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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 207
Golf was a farourite amusement of the citizens of Perth during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries; so much so, that the younger portion of the
community could not withstand its fascination even on the Sabbath day. In
the kirk-session records is an entry-2d January 1604-in which the “visitors
report, that good order was keeped the last Sabbath, except that .they found
some young boys playing at the gowf, in the North Inch, in the time of preaching,
afternoon, who were warned then by the officiars to compear before the session
this day.” They accordingly appeared ; and the ringleader, Robert Robertson,
was sentenced (‘to pay ane merk to the poor;” and ordained, with his
companions, ‘( to compear the next Sabbath, into the place of public repentance,
in presence of the whole congregation.” ‘
Early in the reign of James VI, the business of club-making had becpme
one of some importance. By “ane letter” of his Majesty, dated Holyrood
House, 4th April 1603, “William Mayne, bower, burgess of Edinburgh,”
is made and constituted, (( during all the days of his lyf-time, master fledger,
bower, ebbmaker, and speir-maker to his Hieness, alsweill for game as weir ;”
and in 1618 the game of golf appears to have been so generally in practice,
that the manufacturing of balls was deemed worthy of special protection.
In “ane” other letter of James VI., dated Salisburyl 5th August of the
above year, it is stated that there being (( no small quantity of gold and silver
transported zeirly out of his Hieness’ kingdom of Scotland for bying of gof
balls,” James Melvill and others are granted the sole right of supplying that
article within the kingdom, prohibiting all others from making or selling them
for the ‘( space of twenty-one zeirs.” The price of a ball was fixed at (‘ four
schillings money of this realm ;” and for the better tryell heiroff, his Majestie
ordanes the said James Melville to have ane particular stamp of his awin,
and to cause mark and stamp all suche ballis maid be him and his foirsaidis
thairwith;’ and that all ballis maid within the kingdome found to be
otherwayis stamped sal1 be escheated.”
From this period the game of golf took firm hold as one of the national
pastimes-practised by all ranks of the people, and occasionally countenanced
by royalty itself. (‘ Even kings themselves,” says a writer in the Scots Magazinc
tfohre 1S7o9c2ie,t y“ doifd Endoitn dbeucrlginhe Gthoel fperrsin tcoel yb es pionfrot;r maendd tith awt iltlh neo tt wboe dlaisspt lecarsoiwngn e1
heads that ever visited this country used to practise thb golf in the Links of
Leith, now occupied by the Society for the same purpose.
King Charles I. waa extremely fond of this exercise ; and it is said that,
when he was engaged in a party at golf on the Links of Leith, a letter was
delivered into his hands, which gave him the first account of the insurrection
and rebellion in Ireland. On reading which he suddenly called for his coach ;
Chronicle of Perth, privately printed for the Maitland Club, 1831, Ito, p. 69. From the
lame curions record we learn that foot-ball was also a favourita amusement of the Perth Citieens ’ This practice is still continued.

... SKETCHES. 207 Golf was a farourite amusement of the citizens of Perth during the sixteenth and ...

Book 9 p. 278
(Score 0.8)

KING‘S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 135
so generally placed on them, all afford tests as to the period of their erection, fully a6
definite and trustworthy as those that mark the progressive stages of the ecclesiastical
architecture of the Middle Ages. The earliest form of the crow-stepped gable presents a
series of pediments surmounting the steps, occasionally highly ornamented, and always
giving a rich effect to the building. Probably the very latest specimen of this, in Edinburgh,
is the h e old building of the Mint, in the Cowgate, which
bears the date 1574 over its principal entrance, while its other ornaments
axe similar to many of a more recent date. After the adoption
of the plain square crow-step, it seems still to have been held as an
important feature of the building ; in many of the older houses, the
arms or initials, or some other device of the owner, are to be found
on the lowest of them, even where the buildings are so lofty as to
place them almost out of sight. The dormer window, surmounted
with the thistle, rose, &c., and the high-peaked gable to the street,
are no less familiar features in our older domestic architecture.
Many specimens, also, of windows originally divided by stone mullions, and with lead
casements, still remain in the earliest mansions of the higher classes ; and in several of
these there are stone recesses or niches of a highly ornamental character, the use of which
has excited considerable discussion among antiquaries. A later form of window than
the last, exhibits the upper part glazed, and finished below with a richly carved wooden
transom, while the under half is closed with shutters, occasionally highly adorned on the
exterior with 8 variety of carved ornaments.
Towards the close of Charles 11,’s reign, an entirely new order of architecture was
adopted, engrafting the mouldings and some of the principal features of the Italian
style upon the forms that previously prevailed. The Golfers’ Land in the Canongate is
a good and early specimen of this. The gables are still steep, and the roofs of a high
pitch; and while _the front assumes somewhat of the character of a pediment, the crow:
steps are retained on the side gables ; but these features soon after disappear, and give way
to a regular pediment, surmounted with urns, and the like ornaments,-a very good specimen
of which remains on the south side of the Castle Hill, as well as others in various
parts of the Old Town. The 6ame district still presents good specimens of the old wooden
fronted lands, with their fore stairs and handsome inside turnpike from the fist floor, the
construction of which Maitland affirms to be coeval with the destruction of the extensive
forests of the Borough Muir, in the reign of James IV. We furnish a view of some other
remarkably picturesque specimens of the same style of building in this locality, recently
demolished to make way for the New College. All these various features of the ancient
domestic architecture of the Scottish Capital will come under review in the course of the
Work, in describing the buildings most worthy of notice that still remain, or have been
demolished during the present century.
f
Immediately below the Castle rock, on its south side, there exists an ancient appendage
of the Royal Palace of the Castle, still retaining the name of the King’s Stables, although
no hoof of the royal stud has been there for wellnigh three centuries. Thie district lies
without the line of the ancient city wall, and was therefore not only in an exposed sitna-
- -

... STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 135 so generally placed on them, all afford tests as to the ...

Book 10 p. 146
(Score 0.79)

300 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. .CCLXXII.
MIRZA ABOUL HASSAN EHAN,
ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY FROM THE KING OF PERSIA TO THE COURT OF
GREAT BRITAIN.
ABOULH ASSANt,h e Persian Ambassador, first visited Great Britain in 1809.
He was entrusted with a formal complaint against the Government of India, and
with instructions for the settlement of a treaty then pending betwixt Persia and
this country. His Excellency landed at Plymouth on the 30th of November.
Every attention was paid to his accommodation ; and, on his arrival in London,
he was conducted to an elegant house prepared for him in Mansfield Street.
On the 15th of the following month, the King’s ministers, in full dress, paid
their respects ; and on the 20th, he had his first audience of his Majesty at the
Queen’s Palace. He was introduced by the Marquis Wellesley, and was accompanied
by Sir Gore Onseley, Bart., whom his Majesty appointed to hold the
situation of mehmander, or interpreter. The following account is given of the
manner in which the Ambassador was conducted to the Palace :-
“About one o’clock his Majesty’s carriage and six beautiful bay horses, with the servants
in new state liveries, and two new carriages of his Excellency, together with that of Sir Stephen
Cottrell, master of the ceremonies, arrived at his Excellency’s house. In a short time after his
Excellency came out of the house, carrying his credentials in his hand in an elegant gold casket,
upon an elegant silver salver covered with crimson velvet. His Excellency appeared highly pleased
with the grand appearance of his Majesty’s carriage a d superb liveries, also with the reception of
a generous English public, who took off their hats and gave him three cheers. Mr. Chester, for Sir
Stephen Cottrell, who wag indisposed, followed his Excellency into the coach, and took his seat on
the left of the Ambassador. His
Excellency’s carriage followed, with Mr. Morier, who went from England with Sir Harford Jones
upon his mission to Persia,’ as an interpreter, and returned with his Excellency to this country
in the same capacity, and other attendants. In the third carriage were two pages, his Excellency’s
priest, and Mr. Durrant, the interpreter to the attendants and household ; those who were not
of this country were dressed in new Eastern dresses. The procession was led by the carriage of
Sir Stephen Cottrell. The streets through which it passed were crowded to excess ; and the Park
was so extremely thronged that it was with difficulty the carriages could proceed. It being the
determination of Government to show his Excellency every mark of respect, he was allowed to
enter the Queen’s Palace by the great doors in front, where, usually, no one is allowed to enter
save the royal family, His Excellency entered the Palace about a quarter before two o’clock.
He was accompanied to the state apartments by Mr. Chester, Sir Gore Onseley, and Mr. Morier.
His servants were dressed in scarlet coats, richly embroidered with gold lace, breeches and
waistcoat of green and gold, hat cocked, with gold lace. On his return to Mansfield Street, Sir
Gore Ouseley and Mr. Morier were invited to partake of an entertainment with him, called in
Persia a PiZlaw; it was composed of rice and fowls stewed with spices.”
Sir Gore Ouseley took his seat with his back to the horses.
The following interesting sketch of the personal appearance and character of
Si Harford went out in 1808 ; but owing to gome misunderstanding betwixt the Governor of
India (Lord Minto) and General Malcolm, he failed in accomplishing an amicable adjustment of the
treaty.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. .CCLXXII. MIRZA ABOUL HASSAN EHAN, ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY FROM THE KING OF PERSIA TO ...

Book 9 p. 400
(Score 0.79)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 191
James was one of the first sheriffs appointed by the crown. He obtained the
sheriffdom of Tweeddale, his native county ; and it may be noticed that he was
the last survivor of all those appointed at the same period. His conduct as a
judgd in this situation-the more irksome from its being the first of a new order
of things-proved so highly satisfactory, that in 1764 he was promoted to
the office of Solicitor-General for Scotland, and elected to represent his native
county in the British Parliament. A few years after he was still farther
honoured by the appointment of Lord Advocate; and in 1777, on the death of
Lord Chief-Baron Ord, he was appointed Lord Chief-Baron of his Majesty's
Court of Exchequer.' This situation he held until 1801, when he found it
necessary to retire from public business. The title of Baronet was then conferred
upon him (July 16, lSOl), as a mark of royal esteem for his long and faithful
services.
Sir James, like his father, had early formed a just estimate of the importance
of agriculture as a study; and, even amid the laborious duties of his official
appointments, was enthusiastic in its pursuits. On his farm of Wester-Deans,
in the parish of Newlands, he had turnips in drills, dressed by a regular process
of horse-hoeing, so early as 1757 ; and he was among the first, if not the very
first, in Scotland who introduced the light horse-plough, instead of the old
cumbrous machine which, on the most favourable soil, required four horses and
a driver to manage them.
For the purpose of enlarging his practical knowledge, Sir James travelled
over the most fertile counties of England, and embraced every opportunity which
could possibly tend to aid him in promoting his patriotic design of improving
the agriculture of his native country. The means of reclaiming waste lands in
particular occupied a large share of his attention. His first purchase was a portion
of land, remarkable for its unimprovable appearance, lying upon the upper
extremities of the parishes of Newlands and Eddleston. This small estate,
selected apparently for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability of a
favourite theory, dbtained the designation of the ' I Whim," a name which it has
since retained. He also rented, under a long lease, a considerable range' of contiguous
ground from Lord Portmore. Upon these rude lands, which consisted
chiefly of a deep moss soil, Sir James set to work, and speedily proved what
could be accomplished by capital, ingenuity, and industry. In a few years the
'' Whim" became one of the most fertile spots in that part of the country.
His next purchase was the extensive estate of Stanhope? lying in the parishes
of Stobo, Drummellier, and Tweedsmuir, and consisting principally of mountainous
sheep-walks. Here, too, he effected great improvements, by erecting enclosures
where serviceable-planting numerous belts of young trees-and building com-
1 He was the first Scotsman who held this office since the establishment of the Court in 1707. * These lands belonged to Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope, Baronet-the husband of that Lady
Murray, whose beautiful memoirs of her father and mother were, for the first time, printed under the
superintendence of Thomas Thomson, Esquire, from the original MS., in 1822, 8vo. Her husband
ruined himself by his. wild speculations, and his paternal estate passed to other hands.

... SKETCHES. 191 James was one of the first sheriffs appointed by the crown. He obtained the sheriffdom ...

Book 8 p. 269
(Score 0.79)

BI 0 GRAPH1 CAL SKETCHES. 263
and again, in 1794-5, when he was also chosen Deacon Convener of the Trades.
He took much interest in city affairs ; and was distinguished as an active and
energetic member of the Town Council. Frequently in opposition, he was
conspicuously so when the ‘‘ levelling of the High Street ” was first proposed ;
in the Print of which, formerly given, he figures as a principal opponent.
Dr. Hay resided first in Strichen’s Close ; again at the head of Blair Street,
in the house next to Messrs. Smith and Co., purveyors of oils and lamps ; and
latterly in George Street, where he died on the 11th of April 1816. He
married Miss Jean Graham, sister of the late Lieut.-General Grahaql Deputy-
Governor of Stirling Castle, and left several children, John Hay, Esq., late
member of the Medical Board, Madras, being the eldest, and Dr. David Hay,
of Queen Street, the youngest.
A memoir of SIR JAMES STIRLING has already been given in the first
volume of this Work. From accurate information, we may here state that his
father, Alexander-son of Gilbert Stirling, Esq., and Margaret, daughter, of
Alexander Cumming, Esq., of Birness, cadet of the family of Altyre, Aberdeenshire-
was a merchant of much respectability in Edinburgh, having a shop in the
Luckenbooths, for the sale of cloth and other goods. His mother was a daughter
of James Moir, Esq., of Lochfield, in Perthshire, cadet of the family of
Moir of Leckie.
The honour of a baronetage was conferred on Sir James in 1792, as expressly
stated to him by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, as a
mark of his Majesty’s most gracious approbation of his conduct during the riots
in that year, when (according to the statement of his friends), so far from taking
refuge in the Castle from the fear of personal consequences, he remained there
at great inconvenience to himself, in order that the military should have a civil
magistrate ready to accompany them when called on, which he did on more
occasions than one.
The
other two sons, Jarnes and William, died in infancy.
Sir James left only one son, who succeeded him in the baronetcy.
In Stewart’s Mil&wy Sketches the following remarkable circumstance is related of General
Graham, then a Lieat.-Colonel, and on service in the West Indies :-“A ball had entered his side
three iuches from the back-bone, and, passing through, had come out under his breast ; another, or
perhaps the same ball, had shattered two of his fingers. No assistance could be got but that of a
soldier’s wife (of the 42d regiment), who had been long in the service, and was in the habit of attending
sick and wounded soldiers. She washed his wounds, and bound them up in such a manner, that
when a surgeon came and saw the way in which the operation had been performed, he said he could
not have done it better, and would not unbind the dressing. The Colonel soon afterwards opened
his eyes, and, though unable to speak for many hours, seemed sensible of what was passing around
him. In this state he lay nearly three weeks, when he WBS carried to Kingston, and thence conveyed
to England. He was still in a most exhausted state, the wound in his side discharging matter from
both orifices. He went to Edinburgh with little hopes of recovery, but on the evening of the illumination
for the battle of Camperdown, the smoke of 80 many candles and flambeaux affecting his
breathing, he coughed with great violence, and, in the exertion, threw np a piece of cloth, left, no
doubt, by the ball in ita passage through his body. From that day he recovered as by a charm.”-
Colonel Graham was at this time residing in Blaii Street with his brother-in-law, Dr. Hay.

... 0 GRAPH1 CAL SKETCHES. 263 and again, in 1794-5, when he was also chosen Deacon Convener of the Trades. He ...

Book 9 p. 350
(Score 0.78)

YAMES l? TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARK 59
This year also is the period of John Knox's return to Scotland. On his escape from
France-whither he had been carried a prisoner, after the taking of the Castle of St
Andrews-he had remained in England till the death of Edward VI., whence he went for
a time to Geneva. Immediately on his return to Scotland, he began preaching against
the mass, as an idolatrous worship, with such effect that he was summoned before the
ecclesiastical judicatory, held in the Blackfriars' Church in Edinburgh, on the 15th of
May 1556. The case, however, was not pursued at the time, probably from apprehension
of a popular tumult; but the citation had the usual effect of increasing his popularity;
" and it is certain," says Bishop Keith, '' that Mr -Knox preached to a greater auditory
the very day he should have made his appearance, than ever he did before."' At this
time it was that the letter was written by him to the Queen Regent, entreating for
reformation in the Church, which, on its being delivered to her by the Earl of Glencairn,
she composedly handed it to the Archbishop of Glasgow, after glancing at it, saying-
" Please y-o.u , my Lord, to look at a pasquill I "-a striking contrast to the influence he
afterwards exercised over her royal daughter.' No sooner had John Knox accepted an
invitation, which he received that same year, from an English congregation at Geneva,
than the clergy cited him anew before them, and in default of his appearance, he was
condemned as an heretic, and burned in effigy at the Cross of Edinburgh.
Towards the close of the year 1555, the City of Edinburgh gave a sumptuous
entertainment to the Danish Ambassador, at the expense of twenty-five pounds, seventeen
shillings, and one penny Scots I doubtless a magnificent civic feast in those days.' About
this time, the Queen Regent, acting under the advice of her French councillors, excited
the general indignation of the Scottish nobility and people in general, by a scheme for
raising a standing army, to supersede the usual national force, composed of the nobles
and their retainers, and which was to be supported by a tax imposed on every man's
estate and substance. Numerous private assemblies of the barons and gentlemen took
place to organise a determined opposition to the scheme ; and at length three hundred of
them assembled in the Abbey Church of Holyrood, and despatched the Lairds of Calder
and Wemyss to the Queen Regent and her council, with so resolute a remonstrance, that
the Queen was fain to abandon the project, and thought them little worthy of thanks that
were the inventors of what proved a fertile source of unpopularity to her government'
The contentions arising from differences in religion now daily increased, and the populace
of the capital were among the foremost to manifest their zeal against the ancient faith.
In the year 1556, they destroyed the statues of the Virgin Mary, Trinity, and St Francis,
in St Giles's Church, which led to a very indignant remonstrance from the Queen Regent,
addressed to the magistrates ; but they do not seem to have been justly chargeable with
sympathy in such reforming movements, as we find the council of that same year, in
addition to other marks of honour conferred on the Provost, ordering that for his greater
state, the servants of all the inhabitants shall attend him, with lighted torches, from the
vespers or evening prayers, to his house.6
On the breaking out of war between England and France, in 1557, the Queen Regent,
.
1 Bishop Keith's History, vol. i. p. 150.
8 Council Registers, Maitland, p. 14.
Calderwood's Historp, Wodrow Soc., voL i. p. 316.
Bishop Leslie'n Hist., p. 255.
Maitland, p. 14.

... l? TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARK 59 This year also is the period of John Knox's return to Scotland. On ...

Book 10 p. 64
(Score 0.78)

I 86 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
The ancient prison of Edinburgh had its EAST and WEST ENDS, known to the last by
these same distinctive appellations, that mark the patrician and plebeian districts of the
British metropolis. The line of division is apparent in our engraved view, showing the
western and larger portion of the building constructed of coarse rubble work, while
the earlier edifice, at the east end, was built of polished stone. This distinction was
still more apparent on the north side, which, though much more ornamental, could
only be viewed in detail, owing to the narrowness of the street, and has not, as far
as we are aware, been represented in any engraving.’ It had, on the first floor, a large
and deeply splayed square window, decorated on either side with richly carved Gothic
niches, surmounted with ornamental canopies of varied designs. A smaller window
on the floor above was flanked with similar decorations, the whole of which were, in all
probability, originally filled with statues. Maitland mentions, and attempts to refute, a
tradition that this had been the mansion of the Provost of St Giles’s Church, but there
seems little reason to doubt that it had been originally erected as some such appendage
to t,he church. The style of ornament was entirely that of a collegiate building attached
to an ecclesiastical edifice ; and its situation and architectural adornments suggest the
idea of its having been the residence of the Provost or Dean, while the prebends and
other members of the college were accommodated in the buildings on the south side
of the church, removed in the year 1632 to make way for the Parliament House. If this
idea is correct, the edifice was, in all probability, built shortly after the year 1466, when
a charter was granted by King James III., erecting St Giles’s into a collegiate church ;
and it may further have included a chapter-house for the college, whose convenient
dimensions would lead to its adoption as a place of meeting for the Scottish Parliaments.
The date thus assigned to the most ancient portion of the “ Heart; of Midlothian,”
receives considerable confirmation from the style of the building ; but
Parliaments had assembled in Edinburgh long before that period ; three, at least, were
held there during the reign of James I., and when his assassination at Perth, iu 1437, led
to the abandonment of the Fair City as the chief residence of the Court, and thh ’capital of
the kingdom, the first general council of the new reign took place in the Castle of Edinburgh.
We have already described the remains of the Old‘ Parliament Hall still existing
there; and this, it is probable, was the scene of all such assemblies as were held at
Edinburgh in earlier reigns.
The next Parliament of James 11. was summoned to meet at Stirling, the following
year, in the month of March; but another was held that same year in the month of
November, “ in pretorio burgi de Edinburgh.” The same Latin term for the Tolbooth is
repeated in the minutes of another Assembly of the Estates held there in 1449 ; and, in
1451, the old Scottish name appears for the first time in “ the parleament of ane richt hie
and excellent prince, and our soverane lorde, James the Secunde, be the grace of Gode,
King of Scotts, haldyn at Edinburgh the begunyn in the Tolbuth of the samyn.”2 A
much older, and probably larger, erection must therefore have existed on the site of the
We have drawn the view at the head of the Chapter from a slight aketch taken shortly before ita demolition, by
Mr D. Somerville ; with the assistance of a most ingenious model of St Giles’s Church and the aurroonding buildings,
made by the Rev. John She, about the year 1805, to which we were also partly indebted for the south view of the aame
building.
Acts of Scottish Parliaments, folio, vol. ii.

... 86 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. The ancient prison of Edinburgh had its EAST and WEST ENDS, known to the last ...

Book 10 p. 204
(Score 0.77)

ROBERT BURNS, 107
in the rooms of Stewart, Blair, or Robertson. . , .
But Edinburgh offered tables and entertainers of a
less staid character, when the glass circulated with
greater rapidity, when wit flowed more freely, and
when there were neither high-bred ladies to charm
conversation within the bounds of modesty, nor
serious philosophers nor grave divines to set a
limit to the licence of speech or the hours of
enjoyment. To those companions, who were all
of the better classes,
the levities of the rustic
poet?s wit and humour
were as welcome as
were the tenderest of
his narratives to the
accomplished Duchess
of Gordon or the beautiful
Miss Burnet of
Monboddo ; theyraised
a social roar not at all
classic, and demanded
and provoked his sallies
of wild humour, or
indecorous mirth, with
as much delight as he
had witnessed among
the lads of Kyle,
when, at mill or forge,
his humorous sallies
abounded as the ale
flowed.?
While in Edinburgh
Bums was the frequent
and welcome guest ot
John Campbell, Precentor
of the Canongate
Church, a famous
amateur vocalist in his
time, though forgotten
now ; and to him Bums
applied for an introduction
to Bailie Gentle,
After a stay of six months in Edinburgh, Burns ? set out on a tour to the south of Scotland, accompanied
by Robert Ainslie, W.S. ; but elsewhere we
shall meet him again. Opposite the house in which
he dwelt is one with a very ancient legend, BZissit.
be. th. bra. in, aZZ. His .gz)Xs. nm. and. euir. In
1746 this was the inheritance of Martha White,
only child of a wealthy burgess who became a
banker in London. She? became the wife of
to the end that he might accord his tribute to the
memory of the poet, poor Robert Fergusson, whose
grave lay in the adjacent churchyard, without a
stone to mark it. Bailie Gentle expressed his
entire concurrence with the wish of Bums, but
said that ?he had no power to grant permission
without the consent of the managers of the Kirk
funds.?
?Tell them,? said Burns, ?it is the Ayrshire
ploughman who makes the request.? The authority
was obtained, and a promise given, which we
believe has been sacredly kept, that the grave
should remain inviolate.
2s CLOSE*
Charles niIlth Earl of
Kincardine, and afterwards
Earl of Elgin,
?? undoubted heir male
and chief of d l the
Bruces in Scotland,?
as Douglas records.
The countess, who died
in 1810, filled, with
honour to herself, the
office of governess to
the unfortunate Princess
Charlotte of Wales.
One of the early
breaches made in the
vicinity of the central
thoroughfare of the city
was Bank Street, on
tlie north (the site of
Lower Baxter?s Close),
wherein was the shop
of two eminent cloth
merchants, David
Bridges and Son, which
became the usual resort
of the whole Ziteraii of
the city in its day.
David Bridges junior
had a strongly developed
bias towards
literary studies, and,
according to the memoirs
of Professor WiE
son, was dubbed by the Blackwood nits, (? Director-
General of the Fine Arts.? His love for these and
the drama was not to be controlled by his connection
with mercantile business ; and while the sefiior
partner devoted himself to the avocations of trade in
one part of their well-known premises, the younger
was employed in adorning a sort of sanctum, where
one might daily meet Sir Walter Scott and his
friend Sir Adam Ferguson (who, as a boy, had
often sat on the knee of David Hume), Professor
Tradition points to the window on the immediate right (marked *)
as that of the mom occupied by Burns.

... BURNS, 107 in the rooms of Stewart, Blair, or Robertson. . , . But Edinburgh offered tables and ...

Book 1 p. 107
(Score 0.77)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 187
In the unfortunate “ Walcheren Expedition,” undertaken in 1809, under
the late Earl of Chatham, the Marquis commanded the fourth division. The
object of this armament, which had been fitted out on a very extensive scale,
was the destruction of the fleet and arsenal at Anbwerp, but except in the bombardment
of Flushing, the expedition entirely failed of success.
With the Walcheren expedition closed the foreign military career of the
Marquis of Huntly. His subsequent life was distinguished bya patriotic and active
zeal in whatever tended to the honour or advantage of his native country. He was
long a member, and frequently President, of the Highland Society, an association
which has done so much to improve the agriculture and condition of the
peasantry of Scotland. As a mark of distinction, in 1813, the Marquis was
appointed General of the ancient body denominated the Royal Archers of
Scotland, or King’s Body Guard. Of the Celtic Society he was also an equally
honoured member ; and, in short, in all patriotic or national associations he was
found to yield enthusiastic co-operation.
On the death of his lordship’s father, in 1827, he succeeded to the dukedom
of Gordon in Scotland, and the earldom of Norwich in England ; and in the
still more extended sphere of influence thus opened to him, the spirit which
had animated the Marquis continued to be manifested in the Duke. The great
improvements which he effected on his extensive estates-the exquisite taste
displayed in laying out the grounds and ornamenting the lawns around the
princely Castle of Gordon-together with his successful .exertions in improving
the breed of Highland cattle, and promoting agriculture, are well-known instances
of the Duke’s untiring zeal and perseverance.
He married, in 1813, Elizabeth, daughter of the late Alexander Brodie,
Esq. of Am Hall, but had no issue. His Grace died at London in June 1836,’
and with him the dukedom of Gordon and earldom of Norwich became extinct.
The title of Marquis of Huntly, and some of the inferior dignities, devolved to
his Grace’s ‘‘ heir-male whatsoever,” the Earl of Aboyne. The estates passed
by virtue of an entail to his nephew, the Duke of Richmond.
As a tribute to the memory of the Duke of Gordon, we beg to append the following letter of
condolence to the Duchess from the Governors of the London Scottish Hospital, whose opportunities
of knowing his Grace’s exertions in the cause of charity give peculiar weight to their sentiments :
Unto her Grace Elizabeth Duchess of Gordon, Marchioness of Huntly, Countess of
Huntly; Enzie, and Norwich, Viscountess of Inverness, etc. etc etc. etc.
MADAM,
WE, the Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Governors of the Scottish Hospital of the foundation of
King Charles the Second, re-incorporated by King George the Third, in General Court assembled,
beg leave thus to olfer our heartfelt condolence upon the severe bereavement with which God in his
Providence has seen meet to make trial of your “faith and patience.”
Be assured, Madam, that it is not in the observance of a mere formality, but because of that
alfectionate regard which we must ever entertain for the memory of our late noble President, that
we intrude thus early upon that grief in which we do sincerely participate.
When, at the command of our present most gracious King and Patron, the Duke of Gordon
entered upon the Presidency of this Institution, we congratulated ourselves on the acquisition of a
nobleman whose ancient and honourable lineage, and whose generous, chivalrous character, concurred
with his previoua knowledge of the Society, and zeal for its interests, to recommend him to our

... SKETCHES. 187 In the unfortunate “ Walcheren Expedition,” undertaken in 1809, under the late ...

Book 8 p. 264
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 105
public dinner given in honour of that event. Of this we find the following
notice in the Courant newspaper :-
" On Monday afternoon, 8th June 1828, about a hundred gentlemen belonging to Lady
Glenorchy's Chapel gave an entertainment, in the Waterloo Tavern, to their highly respected
clergyman, on occasion of his entrance on the fiftieth year of his ministry over that congregation.
Several friends of the Rev. Doctor were present, among whom we noticed the Lord Provost
(Walter Brown), Rev. Dr. Gordon, Dr. Dickson, &. Paul, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Purves,
J. S. More, Esq., and R. Paul, Esq. The chair was ably filled by John Tawse, Esq., who, in
an eloquent speech, in which he paid a high and deserved compliment to Dr. Jones for the
fidelity with which he had discharged his dutiea as a minister, concluded by presenting him
with an elegant silver vase, as a tribute of the respect and esteem which the people entertained
for the uniform uprightness of his conduct during the long period they had enjoyed his ministry.
The Rev. Doctor made a feeling and appropriate reply, assuring the chairman and gentlemen
present that he required no token or mark of respect to bind him to a congregation to whom he
was so sincerely attached. John Bonar, Esq., of Ratho,l and J. F. M'Farlan, Esq., acted as
croupiers. "
Besides a funeral sermon 011 the death of Lady Glenorchy, and a volume of
sermons, Dr. Jones published a Life of Lady Glenorchy, which is much esteemed.
No. CCVII.
WILLIARI FORBES, ESQ.
OF CALLENDAR.
THISI ' son of fortune " was a native of Aberdeen, and brought up as a tinsmith.
Having gone to London in early life, he was at length enabled to enter into
business for himself, and was struggling to rise into respectability, when, by a
fortunate circumstance, the path to opulence was invitingly opened to him.
In the course of the year 1780, various plans were proposed to preserve
vessels from the effects of sea-water. The late Lord Dundonald, who died at
Paris in 1831, having directed his attention to the subject, invented a species
of coal-tar, which, on trial, was found to answer the purpose ; and the ingenious
Mr. Bonar died on the 26th November 1838, a few months previous to Dr. Jones. His father,
the late Alexander Bonar, Esq., one of the partners of the long-established firm of Ramsays, Bonars,
and Co., bankera in Edinburgh, was among the earliest and most intimate friends of Dr. Jones in
Scotland ; and was so highly esteemed by Lady Glenorchy for his Christian principles, his prudence,
integrity, and iinobtrusive worth, that she nominated him as one of her trustees to manage the
affairs of her Chapel upon her death. His son continued to take a lively interest in all that belonged
to this Chapel ; and his death, which was very unexpected, was felt as a severe loss by the friends
of that Institution. This event was also much lamented by the public at large, as Mr. Bonar was
universally respected for the kindness and frankness of his disposition, and for his readiness on all
occasions to promote the interests of those around him. In 1826-7, he was in the magistracy of the
city, and there conducted himself in a manner that secured him the approbation of men of all parties.
He was subsequently named one of the trustees for the city creditors ; and although in this capacity
he did not unnecessarily obtrude his own views on others, he devoted his time cheerfully to the
duties of the ofice, and understood 80 well the practical bearing of the different points from time
to time occurring, that his opinion was always received with much respect.
VOL. 11. P

... SKETCHES. 105 public dinner given in honour of that event. Of this we find the following notice in ...

Book 9 p. 141
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146 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
single apartment, with a huge fireplace at the west end, and a gallery added to it by the
timber projection in front. The hearth-stone was raised above the level of the floor, and
guarded by a stone ledge or fender, similar in character to a fireplace of the thirteenth century
dill existing at St Mary’s Abbey, York. This room was lighted by a large dormer
window in the roof, in addition to the usual windows in front; and in the thickness of
the stone wall, within the wooden gallery, there were two ornamental stone recesses, with
projecting sculptured sills, and each closed by an oak door, richly carved with dolphins
and other ornamental devices.’ The roof was high and steep, and the entire appearance
of the building singulaTly picturesque. We have been the more particular in describing
it, from the interest attaching to its original possessors. It is defined, in one of the titledeeds
of the neighbouring property, as (( That tenement of land belonging to the chaplain
of the chaplainry of St Nicolas’s Altar, founded within the College Church of St Giles,
within the burgh of Edinburgh;” it is now replaced by a plain, unattractive, modern
building.
The most interesting portions of this district, however, or perhaps of any other among
the private buildings in the Old Town, were to be found within the space including Todd’s,
Nairn’s, and Blyth’s Closes, nearly the whole of which have been swept away to provide a
site for the New College. On the west side of Blyth’s Close there existed a remarkable
building, some portion of which still remains. This the concurrent testimony of tradition
and internal evidence pointed out as having been the mansion of Mary of Guise, the Queen
of James V., and the mother of Queen Mary. There was access to the different apartments,
as is- usual in the oldest houses in Edinburgh, by various stairs and intricate
passages ; for no feature is so calculated to excite the surprise of a stranger, on his first visit
to such substantial mansions, as the numerous and ample flights of stone stairs, often placed
in immediate juxtaposition, yet leading to different parts of the building. Over the main
doorway, which still remains, there is the inscription, in bold Gothic characters, %&U$
gonot! Dto, with I. R., the initials of the King, at thk respective ends of the lintel.
On a shield, placed on the right side, the monogram of the Virgin Nary is sculptured,*
while a corresponding shield on the left, now entirely defaced, most probably bore the usual
one of our Saviour.’ . On the first landing of the principal stair, a small vestibule gave entrance to an apartment,
originally of large dimensions, though for many years subdivided into various rooms
and passages. At the right-hand side of the inner doorway, on entering this apartment, a
remarkably rich Gothic niche remained till recently, to which we have given the name of a
piscina, in the accompanying engraving, owing to its having a hole through the bottom of
it, the peculiar mark of that ecclesiastical feature, and one which we have not discovered in
any other of those niches we have examined. The name is at least convenient for distinction
in future reference to it; but its position was at the side of a very large and handsome
fireplace, one of the richly clustered pillars of which appears in the engraving, on the
outside of a modern partition, and no feature was discoverable in the apartment calculated
For the description of the interior of this ancient building, we are mainly indebted to the Rev. J. Sime, chaplain of
Trinity Hospital, whose uncle long possessed the property. A very oblique view of the house appears in Storer’s ‘‘High
Street, from the Caatle Parade.” Plate 1, vol. ii.
Vide Pugin’s Glossary of Eccl. Ornament, p. 162. 8 Vignette at the head of the Chapter.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. single apartment, with a huge fireplace at the west end, and a gallery added to it by ...

Book 10 p. 158
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THE HIGH STREET. 233
of his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig, has been preserved by Sir James
Balfour, and is worth quoting as a sample of party rancour against the Whig statesman :-
Deed well ye deathe,
And burate the lyke a tune,
That took away good Elspet Craige,
And left ye knave her sone.
History and romance contend for the associations of the Scottish capital, not always
with the advantage on the dull side of fact. On a certain noted Saturday night, in the
annals of fiction, Dandy Dinmont and Colonel Mannering turned from the High Street
“ into a dark alley, then up a dark stair, and into an open door.” The alley was Writers’
Court, and the door that of Clerihugh’s tavern ; a celebrated place of convivial resort during
the last century, which still stands at the bottom of the court, though its deserted walls no
longer ring with the revelry of High Jinks, and such royal mummings as formed the sport
of Pleydell and his associates on that jovial night. The picture is no doubt a true one of
scenes familiar to grave citizens of former generations. Clerihugh’s tavern was the favourite
resort of our old civic dignitaries, for those douce festivities ” that were then deemed
indispensable to the satisfactory settlement of all city affairs. The wags of last century
used to tell of a certain city treasurer, who, on being applied to for a new rope to the Tron
Kirk bell, summoned the Council to deliberate on the demand ; an adjournment to Clerihugh’s
tavern it was hoped might facilitate the settlement of 80 weighty a matter, but
one dinner proved insufficient, and it was not till they had finished their third banquet in
Writers’ Court, that the application was referred to a committee of councillors, who spliced
the old bell rope and settled the bill I
We have already alluded to some of the most recently cherished superstitions in regard
to Mary King’s Close, associated with Beth’s Wynd as one of the last retreats of the
plague ; but it appears probable, from the following epigram ‘‘ on Marye King’a pest,”
by Drummond of Hawthornden, that the idea is coeval with the name of the close :-
‘
Turne, citizens, to God ; repent, repent,
And praye your bedlam frenziea may relent ;
Think not rebellion a trifling thing,
Thia plague doth fight for Mark and the Xing.’
Mr George Sinclair has furnished, in his “ Satan’s Invisible World Discovered,” an
account of apparitions seen in this close, and (‘attested by witnesses of undoubted veracity,”
which leaves all ordinary wonders far behind! This erudite work was written to confound
the atheists of the seventeenth century. It used to be hawked about the streets by the
gingerbread wives, and found both purchasers and believers enough to have satisfied even
its credulous author. Its popularity may account for the general prevalence of superstitioue
prejudices regarding this old close, which was, at best, a grim and gousty-looking place,
and appears, from the reports of property purchased for the site of the Royal Exchange,
to have been nearly all in ruins when that building was erected, most of the houses having
been burned down in 1750. The pendicle of Satan’s worldly possessions, however, which
1 Writers’ Court derives its name from the Signet Library having been kept there until ita removal to the magnificent
apartments which it now occupies adjoining the Parliament House.
a Drummond of Hawthorndeu’s Poems, Maitland Club, p. 395.
Originally published in 1685, by Mr George Siclair, Professor of Philosophy in Glasgow College, and afterwards
minister of Eastwood in Renfrewahire.
2Q

... HIGH STREET. 233 of his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig, has been preserved by Sir ...

Book 10 p. 254
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JAMES l? TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARK 51
success on his own behalf. The Scottish nation, torn at this time by rival factions, and
destitute of any leader or guide, could only submit in passive indignation to his ruthless
vengeance. Yet, with their usual pertinacity, they shortly after mustered aboltt thirteen
hundred men, who “raid into England and brunt and herijt certane townes on the bordouris
vnto Tilmouth; ” and, on the twelfth of July following, the Earl of Angus was
proclaimed lieutenant, and commanded the realm to follow him in an hour’s warning,
“ with foure dayis victuall, to pass on their ald enemies of Ingland.”
During the following year 1545-6, Edinburgh Castle was for a brief period the scene
of Wishart’s imprisonment, after his seizure by the Earl of Bothwell, and delivery into
the hands of Cardinal Beaton, at Elphinstone Tower ; an ancient keep, situated in East
Lothian, about two miles from the village of Tranent. A wretched dungeon, under the
great hall of Elphinstone, is fitill pointed out as the place of Wishart’s imprisonment, as
well as another room, in which the Cardinal slept at the same period. The burning of
Wishart immediately afterwards at St Andrews, as well as the death of the Cardinal, by
the hands of Wishart’s friends, which 80 speedily followed, are facts familiar to the
student of Scottish history.
The death of Henry VIII. in 1547 tended to accelerate the renewal of his project for
enforcing the union of the neighbouring kingdoms, by the marriage of his son with the
Scottish Queen. Henry, on his deathbed, urged the prosecution of the war with Scotland;
and the councillors of the young King Edward VI. lost no time in completing their
arrangements for the purpose.
The Scottish Court was at this time at Stirling, but the council made the most
vigorouB preparations for the defence of the kingdom. A proclamation was issued on the
19th of March, requiring all the lieges to be ready, on forty days’ warning, to muster at
their summons, with victuals for one month ; and on the 25th of May, this was followed
by another order for preparing beacon fires on all the high hills along the coast, to give
warning of the approach of the enemy’s fleet. The more urgently to summon the people
to arms, the Earl of Arran adopted an expedient seldom resorted to, except in cases of
imminent peril; he caused the Kery Cross to be borne by the heralds throughout the
realm, summoning all men, as well spiritual as temporal, between sixty and sixteen, to
be ready to repair to the city of Edinburgh, weil bodin in feir of weir, at the first notice of
the English ships.*
. In the beginning of September, the Earl of Hertford, now Duke of Somerset, and
Lord Protector of England, during the minority of his nephew Edward VL, again eutered
Scotland at the head of a numerous army; while a fleet of about sixty sail co-operated
with him, by a descent on the Scottish coast. At his advance, he found the Scottish army
assembled in great force to oppose him, whereupon he wrote to the Governor of Scotland,
offering for the sake of peace, that while he still insisted on the hand of the Queen for his
royal master, he would agree to conditions by which she should remain within Scotland
until she were fit for marriage.
The Scottish leaders, however, were resolute in rejecting this alliance with England at.
whatever cost ; and in proof of the strong feeling of opposition that existed, it may be
mentioned, that the Scottish army included a large body of priests and monks, who
Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 33. ’ Keith’e History, vol. i. p. 1% Tytler, vol. vi. p. 23.

... l? TO ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARK 51 success on his own behalf. The Scottish nation, torn at this time by rival ...

Book 10 p. 56
(Score 0.76)

YAMES V. TO ABDICATlON OF QUEEN MARK 57
entire nobility, and most influential leaders among the clergy; the Primate of St Andrews,
brother of the Regent, being almost the only man of any weight still adhering to
him.
Moved alike by promises and threats, the imbecile Regent at length resigned the government,
and a Parliament thereupon assembled at Edinburgh on the 12th of April 1554, in
which the transference of the government was ratified, and a commission produced from
Queen Mary, then in her twelfth year, appointing her mother, Mary of Guise, Regent of
the realm, which the estates of Parliament confirmed by their subscriptions and seals.
The Earl of Arran, or as he was now styled, Duke of Chatelherault, then rose, and delivered
up the royal crown, sword, and sceptre, into the hands of Monsieur D’Oysel, the
French ambassador, who received them in the name of Queen Mary, by the authority of
the King of France, and others, her chosen curators ; and immediately thereafter he produced
a mandate from the Queen, in obedience to which he delivered them to the Queen
Do~ager.~T he new Regent acknowledged her acceptance of the office, and received the
homage and congratulations of the assembled nobility. She was then conducted iu public
procession, with great pomp and acclamation, through the city to the Palace of Holyrood,
and immediately entered upon the administration of the government.
The uncertainty of the government, previous to this settlement, and the enfeebled power
of the nominal Regent, exposed the capital as usual to disorders and tumults. From the
Council Register of this year 1554, we learn, that owing to the frequent robberies and
assaults committed in the streets of Edinburgh at night, the Council ordered “ lanterns or
bowets to be -hung out in the streets and closes, by such persons and in such places as the
magistrates should appoint, to continue burning from five o’clock in the evening till nine,
which was judged a proper time for people to repair to their respective habitations.” a The
account is curious and interesting, as furnishing the earliest notice of lighting up the public
streets of the Scottish capital.
The narratives of these disorders, furnishkd by contemporary authors, exhibit a state of
lawless violence that demanded of the magistrates no measured zeal to suppress. The
occasion was made available by rival factions to rencw their ancient feuds, “and to quyt
querrellis, thinking this to be tyme mod convenient.’’ Various deadly combats took
place; the Laird of Buccleuch was slain on the public streets by a party of the Kerrs,
and this was followed as usual by sworn strife between the rival clans. “ About the same
time,” says Bishop Leslie, “ the Master of Ruthven slew a valiant gentleman, called John
C%arteris of Kinclevin, in Edinburgh, upon occasion of old feud, and for staying of a
decret of ane proces which the said John pursued against him before the Lords of Session,”
which led to the passin’g of an Act by the next Parliament, that whosoever should slay a
man for pursuing an action against him, should forfeit the right of judgment in h i action,
in addition to his liability to the laws for the crime. This author further records, that
the Lord Semple slew the Lord Crichtoun of Sanquhar, in the governor’s own house in
Edinburgh; and by the interest of the Archbishop of St Andrews and other friends,
escaped free from all consequences of the crime.5 A state of things that must have made
the people at large rejoice in seeing the reins of government transferred to vigorous
Bishop Leslie, p. 245. Keith’a Hi&, vol. i. p. 142. a Maitland, p. 14.
H
’ Bishop Leslie’s Hiatory, p. 217. Ibid, p. 248.

... V. TO ABDICATlON OF QUEEN MARK 57 entire nobility, and most influential leaders among the clergy; the ...

Book 10 p. 62
(Score 0.76)

48 BX 0 GRAPH I C AL SKETCHES.
I‘ The History of Dover Castle. ~ By the Rev. William Darrell, Chaplain to
Queen Elizabeth.” In 4t0, the same size as the large and small
editions of the Antiquities of’ England and Wales; with ten views engraved
from drawings by Captain Grose.
“ A Provincial Glossary ; with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular
Superstitions.” Lond. 1788. 8vo.
. “Rules for Drawing Caricatures ; the subjectlillustrated with four copperplates;
with an Essay on Comic Painting.” Lond. 1788. 8vo. A second
edition 8ppeared in 179 1, Svo, illustrated with twenty-one copperplates, seventeen
of which were etched by Captain Grose.
After his demise was published “ The Olio ; being a collection of Essays,
Dialogues, Letters, Biographical Sketches, etc. By the late Francis Grose, Esq.,
F.R.S. and A.S. ;” with a portrait of the author.
There are dissertations by him in the Archseologia, the one “On an Ancient
Fortification at Christchurch, Hants,” and the other “ On Ancient Spurs,”
Although the verses written by Burns during Captain Grose’s peregrinations
through Scotland collecting its antiquities are sufficiently well known, we
cannot refrain from concluding this article with them :
1781.
Lond. 1796. 8vo.
Hear, Land 0’ Cakes, and brither Scots,
Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groats,
If there’s a hole in a’ your coats,
A chiel’s amang you takin notes,
If in your bounds ye chance to light
Upon a fine, fat, fodgel wight,
0 stature short, but genius bright,
An wow I he has an unco slight
By some auld, houlet-haunted biggin,
Or kirk deserted by its riggin,
It’s ten to ane ye’ll find him snug in
Wi’ deils, they say, - safe’s ! colleaguin
Ilk ghaist that haunts auld ha’ or chamer,
Ye gipsy-gang that deal in glamor,
And TOU deep-read in hell’s black grammar,
Ye’ll quake at his conjuiin hammer,
It’s tauld he was a sodger bred,
And ane wad rather fah than fled ;
Bnt now he’s quat the spurtle-blade,
An taen the-Antiquariaw, trade,
I reds you tent it ;
And, faith, he’ll prent it.
That’s he, mark weel-
0’ cauk and keel.
Some elllrich part,
At some black art.
Warlocks and witches,
Ye midnight -.
An dogskin wallet,
I think they call it.
He has a fouth 0’ add nick-nackets,
Rusty aim cap#, an jingling jackets,
Wad hand the Loudians three in tackets
A towmond gude,
And parritch pats, an auld sant-backets,
Before the flood.
0’ Eve’s first fire he has ae cinder ;
Auld Tubal-Cain’s fire-shoo1 and fender ;
That which distinyished the gender
0’ Balaam’s ass ;
A broom-stick 0’ the witch 0’ Endor,
Wee1 shod wi’ brass.
Forbye, he’ll &ape you aff fu’ gleg,
The cut 0’ Adam’s philibeg,
The knife that nicket Abel’s craig
It was a fauldin jocteleg,
But wad ye see him in his glee,
For meikle glee and fun has he,
Then set him down, an! twa or three
And port, 0 port I shine thou a wee,
Now, by the powers 0’ verse and prose !
Thou art a dainty chiel, 0 Grose I
Whae’er 0’ thee shall ill suppose,
I’d tak the rascal by the nose
He’ll prove you fully,
Or lang kail-gully.
Gude fellows wi’ him ;
And then ye’ll see him !
They sair misca’ thee,
Wad say, Shame fa’ thee.

... BX 0 GRAPH I C AL SKETCHES. I‘ The History of Dover Castle. ~ By the Rev. William Darrell, Chaplain to Queen ...

Book 8 p. 65
(Score 0.76)

deed. Some have derived it from Coire, a hollow,
stoir, wet steps, and eitherjonn, white, orfein, ?the
Fingalians.? (?Old Stat. Account?) The name
might thus signify, ? the hollow with the white
steps ;a or, the ? Glen of Fingalian steps.? And
by some it has been asserted that the original name
was Curia StorpAinorum, from a cohort of Roman
soldiers called the Storphini having been stationed
here. But George Chalmers, with much more
probability than any, deduces the name from the
? Cross of Torphin. ?
?Torphin?s Cross, from whence its name is
derived,? says Wilson in his 6? Remhiscences,?
?doubtless stood there in some old century to
mark the last resting-place of a rough son of Thor.?
plain, is 474 feet in height above the level of the
sea Its sloping sides are covered with rich arable
land, and wooded to the summit with thick and
beautiful coppice.. After a gentle ascent of about
half a mile, an elevated spot is reached, called
? Rest and be Thankful,? from whence a series of
magnificent views can be had of the city and the
surrounding scenery, extending from the undulating
slopes of the Pentlands on the south, to the Forth
with all its isles, Fife with all its hills, woods, and
sea-coast towns, and eastward away to the cone
of North Berwick and the cliffs of the Bass. But
always most beautiful here are the fine effects of
evening and sunset-
?? When the curtain of twilight o?ershadows the shore,
And deepens the tints on the blue Lammermoor,
The hues on Corstorphine have paled in their fire,
But sunset still lingers in gold on its spire,
When the Rosebery forests are hooded in grey,
And night, like his heir, treads impatient on day.?
Amid the great concern and grief caused by the
murder of ?the bonnie Earl of Moray,? by the
Huntly faction, in 1591, we read that the King,
111
James VI., at the crisis, would not restrain his pra
pensity for field sports, and was hunting on the
north side of Corstorphine Hill on a day in
February, when Lord Spynie, hearing that Captain
John Gordon (brother of the Laird of Gicht) who
had been severely wounded in the brawl at Donnibristle,
had been brought to Leith, together with
Moray?s dead body, having a warrant to place him
in Edinburgh Castle, was anticipated by the Lord
Ochiltree..
The latter, at the head of forty men-at-arms,
went in search of James VI., whom he found at
? Corstorphine Craigs, where his majesty was
taking a drink.? Ochiltree dismounted at the
base of the hill, approached the king respectfully
form, and the captain was beheadit and his man
hanged. The captain condemned the fact, protesting
that he was brought ignorantly upon it?
(Calderwood, &c)
In 1632 and 1650 respectively the Parliament
House and Heriot?s Hospital were built from a
quarry at Corstorphine.
Past the latter, on the 27th of August, 1650, the
Scottish army, under Leslie, marched to baffle
Cromwell a second time in his attempt to tu15 the
Scottish position and enter Edinburgh. An encounter
took place near Gogar, on ground still called
the Flashes, from the explosion of firearms in the
twilight probably, ?I and after a distant cannonade,
the English, finding that they could not dislodge
the Scots, drew off? towards Braid.
Corstorphine must at one time have had a kind
of market cross, as in 1764 it is announced in the
Edinburgh Advertiser of 14th February, that there
are for sale, three tenements ?near the Cross of
Corstorphine ; one, a house of three storeys, with
fourteen fire-rooms, and stables ; ? the other twD
are stated to have ?fixed bedsteads on the floor,?
?

... Some have derived it from Coire, a hollow, stoir, wet steps, and eitherjonn, white, orfein, ...

Book 5 p. 113
(Score 0.75)

374 MEiWORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
charier, one of his mills of Dean, with the tenths of his mills of Liberton and Dean ; and
although all that now remains of the villages of Bell’s Mills and the Dean are af a much
more recent date, they still retain unequivocal evidences of considerable antiquity. Dates
and inscriptions, with crow-stepped gables and other features of the 17th century, are to
be found scattered among the more modern tenements, and it was only in the year 1845
that the curious old mansion of the Dean was demolished for the purpose of converting
the Deanhaugh into a public cemetery. This was another of those fine old aristocratic
dwellings that once abounded in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, but which are now
rapidly disappearing, like all its other interesting memorials of former times. It was a
monument of the Nisbeta of the Dean, a proud old race that are now extinct. They
had come to be the head of their house, as Nisbet relates with touching pathos, owing
to the failure of the Nisbets of that Ilk in his own person, and as such .“ laid aside the
Cheveron, a mark of cadency used formerly by the House of Dean, in regard that the
family of Dean is the only family of that name in Scotland that has right, by consent, to
represent the old original family of the name of Nisbet, since the only lineal male representer,
the author of this system, is like to go soon off the world, being an old man,
and without issue male or female.” The earliest notice in the minutes of Presbytery of
St Cuthberts of the purchase of a piece of family burying-ground, is by Sir William
Nisbet of Dean, in March 1645, the year of the plague. ‘‘ They grantit him ane place
at the north church door, eastward, five elnes of lenth, and thrie elnes of bredth.” It
appears to have been the piece of ground in the angle formed by the north transept and
the choir of the ancient Church of St Cuthbert ; and the vault which he erected there still
remains, surmounted with his arms ; a memorial alike of the demolished fane and the extinct
race. When we last saw it, the old oak door was broken in, and the stair that led down
to the chamber of the dead choked up with rank nettles and hemlock ;-the fittest monument
ihat could be devised for the old Barons of the Dean, the last of them now gathered
to his fathers.
The old mansion-house had on a sculptured stone over the east doorway the date 1614,
but other parts of the building bore evident traces of an earlier date. The large gallery had
an arched ceiling, painted in the same style as one already described in Blyth’s Close, some
portions of which had evidently been copied in its execution. The subjects were chiefly
sacred, and though rudely executed in distemper, had a bold and pleasing effect when seen
as a whole. One of the panels, now in the possession of C. K. Sharpe, Esq., bears the
date 1627. The dormer windows and principal doorways were richly decorated with sculptured
devices, inscriptions, and armorial bearings, illustrative of the successive alliances of
its owners; many of which have been preserved in the boundary walls of the cemetery
that now occupies its site. The most curious of these are two pieces of sculpture in 6amo
relievo, which surmounted two of the windows on the south front. On one of them a
judge is represented, seated on a throne, with a lamb in his arms ; in his left hand he holds
a drawn sword resting on his shoulder, and in his right hand a pair of scales. Two lions
rampant stand on either side, as if contending litigants for the poor lamb ; the one of them
.
1 Nisbet’a Heraldry, vol. ii part 4, p. 32.
a History of the Weat Kirk, p. 24.
Alexander Nisbet, Gent., published the first volume of hie system of
heraldry in 1722 ; his death took place shortly stteiwarda.-V& Preface to 2d Edition Fol.

... MEiWORIALS OF EDINBURGH. charier, one of his mills of Dean, with the tenths of his mills of Liberton and Dean ...

Book 10 p. 411
(Score 0.75)

THE WEST BOW AND SUBURBS. 349
grey towers of Merchiston beleagured by the furious Queen’8 men, and battered with their
cannon till they “maid geit slappis in the wall;” but a truce was at length effected
betwixt the contending factions, and the donjon keep became once more the ahode of the
student, and its battlements the observatory and watch-tower of the astrologer. Napier
was regarded by his contemporaries as possessed of mysterious supernatural powers; and the
marvels attributed to him, with the aid of a familiar spirit that attended him in the shape of
a Jet Black Cock, have been preserved among the traditions of the neighbourhood almost to
our own day.’ The philosopher indeed would seem to have indulged his shrewd humour
occasionally in gieng countenance to such popular conceits. A field in front of Merchiston
still bears the name of tAe Doo Park as the scene of one of his necromantic exploits.
The pigeons of a neighbouring laird having annoyed him by frequent inroads on his grain,
he threatened at length to arrest them red-hand, and was laughingly dared to “catch
them if he could.” The depredators made their appearance as usual on the morrow, and
partook so heartily of the grain, which had been previously saturated with alcohol by the
reclaiming owner, that he easily made the bewitched pigeons captives, to the no small
astonishment and awe of his neighbours.
It is curious to find a popular nursery tale originating in the grave pranks of the
illustrious inventor of the Logarithms, yet many juvenile readers will recognise the following
adventure of the Warlock of Merchiston and his Jet Black Cock as a familiar story.
Napier apparently impressed his domestics with a full belief in his magical powers, as the
readiest means of turning their credulity to account. Having on one occasion missed
some property, which he suspected had been taken by one of his servants, they were
ordered one by one into a dark room where the black cock was confined, and each of
them wm required to stroke its back, after being warned that it would crow at the touch
of the guilty hand. The cock maintained unbroken silence throughout the mysterious
ordeal ; but the hand of the culprit was the only one found entirely free from the soot with
which its feathers had been previously anointed1 The philosopher, however, was an
adept in astrology, and appears himself to have entertained perfect faith in t.he possession
of unusual powers, particularly in that of discovering hidden treasure. A very singular
contract between him and Logan of Restalrig-one of the Gowrie conspirators-was found
among the Merchiston papers, wherein it is agreed, that, forsamekle as ther is dywerss
ald reportis, motiffis, and appirancis, that thair suld he within the said Robertis dwellinge
place of Fascastell a Bourn of monie and poiss, heid and hurdit up secritlie, quilk as yit
is onfund be ony man. The said Jhone sal1 do his utter and exact diligens to serche
and sik out, and be a1 craft and ingyne that he dow, to tempt, trye, and find out the
sam, and be the grace of God, other sal1 find the sam, or than mak it suir that na sik
thing hes been thair; so far as his utter trawell, diligens, and ingyne, may reach.’”
This singular contract acquires a peculiar interest, when we remember the reported discovery
of hidden treasure with which the preliminary steps of the Gowrie Conspiracy were
effected.
Within a little distance of the ancient tower of Merchiston, and directly between it
and the town, another old mansion of the Napiers attracted the eye of the curious.
1 Mark Napier’a Memoirs of Napier of Jlerchiston, 4t0, p. 214. * Napier’a Napier of Merchiaton, p. 221.

... WEST BOW AND SUBURBS. 349 grey towers of Merchiston beleagured by the furious Queen’8 men, and battered with ...

Book 10 p. 382
(Score 0.74)

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
(Score 0.74)

THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 259
escape from the shot of an assassin, which struck the candlestick before him as he sat at
his studies ; and within these walls he at length expired, in the sixty-seventh year of his
age, ‘‘ not so much oppressed with years as worn out and exhausted by his extraordinary
labour of body and anxiety of mind.”
A range of very picturesque buildings once formed the continuous row from ‘‘ Knox’s
corner,” to the site of the ancient Nether Bow Port, but that busy destroyer, Time, seems
occasionally to wax impatient of his own ordinary slow operations, and to demolish with
a swifter hand what he has been thought inclined to spare. One of them, a curious
specimen of the ancient timber-fronted lands, and with successive tiers of windows divided
only by narrow pilasters, has recently been curtailed by a story in height and robbed of
its most characteristic featnres, to preserve for a little longer what remains, while the
house immediately to the east of Knox’s, which tradition pointed out as the mansion of
the noble family of Balmerinoch, has now disappeared, having literally tumbled to the
ground, Immediately behind the site of this, on the west side of Society Close, an
ancient stone land, of singular construction, bears the following inscription over its main
entrance :-R * H There
appears to have been a date, but it is now illegible. The doorway gives access to a curious
hanging turnpike stair, supported on corbels formed by the projection of the stone steps
on the first floor beyond the wall. This is the same tenement already referred to as the
property of Aleson Bassendyne, the printer’s daughter. The alley bears the name of
Bassendyne’s Close, in the earliest titles ; more recently it is styled Panmure Close, from
the residence there of John Naule of Inverkeilory, appointed a Baron of the Court of
Exchequer in 1748-a grandson of the fourth Earl of Panmure, attainted in 1715 for his
adherence to the Stuarts. The large stone mansion which he occupied at the foot of the
close, was afterwards acquired by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge,
founded in 1701, and erected into a body-corporate by Queen Anne. Its chief apartment
was used as their Hall; from which circumstance the present name of the close
originated.
The old timber land to the east of this close is said to have been the Excise Office
in early times, in proof of which the royal arms are pointed out over the first floor.
The situation was peculiarly convenient for guarding the principal gate of the city, and
the direct avenue to the neighbouring seaport. It is a stately erection, of considerable
antiquity, and we doubt not has lodged much more important official occupants than the
Hanoverian excisemen. It has an outside stair leading to a stone turnpike on the first
floor, and over the doorway of the latter is the motto DEW - BENEDICTAT. Since
George II.’s reign, the Excise Office has run through its course with as many and
rapid vicissitudes as might sufiice to mark the career of a prufligate spendthrift. In its
earlier days, when a floor of the old land in the Nether Bow sufficed for its accommodations,
it was regarded as foremost among the detested fruits of the Union. From thence
it removed to more commodious chambers in the Cowgate, since demolished to make way
for the southern piers of George IV. Bridge. Its next resting-place was the large tenement
on the south side of Chessel’s Court, in the Canongate, the scene of the notorious
Deacon Brodie’s last robbery. nom thence it was removed to Sir Lawrence Dnndas’s
splendid mansion in St Andrew Square, now occupied by the Royal Bank. This may
HODIE * MIHI * CRAS . TIBI . CVR * IGITVR CVRAS *

... HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 259 escape from the shot of an assassin, which struck the candlestick before him ...

Book 10 p. 281
(Score 0.74)

THE LA WNMARKET. 169
acquired by Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik. By him it was sold to Sir Roderick Mackenzie
of Preston Hall, appointed a senator of the College of Justice in 1702, who resided in the
upper part of the house, at the same time that Sir James Mackenzie, Lord Royston, third
aon of the celebrated Earl of Cromarty, one of the wittiest and most gifted men of his
time,” occupied the lower flat. Here, therefore, in all probability, his witty and eccentric
daughter, Anne, was born and brought up. This lady, who married Sir William Dick of
Prestonfield, carried her humorous pranks to an excess scarcely conceivable in our decorous
days ; sallying out occasionally in search of adventures, like some of the maids of honour
of Charles the Second‘s Court,’ dressed in male attire, with her maid for a squire, and out-
Vying them in the extravagance of her proceedings. She seems indeed to have possessed
more wit than discretion. Some of her poetical lampoons have been privately printed by
C. K. Sharpe, Esq., in a rare, though well-known little volume, entitled, (‘A Ballad
Book,” and furnish curioua specimens of the notions of delicacy at the period,
Half a dozen more Provosts, Baronets, and Lords of Session, might be mentioned as
the old occupants of this aristocratic quarter, but it will probably interest the reader more
to learn that “ The laigh tenement of land ” was ‘( sometime possessed by Jean Straiton,
relict of the deceased Mr David Williamson, Minister of the Gospel at the West Kirk,”-
the well-known ‘‘ Daintie Davie ” of Scottish song, who, if tradition has not wronged him,
had (‘ worn out six wives,” ere Jean Straiton, the seventh, contrived to survive him. He.
was one of the ejected ministers in 1665, and was restored, to the great joy of the parishioners,
in 1689, although the Duke of Gordon, then under siege in the Castle, contrived
to keep him out of his church for some months thereafter, and left the ancient fabric wellnigh
reduced to ruins ere he surrendered the fortress.’ His grave is still pointed out in
the churchyard of St Cuthbert’s, though there is no other inscription over it than his
initials on the enclosing wall, to mark the spot where he is laid.
The accompanying engraving renders a detailed description of the ancient court unnecessary.
One feature, however, is worthy of special notice, viz., the antique carved oak
shutters with which the lower half of one of the windows is closed, forming the finest
specimen of this obsolete fashion now remaining in Edinburgh.
To the east of this ancient quadrangle, there stood, till within these few years, the old
town residence of the Buccleuch family, entering from Fisher’s Close, demolished about
1835, to make way for Victoria Terrace; and hmediately beyond this, in Brodie’s
Close, there still remains, in the Roman Eagle Hall, an exceedingly beautiful specimen
of a large and highly decorated ancient saloon. This, however, falls to be treated of in
another chapter; but the same old close-re the besom of modern “ improvement ”
swept over it with indiscriminate destruction-contained various dwellings, pleasingly
associated with the memories of some of Edinburgh’s worthiest citizens in ‘( The Olden
Time. ”
On the east side of an open court, immediately beyond the Roman Eagle Hall, stood
the ancient mansion of the Littles of Craiagmillar, bearing below a large moulded and
deeply recessed stone panel, WILLIAME 1570 * LITIL, and on six shields, underneath
as many crow-stepped gables, were the initials, V. L., boldly cut in various forms.
William Little and his brother, Clement, may justly be considered, along with James
1 Grammout Memoirs. * Hiat. of West Kirk,-pp. 76-84.
Y

... LA WNMARKET. 169 acquired by Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik. By him it was sold to Sir Roderick Mackenzie of ...

Book 10 p. 184
(Score 0.73)

THE CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 287
During the government of the Earl of Rothes as High Commissioner for Scotland, a
play called " Marciano, or the Discovery," by Sir Thomas Sydserff, was acted on the
festival of St John, before his Grace and his Court at Holyrood,' and at the Court of the ~
Duke of York, at a somewhat later period, a regular company of actors were maintained,
and the Tennis Court fitted up for their performances, in defiance of the scandal created
by such innovations.s Lord Fountainhall notes among his " Historical Observes," 3-
U 15th Novembris 1681, being the Quean of Brittain's birthday, it was keeped by our
Court at Halirudhouse with great solemnitie, such as bonfyres, shooting of canons, and the
acting of a comedy, called Mithridutes King of Pontus, before ther Royal1 Hynesses,
&c., wheirin Ladie Anne, the Duke's daughter, and the Ladies of Honor ware the onlie
actors." Not only the canonists, both Protestant and Popish-adds my Lord Fountainhall,
in indignant comment-" but the very heathen roman lawyers, declared all scenicks
and stage players infamous, and will scarce admit them to the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper "-a somewhat singular mark of disapprobation from heathen lawyers I The
Revolution again banished the drama from Scotland, and we hear no more of it' till the
year 1714, when the play of Macbeth was performed at the Tennis Court, in presence of
a number of the Scottish nobility and gentry assembled in Edinburgh for a grand archery
meeting. Party politics ran high at the time, some of the company present called for the
favourite song, May the King enjoy his ain again," ' while others as stoutly opposed it,
and the entertainments wound up in a regular mdlke, anticipatory of the rebellion which
speedily followed.
But
the scene of his successful patronage of the drama appears to have been first chosen by
Signora Violante, an Italian dancer and tumbler, who afterwards took the legitimate
drama under her protection and management. This virago, as Arnot styles her,5
returned to Edinburgh, " where she fitted up that house in the foot of Carrubber's Close,
which has since been occupied as a meeting-house by successive tribes of sectaries."
Driven from this quarter, as we have seen, the players betook themselves to the Taylor's
Hall, in the Cowgate, and though mere strolling bands, they were persecuted into
popularity by their opponents, until this large hall proved insufficient for their accommodation.
A rival establishment was accordingly set "going, and in the year 1746, the
foundation-stone of the first regular theatre in Edinburgh was laid within the Play-house
Close, Canongate, by Mr John Ryan, then a London actor of considerable repute. Here
the drama had mainly to contend with the commoner impediments incidental to the
proverbial lack of prudence and thrift in the management of actors, until the year
1756, when, on the night of the 14th December, the tragedy of Douglas, the work of a
clergyman of the Kirk, was f i s t presented to an Edinburgh audience. The clergy anew
returned to the assault with redoubled zeal, and although they were no longer able to
chase the players from the stage, John Home, the author of the obnoxious tragedy,
Allan Ramsay's unfortunate theatrical speculation has already been referred to.
Campbell's Journey, vol. ii. p. 163.
Fountainhall's Hiatorical Observes, p. 51.
* Tide, vol. i. p. 103.
Tytler concludes his account of the Duke's theatrical entertainment
with the following inference, which would have done credit to s history of the Irish stage c" Private balla and
concerts of music, it would aeem, were now the only species of public entertainmente amongst us ! "-Archsol. Scot.
vol. i p. 504. ' Campbell's History of Poetry in Scotland, p. 353. Arnot, p. 366.

... CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 287 During the government of the Earl of Rothes as High Commissioner for ...

Book 10 p. 311
(Score 0.73)

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
(Score 0.72)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 139
many years ; and at his death, his son was installed in the office. Besides being
piper he was a shoemaker to trade; and was an honest unassuming man.
Although he continued to draw the salary, he had no duty to perform, save that
of repairing twice a year to Dalkeith House, dressed in the uniform described ;
and he received his clothing on his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch’s birthday.
The worthy piper continued to play through the town until about the year
1821 ; but the practice had long been considered by the inhabitants as an annoying
and useless remnant of barbarous times ; and the following poetical
remonstrance-printed and circulated about that time-is understood to have
operated with considerable effect in accelerating its final abolition.
‘‘ 0 L-R ! thou wicked wag,
I wish thee, an’ thy dinsome bag,
Were t w d feet ’neath a black peat hag,
Or pipin’ to the Laird 0’ Lagg,’
I ferlie what intention he
Could hae, wha thus cornmission’d thee,
Against a’ rule an’ harmonie,
Our nerves to shock ;
My sang ! it is a sad decree
For peacefu’ folk.
I frankly own, that for my share,
Your visits I could right weel spare ;
To rise on winter mornin’s ear,
I like to hear the tempest rair-
Upon a heartsome simmer’s morn,
Whan thousand sweets our fields adorn,
An‘ music, frae the brake an’ thorn,
Salutes the ear-
Wha wadna rise at bugle-horn
0’ chanticleer !
0 how delightfu’ then to stray,
Sweet Esk ! amang thy scenes sae gay ;
To mark the glorious god 0‘ day
Frae ocean spring,
An’ wide ower tow’r an’ mountain grey
His radiance fling.
But now, whan dull December doure
Has spoil’d the sweets 0’ simmer bow’r,
An’ made our sangsters a’ to cow’r
To be eae wakd at early hour,
Wet as the Severn,
In Belzie’s Cavern.
.
Shaws nae great sense ;
Snug i’ my spence.
In pensive mood-
Aye fires my bluid.
E’er daylight peeps within my cham’er,
Is heard the vile unearthly clammer ;
Waukes the gudewife-the young anes yammer
Wi’ ceaseless din ;
I seize my breeks, an’ outward stammer ;
Compell’d to rin.
Sair pain’d wi’ toothache, as I’m aft,
An’ tir’d wi’ tum’lin’ like ane daft,
Should sleep a wee, wi’ poppies saft,
My e’elids close,
I’m soon brought bac,k, wi’ thy curst craft,
To a’ my woes.
In sleep, whan I’m sair dung wi’ toil,
Aft fancy does my care beguile ;
Me to some far aff happy isle
Where basks eternal summer’s smile
She kindly leads,
On flow’ry meads. .
I hear lone murm’ring waterfalls-
Sweet thrilling, soothing madrigals-
Drink fairy nectar that inthrals
This mortal life ;
Till thy dissonant drone recalls
To warldly strife.
What freaks are aft play’d while we dream !
I thought that Fortune, in a whim,
Made me Lord Mayor-then I like him,
Saw routh 0’ gowden guineas gleam,
Rich coofs, wha now stand far abeigh,
An’ toss the head an’ look fu’ heigh,
Whan this they saw, they were na’ skeigh
As heretofore ;
But shook my hands, an’ bending high,
Firm friendship swore.
Ye weel may think,
An’ heard them clink.
1 Grierson of Lagg, one of the must unpopular of the cavaliers.

... SKETCHES. 139 many years ; and at his death, his son was installed in the office. Besides ...

Book 9 p. 186
(Score 0.72)

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