![Leith.] THE OLD TOLBCTOTH. 229
During the persecution under the Duke of
Lauderdale, Mr. John Gregg, who had been
formerly minister at Skirling, in Peeblesshire, was
apprehended and imprisoned in the Tolbooth for
house of his
that he died, was sentenced to be scourged on her
bare back from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh to the
Nether Bow, and from the Tolbooth of Leith to
the door of Isabel Lesly, and from there to the
brother-in-law
at Leith Mills.
Bass, to be detained
there
among many
other sufferers
for conscience
the Bass for ? abusing and railing ?I at Mr. Thomas
Wilkie, minister of North Leith, but in the May
of the same year he was brought back to Leith,
and thrust into the Tolbooth, where he lay for
quired for service in Leith. In 1763, a thief, who
was discovered in a peculiar manner, became, till
tried, an inmate of this old prison,
A Scottish sailor, who had served on board the
In 1678, Fi
:Ill c- - Hector Allan, -
a Quaker seaman
in Leith, TOLBOOTH wy
TABLET OF THsee.
In April, 1713, a prisoner named Jean Ramsay,
who had dragged a weak and infirm man from his
bed in the house of Isabel Lesly in Leith, near
the South Church, and used him with such severity
the water, and he found it to be his own.
The subsequent inquiry did not prove pleasant
to the half-drowned thief, who was forthwith taken
into custody, and committed to the Tolbooth.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p048.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 229")
... THE OLD TOLBCTOTH. 229
During the persecution under the Duke of
Lauderdale, Mr. John Gregg, who had ...
Book 6 p. 229
(Score 0.44)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
one inquiring how this had happened, he said it was the effect of his studies.
‘‘ ...
Book 9 p. 591
(Score 0.44)
... SKETCHES. 34 3
we suppose the mistake of a figure, might be assumed as the occurrence referred
to; ...
Book 9 p. 455
(Score 0.44)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Giles's Church.
establishment, and Maitland gives us a roll of the
forty ...
Book 1 p. 140
(Score 0.44)
... FIRST THOROUGHFARE. Leith1
THE KIRKGATE.
CHAPTER XXIII.
LEITH - THE KIRKGATE.
The Kirkgate-Eastside-Tavern ...
Book 6 p. 213
(Score 0.43)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Restalrig,
Baron Norton was remarkable for his constant
attention to all religious ...
Book 5 p. 128
(Score 0.43)
... INDEX TO THE PORTRAITS, ETC.
w
KO. Page
.WALKER, Rev. Dr. John, Professor of
Natural History .. ...... ... ...
Book 9 p. 681
(Score 0.43)
... AND NEW EDINBURGH. cst. Andrew Sq-
ST. ANDREW SQUARE,
The Royal Eank of Scotland.
The Scottish Provident ...
Book 3 p. 172
(Score 0.43)
![Leith.] THE KING'S WARK. 237
~
Arnot adds. It was to keep one of the cellars in
the King's Wark in repair, for holding wines and
other provisions for the king's use.
This Bernard Lindsay it was whom Taylor
mentions in his '' Penniless Pilgrimage " as having
Moreover, the King's Wark was placed most
advantageously at the mouth of the harbour, to
serve as -a defence against any enemy who might
approach it from the seaward. It thus partook
somewhat of the character of a citadel; and this
BERNARD STREET.
given him so warm a welcome at Leith in
1618.
That some funds were derivable from the King's
Wark to the Crown is proved by the frequent
payments with which it was burdened by several
of our monarchs. Thus, in the year 1477 James
111. granted out of it a perpetual annuity of twelve
marks Scots, for support of a chaplain to officiate
at the altar of c'the upper chapel in the collegiate
church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at
Restalrig."
seems to have been implied by the infeftment
granted by Queen Mary in 1564 to John Chisho!ia,
Master or Comptroller of the Royal Artillery,
who would appear to have repaired the buildings
which, no doubt, shared in the general conflagrations
that signalised the English invasions of 1544
and 1547. and the queen, on the completion
of his work, thus confirms her grant to the
comptroller :-
U Efter Her Heinis lauchful age, and revocation
made in parIiament, hir majestie sett in feu farme](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p056.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 237")
... THE KING'S WARK. 237
~
Arnot adds. It was to keep one of the cellars in
the King's Wark in ...
Book 6 p. 237
(Score 0.43)
![Holyrood.] THE ABBEY CHURCH IN RUINS. 59
and cannon were two ship?s masts, fully rigged,
one on the right bearing the Scottish flag, another
on the left bearing the English. ?? Above all these
rose the beautiful eastem window, shedding a flood
of light along the nave, eclipsing the fourteen
windows of the clerestory. The floor was laid
with ornamental tiles, some portions of which are
yet preserved.?
In the royal yacht there came to Leith from
London an altar, vestments, and images, to complete
the restoration of the church to its ancient uses.
As if to hasten on the destruction of his house,
James VII., not content with securing to his
Catholic subjects within the precincts of Holyrood
that degree of religious toleration now enjoyed
by every British subject, had mass celebrated there,
and established a college of priests, whose rules
were published on the zznd of March, 1688, inviting
people to send their children there, to be
educated gratis, as Fountainhall records. He also
appointed a Catholic printer, named Watson (who
availed himself of the protection afforded by the
sanctuary) to be ? King?s printer in Holyrood ;?
and obtained a right from the Privy Council
to print all the ? prognostications at Edinburgh,?
an interesting fact which accounts for the number
of old books bearing Holyrood on their
title-pages. Prior to all this, on St. Andrew?s
Day, 30th November, the whole church was
sprinkled with holy water, re-consecrated, and a
sermon was preached in it by a priest named
Widerington.
Tidings of the landing of William of Orange
roused the Presbyterian mobs to take summary vengeance,
and on being joined by the students of the
University, they assailed the palace and chapel royal.
The guard, IOO strong-? the brats of Belia1?-
under Captain Wallace, opened a fire upon them,
killing twelve and wounding many more, but they
were ultimately compelled to give way, and the
chapel doors were burst open. The whole interior
was instantly gutted and destroyed, and
the magnificent throne, stalls, and orgab, were
ruthlessly tom down, conveyed to the Cross, and
there consigned to the flames, amid the frantic
shrieks and yells of thousands. Not content with
all this, in a spirit of mad sacrilege, the mob, now
grown lawless, burst into the royal vault, tore some
of the leaden coffins asunder, and, according to
Amot, camed off the lids.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the rooG
which had become ruinous, was restored with flagstones
in a manner too ponderous for the ancient
arches, which gave way beneath the superincumbent
weight on the 2nd of December, 1768; and again
the people of Edinburgh became seized by a spirit
of the foullest desecration, and from thenceforward,
until a comparafively recent period, the ruined
church remained open to all, and was appropriated ?
tu the vilest uses. Grose thus describes what he
saw when the rubbish had been partly cleared
away :-? When we lately visited it we saw in the
middle of the chapel the columns which had been
borne down by the weight of the roof. Upon
looking into the vaults which were open, we found
that what had escaped the fury of the mob at the
Revolution became a prey to the mobwho ransacked
it after it fell. In A.D. 1776 we had seen the body
of James V. and others in their leaden coffins;
the coffins are now stolen. The head of Queen
Margaret (Magdalene?), which was then entire, and
even beautiful, and the skull of Damley, were also
stolen, and were last traced to the collection of a
statuary in Edinburgh.?
In 1795 the great east window was blown out
in a violent storm, but in 1816 was restored from
its own remains, which lay scattered about on the
ground. In the latter year the north-west tower,
latterly used as a vestry, was still covered by an
ogee leaden roof.
The west front of what remains, though the W0i-k
perhaps of different periods, is in the most beautiful
style of Early English, and the boldly-cut heads
in its sculptured arcade and rich variety of ornament
in the doorway are universally admired.
The windows above it were additions made so
latelyas the time of Charles I., and the inscriptions
which that upfortunate king had carved on the
Ornamental tablet between them is a striking illustration
of the vanity of human hopes. One runs :-
Ultimately this also fell.
?Basiluam ham, Carolus Rex, @firnus imtaxravit, 1633.?
The other :-
?HE SHALL ESTABLISH ANE HOUSE FOR MY NAME, AND I
WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOR
EVER.?
In the north-west tower is amarble monument to
Robert, Viscount Belhaven, who was interred there
in January, 1639. His nephews, Sir Archibald and
Sir Robert Douglas, placed there that splendid
memorial to perpetuate hisvirtues as a man and
steadiness as a patriot. A row of tombs of Scottish
nobility and others lie in the north aisle. The
Roxburgh aisle adjoins the royal vault in the
south aisle, and in front of it lies the tomb of the
Countess of Errol, who died in 1808. Close by.
it is that of the Bishop of Orkney, already referred
to. ? A flattering inscription enumerates the.
bishop?s titles, and represents this worldly hypocrite](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p071.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 59")
... THE ABBEY CHURCH IN RUINS. 59
and cannon were two ship?s masts, fully rigged,
one on the right bearing ...
Book 3 p. 59
(Score 0.43)
... AND NEW EDINBURGH.
Scotland. But it does not appear that any of
this family ever sat in Parliament. The title ...
Book 6 p. 316
(Score 0.43)
... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
Dr. James Momson of Glasgow, and others of simiIar mark and likelihood,
used to ...
Book 11 p. 48
(Score 0.43)
... 14 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Castle Terrace.
Place, and now chiefly used as a coal dep8t.
Some of the merchants ...
Book 4 p. 214
(Score 0.43)
... 1,,firwry Strert.1 1NFIRMARY SUGGESTED.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE OLD ROYAL INFIRMARY-SURGEON SQUARE.
The Old Royal ...
Book 4 p. 297
(Score 0.42)
... 283, 335, 343 343
III, 140; dew of, II. 169
vanous buildings in, 11. 172; it!
early residents, 11. ...
Book 6 p. 389
(Score 0.42)
... the street, reached Holyrood, where he
sought sanctuary in the chapel of St. Augustine;
there his English ...
Book 3 p. 53
(Score 0.42)
... with legends, dates, and coats of arms,
for ages formed one of the most important features
of the ...
Book 5 p. 32
(Score 0.42)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Grassmarket.
Some English writers have denied that Henry
was ever in Edinburgh at any ...
Book 4 p. 234
(Score 0.42)
... 48 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LCowgate.
the historian) became senior minister of the Cowgate
chapel.
One of his ...
Book 4 p. 248
(Score 0.42)
... AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Victoria Terrace. 292
of subscribers, and is transferable under certain
rules.
Judging ...
Book 2 p. 292
(Score 0.42)
![North Bridge.] THE ORPHAN HOSPITAL 359
c
CHAPTER XLVI:
EAST SIDE OF THE NORTH BRIDGE (concZdeJJ.
The Old Orphan Hospital-Its Foundation. Object, and Removal-Lady Glenorchy?s Chapel-Her Disputes with the Presbytery-Dr. SnelI
Jones-Demolition of the Chapel and School-Old Physic Gardens Formed-The Gardens-Sir Andrew Balfm-James Sutherland-
Inundated in x68pSutherland?s Efforts to Improve the Gardcn-Professor Hope.
ABOUT IOO feet east of the bridge, and the same
distance south of the theatre which Whitefield
to his dismay saw built in the park of the Orphan
Hospital, stood the latter edifice, the slender,
pointed spire of which was a conspicuous object in
this quarter of the city.
A hospital for the maintenance and education
of orphan children was originally designed by Mr.
Andrew Gardiner, merchant, and some other
citizens, in 1732. The suggestion met with the
approval of the Society for the Propagation of
Christian Knowledge, then located in what was
anciently named Bassandyne?s Close ; and it was
moreover assisted by liberal subscriptions and
collections at the church doors. At first a house
was hired, and thirty orphans placed in it. According
to Maitland, in November, 1733, the
hospital was founded; it stood 340 feet northwest
of the Trinity College Church, and in its
formation a part of the burial ground attached to
the latter was used.
In 1738 the Town Council granted the hospital
a seal of cause, and in 1742 they obtained royal
letters patent creating it a corporation, by which
most of the Scottish officers of State, and the heads
of different societies in Edinburgh, are constituent
members. This chanty is so extensive in its
benevolence, that children from any part of the
British Empire have the right of admission, SO far
as the funds will admit-indigence, and the
number of children in a poor family being the
None, however, are admitted under the age of
seven, or retained after they are past fourteen, as
at that time of life the managers are seldom at a
loss to dispose of them, ?the young folks,? says
Arnot, ? choosing to follow trades, and the public
entertaining so good an opinion of the manner in
which they have been brought up, that manufacturers
and others are very ready to take them into
their employment. There are about,? he adds, in
1779, ?one hundred orpham maintained in this
hospital.?
This number was increased in 1781, when Mr.
Thomas Tod, merchant in Edinburgh, became
treasurer. It was then greatly enlarged for the
better accommodation of the children, ?? and to
enable them to perform a variety of work, from the
. best title to it.
produce of which the expenses of their education
and maintenance were lessened, and healthy and
cheerful exercise furnished, suitable to their years.?
It is remarkable,? says Kincaid, ? that from
January, 1784, to January, 1787, out of from 130 to
140 young children not one has died. A particular
account of the rise, progress, present state,
and intended enlargement of this hospital was
publisted by the treasurer (Mr. Tod), wherein is a
print of the elevation, with two wings,.which the
managers intend to build so soon as the funds will
permit, when there will be room for zoo orphans.?
In its slender spire hung two bells, and therein
also stood the ancient clock of the Netherbow
Port, now in use at the Dean.
The revenues were inconsiderable, and it was
chiefly supported by benefactions and collections
made at the churches in the city. Howard, the
philanthropist, who visited it more than once, and
made himself acquainted with the constitution and
management of this hospital, Acknowledged it to be
one of the best and most useful charities in Europe.
A portrait of him hangs in the new Orphan Hospital
at the Dean, the old building we have described
having been removed in 1845 by the operations
of the North British Railway, and consequently
being now a thing of the past, like the chapel of
Lady Glenorchy, which shared the same fate at the
same time.
This edifice stood in the low ground, between
the Orphan Hospital and the Trinity College
Church, about 300 feet eastward of the north arch
of the Bridge.
Wilhelmina Maxwell, Viscountess Dowaget of
John Viscount Glenorchy, who was a kind of
Scottish Countess of Huntingdon in her day, was
the foundress of this chapel, which was a plain,
lofty stone building, but neatly fitted up- within
with two great galleries, that ran round the sides
of the edifice, and was long a conspicuous object
to all who crossed the Bridge. It was seated for
2,000 persons, and the middle was appropriated to
the poor, who sat there gratis to the number of
some hundreds. ?? Whether,? says Arnot, ?before
Lady Glenorchy founded this institution there were
churches sufficient for accommodating the inhabitants
we shall not pretend to determine. Such,
indeed, is the demand for seats, and so little arg](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p179.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 359")
... Bridge.] THE ORPHAN HOSPITAL 359
c
CHAPTER XLVI:
EAST SIDE OF THE NORTH BRIDGE (concZdeJJ.
The Old Orphan ...
Book 2 p. 359
(Score 0.42)
![ST LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND CO WGATE. 311
the modern town. To the same period may be referred, with much probability, the erection
of homes along the ancient roadway from Leith that skirted the east wall of the
town ; and probably also the founding of the nunnery from whence the southern portion
of it derived its name, although Chalmers, seemingly on insdcient evidence, assigns the
origin of the latter to “ the uncertain piety of the twelfth century.”l Spottiswoode
remarks, (c in the chartularies of St GiIes’s, the Nuns of St Mary’s Wynd in the City of
Edinburgh are recorded. The chapel and convent stood near to the walls of the garden
belonging at present to the Marquis of Tweeddale, and from its being consecrated to the
Virgin Mary, the street took its name which it still retains.”P Acurious allusion to this
chapel occurs in the statutes of the burgh of Edinburgh, enacted during the dreadful
visitation of the plague in 1530, where Marione Clerk is convicted by an assize of concealing
her infection, and of having “past amangis the nychtbouris of this toune to the
chapel1 of Sanct Mary Wynd on Sonday to the mess, and to hir sisteris house and vther
placis,” the pestilence being upon her, and thereby, as the statute says, doing all that was
in her to have infected the whole town. The unhappy woman, convicted of the crime of
going to church during her illness, is condemned to be drowned in the Quarell holes, and
there can be no doubt that the cruel and barbarous sentence was carried into execution.s
The salary of the chaplain of St Mary’s Nunnery was, in 1490, only sixteen shillings and
eightpence sterling yearly ; and its whole revenues were probably never large, the most of
them having apparently been derived from voluntary contribution^.^ The site of this
ancient religious foundation was on the west side of the wynd, where it contracts in
breadth, a few yards below the Nether Bow. Of its origin or founders nothing further is
known, but it was most probably dismantled and ruined in the Douglas wars, when the
houses in St Mary’s and Leith Wynds were unroofed and converted into defensive barriers
by the beleaguered citizen^.^
1 Caledonia, vol E. p. 761.
a Acts and Statutes of the Burgh of Edinburgh ; Mait. Misc. vol. ii. p. 115.
a Spottiswoode’a Religious Houses, 1755, p. 283.
This proceeding ia by no means a
solitary case. The following, which is of date August 2, 1530, is rendered more noticeable by the reasons for “erg that
follow :-“ The quhilk day forsamekle as it we8 perfytlie vnderabnd and kend that Dauid Duly, tailyour, has haldin his
wif seyk in the contagiua seiknes of pestilens ij dayis in his house, and wald nocht revele the samyn to the officiaris of
the tome quhill scho wes deid in the wid seiknes. And in the meyn tyme the said Dauid past to Sanct Gelis Kirk
quhilk waa Sonday, and thair said mess amangis the cleyne pepill, his wif beandin eztrentiS in the said seiknes, doand quhat
was in him till haif infekkit all the toune. For the quhilk causis he was adiugit to be hangit on ane gebat befor his awin
dum, and that we8 gevin for dome.”
The following notice of same date proves the execution of this strange sentence on the unfortunate widower, though
he happily survived the effects :-“ The quhilk day fforsamekle as Dauid Duly waa decernit this day, befor none, for hie
demeritis to be hangit on ane gebbat befor his dure quhar he duellis, nochtwithstanding beawe at the toill of W heha
exhapit, and tht raip brokin, and faUin of thc yibbat, a d i a am pure m mi& h maU barn&, and for pte of him, the
prouest, ballies, and counsall, bannasia the said Bauid this toune for all the daia of his lyf, and nocht to cum tharintill
in the meyn tyme vnder the pain of deid’,-Ibid, pp. 107,108.
The following is the reference to the chapel in the titlea of the property occupying ita site :-“ All and hail these
two old tenements of land lying together on the west side of St Mary’s Wynd, near the head of the same; the one on
the south of old pertaining to Robert and Andrew Harts, and the other on the north called Crenzen’s Laud; and that
high dwelling-house, entering from St Yary’a Wynd, on the west aide thairof, in the south part of the tenement, of old
called St Yary’s ChapeL” In the Inwn&rium Jocal~unaB E& bfonaderii San& C-, 1493 (Bann. Mkc voL ii. p. 24),
there is mentioned “vna reliquia argentea pro altari Sancte Katerine cum oase eiusdem, quam fecit dominus Iohannes Cruneanne,
quondam Vicarius de Vre.” [Aberdeenshire.] It is poeaible this may have been the chaplain of the nunnery from
whence the neighbouring tenement derived ita name. Besides Alterages dedicated to the Virgin, there were in Edinburgh
and ita neighbourhood the Abbey Church of Holyrood, founded in honour of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Virgin,
and all aainta ; Trinity College Church, in honour of the Holy Trinity, the ever blessed and glorious Virgin Yary, &c. ;
the large Collegiate Church of St Nayy in the Fields; St Yary’s Chapel and Nunnery in St Mary’s Wynd ; St Mary’s
-
4 Arnot, p. 247.](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_357.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 339")
... LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND CO WGATE. 311
the modern town. To the same period may be referred, with much ...
Book 10 p. 339
(Score 0.42)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
This marriage is also referred to by Nisbet in
his Heraldry,? Vol. I., so ...
Book 6 p. 248
(Score 0.42)
![Hawthornden,] HAWTHORNDEN. 353
ROSLIN CHAPEL :-THE @' 'PRENTICE PILLAR." (From a Phtogra#h by G. W. WiAm Ct Co.)
CHAPTER XLII.
THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH-(codinwed).
Hawthornden-The Abernethys-The Drummonds-The Cavalier and Poet-The Cavern+Wallace's Cave and Camp-Count Lockhart's
Monument-Captain Philip Lockhart of Dryden--Lauwade-The Ancient Church-The Coal Seams-"The Gray Brother "--soolt-De
Quincey-Clerk of Eldin.
HAWTHORNDEN, the well-known seat of the Drummond
family, stands on the south bank of the
North Esk, amidst exquisitely picturesque and
romantic scenery. Constructed with reference to
strength, it surmounts to the very edge a grey and
almost insulated cliff, which starts perpendicularly
up from the brawling river. There it is perched
high in air amid a wooded ravine, through which
the Esk flows between two walls of lofty and
141
abrupt rock, covered by a wonderful profusion of
foliage, interwoven with festoons of ivy-a literal
jungle of mosses, ferns, and creepers. The greatest
charm of the almost oppressive solitude is due
to the bold variety of outline, and the contrast of
colour, which at every spot the landscape exhibit.
On the summit of that insulated rock are still
the ruins of a fortalice of unknown antiquity4
vaulted tower, fifteen feet square internally, with](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p172.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 353")
... HAWTHORNDEN. 353
ROSLIN CHAPEL :-THE @' 'PRENTICE PILLAR." (From a Phtogra#h by G. W. ...
Book 6 p. 353
(Score 0.42)
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