420 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Knapp died at his house, Bedford Row, London, on the 24th of October
He had attended the London Session the
He was succeeded in the clerkship by his brother, Thomas
1816, after a few hours’ illness.
day previous.
George Knapp, Esq.
No. CCCXIV.
THREE SOCIAL FRIENDS.
MR. ROBERT KAY, MR. LOUIS CAUVIN,
AND
MR. DAVID SCOTT.
THE first of the three, to the left, is the late MR. KAY, architect, of whom
a short memoir is given in a previous page.
The centre figure is the late LOUIS CAUVIN,’ founder of the Hospital
which bears his name, near Duddingston. He was born in the parish of South
Leith, in that house (opposite the Jock’s Lodge toll-bar) which occupies the
angle formed by the Portobello and Restalrig roads. His parents were Louis
Cauvin and Margaret Edgar.’ It is not correctly ascertained in what year, or
on what account, the father was induced to leave his native country of France,
and settle in the metropolis of Scotland. According to some accounts, he was
forced to expatriate himself in consequence of the fatal issue of a duel in which
he was implicated. According to others, he was brought over to Edinburgh as
a witness in the ‘( Douglas Cause,” having served in the capacity of a footman
in the family of Lady Jane Douglas for a considerable time during her residence
in Paris. A portrait of him in his youth in a military garb is still preserved.
After a residence of a few years in Edinburgh, he betook himself for support
to giving lessons in his own language in public classes. Not many years subsequently
he became tenant of a small farm at Jock’s Lodge ; and, until within
a short time of his death, in 1778,s he carried on simultaneously the occupa-
Cauvin (or Chauvin, according to the French) is the same surname as that of the famous
reformer Johu Calvim, who is so called from the Latinised form of the name which he afExed to hie
WritingsJohannes Calwinw. * His mother was a relative of Admiral Edgar, and through her Mr. Cauvin wm nearly related
to the late Baron Bume.
Over his tomb in Restalrig burying-ground is the following inscription :-“ In memory of the
late Mr. Louis Cauvin, French Teacher in Edinburgh, who died September 22, 1778.”