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Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II

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of 6 1 0 each. The benefits of the endowments are still destined to burgesses, their wives or children not married, nor under the age of fifty years.? Ten others have pensions of 6 1 0 each out of the funds I whole area occupied by the church and collegiate buildings of the Holy Trinity was then included in the original termini of the. Edinburgh and Glasgow, the North British, the Edinburgh, Perth, GROUND PLAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE CHURCH, 1814 following succinct account in the Scofs Magazine for 1805:- ?In 1741 Captain Alexander Horn, of thecity of London, by his last will bequeathed &3,500, old and new South Sea Annuities, to be disposed of at the discretion of the Lord Provost, Bailies, Dean of Guild, and Treasurer of the city of Edinburgh, on account of their early appearance and noble stand in the cause of liberty (was this a reference to the Porteous mob ?) as follows :-The interest of &1,5oo on Christmas-day yearly, to such day labourers of Edinburgh as by the inclemency of the weather may be set idle and reduced to want; interest of &I,OOO to day labourers as aforesaid, in the Potter Row, Bristo, and West Port; and I boundary-wall of its garden, in which he shows parterres and three rows of large trees, and also a square lantern and vane above the roof of the large hall; and in Edgar?s map, a hundred years later, the waters of the loch came no farther eastward than the line of the intended North Bridge, between which and the hospital lay the old Physic Gardens. ?Its demolition brought to light many curious evidences of its former state,? says Wilson. .?? A beautiful large Gothic fireplace, with clustered columns and a low, pointed arch, was disclosed in she north gable, and many rich fragments of Gothic ornament were found built into the walls, remains no doubt of the original hospital buildings, used in the enlargement and repair of the college.? The
Volume 2 Page 308
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Leith Wynd.1 the interest of LI,OOO to day labourers as aforesaid of the neighbouring parish of Liberton ; LIOO THE WEST BOW. Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge ; and no family to receive above A5 sterling per 309 CHAPTER XXXVIII. T H E W E S T B O W . The West Baw-Quaint Character of its Houses-Its Modern Aspect-Houses of the Tempbar Knights-The Bowfoot Well-The Bow Port- The Bow-head-Major Weir?s Land-History of Major Thomas Weir-Personal Appearance-His Powerful Prayers-The ? Holy Sisters ?? -The Bowhead Saints-Weir?s Reputed Compact with the Devil-Sick-bed Confession-Arrest-Search of his House-Priwn Confession -Trial of Him and His Sister GrLel-Execution--What was Weir ?-His Sister undoubtedly Mad-Terrible Reputation of the House- Untenanted for upwards of a Century-Patullo?s Experience of a Cheap Lodging-Weir?s Land Improved Out of Existence-Hall of the Knights of St. John-A Mysterious House-&mervi!le Mansion-The Assembly Rooms-Opposed by the Bigotry of the Times-The Lad;-Directres;Curious Regulations. NO part of Edinburgh was so rich in quaint old houses as ?the sanctified bends of the Bow ?- singular edifices, many of them of vast and unknown antiquity, and all more or less irregular, with stone gables and dovecot gablets, timbergalleries, outshots, and strange projections, the dormer windows, patches and additions made in the succession of centuries, overhanging the narrow and tortuous street, which took the windings of the zig-zag road that led of old from the wooded waste to Dunedin, the fort on the slope, at the gates of which King David dispensed justice to his people, and his queen daily distributed bread to the poor. Among the last charters of David 11. is one to Thomas Webster, of ?ane land in the West Bow.? Its antique tenements, covered with heralc5c carvings and quaint dates, half hidden by signboards or sordid rags drying on poles, its nooks, crooks, trap-doors, and gloomy chambers, abounded with old memories, with heroic stories of ancient martial families, and with grim legends and grandmother? s tales of ghosts and of diablerie ; but to those who see it now, or all that remains of it, where it abuts on the Grassmarket, cut asunder
Volume 2 Page 309
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