390 MEMQRIPLS OF EDINBURGH.
Underneath the coat of arms, to the left of the above inscription, was the motto,--PIETbs,
SINE VINDXCE, LVGET ; and Qn the right raide,-Jus EX ARM AT^ EST. The monumeqt which
stood directly opposite to that of tbe Regent was generally understood ts be that of the
Earl of Atholl, w40 was buried with greqt slolemnity in the south aisle of the church on
$be 4th-of July 15i9, The sumptuous preparations for this funeral led to the interference
of the General Assembly, by whom, ‘‘ commissiouq was givin to some brethrein to declare
ta the lords that the Assemblie thought the croce and the straups superstitious &ad ethnick
like, and to Crave they may be removed at the Erle of Atholl’ra buriall, The lords
answered, they eould caus cover the mortcloath with blacke velvet, and remove the
stro~vpe~,”T~h e lords, however, failed in their promise. The strqppes, or flambeaux,
were use4 on the occasioa, sotwithstanding the promise to the contrary, in consequence
of which g riot ensued. Crawford2 describes the stately monument, erected over hi4
graye; but, from his allusion to an allegorical device of a pelican, vulned, feeding her
young-the crest of the Earls of Moray, but an emblem, as he conceives, designed tq
signify the long devotion borng by the Earl of Atholl to his country-he has evidently
mistaken for it that of the Regent. There was 4 vacapt panel on this monument,
appwentlyintepded for inserting a brass plate similar to that, on the Earl of Murray’e
tomb, but it had either been removed or never inserted, On the top had been a coat of
arms, but all that remained was) a representation of two pigeons, and the date 1579: which,
boweyer, may be received as conclusive evidence of its having been the Earl of Atholl’s
monument, The portion of the Church which contained these monuments was approached
by a door frpm the Parliament Close, which was never clased, so that the Regent’s Aisle
waa a common place for appointments. It is alluded to in Sempill’s satirical poem, ‘‘ The
Banishment of Poverty,” as a convenient lounge for idlers, where he humorously describes
the repQst provided for him by the Genius of Poverty :-
Then I knay go way how to fen ;
I dined with Paints and noblemen,
My guta rumbled like a hurle-barrow ;
Ev’n sweet Saint Gilq and Earl of Murray.
It probably originated PO less in the veneration with which ‘( the Good Regent’’ was
regarded than in the Convenience of the place, that it was long a Gommon occurrence to
make bills payable at “ the Earl of Murray’s ” tomb, and to fix on it as the place of assignation
for those who proposed entering on any mutual contract.‘ The fact will seem hardly
credible to future generations, that this national monument, erected, as the inscription on
it expressed, as the tribute of a mourning countrr to their common father, was deliberately
demolished during the alterations in 1829 in the process of enlarging the Assembly Aisle.
Calderwood’s Hist., vol. iii. p, 446. 3 Crawford’q Officers of State, p. 136. Nisbet’s Heraldry, vol. ii. Ap. p. 180. ’ Kincaid‘s Hist. of Edinburgh, p. 179. ’ The custom is one of long standing. Among the Closeburn papers, in the possession of C. K. Sharpe, Esq., a contract
by Sir Thorn= Kirkpatrick for the payment of a considerable Bum of money, dated in the reign of Charles I., makes
it payable at Earl Murray’s tomb. There is a remarkable charter of James 11. in 1452, entailing the lands of Barntoun
on Oeorge Earl of Caithness, and his heirs and asdgns, and hia natural daughter; with this proviso, that he, or his
amigns, should cause to be paid to his bastard daughter, Janet, on a particular day, between the rising and setting of the
sun, in the Pariah Church of St Oilea, in his burgh of Edinburgh, upon the high altar of the same, three hundred marks,
usual money.cCaledonig vol. ii p. 774.
The pigeons were probably young pelicans.
ECCLESIA STICAL ANTIQ U’TIES. 391
The plan of the architect proved after all a total failure, and a new hall had to be provided
elsewhere for the meetings of the General Amembly of the Church. The removal of this
important national monument was not effected without considerable oppositich, and itd
destruction in the face of repeated remobstrance8 teflects indelible disgrace oli all who had
a share in it. The brass plate, with the inscriptioh prepared by Buchanan for this tomb,
has been rescued from the general wreck, and is now preserved by the descendants of the
Regent at Dunnybristle House. We trust it is preserved to be again restored to the place
where it so lohg formed the chief point of attraction. The same transept, styled the Old
Church,’ was the Bcene of Jenny Geddea’s famous onslaught on the Deab of St CCiles’s,
owing to the alterations *hich were in progress on the choh at the period when the
use of the liturgy ka8 attempted to be enforhed, in order to adapt it €ot the cathedral
service.’ A very characteristic episode 6r by-play, which was enacted in B corner of the
church while the heroihe of the Cuttg Stool was playing her more prominent part with
the Dean, is thus narrated by a contemporary :-“A good Christian woman, much deeirous
to temove, perceaving she could get no passage patent, betooke herselfe to her Bible in a
remote corner of the chutch. As she waa there stopping hep eates a€ the V O ~ C !o~f popische
chapmers, %htme she remarked to be veri6 headstrong in the pablict practise of their antichristiane
rudiments, 8 young man sitting behind het beganne to sodnd foatth, A m ?
At, the hearing therof, she quicklie turned her about, and after she had warmed both his
cheekes with the weight of her hands, she thda schott against hiui the thunderbolt of her
zeal-‘ False theefe I (said she) is thete no nthet parte of the kirke to sing masse in but
thou mud sing it at my lugge I ’ The young man, being dashed with such ane hote uhexpected
rencounter, gave place to silence in siglie of his recantatione.” The erection of
the Bishoprie of Edinburgh in 1633, and the appointaent of the Collegiate Church of St
Qiles to be the cathedral of the diocese, led to its temporary restoration internally to bornething
like its alicient appearance. But ere the royal dommands codd be carried into
effect for the demolition of all ita galleries and subdivisions, and its adaptation as the
cathedral church of the new bishop, the entire syateui of Church polity for which these
changes were designed had come to a violent end, involving many more important things
in its downfall. ‘6 In this Isle,” sayd Kincaid, (( are sundry inscriptiohs in Sason characters,
cut on the pavement, of very coarse sculpture.” Similar ancient monuhents cgvered
the floor in other parts of the church, but every vestige of them has been swept away in
the impoaementa of 1829. A large portion of one, boldly cht and with the date 1508, waa
preserved in the nursery of the late firm of Messra Eagle & Henderson. The inscription ran
round the edge of the stone in Gothic characters, and Contained the same and date thds :-
gacobi . lame . qui obiit e ano Pm . m* + bo + ocfabo.
A shield in the centre bore 8 lamb, well executed, lying with its feet drawn together,
Other two of these monumental stones, now completely defaced, form the paving front
of the Fountain Well !
Lord Rotheal Relation, Append. p. 198.
“In the year 1636, the Town Council ordered one of the Bailiffs and one of the Clerhe of Edinbtugh to desk
Jam- Hanna, the Dean of St Gilea’a Church, to repair to Durham, to take a Draught of the Choir of the Cathedral
Church in that city, in order to fit up and beautify the inside of St Qiles’a Church after the eame manner.”-Maitland,
p. 281. A Breefe and True Relatione of the Broyle, &a, 1637.
