![Abbeyhill.] BARON NORTON. I27
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DISTRICT OF RESTALRIG.
Abhey Hill-Baron Norton-Alex. Campbell and ? Albyn?s Anthology ?--Comely Gardens-Easter Road-St. Margaret?s Well-Church and
Legend of St. Triduana-Made Collegiate by James 111.-The Mausoleum-Old Bardns of Restalrig-pe Logans, &c.-Conflict of
Black Saturday-Residents of Note-First Balloon in Britain-Rector Adams-The Nisbets of Craigantinnie and Dean-The Millers-
The Craieantinnie Tomb and Marbles-The Marionville Traeedv-The Hamlet of Jock?o Lodge-Mail-bag Robberies in seventeenth and - _
eighteenth centuries-Piershill House and Barracks.
AT the Abbey Hill, an old house-in that antiquated
but once fashionable suburb, which grew
up in the vicinity of the palace of Holyrood-with
groups of venerable trees around it, which are now,
like itself, all swept away to make room for the present
Abbeyhill station and railway to Leith, there
lived long the Hon. Fletcher Norton, appointed one
of the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer in 1776,
with a salary of &2,865 per annum, deemed a handsome
income in those days.
He was the second son of Fletcher Norton of
Grantley in Yorkshire, who was Attorney-General
of England in 1762, and was elevated to the British
peerage in 1782, as Lord Grantley.
He came to Scotland at a time when prejudices
then against England and Englishmen were strong
and deep, for the rancour excited by the affair of
1745, about thirty years before, was revived by the
periodical publication of the Nhth Briton, but
Baron Norton soon won the regard of all who knew
him. His conduct as a judge increased the respect
which his behaviour in private life obtained, His
perspicacity easily discovered the true merits of any
cause before him, while his dignified and conciliatory
manner, joined to the universal confidence
which prevailed in his rigid impartiality, reconciled
to him even those who suffered by such verdicts as
were given against them in consequence of his
charges to the juries.
He married in 1793 a Scottish lady, a Miss Balmain,
and in the Edinburgh society of his time stood
high in the estimation of all, ?as a husband, father,
friend, and master,? according to a print of 1820.
? His fund of information-of anecdotes admirably
told-his social disposition, and the gentlemanly
pleasantness of his manner, made his society to be
universally coveted. Resentment had no place in
his bosom. He seemed almost insensible to injury
so immediately did he pardon it. Amongst his
various pensioners were several who had shown
marked ingratitude ; but distress, with him, covered
every offence against himself.?
He was a warm patron of the amiable and enthusiastic,
but somewhat luckless Alexander Campbell,
author of ? The Grampians Desolate,? which
?fell dead ? from the press, and editor of ? Albyn?s
Anthology,? who writes thus in the preface to the
first volume of that book in 1816, and which, we
may mention, was a ? collection of melodies and
local poetry peculiar to Scotland and the isles ? :-
? So far back as the year 1780, while as yet the
editor of ?Albyn?s Anthology? was an organist to
one of the Episcopal chapels in Edinburgh, he projected
the present work. Finding but small encouragement
at that period, and his attention being
directed to pursuits of quite a different nature, the
plan was dropped, till by an accidental turn of conversation
at a gentleman?s table, the Hon. Fletcher
Norton gave a spur to the speculation now in its
career. He with that warmth of benevolence
peculiarly his own, offered his influence with the
Royal Highland Society of Scotland, of which he is
a member of long standing, and in conformity with
the zeal he has uniformly manifested for everything
connected with the distinction and prosperity of our
ancient realm, on the editor giving him a rough
outline of the present undertaking, the Hon. Baron
put it into the hands of Henry Mackenzie, Esq., of
the Exchequer, and Lord Bannatyne, whose influence
in the society is deservedly great. And
immediately on Mr. Mackenzie laying it before a
select committee for music, John H. Forbes, Esq.
(afterwards Lord Medwyn), as convener of the
committee, convened it, and the result was a recommendation
to the society at large, who embraced
the project cordially, voted a sum to enable the
editor to pursue his plan ; and forthwith he set out
on a tour through the Highlands and western
islands. Having performed a journey (in pursuit
of materials for the present work) of between eleven
and twelve hundred miles, in which he collected
191 specimens of melodies and Gaelic vocal poetry,
he returned to Edinburgh, and laid the fruits of
his gleanings before the society, who were pleased
to honour with their approbation his success in
attempting to collect and preserve the perishing remains
of what is so closely interwoven with the
history and literature of Scot!and.?
From thenceforth the ?? Anthology? was a success,
and a second volume appeared in 1818. Under
the influence of Baron Norton, Campbell got many
able contributors, among whom appear the names
of Scott, Hogg, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, RIaturin, and
Jamieson.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p138.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 127")
... BARON NORTON. I27
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DISTRICT OF RESTALRIG.
Abhey Hill-Baron Norton-Alex. Campbell ...
Book 5 p. 127
(Score 0.55)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Hart Street
York Place he officiated there, until a severe illness
in 1831 compelled ...
Book 3 p. 190
(Score 0.55)
... Old High S:hoo!.l THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 287
college, the pulpits, desks, lofts, and seats, were;
says Nicol, (( ...
Book 4 p. 287
(Score 0.55)
... INDEX TO THE PORTRAITS. ETC .
No . Pap.
Dalzel. Andrew. A.M., F.R.S., Professor
of Greek in the University ...
Book 8 p. 605
(Score 0.54)
... Miss Liuy, 2
Stevens, Mr., 151
Stevenson. Yr. John. 35
INDEX TO THE NAMES, ETC.
Taylor, -, ...
Book 8 p. 617
(Score 0.54)
... - OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [West Church.
mode of procedure, made no resistance; and so
.active were the workmen ...
Book 3 p. 138
(Score 0.54)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Fountainbridge.
tional cemetery, a little to the south, beyond Ardmillan
Terrace, ...
Book 4 p. 218
(Score 0.54)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moultray?s Hill.
-
dedicated to him,?) but by whom founded or when,
is quite unknown ...
Book 2 p. 366
(Score 0.54)
... THE NEW ROYAL INFIRMARY. 359
aunt Elizabeth, ordered that on application for
taking children ...
Book 4 p. 359
(Score 0.54)
![west Port.] BURKE AND HARE. 227
by a distinguished anatomist for the body of a poor
old pensioner, named Donald, who died in their
hands, a short time before his pension became due.
Hare, who expected to be reimbursed for A4 owing
to him by Donald, was exasperated by the loss,?and
filling the coffin with bark from the adjacent
tannery, it was buried, while the corpse in a sack
was carried alternately by Burke and Hare, through
College Street, to Surgeon Square, and sold for
seven pounds ten shillings, to Dr. Knox and his
assistants.
The money so easily won seemed to exert a
magnetic influence over the terrible quaternion in
Tanner?s Close. The women foresaw that other
lodgers mz@ die, and hoped to flaunt in finery
before the poor denizens of the Portsburgh ; and
the steady and studied career of assassination began,
and was continued, by Burke?s own confession,
from Christmas, 1827, to the end of October, 1828.
-( Week&JoumaZ, Jan. 6th, 1829.)
The modus ojei-avzdi was very simple: the unknown
and obscure wayfarer was lured into the
? lodging-house,? weary and hungry, perhaps, then
generally well dosed with coarse raw whisky, preparatory
to strangulation, glass after glass being
readily and cordially filled in contemplation .of
the value of the future corpse, as in the case of
one unfortunate creature named Mary Haldane.
Then, ?? all is ready-the drooping head-the
closing eye-the languid helpless body. The women
get the hint. They knew the unseemliness of
being spectators-nay, they were delicate ! A
repetition of a former scene, only with even less
resistance. Hare holds again the lips, and Burke
presses his twelve stone weight on the chest.
Scarcely a sigh; but on a trial if dead a long
gurgling indraught More is not required-and
all is still in that dark room, with the window
looking out on the dead wall.? By twelve the
same night the body of Mary Haldane was in the
hands of ?the skilled anatomist,? who made no
inquiries; and as thb supply from Log?s lodgings
increased, the value for each subject seemed to
increase also, as the partners began to get from
6 1 2 to A14 for each-nearly double what they
had received for the body of the poor Highland
pensioner.
The attempt to rehearse in detail all the crimes
of which these people were guilty, would only weary
and revolt the reader. Suffice it to say, that the
discovery of the dead body of a woman, quite nude,
and with her face covered with blood, among some
straw in an occupied house of Burke and another
Irishman named Broggan, caused the arrest of the
four suspects. Hare turned King?s evidence, and
on the 24th December, 1828, amid such excitement
as Edinburgh had not witnessed for ages, William
Burke and Helen McDougal were arraigned at the
bar of the Justiciary Court, charged with a succession
of murders ! Among these were the murder
of a very handsome girl named Mary Paterson in
the house of Burke?s brother, Constantine Burke, a
scavenger residing in Gibb?s Close, Canongate ;
that of a well-knowp idiot, named James Wilson
(?Daft Jamie?), at the house in Tanner?s Close; of
Mary McGonegal, or Docherty, at the same place.
These were selected for proof as sufficient in the
indictment j but the real lit was never known or
exhausted. Among the cases was supposed to
be that of a little Italian boy named Ludovico,
who went about the city with white mice. Two
little white mice were seen for long after haunting
the dark recesses of Tanner?s Close, and in Hare?s
house a cage with the mice?s tuming-wheel was
actually found. Of this murder Burke was supposed
to be guiltless, and that it had been a piece of
private business done by Hare on his own account.
The libel contained a list of a great number of
articles of dress, &c., worn or used by the various
victims, and among other things were Daft Jamie?s
brass snuff-box and spoon, objects which excited
much interest, as Jamie was a favourite with the
citizens, and his body must have been recognised
by Dr. Knox the instant he saw it on the dissecting
table. The presiding judge of the court was the Lard
Justice-clerk Boyle; the others were the Lords
Pitmilly, Meadowbank, and M?Kenzie ; the prosecutor
was Sir Wdiam Rae, Lord Advocate. The
counsel for Burke was the Dean of Faculty ; that
for M?Dougal the celebrated Henry Cockburn.
The witnesses were fifty-five in number-the two
principal being Hare and the woman Log, received
as evidence in the characters of soni? mininis.
When all had been examined, and the cases were
brought fatally home to Burke, while his paramour
escaped with a verdict of ?not proven,? a loud
whisper ran through the court of (? Where are the
doctors ?? as it was known the names of Knox and
others were placed on the back of the indictment
as witnesses ; yet they could scarcely have appeared
but at the risk of their lives, so high was the tide
of popular indignation against them.
Burke was sentenced to death in the usual form,
the Lord Justice-clerk expressing regret that his
body could not be gibbeted in chains, but was to
be publicly?dissected, adding, ?and I trust that if
it is ever customary to preserve skeletons yours will
be preserved, in order that posterity may keep in
remembrance your atrocious crimes.? So the
body of Burke was sent appropriately where he](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p047.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 227")
... Port.] BURKE AND HARE. 227
by a distinguished anatomist for the body of a poor
old pensioner, named Donald, ...
Book 4 p. 227
(Score 0.54)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord Provosts.
burgh of great numbers of? His Majesty?s subjects
and strangers, there ...
Book 4 p. 280
(Score 0.54)
![THE GREAT WINCOW. ?59 Parliament Hoox.]
obelisks, with the motto Bominus cusfodif infroifurn
msfrunz. The destruction of all this was utterly
unwarrantable.
The tapestries with which the hall was hung
were all removed about the end of the last century,
and now its pictnres, statues, and decorations of
Scotland?s elder and latter days replace them.
Of the statues of the distinguished Scottish
statesmen and lawyers, the most noticeable are a
colossal one of Henry first Viscount Melville in
his robes as a peer, by Chantrey ; on his left is Lord
Cockburn, by Brodie ; Duncan Forbes of Culloden,
in his judicial costume as President of the Court,
by Roubiliac (a fine example) ; the Lord President
Boyle, and Lord Jeffrey, by Steel ; the Lord President
Blair (son of the author of ?The Grave?),
by Chantrey.. .
On the opposite or eastern side of the hall
(which stands north and south) is the statue
of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord Chief Baron
of the Scottish Exchequer, also by Chautrey;
portraits, many of them of considerable antiquity,
some by Jameson, a Scottish painter who studied
under Rubens at Antwerp. But the most remarkable
among the modern portraits are those of
Lord Broiigham, by Sir Daniel Macnee, P.R.S.A. ;
Lord Colonsay, formerly President of the Court,
and the Lord Justice-clerk Hope, both by the
same artist. Thete are also two very tine pQrtraits
of Lord Abercrombie and Professor Bell, by Sir
Henry Raeburn.
Light is given to this interestihg hall by fouI
windows on the side, and the great window on the
south. It is of stained glass, and trulymagnificent.
It was erected in 1868 at a cost of Az,ooo, and
was the work of two German artists, having been
designed by Wilhelm von Kaulbach, and executed
by the Chevalier Ainmiller of Munich. It repre.
sents the inauguration of the College of Justice, 01:
the Supreme Court of Scotland, by King Tames V.,
in 1532. The opening of the court is supposed by
the artist to have been the. occasion of a grand
state ceremonial, and the moment chosen for
representation is that in which the young king,
surrounded by his nobles and great officers
of state, is depicted in the ,act of presenting
the charter of institution and of confirniation by
Pope Clement VII. to Alexander Mylne, Abbot
of Cambuskenneth, the first Lord President, wha
kneels before him to receive it, surrounded by the
other judges in their robes, while the then Lord
Chancellor of Scotland, Gavin Dunbar, ArchbishoF
of Glasgow, and afterwards of St. Andrews, with
upraised hand invokes a.blessing on the act.
In 1870 the four side windows on the west of the
la11 were filled in with stained glass Qf a heraldic
:haracter, under the superintendence of the late
Sir George Harvey, president of the Royal Scottish
kcadeniy. Each window is twenty feet high
~y nine wide, divided by a central mullion, the
:racery between being occupied by the armorial
learings and crests of the various Lord Justice-
Zlerks, the great legal writers of the Faculty of
Advocates, those of the Deans of Faculty, and the
Lords Advocate.
This old hall has been the scene of many a
;reat event and many a strange debate, and most
Df the proceedings that took place here belong
to the history of the country j for with the exception
of the Castle and the ancient portion of Holyrood,
no edifice in the city is so rich in historic
memories.
Beneath the old roof consecrated to these, says
one of its latest chroniclers, ? the first ?great movements
of the Civil War took place, and the successive
steps in that eventful crisis were debated
with a zeal commensurate to the important results
involved in them. Here Montrose united with
Rothes, Lindsay, Loudon, and others of the
covenanting leaders, in maturing the bold measures
that formed the basis of our national liberties ; and
within the same hall, only a few years later, he sat
with the calmness of despair, to receive from the
lips of his old compatriot, Loudon, the barbarous
sentence, which was executed with such savage
rigour.?
After his victory at Dunbar, some of Cromwell?s
troopers in their falling bands, buff coats, and steel
morions, spent their time alternately in preaching to
the people in the Parliament Hall and guarding a
number of Scottish prisoners of war who were confined
in ? the laigh Parliament House ? below it
On the 17th of May, 1654, some of these contrived
to cut a hole in the floor of the great hall, and all
effected their escape save two; but when peace
was established between Croniwell and the Scots,
and the Courts of Law resumed their sittings,
the hall was restored to somewhat of its legitimate
uses, and there, in 1655, the leaders of the Commonwealth,
including General Monk, were feasted
with a lavish hospitality.
In 1660, under the auspices of the same republican
general, came to pass ? the - glorious
Restoration,? when the magistrates had a banquet
Ft the cross, and gave _~;I,OOO sterling to the king;
and his brother, the Duke of Albany and York, who
came as Koyal Commissioner, was feasted in the
same hall with his Princess Mary d?Este and his
daughter, the future Queen Anne, surrounded by all
the high-born and beautiful in Scotland. But dark](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p171.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 159")
... GREAT WINCOW. ?59 Parliament Hoox.]
obelisks, with the motto Bominus cusfodif infroifurn
msfrunz. The ...
Book 1 p. 159
(Score 0.54)
![Queen Street.] SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON. I53
office by Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope.
Early in the next century the house was the
residence of Sir William Cunningham, Bart, and in
more recent years had as an occupant the gallant
Sir Neil Douglas, Commander of the Forces in
Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle, who
commanded the Cameron Highlanders in the war
with France, and was contused by a ball at Quatre
Bras. It is now occupied by tlic Edinburgh Institution
for Education, the head of which is Dr.
Fergusson, F.R.S.E.
Nos. g and 10 were removed in 1844 to make
way for the present hall of the Royal College of
Physicians, on the demolition of the former one in
George Street. The foundation stone was laid on
the 8th of August, 1844, by the then president,
Dr. Renton, in presence of the Fellows of the
college and others. In it were deposited a copy of
the first edition of the ? Edinburgn Pharmacopeia,?
containing a list .of the Fellows of the college; a
work concerning its private affairs, printed several
years before ; an Edinburgh Almanac for the
current year; several British coins, and a silver
plate with a suitable Latin inscription.
It was designed by Thomas Hamilton, and ?is
adorned in front with an Attic Corinthian tetrastyle,
sunqounted by a common Corinthian distyle, and
is handsomely adorned by colossal statues of
iBsculapius, Hippocrates, and Hygeia ; but it was
barely completed when, ample though its accommodation
appeared to be, the rapid additions to
its library and the great increase in the number of
Fellows, consequent on a reduction of the money
entry, and other changes, seemed to .render an
extension necessary.
In No. 11 are the offices of the E&hurgh
Gazette, the representative of the paper started by
Captain Donaldson in 1699, and re-issued by the
same person in March, I 707.
Sir Henry Wellwood Moncriff, Bart., D.D., a
distinguished divine, wha for half a century was
one .of the brightest ornaments of the Scottish
Church, resided in No. 13 during the first years of
the present century. He died in August, 1827,
and his second, son, James, a senator, under the
title of Lord Moncrieff, succeeded to the baronetcy,
which is one of the oldest in Scotland, having
been conferred by Charles I. in 1626.
It was afterwards occupied by the Scottish
Heritable Security Company.
-The next house westward was the residence, at
the same time, of William Honeyman of Graemsay,
who was elevated to the bench as Lord Armadale,
and created a baronet in 1804. He had been pre.
viously Sheriff of the county of Lanarkshire. ?He mar.
88
*ied a daughter of Lord Braxfield, and died in 1825,
eaving ,behind him a reputation for considerable
dent and sound judgment, both as a barrister and
udge. He had two sons in the army-Patrick,
who served in the old -28th Light Dragoons, and
Robert, who died in Jamaica in 1809, Lieutenant-
Clolonel of the 18th Royal Irish.
His house is now occupied by the site of the
Zaledonian United Service Club, erected in 1853.
In 1811 No. 27 was the residence of General
Sraham Stirling, an old and distinguished officer,
whose family still occupy it. In the same year
4lexander Keith of Ravelston, Hereditary Knight
Marshal of Scotland, occupied No. 43. Behind the
louse line stands St. Luke?s Free Church, which has
i fictitious street front in the Tudor style, with two
-ichly crocketed finials.
No. 38 was the house of George Paton, ?Advocate,
md afterwards Lord Justice Clerk, whose suicide
nade much sensation in Edinburgh a few years
1go.
In No. 52 lived and died one of the most illus-
:rious citizens of Edinburgh-Professor Sir James .
Young Sirnpson, Bart., who came to Edinburgh a
poor and nearly friendless student, yet in time
ittained, as Professor of Midwifery in the University
and as the discoverer of extended uses of chlorolorm,
a colossal fame, not only in Europe, but
wherever the English language is spoken. He
obtained the chair of midwifery in r840, and seven
years after made his great discovery. In 1849 he
was elected President of the Edinburgh College
of Physicians; in 1852 President of the Medico-
Chirurgical Society ; and ?in the following year,
under circumstances of the greatest klat, Foreign
Associate of the French Academy of Medicine ?
In 1856 the French Academy of Sciences awarded
him the ? Monthyon Prize ? of 2,000 francs for the
benefits he conferred on humanity by the introduction
of anmthesia by chloroform into the practice
of surgery and midwifery.
A few weeks earlief, for the same noble cause, he
won the royal order of St. Olaf, from Oscar, King
of Sweden, and in 1866 was created a baronet of
Great Britain. His ,professional writings are too
numerous to be recorded here, suffice it to say
that they have been translated into every European
language.
No man ever attracted so many visitors to Edinburgh
as Sir James Simpson, for many Came to see
him who were not invalids. His house in Queeu
Street was the centre of attraction for men -of
letters and science from all parts of the worldphysicians,
naturalists, antiquarians, and literati of
all kinds were daily to be met at his table. His](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p165.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 153")
... Street.] SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON. I53
office by Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope.
Early in the next century ...
Book 3 p. 153
(Score 0.53)
![Wton Hill.] THE BURGH OF CALTON. 103 r
beneath the Caltoun Hill, the .place where those
imaginary criminals, witches, and sorcerers in less
enlightened times were burned ; and where at
festive seasons the gay and gallant held their tilts
and tournaments.?
On the north-westem shoulder of the hill stands
the modern Established Church of Greenside, at
the end of the Royal Terrace, a conspicuous and
attractive feature among the few architectural
decorations of that district. Its tower rises IOO feet
above the porch, is twenty feet square, and contains
a bell of 10 cwt.
The main street of the old barony of the Calton
was named, from the ancient chapel which stood
there, St. Ninian?s Row, and a place so called
still exists; and the date and name ST. NINIAN?S
Row, 1752, yet remains on the ancient well. 01
old, the street named the High Calton, was known
as the Craig End.
In those days?a body existed known as the
High Constables of the Calton, but the new
Municipality Act having extinguished the ancient
boundaries of the city, the constabulary, in 1857,
adopted the following resolution, which is written
on vellum, to the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland :-
? The district of Calton, or Caldton, formed at
one time part of the estate.of the Elphinstone
family, one of whom-% James, third son of the
third Lord Elphinstone-was created Lord &Imerino
in 1603-4 In 1631 the then Lord
Balmerino granted a charter to the trades of
Calton, constituting them a society or corporation ;
and in 1669 a royal charter was obtained from
Charles II., erecting the district into a burgh of
barony. A court was held by a bailie appointed
by the lord of the manor, and there was founded in
. connectiontherewith, the Societyof Highconstables
of Calton, who have been elected by, and have
continued to act under, the orders of succeeding
Baron Bailies. Although no mention is made 01
our various constabulary bodies in the ? Municipality
Extension Act, 1856,? the venerable office
of Baron Bailie has thereby become extinct, and
the .ancient burghs of Canongate, Calton, Eastern
and Western Portsburgh, are now annexed to the
city. UnGer these circumstances the constabulary
of Calton held an extraordinary meeting on the
17th of March, 1857, at which, infer alia, the
following inotion was carried with acclamation, viz.
? That the burgh having ceased to exist, the con
stabulary, in order that some of the relics and
other insignia belonging to this body should be
preserved for the inspection of future generations,
unanimously resolve to present as a free gift to the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland the.
following, viz :-Constabulary baton, I 747, moderator?
s official baton, marble bowl, moderator??
state staff, silver-mounted horn with fourteefi
medals, members? small baton; report on the
origin and standing of the High Constables OF
Calton, 1855, and the laws of the society, 1847.??
These relics of the defunct little burgh are
consequently now preserved at the museum in the
Royal Institution.
A kind of round tower, or the basement thereof,
is shown above the south-west angle of the CaltoE
cliffs in Gordon?s view in 1647 ; but of any such
edifice no record remains ; and in the hollow where
Nottingham Place lies now, a group of five isolated
houses, called ? Mud Island,? appears in the maps.
of 1787 and 1798. In 1796, and at many other
times, the magistrates ordained that ? All-hallowfair
be held on the lands of Calton Hill,? as an
open and uncnclosed place, certainly a perilous one,
for tipsy drovers and obstinate cattle. An agriculturist
named Smith farmed the hill and lands
adjacent, now covered by great masses of building,
for several years, till about the close of the 18th
century; and his son, Dr. John Smith, who was
born in 1798, died only in February, 1879, afterbeing
fifty years physician tQ the old charity workhouse
in Forrest Road, .
In 1798, when the Rev. Rowland Hill (thefamous
son of Sir Rowland Hill, of Shropshire).
visited Edinburgh for the first time, he preached
in some of the churches every other day, but the
crowds became so immense, that at last he was
induced to hold forth from a platform erected on
the Calton Hili, where his audience was reckoned.
at not less than 10,000, and the interest excited by
his eloquence is said to have been beyond all
precedent. On his return from the West, he
preached on the hill again to several audiences,.
and on the last of these occasions, when a collection,
was made for the charity workhouse, fully zo,oom
were present. Long years after, when speaking to a.
friend of the multitude whom he had addressed,
there, he said, pleasantly, ? Well do I remember
the spot ; but I understand that it has now been
converted into a den of thieves,? referring to the
gaol now built on the ground where his platform
stood.
The first great cba,nge in the aspect of the hill
was effected by the formation of the Regent Road,
which was cut through the old burying-ground, the
soil of which avenue was decently carted away,
covered with white palls, and full of remnants of
humanity, to the new Calton burying-ground on]
the southern slope ; and the second was the open](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p115.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 103")
... Hill.] THE BURGH OF CALTON. 103 r
beneath the Caltoun Hill, the .place where those
imaginary criminals, ...
Book 3 p. 103
(Score 0.53)
... Churqh. SIR HENRY WELLWOOD MONCRIEFF. I35
and gloomy vault ; ?a memorial alike of the demolished
fane and ...
Book 3 p. 135
(Score 0.53)
... Place 1 LORD ROBERTSON. I93
antiquarian taste consorted with the musical skill
ancl critical sagacity of ...
Book 4 p. 193
(Score 0.53)
... TO THE NAMES, ETC. 503
Stirling, Gilbert, Esq. , 263
Stirling, Major, 272, 273
Stocks, Johnnie, ...
Book 9 p. 694
(Score 0.53)
![45 2 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
lower churchyard, in 1844 ; the following notices of the Town Council Records, indicates the date and reason
of their disuse. An Act of Council, September 30th, 1618, ‘‘Discharges Oak Kircts to be made for burials of
the deceased persones within the Brough” Thia, however, must have met with very slight attention, the
ancient usages in reference to the burial of the dead being in all countries and states of society the most
diBcult to eradicate. Another Act of the Town Council, in February 1635, prohibits the Oak Kbts being
brought to the Greyfriars’ Churchyard, ‘‘ The-burial place in Greyfriars being scarce capable of the dead bodiea
occasioned through Wainscott Kists.” Even this failed in securing sufficient room for the dead, and an Act of
Town Council, dated 1st April 1636, provides for the augmentation of the areyfriars’ burial-ground.
XIX. ANCIENT LODGINGS.
A FEW additional notices of some value, regarding some of the ancient mansions referred to in the come of
the work, are introduced here, having been overlooked when preparing the Text, or only discovered when too
late to insert in their proper places.
The
following notice of it appears in the Diurnal of Occurrsnts, a very curious collection of contemporary records of
the sixteenth century, printed by the Bannatyne Club, the practical value of which is greatly abridged by the
want of an index :-“ Vpon the xiij day of Februar, the zeir of God foirsaid, Henrie lord Dernlk, eldest Bone to
Matho erle of Lennox, come to Edinburgh be post fra Ingland, and wes lugeit in my lord Seytouna lugeing
in the Cannongait besyid Edinburgh.’-(Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, p. 79.)
CARDINABLE ATONH’So usE.-From the following notices it will be wen that the ancient tenement which
stood till lately in the Cowgate, at the foot of Blackfriars’ Wynd, was the scene of the first festivities in
Edinburgh after the arrival of Queen Mary, and was, not long after, honoured by her own presence, with
the chief nobles of her court :-
U Vpoun the xix day of August lxj, Marie, quene of Scottis, our souerane ladie, e tin th e raid of Leith
at sex houris in the mornyng, accumpanyit onlie with tua gallionis ; and thair come with hir in cumpany
monsieur Domell, the grand pryour, monsieur marques [d’ElbeufJ the said quenes grace moder broder, togidder
with monsieur Danguill [d’hville], second sone to the constable of France, with certane vther nobill gentilmen
; and at ten houris the samen day, hir hienes landit vpoun the schoir of Leith, and remanit in Andro
Lambis hous be the space of ane hour, and thairefter wes convoyit vp to hir palice of Halyrudhoua
“Vpoun the xxiiij day of August, quhilk wes Sonday, the quenes grace causit say mes in hir hienes chappell
within hir palace of Halyrudhous, quhairat the lordis of the congegatioun wes grittumlie annoyit
. (6 Vpoun $he lust day of Aqwt lxj, the toun of Edinburgh maid thc banked to m&r DomeU, the grand
mow, marques, and monsieur Danguill, in am honourable maner, within the lugeing mrntynts pertenying to tha
cardinall.
“Vpoun the h t day of September, the said monsieur Domell depairtit, with the twa gallionis quhilk.
brocht the quenes grace hame to France, and his broder remanit in Scotland,
((Vpoun the secund day of September lxj, the quenes grace maid hir entrea in the burgh of Edinburgh on
tbis maner. Her hienes depairtit of Halyrudhous, and raid be the lang gait on the north syid of the said burgh,
vnto the tyme scho come to the castell, quheir wee ane xet maid to hir, at the quhilk scho, wcumpanijt with the
maist pairt of the nobilitie of Scotland except my lord duke and hia none, come in and raid vp the castell bank
to the caatell, and dynit thairin ; and quhen sho had dynit at tuelf houris, hir hienea come furth of the said
WINTOUNH OUSE.-The site of the ancient mansion of the Earls of Wintoun is described on page 303.](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_509.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 491")
... 2 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
lower churchyard, in 1844 ; the following notices of the Town Council Records, ...
Book 10 p. 491
(Score 0.53)
![The Cowgate.] THE CUNZIE NOOK. 267
dexter hand palmed, and in its palm an eye. In
the dexter canton, a saltire argent, under the imperial
crown, surmounted by a thistle j and in base
a castle argent, masoned sable, within a border,
charged with instruments used by the society. To
the surgeons. were added the apothecaries.
James IV., one of the greatest patrons of art and
science in his time, dabbled a little in surgery and
chemistry, and had an assistant, John the Leeche,
whom he brought from the Continent. Pitscottie
tells us that James was ?ane singular guid chirurgione,?
and in his daily expense book, singular
entries occur in 1491, of payments made to people
to let him bleed them and pull their teeth :-
?Item, to ane fallow, because the King pullit
furtht his twtht, xviii shillings.
?Item, to Kynnard, ye barbour, for tua teith
drawin furtht of his hed be the King, xvci sh.?
The barbers were frequently refractory, and
brought the surgeons into the Court of Session t e
adjust rights, real or imagined. But after the union
of the latter with the apothecaries, they gave up
the barber craft, and were formed into one corporation
by an Act of Council, on the 25th February,
1657, as already mentioned in the account of
the old Royal College of Surgeons.
The first admitted after the change, was Christopher
Irving, recorded as ?? ane free chmgone,?
without the usual words ?and barber,? after his
name. He was physician to James VII., and from
him the Irvings of Castle Irving, in .Ireland, are
descended.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE SOCIETY.
The Candlemaker Row--The ? Cunzie Nook?-Tbe of Charles 1.-The Candlemakers? Hall--The Afhk of Dr. Symons-The Society, IS+
Brown Square-Proposed Statue to George III., x~-Di&nguished Inhabitants-Si IsIay Campbell-Lard Glenlec-Haigof Beimerside
--Si John Lerlie-Miss Jeannie Elliot-Argyle Square-Origin of it-Dr. Hugh Bkit-The Sutties of that Ilk-Trades Maiden Hospital-
-Mint0 House and the Elliots-New Medical School-Baptist Church-Chambers Strect-Idustrial Museum of Sdence and Art-Its
Great Hall and adjoining Halls-Aim of the Architect-Contents and Models briefly glanced at-New Watt Institution and School of
ArtsPhrenoloEical Museum-New Free Tron Church-New Tiainiing College of the Church of Scotland-The Dental Hospita-The
.
Theatre ofvari.&s.
THE Candlemaker Row is simply the first portion
of the old way that led from the Grassmarket and
Cowgate-head, where Sir John Inglis resided in
1784, to the lands of Bnsto, and thence on to
Powburn ; and it was down this way that a portion
of the routed Flemings, with Guy of Namur at their
head, fled towards the Castle rock, after their
defeat on the Burghmuir in 1335.
In Charles I.?s time a close line of street with a
great open space behind occupied the whole of the
east side, from the Greyfriars Port to the Cowgatehead.
The west side was the boundary wall of the
churchyard, save at the foot, where two or three
houses appear in 1647, one of which, as the Cunzie
Nook, is no doubt that referred to by Wilson as
a curious little timber-fronted tenement, surmounted
with antique crow-steps ; an open gallery
projects in front, and rude little; shot-windows admit
the light to the decayed and gloomy chambers
therein.? This, we presume, to be the Cunzie Nook,
a place where the Mint had no doubt been estab
Cshed at some early period, possibly during some
of the strange proceedings in the Regency of Mary
of Guise, when the Lords of the Congregation
?past to Holyroodhous, and tuik and intromettit
With the ernis of the Cunzehous.?
On the west side, near the present entrance to
the churchyard of the Greyfriars, stands the hall of
the ancient Corporation of the Candlemakers, which
gave its name to the Row, with the arms of the
craft boldly cut over the doorway, on a large oblong
panel, and, beneath, their appropriate motto,
. Omnia man;jesfa Zuce.
Internally, the hall is subdivided into many residences,
smaller accommodation sufficing for the
fraternity in this age of gas, so that it exists little
more than in name. In 1847 the number of its
members amounted to only fhw, who met periodically
for various purposes, connected with the corporation
and its funds.
Edgar?s plan shows, in the eighteenth century, the
close row of houses that existed along the whole of
the west side, from the Bristo Port to the foot, and
nearly till Forrest Road was opened up in a linewith
the central Meadow Walk.
Humble though this locality may seem now, Sir
James Dunbar, Bart., of Dum, rented No. ZI in
1810, latterly a carting office. In those days the
street was a place ?of considerable bustle; the
Hawick dilligence started twice weekly from
Paterson?s Inn, a well-known hostel in its time,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p087.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 267")
... Cowgate.] THE CUNZIE NOOK. 267
dexter hand palmed, and in its palm an eye. In
the dexter canton, a saltire ...
Book 4 p. 267
(Score 0.53)
![THE CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 285
Young, a celebrated physician of the period, with others of wealth and influence, among
whom may be mentioned Miss Jean Ramsay, a daughter of the poet, who lived there till
a very advanced age, in the second house below the chapel.
A lofty stone tenement on the south side of the main street, to the east of Gillon’s
Close, was erected by Charles, fourth Earl of Traquair, and formed the residence of his
twin daughters, Lady Barbara and Lady Margaret Stewart. They both died there at a
very advanced age-Lady Margaret in 1791, and her sister in 1794. They must have been
born very early in the eighteenth century, as Dr Archibald Pitcairn, who died in 1713,
made them the subject of some elegant Latin verses. They were till lately remembered as
two kindly, but very precise old ladies, the amusement and main business of whose lives
consisted in dressing and nursing a family of little dolls-a recreation by no means
unusual among the venerable spinsters of former days. The date over the main doorway
of the building is 1700. A little farther to the eastward, and almost directly opposite the
head of New Street, is the Playhouse Close, within the narrow alley of which the stage
was established in 1747, on such a footing as was then deemed not only satisfactory but
highly creditable to the northern capital, where the drama had skulked about from place
to place ever since its denouncement by the early reformers, finding even the patrosage of
royalty, and the favour of the vice-regal Court of Holyrood, hardly sufficient to protect it
from ignominious expulsion.
The history of the Scottish drama is ohe of very fitful add stinted encouragement, and
of correspondingly meagre results. The first approach to regular dramatic composition,
after the period when religious mysteries and moralities were enacted under the sanction
of the Church,’ was Sir David Lindsay’s ‘‘ Pksant Satyre of the Three Estaitis ; ” and
this so effectually aided the work of the Reformers, under whose care the stage was
immediately placed, that it may be styled the first and last effort of dramatic genius in
Scotland, almost to our own day. It was “ playit besyde Edinburgh in 1544, in presence
of the Quene Regent,” as is mentioned by Henry Charteris, the bookseller, who sat
patiently for nine hours on the bank at Greenside to witness the play. It so far surpasses
any effort of contemporary English dramatists, that it renders the barrenness of the Scottish
muse in this department afterwards the more apparent. Birrell notes on the 17th
January 1568 :-“ A play made by Robert Semple, and played before the Regent [Murray]
and divers uthers of the nobilitie.” This has been afinied, though seemingly on very
imperfect evidence, to have been Philotus, a comedy printed at Edinburgh by Robert
Charteris in 1603, the author of which is not named. It exhibits, both in plan and
execution, a much nearer approach to the modern drama than Sir David Lindsay’s Satire,
and is altogether a work of great merit. In the same year there issued from the Edinburgh
press, Darius, a tragedy written by ‘‘ that most excellent spirit and earliest gem of
l A few extracts from the Treasurers’ accounts will afford a hint of the dawn of theatrical amusements at the Scottish
court in the reign of James IF., January 1, 1503 :-“Item, ye samyn nycht to ye gyearis that playit to ye King,
41. 4s. Feb. 18.-To ye
QUENEO F YE CANONGAIT14,s .” Thin character repeatedly occurs in the accounts, and seems to have been B favourite
masker. “1504, Jan. 1.-Tu Hog the tale-tellar, 14s. Jan. 3.-Yat samyn day to Thos. Boauell and Pate Sinclair to
by yaim daunsing gere, 28s. Yat samyne nycht to ye
GYSARISO F YE TOUNE OB EDINBUBG8E f,r . cr. [French crowns.] Junel0.-Payit to Jamea Dog that halaid doune for
girse one Corpus Christi day, at the play to the Kingis and Quenis chamerig 3s. 4d.” bcc.
Feb. &-To ye mene that brocht in ye Morice Dance, and to ye menstralis in Strevelin, 42s.
Pat day to Yaister Johne to by beltis for ye Yorise Danae, 28s.](images/thumbs/memorials/memorials_v1_Page_327.gif "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Page 309")
... CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 285
Young, a celebrated physician of the period, with others of wealth and ...
Book 10 p. 309
(Score 0.53)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Infirmary Street.
In that year a fishing company was dissolved,
and the partners were ...
Book 4 p. 298
(Score 0.53)
... Heriot?s Ho.pital.1 THE EDINBURGH VOLUNTEERS.
By the Act of Parliament referred to, the governors
were ...
Book 4 p. 371
(Score 0.53)
... AND NEW EDINBURGH.
- -- 314
has been erected by the duke near it, at the foot of
the Granton ...
Book 6 p. 314
(Score 0.53)
Go back to Edinburgh Bookshelf
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![Holyrood.] SUCCESSION. OF ABBOTS. 47
between Randolph the famous? Earl of Moray and
Sir William Oliphant, in connection with the forfeited
estate of William of Monte Alto. Another
species of Parliament was held at Holyrood on
the 10th of February, in the year 1333-4, when
Edward 111. received the enforced homage of his
creature Baliol.
XVI. JOHN II., abbot, appears as a witness to
three charters in 1338, granted to William of
Livingston, William of Creighton, and Henry of
Brade (Braid?).
XVII. BARTHOLOMEW, abbot in 1342.
XVIII. THOMAS, abbot, witnessed a charter to
William Douglas of that ilk, Sir James of Sandilands,
and the Lady Elenora Bruce, relict of Alexander
Earl of Carrick, nephew of Robert I., of the
lands of the West Calder. On the 8th of May,
1366, a council was held at Holyrood, at which the
Scottish nobles treated with ridicule and contempt
the pretensions of the kings of England, and sanctioned
an assessment for the ransom of David II.,
taken prisoner at the battle of Durham. That
monarch was buried before the high altar in 1371,
and Edward 111. granted a safe conduct to certain
persons proceeding to Flanders to provide for the
tomb in which he was placed.
XIX. JOHN III., abbot on the 11th of January,
~372. During his term of office, John of Gaunt
Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III., was
hospitably entertained at Holyrood, when compelled
to take flight from his enemies in England.
XX. DAVID, abbot on the 18th of January, in
the thirteenth year of Robert 11. The abbey was
burned by the armyof Richard 11. whose army
encamped at Restalrig; but it was soon after
repaired. David is mentioned in a charter dated
at Perth, 1384-5.
XXI. JOHN (formerly Dean of Leith) was abbot
on the 8th of May, 1386. His name occurs in
several charters and other documents, and for the
last time in the indenture or lease of the Canonmills
to the city of Edinburgh, 12th September,
1423. In his time Henry IV. spared the monastery
in gratitude for the kindness of the monks to
his exiled father John of Gaunt.
XXII. PATRICK, abbot 5th September, 1435.
In his term of office James II., who had been born
in the abbey, was crowned there in his sixth year,
on the 25th March, 1436-7; and anothet high
ceremony was performed in the same church when
Mary of Gueldres was crowned -as Queen Consort
in July, 1449. In the preceding year, John Bishop
of Galloway elect became an inmate of the abbey,
and was buried in the cloisters.
XXIII. JAMES, abbot 26th April, 14~0.
XXIV. ARCHIBALD CRAWFORD, abbot in 1457.
He was son of Sir William? Crawford of Haining,
and had previously been Prior of Holytood. In
1450 he was one of the commissioners who treated
with the English at Coventry concerning a truce ;
and again in 1474, concerning a marriage between
James Duke of Rothesay and the Princess Cecile,
second daughter of Edward IV. of England. He
was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland in 1480.
He died in 1483. On the abbey church (according
to Crawford) his arms were carved niore than
thirty times. ?He added the buttresses on the
walls of the north and south aisles, and probably
built the rich doorway which opens into the north
aisle.? Many finely executed coats armorial are
found over the niches, among them Abbot Crawford?s
frequently- fesse ermine, with a star of five
points, in chief, surmounted by an abbot?s mitre
resting on a pastoral staff.
XXV. ROBERT BELLENDEN, abbot in 1486,
when commissioner concerning a truce with
England. He was still abbot in 1498, and his
virtues are celebrated by his namesake, the archdean
of Moray, canon of ROSS, and translator of
Boece, who says ?? he left the abbey, and died ane
Chartour-monk.? In 1507 the Papal legate presented
James IV., in the name of Pope Julius II.,
in the church, amid a brilliant crowd of nobles,
with a purple crown adorned by golden lilies, and
a sword of state studded with gems, which is still
preserved in the Castle of Edinburgh. He also
brought a bull, bestowing upon James the title of
Defender of the Faith. Abbot Bellenden, in 1493,
founded a chapel in North Leith, dedicated to St.
Ninian, latterly degraded into a victual granary
The causes moving the abbot to build this chapei,
independent of the spiritual wants of the people,
were manifold, as set forth in the charter of
erection. The bridge connecting North and South
Leith, over which he levied toll, was erected at the
same time.
XXVI. GEORGE CRICHTOUN, abbot in 1515,
and Lord Privy Seal, was promoted to the see of
Uunkeld in 1528. As we have recorded elsewhere,
he was the founder of the Hospital of St. Thomas,
near the Water Gate. An interesting relic of his
abbacy exists at present in England.
About the year 1750, when a grave was being
dug in the chancel of St Stephen?s church, St.
Albans, in Hertfordshire, there was found buried
in the soil an ancient lectern bearing his name, and
which is supposed to have been concealed there at
some time during the Civil Wars. It is of cast
brass, and handsonie in design, consisting of an eagle
with expanded wings, supported by a shaft deco-
The piers still remain.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p059.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 47")
