Merchiston. ? THE WARLOCK NAPIER.? 37
men, and others felL Of the queen?s men, only one
lost his life by a shot from the battlements of
Merchiston.
When peace came the philosopher returned to
his ancestral tower, and resumed his studies with
great ardour, and its battlements became the
observatory of the astrologer. Napier was supposed
by the vulgar of his time to possess
mysterious supernatural powers, and the marvels
attributed to him, with the aid of a devilish familiar,
in the shape of a jet-black cock, are preserved
grain, he ihreatened to poind them, ?? Do so, if
you can catch them,? said his neighbour; and next
morning the fields were alive with reeling and
fluttering pigeons, which were easily captured, from
the effect of an intoxicating feed of saturated peas.
The place called the D:o Park, in front of Merchiston,
took its name from this event.
The warlock of the tower, as he was deemed,
seems to have entertained a perfect faith in the
possession of a power to discover hidden treasure.
Thus, there is still preserved among the Merchis-
GILLESPIE?S HOSPITAL, FROM THE EAST. (From an Engrauing Sy R. &oft in the ?Scots Mugazilrc,? 1805.)
among the traditions of the neighbourhood to the
present day. He impressed all his people that this
terrible chanticleer could detect their most secret
doings.
Having missed some valuables, he ordered his
servants one by one into a dark room of the tower,
where his favourite was confined, declaring that the
cock would crow when stroked by the hand of the
guilty, as each was required to do. The cock
remained silent during this ceremony ; but the
hands of oiie of the servants was found to be
entirely free from the soot with which the feathers
of the mysterious bird had been smeared.
The story of how he bewitched certain pigeons
is still remembered in the vicinity of Merchiston.
Having been annoyed by some that ate up his
ton papers a curious contract, dated July, 1594,
between him and Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig
-a Gowrie conspirator-which sets forth : ? Forasmuch
as there were old reports and appearances
that a sum of money was hid within Logan?s house
of Fast Castle, John Napier should do his utmost
diligence to work and seek out the same.? For
his reward he was to have the third of what was
found-by the use of a divining rod, we presume.
? This singular contract,? says Wilson, ?? acquires a
peculiar interest when we remember the reported
discovery of hidden treasure, with which the
preliminary steps of the Gowrie conspiracy were
effected.?
In 1608 we find the inventor of logarithms
appearing in a new light. In that year it was
