378 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Duddingston.
were the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Errol, the
Earl of Dalhousie, the Earl of Roden, Lord Elcho,
Couqt Piper, Sir John Stuart, Sir William Forbes,
Admiral Purves, Sir James Hall, the Countesses of
Errol and Dalhousie, Lady Charlotte Campbell
(the famous beauty), Lady Elizabeth Rawdon,
M y Helen Hall, Lady Stuart, Lady Fettes, Admiral
Vashon (who conquered the Jygate pirates), and
a great number of naval and military gentlemen,
most of the judges, &c. The saloon was brilliantly
fitted up with festoons of flowers, and embellished
with a naval pillar, on which were the names ol
Howe, Duncan,?.% Yincent, and NeZsun. The
dancing commenced at ten dclock, and was continued
till two in the morning.?
In this year the earl also had a residence in
Queen Street (where Lady Charlotte Campbell also
resided in Argyle House), but whether it was there
or at Duddingston that his daughter, the celebrated
Lady Flora Hastings, was born, there are now nc
means of ascertaining, as no other record of he1
birth seems to remain but its simple announcemeni
in the Scots Magazine: ?At Edinburgh, 11th
March,. 1806, the Countess of Loudon and Moira
of a daughter.? The story of this amiable and
unfortunate lady, her poetical talent, and the inhumanity
with which she was treated at Court, are toc
well known to need more than mention here, On
his appointment as Govemor-General? of India,
in 1813, the earl, to the regret of all Scotland,
bade farewell to it, and, as the song has it, tc
?( Loudon?s bonnie woods and braes,? whither he
did not return till the summer of 1823 ; he was then
seventy-one years of age, but still erect and soldierly
in form, ?The marchioness is forty-six,? says the
editor of the Free Press on this occasion, :?and seem:
to have suffered little from the scorching climate.
She has all the lady in her appearance-modest,
dignified, kind, and affectionate. Lady Flora is a
young lady of most amiable disposition, miid and
attractive manners.? The earl died and was buried
at Malta ; but Lady Flora lies beside her mother in
the family vault at Loudon, where she was laid in
1839, in her thirty-third year. An edition of he1
poems, seventy in number, many of them full 01
touching pathos and sweetness, was published in
1842 by her sister, who says in her preface thal
the profits of the volume would be dedicated ?? tc
the service of God in the parish where her mother?s
family have so long resided . . . . to aid in
the erection of a school in the parish of Loudon, a
an evidence of her gratitude to Almighty God
and her good will to her fellow creatures.?
Prior to the purchase of Sandringham, the estate
of Duddingston, it is said, would have been pur.
chased by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, but for
some legal difficulties that were in the way.
At the south-east end of Duddingston Loan,
where the road turns off tqwards the Willow Brae
and Parson?s Green,. stands, at the point of the
eastern slope of Arthur?s Seat, Cauvin?s Hospital,
the founder of which, Louis Cauvin (Chauvin or
Calvin),was a teacher of French in Edinburgh, whose
parents were Louis Cauvin and Margaret Edgar.
? It is not correctly ascertained,? says Kay?s editor,
?? on what account the father was induced to leave
his native country and settle in the metropolis
of Scotland. According to some accounts, he was
forced to expatriate himself, in consequence of
the fatal issue of a duel in which he had been
implicated. According to others, he was brought
over to Edinburgh as a witness in the ?Douglas
Cause,? having seived in the capacity of a fcotman
in the family of Lady Jane Douglas for a
considerable time during her residence in Paris.
A portrait of him in his youth, in military garb, is
still preserved.?
After teaching for a time, he became tenant of a
small farm near the hamlet of Jock?s Lodge, where
he died in 1778, and was buried in Restalrig.
His son Louis, after being educated at the High
School and the Universities of Edinburgh and of
Paris, became a teacher of French in the former
city, where he retired from work in 1818 with a
handsome fortune, realised by his own exertions.
Imitating his father, for twenty years before relinquishing
his scholastic labours he rented a large
farm in Duddingston, now named the Woodlands,
and during his occupation of it he built, on the
opposite side of the Loan, then, as now, wooded
and bordered by hedges, the house of Louisfield,
which forms the central portion of his hospital. He
died in 1824, and was laid beside his father in
Restalrig.
By a codicil to his will, dated Duddingston
Farm, 28th April, 1823, he thus arranges for his
sepu1ture:-?My corpse isto bedeposited in Restalrig
churchyard, and watched for a proper time.
The door of the tomb must be taken off, and the
space built up strongly with ashlar stones. The tomb
must be shut forever,and never to be opened There
is a piece of marble on the tomb door, which I put
up in memory of my father ; all I wish is that there
may be put below it an inscription mentioning the
time of my death. I beg and expect that my
trustees will order all that is written above to be
put in execution.?
The hospital he founded resembles a large and
elegant villa, and was opened in 1833, for the
maintenance of twenty boys, sons of teachers and
