BI 0 GRAPH1 CAL SKETCHES. 263
and again, in 1794-5, when he was also chosen Deacon Convener of the Trades.
He took much interest in city affairs ; and was distinguished as an active and
energetic member of the Town Council. Frequently in opposition, he was
conspicuously so when the ‘‘ levelling of the High Street ” was first proposed ;
in the Print of which, formerly given, he figures as a principal opponent.
Dr. Hay resided first in Strichen’s Close ; again at the head of Blair Street,
in the house next to Messrs. Smith and Co., purveyors of oils and lamps ; and
latterly in George Street, where he died on the 11th of April 1816. He
married Miss Jean Graham, sister of the late Lieut.-General Grahaql Deputy-
Governor of Stirling Castle, and left several children, John Hay, Esq., late
member of the Medical Board, Madras, being the eldest, and Dr. David Hay,
of Queen Street, the youngest.
A memoir of SIR JAMES STIRLING has already been given in the first
volume of this Work. From accurate information, we may here state that his
father, Alexander-son of Gilbert Stirling, Esq., and Margaret, daughter, of
Alexander Cumming, Esq., of Birness, cadet of the family of Altyre, Aberdeenshire-
was a merchant of much respectability in Edinburgh, having a shop in the
Luckenbooths, for the sale of cloth and other goods. His mother was a daughter
of James Moir, Esq., of Lochfield, in Perthshire, cadet of the family of
Moir of Leckie.
The honour of a baronetage was conferred on Sir James in 1792, as expressly
stated to him by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, as a
mark of his Majesty’s most gracious approbation of his conduct during the riots
in that year, when (according to the statement of his friends), so far from taking
refuge in the Castle from the fear of personal consequences, he remained there
at great inconvenience to himself, in order that the military should have a civil
magistrate ready to accompany them when called on, which he did on more
occasions than one.
The
other two sons, Jarnes and William, died in infancy.
Sir James left only one son, who succeeded him in the baronetcy.
In Stewart’s Mil&wy Sketches the following remarkable circumstance is related of General
Graham, then a Lieat.-Colonel, and on service in the West Indies :-“A ball had entered his side
three iuches from the back-bone, and, passing through, had come out under his breast ; another, or
perhaps the same ball, had shattered two of his fingers. No assistance could be got but that of a
soldier’s wife (of the 42d regiment), who had been long in the service, and was in the habit of attending
sick and wounded soldiers. She washed his wounds, and bound them up in such a manner, that
when a surgeon came and saw the way in which the operation had been performed, he said he could
not have done it better, and would not unbind the dressing. The Colonel soon afterwards opened
his eyes, and, though unable to speak for many hours, seemed sensible of what was passing around
him. In this state he lay nearly three weeks, when he WBS carried to Kingston, and thence conveyed
to England. He was still in a most exhausted state, the wound in his side discharging matter from
both orifices. He went to Edinburgh with little hopes of recovery, but on the evening of the illumination
for the battle of Camperdown, the smoke of 80 many candles and flambeaux affecting his
breathing, he coughed with great violence, and, in the exertion, threw np a piece of cloth, left, no
doubt, by the ball in ita passage through his body. From that day he recovered as by a charm.”-
Colonel Graham was at this time residing in Blaii Street with his brother-in-law, Dr. Hay.
264 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCLIX.
COLONEL MONRO,
A WELL KNOWN BLUE-GOWN BEGGAR.
THE name of “COLONELM ONRO,”a s applied to a half-crazed old man who
used to frequent the streets of Edinburgh, is familiar to many of the older
inhabitants, but almost nothing is known of his history. He obtained the
soubriquet of “ Colonel ” from having fought under the banners of Prince Charles
Edward ; and to the last he continued to profess his devotion to the house of
Stuart. In token of his sympathy for the fallen race, he always wore a white
cockade in his bonnet or hat. His Jacobitical predilections, however, did not
prevent him from participating in the bounty of the reigning dynasty ; hence
the lines of the artist-
(‘ Behold courageous Colonel Monro,
A Highland hero, turned a Blue-Gown beau.”
Of the Blue-Gowns, or Bedesmen, whose dress and appearance are represented
in the Print, Sir Walter Scott has given the following account in his notes
to the Antiquary :-
“ These Bedesmen are an order of paupers, to whom the Kings of Scotland were in the
custom of distributing a certain alms, in conformity with the ordinances of the Catholic Church,
and who were expected in return to pray for the royal welfare and that of the State. This order
is still kept up. Their number is equal to the number of years which his Majesty has lived ;
and one Blue-Gown is put on the roll for every returning royal birthday. On the same auapicious
era, each Bedesnian receives a new cloak, or gown, of coarse cloth, the colour light-blue,
with a pewter badge, which confers on them the general privilege of seeking alms through all
Scotland, all laws against sorning, masterful begging, and every other species of mendicity
being suspended in favour of this privileged class. With his cloak each receives a leathern purse,
containing as many shillings Scots (videlicet, pennies sterling) as the Sovereign is years old-the
zeal of their intercession for the King’s long life receiving, it is to be supposed, a great stimulus
from their own present and increasing interest in the object of their prayers. On the same occasion,
one of the Royal Chaplains preaches a sermon to the Bedesmen, who (as one of the Rev.
gentlemen expressed himself) are the most impatient and inattentive audience in the world.
Something of this may arise from a feeling, on the part of the Bedesmen, that they are paid for
their own devotions, not for listening to those of others. Or more probably it arises from impatience,
natural, though indecorous in men bearing so venerable a character, to arrive at the conclusion
of the ceremonial of the royal birthday, which as far as they are concerned, ends in &
lusty breakfast of bread and ale ;I the whole moral and religious exhibition terminating in the
advice of Johnson’s ‘ Hermit hoar ’ to his proselyte,-
‘ Come, my lad, and drink some beer.’ ”
The “ lusty breakfast ” latterly conaiated of a single halfpenny hup, and a very small modicum
of beer.
