... SKETCHES. 371
The Highland Society was originated by him and some other patriotic gentlemen;
and ...
Book 9 p. 495
(Score 0.9)
![NioiLson Street.] JOHN MACLAREN. 337
spend a portion of each day in education, often
passing an hour or more daily in learning to read
by means of raised letters, under the direction of
the chaplain.
One of the most remarkable inmates here was
John Maclaren, who deserves to be recorded for
his wonderful memory. He was a native of Edinburgh,
and lost his sight by small-pox in infancy.
He was admitted into the first asylum ir. Shakespeare
Square in 1793, and was the last survivor
In West Richmond Street, which opens off the
east side of Nicolson Street, is the McCrie Free
Church, so named from being long the scene of
the labours of Dr. Thomas McCric, the zealous
biographer of Knox and Melville. Near it, a large
archway leads into a small and dingy-looking court,
named Simon Square, crowded by a humble, but
dense population ; yet it has associations intimately
connected with literature and the fine arts, for
there a poor young student from Rnnandale, named
SURGEONS? HALL.
of the original members. With little exception,
he had committed the whole of the Scriptures to
memory, and was most earnest in his pious efforts
to instruct the blind boys of the institution in portions
of the sacred volume. He could repeat an
entire passage of the Bible, naming chapter and
verse, wherever it might be opened for him. As
age came upon him the later events of his life eluded
his memory, while all that it had secured of the
earlier remained distinct to the last. Throughout
his long career he was distinguished by his zeal
in promoting the spiritual welfare and temporal
comfort of the little community of which he was
a member, and also for 3 life of increasing industry,
which closed on the 14th of November, 1840.
91
Thomas Carlyle, lodged when he first came to
Edinburgh, and in a narrow alley called Paul
Street David Wilkie took up his abode on his
arrival in Edinburgh in 1799.
He was then in his fourteenth year; and so little
was thought of his turn for art, that it required all
the powerful influence of the kind old Earl of
Leven to obtain him admission as a student at the
Academy of the Board of Trustees. The room he
occupied in Paul Street was a little back one, about
ten feet square, at the top of a common stair on
the south side of the alley, and near the Pleasance.
From this he removed to a better lodging in East
Richmond Street, and from thence to an attic in
Palmer?s Lane, West Nicolson Street, where hq](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p157.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 337")
... Street.] JOHN MACLAREN. 337
spend a portion of each day in education, often
passing an hour or more ...
Book 4 p. 337
(Score 0.9)
... according to P. Williamson?s Directory for
1784.
Amid the tumultuom excitement of the Highlanders
entering ...
Book 2 p. 328
(Score 0.9)
![farswade.] CAPTAIN PHILIP LOCKHART. 357
was shot, and the other two performed the like
to his body ;?then they were shot, and laid together,
without a coffin, in a pit digged for the purpose.
Which tragical scene being thus finished, Mr.
Nairne and Mr. Lockhart were decently buried.??
(? Letter to a friend in the king?s camp,? Perth,
Count Lockhart was succeeded by his son
1 7 1 5 )
turesqueness and romance to any in Scotland.
The river seems all the way to be merrily frdicsome,
and rushing along a shelving gradient, now hiding
itself behind rocks and weeping wood, and making
sudden, but always mirthful, transitions in its
moods.?
A few ancient and many modem mansions and
villas stud the banks of the glen above the ancient
ROSLIN CHAPEL :-INTERIOR. (A/& a Phtograph 6y G. W. Wiison & Co.)
Charles. In the early years of the present century,
Dryden was the property of George Mercer, a son
of Mercer of Pittuchar, in Perthshire.
In this quarter, on the north bank of the Esk, are
the church and village of Lasswade, amid scenery
remarkable for its varied beauty. The bed of the
Esk lies through a deep, singularly romantic, long,
and bold ravine, always steep, sometimes perpendicular
and overhanging, and everywhere covered
with the richest copsewood. ?? Recesses, contractions,
irregularities, rapid and circling sinuosities,
combine with the remarkably varied surface of its
sides, to render its scenery equal in mingled picvillage
of Lasswade, whose bridge spans the river,
and the name of which Chalmers, in his ??Caledonia,??
believes to be derived from a ?? well-watered
pasturage of common use, or Zaeswc, in Saxon a
common, and iueyde, a meadow.? In an old Dutch
map it is spelt Lesserwade, supposed to mean the
opposite of Legenvood-the smaller wood in contrast
to some greater one.
The parish of Melville was added to that of
Lasswade in 1633.
In the time of James 111. the ancient Church of
Lasswade was, by the Pope?s authority, detached
from St. Salvador?s College at St Andrews, to
.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p176.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 357")
... CAPTAIN PHILIP LOCKHART. 357
was shot, and the other two performed the like
to his body ;?then they ...
Book 6 p. 357
(Score 0.9)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
‘ These wonderful Irish giants are but twenty-three yeark of age, and measure
very ...
Book 8 p. 15
(Score 0.9)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Rather than allow any person whom he had been employed to prosecute to be
put in jail, ...
Book 8 p. 225
(Score 0.9)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
partial to them at all.”-“How, sir,” faltered out the querist--“how ...
Book 8 p. 180
(Score 0.89)
... LA WNMARKET. I75
High Sheet,-two bands of men of war were placed about the Cross, and two above the
Tolbooth. ...
Book 10 p. 190
(Score 0.89)
![58 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Some idea of Erskine’s appearance may be gathered from his friend$ reply :
‘‘ Now, my lieutenant with the dwky face;
For though you’re clothed in scarlet and in lace,
The gorgeous glare of which to art you owe,
Yet nature gave you not my snowy brow.’’1
As a specimen of the Lieutenant’s style and humour, we may quote the following
from one of his letters, dated from New Tarbat, where he appears to
have resided principally during the epistolary intercourse, and where Boswell
paid him a visit-the friends having previously met at Glasgow by appointment
:-
“ I have often wondered, Boswell, that a man of your taste in music cannot play upon the Jew’s
harp ; there are some of us here that can touch it very melodiously, I can tell you. Corelli’s solo
of Maggie Lauder, and Pergolesi’s sonata of the Curle he cum o’er the craft, are excellently adapted
to that instrument. The first cost is but three-halfpence, and they
last a long time. I have composed the following ode upon it, which exceeds Pindar as much as the
Jew’s harp does the organ.”
Let me advise you to learn it.
[We quote the last verse.]
“ Roused by the magic of the charming wire,
The yawning dogs forego their heavy slumbers ;
The ladies listen on the narrow stair,
And Captain Andrew straight forgets his numbers.
Cats and mice give o’er their battling,
Pewter plates on shelves are rattling ;
But falling down, the noise my lady hears,
Whose scolding drowns the trump more tuneful than the spheres.”
‘( Captain Andrew,” however, could ‘(touch it very melodiously” on other
instruments than the Jew’s harp. He was an excellent musician-little inferior
to the (‘ musical Earl ” himself-and composed several much-admired airs.
To Thomson’s Collection of Scottish Songs he contributed, among others, the
delightful air and words of
“ See the moon on the still lake is sleeping,” etc.
The Captain was an admirer of the drama, and wrote one or two pieces for
the Edinburgh stage. One of these, by no means deficient in spirit, published
in 1764 (Gd.), bears the title of ((She’s not Him, and He’s not Her-a farce,
in two acts, as it is performed in the Theatre in Canongate.”
Although a poet, Erskine does not appear to have been influenced by any
romantic adoration of the fair sex. On the subject of matrimony his notions were
very different from those of Boswell ; ’ and he remained all his life a bachelor.
On the death of Vice-Admiral Lord Colville, in 1790, he resided chiefly thereafter
with his sister Lady Colville, at Drumsheugh, near the Dean Bridge,
The fact was, they were both tinged with the complexion ascribed to the “daughters of
Jerusalem. ”
a In one of hia letters to Boswell, he says-“ When you and I walked twice round the Meadows
upon the subject of matrimony, I little thought that my difference of opinion from you would have
brought on your marriage so soon ”](images/thumbs/kays_thumb_pages/kays_v2__Page_087.gif "Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Page 79")
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Some idea of Erskine’s appearance may be gathered from his friend$ reply :
‘‘ ...
Book 9 p. 79
(Score 0.89)
... OLD AND NE\V EDINBURGH. [High Street.
to be the same tenement with which he endowed
an altar in the chapel of ...
Book 2 p. 256
(Score 0.89)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Cowgate.
mentioned as residents in it in 1501. He was
Provost in 1425, and was ...
Book 4 p. 242
(Score 0.88)
... SKETCHES. 469
He was immediately afterwards (May 14, 1804) created Earl of Powis, his
lordship ...
Book 9 p. 627
(Score 0.88)
![Calton Hill.] THE HIGH SCHOOL. IT1
ture, including reading, orthography, recitation,
grammar, and composition, together with British
history, forms the prominent parts of the system ;
while the entire curriculum of study-which occupies
six years-embraces the Latin, Greek, French,
and German languages, history, geography, physiology,
chemistry, natural philosophy, zoology,
botany, algebra, geometry, drawing, fencing,
gymnastics, and military drill. In the library are
same form, each possessing no advantage over his
schoolfellow. ?? Edinburgh has reason to be proud
of this noble institution,? said Lord Provost
Black at the examination in 1845, ?as one which
has conferred a lustre upon our city, and which has
given a tone to the manners and intellect of its
Whether they remain in Edinburgh
or betake themselves to other lands, and whatever
be the walk of life in which they are led, I believe
I inhabitants.
all4ikelihood never will be.
In the long roll of its scholars are the names
of the most distinguished men of all professions,
and in every branch of science and literature,
many of whom have helped to form and consolidate
British India. It also includes three natives
of Edinburgh, High School callants,? who have
been Lord Chancellors of Great Britain-Wedderburn,
Erskine, and Brougham.
The annual examinations always take place in
presence of the Lord Provost and magistrates, a
number of the city clergy and gentlemen connected
with the other numerous educational establishments
in the city. There is also a large concourse of the
parents and friends of the pupils. The citizens have
ever rejoiced in this ancient school, and are justly
proud of it, not only for the prominent position it
occupies, but from the peculiarity of its constitumanity.
Dr. Carson held the office till October,
1845, when feeble health compelled him to resign,
and he was succeeded by Dr. Leonhard
Schmitz (as twenty-sixth Rector, from D. Vocat,
Rector in 151g), the first foreigner who ever held L
classical mastership in the High School. He was a
graduate of the University of Bonn, and a native
of Eupen, in Rhenish Prussia. He was the author
of a continuation of Niebuhr?s ?History of
Rome,? in three volumes, and many other works,
and in 1844 obtained from his native monarch
the gold medal for literature, awarded ?as a mark
of his Majesty?s sense of the honour thereby conferred
on the memory of Niebuhr, one of the
greatest scholars of Germany.? In 1859 he was
selected by her Majesty the Queen to give a
course of historical study to H.R.H. the Prince
, of Wales, and during the winter of 1862-3, he](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p123.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 111")
... Hill.] THE HIGH SCHOOL. IT1
ture, including reading, orthography, recitation,
grammar, and composition, ...
Book 3 p. 111
(Score 0.88)
![Braid.] THE LANDS OF BRAID. 41
the city on the south, and directly overlook
Morningside. Their greatest altitude is 700 feet
According to one traditional legend, these hills
were the scene of ? Johnnie 0? Braidislee?s ? woeful
hunting, as related in the old ballad.
exposed to more than one
military visitation from
the garrison in Edinburgh
Castle. Knox?s secretary
records that on the 25th
May twelve soldiers came
to Braid, when the laird
was at supper, and
rifled the house of the
miller. Braid appeared,
but was treated with contempt,
and was told that
they would bum the house
about his ears if he did
not surrender to Captain
Melville, who was one of
the eight sons of Sir lames
Melville of Raith, and his
lady Helen Napier of Merchiston.
Though called ? a
quiet man,? the wrath of
the laird was roused, and
he rushed forth at the
head of his domestics,
the north bank of the latter stream, which meanders
close to it, and which takes its rise in the bosom
of the Pentlands, near the Roman camp above
Bonally.
It is a two-storeyed villa, with a pavilion roof
CHRIST. CHURCH, MORNINGSIDE.
armed with an enormous two-handed sword, and
cut down one of the soldiers, who fired their hackbuts
without effect, and were eventually put to flight.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Braid
belonged to a family named Brown, and a great
portion of it in the present century had passed into
the possession of Gordon of Cluny.
between the Braid Hills and Blackford, stands the
beautiful retreat called the Hermitage of Braid, on
In a romantic, sequestered, and woody dell,
102
and little corner turrets, in that grotesque style of
castellated architecture adopted at Gillespie?s
Hospital, and is evidently designed by the same
architect, though built about the year 1780. It
was the property of Charles Gordon of Cluny,
father of the ill-fated Countess of Stair, the once
beautiful ?Jacky Gordon,? whose marriage was
annulled in 1804, after which it frequently formed
her solitary residence. It afterwards became the
property of the widow of the late John Gordon of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p052.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 41")
... THE LANDS OF BRAID. 41
the city on the south, and directly overlook
Morningside. Their greatest altitude ...
Book 5 p. 41
(Score 0.87)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
eclipse of the sun, when a countryman accosted him, requesting to be informed
whether ...
Book 9 p. 110
(Score 0.87)
... Uasc.1 LOCKHART ASSASSINATED.
we must suppose he was separated, swore to have
vengeance. He was perhaps ...
Book 1 p. 117
(Score 0.87)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith.
he was again in his native city, when he re-entered
.the Academy, ...
Book 5 p. 84
(Score 0.87)
![33 Canongate.] THE EARL OF SEAFIELD-AND THE UNION.
matures were affixed to the Act of Union, while the
cries of the exasperated mob rang in the streets
without the barred gates.
When James VII. so rashly urged those measures
in 1686 which were believed to be a prelude to
the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy,
under the guise of toleration, a new Scottish
ministry was formed, but chiefly consisting of
members of the king?s own faith. Among these
w i s the proprietor of this old house, Alexander
Earl of Moray, a recent convert from Protestantism,
then Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament,
and as such the representative of royalty in festive
hall as well as the Senate j and his mansion, being
Lord Lorne?s marriage-that Lorne better known
.as the luckless Earl of Argyle-with Lady Mary
Stuart, of the House of Moray.
In the highest terrace of the old garden an
ancient thorn-tree was pointed out as having been
planted by Queen Mary-a popular delusion, born
of the story that the house had belonged to her
hother, the subtle Regent ; but there.long remained
ahe old stone summer-house, surmounted by two
foul and degrading bribery connected with that
event took place within its walls, may safely be
inferred from the fact that it was the residence of
the Earl of Seafield,.then Lord High Chancellor, and
one of the commissioners for the negotiation of the
treaty, by which he pocketed j64g0, paid by the
Earl of Godolphin: and he it was who, on giving
the royal assent by touching the Act of Union with
I the sceptre, said, with a brutal laugh, ?? There?s an
? end of an auld sang.?
From those days Moray House ceased, like
many others, to be the scene of state pageantries.
For a time it became the ofice of the British Linen
Company?s Bank. Then the entail was broken
in the very centre of what was then the most aristocratic
quarter of the city, was admirably suited
for his courtly receptions, all the more so that
about that period the spacious gardens on the
south were, like those of Heriot?s Hospital, a kind
of public promenade or lounging place, as would
appear chiefly from a play called ? The Assembly,?
written by the witty Dr. Pitcairn in 1692.
The union of the kingdoms is the next historical](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p045.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 33")
... Canongate.] THE EARL OF SEAFIELD-AND THE UNION.
matures were affixed to the Act of Union, while the
cries of ...
Book 3 p. 33
(Score 0.87)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The death of Mr. Hagart occurred on the 11th May 1816. He had been
on a visit to his ...
Book 9 p. 593
(Score 0.87)
![The Water of Leith.] WALTER ROSS, W.S. 73
now at Abbotsford, where Sir Walter Scott took
them in 1824. This tower was divided into two
apartments, an upper and a lower ; the entrance to
the former was by an outside stair, and was used
as a summer-house. On the roof was a wellpainted
subject from the heathen mythology, and
the whole details of the apartment were very handsome.
On the 11th of March, 1789, Mr. ROSS, who
was Registrar of Distillery Licences in Scotland,
of St. Bernard?s. The bower is on the spot where
two lovers were killed by the falling of a sand-bank
upon them.?
For several years after his death the upper part
of the tower was occupied by the person who
acted as night-watchman in this quarter, while the
lower was used as a stable, In 1818, with reference
to future building operations, the remains of
Mr. Ross were taken up, and re-interred in the
West Church burying-ground. The extension of
THE WATER OF LEITH, 1825. (A/%-? Edank.)
and was a man distinguished for talent, humour,
and suavity of manner, dropped down in a fit,
and suddenly expired. He would seem to have
had some prevision of such a fate, as by his
particular request his body was kept eight days,
and was interred near his tower with the coffin-lid
open.
?? Yesterday, at one o?clock,?? says the Edinburgh
Advertiser for March zoth, 1789, ? the remains of
the late Mr. Walter Ross were, agreeable to his
own desire, interred in a bower laid out by himself
for that purpose, and encircled with myrtle, near
the beautiful and romantic tower which he had
been at so much trouble and expense in getting
erected, on the most elevated part of his grounds
106
Anne Street, in 1825, caused the removal of his.
tower to be necessary. It was accordingly demolished,
and most of the sculptures were carted
away as rubbish.
In the ?? Traditions of Edinburgh,? we are told
that after he had finished his pleasure-grounds,
Mr. Ross was much enraged by nightly trespassers,
and advertised spring-guns and man-traps without
avail. At last he conceived the idea of procuring
a human leg from the Royal Infirmary, and
dressing it up with a stocking, shoe, and .buckle,
sent it through the town, borne aloft by the crier,
proclaiming that ? it had been found last night in
Mr. Walter Ross?s policy at Stockbridge, and
offering to restore it to the disconsolate owner.??](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p084.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 73")
... Water of Leith.] WALTER ROSS, W.S. 73
now at Abbotsford, where Sir Walter Scott took
them in 1824. This tower ...
Book 5 p. 73
(Score 0.87)
![Currie.] LENNOX TOWER. 333
The surface of the pond on Harelaw Muir is 802
feet above the level of the sea.
One of the chief antiquities of Cume is Lennox
Tower, on a high bank overhanging the Water of?
Leith, and now called by the rather uncouth name
of Lumphoy. It is a massive edifice, measuring
externally fifty-five feet by thirty-five, with walls
above seven feet in thickness. It is entered by
an archway on the north, where the gate was
secured by a horizontal bar, the socket of which
as cattle were apt to stray into it. The extent of
the outer rampart, which goes round the brow of
the hill, is given in the ? Old Statistical Account ?
as measuring ?304 paces, or 1,212 feet.?
It was surrounded by a moat, and there can still
be traced the remains of a deep ditch. Though
small, it was undoubtedly a place of some strength.
Amongst the many conjectures of which it has
been the subject, one declares it to have been a
hunting-seat of James VI. and a residence of George
still remains in the wall. It is all built of polished
ashlar; the hall windows are arched, with stone
seats within them, and the ascent to the upper
storeys has been by a narrow circular stair, part
of which still remains within the thickness of the
wall, at the north-east angle, the steps of which are
only three feet long.
It is said, traditionally, to take its name from the
Lennox family, to whom it belonged; and the
same vague authority assigns it as a residence to
Mary and Darnley, and afterwards to the Regent
Morton. It occupies very high ground, commandhg
a beautiful prospect of the Firth of Forth, and
has a subterranean passage to the river, which was
Heriot, hy whom it was bequeathed to a daughter,
? from whom, along with the adjacent land, it was
purchased by an ancestor of the present proprietor.?
It has been alleged that there existed a subterranean
communication between it and Colinton
Tower, the old abode of the Foulis family; and
the common stock story is added that a piper once
tried to explore it, and that the sound of his pipes
was heard as far as Currie Bridge, where he
perished. But people were still living in 1845 who
had explored this secret passage for a considerable
way.
? It is supposed that the garrison (in war time)
secured by this means a clandestine supply of water,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p152.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 333")
... LENNOX TOWER. 333
The surface of the pond on Harelaw Muir is 802
feet above the level of the sea.
One ...
Book 6 p. 333
(Score 0.87)
![Cowgate.] ANCIENT
Both these relics are now preserved in the
Museum of Antiquities.
An act of the Privy Council in 1616 describes
Edinburgh as infested by strong and idle vagabonds,
having their resorts ?in some parts of the Cowgate,
Canongate, Potterrow, West Port, &c., where
they ordinarily convene every night, and pass their
time in all kind of not and filthy lechery, to the
offence and displeasure of God,? lying all day on
CLOSES. 241
Close in 1514; Todrig?s Wynd is mentioned in
1456, when Patrick Donald granted two merks
yearly from his tenement therein for repairing the
altar of St. Hubert, and in 1500 a bailie named
Todrig, was assaulted with drawn swords in his
own house by two men, who were taken to the Tron,
and had their hands stricken through.
Carrubber?s Close was probably named from
? William of Caribris,? one of the three bailies in
THE COWGATE, FROM THE PORT TO COLLEGE WYND, 1646. ( A f b cfdsthumay.)
17. The Cowgate ; 44, Peebles Wynd ; 45, Merlin?s Wynd ; 46, Niddry?s Wynd ; 47, Dickson?s Close : 50, Gnfs Wynd ; 5% St Mad5 w p d ;
h St Mary?s Wpd Suburbs ; I; Cov&e Port ; g, Si M a j s Wynd Port ; 53, The College Wynd ; 54. Robertson?s Wynd ; 55. High
School Wynd ; q, Lady Yeser?s Kirk ; .r, The High School ; w, The College ; y, S i M;uy of the Fields, or the Kirk of Fields ; 25, The
Town Wall.
the causeway, extorting alms with ? shameful exclamations,?
to such an extent that passengers could
neither walk nor confer in the streets without being
impeded and pestered by them ; hence the magistrates
gave orders to expel them wholesale from the
city and keep it clear of them.
The Burgh Records throw some light on the
names of certain of the oldest closes-those running
between the central street and the Cowgate, as being
the residences or erections of old and influential
citizens. Thus Niddry?s Wynd is doubtless connected
with Robert Niddry, a magistrate in 1437 ;
Cant?s Close with Adam Cant, who was Dean of
Guild in 1450, though it is called Alexander Cant?s
79
1454, as doubtless Con?s Close was from John Con,
a wealthy flesher of 1508. William Foular?s Close
is mentioned in 1521, when Bessie Symourtoun
is ordered to be burned there on the cheeks and
banished for passing gear infected with the pest ;
and Mauchan?s Close was no doubt connected
with the name of John Mauchane, one of the bailies
in 1523; Lord Eorthwick?s Close is frequently
mentioned before 1530, and Francis Bell?s Close
occurs in the City Treasurer?s Accounts, under date
1554. Liberton?s Wynd is mentioned in a charter
by James 111. in 1474, and the old protocol books of
the city refer to it frequently in the twelve years
preceding Flodden ; William Liberton?s heirs are](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p061.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 241")
... ANCIENT
Both these relics are now preserved in the
Museum of Antiquities.
An act of the Privy Council ...
Book 4 p. 241
(Score 0.86)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
paid for as those of the hired officials ; a douceur of a shilling or half-a-crown
being ...
Book 8 p. 9
(Score 0.86)
Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf
The scans of Edinburgh Bookshelf are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
![SIR WILLIAM FETTES. ?73 Charlotte Square.]
Canongate, after which he removed to Charlotte
Square, and finally to that house in George Street
in which he died. He was resident in Charlotte
Square before 1802, as was also the Earl of Minto.
John Lamond of Lamond and that ilk, in Argyleshire,
whose son John commanded the second
He was for many years a contractor for military
stores, and in 1800 was chosen a Director of the ? British Linen Company, in which he ultimately held
stock-the result of his own perseverance and
honest industry-to a large amount. He had in
the meantime entered the Town Council, in which
CHARLOTTE SQUARE, SHOWING ST. GEORGB?S CHURCH.
to the bar in 1822 and raised to the bench in May,
1854. Mrs. Oliphant of Rossie had No. 10, and No.
13 was at the same time (about 1810) the residence
of Sir William Fettes, Bart., of Comely Bank, the
founder of the magnificent college which bears his
name. He was born at Edinburgh on the 25th of
June, 1750, and nine years afterwards attended the
High School class taught by Mr. John Gilchrist.
At the early age of eighteen he began business as
a tea and wine merchant in Smith?s Land, High
Street, an occupation which he combined for twenty
years with that of an underwriter, besides being
connected with establishments at Leeds, Durham,
and Newcastle. His name appears in Wiiliamson?s
Directory for 1788-90 as ? William Fettes, grocer,
ofice he held for the then usual period of two years,
and for a second time in 1805 and 1806. In 1804
between the two occasions, on the 12th May he
was created a baronet. In 1787 he married Mark,
daughter of Dr. John Malcolm of Ayr. The only
child of this marriage was a son, William, born in
1787. He became a member of the Faculty of
Advocates in 1810, and gave early promise of future
eminence, but died at Berlin on the 13th of June,
1815.
Retiring from business in 1800, Sir William took
up his abode in Charlotte Square, and devoted
himself to the management of several estates which
he purchased at different times, in various parts of
The principal of these were Comely ~ Scotland.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p185.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 173")
