made answer in a true technico-Caledonian strain
-?Oo, Doctor Morris, they are just a wheen
Kts, and (added he, with a most knowing compression
of his lips) let me tell you what, Doctor
Moms, there?s some no that ill bits among them.?
One proved to be an exquisitely finished sketch
by Sir William Allan, ?Two Tartar robbers dividing
their spoil.? This led to a proposal to visit
the artist?s atelier, and we. had no great distance to
walk, for Mr. Allan lives in the Parliament Close,
not a gun-shot from where we were.?
Mr. Bridges married Flora Macdonald of Scalpa
(sister of the heroic Sir John Macdonald, whose
powerful hand, with a few of the Scots Guards,
closed the gates of Hougomont), and died in
November, 1840.
One of the finest specimens of the woodenfronted
houses of 1540 was on the south side ol
the Lawnmarket, and was standing all unchanged,
after the lapse of more than 338 years, till its
demolition in 1878-9 (see the engraving aftex
Ewbank?s view of It, .p. rcq). ?As niay be ob
served, its north front, each storey of which advances
a little over that below, is not deficient in elegance,
there being Doric pilasters of timber interspersed
with the windows of one floor, and some decoration:
on the gable presented to the street. The wed
front is plaicer, in consequence apparently of re.
pairs ; but we there see the covered space in fronl
of the place for merchandise on the ground floor.?
A little east of the building, in the first or
smaller part of Riddell?s Close, which, like all others
on the south side, ran down towards the Cowgate,
a lofty tenement towers upward, with a turret
stair, dated 1726. This was the first residence of
David Hume, and there it was he mote the first
pages of his History. In 1751 he came hither
from his paternal place Ninewells, near Dunse, and
soon after he wrote to Adam Smith :-cc Direct
to me in Riddell?s Land, Lawnmarket. .? . .
I have now at last, being turned forty, to my
own honour, to that of learning, and to that of
the present age, arrived at the dignity of being a
householder! About seven months ago I got a
house of my own, and completed a regular family,
consisting of a head-myself-and two inferior
members, a maid and a cat. My sister has just
joined me, and keeps me company. With frugality,
I can reach, I find, cleanliness, warmth, light,
plenty, and contentment?
In the following year he succeeded Ruddiman
as Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates.
On the opposite side of this small dark court is
a more ancient house, having a curious wainscoted
room, the ceiling, walls, and every panel of which
are elaborately decorated in Norrie?s style of art;
and therein abode Sir John Smith of Grothall
(already mentioned), Provost of Edinburgh, and
whose name was long borne by the alley. He?
was one of the commissioners chosen, in 1650,
to convey the loyal assurances of the realm to
Charles 11. and Breda, and to have the Covenant
duly subscribed by him.
In the inner part of Riddell?s Close stands the
house of Bailie John Macmorran, whose tragic
death made a great stir at its time, threw the city
into painful excitement, and tarnished the reputation
of the famous old High School. The conduct
of the scholars there had been bad and turbulent
for some years, but it reached a climax on the
15th of September, 1595. On a week?s holiday
being refused, the boys were so exasperated, being
chiefly ? gentilmane?s bairnes,? that they formed
a compact for vengeance in the true spirit of the
age; and, armed with swords and pistols, took
possession at midnight of the ancient school in the
Blackfnars Gardens, and declining to admit the
masters or any one else, made preparation to stand
a siege, setting all authority at defiance.
The doors were not only shut but bamcaded and
strongly guarded within ; all attempts to storm the
boy-garrison proved impracticable, and all efforts
at reconciliation were unavailing. The Town
Council lost patience, and sent Bailie John
Macmorran, one of the wealthiest merchants in
the city (though he had begun life as a servant to
the Regent Morton), with a posse of city officers,
to enforce the peace. On their appearance in the
school-yard the boys became simply outrageous,
and mocked them as buttery carles,? daring any
one to approach at his peril. ?To the point likely
to be first attacked,? says Steven, in his history of
the school, they were observed to throng in a
highly excited state, and each seemed to vie with
his fellow in threatening instant death to the man
who should forcibly attempt to displace them.
William Sinclair, son of the Chancellor of Caithness,
had taken a conspicuous share in this bamng out,
and he now appeared foremost, encouraging his
confederates,? and stood at a window overlooking
one of the entrances which the Bailie ordered the
officers to force, by using a long beam as a battering
ram, and he had nearly accomplished his perilous
purpose, when a ball in the forehead from Sinclair?s
pistol slew him on the spot, and he fell on his
back.
Panic-stricken, the boys surrendered. Some
effected their escape, and others, including Sinclair
and the sons of Murray of Springiedale, and Pringle
of Whitebank, were thrown into prison. Macmor
