THE CANONGA TE AND ABBEY SANCTUAR Y. 289
able printer read snatches of the forthcoming novel, and whetted, while he seemed to
gratify their curiosity, by many a shrewd wink, and mysterious hint of confidential insight
into the literary riddle of the age. The scene, indeed, has melancholy associations with
the great novelist. It is a place which he often visited as an honoured guest, while yet
with sanguine mind and fertile imagination he was anticipating the realisation of dreams
as wild as his most fanciful legends; but it is far more nearly allied to those mournful
years, when the brave man looked on the sad realities of ruined hopes, and bent himself
sternly to rebuild and to restore. The house at the head of the street, facing the
Canongate, where James Earl of Bopetoun resided previously to 1788, is associated
with another of the most eminent Scottish poets and novelists, the precursor of Scott in
the popular field of romance. The first floor of this house was the residence of Mrs
Telfer, of Scotstown, the sister of Smollett, during his second visit to his native country
in 1766; and here he resided for some time, and though in an infirm state of health,
mixed in the best society of the Scottish capital, and treasured up those graphic pictures of
men aud manners which he afterwards embodied in his last and best novel, U Humphrey
Clinker, ”
At the foot of the Pleasance, and extending between that ancient thoroughfare and the
valley that skirts the base of Salisbury Crags, is a rising ground called St John’s Hill,
which, from its vicinity to the places already described, may be presumed to have derived
its name from the same cause. The knights of St John of Jerusalem, who succeeded to
the forfeited, possessions of the Templars, it is well-known held lands in almost every shire
in Scotland, and claimed a jurisdiction, even within the capital, over certain tenements
built on their ground, some of which, now remaining in the Grassmarket, still bear the
name of Temple Lands. In the absence of all evidence on this subject, we venture to
suggest the probability of a similar proprietorship having been the source of this name.
In the earliest map of Edinburgh which exists, that of 1544, a church of large dimensions
appears occupying the exact site of St John’s Hill, but this is no doubt intended for the
Blackfriars’ Monastery which stood on the opposite side of the Pleasance. It is possible
that some early deeds or charters may yet be discovered to throw light on this subject,
though we havs been unsuccessful in the search. The Templars, indeed, would seem to
have had an establishment at Mount Hooly on the southern verge of St Leonard‘s Hill.
‘<O n the eastern side of Newington,” says Maitland, ‘(o n a gentle eminence denominated
Mons Sacer, or Holy Mount, now corruptly Mount Hooly, was situate a chapel, which,
from the position of the bodies buried cross-legged wayLyB, with their swords by
their sides, which were found lately in digging there, I take to have belonged to
the Knights Templars.” It is difficult now to fix the exact site of this interesting
spot, owing to the changes effected on the whole district by the extended buildings
of the town.’
On the north side of the Canongate, opposite to St John Street, a large and lofty
stone tenement bears the name of Jack’s Land, where the lovely Susannah, Countess
Maitland, p. 176, where a reference is made to the Council Registers, but we have searched them in vain for any
The fact of cross-legged corpses with swords by their sides being dug up, is, to
Perhaps
notice of it under the date assigned.
say the least of it, somewhat marvelloua, and merited a more elaborate narrative from that careful historian.
however, it should be understood ae referring to sculptured figures.
2 0
