... SKETCHES. 203
excited feelings too powerful to be repressed. When this ill-fated family bade
adieu ...
Book 9 p. 273
(Score 0.85)
... TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARE: 79
A loud explosion about two o’clock in the morning, while it shook the ...
Book 10 p. 86
(Score 0.85)
... SKETCHES. 393
one of the Senators of the College of Justice, and Anne Horn, heiress of Horn
and ...
Book 9 p. 526
(Score 0.85)
... SKETCHES. 297
With this view he entered the ranks of the Russian army, and served in the war
against ...
Book 8 p. 416
(Score 0.85)
... TRADITIONS. 5
having been concluded between Ermengarde de Beaumont, cousin to King Henry, ...
Book 10 p. 6
(Score 0.85)
... SKETCHES. 417
“ Johnnie M‘Gowan,” as he was.familiarly called, was well known, and ...
Book 8 p. 580
(Score 0.85)
... THE LEITH RACE WEEK. 269
afterwards James VII., during the time he was
Royal Commissioner at Holyrood. ?? ...
Book 6 p. 269
(Score 0.85)
... SKETCHES. 243
KO. XCIX.
JOHN DAVIDSON, ESQ., AND LORD HENDERLAND.
GEORGE PATON, ESQ.
LORD MONBODDO ...
Book 8 p. 341
(Score 0.85)
... 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)
... SKETCHES. 49
No. XIX.
CAPTAIN MINGAY, WITH A PORTER CARRYING
GEORGE CRANSTOUN IN HIS ...
Book 8 p. 67
(Score 0.84)
... SKETCHES. 4;9
his entering the arena of the King’s Bench. The esteem entertained for him
by his ...
Book 9 p. 637
(Score 0.84)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith.
beneath it ? The Triumph of Bacchus,? beautifully
executed in ...
Book 5 p. 72
(Score 0.84)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCCV.
DR. JOHN BROWN,
ALIAS
“THE DEVIL KILLER.”
TO many of our readers this ...
Book 9 p. 527
(Score 0.84)
... Thus we see in the terraced slopes
illustrations of a mode of agriculture pertaining to
times before ...
Book 1 p. 12
(Score 0.84)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Austin' left a son and a daughter, both of whom were distinguished ...
Book 9 p. 504
(Score 0.84)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CLXVII.
MR. JAMES RAE, DR. WILLIAM LAING,
AND
DR. JAMES .HAY.
MR JAMES RAE, the ...
Book 8 p. 589
(Score 0.84)
... SKETCHES. 67
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in the first volume of whose Transactions it
was ...
Book 8 p. 96
(Score 0.84)
![Queen Street.] SIR JAMES GRANT OF GRANT. I57
own performance that he tumbled off his chair in a
fit of laughter.?
No. 62 Queen Street was inhabited by Lord
Jeffrey from 1802 till 1810. In the following year
it became the residence of Sir John Leslie, K.H.,
Professor of Mathematics in the University of
Edinburgh, who in 1800 invented the differential
thermometer, one of the most beautiful and delicate
instruments that inductive genius? ever contrived
as a help to experimental research ; and the
results of his inquiries concerning the nature and
laws of heat, in which he was so much aided by
this exquisite instrument, were published in 1804,
in his celebrated ?Essay on the Nature and Propagation
of Heat.? Sir John Leslie was one of
those many self-made men who are peculiarly the
glory of Scotland, for he was the son of a poor
joiner in Largo, yet he attained to the highest
honours a university can bestow. In 1832, along
with Herschel, Brewster, Hams, Nichols, and others,
on the recommendation of Lord Brougham, he was
created a Knight of the Guelphic Order, but died
in the November of that year from an attack of
erysipelas.
No. 64 was, and is still, the town residence of
the Earls of Weniyss, but has had many other
tenants. Among others here resided ?? Lang Sandy
Gordon? as he was named in those days of simple
and unassuming familiarity, the son of William,
second Earl of Aberdeen, who was admitted an
advocate in 1759, and became Stewart-depute of
Kirkcudbright in 1764. Twenty years afterwards
he was raised to the bench as Lord Rockville, and
resided long in the close which bore .that name on
the Castle Hill, and afterwards in Queen Street
He was remarkable for his manly beauty and
handsome figure. He was a member of the Crochallan
Club, and a great convivialist. Walking
down the High Street one day, when the pavement
was unsafe by ice, he fell, and broke his arm.
He was conveyed to Provost Elder?s shop, opposite
the Tron church, where surgical aid was procured
and his arm dressed ; but, unfortunately, when his
friends were conveying him to his new home at
No. 64, one of the chairmen fell and overturned
the sedan in the street, which unsettled the splinting
of his lordship?s arm, and ultimately brought on
afever, of which he died on the 13th of March,
?792.
No. 64 was afterwards occupied by Sir James
Grant, Bart., of Grant, usually known as ?the
good Sir James.? His town house, with extensive
stable-offices, had previously been at the ,foot of
the Canongate, where it was advertised for sale
in 1797, as ? presently possessed by Professor
Stewart.? At a period when the extensive Highland
proprietors were driving whole colonies of
people from the abodes of their forefathers, and
compelling them to seek on distant shores that
shelter which was denied them on their own, and
?when absenteeism and the vices of courtly intrigue
and fashionable dissipation had sapped the
morality of too many of our landholders, Sir James
Grant escaped the contagion, and during a long
life was distingifished for the possession of those
virtues which are the surest bulwarks of the peace,
happiness, and strength of a country. Possessed
of extensive estates, and surrounded by a numerous
tenantry, his exertions seemed to be equally devoted
to the progressive improvement of the one
and the present comfort and enjoyment of the
other.? ?
Among his clau he raised two regiments of Highland
Fencibles within a few months of each other.
One was numbered as the 97th, or Strathspey
Regiment, 1,800 strong, and a portion of it joined
the 4nnd for service in the West Indies. Sir
James died at Castle Grant in 181 I.
No. 66, now offices, was occupied by Stewart of
Castle Stewart ; and in No. 68 lived George Joseph
Bell, Advocate, Professor of Law, and author of
? Principles of the Law of Scotland.? No. 7 I, in
181 I, was the residence of Francis, Lord Napier,
who served in the American war under General.
Burgoyne, but left the army in 1789. He took a
leading part in many local affiirs, was Grand
Master Mason of Scotland, Colonel of the Hopetoun
Fencibles in 1793, Commissioner to the
General Assembly in 1802, and a member of the
Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of Scottish
Manufactures and Fisheries.
His prominently aquiline face and figure were
long remarkable in Edinburgh ; though, at a time
when gentlemen usually wore gaudy coloursfrequently
a crimson or purple coat, a green plush
vest, black breeches, and white stockings-when
not in uniform, he always dressed plainly, and with
the nicest attention to propriety. An anecdote of
his finical taste is thus given in Lockhart?s ?Life
of Scott ? :-
?Lord and Lady Napier arrived at Castlemilk
(in Lanarkshire), with the intention of staying a
week, but next morning it was announced that a
circumstance had occurred which rendered it indispensable
for them to return without delay to
their own seat in Selkirkshire. It was impossible
for Lady Stewart to extract any further explanation
at the moment, but it afterwards turned out that
Lord Napier?s valet had committed the grievous
mistake of packing up a set of neckcloths which](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p169.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 157")
... Street.] SIR JAMES GRANT OF GRANT. I57
own performance that he tumbled off his chair in a
fit of ...
Book 3 p. 157
(Score 0.83)
![I N D E X .
[IN Part I. of this Work, the incidents are related in chronological order; and in Part 11. (p. 119), according to a
systematic arrangement indicated in the headings of the several Chapters. By a reference to the Contents, any
historical event, or the description of a particular locality, may be readily found. The Index is intended as a, guide to
incidental notices throughout the volume ; and, to render it more complete, all noblemen mentioned merely by their
titles in the course of the work. are here distin-g uished from one another by their proper names, and other individuals generally by some distinctive title or descript,ion.]
Abbey Hill, 138, 309
Abbotsford, 154, 185, 348, 353
Aberdeen, William 2d Earl of, 141
Aberuchill, Lord, 178
Acheson, Sir Archibald, House of, 297
Adam of St Edmunds, Parson of Restalrig, 399
ddvocate’s Library, 182, 210
African Company, 107
Aikenhead, Sir Patrick, 208
Airth, Earl of, the Mansion of, 309
Albany, Alexander Duke of, 19, 20
Close, 229
Arms of, 395
John Duke of, 38, 39
Robert Duke of, 388
Isabell, Duchess of, 382
Alesse, Alexander, 314, 424
Alexander I., 3 .
II., 5, 377
III., 5, 356
VI., Pope, 23
Sir William. See Stirling, Earl of
Alison Sqnare, 346
Allan, David, the Painter, 260
Allen, Janet, the Witcb, 305
Allison’s CIose, Cowgate, 329
Alva, Lord, 193, 195
Amiens, Bishop of, 64, 68
Anand, Sir David de, 7
Anchor Close, 238
Ancrum, Battle of, 53
Angus, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of, 36, 37, 40, 61,
319
Archibald, 8th Earl of, 84
Archibald, 9th Earl of, 283
dune, the Lady, 102, 206,287,341
Queen, 133
of Denmark, 86, 315, 341
Street, Stockbridge, 98
Anatruther, Sir Philip, 284
Antiquaries of Scotland, the Society of, 140,180, 376
Argyle, Bishop of, 78
Archibald, 5th Earl of, 63, 64, 67, 84
Archibald, Marquis of, 100, 123, 141, 188, 2953
Archibald, 9th Earl of, 123, 174, 203, 216, 305,
403
316
Lodging of, 316
Countess of, 75, 174
Duke of, 109
Armstrong, Johnnie, 41
Will., 244
Armada, Spanish, 369
Arnot, Hugo, 142
Arran, James, 1st Earl of, 36, 37, 40, 318
James, 2d Earl of, 48, 51, 56, 63, 67, 68, 82, 151
James, 3d Earl of, 174
James Stewart, Earl of, 176
Assembly Aisle, St Qiles’s Church, 390. See Prestm
Aisle.
Rooms, Assembly Close, 243
Bell’s Wynd, 243
West Bow, 243, 338
Atholl, Duke of, 145, 183
Walter Stewart, Ear1 of, the execution of, 15
John, 4th Earl of, 389
Burial Place of, 389, 390
Auchinleck, Lord, 161
Austin, Dr, 145, 332
Bagimont’s Roll, 31
Baijen Hole, 183
Bailie’s Court, Cowgate, 329
Bailie Fife’s Close, 264
Baird, Dr, 143
Sir David, the Birth Place of, 139
Sir Bobert, 138
Bakehouse Close, Canongate, 296
Balcanquall, Dr, 170
Walter, If0](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_516.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 498")
... N D E X .
[IN Part I. of this Work, the incidents are related in chronological order; and in Part 11. (p. 119), ...
Book 10 p. 498
(Score 0.83)
![116 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Whether he had taken the giant’s altitude by his shadow, as geometricians were
wont to measure steeples,’ or had recourse to the less scientific assistance of
chairs and stools, we know not; but to this day the secret has never been disclosed.
From what the taciturn tailor inadvertently disclosed, it appeared that
the great man was much tickled by the process, as he jocularly said to his little
friend-“ You and I may yet grace the windows of the print-shops.” O’Brien
was not far wrong in his conjecture ; and he perhaps spoke from some knowledge
he had of the caricaturist. Kay endeavoured by every means to catch a
likeness of the foreman. He sent for him to various “houffs” to coax him
with strong drink, but the important little man had no notion of being handed
down to posterity j and, the more securely to conceal his precious person, he
constantly kept a screen on the shop window, that the artist might not espy
him at the board. Thus defeated in his endeavours to catch the real “Simon
Pure,” the artist conferred the honour on Convener Ranken, who, opportunely
enough, had rendered himself somewhat conspicuous in city matters.
AIR. PATRICK COTTER O’BRIEN-“ the wonder of the age,” and one
of the tallest men seen in Scotland since the days of Dunnnm, in the somewhat
fabulous reign of Eugene II., who measured eleven feet and a half-was born
at Kinsale in 1760. Of his history little more is known than that he travelled
the country for many years, exhibiting himself to all who chose to gratify their
curiosity at a trifling expense. He was eight feet one inch in height, and
weighed five hundredweight ; but, judging from the portraiture, he appears to
have been deficient in symmetry.’ “This man,” says a notice in an old
magazine, “when he first began to derive a subsistence from an exposure of his
person to the public, was deeply affected by a sense of humiliation ; and often
shed tears when, among the crowd whom curiosity attracted, any spectator
treated him with respect. In time, however, all these tender feelings were
entirely subdued ; and he was latterly as much distinguished for his pride as he
was before for modesty. Such transitions, however,” concludes the notice, ‘‘ are
not uncommon in great men.” As an instance of his capricious temper, it is said
that when the tailor went home with his greatcoat, the giant found innumerable
faults with it-“By St. Patrick it wasn’t a coat at all, at all, at all !” The
little foreman, much discomfited, was in the act of retiring with “ the greatcoat
under his arm,” when O’Brien’s servant, tapping him gently on the shoulder,
gave a word of consolation. “ Och, botheration, I see ye arn’t up to the great
man. Just keep the coat beside you till I let you know when he is in good
1 In that strange collection of advertisements preserved by Captain Grose, in his “Guide to
Health, Wealth, Riches, and Honour,” London, 8v0, a tailor announces the important fact that he
makes breeches by geometry I Perhaps O’Brien’s schemer may have studied under this scientific
artificer.
An eye-witness thus describes his appearance :-“ He was in fact a perfect excrescence. His
hand was precisely like a shoulder of mutton. He had double knuckles-prodigious lumps at his
hip bones-and when he rose off the table, on which he always sat, his bones were distinctly heard
as if crashing against one another. To support himself, he always placed the top of the door under
his oxtel. [arm-pit].”](images/thumbs/kays_thumb_pages/kays_v2__Page_163.gif "Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Page 155")
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Whether he had taken the giant’s altitude by his shadow, as geometricians were
wont ...
Book 9 p. 155
(Score 0.83)
... SKETCHES. 139
Penny-post as being a very lucrative business, bringing him in ready money
every hour ...
Book 8 p. 198
(Score 0.83)
... SKETCHES. 397
No. CLVII.
MR. JOHN SHIELLS,
SURGEON.
MR. SHIELLSw as a native of Peeblesshire ; ...
Book 8 p. 553
(Score 0.83)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
at thc shop door of Mr. George Boyd, as significant of the wares in which he
dealt. ...
Book 9 p. 12
(Score 0.83)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
His widow, as “ the most respectful tribute” she could pay to his ...
Book 8 p. 381
(Score 0.82)
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