3 60 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
converted into shops of late years, but not so effectually as to conceaI their character,
which is deserving of special notice as a peculiar and very characteristic feature in the
domestic architecture of the town. Returning, however, to the ancient edifices of the
Kirkgate, we must refer the reader to the view already given of one which was only
demolished in 1845, and which, from its appearance, was undoubtedly one of the oldest
private buildings in Leith.’ Popular fame, as was mentioned before, assigned its erection
to May of Guise. The value to be attached to such traditional associations may be
inferred from a remark in the most recent history of Leith Were we to give credit to
all the traditionary information we have received, Mary of Lorraine would appear to have
had in Leith not one place of residence, but at least a score, there being scarcely an old
house in the town without its claims to the honour of having been the habitation of
the Queen Regent. The mortification, therefore, which certainly awaits him who sets
out on an antiquarian excursion through Leith, particularly if the house of that illustrious
personage be the object of his pursuit, will not proceed from any difficulty in
discovering the former residence of her Majesty, but in the much more puzzling circumstance
of finding by far too many ;-in short, that nearly all the existing antiquities
of Leith are fairly divided between Cromwell and Queen Mary, between whom there would
Beem to have been a sort of partnership in building houses. As might naturally be
expected from this association, her Majesty and the Protector would appear to have lived
on the most sociable footing. We have in more than one instance found them residing
under one roof, Queen Mary occupying probably the first floor, and Cromwell living
up-stairs.’” Such popular aptitude in the coining of traditions is by no means confined
to Leith; but the antiquary may escape all further trouble in searching for the
Queen’s mansion by consulting Naitland, who remarks, (‘ that Mary .of Lorraine having
chosen Leith for her residence, erected a house to dwell in at the corner of Quality Street
Wpd in the Rotten Row,” now known as Water Lane, ‘‘ but the same being taken down
and rebuilt, the Scottish Arms which were in the front thereof are erected in the wall
of a house opposite thereto on the southern side ; and the said Mary, for the convenience
of holding councils, erected a handsome and spacious edifice for her Privy Council to
meet in.”’ The curious visitor will look in vain now even for the sculptured arms
that escaped the general destruction of the ancient edifice wherein the Queen Regent,
Mary of Guise, spent the last years of her life, embittered by the strife of factions and
the horrors of civil war ;-an ominous preparative for her unfortunate daughter’s assumption
of the sceptre, which was then wielded in her name. One royal abode, however, still
remains-if tradition is to be trusted-and forms a feature of peculiar interest among
the antiquities of the Kirkgate. Entering by a low and narrow archway immediately
behind the buildings on the east side, and about half way between Charlotte Street
and Coatfield Lane, the visitor finds himself in a singular-looking, irregular little court,
retaining unequivocal marks of former magnificence. A projecting staircase is thrust
obliquely into the narrow space, and adapts itself to the irregular sides of the court by
sundry corbels and recesses, such as form the most characteristic features of our old
Bcottish domestic architecture, and might almost seem to a fanciful imagination to have
been produced as it jostled itself into the straitened site. A richly decorated dormer
1 Ante, p. 54. Abridged from Campbell’a History of Leith, p. 312. Maitland, p. 496.
