258 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
believe, was the place whither the Reformer withdrew for private study and devotion, and
where the chief portion of his history was written.
The plaster ceiling of the hall appears to be a work about the time of Charles II., but a
great portion of it has now given way, and discloses the original oak beams and planking
of the flo’or above, which are painted in the style we have already described in the account
of Blpth’s Close. Tradition has industriously laboured to add to the associations of the
old building by such clumsy inventions as betray their spuriousness. A vault underneath
the street, which contains a covered well, is exhibited to the curious by the tenant of the
laigh shop,“ as the scene of secret baptisms of children before the Reformation ; at B
time when it more probably formed a convenient receptacle for the good Abbot’s wines,
and witnessed no other Christian rites than those over which his butler presided. The ‘‘ preaching window ” has also been long pointed out, from whence the Reformer, according
to the same authority, was wont to address the populace assembled below. The
interesting narrative of his last sermon in St Giles’s Church, and the scene that followed,
when. his congregation lingered in the High Street, watching, as for the last time, the
feeble steps of their aged pastor, seems the best confutation of this oft-repeated tradition,
which certainly receives no countenance from history. Among these spurious traditions,
we are also inclined to reckon that which assigns the old Reformer’s house to the celebrated
printer, Thomas Bassandyne. Society Close, in its neighbourhood, was indeed
formerly called Bassandyne’s Close, as appears by the titles; but even if this be in
reference to the printer, which we question, it would rather discredit than confirm the
tradition, as another land intervened between that and the famed old tenement.’ There is
an access to Knox’s house by a stair in the angle behind the Fountain Well, in the wall
of which is a doorway, now built up, said to communicate with a subterranean passage
leading to a considerable distance towards the north.
It is impossible to traverse the ruined apartments of this ancient mansion without feelings
of deep and unwonted interest. To the admirers of the intrepid Reformer, it awakens
thoughts not only of himself but of the work which he so effectually promoted ; to all it
is interesting as intimately associated with memorable events in Scottish history. There
have assembled the Earls of Murray, Morton, and Glencairn; Lords Boyd, Lindsay,
Ruthven, and Ochiltree, and many others, agents of the Court, as well as its most resolute
opponents ; and within the faded and crumbling hall, councils have been matured that
exercised a lasting influence on the national destinies. There, too, was the scene of his
1 We have discovered in the Burgh Charter Room a deed of disposition referring to part of this property, and of an
earlier date than any now in the hands of the propridora, viz DiSpositiOn of How in N e t k Bow, March 1,1624,
Alesounc Bassdyw and other8 to John Binning.” One of the others is Alexander Crawford, her husband, while the
property appeara to have been originally acquired by her as spouse of umq- Alexander Ker, two of whose daughters
by her are named, along with their husbands, an joint contracting parties in the disposition ; and, it may be added,
‘‘ umq” Alexander Richardson, some time spouse to me, the said Aleaoune,” 8II intermediate husband, is mentioned in
the deed. The house ia situated down the close, and is bounded “by the waste land descending north to the wall of
Trinity College on the north . . . and the waste land of umquile James Baeaendyne on the south parts.” Thia deed ia
dated only forty-eeven years after the death of the printer; so that James was, in all probability, a contemporary or pra
deceaeor. Neither he nor Aleaoun is referred to among the printer’s relatives in his will (Bann. Misc. vol. ii. p. 203),
but Alesoun Bassindyne, my dochter,” ia appointed one of the executors in the will of Katharine Norwell, the widow
of the printer, who had married a second time, and died in 1693 (ibid, p. 220), and to whom she leaves her twa best
new blak gowneis, twa pair of new cloikis, and twa new wylie cottis, with ane signet of gold, and ane ring with twa
stanein.” She was probably the old prink's only child, and an infant st the time of hie decease. The house, which
WO believe to have been that of Thomas Basaendyne, is described towarda the close of thii chapter.
*
