The Water of Leith.] ST. BERNARD?S WELL. 75
To protect it, a stone covering of some kind was
proposed, and in that year the foundation thereof
was actually laid by ?? Alexander Drummond,
brother of Provost Drummond, lately British Consul
at Aleppo, and Provincial Grand Master of all
the Lodges in Asia and Europe holding of the
Grand Lodge, Scotland.? The brethren in their
insignia were present, the spring was named St.
Bernard?s Well, and the subject inspired the local
muse of Claudero.
A silly legend tells how St. Bernard, being sent
on a mission to the Scottish Court, was met with
so cold a reception that, in chagrin, he came to
this picturesque valley, and occupied a cave in
the vicinity of the well, to which his attention was
attracted by the number of birds that resorted to
it, and ere long he announced its virtues to the
people There is undoubtedly a cave, and of no
inconsiderable dimensions, in the cliffs to the westward,
and it is now entirely hidden by the boundarywall
at the back of Randolph Cliff; but, unfortunately
for the legend, in the Bollandists there are
at least three St Bernards, not one of whom ever
was on British soil.
The present well-a handsome Doric temple,
with a dome, designed by Nasmyth, after the Sybils?
Temple at Tivoli-was really founded by Lord
Gardenstone in May, 1789, after he had derived
great benefit from drinking the waters. ?The
foundation stone was laid,? says the Advertiser for
that year, ?? in presence of several gentlemen of the
neighbourhood.? A metal plate was sunk into it
with the following inscription ;-
?< Erected for the benefit of the Public, at the sole expense
of Francis Garden, Esq., of Troupe, one of the senators of
the College of Justice, A.D. 1789. Alexander Nasmyth,
Architect ; John Wilson, Buiider.?
A fine statue of Hygeia, by Coade of London,
was placed within the pillars of the temple. For
thirty years after its erection it was untouched by
the hand of mischief, but now it is so battered
by stones as to be a perfect wreck. Since the
days of Lord Gardenstone the well has always
been more or less frequented. A careful analysis
of the water by Dr. Stevenson Macadam, showed
that it resembled closely the Harrogate springs.
The morning is the best time for drinking it.
During some recent drainage operations the water
entirely disappeared, and it was thought the public
would lose the benefit of it for ever; but after a
time it returned, with its medicinal virtues stronger
than ever.
A plain little circular building was erected in
1810 over another spring that existed a little to
the westward of St. Bernard?s, by Mr. Macdonald
of Stockbridge, who named it St. George?s Well.
The water is said to be the sameas that of the
former, but if so, no use has been made of it for
many years past. From its vicinity to the well.
Upper Dean Terrace, when first built, was called
Mineral Street. In those days India Place was
called Athole Street; Leggat?s Land was Braid?s
Row; and Veitch?s Square (built by a reputable
old baker of that name) was called Virgin?s Square.
The removal of the greater part of the latter,
which consisted of four rows of cottages, thirty in
number, and all thatched with straw, alters one of
the most quaint localities in old Stockbridge. Each
consisted only of a ?but and a ben?-i.e., two
apartments-and in the centre was a spacious
bleaching green, past which flowed the Leith, in
those days pure and limpid. The cottages were
chiefly. if not wholly, occupied by blanchtsseuses,
and hence its name.
The great playground of the village children was
the open and flat piece of land in the Haugh, near
Inverleith, known as the Whins, covered now by
Hugh Miller Place and nine other streets of artisans?
houses.
In past times flour-mills and tan-pits were the
chief means of affording work for the people of
Stockbridge. About 1814 a china manufactory
was started on a small scale on the Dean Bank
grounds, near where Saxe-Coburg Place stands
now. It proved a failure, but some pieces of the
?Stockbridge china? are still preserved in the
Industrial Museum.
As population increased in this district new
churches were required. Claremont Street Chapel,
now called St. Bernard?s Church, was built for
those who were connected with the Establishment,
at a cost of ~4,000, and opened in November, 1823.
Its first incumbent was the Rev. James Henderson of
Berwick, afterwards of Free St. Enoch?s, Glasgow.
About the year 1826, persons connected with
the Relief Church built Dean Street Church in
the narrow street at the back of the great crescent,
and named it St. Bernards Chapel. It was after- ?
wards sold to the United Secession body. In the
year 1843, at the Disruption, the Rev. Alexander
Brown, of St. Bernard?s, with a great portion of his
congregation, withdrew from the Church of Scotland,
and formed Free St. Bernard?s; and, more recently,
additional accommodation has been provided for
those of that persuasion by the re-erection in its
own mass, at Deanhaugh Street, of St. George?s
Free Church, which was built in the Norman style
of architecture, for the Rev. Dr. Candlish, at St.
Cuthbert?s Lane.
Mrs. Gordon is correct in stating that Stockbridge
