... HIGH STREET. 233
of his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig, has been preserved by Sir ...
Book 10 p. 254
(Score 0.85)
![Leith] THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French servants o
Mary.
U In a small garden attached to one of the house:
in Little London,? says a writer, whose anecdote
we give for what it is worth, ? there was a flowerplot
which was tended with peculiar care long
after its original possessors had gone the way 01
all flesh, and it was believed that the body of a
young and beautiful female who committed suicide
was interred here. The peculiar circumstances
attending her death, and the locality made choice
of for her interment, combined to throw romantic
interest over her fate and fortunes, and
her story was handed-down from one generation
to another.?
In Bernard Street, a spacious and well-edificed
thoroughfare, was built, in 1806, the office of the
Leith Bank, a neat but small edifice, consisting of
two floors ; a handsome dome rises from the north
front, and a projection ornamented with four Ionic
columns, and having thin pilasters of the same.
decorates the building. It is now the National
Bank of Scotland Branch.
Since then, many other banking offices have been
established in the same street, including that of
the Union Bank, built in 1871 after designs by
James Simpson, having a three-storeyed front in the
Italian style, with a handsome cornice and balustrade,
and a telling-room measuring 34 feet by 32 ;
the National Bank of Scotland ; the Clydesdale
and British Linen Company?s Banks; many insurance
offices; and in No. 37 is the house of the
Leith Merchants? Club.
Bernard Street joins Baltic Street, at the southeast
corner of which is the spacious and stately
Corn Exchange, which is so ample in extent as to
be frequently used as a drill-hall by the entire
battalion of Leith Rifle Volunteers.
North of Baltic Street are the old Glass Works
The Bottle House Company, as it was named,
began to manufacture glass vessels in North Leith
in 1746, but their establishment was burnt down
during the first year of the partnership. Thus, in
1747 the new brick houses were built on the sands
of South Leith, near the present Salamander Street,
and as ~e demand for bottles increased, they
built an additional one in 1764, though, according
to Bremner, glass was manufactured in Leith so
early as 1682.
Seven cones, or furnaces, were built, but in later
years only two have been in operation. In the
year 1777 CO less -than 15,8834 cwts. were made
here in Leith, the Government duty on which
amounted to A2,779 odd ; but as there are now
many other bottle manufactories in Scotland, thetrade
is no longer confined to the old houses that.
adjoin Baltic and Salamander Streets.
A writer in the Bet, an old extinct &dinburgh,
periodical, writing in 1792, says that about thirty
years before there was only one glass company in.
Scotland, the hands working one-half the year in
Glasgow, and the other half at Leith, and adds :-
?NOW there are six glass-houses in Leith alone,.
besides many others in different parts of the
tountry. At the time I mention nothing else
than bottles of coarse green glass were made there,
and to that article the Glass House Company in
Leith confined their efforts, till about a dozen yearsagoI
when they began to make fine glass for phials.
and other articles of that nature. About four yearsago
they introduced the manufacture of crown
glass for windows, which they now make in great
perfection, and in considerable quantities. After
they began to manufacture white glass, they fzll
into the way of cutting it for ornament and engraving
upon it. In this last department they havereached
a higher degree of perfection than it hasperhaps
anywhere else ever attained. A young
man who was bred to that business, having discovered
a taste in designing, and an elegance of
execution that was very uncommon, the proprietors
of the works were at pains to give him every aid in
the art of drawing that this place can afford, and
he has exhibited some specimens of his powers in
that line that are believed to be unrivalled. It is.
but yesterday that this Glass House Company (who
are in a very flourishing state), encouraged by their
success in other respects, introduced the art of
preparing glass in imitation of gems, and of cutting
it in facets, and working it into elegant fomis for
chandeliers and other ornamental kinds of furniture.
In this department their first attempts have
been highly successful, and they have now executed
some pieces of work that they need not be ashamed
to compare with the best that can be procured
elsewhere.?
The works of the Glass House Company at
Leith were advertised as for sale in the Courani
of 1813, which stated that they were valued at
~40,000, with a valuable steam-engine of sixteen
horse power, valued at E2 1,000.
Quality Street, and the fine long thoroughfare
named Constitution Street, open into Bernard
Street. Robertson gives us a drawing of an old and
richly-moulded doorway of a tenement, in the
rorrner street, having on its lintel the initials P. P.,
E. G., and the date 1710. At the corner of Quality
Street stands St. John?s Free Church, which was
built in 1870-1, at a cost of about A7,500, and](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p058.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI Page 239")
... THE GLASS WORKS. 2 3 9
fashion that the hamlet near Craigmillar was namec
?Little France? from the French ...
Book 6 p. 239
(Score 0.84)
... THE CRAIG HOUSE. ? 43
at Marischal College, Mr. Burton was apprenticed
to a legal practitioner in ...
Book 5 p. 43
(Score 0.82)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
EDINBURGH CASTLE (conclzded). .
The Torture of Neville ...
Book 2 p. 386
(Score 0.82)
... 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 0.82)
... OLD -4ND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Walk.
on the verge of destitution ; and DIsraeli writes of
him thus in his ? ...
Book 5 p. 160
(Score 0.82)
... King Street1 SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON. 195
Royal Circus, was built in 1820, and in the following
year it was ...
Book 4 p. 195
(Score 0.82)
... 40 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Moredun.
and a father, his afflicted widow and daughters
erect this memorial of ...
Book 6 p. 340
(Score 0.81)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBVRGH. [Leith.
London, at the request of Lord Balgonie, afterwards
Earl of Leven.
People of ...
Book 6 p. 250
(Score 0.8)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Tavern” unquestionably was, in the first place, the good cheer which his ...
Book 9 p. 2
(Score 0.8)
... UCKENBOOTHS AND PARLIAMENT CLOSE. 201
and humour that led Burns to style him ‘‘ a birkie wee1 worth gowd,” ...
Book 10 p. 220
(Score 0.8)
... AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Wynd. 304
of the building, among these; on a buttress, at the
west angle of the ...
Book 2 p. 304
(Score 0.8)
... was accordingly built for them, at the
expense, says h o t , of Az,400 sterling. A portion
of this ...
Book 3 p. 29
(Score 0.8)
... 44 OLD AND NEW? EDINBURGH. [Gilmerton.
succeeding to the estate of Inverleith. Sir Francis,
who entailed the ...
Book 6 p. 344
(Score 0.8)
![Leith Walk.] ANDREW MACDONALD. J 59
in whose favour, so long as she exercised her profession,
she continued to hold the first place in
spite of their temporary enthusiasm for the great
London stars, who visited them at stated seasons.
? Our Mrs. Siddons? I frequently heard her called
in Edinburgh, not at all with the idea of comparing
her with the celebrated mother-in-law j but rather
as expressing the kindly personal goodwill with
which she was regarded by her own townsfolk who
were proud and fond of her.?
She was not a great actress, according to this
writer, for she lacked versatility, or power of assumption
in any part that was opposed to her nature
or out of her power, and she was destitute
of physical strength and weight for Shaksperian
heroines generally; yet Rosalind, Viola, Imogen,
and Label, had no sweeter exponents ; and in all
pieces that turned on the tender, soft, and faithful
Mary Stuart,?she gave an unrivalled impersonation.?
On leaving Edinburgh, after 1830, she carried
with her the good wishes of the entire people, ? for
they had recognised in her not merely the accomplished
actress, but the good mother, the refined
lady, and the irreproachable member of society.?
Northward of Windsor Street, in what was once
a narrow, pleasant, and secluded path between
thick hedgerows, called the Lovers? Loan, was
built, in 1876, at a short distance from the railway
station, the Leith Walk public school, at a cost of
L9,ooo; it is in the Decorated Collegiate style,
calculated to accommodate about 840 scholars, and
is a good specimen of the Edinburgh Board schools.
In the Lovers? Loan Greenside House was long
the property and the summer residence of James
Marshal, W.S., whose town residence was in Milne
Square, so limited were the ideas of locomotion
and exaggerated those of distance in the last century.
He was born in 1731, says Kay?s Editor,
and though an acute man of business, was one of
the most profound swearers of his day, so much so
that few could compete with him.? He died in the
then sequestered house of Greenside in 1807.
In the year 1802 the ground here was occupied
by Barker?s ? famous panorama,? from Leicester
Square, London, wherein were exhibited views of
Dover, the Downs, and the coast of France, with
the embarkation of troops, horse and foot, from ten
till dusk, at one shilling a head, opposite the
Botanical Garden.
Lower down, where we now find Albert, Falshaw,
and Buchanan Streets, the ground for more
than twenty years was a garden nursery, long the
feu of Messrs. Eagle and Henderson, some of whose
advertisements as seedsfnen go back to nearly the
middle of the last century.
At the foot of the Walk there was born, in 1755,
Andrew Macdonald, an ingenious but unfortunate
dramatic and miscellaneous writer, whose father,
George Donald, was a market-gardener there. He
received the rudiments of his education in the
Leith High School, and early indicated such literary
talents, that his friends had sanguine hopes
of his future eminence, and with a view to his
becoming a minister of the Scottish Episcopal
communion he studied at the University of Edinburgh,
where he remained till the year 1775, when
he was put into deacon?s orders by Bishop Forbes
of Leith. On this account, at the suggestion of the
latter, he prefixed the syllable Mac to his name.
As there was no living for him vacant, he left his
father?s cottage in Leith Walk to become a tutor
in the family of Oliphant of Gask, after which he
became pastor of an Episcopal congregation in
Glasgow, and in 1772 published ?Velina, a Poetical
Fragment,? which is said to have contained
much genuine poetry, and was in the Spenserian
stanza.
His next essay was ?? The Independent,? which
won him neither profit nor reputation ; but having
written ?Vimonda, a Tragedy,? with a prologue
by Henry Mackenzie, he came to Edinburgh, where
it was put upon the boards, and where he vainly
hoped to make? a living by his pen. It was received
with great applause, but won him no advantage,
as his literary friends now deserted him.
Before leaving Glasgow he had taken a step which
they deemed alike imprudent and degrading.
?This was his marrying the maid-servant of the
house in which he lodged. His reception, therefore,
on his return to Edinburgh from these friends
and those of his acquaintances who participated in
their feelings, had in it much to annoy and distress
him, although no charge could be brought against
the humble partner of his fortunes but the meanness
of her condition.? Thus his literary prospects,
so far as regarded Edinburgh, ended in total disappointment
; so, accompanied by his wife, he betook
him to the greater centre of London.
There the fame of ?Vimonda? had preceded
him, and Colman brought it out with splendour to
crowded houses in the years 1787 and 1788; and
now poor Macdonald?s mind became radiant with
hope of affluence and fame, and he had a pretty
little residence at Brompton, then a sequestered
place.
He next engaged with much ardour upon an
opera, but made his subsistence chiefly by writing
satirical papers and poems for the newspapers,
under the signature of ?Mathew Bramble.? At
last this resource failed him, and he found himself
*](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p170.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Page 159")
... Walk.] ANDREW MACDONALD. J 59
in whose favour, so long as she exercised her profession,
she continued to ...
Book 5 p. 159
(Score 0.8)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Braid.
~~
Lodge, and Canaan Lane. By some, the origin of
these names has been ...
Book 5 p. 40
(Score 0.79)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Ainslie Place.
To the philosopher we have already referred in
our account of Lothian ...
Book 4 p. 206
(Score 0.79)
![BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 353
the unblemished and useful life which he passed before their eyes, and in their
service, he enjoyed the esteem and reverence of all classes and all denominations
of his fellow-citizens. [He died 11th October 1845, in the 87th year of
his age, and tlhe 63d of his ministry.]
No. CCLXXXIX.
ANDREW M'KINLAY,
TRIED FOR ADMINISTERING UNLAWFUL OATHS.
THE events of the Radical era of 1817-19 must be in the recollections of most
readers ; and we shall only remark, that the subject of this Print was at that
period one of the many suspected to be unfriendly to the Constitution.
ANDREW M'KINLAY was apprehended at Glasgow on Saturday the 23d of
February 181 7, along with other seventeen persons, mostly weavers, who had
assembled at night in a small public house at the head of the Old Wynd,
among whom were William Edgar, teacher, Calton, and James Finlayson,
junior, a writer's clerk. The object of this meeting, as represented by the
prisoners, was simply to '' concert measures for ascertaining the question how
far they were entitled by law to parochial relief." This explanation not having
been deemed satisfactory, M'Kinlay, along with twenty-five others, was committed
on a charge of sedition, and afterwards conveyed to Edinburgh, to be
tried before the High Court of Justiciary.
The first
witness called for the Crown was John Campbell, prisoner in Edinburgh Castle,
who, being sworn, and the usual questions put, if he had received any reward,
or promise of reward for his testimony, answered that he had. He then made
a long declaration, the substance of which was, that after a variety of communings,
he had entered into a written agreement with the Solicitor-General
and Mr. Home Drummond, Depute-Advocate, engaging to become a witness, on
condition that he was to be furnished with means to enable himself and family
to leave the country.' The Court, on account of this statement, refused to
admit Campbell as a witness ; and, after examining several other persons, who
could recollect nothing tending to criminate the prisoner, the jury returned a
verdict of Not Proven. The pannel was dismissed ; and, in consequence of the
result of M'Kinlay's trial, the other prisoners connected with the proceedings
in Glasgow were set at liberty.
M'Kinlay was placed at the bar on the 19th July following.
The witness appears to have been rather more than a match for the Crown Counsel He had
given them to understand that, if he gave hi testimony, neither he nor h i family would be safe
in the quarter where he resided. To obviate his fears, the Counsel inconsiderately promised to
afford him the means of emigrating.
VOL. IL 2 2](images/thumbs/kays_thumb_pages/kays_v2__Page_479.gif "Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Page 471")
... SKETCHES. 353
the unblemished and useful life which he passed before their eyes, and in ...
Book 9 p. 471
(Score 0.79)
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. v.
LORD KAMES.
HUG0 ARNOT, ESQ. OF BALCORMO, ADVOCATE.
LORD MONBODDO.
HENRY ...
Book 8 p. 17
(Score 0.79)
... LETTERS OF MARQUE. 219
to Hull, Newcastle, Thurso, Orkney, and Shetland,
to Inverness, Fort George, and ...
Book 6 p. 279
(Score 0.79)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Heriot?s Hospital
the four blocks at each angle of the quadrangle
are furnished with ...
Book 4 p. 370
(Score 0.79)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith
is in the Gothic style, with a tower 130 feet high,
surmounted by an open ...
Book 6 p. 240
(Score 0.79)
... SKETCHES. 81
these he gave full play to a natural gaiety of spirit, which rendered his company
quite ...
Book 9 p. 109
(Score 0.79)
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![THE OLD WORKHOUSE. 325 Bristo Street.]
cambrick ? bears the earl?s coronet above his
initial R. Three guineas? reward was offered for
any one who would return Polly ?to her owner,?
either at John?s Coffee House, ?or the Earl of
Rosebeme at Denham?s Land, Bristow, and no
questions will be asked. She is a London girl,
and what they call a Cockney.? There are in
the advertisement a great many arguments and
inducements used by the earl to induce the fair
was a park called Forglens Park, upon part of
which the New Bridge is built,? says a writer in
1775, ?and the rest feued out by the magistrates
to different persons, upon which there are now
many good houses erected This park used to
pay AI o yearly.?
At midsummer, in 1743, this house was opened
for the reception of the poor, who were employed
according to their ability, and allowed twopence
DARIEN HOUSE, 1750.
one to return, and the whole are wound up by the
following elegant couplet :-
? My Lord desires Polly Rich,
To mind on Lord Roseberrie?s dear little Fish.?
(Scottish/ournal, Vol. I.)
Westward of Bristo Street, in the large open field
described, there was erected in 1743 the Workhouse.
It was four storeys in height, very spacious, but plain,
massive, and dingy, with a pedimented or gabled
centre, whereat hung a huge bell, and in which
there were three tall arched windows of the chapel
or hall. It stood zoo feet south-west of the Bristo
Port, on a part of the ground then denominated
the High Riggs, and the expense of the edifice was
defrayed by the voluntary contributions of the
inhabitants ; and for its use, ?among other subjects,
out of every shilling they earned. The annual
expense of maintaining each person in those days
amounted to A4 IOS., and was defrayed by a tax
of two per cent. on the valued rents of the city, the
dues of the dead, or the passing bell, burial
warrants, green turfs, half the profits of the Ladies?
Assembly Room, the collections at the church
doors, and other voluntary contributions. It was
early proposed to establish a permanent poor rate,
but this was opposed by the members of the College
of Justice, on the plea that they were not liable to
local burdens.
The number maintained in this now defunct
edifice from the 1st of January, 1777, to the 1st
of January, 1778, was only 484 adults, of both
sexes, of whom 52 died; 180 children, of whom](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p145.gif "Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Page 325")
