430 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
I‘ Ita needless to erect a marble Tomb :
The daily bread, that for the hungry womb,
And bread of life thy bounty hath provided,
For hungry mula, all times to be divided ;
World-lasting monuments &all reare,
That shall endure till Christ himself appear.
Pos’d waa thy life ; prepar’d thy happy end ;
Nothing in either wa8 without commend,
Let it be the care of all who live hereafter,
To live and die like Margaret Lady Yeater :
Who died 15 March 1647. Her age 75.”
The old Lady Yester’s Church built in 1644, stood at the corner of the High School Wynd, surrounded by
a churchyard. It is a proof of the flimsy character of modern ecclesiastical edifices, aa well aa the little veneration
they excited in the minds of the worshippers, that this church ha already disappeared, and been rebuilt
considerably to the westward, in a very strange and hondewript style of architecture. The tomb of the foundress,
and a tablet recording her good works, are both rebuilt in the New Church, and we presume her body
has also been removed to the new 64minister‘s little isle.”
N. CORPORATION AND MASONIC HALLS.
CANDLEMAKERs.-The H d of this ancient Corporation still stands at the Candlemaker Row, with the arms
of the Craft boldly cut over the doorway on a large panel, and beneath, their appropriate motto, Omnia rnanitesta
Euce, Internally, however, the hall is subdivided into sundry small apartments ; much more circumscribed
accommodation sufficing for the assembly of the fraternity in these days of gaslight and reform. The Candlemakers
of Edinburgh were incorporated by virtue of a Seal of Cause granted them in 1517, wherein it is
required “That na maner of Man nor Woman occupy the said Craft, as to be ane Maister, and to set up Buit,
bot @he be ane Freman, or ells an Freman’cl Wyfe of the said Craft, allanerlie ; and quhan thay set up Buit,
thay sall pay to Sanct Geil’s Wark, half a mark of sylver, and to the Reparatioun, bylding and uphaldiug of the
Licht of ony misterfull Alter within the College Kirk of Sanct Geils, quhair the said Deykin and Craftismen
thinks maist neidfull, and half ane Mark by and q u h i l l the said Craftismen be furniat of ane Alter of thair
awin. And in lykwayis, ilk Maister and Occupiar of the said Craft, sall, in the Honour of Almichtie God, and
of his blessit Mother, Sanct Marie, and of our Patroun, Sanct Geill, and of all Sanctis of Heaven, sall gifzeirlie
to the helping and furthering of ony guid Reparatioun, either of Licht or ony other neidfull wark till ony Alter
situate within the College Kirk, maist neidfull, Ten Shilling ; and to be gaderit be the Deykin of the said
Craft, ay and quhill thay be provydit of an Alter to thameselfFis ; and he that disobeis the same, the Deykin
and the Leif of the Craft sall poynd with ane Officiar of the Toun, and gar him pay walx to oure Lady’s Alter,
quhill thay get an Alter of thair awin. And that nane of the said Craftismen send ony Lads, Boyis, or Servands,
oppinlie upoun the Hie-gaitt with ony Candill, to roup or to sell in playne Streites, under the payne of escheiting
of the Candill, paying ane pund of walx to oure Lady’s Alter, the first falt,” &c. It doea not appear whether
or not the Craft ever founded an altar or adopted a patron saint of their own, before the new Ziyht of the Reformers
of the Congregation put an end to the whole system of candle-gifta and forfeits to the altars of St Giles’s
Church. The venerable fraternity of Candlemakers still exists, no unworthy sample of a close corporation.
The number of its members amounts to’three, who annually meet for the purpose of electing the o5iice-bearers
of the corporation, and distributing equitably the d r i e s and other perquisite8 accruing to them from ita funds
in return for their onemus duties !
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