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.
THE LA WNALARKET. 161
note in their day, the moat eminent of whom was the celebrated lawyer, Sir John Lauder,
better known by his judicial title of Lord Fountainhall. This interesting locality is
thus described by the latest biographer of David Hume :-“ Entering one of the doors
opposite the main entrance, the stranger ia sometimes led by a friend, wishing to afford
him an agreeable surprise, down flight after flight of the steps of a stone staircase, and
when he imagines he is descending so far into the bowels of the earth, he emerges on
the edge of a cheerful, crowded thoroughfare, connecting together the Old and New Town ;
the latter of which lies spread before him,-a contrast to the gloom from which he
has emerged. When he looks up to the building containing the upright street through
which he has descended, he sees that vast pile of tall houses standing at t,he head of the
Mound, which creates astonishment in every visitor of Edinburgh. This vast fabric is
built on the declivity of a hill, and thus one entering on the level of the Lawnmarket,
is at the height of several stories from the ground on the side next the New Town. I
have ascertained,” he adds, “ that by ascending the western of the two stairs facing the
entry of James’s Court, to the height of three stories, we arrive at the door of David
Hume’s house, which, of the two doors on that landing-place, is the one towards the left.”
During Hume’s absence in France, this dwelling was occupied by Dr Blair, and on his
leaving it finally for the house he had built for himself in St Andrew Square, at the corner
of St David Street, James Boswell became its tenant. Thither, in August 1773, he
conducted Dr Johnson, from the White Horse Inn, Boyd‘s Close, Canongate, then one of
the chief inns in Edinburgh, where he had found him in a violent passion at the waiter,
for having sweetened his lemonade without the ceremony of a pair of sugar-tongs. The
doctor, in his indignation, threw the lemonade out of the window, and seemed inclined to
send the waiter after it.2
We have often conversed with a gentleman whose mother had been present at a teaparty
in Jamea’s Court, on the occasion of the doctor’s arrival in town, and the impression
produced on her by the society of the illustrious lexicographer was summed up in the very
laconic sentence in which Mrs Boswell had then expressed her opinion of him, that he
was “ a great brute ! ” Margaret, Duchess of Douglas, was one of the party, ‘‘ with all
her diamonds,”-a lady somewhat noted among those of her own rank for her illiteracy,
-but the doctor reserved his attentions during the whole evening almost exclusively for
the Duchess.’ The character thus assigned to him is fully borne out in the lively letters
of Captain Topham, who visited Edinburgh in the following year. He describes the reception
of the doctor, by all classes, as having been of the most flattering kind, and he adds, ‘‘ From all I have been able to learn, he repaid all their attention to him with ill-breeding ;
Burton’s Life of Hume,. vol. ii. p. 136. The western portion of this vast fabric w ad~e stroyed by fire in 1858. On
ita site haa been erected, in the old Scottish style, an equally lofty structure for the Savings Bank and Free Church
offices. ’ Boswell’a Johnson, by Croker, vol. ii. p. 259.
The opinion of Lord Auchmleck about “the Auld Dominie is well known, and the doctor‘s hostess, Xra Boawell,
though assiduous in her attentions to her guest, seems to have coincided in opinion with the wit, who, on hearing him
styled by eome of his admirers a constellation of learning, said, ‘‘ Then he must be the h a Mujor.” Boswell tell4
with his usual naivet4, that his wife exclaimed to him on one occasion, with natural asperity,--“I have seen manya bear
led by a man, but I never before saw a man led by a bear ! ”-Boswell’s Johnson, note, Nov. 27, 1773.
‘‘ An old lady,” BB Dr Johnson describes her, “who tak broaa Scotch with a paralytic voice, and in scarce understood
by her own countrgmen.”-Boswell’s Johnson, by Croker, vol. i p. 209.
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