Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time 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

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 « Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time « Edinburgh Past and Present « Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Title and Plates Ch 21: The High Street (continued from Volume I) Ch 22: The High Street (continued) Ch 23: The High Street (continued) Ch 24: The High Street (continued) Ch 25: The High Street (continued) Ch 26: The High Street (continued) Ch 27: The High Street (continued) Ch 28: The High Street (continued) Ch 29: The High Street (continued) Ch 30: The High Street (continued) Ch 31: Alleys of the High Street (continued) Ch 32: Alleys of the High Street (continued) Ch 33: Alleys of the High Street (concluded) Ch 34: New Streets Within the Area of the Flodden Wall Ch 35: Some of the New Streets Within the Area of the Flodden Wall (concluded) Ch 36: St.Mary's Wynd Ch 37: Leith Wynd Ch 38: The West Bow Ch 39: The West Bow (concluded) Ch 40: Edinburgh in 1745 Ch 41: Edinburgh in 1745 (concluded) Ch 42: The North Bridge Ch 43: East Side of the North Bridge Ch 44: East Side of the North Bridge (continued) Ch 45: East Side of the North Bridge (continued) Ch 46: East Side of the North Bridge (concluded) Ch 47: Moultray's Hill - Her Majesty's General Register House Ch 48: The South Bridge Ch 49: The Pleasance and St.Leonards Contents List of Illustrations » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

326 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. 11745. -the identical vehicle in which the deputies had returned from Gray?s Mill, and the driver of which wanted to pass out at that critical juncture. ?Open the port,? he cried, ?for I behove to get out.? ?You cannot,? yeplied the sentinel, ?without an order from Provost Stewart.? ?Let the coach out instantly,? said James Gillespie, under-keeper of the gate, ?:for I have an order to that effect.? ?Oh, sir, ?tis very well; you have the keys of the port and must answer for it,? replied the soldier,. as he pulled back the ponderous gate in the arch between its two massive towers. At that moment a Highlander sprang in and wrested his musket from him ; it was the chief of Lochiel; and immediately the whole clan Cameron advanced up the street, with swords drawn and colours flying, their pipes playing ? We?ll awa to Shirramuir, And haud the Whigs ip order.? Other noise there was none, and no bloodshed; not an armed man was to be seen on the streets, to the astonishment of the Highlanders, who saw only the people in their nightdresses, at the windows, by the light of the early dawn. They seized the Guard-house, disarmed the Guard, captured the cannon and arsenal, placed pickets at the eight principal gates with the utmost order and regularity, while the magistrates retired to their houses, aware that their authority was ended. . Generals Guest and Preston hoisted the royal standard on the Castle, and fired a few cannon to warn all to keep from its vicinity, and, meanwhile, after two hours? sleep, Charles prepared to take possession of the palace of his forefathers. Making a tour to the south, to avoid the fire of the Castle till he reached Braidsburn, he turned towards the city as far as the Hare Stone, a mass of granite on the turnpike road near Morningside-the old banner stone of the Burghmuir. He then wheeled to the east by the beech-shaded Grange Loan (now bordered by villas, sequestered and grassy then), which leads by the old house of the Grange to the Causeway side Near Priestfield he entered the royal parks by a breach that had been made in the wall, and traversed the Hunter?s Bog, that had echoed so often .to the bugles of his ancestors. Leaving his troops to take up their camp, about noon he rode -with what emotions we may imagine-towards old Holyrood, of a thousand stirring memories, attended by the Duke of Perth and Lord Elcho, with a train of gentlemen and the veterans of his Highland guard-veterans of Sherriffmuir and Glenshiel- eighty in number, at the very time that Sir John Cope?s armament was disembarking at Dunbar. On reaching the eminence below St. Anthony?s chapel and well, when for the first time he came in sight of the old palace, he alighted from his horse, and paused to survey the beautiful scene. Then descending to the Duke?s Walk (so called because it had been a favourite resort of his grandfather, to whose flagrant misgovernment he owed his exile) he halted for a few minutes to show himself to the people, who now flocked around him in great numbers with mingled feelings of ccriosity and admiration. Loud huzzas came from the crowd, and many of the enthusiastic Jacobites knelt down and kissed his hand. He then mounted his horse-a fine bay gelding, presented to him by the Duke of Perth-and rode slowly towards the palace. On arriving in front of Holyrood he alighted, and was about to enter the royal dwelling, when a cannon ball fired from the Castle struck the front of Jarnes V.?s tower, and brought down a quantity of rubbish into the court-yard. No injury was done, however, by this gratuitous act of annoyance, and the Prince, passing in at the outer gate, and proceeding along the piazza, and the quadrangle, was about to enter the porch of what are called the Duke of Hamilton?s apartments, when James Hepburn of Keith, who had takeii part in the rising of 1715, ?a model of ancient simplicity, manliness, and honour,? stepped from the crowd, bent his knee in token of homage, and then drawing his sword, raised it aloft, and marshalled the way before Charles up-stairs.? On this day Charles wore a short tartan coat, with the star of St- Andrew, a blue velvet bonnet, and white cockade, a blue ribbon over his shoulder, scarlet breeches, and military boots, Tall, handsome, fair, and noble in aspect, he excited the admiration of all those fearless Jacobites, the ladies especially. ?All were charmed with his appearance,? says Home; ?they compared him to Robert Bruce, whom he resembled, they said, in his figure and fortune. The Whigs looked upon him with other eyes; they acknowledged that he was a goodly person, but observed that even in that triumphant hour, when about to enter the palace of his fathers, the air of his countenance was languid and melancholy; that he looked like a gentleman and man of fashion, but not like a hero or conqueror.? He adds, however, that he was greeted with acclaim by the peasantry, who, whenever he went abroad, sought to kiss his hand3 and even to touch his clothes. At one o?clock on the same day a body of the Cameron clansmen was drawn up around the

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?745.1 THE CLAN REGIMENTS. 327 venerable Market Cross, with the heralds, pursuivants, and the magistrates (many most unwillingly) in their robes, while Mr. David Beath proclaimed ? James VIII., King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland,? in the usual old form, and read the Commission of Regency, dated 1743, with the manifesto of the Prince, dated at Paris, May 16th, 1745. A number of ladies on horseback, with swords drawn, acted as a guard of honour. ? A great multitude of sympathising spectators was present at the ceremony, and testified their satisfaction by cordial cheers. In the evening the long-deserted apartments of Holyrood were enlivened by a ball, at which the Jacobite ladies were charmed with the elegant manners and vivacity of the youthful aspirant to the throne.?? On the following day Lord Nairne came in with the Atliol Highlanders; old Lord Kellie came in with only an aged serving man ; the Grants of Glenmomston, 250 strong, marched in on the morning of the zoth, but the main body of the clan stood aloof, though Lord Balmerino and m a y other noble and disinherited gentlemen (who came almost unattended) joined the standard. The Highlanders remained within their camp, or when in the city behaved themselves with the utmost order and decorum; no outrages occurred, and no brawls of any kind ensued ; meanwhile, the garrison remained close within the Castle, and till after the battle of Preston Pans, no collision took place between them and the troops. Their quiet, orderly, and admirable conduct formed a marked difference between them and most of the merciless ruffians, who, under Hawley, Huske, and Ctmberland, disgraced the British uniform; for the little army of Charles Edward vas as orderly as it was brave, and organised in a fashion of its own-the discipline of the modem system being added easily to the principle of clanship, and the whole-then only 3,000-were now completely equipped with the arms found in the city. The pay of a captain was 2s. 6d. daily; of a lieutenant, 2s. ; ensign, IS. 6d. ; of a private, 6d. In the clan regiments every company had a double set of officers. The Leine chrios (shirt of mail) or chosen men, were in the centre of each battalion, to defend the chief and colours. The front rank, when in line, consisted of the best blood of the clan and the best armed-particularly those who had targets. All these received IS. daily while the Prince?s money lasted. The battle of Preston Pans is apart from the history _ . - of Edinburgh; . but there, on the 20th Sep But few took up arms in his cause. :ember, the Highlanders, suffering under innumerrble disadvantages, gained a signal victory, in a ?ew minutes, over a well-disciplined and veteran rrmy, sweeping it from the field in irretrievable :onfusion. The cavalry escaped by the speed if their horses, but all the infantry were killed )r taken, with their colours, cannon, baggage, Irums, and military chest containing L6,ooo. Zharles, who, the night before the victory, slept .n a little house still shown at Duddingston, bore lis conquest with great moderation and modesty, :ven proposing to put the wounded-among whom vas the Master of Torphichen, suffering from wenty sword wounds, of which he died-in Holy- :ood, but the Royal Infirmary was preferred, as the ?alace was required for the purposes ,of royalty. On the zrst, preceded by IOO pipers playing :?The king shall enjoy his own again,? the prisoners, to the number of 1,500, of whom 80 were Dfficers, were marched through Edinburgh (prior :o their committal to Logierait and the Castle If Doune), together with the baggage train, which nad been taken by the Camerons, and the colours if the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons, the 6th, 44th, +6th, 47th, and Loudon?s Corps. The Prince had the good taste not to accompany this triumphal procession. The officers were for a time placed in Queensberry House in the Canongate. Curiously enough, Sir John Cope?s cannon were all captured on a tramway, or line of wooden rails, the first of the kind known in Europe, and belonging to some coal-pits in the vicinity of the field. The pusillanimity of the regulars was very sinylar, but none more so than that of a party of light dragoons commanded by Major Caulfield, who fled from the field to the Castle of Edinburgh, 1 distance of ten miles, permitting themselves to be pursued by a single horseman, Colquhoun Grant of Burnside-a little property near Castle Grantwho, in the battle, at the head of twenty-eight Highlanders, captured two pieces of cannon. He pursued the fugitives to the very gates of the Castle, which received them, and were closed at his approach. After this he leisurely rode down the street, and,?aRer being measured for a tartan suit in the Luckenbooths, left the city by the Nether Bow-his resolute aspect, ?? bloody sword, and blood-stained habiliments ? striking terror into all who thought of opposing him. Grant was selected as one of the Prince?s Life Guards, under Lord Elcho. The dress of these Guards was blue faced with red, and scarlet waistcoats laced with gold ; the horse-fumiture the same. He lived long after these events as a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, where he died in 1792. _. He resided in Gavinloch?s

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