LEITH. 95
calling, and for which, in consequence, it would be very unfair to hold them
responsible.
' Never give a fishwife the half of what she asks ' is a common saying, and
indicative of the exorbitant prices they are in the habit of demanding in their
commercial capacity. Oldbuck in his day seems to have acted on this
principle. There are few more amusing or laughable scenes in the Antiquary
than that of this formal, inquisitive, but genial old man bating down Mrs.
Mucklebackit, and getting the fish for less than half the price she first asked,
That indeed would appear to be a feature common to the whole fisher
population of every place and of all time; certainly it is yet true of the fisherwomen
of Newhaven, and very amusing are the scenes in this way which yet
go on between the Maggie Mucklebackits of this locality and the Misses
Grizel of our Trinity villas and Claremont Crescents. It would be an
impropriety no doubt to say, in the words of this caustic, but after all somewhat
soft-hearted misogynist, that ' they may sometimes be heard wrangling
for an hour together' over a little affair of that kind, before the door or under
the parlour window, 'like sea-gulls screaming and spluttering in a gale of
wind ;' but that there is a good deal of ' tongue and wind,' the besetting sin
of the age according to Carlyle, expended in the process there can be no
question.
LEITH
Is a town of great impo'rtance, with a population of upwards of 50,000, and
a seaport with a trade and dock accommodation the third in the kingdom.
Originally, and for a long period after its existence, it remained quite apart,
having no connection whatever with any of the neighbouring districts. Now,
however, it may naturally be regarded as a suburb of Edinburgh, as pfiysicaZ&
they meet at many points, and mlmia2aZZy are in certain things interdependent,
Still, although thus closely connected with the city, and having many interests
in common, it yet preserves its own integrity as a town, having its own peculiar
manners, usages, independent feelings, and municipal institutions,
At first, as appears, it was called Inverleith, the reason of which is obvious
enough from the fact of its being situated at the mouth of the river Leith.
Its history opens in or about the fourteenth century-at least nothing with
certainty is known of it until 1329, when we find it but a mere village,
dominated by Edinburgh, and oppressively treated by the magistracy there,
whose cupidity and lust of power led them to lay a greedy and repressive
hand upon its revenues and independence. Robert I. was then upon the
96 QUEENSFERRY TO MUSSELBURGH.
throne, but weak, worn-out, and dyhg. His terrible struggles,-those great,
patriotic efforts he made to wrest our land from the hand of the oppressor and
secure its independence,-had done their sad work upon his naturally vigorous
and powerful frame, and.now at the premature age, comparatively, of fifty-four
years, the strong man had laid him down to die. At this time, when he could
not be troubled with the consideration of such matters, and had not strength
sufficient to inquire into the justice or policy of them, the Town-Council of
Edinburgh, actuated by the meanest and most selfish motives, applied for, and
obtained from, him ‘a grant of the harbour and mills of Leith, with their
appurtenances, for payment of fifty-two merks yearly,’ Nor was their cupidity
content with that. They at the same time seized upon all the waste or
unreclaimed ground adjacent to the harbour and on the banks of the river,
which, however, upon the baron superior, Logan of Restalrig, contesting, they
were ultimately compelled to disgorge, or at least to pay for, which comes
much to the same thing.
This Logan, the baronial proprietor of Leith, appears to have been rather
a heartless old fellow, treating the poor Leithers with as high a hand and as
oppressive a greed as the city Town-Council itself. He would do anything
for money. Give him a good price, only bid high enough, and he would go
to any lengths : no considerations, either moral or Christian, giving him the
least concernment. A man of this type was just the man for the Edinburgh
Town-Councillors ; and they hesitated not to avail themselves of his avaricious
unscrupulousness to effect their own selfish ends. Strange to say, they
approached this man with the extraordin& proposal that ‘ he, for a large
consideration, should grant them a bond by which he should pledge himself
to prevent the inhabitants of Leith, not only from carrying on any sort of
trade, but from keeping shops, or inns, or houses, of public entertainment for
strangers,’ and which proposal was entertained. Nor that only. Some time
subsequently, in the year 1485, this same jealous and oppressive spirit was
manifested in a still more illiberal and impolitic way : it was then ‘ ordained
that no merchant of Edinburgh should take into partnership with him any
inhabitant of Leith under the penalty of forty shillings, and deprivation of
the freedom of the city for a year ; that none bf the revenues of the city
should be farmed to an individual belonging to Leith, and that none of the
farmers of the city should take any of them as a partner with him in such
contracts ; that no staple goods should be stored in warehouses in Leith, or
even disposed of, and in the event of such cruel and oppressive enactments
being evaded or violated, the offender should be visited with swift and condign
