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438 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. with some additional proceedings characteristic of the temper of the Government, and the consequent reaction produced on the popular *d. Fountainhall remarks :-((We see a great s t i r made for thecolleginem burning the Pope at Christmas 1680 ; this year the boyes and prentices forboor ther solemnity on Zuille day, because it happened to be a Sunday, but they had it on the 26th of December at night. Ther preparations were BO quiet that none suspected it this year ; they brought him to the Croce, and fixed his chair in that place wher the gallows stands, he was trucked up in a red goune and a mitar with 2 keyea over his arme, a crucifix in on hand and the oath of the Test in the other, then they put fyre to him, and it brunt lenthy till it came to the pouder at which he blew up in the air, While they ware at this employment ther ware lightnings and claps of thunder, which is very unusuall at that season of the year. At this tyme many things were done in mockerie .of the Test : on I shall tell. The children of Heriots Hospital1 finding that the dog which keiped the yairds of that Hospitd had a public charge and office, they ordained him to take the Test, and offered him the paper, but he, loving a bone rather than it, absolutely refused it ; then they rubbed it over with butter (which they called ane Explication of the Teat in imitation of Argile), and he licked of the butter but did spite out the paper, for which they held a jurie on him, and in derision of the sentence against Argile, they found the dog guilty of treason, and actually hanged him,” X, WEST BOW. MAJOR WEIR IN our account of Major weir (Part ii. chap. ixi), his sister is styled Gnzel Weir, in accordance with Master Jam Frazw’s Providential Passages, a MS. from which Mr George Sinclair has evidently borrowed the greater portion of his account of the Major, without acknowledging the source of his information. In Law’s Memorials, however, as well as h Shclair’s BaSatan’8 Ittvisible WorZd Discovered, she bears the name of Jean Weir, by which she is most frequently alluded to. One of the witnesses examined on the trial of this noted wizard, as appears from the Crimiltal Record in the Register EIouse of Edinburgh, wag “ Maister John Sinclare, minister at Ormistoune,” who deponed, among other strange items of evidence, that (‘having asked him if he had seen the deivell, he answered, that any fealling he ever hade of him was in the dark I”-Law‘a Memorials, note, p. 26. Projecta for improving the Old Town of Edinburgh, and for extending it beyond its ancient limits, appear to have engaged gened attention even so early a3 the reign of Charles II., when the court and levees of the Duke of York at Holyrood, revived somewhat of the old life and splendour of the Scottish capital, which her citizens had so long been strangers to. On account of the narrow limits of the Old Town, its inhabitanta were on nearly the same familiar footing a8 those of a country village ; and schemes of improvement that might now lie unheeded for years in the hands of some civic committee, were then discussed at every club and changehouse, until they became incorporated among the $xed idem of the population, affording at any time a ready theme for the display of wisdom by that industrious class of idlers, usually composed of retired traders, country lairda, and half-pay officers, to whom a subject for grumbling over, and improving in theory, is aa necessary as daily food. In Cough’s British Topography (vol. ii p. 674), the following account appears of an ingenious model of Edinburgh, constructed about the middle of last century. It was, no doubt, furnished to the author by George Paton, and shows how early some of the improvement schemes, which have since cost the citizens so much both in antipuitier and taxes, were made the subject of reforming speculations, and favourably entertained as desirable alterations on the mug and closely-packed little Scottish capital of the eighteenth century:- ......

Book 10  p. 477
(Score 1.15)

MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN TIME. CHAPTER I. E A RLIE S T TRA DITIONS. h I , {3 ; I!;) I,\,,,!I 11 Bl'#d'y!j recent era, is included in that of its Castle and xatively Abbey. The first, the fortress, round whose protecting citadel the rude huts of our forefathers were gathered and continued to increase, until, amid the wealth and security of more peaceful times, the Abbey of the Holyrood reared its consecrated walls, and absorbed to itself much of the wealth and the learning, many of the virtues, and doubtless also some of the vices, of the wild Saxons that peopled the fertile Lothians. It is unnecessary to follow in this History the fanciful disquisitions of zealous antiquaries, respecting the origin and etymology of Edinburgh ; it has been successively derived, both in origin and name, from Saxon, Pict, and Gael; and in each case, with s&cient ingenuity only to leave the subject more deeply involved than at first. To expect that the first rude gathering of the hamlet, that forms the nucleus of the future capital, should leave its traces in the surviving records or traditions of the past, were as unreasonable as that the rustic should challenge the veracity of a living historian, because he *- -_ , ,uly 11- r VIGmTTE-Ancient carved atone over the entrance to the Ordnance Office, Edinburgh Castle. A ......

Book 10  p. 1
(Score 1.12)

Liberton] ST. KATHERINE?S WELL 3 29 when Cromwell?s soldiers not only defaced it, but almost totally destroyed it. It was repaired after the Restoration, Hard by this well,? he continues, ?a chapel was erected and dedicated to St. Margaret. St Katherine was buried in the chapel, and the dists not one suits the epoch ofSt. Margaret of Scotland, and St. Katherine of Sienna, with whom it is rather identified, was born in 1347. The probability is, that a woman named Katherine brought the oil from the tomb of St. Katherine of Alexandria, LIljERTON TOWER. place where her bones lie is still pointed out, and it was observed that he who pulled it down never prospered. The ground around it was consecrated at Mount Sinai, and dying here was locally canonised as a saint by name or reputation. The following is the chemical analysis of the - - - for burying, and it was considered the most ancient place of worship in the pariSh. After the nunnery at the Sciennes was founded, the nuns there made an annual procession to this chapel and well in honour of St. Katherine.? Unfortunately for this popular legend, of five St. Katherines whose memoirs are given by the Bollan- 138 - water by Dr. George Wilson, F.S.A., as given in Daniel Wson?s ? Memorials? ? The water from St. Katherhe?s Well contains, after filtration, in each imperial gallon, 28.11 grs of solid matter, of which 8-45 grs consists of soluble sulphates and chlorides of the earths and alkalies, and 19-66 g s . of insoluble calcareous carkonates.? ......

Book 6  p. 328
(Score 1.1)

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

Book 11  p. 48
(Score 1.05)

Moming+3c] THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM. 39 sions and villas seem to crowd and jostle each other, till it has become an integral part of Edinburgh; but the adjacent hamlet of Tipperlinn, the abode chiefly of weavers, and once also a summer resort, has all disappeared, and nothing of it now remains but an old draw-well The origin of its name is evidently Celtic. Falcon Hall, eastward of the old village, is an elegant modem villa, erected early in the present century byawealthy Indian civilian, named Falconer; but, save old Morningside House, or Lodge, before that time no other niansion of importance stood here. In the latter-which stands a little way back kom the road on the west side-there died, in the year 1758, William Lockhart, Esq., of Carstairs, who had been thrown from his cliaise at the Burghmuir- head, and was so severely injured that he expired two days after. Here also resided, and died in 1810, William Coulter, a wealthy hosier, who was then in office as Lord Provost of the city, which gave him a magnificent civic and military funeral, which was long remembered for its grandeur and solemnity. On this occasion long streamers of crape floated from Nelson?s monument ; the bells were tolled. Mr. Claud Thompson acted as chief mourner-in lieu of the Provost?s only son, Lieutenant Coulter, then serving with the army in Portugal-and the city arms were borne by a man seven feet high before the coffin, whereon lay a sword, robe, and chain of office. Three volleys were fired over it by the Edinburgh Volunteers, of which he was colonel. A portrait of him in uniform appears in one of Kay?s sketches. In 1807 Dr. Andrew Duncan (already noticed in the account of Adam Square) proposed the erection of a lunatic asylum, the want of which had long been felt in the city. Subscriptions came in slowly, but at last sufficient was collected, a royal charter was obtained, and on the 8th of June, 1809, the foundation stone of the now famous and philanthropic edifice at Morningside was laid by the Lord Provost Coulter, within an enclosure, four acres in extent, south of old Morningside House Towards the erection a sum of LI,IOO came from Scotsmen in Madras. The object of this institution is to afford every possible advantage in the treatment of insanity. The unfortunate patients may be put under the care of any medical practitioner in Edinburgh (says the Scots Magmine for that year) whom the relations may choose to employ, while the poor will be attended gratis by physicians and surgeons appointed by the managers. In every respect, it is one of the most efficient institutions of the kind in Scotland, It is called the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, and has as its patron the reigning sovereign, a governor, four deputies, a board of managers, and another of medical men. The original building was afterwards more than doubled in extent by the addition of another, the main entrance to which is from the old road that led to Tipperlinn. This is called the west department, where the average number of inmates is above 500. It is filled with patients of the humbler order, whose friends or parishes pay for them 6 1 5 per annum. The east department, which was built in 1809, is for patients who pay not less than A56 per annum as an ordinary charge, though separate sitting-rooms entail an additional expense. On the other hand, when patients are in straitened circumstances a yearly deduction of ten, or even twenty pounds, is made from the ordinary rate. In the former is kept the museum of plaster casts from the heads of patients, a collection continually being added to ; and no one, even without a knowledge of phrenology, can behold these lifeless images without feeling that the originals had been afflicted by disease of the mind, for even the cold, white, motionless plaster appears expressive of ghastly insanity. In the west department the patients who are capable of doing so ply their trades as tailors, shoemakers, and so forth; and one of the most interesting features of the institution is the printing-office, whence, to quote Chambers?sJournal, ?is issued the Morningside Mirror, a monthly sheet, whose literary contents are supplied wholly by the inmates, and contain playful hits and puns which would not disgrace the habitual writers of facetious articles.?? From the list of occupations that appear in the annual report, it would seem that nearly every useful trade and industry. is followed within the walls, and that the Morningside Asylum supplies most of its own wants, being a little world complete in itself. Occupation and amusement here take the place of irksome bondage, with results that have been very beneficial, and among the most extraordinary of these are the weekly balls, in which the patients figure in reels and in country dances, and sing songs. At the foot of Morningside the Powburn takes the singular name of the Jordan as it flows through a farm named Egypt, and other Scriptural names abound close by, such as Hebron Bank, Canaan ......

Book 5  p. 39
(Score 1.05)

220 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. Where Scotland’s nobles sate, as if in scorn Or vain regret, o’er the deserted pile. For centuries its paving had been worn By courtiers, once unmatched in crafty guile, By many a baron bold, and lovely dame, And scions, too, of Scotland‘s royal line ; While, from beneath, preferred a worthier claim Names that with stern historic scenes entwine, And some whose memory time has failed to keep, Oblivious of the trust. Knox slumbers there, Mingling with border chiefa that stilly sleep ; And churl, and burgher bold, and haughty peer, With those a people wept for, sharing now The common lot, unhonoured and unknown. Strange wreck, o’er ruins in the dust below ! . Thrice deaecrated burial-place ! Where once were held in trust the noble d d ’Neath grassy hillock and memorial urn,- With requiem graven only by their tread, Whose steps forgotten generations spurn. But civic sycophants,-a courtly tool,- Bartered stone Cromwell for a Charles of lead,- Ignoble meed for tyranny’s misrule, To rear above the great dishonoured dead ! Fire, time, and modern taste,-the worst of all,- Have swept in ruthless zeal across the scene And the lead king and shadow on the wall, Alone survive of all that once has been. The Btone ......

Book 10  p. 240
(Score 1.04)

248 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. impartial walls, among such strange bed-fellows as the chances of the night had offered to its vigilant guardians. The demolition of the Cross, however, rendered the existence of its unsightly neighbour the more offensive to all civic. reformers. Ferguson, in his “ Mutual Complaint of the Plainstanes and Causey,” humorously represents it as one of the most intolerable grievances of the latter, enough to I‘ fret the hardest stane ; ” and at length, in 1785, its doom was pronounced, and its ancient garrison removed to the New Assembly Close, then recently deserted by the directors of fashion. There, however, they were .pursued by the enmity of their detractors. The proprietors of that fasAionabZe district of the city were scandalised at the idea of such near neighbours as the Town-Rats, and by means of protests, Bills of Suspension, and the like weapons of modern civic warfare, speedily compelled the persecuted veterans to beat a retreat. They took refuge in premises provided for them in the Tolbooth, but the destruction of their ancient stronghold may be said to have sealed their fate ; they lingered on for a few years, maintaining an unequal and hopeless struggle against the restless spirit of innovation that had beset the Scottish capital, until at length, in the year 1817, their final refuge was demolished, the last of them were put on the town’s pension list, and the truncheon of the constable displaced the venerable firelock and Lochaber axe. VIoaETTE-hchaber axe8 from the Antiquarian Museum. ......

Book 10  p. 269
(Score 1.03)

3 36 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. tion, which made many of that stamp court his converse. He never married, but lived in a private lodging with his sister Grizel Weir. Many resorted to his house to hear him pray, and join with him; but it was observed that he could not officiate in any holy duty without the black staff or rod in his hand, and leaning upon it, which made those who heard him pray admire his flood in prayer, his ready extemporary expression, his heavenly gesture ; so that he was thought more angel than man, and was termed by some of the holy sisters ordinarily Angelical Thomas.”’ This magical black staff was no less marvellous a character than the Major himself. According to veracious tradition, it was no uncommon thing for the neighbours to see it step in and tap at their counters on some errand of its master, or running before him with a lantern as he went out on nocturnal business, and gravely walked down the Lawnmarket behind his mysterious link-boy. The Major, in fact, had made a compact with the Devil, of which this was part payment ; but the foul fiend as usual overreached his dupe. He had enga.ged, it would seem, to keep him scatheless from all dangers but one burn. The accidental naming of a Mr Burn by the waiters of the Nether Bow Port, as he visited them in the course of his duty, threw him into a fit of terror that lasted for weeks ; and the intervention of a water brook called Libberton Burn in his way was sufficient to make him turn back. “A year before he discovered himself, he took a sore sickness, during which he spake to all who visited him like an angel.” !a He found it, however, impossible longer to withstand the dreadful tortures of conscience ; and summoning some of his neighbours to his bedside, he made voluntary confession of crimes, which needed no supernatural accessories to render them more detestable. His confession seemed ao incredible, that the magistrates at first refused to take him into custody ; but he was at length carried off to prison, and lodged in the Tolbooth along with his sister-the partner, if not the victim, of one of his crimes. As might have been expected, strange and supernatural appearances accompanied his seizure. The staff was secured by his Bister’s advice, and carried to prison along with them. A few dollars were also found, wrapped up in some rags, and on the latter being thrown into the fire, they danced in circles about the flames in an unwonted manner, while ‘‘ another clout, found with some hard thing in it, which they threw into the fire likewise, circled and sparkled like gunpowder, and passing from the tunnel of the chimney, it gave a crack like a little cannon, to the amazement of all that were present.” The money was no less boisterous than its wrappers, and threatened to pull the bailie’s house about his ears, who had taken it home with him. On being carried to prison, the Major sunk into a dogged apathy, from which he never afterwards reviyed, furiously rejecting the ministrations of the clergymen who visited him, and replying only to their urgent exhortations with the despairing exclamation, Torment me not before the time ! ” adding, with somewhat more philosophic foresight, according to another annalist, “ that now, since he was to go to the Devil, he would not anger him.” * He was tried April 9, 1670, and confessed himself guilty both of possible and impossible crimes. - There can be no doubt, indeed, that the wretched hypocrite was driven desperate by the stings of conscience, and felt some relief in giving the Devil a share of his misdeeds. He waa sentenced to be strangled and burnt, ’ Fraser’a Providential Passages. MS. Advocates’ Library. * Satan’s Invisible World Discovered, p. 146. a Ihid, p. 147. Law’s Memorials, p. 23. ......

Book 10  p. 367
(Score 1.03)

Holyrood.] THE ABBEY CHURCH IN RUINS. 59 and cannon were two ship?s masts, fully rigged, one on the right bearing the Scottish flag, another on the left bearing the English. ?? Above all these rose the beautiful eastem window, shedding a flood of light along the nave, eclipsing the fourteen windows of the clerestory. The floor was laid with ornamental tiles, some portions of which are yet preserved.? In the royal yacht there came to Leith from London an altar, vestments, and images, to complete the restoration of the church to its ancient uses. As if to hasten on the destruction of his house, James VII., not content with securing to his Catholic subjects within the precincts of Holyrood that degree of religious toleration now enjoyed by every British subject, had mass celebrated there, and established a college of priests, whose rules were published on the zznd of March, 1688, inviting people to send their children there, to be educated gratis, as Fountainhall records. He also appointed a Catholic printer, named Watson (who availed himself of the protection afforded by the sanctuary) to be ? King?s printer in Holyrood ;? and obtained a right from the Privy Council to print all the ? prognostications at Edinburgh,? an interesting fact which accounts for the number of old books bearing Holyrood on their title-pages. Prior to all this, on St. Andrew?s Day, 30th November, the whole church was sprinkled with holy water, re-consecrated, and a sermon was preached in it by a priest named Widerington. Tidings of the landing of William of Orange roused the Presbyterian mobs to take summary vengeance, and on being joined by the students of the University, they assailed the palace and chapel royal. The guard, IOO strong-? the brats of Belia1?- under Captain Wallace, opened a fire upon them, killing twelve and wounding many more, but they were ultimately compelled to give way, and the chapel doors were burst open. The whole interior was instantly gutted and destroyed, and the magnificent throne, stalls, and orgab, were ruthlessly tom down, conveyed to the Cross, and there consigned to the flames, amid the frantic shrieks and yells of thousands. Not content with all this, in a spirit of mad sacrilege, the mob, now grown lawless, burst into the royal vault, tore some of the leaden coffins asunder, and, according to Amot, camed off the lids. By the middle of the eighteenth century the rooG which had become ruinous, was restored with flagstones in a manner too ponderous for the ancient arches, which gave way beneath the superincumbent weight on the 2nd of December, 1768; and again the people of Edinburgh became seized by a spirit of the foullest desecration, and from thenceforward, until a comparafively recent period, the ruined church remained open to all, and was appropriated ? tu the vilest uses. Grose thus describes what he saw when the rubbish had been partly cleared away :-? When we lately visited it we saw in the middle of the chapel the columns which had been borne down by the weight of the roof. Upon looking into the vaults which were open, we found that what had escaped the fury of the mob at the Revolution became a prey to the mobwho ransacked it after it fell. In A.D. 1776 we had seen the body of James V. and others in their leaden coffins; the coffins are now stolen. The head of Queen Margaret (Magdalene?), which was then entire, and even beautiful, and the skull of Damley, were also stolen, and were last traced to the collection of a statuary in Edinburgh.? In 1795 the great east window was blown out in a violent storm, but in 1816 was restored from its own remains, which lay scattered about on the ground. In the latter year the north-west tower, latterly used as a vestry, was still covered by an ogee leaden roof. The west front of what remains, though the W0i-k perhaps of different periods, is in the most beautiful style of Early English, and the boldly-cut heads in its sculptured arcade and rich variety of ornament in the doorway are universally admired. The windows above it were additions made so latelyas the time of Charles I., and the inscriptions which that upfortunate king had carved on the Ornamental tablet between them is a striking illustration of the vanity of human hopes. One runs :- Ultimately this also fell. ?Basiluam ham, Carolus Rex, @firnus imtaxravit, 1633.? The other :- ?HE SHALL ESTABLISH ANE HOUSE FOR MY NAME, AND I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOR EVER.? In the north-west tower is amarble monument to Robert, Viscount Belhaven, who was interred there in January, 1639. His nephews, Sir Archibald and Sir Robert Douglas, placed there that splendid memorial to perpetuate hisvirtues as a man and steadiness as a patriot. A row of tombs of Scottish nobility and others lie in the north aisle. The Roxburgh aisle adjoins the royal vault in the south aisle, and in front of it lies the tomb of the Countess of Errol, who died in 1808. Close by. it is that of the Bishop of Orkney, already referred to. ? A flattering inscription enumerates the. bishop?s titles, and represents this worldly hypocrite ......

Book 3  p. 59
(Score 1.01)

218 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. them to adjourn. It must be regarded as proving how thoroughly the cruel wrongs which the Scottish Covenanters had suffered at the hands of their persecutors during the reign of Charles 11. were laid to the charge of the active agents in their execution, that the statue of that “ Monarch of Misrule ” survived the rabblements of this period, and still graces the area of the Parliament Close, The name that still survives all other memorials of the Scottish hierarchy, recalls the time when “ the honours ” of the kingdom were laid on the table, and the Lord High Commissioner occupied the throne as the representative of majesty, while the eloquent Belhaven, the astute and wary Lockhart, and the nervous Fletcher, pleaded for the ancient privileges of their country, and denounced the measure that was to close its Legislative Hall for ever. Many an ardent patriotic heart throbbed amid the dense crowd that daily assembled in the Parliament Close, to watch the decision of the Scottish Estates on the detested scheme of Union with England. Again ahd again its fate trembled in the balance, but, happily for Scotland, English bribes outweighed the mistaken zeal of Scottish patriotism and Jacobitism united against the measure. On the 25th March 1707, the Treaty of Union was ratified by the Estates, and on the 22d April following, the Parliament of Scotland adjourned, never again to assemble. The Lord Chancellor Seafield, the chief agent in this closing scene of our national legislature, exclaimed on its accomplishment, with heartless levity, ‘‘ There is an end of an auld sang ; ” but the people brooded over the act as a national indignity and wrong; and the legitimate line of their old Scottish kings anew found favour in their eyes, and became the centre of hope to many who mourned over Scotland as .a degraded province of her old southern rival. Since then the ancient hall retains only such associations as belong to men eminent for learning, or high in reputation among the members of the College of Justice. Duncan Forbes, Lord Kames, Monboddo, Hume, Erskine, Mackenzie, and indeed nearly all the men of note in Scottish literature,-if we except her divines,-have formed a part of the busy throng that gave life and interest to Scotland’s Westminster Hall. Our own generation has witnessed there Cockburn, Brougham, Horner, Jeffrey, and Scott, sharing in the grave offices of the Court, or taking a part in the broad humour and wit for which the members of “ the Faculty ” are so celebrated ; and still the visitor to this learned and literary lounge cannot fail to be gratified in a high degree, while watching the different groups who gather in the Hall, and noting the lines of thought or humour, and the infinite variety of physiognomy, for which the wigged and gowned loiterers of the Law Courts are peculiarly famed. Among the more homely associations of the Old Parliament Close, the festivities of the King’s birthday demand a special notice, as perhaps the most popular among the longcherished customs of our ancestors, which the present generation has beheld gradually expire. It was usual on this annual festival to have a public repast in the Parliament Hall, where tables were laid out at the expense of the city, covered with wine and confeotions, and the magistrates, judges, and nearly all the chief citizens, assembled for what was styled “ the drinking of the King’s health.” On the morning of this joyous holiday the statue of King Charles wa8 gaily decorated with flowers by the L L Add Gallants,” as the e’lhes of Heriot’s The Old Parliament House witnessed thenceforth more legitimate scenes. ......

Book 10  p. 238
(Score 0.97)

322 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. overpowering force. Conjecture is vain as to the depositor of this hidden treasure ; but we may fancy the prowess or cunning of some hardy burgher achieving sudden victory over a stray band of the insolent invaders, and concealing here the hard-won spoils, for which he never returned. Beyond the arch of the bridge, from whence the busy crowds of the modern city look down on this deserted scene of former magnificence, we again come to antique memorials of other times. Here was a steep and straitened alley ascending towards the southern side of the town, which formed in remote times the avenue to the Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields; and at a more recent, though still early period, the public approach to the Old College of Edinburgh. This ancient avenue possessed interesting associations with successive generations, from the period when Dominicans and Greyfriars, and the priests and choristers of St Mary’s College, clamb the steep ascent, down to a time, not long gone by, when grave professors and wily practitioners of the law shared among them itsjuts and common stairs. This ancient thoroughfare formerly bore the name of “ The Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Mary in-the-Field,” as appears from the charters of property acquired by the town for the establishment of King James’s College.’ About the middle of the wynd, on the east side, a curious and antique edifice retained many of its original features, notwithstanding its transmutation from a Collegium Sacerdoturn, or prebendal building of the neighbouring collegiate church, to a brewers’ granary and a spirit vault. Such, at least, we conceive to have been its original destination. The ground floor had been entirely refaced with hewn stoue ; but over a large window on the first floor there was a sculptured lintel, which is mentioned by k n o t as having surmounted the gateway into the inner court. It bore the following inscription, cut in beautifd and very early characters :- Bbe flaria, QDratia plena, Damintter tecum. At the close of the chapter, a sketch of a beautiful, though mutilated, Gothic niche is given, which was on the front of the building. It is said to have originally stood over the main gateway above the carved lintel we have described, and without doubt it contained a statue of the TTi.rgin, to whom the wayfarer’s supplications were invited. These interesting remains, so characteristic of the obsolete faith and habits of a former age, afforded undoubted evidence of the importance of this building in early times, when it formed a part of the extensive collegiate establishment of St Mary in-the-Fields, founded and endowed apparently by the piety of the wealthy citizens of the capital. To complete the ecclesiastical features of this ancient edifice, a boldly-cut shield on the lower crow-step bore the usual monogram of our Saviour, fbs-and the windows presented the common feature of .broken mullions and transoms, with which they had originally been divided. Internally the building presented features of a more recent date, indicating that its earliest lay occupants were worthy neighbours of the aristocratic denizens of the Cowgate. A stucco ceiling in the principal apartment was adorned with a variety of ornaments in the style prevalent in the reign of Charles I., the most prominent among which was the winged “Shaw’s tenement in the Wynd of the Blessed &ry in-the-Field, now the College Wynd. Item, an instrument of aaaine, dated 30th June, 1525, of a land built and waste, lying in the Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Mary in-thsField, on the weat aide thereof, &e., in favour of Alex. Schaw. son of Wrn. Schaw of Po1kemrnet.’”-From Descriptive Inventory of Tuwn’q purchases for the Gllege, Burgh Charter Room. ......

Book 10  p. 350
(Score 0.94)

I 26 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. of one of them as it still exists, with the wooden frame-work that sustained the hammocks of the prisoners. Immediately below Queen May’s Room, there is another c~iously-vaulted dungeon, partly excavated out of the solid rock, and retaining the staple of an iron chain, doubtlesS used for securing the limbs of some wretched captive in ancient times. No date can with any certainty be assigned to these massive foundations of the Castle, though they undoubtedly belong to a remote period of its history. In making some repairs on the west front of the royal apartments in the year 1830, a remarkably curious and interesting discovery was made. Nearly in a line with the Crown Room, and about six feet from the pavement of the quadrangle, the wall was observed, when struck, to sound hollow, as though a cavity existed at that place. It was accordingly opened from the outside, when a recess was discovered? measuring about two feet six inches by one foot, and containing the remains of a child, enclosed in an oak coffin, evidently of great antiquity, and very much decayed. The remains were wrapped in a cloth, believed to be woollen, very thickly wove, so as to resemble leather, and within this ’ were the decayed fra-pents of a richly-embroidered silk covering, with two initials wrought upon it, one of them distinctly marked I. This interesting discovery was ieported at the time to Major General Thackery, then commanding the Royal Engineers, by whose orders they were again restored to their strange place of sepulture, where they still remain. It were vain now to attempt a solution of this mysterious discovery, though it may furnish the novelist with mat.eria1 on which to found a thrilling romance. Within this portion of the old Palace is the Crown Room, where the ancient Regalia VIoNmTE--French Prisoners’ Vault in the Caatle. ......

Book 10  p. 137
(Score 0.91)

432 MEMORIALS OF EDIiVBURGI% v. WRYCHTISHOUSIS.' IN the description attached to a view of Wrichtishousis, in '' An elegant collection of interesting views iii Scotland," printed by Oher & Co., Nether Bow, 1802, the western wing is described as the most ancient part of the edifice, while the eastern wing is affirmed to have been built in the reign of King Robed III., and the centre range connecting the two in that of James VI. There was probably, however, no other authorit7 for this than the dates and armorial bearings, the whole of which we conceive to be the work of the latter monarch's reign. Arnot furnishes the very laconic account of it, that it is said to have been built for the reception of a mistress of King James 1V. That it was built for such a purpose cannot admit of any credit ; but it is possible that that gay and gallant monarch may have entertained special favour for some of the fair scions of the old Napier stock. Allusion is made in a foot-note, on page 351, to '' The History of the Partition of the Lennox ; " we find, however, that the author had not only pointed out the shields of the Merchiston and mTrychtishousis Napiers on the old tomb at St Giles's, in his Memoirs of Napiers of Merchiston, but we believe he was the first to detect that the bearings on one of these shields waa the Wrychtishouais arms, and not those of Scott of Thirlestane, as they had previously been presumed to be ; these tTo families having been united in the person of Francis fifth Lord Napier, son of the Baroness Napier and Sir William Scott, Bart., of Thirlestane. These arms, placed above the tablet marking the tomb of the Napier family, on the north wall of the choir of St Giles's Church, were removed, in the recent alterations, from the interior of the church, where they formerly stood above an altar-tomb, underneath the same window, on the outside of which the tablet was placed. There is no reason for believing them to be of the same date. The style of ornament round the border of the tablet can hardly be ......

Book 10  p. 471
(Score 0.91)

the ancient ruby ring which the kings of Scotland wore at their coronation. It was last used by the unhappy Charles I., and, after all its wanderings with his descendants, is now in its old receptacle, together with the crown, sceptre, sword of state, and the golden mace of Lord High Treasurer. The mace, like the sceptre, is surmounted by a great crystal beryl, stones doubtless of vast antiquity. The " great beryl " was an amulet which [Edinburgh Castle. with the like number of diamonds and sapphires alternately, and the points tipped with great pearls; the upper circle is elevated with ten crosses floree, each adorned in the centre with a great diamond betwixt four great pearls placed in the cross, one and one, and these crosses floree are interchanged with ten high flews de fix, all alternately with the great pearls below, which top the points of the second small circle. From the upper circle proceed cage, the regalia now lie on a white marble table in the crown-room, together with four other memorials of the House of Stuart, which belonged to the venerable Cardinal York, and were deposited there by order of King William in 1830. These are the golden collar of the Garter presented to James VI. by Elizabeth, with its appendage the George; the order of St. Andrew, cut on an onyx and having on the reverse the badge of the Thistle, which opens with a secret spring, revealing a beau- The ancient crown worn by Robert I. and his successors underwent no change till it was closed with four arches by order of James V., and it is thus described in the document deposited with the Regalia in the crown-room, in 1707 :- "The crown is of pure gold, enriched with many precious stones, diamonds, pearls, and curious enamellings. It is composed of a fillet which goes round the head, adorned with twenty-two large precious stones. Above the great circle there THE REGALIA OF SCOTLAND. ......

Book 1  p. 72
(Score 0.87)

41 0 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. Among the representatives of the rougher sex in this very miscellaneous assemblage is a very sour-looking divine, dubbed John Knox, and a grave clergyman, probably of the time of Charles I., whose red calotte or skull cap, we presume, led to his being engraved both by Pennant and Pinkerton as Cardinal Beaton.’ In the Marquis of Breadalbane’s apartments there is a full-length portrait of Lady Isabella Thyme, daughter of the Earl of Holland, who perished on the scaffold during the great civil war. The lady is represented with a lute in her hand, for her great skill on which she is celebrated in the poems of Waller. Aubrey relates that her sister, ‘‘ The beautiful Lady Diana Rich, as she was walking in her father’s garden at Kenington, to take the fresh air before dinner, about eleven o’clock, being then very well, met with her own apparition, habit, and everything, as in a looking- glass.” She died about a month thereafter of the smallpox; and her sister, the Lady Isabella, is affirmed to have received a similar warning before her death.a These and other portraits adorn the various lodgings of the different noblemen who possess apartments in the Palace ; but many of them, being the private property of the noble lodgers, can hardly be considered as part of the decorations of Holyrood. The latest contribution to its walls is Wilkie’s full-length portrait of George IT., in the Highland costume, as he appeared on his visit to the northern capital in 1822. A much slighter survey will suffice for the remaining ecclesiastical foundations of the Scottish capital, of the majority of which no vestige now remains. Among the latter is the Monastery of Blackfriars of the order of St Dominic, founded by Alexander 11. in 1230, which stood on the site of the Surgical Hospital. It is styled in the foundation charters Mansio Regis, that monarch having, we presume, bestowed on the friars one of the royal residences for their abode. It appears to have been a wealthy foundation, subsequently enlarged by gifts from Robert I. and James III., as well as by many private donations confirmed by the latter monarch in‘1473.3 The monastery was accidently destroyed by fire in 1528; but it is probable that the church was only partially injured by the conflagration, as it appears in the view of 1544 as a large cross church, with a central tower and lofty spire. It no doubt experienced its full share in the events of that disastrous year, and it had hardly recovered from these repeated injuries when’the Reformers of 1558 completed its destruction. The Monastery of the Greyfriars in the Grassmarket has already been described, and the venerable cemetery which has been made from its gardens frequently referred to. Over A portrait of Cardinal Beaton, copied, we believe, by C‘nambera from an original French painting, is now at St Mary’s College, Blair, and another copy of the .same hangs in the Refectory of St Margaret’s Convent, Edinburgh. It represents him about the age of 35, when he was ambassador at the French Court. The face ia oval, the features regular, and the expression somewhat pensive, but very pleasing. He wears mustaches and an imperial, and we may add, bears not the slightest resemblance to the Holyrood portrait. On the background of the picture the following inscription is painted, most probably copied from the original portrait :-Le bienherevx David de Bethvne, Archevesque de St And&, Chancelllere et Regent du royaume d‘Ecosse, Cardinal et Legat a latere, fut massacre pour la foy en 1546. ’ Law’s Memorials, preface, p. lxvi * “ Charter of confirmation of all Mortifications maid to the said Brethren Predicators in Edid, vie. One made be Alexander II., of an a. rent of 10 marks de $rmG burgalihua de Edin’. One made be Ueorge Seaton and Cristain Murray his spouse, of 20 marks yearly out of the lands of Hartahead and Clint. One made be Phillipia Moubray, Lady Barnebugle, of 20s. sterling, yearly, out of little Barnbugle. One made be Joan Barcklay of Kippe of 10s. yearly, out of the lands of Duddingstone and husband-lands thereof. One be Jo. Sudgine of 30s. 4d. out of his tenement of Leith, on the south aide o€ the water thereof, between Men Nepar’a land on the East and Rottenrow on the West, 14 May 1473.”--Inventar of Pious Donations, MS, ......

Book 10  p. 449
(Score 0.87)

352 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. sions, or swept away to make room for the formal streets and squares of the New Town; but these are the offspring of another parentage, though claiming a part among the memorials of the olden time. At the foot of Leith Wynd-and just without the ancient boundaries of the capital, lies an ancient suburb, which though at no time dignified by the abodes of the nobility, or even of citizens of note, was selected as the site of several early religious foundations that still confer some interest on the locality. The foot of the Wynd (the only portion which now remains) was remarkable as the scene of one of those strange acts of lawless violence, which were of such frequent occurrence in early times. John Graham, parson of Killearn, one of the supreme criminal Judges, having married the widow of Sandilands of Calder, instituted a vexatious law-suit against her son. The partizans of the latter probably considered it vain to compete with a lawyer at his own weapons, and his uncle, Sir James Sandilands, accompanied by a body of his friends and followers, lay in wait for the Judge on the 1st of February 1592, in the wynd, which then formed one of the principal avenues to the town, and avenged their quarrel by murdering him in open day, without any of the perpetrators being brought to trial or punishment.’ At the foot of the wynd stood the building known as Paul’s Work, rebuilt in 1619, on the site of an ancient religibus foundation. About the year 1479, Thomas Spence, Bishop of Aberdeen, founded an hospital there, for the reception and entertainment of twelve poor men, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, under the name of the Hospital of our Lady in Leith Wynd, and it subsequently received considerable augmentations to its revenues from other benefactors. It is probable that among these benefactions there had been a chapel or altar dedicated to St Paul, unless, indeed, this was included in the original charter of foundation.’ All these documents, however, are now lost, and we are mainly left to conjecture as to the source of the change of name which early took place. In 1582 the Common Council adapted this charitable foundation to the new order of things, and drew up statutes for the guidance. of the Bedemen, wherein it is required that, “in Religion they be na Papistes, bot of the trew Religi~n.”~S ubsequently the whole revenues were diverted to purposes never dreamt of by the pious founders. The buildings having probably fallen intp decay, were reconstructed as they now appear, and certain Dutch manufacturers were invited over from Delft, and established there for the instruction of poor girls and boys in the manufacturing of woollen stuffs. The influence of these strangers in their legitimate vocation failed of eEect, but Calderwood records in 1621, ‘‘ Manie of the profainner sort of the toun were drawen out upon the sixt of May, to May games in Gilmertoun and Rosseline; so profanitie began to accompanie superstition and idolatrie, as it hath done in former times. Upon the first of May, the weavers in St Paul’s Worke, Englishe and Dutche, set up a highe May pole, with their garlants and bells hanging at them, wherat was great concurse Arnot’s Criminal Trials, p. 174. “Feb. 7, 1696.-Reduction pursued by the Town of Edinburgh against Sir Wm. Binny, and other partnera of the Linen Manufactory in Paul’s Work, of the tack set to them of the same in 1683. Insisted lmo, that this house was founded by Thos. Spence, Bishop of Aberdeen, in the reign of King James II., for discipline and training of idle vagabonds, and dedicated to 9t Paul ; and by an Act of Council in 1626, was destinate aud mortified for educating boys in B woollen manufactory; and this tack had inverted the origiual design, contrary to the 6th Act of Parliament, 1633, discharging the sacrilegious inveraion of all pious donations.”-Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. i. p. 709. “ There WM a hospital and chapel, dedicated to St Paul, in Edinburgh ; aud there waa in the chapel an altar and chaplainry conaecrated to the Virgin ; of which Sir William Knolls, the preceptor of Torphichen, claimed the patronage before the Privy Council, in 1495.”-ParI. Rec. 472. Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 471. * Maitland, pp. 468-9. ......

Book 10  p. 385
(Score 0.87)

CHAPTER I. PREHISTORIC EDINBURGH. The Site before the Houses-Traces of Early Inhabitants-The Caledonian Tries-Agricola?s Invasion-Subjection of the Scottish Lowlands- The Roman Way-Edinburgh never occupied permanently-Various Roman Remains : Urns. Coins, Busts ; Swords, Spears, and other Weapons-Ancient Coffins-The Camus, or Cath-stone-Origin of the name ? Edinburgh?-Di-Eiddyn-The Battle of Gtraeth. ON the arrival of Agricola?s Roman army in the Lothians, about the year A.D. 80, the Ottadeni a p pear, according to Chalmers, to have occupied the whole extent of coast from the Tyne to the Firth of Forth, including, that is, a part of Northumberland and Roxburghshire, the whole of the Merse, and Haddingtonshire. The Gadeni, whose temtory lay in the interior country, parallel and contiguous to that of the Ottadeni, had all the land from the Tyne to the south of the Forth; they held, namely, the western parts of Northumberland, RoxburghshLe, the whole of Falkirk, Tweeddale, and much of the Lothians. These were two of the twenty-one Caledonian tribes who were connected by such slight ties as scarcely to enjoy a social state, and who then occupied the whole of Northern Britain. That these Ottadeni and Gadeni were well armed, and resisted bravely, the number of camps and battle-stones scattered throughout the country amply attests; and it is not improbable that the site of Dalkeith (DuZdh, or the field of battle) may have seen some struggle with Agricola?s Roman, Bakvian, and Tungrian cohorts. It was not until the year 83 that Agricola resolved to penetrate into the districts beyond the Forth, as he dreaded a more united resistance from the Caledonian tribes, who had hitherto been hostile to each other. Guided by the information of naval officers who had surveyed the coast, his army crossed the Forth at Inchgarvie, and landed at the north ferry, from whence he proceeded to fight his way towards the Grampians ; but it was not until the year 140 that the Scottish Lowlands were entirely subjected to Roman sway, by Lollius Urbicus, whose legions have left so many roughhewn votive altars and graven memorials of the VALENS VICTRIX, with devotional dedications, people ......

Book 1  p. 9
(Score 0.86)

428 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. IIL CHURCHES. TRONCH nRcE.-The Tron Church, or Christ’s Church at the Tron, as it should be more correctly termed, ia one of two churches founded about the year 1637, in consequence of want of accommodation for the citizens in the places of worship then existing. They proceeded very slowly, impeded no doubt by the political disturbances of the period. In 1647 the Church at the Tron was so far advanced as to admit of its being used for public worship, but it was not entirely finished till 1663. On the front of the tower, over the great doorway, a large ornamental panel bears the city arms in alto ~eEieuo, and beneath them the inscription BDEM HANO CHRISTO ET ECCLESI~ SACBARUNT CIVES EDINBURQENSES, ANNO DON. MDCXLI. Some account has been given @age 260) of the changes effected on the church in opening up the southern approaches to the city, in the year 1785. It is finished internally with an open timber roof, somewhat similar to that in the Parliament House j but its effect has been greatly impaired by the shortening of the church when it was remodelled externally. In 1884 the old steeple was destroyed by fire. It wa built according to a design frequently repeated on the public buildings throughout Scotland at that period, but the examples of which are rapidly disappearing. Old St Nicholas’s Church at Leith still preserves the model on a small scale, and the tower of Glasgow College is nearly a facsimile of it. The old tower of St Mary’s Church, as engraved in our view of it, was another nearly similar, but that has been since taken down ; and a destructive fire has this year demolished another similar erection at the Town Hall, Linlithgow. The site chosen for the second of the two churches projected in 1637 was the Castle Hill, on the ground now occupied by the Reservoir. The building of the latter church was carried to a considerable extent, as appears from cfordon’s View of Edinburgh, drawn about ten years later ; but the Magistrates discovering by that time that it was much easier to project than to build such edifices, they, according to Arnot, “pulled down the unfinished church on the Caste1 Hill, and employed the materials in erecting the Tron.” There is good reason, however, for believing that Arnot is mistaken in this account of the interruption of the former building. It is unquestionable, at any rate, that at no period since the Reformation has the same zeal been manifested for religious foundations as appears to have prevailed at that period. In 1639, according to Amot, David Machall, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, left three thousand five hundred merks, or, as in the Inventar of Pious Donations, I‘ 1000 merks yearly, to maintain a chaplain in the Tron Church of Edin’ to mak Exercise every Sunday from 8 to 9 in the morning.” In 1647, Lady Yester.founded the church that bears her name ; and in 1650, Thomas Noodie, or as he is styled in Slezer‘s Theatrum Scotia, Sir Thomas Moodie of Sachtenhall, bequeathed the mm of twenty thousand merks to the Town Council, in trust, for building a church in the town, and which, after variou.3 projects for its application to different purposes, was at length made use of for providing a church for the parishioners of the Canongate, on their ejection from Holyrood Abbey by James VII. in 1687. Such does not seem to be a period when a church which had been in proopess for years, and, as would appear from Gordon’s View, was advancing towards completion, would be deliberately levelled with the ground, from the difficulty of raising the necessary funds. The following entry in the Inventar of Pious Donations, throws new light both on this and on the object of Moodie’s bequest : ‘‘ Tho’ Mudie left for the re-edyfing to the Kirk that was throwne doun by the English in the Castle Hill of E@, 40,000 merks,-but what is done fin I know not.” There is added on the margin in a later hand, seemingly that of old Robcrt Milne, circa 1700.; “ The Wigs built the Canongate Kirk yrw’.” From this it appears that the church on the Castle Hill shared the same fate as the old Weigh-house, its materials having most probably been converted into redoubts for Cromwell’s artillery, during the siege of the Castle, for which purpose they lay very conveniently at hand. In the year 1673, a bell, which cost 1490 merla and 8 shillings Scots, was hung up in the steeple, and continued weekly to summon the parishioners to church till the Great Fire of 1824, when, after han@g till it was partly melted by the heat, it fell with a tremendous crash among the blazing ruins of the steeple, Portions of it were afterwards made into quaichs and other similar memorials ......

Book 10  p. 467
(Score 0.85)

CHAPTER X. LEITH, AND THE NEW TOWN. HE history and antiquities of the ancient burgh of Leith are much too intimately connected with the Scottish capital to admit of their being overlooked among its venerable memorials. The earliest notice of Leith occurs in the original charter of Holyrood Abbey, where it is mentioned among the gifts bestowed by Saint David on his royal foundation, under the name of Inverleith. Little, however, is known of its history until the year 1329, when the citizens of Edinburgh obtained from Eing Robert I. a grait of the Harbour and Mills of Leith, for the payment of fifty-two merks ye'arly. From that period almost to our day it has remained as a vassal of Edinburgh, not incorporated, like the Canongate, by amicable relations and the beneficent fruits of a paternal sway, but watched with a spirit of mean jealousy that seemed ever to dread the step-child becoming a formidable rival. It bore a share in all the disasters that befell its jealous neighbour, without partaking of its more prosperous fortunes, until the Burgh Reform Bill of 1833 at length freed it from this slavish vassalage, that proved in its operations alike injurious to the Capital and its Port. The position it occupied, and the share it had in the successive struggles that exercised so marked an influence on the history of Edinburgh, have already been sufficiently detailed in the introductory sketch. It suffered nearly as much from the invading armies of Henry VIII. as Edinburgh; while in the bloody feuds between the Congregation and the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, and the no less bitter strife of the Douglas wars, it was dragged unwillingly into their quarrels, and compelled to bear the brunt of its more powerful neighbour's wrath. In the reign of Alexander 111. it belonged to the Leiths, a family who owned extensive possessions in Midlothian, including the lands of Restalrig, and took their patrimonial surname from the town. About the commencement of the fourteenth century these possessions passed by marriage to the Logans, the remains of whose ancient strong- VIGNETTs-Arms, vinegar Close, Leith. ......

Book 10  p. 390
(Score 0.85)

112 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. CCIX. REV. J A hl E S LAP S 1, I E, MINISTER OF CAMPSIE. FEW memorials have been preserved of the early life of the REV. JhEs LAPSLIE. In his youth he visited the Continent, and was so fortunate, whilst there, as to be introduced to the late Sir James Suttie of Prestongrange, who, being on his travels, employed him as his tutor and companion j and they made '' the grand tour '' together. This connection was a favourable one, as it gave Mr, Lapslie an opportunity of forming the acquaintance of many persons of rank and character, and no doubt was the means of his subsequently obtaining the Crown presentation to the Church of Campsie. The Print by Kay, in which those who remember Mr. Lapslie will recognise a striking likeness, has reference to the trial of Mr. Muir of Huntershill, in whose criminal prosecution he took a prominent and active part, a proceeding far from creditable, the reverend gentleman having, as is rumoured, been previously on terms of familiar intimacy at Huntershill, professing to' be himself actuated by liberal political principles. Whatever truth there may be in this report, there can be no doubt that Mr, Lapslie, so soon as he heard of Muir's apprehension, volunteered his assistance in procuring evidence against him ; and his services being accepted, he became a very useful agent of the Crown. The interference of the incumbent of Campsie, however, was attended by one result, as humiliating as it was unexpected ; for when brought forward as a witness, he was objected to, in consequence of proof having been adduced that he had identified himself with the prosecution-had attended the Sheriffs in their different visits to the parishes of Campsie and Kirkintilloch-and had been present at the precognition of the witnesses, several of whom he had questioned, and had taken notes of what they said. Henry Freeland, when examined, declared that-" During the precognition, Mr. Lapslie also put questions to the witness. He asked him if he had got a college education, which being answered in the negative, Mr. Lapslie said he was a clever fellow ; aid when he saw him write, he said it was a pity such a clever fellow should be a weaver, and that it was in the power of Mr. Honyman (Sheriff of Lanarkshire, and present at the moment) to procure him a birth." Further exposure was prevented by the Lord Advocate agreeing to dispense with his evidence. Alluding to the conduct of Mr. Lapslie, Muir said, in his address to the jury-" I am sorry for the prosecutor's timely precaution ; it prevented me Afterwards Lord Armadale. ......

Book 9  p. 149
(Score 0.82)

I 18 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. memory, have devoted his picturesque old domicile to destruction. The Collegiate Church of Mary of Guelders is destined to a similar fate; and, in truth, it would seem as if a regular crusade had been organised by all classes, having for its object to root out everything in Edinburgh that is ancient, picturesque, or interesting, owing to local or historical associations, and to substitute in their stead the commonplace uniformity of the New Town. One effect, however, of all this has been, by so greatly diminishing these ancient fabrics, to awake an increased interest in the few that remain, while, even by the demolition of others, many curious features have been brought to light, which would otherwise have remained unknown. It is earnestly to be desired that a lively veneration for these monuments of past times may be more widely diffused, and produce such a wholesome spirit of conservatism, as may at least preserve those that remain from reckless destruction. An antiquary, indeed, may at times seem to resemble some querulous crone, who shakes her head, with boding predictions of evil at the slightest variance from her own narrow rule ; but the new, and what may be called- the genteel style of taste, which has prevailed during the earlier portion of the present century, has too well justified his complaints. The old Parliament Close, with its irregular Elizabethan Court homes, and the ancient Collegiate Church (which on that side at least was ornate and unique), have been remodelled according to the newest fashion, and, to complete the change, the good old name of Close, which is pleasingly associated with the cloistral courts of the magnificent cathedrals and abbeys of England, has been replaced by the modern, and, in this case, ridiculous one of Square. In full accordance with this is the still more recent substitution of the name of North British Close for that of Hrtlkerston’s Wynd-the only thing that remained about that ancient alley to commemorate the death of David Halkerstoun of Halkerstoun, while bravely defending this passage against the English in 1544. Modern imitations of the antique, such as have been attempted in the newest thoroughfares in the Old Town, are easily erected, with more or less taste, and as easily replaced. But if the Old Town of Edinburgh is once destroyed, no wealth can restore the many int.eresting associations that still linger about its ancient halls. VIGNETTE-Ancient Doorway in Halkerston’a Wynd. ......

Book 10  p. 129
(Score 0.81)

-326 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. formed of its original appearance. Not long after its erection, it became the scene of very important movements preparatory to the great civil war. On the 27th February 1638, between two and three hundred ministers met there to prepare for the renewal of the Covenant, which was received with such striking demonstrations of popular sympathy on its presentation to the public in the Greyfriars’ Church on the following day. We are informed by the Earl of Rothes, who took a prominent share in these proceedings, that he . and the Earl of Loudoun were appointed by the nobles to meet with the assembled clergy in the Tailors’ Hall, and on that occasion the Commissioners of Presbgteries were first taken aside into a summer-house in the garden, and there dealt with effectually on the necessity of all obstacles to the renewal of the Covenant being withdrawn.l The same means were afterwards successfully resorted to for removing the doubts of all scrupulous brethren.’ The garden, which was the scene of these momentous discussions, retained till very recently its early character ; but now, divested of its shrubs and forma3 Dutch parterres, it is degraded into a depositary fof brewers’ barrels. The same Corporation Hall was used in 1656 as the court-house of the Scottish Commissioners appointed by Cromwell for the administration of the forfeited estates.’ We have already referred to the very different purposes to which it was devoted in more recent times, as the refuge of the Scottish drama. Ramsay prints, in the Tea-Ta6Ze Miscellany, ‘‘ Part of an Epilogue sung after the acting of the ORPHANa nd GENTLES HEPHERinD T ailors’ Hall, by a set of young 1 Lord Rothes’ Relation of Proceedings concerning the affairs of the Kirk, p. 72. S Ibid, p. 79. “ Upon Thursday the first of March, Rothes, Lindsay, and Loudoun, and sum of them, went down to Tailyom Hall, wher the ministers mett ; and becaus sum wer come to touoe since Tupsday last who had sum aoubta, efter that they who had bein formerlie resolved wer entered to subscryve, the noblemen went with these others to the yaird, and resolved their doubts ; so that towarde thrie hundred ministers subacryved that night That day the commissioners of burrowes subscryved also.” a Nicoll’a Diary, p. 180. VIGNETTE-TailorS’ Hall. ......

Book 10  p. 354
(Score 0.8)

High Street.] THE POKER CLUB. a31 The only publication of sterling merit which enlivened the occasion that called it forth was ?? The History in the Proceedings of Margaret, commonly called Peg,? written in imitation of Dr. Arbuthnot?s ?History of John Bull.? In the memoirs of Dr. Carlyle of Inveresk an amusing account is given of the Poker Club, of which he was a zealous and constant attender. About the third or fourth meeting of the club, after 1/62, he mentions that members were at a loss for a name for it, and wished one that should be of uncertain meaning, and not so directly offensive as that of Militia Club, whereupon Adam Fergusson, the eminent historian and moral philosopher, suggested the name of Poker, which the members understood, and which would ?be an enigma to the public.? It comprehended all the Ziterati of Edinburgh and its neighbourhood, most of whom-like Robertson, Hair, and Hume-had been members of the select society (those only excepted who were enemies to the Scottish militia scheme), together with a great many country gentlemen whose national and Jacobite proclivities led them to resent the invidious line drawn between Scotland and England. Sir William Pulteney Johnston was secretary of the Poker Club, with two members, whom he was to consult anent its publications in a laughing hour. ?? Andrew Crosbie, advocate, was appointed assassin to the club, in case any service of that sort should be needed ; but David Hume was named for his assistant, so that between the plus and minus there was no hazard of much bloodshed.? After a time the club removed its meetings to Fortune?s Tavern, at the Cross K$, in the Stamp Office Close, where the dinners became so showy and expensive that attendance began to decrease, and new members came in ?who had no title to be there, and were not congenial? (the common fate of all clubs generally) ?and so by death and desertion the Poker began to dwindle away, though a bold attempt was made to revive it in 1787 by some young men of talent and spirit.? When Cap. tain James Edgar, one of the original Pokers, was in Paris in 1773, during the flourishing time of the club, he was asked by D?Alembert to go with him to their club of literati, to which he replied with something of bluntness, I? that the company 01 literati was no novelty to him, for he had a club at Edinburgh composed, he believed, of the ablest men in Europe. This? (adds Dr. Carlyle, whose original MS. Lord Kames quoted) ?was no singular opinion ; for the most enlightened foreigners had formed the same estimate of the literary society of Edinburgh at that time. The Princess Dashkoff, disputing with me one day at Buxton about the superiority of Edinburgh as a residence to most of the cities of Europe, when I had alleged various particulars, in which I thought we excelled, ? No,? said she, ?but I know one article you have not mentioned in which I must give you clearly the precedence, which is, that of all the societies of nieii of talent I have met with in n;y travels, yours is the first in point of abilities.? ? A few steps farther down the street bring us to the entrance of the Old Stamp Office Close, wherein was the tavern just referred to, Fortune?s, one in the greatest vogue between 1760 and 1770. ?The gay men of the city,?? we are told, the scholarly and the philosophical, with the common citizens, all flocked hither; and here the Royal Commissioner for the General Assembly held his leve?es, and hence proceeded to church with his co~tt!gz, then- additionally splendid fiom having ladies walking in it in their court dresses, as well as gentlemen.? Thz house occupied by this famous tavern had been in former times the residence of Alexander ninth Earl of Eglinton, and his Countess Susanna Kennedy of the house of Colzean, reputed the most beautiful woman of her time. From the magnificent but privately printed Memorials of the hfontgomeries,? we learn many interesting particulars of this noble couple, who dwelt in the Old Stamp Office Close. Whether their abode there was the same as that stated, of which we have an inventory, in the time of ? Hugh third Earl of Eglinton, ?at his house in Edinburgh, 3rd March, 1563,? given in the ? Memorials,? we have no means of determining. . Earl Alexander was one of those patriarchal old Scottish lords who lived to a great age. He was thrice married, and left a progeny whose names are interspersed throughout the pages of the Douglas peerage. His last Countess, Susanna, was the daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy, a sturdy old cavalier, who made himself conspicuous in the wars of Dundee. She was one of the co-heiresses of David Leslie Lord Newark, the Covenanting general whom Cromwell defeated at Dunbar. She was six feet in height, extremely handsome, with a brilliantly fair complexion, and a face of ? the most bewitching loveliness.? She had many admirers, Sir John Clerk of Penicuick among others; but her friends had always hoped she would marry the Earl of Eglinton, though he was more than old enough to have been her father, and when a stray hawk, with his iordship?s name on its bells, alighted on her shoulder as she was one day walking in her father?s garden at Colzean. it was deemed an infallible omen of her future. ......

Book 2  p. 231
(Score 0.8)

I 16 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. We shall only add, that until our civic rulers manifest, by some such act, 8 regard for the monuments of antiquity committed to their care, they must take their unenviable share in the minstrel’s curse :- Dun Edin’s Cross, a pillar’d stone, Rose on a turret octagon ; But now is razed that monument, Whence royal edict rang, And voice of Scotland‘s law was sent In glorious trumpet clang. Oh I be his tomb as lead to lead, Upon its dull destroyer’s head. !- A minstrel’s malison is said? Large portions of the city wall have been demolished from time to time, owing to the extension of the town and the many alterations that have been made on the older portions of it, so that only a few scattered fragments remain. These, however, are sufficient to show the nature of the aucient fortifications. No part of the earliest wall, erected under the charter of James II., in 1450, is now visible, if we except the fine old ruin of the Wellhouse tower, at the base of the Castle rock, which formed 8 strong protection at that point where the overhanging cliff might have otherwise enabled an enemy to approach under its shelter. A fragment of this wall, about fifty feet long and twenty feet in height, was found in 1832, about ten feet south from the Advocates’ Library: when digging for the foundations of a new lock-up-house, in connection with the Parliament House ; and, in 1845, another considerable portion was disclosed to the east of this, on the site of the old Parliament Stairs, in making the more recent additions to the same building. Both of these fragments have been closed over by the new buildings, and may in all probability continue to exist for centuries. The next addition to the fortifications of the city is the well-known Flodden wall, reared, as already described, by the terrified citizens in 1513.’ Of this there still remains the large portion forming the north side of Drummond Street; an interesting little fragment at the back of the Society, at Bristo Port, cnripusly pierced for windows and other openings; and, lastly, the old tower in the Vennel, already alluded to, which, thankpl to the zealous efforts of Dr Neill, has been preserved from destruction, when the Town Council had already prouounced its doom as a useless encumbrance. We furnish a view of its in- Marmion, canto v. v. 25. Minor Antiquitiee, p. 73, ’ Ante, p. 35. VIGNETTE-hteriOr of the Tower in the Vennel. ......

Book 10  p. 127
(Score 0.78)

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