Leith.] HOME-COMING OF MONS MEG. 209
by the foot o the Calton Hill towards the Palace
of Holyrood.
As a souvenir of this event, on the first anniversary
of it a massive plate was inserted on the
Shore, in the exact spot on which the king first
placed his foot, and there it remains to this day,
with a suitable inscription commemorative of the
event.
In 1829, Mons Meg, which, among other ord
nance deemed unserviceable, had been transmitted
by the ignorance of an officer to London, and retained
there in the Tower, was, by the patriotic
efforts of Sir Walter Scott, sent home to Scotland.
This famous old cannon, deemed a kind of Palladium
by the Scots, after an absence of seventy-five
years, was landed from the Happy Janet, and after
lying for a time in the Naval Yard, till arrangements
were made, the gun was conveyed to the Castle by
a team of ten horses decked with laurels, preceded
by two led horses, mounted by boys clad in tartans
with broadswords. The escort was formed by a
123
grooms and esquires; Sir Patrick Walker, as
Usher of the White Rod; a long alternation of
cavalry and infantry, city dignitaries, and Highlanders,
followed.
At the end of the vista, preceded by ten royal
footmen, two and two, sixteen yeomen of the
Scottish Guard, escorted by the Royal Archers,
came the king, followed by the head-quarter staff,
three clans of Highlanders, two squadrons of Lothian
yeomanry, three of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, Scots
Greys, and the Grenadiers of the 77th regiment;
and after some delay in going through the ceremony
of receiving the city keys-which no monarch
had touched since the days of Charles I.-the
magnificent train moved through the living masses
Lochend to the latter on the east, tA-e middle of
Leith Walk on the south, and Wardie Bum on the
west.
Adam White was the first Provost of Leith after
the passing of the Burgh Reform Bill in 1833;
and it is now governed by a chief magistrate, four
bailies, ten councillors, a treasurer, town clerk, and
two joint assessors.
Powers have since then been conferred upon the
Provost of Leith as admiral, and the bailies as
admirals-depute. There are in the town four
principal corporations - the Shipmasters, the
Traffickers, the Malt-men, and the Trades. The
Traffickers, or Merchant Company, have lost their
charter, and are merely a benefit society, without
the power of compelling entries ; and the Ship
masters, ordinarily called the Trinity House, vi11
be noticed in connection with that institution.
The Trades Corporation is multifarious, and
independently of it there is a body called ? The
Convenery,? consisting of members delegated from
troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and detachments
of the Koyal Artillery and Highlanders. In the
evening the Celtic Society, all kilted, IOO strong,
dined together in honour of the event, Sir Walter
Scott in the chair; and on this occasion the old
saying was not forgotten, that Scotland would
never be Scotland till Mons Meg cam hame.?
The gun was then on the same ancient carriage
on which it had been taken away.
It was not until 1827 that the precise limits of
Leith as a town were defined, and a territory given
to it which, if filled, would almost enable it to vie
with the metropolis in extent, More extensive
boundaries were afterwards assigned, and these
are the Firth of Forth on the north, a line from
SIGNAL TOWER, LEITH PIER, 1775. (ABw Ckrk ofEUin.)
