... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
than his son should fill his place; and they appointed an assistant till Sir
Henry ...
Book 9 p. 357
(Score 0.63)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
of ropes and a ball, completed their equipment. Besides enjoying a species of
monopoly ...
Book 9 p. 209
(Score 0.63)
... OLD AND NEW EDINEURGH. [Cowgate.
showed that the barrel had been placed so as to collect
the rain water from ...
Book 4 p. 246
(Score 0.63)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street.
likely to have arisen. It happened by accident
that the Earl of ...
Book 2 p. 210
(Score 0.63)
![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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p075.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 255")
... THE BIRTHPLACE OF SCOTT. 255
inaugural thesis containing an outline of his celebrated
discovery of ...
Book 4 p. 255
(Score 0.63)
... SKETCHES. 287
afterwards, with much inconsistency, established another, having similar objects
in ...
Book 8 p. 402
(Score 0.63)
... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BO W. 251
so near their ancient burgh. The port was accordingly shut up, and the ...
Book 10 p. 272
(Score 0.62)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ledge of his author. To speak comparatively, Digges’ figure was better, and ...
Book 8 p. 212
(Score 0.62)
... SKETCHES. 345
several well-written sermons are among his manuscripts. As illustrative of his
talent ...
Book 8 p. 482
(Score 0.62)
... 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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p029.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 209")
... Stuart Street.] LORD JERVISWOODE. 209
memories. He was the second son of George
Baillie of Jerviswoode; and ...
Book 4 p. 209
(Score 0.62)
... 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)
... 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)
... 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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p153.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 333")
... 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)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Gilchrist died upon the 10th September 1804, at the premature age of
thirtyeight. ...
Book 8 p. 339
(Score 0.61)
![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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p051.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 39")
... THE TENNIS COURT. ? 39
Scotland, and who for some years had been Commissioner
to the General ...
Book 3 p. 39
(Score 0.61)
... 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)
... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
At the foot of this close, however, we again meet with valuable associations ...
Book 10 p. 246
(Score 0.61)
... 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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p154.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 335")
... DR. JAMES ANDERSON. . 335
were appointed to look after the king?s exchequer,
?properties, and ...
Book 6 p. 335
(Score 0.6)
... OLD -4KD NEW EDINBURGH. ELauristollr - _
.. . . .
whom were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl 01
Stair, and ...
Book 4 p. 358
(Score 0.6)
... 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)
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![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](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p098.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 87")
