![Queen Street.] SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON. I53
office by Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope.
Early in the next century the house was the
residence of Sir William Cunningham, Bart, and in
more recent years had as an occupant the gallant
Sir Neil Douglas, Commander of the Forces in
Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, who
commanded the Cameron Highlanders in the war
with France, and was contused by a ball at Quatre
Bras. It is now occupied by tlic Edinburgh Institution
for Education, the head of which is Dr.
Fergusson, F.R.S.E.
Nos. g and 10 were removed in 1844 to make
way for the present hall of the Royal College of
Physicians, on the demolition of the former one in
George Street. The foundation stone was laid on
the 8th of August, 1844, by the then president,
Dr. Renton, in presence of the Fellows of the
college and others. In it were deposited a copy of
the first edition of the ? Edinburgn Pharmacopeia,?
containing a list .of the Fellows of the college; a
work concerning its private affairs, printed several
years before ; an Edinburgh Almanac for the
current year; several British coins, and a silver
plate with a suitable Latin inscription.
It was designed by Thomas Hamilton, and ?is
adorned in front with an Attic Corinthian tetrastyle,
sunqounted by a common Corinthian distyle, and
is handsomely adorned by colossal statues of
iBsculapius, Hippocrates, and Hygeia ; but it was
barely completed when, ample though its accommodation
appeared to be, the rapid additions to
its library and the great increase in the number of
Fellows, consequent on a reduction of the money
entry, and other changes, seemed to .render an
extension necessary.
In No. 11 are the offices of the E&hurgh
Gazette, the representative of the paper started by
Captain Donaldson in 1699, and re-issued by the
same person in March, I 707.
Sir Henry Wellwood Moncriff, Bart., D.D., a
distinguished divine, wha for half a century was
one .of the brightest ornaments of the Scottish
Church, resided in No. 13 during the first years of
the present century. He died in August, 1827,
and his second, son, James, a senator, under the
title of Lord Moncrieff, succeeded to the baronetcy,
which is one of the oldest in Scotland, having
been conferred by Charles I. in 1626.
It was afterwards occupied by the Scottish
Heritable Security Company.
-The next house westward was the residence, at
the same time, of William Honeyman of Graemsay,
who was elevated to the bench as Lord Armadale,
and created a baronet in 1804. He had been pre.
viously Sheriff of the county of Lanarkshire. ?He mar.
88
*ied a daughter of Lord Braxfield, and died in 1825,
eaving ,behind him a reputation for considerable
dent and sound judgment, both as a barrister and
udge. He had two sons in the army-Patrick,
who served in the old -28th Light Dragoons, and
Robert, who died in Jamaica in 1809, Lieutenant-
Clolonel of the 18th Royal Irish.
His house is now occupied by the site of the
Zaledonian United Service Club, erected in 1853.
In 1811 No. 27 was the residence of General
Sraham Stirling, an old and distinguished officer,
whose family still occupy it. In the same year
4lexander Keith of Ravelston, Hereditary Knight
Marshal of Scotland, occupied No. 43. Behind the
louse line stands St. Luke?s Free Church, which has
i fictitious street front in the Tudor style, with two
-ichly crocketed finials.
No. 38 was the house of George Paton, ?Advocate,
md afterwards Lord Justice Clerk, whose suicide
nade much sensation in Edinburgh a few years
1go.
In No. 52 lived and died one of the most illus-
:rious citizens of Edinburgh-Professor Sir James .
Young Sirnpson, Bart., who came to Edinburgh a
poor and nearly friendless student, yet in time
ittained, as Professor of Midwifery in the University
and as the discoverer of extended uses of chlorolorm,
a colossal fame, not only in Europe, but
wherever the English language is spoken. He
obtained the chair of midwifery in r840, and seven
years after made his great discovery. In 1849 he
was elected President of the Edinburgh College
of Physicians; in 1852 President of the Medico-
Chirurgical Society ; and ?in the following year,
under circumstances of the greatest klat, Foreign
Associate of the French Academy of Medicine ?
In 1856 the French Academy of Sciences awarded
him the ? Monthyon Prize ? of 2,000 francs for the
benefits he conferred on humanity by the introduction
of anmthesia by chloroform into the practice
of surgery and midwifery.
A few weeks earlief, for the same noble cause, he
won the royal order of St. Olaf, from Oscar, King
of Sweden, and in 1866 was created a baronet of
Great Britain. His ,professional writings are too
numerous to be recorded here, suffice it to say
that they have been translated into every European
language.
No man ever attracted so many visitors to Edinburgh
as Sir James Simpson, for many Came to see
him who were not invalids. His house in Queeu
Street was the centre of attraction for men -of
letters and science from all parts of the worldphysicians,
naturalists, antiquarians, and literati of
all kinds were daily to be met at his table. His](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p165.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 153")
... Street.] SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON. I53
office by Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope.
Early in the next century ...
Book 3 p. 153
(Score 0.47)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [University.
Among the first bequests we may mention that
of 8,000 nierks, or the ...
Book 5 p. 26
(Score 0.47)
... LETTERS OF MARQUE. 219
to Hull, Newcastle, Thurso, Orkney, and Shetland,
to Inverness, Fort George, and ...
Book 6 p. 279
(Score 0.47)
... Loch. J T,HE BOARD OF
was almost a permanent place for caravans and
wild beast shows. A row of miserable ...
Book 3 p. 83
(Score 0.47)
... INDEX. 385 -
Nisbet Lord 111. 67
Nisbet: Sir .&exander. 111. 136
Nisbet Sir Henry 111. 136
Nisbet: ...
Book 6 p. 385
(Score 0.47)
![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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p071.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 59")
... THE ABBEY CHURCH IN RUINS. 59
and cannon were two ship?s masts, fully rigged,
one on the right bearing ...
Book 3 p. 59
(Score 0.47)
![St Andrew Square] ROYAL BANK
bank. The other existing banks have all been
constituted by contracts of co-partnery since the
year 1825, and, with the exception of the Caledonian
Banking Company, are all carrying on
business under the Companies Act of 1862. With
this office is incorporated No. 41, which, in 1830,
was the shop of Messrs. Robert Cadell and Co.,
the eminent booksellers and publishers.
The Royal Bank of Scotland occupies a pre
minent position on the west side of the square, in a
deep recess between the British Linen Company
and the Scottish Provident Institution.
It was originally the town house of Sir Lawrence
Dundas, Bart., and was one of the first houses
built in the square, on what we believe was intended
as the place for st. Andrew?s church. The
house was designed by Sir William Chambers, on
the model of a much-admired villa near Rome, and
executed by William Jamieson, mason. Though
of an ancient family, Sir Lawrence was the architect
of his own fortune, and amassed wealth as a conimissary-
general with the army in Flanders, 1748 to
1759. He was the second son of Thomas Dundas,
a bailie of Edinburgh, whose diffculties brought
him to bankruptcy, and for a time Sir Lawrence
served behind a counter, He was created a
baronet in 1762, with remainder, in default of
male issue, to his elder brother, Thomas Dundas,
who had succeeded to the estate of Fingask. His
son Thomas was raised to the peerage of Great
Britain as Baron Dundas of Aske, in Yorkshire, in
August, 1794 and became ancestor of the Earls of
Zetland.
About 1820 the Royal Bank, which had so long
conducted its business in the Old Bank Close in
the High Street, removed to the house of Sir
Lawrence Dundas.
We have thus shown that St. Andrew Square is
now as great a mart for business as it was once a
fashionable quarter, and some idea may be had of
the magnitude of the interests here at stake when
it is stated that the liabilities-that is, the total sums
insured-of the six leading insurance houses alone
exceed ~45,ooo,ooo, and that their annual income
is upwards of ~1,8oo,ooo-a revenue greater than
that of several States !
Melville?s monument, in the centre of the square,
was erected in 1821, in memory of Henry Dundas,
first Viscount Melville, who was Lord Advocate in
1775, and filled some high official situations in the
Government of Britain during the administration
of William Pitt He was raised to the peerage in
OF SCOTLAND. 171
1802, and underwent much persecution in 1805
for alleged malversation in his office as treasurer to
the navy; but after a trial by his peers was triumphantly
judged not guilty.
Designed by William Burn, this monument consists
of pedestal, pillar, and statue, rising to the
height of 150 feet, niodelled after the Trajan
column at Rome, but fluted and not ornamented
with sculpture; the statue is 14 feet in height.
The cost was _f;8,ooo, defrayed-8s the inverse
side of the plate in the foundation stone states
-?by the voluntary contribbtions of the officers,
petty-officers, seamen, and marines of these united
kingdoms.? It was laid by Admirals Sir D a d
Milne and Otway, naval commander-inchief in
Scotland, after prayer by Principal Baird, on the
anniversary of Lord Melville?s birthday. In the
stone was deposited a great plate of pure gold,
bearing the inscription. A plate of silver bearing
the names of the committee was laid in the stone
at the same time.
The Hopetoun monument, within the recess in
front of the Royal Bank, is in memory of Sir John
Hope, fourth Earl of Hopetoun, G.C.H., Colonel
of the gznd Gordon Highlanders, who died in
1823, a distinguished Peninsular officer, who assumed
the command of the army at Corunna, on
the fall of his countryman Sir John Moore. It was
erected in 1835, and comprises a bronze statue, in
Roman costume, leaning on a pawing charger.
West Register Street, which immediately adjoins
St. Andrew Square, is a compound of several
short thoroughfares, and contains the site of
?( Ambrose?s Tavern,? the scene of Professor NIson?s
famous ?Noctes Ambrosianze,? with a remnant
of the once narrow old country pathway
known as Gabriel?s Road. cG Ambrose?s Tavern,?
a tall, three-storeyed edifice, like a country farmhouse,
enjoyed much repute independent of the
?Noctes,? and was removed in 1864. Hogg, the
Ettrick .Shepherd, who was fond of all athletic
sports and manly exercises, was long made to
figure conspicuously in these Noctes ? in BZack3
wmZs Magazine, which gave his name a celebrity
beyond that acquired by his own writings.
At one of the corners of West Register Street is
the great palatial paper warehouse of the Messrs
Cowan, one of the most elaborately ornate busiqess
establishments in the city, which was erected in
1865, by the Messrs. Beattie, at a cost of about
A7,000, and has two ornamental fronts with chaste
and elegant details in the florid Italian styk](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p183.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 171")
... Andrew Square] ROYAL BANK
bank. The other existing banks have all been
constituted by contracts of co-partnery ...
Book 3 p. 171
(Score 0.47)
![Abbeyhill.] BARON NORTON. I27
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DISTRICT OF RESTALRIG.
Abhey Hill-Baron Norton-Alex. Campbell and ? Albyn?s Anthology ?--Comely Gardens-Easter Road-St. Margaret?s Well-Church and
Legend of St. Triduana-Made Collegiate by James 111.-The Mausoleum-Old Bardns of Restalrig-pe Logans, &c.-Conflict of
Black Saturday-Residents of Note-First Balloon in Britain-Rector Adams-The Nisbets of Craigantinnie and Dean-The Millers-
The Craieantinnie Tomb and Marbles-The Marionville Traeedv-The Hamlet of Jock?o Lodge-Mail-bag Robberies in seventeenth and - _
eighteenth centuries-Piershill House and Barracks.
AT the Abbey Hill, an old house-in that antiquated
but once fashionable suburb, which grew
up in the vicinity of the palace of Holyrood-with
groups of venerable trees around it, which are now,
like itself, all swept away to make room for the present
Abbeyhill station and railway to Leith, there
lived long the Hon. Fletcher Norton, appointed one
of the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer in 1776,
with a salary of &2,865 per annum, deemed a handsome
income in those days.
He was the second son of Fletcher Norton of
Grantley in Yorkshire, who was Attorney-General
of England in 1762, and was elevated to the British
peerage in 1782, as Lord Grantley.
He came to Scotland at a time when prejudices
then against England and Englishmen were strong
and deep, for the rancour excited by the affair of
1745, about thirty years before, was revived by the
periodical publication of the Nhth Briton, but
Baron Norton soon won the regard of all who knew
him. His conduct as a judge increased the respect
which his behaviour in private life obtained, His
perspicacity easily discovered the true merits of any
cause before him, while his dignified and conciliatory
manner, joined to the universal confidence
which prevailed in his rigid impartiality, reconciled
to him even those who suffered by such verdicts as
were given against them in consequence of his
charges to the juries.
He married in 1793 a Scottish lady, a Miss Balmain,
and in the Edinburgh society of his time stood
high in the estimation of all, ?as a husband, father,
friend, and master,? according to a print of 1820.
? His fund of information-of anecdotes admirably
told-his social disposition, and the gentlemanly
pleasantness of his manner, made his society to be
universally coveted. Resentment had no place in
his bosom. He seemed almost insensible to injury
so immediately did he pardon it. Amongst his
various pensioners were several who had shown
marked ingratitude ; but distress, with him, covered
every offence against himself.?
He was a warm patron of the amiable and enthusiastic,
but somewhat luckless Alexander Campbell,
author of ? The Grampians Desolate,? which
?fell dead ? from the press, and editor of ? Albyn?s
Anthology,? who writes thus in the preface to the
first volume of that book in 1816, and which, we
may mention, was a ? collection of melodies and
local poetry peculiar to Scotland and the isles ? :-
? So far back as the year 1780, while as yet the
editor of ?Albyn?s Anthology? was an organist to
one of the Episcopal chapels in Edinburgh, he projected
the present work. Finding but small encouragement
at that period, and his attention being
directed to pursuits of quite a different nature, the
plan was dropped, till by an accidental turn of conversation
at a gentleman?s table, the Hon. Fletcher
Norton gave a spur to the speculation now in its
career. He with that warmth of benevolence
peculiarly his own, offered his influence with the
Royal Highland Society of Scotland, of which he is
a member of long standing, and in conformity with
the zeal he has uniformly manifested for everything
connected with the distinction and prosperity of our
ancient realm, on the editor giving him a rough
outline of the present undertaking, the Hon. Baron
put it into the hands of Henry Mackenzie, Esq., of
the Exchequer, and Lord Bannatyne, whose influence
in the society is deservedly great. And
immediately on Mr. Mackenzie laying it before a
select committee for music, John H. Forbes, Esq.
(afterwards Lord Medwyn), as convener of the
committee, convened it, and the result was a recommendation
to the society at large, who embraced
the project cordially, voted a sum to enable the
editor to pursue his plan ; and forthwith he set out
on a tour through the Highlands and western
islands. Having performed a journey (in pursuit
of materials for the present work) of between eleven
and twelve hundred miles, in which he collected
191 specimens of melodies and Gaelic vocal poetry,
he returned to Edinburgh, and laid the fruits of
his gleanings before the society, who were pleased
to honour with their approbation his success in
attempting to collect and preserve the perishing remains
of what is so closely interwoven with the
history and literature of Scot!and.?
From thenceforth the ?? Anthology? was a success,
and a second volume appeared in 1818. Under
the influence of Baron Norton, Campbell got many
able contributors, among whom appear the names
of Scott, Hogg, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, RIaturin, and
Jamieson.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p138.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 127")
... BARON NORTON. I27
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DISTRICT OF RESTALRIG.
Abhey Hill-Baron Norton-Alex. Campbell ...
Book 5 p. 127
(Score 0.47)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street
other services, Charles Philip Count d?artois,
brother of the ill-fated ...
Book 2 p. 262
(Score 0.47)
![Leith.] THE EDINBURGH DOCK. 287
This embankment was finished in February, 1877,
and thereafter the excavation of the dock was proceeded
with by a force of about five hundred men,
who worked daily at it. Two " steam nawies," each
of which filled a railway waggon in three minutes,
were used. .
Thus, in a'day of ten hours one of these excavated,
on an average, 400 .cubic yards, representing
550 tons of material, equal to the work of forty
able-bodied men ; and several other approved a p
pliances were employed by the contractors to
economise manual labour. In the progress of excavation
no remarkable difficulties, in an engineering
point of view, were encountered, the ground
being what is technically termed " dry."
Water, of course, gathered in the works, but was
led to a tank on the north side, and pumped into
a sewer-pipe running under the north embankment.
The walls are constructed of stone from Craigmillar
quarry, and the lime came froin the kilns at Lyme
Regis, and was crushed by machinery erected on
the Leith side of the dock. From the bottom of
the latter the walls are thirty-five feet in height, and
at high tide the depth of water is twenty-seven
feet. The entire amount of masonry about the
west dock is IOO,OOO cubic yards, and the quayage
accommodation amounts to 6,775 feet.
The total -length of the parallel walls on the
north and south sides is 1,500 feet, and the extreme
breadth of the dock 750. From the eastern end,
a jetty, 250 feet in width by 1,000 in length, runs
up the centre of the dock, which is thus formed
into two basins. This, of course, greatly increases
the quay accommodation. The western end
forms an open basin, 500 feet in length by the
entire breadth of the dock. In the centre of this
noble jetty a graving dock has been constructed,
350 feet long, forty-eight feet wide at the bottom,
and seventy at the top. Its gates are at the western
end of the jetty, and have twenty feet of water on
the sill, and are opened and closed by means of
four crab hand-winches.
The pumping machinery is placed in an edifice,
built of fire-clay brick, near the gates. The entrance
tothe Edinburgh Dock is through the Albert Dock,
the channel being 270 feet long by 65 broad;
and across it, for the accommodation of traffic, is an
iron swing bridge, worked by hydraulic machinery.
The space round the dock for the accommodation of
shipping traffic extends to about thirty acres ; and in
addition to this, the Caledonian and North British
Railways have each acquired twenty-seven acres
of the reclaimed ground from the Dock Commissioners,
which at their own expense they filled up
to the level of the quays.
On the south side of this truly noble dock has
been built a line of goods sheds, each 80 feet wide
by 196 feet long. On the north side a powerful
hydraulic coal-hoist has been erected specially for
the coal traffic
The designs included a promenade and drive
along the sea-wall, thus giving a magnificent outlook
on the Forth. The whole works, including
the railway undertakings, cost about ~400,000.
Mr. Clark, C.E, the engineer of Scott's Trustees,
and Mr. J. R Allan, C.E., representing Messrs.
Rendell and Robertson, the engineers of the Commission,
carried them out.
By the 15th of June, 1881, preparations were
made for letting in the water of the ocean, and
for that purpose gangs of workmen had been busy
night and day for some time previous. A wooden
platform 'was erected underneath a large pipe,
which had been built into the sea-wall for the purpose
of breaking the fall of the water in admitting
it into the dock. That pipe, 3 feet 6 inches in
diameter, was part of the old Edinburgh and
Leith main outfall sewer, which had been diverted
round the end of the dock. It extended from the
north side Qf the reclamation wall to the inside of
the quay, under the water-line, and a piling-ram of
more than a ton weight had to be used in breaking
it off flush with the face of the masonry.
At four p.m. on the day mentioned, the valve in
the pipe was partly lifted to admit the outer tide
into the vast basin, the water being turned on by
Mr. Torry, W.S., Clerk to the Leith Dock Commissioners.
The water then rushed furiously and
steadily in, but, owing to the extent of the dock,
several days elapsed before it was filled.
The wall between the Albert Dock and the new
one had to be removed before vessels could be
admitted, and to accomplish this a number of holes
were bored in it and cRarged with dynamite to blow
it up, and seven divers were brought from London
to assist in clearing away the wreckage.
As the reserve squadron of the ironclad fleet
was expected in the Firth of Forth in July, 1881,
under the command of H. R H. the Duke of Edinburgh,
the latter was invited by the local authorities
to open and to name the dock, alike after
the city and himself-an event which passed of?
with the greatest lclaf.
The opening took place on the 26th of July.
The reserve squadron was moored in the Roads
in two lines, and could be seen from the shore
looming large through a somewhat vapouxy atmosphere.
The Hercules, with the duke's flag flying
at her mizen, was the last of the line nearest to the
Leith Shore. Ahead of her were the Wan-wp;](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p106.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 287")
... THE EDINBURGH DOCK. 287
This embankment was finished in February, 1877,
and thereafter the excavation of ...
Book 6 p. 287
(Score 0.47)
... OJ,D AND NEW EDINBURGH. -. -
by a clause in one of the Acts of the North British
Railway; and since 1847 it ...
Book 3 p. 34
(Score 0.47)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Infirmary Street.
In that year a fishing company was dissolved,
and the partners were ...
Book 4 p. 298
(Score 0.47)
... TolbOoth.1 PORTEOUS EXECUTED. 131
some proposed to slay hini on the spot, was told
by others to prepare for ...
Book 1 p. 131
(Score 0.47)
![THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. 95 The Mound.]
Much of all this was altered when the bank was
enlarged, restored, and most effectively re-decorated
by David Bryce, R.S.A., in 1868-70. It now
presents a lofty, broad, and arch-based rear front of
colossal proportions to Princes Street, from whence,
and every other poiiit of view, it forms a conspicuous
mass, standing boldly from among the
many others that form the varied outline of the
Old Town, and consists of the great old centre with
new wings, surmounted by a fine dome, crowned
by a gilded figure of Fame, seven feet high. In
length the facade measures 175 feet; and 112 in
height from the pavement in Bank Street to the
summit, and is embellished all round with much
force and variety, in details of a Grecian style.
The height of the campanile towers is ninety feet.
The bank has above seventy branches ; the subscribed
capital in 1878 was A1,875,000 ; the paidup
capital LI,Z~O,OOO. There are a governor (the
Earl of Stair, K.T.), a deputy, twelve ordinary
and twelve extra-ordinary directors.
The Bank of Scotland issues drafts on other
places in Scotland besides those in which it has
branches, and also on the chief towns in England
and Ireland, and it has correspondents throughout
the whole continent of Europe, as well as in
British America, the States, India, China, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere-a ramification
of business beyond the wildest dreams oi
John Holland and the original projectors of the
establishment in the old Bank Close in 1695.
Concerning the Earthen Mound, the late Alex.
ander Trotter of Dreghorn had a scheme foi
joining the Qld Town to the New, and yet avoiding
Bank Street, by sinking the upper end of the
mound to the leve! of Princes Street, and carrying
the Bank Street end of it eastward along the north
of the Bank of Scotland, in the form of a handsomc
terrace, and thence south into the High Street b)
an opening right upon St. Giles?s Church. Thf
next project was one by the late Sir Thomas Dick
Lauder. He also proposed to bring down thc
south end of the mound ?to the level of Prince;
Street, and then to cut a Roman arch through thc
Lawnmarket and under the houses, so as to pas!
on a level to George Square. This,? say!
Cockburn, ?was both practical and easy, but i
was not expounded till too late.??
Not far from the Bank of Scotland, in I(
North Bank Street, ensconced among the might!
mass of buildings that overlook the mound, arc
the offices of the National Security Savings Ban1
of.Edinburgh, established under statute in 1836, an(
certified in terms of the Act 26 and 27 Victoria
cap. 87, managed by a chairman and cominittel
I
if management, the Bank of Scotland being
reasurer.
Of this most useful institution for the benefit of
,he thrifty poorer classes, suffice it to say, as a
ample of its working, that on striking the yearly
iccounts on the 20th of November, 1880, ?the
balance due to depositors was on that date
&r,305,27g 14s. 7d., and that the assets at the
same date were x1,3og,3g2 Ss., invested with the
Commissioners for the Reduction of the National
Debt, and A3,1o4 3s. gd., at the credit of the
3ank?s account in the Bank of Scotland, making
the total assets L1,312,496 11s. gd., which, after
ieductionof the above sum of L1,305,279 14s. 7d.,
leaves a clear surplus of A7916 17s. zd. at the
:redit of the trustees.?
The managers are, ex oficio, the Lord Provost,
the Lord Advocate, the senior Bailie of the city,
:he Members of Parliament for the city, county,
md Leith, the Provost of Leith, the Solicitor-
General, the Convener of the Trades, the Lord
Dean of Guild, and the Master of the Merchant
Company.
In the sanie block of buildings are the offices of
the Free Church of Scotland, occupying the site of
the demolished half of James?s Court. They were
erected in 1851-61, and are in a somewhat
Rorid variety of the Scottish baronial style, from
designs by the late David Cousin.
In striking contrast to the terraced beauty of the
New Town, the south side of the vale of the old
loch, from the North Bridge to the esplanade of
the Castle, is overhung by the dark and lofty gables
and abutments of those towering edifices which
terminate the northern alleys of the High Street,
and the general grouping of which presents an
aspect of equal romance and sublimity. From
amid these sombre masses, standing out in the
white purity of new freestone, are the towers and
facade of the Free Church College and Assembly
Hall, at the head of the Mound.
Into the history of the crises which called
these edifices into existence we need not enter
here, but true it is, as Macaulay says, that for the
sake of religious opinion the Scots have made
sacrifices for which there is no parallel in the
annals of England; and when, at the Disruption,
so many clergymen of the Scottish Church cast
their bread upon the waters, in that spirit of
independence and self-reliance so characteristic of
the race, they could scarcely have foreseen the
great success of their movement.
This new college was the first of those instituted
in connection with the Free Church. The idea
was origipally entertained of making provision for](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p107.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 95")
... FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. 95 The Mound.]
Much of all this was altered when the bank was
enlarged, restored, and ...
Book 3 p. 95
(Score 0.47)
... 14 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Castle Terrace.
Place, and now chiefly used as a coal dep8t.
Some of the merchants ...
Book 4 p. 214
(Score 0.47)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Chambers Street.
Britannica? In 1763 he was Treasurer of the
Navy, and died at ...
Book 4 p. 274
(Score 0.47)
... N ~ S , attracted by the dampness of the soil,
where for ages the artificial loch lay. A few feet
eastward of ...
Book 1 p. 82
(Score 0.46)
![Prince Street.] CRAIG OF RICCARTON. ?23
brother of Sir William Jenner, Bart., the eminent
physician.
Princes Street contains most of the best-stocked,
highest-rented, and most handsome business premises
and shops in the city. From its magnificent
situation it is now, par exceZZence, the street for
hotels; and as a proof of the value of property
there, two houses, Nos. 49 and 62, were publicly
sold on the 12th of February, 1879, for
cf26,ooo and Lz4,soo respectively.
No. 53 at an early perid became the Royal
Hotel. In December, 1817, when it was possessed
bya Mr. Macculloch, the Grand Duke Nicholas,
brother of Alexander I., Emperor of Russia, resided
there with a brilliant suite, including Baron
Nicolai, Sir Wilhm Congreve, Count Kutusoff,
and Dr. Crichton-the latter a native of the city,
who died so lately as 1856. He was a member of
the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg and that of
Natural History at Moscow, K.G.C, of St. Anne
and St. Vladimir. He was a grandson of Crichton
of Woodhouselee and Newington. A guard of the
92nd Gordon Highlanders was mounted on the
hotel, and the Grand Duke having expressed a
wish to see the regiment-the costume of which
had greatly impressed him-it was paraded before
him for that purpose on the zznd of December,
on which occasion he expressed his high admiration
of the corps.
No. 64 is now the North British and Mercantile
Insurance Company, established in I 809,
and incorporated by royal charter, with the Duke
of Roxburgh for its present president, and tht
Dukes of Sutherland and Abercorn, as vice-presi,
dents. A handsome statue of St. Andrew, tht
patron of Scotland, on his peculiar cross, adorn5
the front of the building, and is a conspicuou:
object from the street and opposite gardens.
The Life Association of Scotland, founded in
1839, occupies No. 82. It is a magnificent
palatial edifice, erected in 1855-8, after designs by
Sir Charles Barry and Mr. David Rhind, and
consists of three double storeys in florid Koman
style, the first being rusticated Uoric, the second
Ionic, and the third Corinthian. Over its whole
front it exhibits a great profusion of ornament-sa
great, indeed, as to make its appearance somewhat
heavy.
In 1811, and before that period, the Tax Office
occupied No. 84 The Comptroller in those
days was Henry Mackenzie, author of the ?Man
of Feeling,? who obtained that lucrative appoint.
ment from Mr. Pitt, on the recommendation 01
Lord Melvilla and Mr. George Rose, in 1804.
With No. 85, it now forms the site of the New
Club, a large and elegant edifice, with a handsome
Tuscan doorway and projecting windows, erected
by an association of Scottish nobles and gentlenien
for purposes similar to those of the clubs at
the west end of London.
No. 91, which is now occupied as an hotel, was
the residence of the aged Robert Craig, Esq., of
Riccarton, of whom Kay gives us a portrait, seated
at the door thereof, with his long staff and broadbrimmed,
low-crowned hat, while his faithful
attendant, William Scott, is seen behind, carefully
taking ?tent ?? of his old master from the diningroom
window. Mr. Craig had been in early life a
great pedestrian, but as age came upon him his
walks were limited to the mile of Princes Street,
and after a time he would but sit at his door and
enjoy the summer breeze. He wore a plain coat
without any collar, a stock in lieu of a neckcloth,
knee-breeches, rough stockings, and enormous brass
shoe-buckles. He persisted in wearing a hat with
a narrow brim when cocked-hats were the fashion
in Edinburgh, until he was so annoyed by boys
that he adopted the head-dress in which he is
drawn by Kay. He always used a whistle in the
ancient manner, and not a bell, to sumnion his
servant. He died on the 13th of March, 1823.
Pursuant to a deed of entail, Mr. James Gibson, W.S.
(afterwards Sir James Gibson-Craig, Bart., of
Riccarton and Ingliston), succeeded to the estate,
and assumed the name and arms of Craig ; but the
house, No. 91, went to Colonel Gibson.
The record of his demise in the papers of the
time is not without interest :-? Died at his house
in Princes Street (No. gi), on the r3th March, in
the 93rd year of his age, Robert Craig, Esq., of
Riccarton, the last male heir of Sir Thomas Craig
of Riccarton, the great feudal lawyer of Scotland.
Mr. Craig was admitted advocate in 1754, and was
one of the Commissaries of Edinburgh, the duties
of which situation he executed to the entire satisfaction
of every one connected with it. He resigned
the office many years ago, and has long been the
senior member of the Faculty of Advocates. It
is a remarkable circumstance that his father?s elder
brother succeeded to the estate of Riccarton in
January, 1681, so that there has been only one
descent in the family for 142 years.?
No. 100, now occupied as an hotel, was for
many years the house of Lady Mary Clerk of
Pennicuick, known as ?The White Rose of Scotland
.?
This lady, whose maiden name was Ilacre, was
the daughter of a gentleman in Cumberland, and
came into the world in that memorable year when
the Highland army was in possession of Carlisle,
.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p135.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 123")
... Street.] CRAIG OF RICCARTON. ?23
brother of Sir William Jenner, Bart., the eminent
physician.
Princes ...
Book 3 p. 123
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Charlotte Square.
Bank, near Edinburgh; Arnsheen, in Ayrshire ;
Redcastle, ...
Book 3 p. 174
(Score 0.46)
![The Water of Leith.] THE LAUDERS. 83
massive little mansion of Groat Hall, with a thatched
roof, whilom the property of Sir John Smith, Provost
of the city in 1643, whose daughter figured
as the heroine of the strange story connected with
the legend of the Morocco Land in the Canongate,
and whose sister (Giles Smith) was wife of Sir
William Gray of Pittendrum.
St. Cuthbert?s Poorhouse, a great quadrangular
edifice, stands in the eastern vicinity of Craigleith
Quarry. It was built in 1866-7, at a cost of
jG40,000, and has amenities of situation and
elegance of structure very rarely associated with
a residence for the poor.
Eastward of Stockbridge, and almost forming an
integral part of it, lies the now nearly absorbed and
half extinct, but ancient, village of Silvermills, a secluded
hamlet once, clustering by the ancient milllade,
and which of old lay within the Earony of
Broughton. It was chiefly occupied by tanners,
whose branch of trade is still carried on there by
the lade, which runs under Clarence Street: through
the village, and passes on to Canonmills. Some of
the houses still show designs of thistles and roses
on gablets, With the crowsteps of the sixteenth
century.
A little to the west of St. Stephen?s Church, a
narrow lane leads downward to the village, passing
through what was apparently the main street, and
emerges at Henderson Row, so called from the
Lord Provost of that name. According to
Chambers, a walk on a summer day from the old
city to the village, a hundred years ago, was considered
a very delightful one, and much ?adopted
by idlers, the roads being then through corn-fields
and pleasant nursery-grounds.
No notice, says Chambers, has ever been taken
of Silvermills in any of the books regarding Edicburgh,
nor has any attempt ever been made to
account for its somewhat piquant name. ?I
shall endeavour to do so,? he adds. ?In 1607
silver was found in considerable abundance at
Hilderstone, in Linlithgowshire, on the property of
the gentleman who figures as Tarn 0? the Cowgate.
Thirty-eight barrels of ore were sent to the mint in
the Tower of London to be tried, and were found
to give twenty-four ounces of silver for every
hundredweight. Expert persons were placed upon
the mine, and mills were erected upon the Water
of Leith for the melting and fining the ore. The
sagacious owner gave the mine the name of Go8s
BZessing. By-and-bye the king heard of it, and,
thinking it improper that any such fountain of
wealth should belong to a private person, purchased
? God?s Blessing? for L~,OOO, that it might
be worked upon a larger scale for the benefit of
the public But somehow, from the time it left
the hands of the original owner, ? God?s Blessing?
ceased to be anything like so fertile as it had been,
and in time the king withdrew from the enterprise,
a great loser. The Silvermills I conceive to have
been a part of the abandoned plant.?
This derivation seems extremely probable, but
Wilson thinks the name may have originated in
some of the alchemical projects of James IV., or
his son, James V.
city,? says the Edinburgh Week& Magazine for
January, 1774, ?we are informed of a very singular
accident. On the nights of the zznd, 23rd, and
24th inst., the Canonmills dam, by reason of the
intenseness of the frost, was so gorged with ice and
snow, that at last the water, finding no vent, stagnated
to such a degree that it overfIowed the
lower floors of the houses in Silvermills, which
obliged many of the inhabitants to remove to the
risi,ng grounds adjacent. One family in particular,
not perceiving their danger till they observed the
cradle with a child in it afloat, and all the furniture
swimming, found it necessary to make their
escape out of the back windows, and were carried
on horseback to dry land.?
St. Stephen?s Established Church, at the foot
of St. Vincent Street, towers in a huge mass over
Silvermills, and was built in 1826-8, after designs
by W. H. Playfair, It is a massive octagonal
structure in mixed Roman style, with a grand, yet
simple, entrance porch, and a square tower 165 feet
high. It contains above 1,600 sittings. The parish
was disjoined from the conterminous parishes in
1828 by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and the Teind
Court. Itwas opened on Sunday, the 20th December,
1828, when the well-known Dr, Brunton preached
to the Lord Provost and magistrates in their official
robes, and the Rev. Henry Grey officiated in the
afternoon.
In an old mansion, immediately behind where
this church now stands, were born Robert Scott
Lauder, R.S. A., and his brother, James Eckford
Lauder, RSA., two artists of considerable note in
their time. The former was born in 1803, and for
some years, after attaining a name, resided in.No. 7,
Carlton Street. A love of art was early manifested
by him, and acquaintance with his young neighbour,
David Roberts, fostered it. The latter instructed
him in the mode of mixing colours, and urged him
to follow art as a profession ; thus, in his youth he
entered the Trustees? Academy, then under the
care of Mr. Andrew Wilson.
After this he went to London, and worked with
great assiduity in the British Museum. In 1826
?From Silvermills, a little northward of this .](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p094.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 83")
... Water of Leith.] THE LAUDERS. 83
massive little mansion of Groat Hall, with a thatched
roof, whilom the ...
Book 5 p. 83
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Cowgate.
CHAPTER XXXII.
C0WGATE
The South Side of the Street--The High School ...
Book 4 p. 250
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Portoklla
Portobello once belonged, Mr. James Cunningham,
W.S., one of the earliest ...
Book 5 p. 146
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Wynd.
In 1650 it was used as a hospital for the wounded
soldiers of General ...
Book 2 p. 302
(Score 0.46)
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