The Cowpate.] TAM 0? THE COWGATE. 259
derived from Dickson by the stars, according to
Nisbet in his ?Heraldry.? A John Dickison of
Winkston, who was provost of Peebles, was assassinated
in the High Street of that town, on the
1st of July, 1572, and James Tweedie, burgess of
Peebles, and four other persons, were tried for the
crime and acquitted. This is supposed to be the
John Dickison who built the house, and had placed
upon it these remarkable devices as a bold proof of
his adherence to the ancient faith ? The hand.
some antique form of this house, the strange
armorial device of the original proprietor, the tradition
of the Catholic chapel, the singular figures
over ?the double dormer window, and Dickison?s
own tragic fate, in the midst of a frightful civil war,
when neither party gave quarter to the other, all
combine to throw a wild and extraordinary interest
over it, and make us greatly regret its removal.?
(? Ancient Arch. of Edin.?)
The peculiar pediment, as well as the sculptured
lintel of the front door, were removed to Coates?
House, and are. now built into different parts of the
northern Wing of that quaint and venerable ch2teau
in the New Town.
In the middle of the last century, and prior to
1829, a court of old buildings existed in the Cowgate,
on the ground now occupied by the southern
piers of George IV. Bridge, which were used as
the Excise Office, but, even in this form, were
somewhat degraded from their original character,
for there resided Thomas Hamilton of Priestfield,
Earl of Melrose in 1619, and first Earl of Haddington
in 1627, Secretary of State in 16~2, King?s
Advocate, and Lord President of the Court of
Session in 15 92.
He rented the house in question from Macgill of
Rankeillor, and from the popularity of his character
and the circumstance of his residence, he
was endowed by his royal master, King James,
whose chief favourite he was, with? the sobriquet of
Tarn d the Cowgate, under which title he is better
remembered than by his talents as a statesman or
his Earldom of Haddington.
He was famous for his penetration as a judge,
his industry as a collector of decisionsAswing
up a set of these from 1592 to i6q-and his
talent for creating a vast fortune. It is related of
him, in one of many anecdotes concerning him,
communicated by Sir Walter Scott to the industrious
author of the ?? Traditions of Edinburgh,?,
that, after a long day?s hard labour in the public
service, he was one evening seated with a friend
over a bottle of wine near a window of his house
in the Cowgate, for his ease attired in a robc de
chrnbre and slippers, when a sudden disturbance
was heard in the street. This turned out to be a
bicker, one of those street disturbances peculiar to
the boys of Edinburgh, till the formation of the
present police, and referred to in the Burgh Records
so far back as 1529, anent ?gret bikkyrringis
betwix bairns;? and again in 1535, when they
wefe to be repressed, under pain-of scourging and
banishment.
On this occasion the strife with sticks and stones
was between the youths of the High School and
those of the College, who, notwithstanding a bitter
resistance, were driving their antagonists before
them.
The old Earl, who in his yduth had been a High
School boy, and from his after education in Paris,
had no sympathy for the young collegians, rushed
into the street, rallied the fugitives, and took such
an active share in the combat that, finally, the High
School boys-gaining fresh courage upon discovering
that their leader was Tam 0? the Cowgate, the
great judge and statesman-turned the scale of
victory upon the enemy, despite superior age and
strength. The Earl, still clad in his robe and slippers,
assumed the command, exciting the lads to the
charge by word and action. Nor did the hubbub
cease till the students, unable by a flank movement
to escape up the Candlemaker Row, were driven
headlong through the Grassmarket, and out at the
West Port, the gate of which he locked, compelling
the vanquished to spend the night in the fields
beyond the walls. He then returned to finish his
flask?of wine. And a rare jest the whole episode
must have been for King James, when he heard of
it at St. James?s or Windsor.
When, in 1617, the latter revisited Scotland,. he
found his old friend very rich, and was informed
that it was a current belief that he had discovered
the Philosopher?s Stone. James was amused with
the idea of so valuable a talisman having fallen
into the hands of a Judge of the Cburt of Session,
and was not long in letting the latter know of the
story. The Earl immediately invited the king,
and all who were present, to dine with him, adding
that he would reveal to them the mystery of the
Philosopher?s Stone.
The next day saw his mansion in the Cowgate
thronged by the king and his Scottish and English
courtiers After dinner, James reminded him of
the Philosopheis Stone, and then the wily Earl
addressed all present in a short speech, concluding
with the information that his whole secret of success
and wealth, lay in two simple and familiar
maxims :-cc Never put off till tomorrow what can
be done today; nor ever trust to the hand of
another that which your own can execute.?
?
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