282 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord PmYoss.
tion of five new professorships. A few years after
his death a bust of him by Nollekens was erected
in their public hall by the managers of the Royal
Infirmary.
In 1754 the Lord Provost, dean of guild, bailies,
and city treasurer, appeared in November, for the
first time, with gold chains and medals, in lieu of
the black velvet coats, which were laid aside by all
save the provost, and which had been first ordered
to be worn by an Act of the Council in I 7 I 8.
In 1753, on the 17th February, died Patrick
Lindsay, Esq., late Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and
Governor of the Isle of Man.
In 1768 the Lord Provost was James Stuart.
In the following year, during spring, the great Benjamin
Franklin and his son spent six weeks in Scotland,
and the University of St. Andrews conferred
upon him the honorary title of Doctor, by which he
has since been generally known. On his coming
to Edinburgh, Provost Stuart and the Corporation
bestowed upon him the freedom of the city, when
every house was thrown open to him, and the most
distinguished men of letters crowded round him.
Hume, Robertson, and Lord Kames, became his
intimate friends ; but Franklin was not unduly
elated, ?? On the whole,? he wrote, U I must say
the time I spent there (in Scotland) was six weeks
of the dearest happiness I have met with in any
part of my life.?
Stuart?s successor in ofice was John Dalrymple,
whose eldest son succeeded to the baronetcy of
Hailes (which is now extinct) on the death of Lord
Hailes, the distinguished judge and writer.
In the year 1774 there was considerable political
strife in the city, originating in the general parliamentary
election, when exertions were made to
wrest the representation from Sir Lawrence Dundas,
who unexpectedly found as opponents Loch of
Carnbie, and Captain James Francis Erskine of
Forrest. A charge of bribery being preferred against
Sir Lawrence, some delay occurred in the election,
and the then Lord Provost Stoddart came forward
as a candidate. The votes of the Council were-for
Sir Lawrence, twenty-three ; for Provost Stoddart,
six; and for Captain Erskine, three. One of the
Council, Gilbert Laurie (who had been provost in
1766) was absent. Messrs. Stoddart and Loch protested
that the election had been brought about by
undue influence.
The opposition to Sir Lawrence became still
greater, and a keen trial of strength took place when
the election of deacons and councillors came
in 1776, and many bitter letters appeared in the
public prints ; but the friends of the Dundas family
proved again triumphant, and united in the choice of
Alexander Kincaid, as Lord Provost, His Majesty?s
Printer for Scotland. He died in office in 1777,
in a house situated in the Cowgate, in a small court
westward of the Horse Wynd, and known as Kincaid?s
Land, and was succeeded by Provost Dalrymple.
Two years afterwards the city was assessed in
the sum of iC;1,500 to repay damage done by a mob
to the Roman Catholic place of worship, fo; the destruction
of furniture, ornaments, books, and altar
vessels. In this year, I 779, there were 188 hackney
sedan chairs in the city, but very few hackney
coaches; and the umbrella first appeared in the
streets. By 1783 there were 1,268 four-wheeled carriages
entered to pay duty, and 338 two-wheeled.
At Michaelmas, 1784, Sir James Hunter Blair,
Bart., was elected Lord Provost, in succession to
David Stuart, who resided in Queen Street, and
who was a younger son of Stuart of Dalguise. The
second son of Mr. John Hunter of Ayr, Sir James,
commenced life as an apprentice with Coutts and
Co., the Edinburgh bankers, in 1756, when Sir
William Forbes was then a clerk, and both became
ultimately the principal partners. He married the
eldest daughter of Blair of Dunskey, who left no
less than six sons at the time of this event, all of
whom died, and on her succession to the estates,
Sir James assumed the name and arms .of Blair.
As Lord Provost he was indefatigable in the
activity of his public spirit, and set afoot the great
operations for the improvement of Edinburgh, and
one object he had specially in view when founding
the South Bridge was the rebuilding of the
University.
Sir James lived only to see the commencement
of the great works he had projected in Edinburgh,
as he died of fever at Harrogate in July, 1787, and
was honoured with a public funeral in the Greyfriars?
churchyard. In private life he was affable
and cheerful, attached to his friends and anxious for
their success. In business and in his public exertions
he was upright, liberal, and, as a Scotsman,
patriotic; he possessed in no small degree those
talents which are requisite for rendering benevolence
effectual, uniting great knowledge of the
world with sagacity and sound understanding.
Sir James Stirling, Bart., elected Lord Provost,
after Elder of Forneth, had a stormy time when in
office. He was the son of a fishmonger at the
head of Marlin?s Wynd, where his sign was a
wooden Black BUZZ, now in the Antiquarian
Museum. Stirling, after being secretary to Sir
Charles Dalling, Governor of Jamaica, became a
partner in the bank of Mansfield, Ramsay, and Co.
in Cantore?s Close, Luckenbooths, and manied the
