Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Cover Title Pages Contents List of Illustrations Preface Part 1: Historical Associations Part 1 Ch 1: Earliest Traditions Part 1 Ch 2: From The Accession of The Stuarts to the Death of James III Part 1 Ch 3: From the Accession of James IV to the Battle of Flodden Part 1 Ch 4: From the Battle of Flodden to the Death of James V Part 1 Ch 5: From the Death of James V to the Abdication of Queen Mary Part 1 Ch 6: From the Accession of James VI to the Restoration of Charles II Part 1 Ch 7: Historical Incidents after the Restoration Part 2: Local Antiquities and Traditions Part 2 Ch 1: The Castle Part 2 Ch 2: King's Stables, Castle Barns, and Castle Hill Part 2 Ch 3: The Lawnmarket Part 2 Ch 4: The Tolbooth, Luckenbooths, and Parliament Close Part 2 Ch 5: The High Street Part 2 Ch 6: The High Street and Nether Bow Part 2 Ch 7: The Canongate and Abbey Sanctuary Part 2 Ch 8: St Leonard's, St Mary's Wynd, and The Cowgate Part 2 Ch 9: The West Bow and Suburbs Part 2 Ch 10: Leith, and The New Town Part 2 Ch 11: Ecclesiastical Antiquities Appendix » Edinburgh Past and Present » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

I 96 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH, this memorable event. The newspapers for some time afterwards abound with notices of the precautions taken, when too late, to prevent the recurrence of an act, the idea of which can hardly have appeared otherwise than ridiculous even at the time. The gates of the Nether Bow Port were fastened back to preserve the free access of the military to the city; guards were established there ; the trained bands were called out ; grenadier companies quartered in the town and suburbs ; and most effectual means taken to prevent the hanging of a second Porteous, if any such had existed.’ On the second day after his execution, the body of Porteous was interred in the Greyfriars Churchyard,’ but the exact spot has long since ceased to be remembered.’ The Tolbooth of Edinburgh was visited by Howard in the year 1782, and again in 1787, and on the last occasion he strongly expressed his dissatisfaction, declaring that he had expected to have found a new one in its stead.‘ It was not, however, till the year 1817 that the huge pile of antique masonry was doomed to destruction. Its materiale were sold in the month of September, and its demolition took place almost immediately afterwards. The following extract from a periodical of that period, while it shows with how little grief the demolition of the ancient fabric was witnessed, also points out the GRAVE OF THE OLD TOLBOOTH. It seems to have been buried with a sort of pauper’s funeral, on the extreme outskirts of the new city that was rising up beyond those ancient boundaries of which it had so long formed the heart. Now,” says the writer, (( that the Luckenbooths have been safely carted to Leith Wynd (would that it had been done some dozen years ago ! ) and the Tolbooth,-to the unutterable delight of the inhabitants,-is journeying quickly to Fettes Row, there to be transferred into common sewers and drains, the irregular and grim visage of the Cathedral has been in a great measure unveiled.” The unveiling of the Cathedral had formed the grand object of all civic committees of taste for well-nigh half a century before ; the renovation of the ancient fabric thereby exposed to vulgar gaze became the next subject of discussion, until this also was at length accomplished in 1829, at the cost not only of much money, but of nearly all its ancient and characteristic features. Added to all these radical changes, the assistance rendered by the Great Fire of 1824, unexpectedly removed a whole range of eyesores to such reformers, in the destruction of the ancient tenements between St Gilea’s and tb,e Tron Church. As the only means of giving width and uniformity to the street, all this comes fairly within the category of civic improvements ; how far it tended to increase the picturesque beauty of the old thoroughfare is a very different question. Taylor, the Water Poet, in the amusing narrative of his Pennylesse Pilgrimage ” from London to Edinburgh, published in 1618, describes the High Street as “the fairest and goodliest street that ever mine eyes’ beheld, for I did never see or hear of a street of that length, which is half an English mile from the Castle to a faire port, which they calle the Neather 1 Caledonian Mwmy, September 23, 1736. a ‘‘ No less than seventeen criminals escaped from the city jail on this occasion, among whom are the dragoon who waa indicted for the murder of the butcher’s wife in Dunse, the two Newhaven men lately brought in from Blacknesa Castle for smuggling, seven sentinele of the city guard, &e.”-Ibid, September 9th. ‘ knot, who never minces matten when disposed to censure, furnishes 8 very graphic picture of the horrors of the old jail of Edinburgh.-Hit. of Edinburgh, p. 298. ’ Ibid, September 9. Edin. Mag. Nov. 1817, p. 322.

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