[The Cowgate. 262 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH.
Chapel, and quhat expensis he makis thaeron
sal be allowit to him in his accomptis.?
In one window, a Saint Bartholomew has
strangely escaped the destructive mobs of 1559 and
1688; but its tints are far inferior to the deep
crimson and gold of the royal arms. It is remarkable
that one other feature has also escaped destruction,
the tomb of Janet Rhynd, with the following
icscription in ancient Gothic characters :-
peir I Q ~ ant bonorabfl booman, 3anet P(pn8, pe
SS~ous of umqttbiI fliccI flakquben, Burgess
of c?DJ. founBer of pis place, am Betessit ge
iiii b q of Becemr., PO Bno Jl!lc.B?bii.
Impaled in one shield, the arms of the husband
and wife are in the centre of the sculptured stone,
which is now level with a platform at the east end
of the chapel for the accommodation of the officials
of the Corporation.
The hospital was founded in 1504--nine years
before Flodden ; but the charter by which its permanent
establishment is secured by Janet Rhynd, who
gave personally ;6z,ooo Scots, is supposed to have
been dated about 1545 in the reign of Mary, and
as one of the last deeds executed for a pious purpose,
is now remarkable in its tenor.
The chapel is decorated at $s east end with the
royal arms, those of the city, and of the twentytwo
corporations forming the ancient and honourable
Incorporation of Hammermen, ? the guardians
of the sacred banner, the Blue Blanket, on the unfurling
of which every liege burgher of the kingdom
is bound to answer the summons.?
On the walls are numerous tablets recording the
names and gifts of benefactors. The oldest of
these is supposed to be a daughter of the founders, ?? Isabel Macquhane, spouse to Gilbert Lauder,
merchant burgess of Edinburgh, who bigged ye
crosshouse, and mortified jE50 out of the Caussland,
anno 1555.? ?John Spens, burgess of
Edinburgh,? tells another tablet, ? bestowed IOO
lods of Wesland lime for building the stipel of this
chapell, anno I 6 2 I.?
Eleven years after the quaint steeple was built
a bell was hung in it, which bears round it, in large
Roman characters,-
SOLI DEO GLORIA MICHAEL BURGERHUVS ME FECIT.
ANNO 1632.
And underneath, in letters about half the size, is
the legend,
God bCis the Hammermen of MagdaZen Chapel.
The bell is still rung, though not for the objects
detailed in the will of Janet Rhynd, and in 1641
it was used to summon the congregation of the
Greyfriars, who paid for its use A40 Scots yearly.
When the distinguished Reformer John Craig
returned to Scotland at the Reformation-escaping
from Rome on the very day before he was to perish
in a great auto-da-fe-after an absence of twentyfour
years, he preached for some time in this chapel
in the Latin language, to a select congregation of
the learned, being unable from long disuse to hold
forth in the Scottish tongue. He was subsequently
appointed colleague to John Knox, and
is distinguished in history for having defied even
Bothwell, by refusing to publish the banns of his
marriage with Mary, and also for having written the
National Covenant of 1589.
The General Assembly of 1578 .met in the
Magdalene Chapel, and on the 30th of June, 1685,
the headless body of the Earl of Argyle-whose
skull was placed on the north gable of the Tolbooth
-was deposited here, prior to its conveyance to
Kilmun-the tomb of the Campbells-in Argyleshire.
Among the sculpture above the door of the chapel
there remains an excellent figure of an Edinburgh
hammerman of 1555 inthe costume of the period,
in doublet and trunk-breeches, with peaked beard
and moustache, with a hammer in his right hand.
The arms of the corporation are azure, a hammer
proper, ensigned with the imperial crown.
St. Eligius, Bishop and Confessor, was the
patron of the Edinburgh hammermen; but, as
the Scots always followed the French mode and
terms, he has always been known as St. Eloi,
whose altar in St. Giles?s Church was the property
of the corporation. It was the most eastern of the
chapels in that ancient fane. The keystone of
this chapel alone is preserved. It is a richlysculptured
boss formed of four dragons with distended
wings, each different in design. The
centre is formed by a large flower, in which is
inserted the iron hook, whereat hung the votive
lamp over the altar of St. Eloi, who is referred to in
all the historical documents of the corporation.*
According to the Bollandists, he had been a goldsmith
early in life, and became master of the Mint
to Clotaire II., on some of whose gold coins his
name appears. He died Bishop of Noyon about
659, and Kincaid in his history (1794) says that
in the Hammermen?s Hall a relic of him is shown,
?? called St. Eloi?s gown.? This was probably some
garment which had clothed a statue.
The chapel proper has latterly become the property
of the Protestant Institute of Scotland, whose
chambers are close by at I 7, George IV. Bridge.
It is impossible to quit this locality without some
An engraving of this keystone will be found on p 147,
Vol. I.
TU Cowpate.] THE HAMMERMEN. 263
reference to those trades which form the United
Incorporation of Hammermen, and to the old city
companies and trades in generaL
?6 The Hammerer?s Seill of Cause,? was issued
on the 2nd Nay, 1483, by Sir Patrick Baron of
Spittalfield, Knight, Provost ?of the City, Patrick
Balbirge of that ilk, David Crawford of St. Giles?s
Grange, and Archibald Todrig, being bailies ; and
under the general name are?included at that time,
blacksmiths, goldsmiths, lorimers, saddlers, cutlers,
buckler-makers, armourers, (( and all others
within the said burgh of Edinburgh.? Pewterers
were afterwards included, and a heckle-maker so
lately as 1609. By the rule of the corporation it
was statute and ordained, that ?? na hammerman,
maister, feitman, servand, nor utheris, tak vpon
hand fra this tyme furth, to exercise or use ony
mair craftis but alanerly ane, and to live thairupon,
sua that his brether craftismen be not hurt throu
his large exercitation and exceeding of boundis,?
Src. And all the privileges of the haminermen
were ratified by Act of Parliament so recently
as September, 1681, when shearsmiths appear as
members of the corporation. In those days all the
operations of industry were treated as secrets.
Each trade was a craft, and those who followed
it were called craftsmen ; and skilled artisans were
?? cunning men.? (Smiles.)
The Hammermen?s seal bears the effigyof St.
Eloi, in apostolical vestments, in a church porch
surmounted by five pinnacles, holding in one hand
a hammer, and in the other a key, with the legend,
(( Sig2lum commune artis tudiatorum.?
By the end of the 16th century the manufacture
of offensive weapons predominated over all other
trades in the city. The essay-piece ofa cutler, prior
to his admission to the corporation, was a wellfinished
?quhinzier,? or sword; and there were
gaird-makers, whose business consisted in fashioning
the hilts ; dalmascars, who gilded weapons and
armour. In 1582 sword blades were damascened
at Edinburgh ; but ?? Hew Vans, dalmascar, was
ordained not to buy blades to sell again,? his business
being confined to gilding steel. There were
also the belt-makers, who wrought military girdles ;
dag-makers, who made hackbutts (short guns),
and dags, or pistols ; but all these various trades
became associated in the general one of armourers
or gunsmiths, as the wearing of weapons
began to fall into desuetude, and other arts connected
with civilisation and luxury began to take
their places.
In 1586 a locksmith is first found in Edinburgh,
where he was the cnly one, and could only make
a ?? kist-lock.? Tirling-pins, wooden latches, and
transom bars, were the appurtenances of doors
before his time generally. But by 1609, ?as the
security of property increased,? says Chambers,
the essay was a kist-lock and a hing and bois
lock with ane double plate lock ;? and, in 1644,
?? a key and sprent band were added to the essay.?
In 1682 ?a cruik and cruik band? were further
added; and in 1728, for the safety of the liegeq
the locksmiths? essay was appointed to be ?? a cruik
and cruik-band, a pass-lock with a round filled
bridge, not cut or broke in the backside, with nobs
and jamb bound.? The trade of a shearsmith
appears first in 1595 in Edinburgh, and in 1613
Thomas Duncan, the first tinkler in the city was
admitted a hammerman. The trade of a pewterer
is found as far back as 1588; the first knockmaker
(or clockmaker) appears in 1647, but his
business was so limited that he added thereto
the making of locks. (? Traditions of Edin.?) In
1664 the first white iron smith was admitted a
hammerman, and the first harnessmaker, though
lorimers-manufacturers of the iron-work used in
saddlery-were members. since 1483. The first
maker of surgical instruments in Edinburgh was
Paul Martin, a French Protestant refugee, in 1691.
In 1720 the first pin-maker appears ; and in 1764
the first edge-tool maker, and the first manufacturer
of fish-hooks.
By the first charter of the hammermen all a p
plicants for admission were examined by the
deacons and masters of their respective arts, as to
their qualifications ; and any member found guilty
of a bre?ch of any one of the articles contained in
their charter, was fined eight shillings Scots towards
the support of the corporation?s altar of St. Eloi in
St Giles?s Church and the chaplain thereof. The
goldsmiths were separated from the hammermen in
1581 ; but since then many other crafts have joined
them, including gunsmiths, watchmakers, founders,
braziers, and coppersmiths.
The cordiners, or shoemakers, were first created
into a society by the magistrates on the 28th of
July, 1449 (according to Maitland), in terms of
which each master of the trade who kept a booth
within the town, paid one penny Scots, and the;.
servants one halfpenny, towards the support of
their altar of St. Crispin, in St. Giles?s Church. A
new seal of cause was granted to them in 1509, and
another in 1586, which enacted that their shops were
not to be open on Sundays after g AM., and that no
work was to be done on that day under pain of twenty
shillings fine. It also regulated the days of the
week on which leather boots and shoes could be sold
by strangers in booths. This charter was confirmed
on 6th March, 1598, by James VI., in considera
