150 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Walk.
Roman, and which spans the bum where it flows
through a wooded and sylvan glen near Joppa.
The lower portions and substructure of this house
date probably from the Middle Ages ; but the present
edifice was built in 1639, by John, second
Lord Thirlstane (son of the Lord Chancellor just
referred to), who was father of the future Duke of
Lauderdale, and who died in 1645.
The older mansion in the time of the Reformation
belonged to a family named Crichton, and
the then laird was famous as a conspirator against
Cardinal Beaton. When, in 1545, George Wishart
courageously ventured to preach in Leith, among
his auditors were the Lairds of Brunstane, Longniddry,
and Ormiston, at whose houses he afterwards
took up his residence in turns, accompanied at
times by Knox, his devoted scholar, and the bearer
of his two-handed sword.
When Cardinal Beaton became especially obnoxious
to those Scottish barons who were in the
pay of Henry VIII., a schetne was formed to get
rid of him by assassination, and the Baron of Brunstane
entered into it warmly. In July 1545 he
opened a communication with Sir Ralph Sadler
? touching the killing of the Cardinal ; ? and the
Englishman-showing his opinion of the character
of his correspondent-coolly hinted at ?a reward
of the deed,? and ? the glory to God that would
accrue from it.? (Tytler.) In the same year
Crichton opened communications with several
persons in England with the hope of extracting
protection and reward from Henry for the
murder of the Cardinal j but as pay did not seem
forthcoming, he took no active hand in the final
catastrophe.
He was afterwards forfeited; but the Act was
withdrawn in a Parliament held by the Queen
Regent in 1556.
In 1585, John Crichton of Brunstane and James
Douglas of Drumlanrig became caution in LIO,OOO
for Robert Douglas, Provost of Lincluden, that if
released from the Castle of Edinburgh he would
return to reside there on a six days? warning.
In the ?Retours? for May 17th, 1608, we find
Jacobus Crichtoun hares, Joannis Crichtoun de
Brunstoun patris ; but from thenceforward to the
time of Lord Thirlstane there seems a hiatus in the
history of the old place.
We have examined the existing title-deeds of it,
which show that previous to 1682 the house and
lands were in possession of John, Duke of Lauderdale,
whose second duchess, Elizabeth Murray .
(daughter of William, Earl of Dysart, and widow of
Sir Lyonell Talmash, of Heyling, in the county of
Suffolk), obtained a charter of them, under the
Great Seal of Scotland, in the year mentioned, on
the 10th March.
They next came into possession of Lyonell, Earl
of Dysart, ? as only son and heir of the deceased
Elizabeth, Duchess of Lauderdale,? on the 19th of
March, I 703.
The said Earl sold ?the house of Gilberton,
commonly called Brunstane,? to Archibald, Duke of
Argyle, on the 31st May, 1736; and ten years
afterwards the latter sold Brunstane to James, third
Earl of Abercorn.
Part of the lands of Bruistane were sold by the
Duke on the 28th September, 1747, to Andrew
Fletcher of Saltoun, nephew of that stem patriot of
the same name who, after the Union, quitted Scotland,
saying that ?? she was only fit for the slaves
who sold her.?
Andrew Fletcher resided in the house of Brunstane.
He was Lord Justice Clerk, and succeeded
the famous Lord Fountainhall on the bench in
1724, and presided? as a judge till his death, at
Brunstane, 13th of December, 1766. His daughter,
?? Miss Betty Fletcher,? was married at Brunstane,
in 1758, to Captain Wedderburn of Gosford.
On the 15th of February, 1769, the old house
and the Fletchers? portion of the estate were acquired
by purchase by James, eighth Earl of Abercorn,
whose descendant and representative, the
first Duke of Abercom, sold Brunstane, in 1875, to
the Benhar Coal Company, by whom it is again
advertised for sale.
C H A P T E R XV.
LEITH WALK.
A Pathway in the 15th Century probable-General Leslie?s Trenches-Repulse of Cromwell-The Rood Chapel-Old Leith Stapes-Proposal
for Lighting the Walk-The Gallow Lea-Executions there-The Minister of Sport- Five Witches-Five Covenanters-The Story of their
Skulls-The Murder of Lady Baillie-Thc Etfigies of ?I Johnnie Wilkes.?
PRIOR to the building of the North Bridge the
Easter Road was the principal camage way to Leith
on the east, and the Bonnington Road, as we have
elsewhere stated, was the chief way to the seaport
on the west; but there would seem to have been
of old some kind of path, however narrow, in the
