I 60 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
aspectdormer windows rise above the line of roof-and a bold projection supported on
a large ornamental stone corbel, admits of a very tall window at an oblique angle below
it, evidently constructed to catch every stray gleam of light, ere the narrow alley gave way
to the improvements of the royal master-mason. Over the entrance to the stair there is
the very common inscription, Blissit. be. God. in . a l . his. Gi~?is., with the date 1580;
and while the whole of the east side is substantially built of hewn stone, the south front,
-looking directly down the old West Bow-is a very picturesque timber fapade, with
irregular’gables, and each story thrusting its beams farther into the street than the one
below it.
One of the earliest proprietors of this ancient dwelling appears from the titles to have
been Bartholomew Somerville, merchant burgess ; the most conspicuous among those
generous citizens to whose liberality we are mainly indebted for the establishment of the
University of Edinburgh on a lasting basis. “ In December [1839] following,” says
Craufurd, ‘‘ the Colledge received the greatest accession of its patrimony which ever had
been bestowed by any private person. Mr Bartholomew Somervale (the son of Peter
Somervale, a rich burgess, and sometime Baylie),’ having no children, by the good counsel
of his brothers-in-law, Alex. Patrick and Mr Samuel Talfar, mortified to the College
20,000 merks, to be employed for maintenance of an Professor of Divinity, and 6000
merks for buying of Sir James Skeen’s lodging and yaird, for his dwelling.” This
worthy citizen was succeeded in the old tenement by Sir John Harper of Cambusnethan.
Immediately to the east of Milne’s Court, a more modern erection of the same kind
exists, which is associated in various ways with some of the most eminent men that have
added lustre to the later history of the Scottish capital. To this once fashionable and
aristocratic quarter David Hume removed in 1762 from his previous place of residence in
Jack’s Land, Canongate; here also, and in the same house, BoHwell resided when he
received and entertained Paoli, the Patriot Corsican Chief, in 1771, and the still more
illustrious Dr Johnson, when he visited Edinburgh in 1773, on his way to the Western
Islands.
Entering by a narrow alley which pierces the line of lofty houses along the Lawnmarket,
the visitor finds himself in a large court, surrounded by high and substantial
buildings, which have now evidently fallen to the lot of humbler inhabitants than those for
whom they were erected, These spaces, walled off by the intervening houses from the
main street, were in the Scottish metropolis like the similar edsces of the French nobility,
frequently designed with the view of protecting those who dwelt within the gate from the
unwelcome intrusion of either legal or illegal force. But James’s Court scarcely dates
back to times so lawless, having only been erected by a wealthy citizen in 1727, on the
site of various ancient closes, containing the residences of judges, nobles, and dignitaries of
1 Peter Somerville’s house stood near the head of the West Bow, with the Somerville arms over the doorway, surmounted
by his initials, and the date 1602. ’ Craufurd’s Hist of the University, p. 136. An apartment on the first floor of this land, lighted by two large windows
looking into Milne’s Court, has a modern ceiling about ten feet from the floor-a comparison of thie, with the
height of the next story, shows, that a space of about three feet must be enclosed between it and the floor above. It is
exceedingly probable that the modern plaster-work may conceal another painted roof similar to those described in Blyth‘s
Close.
