162 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Parliament HOUSC
to the High Street scarcely one stone was left
upon another.
?( The Parliament House very hardly escapt,?
he continues, ? all registers confounded ; clerks,
chambers, and processes, in such a confusion, that
the lords and officers of state are just now met in
Rosse?s taverne in order to adjourning of the
sessione by reason of the disorder. Few people
are lost, if any at all ; but there was neither heart
nor hand left amongst them for saveing from the
fyre, nor a drop of water in the cisterns; 20,ooo
hands flitting their trash they knew not wher, and
hardly 20 at work; these babells of ten and fourteen
story high, are down to the ground, and
their fall very terrible. Many rueful spectacles,
such as Crossrig, naked, with a child under his
oxter, hopping for his lyffe; the Fish Mercate,
and all from the Cowgate to Pett-streets Close,
burnt ; the Exchange, vaults and coal-cellars under
the Parliament Close, are still burning.?
Many of the houses that were burned on this
occasion were fourteen storeys in height, seven of
which were below the level of the Close on the
south side. These Souses had been built about
twenty years before, by Thomas Robertson, brewer,
a thriving citizen, whose tomb in the Greyfriars?
Churchyard had an inscription, given. in Monteith?s
Theatre of Mortality, describing him as
?remarkable for piety towards God, loyalty to his
king, and love to his country.? He had given the
Covenant out of his hand to be burned at the Cross
in 1661 on the Restoration ; and now it was remembered
exultingly ? that God in his providence
had sent a burning among his lands.?
But Robertson was beyond the rexh of earthly
retribution, as his tomb bears that he died on the
zIst of September, r686, in the 63rd year of his
age, with the addendum, Yivit postfunera virtus-
(? Virtue survives the grave.?
Before we come to record the great national
tragedy which the Parliament House witnessed in
1707-for a tragedy it w3s then deemed by the
Scottish people-it may be interesting to describe
the yearly ceremony, called the Riding of the
Parliament,? in state, from the Palace to the Hall,
as described by Arnot and others, on the 6th of
May, 1703.
The central streets of the city and Canongate,
being cleared of all vehicles, and a lane formed
by their being inrailed on both sides, none were
permitted to enter but those who formed the
procession, or were officers of the Scottish
regulars, and the trained bands in full uniform.
Outside these rails the streets were lined by the
porch westwards ; next in order stood the Scottish
Foot Guards (two battalions, then as now), under
Zeneral Sir George Ramsay, up to the Netherbow
Port ; from thence to the Parliament House, and
:o the bar thereof, the street was lined by the
:rained bands of the city, the Lord High Constable?s
Guards, and those of the Earl Marischal.
rhe former official being seated in an arm-chair, at
:he door of the House, received the officers, while
:he members being assembled at the Palace of
Holyrood, were then summoned by name, by the
Lord Clerk Registrar, the Lord Lyon King of
Arms, and the heralds, with trumpets sounding,
ifter which the procession began, thus :-
Two mounted trumpeters, with coats and banners, bareheaded.
Two pursuivants in coats and foot mantles, ditto.
Sixty-three Commissioners for burghs on horseback, two
ind two, each having a lackey on foot j the odd number
Nalking alone.
Seventy-seven Commissioners for shires, mounted and
:overed, each having two lackeys on foot.
Fifty-one Lord Barons in their robes, riding two and two,
:ach having a gentleman to support his train, and three
ackeys on foot, wearing above their liveries velvet coats
with the arms of their respective Lords on the breast and
lack embossed on plate, or embroidered in gold or silver.
Nineteen Viscounts ils the former.
Sixty Earls as the former.
Four trumpeters, two and two.
Four pursuivants, two and two.
The heralds, Islay, Ross, Rothesay, Albany, Snowdon,
md Marchmont, in their tabards, two and two, bareheaded.
The Lord Lyon King at Arms, in his tabard, with chain,
obe, bfiton, and foot mantle.
The Sword of State, born by the Earl of Mar.
+I
The Sceptre, borne by the Earl of Crawford.
8 Borne by the Earl of Forfar. b
The purse and commission, borne by the Earl of g
0 Morton. 6
d THE CROWN,
THE DUKE OF QUEENSBERRY, LORD HIGH $ s COMMISSIONER,
With his servants, pages, and footmen.
Four Dukes, two and two.
Gentlemen bearing their trains, and each having eight
Six Marquises, each having six lackeys.
The Duke of Argyle, Colonel of the Horse Guards.
A squadron of Horse Guards.
The Lord High Commissioner was received
;here, at the door of the House, by the Lord
High Constable and the Earl Marischal, between
whom he was led to the throne, followed by the
Usher of the White Rod, while, amid the blowing
3f trumpets, the regalia were laid upon the table
before it.
The year I 706, before the assembling of the last
Parliament. in the old hall, was peculiarly favourable
lackeys.
Scottish Hcrrse Gremdier Guards, from the Palace to any attempt for the then exiled House of Stuart
