208 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
was he in his attachment to Presbyterianism, that he relinquished his profession as an
advocate in 1681 rather than take the !Pest. Nevertheless, he learned soon after to hold
the favour of royalty in greater esteem. By a special dispensation from the King. he
was restored to his rank as an advocate j and on the removal of Lord Edmonston from
the Bench, in consequence of his opposition to the royal inclinations in one of his votes
as a judge, Swinton, the once resolute declaimer against the encroachments of royalty,
was selected as the most pliant successor that could be found. The poor King, James
VII., displayed at all times little judgment in the choice of his friends, and in this case
his selection appears to have been peculiarly unfortunate. The Revolution ensued
immediately after Swinton’s elevation to the Bench, and if Lord Balcarras’s account is
to be believed, the new judge took a leading share in some of the strangest proceedings
that followed. The mob signalised the dethronement of the King by an assault on the
Abbey Chapel, in which several of them were killed and wounded by the guard who were
stationed to defend it. On the following day Lord Mersington headed a rabble, accompanied
by the Provost and Magistrates, and renewed the attack on Captain Wallace
and his men. The guards were speedily put to flight, and my lord and the rest of the
rioters completely gutted the chapel, which had been fitted up in the most gorgeous and
costly style. Balcarras styles Lord Mersington “ the fanatical judge,” and, according
to his description, he figures on the occasion girt with a broad buff-belt, with ‘( a halbert
in his hand, and as drunk as ale and brandy could make him.”l He was the only
judge on the Bench at the Revolution that was reappointed by the new government.
On the third floor in the eastern turnpike of the back land, Sir David Home, Lord
Crossrig, resided,-one of the first judges nominated after the Revolution, and shortly
afterwards knighted by King William. The judicial report of tenants and valuations
exhibits a curious assemblage of occupants, from the renters of garrets, and laigh houses ‘‘ beneath the grund,” at the annual rate of twelve pound Scots, to my Lord Crossrig, who
pays three hundred pounds Scots for his flat, and share of the common stair 1 The Laird
of Merchistoun, Lady Hartfield, Sir James Mackenzie, Sir Patrick Aikenhead, Commissar
Clerk, Lady Harviston, Lady Colston, with Bailies, Merchants, and humble craftsmen, all
figure in the impartial articles of sale ; sharing together at their several elevations, above
and below ground, the numerous lodgings of this populous neighbourhood.
While the sale of%his property was going on, the “ Great Fire ” suddenly took place,
and made a settlement of all valuations and purchases by reducing the whole lofty
range to a heap of ruins. “ The fire broke out in the lodgeing immediately under the
Lord Crossrig’s lodgeing, in the Meal Mercat of Edinburgh, while part of his family
were in bed, and his Lordship going to bed; and the allarum was so sudden, that
he was forced to retire in his night cloaths, with his children half naked; and that when
people were sent into his closet to help out with his cabinet and papers, the smoke was
Brunton 8; Haig’s Senators of the College of Justice, p. 432. In contrast to this account, we may add the
notice of his death, by.Sir James Stewart, Lord Advocate, in a letter to Carataira. ‘‘ On TueBday last the Lord
Mersington dined well with a friend in the Merse, and went well to bed, but was found dead before four io the morning,
his lady in bed with him, who knew nothiog of his dying. He waa a good mau, and is much
regretted”
A warning stroke.
