... THE
N A31 E S I N C I D EN TAL L Y M ENT I 0 NE I)
IS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
A
ABEBCROMBIDEr,. , 452 ...
Book 9 p. 682
(Score 0.99)
... 435
of Auchinleck ; but a passage in Father Hay’s MS. History of the Holpodhonse F d y , seem to ...
Book 10 p. 474
(Score 0.97)
![MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311 Arthur?r Seat.]
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his sister-in-law, together with Burnbank,
? in the Christian city of Edinburgh, during a
course of many months, without any one, to appearance,
ever feeling the slightest compunction towards
the poor weman, though it is admitted she
loved her husband, and no real fault on her side
has ever been insinuated.?
At length it would seem that Nicol, infatuated
and lured by evil fate, at the suggestion of ?? the
devil, that cunning adversary ?-as his confession
has it-borrowed a knife, scarcely knowing for
what purpose, and, inviting his unsuspecting wife to
walk with him as far as
Duddingston one night,
cut her throat near
the line of trees that
marked the Duke?s
Walk. He then rushed
in a demented state to
tell his brother what
he had done, and thereafter
sank into a mood
of mind that made all
seem blank to him.
Next morning the unfortunate
victim was
found ?with her throat
cut to the bone,? and
many other wounds received
in her dying
struggle.
In the favourite old
Edinburgh religious
by a cairn near the east gate and close to the north
wall. ?The original cairn is said to have been
several paces farther west than the present one,
the stones of which were taken dut of the old wall
whenit was pulled down to give place to the new
gate that was constructed previous to the late royal
visit ?-that of George IV.
In 1820 the pathway round Salisbury Craigs was
formed, and named the ? Radical Road ? from ?the
, circumstance of the destitute and discontented
west-country weavers being employed on its construction
under a committee of gentlemen. At
that time it was proposed to ?sow the rocks with
wall-flowers and other
>I? AlAKGAKET?S WELI..
tract, which narrates
the murderous story, in telling where he went
before doing the deed, he says that he passed
?? through the Tidies,? at the end of a lane which
was near the Meadows. The entrance to the Park,
near the Gibbet Fall, was long known as ?the
Tirliea,? implying a sort of stile.
Nicol Muschat was tried, and confessed all. He
was hanged, on the 6th of the ensuing January in
the Grassmarket, while his associate Burnbank was
declared infamous, and banished ; and the people,
to mark their horror of the event, in the old
Scottish fashion raised a cairn on the spot where
the murder was perpetrated, and it has ever since
been a well-remembered locality.
The first cairn was removed during the formation
of a new footpath through the park, suggested by
Lord Adam Gordon, who was resident at Holyrood
House in 1789, when Commander of the
Forces in Scotland; but from a passage in the
WeekOJournal we find that it was restored in 1823
odoriferous and flowering
plants.? It was also
suggested ? to plant
the cliffs above the
walk with the rarest
heaths from the Cape
of Good Hope and
other foreign parts.?
( Weekfiyuumal, XXIV.)
The papers of this
time teem with bitter
complaints against the
Earl of Haddington,
who, as a keeper of
the Royal Park, by an
abuse of his prercgative,
was quarrying away
the craigs, and selling
the stone to pave the
streets of London; and
the immense gaps in
their south-western face still remain as proofs of
his selfish and unpatriotic rapacity.
As a last remnant of the worship of Baal, or
Fire, we may mention the yearly custom that still
exists of a May-day observance, in the young of the
female sex particularly, ascending Arthur?s Seat on
Beltane morning at sunrise. ?? On a fine May morning,?
says the ? Book of Days,? ? the appearance
of so many gay groups perambulating the hill sides
and the intermediate valleys, searching for dew, and
rousing the echoes with their harmless mirth, has
an indescribably cheerful effect.? Many old citizens
adhered to this custom with wonderful tenacity,
and among the last octogenarians who did so we
may mention Dr. Andrew Duncan of Adam Square,
the founder of the Morningside Asylum, who paid
his last annual visit to the hill top on hlayday, 1S26~
in his eighty-second year, two years before his death ;
and James Burnet, the last captain of the old Town
Guard, a man who weighed nindeen stone, ascended](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p130.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 310")
... CAIRN. 311 Arthur?r Seat.]
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his ...
Book 4 p. 310
(Score 0.96)
![Arthur?r Seat.] MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his sister-in-law, together with Burnbank,
? in the Christian city of Edinburgh, during a
course of many months, without any one, to appearance,
ever feeling the slightest compunction towards
the poor weman, though it is admitted she
loved her husband, and no real fault on her side
has ever been insinuated.?
At length it would seem that Nicol, infatuated
and lured by evil fate, at the suggestion of ?? the
devil, that cunning adversary ?-as his confession
has it-borrowed a knife, scarcely knowing for
what purpose, and, inviting his unsuspecting wife to
walk with him as far as
Duddingston one night,
cut her throat near
the line of trees that
marked the Duke?s
Walk. He then rushed
in a demented state to
tell his brother what
he had done, and thereafter
sank into a mood
of mind that made all
seem blank to him.
Next morning the unfortunate
victim was
found ?with her throat
cut to the bone,? and
many other wounds received
in her dying
struggle.
In the favourite old
Edinburgh religious
by a cairn near the east gate and close to the north
wall. ?The original cairn is said to have been
several paces farther west than the present one,
the stones of which were taken dut of the old wall
whenit was pulled down to give place to the new
gate that was constructed previous to the late royal
visit ?-that of George IV.
In 1820 the pathway round Salisbury Craigs was
formed, and named the ? Radical Road ? from ?the
, circumstance of the destitute and discontented
west-country weavers being employed on its construction
under a committee of gentlemen. At
that time it was proposed to ?sow the rocks with
wall-flowers and other
>I? AlAKGAKET?S WELI..
tract, which narrates
the murderous story, in telling where he went
before doing the deed, he says that he passed
?? through the Tidies,? at the end of a lane which
was near the Meadows. The entrance to the Park,
near the Gibbet Fall, was long known as ?the
Tirliea,? implying a sort of stile.
Nicol Muschat was tried, and confessed all. He
was hanged, on the 6th of the ensuing January in
the Grassmarket, while his associate Burnbank was
declared infamous, and banished ; and the people,
to mark their horror of the event, in the old
Scottish fashion raised a cairn on the spot where
the murder was perpetrated, and it has ever since
been a well-remembered locality.
The first cairn was removed during the formation
of a new footpath through the park, suggested by
Lord Adam Gordon, who was resident at Holyrood
House in 1789, when Commander of the
Forces in Scotland; but from a passage in the
WeekOJournal we find that it was restored in 1823
odoriferous and flowering
plants.? It was also
suggested ? to plant
the cliffs above the
walk with the rarest
heaths from the Cape
of Good Hope and
other foreign parts.?
( Weekfiyuumal, XXIV.)
The papers of this
time teem with bitter
complaints against the
Earl of Haddington,
who, as a keeper of
the Royal Park, by an
abuse of his prercgative,
was quarrying away
the craigs, and selling
the stone to pave the
streets of London; and
the immense gaps in
their south-western face still remain as proofs of
his selfish and unpatriotic rapacity.
As a last remnant of the worship of Baal, or
Fire, we may mention the yearly custom that still
exists of a May-day observance, in the young of the
female sex particularly, ascending Arthur?s Seat on
Beltane morning at sunrise. ?? On a fine May morning,?
says the ? Book of Days,? ? the appearance
of so many gay groups perambulating the hill sides
and the intermediate valleys, searching for dew, and
rousing the echoes with their harmless mirth, has
an indescribably cheerful effect.? Many old citizens
adhered to this custom with wonderful tenacity,
and among the last octogenarians who did so we
may mention Dr. Andrew Duncan of Adam Square,
the founder of the Morningside Asylum, who paid
his last annual visit to the hill top on hlayday, 1S26~
in his eighty-second year, two years before his death ;
and James Burnet, the last captain of the old Town
Guard, a man who weighed nindeen stone, ascended](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p131.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 311")
... Seat.] MUSCHAT?S CAIRN. 311
terrible schemes occupied Nichol. Muschat, his
brother, and his ...
Book 4 p. 311
(Score 0.96)
![The Tolhwth] THE SIGNET ANI) ADVOCATES? LIBRARIES. 123
THE genius of Scott has shed a strange halo around
the memory of the grim and massive Tolbooth
prison, so much so that the creations of his imagination,
such as Jeanie and Effie Deans, take the
place of real persons of flesh? and blood, and suchtraders.
They have been described as being ?a
dramdrinking, news-mongering, facetious set of
citizens, who met every morn about seven o?clock,
and after proceeding to the post-office to ascertain
the news (when the mail arrived), generally adjourned
to a public-house and refreshed themselves
with a libation of brandy.? Unfounded articles of
intelligence that were spread abroad in those days
were usually named ? Lawnmarket Gazettes,? in
allusion to their roguish or waggish originators.
At all periods the Lawnmarket was a residence
for nien of note, and the frequent residence of
English and other foreign ambassadors; and so
long as Edinburgh continued to be the seat of the
Parliament, its vicinity to the House made it a
favourite and convenient resort for the members
of the Estates.
On the ground between Robert Gourlay?s house
and Beith?s Wynd we now find some of those portions
of the new city which have been engrafted on
the old. In Melbourne Place, at the north end of
George IV. Bridge, are situated many important
offices, such as, amongst others, those of the Royal
Medical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce
and Manufactures, built in an undefined style of
architecture, new to Edinburgh. Opposite, with
its back to the bridge, where a part of the line of
Liberton?s Wynd exists, is built the County Hall,
presenting fronts to the Lawnmarket and to St.
Giles?s. The last of these possesses no common
beauty, as it has a very lofty portico of finely-flutcd
columns, overshadowing a flight of steps leading to
the main entrance, which is modelled after the
choragic monument of Thrasyllus, while the ground
plan and style of ornament is an imitation of the
Temple of Erechtheius at Athens. It was erected
in 1817, and contains several spacious and lofty
court-rooms, with apartments for the Sheriff and
other functionaries employed in the business of the
county. The hall contains a fine statue of Lord
Chief Baron Dundas, by Chantrey.
is the power of genius, that with the name of the
Heart of Midlothian we couple the fierce fury of
the Porteous mob. ?Antique in form, gloomy and
haggard in aspect, its black stanchioned windows,
opening through its dingy walls like the apertures
~
Adjoining it and stretching eastward is the library
of the Writers to the Signet. It is of Grecian architecture,
and possesses two long pillared halls of
beautiful proportions, the upper having Corinthian
columns, and a dome wherein are painted the
Muses. It is 132 feet long by about 40 broad,
and was used by George IV. as a drawing-room,
on the day of the royal banquet in the Parliament ,
House. Formed by funds drawn solely from contributions
by Writers to H.M. Signet, it is under
a body of curators. The library contains more
than 60,000 volumes, and is remarkably rich in
British and Irish history.
Southward of it and lying psxallel with it, nearer
the Cowgate, is the Advocates? Library, two long
halls, with oriel windows on the north side. This
library, one of the five in the United Kingdom entitled
to a copy of every work printed in it, was
founded by Sir George Mackenzie, Dean of Faculty
in 168z, and contains some zoo,ooo volumes,
forming the most valuable cpllection of the kind
in Scotland. The volumes of Scottish poetry alone
exceed 400. Among some thousand MSS. are those
of Wodrow, Sir James Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald,
and others. In one of the lower compartments
may be seen Greenshield?s statue of Sir Walter
Scott, and the original volume of Waverley; two
volumes of original letters written by Mary Queen
of Scots and Charles I.; the Confession of Faith
signed by James VI. and the Scottish nobles in
1589-90; a valuable cabinet from the old Scottish
mint in the Cowgate; the pennon borne by
Sir William Keith at Flodden; and many other
objects of the deepest interest. The office of
librarian has been held by many distinguished
men of letters; among them were Thomas Ruddiman,
in 1702; David Hume, his successor, in,
1752 ; Adani Ferguson ; and David Irving, LL.D.
A somewhat minor edifice in the vicinity forms
the library of the Solicitors before the Supreme
Court](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p135.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Page 123")
... Tolhwth] THE SIGNET ANI) ADVOCATES? LIBRARIES. 123
THE genius of Scott has shed a strange halo around
the ...
Book 1 p. 123
(Score 0.96)
... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
Thomson, and so are the various journals and encyclopedias under the
eye of the ...
Book 11 p. 46
(Score 0.95)
![Charlotte Square.] THE ALBERT MEMORIAL. I75
His neighbour and brother senator Lord Dundrennan
occupied No. 35 ; and in 1811 William
Robertson, Lord Robertson, a senator of 1805,
occupied No. 42. He was the eldest son of Dr.
Robertson the historian, and in 1779 was chosen
Procurator of the Church of Scotland, after ,a close
contest, in which he was opposed by the Hon.
Henry Erskine. His personal appearance is
described in ? Peter?s Letters to his Kinsfolk.?
He retired from the bench in 1826, in consequence
of deafness, and died in November, 1835.
On the western side of the Square, and terminating
with fine effect the long vista of George
Street from the east, is St. George?s Church, the
foundation of which was laid on the 14th of May,
1811. It was built from a design furnished by
Robert Reid, king?s architect The celebrated
Adam likewise furnished a plan for this church,
which was relinquished in consequence of the
expense it would have involved. The whole building,
with the exception of the dome, which is a
noble one, and seen to advantage from any point,
is heavy in appearance, meagre in detail, and
hideous in conception, and its ultimate expense
greatly exceeded the estimates and the sum for
which the more elegant design of Adam could have
been carried out. It cost A33,ooo, is calculated
to accommodate only 1,600 persons, and was opened
for public worship in 1814. It was intended in
its upper part to be a large miniature or reduced
copy of St. Paul?s in London, and is in a kind of
Grzco-Italian style, with a lofty but meagre Ionic
portico and surmounting an Attic Corinthian colonnade
; it rests on a square ground plan measuring
IIZ feet each way, and culminates in the dome,
surmounted by a lantern, cupola, and cross, the
last at the height of 160 feet from the ground.
The original design included two minarets, which
have not as yet been added.
It is chiefly celebrated as the scene of the ministrations
of Andrew Thomson, D.D., an eminent
divine who was fixed upon as its pastor in 1814.
He died suddenly on the 9th of February, 1831,
greatly beloved and lamented by the citizens in
general and his congregation in particular, and now
he lies in a piece of ground connected with the
churchyard of St. Cuthbert.
In Charlotte Place, behind the church, are the
atelier of Sir John Steel the eminent sculptor, and
a music-room called St. Cecilia?s Hall, with an
orchestra space for 250 performers and seats for
500 hearers.
In the centre of the Square is the memorial to
the Prince Consort, which was inaugurated with
much state by the Queen in person, attended by
the magistrates and archer guard, &c., in August,
1876. It cost A16,500, and is mainly from
the studio of Steel It is a quasi-pyramidal structure,
about thirty-two feet high, with a colossal
equestrian statue of the Prince as its central and
upper figure ; it is erected on an oblong Peterhead
granite pedestal, fully seventeen feet high, and
exhibiting emblematic bas-reliefs in the panels,
with four groups of statues on square blocks, projecting
from the corners of the basement; the
prince is shown in the uniform of a field marshal.
Of all the many statues that have been erected
to his memory, this in Charlotte Square is perhaps
one of the best and most pleasing.
With this chapter we close the history of what
may be regarded as thejt-st New Town, which was
designed in 1767, laid out, as we have seen, in a
parallelogram the sides of which measure 3,900
feet by 1,090.
The year 1755 was the period when Edinburgh
seemed really to wake from the sleep and torpor
that followed the Union, and a few imprdvements
began in the Old Town. After that period, says
Kincaid, writing in 1794, ? it is moderate to say
that not less than ~3,000,000 sterling has been
expended in building and public improvements.?
Thirty-five years ago,? says the Edinburgh
Adverther for 1823, ? there were scarcely a dozen
sliops in the New Town; now, in Princes Street,
with the exception of hotels and the Albyn Club
Room, they reach to Hanover Street.?
In the present day the whole .area we have described
is mainly occupied by shops, with the exception
of Charlotte Square and a small portion of
Queen Street.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p187.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 175")
... Square.] THE ALBERT MEMORIAL. I75
His neighbour and brother senator Lord Dundrennan
occupied No. 35 ; ...
Book 3 p. 175
(Score 0.94)
... EDINBURGH PAST AND PRESENT.
genius-where lie bnriecl John Goodsir, ‘ Christopher North,’ Sir ...
Book 11 p. 123
(Score 0.93)
... granting a charter to Robert Winton
?of the barony of Hirdmanston, called Curry.?
(Robertson?s Index to ...
Book 6 p. 332
(Score 0.91)
... CONTENTS.
111.
EDINBURGH FROM WARRISTON CEMETERY,
AS SEEN FROM THE GRAVE OF SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON.
By the ...
Book 11 p. xiv
(Score 0.91)
... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
De Quincey’s Grave, . . . 35
Hamilton’s Entry, . . . 36
Scott’s first ...
Book 11 p. xviii
(Score 0.9)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCCXXVIII.
MAJOR SKEY,
AND TFlE
RIGHT HON. LORD CLIVE (NOW EARL OF POWIS), *
OF ...
Book 9 p. 624
(Score 0.9)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in
the ...
Book 9 p. 616
(Score 0.9)
... TO THE PORTRAITS, ETC. 487
G
No. Page
GEORGE1 11.-Appendix ....... ... .. .. .. cccxxx 477
George IIL, ...
Book 9 p. 678
(Score 0.88)
... Arbuthnot, who twice held the chair in
1815, and again in 1821. He was created a
baronet by the King in ...
Book 4 p. 284
(Score 0.87)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. XXXI.
ADAM RITCHIE.
THIS old man was by occupation a cowfeeder ; he resided at ...
Book 8 p. 97
(Score 0.87)
... SKETCHES. 425
The figure on the right of Mr. Cauvin is meant to represent MR SCOTT,
farmer, ...
Book 9 p. 569
(Score 0.87)
![Calton HiX] SHORT?S 0 ESERVATORY. ?05
?patriotic Earl of Morton gave a sun1 for the purpose;
leaving the management thereof to Colin
?Maclaurin, Professor of Mathematics, and others
of the Senatus Academicus. Maclaurin, with his
characteristic liberality, added to the earl?s gift by
the profits arising from a course of lectures on
experimental philosophy ; but his death, in 1746,
put a stop a second time to the execution of the
disposal for the purpose of building an observatory,
and to allow him to draw the whole emoluments
arising from the use of his apparatus for a certain
number of years ; ?but,? says Arnot, ?? on condition
that the students should, in the meantime,
have access to the observatory for a small gratuity,
and that the building,withall the instruments, should
. be vested in the Town Council for ever, as trustees
THE CALTON HILL, CALTON GAOL, BURYING-GROUND, AND MONUMENTS.
In 1776 there came to Edinburgh Mr. Short,
brother and executor to Mr. James Short, F.R.S.,
formerly an optician in Leith, and who brought with
him all his brother?s optical apparatus, particularly
a large reflecting telescope that magnified 1,200
times, ?and is,? says the Week0 Magazine for
that year, ? superior to any in Europe, but one in
possession of the King of Spain.? Mr. Short
intended to erect an observatory, which was to
be his own private property, and from which he
expected to draw considerable emoluments ; but
Dr. Alexander Monro, Professor of Anatomy, one
of Lord Morton?s trustees, showed that an observatory
unconnected with the Council and University
would conduce but little to the progress of science,
62
after a certain period. Mr. Short readily agreed,
and the Council were applied to for their concurrence
and patronage.?
It appears from their Register that in the
summer of 1776 the Council granted to Mr. Short,
his sons and grandsons, a life-rent lease of
half an acre on the Calton HilL A plan of the
intended building was made by James Craig,
architect, and the foundation-stone was laid by
Provost James Stodart, in presence of the Senatus,
25th July, I 776 ; and upon the suggestion of Adam,
the famous architect, in consequence of the high
and abrupt nature of the site, the whole edifice was
constructed to have the aspect of a fortification. 1 In the partial execution of this faulty design, thc](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p117.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 105")
... HiX] SHORT?S 0 ESERVATORY. ?05
?patriotic Earl of Morton gave a sun1 for the purpose;
leaving the ...
Book 3 p. 105
(Score 0.87)
![Burghmuir.] ST. ROQUES CHAPEL. 47
Greenhill, whereon stood an old gable-ended and
gableted manor-house, on the site of which is now
the great square modem mansion which bears its
name. In a street here, called Greenhill Gardens,
there stands a remarkable parterre, or open burialplace,
wherein lie the remains of more than one proprietor
of the estate. A tomb bears the initials
J. L. and E. R., being those of ?John Livingstone
and Elizabeth Rig, his spouse,? who acquired
the lands of Greenhill in 1636 ; and the adjacent
thoroughbre, named Chamberlain Road, is so
called from an official of the city, named Fairholme,
who is also buried there.
A dispute-Temple and Halliday with Adam
Cairns of Greenhill -is reported before the
lords in 1706, concerning a tenement in the
Lawnmarket, which would seem to have been
?spoiled and deteriorated? in the fire of 1701.
(Fountainhall.)
In 1741 Mr. Thomas Fairholme, merchant in
Edinburgh, married Miss Warrender, daughter of
Sir George Warrender of Bruntsfield, and his death
at Greenhill is reported in the Scuts Magazine for
1771. There was a tenement called Fairholme
Land in the High Street, immediately adjoinicg
the Royal Exchange on the east, as appears from
the Scuts Magazine of 1754, probab!y erected by
Bailie Fairholme, a magistrate in the time of
Charles 11.
Kay gives us a portrait of George Fairholme of
Greenhill (and of Green-know, Berwickshire), who,
with his younger brother, William of Chapel, had
long resided in Holland, where they became
wealthy bankers, and where the former cultivated
a natural taste for the fine arts, and in after life
became celebrated as a judicious collector of
pictures, and of etchings by Rembrandt, all of
which became the property of his nephew, Adam
Fairholme of Chapel, Berwickshire. He died in
his seventieth year, in 1800, and was interred in
the family burying-place at Greenhill.
In a disposition of the lands of the latter estate
by George Fairholme, in favour of Thomas Wright,
dated 16th, and recorded 18th February, 1790, in
the sheriffs? books at Edinburgh, the preservation of
the old family tomb, which forms so singular a
feature in a modern street, is thus provided for :-
? Reserving nevertheless to me the liberty and
privilege of burying the dead of my own family,
and such of my relations to whom I, during my
own lifetime, shall communicate such privilege, in
the burial-place built upon the said lands, and
?Teserving likewise access to me and my heirs to
repair the said burial-place from time to time, as we
shall think proper.?
? Greenhill became lztterly the property of the
Stuart-Forbeses of Pitsligo, baronets.
After passing the old mansion named East
Morningside House, the White House Loan joins
at right angles the ancient thoroughfare named the
Grange Loan, which led of old from the Linton
Road to St. Giles?s Grange, and latterly the Causewayside.
On the south side of it a modern villa takes its
name of St. Roque from an ancient chapel which
stood there, and the ruins of which were extant
within the memory of many of the last generation.
The chapels of St. Roque and St. John, on the
Burghmuir, were both dependencies of St. Cuthbert?s
Church. The historian of the latter absurdly
conceives it to have been named from a French
ambassador, Lecroc, who was in Scotland in 1567.
The date of its foundation is involved in obscurity;
but entries occur in the Treasurer?s Accounts for
1507, when on St. Roque?s Day (15th August) James
IV. made an offering of thirteen shillings. ? That
this refers to the chapel on the Burghmuir is
proved,? says Wilson, ? by the evidence of two
charters signed by the king at Edinburgh on the
same day.?
Arnot gives a view of the chapel from the northeast,
showing the remains of a large pointed window,
that had once been filled in with Gothic tracery;
and states that it is owing ?to the superstitious
awe of the people that one stone of this chapel has
been left upon another-a superstition which, had
it been more constant in its operations, might have
checked the tearing zeal of reformation. About
thirty years ago the proprietor of the ground
employed masons to pull down the walls of the
chape! ; the scaffolding gave way ; the tradesmen
were killed. The accident was looked upon as a
judgment against those who were demolishing thk
house of God. No entreaties nor bribes by the
proprietor could prevail upon tradesmen to accomplish
its demolition.?
It was a belief of old that St. Roque?s intercession
could protect all from pestilence, as he was
distinguished for his piety and labours during a
plague in Italy in 1348. Thus Sir David Lindesay
says of-
1?- Superstitious pilgramages
To monie divers imagis ;
Sum to Sanct Roche with diligence,
To saif them from the pestilence.?
Thus it is, in accordance with the attributes ascribed
in Church legends to St. Roque, that we find
his chapel constantly resorted to by the victims of
the plague encamped on the Burghmuir, during the
prevalence of that scourge in the sixteenth century.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p058.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 47")
... ST. ROQUES CHAPEL. 47
Greenhill, whereon stood an old gable-ended and
gableted manor-house, on the ...
Book 5 p. 47
(Score 0.87)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Infirmary Street.
He had, moreover, to say prayers twice weekly,
and be ever ready to ...
Book 4 p. 300
(Score 0.87)
... INDEX.
Nairn, S i Robert, 193
Katharine, 193
Nairn’s Close, 146, 148
Namur, Count of, 7
Napier of ...
Book 10 p. 507
(Score 0.86)
![Gmrge Street.] THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. I47
of the college, which had entire control over ?the
drugs of apothecaries and chemists. It further
protected Fellows from sitting on juries.
Under this charter the college continued to
discharge its functions for many years, although
it eventually abandoned in practice the exclusive
rights conferred on it, and ceased to exercise any
inspection over the shops of apothecaries as the
changes of social position and necessity caused
many of the provisions to fall into abeyance.
Having become sensible of the advantages that
would accrue to it from a new charter, to the end
that it might be free from the obligation of admitting
to its license all Scottish University graduates
without examination, to get rid of the clause prohibiting,
its connection with a medical school,
and further, that it might have the power of expelling
unworthy members, a new charter was prepared
in 1843, but, after a great many delays
and readjustments, was not obtained until the 16th
of August, 1861.
The first president of the institution was Dr.
Archibald Stevenson, who was elected on the 8th
of December, 1681, and held the chair till 1684;
his successor was Sir Robert Sibbald (of the house
of Balgonie), an eminent physician, naturalist, and
antiquary, who graduated in medicine at Leyden
in 1661 ; but from the time of his election there is
a hiatus in the records till the 30th of November,
1693, when we again find in the chair Dr.
Archibald Stevenson, with the then considerable
honour of knighthood.
It was when Sir Thomas Burnet, author oi
U Thesaurus Mediam Pructice,? London, I 673,
was president, in 1696-8, that we find it recorded
that certain ruinous buildings bordering on the
Cowgate were converted by the college ?? into a
pavilion-shaped cold bath, which was open to the
inhabitants generally, at a charge for each ablution
of twelve shillings Scots, and one penny to the
servant; but those who subscribed one guinea
annually might resort to. it as often as they
pleased.?
Under the presidency of Dr. John Drumrnond,
in 1722, a new hall was erected in the gardens at
Fountain Close ; but proving insufficient, the college
was compelled to relinquish certain plans for
an edifice, offered by Adam the architect, and to
find a temporary asylum in the Royal Infirmary.
In 1770 the premises at Fountain Close were sold
for A800 ; more money was raised by mortgage
and other means, and the hall we have described
was erected in George Street, only to be relinquished
in time, after about seventy years? occupancy.
?The same poverty,? says the ?Historical Sketch,?
?
which had prevented the college from availing
itself of the plans of Adam, and which had caused
it to desire to part with its new hall in George
Street, even before its occupation, still pressed
heavily upon it. Having at that time no funded
capital, it was entirely dependent on the entrancefees
paid by Fellows, a fluctuating and inadequate
source of income. Besides, beautiful as the
George Street hall was in its outward proportions,
its internal arrangements were not so convenient as
might have been desired, and it is therefore not to
be wondered at that when the college found their
site was coveted by a wealthy banking corporation
their poverty and not their will consented ; and in
1843 the George Street hall was sold to the Commercial
Bank for Azo,ooo-a sum which it was
hoped would suffice to build a more comfortable
if less imposing, hall, and leave a surplus to secure
a certain, though possibly a small, annual income.
Although the transaction was obviously an advantageous
one for the college, it was not without
some difficulty that many of the Fellows made up
their minds to part with a building of which they
were justly proud.?
The beautiful hall was accordingly demolished
to the foundation stone, in which were found the
silver medals and other relics now in possession of
the college, which rented for its use No. 121,
George Street till the completion of its new hall,
whither we shall shortly follow k.
On its site was built, in 1847, the Commercial
Bank, an imposing structure of mingled Greek and
Roman character, designed by David Rhind, an
architect of high reputation. The magnificent
portico is hexastyle. There are ninety-five feet in
length of fapde, the columns are thirty-five feet in
height, with an entablature of nine feet ; the pediment
is fifteen feet six inches in height, and holds
in its tympanum a beautiful group of emblematic
sculpture from the chisel of A. Handyside Ritchie,
which figures on the notes of the bank. It has
a spacious and elegant telling-room, surrounded
by tall Corinthian pillars, with a vaulted roof,
measuring ninety feet by fifty. The Commercial
Bank of Scotland and the National Bank of Scotland
have been incorporated by royal charter ; but
as there is no Qubt about their being unlimited,
they are considered, with the Scottish joint stock
banks, of recent creation.
The deed of partnership of the Commercial
Bank is dated gist October, 1810, but subsequent
alterations have taken place, none of which, however,
in any way affect the principle named and
confirmed in the charter. The capital of the bank
was declared at ~3,000,000 j but only, a thud of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p159.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Page 147")
... Street.] THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. I47
of the college, which had entire control over ?the
drugs of ...
Book 3 p. 147
(Score 0.85)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Potterrow.
~~~ ~
very distinguished and accomplished circle, among
whom David Hume, ...
Book 4 p. 330
(Score 0.85)
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