124 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Links, he came regularly every Saturday and played at what are termed the
s h t holes; and to the last he continued to dine regularly with the Society at
their weekly and quarterly meetings.
Of Mr. Braidwood‘s good nature and social humour, the following instance
is told. At a convivial meeting of the Golfing Society at Bruntsfield Links on
one occasion, a Mr. Megget-one of the members, and a good golfer-took
offence at something Mr. Braidwood had said. Being highly incensed, he desired
the latter to follow him to the Links, and he “would do for him.” Without
at all disturbing himself, Mr. Braidwood pleasantly replied, ‘‘ Mr. Megget,
if you will be so good as go to the Links and wait till I come, I will be very
much obliged to you.” This produced a general burst of laughter, in which
his antagonist could not refrain from joining; and it had the effect of restoring
him to good humour for the remainder of the evening.
Mr. Braidwood was a member of the Xpendthw)? CZub, so called in ridicule of
the very moderate indulgence of its members j and he was one of the four B’s-
“ Bryce, Bisset, Baxter, and Braidwood”-who, after attending church during
the forenoon service, generally devoted the latter part of the day, if the weather
was fine, to a quiet stroll into the country.’ Several others joined the B s
in their “Sunday walks.” Mr. Smellie, and the late Mr. Adam Pearson,
Secretary of Excise, were frequently of the party. They usually met at the
Royal Exchange, immediately on the dismissal of the forenoon church ; and, as
suggested by Mr. Braidwood, their plan was always to walk in the direction
from whence the wind blew, as by that means they avoided the smoke of the
city both in going and returning.
Mr. Braidwood was a captain of the Edinburgh Volunteers, and entered with
great spirit into the military proceedings of the civic warriors, Not satisfied
with the prosperity he had experienced as a cabinet-maker, he latterly began to
speculate in the working’ of quarries ; and contracted for buildings not only in
Scotland but in England. In these, however, he fell so far short of the success
anticipated, as to occasion a considerable diminution of the wealth he had previously
acquired.
Mr. Braidwood’ married a Miss lfitchell, daughter of a brewer in Leith.
At his death, which occurred about the year 1827, he left two sons’ and two
daughters.
The brother e&?rs of Nome of the B’s were not a little dissatisfied at being so frequently left to
officiate singly at the church-doors in the afternoons.
His brother, Mr. William Braidwood, NBS long manager of the Caledonian Insurance Company,
and for upwards of forty years one of the pastors of the Baptist congregation, which then met in
the Pleasance. He died in 1830, universally esteemed by all who knew him as a man of great moral
worth, and exemplary in all the duties of life. He was the author of several valuable religious
publicationa, among which were Letters to Dr. Chalmers regarding his address to the inhabitants of
the parish of Kdmeny.
James, the eldest son, who, at the hazard of his life, distinguished himself so much during the
great fires in Edinburgh in 1824-and for which he was deservedly and widely applauded-was
chosen superintendent of the fire-engines in London ; where his conduct was such as to call forth
the merited eulogium of all who ever witnessed his daring and praiseworthy exertions for the preservation
of life and property. William, the youngest, settled in America, and the two daughters
in Edinburgh.
