Wright?s Houes.] WRYCHTISHOUSIS. 3.1
the genealogist of the Napier family conceives,
with great probability, that the property was held
by the tenure of payment to the king of a silver
penny yearly upon the CasfZe aiZZ of Edinburgh.
The edifice to which we refer was undoubtedly
one of the oldest, and by far the most picturesque,
baronial dwelling in the neighbourhood of the city ;
and blending as it did the grim old feudal tower
of the twelfth or thirteenth century with more ornate
additions of the Scoto-French style of later years,
it must have formed-even in the tasteless age
that witnessed its destruction-a pleasing and
striking feature from every part of the landscape
broken, and the whole of them dispersed. Among
those we have examined,? says Wilson, ?there is
one now built into the doorway of Gillespie?s School,
having a tree cut on it, bearing for fruit the stars
and crescents of the family arms, and the inscription,
DOMINUS EST ILLUMINATIO MEA ; another, placed
over the hospital wall, has this legend below a
boldly cut heraldic device, CONSTANTIA ET LABORE,
1339. On two others, now at Woodhouselee, are
the following: BEATUS VIR QUI SPERAT IN DEO,
1450, and PATRIE ET POSTERIS, 1513, The only
remains of this singular mansion that have escaped
, the general wreck,? he adds, ?? are the sculptured
THE AVENUE, BRUNTSFIELD LlNKS.
around it, especially when viewed from Bruntsfield
Links against a sunset sky.
One of the dates upon it was 1339, four years
after the battle of the Burghmuir, wherein the
Flemings were routed under Guy of Narnur.
Above a window was the date 1376, with the
legend, SICUT OLIVA FRUCTIFERA. Another bore,
IN DOMINO CONFIDO, 1400. Singular to say, the
arms over the principal door were those of Britain
after the union of the crowns. Emblems of the
Virtues were profusely carved on different parts of
the building, and in one was a rude representation
of our first parents, with the distich-
?Quhen Adam delved, and Eve span,
Quhair war a? the gentles than ? ?
There were also heads of Julius jhsar and
Octavius Secundus, in fine preservation. ? Many
of these sculptures were recklessly defaced and
101
pediments and heraldic carvings buiit into the
boundary-walls of the hospital, and a few others,
which were secured by the late Lord Woodhouselee,
and now adorn a ruin on Mr. Tytler?s estate at the
Pentlands.?
Arnot mentions, without proof, that this house
was built for the residence of a mistress of Jams
IV.; but probably he had never examined the dates
upon it.
It is impossible to discover the origin of the name
now ; though Maitland?s idea, that it was derived
from certain wnghfs, or carpenters, dwelling there
while cutting down the oaks on the Burghmuir
is far-fetched indeed. One of the heraldic sculptures
indicated an alliance betxeen a Laird of Wrychtishouse
and a daughter of the neighbouring Lord of
Merchiston, in the year 1513.
In 1581, William Napier of the former place
became caution in LI,OOO for the appearance and
