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... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. of the‘antiquities of Edinburgh. It consists of two fine profile heads, in high ...

Book 10 p. 293
(Score 0.6)

164 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the most eminent venerators of antiquity, during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Two small volumes of the Paton Correspondence-now rare and valuable-have been
published, which serve to show the very high estimation in which he was held as a literary
antiquary, and the numerous contributions furnished by him towards the most eminent
works of that class, only a small portion of which has been acknowledged by the recipients.
George Paton was a man of extreme modesty and diffidence,-a bachelor of retiring and
taciturn inclinations ;-yet he was neither illiberal eor unsocial in his habits ; his time, his ,
knowledge, and his library, were all at the service of his friends, and though not only temperate
but abstemious in his tastes, his evenings were generally spent with Herd, and
other kindred spirits, in Johnie Dowie’s Tavern, in Libberton’s Wynd, the well-known
rendezvous of the Scottish literati during that period. He was methodical in all his habits ;
the moment eleven sounded from St Giles’s steeple, his spare figure might be seen
emerging from the wynd head, and the sound of his cane on the pavement of Lady Stair’s
Close, gave the signal to his housekeeper for his admittance. This interesting old Edinburgh
character bears in many respects a resemblance to the more celebrated ‘‘ Elia ” of
the East India House. He obtained a clerkship in the Custom House, the whole emoluments
of which, after an augmentation for many years’ service, never exceeded $80 ; and
yet with this narrow income he contrived to amass a collection of books and manuscripts
to an extent rarely equalled by a single individual; On his death in the year 1807, at the
advanced age of eighty-seven, his valuable library was sold by auction, occupying considerably
more than a month in its disposal ; and its treasures were strenuously contended for
by the chief bibliopolists assembled from distant parts of the kingdom.’
The old mansion in Lady Stair’s Close bears over its entrance this pious inscription,
“ FEARE THE LORD, AND DEPART FRON EVILL,” with the date 1622, and the
arms and initials of its original proprietors, Sir William Gray of Pittendrum,-the
ancestor of the present Lord Gray,-and Geida or Egidia his wife, sister of Sir John
Smith of Grothill, Provost of Edinburgh. Sir William was a man of great influence and
note ; although, by virtue of a new patent, granted by Charles I., the ancient title of Lord
Gray reverted to his family, he devoted himself to commerce, and became one of the most
extensive Scottish merchants of his day, improving and enlarging the foreign trade of his
country, and acquiring great wealth to himself. On the breaking out of civil commotions,
he adhered to the royal party, and shared in its misfortunes j he was fined by the Parliament
100,000 merks, for corresponding with Montrose, and imprisoned first in the Castle
The correspondence between Paton and (Xough-full of matter deeply interesting to the antiquary and topographer
-war4 wme yeara since prepared for publication by Mr Turnbull, Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, but owing
to the paucity of subscribera, $,he MS. waa thrown aside, to the great losa of literary students.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. the most eminent venerators of antiquity, during the latter part of the eighteenth ...

Book 10 p. 178
(Score 0.6)

3 30 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the usual substitute with our simple forefathers for the comfortable glazed sash that now
admits the morning beams to the meanest dwelling. Gawin Douglas, in his prologue
to the seventh book of the 4‘Bneid,’’ which contains a description of winter, warned
that the “ day is dawing ” by the whistling of a sorry gled, and glancing through
A schot wyndo onschet, a litill on char,
Pemavyt the mornyng bla, wan, and har.
Douglas, at the time he undertook his vigorous translation of Virgil, was Provost of the
Collegiate Church of St Giles, and we could hardly wish for more conclusive evidence of
the general prevalence of this rude device throughout the Scottish capital during the
prosperous era of the reign of James IT., than the very natural and graphic manner in
which the keen wintry prospect he espies through his half-open shutter is described, and
the comfortable picture of his own blazing hearth, where he solaces himself by the
resumption of his pleasing task :-
The dew-droppis congelit on stibbill and r p d ,
And scharp hailstanys mortfundeit of kynd,
Hoppand on the thak and on the causay by :
The scbot I closit, and drew inwart in hy,
Chyvirrand for cdd, the ae8~onw as so snell,
Schupe with hayt flambe to fleym the freezyng fell.
And as I bownyt me to the fyre me by,
Baith up and down the hows I dyd aspy :
And seeand Virgill on ane lettron stand,
To write onone I hynt a pen in hand.
Another of these picturesque tenements is Palfrep’s or the King’s Head Inn, a fine
antique stone land built about the reign of Charles I. An inner court is enclosed by the
buildings behind, and it long remained one of the best frequented inns of old Edinburgh,
being situated nearly at the. junction of two of the principal approaches to the town
from the south and west. From the style and apparent age of the building, however,
there can be little question that its original occupants ranked among the old Scottish
aria tocracy.
In making the excavations necessary for the erection of a handsome suit of additional
court-rooms for the accommodation of the Lords Ordinary, built to the south of the old
Parliament Hall towards the close of 1844, some curious discoveries were made, tending
to illustrate the changes that have been effected on the Cowgate during the last four
centuries. In the space cleared by the workmen, on the site of the Old Parliament Stairs,
a considerable fragment of the fist city wall was laid bare ; a solid and substantial mass
of masonry, very different from the hasty superstructure of 1513. On the sloping ground
to the south of this, at about fourteen feet below the surface, a range of strong oaken
m 5 a were found lying close together, and containing human remains, In one skull
the brain remained 80 fresh as to show the vermicular form of surface, although the
ancient Churchyard of St Giles, of which these were doubtless some of the latest occupants,
had ceased to be used as a place of sepulture since the grant of the Greyfriars’
gardens for that purpose in 1566. The form of these coffins was curious, being quite
straight at the sides, but with their lids rising into a ridge in the centre, and altogether
closely resembling in form the stone coffins of a still earlier era. During the same

... 30 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. the usual substitute with our simple forefathers for the comfortable glazed sash that ...

Book 10 p. 360
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70 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
consulted on the subject. He was an uncompromising supporter of the Constitution,
from a conviction of its utility; yet his Plans of Reform, in 1782
and 1831, clearly show that he was by no means insensible to improvement.
His support of the corn laws arose from 8 belief that certain restrictions were
necessary for the protection of the British grower, and that the prosperity of a
country cannot be solid where the foundation does not rest on adequate cultivation.
The state of Europe during‘the greater parti of his public life tended to
strengthen this maxim ; and the great aim of his ambition seemed to be, by improved
and extended culture, to render Britain independent of foreign supplies.
Whether his politics in this respect be sound or otherwise, no one can deny
the purity of his motives. The political character and writings of Sir John
may be forgotten; but his memory, as a practical benefactor of his country,
must remain imperishable. That he was no heartless theorist is amply attested
by the improvements effected on his own estate, in which the interests of his
numerous tenantry were equally consulted with that of the soil. In no district
of Great Britain has population increased for the last twenty or thirty years on
a ratio equal with the county of Caithness. This is no doubt mainly to be
ascribed to the fisheries, in the establishment of which Sir John took a leading
interest. By liberal encouragement and assistance, he induced the settlement
of companies-prevailed upon the Society for promoting British Fisheries to
form a settlement at Wick-and, besides founding several villages, introduced
various branches of industry. By his exertions, so early as 1785, in procuring
funds from the forfeited estates of Scotland, towards the formation of roads
throughout the northern counties, the influence of his public spirit has long
been felt in the improved means of communication ; industry and prosperity
now prevail where apathy and indolence formerly existed, and Caithness has
long been distinguished as the most extensive fishing district in Scotland.
Whether in improved fields, abundant harvests, the breed of cattle, or the
condition of the rural population, the public spirit and example of Sir John
Sinclair has been felt over all Scotland: In whatever regarded his native
country he took especial interest. He was President of the Highland Society
of London, as well ag an original member of the Highland Society of Scotland,
and he was sensitively alive to the preservation of whatever was characteristic
in national language, dress, or manners. He frequently presided at the annual
competition of pipers in Edinburgh, and was enthusiastic in his admiration of
the music of Scotland.’
1 The following instance is given by his biographer :-One year he insisted upon carrying along
with him two Italian noblemen-a Count from Milan, and a Marchese from Naplea-contrary to the
wishes of his friends, who in vain assailed him with essmces that, to the refined e m of Italy, the
great Highland bagpipe would be intolerably offensive. When
hie Italian pests 8aw the exertions of the competitom, the enthusiasm of the audience, and the
exultation of the conqueror ; and when they heard the rapturous applause with which every sentence
of the oration of the presea wm received, they declared that they had never witneased any epeotacle
so gratifying. “I am pmud to
think,” said the Marchese, (‘that we too have the bagpipe in our country ; it is played by all the
peasantry of Calabria.”
But a great triumph awaited him.
‘
“ I would have come from Italy to be present,” $aid the Count

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. consulted on the subject. He was an uncompromising supporter of the Constitution, from ...

Book 9 p. 92
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196 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGR, [High Street.
Torthorwald could defend himself, ran him through
the body, and slew him on the spot.
Stewart fled from the city, and of him we hear
no more ; but the Privy Council niet twice to consider
what should be done now, for all the Douglases
were taking arms to attack the Stewarts of
Ochiltree. Hence the Council issued imperative
orders that the Earl of Morton, James Commendator
of Melrose, Sir George and Sir Archibald
Douglas his uncles, William Douglas younger of
Drumlanrig, Archibald Uouglas of Tofts, Sir James
Dundas of Arniston, and others, who were breathing
vengeance, should keep within the doors of
their dwellings, orders to the same effect being
issued to Lord Ochiltree and all his friends.
? There is a remarkable connection of murders
recalled by this shocking transaction,? says a historian.
?? Not only do we ascend to Torthorwald?s
slaughter of Stewart in 1596, and Stewart?s deadly
prosecution of Morton to the scaffold in 1581 ; but
William Stewart was the son of Sir William Stewart
who was slain by the Earl of Bothwell in the Blackfriars
Wynd in 1588.?
A carved marble slab in the church of Holyrood,
between two pillars on the north side, still marks
the grave of the first lord, who took his title from
the lonely tower of Torthonvald on the green brae,
between Lockerbie and Dumfries. It marks also
the grave of his wife, Elizabeth Carlyle of that ilk,
and bears the arms of the house of Douglas,
quartered with those of Carlyle and Torthorwald,
namely, beneath a ch2f charged with three pellets,
a saltire proper, and the crest, a star, with the inscription
:-
? Heir lyis ye nobil and poten Lord Jarnes Dovglas, Lord
of Cairlell and Torthorall, vlm maned Daime Eliezabeth
Cairlell, air and heretrix yalof; vha vas slaine in Edinburghe
ye xiiii. day of Ivly, in ye zeier of God 1608-vas slain in
48 ze.
The guide daily reads this epitaph to hundreds
of visitors ; but few know the series of tragedies of
which that slab is the closing record.
In the year 1705, Archibald Houston, Writer to
the Signet in Edinburgh, was slain in the High
Street. As factor for the estate of Braid, the property
of his nephew, he had incurred the anger of
Kennedy of Auchtyfardel, in Lanarkshire, by failing
to pay some portion of Bishop?s rents, and Houston
had been ?put to the horn? foithis debt. On the
20th March, 1705, Kennedy and his two sons left
their residence in the Castle Hill, to go to the usual
promenade of the time, the vicinity of the Cross.
They met Houston, and used violent language, to
: which he was not slow in retorting. Then Gilbert
Kennedy, Auchtyfardel?s son, smote him on the
L. I. D. E. C.?
face, while the idlers flocked around them. Blows
with a cane were exchanged, on which Gilbert Kennedy
drew his sword, and, running Houston through
the body, gave him a mortal wound, of which he
died. He was outlawed, but in time returned
home, and succeeded to his father?s estate. According
to Wodrow?s ? Analecta,? he became morbidly
pious, and having exasperated thereby a
servant maid, she gave him some arsenic with his
breakfast of bread-and-milk, in 1730, and but for
the aid of a physician would have avenged the
slaughter gf Houston near the Market Cross in
1705.
One of the last brawls in which swords were
drawn in the High Street occurred in the same
year, when under strong external professions of
rigid ?Sabbath observance and morose sanctity of
manner there prevailed much of secret debauchery,
that broke forth at times. On the evening of the
2nd of February there had assembled a party in
Edinburgh, whom drinking and excitement had so
far carried away that nothing less than a dance in
the open High Street would satisfy them. Among
the party were Ensign Fleming of the Scots
Brigade in the Dutch service, whose father, Sir
James Fleming, Knight, had been Lord Provost in
1681 ; Thomas Barnet, a gentleman of the Horse
Guards ; and John Galbraith, son of a merchant in
the city. The ten o?clock bell had been tolled in
the Tron spire, to warn all good citizens home;
and these gentlemen, with other bacchanals, were
in full frolic at a pzrt of the street where there was
no light save-such as might fall from the windows
of the houses, when a sedan chair, attended by two
footmen, one of whom bore a lantern, approached.
In the chair was no less a personage than David
Earl of Leven, General of the Scottish Ordzance,
and member of the Privy Council, proceeding on
his upward way to the Castle of which he was
governor. It was perilous work to meddle with
such a person in those times, but the ensign and his
friends were in too reckless a mood to think of
consequences; so when Galbraith, in his dance
reeled against one of the footmen, and was warned
off with an imprecation, Fleming and his friend of
the Guards said, ? It would be brave sport to overturn
the sedan in the mud.? At once they assailed
the earl?s servants, and smashed the lantern. His
lordship spoke indignantly from his chair ; then
drawing his sword, Fleming plunged it into one
of the footmen ; but he and the others were overpowered
and captured by the spectators.
The young ?rufflers,? on learning the rank of
the man they had insulted, were naturally greatly
alarmed, and Fleming dreaded the loss of his corn
?

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGR, [High Street. Torthorwald could defend himself, ran him through the body, and slew him ...

Book 2 p. 196
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B I0 G RAP HIC AL SKETCH E S. 57
Islands ; but this situation he held only for a limited period, in consequence of
some misunderstanding. He returned to the Continenti and died there in 1795.
He married a French ladyone
of the Protestant refugees ‘-whose sister was a well-known novel writer of
the ‘‘ Minerva Press.” He had two sons, who were educated at the High School.
The eldest, George, was unfortunate. He entered the army; but, having
formed some indifferent connections, he retired from the service, and died in
Switzerland. Augustus, the youngest, became a distinguished officer of artillery.
He commanded the horse-brigade during the whole of the war in Spain, and
was repeatedly thanked in public orders by the Duke of Wellington. He was
created a Baronet and K.C.B., and died at Woolwich.
The Major resided in No. 5 George Street.
The Hon. ANDREW ERSKINE was a younger brother of the “ musical
Earl of Kellie.” He held a lieutenant’s commission in the 71st Regiment of
Foot, which corps being reduced in 1763, he exchanged from half-pay to the
24th, then stationed at Gibraltar.
Erskine had little genius or inclination for a military life ; his habits and
tastes were decidedly of a literary character. He was one of the contributors
to Donaldson’s “ Collection of Original Poems by Scottish Gentlemen.” He
is chiefly known, however, for his correspondence with Boswell (the biographer
of Johnson), printed at Edinburgh in 1763. These letters, the legitimate offspring
of “hours of idleness,” consist of a mixture of prose and verse; and
are remarkable for the spirit of extravagance which pervades them. Those of
Boswell are characteristic of the writer, and his pen might be traced in every
line ; but it would be difficult to discover in the letters of Erskine any marks
of the dull, reserved disposition which was natural to him. His manner was
unobtrusive and bashful in the extreme. He indeed occasionally alludes to
this ; and, in one of his poetical epistles to Boswell, says-
“ You kindly took me up an awhard cub,
And introduced me to the soaping club.”’
The following notice of the “French Refugees,” we find in the London Nmhg Post of
September 18, 1792 :-‘‘The subscriptions for those unfortunate people do honour to the generosity
of the nation. It is expected that iu the course of a few days it will be very considerable, as there
has been upwards of Five Thousand Pounds already subscribed. It is rather strange that the piety
of our English Bishops did not induce them to anticzpate the good iutentions‘of the lady. The
mitred brotherhood should have been the first to have felt for the forlorn sitnation of the emigrant
priests ; but their doors seem shut against the voice of distress, and their hearts appear callous to
the calls of humanity. It is the object of the managers of the subscriptions to supply those
refugees with money, who are desirous to emigrate to other countries, where their talents and
abilities may be exercised for their own emolument, and the benefit of the state. Their next objects
of relief are those who, from affluence, have been reduced to extreme poverty, and whose pride still
prevents them from solicitiug alms. To alleviate their misfortunes, every man must administer his
mite with cheerfulness ; but those French paupers who have been long before the Revolution in this
country, and are common mendicants, it is not the intention of the subscription to embrace.”
So called from their motto, which was, “Every man soap his own beard; or every man
indulge his own humour.” This club met erery “Tuesday eve,” and their favourite game was the
facetious one of snip snap snmm.
VOL. 11. I

... I0 G RAP HIC AL SKETCH E S. 57 Islands ; but this situation he held only for a limited period, in consequence ...

Book 9 p. 78
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246 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
as that in which she spent the last night in the capital of her kingdom; the last on which
though captive, she was still its Queen. The magnificent and imposing character of this
building, coupled with the historical associations attached to it, have given it an exaggerated
importance in popular estimation, so that tradition assigned it a very remote antiquity,
naming as its builder, King Kenneth III., who was slain A.D. 994; not without the
testimony of heaven’s displeasire thereat, for “ the moon looked bloody for several nights,
to the infinite terror of those that beheld her,” besides other equally terrible prodigies I
Maitland, the painstaking historian of Edinburgh, detecting the improbability of such
remote foundation for this substantial building, obtained access to the title-deeds, and found
a sasine of the date 1461, conveying it to George Robertson of Lochart, the son of the
builder, which would imply its having been erected early in the fifteenth century. From
other evidence, we discovered that it belonged in the following century to George Crighton,
Bishop of Dunlreld, and was in all probability either acquired or rebuilt by him for the
purpose of the religious foundation previously described. This appears from an action
brought by “ the Administrators of Heriot’s Hospital, against Robert Hepburn of Bearford,”
in 1693, e for ‘‘ a ground-annual out of the tenement called Ro6ertson’s Tnn,” and which
at a subsequent date is styled, “ his tenement in Edinburgh called the Black Turnpike.”
The pursuers demanded the production of the original writs from the Bishop of Dunkeld,
and it would appear from the arguments in defence, that the building had been conferred
by the Bishop on two of his own illegitimate daughters, and so diverted from the pious
objects of its first destination, perchance as a sort of compromise between heaven and
earth, by which more effectually to secure the atonement he had in view for t,he errors of a
licentious life. To all this somewhat discrepant evidence we shall add one more fact from
the Caledonian Mercury, May 15th, 1788, the date of its demolition:--“The edifice
commonly called the Black Turnpike, immediately to the west of the Tron Church, at the
head of Peebles Wynd, one of the oldest stone buildings upon record in Edinburgh, is
now begun Qo be pulled down. . . . It may be true what is afimed, that Queen Mary was
lodged in it in the year 1567, but if part of the building is really so old, it is evident
other parts are of a later date, for on the, top of a door, the uppermost of the three entries
to this edifice from Peebles Wynd, we observe the following inscription :-
PAX a INTRANTIBVS a SALVS EXEVNTIBVS * 1674.”
The whole character of the building, however, seems to have contradicted the idea of
so recent an erection, and tlie inscription-a peculiarly inappropriate one for the scene
of the poor Queen’s last lodging in her capital-is probably the only thing to which the
date truly applied.
We have passed over the intermediate alleys from the New Assembly Close to the
Tron Church, in order to preserve the connection between the ancient lands of the
Bishop of Dunkeld, that formed at different periods the lodging of Queen Mary.
Stevenlaw’s Close, the last that now remains of that portion of the High Street, still contains
buildings of an early date. Over a doorway on the west side, near the foot, is this
1 Abercrombie’s Martial Achievements, vol. i p. 194. ’ Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. i. pp. 683, 688.
J We have stated reasons before fur believing that dates were sometimes put on buildings by later proprietors.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. as that in which she spent the last night in the capital of her kingdom; the last on ...

Book 10 p. 267
(Score 0.59)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 437
11.-ROBERT BELL, Procurator for the Kirk, was the second son of the
late Benjamin Eell, an eminent surgeon in Edinburgh, of whom a portrait and
memoir has already appeared in this Work. He passed advocate in 1804, and
is known.as the author of a (( Report of a case of Legitimacy under a Putative
Marriage, tried before the Second Division of the Court of Session in February
1811.” Edinburgh, 1825, 8vo.
He was a member of the
Bannatyne, Maitland, and Abbotsford ’Clubs, to the former of which he contributed
“An Account of the Siege of the Castle of Edinburgh in 1689,” printed
from the original manuscript in the library of the Faculty of Advocates. He
married Miss ROSSd, aughter of Colonel Andrew ROSSo, f the 31st Foot, and by
her, who died in 1832, had a son and daughter surviving. The former joined
the Facultyof Advocates; and the latter was married, 12th September 1835, to
James Moncreiff, Esq., advocate,’ eldest son of the late Lord Moncreiff.
Mr. Bell had a great taste for the fine arts.
111.-MATHEW ROSS, of Candie, son of a Deputy-Clerk of Session, was
admitted advocate in 1772, and chosen Dean of Faculty in 1808. He died in
1823 unmarried. He was a good lawyer, and had considerable practice, chiefly
as a chamber counsel.
Mr. Ross was a man of mild and unassuming manners ; and he is believed
to have refused a seat on the bench from diffidence in his ability to discharge
the duties of that office. Naturally of a thoughtful habit, matters of very small
importance frequently provoked the most serious deliberation. Having been
requested on one occasion to add his signature, in his official capacity, to a
circular letter, after writing his name he laid the sheet down on his desk, and
closing his eyes appeared for some time to be engaged in profound meditation,
Mr. Gibb, one of the depute-librarians, at length remarked, that all he had to
do was to add (( D. F.” after his name. ‘( That is the very thing I was thinking
of,” said Mr. ROSS“,w hether to make it D. F. or Dean of Faculty!”
Mr. Ross was very diminutive in size, had a florid countenance, blue eyes,
and was well made. In his advanced years he presented the appearance of a
nice, tidy, little, old “ gentleman.” He left a considerable fortune,
1V.-EDWARD M‘CORMICK, Sheriff-Depute of Ayrshire, was the son of
Samuel MCormick, Esq., General Examiner of Excise in Scotland. He was
born in 1745, and admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1772.
His practice at the bar was respectable, and he was remarkable for the precision
and correctness of his statements. He succeeded Lord Craig as Sheriff of Ayr j
and, for upwards of twenty years that he held that office, gave such satisfaction as
a judge, that, on his death in 1814, the county gave various proofs of the high
of Redcastle, Inveimess-shire, and lately connected with the Sun newspaper; the third, Robert Dundas,
married a Mr. North, an officer in one of the regiments stationed in New South Walea, with whom
Mrs. Burnett and her son sailed for that colony.
For an intareating
account of the late Lord Moncreiff (who died in l85l), George Ckmstoun, and Clerk of El&, see
Cockhrn’a me of JefTey.
Now the Right Hon. Lord MoncreiB of Tulliebola, Lord Justice-clerk.

... SKETCHES. 437 11.-ROBERT BELL, Procurator for the Kirk, was the second son of the late Benjamin ...

Book 9 p. 586
(Score 0.59)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 205
ter of Martia, in Crisp's tragedy of Virginia ;l and, before the end of the season,
she performed, with applause, the difficult part of Jane Shore, with Mr. Garrick,
Mrs. Cibber, and Mr. Mossop in the other principal characters.
From this period Mrs. Yates continued to rise in public estimation, taking
her place in the " shining constellation " which then " illuminated the dramatic
hemisphere ;" and one of the highest gratifications arising from her success was
the means which it afforded her of effectually administering to the wants of her
unfortunate father, for whom she made ample provision, and kindly cherished
him in his declining years. Her talents were not less versatile than they were
uncommon. Limited to no particular line of acting, she appeared with approbation
in above ninety characters, many of them the very opposite af each other.
In the sublime of tragedy, in elegant or simple comedy, she was equally meritorious
and true to nature. '' Great in all," is the words of a contemporaneous
notice, " we have seen her, with the same unerring pencil, delineate the haughty,
injured, vindictive Margaret of Anjou ; and the patient, uncomplaining, penitent,
suffering Shore : the cruel, ambitious, murderous Lady Macbeth, exciting her
husband to crimes at which humanity shudders; and the generous, exalted,
patriotic Louisa, mildly persuasive-the wife, the mother, and the queen-urging
her irresolute Eraganza to mount, by the paths of rectitude and honour, the
hereditary throne, of which his ancestors had been unjustly deprived, and defying,
in the hour of danger, the swora of the assassin, with that steady heroism
which is the companion of conscious virtue ; the tenderly maternal Andromache,
Mandone, Zapphira, Thanyris, Lady Randolph : the raving Constance, in the
delirium of affliction, lamenting her pretty A~thu;r a nd the despairing Horatia,
uttering pretended execrations of her country ; and provoking, with dissembled
fury, the dagger of her triumphant brother ; have seen her paint, in the same
vivid colours, the lofty Medea-the sublime, wildly-impassioned, commanding
daughter of the Sun-and the gentle, artless, bashful Viola,
Eut let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek.' "
' Who never told her love,
In comedy she played a variety of characters. Her Lady Townly was peculiarly
admirable, having no equal in this character save Mrs. Woffington-an
actress of similar beauty, figure, and accomplishments.
The private character of Mrs. Yates is said to have been virtuous and exemplary.
Mr. Yates, to whom she was married, was an actor of some eminence
in Drury Lane when they became acquainted. Their summer residence was for
many years at Mortlake, on the Thames. Here the poor experienced the generosity
of her disposition to an extent which long endeared her memory. Though
accustomed to the highest circles, possessed of a fortune realised by her own
1 This Tragedy, from the pen of Fbbert Jephson, Esq., M.P. f d the borough of Old Leighlin in
the Irish Parliament, a dramatic author of the last century, was, on its original appearance, very
successful, but fell into neglect after the first season. Jephsoo waa
a vigorous and spirited writer, and his dramas are in general well constructed. He died May 31,
1803.
It was printed in 8vo. 1775.

... SKETCHES. 205 ter of Martia, in Crisp's tragedy of Virginia ;l and, before the end of the ...

Book 9 p. 275
(Score 0.59)

iv OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. -
CHAPTER VI.
THE VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH.
PAGE
Lady Sinclair of Dunbeath-Bell's Mills-Water of Leith Village-Mill at the Dean-Tolbwth there-Old Houses-The Dean and Poultry
-Lands thereof-The Nisbet Family-A Legend-The Dean Village-Belgrave Crescent-The Parish Church-Stewart's Hospital-
Orphan Hospita-John Watson's Hospital-The Dean Cemetery-Notable Interments there . . . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER VII.
VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH (continued).
The Dean Bridge-Landslips at Stockbridge-Stone Coffins-Floods in the Leith-Population in ~74z-St. Bernard's Estate-Rods Tower-
" Chritopher North " in Aune Street-De Quincey there-St. Bernard's Well-Cave at Randolph Cliff-Veitchs Square-Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in the Locality-Sir Henry Raeburn-Old Deanhaugh House ' 70
CHAPTER VIII.
VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH (concluded).
E.niiuent Men connected with Stockbridge-David Robert7. RA.--K Macleay, R.S.A.-James Browne, LL.D.-James Hogg-Sir J. Y.
Simpson, Bart. -Leitch Ritchie-General Mitchell-G. R. Luke-Comely Bank-Fettes Collegc--Craigleith Quarry-Groat Hall-Silver
Mills-St. Stephen's Church-The Brothers Lauder-Jam- Drummond, R.S.A.-Deaf and -Dumb Institution-Dean Bank Institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -The Edinburgh Academy -78
CHAPTER IX.
CANONMILLS AND INVERLEITH.
CanonmillgThe Loch-Riots of 1784-The Gymnasium-Tanfield HalL-German Church-Zoological Gardens-Powder Hall-Rosebank
Cemetery-Red BraesThe Crawfords of Jordanhill-Bonnington-Bishop Keith-The Sugar Refinery-Pilrig-The Balfour Family-
Inverleith-Ancient ProprietorsThe Touris-The Rocheids-Old Lady Inverleith-General Crocket-Royal Botanical GardensMr.
JamesMacNab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
CHAPTER X.
THE WESTERN NEW TOWN.
Coltbridge-Roseburn House-Traditions of it-Murrayfield-Lord Henderland-Beechwood-General Leslie-The Dundaxs-Ravelston-
The Foulises and Keiths-Craigcrook-Its fint Proprietors-A Fearful Tragedy-Archibald Constable-Lord Jeffrey-Davidson's
Mains-LauristonCastle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IOZ
CHAPTER XI,
C O R S T O R P H I N E .
ContorphintSupposed Origin of the N a m t T h e Hill-James VI. hunting there-The Cross-The Spa-The Dicks of Braid and con^
phine-" Contorphine Cream '%onvalerent House-A Wraith-The Original Chapel-The Collegiate Church-Its Provosts-Its
Old Tombs-The Castle and Loch of Cohtorphine-The Forrester Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 12
CHAPTER XII.
rHE OLD EDINBURGH CLUBS.
Of Old Clubs, and some Notabilia of Edinburgh Life in the Last Century-The Horn Order-The Union Club-Impious Clubs--Assembly
of Birds-The Sweating Club-The Revolution and certain other Clubs-The Beggars' Benison -The Capillaim Club-The Industrious
Company-The Wig, Exulapian, Boar, Country Dinner, The East India, Cape, Spendthrift, Pious, Antemanurn, Six Feet, and
Shakespeare Clubs-Oyster Cellars-" Frolics "-The "Duke of Edinburgh" . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. - CHAPTER VI. THE VALLEY OF THE WATER OF LEITH. PAGE Lady Sinclair of ...

Book 6 p. 394
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 191
James was one of the first sheriffs appointed by the crown. He obtained the
sheriffdom of Tweeddale, his native county ; and it may be noticed that he was
the last survivor of all those appointed at the same period. His conduct as a
judgd in this situation-the more irksome from its being the first of a new order
of things-proved so highly satisfactory, that in 1764 he was promoted to
the office of Solicitor-General for Scotland, and elected to represent his native
county in the British Parliament. A few years after he was still farther
honoured by the appointment of Lord Advocate; and in 1777, on the death of
Lord Chief-Baron Ord, he was appointed Lord Chief-Baron of his Majesty's
Court of Exchequer.' This situation he held until 1801, when he found it
necessary to retire from public business. The title of Baronet was then conferred
upon him (July 16, lSOl), as a mark of royal esteem for his long and faithful
services.
Sir James, like his father, had early formed a just estimate of the importance
of agriculture as a study; and, even amid the laborious duties of his official
appointments, was enthusiastic in its pursuits. On his farm of Wester-Deans,
in the parish of Newlands, he had turnips in drills, dressed by a regular process
of horse-hoeing, so early as 1757 ; and he was among the first, if not the very
first, in Scotland who introduced the light horse-plough, instead of the old
cumbrous machine which, on the most favourable soil, required four horses and
a driver to manage them.
For the purpose of enlarging his practical knowledge, Sir James travelled
over the most fertile counties of England, and embraced every opportunity which
could possibly tend to aid him in promoting his patriotic design of improving
the agriculture of his native country. The means of reclaiming waste lands in
particular occupied a large share of his attention. His first purchase was a portion
of land, remarkable for its unimprovable appearance, lying upon the upper
extremities of the parishes of Newlands and Eddleston. This small estate,
selected apparently for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability of a
favourite theory, dbtained the designation of the ' I Whim," a name which it has
since retained. He also rented, under a long lease, a considerable range' of contiguous
ground from Lord Portmore. Upon these rude lands, which consisted
chiefly of a deep moss soil, Sir James set to work, and speedily proved what
could be accomplished by capital, ingenuity, and industry. In a few years the
'' Whim" became one of the most fertile spots in that part of the country.
His next purchase was the extensive estate of Stanhope? lying in the parishes
of Stobo, Drummellier, and Tweedsmuir, and consisting principally of mountainous
sheep-walks. Here, too, he effected great improvements, by erecting enclosures
where serviceable-planting numerous belts of young trees-and building com-
1 He was the first Scotsman who held this office since the establishment of the Court in 1707. * These lands belonged to Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope, Baronet-the husband of that Lady
Murray, whose beautiful memoirs of her father and mother were, for the first time, printed under the
superintendence of Thomas Thomson, Esquire, from the original MS., in 1822, 8vo. Her husband
ruined himself by his. wild speculations, and his paternal estate passed to other hands.

... SKETCHES. 191 James was one of the first sheriffs appointed by the crown. He obtained the sheriffdom ...

Book 8 p. 269
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ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 415
cularly by the gift from Macbeth of Liberton, of the tithes and oblations of Legbernard
-a church of which all traces are now lost-onferred on it in the reign of David I., previous
to the foundation of Holyrood Abbey. The Chapels of Corstorphine and Liberton
pertained to it. The Crown lands surrounding the Castle were bestowed on it by David
I., and it claimed tithes of the fishing on the neighbouring coast ; so that it was then the
wealthiest church in Scotland, except that of Dunbar ; but from the date of the foundation
of St David‘s Abbey of Holyrood it became a vicarage, while the Abbey drew the
greater tithes. Besides the high altar, there were in St Cuthbert’s Church several altars,
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, to St Anne, and other saints, of most of which no very
accurate account is preserved. The ancient church was subjected to many viciseitudes, and
greatly modified by successive alterations and repairs, so that comparatively little of the
original fabric remained when the whole was demolished about the middle of last century,
and the present huge, unsightly barn erected in its stead. In Gordon’s bird‘s-eye view it
appears as a large cross church, with a belfry at the west gable, and a large square tower,
probably of great antiquity, standing unroofed at the south-west corner of the nave. The
ancient church was nearly reduced to a heap of ruins by the Duke of Cordon, during the
siege of the Castle in 1689; and little attempt was likely to be made at that period to
preserve any of its early features in the necessary repairs preparatory to its again being
used as the parish church.
Among the dependencies of the ancient Church of St Cuthbert there were the Virgin
Mary’s Chapel, Portsburgh, of which nothing more is known than its name and site; and
St Roque’s and St John’s Chapels on the Borough Muir. About half a mile to the west
of Grange House there stood, till the commencement of the present century, the ruins-of
the ancient Chapel of St Roque, dedicated to the celebrated saint of that name. A later
writer derives its title from the unconsecrated surname of its supposed founder, Simon La
Roque, French ambassador,’ but without assigning any authority. In the treasurer’s
accounts for March 20th, 1501-2, the following entry occurs :-“Item, to the wrichtis of
Sanct Rokis Chapell xiiij a.” This, it is exceedingly probable, indicates the erection of
the chapel, as it corresponds with the apparent date suggested by its style of architecture.
It cannot, however, be certainly referred to the chapel on the Borough Muir, as a subsequent
entry in 1505, of an offering (‘ to Sanct Rowkis Chapell,” describes the latter as
at the end of Stirling Bridge. Of the following, however, there can be no doubt:-
‘( 1507, Augt 15. The Sanct Rowkis day to the kingis offerand in Sanct Rowkis Chapell
xiiij s.” That this refers to the chapel on the Borough Muir of Edinburgh is proved
by the evidence of two charters signed by the king at Edinburgh on the same day. The
shrine of St Roque was the special resort of aflicted outcasts for the cure of certain
loathsome diseases. Lindsay, in The Monarchie, describes the saint as himself bearing
a boil or ulcer as the symbol of his peculiar powers :-
Sanct Roche, weill seisit, men may see,
Ane byill new broki on his knee.
1 HiSt. of Weat Kirk, p. 11. Possibly Monsieur Lacrak, ambaeaador in 1567, here meant. It is, at any rate,
without doubt, an error, originating probably in the similarity of the namea

... ANTIQUITIES. 415 cularly by the gift from Macbeth of Liberton, of the tithes and oblations of ...

Book 10 p. 455
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450 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
XVIIL ST GILES’S CHURCH.
THE accompanying ground-plan of St Giles’s Church is designed to illustrate the description of the EUCCeBsive
additions to the ancient Parish Church of Edinburgh, given in the concluding chapter (pp. 377-394). It
exhibits it as it existed previous to the alterations of 1829, and with the adjacent buildings which have been
successively removed during the present century. We are indebted for the original drawing to the Rev, John
She, chaplain of Trinity Hospital, whose ingenipue model of the Old Church, with the Tolbooth, Luckenbooths,
&c., haa already been referred to.
REFERENOETOS THE GROUND-PLAN.
The light subdivisions between the pillars mark the party walls with which the ancient church was partitioned
off into several places of worship. The large letters of reference in each mark the earliest sites of the pulpits.
H shows the old position of Dr Webster’s pulpit in the Tolbooth Church, from which it was removed about the
year 1792 to its latter position against the south wall, in front of the old turnpike, now demolished. K indicates
the site of the old pulpit of the High Kirk, from whence it was removed about the years 1775-80, to its present
position in front of the great east window. Previous to this alteration, the king’s seat projected in front of the
pillar directly opposite the pulpit, so that his Majesty, or the successive representatives of royalty who occupied
it, were within a convenient convereational distance of the preacher. This throws considerable light on the
frequent indecorous colloquies that were wont to ensue between James VI. and the preachers in the High Kirk ;
and shows how very pointed and irritating to royalty must the rebukes and personalities have been, in which
the divines of that day were accustomed to indulge, seated as his Majesty thue was &-a-& with his uncourtly
chaplain, like a culprit on the stool of repentance. King James, however, used to bandy words with the
preacher with a tolerably good-natured indifference to the dignity of the crown.
The following references will enalde the reader to find without difficulty the chief objects of interest in St
Giles’s Church, alluded to in the course of the work :- .
a The Preston, or Assembly Aisle, where the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held its
b The Montrose Aisle.
c The Tomb of John, fourth Earl of Atholl.
d The Tomb of the Regent Murray.
e Door which stood always open during the day, approached by a flight of steps from the Parliament
f Ancient Tomb (deecribed on page 386), said to be that of William Sinclair, Earl of Orhey, ckated
Earl of Caithness by James II., in 1455. The whole of this chapel to the west of the buttress and centre
pillar is now’removed.
g The South Porch, built in 1387. The beautiful doorway has been rebuilt between the south pillars
of the tower, as an entrance to the Old Kirk. Above this porch was the Painted Chamber (vide page
385), in which a number of ancient charters were discovered in 1829, which, with the turret staircase
indicated in the plan, and the beautiful little dormer window that lighted the Priest’s Chamber, all diaappeared
under the hands of the restorerr
annual sessions previous to 1829.
Close.
A The five Chapels built in 1387.
i The Pillar of the Albany Chapel (vide p. 388), decorated with the arms of Robert Duke of Albany,
The two west ones are now demolished.
and the Earl of Douglas..

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. XVIIL ST GILES’S CHURCH. THE accompanying ground-plan of St Giles’s Church is ...

Book 10 p. 489
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Holyrood.] ROYAT, MARRIAGES. 55
with the Dukes of Savoy and Burgundy. She
landed at Leith amid a vast concourse of all
classes of the people, and, escorted by a bodyguard
of 300 men-at-arms, all cap-d+e, with
the citizens also in their armour, under Patrick
Cockburn of Nevtbigging, Provost of Edinburgh
and Governor of the Castle, was escorted to the
monastery of the Greyfriars, where she was warmly
welcomed by her future husband, then in his
twentietb year, and was visited by the queenmother
on the following day.
The week which intervened between her arrival
and?her marriage was spent in a series of magnificent
entertainments, during which, from her great
beauty and charms of manner, she won the devoted
affection of the loyal nobles and people.
A contemporary chronicler has given a minute
account of one of the many chivalrous tournaments
that took place, in which three Burgundian nobles,
two of them brothers named Lalain, and the thud
HervC Meriadet, challenged any three Scottish
knights to joust with lance, battle-axe, sword, and
dagger, a defiance at once accepted by Sir James
Douglas, James Douglas of Lochleven, and Sir
John Ross of Halkhead, Constable of Renfrew.
Lances were shivered and sword and axe resorted
to with nearly equal fortune, till the king threw
down his truncheon and ended the combat.
The royal marriage, which took place in the
church at Holyrood amid universal joy, concluded
these stirring scenes. At the bridal feast the first
dish was in the form of a boar?s head, painted and
stuck full df tufts of coarse flax, served up on an
enormous platter, with thirty-two banners, bearing
the arms of the king and principal nobles ; and the
flax was set aflame, amid the acclamations of the
numerous assembly that filled the banquet-hall.
Ten years after Holyrood beheld a sorrowful
scene, when, in 1460, James, who had been slain
by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh
on the 3rd August, in his thirtieth year, was
laid in the royal vault, ?with the teares of his
people and his hail1 army,? says Balfour.
In 1467 there came from Rome, dated zznd
February, the bull of Pope Paul II., granting, on
the petition of the provost, bailies, and community
of the city, a con~mission to the Bishop of Galloway,
?et dilectojZio Abbafi Monasterii Sancta Cmcis mini
viuros de Rdynburgh,? to erect the Church of St.
Giles into a collegiate institution.
Two years afterwards Holyrood was again the
scene of nuptial festivities, when the Parliamen!
met, and Margaret of Norway, Denmark, and
Sweden, escorted by the Earl of Arran and a
gallant train of Scottish aad Danish nobles, landed
at Leith in July, 1469. She was in her sixteenth
year, and had as her dowry the isles of Orkney
and Shetland, over which her ancestors had hitherto
claimed feudal superiority. James III., her
husband, had barely completed his eighteenth
year when they were married in the abbey church,
where she was crowned queenconsort. ?? The marriage
and coronation gave occasion to prolonged
festivities in the metropolis and plentiful congratulations
throughout the kingdom. Nor was the
flattering welcome undeserved by the queen ; in the
bloom of youth and beauty, amiable and virtuous,
educated in all the feminine accomplishments of
the age, and so richly endowed, she brought as
valuable an accession of lustre to the court as of
territory to the kingdom.?
In 1477 there arrived ?heir in grate pompe,?
says Balfour, ?Husman, the legate of Pope
Xystus the Fourth,? to enforce the sentence of
deprivation and imprisonment pronounced by Hjs
Holiness upon Patrick Graham, Archbishop of St.
Andrews, an eminent and unfortunate dignitary of
the Church of Scotland. He was the first who
bore that rank, and on making a journey to Rome,
returned as legate, and thus gained the displeasure
of the king and of the clergy, who dreaded his
power. He was shut up in the monastery of Inchcolm,
and finally in the castle of Lochleven. Meanwhile,
in the following year, William Schivez, a
great courtier and favourite of the king, was
solemnly consecrated in Holyrood Church by the
papal legate, from whose hands he received a pall,
the ensign of archiepiscopal dignity, and with great
solemnity was proclaimed ?? Primate and Legate of
the realm of Scotland.? His luckless rival died
of a broken heart, and was buried in St. Serf?s
Isle, where his remains were recently discovered,
buried in a peculiar posture, with the knees drawn
up and the hands down by the side.
In 1531, when Robert Cairncross was abbot,
there occurred an event, known as ? the miracle of
John Scott,? which made some noise in its time.
This man, a citizen of Edinburgh, having taken
shelter from his creditors in the sanctuary of Holyrood,
subsisted there, it is alleged, for forty days
without food of any kind.
Impressed by this circumstance, of which some
exaggerated account had perhaps been given to
him, James V. ordered his apparel to be changed
and strictly searched. He ordered also that he
should be conveyed from Holyrood to a vaulted
room in David?s Tower in the castle, where he was
barred from access by all and closely guarded.
Daily a small allowance of bread and water were
placed before him, but he abstained from both for

... ROYAT, MARRIAGES. 55 with the Dukes of Savoy and Burgundy. She landed at Leith amid a vast concourse ...

Book 3 p. 55
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L UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. I97
Bow, . . the buildings on each side of the way being all of squared stone, five,
six, and seven stories high.” When I came first into the High Street,” says another
traveller, writing more than a century after him, ‘‘ I thought I had never seen anything
of the kind more magn3cent.” Gradually, however, the traveller learned, from his
civic entertainers, to mingle suggestions of improvement with his admiration. ‘‘ You
have seen,” says Topham, writing from Edinburgh in 1776, “the famous street at
Lisle, la Rue Royale, leading to the port of Tournay, which is said to be the finest in
Europe, but which, I can assure you, is not to be compared either in length or breadth
to the High Street at Edinburgh.” He adds, however, ‘‘ would they be at the expense
of removing some buildings which obstruct the view, nothing could be conceived .
more magnificent.’’ ’ Similar remarks might be quoted from later travellers ; we shall
only add that of our greatest living landscape painter, k n e r , expressed since the removal
of the Luckenbooths, that ‘‘ the old High Street of Edinburgh was only surpassed in
Europe by that of Oxford” Imposing as the effect of the High Street still is,-
although scarcely a year passes without the loss of some one or other of its ancient and
characteristic features,-we doubt if its broad and unencumbered thoroughfare will ever
again meet with the praise that it received from travellers who had to pass through the
narrow defile of the Purses, or thread their way along by the still more straitened
Krames that clung on to the old church walls. So far as picturesque effect is concerned,
this improvement very much resembles a reform effected of late years in Salisbury
Cathedral. An ancient screen which divided the Lady Chapel from the choir had long
been an eyesore to certain men of taste, who found in the glimpses of the little chapel
that they caught beyond, far too much left to their imagination. It was accordingly
demolished, under the direction of Mr Jamea Wyatt, when, to their surprise, much of the
rich effect of the chapel vanished along with the screen, and they began to think that it
might have been a part of the original designer’s intention to conceal the plain shafts of
the pillars, while their capitals, and the rich groinings of the roof, alone appeared. We
strongly suspect our city reformers fancied that every bit of the old church which the
Luckenbooths concealed was to disclose features as rich as the fine Gothic crown they
saw towering over the chimney-tops.’
The ancient buildings that occupied the middle of the High Street, between the
Tolbooth and the Cross, formed a range of irregular and picturesque lands, nearly all
with timber fronts and lofty peaked gables projecting into the street. Through one of
these, an alley, sometimes called the Old-Kirk Style, led from the head of Advocates’
Close to the old north porch of St Giles’s Church, obliterated in the remodelling of that
venerable edifice. This ancient alley is alluded to by the name it generally received
to the last in Dunbar’s Address to the Merchants of Edinburgh, written about the year
Letters from the North of Scotland, 1754.
Topham’s Lettem, p. 8. There is an amusing tendency in many-minds to regard every near object aa obstructing
the &U, without the least consideration of what liea beyond it. We heard lately of an English lady, who, on her arrival
in Edinburgh, took up her abode in fashionable lodgings at the west end of Princea Street. On B friend inquiring how
she liked the proapect from her window, she replied, that the view would really be very fine, were it not for that great
castle standing in the way I
The chief ornament of Edinburgh is St Giles’s Church, a magnificent Gothic pile, the beauties of which are almost
wholly concealed by the Louses in ita near neighbourhood, particularly the Luckenbooths, which, it is expted, will
shortly be pulled down.”-Campbell’s Journey, 1802, rol. 5. p. 125.
a

... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. I97 Bow, . . the buildings on each side of the way being all of squared stone, ...

Book 10 p. 216
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BATTLE OF FLODDEN TO DEATH OF YAMES V. 45
ordained that the Baillies of the Cannongate garre sik like be done upon the said east
side.”
Although all the Parliaments during this reign assembled at Edinburgh, the Palace
of Holyrood was only the occasional residence of James V. Yet he seems to have
diligently continued the works begun here by his father, and tradition still assigns to
him, with every appearance of truth, the erection of the north-west towers of the Palace,
the only portion of the original building that has survived the general conflagration by
the English in the following reign. On the bottom of the recessed pannel of the north
tower, could be traced, about thirty years since, in raised Roman letters, gilt, the words,
. The last occurrence of local interest in the lifetime of this Monarch, is thus recorded
in the Diurnal of Occurrents :-“Upon the last day of Februar, their was ane certaine
of persones accusit for heresie in abbay kirk of Halyrudhous ; and thair was condempnit
twa blackfreris, ane Channon of Sanct Androis, the vicar of Dollour ; ane preist, and ane
lawit man that duelt in Stirling, were brynt the same day on the Castell Hill of
Edinburgh.”’ Thus briefly is recorded an occurrence, which yet is the pregnant forerunner
of events that crowd the succeeding pages of Scottish history, until the Stuart
race forfeited the throne.
Our subject does not require us to deal further with the character of James V., or the
general events of his reign. He died at Falkland on the 14th of December 1542, and
his body was thereafter conveyed to Edinburgh, where his faithful servitor and friend,
Sir David Lindsay, must have directed the mournful ceremony that laid his royal master
by the side of Queen Bhgdalene, his first young bride, in Holyrood Church. The
sumptuous display, that can neither lighten grief nor ward off death, attended, as usual,
on the last rites of the poet King. From the household books of the Cardinal Beaton,
we learn that he spent “for a manual at the King’s funeral, 10s.; for a mitre of white
damask, 42s.; for four mourning garments, S3, 18s. lOd.,” wherewith to officiate in
the services of the church, that committed the remains of his royal master to their final
resting-place.
Of the general manners of the age, considerable insight may be obtained from the acts
of the Parliaments held during this reign, regulating inn-keepers and travellers, bailies,
craftsmen, judges, and beggars, all of whom are severally directed in their callings, with
careful minuteness.
But the satires of Sir David Lindsay are still more pointed and curious in their
allusions to this subject. His Supplication to tAe Kingis grace in Contemptioun of Syde
Tail&, attacks a fashion that had already excited the satiric ire of Dunbar, as well as
the graver but less effectual censures of the Parliament ; and already, in thia early poem,
he begins to touch with sly humour on the excesses of the clergy, even while dealing with
this humble theme. Though bishops, he says,-with seeming commendation,-for the
dignity of their ofiice, have men to bear up their tails, yet that is no reason
-LACOBVS REX SCOTORVM.
That every lady of the land
Suld have hir hill 80 q d e trailland
1 Scota Acta, 12mo. vol. i. p. 248, ’ Diurnal of Occurrenb, p. 23.

... OF FLODDEN TO DEATH OF YAMES V. 45 ordained that the Baillies of the Cannongate garre sik like be done upon ...

Book 10 p. 49
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384 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
parts of the collegiate church, we feel little hesitation in assigning the erection of the
main portion of the fabric to the close of David’s reign, which extended from 1329 to
1371, or to that of his successor Robert 11. It is finished entirely in that simple and
comparatively plain style of pointed architecture, which Dallaway designates Pure Gothic,
and of which no specimen will be found later than the fourteenth century. It was a period
of almost incessant wars, involving the whole nation in misery’for years ; but it was no
less characterised by religious zeal, encouraged, no doubt, in some degree by the fact
that ecclesiastical property was the only species of possession that had any chance of
escaping the fury of the invaders. Edward IIL, however, carried on his Scottish invasion
with a ferocity that spared not even the edifices consecrated to religion. In 1355, he
desolated the country on to Edinburgh, and laid every town, village, and hamlet in ashes,
though not without suffering keenly from the assaults of the hardy Scots. This bloody
inroad wag peculiarly associated in the minds of the people with the unwonted sacrilege of
the invaders, and as it happened about the time of the Feast of Purification, it was
popularly known as the Burnt Candlemas.’ In this desolating invasion, St Giles’s Church,
no doubt, suffered greatly; but the misery of the people, and the uncertainty involved in
such a state of continual warfare, did not prevent the restoration of their churches, and
we accordingly find in the Burgh Records a contract made, in the year 1388, between
the Provost and some masons to vault over a part of the church. This was, no doubt,
speedily accomplished, as in 1384 the Scottish barons assembled there and resolved on a
war with England, notwithstanding the desire of Robert 11. for peace. The result was
that the whole town was exposed to another general conflagration by the invading army
of Richard II., and the Church of St Giles is expressly mentioned as involved in the
general destruction. There is no reason, however, to conclude from this, that the massive
walls of the old Gothic fabric were razed to the ground by the flames that consumed the
simple dwellings of the unwalled town. The cost of its restoration appears to have been
borne by the Government, and various entries occur in the accounts of the Great
Chamberlain of Scotland, rendered at the Exchequer between the years 1390 and 1413,
of sums granted for completing its re-edification. Nevertheless, the archives of the
city preserve authentic evidence of additions being made out of its own funds to the
original fabric in 1387, only two years after the conflagration, and an examination of such
portions of these as still remain abundantly confirms this idea; the style of decoration
being exactly of that intermediate kind between the simple forms of the old nave and the
highly ornate style of the choir, which is usually found in the transition from the one to
the other.
The contract for the additions made to St Giles’s Church from the revenues of the
town, and the contributions of its wealthier citizens at the time when the main fabric was
left to be restored from the general revenues of the kingdom, while it affords an insight
into the progress of the building at that date, cannot but be regarded as a curious proof
of that singular elasticity which the Scottish nation displayed during their protracted wars
with England; showing as it does, the general and local government vieing with one
another in the luxury of ornate ecclesiastical edifices almost as soon as the invaders had
retreated acrom the Borders. The agreement bears to be made at Edinburgh, November
Ddrymple’e Annals, pp, 237,8.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. parts of the collegiate church, we feel little hesitation in assigning the erection of ...

Book 10 p. 421
(Score 0.58)

ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 405
evidence remains to show that the choir and transepts were in existence filly a quarter of
a century later, and that had the necessary exertions been then made for its repair, we
might still have possessed the ancient building in its ori,oinal and magnificent proportions,
instead of the ruined nave, which alone remains to show what once had been. In (‘ the
heads of the accusation and chief offences laid to Adam, Bishop of Orknay, his charge,”
by the General Assembly of 1569, the fifth is, that “ all the said kirks, for the most part,
wherein Christ’s evangell may be preached, are decayed, and made, some sheepfolds, and
some so ruinous, that none darre enter into them for fear of falling; specially Halrudhouse,
although the bishop of Sanct Andrews, in time of papistry, sequestrate the whole
rents of the said abbacy, because only the glassen windows were not holden up and
repaired.” To this the Bishop replied, “ That the Abbay Church of Hdyrudhouse hath
been, these 20 years bygane, ruinous through decay of two principal1 pillars, so that none
were assured under it ; and two thousand pounds bestowed upon it would not be sufficient
to ease men to the hearing of the word, and ministration of the sacraments. But with
their consent, and help of ane established authority, he was purposed to provide the
means, that the superfluous ruinous parts, to wit, the Queir and Croce Kuk, might be
disponed be faithful1 men, to repair the remanent sufficiently.” The Bishop’s economical
plan was no doubt put in force, and the whole of the choir and transept soon after
demolished and sold, to provide funds for converting the nave into the Parish Kirk of
the Canongate. The two western pillars, designed to support a great central tower,
now form the sides of the east window constructed within the arch, and an examination
of the masonry with which the lower parts of this and the side arches are closed, shows
that it is entirely built with fragments of clustered shafts and other remains of the
ruins. It was at this time, we presume, that the new royal vault was constructed in
the south aisle of the nave, and the remains of the Scottish kings removed from their
ancient resting-place near the high altar of the Abbey Church. It is built against the
ancient Norman doorway of the cloisters, which still remains externally, with its beautiful
shafts and zigzag mouldings, an undoubted relic of the original fabric of St David.
The cloisters appear to have enclosed a large court, formed in the angle of the nave
and south transept. The remains of the north side are clearly traceable still, and the
site of the west side is now occupied by the Palace buildings. Here was the ambulatory
for the old monks, when the magnificent foundation of St David retained its pristine
splendour, and it remained probably till the burning of the Abbey after the death of
James V. We learn on the occasion of the marriage of James IT. with the Princess
Margaret of England, that “after all reverences doon at the Church, in ordere as
before, the Kyng transported himself to the Pallais, through the clostre, holdynge
always the Queen by the body, and hys hed bare, till he had brought hyr within her
chammer.”
The west front, as it now remains, is evidently the work of very different periods. It
has been curtailed of the south tower to admit of the completion of the quadrangle according
to the design of Sir William Bruce, and the singular and unique windows over the
great doorway are evidently additions of the time of Charles L, whose initials appear
1 Booke of the Umveraall Kirk of Scotland, p. 163. Ibid, p. 167.

... ANTIQUITIES. 405 evidence remains to show that the choir and transepts were in existence filly a ...

Book 10 p. 444
(Score 0.57)

404 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
foundation of St David’s Abbey has already been referred to, with the picturesque
legend from whence it derives its name. The beautiful fragment of the Abbey Church
which still remains, forming the nave of the ancient building, retains numerous traces
of the original work of the twelfth century, though enriched by the additions of a
later age. The earliest drawing of the Abbey and Palace that exists is the bird’s-eye
view of 1544, where it is marked by its English draughtsman as “ the King of Skotts
palis,” although the sole claimant to the throne at that date was the infant daughter
of James V. A comparison of this with the portions still remaining leaves little doubt
of its general accuracy. The Abbey Church appears with a second square tower at
the west front, uniform with the one still standing to the north of the great doorway.
The transepts are about the usual proportions, but the choir is much shorter than it
is proved from other evidence to have originally been, the greater part of it having,
perhaps, been reduced to ruins before the view was taken. During the levelling of the
ground around the Palace, and digging a foundation for the substantial railing with
which it was recently enclosed, the workmen came upon the bases of two pillars, in a
direct line with the nave, on the site of the east railings, proving that the ancient choir
had been of unusual length. A mound of earth which extends still further to the east,
no doubt marks the foundationa of other early buildings, and from their being in the direct
line of the building, it is not improbable that a Lady Chapel, or other addition to the
Abbey Church, may have stood to the east of the choir, as is frequently the case in larger
cathedral and abbey churches. A curious relic of the ancient tenants of the monastery
was found by the workmen already referred to, consisting of a skull, which had no
doubt formed the solitary companion of one of the monks. It had a hole in the top
of the cranium, which served most probably for securing a crucifix; and over the brow
was traced in antique characters the appropriate maxim, Memento Mori. This solitary
relic of the furniture of the Abbey was procured by the late Sir Patrick Walker, and is
still in the possession of his family. The English army that “brent the abbey called
Holyrode house, and the pallice adjonynge to the same,” in 1544, returned to complete
the destruction of the Abbey in 1547, almost immediately after the accession of Edward
VI. to his father’s throne. Their proceedings are thus recorded by the English chronicler :
-(( Thear stode south-westward, about a quarter of a mile from our campe, a monasterie :
they call it Hollyroode Abbey. Sir Water Bonham and Edward Chamberlayne gat
lycense to suppresse it ; whearupon these commissioners, making first theyr visitacion
thear, they found the moonks all gone, but the church and mooch parte of the house well
covered with leade. Soon after, thei pluct of the leade and had down the bels, which
wear but two ; and according to the statute, did somewhat hearby disgrace the hous. As
touching the moonkes, bicaus they wear gone, thei put them to their pencions at large.”‘
It need hardly excite surprise, that the invaders should not find matters quite according
to the statute, with so brief an interval between such cisitacions. The state in which they
did find the Abbey, proves that it had been put in effectual repair immediately after their
former visit.
The repeated burnings of the Abbey by the Englieh army were doubtless the chief
cause of the curtailment -of .the church to its present diminished size; yet abundant
Patten’s Expedition to Scotland. Frag. of Swt. Hiet.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. foundation of St David’s Abbey has already been referred to, with the ...

Book 10 p. 443
(Score 0.57)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.. . 237
consist of a blue coat, with a red cape and cuff, white lining turned up in the
skirts, two gold epaulets, and a button bearing the name of the corps and arms
of the city ; white cassimere vest and breeches, and white cotton stockings ;
short gaiters of black cloth ; a round hat with two black feathers and one white ;
and black cross-belts.’ The two grenadier companies had a bear-skin and a
grenade on the hat, and grenades at the joining of the skirts of the coat ; while
the officers of the corps were only distinguished by their swords. The regiment,
being assembled in Heriot’s Green on the 26th September 1794, was presented
with a stand of colours by the Lord Provost (Sir James Stirling), attended by
the two senior Magistrates, the Principal of the University, and the whole
Members of the Town Conucil, in their robes. The colours were very handsome ;
the one elegantly embroidered with a crown and the letters G.R.; and the
other with the city arms. A vast crowd of spectators attended to witness the
presentation.
.
The original officers of the corps were-
LIJWTENANT-COLONELS.
Thomas Elder, Old Provost.
William Maxwell, Colonel in the Army (now General Sir William Maxwell).
MAJORS.
Roger Aytoun, Leiut.-Colonel in the Army.
Patrick Crichton, a Captain in the Army.
Clarles Rem, late Captain 43d Foot.
Andrew Houston, late Lieutenant of the Car-
John Anstruther, late Lieutenant 17th Foot.
Arch. Erskine, late Major of 22d Foot.
Robert Hamilton, late Lieutenant 82d Foot.
William West, Captain in the Army.
Robert Arbuthnot, Lieutenant in the Army.
Thomas Armstrong, late Lieutenant 80th Foot.
Captain-Lieutenant George Abercromby.
Thomas Hewen, late Captain in 4th Dragoons.
Archibald Campbell, late Lieut. in the Army.
David Bume, late Lieutenant of Marines.
Henry Jardine (now Sir H. Jardine), W.S.
Robert Dundas (the late Sir Robert Dundas,
CAPTAINLI.
bmeers.
LIEUTENANTS.
Baine Whyt, W.S.
William Coulter.*
Malcolm Wright.
John Clork.
David Reid.
John F’ringle. Baronet, of Dunira).
Robert Hodgson Cay, Advocate.
ENSIONS
John Dundas. James Brown.
John Menzies. James Dickson.
John Wood, Charles Phin.
Lachlan Mactavkh. Morris West.
CHAPLAIN-ReVereUd a. Baird. TmbBmm-Hugh Robertaon.
hJuTANT-Patrick Crichton. SECRETAItY-HeIWy Jardine.
QUARTERHASTER-David Hunter. SUMiEON--ThOmM Hay.
~IElTmT-~oRGEONS-~ohRna e and James Law.’
The belts of the Edinburgh Volunteers were afterwards painted white, which soon gave the
corps an awkward appearance, on account of the paint scaling off, and leaving portions of white and
black alternately. They were accordingly soon laid wide, and the common buff belt substituted
The uniform underwent many other changes. ’ Afterwards Lord Provost, who, dying while holding that office, received the honour of 8 public
funeral.
In a pamphlet, entitled “View of the Establishment of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteem,”
published in June 1795, an alphabetical list of all the members is given, amounting tu 785 ; which,

... SKETCHES.. . 237 consist of a blue coat, with a red cape and cuff, white lining turned up in ...

Book 8 p. 334
(Score 0.57)

KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 141
brother, united with it the title of Earl of Stair; a combination of titles in one person,
that afforded the wits of last century a favourite source of jest in the supposed recontres of
the two noble Earls.
The mansion appears to have passed into this nobleman’s possession very shortly after
its erection, as among the titles there is a declaration by William Earl of Dumfries, of
the date 20th March 1747, “that the back laigh door ol passage on the west side of
the house, which enters to the garden and property belonging to Mr Charles Hamilton
Gordon, advocate, is ane entry of mere tolerance given to me at the pleasure of the
owner,” &c.
The Earl was succeeded in it by his widow, who, exactly within year and day of his
death, married the Honourable Alexander Gordon, son of the second Earl of Aberdeen, On
his appointment as a Lord of Sesaion in 1784, he assumed the title of Lord Rockville,
from his estate in East Lothian. He was the last titled occupant that inhabited this
once patrician dwelling of the Old Town ; and the narrow alley that gives access to the court
behind, accordingly retaina the name of Rockville Close. Within this close, towards the
west, there is a plain substantial land now exposed to view by the Castle Road, originally
possessed by Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Hyndford, and sold by her in the year 1740,
to Henry, the last Lord Holyroodhouse, who died at his house in the Canongate in 1755.l
Various ancient closes, and very picturesque front lands that formed the continuation of
the southern side of the Castle Hill, have been swept away to give place to the new
western approach and the Assembly Hall. One of these, ROSS’SC ourt, contained ‘‘ The
great Marquis of hgyle’s House in the Castlehill,” described by Creech, in his “ Fugitive
Pieces,” as inhabited, at that degenerate period, by a hosier, at a rental of S12 per annum.
Another of them, ‘Kennedy’s Close, though in its latter days a mean and dirty alley,
possessed some interesting remains of earlier times. It probably derived its name from a
recent occupant, a son of Sir Andrew Kennedy of Clowburn, Baronet ; but both Gom the
antique character, and the remains of faded grandeur in some of its buildings, it had doubtless
afforded residences for some of the old nobles of the Court of Holyrood. The front land
was said to have been the town mansion of the Earls of Cassillis, whose family name is
Kennedy. It was adorned, at the entrance to the close, with a handsome stone architrave,
supported on two elegant spiral fluted pillars, and the rest of the building presented a
picturesque wooden front to the street. Within the close there was another curious old
wooden fronted land, which tradition reported a0 having been at one period a nonjurant
Episcopal chapel. An inspection of this building during its demolition, served to show
that, although the main fabric was substantial and elegant stone work, the wooden front
was an integral part of the original design. It was found that the main beams of the ~ O U S ~ ,
of fine old oak, were continued forward through the stone wall, so as to support the wood
work beyond, and this was further confirmed by the existence of a large fireplace on the
outside of the stone wall; an arrangement which may still be seen in a similarly constructed
land at the head of Lady Stair’s Close, and probably in others. Within this house there
was one of the beautifully sculptured gothic niches, already alluded to, of which we furnish
a view, in the state in which it existed when the house was taken down. This we presume
*
Douglk’s Peerage.

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 141 brother, united with it the title of Earl of Stair; a ...

Book 10 p. 152
(Score 0.56)

THE CA S TL E. 125
the initials H. and M. inwrought, for HENRaYid MARY,a nd the date 1566,' commemorates
the birth of James VI., on the 19th June of that year. The small room, which was
the scene of this important event, forms the south-east angle of the building. It is singularly
irregular in form and circumscribed in its dimensions, its greatest length being little
more than eigh't feet. The room was formerly neatly panelled with wainscot, but, after
being abandoned for years aiit a drinking-room to the -canteen, much of this has been
renewed in a very rude and inelegant fashion. The original ceiling, however, is preserved,
wrought in ornamental wooden panels, with the initials I. R. and M. R surmounted
with the royd crown, in alternate compartments ; and, on the wall, the commemorative
inscription, in black letter, mentioned by Maitland, still remains, with the Scottish arms
over it :-
Z o t t ~fn edu &brg& tbat crounit mad mitb 6IOornde,
pree'elzle tbe girth, qubais Dabgie heir i$'b orne,
Xnb $en& @ip aonee Bucrelilione, to meignr $tin,
Xaug in tbig Iliealme, if tbat it be mbg miH
Et$ Grant, 0 Porb, qubat eber of @It profleeb
%e to @Ibp @oner Rnb VraiB, pobieb.
19th IFNII, 1566.
At the back of the fireplace was formerly shown a hole, said to have served as the
communication'fhrough which a wire was conveyed to a house in the Grassmarket, and
there attached to a bell, to advise the Queen's Catholic friends of the birth of her son.
The use of bells, however, except in church steeples, is of a much more modern date; and
'-equally apocryphal is another story of the infant Prince having been secretly let down over
the rock in a basket, into the hands of these same'adherents of the Queen, to be educated
in the Catholic religion.
A considerable part of the east and north fronts of the ancient Royal Palace seem,
from the dates on them, as well as from the general style of the building, to have been
erected in the year 1616. The appearance, however, of many portions of the interior
leave no room to doubt that tlie works of that date were only a partial remodelling of a
more ancient fabric. Some of the stone panels on the east front are wrought in remarkably
beautiful Eliaabethan.ornaments, and on one of them the regalia have been sculptured
in high relief, though some chance shot, in one of the later sieges of the Castle, has
broken away the larger portion of the figures. The turrets at the angles of the building,
as well as the clock tower in the quadrangle, were originally covered with ogee lead roofs,
similar ta that still remaining on the turret staircase at the north end.
Immediately below the grand hall, are two tiers of large and strongly-vaulted bombproof
vaults, extending below the paved court of the quadrangle, communicating with a
wide arched passage, entered from the west side. The small loop-hole that admits light
into each of these huge vaults is strongly secured by three ranges of iron bars, and a
massive iron gate closes the entrance to the steep flight of steps that give admission to
the dreary dungeons. Within these gloomy abodes the French prisoners were confined
during the late war, above forty of them sleeping in a single vault. We furnish a view
Ante. p. 77. From the style of ornament, it appears to have been put up at 8 later period, probably by James VI.
on his visit to Scotlaud in 1617.

... CA S TL E. 125 the initials H. and M. inwrought, for HENRaYid MARY,a nd the date 1566,' commemorates the ...

Book 10 p. 136
(Score 0.56)

146 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
single apartment, with a huge fireplace at the west end, and a gallery added to it by the
timber projection in front. The hearth-stone was raised above the level of the floor, and
guarded by a stone ledge or fender, similar in character to a fireplace of the thirteenth century
dill existing at St Mary’s Abbey, York. This room was lighted by a large dormer
window in the roof, in addition to the usual windows in front; and in the thickness of
the stone wall, within the wooden gallery, there were two ornamental stone recesses, with
projecting sculptured sills, and each closed by an oak door, richly carved with dolphins
and other ornamental devices.’ The roof was high and steep, and the entire appearance
of the building singulaTly picturesque. We have been the more particular in describing
it, from the interest attaching to its original possessors. It is defined, in one of the titledeeds
of the neighbouring property, as (( That tenement of land belonging to the chaplain
of the chaplainry of St Nicolas’s Altar, founded within the College Church of St Giles,
within the burgh of Edinburgh;” it is now replaced by a plain, unattractive, modern
building.
The most interesting portions of this district, however, or perhaps of any other among
the private buildings in the Old Town, were to be found within the space including Todd’s,
Nairn’s, and Blyth’s Closes, nearly the whole of which have been swept away to provide a
site for the New College. On the west side of Blyth’s Close there existed a remarkable
building, some portion of which still remains. This the concurrent testimony of tradition
and internal evidence pointed out as having been the mansion of Mary of Guise, the Queen
of James V., and the mother of Queen Mary. There was access to the different apartments,
as is- usual in the oldest houses in Edinburgh, by various stairs and intricate
passages ; for no feature is so calculated to excite the surprise of a stranger, on his first visit
to such substantial mansions, as the numerous and ample flights of stone stairs, often placed
in immediate juxtaposition, yet leading to different parts of the building. Over the main
doorway, which still remains, there is the inscription, in bold Gothic characters, %&U$
gonot! Dto, with I. R., the initials of the King, at thk respective ends of the lintel.
On a shield, placed on the right side, the monogram of the Virgin Nary is sculptured,*
while a corresponding shield on the left, now entirely defaced, most probably bore the usual
one of our Saviour.’ . On the first landing of the principal stair, a small vestibule gave entrance to an apartment,
originally of large dimensions, though for many years subdivided into various rooms
and passages. At the right-hand side of the inner doorway, on entering this apartment, a
remarkably rich Gothic niche remained till recently, to which we have given the name of a
piscina, in the accompanying engraving, owing to its having a hole through the bottom of
it, the peculiar mark of that ecclesiastical feature, and one which we have not discovered in
any other of those niches we have examined. The name is at least convenient for distinction
in future reference to it; but its position was at the side of a very large and handsome
fireplace, one of the richly clustered pillars of which appears in the engraving, on the
outside of a modern partition, and no feature was discoverable in the apartment calculated
For the description of the interior of this ancient building, we are mainly indebted to the Rev. J. Sime, chaplain of
Trinity Hospital, whose uncle long possessed the property. A very oblique view of the house appears in Storer’s ‘‘High
Street, from the Caatle Parade.” Plate 1, vol. ii.
Vide Pugin’s Glossary of Eccl. Ornament, p. 162. 8 Vignette at the head of the Chapter.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. single apartment, with a huge fireplace at the west end, and a gallery added to it by ...

Book 10 p. 158
(Score 0.56)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 265
man, the Regent Morton, and an associate with him in the murder of Riazio ; so that, if
the sculpture over the doorway be a device adopted by the Morton family, the corresponding
one, already described in the Castle Hill, may be considered as affording considerable
probability of that house having been the mansion of the Regent. William Douglas,
Lord Whittinghame, resigned his office as a judge in 1590, and was succeeded by his son
Archibald, the granter of the disposition referred to, a special favourite of James VI.,
who accompanied him on his matrimonial voyage to Norway, and was rewarded for his
“ lovable service ” soon after his return by this judicial appointment.
The portion of the wynd below this old mansion included, along with the building
of 1564, recently swept away to make room for an extensive printing-office, another
which was long used as a Roman Catholic Chapel. This was an antique stone fabric,
from which a curiously-projecting timber front was removed only a few years before its
desertion as a place of worship. On the fifth flat of this tenement, approached by a
steep and narrow turnpike stair, a large chamber was consecrated to the worship of the
Roman Catholic Church during the greater part of last century, and probably earlier.
When we last visited this primitive retreat of “ Old Giant Pope, after the many
shrewd brushes that he met with in his younger daya,” there still remained painted, in
.simple fashion, on one of the doors immediately below the chapel, the name of the old
Bishop, Mr Hay. This was the once celebrated opponent of Bishop Wm. Abernethy
Drummond, of the Scottish Episcopal Church, under the initials G. H., and well worthy
of note in the history of the locality as the last of the Bishops of Blackfriars’ Wynd,
where the proudest nobles of Scotland were wont of old to give place to the dignitaries of
the Church.
Nearly opposite to this, a large and ancient tenement stood entire in the midst
of ruins, the upper story of which was also used as a chapel. It was dedicated to St
Andrew, and formed the chief Roman Catholic place of worship in Edinburgh, until it
was abandoned in the year 1813 for the ecclesiastical edifice at Broughton Street,
dedicated in honour of the Virgin Mary. The interior of the chapel retained much
of its original state till its demolition. The frame-work of the simple altarpiece
still remained, though the rude painting of the Patron Saint of Scotland, which
originally flled it, had disappeared. Humble as must have been the appearance of this
chapel, even when furnished with every adjunct of Catholic ceremonid for Christmas or
Easter festivals, aided by the imposing habits of the officiating priests that gathered
around its little altar, yet men of ancient lineage were wont to assemble among the
worshippers; and during the abode of the royal exiles at Holyrood Palace, Count
d’Artois, the future occupant of the French throne, with the princes and their attendants,
usually formed part of the congregation. An internal staircase formed a private entrance
for the priests and other officials from the floor below, where the straitened accommodations
it afforded sufficed for the humble residence of these successors of the Cardinals
and Archbishops who once dwelt in the same neighbourhood. The public accesa was by
a projecting stone staircase, which formed the approach to the different floors of the
building. Over this doorway was a sculptured lintel, with a shield of arm6 in the centre,
bearing three stars in chief, with a plain cross, and over it two swords saltier ways.
On either side of this was cut, in large antique characters, the inscription MISERERE
2 L

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 265 man, the Regent Morton, and an associate with him in the murder of Riazio ; so ...

Book 10 p. 288
(Score 0.56)

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