208 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith
One of the greatest events of its time in Leith
was the landing there of George IV., on the 15th
of August, 1822.
The king was on board the Royal George, which
was towed into the Roads by two steam-packets,
followed by the escorting frigates, which fired
salutes that were answered by the flagship and
Forte frigate; and a salute from the battery announced
that all had come to anchor. Among the
first to go off to the royal yacht was Sir Walter
Scott, to present the king with a famous silver star,
the gift of the ladies of Edinburgh. Sir Walter
on Scottish ground, save the exiled Charles of
France.
The cannon of the ships and battery pealed forth
their salutes, and the combined cheers of the
mighty multitude filled up the pauses. An immense
fleet of private boats followed the royal barge,
forming an aquatic procession such as Leith had
never seen before, and a band of pipers on the
pier struck up as it rounded the head of the latter.
As the king approached the landing stage three
distinct and well-timed cheers came from the
manned yards of the shipping, while the magis-
LEITH PIER, FROM THE WEST, 1775. (Afler Clerk ofEldif.1
remained in conversation with the king an hour, in
the exuberance of his loyalty pocketing as a relic a
glass from which His Majesty had drunk wine;
but soon after the author of ?r Waverley,? in forgetfulness,
sat down on it and crushed it in pieces.
Leith was crowded beyond all description on the
day of the landing ; every window was filled with
faces, if a view could be commanded ; the ships?
yards were manned, their rigging swarmed with
human figures; and the very roofs of the houses
were covered. Guarded by the Royal Archers and
Scots Greys, a floating platform was at the foot of
Bernard Street, covered with cloth and strewn with
flowers; and when a single gun from the royal
yacht announced that the king had stepped into his
barge, the acclamations of the enthusiastic people,
all unused to the presence of royalty, then seemed
to rend heaven.
Since the time of Charles 11. no king had been
trates, deacons, and trades, advanced, the latter
with all their standards lowered. So hearty and
prolonged were the glad shouts of the people that
even George 1V.-the most heartless king that
ever wore a crown-was visibly affected.
He was clad in the uniform of an admiral, and
was received by the magistrates of Leith and Edinburgh
and the usual high officials, civil and military
; but the Highland chief Glengarry, bursting
through the throng, exclaimed, bonnet in hand,
? Your Majesty is welcome to Scotland ! ??
The procession preceding the royal carriage now
set out, ?the Earl of Kinnoul, as Lord Lyon,
on a horse capnoling in front of a cloud of
heralds and cavaliers-his golden coronet, crimson
mantle flowing to the ground, his embroidered
boots, and golden spurs, would have been irresistible
in the eyes of a dame of the twelfth century.? Sir
Alexander Keith, as Knight-Marischal, with his
