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394 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the Church, were ordered to be converted into great guns for the use of the Town,” a
resolution so far departed from, that they were sold the following year for two hundred
and twenty pounds.’ Two of the remaining bells were recast at Campvere in Zealand, in
1621 ; ’ and the largest of these having cracked, it was again recast at London in 1846.
In 1585, St Giles’s Church obtained some share of its neighbours’ spoils, after having
been stripped of all its sacred furniture by the iconoclasts of the sixteenth century. That
year the Council purchased the clock belonging to the Abbey Church of Lindores in Fife,
and put it up in St Giles’s steeple,s previous to which time the citizens probably regulated
time chiefly by the bells for matins and vespers, and the other daily services of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Such is an attempt to trace, somewhat minutely, the gradual progress of St Giles’s,
from the small Parish Church of a rude hamlet, to the wealthy Collegiate Church, with its
forty altars, and a still greater number of chaplains and officiating priests ; and from
thence to its erection into a cathedral, with the many vicissitudes it has since undergone,
until its entire remodelling in 1829. The general’paucity of records enabling us to fix the
era of the later stages of. Gothic architecture in Scotland confers on such inquiries some
value, as they suffice to show that our northern architects adhered to the early Gothic
models longer than those of England, and executed works of great beauty and mechanical
skill down to the reign of James V., when political and religious dissensions abruptly
closed the history of ecclesiastical architecture in the kingdom. No record preserves to us
the names of those who designed the ancient Parish Church of St Giles, or the elaborate
additions that gradually extended it to its later intricate series of aisles, adorned with
every variety of detail. It will perhaps be as well, on the whole, that the name of
the modern architect who undertook the revision of their work should share the same
oblivion.
Very different, both in its history and architectural features, from the venerable though
greatly modernised Church of St Giles, is the beautiful edifice which stood at the foot of
Leith Wynd, retaining externally much the same appearance as it assumed nearly 400
years ago, at the behest of the widowed Queen of James II., whose ashes repose beneath
its floor. The Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1462, by the Queen
Dowager, Mary of Guelders, for a provost, eight prebends, and two singing boys; in
addition to which there was attached to the foundation an hospital for thirteen poor bedemen,
clad, like the modern pensioners of royalty, in blue gowns, who were bound to pray
for the soul of the royal foundress. In the new statutes, it is ordered that (‘ the saidis
Beidmen sal1 prepair and mak ilk ane of yame on yair awin expensis, ane Blew-gown, COBform
to thefirst Foundation.” The Queen Dowager died on the 16th November 1463,
and was buried ‘‘ in the Queen’s College besyde Edinburgh, quhilk sho herself foundit,
biggit, and dotit.” ‘ No monument remains to mark the place where the foundress is laid;
but her tomb is ienerdly understood to be in the vestry, on the north side of the church.
The death of the Queen so soon after the date of the charter of foundation, probably
prevented the completion of the church according to the original design. As it now stands
it consita of the choir and transepts, with the central tower partially built, and evidently
1 Maitland, p. 273. * Ibid, p. 62. 8 Burgh Register, YOL vii. p. 177. Maitland, p. 273. ‘ haley’s Hkt. p. 36.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. the Church, were ordered to be converted into great guns for the use of the Town,” ...

Book 10 p. 432
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406 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
below, on the oak beam of the great doorway. Between the windows an ornamental tablet
of the same date, and decorated in the style of the period, bears the inscription :-BASILICAN
HANG, CARO~VS REX, OPTINVS INSTAVRAVIT, 1633; with the further addition in
English ;-HE SHALL BUILD A H O UF~OR MY NAME, AND I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF
HIS KINGDOM FOR EVER ; a motto of strange significance, when we consider the events that
so speedily befell its inscriber, and the ruin that overwhelmed the royal race of the Stuarts,
as with the inevitable stroke of destiny. The chief portions of the west front, however,
are in the most beautiful style of early English, which succeeded that of the Norman.
The details on the west front of the tower, in particular, with its elaborately sculptured
arcade, and boldly cut heads between the arches, and the singularly rich variety of ornament
in the great doorway, altogether unite to form a specimen of early ecclesiastical
architecture unsurpassed by any building of similar dimensions in the kingdom. A
beautiful doorway on the north side, in a much later style, is evidently the work of Abbot
Crawfurd, by whom the buttresses of the north side were rebuilt as they now remain, in
the ornate style of the fifteenth century. He succeeded to the abbacy in 1457, and
according to his namesake, in the “Lives of Officers of State,” he rebuilt the Abbey
Cburch from the ground. Abundant evidence still exists in the ruins that remain to
disprove so sweeping a slateruent, but the repetition of his arms on various parts of the
building prove the extensive alterations that were effected under his directions. He was
succeeded by Abbot Ballantyne, equally celebrated as a builder, who appears to have
completed the work which his predecessor had projected. Father Hay records, that “ he
brocht hame the gret bellis, the gret brasin fownt, twintie fowr
capis of gold and silk; he maid ane chalice of fine gold, ane
eucharist, with sindry chalicis of silver ; he theikkit the kirk with
leid; he biggit ane brig of Leith, ane othir ouir Clide; with
mony othir gude workis, qwilkis ware ouir prolixt to schaw.”
The brazen font here mentioned was carried off by Sir Richard
Lee, captain of the English pioneers in the Earl of Hertford’s
army, and presented to the Abbey Church of St Alban’s, with a
gasconading Latin inscription engraved on it, which may be thus
rendered:--“When Leith, a town of some celebrity in Scotland,
and Edinburgh, the chief city of that nation, were on fire,
Sir Richard Lee, Knight of the Garter, snatched me from the
flames, and brought me to England. In gratitude for such kindness,
I who heretofore served only to baptize the children of Kings, now offer the same
service to the meanest of the English nation. Farewell.
A.D. 1543-4. 36 Hen. VIII.” This font a second time experienced the fate of war,
during the commotions of Charles I.’s reign, when the ungrateful Southron, heedless of
its condescending professions, sold it as a lump of useless metal.’ Seacome, in his History
of the House of Stanley, refers to an old but somewhat confused tradition of an
ancestor of the family of Norris of Speke Hall, Lancashire, who commanded a company, as
would appear from other sources, at the Battle of Pinkie, “in token whereof, he brought
Lee, the conqueror, so wills it.
1 Liber Cartsrum, p. xxxii. ’ Camden’a Britannia, by Cfough, vol. i p. 338, where the original Latin inscription ia given.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. below, on the oak beam of the great doorway. Between the windows an ornamental ...

Book 10 p. 445
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THE CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 307
roof the dignitaries of the Church, the nobles attending on the old Scottish Kings, and
the beauties of Queen Mary’s Court, passed and repassed into the Abbey Close. This
interesting and highly ornamental portion of the ancient monastic buildings was, in all
probability, the work of the good Abbot Ballantyne, who rebuilt the north side of the
church in the highly ornate style of his time, about 1490, and erected the chapel of St
Ninian, North Leith, and the old atone bridge that led to it, which was demolished in
1789 to make way for the present upper drawbridge. Adjoining this ancient porch,
formerly stood Abbot Ballantyne’s ‘‘ great house or lodging, with the yard thereof, lying
beside the port pf Holyrood House, on the north aide of the street.” The groined archway
of the fine old porch, with the remains of the good Abbot’s lodging, forming, with
the exception of the chapel, the most ancient portions of the Abbey Palace that then
remained, were recklessly demolished by the hereditary keeper in 1753, in order, it is
said, to transfer his apartments from the gate-house to the main building of the Palace.
A small and unpretending dwelling, which now occupies part of the site of the Abbot’s
mansion, may perhaps excite some interest in the minds of certain curious readers as
having once been the house of the notorious Lucky Spence, celebrated in the verses of
Allan Ramsay in terms somewhat more graphic than poetical.’ A singular discovery was
made about fourteen years since, during the progress of some alterations on this building,
which furnishes a vivid illustration of the desperate deeds occasionally practised under the
auspices of its former occupant. In breaking out a new window on the ground floor, a
cavity was found in the solid wall, containing the skeleton of a child, with some remains
of a fine linen cloth in which it had been wrapped. Our authority, a worthy shoemaker,
who had occupied the house for forty-eight years, was present when this mysterious
discovery was made, and described very graphically the amazement and horror of the
workman, who threw away his crow-bar, and was with difficulty persuaded to resume
his operations.
At the corner of the Horse Wynd, and immediately to the west of the Abbey Court-
House, a dilapidated mansion of considerable extent is- pointed out traditionally as the
residence of the unfortunate Rizzio, though it is an erection of probably a century later
than the bloody deed that has given so much interest to the name of the Italian favourite.
A curious and exceedingly picturesque court is enclosed by the buildings behind, and
bore in earlier times the name of the Chancellor’s Court, having probably at some period
formed the residence of that eminent official dignitary. It is described in the title-deeds
as bounded by “the venal1 leading to the king’s stables on the south, and the Horse
Wynd on the west parts ; ” a definition which clearly indicates the site of the royal mews
to have been on the west side of the Abbey Close. More recent and trustworthy traditions
than those above referred to, point out a large room on the first floor of this house as
having been the scene of some interesting proceedings connected with the rehearsal of
Home’s Douglas, in which the reverend author was assisted by sundry eminent lay and
clerical friends. In the cast of the piece furnished by Mr Edward Hialopa good
authority on Scottish theatricals-Principal Robertson, David Hume, Dr Carlyle of
Inveresk, and the author, take the leading male parts, while the ladies are represented by
Professor Ferguson and Dr Blair, the eminent divine 1 Notwithstanding, however, the
Lucky Spence’s Last Advice. Ramsay’s Poems, 4t0, p. 33.

... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 307 roof the dignitaries of the Church, the nobles attending on the old ...

Book 10 p. 335
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THE CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 277
protect it in any later extension of the fortifications of the capital. Towards this suburb,
the Burgh of the Canons of Holyrood gradually progressed westward, until, a8 now, one
unbroken line of houses extended from the Castle to the Abbey.
It seems strange that no attempt should have been made, either in the disastrous year
1513, when the Cowgate was enclosed, or at any subsequent period, to include the
Canongate and the royal residence within the extended military defences. It only affords,
however, additional evidence that the marked difference in the origin of each maintained
an influence even after the lapse of centuries.’ The probability is, that greater confidence
was reposed both by clergy and laity in the sanctity of the monks of Holyrood t.han in
the martial prowess of their vassals. Nor did such reliance prove misplaced, until, in the
year 1544, the hosts of Henry VIII. ravaged the distracted and defenceless kingdom,
under the guidance of the Earl of Hertford, to whom the Nonk’s cowl and the Abbot’s
mitre were even less sacred than the jester’s suit of motley. There is little reason to think
that a single fragment of building prior to that invasion exists in the Canongate, apart
from the remains of the Abbey and Palace of Holyrood. The return of Queen Mary,
however, to Scotland in 1561, and the permanent residence of the Court at Holyrood,
gave a new impetus to the capital and its suburban neighbour. The earliest date now
to be found on any private building is that of 1565, which occurs on an ancient tenement
at the head of Dunbar’s Close; and is characterised by features of antiquity no less
strongly marked than those on any of the most venerable fabrics in the burgh.
The rival Parliament which assembled here during the siege of the capital in 1571,
under the Regent Lennox, ‘‘ in William Oikis hous in the Cannongat, within the freidom
of Edinburgh, albeit the samyne wes nocht within the portis thairof,” has already been
referred to.’ But an ingenious stratagem which was tried by the besiegers shortly
afterwards, for the purpose of surprising the town, forms one of the most interesting
incidents connected with this locality. This “ slicht of weir ” is thus narrated by the
contemporary diarist already quoted:-Upon the 22d day of August 1571, my Lord
Regent and the nobles professing the. Eing’s authority, seeing they could not obtain
entry into the burgh of Edinburgh, caused several bands of soldiers to proceed from
Leith during the night and conceal themselves in the closes and adjoining houses
immediately without the Nether Bow Port, while a considerable reserve force was
collected at the Abbey, ready on a concerted signal from their trumpets to hasten to
their aid. On the following morning, about five o’clock, when it was believed the night
watch would be withdrawn, six soldiers, diaguised as millers, approached the Port, leading
a file of horses laden with sacks of meal, which were to be thrown down as they entered,
so as to impede the closing of the gates; and while they assailed the warders with
weapons they wore concealed under their disguise, the men in ambush were ready to rush
out and storm the town. But, says the diarist, “ the eternall God, knawing the cruel1
murther that wald haue bene done and committit vpoun innocent pover personis of the
said burgh, wald not thole this interpryse to tak successe, bot evin quhen the said meill
’ The Canongate appears to have been so far enclosed aa to anawer ordinary municipal purposea It had ita gates,
which were @hut at night, as is shown further on, but the walla do not seem to have partaken in any degree of the
character of military defences, and were never attempted to be held out against au enemy.
Diurnal of Occurrenb, p. 214 ; vide ante, p. 82.

... CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 277 protect it in any later extension of the fortifications of the capital. ...

Book 10 p. 301
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338 ‘MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
stentoriously laughing, and gaping with tahees of laughter. . . . Though sick with fear,
yet she went the next morning with her maid to view the noted places of her former night’s
walk, and at the close inquired who lived there? It is
not to be wondered that Major Weir’s house should have been deserted after his death,
and that many a strange sound and fearful sight should have testified to the secure hold the
powers of darkness had established on this dwelling of their emissaries. The enchanted
staff was believed to have returned to its post, and to wait as porter at the door. The hum
of the necromantic wheel was heard at the dead of night, and the deserted mansion wag
sometimes seen blazing with the lights of aome eldrich festival, when the Major and his
sister were supposed to be entertaining the Prince of Darkness. There were not even
wanting those, during the last century, who were affirmed to have seen the Major issue at
midnight from the narrow close, mounted on a headless charger, and gallop off in a whirlwind
of flame. The Major’s visits became fewer
and less ostentatious, until at length it was only at rare intervals that some midnight
reveller, returning homeward through the deserted Bow, was startled by a dark and silent
shadow that flitted across his path as he approached the haunted corner. The house is now
used as a, broker’s store, but the only tenant, during well-nigh two centuries, who has had
the hardihood to tempt the visions of the night within its walls, was scared by such horrible
sights, that no one is likely to molest the Dlajor’s privacy again. When all thesefacts
are considered, it need not excite our wonder that this house should have escaped even the
rabid assaults of an Improvements’ Commission, that raged 80 fiercely around the haunted
domicile. It may be reasonably questioned, indeed, whether, if workmen were found bold
enough to raze it to the ground, it would not be found on the morrow, in statu quo, grimly
frowning defiance on its baffled assailants I
Such are the associations with one little fragment of the Bow that still exists; our
remaining descriptions must be, alas I of things that were, and that appeared so hideous to
the refhed tastes of our civic reformers, that they have not grudged the cost of 22400,000
to have them removed. Directly facing the low archway leading into Major Weir’s Close
was the Old Assembly Rooms, bearing the date 1602, and described in its ancient titledeeds
as ‘‘ that tenement of land on the west side of the transe of the Over Bow, betwixt
the land of umq” Lord Ruthven on the north, and the King’s auld wall on the south
parts.” Lord Ruthven’s land, which appears in our engraving of the Old Assembly Rooms,
was an ancient timber-fronted tenement, similar to those we have described in the Castle
Hill. It possessed, however, a peculiar and thrilling interest, if it-was-as we conceive
from the date of the deed, and the new title of his sons, it must have been-the mansion
of the grim and merciless baron, who stalked into the chamber of Queen Nary on that
dire night of the 9th of March 1566, like the ghastly vision of death, and struck home his
dagger into the royal favourite, whose murder he afterwards claimed to have chiefly contrived.
A curious and valuable relic, apparently of its early proprietor, was discovered on the demolition
of this ancient tenement. Between the ceiling and floor in one of the apartments, a
large and beautifully-chased sword was found concealed, with the scabbard almoat completely
decayed, and the blade, which was of excellent temper, deeply corroded with
rust about half-way towards the hilt. The point of it was broken off, but it still measured
323 inches long. The maker’s name, WILHELWM IRSBERwGa,s inlaid in brass on the blade.
It was answered, Major Weir.’’
Time, however, wrought its usual cure,
.

... ‘MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. stentoriously laughing, and gaping with tahees of laughter. . . . Though sick with ...

Book 10 p. 370
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LEITH, AND THE NEW TOWN. 365
ing of them in tyme cuming as ze wilI anser to us thairapon.” This royal mandate, which
was subscribed at Holyrood Palace on the 1st of March 1563, appears to have had the
desired effect, as an ornamental tablet in the upper part of the building had the Scottish
Arms, boldly sculptured, with two unicorns for supporters, and the inscription and date in
large Roman characters-IN DEFENCE, M. R, 1565. Soon after the demolition of
the Heart of Midlothian, the’doom of the ancient Tolbooth of Leith was pronounced, and
plans procured for a new court-house and prison. Great exertions were then used by
several zealous antiquaries, and particularly by Sir Walter Scott and Charles Kirkpatrick
Sharpe, Esq., to induce the Magistrates of Edinburgh, under whose authority the work
proceeded, to preserve the picturesque and venerable fagade, while the remainder of the
building could be demolished and rebuilt according to the proposed plan. The proposition
was treated with the usual good taste of our civic reformers. A deputation who waited on
my Lord Provost to urge their petition, were cavalierly dismissed with the unanswerable
argument, that the expense of new designs had already been incurred ; and so the singular
old house of justice of Queen Mary was replaced by the commonplace erection that now
occupies its site.
Near the top of the Tolbooth Wynd, an ancient signal-tower stood, which i8 represented
in the accompanying engraving. It waa furnished with little portholes at the top,
resembling those designed for musketry in our old Border peel towers aud fortalices,
but which were constructed here, we presume, for the more peaceful object of watching the
owners’ merchant vessels as they entered the Firth. An unusually striking piece of sculpture,
in very bold relief, occupied a large panel over the archway leading into the courtyard
behind. It bore the date 1678, and, amongst sundry other antique objects, the
representation of a singularly rude specimen of mechanical ingenuity. This consisted of a
crane, the whole machinery of which was comprised in one large drum or broad wheel,
made to revolve like the wire cylinder of a squirrel’s cage, by a poor labourer who occupied
the quadruped’s place and clambered up, Sisyphus-like, in his endless treadmill. The perspective,
with the grouping and proportions of the whole composition, formed altogether an
amusizlg and curious sample of both the mechanical and the fine arts of the seventeenth
century,
At the foot of the Tolbooth Wynd, the good Abbot Ballantyne, who presided over the
Monastery of Holyrood during the closing years of the fifteenth century, caused a handsome
stone bridge of three arches to be erected Over the Water of Leith, and Boon after
its completion, he built and endowed a chapel at the north end of the bridge, and dedicated
it to the honour of God, the Virgin Mary, and St Ninian. The Abbot appears to
have had considerable possessions in Leith. He appointed two chaplains to officiate, who
were yearly to receive all the profits arising out of a house erected by the founder at the
southern end of the Bridge of Leith, with four pounds yearly out of his lands or tenements
in South Leith. In addition to the offerings made in the chapel, the tolls or duties
accruing from the new bridge were to be employed in repairing the chapel, bridge, and
tenement, and the surplus given to the poor. This charter of foundation was confirmed
by James IV. on the 1st of January 1493.’ St Ninian’s Chapel was built with the consent
of the Chapter of Holyrood Abbey, and the approbation of William, Archbishop of St
Maitland, p. 25. a Ibid, p. 497.

... AND THE NEW TOWN. 365 ing of them in tyme cuming as ze wilI anser to us thairapon.” This royal mandate, ...

Book 10 p. 402
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iv OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
EDINBURGH CASTLE (conclzded). .
The Torture of Neville Payne-Jacobite Plots-Entombing the Regalia-Project for Surprising the Foltress-Right of Sanctuary Abolished
-Lord Drummond's Plot-Some Jacobite Prisoners-'' Rebel Ladies"- James Macgregor-The Castle Vaults-Attempts at Escape-
Fears as to the Destruction of the Crown, Sword, and Sceptre-Crown-room opened in 1794-Again in 1817, and the Regalia brought
forth-Mons Megseneml Description of the whole Castle . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAPTER VIII. .
THE CA~STLE HILL.
Doyglas-Castle Hill Promenade-Question as to the Proprietary of the Esplanade and Castle Hill . . . . . . . .
The Esplanade or Castle Hill-The Castle Banks-The Celtic Crosses-The Secret Passage and Well house Tower-The Church on the Castle
Hill-The Reservoir-The House of Allan Ramsay-Executions for Treason, Sorcery, &.-The Master of Forbes-Lady Jane
79
CHAPTER IX.
THE CASTLE HILL (conczuded).
'Dr. Guthrie's O~pinal Ragged School-Old Homes in the Street of the Castle Hill-Duke of Gordon's House, Blair's Close-Webster's Close
-Dr. Alex. Webster-Eoswell s Court-Hyndford House-Assembly Hdl-Houses of the Marquis of Argyle, Sir Andrew Kennedy, the
Earl of Cassillis, the Laud of cockpen--Lord Semple's House-Lord Semple-Fah of Mary of Guise-Its Fate . . . . 87
CHAPTER X.
T H E LAWNMARKET.
The Lawnmarket-RiSjt-The Weigh-houstMajor Somerville and captain Crawford-AndeMn's Pills-Myhe's Court-James's Gourt-Sir
John Lauder-Sir Islay Campbell-David Hume--" Cprsica" Boswell-Dr. Johnso-Dr. Blki-" Gladstone's Land "-A Fire in 1771 94
CHAPTER XI.
THE LAWNMARKET (continued).
Lady Stair's Close-Gray of Pittendrum-"Aunt Margaret's M rror"-The Marshal Earl and Countess of Stair-Miss Feme-Sir Richard
Steel-Martha Countess of Kincardine-Bums's Room in Barfer's C1o.e-The Eridges' Shop ih Bank Stxet-Bailie MacMorran's
Story-Sir Francis Grant of Cullen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I02
CHAPTER XII.
THE LAWNMARKET' (continued).
The Story of Deacon Brodie-His Career of Guilt-Hanged on his own Gibbet-Mauchine's Close, Robet? Gourlay's Hoiise and the other
Old Houses therein-The Rank of Scotland, 16~5-Assassination of Sir Gorge hckhart-Taken Red Hand-Punishment of Chiesly I12
CHAPTER XIII.
THE LAWNMARKET (concluded).
Gosford's Close- The Town House of the Abbot of Cambu~kcnncth-Tennant's House-Mansion of the Hays-Liberton's Wynd-Johnnie
Dowie's Tavern-Burns a d His Songs-The Place of Execution-Birthplace of "The Man of Feeling"-The Mirror Club-
Forrester's Wynd-The Heather Stacks in the Houses-Peter Williamn-Beith's Wynd-Habits of the Lawnmarket Woollen
Traders-"Lawnmarket Gazettes "-Melbourne Place-The County Hall-The Signet and Advocates' Libraries . . . . . I I8
CHAPTER XIV.
T H E TOLBOOTH.
Memori-1s of the Heart of Midlothian, or Old Tolbooth-Sir Walter Scott's Description-The Early Tolhth-The "Robin Hod"
Disturbances-Noted Prison-Entries from the Records--Lord Burleigh's Attempts at Escape-The Porteous Mob-The Stories
of Katherine Nairne and of Jam- Hay-The Town Guard-The Royal Bedesmen . . . . . . . . . . . . 12;

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. CHAPTER VII. PAGE EDINBURGH CASTLE (conclzded). . The Torture of Neville ...

Book 2 p. 386
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THE CANONGA TE AND ABBE Y SANCTUAR Y. 297
VMBRA.” On another :-‘‘ UT TU LINGVB TVB, SIC EGO YEAR : AVRIUN DOMINVS sw.” A
third tablet bears the date, with an inscription of a similar character ; but theae have long
been concealed by a painting of Lord Nelson, which forms the sign of a tavern now
occupying a portion of the old Marquis’s mansion. On an upright tablet, at the west
end, is the ingenious emblem of the resurrection referred to in the description of an
ediflce in the Old Bank Close, which was similarly adorned.
On the east side of the Bakehouse or Hammermen’s Close, an ornamental archway,
with pendant keystone, in the fashion prevalent towards the close of James VL’s
reign, forms the entrance to a small enclosed court, surrounded on three sides by the
residence of Sir Archibald Acheson of Glencairney, one of the Lords of Session appointed
soon after the accession of Charles L He was created by the King a Baronet of Nova
Scotia in 1628, and was afterwards appointed one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland.
Over the pediment above the main entrance the Baronet’s crest, a Cock standing on a
Trumpet, is cut in bold relief; and below, the motto vigiZanti6us, with a cypher containing
the letters A. M. H., being the initials of Sir Archibald Acheson, and Dame Margaret
Hamilton his wife. The date on the building is 1633, the same year in which Charles I.
paid his first visit to his native capital. The building is a handsome erection in the style
of the period; though a curious proof of the rude state in which the mechanical arts
remained at that date is afforded by the square hole being still visible at the side of the
main doorway, wherein the old oaken bar slid out and in for securely fastening the door.
The three sides of the court are ornamented with dormer windows, containing the initials
of the builder and his wife, and other architectural decorations iu the style of the
period. .
The range of houses to the eastward of the patrician mansions described above still
includes many of an early date, and some associated with names once prominent in
Scottish story. Milton House, a handsome large mansion, built in the somewhat heavy
style which was in use during the eighteenth century, derived its name from Andrew
Fletcher of Milton, Lord Justice-clerk of Scotland, who succeeded the celebrated Lord
Fountainhall on the Bench in the year 1724, and continued to preside as a judge of the
Court of Session till his death in 1766. He was much esteemed for the mild and
forbearing manner with which he exercised his authority as Lord Justice-clerk after the‘
Rebellion of 1745. He sternly discouraged all informers, and many communications,
which he suspected to have been sent by over-officious and malignant persons, were found
in his repositories aft,er his death unopened.’ He was a nephew of the patriotic Fletcher
of Salton, and an intimate friend and coadjutor of Archibald, Duke of Argyle, during
whose adminiatration he exercised a wise and beneficial control over the government
patronage in Scotland. The old mansion which thus formed the mimic acene of court
levees, where Hanoverian and Jacobite candidates for royal favour elbowed one another in
the chase, still retains unequivocal marks of its former grandeur, notwithstanding the
many strange tenants who have since occupied it. The drawing-room to the south, the
windows of which command a beautiful and uninterrupted view of Salisbury Crags and
St Leonard’s Hill, has its walls very tastefully decorated with a series of designs of landscapes
and allegorical figures, with rich borders of fruit and flowers, painted in distemper.
Brunton and Haig’a Senators of the College of Justice, p. 499,
2 P

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

Book 10 p. 324
(Score 0.26)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 99
agreement to contribute a trifle weekly towards a fund for alleviating similar cases
in future.
Mr. Campbell’s next and last undertaking of any note was “Albyn’s Anthology;
or, a Select Collection of the Melodies and Local Poetry peculiar to
Scotland and the Isles.” The first volume of this work-published by Messrs.
Oliver and Boyd of Tweeddale Court-appeared in 1816, and the second in
1818. The musician had long contemplated
a publication of this description. The design was associated with his
early national aspirations ; and throughout many years of vicissitudes, crosses,
and disappointments, he appears still to have cherished the idea of collecting
the stray melodies of his native land. In the preface to the first volume, he
says-
This small beginning was the origin of the present useful Society.
A third was intended, but did not follow.
“ So far back as the year 1790, while as yet the Editor of ALBYN’SA NTHOLOGwYa s 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 other pursuits of quite a different
nature, the plan dropped ; till very recently, an accidental turn of conversation at a gentleman’s
table, whoin to name is to honour, the Hon. Fletcher Norton (one of the Barons of Exchequer),
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 to the zeal he has uniformly manifested for everything connected
with the distinction and prosperity of our ancient realm, on the Editor’s giving him a rough
outline of the present undertaking, the Hon. Baron put it into the hands of Henry M‘Kenzie, Esq.
of the Exchequer, and Lord Bannatyne, whose influence in the Society is deservedly great. And
immediately on Mr. M‘Kenzie laying it before a select committee for music, John H. Forbes, Esq.
(Lord Medwyn), advocate, as convener of the committee, convened it ; and the result was a recommendation
to the Society at largg, 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 one hundred and ninety-one 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 Scotland.”
Among the contributors to “ Albyn’s Anthology ” appear the names of Scott,
Hog, Maturin, Jamieson, Mrs. Grant, Boswell, and other distinguished individuals-
several pieces are from the pen of the Editor; and a full fourth of
the letterpress is devoted to Gaelic verse, in which language he seems to have
been a proficient. The popular song of “ Donald Caird ” was contributed specially
for the work by Sir Wdter Scott-the original MS. of which is preserved
in the copy of the Anthology belonging to the nephew of the Editor. We
believe the favourite air-best known by Tannahill’s song of ‘‘ Gloomy Winter’s
now Awa’”--is not generally understood to have been the composition of Mr.
Campbell. It appears in the Anthology to the Editor’s own words-
Wakest thou, love ? or art thou sleeping?”
“ Come, my bride, haste away, haste away,
and is very modestly claimed in a footnote as follows :--
“The Editor, in thus claiming an early composition of his own, feels a mingled sensation of
diffidence and sativfaction in venturing to insert it in a selection such as the present. But as the

... SKETCHES. 99 agreement to contribute a trifle weekly towards a fund for alleviating similar cases in ...

Book 9 p. 132
(Score 0.26)

I 60 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
aspectdormer windows rise above the line of roof-and a bold projection supported on
a large ornamental stone corbel, admits of a very tall window at an oblique angle below
it, evidently constructed to catch every stray gleam of light, ere the narrow alley gave way
to the improvements of the royal master-mason. Over the entrance to the stair there is
the very common inscription, Blissit. be. God. in . a l . his. Gi~?is., with the date 1580;
and while the whole of the east side is substantially built of hewn stone, the south front,
-looking directly down the old West Bow-is a very picturesque timber fapade, with
irregular’gables, and each story thrusting its beams farther into the street than the one
below it.
One of the earliest proprietors of this ancient dwelling appears from the titles to have
been Bartholomew Somerville, merchant burgess ; the most conspicuous among those
generous citizens to whose liberality we are mainly indebted for the establishment of the
University of Edinburgh on a lasting basis. “ In December [1839] following,” says
Craufurd, ‘‘ the Colledge received the greatest accession of its patrimony which ever had
been bestowed by any private person. Mr Bartholomew Somervale (the son of Peter
Somervale, a rich burgess, and sometime Baylie),’ having no children, by the good counsel
of his brothers-in-law, Alex. Patrick and Mr Samuel Talfar, mortified to the College
20,000 merks, to be employed for maintenance of an Professor of Divinity, and 6000
merks for buying of Sir James Skeen’s lodging and yaird, for his dwelling.” This
worthy citizen was succeeded in the old tenement by Sir John Harper of Cambusnethan.
Immediately to the east of Milne’s Court, a more modern erection of the same kind
exists, which is associated in various ways with some of the most eminent men that have
added lustre to the later history of the Scottish capital. To this once fashionable and
aristocratic quarter David Hume removed in 1762 from his previous place of residence in
Jack’s Land, Canongate; here also, and in the same house, BoHwell resided when he
received and entertained Paoli, the Patriot Corsican Chief, in 1771, and the still more
illustrious Dr Johnson, when he visited Edinburgh in 1773, on his way to the Western
Islands.
Entering by a narrow alley which pierces the line of lofty houses along the Lawnmarket,
the visitor finds himself in a large court, surrounded by high and substantial
buildings, which have now evidently fallen to the lot of humbler inhabitants than those for
whom they were erected, These spaces, walled off by the intervening houses from the
main street, were in the Scottish metropolis like the similar edsces of the French nobility,
frequently designed with the view of protecting those who dwelt within the gate from the
unwelcome intrusion of either legal or illegal force. But James’s Court scarcely dates
back to times so lawless, having only been erected by a wealthy citizen in 1727, on the
site of various ancient closes, containing the residences of judges, nobles, and dignitaries of
1 Peter Somerville’s house stood near the head of the West Bow, with the Somerville arms over the doorway, surmounted
by his initials, and the date 1602. ’ Craufurd’s Hist of the University, p. 136. An apartment on the first floor of this land, lighted by two large windows
looking into Milne’s Court, has a modern ceiling about ten feet from the floor-a comparison of thie, with the
height of the next story, shows, that a space of about three feet must be enclosed between it and the floor above. It is
exceedingly probable that the modern plaster-work may conceal another painted roof similar to those described in Blyth‘s
Close.

... 60 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. aspectdormer windows rise above the line of roof-and a bold projection supported ...

Book 10 p. 174
(Score 0.26)

I74 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
surmounted by the initials R G.; the arrangement of the interior seemed to have
been designed with a view to its occasional subdivision for the separate lodgment of
illustrious occupants. A projecting turret, which appears in our engraving, enclosed
a spiral stone stair, each of the steps of which was curiously hollowed in front into the
segment of a, circle. This stair afforded access to a small room in the highest floor of
the house, which tradit.ion, as well as the appearance of the apartment, pointed out as
the place of durance of the various noble captives that found a prison within its old walls.
An adjoining closet was also shown, where the lockman waa said to have slept, while in
waiting to do his last office on such of them as spent there the closing hours of life.
Popular rumour even sought to add to the number of these associations, by assigning the
former apartment as that in which the Earl of Argyle spent the last night before his
execution ; where one of his unprincipled and lawless judges was struck with astonishment
and remorse on finding his victim in a sweet and tranquil slumber only a few hours
before passing to the scaffold.
At the period of Argyle’s execution, however, A.D. 1685, this private stronghold of
James VI. had passed out of the hands of subservient customars, into the possession of
the descendants of Sir Thomas Hope,-one of the most resolute opponents of the aggressions
of royalty,-who were little likely to suffer their dwelling to be converted into the
state prison of the bigoted James VII. ; while it is clearly stated by Wodrow, that the
unfortunate Argyle was brought directly from the Castle to the Laigh Council Room,
thence to be conducted to execution.
Very soon after the erection of Gourlay’s house, it became the residence of Sir William
Durie, governor of Berwick, and commander of the English auxiliaries, during the memorable
siege of the Castle in 1573; and thither,-on its surrender, after the courageous
defence, of which a brief account has already been given,‘-the gallant Sir William
Kirkaldy of Grange, and his brother, with the Lord Hume, Lethington, Pittadrow, the
Countess of Argyle, the Lady Lethington, and the Lady Grange, were conducted to await
the bloody revenge of the Regent Morton, and the heartlessness of Queen Elizabeth, that
consigned Sir William Kirkaldy and his brother to the ignominious death of felons.’
David Moyses, who himself held an office in the household of James VI., informs us
that on the 27th of. May 1581, the very year succeeding that of the royal mandates in
favour of Gourlay, the Earls of Arran and Montrose passed from Edinburgh with a body
of armed men, to bring the Earl of DIorton from Dumbarton Castle, where he was in ward,
to take his trial at Edinburgh ; and “ upon the 29th of May, the said Earl was transported
to Edinburgh, and lodged in Robert Gourlay’s house, and there keeped by the waged men.”’
The Earl was held there in strict durance, until the 1st of June, and denied all intercourse
with his friends. On that day the citizens of the capital were mustered in arms on the
l Ante, p. 84.
“ The noblemen past to the said lieutennentis lugeing, callit Goudayes lugeing, thair to remayne quhill farder
aduertisement come fra the Quene of Ingland.”-Diurnal of Occurrenta, p. 333. Calderwood, who furnishes the list of
noble captives, mentions the Laird of Grange as hrought with others from the Abbey to the Cross for execution. Sir
William Durie, we may presume, declined to be hia gaoler, after his death was determined on.-“ When he aaw the
scaffold prepared at the Croce, the day faire, and the aunne ahping cleere, his countenance waa changed,” &c. The
whole narrative is curious and minute, though too long for inserting here.-Calderwood, vol. iii. p. 284.
Hoyses’ Memoira, p. 63. .

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. surmounted by the initials R G.; the arrangement of the interior seemed to have been ...

Book 10 p. 189
(Score 0.26)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 257
of it:-“This is perhaps the oldest stone building of aprivate nature now existing here;
for it was inhabited, before John Rnox’s time, by George Durie, Abbot of Dunfermline
and Arch-Dean of St Andrews.” He was promoted to Dunfermline by King James
V. in 1539, and was canonised by the C%urch of Rome within two years after his
death. No evidence now appears in the title-deeds of the property to afford a clue to
this or any other of its earlier possessors, but the tradition has been long universally
received which assigns it as the residence of the Reformer. Here, in the year 1559, he took
up his abode, along with his faithfd wife, Marjorie Bowes, his companion during years
of wandering and danger, but who did not long survive his settlement in this more
promising place of rest. To the same house, in 1563, he brought his second wife, Margaret
Stewart, daughter of (( the good Lord Ochiltree,” whose affections his defamers
b e d he had gained by sorcery. Nicol Burne, in that curious work, “A disputation
concerning the controversit headdis of religion,” represents him going for his bride,
“rydand with ane gret court on ane trim gelding, nocht lyk ane prophet or ane add
decrepit priest, as he was, bot lyk as he had bene ane of the blude royal, with his bendes
of taffetie feschnit with golden ringis and precious stanes ; and as is plainlie reportit in
the country, be sorcerie and witchcraft, did sua allure that pub gentlewoman that scho
could not leve without him.”
The house where Knox has received the messengers of Queen Mary, the nobles of the
court, and the leaders of the Congregation, is now rapidly falling to decay; but it still
retains the traces of former magnificence. From its peculiar position, projecting into the
thoroughfare, and presenting its western front up the High Street, it is one of the most
remarkable houses in the Old Town : forming a subject well calculated to tempt the artist’s
pencil, even though it wanted the adventitious aid of historical associations. A long
inscription extends over nearly the whole front, immediately above the ground floor ; but it
is unfortunately concealed, all but the first two words, by the sip-boards of the traders,
who have succeeded to the occupancy of the ancient tenement. It is in large Roman
characters, and is understood to run thus :-LVFE - GOD ABOVE * AL - AND *
YOVR * NICHTBOVR AS * PI A small effigy of the Reformer has long
decorated the angle of the old building, on which the pious care of successive tenants has
been expended, with a zeal not always appreciated by their fellow-citizens. He occupies
a pulpit of Presbyterian simplicity of form, and points with his right hand to a curiously
carved stone, whereon the name of the Deity appears, in Greek, Latin, and English,
surrounded by a glory on the Ride towards the preacher, while clouds gather around it
on the. further side. Over a large bow window a carved stone is pierced with a circular
aperture, now closed up, but which, from its position, suggests the idea of having been
constructed for a public clock. Such of the stone-work as remains exposed is of polished
ashlar, but numerous timber additions have been made to the original fabric in early
times. Among these, a small apartment on the south front is, in all probability, the
study constructed for him at the expense of the town, soon after he took up hie abode
there, in conformity with the following act of Council :-6c The samine day the Provost,
Baillies, and Counsail, ordanis the Dene of Gyld, with all diligence, to make ane warme
stdye of dailles to the minister, John Knox, within his hous, abone the hall of the same,
with lyght and wyndokis thereunto, and all other necessaris.” There, therefore, we may
SELF.
2E

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 257 of it:-“This is perhaps the oldest stone building of aprivate nature now ...

Book 10 p. 279
(Score 0.26)

166 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Parliient House.
plead in any court in Scotland, and in all Scottish
appeals before the House of Lords-is a body,
of course, inseparably connected, as yet, with the
old Parliament House. From among that body
the judges of the supreme courts and sheriffs of
the various counties are selected. It is the most
distinguished corporate body in Scotland, and of
old, especially, was composed of the representatives
alike of the landed aristocracy, the rank
and intellect of Scotland ; and for more than three
centuries the dignity of the Scottish bench and bar
has been maintained by a succession of distinguished
men, illustrious, not only in their own
peculiar department of legal knowledge, but in
most branches of literature and science ; and it has
produced some men whose worksare read and whose
influence is felt wherever the language of Great
Britain is known.
The whole internal economy of the legal bodies,
and of the courts of law, is governed by the Acts
wildest imagery, have foreseen the Edinburgh and
the Scotland of to-day !
Till so lately as 1779 the Parliament House,
retained the divisions, furnishing, and-save the
royal portraits-other features, which it had borne
in the days when Scotland had a national legislature.
Since that time the associations of this hall-the
Westminster Hall of Edinburgh-are only such as
relate to men eminent in the College of Justice, for
learning or great legal lore, among whom we may
note Duncan Forbes, Lords Monboddo and Kames,
Hume, Erskine, and Mackenzie, and, indeed,
nearly all the men of note in past Scottish literature.
?? Our own generation has witnessed there Cockbum,
Brougham, Horner, Jeffrey, and Scott, sharing
in the grave offices of the court, or takinga part in the
broad humour and wit for which the members of ? the Faculty ? are so celebrated ; and still the visitor
to ,this learned and literary lounge cannot fail to be
gratified in a high degree, while watching the different
groups who gather in the Hall, and noting the
lines of thought or humour, and the infinite variety
of physiognomy for which the wigged and gowned
loiterers of the Law Courts are peculiarly famed.?
consequence of a difikrence having arisen between
the Facultyand the Lords of Session, banished the
whole of the former twelve miles from Edinburgh.
The subject in dispute was whether any appeal
lay from the Court of Session to the Parliament.
It is obvious that in this contest between the bench
and the bar, law and the practice of the court,.
independent of expediency, could alone be con--
sidered, and the Faculty remained banished until
the unlimited supremacy of the Court should be
acknowledged; but what would those sturdy advocates
of the seventeenth century have thought of
appeals to a Parliament sitting at Westminster ?
In 1702 the Faculty became again embroiled.
Upon the accession of Queen Anne a new Parliament
was not summoned, that which sat during
the reign of her predecessor being reassembled.
The Duke of Hamilton and seventy-nine members
protested against this as being illegal, and withdrew
from the House. The Faculty of Advocates passed
-
The Hall is now open from where the throne
stood to the great south window. Once it was
divided into two portions-the southern separated
from the rest by a screen, accommodated the Court
of Session ; the northern, comprising a subsection
used for the Sheriff Court, was chiefly a kind of
lobby, and was degraded by a set of little booths,.
occupied as taverns, booksellers? shops, and toy--
shops, like those in the Krames. Among others,
.Creech had a stall ; and such was once the conditioe
of Westminster Hall. Spottiswoode of that ilk,
who published a work on ?Forms of Process,?
in I 7 I 8, records that there were then ? two keepers
of the session-house, who had small salaries to de
the menial offices there, and that no small part of
their annual perquisites came from the kramrrs in
the outer hall.?
The great Hall is now used as a promenade and
waiting-room by the advocates and other practitioners
connected with the supreme courts, and
during the sitting of these presents a very animated
scene ; and there George IV. was received in kingly
state at a grand banquet, on his visit to the city
in 1822.

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Parliient House. plead in any court in Scotland, and in all Scottish appeals before ...

Book 1 p. 166
(Score 0.26)

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

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

Book 8 p. 522
(Score 0.26)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 275
3d of April following. We shall quote the description of this animating
scene :-
‘‘ Upon entering the lobby of C o d s Rooms, the soldiery were so placed as to be seen forming
a string of sentries leading to the principctl portico, which, upon entrance, struck the eye with
that magical illusion we read of in fairy tales. It was impossible to say which might be considered
the head of the room, as much attention as possible being paid to avoid any point of
precedence ; each end blazed with hundreds of lamps. The band of the 42d occupied the large
orchestra, being more numerous than the 78th. The front bore a very neat transparency
of a thistle, surrounded by a motto, Prenez Garde. Festoons of the 42d tartan reached from
side to side, on the front of which hung the shields of the Duke of Wellington and the Marquis
of Huntly, supported by appropriate trophies. On the top were three cuirasses, taken at the
late memorable battle ; over the band, figures 42 surrounded by a wreath of laurel ; the whole
formed of lamps, had a most brilliant effect. This was surmounted by an illuminated crown.
Along the cornice of the room the word WATERLOaOls,o in lamps, supported by wreathed
pillars of the bame brilliaut materials, completed the device in compliment to the Xoyal
Highlanders. We ought to add that other trophies, formed of musketry, flags, and cuirasses,
against the walls, supported the words EGYPT and CORUNNA.
“At the other end the band of the 78th Regiment occupied the smaller orchesba, the device
in front of which was composed of lamps similar to that of the other regiment, with the shields
of Sir Samuel Auchmuty and General Picton ; instead of a crown, a brilliant star topped the
number 78. On each side were the words ASSATE and MAIDA. Under this orchestra was a
beautiful transparency, representing an old man, with his bonnet, giving a hearty welconie to
two soldiers of the 42d and 78th regiments, while a bonnie lassie is peeping out from a cottage
door, smiling upon the newly arrived heroes. The background formed a landscape, with
Edinburgh Castle in the distance.
“ The bands in succession played some most beautiful military airs, while the centre of tlie
room, filled with all the beauty and fmhion of Edinburgh, enlivened by the uniforms of the
officers of the several regiments, seemed to move in a solid mass to the clash of the cymbals
and beat of the hollow drum. About eleven o’clock Gow was called for ; and his corps succeeded
that of the 42d. The light fantastic toe ,was soon upon the trip ; and twelve sets were soon
made up, which continued the memy dance until after two o’clock. In fact the tout ensern7~Ze
was a scene quite enchanting.”
Such was the genuine enthusiasm with which the return of the heroes of
Waterloo was hailed.
The Print prefixed to this sketch was executed at this joyous period.
SERGEADNUTF Fw as a gallant soldier-loved his country with all the affection
of a true Scot-was humane in disposition-of a free affable manner-and
much esteemed by his fellow-soldiers. He had seen a good deal of warfare, and
was one of the few instances of individuals rising from the ranks to hold a
commission in the British army. His father was a soldier of the Royal Highlanders
; and he may be said to have been born in the corps. He is, however,
set down in the books of the regiment as a native of Banffshire, and his enlistment
is dated on the 16th of August 1806, he then being only fourteen years of age.
Four years afterwards he was promoted to the rank of Corporal, and in 1812
to that of Sergeant.
In his capacity of a non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Duff fought on the
Pyrenees, at Pampeluna, Neville, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, and was wounded
at the storming of Burgos. At Waterloo, the last of the hostile fields, and

... SKETCHES. 275 3d of April following. We shall quote the description of this animating scene ...

Book 9 p. 365
(Score 0.26)

3 34 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
world associations with the knights of St John. Here was the strange old timber-fronted
tenement, where rank and beauty held their assemblies in the olden time. Here was the
Provost’s lodging where Prince Charles and his elated counsellors were entertained in
1745, and adjoining it there remained till the last a moment0 of his royal ancestor, James
11.’~m assive wall, and of the old Port or Bow whereat the magistrates were wont to
present the silver keys, with many a grave and costly ceremonial, to each monarch who
entered his Scottish capital in state. Down this steep the confessors of the Covenant were
hurried to execution. Here, too, was the old-fashioned fore stair over which the amazed and
stuppified youth, who long after sat on the bench under the title of Lord Monboddo, gazed in
dreamy horror as the wretched Porteous was dragged to the scene of his crime, on the night
of the 7th September 1736, and near by stood the booth at which the rioters paused,
and with ostentatious deliberation purchased the rope wherewith he was hung at its foot.
Nor must we forget, among its most durable memorabilia, the wizards and ghosts who
claimed possessions in its mysterious alleys, maintaining their rights in defiance of t6e
march of intellect, and only violently ejected at last when their habitations were tumbled
about their ears.
This curious zig-zag steep was undoubtedly one of the most ancient streets in the Old
Town, and probably existed as a roadway to the Castle, while Edwin’s burgh was comprised
in a few mud and straw huts scattered along the higher slope. Enough still remains
of it to show how singularly picturesque and varied were the tenements with which
it once abounded. At the corner of the Lawnmarket is an antique fabric, reared ere
Newton’s law of gravitation wa,s dreamt of, and seeming rather like one of the mansions
of Laputa, whose builders had discovered the art of constructing houses from the chimneytops
downward! A range of slim wooden posts sustains a pile that at every successive
story shoots further into the street until it bears some resemblance to an inverted
pyramid. The gables
and eaves of its north front, which appear in the engraving of the Weigh-house, are
richly carved, and the whole forms a remarknhly striking specimen, the finest that now
rhmains, of an ancient tim6er-land. Next come8 a stone-land, with a handsome polished
ashlar front and gabled attics of the time of Charles I, Irregular string courses decorate
the walls, and a shield on the lowest crowwstep bears the initials of its first proprietors,
I. O., I. B., with a curious merchant’s mark between. A little lower down, in one of the
numerous supplementary recesses that added to the contortions of this strangely-crooked
thoroughfare? a handsomely sculptured doorway meets the view, now greatly dilapidated
and time-worn. Though receding from the adjoining building, it forms part of a stone
turnpike that projects considerably beyond the tenement to which it belongs : so numerous
were once the crooks of the Bow, where every tenement seemed to take up its own
independent standing with perfect indifference to the position of its neighbours. On a
curiouslr-formed dormer window which surmounts the staircase, the city motto appears
to have been cut, but only the first. word now remains legible. Over the doorway below,
a large shield in the centre of the lintel bears the Williamson arms, now greatly defaced
with this inscription, and date on either side, SOLID. EO. HONO.R E T. GLOBIA, D . W .
1 . 6 . 0. 4 . The initials are those of David Williamson, a wealthy burgese in the time
of James VI. But the old stair once possessed-or was believed to possess-strange pro-
It is, nevertheless, a fine example of an old burgher dwelling.

... 34 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. world associations with the knights of St John. Here was the strange old ...

Book 10 p. 365
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THE OLD THEATRE ROYAI,. 341 North Bridge.]
happy reminiscences and bright associations in the
minds of thousands; and it was one of the very
few theatres that, escaping the ravages of fire,
attain to a good old age.
Prior to the reign of George 111. there was not
a single theatre in Scotland countenanced by the
law of the land. One which was erected in Glasgow
in 1752, and on which a military guard
mounted nightly, was
demolished about two
years after, by a mob
when returning from
one of Whitefields
sermons ; but when
the New Town' of
Edinburgh was projected,
a clause was introduced
into the Act
empowering t h e
Crown to grant royal
letters patent for the
establishment of a
theatre in Edinburgh.
Mr. David ROSS,
manager of a small
one then existing,
amid many difficulties,
in the Canongate,
and latterly of Covent
Garden Theatre -a
respectable man, who
had managed two
houses in Londonobtained
the patent,
and the foundationstone
of the new
theatre was laid on the
16th of March, 1768.
prologue, which was written by Janies Boswell,
who, in the following lines, referred to the new
theatre as the first one licensed in Scotland :-
" Whilst in all points with other lands she vied,
The stage alone to Scotland was denied :
Mistaken zeal, in times of darkness bred,
O'er the best minds its gloomy vapours spread ;
Taste and religion were opposed in strife.
.---.*---
GEORGE DRUXMOND, LORD PROVOST.
(From f :e E i i , ~ a v . n ~ by Mac&enzie, ofter ih2 Original in the Rwal
In$mra*y.)
. .
In the stone was laid a silver plate, inscribed thus:-
'' The first stone of this new theatre was laid on the 16th
day of March, in the year of our Lord 1768, by David Ross,
patentee and first proprietor of a licensed stage in Scotland.
May this theatre tend to promote every moral and every
virtuous principle, and may the representations be such
*' To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,
Live on each scene and be what they behold."
But Mr. ROSS'S first legitimate performances as
a licensed manager took place in the old theatre,
which opened unusually late in the season, owing
to a dreadful riot' that happened in January, and
the repairs incident to which occupied ten months,
during which there were no representations whatever.
Ross opened then, with the patented company
on the 9th of December, 1767, with the
tragedy of the RnrZ of Essex. He spoke the
And 'twas a sin to view
this glass of life !
When the muse ventured,
the ungracious task,
To play elusion with unlicensed
mask,
Mirth was restrained ty
statutory awe,
And tragic greatness feared
the scourge of law ;
Illustrious heroes errant
vapants seemed,
And gentlest nymphs were
sturdy begsnrs
deemed."
By the proposals
for building this new
theatre, according to
the S o t s Mugazine for
1768, Mr. Ross had
to raise Lz,.joo by
twenty-five shares, at
LIOO per share, for
which the subscribers
were to receive 3 per
cent., and free access
to all performances
and every part of the
house, except behind
the scenes. "The
house is to be IOO feet
in length by 50 broad.
To furnish new scenes, wardrobe,- and necessary
decorations will, it is computed, cost A1,500
more: and the whole building, &c., is to be insured
for A4,000, and mortgaged as security to pay the
interest. As it would be impossible to procure
good performers should the tickets continue at the
low prices now paid, it is proposed to make the
boxes qs., the pit 3s., the first gallery zs., and the
upper IS. For these prices, says Mr. ROSS, this
stage shall vie with those of London and Dublin.
There shall be five capital men-actors, one good
man-singer, one second ditto ; three capital womenactresses,
two capital women-singers, one capital
man-dancer, and one woman ditto; the rest as
good as can be had : the orchestra shall be conducted
with a good first fiddler, as a leader, a harpsichord,
and the rest of the band persons of merit."

... OLD THEATRE ROYAI,. 341 North Bridge.] happy reminiscences and bright associations in the minds of thousands; ...

Book 2 p. 341
(Score 0.26)

334 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. 11746.
b
ONE of the most important events in the annals
of Edinburgh was the erection of the North
Bridge, by means of which, in spite of years of
opposition, the long-suggested plan for having a
his just and honourable cause.?? His wife pleaded
for his pardon at the feet of George 11. in vain,
and, like the others, ?he died with his last breath
imploring a blessing on Prince Charles.?
Lord Arundel of Wardour relates the following
anecdote :-? Many years after the Stuart rising,
the Duke of Cumberland being present at a ball
at Bath, indicated as a person with whom he
would like to dance, a beautiful girl, the daughter
of Major Macdonald who was executed at Carlisle,
and the circumstances of whose last moments
supplied Sir Walter Scott with the incidents of
M?Ivor?s execution in ? Waverley.? The lady rose
in deference to the prince, but replied in a tone
which utterly discomfited his Royal Highness,
? NO, sir, I will never dance with the murderer yf
my father/ ? ?
The Duke, with an army overwhelming in numbers,
as contrasted with that of Charles, passed
through Edinburgh on the ~ 1 s t of February, 1746,
not marching at the head of his troops, like the
latter, but travelling in a coach-and-six presented
to him by the Earl of Hopetoun; and on being
joined by 6,000 Hessians, who landed under the
Landgrave at Leith, he proceeded to obliterate
? all memory of the last disagreeable affair ? as the
rout at Falkirk was named. As he passed up
the Canongate and High Street he is said to have
expressed great surprise at the .number of broken
windows he saw ; but when informed that this was
the result of a recent illumination in his honour,
and that a shattered casement indicated the residence
of a Jacobite, he laughed heartily, remarking,
?that he was better content with this explanation,
ill as it omened to himself and his family, than
he could have been with his first impression,
which ascribed the circumstance to poverty or
negligence.?
A vast mob followed his coach, which passed
through the Grassmarket, and quitted the city by
new and enlarged city, beyond the walls an&
barriers of the old one, was eventually and successfully
developed to an extent far beyond what
its enthusiastic and patriotic projectors caul$.
the West Port, en route to Culloden, and ?at midnight
on Saturday the 19th of April Viscount
Bury, colonel of the 20th Regiment, aide-de-camp.
to the Duke of Cumberland, reined up his jaded
horse at the Castle gate, bearer of a despatch t e
the Lieutenant-General, announcing the victory ;.
and at two o?clock on the morning of Sunday a.
salute from the batteries informed the startled and
anxious citizens that, quenched in blood on the.
Muir of Drummossie, the star of the Stuarts had
sunk for ever.?
The standard of Charles, which Tullybardine.
unfurled in Glenfinnan, and thirteen others belonging
to chiefs, with several pieces of artillery and a
quantity of arms, were brought to the Castle and
lodged in the arsenal, where some of the latter
still remain; and one field-piece, which was placed
on abattery to the westward, was long an object
of interest to the people. With a spite that seems.
childish now, by order of Cumberland those
standards, whose insignia were all significant ot
high descent and old achievement, were camed ia
procession to the Cross. The common hangmall.
bore that of Charles, thirteen Tronmen, or sweeps,.
bore the rest, and all were flung into a fire,
guarded by the 44th Regiment, while the heralds
proclaimed the name of each chief to whom they
belonged-hchiel, Clanranald, Keppoch, Glengarry,
and so forth ; while the crowd looked on in
silence. By this proceeding, so petty in its character,
Cumberland failed alike to inflict an injuryon
the character of the chiefs or their faithful
followers, among whom, at that dire time, the
bayonet, the gibbet, the torch, and the axe, were
everywhere at work; and, when we consider his.
blighted life and reputation in the long years that
followed, it seems that it would have been well had
the Young Chevalier, the ?bonnie Prince Charlie ?
of so much idolatry, found his grave on the Moor
of Culloden.
. .

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. 11746. b ONE of the most important events in the annals of Edinburgh was the erection ...

Book 2 p. 334
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THE HIGH STREET. 23 5
him, and vanished. He arose and proceeded immediately to Edinburgh, to inquire into
this strange occurrence, and arriving at the home in Mary King’s Close, found the widow
in tears for the death of the husband whose apparition he had seen. This account, we are
told, was related by the minister, who was in the house on this occasion, to the Duke of
Lauderdale, in the presence of many nobles, and is altogether as credible and mell-authenticated
a ghost story as the lovers of the marvellous could desire. The house, after being
deserted €or 8 while, was again attempted to be inhabited by a hard-drinking and courageou8
old pensioner and his wife ; but towards midnight the candle began to burn blue, the head
again made its appearance, but in much more horrible form, and the terrified couple made
a precipitate retreat, resigning their dwelling without dispute- to this prior tenant.
Several ancient alleys and a mass of old and mostly ruinouv buildings were demolished
in 1753 in preparing the site for the Royal Exchange, ‘various sculptured stones belong-’
ing to which were built into the curious tower erected by Walter ROSS, Esq., at the Dean,
and popularly known by the name of ‘‘ ROSS’S Folly.” Several of these were scattered
about the garden grounds below the Castle rock, exhibiting considerable variety of carving.
Another richly carved stone, consisting of a decorated ogee arch with crocquets and finial,
surmounted by shields, was built into a modern erection at the foot of Craig’s Close, and
nearly corresponded with one which stood in a more dilapidated state in the Princes Street
Gardens, tending to show the important character of the buildings that formerly occupied
this site. Among those in the gardens there was a lintel, bearing the Somerville arms,
and the date 1658, with an inscription, and the initials I. S ., possibly those of James,
tenth Lord Somerville; but this was discovered in clearing out the bed of the North
Loch.
The old land at the head of Craig’s Close, fronting the main street, claims special notice,
as occupying the s’ite of Andrew Hart the famous old printer’s heich buith, lyand
within the foir tenement of land upone the north syd of the Hie Streit,”‘ and which, by
a curious coincidence, became after the lapse of two centuries the residence of the celebrated
bibliopolist, Provost Creech, and the scene of his famed morning levees ; and more
recently the dwelling of hIr Archibald Constable, from whose establishment so many of the
highest productions of Scottish literature emanated.
The printing-house of the old typographer still stands a little way down the close, on
the east side. It is a picturesque and substantial stone tenement, with large and neatly
moulded windows, retaining traces of the mullions that anciently divided them, and the
lower crowstep of the north gable bears a shield adorned with the Sinclair arms. Handsome
stone corbels project from the several floors, whereon have formerly rested the antique
timber projections referred by Maitland to the reign of James IT. Over an ancient doorway,
now built up, is sculptured this motto, 3IY * HOIP * IS - CHRYST - with the initials
A * S * and M * K -, a curious device containing the letter S entwined with a cross, and
the date 1593. An interesting relic belonging to this land, preserved in the museum
of the Society of Antiquaries, is thus described in the list of donations for 1828: ‘(A
very perfect ancient Scottish spear, nearly fifteen feet long, which has been preserved
from time immemorial, within the old printing office in Craig’s Close, supposed to have
been the workshop of the celebrated printer, h d r o Hart.” In, the memorable tumult on
Andrew Hart’s will.-Bann, Misc. VOL ii p. 247.

... HIGH STREET. 23 5 him, and vanished. He arose and proceeded immediately to Edinburgh, to inquire into this ...

Book 10 p. 256
(Score 0.26)

LEITH, AND THE NEW TOWN. 369
strangle in its birth the rising haven. They purchased the superiority of it from James V. ;
and the Chapel of St James, which appears to have been a dependency of the Preceptory
of St Anthony at Leith,’ being suppressed at the Reformation, it sunk into the mere
fishing village it still remains. The houses are mostly of a homely and uninteresting
character, though on one near the west end of the village a large sculptured pediment is
decorated with a pair of globes, a quadrant, anchor, &c., surmounted by a war galley of
antique form, and with the inscription and date,-rn THE NEAM OF GOD, 1588.
Notwithstanding the modern title of the New Town of Edinburgh, it is not altogether
destitute of antique and curious associations deserving of notice in these Memorials of the
olden time. It has not yet so completely swallowed np‘the arkient features of the broad
landscape that stretched away of old beyond the sedgy banks of the North Loch, but that
some few mementoes of bygone times may still be gleaned amid its formal crescents and
squares. In preparing the site of the New Town and digging the foundations of the houses,
numerous very curious relics of the aborginal owners of the soil have been brought to light.
In the summer of 1822 an ancient grave was discovered by some workmen when digging the
foundation of a house on the west side of the Royal Circus. It position was due north and
south, which is generally regarded as a proof of high antiquity. It was lined all round with
flat stones, and the form of a skeleton was still discernable when opened, lying with the
head to the south ; but the whole crumbled to dust so soon as it was touched. During the
following year, 1823, several rude stone coffins were disclosed in digging the foundation .
of a house on the north side of Saxe-Coburg Place, near St Bernard‘s Chapel ; one of which
contained two urns of baked day, now preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.
This was, in all probability, a burial-place of the period when the Romans had
penetrated thus far northward; and the Britons, in imitation of their example, adopted the
practice of cremation, while they adhered to the ancient form of their sepulchres. A
minute account is printed in the Archsologia Scotica2 of the discovery, in 1822, of a number
of stone coffins near the ancient Roman station at Cramond. They were of rude construction,
and laid in regular rows, lying due east and west. A representation is also given
of a key found in one of the coffins, not greatly differing in shape from those now in use.
No mention, however, is made of urns, and it is probable that they belong to a more recent
period, after the introduction of Christianity among the ancient Britons. Other stone
coans were discovered about the same time immediately opposite to St Mary’s Church,
in levelling the ground for the New Road ; and similar evidences of the occupation of the
district by native tribes at a very remote period are frequently met with all round Edinburgh.
Several such were found in 1846, along the coast of Wardie, in excavating for the
foundations of one of the bridges of the Granton Railway. During some earlier operations
for the same railway, on the 2ith September 1844, a silver and copper coin of Philip 11.
of Spain, along with a quantity of human bones mingled with sand and shells, were discovered,
apparently at a former level of the beach ; and which were supposed at the time to
be a memento of some Spanish galleon of the Great Armada. Rude clay urns are also of
frequent occurrence ; several such, filled with decayed and half burned bones, and ashes,
“Rentale Portua Gracie alias ’ hchmlogia Saotica, vol. iii. pv,o 4c0a.t a lie New Havyne.”-MS. Ad. Lib. Analysia of’ C Ibhaidr,t uvlaorl.i eisi,i J p. .( 34. 8D, alyell, Esq.
3 A

... AND THE NEW TOWN. 369 strangle in its birth the rising haven. They purchased the superiority of it from ...

Book 10 p. 406
(Score 0.26)

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
BIRD’BE YEV IEW OF EDINBURGH IN 1647, BY JAKEGSOR DON OF ROTHIEMAY, Front*&.
1. Ancient Carved Stone, Edinburgh Castle,
2. ANOIEZHTOT USEC, ANONHILLS,
3. Carved Stone from the Old Barrier Gate,
4, The Castle, from a Map of 1575,
5. Corbel, from St Giles’s Church,
6. The Old High Street, .
7. Ancient Houses, near the Kirk-of-Field,
8. Nary of Guelders’ Arm& from her Seal,
.
Edinburgh Caatle, . ..
. .
. 9. TRINITYC OLLEGCEE URCHF, ROM THE SOUTH-
10. Bishop Kennedy’s Arms, St Pies’s Church, .
11. The Castle, from the West Port, 1640,
12. The King’s Pillar, St Giles’s Church,
13. Ancient Padlock, dug up in the Greyfriara’
Churchyard, .
14. City Cross, ,
15. Palace of Holyrood previoua to 1554,
16. BLACKFRIARWS’Y ND, .
17. HOLYROOCDH BPELE, NTRANCE TO THE ROYAL
18. Norman Capital, Holyrood Abbey, .
19. Black Turnpike, .
20. THE GREATH ALL,T RINITYH OSPITAL,
21. Ancient Chapel, Kirkgate, Leith, .
22. Corbel from the ancient South Porch, St
Giles’s Church, .
23. ST MARY’S CHURCHS,O UTHLE ITH, .
24. HURT OF MIDLOTHIAN, .
25. Saint Qilea, from the City Seal, 1565,
26. Queen Mary’s Bath, .
27. Carved Stone in the Castle, containing the
Cipher of Queen Mary and Henry Lord
Darnley, .
WEST,
VAULT, .
28. Tower of the City Wall in the Vennel,
29. Holyrood Chapel, .
30. OLD TOLBOOTHLE, ITH,
31. The Maiden, .
32, Jenny Geddes’s Stool,.
33. DUN BAR'^ CLOSE, HIGH STREET, .
34. The Citadel, Leith, .
35. Parliament House. about 1646. .
.
PAQE
1
a
6
8
10
11
14
17
18
21
22
24
27
33
34
39
4b
46
47
48
54
64
64
72
73
76
77
80
81
81
86
92
97
97
. 99
36. THE GOLFER’S LAND, CANONOATE, . . 104
37. The Darien House, . . 107
PAOE
38. WEST Bow, FROM TRE CASTLE ROAD,
1843,. , 111
39. The Capital of the City Cross, 6 115
40. Interior of the Tower of the Ancient Town
Wall, in the Vennel, . . 116
41. Ancient Doorway, Halkerston’s Wynd, . 118
43. French Prisoners’ Vault in the Castle, . 126
. 44. Mouldinga of the Chancel Arch, St Margaret’s
45. Lintel from the Guiae Palace, Blyth‘a Close, . 134
46. Ancient Crow-Steps from the Mint, , . 135
47. Cipher of Ilobert Mowbry of Castlewan, .. 140
48. Gothic Niche, Kennedg’s Close, Castlehill, . 142
49. Lord Sempill’a House, Castlehill, . . 145
50. PISCINAPA, LACOFE M ARYO F GUISE,C ASTLEHILL,
. . 145
51, Oaken Front of Ancient Cupboard, from the
Guise Palace, , 147
62. Ancient Carved Doorway, do., . 148
63. EDWARDH om’a HOUSE, TODD’SC LOSE,
CASTLEHILL., . 152
54. Large Gothic Niche, Blyth’a Close, . . 154
55. Ancient Niches, Blyth’s Close, , . 155
56. ANCIENHTO USESC, ASTLEHILL, . . 156
57. Painted Oak Beam from the Guiae Chapel . 157
58. Gladstone’s Land, Lawnmarket, , . 158
59. Ancient Lintel, Lady Stair’s Close, . . 164
60, RIDDLE’SC LOSE,L AWNMABKEBTa,i lie Macmoran’s
House, . . 168
61. Ancient Corbel, from the Old Bank Close, . 172
62. OLDBANKC LOSE, , . 176
63. Carved Stone, from the Old Bank Close, . 176
64. Carved Stone, from the Old Bank Close, . 179
66. HEADOF WESTB ow, LAWNBCAEKE. T, , 183
68. TEE WEIGH-HOUSE, . . 193
70. REID’S CLOSE, CANONQATE, . . 217
71. A r m s of Edinburgh, from Common Seal of
72. House of Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney. 227
73. Ancient Lintel, from Roxburgh Close, . 230
42, The Castle, about 1750, , . 121
Chapel, in the Castle, _. . 128
65. GOSFORDC’EL OSEL, AWNMARKET, . . 180
67. North Side of the Tolbooth, . . 184
69. The Old Parliament Stairs, . . 212
the City, 1561, . f . 221

... OF ILLUSTRATIONS. BIRD’BE YEV IEW OF EDINBURGH IN 1647, BY JAKEGSOR DON OF ROTHIEMAY, Front*&. 1. ...

Book 10 p. ix
(Score 0.26)

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

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

Book 10 p. 182
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THE WEST BOW AND SUBURBS. 353
of people.” This manufacturing speculation, though devised for benevolent purposes,
entirely failed, and dissipated the whole revenues of the older foundation. We next h d
it converted into an Hospital for the wounded soldiers of General Leslie’s army, during
the skirmishing that preceded his total defeat at Dunbar; and thereafter it reached its
final degradation as a penal workhouse or bridewell, in which capacity it is referred to in
the ‘‘ Heart of Midlothian.” The building was decorated with the city arms, and smw
other rudely sculptured devices on the pediments of the dormer windows that appear in
our view, and over the doorway was inscribed the pious aspiration :-GOD
WARK * with the date 1619.
Beyond this lies the district of Calton,* which had for its superiors the Lords Balmerinoch,
until the Common Council purchased the superiority of it from the last representative
af that noble family, who perished on the block in 1746. The first Lord Balmerinoch was
made the scapegoat of his royal master James VI., on the Secretary Cecil producing a
letter to the Council, which his Majesty had written to the Pope, Clement VIII., with the
view of smoothing his accession to the English throne. Lord Balmerinoch was accused as
the author of the letter, and sent prisoner to Edinburgh, “with the people of which place,”
says Scott of Scotstarvit, “he was little favoured, because he had acquired many landa
about the town, so that John Henderson, the bailie, forced him to light off his horse at
the foot of Leith Wynd, albeit he had the rose in his leg, and was very unableto walk,
till he came to the prison house.” He was condemned to be beheaded, but was soon after
permitted to retire to his own house, the whole being a mere ruse to cover the King’s
double dealing. The last Lord presented the Old Calton Burying Ground to his vassals,
as a place of sepulture, and it is said offered them the whole hill for $40. This district,
however, must have existed long before Ring James bestowed that title on his favourite,
as the last remains of an ancient chapel, dedicated to St Ninian were swept away in 1814,
in clearing the site for the west pier of the Regent Bridge. Only the crypt, or vaulted
ground story, remained at the time of its demolition ; but ‘‘ the baptismal font,” as Arnot
styles it, or more probably the holy-water stoup, was removed by Mr Walter Ross in 1778,
to the curious Gothic tower built by him at Dean Haugh. It consists of a neatly SCUIPtured
bason, forming the base of a Gothic niche, and surmounted by an elegant Gothic
canopy, and now forms one of the heterogeneous decorations collected by Sir Walter Scott
for his mansion at Abbotsford. Nothing is known either of the founders or the date of
erection of St Ninian’s Chapel. The neighbouring Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity
was dedicated, in the charter of foundation, “For the praise and honour of the Holy
Trinity, of the ever-blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, of St Niniun tAe Confessor, and of
all saints and elect of God” The chapel appears, however, to have been a dependency
of the Abbey of Holyrood, from different notices of it that occur in licences granted by
the Abbots to the Corporations of the Canongate, for founding and maintaining altars
in the Abbey Church. In a licence granted in 1554, by Robert Stewart, Abbot of
Holyrood, “for augmentatioun of dyuine seruice at me alter to be biggit within our sayd
abbay, quhare Sanct Crkpine and Crispiniane per patronis sal1 stand;” it is added,
BLIS THIS
1 Calderwood, voL vii’p. 458. ’ Nicoll’e Diary, p 23.
“ CaEton, or Caldoun, is admitted to be the hiu covered with bushes.”-Dalrymple’s Annals, VOL i. p. 96.
Charter of Foundation, Maitland, p. 207. ’
2Y

... WEST BOW AND SUBURBS. 353 of people.” This manufacturing speculation, though devised for benevolent ...

Book 10 p. 387
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 83
The reputation of Mr. Baine as a preacher soon spread far beyond the
retired scene to which his pulpit ministrations were confined. Being somewhat
remarkable for the musical sweetness of his voice, he was honoured by his
people with the characteristic epithet of the “Swan of the West.” In 1756
he was presented to the High Church of Paisley, then a new erection. Upon
the arduous duties of his important charge he entered in the month of April,
with a high degree of popularity ; and throughout the period of his ministration
in that town, continued to be greatly esteemed by a large and affectionate
congregation, as an eloquent preacher, and an able and sound divine. His personal
appearance in the vigour of life was prepossessing-his manner in the
pulpit, and his powers of elocution, were peculiarly attractive ; and, though he
had the celebrated Dr. Witherspoon for his colleague, who was considered one
of the most able clergymen of his day, his church was commonly crowded t,o
excess.l
When minister of the parish of Killearn, Mr. Baine was intimate with many
of the most distinguished clergymen in the Church, and was regarded, particularly
by his co-presbyters, as a young man possessed of much personal piety
and ministerial zeal and fidelity. 80 early as 1745,‘his name is mentioned with
particular honour, as having been warmly engaged amongst his parishioners in
From the perusal of a volume of his sermons, which he published in 1777, during the period of
his ministry in Edinburgh, we have heen led to consider him, in point of arrangement and composition,
superior to many of his contemporaries. In this volume is to be found a judicious discourse on
the subject of the Pastoral Care, which he delivered in the Low Church of Paisley at the admission
of his colleague, in June 1757.
Dr. Witherspoon, the colleague of Mr. Baine, was a man greatly distinguished in his day for his
litemry acquirements, and as a preacher and theological writer. He was the son of a clergyman,
minister of the parish of Yester, in the Presbytery of Haddmgton ; born in 1721, and educated in
the University of Edinburgh. In early life he became a licentiate of the Scottish Establishment, and
was soou afterwards presented to the parish of Beith, in Ayrshire. Being a young man of an ardent,
enterprising, and patriotic mind, on January 17, 1746, he appeared at the battle of Falkirk with a
party of volunteer militia belonging to his parish ; and, on that unfortunate occasion, when the royal
army suffered great loss, he was taken prisoner by the rebels. Along with Mr. Home, author of the
“Tragedy of Douglas,” and othen, he was confined in the Castle of Doune, near Stirling, from which he
and his fellow-prisoners, after having suffered some severe privations, made an adventurous and hairbreadth
escape. In June 1757 he was translated from the parish of Beith to the Low Church of
Paisley, in which charge he continued eleven years.
From an early period of his ministry, Dr. Witherspoon was known to his contemporaries as a
clergyman particularly versant in the knowledge of the constitutional polity of the Church of Scotland.
Like his colleague Mr. Baine, he was keenly opposed to what he considered the tyrannical measures
of the moderate, and at that time the dominant, party of the Church, and became one of their ablest
opponents by the publication of his “ Eccldastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Polity,”
and the grave “Apology ” he afterwards published for that ingenious performance. Having published
in London three volumes of his sermons and essays in 1764, the fame of his talents 89 a
theological writer not only spread over Britain, but extended across the Atlantic to the British Colonies.
In consequence of the reputation he had acquired, he was repeatedly solicited by the Trustees of Nassau
Hall College, Princetown, New Jersey, the Presidency of which had become vacant, to accept of that
office.
Upon the arrival of Dr. Withenpoon in America he was cordially received by the Trustees, and for a
number of years afterwards directed the attention of his sagacious and reflecting mind in originating
and maturing various educational improvements in that seminary, over which so many eminent men
He waa at last induced to consent, and left his charge in Paisley, May 1768.

... SKETCHES. 83 The reputation of Mr. Baine as a preacher soon spread far beyond the retired scene to ...

Book 9 p. 112
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