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36 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Merchistom
captain named ScougaL
After a hard struggle, during which several were
killed and wounded, they stormed the outworks,
and set them on fire to smoke the defenders out of
the donjon keep ; but a body of the king's men
veyed to Leith, and hanged, while he had a narrow
escape, his horse being killed under him by a shot
from Holyrood Palace, Another conflict of a
more serious nature occurred before Merchiston
on the last day of the same month.
attack by firing forty guns from the Castle of Edinburgh.
The men of Scougal (who were mortally wounded)
fled over the Links and adjacent fields in all
directions, hotly pursued by the Laird of Blairquhan.
On the 10th of the subsequent June the
queen's troops, under George, Earl of Huntly, with
a small train of artillery, made another attack upon
Merchiston, while their cavalry scoured all the
fields between it and Blackford-fields now covered
with long lines of stately and beautiful villas-bringing
in forty head of cattle and sheep. By the time
the guns had played on Merchiston from two till
four o'clock p.m., two decided breaches were made
in the walls. The garrison was about to capitulate,
when the assemblage of a number of people, whom
the noise of the cannonade had attracted, was
mistaken for king's troops ; those of Huntly be,came
party of twenty-four men-at-arms rode forth to
forage. The well-stocked fields in the neighbourhood
of the fortalice were the constant scene of
enterprise, and on this occasion the foragers
collected many oxen, besides other spoil, which
they were driving triumphantly into town. They
were pursued, however, by Patrick Home of the
Heugh, who commanded the Regent's Light
Horsemen. The foraging party, whom hunger
had rendered desperate, contrived to keep their
pursuers, amounting to eighty spears, at bay till
they neared Merchiston, when the king's garrison
issued forth, and re-captured the cattle, the collectors
of which '' alighted from their horses, which they
suffered to go loose, and faught CreauZZ'iee," till succoured
from the town, when the fight turned in
their favour. In this conflict, Home of the Heugh,
Sir Patrick Home of Polwarth, four more gentle ......

Book 5  p. 36
(Score 1.54)

78 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
buildings often before used as a royal residence, and in one of the apartments of which
the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, expired only six years previous,
The greatest joy and triumph prevailed in Edinburgh on the announcement of the
birth of an heir to the throne. A public thanksgiving was offered up on the following day
in St Giles’s Church; aud Sir James Melvil posted with the news to the English Court,
with such speed, that he reached London on the fourth day thereafter, and spoiled her
Majesty’s mirth for one night, at least, with the “happy news.’’’
The birth of a son to Darnley produced little change on his licentious course of life.
By his folly he had already alienated from him the intersets and affections of every party;
and the conspirators, who had joined with him in ‘the murder of Rizzio, had already
resolved on his destruction, when he was seized with the small-pox at Glasgow. From
this he was removed to Edinburgh, and lodged in the mansion of the Provost or chief
prebendary of the Collegiate Church of St Mary-in-the-Fields, as a place of good air.
This house stood nearly on the site of the present north-west corner of Drummond Street,
as is ascertained from Gordon’s map of the city in 1647, where the ruins are indicated as
they existed at that period : it is said to have been selected by Sir James Balfour, brother
of the Provost, and “ the most corrupt man of his age,” a as well fitted, from its lonely
situation, for the intended murder.
She spent the evening of the 9th of
February 1567 with him, and only left at eleven o’clock, along with several nobles who
had accompanied her there, to be present at an entertainment at Holyrood House.
The Earl of Bothwell, whose lawless ambition mainly instigated the assassination, had
‘obtained a situation for one of his mehals in the Queen’s service, and by this means he
was able to obtain the keys of the Provost of St Mary’s house, and cause counterfeit
impressions to be taken.s He had been in company with the Queen on the loth, at a
banquet given to her by the Bishop of Argyle, and learning that she must return to Holyrood
that night, he immediately arranged to complete his murderous scheme.
’ Bothwell left the lodgings of the Laird of Ormiston in company with several of his own
servants, who were his sole accomplices, shortly after nine o’clock at night. They passed
down the Blackfriars’ Wynd together, entering the gardens of the Dominican monastery by
a gate in the enclosing wall opposite the foot of the Wynd; and by a road nearly on the
site of what now forms the High School Wynd, they reached the postern in the town wall
which gave admission to the lodging of Darnley. Bothwell joined the Queen, who was
then visiting her husband, while his accomplices were busy arranging the gunpowder in
the room below ; and, after escorting her home to the Palace, he returned to complete his
purpose. It may be further mentioned, as an evidence of the simple manners of the period,
that when Bothwell’s servants returned to his residence, near the Palace, after depositing
the powder in Darnley’P lodging, they saw the Queen,-as one of them afterwards Ptated
in evidence,-on her way back to Holyrood “gangand before them with licht torches as
they came up the Black Frier Wynd.”‘ So that it would appear she walked quietly
home, with her few attendants, through these closes and down the Canongate, at that late
hour, without exciting among the citizens any notice of the presence of royalty.
Here the Queen frequently visited Darnley.
1 Keith, vol. ii. p. 434. ’
a Rubertson’s Hiat., vol. ii. p. 354.
a Laing, vol. ii. p. 296.
4 Pitcairn’s Criminal Triala, vol. i. part ii, p. 493. ......

Book 10  p. 85
(Score 1.53)

420 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
own name to the burgh, where he possessed a stronghold presenting such great natural
advantages as were likely to tempt his frequent residence within its walls. Edwin, who
was the ablest and most powerful among the sovereigns of Britain in his time, lost his
kingdom and his life at the Battle of Hatfield, on the 12th of October 633. From that
date, the Castle and town of Edinburgh may be considered as occupying some degree of
prominence among the towns of the ancient kingdom, and thenceforward we are able
to glean occasional authentic notices of it from our older chroniclers. The reign of
Edwin is chiefly memorable for the introduction of Christianity into the kingdom of
Northumbria, and probably no long time elapsed thereafter before some humble Christian
fme was reared in Edinburgh, to supersede by its worship the heathen rites for which the
summit of Arthur’s Seat, or of some other of the neighbouring hills, may have been set
apart as the most appropriate temple.
Glancing back thus over an interval of twelve centuries, the familiar scenes that surround
us acquire a new aspect, and become pregnant with a deeper meaning than the mere beauty
of the landscape, or the unrivalled grandeur of the old city that occupies its heights, can
convey to the tasteful observer. History becomes a living drama, instead of a mere bundle
of dusty parchments ; and the actors, who pass away in succession with its many changing
scenes, appear once more before us what they really were, men of like passions with ourselves.
With this feeling we have attempted to recover the fading traces of the more
ancient antiquities of the Scottish capital, and to preserve an authentic record of those of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which are fast passing away, like their predecessors,
beyond recall, notwithstanding the promise of durability which the substantial masonry of
that period seems to offer. 6L The walles,” says Taylor the Water Poet, in his Penny-
Zesse PiZgrimage, ‘‘ are eight or tenne foot thicke, exceeding strong, not built for a day, a
weeke, or a moneth, or a yeere, but from Antiquitie to Posteritie, for many Ages.” Posteritie,
however, finds little that suits its changed tastes and habits in these ‘( goodlie
houses,” and is busy replacing them with structures more adapted to modern wants ; but
the very fact of their having thus become obsolete confers on them a new value, as monuments
of a period and state of society altogether different from our own. This it is that
gives to the pursuits of the antiquary their true value. These relics of the past, however
insignificant they may appear in themselves, assume a very different claim on our interest
when thus regarded as the memorials of our national history, or the key to the manners
and the habits of our forefathers. As such they acquire it worth which no mere lapse of
time could confer ; nor have our forefathers played so mean a part in the history of nations
that their memorials should possess an interest only to ourselves.
’ ......

Book 10  p. 460
(Score 1.51)

46 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Quhare ever they go, it may be sene,
How kirk and calsay they soup clene.
Yet shortly after he adds :-
I trow, Sanct Baruard, nor Sanct Blais,
Gart never man beir up their claes,
Peter, nor Paule, nor Sauct Androw,
Gart never bear up their tailliq I trow.
The whole poem evidently depicts the extravagance of an age, when the clown trod
on the noble’s heel. Nuns, and milkmaids, and burghers’ wives, are alike charged
with the fashionable excesses that neither satire nor sumptuary laws proved able to
suppress.
YIQNETTE-NOmXUI Capitd from Holyrood Abbey. ......

Book 10  p. 50
(Score 1.47)

194 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. LXXX.
REV. GREVILLE EWING.
AS the subject of this sketch is still alive, and engaged in public service, propriety
forbids our entering into the minuter details of his personal history,
He is a native of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1767. Being originally designed
for a secular profession, he was, at the usual age, bound apprentice to an
engraver. A strong desire, however, to be engaged in the work of the ministry
induced him, at the close of his apprenticeship, to relinquish his intended profession
and devote himself to study. He accordingly entered the University of
Edinburgh, where he passed through the usual curriculum of preparatory discipline
; and, in the year 1792, he was licensed to preach in connection with the
National Church by the Presbytery of Hamilton. A few months after this he
was ordained, as colleague with Dr. Jones, to the office of minister of Lady
Glenorchy’s Chapel, Edinburgh.
A deep interest in the cause of missions seems, at an early period of Mr.
Ewing’s ministry, to have occupied his mind. At that time such enterprises
were to a great degree novelties in this country; and even, by many who
wished them well, great doubts were entertained of their ultimate success. By
his exertions and writings he contributed much to excite a strong feeling in regard
to them in Edinburgh ; nor did he content himself with this, but, fired with
a spirit of true disinterested zeal, he determined to devote himself to the work
of preaching the gospel to the heathen. For this purpose he united with a
party of friends, like-minded with himself, who had formed a plan of going out
to India and settling themselves there as teachers of Christianity to the native
population. The individuals principally engaged in this undertaking besides
Alr. Ewing, were the Rev. David Bogue, D.D., of Gosport; the Rev. William
Innes, then one of the ministers of Stirling, now of Edinburgh; and Robert
Haldane, Esq. of Airthrey, near Stirling,-by the latter of whom the expenses
of the mission were to be defrayed. With the exception of Dr. Bogue, all these
gentlemen still survive. The peremptory refusal of the East India Company,
after repeated applications and memorials on the subject, to permit their going
out, caused the ultimate abandonment of this scheme. Mr. Ewing, however, and
his associates, feeling themselves pledged to the missionary cause, and seeing no
opening for going abroad, began to exert themselves for the promotion of religion
at home. A periodical, under the title of The Missionary Magazine, was started
in Edinburgh, of which Mr. Ewing undertook the editorship, the duties of
which office he discharged in the most efficient manner for the first three years
. ......

Book 8  p. 272
(Score 1.45)

38 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
The streets of Edinburgh continued to partake largely of the general misrule that
prevailed throughout the kingdom during the long minority of James V. The Lord Home
had convened a council of the nobility so early as 1515, to devise some remedy for the
anarchy that existed, and at his urgent suggestion, John Duke of Albany was invited
from France to assume the reins of government. On his arrival the same year, “he
wes ressaueit with greit honour, and convoyit to Edinburgh with ane greit cumpany, with
greit blythnes and glore, and thair wes constitute and maid governour of this realme;
and sone thairefter held ane Parliament, and ressaueit the homage of the lordis and thre
estaittis ; quhai’r thair wes mony thingis done for the weill of this cuntrey. Evil1 doaria
wes punnesit; amang the quhilkis ane Petir Moffet, ane greit reyer and theif, was heidit,
and for exampill of vtheris, his head wes put on the West Port of Edinburgh.”’ The
Duke took up his residence at Holyrood, and seems to have immediately proceeded with
the enlargement of the Palace, in continuation of the works which the late King had
carried on till near the close of his life. Numerous entries in the Treasurer’s accounts,
for the year 1515-16, furnish evidence of the building being then in progress.
The new governor, after having made a tour of the kingdom and adopted many stringent
measures for strengthening his party, returned to Edinburgh, and summoned L convention
of the nobility to meet him in the Abbey of Holyrood. But already the Lord Chamberlain
had fallen out of favour, and ‘‘ Prior John Hepburn of St Andrews clamb next the
Governor, and grew great in the Court, and remembered of old malice and envy betwixt
him and the Humes.”’ Lord Home, who had been the sole means of the Duke of Albany’s
elevation to the regency, was suddenly arrested by his orders, along with his brother
William. An old annalist states, that “ the Ducke of Albany tooke the Lord Houme,
the chamberlane, and wardit him in the auld touer of Holyrudhouss, which was foundit by
the said Ducke,” ’ an allusion confirming the previous account of the new works in progress
at the palace. A series of charges were preferred against the brothers, of which the
most remarkable is the accusation by the Earl of Jlurray, the natural son of the late King,
that the Lord Chamberlain had caused the death of his father, ‘ L who, by many witnesses,
was proved to be alive, and seen to have come from the battle of Flowden.” They were
both condemned to be beheaded, and the sentence immediately thereafter put in execution,
“and their heads &t on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh,”6 from whence, as we have seen,
they were removed by their faithful adherents, and laid in consecrated ground.
Throughout the minority of James V. the capital continued to be disturbed by successive
outbreaks of turbulence and riot, from the contentions of the nobility and their
adherents, and especially from the struggles of the rival Earls of Angus and Arran. In
order to suppress this turbulent spirit, the Town Council augmented the salary of the
provost, and appointed four attendants armed with halberts, as a perpetual guard to wait
upon him, but altogether without effect on the restless spirit of the nobles.
During nearly the whole of this time the young monarch resided in the Castle of
Edinburgh, pursuing his education under the tuition of Gawin Dunbar, afterwards Archbishop
of Glasgow ; and his sports, with the aid of his faithful page, Sir David Lindsay ;
Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 5. * Marjoribank’s Annale, Liber Cart. p. lxxi. ’ Hawthornden, p. 85.
Crawfurd‘a Lives, vol. i p. 324. Balfour’a Ann. vol. i. p. 245.
a Pitscottie, vol. ii. p. 296. ......

Book 10  p. 40
(Score 1.43)

Holyrood.] ROYAT, MARRIAGES. 55
with the Dukes of Savoy and Burgundy. She
landed at Leith amid a vast concourse of all
classes of the people, and, escorted by a bodyguard
of 300 men-at-arms, all cap-d+e, with
the citizens also in their armour, under Patrick
Cockburn of Nevtbigging, Provost of Edinburgh
and Governor of the Castle, was escorted to the
monastery of the Greyfriars, where she was warmly
welcomed by her future husband, then in his
twentietb year, and was visited by the queenmother
on the following day.
The week which intervened between her arrival
and?her marriage was spent in a series of magnificent
entertainments, during which, from her great
beauty and charms of manner, she won the devoted
affection of the loyal nobles and people.
A contemporary chronicler has given a minute
account of one of the many chivalrous tournaments
that took place, in which three Burgundian nobles,
two of them brothers named Lalain, and the thud
HervC Meriadet, challenged any three Scottish
knights to joust with lance, battle-axe, sword, and
dagger, a defiance at once accepted by Sir James
Douglas, James Douglas of Lochleven, and Sir
John Ross of Halkhead, Constable of Renfrew.
Lances were shivered and sword and axe resorted
to with nearly equal fortune, till the king threw
down his truncheon and ended the combat.
The royal marriage, which took place in the
church at Holyrood amid universal joy, concluded
these stirring scenes. At the bridal feast the first
dish was in the form of a boar?s head, painted and
stuck full df tufts of coarse flax, served up on an
enormous platter, with thirty-two banners, bearing
the arms of the king and principal nobles ; and the
flax was set aflame, amid the acclamations of the
numerous assembly that filled the banquet-hall.
Ten years after Holyrood beheld a sorrowful
scene, when, in 1460, James, who had been slain
by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh
on the 3rd August, in his thirtieth year, was
laid in the royal vault, ?with the teares of his
people and his hail1 army,? says Balfour.
In 1467 there came from Rome, dated zznd
February, the bull of Pope Paul II., granting, on
the petition of the provost, bailies, and community
of the city, a con~mission to the Bishop of Galloway,
?et dilectojZio Abbafi Monasterii Sancta Cmcis mini
viuros de Rdynburgh,? to erect the Church of St.
Giles into a collegiate institution.
Two years afterwards Holyrood was again the
scene of nuptial festivities, when the Parliamen!
met, and Margaret of Norway, Denmark, and
Sweden, escorted by the Earl of Arran and a
gallant train of Scottish aad Danish nobles, landed
at Leith in July, 1469. She was in her sixteenth
year, and had as her dowry the isles of Orkney
and Shetland, over which her ancestors had hitherto
claimed feudal superiority. James III., her
husband, had barely completed his eighteenth
year when they were married in the abbey church,
where she was crowned queenconsort. ?? The marriage
and coronation gave occasion to prolonged
festivities in the metropolis and plentiful congratulations
throughout the kingdom. Nor was the
flattering welcome undeserved by the queen ; in the
bloom of youth and beauty, amiable and virtuous,
educated in all the feminine accomplishments of
the age, and so richly endowed, she brought as
valuable an accession of lustre to the court as of
territory to the kingdom.?
In 1477 there arrived ?heir in grate pompe,?
says Balfour, ?Husman, the legate of Pope
Xystus the Fourth,? to enforce the sentence of
deprivation and imprisonment pronounced by Hjs
Holiness upon Patrick Graham, Archbishop of St.
Andrews, an eminent and unfortunate dignitary of
the Church of Scotland. He was the first who
bore that rank, and on making a journey to Rome,
returned as legate, and thus gained the displeasure
of the king and of the clergy, who dreaded his
power. He was shut up in the monastery of Inchcolm,
and finally in the castle of Lochleven. Meanwhile,
in the following year, William Schivez, a
great courtier and favourite of the king, was
solemnly consecrated in Holyrood Church by the
papal legate, from whose hands he received a pall,
the ensign of archiepiscopal dignity, and with great
solemnity was proclaimed ?? Primate and Legate of
the realm of Scotland.? His luckless rival died
of a broken heart, and was buried in St. Serf?s
Isle, where his remains were recently discovered,
buried in a peculiar posture, with the knees drawn
up and the hands down by the side.
In 1531, when Robert Cairncross was abbot,
there occurred an event, known as ? the miracle of
John Scott,? which made some noise in its time.
This man, a citizen of Edinburgh, having taken
shelter from his creditors in the sanctuary of Holyrood,
subsisted there, it is alleged, for forty days
without food of any kind.
Impressed by this circumstance, of which some
exaggerated account had perhaps been given to
him, James V. ordered his apparel to be changed
and strictly searched. He ordered also that he
should be conveyed from Holyrood to a vaulted
room in David?s Tower in the castle, where he was
barred from access by all and closely guarded.
Daily a small allowance of bread and water were
placed before him, but he abstained from both for ......

Book 3  p. 55
(Score 1.43)

vi AD V ER TI SEMEN T.
is one of the late Mr. Archibald Constable), having fallen into the hands of the
Publishers, have been added to the Second Volume, together with some notes
on the text by Professor Daniel Wilson, author of “Memorials of Edinburgh
in the Olden Time.”
In the preparation of the present Edition no expense has been spared to
obtain the best results as regards the printing of both plates and text. In
point, therefore, of completeness and general execution, this Edition will bear
favourable comparison with its predecessors.
The Publishers have great satisfaction in being enabled to resuscitate this
work ; but this, they regret to say, is practicable only to a limited extent, and
they have therefore to announce that-the Edition of the engravings now issued
must necessarily be the last of Kay’s Original Portraits.
EDINBURGNHo,v ember 15, 1877. ......

Book 8  p. vi
(Score 1.42)

MEMORIALS O F EDINBURGH. -
PART I.
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
TO THE FRONTISPIECE OF ABAKUK mssm's BOOKE OF THE OLD YOXUYENTY OF SCOTLAXU.
'Twixt Was, and Ia, how varioua are the Ods !
What one man doth, another doth vndoe :
One conaecrates Religious Workes to Gods,
Another leoues sad Wrackes and Huines now.
Thy Bqoke doth shew that such and such thinga were,
But, would to God that it could say, They are.
When I pererre the South, North, East, and Weat,
And mark, alace, each Monument amia ;
Then I conferre Tyrnes present with the past :
I reade what was, but cannot Bee what is : '
I prayse thy Booke with wonder, but am sorie,
To reade olde Ruines in a recent stork.
Poetical Recreatk~ncsof Mr Akxandet Cmig,
of Rase-Craig. Scoto Brdan. 1623. ......

Book 10  p. xvii
(Score 1.36)

294 MEMURIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Moray House, which is one of the most remarkable objects of interest in the Canongate,
formed until 1835 part of the entailed estate of the noble house of Moray, in whose
possession it remained exactly two hundred years, having become the property of Margaret,
Countess of Moray, in 1645, by an arrangement with her younger sister, h u e ,
then Countess of Lauderdale, and co-heiress with her of their mother, the Countess of
Home, by whom Moray House was built.’ This noble mansion presents more striking
architectural features than any other private building in Edinburgh, and is associated with
some of the most interesting events in Scottish history. It was erected in the early part
of the reign of Charles I. by Mary, Countess of Home, the eldest daughter of Edward,
Lord Dudley, and then a widow. Her initials, M. H., are sculptured over the large
centre window of the south gable, surmouuted by a ducal coronet; and over the corresponding
window to the north are the lions of Home and Dudley, impaled on a lozenge,
in accordance with the ancient laws of heraldry. The house was erected some years
before the visit of Charles I. to Scotland, and his coronation at Holyrood in 1633. It
can scarcely, therefore, admit of doubt that its halls ’have been graced by the presence of
that unfortunate monarch, though the Countess soon after contributed largely towards the
success of his opponents, as appears by the repayment by the English Parliament, in
1644, of seventy thousand pounds which had been advanced by her to the Scottish
Covenanting Government-an unusually large sum to be found at the disposal of the
dowager of a Scottish earl.
On the first visit of Oliver Cromwell to Edinburgh, in the summer of 1648, he took
up his residence at “ the Lady Home’s lodging, in the Canongate,” as it then continued to
be called; and entered into friendly negotiations with the nobles and leaders of the extreme
party of the Covenanters. According to Guthrie, ‘‘ he did communicate to them his design
in reference to the King, and had their assent thereto ; ” in consequence of which (‘ the
Lady Home’s house, in the Canongate, became an object of mysterious curiosity, from
the general report at the time that the design to execute Charles I. was there first discussed
and approved.”a This, however, which, if it could be relied on, would add so
peculiar an interest to the mansion, must be regarded as the mere cavalier gossip of the
period. Even if we could believe that Cromwell’s designs were matured at that time, he
was too wary a politician to hazard them by such premature and profitless confidence j but
there can be no doubt of the future measures of resistance to the King having formed a
prominent subject in their discussions.
In the year 1650, only two years after the Parliamentary General’s residence in the
Canongate, the fine old mansion was the scene of joyous banquetings and revelry on the
occasion of the marriage of Lord Lorn-afterwards better known as the unfortunate Earl of
Argyle-with Lady Mary Stuart, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Moray. The weddingfeast
took place on the 13th of May, and the friends were still celebrating the auspicious
the cmce of this bruche, thair to remane the space of ane houre.” On the 6th October 1572, the treasurer is ordered
“to vpput and big sufficiently the corce,” which had probably suffered in some of the reforming mobs, and may
have been then, for the first time, elevated on a platform.-Canongate Burgh Register, Mait. Wit. vol. ii. pp. 303, 326.
l The entail was broke by a clause in one of the Acts of the North British Railway Company, who had purchased
the ancient Trinity Hospital for their terminus, and proposed to fit up Moray House in ita stead; an arrangement which
it is to be regretted has not been carried into effect. The name of Regent blul.ray’a House, latterly applied to the old
mansion, is a spurious tradition of very recent origin. - ’ (tuthrie’s Memoira, p. 298. 3 Napier’s Life of Montrose, p, 441. ......

Book 10  p. 320
(Score 1.35)

86 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
tongue desired his presence, which he obeyed by entering the Church. After sermon, a
more lively representation was prepared for him ; Bacchus appeared on the Cross distributing
his wine freely to all; the streets through which he passed were strewed with flowers,
and hung with tapestry and painted histories ; and the whole fanciful pageant wound up
with a very characteristic astrological display, exhibiting the conjunction of the planets, in
their degrees and places, as at his Majesty’s happy nativity, vividly represented by the
assistance of King Ptolomd ! ”
The King then passed on to his Palace of Holyrood, attended by two hundred horsemen,
and the Parliament assembled immediately after in the Tolbooth, and contiuued its
delibemtions there for some weeks. The influence of Morton had been rapidly lessening
with the King, while the number and power of his enemies increased. Towards the close
of 1580, he was arraigned to stand his trial for the murder of Darnley ; and he was executed
the following year by an instrument called
the Naiden, a species of guillotine which he
had himself introduced into Scotland. His
head was placed on the Tolbooth, and his
body ignominiously buried at the Borough
Muir-the usual place of sepulture for the
vilest criminals.
Considering the high hand with which
the civic rulers of the capital contrived to
carry nearly every point during the reign of
Queen Mary, it is astonishing how speedily
James VI. brought them into subjection. ,He
interfered constantly in their elections,
though only with partial success, and used
their purse with a condescending freedom
that must often have proved very irritating.
They were required to maintain a bodyguard
for’ him at their own expense ; and whenever
it suited his Majesty’s convenience, were commanded to furnish costly entertainments to
foreign nobles and ambassadors.2
In October 1589, the King suddenly sailed from Leith to bring home his Queen, Anne
of Denmark, leaving orders of a sufficiently minute and exacting nature for their honourable
reception on his return. One of the first articles requires, that the town of Edinburgh,
the Canongate, and Leith, shall be in arms, ranked on both sides of the way between
Leith and Holyrood House, to hold off the press; and the Council are directed to deal
earnestly with the town of Edinburgh for providing ships and all other necessaries.
Various acts of the Town Council show the straits they were put to in the accomplishment
of this. “ The Baillies were ordained to pass through their quarters, and borrow
fra the honest nychtbouris thairof, ane quantitie of the best sort of thair naiperie,
to serve the strayngeris that sal1 arryve with the Quene.” Orders were given for
Hist. of James the Sext., p. 178-180. &itland, p. 37, * Haitland, p. 44, 5.
YIONETTE-The Maiden. ......

Book 10  p. 94
(Score 1.35)

278 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
wes almaist at the port, and the said men of weare standand in clois heids in readines to
haue enterit at the bak of the samyne, movit Thomas Barrie to pass furth of the port,
doun to the Cannogait, to have sene his awne hous, quhair in his said passage he
persavit the saidis ambushmentis of men of weare, and with celeritie retiirnit and warnit
the watchemen and keiparis of the said port; quhilk causit thame to steik the samin
quicklie, and sua this devyse and interpryse tuke na prosperous effect.”l The citizens
took warning from this, and built another gate within the outer port to secure them
against any such surprise. There is something amusingly simple both in the ambuscade
of the besiegers, and its discovery by the honest burgher while taking his quiet morning’s
stroll beyond the walls. But the whole incidents of the siege display an almost total
ignorance of the science of war, or of the use of the engines they had at command. The
besiegers gallop up Leith Wynd and down St Mary’s Wynd, on their way to Dalkeith,
seemingly unmolested by the burgher watch, who overlooked them from the walls ; or
they valorously drag their artillery up the Canongate, and after venturing a few shots at
the Nether Bow they drag them back, regarding it as a feat of no little merit to get them
safely home again.
Many houses still remain scattered about the main street and the lanes of the Canongate
which withstood these vicissitudes of the Douglas wars; and one which has been
described to us by its owner as of old styled the Parliament House, may possibly be that
of William Oikis, wherein the Regent Lennox, with the Earls of Morton, Mar, Glencairn,
Crawford, Menteith, and Buchan; the Lords Ruthven and Lindsay and others
assembled, and after pronouncing the doom of forefaulture against William Maitland,
.
younger of Lethington, and the chief of their opponents,
adjourned the Parliament to meet again at Stirling,
This house,’ which was situated on the west side of the
Old Flesh Market Close, presented externally as mean
and uninviting an appearance as might well be conceived.
An inspection of its interior, however, furnished
unquestionable evidence both of its former
magnificence and its early date. The house before
its entire demolition was in the most wretched state
of decay, and was one of the very last buildings
in Edinburgh that a superficial observer would have
singled out for any assemblage except a parliament of
jolly beggars; but on penetrating to an inner lobby
of its gloomy interior, a large and curiously carved
niche was discovered, of the. same character as those
described in t8he Guise Palace. The workmanship of
it, as will be seen in the accompanying view, though
in a style ap_ _p arently somewhat later, is much more
elaborate than any of those previously noticed, except the largest one on the east side of
Diurn. of Occurrents, pp. 239, 240.
The house, with several of the adjoining closes here referred to, has been taken down, at the instance of the City
Impmvementa’ Commission. ......

Book 10  p. 302
(Score 1.31)

324 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
conceiving that he might, in the course of events, become serviceable to his
views, resolved upon making him his friend. Lovat then lived in a villa somewhere
about the head of Leith Walk, and often observed young Home pass up and
down between Edinburgh and Leith. Presuming upon very slight acquaintance,
his lordship one day ran out, and, clasping the advocate in his arms, began to
administer some of those compliments which he used to call his weapons-
“My dear Henry,” he cried, “how heartily do .I rejoice in this rencontre.
How does it come to pass that you never look in upon me 3 Almost every day
I see you go past my windows, as if for the purpose of inflaming me with a
more and more passionate desire for your company. Now, you are so finelooking-
so tall, and altoget,her so delightful in your aspect, that unless you
will vouchsafe me some favour, I must absolutely die of unrequited passion.”
“ My Lord,” cried Home, endeavouring to extricate himself from his admirer’s
arms, “ this is quite intolerable ; I ken very wee1 I am the coarsest and most
black-a-vised b-h in a’ the Court 0’ Session. Hae dune-hae dune!”
“ Well, Henry,” said Lovat, in an altered tone, “ you are the first man I have
ever met with who had the understanding to withstand flattery.” “My dear
Lord,” said Home, swallowing the compliment with avidity, and returning the
embrace, “ I am rejoiced to hear you say so.”
The following anecdote is told of the other “ shadow,” HUG0 ARNOT,
and Mr. Hill, afterwards Professor of Humanity (Latin), who was then tutor to
the Lord Justice-clerk‘s son. Arnot met him returning from the Grassmarket
on one occasion when three men were executed there, and inqukng where he had
been, Mr. Hill replied that “ he had been seeing the execution.” ‘<W hat ! ” said
Hugo, “ you, George Hill, candidate for the Professor’s chair of Humanity /”
“Yes,” said Mr. Hill. “Then, by G-d,” continued the indignant Hugo,
“ you should rather be Professor of Barbarity ; and you are sure of the situation,
for it is in the gift of my Lord Justice-clerk ! ”
Mr. Arnot’s celebrated ‘( Essay on Nothing,” so full of quaint humour itself,
and the subject of several good sayings by his contemporaries, is now, perhaps,
only familiar in name to the generality of readers. As a epecinien of the
nervous style of the author, the following quotation from the preface may not
be unamusing :-“ I do not communicate this treatise,” says Hugo, ‘( to promote
directly piety, morality, meekness, moderation, candour, sympathy, liberality,
knowledge, or truth ; but indirectly, by attempting to expose and to lash pride,
pedantry, violence, persecution, affectation, ignorance, impudence, absurdity,
falsehood, and vice. Besides the stilts of Preface and Dedication, I intended
to have procured some recommendatory verses, which may be called ‘ Passports
for begging civility and favour from the Christiun reader.’ But as I know
no person living (at least in the British realms), who is endued with any
share of poetic fire ; and, besides, am persuaded, if there were any such, none
of them would be so fool-hardy as to recommend this performance, I hope,
instead of these, the reader mill accept the following verses, written in praise of
. ......

Book 8  p. 455
(Score 1.31)

80 NEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
The confederate lords, as soon as they had got Queen Mary safely lodged in Holyrood
House, formed themselves into a council, and at once drew up and signed an order for her
imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle. It was in fact only giving effect to their previous
resolutions. The same night she was hastily conveyed from the Palace, disguised in mean
attire, and compelled to ride a distance of thirty miles to the scene of her captivity.
On that night-the 16th of June 1567-she bade a final farewell to the Palace of
Holprood, and to Scotland's Crown. Her further history does not come within the
province of our Memorials, though her memory still dwells amid these ancient scenes,
and the stranger can never tread the ruined aisles of the Old Abbey Church, without some
passing thought of the gifted and lovely, but most unfortunate daughter of James V.-
Mary Queen of Scots. ......

Book 10  p. 87
(Score 1.31)

your king, and will yield it to no power whatever.
But I respect that of the Parliament, and require
six days to consider its demand; for most important
is my charge, and my councillors, alas ! are
now few,? she added, bursting into tears, probably
as she thought of the many
? Who on Flodden?s trampled sod,
Rendered up their souls to God.?
For their king and for their country,
Alarmed at a refusal so daring, Angus entreated
PLAN OF EDINRURGH, SHOWING THE FLODDEN WALL. (Snscd on &rdon of Rothiemy?s Mnp, 1647.)
her brother, Henry VIII., by complaining that she
had been little else than a captive in the Castle
Edinburgh.
Meanwhile the Duke of Albany had taken UP
his residence at Holyrood, and seems to have proceeded,
between 1515-16, with the enlargement
the royal buildings attached to the Abbey House,
in continuation of the works carried on there by
the late king, till the day of Flodden. Throughout
the minority of James V. Edinburgh continued tO
her to obey the Estates, and took an instrument
to the effect that he had no share in it; but she
remained inexorable, and the mortified delegates
returned to report the unsuccessful issue of their
mission. Aware that she was unable to contend
with the Estates, she secretly retired with her sons
to Stirling, and, after placing them in charge of the
Lords Borthwick and Fleming, returned to her
former residence, though, according to Chalmers,
she had no right of dowry therein. Distrusting the
people, and, as a Tudor, distrusted by them, she
remained aloof from all, until one day, escorted
by Lord Home and fifty lances, she suddenly rode
to the Castle of Blackadder (near Berwick), from
be disturbed by the armed contentions of the
nobles, especially those of Angus and Arran ; and
in a slender endeavour to repress this spirit the
salary of the Provost was augmented, and a small
guard of halberdiers was appointed to attend him.
Among those committed prisoners to the Castle
by Albany were the Lord Home and his brother
William for treason; they escaped, but were retaken,
and beheaded 16th October, 1516, and
their heads were placed on the Tolbooth.* Huntly
and Moray were next prisoners, for fighting at the
head of their vassals in the streets; and the next
was Sir Lewk Stirling, for an armed brawl.
-- ......

Book 1  p. 40
(Score 1.29)

376 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
nucleus of one of the very latest foundations of a monastic institution in Scotland prior to
the Reformation ; but we leave the history of the ancient religious and benevolent foundations
of this locality for the next chapter. During the present century, it was destined for
a very different purpose. When the Union Canal was first projected, its plans included the
continuation of it through the bed of the North Loch, where the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway now runs. From thence it was proposed to conduct it to Greenside, in the area
of which an immense harbour was to have been constructed ; and this again being connected
by a broad canaI with the sea, it was expected that by such means the New Town
would be converted into a seaport, and the unhappy traders of Leith compelled either to
abandon their traffic, or remove within the precincts of their jealous rivals; Chimerical as
.this project may now appear, designs were furnished by experienced engineers, a map of
the whole plan was engraved on a large scale, and no doubt our civic reformers rejoiced in
the anticipation of surmounting the disadvantages of an inland position, and seeing the
shipping of the chief ports of Europe crowding into the heart of their uew capital I
OE the memorials of the New Town, properly so called, very few fall legitimately within
the plan of this work; yet even its modern streets possess some interesting associations that
we would not willingly forego. We have already referred to the house which forms the
junction with St Andrew Square and St David Street, as the last residence of the celebrated
philosopher and historian, David Hume ; where that strange death-bed scene
occurred which has been the subject of such varied comments both by the eulogists and
detractors of the great sceptic. Directly opposite to Hume’s house, on the north side of
the square, is the house in which Henry Brougham was born. At that period St Andrew
Square contained the residences of several noblemen, and was deemed the most fashionable
quarter of the rising’ town. The house on the same side at the corner of St Andrew
Street was the mansion of David Steuart, Earl of Buchan, and possesses some claim to our
interest as the place where the Society of Scottish Antiquaries was instituted in 1780, and
where its earliest meetings were held.’ Within the fist eastern division of George Street,
the eye of the modern visitor is attracted by the lofty and magnificent portico of the
Commercial Bank, a building that seems destined to attest for ages the skill and taste, if
not the inventive genius, of our native architects; yet it occupies the site of the
Physicians’ Hall, a chaste Grecian edifice designed by Craig, the foundation-stone of which
was laid by the celebrated Dr Cullen, in 1774, doubtless with the belief that remote ages
might bring to light the memorials which were then buried in its foundations. Nor must
we omit to notice the favourite dwelhg of Sir Walter Scott in North Castle Street- ‘‘ TAe ckar tAirty-nine,” which he left under such mournful circumstances in 1826. The
New Town of Edinburgh has already many such associations with names eminent in
literature and science, some of which, at least, will command the interest of other generations.
Our Me~norials, however, are of the olden time, and ye leave future chroniclers to
record those of the modern city.
Paton’e Correspondence, pp. 170-172. ......

Book 10  p. 413
(Score 1.29)

MEMORIALS O F EDINBURGH. -
PART 11.
* LOCAL ANTIQUITIES AND TRADITIONS.
Ettittburgb.
Install'd on hills, her head neare starrye bowres,
Shines Edinburgh, proud of protecting powers :
Justice defends her heart ; Religion east
With temples ; Mara with towres doth guard the west ;
Fresh Nymphes and Cerea serving, waite upon her;
And Thetis, tributarie, doth her honour.
The sea doth Venice @hake; Borne Tiber beaks ;
Whilst She bot scornes her vassall watteres' threata.
For scepters no where staudes a towne more fitt,
Nor place where towne, world's Queene, may fairer sitt.
Bot this Thy praise is, above all most brave,
No man di& e'er diffame Thee bot a slave.
DTummond of Hawthmdm,
Prom the Latin of Dr Arthur lohnrtonc. ......

Book 10  p. 130
(Score 1.28)

EDINBURGH FROM WARRISTON CEMETERY. 53
ministrations, and he often sketched out for it a beautiful future, when Nature
shall have been made to give up to her students many secrets as precious as
that of Anaesthesia. He made his school famous, and his house a Pool of
Healing for all nations. To his own city he was profoundly attached ; no one
ever loved her antiquity better, and no one saw more of her poor. When he
first began to be missed from his home and the familiar streets, the poor of
the city came down in crowds on Sundays to see where 30,000 mourners had
laid their true friend, the baker’s son, and by their feet the grass of his grave
was trodden bare. He died at the age of fifty-nine, of nothing so much as
of over-work, and his only regret in dying was that he had done so little in a
world where there is so much to do. Few men have ever done so much.
ARHORIAL BMRINGS
OF SIP JAbleS Y. SIYPSON. EhRT. ......

Book 11  p. 83
(Score 1.28)

X PREFACE.
“Traditions.” The author has there struck out an entirely new path, and with the
happiest results. The humour and the pathos of the old-world stories of Edinburgh in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ere New Town and Old Town improvements were
more substantial than the dreams of future reformers, are secured-not without occasional
heightening touches from the delineator’s own lively fancy. It is only surprising that
the ‘‘ Traditions of Edinburgh ” have not diffused an antiquarian taste far more widely
than is yet to be found among the modern dekizens of -the Scottish capital,
The following Memorials of Old Edinburgh differ perhaps as much from the picturesque
traditions of the latter writer, as from the statelr historic quarto of Amot, or from Maitland’s
ponderous folio. They are pen and pencil sketches, professing, in general, considerable
minuteness of outline, though with it rapid touch that precludes very elaborate
finish. Accuracy has been aimed at throughout, not without knowingly incurring the
risk of occasionally being somewhat dry. I am well aware, however, of having fallen
short of what was-desired in this’ all-important point, notwithstanding an amount of
labour and research in the progress of the work, .only 8 very small portioa of which appears
in its contents. Some hundreds of old charters, title-deeds, and records of various sorts;
‘in all varieties of unreadable manuscript, have been ransacked ‘in its progress ; and had it
been possible to devote more time to such research, I have no doubt that,many curious and,
interesting notices, referring to our local antiquities, would have amply repaid the labour.
Of the somewhat inore accessible materials furnished in the valuable publicatbns of our.
antiquarian . book;clnba, abundant use has been made ; and personal observation . hw.
supplied a good deal more that will probably be appreciated by the very few who find any
attraction in stich researches. In the Appendix some curious matter has been accumulated
which readers-of moderate antiquarian appetites will probably avoid--to their own loss.
I amnot altogether withbut hope, however, that should such readers be induced to wade
through. the work, they.may find antiquarian researches not quite SO dull as they are
affirmed, on common 1 report, to- be ; s h e , in seeking to .embody the Memorials of my
native city, I am fortunate in the possession of a subject; commanding. associations with
nearly all the most picturesque legends and incidents of our national annals.
‘-L
:In selecting the accompanying illustratfona, .the, chief aim .has been -to furnish .and
example ofallfhe varieties ofstyle and character that were: to be found in the wynds and
qloses of OldEdinburgh., .The majority bf them have some curious or valuable associations?
to add to tbeir’.interest, .but some.Fexe:.chosen for ,no..other reison than .to illushat& ......

Book 10  p. xii
(Score 1.25)

272 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Wynd, and paid up the cloiss which is under the Endmyleis Well.9’ 1 Jvhether this be
the same well is doubtful, as no close lower down appears as a thoroughfare in early or
later maps ; it is evident, however, that the name of the Fountain Close is derived from
some other, and probably much more -mportant, conduit than the plain structure beside
John Knox’s house, which has long borne the same designation.
On the east side of the close, directly opposite the entrance to Bassendyne’s house, an
ancient entrance of a highly ornamental character appears. It consists of two doorways,
&th narrow pilasters on each side supporting the architrave, which is adorned with a
variety of inscriptions, as represented in the accompanying woodcut, and altogether forms
a remarkably neat and elegant design. “his is the mansion of Adam Fullerton, whose
name is carved over the left doorway-an eminent and influential citizen in the reign of
Queen Mary, and an active colleague and coadjutor of Edward Hope in the cause of the
&formation. In 1561, his name appears as one of the bailies of Edinburgh, who, along
with Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, the provost, laid hold of a poor craftsman who had
been guilty of the enormity of playing Robin Hood, and condemned him to be hangeda
procedure which ended in the mob becoming masters of the town, and compelling the
magistrates to sue for the mediation of the Governor of the Castle, and at length fairly to
succumb to the rioters.’ Only two months after this commotion, Queen Mary landed at
Leith, and was loyally entertained by the town of Edinburgh-Adam Fullerton, doubtless,
taking a prominent part among her civic hosts. In the General Assembly held at
Leith, January 16, 1571, his name occur8 as commissioner of the town of Edinb~rgh.~
On the 23d of June following, during the memorable siege of Edinburgh by the Regent
Mar, in the name of the infant King, the burgesses of the capital who favoured the Regent,
to the number of two hundred men, united themselves into a band, and passing privately
to Leith, which was then held by the Regent’s forces; they there made choice of Adam
Fullerton for their captain.l The consequence of this was his being “ denuncit our souerane
ladiea rebell, and put to the horne ” on the 18th of August following ; and “ vpoun
the tuantie nynt day of the said moneth, James Duke .of Chattellarault, George Erle of
Huntlie, Alexander Lord Home, accumpanyit with diuerse prelatis and barronis, past to
the tolbuith of Edinburgh; and thair sittand in parliament, the thrie estaitts being convenit,
foirfaltit Matho Erle of Lennox, James Erle of Mortoun, John Erle of Mar,” and
many other nobles, knights, and burgesses, of the Parliament, foremost among the latter
of whom ia Adam Fullerton, burgess of Edinburgh, “ and decernit ilk ane of thame to
Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, Supplement, p. 567. Diurnal of Occurrents, p, 283 ; ante, p. 69.
Booke of the Univeraall Kirk, p. 208. ‘ Diurnal of Occurrenta, p. 227. Ibid, p. 239. ......

Book 10  p. 295
(Score 1.23)

230 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the Council-room of the Hospital; so that here was the fashionable lounge of the dilettanti
of the seventeenth century, and the resort of rank and beauty, careful to preserve unbroken
the links of the old line of family portraiture ; though a modern fine lady would be seized
with a nervous fit at the very prospect of descending the slippery abyss.
Following our course eastward we arrive at Roxburgh Close, which is believed to
derive its name from having been the residence of the Earls of Roxburgh. It has, however,
suffered a very different fate from the adjoining close. Few of its ancient features have
escaped alteration, and only one doorway remains-now built up-f the mansion reputed
to have been that in which the ancestors of the noble earls lived in state, We have
engraved a fac-simile of the quaint and pious legend that adorns the old lintel. If this
account be true (for which, however, there is only the authority of tradition), the date
carries us back to the year
1586, in which their ancestor,
Sir Walter Ker, of Cessford,
died, one of the leaders in the
affray already alluded to, in
,which Sir Walter Scott of
Buccleugh was slain on the
High Street of Edinburgh.
Warriston’s Close is another of the ancient alleys of the Old Town which still remains
nearly in its pristine state,’ exhibiting the substantial relics of former grandeur, like the
faded gentility of a reduced dowager. Handsome and lofty polished ashlar fronts
are decorated with richly moulded and sculptured doorways, surmounted by architraves
adorned with inscriptions and armorial bearings, still ornamental, though broken and
defaced. Timber projections of an early date jut out here and there, and give variety to
the irregular architecture, while far up, and almost beyond the point of sight that the
straitened thoroughfare admits of, dormer windows of an ornate character rise into the roof,
and the gables are finished with crow-steps, and, in one case at least, with armorial bearings.
. . . . QUE * ERIT ILLE * MIHI - SEMPER DEUS 1583
The front of this building, facing the High Street, is of polished ashlar work, surmounted
with handsome though dilapidated dormer windows, and is further adorned with a curious
monogram ; but like most other similar ingenious devices, it is undecipherable without
the key. We have failed to trace the builders or occupants at this early period; but
the third floor of the old land was occupied in the following century by James Murray,
.
Over the first doorway on the west side is the inscription and date :
of his finest works were possessed by the late Andrew Bell, engraver, the originator of the Encyclopaedia Britannicg
who married his granddaughter. Pinkerton remarks of him :-“ For some years after the Revolution he WBB the only
painter in Scotland, and had a very great run of business. This brought him into a hasty and incorrect manner.”
This is very observable in the portrait of Heriot, copied in 1698, from the original by Paul Vansomer,-now lost. The
head is well painted, but the drapery and background are 80 slovenly and harshly executed, that they appear more like
the work of an inexperienced pupil. Scougal died at Prestonpana about the year 1730, aged 85, having witneased a
series of aa remarkable political changes as ever occurred during a single lifetime. He is named George in the
Weekly MaguzinC (vol. xv. p. 66) and elsewhere, but this appears to be an error, aa several of his descendants were
named after him, John.
Since the First Edition of these “Memorials ” appeared, Warriston’s and other closes in this part of the city have
been w much altered as now to present little of their characteristics &4 memorials of the past. ......

Book 10  p. 250
(Score 1.22)

242 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
up to the full average of poets, yet his vanity was
of a very inoffensive kind.
Mrs. Sarah Siddons, when visiting the Edinburgh
Theatre, always spent an occasional afternoon with
Mr. and Mrs. Home, at their neat little house in
North Hanover Street, and of one of these visits
Sir Adam Fergusson was wont (we have the authority
of Robert Chambers for it) to relate the following
anecdote :-They were seated at early dinner,
attended by Home?s old man-servant John, when
the host asked Mrs. Siddons what liqueur or wine
she preferred to drink.
A.little porter,? replied the tragedy queen, in
her usually impressive voice; and Johs was despatched
to procure what he thought was required,
But a considerable time elapsed, to the surprise
of those at table, before steps were heard in the
outer lobby, and John re-appeared, panting and
flushed, exclaiming, ?I?ve found ane, mem t he?s
the least I could get !? and with these words he
pushed in a short, thickset Highlander, whose
leaden badge and coil of ropes betokened his
profession, ? but who seemed greatly bewildered
on finding himself in a gentleman?s dining-room,
surveyed by the curious eyes of one of the
grandest women that ever walked the earth. The
truth flashed first upon Mrs. Siddons, who, unwonted
to laugh, was for once overcome by a
sense of the ludicrous, and broke forth into something
like shouts of mirth;? but Mrs. Home,
we are told, had not the least chance of ever
understanding i t
Home accepted a captain?s commission in the
Duke of Buccleuch?s Fencibles, which he held till
that corps was disbanded, His last tragedy was
?Alfred,? represented in 1778, when it proved
an utter failure. In 1776 he accompanied his
friend Ilavid Hume, in his last illness, from Morpeth
to Bath. He never recovered the shock of
a fall from his horse when on parade with the
Buccleuch Fencibles ; and his ? History of the
Rebellion,? perhaps his best work in some respects
(though it disappointed the public), and the task
of his declining years, was published at London
in 1802. He died at Edinburgh, in his eightyfourth
par, and was buried in South Leith churchyard,
where a tablet on the west side of the
church marks the spot. It is inscribed :--?In
niemory of John Home, author of \the tragedy
of ?Douglas,? &c. Born 13th September, 1724.
Died 4th September, 1808.?
Before recurring to general history, we may here
refer to another distinguished native of Leith,
Robert Jamieson, Professor of Natural History,
who was born in 1779 in Leith, where his father
was a merchant, and perhaps the most extensive
manufacturer of soap in Scotland. He was appointed
Regius Professor and Keeper of the
Museum, or *? Repository of Natural Curiosities
in the University of Edinburgh,? on the death of
Dr. Walker, in 1804; but he had previously distinguisbed
himself by the publication of three valuable
works connected with the natural history of
the? Scottish Isles, after studying for two years at
Freyberg, under the famous Werner,
He was author of ten separate works, all contributing
to the advancement of natural history, but
more especially of geology, and his whole life was
devoted to study and investigation. Whether in the
class-room or by his writings, he was always alike
entitled to and received the gratitude and esteem
of the students.
In 1808 he founded the Wernerian Natural
History Society of Edinburgh, and besides the
numerous separate works referred to, the world is
indebted to him for the Edinburgh PhiZosophicaZ
Journal, which he started in 1819, and which
maintained a reputhion deservedly high as a repository
of science. The editorial duties connected
with it he performed for nearly twenty
years (for the first ten volumes in conjunction with
Sir David Brewster), adding many brilliant articles
from his own pen, and, notwithstanding the varied
demands upon his timq was a contributor to the
?? Edinburgh Encyclopzdia,? the ?? Encyclopzdia
Britannia,? the Annals of Philosophy,? the
U Edinburgh Cabinet Library,? and many other
standard works.
He was for half a century a professor, and had
the pleasure of sending forth from his class-room
in the University of Edinburgh many pupils who
have since won honour and renown in the seminaries
and scientific institutions of Europe. He was
a fellow of many learned and Royal Societies,
and was succeeded in the Chair of Natural
History in 1854 by Edward Forbes. ......

Book 6  p. 242
(Score 1.22)

35 a BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Assembly Close.
where he continued until his death.
He subsequently removed to St John’s Street, Canongate,
No. CXLI.
MR. DAVID DOWNIE,
GOLDSMITH IN EDINBURGH-TRIED FOR HIGH TREASON ALONG WITH
ROBERT WATT IN 1794.
TOWARDtSh e end of 1793, several meetings of the British Convention were
held in Edinburgh. At one of them (5th December) the Magistrates interfered,
dispersed the Convention, and apprehended ten or twelve of the members,
among whom were several English delegates ; but who, after examination, were
liberated on bail. The Magistrates at the same time issued a proclamation,
prohibiting all such meetings in future j and giving notice to all persons “who
shall permit the said meetings to be held in their houses, or other places belonging
to them, that they will be prosecuted and punished with the utmost severity
of law.” Notwithstanding this proclamation another meeting was summoned
by the secretary, William Xkirving, to be held in the cock-pit, Grassmarket, on
the 12th of December. On this occasion the Magistrates again interfered, and
apprehended several of the members ; some of whom were served with indictments
to take their trial before the High Court of Justiciary. It was about this
time that Watt and Downie became deeply involved in those transactions for
which they were condemned. After the dispersion of the British Convention,
they became active members of a “ Committee of Union,” designed to collect
the sense of the people, and to assemble another Convention. They were also
members of a committee, called the “ Committee of Ways and Means ”---of
which Downie was treasurer. In unison with the sentiments of the London
Convention, it appears, the “Friends of the People” in Edinburgh had
abandoned all hope of, or intention of further demanding, redress by constitutional
means ; and the more resolute of them began to entertain designs of an
impracticable and dangerous nature. Of these wild schemes Watt was a principal
and active promoter.
The first attempt of the Committee was to gain the co-operation of the
military, or least to render them neutral ; for which purpose they printed an
address, and circulated a number of copies among the Hopetoun Fencibles,
then stationed at Dalkeith.1 A plan was also formed, by which it was
The regiment was about to march for England. The object of the address was to excite the
men to mutiny, by persuading them that they were sold to go abroad ; and that if they revolted,
they would get thousands to assist them. John Geddes, a witness and one of the soldiers, said he
read the address. 0 ! dear brothers, stay
at home I ”
Some of the words it contained were-“Stay at home ! ......

Book 8  p. 491
(Score 1.19)

156 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Walk.
hall within thirty years of the time when Steele and
Addison were writing in the Specfatorf
The 10th of October, 1681, saw five unfortunate
victims of misrule, named Garnock, Foreman,
Russel, Ferrie, and Stewart, executed at the Gallow
Lee, where their bodies were buried, while their
heads were placed on the Cowgate Port. Some of
their friends came in the night, and reverently
lifting the remains, re-interred them in the West
Churchyard They had the courage also to take
half of the linen over them, and stufft the coffin
with shavings.? Many urged that the latter should
be borne through all the chief thoroughfares ; but
PatricK Walker adds that instead, we went out
by. the back of the [city] wall, in at the Bristo Port,
and turned up to the churchyard [Greyfrairs],
where they were interred close to the Martyrs?
tomb, with the greatest multitude of people, old
and young, men and women, ministers and others,
that I ever saw together.?
JOPPA PANS,
down the heads for the same purpose, but being
scared they were obliged to enclose them in a box,
which they buried in a garden at Lauriston. There
they lay till the 7th of October, 1726, a period of
forty-five years, when a Mr. Shaw, proprietor of the
garden, had them exhumed. The resurrection of
the ghastly relics of the Covenanting times made a
great excitement in Edinburgh. They were rolled
in four yards of fine linen and placed in a coffin.
?( Being young men, their teeth all remained,? says
Patrick Walker (the author of ?? Biographia Presbyteriana
?). ? All were witness to the holes in each
of their heads which the hangman broke with his
hammer ; and according to the bigness of their
skulls we laid their jaws to them, drew the other
On the 10th of January, 1752, there was taken
from the Tolbooth, hanged at the Gallow Lee, and
gibbeted there, a man named Norman ROSS, whose
remains were long a source of disgust and dismay
to all wayfarers on the Walk. His crime was the
assassination of Lady Baillie, a sister of Home the
Laud of Wedderburn. A relation of this murder
is given in a work entitled ?Memoirs of an Anstocrat,?
published in 1838, by the brother of a
claimant for the Earldom of Marchmont, a book
eventually suppressed The lady in question married
Ninian Home, a dominie, but by failure of
her brothers ultimately became heiress, and the
dominie died before her.
Norman Ross was her footman, and secreted ......

Book 5  p. 156
(Score 1.19)

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