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

THE HIGH STREET. 247 motto :-THE - BEIR - OF - THE * LORD IS THE BIGENEN * OF VISDOM * I a H *; and another bears a shield of arms, with an inscription partially defaced. We have not discovered any names among its earlier occupants worthy of note; but immediately adjoining it, on the site of the west side of Hunter Square, formerly stood Kennedy’s Close, a scene associated with one of the most eminent among the distinguished men of early times. In a MS. memorandum book of George Paton, the Antiquary, the following note occurs :-“ George Buchanan took his last illness, and died in Kennedy’s Close, first court thereof on your left hand, f i s t house in the turnpike, above the tavern there ; and in Queen Anne’s time this was told to his family and friends who resided in that house, by Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, Lord Advocate.” A refereuce to Edgar’s map shows that the close consisted of two small courts connected by a narrow passage, the sight of the first of which will exactly correspond with that of the present Merchants’ Hall. Here the eminent Scottish historian and reformer closed his active and laborious life on the 28th of September 1582. Finding, when on his deathbed, that the money he had about him was insufficient to defray the expenses of his funeral, he sent his servant to divide it among the poor, adding-“ that if the city did not choose to bury him, they might let him lie where he was.” He was interred on the following day in the Greyfriars’ Churchyard. It iu justly to be regretted that the spot cannot now be ascertained, notwithstanding that, on an application made to the Towu Council, so recently as 1701, ‘( the through-stane ” was directed to be raised in order to preserve it.’ In the centre of the High Street, in front of the Black Turnpike, the ancient citadel of the Town-Guard cumbered the thoroughfare till near the close of last century, protected by its ungainly utility from the destruction that befell many of the more valuable relics of antiquity. During Cromwell’s impartial rule in Edinburgh, it formed the scene of many of his acts of guid discipline, causing drunkardis ryd the trie meir, with Btoppis and muskettis tyed to thair leggis and feit, a paper on thair breist, and a drinking cap in thair handis.” a This obsolete instrument of punishment, the wooden mare, still remained at the end of the old Guard-house, when Ray, the Caricaturist, made his drawing of it immediately before its destruction. The chronicles of this place of petty durance, could they now be recovered, would furnish many an amusing scrap of antiquated scandal, interspersed at rare intervals with the graver deeds of such disciplinarians as the Protector, or the famous sack of the Porteous mob. There, such fair offenders as the witty and eccentric Miss Mackenzie,’ daughter of Lord Royston, found at .times a night’s lodging, when she and her maid sallied out disguised as preux chevaliers in search of adventures. Occasionally even a grave judge or learned lawyer, surprised out of his official decorum by the temptations of a jovial club, was astonished on awaking to find himself within its . 1 The following is an extract from the Council Recorda, 3d December 1701 :-“ The Council beinfinformed that the through-stane of the deceast George Buchanan lyes sunk under the ground of the Greyfriara, therefore they appoint the chamberlain to raise the same, and clear the inscription thereupon, so aa the same may be legible.”-Bann. Mkc. vol. 2. p. 401. The sight whereon his dwelling stood would form no inappropriate place for a commemorative tablet tu replace the lost “ through-stane.” Dr Irving, his biographer, haa strangely persisted, in the face of this evidence, to af6rm that “his ungrateful country never afforded his grave the common tribute of a monumental atone.”-(Irving’s Life of Buchanan, p. 309.) A skull, believed to be that of the historian, is preserved in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, and is 80 remarkably thin as to be transparent The evidence in favour of thi tradition, though not altogether conclusive, renders the truth of it exceedingly probable. * Nicoll’s Diary, p. 69. Ante, p. 169.

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248 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. impartial walls, among such strange bed-fellows as the chances of the night had offered to its vigilant guardians. The demolition of the Cross, however, rendered the existence of its unsightly neighbour the more offensive to all civic. reformers. Ferguson, in his “ Mutual Complaint of the Plainstanes and Causey,” humorously represents it as one of the most intolerable grievances of the latter, enough to I‘ fret the hardest stane ; ” and at length, in 1785, its doom was pronounced, and its ancient garrison removed to the New Assembly Close, then recently deserted by the directors of fashion. There, however, they were .pursued by the enmity of their detractors. The proprietors of that fasAionabZe district of the city were scandalised at the idea of such near neighbours as the Town-Rats, and by means of protests, Bills of Suspension, and the like weapons of modern civic warfare, speedily compelled the persecuted veterans to beat a retreat. They took refuge in premises provided for them in the Tolbooth, but the destruction of their ancient stronghold may be said to have sealed their fate ; they lingered on for a few years, maintaining an unequal and hopeless struggle against the restless spirit of innovation that had beset the Scottish capital, until at length, in the year 1817, their final refuge was demolished, the last of them were put on the town’s pension list, and the truncheon of the constable displaced the venerable firelock and Lochaber axe. VIoaETTE-hchaber axe8 from the Antiquarian Museum.

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