... 14 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Castle Terrace.
Place, and now chiefly used as a coal dep8t.
Some of the merchants ...
Book 4 p. 214
(Score 0.21)
... OLD -4KD NEW EDINBURGH. ELauristollr - _
.. . . .
whom were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl 01
Stair, and ...
Book 4 p. 358
(Score 0.21)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Convivialia
party by appointment, especially in winter, after
evening closed in, and ...
Book 5 p. 126
(Score 0.2)
... ASSEMBLY
presiding officials, male and female, with the names
they adopted, such as Elisha the ...
Book 5 p. 123
(Score 0.2)
... magistrates fled for shelter to a house in
the Grassmarket, and the mob carried all before
it. Captain ...
Book 1 p. 130
(Score 0.2)
![Canonmills.] THE ROYAL GYMNASIUM. 87
to search for and seize them for his own use.
Hunter also prosecuted him for throwing his wife
into the mill-lade and using opprobrious language,
for which he was fined 650 sterling, and obliged
to find caution.
A hundred years later saw a more serious tumult
in Canonmills.
In 1784 there was a great scarcity of food in
Edinburgh, on account of the distilleries, which
were said by some to consume enormous quantities
of oatmeal and other grain unfermented, and
to this the high prices were ascribed. A large mob
proceeded from the town to Canonmills, and attacked
the great distillery of the Messrs. Haig
there j but meeting with an unexpected resistance
from the workmen, who, as the attack had been
expected, were fully supplied with arms, they retired,
but not until some of their number had been
killed, and the ?Riot Act? read by the sheriff,
Baron Cockburn, father of Lord Cockburn. TheiI
next attempt was on the house of the latter;
but on learning that troops had been sent for, they
desisted. In these riots, the mob, which assembled
by tuckof drum, was charged by the troops, and
several of the former were severely wounded.
These were the gth, or East Norfolk Regiment,
under the command of Colonel John Campbell 01
Blythswood, then stationed in the Castle.
During the height of the riot, says a little ?Histoq
of Broughton,? a private carriage passed through thc
village, and as it was said to contain one of thc
Haigs, it was stopped, amid threats and shouts
Some of the mob opened the door, as the bIindr
had been drawn, and on looking in, saw that th<
occupant was a lady; the carriage was therefore
without further interruption, allowed to proceed tc
its destination-Heriot?s Hill.
On the 8th of September subsequently, two of thf
rioters, in pursuance of their sentence, were whippei
through the streets of Edinburgh, and afterwards
transported for fourteen years.
In the famous ?Chaldee MS.,? chapter iv.
reference is made to ?a lean man who hath hi!
dwelling by the great pool to the north of the Nelr
City.? This was Mr. Patnck Neill, a well-knowr
citizen, whose house was near the Loch side.
In this quarter we now find the Patent Roya
Gymnasium, one of the most remarkable anc
attractive places of amusement of its kind in Edin
burgh, and few visitors leave the city without seeing
it. At considerable expense it was constructed bj
Mr. Cox of Gorge House, for the purpose of afford
ing healthful and exhilarating recreation in the ope1
air to great numbers at once, and in April, 1865
was publicly opened by the provosts, magistrates
tnd councillors of Edinburgh and Leith, accom-
?anied by all the leading inhabitants of the city and
:ounty.
Among the many remarkable contrivances here
was a vast ?rotary boat,? 471 feet in circumference,
seated for 600 rowers ; a ? giant see-saw,? named
I? Chang,? IOO feet long and seven feet broad, supported
on an axle, and capable of containing zoo
?ersons, alternately elevating them to a height of
ifty feet, and then sinking almost to the ground;
i ? velocipede paddle merry-go-round,? 160 feet
in Circumference, seated for 6co persons, who propel
the machine by sitting astride on the rim, and
push their feet against the ground ; a ? self-adjust-
Lng trapeze,? in five series of three each, enabling
gymnasts to swing by the hands 130 feet from one
trapeze to the other; a ?compound pendulum
swing,? capable of holding about IOO persons, and
kept in motion by their own exertions.
Here, too, are a vast number of vaulting and
climbing poles, rotary ladders, stilts, spring-boards,
quoits, balls, bowls, and little boats and canoes on
ponds, propelled by novel and amusing methods.
In winter the ground is prepared for skaters on a
few inches of frozen water, and when lighted up at
night by hundreds of lights, the scene, with its
musical accessories, is one of wonderful brightness,
gaiety, colour, and incessant motion.
Here, also, is an athletic hall, with an instructor
always in attendance, and velocipedes, with the
largest training velocipede course in Scotland. The
charges of admission are very moderate, so as to
meet the wants of children as well as of adults.
A little eastward of this is a large and handsome
school-house, built and maintained by the congregation
of St. Mary?s Church. A great Board
School towers up close by. Here, too, was Scotland
Street Railway Station, and the northern entrance
of the longsince disused tunnel underground to
what is now called ~e Waverley Station at Princes
Street.
A little way northward of Canonmills, on the
north bank of the Water of Leith, near a new bridge
of three arches, which supersedes one of considerable
antiquity, that had but one high arch, is the
peculiar edifice known as Tanfield Hall. It is an
extensive suite of buildings, designed, it has been
said, to represent a Moorish fortress, but was erected
in 1825 as oil gasworks, and speedily turned to
other purposes. In 1835 it was the scene of a
great banquet, given by his admirers to Daniel
O?Connell; and in 1843 of the constituting of the
first General Assembly of the Free Church, when
the clergy first composing it quitted in a body the
Establishment,as described in our account of George](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p098.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 87")
... THE ROYAL GYMNASIUM. 87
to search for and seize them for his own use.
Hunter also prosecuted him for ...
Book 5 p. 87
(Score 0.2)
![ROBERT MONTEITH. . 3?5 Duddingston.]
incumbent of Duddingston in 1805. His favourite
subjects were to be found in the grand and sublime
of Nature, and his style is marked chiefly by
vigour, power, and breadth of effect-strong light
and deep shadow. As a man and a Christian
minister, his life was simple, pure, and irreproachable,
his disposition kind, affable, and benevolent.
He died of apoplexy in 1840, in his sixty-second
year.
The city must have had some interest in the loch,
as in the Burgh accounts for 1554 we read:-
?? Item : twa masons twa weeks to big the Park Dyke
at the loch side of Dudding?ston, and foreanent it
again on Priestfield syde, ilk man in the week xv?.
summa iijIi.
(?Item : for ane lang tree to put in the wall that
lyes far in the loch for outganging of ziyld beistis
v?.? ? (? Burgh Records.?)
The town or lands of Duddingston are included
in an act of ratification to James, Lord Lindsay of
the Byers, in 1592.
In the Acts of Sederunt for February, 1650, we
find Alexander Craig, in-dweller in the hamlet,
pilloried at the Tron of Edinburgh,. and placarded
as being a ? lying witness ? in an action-at-law
concerning the pedigree of John Rob in Duddingston;
but among the few reminiscences of this
place may be mentioned the curious hoax which
the episcopal incumbent thereof at the Restoration
played upon Cardinal de Retz.
This gentleman, whose name was Robert Monteith,
had unfortunately become involved in an
amour with a lady in the vicinity, the wife of Sir
James Hamilton of Prestonfield, and was cpmpelled
to fly from the scene of his disgrace. He
was the son of a humble man employed in the
salmon-fishing above Alloa ; but on repairing to
Paris, and after attaching himself to M. de la
Porte, Grand Prior of France, and soliciting employment
from Cardinal de Retz, he stated he was
?one of the Monteith family in Scotland.? The
cardinal replied that he knew the family well, but
asked to which branch he belonged. ?To the
Monteiths of Salmon-net,? replied the unabashed
adventurer.
The cardinal replied that this was a branch he
had never heard of, but added that he believed
it was, no doubt, a very ancient and illustrious
family. Monteith was patronised by the cardinal,
who bestowed on him a canonry in Notre Dame,
and made him his secretary, in which capacity he
distinguished himself by his elegance and purity,
in the French language. This strange man is
author of a well-known work, published in folio,
entitled, ? Hisfoa?re des TroubZes de &andBretap,
depuis Z?an 1633 juspu?a Z?an 1649, pur Robed
Menfet de Salmonet.
It was dedicated to the Coadjutor Archbishop of
Pans, with a portrait of the author; and a trans- .
lation of it, by Captain James Ogilvie, was published
in 1735 by G. Strachan, at the ?Golden Ball,?
in Cornhill.
In the year of the Revolution we find the
beautiful loch of Duddingston, as an adjunct to
the Royal Park, mentioned in a case before the
Privy Council on the 6th March.
The late Duke of Lauderdale having placed
some swans thereon, his clever duchess, who was
carrying on a legal contest With his heirs, deemed
herself entitled to take away some of those birds
when she chose; but Sir James Dick, now proprietor
of the %ch, broke a lock-fast place in
which she had put them, and set them once more
upon the water. The irate dowager raised an
action against him, which was decided in her
favour, but in defiance of this, the baronet turned
all the swans off the loch ; on which the Duke of
Hamilton, as Heritable Keeper of the palace, came
to the rescue, as Fountainhall records, alleging
that the loch bounded the King?s Park, and that
all the wild animals belonged to him ; they were,
therefore, restored to their former haunts.
Of the loch and the landsof Priestfield (orPrestonfield),
Cockburn says, in his ?Memorials? :-?I know
the place thoroughly. The reeds were then regularly .
cut over by means of short scythes with very long
handles, close to the ground, and this (system)
made Duddingston nearly twice its present size?
Otters are found in its waters, and a solitary
badger has at times provoked a stubborn chase.
The loch is in summer covered by flocks of dusky
coots, where they remain till the closing of the ice
excludes them from the water, when they emigrate
to the coast, and return With the first thaw.
Wild duck, teal, and water-hens, also frequent it,
and swans breed there prolifically, and form one
of its most picturesque ornaments. The pike, the
perch, and a profusion of eels, which are killed by
the barbed sexdent, also abound there.
In winter here it is that skating is practised as an
art by the Edinburgh Club. ?The writer recalls
with pleasure,? says the author of the ?Book of
Days,? ?skating exhibitions which he saw there early
in the present century, when Henry Cockburn,
and the philanthropist James Sipson, were conspicuous
amongst the most accomplished of the
club for their handsome figures and great skill in
the art. The scene of that loch ? in full bearing J
on a clear winter day, with its busy and stirring
multitude of sliders, skaters, and curlers, the snowy
Paris, 166 I.?](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p135.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 315")
... MONTEITH. . 3?5 Duddingston.]
incumbent of Duddingston in 1805. His favourite
subjects were to be found in ...
Book 4 p. 315
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Cowgate.
CHAPTER XXXII.
C0WGATE
The South Side of the Street--The High School ...
Book 4 p. 250
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Grassmarket.
Some English writers have denied that Henry
was ever in Edinburgh at any ...
Book 4 p. 234
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet.
of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope
and that famous old ...
Book 3 p. 150
(Score 0.2)
![THE NORMAL SCHOOL. 295 George IV. Bridge.]
highly qualified examiners, on every point of which
it takes cognisance. It grants annually ten bursaries
of L z o each, and five of LIO each, to be
competed for by pupils of schools approved .of by
the directors.
The Society?s vested capital now? amounts to
&o,ooo, and its annual revenue reaches more than
&,~oo, besides the receipts for general shows,
The Argyle Fund, for the education of young Highland
gentlemen for the navy, now amounts to
A5,639, and was instituted by John fifth Duke of
Argyle, the original president of the Society.
From its chambers, No. 3, George IV. Bridge, surveying
a width of range and multiplicity of objects
worthy of its wealth and intellect, its opulence of
power and resource, the Soqiety promotes the erection
of towns and bridges, the formation of roads,
the experiments and enterprises of agriculture, the
improvement of farm stock, the sheltering processes
of planting, the extension of fisheries, the introduction
of manufactures, the adaptation of machinery
to all useful arts, the ready co-operation of
? local influence with legislative and public measures,
the diffusion of practical knowledge of all that may
tend to the general good of the Scottish nation,
and the consolidation of the Highlanders and
Lowlanders into one great fraternal community.
? The Society awards large and numerous premiums
to stimulate desiderated enterprises, and in
1828 began the publication of the Quarter0 lown
d of Agridtztre, for prize essays and the dissemination
of the newest practical information ; it
patronises great annual cattle shows successively in
different towns, and by means of them excites and
directs a stirring and creditable spirit of emulation
among graziers, and, in general, it keeps in play
upon the community, a variety of influences which,
as far as regards mere earthly well-being, have
singularly transformed and beautified its character.?
Its arms are a figure of Caledonia on a pedestal,
between two youths-one a Highland reaper, the
other a ploughboy-being crowned. The motto is,
Sem$er armis nunc et industria. The Highland
Society?s hall and chamber form a very symmetrical
and also ornamental edifice, with a beautiful sculpture
of its coat of arms from the chisel of A.. H.
Kitchie. It formerly contained a most interesting
agricultural museum, which has been removed elsewhere.
Simil7.r societies on the same model have
since been established-by England in 1838, and
by Ireland in 1841.
The other edifice referred to, the Sheriff?s Court
Buildings, contiguous to the open arches over the
Cowgate, was erected in 1865-8, from designs
by David Bryce, at a cost of more than A44,ooo. -
It rises from a low basement, with an extensive
and imposing flank to the south, and presents in
its fapde an ornate variety of the Italian style
of architecture ; but within exhibits simply the
usual features of legal courts, with three subordinate
official chambers, unless we except the Society
hall of the solicitors-at-law, a minor legal body in
Edinburgh, which was incorporated by royal charter
in 1780, and only certain members of which are
qualified to act as agents before the Supreme Courts.
Johnstone Terrace, King?s Road, and Castle
Terrace crossing the King?s Bridge, the foundation
stone of which was laid in 1827, unitedly extend
about go0 yards along the southern limb, or southwestern
skirt of the Castle Rock, connecting the
head of the Lawnmarket with the Lothian Road,
at a point about 180 yards south of the west end
of Princes Street. These were formed between
1825 and 1836, to afford improved access to the
Old Town from the westward. They are collectively
called the New Western Approach, and apart
from being a very questionable improvement as
regards artistic taste, have destroyed the amenity
of the Castle Rock, and lessened its strength as a
fortress.
In Johnstone Terrace, to which we shall confine
ourselves for the present, at the eastern end,
resting at the corner of the Old West Bow, is St.
John?s Free Church, a handsome edifice in a mixed
style of early Gothic It was built from designs
furnished by Robert Hamilton in 1847, and is
chiefly famous for its congregation having enjoyed
for some years the ministry of the celebrated Dr.
Guthrie, and of Dr. Williani Hanna, a graduate of
the University of Glasgow, who was ordained to
the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in 1835,
and who is so well known as the author of ?Wycliffe
and the Huguenots,? and as the affectionate
biographer of Chalmers.
Westward of this edifice is St. Columba?s Episcopal
church, also a Gothic structure, but of an earlier
style, with a low, square battlemented tower;
built in 1845.
At the cost of about ;GIO,OOO, the Normal School
of the Church of Scotland was built westward of it,
in 1845, and is a large and handsome edifice.
It is called the Normal School, or Church of
Scotland Training College. It is under the control
and management of the Education Committee of
the Church. It is a double college, and like that
in Glasgow, trains both masters and mistresses.
The course of training extends over two years,
and none are admitted as students but those who
have passed a preliminary examination ; but the
committee exercise their discretion in making their](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p115.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Page 295")
... NORMAL SCHOOL. 295 George IV. Bridge.]
highly qualified examiners, on every point of which
it takes ...
Book 2 p. 295
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [lauriston.
As a precaution against the germs of disease, the
walls are cemented and ...
Book 4 p. 362
(Score 0.2)
... of the name from Mollance to Mince, or
Mons Meg, was quite natural to the Scots, who
sink tlie l?s in ...
Book 1 p. 75
(Score 0.2)
... 99 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
. Stirling-Maxwell, Sir Wm., 11. 86,
. Stitchill, Laird of I. 169
.Stockbridge, 11. ...
Book 6 p. 390
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
vestments, bearing the arm-bone of the saint ; then
they passed the Cross, the fountain ...
Book 3 p. 62
(Score 0.2)
![Leith Walk.] . REPULSE OF CROMWELL. 1.5 I
direction of Leith Walk, as by charter under thc
Great Seal, dated at Edinburgh, 13thAugust, 1456
King James 11. granted, ?preposito, baZZiuis et corn
munitati nosh? de Rdinlbuv-gh,? the valley or loa
ground between the well called Craigangilt, on thc
east side (i.e., the Calton Hill), ? and the commor
way and road towards the town of Leith, on tht
west side,? etc.
. But the origin of Leith Loan-or Leith Walk, a:
.we now call it-was purely accidental, and tht
result of the contingencies of war.
In 1650, to repel Cromwell?s attack upon thc
city, Sir Alexander Leslie had the whole Scottish
army skilfully entrenched in rear of a strong breastwork
of earth that lay from north to south between
Edinburgh and Leith. Its right flank was de.
fended by redoubts armed with guns on the green
slope of the Calton Hill ; its left by others on the
eastern portions of Leith and St. ilnthony?s Port,
which enfiladed the line and swept all the open
ground towards Restalrig. In addition to all this,
the walls of the city were everywhere armed with
cannon, and the banners of the trades were displayed
above its gates.
Along the line of this entrenchment Charles II.,
after landing at Leith from Stirling, proceeded on
horseback to the city. His appearance created the
greatest enthusiasm, all the more so that Cromwell?s
arms were seen glittering in the distance. Around
Charles was his Life Guard of Horse, led by the Earl
of Eglinton, magnificently armed and mounted, and
having on their embroidered standards the crown,
sword, and sceptre, with the mottoes Nobis hczc inviita
misemnt, and Pro Religione, Rege, et Patrid.
On Monday, the 24th of July, Cromwell furiously
attacked the entrenchment, as he had been exasperated
by the result of a sortie made by Major
General Montgomery, who at the head of 2,000
Scottish dragoons, had repulsed an advanced
column, and ?( killed five Colonells and Lieutenant-
Colonells, mortally wounded Lieut.-Gen. Lambert
and five hundred soldiers.? (Balfour.) As the
English advanced, the rising sun shone full upon
the long lines of Scottish helmets glittering above
the rough earthwork, where many a pike was
gleaming and inany a standard waving. Clearing
the rocks and house of Restalrig, they advanced
over the plain westward from Lochend, when the
field batteries atthe Quarry Holes, the guns on Leith
and theCalton,openedon them simultaneously, while
a rolling and incessant fire of musketry ran along
the whole Scottish line from flank to flank, and was
poured in closely and securely from the summit of
the breastwork. They were speedily thrown into
confusion, and fled in considerable disorder, leaving
behind them some pieces of cannon and the ground
strewn with dead and wounded.
Cromwell?s vigorous attack on the southern part
of the city was equally well repulsed, and he then
drew off from it till after his victory at Dunbar.
At this time General Leslie?s head-quarters were
in the village of Broughton, from whence many of
his despatches were dated ; and when the war was
shifted to other quarters, his famous breastwork
became the established footway between the capital
and its seaport.
Midway between these long stood an edifice, of
which no vestige remains-the Rood Chapel, repairs
upon which were paid for by the city in
1554-5. It stood in the vicinity of the Gallow
Lee, a place memorable for a desperate conflict
between the Kingsmen and Queensmen in 1571,
when the motto of ?God shaw the Richt,? was
conferred on Captain Crawford, of Jordan Hill, by
the Regent Morton, and whose tombstone is yet
to be seen in the churchyard of Kilbirnie. On
nearly the same ground in 1G04 James Hardie, of
Bounmylnerig, with others, in the month of April,
between nine and ten in the evening, assailed
Jacques de la Berge, a Fleming, forced him to quit
his saddle, and thereafter rypeit him? of gold
and silver, for which Hardie was hanged at the
Cross and his goods forfeited.
Though in 1610 Henrie Anderson, a native of
Stralsund, in Pomerania, obtained a royal patent
for coaches to run between Edinburgh and Leith
at the rate of zd. per passenger, we have no record
of how his speculation succeeded ; nor was it until
1660 that William Woodcock obtained a license
?to fitt and set up ane haickney coatch for the
service of his Majesty?s lieges, betwix Leith and
Edinburgh,? at the rate of 12s. (Scots) per passenger,
if the latter decided to travel alone, but if
three went with him, the charge was to be no more
than 12s. ; and all who came upward to Edinburgh
were to alight at the foot of Leith Wynd, ?for the
staynes yr of.?
From that time we hear no more of Leith stages
till 1678, as mentioned in our first volume; but in
1702 a person named Robert Miller obtained permission
to keep four vehicles to ply between the
two towns for nine years. Individual enterprise
having failed to make stages here remunerative,
the magistrates in 1722 granted to a company the
cxclusive right to run coaches on Leith Walk for a
period of twenty-one years, each to hold six passengers,
the fare to be gd. in summer and 4d. in
winter; but this speculation did not seem to pay,
md in 1727 the company raised the fares to 4d.
md 6d. respectively.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p162.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 151")
... Walk.] . REPULSE OF CROMWELL. 1.5 I
direction of Leith Walk, as by charter under thc
Great Seal, dated at ...
Book 5 p. 151
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
Hume, Alexander, High School
H u e , don. Baron David, I. 121,
I66 11.-
Hum;, David. ...
Book 6 p. 379
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
Hume, Alexander, High School
H u e , don. Baron David, I. 121,
I66 11.-
Hum;, David. ...
Book 6 p. 380
(Score 0.2)
... THE CLAN REGIMENTS. 327
venerable Market Cross, with the heralds, pursuivants,
and the magistrates (many ...
Book 2 p. 327
(Score 0.2)
... QLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Arthur?s Seat.
name of Arthur?s Seat were anciently covered with
wood. The other ...
Book 4 p. 306
(Score 0.2)
... Secoud High SchooLl DR ADAM. 293
Alexander Adam, LLD., with this seminary,
when he was appointed joint-rector ...
Book 4 p. 293
(Score 0.2)
... INDEX TO THE NAMES, ETq.
Lockhart, Mr. C. B., 25
Lockhart, President, 332
Logan, the Laird of, 128
Lombe, ...
Book 9 p. 689
(Score 0.2)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Drum.
the resort of the curious still, according to Fullarton?s
?Gazetteer,? and a ...
Book 6 p. 346
(Score 0.2)
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