98 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
block of stone, for the purpose of erecting a colossal statue of his Highness in the Parliament
Square.
The block had just been landed on the shore of Leith, when the news arrived of Cromwell’s
death. Monk altered his policy, and the magistrates not only found it convenient to
forget their first intention, but with politic pliability, some years after, they erected the fine
equestrian statue of Charles II., which still adorns that locality. The rejected block lay
neglected on the sands at Leith, though all along known by the title of Oliver Cromwell,
till, in November 1788, Mr Walter ROSSt,h e well-known antiquary, had it removed, with
no little difficulty, to the rising ground where Ann Street now stands, nearly opposite St
Bernard’s Well. The block was about eight feet high, intended apparently for the upper
half of the f i p e . The workmen of the quarry had prepared it for the chisel of the statuary,
by giving it, with the hammer, the shape of a monstrous mummy, and there stood the
Protector, like a giant in his shroud, frowning upon the city; until after the death of
Mr Ross, his curious collection of antiquities was scattered, and the ground feued for
building.‘
General Monk, commander-in-chief of the army in Scotland, having resolved, after the
death of Cromwell, to accomplish the restoration of Charles II., proceeded to arrange matters
previous to his march for London. He summoned a meeting of commissioners of the
counties and boroughs to assemble at Edinburgh on the 15th of November 1659; and after
having communicated his instructions to them, and ,received a special address of thanks
from the magistrates of Edinburgh for his many services rendered to the city during his
residence in Scotland, he returned to England to put his purpose in force.
On the 11th of May, in the following year, the magistrates sent the town-clerk to the
King, at Breda, to express their joy at the prospect of his restoration. The messenger
paved the way to the royal favour by the humble presentation of ‘‘a poor myte of 31000,
which the King did graciously accept, as though it had been a greater business I ”
The ‘‘ happy restoration ” was celebrated in Edinburgh with the customary civic rejoicings,
bonfires, banquets, ringing of bells, and firing of cannon ; though some difficulty was
experienced in reconciling the soldiers to the unwonted task of firing the Castle guns on
such an occasion of national rejoicing.a There was much wine spent on the occasion, ‘ I the
spoutes of the Croce ryning and venting out abundance of wyne, and the Magistrates and
Council of the town drinking the King’s health, and breaking numbers of glasses I ”
Caledonian Mercury, Nov. 10, 1788. The block was afterwards replaced at the end of Ann Street, overhanging
the bed of the Water of Leith, and, either by accident or designedly, waa shortly afterwards precipitated down the steep
bank, and broken in pieces. a Nicol‘s Diary, p. 283.
I
