Edinburgh Bookshelf

Edinburgh Bookshelf

Search

Index for “brown square”

414 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the Earl of Hertford in 1544. No other evidence, however, exists in support of this
than the general inference deducible from the burning of Leith by the English, immediately
before their embarkation ; a procedure which, unless accompanied by more violent
modes of destruction, must have left the remainder of the church in the same condition
as the nave which still exists. Such evidence as may still be gleaned from contemporary
writers leaves little reason to doubt that it was not demolished until the siege of Leith in
1560, when it was subjected to much more destructive operations than the invaders’ torch.
It stood directly exposed to the fire of the English batteries, cast up on the neighbouring
downs, and of which some remains are still left.‘ “In thia meintyme,” says Bishop
Lesley, “the Inglismen lying encamped upoun the south est syd of the tom, besyd
Mount Pellam, schot many gret schottis of cannonis and gret ordinances, at the parrishe
Kirk of Leyth, and Sanct Anthoneis steple, quhilk was fortefiit with mounted artailyerie
thairupoun be the Frenchmen, and brak doun the same.”2 An anonymous historian of
the same period relates still more explicitly :-‘‘ The 15th of Aprill, the fort wes cast and
performed, scituate upon the clay-hills, east from the Kirk of Leith, about twoe fflight
shott; where the greate ordinance being placed, they beganne to shoote at St Antonyes
steeple in Leith, upon the which steeple the Frenchmen had mounted some artillerie,
which wes verie noifiome to the campe ; bot within few howers after, the said steeple was
broken and shott downe, likewise they shott dome some part of the east end of the Kirk of
Leith.’” St Mary’s Church, as it existed at the time our drawing was made, showed at
the east end two of the four great central pillars of the Church, and was otherwise
finished by constructing a window in the upper part of the west arch of the central tower,
much in the same style as was adopted in converting the nave of Holyrood Abbey into a
parish church. The date 1614, which was cut on the east gable, probably marked the
period at which the ruins of the choir were entirely cleared away. The side aisles appear
for the most part to be the work of the same period. A range of five dormer windows
was constructed at that date above both the centre and side aisles, and though a novel
addition to a Gothic Church, must have had a very picturesque and rich effect. The whole
of these, with the exception of the two western ones on the south side of the Church, were
taken down in 1747,” and the remaining ones were demolished in 1847, along with the
east and west gables of the Church, and, in fact, nearly every feature that was worth
preserving ; the architect having, with the perverse ingenuity of modern restorers, preserved
only the more recent and least attractive portions of -the venerable edifice. As
some slight atonement for this, the removal of the high-pitched roof of the side aisles has
brought to light a range of very neat square-headed clerestory windows, which had
remained concealed for upwards of two centuries, and which it is fortunately intended to
retain in the restoration of the building.
The only other ancient parish church that remains to be noticed is that of St Cuthbert.
Its parish appears to have been one of the earliest and most extensive districts set apart
as a parochial charge. ‘( The Church of St Cuthbert,” says Chalmers, (‘ is unquestionably
ancient, perhaps aa old as the age which followed the demise of the worthy Cuthbert,
towards the end of the seventh century.” It was enriched by important grants, and parti-
Ante, p. 66. ’ A Hietorie of the Estate of Scotland, Wodrow Misc., vol. i. p. 84.
Lesley, p. 285.
+ Maitland, p. 494.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. the Earl of Hertford in 1544. No other evidence, however, exists in support of ...

Book 10 p. 454
(Score 0.46)

KING'S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE mu. I53
of the school recently rebuilt in Ramsay Lane, that still bears his name. Since then it
shared the fate of most of the patrician dwellings of the Old Town; its largest apartments
were subdivided by h s y partitions into numerous little rooms, and the old mansion
furnished latterly a squalid and straitened abode for a host of families of the very humblest
ranks of life.
The external appearance of this interesting range of buildings is more easily described
with the pencil than the pen. The accompanying engraving exhibits the front. t,o the
Castle Hill, and also shows a curious feature that attracted considerable notice, at the
entrance to Todd'R Close, where, owing to the construction of the overhanging timber
fronts, the whole weight of the buildings on each side seemed to be borne by a single
slender stone pillar, of neat proportions, though exhibiting abundant evidence of age and
long exposure to violence.
The buildings already described in Blyth'R Close stood upon the west side, where a
portion of them still remains. They retained, in the relics of their ancient decorations,
evidence which appears to confirm the tradition of their having at one period been the
residence of the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise ; but it is to that on the east side alone that
anything of an ecclesiastical character can, with propriety, be assigned.
About halfway down the close, and directly opposite the main entrance on the west side,
a pkojecting turnpike-stair gave access to a vestibule on the first floor, which formed only a
small portion of what had originally been a large and magnificent apartment. This we
conceive to have been what Maitland describes as " the chapel or private oratory of Mary of
Lorraine."' Immediately on entering from the stair, a large doorway appeared on the
left hand, which had apparently given access to a gallery leading acrose to the Palace on
the opposite side of the close. Beyond this there was a niche placed, as usual, at the side
of a large and handsome fireplace, with clustered Gothic pillars, of the same form as those
already described in other parts of the building. The mouldings of this niche corresponded
in character with those on the opposite side of the close, but the eculptured top had been
removed. In the east wall, however, and almost directly opposite the fireplace, there was
a large and highly ornamental niche,' of which we furnish a view. In the centre there
was the figure of an angel holding a shield, and the whole character of the tracery and other
ornaments waa in the richest style of decorated Gothic.( It, in all probability, served as a
credence table, or other appendage to the altar of the chapel.
This apartment was occupied as a schoolroom, about the middle of last century, by a
teacher of note, named Mr John Johnstone. When he first resided in it, there wm a
curious urn in the niche, and a small square stone behind the same, of so singular an
appearance, that, to satisfy his curiosity, he forced it from the wall, when he found in the
recess an iron casket, about seven inches long, four broad, and three deep, having a lid like
that of a caravan-trunk, and secured by two claspR falling over the key-holes, and comhave
the same place and precedency within the town precincts that was due tu the Nayoxa of London or Dublin, and
that no other Provost should be called Lord Provost but he ; "4 privilege that seems to have been lost sight of by the
civic dignitaries of the good town. ' Maitland, p. 206. ' This and various other examples serve to show that the principlea of pure Gothic architecture were followed to a
much later date in Scotland than in England. The foundation stone of Caiue College, Cambridge, for example, a good
specimen of the hybrid style of debased Qothic, was laid in 1565.
Now in the collection of C. K. Sharpe, Eeq.
U

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE mu. I53 of the school recently rebuilt in Ramsay Lane, that still ...

Book 10 p. 166
(Score 0.46)

1 90 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Previous to the extension or rebuilding of the west portion of the Tolbooth, it had
furnished accommodation for the wealthiest traders of the city, and there also some of the
most imposing displays took place on Charles I. visiting his northern capital in 1633. ‘‘ Upon the west wall of the Tolbooth,” says an old writer,l r‘ where the Goldsmiths’ shops
do stand, there stood ane vast pageant, arched above, on ane large mab the pourtraits of
a hundred and nine kings of Scotland. In the cavity of the arch, Mercury was represented
bringing up Fergus the first King of Scotland in ane convenient habit, who delivered to
his Majesty a very grave speech, containing many precious advices to his royal successor;
” a representation, not altogether in caricature, of the drama often enacted on
the same spot, at a later period, when Jock Heigh,-the Edinburgh Jack Ketch for above
forty years,-played the part of Mercury, bringing up one in ane convenient habit, to hear
a very grave speech, preparatory to treatment not unlike that which the unfortunate
monarch received, in addition to the precious advices bestowed on him in 1633. The
goldsmiths’ ’ shops were latterly removed into the Parliament Close ; but George Heriot’s
booth existed at the west end of St Giles’s Church till the year 1809, when Beth’s
Wynd and the adjoining buildings were demolished, as already described. A narrow
passage led between the church and an ancient three-storied tenement adjoining the
New Tolbooth, or Laigh Council House, as it was latterly called, and the centre one of
the three booths into which it waa divided, measuring about seven feet square, was
pointed out by tradition as the workshop of the founder of Heriot’s Hospital, where both
King James and his Queen paid frequent visits to the royal goldsmith. On the demolition
of this ancient fabric, the tradition was completely confirmed by the discovery of
George Heriot’s name boldly carved on the stone lintel of the door. The forge and
bellows, as well as a stone crucible and lid, supposed to have belonged to its celebrated
possessor, were discovered in clearing away the ruins of the old building, and are now
carefully preserved in the Hospital Museum.
The associations connected with the ancient building we have described, are almost
entirely those relating to the occupants whom it held in durance in its latter capacity as
a prison. The eastern portion, indeed, had in all probability been the scene of stormy
debates in the earlier Scottish Parliaments, and of deeds even ruder than the words of the
turbulent barons. There also the College of Justice, founded by Jamea V. in 1532,
held its first sederunt ; the earliest statutes of the Court requiring that all the lordis sall
entre in the Tolbuth and counsal-houss at viij howris in the mornyng, dayly, and sall sit
quhill xi howris be strikin.” All these, however, had ceased to be thought of for centuries
previous to the demolition of the tall and gloomy prison ; though even in its degradation
it was connected with historical characters of no mean note, having been the final place of
captivity of the Marquises of Montrose and Argyll,’ and others of the later victims of
factious rivalry, who fell a sacrifke to the triumph of their opponents. The main floor of
the more ancient building, in its latter days, formed the common hall for all prisoners,
except those in irons, or incarcerated in the condemned cells. It had an old oak pulpit of
curious construction for the use of any one who took upon him the duties of prison chaplain,
and which tradition,-as usual with most old Scottish pulpits,-affirmed to have been
.
Pidc Canipbell’a Journey, vol. ii. p. 122. Biooll’s Diary, p. 334.

... 90 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. Previous to the extension or rebuilding of the west portion of the Tolbooth, it ...

Book 10 p. 208
(Score 0.46)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 259
escape from the shot of an assassin, which struck the candlestick before him as he sat at
his studies ; and within these walls he at length expired, in the sixty-seventh year of his
age, ‘‘ not so much oppressed with years as worn out and exhausted by his extraordinary
labour of body and anxiety of mind.”
A range of very picturesque buildings once formed the continuous row from ‘‘ Knox’s
corner,” to the site of the ancient Nether Bow Port, but that busy destroyer, Time, seems
occasionally to wax impatient of his own ordinary slow operations, and to demolish with
a swifter hand what he has been thought inclined to spare. One of them, a curious
specimen of the ancient timber-fronted lands, and with successive tiers of windows divided
only by narrow pilasters, has recently been curtailed by a story in height and robbed of
its most characteristic featnres, to preserve for a little longer what remains, while the
house immediately to the east of Knox’s, which tradition pointed out as the mansion of
the noble family of Balmerinoch, has now disappeared, having literally tumbled to the
ground, Immediately behind the site of this, on the west side of Society Close, an
ancient stone land, of singular construction, bears the following inscription over its main
entrance :-R * H There
appears to have been a date, but it is now illegible. The doorway gives access to a curious
hanging turnpike stair, supported on corbels formed by the projection of the stone steps
on the first floor beyond the wall. This is the same tenement already referred to as the
property of Aleson Bassendyne, the printer’s daughter. The alley bears the name of
Bassendyne’s Close, in the earliest titles ; more recently it is styled Panmure Close, from
the residence there of John Naule of Inverkeilory, appointed a Baron of the Court of
Exchequer in 1748-a grandson of the fourth Earl of Panmure, attainted in 1715 for his
adherence to the Stuarts. The large stone mansion which he occupied at the foot of the
close, was afterwards acquired by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge,
founded in 1701, and erected into a body-corporate by Queen Anne. Its chief apartment
was used as their Hall; from which circumstance the present name of the close
originated.
The old timber land to the east of this close is said to have been the Excise Office
in early times, in proof of which the royal arms are pointed out over the first floor.
The situation was peculiarly convenient for guarding the principal gate of the city, and
the direct avenue to the neighbouring seaport. It is a stately erection, of considerable
antiquity, and we doubt not has lodged much more important official occupants than the
Hanoverian excisemen. It has an outside stair leading to a stone turnpike on the first
floor, and over the doorway of the latter is the motto DEW - BENEDICTAT. Since
George II.’s reign, the Excise Office has run through its course with as many and
rapid vicissitudes as might sufiice to mark the career of a prufligate spendthrift. In its
earlier days, when a floor of the old land in the Nether Bow sufficed for its accommodations,
it was regarded as foremost among the detested fruits of the Union. From thence
it removed to more commodious chambers in the Cowgate, since demolished to make way
for the southern piers of George IV. Bridge. Its next resting-place was the large tenement
on the south side of Chessel’s Court, in the Canongate, the scene of the notorious
Deacon Brodie’s last robbery. nom thence it was removed to Sir Lawrence Dnndas’s
splendid mansion in St Andrew Square, now occupied by the Royal Bank. This may
HODIE * MIHI * CRAS . TIBI . CVR * IGITVR CVRAS *

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 259 escape from the shot of an assassin, which struck the candlestick before him ...

Book 10 p. 281
(Score 0.45)

THE CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 297
VMBRA.” On another :-‘‘ UT TU LINGVB TVB, SIC EGO YEAR : AVRIUN DOMINVS sw.” A
third tablet bears the date, with an inscription of a similar character ; but theae have long
been concealed by a painting of Lord Nelson, which forms the sign of a tavern now
occupying a portion of the old Marquis’s mansion. On an upright tablet, at the west
end, is the ingenious emblem of the resurrection referred to in the description of an
ediflce in the Old Bank Close, which was similarly adorned.
On the east side of the Bakehouse or Hammermen’s Close, an ornamental archway,
with pendant keystone, in the fashion prevalent towards the close of James VL’s
reign, forms the entrance to a small enclosed court, surrounded on three sides by the
residence of Sir Archibald Acheson of Glencairney, one of the Lords of Session appointed
soon after the accession of Charles L He was created by the King a Baronet of Nova
Scotia in 1628, and was afterwards appointed one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland.
Over the pediment above the main entrance the Baronet’s crest, a Cock standing on a
Trumpet, is cut in bold relief; and below, the motto vigiZanti6us, with a cypher containing
the letters A. M. H., being the initials of Sir Archibald Acheson, and Dame Margaret
Hamilton his wife. The date on the building is 1633, the same year in which Charles I.
paid his first visit to his native capital. The building is a handsome erection in the style
of the period; though a curious proof of the rude state in which the mechanical arts
remained at that date is afforded by the square hole being still visible at the side of the
main doorway, wherein the old oaken bar slid out and in for securely fastening the door.
The three sides of the court are ornamented with dormer windows, containing the initials
of the builder and his wife, and other architectural decorations iu the style of the
period. .
The range of houses to the eastward of the patrician mansions described above still
includes many of an early date, and some associated with names once prominent in
Scottish story. Milton House, a handsome large mansion, built in the somewhat heavy
style which was in use during the eighteenth century, derived its name from Andrew
Fletcher of Milton, Lord Justice-clerk of Scotland, who succeeded the celebrated Lord
Fountainhall on the Bench in the year 1724, and continued to preside as a judge of the
Court of Session till his death in 1766. He was much esteemed for the mild and
forbearing manner with which he exercised his authority as Lord Justice-clerk after the‘
Rebellion of 1745. He sternly discouraged all informers, and many communications,
which he suspected to have been sent by over-officious and malignant persons, were found
in his repositories aft,er his death unopened.’ He was a nephew of the patriotic Fletcher
of Salton, and an intimate friend and coadjutor of Archibald, Duke of Argyle, during
whose adminiatration he exercised a wise and beneficial control over the government
patronage in Scotland. The old mansion which thus formed the mimic acene of court
levees, where Hanoverian and Jacobite candidates for royal favour elbowed one another in
the chase, still retains unequivocal marks of its former grandeur, notwithstanding the
many strange tenants who have since occupied it. The drawing-room to the south, the
windows of which command a beautiful and uninterrupted view of Salisbury Crags and
St Leonard’s Hill, has its walls very tastefully decorated with a series of designs of landscapes
and allegorical figures, with rich borders of fruit and flowers, painted in distemper.
Brunton and Haig’a Senators of the College of Justice, p. 499,
2 P

... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 297 VMBRA.” On another :-‘‘ UT TU LINGVB TVB, SIC EGO YEAR : AVRIUN ...

Book 10 p. 324
(Score 0.45)

ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 413
tradition of its dedication to St Anthony; but the silver stream, celebrated in the plaintive
old song, “ 0 waly, waly up yon bank,” still wells clearly forth at the foot of the rock,
ming the little bason of St Anthony’s Well, and rippling pleasantly through the long
grass into the lower valley.’
The Chapel and Hermitage of St Anthony, though deserted and roofless for centuries,
appear to have remained nearly entire, with the exception of the upper portion of the tower,
till about the middle of the last century. Arnot, writing about the year 1779, remarks:-
“ The cell of the Hermitage yet remains. It is sixteen feet long, twelve broad, and eight
high. The rock rises within two feet of the stone arch, which forms its roof; and at the
foot of the rock flows a pure stream, celebrated in an old Scottish ballad.” All that now
remains of the cell is a small recess, with a stone ledge constructed partly in the natural
rock, which appears to have been the cupboard for storing the simple refreshments of the
hermit of St Anthony. The Chapel is described by the same writer as having been 8
beautiful Gothic building, well suited to the rugged sublimity of the rock. “It was fortythree
feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen high. At its west end there was a tower
of nineteen feet square, and it is supposed, before its fall, about forty feet high. The
doors, windows, and roof, were Gothic; but it has been greatly dilapidated within the
author’s remembrance.”’ The tower is represented in the view of 1544 as finished with
a plain gabled roof; and the building otherwise corresponds to this description. The
wanton destruction of this picturesque and intefesting ruin proceeded within our own
recollection ; but its further decay has at length been retarded for a time by some slight
repairs, which were unfortunately delayed till a mere fragment of the ancient hermitage
remained. The plain corbels and a small fragment of the groined roof still stand ; and
an elegant sculptured stoup for holy water, which formerly projected from the north wall,
was preserved among the collection of antiquities of the late firm of Messrs Eagle and
Henderson. It is described by Maitland as occupying a small arched niche, and
opposite to it was another of larger dimensions, which was strongly fortified for keeping
the Pix with the consecrated bread;’ but no vestige of the latter now remains, or of m y
portion of the south wall in which it stood.
Towards the close of the fourteenth century, St Mary’s Church at Leith appears to
have been erected; but notwithstanding its large size-what remains being only a small
portion of the original edifice-no evidence remains to show by whom it was founded.
The earliest notice we have found of it is in 1490, when a contribution of an annual rent
is made ‘‘by Peter Falconer, in Leith, to a chaplain in St Piter’s Alter, situat in the
Virgin Mary Kirk in Leith.”3 Similar grants are conferred on the chaplains of St
Bartholomew’s and St Barbarie’s Altars, the latest of which is dated 8th July 1499-
the same year in which the Record of the Benefactors of the neighbouring preceptory is
brought to a close.’
Maitland and Chalmers,6 as well as all succeeding writers, agree in assigning the
destruction of the choir and transepts of St Mary’s Church to the English invaders under
1 Arnot, p. 256. Inventar of Pioua Donations, YS. Ad. Lib.
4 One charter of a later date is recorded in the Inventar of Pious Donations, by “ Jo. Logane of Kestalrig, mortifyf
Maitland, p. 497. Cdedonia, vol. ii. p. 786.
Maitland, p. 152.
ing in St Anthooy’a Chapel in Leith, hi tenement, lying on the south side of the Bridge,” dated 10th Feb. 1505,

... ANTIQUITIES. 413 tradition of its dedication to St Anthony; but the silver stream, celebrated in ...

Book 10 p. 453
(Score 0.45)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 303
of Feeling,” was the only individual whose name was made public at the
time.’
The origin and progress of the club is related in the concluding number of
the Mirror. The object at first contemplated by the contributors was simply
that of relaxation from severer studies; and, by committing their thoughts to
writing, to improve and extend their tastes on various subjects connected with
the belles lettres. Their essays were read at weekly meetings held for the purpose
; and for some time no farther extent of publicity was given to the transactions
of this club, which generally met in a tavern.’
Lord Craig (then an advocate) was one of the most zealous members ; and
with him originated the idea of publishing the essays. Next to those of Mackenzie,
the contributions of his lordship were the most numerous; and are
distinguished for a chaste and elegant style of composition.
The Mirror commenced in January 1779 and terminated in May 1780. It
was published weekly ; and each number formed a small folio sheet, which was
sold at three half-pence. The thirty-sixth number of this work, written by Lord
Craig, “ contributed,” says Dr. Anderson (Lives of the Poets, vol. ii., p. 273),
‘‘ in no inconsiderable degree to rescue from oblivion the name and writings of
the ingenious and amiable young poet, Michael Bruce.” The Lounger,’ to
which Lord Craig also contributed largely, was commenced several years afterwards
by the same club of gentlemen ; and both periodical works have passed
through numerous editions, and become standard British classics.
In private life Lord Craig was much esteemed for his gentle and courteous
manners, and the benevolence and hospitality of his disposition. In person he
might be reckoned handsome, and was rather above the middle size. A fine
portrait of him, in his later years, by Sir Henry Raeburn, long graced the walls
of the house occupied by the late Robert Sym, Esq., in George Square.
Besides Mackenzie and Lord Craig, the gentlemen connected with the Club were, Mr. Alexander
Abercromby, afterwards Lord Abercromby (uncle of the Speaker) ; Mr. Robed Cullen, afterwards
Lord Cullen ; Mr. Macleod Bannatyne, afterwards Lord Bannatyne ; Mr. George Home (by a strange
mistake, in the new edition of Scotl’s Works this gentleman has been seated on the bench aa Lord
Wedderburn), afterwards a Principal Clerk of Session ; Mr. William Gordon of Newhall ; and Mr.
George Ogilvie. The association wm at first termed the Tabernacle; but when the resolution of
publishing was adopted, it assumed the name of the Mirror CZub. To the ninth edition of the
Mirror, publiihed in 1792, and the sixth of the Lounger, in 1794, are prefixed the names of the
authors. Among the correspondents were-Lord Hailes, Mr. Baron Hume, Mr. Tytler and his Son
(Lord Woodhouselee), Professor Richardson, Dr. Beattie, Dr. Henry, and other eminent literary
persons.
a The club met sometimes in CZmihugh’s, Writers’ Court ; sometimes in Somers’, opposite the
Guard-House in the High Street ; sometimes in Stewart’s oyster house, Old Fishmarket Close ; and
fully as often, perhaps, in Lucky Dunbar’s-a moderate and obscure house, situated in an alley
leading betwixt Forrester’s and Libberton’s Wynd. * In one of the numbers of this periodical work appeared a short review of the first (or Kilmarnock)
edition of the poems of Burns. The notice was written by Henry Mackenzie ; and it may be
said, with some truth, that this production of the “ Man of Feeling” proved the means of deciding
the fate, and probably the fame of the bard. He was an unknown wight, and on the eve of bidding
farewell to hia native country, when the Lmmgw, and the kind exertions of Dr. Blacklock the poet,
happily brought him into notice, and procured for him the patronage of the learned and fashionable
circles of Ediiburgh.

... SKETCHES, 303 of Feeling,” was the only individual whose name was made public at the time.’ The ...

Book 8 p. 424
(Score 0.45)

374 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
this copartnery he was very prosperous ; and his good fortune was increased
by obtaining the hand of Miss Mansfield, the daughter of the principal
partner..
. Mr. Stirling first became connected with the Town Council in 1771, when
he was elected one of the Merchant Councillors. During the years 1773-4, he
held the. office of Treasurer; and from 1776 till 1790 was frequently in the
magistracy. At the annual election of the latter year, he was chosen Lord
Provost, and held that office during the city riots of 1792.
The Reform of the Royal Burghs of
Scotland had been keenly agitated throughout the country for some time
previous; and a motion on the subject, by Mr. Sheridan, in the House of
Commons, on the 18th of April, which was negatived by a majority of twentysix,
had incensed the public to a great degree. Henry Dundas, Lord Melville,
than Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, by his opposition
to the motion, rendered himself so obnoxious to the people, that in various parts
of Scotland he was burnt in effigy by the mob. The Pitt administration had
become unpopular by a proclamation issued at the same time against certain
publications-a measure which the people viewed as an attack upon the liberty
of the press. In this state of excitement the authorities of Edinburgh contemplated
the approaching King's birthday, on the 4th of June, with much
uneasiness ; but the measures of precaution adopted by them were imprudent,
and tended rather to irritate than conciliate the populace. The disturbances
which ensued are thus recorded in the journals of the day :-
At this period politics ran high.
" The Magistrates of Edinburgh having got information by anonymous letters and otherwise,
that on ,the King's birth-day, many persons who had taken offence at the parliamentary conduct of
Mr. Duudas, in the opposition of the Scottish Borough Reform, were determined to burn his eEgy,
in imitation of the burghs of Dundee, Aberdeen, etc., in consequence of this information, they took
the opinion of the high officers of the Crown, with regard to the conduct which it was proper
to pursue, when they resolved to prevent, if possible, the designs of the populace, by bringing in
some troops of dragoons to overawe and intimidate them. Accordingly, in the afternoon of the King's
birth-day (Monday, 4th June 1792), the dragoons made their appearance in Edinburgh, riding
furiously through the streets, with their swords drawn.l This behaviour, instead of having the
desired effect, provoked the indignation of the people, who saluted them with bootings and hisses as
they parsed along. Jn the afternoon, when the Xagistrates were assembled in the Parliament House
to drink the usual healths and loyal toasts, the populace also assembled, and were indulging themselves,
according to a custom which has prevailed in Edinburgh for many years, in the throwing of
dead cats, etc., at one another, and at the city-guard, who are always drawn up to fire volleys as the
healths are drunk by the Magistrates. At this time some dragoon officers, incautiously appearing
on the streets, were insulted by the rahble. This induced them to bring out their men, who were accordmgly
directed to clear the streets. Some stones were thrown at them ; but at last the mob
retired without doing any material mischief.
" On the evening of the next day, Tuesday, a number of persons assembled before Mr. Dundas's
house in George Square, with a figure of straw, which they hung upon a pole, and were proceeding
to burn, when two of Mr. Dundas's friends came out from the house, and very imprudently attempted
to disperse the mob by force. Their conduct was immediately resented. The gentlemen were soon
So furiously did they gallop up the High Street, that on passing the Luckenbooths, where the
street was extremely narrow, one of the horsemen came violently in contact with the corner of the
buildings, and was thrown with great force to the ground, where he lay apparently insensible for a
eonsiderable time before any one came to his assistance-the people being greatly incensed by the
appearance of the military.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. this copartnery he was very prosperous ; and his good fortune was increased by ...

Book 8 p. 522
(Score 0.44)

THE LA WNALARKET. 161
note in their day, the moat eminent of whom was the celebrated lawyer, Sir John Lauder,
better known by his judicial title of Lord Fountainhall. This interesting locality is
thus described by the latest biographer of David Hume :-“ Entering one of the doors
opposite the main entrance, the stranger ia sometimes led by a friend, wishing to afford
him an agreeable surprise, down flight after flight of the steps of a stone staircase, and
when he imagines he is descending so far into the bowels of the earth, he emerges on
the edge of a cheerful, crowded thoroughfare, connecting together the Old and New Town ;
the latter of which lies spread before him,-a contrast to the gloom from which he
has emerged. When he looks up to the building containing the upright street through
which he has descended, he sees that vast pile of tall houses standing at t,he head of the
Mound, which creates astonishment in every visitor of Edinburgh. This vast fabric is
built on the declivity of a hill, and thus one entering on the level of the Lawnmarket,
is at the height of several stories from the ground on the side next the New Town. I
have ascertained,” he adds, “ that by ascending the western of the two stairs facing the
entry of James’s Court, to the height of three stories, we arrive at the door of David
Hume’s house, which, of the two doors on that landing-place, is the one towards the left.”
During Hume’s absence in France, this dwelling was occupied by Dr Blair, and on his
leaving it finally for the house he had built for himself in St Andrew Square, at the corner
of St David Street, James Boswell became its tenant. Thither, in August 1773, he
conducted Dr Johnson, from the White Horse Inn, Boyd‘s Close, Canongate, then one of
the chief inns in Edinburgh, where he had found him in a violent passion at the waiter,
for having sweetened his lemonade without the ceremony of a pair of sugar-tongs. The
doctor, in his indignation, threw the lemonade out of the window, and seemed inclined to
send the waiter after it.2
We have often conversed with a gentleman whose mother had been present at a teaparty
in Jamea’s Court, on the occasion of the doctor’s arrival in town, and the impression
produced on her by the society of the illustrious lexicographer was summed up in the very
laconic sentence in which Mrs Boswell had then expressed her opinion of him, that he
was “ a great brute ! ” Margaret, Duchess of Douglas, was one of the party, ‘‘ with all
her diamonds,”-a lady somewhat noted among those of her own rank for her illiteracy,
-but the doctor reserved his attentions during the whole evening almost exclusively for
the Duchess.’ The character thus assigned to him is fully borne out in the lively letters
of Captain Topham, who visited Edinburgh in the following year. He describes the reception
of the doctor, by all classes, as having been of the most flattering kind, and he adds, ‘‘ From all I have been able to learn, he repaid all their attention to him with ill-breeding ;
Burton’s Life of Hume,. vol. ii. p. 136. The western portion of this vast fabric w ad~e stroyed by fire in 1858. On
ita site haa been erected, in the old Scottish style, an equally lofty structure for the Savings Bank and Free Church
offices. ’ Boswell’a Johnson, by Croker, vol. ii. p. 259.
The opinion of Lord Auchmleck about “the Auld Dominie is well known, and the doctor‘s hostess, Xra Boawell,
though assiduous in her attentions to her guest, seems to have coincided in opinion with the wit, who, on hearing him
styled by eome of his admirers a constellation of learning, said, ‘‘ Then he must be the h a Mujor.” Boswell tell4
with his usual naivet4, that his wife exclaimed to him on one occasion, with natural asperity,--“I have seen manya bear
led by a man, but I never before saw a man led by a bear ! ”-Boswell’s Johnson, note, Nov. 27, 1773.
‘‘ An old lady,” BB Dr Johnson describes her, “who tak broaa Scotch with a paralytic voice, and in scarce understood
by her own countrgmen.”-Boswell’s Johnson, by Croker, vol. i p. 209.
X

... LA WNALARKET. 161 note in their day, the moat eminent of whom was the celebrated lawyer, Sir John ...

Book 10 p. 175
(Score 0.44)

I 68 MEMORIALS OF EDIN3URGH.
dramatic exhibitions, this having been used at one time as a public theatre. On passing
through this, an inner room is reached, which exhibits an exceedingly interesting series
of decorations of an earlier period, still remaining in tolerable preservation. The ceiling,
which is richly ornamented in stucco, in the style that prevailed during the reign of
Charles IL, has a large circle in the centre, containing the royal crown, surrounded by
alternate roses and thistles, and with the date 1678. The remainder of the ceiling is
arranged in circular and polygonal compartments, with the Scottish Lion Rampant, and
the Lion Statant Gardant, as in the English crest, alternately. The walls of this apartment
are panelled in wood, and decorated in the very richest dyle of old Norrie’sl art,
justifying his claim to rank among the landscape painters of Scotland. Every panel in
the room, on shutters, walls and doors, contains a different landscape, some of them
executed with great spirit; even the keystone of an arched recess has a mask painted on
it, and the effect of the whole is singularly beautiful, notwithstanding the injury that
many of the paintings have sustained.
This fine old mansion was originally the residence of Sir John Smith of Grotham,
Provoat of Edinburgh, who, in 1650, was one of the Commissioners chosen by the Committee
of State, to convey the loyal assurances of the nation to Charles 11. at Breda,
taking with them, at the same time, ‘‘ The Covenant to be subscryvit by his Majestie.” a
So recent, we may add, has been the desertion of this locality by the wealthier citizens of
Edinburgh, that the late Professor Pillans, who long occupied the Chair of Humanity
in the University of Edinburgh, was born and brought up within the same ancient
dwelling.
The inner court, of which we furnish an engraving, is a neat, open, paved square, that
still looks as though it might afford a fitting residence for the old courtiers of Holyrood.
The building which faces the visitor on passing through the second large archway, has
long been regarded with interest as the residence of Bailie Macmoran, one of the Magistrates
of Edinburgh in the reign of James VI., who was shot dead by one of the High
School boys, during a barring-out or rebellion in the year 1595. The luckless youth who
fired the rash shot was William Sinclair,’a BOR of the Chancellor of Caithness, and
owing to this he was allowed to escape, his father’s power and influence being too great
to suffer the law to take its course. Until the demolition of the Old High School in 1777,
the boys used to point out, in one part of the building, what was called the Bailie’s
Window, being that through which the fatal shot had been fired.
The Bailie’s initials, I. M., are visible over either end of the pediment that surmounts
the building, and the close is styled, in all the earlier titles of the property, Macmoran’s
Close.’ After passing through several generations of the Macmorans, the house was
Among the List of Subscribers to the first edition of Ramsay’s Poems, published in 1721, are the names of James
Norrie and John Smibert (the friend of the poet), Painters.
* Nicol’s Diary, p. 4. ’ “ William Sinclair, eone to William Sinclair, Chansler of Catnes. . . . . . . There wes ane number of
schollaris, being gentlemen’s bairns, made ane muitinie. . . . . . Pntlie the hail1 townesmen ran to the schooll,
and tuik the said bairns and put yame in the Tolbuith, bot the ha21 bairns wer letten frie w’out hurte done to yame for
ye wme, win ane ahort tyme yairafter.”-Birrell’s Diarp, p. 35.
This close affords a very good example of the frequent changes of name, to which heady the whole of them were
subjected; the last occupant of note generally supplying hia name to the residence of his amemor. It is styled in
the various titles, Macmoran’s, Sir John Smith’s, Royston’s, and Riddle’s Close.

... 68 MEMORIALS OF EDIN3URGH. dramatic exhibitions, this having been used at one time as a public theatre. On ...

Book 10 p. 182
(Score 0.44)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 375
obliged to retire again into the house ; Not content
with this, they proceeded to the house of the Lord Advocate (Dundas of Amiston), whose windows
they broke. It then became necessary to bring a party of the military from the Castle to prevent
farther mischief. The Sheriff attended and read the riot act; but the mob not dispersing, after
repeated intimation of the consequences, the military at last fired, when several persona were
wounded, and some mortally.
“On Wednesday, in the evening, the mob assembled in the New Town, with an htenfion of
destroying the house of the Chief Magistrate.a A fire was lighted on the Castle, and two guns were
fired, 89 a signal to the marines of the Bind frigate, stationed at Leith, and the dragoons quartered
about a mile east of the town.
and the mob began to break the windows.
This put a period to the outrages for that night.
On their appearance the mob finally separated.”3
During the prevalence of these riots, Provost Stirling prudently sought shelter
in the Castle. In so doing he a‘cted wisely, as, if the mob had laid hands on
him, there is no saying what might have followed. It was at this time that
“Lang Sandy Wood,” whom the crowd mistook for the Provost, narrowly
escaped being thrown over the North Bridge.
The Magistrates, naturally alarmed at what had occurred, thought it best to
lay the whole facts of the case before their fellow-citizens. With this view, a
public meeting of the inhabitants was called, in the New Church aisle, on the
Thursday forenoon following-the Lord Provost in the chair. Of this meeting
the following account is given in the journals :-
“ The Lord Advocate, Mr. Sheriff Pringle, the Lord-President, Lord Adam Gordon, Commanderin-
Chief, &. Solicitor Blair, and several others, declared their sentiments. The meeting unanimously
expressed their full approbation of the measures pimued by the Magistrates and the Sheriff,
for suppressing the riots ; and publivhed resolutions to that effect.
“A proclamation was issued the same evening, recommending to the people not to assemble in
crowds, or remain longer on the streets than their lawful business required, as the most decisive
measures had been resolved upon for quieting the least appearance of any farther disorder ; and offering
a reward of one hundred guineas for discovery of the ringleaders. Fifty guinens were also offered
by the Merchant Company, who, and all the incorporations, voted thanks to the hfagi8trates for the
measures taken to suppress the riots. It is said that certain attempts to procure a vote of thanks
to the Magistrates for introducing the military into the town,predozls to any riotous act, proved
abortive.”
Perhaps the zeal displayed by Provost Stirling, in support of the existing
administration on this occasion, may have recommended him as a suitable object
for ministerial favour; however this may be, on the 17th of July following,
“the King was pleased to grant the dignity of a Baronet of the kingdom of
Great Britain to the Right Hon. James Stirling, Lord Provost of the city of
Edinburgh, and the heirs-male of his body lawfully begotten.”
The gentlemen who made this hazardous attempt, we have been informed, were the late Lord
Viscount Duncan, then Rear-Admiral of the White, and the late Sir Patrick Murray of Ochtertyre,
then attending the law classes at the University. Duncan, although in his sixty-first year, was a
strong athletic man. Armed with a crutch belonging to old Lady Dundas, which he seized on nwhing
out of the house, he laid about him among the crowd with great vigour ; and even after the head
of the crutch had been demolished, he continued to use the staff, until compelled to retreat by the
overwhelming inequality of numbers.
He then resided at the south-west corner of St. Andrew Square.
a No damage was sustained upon the premises of the Lord Provost. The destruction was limited
to two sentry-boxes placed near the door, it being then deemed an indispensable accessory to the
dignily of Provost, that two of the city-guard should keep station before his house.

... SKETCHES, 375 obliged to retire again into the house ; Not content with this, they proceeded to the ...

Book 8 p. 523
(Score 0.44)

364 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moultray?s Hill.
+
CHAPTER XLVII.
MOULTRAY?S HILL-HER MAJESTY?S GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE.
The Moultrays of :hat Ilk-Village of Moultray?s Hill-The Chapel of St. Ninian-St. James?s SquaeBuuker?s Hill-Mr. Dundas-Robert
Burns?s House-State of the Scottish Records-Indifference .of the Government in r74c-The Register House built-Its Objects and
Sie-Curious Documents prc;erved in this House-lhe Office of Lord Clerk Register-The Secretary?s Register-The Register of
Sasines-The Lyon King .f Arms-Sir Dnrid Lindesay-Sir James Balfour-Sir Alexander ErskintNcw Register House-Great
and Privy Seals of Scotland-The Wellington Statue.
AT the north end of the bridge, and immediately
opposite it and the New General Post Office, the
ground forming the east end of the main ridge
onwhich the New Town
is built rises to some
elevation, and bore the
name of Multrie?s or
Moultray?s Hill, which
Lord Hailes in his ?Annals
? supposes to be the
corruption of two Gaelic
words ?signifying the covert
or receptacle of the
wild boar;? but it would
appear rather to have
taken its name from the
fact of its being the residence
of the Moultrays of
Seafield, a baronial Fifeshire
family of eminence
in the time of James IV.,
whose lonely old tower
stands in ruins upon a
wave-washed rock near
K i n g h o r n. Alexander
Stemart of Grenane (ancestor
of the Earls of Galloway),
who fell: at Flodden,
left sixteen daughters, one
of whom was married to
Moultray of Seafield, and
another to Tours of Inverassize,?
in a criminal trial, as recorded by Pitcairn.
In 1715 Alexander Malloch of Moultray?s Hill
quitted this ancient house at Edinburgh, to join the
DK. JOHN HOPE. (AferKay.)
leith, whose castle in those days would be quite
visible from the height where St. James?s Square
stands. The name first occurs in Scottish records,
in the time of David II., when ? I Henry Multra?
had the lands of Greenhill, near Edinburgh, of
Henry Braid of that ilk.
On the 7th of February, 1549, John Moultray of
Seafield signed a charter in the chartulary of
Dunfermline. In 1559, the laird being of the
Catholic faction, had to furnish the insurgent lords
with corn and cattle. They besieged his tower, and
took him prisoner, but released him on parole not
to assist the queen regent?s French troops. In 1559
Moultray of Seafield m?as chancellor of ?ane
Highlanders under Brigadier
Macintosh of Borlum,
but was shot dead in mistake
by them near the
village of Jock?s Lodge;
and after 1739 the older
family, which became
extinct, was represented
by the Moultrays of Rescobie.
From the abode of this
old race, then, Moultray?s
Hilltook itsname. Gordon
of Rothiemay?s map shows
a large quadrangular edifice,
with gables and dormer
windows crowning the
apex of the hill, which may
be the residence of the
family referred to ; but by
1701 quite a suburban
village had sprung up in
that quarter, the occupants
of which, weavers and
other tradesmen, had the
quarrel, recorded elsewhere,
withthe magistrates
of Edinburgh, who, to
punish them, closed Halkerston?s
Wynd Port, and, by the loch sluice,
flooded the pathway that led to their houses.
In 1765 the village seems to have consisted of at
least ten distinct blocks of several houses each,
surrounded by gardens and parks, on each side
of the extreme east end of the Long Gate (now
Princes Street), and from thence Leith Street takes
precisely the curve of the old road, on its way to
join the Walk.
At the eastern foot of this hill, exactly where now
stands the western pier of the Regent Bridge, deep
down in a narrow hollow, stood the ancient chapel
of St. Ninian (or St. Ringan, ?whose fame,? says
Nirnmo, ?? has been embalmed in the many churches

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moultray?s Hill. + CHAPTER XLVII. MOULTRAY?S HILL-HER MAJESTY?S GENERAL REGISTER ...

Book 2 p. 364
(Score 0.44)

250 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Geddes, the heroine of 1637, was one of the kail wives of the Tron, her famous stool-the
formidable weapon with which she began the great rebellion, by hurling it at the Dean of
St Giles’ head-must have perished in this repentant ebullition of joy, and accordingly
that the relic shown in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries is undeserving of credit.
We must protest, however, against so rash an hypothesis, which would involve the
destruction of the sole monument of the immortal Janet’s heroic onslaught; seeing there can
be no reasonable question that a dame so zealous and devout would reserve her best stool for
the Sunday’s services, and content herself with a common creepie for her week-day avocations
at the Tron I There is no doubt, however, that Jenny gave unequivocal proofs of
her loyalty at a later period, as she is specially mentioned in the Mercurius Caledonius, a
newspaper published immediately after the Restoration, as having taken a prominent share
in similar rejoicings on the coronation of the king in 1661. “But among all our bontados
and caprices,’’ says the curious.annalist, ‘‘ that of the immortal Jenet Geddis, Princesse of
the Trone Adventurers, was most pleasant, for she was not only content to assemble all her
creels, basquets, creepies, frames, and other ingredients that composed the shope of her
sallets, radishes, turnips, carrots, spinage, cabbage, with all other sort of pot merchandise
that belongs to the garden, but even her leather chair of state, where she used to dkpense
justice to the rest of her langkale vassals, were all very orderly burned; she herself
countenancing the action with a high-flown flourish and vermillion majesty.”
Halkerston’~W ynd, which is the first close now remaining on the north side of the
. High Street below the Tron Church, had once been a place of considerable note, but
nearly every vestige of antiquity has disappeared. We have already given a view a of a
very curious ancient lintel still remaining on the east side, which bears on it the monogram
IHS, and a cross-Jeury, with a coronet surmounting the letter D. The whole style
and character of this doorway indicates a date long anterior to the Reformation, but the
building to which it belonged has been demolished, all but a portion of the outer wall,
and we have failed to obtain any clue to its early history. It was in its later state a
timber-fronted land, having a good deal of carving along the gables, and an ornamental
stone stair-case projecting beyond, altogether indicatiug the remains of a magnxcent
and costly mansion of the olden time. Adjoining this, another doorway, forming a
similar vestige of a more modern building, bears the common inscription, BLISSIT . BE
GOD . FOR . AL . HIS . GIFTIS . and the initials and date RD * D - 1609.. This ancient
alley formed one of the accesses to the city from the north, previous to the erection of the
North Bridge. Fountainhall’ gives a curious account of an action brought by Robert
Malloch in 1701 against the magistrates of Edinburgh, for shutting up the Halkerston’s
Wynd Port. From this it appears that a suburban village had sprung up on Moutrie’s
Hill, the site now occupied by James’ Square, in which a number of poor weavers and other
tradesmen had set up in defiance of the incorporations of the Gude Toun. The deacons
finding their crafts in danger, took advantage of an approaching election to frighten the
magistrates into a just sense of the enormity of tolerating such unconstitutional interlopers
Even Jenny Geddes’s well-earned reputation “cannot live out of the teeth of emulation.” Kincaid (Hist. of Edin.
p. 63) puts forward a new claimant to her honours, “ an old woman named Hamilton, grandmother to Robert Mein,
late Dean of Guild officer in Edinburgh”
Ante, p. 118. Fountainhall’s Decisions, vol. ii. p. 110.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. Geddes, the heroine of 1637, was one of the kail wives of the Tron, her famous ...

Book 10 p. 271
(Score 0.44)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. . 261
church, and the lively expression and spirit of the ‘‘ General Assembly,” and others of
his own etchings, amply justify the character he enjoyed among his contemporaries as a
truthful and humorous delineator of nature. He succeeded Runciman as master of the
Academy established by the Board of Trustees, the classes of which then met in the
College, while he received private pupils at his own house in Dickson’s Close.‘ A little
lower down the close on the same side, an old and curious stone tenement.bears on its
lower crowstep the Haliburton Arms, impaled with another coat, on one shield. It is a
singularly unique and time-worn edifice, evidently of considerable antiquity. A curious
double window projects on a corbeled base into the close, while the whole stone-work is
so much decayed as greatly to add to its picturesque character. In the earliest deed
which exists, bearing the date 1582, its first proprietor, Master James Halyburton--a
title then of some meaning-is spoken of in indefinite terms as umpb or deceased ; so
that it is a building probably of the early part of the sixteenth century. It afterwards
was the residence of Sir John Haliday of Tillybole. The moat interesting fact, however,
brought out by these early titles, occurs in defining the boundaries of the property,
wherein it is described as having “ the trans of the prebendaries of the kirk of Crightoun
on the east pairt and oyr partes ; ” so that a considerable part of Cant’s Close appeara
to have been occupied in early times by ecclesiastical buildings in connection with
the church of Crichton, erected into a collegiate foundation in 1449 by Sir Wm.
Crichton, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland.’ Directly opposite to the site of this
is another ecclesiastical edsce, the mansion of the Abbot of Melrose, which enters
from Strichen’s Close. It is a large and substantial stone building, enclosing a small
square or court in the centre, the original access to which seems to have disappeared.
The whole building has evidently undergone great alterations; and over one of the
doorways, a carved stone bears a large and very boldly cut shield, with two coats of
arms impaled, and the date 1600. There seems no reason to doubt,,however, that the
main portion of the Abbot’s residence still remains. The lower story is strongly vaulted,
and is evidently the work of an early date. The small quadrangle also is quite in
character with the period assumed for the building; and at its north-west angle in Cant’s
Close, where a curiously carved fleur-de-lis surmounts the gable, a grotesque gurgoil of
antique form serves as a gutter to the roof. Here, therefore, we may assign with little
hesitation the residence of Andrew Durie, nominated by James V. to the Abbey of Melrose
in the year 1526 ; and whose death, Knox assures us, was occasioned by the terror
into which he was put on the memorable uproar on St Giles’s day 1558. The close, which
is called the Abbot of Melrose’a in its earlier titles, assumes that of Rosehaugh Close at a
later period, from the Abbot’s lodging having become the residence of the celebrated Sir
George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, King’s Advocate for Scotland after the Restoration.
During a great part of last century, this ancient mamion was occupied by Alexander
Fraaer of Strichen, who was connected by marriage with the descendants of Sir George
- 1
Caledonian M m l y , Nov. 15, 1788.-His terms were one guinea per month for three lessons in the week, a fee
that undoubtedly restricted hia private clawes at that period to the most wealthy and fashionable atudenta of art. The
date of the advertisement is the year of hia marriaga ’ “ X t appeara from old writinga and charters connected with the how, that the tenement fronting the street, by
which it waa bounded on the north, had been, before the Reformation, the lodging of the Provost of CriohtoxL’’-Tdtions,
voL i p. 92. The old building ia long aince destroyed.

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. . 261 church, and the lively expression and spirit of the ‘‘ General ...

Book 10 p. 283
(Score 0.43)

242 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
The mansion of the Earl in the Old Stamp Office Close was celebrated at a subsequent
period as Fortune’s tavern, a favourite resort of men of rank and fashion, while yet some of
the nobles of Scotland dwelt in its old capital. At a still later period, it was the scene of
the annual festivities during the Hittings of the General Assembly of the Kirk, towards the
close of last century. The old Zarl of Leven, who was for many years the representative
of majesty at the High Court of the Church, annually took up his abode at this fashionable
tavern, and received in state the courtiers who crowded to his splendid levees.’ Still more
strangely does it contrast with modern notions, to learn that the celebrated Henry Dundas,
first Viscount Melville, began practice as an advocate while residing on the third flat of the
old land a little further down the street, at the head of the Flesh Market Close, and continued
to occupy his exalted dwelling for a considerable time. Below this close, we again
come to works of more modern date. Milne Square, which bears the date 1689, exhibits
one of the Old Town improvements before its contented citizens dreamt of bursting their
ancient fetters, and rearing a new city beyond the banks of the North Loch. To the
east of this, the first step in that great undertaking demolished some of the old lanes
of the High Street, and among the rest the Cap and Feather Close, a short alley which
stood immediately above Halkerston’s Wynd. The lands that formed the east side of this
close still remain in North Bridge Street, presenting doubtless, to the eye of every tasteful
reformer, offensive blemishes in the modern thoroughfare ; yet this unpicturesque locality
has peculiar claims on the interest of every lover of Scottish poetry, for here, on the 5th
of September 1750, the gifted child of genius, Robert Ferpson, was born. The precise
site of his father’s dwelling is unknown, but now that it has been transformed by the indiscriminating
hands of modern improvers, this description may sufice to suggest to some as
they pass along that crowded thoroughfare such thoughts as the dwellers in cities are most
careless to encourage.’
Availing ourselves of the subdivision of the present subject, effected by the improvements
to which we have adverted, we shall retrace our steps, and glance at such associations
with the olden time as may still be gathered from the scene of the desolating fires that
swept away nearly every ancient feature on the south side of the High Street. Within
the last few years, the sole survivor of all the antique buildings that once reared their
picturesque and lofty fronts between the Lawnmarket and Niddry’s Wynd has been demolished,
to make way for the new Police Office. It had strangely withstood the terrible
conflagration that raged around it in 1824, and, with the curious propensity that still prevails
in Edinburgh for inventing suggestive and appropriate names, it was latterly universally
known as “ the Salamander Land.” ’ Through this a large archway led into the Old
Fish Market Close, on the west side of which, previous to the Great Fire, the huge pile
of buildings in the Parliament Close reared its southern front high over all the neigh-
In 1812 an unwonted spectacle waa exhibited at the head of the Old Stamp Office .Close, in the execution of three
young la& there, as the leadera in a riot that took place un New Year’s Day of that year, in which several citizens were
killed and numerous robberies committed. The judges fixed upon this spot, as having been the scene of the chief bloodshed
that had occurred, in order to mark more impressively the detestation of their crimes. A small work was published
by the Rev. W. Innes, entitled “ Notes of Conversations ’’ with the criminals. ’ In Edgar’s map, the close is shown extending no farther than in a line with Milne’s Court, so that the whole of the
east side etill remains, including, it may be, the poet’s birthplace. ’ We have been told that this land was aaid to have been the residence of Defoe while in Edinburgh ; the tradition,
however, ia entirely unaupported by other testimony.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. The mansion of the Earl in the Old Stamp Office Close was celebrated at a ...

Book 10 p. 263
(Score 0.43)

F e Tolbooth. 124
as the- martlet did in Macbeth?s castle. Of
later years .these booths have degenerated into
mere toy-shops, where the little loiterers chiefly
interested in such wares are tempted to linger, enchanted
by the rich display of hobby-horses, babies,
and Dutch toys, arranged in artful and gay confusion,
yet half scared by the cross looks of the
withered pantaloon by whom these wares are
superintended. But in the times we write of the
hosiers, glovers, hatters, mercers, milliners, and all
of a hearse, it was calculated to impress all beholders
wit!i a sense of what was meant in Scottish law
Situated in the very heart of the ancient city, it
stood at the north-west corner of the parish church
of St. Giles, and so close to it as to leave only a
narrow footway between the projecting buttresses,
while its tall and gloomy mass extended so far
into the High Street, as to leave the thoroughfare
at that part only 14 feet in breadth. ?Reuben
Butler,? says Scott, writing ere its demolition had
been decreed, ?stood now before the Gothic en-
, by the spudor carccris.?
?
I a collegiate church, and the chapter-house thereof
being of sufficient dimensions, would naturally
lead to the meeting-place of parliaments, though
many were held in Edinburgh long before the
time of James III., especially in the old hall of the
Castle, now degraded into a military hospital.
The first Parliament of James 11. was held in
the latter in 1437 ; in 1438 the second Parliament
was held at Stirling, but in the November of the
same year another in pretonk burgi de Edinburgh,
tnnce of the ancient prison,
which, as is well known to
all men, rears its front in
the very middle of the High
Street, forming, as it were,
the termination to a huge
pile of buildings called the
Luckenbooths, which, for
some inconceivable reason,
our ancestors had jammed
. into the midst of the principzl
stteet of the town,
leaving for passage a narrow
street on the north and on
the south, into which the
. prison opens, a narrow,
cxooked lane, winding betwixt
the high and sombre
walls of the Tolbooth and
the adjacent houses on one
side, and the buttresses and
projections of the old church
upon the other. To give
some gaiety to this sombre
passage (well known by the
name of the Krames), a
number of little booths or
shops, after fhe fashion of
who dealt in the miscellaneous wares now termed
haberdashers? goods, were to be found in this narrow
alley.?
By the year 156r the Tolbooth, or Preforium
burgi de Edinburgi, as it is named in the early Acts
of the Scottish Parliament, had become ruinous,
and on the 6th of February Queen Mary wrote a
letter to the magistrates, charging the Provost to
take it down at once, and meanwhile to provide
accommodation elsewhere for the Lords of Session.
Since the storm of the Reformation the Scottish
revenues had been greatly impaired ; money
and materials were alike
JOHN DOWIE. (After h-uy.)
cobblers? stalls, are plastered, as it were, against
the Gothic projections and abutments, so that it
seemed as if the traders had occupied with
nests-bearing about the same proportion to the
building-every buttress and coign of vantage,
scarce ; hence the magistrates
were anxious, if possible,
to preserve the old
building ; accordingly a new
onewas erected, entirelyapart
froin it, adjoining the southwest
corner of St. Giles?s
church, and the eastern portion
of t!ie old Tolbooth
bore incontestable evidence
of being the work of an age
long anterior to the date of
Queen Mary?s letter, and the
line of demarcation between
the east and west ends of the
edifice is still apparent in all
views of it. The more
ancient portion, which had
on its first floor a large and
deeply-embayed square window,
having rich Gothic
niches on each side, is supposed
to have been at one
time the house of the Pravost
of St. Giles?s church, or some
such appendage to the latter,
while the prebends and
other members of the colleges were accommodated
in edifices on the south side of the church, removed
in 1632 to make way for the present Parliament
House. Thus it is supposed to have been built
about 1466, when James 111. erected St. Giles?s into

... F e Tolbooth. 124 as the- martlet did in Macbeth?s castle. Of later years .these booths have degenerated ...

Book 1 p. 124
(Score 0.43)

THE HIGH STREET. 229
Advocate’s Close, which bounds the ancient tenement we have been describing on the
east, derives its name from Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees,’ who returned from exile on
the landing of the Prince of Orange, and took an active part in the Revolution. He was
an object of extreme dislike to the Jacobite party, who vented their spleen against him in
their bitterest lampoons, some of which are preserved in the Scottish Pasquils; and to them
he was indebted for the sobriquet of Jamie Wylie. Sir James filled the oEce of Lord
Advocate from 1692 until his death in 1713, one year excepted, and had a prominent
share in all the public transactions of that important period. Being go long in the enjoyment
of his official title, the close in which he resided received the name of “ the Advocate’s
Close.” The house in which he lived and died is at the foot of the Close, on the west side,
immediately before descending a flight of steps that somewhat lessen the abruptness of the
steep descent.” In 1769, Sir James Stewart, grandson of the Lord Advocate, sold the
house to David Dalrymple of Westhall, Esq., who, when afterwards raised to the Bench,
assumed the title of Lord Westhall, and continued to reside in this old mansion till his
death.3 This ancient alley retains, nearly unaltered, the same picturesque overhanging
gables and timber projections which have, without doubt, characterised it for centuries, and
may be taken as a very good sample of a fashionable close in the paluy days of Queen
Anne. It continued till a comparatively recent period to be a favourite locality for gentlemen
of the law, and has been pointed out to us, by an old citizen, as the early residence of
Andrew Crosbie, the celebrated original of ‘‘ Councillor Pleydell,” who forms so prominent
a character among the dramatis person@ of The same house already
mentioned as that of Sir James Stewart, would answer in most points to the description of
the novelist, entering as it does, from a dark and steep alley, and commanding a magnificent
prospect towards the north, though now partially obstructed by the buildings of the
New Town. It is no mean praise to the old lawyer that he was almost the only one who
had the courage to stand his ground against Dr Johnson, during his visit to Edinburgh.
Mr Crosbie afterwards removed to the splendid mansion erected by him in St Andrew
Square, ornamented with engaged pillars and a highly decorated attic story, which stands
to the north of the Royal Bank ; ‘ but he was involved, with many others, in the failure of
the Ayr Bank, and died in such poverty, in 1785, that his widow owed her Bole support to
an annuity of 350 granted by the Faculty of Advocates.
The lowest house on the east side, directly opposite to that of the Lord Advocate, was
the residence of an artist of some note in the seventeenth century. It has been pointed
out to as by an old citizen recently dead ’ as the house of his (‘ grandmother’s grandfather,”
the celebrated John Scougal,‘ painter of the portrait of George Heriot which now hangs in
Guy Mannering.”
1 Now called “Moredun” in the parish of Lihberton. The house was built by Sir James SOOU after the
Revolution.
Sir James Stewart, Provost of Edinburgh in 1648-9, when Cromwell paid his first visit to Edinburgh, and again
in 1658-9, at the close of the Protectorate,-purchased the ancient tenement which occupied this site, and after the
Revolution, his son, the Lord Advocate, rebuilt it, and died there in 1713, when, “so great was the crowd,” 88 Wodrow
tells in his Analecta, “that the magistrates were at the grave in the Greyfriam’ Churchyard before the corpse waa taken
out of the house at the foot of the Advocate’a Close.”-Coltnew Collectiona, Maitlaud Club, p. 17.
a The house appears from the titles to have been sold by Lord Westhall, in 1784, within a few weeks of hia death. ‘ Now occupied aa Douglas’s Hotel.
a John Scougal, younger of that name, was a cousin of Patrick Scougal, consecrated Bishop of Aberdeen in 1664. He
added the upper story to the old land in Advccate’e Cloae, and fitted up one of the floors as a picture gallery; iome
Mr Andrew Greig, carpet manufacturer.

... HIGH STREET. 229 Advocate’s Close, which bounds the ancient tenement we have been describing on the east, ...

Book 10 p. 249
(Score 0.43)

vi OLD APU'D NEW EDINBURGH.
CHAPTER XXII.
ST. ANDREW SQUARE.
PAGE
St. Andrew Sq-Lst .of Early R e s i d e n u t Bomwlaski-Miss Gordon of CLuny-SconiSh W d m ' Fund-Dr. A. K. Johnstoo
--Scottish Provident Institution-House in which Lord Bmugham was Bom-Scottish Equitable Society-Charteris of Amisfield-
Douglas's Hotel-Sk Philip Ainslie-British Linen Company-National Bank--Royal Baulc-The Melville and Hopetoun Monuments
-Ambm's Tavern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I66
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHARLOTTE S Q U A R E ,
Charlotle Sq-Its Early OccuPantgSu John Sinclair, B a r t - b o n d of that Ilk-Si Wdliam Fettes-Lard chief Commissioner Adam
-Alexander Dimto-St. George'r Church-The Rev. Andrew Thomson-Prince ConSmt's Memorial-The Parallelogram of the first
New Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -172
CHAPTER XXIV.
ELDER STREET-LEITH STREET-BROUGHTON STREET.
Elder Street--Leith Street-The old "Black BuU"-Margarot-The Theatre Royal-Its Predecessors on the same Site-The Circus-
C o d s Rooms-The Pantheon-Caledonian Thoaue--Adelphi Theatre-Queen's Theatre and Open House-Burned and Rebuilt-
~ t . wary's chapel-~ishop Cameron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
CHAPTER XXV.
THE VILLAGE AND BARONY OF BROUGHTON.
Bmghton-The Village and Barmy-The Loan-Bmughton first mentioned-Feudal Superio+Wttches Burned-Leslie's Headquarters
-Gordon of Ellon's Children Murdered-Taken Red Hand-The Tolbooth of the Burgh-The Minute Books-Free Burgews-
Modern Ch& Meted in the Bounds of the Barony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .r80
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE NORTHERN NEW TOWN.
Picardy PI-Lords Eldm and CDig-Su David Milm--Joho AbcrcmmbitLord Newton--cOmmissioner Osborne-St. PauPs Church
-St. George's Chapel-Wib Douglas, Artist-Professor Playfair-Gcned Scott of BellencDrummond Place-C K. Sharpe of
Hoddam-Lard Robertson-Abercmmbie Place and Heriot Row-Miss Femer-House in which H. McKenzie died-Rev. A. Aliin
-Great King Street-Sir R Chrii-Sir WillLm Hamilton-Si William Allan--Lord Colonsay, Lc. . . . . . . . 185
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE NORTHERN NEW TOWN (codu&d).
AdrnLal Fairfax-Bishop Terrot-Brigadier Hope-Sir T. M. Brisbam-Lord Meadowbank-Ewbank the R.S.A-Death of Professor
Wilson-Moray Place and its Distria-Lord President Hope-The Last Abode of Jeffrey-Bamn Hume and Lord Moncrieff-
Fom Street-Thomas Chalmers, D.D.-St. Colme Street-Cap& Basil Hall--Ainslie Place-Dugald Stewart-Dean Ramsay-
Great Stuart Slreet--Pmfessor Aytwn--Mk Graharn of DuntrooPLord Jerviswoodc . . . . . . . . . . I98
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE WESTERN NEW TOWN-HAYMARKET-DALRY-FOUNTAINBRIDGE.
Maithd Street and Shandwick Place-The Albert Institute--Last Residence of Sir Wa'ta Smtt in Edinburgh-Lieutenant-General
DundatMelville Street-PatricL F. Tytler--Manor Piace-St. M q ' s Cathedral-The Foundation Ud-Its Si and Aspxt-
Opened for Srrsice--The Copstone and Cross placed on the Spire-Haymarket Station-Wmta Garden-Donaldson's Hospital-
Castle Te-Its Churches-Castle Barns-The U. P. Theological Hall-Union Canal-Fkt Boat Launched-Dalry-The Chieslies
-The Caledoniau Dstillery-Foun&bridg=-Earl Grey Street-Professor G:J. Bell-The Slaughter-ho-Baii Whyt of Bainfield
-Nd British India Rubber Works-Scottish Vulcanite CompanpAdam Ritchie . . . . . . . . . . . . Z q

... OLD APU'D NEW EDINBURGH. CHAPTER XXII. ST. ANDREW SQUARE. PAGE St. Andrew Sq-Lst .of Early R e s i d e ...

Book 4 p. 388
(Score 0.43)

EARLIEST TRA DITZONS. 3
sess himself of Edgar, the youthful heir to the crown, then lodged within its walls. In
that year, also, Queen Margaret (the widow of Malcolm Canmore, and the mother of
Edgar), to whose wisdom and sagacity he entrusted implicitly the internal polity of his
kingdom, died in the Castle, of grief, on learning of his death, with that of Edward, their
eldest son, both slain at the siege of Alnwick castle ; and while the usurper, relying on
the general steepness of the rocky cliff, was urgent only to secure the regular accesses,
the body of the Queen was conveyed through a postern gate, and down the steep declivity
on the western side, to the Abbey Church of Dunfermline, where it lies interred; while
the young Prince, escaping by the same egress, found protection in England, at the hand
of his uncle, Edgar Atheling. In commemoration of the death of Queen Margaret, a
church was afterwards erected, and endowed with revenues, by successive monarchs ; all
trace of which has long since disappeared, the site of it being now occupied by the barracks
forming the north side of the great square.
In the reign of Alexander I., at the beginning of the twelfth century, the first
distinct notices of the town as 8 royal residence are found ; while in that of his successor
David, we discover the origin of many of the most important features still surviving. He
founded the Abbey of Holyrood, styled by Fordun “ Monasterium Sanctae Crucis de Crag,”
which was begun to be built in its present situation in the year 1128. The convent, the
precursor of St David‘s Abbey, is said to have been placed at first within the Castle ; and
some of the earliest gifts of its saintly founder to his new monastery, were the churches of
the Castle and of St Cuthbert’s, immediately adjacent, with all their dependencies ; among
which, one plot of land belonging to the latter is meted by ‘‘ the fountain which rises near
the corner of the King’s garden, on the road leading to St Cuthbert’s church.” e
According to Father Hay, the Nuns, from whom the Castle derived the name
of Castrum Puellarum, were thrust out by St David, and in their place the Canons introduced
by the Pope’s dispense, as fitter to live among souldiers. They continued in the
Castle dureing Malcolm the Fourth his reign ; upon which account we have several1 charters
of that king granted, apud Monasterium Sanctae Crucis de Castello Puellarum. Under
Icing William [the Lion], who was a great benefactor to Holyrood-house, I fancie the
Canons retired to the place which is now called the Abbay.” ’ King David built also for
them, and for the use of the inhabitants, a mill, the nucleus of the village of Canonmills,
which still retains many tokens of its early origin, though now rapidly being surrounded
by the extending modern improvements.
The charter of foundation of the Abbey of the HoIyrood, besides conferring valuable
revenues, derivable from the general resources of the royal burgh of Edinburgh, gives them
€1 107.1
[ll?S.]
Lord Hailes recorda a monkish tradition, which may be received a~ a proof of the popular belief, in the strong attachment
of the Queen to her husband. “ The hody of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, waa removed from its place of sepulture
at Dunfermline, and deposited in L costly shrine. While the monks were employed in this service, they approached the
tomb of her husband Malcolm. Still,
as more hands were employed in raising it, the body became heavier. The spectators stood amazed ; and the humble
monka imputed this phenomenon to their own unworthiness ; when a bystander cried out, ‘The Queen will not stir till
equal honours are performed to her husband’ This having been done, the body of the Queen wa8 removed with ease,’’
-Annals, vol. i. p. 303. ’ Liber Cartarum Sancta Crucis, p. xi.
* Father Hay, Ibid. xxii. Richard Augustin Hay, canon of St Genevieve, at PSrig and prospcclivc Abbot of Holpod
at the Revolution, though an iudustrioue antiquary, aeemn to have had no better authority for this nunnery than the
disputed name C&mm Puellarclm
The body became on a sudden so heavy, that they were obliged to set it down.

... TRA DITZONS. 3 sess himself of Edgar, the youthful heir to the crown, then lodged within its walls. ...

Book 10 p. 4
(Score 0.43)

lies directly at the south-eastern base of Arthur's
Seat, and has long'been one of the daily postal
districts of the city.
Overhung by the green slopes and grey rocks ok
Arthur's Seat, and shut out by its mountainous
mass from every view of the crowded city at its
further base in Duddingston, says a statist, writing
in 1851, a spectator feels himself sequestered from
the busy scenes which he knows to' be in his
immediate vicinity, as he hears their distant hum
upon the passing breezes by the Willow Brae on
the east, or the gorge of the Windy Goule on the
south; and he looks southward and west over a
glorious panorama of beautiful villas, towering ,
'
From the style of the church and the structure of
its arches, it is supposed to date from the epoch of
the introduction of Saxon architecture. A semicircular
arch of great beauty divides the choir from
the chancel, and a Saxon doorway, with fantastic
heads and zig-zag mbuldings, still remains in the
southern face of the tower. The entrance-gate to
its deep, grassy, and sequestered little buryingground,
is still furnished with the antique chain and
collar of durance, the terror of evildoers, named
the jougs, and a time-worn Zouping-on-stone, for the
use of old or obese horsemen.
Some interesting tombs are to be found in the
burying-ground ; among these are the marble obelisk
castles, rich coppice,
hill and valley, magnificent
in semi-tint, in
light and shadow, till
the Pentlands, or the
1 on e 1 y Lam m er m u i r
ranges, close the distance.
The name of this
hamlet and parish has
been a vexed subject
amongst antiquaries,
but as a surname it is
not unknown in Scotland
: thus, among the
missing charters of
Robert Bruce, there is
one to John Dudingstoun
of the lands of
Pitcorthie, in Fife; and
among the gentlemen
GATEWAY OF DUDDINGSTON CHURCH, SHOWING TIIE
JOUCS AND LOUPING-ON-STONE.
slain at Flodden in I 5 I 3
there was Stephen Duddingston of Kildinington,
also in Fife. Besides, there is another place of the
same name in Linlithgowshire, the patrimony of the
Dundases.
The ancient church, with a square tower at its
western end, occupies a green and rocky peninsula
that juts into the clear and calm blue loch. It is
an edifice of great antiquity, and belonged of old
to the Tyronensian Monks of Kelso, who possessed
it, together with the lands of Eastern and Western
Duddingston ; the chartulary of that abbey does not
say from whom they acquired these possessions, but
most probably it was from David I.
Herbert, first abbot of Kelso, a man of great
learning and talent, chamberiain of the kingdom
under Alexander I. and David I., in 1128, granted
the lands of Eastern and Western Duddingston to
Reginald de Bosco for an annual rent of ten marks,
to be paid by him and his heirs for ever.
erected to the memory
of Patrick Haldane of
Gleneagles by his unfortunate
grandson, whose
fate is also recorded
thereon; and that of
James Browne, LLD.,
Advocate, the historian
of the Highlands and
Highland clans, in the
tower of the church.
In the register of
assignations for the
minister's stipends in
the year 1574, presented
in MS. by
Bishop Keith to the
Advocates' Library,
Duddingston is said to
have been a joint dependence
with the
Castle of Edinburgh
upon the Abbey of Holyrood. The old records
of the Kirk Session are only of the year 1631, and
in the preceding year the lands of Prestonfield
were disjoined from the kirk and parish of St.
Cuthbert, and annexed to those of Duddingston.
On the r8th'of May, 1631, an aisle was added
to the church for the use of the Laird of Prestonfield,
his tenants and servants.
David Malcolme, minister here before I 741,
was an eminent linguist in his time, whose writings
were commended by Pinkerton, and quoted with
respect by Gebelin in his Monde Plillit$ and
Bullet in his Mkmoirrs Celtiques; but the church is
chiefly famous for the incumbency of the Rev. John
Thomson, a highly distinguished landscape painter,
who from his early boyhood exhibited a strong
predilection for art, and after being a pupil of
Alexander Nasmyth, became an honorary member
of the Royal Scottish Academy. He became

... directly at the south-eastern base of Arthur's Seat, and has long'been one of the daily ...

Book 4 p. 314
(Score 0.42)

-198 OLD .4ND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
park and ample stabling; and there are always
two batteries, with guns and horses, stationed there
now.
Here, on the 6th October, 1781, trial was made
of a Ioo-pounder carronade, which in those dayswhen
Woolwich ? infants ?? were unknown-excited
the greatest wonder; and on this occasion there
-were present the Duke of Buccleuch, the Right
Hon. Henry Dundas, Lord Advocate, and Captain
John Fergusson, R. N., who died an admiral,
In the same year, the fleet of Admiral Sir Peter
Parker, consisting of fifteen sail of the line and
many frigates, the Jamaica squadron, and a convoy
of 600 merchantmeii, lay for two months in Leith
Roads, having on board more than zo,ooo seamen
and marines ; and so admirably were the markets
of the town supplied, that it is noteworthy this addition
to the population did not raise the prices
one farthing.
Five years subsequently Commodore the Hon.
John Leveson Cower?s squadron anchored in the
Roads in July. Among the vessels under his command
was the Helm frigate of forty guns, commanded
by Captain Keppel, and the third lieutenant
of which was the young Prince William Henry, the
future William IV. The squadron was then on a
cruise to the Orkneys and Hebrides.
In I 788 a paddle-ship of remarkable constmction,
planned by Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, an2
called the Experiment (the forerunner of the steamboat),
was launched from the yard of Messrs. Allan
and Stewart, ship-builders, at Leith. In the Edinburgh
Magazine she is described as being a species
.of double ship, built something like the South Sea
prahs, but larger, being ninety feet long, with other
dimensions in proportion. She was provided with
wheels for working in calm weather.
?She
-.went out of the harbour about mid-day, and was at
-first moved along by the wheels with considerable
-velocity. When she got a little without the pierhead,
they hoisted their stay-sails and square-sails,
.and stood to the westward; but, her masts and
:sails being disproportionate to the weight of the
She made her trial trip in September.
hull, she did not go through the water so fast as was
expected.?
Another feature that impeded lier progress considerably
was a netting across her bows for the
purpose of preventing loose wreck getting foul of
the wheels, and the steering machine, between the
two rudders, was found to be of little use. When
these were removed her speed increased. Those
who managed this peculiar craft went half-way over
the Firth, and then tacked, but, as the ebb-tide was
coming down and the wind increasing, they anchored
in the Roads.
Weighing with the next flood, notwithstanding
that the wind blew right out of the harbour, by
means of their wheels and stay-sails they got in
and moored her at eleven at night. A number of
gentlemen conversant with nautical matters accompanied
her in boats. Among others were Sir John
Clerk of Penicuik, and Captain Inglis of Redhall,
afterwards one of Nelson?s officers.
In the same month and year the drawbridge of
Leith was founded. The stone was laid by Lord
Haddo, in the absence of Lord Elcho, Grand Master
of Scotland, accompanied by the magistrates of
Edinburgh and the Port, who, with the lodges and
military, marched in procession from the Assembly
Rooms in Leith. The usual coins and plate of
silver were placed in the base of the east pier.
?The drawbridge,? says a print of the time, ?will
be of great benefit to the trade of Leith, as any
number of ships will be able to lie in safety, which
in storms and floods they could not do before when
the harbour was crowded.?
In 1795 was established the corps of Royal Leith
Volunteers, who received their colours on the
Links on the 26th of September. A detachment of
the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers kept the ground
The colours were presented by the Lord Lieutenant
to Captain Bruce, of the corps, brother to Bruce of
Kennet ; and in 1797 120 ship-captains of Leith
-to their honour be it recorded in that time of
European war and turmoil-made a voluntary offer
to serve the country in any naval capacity that was
siitable to their position.

... OLD .4ND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith. park and ample stabling; and there are always two batteries, with guns and ...

Book 6 p. 198
(Score 0.42)

222 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Thus, so far from misapplying their funds, they might at once produce E beautiful summerhouse,
or termination of a vista, and discharge an imperious debt they owe to their countrymen
and t o posterity-the preservation and transmission of those specimens of Scottish workmanship
of remote ages. Such a building, composed chiefly of antique carved stones, may be seen near
St. Bernard‘s Well, in the policy, or pleasure-grounds of the gentleman last-mentioned ;l and
Portobello Tower, built by Mr. Cunningham, consists principally of the sculptured and ornamented
stones found in the houses which were pulled down to make way far the South Bridge.”’
The suggestions of the I antiquary were not attended to by the Managers.
The Hospital, which was opened in 1802, is capable of containing sixty-six
pensioners, but the Governors have never been able to make provision for more
than forty-two persons.8 The internal management is committed to the charge
of a House-Governor, or Chaplain, and a Governess, who act under the immediate
direction of the Treasurer-the whole being under the control of the Board of
General Governors.
In the Council Room of the Hospital is a capital painting of the founder,
by Sir- James Foulis of Woodhall, Bart., in which the venerable proprietor of
Spylaw is represented as seated on a rudely formed chair, or summer-seat, in the
garden, with his hands resting on his staff. His countenance has all the mildness
of expression observable in the Etching by Kay.‘
The School endowed by Mr. Gillespie stands entirely detached from the
Hospital. The number of children taught average one hundred and fifty. The
first teacher was Mr. John Robertson, who held the situation at the opening
of the school in 1803 ; and was aided by an assistant.
1 “ Mr. Walter Ross, a gentleman of much taste and suavity of manners, whose memory is cherished
by all who knew him, and know how to estimate probity, honour, and rare accomplishments,
of which Mr. Ross possessed an eminent share indeed. The delight which he took iu works of art
and antiquities led him to collect some curious fragments of old buildings about Edinburgh, some
of which he has preserved by fixing them in and about the tower, under which his remains lie buried:
In the middle of the field in which this turret is built, a huge block of freestone stands erect ; it is
partly cut out in the form of a human figure, and, if report speaks truly, it was intended by the then
magistrates of Edinburgh to form the effigy of Oliver Cromuell : but the Restoration put an end to
the design ; and the fine equestrian statue of Charles II., to be seen in the Parliament Square, was, by
the prudent magistrates, ordered in its stead. In consequence, the above shapeless mass lay upwards
of a century and a half neglected and unknown, till Mr. Ross, having obtained possession of this
precious piece of antiquity, placed it upright with its face fronting the city; in which position it
remains a standing joke against the unsteady loyalty of the times.”-Camphell‘s Journdy from
Edinburgh. Among other curiosities collected by Mr. RQSS, were four heads, in alto relieve, which
formerly were placed over the arches of the Cross of Edinburgh : also the baptismal fonts belonging
to St. Ninian’s Chapel, which stood near the Register House.
a Many of the carved stones of Wrytes House are preserved at Woodhouselee.
a In a late article in the Scottish Pilot newspaper, this circumstance WBS earnestly recommended
to the notice of the public, with the view of promoting the funds of the Institution. “The cost of
the establishment,” says the statement, “for the maintenance of each Inmate, is from &12 to 215 per
annum-the rate varying according to the price of provisions and other contingencies. If the latter
sum ia assumed to be necessary, and BS the Governors can dispose of money bearing interest at five
per cent. a-sum of S7000, or thereby, would sufiice for the required object-the support of twentyfour
additional inmates-that being the number of vacancies in the Institution.” ‘ At the time Kay executed the Print he resided in one of the flats above the shop of the tobacconists,
from wbom, it is said, he received five pounds to suppress it. It is more probable that the five
pounds were given for the miniature. The one appean to be a copy of the other.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Thus, so far from misapplying their funds, they might at once produce E beautiful ...

Book 9 p. 295
(Score 0.42)

MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311 Arthur?r Seat.]
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his sister-in-law, together with Burnbank,
? in the Christian city of Edinburgh, during a
course of many months, without any one, to appearance,
ever feeling the slightest compunction towards
the poor weman, though it is admitted she
loved her husband, and no real fault on her side
has ever been insinuated.?
At length it would seem that Nicol, infatuated
and lured by evil fate, at the suggestion of ?? the
devil, that cunning adversary ?-as his confession
has it-borrowed a knife, scarcely knowing for
what purpose, and, inviting his unsuspecting wife to
walk with him as far as
Duddingston one night,
cut her throat near
the line of trees that
marked the Duke?s
Walk. He then rushed
in a demented state to
tell his brother what
he had done, and thereafter
sank into a mood
of mind that made all
seem blank to him.
Next morning the unfortunate
victim was
found ?with her throat
cut to the bone,? and
many other wounds received
in her dying
struggle.
In the favourite old
Edinburgh religious
by a cairn near the east gate and close to the north
wall. ?The original cairn is said to have been
several paces farther west than the present one,
the stones of which were taken dut of the old wall
whenit was pulled down to give place to the new
gate that was constructed previous to the late royal
visit ?-that of George IV.
In 1820 the pathway round Salisbury Craigs was
formed, and named the ? Radical Road ? from ?the
, circumstance of the destitute and discontented
west-country weavers being employed on its construction
under a committee of gentlemen. At
that time it was proposed to ?sow the rocks with
wall-flowers and other
>I? AlAKGAKET?S WELI..
tract, which narrates
the murderous story, in telling where he went
before doing the deed, he says that he passed
?? through the Tidies,? at the end of a lane which
was near the Meadows. The entrance to the Park,
near the Gibbet Fall, was long known as ?the
Tirliea,? implying a sort of stile.
Nicol Muschat was tried, and confessed all. He
was hanged, on the 6th of the ensuing January in
the Grassmarket, while his associate Burnbank was
declared infamous, and banished ; and the people,
to mark their horror of the event, in the old
Scottish fashion raised a cairn on the spot where
the murder was perpetrated, and it has ever since
been a well-remembered locality.
The first cairn was removed during the formation
of a new footpath through the park, suggested by
Lord Adam Gordon, who was resident at Holyrood
House in 1789, when Commander of the
Forces in Scotland; but from a passage in the
WeekOJournal we find that it was restored in 1823
odoriferous and flowering
plants.? It was also
suggested ? to plant
the cliffs above the
walk with the rarest
heaths from the Cape
of Good Hope and
other foreign parts.?
( Weekfiyuumal, XXIV.)
The papers of this
time teem with bitter
complaints against the
Earl of Haddington,
who, as a keeper of
the Royal Park, by an
abuse of his prercgative,
was quarrying away
the craigs, and selling
the stone to pave the
streets of London; and
the immense gaps in
their south-western face still remain as proofs of
his selfish and unpatriotic rapacity.
As a last remnant of the worship of Baal, or
Fire, we may mention the yearly custom that still
exists of a May-day observance, in the young of the
female sex particularly, ascending Arthur?s Seat on
Beltane morning at sunrise. ?? On a fine May morning,?
says the ? Book of Days,? ? the appearance
of so many gay groups perambulating the hill sides
and the intermediate valleys, searching for dew, and
rousing the echoes with their harmless mirth, has
an indescribably cheerful effect.? Many old citizens
adhered to this custom with wonderful tenacity,
and among the last octogenarians who did so we
may mention Dr. Andrew Duncan of Adam Square,
the founder of the Morningside Asylum, who paid
his last annual visit to the hill top on hlayday, 1S26~
in his eighty-second year, two years before his death ;
and James Burnet, the last captain of the old Town
Guard, a man who weighed nindeen stone, ascended

... CAIRN. 311 Arthur?r Seat.] terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his brother, and his ...

Book 4 p. 310
(Score 0.42)

Arthur?r Seat.] MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his sister-in-law, together with Burnbank,
? in the Christian city of Edinburgh, during a
course of many months, without any one, to appearance,
ever feeling the slightest compunction towards
the poor weman, though it is admitted she
loved her husband, and no real fault on her side
has ever been insinuated.?
At length it would seem that Nicol, infatuated
and lured by evil fate, at the suggestion of ?? the
devil, that cunning adversary ?-as his confession
has it-borrowed a knife, scarcely knowing for
what purpose, and, inviting his unsuspecting wife to
walk with him as far as
Duddingston one night,
cut her throat near
the line of trees that
marked the Duke?s
Walk. He then rushed
in a demented state to
tell his brother what
he had done, and thereafter
sank into a mood
of mind that made all
seem blank to him.
Next morning the unfortunate
victim was
found ?with her throat
cut to the bone,? and
many other wounds received
in her dying
struggle.
In the favourite old
Edinburgh religious
by a cairn near the east gate and close to the north
wall. ?The original cairn is said to have been
several paces farther west than the present one,
the stones of which were taken dut of the old wall
whenit was pulled down to give place to the new
gate that was constructed previous to the late royal
visit ?-that of George IV.
In 1820 the pathway round Salisbury Craigs was
formed, and named the ? Radical Road ? from ?the
, circumstance of the destitute and discontented
west-country weavers being employed on its construction
under a committee of gentlemen. At
that time it was proposed to ?sow the rocks with
wall-flowers and other
>I? AlAKGAKET?S WELI..
tract, which narrates
the murderous story, in telling where he went
before doing the deed, he says that he passed
?? through the Tidies,? at the end of a lane which
was near the Meadows. The entrance to the Park,
near the Gibbet Fall, was long known as ?the
Tirliea,? implying a sort of stile.
Nicol Muschat was tried, and confessed all. He
was hanged, on the 6th of the ensuing January in
the Grassmarket, while his associate Burnbank was
declared infamous, and banished ; and the people,
to mark their horror of the event, in the old
Scottish fashion raised a cairn on the spot where
the murder was perpetrated, and it has ever since
been a well-remembered locality.
The first cairn was removed during the formation
of a new footpath through the park, suggested by
Lord Adam Gordon, who was resident at Holyrood
House in 1789, when Commander of the
Forces in Scotland; but from a passage in the
WeekOJournal we find that it was restored in 1823
odoriferous and flowering
plants.? It was also
suggested ? to plant
the cliffs above the
walk with the rarest
heaths from the Cape
of Good Hope and
other foreign parts.?
( Weekfiyuumal, XXIV.)
The papers of this
time teem with bitter
complaints against the
Earl of Haddington,
who, as a keeper of
the Royal Park, by an
abuse of his prercgative,
was quarrying away
the craigs, and selling
the stone to pave the
streets of London; and
the immense gaps in
their south-western face still remain as proofs of
his selfish and unpatriotic rapacity.
As a last remnant of the worship of Baal, or
Fire, we may mention the yearly custom that still
exists of a May-day observance, in the young of the
female sex particularly, ascending Arthur?s Seat on
Beltane morning at sunrise. ?? On a fine May morning,?
says the ? Book of Days,? ? the appearance
of so many gay groups perambulating the hill sides
and the intermediate valleys, searching for dew, and
rousing the echoes with their harmless mirth, has
an indescribably cheerful effect.? Many old citizens
adhered to this custom with wonderful tenacity,
and among the last octogenarians who did so we
may mention Dr. Andrew Duncan of Adam Square,
the founder of the Morningside Asylum, who paid
his last annual visit to the hill top on hlayday, 1S26~
in his eighty-second year, two years before his death ;
and James Burnet, the last captain of the old Town
Guard, a man who weighed nindeen stone, ascended

... Seat.] MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311 terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his brother, and his ...

Book 4 p. 311
(Score 0.42)

Previous Results More Results

Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf

Creative Commons License

The scans of Edinburgh Bookshelf are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.