316 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Doddingston.
hills around glistening in the sun, the ring of the
ice, the shouts of the careering youth, the rattle
of the curling-stones, and the shouts of the players,
once heard and seen, would never be forgotten.?
It was to Duddingston, in 1736, that the fugitive,
? Geordie Robertson,? the stabler at Bristo
Port, after effecting that escape from St. Giles?s
Church by the generous courage of Wilson, which
led to the catastrophe of the Porteous mob, and
after passing through the East Cross Causeway,
Not far from it, and nearly opposite the gate of
the Manor House, stood for ages a memorable
thorn, known as Queen Mary?s Tree. It was one
of the oldest in Scotland, and of great proportions,
being over nine feet in circumference. It formerly
stood within the park, but on widening the carriageway,
it remained outside, and many fissures being
found in its root, they were filled up with lime
and stone by order of the road trustees ; but too
late: a storm in 1840 tore it up by the roots. A
DUDDINGSTON LOCH.
took his breathless flight. When reaching the village,
he fainted from exhaustion, but after receiving
some refreshment-the first he had obtained for
three days-he procured a horse, rode away, and
was never heard of again.
Western Duddingston, at the north end of the
loch, was once a populous village, wherein some
forty looms were at work in the Loan, making
a coarse linen stuff, then known as Duddingston
hardings. It is surrounded by gardens and
plantations, and in it is still shown the house in
which Prince Charles slept, with his staff, on the
night before he marched to Prestonpans. It was
then thatched, but has now a tiled roof, and consists
of two storeys.
well-known and justly-reputed statist, who resided
in the neighbourhood, ascertained that the Duddingston
Thorn existed so far back as the reign
of Alexander I. (IIO~), when it was one of the
landmarks of the property on which it grew. It
is mentioned in the title-deeds of the Abercorn
estate, and hence the desire of the family to
preserve a precise knowledge of the spot where
it stood.
The barony of Duddingston, which comprehends
the greatest part of the whole parish, was long in
possession of a family named Thomson, created
baronets ot Nova Scotia, 1636, in the person of
Sir Thomas Thomson of Duddingston, by CharlesI.
Sir William Thomson-his son, probably-was a
Duddingston.] DUDDINGSTON HOUSE 317
Commissioner for the Plantation of Kirks and Valuation
of Benefices in 1672; but the title is now
extinct, and in 1674 the barony had become the
property of the atrocious Duke of Lauderdale,
from whom it passed with a daughter of his first
duchess, as pin money, to her husband, Archibald,
tenth earl, and first Duke of Argyle.
This lady was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Lionel
Talmash of Helingham, and her mother was the
daughter and heiress of William Murray, Earl of
mansion house upon it. It was completed in
1768, from designs furnished by the architect of
Somerset House, in the Strand, Sir William Chambers,
the son of Scottish parents, but born in
Stockholm in 1726. It cost ~30,000, and is an
elegant edifice .of a somewhat Grecian style, surrounded
by plantabons, canals, and gardens, but
in a situation too low for any extensive vien-.
Duddingston House was for years the favourite
residence of Francis, Earl of Moira, a veteran of
PRINCE CHARLIE?S HOUSE, DUDDINGSTON.
(From Uu Engraving in I& Roxburgh Edition of ?? Waverky,?? puhlirkrd b9 Mesm. A. & C. BZack.1
Dysart. The celebrated John and Archibald,
successively Dukes of Argyle, passed much of their
time here, and it is said received most of their
education from their mother, who resided constantly
in this, then, secluded village prior to 1734
In 1745 Duddingston was sold by Archibald,
Duke of Argyle, to James, Earl of Abercorn, whose
ducal descendants still hold it; but if was not
until 1751 that this beautiful and valuable estate
was subdivided, enclosed, and improved by
James, the eighth earl, who built commodious farmhouses,
planted hedgerows and coppice in places
where the land, prior to 1746, rented at only ten
shillings per acre !
In 1763, after the estate had been thoroughly
enclosed, the earl began to build the present
the American War, who, in 1803, was appointed
Commander-in-chief in Scotland, where he was
long deservedly popular with the people, and
where he married, in 1804, Flora Mina Campbell
(in herown right), Countess of Loudon, who was
the first, north of the Tweed, to introduce those
laconic invitation cards now so common, and the
concise style of which-? The Countess of Loudon
and Moira at Home?-so puzzled the Edinburgh
folk to whom they wete issued.
On the 14th of June, 1805, one of these ?At
Homes ? is thus noticed in a print of the day :- .
?On Friday evening the Countess of Loudon
and Moka gave a grand fSte at Duddingston
House, to receive three hundred of the nobility
and gentry in and about the city-among whom
