Ldth.1 THE LEITH RACE WEEK. 269
afterwards James VII., during the time he was
Royal Commissioner at Holyrood. ?? They have
been rehearsed in verse by Robert Ferguson,? says
Robertson in 1851, ?? and still form a topic of converse
with the elder part of our citizens, as one of
the prominent features of the glorious days of
old.?
The earliest records of them have all been lost,
he adds. They took place on the east side of the
harbour, where now the great new docks are
formed. The Leith race week was a species of
carnival to the citizens of Edinburgh, and in
many instances caused a partial suspension of
must have seen it many times, ?? that long before
the procession could reach Leith the functionaries
had disappeared, and nothing was visible amid
the moving myriads but the purse on the top of
the pole.?
The scene at Leith races, as described by those
who have been present, was of a very striking
description. Vast lines of tents and booths, covered
with canvas or blankets, stretched along the level
shore ; recruiting-sergeants with their drummers
beating, sailors ashore for a holiday, mechanics
accompanied by their wives or sweethearts, servant
girls, and most motley groups, were constantly pass-
THE YARTELLO TOWER, FROM LEITH PIER.
work and business. They were under the direct
patronage of the magistrates of the city, and it
was usual for one of the town officers, in his
livery, to walk in procession every morning from
the Council Chambers to Leith, bearing aloft on a
pole or halberd, profusely decorated with ribbons
and streamers, the ?? City Purse,? accompanied by
a file of the City Guard, with their bayonets fixed
and in full uniform, accompanied by a drummer,
beating that peculiar cadence on his drum
which is believed to have been the old U Scottish
March.?
This procession gathered in strength and interest
as it moved along Leith Walk, as hundreds were
on the outlook for the appearance of this accredited
civic body, and who preferred ?gaun doon wi? the
Purse,? as the phrase was, to any other mode of
proceeding thither. Such a dense mass of boys
and girls finally surrounded the town officers, the
?drummer, and the old veterans,? wrote one wha
ing in and out of the drinking places ; the whole
varied by shows, roley-poleys, hobby-horses, wheelsof-
fortune, and many of those strange characters
which were once familiar in the streets of Edmburgh,
and of whom, ?Jamie, the Showman,? A
veteran of the Glengarry Fencibles, a native of the
Canongate, who figures in 66Hone?s Year Book,??
was perhaps the last.
Saturday, which was the last day of the races,
was the most joyous and outrageous of this seashore
carnival. On that day was the ?subscription?
for the horses beaten during the week, and these
unfortunate nags contended for the negative honour
of not being the worst on the course. Then, when
night closed in, there was invariably a general
brawl, a promiscuous free fight being maintained
by the returning crowds along the entire length of
Leith Walk.
A few quotations from entries will serve to show
that, in the progression of all things, racing
