Tine Lawomarket.1 MAJOR SOMERVILLE. 9s
visitor could be fully visCd before admission was
accorded. In many other instances the entrances
to the turnpike stairs had loopholes for arrows or
musketry, and the archways to the closes and
wynds had single and sometimes double gates, the
great hooks of which still remain in some places,
and on which these were last hung in 1745, prior
to the occupation of the city by the Highlanders.
The Lawnmarket was bounded on the west by
the Butter Tron, or Weigh-house, and on the east
by the Tolbooth, which adjoined St. Giles?s, thus
forming in earlier times the greatest open space,
save the Grassmarket, within the walls. The Weighhouse,
built on ground which was granted to the
citizens by David II., in 1352, was a clumsy and
hideous edifice, rebuilt in 1660, on the site of the
previous building, which Gordon of Rothiemay, in
his map of 1647, shows to have been rather an
ornate edifice, two storeys in height, with a double
#outside stair on the south side, and a steeple and
vane at the east end, above an archway, where
enormous quantities of butter and cheese were
continually being disposed of.
In 1640 the Lawnmarket was the scene of a
remarkable single combat, of which we have a very
clearly-detailed account in ?? The Memoirs of the
Somervilles.? In that year, when Major Somerville
of Drum commanded the garrison of Covenanting
troops in Edinburgh Castle, a Captain
Crawford, who, though not one of his officers,
deemed himself privileged to enter the fortress at
all times, walked up to the gates one morning, and,
on finding them closed, somewhat peremptorily
demanded admission. The sentinel within told
him that he must ?( before entering, acquaint Major
Somerville with his name and rank.? To this
Crawford replied, furiously, ? Your major is neither
a soldier nor a gentleman, and if he were without
this gate, and at a distance from his guards, I would
tell him that he was a pitiful cullion to boot! ?
The irritated captain was retiring down the
Castle Hill, when he was overtaken, rapier in hand,
by Major Somerville, to whom the sentinel had
found means to convey the obnoxious message
with mischievous precision.
?Sir,? said the major, ?you must permit me to
accompany you a little way, and then you shall
know more of my mind.? ? I will wait on you where
you please,? replied Crawford, grimly; and they
walked together in silence to the south side of the
Greyfriars churchyard, at all times a Ionely place.
? Nazi," said Somerville, unsheathing his sword,
?I am without the Castle gates and at a distance
from my guards. Draw and make good your
threat I ? Instead of defending himself like a man
of honour, Crawford took off his hat, and begged
pardon, on which Somerville jerked his long bowlhilted
rapier into its sheath, and said, with scorn,
(? You have neither the discretion of a gentleman,
nor the courage of a soldier ; begone for a coward
and fool, fit only for-Bedlam !? and he returned
tb the Castle, accompanied by his officers, who
had followed them to see the result of the quarrel.
It is said that Crawford had been offended at
not being invited to a banquet given in the Castle
by Somerville to old General Ruthven, on?the
day after the latter surrendered. As great liberties
were taken with him after this in consequence of
his doubtful reputation for ? courage, he resolved,
by satisfaction demanded in a public and desperate
manner, to retrieve his lost honour, or die in
seeking it. Thus, one forenoon, about eleven
o?clock,? when the Major was on his way to visit
General Sir Alexander Leslie, and proceeding
down the spacious Lawnmarket, which at that hour
was always thronged with idlers, he was suddenly
confronted by Captain Crawford, who, unsheathing
both sword and dagger, exclaimed, ?? If you be a
pretty man-draw f ? With a thick walking cane
recently presented to him by General Ruthven,
the Major parried his onset and then drew his
sword, which was a half-rapier slung in a shoulderbelt,
and attacked the Captain so briskly, that he
was forced. to fall back, pace by pace, fighting desperately,
from the middle of the Lawnmarket to the
goldsmiths? booths, where Somerville struck him
down on the causeway by the iron pommel of his ?
sword, and disarmed him. Several of Somerville?s
soldiers now came upon the scene, and by these
he would have been slain, had not the yictor protected
him; but for this assault upon & superior
officer he was thrown into prison, where he lay for
a year, heavily manacled, and in a wretched condition,
till Somerville?s wife,who resided at the Drum
House, near Gilmerton, and to whom he had Written
an imploring letter, procured his liberation.
Here in the Lawnmarket, in the lofty tenement
dated 1690, on the second floor,? is the ?shop?
where that venerable drug, called the ?Grana .
Angelica,? but better known among the country
people as (?Anderson?s Pills,? are sold. They
took their origin from a physician of the time
of Charles I., who gave them his name, and of
whom a long account? was given in the University
Magazine, and locally their fame lasted for nearly
250 years. From his daughter Lilias Anderson,
the patent, granted by James VII., came ??tg
Thomas Weir, chirurgeon, in Edinburgh,? who left
the secret of preparing the pills to his daughter,
Mrs. Irving, who died in ~837, at the age of
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