... SKETCHES. 241
enrolled as privates, no unfrequent occurrence to find barristers pleading in
the ...
Book 8 p. 338
(Score 0.74)
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
mnnicathg with some curious and intricate machinery within.”’ This interesting ...
Book 10 p. 167
(Score 0.74)
... I0 GB A P HI GAL SKETCHES. 45
should return to the granter, his nearest heirs-male, and assignees ...
Book 8 p. 61
(Score 0.74)
![342 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Such are a few of the great names associated with the ancient thoroughfare which we have
seen so recklessly destroyed, and which, until its sudden doom was pronounced, seemed
like a hale and vigorous octogenarian, that had defied the tooth of time while all around
was being transmuted by his touch.
On the lowest part of the declivity of the Bow, a handsome, though somewhat heavy
conduit, erected by Robert Mane in 1681, bears the name of the Bow-foot Well.
Directly facing this, at the south-west angle of the Grassmarket, there stood of old the
Monastery of the Franciscans or Greyfriars, founded by James I., for the encouragement
of learning. In obedience to an application from that monarch, the Vicar-General of the
Order at Cologne sent over to Scotland some of the brethren, under the guidance of
Cornelius of Zurich, a scholar of great reputation ; but such was the magnzcence of the
monastic buildings prepared for them that it required the persuasive influence of the
Archbishop of St Andrew’s to induce Cornelius to accept the office of Prior. That the
monastery was a sumptuous foundation, according to the times, is proved by its being
assigned for the temporary abode of the Princess, Mary of Guelders, who immediately after
her arrival at Leith, in June 1449, proceeded on horseback, behind the Count de Vere,
to her lodging in the Convent of the Greyfriars in Edinburgh, and there she was visited by
her royal lover, James II., on the following day.’ A few years later it afforded an asylum
to Henry VI. of England, when he fled to Scotland, accompanied by his heroic Queen,
Margaret, and their son, Prince Edward, after the fatal battle of Towton. That a church
would form a prominent feature of this royal foundation can hardly be doubted, and we
are inclined to infer that the existence both of it, and of a churchyard attached to it, long
before Queen Mary’s grant of the gardens of the monastery for the latter purpose, is
implied in such allusions as the following in the Diurnal of Occurrents, July 7, 1571.
(‘ The hail1 merchandis, craftismen, and personis remanand within Edinburgh, maid thair
moustaris in the Gray Frear Kirk yaird; ” and, again, where Birrel in his Diary, April
26, 1598, refers to the (( work at the Gray Friar Kirke,” although the date of erection
of the more modern church is only 1613. The exact site of these monastic buildings is
proved from the titles of the two large stone tenements which present their picturesque
and antique gables to the street, immediately to the west of the entrance from the Cowgate.
The western tenement is described as (( lying within the burgh of Edinburgh, at
the place called the Grayfreres,” while the other is styled that Temple tenement of land,
lying at the head of the Cowgate, near the Cunzie nook, beside the Minor, or Greyfriars,
on the east, and the common King’s High Street, on the north parts.” Beyond this, in
the Candlemaker Row, a curious little timber-fronted tenement appears, with its gable
surmounted with the antique crow-steps we have described on the Mint buildings and
elsewhere ; an open gallery projects in front, and rude little shot windows admit the light
to the decayed and gloomy chambers within. This, we presume, to be the Cunzie nook
referred to above, a place where the Mint had no doubt been established at 6ome early
period, possibly during some of the strange proceedings in the Regency of Mary of Guize,’
1 Caledonia, voL i p. 599.
“ Vpoun the 21 day of Julij [1559], Jamea, commendatare of Sanctandrois, and Alexander, erle of Glencarne,
with thair assistaria callit the congregatioun, past from Edinburgh to Halyrudhous, and thair tu& and iotromettit with
the irois of the cuneehous, and brocht the same to the said burgh of Edinburgh, to the priour of Sanctandrois lugeing,](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_392.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 374")
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Such are a few of the great names associated with the ancient thoroughfare which we ...
Book 10 p. 374
(Score 0.74)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [canomgate.
IN the map of the city engraved in 1787 for the
quarto edition of ? Arnot?s ...
Book 3 p. 38
(Score 0.74)
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
below, on the oak beam of the great doorway. Between the windows an ornamental ...
Book 10 p. 445
(Score 0.73)
... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 277
protect it in any later extension of the fortifications of the capital. ...
Book 10 p. 301
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. c13
of his lordship is somewhat similar to that of the drunk man, who, having fallen,
was ...
Book 8 p. 105
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. 285
THE MARQUIS OF GRAHAM was born in 1755, and succeeded his
father in 1790. He entered ...
Book 8 p. 400
(Score 0.73)
... ‘MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
stentoriously laughing, and gaping with tahees of laughter. . . . Though sick with ...
Book 10 p. 370
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. 29
by his relatives and a numerous circle of friends and acquaintances.” The son
of this ...
Book 9 p. 39
(Score 0.73)
... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 297
VMBRA.” On another :-‘‘ UT TU LINGVB TVB, SIC EGO YEAR : AVRIUN ...
Book 10 p. 324
(Score 0.73)
... HEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
nobility. The simple eloge pronounced by the Regent over his grave, has been ...
Book 10 p. 92
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. 429
THE CITY GUARD-HOUSE.
CORPORAL JOHN DHU.
THIS dingy, mean-looking edifice, built for ...
Book 8 p. 598
(Score 0.73)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
porch of the Parliament House, '' for she has stood lang i' the outside, ...
Book 8 p. 7
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. 223
This municipal squabble was of come too good a subject for the genius of
Kay to ...
Book 8 p. 315
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES, 303
of Feeling,” was the only individual whose name was made public at the
time.’
The ...
Book 8 p. 424
(Score 0.73)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
have greatly exceeded their ideas of economy. A thorough blood-a ...
Book 9 p. 382
(Score 0.73)
... SKETCHES. 9
filled up with great alacrity ; and, in a ve y short time, a foundation of whins
and ...
Book 9 p. 11
(Score 0.72)
... ANTIQUITIES. 397
1593, she leaves “ to ewerie ane of the pure folkis in the Hospitall of the ...
Book 10 p. 436
(Score 0.72)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
length, when an ominous vacuum began to render less distinct the hitherto
bright and ...
Book 8 p. 413
(Score 0.72)
... SKETCHES. 79
In 1794, while second in command of the forces in Scotland, in consequence
of a mutiny ...
Book 9 p. 106
(Score 0.72)
![High Street.] SCOTTISH COINAGE. 269
~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~
crown for Mary of Guise, and inclosed with arches
the present crown of Scotland.
The early .gold coins of Mary?s reign were of
native ore, and, during the minority of James VI.,
Cornelius de Vos, a Dutchman, who had licence to
seek for gold and silver, obtained considerable
quantities, according to the records relating to
mines and mining in Scotland, published by Mr.
Cochran-Patrick.
The oldest gold coin found in Scotland bears
- ~~
under pain of death. The coins current in Scotland
in the reign of James 111. were named the
demi, the lion, the groat of the crown, the groat
of the fleur-de-lis, the penny, farthing, and plack.
English coins were also current, but their value
was regulated by the estates. From ?Miscelleanea
Scotica? we learn that in 1512 Sir Alexander
Napier of Merchiston found gold in the Pentland
Hills, and from the Balcarres MSS. (in the Advocates?
Library) he and his son figure conspicuously
3
2
RELICS OF THE OLD SCOTTISH MINT.
I, Delicate Set of Balances, 2, Dies ; 3, hnch : 4. Implements for Knarling the Coins : 5, Large Tiding-pin of the Great Door : 6, Roller for
Flattening the Silver; 7, Key of the Mint Door. (From Origiwlr am ia fhr ScottW Antiyuarzizn Musrum.)
the nameof Robert, but which of the three monarchs
so called is uncertain. Gold was not coined in
England till 1257. The first gold coins struck in
Scotland were of a broad surface and very thin.
There is some doubt about when copper coinage
was introduced, but in 1466, during the reign of
James III., an Act was passed to the effect that,
for the benefit 6f the poor, ?there be cuinyied
copper money, four to the (silver) penny, having on
the one part the cross of St. Andrew and the crown,
and on the other part the subscription of Edinburgh,?
together with JAMES R.
The same monarch issued a silver coin containing
an alloy of copper, which went under the name
of black money, and to ensure the circulation of
this depreciated coin the parliament ordained that
no counterfeits of it be taken in payment, or used,
in connection With the Mint, of which the latter was
general for some years after 1592.
In 1572 the Regent Morton coined base money
in his castle at Dalkeith, and by proclamation
made it pass current for thrice its real value ; and
having got rid of it all in 1575, by paying workmen
in the repair of Edinburgh Castle and other public
places, he issued a council order reducing it to its
intrinsic value, an act of oppression which won him
the hatred of the people. In the reign of James
VI., all the silver coin, extending to two hundred
and eleven stone ten pounds in weight, was called
in, and a coin was issued from the Mint in Gray?s
Close, ?in ten shilling pieces of eleven pennies
fine,? having on one side his effigywith the inscription,
JZZU~US YI., Da? Gratia Rex Scofomm,
on the other the royal arms, crowned. In hisreign](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p089.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 269")
... Street.] SCOTTISH COINAGE. 269
~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~
crown for Mary of Guise, and inclosed with arches
the ...
Book 2 p. 269
(Score 0.72)
... CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 305
the street, which tradition points out as the residence of Bishop ...
Book 10 p. 333
(Score 0.72)
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