322 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. lcolinton.
the Belitice Puetaruni Scuiurum. He was a convert
to the Protestant religion, and the chief work of
his pen is his learned book on feudal law. It has
been well said that lie U kept himself apart from the
political intrigues of those distracting times, devoting
himself to his professional duties, and in his
hours of relaxation cultivating a taste for classical
literature.?
He was present at the entry of King James into
London, and at his coronation as King of England,
an event which he commemorated in a poem in
Latin hexameters. In 1604 he was one of the
commissioners appointed by the king to confer
with others on the part of England, concerning
a probable union between the two countries, a
favourite project with James, but somewhat Utopian
when broached at a time when men were living
who had fought on the field of Pinkie.
He wrote a treatise on the independent
sovereignty .of Scotland, which was published in
1675, long after his death, which occurred at Edinburgh
on the 26th of February, 1Go8. He married
Helen, daughter of Heriot of Trabrown, in East
Lothian, by whom he had seven children. His
eldest son, Sir Lewis Craig, born in 1569, became
a senator, as Lord Wrightislands
On the death of his lineal descendant in 1823,
Robert Craig of Riccarton (of whom mention was
made in our chapter on Princes Street in the
second volume of this work), James Gibson, W.S.
(afterwards Sir James Gibson-Craig of Riccarton
and Ingliston), assumed the name and arms of
Craig in virtue of a deed of entail made in 1818.
He was a descendant of the Gibsons of Durie, in
Fife.
His eldest son was the late well-known Sir
William Gibson-Craig, who was born and August,
1797, and, after receiving his education in Edinburgh,
was called as, an advocate to the Scottish
Bar in 1820. He was M.P. for Midlothian from
1837 to 1841, when he was returned for the city of
Edinburgh, which he continued to represent till
1852. He was a Lord of the Treasury from 1846
to 1852, and was appointed one of the Board
of Supervision for the Poor in Scotland. In 1854
he was appointed Lord Clerk Register of Her
Majesty?s Rolls and Registers in Scotland in 1862,
and Keeper of the Signet. He was a member of
the Privy Council in 1863, and died in 1878.
Riccarton House, a handsome modern villa of
considerable size, has now replaced the old
mansion of other times.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH (cmtinzted).
Colinton-Ancient Name and Church-Redhall-The Family of Foulis-Dreghorn-The Pentlands-View from Torphin-Corniston-Slateford
-Graysmill-Liherton-The Mill at Nether Libertan-Liberton Tower-The Church-The Balm Well of St. Kathrrine-Grace Mount-
The Wauchopes of Niddrie-Niddrie House-St. Katherine?s-The Kaimes-Mr. Clement Little-Lady Little of Liberton.
THE picturesque little parish village of Colinton,
about a mile and a quarter from Kingsknowe
Station, on the Caledonian Railway, is romantically
situated in a deep and wooded dell, through which
the Water of Leith winds on its way to the Firth
of Forth, and around it are many beautiful walks
and bits of sweet sylvan scenery. The lands here
are in the highest state of cultivation, enclosed by
ancient hedgerows tufted with green coppice, and
even on the acclivities of the Pentland range, at
the height of 700 feet above the sea, have been
rendered most profitably arable.
In the wooded vale the Water of Leith turns
the wheels of innumerable quaint old water-mills,
and through the lesser dells, the Murray, the Braid,
and the Burdiehouse Burns, enrich the parish with
their streams.
Of old the parish was called Hailes, from the
plural, it is said, of a Celtic word, which signifies a
mound or hillock. A gentleman?s residence near
the site of the old church still retains the name,
which is also bestowed upon a well-known quarry
and two other places in the parish. The new
Statistical Account states that the name of Hailes
was that of the principal family in the parish, which
was so called in compliment to them?; but this
seems barely probable.
The little church-which dates from only 1771-
and its surrounding churchyard, are finely situated
on a sloping eminence at the bottom of a dell,
round which the river winds slowly by.
The ancient church of Hailes, or Colinton, was
granted to Dunfermline Abbey by Ethelred, son of
Malcolm Canmore and of St. Margaret, a gift confirmed
by a royal charter of David I., and by a Bull
of Pope Gregory in 1234, according to the abovequoted
authority ; but the parish figures so little in
history that we hear nothing of it again till 1650,
