Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time

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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

APPENDIX. 449 “ The loaded cart itself cannot withstand their fury, and the hideous yells of Coal Johnie resound through the vaulted sky.-The sour-milk barrels are overturned, and deluges of Corstorphine cream ran down our strands, while the poor unhappy milk-maid wrings her hands with sorrow. ‘‘ Who, then, can blame the wise guardians of Edina, whose greatest care is the preservation of her people and the safety of her inhabitants 1-Be hush, therefore, ye malevolent tongues, let sedition perish, and animosities be forgotten.” This is followed by a soliloquy of the old Port, narrating some facts in its own hktory not unworthy of being recorded :- . 66 The Last Speech, hfession, and Dying Words, of the Nether Bm Porch of Edin6urgh, which was mp8ed , to roup and sale on Thursday, the 9th of August 1764 :- “ I was erected by King James VI. of ever-glorious memory, whose effigies was put upon my inside, and stood there, till demoliahed by CromweZE the Usurper. My inscription is a8 follows :- Anag. Aris ercubo. Jacobus Fkx. Non sic excubie, nec circumtantia pila, Ut tutatur amor.- Englihed thus :- Watch-tow’rs, and thund’ring wall4 vain fencee prove; No guards to monarchs l i e their people’s love. Jacobua VI. Rex, Anna Regina, 1606. ‘‘ May my clock be struck dumb in the other world, if I lie in this ; and may Mack, the reformer of Edina’s lofty spires,never bestride my weathercock on high, if I deviate from truth in these my last words. Tho’ my fabric shall be levelled with the dust of the earth, yet I fall in hope, that my Cock shall be exalted on some more modern dome, where it shall shine like the burr&hed gold, reflecting the rays of the sun to the eyes of ages unborn. The daring Mack shall yet look down from my Cock, high in the airy region, to the brandy shops below, where large grey-beards shall appear to him no bigger than mutchkin bottles, and mutchkin bottles shall be in his sight like the spark of a diamond. “Many, alas ! have been my crimes, but the greatest of all wm, receiving the head of the brave Marquis of Montrose from the hands of dastardly miscreants,” &c. What the exact date or the incidents that marked the close 01 the poet’s histoiy were, we are not aware, though it is not very dscult to guess the probable career of such a worshipper at the shrines of Bacchus and the Muses. We learn from his poems that he visited London in 1765-if we are safe in drawing such inferences from any declaration of his verse. He seems to hint at a h a 1 abandonment of Edinburgh, its tasteleas citizens being left free to get a bill for removing, not the Cross alone, but even King Charles’s statue, the pride of the Scottish capital,from Parliament Close, without any one molesting themwith remonstrance in prose’or rhyme. All classes are represented as mourning the loss of this persodication of virtue clad in satiric guise. There is no doubt, however, that he died at Ediburgh in 1759, after having been one of the most noted among the minor characters in its compact little community for upwards of thirty years. His ghost may address the bereaved capital on his final exit, in a verse of the ‘‘ Epistle to Claudero, on his arrival at London, 1765 : ”- “ Now vice may rear her hydra’s head, And strike defenceless virtue dead ; Religion’s heart may melt and bleed Since satire from your streets is fled, With grief and sorrow, Poor Edinburrow I ” 3 L

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450 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. XVIIL ST GILES’S CHURCH. THE accompanying ground-plan of St Giles’s Church is designed to illustrate the description of the EUCCeBsive additions to the ancient Parish Church of Edinburgh, given in the concluding chapter (pp. 377-394). It exhibits it as it existed previous to the alterations of 1829, and with the adjacent buildings which have been successively removed during the present century. We are indebted for the original drawing to the Rev, John She, chaplain of Trinity Hospital, whose ingenipue model of the Old Church, with the Tolbooth, Luckenbooths, &c., haa already been referred to. REFERENOETOS THE GROUND-PLAN. The light subdivisions between the pillars mark the party walls with which the ancient church was partitioned off into several places of worship. The large letters of reference in each mark the earliest sites of the pulpits. H shows the old position of Dr Webster’s pulpit in the Tolbooth Church, from which it was removed about the year 1792 to its latter position against the south wall, in front of the old turnpike, now demolished. K indicates the site of the old pulpit of the High Kirk, from whence it was removed about the years 1775-80, to its present position in front of the great east window. Previous to this alteration, the king’s seat projected in front of the pillar directly opposite the pulpit, so that his Majesty, or the successive representatives of royalty who occupied it, were within a convenient convereational distance of the preacher. This throws considerable light on the frequent indecorous colloquies that were wont to ensue between James VI. and the preachers in the High Kirk ; and shows how very pointed and irritating to royalty must the rebukes and personalities have been, in which the divines of that day were accustomed to indulge, seated as his Majesty thue was &-a-& with his uncourtly chaplain, like a culprit on the stool of repentance. King James, however, used to bandy words with the preacher with a tolerably good-natured indifference to the dignity of the crown. The following references will enalde the reader to find without difficulty the chief objects of interest in St Giles’s Church, alluded to in the course of the work :- . a The Preston, or Assembly Aisle, where the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held its b The Montrose Aisle. c The Tomb of John, fourth Earl of Atholl. d The Tomb of the Regent Murray. e Door which stood always open during the day, approached by a flight of steps from the Parliament f Ancient Tomb (deecribed on page 386), said to be that of William Sinclair, Earl of Orhey, ckated Earl of Caithness by James II., in 1455. The whole of this chapel to the west of the buttress and centre pillar is now’removed. g The South Porch, built in 1387. The beautiful doorway has been rebuilt between the south pillars of the tower, as an entrance to the Old Kirk. Above this porch was the Painted Chamber (vide page 385), in which a number of ancient charters were discovered in 1829, which, with the turret staircase indicated in the plan, and the beautiful little dormer window that lighted the Priest’s Chamber, all diaappeared under the hands of the restorerr annual sessions previous to 1829. Close. A The five Chapels built in 1387. i The Pillar of the Albany Chapel (vide p. 388), decorated with the arms of Robert Duke of Albany, The two west ones are now demolished. and the Earl of Douglas..

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