BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 223
This municipal squabble was of come too good a subject for the genius of
Kay to overlook; accordingly we are presented, in the foregoing print, with a
group of the persons most zealous and interested in this bone of contention
The figure on the left represents MR. ORLANDO HART, who carried on
business as a shoemaker in the High Street, opposite the Old City Guard-
House, and was considered one of the most fortunate of the city politicians.
For a series of twenty or twenty-five years he was almost constantly a member
of the Town Council, or a Deacon, or a Trades Councillor,-having been first
elected Deacon of the Cordwainers in 1766, and thereafter Convener of the
Trades in 1771. He possessed a happy knack of suiting himself to circumstances,
and was.peculiarly sagacious in keeping steady by the leading men in
the magistracy j the consequence of which was, in addition to extensive patronage
in the way o€ his calling, the enjoyment of the pretty lucrative situation of
Keeper of the Town’s Water Works, etc. He was of course favourable to the
Lord Provost’s, plan of levelling the street.
The popularity of Mr. Hart among the jolly sons of St. Crispin appears to
have been of very early growth. In 1757 he was the victorious candidate for
the honour of monarchy, in the spectacle of King Crispin, in opposition to
Deacon Malcolm, whose party, determining not to be thrown into the shade,
crowned him king also ; so that, what was perhaps unprecedented’ in the annals
of Christendom, two rival kings and their subjects actually walked in the same
procession, without producing a single “ broken bane or bluidy head.”
Mr. Hart, though never famed among his friends for the depth of his understanding,
appears, nevertheless, to have had a pretty good opinion of himself.
On one occasion Mr. (afterwards Provost) Creech happened to put the question
to Daft Davie Erskine-“ Who is the wisest man in the city P ” He received
for reply, “Mr. Hart.” The next time Mr. Creech met the Deacon, he told
him the story j upon which the latter modestly replied, “ Davie is no sic a fool
as ye tak’ him for.”
The Deacon and Provost Dalrymple resembled each other extremely in personal
appearance ; so much so, that a gentleman meeting the Provost one day
challenged him’ for not sending home his boots. The Provost, comprehending
the mistake, which doubtless bad occurred on other occasions, good-humouredly
replied, “ I will attend to it to-morrow.”
Mr. Hart built the front, or centre house, on the north side of Charlotte
Square, which we have been informed, cost Sl0,OOO. He died on the 9th
September 179 1 ; and was followed to the grave, in seven days afterwards, by
his widow, His son, Macduff Hart, whom he had assumed as a partner, under
the firm of Orlando Hart and Son, continued to carry on the business, and
was elected Deacon of the craft in 1782. He was particularly celebrated for
his vocal powers.
’
No parallel can be found, excepting in the instance of the two kings of Brentford, whose exploits
are recorded in “The Rehearsal.”
