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438 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
estimation in which his character was held. In 1812 he received the additional
appointment of Solicitor of Teinds.
Mr. M'Cormick was remarkable for benevolence of disposition, gentlemanly
appearance, and deportment. He married, on the 6th April 1786, Miss Joanna
Hamilton of Grange (Ayrshire), by whom he had four sons and two daughters.
His eldest son, Samuel, after serving some time as an Advocate-Depute, was
promoted to the Sheriffship of Bute, which office he held until his death, which
occurred in 1834. Another son was a lieutenant in the East India Company's
service, and died at the age of twenty. His two daughters only survived.
V.-GEORGE CRANSTOUN, afterwards LORD COREROUSE. This admirable
judge was a son of the Hon. George Cranstoun of Longworton. He was
originally designed for the military profession. He passed advocate in 179 3 ;
was appointed one of the Depute-Advocates in 1805 ; chosen Dean of Faculty
in 1823 ; and elevated to the bench, on the death of Lord Hermand, in 1826,
from which he retired in 1839, and was succeeded by Lord Murray.
His lordship is known as the author of the "Diamond Beetle Case," an
amusing but not overcharged caricature of the judicial style of several judges of
a bygone era. An excellent Greek scholar, Mr. Cranstoun, on that account, was
a great favourite with Lord Monboddo, who used to declare that " Cranstoun
was the only scholar in all Scotland!" The scholars, in Lord Monboddo's
opinion, being all on the other side of the Tweed.
While on the bench Lord Corehouse was the beau-ideal of a judge ; placid
and calm, he listened with patience to the long-winded orations which it was too
often his fate to hear, although he endeavoured as much as he could, with
propriety, to keep counsel to the proper merits of their case. A first-rate lawyer,
especially in all feudal questions, his opinions were uniformly listened to with
the deepest respect.
VI.-JOHN CLERK, afterwards LORD ELDIN. This well-known and able
lawyer was the eldest son of John Clerk, Esq. of Eldin, sixth son of Sir John
Clerk of Penicuik, and author of a celebrated work on Naval Tactics. He
was born in April 1757, and educated with the view of proceeding to India;
but the expectations of his friends having been disappointed by the occurrence
of certain political changes, his attention was turned to the legal profession.
After completing his apprenticeship as a Writer to the Signet, and having
practised for a year or two as an accountant, he qualified himself for the bar,
and was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1785.
Possessed of the most promising intellectual requisites, Mr. Clerk speedily
rose to distinction ; and it is said that at one period he had nearly one-half of
all the business of the Court upon his hands. His style of pleading was
" distinguished by strong sense, acuteness, and the most profound reasoning,
His sole object being to convince, his mode of stating the argument was brief,
simple, and clear. His eloquence was a constant appeal to legal reason, in the
masterly exposition of which thewhole collected force of his intellect was displayed.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. estimation in which his character was held. In 1812 he received the ...

Book 9 p. 587
(Score 1.25)

250 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Pitt, in concluding an able speech in his defence, contended that '' Great
allowances were to be made for an active and ardent mind, placed in the situation
of the Advocate General. He felt under peculiar circumstances the pressing
perils of the country, and his conduct should be judged of on the principles of
indulgent consideration, with which the law judges the conduct of inferior
Magistrates, when they act, as in this instance, with pure and upright motives ;
for these and other reasons, he should vote for the order of the day, and against
the original motion."
When the House divided, there were eighty-two for the motion, and one
hundred and fifty-nine against it. - On the death of Sir David Rae, Bart., Lord Justice Clerk, Mr. Hope was
appointed in his room. He took his seat on the opening of the Court, 28th of
November 1804, and addressed the judges in a concise but chaste speech, expressive
of the importance he felt to be attached to the appointment, the duties
of which, by the assistance of their lordships, he trusted to discharge in a satisfactory
manner. During the seven years
his lordship presided in the Criminal Court, justice was well administered ; and
under none of his predecessors had the office been filled with greater ability, or
the business conducted with a dignity and solemnity more in keeping with the
procedure of a Court of Justiciary.
An address by his lordship, delivered. at Glasgow, on closing the assize in
1808, was so much admired for its elegance and power, that, on the earnest
solicitation of the magistracy of that city, he consented that it should be printed.
The speech is of considerable length, but the. topics are interesting, and an extract
or two may not improperly be admitted here. After his lordship, in the
usual manner, had inquired whether there were any persons present who had
cause of complaint against the judicial conduct of the Sheriffs of this district, he
said :-
" This ceremony of calling up the Sheriffs at the conclusion of each Justice Eyre, and making
open proclamation for any person to come forward who thinks he has been injured by them in
the exercise of their office, is of considerable antiquity in our law, and was originally of great
utility. At the time when the ceremony was enjoined, almost all our sheriffdoms were hereditary
in the families of great and powerful barons, who often were the rivals of the king himself ;
aud from whom, therefore, if they were guilty of oppression, the people subject to their jurisdiction
were little likely to obtain redress. I t was therefore wisely provided by our ancestors,
that, at the conclusion of each Justice Eyre, before dismissing the jury, the Sheriffs should be
obliged to stand up and answer to any complaint made against them before the Grand Justiciar
invested with the whole majesty of the law, and armed with the power of the whole array of the
district.
" Thank God, we live in times when the original cause which led to this ceremony no longer
exists. The office of Sheriff is now intrusted to professional gentlemen, qualified by their
education to administer justice with ability, and without power, without temptation, to transgress
the laws ; and, besides, from their judgment there lies a regular appeal to the Supreme Courts
of Session and Justiciary.
'( But although the original reason for this ceremony has ceased, I am far from thinking that
it has become useless. On the contrary, I hope and trust that it never will be abolished. While I
sit here, it shall never be omitted. We all must feel how apt the best of us are to become
intoxicated with power ; and, therefore, how useful it must be, from time to time, to remind
Magistrates that they are responsible for their conduct. Even if I thought this ceremony might
now be safely discontinued as to you, I wish it to be preserved for my own sake ; for I cannot
Majority, seventy-seven.
In this he was eminently successful.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Pitt, in concluding an able speech in his defence, contended that '' ...

Book 9 p. 332
(Score 1.25)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 107
attainted Earl of Linlithgow, and who succeeded eventually upon the death of
her aunt to the title of Errol, was naturally desirous of recovering her father’s
possessions, but she only survived the execution of her husband a short time.
Her descendants,’ it was said, entertained a similar anxiety for these estates,
which, when brought to the hammer, were set up at a low price, to favour them.
Forbes, however, did not fail to appear on the spot; and, with his copper
transmuted to gold,” became the purchaser at a remarkably cheap rate :’ so
much so, that he has been frequently afterwards heard jokingly to remark that
even the wood on the estate would have bought the whole.
The
inhabitants of the ancient burgh of Fallrirk, always noted fqr their clannish
feeling, were in a paroxysm. The house of Callendar had ever been identified
with 44 the bairns 0’ Fa’kirk,” and kept up till a late period the old feudal dignity
that had long distinguished it. So late as 1759 the following entries appear
in the household accounts-“ 4th Nov. Shoes to my Lord’s pyper, 2s. ;” “ 3d
Dec. This we presume,
must have been the piper of Kilmarnock.
Mr. Forbes and his brothers experienced the height of insult and abuse
whenever they entered the town. His younger brother, James, in particular,
was a favourite source of amusement to the then unchecked mob. He was not
of the most shrewd intellect, and his simplicity subjected him to much rudeness.
His coat-tails were cut away on one occasion ; and on another, his *queue was
docked, from which he was ever afterwards named Rumpock. It is singular
that the colliers, who had been the hereditary bondsmen of the old family,
were the most devoted to them. One night in autumn, during the militia
riots in 1797, a great band of them, aided by a few of the town’s lads, went
out with a drum, and parading round the house, so alarmed Mr. Forbes and his
brothers that they fled by a back door, and ran up through the wood. Looking
round from among the trees, they beheld the flickering blaze of Carron Works,
and imagining that Callendar House was in flames, proceeded with all speed
by the village of Redding to Lialithgow, from whence they posted to Edinburgh,
where, applying to Lord Adam Gordon, the Commander-in-Chief, they caused
a troop of the Lancashire Dragoons to be sent out to Falkirk, who inflicted
their unwelcome presence on the inhabitants for nearly half-a-year. It is to
this affair the caricature of Copperbottom’s Rctrsat alludes.”
Not long after he became proprietor, numerous disputes occurred between
Mr. Forbes and the tenants of the estate. The Rev. Mr. Bertram of Muiravonside
and he disagreed about the rent of a park attached to Haining Castle.
The neighbourhood was much excited when this result was known.
To my Lord’s pyper, two weeks’ kitchen money, 1s.”
The titles of Lithgow and Callendar were in the person of the hair-male, Livingston of
Westquarter.
s When asked for his security, “I have it in niy pocket,” said he, and instantly tabled the cash
in one of the two largeat bank notes ever issued in Scotland.
Mr. Forbes had a favourite old black horse, with a long tail, only ridden by hia faithful servant
Johnnie Howie (who waa with him for twenty-four years), to which he playfully gave the name,
appropriately enough, of Copperbottom.

... SKETCHES. 107 attainted Earl of Linlithgow, and who succeeded eventually upon the death of her aunt ...

Book 9 p. 143
(Score 1.25)

460 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
347. LAWYERAN D CLIENT, Reverse Heads.
348. Another set of REVERSEH EADS. The one with the round hat is a
likeness of Lord Monboddo.
349. CONVENTIOONF ASSESj or Spirit of Democracy. Etched for a satirical
political pamphlet in verse,’ entitled “ Rights of Asses,” and published in
Edinburgh in 1792, 8vo. The author, we believe, was Mr. William Wilkie,
tailor, James Square, Edinburgh.
350. THEF IDDLEORF GLENBIRNIE. This is a capital Etching; but who
the subject of the sketch was Kay has not stated. The character is probably
fanciful.
351. DEAD GAME. The artist’s favourite Cat introduced.
352. WITCH OF ENDOR.
35 3, BEGGAR’SFE AST-after Ostade.
A good Etching-apparently after Fuseli.
354. SIR WILLIAMW ALLACEt,h e hero of Scottish independence. The
Print is said to be from a very old picture ; but it is questionable whether there
be any genuine likeness of Wallace in existence, A painting, said to be a
copy of the original portrait executed while he sojourned in France, was once
in possession of Lieut.Qenera1 Ainslie of this city. It had the appearance of
considerable antiquity, and had been in the General’s family upwards of a
century.
355. Equestrian Statue of CHARLES11 . erected in the Parliament Square in
1785. The “Merry Monarch” occupies the site once intended for the hero
of the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell. The statue of the latter was actually
in progress when the Restoration of Monarchy, in the person of Charles, speedily
convinced the pliant authorities of the impropriety of their design. During the
great fire in 1624 Charles narrowly escaped destruction. He was unhorsed,
and lay for some time in the Parliament Square. From thence he was removed
to the Calton Hill jail, where he remained “in durance vile” till 1636, when
he was restored, on a new pedestal, to his original position, and has since been
refreshed by a coat of bronze.
356. KAYI N MINIATUREb,y himself.
357. HIEROGLYPHLIECV ER from the Devil to Sir Laurence Dundas.
358. DUNDASA’ NSWER.
This trifle is not destitute of talent ; it is, as may be supposed, an attack on the then existing
order of things. It was published by Robertson and Berry, South Bridge, both of whom got &to
trouhle in consequence of their political agitation.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 347. LAWYERAN D CLIENT, Reverse Heads. 348. Another set of REVERSEH EADS. The one with ...

Book 9 p. 638
(Score 1.24)

462 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in
the Custom-House, Liverpool.
No. CCCXXVI.
TWELVE ADVOCATES,
WHO PLEAD WITHOUT WIGS.
THE Portraits in the present Etching, beginning at the top, and ranging from
left to right, are-
1.-ADAM GILLIES, afterwards LORDG ILLIEofS w,h om a short notice has
been given at page 418.
11.-ALEXANDER IRVING, aftenvwds LORD NEWTON, was the son
of George Irving of Newton. He was admitted to the bar in 1’788 ; and for
many years held the office of Treasurer to the Faculty of Advocates. He was
distinguished for extensive legal acquirements ; and in 1800 was appointed
assistant and successor to Mr. John Wilde, Professor of Civil Law in the University
of Edinburgh. On the retirement of Lord Robertson, in 1826, he was
promoted to the bench, when he assumed the title of Lord Newton. His lordship
filled the judicial seat only a few years. He died on the 23d of March
1832. During the short period he sat as a judge he gave general satisfaction.
Though a very indifferent speaker, he was an excellent lawyer, and his decisions
were seldom altered in the Inner-House. He was mild and gentle in his manners.
He was fond of music, and was an excellent performer on the violincello.
Lord Newton married Miss Irving, a relation of his own, by whom he left an
only son.
111.-JAMES MILLAR, admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in
1788, was proprietor of the estate of Halhill, in Lanarkshire, which he sold
some time before his death. From his ruddy complexion, and short round
figure, he was known at the bar by the soubriquet of “ Cupid.” He was much
devoted to the Lanarkshire pastime of curling ; and on one ozcasion, when he
was engaged to plead a case before Charles Hay, the first Lord Newton, he left
the Parliament House to pursue his favourite amusement. When the opposite
counsel insisted on taking decree, the good-natured judge said--“ No, no j the
cause may wait till to-morrow, but there is no security that the frost will wait
for Mr. Malar.”

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in the ...

Book 9 p. 616
(Score 1.24)

OUTLINE OF ITS GEOLOGY. I53
preserved tusk of the mammoth-an extinct hairy elephant-was disinterred
from the deposit.
Above the till lie accumuIations of sand and gravel, sometimes forming
the remarkable ridges known in Scotland as Kames. Good examples may
be seen between Burdiehouse and Lothianburn. Towards the sea-margin,
deposits of fine laminated clay occur, sometimes curiously contorted, as
if from the stranding of heavy icebergs when these clays were under the
sea. Foraminiferze and marine shells occur in the clays, together, sometimes
with quantities of drift-wood. The brick-pits of Portobello afford good sections
of these latest members of the glacial drift series of this neighbourhood.
At the close of the Ice Age our land was not so much out of water as it is
now. It has since then been pushed up several times, the intervals of rest
between these upheavals being marked by the lines of terrace known as Raised
Beaches. The most marked of these lines near Edinburgh is the twenty-five
foot terrace which forms a noticeable feature of the coast-line. It is well seen
between Granton and Newhaven, and again between Leith and Joppa. When
the level terrace is dug up it is found to consist.of layers of gravel and sand
like the deposits of the present beach, often with abundant shore-shells of the
common species. Here and there, as between Leith and Portobello, the inner
edge of the terrace is marked by a line of bluff or cliff. This represents the
bank against which the waves beat when the terrace was formed.
These deposits, together with the accumulations of peat and mar1 by which
former lakes, like those once covering the Meadows, have been filled up,
close the long geological record, and bring us into the time of the human
occupation, where the stone hatchet, flint arrowhead; and rude canoe are fossils
claimed alike by the geologist and the antiquary.
NEWHAVEN PER.
U

... OF ITS GEOLOGY. I53 preserved tusk of the mammoth-an extinct hairy elephant-was disinterred from the ...

Book 11 p. 212
(Score 1.23)

140 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. LXI.
MR. WILLIAM MARTIN,
BOOKSELLER AND AUCTIONEER IN EDINBURGH.
MR. MARTIN, who was well known and extensively patronised in his profession,
is here represented in the attitude of disposing of a picture, surrounded by
an audience of literary gentlemen, connoisseurs in the fine arts. The heads are
all likenesses of characters elsewhere sketched by Kay, and will be easily distinguished
by the reader as the succeeding numbers of the Portraits appear,
Martin, or " Bibles," as he was commonly called, is supposed to have been
born at or near Airdrie, about the year 1744;' and like his contemporary,
Lackington of London, was originally bred a shoemaker. For several years
after he came to Edinburgh, Martin occupied a small shop in the High Street,
near the head of the West Bow, where he combined the two very opposite professions
of bookseller and cobbler. He also frequented the country towns around
Edinburgh on fairs and other market-days, exposing his small stock of books
for sale; and, by dint of great perseverance and industry, was soon able to
'withdraw his allegiance from Crispin altogether, and to devote the whole of
his attention to the sale of books.
His burgewticket
is dated 1786-but he must have been well established in business many years
previously. From a letter of condolence written by him to the widow of his
brother, who died in America, he appears to have been in thriving circumstances
so early as 1782. He says, " The awfully sudden and unfortunate death of my
brother-the helpless situation in which you were left, and so many fatherless
children-situate in a country surrounded with war and devastation, my
thoughts thereupon may be more easily conceived than described. * * *
My uneasiness has been much increased by the thoughts of the boy coming to
me, that I might receive him safely, and that he might escape the dangers of so
long a voyage. Indeed it has been the will of Providence to take all my children
from me, and my intention is to adopt him (his nephew) as my own son.
My situation in business I have no cause to complain of. I have a shop in the
bookselling way in the Lawnmarket of Edinburgh, to which occupation I mean
to put William, my namesake, and in which I hope he will do very well. I will
give him the best education, and he shall be as well clothed as myself. * * *
My wife has been very much indisposed for some time bypast, and is not yet
much better. She is most anxious about William, and wishes much to see
him, from which you may conclude his arrival would make us both very happy.''
It is uncertain at what period Martin came to Edinburgh.
He used to boast that he was in arm during the Rebellion 1745.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. No. LXI. MR. WILLIAM MARTIN, BOOKSELLER AND AUCTIONEER IN EDINBURGH. MR. MARTIN, who ...

Book 8 p. 199
(Score 1.21)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 3 i i
no doubt that the intervention of the Directory of the great Republic will
obtain my liberty. Remember me most affectionately to all my friends, who
are the friends of liberty and of mankind.”
Muir was not disappointed in the sincerity of the French Directory, at whose
request he was delivered up by the Spanish authorities. On entering France
he was warmly hailed by the people ; and in Paris he received every mark of
respect from the government. He did not, however, live long to enjoy the
liberty which it had cost him such peril to obtain. The seeds of a decline had
been sown in his constitution before his departure from Scotland ; and the many
fatigues which he had subsequently undergone, together with the wounds he
had received in the action, proved too complicated and powerful to be resisted.
He died at Chantilly, near Paris, on the 27th September 1798, where he was
interred, with every mark of respect, by the public authorities.
No. CXXVI.
SIR ARCHIBALD HOPE OF PINKIE, BART.
THIS gentleman, who has been dubbed by the artist a “ Knight of the Turf,”
was the ninth baronet of Craighall-the original designation of the family.’
He was grandson to Sir Thomas, a distinguished member of the College of
Justice, and one of the early promoters of agricultural improvements in Scotland.
By his skill in this latter department, the Meadows, now one of the pleasantest
and most frequented walks about Edinburgh, was converted from its original
marshy and waste condition into a state of high cultivation. In commemoration
of this circumstance, it obtained the name of “ Hope Park ;” but it is still
generally known as “ The Meadows.”
SIR ARCHEALDw,h o succeeded to the title on the death of his grandfather
in 1771, does not appear to have been ambitious of obtaining distinction either
at the bar or in the senate j and the only public situation which he ever held
was that of Secretary to the Board of Police, to which he had been appointed
for life ; and, on its abolition, received a compensation in lieu of the office.
On his own estate, and throughout the neighbourhood, he supported the
character of a country gentleman, more intent on improving his lands than
desirous of engaging in those political and party animosities which so much
distract the harmony of society, and retard the progress of substantial national
improvement. On his property he established extensive salt and coal works,
from which he derived very considerable emolument, and which still continue
1 The Hopes of Craighall are the stem from which has sprnng the noble family of Hopetonu,
noticed in a precediug part of this work. The designation of Craighall wra laid aside by Lord
Rankeillor, son of the second baronet, who had been knighted by the title of-Sir Archibald Hope of
that Ilk.

... SKETCHES. 3 i i no doubt that the intervention of the Directory of the great Republic will obtain my ...

Book 8 p. 436
(Score 1.2)

THE OLD TOWN. 25
in Parliament Square, is supposed to be under the stone shown in the
Engraving.) The Edinburgh Reviewers-Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Brougham,
KNOWS GRAVE
Dr. Thomas Brown, Francis Horner, and the rest,-are cultivating the
Muses ,on a little oatmeal, moistened by not a littre usquebaugh. Walter
Scott is getting up his Border MinstreZsy. Leyden is gulping down
languages like Behemoth rivers. Thomas Campbell is completing the
incubation of his PZeasures of Hope. Hector MacNeil is resting under
the little laurels of his WiZZ a d l e a n and Mary of CasfZecary. Dr. John
Jarnieson has come from Forfar to preside over an Anti-Burgher congregation
in Nicolson Street, and to issue his stupendous Dictwmzy of the
ScottzX hnpuge. Mrs. Grant of Laggan is publishing her Bters from fhe
Mozintatits. James Grahame is singing with sweet though rather sepulchral
notes his Sabbat/r and Birds of ScotZad. Mrs. Hamilton is brimful of her
exquisite novel, 23~C offagerso f GZenbumL; and Mrs. Brunton has secretly
prepared a surprise for the world, and her husband too, in her stirring and
animated Se(f-ControZ. In the Edinburgh pulpit, Dr. John Inglis, Dr. Brunton,
and other magnates, are propping up the Established Church, while in the
Relief body Struthers of College Street is gathering together such crowds as
have rarely been seen in Edinburgh before, and are not to be seen again till
the advent of Chalmers, and is, by his sermon on the battle of Trafalgar, to
electrify his audience as much as the news of the great victory had done,
while Alison and afterwards Morehead and Sandford are sustaining the credit of
the Episcopalian Church. But the period between the year 1815 and 1830 or
1835 may perhaps be called the culmination of Fdinburgh's intellectual- glory.
During that time was commenced ihe immortal series of the Waverley Novels,
in Iieu of, but a vast stride before, Scott's highly popular Poems. (The
D

... OLD TOWN. 25 in Parliament Square, is supposed to be under the stone shown in the Engraving.) The Edinburgh ...

Book 11 p. 43
(Score 1.2)

Princes Street. THE sco-rr MONUMENT. 127
- -
Beattie, James Thomson, and John Home, adorn
the west front j those of Queen Mary, King James
features of this beautiful and imposing structure,
the design of a self-taught Scottish artisan, The
four principal arches supporting the central tower
resemble those beneath the rood-tower of a cruciform
church, while the lower arches in the dia-
! gonal abutments, with their exquisitely-cut details,
resemble the narrow north aisle of Melrose.
? The groined roof over the statue is of the same
design as the roof of the choir of that noble abbey
church so niuch frequented and so enthusiastically
admired by Sir Walter. The pillars, canopies
of niches, pinnacles, and other details, are chiefly
copied from the same ruin, and magnificent views
of the city in every direction are to be had from
its lofty galleries.
It cost A15,650, and from time to time statuettes
of historical and other personages who figure
in the pages of Scott have been placed in its
numerous niches. Among these are Prince Charles
Edward, who directly faces Princes Street, in the
Highland dress, with a hand on his sword; the
Lady of the Lake; the Last Minstrel and Meg
Merrilies-these are respectively ou the four
centres of the first gallery; Mause Headrigg,
Dominie Sampson, Meg Dods, and Dandie
Dinmont, are respectively on the south, the west,
the north, and the east, of the fourth gallery ; King
James VI., Magnus Troil, and Halbert Glendinning,
occupy the upper tier of the south-west
buttress ; Minnie Trofi, George Heriot, and Bailie
Nicol Jarvie, are on the lower tier of it; Amy
Robsart, the Earl of Leicester, and Baron
Bradwardine, are on the upper tier of the northwest
buttress ; Ha1 0? the Wynd, the Glee Maiden,
and Ellen of Lorn, are on the lower tier thereof;
Edie Ochiltree, King Robert I., and Old Mortality,
are on the upper tier of the north-east buttress;
Flora MacIvor, Jeanie Deans, and the Laird of
Dumhiedykes, are on the lower tier of it; the
Sultan Saladin, Friar Tuck, and Richard Cceur de
Lion, are on the upper tier of the south-east buttress
; and Rebecca the Jewess, Diana Vernon, and
Queen Mary, are on its lower tier.
On the capitals and pilasters supporting the roof
are some exquisitely cut heads of Scottish poets :
those of Robert Bums, Robert Fergusson, James
Hogg, and Allan Ramsay, are on the west front;
those of George Buchanan, Sir David Lindsay,
Robert Tannahill, and Lord Byron, are on the
south front; those of Tobias Smollett. Tames sonal form of memorial-namely, great genius,
distinguished patriotism, and the stature and
figure of a demi-god.? To his contemporaries
chisel of Sir John Steel, procured at the cost of
;62,000, was inaugurated under the central arches
in 1846.
Sir Walter is represented sitting with a Border
plaid over his left shoulder, and his favourite highland
staghound, Maida, at his right foot.
A staircase in the interior of the south-west
cluster of pillars leads to the series of galleries to
which visitors are admitted on the modest payment
of twopence. It also gives access to the Museum
room, which occupies the body of the tower, and
therein a number of interesting relics were
deposited at its inauguration in April, 1879.
These are too numerous to give in detail, but
among them may be mentioned a statuette of Sir
Walter, by Steel, a bust of George Kemp, the illfated
architect, with his first pencil sketch of the
monument, and a number of models and paintings
of historical interest ; and on the walls are placed
eight alto-relievo portraits in bronze (by J.
Hutchison, R.S.A.) of Scottish characters of
mark, including James V., James VI., Queen
Mary, John Knox, George Buchanan, the Regent
Moray, the Marquis of Montrose, and Charles I.
In the cdlection are some valuable letters in
the handwriting of Sir Walter Scott ; and the walls
are adorned with some of the old flint muskets,
swords, and drums of the ancient City Guard.
The statue of Professor John Witson, ?? Christopher
North,? at the western corner of the East
Gardens, is the result of a subscription raised
shortly after his death in 1854. A committee for
the purpose was appointed, consisting of the Lord
Justice General (afterwards Lord Colonsay), Lord
Neaves, Sir John Watson Gordon, and others,
and three years after Sir John Steel executed the
statue, which is of bronze, and is a fine representation
of one who is fresh in the recollection of
thousands of his countrymen. The careless ease
of the professois ordinary dress is adopted; a
plaid which he was in the habit of wearing
supplies the drapery, and the lion-like head and
face, fill of mental and muscular power, thrown
slightly upward and backward, express genius,
while the figure, tall, massive, and athletic, corres
ponds to the elevated expression of the countenance..
At its inauguration the Lord President Inglis said,
happily, that there was ?in John Wilson every
element which gives a man a claini to this per-
I., King James V., and Drummond of Hawthornden,
are on the north front.
The white marble statue of Scott, from the
this statue vividly recalls Wilson in his every-day
aspect, as he was wont to appear in his class
room or on the platform in the fervour of his

... Street. THE sco-rr MONUMENT. 127 - - Beattie, James Thomson, and John Home, adorn the west front j those ...

Book 3 p. 127
(Score 1.2)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 449
Dunkeld. Subsequently he spent a few years as tutor in one or two respectable
families ; but abandoning his prospects in the Church, probably from some new
impulse given to an early bias, he now embraced the medical profession ; and
after due attendance on the prelections of the medical Professors in the University
of Edinburgh, he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1796.
Immediately thereafter he repaired to London, and attended for a short time
the anatomical lectures of Dr. Marshall of Thavies Inn.
The
number of his pupils at the outset was limited ; but his talents and industry
soon secured for him a reputation and a success which length of years only
tended to strengthen and augment. In 1804 the Royal College of Surgeons
adopted a resolution highly in his favour, by which it was declared that attendance
on his lectures should in future qualify for passing at Surgeons’ Hall; and
in 1815 he was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and
a resident fellow the following year. Dr. Barclay was an enthusiast in his profession
; and besides his eminent qualifications, acquired by extensive and
careful study, he was peculiarly happy in gaining the esteem, and carrying along
with him the attention, of the student. Possessed of the most inflexible goodhumour,
his discourses were not less profound and luminous than lively and
interesting, from the appropriate anecdotes with which he seldom failed to illustrate
whatever topic he might be engaged in discussing.’ In 1825 Dr. Barclay
entered into partnership with Dr. Robert Knox, at that time Conservator of the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. He had for some time previously
been in a declining state of health, and his speech latterly became indistinct
from the effects of palsy. He died on the 21st of August 1826, and his remains
were interred in Restalrig Churchyard. His funeral was attended by many of
his friends, and by the members of the Royal College of Surgeons in a body.
Besides his
Introductory Lectures, published since his death by his friend Sir George Ballingall,
Professor of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh (who
prefixed to the volume a Memoir of Dr. Barclay), he wrote the article Physi+
logy in the third edition (completed in 1797) of the Encyelopcedia Britannica.
In 1803 he gave to the world a new anatomical nomenclature-a desideratum
much felt by students in the science. It has not, however, been generally
adopted, though the advantages to be derived from a precise and consistent
vocabulary are universally admitted. In 1808 appeared his treatise on the
“ Muscular Motions of the Eody,” followed, in 18 12, by another, descriptive
Dr. Barclay began his first course of lectures in Edinburgh in 1797.
Dr. Barclay was the author of several valuable medical works.
Connected with this Print we have heard the following anecdote, characteristic of Dr. Barclay’s
habitual good humour :-Having learned that the artist was engaged in the Caricature, the Doctor,
accompanied by his friend Sir George Ballingall, called on Mr. Ray, to whom he waa unknown ;
and being ushered into his working-room, was immediately recognised and named by the late Earl
of Buchan, who happened to be sitting there. This occasioned some degree of embarrassment, from
which Mr. Kay waa instantly relieved by the Doctor obsewing that he understood he waa engaged
in a print, in which he, the Doctor, was to have a conspicuous place, and that he had come to inform
Mr. Ray that, if he had not already got his likeness, he was prepared to sit for his portrait whenever
the artist pleased.
VOL 11. 3M

... SKETCHES. 449 Dunkeld. Subsequently he spent a few years as tutor in one or two respectable families ...

Book 9 p. 600
(Score 1.19)

224 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
sterling, for a yeir?s rent of a vault under the said
Trinitie House, imployed to lay in stores for the
m y , determining the 8th of March last. . . .
Given at Edinburgh the last day of Apryl, 1657.
Sic subm-ibifur, GEORGE MONK, F. SCROPE,
Quathetham? i.e. Wetham. ((( Trinity House Records.?)
In 1800 the master and assistants of the Trinity
House recommended, as the best means of rendering
safer the navigation on the east coast of Scotland,
of the old one, in a Grecian style of architecture,
in 1817, at the modest expense of Az,soo.
In the large hall for the meeting of the masters
are a portrait of Mary of Lorraine, by Mytens, and a
model of the ship in which she came to Scotland.
Among other portraits, there is one of Admiral
Lord Duncan; and among other pictures of interest,
the late David Scott?s huge painting of ?? Vasco de
Gama passing the Cape of Good Hope.?
A building mysteriously named the Kantore
THE TRINITY HOUSE.
the establishment of a lighthouse, or floating light,
on the Inchcape, or Bell Rock, off the mouth of
the Tay; and, adds the Edinburgh ChronicZe for
that year, ?they have also recommended all the
towns and burghs of the east coast to consider
what sort of light would be best, in what manner
it should be erected, and what duties should be
levied on the shipping, and what shipping) for its
erection and support ; ? and there, six years afterwards,
was begun that famous feat of engineering,
the Bell Rock Lighthouse, on the reef which
had proved so fatal to many a mariner in past
times, and which forms the subject of one of
Southey?s fine ballads.
- The present Trinity House was built on the site
(probabIy a corruption of the Flemish word kanfoor,
a place of business) stood of old in the Kirkgate,
in the immediate vicinity of St., Mary?s
Church, and was intimately associated with the
ecclesiastical history of Leith. It was latterly a
species of prison-house. When an appearance of
religion was necessary to all men in Scotland, the
Kantore was used as a place of temporary durance
for those who incurred in any way the censure of
the Kirk Session. ?Offences of the most trivial
nature were most severely punished,? says a writer,
(? and a system of espionage was maintained, from
which there was hardly any possibility of escape.
Either Leith must, in former times, have exceeded
in wickedness the other parts of Scotland, or the

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith. sterling, for a yeir?s rent of a vault under the said Trinitie House, imployed ...

Book 6 p. 224
(Score 1.18)

2 EDINBURGH PAST ANI) PRESENT.
by giving a series of dissolving views of various parts and points of prospect
that we can hope, in the faintest approximation, to describe the Modern
Athens.
I t were superfluous to quote Scott’s magnificent lines in the fourth canto
of Marnuon, closing with the words-
‘ Where’s the coward that would not dare
To fight for such a land ! ’-
words to which O’Connelrs recitation, heard by 30,000 on the Calton Hill, in
the September of 1835, seemed to give a new force and meaning, as though
a ray of autumnal gold had been shed down upon them, and transfigured
them in your sight. Less known than these, but hardly less beautiful, are
those in the Introduction to the 5th canto of the Poem, contrasting the
Edinburgh of the past with that of the present day :-
‘. . . Caledonia’s Queen is changed,
Since on her dusky summit ranged,
Within its steepy limits pent,
By bulwark, line, and battlcment,
And flanking towers, and Iaky flood,
Guardcd and garrisoned she stood,
Denying entrance or resort,
Save at each tall embattled port. . . .
Stern then, and steel-girt, was thy brow,
Dun-Edin ! 0, how altered now,
When safe amid thy mountain court
Thou sitst like Empress at her sport,
And liberal, unconfined, and free,
For thy dark cloud, with umbered lower
That hung o’er cliff, and lake, and tower,
Thou gleam’st against the western ray
Tcn thousand lines of brighter day.’
FLINGINTGH Y WHITE ARMS TO THE SEA,
In the 5th canto we have a gleam of Edinburgh by night :-
‘ You might have heard a pebble fall,
A beetle hum, a cricket sing,
An owlet flap his boding wing,
On Giles’s steeple tall.
The antique buildings, climbing high,
Whose Gothic frontlets sought the sky
Were here wrapt deep in shade ;

... EDINBURGH PAST ANI) PRESENT. by giving a series of dissolving views of various parts and points of ...

Book 11 p. 2
(Score 1.18)

76 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Holyrood.
~ ~~ ~~ ~
period, and in 1736- one of unusual brilliance
was given in January, the Hon. Charles Hope
(afterwards Muster Master-General for Scotland)
being king, and the Hon. Lady Helen Hope
queen. In the Gallery of the Kings a table was
covered with 300 dishes en ambigzr, at which sat
150 ladies at a time . . . . illuminated with 400
wax candles. ?!The plan laid out by the council
of the Company was exactly followed with the
their dark days had found refuge at St. Germains.
He entered Holyrood under a salute from the
castle, while the approaches were lined by the
Hopetoun Fencibles and Windsor Foresters. He
held a levCe next day at the palace, where he was
soon after joined by his son, the Duc d?Angoul6me.
The royal family remained several years at Holyrood,
when they endeared themselves to all in
Edinburgh, where their presence was deemed but
greatest order and decency, and concluded without
the least air of disturbance.?
Yet brawls were apt to occur then and for long
after, as swords were worn in Edinburgh till a
later period than in England j and an advertisement
in the Cowant for June, 1761, refers to a
silver-mounted sword having been taken in mistake
at an election of peers in that year at
Holyrood.
The ancient palace had once more royal inmates
when, on the 6th of June, 1796, there
landed at Leith, under a salute from the fort,
H.R.H. the Comte d?Artois, Charles Philippe, the
brother of Louis XVI., in exile, seeking a home
under the roof of the royal race that had so
often intermarried with his family, and which in
a natural link of the old alliance that used to exist
between Scotland and France.
The count, with his sons the Duc d?Angoul6me
and the Duc de Bem, was a constant attender at the
drills of the Edinburgh Volunteers, in the meadows
or elsewhere, though he never got over a horror of
the uniform they wore then-blue, faced with redwhich
reminded him too sadly of the ferocious
National Guard of France. , He always attended in
his old French uniform, with the order of St.
Ampoule on his left breast, just as we may see him
in Kay?s Portraits. He was present at St. Anne?s
Yard when, in 1797, the Shropshire Militia, under
Lord Clive-the j ~ s t English regiment of militia
that ever entered Scotland-was reviewed by Lord
Adam Gordon, the commander-in-chief.

... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. Holyrood. ~ ~~ ~~ ~ period, and in 1736- one of unusual brilliance was given in ...

Book 3 p. 76
(Score 1.17)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 161
No. LXVIII.
MR. ALEXANDER WOOD,
SURGEON.
THE pencil of Kay has done justice to the memory of this eminent surgeon
and very excellent man, by the production of two striking portraits of him.
The one here prefixed possesses the real octogenarian demeanour of the " kind
old Sandy Wood," who is represented as passing along the North Bridge with
an umbrella under his arm, in allusion to the circumstance of his having
been the first person in Edinburgh who made use of that very convenient
article-now so common.
MR. WOOD'Sfa ther was the youngest son of E.W ood of Warriston, in
Mid-Lothian-afterwards the property of the Earl of Morton. He long possessed
a house and grounds, situated immediately to the north of Queen Street, and
rented from the Town of Edinburgh, where Mr. Wood was born in the year
1725.
Mr. Wood completed his medical education in Edinburgh ; and having taken
out his diploma, he established himself at Musselburgh, where he practised
successfully for some time. He then removed to Edinburgh, becarne a Fellow
of the Royal College of Surgeons, and entered into a copartnership with Messrs.
Rattray and Congalton, men of eminence in their day, and to whose practice
he subsequently succeeded.
Eeing gifted with strong natural talents, great tact, and an activity of mind
and person rarely surpassed ; and possessing a perfect simplicity and openness of
character, with a singularly benevolent disposition and peculiar tenderness of
heart, Mr. Wood soon rose to high professional celebrity.
Not long after connecting himself with Messrs. Rattray and Congalton, he
married Miss Veronica Chalmers, second daughter of George Chalmers, Esq.,
W.S., an individual of great worth and respectability. In reference to this
connection a very pleasing anecdote is told. Mr. Wood, on obtaining the consent
of the lady, having proposed himself to Mr. Chalmers as his son-in-law, that
gentleman addressed him thus :-" Sandy, I have not the smallest objection to
you-but I myself am not rich, and shodd, therefore, like to know how you are
to support a wife and family 1'' Mr. Wood put his hand into his pocket, drew
out his lancet-case, and said, " I have nothing but this, sir, and a determination
to use my best endeavours to succeed in my profession." His future
father-in-law was so struck with this straightforward and honest reply, that he
immediately exclaimed, '' Vera is yours I "
Y

... SKETCHES. 161 No. LXVIII. MR. ALEXANDER WOOD, SURGEON. THE pencil of Kay has done justice to the ...

Book 8 p. 228
(Score 1.17)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 297
With this view he entered the ranks of the Russian army, and served in the war
against the Turks. He was at last killed in a duel with a fellow-officer, not far
from Constantinople.
THE fourth figure, or last of “ The Bucks,” our readers will recognise as an
old acquaintance-the LAIRD of MACNAB. The eccentricities of the
Laird have been already pretty amply detailed in No. 111. of the Portraits.
There is, however, one other anecdote which may be added.
Macnab was proceeding from the west, on one occasion, to Dunfermline, with
a company of the Breadalbane Fencibles, of which he had the command. In
those days the Highlanders were notorious for incurable smuggling propensities ;
and an excursion to the Lowlands, whatever might be its cause or import, was an
opportunity by no means to be neglected. The Breadalbane men had accordingly
contrived to stow a considerable quantity of the genuine “ peat reek ”
into the baggage carts. All went well with the party for some time.* On passing
Alloa, however, the excisemen there having got a hint as to what the carts
contained, hurried out by a shorter path to intercept them. In the meantime,
Macnab, accompanied by a gillie, in the true feudal style, was proceeding
slowly at the head of his men, not far in the rear of the baggage. Soon after
leaving Alloa, one of the party in charge of the carts came running back and
informed their chief that they had all been seized by a posse of excisemen.
This intelligence at once roused the blood of Macnab. “Did the lousy villains
dare to obstruct the march of the Breadalbane Highlanders ! ” he exclaimed,
inspired with the wrath of a thousand heroes ; and away he rushed to the scene
of contention. There, sure enough, he found a party of excisemen in possession
of the carts. “ Who the devil are you 1” demanded the angry chieftain.
“ Gentlemen of the excise,” was the answer. “ Robbers ! thieves ! you mean ;
how dare you lay hands on his Majesty’s stores P If you be gaugers, show me
your commissions.” Unfortunately for the excisemen, they had not deemed it
necessary in their haste to bring such documents with them. In vain they asserted
their authority, and declared they were well known in the neighbourhood.
“ Ay, just what I took ye for ; a parcel of highway robbers and scoundrels.”
“ Come, my good ’fellows ” (addressing the soldiers in charge of the baggage,
and extending his voice with the lungs of a stentor), “ Prime !-load !-” The
excisemen did not wait the completion of the sentence; away they fled at
top speed towards Alloa, no doubt glad they had not caused the waste of his
Majesty’s ammunition, “ Now, my lads,” said Macnab, “ proceed -your
whisky’s safe.”

... SKETCHES. 297 With this view he entered the ranks of the Russian army, and served in the war against ...

Book 8 p. 416
(Score 1.17)

182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a sum of money for the purposes of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Walker was succeeded in the Chair of Natural History by the eminent
Professor Jameson, who was his pupil, and afterwards his assistant.
No. CCXXXIII.
BI. DE LATOUR,
PAINTER TO THE KING OF FRANCE, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY
OF PAINTING AT PARIS, etc.
M. DE LATOURa,n eminent French painter, who died at St. Quentin, the place
of his nativity, in 1789, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, was remarkable,
even in boyhood, for his efforts with the pencil j and the caricatures of the pedagogue,
at whose seminary he acquired the rudiments of learning, frequently prgcured
for him the reward of the birch.
After attending the instructions of a drawing-master, under whom he made
great progress, he improved himself by a journey to the Netherlands, where he
had an opportunity of studying the productions of the Flemish school. Cambray
happened to be at that time the seat of a negotiation, where the representatives
of the various powers interested were assembled. Portraits of several
of the ministers having been successfully painted by young Latour, the English
Ambassador prevailed on him to accompany him to London, where he received
the most flattering encouragement.
On his return to France, an extreme irritability of the nervous system forbidding
him the use of oil-colours, he was obliged to confine himself to crayons,
a mode of painting to which it is difficult to give any degree of force. The
obstacles he had hence to encounter served but to animate his zeal ; and he
sought every means of perfecting his art, by the constant study of design.
Admitted into the Royal Academy of Painting at the age of thirty-three, it
was not long before he was called to Court. His free and independent spirit,
however, led him to refuse what most as eagerly covet. At length he submitted
to the Monarch’s commands. The place in which Louis XV. chose to sit for
his picture was a tower surrounded with windows. (‘What am I to do in this
lantern ?” said Latour : (( painting requires a single passage for the light.” (‘ I
have chosen this retired place,” answered the king, (‘ that we may not be interrupted.’’
‘( I did not know, Sire,” replied the painter, ‘‘ that a king of France
was not master of his own house.”
Louis XV. was much amused with the salliea of Latour, who sometimes
carried them pretty far, as may be conceived from the following anecdote:
Being sent for to Versailles, to paint the portrait of Madame de Pompadour,

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. a sum of money for the purposes of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. Dr. ...

Book 9 p. 243
(Score 1.17)

398 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
Mr. Shiells was married, and had a daughter, who died young. He was
much respected in his profession, and bore the character of a charitable and
humane man. He died on the. 23d September 1798. The boy was subsequently
for many years a porter in the Candlemaker Row.
The charge made for a visit was only one shilling I-yet Mr. Shiells accumulated
a good deal of money, the greater portion of which he left to his sister’s
family. His niece, Miss Lawrie, kept the shop for many years after her uncle’s
death, and was married to Mr. A. Henderson, jeweller.
No. CLVIII.
MR. ROBERT JOHNSTON,
AND
MISS SIBILLA HUTTON.
Nb other reason has been assigned by the artist for grouping these two
individuals together, than that they were the most corpulent shopkeepers in
Edinburgh at the time, and had their places of business in the Royal Exchange
buildings.
MR. JOHNSTON was the son of the Rev. John Johnston, minister of
Arngask,’ and brother-german to Dr. Johnston of North Leith. He carried
on business for many years as a private banker, in company with Mr. Donald
Smith, under the firm,of Johnston and Smith. This concern, however, proved
unfortunate, having met with a series of losses-among the first of which was a
robbery to a considerable amount, The particulars of this affair are fully given
in the following advertisements from the Cowant of 1768 :-
“On Friday evening last (the 12th August) the lock of the outer door of the compting-house of
Johnston and Smith, bankers in the Exchange, was opened by some wicked persons, as snpposed by
a counterfeit key, and eight hnndred pounds sterling stolen out of their drawers, in the following
Bank notes, viz.-
Of the Royal, and Bank of Scotland . E194 9 0
British Linen Company . 362 2 0
Dumfries Notes . 126 0 0
Glasgow Notes . . 64 10 0
General Bank of Perth . . 3 2 0 0
Dundee Notes (Jobson’s) . 4 0 0 0
Several small Notes and Silver . . 1 1 1 0
$830 2 0
The church at Arngask is called “the visible kirk,” from its great altitude.

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, Mr. Shiells was married, and had a daughter, who died young. He was much respected in ...

Book 8 p. 554
(Score 1.17)

338 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
At Surrey Chapel he was thefirst to commence the system of Sunday
school teaching, now so extensively in operation over the kingdom. He was
an original promoter of the London Bible, Missionary, and Religious Tract
Societies ; and, in short almost all the other London societies, of a similar nature,
were more or less indebted to the benevolent and enterprising disposition of the
pastor of Surrey Chapel.
That the Rev. Rowland Hill was without his faults and imperfections no one
will assert. Indeed, it is almost impossible to form a just conception of his
character, his conduct may be viewed under such a variety of shade and colour.
It may justly be said, however, that “ even his failings leaned to virtue’s side.”
The virulence and acrimony displayed in the long controversy with Wesley was
perhaps the most reprehensible part of his public conduct, which, even the
ambitious motives attributed to the,“ Old FOX,”an d the circumstance of his being
the first to commence hostilities, cannot altogether palliate, The position maintained
by Mr. Hill between church and dissent was also an undefinable and
most unprofitable piece of conceit ; insomuch that, notwithstanding his professed
zeal for the union of Christians, it stood as a mighty stumbling-block in the way.
Of the private life of Rowland Hill there are many curious anecdotes.
One morning a dispute occurred betwixt his coachman and footman, as to who
should go for milk to the family. The coachman was mre “it was no business
of his”-and the footman was equally “ certain it was none of his.” Mr. Hill
having overheard the quarrel, ordered the carriage out and the footman to
attend. He then got the milk pitcher into the carriage, and ordered the coachman
to drive to the dairy. On his return, he addressed the disputants in his
usual forcible manner, and endeavoured to convince them, from the unnecessary
trouble they had occasioned, of the folly of stickling so pugnaciously for their
“ rights.”
Owing partly to his own eccentric character, but more especially to the political
influence of his connections, he was on familiar terms with some of the
Royal family, and was supposed to have considerable influence at court. Many
applications for his patronage were consequently made, and among these not a
few of a curious nature. The following scene we cannot resist quoting in the
words of his biographer :-‘‘ I well remember one morning the footman ushered
in a most romantic-looking lady. She advanced with measured steps, and with
an air that caused Mr. Hill to retreat towards the fireplace. She began-
‘ Divine Shepherd.’
“Pon my word, ma’am.’
‘ I hear you have great influence with the Royal family.’
‘ Well, ma’am ; and did you hear anything else 1’
‘ Now, seriously, sir--my son has the most wonderful poetic powers.
‘Well, I wonder what will come next,’ muttered Mr. Hill in a low tone.
‘Yes, sir, pardon the liberty; and therefore I called to ask you to get him
Sir,
his poetry is of a sublime order-noble, original, fine.’
made Poet Laweate.’

... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. At Surrey Chapel he was thefirst to commence the system of Sunday school teaching, now ...

Book 8 p. 472
(Score 1.16)

.BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 203
NO. LXXXIV.
THE EARL OF ERROL
AND
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD HADDO.
THE first of these “Noble Friends” (to the left), is GEORGE, fourteenth
EARL of ERROL. He was born at Slanes Castle’-the principal seat of
the family-in Aberdeenahire, in 1767. His father, James Lord Boyd, was
the eldest son of Lord Kilmarnock, who suffered in 1746 on account of the
Rebellion. Lord Boyd held a commission in the 21st Regiment of Foot at the
time, and fought against the young Chevalier, whose cause his father had
espoused. In 1758, on the death of his grand-aunt, he succeeded to the title
as thirteenth Earl of Errol. The hereditary honour of Lord High Constable of
Scotland was conferred by King Robert Bruce upon his lordship’s ancestor in 13 15.
GEORGEt,h e subject of this sketch, succeeded to the title, while yet at
Harrow School, by the death of his father in 1778. He purchased a cornetcy
in the 1stDragoons in 1780, being then only thirteen years of age. He afterwards
held commissions in various regiments-was Major of the 78th Foot in
1793, and latterly Captain of a company in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards.
At the general election in 1796, his lordship was elected one of the sixteen
representatives of the Scottish Peerage. On this occasion the Earl of Lauderdale
entered a protest against the votes of British Peers created since the
Union ; and also protested against the return of the Earl of Errol. In pursuance
of this protest, Lauderdale presented a petition to the House of Lords
against Errol, on the ground that, not being paternally descended from the High
Constable, he did not hold his title consistently with the original charter.
The petition was referred to a committee of privileges, and counseI were heard
on both sides. The case was finally determined on the 19th of May 1797.
The Lord Chancellor spoke at great length on the subject : He stated that the
petition laid its principal stress on the Earl of Errol not being a male descendant,
to which the original charter no doubt was limited; but it should be
recollected that it was no uncommon thiig formerly for the nobility to surrender
their honours to the King, for the purpose of having them renewed, with
some additional privileges, or relieved of some restrictions. This had been the
case with Gilbert, tenth Earl of Errol. He surrendered his honours to the King
in 1660, and had his charter renewed, which, instead of confirming it to male
The old CastIe of Slanes, formerly the principal residence of the Earls of Em& waa deatroyed
as far back aa the early part of the reign of Jam= VI. The greater part of the lands belonging to
the barony are now in the possession of Colonel John Gordon of Clnny.

... SKETCHES. 203 NO. LXXXIV. THE EARL OF ERROL AND THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD HADDO. THE first of ...

Book 8 p. 286
(Score 1.16)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 401
and having taken lodgings at Rosslyn, for change of air, she died there in 1792.
A stone in the churchyard, where her remains were interred, records her name
and the date of her death.
No. CCCVII.
A POLITICAL SET-TO;
‘( FREEDOM OF ELECTION ” ILLUSTRATED.
KINGHORNth, e scene of the affray represented in the Print, is the ferry-town
opposite Edinburgh, on the north side of the Forth. Though small it is a
royal burgh, and can boast an antiquity nearly as remote as any in the extensive
peninsula ycleped the Kingdom of Fife-
“ The most unhallowed mid the Scotian plains !”-
at least so wrote poor Fergusson, some sixty or seventy years ago ; although
few, we daresay, who visit the ‘( Fifan coast ” in our own day will acquiesce in
the inhospitable character ascribed to it by the poet. Along with Dysart,
Kirkaldy, and Burntisland, Kinghorn continues to send .a representative to
Parliament; and, if common fame report truly, in no other Scottish burgh
could a more curious or entertaining chronicle of electioneering manceuvres be
gleaned. From the union of the kingdoms down to the passing of the Reform
Bill, a series of political contentions agitated the otherwise peaceful community:;
and, amid the alternate scenes of strife and jollity which prevailed, there were
no lack of spirits-daring enough ; nor yet of joyous fellows-fond of merriment
and good cheer-who
“ Wisely thought it better far,
To fall in banquet than in war.” I ,
The annual return of councillors-always an interesting evenkserved to
keep alive the political excitement, and to whet the appetite for the more
engrossing occasion of a Parliamentary election. Some idea may be formed of
the consequence attached to the office of Chief Magistrate of the burgh, when
it is known that the civic chair has been frequently filled by an Earl of Rothes,
or an Earl of Leven, and that the Right Hon. Charles Hope, Lord President of
the Court of Session, was at one period the Provost of Kinghorn for nearly
twenty years. Not the least attractive circumstance attendant on the yearly
VOL 11. 3 F

... SKETCHES. 401 and having taken lodgings at Rosslyn, for change of air, she died there in 1792. A ...

Book 9 p. 537
(Score 1.16)

162 OLD AED NEW EDINBURGH. [Hanover Street.
in yhich David Hume died the Bible Society oi
Edinburgh was many years afterwards constituted,
and held its first sitting.
In the early part of the present century, No. 19
was the house of Miss Murray of Kincairnie, in
Perthshire, a family now extinct.
In 1826 we find Sir Walter Scott, when ruin
had come upon? him, located in No. 6, Mrs.
Brown?s lodgings, in a third-rate house of St.
David Street, whither he came after Lady Scott?s
death at Abbotsford, on the 15th of May in thatto
him-most nielancholy year of debt and sorrow,
and set himself calmly down to the stupendous
task of reducing, by his own unaided exertions, the
enormous monetary responsibilities he had taken
upon himself.
Lockhqt tells us that a week before Captain
Basil Hall?s visit at No. 6, Sir Walter had suf
ficiently mastered himself to resume his literary
tasks, and was working with determined resolution
at his ?Life of Napoleon,? while bestowing
an occasional day to the ?Chronicles of the
Canongate ?? whenever he got before the press with
his historical MS., or felt the want of the only
repose Be ever cared for-simply a change oi
labour.
No. 27,
now a shop, was the house of Neilson of Millbank,
and in No. 33, now altered and sub-divided, dwell
Lord Meadowbank, prior to I 7gqknown when at the
bar as Allan Maconochie. He left several children,
one of whom, Alexander, also won a seat on the
bench as Lord Meadowbank, in 18x9. No. 39, at
the corner of George Street, w2s the house ol
Majoribanks of Marjoribanks and that ilk.
No. 54, now a shop, was the residence of Si1
John Graham Dalyell when at the bar, to which
he was admitted in 1797. He was the second son
of Sir Robert Dalyell, Bart., of Binns, in Linlithgowshire,
and in early life distinguished himself by the
publication of various works illustrative of the
history and poetry of his native country, particularly
?Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century,??
?? Bannatyne Memorials,? ?? Annals of the Religious
Houses in Scotland,? Szc. He was vice-president
of the Antiquarian Society, and though heir-presumptive
to the baronetcy in his family, received
in 1837 the honour of knighthood, by letters patent
under the Great Seal, for his attainments in literature.
A few doors farther down the street is now the
humble and unpretentious-looking office of that
most useful institution, the Edinburgh Association
for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and
maintained, like every other charitable institution
in the city, by private contributions.
Hanover Street was built about 1786.
In South Hanover Street, No. 14-f old the
City of Glasgow Bank-is now the new hall of the
Merchant Company, containing many portraits of
old merchant burgesses on its walls, and some
views of the city in ancient times which are not
without interest. Elsewhere we have given the
history of this body, whose new hall was inaugurated
on July 9, 1879, and found to be well adapted
for the purposes of the company.
The large hall, formerly the bank telling-room,
cleared of all the desks and other fixtures, now
shows a grand apartment in the style of the Italian
Renaissance, lighted by a cupola rising from eight
Corinthian ? pillars, with corresponding pilasters
abutting from the wall, which is covered by
portraits. The space available here is forty-seven
feet by thirty-two, exclusive of a large recess.
Other parts of the building afford ample accommodation
for carrying on the business of the ancient
company and for the several trusts connected
therewith. The old manageis room is now used
by the board of management, and those on the
ground floor have been fitted up for clerks. The
premises were procured for ~17,000.
All the business of the Merchant Company is
now conducted under one roof, instead of being
carried on partly in .the Old Town and partly in
the New, with the safes for the security of papers
of the various trusts located, thirdly, in Queen
Street.
By the year 1795 a great part of Frederick
Street was completed, and Castle Street was
beginning to be formed. The first named thoroughfare
had many aristocratic residents, particularly
widowed ladies-some of them homely yet stately
old matrons of the Scottish school, about whom
Lord Cockburn, &c., has written so gracefully and
so graphically-to wit, Mrs. Hunter of Haigsfield
in No. I, now a steamboat-office; Mrs. Steele of
Gadgirth, No. 13; Mrs. Gardner of Mount Charles,
No. 20 ; Mrs. Stewart of Isle, No. 43 ; Mrs. Bruce
of Powfoulis, No. 52 ; and Lady Campbell of
Ardkinglas in No. 58, widow of Sir Alexander, last
of the male line of Ardkinglas, who died in 1810,-
and whose estates went to the next-heir of entail,
Colonel James Callender, of the 69th Regiment,
who thereupon assumed the name of Campbell,
and published two volumes of ?Memoirs? in 1832,
but which, for cogent reasons, were suppressed by
his son-in-law, the late Sir James Graham of
Netherby. His wife, Lady Elizabeth Callender,
died at Craigforth in 1797.
In Numbers 34 and 42 respectively resided
Ronald McDonald of Staffa, and Cunningham of
Baberton, and in the common stair, No. 35, there

... OLD AED NEW EDINBURGH. [Hanover Street. in yhich David Hume died the Bible Society oi Edinburgh was many ...

Book 3 p. 162
(Score 1.16)

240 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
charge of half-a-crown I It finally cost its rash, and, as it appears, vindictive owner, a
penalty of 10,000 merks, the half only of the fine at first awarded against him.
A confused tradition appears to have existed at an early period as to Queen Mary’s
having occupied a part of the ancient building within the close at some time or other.
The Crochallan Eencibles were wont to date their printed circulars from “ Queen Mary’8
council-room,” and the great hall in which they met, and in which also the’ Society of
Antiquaries long held their anniversary meetings, bore the name of the CROWN. In a
history of the close, privately printed by Mr Smellie in 1843, it is stated as a remarkable
fact, that there existed about forty years since a niche in the wall of this room, where
Mary’s crown was said to be deposited when she sat in council! We shrewdly suspect
the whole tradition had its origin in the Crochallan Mint. The building has still the
appearance of having been a mansion of note in earlier times; in addition to the inscriptions
already mentioned, which are beautifully cut in ornamental lettering, it is decorated with
such irregular bold string-courses as form the chief ornaments of the most ancient private
buildings in Edinburgh, and four large and neatly moulded windows are placed so close
together, two on each floor, as to convey the idea of one lofty window divided by a narrow
mullion and transom. In the interior, also, decayed pannelling, and mutilated, yet handsome
oak balustrades still attest the former dignity of the place.
Over a doorway still lower down the close, where the Bill Chamber was during the
greater part of last century, the initials and date W-R C-M - 1616, are cut in large
letters ; and the house immediately below contains the only instance we have met with in
Edinburgh, of a carved inscription over an interior doorway. It occurs above the entrance
to a small inner room in the sunk floor of the house; but the wall rises above the roof,
and is finished with crow-steps, so that the portion now enclosing it appears to be a later
addition. The following is the concise motto, which seems to suggest that its original
purpose was more dignified than its straitened dimensions might seem to imply :-
W. F. ANGVSTA. AD. VSVM. AVGSVTA. B. G.
The initials are those of William Fowler, merchant burgess ; the father, in all probability,
of William Fowler, the poet, who was secretary to Queen Anne of Denmark, and whose
sister was the mother of Drummond of Hawthornden? At a later period this mansion
formed the residence of Sir George Drummond, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in the years
1683 and 1684, and probably a descendant of the original owner, in whose time the lower
ground appears to have been all laid out in gardens, sloping down to the North Loch, and
adorned with a summer-house, afterwards possessed by Lord Forglen. We are disposed to
smile at the aristocratic retreats of titled and civic dignitaries down these old closes, now
altogether abandoned to squalid poverty ; yet many of them, like this, were undoubtedly
provided with beautiful gardens and pleasure grounds, the charms of which would be
enhanced by their nnpromising and straitened access.
There is reason for believing that the elder William Fowler, born in 1531, was also a poet (vide Archaeol. Scat.
vol. iv. p. 71), so that the burgeae referred to in the text is probably the author of “ The Triumph of Death,” and other
poem4 referred to among the original Drummond MSS. in the library of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in a
fragment dated, “ From my house in Erlr. the 9. of Jan. 1590.” The initials B. Q., which are, no doubt, those of his
wife, may yet ierve to identify him as the owper of the old tenement in Anchor Close.

... MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. charge of half-a-crown I It finally cost its rash, and, as it appears, vindictive ...

Book 10 p. 261
(Score 1.15)

260
I
OLD AND NEW EDtNEURGH. [The Cowgate.
Full of years and honours, Tam 0? the Cowgate
died in 1637. At Tynninghame, his family seat,
:here are two portraits of him preserved, and also
his state dress, in the crimson velvet breeches of
which there are no less than nine pockets. Among
many of his papers, which remain at Tynninghame
House, one contains a memorandum which throws
a curious light upon the way in which political
matters were then managed in Scotland. This
paper details the heads of a petition in his own
each way, and had a border of trees upon its east
and south sides. Latterly it bore the name of
Thomson?s Green, from the person to whom it
was leased by the Commissioners of Excise.
The Hammerman?s Close, Land, and Hall, adjoined
the site of this edifice on the westward.
The Land was in I 7 I I the abode of a man named
Anthony Parsons, among the last of those who
followed the ancient practice of vending quack
medicines on a public stage in the streets. In the
THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR'S CHAPEL. (From a Drawing by W. Geikie.)
hand-writing to the Privy Council with a prayer to
?gar the Chancellor? do something else in his behalf
The Excise Office was removed about 1730 from
the Parliament Square to the houge so long occupied
by the Earl of Haddington, which afforded excellent
accommodation for so important a public
institution. The principal room on the second
floor, the windows of which opened to the Cowgate,
was one of great magnificence, having a stucco
ceiling divided into square compartments, each of
which contained an elegant device, and there was
also much fine paneling. At the back of the
house, extending to where the back of Brown
Square was built, and entered by a gate from the
Candlemaker Row, it measured nearly zoo feet
October of that year he advertised in the Scofs Postman-?
It being reported that Anthony Parsons
is gone from Edinburgh to mount public stages in
the country, this is to give notice that he hath left
off keeping stages, and still lives in the Hammerman?s
Land, near the head of the Cowgate, where
may be had the Orvicton, a famous antidote against
infectious distempers, and helps barrenness,? &c
Four years subsequently Parsons-an Englishman,
of course-announced his design of bidding adieu
to Edinburgh, and in that prospect offered his quack
medicines at reduced rates, and likewise, by auction,
?a fine cabinet organ.?
The last of these English quacks was Dr. Green,
gauger, of Doncaster, who made his appearance in

... AND NEW EDtNEURGH. [The Cowgate. Full of years and honours, Tam 0? the Cowgate died in 1637. At ...

Book 4 p. 260
(Score 1.14)

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