Burghmuir.] THE PEST. 29
sf old horse-shoes were dug up, where a farrier?s
forge is supposed to have stood; and another
relic of that great muster was removed only in
1876, a landmark known as King James?s knowe, a
small knoll, evidently artificial and partly built of
freestone, from which he is said to have reviewed
and addressed his army on the eve of its departure
for Flodden.
Close by, when digging the foundation of the
furth of the samyn, as they had done in tymes
past.?
In I 568, when a pest again appeared, the infected,
with all their furniture, were lodged in huts built
upon the muir, where they were visited by their
friends after 11 am.; ?any one going earlier was
liable to be punished with death.? Then their
clothes were cleansed in a huge caldron in the
open air, under the supervision of two citizens,
? Item : ?or cords to bind the man that wes (be)
heiddit for the slauchter of the sister of the Sennis
man.?
In the same year, under the Regency of Mary of
Guise, that part of the muir ?? besyde the sisters of
the Sciennes,? was appointed for the weapon-shaws
of the armed burghers, with ?? lang wappinnis, sic
as speiris, pikis, and culveringis ; ? and about the
same time, in the ?Retours,? we find that rising
citizen George Towers, heiring his father George
Towers, in the lands of Bnsto, and twenty acres
in ? Dalry and Tolcroce.?
In 1556, by order of the magistrates, a door
was made to the gallows on the Burghmuir, to
be the height of the enclosing wall, ?sua that
doggis sall nocht be abill to carry the carrionis
In April, 1601, John Watt, Deacon of the Trades
in Edinburgh-the same gallant official who raised
them in arms for the protection of James VI. in the
tumult of 15g6-was shot dead on the muir ; but
by whom the outrage was perpetrated was never
known.
One of the earliest notices we find of the name
by which the open part of the muir is now known
occurs in Balfour?s ?Annales,? when in 1644, the
Laird of Lawers? troop of horse is ordered by
Parliament to muster on ?Brountoune Links tomorrow,?
and the commissary to give them a
month?spay.
In this part many deep quarries were dug, from
which, no doubt, the old houses of Warrender
and other adjacent edifices were built, These
30 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Burghmuir.
hollows are still discernible, and in them thc
Scots Foot Guards were posted under Viscount
Kingston, to cover the approach to the city in
1666, when the Covenanters took post at Pentland,
prior to their defeat at Rullion Green.
In ~Ggo the money and corn rents of the muir
amounted to on1y;Gr 26 19s. 6d. sterling; andabou!
that time a considerable portion of Bruntsfield belonged
to a family named Fairlie.
In I 7 22 Colonel J. Chomly?s Regiment-the
26th or Cameronians-was encamped on the
Links, where a quarrel ensued between a Captain
Chiesley and a Lieutenant Moodie; and these
two meeting one day in the Canongate, attacked
each other sword in hand, and each, after a sharp
conflict, mortally wounded the other, ?Mr. Moodie?s
lady looking over the window all the while this
bloody tragedy was acting,? as the Caledonian
Mernrry of the 7th August records.
At the north-west corner of Bruntsfield Links
there stood, until the erection of Glengyle Terrace,
Valleyfield House, an ancient edifice, massively
built, and having a half-timber front towards the
old Toll-cross, which was long there. It had great
crowstepped gables and enormous square chimneys,
was three storeys in height, with small
windows, and was partly quadrangular. Traditionally
it was said to have been a temporary
residence of the Regent Moray during an illness ;
but, if so, it must at some time have been added
to, or changed proprietors, as on the door-lintel of
the high and conically-roofed octagon stair, on its
east side, were the date 1687, with the initials,
M. c. M. Its name is still retained in the adjacent
thoroughfare called Valleyfield Street.
A little way northward of its site is Leven
Lodge, a plain but massive old edifice, that once
contained a grand oak staircase and stately dining-
? hall, with windows facing the south; but now
almost hidden amid encircling houses of a humble
and sordid character. It was the country villa of
the Earls of Leven, and in 17 j8 was the residence
of George sixth Earl of Northesk, who married
Lady Anne Lesly, daughter of Alexander Earl of
Leven, and their only son, David Lord Rosehill
was born there in the year mentioned.
In 1811 it was the residence of Lady Penelope
Belhaven, youngest daughter of Ronald Macdonald
of Clanronald; she died in 1816, since when, no
doubt, its declension began. It was about that
time the property of Captain Swinton of Drum
dryan.
Immediately south of Valleyfield House, at the
delta formed by a conglomeration of old edifices,
known under the general name of the Wright?s
houses, and on the site of an old villa of the
Georgian era, that stood within a carriage entrance,
was built, in 1862-3, the Barclay Free Church at an
expense of ~ ~ o , o o o , and from the bequest of a lady
of that name. It is said to be in the second style
of Pointed architecture, but is correctly described
by Professor Blackie as being ? full of individual
beauties or prettinesses in detail, yet as a whole,
disorderly, inorganic, and monstrous.? By some it
is called Venetian Gothic. It has, however, a
stately tower and slender spire, that -rises to a
height of 250 feet, and is a landmark over a vast
extent of country, even from Inverkeithing in Fifeshire.
In its vicinity are Viewforth Free Church, built in
187 1-2 at a cost of A5,000, in a geometric Gothic
style, with a tower I 12 feet high ; and the Gilmore
Place United Presbyterian Church, the congregation
of which came hither from the Vennel, and
which, after a cost of A7,9oo for site and erection,
was opened for service in April, 188~.
No part of Edinburgh has a more agreeable
southern exposure than those large open spaces
round the hleadows (which we have described
elsewhere) and Bruntsfield Links, which contribute
both to their health and amenity.
The latter have long been famous as a playground
for the ancient and national game of golf,
and strangers who may be desirous of enjoying it,
are usually supplied with clubs and assistants at
the old Golf Tavern, that overlooks the breezy
and grassy scene of operations, which affords space
for the members of no less than six golf clubs,
viz :-the Burghers, instituted 1735 ; the Honourable
Company of Edinburgh, instituted prior to
1744; the Bruntsfield, instituted 1761 ; the Allied
Golfing Club, instituted 18 j6 ; the Warrender,
instituted 1858; and the St. Leonards, instituted
1857. Each of these is presided over by a captain,
and the usual playing costume is a scarlet coat, with
the facings and gilt buttons of the club.
To dwell at length on the famous game of golf
is perhaps apart from the nature of this work, and
yet, as these Links have been for ages the scene of
that old sport, a few notices of it may be acceptable.
It seems somewhat uncertain at what precise
period golf was introduced into Scotland ; but
some such game, called cambuca, was not unknown
in England during the reign of Edward
III., as we may learn from Strutt?s ?Sports and
Pastimes,?? but more probably he refers to that
known as Pall Mall. Football was prohibited
by Act of the Scottish Parliament in 1424, as interfering
with the more necessary science of
