IS2 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
the nynt day of Aprile, the zeir of God 1566 zeris, Johne Sinclare, be the mercie of God
bischope of Brechin and Dean of Redalrig, deceissit in James Mosmanis hous in Frosteris
Wpd, ane honest and cunning letterit man, and president of the College of Justice
the tyme of his deceiss, &c.’” Another diarist records, in describing the firing of the
town by the garrison of the Castle, under Sir William Kirkaldy, in 1572, “ the fyre
happit fra hous to hous throw the maisterie of ane grit wynd, and come eist the gait
to Bess Wynd at the kirk end of Sanct Geill,” e in consequence of which ther wee
ane proclamatioun maid, that all thak houssia suld be tirrit,’ and all hedder stakis
to be transportit at thair awine bounds and brunt; and ilk man in Edinburgh to haue
his lumes full of watter in the nycht, wnder the pane of deid ; ” a very graphic picture of
the High Street in the sixteenth century, with the majority of the buildings on either
side covered with thatch, and the main street encumbered by piles of heather and other
fuel accumulated before each door, for the use of the inhabitants ; and, from amid these,
we may add the stately ecclesiastical edifices of the period, and the Eubstantial mansions
of the nobility, towering with all the more imposing effect, in contrast to their homely
neighbourhood.
The venerable alley called Bess or Beth’s Wynd, after suffering greatly from the slow
dilapidation of time, was nearly destroyed by successive fires in the years 1786 and 1788.
On the latter occasion it was proposed to purchase and pull down the whole of its buildings
extending from the Lawnmarket to the Cowgate, in order to open up the Parliament
House.* This was not effected, however, till 1809, when the whole were swept away in
preparing the site for the Advocate’s Library. ‘‘ All the houses in Beth’s Wynd,” says
Chambers, “ were exceedingly old and crazy ; and some mysterious ‘looking cellar doors
were shown in it, which the old wives of the wynd believe to have been kept shut since
the time of t4.e plague.” The same superstitious belief was prevalent in regard to some
grim and ancient uninhabited dwellings in Mary King’s Close, part of which now remain.
An old gentleman has often described to us his visits to the latter close, along with his
companions, when a schoolboy. The most courageous of them would approach these dread
abodes of mystery, and after shouting through the keyhole or broken window-shutter,
they would run off with palpitating hearts,-
‘‘ Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round, walks on
And turns no more his head ;
Because he know a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.”
The popular opinion was, that if these houses were opened, the imprisoned pestilence
would burst out, spreading disease and death through the land,-a belief that was probably
thrown into discredit on the peaceful demolition of the former wynd.
A house at the head of Beth’s Wynd, fronting the Old Tolbooth, was the residence of
Mr Andrew Maclure, writing-master, one of the civic heroes of 1745. He joined the
reluctant corps of volunteers who marched to meet the Highland aruy ou its approach
towards Corstorphine ; but they had scarcely left the town walls a mile behind, when their
Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 98. Ibid, Part 11. p. 326.
. a i.e., All thatched houses should be unroofed. 4 Caledonian MeTcuTy, 17th JanuaT 1788.
