THE HIGH STREET. 225
On another part of the building the initials I D ., and K * T *, appear attached to some
curiously-formed marks, and are doubtless those of the original owners ; but unfortunately
all the early titles are lost, EO that no clue now remains to the history of this singular
dwelling. The lower story, which is believed to have formed the black-hole or dungeon of
the English t.roopers, is vaulted with stone, and around the massive walls iron rings are
affixed, as if for the purpose of securing the prisoners once confined in these vaults. The
east wall of the main room above is curiously constructed of eliptic arches, resting on plain
circular pillars, and such portions of the outer wall as are not concealed by the wooden
appendages of early times, exhibit polished ashlar work, finished with neat mouldings and
string courses.
Immediately to the north of this ancient mansion, there is a large land eutering from
the foot of Sellar’s Close, which has two flat terraced roofs at different elevations, and forms
a prominent and Eiomewhat graceful feature of the Old Town as seen from Princes Street.
This is known by the name of (( The Cromwell Bartizan,” a and is pointed out, on the same
traditional authority, as having been occupied by the General, owing to its vicinity to his
guards, and the commanding prospect which its terraced roof afforded of the English fleet
at anchor in the Firth. Over a doorway, which divides the upper from the lower part of
this close, a carved lintel bears this variation of the common legend :-THE . LORD . BE .
BLEIST . FOR . AL. HIS. GIFTIS .3 A building on the west side, finished in the style prevalent
about the period of James VI., has the following inscription over a window on the
third floor :-
@- THE LORDIS TEIE PORTION OB MINE INHERITANCE AND OF
MY CUP ; THOU MAINTAINEST MY LOT. PSALX.V I. VERSE 5.
In the house which stood opposite, a very large and handsome Gothic lire-place remained,
in the same style as those already described in the Guise Palace. In Brown’s
Close adjoining this, Arnot informs us that there existed in his time a private oratory,”
containing -a ‘( baptismal font,” or sculptured stone niche ; but every relic of antiquity has
now disappeared ; and nearly the same may be said of Byres’ Close, though it contained only
a few years since the town mansion built by Sir John Byres of Coates, the carved lintel of
which was removed by the late Sir Patrick Walker, to Coates House, the ancient mansion
of that family, near Edinburgh. It bears the inscription, “ Blissit be God in a1 His giftis,”
with the initials I B a, and 31 B ., and the date 1611.4
Dunbar’s, Brown’s, and Sellar‘s closea, mentioned in this chapter, are now obliterated by recent city improvementa.
’ Vide p. 95, some confusion exists in the different attempts‘ to lix the exact house, but these discrepancies tend
to confirm the general probability of the tradition; the name BartiZan, however, would seem to determine the
building now assigned in the text
8 In that amusing collection “Satan’s Invisible World Discovered,” written for the purpose of confounding atheiste,
the following is given as an Eat Lothian grace, ‘‘in the time of ignorance and superstition :”
Lord be bless’d for all His gifts,
Defy the Devil and all his shifts.
Qod send me mair d e r . Amen. .
* The front land to the west of Byree’ Close, wan long the residence, Post Office, and miscellaneous establishment of
the noted Peter Williamson, who advertised himself as “from the other world I ” and published an ingenioua narrative
of his Adventures in America, and Captivity among the Red Indians.--Piale Kq’r Portraits, voL i. p. 137.
2 F
