166 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Andrew squan. I
CHAPTER XXII.
ST. ANDREW SQUARE.
St Andrew Square-List of Early Residents-Count Bomwlaski-Miss Gordon or Cluny-Scottish Widows? Fund-Dr. A. K. Johnston-
Scottish Provident Institution-House in which Lord Brougham was Born-Scottish Equitable Society-Chancrir of Amisfield-Douglas?s
Hotel-Sir Philip Ainslic-British Linen Company-National Bank-Royal Bank-The Melvillc and Hopctoun Monuments-Ambrosc?r
Tavern.
BEFORE its conversion iiito a place for public
offices, St. Andrew Square was the residence of
many families of the first rank and position. It
measures 510 feet by 520. Arnot speaks of it as
?the finest square we ever saw. Its dimensions,
indeed, are, small when compared with those in
London, but the houses are much of a size. They
are of a uniform height, and are all built of freestone?
The entire square, though most of the original
houses still exist, has undergone such changes that,
says Chambers, . ? the time is not far distant when
the whole of this district will meet with a fate
similar to that which we have to record respecting
the Cowgate and Canongate, and when the idea of
noblemen inhabiting St. Andrew Square will seem,
to modem conceptions, as strange as that of their
living in the,Mint Close.?
The following is a list of the first denizens of
the square, between its completion in 1778 and
1784.:-
I. Major-General Stewart.
2. The Earl of Aboyne. He died here in his sixty-eighth
year, in 1794. He was the eldest son of John, third Earl of
Aboyne, by Grace, daughter of Lockhart of Carnwath,
afterwards Countess of Murray.
3. Lord Ankerville (David Ross).
5. John, Viscount Arbuthnott, who died 1791.
6. Dr. Colin Drummond.
7. David Hume, afterwards Lord Dreghorn.
8. John Campbell of Errol. (The Earls of Em1 have
ceased since the middle of the seventeenth century to possess
any property in the part from whence they took their
ancient title.)
11. Mrs Campbell of Balmore.
13. Robert Boswell, W.S.
15. Mrs. Cullen of Parkhead.
16. Mrs. Scott of Horslie Hill.
18. Alexander Menzies, Clerk of Session.
19. Lady Betty Cunningham.
20. Mrs Boswell of Auchinleck
Boswell,? R. Chambers, 1824).
22. Jams Farquhar Gordon, Esq.
23. Mrs. Smith of Methven.
24 Sir John Whiteford. (25 in ? Williamson?s Directory.?)
25. William Fergusson pf Raith.
26. Gilbert Meason, Esq., and the Rev. Dr. Hunter.
27. Alexander Boswell, Esq.(aftemards Lord Auchinleck),
and Eneis Morrison, Esq.
28. Lord Methven
30. Hon. Mrs. Hope.
32. Patrick, Earl of Dumfries, who died in 1803.
(mother of ?Corsica
33. Sir John Colquhoun.
34. George, Earl of Dalhousie, Lord High Commissioner,
35. Hon. Mrs. Cordon.
38. Mrs. Campbell of Saddel, Cilbert Kerr of Stodrig,
and Sir William Ramsay, Bart., of Banff House, who died
in 1807.
By 1784, when Peter Williamson published his
tiny ? Directory,? many changes had taken place
among the occupants of the square. The Countess
of Errol and Lord Auchinleck were residents, and
Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, had a house there before
he went to America, to form that settlement in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence which involved him in so much
trouble, expense, and disappointment. No. I was
occupied by the Countess of Leven ; the Earl of
Northesk, KC.B., who distinguished himself afterwards
as third in command at Trafalgar, occupied
No. 2, now an hotel; and Lord Arbuthnott had
been suceeeded in the occupancy of No. 5 by
Patrick, Lord Elibank, who married the widow of
Lord North and Grey.
By 1788 an hotel had been started in the
square by a man named Dun. It was there that
the celebrated Polish dwarf, Joseph Borowlaski,
occasionally exhibited himself. In his memoirs,
written by himself, he tells that he was one of a
family of five sons and one daughter, ?,and by one
of those freaks of nature which it is impossible to
account for, or perhaps to find another instance of
in the annals of the human species, three of these
children were above the middle stature, whilst the
two others, like myself, reached only that of children
at the age of four or five years.?
Notwithstanding this pigmy stature, the count,
by his narrative, would seem to have married, performed
many wonderful voyages and travels, and
been involved in many romantic adventures. At
thirty years of age his stature was three feet three
inches. Being recommended by Sir Robert Murray
Keith, then Eritish Ambassador at Vienna, to visit
the shores of Britain, after being presented, with
his family, to- royalty in London, he duly came to
Edinburgh, where, according to Kay?s Editor, ?? he
was taken notice of by several gentlemen, among
others by Mr. Fergusson, who generously endeavoured
by their attentions to sweeten the bitter
cup of life to the unfortunate gentleman.?
1777-82
