64 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. ,The Dean.
Among the old houses here may be mentioned
a mill, or granary, immediately at the southeast
end of the bridge, which has sculptured over its
door, within a panel, two baker?s peels, crossed
with the date 1645, and the almost inevitable
legend--? BZeisit be God for CZZ His g@s.?
Another quaint-old crowstepped double house, with
A mill or mills must have stood here before a
stone of Holyrood was laid, as David I., in his
charter of foundation to that abbey, grants to the
monks ?one of my mills of Dene, a tithe of the mill
of Libertun and of Dene, and of the new mill of
Edinburgh,? A.D. I 143-7.
In 1592, ?the landis of Dene, wt the mylnes
and mure thereof, and their pertinents, lyand
within the Sherifdom of Edinburgh,? were given by
James VI. to James Lord Lindesay, of the Byres.
On the panel are carved a wheatsheaf between
two cherubs? heads, the bakers? arms within a wreath
of oak-leaves, and the motto, God?s Providence is
ovr Inheritance-1677.?
In 1729 a number of Dutch bleachers from
Haarlem commenced a bleach-field somewhere
near the Water of Leith, and soon exhibited to the
village were wont to incarcerate culprits. It is six
storeys in height, including the dormer windows, has
six crowstepped gables, two of which surmount the
square projecting staircases, in the westmost of
which is a handsomely moulded doorway, sur
mounted by a frieze, entablature, and coat of arms
within a square panel. On the frieze is the legend,.
in large Roman letters-
GOD . BLESS. THE . BAXTERS , OF . EDIN .
BRUGH . WHO . BUILT , THIS . HOUSE. 1675.
flights of outside stairs, has a gablet, surmounted
by a well-carved mullet, and the date 1670. It
stands on the west side of the steep path that
winds upward to the Dean, and has evidently been
the abodeof some well-to-do millers inthedaysof old.
On the steep slope, where 2 flight of steps? ascends
to the old Ferry Road, stands the ancient Tolbooth,
wherein the bailies of this once sequestered
gaze and to the imitation of Scotland, the printing
and stamping of all colours on linen fabrics.
Some thirty years after, we find the Cournnt for
December, 1761, announcing to the public ?? that
Isabel Brodie, spouse to William Rankin, in the
Water of Leith, about a mile from Edinburgh, cures
the Emerads? (i.e., Hemorrhoids) and various other
illnesses; forquacksseem tohave existed theqasnow.
