-James Duke of Albany-The Duchess of York and G e n d Daltell-Funeral of the Duke of Rothes - A
Gladiatorial Exhibition-Departure of the Scottish Household Troops-The Hunters? Company?s Balls-Fmt and Second Viis
of the Royal Family of France-Recent Improvements-St. h e ? s Yard removed-The Ornamental Fountain built.
IN the IntelZ&zce for the 1st of June, 1665, we
have a description. of the exuberant loyalty that
followed the downfall of the Commonwealth.
?Edinburgh, May 29, being His Majesty?s birthday,
was most solemnly kept by all ranks in this
city. My Lord Commissioner, in his state, With
his life-guard on horseback, and Sir Andrew
Ramsay, Lord Provost, Bailies, and Council in their
robes, accompanied by all the Trained Bands in
arms, went to church and heard the Bishop of
Edinburgh upon a text well applied for the work
of the day. Thereafter thirty-five aged men in

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Holyroob chateau of Chantilly, from plans by the royal architect, Sir William Bruce of ...

Book 3 p. 74
(Score 0.61)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 415
Dr. Bairh was one of the very few of our characters that survived the
publication of the first edition of this work And from a notice of his death in
the newspapers of the day, we extract the following :-“ With sincere regret
we have to announce the death of the venerable Principal Baird, which took
place on Tuesday (January 14, 1840), at his residence, near Linlithgow.”
No. CCCXI.
DR. JOHN HOPE,
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.
DR. HOPE was born at Edinburgh on the 10th May 1725, His father, Mr.
Robert Hope, surgeon, was a younger son of Sir Archibald Hope, Lord Rankeillor,
one of the Senators of the College of Justice. His mother, Marion
Glass, was a descendant of the ancient family of Glass of Sauchie, in Stirlingshire.
Dr. Hope received his early education at the School of Dalkeith, then
taught by the well-known Barclay. From thence he removed to the University
of Edinburgh, where he prosecuted his medical studies under the first Dr.
Monro, and the other eminent men who laid the foundation of the present
celebrated Medical School of that University. He afterwards visited the Continent,
where he studied for some time, and particnlarly devoted his attention
to the science of botany. On returning to his native city he became a member
of the Medical Society of Edinburgh-justly famed as an excellent source of
improvement to the industrious medical student-and was one of the first of
those who were raised to the rank of an honorary member.
He took the Degree of Doctor of Medicine at Glasgow on the 29th of
January 1760, and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians,
upon the 6th November of the same year. About the same period the
Professorship of Materia Medica and Botany in the University of Edinburgh,
becoming vacant by the death of Dr. Charles Alston, the known acquirements
of Dr. Hope, especially in the latter department, at once pointed him out as a
fit successor. On the 13th April 1761 he was accordingly appointed King’s
Botanist for Scotland; and on the 25th of the same month was elected, by the
Town-Council, Professor of Materia Medica and of Botany. The lectures upon
the Materia Medica were delivered during the winter session, and those on
Botany commenced, as they still do, in the month of May. Having been only
a licentiate, he was, on the 2d February 1762, admitted a Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians.
Dr. Hope was the first in Scotland who introduced the Linnxan System ;
and having received, on the 8th May 1768, a commission from the King,
appointing him Regius Professor of Botany, he formed the resolution of resigning

... SKETCHES. 415 Dr. Bairh was one of the very few of our characters that survived the publication of ...

Book 9 p. 555
(Score 0.61)

424 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CLXVII.
MR. JAMES RAE, DR. WILLIAM LAING,
AND
DR. JAMES .HAY.
MR JAMES RAE, the first figure to the left, was born in 1716, and
was descended of a family of long standing as landed proprietors in Stirlingshire.
Having been educated for the medical profession, he entered the Incorporation
of Surgeons in 1747, and was Deacon during the years 1764-5.
Mr. Rae was considered a talented and experienced surgeon, and as such
was in extensive and respectable practice. He obtained much reputation as
a dentist, and was among the first (if not the very first) in Edinburgh, to
rescue that department from the ignorant and unskilful hands in which it was
then placed. He occasionally gave private lectures on the diseases of the
teeth.
About the year 1766, Mr. Rae began delivering a course of general lectures
on surgery, and after having continued these for some time, in 1769 he was
requested by the students ta deliver Practical Lectures on the Surgical Cases
in the Royal Infirmary, which request being highly approved of, both by the
Incorporation of Surgeons and by the Managers of the Royal Infirmary, he
conducted two separate courses of lectures for a period of several years. He
had thus the merit of becoming the founder of that branch of surgical teaching-
Clinical Lectures-which has been found so useful in giving a practical
knowledge of the science, and for which an academical chair has been provided
in the University of Edinburgh, and in many other schools of medicine.
Mr. Rae married, about the year 1742, a daughter of Cant of Thurston, in
East-Lothian, a very old and respectable family,$ormerly Cant of Giles's Grange,
(now the property of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder). He died in 1791, leaving
one son, the late Mr. John Rae, and three daughters, all of whom were married.'
The house in which Mr. Rae lived at the Castle Hill, is the large land with an arched entry,
immediately opposite the water-house. It was built of stones from the North Loch, by Dr. Webster,
minister of the Old Tolbooth Church-after whose death the pl'emisea were occupied as Hogg's
banking-office-then by Mr. Rae-and, in 1794, purchased from that gentleman's executors by the
Society of Antiquaries. From this period till 1813, the house continued to be occupied by the
Society for their mueum, and as the residence of their Secretary, Mr. A. Smellie. Previous to his
removal to the Castle Hill, Mr. Rse resided in a house at the head of the Old Fleshmarket Close,
now occupied by a pawnbroker,

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. CLXVII. MR. JAMES RAE, DR. WILLIAM LAING, AND DR. JAMES .HAY. MR JAMES RAE, the ...

Book 8 p. 589
(Score 0.61)

224 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Weat Port.
~~ ~
the dreadful Irish murders in 1828; but its repute
was very different in the last century. Thus we find
in the Edinburgh papers for 1764, advertisedas to let
there, " the new-built house, beautifully situated on
the high ground south of the Portsburgh, commanding
an extensive prospect every way, with genteel
furniture, perfectly clean, presently possessed by
John Macdonald, Esq., of Lairgie," with chaisehouse
and stabling.
remained intact up till SO recently as 1881, while
around the large cupola and above the chief seat
were panels of coats of arms of the various city
crafts, and that also of the Portsburgh-all done in
oil, and in perfect condition. This court-room was
situated in the West Port. In its last days it was
rented from the city chamberlain by the deacons'
court of Dr. Chalmers' Territorial Church. Mission
meetings and Sunday-schools were held in it, but
OLD HOUSES IN THE WEST PORT, NEAR THE HAUNTS OF BURKE AND HARE, 1869
(Fsmn a Drawing Sy Mn. J. Stnvari Smith.)
Near the Territorial Church is a door above
which are the arms of the Cordiners of the Portsburgh-
a cordiner's cutting-knife crowned, within a
circle, with the heads of two winged cherubim, and
the words of Psalm 133, versified :-
" Behold how good a thing it is,
And how becoming well,
Together such as brethren are,
In unity to dwell.
I 696. "
One of the most complete of the few rare relics
of the City's old municipal institutions was the
court-room where the bailies of the ancient
Portsburgh discharged their official duties. The
bailies' bench, seats, and other court-room fittings
the site upon &hich it was built was sold by
roup for city improvements.
In the middle of the West Port, immediately
opposite the Chalmers Territorial Free Church
and Schools, and running due north, is a narrow
alley, called the Chapel Wynd. Heye, at the foot
thereof, stood in ancient times a chapel dedicated
to the Virgin Mary, some remains of which were
visible in the time of Maitland about 1750. Near
it is another alley-probably an access to itnamed
the Lady Wynd. Between this chapel and
the Castle Rock there exists, in name chiefly, an
ancient appendage of the royal palace in the
fortress-the king's stables, " although no hoof of
the royal stud has been there for well-nigh three
I

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Weat Port. ~~ ~ the dreadful Irish murders in 1828; but its repute was very ...

Book 4 p. 224
(Score 0.61)

James IV., while preparing for his fatal invasion
rn 1513, went daily to the Castle to inspect and
prove his artillery, and by the bursting of one of
them he narrowly escaped a terrible death, like
that by which his grandfather, James II., perished
at Roxburgh. ? The seven sisters of Borthwick,?
referred to by Scott in ?Marmion,? were captured,
with the rest of the Scottish train, at Flodden,
where the Earl of Surrey, when he saw them, said
there were no cannon so beautiful in the arsenals
of King Henry,
-.
After the accession of James V,, the Castle was ,
THE BLUE BLANKET, OR STAXDARD OF THE INCORPORATED TRADES OF EDINBURGH.
(From #he T Y ~ S ? Maiden?s HosjiiaZ, RiZZbank.)
named the Forge and Gun Houses, Lower Ammunition
House, the Register and Jewel Houses,
the Kitchen Tower, and Royal Lodging, containing
the great hall (now a hospital). Westward
were the Butts, still ?so-called, where archery was
practised. There were, and are still, several deep
wells ; and one at the base of the rock to the
northward, in a vault of the Well-house Tower,
between the west angle of which and the rock was
an iron gate defended by loopholes closing the
path that led to St. Cuthbert?s church, A massive
rampart and two circular bastions washed by the
improved by the skill of the royal architect, Sir
James Hamilton of Finnart, and greatly strengthened
; but its aspect was very different from that
which it bears now.
The entire summit of ~e stupendous rock was
crowned by a lofty wall, connecting a series of
round or square towers, defended by about thirty
pieces of cannon, called ? chambers,? which were
removed in 1540. Cut-throats, iron slangs, and
arquebuses, defended the parapets. Two tall edifices,
the Peel and Constable?s Towers connected
by a curtain, faced the city, overlooking the Spur,
a vast triangular ravelin, a species of lower castle
that covered all the summit of the hill. Its walls
were twenty feet high, turreted at the angles, and
armed with cannon. The Constable?s Tower was
fifty feet high. Wallace?s Tower, a little. below it,
defended the portcullis. St. Margaret?s Tower and
David?s we have already referred to. The others
that abutted 00 the rocks were respectively
Flodden on the 9th of September, 1513, caused
a consternation in Edinburgh unusual even in
those days of war and tumult. The wail that
went through the streets is still remembered in

... IV., while preparing for his fatal invasion rn 1513, went daily to the Castle to inspect and prove his ...

Book 1 p. 36
(Score 0.6)

treyes beneath the Over Bow to be removit;? the
meal market, &c., to be removed from the High
Street to foot of James Aikman?s Close, and the
? grass market to the kirkyard foot ; twelve chief
citizens were to be arrayed in velvet gowns ; the
craftsmen to be arrayed in French cloth, with
doublets of velvet, satin, and damask; thirty-seven
citizens to be mounted with velvet foot-mantles
and velvet gowns, and all the town officers to be
To the inexpressible grief of James and the
whole nation, Magdalene, then only in her
seventeenth year, died of her insidious disease on
the 10th of July. She was interred with great
pomp in the royal vault, near the coffin of James II.,
and her untimely death was the occasion of the
first general mourning ever worn in the kingdom.
In the treasurer?s accounts are many entries of
the ? Scots claith, French blak, Holland claith,
and corsses upon the velvet.? On her coffin
was inscribed in Saxon characters, ?? Magdalena
Erancisci R&s Frank, Primogmifa Regina Sotie
Sponsa Jacoh? K Regis, A. D. I 53 7, obiit.?
Jarnes, however, was not long a widower, and
in June, 1538, he brought to Scotland a new bride,
Mary of Guise, the widow of the Duke de
Longuevihe, who landed at Balcomie, escorted by
an admiral of France, and the nuptials were
celebrated with pomp at St. Andrews j and on St.
Margaret?s Day in the same year, this new queendestined
to enact so important a part in the
future history of the realm-made her public entry
into Edinburgh by the Port, and rode tw
Holyrood Palace, while peat sports and gaiety
says Pitscottie. Curious plays were made for
her entertainment, and gold, spices, and wines were
lavished upon her by the magistrates, who wellnigh
exhausted the finances of the city.
Amid the State turnoils and horrors that culminated
in the rout of Solway, Jarnes V. held a
council at Holyrood on the 3rd of November,
1542, when, according to Knox, a scroll was
presented to him by Cardinal Beaton, containing
the names of more than one hundred of the pnncipal
nobles and gentry, including the Earl of
Arran, then, by deaths in the royal family, next
heir to the throne, who were undoubtedly in the
pay of England, tainted with heresy, or in leagie
with the then outlawed clan of Douglas,

... beneath the Over Bow to be removit;? the meal market, &c., to be removed from the High Street to foot ...

Book 3 p. 64
(Score 0.6)

320 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Arthur?s h t . 1
Marquis of Douglas. This lady, who was married
in 1670, was divorced, or at least expelled from the
society of her husband, in consequence of some
malignant scandals which a former and disappointed
lover, Lowrie of Blackwood, was so base as to insinuate
into the ear of the marquis.?
Her father took her home, and she never again
saw her husband, who married Mary, daughter of
the Marquis of Lothian, and died in 1700. Lady
Baxbara?s only son, Jznies, Earl of Angus, fell
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw,
0 gentle death, when wilt thou come 7
An?shake the green leaves aft the tree?
For 0? my life I am wearie.?
A public event of great importance in this
locality was the Royal Scottish Volunteer Review
before the Queen on the 7th of August, 1860, when
Edinburgh, usually so empty and dull in the dog
days, presented a strange and wonderful scene.
For a few days before this event regiments from all
RUINS OF ST. ANTHONY?S CHAPEL, LOOKING TOWARDS LEITH. (From n P4oiofln)h by Ale%. A. IngZis.)
bravely at Steinkirk, in his twenty-first year, at the
head of the 26th, or Cameronian Regiment. Two
verses of the song run thus :-
?? Oh, waly ! waly ! gin love be bonnie
A litttle time while it is new ;
But when it ?5 auld it waxeth cauld.
And fades away like morning dew.
Oh, wherefore should I busk my heid?
Or wherefore should I kame my hai ?
For m y true lov- has me forsook,
And says he ?11 never love me mair.
Now Arthur?s Seat shall be my bed,
St. Anton?s Well shall be my drink,
The sheets shall ne?er be pressed by mp ;
Since my true love?s forsaken me !
parts of Scotland came pouring into the city, and
were cantoned in school-houses, hospitals, granaries,
and wherever accommodation could be procured
for them. The Breadalbane Highlanders, led by
the white-bearded old marquis, attracted especial
attention, and, 011 the whole, the populace seemed
most in favour of kilted corps, all such being
greeted with especial approbation.
.Along the north wall of the park there was
erected a grand stand capable of containing 3,ooc
persons. The royal standard of Scotland-a
splendid banner, twenty-five yards square-floated
from the summit of Arthur?s Seat, while a multitude
of other standards and gnow-white bell-ten@
covered all the inner slopes of the Craigs. Bp

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Arthur?s h t . 1 Marquis of Douglas. This lady, who was married in 1670, was divorced, ...

Book 4 p. 320
(Score 0.6)

96 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Inverleith.
something at once strong and startling in the
consciousness that His Royal Highness the Conimander-
in-Chief, during his recent official visit to
Edinburgh, might have shaken hands with a
veteran who landed with his regiment in Portugal
about the middle of 1808, who took part in
the battle of Vimiera, in the advance into Spain,
in the disastrous retreat upon Corunna, and in the
battle before that town in 1809. It is now (in
1879) seventy years to a day siiice Lieutenanthearts
of half-a-dozen predecessors-their orders
being that twice in every twenty-four hours they
should ascertain by ocular demonstration that the
Emperor was at Longwood.
The latter died while Captain Crokat was
installed in the office, and he was sent home by
Sir Hudson Lowe with the dispatches, announcing
that event j and after serving in India, he retired in
1830, and in spite of war, wounds, and fever, lived
for nearly half a century before he passed away at n
VIEW IN BONNINGTON, 1851. (From a Drawing by WilZiarn Chnnirrg.)
General Crokat, had ?down with fever? written
against his name in the medical report, which
told the same tale of about three-fourths of those
soldiers sent to perish at pestilential Walcheren.?
General Crokat had served in Sicily, in 1807,
before he served in Spain, and received the war
medal with four clasps for Vimiera, Corunna,
Vittoria, and the Pyrenees, where he was severely
wounded. When peace came, the 20th Regiment
was ordered to St. Helena, and with it went then
Captain Crokat, to take part in transactions to a
soldier more trying than the bullets of the recent
war, for as orderly officer he had charge of ? the
caged eagle of St. Helena,? the captive Napoleon;
a task which is said to have well-nigh broken the
green old age, in his villa at Inverleith Row, a hale
old relic of other times.
In this street are the entrances to the Royal
Botanic Gardens, on the west side thereof, when
they were first formed in 1822-4, in lieu of a previous
garden on the east side of Leith Walk, from
which establishment the shrubs and herbs were transferred
without the eventual injury to a single plant.
They are connectedwith the University, in so
far as the Professor of Botany is Regius Keeper,
and delivers his lectures in the class-room in the
gardens, which extend to twenty-seven Scottish
acres, and contain an extensive range of greenhouses
and hothouses, with a palmhouse, 96 feet
long, 70 feet high, and 57 feet broad. There is an

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Inverleith. something at once strong and startling in the consciousness that His Royal ...

Book 5 p. 96
(Score 0.6)

as for sale, ?together with those new subjects
lying in Water Lane, adjoining Messrs. Elder and
Archibald?s vaults.?
Many years ago Mr. Macfie was a well-known
sugar refiner in Leith. His establishment stood
in Elbe Street, South Leith, when it was destroyed
by fire; and about 1865 there was started the
extensive and thriving Bonnington Sugar Refining
Company in Breadalbane Street, I.eith, which was
described in a preceding chapter.
THE BANK OF LEITH, 1820. (AferStowr.)
of the incidental allusions to it. It is, however,
supposed to have included a royal arsenal, with
warehouses and dwellings for resident officials,
and according to Robertson?s map seems to have
measured about a hundred feet square.
?( The remains of this building,? says Amot,
writing in 1779, ?with a garden and piece of
waste land that surrounded it, was erected into a
free barony by James VI., and bestowed upon
Bernard Lindsay of Lochill, Groom of the Chamber
The Broad Wynd opens westward off Water
Lane to the shore. The first number of n e Leith
and Edinburgh TeZegrajh and General Adveriiser,
published 26th July, 1808, by William Oliphant,
and continued until September, 1811, appeared,
and was published by a new proprietor, William
Reid, in the Broad Wynd, where it was continued
till its abandonment, 9th March, 1813,
comprising in all 483 numbers. It was succeeded
by me fiith Commercid List. An extensive
building, of which frequent mention is made by
early historians as the King?s Wark, seems to have
occupied the whole ground between this and the
present Bernard Street, but the exact purpose for
which it was maintained is not made clear in any
(or Chamber CheiZd, as he was called) to that prince.
This Lindsay repaired or rebuilt the King?s Wark,
and there is special mention of his having put its
anci?enf imer in full repair. He also built there
a new tenniscourt, which is mentioned with
singular marks of approbation in the royal charter
? as being built for the recreation of His Majesty,
and of foreigners of rank resorting to the kingdom,
to whom it afforded great satisfaction and delight j
and as advancing the politeness and contributing
to the ornament of the country, to which, by its
happy situation on the Shore of Leith, where there
was so great a concourse of strangers and foreigners,
it was peculiarly adapted.??
The reddendo in this charter was uncommon,

... for sale, ?together with those new subjects lying in Water Lane, adjoining Messrs. Elder and Archibald?s ...

Book 6 p. 236
(Score 0.6)

28 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Burghmuir.
great forest of Drumsheugh, wherein the white.
bull, the Caledonian boar, the elk and red deer
roamed, and where broken and lawless men had
their haunt in later times.
Yet some clearances of timber must have been
made there before 1482, when James Iii. mustered
on it, in July, 50,000 men under the royal standad
for an invasion of England, which brought about
the rebellious raid of Lauder. On the 6th
October, 1508, his son James IV., by a charter
Among those who then got lands here were Sir
Alexander Lauder of Blyth, Provost of the City,
and George Towers of the line of Inverleith, whose
name was long connected with the annals of the
city.
It was on this ground-the Campus Martius of
the Scottish hosts-that James IV. mustered, in the
summer of 1513, an army of IOO,OOO men, the
most formidable that ever marched against England;
and a fragment of the hare-stane, or bore-
THE LIBRARY AAI.I., EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY.
under the Great Seal, leased the Burghmuir to
the council and community of Edinburgh (City
Charters, I 143-1540) empowering them to farm and
cIear it of wood, which led to the erection within
the city of those quaint timber-fronted houses,
many of which still remain in the closes and wynds,
and even in the High Street. In 1510 we find,
from the Burgh Records, that the persons to whom
certain acres were let there, were bound to build
thereon ?dwelling-houses, malt-barns, and cow-bills,
and to have servants for the making of malt betwixt
(30th April) and Michaelmas, I 5 I 2 ; and failing to
do so, to pay to the common works of the
town; and also to pay 6 5 for every acre of the
three acres set to them.?
stane, in which the royal standard was planted,
on this and many similar occasions, is still preserved,
and may be seen built into a wall, at
Banner Place, near Morningside Church. As
Drummond records, the place was then ? spacious
and made delightful by the shade of many stately
and aged oaks.?
?? There were assembled,? says Pitscottie, ? all his
earls, lords, barons, and burgesses ; and all manner
of men between sixty and sixteen, spiritual and
temporal, burgh and land, islesmen and others, to
the number of a hundred thousand, not reckoning
carriagemen and artillerymen, who had charge of
fifty shot-cannons.? When some houses were
built in the adjacent School Lane in 1825, hundreds

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Burghmuir. great forest of Drumsheugh, wherein the white. bull, the Caledonian boar, ...

Book 5 p. 28
(Score 0.6)

? klth] KING JAMES V1.5 HOSPITAL 217
Barker, whose office ceased to exist after the Burgh
Reform Bill of 1833.
The seal of the preceptory is preserved in the
Antiquarian Museum. It bears the figure of St.
Anthonyina hermit?s garb, with a book in one
hand, a staff in the other, and by his side is a sow
with a bell at its neck. Over his head is a capital
T, which the brethren had sewn in blue cloth on
their black tunics. Around is the legend,
S. Cornmum PreceptoriC Sancfi Anthunii, Propc L&cht.
there when the ground was opened to lay down
gas-pipes; and in the title deeds of a property
here, ? the churchyard of St. Anthony ? is mentioned
as one of the boundaries.
The grotesque association of St. Anthony with a
sow is because the latter was supposed to represent
gluttony, which the saint is said to have overcome ;
and the further to conquer Satan, a consecrated
bell is suspended from his alleged ally the pig.
On the east side of the Kirkgate stood King
ST. MARY?S (SOUTH LEITH) CHURCH, 1820. (After .Ytme+.)
Sir David Lindesay of the Mount refers in his
vigorous way to
?The gruntil of St. Anthony?s sow,
There was an aisle, with an altar therein, dedicated
to him in the parish church of St. Giles; and among
the jewels of James 111. is enumerated ?Sanct
Antonis cors,? with a diamond, a ruby, and a great
pearl,
Save the fragments of some old vaults, not a
vestige of the preceptory now remains, though its
name is still preserved in St. Anthony?s Street,
which opens westward off the Kirkgate, and is sup
posed to pass through what was its cemetery, as
large quantities of human bones were exhumed
Quhilk bore his holy bell.?
124
James?s Hospital, built in 1614 by the sixth monarch
of that name, and the site of which now forms
part of the present burying-ground. At the southeast
angle of the old churchyard, says Wilson, there
is an ?? elegant Gothic pediment surmounting the
boundary wall and adorned with the Scottish regalia,
sculptured in high relief with the initials
J. R. 6., while a large panel below bears the
royal arms and initials of Charles 11. very boldly
executed. These insignia of royalty are intended
to mark the spot on which KiEg James?s Hospital
stood-a benevolent foundation which owed no
more to the royal patron whose name it bore than
the confirmation by his charter in 1614 of a portion
of those revenues which had been long before

... klth] KING JAMES V1.5 HOSPITAL 217 Barker, whose office ceased to exist after the Burgh Reform Bill of ...

Book 6 p. 217
(Score 0.59)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 451
had distinguished himself by discovering a new kind of earth, to which he gave the name of
Strontites ; since, I believe, known by the name of Strontia. He came to the Chemical Chair
of Edinburgh as the colleague of Dr. Black ; and since that time, you all know-at least you
have all heard and read-and you are all satisfied of the fact, that from that moment his
whole attention has been devoted to the same measures and views which regulated the conduct
of his great colleague and predecessor. He made himself master of all that was known in
chemical science-of all that was going on within its bounds-of everything that had been
ascertained, or was in progress of investigation. This was digested into a course of lectures,
conceived in the most ,plain and intelligible language, so constructed that no individual who
heard them, of the most ordinary capacity, could not follow clearly and distinctly every word
he uttered. What he stated in words he also illustrated in experiment ; and
all his experiments were so selected that there was nothing in them like legerdemain-nothing
introduced merely to surprise-but they were so selected as to convey to his students a thorough
acquaintance, not merely with what he was teaching, but also to make them satisfied of the
truth of the facts he was stating. (Cheers.) What has been the result? I was anxious to
know the fact ; and I found that for some years before he partially retired Dr. Black‘s class
amounted to 225 students. The number in Dr. Hope’s class, after his arrival, gradually rose
from that amount till, in 1833, it amounted to 575 students (great cheering); and perhap
there is no teacher now alive who can boast, as I really believe my friend may, that he has
sent out from under his hands not fewer than 15,500 young men, all, or the greater part of
them, at least as well acquainted with the science as any smaller number, taught by other
professors. [Among the pupils of Dr. Hope who had distinguished themselves, Lord Meadowhank
mentioned Dr. Henry and Dr. Turner, now no more, Professor Christison,’ and Professor
Traill, than whom there was not a more distinguished chemist in the land. (Cheers.)] His
lordship continued-While Lr. Hope engages in the discharge of his laborious duties, he has
still found time to extend thc circle of science. About a century and a half ago Dr. Crowne
announced that water, within a certain range of temperature, did not obey the laws of ordinary
fluids-that in fact it contracts with heat and expands with cold. Doubts were thrown on this
statement, but my friend Dr. Hope, by a series of experiments, accurately devised, demonstrated
that the statement of Dr. Crowne was correct, and that the greatest density of water is at
thirty-nine degrees and a half. At a later period he proved another important fact, no less 80
to the geologist than to the hydrographer, that the waters of the ocean do not obey the laws of
pure water, but that they are subject to all the laws which regulate other fluids, through the
same range of temperature. [He then referred to the other discoveries of Dr. Hope with respect
to gases, and to his experiments on the leaves and flowers of plants. * * * He concluded
by referring to the names of the many distinguished individuals with whom Dr. Hope
was and bad been intimate, and to the gratifying testimony to his character which was afforded
by the present meeting-men of all ranks, and parties, and shades of political opinion, having
met to do honour to one who had conferred important services on the community of which they
were members. ”3
In the course of his reply the Professor stated that during the fifty-one years
of his professorship, and the four years he was employed in professional studies,
he had not been detained from his labours more than six days by indisposition.
Dr. Hope was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (of which he had
been Vice-President since 1823) ; of the Royal College of Physicians; of the
Royal Society of London j and in 1820 he was admitted an honorary member
of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1828 he instituted a chemical prize in the
University, presenting €800 to the Senatus Academicus for that purpose.’
(Loud cheers.)
Afterwards Sir Robert Christion, Bart., Professor of Materia Medica.
Dr. Hope continued to fulfil the important duties of his chair ti the end of the session 1843,
about a year before his death, which took place on 13th June 1844. Dr. Hope is commemorated
by an interesting memoir by his friend the late Professor Traill, which appeared in the “Edinburgh
Philosophical Transactions,” vol. xvi., and by an elegant biut by S i John Shell, which adorns the
library of the College.

... SKETCHES. 451 had distinguished himself by discovering a new kind of earth, to which he gave the name ...

Book 9 p. 602
(Score 0.59)

72 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. IHo~yrOam
Commendator of Coldingham. He was created,
in right of his mother (who was the only sister
of the notorious peer), Earl of Bothwell and
Lord High Admiral of Scotland in 1587. He
became an avowed enemy of the king, and Holyrood
was the scene of more than one frantic
attempt made by him upon the life of James. One
of these, in 1591, reads like a daring frolic, as related
by Sir James Melville, when the earl attacked
at the Girth Cross. On the 24th July, 1593, Bothwell,
who had been outlawed, again burst into the
palace with his retainers, and reached the royal
apartments. Then the king, incapable of resisting
him, desired Bothwell, to ?consummate his treasons
by piercing his sovereign?s heart ; I? but Bothwell
fell on his knees and implored pardon, which the
good-natured king at once granted, though a minute
before. he had, as Birrel records, been seeking flight
the palace at the head of his followers. I was I by the back stair, ?with his breeks in his hand.?
HOLYROOD PALACE AS IT WAS BEFORE THE FIRE OF 1650. (Facrimiie, af#w Cmdon OfRotkicma~.)
at supper with my Lord Duke of Lennox, who
took his sword and pressed forth; but he had no
company and the place was full ofenemies. We were
compelled to fortify the doors and stairs with tables,
forms, and stools, and be spectators of that strange
hurlyburly for the space of an hour, beholding
With torchlight, forth of the duke?s gallery, their
reeling and rumbling with halberts, the clacking
of the culverins and pistols, the dunting of mells
and hammers, and crying for justice.? The earl
and his followers ultimately drew off, but left the
master stabler and another lying dead, and the
king was compelled to go into the city; but eight
of Bothwell?s accomplices were taken and hanged
In 1596 the future Queen of Bohemia was baptised
in Holyrood, held in the arms of the English
ambassador, while the Lyon King proclaimed her
from the windows as ?the Lady Elizabeth, first
daughter of Scotland;? and on the 23rd December,
1600, the palace was the scene of the baptism of
her brother, the future Charles I., with unusual
splendour in the chapel royal, in presence of the
nobles, heralds, and officers of state. ?? The bairn
was borne by the Marquis de Rohan, and the
Lord Lyon proclaimed him out of the west window
of the chapel as ?Lord Charles of Scotland, Duke
of Albany, Marquis of Ormond, Ex1 of ROSS, and
Lord Ardmannoch. Largesse ! Largesse 1 Lar

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. IHo~yrOam Commendator of Coldingham. He was created, in right of his mother (who was ...

Book 3 p. 72
(Score 0.59)

35 2 OLD AND KEW EDINBURGH. [North Brid~c
Neaves was to be delivered, the house was filled in
every quarter; and to those who remember it the
bill of the last performance may not be without
~~ -
and a farewell address from the pen of Lord 1 Afm which hlr. JVyndhanr wifl DelPxr
A FAREWELL ADDRESS.
To k follmd by the Laughable Farce oj
HIS LAST LEGS.
Felix O?Callaghan, a man of genius, by Mr. Wyndhaminterest.
THEATRE ROYAL., EDINBURGH.
Sole Lessee, R. H. Wyndham, 95, Princes Street.
Final Closinr of this Theatre
Charles, i y Mr. Irving-Mr. Rivers, by Mr. Errser
Jones-Dr, Banks, by Mr. Foote-John, by Mr. R.
Saker--Thomas, by Mr. Davis-Mrs. Montague, by
Miss Nicol-Tulia. by Miss Tones-Mrs. Bank, by Mrs. - . -
On Wednesda; kay zgth, 1859. I E. Jones-Betty, by Miss S:Davis.
ME. CLINCH AND DIRS. YATES AS THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BXAGANZA. (AfterKny.)
The Performance will commence with the celebrated
Comedy written by Tom l?aylor and Charles Reade, Esq:.,
entitled
MASKS AND FACES.
Sir Charles Pomander, by Mr. Wyndham.
Triplet, by Mr. Edmund Glover, Theatre Royal, Glasgow-
Ernest Vane, by Mr. E. D. Lyons-Colley Cibber, by
Mr, Foote-Quin, by Mr. Errser Jones-Snarl, by Mr.
Fisher-Call Boy, Mr. R. Saker-Soaper, by Mr. Irving
-Humdon, by Mr. Vahdenhaff-Colander, by Mr.
Tames-Burdoch, by Mr. Carroll.
Kitty Clive, by Miss M. Davis-Mn. Triplet, by Mrs.
E. Jones-Roxalana, by Miss M. Foote-Maid, by
Miss Thompson - Mabel Vane, bx Miss Sophia
Miles.
Peg WoBngton, by Mrs. Wyndham.
A ffer which the Nafional Drama of
CRAMOND BRIG.
lames I.:, King of ScotZand by Mr. G. Melv21e.
Jock Howieson, by Mr. Fisher-Birkie of that Ilk, by Mr.
Rogerson-Murdoch, by Mr. Wallace-Officer, by Mr.
Banks-Grime, by Mr. Douglas-Tam Maxwell, by Mr.
Davis-Tibbie Howieson, by Miss Nicol-Marion, by
Miss M. Davis, in which character she will sing the
incidental song,
?A Kiss ahint fk Door!?
To Conclude with a Moving and Removing Valedictory
Sketch,
Mr. Wjmdham, by himev-Mrs. Wyndham, by AcrseZf
Spirit of the Past, Miss Nicol-Spirit of the Future, Miss
THE NATIONAL ASTHEM BY THE ENTIRE COMPANY.
Davia.

... 2 OLD AND KEW EDINBURGH. [North Brid~c Neaves was to be delivered, the house was filled in every quarter; and ...

Book 2 p. 352
(Score 0.59)

I 88 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH,
tion of national honour and triumph, and committed, along with the other portions of his
body, to the tomb of his ancestors, in the south transept of St Giles’s Church. The north
gable was not, however, long suffered to remain unoccupied. On the 27th of May 1661,-
little more than four months after the tardy honours paid to the Marquis of Montrose,-
the Marquis of Argyle was beheaded at the Cross, and ‘( his heia agxt upone the heid of the
Tolbuith, quhair the Marques of Montrois wes affixit of befoir.” The ground floor of this
ancient part of the Tolbooth was known by the name of the Purses, by which it is often
alluded to in early writings. In the ancient titles of a house on the north side of the
High Street, it is described as “ that Lodging or Timber Land, lying in the burgh of
Edinburgh, forgainst the place of the Tolbooth, commonly called the poor folks’ Purses.”
In the trial of William Maclauchlane, a servant of the Countess of Wemyss, who was
apprehended almost immediately after the Porteous mob, one of the witnefses states, that
‘(having come up Beth’s Wynd, he tried to pass by the Purses on the north side of the
prison ; but there perceiving the backs of a row of armed men, some with staves, others
with guns and Lochaber axes, standing across the street, who, he was told, were drawn
up as a guard there, he retired again.” The crime sought to be proved against Maclauchlane,
was his having been seen taking a part with this guard, armed with a Lochaber axe.
Another witness describes having seen some of the magistrates going up from the head of
Mary King’s Close, towards the Purses on the north side of the Tolbooth, where they
were stopped by the mob, and compelled to make a precipitate retreat. This important
pass thus carefully guarded on the memorable occasion of the Porteous riot, derived its
name from having been the place where the ancient fraternity of BZue Gowns, the King’s
faithful bedemen, received the royal bounty presented to them on each King’s birthday,
in a leathern purse, after having attended service in St Giles’s Church. For many years
previous to the destruction of the Old Tolbooth, this distribution was transferred to the
Canongate Kirk aisle, where it took place annually on the morning of the Sovereign’s birthday,
at eight o’clock. After a sermon, preached by the royal almoner, or his deputy, each
of the bedemen received a roll of bread, a tankard of ale, and a web of blue cloth sufficient
to make him a new gown, along with a leathern purse, of curious and somewhat complicated
workmanship, which only the initiated could open. This purse contained his annual
alms or pension, consisting of as many pence as the years of the King’s age.
Bedemen appointed
to pray for the souls of the King’s ancestors and successors, were attached to royal
foundations. They are mentioned about the year 1226, in the Chartulary of Moray,’
and many curious entries occurred with reference to them, in the Treasurers’ accounts,
previous to the Reformation. The number of these bedemen is increased by one every
royal birthday, as a penny is added to the pension of each; an arrangement evidently
devised to stimulate their prayers for long life to the reigning sovereign, no less than for
peace to the souls of those departed.’
’
The origin of this fraternity is undoubtedly of great antiquity:
Nicoll’s Diary, p. 335. * Statiat. ACC. xiii. 412. ’ The following items appear in the Account of Sir Robert Melvill, Treasurer-Depute of King James VI. “Junij
1590. Item, to Mr Peter Young, Elimosinar, twentie four gownia of blew clayth, to be gevin to xxiiij auld men, according
to the yeiris of his hienes age. . . . Item, twentie four pur&, and in ilk purss twentie four schiling.” Again
in “Junij 1617, To James Xurray, merchant, for fyftene scoir #ex elnis and ane half elne of blew claith, to be gownis to
fyftie me aigeit men, according to the yeiris of his majesteia age. Item, to the workmen for careing of the gownia fra

... 88 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH, tion of national honour and triumph, and committed, along with the other portions of ...

Book 10 p. 206
(Score 0.59)

OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH [The Meadows. 348
damp and melancholy place, even in summer, though
much frequented as a public walk.
The western end obtains still the name of Hope
Park, and a more modern street close by bears the
name of his Fifeshire estate-Bankeillor-now
passed to another family.
Among these Improvers were the Earls of Stair,
Islay, and Hopetoun, the Lords Cathcart and Drummore,
with Dalrymple of Cousland and Cockburn
of Ormiston. Lord Stair was the first to raise turnips
end of the central walk, and a little, but once
famous, cottage and stable, where asses? milk was
sold, long disfigured the upper walk at Teviot Row.
A few old-fashioned villas were on the south side
of the Meadows ; in one of these, in 1784, dwelt
Archibald Cockburn, High Judge Admiral of Scotland
No. 6 Meadow Place was long the residence
of David Irving, LL.D., author of ? The Lives of
the Scottish Poets? and other works, librarian
to the Faculty of Advocates; and in Warrender
THE MEADOWS, ABOUT 1810. (From a Pdntingim fheposscssim of Dr. 7. A. Sidey.)
in the open fields, and so laid the foundation of
the most important branch of the store-husbandry
of modem times.
The Meadows were longa fashionable promenade.
?There has never in my life,? says Lord Cockbum,
? been any single place in or near Edinburgh
which has so distinctly been the resort at once of
our philosophy and our fashion. Under these poor
trees walked, and talked, and meditated, all our
literary and scientific, and many of our legal,
worthies of the last and beginning of the present
century.?
They still form the shooting ground of the Royal
Company of Archers. A species of ornamental
arbour, called ?The Cage,? stoodlong at the south
Lodge, Meadow Place, ?lived and died James
Ballantine, the genial author of ? The Gaberlunzie?s
Wallet and other works of local notoriety, but
more especially a volume of one hundred songs,
with music, many of which are deservedly popular.
Celebrated in his own profession as a glass-stainer,
he was employed by the Royal Commissioners on
the Fine Arts, to execute the stained glass windows
for the House of Lords at Westminster.
Now the once sequestered Meadows, save on
the southern quarter, which is open to Bruntsfield
Links, are well-nigh completely encircled by new
lines of streets and terraces, and are further intersected
by the fine modem drive named from Sir 1 John Melville, who was Lord Provost in 1854-9.

... AND NEW EDINBURGH [The Meadows. 348 damp and melancholy place, even in summer, though much frequented as a ...

Book 4 p. 348
(Score 0.59)

west Port.] THE TILTING GROUND. 225
centuries,? and the access thereto from the Castle
must have been both inconvenient and circuitous.
It has been supposed that the earliest buildings
-on this site had been erected in the reign of James
IV., when the low ground to the westward was the
scene of those magnificent tournaments, which drew
to that princely monarch7s court the most brilliant
chivalry in Europe, and where those combats ensued
of which the king was seldom an idle spectator.
This tilting ground remained open and unen-
~
appointed for triell of suche matters.? Latterly
the place bore the name of Livingstone?s Yards.
We have mentioned the acquisition by the city
of the king?s stables at the Restoration. Lord
Fountainhall records, under date I rth March,
1685, a reduction pursued by the Duke of Queensberry,
as Governor of the Castle, against Thomas
Boreland and other possessors of these stables, as
part of the Castle precincts and property. Boreland
and others asserted that they held their property in
THE GRASSMARKET, FROM THE WEST PORT, 1825. (Afhh?wbmk.)
closed when Maitland wrote. and is described by I virtue of a feu granted in the reign of James V.,
him as a pleasant green space, 150 yards long, by
50 broad, adjoining the Chapel of Our Lady ; but
this ?pleasant green? is now intersected by the?
hideous Kingsbridge ; one portion is occupied by
the Royal Horse Bazaar and St. Cuthbert?s Free
Church, while the rest is made odious by tan-pits,
slaughter-houses, and other dwellings of various
descriptions.
Calderwood records that in the challenge to
mortal combat, in 1571, between Sir William
I Kirkaldy of Grange, and Alexander Stewart
younger of Garlies, they were to fight ?upon the
ground, the Baresse, be-west the West Port of
Edinburgh, the place accustomed and of old ,
I
77
but the judges decided that unless thedefenders
could prove a legal dissolution of the royal possession,
they must be held as the king?s stables, and
be accordingly annexed to the crown of Scotland
Thomas Boreland?s house, one which long figured
in every view of the Castle from the foot of Vennel
{see Vol. I., p. 80), has recently been pulled down.
It was a handsome and substantial edifice of three
storeys in height, including the dormer windows,
crow-stepped, and having three most picturesque
gables in front, with a finely moulded door, on the
lintel of which were inscribed a date and legend :-
T. B. v. B. 1675.
FEAR. GOD. HONOR . THE. KING.

... Port.] THE TILTING GROUND. 225 centuries,? and the access thereto from the Castle must have been both ...

Book 4 p. 225
(Score 0.59)

survivors of the corps would make their last actual
appearance in public at the laying of the foundation
of his monument, on the 15th of August, 1840.
The last captain of the Guard was James Burnet,
their ancestors and successors, were attached to
most royal foundations, and they are mentioned in
the chartulary of Moray, about 1226. The number
of these Bedesmen was increased by one every
CHAPTER XV.
THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES.
St. Giles?s Church-The Patron Saint-Its Origin and early Norman style-The Renovation of &-History of the Structure-Procession of the
Saint?s Relics-The Preston Relic-The Chapel of the Duke of Albmy-Funeral of the Regent Murray-The ?Gude Regent?s Aisle?-
The Assembly Aisle-Dispute between James VI. and the Church Party-Departure of James VI.-Haddo?s Hole-The Napicr Tomb-
The Spire and lantern-Clock and Bells-The KramesRestoration of 1878.
THE church of St. Giles, or Sanctus Egidius, as
he is termed in Latin, was the first parochial one
erected in the city, and its history can be satisfactorily
deduced from the early part of the 12th
century, when it superseded, or was engrafted on
an edifice of much smaller size and older date,
one founded about? IOO years after the death of
its patron saint, the abbot and confessor St. Giles,
who was born in Athens, of noble-some say royal
-parentage, and who, while young, sold his patrimony
and left his native country, to the end that
he might serve God in retirement. In the year
666 he amved at Provence, in the south of France,
and chose a retreat near Arles; but afterwards,
desiring more perfect solitude, he withdrew into a
forest near Gardo, in the diocese of Nismes, havjng
with him only one companion, Veredemus, who
lived with him on the fruits of the earth and the
milk of a hind. As Flavius Wamba, King of the
Goths, was one day hunting in the neighbourhood
of Nismes, his hounds pursued her to the hermitage
of the saint, where she took refuge. This hind
has been ever associated with St. Giles, and its
figure is to this day the sinister supporter of the
city arms. ( ? I Caledonia,? ii., p. 773.) St. Giles
died in 721, on the 1st of September, which was
always held as his festival in Edinburgh; and to some
disciple of the Benedictine establishment in the
south of France we doubtless owe the dedication
of the parish church there. , He owes his memory
in the English capital to Matilda of Scotland,
queen of Henry I., who founded there St. Giles?s
hospital for lepers in I I 17. Hence, the large parish
which now lies in the heart of London took its name

... of the corps would make their last actual appearance in public at the laying of the foundation of his ...

Book 1 p. 138
(Score 0.58)

178 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Broughton Street.
ruary, Messrs. Margarot, Muir, Skirving, and
Palmer-to whose memory the grand obelisk in
the Calton burying-ground has been erected-were
transmitted from Newgate to a ship bound for
Botany Bay.
In those days, and for long after, there was a
narrow close or alley named the Salt Backet, which
ran between the head of Leith Street and the Low
Calton, and by this avenue, in 1806, Janies Mackoul,
alias ? Captain Moffat,? the noted thief, whom
we have referred to in the story of Begbie?s assassination,
effected his escape when pursued for a robbery
in the Theatre Royal.
Eastward of the head of Leith Street, and almost
in the direct line of the Regent Arch, stood the
old Methodist Meeting House.
Facing Leith Walk, at the junction of Little
King Street with Broughton Street, is the present
Theatre Royal, occupying the site of several places
of amusement its predecessors.
-About the year 1792 Mr. Stephen Kemble, in
the-course of his peripatetic life, having failed to
obtain the management of the old Theatre Royal
at the end of the North Bridge, procured leave to
erect a new house, which he called a Circus, in
what is described in the titles thereof as a piece
of ground bounded by a hedge. Mrs. Esten, an
admired actress, the lessee of the Theatre Royal,
succeeded in cjbtaining a decree of the Court of
Session against the production of plays at this
rival establishment ; but it nevertheless was permanently
detrimental to the old one, as it continued
to furnish amusements too closely akin to
the theatrical for years ; and in the scois Magazine
for 1793 we read:--? Januasy 21. The New
Theatre of Edinburgh (formerly the Circus) under
the management of Mr. Stephen Kemble, was
opened with the comedy of the RiuaZs. This
theatre is most elegantly and commodiously fitted
up, and is considerably larger than the Theatre
Royal.? By the end of that season, Kemble, however,
procured the latter, and retained it till 1800.
A speculative Italian named Signor Corri took up
the circus as a place for concerts and other entertainments,
while collaterally with him a Signor
Pietro Urbani endeavoured to have card and
music meetings at the Assembly Rooms. Urbani
was an Italian teacher of singing, long settled in
Edinburgh, where, towards the croseof the eighteenth
century, he published ?A Selection of Scots Songs,
harmonised and improved, with simple and adapted
graces,? a work extending to six folio volumes.
Urbani?s selection is remarkable in three respects :
the novelty of the number and kind of instruments
used in the accompaniments ; the filling up of the
pianoforte harmony ; and the use, for the first time
of introductory and concluding symphonies to the
melodies. He died, very poor, in Dublin, in 1816.
Corri?s establishment in Broughton Street was
eminently unsuccessful, yet he made it a species of
theatre. ? If it be true,? says a writer, ? as we are
told by an intelligent foreigner in 1800, that very
few people in Edinburgh then spent a thousand a
year, and that they were considered rather important
persons who had three or four hundred;
we shall understand how, in these circumstances,
neither the theatre, nor Corri?s Rooms, nor the
Assembly Rooms, could be flourishing concerns.?
Itis said that Com deemed himself so unfortunate,
that he declared his belief ?that if he bedme a
baker the people would give up the use of bread.?
Ultimately he failed, and was compelled to seek
the benefit of the cessio bonorum. In a theatrical
critique for 1801, which animadverts pretty freely
on the public of the city for their indifference to
theatrical matters, it is said:-?By a run of the
SchooZ for SandaZ, an Italian manager, Corri, was
enabled to swim like boys on bladders; but he
ultimately sank under the weight of his debts, and
was only released by the benignity of the British
laws. Neither the universal abilities of Wilkinson,
his private worth, nor his full company, could
draw the attention of the capital of the North till
he was some hundred pounds out of pocket; and
though he was at last assisted by the interference
of certain public characters, yet, after all, his success
did little more than make up his losses in the beginning
of the season.?
In 1809 Mr. Henry Siddons re-fitted Corri?s
Rooms as a theatre, at an expense of about L4,ooo.
There performances were continued for two seasons,
till circumstances rendered it necessary for Mr.
Siddons to occupy the old Theatre Royal.
In 1816 Corri?s Rooms, as the edifice was still
called, was the scene of a grand&? given to the
78th Highlanders, ? or Ross-shire Buffs, who had
just returned from sickly and unhealthy quarters
at Nieuport in Flanders. On this occasion, we
are told, the rooms were blazing with hundreds of
lamps, ?shedding their light upon all the beauty
and fashion of Edinburgh, enlivened by the uniforms
of the officers of the several regiments.?
The band of the Black Watch occupied the
large orchestra, in front of which was a thistle, with
the motto Pyenez garde. Festoons of the 4znd
tartan, and the shields of the Duke of Wellington
and the Marquis of Huntly, with cuirasses from the
recent field of Waterloo, were among the decorations
here. Elsewhere were ot!ier trophies, wXn
the mottoes Egypf and Corunna. At the other end

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Broughton Street. ruary, Messrs. Margarot, Muir, Skirving, and Palmer-to whose memory ...

Book 3 p. 178
(Score 0.58)

EARLIEST TRADITIONS. 5
having been concluded between Ermengarde de Beaumont, cousin to King Henry, Edinburgh
Castle was gallantly restored as a dowry to the Queen, after having been held by
an English garrison for nearly twelve years.
In the year 1215, Alexander II., the son and successor of William, convened his first
Parliament at Edinburgh ; and during the same reign, still further importance was given
to the rising city, by a Provincial Synod being held in it by Cardinal l’Aleran, legate from
Pope Gregory IX. The revenues of Alexander could not rival the costly foundations of
his great-grandfather, David I. ; but he founded eight monasteries of the Mendicant Order,
in different parts of Scotland; one of which, the monastery of Blackfriars, stood nearly on
the same spot as the Royal Infirmary now occupies ; near which was the Collegiate Church
of St Mary-in-the-Field, better known as the Kirk-0’-Field, occupying the site of the
College-all vestiges of which have long since disappeared. But of these we shall treat
more at large in their proper place. His son and successor, Alexander III,, having been
betrothed to Margaret, daughter of Henry 111. of England, nine years before, their nuptials
were celebrated at York, in the year 1242, Arnot tells us “ the young Queen had Edinburgh
Castle appointed for her residence ; ” but it would seem to have been more in the character
of a stronghold than a palace ; for, whereas the sumptuousness of her namesake, Queen of
Malcolm Canmore, the future St Margaret of Scotland, while residing there, excited discontent
in the minds of her rude subjects, she describes it as “ a sad and solitary place,
without verdure, and by reason of its vicinity to the sea, unwholesome ; that she was not
permitted to make excursions through the kingdom, nor to chose her female attendanta ;
and lastly, that she was excluded from all conjugal intercourse with her husband, who by
this time had completed his fourteenth year.” “ Redress of her last grievance,” Dalrymple
adds, ‘‘ was instantly procured, redress of her other grievances was promised.”
Shortly after, the Castle was surprisedbp Alan Dureward, Patrick Earl of March, and other
leaders, while their rivals were engaged in preparation for holding a Parliament at Stirling ;
and the royal pair being liberated from their durance, we shortly afterwards find them holding
an interview with Henry, at Werk Castle, Northumberland. During the remainder of
the long and prosperous reign of Alexander III., the Castle of Edinburgh continued to be
the chief place of the royal residence, as well as for holding his courts for the transaction
of judicial affairs ; it was also during his reign the safe depository of the principal records,
and of the regalia of the kingdom.’
From this time onward, through the disastrous wars that ultimately settled the Bruce
on the throne, and established the independence of Scotland, Edinburgh experienced
its full share of the national sderings and temporary humiliation; in June 1291, the
town and Castle were surrendered into the hands of Edward I. Holinshed relatea that
he came to Edinburgh, where “ he planted his siege about the Castell, and raised engines
which cast stones against and over the walls, sore beating and bruising the buildings within
; so that it surrendered by force of siege to the King of England’s use, on the 15 daie
after he had first laid his siege about it.”3 He was here also again on 8th July 1292, and
again on the 29th of the same month; and here, in May 1296, he received within the
church in the Castle, the unwilling submission of many magnates of the kingdom, acknowledging
him as Lord Paramount; and on the 28th of August following, William de
Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 586. = Ibid., p. 687. ’ Chronicles, 1586, vol. iii. p. 300.

... TRADITIONS. 5 having been concluded between Ermengarde de Beaumont, cousin to King Henry, ...

Book 10 p. 6
(Score 0.58)

Calton HilL] THE NATIONAL MONUMENT. 109
~
Grand Master of Scotland, the various loQges
proceeded in procession from the Parliament Square,
accompanied by the commissioners for the King,
and a brilliant concourse. The foundation-stone
of the edifice (which was to be 228 feet long, by
IOZ broad) weighed six tons, and amid salutes of
cannon from the Castle, Salisbury Craigs, Leith
Majesty, the patron of the undertaking. The celebrated
Parthenon of Athens being model of the edifice.?
The Scots Greys and 3rd Dragoons formed
the escorts. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm displayed
when the undertaking was originated, and
though a vast amount of money was subscribed, the
former subsided, and the western peristyle alone
THE NATICNAL MORUMEST, CALTON HILL.
Fort, and the royal squadron in the roads, the
inscription plates were deposited therein, One is
inscribed thus, and somewhat fulsomely :-
?? To the glory of God, in honour of the King, for
the good of the people, this monument, the tribute
of a gratefur country to her gallant and illustrious
sms, as a memorial of the past and incentive to the
future heroism of the men of Scotland, was founded
on the 27th day of August in the year of our Lord
1822, and in the third year of the glorious reign of
George IV., under his immediate auspices, and in
commemoration of his most gracious and welcome
visit to his ancient capital, and the palace of his
royal ancestors; John Duke of Atholl, James Duke
of Montrose, Archibald Earl of Rosebery, John
Earl of Hopetoun, Robert Viscount Melville, and
Thomas Lord Lynedoch, officiating as commissioners,
by the special appointment of his august
was partially erected. In consequence of this
*emarkable end to an entefprise that was begun
mder the most favourable auspices, the national
monument is often referred to as ?Scotland?s
pride and poverty.? The pillars are of gigantic
proportions, formed of beautiful Craigleith stone ;
each block weighed from ten to fifteen tons, and
each column as it stands, with the base and frieze,
cost upwards of LI,OOO. As a ruin it gives a
classic aspect to the whole city. According to the
original idea, part of the edifice was to be used as
a Scottish Valhalla
On the face of the hill overlooking Waterloo
Place is the monument of one of Scotland?s gredtest
philosophers. It is simply inscribed :-
DUGALD STEWART.
BORN NOVEMBER 22ND, 1753;
DIED JUKE KITH, 1828.

... HilL] THE NATIONAL MONUMENT. 109 ~ Grand Master of Scotland, the various loQges proceeded in procession ...

Book 3 p. 109
(Score 0.58)

90 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
faith unchanged, and revisit the Scottish capital every three years. He committed his
children, whom he left behind, to the care of the Earl of Mar and others of his most
trusty nobles, and took his departure for England on the 5th of April 1603.
The accession of James to the English throne produced, at the time, no other change
on Edinburgh than the removal of the Court and some of the chief nobility to London.
The King continued to manifest a lively interest in his ancient capital ; in 1608 he wrote
to the magistrates, guarding them in an unwonted manner againet countenancing any
interference with the right of the citizens to have one of themselves chosen to fill the ofice
of Provost. In the following year, he granted them duties on every tun of wine, for sustaining
the dignity of the civic rulers; he also empowered the Provost to have a sword
borne before him on all public occasions, and gave orders that the magistrates should be
provided with gowns, similar to those worn by the Aldermen of London.
It is very characteristic of King James, that, not content with issuing his royal mandate
on this important occasion, he forwarded them two ready-made gowns as patterns,
lest the honourable Corporation of the Tailors of Edinburgh should prove unequal to the
At length, after an absence of fourteen years, the King intimated his gracious intention
of honouring the capital of his ancient kingdom with a visit. He accordingly arrived there
on the 16th of May 1617, and was received at the West Port by the magistrates in their
official robes, attended by the chief citizens habited in velvet. The town-clerk delivered
a most magnificent address, wherein he blessed God that their eyes were once more permitted
(( to feed upon the royal countenance of our‘ true phenix, the bright star of our
northern firmament. . . . . Our sun (the powerful adamant of our wealth), by whose
removing from our hemisphere we were darkened; deep sorrow and fear possessed our
hearts, The very hills and groves, accustomed before to be refreshed with the dew of your
Majesty’s presence, not putting on their wonted apparel, but with pale looks, representing
their misery for the departure of their royal King. . . . A King in heart as upright
as David, wise as Solomon, and godlie as Josias 1 ”
In like eloquent strains the orator proceeds through a long address, after which the King
and nobility were entertained at a sumptuous banquet, where the City presented his Majesty
with the sum of ten thousand merks, in double golden angels, tendered to him in a gilt
basin of silver.a
The King had been no less anxious than the citizens (‘to let the nobles of Ingland
knaw that his cuntrie was nothing inferior to them in anie respect.” By his orders the
Palace was completely repaired and put in order, and the Chapel “ decorit with organis,
and uthir temporal1 policie,” while a ship laden with wines, was sent before him ‘‘ to lay in
the cavys of his Palicis of Halyruidhous, and uther partis of his resort.”
A Parliament was held in Edinburgh on this occasion, wherein the King availed himself
of the popular feelings excited by his presence, to secure the first steps of his favourite
project for restoring Episcopal government to the Church.
The King at length bade farewell to his Scottish subjects in September 1617, and
little occurred to disturb the tranquillity of Edinburgh during the remainder of his
reign.
duty.’
Council Register, Sept. 7th, 1609. &itland, p. 60. 8 Hist. of Jamee the Sext., p. 395.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. faith unchanged, and revisit the Scottish capital every three years. He committed ...

Book 10 p. 98
(Score 0.58)

12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
‘ These wonderful Irish giants are but twenty-three yeark of age, and measure
very near eight feet high. These extraordinary young men have had the honour
to be seen by their Majesties and Royal Family at Windsor, in November
1783, with great applause; and likewise by Gentlemen of the Faculty, Royal
Society, and other admirers of natural curiosity, who allow them to surpass any
thing of the same kind ever offered to the public, Their address is singular
and pleasing : their persons truly shaped and proportioned to their height, and
affords an agreeable surprise. They excel the famous Maximilian Miller,
born in 1674, shown in London in 17333 ;’ and the late Swedish Giant will
scarce admit of comparison. To enumerate every particular would be too
tedious ; let it suffice to say, that they are beyond what is set forth in ancient
or modern history. The ingenious and judicious who have honoured them
with their company have bestowed the most lavish encomiums ; and, on their
departure, have expressed their approbation and satisfaction. In short, the
sight of them is more than the mind can conoeive, the tongue express, or pencil
delineate, and stands without a parallel in this or in any other country.
‘ Take them for all in all, we shall scarce
Look on their like again.’
Ladies and Gentlemen are respectfully informed, that their hours of admittance
are from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, and from four to
nine in the evening, every day (Sundays excepted).
“Price of admittance, One Shilling-July 27th, 1784.”
These “ interesting ” youths left Edinburgh for Aberdeen in the month of
August following, proposing “ to stop in a few towns on their way,” to astonish
the natives. Whether they ever again visited Edinburgh has not been
ascertained.
BAILIE JOHNKY D, a bachelor, who once made no small noise in the
city, especially at the time the Print of the U Kid and the Goat ” was done, was
a wine-merchant in that large land at the head of the Cowgate, opposite the
Candlemaker Row, first door up stairs, in the flat immediately below Mrs. Sym,
grandmother to Lord Brougham-he was third bailie in 1769, first bailie in
1772, and Dean of Guild in 1774 and 1775. He died, it is understood, early
in the year 1810.
WILLIAM RICHARDSOsNo,l icitor-at-l&w, the gentleman in the background
on the left, was in his time eminent in his profession; and much respected as
Preses of the Society of Solicitors, which office he held. He died, the oldest
member of that society, at Edinburgh, on the 6th of July 1801, being seventyeight
years of age.
“Dec. 12, 1734.-This day died the tall Saxon, being about seven feet ten inches high.”

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ‘ These wonderful Irish giants are but twenty-three yeark of age, and measure very ...

Book 8 p. 15
(Score 0.58)

26 MEMORIALS OF EDlNBURGH.
expenses of the building, preserve a valuable record of its progress and character; no
expense seems to have been spared to render it a fitting residence for the future Queen.
Though some idea of the homely fashion of building still common, may be inferred from
an allusion of Dunbar, in his poem of the “ Warld‘s Instabilitie : ”-
“Qreit Abbais grayth I nil1 to gather,
Bot ane Kirk scant coverit with hclder ! ”
James IV. was not only an eminent encourager of literature, but by fame reputed both a
poet and musician, though nothing survives from his pen but the metrical order to his
treasurer, in reply to “The Petition of the Grey Horse, Auld Dunbar;” but whatever
may have been the value of his own productions, his taste is abundantly proved by the
eminent men he drew around him.
Gawin Douglas undoubtedly owed his fkvour at court, as well as the friendship and
patronage of the Queen, and the partiality of Leo X. at a later period, to his learning and
talents,, when through their good offices, he obtained, against the most violent opposition,
his appointment to the bishopric of Dunkeld in 1516. Kennedy, too, seems to have been
tt constant attendant at court, while Dunbar was on the most intimate footing with
his royal master, and employed by him on the most confidential missions to foreign courts.
In 1501, he visited England with the ambassadors sent to conclude the negotiations for
the King’s marriage, and to witness the ceremony of affiancing the Princess Margaret in
January following ; and atclength, on the 7th of August 1503, the Queen, who had attained
the mature age of fourteen years, made her public eutrance into Edinburgh, amid every
demonstration of national rejoicing. A most minute account of her reception has been
preserved by John Young, Somerset Herald, her attendant, and an eye-witness of the whole;
which exhibits, in an interesting light, the wealth and refinement of the Scottish capital at
this period.’ The King met his fair bride at the castle of Dalkeith, where she was hospitably
entertained by the Earl of Morton, and having greeted her with knightly courtesy,
and passed the day in her company, he returned to hys bed at Edinborg, varey well
countent of so fayr meetyng.” The Queen was attended on her journey by the Archbishop
of York, the Bishop of Durham, the Earl of Surrey, and a numerous and noble retinue ;
and was received, on her near approach to Edinburgh, by the King richly apparelled in
cloth of gold, the Earl of Bothwell bearing the sword of state before him, and attended by
the principal nobility of the c o ~ r t . ~Th e King, coming down from his own horse, (‘k yssed
her in her litre, and mounting on the pallefray of the Qwene, and the said Qwene behind
hym, so rode thorow the towne of Edenburgh.” On their way, they were entertained with
an opposite scene of romantic chivalry-a knight-errant rescuing his dietressed ladye love
from the hands of her ravisher. The royal party were met at the entry to the town by the
Grey Friars-whose monastery, in the Grassmarket, they had to pass-bearing in- procession
their most valued relics, which were presented to the royal pair to kiss ; and thereafter they
were stayed at an embattled barrier, erected for the occasion, at the windows of which
appeared “ angells synging joyously for the comynge of so noble a ladye,” while another
angel presented to her the keys of the city. .I
Dunbar’s Memoira D. Laing. 1834. ’ Leland’s Collectanea, vol. iv. p. 287-300. 8 Ibicl, 287.

... MEMORIALS OF EDlNBURGH. expenses of the building, preserve a valuable record of its progress and character; ...

Book 10 p. 28
(Score 0.57)

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.