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
Lord Provost?.] THE DUNDAS RIOTS. 281
daughter of the head of the firm. When he took
ofice politics ran high, The much-needed reform
of the royal burghs had been keenly agitated
for some time previous, and a motion on the subject,
negatived in the House of Commons by a
majority of 26, incensed the Scottish public to a
great degree, while Lord Melville, Secretary of
State, by his opposition to the question, rendered
himself so obnoxious, that in many parts of Scotland
he was burned in effigy. In this state of excitement
Provost Stirling and others in authority at
Edinburgh looked forward to the King?s birthdaythe
4th of June, 1792-with considerable uneasiness,
and provoked mischief by inaugurating the festival by
sending strong patrols of cavalry through the streets
at a quick pace with swords drawn. Instead of
having the desired effect, the people became furious
at this display, and hissed and hooted the cavalry
with mocking cries of ?Johnnie Cope.? In the
afternoon, when the provost and magistrates were
assembled in the Parliament House to drink the
usual loyal toasts, a mob mustered in the square, and
amused themselves after a custom long peculiar to
Edinburgh on this day, of throwing dead cats at
each other, and at the City Guard who were under
arms to fire volleys after every toast.
Some cavalry officers incautiously appeared at this
time, and, on being insulted, brought up their men
to clear the streets, and, after considerable stonethrowing,
the mob dispersed. Next evening it
re-assembled before the house of Mr. Dundas in
George Square, with a figure of straw hung from a
pole. When about to burn the effigy they were
attacked by some of Mr. Dundas?s friends-among
others, it is said, by his neighbours, the naval hero
of Camperdown, and Sir Patrick Murray of
Ochtertyre. These gentlemen retired to Dundas?s
house, the windows of which were smashed by the
mob, which next attacked the residence of the
Lord Advocate, Dundas of Amiston. On this it
became necessary to bring down the 53rd Re$-
ment from the Castle ; the Riot Act was read, the
people were fired on, and many fell wounded, some
mortally, who were found dead next day in the
Meadows and elsewhere. This put an end to the
disturbances for that night ; but on Wednesday
evening the mob assembled in the New Town with
the intention of destroying the house of Provost
Stirling at the south-east corner of St. Andrew
Square, where they broke the City Guards? sentry
boxes to pieces. But, as an appointed signal, the
ancient beacon-fire, was set aflame in the Castle,
the Bind frigate sent ashore her marines at Leith,
and the cavalry came galloping ih from the eastward,
an which the mob separated finally.
By this time Provost Stirling had sought shelter
In the Castle from the mob, who were on the point
Jf throwing Dr. Alexander Wood (known as Lang
Sandy) over the North Bridge in mistake for him.
For his zeal, however, he was made a baronet of
Great Britain. The year 1795 was one of great
listress in the city ; Lord Cockbum tells us that
16,000 persons (about an eighth of the population)
were fed by charity, and the exact quantity of food
each family should consume was specified by public
proclamation. In 1793 a penny post was established
in Edinburgh, extending to Leith, Musselburgh,
Dalkeith, and Prestonpans. Sir James
Stirling latterly resided at the west end of Queen
Street, and died in February, 1805.
Sir William Fettes, Lord Provost in 1800 and
1804, we have elsewhere referred to ; but William
Coulter, a wealthy hosier in the High Street, who
succeeded to the civic chair in 1808, was chiefly remarkable
for dying in office, like Alexander Kina
i d thirty years before, and for the magnificence
with which his funeral obsequies were celebrated.
He died at Morningside Lodge, and the cortkge
was preceded by the First R E. Volunteers, and
the officers of the three Regiments of Edinburgh
local militia, and the body was in a canopied
hearse, drawn by six horses, each led by a groom in
deep mourning. On it lay the chain of office, and
his sword and sash as colonel of the volunteers.
A man of great stature, in a peculiar costume,
bore the banner of the City. When the body was
lowered into the grave, the senior herald broke and
threw therein the rod of office, while the volunteers,
drawn up in a line near the Greyfriars? Church,
fired three funeral volleys.
Sir John Marjoribanks, Bart., Lord Provost in
1813, was the son of Marjoribanks of Lees, an
eminent wine merchant in Bordeaux, and his
mother was the daughter of Archibald Stewart, Lord
Provost of the city in the memorable ?45. Sir John
was a partner in the banking-house of Mansfield,
Ranisay, and Co., and while in the civic chair was
the chief promoter of the Regent Bridge and Calton
Gaol, though the former had been projected by Sir
James Hunter Blair in 1784 When the freedom
of thedty was given to Lord Lynedoch, ?the gallant
Graham,? Sir John gave h k a magnificent dinner,
on the 12th of August, I815-two months after
Waterloo. There were present the Earl of Morton,
Lord Audley, Sir David Dundas, the Lord Chief
Baron, the Lord Chief Commissioner, Sir James
Douglas, Sir Howard Elphinstone, and about a
hundred of the most notable men in Edinburgh,
the freedom of which was presented to Lord
Lynedoch in a box of gold ; and at the conclusion
