... LA WNMARKET. I75
High Sheet,-two bands of men of war were placed about the Cross, and two above the
Tolbooth. ...
Book 10 p. 190
(Score 0.48)
![Leith] ST. NINIAN?S CHAPEL 251
the eighty-seventh year of his age, and was able
to transact business until a very short time before
his death. He was succeeded in the baronetcy
by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Gladstone, of Fasque
and Balfour, M.P. for Queenborough and other
places successively in England.
Gladstone Place, near the Links, has been
so named in honour of this family.
From the top of the Sheriff Brae and Mill Lane,
Great Junction Street, a broad and spacious
thoroughfare, extends eastward for the distance of
two thousand feet to the foot of Leith Walk.
Here, on the south side, are the United Presbyterian
church, the neat Methodist chapel, and a
large and handsome edifice erected in 1839 as a
school, and liberally endowed by Dr. Bell, founder
of the Madras system of education, at a cost of
f;IO,OOO.
C H A P T E R X X V I I I ,
NORTH LEITH.
The Chapel and Church of St. NiniaPParish Created-Its Records-Rev. George Wishart-Rev. John Knox-Rev. Dr. Johnston-The Burial-
Ground-New North Leith ChurchlFree Church-Old Grammar SchoolXobourg Street-St. Nicholas Church-The Citadel-Its
Remains-Houses within k--Beach and Sands of North Leith-New Custom How-Shipping Inwards and Outwards.
ON crossing the river we find ourselves in North
Leith, which is thus described by Kincaid in
?787 :-
? With regard to North Leith, very little alteration
has taken place here for a century past. It consists
of one street running north-east from the bridge,
six hundred feet long, and about forty in breadth
where broadest. On each side are many narrow
lanesand closes, those on the south side leading
down to the carpenters? yards by the side of the
river, and those on the north to the gardens belonging
to the inhabitants. From the bridge a
road leads to the citadel, in length 520 feet ; then
IOO feet west, and we enter the remains of the old
fortification, on the top of which a dwelling-house
is now erected. The buiIdings in this place are in
general very mean in their appearance, and inhabited
by peopIe who let rooms during the summer
season to persons who bathe in the salt water.?
One of the leading features of North Leith, when
viewed from any point of view, is the quaint spire
of its.old church, on the west bank of the river,
near the end of the upper drawbridge, abandoned
now to secular purposes, separated from its ancient
burying-ground (which still remains, With its many
tombstones, half sunk amid the long rank grass
of ages), and lifting its withered and storm-worn
outline, as if in deprecation of the squalor by which
it is surrounded, and the neglect and contumely
heaped on its venerable history.
North Leith, which contains the first, or original
docks, and anciently comprehended the citadel
and the chief seat of traffic, was long a congeries
of low, quaint-looking old houses, huddled
into groups or irregular lines, and straddling their
way amid nuisances in back and front, very much
the style of a Spanish or Portuguese town of the
present day; but since 1818 it has undergone great
and renovating changes, and, besides being disenambered
of the citadel and masses of crumbling
houses, it has some streets that may vie with the
second or third thoroughfares of Edinburgh.
As stated in our general history of Leith, Robert
Ballantyne, Abbot of Holyrood, towards the close
of the fifteenth century, built a handsome bridge
of three stone arches over the Water of Leith, to
connect the southern with the northern quarter of
the rising seaport, and so011 after its completion he
erected and endowed near its northern end a chapel,
dedicated to the honour of God, the Virgin Mary,
and St. Ninian, the apostle of Galloway, Having
considerable possessions in Leith, ?he abbot a p
pointed two. chaplains to officiate in this chapel,
who were ta receive all the profits accruing from a
house which he had built at the southern end of
this bridge, with A4 yearly out of other tenements
he possessed in South Leith.
In addition to the offerings made in the chapel,
the tolls or duties accruing from this new bridge
were to be employed in its repair and that of the
chapel, but all surplus the charitable abbot ordained
was to be given to the poor; and this charter of
foundation was confirmed by James IV., of gallant
memory, on the 1st of January, 1493. (Maitland.)
This chapel was built with the full consent of
the Chapter of Holyrood, and with the approbation
of William, Archbishop of St Andrews ; and-as a.
dependency of the church of the Holy Crossthe
land whereon it stood is termed the Rudest&
in a charter of Queen Mary, dated 1569.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p070.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 251")
... ST. NINIAN?S CHAPEL 251
the eighty-seventh year of his age, and was able
to transact business until a very ...
Book 6 p. 251
(Score 0.47)
... GEORGE HERIOT. 363
diameter and 22 feet high; one school-room, 52
feet long by 26 wide ; and two ...
Book 4 p. 363
(Score 0.47)
![94 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mourd
of the sums set down in their respective subscriptions
towards carrying on the bank, and all and
every the persons subscribing and paying to. the
said stock as aforesaid shall be, and hereby are
declared to be, one body corporate and politic,
by the name and company of THE BANK OF
SCOTLAND,? etc.
The charter, while detailing minutely all that
the bank may do in the way of lending money and
giving laws for its internal government, fails to
define in any way the liability of the shareholders
to each other or to the public. For the space of
twenty-one years it was to be free from all public
burdens, and during that time all other persons in
the realm of Scotland are prohibited from setting
up any rival company.
To preclude the breaking of the bank contrary
to the object in view, it is declared that the sums
of the present subscriptions and shares may only
be conveyed and transmitted by the owners to
others who shall become partners in their place,
or by adjudication or other legal means. It is
also provided by the charter that aH foreigners on
acquiring the bank stock must become ? naturalised
Scotsmen, to all intents and! purposes whatsoever,?
a privilege that became abused, and was abolished
in 1822. The charter further ordains that no
member of the said company shall, upon any
? pretence whatever, directly or indirectly, use,
exercise, or follow any other traffic or trade with
the said joint stock to be employed in the said
bank, or any part thereof, or profits arising therefrom,
excepting the trade of lending 2nd borrowing money
upon interest, and negotiating bills of exchange,
allenarly [i.e., these things only], and no other.?
By various subsequent statutes the capital of
this bank was increased till it stood nominally at
~1,500,000, a third of which has not been called ;
and by the Act 36 and 37 Victoria, cap. gg, further
powers to raise capital were granted, without the
Act being taken advantage of. The additional
amount authorised is ~3,000,000, which would
give a total capital of A~,~OO,OOO sterling.
The monopoly conferred on the bank by the
Parliament of Scotland was not renewed at the
expiry of the first twenty-one years; and on its
being found that banking business was on the
increase, another establishment, the Royal Bank
of Scotland, was chartered in 1727, and immediately
became the rival of its predecessor.
?It purchased up,? says Amot, ?all the notes of
the Bank of Scotland that they (the directors)
could lay hands on, and caused such a run upon
this bank as reduced them to considerable difficulties.
To avoid such distresses for the future,
the Bank of Scotland, on the 29th of November,
1730, began to issue 6 5 notes, payable on demand,
or 65 2s. 6d. six months after their being presented
for payment, in the option of the bank.
On the 12th of December, 1732, they began to
issue AI notes with a similar clause.?
The other banking companies in Scotland found
it convenient to follow the example, and universally
framed their notes with these optional clauses.
They were issued for the most petty sums, and
were currently accepted in payment, insomuch
that notes for five shillings were perfectly common,
and silver was, in a manner, banished from
Scotland. To remedy these banking abuses, an
Act of the British Parliament was passed in 1765,
prohibiting all promissory notes payable to the
bearer under 61 sterling, and also prohibiting and!
declaring void all the optional clauses.
In the year 1774, when the Bank of Scotlan&
obtained an Act to enlarge their capital to
~2,400,000 Scots, or ;~ZOO,OOO sterling, a clause
provided that no individual should possess in
whole, or more than, ~ 4 0 , 0 0 0 in stock, and the
qualification for the offices of governor and directors
was doubled.
The present offices of the Bank of Scotland
were completed from the original design in 1806
by Mr. Richard Cnchton, and the institution was
moved thither in that year from the old, narrow,
and gloomy close where it had transacted business
for one hundred and eleven years.
In digging the foundation of this edifice, the
same obstacle came in the way that eventually
occasioned the fall of the North Bridge. After
excavating to a great depth, no proper foundation
could be found-all being travelled earth. The
quantity of this carted away was such that the
foundations of some of the houses in the nearest
closes were shaken and their walls rent, so that
the occupants had to remove. A solid foundation
was at last found, and the vast structure was reared
at the cost of L75,ooo. T h e quantity of stone and
mortar which IS buried below the present surface is
immense, and perhaps as much of the building is below
the ground as above it,? says Stark in 1820.
?The dead wall on the north of the edifice, where the
declivity is greatest, is covered by a stone curtain,.
ornamented with a balustrade. The south front is.
elegant. A small dome rises from the centre,
and in the front are four projections. A range
of Connthian pilasters decorates the second floor,
and over the door in the recess is a Venetian
window, ornamented with two columns of the
Corinthian order, surmounted by the arms of the
bank.?](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p106.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 94")
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mourd
of the sums set down in their respective subscriptions
towards carrying on ...
Book 3 p. 94
(Score 0.47)
... 382 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
thoroughfare named Chambers Street, to which the
school was transferred in ...
Book 2 p. 382
(Score 0.47)
![Kik-of-Field.] THE PROVOST?S HOUSE.
by the gate elsewhere already described as being
at the head of the College Wynd, in those days
known as ? The Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Maryin-
the-Fields.?
It was on the 31st of January, 1567, that the
weak, worthless, and debauched, but handsome,
Henry, Lord Darnley, King-consort of Scotland, was
brought to the place of his doom, in the house of
the Provost of the Kirk-of-Field.
Long ere that time his conduct had deprived
hini of authority, character, and adherents, and he
had been confined to bed in Glasgow by small-pox
There he was visited and nursed by Mary, who, as
Carte states, had that disease in her infancy, and
having no fears for it, attended hini with a sudden
and renewed tenderness that surprised and-as her
enemies say-alarmed him.
By the proceedings before the Commissioners at
York, 9th December, 1568, it would appear that it
had been Mary?s intention to take him to her
favourite residence, Craigmillar, when one of his
friends, named Crawford, hinted that she treated
him ? too like a prisoner j ? adding, ? Why should
you not be taken to one of your own houses in
Edinburgh ? ?
Mary and Darnley left Glasgow on the 27th of
January, and travelled by easy stages to Edinburgh,
which they reached four days after, and Bothwell
met them with an armed escort at a short distance
from the city on the western road, and accompanied
them to the House of the Kirk-of-Field, which
the ambitious earl and the secretary Lethington
were both of opinion was well suited for an invalid,
being suburban, and surrounded by open grounds
and gardens, and occupied by Robert Balfour,
brother of Sir Janies Baltour of Pittendreich, who,
though Lord Clerk Register, and author of the
well-known ? Practicks of Scots Law,? had nevertheless
drawn up the secret bond for the
murder of the king.
The large and commodious house of the Duke of
Chatelherault in the Kirk-of-Field Wynd was about
to be prepared for his residence ; but that idea was
overruled. Balfour?s house was selected ; a chamber
therein was newly hung with tapestry for him,
2nd a new bed of black figured velvet provided for
his use, by order of the queen.
? The Kirk-of-Field,? says Melvil, ? in which the
king was lodged, in a place of good air, where he
might best recover his health,? was so called, we
have said, because it was beyond the more ancient
city wall ; but the new wall built after Flodden
enclosed the church as well as the houses of the
Provost and Prebendaries. ?In the extended line
of wall,? says Bell, ?? what was (latterly) called the
(Laing, Vol 11.)
3
Potterrow Port was at first denominated the Kirkof-
FFld Port, from its vicinity to the. church of
that name. The wall ran from this port along
the south side of the present College Street and
the north side of Drunimond Street, where a part is
still to be seen in its original state. The house
stood at some distance from the kirk, and the
latter from the period of the Reformation had fallen
into decay. The city had not yet stretched
in this direction much farther than the Cowgate.
Between that street and the town wall were the
Dominican Convent of the Black Friars, with its
alms-houses for the poor, and gardens covering the
site of the old High School and the Royal Infirmary,
and the Kirk-of-Field, with its Provost?s residence.
The Kirk-of-Field House stood very nearly
on the site of the present north-west corner of
Drummond Street. It fronted the west, having its
southern gavel so close upon the town wall that a
little postern door entered immediately through the
wall into the kitchen. It contained only four
apartments. . . . Below, a small passage went
through from the front door to the back of the
house, upon the right-hand of which was the kitchen,
and upon the left a room furnished as a bedroom
for the queen when she chose to remain all ?
night. Passing out at the back door there was a
turnpike stair behind, which, after the old fashion
of Scottish houses, led up to the second storey.?
Above, there were two rooms corresponding with
those below. Damley?s chamber was immediately
over Mary?s; and on the other side of the lobby
above the kitchen, ? a garde robe,? or ? little gallery,?
which was used as a servant?s room, and which had
a window in the gavel looking through the town
wall, and corresponding with the postern door below.
Immediately beyond this wall was a lane,
shut in by another wall, to the south of which
were extensive gardens.?? (?Life of Queen Mary,?
chap. XX.)
Darnley occupied the upper chamber mentioned,
while his three immediate servants, Taylor, Nelson,
and Edward Simmons, had the gallery. The door
at the foot of the staircase having been removed,
and used as a cover for ?the vat,? or species of
bath in which Darnley during his loathsome
disease was bathed, the house was without other
security than the portal doors of the gateway.
During much of the time that he was here Mary
attended him with all her old affection and with
assiduous care, passing most of each day in his
society, and sleeping for several nights in the lower *
chamber. The marks of tenderness and love
which she showed him partially dispelled those
fears which the sullen and suspicious Darnley had](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p014.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 3")
... THE PROVOST?S HOUSE.
by the gate elsewhere already described as being
at the head of the College ...
Book 5 p. 3
(Score 0.47)
![Broughton Street.] THE CALEDONIAN THEATRE. 179
was the band of the 78th, where hung the shields
of Picton and Achmuty, and a brilliant star, with
the mottoes Assnye and Mnida. ?Under this
orchestra was a beautiful transparency, representing
an old Scotsman with his bonnet, giving a
hearty welcome to two soldiers of the 42nd and
78th regiments, while a bonny lassie is peeping out
from a cottage door; the background formed a
landscape, with Edinburgh Castle in the distance.?
At eleven o?clock came famous old Neil Gow,
with his band of violins, and the ball-which was
long remembered in Edinburgh-began.
After some time Corri?s Rooms were called the
Pantheon, and in December, 1823, the house was
again opened under the new appellation of the
Caledonian Theatre (which it held for years afterwards),
by Mr. Henry Johnstone, an old Edinburgh
favourite and luckless native of the city.
The papers of the time announce that the dancing
and tumbling of the Pantheon ?are superseded;
and, excepting that melodramas are presented in
place of regular tragedies and comedies, the Caledonian
Theatre in no respect difters in the nature
and style of its entertainments from the regular
theatre.? One of the first pieces brought out was
The. Orphan of Geneva.
?The house is dingy and even dirty,? says the
WeekQIoumaZ for that year, ?< and very defectively
lighted. This is not at all in harmony with Mr.
Johnstone?s usual enterprise, and calls for amendment.
The name of CaZedonian is perhaps conceived
to be a kind of apology for the clumsy
tartan hangings over some of the boxes; but we
can by no means comprehend why the house was
not re-painted. The visitor cannot fail to be immediately
struck with the contrast of its dingy hue, with
the freshness and beauty of the Theatre Royal.?
Mr. Johnstone?s losses compelled him, after a
time, to relinquish management. He left Edinburgh,
and did not return to it till 1830, when
he played four nights .at the same theatre, then
leased by Mr. Bass. Poor Johnstone, an actor
much admired in London, but every wayunfortunate,
eventually went to America.
The theatre was afterwards called the Adelphi,
and was burned in 1853, during the management
of Mr. R. H. Wyndham. On its site was rebuilt
the Queen?s Theatre and Opera House, under the
same enterprising manager, long one of the greatest
theatrical favourites in Edinburgh ; but this also
was destroyed by fire in 1865, when several lives
were lost by the falling of a wall. By a singular
fatality it was a third time completely gutted by
fire ten years afterwards, but was reconstructed in
the latter part of 1875, and reopened in January,
1876, prior to which Mr. and Mrs. Wyndham had
taken their farewell of the stage and of Edinburgh.
It is a h3ndsome building, with a portico, and is
adorned with medallions of Shakspere, Scott,
Molihre, and Goethe. Although erected within the
walls of the theatre burned on the 6th of February,
1875, it is almost entirely a new building internally,
different from all its predecessors, greatly improved,
and seated for 2,300 persons. The works have
been designed and executed by C. J. Phipps, F.S.A.,
architect of the Gaiety Theatre, London.
Immediately adjoining this theatre-the gable
wall being a mutual one-is St. Mary?s Roman
Catholic chapel, now the pro-cathedral of the
Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, whose
residence is in the narrow lane to the northward.
It was built in 1813, from designs by James
Gillespie Graham, architect, at the expense of
iE;8,ooo. In the original elevations more omament
was introduced than it was found there were
funds to execute, as these were chiefly raised by
subscription among the Catholics of Edinburgh,
then a small, and still a poor, congregation. The
dimensions of this edifice within the walls are
IIO feet by 57. The eastern front, in which is
the entrance, is ornamented by two central pinnacles
70 feet high, and the adoption of the Gothic
style in this small chapel jirst led to the adoption
of a similar style in various other re!igious edifices
since erected in the city. It possesses a very good
organ, and above the altar is a fine painting of the
Saviour dead. It was presented to the church by
Miss Chalmers, daughter of Sir G. Chalmers.
Some prelates of the Catholic Church lie buried
before the high altar, among them Bishops
Alexander Cameron and Andrew Carruthers. The
interment of the former excited much interest in
Edinburgh in 1Sz8, the funeral obsequies being in
a style never seen in Scotland since the Reformation,
and also from the general esteem in which
the bishop was held by all. He was born in
1747, and went to the Scottish College at Rome
in 1760, and bore away all the prizes Returning
to Scotland in 1772, he was Missionary Apostolic
in Strathearn till 1780, when he was consecrated
at Madeira, and, succeeding Bishop Hay, had re
sided permanently in Edinburgh since 1806.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p191.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 179")
... Street.] THE CALEDONIAN THEATRE. 179
was the band of the 78th, where hung the shields
of Picton and ...
Book 3 p. 179
(Score 0.46)
... 431
TmoBa.--The Corporation of Tailors, a more ancient fraternity, claiming, indeed, as their founder ...
Book 10 p. 470
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Parliament House.
the old High School in 1659, and studying law
at Leyden, became a ...
Book 1 p. 170
(Score 0.46)
![Leith] THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French servants o
Mary.
U In a small garden attached to one of the house:
in Little London,? says a writer, whose anecdote
we give for what it is worth, ? there was a flowerplot
which was tended with peculiar care long
after its original possessors had gone the way 01
all flesh, and it was believed that the body of a
young and beautiful female who committed suicide
was interred here. The peculiar circumstances
attending her death, and the locality made choice
of for her interment, combined to throw romantic
interest over her fate and fortunes, and
her story was handed-down from one generation
to another.?
In Bernard Street, a spacious and well-edificed
thoroughfare, was built, in 1806, the office of the
Leith Bank, a neat but small edifice, consisting of
two floors ; a handsome dome rises from the north
front, and a projection ornamented with four Ionic
columns, and having thin pilasters of the same.
decorates the building. It is now the National
Bank of Scotland Branch.
Since then, many other banking offices have been
established in the same street, including that of
the Union Bank, built in 1871 after designs by
James Simpson, having a three-storeyed front in the
Italian style, with a handsome cornice and balustrade,
and a telling-room measuring 34 feet by 32 ;
the National Bank of Scotland ; the Clydesdale
and British Linen Company?s Banks; many insurance
offices; and in No. 37 is the house of the
Leith Merchants? Club.
Bernard Street joins Baltic Street, at the southeast
corner of which is the spacious and stately
Corn Exchange, which is so ample in extent as to
be frequently used as a drill-hall by the entire
battalion of Leith Rifle Volunteers.
North of Baltic Street are the old Glass Works
The Bottle House Company, as it was named,
began to manufacture glass vessels in North Leith
in 1746, but their establishment was burnt down
during the first year of the partnership. Thus, in
1747 the new brick houses were built on the sands
of South Leith, near the present Salamander Street,
and as ~e demand for bottles increased, they
built an additional one in 1764, though, according
to Bremner, glass was manufactured in Leith so
early as 1682.
Seven cones, or furnaces, were built, but in later
years only two have been in operation. In the
year 1777 CO less -than 15,8834 cwts. were made
here in Leith, the Government duty on which
amounted to A2,779 odd ; but as there are now
many other bottle manufactories in Scotland, thetrade
is no longer confined to the old houses that.
adjoin Baltic and Salamander Streets.
A writer in the Bet, an old extinct &dinburgh,
periodical, writing in 1792, says that about thirty
years before there was only one glass company in.
Scotland, the hands working one-half the year in
Glasgow, and the other half at Leith, and adds :-
?NOW there are six glass-houses in Leith alone,.
besides many others in different parts of the
tountry. At the time I mention nothing else
than bottles of coarse green glass were made there,
and to that article the Glass House Company in
Leith confined their efforts, till about a dozen yearsagoI
when they began to make fine glass for phials.
and other articles of that nature. About four yearsago
they introduced the manufacture of crown
glass for windows, which they now make in great
perfection, and in considerable quantities. After
they began to manufacture white glass, they fzll
into the way of cutting it for ornament and engraving
upon it. In this last department they havereached
a higher degree of perfection than it hasperhaps
anywhere else ever attained. A young
man who was bred to that business, having discovered
a taste in designing, and an elegance of
execution that was very uncommon, the proprietors
of the works were at pains to give him every aid in
the art of drawing that this place can afford, and
he has exhibited some specimens of his powers in
that line that are believed to be unrivalled. It is.
but yesterday that this Glass House Company (who
are in a very flourishing state), encouraged by their
success in other respects, introduced the art of
preparing glass in imitation of gems, and of cutting
it in facets, and working it into elegant fomis for
chandeliers and other ornamental kinds of furniture.
In this department their first attempts have
been highly successful, and they have now executed
some pieces of work that they need not be ashamed
to compare with the best that can be procured
elsewhere.?
The works of the Glass House Company at
Leith were advertised as for sale in the Courani
of 1813, which stated that they were valued at
~40,000, with a valuable steam-engine of sixteen
horse power, valued at E2 1,000.
Quality Street, and the fine long thoroughfare
named Constitution Street, open into Bernard
Street. Robertson gives us a drawing of an old and
richly-moulded doorway of a tenement, in the
rorrner street, having on its lintel the initials P. P.,
E. G., and the date 1710. At the corner of Quality
Street stands St. John?s Free Church, which was
built in 1870-1, at a cost of about A7,500, and](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p058.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 239")
... THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French ...
Book 6 p. 239
(Score 0.46)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Andrew squan. I
CHAPTER XXII.
ST. ANDREW SQUARE.
St Andrew Square-List of Early ...
Book 3 p. 166
(Score 0.46)
![Leith] THE SUGAR HOUSE COMPANY. 235
In addition to the imperatively required sanitary
reform which this sqheme will effect in a few years,
the new thoroughfare will be of great commercial
utility, and present an easy gradient from the shore
to Leith Walk.
The area scheduled contains about 3,500 inhabitants,
but when the works are completed
nearly double that number will be accommodated.
The sum to be borrowed from the Public Works
Loan Commissioners was fixed at ~GIOO,OOO,
payable in thirty years, about 1911 ; but in 1881
the Home Secretary intimated his intention of
recommending a loan of cf70,000, which, in the
meantime, was deemed suiticient.
The ancient street named Water Lane, with
all its adjacent alleys, is not included in this scheme
of removal and improvement. It runs tortuously,
at an angle, from the foot of the Kirkgate to
Bemard Street, and is about seven hundred yards
in length. This thoroughfare was anciently called
the Rotten ROW ; and in the map given by Robertson
in his ?? Antiquities,?? that name is borne by an
alley ne+r the foot of it, running parallel with
Chapel Lane.
In the inventory of ?( Pious Donations ? made to
the Brethren Predicators in Edinburgh, under date
14th May, 1473, is one by ?John Sudgine, of
30s. 4d. out of his tenement of Leith on the south
side of the water thereof, between Alan Nepar?s
land on the east, and Rotten Row on the west.?
Alan Napier?s land, ?on the east side of the
common vennel called the Ratounrow,? is referred
to in King James 111.?~ charter to the Black Friars,
under the same date. (?Burgh Charters,? No.
43.) It was so named from being built of houses
of mitim, or rough timber.
On Mary of Guise and Lorraine choosing Leith
as an occasional residence, she is stated by Maitland
to have erected a dwelling-house in the Rotten
Row, near the corner of the present Quality Street,
and that the royal arms of Scotland, which were
in front thereof, were, when it was taken down,
rebuilt into the wall of a mansion opposite, ?? and
the said Mary, for the convenience of holding
councils, erected a spacious and handsome edifice
for her privy council to meet in.?
This is supposed to refer to a stately house on
the Coal Hill (facing the river), and to be treated
of when we come to that quarter of Leith.
The beautifully sculptured stone which bears
the arms of Scotland impaled with those of Guise,
surmounted by an imperial crown and the boldlycut
legend,
MARIA. DE. LORRAINE.
REGINA. SCOTIA. 1560,
and surrounded by the richest scroll-work, still
exists in Leith. It was long preserved in the
north wall of the old Tolbooth; and on the
demolition of the latter, after undergoing various
adventures, has now ?been rebuilt,? says Dr,
Robertson, ?? into the original window of St. Mary,
which has been erected in Albany Street,NorthLeith.?
This is the last relic of that house in which
Mary, the queen-regent (prior to her death in the
castle), spent the last year of her sorrowful life,
embittered by the strife of hostile factions and the
din of civil war-?an ominous preparation for her
unfortunate daughter?s assumption of the sceptre
which was then wielded in her name.?
Another ancient house in the same street bore a
legend similar to one already given :-
?THEY ARE WELCOME HERE
QHA THE LORD DO FEIR, 1574.?
It was demolished in I 83 2.
In this street was the establishment of the old
Leith Sugar House Company. The circumstances
that Leith was acentral port for carrying on West
Indian trade, where vessels could then be fitted
out more easily than on the Clyde, and at a lower
rate than at London-besides the savings on freight
and charges-eneouraged the West Indian planter
?to make it a place for his consignments. Thus a
house for baking sugars was set up in Edinburgh
in 1751, and the manufacture was still carried on
in 1779 by the company that instituted it.
That of Leith was begun in 1757 by a company,
consisting chiefly of Edinburgh bankers ; but by
1762 their capital was totally lost, and for some
time the Sugar House remained unoccupied, till
some speculative Englishmen took a lease of it,
and revived the manufacture.
As these men were altogether without capital,
and had to fall back upon ruinous schemes to
support their false credit, they were soon involved
in complete failure, but were succeeded by the
Messrs. Parkers, who kept up the manufacture for
about five years.
?? The house,? says h o t , ?? was then purchased
by a set of merchants in Leith, who, as they began
with sufficient capital, as they have employed in
the work the best refiners of sugar that could be
procured in London, and as they pay attention
to the business, promise to conduct it with every
prospect of success.?
But be that as it may, in B e Advertiser for
1783, ?the whole houses and subjects belonging
to and employed by the Leith Sugar House Company,
together with the coppers, coolers, and
whole utensils used in the trade,? are announced](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p054.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 235")
... THE SUGAR HOUSE COMPANY. 235
In addition to the imperatively required sanitary
reform which this sqheme ...
Book 6 p. 235
(Score 0.45)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Water of Leith.
After this, no one attempted to break into his
grounds.
No. 29, ...
Book 5 p. 74
(Score 0.45)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The West Bow.
Jambites pointing t a it with mingled howls and
jeers, as a proof of ...
Book 2 p. 318
(Score 0.45)
... Close.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE.
Probable Extinction of the Court of Session-Memorabilia of ...
Book 1 p. 174
(Score 0.45)
![Moray Place.] LORD JEFFREY. 203
Morrison as a suspected person, and you will not
liberate him without a communication with me ;
and you may inform him of these, my orders.
And further, I shall do all I can to prevent him
from receiving any compensation from any part of
his property which may either be destroyed by the
euemy or the King?s troops to prevent it falling
into their hands.?
In the debate that ensued, Fox and Pitt took
animated parts, and Charles Hope ably defended
himself, saying that had Mr. Whitbread made such
an accusation against him in Edinburgh, ?there
would be IOO,OOO tongues ready to repel the
charge, and probably several arms raised against
him who made it.? He described the defenceless
state of the country, and the anomalous
duties thrown upon the Lord Advocate since
the Union, after which the Privy Council, Lord
Chancellor, and Secretary of hate, were illegally
abolished, adding that Momson was influenced by
the Chairman of the ? Society of Friends of Universal
Liberty,? in Portsoy, one of whose favourite
measures was to obstruct and discourage the formation
of volunteer corps to repel the expected
invasion.
Pitt spoke eloquently in his defence, contending
that ?great allowances were to be made for an
active and ardent mind placed in the situation of
Advocate-General.? He voted for the order of the
day, and against the original motion. When the
House divided, 82 were for the latter, and 159
against it ; majority, 77.
On the death of Sir David Rae of Eskgrove, in
1804, he was appointed Lord Justice Clerk, and
ou taking his seat addressed the Bench in a concise
and eloquent speech, which was long one of the
traditions of the Court. During seven years that
he administered justice in the Criminal Court,
his office was conducted with ability, dignity, and
solemnity.
On the death of the Lord President Blair, in
1811, Charles Hope was promoted in his place,
and when taking his seat, made 9 warm and pathetic
panegyric on his gifted predecessor, and
the ability with which he filled his station for a
period of thirty years is still remembered in the College
of Justice. He presided, in 1820, at the special
commission for the trial of the high treason cases
in Glasgow and the West; and sixteen years afterwards,
on the death of James Duke of Montrose,
K.G., by virtue of an act of parliament, he was ap
pointed Lord Justice-General of Scotland, and as
such, having to preside in the Justiciary Court, he
went back there after an absence of twenty-five
years. At the proclamation of Queen Vi<toria he
wore the robes of Lord Justice-General. He died
and was succeeded in office, in 1841, by the Right
Hon. David Boyle of Shewalton; and his son
John, who in that year had been appointed Lord
Justice Clerk, after being Dean of Faculty, also
died at Edinburgh in 1858.
No. 24 Moray Place was fie last and long the town
residence of Lord Jefiey, to whom we have had
often to refer in his early life elsewhere. Here it
was, that those evening reunions (Tuesdays and
Fridays) which brightened the evening of his life,
took place. ?Nothing whatever now exists in
Edinburgh that can convey to a younger generation
any impression of the charms of that circle. If
there happened to be any stranger in Edinburgh
worth seeing you were sure to meet him there.?
The personal appearance of the first recognised
editor of the Edinburgh Review was not remarkable
His complexion was very swarthy; his features were
good and intellectual in cast and expression ; his
forehead high and lips firmly set. He was very
diminutive in stature-a circumstance that called
forth innumerable jokes from his friend Sydney
Smith, who once said, ?? Look at my little friend
JefTrey ; he hasn?t body enough to cover his mind
decently with ; his intellect is indecently exposed.?
On another occasion, Jefiey having arrived unexpectly
at Foston when Smith was from home,
amused himself by joining the children, who were
riding a donkey. After a time, greatly to the delight
of the youngsters, he mounted the animal,
and Smith returning at the time, sang the following
impromptu :-
?Witty as Horatius Flaccus,
Great a Jacobin as Gracchus,
Short, but not as fat as Bacchq
Riding on a little Jackass 1 ?
His fondness for children was remarkable. He
was never so happy as when in their society, and
was a most devoted husband and father.
He was Dean of Faculty, and prior to his elevation
to the Bench, when he came to 24 Moray
Place, had some time previously resided in 92
George Street. Deemed generally only as a crusty
and uncompromising critic, he possessed great goodness
of heart and domestic amiability. In his
latter years, when past the psalmist-appointed term
of life, he grew more than ever tendex-hearted and
amiable, praised nursery songs, patronised mediocrities,
and wrote letters that were childish in their
gentleness of expression. ?? It seemed to be the
natural strain of his character let loose from some
stem responsibility, which made him sharp and
critical through all his former life.?
In their day his critical writings had a brilliant](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p023.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 203")
... Place.] LORD JEFFREY. 203
Morrison as a suspected person, and you will not
liberate him without a ...
Book 4 p. 203
(Score 0.45)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
bestowed by the piety of private donors on the
hospital of St. Anthony, and ...
Book 6 p. 218
(Score 0.45)
![Moming+3c] THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM. 39
sions and villas seem to crowd and jostle each other,
till it has become an integral part of Edinburgh;
but the adjacent hamlet of Tipperlinn, the abode
chiefly of weavers, and once also a summer resort,
has all disappeared, and nothing of it now remains
but an old draw-well The origin of its name is
evidently Celtic.
Falcon Hall, eastward of the old village, is an
elegant modem villa, erected early in the present
century byawealthy Indian civilian, named Falconer;
but, save old Morningside House, or Lodge, before
that time no other niansion of importance stood
here.
In the latter-which stands a little way back kom
the road on the west side-there died, in the year
1758, William Lockhart, Esq., of Carstairs, who
had been thrown from his cliaise at the Burghmuir-
head, and was so severely injured that he expired
two days after. Here also resided, and died
in 1810, William Coulter, a wealthy hosier, who was
then in office as Lord Provost of the city, which
gave him a magnificent civic and military funeral,
which was long remembered for its grandeur and
solemnity.
On this occasion long streamers of crape floated
from Nelson?s monument ; the bells were tolled.
Mr. Claud Thompson acted as chief mourner-in
lieu of the Provost?s only son, Lieutenant Coulter,
then serving with the army in Portugal-and the city
arms were borne by a man seven feet high before
the coffin, whereon lay a sword, robe, and chain
of office.
Three volleys were fired over it by the Edinburgh
Volunteers, of which he was colonel. A portrait
of him in uniform appears in one of Kay?s
sketches.
In 1807 Dr. Andrew Duncan (already noticed
in the account of Adam Square) proposed the
erection of a lunatic asylum, the want of which
had long been felt in the city. Subscriptions came
in slowly, but at last sufficient was collected, a
royal charter was obtained, and on the 8th of June,
1809, the foundation stone of the now famous and
philanthropic edifice at Morningside was laid by
the Lord Provost Coulter, within an enclosure, four
acres in extent, south of old Morningside House
Towards the erection a sum of LI,IOO came from
Scotsmen in Madras.
The object of this institution is to afford every
possible advantage in the treatment of insanity.
The unfortunate patients may be put under the
care of any medical practitioner in Edinburgh
(says the Scots Magmine for that year) whom the
relations may choose to employ, while the poor
will be attended gratis by physicians and surgeons
appointed by the managers. In every respect,
it is one of the most efficient institutions of the
kind in Scotland, It is called the Royal Edinburgh
Asylum, and has as its patron the reigning
sovereign, a governor, four deputies, a board of
managers, and another of medical men.
The original building was afterwards more than
doubled in extent by the addition of another, the
main entrance to which is from the old road that
led to Tipperlinn. This is called the west department,
where the average number of inmates is
above 500. It is filled with patients of the humbler
order, whose friends or parishes pay for them 6 1 5
per annum.
The east department, which was built in 1809, is
for patients who pay not less than A56 per annum
as an ordinary charge, though separate sitting-rooms
entail an additional expense. On the other hand,
when patients are in straitened circumstances a
yearly deduction of ten, or even twenty pounds, is
made from the ordinary rate.
In the former is kept the museum of plaster
casts from the heads of patients, a collection continually
being added to ; and no one, even without
a knowledge of phrenology, can behold these lifeless
images without feeling that the originals had
been afflicted by disease of the mind, for even the
cold, white, motionless plaster appears expressive
of ghastly insanity.
In the west department the patients who are
capable of doing so ply their trades as tailors,
shoemakers, and so forth; and one of the most
interesting features of the institution is the
printing-office, whence, to quote Chambers?sJournal,
?is issued the Morningside Mirror, a monthly
sheet, whose literary contents are supplied wholly
by the inmates, and contain playful hits and puns
which would not disgrace the habitual writers of
facetious articles.??
From the list of occupations that appear in the
annual report, it would seem that nearly every
useful trade and industry. is followed within the
walls, and that the Morningside Asylum supplies
most of its own wants, being a little world complete
in itself.
Occupation and amusement here take the place
of irksome bondage, with results that have been
very beneficial, and among the most extraordinary
of these are the weekly balls, in which the patients
figure in reels and in country dances, and sing
songs.
At the foot of Morningside the Powburn takes the
singular name of the Jordan as it flows through a
farm named Egypt, and other Scriptural names
abound close by, such as Hebron Bank, Canaan](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p050.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 39")
... THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM. 39
sions and villas seem to crowd and jostle each other,
till it has ...
Book 5 p. 39
(Score 0.45)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith
helmet, now preserved in the Antiquarian Museum
-and the entrance gate or ...
Book 6 p. 258
(Score 0.45)
![High Street.] THE BRITISH LINEN COMPANY. 279
resided here was John, fourth Marquis, who was
Secretary of State for Scotland from 1742 till 1745,
when he resigned the office, on which the Government
at once availed themselves of the opportunity
for leaving it vacant, as it has remained ever since.
He died in 1762, and soon after the carriageentrance
and the fine old terraced garden of the
house, which lay on the slope westward, were
removed to make way for the Episcopal church in
the Cowgate-doomed in turn to be forsaken by
its founders, and even by their successors.
From the Tmeeddale family the mansion passed
into the hands of the British Linen Company, and
became their banking house, until they deserted it
for Moray House in the Canongate, from which they
ultiniatelymigrated to a statelier edifice inSt. Andrew
Square. This company was originally incorpo-
Tated by a charter under the Privy Seal granted by
George 11. on the 6th of July, 1746, at a time
when the mind of the Scottish people was still
agitated by the events of the preceding year and
the result of the battle of Culloden; and it was
deemed an object of the first importance to tranquillise
the country and call forth its resources, so
that the attention of the nation should be directed
to the advantages of trade and manufacture. With
this view the Government, as well as many gentlemen
of rank and fortune, exerted themselves to
promote the linen manufacture, which had been
lately introduced, deeming that it would in time
become the staple manufacture of Scotland, and
provide ample employment for her people, while
.extensive markets for the produce of their labour
would be found alike at home and in the colonies,
then chiefly supplied by the linens of Germany.
By the Dukes of Queensberry and Argyle, who
became the first governors of the British Linen
Company, representations to this effect were made
to Government, and by the Earls of Glencairn, Eglinton,
Galloway, Panmure, and many other peers,
together with the Lord Justice Clerk Fletcher of
Saltoun, afterwards Lord Milton, who was the first
deputy governor, and whose mother, when an exile
in Holland during the troubles, had secretly obtained
a knowledge of the art of weaving and of
dressidg the fine linen known as ? Holland,? and
introduced its manufacture at the village of Saltoun;
by the Lord Justice Clerk Alva ; Provost George
Drummond ; John Coutts, founder of the famous
banking houses of Forbes and Co., and Coutts
and Co. in the Strand; by Henry Home, Lord
Kames ; and many othqs, all of whom urged the
establishment of the company, under royal sanction,
and offered to become subscribers to the undertaking.
A charter was obtained in accordance with their
views and wishes, establishing the British Linen
Company as a corporation, and bestowing upon
it ample privileges, not only to manufacture and
deal in linen fabrics, but also to do all that
might conduce to the promotion thereof; and
authority was given to raise a capital of ~roo,ooo,
to be enlarged by future warrants under the
sign manual of his Majesty, his heirs and successors,
to such sums as the affairs of the company
might .require. After this the company engaged to
a considerable extent in the importation of flax and
the manufacture of yarns and linens, having warehouses
both in Edinburgh and London, and in its
affairs none took a more active part than Lord
Milton, who was an enthusiast in all that related to
the improvement of trade, agriculture, and learning,
in his native country; but it soon became apparent
that the company ? would be of more utility, and
better promote the objects of their institution, by
enlarging the issue of their notes to traders, than
being traders and manufacturers themselves.?
By degrees, therefore, the company withdrew
from all manufacturing operations and speculations,
and finally closed them in 1763, from which year
to the present time their business has been confined
to the discount of bills, advances on accounts,
and other b.ank transactions, in support of Scottish
trade generally, at home and abroad. ?By the
extension of their branch agencies to a great number
of towns,? to quote their own historical report, ? and
the employment in discounts and cash advaqces of
their own funds, as well as of that portion of the
formerly scanty and inactive money capital of Scotland
which has been lodged with the company, they
have been the means of contributing very materially
to the encouragement of useful industry throughout
Scotland, and to her rapid progress in agricultural
and mechanical improvements, and in commercial
intercourse with foreign countries. As regards the
particular object of the institution of the companythe
encouragement of the linen manufa.cture-considerably
more than half of the flax and hemp
imported into the United Kingdom, is now (in
1878) brought to the Scottish ports.?
Now the bank has nearly eighty branch or subbranch
offices over all Scotland alone. The company?s
original capital of AIOO,OOO has been
gradually increased under three additional charters,
granted at different times, under the Great Seal
By Queen Victoria, their fourth charter, dated 19th
March, 1849, ratifies and confirms all, their privileges
and rights, and power was given to augment
their capital to any sum not exceeding A r,5oo,ooo
in all, for banking purposes. The amount of new](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p099.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 279")
... Street.] THE BRITISH LINEN COMPANY. 279
resided here was John, fourth Marquis, who was
Secretary of State ...
Book 2 p. 279
(Score 0.45)
![Leith.] GROWTH OF THE PORT. 27.5
the sirpleth of woll and skin, because sho is fraughtit
in and furth, and the better chaip inwart becaus
sho fraucht swa deir furthwart; and this frauchtbg
is maid in the form of the statutes of the Toune
and Act ,of Parliament, the port oppin and the
nychtbouris firs seruit?
In 1519 the Provost and Council ordained the
water bailie of Leith to await the entry of all ships
at the port, and to see that no wine, timber, 01
other portions of the cargo be sold till duly entered
and paid for, the king?s grace and the city
first served ; and if any goods were sold or tapped,
they should be arrested.
The numerous rules and laws which were enacted
in those days with reference to shipping,
navigation, and foreign commerce, evince that the
attention of the Scottish legislature was particularly
directed to maritime affairs. There was an
enactment which ordained that ships and fishingboats
of not less than twenty tons should be built
and equipped with appropriate nets and tackling
by all burghs and seaport towns.
By an Act passed in the second Parliament of
James III., in 1466, no ship from Leith or any
other port could be freighted without a charterparty,
whereof the points were: ? What the master
of the ship shall furnish to the merchant, that in
case of debate betwixt them, they underly the law
of the burgh whereto the ship ,is fraughted. That
the goods be not spilt by ill-stalling ; that no goods
be shown or stricken up ; that the master have no
goods in his over-loft, or if he do, these goods pay
no fraught. That every ship exceeding five lasts
of goods pay to the chaplain of the nation a sack
fraught, and if within five lasts, the half of it, under
pain of five pounds; and that no drink-silver be
taken by the master and his doers, under the same
pain. And homeward, a tun fraught to the kirkwork
of the town they are fraughted to.??
In 1488 it was ordained that all ships, Scottish
or foreign, should arrive only at free burghs, and
the prohibition of navigation between All Saints
Day and Candlemas was renewed; and in -1535
it was ordered that ships should be ?freighted to
Flanders only twice yearly, to the Easter market,
and that held on the 3rd of May. The exportation
of all tallow was strictly forbidden, as the
realm only furnished a sufficient quantity for home
consumption.
By an Act of James VI., no ship could sail without
the king?s consent, under pain of being arrested
by the conservator.
In March, 1567, there was a frightful tempest of
wind, which, says Birrel, ?blew a very grate shippe
out of the Rode of Leith.? He records that in
.-
1596, between July and August, sixty-six ships
arrived in the harbour laden with victual
In 1616 the same monarch grauted a patent of
the whale fishery for thirty-five years to Sir George
Hay and Mr. Thomas Murray, who fitted out two
ships for that purpose. Nicol mentions that, in
1652 ?there canie into the very Brig of Leith?
a whale, which rendered much profit to the English
garrison there.
In September, 1641, a Bill was brought before
the Parliament at Edinburgh by John, Earl of
Rothes, Sir George Hamilton of Blackburn,
Andrew Eusley, and George h o t , merchants, to
enforce restitution from the Hamburgers to the
value of 300,000 merks, taken from them in shipping
and goods, and to grant Letters of Marque against
the said Hamburgers; and in the ensuing November
Letters of Reprisal by sea and land were
granted under the Great Seal.
In 1651 an English ship, bound for Leith was
captured by the captain of the Bass, and her
crew made prisoners, some being placed on the
isle and others sent to Tantallon, She had on
board 10,000 pairs of shoes, 6,000 pairs of boots,
5,000 saddles and sets of horse furniture, ten tons
of London beeire and als muche bisquett as should
have served Cromwell for a month,? says Sir James
Balfour. Her cargo was handed over to Sir John
Smith, Commissary-General of the Scottish army.
In the May of the same year Captain Murray,
commander of a Scottish frigate, took another English
ship, laden with provisions, which he handed
over to the army, but retained the vessel as the prize
of himself and crew.
In 1656 Leith possessed only three vessels of
250 tons, and eleven of 20 tons each.
In 1661 the Scottish Parliament passed an Act
for the encouragement of shipping and navigation,
ordaining that all goods be transported in Scottish ?
ships ?from the original places, whence they are
in use first to be transported.? That all Scottish
ships should be navigated by a Scottish master,
and that at least three-parts of his crew should be
Scotsmen. The Act contains an order for verifying
a ship to be Scottish, and getting a certificate
thereof; and that no customer ?allow the benefit
of a Scot?s skipper to any ship until the same be
so verified, under pain of deprivation.? This Act
was not to extend to imports from Asia, Africa,
America, Muscovy, or Italy.
The Iirst return of tonnage for Leith, preserved
in the ?Archives of the Royal Burghs,? is dated
1692, when the port could only boast of twentynine
ships, with an aggregate tonnage of 1,702
tons, the estimated value of which was ;G7,1oo](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p094.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 275")
... GROWTH OF THE PORT. 27.5
the sirpleth of woll and skin, because sho is fraughtit
in and furth, and the ...
Book 6 p. 275
(Score 0.44)
... 18 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [cogs.
p. baronet of Nova Scotia by James VII., in
1687.
The close of the family is ...
Book 6 p. 318
(Score 0.44)
![North Bridge.] THE OLD THEATRE ROYAL. 343
able performer in fashionable comedy, and had
been long a favourite at the Canongate Theatre.
Bland was also well connected ; he had been a
Templar, an ofiicer in the army at Fontenoy, and
in the repulse of the British cavalry by the Highlanders
on Cliftonmoor in 1745. For twenty-three
years he continued to be a prime favourite on
these old boards ; he was the uncle of Mrs. Jordan ;
and Edmund Glover, so long a favourite also in
Edinburgh and Glasgow, was nearly related to him.
In 1774 Foote came from Dublin to perform here
again. ?We hear,? says Ruddiman?s Magazine,
?that he is to perform seven nights, for which he
is to receive A250. The Nabob, Th Bankmyt,
The Maidof Bath, and Pie9 in Pattms, all of which
have been written by our modern Aristophanes, are
the four pieces that will be exhibited.?
In these new hands the theatre became prosperous,
and the grim little enclosure named Shakespeare
Square-sprang up near it; but the west side
was simply the rough rubble wall of the bridge,
terminating in later years, till 1!60, by a kind of
kiosk named ?The Box,? in which papers and
periodicals weie sold. It was simply a place of
lodging-houses, a humble inn or two, like the Red
Lion tavern and oyster shop,
At intervals between 1773 and 1815 Mr. Moss
was a prime favourite at the Royal. One of his
cherished characters was Lovegold in The Miser;
but that in which he never failed to ?bring down
the house ? was Caleb, in He wouZd 6e a Soldier,
especially when in the military costume of the
early part of George 111,?s reign, he sang his song,
? I?m the Dandy 0.?
Donaldson, I in his Recollections,? speaks of
acting for ihe, benefit of poor Moss in 1851, at
Stirling, when he-who had delighted the audience
of the then capital in the Mmchant of Venice-was
an aged cripple, penniless and poor. ?? MOSS,? he
adds, ?? caught the inspiration from the renowned
Macklin, whose yew, by Pope?s acknowledgment,
was unrivalled, even in the days of David Gamck,
and he bequeathed to his protdgge? Moss that conception
which descended to the most original and
extraordinary Shylock of any period-Edmund
Kean.?
? During the management of West Digges most
of the then London stars, save Gamck, appeared in
the old Royal. Among them were Mr. Bellamy,
Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Barfy, Mr. and Mrs. Yates, and,
occasionally, Foote.
Of Mrs. Yates Kaygives an etching in the character
of the Duchess of Braganza, a play by an
obscure author named Henry Crisp. The period
to which his print refers was 1785, when-though
she was well advanced in years, having been borm
in 1729 (in London, but of Scottish parents)-
she was paid at the rate of a hundred guineas per
night by Mr. Jackson. From Mr. Digges she
and her husband received seven hundred guineas
at the end of one season. ?The gentlemen of
the bar and some even of the bench had been
zealous patrons of the drama since the Canongate
days, even to the taking a personal concern
in its affairs. They continued to do this for
many years after this time. Dining being then
an act performed at four o?clock, the aristocracy
were free to give their attendance at half-past six,
and did so in great numbers whenever there wasany
tolerable attraction. So fashionable, indeed,
had the theatre become, that a man of birth and
fashion named Mr. Nicholson Stewart came forward
one night, in the character of Richard III.,
to raise funds for the building of a bridge over the
Carron, at a ford where many lives had been lost.
On this occasion the admission to all parts of the
house was five shillings, and it was crowded by
what the journals of the day tell us was a poZite
audience. The gentleman?s action was allowed to
be just, but his voice too weak.??
In 1781 the theatre passed into the hands of
Mr. John Jackson, author of a rather dull (c History
of the Scottish Stage, with a Narrative of Recent
Theatrical Transactions.? It was published at
Edinburgh in 1793. Like his predecessors in the
management he was a man of good education, and
well connected, and had chosen the stage as the
profession he loved best. In the second year of
his rule Siddons appeared in the full power of her
talent and beauty as Portia, at Drury Lane ; and
Jackson, anxious to secure her for Edinburgh,
hastened to London, and succeeded in inducing
her to make an engagement, then somewhat of an
undertaking when the mode of travel in those days
is considered; and on the zznd of May, 1784, she
made her appearance at the Theatre Royal, when,
as the Edinburgh Week0 Magazine records, ((the
manager took the precaution, after the first night,
to have ar. officer?s guard of soldiers at the principal
door. But several scuffles having ensued, through
the eagerness of the people to get places, and the
soldiers having been rash enough to use their
bayonets, it was thought advisable to withdraw the
guard on the third night, lest any accident had
happened from the pressure of the crowd, who
began to assemble round the doors at eleven in the
forenoon.?
Her part was Belvidera, Jaffier being performed
?Sketch of the Theatre Rod,? 1859.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p163.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 343")
... Bridge.] THE OLD THEATRE ROYAL. 343
able performer in fashionable comedy, and had
been long a favourite at ...
Book 2 p. 343
(Score 0.44)
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![THE CASTLE -4ND GLEN. 34 7 Roslin.]
further repaired, as an ornate entrance seems tc
show, with its lintel, inscribed ? S.W.S., 1622.??
The same initials appear on the half-circular pedi.
ment of a dormer window. Above this door, which
is beautifully moulded and enriched, is a deep and
ornate squqre niche, the use for which it is difficult
to conceive.
From its windows it commands a view of the
richly-wooded glen, between the rocky banks and
dark shadows of which the Esk flows onward with
a ceaseless murmur among scattered boulders,
where grow an infinite variety of ferns. The
eastern bank rises almost perpendicularly from the
river?s bed, and everywhere there is presented a
diversity of outline that always delights an artistic
eye.
The entrance to the castle was originally by a
gate of vast strength, and the whole structure must
have been spacious and massive, and on its northern
face bears something of the aspect of old Moorish
fortresses in Spain. A descent of a great number of
stone stairs conducts through the existing structure
to the bottom, leading into a spacious kitchen,
from which a door opens into the once famous
gardens. The modern house of 1563 is ill-lighted
and confined, and possesses more the gloom of
a dungeon-like prison than the comforts of a residence.
Grose gives us a view of the whole as they
appeared in 1788--? haggard and utterly dilapidated-
the mere wreck of a great pile riding on a
l ~ t l e sea of forest-a rueful apology for the once
grand fabric whose name of ? Roslin Castle ? is so
intimately associated with melody and song.?
It is unknown when or by whom the original
castle was founded. It has been referred to the
year 1100, when William de St. Clair, son of
Waldern, Count of St. Clair, who came to England
with William the Conqueror, obtained from
Malcolm 111. the barony of Roslin, and was
named ?the seemly St. Clair,? in allusion to his
grace of deportment ; but singular to say, notwithstanding
its importance, the castle is not mentioned
distinctly in history till the reign of James II.,
when Sir William Hamilton was confined in it in
1455 for being in rebellion with Douglas, and again
when it was partly burned in 1447.
Father Richard Augustine Hay, Prior of St.
Piermont, in France, who wrote much about the
Roslin family, records thus :--
?About this time, 1447, Edmund Sinclair of
Dryden, coming with four greyhounds and some
rackets to hunt with the prince (meaning William
Sinclair, Earl of Orkney), met a great company of
rats, and among them an old blind lyard, with a
straw in his mouth, led by the rest, whereat he
greatly marvelled, not thinking what was to follow;
but within four days after-viz., the feast of St.
Leonard, the princess, who took great delight in
little dogs, caused one of the gentlewomen to go
under a bed with a lighted candle to bring forth one
of them that had young whelps, which she was
doing, and not being very attentive, set on fire the
bed, whereat the fire rose and burnt the bed, and
then rose to the ceiling of the great chamber in
which the princess was, whereat she and all that
were in the dungeon (keep?) were compelled to fly.
? The prince?s chaplain seeing this, and remembering
his master?s writings, passed to the head of
the dungeon, where they were, and threw out four
great trunks. The news of this fire coming to the
prince?s ears through the lamentable cries of the
ladies and gentlemen, and the sight thereof coming
to his view in the place where he stood-namely,
upon the College (Chapel?) Hill-he was in sorrow
for nothing but the loss of his charters and other
writings; but when the chaplain, who had saved
himself by coming down the bell-rope tied to a
beam, declared how they were saved, he became
cheerful, and went to re-comfort his princess and
the ladies, desiring them to put away all sorrow,
and rewarded his chaplain very richly.? The
i? princess ? was the Elizabeth Countess of Roslin,
referred to in page 3 of Vol. I.
In 1544 the castle was fired by the English
under Hertford, and demolished. The house of
1563, erected amid its ruins nineteen years after,
was pillaged and battered by the troops of Cromwellin
1650.
+4t the revolution in 1688, it was pillaged again
by a lawless mob from the city, and from thenceforward
it passes out of history.
Of the powerful family to whom it belonged we
can only give a sketch.
The descendants of the Norman William de St.
Clair, called ihdifferently by that name and Sinclair,
received from successive kings of Scotland
accessions, which made them lords of Cousland,
Pentland, Cardoine, and other lands, and they lived
in their castle, surrounded by all the splendour of a
rude age, and personal importancegiven by the
acquisition of possessions by methods that would
be little understood in modern times.
There were three successive William Sinclairs
barons of Roslin (one of whom made a great
figure in the reign of William the Lion, and gave
a yearly gift to Newbattle,pro saZufe mime we)
before the accession of Henry, who, by one account,
is said to have mamed a daughter of the
Earl of Mar, and by auother a daughter of the Earl](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p166.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 347")
