... Beorge, 3d Lord, 416, 417
Qeorge, 6th Lord, 48
Shakespeare, 286
Sharpe, Archbishop, 101,192, ...
Book 10 p. 509
(Score 0.36)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Gilea Street.
Russel never failed to meet the requirements of
the day ; and for ...
Book 2 p. 286
(Score 0.36)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [University.
Among the first bequests we may mention that
of 8,000 nierks, or the ...
Book 5 p. 26
(Score 0.36)
![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 0.36)
... OLD -AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Calton Hill.
It was finished in 1832, and is a beautiful restoration,
with some ...
Book 3 p. 110
(Score 0.36)
... COBOURG STREET. 255
ing is the inscription on the pedestal-? This memorial
of David Johnston, D.D., who ...
Book 6 p. 255
(Score 0.36)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Burghmuir.
hollows are still discernible, and in them thc
Scots Foot Guards were ...
Book 5 p. 30
(Score 0.36)
![Leith Wynd.] THE TRINITY HOSPITAL. 307
was abandoned. At length, as stated, Robert
Pont, in. 1585, resigned all his rights and interests
in the establishment, for the sum of 300 merks
down, and an annuity of A160 Scots.
In 1587 an Act was passed revoking all grants
made during the king?s minority, of hospitals,
Maiso?ss Dieu, and ? lands or rentis appertaining
thereto,? the object of which was, that they might
be applied to this original purpose-the sustentation
of the poor, and not to the aggrandisement of
mere individuals ; and in this Act it was specially
ordained, that the rents of the Trinity College,
? quhilk is now decayit,? be .assigned to ? the new
hospital1 erectit be the Provest, Baillies, and
Counsall;? and thus it became for ever a corporation
charity, for which a suitable edifice was found
by simply repairing the ruinous buildings, occupied
of old by the Provost and prebends, south of the
church, and on the west side of the wynd.
It was a fine specimen of the architecture and
monastic accommodation of the age in which it
was erected. It was two storeys high, and formed
two sides of a square, and though far from ornamental,
its air of extreme antiquity, the smallness
and depth of its windows, its silent, melancholy,
and deserted aspect, in the very heart of a crowded
city, and latterly amid the uproar and bustle of the
fast-encroaching railway, seldom failed to strike the
passer with a mysterious interest.
Along the interior of the upper storey of the
longer side there was a gallery, about half the
width of the house, lighted from the west, which
served alike as a library (consisting chiefly of
quaint old books of dry divinity), a promenade, and
grand corridor, winged with a range of little rooms,
some whilom the prebends? cells, each of which had
a bed, table, and chair, for a single occupant The
other parts of the building were more modem
sitting rooms, the erection of the sixteenth century,
when it became destined to support decayed
burgesses of Edinburgh, their wives and unmarried
children, above fifty years of age. ?Five men
and two women were first admitted into it,? says
h o t , ? and, the number gradually increasing,
amounted AD. 1700 to fifty-four persons. It was
found, however, that the funds of the hospital
could not then support so many, and the number
of persons maintained in it,has frequently varied.
At present (?779) there are within the hospital
forty men and women, and, there are besides twentysix
out-pensioners. The latter have E 6 a year,
the former are maintained in a very comfortable
manner. Each person has a convenient room.
The men are each allowed a hat, a pair of breeches,
a pair of shoes, a pair of stackings, two shirts, and
two neckcloths, yearly; and every other year a
coat?and waistcoat The women have yearly, a
pair of shoes, pair of stockings, two shifts; and
every other year a gown and petticoat. For buying
petty necessaries the men are allowed 6s. Sd.,
the women 6s. 6d., yearly. Of food, each person
has a daily allowance of twelve ounces of household
bread; and of ale, the men a Scots pint each,
the women two-thirds of a pint. For breakfast
they have oatmeal-porridge, and for dinner, four
days in the week, broth and boiled meat, two days
roast meat, and each Monday, in lieu of flesh, the
men are allowed zd., the women rid. apiece.?
Such was this old charity towards the close of
the eighteenth century. The inmates were of a
class above the common, and whom a poor-house
life would have degraded, yet quarrels, even riots,
among them were 80 frequent, that the attention of
the governors had more than once to be called
to the subject, though they met only at meals
and evening worship. Yet, occasionally, some
belonged to the better classes of society. Lord
Cockburn, writing in 1840, says:-?One of the
present female pensioners is ninety-six. She was
sitting beside her own fire. The chaplain shook her
kindly by the hand, and asked her how she was.
? Very weel-just in my creeping ordinary.? There
is one Catholic here, a merry little woman, obviously
with some gentle blood in her veins, and delighted
to allude to it. This book she got from Sir John
Something ; her great friend had been Lady something
Cunningham ; and her spinet was the oldest
that had ever been made ; to convince me of which
she opened it, and pointed exultingly to the year
I 776. Neither she nor the ninety-six-year-old
was in an ark, but in a small room. On overhearing
my name, she said she was once at Miss Brandon?s
boarding-school, in Bristo Street, with a Miss
Matilda Cockburn, ? a pretty little girl.? I told her
that I remembered that school quite well, and that
the little girl was my sister ; and then I added as a
joke, that all the girls at that school were said
to have been pretty, and all light-headed, and given
to flirtation ; the tumult revived in the vestal?s veins.
Delighted with the imputation, she rubbed her
hands together, and giggled till she wept.? The
octogenarian he refers to was a Miss Gibb, and
the last nearly of the old original inmates.
By 1850 the revenues amounted to about
#,ooo per annum.
At its demolition, in 1845, forty-two persons
were maintained within the hospital, who then
received pensions of A26 each. Those elected
since that period receive L20 yearly each; one
hundred and twenty others have an annual allowance](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p127.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 307")
... Wynd.] THE TRINITY HOSPITAL. 307
was abandoned. At length, as stated, Robert
Pont, in. 1585, resigned all ...
Book 2 p. 307
(Score 0.36)
![Newhaven. ] HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 299
Newhaven was deemed a place of much more
importance in those days,than it has been in subsequent
times.
Thus, in 1554, the works then occupied the
attention of the Provost and Council repeatedly.
In February that year A500 was given for timber
to repair the harbour, to be taken with a portion
of the tax laid on the town for building forts upon
the Borders ; and in 1555 we read of timber again
for Newhaven, brought there by Robert Quintin,
but which was sold by the advice of Sir William
Macdowall, master of the works. (?Burgh Records??)
In the Burgh Account, under date 1554-5, we
find some references to the locality, thus t
?Item, the vj day of July, 1555, for cords to
bind and hang the four Inglismen at Leyth and
Newhaven, iijs.
? Item, geven to Gorge Tod, Adam Purves, and
ane servand, to mak ane gibbet at Newhaven, in
haist and evil wedder (weather), 4s.
? Item, for garroun and plansheour naillis, xxd.
? Item, for drink to them at Newhaven, vj4
?Item, to twa workmen to beir the wrychtis
lomis to the Newhevin and up again, and to beir
the work and set up the gibbet, xxd.?
In the same year extensive works seem to have
been in operation, as, by the Burgh Accounts,
they appear to have extended from August to
November, under Robert Quintin, master of the
works. The entries for masons? wages, timber
work, wrights? wages, ? on Saiterday at evin to thair
supperis,? are given in regular order. John Arduthy
in Leith seems to have contracted for the ? standarts
to the foir face of the Newhevin;? and for
the crane there, eighteen fathoms of ?Danskin tow?
(rope), were purchased fram Peter Turnett?s wife,
at tenpence the fathom.
John Ahannay and Geoge Bennet did the smithwork
at the crane, bulwarks, and worklooms. The
works at Newhaven, commenced in August, 1555,
under John Preston, as City Treasurer, were continued
till the middle of December eventually, under
Sir John Wilson, ?master of work at the Newhevin,?
when they were suspended during winter and resumed
in the spring of 1556 ; and ? drink silver,?
to all the various trades engaged, figures amply
among the items. (? Burgh Accounts.?)
In 1573 the Links of Newhaven were let by the
city, at an annual rent of thirty merks per annum
as grazing ground, thus showing that they must
then have been about the extent of those at Leith.
In 1595 they only produced six merks, and from
this rapid fall Maitland supposes that the sea had
made extensive encroachments on the ground ; and
as they are now nearly swept away, save a space
500 yards by 250, at the foot of the Whale Brae,
we may presume that his conjecture was a correct
one.
Kincaid states that at one period Newhaven had
Links both to the east and west of it. Even
the road that must have bordered the east Links
was swept away, and for years a perilous hole,
known as the ?? Man-trap,? remained in the placea
hole in which, till recently, many a limb was
fractured and many a life lost.
In one of the oldest houses in Newhaven, nearly
opposite the burial-ground, there is a large sculp
tured pediment of remarkable appearance. It is
surmounted by a thistle, with the motto Nemo me
impune Zacessit, on ,a scroll, and the date 1588, a
three-masted ship, with the Scottish ensign at each
truck, pierced for sixteen guns, and below the
motto, in Roman letters,
IN THE NUM OF GOD.
Below this again is a deeply-cut square panel,
decorated with a pair of globes, a quadrant, cross,
staff, and anchor; and beneath these part of the
motto ? Yirtzte sydera ? may, upon very close examination,
still be deciphered; but the history of
the stone, or of the house to which it belonged, is
unknown.
Some hollows near the p?ace were known as the
Fairy Holes, and they are mentioned in the indictment
of Eufame McCulzane for witchcraft, who is
stated to have attended a convention of witches
there in 1591, and also at others called the ?Brume
Hoillis,? where she and many other witches, with
the devil in company, put to sea in riddles.
In 1630 and 1631 we find from ?Dune?s Decisions,?
James Drummond, tacksman to the Lord
Holyroodhouse, of the Tiend Fishes of Newhaven,
(? pursuing spulzie ,? against the fishers there.
The year 1630 was the first year of the tack, and
the fishermen alleged that they had been in use to
pay a particular duty, that was condescended an,
? of all years preceding this year now acclaimed.?
The Lords found there was no necessity to grant
an inhibition, and reserved to themselves the modification
of the duty or quantity to be paid.
Newhaven gave the title of Viscount to an
English family who never had any connection with
the place, when in 1681 Charles 11. raised to the
peerage of Scotland Charles Cheyne, of Cogenho,
in Middlesex (dcscended from an ancient family in
Buckinghamshire), with the titles of ?? Lord Cheyne
and Viscount Newhaven, near Leith, in the county
of Midlothian,? by patent dated at Windsor. His
son, the second Viscount Newhaven, who was
appointed Lord Lieutenant of Bucks by Queen](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p118.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 299")
... ] HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 299
Newhaven was deemed a place of much more
importance in those days,than ...
Book 6 p. 299
(Score 0.36)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Restalrig.
did not appear, sentence of outlawry was passed
upon him. Meanwhile the ...
Book 5 p. 142
(Score 0.36)
... -- Edinburgh Castle. THE EARL OF ARGYLE
which he received the sentence of death. His
guards in the Castle were ...
Book 1 p. 59
(Score 0.35)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Walk.
belonged to different vehicles. It is standing opposite
the Tron Kirk. ...
Book 5 p. 154
(Score 0.35)
![Bomington] THE LAIRDS OF PILRIG. 91
His History of the Church and State of Scotland,?
though coloured by High Church prejudices,
is deemed a useful narration and very candid record
of the most controverted part of our national
annals, while the State documents used in its compilation
have proved of the greatest value to every
subsequent writer on the same subject. Very
curious is the list of subscribers, as being, says
Chambers, a complete muster-roll of the whole
Jacobite nobility and gentry of the period, including
among others the famous Rob Roy, the outlaw !
The bishop performed the marriage ceremony of
that ill-starred pair, Sir George Stewart of Grandtully
and Lady Jane Douglas, on the 4th of August, I 746.
In I 7 5 5 he published his well-known ? Catalogue
of Scottish Bishops,? a mine of valuable knowledge
to future writers.
The latter years of his useful and blameless life,
during which he was in frequent correspondence
with the gallant Marshal Keith, were all spent at
the secluded villa of Bonnyhaugh, which belonged
to himself. There he died on the 27th of January,
1757, in his seventy-sixth year, and was borne,
amid the tears of the Episcopai communion, to his
last home in the Canongate churchyard. There he
lies, a few feet from the western wall, where a plain
stone bearing his name was only erected recently.
In 1766 Alexander Le Grand was entailed in the
lands and estates of Bonnington.
In 1796 the bridge of Bonnington, which was of
timber, having been swept away by a flood, a
boat was substituted till 1798, when another wooden
bridge was erected at the expense of A30.
Here in Breadalbane Street, northward of some
steam mills and iron-works, stands the Bonnington
Sugar-refining Company?s premises, formed by a few
merchants of Edinburgh andLeith about 1865, where
they carry on an extensive and thriving business.
The property and manor house of Stewartfield
in this quarter, is westward of Bonnington, a square
edifice with one enormous chimney rising through a
pavilion-shaped roof. We have referred to the entail
of Alexander Le Grand, of Bonnington, in 1766.
The Scots Magazine for 1770 records an alliance
between the two proprietors here thus :-?At Edinburgh,
Richard Le Grand, Esq., of Bonnington
(son of the preceding?), to Miss May Stewart,
daughter of James Stewart of Stewartfield, Esq.?
On the north side of the Bonnington Road, and
not far from Bonnington House, stands that of
Pilrig, an old rough-cast and gable-ended mansion
among aged trees, that no doubt occupies the site
of a much older edifice, probably a fortalice.
In 1584 Henry Nisbett, burgess of Edinburgh,
became caution before the Lords of the Privy
Council, for Patrick Monypenny of Pilrig, John
Kincaid of Warriston, Clement Kincaid of the
Coates, Stephen Kincaid, John Matheson, and
James Crawford, feuars of a part of the Barony
of Broughton, that they shall pay to Adam Bishop
of Orkney, commendator of Holyrood House,
?what they ow-e him for his relief of the last
taxation of _f;zo,ooo, over and above the sum of
?15, already consigned in the hands of the col-
Lector of the said collection.?
In 1601 we find the same Laird of Pilrig engaged
in a brawl, ?forming a specimen of the
second class of outrages.? He (Patrick Monypenny)
stated to the Lords of Council that he had
a wish to let a part of his lands of Pilrig, called the
Round Haugh, to Harry Robertson and Andrew
Alis, for his own utility and profit. But on a certain
day, not satisfied, David UuA; a doughty indweller in
Leith, came to these per?sons, and uttering ferocious
menaces against them in the event of their occupying
these lands, effectually prevented them from
doing so.
Duff next, accompanied by two men named
Matheson, on the 2nd of March, 1601, attacked
the servants of the Laird of Pilrig, as they were
at labour on the lands in question, with similar
speeches, threatening them with death if they persisted
in working there; and in the night they,
or other persons instigated by them, had come
and broken their plough, and cast it into the
Water of Leith. ?John Matheson,? continues the
indictment, ?? after breaking the complenar?s plew,
came to John Porteous?s house, and bade him gang
now betwix the Flew stilts and see how she wald go
till the morning:? adding that he would have his
head broken if he ever divulged who had broken
the plough,
The furious Duff, not contentwith all this,trampled
and destroyed the tilled land. In this case the
accused were dismissed from the bar, but only, it
would appear, through hard swearing in their own
cause.
There died at Pilrig, according to the Scots
Magazine for 1767, Margaret, daughter of the late
Sir Johnstone Elphinstone of Logie, in the month of
January ; and in the subsequent June, Lady Elphinstone,
his widow. The Elphinstones of Logie were
baronets of 1701.
These ladies were probably visitors, as the then
proprietor and occupant of the mansion was James
Balfour of Pilng, who was born in 1703, and became
a member of the Faculty of Advocates on
the 14th of November, 1730, Three years later
on the death of Mr. Bayne, Professor of Scottish
Law in the University of Edinburgh, he and Mr.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p102.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 91")
... THE LAIRDS OF PILRIG. 91
His History of the Church and State of Scotland,?
though coloured by High ...
Book 5 p. 91
(Score 0.35)
... Heriot?s Ho.pital.1 THE EDINBURGH VOLUNTEERS.
By the Act of Parliament referred to, the governors
were ...
Book 4 p. 371
(Score 0.35)
![THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. 95 The Mound.]
Much of all this was altered when the bank was
enlarged, restored, and most effectively re-decorated
by David Bryce, R.S.A., in 1868-70. It now
presents a lofty, broad, and arch-based rear front of
colossal proportions to Princes Street, from whence,
and every other poiiit of view, it forms a conspicuous
mass, standing boldly from among the
many others that form the varied outline of the
Old Town, and consists of the great old centre with
new wings, surmounted by a fine dome, crowned
by a gilded figure of Fame, seven feet high. In
length the facade measures 175 feet; and 112 in
height from the pavement in Bank Street to the
summit, and is embellished all round with much
force and variety, in details of a Grecian style.
The height of the campanile towers is ninety feet.
The bank has above seventy branches ; the subscribed
capital in 1878 was A1,875,000 ; the paidup
capital LI,Z~O,OOO. There are a governor (the
Earl of Stair, K.T.), a deputy, twelve ordinary
and twelve extra-ordinary directors.
The Bank of Scotland issues drafts on other
places in Scotland besides those in which it has
branches, and also on the chief towns in England
and Ireland, and it has correspondents throughout
the whole continent of Europe, as well as in
British America, the States, India, China, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere-a ramification
of business beyond the wildest dreams oi
John Holland and the original projectors of the
establishment in the old Bank Close in 1695.
Concerning the Earthen Mound, the late Alex.
ander Trotter of Dreghorn had a scheme foi
joining the Qld Town to the New, and yet avoiding
Bank Street, by sinking the upper end of the
mound to the leve! of Princes Street, and carrying
the Bank Street end of it eastward along the north
of the Bank of Scotland, in the form of a handsomc
terrace, and thence south into the High Street b)
an opening right upon St. Giles?s Church. Thf
next project was one by the late Sir Thomas Dick
Lauder. He also proposed to bring down thc
south end of the mound ?to the level of Prince;
Street, and then to cut a Roman arch through thc
Lawnmarket and under the houses, so as to pas!
on a level to George Square. This,? say!
Cockburn, ?was both practical and easy, but i
was not expounded till too late.??
Not far from the Bank of Scotland, in I(
North Bank Street, ensconced among the might!
mass of buildings that overlook the mound, arc
the offices of the National Security Savings Ban1
of.Edinburgh, established under statute in 1836, an(
certified in terms of the Act 26 and 27 Victoria
cap. 87, managed by a chairman and cominittel
I
if management, the Bank of Scotland being
reasurer.
Of this most useful institution for the benefit of
,he thrifty poorer classes, suffice it to say, as a
ample of its working, that on striking the yearly
iccounts on the 20th of November, 1880, ?the
balance due to depositors was on that date
&r,305,27g 14s. 7d., and that the assets at the
same date were x1,3og,3g2 Ss., invested with the
Commissioners for the Reduction of the National
Debt, and A3,1o4 3s. gd., at the credit of the
3ank?s account in the Bank of Scotland, making
the total assets L1,312,496 11s. gd., which, after
ieductionof the above sum of L1,305,279 14s. 7d.,
leaves a clear surplus of A7916 17s. zd. at the
:redit of the trustees.?
The managers are, ex oficio, the Lord Provost,
the Lord Advocate, the senior Bailie of the city,
:he Members of Parliament for the city, county,
md Leith, the Provost of Leith, the Solicitor-
General, the Convener of the Trades, the Lord
Dean of Guild, and the Master of the Merchant
Company.
In the sanie block of buildings are the offices of
the Free Church of Scotland, occupying the site of
the demolished half of James?s Court. They were
erected in 1851-61, and are in a somewhat
Rorid variety of the Scottish baronial style, from
designs by the late David Cousin.
In striking contrast to the terraced beauty of the
New Town, the south side of the vale of the old
loch, from the North Bridge to the esplanade of
the Castle, is overhung by the dark and lofty gables
and abutments of those towering edifices which
terminate the northern alleys of the High Street,
and the general grouping of which presents an
aspect of equal romance and sublimity. From
amid these sombre masses, standing out in the
white purity of new freestone, are the towers and
facade of the Free Church College and Assembly
Hall, at the head of the Mound.
Into the history of the crises which called
these edifices into existence we need not enter
here, but true it is, as Macaulay says, that for the
sake of religious opinion the Scots have made
sacrifices for which there is no parallel in the
annals of England; and when, at the Disruption,
so many clergymen of the Scottish Church cast
their bread upon the waters, in that spirit of
independence and self-reliance so characteristic of
the race, they could scarcely have foreseen the
great success of their movement.
This new college was the first of those instituted
in connection with the Free Church. The idea
was origipally entertained of making provision for](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p107.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 95")
... FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. 95 The Mound.]
Much of all this was altered when the bank was
enlarged, restored, and ...
Book 3 p. 95
(Score 0.35)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Convivialia
party by appointment, especially in winter, after
evening closed in, and ...
Book 5 p. 126
(Score 0.35)
![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 0.35)
![Lauriston.] JOHN LAW OF LAURISTON. 111
tisement announces, ? that there was this day
lodged in the High Council House, an old silver
snuff-box, which was found upon the highway leading
from Muttonhole to Cramond Bridge in the
month of July last. Whoever can prove the property
will get the box,.upon paying the expense incurred;
and that if this is not done betwixt this
and the roth of November next, the same will be
sold for payment thereof.? .
In the time of King David 11. a charter was
given t9 John Tennand of the lands of Lauriston,
with forty creels of peats in Cramond, in the county
of Edinburgh, paying thirty-three shillings and fourpence
to the Crown, and the same sum sterling to
the Bishop of Dunkeld.
The present Castle of Lauriston-which consisted,
before it was embellished by the late Lord Rutherford,
of a simple square three-storeyed tower, with
two corbelled turrets, a remarkably large chimney,
and some gableted windows-was built by Sir
Archibald Kapier of Merchiston and Edenbellie,
father of the philosopher, who, some years before
his death, obtained a charter of the lands and
meadow, called the King?s Meadow, 1?587-8 and of
half the lands of ?& Lauranstoun,? 16th November,
1593.
On two of the windows there yet remain his
initials, S. A N., and those of his wife, D. E. M.,
Dame Elizabeth Mowbray, daughter of Mowbray
of Banibougle, now called Dalmeny Park.
Tie tower gave the title of Lord Launston to
their son, Sir Alexander Napier, who became a
Lord of Session in 1626.
Towards the close of the same century the tower
and estate became the property of Law, a wealthy
gddsmith of Edinburgh, descended from the Laws
of Lithrie, in Fifeshire ; and in the tower, it is said,
his son John, the great financier, was born in April,
1671. There, too, the sister of the latter, Agnes,
was married in 1685 to John Hamilton, Writer to
the Signet in Edinburgh, where she died in 1750.
On his father?s death Law succeeded to Lauriston,
but as he had been bred to no profession, and
exhibited chiefly a great aptitude for calculation,
he took to gambling. This led him into extravagances.
He became deeply involved, but his
mother paid his debts and obtained possession of
the estate, which she immediately entailed. Tall,
handsome, and addicted to gallantry, he became
familiarly known as Beau Law in London, where
he slew a young man named Wilson in a duel, and
was found guilty of murder, but was pardoned by
the Crown. An appeal being made against this
pardon, he escaped from the King?s Bench, reached
France, and through Holland returned to Scotland
(Robertson?s Index.)
in 1700, and in the following year published at
Glasgow his ? Proposals and Reasons for Constituting
a Council of Trade in Scotland.?
He now went to France, where he obtained an
introduction to the Duke of Orleans, and offered
his banking scheme to the hfinister of Finance,
who deemed it so dangerous that he served him
with a police notice to quit Paris in twenty-four
hours. Visiting Italy, he was in the same summary
manner banished from Venice and Genoa as a daring
adventurer. His success at play was always
great; thus, when he returned to Pans during the
Regency of Orleans, he was in the possession of
&IOO,OOO sterling.
On securing the patronage of the Regent, he received
letters patent which, on the 2nd March, I 7 16,
established his bank, with a capital of 1,200 shares
of 500 livres each, which soon bore a premium.
To this bank was annexed the famous Mississippi
scheme, which was invested with the full sovereignty
of Louisiana for planting co1onie.s and extending
commerce-the grandest and most comprehensive
scheme ever conceived-and rumour went that gold
mines had been discovered of fabulous and mysterious
value.
The sanguine anticipations seemed to be realised,
and for a time prosperity and wealth began to pre
vail in France, where John Law was regarded as its
good genius and deliverer from poverty.
The house of Law in the Rue Quinquempoix, in
Pans, was beset day and night by applicants, who
blocked up the streets-peers, prelates, citizens,
and artisans, even ladies of rank, all flocked to that
temple of Plutus, till he was compelled to transfer
his residence to the Place VendBme. Here again
the prince of stockjobbers found himself overwhelmed
by fresh multitudes clamouring for allotments,
and having to shift his quarters once more,
he purchased from the Prince de Carignan, at an
enormous price, the HBtel de Soissons, in the
spacious gardens of which he held his levees.
It is related of him, that when in the zenith of his
fame and wealth he was visited by John the ?great
Euke of Argyle,? the latter found him busy writing.
The duke never doubted but that the financier
was engaged on some matter of the highest importance,
as crowds of the first people of France were
waiting impatiently an audience in the suites of
ante-rooms, and the duke had to wait too, until &It.
Law had finished his letter, which was merely one
to his gardener at Lauriston regarding the planting
of cabbages at a particular spot !
In 1720 he was made Comptroller-General ot
the Finances, but the crash came at last. The
amount of notes issued by Law?s bank more
?](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p122.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 111")
... JOHN LAW OF LAURISTON. 111
tisement announces, ? that there was this day
lodged in the High Council ...
Book 5 p. 111
(Score 0.35)
... Seat.1 ST. ANTHONY?S CHAPEL. 319
farmers, who are maintained in it for six years;
?whom failing, the ...
Book 4 p. 319
(Score 0.35)
![The Water of Leith.] THE LAUDERS. 83
massive little mansion of Groat Hall, with a thatched
roof, whilom the property of Sir John Smith, Provost
of the city in 1643, whose daughter figured
as the heroine of the strange story connected with
the legend of the Morocco Land in the Canongate,
and whose sister (Giles Smith) was wife of Sir
William Gray of Pittendrum.
St. Cuthbert?s Poorhouse, a great quadrangular
edifice, stands in the eastern vicinity of Craigleith
Quarry. It was built in 1866-7, at a cost of
jG40,000, and has amenities of situation and
elegance of structure very rarely associated with
a residence for the poor.
Eastward of Stockbridge, and almost forming an
integral part of it, lies the now nearly absorbed and
half extinct, but ancient, village of Silvermills, a secluded
hamlet once, clustering by the ancient milllade,
and which of old lay within the Earony of
Broughton. It was chiefly occupied by tanners,
whose branch of trade is still carried on there by
the lade, which runs under Clarence Street: through
the village, and passes on to Canonmills. Some of
the houses still show designs of thistles and roses
on gablets, With the crowsteps of the sixteenth
century.
A little to the west of St. Stephen?s Church, a
narrow lane leads downward to the village, passing
through what was apparently the main street, and
emerges at Henderson Row, so called from the
Lord Provost of that name. According to
Chambers, a walk on a summer day from the old
city to the village, a hundred years ago, was considered
a very delightful one, and much ?adopted
by idlers, the roads being then through corn-fields
and pleasant nursery-grounds.
No notice, says Chambers, has ever been taken
of Silvermills in any of the books regarding Edicburgh,
nor has any attempt ever been made to
account for its somewhat piquant name. ?I
shall endeavour to do so,? he adds. ?In 1607
silver was found in considerable abundance at
Hilderstone, in Linlithgowshire, on the property of
the gentleman who figures as Tarn 0? the Cowgate.
Thirty-eight barrels of ore were sent to the mint in
the Tower of London to be tried, and were found
to give twenty-four ounces of silver for every
hundredweight. Expert persons were placed upon
the mine, and mills were erected upon the Water
of Leith for the melting and fining the ore. The
sagacious owner gave the mine the name of Go8s
BZessing. By-and-bye the king heard of it, and,
thinking it improper that any such fountain of
wealth should belong to a private person, purchased
? God?s Blessing? for L~,OOO, that it might
be worked upon a larger scale for the benefit of
the public But somehow, from the time it left
the hands of the original owner, ? God?s Blessing?
ceased to be anything like so fertile as it had been,
and in time the king withdrew from the enterprise,
a great loser. The Silvermills I conceive to have
been a part of the abandoned plant.?
This derivation seems extremely probable, but
Wilson thinks the name may have originated in
some of the alchemical projects of James IV., or
his son, James V.
city,? says the Edinburgh Week& Magazine for
January, 1774, ?we are informed of a very singular
accident. On the nights of the zznd, 23rd, and
24th inst., the Canonmills dam, by reason of the
intenseness of the frost, was so gorged with ice and
snow, that at last the water, finding no vent, stagnated
to such a degree that it overfIowed the
lower floors of the houses in Silvermills, which
obliged many of the inhabitants to remove to the
risi,ng grounds adjacent. One family in particular,
not perceiving their danger till they observed the
cradle with a child in it afloat, and all the furniture
swimming, found it necessary to make their
escape out of the back windows, and were carried
on horseback to dry land.?
St. Stephen?s Established Church, at the foot
of St. Vincent Street, towers in a huge mass over
Silvermills, and was built in 1826-8, after designs
by W. H. Playfair, It is a massive octagonal
structure in mixed Roman style, with a grand, yet
simple, entrance porch, and a square tower 165 feet
high. It contains above 1,600 sittings. The parish
was disjoined from the conterminous parishes in
1828 by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and the Teind
Court. Itwas opened on Sunday, the 20th December,
1828, when the well-known Dr, Brunton preached
to the Lord Provost and magistrates in their official
robes, and the Rev. Henry Grey officiated in the
afternoon.
In an old mansion, immediately behind where
this church now stands, were born Robert Scott
Lauder, R.S. A., and his brother, James Eckford
Lauder, RSA., two artists of considerable note in
their time. The former was born in 1803, and for
some years, after attaining a name, resided in.No. 7,
Carlton Street. A love of art was early manifested
by him, and acquaintance with his young neighbour,
David Roberts, fostered it. The latter instructed
him in the mode of mixing colours, and urged him
to follow art as a profession ; thus, in his youth he
entered the Trustees? Academy, then under the
care of Mr. Andrew Wilson.
After this he went to London, and worked with
great assiduity in the British Museum. In 1826
?From Silvermills, a little northward of this .](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p094.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 83")
... Water of Leith.] THE LAUDERS. 83
massive little mansion of Groat Hall, with a thatched
roof, whilom the ...
Book 5 p. 83
(Score 0.35)
![High Street.] HOUSE OF THE ABBOTS OF MELROSE. 253
CHAPTER XXX.
THE HIGH STREET (caitfirzued).
Dickson?s and Cant?s Closes-The House of the ? Scottish Hogarth ? and the Knight of Tillybole-Rosehaugh?s, or Strichen?s, Close-House 01
the Abbots of Melrose-Sir Georye Yaclteuzie of Rosehaugh-Lady h n e Dick-Lord Strichen-The hlanncls of 1730-Pmvost Grieve-
John Dhu, Corporal of the City Guard-Lady Lovat?s Land-Walter Chnpman, Printer-Lady Lovat.
DICKSON?S CLOSE, numbered as 118, below the
modern Niddry Street, gave access to a handsome
and substantial edifice, supposed to be the work of
that excellent artificer Robert Mylne, who built the
modern portion of Holyrood and s3 rnacy houses
of an improved character in the city about the time
of the Revolution. Its earlier occupants are unknown,
but herein dwelt David Allan, known as
the ? Scottish Hogarth,? a historical painter of
undoubted genius, who, on the death of hlexander
Runciman, in 1786, was appointed director and
master of the academy established by the board of
trustees for manufacturers in Scotland.
While resident in Dickson?s Close he published,
in 1788, an edition of the ?Gentle Shepherd,? with
characteristic etchings, and, some time after, a collection
of the most humorous old Scottish songs with
similar drawings ; these, with his illustrations of
? The Cottar?s Saturday Night ? and the satire,
humour, and spirit of his other etchings in aquatinta,
won him a high reputation as a successful
delineator of character and nature. His drawing
classes met in the old college, but he received
private pupils at his house in Dickson?s Close after
his marriage, on the 15th November, 1788. His
terms were, as advertised in the Nucz~ry, one
guinea per month for three lessons in the week,
which in those simple days would restrict his pupils
to the wealthy and fashionable class of sqciety.
He died at Edinburgh on the 6th of August, 1796.
Lower down the close, on the same side, a
quaint old tenement, doomed to destruction by the
Improvements Act, 1867, showed on the coved bedcorbel
of its crowstepped gable the arms of Haliburton,
impaled with another coat armorial, with
the peculiar feature of a double window corbelled
out ; and in a deed extant, dated 1582, its first proprietor
is named Master James Haliburton. Afterwards
it was the residence of Sir John Haliday, of
Tillybole, and formed a part of Cant?s Close.
Its appearance in 1868 has been preserved to us
by R. Chambers, in a brief description in his
?? Traditions . ? According to this authority: it was
two storeys in height, the second storey being
reached by an outside stair, within a small courtyard,
which had originally been shut by a gate.
The stone pillars of the gateway were decorated
with balls at the top, after the fashion of entrances
to the grounds of a country mansion. It was a
picturesque building in the style of the sixteenth
century in Scotland. As it resembled a neat oldfashioned
country house, it was odd to find it
jammed up amid the tall edifices of this confined
alley. Ascending the stair, the interior consisted
of three or four apartments, with elaborately-carved
stucco ceilings. The principal room had a double
window on the west to Dickson?s Close.
In 1735 this mansion was the abode of Robert
Geddes, Gird of Scotstoun in Peeblesshire, who sold
it to George Wight, a burgess of Edinburgh, after
which it became deteriorated, and its stuccoed
apartments, froin the attics to the ground floor,
became each the dwelling of a separate family, and
a scene of squalor and wretchedness.
A considerable portion of the edifices in Cant?s
Close mere once ecclesiastical, and belonged to
the prebendaries of the collegiate church, founded
at Ciichton in 1449, by Sir William Crichton of
that ilk, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland.
In Kosehaugh?s Close, now called Strichen?s, the
next alley on the east, was the town-house of the
princely mitred abbots of Melrose. In Catholic
times the great dignitaries of the church had all
their houses in Edinburgh ; the Archbishop of St.
dndrews resided at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd ;
the Bishop of Dunkeld in the Cowgate ; the Abbot
of Dunfermline at the Netherbow ; the Abbot of
Cambuskenneth in the Lawnmarket ; and the Abbot
of Melrose in the close we have named, and his
?ludging? had a garden which extend?ed down to
the Cowgate, and up the opposite slope on the
west side of the Pleasance, within the city wall.
The house of the abbot, a large and massive
building enclosing a small square or court in the
centre of it, was entered from Strichen?s Close.
?? The whole building has evidently undergone
great alterations,?? says the description of it written
in 1847; ?a carved stone bears a large and very
boldlycut shield, with two coats of arms impaled,
and the date 1600. There seems no reason to
doubt, however, that the main portion of the
abbot?s residence still remains. The lower storey is
strongly vaulted, and is evidently the work of an
early date. The smalrquadrangle also is quite in
character with the period assumed for the building;
and at its north-west angle is Cant?s Close,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p073.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 253")
... Street.] HOUSE OF THE ABBOTS OF MELROSE. 253
CHAPTER XXX.
THE HIGH STREET (caitfirzued).
Dickson?s and ...
Book 2 p. 253
(Score 0.35)
![Hih Street.] THE CROCHALLAN CLUB. 235
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE HIGH STREET (rontinurd).
The Anchor Close-Dawney Douglas?s Tavern-The ?? Crown Room?-The Cmchallan Club-Members-Burns among the Crochallan Fencibles
-Smellie?s Printing Office-Dundas?s House, Fleshmarket Close-Mylne?s Square-Lord Alva?s House-The Conntes of Sutherland and
Lady Glenorchy-Birthplace of Fergusson-Halkerston?s Wynd Port-Kinloch?s Close-Carmbbeh Close-?fie Episcopal Chapel-Clam
Shell Land-Capt. Matthew Henderson-Allan Ramsay?s Theatre-Its later Tenants-The Tailor?s Hall-Bailie Fyfe?s Close-? Heave awa,?
lads, I?m no deid yet ?-Chalmers? Close-Hope?s House-Sandiknd?s Close-Bishop Kennedy?s House-Grant?s C l o s e - h n Grant?s H o e .
ONE of the most interesting of the many old alleys
of the High Street (continuing still on the north
side thereof) is the Anchor Close.
A few yards down this dark and narrow thoroughfare
bring us to the entrance of a scale-stair,
having the legend, The Lord is 0714~ my svjwt;
adjoining it is another and older door, inscribed
0. Lm?. in . tk . is. a(. my. traist; while an
architrave bears a line? from a psalm, Be mmczjX
to me, under which we enter what was of old the
famous festive and hospitable tavern of Daniel, or,
as he was familiarly named by the Hays, Erskines,
Pleydells, and Crosbies, who were his customers,
Dawney Douglas, an establishment second. to none
in its time for convivial meetings, and noted for
suppers of tripe, mince collops, rizzared haddocks,
and fragrant hashes, that never cost more than sixpence
a-head ; yet on charges so moderate Dawney
Douglas and hisgudewife contrived to grow extremely
rich before they died. Who caused the three holy
legends to be carved, as in many other instances,
no man knows, nor can one tell who resided here of
old, except that it was in the seventeenth century
the house of a senator entitled Lord Forglen.
? The frequenter of Douglas?s,?? we are told, ?? after
ascending a few steps, found himself in a pretty
large kitchen, through which numerous ineffable
ministers of flame were continually flying about,
while beside the door sat the landlady, a large, fat
woman, in a towering head-dress and large-flowered
silk gown, who bowed to every one passing. Most
likely, on emerging from this igneous region, the
party would fall into the hands of Dawney himself,
and be conducted to an apartment.?
He was a little, thin, weak, quiet, and submissive
man ; in all things a contrast to his wife.
Here met the famous club called the Crochallan
Fencibles, which Bums has celebrated both in
prose and verse, and to which he was introduced
in 1787 by William Smellie, when in the city
superintending the printing of his poems, and
when, according to custom, one of the club was
pitted against him in a contest of wit and humour.
Burns bore the assault with perfect equanimity, and
entered fully into the spirit of the meeting.
Dawney Douglas knew a sweet old Gaelic song,
called Cro Chalien,? or, Colin?s cattle, which he
was wont to sing to his customers, and this led to
.
the establishment of the club, which, with jocular
reference to the many Scottish corps then raising,
was named the Crochallan Fencibles, composed
entirely of men of original character and talent.
Each member took some military title or ludicrous
office. Amongst them was Smellie, the famous
printer, and author of the ? Philosophy of Natural
History.? Individuals committing an alleged fault
were subjected to mock trials, in which those
members who were advocates could display their
wit; and as one member was the depute hngman
cf the club, a little horse-play, with much mirth, at
times prevailed.
The song of ? Cro Chalien? had a legend connected
therewith. Colin?s wife died very young,
but some months after he had buried her she was
occasionally seen in the gloaming, when spirits are
supposed to appear, milking her cows as usual, and
singing the plaintive song to which Bums must often
have listened amid the orgies in the Anchor Close.
In Dawney?s tavern the chief room was rather
elegant and well-sized, having an access by the
second of the doors described, iind was reserved
for large companies or important guests. Pm
exceZZeme, it was named the ? Crown Room,? and
was thus distinguished to guests on their bill tops,
from some foolish and unwarrantable tradition that
Queen Mary had once been there, when the crown
was deposited in a niche in the wall. It was
handsomely panelled, with a decorated fireplace
and two lofty windows that opened to the dose ;
but all this has disappeared now, and new buildings
erected in 1869 have replaced the old.
Here, then, was Bums introduced to the jovial
Crochallans, among whom were such men as
Erskine, Lords Newton and Gillies, by Smellie the
philosopher and printer who contested with Dr.
Walker the chair of natural history in the University;
and of one member, William Dunbar, W.S.,
? Colonel of the club, a predominant wit, he has
left us a characteristic picture :-
Oh, he held to the fair,
And buy some other ware ;
The saut tear blin?t his ee ;
Ye?re welcome hame to me I
.
? Oh, rattlin? roarin? Willie,
An? for to sell his fiddle,
But parting wi? his fiddle,
And rattlin?, roarin? Willie,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p055.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 235")
... Street.] THE CROCHALLAN CLUB. 235
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE HIGH STREET (rontinurd).
The Anchor Close-Dawney ...
Book 2 p. 235
(Score 0.35)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet.
of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope
and that famous old ...
Book 3 p. 150
(Score 0.35)
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