Kirk-of-Field.] BOTHWELL DENOUNCED. 7
of the Canongate to Bothwell?s lodging, near the
palace, at the gates of which they were again
challenged by the Archers of the Guard-a corps
which existed from 1562 to 1567-who asked ?if
they knew what noise that was they heard a short
time before.? They replied that they did not.
Rushing to his house, Bothwell called for something
to drink, and throwing off his clothes, went
to bed.
Tidings that the house had been blown up and
the king slain spread fast through the startled
city, and George Hackett, a servant of the palace,
communicated these to Bothwell, whom he found
in ?ane great effray pitch-black,? and excited.
Then with assumed coolness he inquired ?what
was the matter ? ? On being distinctly informed,
he began to shout ?Treason!? and on being
joined by the Earl of Huntley, he repaired at once
to the presence of the queen.
By dawn the whole area of the Kirk-of-Field
was crowded by citizens, who found that the three
servants who slept in the gallery were buried in the
ruins, out of which Nelson was dragged alive.
In Holyrood the queen kept her bed in a darkened
room, while a proclamation was issued, offering
the then tolerable sum of L2,ooo Scots to
any who would give information as to the perpetrators
of the crime. On the same day the body of
Darnley was brought to Holyrood Chapel, and
after being embalmed by Maistre Mastin Picauet,
? I ypothegar,? was interred on Saturday night, without
the presence of any of the nobles or officers
of state, except the Lord Justice Clerk Bellenden
and Sir James Traquair.
Bothwell was denounced as the murderer by a
paper fixed on the Tolbooth Gate. But though the
earl was ultimately brought to trial, no precisely
proper inquiry into the startling atrocity was made
by the officers of the Crown.
A bill fastened on the Tron Beam, declared
that the smith who furnished the false keys to the
king?s apartment would, on due security being
given, point out his employers ; and other placards,
on one of which were written the queen?s initials,
M.R., were posted elsewhere-manifestations of
public feeling that rendered Bothwell so furious
that he rode through the city at the head of a band
of his armed vassals, swearing that he ? would wash
his hands? in the blood of the authors, could he
but discover them ; and from that time forward he
watched all who approached him with a jealous
eye, and a hand on his dagger.
When that part of the city wall which immediately
adjoined the house of the Kirk-of-Field
was demolished in 1854, it was found to be five
feet thick, and contained among its rubble many
fragments of a Gothic church or other edifice, and
three cannon-balls, one of 24 pounds? weight, were
found in it.
In the records of the Privy Council in 1599, we
find an order for denouncing and putting to the
horn Robert Balfour, Provost of the Kirk-of-Field,
for having failed to appear before the Lords, and
answer ? to sic thingis as sauld have been inquirit
of him at his cuming.? The Provost, brother of
the notorious Sir James, had been outlawed or forfeited
in 157 I, as there rested upon both the charge
of having been chief agents in the murder or
Darnley.
He was ultimately remitted and pardoned, and
this was ratified by Parliament in 1584, when he
and his posterity were allowed to enjoy all their
possessions,?? providing alwayis that these presentis
be not extendit to repossess and restoir the said
Robert to bny ryt he has, or he may pretend, to ye
Provostrie of ye Kirk-of-Field, sumtym situat within
the libertie of ye burgh of Edinburgh.?
In this same year, 1584, the Town Council were
greatly excited by a serious affray that ensued at
the Kirk-of-Field Port, and to prevent the recurrence
of a similar disorder, ordained that on the
ringing of the alarm bell the inhabitants were all to
convene in their several quarters under their bailies,
? in armour and good order.? And subsequently,
to prevent broils by night-walkers, they ordered
I? that at 10 o?clock fifty strokes would be given on
the great bell, after which none should be upon the
streets, under a penalty of Azo Scots, and imprisonment
during the town?s pleasure.? (? Council
Records.?)
A fragment of ruin connected with the Kirk-of-
Field is shown as extant in 1647 in Gordon?s map,
near what is now the north-west corner of Drumrnond
Street, and close to the old University. A
group ot trees appear to the eastward, and a garden
to the iiorth.
(Tytler.)
8 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The University.
thereof-A few Notable Bequests-Income-The Library-The
OF the four Scottish Universities, the youngest
Museums.
? dormer windows, crowstepped gables, and turret
is Edinburgh, a perfectly Protestant foundation,
as the other three were established under the
Catholic ?-&vie; yet the merit of originating the
idea of academical institutions for the metropolis
is due to Robert Reid, who, in 1558, six years
before the date of Queen Mary?s charter, ?had
bequeathed to the town of Edinburgh the sum of
8,000 merks for the purpose of erecting a University
within the city.? .
In 1566 Queen Mary entered so warmly into the
views of the magistrates as actually to draw up a
charter and provide a competent endowment for
the future college. But the unsettled state of the
realm and the turbulence of the age marred the
fulfilment of her generous desire ; yet the charter
she had prepared, acted, says Bower, in his ?? His
tory,? so powerfully upon her son, James VI., that it
was inserted in the one which is now deemed the
foundation charter of the university, granted by the
king in 1582, with the privilege of erecting houses
for the professors and students. In recalling
the active benefactors of the university, we cannot
omit the names of the Rev. James Lawson, whose
exertions contributed so greatly to the institution
of the famous High School; and of Provost
William Little, and of Clement Little, Commissary of
Edinburgh, the latter of whom gave, in 1580, ?? to
the city and kirk of God,? the whole of his library,
consisting of 300 volumes-a great collection in
those days-it is supposed for the use of the proposed
college.
The teachers at first established by the foundation
were a Principal or Prilliarius, a Professor of
Divinity, four Regents or Masters of Philosophy,
and a Professor of Philology or Humanity.
On the site of the Kirk-of-Field a quaint group
of quadrangular buildings grew up gradually but
rapidly, forming the. old college, which Maitland
describes as having three courts, the southern of
which was occupied on two sides by the classrooms
and professors? houses, and on the others
by the College Hall, the houses of the principal
and resident graduates. A flight of steps led from
this to the western quadrangle, which was rich in
stairs. Here the students then resided. The
eastern quadrangle contained the Convocation
Hall and Library. The gateway was at the head
of the College Wynd, with a lofty bell-tower, and
the first five words of the a7~e in Gothic characters
cut upon its lintel, as it was the original portal to
the Kirk-of-Field.
When Scott completed his education here the
old halls, and solemn, yet in some senses mean,
quadrangles, were an unchanged, as in the days of
James VI. and the Charleses, and exhibited many
quaint legends carved in stone.
The old Library was certainly a large and handsome
room, wherein were shown a skull, said to be
that of George Buchanan ; the original Bohemian
protest against the Council of Constance for burning
John Huss and Jerome of Prague, dated 1417~
with 105 seals attached to it; the original marriage
contract of Queen Mary with the Dauphin ; many
coins, medals, and portraits, which were afterwards
preserved in the new university.
The old college buildings were begun in 1581 ;
and in 1583 the Town Council constituted Mr.
Robert Rollock, then a professor at St. Andrews, a
professor in this university, of which he became
afterwards Rector and Principal, and to which by
the power of his learning he allured many students.
The sum of 61 13s. 4d. was given him to defray
the expenses of his removal to Edinburgh, where he
began to teach on the 11th of October, when public
notice was given ? that students desirous of instruction
shall give up their names to a bailie, who
shall take order for their instruction.?
As there was then no other teacher but himself,
he was compelled to put all the students into one
class. ?? He soon felt, however, that this was impracticable,?
says Bower, ?so as to do justice to
the young men committed to his care. After having
made this experiment, he was obliged to separate
them into two classes. The progress which
they made was very different, and a considerable
number of them were exceedingly deficient in a
knowledge of the Latin language.?
On his recommendation a Mr. Duncan Nairn
