THE HIGH STREET AND NETHER BOW. 275
withstanding the elucidation of it referred to above, the question remains with most of
them as interesting and mysterious as at first, “ Who murdered Begbie ? ”
This eastern nook of the Old Town has other associations with men eminent for talents
and noted for their deeds, though tradition has neglected to assign the exact tenements
wherein they dwelt of yore, while mingling with the living crowd. Here was the abode
of Robert Lekprevik, another of our early Scottish printers, to whom it is probable that
Bassendyne succeeded, on his removal to St Andrews in 1570. Here, too, appears to
have been the lodging of Archbishop Sharp. Nicoll tells us that the newly-consecrated
bishops, on the 8th of May 1662, “being all convenit in the Bishop of St Androis hous,
neir to the Neddir Bow, come up all in their gownis, and come to the Parliament, quha
wer resavit with much honour, being convoyit fra the Archebischop of Sant Androis hous
with 2 erles, viz., the Erle of Kellie and the Erle of Weymis.” Of scarce less interest is
the history of a humble barber and wig-maker, who carried on business at the Nether
Bow, where his gifted son, William Falconer, the author of “ The Shipwreck,” is believed
to have been born about 1730. Here, at least, was his home and playground during his
early years, while he shared in the sports and fropcs of the rising generation ; all but
himself long since at rest in forgotten graves.
World’s End Close is the appropriate title of the last alley before we reach the site of
the Nether Bow Port, that terminated of old the boundaries of the walled capital, and
separated it from its courtly rival, the Burgh of Canongate. It is called, in the earliest
title-deed we have seen connected with it, Sir James Stanfield’s Close ; and though the
greater part of it has been recently rebuilt, it still retains a few interesting traces of
former times. Over the doorway of a modern land, a finely carved piece of open tracery
is built into the wall, apparently the top of a very rich Gothic niche, similar to those in
Blyth’s Close and elsewhere ; and on the lintel of an old land at the foot of the close,
there is a shield of arms, now partly defaced, and this variation of the common
m o t t o : - P ~ u ~.~ T~HE . LORD. FOR . AL . HIS . GIFTIS . M . S. With which pious
ascription we bid adieu for a time to Old Edinburgh, properly EO called, and pass into the
ancient Royal Burgh of Canongate.
l Thii, we presume, was Sir James Stanfield of Newmills, or Amesfield, whose death took place in 1688, under
circumstance8 of peculiar mystery. He was found drowned, and suspicion being excited by a bvty funeral, and the
fact, as waa alleged, that his wife had the grave clothea all ready for him before his death, the Privy Council appointed
two surgeona to examine the body, who reported that the corpse bled on being touched by his eldest SO& Philip. .His
servants were apprehended and put to the torture, without eliciting any further proof, and yet, on very vague
circumstantial evidence, added to the miraculous testimony of the murdered man, thp son-a notorious pmfligatewas
condemned to death, and hanged at the Cross of Edinburgh. His tongue waa cut out foe curaing his father,
his right hand struck off for parricide, his head exposed on the east port of Haddington, as nearest the scene of the
murder, and his body hung in chains on the Callow-lee, between Edinburgh and Leith. He died denying his
guilt, and Fountainhall adds, afkr recording sundry miraculous evidences against him: “Thk is a dark case of
divination, to be remitted to the great day; only it ia certain he was a bad youth, and may serve as a beacon to all
profigate persona”
