of all human shape at the foot of the cliff. James V,
was struck with remorse on hearing? bll this terrible
story, He released the friar ; but, singular to say,
William Lyon was merely banished the kingdom ;
while a man named Mackie, by whom the alleged
poison was said to be prepared, was shorn of his
ears.+
On thd last day of February, 1539, Thomas
Forret, Vicar of Dollar, John Keillor and John
Beveridge, two black-friars, Duncan Simpson a
priest, and a gentleman named Robert Forrester,
were all burned together on the Castle Hill on a
charge of heresy; and it is melancholy to know that
a king so good and so humane as James Vb was a
spectator of this inhuman persecution for religion,
and that he came all the way from Linlithgow
Palace to witness it, whither he returned on the
2nd of March. It is probable that he viewed it
from the Castle walls.
Again and again has the same place been the
scene of those revolting executions for sorcery
which disgraced the legal annals of Scotland.
There, in 1570, Bessie Dunlop ?? was worried ? at
the stake for simply practising as a ?wise woman?
in curing diseases and recovering stolen goods.
Several others perished in 1590-1 ; among others,
Euphemie M?Calzean, for consorting with the devil,
abjuring her baptism, making waxen pictures to be
enchanted, raismg zi storm to drown Anne of
Denmark on her way to Scotland, and so f0rth.f
In 1600 Isabel Young was ?woryt at a stake I?
for laying sickness on various persons, ?and
thereafter burnt to ashes on the Castle Hill.??#
Eight years after, James Reid, a noted sorcerer,
perished in the same place, charged with practising
healing by the black art, ?whilk craft,??
says one authority, ?? he learned frae the devil, his
master, in- Binnie Craigs and Corstorphine, where
he met with him and consulted with him diveE
tymes, whiles in the likeness of a man, whiles in
the likeness of a horse.? Moreover, he had tried
to destroy the crops of David Liberton by putting
a piece of enchanted flesh under his mill door,
and to destroy David bodily by making a picturc
of him in walc and mel$ng it before a fire, an
ancient sdperstition-common to the Westerr
Isles and in some parts of Rajpootana to thi:
day. So great was the horror these crimes excited,
that he was taken direct from the court to the
stake. During the ten years of the Commonwealtt
executions on this spot occurred with appalling
frequency.$ On the 15th October, 1656, seven
~
Tytler, ? Criminal Trials,? &c. &c. $ ? Diurnal of Occumnts.?
$ spot.iwod, ? Mmllany.? 0 Pitcairn
xlprits were executed at once, two of whom were
iurned ; and on the 9th March, 1659, ? there were,?
iays Nicoll, ?fyve wemen, witches, brint on the
:astell Hill, all of them confessand their covenantng
with Satan, sum of thame renunceand. thair
iaptisme, and all of them oft tymes dancing with
;he devell.?
During the reign of Charles? I., when the Earl of
Stirling obtained permission to colonise Nova
Scotia, and to sell baronetcies to some zoo supposed
colonists, with power of pit and gallows over
their lands, the difficulty of enfeoffing them in
possessions so distant was overcome by a royal
mandate, converting the soil of the Castle Hill for
the time being into that of Nova Scotia; and
>etween 1625 and 1649 sixty-four of these baronets
took seisin before the archway of the Spur.
When the latter was fairly removed the hill
became the favourite promenade of the citizens ;
md in June, 1709, we find it acknowledged by the
town council, that the Lord?s Day (? is profaned by
people standing in the streets, and vaguing (sic) to
ields, gardens, and the Castle Hill.? Denounce
ill these as they might, human nature never could
Je altogether kept off the Castle Hill ; and in old
imes even the most respectable people promenaded
:here in multitudes between morning and evening
jervice. In the old song entitled ?The Young
Laud and Edinburgh Katie,? to which Allan
Ramsay added some verses, the former addresses
i s mistress :7
? Wat ye wha I met yestreen,
Coming doon the street, my jo ?
FG bonny, braw, and sweet, my jo I ? My dear,? quo I, ? thanks to the night,
That never wished a lover ill,
Since ye?re out 0? your mother?s sight,
Let?s tak? a walk up to the HX.? ?
M y mistress in her tartan screen,
In IS58 there ensued a dispute between the
magistrates of Edinburgh and the Crown as to the
proprietary of the Castle Hill and Esplanade. The
former asserted their right to the whole ground
claimed by the board of ordnance, acknowledging
no other boundary to the possessions of the former
than the ramparts of the Castle. This extensive
claim they made in virtue of the rights conferred
upon them by the golden charter of James VI.
in 1603, wherein they were gifted with all and
whole, the loch called the North Loch, lands,
pools, and marisches thereof, the north and south
banks and braes situated on the west of the burgh,
near the Castle of Edinburgh, on both sides of the
Castle from the public highway, and that part of
The Castle Hill.] THE RAGGED SCHOOL. 87
the said burgh situated under the Castle Hill t+
wards the north, to the head of the bank, and so
going down to the said North Loch,? &c.
This right of proprietary seems clear enough,
yet Lord Neaves decided in favour of the Crown,
and found that the ground adjacent to the
Castle of Edinburgh, including the Esplanade and
the north and south banks or braes,? belonged,
(?jure coronte, to Her Majesty as part and pertinent
of the said Castle.?
CHAPTER IX.
THE CASTLE HILL (cmclded).
Dr. Guthrie?s Original Ragged School-Old Houses in the Streetof the Castle Hill-Duke of Gordon?s House, Blair?s Close-Webster?s
CloscDr. Alex. Webster-Boswell?s Court-Hyndford House-Assembly Hall-Houses of the Marquis of Argyle, Sir Andrew Kcnnedy,
the Earl of Cassillis, the Laird of Cockpen--Lord Semple?s House-Lord Semple-Palace of Mary of Gub-Its Fate.
ON the north side of this thoroughfare-which,
within 150 years ago, was one of the most
aristocratic quarters of the old city-two great
breaches have been made: one when the Free
Church College was built in 1846, and the other, a
little later, when Short?s Observatory was built in
Ramsay Lane, together with the Original Ragged
School, which owes its existence to the philanthropic
efforts of the late Dr. Guthrie, who, with
Drs. Chalmers, Cunningham, and Candlish, took
so leading a part in the pon-intrusion controversy,
which ended in the disruption in 1843 and the
institution of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1847
Guthrie?s fervent and heart-stirring appeals on behalf
of the homeless and destitute children, the little
street Arabs of the Scottish capital, led to the
establishment of the Edinburgh Original Ragged
Industrial School, which has been productive of
incalculable benefit to the children of the poorer
classes of the city, by affording them the blessing of
a good common and Christian education, by training
them in habits of industry, enabling them to
earn an honest livelihood, and fitting them for
the duties of life,
All children are excluded who attend regular
day-schools, whose parents have a regular income,
or who receive support or education from the parochial
board; and the Association consists of all subscribers
of 10s. and upwards per annum, or donors
of A5 and upwards; and the general plan upon
which this ragged school and its branch establishment
at Leith Walk, are conducted is as follows,
viz.:-?To give children an adequate allowance of
food for their daily support; to instruct them in
reading, writing, and arithmetic ; to train them in
habits of industry, by instructing and employing
them in such sorts of work as are suited to their
years; to teach them the truths of the Gospel,
making the Holy Scriptures the groundwork of
instruction. On Sabbath the children shall receive
food as on other days, and such religious instruction
as shall be arranged by the acting committee,?
which consists of not less than twelve members.
To this most excellent institution no children
are admissible who are above fourteen or under five
years of age, and they must either be natives of
Edinburgh or resident there at least twelve months
prior to application for admission, though, in special
cases, it may be limited to six. None are admitted
or retained who labour under infectious disease, or
whose mental or bodily constitution renders them
incapable of profiting by the institution. All must ,
attend church on Sunday, and no formula of
doctrine is taught to which their parents may
object ; and children are excused from attendance
at school or worship on Sunday whose parents
object to their attendance, but who undertake that
the children are otherwise religiously instructed in
the tenets of the communion to which they belong,
provided they are in a condition to be entrusted
with the care of their children.
Such were the broad, generous, and liberal views
of Dr. Guthne, and most ably have they been
carried out.
According to the Report for 187g-which may
be taken as fairly typical of the work done in this
eminently useful institution-there was an average
attendance. in the Ramsay Lane Schools of 216
boys and 89 girls. The Industrial Department
comprises carpentry, box-making, shoemaking, and
tailoring, and the net, profits made by the boys
in these branches amounted to &;I& 14s. 5+d.
Besides this the boys do all the washing, help the
cook, make their beds, and wash the rooms they
occupy twice a week. The washing done by boys
was estimated at A130, and the girls, equally
industrious, did work to the value (including the
washing) of A109 7s.
Full of years and honour, Dr. Thomas Guthne
died 24th February, 1873.
Memories of these old houses that have passed
away, yet remain, while on the opposite side of the
