... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The University.
thereof-A few Notable Bequests-Income-The Library-The
OF the four ...
Book 5 p. 8
(Score 0.65)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. nvarrender Pam.
gables, covered with masses of luxuriant ivy, surrounded
by fine old ...
Book 5 p. 46
(Score 0.65)
... INDEX. 385 -
Nisbet Lord 111. 67
Nisbet: Sir .&exander. 111. 136
Nisbet Sir Henry 111. 136
Nisbet: ...
Book 6 p. 385
(Score 0.64)
... TO VOL. I.
Page 66, Dr. CARLPLE.
For the actual facts regarding Carlyle’s friendship with Home, wide Dr. ...
Book 8 p. 601
(Score 0.63)
... SKETCHES. 141
The letter from which the foregoing extract is taken is dated June 2, 1782, ...
Book 8 p. 201
(Score 0.63)
... CANQNGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 279
Blyth’s Close. Directly opposite to this, but separated from it by ...
Book 10 p. 303
(Score 0.63)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Giles's Church.
establishment, and Maitland gives us a roll of the
forty ...
Book 1 p. 140
(Score 0.63)
![The West Bow.]
A BITTER personal quarrel had existed for some
years between James Johnstone of Westerhall and
Hugh (from his bulk generally known as Braid
Hugh) Somerville of the Writes, and they had
often fought with their swords and parted on equal
temis. Somerville, in the year 1596, chancing to
be in Edinburgh on private business, was one day
loitering about the head of the Bow, when, by
chance, Westerhall was seen ascending the steep
and winding street, and at that moment some
officious person said, ? There is Braid Hugh
Somerville of the Writes.?
THE OLD ASSEMBLIES. 3?5
Westerhall, conceiving that his enemy was lingering
there either in defiance, or to await him, drew
his sword, and crying, ?Turn, villain!? gave
Somerville a gash behind the head, the most severe.
wound he had ever inflicted, and which, according
to the ? Memoirs of the Somervilles,? was ? much
regrated eftirwards by himselt?
Writes, streaming with blood, instantly drew his
sword, and ere Westerhall could repeat the stroke,
put him sharply on his defence, and being the
taller and stronger man of the two, together with
the advantage given by the slope, he pressed him
could retire for refreshments, or to rosin their bows.
Here then did the fair dames of Queen Anne?s
time, in their formal stomachers, long gloves, ruffles
and lappets, meet in the merry country dance, or
the stately minuef de la (our, the beaux of the time,
with their squarecut velvet coats and long-flapped
waistcoats, with sword, ruffles, and toupee in tresses,
when the news was all about the battle of Almanza,
the storming of Barcelona, or the sinking of the
Spanish galleons by Benbow in the West Indies,
or it might be-in whispers-of the unfurling of the
standard on the Braes of Mar.
The regular assembly, according to Arnot, was
. first held in the year 17 10, and it continued entirely
hnder private management till 1746, but though
the Scots as a nation are passionately fond of
dancing, the strait-laced part of the community
bitterly inveighed against this infant institution.
In the Library of the Faculty of Advocates there
is a curious little pamphlet, entitled, a ?Letter
from a Gentleman iti the Country to his Friend in
the City, with an Answer thereto concerning the
New Assembly,? which affords a remarkable glimpse
of the bigotry of the time :-
?I am informed that there is lately a society
erected in your town, which I think is called an
Assembly. The speculations concerning this meeting
have of late exhausted the most part of the
public conversation in this countryside :. some are
pleased to say that ?tis only designed to cultivate
polite conversation, and genteel behaviouramong the
better sort of folks, and to give young people an
opportunity of accomplishing themselves in both ;
while others are of opinion that it will have quite a
different effect, and tends to vitiate and deprave the:
minds and inclinations of the younger sort.?
The author, who might have been Davie Deans
himself, and who writes in 1723, adds that he had
been much stirred on this matter by the approaching
solemnity of the Lord?s Supper, and that he had
been ?informed that the design of this (weekly)
meeting was to afford some ladies an opportunity
to alter the station that they had long fretfully continued
in, and to set off others as they should
prove ripe for the market.?
The old Presbyterian abhorrence of ?? promiscuous
dancing? was only held in check by the
less strait-laced spirit of the Jacobite gentry; but
so great was the opposition to the Edinburgh
Assembly, as Jackson tells us in his ?History of
the Stage,? that a furious rabble once attacked
the rooms, and perforated the closed doors with
red-hot spits.
Arnot says that the lady-directress sat at the
head of the room, wearing the badge of heroffice,
a gold medal with a motto and device,
emblematic of charity and parental tenderness.
After several years of cessation, under the effect.
of local mal-influence, when the Assembly was
re-constituted in 1746, among the regulations hung
up in the hall, were tko worth quoting :-
?No lady to be admitted in a nz$f-gowr
(negl&i?), and no gentleman in boots.?
?? No misses in skirts and jackets, robe-coats, nor.
staybodied-gowns, to be allowed to dance in country
dances, but in a set by themselves.?](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p135.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 315")
... West Bow.]
A BITTER personal quarrel had existed for some
years between James Johnstone of Westerhall ...
Book 2 p. 315
(Score 0.63)
... INCIDENTS AFTER THE RESTORATION. 1 I7
terior, with the embrasures and loop-holes, aa it appeared before ...
Book 10 p. 128
(Score 0.62)
... an age as different in every respect from tht
present as the wilds of North America are differenl
from the ...
Book 1 p. 98
(Score 0.62)
... BURNS, 107
in the rooms of Stewart, Blair, or Robertson. . , .
But Edinburgh offered tables and ...
Book 1 p. 107
(Score 0.62)
![408 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
were not only carried of forcibly about eight days ago, but that the house in which they were
assembled last night was assaulted by a mob-the windows broke by stones and other implements
from withouLand the whole members of this meeting put in great bodily fear and hazard
during the night. They observed, with much regret, the same system pursued this morning,
and which was to their knowledge excited and encouraged by Sir John Henderson of Fordel,
Bart., a declared candidate for the district on this occasion, and by Colonel James Francis
Erskine, and William Wemyss of Cuttlehill, Esq. ; and in particular, the town was crowded,
and the peace of it disturbed by the colliers belonging to the said Sir John Henderson, and
others his dependants and adherents ; and that for the purpose of exciting alarm and convocating
said mob, the church bells were rung, without authority from the Chief Magistrate, as is usual
in such cases, about nine of the clock this morning. The members now present did therefore,
betwixt nine and ten of the clock this forenoon, repair from the house of John Wilson, vintner
in this place, where they were hoping thereby to get into the Council-Room without assault or
injury from the mob, excited as aforesaid ; but in which expectation they were disappointed,
for several of them were assaulted and jostled by said mob, who were so disorderly that the
Provost was under the necessity of reading the Riot Act at the Council-House door. The twelve
members now present, having thus got into the Council-Room, were waiting with patience for
the hour assigned for proceeding to the election of their dclegate, when the aforesaid William
Wemyss, Esq., haviug entered the Council-House, followed by Alexander Law, messenger in
Edinburgh, arid several others, who having rushed into the Council-Room, said Law drew a
pistol, and said he would shoot any person who would stop him; and thereupon he and his
party, without his allowing the perusal of any wamnt he might have had, seized Provost
Moodie-Robert Hutton, Dean of Guild-John Hutton, the Old ProvostJVilliam Anderson,
the Old Treasurer-and Deacons Charles Anderson and Robert Young, and, dragging them
from the Council-table, they were forced into post-chaises, which have been in the employment
of Sir John Henderson during his canvass, and were immediately carried from Dunfermline in
these chaises, and were accompanied by several parties of Sir John Henderson’s colliers on foot,
armed with bludgeons, and others of his dependants on horseback, and were brought by a circuitous
course to, and lodged in the black-hole in Inverkeithing jail, commonly used for felons;
and they were not liberated therefrom until they had found caution, in the Books of Adjournal
at Edinburgh, to stand trial for pretended crimes, of which none of them were guilty. And
they are satisfied that this unwarfantable proceeding, so very inconsistent with the liberty of the
subject, and the freedom of election, was carried on by the aforesaid Sir John Hendemon and
his aforesaid adherents, in order to deprive them of their right of electing a delegate, of which
there cannot be a clearer demonstration than the pretended election carried on, as stated in the
foregoing minutes [the substance of which we have given], by a minority of the Council, after
the members of this meeting were carried off as aforesaid, and without a legal quorum of the
Council, as these minutea prove.
“ That on their return to this burgh about eight o’clock in the evening, the Provost immediately
issued his order for the Council being summoned to this diet, in order to proceed and
make a regular election of their delegate at the earliest hour which it was possible for them to
do,from the extraordinary occurrences of the day, which have been shortly detailed ; but Bailie
James Hunt, who is in the interest of Sir John Henderson, having possessed himself of the key
of the Council-House, this meeting were obliged to gain their admission here at this time by
breaking open the door, under a warrant of the Sheriff-substitute ; and John Dunsyre, townofficer,
having been called in, he, together with Thomas Inglis, police-officer, and Robert
Taggart, town-drummer, verified the citations to the haill members of Council in the usual
manner.
‘<Thereafter the minute of Council of the thirtieth day of May last, fixing this day for the
election of their delegate, was openly read in Council ; but upon inquiry at the clerk for the precept
of the Sheriff, founded on in said minute, he informed that he had delivered it up along
with a commissiou to the foresaid William Wemyss of Cuttlehill, Esq., as delegate, in consequence
of the minutes of the meeting of the minority of the Council, improperly held on the
former part of this day, of which this meeting greatly disapprove.
“After taking the oaths of allegiance, etc. (according to the usual form, which we omit), the
Council being then duly constituted, and all the members legally qualified, and the roll being
called for the choice of their delegate or commissioner, They Did, and hereby Do, unanimously](images/thumbs/kays_thumb_pages/kays_v2__Page_552.gif "Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Page 544")
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
were not only carried of forcibly about eight days ago, but that the house in which ...
Book 9 p. 544
(Score 0.62)
... Thus we see in the terraced slopes
illustrations of a mode of agriculture pertaining to
times before ...
Book 1 p. 12
(Score 0.62)
... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. I43
The poet was extremely proud of his new mansion’, and ...
Book 10 p. 154
(Score 0.61)
... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. . 213
custom, part of the bride’s plenishing ; but the brooch and ...
Book 10 p. 232
(Score 0.61)
... LA WNMARKET. 163
gable are the initials T. G. and B. G., while on a corresponding shield to the east ...
Book 10 p. 177
(Score 0.61)
... so MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
relics that abounded in the latter fabric, the student of medizval architecture will ...
Book 10 p. 196
(Score 0.6)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
C H A P T E R X X X I I I .
LEITH-TIIE DOCKS.
New Docks proposed-Apathy of ...
Book 6 p. 282
(Score 0.6)
![The Tolhwth] THE SIGNET ANI) ADVOCATES? LIBRARIES. 123
THE genius of Scott has shed a strange halo around
the memory of the grim and massive Tolbooth
prison, so much so that the creations of his imagination,
such as Jeanie and Effie Deans, take the
place of real persons of flesh? and blood, and suchtraders.
They have been described as being ?a
dramdrinking, news-mongering, facetious set of
citizens, who met every morn about seven o?clock,
and after proceeding to the post-office to ascertain
the news (when the mail arrived), generally adjourned
to a public-house and refreshed themselves
with a libation of brandy.? Unfounded articles of
intelligence that were spread abroad in those days
were usually named ? Lawnmarket Gazettes,? in
allusion to their roguish or waggish originators.
At all periods the Lawnmarket was a residence
for nien of note, and the frequent residence of
English and other foreign ambassadors; and so
long as Edinburgh continued to be the seat of the
Parliament, its vicinity to the House made it a
favourite and convenient resort for the members
of the Estates.
On the ground between Robert Gourlay?s house
and Beith?s Wynd we now find some of those portions
of the new city which have been engrafted on
the old. In Melbourne Place, at the north end of
George IV. Bridge, are situated many important
offices, such as, amongst others, those of the Royal
Medical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce
and Manufactures, built in an undefined style of
architecture, new to Edinburgh. Opposite, with
its back to the bridge, where a part of the line of
Liberton?s Wynd exists, is built the County Hall,
presenting fronts to the Lawnmarket and to St.
Giles?s. The last of these possesses no common
beauty, as it has a very lofty portico of finely-flutcd
columns, overshadowing a flight of steps leading to
the main entrance, which is modelled after the
choragic monument of Thrasyllus, while the ground
plan and style of ornament is an imitation of the
Temple of Erechtheius at Athens. It was erected
in 1817, and contains several spacious and lofty
court-rooms, with apartments for the Sheriff and
other functionaries employed in the business of the
county. The hall contains a fine statue of Lord
Chief Baron Dundas, by Chantrey.
is the power of genius, that with the name of the
Heart of Midlothian we couple the fierce fury of
the Porteous mob. ?Antique in form, gloomy and
haggard in aspect, its black stanchioned windows,
opening through its dingy walls like the apertures
~
Adjoining it and stretching eastward is the library
of the Writers to the Signet. It is of Grecian architecture,
and possesses two long pillared halls of
beautiful proportions, the upper having Corinthian
columns, and a dome wherein are painted the
Muses. It is 132 feet long by about 40 broad,
and was used by George IV. as a drawing-room,
on the day of the royal banquet in the Parliament ,
House. Formed by funds drawn solely from contributions
by Writers to H.M. Signet, it is under
a body of curators. The library contains more
than 60,000 volumes, and is remarkably rich in
British and Irish history.
Southward of it and lying psxallel with it, nearer
the Cowgate, is the Advocates? Library, two long
halls, with oriel windows on the north side. This
library, one of the five in the United Kingdom entitled
to a copy of every work printed in it, was
founded by Sir George Mackenzie, Dean of Faculty
in 168z, and contains some zoo,ooo volumes,
forming the most valuable cpllection of the kind
in Scotland. The volumes of Scottish poetry alone
exceed 400. Among some thousand MSS. are those
of Wodrow, Sir James Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald,
and others. In one of the lower compartments
may be seen Greenshield?s statue of Sir Walter
Scott, and the original volume of Waverley; two
volumes of original letters written by Mary Queen
of Scots and Charles I.; the Confession of Faith
signed by James VI. and the Scottish nobles in
1589-90; a valuable cabinet from the old Scottish
mint in the Cowgate; the pennon borne by
Sir William Keith at Flodden; and many other
objects of the deepest interest. The office of
librarian has been held by many distinguished
men of letters; among them were Thomas Ruddiman,
in 1702; David Hume, his successor, in,
1752 ; Adani Ferguson ; and David Irving, LL.D.
A somewhat minor edifice in the vicinity forms
the library of the Solicitors before the Supreme
Court](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p135.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 123")
... Tolhwth] THE SIGNET ANI) ADVOCATES? LIBRARIES. 123
THE genius of Scott has shed a strange halo around
the ...
Book 1 p. 123
(Score 0.6)
![Salisbury Road.] THE HOSPITAL FOR INCURABLES. 5<
three plain shields under a moulding, with the date
1741-
Though disputed by some, Sciennes Hill House
once the residence of Professor Adam Fergusson
author of the (? History of the Roman Republic,?
is said to have been the place where Sir Waltei
Scott was introduced to Robert Burns in 1786
when that interesting incident occurred which ir
related by Sir Walter himself in the following letter
which occurs in Lockhart?s Life of him :--?As foi
Rums, I may truly say, 1GYgiZimn vidi tantum. I
was a lad of fifteen in 1786-7, when he first cam?
to Edinburgh, but had sense and feeling enough to
he much interested in his poetry, and would have
given the world to know him; but I had very
little acquaintance with any literary people, and
less with the gentry of the West County, the two
sets he most frequented. I saw him one day at the
venerable Professor Fergusson?s, where there were
several gentlemen of literary reputation, among
whom I remember the celebrated Dugald Stewart.
? Ofcourse, we youngsters sat silent, and listened.
The only thing I remember which was remarkable
in Burns?s manner was the effect produced upon
him by a print of Bunbury?s, representing a soldier
lying dead on the snow, his dog sitting in misery
on one side ; on the other his widow, with a child
in her arms. These lines were written underneath
:-
? ? Cold on Canadian hills, or Minden?s plain,
Perhaps that parent wept her soldier slain-
Bent o?er her babe, her eyes dissolved in dew,
The big drops mingling with the drops he drew,
Gave the sad presage of his future years,
The child of misery baptised in tears.?
?? Burns seemed much affected by the print, or
Tather, the ideas which it suggested to his mind.
He actually shed tears. He asked whose the lines
were, and it chanced that nobody but myself remembered
that they occur in a half-forgotten poem
of Langhorne?s, called by the unpromising title of
? The Justice of the Peace.? I whispered my information
to a friend present, who mentioned it to
Burns, who rewarded me with a look and a word,
which, though of mere civility, I then received,
and still recollect, with very great pkasuye.?
Westward of Sciennes Hill is the new Trades
Maiden. Hospital, in the midst of a fine grassy
park, called Rillbank. The history of this
charitable foundation, till its transference here, we
have already given elsewhere fully. Within its
walls is preserved the ancient ?( Blue Blanket,? or
banner of the city, of which there will be found
an engraving on page 36 of Volume I.
In Salisbury Road, which opens eastward off
Minto Street, is the Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables,
founded in 1874; and through the chanty
of the late Mr. J. A. Longmore, in voting a grant
of &IO,OOO for that purpose, provided the institution
?? should supply accommodation for incurable
patients of all classes, and at the same time commemorate
Mr. Longmore?s munificent bequest for
the relief of such sufferers,? the directors were
enabled,in 1877, to secure Nos. g and 10 in this
thoroughfare. The building has a frontage of 160
feet by 180 feet deep. It consists of a central
block and two wings, the former three storeys high,
and the latter two. The wards for female patients
measure about 34 feet by 25 feet, affording accommodation
for about ten beds.
Fronting the entrance door to the corridors are
SEAL OA THE CONVENT OF ST. KATHARINE.
(After H. Laing.)
ieparate staircases, one leading to the female
iepartment, the other to the male. On each floor
.he bath, nurses? rooms, gic., are arranged similarly.
[n the central block are rooms for ?paying patients.??
The wards are heated with Manchester open fire-
)laces, while the corridors are fitted up with hot
Mater-pipes. The wards afford about 1,100 cubic
?eet of space for each patient.
Externally the edifice is treated in the Classic
;tyle. In rear of it a considerable area of ground
ias been acquired, and suitably laid out. The site
:ost A4,000, and the hospital LIO,OOO. Since it
Nas opened there have been on an average one hunlred
patients in it, forty of whom were natives of
Edinburgh, and some twenty or so from England
md Ireland. The funds contributed for its support
ire raised entirely in the city. It was formally
3pened in December, 1880.
A little way south from this edifice, in South](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p066.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 55")
... Road.] THE HOSPITAL FOR INCURABLES. 5<
three plain shields under a moulding, with the ...
Book 5 p. 55
(Score 0.6)
... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 259
escape from the shot of an assassin, which struck the candlestick before him ...
Book 10 p. 281
(Score 0.6)
... TO THE PORTRAITS, ETC. 489
NO. Page
the Green” .............................. ccxli 214
ing unlawful ...
Book 9 p. 680
(Score 0.59)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
EDINBURGH CASTLE (conclzded). .
The Torture of Neville ...
Book 2 p. 386
(Score 0.59)
... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 297
VMBRA.” On another :-‘‘ UT TU LINGVB TVB, SIC EGO YEAR : AVRIUN ...
Book 10 p. 324
(Score 0.59)
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