MEMORIALS
OF
EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN TIME.
CHAPTER I.
E A RLIE S T TRA DITIONS.
h
I , {3 ; I!;) I,\,,,!I 11 Bl'#d'y!j recent era, is included in that of its Castle and
xatively
Abbey.
The first, the fortress, round whose protecting citadel
the rude huts of our forefathers were gathered and continued to increase, until, amid the
wealth and security of more peaceful times, the Abbey of the Holyrood reared its consecrated
walls, and absorbed to itself much of the wealth and the learning, many of the
virtues, and doubtless also some of the vices, of the wild Saxons that peopled the fertile
Lothians. It is unnecessary to follow in this History the fanciful disquisitions of zealous
antiquaries, respecting the origin and etymology of Edinburgh ; it has been successively
derived, both in origin and name, from Saxon, Pict, and Gael; and in each case, with
s&cient ingenuity only to leave the subject more deeply involved than at first. To expect
that the first rude gathering of the hamlet, that forms the nucleus of the future capital,
should leave its traces in the surviving records or traditions of the past, were as unreasonable
as that the rustic should challenge the veracity of a living historian, because he
*- -_ , ,uly 11- r
VIGmTTE-Ancient carved atone over the entrance to the Ordnance Office, Edinburgh Castle.
A
