88 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. tThe Castle Hill.
the steep flight of steps that descend to Johnston
Terrace, we find a date 1630, with the initials
A. M.-M. N., and in the wall below there still
remains a cannon ball, fired from the half-moon
3 ~ - ~ * - .... ,-. ,~,_., -.,- :.. ~- - - , ~ ~ ~ .,- .,~-- %..:,>
street some are unchanged in external aspect since
the days of the Stuarts.
On the pediment of a dormer window of the
house that nom forms the south-west angle of the
street, directly facing the Castle, and overlooking
of Huntly in 1684; but the edifice in question
evidently belongs to an anterior age; and the old
tradition was proved to be correct, when in a disposition
(now in possession of the City Improve- __-- L n _-_-_ :--:--\ =.. e:- -_=--& TI-:-> L_ 1.1-
I
arch, within which, is a large coronet, supported by
two deerhounds, well known {eatures in the Gordon
arms. Local tradition universally affirms this
mansion to have been the residence of the dukes
of that title, which was bestowed on the house
THE CASTLE HILL, 1845.
aunng me DiocKaae in 1745. I nrougn rnis DWUing
there is a narrow alley named Blair?s Close-so
narrow indeed, that amid the brightest sunshine
there is never in it more than twilight-giving access
to an open court, at the first angle of which is a
handsome Gothic doorway, surmounted by an ogee
iiiriii LuiiitIiissiunl uy air M J U ~ K ~ Dam tu nis
son William, dated 1694, he describes it as ?all
and hail, that my lodging in the Castle lHill of
Edinburgh, formerly possessed by the Duchess of
Gordon.?
The latter was Lady Elizabeth Howard, daugh
The Castle Hill.] THE DUKE OF GORDON?S HOUSE. 89
ter of the Duke of Norfolk and wife of Duke
George, who SO gallantly defended the Castle
against the troops of William of Orange; during
the lifetime of the duke she retired to a Belgian
convent, but afterwards returned to the old mansion
in Edinburgh, where she frequently resided till
her death, which took place at the abbey in 1732,
life, destroyed utterly the ancient Gothic fireplace,
which was very beautiful in its design.
This house is mentioned in the ?Diurnal of
Occurrents? as being, in 1570, the residence of
~ Patrick Edgar; and after it passed from the Gordons
it was possessed by the family of Newbyth,
who resided in it for several generations, and
ALLAA RAMSAY?S HOUSE.
sixteen years after that of the duke at Leith.
The internal fittings of the mansion are in many
respects unchanged since its occupation by the
duchess. It is wood-panelled throughout, and
one large room which overlooks the Esplanade. is
decorated with elaborate carvings, and with a large
painting over the mantelpiece the production of
Norrie, a famous housedecorator of the eighteenth
century, whose genius for landscapes entitles him
to a place among Scottish painters. An explosion
of gunpowder which took place in the basement
of the house, in 1811, attended with serious loss of
12
therein, on the 6th December, 1757, was born
the gallant Sir David Baird, Bart., the hero of
Seringapatam and conqueror of Tippoo Saib ; and
therein he was educated and brought up. Returning
years after, he visited the place of his birth,
which had long since passed into other hands.
Chambers relates that the individual then occupying
the house received the veteran hero with great
respect, and, after showing him through it, ushered
him into the little garden behind, where some boys
were engaged in mischievously throwing cabbage
stalks at the chimneys of the Grassmarket. On
