Firinburgh Castle.] THE. REGIMENT OF EDINBURGH. 63
and all loyalists to quit the city. ?At the head
of his forlorn band, consisting of sixty cavalier
troopers-Guardsmenand Greys mingled-Dundee,
the idol of his party, quitted Edinburgh by the
Leith Wynd Port; and, through a telescope, the
Duke of Gordon watched them as they wound
past the venerable church of, the Holy Trinity,
among the cottages and gardens of Moutries Hill,
and as they rode westward by the Lang Gate, a solitary
roadway bordered by fields and farmhouses.?
According to Balcarres this was on the 18th of
March, 1689, and as Gordon wished to confer with
the viscount, the latter, on seeing a red flag waved
at the western postern, rode down the Kirk Brae,
and, quitting his horse, all heavily accoutred as he
was, climbed the steep rock to hold that conference
of which so little was ever known. He is said to
have advised the?duke to leave the Castle in charge
of Winram, on whom they could depend, and seek
their fortunes together among the loyal clans in the
north. But the duke declined, adding, ?Whither
?Wherever the shade of Montrose may direct
me,? was the pensive and poetical reply, and then
they parted to meet no more. But the moment
Dundee was gone the drums of the Cameroniaas
beat to ;urns, and they came swarming out of theix
places of concealment, mustering for immediate
ackioion, while, in the name of the Estates, the Earl$
of Tweeddale arid Lothian appeared at the gate d
the fortress, requesting the duke to surrender ii
within four-and-twenty houm, and daringly offering
a year?s pay to every soldier who would desert him.
?? My lords,? said he, ?without the express order?
of my royal master, James VII., I cannot surrendei
this castle.?
By the heralds and pursuivants the Duke 01
Gordon was now, as the only alternative, declarec
a traitor. He tossed them some guineas to drink
the health of James VII., adding, with a laugh, ??I
would advise you not to proclaim men traitors whc
wear the king?s coat till they have turned it?
Under the highest penalties, all persons were non
forbidden to correspond with him or his garrison
and the Earl of Leven was ordered to blockadethc
rock with his Cameronians, to whom were addec
300 Highlanders under Argyle. Out of this bodj
there were formed in one day two battalions of thc
line, which still exist-the 25th, or old Edinburgt
regiment, which bears on its colours the tripk
castle, with the motto, ?? Nisi Dominus Frustra,?*
go you ? ?
-
There was a second regiment, called the bth. or Royal Edinburgl
Volunteers, raised by Major-General Sir William Erskine. Bart., in 1777
It served rinder Cornwallis in the American War, and wasdibanded ai
the close thereof. Its Lieuteoant-Colooel was Dundas of Fingask, wh<
died at Guadaoupe
and the 26th, or Cameronians, whose appointments
bear the five-pointed mullet-the .arms of their
first colonel ; while three battalions of the Scots
Brigade, from Holland, were on their march, under
Lieutenant-General Hugh Mackay of Scoury, to
press the siege. Daily matters looked darker and
darker for the gallant Gordon, for now seventy-four
rank and file demanded their discharges, and were,
like their predecessors, stripped and expelled.
The gates were then barricaded, and preparations
made for resistance to the last; but though Sir
James Grant of Dalvey (fomierly King?s Advocate),
and Gordon of Edintore, contrived to throw in a
supply of provisions, the
that he could not hold
out beyond the month
of June unless relieved.
The entire strength
of the garrison, including
okers and gentlemen-
volunteers, was
only eighty-six men,
who had to work
twentv-two Dieces of
@j duke wrote King James -
(exclusive of FACSIMILE OF THE MEDAL
OF THE EDINBURGH REfield-
pieces) ranging VOLUTION CLUB.
from 42 to I a-pounders.
They had no doctor, no
engineer, no money, Mnrl in 1688.)
(=nick in 1753 in ~ommn~mmtiom
a d ~,ztrtu 6,. Wiziiam aw
of the recmwy of tkir Rrligwr
and only thirty barrels of powder in actual quantity.
It was truly a desperate hazard !
By the 18th the entire rock was fully and hopelessly
invested by the Earl of Leven, a Brandenburg
colonel, who displayed a great want of skill; and on
the following night the battlements were blazing
with bonfires and tar barrels in honour of King
Jam& safe arrival in Ireland, of which tidings had
probably been given by Grant of Dalvey. On the
25th came Mackay, with the three battalions of
the Scots Brigade, each consisting of twelve companies,
all splendidly-trained soldiers, a brigade of
guns, and a great quantity of woolpacks with
which to form breastworks. A11 within the Castle
who had gun-shot wounds suffered greatly from
the want of medical attendance, till the duke?s
family physician contrived to join him, probably by
the postern.
On the 13th of March he heavily cannonaded the
western entrenchments, and by dint of shot and
shell retnded the working parties; but General
Mackay now formed a battery of 18-pounders, at
the Highnggs, opposed to the royal lodging and
the half-moon. On the 3rd of April the Duke discovered
that the house of Coates, the ancient
amounted to 500 men.? This enumeration probably
includes wounded.
On the 13th of June the duke pulled down the
king?s flag, and hoisted a white one, surrendering,
on terms, by which it was stipulated that the
soldiers should have their full liberty, and Colonel
Winram have security for his life and estates;
while Major Somerville, at the head of zoo
bayonets, took all the posts, except the citadel.
The duke drew up his forlorn band, now reduced to
fifty oficers and men, in the ruined Grand Parade,
and thanking them for their loyal services, gave each
a small sum to convey him home; and as hands were
shaken all round, many men wept, and so ended
For nearly four-and-twenty hours on both sides
the fire was maintained with fury, but slackened
about daybreak. ?In the Castle only one man
was killed-a gunner, whom a cannon ball had
cut in two, through a gun-port, but many were
weltering in their blood behind the woolpacks
and in the trenches, where the number of slain
not to serve against William of Orange. HC died
in the year 1716, at his residence in the citadel of
Leith.
The Castle was once more fully repaired, and
presented nearly the same aspect in all its details
as we find it today. The alterations were conducted
under John Drury (chief of the Scottish
Engineers), who gave his name to one of the bastions
on the south; and Mylne?s Mount, another
on the north, is so named from liis assistant, Robert
Mylne, king?s master-mason and hereditary mastergunner
of the fartress ; and it was after this last
siege that the round turrets, or echauguettes, were
added to the bastions.
the siege. Though emaciated by long toil, starvation,
and gangrened wounds, the luckless soldiers
were cruelly treated by the rabble of the city.
The capitulation was violated j Colonel Winram
was seized as a prisoner of war, and the duke was
placed under close arrest in his own house,
~ Blair?s Close, but was released on giving his parole
INNEK GATEWAY OF THE CASTLE.
