THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 271
the front land ; and owing to the alteration in the level of floors, and other changes consequent
on the wedding of this wrinkled dowager of the sixteenth century with its spruce
partner of the eighteenth, an explorer of its intricate labyrinths finds himself beset by as
many inconveniences as Mr Love1 experienced on his first introduction to the mitred Abbot
of Trotcosey’s Grange, at Monkbarns. On ascending the winding stair, by which he
reaches the door of the first floor, he has then to descend another ; and after threading a
dark passage on this lower level, somewhat in the form of the letter Z, he reaches a third
flight of steps equally zigzag in their direction, whose ascent-if he have courage to persevere
EO far, lands him in “ that other tenement of land, commonly called the Fountain, a
little above-the Nether Bow, on the south side of the High Street of Edinburgh; and
which tenement of land, formerly called the Backland, some time belonged to Nicol and
Alexander Bassandene, lawful sons to Michael Bassandene, lying in the closs called Bassandene’s
Closs,” &c. Such is the description of this ancient fabric, as given in the earlier
title-deeds of the present proprietor. The same building is repeatedly referred to in the
evidence of the accomplices of the Earl of Bothwell in the murder of Darnley, an event
which took place in the lifetime of the old printer. In the deposition of George Dalgleish,
one of those who was executed for his share i; that crime, it is stated, that ‘‘ eftir thay
enterit within the [Nether Bow] Port, thai zeid up abone Bassyntine’s house, on the south
side of the gait, and knockit at ane dur beneth the sword slippers, and callit for the Laird
of Ormestounes, and one within answerit he was not thare ; and thai passit down a cloiss
beneth Frier Wynd, and enterit in at the zet of the Black Friers.”l This reference
clearly indicates the tenement which we have described ; the only question is, whether it
was that of Thomas Bassendyne, the printer, referred to in the imprint of his rare 4to
edition of Sir David Lindsay’s Poems, printed in 1574, while “ dwelland at the Nether
BOW.” In the statement of debts appended to his will, there was “ awand to Alesoun
Tod, mother to the defunct, for half ane zeiris male of the house iiii 1. ; ” while there was
due to him, “be Michael Bassinden, bruther to the said vmquhile Thomas, of byrun
annuellis, the soume of ane hundreth ten pundia.” From this, it seems probable that his
mother was liferented in that part of the house which formed the printer’s dwelling and
establishment, while the remainder, belonging to himself, was occupied by his brother.
At all events he leaves in his will, “his thrid, the ane half thairof to his wyf, and the
vthir half to his mother, and Michael, and his bairnes ; ” in which we presume to have
been included the house, which we find both he and his bairns afterwards possessing,
and for which no rent would appear to have been exacted during the lifetime of the
printer.
The name of the Fountain, by which the old tenement is distinguished in the titles, is
curious. The well, which nom bears the same name, had in all probability formerly stood
either in front of this building, or more probably-from the speciality of the name, and
the narrowness of the street at that point-it had formed a portion of the building itself;
for it is not styled the Fountain Land, according to usual custom, but simply Tde Fountain.
In the evidence of the Earl of Bothwell’s accomplices, already referred to, it is
stated by William Powrie, that after thai hard the crack, thai past away togidder out at
the Frier Yet, and sinderit quhen thai came to the Cowgate, pairt up the Blackfrier
.
Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, Supplement, p, 495. Bannatyne Misc., vol. ii p. 202
