Burghmuir.] GOLF ON BRUNTSFIELD LINKS. 31
Lord High Treasurer, under James IV., the following
entries are found :-
In virtue of a bet in 1798, Mr. Scales of Leith,
and Mr. Smellie, a printer, were selected to perform
..
King , . . . . . . . ixs.
1503, Feb. 22. Item, xij Golf Balls to the King iiijs.
1506. Item, the 28th day of Julii for ij Golf Clubbes to the
King . . . . . . . ijs.
During the reign of James VI. the business of
club making had become one of some importance,
and by a letter, dated Holyrood, 4th April, 1603,
William Mayne, Bowyer, burgess of Edinburgh, is
appointed maker of bows, arrows, spears, and clubs
to the king. From thenceforward the game took a
firm hold of the people as a national pastime, and
it seems to have been a favourite one with Henry,
Duke of Rothesay, and with the great Marquis of
Montrose, as the many entries in his ?? Household
Book ? prove. ?? Even kings themselves,? says a
writer in the Sots Magazine for 1792, ?did not
decline the princely sport; and it will not be
displeasing to the Society of Edinburgh Golfers to
be informed that the two last crowned heads that
ever visited this country (Charles I. .and James
VII.) used to practise golf on the Links of Leith,
now occupied by the society for the same purpose.?
In 1744 the city gave a silver club, valued at
LIS, to be played for on the 1st of April annually
by the Edinburgh Company of Golfers, the victor
to be styled captain for the time, and to append
a gold or silver -medal to the club, bearing his
name and date of victory. The Honourable Company
was incorporated by a charter froni the
magistrates in 1800, and could boast of the most
illustrious Scotsmen of the day among its members.
Until the year 1792 St. Andrews had a species of
monopoly in the manufacture of golf balls. They
are small and hard, and of old were always stuffed
with feathers. The clubs are from three to four
feet long. ?The heads are of brass,? says Dr.
Walker, in a letter to the famous Dr. Carlyle of
Inveresk ; ?? and the face with which the ball is
struck is perfectly smooth, having no inclination,
such as might have a tendency to raise the ball
from the ground. The game may be played by
any number, either in parties against each other,
or each person for himself, and the contest is to
hole the course in the fewest strokes.?
?Far!? or ?Fore!? is the signal cry before the ball
is struck, to warn loiterers or spectators; and
?Far and Surc !? is a common motto with golf clubs.
.
the Erle of Bothwile . . . . xlijs
Feb. 4- Item to Golf? Clubbes and Ballis to the
the church. They were allowed the use of six
balls each. These? all went considerably higher
than the vane, and were found in the Advocate?s
Close, on the north side of the High Street.
Duncan Forbes, the Lord President, was so fond
of golf that he was wont to play on the sands of
Leith when the Links were covered with snow.
Kay gives us a portrait of a famous old golfer,
Andrew McKellar, known as the ?Cock o? the
Green,? in the act of striking the ball. This enthusiast
spent entire days on Bruntsfield Links,
club in hand, and was often there by night too,
playing at the ?short holes? by lantern light
Andrew died about 1813.
Bruntsfield Links and those of Musselburgh are
the favourite places yet of the Edinburgh Club ;
but the St. Andrews meetings are so numerously
attended that the old city by the sea has been
denominated the MefropoZis of golfing.
In a miscellaneous collection, entitled ? Mistura
Curiosa,? a song in praise of golf has two verses
? I love the game of golf, my boys, though there are folks in
Who, when upon the Links they walk, delight to run it
But then those folks who don?t love golf, of coursc, can?t
The fond love that exists between the golfer and his friend.
?For on the green the new command, that ye love one
Is, as a rule, kept better by a golfer than a brother;
For if he?s struck, a brother?s rage is not so soon appeased,
But the harder that Zhit my friend, the better he is pleased.?
Until the Royal Park at Holyrood was opened
up, levelled, and improved, at the suggestion of the
late Prince Consort, Bruntsfield Links was the
invariable place for garrison reviews and field days
by the troops ; but >neither they nor any one else
can interfere with the vested rights of the golfers
to play over any part of the open ground at all
times.
On the summit of the green slope now crowned
by the hideous edifice known as Gillespie?s Hospital,
a picturesque mansion of very great antiquity,
quadrangular in form, striking in outline, with its
peel-tower, turrets, crowstepped gables and gablets,
thus :-
town
down ;
comprehend
another,
1 east corner of the Parliament Square over the
weathercock of St. Giles?s, 161 feet from the base of
encrusted with legends, dates, and coats of arms,
for ages formed one of the most important features
of the Burghmuir.
This was the mansion of Wrychtis-housis, belonging
to an old baronial family named Napier,
WRIGHT?S HOUSES AND THE BARCLAY CHURCH, FROM BRUNTSFIELD LINKS.
alliances by which the family succession of the
Napiers of the Wrychtis-housis had been continued
from early times.?
By the Chamberlain Rolls, William Napier of
the Wrychtis-housis was Constable of the Castle of
to which additions had been made as generations
succeeded each other, but the original part or
nucleus of which was a simple old Scottish tower
of considerable height. ? The general effect of this
antique pile,? says Wilson, ? was greatly enhanced
on approaching it, by the numerous heraldic
devices and inscriptions which adorned every
window, doorway, and ornamental pinnacle, the
whole wall being crowded with armorial bearings,
designed to perpetuate the memory of the noble
Edinburgh in 1390, in succession to John, Earl of
Carrick (eldest son of King Robert 11.); and it is
most probable that he was the same William
Napier who held that office in 1402, and who,
in the first years of the fifteenth century, with the
aid of Archibald, Earl of Douglas, and the hapless
Duke of Rothesay, maintained that important
fortress against Henry IV. and all the might of
England.
To the gallant resistance made on this occasioo,
