Cmongate.1 THE CANONGATE THEATRE. 23
the morning;?? and of the sanitary state of the
community in those days some idea may be gathered
from the fact that swine ran loose in the Canongate
till 1583, when an attempt was made to put
down the nuisance. In the city this was done
earlier, as we find that in 1490 the magistrates
ordain ?the lokman, quhairwer he fyndis ony
.swyne betwk the Castell and the Netherbow upon
the Gaitt,? to seize them, with a fine of fourpence
.upon each sow taken.
Again, in 1506, swine found in the streets or
kennels are to be slaughtered by the ?lokman? and
escheated ; and in 15 13 swine were again forbidden
to wander, under pain of the owners being banished,
and each sow to be escheat. At the same time
fruit was forbidden to be sold on the streets, or in
crames, ?? holden thairupon, under the pain oi
escheitt ?-that is, of forfeit.
In 1562 no flesh was to be eaten or even cooked
on ,Friday or Saturday, under a penalty of ten
pounds; and in 1563 all markets were forbidden
.in the streets upon Sunday.
Among the first operations of the Improvement
?Trust were the demolitions at the head of St.
Mary?s Wynd, including with them the removal 01
-the Closes of Hume and Boyd, the first alleys a1
the head of the street on the south side, and the
erection on their site of lofty and airy tenements in
A species of Scottish style.
Four,alleys to the eastward, Bell?s, Gillon?s, Gibbs?
and Pine?s Closes, all narrow, dark, and filthy,
have been without history or record j but Chessel?s
Court, numbered as 240, exhibits a very superior
style of architecture, and in 1788 was the scene 01
that daring robbery of the Excise Office which
brought to the gallows the famous Deacon Brodie
.and his assistant, thus closing a long career of
secret villainy, his ingenuity as a mechanic giving
him every facility in the pursuits to which he
addicted himself. ? It was then customary for the
shopkeepers of Edinburgh to hang their keys upon
a nail at the back of their doors, or at least to take
no pains in concealing them during the day. Brodie
used to take impressions of them in putty or clay,
a piece of which he used to carry in the palm of his
hand. He kept a blacksmith in his pay, who
forged exact copies of the keys he wanted, and
with these it was his custom to open the shops of
his fellow-tradesmen during the night.?
In a house of Chessel?s Court there died, in I 854,
an aged maiden lady of a very ancient Scottish
stock-Elizabeth Wardlaw, daughter of Sir William
Wardlaw, Bart., of the line of BalmuIe and Pitreavie
in Fifeshire.
In the Playhouse Close, a cdde-mc, and its
neighbour the Old Playhouse Close, a narrow and
gloomy alley, we find the cradle of the legitimate
drama in Edinburgh.
In the former, in 1747, a theatre was opened, on
such a scale as was deemed fitting forthe Scottish
capital, where the drama had skulked in holes
and corners since the viceregal court had departed
from Holyrood, in the days of the Duke of Albany
and York. From 1727 till after 1753 itinerant
companies, despite the anathemas of the clergy,
used with some success the Tailors? Hall in the
Cowgate, which held, in professional phraseology,
from ;E40 to ;E45 nightly.? In the first-named year
a Mr. Tony Alston endeavoured to start a theatre,
in the same house which saw the failure of poor
Allan Ramsay?s attempt, but the Society of High
Constables endeavoured to suppress his ? abominable
stage plays;? and when the clergy joined
issue with the Court of Session against him, his
performances had to cease. But, accqding to
Wodrow, there had been some talk of building
another theatre as early as 1728.
In 1746 the foundation of the theatre within a
back area (near St. John?s-Cross), now called the
Playhouse Close, was laid by Mr. John Ryan, a
London actor of considerable repute in his day,
who had to contend with the usual opposition of the
ignorant or illiberal, and that lack of prudence and
thrift incidental to his profession generally. The
house was capable of holding A70 ; the box seats
were halfa-crown, the pit one-and-sixpence ; and
for several years it was the?kcene of good acting
under Lee, Digges, Mrs. Bellamy, and Mrs. Ward.
After the affair of 1745 the audiences were apt
to display a spirit of political dissension. On the
anniversary of the battle of Culloden, in I 749, some
English officers who were in the theatre commanded
the orchestra, in an insolent and unruly manner,
to strike up an obnoxious air known as CulZoden ;
but in a spirit of opposition, and to please the
people, the musicians played (? You?re welcome,
Charlie S h u t ? The military at once drew their
sworQs and attacked the defenceless musicians and
players, but were assailed by the audience with
tom-up benches and every missile that couid be
procured. The officers now attempted to storm
the galleries ; but the doors were secured. They
were then vigorously attacked in the rear by the
Highland chairmen with their poles, disarmed, and
most ignominiously drubbed and expelled ; but in
consequence of this and similar disturbances, bills
were put up notifying that no music would be
played but such as the management selected.
Another disturbance ensued soon after, occasioned
by the performance of Garrick?s farce, ?? High
I
