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

304 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. -so nearly connected are these romantic incidents with our own day. He was raised to the Bench on the death of Lord Swinton, and took his seat as Lord Bannatyne in 1799. He was the last survivor of the Mirror Club, and one of the contributors to that early periodical. His conversational powers were great, and his lively reminiscences of the eminent men, and the leading events of last century, are referred to by those who have enjoyed his cheerful society, when in his ninetieth year, as peculiarly vivid and characteristic. Among the antique groups of buildings in the Canongate, scarcely any one has more frequently attracted the artist by the picturesque irregularity of its features than the White Horse Close-an ancient hostelry to which a fresh interest has been attached by the magic pen of Scott, who peopled anew its deserted halls with the creations of his fertile genius. Tradition, with somewhat monotonous pertinacity, a&ms that it acquired its name from a celebrated and beautiful white palfrey belonging to Queen Mary.’ There is no reason, however, to think, from the style and character of the building, that it is any older than the date 1623, which is cut over a dormer window on its south front. The interest is much more legitimate which associates it with the cavaliers of Prince Charles’s Court, as the quarters of Captain Waverley during his brief sojourn in the capital. It forms the main feature in a small paved quadrangle near the foot of the Canongate. A broad flight of steps leads up to the building, diverging to the right and left from the first landing, and giving access to two singularly-picturesque timber porches which overhang the lower story, and form the most prominent features in the view. A steep and narrow alley passes through below one of these, and leads to the north front of the building, which we have $elected for our engraving, as an equally characteristic and more novel scene. Owing to the peculiar slope of the ground, the building rises on this side to more than double the height of its south front; and a second tier of windows in the steep roof give it some resemblance to the old Flemish hostels, still occasionally to be met with by the traveller in Belgium. But while the travellers’ quarters are thus crowded into the roof, the whole of the ground floor is arched, and fitted up with ample accommodation for his horses-an arrangement thoroughly in accordance with the Scottish practice in early times. In an Act passed in the reign of James I., 1425, for the express encouragement of innkeepers, all travellers stopping at burgh towns are forbid to lodge with their acquaintance or friends, or in any other quarters, but in “the hostillaries,” with this exception :-“ Cif it be the personee that leadis monie with them in companie”-i.e., Gentlemen attended with a numerous retinuec‘ thai sal1 have friedome to harberie with theh friends; swa that their horse and their meinze be harberied and ludged in the commoun hostillaries.” Almost immediately adjoining the north front of the White Horse Inn was a large tank or pond for watering horses, from whence the name of the principal gate of the burgh was derived. Here, therefore, was the rendezvous fo; knights and barons, with their numerous retainers, and the chief scene of the arrival and departure of all travellers of rank and importance during the seventeenth century, contrasting as strangely with the provisions of modern refinement as any relic that survives of the Canongate in these good old times. The court-yard of the White Horse Inn is completed by an antique tenement towards The house is now used as a manufactory. Chambers’s Traditions, vol. ii. p. 295.

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