322 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
overpowering force. Conjecture is vain as to the depositor of this hidden treasure ; but
we may fancy the prowess or cunning of some hardy burgher achieving sudden victory
over a stray band of the insolent invaders, and concealing here the hard-won spoils, for
which he never returned. Beyond the arch of the bridge, from whence the busy crowds
of the modern city look down on this deserted scene of former magnificence, we again
come to antique memorials of other times. Here was a steep and straitened alley ascending
towards the southern side of the town, which formed in remote times the avenue to the
Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields; and at a more recent, though still early
period, the public approach to the Old College of Edinburgh. This ancient avenue possessed
interesting associations with successive generations, from the period when Dominicans
and Greyfriars, and the priests and choristers of St Mary’s College, clamb the steep
ascent, down to a time, not long gone by, when grave professors and wily practitioners
of the law shared among them itsjuts and common stairs.
This ancient thoroughfare formerly bore the name of “ The Wynd of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in-the-Field,” as appears from the charters of property acquired by the town for the
establishment of King James’s College.’ About the middle of the wynd, on the east
side, a curious and antique edifice retained many of its original features, notwithstanding
its transmutation from a Collegium Sacerdoturn, or prebendal building of the neighbouring
collegiate church, to a brewers’ granary and a spirit vault. Such, at least, we conceive to
have been its original destination. The ground floor had been entirely refaced with hewn
stoue ; but over a large window on the first floor there was a sculptured lintel, which is
mentioned by k n o t as having surmounted the gateway into the inner court. It bore the
following inscription, cut in beautifd and very early characters :-
Bbe flaria, QDratia plena, Damintter tecum.
At the close of the chapter, a sketch of a beautiful, though mutilated, Gothic niche is
given, which was on the front of the building. It is said to have originally stood over
the main gateway above the carved lintel we have described, and without doubt it contained
a statue of the TTi.rgin, to whom the wayfarer’s supplications were invited. These
interesting remains, so characteristic of the obsolete faith and habits of a former age,
afforded undoubted evidence of the importance of this building in early times, when it
formed a part of the extensive collegiate establishment of St Mary in-the-Fields, founded
and endowed apparently by the piety of the wealthy citizens of the capital. To complete
the ecclesiastical features of this ancient edifice, a boldly-cut shield on the lower crow-step
bore the usual monogram of our Saviour, fbs-and the windows presented the common
feature of .broken mullions and transoms, with which they had originally been divided.
Internally the building presented features of a more recent date, indicating that its earliest
lay occupants were worthy neighbours of the aristocratic denizens of the Cowgate. A
stucco ceiling in the principal apartment was adorned with a variety of ornaments in the
style prevalent in the reign of Charles I., the most prominent among which was the winged
“Shaw’s tenement in the Wynd of the Blessed &ry in-the-Field, now the College Wynd. Item, an instrument
of aaaine, dated 30th June, 1525, of a land built and waste, lying in the Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Mary in-thsField,
on the weat aide thereof, &e., in favour of Alex. Schaw. son of Wrn. Schaw of Po1kemrnet.’”-From Descriptive Inventory
of Tuwn’q purchases for the Gllege, Burgh Charter Room.
ST LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND COWGATE. 323
and crowned heart, the well-known crest of the Douglases of Queensberry ; suggesting
the likelihood of its having been the town mansion of one of the first Earls, not improbably
William Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig, created Earl of Queensberry by King
Charles I. during his visit to Scotland in 1633. The projecting staircase of the adjoining
tenement to the south had a curious ogee arched window, evidently of early character, and
fitted with the antique oaken transom and folding shutters below. A defaced inscription
and date was decipherable over the lintel of the outer doorway, and one of the doors on
the stair possessed the old-fashioned appendage of a tirling-pin. Many of the buildings
which remained till the total demolition of the Wynd were of an early character; and
some 01 them bore the initials of their builders on an ornamental shield sculptured on
the lowest crow-step, with the date 1736-the only specimens of the kind that were known
belonging to the eighteenth century.
At the head of the wynd, on the east side, and on ground partly occupied by North
College Street, once stood a house which would now have been regarded with peculiar
interest as the birthplace of Sir Walter Scott. The elder Mr Scott then lived,
according to the simple fashion of our forefathers,. on a Jut of the old tenement,
approached from a little court behind by a turnpike stair, the different floors of which
sufficed for the accommodation of equally reputable tenants, until its demolition about
eighty years since to make way for the projected extension of the College. Here also,
near the top of the wynd, was the residence of the celebrated chemist, Dr Bla’ck; and
doubtless, many of the learned professors were distributed, with other eminent persons,
among the densely-peopled lands of this classic locality ; where, to complete its literary
associations, tradition delights to tell that Oliver Goldsmith lodged, while studying
medicine at the neighbouring University.
The accompanying engraving represents a portion of the antique range of edzces that
extends between the College and the Horse Wynds. Here again, however, we are
baffled in our search after their earlier occupants. The building to the east of St Peter’s
Close was a very substantial stone edifice of a highly ornamental character, which
undoubtedly formed the residence of noble proprietors in early times. It appeared to be
an ancient building, remodelled and enlarged, probably
about the close of James VL’e reign. Three large and
elegant dormer windows rose above the roof, the centre
one of which was surmounted by an escallop shell, while
a second tier of windows of similar form appeared behind
them, and sprang from what we conceived to have been
the original stone front of the building. The antique ;
staircase projected forward in a line with the more recent ,
additions, and on its lintel the initials of the original
proprietors, as represented in the accompanying woodcut.
On the other side of St Peter’s Pend was the singularly picturesque timber-fronted tenement,
the cu;iously-carved lintel of which forms the vignette at the head of this chapter. An
outside stair, constructed in a recess formed by the projection of a neighbouring building,
1 The College and Horse Wynrh have, with the exception of a land of each, suffered at the hands of the Improvementa’
Commission. St Peter’s Closey standing as it did between the two wpnds, haa been totally extinguished.
