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
270 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
under distinguished patronage has in no way
altered.
In 1763, on the 28th February, a thirty-guinea
purse was run for by Cartouch, a chestnut horse,
belonging to Lord Aberdour, Colonel of the old
Scots 17th Light Dragoons, a bay colt, belonging to
Francis Charteris of Amisfield, and a mare, belonging
to Macdowal of Castlesemple. The colt won.
In the following month, His Majesty's plate of a
hundred guineas, was won, against several other
horses, by Dunce, a chestnut, belonging to Charteris
bf Amisfield.
On the 4th March, the city purse of thirty
guineas was won by a bay colt, belonging to the
latter, against two English horses.
'' List of horses booked for His Majesty's purse
of IOO guineas, to be run for over the sands of
Leith, 1st July, 1771 . . . 29th June, appeared
William Sowerby, servant to Major Lawrie, and
entered a bay horse called 'Young Mirza ;' rider,
said Wm. ; livery crimson; and produced certificate,
dated at Lowther Hall, signed by Edward Halls,
dated 24th May, 1770, bearing the said horse to
be no more than four years old last grass. . .. ,
Appeared the Right Hon. the Earl of Kellie, entered
' Lightfoot.' Appeaed Sir Archibald Hope,
Bart. (of Pinkie), entered ' Monkey.' " Mirza won
For the race advertised for a pool of A60 and
upwards, the Duke of Buccleuch, who signed the
articles, marked Ago, to be paid in money, not
plate. '' Cornpeared, Mr. James Rannie, merchant
in Leith, and entered a bay horse, ' Cockspur,' belonging
toHis Grace the Dukeof Buccleuch." Itwon.
The Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Eglinton
repeatedly entered horses (says Robertson) ;
and in I 7 7 7 the former gave the I 00 guineas won
to aid in the construction of the Observatory on
the Calton Hill.
In the ScatsMagazine for 1774 we find noted
the appearance at these races of the Count de
Fernanunez, " attended by the Chevalier Comanc,"
then on a tour through Scotland.
In 1816 the races were transferred to the Links
of Musselburgh permanently, for the sake of the
ground, which should be smooth turf; and though
attempts were made in 1839 and 1840 to revive
them again at Leith, they proved abortive.
the purse. '09-
CHAPTER XXXI.
LE I T H-T HE HA R B 0 U R
Thc Admiral and Bailie Courts-The Leith Science (Navigation) School-The Harbour of Leith-The Ekr-The Wooden Piers-Early Improve.
ments of the Harbour-Erection of Beacons-The Custom House Quay-The Bridges-Rennie's Report on the required Docks-The
Mortons' Building-yard-The F'resent Piers-The Martello Tower.
THOUGH the Right Hon. the Lord Provost of
Edinburgh is'Admira1 of the Firth of Forth, the
Provost of Leith is Admiral of the port thereof,
and his four bailies are admirals-depute. These,
With the clerk, two advocates as joint assessors,
and an officer, constitute the Admiral and Bailie
Courts of Leith.
There is also a society of solicitors before this
court, having a preses and secretary.
For the development of nautical. talent here,
there is the Leith Science (Navigation) School, in
Eonnection with the Department of Science and Art,
With local managers-the provost and others, ex
o#&, the senior bailie, master and assistant-master
of the Trinity House, chairman of the Chamber of
Commerce, etc.
The harbour of Leith is formed by the little
estuary of the river into the Firth of Forth, and is
entirely tidal, and was of old, with the exception
of being traversed by the shallow and unimportant
stream which takes its rise at the western base of
the Pentlands, quite dry at low water, and even I the channel towards the side streams of the Firth."
yet its depth is trifling. As the Water of Leith
has to make its way seaward, across the very broad
and flat shore called the Sands of Leith, alternately
flooded by the tide and left nearly dry, the
channel, in its natural state, was subject to much
fluctuation, according to the setting in of the tides.
A bar, too-such as is thrown up at the entrance
of almost every river mouth-lies across
its entrance, formed at that point where the antagonistic
currents of the river and tide bring
each other into stagnation or equipoise, and then
deposit whatever silt they contain. Thus, says a
writer, '' the river constantly, and to an important
amount, varies both the depth of the harbour and
the height of the position of the bar, according
to the fluctuations which occur in the volume of its
~ water or the rapidity of its discharge; for in a
season of drought it leaves everything open to the
invasion of sediments from the tide, at other times
it scours away lodgments made on its bed, drives
seaward and diminishes in bulk the bar, and deepens
