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268 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
than his son should fill his place; and they appointed an assistant till Sir
Henry should be qualified.’ Sir Henry
then repaired to the University of Edinburgh ; and, on attaining the proper
age, although he had not completed the full term of attendance required at the
Divinity Hall, he was licensed to preach, and ordained to the charge of Blackford
in 1771. He was not, however, allowed to remain long in the obscurity
of his native parish, his talents, while a student at Edinburgh, having singled
him out for the first vacancy that might occur in the city. In 1775 he was
accordingly translated to the extensive charge of St. Cuthbert’s, where he continued
during the subsequent years of his ministry.
The life of Sir Henry was devotedly spent in the practical duties of his
sacred office, and in zealously forwarding the general interests of the Church.
As a preacher, he was I‘ strong and masculine ” in his eloquence, but very seldom
indulged in the pathetic ; yet there was often, particularly towards the close
of his life, a tenderness in his modes of expression, as well as in the accents of
his voice, which came home to the heart with the energy of pathos itself.” In
the Church Courts he took an active and decided part, and from his character
and talents soon became a powerful leader in opposition to the party, who,
under Dr. Robertson, had obtained nearly entire supremacy in the General Assembly.
Sir Henry was proposed as Moderator in 1780, in opposition to
Dr. Spens of Wemyss ; and so strong had the minority then become, that his
opponent was only elected by a majority of six votes. In 1785, being again
nominated, he was unanimously chosen.
Sir Henry acted as Collector for the Widow’s Fund during a period of more
than forty years. He felt deeply interested in the welfare of this institution :
and to his excellent management it is indebted for much of its prosperity. He
was also one of the original members of the Society of the Sons of the Clergy ;
and on all occasions a sincere friend to every practical scheme for the amelioration
of society. His office of Collector for the Widows’ Fund affording him
a thorough knowledge of the pecuniary circumstances of the clergy, many of
whom, in poor and distant parishes, were living on very inadequate incomes, he
pressed the subject warmly on the attention of the General Assembly-drew up
a plan for augmenting the livings-and, though his scheme was not adopted by
Parliament, his exertions may justly be considered as having led to the Act
by which a minimum salary has been fixed throughout the bounds of the
Church.’
Sir Henry seems to have left himself almost no leisure for literary pursuits.
His chief productions were-“ Discourses on the Evidences of the Jewish and
Christian Revelations ;” two volumes of Sermons; a “Life of John Erskine,
D.D;” and a “Life of Dr. [Robert Henry, the Historian,” prefixed to the last
volume of his History, which was edited by Sir Henry, as his executor. He
This arrangement took place in 1768.
1 This was rather an extraordinary stretch of the law affecting settlements. With the consent
of the patron and all concerned, the parish waa actually kept zracant for nearly four years. His
father died on the 9th December 1767, and Sir Henry was not inducted till the 15th August 1771. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. than his son should fill his place; and they appointed an assistant till Sir Henry ...

Book 9  p. 357
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156 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of ropes and a ball, completed their equipment. Besides enjoying a species of
monopoly within the city, they formed themselves into a Society, the entry money
to which was jive pounds, and the quarterly dues 3s. 6d. This high rate was
no doubt suggested from exclusive motives. As the city increased, many new
sweepers had commenced on their own account in the suburbs, and not a few
had been admitted to participate in the privileges of the Don-men ; although
the annual allowance of a guinea continued to be limited to the original number ;
and, as a distinguishing mark, none but the twelve were permitted to wear the
broad bonnet.
The Society of Tron-men, like most other exclusive bodies, were not without
entertaining a due estimate of their own importance and respectability. As an
instance, one of the members-Robert Hunter-was expelled the Society, and
virtually banished to Leith for the space of five years, for having brought
dishonour on the fraternity, by assisting the authorities at the execution of
Captain Ogilvie-the paramour of the celebrated Catharine Nairne-on the 13th
November 1765.
After his condemnation, every exertion was made by the friends of the
Captain to procure a reversal of the sentence, by an appeal to the House of
Lords. The competency of such a proceeding had not then been finally settled ;
and, with the view of giving time for considering the question, four successive
reprieves were obtained for the prisoner-the first three for fourteen days, and
the last for seven. He was then warned to prepare for death, an appeal from
the High Court of Justiciary having been deemed irregular by the officers of
the Crown. Finding all other means of escape impossible, the Captain’s friends
contrived to bribe the finisher of the law ; in the fallacious belief that if the
rope failed he could not legally be thrown off a second time. Accordingly, on
the day of execution, no sooner had the culprit been turned off than “ the noose
of the rope slipped, and he fell to the ground.” The Captain was immediately
laid hold of; but he resisted with great vigour. By the “ assistance of the city
servants,” he was again dragged up the ladder and despatched.’ As one of the
“ city servants,” Hunter had rendered essential aid, for which, as affirmed, he
received a reward of five pounds ; and his conduct having been greatly censured
by his brethren of the Tron, he was expelled the Society in the manner already
described. Hunter died about 1812.
When the City Guard-House was demolished in 1785, the Tron-men, along
with the Guard, were accommodated in the Old Assembly Rooms-a part of
the premises being appropriated for their use, to which they entered from Bell’s
Wynd. Owing to the great increase of the city, and sundry other causes, the
chimney-sweepers began to feel the attendance exacted from them extremely
This is not the only instance in which the non-men were associated with the common executioner
in the performance of his duty. In 1746, when the standards belonging to the army of Prince
Charles were publicly burned at the Cross, by order of the Duke of Cumberland, they were carried
in procession from the Castle by the hangman and thirteen chimney-sweepers. The standards were
destroyed one by one, a herald proclaiming to whom they respectively belonged. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. of ropes and a ball, completed their equipment. Besides enjoying a species of monopoly ...

Book 9  p. 209
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246 OLD AND NEW EDINEURGH. [Cowgate.
showed that the barrel had been placed so as to collect
the rain water from the eaves of a long defunct
house, with a stepping-stone to enable any one to
reach its contents.
The old Meal Market was the next locality of
importance on this side. In 1477 James 111.
ordained this market to be held ? fra the Tolbooth
up to Liberton?s Wynd, alsua fra thence upward to
the treviss;? but the meal market of 1647, as
shown in Gordon?s map, directly south of the
. Parliament House, seems to have been a long,
unshapely edifice, with two high arched gates.
. In 1690 the meal market paid to the city,
A77 15s. 6d. sterling. As we have related elsewhere,
all this quarter was destroyed by the ? Great
Fire? of 1700, which ?broke out in the lodging
immediately under Lord Crossrig?s lodging in the
meal market,? and from which he and his family
had to seek flight in their night-dress. One of
his daughters, Jean Home, died at Edinburgh in
Feb. 1769.
Edgar?s map shows the new meal market, a huge
quadrangular mass, with 150 feet front by 100 in
depth, immediately eastward of the Back Stairs.
This place was the scene of a serious not in 1763.
In November there had been a great scarcity of
meal, by which multitudes of the poor were reduced
to great suffering; hence, on the evening of the
zIst, a great mob proceeded to the gimels in the
meal market, carried off all that was there, rifled
the house of the keeper, and smashed all the furniture
that was not carried OK At midnight the
mob dispersed on the amval of some companies
of infantry from the Castle, to renew their riotous
proceedings, however, on the following day, when
they could only be suppressed ?by the presence
of the Provost (George Drummond), bdies, trainband,
constables, party of *e military, and the
city guard.? Many of the unfortunate rioters
were captured at the point of the bayonet, and
lodged in the Castle, and the whole of the Scots
Greys were quartered in the Canongate and Leith
to enforce order, ? The magistrates of Edinburgh,
and Justices of Peace for the County of Midlothian,?
says the Norfh BnYish Magazine for I 763,
have since used every means to have this market
supplied effectually with meal ; but from whatever
cause it may proceed, certain it is that the scarcity
of oatmeal is still severely felt by every family who
have occasion to make use of that commodity.?
The archiepiscopal palace and the mint, which
were near each other, on this side of the street,
have already been described (Vol. I., pp. 262-4;
267-270); but one of the old features of the locality
still remaining unchanged is the large old
gateway, recessed back, which gave access to the
extensive pleasure-grounds attached to the residence
of the Marquises of Tweeddale, and which seem to
have measured 300 feet in length by 250 in breadth,
and been overlooked in the north-west angle by the
beautiful old mansion of the Earls of Selkirk, the
basement of which was a series of elliptical arcades.
These pleasure grounds ascended from the street
to the windows of Tweeddale House, by a succession
of terraces, and were thickly planted on the
east and west with belts of trees. In Gordon?s
map for 1647, the whole of this open area had
been-what it is now Secoming again-covered
by masses of building, the greatest portion of it
being occupied by a huge church, that has had, at
various times, no less than three different congregations,
an Episcopal, Presbyterian, and, finally,
a Catholic one.
For a few years before 1688 Episcopacy was
the form of Church government in Scotlandillegally
thrust upon the people; but the selfconstituted
Convention, which transferred the
crown to William and Mary, re-established the
Presbyterian Church, abolishing the former, which
consisted of fourteen bishops, two archbishops,
and go0 clergymen. An Act of the Legislature
ordered these to conform to the new order of
things, or abandon their livings; but though expelled
from these, they. continued to officiate
privately to those who were disposed to attend to
their ministrations, notwithstanding the penal laws
enacted against them-laws which William, who
detested Presbyterianism, and was an uncovenanted
King,? intended to repeal if he had
lived. The title of archbishop was dropp?ed by
the scattered few, though a bishop was elected
with the title Primus, to regulate the religious
affairs of the community. There existed another
body attached to the same mode of worship,
composed of those who favoured the principles
which occasioned the Revolution in Scotland,
and,adopting the ritual of the Church of England,
were supplied With clergy ordained by bishops of
that country. Two distinct bodies thus existeddesignated
by the name of Non-jurants, as declining
the oaths to the new Government The first
of these bodies-unacknowledged as a legal
association, whose pastors were appointed by
bishops, who acknowledged only the authority of
their exiled king, who refused to take the oaths
prescribed by lam; and omitted all mention of the
House of Hanover in their prayers-were made
the subject of several penal statutes by that
House.
An Episcopal chapel, whose minister was qualified ... OLD AND NEW EDINEURGH. [Cowgate. showed that the barrel had been placed so as to collect the rain water from ...

Book 4  p. 246
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210 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street.
likely to have arisen. It happened by accident
that the Earl of Bothwell, coming out of the Earl
of Crawford?s lodging, was met by the Earl of Marr,
who was coming out of the Laird of Lochleven?s
lodging hard by; as it being about ten o?clock at
night, and so dark that they could not know one
another, he passed by, not knowing that the
Master of Glammis was there, but thinking it was
only the Earl of Marr. However, it was said that
some ambushment of men and hackbuttiers had
been duressed in the house by command of both
parties.?
Some brawl or tragedy had evidently been on
the tapis, for next day the king had the Earl of
Bothwell and the Master before him at Holyrood,
and committed the former to ward .in the Palace
of Linlithgow, and the latter in the Castle of Edinburgh,
? for having a band of hacquebuttiers in
ambush with treasonable intent.?
Passing to more peaceable times, on the same
side of the street, we come to one of the most
picturesque edifices in it, numbered as 155 (and
nearly opposite Niddry Street), in which Allan
Ramsay resided and began his earlier labours, ?at
the sign of the Mercury,? before he removed, in
1726, to the shop in the Luckenbooths, where we
saw him last.
It is an ancient timber-fronted land, the sinplarly
picturesque aspect of which was much marred
by some alterations in 1845, but herein worthy
Allan first prosecuted his joint labours of author,
editor, and bookseller. From this place he issued
his poems in single or half sheets, as they were
mitten ; but in whatever shape they always found
a ready sale, the citizens being wont to send their
children with a penny for ? Allan Ramsay?s last
piece.? Here it was, that in 1724 he published
the first volume of ?The Tea Table Miscellany,?
a collection of songs, Scottish and English,
dedicated
? To ilka lovely British lass,
Frae Ladies Charlotte, Anne and Jean,
Wha dances barefoot on the green.?
This publication ran through twelve editions, and
its early success induced him in the same year to
bring out ? The Evergreen,? a collection of Scottish
poems, ?? wrote by the Ingenious before 1600,?
professed to be selected from the Bannatyne MSS.
And here it was that .Ramsay- had some of his
hard struggles with the magistrates and clergy,
who deemed and denounced all light literature,
songs, and plays, as frivolity and open profanity, in
She sour fanatical spirit of the age.
Doon to ilk bonny singing Bess
Religion, in form, entered more into the daily
habits of the Scottish people down to 1730 than it
now does. Apart from regular attendance at
church, and daily family worship, each house had
some species of oratory, wherein, according to the
Domestic Annals, ? the head of the family could
at stated times retire for his private devotions,
which were usually of a protracted kind, and often
accompanied by great moanings and groanings,
expressive of an intense sense of human worthlessness
without the divine favour.? Twelve
o?clock was the hour for the cold Sunday dinner.
(? Nicety and love of rich feeding were understood
to be the hateful peculiarities of the English, and
unworthy of the people who had been so much
more favoured by God in the knowledge of matters
of higher concern.? Puritanic rigour seemed to
be destruction for literature, and when Addison,
Steele, and Pope, were conferring glory on that of
England, Scotland had scarcely a writer of note ;
and Allan Ramsay, in fear and trembling of legal
and clerical censure, lent out the plays of Congreve
and Farquhar from that quaint old edifice
numbered 155, High Street.
The town residence of the Ancrum family was
long one of the finest specimens of the timberfronted
tenements of the High Street. It stood on
the north side, at the head of Trunk?s Close,
behind the Fountain Well, and though it included
several rooms with finely-stuccoed ceilings, and a
large hall, beautifully decorated with rich pilasters
and oak panelling-and was undoubtedly worthy
of being preserved-it was demolished in 1873.
Here was the first residence of Scott of Kirkstyle,
who, in 1670, obtained a charter under the great
seal of the barony of Ancrum, and in the following
year was created Sir John Scott, Baronet, by
Charles 11.
In 1703 the house passed into the possession of
Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bart., of Stobs, who resided here
with his eight sons, the youngest of whom, for his
glorious defence of Gibraltar, was created Lord
Heathfield in 1787.
On the same side of the street, Archibald
Constable, perhaps the most eminent publisher
that Scotland has produced, began business in a
small shop, in the year 1795, and from there, in
the November .of that year, he issued the first of
that series of sale catalogues of curious and rare
books, which he continued for a few years to
issue at intervals, and which attracted to his shop
all the bibliographers and lovers of literature in
Edinburgh.
Hither came, almost daily, such men as Richard
Heber, afterwards M.P. for the University of ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street. likely to have arisen. It happened by accident that the Earl of ...

Book 2  p. 210
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Cowgate.] THE BIRTHPLACE OF SCOTT. 255
inaugural thesis containing an outline of his celebrated
discovery of fixed air, or carbonic gas, which
with his discovery of latent heat laid the foundation
of modem pneumatic chemistry, and has opened
to the investigation of the philosopher a fourth
kingdom of nature, viz., the gaseous kingdom.
Other brilliant achievements in science followed
fast before and after Dr. Black?s appointment to a
chair in Glasgow in 1756. Ten years after he
became Professor of Chemistry in Edinburgh, and
was so fm twenty-nine years. .He died in 1799,
while sitting at table, with his usual fare, a few
prunes, some bread, and a little milk diluted with
water. Having the cup in his hand, and feeling the
approach of death, he set it carefully down on his
knees, which were joined together, and kept it
steadily in his hand, in the manner of a person
perfectly at ease, and in this attitude, without
spilling a drop, and without a writhe on his countenance,
Joseph Black, styled by Lavoisier ?the
illustrious Nestor of the chemical revolution,? expired
placidly, as if an experiment had been wanted
to show his friends the ease with which he could
die.
In another house at the wynd head, but exactly
opposite, Sir Walter Scott was born on the 15th
of August, 1771. It belonged to his father Walter
Scott, W.S., and was pulled down to make room for
the northern front of the New College. According
to the simple fashion of the Scottish gentry of that
day, on another floor of the same building-the first
flat-dwelt Mr. Keith, W.S., father of the late Sir
Alexander Keith, of Ravelston, Bart. ; and there,
too, did the late Lord Keith reside in his student
days.
Scott?s father, deeming his house in the College
Wynd unfavourable to the health of his familyfor
therein died several brothers and sisters of Sir
Walter, born before him-removed to an airier
mansion, No. 25, George Square ; but the old wynd
he never forgot. ?( In the course of a walk through
this part of the town in 1825,? says genial Robert
Chambers, ?Sir Walter did me the honour to
point out the site of the house in which he had
been born. On his mentioning that his father had
got a good price for his share of it, I took .the
liberty of jocularly expressing my belief that more
money might have been made of it, and the public
certainly much more gratified, if it had remained to
be shown as the birthplace of the man who had
written so many popular books. ?Ay, ay,? said
Sir Walter, that is very well ; but I am afraid I
should have required to be dead first, and that
would not have been so comfortable, you know.??
The house of Mr. Scott, W.S., on the flat of the
old tenement, was approached by a turnpike stair,
within a little court off the wynd head ; in another
corner of it resided Mr. Alexander Mumy, the
future solicitor-general, who afterwards sat on the
Bench as Lord Henderland, and died in 1795.
It was up this narrow way, on Sunday the
15th of August, 177j-when Scott was exactly a
baby of two years old-that Boswell and Principal
Robertson conducted Dr, Johnson to show him
the College.
Within the narrow compass of this ancient wynd
-so memorable as the birthplace of Scott-were
representatives of nearly every order of Scottish
society, sufficient for a whole series of his Waverley
novels, No wonder is it then, beyond the experience
of ?? Auld Reekie,? that we should find one
of Kay?s quaintest characters, ? Daft Bailie DuK?
a widow?s idiot boy, long regarded as the indispensable
appendage of an Edinburgh funeral,
dwelling in a little den at the foot of the alley,
where he died in I 7 88.
Most picturesque were the venerable ?edifices
that stood between the foot of the College and the
Horse Wynds, though between them 4 St. Peter?$
Close, which, in its latter days, led only to a byre,
and a low, dark, filthy, and homble place, ? full of
holes and water.?
On the east side of St. Peter?s Pend was a very
ancient house, the abode of noble proprietors in
early times, but which had been remodelled and
enlarged in the days of James VI. Three large
and beautiful dormer windows rose above its roof,
the centre one surmounted by an escallop shell,
while a smaller tier of windows peeped out above
them from the ?sclaited roof,? and the lintel of
its projecting turnpike stair, bore all that remained
of its proprietors, these initials, v. P. and A. V.
On the other side of the Pend, and immediately
abutting on the Horse Wynd, was that singularly
picturesque timber-fronted stone tenement, of which
drawings and a description are given in the ?? Edinburgh
Papers,? on the ancient architecture of the city
published in 1859, and referred to as ?another of
the pristine mansions of the Cowgate-the houses
where William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas may
have paid visits, and probably sent forth mailed
warriors to Flodden. . . . . Here, besides the
ground accommodation and gallery floor, with an
outside stair, there is a contracted second flosr,
having also a gallery in front with a range of small
windows. On the gallery floor at the head of the
outside stair, is a finely-moulded door, at the base
of an inner winding or turnpike stair leading up
to the second floor. Such is the style or door to
be seen in all these early woden houses-a style ... THE BIRTHPLACE OF SCOTT. 255 inaugural thesis containing an outline of his celebrated discovery of ...

Book 4  p. 255
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 287
afterwards, with much inconsistency, established another, having similar objects
in view, called the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
Although engaged in literary and antiquarian research, the Earl of Buchan
was far from being an indifferent spectator of passing events. He did not enter
the political arena ; but when invasion threatened common r&, he not only
with his pen endeavoured to create union among his countrymen, but, buckling
on his sword, essayed to rouse them by example.
The Earl, however, was no adherent of the powers that were ; and when the
interference of the Court had completely set aside all semblance of freedom in
the election of the Scottish peers, he stood forward in defence of his order;
and, although he long fought singly, he at last succeeded in asserting its
independence.
The residence of Lord Buchan had for many years been in Edinburgh : but,
in 1787, he retired on account of his health to Dryburgh Abbey-a property
he acquired by purchase. Here he instituted an annual festive commemoration
of the author of “ The Seasons,” the first meeting of which was held at Ednam
Hill, on the 22d September 1791-on which occasion he crowned a copy of the
j k s t collected edition of the Seasons with a wreath of bays. The following may
be taken as a sample of the eulogium of the noble Lord on the occasion :-
“And the immortal Prussian, standing like a herald in the procession of ages,
to mark the beginning of that order of men who are to banish from the earth
the delusions of priestcraft, and the monstrous prerogatives of despotic authority ! ”
His lordship also took that opportunity of attacking the great English lexicographer,
“ by whose rude hands the memory of Thomson has been profanely
touched.” Burns wrote his beautiful lines to the shade of the bard of Ednam
for the occasion ; and only five years afterwards, at the usual anniversary in
1796, Lord Buchan had the melancholy pleasure of placing an urn of Parian
marble beside the bust of Thomson, in memory of the bard of Ayrshire. The
copy of the Seasons alluded to, enclosed in a beautifully ornamented case, and
enriched with some original autographs of the Poet, was subsequently presented
by his lordship to the University of Edinburgh.
The political sentiments of the Earl of Buchan were generally known ; but,
in a work published in 1792, entitled “Essays on the Lives and Writings of
Fletcher of Saltoun, and the Poet Thomson, Biographical and Political,” he
embraced the opportunity of enforcing his favourite doctrines.
In the same year his lordship presented the President of the United States
with an elegantly mounted snuff-box, made from the tree which sheltered Wallace.
This magnificent and truly characteristic present,” says a Philadelphia Journal,
of January 2, “is from the Earl of Buchan, by the hands of Mr. Archibald
Robertson, a Scots gentleman, and portrait painter, who arrived in America
some months ago.’’ The box had been presented to Lord Buchan by the goldsmiths
of Edinburgh in 1782, from whom he obtained leave to transfer it to
the only man in the world to whom he thought it justly due.” The box was
made by Robert Hay, might, afterwards in the Edinburgh Vendue. ... SKETCHES. 287 afterwards, with much inconsistency, established another, having similar objects in ...

Book 8  p. 402
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THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BO W. 251
so near their ancient burgh. The port was accordingly shut up, and the sluices of the
North Loch closed, so as to flood a small mound that had afforded a footpath to the
port for the freetraders of this obnoxious village. The battle was stoutly maintained for
a time, but the magistrates finding the law somewhat rigid in its investigation of their
right over the city ports, and the election most probably being satisfactorily settled meanwhile,
they opened the port of their own accord, and allowed the sluices of the North
Loch again to run.
twenb years, a very handsome and substantial old stone land, with large and neatly moulded
windows, and abounding with curious irregular projections, adapting it to its straitened
site. Over the main entrance was a finely carved lintel, having the Williamson arms
boldly cut in high relief, with the initials I - W - accompanied by a singular device of the
moss of passion springing from the centre of a saltier, and the inscription and date in
large Roman letters, FEIR - GOD * IN * LUIF * 1595.
The ancient timber-fronted land which faces the street at the head of this close is
one possessing peculiar claims to our interest, as the
scene of Allan Ramsay’s earlier labours, where, “ at
the sign of the Mercury, opposite to Niddry’s Wynd,”
he prosecuted his latter business as author, editor,
and bookseller. From thence issued his poems
printed in single sheets, or half sheets, as they were
written, in which Fhape they ‘are reported to have
found a ready sale; the citizens being in the habit
of sending their children with a penny for ‘‘ Allan
Ramsay’s last piece.”’ Encouraged by the favourable
reception of his poetic labours, he at length
published proposals for a re-issue of his works in a
collected form, and, accordingly, in 1721, they
appeared .in one handsome quarto volume, with a
portrait of the author from the pencil of his friend
Smibert. Ramsay continued to carry on business
at the sign of the Mercury till the year 1725, so
that nearly all his original publications issued from
this ancient fabric. In that year he removed to the famous land in the Luckenbooths,
which has been already minutely described. The accompanying vignette represents
the former building as it existed previous to 1845, when a portion of the timber front
was removed, and the picturesque character of the old land somewhat marred by modern
alterations.
Immediately to the east of Ramsay’s old shop, a plain and narrow pend gives access
to Carrubber’s Close, the retreat of the faithful remnant of the Jacobites of 1688. Here,
about half way down the close, on the east side, St Paul’s Chapel still stands, a plain and
unpretending edifice, erected immediately after the Revolution. Thither the persecuted
In Kinloch’s Close, immediately adjoining this wpd, there stood, till within the last-
-
l Scottish Biographical Dictionary, Aficle Ramsay.
VIGNETT6Ah.U Ramaay’s shop, opposite Niddry’s Wynd. ... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BO W. 251 so near their ancient burgh. The port was accordingly shut up, and the ...

Book 10  p. 272
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150 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ledge of his author. To speak comparatively, Digges’ figure was better, and his
voice perhaps more mellow and powerful, but Digges played with little judgment,
was very deficient in the nicer touches of the art, and often had no conception
of what he spoke. In judgment and taste Mr. Henderson is eminent, He understands
perfectly the character he plays, and never fails to give the just meaning
of his author, and this, in so difficult and various a character as Hamlet, requires
the powers of a master. He avoids that unnatural violence and rant which is
often introduced into the part, and which seldom fails to catch the ears of the
groundlings, but is certainly more characteristic of the blustering player than the
Prince of Denmark. From what we have seen we are of opinion that the admirers
of Shakspeare, who wish to understand perfectly their favourite author, should
attend Mr. Henderson ; in his mouth no passage seems perplexed, and he is a
comment at once pleasing and instructive.”
On the 2d August he acted Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, which the
newspaper advertisement, for the instruction of the ignorant, announces to be
“ written by Shakspeare.”
“ One would
have thought,” continues the critique alluded to, “from the crowded state of
the house, that the Siddons was still here. Greater praise, perhaps, was not
due to Mrs. Siddons for any of her parts than to Mr. Henderson ,for the
inimitable humour and original manner in which he played Falstn, In this
character he stands unrivalled on the British stage. He met with repeated
bursts of applause from every part of the house. One honest gentleman was
so tickled with the humour, that he almost fell into convulsions with laughing.
Mr. Henderson was perhaps painted too youthful for the character.”
5th, Don John in the Chances, as altered from Beaumont and Fletcher by
Garrick. In this comedy “he gave a proof that his powers were as well
adapted to the lively-spirited rake, as to the serious and philosophic Hamlet.”
7th, Acted iyacbeth. ‘‘ In Macbeth he was equally animated and correct as
in any of the other parts he has displayed.”
Sth, Sir John Falstaf, in the First Part of King Henry IK, for his benefit.
“ In this character he exceeded any thing we have seen of his performance. The
continued peals of laughter and applause, from a most brilliant and crowded
audience, testified the strongest approbation, and the part perhaps was never played
with such inimitable genuine humour. The Knight’s description of his troop,
with Mr. Henderson’s looks, tones, and gestures, was beyond description admirable.
On the 3d, Sir John Falstaf in the Merry Wives of Windsor.
loth, Richard 111.
14th, King Lear.
16th, Sir Oiles Ouerreach.
1 ‘‘ It is surprising that there should not be a proper Scots dress on the stage in the metropolis
of Scotland, and that a Spauish dress, or indeed any other, should serve as a Highland dress by the
addition of a piece of tartan drawn awkwardly across the shoulder, as if it waa the insignia of an
order of knighthood. The characters in Macbeth, indeed, exhibited the dresses of all nations, and
one might have thought that a dealer in Monmouth Street had been airing his stock-in-trade to
prevent it being eaten by moths.”-Courccnt. . The witches are said to have made a Dutch chorus of the music. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. ledge of his author. To speak comparatively, Digges’ figure was better, and ...

Book 8  p. 212
(Score 0.62)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 345
several well-written sermons are among his manuscripts. As illustrative of his
talent for the pulpit, it is told of Mr. Ronaldson, that on one occasion he invited
an acquaintance, a clergyman, to take a drive with him in his carriage on a short
official journey. The day being the last of the week, his friend declined on the
ground that he had ‘‘ a sermon to study for to-morrow.” “ 0 never mind,” said
Ronaldson; “if that’s all, step in-I’ll assist you with it,” The clergyman
afterwards acknowledged the aid he had received; and expressed his astonishment
at the extent of information and the fluency of language displayed by the
Post-Office Surveyor.
When the duties of the day were over, Francis delighted to hurry home to
his literary labour. There you were certain to find .him-his coat off and “in
his slippers ”-busily engaged with scissors and paste-brush, while armfuls of
dissected papers, spread out on the table before him, sufficiently attested to his
rapacity as a gleaner.
We have glanced over several sheets of his sermons, and have seen his scrapbooks,
which are indeed curious. Several of the volumes are in manuscript,
and contain original as well as selected pieces, both in prose and verse. As a
specimen of the poetical department, the following may be taken :-
“ LINES ON SEEING, IN A LIST OF NEW MUSIC, A PIECE ENTITLED
THE WATERLOO WALTZ.’
“ A moment pause, ye British fair,
While pleasure’s phantoms ye pursue,
And say if sprightly dance or air,
Suit with the name of Waterloo !
Awful was the victory-
Chasten’d should the triumph be :
’Midst the laurels she has won,
Britain mourns for many a son.
“ Veil’d in clouds the morning rose ;
Nature seem’d to mourn the day,
Which consign’d, before its close,
Thousands to their kindred clay.
How unfit for courtly ball,
Or the giddy festival,
Was the grim and ghastly view,
Ere ev’ning clos’d on Waterloo !
“ See the Highland warrior rushing,
Firm in danger on the foe,
Till the life-hlood warmly gushing,
Lays the plaided hero low.
His native pipe’s accustom’d sound,
’Mid war’s infernal concert drowdd
Cannot soothe his last adieu,
Or wake his sleep on Waterloo !
,‘ Chasing o’er the cuirassier,
See the foaming charger flying ;
Trampling in his wild career,
All alike the dead and dying.
See the bullet, through his side,
Answer’d by the spouting tide ;
Helmet, horse, and rider too,
Roll on bloody Waterloo !
“ Shall scenes like these the dance inspire ?
Or wake enlivening notes of mirth ?
0 ! shiver’d be the recreant lyre
That gave the base idea birth !
Other sounds I ween were there-
Other music rent the air-
Other waltz the warriors knew,
When they clos’d on Waterloo !
‘I Forbear !-till time with lenient hand
Has sooth’d the pang of recent sorrow ;
And let the picture distant stand,
The softening hue of years to borrow.
When our race has pass’d away,
Hands unborn may wake the lay ;
And give to joy alone the view,
Of Britain’s fame on Waterloo !
,‘Apd 23, 1817.” ... SKETCHES. 345 several well-written sermons are among his manuscripts. As illustrative of his talent ...

Book 8  p. 482
(Score 0.62)

280 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [High Street.
?capital already created under the last charter is
L;~OO,OOO stock, making the existing capital
I,OOO,OOO, and there still remains unexhausted
the privilege to create L500,ooo more stock
.whenever it shall appear to be expedient to coinplete
the capital to the full amount conceded in
the charter-a success that the early projectors of
the first scheme, developed in Tweeddale?s Close,
could little have anticipated.
The British Linen Company for a long series
of years has enjoyed the full corporate and other
privileges of the old chartered banks of Scotland
; and in this capacity, along with the Bank of
Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland, alone is
specially exempted in the Bank Regulation Act for
Scotland, from making returns of ?the proprietors?
names to the Stamp Office.
In the sixth year of the 19th century Tweeddale
House became the scene of a dark event ? which
ranks among the gossips of the Scottish capital
with the Icon Basilike, or the Man with the Iron
Mask.?
About five in the evening of the 13th of November,
I 806, or an hour after sunset, a little girl whose
family lived in the close, was .sent by her mother
with a kettle to get water for tea from the Fountain
Well, and stumbling in the dark archway over
something, found it to be, to her dismay, the body
of a man just expiring. On an alarm being raised,
the victim proved to be William Begbie, the
messenger of the British Linen Company Bank, a
residenter in the town of Leith, where that bank was
the first to establish a branch, in a house close to
the cpper drawbridge. On lights being brought,
a knife was found in his heart, thrust up to the
haft, so he bled to death without the power of
uttering a word of explanation. Though a sentinel
of the Guard was always on duty close by, yet he
saw nothing of the event.
It was found that he had been robbed of a
package of notes, amounting in value to more than
four thousand pounds, which he had been conveying
from the Leith branch to the head office. The
murder had been- accomplished with the utmost
deliberation, and the arrangements connected with
it displayed care and calculation. The weapon
used had a broad thin blade, carefully pointed,
with soft paper wrapped round the hand in such a
manner as to prevent any blood from reaching the
person of the assassin, and thus leading to his
detection.
For his discovery five hundred guineas were
offered in vain ; in vain, too, was the city searched,
while the roads were patrolled; and all the evidence
attainable amounted to this :-? That Begbie, in
proceeding up Leith Walk, had been accompanied
by a ?man,? and that about the supposed time of
the murder ?a man? had been seen by some chi\-
dren to run out of the close into the street, and
down Leith Wynd. . . . . There was also reason
to believe that the knife had been bought in a shop
about two o?clock on the day of the murder,
and that it had been afterwards ground upon a
grinding-stone and smoothed upon a hone.?
Many persons were arrested on suspicion, and
one, a desperate character, was long detained in
custody, but months passed on, and the assassination
was ceasing to occupy public -attention, when
three men, in passing through the grounds of
Eellevue (where now Drummond Place stands) in
August, 1807, found in the cavity of an old wall, a
roll of bank notes that seemed to have borne exposure
to the weather. The roll was conveyed to
Sheriff Clerk Rattray?s office, and found to ?contain
L3,ooo in large notes of the money taken from
Begbie. The three men received Lzoo from the
British Linen Company as the reward of their
honesty, but no further light was thrown upon the
murder, the actual perpetrator of which has never,
to this hour, been discovered, though strong suspicions
fell on a prisoner named Mackoull in 1822,
after he was beyond the reach of the law.
This man was tried and sentenced to death by
the High Court of Justiciary in June, 1820, for
robbery at the Paisley Union Bank, Glasgow, and
was placed in the Calton gaol, where he was respited
in August, and again in September, ?during his
majesty?s pleasure ? (according to the Edinburgh
Week(yjournal), and where he died about the end
of the year. In a work published under the title
of ?The Life and Death of James Mackoull,?
there was included a document by Mr. Denovan,
the Bow Street Runner, whose object was to prove
that Mackoull aZiis Moffat, was the assassin of
Begbie, and his statements, which are curious, have
thus been condensed by a local writer in 1865 :-
? Still, in the absence of legal proof, there is a
mystery about this daring crime which lends a sort
of romance to its daring perpetrator, Mr. Denovan
discovered a man in Leith acting as a teacher, who
in 1806 was a sailor-boy belonging to a ship then
in the harbour. On the afternoon of the murder
he was carrying up some smuggled article to a friend
in Edinburgh, when he noticed ? a tall man carrying
a yellow coloured parcel under his arm, and a genteel
man, dressed in a black coat, dogging him.?
He at once concluded that the man with the parcel
was a smuggler, and the other a custom-house
oficer. Fearful of detection himself, he watched
their manmavres with considerable interest. He lost ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [High Street. ?capital already created under the last charter is L;~OO,OOO stock, ...

Book 2  p. 280
(Score 0.62)

Great Stuart Street.] LORD JERVISWOODE. 209
memories. He was the second son of George
Baillie of Jerviswoode; and a descendant of that
memorable Baillie of Jerviswoode, who, according
to Hume, was a man of merit and learning, a
cadet of the Lamington family, and called "The
Scottish Sidney," but was executed as a traitor on
the'scaffold at Edinburgh, in 1683, having identified
himself with the interests of Monmouth and Argyle.
* Lord Jerviswoode was possessed of more than
average intellectual gifts, i and still more with
charms of person and manners that were not confined
to the female side of his house. One sister,
the Marchioness of Breadalbane, and another, Lady
Polwarth, were both celebrated for their beauty,
wit, and accomplishments. On the death of their
cousin, in the year 1859, his eldest brother became
tenth. Earl of Haddington, and then Charles, by
royal warrant, was raised to the rank of an earl's
brother. ' '
Prior to this he had a long and brilliant course
in law, and in spotless honour is said to have been
'' second to none." He was called to the Bar in
1830, and after being Advocate Depute, Sheriff of
Stirling, and Solicitor-General, was Lord Advocate
in 1858, and M.P. for West Lothim in the following
year, and a Lord of Session. In 1862 he
became a Lord of Justiciary. He took a great
interest in the fine arts, and was a trustee of the
Scottish Board of Manufactures; but finding his
health failing, he quitted the bench in July, 1874.
* He died in his seventy-fifth year, on the 23rd of
July, 1879, at his residence, Dryburgh House, in
Roxburghshire, near the ruins of the beautiful
abbey in which Scott and his race lie interred. For
the last five years of his life little had been heard of
him in the busy world, while his delicate health
and shy nature denied him the power of taking part
in public matters.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE WESTERN NEW TOWN-HAYMARKET-DALRY-FOUNTAINBRIDGE.
Maitland Street and Shandwick Place--The Albert Institute-Last Residmn of Sir Wa!ter Scott in Edinburgh-Lieutenult-General Dun&
-Melville Street-Patrick F. Tytler-Manor Plan-%. Mary's Cathedral-The Foundation Lid-Ita Sic and Aspcct-Opened for
Service-The Copestone and Cross placed on the Spire-Haymarket Station-Wmter Garden-Donaldron's H o s p i t a l d t l c Terrpoh
Its Chur&es-C&tle Barns-The U. P. Theological Hdl-Union Canal-First Boat Launched-Ddry-The Chieslics-The Caledonian
Distille~-Fountainbridge-Earl Grey Street-Professor G. J. Bell-The . Slaughter-houses-Bain Whyt of Binfield-North British
India. Rubber WorkScottish Vulcanite Company-Their Manufactures, &,.-Adam Ritchie.
THE Western New Town comprises a grand series
of crescents, streets, and squares, extending from
the line of East and West Maitland Streets and
Athole Crescent northward to the New Queensferry
Road, displaying in its extent-and architecture,
while including the singulax-ly ' picturesque
ravine of the Water of Leith, a' brilliance' and
beauty well entitling it to be deemed, par excellence,
" Z?w West End," and was built respectively about
1822, 1850, and 1866.
. Lynedoch Place, so named from the hero of
Barossa, opposite Randolph Crescent, was erected
in 1823, but prior to that a continuation of the line
of Princes Street had been made westward towards
the lands of Coates. This was finally effected by
the erection of East and West Maitland Streets,
Shandwick Place, and Coates and Athole Crescents.
In the latter are some rows of stately old trees,
which only vigorous and prolonged remonstrance
prevented fiom being wantonly cut down, in accordance
with the bad taste which at one time
prevailed in Edinburgh, where a species of war
was waged against all.groWing timber.
75
The Episcopal chapel of St Thomas is now
compacted with the remaining houses at the east
end of Rutland Street, but presents an ornamental
front in 'the Norman style immediately east of
Maitland Street, and shows there a richly-carved
porch, with some minutely beautiful arcade work.
Maitland Street and Shandwick Place, once a
double line of frontdoor houses for people of good
style, are almost entirely lines of shops or other
new buildings. In the first years of the present
century, Lockhart of Castlehill, Hepburn of Clerkington,
Napier of Dunmore, Tait of Glencross,
and Scott of Cauldhouse, had their residences in
the former; and No. 23, now a shop, was the
abode, about the year 1818, of J. Gibson Lockhaqt,
the son-in-law and biographer of Sir Walter
Scott He died at Abbotsford in 1854 .
In Shandwick Place is now the Albert Institute
of the Fine Arts; erected in 1876, when property
to the value of £25,ooo was acquired for the
purpose. The objects of this institute are the
advancement of the cause of art generally, but
more especially contemporary Scottish art; to ... Stuart Street.] LORD JERVISWOODE. 209 memories. He was the second son of George Baillie of Jerviswoode; and ...

Book 4  p. 209
(Score 0.62)

10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
at thc shop door of Mr. George Boyd, as significant of the wares in which he
dealt. Bailie Duff is said to have actually attended a meeting of the Club on
one occasion.
The first of the six individuals in harness, and mounted by a postillion, is
MR. JOHN LAUDER, coppersmith, whose shop was nearly in the centre of the
West Bow,’ right-hand side in ascending.
Mr. Lauder was a fair gpecimen of the ancient shopkeepers of the Bow-one
who did business cautiously and leisurely, but to some purpose, having realised
a good deal of money. He was a member of the notable “ SPENDTHRICFLTU B,”
which, say the Traditions, “took its name from the extravagance of the
members in spending no less a sum than fmjpence haypenny each night !” The
social indulgence of the party consisted in a supper, at the moderate charge of
twopence halfpenny, and a pint of strong ale, which made up the sum total of each
member‘s debauch, The news of the day supplied the topic of conversation,
which, together with a game or two at whist, constituted the amusement of the
evening.’
The Club continued to exist in another part of the town (Clyde Street),
although somewhat altered in constitution, and a little more extravagant in expenditure.
A respectable septuagenarian whom we have consulted, although
young at the period referred to, was a contemporary of several of the original
members. They all wore cocked hats; and it was one of the fundamental
rules that the members should remain covered throughout the evening, except
during the time grace was asked at supper-a fine being imposed on those who
neglected to eomply with this rule. Well does our worthy informant recollect
the sober contour of old “Johnnie Lauder,” as he reverently doffed his hat to
This ancient street, now nearly annihilated by improvements, wm then almost entirely occupied
by tradesmen connected with the anvil. Fergusson, in his poem of Leith Races, thus ulludeq to the
craft :-
“ The tinkler billies 0’ the Bow,
Are now lass eident clinkin’ ;
As lands their pith or siller dow,
They’re d&n’, an’ they’re drinkin’.”
Some curious reminiscences are presemed of this community of hammermen, their peculiarities,
and the effect produced by the noise of their combined avocations. The father of the late Dr. Andrew
Thomson, when he came first to Edinburgh, took lodgings in that famed quarter of the city. The
first day or two he felt so annoyed by the continued sound of the anvils, that he resolved on seeking
out a-more retired abode, and acquainted his landlady with his intention. The old lady, by no
means willing to lose her lodger, insisted that he should make a trial for other eight days. He did
so, and was astonished to find how soon he got familiarised with the noise. Day after day he felt
the hammering grow less offensive, till at length it not only ceased to disturb him, but, strange to
say, absolutely became necassary to his repose ; and, on removing, in after life, to another quarter
of the city, he experienced considerable difficulty in accustoming himself to the absence of it.-The
inhabitants of the Bow have been frequently heard to declare that they got less sleep on Sunday
morning than on my other, which they attributed to the want of the usual noise.
The SPENDTH~IwPTas properly a Whist Club. They played at carda from eight o’clock till ten,
and then commenced with a Zittlc to eat and something to drink, ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. at thc shop door of Mr. George Boyd, as significant of the wares in which he dealt. ...

Book 9  p. 12
(Score 0.61)

BI 0 GRAPH I C AL SKETCHES. 131
Glasgow did not enter into the scheme with that alacrity which had been anticipated-
the city having previously expended vast sums in deepening the Clyde.
A company was no doubt formed, and the canal ultimately cut as far as Johnstone;
but, for want of funds, it never went farther. Notwithstanding the
lack of that encouragement he had expected, Lord Eglinton continued to prosecute,
single-handed, the herculean task undertaken, although at a much slower
pace than he could have wished. He left no means untried to keep the work
advancing, having not only sold several valuable portions of his estate, but
incurred debt to a large extent ; indeed, it is understood that, previous to his
death, he had expended on the harbour alone upwards of &70,000, without the
satisfaction of having completed what had been so much an object of his solicitude.
The Earl died at an advanced age in 1819, after having for many years
honourably discharged the duties of Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Ayr,
which were somewhat arduous, especially during the three latter years of his
life,’ His lordship was created a Baron of Great Britain and Ireland in 1806,
by the title of Baron Ardrossan of Ardrossan. He was also a Knight of the
order of the Thistle.
The character of the late Earl, like that of all other persons who take a
decided part in public affairs, has been variously represented. Firmly attached
to the Government, and resolute in repelling civil innovation, as well as foreign
aggression, his opinions were of necessity not in unison with those whose
politics were of a less conservative description. In the army he was known to
be a strict disciplinarian ; and, even at the head of his own Fencibles, he sometimes
occasioned excitement by the severity of his punishments.’ Apart from
these considerations, the Earl was deservedly held in estimation. No man
possessed a greater degree of public spirit, or could be more magnificent in his
undertakings. In the case of the canal and harbour of Ardrossan, the result
proved his lordship to have been too sanguine ; and his estates certainly felt
the paralysing effects of such a severe encroachment on his resources ; yet the
speculation employed many hands, and fed many families. In time it is to be
hoped it will produce a portion of the good anticipated from it. As one of the
most steady of the very few resident proprietors of Ayrshire, the Earl of Eglinton
had an undoubted claim to respect. Except when called away by his parliamentary
and other public duties, he remained constantly at home ; and while
he stimulated industry in his own neighbourhood, by his presence and example,
he was on all occasions the patron and active promoter of whatever might tend
to the improvement and prosperity of the country at large. In seasons of com-
So very active and efficient indeed were his lordship’s services in that capacity, that he
obtained the approbation and applause of all parties. In the Justiciary Hall of the County
Buildings, Ayr, there is a painting of the Earl, in the costume of the West Lowland Fencibles,
painted by Sir Henry Raeburn, from the original picture in Eglinton Castle. Thii portrait was
done by subscription, aud placed in the Hall as a tribute of respect to his lordship’s memory.
It ought to be stated, in vindication of the Earl, that he had very bad materials to deal with.
As every one that offered %-as enlisted in the Fencible regiments, they were consequently greatly
mixed, and almost proverbial for the many bad characters to be found in the ranks. ... 0 GRAPH I C AL SKETCHES. 131 Glasgow did not enter into the scheme with that alacrity which had been ...

Book 9  p. 174
(Score 0.61)

Leith; LETTERS OF MARQUE. 219
to Hull, Newcastle, Thurso, Orkney, and Shetland,
to Inverness, Fort George, and Invergordon, Cra
marty, Findhom, Burghead, Ban6 and other places
in the north, twice weekly; to Dundee, Aberdeen,
Stonehaven, Johnshaven, Montrose, and places
farther south, four days a week. A number of
steamers run in summer, on advertised days, between
Leith, Aberdour, Elie, North Berwick, Alloa, etc.
The first screw steamer fromLeith to London
was put on the station in 1853.
Several ships belonging to the port are employed
in the Greenland whale fishery, and a considerable
number trade with distant foreign ports,
especially with those of the Baltic and the West
Indies.
? In consequence of the want of a powder magazine,?
says a statistical writer, ?gunpowder sent
from the mills of Midlothian for embarkationtoo
dangerous a commodity to be admitted to any
ordinary storing-place, or to lie on board vessels
in the harbour-has frequently, when vessels do not
sail at the time expected, to be carted back to
await the postponed date of sailing, and, in some
instances, has been driven six times between the
mills and the port, a distance each time, in going
and returning, of twenty or twenty-four miles, before
it could be embarked?
The lighthouse has a stationary light, and exhibits
it at night so long as there is a depth of not
less than nine feet of water on the bar, for the
guidance of vessels entering the harbour.
The tall old signal-tower has a manager and
signal-master, who display a series of signals during
the day, to proclaim the progress or retrogression of
the tide.
The general anchoring-place for vessels is two
miles from the land, and in the case of large
steamers, is generally westward of Leith, and opposite
Newhaven. During the French and Spanish
war, the roadstead was the station of an admiral?s
flagship, a guardship, and squadron of cruisers.
Inverkeithing is the quarantine station of the
port, eight and three-quarter miles distant, in a direct
h e , by west, of the entrance of Leith Harbour.
In connection with the naval station in the
Roads, Leith enjoyed much prosperity during the
war, as being a place for the condemnation and
sale of prize vessels, with their cargoes; and in
consequence of Bonaparte?s great Continental
scheme of prevention, it was the seat of a most
extensive traffic for smuggling British goods into
the north of Europe, by way of Heligoland, a
system which employed many armed vessels of all
kinds, crowded its harbour, and greatly enriched
many of its bold and speculative inhabitants.
Foreign ventures, however, proved, in some instances,
to be severely unsuccessful ; ? and their
failure combined, with the disadvantages of the
harbour and the oppression of shore dues, to produce
that efflux of prosperity, the ebb of which
seems to have been reached, to give place,? says a
writer in 1851, ?to a steady and wealth-bearing
flood.?
The last prizes candemned and sold in Leith
were some Russian vessels, chiefly brigs, captured
by Sir Charles Napier?s fleet in the Baltic and
Gulf of Finland during the Crimean War.
It is singular that neither at the Trinity House,
in the Kirkgate, nor anywhere else, a record has
been kept of the Leith Letters of Marque or other
armed vessels belonging to the port during the
protracted wars with France, Spain, and Holland,
while the notices that occur of them in the brief
public prints of those days are meagre in the extreme
; yet the fighting merchant marine of Leith
should not be forgotten.
Taking a few of these notices chronologically,
we find that the ship Edinburgh, of Leith, Thomas
Murray commander, a Letter of Marque, carrying
eighteen 4-pounders, with swivels and a fully-armed
crew, on the 30th of August, 1760, in latitude 13O
north, and longitude 58O west, from London, fell in
with a very large French privateer, carrying fourteen
guns, many swivels, and full of men.
This was at eleven in the forenoon. The
Edinburgh, we are told, attacked, and fought her
closely ? for five glasses,? and mauled her aloft so
much, that she was obliged to fill her sails, bear
away, and then bring to, and re-fit aloft. The Edinburgh
continued her course, but with ports triced
up, guns loaded, and the crew at quarters ready to
engage again.
The privateer followed, and attempted to board,
but was received with such a terrible fire of round
shot and small-arms, that she was again obliged to
sheer of. Many times the conflict was renewed,
and at last ammunition fell short on board the
The gallant Captain Murray now lay by, reserving
his fire, while a couple of broadsides swept his
deck; and then, when both ships were almost
muzzle to muzzle, and having brought all his guns
over to one side, poured in his whole fire upon her,
? which did such execution that it drove all hands
from their quarters j she immediately hoisted all
her sails, and made OK?
The crew of the Ednaurgh now ?? sheeted home,?
and gave chase, but she was so heavily laden with
the spoils of her cruise that the enemy out-sailed
her, upon which Captain Murray, with a great
Edinburgh. ... LETTERS OF MARQUE. 219 to Hull, Newcastle, Thurso, Orkney, and Shetland, to Inverness, Fort George, and ...

Book 6  p. 279
(Score 0.61)

Potterrow.] AN OLD TAVERN. 333
Moray, who died in 1810, lived in the Potterrow,
in a large mansion, which was entered through a
garden ?at the east end of the row, and another
by Chapel Street.?? An advertisement, offering it
for sale in 1783, says the earl had occupied it ?for
these ten years past;? that it consists of fifteen
apartments, with servants? hall, vaulted cellar, and
ample stabling. This was, in all probability, the
house formerly occupied by the Duke of Douglas.
The Original Seceder Congregation, afterwards
located in Richmond Street, was established in the
Potterrow about 1794, and removed to the former
quarter in 1813.
We get an idea of the class of humble Edinburgh
merchapzt, as the phrase was understood in Scotland.
On Sundays, too, Mrs. Flockhart?s little
visage might have been seen in a front gallery seat
in Mr. Pattieson?s chapel in the Potterrow. Her
abode, situated opposite to Chalmers? Entry, in
that suburban thoroughfare, was a square, about
fifteen feet each way.?
A mere screen divided her dwelling-house from
her tavern, and before it, every morning, the
bottles containing whisky, rum, and brandy, were
placed on the bunker-seat of a window, with
glasses and a salver of gingerbread biscuits. Anon
an elderly gentleman would drop in, saluting her
with ?? Hoo d?ye do, mem I ? and then proceed to
ROOM IN CLARINDA?S HOUSE, GENERAL?S ENTRY.
taverns of the old school from the description that
Chambers gives us of a famous one, Mrs. Flockhart?s-
otherwise ? Lucky Fykie?s ?-in the Potter-.
row, at the close of the last century,
It was a small as well as obscure edifice, externally
having the appearance of a huckster?s
shop. Lucky Fykie was a neat little elderly
woman, usually clad in an apron and gown of the
same blue-striped stuff, with a black silk ribbon
round her mutch, the lappets of which were tied
under her chin. ?Her husband, the umquhile
John Flucker, or Flockhart, had left her some
ready money, together with his whole stock-in-trade,
consisting of a multifarious variety of articlesropes,
tea, sugar, whipshafts, porter, ale, beer,
yellow-sand, camstune, herrings, nails, cotton-wicks,
thread, needles, tapes, potatoes, lollipops, onions,
and matches, &c., constituting ,her a respectable
help himself from one of the bottles ; another and
another would drop in, till the tiny tavern was
full, and, strange to say, all of them were men of
importance in society, many of them denizens of
George Square - eminent .barristers or wealthy
bankers-so simple were the habits of the olden
time.
In No. 7, Charles Street, which runs into Crichton
Street, near the Potterrow, Lord Jeffrey, the eminent
critic, was born in 1773, in the house of his father,
a Depute-Clerk of Session, though some accounts
have assigned his birthplace to Windmill Street.
Lady Duffus was resident in Charles Street in I 784,
Where this street is now, there was an old locality
known as Charles?s Field, which on Restoration
Day, 1712, was the scene of an ingenious piece
of marked Jacobitism, in honour of the exiled I Stuarts
pub
ale house
public house
tavern ... AN OLD TAVERN. 333 Moray, who died in 1810, lived in the Potterrow, in a large mansion, which was ...

Book 4  p. 333
(Score 0.61)

242 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Gilchrist died upon the 10th September 1804, at the premature age of
thirtyeight. He was succeeded in the business by his brother William, who
also attained to the magistracy, and died in 1826.
Of the two surviving brothers of the family, John and Edward, the former
had a respectable appointment in the Custom-House ; and the latter, who was
in bad health for several years, also held a situation in connection with the Port
of Leith. John, who attained the age of seventy years, was yet “hale and
hearty,” and an excellent representative of the old school. No one who
ever met him at the social board, or experienced the kindness of his welcome,
and the exhilarating effects of a glass and a song at his “ain fireside,” could
fail to recognise in his robust person, and free and hospitable manners, a characteristic
specimen of the last century inhabitants of Edinburgh.‘ He held
his appointment in the Custom-House nearly twenty-seven years, and faithfully
discharged the duties of the office during that long period. He was so universally
esteemed, that, on retiring from office in 1827, he had the honour of being
presented with a massive box from the “ Merchants and Officers of the Customs
at the Port of Leith.” In the language of Mr. Cassels, who addressed Mr.
Gilchrist on the occasion, it might well be said that, having during the long
period of his official service “uniformly enjoyed, not only the approbation of his
superiors and the friendship of his associates, but the unqualified opinion of the
merchants and traders of the port, it must be allowed that he has conducted
himself in every way becoming an officer and a gentleman.”
Mr. Archibald Gilchrist married a Miss M‘Callum, daughter of a Glasgow
merchant, and by her had seven children, most of whom died when young.
Eliza, the eldest daughter, was married to a Dr. Carrick of London, and died
there.
Mr. Gilchrist is well known in Edinburgh as an amateur vocalist of no common excellence. He
was one of the original members of the “ Harmonists’ Society,” instituted in 1826 by Mr. John Mather
of Sheffield. To the last he attended their meetings, and took part in the perforniances with all the
enthusiasm of his younger yearn. His range of songs embraced many of the most popular productions
known to the musical world-whether of the grave or gay, the lively or severe. Indeed, it was
astonishing to hear such songs as “The Sea”-“Black-Eyed Susan”-or “The Wolf,” sung by a
septuagenarian with all the spirit and pathos of youth, and with a voice neither deficient in harmony
nor power. The musical talents of Mr. Gilchrist have been repeatedly noticed in the public journals
of this city. In reporting the annual dinner of the “ Harmonists’ Society,” in 1834, a writer in the
Caledonian Mercury observes-“ Among other distinguished amateurs, we were happy to notice Mr.
Gilchrist, the celebrated sexagenarian vocalist, flourishing in all the freshness of a green old age, and
with a voice that appears to gather strength with his advancing years. We trust we shall not excite
the jealousy of the professional gentlemen present, if WB state that Mr. Gilchrist’s singing of “ The
Sea” w83 the most striking performance of the evening. To a voice of great natural power and
compass, Mr. Gilchrist adds a highly finished execution, which he can only have attained by the
most assiduous culture.” * * * The other newspapers alluded to Mr. Gilchrist in similar terms
of approbation. ... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Mr. Gilchrist died upon the 10th September 1804, at the premature age of thirtyeight. ...

Book 8  p. 339
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Canongate.] THE TENNIS COURT. ? 39
Scotland, and who for some years had been Commissioner
to the General Assembly. In this house
he died, 28th July, 1767, as recorded in the Scots
Magazine, and was succeeded by his son, Major-
General the Earl of Ancrum, Colonel of the 11th
Light Dragoons (now Hussars). His second son,
Lord Robert, had been killed at Culloden.
His marchioness, Margaret, the daughter of Sir
Thomas Nicholson, Bart., of Kempnay, who survived
him twenty years, resided in Lothian Hut
till her death. It was afterwards occupied by the
dowager of the ? fourth Marquis, Lady Caroline
D?Arcy, who was only daughter of Robert Earl
of Holderness, and great-grand-daughter of Charles
Louis, the Elector Palatine, a lady whose character
is remembered traditionally to have been both
grand and amiable. Latterly the Hut was the
residence of Professor Dugald Stewart, who, about
the end of the last century, entertained there many
English pupils of high rank. Among them, perhaps
the most eminent was Henry Temple, afterwards
Lord Palmerston, whose education, commenced
at Harrow, was continued at the University
of Edinburgh. When he re-visited the latter city in
1865, during his stay he was made aware that an
aged woman, named Peggie Forbes, who had been
a servant with Dugald Stewart at Lothian Hut,
was still alive, and residing at No. I, Rankeillor
Street. There the great statesman visited her, and
expressed the pleasure he felt at renewing the
acquaintance of the old domestic.
Lothian Hut, the scene of Dugald Stewart?s
most important literary labours, was pulled down
ih 1825, to make room for a brewery ; but a house
of the same period, at the south-west corner of the
Horse Wynd, bears still the name of Lothian
Vale.
A little to the eastward of the present White
Horse hostel, and immediately adjoining the Water
Gate, stood the Hospital of St. Thomas, founded
in 154r by George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld,
?dedicated to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
all the saints.? It consisted of an almshouse and
chapel, the bedesmen of which were ?to celebrate
the founder?s anniversary obit. by solemnly singing
in the choir of Holyrood church yearly, on the
day of his death, ?the Placebo and Dinie for the
repose of his soul ? and the soul of the King of
Scotland. ? Special care,? says Amot, ? was taken
in allotting money for providing candles to be
lighted during the anniversary ma.ss of requiem,
and the number and size of the tapers were fixed
with a precision which shows the importance in
which these circumstances were held by the founder.
The number of masses, paternosters, aye-marias,
and credos, to be said by the chaplain and bedesmen
is distinctly ascertained.?
The patronage of the institution was vested by
the founder in himself and a certain series of representatives
named by him.
In 1617, with the consent of David Crichton of
Lugton, the patron, who had retained possession
of the endowments, the magistrates of the Canongate
purchased the chapel and almshouse from the
chaplains and bedesmen, and converted the institution
into a hospital for the poor of the burgh.
Over the entrance they placed the Canongate arms,
supported by a pair of ?cripples, an old man and
woman, with the inscription-
HELP HERE THE POORE, AS ZE WALD GOD DID ZOV.
JUNE 19, 1617.
The magistrates of the Canongate sold the patronage
of the institution in 1634 to the Kirk Session,
by whom its revenues ? were entirely embezzled f
by 1747 the buildings were turned into coachhouses,
and in 1787 were pulled down, and replaced
by modem houses of hideous aspect.
On the opposite side of the Water Gate was the
Royal Tennis Court, the buildings of which are
very distinctly shown in Gordon?s map of 1647.
Maitland says it was anciently called the Catchpel,
from Cache, a game now called Fives, a favourite
amusement in Scotland as early as the reign of
James IV. The house, a long, narrow building,
with a court, after being a weavers? workhouse,
was burned down in 1771, and rebuilt in the
tasteless fashion of that period ; but the locality is
full of interest, as being connected not only with
the game of tennis, as played there by the Duke
of Albany, Law the great financial schemer, and
others, but the early and obscure history of the
stage in Scotland.
In 1554 there was a ??litill farsche and play
maid be William Lauder,? and acted before the
Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, for which he was
rewarded by two silver cups. Where it was acted
is not stated. Neither are we told where was perlormed
another play, ? made by Robert Simple ?
at Edinburgh, before the grim Lord Regent and
others of the nobility in 1567, and for which the
mthor was paid ;E66 13s. 4d.
The next record of .a post-Reformation theatre is
in the time of James VI. when several companies
came from London for the amusement of the court,
including one of which Shakspere was a member,
though his appearance cannot be substantiated.
In 1599 the company of English comedians was
interdicted by the clergy and Kirk Session,
though their performances, says Spottiswoode in ... THE TENNIS COURT. ? 39 Scotland, and who for some years had been Commissioner to the General ...

Book 3  p. 39
(Score 0.61)

234
sic an auncienl city, tool I’m tauld the Apostle Paul ance visited this very
district we’re sitting in the noo.” “ Nonsense !” exclaimed his crony-‘‘ Ye’re
gyte, now,” said the landlady ; “ I’m sure I’ve read the Testament mony a time,
an’ I ne’er saw sic a thing in’”’’-‘‘ What’ll ye bet, then 0” quoth the wily
precentor. “ It’s no for the like 0’ me to be betting,’’ said she ; “ but, in a case
like this, I’ll haud ye the gill on the table there’s no a word about the
Patterraw.” The Testament was produced-Tam turned over the leaves with
affected difficulty-till at last he hit upon the passage, Acts xxi. 5. “And we
came with a straight course into Coos, and the day following int,o Rhodes, and
from thence into P-a-t-a-r-a.” Against such conclusive evidence the simple
hostess could urge no appeal ; and was so highly pleased with the discovery, that,
like Eve, she wished the “gudeman” to be made as wise as herself, even at
the expense of another gill. John, who had been engaged in the cellar, very
opportunely made his appearance, and, being told of the astonishing fact, was
as incredulous as his rib had been. John was better acquainted with the process
of reducing bead twenty-two to thirty than he was with the contents of the New
Testament ; nevertheless, he could with great security “ wager ony man half-amutchkin
that the Patterraw, nor ony ither raw in a’ Edinburgh, was nae sae
muckle as mentioned between the twa buirds 0’ the Bible.” The half-mutchkin
stoup, instead of the small tantalising measure which had hitherto occupied the
table, was accordingly filled by the gudewife, who was secretly gratified that
John’s wisdom, so immaculate in his own estimation, was about to be found
somewhat faulty. We need scarcely add that the “P-a-t-a-r-a” of the text at
once decided who should “pay the piper ;” and Tam, thus plentifully supplied,
was spared the alternative he had dreaded of parting with a dry mouth.
Like most others whose talents become so much an object of social gratification,
Tam, who at first drank for the sake of good company, latterly drank for
the sake of good liquor. He knew and felt this, and by no means attempted
either to deceive himself or others on the subject. Mr. Nisbet of Dirleton
(himself an excellent musician, and contemporary of the musical Earl of Kelly’)
happened to meet the jovial precentor pretty early one forenoon, in the High
Street, rather more than half-seas-over. Dirleton challenged Tam for being
“ SO groggy before meridian.” ‘‘ Why,” said he, “ don’t you let your debauch
stand till night 1’’ Tam acknowledged the justice of his censure,-“ Vera true,
sir-vera true ; but as I maun aye be this way ance a day, I maun just tak‘ it
when I can get it.”
Tam continued to be that way very frequently for a great length of timehis
constitution apparently experiencing little or no bad effects from the practice.
He lived to a good old age, and died within a few days of the close of last
century. His death is thus recorded in the Edinburgh Magazine for 1800 ;-
“Died, December 7, Thomas Neil, wright, and precentor in the Old Church
A few copies of his lordship’s minuets were published, from the original manuscripts, by
Some of them are par-
B I 0 GRAPH I C AL S KE T C €I E S.
C. I(. Sharpe, Esq. Small folio-Edinburgh, 1836 : Thos. Stevenson.
ticularly god. ... an auncienl city, tool I’m tauld the Apostle Paul ance visited this very district we’re sitting in ...

Book 8  p. 329
(Score 0.61)

226 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
At the foot of this close, however, we again meet with valuable associations connected
with more than one remarkable period in Scottish history. A door-way on the east side of
the close affords access to a handsome, though now ruinous stone stair, guarded by a neatly
carved balustrade and leading to a garden terrace, on which stands a very beautiful old
mansion, that yields in interest to none of the ancient private buildings of the capital. It
presents a semi-hexagonal front to the north, each of the sides of which is surmounted by a
richly carved dormar window, bearing inscriptions boldly cut in large Roman letters, though
now partly defaced. That over the north window is :-
NIHIL - EST * EX OMNI - PARTE a BEATUM a
The windows along the east side appear to have been originally similarly adorned ; two
of their carved tops are built into an outhouse below, on one of which is the inscription,
LAUS. UBIQUE . DEO , and on the other, FELICITER . INFELIX. In the title-deeds of this
ancient building,’ it is described as ‘‘ that tenement of land, of old belonging to Adam,
Bishop of Orkney, Commendator of Holyroodhouse, thereafter to John, Commendator of
Holyroodhouse,” his son, who in 1603, accompanied James to England, receiving on the
journey the keys of the town of Berwick, in his Majesty’s name. Only three years afterwards,
‘‘ the temporalities and spiritualitie ” of Holyrood were erected into a barony in
his behalf, and himself created a Peer by the title of Lord Holyroodhouse. Here, then, is
the mansion of the celebrated Adam Bothwell, who, on the 15th May 1567, officiated at the
ominous marriage-service in the Chapel of Holyrood Palace,a that gave Bothwell legitimate
possession of the unfortunate Queen Mary, whom he had already so completely
secured within his toils. That same night the distich of Ovid was afExed to the Palace
gate :-
Yense mala8 Maio nubere vulgufj dt;
and from the infamy that popularly attached to this fatal union, is traced the vulgar prejudice
that still regards it as unlucky to wed in the month of May. The character of the old
Bishop of Orkney is not one peculiarly meriting admiration. He married the poor Queen
according to the new forms, in despite of the protest of their framers, and he proved equally
pliable where his own interests were concerned. He was one of the first to desert .his royal
mistress’s party; and only two months after celebrating her marriage with the Earl of
Bothwell, he placed the crown on the head of her infant son. The following year he
humbled himself to the Hirk, and engaged ‘‘ to make a sermoun in the kirk of Halierudehous,
and in the end therof to confesse the offence in mazieng the Queine with the Erle of
Bothwell.”
The interior of this ancient building has been so entirely remodelled to adapt it to the
very different uses of later times, that no relic of its early grandeur or of the manners
of its original occupants remain; but one cannot help regarding its chambers with a
Now the property of Messrs Clapperton and Co., by whom it ia occupied as a warehouse. ’ “Within the add chappel, not with the mess, both with preachings.”-Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 111. Keith and
other historians, however, say, ‘(within the great hall, where the council usuallj met”
Ovid’s Fasti, Book v. ‘ Booke of the Univeraall Kirk of Scotland, p. 131. ... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. At the foot of this close, however, we again meet with valuable associations ...

Book 10  p. 246
(Score 0.61)

202 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moray Pkn.
criticsas, ?beautifully monotonous, andmagnificently
dull;? and by others as the beau-ideal of a fashionable
west-end quarter ; but whatever may be their
intrinsic elegance, they have the serious and incurable
fault of turning their frontages inwards, and
shutting out completely, save from their irregular
rows of back windows, the magnificent prospect
over the valley of the Water of Leith and away to
the Forth
Moray Place, which reaches to within seventy
yards of the north-west quarter of Queen Street, is
a pentagon on a diameter of 325 yards, with an
ornate and central enclosed pleasure ground. It
displays a series of symmetrical, confronting fapdes,
adorned at regular intervals with massive, quartersunk
Doric columns, crowned by a bold entablature.
No 28, on the west side, divided afterwards,
was reserved as the residence of Francis tenth
Earl of Moray, who married Lucy, second daughter
of General John Scott, of Balcomie and Bellevue.
For years the Right Hon. Charles Hope, of
Granton, Lord President of the Court of Session,
and his son, John Hope, Solicitor-General for
Scotland in 182 2, ?and afterwards Lord Justice
Clerk in 1841, lived in Moray Place, No. 12.
The former, long a distinguished senator and
citizen, was born in 1763. His fathty, an eminent
Loiidon merchant, and cadet of the house of
Hopetoun, had been M.P. for West Lothian.
Charles Hope was educated at the High School,
where he attained distinction as dux of the highest
class, and from the University he passed to the
bar in 1784, and two years afterwards was Judge-
Advocate of Scotland. In 1791 he was Steward
of the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and in the first
year of the century was Lord Advocate, and as
such drew out and aided the magistrates in
obtaining a Poor?s Bill for the city, on which occasion
he was presented with a piece of plate valued
at a hundred guineas.
When the warlike Spirit of the country became
roused at that time by the menacing aspect of
France, none was more active among the
volunteer force than Charles Hope. He enrolled
as a private in the First Edinburgh Regident, and
was eventually appointed Lieut.-Colonel, and from
1801, with the exception of one year when the
the corps was disbanded at the Peace of Amiens,
he continued to command till its final dissolution
in 1814 Kay gives us an equestrian portrait
of him in 1812, clad in the now-apparently
grotesque uniform of the corps, a swallow-tailed
red coat, faced with blue and turned up with
white ; brass wings, and a beaver-covered helmethat
with a side hackle, jack boots, and white
breeches, with a leopard-skin saddle-cloth and
crooked sabre. The corps presented him with a
superb sword in 1807. He personally set an
example of unwearied exertion ; his speeches on
several occasions, and his correspondence with the
commander-in-chief, breathed a Scottish patriotism
not less pure than hearty in the common cause.
?We did not take up arms to please any Minister
or set of Ministers,? he declared on one occasion,
?but to defend our native land from foreign and
domestic enemies.?
After being M.P. for Dumfries, on the elevation
of Mr. Dundas to the peerage in 1802, he was
unanimously chosen a member for the city of
Edinburgh, and during the few years he continued
in Parliament, acted as few Lords Advocate have ever
done, and notwithstanding the pressure of imperial
matters and the threatening aspect of the times,
brought forward several measures of importance
to Scotland; but his parliamentary career was
rendered somewhat memorable by an accusation
of abuse of power as Lord Advocate, brought
against him by Mr. Whitbread, resulting in a vast
amount of correspondence and deiating in 1803-
The circumstances are curious, as stated by the
latter :-
?Mr. Momson, a farmer in Banffshire, had a
servant of the name of Garrow, wllo entered a
volunteer corps, and attended drills contrary to his
master?s pleasure; and on the 13th of October
last, upon the occasion of an inspection of the
company by the Marquis of Huntly, he absented
himself entirely from his master?s work, in conse
quence of which he discharged him The servant
transmitted a memorial to the Lord Advocate,
stating his case, and begging to know what
compensation he could by law claim from his late
master for the injury he had suffered His
lordship gave it as his opinion that the memorialist
had no claim for wages after the time he was
dismissed, thereby acknowledging that he had
done nothing contrary to law; but he had not
given a bare legal opinion, he had prefaced it by
representing Mr. Morrison?s act as unprincipled
and oppressive, and that without proof or inquiry.
Not satisfied with this, he next day addressed a
letter to the Sheriff-substitute of Banffshire, attributing
Mr. Morrison?s conduct to disafection and
disZoyaZby.?
The letter referred to described Momson?s
conduct as ? atrocious,? and such as could only
have arisen from a spirit of treason, adding, ?it is
my order to you as Sheriff-substitute of the county,
that on the first Frenchman landing in Scotland.
you do immediately apprehend and secure ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moray Pkn. criticsas, ?beautifully monotonous, andmagnificently dull;? and by others ...

Book 4  p. 202
(Score 0.6)

Currie.] DR. JAMES ANDERSON. . 335
were appointed to look after the king?s exchequer,
?properties, and casualties,? were named. (?Moyses?
Memoirs.?)
In April, 1598, he witnessed at Stirling the
contract between James VL, Ludovick Stewart,
Duke of Lennox, and Hugh, fifth Earl of Eglinton,
for the marriage of the latter and Gabriella,
sister of the duke.
He is best known in Scottish legal literature by
his treatise ?? De Verborum Significatione,? and the
edition of the ?? Regiam Majestatem,? but Lord
Hailes doubted if his knowledge of Scottish antiquities
was equal to his industry.
In 1607, with reference to the latter work, Sir
James Balfour records in his Annales? that ?? The
ancient Lawes of Scotland, collected by s? John
Skeene, Clerke of Register, on the Lordes of the
Privey Counsall?s recommendation to the King,
by their letters of the 4th of Marche this yeire
wer ordained to be published and printed, on his
Majestie?s charges.?
This work, which was printed in folio at Edinburgh
in 1609, is entitled ? REGIAM MAJESTATEM
SCOTIR;. The auld lawes and constitutions of Scotland,
faithfullie collected furth of the Register, and
other auld authentick Bukes, from the dayes of King
hlalcolme the Second vntill the time of King Jame
the First.? It contains the Quoniam Attachianzentq
or Baron Laws, the Burgh Laws, the Forest Law:
of William the Lion, and many other quaint anc
curious statutes.
His son, Sir James Skene of Curriehill, succeedec
Thomas, Earl of Mehose, as President of thc
Court of Session in 1626. At what time he w;1!
made a baronet of Nova Scotia is unknown, bui
his death as such is thus recorded by Balfour :-
?The 20 of October (1663) deyed s? Jame:
Skeine of Curriehill, Knight and Barronet, Presi
dent of the Colledge of Justice, at his auen houssc
in Edinburghe, and was interred in the Greyfriar:
ther.? Re was buried within the church, when
his tomb was found a few years ago; and tht
house in which he died is that described as bein;
?beside the Grammar School,? within the south
east angle of the Flodden wall, and in after years
the official residence of the Professor of Divinity.
Sir Archibald Johnston (Lord Warriston) wa:
a considerable heritor in the parish of Currie
Maitland (Lord Ravelrig) we have already referrec
to, and also to Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton
?The Scotts of hlalleny, father and son, were like
wise eminent lawyers at the same period, and tht
latter had a seat on the bench,? says the ?Olc
Statistical Account? ; but if so, his name does no1
appear in the list of senators at that time.
(? Eglinton Memorials.?)
.
The late General Thomas Scott of Malleny, who
lied at the age of ninety-six, served on the contilent
of Europe, and in the American War under
.he Marquis of Cornwallis.
He entered the army when a boy, and was a
:aptain in the 53rd Foot in October, 1777. It is
-ecorded of him that he carried some very impor-
:ant despatches in the barrel of his spontoon with
ucess and dexterity, passing through the American
hes in the disguise of aa armed pedler. These
services were recognised by Lord Melbourne, who
gave him a pension without solkitation.
He belonged latterly to the Scots Brigade ; was
t major-general of 1808, and a lieutenant-general
af 1813.
In 1882 his ancient patrimony of Malleny was
purchased by the Earl of Rosebery.
James Anderson, LLD., a miscellaneous writer
of considerable eminence, the son of a farmer, was
born at Hermiston, near Currie, in 1739, ?His
ancestors had been farmers,? says the Sots Magazine
for 1809, ?and had for several generations
farmed the same land, which circumstance is supposed
to have introduced him to that branch of
knowledge which formed the chief occupation of
his life.?
Among the companions of his youth, born in
the same hamlet, was Dr. James Anderson, who in
the early years of the present century was Physician-
General of the Forces in Madras. They were
related, educated together, and maintained a correspondence
throughout life.
Losing his father at the age of fifteen, he entered
upon the management of his ancestral farm, and
at the same time attended the chemistry class of
Dr. Cullen in the University of Edinburgh, studying
also several collateral branches of science. He
adopted a number of improvements, one of which,
the introduction of a small two-horse plough, was
afterwards so common in Scotland.
Amid his ? agricultural labours, so great was his
thirst for knowledge, and so steady his application,
that he contrived to acquire a considerable stock
of information; and in 1771, under the nouz de
phme of ? Agricola,? he contributed to Ruddiman?s
Edinburgh Week4 Xagazine a series of ? Essays
on Planting,? which were afterwards published in
a volume. In 1773 he furnished the article
Monsoon? to the first edition of the EmycZopdia
Britannica,. in which, curiously enough, he
confidently predicted the failure of?captain Cook?s
first expedition in search of a southern polar continent.
Previous to ,1777 he had removed from Hermistop
to a large uncultivated farm, consisting of ... DR. JAMES ANDERSON. . 335 were appointed to look after the king?s exchequer, ?properties, and ...

Book 6  p. 335
(Score 0.6)

358 OLD -4KD NEW EDINBURGH. ELauristollr - _
.. . . .
whom were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl 01
Stair, and Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, of Pollock
and Keir, with an acting committee, at the head
of whom were the Lord Provost, the Principal, Sir
Alexander Grant, Bart., and Professor Sir Robert
Christison, Bart., D.C.L.
The project was started in 1874, and commenced
fairly in 1878. The architect was Mr. R. Rowand
Anderson, and the cost of the whole, when
finished, was estimated at about ,t;250,000.
The first portion erected was the southern block,
comprising the departments of anatomy, surgery,
practice of physic, physiology, pathology, midwifery,
and a portion of the chemistry. The frontage
to the Meadow Walk presents a bold and
semicircular bay, occupied by the pathology
and midwifery department. An agreeable variety,
,but general harmony of style, characterises the
buildings as a whole, and this arose from the
architect adhering strictly to sound principle, in
studying first his interior accommodation, and
then allowing it to express itself in the external
elevations.
The square block at the sjouthem end of the
Meadow Walk, near the entrance to George Square,
is chiefly for the department of physiology ; whilst
the south front is to a large extent occupied by
anatomy. . The hall for the study of practical anatomy is
lighted by windows in the roof and an inner court
facing to the north, a southern light being deemed
unnecessary or undesirable. The blank wall thus
left on the south forms an effective foil to the
pillared windows of the physiology class-room, at
one end, and to some suitable openings, similarly
treated, which serve to light hat and coat rooms,
&c., at the other.
In the eastern frontage to Park Place, where the
departments of anatomy, physic, and surgery, are
'placed, a prominent feature in the design is
produced by the exigencies of internal accommodation.
As it was deemed unnecessary in
the central part of the edifice to carry the groundfloor
so far forward as the one immediately above,
the projecting portion of the latter is supported by
massive stone trusses, or brackets, which produce a
series of deep shadows with a bold and picturesque
effect. The inner court is separated from the
chief quadrangle of the building by a noble
hall upwards of IOO feet long, for the accommodation
of the University anatomical museum. It
has two tiers of galleries, and is approached by
a handsome vestibule with roof groined in stone,
and supported by pillars of red sandstone. The
quadrangle is closed in to the west, north, and east,
by extensive rmges of apartments for the accommodation
of chemistry, materia medica, and
medical jurisprudence. The north front faces
Teviot Row, and in it is the chief entrance to the
quadrangle by a massive gateway, which forms one
of the leading architectural features of the design.
When the building devoted to educational purposes
shall have been completed, there will only remain
to be built the great college hall and campanile,
which are to complete the east face of the design.
Including the grant of &3o,ooo obtained from
Government, the whole amount at the disposal of
the building committee is about &18o,ooo.
For the erection of the hall and tower a further
sum of about &5o,ooo or ~60,000 is supposed to
be necessary.
The new Royal Infirmary, on the western side Ff
the Meadow Walk, occupies the grounds of George
\.Vatson's Hospital, and is engrafted on that edifice.
The latter was bnilt in what was then a spacious
field, lying southward of the city wall. The founder,
who was born in 1650, the year of Cromwell's ipvasion,
was descended from a family which for
some generations had been merchants in Edinburgh;
but, by the death of his father, John Watson,
and the second marriage of his mother, George
and his brother were left to the care of destiny.
A paternal aunt, Elizabeth Watson, or Davidson,
however, provided for their maintenance and education
; but George being her favourite, she bound
him as an apprentice to a merchant in the city,
and after visiting Holland to improve his knowledge
of business, she gave him a small sum wherewith
to start on his own account. He returned to
Scotland, in the year 1676, when he entered the
service of Sir James Dick, knight, and merchant of
Edinburgh, as his clerk or book-keeper, who some
time after allowed him to transact, in a mercantile
way, certain affairs in the course of exchange between
Edinburgh and London on his own. behalf.
In 1695 he became accountant to the Bank of
Scotland, and died in April, 1723, and by his will
bequeathed ;~;IZ,OOO to endow a hospital for the
maintenance and instruction of the male children
and grandchildren of decayed merchants in Edinburgh
; and by the statutes of trustees, a preference
was given to the sons and grandsons of members of
the Edinburgh Merchant Company. The money
left by the prudent management of the governors
was improved to about &20,000 sterling befort
they began the erection of the hospital in 1738,
in a field of seven acres belonging to Heriot's
Trust.
George Watson, in gratitude for the benefits conferred
upon him in his friendless boyhood by his ... OLD -4KD NEW EDINBURGH. ELauristollr - _ .. . . . whom were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl 01 Stair, and ...

Book 4  p. 358
(Score 0.6)

274 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Chambers Street.
Britannica? In 1763 he was Treasurer of the
Navy, and died at Marseilles in 1777.
For some years after that period Minto House
was the residence of Sir William Nairne of Dun-
? sinnan, a Judge of the Court of SesGon, who removed
there from one he had long occupied, before
his promotion to the bench, at the head of the
Back Stairs, and in which he had lived as Mr.
Nairne, at that terrible period of his family history,
when his niece, the beautiful Mrs. Ogilvie, was
tried and convicted for murder in 1766.
He was the last of his line ; and when he died, in
1811, at an advanced age, his baronetcy became
extinct, and a nephew, his sister?s son, assumed
the name and arms of Nairne of Dunsinnan.
The principal entrance to Minto House in those
days was from the Horse Wynd, when it was
noted chiefly as a remnant of the dull and antiquated
grandeur of a former age. It was next
divided into a series of small apartments, and let
to people in the humblest rank of life. But it was
not fated to be devoted long to such uses, for the
famous surgeon, Mr. (afterwards Professor) Syme,
had it fitted up in 1829 as a surgical hospital for
street accidents and other cases, Mr. Syme retained
the old name of Minto House, and the surgery
and practice acquired a world-wide celebrity,
Long the scent of demonstrations and prelections
of eminent extramural lecturers, it was swept away
in the city improvements, and its?successor is now
included in Chambers Street, and has become the
6? New Medical Scliool of Minto House,? so that
the later traditions of tbe site ~ l l be perpetuated.
Among other edifices demolished in Argyle
Square, together with the Gaelic? Church, was the
Meeting House of the Scottish Baptists, seated foi
240-one of two sections of that congregation
established in I 766.
Proceeding westward, from the broad site 01
what was once Adam Square, and the other two
squares of which we have just given the history,
Chambers Street opens before us, a thousand feet in
length, With an average of seventy in breadth, extending
from the South Bridge to that of George IV.
It was begun in 1871 under the City Improve
ment Act, and was worthily named in honour 01
the Lord Provost Chambers, the chief promoter 01
the new city improvement scheme. With the
then old squares it includes the sites of North
College Street, and parts of sites of the Horse and
College Wynds, and is edificed into four largc
blocks, three or four storeys high, in ornate example:
of the Italian style, with some specimens of the
French.
Chambers Street was paved with wooden blocks
in 1876, at a cost of nearly A6,000, and on that
occasion 322,000 blocks were used.
On the south side three hundred and sixty feet OF
Chambers Street are occupied by the north front.
of the University. Over West College Street-of
old, the link between the Horse Wynd and.
Potterrow-is thrown a glass-covered bridge, connecting
the University with the Museum of Science.
and Art, which, when completed, will occupy the
remaining 400 feet of the north side to where ?? The
Society ?-besides one of Heriot?s schools-exists.
now in name.
This great and noble museum is in the Venetian
Renaissance style, from a design by Captain
Fowkes of the Royal Engineers. The laying ofthe
foundation-stone of this structure, on the
23rd of October, 1861, was the last public act of
His Royal Highness the Prince Consort. It is
founded on plans similar to those of the Interna--
tional Exhibition buildings in London, and, by theyear
1870, contained-a great hall, 105 feet long,
seventy wide, and seventy-seven in height ; a hail
of natural history, 130 feet long, fifty-seven feet.
wide, and seventy-seven in height ; a south hall,
seventy feet long, fifty feet wide, and seventy-seven,
in height ; and two other great apartments. When
completed it will be one of the noblest buildings
in Scotland.
In 1871-4 the edifice underwent extension, the.
great hall being increased to the length of 270 feet,.
and other apartments being added, which, when
finished, will have a measurement of 400 feet in.
length, 200 feet in width, with an average of ninety
in height Already it contains vast collections in,
natural history, in industrial art, in manufacture,
and in matters connected with physical science.
The great aim of the architect has been to have
every part well-lighted, and for this purpose a glass
roof with open timberwork has been adopted, and
the details of the whole structure made as light as
possible. Externally the front is constructed of
red and white sandstone, and internally a more
elaborate kind of decoration has been carried out.
Altogether the effect of the building is light, rich,.
and elegant. .In the evenings, when open, it is
lighted up by means of: horizontal iron rods in the
roof studded with gas burners, the number of jets.
exceeding 5,000.
The great hall or saloon is a singularly noble
apartment, with two galleries The collection of
industrial art here comprises illustrations of nearly
all the chief manufactures of the British Isles and
foreign countries, and the lafgest collection in the
world of the raw products of commerce. It
possesses sections for mining and quarrying, for
? ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Chambers Street. Britannica? In 1763 he was Treasurer of the Navy, and died at ...

Book 4  p. 274
(Score 0.6)

Canonmills.] THE ROYAL GYMNASIUM. 87
to search for and seize them for his own use.
Hunter also prosecuted him for throwing his wife
into the mill-lade and using opprobrious language,
for which he was fined 650 sterling, and obliged
to find caution.
A hundred years later saw a more serious tumult
in Canonmills.
In 1784 there was a great scarcity of food in
Edinburgh, on account of the distilleries, which
were said by some to consume enormous quantities
of oatmeal and other grain unfermented, and
to this the high prices were ascribed. A large mob
proceeded from the town to Canonmills, and attacked
the great distillery of the Messrs. Haig
there j but meeting with an unexpected resistance
from the workmen, who, as the attack had been
expected, were fully supplied with arms, they retired,
but not until some of their number had been
killed, and the ?Riot Act? read by the sheriff,
Baron Cockburn, father of Lord Cockburn. TheiI
next attempt was on the house of the latter;
but on learning that troops had been sent for, they
desisted. In these riots, the mob, which assembled
by tuckof drum, was charged by the troops, and
several of the former were severely wounded.
These were the gth, or East Norfolk Regiment,
under the command of Colonel John Campbell 01
Blythswood, then stationed in the Castle.
During the height of the riot, says a little ?Histoq
of Broughton,? a private carriage passed through thc
village, and as it was said to contain one of thc
Haigs, it was stopped, amid threats and shouts
Some of the mob opened the door, as the bIindr
had been drawn, and on looking in, saw that th<
occupant was a lady; the carriage was therefore
without further interruption, allowed to proceed tc
its destination-Heriot?s Hill.
On the 8th of September subsequently, two of thf
rioters, in pursuance of their sentence, were whippei
through the streets of Edinburgh, and afterwards
transported for fourteen years.
In the famous ?Chaldee MS.,? chapter iv.
reference is made to ?a lean man who hath hi!
dwelling by the great pool to the north of the Nelr
City.? This was Mr. Patnck Neill, a well-knowr
citizen, whose house was near the Loch side.
In this quarter we now find the Patent Roya
Gymnasium, one of the most remarkable anc
attractive places of amusement of its kind in Edin
burgh, and few visitors leave the city without seeing
it. At considerable expense it was constructed bj
Mr. Cox of Gorge House, for the purpose of afford
ing healthful and exhilarating recreation in the ope1
air to great numbers at once, and in April, 1865
was publicly opened by the provosts, magistrates
tnd councillors of Edinburgh and Leith, accom-
?anied by all the leading inhabitants of the city and
:ounty.
Among the many remarkable contrivances here
was a vast ?rotary boat,? 471 feet in circumference,
seated for 600 rowers ; a ? giant see-saw,? named
I? Chang,? IOO feet long and seven feet broad, supported
on an axle, and capable of containing zoo
?ersons, alternately elevating them to a height of
ifty feet, and then sinking almost to the ground;
i ? velocipede paddle merry-go-round,? 160 feet
in Circumference, seated for 6co persons, who propel
the machine by sitting astride on the rim, and
push their feet against the ground ; a ? self-adjust-
Lng trapeze,? in five series of three each, enabling
gymnasts to swing by the hands 130 feet from one
trapeze to the other; a ?compound pendulum
swing,? capable of holding about IOO persons, and
kept in motion by their own exertions.
Here, too, are a vast number of vaulting and
climbing poles, rotary ladders, stilts, spring-boards,
quoits, balls, bowls, and little boats and canoes on
ponds, propelled by novel and amusing methods.
In winter the ground is prepared for skaters on a
few inches of frozen water, and when lighted up at
night by hundreds of lights, the scene, with its
musical accessories, is one of wonderful brightness,
gaiety, colour, and incessant motion.
Here, also, is an athletic hall, with an instructor
always in attendance, and velocipedes, with the
largest training velocipede course in Scotland. The
charges of admission are very moderate, so as to
meet the wants of children as well as of adults.
A little eastward of this is a large and handsome
school-house, built and maintained by the congregation
of St. Mary?s Church. A great Board
School towers up close by. Here, too, was Scotland
Street Railway Station, and the northern entrance
of the longsince disused tunnel underground to
what is now called ~e Waverley Station at Princes
Street.
A little way northward of Canonmills, on the
north bank of the Water of Leith, near a new bridge
of three arches, which supersedes one of considerable
antiquity, that had but one high arch, is the
peculiar edifice known as Tanfield Hall. It is an
extensive suite of buildings, designed, it has been
said, to represent a Moorish fortress, but was erected
in 1825 as oil gasworks, and speedily turned to
other purposes. In 1835 it was the scene of a
great banquet, given by his admirers to Daniel
O?Connell; and in 1843 of the constituting of the
first General Assembly of the Free Church, when
the clergy first composing it quitted in a body the
Establishment,as described in our account of George ... THE ROYAL GYMNASIUM. 87 to search for and seize them for his own use. Hunter also prosecuted him for ...

Book 5  p. 87
(Score 0.6)

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