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30 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
Dr. James Momson of Glasgow, and others of simiIar mark and likelihood,
used to hang upon his lips like bees on mountain flowers,-and
SURGEONS’ mu,.
there were a wild beauty and fragrance in his utterances! Passing from
Nicolson Square through a pend, we come upon the Potterrow. Here
stood a U.P. Church, where for a lengthened time preached Dr. John
Ritchie, already referred to, whose sobriquet was VoIuntary John, a man of
rare powers of humour, great readiness of speech, and marvellous activity,
who moved through all Scotland like a meteor for several years advocating
the Voluntary cause, and returned regularly on Saturday night to address his
flock on the Sunday, as fresh and full as if he had never stirred from home.
And not far from this we light on memorials of two much better known men
of genius, Robert Burns and Thomas Campbell. On the east pavement of
Potterrow Robert Bums used to pace, and look upward to a window in the
west of the street, where lived Clarinda, his then goddess (interior and exterior
views of whose house in General’s Entry: now taken down, are shown in the
accompanying engravings). We don’t much admire this episode in the history
of the Scottish Bard. His feeling to Mrs. Maclehose was neither love nor
1 General’s Entry derives its name from General Monk, who inhabited a house, now extinct,
in the south-western corner.

... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. Dr. James Momson of Glasgow, and others of simiIar mark and likelihood, used to ...

Book 11 p. 48
(Score 0.84)

The Cowgate.] - THE MAGDALENE CHAPEL 261
Michael Macqueen (or Macquhen), .a wealthy citi-
Zen, and afterwards by his widow, Janet Rhynd.
1725, accompanied by a servant, ?or tumbler,?
who robbed him, and against whom he warned the
people of certain country towns in the Courant of
December, I 7 25.
Arnot records that in early times there existed
in the Cowgate an ancient Maisoson Dieu which had
fallen into decay; but it was re-founded in the reign
with ancient painted glass-the only fragments in
all Scotland which have survived the Reformation,
the latter was used as a hall for their meetings.
The foundation was augmented in 1541 by two
donations from Hugh Lord Somerville, who was
taken prisoner by the English in the following
year, and had to ransom himself for I,OCO merks.
If the edifice suffered in the general sack of the
city during the invasion of 1544 it must have been
The hospital4esigned to accommodate a chap
lain and seven poor men-and the chzpel, the little
square spire of which (with its gargoyles formed like
cannon, each with a ball stuck in its mouth) is
nearly lost amid the towering modern edifices which
surround it-were dedicated to St Mary Magda-
1 and contain the royal arms of Scotland, encircled
by a wreath of thistles, and those of the Queen
Regent Mary of Guise, within a wreath of laurel,
with the shields of the founder and foundress within
ornamental borders. These probably date from
1556, in which year we find that ?The baillies and

... Cowgate.] - THE MAGDALENE CHAPEL 261 Michael Macqueen (or Macquhen), .a wealthy citi- Zen, and afterwards by ...

Book 4 p. 261
(Score 0.84)

B I0 GR AP €I I GAL S H ET C H E S. 263
by order of the guard, placed it in a cart, and drove at a furious rate round
the back of the castle.” The object of this order was probably an idea that
the jolting motion of the cart might be the means of resuscitation, as had once
actually happened in the case of the celebrated “ half-hangit Maggie Dickson.” ‘
The body was afterwards conveyed to one of Brodie’s own workshops in the
Lawnmarket, where Degravers was in attendance. He attempted bleeding, etc.,
but all would not do ; Brodie “ was fairly gone.”
Before closing our memoir of Deacon Brodie, it may not be uninteresting
to give one or two extracts from those letters which proved the means of his
discovery. In one addressed to his relative, Mr. Sherriff, he says, -“ My stock
is seven guineas, but by the time I reach Ostend it will be reduced to six. My
wardrobe is all on my back, excepting two check shirts and two white ones.
My coat out at the arms and elbows.” In another addressed to Henderson,
dated April 10, he writes-“ I arrived in London on the 13th March, where I
remained until the 23d, snug and safe in the house of an old female friend,
within five hundred yards of Bow Street, I did not keep the house all this time,
but so altered, excepting the scar under my eye, I think you could not have Tapt
(swore) to me. I saw Mr. Williamson twice ; but although countrymen usually
shake hands when they meet from home, yet I did not choose to make so free
with him, notwithstanding he brought n letter to me. My female gave me great
uneasiness by introducing a flash man to me, but she assured me he was a true
man; and he proved himself so, notwithstanding the great reward, and was
useful to me. I saw my picture (his description in the newspapers) six hours
before, exhibited to public view ; and my intelligence of what was doing at Bow
Street Office was as good as ever I had in Edinburgh. I make no doubt but
that designing villain Brown is in high favour with Mr. Cockburn (the Sheriff),
for I can see some strokes of his pencil in my portrait. Write me how the main
went*-how you came on in it-if my black cock fought and gained,” etc.
Here we have the mind of Brodie strongly imbued with his ruling passion for
gambling. Immediately the recollection of his unhappy situation conjures up
matter of serious reflection. He feelingly alludes to his children-“They will
miss me more,” says he, “than any other in Scotland. May God in His infinite
goodness stir up some friendly aid for their support, for it is not in my power
at present to give them any assistance. Yet I think they will not absolutely
starve in a Christian land, where their father once had friends, and who was
always liberal to the distressed.” He then states his intention of proceeding to
some part of North America, probably to Philadelphia or New ‘York, and
desires that his working tools might be purchased for him, and forwarded to
either of these places, adding, that although it is hard to begin labour at my ,
This woman had been executed for child-murder, and her body delivered to her relatives for
interment, who put it in a cart to transport it a few miles out of town. Strange to say, half the
journey was not accomplished, when, to the consternation of those present, the poor woman revived.
she lived afterwads several years, and bore two children to her husband.
2 He was passionately fond of cock-fighting.

... I0 GR AP €I I GAL S H ET C H E S. 263 by order of the guard, placed it in a cart, and drove at a furious rate ...

Book 8 p. 367
(Score 0.84)

297 1,,firwry Strert.1 1NFIRMARY SUGGESTED.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE OLD ROYAL INFIRMARY-SURGEON SQUARE.
The Old Royal Infirmary-Projected in time of Gorge I.-The First Hospital Opened-The Royal Charter-Second Hospital Built-
Opened 1741-Sizc and Constitution-Benefactors? Patients-Struck by Lightning-Chaplain?s Dutier--Cases in the Present Day-The
Keith Fund-Notabilities of Surgeon Squan-The H o w of CumehiU-The Hall of the Royal and Medical Society-Its Foundation-
Bell?s Surgical Theatre.
THOUGH the ancient Scottish Church had been
during long ages distinguished for its tenderness
and charity towards the diseased poor, a dreary
interval of nearly two centuries, says Chambers,
intervened between the extinction of its lazar-houses
and leper-houses, and the time when a merely
civilised humanity suggested the establishment of
a regulated means for succouring the sicknessstricken
of the poor and homeless classes.
86
A pamphlet was issued in Edinburgh in 1721
suggesting the creation of such an institution, and
there seems reason to suppose that the requirements
of her rising medical schools demanded it;
but the settled gloom of the ? dark age ? subsequent
to the Union, usually stifled everything. and the
matter went to sleep till 1725, when it was revived
by a proposal to raise Az,ooo sterling to carry it
out

... 1,,firwry Strert.1 1NFIRMARY SUGGESTED. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE OLD ROYAL INFIRMARY-SURGEON SQUARE. The Old Royal ...

Book 4 p. 297
(Score 0.84)

338 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Roxburgh Place.
sion, belonging to the Lords Ross and to the age
of stately ceremony and stately manners, occupied
till the middle of the eighteenth century the site
occupied the same apartment as that in which
resided, till the year before his death, in 1785,
Alexander Kunciman, one of the most eminent
Scottish artists of his day, and where, no doubt, he
must have entertained the poet Robert Fergusson,
?? while with ominous fitness he sat as his model
for the Prodigal Son.?
Nicolson Street church, erected in 1819-20, at
a cwt of x6,000, has a handsome Gothic front,
with two turreted pinnacles ninety feet in height.
It is built upon the site of the old Antiburgher
Meeting-house, and is notable for the ministry of
Dr. John Jamieson, author of several theological
works, and of the well-known ? Etymological Dictionary
of the Scottish Language.? It was among
the first efforts at an improved style of church
architecture in Edinburgh, where, as elsewhere in
Scotland after the Keformation, the accommodation
of the different congregations in the homeliest
manner was all that was deemed necessary.
The pond sam parish called Lady Glenorchy?s
lies eastward of Nicolson Street, and therein quite
a cluster of little churches has been erected. The
parish church was built as a relief chapel in 1809,
by the Rev. Mr. Johnstone, and altered in 1814,
when it was seated for 990 persons. The Independent
congregation in Richmond Couk was
established in 1833 ; but their place of worship till
1840 was built about 1795 by the Baptists. The
Hebrew congregation was established in 1817, but
has never exceeded IOO souls. The Episcopal
congregation of St. Peter?s, Roxburgh Place, was
established in 1791, and its place of worship consisted
of the first and second flats of a five-storeyed
tenement, and was originally built, at the sole
expense of the clergyman, for about 420 persons.
To Roxburgh Place came, in 1859, the congregation
of Lady Glenorchy?s church, which had been
demolished by the operations of the North British
Railway. The Court of Session having found that
city. In those days the mansion, which was a
square block with wings, was approached by an
avenue through a plantation upwards of sixty yards
ROSS
this body must be kept in full communion with
the Established Church, authorised the purchase of
Roxburgh Place chapel in lieu of the old place of
worship, and trustees were appointed to conduct
their affairs.
The chapel handed over to them was that of
the Relief Communion just mentioned. Externally
it has no architectural pretensions ; but many may
remember it as the meeting-place of the ?Convocation
? which preceded the ever-memorable
secession in 1843, after which it remained closed
and uncared for till it came into the hands of the
Glenorchy trustees in 1859, in so dilapidated a condition
that their first duty was to repair it before
the congregation could use it.
The remains of the pious Lady Glenorchy, which
had been removed from the old church near the
North Bridge, were placed, in 1844, in the vaults
of St. John?s church ; but the trustees, wishing to
comply as far as was in their power with the
wishes of the foundress, that her remains should
rest in her own church, had a suitable vault built
in that at Roxburgh Place. It was paved and
covered with stone, set in Roman cement, and
formed on the right side of the pulpit.
Therein her body was laid on the evening of
Saturday, 31st December, 1859. The marble
tablet, which was carefully removed from the old
church, was placed over her grave, with an additional
inscription explaining the circumstance which
occasioned her new place of interment.
The portion of St. Cuthbert?s garish which was
disjoined and attached to Lady Glenorchy?s is
bounded by Nicolson Street and the Pleasance on
the west and east, by Drummond Street on the
north, and Richmond Street on the south, with an
average population of about 7,000 souls.
Roxburgh Terrace is built on what was anciently
called Thomson?s Park; and the place itself was
named the Back Row in the city plan of 1787.
CHAPTER XL.
GEORGE SQUARE AND THE VICINITY
How-The last Lord Ross-Earlier Residents in the Square-House of Walter Scott, W.S.-Sir Waltcr?s Boyhood-Bickas-Grcen
Breeks-The Edinburgh Light Horse-The Scots Brigad+Admiral Duncan--Lord Advocate Dundas-The Grants of Kilgrastonhmn
Dunda+Sedan Chak--Campbells of Snccoth-Music Class Room-The Eight Southern DistrictAhapel of Ease-Windmill
Street-Euccleuch Place-Jeffrey?s First House there-The Burgh Loch-Society of Impraven-The Meadow.

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Roxburgh Place. sion, belonging to the Lords Ross and to the age of stately ceremony ...

Book 4 p. 338
(Score 0.84)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 369
same night stopped at %learns, about nine miles distant, where the people with
whom he lodged remarked his agitated manner, and observed some spots of
blood on his clothes. He left Mearns about four o’clock in the morning, and
proceeded to Irvine, where he intended to take shipping for Ireland.
In the meantime the Magistrates of Glasgow were extremely active in
despatching officers of justice in all directions in search of the murderer. He
was traced to Irvine, where the officers learned that he had sailed a day or two
previous for Dublin, but that the vessel would probably put into Lamlash Bay, in
Arran. They could get no boat to sail, however, on account of the tempestuous
weather, until Mr. Cunningham of Seabank, a respectable and active Justice of
the Peace, impressed one for the purpose. Arriving in Lamlash Bay, the party
found the vessel M‘Kean had sailed in; and, proceeding on shore, they discovered
the object of their pursuit sitting among the other passengers, at the fire of a
public-house in Lamlash. On seeing the officers he immediately surrendered
himself, saying--“ I know your errand.”
The cold-blooded cruelty of the deed had created a strong excitement in
Glasgow ; and when the officers, Graham and Munro, arrived with their charge,
the populace could not be restrained from expressing their satisfaction by loud
cheering. On his examination before the Magistrates M’Kean confessed the
murder, but endeavoured to palliate his guilt. He addressed the Magistrates
with astonishing composure, but with great deference and respect. Buchanan’s
pocket-book, containing bank notes to the amount of %118, his watch and several
papers, were found upon him by the officers of justice, who, for the activity they
had displayed, besides a reward of twenty guineas previously offered, received
the thanks of the magistracy.
M‘Kean’s trial came on at Edinburgh, on the 12th December 1796. When
brought to the bar he gave in a written confession, and pleaded guilty. He
had neither counsel nor agent. When offered professional assistance by the
Court, previous to proceeding in the trial, he said-“No; I will have no
counsel but the Almighty. I am guilty of the crime laid to my charge in all its
circumstances. If the Court, as a matter of form, appoint an advocate for me, I
will have none of his assistance. I am determined to plead guilty, and submit
to my fate.” For the satisfaction of the Court, and the country in general,
several witnesses were called in, who fully proved both the robbery and the
murder. The jury accordingly returned a verdict of-guilty; and the prisoner
wm sentenced to be executed at Glasgow on the 24th of January following.
During the trial, the prisoner behaved with the utmost calmness and composure.
He is described as having been a decent-looking man, about forty years
of age, five feet six or seven inches high, dressed in a brown coat, black silk
waistcoat and breeches, and more a striped green great-coat. He was very pale,
and had nothing of a vicious expression in his face. On the day of his execution
a vast concourse of people were assembled from all parts of the country, particularly
from Lanark. The culprit met his fate with great resignation.
VOL. 11. 3 B

... SKETCHES. 369 same night stopped at %learns, about nine miles distant, where the people with whom he ...

Book 9 p. 491
(Score 0.83)

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 0.83)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 35 3
expected that the city, together with the Castle, would fall into the hands of the
“Friends of the People.” The design was as follows:--“A fire was to be
raised near the Excise Office, which would require the attendance of the soldiers,
who were to be met on their way by a body of the ‘Friends of the
People ;’ another party of whom were to issue from the West Bow, to confine
the soldiers between two fires, and cut off their retreat. The Castle was next
to be attempted ; the Judges and Magistrates were to be seized ; and all the
public banks were to be secured. A proclamation was then to be issued, ordering
all the farmers to bring in their grain to market as usual ; and enjoining all
country gentlemen unfriendly to the cause to keep within their houses, or three
miles of them, under penalty of death. Then an address was to be sent to his
Majesty, conimanding him to put an end to the war-td change his ministersor
take the consequences.”
Before this extraordinary project could be carried into effect, it was necessary
that arms of some description or other should be procured. Another committee
was consequently formed, called the collectors of “ Sense and Money,” whose
business it was to “ raise the wind,” in order to procure arms. Two smiths
(Robert Orrock and William Brown), who had enrolled their names among the
( ( Friends of the People,” were employed to make four thousand pikes ; some
of which were actually completed, and had been delivered to Watt, and paid
for by Downie, in his capacity of treasurer.
Meanwhile the trials of William Skirving, Maurice Margarot, and Joseph
Gerrald had taken place ; but it was not until May that Watt and Downie were
apprehended. On the 15th of that month, two sheriff-officers, while searching the
house of Watt for some goods which had been secreted, belonging to a bankrupt,
discovered some pikes, which they immediately carried to the Sheriff’s
Chambers. A warrant was then given to search the whole premises, and also
to apprehend the parties. In the cellar, a form of types, from which the address
to the ‘military had been printed, as also an additional quantity of pikes, were
discovered ; and in the house of Orrock, the smith, thirty-three pikes, finished
and unfinished, were likewise found.
True bills of indictment having been found against Watt and Downie, the
trial of the former took place before the Court of Oyer and Terminer, on the 14th
of August 1794; and of the latter, on the 7th of Septeniber. The facts set
forth in the indictments were fully proven against the prisoners. A letter from
Downie-as treasurer to the Committee of Ways and Means, to “Walter
Millar, Perth ”-acknowledging the receipt of S15, in which he gave an account
of the riots in the Theatre,’ was produced and identified ; and Robert Orrock
These riots commenced on Monday night, the 8th of April 1794, when the tragedy of Charles
I. waa performed. At the end of the second act several gentlemen called to the band in the orchestra
to play “God save the King,” during the performance of which a few individuals did not uncover.
Sone of the more loyal portion of the audience insisted that they should ; and from words the
matter came to blows. On the next night of performance (the 10th) some attempts were made to
create a disturbance, which was speedily got under ; but on Saturday, the 12th, the democratic
party mustered in greater numbers j and preparations had been made on both sides for a trial of
2 2

... SKETCHES. 35 3 expected that the city, together with the Castle, would fall into the hands of ...

Book 8 p. 493
(Score 0.82)

264 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH,
in an advertisement of the year 1798, as ‘‘ the Auld Cameronian Meeting-house.” Tradition
pointed out the upper flat of the same tenement as having been the’lodging of
‘.i Nicol Muschett of ill memorie,” while a student at college, though it appears, from the
evidence on his trial, that his
final residence was in Dickson’s
Close. This ancient tenement,
which was latterly regarded with
interest, as bearing the oldest
date on any p‘rivate building in
Edinburgh, excepting that already
described in Blyth’s Close,
has been recently entirely demolished,
and replaced by a plain
unpretending erection.‘ But we
have since discovered a stone in
the possession of James Gibson Craig, Esq., bearing the much earlier date of 1506, which
was removed from a house taken down some years since, near the foot of this same wynd,
on the opposite side. The stone appears to have formed the top of a dormer window,
being triangular in shape, and surmounted by an unusually large crescent. The date is
cut partly in Arabic and partly in Roman numerals, thus :-15VI. The site of this
ancient fabric is now a ruinous waste, rendering it impossible to recover any traces of its
proprietors, either in early or later times.
Immediately adjoining the former building, on the west side of the wynd, is the venerable
mansion of the Earls of Morton, an ancient timber-fionted land, already referred to in the
description of Brown’s Close, Castlehill,’ with its fine Gothic doorway, and sculptured tympanum,
containing a coronet supported by unicorns. Such portions of the stone front as
remain exposed, exhibit the feature, which occurs so frequently in buildings of an early
date, of moulded windows originally divided by stone mullions. The desolate and deserted
aspect of the vice-regal residence, comports with the degraded state of this once patrician
locality, now ‘‘ fallen on evil days and evil tongues.’’ It has long been entirely shut up,
defying as completely dl attempts at investigating its interior, as when Queen’s m n and
King’s men were fighting in the High Street, and Kirkaldy of Grange was bent on driving
the Regent and all his followers from the town. The evidence of this mansion having
been occupied by the Regent Morton is not complete, though it is undoubtedly of an earlier
date, and appears to have been possessed by. his immediate ancestors. The earliest title
which we have 6een is a disposition by Archibald Douglaa, younger of Whittinghame, one
of the senators of the College of Justice, in which it is described as “that tenement which
was some time the Earl of Mortoun’s.’’ From this it may be inferred to have been the
residence of his direct ancestor, John, second Earl of Morton, who sat in the Parliament
of James IV. in 1504,’ and whose grandson, William Douglas of Whittinghame was
created a senator of the College of Justice in 1575. He was a contemporary of his kins-
.
The ancient tenement at the head of Monteith’s Close bore the date 1562, with an inscription over the doorway
Ante, p. 138.
of a remarkably fine inner turnpike, but it waa demolished several years before the one in Blackfriars’ Wynd.
a Douglae’a Peerage, vol. ii. p. 269.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH, in an advertisement of the year 1798, as ‘‘ the Auld Cameronian Meeting-house.” ...

Book 10 p. 286
(Score 0.82)

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

... HAWTHORNDEN. 353 ROSLIN CHAPEL :-THE @' 'PRENTICE PILLAR." (From a Phtogra#h by G. W. ...

Book 6 p. 353
(Score 0.82)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 281
In 1824 Dr. Hall assisted at the dispensation of the Lord‘s Supper in his
old place of worship in Cumnock. As this was his first and only visit, from
the time of his removal to Edinburgh in 1786-a period of thirty-eight yearsthe
occasion was one of no ordinary interest. For the following particulars
we are indebted to the communication of a friend :-
“ I met him at the Coach-office, on his arrival from Edinburgh, and walked with him tb my
house. On reaching the bridge over the far-famed Lugar, he stood entranced, as it were, and
would not move, till, in thoughtful silence, he enjoyed for a time the scene on which, as he said,
his eye in youth had so often rested with delight He abode with me a week, nearly the whole
of which, excepting the time devoted to religious services, we spent in visiting scenes with
which he had been formerly familiar. In our walks he
seemed keenly to recall former associations. On one occasion, as we walked along the banks
of the Lugar, in a very lovely dell, he exclaimed-‘ Oh, I remember that stone ! (alluding to a
large stone in the bed of the river). Time has produced no change on it ; but (turning round,
he added) these trees have grown beyond my knowledge.’ We called on such of the old people
as had been members of his congregation, and on the descendants of others. He seemed to feel,
and, in tones which were peculiar to his manner, expressed a deep interest in them. The
daughter of a valued friend, who had long ago descended into the grave, we found lying on a
bed of sickness. He prayed ; and, on takiug leave, affectionately kissed her, as he said, for her
father’s sake. In-the course of our conversations, he told me that during his residence here he
had made himself master of the theology of the Cromwellian age; from which, as it seems to
me, his style of preaching, in all probability, derived much of that raciness for which he was so
much distinguished.
Nor
was the exercise of this esteem confined to the beople who enjoyed the benefit of his ministry.
Among others who sought and cultivated his friendship, may be mentioned the late Lord and
Lady Dumfries, who often entertained him at their table, and in return visited him-a circumstance
not common between dissenting ministers and persons of their rank
A few of these are very picturesque.
“ Dr. Hall was a highly popular and much esteemed miniiter while he laboured here.
Dr. Hall died on the morning of November 28, 1826, in the seventy-first
year of his age, and fiftieth of his ministry. He suffered much during the continuance
of his trouble; but he bore his affliction with exemplary fortitude
aod resignation. The interest it excited was
obvious at his funeral, and especially at the appropriate sermon preached in his
church on the subsequent Sabbath, by the Rev. John Brown (who had succeeded
him in Rose Street), when at least two-thirds of the vast multitude that
appeared solicitous to hear it were unable to gain admission.
Among other affairs of moment affecting the prosperity of the church that
deeply engaged the attention of the Doctor, was the long-wished-for union of
the two great dissenting bodies in Scotland ; and no one rejoiced more than he
did at its accomplishment. At his death he was father of his Presbytery,
and had the satisfaction of being Convener of the Committee of the United
Synod for preparing the “Testimony,” which has since been issued by that
body.
In Broughton Place Church a handsome tablet is erected to his memory.
His death was deeply regretted.
VOL. IL 2 0

... SKETCHES. 281 In 1824 Dr. Hall assisted at the dispensation of the Lord‘s Supper in his old place ...

Book 9 p. 373
(Score 0.82)

204 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
heirs, extended it first to the female line, and then vested in him the power of
nomination. Of this power he availed himself, having a short time before his
death nominated Sir John Hay of Killour-the immediate ancestor of the
present Earl-his successor ; and of course, under that character, he held it by
an undoubted right. The Lord Chancellor concluded by moving, “That the
Earl of Errol is duly elected,” which motion passed unanimously.
He died, after several months’ illness,
at London, on the 14th June 179s.’ His lordship married at Portpatrick, in
1790, Miss Blake, daughter of Joseph Blake of Ardfiy, county of Galway, in
Ireland ; but leaving no issue by her, the iitle devolved on his brother.
The Earl did not long enjoy his seat.
The other noble friend represented in the Print, is the Right Honourable
LORD HADDO, eldest son of the third Earl of Aberdeen, and brother to
Lord Rockville, noticed in an early part of this work. He married, in 1782,
Charlotte, youngest daughter of William Baird, Esq. of Newbyth, Haddingtonshire,
and sister of the late gallant Sir David Baird, Bart. and K.B.
Lord Haddo was a young nobleman of considerable public spirit, and much
esteemed by the citizens of Edinburgh. He was Grand Master Mason of Scotland
in 1783 and the two following years, and presided at the meeting of the
Grand Lodge in 1785, when the charter was granted for the institution of the
“ Lodge of the Roman Eagle,” formerly alluded to in our sketch of Dr. Brown.
His name is also associated with one of the most important improvements in
Edinburgh, he having the same year laid the foundation-stone of the South
Bridge. The masonic display on this occasion was very splendid-upwards of
eight hundred of the brethren walked in procession. The Grand Master was
supported on the right by the Duke of Buccleuch, and on the left by the Earl
of Balcarras. In the evening the Grand Lodge and a number of the nobility
and gentry were invited by the Lord Provost to an elegant entertainment in
Dunn’s Assembly-room.
Lord Haddo was cut off in the prime of life, in consequence of a fall from
his horse. His lady did
not long survive him: she died on the 8th October 1795. Their eldest son,
George, succeeded to the earldom on the death of his grandfather in 1801 ; the
second, William, entered the navy-he is presently M.P. for Aberdeenshire ;
the third, Alexander Gordon, was a lieutenant in the 3d Regiment of Foot Guards.
He was aide-de-camp t.0 his uncle, Sir David Baird, at the taking of the Cape of
Good Hope, Buenos Ayres, and Copenhagen-and in the Spanish expedition in
1808. He was sent home with the despatches respecting the battle of Corunna,
Lord Haddo left three other sons and one daughter.
He died at Formartine, on the 2d October 1791.
1 His lordship accompanied the expedition undertaken against Ostend the year previous. He was
then labouring under the disease which terminated his existence, and was subject to occasional attacks
of delirium. In this state of mind he is said to have disclosed the object of the expedition prematurely.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. heirs, extended it first to the female line, and then vested in him the power ...

Book 8 p. 287
(Score 0.81)

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

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

Book 1 p. 192
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110 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
University of Aberdeen, and subsequently for five years at Edinburgh, he
repaired to London, Rouen, and Paris, and took his degree at Leyden about the
year 1740.l He afterwards practised for some time at Rotterdam, where he
married Miss Sarah Lombe, a lady of much piety and high mental attainments.
By this union he had a son and daughter. Miss
Grant, afterwards married to the late Dr. Andrew Brown, was much celebrated
for her acquirements. She was an accomplished musician, and performed with
science and taste on the piano and pedal harp.
Some time after the death of his first wife, Dr. Grant again entered into the
married state, by espousing a daughter of Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk.
By this marriage he had two sons and a daughter. The eldest, Archibald,
went out to Jamaica to a relation-Grant of Rothiemurcus-where he died.
Thg other son, Johnson, studied for the Church, much against the will of his
father, who was desirous that he should follow out the profession of medicine,
and settled in the vicarage of Kentish-town, London. The daughter was
courted and married by Dr. Thorpe, physician at Leeds, while a student at the
University of this city.
On settling in Edinburgh, Dr. Grant rapidly acquired a wide range of professional
employment, chiefly among the leading families from the north ; and a
course of lectures on the Practice of Physic, delivered about 1770, secured for
him a flattering increase of reputation.’ In chemistry he was known to possess
pretty extensive knowledge; and part of his house was fitted up with the
necessary apparatus for experimenting on a large scale in that interesting
department of science.’ It may be worth mentioning, as illustrative of his
humane disposition, that he devoted an hour, between eight and nine o’clock
every morning-winter as well as summer-to the service of the poor, to whom
he gave medicine and advice gratis. He was long a manager of the Orphan
Hospital, devoting much of his attention to its interests, and was the projector
of the Hospital at Grantown, in Strathspey.
Moving in the best circles of society, the Doctor was a joyous supporter of
the social character ascribed to the last century inhabitants of Edinburgh; and
his house in James’s Court ‘-top flat of the left hand turnpike-was the scene
of many fashionable entertainments. His parties, at which the Duchess of
Gordon and other ladies of high rank were frequently present, were given generally
in the evening, and called “musical supper~.”~ As an instance of the
The former died in infancy.
1 While abroad Dr. Grant enjoyed the friendship of many of the most eminent medical men of
F’rofesaor Lied, of Rouen, wished much that he ahould have become Professor of
* In 1761 he was a candidate for the chair of the Practice of Physic in the University of
Some valuable morbid preparations of the bones, which Dr. Grant had procured at Rotterdam,
the Continent.
Chemistry there.
Edinburgh.
afterwards formed part of the museums of Dr. Barclay and Mr. John Bell. ‘ The Doctor’s horses and carriage were accommodated at Ramsay Gardens.
The gentlemen more regularly in attendance were, Sir James Grant of Grant, Sir John Sinclair,
Mr. Henry M‘Kenzie, and Mr. John Bell, surgeon. The concerts were led by the famous Stabilini.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. University of Aberdeen, and subsequently for five years at Edinburgh, he repaired to ...

Book 9 p. 147
(Score 0.81)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 237
works of the day, but it was not till 1794 that Mr. Sommers, impelled by the
political excitement of the times, committed himself to the public, by the production
of a pamphlet on the “Meaning and Extent of the Burgess Oath.”‘
This essay, inscribed to Provost Elder, is written in a clear and forcible style.
The aim of the author was to exhibit to his fellow-burgesses the nature and
duties by which they were bound, and the evil effects consequent on disunion,
disaffection, and civil war. As the pamphlet is now scarce, we may quote the
following passage as a specimen :-“ How valuable, how important then, the
blessings of internal peace-national peace ! Consequently, how criminal the
conduct of those who would endeavour to deprive us of them ! Peace, at her
leisure, plans and leads out industry to execute all those noble improvements
in agriculture, commerce, architecture, and science, which we behold on every
side. Peace sets the mark of property on our possessions, and bids justice
guarantee them to our enjoyment. Peace spreads over us the banner of the
laws, while, free from outrage, and secure from injury, we taste the milk and
honey of our honest toil.“
The author was prompted to
this performance by a desire to vindicate the character of the poet, and rescue
his memory from the misrepresentations of ‘‘ those biographers who knew him
not, and who have taken their materials from others little better informed than
themselves.” The story of the poet’s accidental meeting with the Rev. John
Brown, in the churchyard of Haddington, and the extraordinary effect resulting
from the conversation, is strongly doubted by Mr. Sommers. “This rural
excursion, and singular dialogue,” says he, “ with all its supposed direful effects,
has even found its way into the first volume of the Supplement to the Eneyelop@
dia Britanniea, and is held forth in that part of their biographical history as
a sterling circumstance in the life of the unfortunate Robert Fergusson! I
know, however, that account to be ill-founded in most particulars, although the
visit alluded to was in the year 1772. The day before Robert Fergusson set
out upon it, I saw and conversed with him; and the evening on which he
returned to town was in his company ; and not one word dropped from him of
any such thing having happened, though he was thn in every respect possessed
of all his mental faculties.
With regard to the accusation preferred against the poet, “that he was an
utter stranger to temperance and sobriety, and that his dissipated manner of
life had in a great measure eradicated all sense of delicacy and propriety,” Mr.
Sommers observes, that ‘‘ those who were personally acquainted with him, will
His Life of Fergusson appeared in 1803.’
“Observations on the Meaning and Extent of the Burgess Oath, taken at the admission of every
Burgess in the City of Edinburgh, as comprehending the duties of Religion, Allegiance to the King,
Respect and Submission to the authority of the Civil Magistrate, and the relative duties which the Bur
gesses owe to each other. By Thomas Sommera, Burgess and Freeman Glazier of Edinburgh.” 8vo.
* “Life of Robert Fergusson, the Scottish Poet, by Thomas Sommers, Burgess and Freeman of
Edinburgh, and his Majesty’s Glazier for Scotland.” This biographical sketch
was intended to accompany an edition of Fergusson’s Poems, printed in 12mo, by Chapman and Lang,
1500, and which Sommers characterises “as the best yet published.”
Edin. 1803, 12mo.

... SKETCHES. 237 works of the day, but it was not till 1794 that Mr. Sommers, impelled by the political ...

Book 9 p. 316
(Score 0.81)

44 EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
Well might Christopher thus describe Greyfriars in his Nocfes:-‘An impre?
sive place,-huge auld red gloomy church, a countless multitude 0’ grass graves,
a’ touchin’ ane anither ; a’ round the kirkyard wa’s marble and freestane monuments
without end, and 0’ a’ shapes and sizes and ages,-some quaint, some
queer, some simple, some ornate-for genius likes to work upon grief; and
here tombs are like towers and temples, partakin’ not 0’ the noise 0’ die city,
but standing aloof frae the stir of life, aneath the sombre shadow of the
Castle cliff, that heaves its battlements furth into the sky.’
OLD WELI. WEST mUT.
The best approach to the Grassmarket was down the ancient suburb of
Portsburgh. There too you get one of the grandest views of the Castle,
frowning overhead, as represented in the Engraving, like the brow of some
colossal Gorgon. The Grassmarket itself owes its chief charm to the past, to the
memories of the Covenanters who ‘glorified God’ there (at the east end of the
square, opposite No. 100), and of Captain Porteous, who was hung on a dyester’s
pole on the south side, over the entrance to Hunter’s Close. We remember
too with special interest being present here in the close of the year 1834 at a
great meeting against the Tory Ministry, and of hearing eloquent speeches
from the lips of James Aytoun, James Browne, Advocate, and above all of

... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT. Well might Christopher thus describe Greyfriars in his Nocfes:-‘An impre? sive ...

Book 11 p. 68
(Score 0.8)

Arlhur?s Seat.] DR. JOHN BELL 303
sity of Edinburgh that the Medical Society has
contributed much to the prosperity and reputation
of this school of physic.?
Such are still the objects of the Royal Medical
Society, which has now, however, quitted its old
hall and chambers for newer premises in 7 Melbourne
Place. Its staff consists of four presidents,
two honorary secretaries, curators of the library
and museum, with a treasurer and sub-librarian.
Many old citizens of good position had residences
in and near the High School yards and
Surgeon Square. Among these was Mr. George
Sinclair of Ulbster, who married Janet daughter of
Lord Strathmore, and who had a house of seven
rooms in the yard, which was advertised in the
Courant of 1761. His son was the eminent agriculturist,
and first baronet of the family.
In 1790 a theatre for dissections and an anatomical
museum were erected in Surgeon Square
by Dr. John Bell, the eminent anatomist, who was
born in the city on the 12th May, 1763, and who
most successfully applied the science of anatomy
to practical surgery-a profession to which, curiously
enough, he had from his birth been devoted by
his father. The latter,about a month before the
child?s birth, had-when in his 59th yea-undergone
with successapainful surgicaloperation, and his gratitude
led him tovowhe would rear his son John to the
cause of medicine for the relief of mankind ; and
after leaving the High School the boy was duly
apprenticed to Mr. Alexander Wood, surgeon, and
soon distinguished himself in chemistry, midwifery,
and surgery, and then anatomy, which had been
somewhat overlooked by Munro.
In the third year after his anatomical theatre
had been opened in the now obscure little square,
he published his ? Anatomy of the Human Body,?
consisting of a description of the action and play
of the bones, muscles, and joints. In 1797 appeared
the second volume, treating of the heart
and arteries. During a brilliant career, he devoted
himself with zeal to his profession, till in 1816 he
was thrown from his horse, receiving a shock from
which his constitution never recovered.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
AKTHUR?S SEAT AND ITS VICINITY.
The Sanctuary-Geology of the Hill-Origin of its Name, and that of the Craigs-The Park Walls, 2554-A Banquet alfrrsc6The Pestilence
-A Duel-?The Guttit Haddie?-Mutiny of the Old 78th Regiment-Proposed House on the Summit-bfuschat and his Cairn-
Radical Road Formed-May Day-Skeletons found at the Wells 0? Wearic-Park Improvements-The Hunter?s Bog-Legend of the
Hangman?s big-Duddingston-The Church-Rev. J. Thomson-Robert Monteith-The Loch-Its Sw-ans-Skatcrs--The Duddingston
Thoro-The Argyle and Abercorn FamilisThe Earl of Mob-Lady Flon. HastingsCnuvin?s Hospica-Parson?s Grecn-St.
Anlhonfs Chapel and Well-The Volunteer Renew before the Queen.
TAKING up the history of the districts of the city
in groups as we have done, we now come to Arthur?s
Seat, which is already well-nigh surrounded, especially
on the west and north, by streets and
mansions.
Towering to the height of 822 feet above the
Forth, this hill, with the Craigs of Salisbury, occupies
the greater portion of the ancient Sanctuary of
Holyrood, which included the royal park (first
enclosed and improved from a condition of natural
forest by James V. and Queen Mary), St. Anne?s
Yard and the Duke?s Walk (both now obliterated),
the Hermitage of St. Anthony, the Hunter?s Bog,
and the southern parks as far as Duddingston, a
tract of five miles in circumference, in which persons
were safe from their creditors for twenty-four
hours, after which they must take out a Protectim,
as it was called, issued by the bailie of the abbey ;
the debtors were then at liberty to go where they
pleased on Sundays, without molestation j but later
legal alterations have rendered retirement to the
Sanctuary to a certain extent unnecessary.
The recent formation of the Queen?s Drive
round the hill, and the introduction of the rifle
ranges in the valley to the north of it, have destroyed
the wonderful solitude which for ages
reigned there, even in the vicinity of a busy and
stormy capital. Prior to these changes, and in
some parts even yet, the district bore the character
which Arnot gave it when he wrote :-? Seldom are
human beings to be met in this lonely vale, or any
creature to be seen, but the sheep feeding on the
mountains, or the hawks and ravens winging their
flight among the rocks?: The aspect of the lionshaped
mountain and the outline of the craig
are known to every one. There is something certainly
grand and awful in the front of mighty slope
and broken rock and precipice, which the latter
present to the city. Greenstone, which has been
upheaved through strata surfaced with sandstone

... Seat.] DR. JOHN BELL 303 sity of Edinburgh that the Medical Society has contributed much to the ...

Book 4 p. 303
(Score 0.8)

454 BI 0 GRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
specimens brought home, a sketch of the geology of the different coasts disy
covered and touched upon by our enterprising navigators, which was published,
together with the botanical observations of his friends Brown and Hooker, and
formed the scientific companion to Parry’s interesting narrative.”
During the thirty-four years of his Professorship Mr. Jarneson had the
honour of sending forth from his class-room many pupils who afterwards
acquired a name in the world; and not a few of whom filled distinguished
places in the seminaries and scientific institutions of Europe. It wonld be
tedious to enumerate a tithe of these illustrious names ; but among others may
be mentioned-Dr. Flitton, late President of the Geological Society of London ;
Sir George Mackenzie, author of “ Travels in Iceland ;” Dr. Boue, President
of the Geological Society of France ; Dr. Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry at
Oxford; Dr. Grant, Professor of Zoology in the University of London; Dr.
Turner, Professor of Chemistry in the same seminary ; Dr. Hibbert, author of
the “ History of the Shetland Isles,” etc. etc.
Professor Jameson, equally respected at home and abroad, was connected,
lionorarily or otherwise, with almost every society for the promotion of natural
history throughout the world. He was a fellow of the Royal Societies of
London and Edinburgh ; President of the Wernerian, and fellow of the Antiquarian,
Koyal-Medical, Royal-Physical, Plinian, Highland, and Horticultural
Societies of Edinburgh ; honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy, and
of the Royal Society of Dublin; fellow of the Royal LinnEan, and Royal
Geological Societies of London; honorary member of the Asiatic Society of
Calcutta, etc. etc.’ .
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Esq., the extreme figure to the right, behind
Professor Jameson, was an active, public-minded citizen. His father, Robert
Johnston, at one period a banker, but latterly a grocer on the North Bridge,
and his uncle, the late Dr. Johnston, minister of North Leith, have both been
described in a previous part of this Work. Mr. Johnston was born in 1765.
Though not destined for any of the learned professions, he received an excellent
education, and possessed a taste and extent of information decidedly
superior to the generality of men in a mercantile sphere of life.’ On the death
of his father he succeeded to the business, which he carried on throughout a
period of nearly forty years with considerable success.
Mr. Johnston first became a member of the Town-Council in 1810, and was
elected one of the Bailies in 1812. In 1814 he was chosen Dean of Guild,
the duties of which office he discharged in an efficient manner, effecting many
improvements throughout the city, even in districts beyond the proper range of
Professor Jameson died at Edinburgh on 17th April 1854, in the fiftieth year of his Professor-
An inteiwting memoir of him by his son, Laurence Jame-
His bust by Sir
He was a member of the Antiquarian Society, and on terms of intimacy with Sir Walter Scott,
Sir Walter presented him
ship, and the eightieth year of his age.
son, was published in the “ Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for July 1854.
John Steel1 may be seen in the University library.
whose school-fellow he had been, and by whom he was highly respected.
with a copy of hi8 poetical works, accoinpanied by a very flattering letter.

... BI 0 GRAPHICAL SKETCHES. specimens brought home, a sketch of the geology of the different coasts disy covered ...

Book 9 p. 605
(Score 0.79)

APPENDIX. 443
all these oppressive exactions is imposed on INGELBDEA UMPF BAVILLEa, nd a proportinnately severe tine is
required from hie vassals.-(Lord Hades’s Annals, vol. i p. 288.) This, therefore, indicates one of the chief
leaders of the Scota against their English invaders. His fine was to extend over a perid of ten yeara, long
before which Edwad was in his grave, and nearly every place of strength in Scotland had been wreated from
his imbecile son, There seems little reason to doubt that Ingelram de Umtravile would early avail himself of
an opportunity to renounce a foreign ydce burdened by such exactions, and to bear his part in expelling the
invaders from the kingdom. The following, however, is the very different account of Nisbet, in hie ‘‘ Historical
and Critical remarks on the Ragman Roll” (p. 11), if it refer to the eame person :-
“Ingelramus de Umphravile was a branch of the Umfraville family that were Englishmen, but posRessed
of 8 great estate in Angus, and elsewhere, which they lost, because they would not renounce their allegiance
to England, and turn honest Scotsmen. In the rolls of King Robert I., there are charters of lands granted by
that Prince, upon the narratix-e that the lands had formerly belonged, and forfeited to the Crown, by the
attainder of Ingelramus de Umphramk.”
At an early date the Scottish Umfradles occupied a high rank. In 1243, Gilbert de Umfraville, Lord of
Pmdhow and Herbottil, in Northumberland, became Earl of Angus, by right of his marriage with Matilda,
Countess in her own right. The name of Cilleberto de Umframuill appears aa a witnew to a confirmation
of one of the charters of Holyrood Abbey, granted by William the Lyon (Liber Cartarurn Sancte Crucis, p.
24) ; and in a Rubsequent charter in the same reign he appears as bestowing a carukate of land in Kinard on the
w e Abbey (Ibid, p. 34). These notes can afford at best only grounds for surmise as to the knight whose
memorial cross was not altogether demolished till the year 1810. The base of it, which remained on ita ancient
site till that recent date, was a mass of whinstone, measuring fully five feet square, by about three feet high
above ground. There was a square hole in the centre of it, wherein the shaft of the cross- had been inserted.
We are informed that it was broken up and used for paving the road.
The poet Claudero, of whom some account is given in a succeeding note, haa dedicated an elegy to the
“Tun efield Nine,’’ On the Pollution of St Lemrd’s Hill, a conseerated and ancient burial-place, near EdinburgLn
The following stanzas will be sufficient to account for the complete eradication of every vestige of its hospital
and graves from the ancient site :- .
“ The High Priest there, with art and care,
Hath purg’d with gardner‘a skill,
And trench‘d out bones of Adam’s sons,
Repoa’d in Leonard’s Hill !
“ Graves of the dead, thrown up with spade,
Where long they slept full s t i
And turnips grow, from human POW,
Upon St Leonard’a Hill 1 ”
XIV. GREYFRIARS’ MONASTERY.
THE residence of Henry VI. of England, as well as his heroic Queen and their son, at the Greyfriars
Monastery in the Grassmarket, after the total overthrow of that unfortunate monarch’s adherents at the Battle
of Towton, i a referred to in the description of the Grassmarket (pages 17 and 342). Thevisit of Henry
to the Scottish capital has, however, been altogether denied by aome writers. The following note by Sir W,
Scott, on the fifth canto of Marmion, ought to place this at least beyond doubt :-

... 443 all these oppressive exactions is imposed on INGELBDEA UMPF BAVILLEa, nd a proportinnately severe ...

Book 10 p. 482
(Score 0.79)

OLD AND NEW EDINEURGH. LSouth Bridge. 376
In 1837 he succeeded Professor Macvey Napier
as Librarian to the Signet Library ; and when the
new and noble library of the University was opened
he volunteered to arrange it, which he did with
all the ardour of a bibliomaniac. Hewas made
LL.D. of his native university in 1864, and is
believed to have edited and annotated fully 250
rare works on Scottish history and antiquities.
True to its old tradition, No. 49 is still a booksellefs
shop, held by the old firm of Ogle and
Murray.
In No. 98 of the Bridge Street are the Assay
Office and Goldsmith?s Hall, The former is open
on alternate days, when articles of gold and silver
that require to be guaranteed by the stamp of
genuineness, are sent in and assayed. The assay
master scrapes a small quantity of metal off each
article, and submits it to a test in order to ascertain
the quality. The duty charged here on each ounce
of gold plate is 17s. 6d., and on silver plate IS. 6d
One of the earliest incorporated trades of Edinburgh
was that of the hammermen, under which
were included the goldsmiths, who, in 1586, were
formed into a separate company. By the articles
of it, apprentices must serve for a term of seven
years, and masters are obliged to serve a regular
apprenticeship of three years or more to make
them more perfect in their trade. They were,
moreover, once bound to give the deacon of the
craft sufficient proof of their knowledge of metals,
and of their skill in the working thereof. By a
charter of James VI., all persons not of the corporation
are prohibited from exercising the trade of
a goldsmith within the liberties of Edinburgh.
King James VII. incorporated the company by
a charter, with additional powers for the regulation
of its trade. Those were granted, so it runs, ? because
the art and science of goldsmiths is exercised
in the city of Edinburgh, to which our subjects
frequently resort, because it is the seat of our
supreme Parliament, and of the other supreme
courts, and there are few goldsmiths in other
cities.?
In virtue of the powers conferred upon it, the
company, from the date of its formation, tested
and stamped all the plate and jewellery made in
Scotland. The first stamp adopted was the tipletowered
castle, or city arms. ?In 1681,? says
Bremner, in his ?? Industries of Scotland,? ?a letter
representing the date was stamped on as well as
the castle. The letter A indicates that the article
bearing it was made in the year between the 29th
of September, 1681, and the same day in 1682 ;
the other letters of the alphabet, omitting j and
w, representing the succeeding twenty-three years.
Each piece bore, in addition to the castle and date
letter, the assay-master?s initials. Seven alphabets
of a different type have been exhausted in recording
the dates ; and the letter of the eighth alphabet,
for 1869, is an Egyptian capital M. In 1759 the
standard mark of a thistle was substituted for the
assay-master?s initials, and is still continued. In
1784 a ?duty-mark? was added, the form being
the head of the sovereign. The silver mace of.
the city of Edinburgh is dated 1617 ; the High
Church plate, 1643.?
The making of spoons and forks was at one
time an extensive branch of the silversmith trade
in Edinburgh ; but the profits were so small that
it has now passed almost entirely into the hands
of English manufacturers.
The erection of this bridge led to the formation of
Xunter?s Square and Hair Street, much about the
same time and in immediate conjunction with i t
The square and street (where the King?s pnntingoffice
was placed) were both named from Sir James
Hunter Blair, who was Provost of the city when
the bridge was commenced, but whose death at
Harrogate, in 1789, did not permit him to see
the fine1 completion of it.
Number 4 in this small square, the north side
of which is entirely formed by the Tron Church,
contains the old hall of the Merchant Company of
Edinburgh, which was formed in 1681.
But long previous to that year the merchants OF
the city formed themselves into a corporation,
called the guildry, from which, for many ages, the
magistrates were exclusively chosen ; and, by an
Act of Parliament passed in the reign of James
III., each of the incorporated trades in Edinburgh
was empowered to choose one of their number to
vote in the election of those who were to govern
the city, and this guildry was the parent of the
Merchant Company. ?It was amidst some of the
most distressing things in our national histovhangings
of the poor ?hill folk? in the Grassmarket,
trying of the patriot Argyle for taking
the test-oath with an explanation, and so forththat
this company came into being. Its nativity
was further heralded by sundry other things of
a troublous kind affecting merchandise and its
practitioners.??
The merchants of Edinburgh, according to Amot,
were erected into a bodp-corporate by royal charter,
dated 19th October, 1681, under the name of The
Company of Merchants of fhe Cig of Edinburgh.
By this charter they were empowered to choose a
Preses, who is called ? The Master,? with twelve
assistants, a treasurer, clerk, and officer. The
company were further empowered to purchase

... AND NEW EDINEURGH. LSouth Bridge. 376 In 1837 he succeeded Professor Macvey Napier as Librarian to the Signet ...

Book 2 p. 377
(Score 0.79)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 213
placed.’ These are usually carried by a boy denominated a cadie;’ and the
players are generally preceded by a runner, or foremdie, to observe the ball, so
that no time may be lost in discovering it. Bets of a novel nature, which set
the ordinary routine of the game entirely aside, are occasionally undertaken by
the more athletic. An amusing and dacult feat, sometimes attempted from
Bruntsfield Links, is that of driving the ball to the top of Arthur’s Seat I’
In this fatiguing undertaking, being a species of steeple chase, over hedges and
ditches, the parties are usually followed by bottle-holders and other attendants,
denoting the excessive exertion required.
In 1798 bets were taken in the Burgess Golfing Society, that no two
members could be found capable of driving a ball over the spire of St, Giles’s
steeple. The late Xlr. Sceales of Leith, and Mr. Smellie, printer, were
selected to perform this formidable undertaking. They were allowed to use six
balls each. The balls passed considerably higher than the weathercock, and
were found nearly opposite the Advocate’s Close. The bet was decided early
in the morning in case of accident, the parties taking their station at the southeast
corner of the Parliament Square. The feat is described as one of easy
performance. was obtained by a barrel stave, suitably
fixed ; and the height of the steeple, which is one hundred and sixty-one feet,
together with the distance from the base of the Church, were found to be much
less than a good stroke of the club.
When confined to its proper limits, the game of golf is one of moderate
exercise, and excellently calculated for healthful recreation, In the west of Scotland
it is comparatively unknown.6 One cause for this may be the want of
Commons, or Links, sufficiently large for the pastime to be pursued to advantage.
In Glasgow a golf club was formed some time ago ; but we understand
the members were under the necessity of breaking up, in consequence of having
been prohibited the use of the green, part of which is preserved with great care
for the purposes of bleaching. In Stirling two or three golfers may occasionally
be seen playing in the King’s Park, but the game has evidently ceased to be
The cadies, though generally boys, are in some instances professional players who continue the
occupation in addition to some other calling. They are for the most part very skilful players, having
a thorough knowledge of the game, which makes their services the more valuable, from tbe judicious
advice they are capable of affording the player whose clubs they carry.
8 This does not appear to have been attempted prior to the period when Hugo h o t wrote his
History of Edinburgh. In a critical note on the letters of Topham, who wrote in 1775, h o t
remarks that the author “has been pleased to make the top of Arthur’s Seat, and those of the other
hills in the neishbourhood of Edinburgh, fields for the game of the golf. This observation is still
more unfortunate than the general train of his remarks. Were a person to play a ball from the top
of Arthur’s Seat, he would probably have to walk upwards of half a mile before he could touch it
again ; and we will venture to say, that the w?wk art of man could not play ths Wl back agaim.’’
This, however, has actually been done.
For a bet a
ball waa driven, aome yeam ago, by Mr. Donald M‘Lean, W.S., over Mdville’s Monument, in St.
Andrew Square.
4 This remark does not apply now-Prestwick Linka, in Aphim, King one of the beat and moat
f a ~ o u r i kfi elds for the game in Scotland.
The required elevation
1 By the rules of the game (with certain exceptions) the ball must be struck where it lies.
The elevation waa taken by Mr. Laidlaw, teacher of Mathematies in Edinburgh.
ED. 1877.

... SKETCHES. 213 placed.’ These are usually carried by a boy denominated a cadie;’ and the players ...

Book 9 p. 284
(Score 0.79)

Parliament Close.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE.
Probable Extinction of the Court of Session-Memorabilia of the Parliament Close and SquartGoldsmiths of the Olden Time-George Henot-
His Workshq-His Interview with James VI.-Peter Williamson?s Tavern-Royal Exchange-Statue of Charles 11.-Bank of Scotland-
The Fire of 17oo-The Work of Restoration-John Row?s Coffee-house-John?s Coffee-house-Sylvester Otway-Sir W. Forber?s Bank-
Si Walter Scott?s Eulogy on Si W i U i Forks-John Kay?s Print-shop-The Parliment Stairs- James Sibbald-A Libel CascFire
in June, 1824-Dr. Archibald Pitcairn-The ? Greping Ofice?-Painting of King Charles?s Statue White-Seal of Amauld Larnmius.
A CHANGE has come over the scene of their
labours and the system of. the law which these
d d lords could never have conceived possiblewe
mean the system that is gradually extending in
Scotland, of decentralising the legal business of the
country-a system which stands out in strong con-
,trast to the mode of judicial centralisation now
prevailing in England. The Scottish county
courts have a jurisdiction almost co-extensive
with that of the Supreme Court, while those of
England have a jurisdiction (without consent of
parties) to questions only of value. This gives
them an overwhelming amount of business, while
the supreme courts of Scotland are starved by the
ipferior competing with them in every kind of litigation.
Thus the Court of Session is gradually
dwindling away, by the active competition of the
provincial courts, and the legal school becomes
every day more defective for lack of legal practice.
The ultimate purpose, or end, of this system
will, undoubtedly, lead to the disappearance of the
Court of Session, or its amalgamation with the
supreme courts in London will become an object
of easy accomplishment ; and then the school from
whence the Scottish advocates and judges come,
being non-existent, the assimilation of the Scottish
county courts to those of England, and the sweep
-ing away of the whole legal business of the country
to London, must eventually follow, with, perhaps,
the entire subjection of Scotland to the English
courts of law.
A description of the Parliament Close is given in
the second volume of ?? Peter?s Letters to his Kinsfolk,?
before the great fire of 1824 :-
?The courts of justice with which all these
eminent men are so closely connected are placed
in and about the same range of buildings which
in former times were set apart for the accommodation
of the Parliament of Scotland. The main
approach to these buildings lies through a small
.oblong square, which from this circumstance takes
the name of fhcParlianient Close. On two sides
this close is surrounded by houses of the same
gigantic kind of elevation, and in these, of old,
were lodged a great proportion of the dignitaries
and principal practitioners of the adjacent Courts.
At present, however (181g), they are dedicated,
like most of the houses in the same quarter of the
city, to the accommodation of tradespeople and
inferior persons attached to the courts of law.
. . . . The southern side of the square and a
small portion of the eastern are filled with venerable
Gothic buildings, which for many generations
have been dedicated to the accommodation
of the courts of law, but which are now shut out
from the eye of the public by a very ill-conceived
and tasteless front-work, of modern device, including
a sufficient allowance of staring square
windows, Ionic pillars, and pilasters. What beauty
the front of the structure may have possessed in
its original state I have no means of ascertaining ;
but Mr. Wastle (J. G. Lockhart) sighs every time
we pass through the close, as pathetically as could
be wished, ?over the glory that hath departed.?
The old Parliament House, the front of which
has been destroyed and concealed by the arcaded
and pillared facade referred to, we have already
described. The old Goldsmiths? Hall, on the
west side, formed no inconsiderable feature in the
close, where, about 1673, the first coffee-house
established in the city was opened.
The Edinburgh goldsmiths of the olden time
were deemed a superior class of tradesmen, and
were wont to appear in public with cocked hats,
scarlet cloaks, and gold-mounted canes, as men of
undoubted consideration. The father of John
Law of Lauriston, the famous financial projector,
was the son of a goldsmith in Edinburgh, where
he was born in April, 1671 ; but by far the most
famous of all the craft in the old Parliament Close
was George Heriot.
Down to the year 1780, says a historian, perhaps
there was not a goldsmith in Edinburgh who did
not condescend to manual labour. In their shops
every one of them might have been found busy
with some light work, and generally in a very plain
dress, yet ever ready to serve a customer, politely
and readily. The whole plate shops of the city
being collected in or near the Parliament Close,
thither it was that, till the close of the eighteenth
century, country couples resorted-the bride to get
her bed and table napery and trousseau ; there, too,
were got the nuptial ring, and ?? the silver spoons,?
and, as the goldsmiths of the city then kept scarcely

... Close. CHAPTER XIX. THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE. Probable Extinction of the Court of Session-Memorabilia of ...

Book 1 p. 174
(Score 0.79)

366 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
many of his compeers of last century; and the “French Philosophy,” as it
was called, found in him a determined opponent. To the great work of Gibbon,
the “ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” may be attributed some of his
most laborious translations, in the critical notes to which the false insinuations
and historical inaccuracies of that author are ably exposed.
For some time previous to the year 1790, the constitution of Lord Hailes
had been in a very enfeebled state ; yet he continued to prosecute his favourite
studies to the last, and performed his duty on the bench till witshin three days
of his death, which occurred at New Hailes on the 29th of November l792.l
His lordship was twice married-first to Anne Brown, only daughter of Lord
Coalstoun, by whom he had two daughters, the eldest of whom inherited the
estate.’ His second wife, Helen Fergusson, youngest daughter of Lord Kilkerran,
had also one daughter.’ Having no male issue, the baronetcy (which is now
extinct) descended to his nephew, eldest son of his brother John Dalrymple,
who held the office of Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 17 7 0 and 1 7 7 1.
An excellent funeral sermon was preached on his lordship’s death by Dr.
Carlyle of Inveresk, in which he drew a glowing character of one of the most
worthy of all the learned men of last century, who have done so much honour
to Scotland.
There is an anecdote of Lord Hailes while at the bar, illustrative of his
just feeling and native goodness of heart. He then held the office of Advocatedepute,
and had gone to Stirling in his official capacity. On the first day of
the Court, he was in no haste to bring on the proceedings; and, being met by
a brother of the bar, was asked-Why there was no trial this forenoon1
“ There are,” said Sir David, “some unhappy culprits to be tried for their lives,
and therefore it is proper they have time to confer for a little with their men
of law.’’ ‘‘ Last year I
came to visit Lord Kames when he was here on the circuit, and he appointed
me counsel for a man accused of a capital offence. Though I had very little
time to prepare, yet I made a very decent speech.” “Pray, sir,’’ said Sir
David, “ was your client acquitted or condemned P” “ 0,” replied the other,
‘‘ most unjustly condemned.” ‘‘ That, sir,” said the Advocate-depute, “ is norgood
reason for hurrying on trials.”
Religion was a topic upon which Lord Hailes was peculiarly sensitive, When
the late Mr. Smellie-well known in the republic of letters-was about to
‘‘ That is of very little consequence,” said the other.
.
1 In “ M‘Nish’s Anatomy of Sleep I’ there is a strange story relative to the somnolency of the
!earned judge, the accuracy of which is at least doubtful. He seldom passed much time at the dinnertable
; and frequently, long before the other members of the family had retired, resumed his literary
labours at a small table in the same apartment, without at all feeling disturbed by the conversation
going on. He had a large library at New Hailes ; but he always studied and wrote in the family
dining-room.
a The estates were destined by the older titles to the heir-male ; but this being merely a “simple
tail&,” as it is called, Lord Hailes had it in his power to alter the succession. A curious anecdote is
related in the Traditions of Zdinbwgh respecting his lordship’s will ; but it is not accurate. The
conveyance was found, not by a “female servant” while cleaning out the house in New Street, but by
persons properly authorised, on the first or second day after the funeral. It was carefully wrapt up
iu one of the drawers of a small chest in his lordship’s dressing-room. * This lady wv88 married to her consin, the grandson of Lord Kilkerran.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. many of his compeers of last century; and the “French Philosophy,” as it was ...

Book 8 p. 512
(Score 0.78)

HISTORICAL AND DESCRTPTIVE NOTES. 77
~
little to the east of Winchburgh station, the old square keep is distinctly seen
from the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. It is well known that the unfortunate
Mary Stuart found shelter within its massive walls, on her flight from
Loch Leven to the disastrous field of Langside, in 156%. Her loyal host and
protector' was long commemorated by a brief inscription on an oblong stone
tablet surmounting the east window of the Castle. Unfortunately, the tablet
has disappeared within the last few years ; but the restoration of the inscription
is contemplated by the Earl of Hopetoun, to whom the ancient structure
now belongs. The tablet appears on the following page.
THE OLD YEW TREE
While leaving the more historical features, let us glance for a little -at the
picturesque, and from the Dean Cemetery, with its memories of departed
1 George, seventh Lord Seton, who was Provost of Edinburgh in 1557. He was the elder
brother of John, first Baron of Cariston in the county of Fife, and half-bro:her of Mary Seton, one
of the ' four Maries ' in attendance upon the beautiful Scottish Queen. The office of Provost was
also held by his distinguished son Alexander, Earl of Dunfermline (younger brother of the first
Earl of Winton). from IS+ to I*. Lord Dunfermline, whose armocia1 ensigns appear
in the upper portion of the great south window in the Parliament House, was appointed President
of the Court of Session in 1593, and discharged the duties of Chancellor of Scotland from
1604 till his death at Pinkie in 1612. Impartial as a judge and able as a statesman, he is praised
by both Spttiswoode and Calderwood

... AND DESCRTPTIVE NOTES. 77 ~ little to the east of Winchburgh station, the old square keep is ...

Book 11 p. 122
(Score 0.77)

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