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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Traditions of Edinburgh - - -Author: Robert Chambers - - - -Release Date: February 4, 2020 [eBook #61314] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH*** - - -E-text prepared by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 61314-h.htm or 61314-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61314/61314-h/61314-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61314/61314-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/traditionsofedin00chamuoft - - - - - -TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: AN ELEGANT MODERN CITY. - -PAGE 8.] - - * * * * * - - -TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH - -by - -ROBERT CHAMBERS, LL.D. - -Illustrated by James Riddel, R.S.W. - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - -London: 38 Soho Square, W. -W. & R. Chambers, Limited -Edinburgh: 339 High Street -J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia -1912 - -Edinburgh: -Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited. - - - - -INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. - -1868. - - -I am about to do what very few could do without emotion—revise a -book which I wrote forty-five years ago. This little work came out in -the Augustan days of Edinburgh, when Jeffrey and Scott, Wilson and -the Ettrick Shepherd, Dugald Stewart and Alison, were daily giving -the productions of their minds to the public, and while yet Archibald -Constable acted as the unquestioned emperor of the publishing world. I -was then an insignificant person of the age of twenty; yet, destitute -as I was both of means and friends, I formed the hope of writing -something which would attract attention. The subject I proposed was -one lying readily at hand, the romantic things connected with Old -Edinburgh. If, I calculated, a first _part_ or _number_ could be -issued, materials for others might be expected to come in, for scores -of old inhabitants, even up perhaps to the very ‘oldest,’ would then -contribute their reminiscences. - -The plan met with success. Materials almost unbounded came to me, -chiefly from aged professional and mercantile gentlemen, who usually, -at my first introduction to them, started at my youthful appearance, -having formed the notion that none but an old person would have thought -of writing such a book. A friend gave me a letter to Mr Charles -Kirkpatrick Sharpe, who, I was told, knew the scandal of the time of -Charles II. as well as he did the merest gossip of the day, and had -much to say regarding the good society of a hundred years ago. - -Looking back from the year 1868, I feel that C. K. S. has himself -become, as it were, a tradition of Edinburgh. His thin effeminate -figure, his voice pitched _in alt_—his attire, as he took his daily -walks on Princes Street, a long blue frock-coat, black trousers, -rather wide below, and sweeping over white stockings and neat -shoes—something like a web of white cambric round his neck, and a -brown wig coming down to his eyebrows—had long established him as -what is called a character. He had recently edited a book containing -many stories of diablerie, and another in which the original narrative -of ultra-presbyterian church history had to bear a series of cavalier -notes of the most mocking character. He had a quaint biting wit, which -people bore as they would a scratch from a provoked cat. Essentially, -he was good-natured, and fond of merriment. He had considerable gifts -of drawing, and one caricature portrait by him, of Queen Elizabeth -dancing, ‘high and disposedly,’ before the Scotch ambassadors, is the -delight of everybody who has seen it. In jest upon his own peculiarity -of voice, he formed an address-card for himself consisting simply of -the following anagram: - -[Illustration] - -_quasi dicitur_ C sharp. He was intensely aristocratic, and cared -nothing for the interests of the great multitude. He complained that -one never heard of any gentlefolks committing crimes nowadays, as if -that were a disadvantage to them or the public. Any case of a Lady -Jane stabbing a perjured lover would have delighted him. While the -child of whim, Mr Sharpe was generally believed to possess respectable -talents by which, with a need for exerting them, he might have achieved -distinction. His ballad of the ‘Murder of Caerlaverock,’ in the -_Minstrelsy_, is a masterly production; and the concluding verses haunt -one like a beautiful strain of music: - - ‘To sweet Lincluden’s haly cells - Fu’ dowie I’ll repair; - There Peace wi’ gentle Patience dwells, - Nae deadly feuds are there. - In tears I’ll wither ilka charm, - Like draps o’ balefu’ yew; - And wail the beauty that cou’d harm - A knight sae brave and true.’ - -After what I had heard and read of Charles Sharpe, I called upon him at -his mother’s house, No. 93 Princes Street, in a somewhat excited frame -of mind. His servant conducted me to the first floor, and showed me -into what is generally called amongst us the back drawing-room, which -I found carpeted with green cloth, and full of old family portraits, -some on the walls, but many more on the floor. A small room leading -off this one behind, was the place where Mr Sharpe gave audience. Its -diminutive space was stuffed full of old curiosities, cases with family -bijouterie, &c. One petty object was strongly indicative of the man—a -calling-card of Lady Charlotte Campbell, the once adored beauty, stuck -into the frame of a picture. He must have kept it at that time about -thirty years. On appearing, Mr Sharpe received me very cordially, -telling me he had seen and been pleased with my first two numbers. -Indeed, he and Sir Walter Scott had talked together of writing a book -of the same kind in company, and calling it _Reekiana_, which plan, -however, being anticipated by me, the only thing that remained for him -was to cast any little matters of the kind he possessed into my care. I -expressed myself duly grateful, and took my leave. The consequence was -the appearance of notices regarding the eccentric Lady Anne Dick, the -beautiful Susanna, Countess of Eglintoune, the Lord Justice-clerk Alva, -and the Duchess of Queensberry (the ‘Kitty’ of Prior), before the close -of my first volume. Mr Sharpe’s contributions were all of them given -in brief notes, and had to be written out on an enlarged scale, with -what I thought a regard to literary effect as far as the telling was -concerned. - -By an introduction from Dr Chalmers, I visited a living lady who might -be considered as belonging to the generation at the beginning of the -reign of George III. Her husband, Alexander Murray, had, I believe, -been Lord North’s Solicitor-general for Scotland. She herself, born -before the Porteous Riot, and well remembering the Forty-five, was -now within a very brief space of the age of a hundred. Although she -had not married in her earlier years, her children, Mr Murray of -Henderland and others, were all elderly people. I found the venerable -lady seated at a window in her drawing-room in George Street, with her -daughter, Miss Murray, taking the care of her which her extreme age -required, and with some help from this lady, we had a conversation of -about an hour. She spoke with due reverence of her mother’s brother, -the Lord Chief-justice Mansfield, and when I adverted to the long -pamphlet against him written by Mr Andrew Stuart at the conclusion -of the Douglas Cause, she said that, to her knowledge, he had never -read it, such being his practice in respect of all attacks made upon -him, lest they should disturb his equanimity in judgment. As the old -lady was on intimate terms with Boswell, and had seen Johnson on his -visit to Edinburgh—as she was the sister-in-law of Allan Ramsay the -painter, and had lived in the most cultivated society of Scotland -all her long life—there were ample materials for conversation with -her; but her small strength made this shorter and slower than I could -have wished. When we came upon the _poet_ Ramsay, she seemed to have -caught new vigour from the subject: she spoke with animation of the -child-parties she had attended in his house on the Castle-hill during a -course of ten years before his death—an event which happened in 1757. -He was ‘charming,’ she said; he entered so heartily into the plays of -children. He, in particular, gained their hearts by making houses for -their dolls. How pleasant it was to learn that our great pastoral poet -was a man who, in his private capacity, loved to sweeten the daily life -of his fellow-creatures, and particularly of the young! At a warning -from Miss Murray, I had to tear myself away from this delightful and -never-to-be-forgotten interview. - -I had, one or two years before, when not out of my teens, attracted -some attention from Sir Walter Scott by writing for him and presenting -(through Mr Constable) a transcript of the songs of the _Lady of the -Lake_, in a style of peculiar calligraphy, which I practised for want -of any better way of attracting the notice of people superior to -myself. When George IV. some months afterwards came to Edinburgh, good -Sir Walter remembered me, and procured for me the business of writing -the address of the Royal Society of Edinburgh to His Majesty, for -which I was handsomely paid. Several other learned bodies followed the -example, for Sir Walter Scott was the arbiter of everything during that -frantic time, and thus I was substantially benefited by his means. - -According to what Mr Constable told me, the great man liked me, in -part because he understood I was from Tweedside. On seeing the earlier -numbers of the _Traditions_, he expressed astonishment as to ‘where -the boy got all the information.’ But I did not see or hear from him -till the first volume had been completed. He then called upon me one -day, along with Mr Lockhart. I was overwhelmed with the honour, for Sir -Walter Scott was almost an object of worship to me. I literally could -not utter a word. While I stood silent, I heard him tell his companion -that Charles Sharpe was a writer in the _Traditions_, and taking up the -volume, he read aloud what he called one of his _quaint bits_. ‘The -ninth Earl of Eglintoune was one of those patriarchal peers who live to -an advanced age—indefatigable in the frequency of their marriages and -the number of their children—who linger on and on, with an unfailing -succession of young countesses, and die at last leaving a progeny -interspersed throughout the whole of Douglas’s _Peerage_, two volumes, -folio, re-edited by Wood.’ And then both gentlemen went on laughing for -perhaps two minutes, with interjections: ‘How like Charlie!’—‘What a -strange being he is!’—‘_Two volumes, folio, re-edited by Wood_—ha, -ha, ha! There you have him past all doubt;’ and so on. I was too much -abashed to tell Sir Walter that it was only an impudent little bit -of writing of my own, part of the solution into which I had diffused -the actual notes of Sharpe. But, having occasion to write next day to -Mr Lockhart, I mentioned Sir Walter’s mistake, and he was soon after -good enough to inform me that he had set his friend right as to the -authorship, and they had had a _second_ hearty laugh on the subject. - -A very few days after this visit, Sir Walter sent me, along with a kind -letter, a packet of manuscript, consisting of sixteen folio pages, in -his usual close handwriting, and containing all the reminiscences he -could at the time summon up of old persons and things in Edinburgh. -Such a treasure to me! And such a gift from the greatest literary man -of the age to the humblest! Is there a literary man of the present -age who would scribble as much for any humble aspirant? Nor was this -the only act of liberality of Scott to me. When I was preparing a -subsequent work, _The Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, he sent me whole -sheets of his recollections, with appropriate explanations. For years -thereafter he allowed me to join him in his walks home from the -Parliament House, in the course of which he freely poured into my -greedy ears anything he knew regarding the subjects of my studies. His -kindness and good-humour on these occasions were untiring. I have since -found, from his journal, that I had met him on certain days when his -heart was overladen with woe. Yet his welcome to me was the same. After -1826, however, I saw him much less frequently than before, for I knew -he grudged every moment not spent in thinking and working on the fatal -tasks he had assigned to himself for the redemption of his debts. - -All through the preparation of this book, I was indebted a good deal -to a gentleman who was neither a literary man nor an artist himself, -but hovered round the outskirts of both professions, and might be -considered as a useful adjunct to both. Every votary of pen or pencil -amongst us knew David Bridges at his drapery establishment in the -Lawnmarket, and many had been indebted to his obliging disposition. A -quick, dark-eyed little man, with lips full of sensibility and a tongue -unloving of rest, such a man in a degree as one can suppose Garrick to -have been, he held a sort of court every day, where wits and painters -jostled with people wanting coats, jerkins, and spotted handkerchiefs. -The place was small, and had no saloon behind; so, whenever David -had got some ‘bit’ to show you, he dragged you down a dark stair to -a packing-place, lighted only by a grate from the street, and there, -amidst plaster-casts numberless, would fix you with his glittering eye, -till he had convinced you of the fine handling, the ‘buttery touches’ -(a great phrase with him), the admirable ‘scummling’ (another), and -so forth. It was in the days prior to the Royal Scottish Academy and -its exhibitions; and it was left in a great measure to David Bridges -to bring forward aspirants in art. Did such a person long for notice, -he had only to give David one of his best ‘bits,’ and in a short -time he would find himself chattered into fame in that profound, the -grate of which I never can pass without recalling something of the -buttery touches of those old days. The Blackwood wits, who laughed at -everything, fixed upon our friend the title of ‘Director-general of the -Fine Arts,’ which was, however, too much of a truth to be a jest. To -this extraordinary being I had been introduced somehow, and, entering -heartily into my views, he brought me information, brought me friends, -read and criticised my proofs, and would, I dare say, have written -the book itself if I had so desired. It is impossible to think of him -without a smile, but at the same time a certain melancholy, for his -life was one which, I fear, proved a poor one for himself. - -Before the _Traditions_ were finished, I had become favourably -acquainted with many gentlemen of letters and others, who were pleased -to think that Old Edinburgh had been chronicled. Wilson gave me a -laudatory sentence in the _Noctes Ambrosianæ_. The Bard of Ettrick, -viewing my boyish years, always spoke of and to me as an unaccountable -sort of person, but never could be induced to believe otherwise than -that I had written all my traditions from my own head. I had also -the pleasure of enjoying some intercourse with the venerable Henry -Mackenzie, who had been born in 1745, but always seemed to feel as if -the _Man of Feeling_ had been written only one instead of sixty years -ago, and as if there was nothing particular in antique occurrences. -The whole affair was pretty much of a triumph at the time. Now, when I -am giving it a final revision, I reflect with touched feelings, that -all the brilliant men of the time when it was written are, without an -exception, passed away, while, for myself, I am forced to claim the -benefit of Horace’s humanity: - - ‘Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, ne - Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat.’ - - - - -INTRODUCTION TO PRESENT ISSUE. - - -It has been very shrewdly remarked by a famous essayist and critic -that a book is none the worse for having survived a generation or -two. Robert Chambers’s _Traditions of Edinburgh_ has survived many -generations since its first appearance in 1825, and I have before me -a copy of this edition in the original six parts, published at two -shillings each, the first of which aroused in Sir Walter Scott so much -interest. The work when completed appears to have passed through many -reprints, but retained its original form until it was remodelled and -almost rewritten in 1846, much new matter being then added, and certain -passages altogether omitted. Shortly before his death the author again -revised the work, adding a new introduction, in which he reviewed the -changes of the preceding forty years. This was in 1868, and since that -time old Edinburgh has almost ceased to exist. Many an ancient wynd -and close has disappeared, or remains simply as a right of way, on -all sides surrounded by modern buildings. The City Improvements Act, -obtained by Dr William Chambers when Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1865 -and again in 1868, swept away hundreds of old buildings; and to it is -due the disappearance of Leith Wynd, St Mary’s Wynd, Blackfriars Wynd, -the Ancient Scottish Mint in the Cowgate, and other landmarks more or -less familiar to our grandfathers. These changes are confined not alone -to the old town of Edinburgh, but extend to other districts which at -the beginning of the nineteenth century were comparatively modern and -fashionable. Brown Square and the buildings adjoining it known as ‘the -Society’ have passed away, being intersected by the modern Chambers -Street. Adam Square, adjoining the College, has been absorbed in South -Bridge Street; Park Street and Park Place, where was once a fashionable -boarding-school for young ladies, have disappeared to make room for -the M’Ewan Hall and other University buildings. - -If it is true that the old town of Edinburgh has been modernised out of -existence, the remark applies equally to its immediate suburbs. Indeed -the all-round changes of the last forty years can fitly be compared -to like changes which within the same period have taken place in the -city of Rome. Until within very recent times Edinburgh bore some slight -resemblance to the Rome of the Popes, with its stately villas and great -extent of walled-in garden ground. Much of this aristocratic old-world -aspect has passed away, and one can but lament the disappearance of -many an eighteenth-century house and grounds, interesting in not a few -cases as the former residence of a citizen whose memory extended back -to the Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott and the famous men who were his -contemporaries and friends. - -Falcon Hall on the south side of the town, with its great gardens and -walled-in parks, has disappeared. So also has the interesting villa -of Abbey Hill, occupied until very recent times by the Dowager Lady -Menzies. The Clock Mill House adjoining Holyrood Palace and the Duke’s -Walk, and surrounded by ancient trees, has gone, as have likewise the -many fine old residences with pleasant gardens which adjoined the two -main roads between Edinburgh and Leith. All have passed away, giving -place to rows of semi-detached villas and endless lines of streets -erected for the housing of an ever-increasing population. - -One of the few surviving examples of the old Scotch baronial mansion -is Coates House, standing within the grounds of St Mary’s Episcopal -Cathedral at the west end of the city. This house was occupied by -Robert Chambers for several years prior to his removal to St Andrews -in 1840. It has since been modernised, and is now used for various -purposes in connection with the Cathedral. - -Although Robert Chambers died so long ago as 1871, no adequate story of -his life has since been attempted. This is a matter for regret in view -of some comparatively recent discoveries, particularly those relating -to the history of the authorship of that famous work, _Vestiges of the -Natural History of Creation_, made public for the first time in 1884. -Of that work, written between the years 1841-44, in the solitude of -Abbey Park, St Andrews, a recent writer has said: ‘This book was almost -as great a source of wonder in its time as the _Letters of Junius_, or -_Waverley_ itself. The learning and common-sense of the book, its rare -temperateness and common-sense, commanded immediate attention. It was -the wonder of the world at that period, nor was the authorship ever -acknowledged, I believe.’ The mystery is now solved; but be it said -that in the opinion of many Robert Chambers is more interesting as an -antiquary than a scientist. It is in the former capacity that his name -will be handed down to posterity as author of the standard work on the -tradition and antiquities of the Scottish capital. The outstanding -feature of the present issue of the _Traditions_ is the series of -original drawings which have been provided by Mr James Riddel, R.S.W., -and it is hoped they will enable the reader more readily to realise -the city’s old world charm, so sympathetically described by Robert -Chambers. While a few notes have been added to this edition, it has not -been deemed advisable to alter the text, and therefore that fact must -be borne in mind where dates and lapses of time are mentioned. - - C. E. S. CHAMBERS. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - -THE CHANGES OF THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS 1 - -THE CASTLE-HILL 11 - - Hugo Arnot—Allan Ramsay—House of the Gordon Family—Sir David - Baird—Dr Webster—House of Mary de Guise. - -THE WEST BOW 26 - - The Bowhead—Weigh-house—Anderson’s Pills—Oratories—Colonel - Gardiner—‘Bowhead Saints’—‘The Seizers’—Story of a Jacobite - Canary—Major Weir—Tulzies—The Tinklarian Doctor—Old - Assembly Room—Paul Romieu—‘He that Tholes Overcomes’—Provost - Stewart—Donaldsons the Booksellers—Bowfoot—The Templars’ - Lands—The Gallows Stone. - -JAMES’S COURT 55 - - David Hume—James Boswell—Lord Fountainhall. - -STORY OF THE COUNTESS OF STAIR 63 - -THE OLD BANK CLOSE 70 - - The Regent Morton—The Old Bank—Sir Thomas Hope—Chiesly of - Dalry—Rich Merchants of the Sixteenth Century—Sir William - Dick—The Birth of Lord Brougham. - -THE OLD TOLBOOTH 82 - -SOME MEMORIES OF THE LUCKENBOOTHS 95 - - Lord Coalstoun and his Wig—Commendator Bothwell’s House—Lady - Anne Bothwell—Mahogany Lands and Fore-stairs—The - Krames—Creech’s Shop. - -SOME MEMORANDA OF THE OLD KIRK OF ST GILES 105 - -THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE 109 - - Ancient Churchyard—Booths attached to the High - Church—Goldsmiths—George Heriot—The Deid-Chack. - -MEMORIALS OF THE NOR’ LOCH 117 - -THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE 119 - - Old Arrangements of the House—Justice in Bygone Times—_Court - of Session Garland_—Parliament House Worthies. - -CONVIVIALIA 138 - -TAVERNS OF OLD TIMES 158 - -THE CROSS—CADDIES 174 - -THE TOWN-GUARD 179 - -EDINBURGH MOBS 183 - - The Blue Blanket—Mobs of the Seventeenth Century—Bowed Joseph. - -BICKERS 189 - -SUSANNA, COUNTESS OF EGLINTOUNE 192 - -FEMALE DRESSES OF LAST CENTURY 199 - -THE LORD JUSTICE-CLERK ALVA 204 - - Ladies Sutherland and Glenorchy—The Pin or Risp. - -MARLIN’S AND NIDDRY’S WYNDS 209 - - Tradition of Marlin the Pavier—House of Provost Edward—Story - of Lady Grange. - -ABBOT OF MELROSE’S LODGING 223 - - Sir George Mackenzie—Lady Anne Dick. - -BLACKFRIARS WYND 228 - - Palace of Archbishop Bethune—Boarding-Schools of the Last - Century—The Last of the Lorimers—Lady Lovat. - -THE COWGATE 240 - - House of Gavin Douglas the Poet—Skirmish of Cleanse-the-Causeway - —College Wynd—Birthplace of Sir Walter Scott—The Horse - Wynd—Tam o’ the Cowgate—Magdalen Chapel. - -ST CECILIA’S HALL 249 - -THE MURDER OF DARNLEY 256 - -MINT CLOSE 260 - - The Mint—Robert Cullen—Lord Chancellor Loughborough. - -MISS NICKY MURRAY 265 - -THE BISHOP’S LAND 269 - -JOHN KNOX’S MANSE 271 - -HYNDFORD’S CLOSE 275 - -HOUSE OF THE MARQUISES OF TWEEDDALE—THE BEGBIE TRAGEDY 279 - -THE LADIES OF TRAQUAIR 286 - -GREYFRIARS CHURCHYARD 288 - - Signing of the Covenant—Henderson’s Monument—Bothwell Bridge - Prisoners—A Romance. - -STORY OF MRS MACFARLANE 291 - -THE CANONGATE 295 - - Distinguished Inhabitants in Former Times—Story of a - Burning—Morocco’s Land—New Street. - -ST JOHN STREET 302 - - Lord Monboddo’s Suppers—The Sister of Smollett—Anecdote of - Henry Dundas. - -MORAY HOUSE 306 - -THE SPEAKING HOUSE 312 - -PANMURE HOUSE—ADAM SMITH 318 - -JOHN PATERSON THE GOLFER 320 - -LOTHIAN HUT 323 - -HENRY PRENTICE AND POTATOES 325 - -THE DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH AND MONMOUTH 327 - -CLAUDERO 330 - -QUEENSBERRY HOUSE 336 - -TENNIS COURT 344 - - Early Theatricals—The Canongate Theatre—Digges and Mrs - Bellamy—A Theatrical Riot. - -MARIONVILLE—STORY OF CAPTAIN MACRAE 351 - -ALISON SQUARE 358 - -LEITH WALK 360 - -GABRIEL’S ROAD 366 - -INDEX 369 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - PAGE - -An Elegant Modern City _Frontispiece_ - -Map of Edinburgh, Old and New xxvi - -A series of towers rising from a palace on the plain - to a castle in the air _Colour Drawing_ 1 - -White Hart Inn, Grassmarket ” ” 2 - -Newhaven Fishwife ” ” 4 - -Rouping-Wife ” ” 9 - -The Castle-Hill ” ” 11 - -Duke of Gordon’s House ” ” 18 - -The Bowhead ” ” 27 - -Grassmarket, from west end of Cowgate ” ” 50 - -Edinburgh, from the Calton Hill ” ” 83 - -St Giles, West Window ” ” 105 - -Heriot’s Hospital, from Greyfriars Churchyard ” ” 113 - -A Suggestion of the North Loch and St Cuthbert’s, - from Allan Ramsay’s Garden ” ” 117 - -The Parliament House ” ” 128 - -‘Auld Reekie,’ from Largo ” ” 152 - -Upper Baxter’s Close, where Burns first resided - in Edinburgh ” ” 164 - -White Horse Inn ” ” 170 - -Forenoon at the Cross ” ” 174 - -The Town-Guard ” ” 179 - -The Castle, from Princes Street ” ” 214 - -Blackfriars Wynd ” ” 228 - -The Cowgate ” ” 240 - -Old Houses, College Wynd (near here Sir Walter - Scott was born) ” ” 242 - -John Knox’s Manse ” ” 274 - -Greyfriars Churchyard ” ” 288 - -St John’s Close, Entrance to Canongate Kilwinning - Mason Lodge ” ” 305 - - * * * * * - -The objects of interest between the Castle and Holyrood are grouped -topographically in the following list, with references to the Map. - - CASTLE. -Blair’s or Baird’s Close 1| Castlehill Walk or A| Allan Ramsay’s House a -Brown’s Close 3| Esplanade | Blyth’s Close 2 -Webster’s Close 5| CASTLEHILL B| Nairn’s Close 4 -Site of the Duke of b| Weigh-House d| Tod’s Close 6 - Gordon’s House | | Site of Mary of c - | Guise’s House - -West Bow CC| LAWNMARKET D| Mylne’s Court 8 -Angle of Bow Z| Tolbooth e| James’s Court 10 -Riddel’s Close 7| Luckenbooths f| Lady Stair’s Close 12 -Brodie’s Close 9| St Giles’ | Upper Baxter’s 14 -Old Bank Close 11| {Haddo’s Hole Church g| Close -Liberton’s Wynd 13| {Tolbooth Church h| Wardrop’s Court 16 - | {Old Church | Paterson’s Court 18 - | {New Church | - -Hope’s Close 15| HIGH STREET EE| Dunbar’s Close 20 -Beith’s or Bess Wynd 17| Cross x| Byres’s Close 22 -Parliament Close 19| Guard House i| Writers’ Court 24 -Parliament House k| Tron Church j| Royal Exchange 26 -Back Stairs 21| | Mary King’s Close 28 -Fishmarket Close 23| | Post-Office Close 30 -Assembly Close 25| | Anchor Close 32 -Bell’s Wynd 27| | Lyon Close 34 -Peebles Wynd 29| | Jackson’s Close 36 -Marlin’s Wynd 31| | Fleshmarket Close 38 -Niddry’s Wynd 33| | Fleshmarket m -Site of St Cecilia’s Hall l| | Greenmarket n -Dickson’s Close 35| | Halkerston’s Wynd 40 -Cant’s Close 37| | Carrubber’s Close 42 -Strichen’s Close 39| | Bailie Fife’s Close 44 -Blackfriars Wynd 41| | Chalmers’ Close 46 -Todrick’s Wynd 43| | John Knox’s Manse p -Mint Close 45| | -The Old Mint o| | -Hyndford’s Close 47| | -Tweeddale Court 49| Nether Bow Port. F| - -St Mary’s Wynd 51| | Leith Wynd 48 -Chessels’s Court 53| | Morocco’s Land 50 -Weir’s Close 55| | New Street 52 -Old Playhouse Close 57| | Jack’s Land 54 -St John’s Close 59| | Tolbooth Wynd 56 -St John’s Street 61| CANONGATE. | Canongate Church 58 -Moray House 63| | Canongate Churchyard q -Speaking House 65| | Panmure House 60 -Acheson House 67| | Golfers’ Land 62 -Queensberry House 69| | White Horse Inn 64 - | | Water Gate r - - - - -EDINBURGH OLD AND NEW. - - -In the map the streets and buildings printed in black represent the -historic Old Town; those in red indicate not merely the ‘New Town’ to -the north, specifically so called, but some part of the alterations, -additions, and extensions round the ancient nucleus that have gone to -constitute the Edinburgh of the present day. - -[Illustration: Map] - - -KEY TO THE STREETS AND BUILDINGS NOT NAMED ON MAP. - -Acheson House 67 -Allan Ramsay’s House a -Anchor Close 32 -Angle of Bow Z -Assembly Close 25 -Back Stairs 21 -Bailie Fife’s Close 44 -Bank of Scotland red F -Beith’s or Bess Wynd 17 -Bell’s Wynd 27 -Blackfriars Wynd 41 -Blair’s or Baird’s Close 1 -Blyth’s Close 2 -Bristo N -Bristo Port O -Brodie’s Close 9 -Brown’s Close 3 -Byres’s Close 22 -Calton Burying-Ground t -Candlemaker Row T -Canongate Church 58 -Canongate Churchyard q -Cant’s Close 37 -Carrubber’s Close 42 -Castlehill B -Castlehill Walk or Esplanade A -Castle Wynd 74 -Chalmers’ Close 46 -Chessels’s Court 53 -College Wynd 71 -Council Chambers red G -County Buildings red I -Court of Session red K -Cowgate J J -Cowgate Port L -Cross x -Dickson’s Close 35 -Dunbar’s Close 20 -Established Church Assembly Hall red h -Fishmarket Close 23 -Fleshmarket m -Fleshmarket Close 88 -Free Library red L -General Post-Office red E -Golfers’ Land 62 -Gordon’s (Duke of) House b -Greenmarket n -Guard House i -Halkerston’s Wynd 40 -Heriot’s Hospital V -Heriot-Watt College red n n -High School Wynd 72 -High Street E E -Holyrood G -Hope’s Close 15 -Horse Wynd 70 -Hyndford’s Close 47 -Jack’s Land 54 -Jackson’s Close 36 -James’s Court 10 -John Knox’s Manse p -Lady Stair’s Close 12 -Lauriston M M -Lawnmarket D -Leith Wynd 48 -Liberton’s Wynd 13 -Luckenbooths f -Lyon Close 34 -Magdalen Chapel 66 -Marlin’s Wynd 31 -Mary King’s Close 28 -Mary of Guise’s House, Site of c -Mint Close 45 -Mint, The Old o -Moray House 63 -Morocco’s Land 50 -Mutrie’s Hill u -Mylne’s Court 8 -Nairn’s Close 4 -Nether Bow Port F -New Street 52 -Niddry’s Wynd 33 -Old Bank Close 11 -Old Playhouse Close 57 -Panmure House 60 -Parliament Close 19 -Parliament House k -Paterson’s Court 18 -Peebles Wynd 29 -Pleasance R -Portsburgh H -Post-Office Close 80 -Potterrow P -Potterrow Port Q -Queensberry House 69 -Register House red A -Riddel’s Close 7 -Royal Exchange 26 -Royal Infirmary K -Royal Scottish Academy Galleries red B -St Cecilia’s Hall, Site of l -St Giles’— - Haddo’s Hole Church g - Tolbooth Church h -St John’s Close 59 -St John’s Street 61 -St Mary’s Wynd 51 -Scottish National Gallery red C -Scott’s (Sir Walter) Monument red D -Sheriff Court House red M -Speaking House 65 -S.S.C. Library red J -Strichen’s Close 39 -Surgeons’ Hall red o -Tailors’ Hall 68 -Todrick’s Wynd 43 -Tod’s Close 6 -Tolbooth e -Tolbooth Wynd 56 -Trinity College Church S -Tron Church j -Tweeddale Court 49 -Upper Baxter’s Close 14 -Wardrop’s Court 16 -Water Gate r -Webster’s Close 5 -Weigh-House d -Weir’s Close 55 -West Bow C C -West Port I -White Hart Inn 73 -White Horse Inn 64 -Writers’ Court 24 - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: A series of towers rising from a palace on the plain to -a castle in the air. - -PAGE 1.] - - * * * * * - - - - -TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH. - - - - -THE CHANGES OF THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. - -[1745-1845.] - - -[Illustration: Fortified Gate, -Nether Bow Port, from Canongate.] - -Edinburgh was, at the beginning of George III.’s reign, a picturesque, -odorous, inconvenient, old-fashioned town, of about seventy thousand -inhabitants. It had no court, no factories, no commerce; but there -was a nest of lawyers in it, attending upon the Court of Session; and -a considerable number of the Scotch gentry—one of whom then passed -as rich with a thousand a year—gave it the benefit of their presence -during the winter. Thus the town had lived for some ages, during -which political discontent and division had kept the country poor. A -stranger approaching the city, seeing it piled ‘close and massy, deep -and high’—a series of towers, rising from a palace on the plain to -a castle in the air—would have thought it a truly romantic place; -and the impression would not have subsided much on a near inspection, -when he would have found himself admitted by a fortified gate through -an ancient wall, still kept in repair. Even on entering the one old -street of which the city chiefly consisted, he would have seen much -to admire—houses of substantial architecture and lofty proportions, -mingled with more lowly, but also more arresting wooden fabrics; a -huge and irregular, but venerable Gothic church, surmounted by an -aërial crown of masonry; finally, an esplanade towards the Castle, -from which he could have looked abroad upon half a score of counties, -upon firth and fell, yea, even to the blue Grampians. Everywhere he -would have seen symptoms of denseness of population; the open street a -universal market; a pell-mell of people everywhere. The eye would have -been, upon the whole, gratified, whatever might be the effect of the -_clangor strepitusque_ upon the ear, or whatever might have been the -private meditations of the nose. It would have only been on coming to -close quarters, or to quarters at all, that our stranger would have -begun to think of serious drawbacks from the first impression. For an -inn, he would have had the White Horse, in a close in the Canongate; -or the White Hart, a house which now appears like a carrier’s inn, -in the Grassmarket. Or, had he betaken himself to a private lodging, -which he would have probably done under the conduct of a ragged varlet, -speaking more of his native Gaelic than English, he would have had to -ascend four or five stories of a common stair, into the narrow chambers -of some Mrs Balgray or Luckie Fergusson, where a closet-bed in the -sitting-room would have been displayed as the most comfortable place in -the world; and he would have had, for amusement, a choice between an -extensive view of house-tops from the window and the study of a series -of prints of the four seasons, a sampler, and a portrait of the Marquis -of Granby, upon the wall. - -[Illustration: House-tops.] - -[Illustration: WHITE HART INN, GRASSMARKET. - -PAGE 2.] - -On being introduced into society, our stranger might have discovered -cause for content with his lodging on finding how poorly off were the -first people with respect to domestic accommodations. I can imagine -him going to tea at Mr Bruce of Kennet’s, in Forrester’s Wynd—a -country gentleman and a lawyer (not long after raised to the bench), -yet happy to live with his wife and children in a house of fifteen -pounds of rent, in a region of profound darkness and mystery, now -no more. Had he got into familiar terms with the worthy lady of the -mansion, he might have ascertained that they had just three rooms and -a kitchen; one room, ‘my lady’s’—that is, the kind of parlour he was -sitting in; another, a consulting-room for the gentleman; the third, -a bedroom. The children, with their maid, had beds laid down for -them at night in their father’s room; the housemaid slept under the -kitchen dresser; and the one man-servant was turned at night out of the -house. Had our friend chanced to get amongst tradespeople, he might -have found Mr Kerr, the eminent goldsmith in the Parliament Square, -stowing his _ménage_ into a couple of small rooms above his booth-like -shop, plastered against the wall of St Giles’s Church; the nursery -and kitchen, however, being placed in a cellar under the level of the -street, where the children are said to have rotted off like sheep. - -But indeed everything was on a homely and narrow scale. The -College—where Munro, Cullen, and Black were already making themselves -great names—was to be approached through a mean alley, the College -Wynd. The churches were chiefly clustered under one roof; the jail -was a narrow building, half-filling up the breadth of the street; the -public offices, for the most part, obscure places in lanes and dark -entries. The men of learning and wit, united with a proportion of men -of rank, met as the _Poker Club_ in a tavern, the best of its day, but -only a dark house in a close, to which our stranger could scarcely have -made his way without a guide. In a similar situation across the way, -he would have found, at the proper season, the _Assembly_; that is, a -congregation of ladies met for dancing, and whom the gentlemen usually -joined rather late, and rather merry. The only theatre was also a poor -and obscure place in some indescribable part of the Canongate. - -The town was, nevertheless, a funny, familiar, compact, and not -unlikable place. Gentle and semple living within the compass of a -single close, or even a single stair, knew and took an interest -in each other.[1] Acquaintances might not only be formed, -Pyramus-and-Thisbe fashion, through party-walls, but from window to -window across alleys, narrow enough in many cases to allow of hand -coming to hand, and even lip to lip. There was little elegance, but -a vast amount of cheap sociality. Provokingly comical clubs, founded -each upon one joke, were abundant. The ladies had tea-drinkings at the -primitive hour of six, from which they cruised home under the care -of a lantern-bearing, patten-shod lass; or perhaps, if a bad night, -in Saunders Macalpine’s sedan-chair. Every forenoon, for several -hours, the only clear space which the town presented—that around the -Cross—was crowded with loungers of all ranks, whom it had been an -amusement to the poet Gay to survey from the neighbouring windows of -Allan Ramsay’s shop. The jostle and huddlement was extreme everywhere. -Gentlemen and ladies paraded along in the stately attire of the period; -tradesmen chatted in groups, often bareheaded, at their shop-doors; -caddies whisked about, bearing messages, or attending to the affairs -of strangers; children filled the kennel with their noisy sports. Add -to all this, corduroyed men from Gilmerton, bawling coals or yellow -sand, and spending as much breath in a minute as could have served -poor asthmatic Hugo Arnot for a month; fishwomen crying their caller -haddies from Newhaven; whimsicals and idiots going along, each with -his or her crowd of listeners or tormentors; sootymen with their bags; -town-guardsmen with their antique Lochaber axes; water-carriers with -their dripping barrels; barbers with their hair-dressing materials; -and so forth—and our stranger would have been disposed to acknowledge -that, though a coarse and confused, it was a perfectly unique scene, -and one which, once contemplated, was not easily to be forgotten. - -A change at length began. Our northern country had settled to sober -courses in the reign of George II., and the usual results of industry -were soon apparent. Edinburgh by-and-by felt much like a lady who, -after long being content with a small and inconvenient house, is -taught, by the money in her husband’s pockets, that such a place is no -longer to be put up with. There was a wish to expatiate over some of -the neighbouring grounds, so as to get more space and freer air; only -it was difficult to do, considering the physical circumstances of the -town, and the character of the existing outlets. Space, space!—air, -air! was, however, a strong and a general cry, and the old romantic -city did at length burst from its bounds, though not in a very regular -way, or for a time to much good purpose. - -[Illustration: NEWHAVEN FISHWIFE. - -PAGE 4.] - -A project for a new street on the site of Halkerston’s Wynd, leading -by a bridge to the grounds of Mutrie’s Hill, where a suburb might be -erected, was formed before the end of the seventeenth century.[2] It -was a subject of speculation to John, Earl of Mar, during his years -of exile, as were many other schemes of national improvement which -have since been realised—for example, the Forth and Clyde Canal. The -grounds to the north lay so invitingly open that the early formation -of such a project is not wonderful. Want of spirit and of means -alone could delay its execution. After the Rebellion of 1745, when -a general spirit of improvement began to be shown in Scotland, the -scheme was taken up by a public-spirited provost, Mr George Drummond, -but it had to struggle for years with local difficulties. Meanwhile, -a sagacious builder, by name James Brown, resolved to take advantage -of the growing taste; he purchased a field near the town for £1200, -and _feued_ it out for a square. The speculation is said to have ended -in something like giving him his own money as an annual return. This -place (George Square) became the residence of several of the judges -and gentry. I was amused a few years ago hearing an old gentleman in -the country begin a story thus: ‘When I was in Edinburgh, in the year -’67, I went to George Square, to call for Mrs Scott of Sinton,’ &c. -To this day some relics of gentry cling to its grass-green causeways, -charmed, perhaps, by its propinquity to the Meadows and Bruntsfield -Links. Another place sprang into being, a smaller quadrangle of neat -houses, called Brown’s Square.[3] So much was thought of it at first -that a correspondent of the _Edinburgh Advertiser_, in 1764, seriously -counsels his fellow-citizens to erect in it an equestrian statue of -the then popular young king, George III.! This place, too, had some -distinguished inhabitants; till 1846, one of the houses continued to -be nominally the town mansion of a venerable judge, Lord Glenlee. We -pass willingly from these traits of grandeur to dwell on the fact of -its having been the residence of Miss Jeanie Elliot of Minto, the -authoress of the original song, _The Flowers of the Forest_; and even -to bethink ourselves that here Scott placed the ideal abode of Saunders -Fairford and the adventure of Green Mantle. Sir Walter has informed -us, from his own recollections, that the inhabitants of these southern -districts formed for a long time a distinct class of themselves, having -even places of polite amusement for their own recreation, independent -of the rest of Edinburgh. He tells us that the society was of the first -description, including, for one thing, most of the gentlemen who wrote -in the _Mirror_ and the _Lounger_. There was one venerable inhabitant -who did not die till half the New Town was finished, yet he had never -once seen it! - -The exertions of Drummond at length procured an act (1767) for -extending the royalty of the city over the northern fields; and a -bridge was then erected to connect these with the elder city. The -scheme was at first far from popular. The exposure to the north and -east winds was felt as a grievous disadvantage, especially while houses -were few. So unpleasant even was the North Bridge considered that a -lover told a New-Town mistress—to be sure only in an epigram—that -when he visited her, he felt as performing an adventure not much short -of that of Leander. The aristocratic style of the place alarmed a -number of pockets, and legal men trembled lest their clients and other -employers should forget them if they removed so far from the centre -of things as Princes Street and St Andrew Square. Still, the move was -unavoidable, and behoved to be made. - -It is curious to cast the eye over the beautiful city which now extends -over this district, the residence of as refined a mass of people as -could be found in any similar space of ground upon earth, and reflect -on what the place was a hundred years ago. The bulk of it was a farm, -usually called Wood’s Farm, from its tenant (the father of a clever -surgeon, well known in Edinburgh in the last age under the familiar -appellation of _Lang Sandy Wood_). Henry Mackenzie, author of the _Man -of Feeling_, who died in 1831, remembered shooting snipes, hares, and -partridges about that very spot to which he alludes at the beginning of -the paper on Nancy Collins in the _Mirror_ (July 1779): ‘As I walked -one evening, about a fortnight ago, _through St Andrew Square_, I -observed a girl meanly dressed,’ &c. Nearly along the line now occupied -by Princes Street was a rough enclosed road, called the _Lang Gait_ or -_Lang Dykes_, the way along which Claverhouse went with his troopers -in 1689, when he retired in disgust from the Convention, with the -resolution of raising a rebellion in the Highlands. On the site of the -present Register House was a hamlet or small group of houses called -_Mutrie’s Hill_; and where the Royal Bank now stands was a cottage -wherein ambulative citizens regaled themselves with fruit and curds and -cream. Broughton, which latterly has been surprised and swamped by the -spreading city, was then a village, considered as so far afield that -people went to live in it for the summer months, under the pleasing -idea that they had got into the country. It is related that Whitefield -used to preach to vast multitudes on the spot which by-and-by became -appropriated for the _Theatre Royal_. Coming back one year, and finding -a playhouse on the site of his tub, he was extremely incensed. Could it -be, as Burns suggests, - - ‘There was rivalry just in the job!’ - -James Craig, a nephew of the poet Thomson, was entrusted with the duty -of planning the new city. In the engraved plan, he appropriately quotes -from his uncle: - - ‘August, around, what PUBLIC WORKS I see! - Lo, stately streets! lo, squares that court the breeze! - See long canals and deepened rivers join - Each part with each, and with the circling main, - The whole entwined isle.’ - -The names of the streets and squares were taken from the royal family -and the tutelary saints of the island. The honest citizens had -originally intended to put their own local saint in the foreground; but -when the plan was shown to the king for his approval, he cried: ‘Hey, -hey—what, what—_St Giles Street!_—never do, never do!’ And so, to -escape from an unpleasant association of ideas, this street was called -_Princes Street_, in honour of the king’s two sons, afterwards George -IV. and the Duke of York. So difficult was it at the very first to -induce men to build that a premium of twenty pounds was offered by the -magistrates to him who should raise the first house; it was awarded to -Mr John Young, on account of a mansion erected by him in Rose Court, -George Street. An exemption from burghal taxes was granted to the -first house in the line of Princes Street, built by Mr John Neale, -haberdasher (afterwards occupied by Archibald Constable, and then -as the Crown Hotel), in consequence of a bargain made by Mr Graham, -plumber, who sold this and the adjoining ground to the town.[4] Mr -Shadrach Moyes, when having a house built for himself in Princes -Street, in 1769, took the builder bound to rear another farther along -besides his, to shield him from the west wind! Other quaint particulars -are remembered; as, for instance: Mr Wight, an eminent lawyer, who had -planted himself in St Andrew Square, finding he was in danger of having -his view of St Giles’s clock shut up by the advancing line of Princes -Street, built the intervening house himself, that he might have it in -his power to keep the roof low for the sake of the view in question; -important to him, he said, as enabling him to regulate his movements in -the morning, when it was necessary that he should be punctual in his -attendance at the Parliament House. - -[Illustration: ROUPING-WIFE. - -PAGE 9.] - -The foundation was at length laid of that revolution which has ended -in making Edinburgh a kind of double city—_first_, an ancient and -picturesque hill-built one, occupied chiefly by the humbler classes; -and _second_, an elegant modern one, of much regularity of aspect, -and possessed almost as exclusively by the more refined portion of -society. The New Town, keeping pace with the growing prosperity of -the country, had, in 1790, been extended to Castle Street; in 1800 -the necessity for a second plan of the same extent still farther to -the north had been felt, and this was after acted upon. Forty years -saw the Old Town thoroughly changed as respects population. One after -another, its nobles and gentry, its men of the robe, its ‘writers,’ -and even its substantial burghers, had during that time deserted -their mansions in the High Street and Canongate, till few were left. -Even those modern districts connected with it, as St John Street, New -Street, George Square, &c., were beginning to be forsaken for the sake -of more elegantly circumstanced habitations beyond the North Loch. Into -the remote social consequences of this change it is not my purpose -to enter, beyond the bare remark that it was only too accordant with -that tendency of our present form of civilisation to separate the high -from the low, the intelligent from the ignorant—that dissociation, -in short, which would in itself run nigh to be a condemnation of -all progress, if we were not allowed to suppose that better forms -of civilisation are realisable. Enough that I mention the tangible -consequences of the revolution—a flooding in of the humbler trading -classes where gentles once had been; the houses of these classes, -again, filled with the vile and miserable. Now were to be seen -hundreds of instances of such changes as Provost Creech indicates in -1783: ‘The Lord Justice-Clerk Tinwald’s house possessed by a French -teacher—Lord President Craigie’s house by a rouping-wife or salewoman -of old furniture—and Lord Drummore’s house left by a chairman for want -of accommodation.’ ‘The house of the Duke of Douglas at the Union, now -possessed by a wheelwright!’ To one who, like myself, was young in -the early part of the present century, it was scarcely possible, as -he permeated the streets and closes of ancient Edinburgh, to realise -the idea of a time when the great were housed therein. But many a -gentleman in middle life, then living perhaps in Queen Street or -Charlotte Square, could recollect the close or the common stair where -he had been born and spent his earliest years, now altogether given up -to a different portion of society. And when the younger perambulator -inquired more narrowly, he could discover traces of this former -population. Here and there a carved coat-armorial, with supporters, -perhaps even a coronet, arrested attention amidst the obscurities of -some _wynd_ or court. Did he ascend a stair and enter a floor, now -subdivided perhaps into four or five distinct dwellings, he might -readily perceive, in the massive wainscot of the lobby, a proof that -the refinements of life had once been there. Still more would this idea -be impressed upon him when, passing into one of the best rooms of the -old house, he would find not only a continuation of such wainscoting, -but perhaps a tolerable landscape by Norie on a panel above the -fireplace, or a ceiling decorated by De la Cour, a French artist, -who flourished in Edinburgh about 1740. Even yet he would discover a -very few relics of gentry maintaining their ground in the Old Town, -as if faintly to show what it had once been. These were generally old -people, who did not think it worth while to make any change till the -great one. There is a melancholy pleasure in recalling what I myself -found about 1820, when my researches for this work were commenced. -In that year I was in the house of Governor Fergusson, an ancient -gentleman of the Pitfour family, in a floor, one stair up, in the -Luckenbooths. About the same time I attended the book-sale of Dr Arrot, -a physician of good figure, newly deceased, in the Mint Close. For -several years later, any one ascending a now miserable-looking stair -in Blackfriars Wynd would have seen a door-plate inscribed with the -name MISS OLIPHANT, a member of the Gask family. Nay, so late as 1832, -I had the pleasure of breakfasting with Sir William Macleod Bannatyne -in Whiteford House, Canongate (afterwards a type-foundry), on which -occasion the venerable old gentleman talked as familiarly of the levees -of the _sous-ministre_ for Lord Bute in the old villa at the Abbey Hill -as I could have talked of the affairs of the Canning administration; -and even recalled, as a fresh picture of his memory, his father drawing -on his boots to go to make interest in London in behalf of some of the -men in trouble for the Forty-five, particularly his own brother-in-law, -the Clanranald of that day. Such were the connections recently existing -between the past system of things and the present. Now, alas! the sun -of Old-Town glory has set for ever. Nothing is left but the decaying -and rapidly diminishing masses of ancient masonry, and a handful of -traditionary recollections, which be it my humble but not unworthy task -to transmit to future generations.[5] - -[Illustration: Carved Armorial, with Supporters.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] Mr W. B. Blaikie (_The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club_, vol. -ii.) gives a list of the occupants of a first-class tenement some -years subsequent to the ’45 Rebellion: ‘First-floor, Mrs Stirling, -fishmonger; second, Mrs Urquhart, lodging-house keeper; third-floor, -the Countess Dowager of Balcarres; fourth, Mrs Buchan of Kelloe; fifth, -the Misses Elliot, milliners and mantua-makers; garrets, a variety of -tailors and other tradesmen.’ - -[2] Pamphlet _circa_ 1700, Wodrow Collection, Adv. Lib. - -[3] Brown Square finally disappeared with the making of Chambers Street. - -[4] Mr William Cowan, in vol. i. of _The Book of the Old Edinburgh -Club_, says this exemption applied to the three eastmost tenements in -Princes Street. - -[5] The late Bruce J. Home drew up in 1908 ‘A Provisional List of Old -Houses Remaining in High Street and Canongate,’ which was printed, -with accompanying map, in the first volume of _The Old Edinburgh Club -Book_. The statement is therein made ‘that since 1860 two-thirds of the -ancient buildings in the Old Town of Edinburgh have been demolished.’ -The map showed, coloured in red, the remaining buildings of the Old -Town which had survived until the beginning of the twentieth century. - - - - -THE CASTLE-HILL. - - HUGO ARNOT—ALLAN RAMSAY—HOUSE OF THE GORDON FAMILY—SIR DAVID - BAIRD—DR WEBSTER—HOUSE OF MARY DE GUISE. - - -[Illustration: THE CASTLE-HILL. - -PAGE 11.] - -The saunter which I contemplate through the streets and stories, the -lanes and legends, of Old Edinburgh may properly commence at the -Castle-hill, as it is a marked extremity of the city as well as its -highest ground. - -The Castle-hill is partly an esplanade, serving as a parade-ground for -the garrison of the Castle, and partly a street, the upper portion of -that vertebral line which, under the various names of Lawnmarket, High -Street, and Canongate, extends to Holyrood Palace. The open ground—a -scene of warfare during the sieges of the fortress, often a place of -execution in rude times—the place, too, where, by a curious legal -fiction, the Nova Scotia baronets were enfeoffed in their ideal estates -on the other side of the Atlantic—was all that Edinburgh possessed -as a readily accessible promenade before the extension of the city. -We find the severe acts for a strict observance of the Sabbath, which -appeared from time to time in the latter part of the seventeenth and -early part of the eighteenth century, denouncing the King’s Park, the -Pier of Leith, and the _Castle-hill_ as the places chiefly resorted -to for the profane sport of walking on ‘the Lord’s Day.’ Denounce as -they might, human nature could never, I believe, be altogether kept -off the Castle-hill; even the most respectable people walked there in -multitudes during the intervals between morning and evening service. -We have an allusion to the promenade character of the Castle-hill in -Ramsay’s city pastoral, as it may be called, of _The Young Laird and -Edinburgh Katy_— - - ‘Wat ye wha I met yestreen, - Coming down the street, my jo? - My mistress in her tartan screen, - Fu’ bonny, braw, and sweet, my jo. - - “My dear,” quoth I, “thanks to the night, - That never wished a lover ill, - Since ye’re out o’ your mother’s sight, - Let’s tak’ a walk up to _the hill_.”’ - -A memory of these Sunday promenadings here calls me to introduce what I -have to say regarding a man of whom there used to be a strong popular -remembrance in Edinburgh. - - -HUGO ARNOT. - -The cleverly executed _History of Edinburgh_, published by Arnot -in 1779, and which to this day has not been superseded, gives some -respectability to a name which tradition would have otherwise handed -down to us as only that of an eccentric gentleman, of remarkably -scarecrow figure, and the subject of a few _bon-mots_. - -He was the son of a Leith shipmaster, named Pollock, and took the name -of Arnot from a small inheritance in Fife. Many who have read his -laborious work will be little prepared to hear that it was written when -the author was between twenty and thirty; and that, antiquated as his -meagre figure looks in Kay’s Portraits, he was at his death, in 1786, -only thirty-seven. His body had been, in reality, made prematurely old -by a confirmed asthma, accompanied by a cough, which he himself said -would carry him off like a rocket some day, when a friend remarked, -with reference to his known latitudinarianism: ‘Possibly, Hugo, in the -contrary direction.’ - -[Illustration: Hugo Arnot, looking so like his meat.] - -Most of the jokes about poor Hugo’s person have been frequently -printed—as Harry Erskine meeting him on the street when he was gnawing -at a spelding or dried haddock, and congratulating him on _looking so -like his meat_; and his offending the piety of an old woman who was -cheapening a Bible in Creech’s shop, by some thoughtless remark, when -she first burst out with: ‘Oh, you monster!’ and then turning round and -seeing him, added: ‘And he’s an anatomy too!’ An epigram by Erskine is -less known: - - ‘The Scriptures assure us that much is forgiven - _To flesh and to blood_ by the mercy of Heaven; - But I’ve searched the whole Bible, and texts can find none - That extend the assurance _to skin and to bone_.’ - -Arnot was afflicted by a constitutional irritability to an extent -which can hardly be conceived. A printer’s boy, handing papers to him -over his shoulder, happened to touch his ear with one of them, when he -started up in a rage, and demanded of the trembling youth what he meant -by insulting him in that manner! Probably from some quarrel arising -out of this nervous weakness—for such it really was—the Edinburgh -booksellers, to a man, refused to have anything to do with the -prospectuses of his _Criminal Trials_, and Arnot had to advertise that -they were to be seen in the coffee-houses, instead of the booksellers’ -shops. - -About the time when he entered at the bar (1772), he had a fancy for a -young lady named Hay (afterwards Mrs Macdougall), sister of a gentleman -who succeeded as Marquis of Tweeddale, and then a reigning toast. -One Sunday, when he contemplated making up to his divinity on the -Castle-hill, after forenoon service, he entertained two young friends -at breakfast in his lodgings at the head of the Canongate. By-and-by -the affairs of the toilet came to be considered. It was then found that -Hugo’s washerwoman had played false, leaving him in a total destitution -of clean linen, or at least of clean linen that was also _whole_. A -dreadful storm took place, but at length, on its calming a little, love -found out a way, by taking the hand-ruffles of one cast garment, in -connection with the front of another, and adding both to the body of -a third. In this eclectic form of shirt the meagre young philosopher -marched forth with his friends, and was rewarded for his perseverance -by being allowed a very pleasant chat with the young lady on ‘the -hill.’ His friends standing by had their own enjoyment in reflecting -what the beauteous Miss Hay would think if she knew the struggles which -her admirer had had that morning in preparing to make his appearance -before her. - -Arnot latterly dwelt in a small house at the end of the Meuse Lane in -St Andrew Street, with an old and very particular lady for a neighbour -in the upper-floor. Disturbed by the enthusiastic way in which he -sometimes rang his bell, the lady ventured to send a remonstrance, -which, however, produced no effect. This led to a bad state of matters -between them. At length a very pressing and petulant message being -handed in one day, insisting that he should endeavour to call his -servants _in a different manner_, what was the lady’s astonishment -next morning to hear a pistol discharged in Arnot’s house! He was -simply complying with the letter of his neighbour’s request, by firing, -instead of ringing, as a signal for shaving-water. - - -ALLAN RAMSAY. - -On the north side of the esplanade—enjoying a splendid view of the -Firth of Forth, Fife and Stirling shires—is the neat little villa of -Allan Ramsay, surrounded by its miniature pleasure-grounds. The sober, -industrious life of this exception to the race of poets having resulted -in a small competency, he built this odd-shaped house in his latter -days, designing to enjoy in it the Horatian quiet which he had so often -eulogised in his verse. The story goes that, showing it soon after to -the clever Patrick, Lord Elibank, with much fussy interest in all its -externals and accommodations, he remarked that the wags were already at -work on the subject—they likened it to a goose-pie[6] (owing to the -roundness of the shape). ‘Indeed, Allan,’ said his lordship, ‘now I see -you in it, I think the wags are not far wrong.’ - -[Illustration: Allan Ramsay’s Villa.] - -The splendid reputation of Burns has eclipsed that of Ramsay so -effectually that this pleasing poet, and, upon the whole, amiable and -worthy man, is now little regarded. Yet Ramsay can never be deprived -of the credit of having written the best pastoral poem in the range of -British literature—if even that be not too narrow a word—and many of -his songs are of great merit. - -Ramsay was secretly a Jacobite, openly a dissenter from the severe -manners and feelings of his day, although a very decent and regular -attender of the Old Church in St Giles’s. He delighted in music and -theatricals, and, as we shall see, encouraged the Assembly. It was also -no doubt his own taste which led him, in 1725, to set up a circulating -library, whence he diffused plays and other works of fiction among -the people of Edinburgh. It appears, from the private notes of the -historian Wodrow, that, in 1728, the magistrates, moved by some -meddling spirits, took alarm at the effect of this kind of reading on -the minds of youth, and made an attempt to put it down, but without -effect. One cannot but be amused to find amongst these self-constituted -guardians of morality Lord Grange, who kept his wife in unauthorised -restraint for several years, and whose own life was a scandal to his -professions. Ramsay, as is well known, also attempted to establish a -theatre in Edinburgh, but failed. The following advertisement on this -subject appears in the _Caledonian Mercury_, September 1736: ‘The New -Theatre in Carrubber’s Close being in great forwardness, will be opened -the 1st of November. These are to advertise the gentlemen and ladies -who incline to purchase annual tickets, to enter their names before the -20th of October next, on which day they shall receive their tickets -from Allan Ramsay, on paying 30s.—no more than forty to be subscribed -for; after which none will be disposed of under two guineas.’ - -The late Mrs Murray of Henderland knew Ramsay for the last ten years of -his life, her sister having married his son, the celebrated painter. -She spoke of him to me in 1825, with kindly enthusiasm, as one of the -most amiable men she had ever known. His constant cheerfulness and -lively conversational powers had made him a favourite amongst persons -of rank, whose guest he frequently was. Being very fond of children, -he encouraged his daughters in bringing troops of young ladies about -the house, in whose sports he would mix with a patience and vivacity -wonderful in an old man. He used to give these young friends a kind -of ball once a year. From pure kindness for the young, he would help -to make dolls for them, and cradles wherein to place these little -effigies, with his own hands.[7] But here a fashion of the age must -be held in view; for, however odd it may appear, it is undoubtedly -true that to make and dispose of dolls, such as children now alone are -interested in, was a practice in vogue amongst grown-up ladies who had -little to do about a hundred years ago. - -Ramsay died in 1757. An elderly female told a friend of mine that -she remembered, when a girl, living as an apprentice with a milliner -in the Grassmarket, being sent to Ramsay Garden to assist in -making _dead-clothes_ for the poet. She could recall, however, no -particulars of the scene but the roses blooming in at the window of the -death-chamber. - -The poet’s house passed to his son, of the same name, eminent as a -painter—portrait-painter to King George III. and his queen—and a man -of high mental culture; consequently much a favourite in the circles -of Johnson and Boswell. The younger Allan enlarged the house, and -built three additional houses to the eastward, bearing the title of -Ramsay Garden. At his death, in 1784, the property went to his son, -General John Ramsay, who, dying in 1845, left this mansion and a large -fortune to Mr Murray of Henderland. So ended the line of the poet. His -daughter Christian, an amiable, kind-hearted woman, said to possess a -gift of verse, lived for many years in New Street. At seventy-four she -had the misfortune to be thrown down by a hackney-coach, and had her -leg broken; yet she recovered, and lived to the age of eighty-eight. -Leading a solitary life, she took a great fancy for cats. Besides -supporting many in her own house, curiously disposed in bandboxes, -with doors to go in and out at, she caused food to be laid out for -others on her stair and around her house. Not a word of obloquy would -she listen to against the species, alleging, when any wickedness of a -cat was spoken of, that the animal must have acted under provocation, -for by nature, she asserted, cats are harmless. Often did her maid go -with morning messages to her friends, inquiring, with her compliments, -after their pet cats. Good Miss Ramsay was also a friend to horses, and -indeed to all creatures. When she observed a carter ill-treating his -horse, she would march up to him, tax him with cruelty, and, by the -very earnestness of her remonstrances, arrest the barbarian’s hand. So -also, when she saw one labouring on the street, with the appearance of -defective diet, she would send rolls to its master, entreating him to -feed the animal. These peculiarities, although a little eccentric, are -not unpleasing; and I cannot be sorry to record them of the daughter of -one whose heart and head were an honour to his country. - -[Illustration: Happy.] - -[Illustration: Contented.] - -[Illustration: Repose.] - -[Illustration: Convivial.] - -[1868.—It seems to have been unknown to the biographers of Allan -Ramsay the painter that he made a romantic marriage. In his early -days, while teaching the art of drawing in the family of Sir Alexander -Lindsay of Evelick, one of the young ladies fell in love with him, -captivated probably by the tongue which afterwards gave him the -intimacy of princes, and was undoubtedly a great source of his success -in life. The father of the enamoured girl was an old proud baronet; her -mother, a sister of the Chief-Justice, Earl of Mansfield. A marriage -with consent of parents was consequently impossible. The young people, -nevertheless, contrived to get themselves united in wedlock. - -[Illustration: Allan Ramsay’s Monument, Princes Street Gardens.] - -The speedily developed talent of Ramsay, the illustrious patronage they -secured to him, and the very considerable wealth which he acquired must -have in time made him an acceptable relation to those proud people. A -time came when their descendants held the connection even as an honour. -The wealth of the painter ultimately, on the death of his son in 1845, -became the property of Mr Murray of Henderland, a grandson of Sir -Alexander Lindsay and nephew of Mrs Allan Ramsay; thence it not long -after passed to Mr Murray’s brother, Sir John Archibald Murray, better -known by his judicial name of Lord Murray. This gentleman admired the -poet, and resolved to raise a statue to him beside his goose-pie house -on the Castlehill; but the situation proved unsuitable, and since his -own lamented death, in 1858, the marble full-length of worthy Allan, -from the studio of John Steell, has found a noble place in the Princes -Street Gardens, resting on a pedestal, containing on its principal side -a medallion portrait of Lord Murray, on the reverse one of General -Ramsay, on the west side one of the General’s lady, and on the east -similar representations of the General’s two daughters, Lady Campbell -and Mrs Malcolm. Thus we find—owing to the esteem which genius ever -commands—the poet of the _Gentle Shepherd_ in the immortality of -marble, surrounded by the figures of relatives and descendants who so -acknowledged their aristocratic rank to be inferior to his, derived -from mind alone.] - - -HOUSE OF THE GORDON FAMILY. - -[Illustration: Doorway of Duke of Gordon’s House. -Now built into School in Boswell’s Court.] - -Tradition points out, as the residence of the Gordon family, a house, -or rather range of buildings, situated between Blair’s and Brown’s -Closes, being almost the first mass of building in the Castle-hill -Street on the right-hand side. The southern portion is a structure -of lofty and massive form, battlemented at top, and looking out upon -a garden which formerly stretched down to the old town-wall near -the Grassmarket, but is now crossed by the access from the King’s -Bridge.[8] From the style of building, I should be disposed to assign -it a date a little subsequent to the Restoration. There are, however, -no authentic memorials respecting the alleged connection of the -Gordon family with this house,[9] unless we are to consider as of -that character a coronet resembling that of a marquis, flanked by two -deer-hounds, the well-known supporters of this noble family, which -figures over a finely moulded door in Blair’s Close.[10] The coronet -will readily be supposed to point to the time when the _Marquis of -Huntly_ was the principal honour of the family—that is, previous to -1684, when the title of Duke of Gordon was conferred.[11] - -[Illustration: DUKE OF GORDON’S HOUSE. - -PAGE 18.] - -In more recent times, this substantial mansion was the abode of Mr -Baird of Newbyth; and here it was that the late gallant Sir David -Baird, the hero of Seringapatam, was born and brought up. Returning in -advanced life from long foreign service, this distinguished soldier -came to see the home of his youth on the Castle-hill. The respectable -individual whom I found occupying the house in 1824 received his -visitor with due respect, and after showing him through the house, -conducted him out to the garden. Here the boys of the existing tenant -were found actively engaged in throwing cabbage-stalks at the tops -of the chimneys of the houses of the Grassmarket, situated a little -below the level of the garden. On making one plump down the vent, the -youngsters set up a great shout of triumph. Sir David fell a-laughing -at sight of this example of practical waggery, and entreated the father -of the lads ‘not to be too angry; he and his brother, when living here -at the same age, had indulged in precisely the same amiable amusement, -the chimneys then, as now, being so provokingly open to such attacks -that there was no resisting the temptation.’ - -The whole matter might have been put into an axiomatic form—Given a -garden with cabbage-stalks, and a set of chimneys situated at an angle -of forty-five degrees below the spot, any boys turned loose into the -said garden will be sure to endeavour to bring the cabbage-stalks and -the chimneys into acquaintance. - -The Citadel seems to have been a little nest of aristocracy, of the -Cavalier party. In 1745 one of its inhabitants was Dame Magdalen Bruce -of Kinross, widow of the baronet who had assisted in the Restoration. -Here lived with her the Rev. Robert Forbes, Episcopal minister of -Leith [afterwards Bishop of Orkney], from whose collections regarding -Charles Edward and his adventures a volume of extracts was published -by me in 1834. [The _Lyon in Mourning_ is here referred to, from which -Dr Chambers published a number of the narratives in his _Jacobite -Memoirs_ (1834), and from which he also utilised some information -of the Rebellion of 1745 in the preparation of his _History of the -Rebellion_. At his death he bequeathed the work to the Advocates’ -Library, Edinburgh, where it now remains. It consists of eight small -octavo volumes of manuscript of about two hundred pages, each bound -in black leather, with blackened edges, and around the title-page of -each volume a deep black border. The collection was the work of the -Rev. Robert Forbes, a clergyman of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, -who became in 1762 Bishop of Ross and Caithness. It was treasured -by his widow for thirty years, and then bought by Sir Henry Stewart -of Allanton in 1806. Dr Robert Chambers unearthed it for historical -purposes, and later purchased it from Sir Henry Stewart. Some relics -which Forbes succeeded in obtaining from his correspondents—such as -a piece of the Prince’s garter, a piece of the gown he wore as Betty -Burke, and of the string of the apron he then had on, a fragment of a -waistcoat worn by the Prince, and other things—were preserved on the -inside of some of the boards of the volumes. The _Lyon in Mourning_ was -edited by Mr Henry Paton from the manuscript in the Advocates’ Library, -and published in three volumes by the Scottish History Society (1895).] -Throughout those troublous days, a little Episcopal congregation was -kept together in Leith; their place of worship being the _first floor_ -of an old, dull-looking house in Queen Street (dated 1615), the lower -floor of which was, in my recollection, a police-office. - - -DR WEBSTER. - -An isolated house which formerly stood in Webster’s Close,[12] a little -way down the Castle-hill, was the residence of the Rev. Dr Webster, -a man eminent in his day on many accounts—a leading evangelical -clergyman in Edinburgh, a statist and calculator of extraordinary -talent, and a distinguished figure in festive scenes. The first -population returns of Scotland were obtained by him in 1755; and he was -the author of that fund for the widows of the clergy of the Established -Church which has proved so great a blessing to many, and still exists -in a flourishing state.[13] He was also deep in the consultations of -the magistrates regarding the New Town. - -It is not easy to reconcile the two leading characteristics of this -divine—his being the pastor of a flock of noted sternness, called, -from the church in which they assembled, the _Tolbooth Whigs_; and his -at the same time entering heartily and freely into the convivialities -of the more mirthful portion of society. Perhaps he illustrated the -maxim that one man may steal horses with impunity, &c.; for it is -related that, going home early one morning with strong symptoms of -over-indulgence upon him, and being asked by a friend who met him -‘what the Tolbooth Whigs would say if they were to see him at this -moment,’ he instantly replied: ‘They would not believe their own eyes.’ -Sometimes he did fall on such occasions under plebeian observation, but -the usual remark was: ‘Ah, there’s Dr Webster, honest man, going hame, -nae doubt, frae some puir afflicted soul he has been visiting. Never -does he tire o’ well-doing!’ And so forth. - -The history of Dr Webster’s marriage is romantic. When a young and -unknown man, he was employed by a friend to act as go-between, -or, as it is termed in Scotland, black-fit, or black-foot, in a -correspondence which he was carrying on with a young lady of great -beauty and accomplishment. Webster had not acted long in that -character, till the young lady, who had never entertained any affection -for his constituent, fell deeply in love with himself. Her birth and -expectations were better than his; and however much he might have been -disposed to address her on his own behalf, he never could have thought -of such a thing so long as there was such a difference between their -circumstances. The lady saw his difficulty, and resolved to overcome -it, and that in the frankest manner. At one of these interviews, -when he was exerting all his eloquence in favour of his friend, she -plainly told him that he would probably come better speed if he were -to speak for himself. He took the hint, and, in a word, was soon -after married to her. He wrote upon the occasion an amorous lyric, -which exhibits in warm colours the gratitude of a humble lover for -the favour of a mistress of superior station, and which is perhaps -as excellent altogether in its way as the finest compositions of -the kind produced in either ancient or modern times. There is one -particularly impassioned verse, in which, after describing a process of -the imagination by which, in gazing upon her, he comes to think her a -creature of more than mortal nature, he says that at length, unable to -contain, he clasps her to his bosom, and— - - ‘Kissing her lips, she turns woman again!’ - - -HOUSE OF MARY DE GUISE. - -The restrictions imposed upon a city requiring defence appear as one of -the forms of misery leading to strange associations. We become, in a -special degree, sensible of this truth when we see the house of a royal -personage sunk amidst the impurities of a narrow close in the Old Town -of Edinburgh. Such was literally the case of an aged pile of buildings -on the north side of the Castle-hill, behind the front line of the -street, and accessible by Blyth’s, Nairn’s, and Tod’s Closes, which was -declared by tradition to have been the residence of Mary de Guise, the -widow of James V., and from 1554 to 1560 regent of this realm. - -[Illustration: Ancient Pile of Buildings, North Side of Castle-Hill.] - -Descending the first of these alleys about thirty yards, we came to -a dusky, half-ruinous building on the left-hand side, presenting one -or two lofty windows and a doorway, surrounded by handsome mouldings; -the whole bearing that appearance which says: ‘There is here something -that has been of consequence, all haggard and disgraced though it now -be.’ Glancing to the opposite side of the close, where stood another -portion of the same building, the impression was confirmed by further -appearances of a goodly style of architecture. These were, in reality, -the principal portions of the palace of the Regent Mary; the former -being popularly described as her _house_, the latter as her _oratory_ -or chapel. The close terminated under a portion of the building; and -when the visitor made his way so far, he found an exterior presented -northwards, with many windows, whence of old a view must have been -commanded, first of the gardens descending to the North Loch, and -second, of the Firth of Forth and Fife. One could easily understand -that, when the gardens existed, the north side of the house might have -had many pleasant apartments, and been, upon the whole, tolerable as -a place of residence, albeit the access by a narrow alley could never -have been agreeable. Latterly the site of the upper part of the garden -was occupied by a brushmaker’s workshops and yard, while the lower was -covered by the Earthen Mound. In the wall on the east side there was -included, as a mere portion of the masonry, a stray stone, which had -once been an architrave or lintel; it contained, besides an armorial -device flanked by the initials A. A., the legend NOSCE TEIPSUM, and the -date 1557. - -Reverting to the door of the queen’s house, which was simply the access -of a common stair, we there found an ornamented architrave, bearing the -legend, - - LAUS ET HONOR DEO, - -terminated by two pieces of complicated lettering, one much -obliterated, the other a monogram of the name of the Virgin Mary, -formed of the letters M. R.[14] Finally, at the extremities of this -stone, were two Roman letters of larger size—I. R.—doubtless the -initials of James Rex, for James V., the style of cutting being -precisely the same as in the initials seen on the palace built by that -king in Stirling Castle; an indirect proof, it may be remarked, of this -having been the residence of the Regent Mary. - -Passing up a spiral flight of steps, we came to a darksome lobby, -leading to a series of mean apartments, occupied by persons of the -humblest grade. Immediately within the door was a small recess in the -wall, composed of Gothic stonework, and supposed by the people to -have been designed for containing holy-water, though this may well be -matter of doubt. Overhead, in the ceiling, was a round entablature, -presenting a faded coronet over the defaced outline of a shield. A -similar object adorned the ceiling of the lobby in the second floor, -but in better preservation, as the shield bore three _fleurs de lis_, -with the coronet above, and the letters H. R. below. There was a third -of these entablatures, containing the arms of the city of Edinburgh, -in the centre of the top of the staircase. The only other curious -object in this part of the mansion was the door of one of the wretched -apartments—a specimen of carving, bearing all the appearance of having -been contemporary with the building, and containing, besides other -devices, bust portraits of a gentleman and lady. This is now in the -possession of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland. - -A portion of the same building, accessible by a stair nearer the head -of the close, contained a hall-like apartment, with other apartments, -all remarkable for their unusually lofty ceilings. In the large room -were the remains of a spacious decorated chimney, to which, in the -recollection of persons still living, there had been attached a chain, -serving to confine the tongs to their proper domain. This was the -memorial of an old custom, of which it is not easy to see the utility, -unless some light be held as thrown upon it by a Scottish proverb, -used when a child takes a thing and says he found it: ‘You found it, -I suppose, where the Highlandman found the tongs.’ In the centre of -almost all the ceilings of this part of the mansion I found, in 1824, -circular entablatures, with coats of arms and other devices, in stucco, -evidently of good workmanship, but obscured by successive coats of -whitening. - -The place pointed out by tradition as the queen-regent’s oratory was in -the first-floor of the building opposite—a spacious and lofty hall, -with large windows designed to make up for the obscurity of the close. -Here, besides a finely carved piscina, was a pretty large recess, of -Gothic structure, in the back-wall, evidently designed for keeping -things of importance. Many years ago, out of the wall behind this -recess, there had been taken a small iron box, such as might have been -employed to keep jewellery, but empty. I was the means of its being -gifted to Sir Walter Scott, who had previously told me that ‘a passion -for such little boxes was one of those that most did beset him;’ and it -is now in the collection at Abbotsford. - -The other portions of the mansion, accessible from different alleys, -were generally similar to these, but somewhat finer. One chamber was -recognised as the _Deid-room_; that is, the room where individuals of -the queen’s establishment were kept between their death and burial. - -It was interesting to wander through the dusky mazes of this ancient -building, and reflect that they had been occupied three centuries ago -by a sovereign princess, and one of the most illustrious lineage. -Here was the substantial monument of a connection between France and -Scotland, a totally past state of things. She whose ancestors owned -Lorraine as a sovereignty, who had spent her youth in the proud halls -of the Guises in Picardy, and been the spouse of a Longueville, -was here content to live—in a _close_ in Edinburgh! In these -obscurities, too, was a government conducted, which had to struggle -with Knox, Glencairn, James Stewart, Morton, and many other powerful -men, backed by a popular sentiment which never fails to triumph. It -was the misfortune of Mary to be placed in a position to resist the -Reformation. Her own character deserved that she should have stood -in a more agreeable relation to what Scotland now venerates, for she -was mild and just, and sincerely anxious for the good of her adopted -country. It is also proper to remember on the present occasion that ‘in -her court she maintained a decent gravity, nor would she tolerate any -licentious practices therein. Her maids of honour were always busied in -commendable exercises, she herself being an example to them in virtue, -piety, and modesty.’[15] When all is considered, and we further know -that the building was strong enough to have lasted many more ages, -one cannot but regret that the palace of Mary de Guise, reduced as it -was to vileness, should not now be in existence. The site having been -purchased by individuals connected with the Free Church, the buildings -were removed in 1846 to make room for the erection of an academical -institution or college for the use of that body.[16] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[6] This jest was doubtless based on Swift’s famous poem on Vanbrugh’s -house (1704). The peculiar architectural features of Allan’s ‘goose -pie’ have been almost entirely obliterated by recent alterations. Only -the two circular upper stories remain in their original form. - -[7] ‘My mother was told by those who had enjoyed his plays, that he had -a child’s puppet stage and a set of dressed dolls for actors, which -were in great favour with old and young.’—C. K. Sharpe’s note in -Wilson’s _Reminiscences_. - -[8] King’s Bridge crosses King’s Stables Road, and the access from it -is Johnston Terrace. - -[9] When Mrs Cockburn, author of ‘Flowers of the Forest,’ entered on -occupation of the house in 1756, it was described in the Baird titles -as ‘my lodging in the castle-hill of Edinburgh, formerly possessed by -the Duchess of Gordon.’ - -[10] A Board-school now occupies the site of the mansion. The doorway -referred to is rebuilt into the school-house. - -[11] George, sixth Earl of Huntly, took his last illness, June 1636, -in ‘his house in the Canongate.’ George, the first duke, who had held -out the Castle at the Revolution, died December 1716, at his house in -the Citadel of Leith, where he appears to have occasionally resided for -some years. I should suppose the house on the Castle-hill to have been -inhabited by the family in the interval. - -[12] Webster’s Close became Brown’s Close when the property changed -hands, and two brothers of that name occupied the house. To Brown’s -Close the recently formed Society of Antiquaries of Scotland removed in -1794 from Gosford’s Close, because the latter was too narrow to admit -of the members being carried to the place of meeting in sedan-chairs. - -[13] Before the Government bounty had supplemented the poor stipends -of the Scotch Church up to £150, many of them were so small that the -widow’s allowance from this fund nearly equalled them. Such was the -case of Cranshaws, a pastoral parish among the Lammermoor Hills. A -former minister of Cranshaws having wooed a lass of humble rank, the -father of the lady, when consulted on the subject, said, ‘Tak’ him, -Jenny; he’s as gude deid as living!’ meaning, of course, that she would -be as well off as a widow as in the quality of a wife. - -[14] ‘The monograms of the name of our blessed lady are formed of the -letters M. A., M. R., and A. M., and these stand respectively for -Maria, Maria Regina, and Ave Maria. The letter M. was often used by -itself to express the name of the Blessed Virgin, and became a vehicle -for the most beautiful ornament and design; the letter itself being -entirely composed of emblems, with some passage from the life of our -lady in the void spaces.’—_Pugin’s Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament -and Costume_, 1844. - -[15] Keith’s History. - -[16] The New College and Assembly Hall of the (United) Free Church. - - - - -THE WEST BOW. - - THE BOWHEAD—WEIGH-HOUSE—ANDERSON’S PILLS—ORATORIES—COLONEL - GARDINER—‘BOWHEAD SAINTS’—‘THE SEIZERS’—STORY OF A JACOBITE - CANARY—MAJOR WEIR—TULZIES—THE TINKLARIAN DOCTOR—OLD - ASSEMBLY ROOM—PAUL ROMIEU—‘HE THAT THOLES OVERCOMES’—PROVOST - STEWART—DONALDSONS THE BOOKSELLERS—BOWFOOT—THE TEMPLARS’ - LANDS—THE GALLOWS STONE. - - [The West Bow has long since disappeared as a street; see note - on p. 54.] - - -In a central part of Old Edinburgh—the very Little Britain of our -city—is a curious, angular, whimsical-looking street, of great -steepness and narrowness, called the West Bow. Serving as a connection -between the Grassmarket and Lawnmarket, between the Low and the High -Town, it is of considerable fame in our city annals as a passage for -the entry of sovereigns, and the scene of the quaint ceremonials used -on those occasions. In more modern times, it has been chiefly notable -in the recollections of country-people as a nest of the peculiarly -noisy tradesmen, the white-iron smiths, which causes Robert Fergusson -to mark, as one of the features of Edinburgh deserted for a holiday: - - ‘The tinkler billies[17] o’ the Bow - Are now less eident[18] clinkin.’ - -Another remarkable circumstance connected with the street in the -popular mind is its having been the residence of the famed wizard, -Major Weir. All of these particulars serve to make it a noteworthy -sort of place, and the impression is much favoured by its actual -appearance. A perfect Z in figure, composed of tall antique houses, -with numerous dovecot-like gables projecting over the footway, full -of old inscriptions and sculpturings, presenting at every few steps -some darksome lateral profundity, into which the imagination wanders -without hindrance or exhaustion, it seems eminently a place of old -grandmothers’ tales, and sure at all times to maintain a ghost or two -in its community. When I descend into particulars, it will be seen what -grounds there truly are for such a surmise. - -To begin with - - -THE BOWHEAD. - -[Illustration: THE BOWHEAD. - -PAGE 27.] - -This is a comparatively open space, though partially straightened -again by the insertion in it of a clumsy, detached old building -called the _Weigh-house_, where enormous masses of butter and cheese -are continually getting disposed of. Prince Charles had his guard -at the Weigh-house when blockading the Castle; using, however, for -this purpose, not the house itself, but a floor of the adjacent tall -tenement in the Lawnmarket, which appears to have been selected on a -very intelligible principle, in as far as it was the deserted mansion -of one of the city clergy, the same Rev. George Logan who carried on a -controversy with Thomas Ruddiman, in which he took unfavourable views -of the title of the Stuart family to the throne, not only then, but at -any time. It was, no doubt, as an additional answer to a bad pamphlet -that the Highlanders took up their quarters at Mr Logan’s. - - -ANDERSON’S PILLS. - -In this tall _land_, dated 1690, there is a house on the second-floor -where that venerable drug, Dr Anderson’s pills, is sold, and has -been so for above a century. As is well known, the country-people in -Scotland have to this day [1824] a peculiar reverence for these pills, -which are, I believe, really a good form of aloetic medicine. They -took their origin from a physician of the time of Charles I., who gave -them his name. From his daughter, Lillias Anderson, the patent came -to a person designed Thomas Weir, who left it to his daughter. The -widow of this last person’s nephew, Mrs Irving, is now the patentee; a -lady of advanced age, who facetiously points to the very brief series -of proprietors intervening between Dr Anderson and herself, as no -inexpressive indication of the virtue of the medicine. [Mrs Irving died -in 1837, at the age of ninety-nine.] Portraits of Anderson and his -daughter are preserved in this house: the physician in a Vandyke dress, -with a book in his hand; the lady, a precise-looking dame, with a pill -in her hand about the size of a walnut, saying a good deal for the -stomachs of our ancestors. The people also show a glove which belonged -to the learned physician. - -[1868.—In 1829 Mrs Irving lived in a neat, self-contained mansion in -Chessels’s Court, in the Canongate, along with her son, General Irving, -and some members of his family. The old lady, then ninety-one, was -good enough to invite me to dinner, when I likewise found two younger -sisters of hers, respectively eighty-nine and ninety. She sat firm and -collected at the head of the table, and carved a leg of mutton with -perfect propriety. She then told me, at her son’s request, that in the -year 1745, when Prince Charles’s army was in possession of the town, -she, a child of four years, walked with her nurse to Holyrood Palace, -and seeing a Highland gentleman standing in the doorway, she went -up to him to examine his peculiar attire. She even took the liberty -of lifting up his kilt a little way; whereupon her nurse, fearing -some danger, started forward for her protection. But the gentleman -only patted her head, and said something kind to her. I felt it as -very curious to sit as guest with a person who had mingled in the -Forty-five. But my excitement was brought to a higher pitch when, -on ascending to the drawing-room, I found the general’s daughter, a -pretty young woman recently married, sitting there, dressed in a suit -of clothes belonging to one of the nonagenarian aunts—a very fine one -of flowered satin, with elegant cap and lappets, and silk shoes three -inches deep in the heel—the same having been worn by the venerable -owner just seventy years before at a Hunters’ Ball at Holyrood Palace. -The contrast between the former and the present wearer—the old lady -shrunk and taciturn, and her young representative full of life and -resplendent in joyous beauty—had an effect upon me which it would be -impossible to describe. To this day, I look upon the Chessels’s Court -dinner as one of the most extraordinary events in my life.] - -[Illustration: Chessels’s Court, Canongate.] - - -ORATORIES—COLONEL GARDINER. - -This house presents a feature which forms a curious memorial of the -manners of a past age. In common with all the houses built from -about 1690 to 1740—a substantial class, still abundant in the High -Street—there is at the end of each row of windows corresponding to -a separate mansion, a narrow slit-like window, such as might suffice -for a closet. In reality, each of these narrow apertures gives light -to a small cell—much too small to require such a window—usually -entering from the dining-room or some other principal apartment. -The use of these cells was to serve as a retreat for the master of -the house, wherein he might perform his devotions. The father of a -family was in those days a sacred kind of person, not to be approached -by wife or children too familiarly, and expected to be a priest in -his own household. Besides his family devotions, he retired to a -closet for perhaps an hour each day to utter his own prayers;[19] -and so regular was the custom that it gave rise, as we see, to this -peculiarity in house-building. Nothing could enable us more clearly -to appreciate that strong outward demonstration of religious feeling -which pervaded the nation for half a century after the agonies of ‘the -Persecution.’ I cannot help here mentioning the interest with which -I have visited Bankton House,[20] in East Lothian, where, as is well -known, Colonel Gardiner spent several years of his life. The oratory -of the pious soldier is pointed out by tradition, and it forms even a -more expressive memorial of the time than the closets in the Edinburgh -houses. Connected with a small front room, which might have been a -library or _study_, is a little recess, such as dust-pans and brooms -are kept in, consisting of the angular space formed by a stair which -passes overhead to the upper floor. This place is wholly without light, -yet it is said to have been the place sacred to poor Gardiner’s private -devotions. What leaves hardly any doubt on the matter is that there has -been a wooden bolt within, capable only of being shot from the inside, -and therefore unquestionably used by a person desiring to shut himself -in. Here, therefore, in this darksome, stifling little cell, had this -extraordinary man spent hours in those devotional exercises by which he -was so much distinguished from his class.[21] - - -BOWHEAD SAINTS—SEIZERS—A JACOBITE BLACKBIRD. - -In the latter part of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants of -the West Bow enjoyed a peculiar fame for their piety and zeal in -the Covenanting cause. The wits of the opposite faction are full of -allusions to them as ‘the Bowhead Saints,’ ‘the godly plants of the -Bowhead,’ and so forth. [This is the basis of an allusion by a later -Cavalier wit, when describing the exit of Lord Dundee from Edinburgh, -on the occasion of the settlement of the crown upon William and Mary: - - ‘As he rode down the sanctified bends of the Bow, - Ilka carline was flyting, and shaking her pow; - But some young plants of grace, that looked couthie and slie, - Said: “Luck to thy bonnet, thou bonnie Dundee!”’ - -It is to be feared that Sir Walter has here shown a relenting towards -the ‘young plants,’ for which they would not have thanked him.] All the -writings of the wits of their own time speak of the system to which -they were opposed as one of unmitigated sternness. It was in those days -a custom to patrol the streets during the time of divine service, and -take into captivity all persons found walking abroad; and indeed make -seizure of whatever could be regarded as guilty of Sabbath-breaking. -It is said that, led by a sneaking sense, the patrol one day lighted -upon a joint of meat in the course of being roasted, and made prize of -it, leaving the graceless owner to chew the spit. On another occasion, -about the year 1735, a capture of a different kind was made. ‘The -people about that time,’ says Arnot, ‘were in use to teach their birds -to chant the songs of their party. It happened that the blackbird of an -honest Jacobitical barber, which from his cage on the outside of the -window gave offence to the zealous Whigs by his songs, was neglected, -on a Saturday evening, to be brought within the house. Next morning -he tuned his pipe to the usual air, _The king shall enjoy his own -again_. One of the _seizers_, in his holy zeal, was enraged at this -manifestation of impiety and treason in one of the feathered tribe. -He went up to the house, seized the bird and the cage, and with much -solemnity lodged them in the City-Guard.’[22] Pennycook, a burgess -bard of the time, represents the officer as addressing the bird: - - ‘Had ye been taught by me, a _Bowhead saint_, - You’d sung the Solemn League and Covenant, - Bessy of Lanark, or the Last Good-night; - But you’re a bird prelatic—that’s not right.... - Oh could my baton reach the laverocks too, - They’re chirping _Jamie, Jamie_, just like you: - I hate vain birds that lead malignant lives, - But love the chanters to the Bowhead wives.’ - - -MAJOR WEIR.[23] - -[Illustration: Major Weir’s House.] - -It must have been a sad scandal to this peculiar community when -Major Weir, one of their number, was found to have been so wretched -an example of human infirmity. The house occupied by this man still -exists, though in an altered shape, in a little court accessible by -a narrow passage near the first angle of the street. His history is -obscurely reported; but it appears that he was of a good family in -Lanarkshire, and had been one of the ten thousand men sent by the -Scottish Covenanting Estates in 1641 to assist in suppressing the Irish -Papists. He became distinguished for a life of peculiar sanctity, -even in an age when that was the prevailing tone of the public mind. -According to a contemporary account: ‘His garb was still a cloak, and -somewhat dark, and he never went without his staff. He was a tall black -man, and ordinarily looked down to the ground; _a grim countenance, -and a big nose_. At length he became so notoriously regarded among the -Presbyterian strict sect, that if four met together, be sure Major -Weir was one. At private meetings he prayed to admiration, which made -many of that stamp court his converse. He never married, but lived in -a private lodging with his sister, Grizel Weir. Many resorted to his -house, to join him and hear him pray; but it was observed that he could -not officiate in any holy duty without the black staff, or rod, in his -hand, and leaning upon it, which made those who heard him pray admire -his flood in prayer, his ready extemporary expression, his heavenly -gesture; so that he was thought more angel than man, and was termed -by some of the holy sisters ordinarily _Angelical Thomas_.’ Plebeian -imaginations have since fructified regarding the staff, and crones -will still seriously tell how it could run a message to a shop for -any article which its proprietor wanted; how it could answer the door -when any one called upon its master; and that it used to be often seen -running before him, in the capacity of a link-boy, as he walked down -the Lawnmarket. - -After a life characterised externally by all the graces of devotion, -but polluted in secret by crimes of the most revolting nature, and -which little needed the addition of wizardry to excite the horror of -living men, Major Weir fell into a severe sickness, which affected his -mind so much that he made open and voluntary confession of all his -wickedness. The tale was at first so incredible that the provost, Sir -Andrew Ramsay,[24] refused for some time to take him into custody. At -length himself, his sister (partner of one of his crimes), and his -staff were secured by the magistrates, together with certain sums -of money, which were found wrapped up in rags in different parts of -the house. One of these pieces of rag being thrown into the fire by -a bailie, who had taken the whole in charge, flew up the chimney, -and made an explosion like a cannon. While the wretched man lay in -prison, he made no scruple to disclose the particulars of his guilt, -but refused to address himself to the Almighty for pardon. To every -request that he would pray, he answered in screams: ‘Torment me no -more—I am tormented enough already!’ Even the offer of a Presbyterian -clergyman, instead of an established Episcopal minister of the city, -had no effect upon him. He was tried April 9, 1670, and being found -guilty, was sentenced to be strangled and burnt between Edinburgh and -Leith. His sister, who was tried at the same time, was sentenced to be -hanged in the Grassmarket. The execution of the profligate major took -place, April 14, at the place indicated by the judge. When the rope -was about his neck, to prepare him for the fire, he was bid to say: -‘Lord, be merciful to me!’ but he answered as before: ‘Let me alone—I -will not—I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast!’ After -he had dropped lifeless in the flames, his stick was also cast into -the fire; and, ‘whatever incantation was in it,’ says the contemporary -writer already quoted,[25] ‘the persons present own that it gave rare -turnings, and was long a-burning, as also himself.’ - -The conclusion to which the humanity of the present age would come -regarding Weir—that he was mad—is favoured by some circumstances; -for instance, his answering one who asked if he had ever seen the -devil, that ‘the only feeling he ever had of him was in the dark.’ What -chiefly countenances the idea is the unequivocal lunacy of the sister. -This miserable woman confessed to witchcraft, and related, in a serious -manner, many things which could not be true. Many years before, a fiery -coach, she said, had come to her brother’s door in broad day, and a -stranger invited them to enter, and they proceeded to Dalkeith. On the -way, another person came and whispered in her brother’s ear something -which affected him; it proved to be supernatural intelligence of the -defeat of the Scotch army at Worcester, which took place that day. Her -brother’s power, she said, lay in his staff. She also had a gift for -spinning above other women, but the yarn broke to pieces in the loom. -Her mother, she declared, had been also a witch. ‘The secretest thing -that I, or any of the family could do, when once a mark appeared upon -her brow, she could tell it them, though done at a great distance.’ -This mark could also appear on her own forehead when she pleased. At -the request of the company present, ‘she put back her head-dress, and -seeming to frown, there was an exact horse-shoe shaped for nails in her -wrinkles, terrible enough, I assure you, to the stoutest beholder.’[26] -At the place of execution she acted in a furious manner, and with -difficulty could be prevented from throwing off her clothes, in order -to die, as she said, ‘with all the shame she could.’ - -The treatise just quoted makes it plain that the case of Weir and his -sister had immediately become a fruitful theme for the imaginations -of the vulgar. We there receive the following story: ‘Some few -days before he discovered himself, a gentlewoman coming from the -Castle-hill, where her husband’s niece was lying-in of a child, about -midnight perceived about the Bowhead three women in windows shouting, -laughing, and clapping their hands. The gentlewoman went forward, -till, at Major Weir’s door, there arose, as from the street, a woman -about the length of two ordinary females, and stepped forward. The -gentlewoman, not as yet excessively feared, bid her maid step on, if -by the lantern they could see what she was; but haste what they could, -this long-legged spectre was still before them, moving her body with a -vehement cachinnation and great unmeasurable laughter. At this rate the -two strove for place, till the giantess came to a narrow lane in the -Bow, commonly called the Stinking Close, into which she turning, and -the gentlewoman looking after her, perceived the close full of flaming -torches (she could give them no other name), and as if it had been a -great number of people stentoriously laughing, and gaping with tahees -of laughter. This sight, at so dead a time of night, no people being -in the windows belonging to the close, made her and her servant haste -home, declaring all that they saw to the rest of the family.’ - -For upwards of a century after Major Weir’s death, he continued to -be the bugbear of the Bow, and his house remained uninhabited. His -apparition was frequently seen at night, flitting, like a black and -silent shadow, about the street. His house, though known to be deserted -by everything human, was sometimes observed at midnight to be full of -lights, and heard to emit strange sounds, as of dancing, howling, and, -what is strangest of all, spinning. Some people occasionally saw the -major issue from the low close at midnight, mounted on a black horse -without a head, and gallop off in a whirlwind of flame. Nay, sometimes -the whole of the inhabitants of the Bow would be roused from their -sleep at an early hour in the morning by the sound as of a coach and -six, first rattling up the Lawnmarket, and then thundering down the -Bow, stopping at the head of the terrible close for a few minutes, and -then rattling and thundering back again—being neither more nor less -than Satan come in one of his best equipages to take home the major and -his sister, after they had spent a night’s leave of absence in their -terrestrial dwelling. - -About fifty years ago, when the shades of superstition began -universally to give way in Scotland, Major Weir’s house came to be -regarded with less terror by the neighbours, and an attempt was made -by the proprietor to find a person who should be bold enough to -inhabit it. Such a person was procured in William Patullo, a poor man -of dissipated habits, who, having been at one time a soldier and a -traveller, had come to disregard in a great measure the superstitions -of his native country, and was now glad to possess a house upon the -low terms offered by the landlord, at whatever risk. Upon its being -known that Major Weir’s house was about to be reinhabited, a great deal -of curiosity was felt by people of all ranks as to the result of the -experiment; for there was scarcely a native of the city who had not -felt, since his boyhood, an intense interest in all that concerned that -awful fabric, and yet remembered the numerous terrible stories which -he had heard respecting it. Even before entering upon his hazardous -undertaking, William Patullo was looked upon with a flattering sort -of interest, similar to that which we feel respecting a regiment on -the march to active conflict. It was the hope of many that he would -be the means of retrieving a valuable possession from the dominion -of darkness. But Satan soon let them know that he does not tamely -relinquish any of the outposts of his kingdom. - -On the very first night after Patullo and his spouse had taken up their -abode in the house, as the worthy couple were lying awake in their bed, -not unconscious of a certain degree of fear—a dim, uncertain light -proceeding from the gathered embers of their fire, and all being silent -around them—they suddenly saw a form like that of a calf, which came -forward to the bed, and, setting its forefeet upon the stock, looked -steadfastly at the unfortunate pair. When it had contemplated them thus -for a few minutes, to their great relief it at length took itself away, -and, slowly retiring, gradually vanished from their sight. As might -be expected, they deserted the house next morning; and for another -half-century no other attempt was made to embank this part of the world -of light from the aggressions of the world of darkness. - -It may here be mentioned that, at no very remote time, there were -several houses in the Old Town which had the credit of being haunted. -It is said there is one at this day in the Lawnmarket (a flat), which -has been shut up from time immemorial. The story goes that one night, -as preparations were making for a supper-party, something occurred -which obliged the family, as well as all the assembled guests, to -retire with precipitation, and lock up the house. From that night it -has never once been opened, nor was any of the furniture withdrawn: -the very goose which was undergoing the process of being roasted at -the time of the occurrence is still at the fire! No one knows to whom -the house belongs; no one ever inquires after it; no one living ever -saw the inside of it; it is a condemned house! There is something -peculiarly dreadful about a house under these circumstances. What -sights of horror might present themselves if it were entered! Satan is -the _ultimus hæres_ of all such unclaimed property! - -Besides the many old houses that are haunted, there are several endowed -with the simple credit of having been the scenes of murders and -suicides. Some contain rooms which had particular names commemorative -of such events, and these names, handed down as they had been from -one generation to another, usually suggested the remembrance of some -dignified Scottish families, probably the former tenants of the houses. -There is a common-stair in the Lawnmarket which was supposed to be -haunted by the ghost of a gentleman who had been mysteriously killed, -about a century ago, in open daylight, as he was ascending to his own -house: the affair was called to mind by old people on the similar -occasion of the murder of Begbie. A deserted house in Mary King’s -Close (behind the Royal Exchange) is believed by some to have met -with that fate for a very fearful reason. The inhabitants of a remote -period were, it is said, compelled to abandon it by the supernatural -appearances which took place in it on the very first night after they -had made it their residence. At midnight, as the goodman was sitting -with his wife by the fire reading his Bible, and intending immediately -to go to bed, a strange dimness which suddenly fell upon his light -caused him to raise his eyes from the book. He looked at the candle, -and saw it burning blue. Terror took possession of his frame. Turning -away his eyes, there was, directly before him, and apparently not two -yards off, the head as of a dead person, looking him straight in the -face. There was nothing but a head, though that seemed to occupy the -precise situation in regard to the floor which it might have done had -it been supported by a body of the ordinary stature. The man and his -wife fainted with terror. On awaking, darkness pervaded the room. -Presently the door opened, and in came a hand holding a candle. This -came and stood—that is, the body supposed to be attached to the hand -stood—beside the table, whilst the terrified pair saw two or three -couples of feet skip along the floor, as if dancing. The scene lasted -a short time, but vanished quite away upon the man gathering strength -to invoke the protection of Heaven. The house was of course abandoned, -and remained ever afterwards shut up. Such were grandams’ tales at no -remote period in our northern capital: - - ‘Where Learning, with his eagle eyes, - Seeks Science in her coy abode.’ - - -TULZIES. - -At the Bowhead there happened, in the year 1596, a combat between James -Johnston of Westerhall and a gentleman of the house of Somerville, -which is thus related in that curious book, the _Memorie of the -Somervilles_. - -‘The other actione wherein Westerhall was concerned happened three -years thereftir in Edinburgh, and was only personal on the same -account, betwext Westerhall and Bread (Broad) Hugh Somervill of the -Writes. This gentleman had often formerly foughten with Westerhall upon -equal termes, and being now in Edinburgh about his privat affaires, -standing at the head of the West Bow, Westerhall by accident comeing up -the same, some officious and unhappy fellow says to Westerhall: “There -is Bread Hugh Somervill of the Writes.” Whereupon Westerhall, fancying -he stood there either to waitt him, or out of contempt, he immediately -marches up with his sword drawen, and with the opening of his mouth, -crying: “Turne, villane;” he cuttes Writes in the hint head a deep and -sore wound, the foullest stroak that ever Westerhall was knoune to -give, acknowledged soe, and much regrated eftirwards by himself. Writes -finding himself strucken and wounded, seeing Westerhall (who had not -offered to double his stroak), drawes, and within a short tyme puttes -Westerhall to the defensive part; for being the taller man, and one of -the strongest of his time, with the advantage of the hill, he presses -him sore. Westerhall reteires by little, traverseing the breadth of -the Bow, to gain the advantage of the ascent, to supply the defect of -nature, being of low stature, which Writes observeing, keepes closse to -him, and beares him in front, that he might not quyte what good-fortune -and nature had given him. Thus they continued neer a quarter of ane -hour, clearing the callsay,[27] so that in all the strait Bow there -was not one to be seen without their shop doores, neither durst any man -attempt to red them, every stroak of their swords threatening present -death both to themselves and others that should come neer them. Haveing -now come from the head of the Bow neer to the foot thereof, Westerhall -being in a pair of black buites, which for ordinary he wore closse -drawen up, was quyte tyred. Therefore he stepes back within a shop -doore, and stood upon his defence. The very last stroak that Writes -gave went neer to have brocken his broad sword in peaces, haveing -hitt the lintell of the door, the marke whereof remained there a long -tyme. Thereftir, the toune being by this tyme all in ane uproar, the -halbertiers comeing to seaze upon them, they wer separated and privatly -convoyed to ther chambers. Ther wounds but slight, except that which -Writes had upon his head proved very dangerous; for ther was many bones -taken out of it; however, at lenth, he was perfectly cured, and the -parties themselves, eftir Hugh Lord Somerville’s death, reconcealled, -and all injuries forgotten.’ - -In times of civil war, personal rencontres of this kind, and even -skirmishes between bands of armed men—usually called tulzies—were of -no unfrequent occurrence upon the streets of Edinburgh. They abounded -during the troublous time of the minority of James VI. On the 24th of -November 1567, the Laird of Airth and the Laird of Wemyss met upon -the High Street, and, together with their followers, fought a bloody -battle, ‘many,’ as Birrel the chronicler reports, ‘being hurte on both -sides by shote of pistoll.’ Three days afterwards there was a strict -proclamation, forbidding ‘the wearing of guns or pistolls, or aney -sick-like fyerwork ingyne, under ye paine of death, the king’s guards -and shouldours only excepted.’ This circumstance seems to be referred -to in _The Abbot_, where the Regent Murray, in allusion to Lord -Seyton’s rencontre with the Leslies, in which Roland Græme had borne -a distinguished part, says: ‘These broils and feuds would shame the -capital of the Great Turk, let alone that of a Christian and reformed -state. But if I live, this gear shall be amended; and men shall say,’ -&c. - -On the 30th of July 1588, according to the same authority, Sir William -Stewart was slain in Blackfriars Wynd by the Earl of Bothwell [the -fifth earl], who was the most famed disturber of the public peace in -those times. The quarrel had arisen on a former occasion, on account of -some despiteful language used by Sir William, when the fiery earl vowed -the destruction of his enemy in words too shocking to be repeated; ‘sua -therafter rancountering Sir William in ye Blackfriar Wynd by chance, -told him he vold now ...; and vith yat drew his sword; Sir William -standing to hes defence, and having hes back at ye vall, ye earle mad a -thrust at him vith his raper, and strake him in at the back and out at -the belley, and killed him.’ - -Ten years thereafter, one Robert Cathcart, who had been with the Earl -of Bothwell on this occasion, though it does not appear that he took an -active hand in the murder, was slain in revenge by William Stewart, son -of the deceased, while standing inoffensively at the head of Peebles -Wynd, near the Tron. - -In June 1605, one William Thomson, a dagger-maker in the West Bow, -which was even then remarkable for iron-working handicraftsmen, was -slain by John Waterstone, a neighbour of his own, who was next day -beheaded on the Castle-hill for his crime. - -In 1640, the Lawnmarket was the scene of a personal combat between -Major Somerville, commander of the forces then in the Castle, devoted -to the Covenanting interest (a relation of Braid Hugh in the preceding -extract), and one Captain Crawfuird, which is related in the following -picturesque and interesting manner by the same writer: ‘But it would -appear this gentleman conceived his affront being publict, noe -satisfactione acted in a private way could save his honour; therefore -to repair the same, he resolves to challange and fight Somervill upon -the High Street of Edenburgh, and at such a tyme when ther should be -most spectators. In order to this designe, he takes the occasione, as -this gentleman was betwext ten and eleven hours in the foirnoon hastily -comeing from the Castle (haveing been then sent for to the Committie of -Estates and General Leslie anent some important busines), to assault -him in this manner; Somervill being past the Weigh-house, Captaine -Crawfuird observeing him, presentlie steps into a high chope upon the -south side of the Landmercat, and there layes by his cloak, haveing a -long broad sword and a large Highland durke by his side; he comes up to -Somervill, and without farder ceremonie sayes: “If you be a pretty man, -draw your sword;” and with that word pulles out his oune sword with -the dagger. Somervill at first was somewhat stertled at the impudence -and boldnesse of the man that durst soe openly and avowedly assault -him, being in publict charge, and even then on his duty. But his honour -and present preservatione gave him noe tyme to consult the conveniency -or inconveniency he was now under, either as to his present charge or -disadvantage of weapons, haveing only a great kaine staff[28] in his -hand, which for ordinary he walked still with, and that same sword -which Generall Rivane had lately gifted him, being a half-rapper sword -backed, hinging in a shoulder-belt far back, as the fashion was then, -he was forced to guaird two or three strokes with his kaine before he -got out his sword, which being now drawne, he soon puts his adversary -to the defencive part, by bearing up soe close to him, and putting home -his thrusts, that the captaine, for all his courage and advantage of -weapons, was forced to give back, having now much adoe to parie the -redoubled thrusts that Somervill let in at him, being now agoeing. - -‘The combat (for soe in effect it was, albeit accidental) begane about -the midle of the Landmercat. Somervill drives doune the captaine, still -fighting, neer to the goldsmiths’ chops, where, fearing to be nailled -to the boords (these chops being then all of timber), he resolved by -ane notable blow to revenge all his former affronts; makeing thairfor a -fent, as if he had designed at Somervill’s right side, haveing parried -his thrust with his dagger, he suddenly turnes his hand, and by a -back-blow with his broadsword he thought to have hamshekelled[29] him -in one, if not both of his legges, which Somervill only prevented by -nimbly leaping backward at the tyme, interposeing the great kaine that -was in his left hand, which was quyte cut through with the violence of -the blow. And now Providence soe ordered it, that the captaine missing -his mark, overstrake himself soe far, that in tyme he could not recover -his sword to a fit posture of defence, untill Somervill, haveing beaten -up the dagger that was in the captaine’s left hand with the remaineing -part of his oune stick, he instantly closes with him, and with the -pummil of his sword he instantly strikes him doune to the ground, where -at first, because of his baseness, he was mynded to have nailled him -to the ground, but that his heart relented, haveing him in his mercy. -And att that same instant ther happened several of his oune soulders -to come in, who wer soe incensed, that they wer ready to have cut the -poor captaine all in pieces, if he had not rescued him out of theire -hands, and saw him safely convoyed to prisone, where he was layd in -the irones, and continued in prisone in a most miserable and wretched -condition somewhat more than a year.’[30] - - -THE TINKLARIAN DOCTOR. - -In the early part of the last century, the Bowhead was distinguished as -the residence of an odd, half-crazy varlet of a tinsmith named William -Mitchell, who occasionally held forth as a preacher, and every now -and then astounded the quiet people of Edinburgh with some pamphlet -full of satirical personalities. He seems to have been altogether a -strange mixture of fanaticism, humour, and low cunning. In one of his -publications—a single broadside, dated 1713—he has a squib upon the -magistrates, in the form of a _leit_, or list, of a new set, whom he -proposes to introduce in their stead. At the end he sets forward a -claim on his own behalf, no less than that of representing the city in -parliament. In another of his prose pieces he gives a curious account -of a journey which he made into France, where, he affirms, ‘the king’s -court is six times bigger than the king of Britain’s; his guards have -all feathers in their hats, and their horse-tails are to their heels; -and their king [Louis XV.] is one of the best-favoured boys that -you can look upon—blithe-like, with black hair; and all his people -are better natured in general than the Scots or English, except the -priests. Their women seem to be modest, for they have no fardingales. -The greatest wonder I saw in France, was to see the braw people fall -down on their knees on the clarty ground when the priest comes by, -carrying the cross, to give a sick person the sacrament.’ - -The Tinklarian Doctor, for such was his popular appellation, appears to -have been fully acquainted with an ingenious expedient, long afterwards -held in view by publishers of juvenile toy-books. As in certain sage -little histories of Tommy and Harry, King Pepin, &c., we are sure -to find that ‘the good boy who loved his lessons’ always bought his -books from ‘kind, good, old Mr J. Newberry, at the corner of St Paul’s -Churchyard, where the greatest assortment of nice books for good boys -and girls is always to be had’—so in the works of Mr Mitchell we find -some sly encomium upon the Tinklarian Doctor constantly peeping forth; -and in the pamphlet from which the above extract is made, he is not -forgetful to impress his professional excellence as a whitesmith. -‘I have,’ he says, ‘a good pennyworth of pewter spoons, fine, like -silver—none such made in Edinburgh—and silken pocks for wigs, and -French white pearl-beads; all to be sold for little or nothing.’ _Vide_ -‘A part of the works of that Eminent Divine and Historian, Dr William -Mitchell, Professor of Tinklarianism in the University of the BOWHEAD; -being a Syze of Divinity, Humanity, History, Philosophy, Law, and -Physick; Composed at Various Occasions for his own Satisfaction and the -World’s Illumination.’ In his works—all of which were adorned with a -cut of the Mitchell arms—he does not scruple to make the personages -whom he introduces speak of himself as a much wiser man than the -Archbishop of Canterbury, all the clergymen of his native country, and -even the magistrates of Edinburgh! One of his last productions was -a pamphlet on the murder of Captain Porteous, which he concludes by -saying, in the true spirit of a Cameronian martyr: ‘If the king and -clergy gar hang me for writing this, I’m content, because it is long -since any man was hanged for religion.’ The learned Tinklarian was -destined, however, to die in his bed—an event which came to pass in -the year 1740. - -The profession of which the Tinklarian Doctor subscribed himself -a member has long been predominant in the West Bow. We see from a -preceding extract that it reckoned dagger-makers among its worthy -denizens in the reign of James VI. But this trade has long been -happily extinct everywhere in Scotland; though their less formidable -brethren the whitesmiths, coppersmiths, and pewterers have continued -down to our own day to keep almost unrivalled possession of the Bow. -Till within these few years, there was scarcely a shop in this street -occupied by other tradesmen; and it might be supposed that the noise -of so many hammermen, pent up in a narrow thoroughfare, would be -extremely annoying to the neighbourhood. Yet however disagreeable their -clattering might seem to strangers, it is generally admitted that the -people who lived in the West Bow became habituated to the noise, and -felt no inconvenience whatever from its ceaseless operation upon their -ears. Nay, they rather experienced inconvenience from its cessation, -and only felt annoyed when any period of rest arrived and stopped it. -Sunday morning, instead of favouring repose, made them restless; and -when they removed to another part of the town, beyond the reach of -the sound, sleep was unattainable in the morning for some weeks, till -they got accustomed to the quiescence of their new neighbourhood. An -old gentleman once told me that, having occasion in his youth to lodge -for a short time in the West Bow, he found the incessant clanking -extremely disagreeable, and at last entered into a paction with some -of the workmen in his immediate neighbourhood, who promised to let him -have another hour of quiet sleep in the mornings for the consideration -of some such matter as half-a-crown to drink on Saturday night. The -next day happening (out of his knowledge) to be some species of Saint -Monday, his annoyers did not work at all; but such was the force of a -habit acquired even in a week or little more, that our friend awoke -precisely at the moment when the hammers used to commence; and he was -glad to get his bargain cancelled as soon as possible, for fear of -another morning’s want of disturbance. - - -OLD ASSEMBLY-ROOM. - -At the first angle of the Bow, on the west side of the street, is a -tall picturesque-looking house, which tradition points to as having -been the first place where the fashionables of Edinburgh held their -dancing assemblies. Over the door is a well-cut sculpture of the arms -of the Somerville family, together with the initials P. J. and J. -W., and the date 1602. These are memorials of the original owner of -the mansion, a certain Peter Somerville, a wealthy citizen, at one -time filling a dignified situation in the magistracy, and father of -Bartholomew Somerville, who was a noted benefactor to the then infant -university of Edinburgh. The architrave also bears a legend (the title -of the eleventh psalm): - - IN DOMINO CONFIDO. - -Ascending by the narrow spiral stair, we come to the second floor, now -occupied by a dealer in wool, but presenting such appearances as leave -no doubt that it once consisted of a single lofty wainscoted room, with -a carved oak ceiling. Here, then, did the fair ladies whom Allan Ramsay -and William Hamilton celebrate meet for the recreation of dancing with -their toupeed and deep-skirted beaux. There in that little side-room, -formed by an _outshot_ from the building, did the merry sons of Euterpe -retire to _rosin their bows_ during the intervals of the performance. -Alas! dark are the walls which once glowed with festive light; burdened -is that floor, not with twinkling feet, but with the most sluggish of -inanimate substances. And as for the fiddlers-room—enough: - - ‘A merry place it was in days of yore, - But something ails it now—the place is cursed.’[31] - -[Illustration: Old Assembly-Room.] - -Dancing, although said to be a favourite amusement and exercise of the -Scottish people, has always been discountenanced, more or less, in the -superior circles of society, or only indulged after a very abstemious -and rigid fashion, until a comparatively late age. Everything that -could be called public or promiscuous amusement was held in abhorrence -by the Presbyterians, and only struggled through a desultory and -degraded existence by the favour of the Jacobites, who have always -been a less strait-laced part of the community. Thus there was nothing -like a conventional system of dancing in Edinburgh till the year 1710, -when at length a private association was commenced under the name of -‘the Assembly;’ and probably its first quarters were in this humble -domicile. The persecution which it experienced from rigid thinkers and -the uninstructed populace of that age would appear to have been very -great. On one occasion, we are told, the company were assaulted by an -infuriated rabble, and the door of their hall perforated with red-hot -spits.[32] Allan Ramsay, who was the friend of all amusements, which -he conceived to tend only to cheer this sublunary scene of care, thus -alludes to the Assembly: - - ‘Sic as against the Assembly speak, - The rudest sauls betray, - When matrons noble, wise, and meek, - Conduct the healthfu’ play; - Where they appear nae vice daur keek, - But to what’s guid gies way, - Like night, sune as the morning creek - Has ushered in the day. - - Dear E’nburgh, shaw thy gratitude, - And o’ sic friends mak sure, - Wha strive to mak our minds less rude, - And help our wants to cure; - Acting a generous part and guid, - In bounty to the poor: - Sic virtues, if right understood, - Should every heart allure.’ - -We can easily see from this, and other symptoms, that the Assembly -had to make many sacrifices to the spirit which sought to abolish it. -In reality, the dancing was conducted under such severe rules as to -render the whole affair more like a night at La Trappe than anything -else. So lately as 1753, when the Assembly had fallen under the control -of a set of directors, and was much more of a public affair than -formerly, we find Goldsmith giving the following graphic account of its -meetings in a letter to a friend in his own country. The author of the -_Deserted Village_ was now studying the medical profession, it must be -recollected, at the university of Edinburgh: - -‘Let me say something of their balls, which are very frequent here. -When a stranger enters the dancing-hall, he sees one end of the room -taken up with the ladies, who sit dismally in a group by themselves; -on the other end stand their pensive partners that are to be; but no -more intercourse between the sexes than between two countries at war. -The ladies, indeed, may ogle, and the gentlemen sigh, but an embargo is -laid upon any closer commerce. At length, to interrupt hostilities, the -lady-directress, intendant, or what you will, pitches on a gentleman -and a lady to walk a minuet, which they perform with a formality -approaching to despondence. After five or six couple have thus walked -the gauntlet, all stand up to country-dances, each gentleman furnished -with a partner from the aforesaid lady-directress. So they dance much, -and say nothing, and thus concludes our Assembly. I told a Scotch -gentleman that such a profound silence resembled the ancient procession -of the Roman matrons in honour of Ceres; and the Scotch gentleman told -me (and, faith, I believe he was right) that I was a very great pedant -for my pains.’ - -In the same letter, however, Goldsmith allows the beauty of the women -and the good-breeding of the men. - -It may add to the curiosity of the whole affair, that when the Assembly -was reconstituted in February 1746, after several years of cessation, -the first of a set of regulations hung up in the hall[33] was: ‘_No -lady to be admitted in a night-gown, and no gentleman in boots_.’ The -eighth rule was: ‘No misses in skirts and jackets, robe-coats, nor -stay-bodied gowns, to be allowed to dance in country-dances, but in a -sett by themselves.’ - -In all probability it was in this very dingy house that Goldsmith -beheld the scene he has so well described. At least it appears that the -improved Assembly Room in Bell’s Wynd (which has latterly served as a -part of the accommodations of the Commercial Bank) was not built till -1766.[34] Arnot, in his _History of Edinburgh_, describes the Assembly -Room in Bell’s Wynd as very inconvenient, which was the occasion of the -present one being built in George Street in 1784. - - -PAUL ROMIEU. - -At this angle of the Bow the original city-wall crossed the line of the -street, and there was, accordingly, a gate at this spot,[35] of which -the only existing memorial is one of the hooks for the suspension of -the hinges, fixed in the front wall of a house, at the height of about -five feet from the ground. It is from the arch forming this gateway -that the street takes its name, _bow_ being an old word for an arch. -The house immediately _without_ this ancient port, on the east side of -the street, was occupied, about the beginning of the last century, and -perhaps at an earlier period, by Paul Romieu, an eminent watchmaker, -supposed to have been one of the French refugees driven over to this -country in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This -is the more likely, as he seems, from the workmanship of his watches, -to have been a contemporary of Tompion, the famous London horologist -of the reign of Charles II. In the front of the house, upon the third -story, there is still to be seen the remains of a curious piece of -mechanism—namely, a gilt ball representing the moon, which was made to -revolve by means of a clock.[36] - - -‘HE THAT THOLES OVERCOMES.’ - -Pursuing our way down the steep and devious street, we pass an antique -wooden-faced house, bearing the odd name of the _Mahogany Land_, -and just before turning the second corner, pause before a stone one -of equally antiquated structure,[37] having a wooden-screened outer -stair. Over the door at the head of this stair is a legend in very old -lettering—certainly not later than 1530—and hardly to be deciphered. -With difficulty we make it out to be: - - HE YT THOLIS OVERCVMMIS. - -_He that tholes_ (that is, bears) _overcomes_; equivalent to what -Virgil says: - - ‘Quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.’ - - _Æneid_, v. - -We may safely speculate on this inscription being antecedent in date to -the Reformation, as after that period merely moral apothegms were held -in little regard, and none but biblical inscriptions were actually put -upon the fronts of houses. - -[Illustration: Mahogany Land, West Bow.] - -On the other side of the street is a small shop (marked No. 69), now -occupied by a dealer in small miscellaneous wares,[38] and which was, -a hundred years ago, open for a nearly similar kind of business, under -the charge of a Mrs Jeffrey. When, on the night of the 7th September -1736, the rioters hurried their victim Porteous down the West Bow, with -the design of executing him in the Grassmarket, they called at this -shop to provide themselves with a rope. The woman asked if it was to -hang Porteous, and when they answered in the affirmative, she told them -they were welcome to all she had of that article. They coolly took -off what they required, and laid a guinea on the counter as payment; -ostentatious to mark that they ‘did all in honour.’ - - -PROVOST STEWART’S HOUSE—DONALDSONS THE BOOKSELLERS. - -The upper floors of the house which looks down into the Grassmarket -formed the mansion of Mr Archibald Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh -in 1745. This is an abode of singular structure and arrangements, -having its principal access by a close out of another street, and -only a postern one into the Bow, and being full of curious little -wainscoted rooms, concealed closets, and secret stairs. In one -apartment there is a cabinet, or what appears a cabinet, about three -feet high: this, when cross-examined, turns out to be the mask of a -trap-stair. Only a smuggler, one would think, or a gentleman conducting -treasonable negotiations, could have bethought him of building such a -house. Whether Provost Stewart, who was a thorough Jacobite, was the -designer of these contrivances, I cannot tell; but fireside gossip -used to have a strange story as to his putting his trap-stair to use -on one important occasion. It was said that, during the occupation of -Edinburgh by the Highland army in ’45, his lordship was honoured one -evening with a secret visit from the Prince and some of his principal -officers. The situation was critical, for close by was the line between -the Highland guards and the beleaguered environs of the Castle. -Intelligence of the Prince’s movements being obtained by the governor -of the fortress, a party was sent to seize him in the provost’s house. -They made their approach by the usual access from the Castle-hill -Street; but an alarm preceded them, and before they obtained admission, -the provost’s visitors had vanished through the mysterious cabinet, and -made their exit by the back-door. What real foundation there may have -been for this somewhat wild-looking story I do not pretend to say. - -The house was at a subsequent time the residence of Alexander Donaldson -the bookseller, whose practice of reprinting modern English books in -Edinburgh, and his consequent litigation with the London booksellers, -attracted much attention sixty years since. Printing and publishing -were in a low state in Edinburgh before the time of Donaldson. In -the frank language of Hugo Arnot: ‘The printing of newspapers and of -school-books, of the fanatick effusions of Presbyterian clergymen, and -the law papers of the Court of Session, joined to the patent Bible -printing, gave a scanty employment to four printing-offices.’ About -the middle of the century, the English law of copyright not extending -to Scotland, some of the booksellers began to reprint the productions -of the English authors of the day; for example, the _Rambler_ was -regularly reproduced in this manner in Edinburgh, with no change but -the addition of English translations of the Latin mottoes, which were -supplied by Mr James Elphinstone. From this and minor causes, it came -to pass that, in 1779, there were twenty-seven printing-offices in -Edinburgh. The most active man in this trade was Alexander Donaldson, -who likewise reprinted in Edinburgh, and sold in London, English books -of which the author’s fourteen years’ copyright had expired, and which -were then only protected by a usage of the London trade, rendering it -dishonourable as between man and man, among themselves, to reprint a -book which had hitherto been the assigned property of one of their -number. Disregarding the rule of his fraternity, Donaldson set up a -shop in the Strand for the sale of his cheap Edinburgh editions of the -books of expired copyright. They met an immense sale, and proved of -obvious service to the public, especially to those of limited means; -though, as Johnson remarked, this made Donaldson ‘no better than Robin -Hood, who robbed the rich in order to give to the poor.’ In reality, -the London booksellers had no right beyond one of class sentiment, -and this was fully found when they wrestled with Mr Donaldson at law. -Waiving all question on this point, Donaldson may be considered as a -sort of morning-star of that reformation which has resulted in the -universal cheapening of literary publications. Major Topham, in 1775, -speaks of a complete set of the English classics which he was bringing -out, ‘in a very handsome binding,’ at the rate of one and sixpence a -volume! - -[Donaldson, in 1763, started a twice-a-week newspaper under the name of -the _Edinburgh Advertiser_, which was for a long course of years the -prominent journal on the Conservative side, and eminently lucrative, -chiefly through its multitude of advertisements. All his speculations -being of a prosperous nature, he acquired considerable wealth, which -he left to his son, the late Mr James Donaldson, by whom the newspaper -was conducted for many years. James added largely to his wealth by -successful speculations in the funds, where he held so large a sum -that the rise of a per cent. made him a thousand pounds richer than he -had been the day before. Prompted by the example of Heriot and Watson, -and partly, perhaps, by that modification of egotism which makes -us love to be kept in the remembrance of future generations, James -Donaldson, at his death in 1830, devoted the mass of his fortune—about -£240,000—for the foundation of a _hospital_ for the maintenance and -education of poor children of both sexes; and a structure for the -purpose was erected, on a magnificent plan furnished by Mr Playfair, at -an expense, it is said, of about £120,000. - -The old house in the West Bow—which was possessed by both of these -remarkable men in succession, and the scene of their entertainments to -the literary men of the last age, with some of whom Alexander Donaldson -lived on terms of intimacy—stood unoccupied for several years before -1824, when it was burnt down. New buildings now occupy its site.] - - -TEMPLARS’ LANDS. - -We have now arrived at the _Bow-foot_, about which there is nothing -remarkable to be told, except that here, and along one side of the -Grassmarket, are several houses marked by a cross on some conspicuous -part—either an actual iron cross, or one represented in sculpture. -This seems a strange circumstance in a country where it was even -held doubtful, twenty years ago, whether one could be placed as an -ornament on the top of a church tower. The explanation is that these -houses were built upon lands originally the property of the Knights -Templars, and the cross has ever since been kept up upon them, not -from any veneration for that ancient society, neither upon any kind -of religious ground; the sole object has been to fix in remembrance -certain legal titles and privileges which have been transmitted into -secular hands from that source, and which are to this day productive of -solid benefits. A hundred years ago, the houses thus marked were held -as part of the barony of Drem in Haddingtonshire, the baron of which -used to hold courts in them occasionally; and here were harboured many -persons not free of the city corporations, to the great annoyance of -the adherents of local monopoly. At length, the abolition of heritable -jurisdictions in 1747 extinguished this little barony, but not -certain other legal rights connected with the _Templar Lands_, which, -however, it might be more troublesome to explain than advantageous -to know. - -[Illustration: GRASSMARKET -from west end of Cowgate. - -PAGE 50.] - - -THE GALLOWS STONE. - -In a central situation at the east end of the Grassmarket, there -remained till very lately a massive block of sandstone, having a -quadrangular hole in the middle, being the stone which served as a -socket for the gallows, when this was the common place of execution. -Instead of the stone, there is now only a St Andrew’s cross, indicated -by an arrangement of the paving-stones. - -This became the regular scene of executions after the Restoration, and -so continued till the year 1784. Hence arises the sense of the Duke of -Rothes’s remark when a Covenanting prisoner proved obdurate: ‘Then e’en -let him glorify God in the Grassmarket!’—the deaths of that class of -victims being always signalised by psalm-singing on the scaffold. Most -of the hundred persons who suffered for that cause in Edinburgh during -the reigns of Charles II. and James II. breathed their last pious -aspirations at this spot; but several of the most notable, including -the Marquis and Earl of Argyll, were executed at the Cross. - -As a matter of course, this was the scene of the Porteous riot in 1736, -and of the subsequent murder of Porteous by the mob. The rioters, -wishing to despatch him as near to the place of his alleged crime as -possible, selected for the purpose a dyer’s pole which stood on the -south side of the street, exactly opposite to the gallows stone. - -Some of the Edinburgh executioners have been so far notable men as -to be the subject of traditionary fame. In the reign of Charles II., -Alexander Cockburn, the hangman of Edinburgh, and who must have -officiated at the exits of many of the ‘martyrs’ in the Grassmarket, -was found guilty of the murder of a bluegown, or privileged beggar, and -accordingly suffered that fate which he had so often meted out to other -men. One Mackenzie, the hangman of Stirling, whom Cockburn had traduced -and endeavoured to thrust out of office, was the triumphant executioner -of the sentence. - -Another Edinburgh hangman of this period was a reduced gentleman, -the last of a respectable family who had possessed an estate in the -neighbourhood of Melrose. He had been a profligate in early life, -squandered the whole of his patrimony, and at length, for the sake -of subsistence, was compelled to accept this wretched office, which -in those days must have been unusually obnoxious to popular odium, -on account of the frequent executions of innocent and religious men. -Notwithstanding his extreme degradation, this unhappy reprobate could -not altogether forget his original station and his former tastes and -habits. He would occasionally resume the garb of a gentleman, and -mingle in the parties of citizens who played at golf in the evenings on -Bruntsfield Links. Being at length recognised, he was chased from the -ground with shouts of execration and loathing, which affected him so -much that he retired to the solitude of the King’s Park, and was next -day found dead at the bottom of a precipice, over which he was supposed -to have thrown himself in despair. This rock was afterwards called the -_Hangman’s Craig_. - -In the year 1700, when the Scottish people were in a state of great -excitement on account of the interference of the English government -against their expedition to Darien, some persons were apprehended for -a riot in the city of Edinburgh, and sentenced to be whipped and put -upon the pillory. As these persons had acted under the influence of -the general feeling, they excited the sympathy of the people in an -extraordinary degree, and even the hangman was found to have scruples -about the propriety of punishing them. Upon the pillory they were -presented with flowers and wine; and when arrayed for flagellation, the -executioner made a mere mockery of his duty, never once permitting his -whip to touch their backs. The magistrates were very indignant at the -conduct of their servant, and sentenced him to be scourged in his turn. -However, when the Haddington executioner was brought to officiate upon -his metropolitan brother, he was so much frightened by the threatening -aspect of the mob that he thought it prudent to make his escape -through a neighbouring alley. The laugh was thus turned against the -magistrates, who, it was said, would require to get a third executioner -to punish the Haddington man. They prudently dropped the whole matter. - -At a somewhat later period, the Edinburgh official was a man named John -Dalgleish. He it was who acted at the execution of Wilson the smuggler -in 1736, and who is alluded to so frequently in the tale of the _Heart -of Mid-Lothian_. Dalgleish, I have heard, was esteemed, before his -taking up this office, as a person in creditable circumstances. He is -memorable for one pithy saying. Some one asking him how he contrived in -whipping a criminal to adjust the weight of his arm, on which, it is -obvious, much must depend: ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘I lay on the lash according -to my conscience.’ Either Jock, or some later official, was remarked to -be a regular _hearer_ at the Tolbooth Church. As no other person would -sit in the same seat, he always had a pew to himself. He regularly -communicated; but here the exclusiveness of his fellow-creatures also -marked itself, and the clergyman was obliged to serve a separate table -for the hangman, after the rest of the congregation had retired from -the church. - -The last Edinburgh executioner of whom any particular notice has been -taken by the public was John High, commonly called Jock Heich, who -acceded to the office in the year 1784, and died so lately as 1817. -High had been originally induced to undertake this degrading duty in -order to escape the punishment due to a petty offence—that of stealing -poultry. I remember him living in his official mansion in a lane -adjoining to the Cowgate—a small wretched-looking house, assigned by -the magistrates for the residence of this race of officers, and which -has only been removed within the last few years, to make way for the -extension of the buildings of the Parliament Square. He had then a -second wife, whom he used to beat unmercifully. Since Jock’s days, no -executioner has been so conspicuous as to be known by name. The fame of -the occupation seems somehow to have departed. - - * * * * * - -I have now finished my account of the West Bow; a most antiquated -place, yet not without its virtues even as to matters of the present -day. Humble as the street appears, many of its shopkeepers and other -inhabitants are of a very respectable character. Bankruptcies are said -to be very rare in the Bow. Most of the traders are of old standing, -and well-to-do in the world; few but what are the proprietors of -their own shops and dwellings, which, in such a community, indicates -something like wealth. The smarter and more dashing men of Princes -Street and the Bridges may smile at their homely externals and darksome -little places of business, or may not even pay them the compliment -of thinking of them at all; yet, while they boast not of their -‘warerooms,’ or their troops of ‘young men,’ or their plate-glass -windows, they at least feel no apprehension from the approach of -rent-day, and rarely experience tremulations on the subject of bills. -Perhaps, if strict investigation were made, the ‘bodies’ of the Bow -could show more comfortable balances at the New Year than at least a -half of the sublime men who pay an income by way of rental in George -Street. Not one of them but is respectfully known by a good sum on the -creditor side at Sir William Forbes’s; not one but can stand at his -shop-door, with his hands in his pockets and his hat on, not unwilling, -it may be, to receive custom, yet not liable to be greatly distressed -if the customer go by. Such, perhaps, were shopkeepers in the golden -age![39] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[17] Fellows. - -[18] Busy. - -[19] Not improbably this was done in a spirit of literal obedience to -the injunction (Matthew vi. 6): ‘Thou, when thou prayest, enter into -thy closet.’ Commentators on this passage mention that every Jewish -house had a place of secret devotion built over the porch. - -[20] When Colonel Gardiner occupied it the house was known as Olive -Bank. It was later changed to Bankton House by Andrew Macdowall, who, -when raised to the Bench in 1755, took the title of Lord Bankton. - -[21] Bankton House has been burned down and rebuilt since this was -written. - -[22] _History of Edinburgh_, p. 205, note. - -[23] Before Major Weir took up house in the West Bow he is said to have -lodged in the Cowgate, where he had as a fellow-lodger the fanatic -Mitchell (Ravaillac _redivivus_), who attempted to shoot Archbishop -Sharpe. - -[24] Sir Andrew Ramsay was provost of the city, first from 1654 till -1657, and then continuously for eleven years, 1662-73. It was he -who obtained from the king the title of Lord Provost for the chief -magistrate, and secured precedence for him next to the Lord Mayor of -London. - -[25] The Rev. Mr Frazer, minister of Wardlaw, in his _Divine -Providences_ (MS. Adv. Lib.), dated 1670. - -[26] _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered._ - -[27] The causeway. A skirmish fought between the Hamiltons and -Douglases, upon the High Street of Edinburgh, in the year 1515, was -popularly termed _Cleanse the Causeway_. - -[28] Cane. - -[29] Hamstringed. - -[30] _Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. p. 271. - -[31] This house was demolished in 1836. - -[32] Jackson’s _History of the Stage_, p. 418. - -[33] See _Notes from the Records of the Assembly Rooms of Edinburgh_. -Edinburgh: 1842. In the eighteenth century a lady’s ‘night-gown’ was a -special kind of evening-dress, often of silk brocade, &c., other than -full dress; and a gentleman’s night-gown was a dressing-gown, not a -bed-garment. - -[34] It was a ball in the room of the Old Assembly Close building -which Goldsmith describes in the letter quoted, and in which public -assemblies were revived in 1746. The new rooms in Bell’s Wynd were -opened in 1756. - -[35] Called the ‘Ovir Bow Port.’ It stood about the line of the present -Victoria Terrace. - -[36] This house was demolished in 1835, to make way for a passage -towards George IV. Bridge. - -[37] Taken down in 1839. - -[38] Demolished in 1833. - -[39] The narrow, crooked West Bow, descending very steeply from the -Lawnmarket to the Grassmarket, has been almost wholly obliterated by -Victoria Street, a comparatively wide and gradually sloping street -which crosses the line of the old West Bow from George IV. Bridge. -Victoria Street was built in 1835-40; and only a few houses on one side -of the head of the Bow still stand, and these have been rebuilt. - - - - -JAMES’S COURT. - - DAVID HUME—JAMES BOSWELL—LORD FOUNTAINHALL. - - -James’s Court, a well-known pile of building of great altitude at -the head of the Earthen Mound, was erected about 1725-27 by James -Brownhill,[40] a joiner, as a speculation, and was for some years -regarded as the _quartier_ of greatest dignity and importance in -Edinburgh. The inhabitants, who were all persons of consequence in -society, although each had but a single floor of four or five rooms and -a kitchen, kept a clerk to record their names and proceedings, had a -scavenger of their own, clubbed in many public measures, and had balls -and parties among themselves exclusively. In those days it must have -been quite a step in life when a man was able to fix his family in one -of the _flats_ of James’s Court. - -Amongst the many notables who have harboured here, only two or three -can be said to have preserved their notability till our day, the chief -being David Hume and James Boswell. - -[Illustration: Riddel’s Land, Lawnmarket.] - - -DAVID HUME. - -The first fixed residence of David Hume in Edinburgh appears to have -been in _Riddel’s Land_, Lawnmarket, near the head of the West Bow. -He commenced housekeeping there in 1751, when, according to his own -account, he ‘removed from the country to the town, the true scene for a -man of letters.’ It was while in Riddel’s Land that he published his -_Political Discourses_, and obtained the situation of librarian to the -Faculty of Advocates. In this place also he commenced the writing of -his _History of England_. He dates from Riddel’s Land in January 1753, -but in June we find him removed to _Jack’s Land_,[41] a somewhat airier -situation in the Canongate, where he remained for nine years. Excepting -only the small portion composed in the Lawnmarket mansion, the whole -of the _History of England_ was written in Jack’s Land; a fact which -will probably raise some interest respecting that locality. It is, in -reality, a plain, middle-aged fabric, of no particular appearance, and -without a single circumstance of a curious nature connected with it, -besides the somewhat odd one that the continuator of the _History_, -Smollett, lived, some time after, in his sister’s house precisely -opposite. - -[Illustration: Jack’s Land, Canongate.] - -Hume removed at Whitsunday 1762 to a house which he purchased in -James’s Court—the eastern portion of the third floor in the west -stair (counting from the level of the court). This was such a step -as a man would take in those days as a consequence of improvement in -his circumstances. The philosopher had lived in James’s Court but a -short time, when he was taken to France as secretary to the embassy. -In his absence, which lasted several years, his house was occupied -by Dr Blair, who here had a son of the Duke of Northumberland as a -pupil. It is interesting to find Hume, some time after, writing to his -friend Dr Ferguson from the midst of the gaieties of Paris: ‘I am -sensible that I am misplaced, and I wish twice or thrice a day for _my -easy-chair and my retreat in James’s Court_.’ Then he adds a beautiful -sentiment: ‘Never think, dear Ferguson, that as long as you are master -of your own fireside and your own time, you can be unhappy, or that -any other circumstance can add to your enjoyment.’[42] In one of his -letters to Blair he speaks minutely of his house: ‘Never put a fire in -the south room with the red paper. It was so warm of itself that all -last winter, which was a very severe one, I lay with a single blanket; -and frequently, upon coming in at midnight starving with cold, have -sat down and read for an hour, as if I had had a stove in the room.’ -From 1763 till 1766 he lived in high diplomatic situations at Paris; -and thinking to settle there for life, for the sake of the agreeable -society, gave orders to sell his house in Edinburgh. He informs us, -in a letter to the Countess de Boufflers (_General Correspondence_, -4to, 1820, p. 231), that he was prevented by a singular accident -from carrying his intention into effect. After writing a letter to -Edinburgh for the purpose of disposing of his house, and leaving it -with his Parisian landlord, he set out to pass his Christmas with -the Countess de Boufflers at L’Isle Adam; but being driven back by a -snowstorm, which blocked up the roads, he found on his return that the -letter had not been sent to the post-house. More deliberate thoughts -then determined him to keep up his Edinburgh mansion, thinking that, -if any affairs should call him to his native country, ‘it would be -very inconvenient not to have a house to retire to.’ On his return, -therefore, in 1766, he re-entered into possession of his _flat_ in -James’s Court, but was soon again called from it by an invitation -from Mr Conway to be an under-secretary of state. At length, in 1769, -he returned permanently to his native city, in possession of what he -thought opulence—a thousand a year. We find him immediately writing -from his retreat in James’s Court to his friend Adam Smith, then -commencing his great work _On the Wealth of Nations_ in the quiet of -his mother’s house at Kirkcaldy: ‘I am glad to have come within sight -of you, and to have a view of Kirkcaldy from my windows; but I wish -also to be within speaking-terms of you,’ &c. To another person he -writes: ‘I live still, and must for a twelvemonth, in my old house in -James’s Court, which is very cheerful, and even elegant, but too small -to display my great talent for cookery, the science to which I intend -to addict the remaining years of my life!’ - -Hume now built a superior house for himself in the New Town, which was -then little beyond its commencement, selecting a site adjoining to St -Andrew Square. The superintendence of this work was an amusement to -him. A story is related in more than one way regarding the manner in -which a denomination was conferred upon the street in which this house -is situated. Perhaps, if it be premised that a corresponding street at -the other angle of St Andrew Square is called _St Andrew Street_—a -natural enough circumstance with reference to the square, whose title -was determined on in the plan—it will appear likely that the choosing -of ‘St David Street’ for that in which Hume’s house stood was not -originally designed as a jest at his expense, though a second thought, -and the whim of his friends, might quickly give it that application. -The story, as told by Mr Burton, is as follows: ‘When the house was -built and inhabited by Hume, but while yet the street of which it was -the commencement had no name, a witty young lady, daughter of Baron -Ord, chalked on the wall the words, ST DAVID STREET. The allusion was -very obvious. Hume’s “lass,” judging that it was not meant in honour or -reverence, ran into the house much excited, to tell her master how he -was made game of. “Never mind, lassie,” he said, “many a better man has -been made a saint of before.”’ - -That Hume was a native of Edinburgh is well known. One could wish -to know the spot of his birth; but it is not now perhaps possible -to ascertain it. The nearest approach made to the fact is from -intelligence conveyed by a memorandum in his father’s handwriting among -the family papers, where he speaks of ‘my son David, born in the _Tron -Church parish_’—a district comprehending a large square clump of town -between the High Street and Cowgate, east of the site of the church -itself. - -One of Hume’s most intimate friends amongst the other sex was Mrs -Cockburn, author of one of the beautiful songs called _The Flowers of -the Forest_. While he was in France in 1764, she writes to him from -_Baird’s Close,[43] Castle-hill_: ‘The cloven foot for which thou -art worshipped I despise; yet I remember _thee_ with affection. I -remember that, in spite of vain philosophy, of dark doubts, of toilsome -learning, God has stamped his image of benignity so strong upon thy -_heart_, that not all the labours of thy head could efface it.’ After -Hume’s return to Edinburgh, he kept up his acquaintance with this -spirited and amiable woman. The late Mr Alexander Young, W.S., had some -reminiscences of parties which he attended when a boy at her house, and -at which the philosopher was present. Hume came in one evening behind -time for her _petit souper_, when, seeing her bustling to get something -for him to eat, he called out: ‘Now, no trouble, if you please, about -quality; for you know I’m only a glutton, not an epicure.’ Mr Young -attended at a dinner where, besides Hume, there were present Lord -Monboddo and some other learned personages. Mrs Cockburn was then -living in the neat first floor of a house at the end of Crighton -Street, with windows looking along the Potterrow. She had a son of -eccentric habits, in middle life, or rather elderly, who came in during -the dinner tipsy, and going into a bedroom, locked himself in, went to -bed, and fell asleep. The company in time made a move for departure, -when it was discovered that their hats, cloaks, and greatcoats were all -locked up in Mr Cockburn’s room. The door was knocked at and shaken, -but no answer. What was to be done? At length Mrs Cockburn had no -alternative from sending out to her neighbours to borrow a supply of -similar integuments, which was soon procured. There was then such fun -in fitting the various _savants_ with suitable substitutes for their -own proper gear! Hume, for instance, with a dreadnought riding-coat; -Monboddo with a shabby old hat, as unlike his own neat chapeau as -possible! In the highest exaltation of spirits did these two men of -genius at length proceed homeward along the Potterrow, Horse Wynd, -Assembly Close, &c., making the old echoes merry with their peals of -laughter at the strange appearance which they respectively made.[44] - -I lately inspected Hume’s _cheerful and elegant_ mansion in James’s -Court, and found it divided amongst three or four tenants in humble -life, each possessing little more than a single room. It was amusing -to observe that what had been the dining-room and drawing-room towards -the north were _each_ provided with one of those little side oratories -which have been described elsewhere as peculiar to a period in -Edinburgh house-building, being designed for private devotion. Hume -living in a house with two private chapels! - - -JAMES BOSWELL. - -It appears that one of the immediately succeeding leaseholders of -Hume’s house in James’s Court was James Boswell. Mr Burton has made -this tolerably clear (_Life of Hume_, ii. 137), and he proceeds to -speculate on the fact of Boswell having there entertained his friend -Johnson. ‘Would Boswell communicate the fact, or tell what manner -of man was the landlord of the habitation into which he had, under -the guise of hospitality, entrapped the arch-intolerant? Who shall -appreciate the mental conflict which Boswell may have experienced on -this occasion?’ It appears, however, that by the time when Johnson -visited Boswell in James’s Court, the latter had removed into a better -and larger mansion right below and on the level of the court—namely, -that now (1846) occupied by Messrs Pillans as a printing-office. This -was an extraordinary house in its day; for it consisted of two floors -connected by an internal stair. Here it was that the Ursa Major of -literature stayed for a few days, in August 1773, while preparing to -set out to the Hebrides, and also for some time after his return. Here -did he receive the homage of the trembling literati of Edinburgh; here, -after handling them in his rough manner, did he relax in play with -little Miss Veronica, whom Boswell promised to consider peculiarly in -his will for showing a liking to so estimable a man. What makes all -this evident is a passage in a letter of Samuel himself to Mrs Thrale -(Edinburgh, August 17), where he says: ‘Boswell has very handsome and -spacious rooms, level with the ground on one side of the house, and on -the other four stories high.’ Boswell was only tenant of the mansion. -It affords a curious idea of the importance which formerly attached to -some of these Old Town residences, when we learn that this was part of -the entailed estate of the Macdowalls of Logan, one of whom sold it, -by permission of an act of parliament, to redeem the land-tax upon his -country property. - -Boswell ceased to be a citizen of Edinburgh in 1785, when he was -pleased to venture before the English bar. He is little remembered -amongst the elder inhabitants of our city; but the late Mr William -Macfarlane, the well-known small-debt judge, told me that there was -_this_ peculiarity about him—it was impossible to look in his face -without being moved by the comicality which always reigned upon it. He -was one of those men whose very look is provocative of mirth. Mr Robert -Sym, W.S., who died in 1844, at an advanced age, remembered being at -parties in this house in Boswell’s time. - - -LORD FOUNTAINHALL. - -Before James’s Court was built, its site was occupied by certain -closes, in one of which dwelt Lord Fountainhall, so distinguished as an -able, liberal, and upright judge, and still more so by his industrious -habits as a collector of historical memorabilia, and of the decisions -of the Court of Session. Though it is considerably upwards of a century -since Lord Fountainhall died,[45] a traditionary anecdote of his -residence in this place has been handed down till the present time by a -surprisingly small number of persons. The mother of the late Mr Gilbert -Innes of Stow was a daughter of his lordship’s son, Sir Andrew Lauder, -and she used to describe to her children the visits she used to pay to -her venerable grandfather’s house, situated, as she said, where James’s -Court now stands. She and her sister, a little girl like herself, -always went with their maid on the Saturday afternoons, and were shown -into the room where the aged judge was sitting—a room covered with -gilt leather,[46] and containing many huge presses and cabinets, one -of which was ornamented with a death’s-head at the top. After amusing -themselves for an hour or two with his lordship, they used to get each -a shilling from him, and retire to the anteroom, where, as Mrs Innes -well recollected, the waiting-maid invariably pounced upon their money, -and appropriated it to her own use. It is curious to think that the -mother of a gentlewoman living in 1839 (for only then did Miss Innes -of Stow leave this earthly scene) should have been familiar with a -lawyer who entered at the bar soon after the Restoration (1668), and -acted as counsel for the unfortunate Earl of Argyll in 1681; a being of -an age as different in every respect from the present as the wilds of -North America are different from the long-practised lands of Lothian or -Devonshire. - -The judicial designation of Lord Fountainhall was adopted from a -place belonging to him in East Lothian, now the property of his -representative, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder. The original name of the place -was Woodhead. When the able lawyer came to the bench, and, as usual, -thought of a new appellative of a territorial kind—‘Woodhead—Lord -Woodhead,’ thought he; ‘that will never do for a judge!’ So the name of -the place was changed to Fountainhall, and he became Lord Fountainhall -accordingly. - -[1868.—The western half of James’s Court having been destroyed by -accidental fire, the reader will now find a new building on the spot. -The houses rendered interesting by the names of Blair, Boswell, -Johnson, and Hume are consequently no more.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[40] From whom it got its name—James’s Court. - -[41] A ‘land’ still standing (1912) as it was when Hume lived there. It -was also the residence of the Countess of Eglinton when she left the -Stamp Office Close in the High Street. See p. 192. - -[42] Burton’s _Life of Hume_, ii. 173. - -[43] Formerly called Blair’s Close (p. 19). The name was altered to -Baird’s Close when the Gordon property passed into the possession of -Baird of Newbyth. - -[44] Mrs Cockburn, writing to Miss Cumming at Balcarres, describes ‘a -ball’ she gave in this house. ‘On Wednesday I gave a ball. How do ye -think I contrived to stretch out this house to hold twenty-two people, -and had nine couples always dancing? Yet this is true; it is also true -that we had a table covered with divers eatables all the time, and -that everybody ate when they were hungry and drank when they were dry, -but nobody ever sat down.... Our fiddler sat where the cupboard is, -and they danced in both rooms. The table was stuffed into the window -and we had plenty of room. It made the bairns all very happy.’—_Mrs -Cockburn’s Letters_, edited by T. Craig Brown. - -[45] His lordship died September 20, 1722 (Brunton and Haig’s -_Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice_). - -[46] A stuff brought, I believe, from Spain, and which was at one time -much in fashion in Scotland. - - - - -STORY OF THE COUNTESS OF STAIR. - - -[Illustration: Lady Stair’s House as Restored.] - -In a short alley leading between the Lawnmarket and the Earthen Mound, -and called _Lady Stair’s Close_,[47] there is a substantial old -mansion, presenting, in a sculptured stone over the doorway, a small -coat-armorial, with the initials W. G. and G. S., the date 1622, and -the legend: - - FEAR THE LORD, AND DEPART - FROM EVILL. - -The letters refer to Sir William Gray of Pittendrum, the original -proprietor of the house, and his wife. Within there are marks of good -style, particularly in the lofty ceiling and an inner stair apart from -the common one; but all has long been turned to common purposes; while -it must be left to the imagination to realise the terraced garden which -formerly descended towards the North Loch. - -[Illustration] - -This was the last residence of a lady conspicuous in Scottish society -in the early part of the last century—the widow of the celebrated -commander and diplomatist, John, Earl of Stair. Lady Eleanor Campbell -was, by paternal descent, nearly related to one of the greatest -historical figures of the preceding century, being the granddaughter -of the Chancellor, Earl of Loudon, whose talents and influence -on the Covenanting side were at one time believed to have nearly -procured him the honour of a secret death at the command of Charles -I. Her ladyship’s first adventure in matrimony led to a series of -circumstances of a marvellous nature, which I shall set down exactly as -they used to be related by friends of the lady in the last century. It -was her lot, at an early age, to be united to James, Viscount Primrose, -a man of the worst temper and most dissolute manners. Her ladyship, who -had no small share of the old chancellor in her constitution, could -have managed most men with ease, by dint of superior intellect and -force of character; but the cruelty of Lord Primrose was too much for -her. He treated her so barbarously that she had even reason to fear -that he would some day put an end to her life. One morning she was -dressing herself in her chamber, near an open window, when his lordship -entered the room behind her with a drawn sword in his hand. He had -opened the door softly, and although his face indicated a resolution of -the most horrible nature, he still had the presence of mind to approach -her with caution. Had she not caught a glimpse of his face and figure -in the glass, he would in all probability have come near enough to -execute his bloody purpose before she was aware or could have taken -any measures to save herself. Fortunately, she perceived him in time -to leap out of the open window into the street. Half-dressed as she -was, she immediately, by a very laudable exertion of her natural good -sense, went to the house of Lord Primrose’s mother, where she told her -story, and demanded protection. That protection was at once extended; -and it being now thought vain to attempt a reconciliation, they never -afterwards lived together. - -Lord Primrose soon afterwards went abroad. During his absence, a -foreign conjurer, or fortune-teller, came to Edinburgh, professing, -among many other wonderful accomplishments, to be able to inform any -person of the present condition or situation of any other person, at -whatever distance, in whom the applicant might be interested. Lady -Primrose was incited by curiosity to go with a female friend to the -lodgings of the wise man in the Canongate, for the purpose of inquiring -regarding the motions of her husband, of whom she had not heard for a -considerable time. It was at night; and the two ladies went, with the -tartan _screens_ or _plaids_ of their servants drawn over their faces -by way of disguise. Lady Primrose having described the individual -in whose fate she was interested, and having expressed a desire to -know what he was at present doing, the conjurer led her to a large -mirror, in which she distinctly perceived the appearance of the inside -of a church, with a marriage-party arranged near the altar. To her -astonishment, she recognised in the shadowy bridegroom no other than -her husband. The magical scene was not exactly like a picture; or if -so, it was rather like the live pictures of the stage than the dead -and immovable delineations of the pencil. It admitted of additions -to the persons represented, and of a progress of action. As the lady -gazed on it, the ceremonial of the marriage seemed to proceed. The -necessary arrangements had at last been made, the priest seemed to -have pronounced the preliminary service; he was just on the point of -bidding the bride and bridegroom join hands, when suddenly a gentleman, -for whom the rest seemed to have waited a considerable time, and in -whom Lady Primrose thought she recognised a brother of her own, then -abroad, entered the church, and advanced hurriedly towards the party. -The aspect of this person was at first only that of a friend who had -been invited to attend the ceremony, and who had come too late; but as -he advanced, the expression of his countenance and figure was altered. -He stopped short; his face assumed a wrathful expression; he drew -his sword, and rushed up to the bridegroom, who prepared to defend -himself. The whole scene then became tumultuous and indistinct, and -soon after vanished entirely away.[48] - -When Lady Primrose reached home she wrote a minute narrative of the -whole transaction, to which she appended the day of the month on which -she had seen the mysterious vision. This narrative she sealed up in the -presence of a witness, and then deposited it in one of her drawers. -Soon afterwards her brother returned from his travels, and came to -visit her. She asked if, in the course of his wanderings, he had -happened to see or hear anything of Lord Primrose. The young man only -answered by saying that he wished he might never again hear the name of -that detested personage mentioned. Lady Primrose, however, questioned -him so closely that he at last confessed having met his lordship, and -that under very strange circumstances. Having spent some time at one of -the Dutch cities—it was either Amsterdam or Rotterdam—he had become -acquainted with a rich merchant, who had a very beautiful daughter, -his only child, and the heiress of his large fortune. One day his -friend the merchant informed him that his daughter was about to be -married to a Scottish gentleman, who had lately come to reside there. -The nuptials were to take place in the course of a few days; and as he -was a countryman of the bridegroom, he was invited to the wedding. He -went accordingly, was a little too late for the commencement of the -ceremony, but fortunately came in time to prevent the sacrifice of an -amiable young lady to the greatest monster alive in human shape—his -own brother-in-law, Lord Primrose! - -The story proceeds to say that although Lady Primrose had proved her -willingness to believe in the magical delineations of the mirror by -writing down an account of them, yet she was so much surprised by -discovering them to be the representation of actual fact that she -almost fainted. Something, however, yet remained to be ascertained. -Did Lord Primrose’s attempted marriage take place exactly at the same -time with her visit to the conjurer? She asked her brother on what day -the circumstance which he related took place. Having been informed, -she took out her key, and requested him to go to her chamber, to open -a drawer which she described, and to bring her a sealed packet which -he would find in that drawer. On the packet being opened, it was -discovered that Lady Primrose had seen the shadowy representation of -her husband’s abortive nuptials on the very evening when they were -transacted in reality.[49] - -Lord Primrose died in 1706, leaving a widow who could scarcely be -expected to mourn for him. She was still a young and beautiful woman, -and might have procured her choice among twenty better matches. Such, -however, was the idea she had formed of the marriage state from her -first husband that she made a resolution never again to become a wife. -She kept her resolution for many years, and probably would have done -so till the last but for a singular circumstance. The celebrated Earl -of Stair, who resided in Edinburgh during the greater part of twenty -years, which he spent in retirement from all official employments, -became deeply smitten with her ladyship, and earnestly sued for her -hand. If she could have relented in favour of any man, it would have -been for one who had acquired so much public honour, and whose private -character was also, in general respects, so estimable. But to him also -she declared her resolution of remaining unmarried. In his desperation, -he resolved upon an expedient which strongly marks the character of -the age in respect of delicacy. By dint of bribes to her domestics, he -got himself insinuated overnight into a small room in her ladyship’s -house, where she used to say her prayers every morning, and the window -of which looked out upon the principal street of the city. At this -window, when the morning was a little advanced, he showed himself, _en -déshabillé_, to the people passing along the street; an exhibition -which threatened to have such an effect upon her ladyship’s reputation -that she saw fit to accept of him for a husband.[50] - -She was more happy as Countess of Stair than she had been as Lady -Primrose. Yet her new husband had one failing, which occasioned her -no small uneasiness. Like most other gentlemen at that period, he -sometimes indulged too much in the bottle. When elevated with liquor, -his temper, contrary to the general case, was by no means improved. -Thus, on reaching home after a debauch, he generally had a quarrel -with his wife, and sometimes even treated her with violence. On one -occasion, when quite transported beyond the bounds of reason, he gave -her so severe a blow upon the upper part of the face as to occasion the -effusion of blood. He immediately after fell asleep, unconscious of -what he had done. Lady Stair was so overwhelmed by a tumult of bitter -and poignant feeling that she made no attempt to bind up her wound. -She sat down on a sofa near her torpid husband, and wept and bled -till morning. When his lordship awoke, and perceived her dishevelled -and bloody figure, he was surprised to the last degree, and eagerly -inquired how she came to be in such an unusual condition. She answered -by detailing to him the whole history of his conduct on the preceding -evening; which stung him so deeply with regret—for he naturally -possessed the most generous feelings—that he instantly vowed to his -wife never afterwards to take any species of drink except what was -first passed through her hands. This vow he kept most scrupulously till -the day of his death. He never afterwards sat in any convivial company -where his lady could not attend to sanction his potations. Whenever he -gave any entertainment, she always sat next him and filled his wine, -till it was necessary for her to retire; after which, he drank only -from a certain quantity which she had first laid aside. - -With much that was respectable in her character, we must not be too -much surprised that Lady Stair was capable of using terms of speech -which a subsequent age has learned to look on as objectionable, even -in the humblest class of society. The Earl of Dundonald, it appears, -had stated to the Duke of Douglas that Lady Stair had expressed -incredulity regarding the genuineness of the birth of his nephews, -the children of Lady Jane Douglas, and did not consider Lady Jane as -entitled to any allowance from the duke on their account. In support -of what he reported, Dundonald, in a letter to the Lord Justice-Clerk, -gave the world leave to think him ‘a damned villain’ if he did not -speak the truth. This seems to have involved Lady Stair unpleasantly -with her friends of the house of Douglas, and she lost little time in -making her way to Holyroodhouse, where, before the duke and duchess -and their attendants, she declared that she had lived to a good old -age, and never till now had got entangled in any _clatters_—that is, -scandal. The old dame then thrice stamped the floor with her staff, -each time calling the Earl of Dundonald ‘a damned villain;’ after which -she retired in great wrath. Perhaps this scene was characteristic, for -we learn from letters of Lady M. W. Montagu that Lady Stair was subject -to hysterical ailments, and would be screaming and fainting in one -room, while her daughter, Miss Primrose, and Lady Mary were dancing in -another. - -This venerable lady, after being long at the head of society in -Edinburgh, died in November 1759, having survived her second husband -twelve years. It was remembered of her that she had been the first -person in Edinburgh, of her time, to keep a black domestic servant.[51] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[47] Lady Stair’s Close was originally a _cul de sac_. When the Mound -was begun a thoroughfare was cut through the garden, making the -close the principal communication between the Lawnmarket and Hanover -Street, then the western extremity of the New Town. The name it first -bore was ‘Lady Gray’s Close,’ after the wife of the builder of the -house, and that of Lady Stair’s Close was given to it (_The Book of -the Old Edinburgh Club_, vol. iii.) early in the eighteenth century, -when the house passed into the possession of the first Lady Stair, a -granddaughter of Sir William Gray of Pittendrum. Lord Rosebery, who -represents a branch of the Primroses (other than that to which the -second viscount, mentioned below, belonged), restored the house and -presented it to the city in 1907. - -[48] ‘Grace, Countess of Aboyne and Moray, in her early youth, had -the weakness to consult a celebrated fortune-teller, inhabiting an -obscure close in Edinburgh. The sibyl predicted that she would become -the wife of two earls, and how many children she was to bear; but -withal assured her that when she should see a new coach of a certain -colour driven up to her door as belonging to herself, her hearse must -speedily follow. Many years afterwards, Lord Moray, who was not aware -of this prediction, resolved to surprise his wife with the present of -a new equipage; but when Lady Moray beheld from a window a carriage of -the ominous colour arrive at the door of Darnaway, and heard that it -was to be her own property, she sank down, exclaiming that she was a -dead woman, and actually expired in a short time after, November 17, -1738.’—_Notes to Law’s Memorials_, p. xcii. - -[49] Lady Primrose’s story forms the groundwork of one of Sir Walter -Scott’s best short stories, _My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror_. - -[50] This story loses its point by the discovery made in St Peter’s -upon Cornhill, London, of the marriage register of the second Earl -of Stair with Lady Primrose, 27th March 1708. Thus they were married -persons several years before the presumed date of this story. Miss -Rosaline Masson announced the discovery in an article in _Chambers’s -Journal_ for 1912, entitled, ‘The Secret Marriage of Lady Primrose and -John, Second Earl of Stair.’ She makes this comment: ‘The testimony -of John Waugh, Parson, has lain buried for over two hundred years in -the old Register in the city; but the tale, whispered one day, some -time about the year 1714, in the High Street of Edinburgh, first -among the strutting gallants and loungers at the Cross at noon, and -later on, over the delicate tea-cups, in the gossipy gatherings of -the fair sex—that tale was nowise buried. It has never died. Did not -Kirkpatrick Sharpe repeat it, sixty years after Lady Stair’s death, -to young Robert Chambers, at that time collecting material for his -inimitable book, _Traditions of Edinburgh_?’ The article further tries -to answer the question why the Earl of Stair and the young widow made -this clandestine marriage, which gave opportunity for the story. - -[51] Negroes in a servile capacity had been long before known in -Scotland. Dunbar has a droll poem on a female black, whom he calls -‘My lady with the muckle lips.’ In _Lady Marie Stuart’s Household -Book_, referring to the early part of the seventeenth century, there -is mention of ‘ane inventorie of the gudes and geir whilk pertenit to -Dame Lilias Ruthven, Lady Drummond,’ which includes as an item, ‘the -black boy and the papingoe [peacock];’ in so humble an association was -it then thought proper to place a human being who chanced to possess a -dark skin. - - - - -THE OLD BANK CLOSE. - - THE REGENT MORTON—THE OLD BANK—SIR THOMAS HOPE—CHIESLY OF - DAIRY—RICH MERCHANTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY—SIR WILLIAM - DICK—THE BIRTH OF LORD BROUGHAM. - - -OLD BANK CLOSE. - -Amongst the buildings removed to make way for George IV. Bridge were -those of a short blind alley in the Lawnmarket, called the Old Bank -Close. Composed wholly of solid goodly structures, this close had an -air of dignity that might have almost reconciled a modern gentleman to -live in it. One of these, crossing and closing the bottom, had been the -Bank of Scotland—the _Auld Bank_, as it used to be half-affectionately -called in Edinburgh—previously to the erection of the present handsome -edifice in Bank Street. From this establishment the close had taken -its name; but it had previously been called _Hope’s Close_, from its -being the residence of a son of the celebrated Sir Thomas Hope, King’s -Advocate in the reign of Charles I. - -[Illustration: House of Robert Gourlay.] - -The house of oldest date in the close was one on the west side, -of substantial and even handsome appearance, long and lofty, and -presenting some peculiarities of structure nearly unique in our city. -There was first a door for the ground-floor, about which there was -nothing remarkable. Then there was a door leading by the stair to the -_first floor_, and bearing this legend and date upon the architrave: - - IN THE IS AL MY TRAIST: 1569. - -Close beside this door was another, leading by a longer, but distinct -though adjacent stair to the second floor, and presenting on the -architrave the initials R. G. From this floor there was an internal -stair contained in a projecting turret, which connected it with the -higher floor. Thus, it will be observed, there were three houses in -this building, each having a distinct access; a nicety of arrangement -which, together with the excellence of the masonry, was calculated to -create a more respectful impression regarding the domestic ideas of -our ancestors in Queen Mary’s time than most persons are prepared for. -Finally, in the triangular space surmounting an attic window were the -initials of a married couple, D. G., M. S. - -Our surprise is naturally somewhat increased when we learn that the -builder and first possessor of this house does not appear to have -been a man of rank, or one likely to own unusual wealth. His name -was Robert Gourlay, and his profession a humble one connected with -the law—namely, that of a messenger-at-arms. In the second book of -Charters in the Canongate council-house, Adam Bothwell, Bishop of -Orkney, and commendator of Holyrood, gave the office of messenger -or officer-at-arms to the Abbey to Robert Gourlay, messenger, ‘our -lovit familiar servitor,’ with a salary of forty pounds, and other -perquisites. This was the Robert Gourlay who built the noble tenement -in the Old Bank Close; and through his official functions it came into -connection with an interesting historical event. In May 1581, when the -ex-Regent Morton was brought to Edinburgh to suffer death, he was—as -we learn from the memoirs of Moyses, a contemporary—‘lodged in Robert -Gourlay’s house, and there keeped by the waged men.’ Gourlay had been -able to accommodate in his house those whom it was his professional -duty to take in charge as prisoners. Here, then, must have taken place -those remarkable conferences between Morton and certain clergymen, -in which, with the prospect of death before him, he protested his -innocence of Darnley’s death, while confessing to a foreknowledge -of it. Morton must have resided in the house from May 29, when he -arrived in Edinburgh, till June 2, when he fell under the stroke of -the ‘Maiden.’ In the ensuing year, as we learn from the authority just -quoted, De la Motte, the French ambassador, was lodged in ‘Gourlay’s -House.’ - -David Gourlay—probably the individual whose initials appeared on -the attic—described as son of John Gourlay, customer, and doubtless -grandson of the first man Robert—disposed of the house in 1637 to Sir -Thomas Hope of Craighall in liferent, and to his second son, Sir Thomas -Hope of Kerse.[52] We may suppose ‘the Advocate’ to have thus provided -a mansion for one of his children. A grandson in 1696 disposed of the -upper floor to Hugh Blair, merchant in Edinburgh—the grandfather, I -presume, of the celebrated Dr Hugh Blair. - -This portion of the house was occupied early in the last century by -Lord Aberuchil, one of King William’s judges, remarkable for the -large fortune he accumulated. About 1780 his descendant, Sir James -Campbell of Aberuchil, resided in it while educating his family. It was -afterwards occupied by Robert Stewart, writer, extensively known in -Perthshire by the name of _Rob Uncle_, on account of the immense number -of his nephews and nieces, amongst the former of whom was the late -worthy General Stewart of Garth, author of the work on the Highland -regiments. - -The building used by the bank was also a substantial one. Over the -architrave was the legend: - - SPES ALTERÆ VITÆ, - -with a device emblematising the resurrection—namely, a couple of -cross-bones with wheat-stalks springing from them, and the date 1588. -Latterly it was occupied as the University Printing-office, and when -I visited it in 1824 it contained an old wooden press, which was -believed to be the identical one which Prince Charles carried with him -from Glasgow to Bannockburn to print his gazettes, but then used as a -_proof-press_, like a good hunter reduced to the sand-cart. This house -was removed in 1834, having been previously sold by the Commissioners -of Improvements for £150. The purchaser got a larger sum for a leaden -roof unexpectedly found upon it. When the house was demolished, it was -discovered that every window-shutter had a communication by wires with -an intricate piece of machinery in the garret, designed to operate upon -a bell hung at a corner on the outside, so that not a window could have -been forced without giving an alarm. - -In the Cowgate, little more than fifty yards from the site of this -building, there is a bulky old mansion, believed to have been the -residence of the celebrated King’s Advocate Hope, himself, the -ancestor of all the considerable men of this name now in Scotland. One -can easily see, amidst all the disgrace into which it has fallen, -something remarkable in this house, with two entrances from the street, -and two _porte-cochères_ leading to other accesses in the rear. Over -one door is the legend: - - TECUM HABITA: 1616;[53] - -over the other a half-obliterated line, known to have been - - AT HOSPES HUMO. - -[Illustration: Courtyard, Hope House.] - -One often finds significant voices proceeding from the builders of -these old houses, generally to express humility. Sir Thomas here -quotes a well-known passage in Persius, as if to tell the beholder to -confine himself to a criticism of his own house; and then, with more -certain humility, uses a passage of the Psalms (cxix. 19): ‘I am a -stranger upon earth,’ the latter being an anagram of his own name, thus -spelt: THOMAS HOUPE. It is impossible without a passing sensation of -melancholy to behold this house, and to think how truly the obscurity -of its history, and the wretchedness into which it has fallen, realise -the philosophy of the anagram. Verily, the great statesman who once -lived here in dignity and the respect of men was but as a stranger who -tarried in the place for a night, and was gone. - -The _Diary of Sir Thomas Hope_, printed for the Bannatyne Club (1843), -is a curious record of the public duties of a great law-officer in -the age to which it refers, as well as of the mixture of worldly and -spiritual things in which the venerable dignitary was engaged. He is -indefatigable in his religious duties and his endeavours to advance -the interests of his family; at the same time full of kindly feeling -about his sons’ wives and their little family matters, never failing, -for one thing, to tell how much the midwife got for her attendance on -these ladies. There are many passages respecting his prayers, and the -‘answers’ he obtained to them, especially during the agonies of the -opening civil war. He prays, for instance, that the Lord would pity -his people, and then hears the words: ‘I will preserve and saiff my -people’—‘but quhither be me or some other, I dar not say.’ On another -occasion, at the time when the Covenanting army was mustering for Dunse -Law to oppose King Charles, Sir Thomas tells that, praying: ‘Lord, -pitie thy pure [i.e. poor] kirk, for their is no help in man!’ he heard -a voice saying: ‘I will pitie it;’ ‘for quhilk I blissit the Lord;’ -immediately after which he goes on: ‘Lent to John my _long carabin of -rowet wark_ all indentit;’ &c.[54] - -The Countess of Mar, daughter of Esme, Duke of Lennox, died of a -_deadly brash_ in Sir Thomas’s house in the Cowgate, May 11, 1644. - -It is worthy of notice that the Hopes are one of several Scottish -families, possessing high rank and great wealth, which trace their -descent to merchants in Edinburgh. ‘The Hopes are of French extraction, -from Picardy. It is said they were originally Houblon, and had their -name from the plant [hop], and not from esperance [the virtue in the -mind]. The first that came over was a domestic of Magdalene of France, -queen of James V.; and of him are descended all the eminent families -of Hopes. This John Hope set up as a merchant of Edinburgh, and his -son, by Bessie or Elizabeth Cumming, is marked as a member of our first -Protestant General Assembly, anno 1560.’[55] - - -CHIESLY OF DALRY. - -The head of the Old Bank Close was the scene of the assassination of -President Lockhart by Chiesly of Dalry,[56] March 1689. The murderer -had no provocation besides a simple judicial act of the president, -assigning an aliment or income of £93 out of his estate to his wife -and children, from whom it may be presumed he had been separated. He -evidently was a man abandoned to the most violent passions—perhaps -not quite sane. In London, half a year before the deed, he told Mr -Stuart, an advocate, that he was resolved to go to Scotland before -Candlemas and kill the president; when, on Stuart remarking that the -very imagination of such a thing was a sin before God, he replied: ‘Let -God and me alone; we have many things to reckon betwixt us, and we will -reckon this too.’ The judge was informed of the menaces of Chiesly, but -despised them. - -On a Sunday afternoon, the last day of March—the town being then -under the excitement of the siege of the Castle by the friends of the -new government—Lockhart was walking home from church to his house in -this alley, when Chiesly came behind, just as he entered the close, -and shot him in the back with a pistol. A Dr Hay, coming to visit the -president’s lady, saw his lordship stagger and fall. The ball had gone -through the body, and out at the right breast. He was taken into his -house, laid down upon two chairs, and almost immediately was a dead -man. Some gentlemen passing seized the murderer, who readily owned he -had done the deed, which he said was ‘to learn the president to do -justice.’ When immediately after informed that his victim had expired, -he said ‘he was not used to do things by halves.’ He boasted of the -deed as if it had been some grand exploit. - -After torture had been inflicted, to discover if he had any -accomplices, the wretched man was tried by the magistrates of -Edinburgh, and sentenced to be carried on a hurdle to the Cross,[57] -and there hanged, with the fatal pistol hung from his neck, after which -his body was to be suspended in chains at the Gallow Lee, and his right -hand affixed to the West Port. The body was stolen from the gallows, as -was supposed, by his friends, and it was never known what had become -of it till more than a century after, when, in removing the hearthstone -of a cottage in Dalry Park, near Edinburgh, a human skeleton was found, -with the remains of a pistol near the situation of the neck. No doubt -was entertained that these were the remains of Chiesly, huddled into -this place for concealment, probably in the course of the night in -which they had been abstracted from the gallows. - - -RICH MERCHANTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY—SIR WILLIAM DICK. - -Several houses in the neighbourhood of the Old Bank Close served to -give a respectful notion of the wealth and domestic state of certain -merchants of an early age. Immediately to the westward, in Brodie’s -Close, was the mansion of William Little of Liberton, bearing date -1570. This was an eminent merchant, and the founder of a family now -represented by Mr Little Gilmour of the Inch, in whose possession -this mansion continued under entail, till purchased and taken down -by the Commissioners of Improvements in 1836. About 1780 it was the -residence of the notorious Deacon Brodie, of whom something may be -said elsewhere. Sir William Gray of Pittendrum, mentioned a few pages -back as the original owner of the old house in Lady Stair’s Close, was -another affluent trafficker of that age. - -In Riddel’s Close, Lawnmarket, there is an enclosed court, evidently -intended to be capable of defence. It is the place where John -Macmoran, a rich merchant of the time of James VI., lived and carried -on his business. In those days even schoolboys trusted to violence -for attaining their ends. The youths of the High School,[58] being -malcontent about their holidays, barred themselves up in the school -with some provisions, and threatened not to surrender till the -magistrates should comply with their demands. John Macmoran, who held -the office of one of the bailies, came with a _posse_ to deal with the -boys, but, finding them obdurate, ordered the door to be prised open -with a joist. One within then fired a pistol at the bailie, who fell -shot through the brain, to the horror of all beholders, including the -schoolboys themselves, who with difficulty escaped the vengeance of the -crowd assembled on the spot. - -It was ascertained that the immediate author of the bailie’s death was -William Sinclair, son of the chancellor of Caithness. There was a great -clamour to have justice done upon him; but this was a point not easily -attained, where a person of gentle blood was concerned, in the reign -of James VI. The boy lived to be Sir William Sinclair of Mey, and, as -such, was the ancestor of those who have, since 1789, borne the title -of Earls of Caithness. - -[Illustration: Bailie Macmoran’s House, Riddel’s Court.] - -A visit to the fine old mansion of Bailie Macmoran may be recommended. -Its masonry is not without elegance. The lower floor of the building -is now used as ‘The Mechanics’ Library.’[59] Macmoran’s house is in -the floor above, reached by a stone stair, near the corner of the -court. This dwelling offers a fine specimen of the better class of -houses at the end of the sixteenth century. The marble jambs of the -fireplaces and the carved stucco ceilings are quite entire. The larger -room (occupied as a warehouse for articles of saddlery) is that in -which took place two memorable royal banquets in 1598—the first on the -24th of April to James VI. with his queen, Anne of Denmark, and her -brother the Duke of Holstein; and the second on the 2nd of May, more -specially to the Duke of Holstein, but at which their Majesties were -present. These banquets, held, as Birrel says, with ‘grate solemnitie -and mirrines,’ were at the expense of the city. It need hardly be said -that James VI. was fond of this species of entertainment, and the house -of Macmoran was probably selected for the purpose not only because he -was treasurer to the corporation and a man of some mark, but because -his dwelling offered suitable accommodation. The general aspect of the -enclosed court which affords access to Macmoran’s house has undergone -little or no alteration since these memorable banquets; and in visiting -the place, with its quietude and seclusion, one almost feels as if -stepping back into the sixteenth century. Considering the destruction -all around from city improvements, it is fortunate that this remarkable -specimen of an old mansion should have been left so singularly entire. -One of the higher windows continues to exemplify an economical -arrangement which prevailed about the time of the Restoration—namely, -to have the lower half composed of wooden shutters.[60] - -The grandest of all these old Edinburgh merchants was William Dick, -ancestor of the Dicks, baronets of Prestonfield. In his youth, and -during the lifetime of his father, he had been able to lend £6000 to -King James, to defray the expense of his journey to Scotland. The -affairs in which he was engaged would even now be considered important. -For example, he farmed the customs on wine at £6222, and the crown -rents of Orkney at £3000. Afterwards he farmed the excise. His fleets -extended from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. The immense wealth he -acquired enabled him to purchase large estates. He himself reckoned his -property as at one time equal to two hundred thousand pounds sterling. - -Strange to say, this great merchant came to poverty, and died in a -prison. The reader of the Waverley novels may remember David Deans -telling how his father ‘saw them toom the sacks of dollars out o’ -Provost Dick’s window intill the carts that carried them to the army -at Dunse Law’—‘if ye winna believe his testimony, there is the -window itsell still standing in the Luckenbooths—I think it’s a -claith-merchant’s buith the day.’ This refers to large advances which -Dick made to the Covenanters to enable them to carry on the war against -the king. The house alluded to is actually now a claith-merchant’s -booth, having long been in the possession of Messrs John Clapperton & -Company. Two years after Dunse Law, Dick gave the Covenanters 100,000 -merks in one sum. Subsequently, being after all of royalist tendencies, -he made still larger advances in favour of the Scottish government -during the time when Charles II. was connected with it; and thus -provoking the wrath of the English Commonwealth, his ruin was completed -by the fines to which he was subjected by that party when triumphant, -amounting in all to £65,000. - -Poor Sir William Dick—for he had been made a baronet by Charles -I.—went to London to endeavour to recover some part of his lost means. -When he represented the indigence to which he had been reduced, he was -told that he was always able to procure pie-crust when other men could -not get bread. There was, in fact, a prevalent idea that he possessed -some supernatural means—such as the philosopher’s stone—of acquiring -money. (Pie-crust came to be called _Sir William Dick’s Necessity_.) -The contrary was shown when the unfortunate man died soon after in a -prison in Westminster. There is a picture in Prestonfield House, near -Edinburgh, the seat of his descendant, representing him in this last -retreat in a mean dress, surrounded by his numerous hapless family. A -rare pamphlet, descriptive of his case, presents engravings of three -such pictures; one exhibiting him on horseback, attended by guards -as Lord Provost of Edinburgh, superintending the unloading of one of -his rich ships at Leith; another as a prisoner in the hands of the -bailiffs; the third as dead in prison. A more memorable example of -the instability of fortune does not occur in our history. It seems -completely to realise the picture in Job (chap. xxvii.): ‘The rich man -shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and -he is not. Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him -away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: -and as a storm, hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon -him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall clap -their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.’ - -The fortunes of the family were restored by Sir William’s grandson, -Sir James, a remarkably shrewd man, who was likewise a merchant -in Edinburgh. There is a traditionary story that this gentleman, -observing the utility of manure, and that the streets of Edinburgh were -loaded with it, to the detriment of the comfort of the inhabitants, -offered to relieve the town of this nuisance on condition that he -should be allowed, for a certain term of years, to carry it away -gratis. Consent was given, and the Prestonfield estate became, in -consequence, like a garden. The Duke of York had a great affection for -Sir James Dick, and used to walk through the Park to visit him at his -house very frequently. Hence, according to the report of the family, -the way his Royal Highness took came to be called _The Duke’s Walk_; -afterwards a famous resort for the fighting of duels. Sir James became -Catholic, and, while provost in 1681, had his house burned over his -head by the collegianers; but it was rebuilt at the public expense. -His grandson, Sir Alexander Dick, is referred to in kindly terms in -Boswell’s _Tour to the Hebrides_ as a venerable man of studious habits -and a friend of men of letters. The reader will probably learn with -some surprise that though Sir William’s descendants never recovered any -of the money lent by him to the State, a lady of his family, living in -1844, was in the enjoyment of a pension with express reference to that -ancient claim. - - -THE BIRTH OF LORD BROUGHAM. - -[1868.—It has been remarked elsewhere that, for a great number of -years after the general desertion of the Old Town by persons of -condition, there were many denizens of the New who had occasion to -look back to the Canongate and Cowgate as the place of their birth. -The nativity of one person who achieved extraordinary greatness and -distinction, and whose death was an occurrence of yesterday, Henry, -Lord Brougham, undoubtedly was connected with the lowly place last -mentioned. - -The Edinburgh tradition on the subject was that Henry Brougham, -younger, of Brougham Hall, in the county of Cumberland, in consequence -of a disappointment in love, came to Edinburgh for the diversion of his -mind. Principal Robertson, to whom he bore a letter of introduction, -recommended the young man to the care of his sister—Mrs Syme, widow -of the minister of Alloa—who occupied what was then considered as a -good and spacious house at the head of the Cowgate—strictly the third -floor of the house now marked No. 8—a house desirable from its having -an extraordinary space in front. Here, it would appear, Mr Brougham -speedily consoled himself for his former disappointment by falling in -love with Eleonora, the daughter of Mrs Syme; and a marriage, probably -a hurried one, soon united the young pair. They set up for themselves -(Whitsunday 1778) in an upper floor of a house in the then newly built -St Andrew Square, where, in the ensuing September, their eldest son, -charged with so illustrious a destiny, first saw the light.[61] - -Mr Brougham conclusively settled in Edinburgh; he subsequently occupied -a handsome house in George Street. He was never supposed to be a man -of more than ordinary faculties; but any deficiency in this respect -was amply made up for by his wife, who is represented by all who -remember her as a person of uncommon mental gifts. The contrast of the -pair drew the attention of society, and was the subject of a gently -satiric sketch in Henry Mackenzie’s _Lounger_, No. 45, published on the -10th December 1785, which, however, would vainly be looked for in the -reprinted copies, as it was immediately suppressed.] - -[Illustration] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[52] Raised to the Bench with the title of Lord Kerse. - -[53] The lintel bearing this legend is preserved in a doorway at the -top of the staircase of the Free Library, George IV. Bridge. The -Cowgate portion of the Library building (1887-89) occupies the site of -Sir Thomas Hope’s house. - -[54] While King’s Advocate, Sir Thomas Hope had the unique experience -of pleading at the Bar before two of his sons who were judges—Lord -Craighall and Lord Kerse. There is a tradition that when addressing the -Court he remained covered, and that from this circumstance the Lord -Advocates still have this privilege, although they do not exercise it. -Probably the custom introduced by Sir Thomas Hope originated in his -being an officer of state, which entitled him to sit in parliament -wearing his hat, and he claimed the same privilege when appearing -before the judges. - -[55] See a Memoir by Sir Archibald Steuart Denham in the publications -of the Maitland Club. - -[56] The site of Chiesly’s house is that occupied by the Episcopal -Church Training College in Orwell Place. - -[57] In _The Domestic Annals of Scotland_ the place of his execution is -given as Drumsheugh, and Sir Walter Scott says he was hanged near his -own house of Dalry. - -[58] This was the first High School, built in 1578 in the grounds -of the Blackfriars’ Monastery, of which David Malloch, or Mallet, -was janitor in 1717. The building faced the Canongate. In 1777 it -was replaced by the building now facing Infirmary Street and used in -connection with the university. It is this later building that is -associated with Sir Walter Scott, Lord Brougham, Lord Jeffrey, Lord -Cockburn, and other eminent men of the last quarter of the eighteenth -and first quarter of the nineteenth century. - -[59] The Mechanics’ Library was discontinued when the Free Library was -opened. Bailie Macmoran’s house is now used as a university settlement. - -[60] After being the residence for a time of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik -and other notable citizens, it was latterly occupied by the widow (the -seventh wife) of the Rev. David Williamson—‘Dainty Davie’—minister of -St Cuthbert’s Church at the time of the Revolution. - -[61] The house is marked No. 21. Its back windows enjoy a fine view -of the Firth of Forth and the Fife hills. The registration of his -lordship’s birth appears as follows: ‘Wednesday, 30th September 1778, -Henry Brougham, Esq., parish of St Gilles (_sic_), and Eleonora Syme, -his spouse, a son born the 19th current, named Henry Peter. Witnesses, -Mr Archibald Hope, Royal Bank, and Principal Robertson.’ The parts of -the New Town then built belonged to St Giles’s parish. - - - - -THE OLD TOLBOOTH. - - -The genius of Scott has shed a peculiar interest upon this ancient -structure, whose cant name of the _Heart of Mid-Lothian_ has given a -title to one of his happiest novels. It stood in a singular situation, -occupying half the width of the High Street, elbow to elbow, as it -were, with St Giles’s Church. Antique in form, gloomy and haggard -in aspect, its black stanchioned windows opening through its dingy -walls like the apertures of a hearse, it was calculated to impress -all beholders with a due and deep sense of what was meant in Scottish -law by the _squalor carceris_. At the west end was a projecting -ground-floor, formed of shops, but presenting a platform on which -executions took place. The building itself was composed of two parts, -one more solid and antique than the other, and much resembling, with -its turret staircase, one of those tall, narrow fortalices which -are so numerous in the Border counties. Indeed, the probability is -that this had been a kind of peel or house of defence, required for -public purposes by the citizens of Edinburgh when liable to predatory -invasions. Doubtless the house or some part of it was of great -antiquity, for it was an old and ruinous building in the reign of Mary, -and only narrowly saved at that time from destruction. Most likely -it was the very _pretorium burgi de Edinburgi_ in which a parliament -assembled in 1438 to deliberate on the measures rendered necessary -by the assassination of the poet-king, James I. In those simple days -great and humble things came close together: the house which contained -parliaments upstairs, presented shops in the lower story, and thus -drew in a little revenue to the magistrates. Here met the Court of -Session in its earliest years. Here Mary assembled her parliaments; -and here—on the Tolbooth door—did citizens affix libels by night, -charging the Earl of Bothwell with the murder of Darnley. Long, long -since all greatness had been taken away from the old building, and it -was condemned to be a jail alone, though still with shops underneath. -At length, in 1817, the fabric was wholly swept away, in consequence -of the erection of a better jail on the Calton Hill. The gateway, with -the door and padlock, was transferred to Abbotsford, and, with strange -taste on the part of the proprietor, built into a conspicuous part of -that mansion. - -[Illustration: EDINBURGH -from the Calton Hill. - -PAGE 83.] - -The principal entrance to the Tolbooth, and the only one used in -later days, was at the bottom of the turret next the church. The -gateway was of tolerably good carved stone-work, and occupied by a -door of ponderous massiness and strength, having, besides the lock, a -flap-padlock, which, however, was generally kept unlocked during the -day. In front of the door there always paraded, or rather loitered, a -private of the town-guard, with his rusty red clothes and Lochaber axe -or musket. The door adjacent to the principal gateway was, in the final -days of the Tolbooth, ‘MICHAEL KETTEN’S SHOE-SHOP,’ but had formerly -been a _thief’s hole_. The next door to that, stepping westward, was -the residence of the turnkey; a dismal, unlighted den, where the gray -old man was always to be found, when not engaged in unlocking or -closing the door. The next door westward was a lock-up house, which -in later times was never used. On the north side, towards the street, -there had once been shops, which were let by the magistrates; but -these were converted, about the year 1787, into a guard-house for the -city-guard, on their ancient capitol in the High Street being destroyed -for the levelling of the streets. The ground-floor, thus occupied -for purposes in general remote from the character of the building, -was divided lengthwise by a strong partition wall; and communication -between the rooms above and these apartments below was effectually -interdicted by the strong arches upon which the superstructure was -reared. - -On passing the outer door—where the rioters of 1736 thundered with -their sledge-hammers, and finally burnt down all that interposed -between them and their prey—the keeper instantly involved the entrant -in darkness by reclosing the gloomy portal. A flight of about twenty -steps then led to an inner door, which, being duly knocked at, was -opened by a bottle-nosed personage, denominated Peter, who, like his -sainted namesake, always carried two or three large keys. You then -entered _the Hall_, which, being free to all the prisoners except those -of the _East End_, was usually filled with a crowd of shabby-looking -but very merry loungers. A small rail here served as an additional -security, no prisoner being permitted to come within its pale. Here -also a sentinel of the city-guard was always walking, having a bayonet -or ramrod in his hand. The _Hall_, being also the chapel of the jail, -contained an old pulpit of singular fashion—such a pulpit as one -could imagine John Knox to have preached from; which, indeed, he was -traditionally said to have actually done. At the right-hand side of -the pulpit was a door leading up the large turnpike to the apartments -occupied by the criminals, one of which was of plate-iron. The door -was always shut, except when food was taken up to the prisoners. On -the west end of the hall hung a board, on which were inscribed the -following emphatic lines: - - ‘A prison is a house of care, - A place where none can thrive, - A touchstone true to try a friend, - A grave for men alive— - - Sometimes a place of right, - Sometimes a place of wrong, - Sometimes a place for jades and thieves, - And honest men among.’[62] - -Apart of the hall on the north side was partitioned off into two -small rooms, one of which was the captain’s pantry, the other his -counting-room. In the latter hung an old musket or two, a pair of -obsolete bandoleers, and a sheath of a bayonet, intended, as one might -suppose, for his defence against a mutiny of the prisoners. Including -the space thus occupied, the hall was altogether twenty-seven feet -long by about twenty broad. The height of the room was twelve feet. -Close to the door, and within the rail, was a large window, thickly -stanchioned; and at the other end of the hall, within the captain’s -two rooms, was a double window of a somewhat extraordinary character. -Tradition, supported by the appearance of the place, pointed out this -as having formerly been a door by which royalty entered the hall in the -days when it was the Parliament House. It is said that a kind of bridge -was thrown between this aperture and a house on the other side of the -street, and that the sovereign, having prepared himself in that house -to enter the hall in his state robes, proceeded at the proper time -along the arch—an arrangement by no means improbable in those days of -straitened accommodation. - -The window on the south side of the hall overlooked the outer gateway. -It was therefore employed by the inner turnkey as a channel of -communication with his exterior brother when any visitor was going -out. He used to cry over this window, in the tone of a military order -upon parade: ‘_Turn your hand_,’ whereupon the gray-haired man on the -pavement below opened the door and permitted the visitor, who by this -time had descended the stair, to walk out. - -The floor immediately above the hall was occupied by one room for -felons, having a bar along part of the floor, to which condemned -criminals were chained, and a square box of plate-iron in the centre, -called THE CAGE, which was said to have been constructed for the -purpose of confining some extraordinary culprit who had broken half the -jails in the kingdom. Above this room was another of the same size, -also appropriated to felons. - -The larger and western part of the edifice, of coarser and apparently -more modern construction, contained four floors, all of which were -appropriated to the use of debtors, except a part of the lowest one, -where a middle-aged woman kept a tavern for the sale of malt liquors. -A turnpike stair gave access to the different floors. As it was -narrow, steep, and dark, the visitor was assisted in his ascent by a -greasy rope, which, some one was sure to inform him afterwards, had -been employed in hanging a criminal. In one of the apartments on the -second floor was a door leading out to the platform whereon criminals -were executed, and in another, on the floor above, was an ill-plastered -part of the wall covering the aperture through which the gallows was -projected. The fourth flat was a kind of barrack, for the use of the -poorest debtors. - -There was something about the Old Tolbooth which would have enabled -a blindfolded person led into it to say that it was a jail. It was -not merely odorous from the ordinary causes of imperfect drainage, -but it had poverty’s own smell—the odour of human misery. And yet it -did not seem at first a downcast scene. The promenaders in the hall -were sometimes rather merry, cutting jokes perhaps upon Peter’s nose, -or chatting with friends on the benches regarding the news of the -day. Then Mrs Laing drove a good trade in her little tavern; and if -any messenger were sent out for a bottle of whisky—why, Peter never -searched pockets. New men were hailed with: - - ‘Welcome, welcome, brother debtor, - To this poor but merry place; - Here nor bailiff, dun, nor fetter, - Dare to show his gloomy face.’ - -They would be abashed at first, and the first visit of wife or -daughter, coming shawled and veiled, and with timorous glances, into -the room where the loved object was trying to become at ease with his -companions, was always a touching affair. But it was surprising how -soon, in general, all became familiar, easy, and even to appearance -happy. Each had his story to tell, and sympathy was certain and -liberal. The whole management was of a good-natured kind, as far as a -regard to regulations would allow. It did not seem at all an impossible -thing that a debtor should accommodate some even more desolate friend -with a share of his lodging for the night, or for many nights, as is -said to have been done in some noted instances, to which we shall -presently come. - -It was natural for a jail of such old standing to have passed through a -great number of odd adventures, and have many strange tales connected -with it. One of the most remarkable traits of its character was a sad -liability to the failure of its ordinary powers of retention when men -of figure were in question. The old house had something like that -faculty attributed by Falstaff to the lion and himself—of knowing -men who ought not to be too roughly handled. The consequence was -that almost every criminal of rank confined in it made his escape. -Lord Burleigh, an insane peer, who, about the time of the Union, -assassinated a schoolmaster who had married a girl to whom he had paid -improper addresses, escaped, while under sentence of death, by changing -clothes with his sister. Several of the rebel gentlemen confined there -in 1716 were equally fortunate; a fact on which there was lately thrown -a flood of light, when I found, in a manuscript list of subscriptions -for the relief of the other rebel gentlemen at Carlisle, the name of -the Guidman of the Tolbooth—so the chief-keeper was called—down for a -good sum. I am uncertain to which of all these personages the following -anecdote, related to me by Sir Walter Scott, refers. - -It was contrived that the prisoner should be conveyed out of the -Tolbooth in a trunk, and carried by a porter to Leith, where some -sailors were to be ready with a boat to take him aboard a vessel about -to leave Scotland. The plot succeeded so far as the escape from jail -was concerned, but was knocked on the head by an unlucky and most -ridiculous accident. It so happened that the porter, in arranging the -trunk upon his back, placed the end which corresponded with the feet of -the prisoner _uppermost_. The head of the unfortunate man was therefore -pressed against the lower end of the box, and had to sustain the weight -of the whole body. The posture was the most uneasy imaginable. Yet life -was preferable to ease. He permitted himself to be taken away. The -porter trudged along with the trunk, quite unconscious of its contents, -and soon reached the High Street. On gaining the Netherbow he met an -acquaintance, who asked him where he was going with that large burden. -To Leith, was the answer. The other inquired if the job was good enough -to afford a potation before proceeding farther upon so long a journey. -This being replied to in the affirmative, and the carrier of the box -feeling in his throat the philosophy of his friend’s inquiry, it was -agreed that they should adjourn to a neighbouring tavern. Meanwhile, -the third party, whose inclinations had not been consulted in this -arrangement, was wishing that it were at once well over with him in the -Grassmarket. But his agonies were not destined to be of long duration. -The porter in depositing him upon the causeway happened to make the -end of the trunk come down with such precipitation that, unable to -bear it any longer, the prisoner screamed out, and immediately after -fainted. The consternation of the porter on hearing a noise from his -burden was of course excessive; but he soon recovered presence of mind -enough to conceive the occasion. He proceeded to unloose and to burst -open the trunk, when the hapless nobleman was discovered in a state of -insensibility. As a crowd collected immediately, and the city-guard -were not long in coming forward, there was of course no further chance -of escape. The prisoner did not recover from his swoon till he had been -safely deposited in his old quarters; but, if I recollect rightly, he -eventually escaped in another way. - -In two very extraordinary instances an escape from justice has, strange -as it may appear, been effected by _means_ of the Old Tolbooth. At -the discovery of the Rye-House Plot, in the reign of Charles II., the -notorious Robert Fergusson, usually styled ‘The Plotter,’ was searched -for in Edinburgh, with a view to his being subjected, if possible, -to the extreme vengeance of the law. It being known almost certainly -that he was in town, the authorities shut the gates, and calculated -securely upon having him safe within their toils. The Plotter, however, -by an expedient worthy of his ingenious character, escaped by taking -refuge in the Old Tolbooth. A friend of his happened to be confined -there at the time, and was able to afford protection and concealment to -Fergusson, who, at his leisure, came abroad, and betook himself to a -place of safer shelter on the Continent. The same device was practised -in 1746 by a gentleman who had been concerned in the Rebellion, and for -whom a hot search had been carried on in the Highlands. - -The case of Katherine Nairne, in 1766, excited in no small degree the -attention of the Scottish public. This lady was allied, both by blood -and marriage, to some respectable families. Her crime was the double -one of poisoning her husband and having an intrigue with his brother, -who was her associate in the murder. On her arrival at Leith in an open -boat, her whole bearing betrayed so much levity, or was so different -from what had been expected, that the mob raised a cry of indignation, -and were on the point of pelting her, when she was with some difficulty -rescued from their hands by the public authorities. In this case the -Old Tolbooth found itself, as usual, incapable of retaining a culprit -of condition. Sentence had been delayed by the judges on account -of the lady’s pregnancy. The midwife employed at her accouchement -(who continued to practise in Edinburgh so lately as the year 1805) -had the address to achieve a jail-delivery also. For three or four -days previous to that concerted for the escape, she pretended to be -afflicted with a prodigious toothache, went out and in with her head -enveloped in shawls and flannels, and groaned as if she had been about -to give up the ghost. At length, when the Peter of that day had become -so habituated to her appearance as not very much to heed her exits and -her entrances, Katherine Nairne one evening came down in her stead, -with her head wrapped all round with the shawls, uttering the usual -groans, and holding down her face upon her hands, as with agony, in the -precise way customary with the midwife. The inner doorkeeper, not quite -unconscious, it is supposed, of the trick, gave her a hearty thump upon -the back as she passed out, calling her at the same time a howling -old Jezebel, and wishing she would never come back to trouble him any -more. There are two reports of the proceedings of Katherine Nairne -after leaving the prison. One bears that she immediately left the town -in a coach, to which she was handed by a friend stationed on purpose. -The coachman, it is said, had orders from her relations, in the event -of a pursuit, to drive into the sea, that she might drown herself—a -fate which was considered preferable to the ignominy of a public -execution. The other story runs that she went up the Lawnmarket to the -Castle-hill, where lived Mr ——, a respectable advocate, from whom, as -he was her cousin, she expected to receive protection. Being ignorant -of the town, she mistook the proper house, and applied at that of the -crown agent,[63] who was assuredly the last man in the world that could -have done her any service. As good luck would have it, she was not -recognised by the servant, who civilly directed her to her cousin’s -house, where, it is said, she remained concealed many weeks.[64] Her -future life, it has been reported, was virtuous and fortunate. She was -married to a French gentleman, became the mother of a large family, and -died at a good old age. Meanwhile, Patrick Ogilvie, her associate in -the dark crime which threw a shade over her younger years, suffered in -the Grassmarket. He had been a lieutenant in the —— regiment, and was -so much beloved by his fellow-soldiers, who happened to be stationed at -that time in Edinburgh Castle, that the public authorities judged it -necessary to shut them up in a fortress till the execution was over -lest they might have attempted a rescue. - -The Old Tolbooth was the scene of the suicide of Mungo Campbell while -under sentence of death (1770) for shooting the Earl of Eglintoune. -In the district where this memorable event took place, it is somewhat -remarkable that the fate of the murderer was more generally lamented -than that of the murdered person. Campbell, though what was called ‘a -graceless man,’ was rather popular in his profession of exciseman, on -account of his rough, honourable spirit, and his lenity in the matter -of smuggling. Lord Eglintoune, on the contrary, was not liked, on -account of his improving mania, which had proved a serious grievance -to the old-fashioned farmers of Kyle and Cunningham. There was one -article, called rye-grass, which he brought in amongst them, and -forced them to cultivate; and black prelacy itself had hardly, a -century before, been a greater evil. Then, merely to stir them up a -little, he would cause them to exchange farms with each other; thus -giving their ancient plenishings, what was doubtless much wanted, an -airing, but also creating a strong sense that Lord Eglintoune was -‘far ower fashious.’ His lordship had excited some scandal by his -private habits, which helped in no small degree to render unpopular -one who was in reality an amiable and upright gentleman. He was -likewise somewhat tenacious about matters respecting game—the -besetting weakness of British gentlemen in all ages. On the other -hand, Campbell, though an austere and unsocial man, acted according to -popular ideas both in respect of the game and excise laws. The people -felt that he was on their side; they esteemed him for his integrity -in the common affairs of life, and even in some degree for his birth -and connections, which were far from mean. It was also universally -believed, though erroneously, that he had only discharged his gun by -accident, on falling backward, while retreating before his lordship, -who had determined to take it from him. In reality, Mungo, after his -fall, rose on his elbow and wilfully shot the poor earl, who had given -him additional provocation by bursting into a laugh at his awkward -fall. The Old Tolbooth was supposed by many, at the time, to have had -her usual failing in Mungo’s case. The interest of the Argyll family -was said to have been employed in his favour; and the body which was -found suspended over the door, instead of being his, was thought to -be that of a dead soldier from the Castle substituted in his place. -His relations, however, who were very respectable people in Ayrshire, -all acknowledged that he died by his own hand; and this was the -general idea of the mob of Edinburgh, who, getting the body into their -hands, dragged it down the street to the King’s Park, and, inspired -by different sentiments from those of the Ayrshire people, were not -satisfied till they got it up to the top of Salisbury Crags, from which -they precipitated it down the _Cat Nick_. - -[Illustration: Deacon Brodie’s Keys and Dark-Lantern.] - -One of the most remarkable criminals ever confined in the Old -Tolbooth was the noted William Brodie. This was a man of respectable -connections, and who had moved in good society all his life, -unsuspected of any criminal pursuits. It is said that a habit of -frequenting cock-pits was the first symptom he exhibited of a decline -from rectitude. His ingenuity as a mechanic gave him a fatal facility -in the burglarious pursuits to which he afterwards addicted himself. It -was then customary for the shopkeepers of Edinburgh to hang their keys -upon a nail at the back of their doors, or at least to take no pains -in concealing them during the day. Brodie used to take impressions of -them in putty or clay, a piece of which he would carry in the palm of -his hand. He kept a blacksmith in his pay, who forged exact copies of -the keys he wanted, and with these it was his custom to open the shops -of his fellow-tradesmen during the night. He thus found opportunities -of securely stealing whatever he wished to possess. He carried on his -malpractices for many years, and never was suspected till, having -committed a daring robbery upon the Excise Office in Chessels’s -Court, Canongate, some circumstances transpired which induced him -to disappear from Edinburgh. Suspicion then becoming strong, he was -pursued to Holland, and taken at Amsterdam, standing upright in a -press or cupboard. At his trial, Henry Erskine, his counsel, spoke -very eloquently in his behalf, representing, in particular, to the -jury how strange and improbable a circumstance it was that a man whom -they had themselves known from infancy as a person of good repute -should have been guilty of such practices as those with which he was -charged. He was, however, found guilty, and sentenced to death, along -with his accomplice Smith. At the trial he had appeared in a full-dress -suit of black clothes, the greater part of which was of silk, and his -deportment throughout the affair was composed and gentlemanlike. He -continued during the period which intervened between his sentence and -execution to dress well and keep up his spirits. A gentleman of his -acquaintance, calling upon him in the condemned room, was surprised -to find him singing the song from the _Beggars’ Opera_, ‘’Tis woman -seduces all mankind.’ Having contrived to cut out the figure of a -draughtboard on the stone floor of his dungeon, he amused himself by -playing with any one who would join him, and, in default of such, -with his right hand against his left. This diagram remained in the -room where it was so strangely out of place till the destruction of -the jail. His dress and deportment at the gallows (October 1, 1788) -displayed a mind at ease, and gave some countenance to the popular -notion that he had made certain mechanical arrangements for saving his -life. Brodie was the first who proved the excellence of an improvement -he had formerly made on the apparatus of the gibbet. This was the -substitution of what is called the _drop_ for the ancient practice -of the double ladder. He inspected the thing with a professional -air, and seemed to view the result of his ingenuity with a smile of -satisfaction. When placed on that insecure pedestal, and while the rope -was adjusted round his neck by the executioner, his courage did not -forsake him. On the contrary, even there he exhibited a sort of levity; -he shuffled about, looked gaily around, and finally went out of the -world with his hand stuck carelessly into the open front of his vest. - -[Illustration: Brodie’s Close.] - -As its infirmities increased with old age, the Tolbooth showed itself -incapable of retaining prisoners of even ordinary rank. Within the -recollection of people living not long ago, a youth named Hay, the son -of a stabler in the Grassmarket, and who was under sentence of death -for burglary, effected his escape in a way highly characteristic of the -Heart of Mid-Lothian, and of the simple and unprecise system upon which -all public affairs were managed before the present age. - -A few days before that appointed for the execution, the father went -up to the condemned room, apparently to condole with his unhappy son. -The irons had been previously got quit of by files. At nightfall, when -most visitors had left the jail, old Hay invited the inner turnkey, or -man who kept the hall-door, to come into the room and partake of some -liquor which he had brought with him. The man took a few glasses, and -became mellow just about the time when the bottle was exhausted and -when the time of locking up the jail (ten o’clock at that period) was -approaching. Hay expressed unwillingness to part at the moment when -they were just beginning to enjoy their liquor; a sentiment in which -the turnkey heartily sympathised. Hay took a crown from his pocket, -and proposed that his friend should go out and purchase a bottle of -good rum at a neighbouring shop. The man consented, and staggering away -downstairs, neglected to lock the inner door behind him. Young Hay -followed close, as had been concerted, and after the man had gone out, -and the outer turnkey had closed the outer door, stood in the stair -just within that dread portal, ready to spring into the street. Old Hay -then put his head to the great window of the hall, and cried: ‘Turn -your hand!’—the usual drawling cry which brought the outer turnkey to -open the door. The turnkey came mechanically at the cry, and unclosed -the outer door, when the young criminal sprang out, and ran as fast as -he could down Beth’s Wynd, a lane opposite the jail. According to the -plan which had been previously concerted, he repaired to a particular -part of the wall of the Greyfriars Churchyard, near the lower gate, -where it was possible for an agile person to climb up and spring over; -and so well had every stage of the business been planned that a large -stone had been thrown down at this place to facilitate the leap. - -The youth had been provided with a key which could open Sir George -Mackenzie’s mausoleum—a place of peculiar horror, as it was supposed -to be haunted by the spirit of the bloody persecutor; but what will -not be submitted to for dear life? Having been brought up in Heriot’s -Hospital, in the immediate neighbourhood of the churchyard, Hay had -many boyish acquaintances still residing in that establishment. Some -of these he contrived to inform of his situation, enjoining them to -be secret, and beseeching them to assist him in his distress. The -Herioters of those days had a very clannish spirit—insomuch that -to have neglected the interests or safety of any individual of the -community, however unworthy he might be of their friendship, would -have been looked upon by them as a sin of the deepest dye. Hay’s -confidants, therefore, considered themselves bound to assist him by -all means in their power. They kept his secret faithfully, spared from -their own meals as much food as supported him, and ran the risk of -severe punishment, as well as of seeing eldritch sights, by visiting -him every night in his dismal abode. About six weeks after his escape -from jail, when the hue and cry had in a great measure subsided, he -ventured to leave the tomb, and it was afterwards known that he escaped -abroad. - -[Illustration: Sir George Mackenzie’s Mausoleum.] - -So ends our gossip respecting a building which has witnessed and -contained the meetings of the Scottish parliament in the romantic days -of the Jameses—which held the first fixed court of law established -in the country—which was looked to by the citizens in a rude age as -a fortified place for defence against external danger to their lives -and goods—which has immured in its gloomy walls persons of all kinds -liable to law, from the gallant Montrose and the faithful Guthrie -and Argyll down to the humblest malefactor in the modern style of -crime—and which, finally, has been embalmed in the imperishable pages -of the greatest writer of fiction our country has produced. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[62] These verses are to be found in a curious volume, which appeared -in London in 1618, under the title of _Essayes and Characters of -a Prison and Prisoners_, by Geffray Mynshul, of Grayes Inn, Gent. -Reprinted, 1821, by W. & C. Tait, Edinburgh. The lines were applied -specially to the King’s Bench Prison. - -[63] A large white house near the Castle, on the north side of the -street, and now (1868) no more. - -[64] Katherine Nairne was the niece of Sir William Nairne, later a -judge under the title of Lord Dunsinnane, and it was currently reported -that her escape from the Tolbooth was effected through his connivance. -Sir William’s clerk accompanied the lady to Dover, and had great -difficulty in preventing her recognition and arrest through her levity -on the journey. - - - - -SOME MEMORIES OF THE LUCKENBOOTHS. - - LORD COALSTOUN AND HIS WIG—COMMENDATOR BOTHWELL’S HOUSE—LADY - ANNE BOTHWELL—MAHOGANY LANDS AND FORE-STAIRS—THE - KRAMES—CREECH’S SHOP. - - -A portion of the High Street facing St Giles’s Church was called the -_Luckenbooths_, and the appellation was shared with a middle row of -buildings which once burdened the street at that spot. The name is -supposed to have been conferred on the shops in that situation as being -_close shops_, to distinguish them from the open booths which then -lined our great street on both sides; _lucken_ signifying closed. This -would seem to imply a certain superiority in the ancient merchants of -the Luckenbooths; and it is somewhat remarkable that amidst all the -changes of the Old Town there is still in this limited locality an -unusual proportion of mercers and clothiers of old standing and reputed -substantiality. - -[Illustration: Tolbooth and Luckenbooths—looking East.] - -Previous to 1811, there remained unchanged in this place two tall -massive houses, about two centuries old, one of which contained the -town mansion of Sir John Byres of Coates, a gentleman of figure in -Edinburgh in the reign of James VI., and whose faded tombstone may -yet be deciphered in the west wall of the Greyfriars Churchyard. The -Byreses of the Coates died out towards the end of the last century, and -their estate has since become a site for streets, as our city spread -westwards. The name alone survives in connection with an alley beneath -their town mansion—_Byres’s Close_. - - -LORD COALSTOUN AND HIS WIG. - -The _fourth floor_, constituting the Byres mansion, after being -occupied by such persons as Lord Coupar, Lord Lindores, and Sir James -Johnston of Westerhall, fell into the possession of Mr Brown of -Coalstoun, a judge under the designation of Lord Coalstoun, and the -father of the late Countess of Dalhousie. His lordship lived here in -1757, but then removed to a more spacious mansion on the Castle-hill. - -A strange accident one morning befell Lord Coalstoun while residing -in this house. It was at that time the custom for advocates, and no -less for judges, to dress themselves in gown, wig, and cravat at their -own houses, and to walk in a sort of state, thus rigged out, with -their cocked hats in their hands, to the Parliament House.[65] They -usually breakfasted early, and when dressed would occasionally lean -over their parlour windows, for a few minutes before St Giles’s bell -sounded the starting peal of a quarter to nine, enjoying the morning -air, such as it was, and perhaps discussing the news of the day, or -the convivialities of the preceding evening, with a neighbouring -advocate on the opposite side of the alley. It so happened that one -morning, while Lord Coalstoun was preparing to enjoy his matutinal -treat, two girls, who lived in the second floor above, were amusing -themselves with a kitten, which, in thoughtless sport, they had swung -over the window by a cord tied round its middle, and hoisted for some -time up and down, till the creature was getting rather desperate with -its exertions. In this crisis his lordship popped his head out of -the window directly below that from which the kitten swung, little -suspecting, good easy man, what a danger impended, like the sword of -Damocles, over his head, hung, too, by a single—not _hair_, ’tis true, -but scarcely more responsible material—_garter_, when down came the -exasperated animal at full career directly upon his senatorial wig. -No sooner did the girls perceive what sort of a landing-place their -kitten had found than, in terror and surprise, they began to draw it -up; but this measure was now too late, for along with the animal -up also came the judge’s wig, fixed full in its determined talons. -His lordship’s surprise on finding his wig lifted off his head was -much increased when, on looking up, he perceived it dangling its way -upwards, without any means visible to him by which its motions might -be accounted for. The astonishment, the dread, the almost _awe_ of the -senator below—the half mirth, half terror of the girls above—together -with the fierce and relentless energy of retention on the part of Puss -between—altogether formed a scene to which language could not easily -do justice. It was a joke soon explained and pardoned; but assuredly -the perpetrators of it did afterwards get many lengthened injunctions -from their parents never again to fish over the window, with such a -bait, for honest men’s wigs. - - -COMMENDATOR BOTHWELL’S HOUSE. - -The eastern of the tenements, which has only been renovated by a -new front, formerly was the lodging of Adam Bothwell, Commendator -of Holyrood, who is remarkable for having performed the Protestant -marriage ceremony for Mary and the Earl of Bothwell. This ecclesiastic, -who belonged to an old Edinburgh family of note, and was the uncle -of the inventor of logarithms,[66] is celebrated in his epitaph -in Holyrood Chapel as a judge, and the son and father of judges. -His son was raised to the peerage in 1607, under the title of Lord -Holyroodhouse, the lands of that abbacy, with some others, being -erected into a temporal lordship in his favour. The title, however, -sunk in the second generation. The circumstance which now gives most -interest to the family is one which they themselves would probably have -regarded as its greatest disgrace. Among the old Scottish songs is one -which breaks upon the ear with the wail of wronged womanhood, mingled -with the breathings of its indestructible affections: - - ‘Baloo, my boy, lie still and sleep, - It grieves me sair to see thee weep. - If thou’lt be silent, I’ll be glad; - Thy mourning makes my heart full sad.... - Baloo, my boy, weep not for me, - Whose greatest grief’s for wranging thee, - Nor pity her deserved smart, - Who can blame none but her fond heart. - - Baloo, my boy, thy father’s fled, - When he the thriftless son hath played; - Of vows and oaths forgetful, he - Preferred the wars to thee and me: - But now perhaps thy curse and mine - Makes him eat acorns with the swine. - - Nay, curse not him; perhaps now he, - Stung with remorse, is blessing thee; - Perhaps at death, for who can tell - But the great Judge of heaven and hell - By some proud foe has struck the blow, - And laid the dear deceiver low,’ &c. - -Great doubt has long rested on the history of this piteous ditty; but -it is now ascertained to have been a contemporary effusion on the sad -love-tale of Anne Bothwell, a sister of the first Lord Holyroodhouse. -The only error in the setting down of the song was in calling it -_Lady_ Anne Bothwell’s Lament, as the heroine had no pretension to a -term implying noble rank. Her lover was a youth of uncommon elegance -of person, the Honourable Alexander Erskine, brother of the Earl of -Mar, of the first Earl of Buchan, and of Lord Cardross. A portrait of -him, which belonged to his mother (the countess mentioned a few pages -back), and which is now in the possession of James Erskine, Esq. of -Cambo, Lady Mar’s descendant, represents him as strikingly handsome, -with much vivacity of countenance, dark-blue eyes, a peaked beard, -and moustaches. The lovers were cousins. The song is an evidence of -the public interest excited by the affair: a fragment of it found its -way into an English play of the day, Broom’s comedy of _The Northern -Lass_ (1632). This is somewhat different from any of the stanzas in the -common versions of the ballad: - - ‘Peace, wayward bairn. Oh cease thy moan! - Thy far more wayward daddy’s gone, - And never will recallèd be, - By cries of either thee or me; - For should we cry, - Until we die, - We could not scant his cruelty. - Baloo, baloo, &c. - - He needs might in himself foresee - What thou successively mightst be; - And could he then (though me forego) - His infant leave, ere he did know - How like the dad - Would prove the lad, - In time to make fond maidens glad. - Baloo, baloo,’ &c. - -The fate of the deceiver proved a remarkable echo of some of the verses -of the ballad. Having carried his military experience and the influence -of his rank into the party of the Covenanters, he was stationed (1640) -with his brother-in-law, the Earl of Haddington, at Dunglass Castle, -on the way to Berwick, actively engaged in bringing up levies for the -army, then newly advanced across the Tweed; when, by the revenge of -an offended page, who applied a hot poker to the powder magazine, the -place was blown up. Erskine, with his brother-in-law and many other -persons, perished. A branch of the Mar family retained, till no remote -time, the awe-mingled feeling which had been produced by this event, -which they had been led to regard as a punishment inflicted for the -wrongs of Anne Bothwell. - -[Illustration: Byres’s Close, Back of Commendator Bothwell’s House.] - -At the back of the Commendator’s house there is a projection,[67] on -the top of which is a bartisan or flat roof, faced with three lettered -stones. There is a tradition that Oliver Cromwell lived in this -house,[68] and used to come out and sit here to view his navy on the -Forth, of which, together with the whole coast, it commands a view. As -this commander is said to have had his guard-house in the neighbouring -alley called Dunbar’s Close, there is some reason to give credit to the -story, though it is in no shape authenticated by historical record. The -same house was, for certain, the residence of Sir William Dick, the -hapless son of Crœsus spoken of in a preceding article. - -These houses preserved, until their recent renovation, all the -characteristics of that ancient mode of architecture which has procured -for the edifices constructed upon it the dignified appellative of -_Mahogany Lands_. Below were the booths or piazzas, once prevalent -throughout the whole town, in which the merchants of the laigh shops, -or cellars, were permitted to exhibit their goods to the passengers. -The merchant himself took his seat at the head of the stair to attend -to the wants of passing customers. By the ancient laws of the burgh, -it was required that each should be provided with ‘lang wappinis, sick -as a spear or a Jeddart staff,’ with which he was to sally forth and -assist the magistrates in time of need; for example, when a _tulzie_ -took place between the retainers of rival noblemen meeting in the -street. - -[Illustration] - -This house could also boast of that distinguished feature in all -ancient wooden structures, a _fore-stair_, an antiquated convenience, -or inconvenience, now almost extinct, consisting of a flight of steps, -ascending from the pavement to the first floor of the mansion, and -protruding a considerable way into the street. Nuisances as they still -are, they were once infinitely worse. What will my readers think when -they are informed that under these projections our ancestors kept their -swine? Yes; _outside stairs_ was formerly but a term of outward respect -for what were as frequently denominated _swine’s cruives_; and the rude -inhabitants of these narrow mansions were permitted, through the day, -to stroll about the ‘High Gait,’ seeking what they might devour among -the heaps of filth which then encumbered the street,[69] as barn-door -fowls are at the present day suffered to go abroad in country towns; -and, like them (or like the town-geese of Musselburgh, which to -this day are privileged to feed upon the race-ground), the sullen -porkers were regularly called home in the evening by their respective -proprietors. - -These circumstances will be held as sufficient evidence, -notwithstanding all the enactments for the ‘policy of bigginis’ and -‘decoring the tounes,’ that the stranger’s constant reproach of the -Scots for want of cleanliness was not unmerited. Yet, to show that -our countrymen did not lack a taste for decent appearances, let it be -recollected that on every occasion of a public procession, entry of -a sovereign, or other ceremonial, these fore-stairs were hung with -carpets, tapestry, or arras, and were the principal places for the -display of rank and fashion; while the windows, like the galleries of -a theatre compared with the boxes, were chiefly occupied by spectators -of a lower degree.[70] The strictest proclamations were always issued, -before any such occasion, ordaining the ‘middinis’ and the ‘swine’ to -be removed, and the stairs to be decorated in the manner mentioned. - -Beneath the stair of the house now under review there abode in later -times an old man named Bryce, in whose life and circumstances there -was something characteristic of a pent-up city like Edinburgh, where -every foot of space was valuable. A stock of small hardwares and -trinkets was piled up around him, leaving scarcely sufficient room -for the accommodation of his own person, which completely filled the -vacant space, as a hermit-crab fills its shell. There was not room -for the admission of a customer; but he had a _half-door_, over which -he sold any article that was demanded; and there he sat from morning -till night, with his face turned to this door, looking up the eternal -Lawnmarket. The place was so confined that he could not stand upright -in it; nor could he stretch out his legs. Even while he sat, there -was an uneasy obliquity of the stair, which compelled him to shrink a -little aside; and by accustoming himself to this posture for a long -series of years, he had insensibly acquired a twist in his shoulders, -nearly approaching to a humpback, and his head swung a little to one -side. This was _l’air boutiquier_ in a most distressing sense. - -In the description of this old tenement given in the title-deeds, it is -called ‘All and haill that Lodging or Timber Land lying in the burgh -of Edinburgh, on the north side of the High Street thereof, forgainst -the place of the Tolbooth, commonly called the Poor Folks’ Purses.’ The -latter place was a part of the northern wall of the prison, deriving -its name from a curious circumstance. It was formerly the custom for -the privileged beggars, called _Blue-gowns_, to assemble in the palace -yard, where a small donation from the king, consisting of as many -pennies as he was years old, was conferred on each of them; after which -they moved in procession up the High Street, till they came to this -spot, where the magistrates gave each a _leathern purse_ and a small -sum of money; the ceremony concluding by their proceeding to the High -Church to hear a sermon from one of the king’s chaplains.[71] - - -THE KRAMES. - -The central row of buildings—the _Luckenbooths proper_—was not wholly -taken away till 1817. The narrow passage left between it and the -church will ever be memorable to all who knew Edinburgh in those days, -on account of the strange scene of traffic which it presented—each -recess, angle, and coign of vantage in the wall of the church being -occupied by little shops, of the nature of Bryce’s, devoted to the sale -of gloves, toys, lollipops, &c. These were the _Krames_, so famous at -Edinburgh firesides. Singular places of business they assuredly were; -often not presenting more space than a good church-pew, yet supporting -by their commerce respectable citizenly families, from which would -occasionally come men of some consequence in society. At the same spot -the constable (Earl of Errol) was wont to sit upon a chair at the -ridings of the parliament, when ceremonially receiving the members as -they alighted. - -I am told that one such place, not more than seven feet by three, had -been occupied by a glover named Kennedy, who with his gentle dame -stood there retailing their wares for a time sufficient to witness the -rise and fall of dynasties, never enjoying all that time the comfort -of a fire, even in the coldest weather! This was a specimen of the -life led by these patient creatures; many of whom, upon the demolition -of their lath and plaster tenements, retired from business with -little competencies. Their rents were from £3 to £6 per annum; and it -appears that, huddled as the town then was around them, they had no -inconsiderable custom. At the end of the row, under the angle of the -church, was a brief stair, called _The Lady’s Steps_, thought to be a -corruption of _Our Lady’s Steps_, with reference to a statue of the -Virgin, the niche for which was seen in the east wall of the church -till the renovation of the building in 1830. Sir George Mackenzie, -however, in his _Observations on the Statutes_, states that the Lady’s -Steps were so called from the infamous Lady March (wife of the Earl -of Arran, James VI.’s profligate chancellor), from whom also the nine -o’clock evening-bell, being ordered by her to an hour later, came to be -called _The Lady’s Bell_. When men made bargains at the Cross, it was -customary for them to go up to the Lady’s Steps, and there consummate -the negotiation by wetting thumbs or paying _arles_. - - -CREECH’S SHOP. - -The building at the east end of the Luckenbooths proper had a front -facing down the High Street, and commanding not only a view of the busy -scene there presented, but a prospect of Aberlady Bay, Gosford House, -and other objects in Haddingtonshire. The shop in the east front was -that of Mr Creech, a bookseller of facete memory, who had published -many books by the principal literary men of his day, to all of whom he -was known as a friend and equal. From this place had issued works by -Kames, Smith, Hume, Mackenzie, and finally the poems of Burns. It might -have been called the Lounger’s Observatory, for seldom was the doorway -free of some group of idlers, engaged in surveying and commenting on -the crowd in front; Creech himself, with his black silk breeches and -powdered head, being ever a conspicuous member of the corps. The flat -above had been the shop of Allan Ramsay, and the place where, in 1725, -he set up the first example of a circulating library known in Scotland. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[65] Up to the year 1830, when George IV. Bridge gave easy access to -Parliament House, this quaint custom was followed by Lord Glenlee, who -walked from his house in Brown Square, down Crombie’s Close, across the -Cowgate, and up the Back Stairs. - -[66] Napier of Merchiston. - -[67] This projection is still a notable architectural feature in the -open space at the back of the tenement referred to. The original -windows have been built up. One of the lettered stones bearing the -words, ‘Blessit be God for all his giftis’—a favourite motto with old -Edinburgh builders—was removed to Easter Coates house, where it may -still be seen in that now old building adjoining St Mary’s Cathedral. - -[68] From this tradition it was known as ‘The Cromwell Bartizan.’ -Dunbar’s Close did not get its name from its supposed association with -Cromwell’s soldiers, but from a family that lived in it. At an earlier -period it was known as Ireland’s Close. - -[69] Edinburgh was not in this respect worse than other European -cities. Paris, at least, was equally disgusting. Rigord, who wrote -in the twelfth century, tells us that the king, standing one day at -the window of his palace near the Seine, and observing that the dirt -thrown up by the carriages produced a most offensive stench, resolved -to remedy this intolerable nuisance by causing the streets to be paved. -For a long time swine were permitted to wallow in them; till the young -Philip being killed by a fall from his horse, from a sow running -between its legs, an order was issued that no swine should in future -run about the street. The monks of the Abbey of St Anthony remonstrated -fiercely against this order, alleging that the prevention of the -saint’s swine from enjoying the liberty of going where they pleased was -a want of respect to their patron. It was therefore found necessary to -grant them the privilege of wallowing in the dirt without molestation, -requiring the monks only to turn them out with bells about their necks. - -[70] - - ‘To recreat hir hie renoun, - Of curious things thair wes all sort, - The stairs and houses of the toun - With tapestries were spread athort: - Quhair histories men micht behould, - With images and anticks auld. - - THE DESCRIPTION OF THE QVEEN’S MAIESTIES MAIST - HONORABLE ENTRY INTO THE TOWN OF EDINBVRGH, VPON THE - 19. DAY OF MAII, 1590. BY JOHN BVREL.’—_Watson’s - Collection of Scots Poems_ (1709). - -[71] In the early times these privileged beggars were called -‘Bedesmen,’ from telling their beads as they walked from Holyrood to St -Giles’. From the erection of the Canongate Church in 1690 the ceremony -took place there, until it was discontinued in the first years of Queen -Victoria’s reign. A well-known worthy of this community was reputed in -1837 to possess property which yielded an annual income of £120. - - - - -SOME MEMORANDA OF THE OLD KIRK OF ST GILES. - - -[Illustration: ST GILES, WEST WINDOW. - -PAGE 105.] - -The central portion or transept of St Giles’s Church, opening from the -south, formed a distinct place of worship, under the name of the Old -Church, and this seems to have been the first arranged for Protestant -worship after the Reformation. It was the scene of the prelections of -John Knox (who, it will be remembered, was the first minister of the -city under the reformed religion), until a month before his death, when -it appears that another portion of the building—styled the Tolbooth -Kirk—was fitted up for his use. - -[Illustration: John Knox’s Pulpit.] - -It also happened to be in the Old Kirk that the celebrated riot of the -23rd of July 1637 took place, when, on the opening of the new Episcopal -service-book, Jenny Geddes, of worthy memory, threw her cutty-stool at -the dean who read it—the first weapon, and a formidable one it was, -employed in the great civil war.[72] - -[Illustration: Jenny Geddes’s Stool.] - -Jenny Geddes was an herbwoman—_Scottice, a greenwife_—at the Tron -Church, where, in former as well as in recent times, that class of -merchants kept their stalls. It seems that, in the midst of the hubbub, -Jenny, hearing the bishop call upon the dean to read the _collect_ of -the day, cried out, with unintentional wit: ‘Deil colic the wame o’ -ye!’[73] and threw at the dean’s head the small stool on which she sat; -‘a ticket of remembrance,’ as a Presbyterian annalist merrily terms it, -so well aimed that the clergyman only escaped it by jouking;[74] that -is, by [ducking or] suddenly bending his person. - -Jenny, like the originators of many other insurrections, appears to -have afterwards repented of her exertions on this occasion. We learn -from the simple diarist, Andrew Nichol, that when Charles II. was -known, in June 1650, to have arrived in the north of Scotland, amidst -other rejoicings, ‘the pure [_q.d._ poor] kaill-wyves at the Trone -[Jenny Geddes, no doubt, among the number] war sae overjoyed, that they -sacrificed their standis and creellis, yea, the verie _stoollis_ they -sat on, in ane fyre.’ What will give, however, a still more unequivocal -proof of the repentance of honest Jenny (after whom, by the way, Burns -named a favourite mare), is the conduct expressly attributed to herself -on the occasion of the king’s coronation in 1661 by the _Mercurius -Caledonius_: - -‘But among all our bontados and caprices,’ says that curious register -of events,[75] ‘that of the immortal Jenet Geddis, Princesse of the -Trone adventurers, was most pleasant; for she was not only content to -assemble all her Creels, Basquets, _Creepies_,[76] Furmes, and other -ingredients that composed the Shope of her Sallets, Radishes, Turnips, -Carrots, Spinage, Cabbage, with all other sorts of Pot Merchandise -that belongs to the garden, but even her Leather Chair of State, where -she used to dispense Justice to the rest of her Langkale Vassals, were -all very orderly burned; she herself countenancing the action with a -high-flown flourish and vermilion majesty.’ - -The Scottish Society of Antiquaries nevertheless exhibit in their -museum a clasp-stool, for which there is good evidence that it was the -actual stool thrown by Mrs Geddes at the dean. - -In the southern aisle of this church, the Regent Murray, three weeks -after his assassination at Linlithgow, February 14, 1569-70, was -interred: ‘his head placed south, contrair the ordour usit; the -sepulchre laid with hewin wark maist curiously, and on the head ane -plate of brass.’ John Knox preached a funeral-sermon over the remains -of his friend, and drew tears from the eyes of all present. In the -Tolbooth Church, immediately adjoining to the west, sat the convention -which chose the Earl of Lennox as his successor in the regency. -Murray’s monument was not inelegant for the time; and its inscription, -written by Buchanan, is remarkable for emphatic brevity. - -[Illustration: Modern Monument to the Marquis of Montrose (see p. 108).] - -This part of the church appears to have formerly been an open lounge. -French Paris, Queen Mary’s servant, in his confession respecting the -murder of Darnley, mentions that, during the communings which took -place before that deed was determined on, he one day ‘took his mantle -and sword, and went to walk (_promener_) in the High Church.’ Probably, -in consequence of the veneration entertained for the memory of ‘the -Good Regent,’ or else, perhaps, from some simple motive of conveniency, -the Earl of Murray’s tomb was a place frequently assigned in bills for -the payment of the money. It also appears to have been the subject of -a similar jest to that respecting the tomb of Duke Humphrey. Robert -Sempill, in his _Banishment of Poverty_, a poem referring to the year -1680 or 1681, thus expresses himself: - - ‘Then I knew no way how to fen’; - My guts rumbled like a _hurle-barrow_; - I dined with saints and noblemen, - Even sweet Saint Giles and Earl of Murray.’ - -In the immediate neighbourhood of the Earl of Murray’s tomb, to the -east, is the sepulchre of the Marquis of Montrose, executed in 1650, -and here interred most sumptuously, June 1661, after the various -parts of his body had been dispersed for eleven years in different -directions, according to his sentence.[77] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[72] We learn from Crawford’s _History of the University_ (MS. Adv. -Lib.) that the service was read that day in the Old Kirk on account of -the more dignified place of worship towards the east being then under -the process of alteration for the erection of the altar, ‘and other -pendicles of that idolatrous worship.’ - -[73] _Notes upon the Phœnix edition of the Pastoral Letter_, by S. -Johnson, 1694. - -[74] Wodrow, in his _Diary_, makes a statement apparently at issue with -that in the text, both in respect of locality and person: - -‘It is the constantly believed tradition that it was Mrs Mean, wife to -John Mean, merchant in Edinburgh, who threw the first stool when the -service-book was read in the New Kirk, Edinburgh, 1637, and that many -of the lasses that carried on the fray were preachers in disguise, for -they threw stools to a great length.’ - -[75] A newspaper commenced after the Restoration, and continued through -eleven numbers. - -[76] Small stools. - -[77] See _St Giles’, Edinburgh: Church, College, and Cathedral_, by the -Rev. Sir J. Cameron Lees, D.D.; also _Historical Sketch of St Giles’ -Cathedral_, by William Chambers, by whom the cathedral was restored in -1872-83. Regarding the reinterment of Montrose, there is a narrative, -with some fresh light on the subject, in the paper, ‘The Embalming of -Montrose,’ in the first volume of _The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club_. -The monuments to Knox, the Earl of Murray, and the Marquises of Argyll -and Montrose are quite modern. - - - - -THE PARLIAMENT CLOSE. - - ANCIENT CHURCHYARD—BOOTHS ATTACHED TO THE HIGH - CHURCH—GOLDSMITHS—GEORGE HERIOT—THE DEID-CHACK. - - -Previous to the seventeenth century, the ground now occupied by the -Parliament House, and the buildings adjacent to the south and west, -was the churchyard of St Giles’s, from the south side of which edifice -it extended down a steep declivity to the Cowgate. This might formerly -be considered the metropolitan cemetery of Scotland; as, together with -the internal space of the church, it contained the ashes of many noble -and remarkable personages, John Knox amongst the number. After the -Reformation, when Queen Mary conferred the gardens of the Greyfriars -upon the town, the churchyard of St Giles’s ceased to be much used as -a burying-ground; and that extensive and more appropriate place of -sepulture succeeded to this in being made _the Westminster Abbey of -Scotland_. - -The west side of the cemetery of St Giles’s was bounded by the house -of the provost of the church, who, in 1469, granted part of the same -to the citizens for the augmentation of the burying-ground. From the -charter accompanying the grant, it appears that the provost’s house -then also contained the public school of Edinburgh. - -In the lower part of the churchyard[78] there was a small place of -worship denominated the _Chapel of Holyrood_. Walter Chapman, the first -printer in Edinburgh, in 1528 endowed an altar in this chapel with his -tenement in the Cowgate; and, by the tenor of the charter, I am enabled -to point out very nearly the residence of this interesting person, who, -besides being a printer, was a respectable merchant in Edinburgh, and, -it would appear, a very pious man. The tenement is thus described: ‘All -and haill this tenement of land, back and foir, with houses, biggings, -yards, and well[79] thereof, lying in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, on the -south side thereof, near the said chapel, betwixt the lands of James -Lamb on the east, and the lands of John Aber on the west, the arable -lands called Wairam’s Croft on the south, and the said street on the -north part.’ - - -BOOTHS. - -The precincts of St Giles’s being now secularised, the church itself -was, in 1628, degraded by numerous wooden booths being stuck up around -it. Yet, to show that some reverence was still paid to the sanctity -of the place, the Town-council decreed that no tradesmen should be -admitted to these shops except bookbinders, mortmakers (watchmakers), -jewellers, and goldsmiths. _Bookbinders_ must here be meant to signify -booksellers, the latter term not being then known in Scotland. Of -mortmakers there could not be many, for watches were imported from -Germany till about the conclusion of the seventeenth century. The -goldsmiths were a much more numerous tribe than either of their -companions; for at that time there prevailed in Scotland, amongst the -aristocracy, a sort of rude magnificence and taste for show extremely -favourable to these tradesmen. - -[Illustration: Old St Giles’s.] - -In 1632, the present great hall of the Parliament House was founded -upon the site of the houses formerly occupied by the ministers of St -Giles’s. It was finished in 1639, at an expense of £11,630 sterling, -and devoted to the use of parliament. - -It does not appear to have been till after the Restoration that the -Parliament Close was formed, by the erection of a line of private -buildings, forming a square with the church. These houses, standing -on a declivity, were higher on one side than the other; one is said -to have been fifteen stories altogether in height. All, however, -were burned down in a great fire which happened in 1700, after which -buildings of twelve stories in height were substituted.[80] - -Among the noble inhabitants of the Parliament Close at an early period, -the noble family of Wemyss were not the least considerable. At the time -of Porteous’s affair, when Francis, the fifth earl, was a boy, his -sisters persuaded him to act the part of Captain Porteous in a sort of -drama which they got up in imitation of that strange scene. The foolish -romps actually went the length of tucking up their brother, the heir of -the family, by the neck, over a door; and their sports had well-nigh -ended in a real tragedy, for the helpless representative of Porteous -was black in the face before they saw the necessity of cutting him -down.[81] - -The small booths around St Giles’s continued, till 1817, to deform the -outward appearance of the church. Long before their destruction, the -booksellers at least had found the space of six or seven feet too small -for the accommodation of their fast-increasing wares, and removed to -larger shops in the elegant tenements of the square. One of the largest -of the booths, adjacent to the south side of the New or High Church, -and having a second story, was occupied, during a great part of the -last century, by Messrs Kerr and Dempster, goldsmiths. The first of -these gentlemen had been member of parliament for the city, and was the -last citizen who ever held that office [in the Scottish parliament]. -Such was the humility of people’s wishes in those days respecting their -houses, that this respectable person actually lived, and had a great -number of children, in the small space of the flat over the shop and -the cellar under it, which was lighted by a grating in the pavement of -the square. The subterraneous part of his house was chiefly devoted -to the purposes of a nursery, and proved so insalubrious that all his -children died successively at a particular age, with the exception of -his son Robert, who, being born much more weakly than the rest, had the -good luck to be sent to the country to be nursed, and afterwards grew -up to be the author of a work entitled _The Life of Robert Bruce_, and -the editor of a large collection of voyages and travels. - - -GOLDSMITHS. - -The goldsmiths of those days were considered a superior class of -tradesmen; they appeared in public with scarlet cloak, cocked hat, -and cane, as men of some consideration. Yet in their shops every one -of them would have been found working with his own hands at some -light labour, in a little recess near the window, generally in a very -plain dress, but ready to come forth at a moment’s notice to serve a -customer. Perhaps, down to 1780, there was not a goldsmith in Edinburgh -who did not condescend to manual labour. - -As the whole trade was collected in the Parliament Close, this was of -course the place to which country couples resorted, during the last -century, in order to make the purchase of silver tea-spoons, which -always preceded their nuptials. It was then as customary a thing in the -country for the intending bridegroom to take a journey, a few weeks -before his marriage, to the Parliament Close, in order to buy the -_silver spoons_, as it was for the bride to have all her clothes and -stock of bed-furniture inspected by a committee of matrons upon the -wedding eve. And this important transaction occasioned two journeys: -one, in order to select the spoons, and prescribe the initials which -were to be marked upon them; the other, to receive and pay for them. It -must be understood that the goldsmiths of Edinburgh then kept scarcely -any goods on hand in their shops, and that the smallest article had -to be bespoken from them some time before it was wanted. A goldsmith, -who entered as an apprentice about the beginning of the reign of -George III., informed me that they were beginning only at that time to -keep a few trifling articles on hand. Previously another old custom -had been abolished. It had been usual, upon both the occasions above -mentioned, for the goldsmith to adjourn with his customer to John’s -Coffee-house,[82] or to the Baijen-hole,[83] and to receive the order -or the payment, in a comfortable manner, over a dram and a _caup_ of -small ale; which were upon the first occasion paid for by the customer, -and upon the second by the trader; and the goldsmith then was perhaps -let into the whole secret counsels of the rustic, including a history -of his courtship—in return for which he would take pains to amuse his -customer with a sketch of the city news. In time, as the views and -capitals of the Parliament Close goldsmiths became extended, all these -pleasant customs were abandoned.[84] - - -GEORGE HERIOT. - -[Illustration: HERIOT’S HOSPITAL -from Greyfriars’ Churchyard. - -PAGE 113.] - -The shop and workshop of George Heriot existed in this neighbourhood -till 1809, when the extension of the Advocates’ Library occasioned the -destruction of some interesting old _closes_ to the west of St Giles’s -Kirk, and altered all the features of this part of the town. There was -a line of three small shops, with wooden superstructures above them, -extending between the door of the Old Tolbooth and that of the _Laigh -Council-house_, which occupied the site of the present lobby of the -Signet Library. A narrow passage led between these shops and the west -end of St Giles’s; and George Heriot’s shop, being in the centre of the -three, was situated exactly opposite to the south window of the Little -Kirk. The back windows looked into an alley behind, called Beith’s or -Bess Wynd. In confirmation of this tradition, George Heriot’s name -was discovered upon the architrave of the door, being carved in the -stone, and apparently having served as his _sign_. Besides this curious -memorial, the booth was also found to contain his forge and bellows, -with a hollow stone, fitted with a stone cover or lid, which had been -used as a receptacle for and a means of extinguishing the living embers -of the furnace, upon closing the shop at night. All these curiosities -were bought by the late Mr E. Robertson of the Commercial Bank, who -had been educated in Heriot’s Hospital, and by him presented to the -governors, who ordered them to be carefully deposited and preserved -in the house, where they now remain. George Heriot’s shop was only -about seven feet square! Yet his master, King James, is said to have -sometimes visited him and been treated by him here. There is a story -that one day, when the goldsmith visited His Majesty at Holyrood, he -found him sitting beside a fire, which, being composed of perfumed -wood, cast an agreeable smell through the room. Upon George Heriot -remarking its pleasantness, the king told him that it was quite as -costly as it was fine. Heriot said that if His Majesty would come and -pay him a visit at his shop, he would show him a still more costly fire. - -‘Indeed!’ said the king; ‘and I will.’ He accordingly paid the -goldsmith a visit, but was surprised to find only an ordinary fire. ‘Is -this, then, your fine fire?’ said he. - -‘Wait a little,’ said George, ‘till I get my fuel.’ So saying, he took -from his bureau a bond for two thousand pounds which he had lent to the -king, and laying it in the fire, added: ‘Now, whether is your Majesty’s -fire or mine most expensive?’ - -‘Yours most certainly, Master Heriot,’ said the king. - -Adjacent to George Heriot’s shop, and contiguous to the Laigh -Council-house, there was a tavern, in which a great deal of small legal -business used to be transacted in bygone times. Peter Williamson, an -original and singular person, who had long been in North America, and -therefore designated himself ‘from the other world,’ kept this house -for many years.[85] It served also as a sort of vestry to the Tolbooth -Church, and was the place where the magistrates took what was called -the _Deid-chack_—that is, a refreshment or dinner, of which those -dignitaries always partook after having attended an execution. The -_Deid-chack_ is now abjured, like many other of those fashions which -formerly rendered the office of a magistrate so much more comfortable -than it now is.[86] - -The various kirks which compose St Giles’s had all different characters -in former times. The High Kirk had a sort of dignified aristocratic -character, approaching somewhat to prelacy, and was frequented only by -sound church-and-state men, who did not care so much for the sermon as -for the gratification of sitting in the same place with His Majesty’s -Lords of Council and Session and the magistrates of Edinburgh, and -who desired to be thought men of sufficient liberality and taste to -appreciate the prelections of Blair. The Old Kirk, in the centre of the -whole, was frequented by people who wished to have a sermon of good -divinity, about three-quarters of an hour long, and who did not care -for the darkness and dreariness of their temple. The Tolbooth Kirk was -the peculiar resort of a set of rigid Calvinists from the Lawnmarket -and the head of the Bow, termed the _Towbuith-Whigs_, who loved nothing -but _extempore_ evangelical sermons, and would have considered it -sufficient to bring the house down about their ears if the precentor -had ceased, for one verse, the old hillside fashion of reciting the -lines of the psalm before singing them. Dr Webster, of convivial -memory, was long one of the clergymen of this church, and deservedly -admired as a pulpit orator; though his social habits often ran nigh to -scandalise his devout and self-denying congregation. - -The inhabitants and shopkeepers of the Parliament Square were in former -times very sociable and friendly as neighbours, and formed themselves -into a sort of society, which was long known by the name of _The -Parliament-Close Council_. Of this association there were from fifty to -a hundred members, who met once or twice a year at a dinner, when they -usually spent the evening, as the newspaper phrase goes, ‘in the utmost -harmony.’ The whim of this club consisted in each person assuming a -titular dignity at the dinner, and being so called all the year after -by his fellow-members. One was Lord Provost of Edinburgh, another -was Dean of Guild, some were bailies, others deacons, and a great -proportion state-officers. Sir William Forbes, who, with the kindness -of heart which characterised him, condescended to hold a place in this -assemblage of mummers, was for a long time _Member for the City_. - -Previous to the institution of the police-court, a bailie of Edinburgh -used to sit, every Monday, at that part of the Outer Parliament House -where the statue of Lord Melville now stands, to hear and decide upon -small causes—such as prosecutions for scandals and defamation, or -cases of quarrels among the vulgar and the infamous. This judicature, -commonly called the _Dirt Court_, was chiefly resorted to by -washerwomen from Canonmills and the drunken ale-wives of the Canongate. -A list of Dirt-Court processes used always to be hung up on a board -every Monday morning at one of the pillars in the piazza at the outside -of the Parliament Square; and that part of the piazza, being the lounge -of two or three low pettifoggers who managed such pleas, was popularly -called the _Scoundrels’ Walk_. Early on Monday, it was usual to see one -or two threadbare personages, with prodigiously clean linen, bustling -about with an air of importance, and occasionally accosted by viragoes -with long-eared caps flying behind their heads. These were the agents -of the Dirt Court, undergoing conference with their clients. - -There was something lofty and august about the Parliament Close, which -we shall scarcely ever see revived in any modern part of the town; so -dark and majestic were the buildings all round, and so finely did the -whole harmonise with the ancient cathedral which formed one of its -sides! Even the echoes of the Parliament Square had something grand in -them. Such, perhaps, were the feelings of William Julius Mickle when he -wrote a poem on passing through the Parliament Close of Edinburgh at -midnight,[87] of which the following is one of the best passages: - - ‘In the pale air sublime, - St Giles’s column rears its ancient head, - Whose builders many a century ago - Were mouldered into dust. Now, O my soul, - Be filled with sacred awe—I tread - Above our brave forgotten ancestors. Here lie - Those who in ancient days the kingdom ruled, - The counsellors and favourites of kings, - High lords and courtly dames, and valiant chiefs, - Mingling their dust with those of lowest rank - And basest deeds, and now unknown as they.’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[78] St Giles’ churchyard was divided into two terraces by the old city -wall (1450), which was built half-way down the sloping ground on the -south side of the High Street. A part of this wall was exposed in 1832 -when excavations were made for additional buildings at the Advocates’ -Library. - -[79] Previous to 1681 the inhabitants of Edinburgh were supplied with -water from pump-wells in the south side of the Cowgate. - -[80] Which also were destroyed in the fires of 1824. - -[81] The Wemysses’ footman was one of the few arrested on suspicion of -being a ringleader in the Porteous riot. - -[82] John’s Coffee-house was then situated in the north-east corner of -Parliament Close. - -[83] Baijen-hole, see note, p. 155. - -[84] In the early times above referred to, £100 was accounted a -sufficient capital for a young goldsmith—being just so much as -purchased his furnace, tools, &c., served to fit up his shop, and -enabled him to enter the Incorporation, which alone required £40 out -of the £100. The stock with which George Heriot commenced business -at a much earlier period (1580)—said to have been about £200—must -therefore be considered a proof of the wealth of that celebrated -person’s family. - -[85] Peter had, in early life, been kidnapped and sold to the -plantations. After spending some time among the North American Indians, -he came back to Scotland, and began business in Edinburgh as a vintner. -Robert Fergusson, in his poem entitled _The Rising of the Session_, -thus alludes to a little tavern he kept within the Parliament House: - - ‘This vacance is a heavy doom - On Indian Peter’s coffee-room, - For a’ his china pigs are toom; - Nor do we see - In wine the soukar biskets soom - As light’s a flee.’ - -Peter afterwards established a penny-post in Edinburgh, which became -so profitable in his hands that the General Post-office gave him a -handsome compensation for it. He was also the first to print a street -directory in Edinburgh. He died January 19, 1799. - -[86] Provost Creech was the first who had the good taste to abandon the -practice. - -[87] See _Collection of Original Poems by Scotch Gentlemen_, vol. ii. -137 (1762). - - - - -MEMORIALS OF THE NOR’ LOCH. - - -[Illustration: A SUGGESTION OF THE NORTH LOCH AND ST CUTHBERT’S -from Allan Ramsay’s Garden. - -PAGE 117.] - -He who now sees the wide hollow space between the Old and New Towns, -occupied by beautiful gardens, having their continuity only somewhat -curiously broken up by a transverse earthen mound and a line of -railway, must be at a loss to realise the idea of the same space -presenting in former times a lake, which was regarded as a portion of -the physical defences of the city. Yet many, in common with myself, -must remember the by no means distant time when the remains of this -sheet of water, consisting of a few pools, served as excellent sliding -and skating ground in winter, while their neglected grass-green -precincts too frequently formed an arena whereon the high and mighty -quarrels of Old and New Town _cowlies_[88] [etymology of the word -unknown] were brought to a lapidarian arbitration. - -The lake, it after all appears, was artificial, being fed by -springs under the Castle Rock, and retained by a dam at the foot of -Halkerston’s Wynd;[89] which dam was a passable way from the city to -the fields on the north. Bower, the continuator of Fordun, speaks of -a tournament held on the ground, _ubi nunc est lacus_, in 1396, by -order of the queen [of Robert III.], at which her eldest son, Prince -David, then in his twentieth year, presided. At the beginning of the -sixteenth century a ford upon the North Loch is mentioned. Archbishop -Beatoun escaped across that ford in 1517, when flying from the unlucky -street-skirmish called _Cleanse the Causeway_. In those early times -the town corporation kept ducks and swans upon the loch for ornament’s -sake, and various acts occur in their register for preserving those -birds. An act, passed in council between the years 1589 and 1594, -ordained ‘a boll of oats to be bought for feeding the swans in the -North Loch;’ and a person was unlawed at the same time for shooting a -swan in the said loch, and obliged to find another in its place. The -lake seems to have been a favourite scene for boating. Various houses -in the neighbourhood had servitudes of the use of a boat upon it; and -these, in later times, used to be employed to no little purpose in -smuggling whisky into the town. - -The North Loch was the place in which our pious ancestors used to dip -and drown offenders against morality, especially of the female sex. -The Reformers, therefore, conceived that they had not only done a very -proper, but also a very witty thing, when they threw into this lake, in -1558, the statue of St Giles, which formerly adorned their High Church, -and which they had contrived to abstract. - -It was also the frequent scene of suicide, and on this point one or -two droll anecdotes are related. A man was deliberately proceeding -to drown himself in the North Loch, when a crowd of the townspeople -rushed down to the water-side, venting cries of horror and alarm at the -spectacle, yet without actually venturing into the water to prevent him -from accomplishing the rash act. Hearing the tumult, the father of the -late Lord Henderland threw up his window in James’s Court, and leaning -out, cried down the brae to the people: ‘What’s all the noise about? -Can’t ye e’en let the honest man gang to the de’il his ain gate?’ -Whereupon the honest man quietly walked out of the loch, to the no -small amusement of his lately appalled neighbours. It is also said that -a poor woman, having resolved to put an end to her existence, waded a -considerable way into the water, designing to take the fatal plunge -when she should reach a place where the lake was sufficiently deep. -Before she could satisfy herself on that point, her hoop caught the -water, and lifted her off her feet. At the same time the wind caught -her figure, and blew her, whether she would or not, into the centre -of the pool, as if she had been sailing upon an inverted tub. She now -became _alarmed_, screamed for help, and waved her arms distractedly; -all of which signs brought a crowd to the shore she had just left, who -were unable, however, to render her any assistance, before she had -landed on the other side—fairly cured, it appeared, of all desire of -quitting the uneasy coil of mortal life. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[88] An Edinburgh term applied to a class of rogues. Probably a corrupt -pronunciation of the English word _cully_—to fool, to cheat. - -[89] Where the North Bridge now stands. - - - - -THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE. - - OLD ARRANGEMENTS OF THE HOUSE—JUSTICE IN BYGONE TIMES—COURT - OF SESSION GARLAND—PARLIAMENT HOUSE WORTHIES. - - -The Parliament House, a spacious hall with an oaken arched roof, -finished in 1639 for the meetings of the Estates or native parliament, -and used for that purpose till the Union, has since then, as is -well known, served exclusively as a material portion of the suite -of buildings required for the supreme civil judicatory—the Court -of Session. This hall, usually styled the _Outer House_, is now a -nearly empty space, but it was in a very different state within the -recollection of aged practitioners. So lately as 1779, it retained -the divisions, furnishings, and other features which it had borne in -the days when we had a national legislature—excepting only that the -portraits of sovereigns which then adorned the walls had been removed -by the Earl of Mar, to whom Queen Anne had given them as a present when -the Union was accomplished. - -The divisions and furniture, it may be remarked, were understood to -be precisely those which had been used for the Court of Session from -an early time; but it appears that such changes were made when the -parliament was to sit as left the room one free vacant space. The -southern portion, separated from the rest by a screen, accommodated -the Court of Session. The northern portion, comprising a sub-section -used for the Sheriff-court, was chiefly a kind of lobby of irregular -form, surrounded by little booths, which were occupied as taverns, -booksellers’ shops, and toy-shops, all of very flimsy materials.[90] -These _krames_, or boxes, seem to have been established at an early -period, the idea being no doubt taken from the former condition of -Westminster Hall. John Spottiswoode of Spottiswoode, who, in 1718, -published the _Forms of Process before the Court of Session_, mentions -that there were ‘two keepers of the session-house, who had small -salaries to do all the menial offices in the house, and that no small -part of their annual perquisites came from the _kramers_ in the outer -hall.’ - - -JUSTICE IN BYGONE TIMES. - -The memories which have been preserved of the administration of justice -by the Court of Session in its earlier days are not such as to increase -our love for past times.[91] This court is described by Buchanan as -extremely arbitrary, and by a nearly contemporary historian (Johnston) -as infamous for its dishonesty. An advocate or barrister is spoken of -by the latter writer as taking money from his clients, and dividing it -among the judges for their votes. At this time we find the chancellor -(Lord Fyvie) superintending the lawsuits of a friend, and writing to -him the way and manner in which he proposed they should be conducted. -But the strongest evidence of the corruption of ‘the lords’ is afforded -by an act of 1579, prohibiting them ‘be thame selffis or be their -wiffis or servandes, to tak in ony time cuming, _buddis_, _bribes_, -_gudes_, _or geir_, fra quhatever persone or persons presentlie havand, -or that heirefter sall happyne to have, _any actionis or caussis -pursewit befoir thame_, aither fra the persewer or defender,’ under -pain of confiscation. Had not bribery been common amongst the judges, -such an act as this could never have been passed. - -In the curious history of the family of Somerville there is a very -remarkable anecdote illustrative of the course of justice at that -period. Lord Somerville and his kinsman, Somerville of Cambusnethan, -had long carried on a litigation. The former was at length advised to -use certain means for the advancement of his cause with the Regent -Morton, it being then customary for the sovereign to preside in the -court. Accordingly, having one evening caused his agents to prepare -all the required papers, he went next morning to the palace, and being -admitted to the regent, informed him of the cause, and entreated him -to order it to be called that forenoon. He then took out his purse, -as if to give a few pieces to the pages or servants, and slipping it -down upon the table, hurriedly left the presence-chamber. The earl -cried several times after him: ‘My lord, you have left your purse;’ -but he had no wish to stop. At length, when he was at the outer -porch, a servant overtook him with a request that he would go back to -breakfast with the regent. He did so, was kindly treated, and soon -after was taken by Morton in his coach to the court-room in the city. -‘Cambusnethan, by accident, as the coach passed, was standing at -Niddry’s Wynd head, and having inquired who was in it with the regent, -he was answered: “None but Lord Somerville and Lord Boyd;” upon which -he struck his breast, and said: “This day my cause is lost!” and indeed -it proved so.’ By twelve o’clock that day, Lord Somerville had gained a -cause which had been hanging in suspense for years. - -In those days both civil and criminal procedure was conducted in -much the same spirit as a suit at war. When a great noble was to be -tried for some monstrous murder or treason, he appeared at the bar -with as many of his retainers, and as many of his friends and their -retainers, as he could muster, and justice only had its course if -the government chanced to be the strongest, which often was not the -case. It was considered dishonourable not to countenance a friend in -troubles of this kind, however black might be his moral guilt. The -trial of Bothwell for the assassination of Darnley is a noted example -of a criminal outbraving his judges and jury. Relationship, friendly -connection, solicitation of friends, and direct bribes were admitted -and recognised influences to which the civil judge was expected to -give way. If a difficulty were found in inducing a judge to vote -against his conscience, he might at least perhaps be induced by some -of those considerations to absent himself, so as to allow the case to -go in the desired way. The story of the abduction of Gibson of Durie -by Christie’s Will, and his immurement in a Border tower for some -weeks, that his voice might be absent in the decision of a case—as -given in the _Border Minstrelsy_ by Scott—is only incorrect in some -particulars. (As the real case is reported in Pitcairn’s _Criminal -Trials_, it appears that, in September 1601, Gibson was carried off -from the neighbourhood of St Andrews by George Meldrum, younger of -Dumbreck, and hastily transported to the castle of Harbottle in -Northumberland, and kept there for eight days.) But, after all, -Scotland was not singular among European nations in these respects. In -Molière’s _Misanthrope_, produced in 1666, we find the good-natured -Philinte coolly remonstrating with Alceste on his unreasonable -resolution to let his lawsuit depend only on right and equity. - -‘Qui voulez-vous donc, qui pour vous sollicite?’ says Philinte. ‘Aucun -juge par vous ne sera visité?’ - -‘Je ne remuerai point,’ returns the misanthrope. - -_Philinte._ Votre partie est forte, et peut par sa cabale entrainer.... - -_Alceste._ Il n’importe.... - -_Philinte._ Quel homme!... On se riroit de vous, Alceste, si on vous -entendoit parler de la façon. (_People would laugh at you if they heard -you talk in this manner._) - -It is a general tradition in Scotland that the English judges whom -Cromwell sent down to administer the law in Scotland, for the first -time made the people acquainted with impartiality of judgment. It is -added that, after the Restoration, when native lords were again put -upon the bench, some one, in presence of the President Gilmour, lauding -the late English judges for the equity of their proceedings, his -lordship angrily remarked: ‘De’il thank them; a wheen kinless loons!’ -That is, no thanks to them; a set of fellows without relations in the -country, and who, consequently, had no one to please by their decisions. - -After the Restoration there was no longer direct bribing, but other -abuses still flourished. The judges were tampered with by private -solicitation. Decisions went in favour of the man of most personal or -family influence. The following anecdote of the reign of Charles II. -rests on excellent authority: ‘A Scotch gentleman having entreated -the Earl of Rochester to speak to the Duke of Lauderdale upon the -account of a business that seemed to be supported by a clear and -undoubted right, his lordship very obligingly promised to do his utmost -endeavours to engage the duke to stand his friend in a concern so just -and reasonable as his was; and accordingly, having conferred with his -grace about the matter, the duke made him this very odd return, that -though he questioned not the right of the gentleman he recommended to -him, yet he could not promise him a helping hand, and far less success -in business, if he knew not first the man, whom perhaps his lordship -had some reason to conceal; “because,” said he to the earl, “if your -lordship were as well acquainted with the customs of Scotland as I am, -you had undoubtedly known this among others—_Show me the man, and I’ll -show you the law_;” giving him to understand that the law in Scotland -could protect no man if either his purse were empty or his adversaries -great men, or supported by great ones.’[92] - -One peculiar means of favouring a particular party was then in the -power of the presiding judge: he could call a cause when he pleased. -Thus he would watch till one or more judges who took the opposite -view to his own were out of the way—either in attendance on other -duties or from illness—and then calling the cause, would decide it -according to his predilection. Even the first President Dalrymple, -afterwards Viscount Stair, one of the most eminent men whom the -Scottish law-courts have ever produced, condescended to favour a party -in this way. An act enjoining the calling of causes according to their -place in a regular roll was passed in the reign of Charles II.; but -the practice was not enforced till the days of President Forbes, sixty -years later. We have a remarkable illustration of the partiality of -the bench in a circumstance which took place about the time of the -Revolution. During the pleadings in a case between Mr Pitilloch, an -advocate, and Mr Aytoun of Inchdairnie, the former applied the term -_briber_ to Lord Harcarse, a judge seated at the moment on the bench, -and who was father-in-law to the opposite party. The man was imprisoned -for contempt; but this is not the point. Not long after, in this same -cause, Lord Harcarse went down to the bar in his gown, and pleaded for -his son-in-law Aytoun! - -About that period a curious indirect means of influencing the judges -began to be notorious. Each lord had a dependant or favourite, -generally some young relative, practising in the court, through whom -it was understood that he could be prepossessed with a favourable -view of any cause. This functionary was called a _Peat_ or _Pate_, -from a circumstance thus related in Wilkes’s _North Briton_: ‘One of -the former judges of the Court of Session, of the first character, -knowledge, and application to business, had a son at the bar whose -name was Patrick; and when the suitors came about, soliciting his -favour, his question was: “Have you consulted _Pat_?” If the answer -was affirmative, the usual reply of his lordship was: “I’ll inquire of -_Pat_ about it; I’ll take care of your cause; go home and mind your -business.” The judge in that case was even as good as his word, for -while his brother-judges were robing, he would tell them what pains -his son had taken, and what trouble he had put himself to, by his -directions, in order to find out the real circumstances of the dispute; -and as no one on the bench would be so unmannerly as to question the -veracity of the son or the judgment of the father, the decree always -went according to the information of _Pat_. At the present era, in case -a judge has no son at the bar, his nearest relation (and he is sure -to have one there) officiates in that station. But, as it frequently -happens, if there are _Pats_ employed on each side, the judges differ, -and the greatest interest—that is, the longest purse—is sure to carry -it.’ - -I bring the subject to a conclusion by a quotation from the _Court -of Session Garland_: ‘Even so far down as 1737 traces of the ancient -evil may be found. Thus, in some very curious letters which passed -between William Foulis, Esq. of Woodhall, and his agent, Thomas Gibson -of Durie, there is evidence that private influence could even then be -resorted to. The agent writes to his client, in reference to a pending -lawsuit (23rd November 1735): “I have spoken to Strachan and several -of the lords, who are all surprised Sir F[rancis Kinloch] should -stand that plea. By Lord St Clair’s advice, Mrs Kinloch is to wait on -Lady Cairnie to-morrow, to cause her ask the favour of Lady St Clair -to solicit Lady Betty Elphingston and Lady Dun. My lord promises to -back his lady, and to ply both their lords, also Leven and his cousin -Murkle.[93] He is your good friend, and wishes success; he is jealous -Mrs Mackie will side with her cousin Beatie. St Clair says _Leven[94] -has only once gone wrong upon his hand since he was a Lord of Session_. -Mrs Kinloch has been with Miss Pringle, Newhall. Young Dr Pringle is _a -good agent there_, and discourses Lord Newhall[95] _strongly on the law -of nature_,” &c. - -‘Again, upon the 23rd of January 1737, he writes: “I can assure you -that when Lord Primrose left this town, he stayed all that day with -Lord J[ustice] C[lerk],[96] and went to Andrew Broomfield at night, -and went off post next morning; and what made him despair of getting -anything done was, that it has been so long delayed, after promising so -frankly, when he knew the one could cause the other trot to him like -a penny-dog when he pleased. But there’s another hindrance: I suspect -much Penty[97] has not been in town as yet, and I fancy it’s by him the -other must be managed. The Ld. J[ustice] C[lerk] is frank enough, but -the other two are —— clippies. I met with Bavelaw and Mr William on -Tuesday last. I could not persuade the last to go to a wine-house, so -away we went to an aquavity-house, where I told Mr Wm. what had passed, -as I had done before that to Bavelaw. They seemed to agree nothing -could be done just now, but to know why Lord Drummore[98] dissuaded -bringing in the plea last winter. _I have desired Lord Haining to -speak_, but only expect his answer against Tuesday or Wednesday.” - -‘It is not our intention to pursue these remarks further, although we -believe that judicial corruption continued long after the Union. We -might adduce Lord President Forbes as a witness on this point, who, one -of the most upright lawyers himself, did not take any pains to conceal -his contempt for many of his brethren. A favourite toast of his is -said to have been: “Here’s to such of the judges as don’t deserve the -gallows.” Latterly, the complaint against the judges was not so much -for corrupt dealing, with the view of enriching themselves or their -“pet” lawyer, but for weak prejudices and feelings, which but ill -accorded with the high office they filled. - -‘These abuses, the recapitulation of which may amuse and instruct, are -now only matter of history—the spots that once sullied the garments of -justice are effaced, and the old compend, “Show me the man, and I’ll -show you the law,” is out of date.’ - - -COURT OF SESSION GARLAND. - -A curious characteristic view of the Scottish bench about the year -1771 is presented in a doggerel ballad, supposed to have been a joint -composition of James Boswell and John Maclaurin,[99] advocates, and -professedly the history of a process regarding a bill containing a -clause of penalty in case of failure. This _Court of Session Garland_, -as it is called, is here subjoined, with such notes on persons and -things as the reader may be supposed to require or care for. - - -PART FIRST. - - The bill charged on was payable at sight, - And decree was craved by Alexander Wight;[100] - But because it bore a penalty in case of failzie, - It therefore was null, contended Willie Baillie.[101] - - The Ordinary, not choosing to judge it at random, - Did with the minutes make _avisandum_; - And as the pleadings were vague and windy, - His lordship ordered memorials _hinc inde_. - - We, setting a stout heart to a stay brae, - Took into the cause Mr David Rae.[102] - Lord Auchinleck,[103] however, repelled our defence, - And, over and above, decerned for expense. - - However, of our cause not being ashamed, - Unto the whole lords we straightway reclaimed; - And our Petition was appointed to be seen, - Because it was drawn by Robbie Macqueen.[104] - - The Answer by Lockhart[105] himself it was wrote, - And in it no argument nor fact was forgot. - He is the lawyer that from no cause will flinch, - And on this occasion divided the bench. - - Alemore[106] the judgment as illegal blames; - ‘’Tis equity, you bitch,’ replies my Lord Kames.[107] - ‘This cause,’ cries Hailes,[108] ‘to judge I can’t pretend, - For _justice_, I perceive, wants an _e_ at the end.’ - - Lord Coalstoun[109] expressed his doubts and his fears; - And Strichen[110] threw in his _weel-weels_ and _oh dears_. - ‘This cause much resembles the case of Mac-Harg, - And should go the same way,’ says Lordie Barjarg.[111] - - ‘Let me tell you, my lords, this cause is no joke!’ - Says, with a horse-laugh, my Lord Elliock.[112] - ‘To have read all the papers I pretend not to brag!’ - Says my Lord Gardenstone[113] with a snuff and a wag. - - Up rose the President,[114] and an angry man was he— - ‘To alter the judgment I can never agree!’ - The east wing cried ‘YES,’ and the west wing cried ‘NOT;’ - And it was carried ‘ADHERE’[115] by my lord’s casting vote. - - The cause being somewhat knotty and perplext, - Their lordships did not know how they’d determine next; - And as the session was to rise so soon, - They superseded extract till the 12th of June.[116] - - -PART SECOND. - - Having lost it so nigh, we prepare for the summer, - And on the 12th of June presented a reclaimer; - But dreading a refuse, we gave Dundas[117] a fee, - And though it run nigh, it was carried ‘TO SEE.’[118] - - In order to bring aid from usage bygone, - The Answers were drawn by _quondam_ Mess John.[119] - He united with such art our law with the civil, - That the counsel on both sides wished him to the devil. - - The cause being called, my Lord Justice-clerk,[120] - With all due respect, began a loud bark: - He appealed to his conscience, his heart, and from thence - Concluded—‘TO ALTER,’ but to give no expense. - - Lord Stonefield,[121] unwilling his judgment to pother, - Or to be _anticipate_, agreed with his brother: - But Monboddo[122] was clear the bill to enforce - Because, he observed, it was the price of a horse. - - Says Pitfour,[123] with a wink, and his hat all a-jee, - ‘I remember a case in the year twenty-three— - The Magistrates of Banff _contra_ Robert Carr; - I remember weel—I was then at the bar. - - Likewise, my lords, in the case of Peter Caw, - _Superflua non nocent_ was found to be law.’ - Lord Kennet[124] also quoted the case of one Lithgow, - Where a penalty in a bill was held _pro non scripto_. - - The Lord President brought his chair to the plumb, - Laid hold of the bench, and brought forward his bum; - ‘In these Answers, my lords, some freedoms are used, - Which I could point out, provided I choosed. - - I was for the interlocutor, my lords, I admit, - But am open to conviction as long’s I here do sit. - To oppose your precedents, I quote a few cases;’ - And Tait[125] _à priori_, hurried up the causes. - - He proved it as clear as the sun in the sky, - That their maxims of law could not here apply; - That the writing in question was neither bill nor band, - But something unknown in the law of the land. - - The question—‘Adhere,’ or ‘Alter,’ being put, - It was carried—‘To Alter,’ by a casting vote; - Baillie then moved—‘In the bill there’s a raze;’ - But by this time their lordships had called a new cause. - -A few additions to the notes, in a more liberal space, will complete -what I have to set down regarding the lawyers of the last age. - -[Illustration: THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE. - -PAGE 128.] - - -LOCKHART OF COVINGTON.[126] - -Lockhart used to be spoken of by all old men about the Court of Session -as a paragon. He had been at the bar from 1722, and had attained the -highest eminence long before going upon the bench, which he did at -an unusually late period of life; yet so different were those times -from the present that, according to the report of Sir William Macleod -Bannatyne to myself in 1833, Lockhart realised only about a thousand a -year by his exertions, then thought a magnificent income. The first man -at the Scottish bar in our day is believed to gain at least six times -this sum annually. Lockhart had an isolated house behind the Parliament -Close, which was afterwards used as the Post-office.[127] It was -removed some years ago to make way for the extension of the buildings -connected with the court; leaving only its coach-house surviving, now -occupied as a broker’s shop in the Cowgate. - -Mr Lockhart and Mr Fergusson (afterwards Lord Pitfour) were rival -barristers—agreeing, however, in their politics, which were of a -Jacobite complexion. While the trials of the poor _forty-five_ men were -going on at Carlisle, these Scottish lawyers heard with indignation -of the unscrupulous measures adopted to procure convictions. They -immediately set off for Carlisle, arranging with each other that -Lockhart should examine evidence, while Fergusson pleaded and addressed -the jury; and offering their services, they were gladly accepted as -counsel by the unfortunates whose trials were yet to take place. Each -exerted his abilities, in his respective duties, with the greatest -solicitude, but with very little effect. The jurors of Carlisle had -been so frightened by the Highland army that they thought everything -in the shape or hue of tartan a damning proof of guilt; and, in truth, -there seemed to be no discrimination whatever exerted in inquiring -into the merits of any particular criminal; and it might have been -just as fair, and much more convenient, to try them by wholesale or -in companies. At length one of our barristers fell upon an ingenious -expedient, which had a better effect than all the eloquence he had -expended. He directed his man-servant to dress himself in some tartan -habiliments, to skulk about for a short time in the neighbourhood of -the town, and then permit himself to be taken. The man did so, and was -soon brought into court, and accused of the crime of high treason, -and would have been condemned to death had not his master stood up, -claimed him as his servant, and proved beyond dispute that the supposed -criminal had been in immediate attendance upon his person during the -whole time of the Rebellion. This staggered the jury, and, with the -aid of a little amplification from the mouth of the young advocate, -served to make them more cautious afterwards in the delivery of their -important fiat. - -To show the estimation in which Lockhart of Covington was held as an -advocate, the late Lord Newton, when at the bar, wore his gown till it -was in tatters, and at last had a new one made, with a fragment of the -neck of the original sewed into it, whereby he could still make it his -boast that he wore ‘Covington’s gown.’ - - -LORD KAMES. - -This able judge and philosopher in advance of his time—for such he -was—is described by his biographer, Lord Woodhouselee, as indulging -in a certain humorous playfulness, which, to those who knew him -intimately, detracted nothing from the feeling of respect due to his -eminent talents and virtues. To strangers, his lordship admits, it -might convey ‘the idea of lightness.’ The simple fact here shadowed -forth is that Lord Kames had a roughly playful manner, and used -phrases of an ultra-eccentric character. Among these was a word only -legitimately applicable to the female of the canine species. The writer -of the _Garland_ introduces this characteristic phrase. When his -lordship found his end approaching very near, he took a public farewell -of his brethren. I was informed by an ear-and-eye witness, who is -certain that he could not be mistaken, that, after addressing them in -a solemn speech and shaking their hands all round, in going out at the -door of the court-room he turned about, and casting them a last look, -cried in his usual familiar tone: ‘Fare ye a’ weel, ye bitches!’ He -died eight days after. - -It was remarked that a person called _Sinkum the Cawdy_, who had a -short and a long leg and was excessively addicted to swearing, used to -lie in wait for Lord Kames almost every morning, and walk alongside -of him up the street to the Parliament House. The mystery of Sterne’s -little, flattering Frenchman, who begged so successfully from the -ladies, was scarcely more wonderful than this intimacy, which arose -entirely from Lord Kames’s love of the gossip which Sinkum made it his -business to cater for him. - -These are not follies of the wise. They are only the tribute which -great genius pays to simple nature. The serenity which marked the -close of the existence of Kames was most creditable to him, though -it appeared, perhaps, in somewhat whimsical forms to his immediate -friends. For three or four days before his death, he was in a state of -great debility. Some one coming in, and finding him, notwithstanding -his weakness, engaged in dictating to an amanuensis, expressed -surprise. ‘How, man,’ said the declining philosopher, ‘would you ha’e -me stay wi’ my tongue in my cheek till death comes to fetch me?’ - - -LORD HAILES. - -When Lord Hailes died, it was a long time before any will could be -found. The heir-male was about to take possession of his estates, to -the exclusion of his eldest daughter. Some months after his lordship’s -death, when it was thought that all further search was vain, Miss -Dalrymple prepared to retire from New Hailes, and also from the -mansion-house in New Street, having lost all hope of a will being -discovered in her favour. Some of her domestics, however, were sent to -lock up the house in New Street, and in closing the window-shutters, -Lord Hailes’s will dropped out upon the floor from behind a panel, and -was found to secure her in the possession of his estates, which she -enjoyed for upwards of forty years. - -The literary habits of Lord Hailes were hardly those which would -have been expected from his extreme nicety of phrase. The late Miss -Dalrymple once did me the honour to show me the place where he wrote -the most of his works—not the fine room which contained, and still -contains, his books—no secluded boudoir, or den, where he could -shut out the world, but the parlour fireside, where sat his wife and -children. - -[1868.—Now that the grave has for thirty years closed over Miss -Dalrymple, it may be allowable to tell that she was of dwarfish and -deformed figure, while amiable and judicious above the average of her -sex. Taking into view her beautiful place of residence and her large -wealth, she remarked to a friend one day: ‘I can say, for the honour of -man, that I never got an offer in my life.’] - - -LORD GARDENSTONE. - -This judge had a predilection for pigs. One, in its juvenile years, -took a particular fancy for his lordship, and followed him wherever -he went, like a dog, reposing in the same bed. When it attained the -mature years and size of swinehood, this of course was inconvenient. -However, his lordship, unwilling to part with his friend, continued -to let it sleep at least in the same room, and, when he undressed, -laid his clothes upon the floor as a bed to it. He said that he liked -it, for it kept his clothes warm till the morning. In his mode of -living he was full of strange, eccentric fancies, which he seemed to -adopt chiefly with a view to his health, which was always that of a -valetudinarian.[128] - - -LORD PRESIDENT DUNDAS. - -This distinguished judge was, in his latter years, extremely subject to -gout, and used to fall backwards and forwards in his chair—whence the -ungracious expression in the _Garland_. He used to characterise his six -clerks thus: ‘Two of them cannot _read_, two of them cannot _write_, -and the other two can neither _read_ nor _write_!’ The eccentric Sir -James Colquhoun was one of those who could not _read_. In former times -it was the practice of the Lord President to have a sand-glass before -him on the bench, with which he used to measure out the utmost time -that could be allowed to a judge for the delivery of his opinion. Lord -President Dundas would never allow a single moment after the expiration -of the sand, and he has often been seen to shake his old-fashioned -chronometer ominously in the faces of his brethren when their ‘ideas -upon the subject’ began, in the words of the _Garland_, to get vague -and windy. - - -LORD MONBODDO. - -Lord Monboddo’s motion for the enforcement of the bill, on account of -its representing the value of a horse, is partly an allusion to his -Gulliverlike admiration of that animal, but more particularly to his -having once embroiled himself in an action respecting a horse which -belonged to himself. His lordship had committed the animal, when sick, -to the charge of a farrier, with directions for the administration of -a certain medicine. The farrier gave the medicine, but went beyond -his commission, in as far as he mixed it in a liberal _menstruum_ of -treacle in order to make it palatable. The horse dying next morning, -Lord Monboddo raised a prosecution for its value, and actually pleaded -his own cause at the bar. He lost the case, however; and is said to -have been so enraged in consequence at his brethren that he never -afterwards sat with them upon the bench, but underneath amongst the -clerks. The report of this action is exceedingly amusing, on account of -the great quantity of Roman law quoted by the judges, and the strange -circumstances under which the case appeared before them. - -Lord Monboddo, with all his oddities, and though generally hated or -despised by his brethren, was by far the most learned and not the -least upright judge of his time. His attainments in classical learning -and in the study of the ancient philosophers were singular in his -time in Scotland, and might have qualified him to shine anywhere. He -was the earliest patron of one of the best scholars of his age, the -late Professor John Hunter of St Andrews, who was for many years his -secretary, and who chiefly wrote the first and best volume of his -lordship’s _Treatise on the Origin of Languages_. - -The manners of Lord Monboddo were not more odd than his personal -appearance. He looked rather like an old stuffed monkey dressed in a -judge’s robes than anything else. His face, however, ‘sicklied o’er’ -with the pale cast of thought, bore traces of high intellect. So -convinced is he said to have been of the truth of his fantastic theory -of human tails, that whenever a child happened to be born in his house, -he would watch at the chamber-door in order to see it in its first -state, having a notion that the midwives pinched off the infant tails. - -There is a tradition that Lord Monboddo attended and witnessed the -catastrophe of Captain Porteous in 1736. He had just that day returned -from completing his law education at Leyden, and taken lodgings near -the foot of the West Bow, where at that time many of the greatest -lawyers resided. When the rioters came down the Bow with their hapless -victim, Mr Burnet was roused from bed by the noise, came down in his -night-gown with a candle in his hand, and stood in a sort of stupor, -looking on, till the tragedy was concluded. - - -PARLIAMENT HOUSE WORTHIES. - -Scott has sketched in _Peter Peebles_ the type of a class of crazy -and half-crazy litigants who at all times haunt the Parliament House. -Usually they are rustic men possessing small properties, such as -a house and garden, which they are constantly talking of as their -‘subject.’ Sometimes a faded shawl and bonnet is associated with the -case—objects to be dreaded by every good-natured member of the bar. -But most frequently it is simple countrymen who become pests of this -kind. That is to say, simple men of difficult and captious tempers, -cursed with an overstrong sense of right or an overstrong sense of -wrong, under which they would, by many degrees, prefer utter ruin to -making the slightest concession to a neighbour. Ruined these men often -are; and yet it seems ruin well bought, since they have all along had -the pleasure of seeing themselves and their little affairs the subject -of consideration amongst men so much above themselves in rank. - -Peebles was, as we are assured by the novelist himself, a real person, -who frequented the Edinburgh courts of justice about the year 1792, -and ‘whose voluminous course of litigation served as a sort of essay -piece to most young men who were called to the bar.’[129] Many persons -recollect him as a tall, thin, slouching man, of homely outworn attire, -understood to be a native of Linlithgow. Having got into law about a -small house, he became deranged by the cause going against him, and -then peace was no more for him on earth. He used to tell his friends -that he had at present thirteen causes in hand, but was only going to -‘move in’ seven of them this session. When anxious for a consultation -on any of his affairs, he would set out from his native burgh at the -time when other people were going to bed, and reaching Edinburgh at -four in the morning, would go about the town ringing the bells of the -principal advocates, in the vain hope of getting one to rise and listen -to him, to the infinite annoyance of many a poor serving-girl, and no -less of the Town-guard, into whose hands he generally fell. - -Another specimen of the class was Campbell of Laguine, who had perhaps -been longer at law than any man of modern times. He was a store-farmer -in Caithness, and had immense tracts of land under lease. When he sold -his wool, he put the price in his pocket (no petty sum), and came down -to waste it in the Court of Session. His custom—an amusing example of -method in madness—was to pay every meal which he made at the inns on -the road _double_, that he might have a _gratis_ meal on his return, -knowing he would not bring a cross away in his pocket from the courts -of justice. Laguine’s figure was very extraordinary. His legs were -like two circumflexes, both curving outward in the same direction; so -that, relative to his body, they took the direction of the blade of a -reaping-hook, supposing the trunk of his person to be the handle. These -extraordinary legs were always attired in Highland trews, as his body -was generally in a gray or tartan jacket, with a bonnet on his head; -and duly appeared he at the door of the Parliament House, bearing a -tin case, fully as big as himself, containing a plan of his farms. He -paid his lawyers highly, but took up a great deal of their time. One -gentleman, afterwards high in official situation, observed him coming -up to ring his bell, and not wishing that he himself should throw -away his time or Laguine his fee, directed that he should be denied. -Laguine, however, made his way to the lady of the learned counsel, and -sitting down in the drawing-room, went at great length into the merits -of his cause, and exhibited his plans; and when he had expatiated for -a couple of hours, he departed, but not without leaving a handsome -fee, observing that he had as much satisfaction as if he had seen the -learned counsel himself. He once told a legal friend of the writer -that his laird and he were nearly agreed now—there was only about -_ten miles of country_ contested betwixt them! When finally this great -cause was adjusted, his agent said: ‘Well, Laguine, what will ye do -now?’ rashly judging that one who had, in a manner, lived upon law for -a series of years would be at a loss how to dispose of himself now. ‘No -difficulty there,’ answered Laguine; ‘I’ll dispute your account, and -go to law with _you_!’ Possessed as he was by a demon of litigation, -Campbell is said to have been, apart from his disputes, a shrewd and -sensible, and, moreover, an honourable and worthy man. He was one of -the first who introduced sheep-farming into Ross-shire and Caithness, -where he had farms as large as some whole Lowland or English counties; -and but for litigation, he had the opportunity of making much money. - -A person usually called, from his trade, the Heckler was another -Parliament House worthy. He used to work the whole night at his -trade; then put on a black suit, curled his hair behind and powdered -it, so as to resemble a clergyman, and came forth to attend to the -great business of the day at the Parliament House. He imagined that -he was deputed by Divine Providence as a sort of controller of the -Court of Session; but as if that had not been sufficient, he thought -the charge of the General Assembly was also committed to him; and he -used to complain that that venerable body was ‘much worse to keep in -good order’ than the lawyers. He was a little, smart, well-brushed, -neat-looking man, and used to talk to himself, smile, and nod with much -vivacity. Part of his lunacy was to believe himself a clergyman; and it -was chiefly the Teind Court which he haunted, his object there being to -obtain an augmentation of his stipend. The appearance and conversation -of the man were so plausible that he once succeeded in imposing himself -upon Dr Blair as a preacher, and obtained permission to hold forth in -the High Church on the ensuing Sunday. He was fortunately recognised -when about to mount the pulpit. Some idle boys about the Parliament -House, where he was a constant attendant, persuaded him that, as he -held two such dignified offices as his imagination shaped out, there -must be some salary attached to them, payable, like others upon the -Establishment, in the Exchequer. This very nearly brought about a -serious catastrophe; for the poor madman, finding his applications -slighted at the Exchequer, came there one day with a pistol heavily -loaded to shoot Mr Baird, a very worthy man, an officer of that court. -This occasioned the Heckler being confined in durance vile for a long -time; though, I think, he was at length emancipated. - -Other insane fishers in the troubled waters of the law were the -following: - -Macduff of Ballenloan, who had two cases before the court at once. -His success in the one depended upon his showing that he had capacity -to manage his own affairs; and in the other, upon his proving himself -incapable of doing so. He used to complain, with some apparent reason, -that he lost them both! - -Andrew Nicol, who was at law thirty years about a _midden-stead_—_Anglicé_, -the situation of a dunghill. This person was a native of Kinross, a -sensible-looking countryman, with a large, flat, blue bonnet, in which -guise Kay has a very good portrait of him, displaying, with chuckling -pride, a plan of his precious midden-stead. He used to frequent the -Register House as well as the courts of law, and was encouraged in his -foolish pursuits by the roguish clerks of that establishment, by whom -he was denominated _Muck Andrew_, in allusion to the object of his -litigation. This wretched being, after losing property and credit and -his own senses in following a valueless phantom, died at last (1817) in -Cupar jail, where he was placed by one of his legal creditors. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[90] A full description of the old Parliament Hall, with a plan showing -the divisions and the arrangements of the ‘booths,’ is given in -_Reekiana_; _or, Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh_. It is not now called -the Outer House. - -[91] Several of the illustrations in the present section are -immediately derived from a curious volume, full of entertainment for -a denizen of the Parliament House—_The Court of Session Garland_. -Edinburgh: Thomas Stevenson. 1839. - -[92] _A Moral Discourse on the Power of Interest._ By David Abercromby, -M.D. London, 1691. P. 60. - -[93] John Sinclair of Murkle, appointed a Lord of Session in 1733. - -[94] Alexander Leslie, advocate, succeeded his nephew as fifth Earl of -Leven, and fourth Earl of Melville, in 1729. He was named a Lord of -Session, and took his seat on the bench on the 11th of July 1734. He -died 2nd February 1754. - -[95] Sir Walter Pringle of Newhall, raised to the bench in 1718. - -[96] Andrew Fletcher of Milton was appointed, on the resignation of -James Erskine of Grange, Lord Justice-clerk, and took his seat on the -bench 21st June 1735. - -[97] Probably Gibson of Pentland. - -[98] Hew Dalrymple of Drummore, appointed a Lord of Session in 1726. - -[99] Afterwards Lord Dreghorn. - -[100] Author of a Treatise on Election Laws, and Solicitor-general -during the Coalition Ministry in 1783. - -[101] Afterwards Lord Polkemmet. - -[102] Afterwards Lord Eskgrove and Lord Justice-clerk. - -[103] Alexander Boswell, Esq., of Auchinleck, the author’s -father—appointed to the bench in 1754; died 1782. This gentleman was -a precise old Presbyterian, and therefore the most opposite creature -in the world to his son, who was a cavalier in politics and an -Episcopalian. - -[104] Afterwards Lord Braxfield—appointed 1776; died 1800, while -holding the office of Lord Justice-clerk. Lord Braxfield is the -prototype of Stevenson’s _Weir of Hermiston_. - -[105] Alexander Lockhart, Esq., decidedly the greatest lawyer at the -Scottish bar in his day—appointed to the bench in 1774; died in 1782. - -[106] Andrew Pringle, Esq.—appointed a judge in 1759; died 1776. This -gentleman was remarkable for his fine oratory, which was praised highly -by Sheridan the lecturer (father of R. B. Sheridan) in his _Discourses -on English Oratory_. - -[107] Henry Home, Esq.—raised to the bench 1752; died 1783. This -great man, so remarkable for his metaphysical subtlety and literary -abilities, was strangely addicted to the use of the coarse word in the -text. - -[108] Sir David Dalrymple—appointed a judge in 1766; died 1792. A -story is told of Lord Hailes once making a serious objection to a -law-paper, and, in consequence, to the whole suit to which it belonged, -on account of the word _justice_ being spelt in the manner mentioned in -the text. Perhaps no author ever affected so much critical accuracy as -Lord Hailes, and yet there never was a book published with so large an -array of _corrigenda et addenda_ as the first edition of the _Annals of -Scotland_. - -[109] George Brown, Esq., of Coalstoun—appointed 1756; died 1776. - -[110] Alexander Fraser of Strichen—appointed 1730; died 1774. - -[111] James Erskine, Esq., subsequently titled Lord Alva—appointed -1761; died 1796. He was of exceedingly small stature, and upon that -account denominated ‘Lordie.’ - -[112] James Veitch, Esq.—appointed 1761; died 1793. - -[113] Francis Garden, Esq.—appointed 1764; died 1793—author of -several respectable literary productions. - -[114] Robert Dundas, Esq., of Arniston—appointed 1760; died 1787. - -[115] The bench being semicircular, and the President sitting in the -centre, the seven judges on his right hand formed the _east_ wing, -those on his left formed the _west_. The decisions were generally -announced by the words ‘Adhere’ and ‘Alter’—the former meaning an -affirmance, the latter a reversal, of the judgment of the Lord Ordinary. - -[116] The term of the summer session was then from the 12th of June to -the 12th of August. - -[117] Henry, first Viscount Melville, then coming forward as an -advocate at the Scottish bar. When this great man passed advocate, he -was so low in cash that, after going through the necessary forms, he -had only one guinea left in his pocket. Upon coming home, he gave this -to his sister (who lived with him), in order that she might purchase -him a gown; after which he had not a penny. However, his talents soon -filled his coffers. The gown is yet preserved by the family. - -[118] ‘To See’ is to appoint the petition against the judgment -pronounced to be answered. - -[119] John Erskine of Carnock, author of the _Institute of the Law of -Scotland_. - -[120] Thomas Miller, Esq., of Glenlee—appointed to this office in -1766, upon the death of Lord Minto. He filled this situation till -the death of Robert Dundas, in 1787, when (January 1788) he was made -President of the Court of Session, and created a baronet, in requital -for his long service as a judge. Being then far advanced in life, he -did not live long to enjoy his new accession of honours, but died in -September 1789. - -[121] John Campbell, Esq., of Stonefield. - -[122] James Burnet, Esq.—appointed 1767; died 1799. - -[123] James Fergusson, Esq.—appointed 1761; died 1777. He always wore -his hat on the bench, on account of sore eyes. - -[124] Robert Bruce, Esq.—appointed 1764; died 1785. - -[125] Alexander Tait, Clerk of Session. - -[126] He was the grandson of Lord President Lockhart, who was shot by -Chiesly of Dalry (see p. 75). - -[127] Within the memory of an old citizen, who was living in 1833, the -Post-office was in the first floor of a house near the Cross, above -an alley which still bears the name of the Post-office Close. Thence -it was removed to a floor in the south side of the Parliament Square, -which was fitted up like a shop, and the letters were dealt across an -ordinary counter, like other goods. At this time all the out-of-door -business of delivery was managed by one letter-carrier. About 1745 -the London bag brought on one occasion no more than a single letter, -addressed to the British Linen Company. From the Parliament Square the -office was removed to Lord Covington’s house, above described; thence, -after some years, to a house in North Bridge Street; thence to Waterloo -Place; and finally, to a new and handsome structure on the North Bridge. - -[128] Lord Gardenstone erected the building (in the form of a Grecian -temple) which encloses St Bernard’s Well, on the Water of Leith, -between the Dean Bridge and Stockbridge. He also founded the town of -Laurencekirk in Kincardineshire, which he hoped to make a manufacturing -centre. - -[129] Notes to _Redgauntlet_. - - - - -CONVIVIALIA. - - ‘Auld Reekie! wale o’ ilka toon - That Scotland kens beneath the moon; - Where coothy chields at e’enin’ meet, - Their bizzin’ craigs and mous to weet, - And blithely gar auld care gae by, - Wi’ blinkin’ and wi’ bleerin’ eye.’ - - ROBERT FERGUSSON. - - -[Illustration] - -Tavern dissipation, now so rare amongst the respectable classes of the -community, formerly prevailed in Edinburgh to an incredible extent, and -engrossed the leisure hours of all professional men, scarcely excepting -even the most stern and dignified. No rank, class, or profession, -indeed, formed an exception to this rule. Nothing was so common in -the morning as to meet men of high rank and official dignity reeling -home from a close in the High Street, where they had spent the night -in drinking. Nor was it unusual to find two or three of His Majesty’s -most honourable Lords of Council and Session mounting the bench in the -forenoon in a crapulous state. A gentleman one night stepping into -Johnnie Dowie’s, opened a side-door, and looking into the room, saw a -sort of _agger_ or heap of snoring lads upon the floor, illumined by -the gleams of an expiring candle. ‘Wha may thae be, Mr Dowie?’ inquired -the visitor. ‘Oh,’ quoth John in his usual quiet way, ‘just twa-three -o’ Sir Willie’s drucken clerks!’—meaning the young gentlemen employed -in Sir William Forbes’s banking-house, whom of all earthly mortals one -would have expected to be observers of the decencies. - -[Illustration: Johnnie Dowie.] - -To this testimony may be added that of all published works descriptive -of Edinburgh during the last century. Even in the preceding century, if -we are to believe Taylor the Water-poet, there was no superabundance -of sobriety in the town. ‘The worst thing,’ says that sly humorist in -his _Journey_ (1623), ‘was, that wine and ale were so scarce, and the -people such misers of it, that every night, before I went to bed, if -any man had asked me a civil question, all the wit in my head could not -have made him a sober answer.’ - -The _diurnal_ of a Scottish judge[130] of the beginning of the last -century, which I have perused, presents a striking picture of the -habits of men of business in that age. Hardly a night passes without -some expense being incurred at taverns, not always of very good fame, -where his lordship’s associates on the bench were his boon-companions -in the debauch. One is at a loss to understand how men who drugged -their understandings so habitually could possess any share of vital -faculty for the consideration or transaction of business, or how they -contrived to make a decent appearance in the hours of duty. But, -however difficult to be accounted for, there seems no room to doubt -that deep drinking was compatible in many instances with good business -talents, and even application. Many living men connected with the -Court of Session can yet look back to a juvenile period of their lives -when some of the ablest advocates and most esteemed judges were noted -for their convivial habits. For example, a famous counsel named Hay, -who became a judge under the designation of Lord Newton, was equally -remarkable as a bacchanal and as a lawyer.[131] He considered himself -as only the better fitted for business that he had previously imbibed -six bottles of claret; and one of his clerks afterwards declared that -the best paper he ever knew his lordship dictate was done after a -debauch where that amount of liquor had fallen to his share. It was -of him that the famous story is told of a client calling for him one -day at four o’clock, and being surprised to find him at dinner; when, -on the client saying to the servant that he had understood five to -be Mr Hay’s dinner-hour—‘Oh, but, sir,’ said the man, ‘it is his -_yesterday’s dinner_!’ M. Simond, who, in 1811, published a _Tour -in Scotland_, mentions his surprise, on stepping one morning into -the Parliament House, to find in the dignified capacity of a judge, -and displaying all the gravity suitable to the character, the very -gentleman with whom he had spent most of the preceding night in a -fierce debauch. This judge was Lord Newton. - -Contemporary with this learned lord was another of marvellous powers -of drollery, of whom it is told, as a fact too notorious at the time -to be concealed, that he was one Sunday morning, not long before -church-time, found asleep among the paraphernalia of the sweeps, in -a shed appropriated to the keeping of these articles at the end of -the Town Guard-house in the High Street. His lordship, in staggering -homeward alone from a tavern during the night, had tumbled into this -place, where consciousness did not revisit him till next day. Of -another group of clever but over-convivial lawyers of that age, it is -related that, having set to wine and cards on a Saturday evening, they -were so cheated out of all sense of time that the night passed before -they thought of separating. Unless they are greatly belied, the people -passing along Picardy Place next forenoon, on their way to church, were -perplexed by seeing a door open, and three gentlemen issue forth, in -all the disorder to be expected after a night of drunken vigils, while -a fourth, in his dressing-gown, held the door in one hand and a lighted -candle in the other, by way of showing them out![132] - -The _High Jinks_ of Counsellor Pleydell, in _Guy Mannering_, must have -prepared many for these curious traits of a bypast age; and Scott has -further illustrated the subject by telling, in his notes to that novel, -an anecdote, which he appears to have had upon excellent authority, -respecting the elder President Dundas of Arniston, father of Lord -Melville. ‘It had been thought very desirable, while that distinguished -lawyer was king’s counsel, that his assistance should be obtained in -drawing up an appeal case, which, as occasion for such writings then -rarely occurred, was held to be a matter of great nicety. The solicitor -employed for the appellant, attended by my informant, acting as his -clerk, went to the Lord Advocate’s chambers in the Fishmarket Close, -as I think. It was Saturday at noon, the court was just dismissed, the -Lord Advocate had changed his dress and booted himself, and his servant -and horses were at the foot of the close to carry him to Arniston. -It was scarcely possible to get him to listen to a word respecting -business. The wily agent, however, on pretence of asking one or two -questions, which would not detain him half-an-hour, drew his lordship, -who was no less an eminent _bon-vivant_ than a lawyer of unequalled -talent, to take a whet at a celebrated tavern, when the learned counsel -became gradually involved in a spirited discussion of the law points of -the case. At length it occurred to him that he might as well ride to -Arniston in the cool of the evening. The horses were directed to be put -into the stable, but not to be unsaddled. Dinner was ordered, the law -was laid aside for a time, and the bottle circulated very freely. At -nine o’clock at night, after he had been honouring Bacchus for so many -hours, the Lord Advocate ordered his horses to be unsaddled—paper, -pen, and ink were brought—he began to dictate the appeal case, and -continued at his task till four o’clock the next morning. By next day’s -post the solicitor sent the case to London—a _chef-d’œuvre_ of its -kind; and in which, my informant assured me, it was not necessary, on -revisal, to correct five words.’ - -It was not always that business and pleasure were so successfully -united. It is related that an eminent lawyer, who was confined to -his room by indisposition, having occasion for the attendance of his -clerk at a late hour, in order to draw up a paper required on an -emergency next morning, sent for and found him at his usual tavern. -The man, though remarkable for the preservation of his faculties under -severe application to the bottle, was on this night further gone than -usual. He was able, however, to proceed to his master’s bedroom, and -there take his seat at the desk with the appearance of a sufficiently -collected mind, so that the learned counsel, imagining nothing more -wrong than usual, began to dictate from his couch. This went on for two -or three hours, till, the business being finished, the barrister drew -his curtain—to behold _Jamie_ lost in a profound sleep upon the table, -with the paper still in virgin whiteness before him! - -One of the most notable jolly fellows of the last age was James -Balfour, an accountant, usually called _Singing Jamie Balfour_, on -account of his fascinating qualities as a vocalist. There used to be -a portrait of him in the Leith Golf-house, representing him in the -act of commencing the favourite song of _When I ha’e a saxpence under -my thoom_, with the suitable attitude and a merriness of countenance -justifying the traditionary account of the man. Of Jacobite leanings, -he is said to have sung _The wee German lairdie_, _Awa, Whigs, awa_, -and _The sow’s tail to Geordie_ with a degree of zest which there was -no resisting. - -Report speaks of this person as an amiable, upright, and able man; so -clever in business matters that he could do as much in one hour as -another man in three; always eager to quench and arrest litigation -rather than to promote it; and consequently so much esteemed -professionally that he could get business whenever he chose to -undertake it, which, however, he only did when he felt himself in need -of money. Nature had given him a robust constitution, which enabled him -to see out three sets of boon-companions, but, after all, gave way -before he reached sixty. His custom, when anxious to repair the effects -of intemperance, was to wash his head and hands in cold water; this, it -is said, made him quite cool and collected almost immediately. Pleasure -being so predominant an object in his life, it was thought surprising -that at his death he was found in possession of some little money. - -The powers of Balfour as a singer of the Scotch songs of all kinds, -tender and humorous, are declared to have been marvellous; and he had -a happy gift of suiting them to occasions. Being a great peacemaker, -he would often accomplish his purpose by introducing some ditty pat -to the purpose, and thus dissolving all rancour in a hearty laugh. -Like too many of our countrymen, he had a contempt for foreign music. -One evening, in a company where an Italian vocalist of eminence was -present, he professed to give a song in the manner of that country. -Forth came a ridiculous cantata to the tune of _Aiken Drum_, beginning: -‘There was a wife in Peebles,’ which the wag executed with all the -proper graces, shakes, and appoggiaturas, making his friends almost -expire with suppressed laughter at the contrast between the style of -singing and the ideas conveyed in the song. At the conclusion, their -mirth was doubled by the foreigner saying very simply: ‘De music be -very fine, but I no understand de words.’ A lady, who lived in the -Parliament Close, told a friend of mine that she was wakened from her -sleep one summer morning by a noise as of singing, when, going to the -window to learn what was the matter, guess her surprise at seeing -Jamie Balfour and some of his boon-companions (evidently fresh from -their wonted orgies), singing _The king shall enjoy his own again_, on -their knees, around King Charles’s statue! One of Balfour’s favourite -haunts was a humble kind of tavern called _Jenny Ha’s_, opposite to -Queensberry House, where, it is said, Gay had boosed during his short -stay in Edinburgh, and to which it was customary for gentlemen to -adjourn from dinner-parties, in order to indulge in claret from the -butt, free from the usual domestic restraints. Jamie’s potations here -were principally of what was called _cappie ale_—that is, ale in -little wooden bowls—with wee thochts of brandy in it. But, indeed, -no one could be less exclusive than he as to liquors. When he heard a -bottle drawn in any house he happened to be in, and observed the cork -to give an unusually smart report, he would call out: ‘Lassie, gi’e me -a glass o’ _that_;’ as knowing that, whatever it was, it must be good -of its kind. - -Sir Walter Scott says, in one of his droll little missives to his -printer Ballantyne: ‘When the press does not follow me, I get on slowly -and ill, and put myself in mind of Jamie Balfour, who could run, when -he could not stand still.’ He here alludes to a matter of fact, which -the following anecdote will illustrate: Jamie, in going home late from -a debauch, happened to tumble into the pit formed for the foundation of -a house in James’s Square. A gentleman passing heard his complaint, and -going up to the spot, was entreated by our hero to help him out. ‘What -would be the use of helping you out,’ said the passer-by, ‘when you -could not stand though you _were_ out?’ ‘Very true, perhaps; yet if you -help me up, I’ll _run_ you to the Tron Kirk for a bottle of claret.’ -Pleased with his humour, the gentleman placed him upon his feet, when -instantly he set off for the Tron Church at a pace distancing all -ordinary competition; and accordingly he won the race, though, at -the conclusion, he had to sit down on the steps of the church, being -quite unable to stand. After taking a minute or two to recover his -breath—‘Well, another race to Fortune’s for another bottle of claret!’ -Off he went to the tavern in question, in the Stamp-office Close, and -this bet he gained also. The claret, probably with continuations, was -discussed in Fortune’s; and the end of the story is, Balfour sent his -new friend home in a chair, utterly done up, at an early hour in the -morning. - -[Illustration: Stamp-office Close.] - -It is hardly surprising that habits carried to such an extravagance -amongst gentlemen should have in some small degree affected the fairer -and purer part of creation also. It is an old story in Edinburgh that -three ladies had one night a merry-meeting in a tavern near the Cross, -where they sat till a very late hour. Ascending at length to the -street, they scarcely remembered where they were; but as it was good -moonlight, they found little difficulty in walking along till they came -to the Tron Church. Here, however, an obstacle occurred. The moon, -shining high in the south, threw the shadow of the steeple directly -across the street from the one side to the other; and the ladies, -being no more clear-sighted than they were clear-headed, mistook this -for a broad and rapid river, which they would require to cross before -making further way. In this delusion, they sat down upon the brink of -the imaginary stream, deliberately took off their shoes and stockings, -_kilted_ their lower garments, and proceeded to wade through to the -opposite side; after which, resuming their shoes and stockings, they -went on their way rejoicing, as before! Another anecdote (from an aged -nobleman) exhibits the bacchanalian powers of our ancestresses in a -different light. During the rising of 1715, the officers of the crown -in Edinburgh, having procured some important intelligence respecting -the motions and intentions of the Jacobites, resolved upon despatching -the same to London by a faithful courier. Of this the party whose -interests would have been so materially affected got notice; and that -evening, as the messenger (a man of rank) was going down the High -Street, with the intention of mounting his horse in the Canongate and -immediately setting off, he met two tall, handsome ladies, in full -dress, and wearing black velvet masks, who accosted him with a very -easy demeanour and a winning sweetness of voice. Without hesitating as -to the quality of these damsels, he instantly proposed to treat them -with a pint of claret at a neighbouring tavern; but they said that, -instead of accepting his kindness, they were quite willing to treat -_him_ to his heart’s content. They then adjourned to the tavern, and -sitting down, the whole three drank plenteously, merrily, and long, so -that the courier seemed at last to forget entirely the mission upon -which he was sent, and the danger of the papers which he had about his -person. After a pertinacious debauch of several hours, the luckless -messenger was at length fairly drunk under the table; and it is -needless to add that the fair nymphs then proceeded to strip him of his -papers, decamped, and were no more heard of; though it is but justice -to the Scottish ladies of that period to say that the robbers were -generally believed at the time to be young men disguised in women’s -clothes.[133] - -The custom which prevailed among ladies, as well as gentlemen, of -resorting to what were called _oyster-cellars_, is in itself a striking -indication of the state of manners during the last century. In winter, -when the evening had set in, a party of the most fashionable people -in town, collected by appointment, would adjourn in carriages to one -of those abysses of darkness and comfort, called in Edinburgh _laigh -shops_, where they proceeded to regale themselves with raw oysters and -porter, arranged in huge dishes upon a coarse table, in a dingy room, -lighted by tallow candles. The rudeness of the feast, and the vulgarity -of the circumstances under which it took place, seem to have given -a zest to its enjoyment, with which more refined banquets could not -have been accompanied. One of the chief features of an oyster-cellar -entertainment was that full scope was given to the conversational -powers of the company. Both ladies and gentlemen indulged, without -restraint, in sallies the merriest and the wittiest; and a thousand -remarks and jokes, which elsewhere would have been suppressed as -improper, were here sanctified by the oddity of the scene, and -appreciated by the most dignified and refined. After the table was -cleared of the oysters and porter, it was customary to introduce brandy -or rum-punch—according to the pleasure of the ladies—after which -dancing took place; and when the female part of the assemblage thought -proper to retire, the gentlemen again sat down, or adjourned to another -tavern to crown the pleasures of the evening with unlimited debauch. It -is not (1824) more than thirty years since the late Lord Melville, the -Duchess of Gordon, and some other persons of distinction, who happened -to meet in town after many years of absence, made up an oyster-cellar -party, by way of a frolic, and devoted one winter evening to the -revival of this almost forgotten entertainment of their youth.[134] - -It seems difficult to reconcile all these things with the staid and -somewhat square-toed character which our country has obtained amongst -her neighbours. The fact seems to be that a kind of Laodicean principle -is observable in Scotland, and we oscillate between a rigour of manners -on the one hand, and a laxity on the other, which alternately acquire -an apparent paramouncy. In the early part of the last century, rigour -was in the ascendant; but not to the prevention of a respectable -minority of the free-and-easy, who kept alive the flame of conviviality -with no small degree of success. In the latter half of the century—a -dissolute era all over civilised Europe—the minority became the -majority, and the characteristic sobriety of the nation’s manners was -only traceable in certain portions of society. Now we are in a sober, -perhaps tending to a rigorous stage once more. In Edinburgh, seventy -years ago (1847), intemperance was the rule to such an degree that -exception could hardly be said to exist. Men appeared little in the -drawing-room in those days; when they did, not infrequently their -company had better have been dispensed with. When a gentleman gave an -entertainment, it was thought necessary that he should press the bottle -as far as it could be made to go. A particularly good fellow would lock -his outer door to prevent any guest of dyspeptic tendencies or sober -inclinations from escaping. Some were so considerate as to provide -shake-down beds for a general bivouac in a neighbouring apartment. -When gentlemen were obliged to appear at assemblies where decency was -enforced, they of course wore their best attire. This it was customary -to change for something less liable to receive damage, ere going, as -they usually did, to conclude the evening by a scene of conviviality. -Drinking entered into everything. As Sir Alexander Boswell has observed: - - ‘O’er draughts of wine the beau would moan his love, - O’er draughts of wine the cit his bargain drove, - O’er draughts of wine the writer penned the will, - And legal wisdom counselled o’er a gill.’ - -Then was the time when men, despising and neglecting the company of -women, always so civilising in its influence, would yet half-kill -themselves with bumpers in order, as the phrase went, to _save -them_. Drinking to save the ladies is said to have originated with a -catch-club, which issued tickets for gratuitous concerts. Many tickets -with the names of ladies being prepared, one was taken up and the name -announced. Any member present was at liberty to toast the health of -this lady in a bumper, and this ensured her ticket being reserved for -her use. If no one came forward to honour her name in this manner, -the lady was said to be damned, and her ticket was thrown under the -table. Whether from this origin or not, the practice is said to have -ultimately had the following form. One gentleman would give out the -name of some lady as the most beautiful object in creation, and, by -way of attesting what he said, drink one bumper. Another champion -would then enter the field, and offer to prove that a certain other -lady, whom he named, was a great deal more beautiful than she just -mentioned—supporting his assertion by drinking two bumpers. Then the -other would rise up, declare this to be false, and in proof of his -original statement, as well as by way of turning the scale upon his -opponent, drink four bumpers. Not deterred or repressed by this, the -second man would reiterate, and conclude by drinking as much as the -challenger, who would again start up and drink eight bumpers; and so -on, in geometrical progression, till one or other of the heroes fell -under the table; when of course the fair Delia of the survivor was -declared the queen supreme of beauty by all present. I have seen a -sonnet addressed on the morning after such a scene of contention to the -lady concerned by the unsuccessful hero, whose brains appear to have -been woefully muddled by the claret he had drunk in her behalf. - -It was not merely in the evenings that taverns were then resorted to. -There was a petty treat, called a ‘meridian,’ which no man of that day -thought himself able to dispense with; and this was generally indulged -in at a tavern. ‘A cauld cock and a feather’ was the metaphorical mode -of calling for a glass of brandy and a bunch of raisins, which was -the favourite regale of many. Others took a glass of whisky, some few -a lunch. Scott very amusingly describes, from his own observation, -the manner in which the affair of the meridian was gone about by -the writers and clerks belonging to the Parliament House. ‘If their -proceedings were watched, they might be seen to turn fidgety about the -hour of noon, and exchange looks with each other from their separate -desks, till at length some one of formal and dignified presence -assumed the honour of leading the band; when away they went, threading -the crowd like a string of wild-fowl, crossed the square or close, -and following each other into the [John’s] coffee-house, drank the -meridian, which was placed ready at the bar. This they did day by day; -and though they did not speak to each other, they seemed to attach a -certain degree of sociability to performing the ceremony in company.’ - -It was in the evening, of course, that the tavern debaucheries assumed -their proper character of unpalliated fierceness and destructive -duration. In the words of Robert Fergusson: - - ‘Now night, that’s cunzied chief for fun, - Is with her usual rites begun. - - * * * * * - - Some to porter, some to punch, - Retire; while noisy ten-hours’ drum - Gars a’ the trades gang danderin’ hame. - Now, mony a club, jocose and free, - Gi’e a’ to merriment and glee; - Wi’ sang and glass they fley the power - O’ care, that wad harass the hour. - - * * * * * - - Chief, O CAPE! we crave thy aid, - To get our cares and poortith laid. - Sincerity and genius true, - O’ knights have ever been the due. - Mirth, music, porter deepest-dyed, - Are never here to worth denied.’ - -All the shops in the town were then shut at eight o’clock; and from -that hour till ten—when the drum of the Town-guard announced at once -a sort of license for the deluging of the streets with nuisances,[135] -and a warning of the inhabitants home to their beds—unrestrained scope -was given to the delights of the table. No tradesman thought of going -home to his family till after he had spent an hour or two at his club. -This was universal and unfailing. So lately as 1824, I knew something -of an old-fashioned tradesman who nightly shut his shop at eight -o’clock, and then adjourned with two old friends, who called upon him -at that hour, to a quiet old public-house on the opposite side of the -way, where they each drank precisely one bottle of Edinburgh ale, ate -precisely one halfpenny roll, and got upon their legs precisely at the -first stroke of ten o’clock. - -The CAPE CLUB alluded to by Fergusson aspired to a refined and -classical character, comprising amongst its numerous members many -men of talents, as well as of private worth. Fergusson himself was -a member; as were Mr Thomas Sommers, his friend and biographer; Mr -Woods, a player of eminence on the humble boards of Edinburgh, and -an intimate companion of the poet; and Mr Runciman the painter. The -name of the club had its foundation in one of those weak jokes such -as ‘gentle dullness ever loves.’ A person who lived in the Calton was -in the custom of spending an hour or two every evening with one or -two city friends, and being sometimes detained till after the regular -period when the Netherbow Port was shut, it occasionally happened -that he had either to remain in the city all night, or was under the -necessity of bribing the porter who attended the gate. This difficult -_pass_—partly on account of the rectangular corner which he turned -immediately on getting out of the Port, as he went homewards down Leith -Wynd—the Calton burgher facetiously called _doubling the Cape_; and as -it was customary with his friends every evening when they assembled to -inquire ‘how he turned the Cape last night,’ and indeed to make that -circumstance and that phrase, night after night, the subject of their -conversation and amusement, ‘the Cape’ in time became so assimilated -with their very existence that they adopted it as a title; and it -was retained as such by the organised club into which shortly after -they thought proper to form themselves. The Cape Club owned a regular -institution from 1763. It will scarcely be credited in the present day -that a jest of the above nature could keep an assemblage of rational -citizens, and, we may add, professed wits, merry after a thousand -repetitions. Yet it really is true that the patron-jests of many a -numerous and enlightened association were no better than this, and the -greater part of them worse. As instance the following: - -There was the ANTEMANUM CLUB, of which the members used to boast of the -state of their hands, _before-hand_, in playing at ‘Brag.’ The members -were all men of respectability, some of them gentlemen of fortune. -They met every Saturday and dined. It was at first a purely convivial -club; but latterly, the Whig party gaining a sort of preponderance, it -degenerated into a political association. - -The PIOUS CLUB was composed of decent, orderly citizens, who met every -night, Sundays not excepted, in a _pie-house_, and whose joke was the -_équivoque_ of these expressions—similar in sound, but different in -signification. The agreeable uncertainty as to whether their name -arose from their _piety_, or the circumstance of their eating _pies_, -kept the club hearty for many years. At their Sunday meetings the -conversation usually took a serious turn—perhaps upon the sermons -which they had respectively heard during the day: this they considered -as rendering their title of _Pious_ not altogether undeserved. -Moreover, they were all, as the saying was, _ten o’clock men_, and of -good character. Fifteen persons were considered as constituting a full -night. The whole allowable debauch was a gill of toddy to each person, -which was drunk, like wine, out of a common decanter. One of the -members of the Pious Club was a Mr Lind, a man of at least twenty-five -stone weight, immoderately fond of good eating and drinking. It was -generally believed of him that were all the oxen he had devoured ranged -in a line, they would reach from the Watergate to the Castle-hill, -and that the wine he had drunk would swim a seventy-four. His most -favourite viand was a very strange one—salmon skins. When dining -anywhere, with salmon on the table, he made no scruple of raking all -the skins off the plates of the rest of the guests. He had only one -toast, from which he never varied: ‘Merry days to honest fellows.’ A Mr -Drummond was esteemed poet-laureate to this club. He was a facetious, -clever man. Of his poetical talents, take a specimen in the following -lines on Lind: - - ‘In going to dinner, he ne’er lost his way, - Though often, when done, he was carted away.’ - -He made the following impromptu on an associate of small figure and -equally small understanding, who had been successful in the world: - - ‘O thou of genius slow, - Weak by nature; - A rich fellow, - But a poor creature.’ - -[Illustration: The Watergate.] - -The SPENDTHRIFT CLUB took its name from the extravagance of the members -in spending no less a sum than fourpence halfpenny each night! It -consisted of respectable citizens of the middle class, and continued in -1824 to exist in a modified state. Its meetings, originally nightly, -were then reduced to four a week. The men used to play at whist for a -halfpenny—one, two, three—no rubbers; but latterly they had, with -their characteristic extravagance, doubled the stake! Supper originally -cost no less than twopence; and half a bottle of strong ale, with a -dram, stood every member twopence halfpenny; to all which sumptuous -profusion might be added still another halfpenny, which was given -to the maid-servant—in all, fivepence! Latterly the dram had been -disused; but such had been the general increase, either in the cost -or the quantity of the indulgences, that the usual nightly expense -was ultimately from a shilling to one and fourpence. The winnings at -whist were always thrown into the reckoning. A large two-quart bottle -or tappit-hen was introduced by the landlady, with a small measure, -out of which the company helped themselves; and the members made up -their own bill with chalk upon the table. In 1824, in the recollection -of the senior members, some of whom were of fifty years’ standing, -the house was kept by the widow of a Lieutenant Hamilton of the army, -who recollected having attended the theatre in the Tennis Court at -Holyroodhouse, when the play was the _Spanish Friar_, and when many of -the members of the _Union Parliament_ were present in the house. - -[Illustration: Tappit-hen.] - -The BOAR CLUB was an association of a different sort, consisting -chiefly of wild, fashionable young men; and the place of meeting was -not in any of the snug profundities of the Old Town, but in a modern -tavern in Shakspeare Square, kept by one Daniel Hogg. The _joke_ of -this club consisted in the supposition that all the members were -_boars_, that their room was a _sty_, that their talk was _grunting_, -and in the _double-entendre_ of the small piece of stone-ware which -served as a repository of all the fines being a _pig_. Upon this they -lived twenty years. I have, at some expense of eyesight and with no -small exertion of patience, perused the soiled and blotted records of -the club, which in 1824 were preserved by an old vintner, whose house -was their last place of meeting; and the result has been the following -memorabilia. The Boar Club commenced its meetings in 1787, and the -original members were J. G. C. Schetky, a German musician; David Shaw; -Archibald Crawfuird; Patrick Robertson; Robert Aldridge, a famed -pantomimist and dancing-master; James Neilson; and Luke Cross. Some of -these were remarkable men, in particular Mr Schetky. He had come to -Edinburgh about the beginning of the reign of George III. He used to -tell that on alighting at Ramsay’s inn, opposite the Cowgate Port, his -first impression of the city was so unfavourable that he was on the -point of leaving it again without further acquaintance, and was only -prevented from doing so by the solicitations of his fellow-traveller, -who was not so much alarmed at the dingy and squalid appearance of -this part of Auld Reekie.[136] He was first employed at St Cecilia’s -Hall, where the concerts were attended by all the ‘rank, beauty, and -fashion’ of which Edinburgh could then boast, and where, besides the -professional performers, many amateurs of great musical skill and -enthusiasm, such as Mr Tytler of Woodhouselee,[137] were pleased to -exhibit themselves for the entertainment of their friends, who alone -were admitted by tickets. Mr Schetky composed the march of a body of -volunteers called the Edinburgh Defensive Band, which was raised out -of the citizens of Edinburgh at the time of the American war, and was -commanded by the eminent advocate Crosbie. One of the verses to which -the march was set may be given as an admirable specimen of _militia -poetry_: - - ‘Colonel Crosbie takes the field; - To France and Spain he will not yield; - But still maintains his high command - At the head of the noble Defensive Band.’[138] - -[Illustration: ‘AULD REEKIE’ -from Largo. - -PAGE 152.] - -Mr Schetky was primarily concerned in the founding of the Boar Club. -He was in the habit of meeting every night with Mr Aldridge and one -or two other professional men, or gentlemen who affected the society -of such persons, in Hogg’s tavern; and it was the host’s name that -suggested the idea of calling their society the ‘_Boar_ Club.’ Their -laws were first written down in proper form in 1790. They were to -meet every evening at seven o’clock; each _boar_, on his entry, to -contribute a halfpenny to the _pig_. Mr Aldridge was to be perpetual -_Grand-boar_, with Mr Schetky for his deputy; and there were other -officers, entitled Secretary, Treasurer, and Procurator-fiscal. A fine -of one halfpenny was imposed upon every person who called one of his -brother-boars by his proper out-of-club name—the term ‘sir’ being only -allowed. The entry-moneys, fines, and other pecuniary acquisitions were -hoarded for a grand annual dinner. The laws were revised in 1799, when -some new officials were constituted, such as Poet-laureate, Champion, -Archbishop, and Chief-grunter. The fines were then rendered exceedingly -severe, and in their exaction no one met with any mercy, as it was the -interest of all the rest that the _pig_ should bring forth as plenteous -a _farrow_ as possible at the grand dinner-day. This practice at length -occasioning a violent insurrection in the _sty_, the whole fraternity -was broken up, and never again returned to ‘wallow in the mire.’ - -The HELL-FIRE CLUB, a terrible and infamous association of wild young -men about the beginning of the last century, met in various profound -places throughout Edinburgh, where they practised orgies not more fit -for seeing the light than the Eleusinian Mysteries. I have conversed -with old people who had seen the last worn-out members of the Hell-fire -Club, which in the country is to this day believed to have been an -association in compact with the Prince of Darkness. - -Many years afterwards, a set of persons associated for the purpose of -purchasing goods condemned by the Court of Exchequer. For what reason -I cannot tell, they called themselves the Hell-fire Club, and their -president was named the Devil. My old friend, Henry Mackenzie, whose -profession was that of an attorney before the Court of Exchequer, -wrote me a note on this subject, in which he says very naïvely: ‘In my -youngest days, I knew the Devil.’ - -The SWEATING CLUB flourished about the middle of the last century. They -resembled the Mohocks mentioned in the _Spectator_. After intoxicating -themselves, it was their custom to sally forth at midnight, and attack -whomsoever they met upon the streets. Any luckless wight who happened -to fall into their hands was chased, jostled, pinched, and pulled -about, till he not only perspired, but was ready to drop down and die -with exhaustion. Even so late as the early years of this century, it -was unsafe to walk the streets of Edinburgh at night on account of the -numerous drunken parties of young men who then reeled about, bent on -mischief, at all hours, and from whom the Town-guard were unable to -protect the sober citizen. - -A club called the INDUSTRIOUS COMPANY may serve to show how far the -system of drinking was carried by our fathers. It was a sort of -joint-stock company, formed by a numerous set of porter-drinkers, -who thought fit to club towards the formation of a stock of that -liquor, which they might partly profit by retailing, and partly by -the opportunity thus afforded them of drinking their own particular -tipple at the wholesale price. Their cellars were in the Royal Bank -Close, where they met every night at eight o’clock. Each member paid at -his entry £5, and took his turn monthly of the duty of superintending -the general business of the company. But the curse of joint-stock -companies—negligence on the part of the managers—ultimately -occasioned the ruin of the Industrious Company. - -About 1790, a club of first-rate citizens used to meet each Saturday -afternoon for a _country dinner_, in a tavern which still exists in the -village of Canonmills, a place now involved within the limits of the -New Town. To quote a brief memoir on the subject, handed to me many -years ago by a veteran friend, who was a good deal of the _laudator -temporis acti_: ‘The club was pointedly attended; it was too good a -thing to miss being present at. They kept their own claret, and managed -all matters as to living perfectly well.’ Originally the fraternity -were contented with a very humble room; but in time they got an -addition built to the house for their accommodation, comprehending one -good-sized room with two windows, in one of which is a pane containing -an olive-dove; in the other, one containing a wheat-sheaf, both -engraved with a diamond. ‘This,’ continues Mr Johnston, ‘was the doing -of William Ramsay [banker], then residing at Warriston—the tongue of -the trump to the club. Here he took great delight to drink claret on -the Saturdays, though he had such a paradise near at hand to retire to; -but then there were Jamie Torry, Jamie Dickson, Gilbert Laurie, and -other good old council friends with whom to crack [that is, chat]; and -the said cracks were of more value in this dark, unseemly place than -the enjoyments of home. I never pass these two engraved panes of glass -but I venerate them, and wonder that, in the course of fifty years, -they have not been destroyed, either from drunkenness within or from -misrule without.’[139] - -Edinburgh boasted of many other associations of the like nature, which -it were perhaps best merely to enumerate in a tabular form, with the -appropriate joke opposite each, as - -THE DIRTY CLUB No gentleman to appear in clean linen. -THE BLACK WIGS Members wore black wigs. -THE ODD FELLOWS Members wrote their names upside down. -THE BONNET LAIRDS Members wore blue bonnets. -THE DOCTORS OF FACULTY CLUB { Members regarded as Physicians, and so - { styled; wearing, moreover, gowns and - { wigs. - -And so forth. There were the CALEDONIAN CLUB and the UNION CLUB, of -whose foundation history speaketh not. There was the WIG CLUB, the -president of which wore a wig of extraordinary materials, which had -belonged to the Moray family for three generations, and each new -_entrant_ of which drank to the fraternity in a quart of claret without -pulling bit. The Wigs usually drank twopenny ale, on which it was -possible to get satisfactorily drunk for a groat; and with this they -ate souters’ clods,[140] a coarse, lumpish kind of loaf.[141] There -was also the BROWNONIAN SYSTEM CLUB, which, oddly enough, bore no -reference to the license which that system had given for a phlogistic -regimen—for it was a douce citizenly fraternity, venerating ten -o’clock as a sacred principle—but in honour of the founder of that -system, who had been a constituent member. - -The LAWNMARKET CLUB was composed chiefly of the woollen-traders of -that street, a set of whom met every morning about seven o’clock, and -walked down to the Post-office, where they made themselves acquainted -with the news of the morning. After a plentiful discussion of the -news, they adjourned to a public-house and got a dram of brandy. As -a sort of ironical and self-inflicted satire upon the strength of -their potations, they sometimes called themselves the _Whey Club_. -They were always the first persons in the town to have a thorough -knowledge of the foreign news; and on Wednesday mornings, when there -was no post from London, it was their wont to meet as usual, and, in -the absence of real news, amuse themselves by the invention of what -was imaginary; and this they made it their business to circulate among -their uninitiated acquaintances in the course of the forenoon. Any such -unfounded articles of intelligence, on being suspected or discovered, -were usually called _Lawnmarket Gazettes_, in allusion to their roguish -originators. - -In the year 1705, when the Duke of Argyll was commissioner in the -Scottish parliament, a singular kind of fashionable club, or coterie of -ladies and gentlemen, was instituted, chiefly by the exertions of the -Earl of Selkirk, who was the distinguished beau of that age. This was -called the HORN ORDER, a name which, as usual, had its origin in the -whim of a moment. A horn-spoon having been used at some merry-meeting, -it occurred to the club, which was then in embryo, that this homely -implement would be a good badge for the projected society; and this -being proposed, it was instantly agreed by all the party that the -‘Order of the Horn’ would be a good caricature of the more ancient and -better-sanctioned honorary dignities. The phrase was adopted; and the -members of the _Horn Order_ met and caroused for many a day under this -strange designation, which, however, the common people believed to mean -more than met the ear. Indeed, if all accounts of it be true, it must -have been a species of masquerade, in which the sexes were mixed and -all ranks confounded.[142] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[130] Lord Grange, whose _Diary of a Senator of the College of Justice_ -was published in 1833. - -[131] Lord Newton was known as ‘The Mighty.’ Lord Cockburn says it -was not uncommon for judges on the bench to provide themselves with a -bottle of port, which they consumed while listening to the case being -tried before them. - -[132] This story is told of John Clerk, who afterwards sat on the bench -as Lord Eldin. - -[133] It was very common for Scotch ladies of rank, even till the -middle of the last century, to wear black masks in walking abroad -or airing in a carriage; and for some gentlemen, too, who were vain -of their complexion. They were kept close to the face by means of a -string, having a button of glass or precious stone at the end, which -the lady held in her mouth. This practice, I understand, did not in the -least interrupt the flow of tittle-tattle and scandal among the fair -wearers. - -We are told, in a curious paper in the _Edinburgh Magazine_ for August -1817, that at the period above mentioned, ‘though it was a disgrace for -ladies to be seen drunk, yet it was none to be a little intoxicated in -good company.’ - -[134] The principal oyster-parties, in old times, took place in Lucky -Middlemass’s tavern in the Cowgate (where the south pier of the -[South] bridge now stands), which was the resort of Fergusson and his -fellow-wits—as witness his own verse: - - ‘When big as burns the gutters rin, - If ye ha’e catched a droukit skin, - To Luckie Middlemist’s loup in, - And sit fu’ snug, - Owre oysters and a dram o’ gin, - Or haddock lug.’ - -At these fashionable parties, the ladies would sometimes have the -oyster-women to dance in the ball-room, though they were known to be of -the worst character. This went under the convenient name of _frolic_. - -[135] The cry of ‘Gardy loo!’ at this hour was supposed to warn -pedestrians; but, as Sir Walter Scott says, ‘it was sometimes like the -shriek of the water-kelpie, rather the elegy than the warning of the -overwhelmed passenger.’ - -[136] This highly appropriate popular _sobriquet_ cannot be traced -beyond the reign of Charles II. Tradition assigns the following as the -origin of the phrase: An old gentleman in Fife, designated Durham of -Largo, was in the habit, at the period mentioned, of regulating the -time of evening worship by the appearance of the smoke of Edinburgh, -which he could easily see, through the clear summer twilight, from -his own door. When he observed the smoke increase in density, in -consequence of the good folk of the city preparing their supper, he -would call all the family into the house, saying: ‘It’s time now, -bairns, to tak’ the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder’s Auld -Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht-cap!’ - -[137] This gentleman, the ‘revered defender of beauteous Stuart,’ and -the surviving friend of Allan Ramsay, had an unaccountable aversion -to cheese, and not only forbade the appearance of that article upon -his table, but also its introduction into his house. His family, who -did not partake in this antipathy, sometimes smuggled a small quantity -of cheese into the house, and ate it in secret; but he almost always -discovered it by the _smell_, which was the sense it chiefly offended. -Upon scenting the object of his disgust, he would start up and run -distractedly through the house in search of it, and not compose himself -again to his studies till it was thrown out of doors. Some of his -ingenious children, by way of a joke, once got into their possession -the coat with which he usually went to the court, and ripping up the -sutures of one of its wide, old-fashioned skirts, sewed up therein a -considerable slice of double Gloster. Mr Tytler was next day surprised -when, sitting near the bar, he perceived the smell of cheese rising -around him. ‘Cheese here too!’ cried the querulous old gentleman; -‘nay, then, the whole world must be conspiring against me!’ So saying, -he rose, and ran home to tell his piteous case to Mrs Tytler and the -children, who became convinced from this that he really possessed the -singular delicacy and fastidiousness in respect of the effluvia arising -from cheese which they formerly thought to be fanciful. - -[138] The dress of the Edinburgh Defensive Band was as follows: a -cocked hat, black stock, hair tied and highly powdered; dark-blue -long-tailed coat, with orange facings in honour of the Revolution, -and full lapels sloped away to show the white dimity vest; nankeen -small-clothes; white thread stockings, ribbed or plain; and short -nankeen spatterdashes. Kay has some ingenious caricatures, in -miniature, of these redoubted Bruntsfield Links and Heriot’s Green -warriors. The last two survivors were Mr John M’Niven, stationer, and -Robert Stevenson, painter, who died in 1832. - -[139] One of the panes is now (1847) destroyed, the other cracked. [The -tavern is now out of existence.] - -[140] Souters’ clods and other forms of bread fascinating to -youngsters, as well as penny pies of high reputation, were to be had -at a shop which all old Edinburgh people speak of with extreme regard -and affection—the _Baijen Hole_—situated immediately to the east of -Forrester’s Wynd and opposite to the Old Tolbooth. The name—a mystery -to later generations—seems to bear reference to the Baijens or Baijen -Class, a term bestowed in former days upon the junior students in the -college. _Bajan_ or _bejan_ is the French _bejaune_, ‘_bec jaune_,’ -‘greenbill,’ ‘greenhorn,’ ‘freshman.’ - -[141] The fullest account yet published of this extraordinary coterie -is that of Mr H. A. Cockburn in _The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club_, -vol. iii. Creech refers to it in ironical terms as ‘the virtuous, the -venerable and dignified Wig who so much to their own honour and kind -attention always inform the public of their meetings.’ The reputation -of the club was very different. - -[142] The following were other eighteenth century Edinburgh clubs: - -THE POKER CLUB originated in a combination of gentlemen favourable to -the establishment of militia in Scotland, and its name, happily hit -on by Professor Adam Ferguson, was selected to avoid giving offence -to the Government. A history of the club is given in Dugald Stewart’s -Life, and also in Carlyle’s _Autobiography_, where he says: ‘Dinner was -on the table soon after two o’clock, at one shilling a head, the wine -to be confined to sherry and claret, and the reckoning called at six -o’clock.’ The minutes of this interesting club are preserved in the -University Library. - -THE MIRROR CLUB, formed by the contributors to the periodical of that -name. It had really existed before under the name of ‘The Tabernacle.’ -‘The Tabernacle,’ or ‘The Feast of Tabernacles,’ as Ramsay of -Ochtertyre calls it, was a company of friends and admirers of Henry -Dundas, first Viscount Melville. - -THE EASY CLUB, founded by Allan Ramsay the poet, consisted of twelve -members, each of whom was required to assume the name of some Scottish -poet. Ramsay took that of Gawin Douglas. - -THE CAPILLAIRE CLUB was ‘composed of all who were inclined to be witty -and joyous.’ - -THE FACER CLUB, which met in Lucky Wood’s tavern in the Canongate, was -perhaps not of a high order. If a member did not drain his measure of -liquor, he had to throw it at his own face. - -THE GRISKIN CLUB also met in the Canongate. Dr Carlyle and those -who took part with him in the production of Home’s _Douglas_ at the -Canongate playhouse formed this club, and gave it its name from the -pork griskins which was their favourite supper dish. - -THE RUFFIAN CLUB, ‘composed of men whose hearts were milder than their -manners, and their principles more correct than their habits of life.’ - -THE WAGERING CLUB, instituted in 1775, still meets annually. An account -of this club is given in _The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club_, vol. ii. - -Others may be mentioned by name only: THE DIVERSORIUM, THE HAVERAL, THE -WHIN BUSH, THE SKULL, THE SIX FOOT, THE ASSEMBLY OF BIRDS, THE CARD, -THE BORACHED, THE HUMDRUM, THE APICIAN, THE BLAST AND QUAFF, THE OCEAN, -THE PIPE, THE KNIGHTS OF THE CAP AND FEATHER, THE REVOLUTIONARY, THE -STOIC, and THE CLUB, referred to in Lockhart’s _Life of Scott_. - -Of a later period than those mentioned above were THE GOWKS CLUB; THE -RIGHT AND WRONG, of which James Hogg gives a short account; and THE -FRIDAY CLUB, instituted by Lord Cockburn, who also wrote an interesting -history of it, recently printed by Mr H. A. Cockburn, in vol. iii. of -_The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club_. - - - - -TAVERNS OF OLD TIMES. - - -When the worship of Bacchus held such sway in our city, his peculiar -temples—the taverns—must, one would suppose, have been places of -some importance. And so they were, comparatively speaking; and yet, -absolutely, an Edinburgh tavern of the last century was no very fine -or inviting place. Usually these receptacles were situated in obscure -places—in courts or closes, away from the public thoroughfares; and -often they presented such narrow and stifling accommodations as might -have been expected to repel rather than attract visitors. The truth -was, however, that a coarse and darksome snugness was courted by the -worshippers. Large, well-lighted rooms, with a look-out to a street, -would not have suited them. But allow them to dive through some Erebean -alley, into a cavern-like house, and there settle themselves in a -cell unvisited of Phœbus, with some dingy flamen of either sex to act -as minister, and their views as to circumstances and properties were -fulfilled. - -The city traditions do not go far back into the eighteenth century -with respect to taverns; but we obtain some notion of the principal -houses in Queen Anne’s time from the Latin lyrics of Dr Pitcairn, which -Ruddiman published, in order to prove that the Italian muse had not -become extinct in our land since the days of Buchanan. In an address -_To Strangers_, the wit tells those who would acquire some notion of -our national manners to avoid the triple church of St Giles’s: - - ‘Tres ubi Cyclopes fanda nefanda boant’— - -where three horrible monsters bellow forth sacred and profane -discourse—and seek the requisite knowledge in the sanctuaries of the -rosy god, whose worship is conducted by night and by day. ‘At one -time,’ says he, ‘you may be delighted with the bowls of Steil of the -_Cross Keys_; then other heroes, at the _Ship_, will show you the huge -cups which belonged to mighty bibbers of yore. Or you may seek out the -sweet-spoken Katy at _Buchanan’s_, or _Tennant’s_ commodious house, -where scalloped oysters will be brought in with your wine. But _Hay_ -calls us, than whom no woman of milder disposition or better-stored -cellar can be named in the whole town. Now it will gratify you to -make your way into the Avernian grottoes and caves never seen of -the sun; but remember to make friends with the dog which guards the -threshold. Straightway Mistress Anne will bring the native liquor. -Seek the innermost rooms and the snug seats: these know the sun, at -least, when Anne enters. What souls joying in the Lethæan flood you -may there see! what frolics, God willing, you may partake of! Mindless -of all that goes on in the outer world, joys not to be told to mortal -do they there imbibe. But perhaps you may wish by-and-by to get back -into the world—which is indeed no easy matter. I recommend you, when -about to descend, to take with you a trusty Achates [a caddy]: say -to Anne, “Be sure you give him no drink.” By such means it was that -Castor and Pollux were able to issue forth from Pluto’s domain into -the heavenly spaces. Here you may be both merry and wise; but beware -how you toast kings and their French retreats,’ &c. The sites of -these merry places of yore are not handed down to us; but respecting -another, which Pitcairn shadows forth under the mysterious appellation -of _Greppa_, it chances that we possess some knowledge. It was a suite -of dark underground apartments in the Parliament Close, opening by -a descending stair opposite the oriel of St Giles’s, in a mass of -building called the Pillars. By the wits who frequented it, it was -called the _Greping-office_, because one could only make way through -its dark passages by groping. It is curious to see how Pitcairn works -this homely Scottish idea into his Sapphics, talking, for example, by -way of a good case of bane and antidote, of - - ‘Fraudes Egidii, venena Greppæ.’ - -A venerable person has given me an anecdote of this singular mixture -of learning, wit, and professional skill in connection with the -Greping-office. Here, it seems, according to a custom which lasted -even in London till a later day, the clever physician used to receive -visits from his patients. On one occasion a woman from the country -called to consult him respecting the health of her daughter, when he -gave a shrewd hygienic advice in a pithy metaphor not be mentioned -to ears polite. When, in consequence of following the prescription, -the young woman had recovered her health, the mother came back -to the Greping-office to thank Dr Pitcairn and give him a small -present. Seeing him in precisely the same place and circumstances, -and surrounded by the same companions as on the former occasion, she -lingered with an expression of surprise. On interrogation, she said she -had only one thing to speer at him (ask after), and she hoped he would -not be angry. - -‘Oh no, my good woman.’ - -‘Well, sir, have you been sitting here ever since I saw you last?’ - -According to the same authority, small claret was then sold at -twentypence the Scottish pint, equivalent to tenpence a bottle. -Pitcairn once or twice sent his servant for a regale of this liquor -on the Sunday forenoon, and suffered the disappointment of having it -intercepted by the _seizers_, whose duty it was to make capture of all -persons found abroad in time of service, and appropriate whatever they -were engaged in carrying that smelled of the common enjoyments of life. -To secure his claret for the future from this interference, the wit -caused the wine on one occasion to be drugged in such a manner as to -produce consequences more ludicrous than dangerous to those drinking -it. The triumph he thus attained over a power which there was no -reaching by any appeal to common-sense or justice must have been deeply -relished in the Greping-office. - -Pitcairn was professedly an Episcopalian, but he allowed himself a -latitude in wit which his contemporaries found some difficulty in -reconciling with any form of religion. Among the popular charges -against him was that he did not believe in the existence of such a -place as hell; a point of heterodoxy likely to be sadly disrelished -in Scotland. Being at a book-sale, where a copy of Philostratus sold -at a good price and a copy of the Bible was not bidden for, Pitcairn -said to some one who remarked the circumstance: ‘Not at all wonderful; -for is it not written, “_Verbum Dei manet in eternum_”?’ For this, -one of the _Cyclopes_, a famous Mr Webster, called him publicly an -atheist. The story goes on to state that Pitcairn prosecuted Webster -for defamation in consequence, but failed in the action from the -following circumstance: The defender, much puzzled what to do in the -case, consulted a shrewd-witted friend of his, a Mr Pettigrew, minister -of Govan, near Glasgow. Pettigrew came to Edinburgh to endeavour to get -him out of the scrape. ‘Strange,’ he said, ‘since he has caught so much -at your mouth, if we can catch nothing at his.’ Having laid his plan, -he came bustling up to the physician at the Cross, and tapping him on -the shoulder, said: ‘Are you Dr Pitcairn the atheist?’ - -The doctor, in his haste, overlooking the latter part of the query, -answered: ‘Yes.’ - -‘Very good,’ said Pettigrew; ‘I take you all to witness that he has -confessed it himself.’ - -Pitcairn, seeing how he had been outwitted, said bitterly to the -minister of Govan, whom he well knew: ‘Oh, Pettigrew, that skull of -yours is as deep as hell.’ - -‘Oh, man,’ replied Pettigrew, ‘I’m glad to find you have come to -believe there is a hell.’ The prosecutor’s counsel, who stood by at the -time, recommended a compromise, which accordingly took place. - -A son of Pitcairn was minister of Dysart; a very good kind of man, -who was sometimes consulted in a medical way by his parishioners. He -seems to have had a little of the paternal humour, if we may judge from -the following circumstance: A lady came to ask what her maid-servant -should do for sore or tender eyes. The minister, seeing that no active -treatment could be recommended, said: ‘She must do naething wi’ them, -but just rub them wi’ her elbucks [elbows].’ - -Allan Ramsay mentions, of Edinburgh taverns in his day, - - ‘Cumin’s, Don’s, and Steil’s,’ - -as places where one may be as well served as at _The Devil_ in London. - - ‘’Tis strange, though true, he who would shun all evil, - Cannot do better than go to the Devil.’ - - JOHN MACLAURIN. - -One is disposed to pause a moment on Steil’s name, as it is honourably -connected with the history of music in Scotland. Being a zealous lover -of the divine science and a good singer of the native melodies, he had -rendered his house a favourite resort of all who possessed a similar -taste, and here actually was formed (1728) the first regular society of -amateur musicians known in our country. It numbered seventy persons, -and met once a week, the usual entertainments consisting in playing -on the harpsichord and violin the concertos and sonatas of Handel, -then newly published. Apparently, however, this fraternity did not -long continue to use Steil’s house, if I am right in supposing his -retirement from business as announced in an advertisement of February -1729, regarding ‘a sale by auction, of the haill pictures, prints, -music-books, and musical instruments, belonging to Mr John Steill’ -(_Caledonian Mercury_). - -Coming down to a later time—1760-1770—we find the tavern in highest -vogue to have been _Fortune’s_, in the house which the Earl of -Eglintoune had once occupied in the Stamp-office Close. The gay men -of rank, the scholarly and philosophical, the common citizens, all -flocked hither; and the royal commissioner for the General Assembly -held his levees here, and hence proceeded to church with his cortège, -then additionally splendid from having ladies walking in it in their -court-dresses as well as gentlemen.[143] Perhaps the most remarkable -set of men who met here was the POKER CLUB,[144] consisting of Hume, -Robertson, Blair, Fergusson, and many others of that brilliant galaxy, -but whose potations were comparatively of a moderate kind. - -The _Star and Garter_, in Writers’ Court, kept by one Clerihugh (the -_Clerihugh’s_ alluded to in _Guy Mannering_), was another tavern -of good consideration, the favourite haunt of the magistrates and -Town-council, who in those days mixed much more of private enjoyments -with public duties than would now be considered fitting.[145] Here the -Rev. Dr Webster used to meet them at dinner, in order to give them the -benefit of his extensive knowledge and great powers of calculation when -they were scheming out the New Town. - -A favourite house for many of the last years of the bygone century -was _Douglas’s_, in the Anchor Close, near the Cross, a good specimen -of those profound retreats which have been spoken of as valued in the -inverse ratio of the amount of daylight which visited them. You went -a few yards down the dark, narrow alley, passing on the left hand the -entry to a scale stair, decorated with ‘THE LORD IS ONLY MY SVPORT;’ -then passed another door, bearing the still more antique legend: ‘O -LORD, IN THE IS AL MY TRAIST;’ immediately beyond, under an architrave -calling out ‘BE MERCIFVL TO ME,’ you entered the hospitable mansion -of Dawney Douglas, the scene of the daily and nightly orgies of the -Pleydells and Fairfords, the Hays, Erskines, and Crosbies, of the time -of our fathers. Alas! how fallen off is now that temple of Momus and -the Bacchanals! You find it divided into a multitude of small lodgings, -where, instead of the merry party, vociferous with toasts and catches, -you are most likely to be struck by the spectacle of some poor lone -female, pining under a parochial allowance, or a poverty-struck family -group, one-half of whom are disposed on sick-beds of straw mingled with -rags—the terrible exponents of our peculiar phasis of civilisation. - -The frequenter of Douglas’s, after ascending a few steps, found himself -in a pretty large kitchen—a dark, fiery Pandemonium, through which -numerous ineffable ministers of flame were continually flying about, -while beside the door sat the landlady, a large, fat woman, in a -towering head-dress and large-flowered silk gown, who bowed to every -one passing. Most likely on emerging from this igneous region, the -party would fall into the hands of Dawney himself, and so be conducted -to an apartment. A perfect contrast was he to his wife: a thin, weak, -submissive man, who spoke in a whisper, never but in the way of answer, -and then, if possible, only in monosyllables. He had a habit of using -the word ‘quietly’ very frequently, without much regard to its being -appropriate to the sense; and it is told that he one day made the -remark that ‘the Castle had been firing to-day—_quietly_;’ which, it -may well be believed, was not soon forgotten by his customers. Another -trait of Dawney was that some one lent him a volume of Clarendon’s -history to read, and daily frequenting the room where it lay, used -regularly, for some time, to put back the reader’s mark to the same -place; whereupon, being by-and-by asked how he liked the book, Dawney -answered: ‘Oh, very weel; but dinna ye think it’s gay mickle the same -thing o’er again?’ The house was noted for suppers of tripe, rizzared -haddocks, mince collops, and _hashes_, which never cost more than -sixpence a head. On charges of this moderate kind the honest couple -grew extremely rich before they died. - -The principal room in this house was a handsome one of good size, -having a separate access by the second of the entries which have been -described, and only used for large companies, or for guests of the -first importance. It was called _the Crown Room_, or _the Crown_—so -did the guests find it distinguished on the tops of their bills—and -this name it was said to have acquired in consequence of its having -once been used by Queen Mary as a council-room, on which occasions -the emblem of sovereignty was disposed in a niche in the wall, still -existing. How the queen should have had any occasion to hold councils -in this place tradition does not undertake to explain; but assuredly, -when we consider the nature of all public accommodations in that time, -we cannot say there is any decided improbability in the matter. The -house appears of sufficient age for the hypothesis. Perhaps we catch a -hint on the general possibility from a very ancient house farther down -the close, of whose original purpose or owners we know nothing, but -which is adumbrated by this legend: - - ANGVSTA AD VSVM AVGVSTA[M] - W F B G - -The Crown Room, however, is elegant enough to have graced even the -presence of Queen Mary, so that she only had not had to reach it by the -Anchor Close. It is handsomely panelled, with a decorated fireplace, -and two tall windows towards the alley. At present this supposed seat -of royal councils, and certain seat of the social enjoyments of many -men of noted talents, forms a back-shop to Mr Ford, grocer, High -Street, and, all dingy and out of countenance, serves only to store -hams, firkins of butter, packages of groceries, and bundles of dried -cod.[146] - -The gentle Dawney had an old Gaelic song called Crochallan, which he -occasionally sang to his customers. This led to the establishment of -a club at his house, which, with a reference to the militia regiments -then raising, was called the Crochallan Corps, or Crochallan Fencibles, -and to which belonged, amongst other men of original character and -talent, the well-known William Smellie, author of the _Philosophy of -Natural History_. Each member bore a military title, and some were -endowed with ideal offices of a ludicrous character: for example, a -lately surviving associate had been _depute-hangman_ to the corps. -Individuals committing a fault were subjected to a mock trial, in which -such members as were barristers could display their forensic talents -to the infinite amusement of the brethren. Much mirth and not a little -horse-play prevailed. Smellie, while engaged professionally in printing -the Edinburgh edition of the poems of Burns, introduced that genius -to the Crochallans, when a scene of rough banter took place between -him and certain privileged old hands, and the bard declared at the -conclusion that he had ‘never been so abominably thrashed in his life.’ -There was one predominant wit, Willie Dunbar by name, of whom the poet -has left a characteristic picture: - - ‘As I came by Crochallan, - I cannily keekit ben— - Rattling roaring Willie - Was sitting at yon board en’— - Sitting at yon board en’, - Amang gude companie; - Rattling roaring Willie, - Ye’re welcome hame to me!’ - -He has also described Smellie as coming to Crochallan with his old -cocked hat, gray surtout, and beard rising in its might: - - ‘Yet though his caustic wit was biting, rude, - His heart was warm, benevolent, and good.’ - -The printing-office of this strange genius being at the bottom of the -close, the transition from the correction of proofs to the roaring -scenes at Crochallan must have been sufficiently easy for Burns. - -[Illustration: UPPER BAXTER’S CLOSE. -Where Burns first resided in Edinburgh. - -PAGE 164.] - -I am indebted to a privately printed memoir on the Anchor Close for -the following anecdote of Crochallan: ‘A comical gentleman, one of the -members of the corps [old Williamson of Cardrona, in Peeblesshire], got -rather tipsy one evening after a severe _field-day_. When he came to -the head of the Anchor Close, it occurred to him that it was necessary -that he should take possession of the Castle. He accordingly set off -for this purpose. When he got to the outer gate, he demanded immediate -possession of the garrison, to which he said he was entitled. The -sentinel, for a considerable time, laughed at him; he, however, became -so extremely clamorous that the man found it necessary to apprise the -commanding officer, who immediately came down to inquire into the -meaning of such impertinent conduct. He at once recognised his friend -Cardrona, whom he had left at the festive board of the Crochallan Corps -only a few hours before. Accordingly, humouring him in the conceit, -he said: ‘Certainly you have every right to the command of this -garrison; if you please, I will conduct you to your proper apartment.’ -He accordingly conveyed him to a bedroom in his house. Cardrona took -formal possession of the place, and immediately afterwards went to -bed. His feelings were indescribable when he looked out of his bedroom -window next morning, and found himself surrounded with soldiers and -great guns. Some time afterwards this story came to the ears of the -Crochallans; and Cardrona said he never afterwards had the life of a -dog, so much did they tease and harass him about his strange adventure.’ - -There is a story connected with the air and song of Crochallan which -will tell strangely after these anecdotes. The title is properly _Cro -Chalien_—that is, ‘Colin’s Cattle.’ According to Highland tradition, -Colin’s wife, dying at an early age, _came back_, some months after she -had been buried, and was seen occasionally in the evenings milking her -cow as formerly, and singing this plaintive air. It is curious thus to -find Highland superstition associated with a snug tavern in the Anchor -Close and the convivialities of such men as Burns and Smellie. - -[Illustration: Dowie’s Tavern.] - -_John Dowie’s_, in Liberton’s Wynd, a still more perfect specimen of -those taverns which Pitcairn eulogises— - - ‘Antraque Cocyto penè propinqua’— - -enjoyed the highest celebrity during the latter years of the past and -early years of the present century. A great portion of this house was -literally without light, consisting of a series of windowless chambers, -decreasing in size till the last was a mere box, of irregular oblong -figure, jocularly, but not inappropriately, designated _the Coffin_. -Besides these, there were but two rooms possessing light, and as that -came from a deep, narrow alley, it was light little more than in name. -Hither, nevertheless, did many of the Parliament House men come daily -for their meridian. Here nightly assembled companies of cits, as -well as of men of wit and of fashion, to spend hours in what may, by -comparison, be described as gentle conviviality. The place is said to -have been a howff of Fergusson and Burns in succession. Christopher -North somewhere alludes to meetings of his own with Tom Campbell in -that couthy mansion. David Herd, the editor of the Scottish songs, Mr -Cumming of the Lyon Office, and George Paton the antiquary were regular -customers, each seldom allowing a night to pass without a symposium -at Johnie Dowie’s. Now, these men are all gone; their very habits -are becoming matters of history; while, as for their evening haunt, -the place which knew it once knows it no more, the new access to the -Lawnmarket, by George IV. Bridge, passing over the area where it stood. - -_Johnie Dowie’s_ was chiefly celebrated for ale—_Younger’s Edinburgh -ale_—a potent fluid which almost glued the lips of the drinker -together, and of which few, therefore, could despatch more than a -bottle. John, a sleek, quiet-looking man, in a last-century style of -attire, always brought in the liquor himself, decanted it carefully, -drank a glass to the health of the company, and then retired. His neat, -careful management of the bottle must have entirely met the views of -old William Coke, the Leith bookseller, of whom it is told that if he -saw a greenhorn of a waiter acting in a different manner, he would -rush indignantly up to him, take the ale out of his hands, caress it -tenderly, as if to soothe and put it to rights again, and then proceed -to the business of decanting it himself, saying: ‘You rascal, is that -the way you attend to your business? Sirrah, you ought to handle a -bottle of ale as you would do a new-born babe!’ - -_Dowie’s_ was also famed for its _petits soupers_, as one of its -customers has recorded: - - ‘’Deed, gif ye please, - Ye may get a bit toasted cheese, - A crumb o’ tripe, ham, dish o’ peas, - The season fitting; - An egg, or, cauler frae the seas, - A fleuk or whiting.’ - -When the reckoning came to be paid, John’s duty usually consisted -simply in counting the empty bottles which stood on a little shelf -where he had placed them above the heads of his customers, and -multiplying these by the price of the liquor—usually threepence. -Studious of decency, he was rigorous as to hours, and, when pressed -for additional supplies of liquor at a particular time, would say: ‘No, -no, gentlemen; it’s past twelve o’clock, and time to go home.’ - -Of John’s conscientiousness as to money matters there is some -illustration in the following otherwise trivial anecdote: David Herd, -being one night prevented by slight indisposition from joining in the -malt potations of his friends, called for first one and then another -glass of spirits, which he dissolved, _more Scotico_, in warm water and -sugar. When the reckoning came to be paid, the antiquary was surprised -to find the second glass charged a fraction higher than the first—as -if John had been resolved to impose a tax upon excess. On inquiring the -reason, however, honest John explained it thus: ‘Whe, sir, ye see, the -first glass was out o’ the auld barrel, and the second was out o’ the -new; and as the whisky in the new barrel cost me mair than the other, -whe, sir, I’ve just charged a wee mair for ’t.’ An ordinary host would -have doubtless equalised the price by raising that of the first glass -to a level with the second. It is gratifying, but, after this anecdote, -not surprising, that John eventually retired with a fortune said to -have amounted to six thousand pounds. He had a son in the army, who -attained the rank of major, and was a respectable officer. - -We get an idea of a class of taverns, humbler in their appointments, -but equally comfortable perhaps in their entertainments, from the -description which has been preserved of _Mrs Flockhart’s_—otherwise -_Lucky Fykie’s_—in the Potterrow. This was a remarkably small, as well -as obscure mansion, bearing externally the appearance of a huckstry -shop. The lady was a neat, little, thin, elderly woman, usually habited -in a plain striped blue gown, and apron of the same stuff, with a -black ribbon round her head and lappets tied under her chin. She was -far from being poor in circumstances, as her husband, the umquhile -John Flucker, or Flockhart, had left her some ready money, together -with his whole stock-in-trade, consisting of a multifarious variety of -articles—as ropes, tea, sugar, whip-shafts, porter, ale, beer, yellow -sand, _calm-stane_, herrings, nails, cotton-wicks, stationery, thread, -needles, tapes, potatoes, lollipops, onions, matches, &c., constituting -her a very respectable _merchant_, as the phrase was understood in -Scotland. On Sundays, too, Mrs Flockhart’s little visage might have -been seen in a front-gallery seat in Mr Pattieson’s chapel in the -Potterrow. Her abode, situated opposite to Chalmers’s Entry in that -suburban thoroughfare, was a square of about fifteen feet each way, -divided agreeably to the following diagram: - -[Illustration: Potterrow.] - -Each forenoon was this place, or at least all in front of the screen, -put into the neatest order; at the same time three bottles, severally -containing brandy, rum, and whisky, were placed on a bunker-seat in -the window of the ‘hotel,’ flanked by a few glasses and a salver of -gingerbread biscuits. About noon any one watching the place from an -opposite window would have observed an elderly gentleman entering the -humble shop, where he saluted the lady with a ‘Hoo d’ye do, mem?’ -and then passed into the side space to indulge himself with a glass -from one or other of the bottles. After him came another, who went -through the same ceremonial; after him another again; and so on. -Strange to say, these were men of importance in society—some of them -lawyers in good employment, some bankers, and so forth, and all of -them inhabitants of good houses in George Square. It was in passing to -or from forenoon business in town that they thus regaled themselves. -On special occasions Lucky could furnish forth a _soss_—that is, -stew—which the votary might partake of upon a clean napkin in the -closet, a place which only admitted of one chair being placed in it. -Such were amongst the habits of the fathers of some of our present -(1824) most distinguished citizens! - -This may be the proper place for introducing the few notices which I -have collected respecting Edinburgh inns of a past date. - -The oldest house known to have been used in the character of an inn is -one situated in what is called Davidson’s or the White Horse Close, at -the bottom of the Canongate. A sort of _porte-cochère_ gives access to -a court having mean buildings on either hand, but facing us a goodly -structure of antique fashion, having two outside stairs curiously -arranged, and the whole reminding us much of certain houses still -numerous in the Netherlands. A date, deficient in the decimal figure -(16-3), gives us assurance of the seventeenth century, and, judging -from the style of the building, I would say the house belongs to an -early portion of that age. The whole of the ground-floor, accessible -from the street called North Back of Canongate, has been used as -stables, thus reminding us of the absence of nicety in a former age, -when human beings were content to sit with only a wooden floor between -themselves and their horses. - -This house, supposed to have been styled _The White Horse Inn_ or -_White Horse Stables_ (for the latter was the more common word), -would be conveniently situated for persons travelling to or arriving -from London, as it is close to the ancient exit of the town in that -direction. The adjacent Water-gate took its name from a horse-pond, -which probably was an appendage of this mansion. The manner of -procedure for a gentleman going to London in the days of the _White -Horse_ was to come booted to this house with saddle-bags, and here -engage and mount a suitable roadster, which was to serve all the way. -In 1639, when Charles I. had made his first pacification with the -Covenanters, and had come temporarily to Berwick, he sent messages to -the chief lords of that party, desiring some conversation with them. -They were unsuspectingly mounting their horses at this inn, in order to -ride to Berwick, when a mob, taught by the clergy to suspect that the -king wished only to wile over the nobles to his side, came and forcibly -prevented them from commencing their designed journey. Montrose alone -broke through this restraint; and assuredly the result in his instance -was such as to give some countenance to the suspicion, as thenceforward -he was a royalist in his heart. - -[Illustration: WHITE HORSE INN. - -PAGE 170.] - -The _White Horse_ has ceased to be an inn from a time which no ‘oldest -inhabitant’ of my era could pretend to have any recollection of. The -only remaining fact of interest connected with it is one concerning Dr -Alexander Rose, the last Bishop of Edinburgh, and the last survivor -of the established Episcopacy of Scotland. Bishop Keith, who had been -one of his presbyters, and describes him as a sweet-natured man, -of a venerable aspect, states that he died March 20, 1720, ‘in his -own sister’s house in the Canongate, in which street he also lived.’ -Tradition points to the floor immediately above the _porte-cochère_ by -which the stable-yard is entered from the street as the humble mansion -in which the bishop breathed his last. I know at least one person who -never goes past the place without an emotion of respect, remembering -the self-abandoning devotion of the Scottish prelates to their -engagements at the Revolution:[147] - - ‘Amongst the faithless, faithful only found.’ - -To the elegant accommodations of the best New Town establishments of -the present day, the inns of the last century present a contrast which -it is difficult by the greatest stretch of imagination to realise. -For the west road, there was the _White Hart_ in the Grassmarket; for -the east, the _White Horse Inn_ in Boyd’s Close, Canongate; for the -south, and partly also the east, Peter Ramsay’s, at the bottom of St -Mary’s Wynd. Arnot, writing in 1779, describes them as ‘mean buildings; -their apartments dirty and dismal; and if the waiters happen to be -out of the way, a stranger will perhaps be shocked with the novelty -of being shown into a room by a dirty, sunburnt wench, without shoes -or stockings.’ The fact is, however, these houses were mainly used -as places for keeping horses. Guests, unless of a very temporary -character, were usually relegated to lodging-houses, of which there -were several on a considerable scale—as Mrs Thomson’s at the Cross, -who advertises, in 1754, that persons not bringing ‘their silver plate, -tea china, table china, and tea linen, can be served in them all;’ also -in wines and spirits; likewise that persons boarding with her ‘may -expect everything in a very genteel manner.’ But hear the unflattering -Arnot on these houses. ‘He [the stranger] is probably conducted to -the third or fourth floor, up dark and dirty stairs, and there shown -into apartments meanly fitted up and poorly furnished.... In Edinburgh, -letting of lodgings is a business by itself, and thereby the prices -are very extravagant; and every article of furniture, far from wearing -the appearance of having been purchased for a happy owner, seems to -be scraped together with a penurious hand, to pass muster before a -stranger who will never wish to return!’ - -_Ramsay’s_ was almost solely a place of stables. General Paoli,[148] -on visiting Edinburgh in 1771, came to this house, but was immediately -taken home by his friend Boswell to James’s Court, where he lived -during his stay in our city; his companion, the Polish ambassador, -being accommodated with a bed by Dr John Gregory, in a neighbouring -floor. An old gentleman of my acquaintance used to talk of having -seen the Duke of Hamilton one day lounging in front of Ramsay’s inn, -occasionally chatting with any gay or noble friend who passed. To -one knowing the Edinburgh of the present day, nothing could seem -more extravagant than the idea of such company at such places. I -nevertheless find Ramsay, in 1776, advertising that, exclusive of some -part of his premises recently offered for sale, he is ‘possessed of a -good house of entertainment, good stables for above one hundred horses, -and sheds for above twenty carriages.’ He retired from business about -1790 with £10,000.[149] - -The modern _White Horse_ was a place of larger and somewhat better -accommodations, though still far from an equality with even the -second-rate houses of the present day. Here also the rooms were -directly over the stables. - -It was almost a matter of course that Dr Johnson, on arriving in -Edinburgh, August 17, 1773, should have come to the _White Horse_, -which was then kept by a person of the name of Boyd. His note to -Boswell informing him of this fact was as follows: - - ‘_Saturday night._ - - ‘Mr Johnson sends his compliments to Mr Boswell, being just - arrived at Boyd’s.’ - -When Boswell came, he found his illustrious friend in a violent passion -at the waiter for having sweetened his lemonade without the ceremony -of a pair of sugar-tongs. Mr William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, -accompanied Johnson on this occasion; and he informs us, in a note -to Croker’s edition of Boswell, that when he heard the mistress of -the house styled, in Scotch fashion, _Lucky_, which he did not then -understand, he thought she should rather have been styled _Unlucky_, -for the doctor seemed as if he would destroy the house.[150] - -James Boyd, the keeper of this inn, was addicted to horse-racing, and -his victories on the turf, or rather on Leith sands, are frequently -chronicled in the journals of that day. It is said that he was at one -time on the brink of ruin, when he was saved by a lucky run with a -white horse, which, in gratitude, he kept idle all the rest of its -days, besides setting up its portrait as his sign. He eventually -retired from this ‘dirty and dismal’ inn with a fortune of several -thousand pounds; and, as a curious note upon the impression which its -slovenliness conveyed to Dr Johnson, it may be stated as a fact, well -authenticated, that at the time of his giving up the house he possessed -_napery_ to the value of five hundred pounds! - -A large room in the _White Horse_ was the frequent scene of -the marriages of runaway English couples, at a time when these -irregularities were permitted in Edinburgh. On one of the windows were -scratched the words: - - ‘JEREMIAH and SARAH BENTHAM, 1768.’ - -Could this be the distinguished jurist and codificator, on a journey to -Scotland in company with a female relation?[151] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[143] The Scottish peers on occasions of election of representatives -to the House of Lords frequently brought their meetings to a close by -dining at Fortune’s Tavern. - -[144] See note, p. 157. - -[145] ‘The wags of the eighteenth century used to tell of a certain -city treasurer who, on being applied to for a new rope to the Tron Kirk -bell, summoned the Council to deliberate on the demand; an adjournment -to Clerihugh’s Tavern, it was hoped, might facilitate the settlement -of so weighty a matter, but one dinner proved insufficient, and it was -not till their third banquet that the application was referred to a -committee, who spliced the old rope, and settled the bill!’—Wilson’s -_Memorials of Old Edinburgh_. - -[146] Since this was written, the whole group of buildings has been -taken down, and new ones substituted (1868). - -[147] The ‘White Horse’ is introduced in _The Abbot_—it was the scene -of Roland Græme’s encounter with young Seton. - -[148] The Corsican patriot whose acquaintance Boswell made on his tour -abroad. Johnson characterised him as having ‘the loftiest port of any -man he had ever seen.’ - -[149] Peter Ramsay was a brother of William Ramsay of Barnton, the -well-known sporting character of the early part of the nineteenth -century. - -[150] A punning friend, remarking on the old Scottish practice of -styling elderly landladies by the term _Lucky_, said: ‘Why not?—_Felix -qui pot_——’ - -[151] The following curious advertisement, connected with an inn in -the Canongate, appeared in the _Edinburgh Evening Courant_ for July -1, 1754. The advertisement is surmounted by a woodcut representing -the stage-coach, a towering vehicle, protruding at top—the coachman -a stiff-looking, antique little figure, who holds the reins with both -hands, as if he were afraid of the horses running away—a long whip -streaming over his head and over the top of the coach, and falling down -behind—six horses, like starved rats in appearance—a postillion upon -one of the leaders, with a whip: - -‘The Edinburgh Stage-Coach, for the better accommodation of Passengers, -will be altered to a new genteel two-end Glass Machine, hung on Steel -Springs, exceeding light and easy, to go in ten days in summer and -twelve in winter; to set out the first Tuesday in March, and continue -it from Hosea Eastgate’s, the _Coach and Horses_ in Dean Street, Soho, -London, and from John Somerville’s in the Canongate, Edinburgh, every -other Tuesday, and meet at Burrowbridge on Saturday night, and set -out from thence on Monday morning, and get to London and Edinburgh on -Friday. In the winter to set out from London and Edinburgh every other -[alternate] Monday morning, and to go to Burrowbridge on Saturday -night; and to set out from thence on Monday morning, and get to London -and Edinburgh on Saturday night. Passengers to pay as usual. Performed, -if God permits, by your dutiful servant, - - HOSEA EASTGATE. - - ‘Care is taken of small parcels _according to their value_.’ - - - - -THE CROSS—CADDIES. - - -The Cross, a handsome octagonal building in the High Street, surmounted -by a pillar bearing the Scottish unicorn, was the great centre of -gossip in former days. The principal coffee-houses and booksellers’ -shops were close to this spot. The chief merchants, the leading -official persons, the men of learning and talents, the laird, the -noble, the clergyman, were constantly clustering hereabouts during -certain hours of the day. It was the very centre and cynosure of the -old city. - -During the reigns of the first and second Georges, it was customary -for the magistrates of Edinburgh to drink the king’s health on his -birthday on a stage erected at the Cross—loyalty being a virtue which -always becomes peculiarly ostentatious when it is under any suspicion -of weakness. On one of these occasions the ceremony was interrupted by -a shower of rain, so heavy that the company, with one consent, suddenly -dispersed, leaving their entertainment half-finished. When they -returned, the glasses were found full of water, which gave a Jacobite -lady occasion for the following epigram, reported to me by a venerable -bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church: - - ‘In Cana once Heaven’s king was pleased - With some gay bridal folks to dine, - And then, in honour of the feast, - He changed the water into wine. - - But when, to honour Brunswick’s birth, - Our tribunes mounted the Theâtre, - He would not countenance their mirth, - But turned their claret into water!’ - -[Illustration: FORENOON AT THE CROSS. - -PAGE 174.] - -As the place where state proclamations were always made, where the -execution of noted state criminals took place, and where many important -public ceremonials were enacted, the Cross of Edinburgh is invested -with numberless associations of a most interesting kind, extending -over several centuries. Here took place the mysterious midnight -proclamation, summoning the Flodden lords to the domains of Pluto, as -described so strikingly in _Marmion_; the witness being ‘Mr Richard -Lawson, ill-disposed, ganging in his gallery fore-stair.’ Here did -King James VI. bring together his barbarous nobles, and make them shake -hands over a feast partaken of before the eyes of the people. Here did -the Covenanting lords read their protests against Charles’s feeble -proclamations. Here fell Montrose, Huntly, the Argylls, Warriston, -and many others of note, victims of political dissension. Here were -fountains set a-flowing with the blood-red wine, to celebrate the -passing of kings along the causeway. And here, as a last notable -fact, were Prince Charles and his father proclaimed by their devoted -Highlanders, amidst screams of pipe and blare of trumpet, while the -beautiful Mrs Murray of Broughton sat beside the party on horseback, -adorned with white ribbons, and with a drawn sword in her hand! How -strange it seems that a time should at length have come when a set of -magistrates thought this structure an encumbrance to the street, and -had it removed. This event took place in 1756—the ornamental stones -dispersed, the pillar taken to the park at Drum.[152] - -The Cross was the peculiar citadel and rallying-point of a species -of lazzaroni called _Caddies_ or _Cawdies_, which formerly existed -in Edinburgh, employing themselves chiefly as street-messengers and -_valets de place_. A ragged, half-blackguard-looking set they were, but -allowed to be amazingly acute and intelligent, and also faithful to -any duty entrusted to them. A stranger coming to reside temporarily in -Edinburgh got a caddy attached to his service to conduct him from one -part of the town to another, to run errands for him; in short, to be -wholly at his bidding. - - ‘Omnia novit, - Græculus esuriens, in cœlum, jusseris, ibit.’ - -A caddy _did_ literally know everything—of Edinburgh; even to that -kind of knowledge which we now only expect in a street directory. And -it was equally true that he could hardly be asked to go anywhere, -or upon any mission, that he would not go. On the other hand, the -stranger would probably be astonished to find that, in a few hours, -his caddy was acquainted with every particular regarding himself, -where he was from, what was his purpose in Edinburgh, his family -connections, and his own tastes and dispositions. Of course for every -particle of scandal floating about Edinburgh, the caddy was a ready -book of reference. We sometimes wonder how our ancestors did without -newspapers. We do not reflect on the living vehicles of news which then -existed: the privileged beggar for the country people; for townsfolk, -the caddies. - -The caddy is alluded to as a useful kind of blackguard in Burt’s -_Letters from the North of Scotland_, written about 1740. He says that -although they are mere wretches in rags, lying upon stairs and in the -streets at night, they are often considerably trusted, and seldom or -never prove unfaithful. The story told by tradition is that they formed -a society under a chief called their constable, with a common fund or -box; that when they committed any misdemeanour, such as incivility -or lying, they were punished by this officer by fines, or sometimes -corporeally; and if by any chance money entrusted to them should not -be forthcoming, it was made up out of the common treasury. Mr Burt -says: ‘Whether it be true or not I cannot say, but I have been told -by several that one of the judges formerly abandoned two of his sons -for a time to this way of life, as believing it would create in them -a sharpness which might be of use to them in the future course of -their lives.’ Major Topham, describing Edinburgh in 1774, says of the -caddies: ‘In short, they are the tutelary guardians of the city; and -it is entirely owing to them that there are fewer robberies and less -housebreaking in Edinburgh than anywhere else.’ - -Another conspicuous set of public servants characteristic of Edinburgh -in past times were the _Chairmen_, or carriers of sedans, who also -formed a society among themselves, but were of superior respectability, -in as far as none but steady, considerate persons of so humble an order -could become possessed of the means to buy the vehicle by which they -made their bread. In former times, when Edinburgh was so much more -limited than now, and rather an assemblage of alleys than of streets, -sedans were in comparatively great request. They were especially in -requisition amongst the ladies—indeed, almost exclusively so. From -time immemorial the sons of the Gael have monopolised this branch of -service; and as far as the business of a sedan-carrier can yet be said -to exist amongst us, it is in the possession of Highlanders. - -The reader must not be in too great haste to smile when I claim his -regard for an historical person among the chairmen of Edinburgh. This -was Edward Burke, the immediate attendant of Prince Charles Edward -during the earlier portion of his wanderings in the Highlands. Honest -Ned had been a chairman in our city, but attaching himself as a servant -to Mr Alexander Macleod of Muiravonside, aide-de-camp to the Prince, -it was his fortune to be present at the battle of Culloden, and to fly -from the field in his Royal Highness’s company. He attended the Prince -for several weeks, sharing cheerfully in all his hardships, and doing -his best to promote his escape. Thus has his name been inseparably -associated with this remarkable chapter of history. After parting -with Charles, this poor man underwent some dreadful hardships while -under hiding, his fears of being taken having reference chiefly to the -Prince, as he was apprehensive that the enemy might torture him to -gain intelligence of his late master’s movements. At length the Act of -Indemnity placed him at his ease; and the humble creature who, by a -word of his mouth, might have gained thirty thousand pounds, quietly -returned to his duty as a chairman on the streets of Edinburgh! Which -of the venal train of Walpole, which even of the admirers of Pulteney, -is more entitled to admiration than Ned Burke? A man, too, who could -neither read nor write—for such was actually his case.[153] - -One cannot but feel it to be in some small degree a consolatory -circumstance, and not without a certain air of the romance of an -earlier day, that a bacchanal company came with a bowl of punch, the -night before the demolition, and in that mood of mind when men shed -‘smiles that might as well be tears,’ drank the Dredgie of the Cross -upon its doomed battlements. - - ‘Oh! be his tomb as lead to lead, - Upon its dull destroyer’s head! - A minstrel’s malison is said.’[154] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[152] The pillar was restored to Edinburgh, and for some years stood -within an enclosed recess on the north side of St Giles’. When Mr -W. E. Gladstone rebuilt the Cross in 1885, a little to the south of -its former site, between St Giles’ Church and the Police Office, the -original pillar was replaced in its old position. - -[153] Bishop Forbes inserts in his manuscript (which I possess) a -panegyrical epitaph for Ned Burke, stating that he died in Edinburgh -in November 1751. He also gives the following particulars from Burke’s -conversation: - -‘One of the soles of Ned’s shoes happening to come off, Ned cursed the -day upon which he should be forced to go without shoes. The Prince, -hearing him, called to him and said: “Ned, look at me”—when (said Ned) -I saw him holding up one of his feet at me, where there was de’il a -sole upon the shoe; and then I said: “Oh, my dear! I have nothing more -to say. You have stopped my mouth indeed.” - -‘When Ned was talking of seeing the Prince again, he spoke these words: -“If the Prince do not come and see me soon, good faith I will go and -see my daughter [Charles having taken the name of Betty Burke when -in a female disguise], and crave her; for she has not yet paid her -christening money, and as little has she paid the coat I ga’e her in -her greatest need.”’ - -[154] ‘Upon the 26th of February [1617], the Cross of Edinburgh was -taken down. The old long stone, about forty footes or thereby in -length, was to be translated, by the devise of certain mariners in -Leith, from the place where it had stood past the memory of man, to -a place beneath in the High Street, without any harm to the stone; -and the body of the old Cross was demolished, and another builded, -whereupon the long stone or obelisk was erected and set up, on the 25th -day of March.’—Calderwood’s _Church History_. - - - - -THE TOWN-GUARD. - - -[Illustration: THE TOWN-GUARD. - -PAGE 179.] - -One of the characteristic features of Edinburgh in old times was its -Town-guard, a body of military in the service of the magistrates for -the purposes of a police, but dressed and armed in all respects as -soldiers. Composed for the most part of old Highlanders, of uncouth -aspect and speech, dressed in a dingy red uniform with cocked hats, and -often exchanging the musket for an antique native weapon called the -Lochaber axe, these men were (at least in latter times) an unfailing -subject of mirth to the citizens, particularly the younger ones. In -my recollection they had a sort of Patmos in the ground-floor of the -Old Tolbooth, where a few of them might constantly be seen on duty, -endeavouring to look as formidable as possible to the little boys who -might be passing by. On such occasions as executions, or races at -Leith, or the meeting of the General Assembly, they rose into a certain -degree of consequence; but in general they could hardly be considered -as of any practical utility. Their numbers were at that time much -reduced—only twenty-five privates, two sergeants, two corporals, and -a couple of drummers. Every night did their drum beat through the Old -Town at eight o’clock, as a kind of curfew. No other drum, it seems, -was allowed to sound on the High Street between the Luckenbooths and -Netherbow. They also had an old practice of giving a _charivari_ on the -drum on the night of a marriage before the lodgings of the bridegroom; -of course not without the expectation of something wherewithal to -drink the health of the young couple. A strange remnant of old -times altogether were the _Town Rats_, as the poor old fellows were -disrespectfully called by the boys, in allusion to the hue of their -uniform. - -Previous to 1805, when an unarmed police was established for the -protection of the streets, the Town-guard had consisted of three -equally large companies, each with a lieutenant (complimentarily called -captain) at its head. Then it was a somewhat more respectable body, -not only as being larger, but invested with a really useful purpose. -The unruly and the vicious stood in some awe of a troop of men bearing -lethal weapons, and generally somewhat frank in the use of them. If -sometimes roughly handled on kings’ birthdays and other exciting -occasions, they in their turn did not fail to treat cavalierly enough -any unfortunate roisterer whom they might find breaking the peace. They -had, previous to 1785, a guard-house in the middle of the High Street, -the ‘black hole’ of which had rather a bad character among the bucks -and the frail ladies. One of their sergeants in those days, by name -John Dhu, is commemorated by Scott as the fiercest-looking fellow he -ever saw. If we might judge from poor Robert Fergusson, they were truly -formidable in his time. He says: - - ‘And thou, great god o’ aquavitæ, - Wha sway’st the empire o’ this city; ... - Be thou prepared - To hedge us frae that _black banditti_, - The City-guard.’ - -He adds, apostrophising the irascible veterans: - - ‘Oh, soldiers, for your ain dear sakes, - For Scotland’s love—the land o’ cakes— - Gi’e not her bairns sae deadly paiks, - Nor be sae rude, - Wi’ firelock and Lochaber axe, - As spill their blude!’ - -The affair at the execution of Wilson the smuggler in 1736, when, under -command of Porteous, they fired upon and killed many of the mob, may be -regarded as a peculiarly impressive example of the stern relation in -which they stood to the populace of a former age. - -The great bulk of the corps was drawn either from the Highlands -directly or from the Highland regiments. A humble Highlander considered -it as getting a _berth_ when he was enlisted into the Edinburgh Guard. -Of this feeling we have a remarkable illustration in an anecdote -which I was told by the late Mr Alexander Campbell regarding the -Highland bard, Duncan Macintyre, usually called _Donacha Bhan_. This -man, really an exquisite poet to those understanding his language, -became the object of a kind interest to many educated persons in -Perthshire, his native county. The Earl of Breadalbane sent to let -him know that he wished to befriend him, and was anxious to procure -him some situation that might put him comparatively at his ease. Poor -Duncan returned his thanks, and asked his lordship’s interest—to get -him into the Edinburgh Town-guard—pay, sixpence a day! What sort of -material these men would have proved in the hands of the magistrates -if Provost Stewart had attempted by their means and the other forces at -his command to hold out the city against Prince Charlie seems hardly -to be matter of doubt. I was told the following anecdote of a member -of the corps, on good authority. Robert Stewart, a descendant of the -Stewarts of Bonskeid in Athole, was then a private in the City-guard. -When General Hawley left Edinburgh to meet the Highland army in -the west country, Stewart had just been relieved from duty for the -customary period of two days. Instantly forming his plan of action, -he set off with his gun, passed through the English troops on their -march, and joined those of the Prince. Stewart fought next day like a -hero in the battle of Falkirk, where the Prince had the best of it; -and next morning our Town-guardsman was back to Edinburgh in time to -go upon duty at the proper hour. The captain of his company suspected -what business Robert and his gun had been engaged in, but preserved a -friendly silence. - -The _Gutter-blood_ people of Edinburgh had an extravagant idea of -the antiquity of the Guard, led probably by a fallacy arising from -the antiquity of the individual men. They used to have a strange -story—too ridiculous, one would have thought, for a moment’s credence -anywhere—that the Town-guard existed before the Christian era. When -the Romans invaded Britain, some of the Town-guard joined them; and -three were actually present in Pilate’s guard at the Crucifixion! In -reality, the corps took its rise in the difficulties brought on by bad -government in 1682, when, at the instigation of the Duke of York, it -was found necessary to raise a body of 108 armed men, under a trusty -commander, simply to keep the people in check.[155] - -Fifty years ago (1824) the so-called captaincies of the Guard were snug -appointments, in great request among respectable old citizens who had -not succeeded in business. Kay has given us some illustrations of these -extraordinary specimens of soldier-craft, one of whom was nineteen -stone. Captain Gordon of Gordonstown, representative of one of the -oldest families in Scotland, found himself obliged by fortune to accept -of one of these situations. - -Scott, writing his _Heart of Mid-Lothian_ in 1817, says: ‘Of late, the -gradual diminution of these civic soldiers reminds one of the abatement -of King Lear’s hundred knights. The edicts of each set of succeeding -magistrates have, like those of Goneril and Regan, diminished -this venerable band with similar question—“What need have we of -five-and-twenty?—ten?—five?” and now it is nearly come to: “What -need we one?” A spectre may indeed here and there still be seen of an -old gray-headed and gray-bearded Highlander, with war-worn features, -but bent double by age; dressed in an old-fashioned cocked-hat, bound -with white tape instead of silver lace, and in coat, waistcoat, and -breeches of a muddy-coloured red; bearing in his withered hand an -ancient weapon, called a Lochaber axe—a long pole, namely, with an -axe at the extremity, and a hook at the back of the hatchet. Such a -phantom of former days still creeps, I have been informed, round the -statue of Charles II. in the Parliament Square, as if the image of a -Stuart were the last refuge for any memorial of our ancient manners,’ -&c. At the close of this very year, the ‘What need we one?’ was asked, -and answered in the negative; and the corps was accordingly dissolved. -‘Their last march to do duty at Hallow Fair had something in it -affecting. Their drums and fifes had been wont, in better days, to play -on this joyous occasion the lively tune of - - “Jockey to the fair;” - -but on this final occasion the afflicted veterans moved slowly to the -dirge of - - “The last time I came owre the muir.”’[156] - -The half-serious pathos of Scott regarding this corps becomes wholly -so when we learn that a couple of members survived to make an actual -last public appearance in the procession which consecrated his richly -deserved monument, August 15, 1846. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[155] See _Domestic Annals of Scotland_, ii. 436. - -[156] _Waverley Annotations_, i. 435. - - - - -EDINBURGH MOBS. - - THE BLUE BLANKET—MOBS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY—BOWED JOSEPH. - - -The Edinburgh populace was noted, during many ages, for its readiness -to rise in tumultuary fashion, whether under the prompting of religious -zeal or from inferior motives. At an early time they became an -impromptu army, each citizen possessing weapons which he was ready -and willing to use. Thus they are understood to have risen in 1482 to -redeem James III. from restraint in the Castle; for which service, -besides certain privileges, ‘he granted them,’ says Maitland, ‘a banner -or standard, with a power to display the same in defence of their -king, country, and their own right.’ The historian adds: ‘This flag, -at present denominated the BLUE BLANKET, is kept by the Convener of -the Trades; at whose appearance therewith, ’tis said that not only -the artificers of Edinburgh are obliged to repair to it, but all the -artisans or craftsmen within Scotland are bound to follow it, and fight -under the Convener of Edinburgh, as aforesaid.’ The Blue Blanket, I may -mention, has become a sort of myth in Edinburgh, being magnified by the -popular imagination into a banner which the citizens carried with them -to the Holy Land in one of the Crusades—expeditions which took place -before Edinburgh had become a town fit to furnish any distinct corps of -armed men.[157] - -When the Protestant faith came to stir up men’s minds, the lower order -of citizens became a formidable body indeed. James VI., who had more -than once experienced their violence, and consequently knew them well, -says very naïvely in his _Basilicon Doron_, or ‘Book of Instruction’ to -his son: ‘They think we should be content with their work, how bad and -dear soever it be; and if they be in anything controuled, up goeth the -_Blue Blanket_!’ - -The tumults at the introduction of the Service-book, in 1637, need -only be alluded to. So late as the Revolution there appears a military -spirit of great boldness in the Edinburgh populace, reminding us of -that of Paris in our own times: witness the bloody contests which took -place in accomplishing the destruction of the papistical arrangements -at the Abbey, December 1688. The Union mobs were of unexampled -violence; and Edinburgh was only kept in some degree of quiet, during -the greater part of that crisis, by a great assemblage of troops. -Finally, in the Porteous mob we have a singular example of popular -vengeance, wreaked out in the most cool but determined manner. Men seem -to have been habitually under an impression in those days that the -law was at once an imperfect and a partial power. They seem to have -felt themselves constantly liable to be called upon to supplement its -energy, or control or compensate for its errors. The mob had at that -time a part in the state. - -[Illustration: ‘General’ Joe Smith laying down the Law to the -Magistrates.] - -In this ‘fierce democracy’ there once arose a mighty Pyrrhus, who -contrived, by dint of popular qualifications, to subject the rabble to -his command, and to get himself elected, by acclamation, dictator of -all its motions and exploits. How he acquired his wonderful power is -not recorded; but it is to be supposed that his activity on occasions -of mobbing, his boldness and sagacity, his strong voice and uncommonly -powerful whistle, together with the mere whim or humour of the thing, -conspired to his promotion. His trade was that of a cobbler, and he -resided in some obscure den in the Cowgate. His person was low and -deformed, with the sole good property of great muscular strength in the -arms. Yet this wretch, miserable and contemptible as he appeared, might -be said to have had at one time the command of the Scottish metropolis. -The magistrates, it is true, assembled every Wednesday forenoon to -manage the affairs and deliberate upon the improvements of the city; -but their power was merely that of a viceroyalty. _Bowed Joseph_, -otherwise called General Joseph Smith, was the only true potentate; -and their resolutions could only be carried into effect when not -inconsistent with his views of policy. - -In exercising the functions of his perilous office, it does not appear -that he ever drew down the vengeance of the more lawfully constituted -authorities of the land. On the contrary, he was in some degree -countenanced by the magistracy, who, however, patronised him rather -from fear than respect. They frequently sent for him in emergencies, -in order to consult with him regarding the best means of appeasing -and dispersing the mob. On such occasions nothing could equal the -consequential air which he assumed. With one hand stuck carelessly into -his side, and another slapped resolutely down upon the table—with a -majestic toss of the head, and as much fierceness in his little gray -eye as if he were himself a mob—he would stand before the anxious and -feeble council, pleading the cause of his compeers, and suggesting the -best means of assuaging their just fury. He was generally despatched -with a promise of amendment and a hogshead of good ale, with which -he could easily succeed in appeasing his men, whose dismissal, after -a speech from himself and a libation from the barrel, was usually -accomplished by the simple words: ‘_Now disperse, my lads!_’ - -Joseph was not only employed in directing and managing the mobs, but -frequently performed exploits without the co-operation of his greasy -friends, though always for their amusement and in their behalf. Thus, -for instance, when Wilkes by his celebrated Number 45 incensed the -Scottish nation so generally and so bitterly, Joseph got a cart, fitted -up with a high gallows, from which depended a straw-stuffed effigy of -North Britain’s arch-enemy, with the devil perched upon his shoulder; -and this he paraded through the streets, followed by the multitude, -till he came to the Gallow Lee in Leith Walk, where two criminals were -then hanging in chains, beside whom he exposed the figures of Wilkes -and his companion. Thus also, when the Douglas cause was decided -against the popular opinion in the Court of Session, Joseph went up to -the chair of the Lord President as he was going home to his house, and -called him to account for the injustice of his decision. After the said -decision was reversed by the House of Lords, Joseph, by way of triumph -over the Scottish court, dressed up fifteen figures in rags and wigs, -resembling the judicial attire, mounted them on asses, and led them -through the streets, telling the populace that they saw the fifteen -senators of the College of Justice! - -When the craft of shoemakers used, in former times, to parade the High -Street, West Bow, and Grassmarket, with inverted tin kettles on their -heads and schoolboys’ rulers in their hands, Joseph—who, though a -leader and commander on every other public occasion, was not admitted -into this procession on account of his being only a cobbler—dressed -himself in his best clothes, with a royal crown painted and gilt and a -wooden truncheon, and marched pompously through the city till he came -to the Netherbow, where he planted himself in the middle of the street -to await the approach of the procession, which he, as a citizen of -Edinburgh, proposed to welcome into the town. When the royal shoemaker -came to the Netherbow Port, Joseph stood forth, removed the truncheon -from his haunch, flourished it in the air, and pointing it to the -ground, with much dignity of manner, addressed his paste-work majesty -in these words: ‘O great King Crispianus! what are we in thy sight but -a parcel of puir slaister-kytes—creeshy cobblers—sons of bitches?’ -And I have been assured that this ceremony was performed in a style of -burlesque exhibiting no small artistic power. - -Joseph had a wife, whom he would never permit to walk beside him, it -being his opinion that women are inferior to the male part of creation, -and not entitled to the same privileges. He compelled his spouse to -walk a few paces behind him; and when he turned, she was obliged to -make a circuit so as to maintain the precise distance from his person -which he assigned to her. When he wished to say anything to her, he -whistled as upon a dog, upon which she came up to him submissively and -heard what he had to say; after which she respectfully resumed her -station in the rear. - -After he had figured for a few years as an active partisan of the -people, his name waxed of such account with them that it is said he -could in the course of an hour collect a crowd of not fewer than ten -thousand persons, all ready to obey his high behests, or to disperse -at his bidding. In collecting his troops he employed a drum, which, -though a general, he did not disdain to beat with his own hands; and -never, surely, had the fiery cross of the Highland chief such an effect -upon the warlike devotion of his clan as Bowed Joseph’s drum had upon -the spirit of the Edinburgh rabble. As he strode along, the street was -cleared of its loungers, every close pouring forth an addition to his -train, like the populous glens adjacent to a large Highland strath -giving forth their accessions to the general force collected by the -aforesaid cross. The Town Rats, who might peep forth like old cautious -snails on hearing his drum, would draw in their horns with a Gaelic -execration, and shut their door, as he approached; while the _Lazy -Corner_ was, at sight of him, a lazy corner no longer; and the West Bow -ceased to resound as he descended. - -It would appear, after all, that there was a moral foundation for -Joseph’s power, as there must be for that of all governments of a more -regular nature that would wish to thrive or be lasting. The little man -was never known to act in a bad cause, or in any way to go against the -principles of natural justice. He employed his power in the redress -of such grievances as the law of the land does not or cannot easily -reach; and it was apparent that almost everything he did was for the -sake of what he himself designated _fair-play_. Fair-play, indeed, was -his constant object, whether in clearing room with his brawny arms for -a boxing-match, insulting the constituted authorities, sacking the -granary of a monopolist, or besieging the Town-council in their chamber. - -An anecdote which proves this strong love of fair-play deserves to be -recorded. A poor man in the Pleasance having been a little deficient -in his rent, and in the country on business, his landlord seized and -rouped his household furniture, turning out the family to the street. -On the poor man’s return, finding the house desolate and his family in -misery, he went to a neighbouring stable and hanged himself.[158] Bowed -Joseph did not long remain ignorant of the case; and as soon as it -was generally known in the city, he shouldered on his drum, and after -beating it through the streets for half-an-hour, found himself followed -by several thousand persons, inflamed with resentment at the landlord’s -cruelty. With this army he marched to an open space of ground now -covered by Adam Street, Roxburgh Street, &c., named in former times -Thomson’s Park, where, mounted upon the shoulders of six of his -lieutenant-generals, he proceeded to harangue them, in Cambyses’s vein, -concerning the flagrant oppression which they were about to revenge. -He concluded by directing his men to sack the premises of the cruel -landlord, who by this time had wisely made his escape; and this order -was instantly obeyed. Every article which the house contained was -brought out to the street, where, being piled up in a heap, the general -set fire to them with his own hand, while the crowd rent the air with -their acclamations. Some money and bank-notes perished in the blaze, -besides an eight-day clock, which, sensible to the last, calmly struck -ten just as it was consigned to the flames. - -On another occasion, during a scarcity, the mob, headed by Joseph, had -compelled all the meal-dealers to sell their meal at a certain price -per peck, under penalty of being obliged to shut up their shops. One of -them, whose place of business was in the Grassmarket, agreed to sell -his meal at the price fixed by the general, for the good of the poor, -as he said; and he did so under the superintendence of Joseph, who -stationed a party at the shop-door to preserve peace and good order -till the whole stock was disposed of, when, by their leader’s command, -the mob gave three hearty cheers, and quietly dispersed. Next day, the -unlucky victualler let his friends know that he had not suffered so -much by this compulsory trade as might be supposed; because, though the -price was below that of the market, he had taken care to use a measure -which gave only about three-fourths instead of the whole. It was not -long ere this intelligence came to the ears of our tribune, who, -immediately collecting a party of his troops, beset the meal-dealer -before he was aware, and compelled him to pay back a fourth of the -price of every peck of meal sold; then giving their victim a hearty -drubbing, they sacked his shop, and quietly dispersed as before. - -Some foreign princes happening to visit Edinburgh during Joseph’s -administration, at a period of the year when the mob of Edinburgh -was wont to amuse itself with an annual burning of the pope, the -magistrates felt anxious that this ceremony should for once be -dispensed with, as it might hurt the feelings of their distinguished -visitors. The provost, in this emergency, resolved not to employ his -own authority, but that of Joseph, to whom, accordingly, he despatched -his compliments, with half a guinea, begging his kind offices in -dissuading the mob from the performance of their accustomed sport. -Joseph received the message with the respect due to the commission of -‘his friend the Lord Provost,’ and pocketed the half-guinea with a -complacent smile; but standing up to his full height, and resolutely -shaking his rough head, he gave for answer that ‘he was highly -gratified by his lordship’s message; but, everything considered, the -pope _must be burnt_!’ And so the pope, honest man, _was_ burnt with -all the honours accordingly. - -Joseph was at last killed by a fall from the top of a Leith -stage-coach, in returning from the races, while in a state of -intoxication, about the year 1780. It is to be hoped, for the good of -society, that ‘we ne’er shall look upon his like again.’[159] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[157] What is said to be the original Blue Blanket is still preserved -in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. - -[158] _Scots Magazine_, June 1767. - -[159] The skeleton of this singular being exists entire in the -class-room of the professor of anatomy in the College. - - - - -BICKERS. - - -Amongst the social features of a bygone age in Edinburgh were the -_bickers_ in which the boys were wont to indulge—that is, street -conflicts, conducted chiefly with stones, though occasionally with -sticks also, and even more formidable weapons. One cannot but wonder -that, so lately as the period when elderly men now living were boys, -the powers for preserving peace in the city should have been so weak as -to allow of such battles taking place once or twice almost every week. -The practice was, however, only of a piece with the general rudeness of -those old days; and, after all, there was more appearance than reality -of danger attending it. It was truly, as one who had borne a part in it -has remarked, ‘only a rough kind of play.’[160] - -The most likely time for a bicker was Saturday afternoon, when the -schools and hospitals held no restraint over their tenants. Then it -was almost certain that either the Old Town and New Town boys, the -George Square and Potterrow boys, the Herioters and the Watsoners, or -some other parties accustomed to regard themselves as natural enemies, -would meet on some common ground, and fall a-pelting each other. There -were hardly anywhere two adjoining streets but the boys respectively -belonging to them would occasionally hold encounters of this kind; and -the animosity assumed a darker tinge if there was any discrepancy of -rank or condition between the parties, as was apt to be the case when, -for instance, the Old Town lads met the children of the aristocratic -streets to the north. Older people looked on with anxiety, and wondered -what the Town-guard was about, and occasionally reports were heard that -such a boy had got a wound in the head, while another had lost a couple -of his front teeth; it was even said that fatal cases had occurred in -the memory of aged citizens. Yet, to the best of my recollection—for I -do remember something of bickers—there was little likelihood of severe -damage. The parties somehow always kept at a good distance from each -other, and there was a perpetual running in one direction or another; -certainly nothing like hand-to-hand fighting. Occasionally attempts -were made to put down the riot, but seldom with much success; for it -was one of the most ludicrous features of these contests that whenever -the Town-guard made its appearance on the ground, the belligerent -powers instantly coalesced against the common foe. Besides, they could -quickly make their way to other ground, and there continue the war. - -Bickers must have had a foundation in human nature: from no temporary -effervescence of the boy-mind did they spring; pleasant, though -wrong, had they been from all time. Witness the following act of the -Town-council so long ago as 1529: ‘_Bikkyrringis betwix Barnis_.—It -is statut and ordainit be the prouest ballies and counsall Forsamekle -as ther has bene gret bikkyrringis betwix barnis and followis in tymes -past and diuerse thar throw hurt in perell of ther lyffis and gif -sik thingis be usit thar man diuerse barnis and innocentis be slane -and diuisione ryse amangis nychtbouris theirfor we charge straitlie -and commandis in our Souerane Lord the Kingis name the prouest and -ballies of this burgh that na sic bykkyrringis be usit in tymes to -cum. Certifing that and ony persone be fund bykkyrrand that faderis -and moderis sall ansuer and be accusit for thar deidis and gif thai be -vagabondis thai to be scurgit and bannist the toune.’ - -An anecdote which Scott has told of his share in the bickers which took -place in his youth between the George Square youth and the plebeian -fry of the neighbouring streets is so pat to this occasion that its -reproduction may be excusable. ‘It followed,’ he says, ‘from our -frequent opposition to each other, that, though not knowing the names -of our enemies, we were yet well acquainted with their appearance, and -had nicknames for the most remarkable of them. One very active and -spirited boy might be considered as the principal leader in the cohort -of the suburbs. He was, I suppose, thirteen or fourteen years old, -finely made, tall, blue-eyed, with long fair hair, the very picture of -a youthful Goth. This lad was always first in the charge and last in -the retreat—the Achilles, at once, and Ajax, of the Crosscauseway. He -was too formidable to us not to have a cognomen, and, like that of a -knight of old, it was taken from the most remarkable part of his dress, -being a pair of old green livery breeches, which was the principal -part of his clothing; for, like Pentapolin, according to Don Quixote’s -account, Green Breeks, as we called him, always entered the battle with -bare arms, legs, and feet. - -‘It fell that, once upon a time, when the combat was at the thickest, -this plebeian champion headed a sudden charge, so rapid and furious -that all fled before him. He was several paces before his comrades, -and had actually laid his hands on the patrician standard, when one of -our party, whom some misjudging friend had entrusted with a _couteau de -chasse_, or hanger, inspired with a zeal for the honour of the corps -worthy of Major Sturgeon himself, struck poor Green Breeks over the -head with strength sufficient to cut him down. When this was seen, -the casualty was so far beyond what had ever taken place before that -both parties fled different ways, leaving poor Green Breeks, with his -bright hair plentifully dabbled in blood, to the care of the watchman, -who (honest man) took care not to know who had done the mischief. The -bloody hanger was flung into one of the Meadow ditches, and solemn -secrecy was sworn on all hands; but the remorse and terror of the actor -were beyond all bounds, and his apprehensions of the most dreadful -character. The wounded hero was for a few days in the Infirmary, -the case being only a trifling one. But though inquiry was strongly -pressed on him, no argument could make him indicate the person from -whom he had received the wound, though he must have been perfectly -well known to him. When he recovered, and was dismissed, the author -and his brother opened a communication with him, through the medium -of a popular gingerbread baker, of whom both parties were customers, -in order to tender a subsidy in name of smart-money. The sum would -excite ridicule were I to name it; but sure I am that the pockets of -the noted Green Breeks never held as much money of his own. He declined -the remittance, saying that he would not sell his blood; but at the -same time reprobated the idea of being an informer, which he said was -_clam_—that is, base or mean. With much urgency he accepted a pound -of snuff for the use of some old woman—aunt, grandmother, or the -like—with whom he lived. We did not become friends, for the bickers -were more agreeable to both parties than any more pacific amusement; -but we conducted them ever after under mutual assurances of the highest -consideration for each other.’[161] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[160] Notes to _Waverley_. - -[161] _Waverley Annotations_, i. 70. - - - - -SUSANNA, COUNTESS OF EGLINTOUNE. - - -The house on the west side of the Old Stamp-office Close, High Street, -formerly Fortune’s Tavern, was, in the early part of the last century, -the family mansion of Alexander, Earl of Eglintoune. It is a building -of considerable height and extent, accessible by a broad scale -stair. The alley in which it is situated bears great marks of former -respectability, and contained, till the year 1821, the Stamp-office, -then removed to the Waterloo Buildings.[162] - -The ninth Earl of Eglintoune[163] was one of those patriarchal peers -who live to an advanced age—indefatigable in the frequency of their -marriages and the number of their children—who linger on and on, with -an unfailing succession of young countesses, and die at last leaving a -progeny interspersed throughout the whole of Douglas’s _Peerage_, two -volumes, folio, re-edited by Wood. His lordship, in early life, married -a sister of Lady Dundee, who brought him a large family, and died just -about that happy period when she could not have greatly increased it. -His next wife was a daughter of Chancellor Aberdeen, who only added one -daughter to his stock, and then paused, in a fit of ill-health, to the -great vexation of his lordship, who, on account of his two sons by the -first countess having died young, was anxious for an heir. This was a -consummation to his nuptial happiness which Countess Anne did not seem -at all likely to bring about, and the chagrin of his lordship must -have been increased by the longevity which her very ill-health seemed -to confer upon her; for her ladyship was one of those valetudinarians -who are too well acquainted with death, being always just at his door, -ever to come to closer quarters with him. At this juncture the blooming -Miss Kennedy was brought to Edinburgh by her father, Sir Archibald, -the rough old cavalier, who made himself so conspicuous in _the -Persecution_ and in Dundee’s wars. - -Susanna Kennedy, though the daughter of a lady considerably under the -middle size—one of the three co-heiresses of the Covenanting general, -David Leslie (Lord Newark), whom Cromwell overthrew at Dunbar—was -six feet high, extremely handsome, elegant in her carriage, and had a -face and complexion of most bewitching loveliness. Her relations and -nurses always anticipated that she was to marry the Earl of Eglintoune, -in spite of their disparity of age;[164] for, while walking one day -in her father’s garden at Culzean, there alighted upon her shoulder a -hawk, with his lordship’s name upon its bells, which was considered -an infallible omen of her fate. Her appearance in Edinburgh, which -took place about the time of the Union, gained her a vast accession of -lovers among the nobility and gentry, and set all the rhyming fancies -of the period agog. Among her swains was Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, a -man of learning and talent in days when such qualities were not common. -As Miss Kennedy was understood to be fond of music, he sent her a flute -as a love-gift; from which it may be surmised that this instrument was -played by females in that age, while as yet the pianoforte was not. -When the young lady attempted to blow the instrument, something was -found to interrupt the sound, which turned out to be a copy of verses -in her praise: - - ‘Harmonious pipe, I languish for thy bliss, - When pressed to Silvia’s lips with gentle kiss! - And when her tender fingers round thee move - In soft embrace, I listen and approve - Those melting notes which soothe my soul in love. - Embalmed with odours from her breath that flow, - You yield your music when she’s pleased to blow; - And thus at once the charming lovely fair - Delights with sounds, with sweets perfumes the air. - Go, happy pipe, and ever mindful be - To court bewitching Silvia for me; - Tell all I feel—you cannot tell too much— - Repeat my love at each soft melting touch— - Since I to her my liberty resign, - Take thou the care to tune her heart to mine.’ - -Unhappily for this accomplished and poetical lover, Lord Eglintoune’s -sickly wife happened just about this time to die, and set his lordship -again at large among the spinsters of Scotland. Admirers of a youthful, -impassioned, and sonnet-making cast might have trembled at his approach -to the shrine of their divinity; for his lordship was one of those -titled suitors who, however old and horrible, are never rejected, -except in novels and romances. It appears that poor Clerk had actually -made a declaration of his passion for Miss Kennedy, which her father -was taking into consideration, a short while before the death of Lady -Eglintoune. As an old friend and neighbour, Sir Archibald thought he -would consult the earl upon the subject, and he accordingly proceeded -to do so. Short but decisive was the conference. ‘Bide a wee, Sir -Archy,’ said his lordship; ‘my wife’s very sickly.’ With Sir Archibald, -as with Mrs Slipslop, the least hint sufficed: the case was at once -settled against the elegant baronet of Penicuik. The lovely Susanna -accordingly became in due time the Countess of Eglintoune. - -Even after this attainment of one of the greatest blessings that life -has to bestow,[165] the old peer’s happiness was like to have been -destroyed by another untoward circumstance. It was true that he had the -handsomest wife in the kingdom, and she brought him as many children as -he could desire. One after another came no fewer than seven daughters. -But then his lordship wanted a male heir; and every one knows how -poor a consolation a train of daughters, however long, proves in such -a case. He was so grieved at the want of a son that he threatened to -divorce his lady. The countess replied that he need not do that, for -she would readily agree to a separation, provided he would give back -what he had with her. His lordship, supposing she alluded only to -pecuniary matters, assured her she should have her fortune to the last -penny. ‘Na, na, my lord,’ said she, ‘that winna do: return me my youth, -beauty, and virginity, and dismiss me when you please.’ His lordship, -not being able to comply with this demand, willingly let the matter -drop; and before the year was out her ladyship brought him a son, who -established the affection of his parents on an enduring basis. Two -other male children succeeded. The countess was remarkable for a manner -quite peculiar to herself, and which was remembered as the _Eglintoune -air_, or the _Eglintoune manner_, long after her death. A Scottish -gentleman, writing from London in 1730, says: ‘Lady Eglintoune has set -out for Scotland, much satisfied with the honour and civilities shown -her ladyship by the queen and all the royal family: she has done her -country more honour than any lady I have seen here, both by a genteel -and a prudent behaviour.’[166] Her daughters were also handsome women. -It was a goodly sight, a century ago, to see the long procession of -sedans, containing Lady Eglintoune and her daughters, devolve from -the close and proceed to the Assembly Rooms, where there was sure to -be a crowd of plebeian admirers congregated to behold their lofty and -graceful figures step from the chairs on the pavement. It could not -fail to be a remarkable sight—eight beautiful women, conspicuous for -their stature and carriage, all dressed in the splendid though formal -fashions of that period, and inspired at once with dignity of birth and -consciousness of beauty! Alas! such _visions_ no longer illuminate the -dark tortuosities of Auld Reekie! - -Many of the young ladies found good matches, and were the mothers of -men more or less distinguished for intellectual attainments. Sir James -Macdonald, the Marcellus of the Hebrides, and his two more fortunate -brothers, were the progeny of Lady Margaret; and in various other -branches of the family talent seems to be hereditary. - -The countess was herself a blue-stocking—at that time a sort of -prodigy—and gave encouragement to the humble literati of her time. -The unfortunate Boyse dedicated a volume of poems to her; and I need -scarcely remind the Scottish reader that the _Gentle Shepherd_ was laid -at her ladyship’s feet. The dedication prefixed to that pastoral drama -contains what appears the usual amount of extravagant praise; yet it -was perhaps little beyond the truth. For the ‘penetration, superior -wit, and profound judgment’ which Allan attributes to her ladyship, -she was perhaps indebted in some degree to the lucky accident of her -having exercised it in the bard’s favour; but he assuredly overstrained -his conscience very little when he said she was ‘possessed of every -outward charm in the most perfect degree.’ Neither was it too much to -speak of ‘the unfading beauties of wisdom and piety’ which adorned -her ladyship’s mind.’[167] Hamilton of Bangour’s prefatory verses, -which are equally laudatory and well bestowed, contain the following -beautiful character of the lady, with a just compliment to her -daughters: - - ‘In virtues rich, in goodness unconfined, - Thou shin’st a fair example to thy kind; - Sincere, and equal to thy neighbours’ fame, - How swift to praise, how obstinate to blame! - Bold in thy presence bashfulness appears, - And backward merit loses all its fears. - Supremely blest by Heaven, Heaven’s richest grace - Confest is thine—an early blooming race; - Whose pleasing smiles shall guardian wisdom arm— - Divine instruction!—taught of thee to charm, - What transports shall they to thy soul impart - (The conscious transports of a parent’s heart), - When thou behold’st them of each grace possessed, - And sighing youths imploring to be blest - After thy image formed, with charms like thine, - Or in the visit or the dance[168] to shine: - Thrice happy who succeed their mother’s praise, - The lovely Eglintounes of other days!’ - -It may be remarked that her ladyship’s thorough-paced Jacobitism, which -she had inherited from her father, tended much to make her the friend -of Ramsay, Hamilton, and other Cavalier bards. She was, it is believed, -little given to patronising Whig poets. - -The patriarchal peer who made Susanna so happy a mother died in 1729, -leaving her a dowager of forty, with a good jointure. Retiring to the -country, she employed her widowhood in the education of her children, -and was considered a perfect example to all mothers in this useful -employment. In our days of freer manners, her conduct might appear too -reserved. The young were taught to address her by the phrase ‘Your -ladyship;’ and she spoke to them in the same ceremonious style. Though -her eldest son was a mere boy when he succeeded to the title, she -constantly called him Lord Eglintoune; and she enjoined all the rest of -the children to address him in the same manner. When the earl grew up, -they were upon no less formal terms; and every day in the world he took -his mother by the hand at the dinner-hour, and led her downstairs to -her chair at the head of his table, where she sat in state, a perfect -specimen of the stately and ostentatious politeness of the last age. - -All this ceremony was accompanied with so much affection that the -countess was never known to refuse her son a request but one—to walk -as a peeress at the coronation of King George III. Lord Eglintoune, -then a gentleman of the bedchamber, was proud of his mother, and wished -to display her noble figure on that occasion. But she jestingly excused -herself by saying that it was not worth while for so old a woman to buy -new robes. - -The unhappy fate of her eldest and favourite son—shot by a man of -violent passions, whom he was rashly treating as a poacher (1769)—gave -her ladyship a dreadful shock in her old age. The earl, after receiving -the fatal wound, was brought to Eglintoune Castle, when his mother was -immediately sent for from Auchans. What her feelings must have been -when she saw one so dear to her thus suddenly struck down in the prime -of his days may be imagined. The tenderness he displayed towards her -and others in his last hours is said to have been to the last degree -noble and affecting. - -When Johnson and Boswell returned from their tour to the Hebrides, -they visited Lady Eglintoune at Auchans. She was so well pleased with -the doctor, his politics, and his conversation that she embraced and -kissed him at parting, an honour of which the gifted tourist was ever -afterwards extremely proud. Boswell’s account of the interview is -interesting. ‘Lady Eglintoune,’ says he, ‘though she was now in her -eighty-fifth year, and had lived in the country almost half a century, -was still a very agreeable woman. Her figure was majestic, her manners -high-bred, her reading extensive, and her conversation elegant. She had -been the admiration of the gay circles, and the patroness of poets. Dr -Johnson was delighted with his reception here. Her principles in church -and state were congenial with his. In the course of conversation, it -came out that Lady Eglintoune was married the year before Dr Johnson -was born; upon which she graciously said to him that she might have -been his mother, and she now adopted him.’ - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -This venerable woman amused herself latterly in taming and patronising -rats. She kept a vast number of these animals in her pay at Auchans, -and they succeeded in her affections to the poets and artists whom she -had loved in early life. It does not reflect much credit upon the -latter that her ladyship used to complain of never having met with -true gratitude except from four-footed animals. She had a panel in -the oak wainscot of her dining-room, which she tapped upon and opened -at meal-times, when ten or twelve jolly rats came tripping forth and -joined her at table. At the word of command, or a signal from her -ladyship, they retired again obediently to their native obscurity—a -trait of good sense in the character and habits of the animals which, -it is hardly necessary to remark, patrons do not always find in -two-legged protégés. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -Her ladyship died in 1780, at the age of ninety-one, having preserved -her stately mien and beautiful complexion to the last. The latter was -a mystery of fineness to many ladies not the third of her age. As her -secret may be of service to modern beauties, I shall, in kindness -to the sex, divulge it. _She never used paint, but washed her face -periodically with SOW’S MILK!_ I have seen a portrait, taken in her -eighty-first year, in which it is observable that her skin is of -exquisite delicacy and tint. Altogether, the countess was a woman of -ten thousand! - -The jointure-house of this fine old country-gentlewoman—Auchans -Castle, a capital specimen of the Scottish manor-house of the -seventeenth century, situated near Irvine—is now uninhabited, and the -handsome wainscoted rooms in which she entertained Johnson and Boswell -are fast hastening to decay. One last trait may now be recorded; in her -ladyship’s bedroom at this place was hung a portrait of her sovereign -_de jure_, the ill-starred Charles Edward, so situated as to be _the -first object which met her sight on awaking in the morning_. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[162] The buildings in this alley are now demolished. - -[163] He is said to have been a nobleman of considerable talent, and -a great underhand supporter of the exiled family; see the _Lockhart -Papers_. George Lockhart had married his daughter Euphemia, or _Lady -Effie_, as she was commonly called. In the _Edinburgh Annual Register_ -there is preserved a letter from Lord Eglintoune to his son, replete -with good sense as well as paternal affection. - -[164] The earl was forty-nine and Miss Kennedy twenty. - -[165] The anecdote which follows is chiefly taken from _The Tell-tale_, -a rare collection, published in 1762. - -[166] Notes by C. K. Sharpe in Stenhouse’s edition of the _Scots -Musical Museum_, ii. 200. - -[167] As a specimen of the complimentary intercourse of the poet with -Lady Eglintoune, an anecdote is told of her having once sent him a -basket of fine fruit; to which he returned this stanza: - - ‘Now, Priam’s son, ye may be mute, - For I can bauldly brag wi’ thee; - Thou to the fairest gave the fruit— - The fairest gave the fruit to me.’ - -The love of raillery has recorded that on this being communicated by -Ramsay to his friend Eustace Budgell, the following comment was soon -after received from the English wit: - - ‘As Juno fair, as Venus kind, - She may have been who gave the fruit; - But had she had Minerva’s mind, - She’d ne’er have given ’t to such a brute.’ - -[168] An old gentleman told our informant that he never saw so -beautiful a figure in his life as Lady Eglintoune at a Hunters’ Ball in -Holyrood House, dancing a minuet in a large hoop, and a suit of black -velvet, trimmed with gold. - - - - -FEMALE DRESSES OF LAST CENTURY. - - -Ladies in the last century wore dresses and decorations many of which -were of an inconvenient nature; yet no one can deny them the merit of -a certain dignity and grace. How fine it must have been to see, as an -old gentleman told me he had seen, two hooped ladies moving along the -Lawnmarket in a summer evening, and filling up the whole footway with -their stately and voluminous persons! - -Amongst female articles of attire in those days were calashes, -bongraces, capuchins, negligées, stomachers, stays, hoops, lappets, -pinners, plaids, fans, busks, rumple-knots, &c., all of them now -forgotten. - -The calash was a species of hood, constructed of silk upon a framework -of cane, and was used as a protection to a cap or head-dress in walking -out or riding in a carriage. It could be folded back like the hood of a -carriage, so as to lie gathered together behind the neck. - -The bongrace was a bonnet of silk and cane, in shape somewhat like a -modern bonnet. - -The capuchin was a short cloak, reaching not below the elbows. It was -of silk, edged with lace, or of velvet. Gentlemen also wore capuchins. -The first Sir William Forbes frequently appeared at the Cross in one. A -lady’s _mode tippet_ was nearly the same piece of dress. - -The negligée was a gown, projecting in loose and ample folds from the -back. It could only be worn with stays. It was entirely open in front, -so as to show the stomacher, across which it was laced with flat silk -cords, while below it opened more widely and showed the petticoat. This -latter, though shorter, was sometimes more splendid than the gown, -and had a deep flounce. Ladies in walking generally carried the skirt -of the gown over the arm, and exhibited the petticoat; but when they -entered a room, they always came sailing in, with the train sweeping -full and majestically behind them. - -The stomacher was a triangular piece of rich silk, one corner pointing -downwards and joining the fine black lace-bordered apron, while the -other two angles pointed to the shoulders. Great pains were usually -discovered in the adornment of this beautiful and most attractive -piece of dress. Many wore jewels upon it; and a lady would have thought -herself poor indeed if she could not bedizen it with strings of bugles -or tinsel. - -Stays were made so long as to touch the chair, both in front and rear, -when a lady sat. They were calculated to fit so tightly that the -wearers had to hold by the bedpost while the maid was lacing them. -There is a story told of a lady of high rank in Scotland, about 1720, -which gives us a strange idea of the rigours and inconvenience of this -fashion. She stinted her daughters as to diet, with a view to the -improvement of their shapes; but the young ladies, having the cook in -their interest, used to unlace their stays at night, after her ladyship -went to bed, and make a hearty meal. They were at last discovered, by -the smell of a roast goose, carried upstairs to their bedchamber; as -unluckily their lady-mother did not take snuff,[169] and was not asleep. - -The hoop was contemporary with, and a necessary appendage of, the -stays. There were different species of hoops, being of various shapes -and uses. The pocket-hoop, worn in the morning, was like a pair of -small panniers, such as one sees on an ass. The bell-hoop was a sort of -petticoat, shaped like a bell and made with cane or rope for framework. -This was not quite full-dress. There was also a straw petticoat, a -species of hoop such as is so common in French prints. The full-sized -evening hoop was so monstrous that people saw one-half of it enter -the room before the wearer. This was very inconvenient in the Old -Town, where doorways and closes were narrow. In going down a close or -a turnpike stair, ladies tilted them up and carried them under their -arms. In case of this happening, there was a _show petticoat_ below; -and such care was taken of appearances that even the _garters_ were -worn fine, being either embroidered or having gold and silver fringes -and tassels. - -The French silks worn during the last century were beautiful, the -patterns were so well drawn and the stuff of such excellent quality. -The dearest common brocade was about a guinea a yard; if with gold or -silver, considerably more. - -The lappet was a piece of Brussels or point lace, hanging in two pieces -from the crown of the head and streaming gracefully behind. - -Pinners, such as the celebrated Egyptian Sphinx wears, were pinned down -the stomacher. - -Plaids were worn by ladies to cover their heads and muffle their faces -when they went into the street. The council records of Edinburgh abound -in edicts against the use of this piece of dress, which, they said, -confounded decent women with those who were the contrary. - -Fans were large, the sticks curiously carved, and if of leather, -generally very well painted—being imported from Italy or Holland. In -later times these have been sometimes framed like pictures and hung on -the walls. - -All women, high and low, wore enormous busks, generally with a heart -carved at the upper end. In low life this was a common present to -sweethearts; if from carpenters, they were artificially veneered. - -The rumple-knot was a large bunch of ribbons worn at the peak of the -waist behind. Knots of ribbons were then numerous over the whole body. -There were the breast-knots, two hainch-knots (at which there were -also buttons for looping up the gown behind), a knot at the tying of -the beads behind the neck, one in front and another at the back of the -head-gear, and knots upon the shoes. It took about twelve yards or -upwards to make a full suit of ribbons.[170] - -Other minor articles of dress and adornment were the _befong_ -handkerchief (spelt at random), of a stuff similar to what is now -called _net_, crossed upon the breast; paste ear-rings and necklace; -broad black bracelets at the wrists; a _pong pong_—a jewel fixed to a -wire with a long pin at the end, worn in front of the cap, and which -shook as the wearer moved. It was generally stuck in the cushion over -which the hair was turned in front. Several were frequently worn at -once. A song in the _Charmer_, 1751, alludes to this bijou: - - ‘Come all ye young ladies whose business and care - Is contriving new dresses, and curling your hair; - Who flirt and coquet with each coxcomb who comes - To toy at your toilets, and strut in your rooms; - While you’re placing a patch, _or adjusting pong pong_, - Ye may listen and learn by the truth of my song.’ - -Fly-caps, encircling the head, worn by young matrons, and mob-caps, -falling down over the ears, used only by old ones; pockets of silk or -satin, of which young girls wore one above their other attire; silk -or linen stockings—never of cotton, which is a modern stuff—slashed -with pieces of a colour in strong contrast with the rest, or gold or -silver clocks, wove in. The silk stockings were very thick, and could -not be washed on account of the gold or silver. They were frequently of -scarlet silk, and (1733) worn both by ladies and gentlemen. High-heeled -shoes, set off with fine lace or sewed work, and sharply pointed in -front. - -To give the reader a more picturesque idea of the former dresses of the -ladies of Edinburgh, I cite a couple of songs, the first wholly old, -the second a revivification: - - ‘I’ll gar our guidman trow that I’ll sell the ladle, - If he winna buy to me a new side-saddle— - To ride to the kirk, and frae the kirk, and round about the toun— - Stand about, ye fisher jades, and gi’e my goun room! - - I’ll gar our guidman trow that I’ll tak the fling-strings, - If he winna buy to me twelve bonnie goud rings, - Ane for ilka finger, and twa for ilka thumb— - Stand about, ye fisher jades, and gi’e my goun room! - - I’ll gar our guidman trow that I’m gaun to dee, - If he winna fee to me twa valets or three, - To beir my tail up frae the dirt and ush me through the toun— - Stand about, ye fisher jades, and gi’e my goun room!’ - - * * * * * - - ‘As Mally Lee cam’ down the street, her _capuchin_ did flee; - She coost a look behind her, to see her _negligee_. - And we’re a’ gaun east and wast, we’re a’ gaun agee, - We’re a’ gaun east and wast, courtin’ Mally Lee.[171] - - She had twa _lappets_ at her head, that flaunted gallantlie, - And _ribbon knots_ at back and breast of bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - A’ down alang the Canongate were beaux o’ ilk degree; - And mony are turned round to look at bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - And ilka bab her _pong pong_ gi’ed, ilk lad thought that’s to me; - But feint a ane was in the thought of bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - Frae Seton’s Land a countess fair looked owre a window hie, - And pined to see the genty shape of bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - And when she reached the palace porch, there lounged erls three; - And ilk ane thought his Kate or Meg a drab to Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - The dance gaed through the palace ha’, a comely sight to see; - But nane was there sae bright or braw as bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - Though some had jewels in their hair, like stars ’mang cluds did shine, - Yet Mally did surpass them a’ wi’ but her glancin’ eyne. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c. - - A prince cam’ out frae ’mang them a’, wi’ garter at his knee, - And danced a stately minuet wi’ bonnie Mally Lee. - And we’re a’ gaun, &c.’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[169] Snuff-taking was prevalent among young women in our grandmothers’ -time. Their flirts used to present them with pretty snuff-boxes. In one -of the monthly numbers of the _Scots Magazine_ for the year 1745 there -is a satirical poem by a swain upon the practice of snuff-taking; to -which a lady replies next month, defending the fashion as elegant and -of some account in coquetry. Almost all the old ladies who survived the -commencement of this century took snuff. Some kept it in pouches, and -abandoned, for its sake, the wearing of white ruffles and handkerchiefs. - -[170] A gown then required ten yards of stuff. - -[171] This verse appears in a manuscript subsequent to 1760. The name, -however, is Sleigh, not Lee. Mrs Mally Sleigh was married in 1725 to -the Lord Lyon Brodie of Brodie. Allan Ramsay celebrates her. - - - - -THE LORD JUSTICE-CLERK ALVA.[172] - - LADIES SUTHERLAND AND GLENORCHY—THE PIN OR RISP. - - -[Illustration: Mylne’s Court, where some of the Mylne family resided.] - -This eminent person—a cadet of the ancient house of Mar (born 1680, -died 1763)—had his town mansion in an obscure recess of the High -Street called Mylne Square,[173] the first place bearing such a -designation in our northern capital: it was, I may remark, built by -one of a family of Mylnes, who are said to have been master-masons to -the Scottish monarchs for eight generations, and some of whom are at -this day architects by profession.[174] Lord Alva’s residence was in -the second and third floors of the large building on the west side -of the square. Of the same structure, an Earl of Northesk occupied -another _flat_. And, to mark the character of Lord Alva’s abode, -part of it was afterwards, in the hands of a Mrs Reynolds, used as a -lodging-house of the highest grade. The Earl of Hopetoun, while acting -as Commissioner to the General Assembly, there held viceregal state. -But to return to Lord Alva: it gives a curious idea of the habits of -such a dignitary before the rise of the New Town that we should find -him content with this dwelling while in immediate attendance upon the -court, and happy during the summer vacation to withdraw to the shades -of his little villa at Drumsheugh, standing on a spot now surrounded -by _town_. Lord Lovat, who, on account of his numerous law-pleas, was -a great intimate of Lord Alva’s, frequently visited him here; and Mrs -Campbell of Monzie, Lord Alva’s daughter, used to tell that when she -met Lord Lovat on the stair he always took her up in his arms and -kissed her, to her great annoyance and horror—_he was so ugly_. During -one of his law-pleas, he went to a dancing-school ball, which Misses -Jean and Susanna, Lord Alva’s daughters, attended. He had his pocket -full of _sweeties_, as Mrs Campbell expressed it; and so far did he -carry his exquisitely refined system of cunning, that—in order no -doubt to find favour with their father—he devoted the greater share -of his attentions and the whole of his comfits to them alone. Those -who knew this singular man used to say that, with all his duplicity, -faithlessness, and cruelty, his character exhibited no redeeming trait -whatever: nobody ever knew any good of him. - -In his Mylne Square mansion Lord Alva’s two step-daughters were -married; one to become Countess of Sutherland, the other Lady -Glenorchy. There was something very striking in the fate of Lady -Sutherland and of the earl, her husband—a couple distinguished as -much by personal elegance and amiable character as by lofty rank. Lady -Sutherland was blessed with a temper of extraordinary sweetness, which -shone in a face of so much beauty as to have occasioned admiration -where many were beautiful—the coronation of George III. and his queen. -The happiness of the young pair had been increased by the birth of a -daughter. One unlucky day his lordship, coming after dinner into the -drawing-room at Dunrobin a little flushed with wine, lifted up the -infant above his head by way of frolic, when, sad to tell, he dropped -her by accident on the floor, and she received injuries from which she -never recovered. This incident had such an effect upon his lordship’s -spirits that his health became seriously affected, so as finally to -require a journey to Bath, where he was seized with an infectious -fever. For twenty-one successive days and nights he was attended by his -wife, then pregnant, till she herself caught the fatal distemper. The -countess’s death was concealed from his lordship; nevertheless, when -his delirium left him, the day before he died, he frequently said: ‘I -am going to join my dear wife;’ appearing to know that she had ‘already -reached the goal with mended pace!’ Can it be that we are sometimes -able to penetrate the veil which hangs, in thick and gloomy folds, -between this world and the next; or does the ‘mortal coil’ in which -the light of mind is enveloped become thinner and more transparent by -the wearing of deadly sickness? The bodies of the earl and countess -were brought to Holyrood House, where they had usually resided when in -town, and lay in state for some time previous to their interment in -one grave in the Abbey Chapel. The death of a pair so young, so good, -and who had stood in so distinguished a position in society—leaving -one female infant to a disputed title—made a deep impression on the -public, and was sincerely lamented in their own immediate circle. Of -much poetry written on the occasion, a specimen may be seen in Evans’s -_Old Ballads_. Another appears in Brydges’s _Censura Literaria_, being -the composition of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto: - - ‘In pity, Heaven bestowed - An early doom: lo, on the self-same bier, - A fairer form, cold by her husband’s side, - And faded every charm. She died for thee, - For thee, her only love. In beauty’s prime, - In youth’s triumphant hour, she died for thee. - - Bring water from the brook, and roses spread - O’er their pale limbs; for ne’er did wedded love - To one sad grave consign a lovelier pair, - Of manners gentler, or of purer heart!’ - -Lady Glenorchy, the younger sister of Lady Sutherland, was remarkable -for her pious disposition. Exceedingly unfortunate in her marriage, she -was early taught to seek consolation from things ‘not of this world.’ -I have been told that nothing could have been more striking than to -hear this young and beautiful creature pouring forth her melodious -notes and hymns, while most of her sex and age at that time exercised -their voices only upon the wretched lyrics imported from Vauxhall and -Ranelagh, or the questionable verses of Ramsay and his contemporaries. -She met with her rich reward, even in this world; for she enjoyed -the applause of the wealthy and the blessings of the poor, with that -supreme of all pleasures—the conviction that the eternal welfare of -those in whose fate she was chiefly interested was forwarded, if not -perfected, by her precepts and example.[175] - -[Illustration: Old Risps.] - -It is not unworthy of notice, in this record of all that is old and -quaint in our city, that the Lord Justice-clerk’s house was provided -with a _pin_ or _risp_, instead of the more modern convenience—a -knocker. The Scottish ballads, in numberless passages, make reference -to this article: no hero in those compositions ever comes to his -mistress’s door but he _tirles at the pin_. What, then, was a pin? It -was a small slip or bar of iron, starting out from the door vertically, -serrated on the side towards the door, and provided with a small ring, -which, being drawn roughly along the serrations or nicks, produced a -harsh and grating sound, to summon the servant to open. Another term -for the article was a _crow_. In the fourth eclogue of Edward Fairfax, -a production of the reign of James VI. and I., quoted in the _Muses’ -Library_, is this passage: - - ‘Now, farewell Eglon! for the sun stoops low, - And calling guests before my sheep-cot’s door; - Now _clad in white, I see my porter-crow_; - Great kings oft want these blessings of the poor;’ - -with the following note: ‘The ring of the door, called a _crow_, and -when covered with white linen, denoted the mistress of the house was -in travel.’ It is quite appropriate to this explanation that a small -Latin vocabulary, published by Andrew Simpson in 1702, places among -the parts of a house, ‘_Corvex—a clapper or ringle_.’ Hardly one -specimen of the pin, crow, or ringle now survives in the Old Town. They -were almost all disused many years ago, when knockers were generally -substituted as more stylish. Knockers at that time did not long remain -in repute, though they have never been altogether superseded, even by -bells, in the Old Town. The comparative merit of knockers and pins was -for a long time a controversial point, and many knockers got their -heads twisted off in the course of the dispute. Pins were, upon the -whole, considered very inoffensive, decent, old-fashioned things, being -made of a modest metal, and making little show upon a door; knockers -were thought upstart, prominent, brazen-faced articles, and received -the full share of odium always conferred by Scotsmen of the old school -upon tasteful improvements. Every drunken fellow, in reeling home at -night, thought it good sport to carry off all the knockers that came -in his way; and as drunken gentlemen were very numerous, many acts -of violence were committed, and sometimes a whole stair was found -stripped of its knockers in the morning; when the voice of lamentation -raised by the servants of the sufferers might have reminded one of the -wailings of the Lennox dairy-women after a _creagh_ in the days of -old. Knockers were frequently used as missile weapons by the bucks of -that day against the Town-guard; and the morning sun sometimes saw the -High Street strewed with them. The aforesaid Mrs Campbell remembered -residing in an Old Town house, which was one night disturbed in the -most intolerable manner by a drunken party at the knocker. In the -morning the greater part of it was found to be gone; and it was besides -discovered, to the horror of the inmates, that part of a finger was -left sticking in the fragments, with the appearance of having been -forcibly wrenched from the hand. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[172] James Erskine on ascending the bench first took the title of Lord -Tinwald, from his estate in Dumfriesshire. That of Lord Alva he assumed -when he purchased the family estate of Alva, in Clackmannanshire, from -his eldest brother, Sir Charles Erskine. - -[173] The site of Mylne Square is now occupied by the block of -buildings directly opposite the north front of the Tron Church. - -[174] The first of this name was made ‘master-mason’ to the king in -1481, and the position descended in regular succession in the family -till 1710, when they adopted the style of architect. - -[175] Lady Glenorchy built a chapel, which was named after her, on the -low ground to the south of the Calton Hill. The chapel was swept away, -along with that of the fine Gothic building Trinity College Church, for -the convenience of the North British Railway. The lady’s name is still -preserved in Lady Glenorchy’s Established Church in Roxburgh Place and -Lady Glenorchy’s United Free Church in Greenside. - - - - -MARLIN’S AND NIDDRY’S WYNDS. - - TRADITION OF MARLIN THE PAVIER—HOUSE OF PROVOST EDWARD—STORY - OF LADY GRANGE. - - -Where South Bridge Street now stands, there formerly existed two wynds, -or alleys, of the better class, named Marlin’s and Niddry’s Wynds. Many -persons of importance lived in these obscurities. Marlin’s Wynd, which -extended from behind the Tron Church, and contained several bookshops -and stalls, the favourite lounge of the lovers of old literature, was -connected with a curious tradition, which existed at the time when -Maitland wrote his _History of Edinburgh_ (1753). It was said that the -High Street was first paved or _causewayed_ by one Marlin, a Frenchman, -who, thinking that specimen of his ingenuity the best monument he could -have, desired to be buried under it, and was accordingly interred at -the head of this wynd, which derived its name from him. The tradition -is so far countenanced by there having formerly been a space in the -pavement at this spot, marked by six flat stones, in the shape of a -grave. According, however, to more authentic information, the High -Street was first paved in 1532[176] by John and Bartoulme Foliot, who -appear to have had nothing in common with this legendary Marlin, except -country. The grave of at least Bartoulme Foliot is distinctly marked by -a flat monument in the Chapel-Royal at Holyrood House. It is possible, -nevertheless, that Marlin may have been the more immediate executor or -superintendent of the work. - -Niddry’s Wynd abounded in curious antique houses, many of which had -been the residences of remarkable persons. The most interesting _bit_ -was a paved court, about half-way down, on the west side, called -Lockhart’s Court, from its having latterly been the residence of -the family of Lockhart of Carnwath.[177] This was, in reality, a -quadrangular palace, the whole being of elegant old architecture in one -design, and accessible by a deep arched gateway. It was built by Nicol -Edward, or Udward, who was provost of Edinburgh in 1591; a wealthy -citizen, and styled in his _writts_, ‘of old descent in the burgh.’ -On a mantelpiece within the house his arms were carved, along with an -anagram upon his name: - - VA D’UN VOL À CHRIST— - -_Go with one flight to Christ_; which, the reader will find, can only -be made out by Latinising his name into NICHOLAUS EDUARTUS. We learn -from Moyses’s _Memoirs_ that, in January 1591, this house was the -temporary residence of James VI. and his queen, then recently arrived -from Denmark; and that, on the 7th of February, the Earl of Huntly -passed hence, out of the immediate royal presence, when he went to -murder the Bonny Earl of Moray at Donibrissle; which caused a suspicion -that His Majesty was concerned in that horrid outburst of feudal -hate. Lockhart’s Court was latterly divided into several distinct -habitations, one of which, on the north side of the quadrangle, was -occupied by the family of Bruce of Kinnaird, the celebrated traveller. -In the part on the south side, occupied by the Carnwath family, there -was a mantelpiece in the drawing-room of magnificent workmanship, and -reaching to the ceiling. The whole mansion, even in its reduced state, -bore an appearance of security and strength which spoke of other times; -and there was, moreover, a profound dungeon underground, which was only -accessible by a secret trap-door, opening through the floor of a small -closet, the most remote of a suite of rooms extending along the south -and west sides of the court. Perhaps, at a time when to be rich was -neither so common nor so safe as now, Provost Edward might conceal his -hoards in this _massy more_. - -Alexander Black of Balbirney, who was provost of Edinburgh from 1579 to -1583, had a house at the head of the wynd. King James lodged in this -house on the 18th of August 1584, and walked from it in state next day -to hold a parliament in the Tolbooth. Here also lodged the Chancellor -Thirlstain, in January 1591, while the king and queen were the guests -of Nicol Edward.[178] It must be understood that these visits of -royalty were less considered in the light of an honour than of a tax. -The king in those times went to live at the board of a wealthy subject -when his own table happened to be scantily furnished; which was too -often the case with poor King James. - -On the east side of the wynd, nearly opposite to Lockhart’s Court, was -a good house,[179] which, early in the last century, was possessed -by James Erskine of Grange, best known by his judicial title of Lord -Grange, and the brother of John, Earl of Mar. This gentleman has -acquired an unhappy notoriety in consequence of his treatment of his -wife. He was externally a professor of ultra-evangelical views of -religion, and a patron of the clergy on that side, yet in his private -life is understood to have been far from exemplary. The story of Lady -Grange, as Mrs Erskine was called, had a character of romance about it -which has prevented it from being forgotten. It also reflects a curious -light upon the state of manners in Scotland in the early part of the -eighteenth century. The lady was a daughter of that Chiesly of Dalry -whom we have already seen led by an insane violence of temper to commit -one of the most atrocious of murders. - - -STORY OF LADY GRANGE.[180] - -Lord and Lady Grange had been married upwards of twenty years, and -had had several children, when, in 1730, a separation was determined -on between them. It is usually difficult in such cases to say in what -degree the parties are respectively blamable; how far there have been -positive faults on one side, and want of forbearance on the other, and -so forth. If we were to believe the lady in this instance, there had -been love and peace for twenty years, when at length Lord Grange took a -sudden dislike to his wife, and would no longer live with her. He, on -the other hand, speaks of having suffered long from her ‘unsubduable -rage and madness,’ and of having failed in all his efforts to bring her -to a reasonable conduct. There is too much reason to believe that the -latter statement is in the main true; although, were it more so, it -would still leave Lord Grange unjustifiable in the measures which he -took with respect to his wife. It is traditionally stated that in their -unhappy quarrels the lady did not scruple to remind her husband whose -daughter she was—thus hinting at what she was capable of doing if she -thought herself deeply aggrieved. However all this might be, in the -year 1730 a separation was agreed to (with great reluctance on the part -of the lady), his lordship consenting to give her a hundred a year for -her maintenance so long as she should continue to live apart from him. - -After spending some months in the country, Lady Grange returned to -Edinburgh, and took a lodging near her husband’s house, for the -purpose, as she tells us, of endeavouring to induce him to take her -back, and that she might occasionally see her children. According to -Lord Grange, she began to torment him by following him and the children -on the street ‘in a scandalous and shameful manner,’ and coming to -his house, and calling reproaches to him through the windows,[181] -especially when there was company with him. He thus writes: ‘In his -house, at the bottom of Niddry’s Wynd, where there is a court through -which one enters the house, one time among others, when it was full of -chairs, chairmen, and footmen, who attended the company that were with -himself, or his sister Lady Jane Paterson, then keeping house together, -she came into this court, and among that mob shamelessly cried up -to the windows injurious reproaches, and would not go away, though -entreated, till, hearing the late Lord Lovat’s voice, who was visiting -Mr E——, and seeing two of his servants among the other footmen, “Oh,” -said she, “is your master here?” and instantly ran off.’ He speaks of -her having attacked him one day in church; at another time she forced -him to take refuge with his son in a tavern for two hours. She even -threatened to assault him on the bench, ‘which he every day expected; -for she professed that she had no shame.’ - -The traditionary account of Lady Grange represents her fate as having -been at last decided by her threatening to expose her husband to the -government for certain treasonable practices. It would now appear that -this was partially true. In his statement, Lord Grange tells us that -he had some time before gone to London to arrange the private affairs -of the Countess of Mar, then become unable to conduct them herself, -and he had sent an account of his procedure to his wife, including -some reflections on a certain great minister (doubtless Walpole), who -had thwarted him much, and been of serious detriment to the interests -of his family in this matter. This document she retained, and she -now threatened to take it to London and use it for her husband’s -disadvantage, being supported in the design by several persons with -whom she associated. While denying that he had been concerned in -anything treasonable, Lord Grange says, ‘he had already too great a -load of that great minister’s wrath on his back to stand still and -see more of it fall upon him by the treachery and madness of such a -wife and such worthy confederates.’ The lady had taken a seat in a -stage-coach for London.[182] Lord Grange caused a friend to go and make -interest to get her money returned, and the seat let to another person; -in which odd proceeding he was successful. Thus was the journey stayed -for the meantime; but the lady declared her resolution to go as soon as -possible. ‘What,’ says Lord Grange, ‘could a man do with such a wife? -There was great reason to think she would daily go on to do mischief to -her family, and to affront and bring a blot on her children, especially -her daughters. There were things that could not be redressed in a court -of justice, and we had not then a madhouse to lock such unhappy people -up in.’ - -The result of his lordship’s deliberations was a plan for what he calls -‘sequestrating’ his wife. It appears to have been concerted between -himself and a number of Highland chiefs, including, above all, the -notorious Lord Lovat.[183] We now turn to the lady’s narrative, which -proceeds to tell that, on the evening of the 22nd of January 1732, a -party of Highlandmen, wearing the livery of Lord Lovat, made their -way into her lodgings, and forcibly seized her, throwing her down and -gagging her, then tying a cloth over her head, and carrying her off -as if she had been a corpse. At the bottom of the stair was a chair -containing a man, who took the hapless lady upon his knees, and held -her fast in his arms till they had got to a place in the outskirts of -the town. Then they took her from the chair, removed the cloth from her -head, and mounted her upon a horse behind a man, to whom she was tied; -after which the party rode off ‘by the lee light of the moon,’ to quote -the language of the old ballads, whose incidents the present resembles -in character. - -The treatment of the lady by the way was, if we can believe her own -account, by no means gentle. The leader, although a gentleman (Mr -Forster of Corsebonny), disregarded her entreaties to be allowed to -stop on account of cramp in her side, and only answered by ordering a -servant to renew the bandages over her mouth. She observed that they -rode along the Long Way (where Princes Street now stands), past the -Castle, and so to the Linlithgow road. After a ride of nearly twenty -miles, they stopped at Muiravonside, the house of Mr John Macleod, -advocate, where servants appeared waiting to receive the lady—and -thus showed that the master of the house had been engaged to aid in -her abduction. She was taken upstairs to a comfortable bedroom; but a -man being posted in the room as a guard, she could not go to bed nor -take any repose. Thus she spent the ensuing day, and when it was night, -she was taken out and remounted in the same fashion as before; and the -party then rode along through the Torwood, and so to the place called -Wester Polmaise, belonging to a gentleman of the name of Stewart, -whose steward or factor was one of the cavalcade. Here was an old -tower, having one little room on each floor, as is usually the case in -such buildings; and into one of these rooms, the window of which was -boarded over, the lady was conducted. She continued here for thirteen -or fourteen weeks, supplied with a sufficiency of the comforts of life, -but never allowed to go into the open air; till at length her health -gave way, and the factor began to fear being concerned in her death. By -his intercession with Mr Forster, she was then permitted to go into the -court, under a guard; but such was the rigour of her keepers that the -garden was still denied to her. - -[Illustration: THE CASTLE -from Princes Street. - -PAGE 214.] - -Thus time passed drearily on until the month of August, during all -which time the prisoner had no communication with the external world. -At length, by an arrangement made between Lord Lovat and Mr Forster, -at the house of the latter, near Stirling, Lady Grange was one night -forcibly brought out, and mounted again as formerly, and carried off -amidst a guard of horsemen. She recognised several of Lovat’s people -in this troop, and found Forster once more in command. They passed -by Stirling Bridge, and thence onward to the Highlands; but she no -longer knew the way they were going. Before daylight they stopped at -a house, where she was lodged during the day, and at night the march -was resumed. Thus they journeyed for several days into the Highlands, -never allowing the unfortunate lady to speak, and taking the most rigid -care to prevent any one from becoming aware of her situation. During -this time she never had off her clothes: one day she slept in a barn, -another in an open enclosure. Regard to delicacy in such a case was -impossible. After a fortnight spent at a house on Lord Lovat’s ground -(probably in Stratherrick, Inverness-shire), the journey was renewed in -the same style as before; only Mr Forster had retired from the party, -and the lady found herself entirely in the hands of Frasers. - -They now crossed a loch into Glengarry’s land, where they lodged -several nights in cow-houses or in the open air, making progress all -the time to the westward, where the country becomes extremely wild. At -Lochourn, an arm of the sea on the west coast, the unfortunate lady was -transferred to a small vessel which was in waiting for her. Bitterly -did she weep, and pitifully implore compassion; but the Highlanders -understood not her language; and though they had done so, a departure -from the orders which had been given them was not to be expected from -men of their character. In the vessel, she found that she was in the -custody of one Alexander Macdonald, a tenant of one of the Western -Islands named Heskir, belonging to Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat; -and here we have a curious indication of the spirit in which the -Highlanders conducted such transactions. ‘I told him,’ says the lady, -‘that I was stolen at Edinburgh, and brought there by force, and that -it was contrary to the laws what they were doing. He answered that -he would not keep me, or any other, against their will, _except Sir -Alexander Macdonald were in the affair_.’ While they lay in Lochourn, -waiting for a wind, the brother and son of Macdonald of Scothouse came -to see but not to relieve her. Other persons visited the sloop, and -among these one William Tolmy, a tenant of the chief of Macleod, and -who had once been a merchant at Inverness. This was the first person -she had seen who expressed any sympathy with her. He undertook to bear -information of her retreat to her friend and ‘man of business,’ Mr Hope -of Rankeillor, in Edinburgh; but it does not appear that he fulfilled -his promise. - -Lady Grange remained in Macdonald’s charge at Heskir nearly two -years—during the first year without once seeing bread, and with no -supply of clothing; obliged, in fact, to live in the same miserable -way as the rest of the family; afterwards some little indulgence was -shown to her. This island was of desolate aspect, and had no inhabitant -besides Macdonald and his wife. The wretchedness of such a situation -for a lady who had been all her life accustomed to the refined society -of a capital may of course be imagined. Macdonald would never allow -her to write to any one; but he went to his landlord, Sir Alexander, -to plead for the indulgences she required. On one of these occasions, -Sir Alexander expressed his regret at having been concerned in such -an affair, and wished he were quit of it. The wonder is how Erskine -should have induced all these men to interest themselves in the -‘sequestration’ of his wife. One thing is here remarkable: they were -all of them friends of the Stuart family, as was Macleod of Macleod, -into whose hands the lady subsequently fell. It therefore becomes -probable that Erskine had at least convinced them that her seclusion -from the world was necessary in some way for the preservation of -political secrets important to them. - -In June 1734 a sloop came to Heskir to take away the lady; it was -commanded by a Macleod, and in it she was conveyed to the remotest spot -of ground connected with the British Islands—namely, the isle of St -Kilda, the property of the chief of Macleod, and remarkable for the -simple character of the poor peasantry who occupy it. There cannot, of -course, be a doubt that those who had an interest in the seclusion of -Lady Grange regarded this as a more eligible place than Heskir, in as -far as it was more out of the way, and promised better for her complete -and permanent confinement. In some respects it was an advantageous -change for the lady: the place was not uninhabited, as Heskir very -nearly was; and her domestic accommodation was better. In St Kilda, she -was placed in a house or cottage of two small apartments, tolerably -well furnished, with a girl to wait upon her, and provided with a -sufficiency of good food and clothing. Of educated persons the island -contained not one, except for a short time a Highland Presbyterian -clergyman, named Roderick Maclennan. There was hardly even a person -capable of speaking or understanding the English language within reach. -No books, no intelligence from the world in which she had once lived. -Only once a year did a steward come to collect the rent paid in kind -by the poor people; and by him was the lady regularly furnished with a -store of such articles, foreign to the place, as she needed—usually -a stone of sugar, a pound of tea, six pecks of wheat, and an anker of -spirits.[184] Thus she had no lack of the common necessaries of life; -she only wanted society and freedom. In this way she spent seven dreary -years in St Kilda. How she contrived to pass her time is not known. -We learn, however, some particulars of her history during this period -from the testimony of those who had a charge over her. If this is to be -believed, she made incessant efforts, though without effect, to bribe -the islanders to assist in liberating her. Once a stray vessel sent a -boat ashore for water; she no sooner heard of it than she despatched -the minister’s wife to apprise the sailors of her situation, and -entreat them to rescue her; but Mrs Maclennan did not reach the spot -till after they had departed. She was kind to the peasantry, giving -them from her own stores, and sometimes had the women to come and -dance before her; but her temper and habits were not such as to gain -their esteem. Often she drank too much; and whenever any one near her -committed the slightest mistake, she would fly into a furious passion, -and even resort to violence. Once she was detected in an attempt, -during the night, to obtain a pistol from above the steward’s bed, -in the room next to her own. On his awaking and seeing her, she ran -off to her own bed. One is disposed, of course, to make all possible -allowances for a person in her wretched circumstances; yet there can be -little doubt, from the evidence before us, that it was a natural and -habitual violence of temper which displayed itself during her residence -in St Kilda. - -Meanwhile it was known in Edinburgh that Lady Grange had been forcibly -carried away and placed in seclusion by orders of her husband; but -her whereabouts was a mystery to all besides a few who were concerned -to keep it secret. During the years which had elapsed since her -abduction, Mr Erskine had given up his seat on the bench, and entered -into political life as a friend of the Prince of Wales and opponent -of Sir Robert Walpole. The world had wondered at the events of his -domestic life, and several persons denounced the singular means he -had adopted for obtaining domestic peace. But, in the main, he stood -as well with society as he had ever done. At length, in the winter of -1740-41, a communication from Lady Grange for the first time reached -her friends. It was brought by the minister Maclennan and his wife, who -had left the island in discontent, after quarrelling with Macleod’s -steward. The idea of a lady by birth and education being immured for a -series of years in an outlandish place where only the most illiterate -peasantry resided, and this by the command of a husband who could only -complain of her irritable temper, struck forcibly upon public feeling, -and particularly upon the mind of Lady Grange’s legal agent, Mr Hope -of Rankeillor, who had all along felt a keen interest in her fate. Of -Mr Hope it may be remarked that he was also a zealous Jacobite; yet, -though all the persons engaged in the lady’s abduction were of that -party, he hesitated not to take active measures on the contrary side. -He immediately applied to the Lord Justice-clerk (supreme criminal -judge) for a warrant to search for and liberate Lady Grange. This -application was opposed by the friends of Mr Erskine, and eventually -it was defeated; yet he was not on that account deterred from hiring -a vessel, and sending it with armed men to secure the freedom of the -lady—a step which, as it was illegal and dangerous, obviously implied -no small risk on his own part. This ship proceeded no farther than the -harbour called the Horse-shoe, in Lorn (opposite to the modern town of -Oban), where the master quarrelled with and set on shore Mrs Maclennan, -his guide. Apparently the voyage was not prosecuted in consequence of -intelligence being received that the lady had been removed to another -place, where she was kept in more humane circumstances. If so, its -object might be considered as in part at least, though indirectly, -accomplished. - -I have seen a warrant, signed in the holograph of Normand Macleod—the -same insular chief who, a few years after, lost public respect in -consequence of his desertion of the Jacobite cause, and showing an -active hostility to Prince Charles when in hiding. The document is -dated at Dunvegan, February 17, 1741, and proceeds upon a rumour which -has reached the writer that a certain gentlewoman, called Lady Grange, -was carried to his isle of St Kilda in 1734, and has ever since been -confined there under cruel circumstances. Regarding this as a scandal -which he is bound to inquire into (as if it could have hitherto been a -secret to him), he orders his baron-bailie of Harris, Donald Macleod of -Bernera (this was a gallant fellow who went out in the ’Forty-five), to -proceed to that island and make the necessary investigations. I have -also seen the original precognition taken by honest Donald six days -thereafter, when the various persons who had been about Lady Grange -gave evidence respecting her. The general bearing of this testimony, -besides establishing the fact of her confinement as a prisoner, is to -the effect that she was treated well in all other respects, having -a house forty feet long, with an inner room and a chimney to it, a -curtained bed, arm-chair, table, and other articles; ample store of -good provisions, including spirits; and plenty of good clothes; but -that she was addicted to liquor, and liable to dreadful outbreaks of -anger. Evidence was at the same time taken regarding the character of -the Maclennans, upon whose reports Mr Hope had proceeded. It was Mr -Erskine’s interest to establish that they were worthless persons, and -to this effect strong testimony was given by several of the islanders, -though it would be difficult to say with what degree of verity. The -whole purpose of these precognitions was to meet the clamours raised by -Mr Hope as to the barbarities to which Lady Grange had been subjected. -They had the effect of stopping for a time the legal proceedings -threatened by that gentleman; but he afterwards raised an action in the -Court of Session for payment of the arrears of aliment or allowance due -to the lady, amounting to £1150, and obtained decreet or judgment in -the year 1743 against the defender in absence, though he did not choose -to put it in force. - -The unfortunate cause of all these proceedings ceased to be a trouble -to any one in May 1745. Erskine, writing from Westminster, June 1, in -answer to an intimation of her death, says: ‘I most heartily thank -you, my dear friend, for the timely notice you gave me of the death -of _that person_. It would be a ridiculous untruth to pretend grief -for it; but as it brings to my mind a train of various things for many -years back, it gives me concern. Her retaining wit and facetiousness to -the last surprises me. These qualities none found in her, no more than -common-sense or good-nature, before she went to these parts; and of the -reverse of all which, if she had not been irrecoverably possest, in -an extraordinary and insufferable degree, after many years’ fruitless -endeavours to reclaim her, she had never seen these parts. I long for -the particulars of her death, which, you are pleased to tell me, I am -to have by next post.’ - -Mr Hope’s wife and daughters being left as heirs of Lady Grange, an -action was raised in their name for the £1150 formerly awarded, and -for three years additional of her annuity; and for this compound sum -decreet was obtained, which was followed by steps for forcing payment. -The Hopes were aware, however, of the dubious character of this claim, -seeing that Mr Erskine, from whatever causes, had substituted an actual -subsistence since 1732. They accordingly intimated that they aimed -at no personal benefit from Lady Grange’s bequest; and the affair -terminated in Mr Erskine reimbursing Mr Hope for all the expenses he -had incurred on behalf of the lady, including that for the sloop which -he had hired to proceed to St Kilda for her rescue. - -It is humbly thought that this story casts a curious and faithful -light upon the age of our grandfathers, showing things in a kind of -transition from the sanguinary violence of an earlier age to the -humanity of the present times. Erskine, not to speak of his office of a -judge in Scotland, moved in English society of the highest character. -He must have been the friend of Lyttelton, Pope, Thomson, and other -ornaments of Frederick’s court; and as the brother-in-law of the -Countess of Mar, who was sister of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, he would -figure in the brilliant circle which surrounded that star of the age of -the second George. Yet he does not appear to have ever felt a moment’s -compunction at leaving the mother of his children to pine and fret -herself to death in a half-savage wilderness— - - ‘Placed far amidst the melancholy main;’ - -for in a paper which expresses his feelings on the subject pretty -freely, he justifies the ‘sequestration’ as a step required by prudence -and decency; and in showing that the gross necessaries of life were -afforded to his wife, seems to have considered that his whole duty -towards her was discharged. Such an insensibility could not be peculiar -to one man: it indicates the temper of a class and of an age. While -congratulating ourselves on the improved humanity of our own times, -we may glance with satisfaction to the means which it places in our -power for the proper treatment of patients like Mrs Erskine. Such a -woman would now be regarded as the unfortunate victim of disease, and -instead of being forcibly carried off under cloud of night by a band -of Highlanders, and committed to confinement on the outskirts of the -world, she would, with proper precautions, be remitted to an asylum, -where, by gentle and rational management, it might be hoped that she -would be restored to mental health, or, at the worst, enabled to -spend the remainder of her days in the utmost comfort which her state -admitted of. - - * * * * * - -[1868.—About the middle of Cant’s Close,[185] on the west side, -there exists a remarkable edifice, different from all others in the -neighbourhood. It is two stories in height, the second story being -reached by an outside stone stair within a small courtyard, which had -originally been shut in by a gate. The stone pillars of the gateway are -decorated with balls at the top, as was the fashion of entrances to the -grounds of a country mansion. The building is picturesque in character, -in the style of the sixteenth century in Scotland. As it resembles a -neat, old-fashioned country-house, one wonders to find it jammed up -amidst tall edifices in this confined alley. Ascending the stair, we -find that the interior consists of three or four apartments, with -handsome panelled walls and elaborately carved stucco ceilings. The -principal room has a double window on the west to Dickson’s Close.[186] - -[Illustration: Old Mansion, Cant’s Close.] - -Daniel Wilson, in his _Memorials of Edinburgh_, speaks of this building -in reference to Dickson’s Close. He says: ‘A little lower down the -close on the same side, an old and curious stone tenement bears on -its lower crow-step the Haliburton arms, impaled with another coat, -on one shield. It is a singularly antique and time-worn edifice, -evidently of considerable antiquity. A curious double window projects -on a corbelled base into the close, while the whole stone-work is so -much decayed as greatly to add to its picturesque character. In the -earliest deed which exists, bearing date 1582, its first proprietor, -Master James Halyburton—a title then of some meaning—is spoken of in -indefinite terms as _umq^{le}_, or deceased; so that it is a building -probably of the early part of the sixteenth century.’ It is known that -the adjoining properties on the north once pertained to the collegiate -church of Crichton; while those on the east, in Strichen’s Close, -comprehended the town residence of the Abbot of Melrose, 1526. - -The adjoining woodcut [p. 221] will give some idea of this strange -old mansion in Cant’s Close, with its gateway and flight of steps. In -looking over the titles, we find that the tenement was conveyed in -1735 from Robert Geddes of Scotstoun, Peeblesshire, to George Wight, a -burgess of Edinburgh, since which period it has gradually deteriorated; -every apartment, from the ground to the garret, is now a dwelling for -a separate family; and the whole surroundings are most wretched. The -edifice formed one of the properties removed under the Improvement Act -of 1867.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[176] The Canongate seems to have been paved about the same time. In -1535 the king granted to the Abbot of Holyrood a duty of one penny upon -every loaded cart, and a halfpenny upon every empty one, to repair and -maintain the causeway. - -[177] George Lockhart of Carnwath lived here in 1753. Afterwards he -resided in Ross House, a suburban mansion, which afterwards was used as -a lying-in hospital. The park connected with this house is now occupied -by George Square. While in Mr Lockhart’s possession Ross House was the -scene of many gay routs and balls. - -The Lords Ross, the original proprietors of this mansion, died out in -1754. One of the last persons in Scotland supposed to be possessed -by an evil spirit was a daughter of George, the second last lord. A -correspondent says: ‘A person alive in 1824 told me that, when a child, -he saw her clamber up to the top of an old-fashioned four-post bed -like a cat. In her fits it was almost impossible to hold her. About -the same time, a daughter of Lord Kinnaird was supposed to have the -second-sight. One day, during divine worship in the High Church, she -fainted away; on her recovery, she declared that when Lady Janet Dundas -(a daughter of Lord Lauderdale) entered the pew with Miss Dundas, who -was a beautiful young girl, she saw the latter as it were in a shroud -gathered round her neck, and upon her head. Miss Dundas died a short -time after.’ - -[178] Both facts from Moyses’s _Memoirs_. - -[179] In the house to the north of this was a shop kept by an eccentric -personage, who exhibited a sign bearing this singular inscription: - - ORRA THINGS BOUGHT AND SOLD— - -which signified that he dealt in odd articles, such as a single -shoe-buckle, one of a pair of skates, a teapot wanting a lid, or -perhaps, as often, a lid _minus_ a teapot; in short, any unpaired -article which was not to be got in the shops where only new things were -sold, and which, nevertheless, was now and then as indispensably wanted -by householders as anything else. - -[180] The present article is almost wholly from original sources, a -fact probably unknown to a contemporary novelist, who has made it the -groundwork of a fiction without any acknowledgment. Some additional -particulars may be found in _Tales of the Century_, by John Sobieski -Stuart (Edinburgh, 1846). In the _Spalding Miscellany_, vol. iii., are -several letters of Lord Grange, containing allusions to his wife; and a -production of his, which has been printed under the title of _Diary of -a Senator of the College of Justice_ (Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1833), is -worthy of perusal. - -[181] Here and elsewhere a paper in Lord Grange’s own hand is quoted. - -[182] ‘Then, and some time before and after, there was a stage-coach -from hence to England.’ So says his lordship; implying that in 1751, -when he was writing, there was no such public conveniency! It had been -tried, and had failed. - -[183] If we could believe Lord Lovat, however, he personally was -innocent, and regretted he was innocent, of any association with the -abduction of Lady Grange. ‘They said it was all my contrivance, and -that it was my servants that took her away; but I defyed them then, as -I do now, and do declare to you upon honour, that I do not know what -has become of that woman, where she is or who takes care of her, but if -I had contrived and assisted, and saved my Lord Grange from that devil, -who threatened every day to murder him and his children, I would not -think shame of it before God or man.’—Letter of Lord Lovat’s quoted in -_Genealogie of the Hayes of Tweeddale_. - -[184] About four gallons. - -[185] Named after John Cant, a pious citizen of the sixteenth century, -who, with his wife, Agnes Kerkettle, was a contributor to the -foundation of the Convent of St Catherine of Siena on the south side of -the Meadows. The district is now known as Sciennes—pronounced _Sheens_. - -[186] Only fragments of the ancient buildings remain in Cant’s and -Dickson’s Closes. - - - - -ABBOT OF MELROSE’S LODGING. - - SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE—LADY ANNE DICK. - - -In Catholic times several of the great dignitaries of the Church had -houses in Edinburgh, as the Archbishop of St Andrews at the foot -of Blackfriars Wynd, the Bishop of Dunkeld in the Cowgate, and the -Abbot of Cambuskenneth in the Lawnmarket.[187] The Abbot of Melrose’s -‘lodging’ appears from public documents to have been in what is now -called Strichen’s Close, in the High Street, immediately to the west of -Blackfriars Wynd. It had a garden extending down to the Cowgate and up -part of the opposite slope. - -[Illustration: Strichen’s Close.] - -A successor of the abbot in this possession was Sir George Mackenzie -of Rosehaugh, king’s advocate in the reigns of Charles II. and James -II., and author of several able works in Scottish law, as well as a -successful cultivator of miscellaneous literature. He got a charter -of the property from the magistrates in 1677. The house occupied by -Sir George still exists,[188] and appears to have been a goodly enough -mansion for its time. It is now, however, possessed by a brass-founder -as a place of business. From Sir George the alley was called -Rosehaugh’s Close, till, this house falling by marriage connection into -the possession of Lord Strichen, it got the name of Strichen’s Close, -which it still bears. Lord Strichen was a judge of the Court of Session -for forty-five years subsequent to 1730. He was the direct ancestor of -the present Lord Lovat of the British peerage. - -[Illustration: Back of Mackenzie’s House, looking into Cant’s House.] - -Mackenzie has still a place in the popular imagination in Edinburgh as -the _Bluidy Mackingie_, his office having been to prosecute the unruly -Covenanters. It therefore happens that the founder of our greatest -national library,[189] one whom Dryden regarded as a friend, and who -was the very first writer of classic English prose in Scotland, is -a sort of Raw-head and Bloody-bones by the firesides of his native -capital. He lies in a beautiful mausoleum, which forms a conspicuous -object in the Greyfriars Churchyard, and which describes him as -an ornament to his age, and a man who was kind to all, ‘except a -rebellious crew, from whose violence, with tongue and pen, he defended -his country and king, whose virulence he stayed by the sword of -justice, and whose ferocity he, by the force of reason, blunted, and -only did not subdue.’ This monument was an object of horror to the good -people of Edinburgh, as it was almost universally believed that the -spirit of the persecutor could get no rest in its superb but gloomy -tenement. It used to be ‘a feat’ for a set of boys, in a still summer -evening, to march up to the ponderous doors, bedropt with white tears -upon a black ground, and cry in at the keyhole:— - - ‘Bluidy Mackingie, come out if ye daur, - Lift the sneck, and draw the bar!’ - -after which they would run away as if some hobgoblin were in chase of -them, probably not looking round till they were out of the churchyard. - -Sir George Mackenzie had a country-house called Shank, about ten miles -to the south of Edinburgh,[190] now a ruin. One day the Marquis of -Tweeddale, having occasion to consult him about some law business, rode -across the country, and arrived at so early an hour in the morning that -the lawyer was not yet out of bed. Soliciting an immediate audience, -he was admitted to the bedroom, where he sat down and detailed the -case to Sir George, who gave him all necessary counsel from behind the -curtains. When the marquis advanced to present a fee, he was startled -at the apparition of a female hand through the curtains, in an attitude -expressive of a readiness to receive, while no hand appeared on the -part of Sir George. The explanation was that Sir George’s lady, as -has been the case with many a weaker man, took entire charge of his -purse.[191] - -Several of the descendants of this great lawyer have been remarkable -for their talents. None, perhaps, possessed more of the _vivida vis -animi_ than his granddaughter, Lady Anne Dick of Corstorphine (also -granddaughter, by the father’s side, to the clever but unscrupulous -‘Tarbat Register,’ the first Earl of Cromarty).[192] This lady excited -much attention in Edinburgh society by her eccentric manners and her -droll pasquinade verses: one of those beings she was who astonish, -perplex, and fidget their fellow-creatures, till at last the world -feels a sort of relief when they are removed from the stage. She made -many enemies by her lampoons; and her personal conduct only afforded -them too good room for revenge. Sometimes she would dress herself in -men’s clothes, and go about the town in search of adventures. One -of her frolics ended rather disgracefully, for she and her maid, -being apprehended in their disguise, were lodged all night in the -Town Guard-house. It may be readily imagined that by those whom her -wit had exasperated such follies would be deeply relished and made -the most of. We must not, therefore, be surprised at Scandal telling -that Lady Anne had at one period lain a whole year in bed, in a vain -endeavour—to baffle _himself_. - -Through private channels have oozed out at this late day a few -specimens of Lady Anne’s poetical abilities; less brilliant than might -be expected from the above character of her, yet having a certain air -of dash and _espièglerie_ which looks appropriate. They are partly -devoted to bewailing the coldness of a certain Sir Peter Murray of -Balmanno, towards whom she chose to act as a sort of she-Petrarch, -but apparently in the mere pursuit of whim. One runs in the following -tender strain: - - ‘Oh, when he dances at a ball, - He’s rarely worth the seeing; - So light he trips, you would him take - For some aërial being! - While pinky-winky go his een, - How blest is each bystander! - How gracefully he leads the fair, - When to her seat he hands her! - - But when in accents saft and sweet, - He chants forth _Lizzie Baillie_, - His dying looks and attitude - Enchant, they cannot fail ye. - The loveliest widow in the land, - When she could scarce disarm him, - Alas! the belles in Roxburghshire - Must never hope to charm him! - - O happy, happy, happy she, - Could make him change his plan, sir, - And of this rigid bachelor, - Convert the married man, sir: - O happy, and thrice happy she, - Could make him change his plan, sir, - And to the gentle Benedick - Convert the single man, sir,’ &c. - -In another, tired, apparently, of the apathy of this sweet youth, she -breaks out as follows: - - ‘Oh, wherefore did I cross the Forth, - And leave my love behind me? - Why did I venture to the north, - With one that did not mind me? - - Had I but visited Carin! - It would have been much better, - Than pique the prudes, and make a din - For careless, cold Sir Peter! - - I’m sure I’ve seen a better limb, - And twenty better faces; - But still my mind it ran on him, - When I was at the races. - - At night, when we went to the ball, - Were many there discreeter; - The well-bred duke, and lively Maule, - Panmure behaved much better. - - They kindly showed their courtesy, - And looked on me much sweeter; - Yet easy could I never be, - For thinking on Sir Peter. - - I fain would wear an easy air, - But, oh, it looked affected, - And e’en the fine ambassador - Could see he was neglected. - - Though Powrie left for me the spleen, - My temper grew no sweeter; - I think I’m mad—what do I mean, - To follow cold Sir Peter!’ - -Her ladyship died, without issue, in 1741. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[187] At the head of the Old Bank Close, to the westward; burned down -in 1771. - -[188] Only a small portion of this building now remains. - -[189] The Advocates’ Library. - -[190] In the parish of Borthwick. - -[191] This anecdote was related to me by the first Lord Wharncliffe, -grandson’s grandson to Sir George, about 1828. - -[192] Cromarty, at seventy, contrived to marry ‘a young and beautiful -countess in her own right, a widow, wealthy, and in universal -estimation. The following distich was composed on the occasion: - - Thou sonsie auld carl, the world has not thy like, - For ladies fa’ in love with thee, though thou be ane auld tyke.’ - - C. K. Sharpe, Notes to _Law’s Memorials_, p. xlvii. - - - - -BLACKFRIARS WYND. - - PALACE OF ARCHBISHOP BETHUNE—BOARDING-SCHOOLS OF THE LAST - CENTURY—THE LAST OF THE LORIMERS—LADY LOVAT. - - -Those who now look into Blackfriars Wynd—passing through it is out of -the question—will be surprised to learn that, all dismal and wretched -as it is in all respects, it was once a place of some respectability -and even dignity. On several of its tall old _lands_ may be seen -inscriptions implying piety on the part of the founder—one, for -example: - - PAX INTRANTIBUS, - SALUS EXEUNTIBUS; - -another: - - MISERERE MEI, DEUS; - -this last containing in its _upper floor_ all that the adherents of -Rome had forty years ago as a place of worship in Edinburgh—the -chapel to which, therefore, as a matter of course, the late Charles X. -resorted with his suite, when residing as Comte d’Artois in Holyrood -House. The alley gets its name from having been the access to the -Blackfriars’ Monastery on the opposite slope, and being built on their -land. - -[Illustration: BLACKFRIARS’ WYND. - -PAGE 228.] - - -PALACE OF ARCHBISHOP BETHUNE [OR BEATON]. - -At the foot of the wynd, on the east side, is a large mansion of -antique appearance, forming two sides of a quadrangle, with a -_porte-cochère_ giving access to a court behind, and a picturesque -overhanging turret at the exterior angle.[193] This house was built by -James Bethune, Archbishop of Glasgow (1508-1524), chancellor of the -kingdom, and one of the Lords Regent under the Duke of Albany during -the minority of James V. Lyndsay, in his _Chronicles_, speaks of it -as ‘his owen ludging quhilk he biggit in the Freiris Wynd.’ Keith, at -a later period, says: ‘Over the entry of which the arms of the family -of Bethune are to be seen to this day.’ Common report represents it as -the house of Cardinal Bethune, who was the nephew of the Archbishop -of Glasgow; and it is not improbable that the one prelate bequeathed -it to the other, and that it thus became what Maitland calls it, ‘the -archiepiscopal palace belonging to the see of St Andrews.’ - -[Illustration: Cardinal Bethune’s House.] - -The ground-floor of this extensive building is arched over with strong -stone-work, after the fashion of those houses of defence of the same -period which are still scattered over the country. Some years ago, when -one of the arches was removed to make way for a common ceiling, a thick -layer of sand, firmly beaten down, was found between the surface of -the vault and the floor above. Ground-floors thus formed were applied -in former times to inferior domestic uses, and to the storing of -articles of value. The chief apartments for living in were on the floor -above—that is, the so-called _first floor_. And such is the case in -all the best houses of an old fashion in the city of St Andrews at this -day. - -I shall afterwards have something to say of an event of the year 1517, -with which Archbishop Bethune’s house was connected. It appears to have -been occupied by James V. in 1528, while he was deliberating on the -propriety of calling a parliament.[194] - -The Bethune palace is now, like its confrères, abandoned to the -humblest class of tenants. Eighty years ago, however, it must still -have been a tolerably good house, as it was then the residence of -Bishop Abernethy Drummond, of the Scottish Episcopal communion, the -husband of the heiress of Hawthornden. This worthy divine occupied -some space in the public eye in his day, and was particularly active -in obtaining the repeal of the penal statutes against his church. Some -wag, figuring the surprise in high places at a stir arising from a -quarter so obscure, penned this epigram: - - ‘Lord Sydney, to the privy-council summoned, - By testy majesty was questioned quick: - “Eh, eh! who, who’s this Abernethy Drummond, - And where, in Heaven’s name, is his bishopric?”’ - - -BOARDING-SCHOOLS OF THE LAST CENTURY. - -When the reader hears such things of the Freir Wynd, he must not be -surprised overmuch on perusing the following advertisement from the -_Edinburgh Gazette_ of April 19, 1703: ‘There is a Boarding-school to -be set up in Blackfriars Wynd, in Robinson’s Land, upon the west side -of the wynd, near the middle thereof, in the first door of the stair -leading to the said land, against the latter end of May, or first of -June next, where young Ladies and Gentlewomen may have all sorts of -breeding that is to be had in any part of Britain, and great care taken -of their conversation.’ - -I know not whether this was the same seminary which, towards the -middle of the century, was kept by a distinguished lady named Mrs -Euphame or Effie Sinclair, who was descended from the ancient family -of Longformacus, in Berwickshire, being the granddaughter of Sir -Robert Sinclair, first baronet of Longformacus, upon whom that dignity -was conferred by King Charles II., in consideration of his services -and losses during the civil war. Mrs Effie was allied to many of -the best families in Scotland, who made it a duty to place their -children under her charge; and her school was thus one of the most -respectable in Edinburgh. By her were educated the beautiful Miss Duff, -afterwards Countess of Dumfries and Stair, and, by a second marriage, -lady of the Honourable Alexander Gordon (Lord Rockville); the late -amiable and excellently well informed Mrs Keith, sister of Sir Robert -Keith, commonly called, from his diplomatic services, _Ambassador -Keith_;[195] the two Misses Hume of Linthill; and Miss Rutherford, -the mother of Sir Walter Scott. All these ladies were Scottish cousins -to Mrs Effie. To judge by the proficiency of her scholars, although -much of what is called accomplishment might be then left untaught, she -must have been possessed of uncommon talents for education; for all -the ladies before mentioned had well-cultivated minds, were fond of -reading, wrote and spelled admirably, were well acquainted with history -and with _belles-lettres_, without neglecting the more homely duties of -the needle and the account-book; and, while two of them were women of -extraordinary talents, all of them were perfectly well-bred in society. - -[Illustration] - -It may be added that many of these young ladies were sent to reside -with and be _finished off_ by the Honourable Mrs Ogilvie, lady of the -Honourable Patrick Ogilvie of Longmay and Inchmartin, who was supposed -to be the _best-bred_ woman of her time in Scotland (ob. 1753). Her -system was very rigorous, according to the spirit of the times. The -young ladies were taught to sit quite upright; and the mother of -my informant (Sir Walter Scott), even when advanced to nearly her -eightieth year, never permitted her back to touch the chair in sitting. -There is a remarkably good and characteristic anecdote told of the -husband of this rigorous preceptress, a younger brother of the Earl of -Findlater, whose exertions, while Lord High-chancellor of Scotland, -in favour of the Union were so conspicuous. The younger brother, it -appears, had condescended to trade a little in cattle, which was not -considered derogatory to the dignity of a Scottish gentleman at that -time, and was by no means an uncommon practice among them. However, -the earl was offended at the measure, and upbraided his brother for -it. ‘Haud your tongue, man!’ said the cattle-dealer; ‘better sell -nowte than sell nations,’ pronouncing the last word with peculiar and -emphatic breadth. - -I am tempted, by the curious and valuable document appended, to suspect -that the female accomplishments of the last century were little behind -those of the present in point of useless elaboration. - -‘_Thursday, December 9, 1703._—Near Dundee, at Dudhope, there is -to be taught, by a gentlewoman from London, the following works, -viz.—1. Wax-work of all sorts, as any one’s picture to the life, -figures in shadow glasses, fruits upon trees or in dishes, all manner -of confections, fish, flesh, fowl, or anything that can be made of -wax.—2. Philligrim-work of any sort, whether hollow or flat.—3. -Japan-work upon timber or glass.—4. Painting upon glass.—5. Sashes -for windows, upon sarsnet or transparent paper.—6. Straw-work of any -sort, as houses, birds, or beasts.—7. Shell-work, in sconces, rocks, -or flowers.—8. Quill-work.—9. Gum-work.—10. Transparent-work.—11. -Puff-work.—12. Paper-work.—13. Plate-work on timber, brass, -or glass.—14. Tortoise-shell-work.—15. Mould-work, boxes and -baskets.—16. Silver landskips.—17. Gimp-work.—18. Bugle-work.—19. -A sort of work in imitation of japan, very cheap.—20. Embroidering, -stitching, and quilting.—21. True point or tape lace.—22. Cutting -glass.—23. Washing gauzes, or Flanders lace and point.—24. -Pastry of all sorts, with the finest cuts and shapes that’s now -used in London.—25. Boning fowls, without cutting the back.—26. -Butter-work.—27. Preserving, conserving, and candying.—28. Pickling -and colouring.—29. All sorts of English wines.—30. Writing and -arithmetic.—31. Music, and the great end of dancing, which is a good -carriage; and several other things too tedious here to be mentioned. -Any who are desirous to learn the above works may board with herself at -a reasonable rate, or may board themselves in Dundee, and may come to -her quarterly.’—Advertisement in _Edinburgh Gazette_, 1703. - -[Illustration: ‘The great end of dancing.’] - -Another distinguished Edinburgh boarding-school of the last century was -kept by two ladies, of Jacobite predilections, named the Misses Ged, in -Paterson’s Court, Lawnmarket. They were remarkable at least for their -family connections, for it was a brother of theirs who, under the name -of Don Patricio Ged, rendered such kindly and effective service to -Commodore Byron, as gratefully recorded in the well-known _Narrative_, -and gracefully touched on by Campbell in the _Pleasures of Hope_: - - ‘He found a warmer world, a milder clime, - A home to rest, a shelter to defend, - Peace and repose, _a Briton and a friend_.’ - -Another member of the family, William Ged, originally a goldsmith in -Edinburgh, was the inventor of stereotype printing. The Misses Ged -were described by their friends as of the Geds of Baldridge, near -Dunfermline; thorough Fife Jacobites every one of them. The old ladies -kept a portrait of the Chevalier in their parlour, and looked chiefly -to partisans of the Stuarts for support. They had another relative of -less dignity, who, accepting a situation in the Town-guard, became -liable to satiric reference from Robert Fergusson: - - ‘Nunc est bibendum, et bendere bickerum magnum, - Cavete Town-guardum, _Dougal Geddum_, atque Campbellum.’ - -Dougal had been a silversmith, but in his own conceit his red coat as a -Town-guard officer made him completely military. Seeing a lady without -a beau at the door of the Assembly Room, he offered his services, ‘if -the arm of an old soldier could be of any use.’ ‘Hoot awa, Dougal,’ -said the lady, accepting his assistance, however; ‘an auld tinkler, you -mean.’ - - -THE LAST OF THE LORIMERS. - -To return for a moment to the archiepiscopal palace. It contained, -about eighty years ago, a person calling himself a LORIMER—an -appellative once familiar in Edinburgh, being applied to those who deal -in the ironwork used in saddlery.[196] - - -LADY LOVAT. - -The widow of the rebel Lord Lovat spent a great portion of a long -widowhood and died (1796) in a house at the head of Blackfriars Wynd. - -Her ladyship was a niece of the first Duke of Argyll, and born, as -she herself expressed it, in the year _Ten_—that is, 1710. The -politic _Mac Shemus_[197] marked her out as a suitable second wife, in -consideration of the value of the Argyll connection. As he was above -thirty years her senior, and not famed for the tenderest treatment of -his former spouse, or for any other amiable trait of disposition, she -endeavoured, by all gentle means, to avoid the match; but it was at -length effected through the intervention of her relations, and she was -carried north to take her place in the semi-barbarous state which her -husband held at Castle Downie. - -Nothing but misery could have been expected from such an alliance. The -poor young lady, while treated with external decorum, was in private -subjected to such usage as might have tried the spirit of a Griselda. -She was occasionally kept confined in a room by herself, from which she -was not allowed to come forth even at meals, only a scanty supply of -coarse food being sent to her from his lordship’s table. When pregnant, -her husband coolly told her that if she brought forth a girl he would -put it on the back of the fire. His eldest son by the former marriage -was a sickly child. Lovat therefore deemed it necessary to raise a -strong motive in the step-mother for the child being taken due care -of during his absence in the Lowlands. On going from home, he would -calmly inform her that any harm befalling _the boys_ in his absence -would be attended with the penalty of her own death, for in that event -he would undoubtedly shoot her through the head. It is added that she -did, from this in addition to other motives, take an unusual degree of -care of her step-son, who ever after felt towards her the tenderest -love and gratitude. One is disposed to believe that there must be some -exaggeration in these stories; and yet when we consider that it is an -historical fact that Lovat applied to Prince Charles for a warrant to -take President Forbes _dead or alive_ (Forbes being his friend and -daily intimate), it seems no extravagance that he should have acted in -this manner to his wife. Sir Walter Scott tells an additional story, -which helps out the picture. ‘A lady, the intimate friend of her youth, -was instructed to visit Lady Lovat, as if by accident, to ascertain -the truth of those rumours concerning her husband’s conduct which had -reached the ears of her family. She was received by Lord Lovat with -an extravagant affectation of welcome, and with many assurances of -the happiness his lady would receive from seeing her. The chief then -went to the lonely tower in which Lady Lovat was secluded, without -decent clothes, and even without sufficient nourishment. He laid a -dress before her becoming her rank, commanded her to put it on, to -appear, and to receive her friend as if she were the mistress of the -house; in which she was, in fact, a naked and half-starved prisoner. -And such was the strict watch which he maintained, and the terror -which his character inspired, that the visitor durst not ask, nor -Lady Lovat communicate, anything respecting her real situation.’[198] -Afterwards, by a letter rolled up in a clew of yarn and dropped over -a window to a confidential person, she was enabled to let her friends -know how matters actually stood; and steps were then taken to obtain -her separation from her husband. When, some years later, his political -perfidy had brought him to the Tower—forgetting all past injuries, -and thinking only of her duty as a wife, Lady Lovat offered to come to -London to attend him. He returned an answer, declining the proposal, -and containing the only expressions of kindness and regard which she -had ever received from him since her marriage. - -The singular character of Lord Lovat makes almost every particular -regarding him worth collecting. - -[Illustration] - -Previous to 1745, when the late Mr Alexander Baillie of Dochfour -was a student at the grammar-school of Inverness, cock-fights were -very common among the boys. This detestable sport, by the way, was -encouraged by the schoolmasters of those days, who derived a profit -from the beaten cocks, or, as they were called, _fugies_, which became, -at the end of every game, their appropriated perquisite. In pursuit of -cocks, Mr Baillie went to visit his friends in the Aird, and in the -course of his researches was introduced to Lord Lovat, whose policy -it was, on all occasions, to show great attentions to his neighbours -and their children. The situation in which his lordship was found by -the schoolboy was, if not quite unprecedented, nevertheless rather -surprising. He was stretched out in bed between two Highland lasses, -who, on being seen, affected out of modesty to hide their faces under -the bedclothes. The old lord accounted for this strange scene by saying -that his blood had become cold, and he was obliged to supply the want -of heat by the application of animal warmth. - -It is said that he lay in bed for the most part of the two years -preceding the Rebellion; till, hearing of Prince Charles’s arrival -in Arisaig, he roused himself with sudden vehemence, crying to an -attendant: ‘Lassie, bring me my brogues—I’ll rise _noo_!’ - -One of his odd fancies was to send a retainer every day to Loch Ness, a -distance of eight miles, for the water he drank. - -His intimacy with his neighbour President Forbes is an amusing affair, -for the men must have secretly known full well what each other was, and -yet policy made them keep on decent terms for a long course of years. -Lovat’s son by the subject of this notice—the Honourable Archibald -Campbell Fraser—was a boy at Petty school in 1745. The President -sometimes invited him to dinner. One day, pulling a handful of foreign -gold pieces out of his pocket, he carelessly asked the boy if he had -ever seen such coins before. Here was a stroke worthy of Lovat himself, -for undoubtedly he meant thus to be informed whether the lord of Castle -Downie was accustomed to get remittances for the Chevalier’s cause from -abroad. - -After the death of Lord Lovat, there arose some demur about his lady’s -jointure, which was only £190 per annum. It was not paid to her for -several years, during which, being destitute of other resources, she -lived with one of her sisters. Some of her numerous friends—among -the rest, Lord Strichen—offered her the loan of money to purchase -a house and suffice for present maintenance. But she did not choose -to encumber herself with debts which she had no certain prospect of -repaying. At length the dispute about her jointure was settled in a -favourable manner, and her ladyship received in a lump the amount of -past dues, out of which she expended £500 in purchasing a house at the -head of Blackfriars Wynd,[199] and a further sum upon a suite of plain -substantial furniture. - -It would surprise a modern dowager to know how much good Lady Lovat -contrived to do amongst her fellow-creatures with this small allowance. -It is said that the succeeding Lady of Lovat, with a jointure of -£4000, was less distinguished for her benefactions. In Lady Lovat’s -dusky mansion, with a waiting-maid, cook, and footboy, she not only -maintained herself in the style of a gentlewoman, but could welcome -every kind of Highland cousin to a plain but hospitable board, and even -afford permanent shelter to several unfortunate friends. A certain -Lady Dorothy Primrose, who was her niece, lived with her for several -years, using the best portion of her house, namely, the rooms fronting -the High Street, while she herself was contented with the duller -apartments towards the _wynd_. There was another desolate old person, -styled Mistress of Elphinstone, whom Lady Lovat supported as a friend -and equal for many years. Not by habit a card-player herself, she would -make up a whist-party every week for the benefit of _the Mistress_. -At length the poor Mistress came to a sad fate. A wicked, perhaps -half-crazy boy, grandson to her ladyship, having taken an antipathy to -his venerable relative, put poison into the oatmeal porridge which she -was accustomed to take at supper. Feeling unwell that night, she did -not eat any, and the Mistress took the porridge instead, of which she -died. The boy was sent away, and died in obscurity. - -An unostentatious but sincere piety marked the character of Lady -Lovat. Perhaps her notions of Providence were carried to the verge of -a kind of fatalism; for not merely did she receive all crosses and -troubles as trials arranged for her benefit by a Higher Hand, but when -a neighbouring house on one occasion took fire, she sat unmoved in her -own mansion, notwithstanding the entreaties of the magistrates, who -ordered a sedan to be brought for her removal. She said if her hour -was come, it would be vain to try to elude her fate; and if it was not -come, she would be safe where she was. She had a conscientiousness -almost ludicrously nice. If detained from church on any occasion, -she always doubled her usual oblation at the _plate_ next time. When -her chimney took fire, she sent her fine to the Town-guard before -they knew the circumstance. Even the tax-collector experienced her -ultra-rectitude. When he came to examine her windows, she took him to a -closet lighted by a single pane, looking into a narrow passage between -two houses. He hesitated about charging for such a small modicum of -light, but her ladyship insisted on his taking note of it.[200] - -Lady Lovat was of small stature, had been thought a beauty, and -retained in advanced old age much of her youthful delicacy of features -and complexion. Her countenance bore a remarkably sweet and pleasing -expression. When at home, her dress was a red silk gown, with ruffled -cuffs, and sleeves puckered like a man’s shirt; a fly-cap, encircling -the head, with a mob-cap laid across it, falling down over the cheeks, -and tied under the chin; her hair dressed and powdered; a double muslin -handkerchief round the neck and bosom; _lammer-beads_; a white lawn -apron, edged with lace; black stockings with red gushets; high-heeled -shoes.[201] She usually went abroad in a chair, as I have been informed -by the daughter of a lady who was one of the first inhabitants of the -New Town, and whom Lady Lovat regularly visited there once every three -months. As her chair emerged from the head of Blackfriars Wynd, any -one who saw her sitting in it, so neat and fresh and clean, would have -taken her for a queen in waxwork, pasted up in a glass-case. - -Lady Lovat was intimate with Lady Jane Douglas; and one of the -strongest evidences in favour of Lord Douglas being the son of that -lady[202] was the following remarkable circumstance: Lady Lovat, -passing by a house in the High Street, saw a child at a window, and -remarked to a friend who was with her: ‘If I thought Lady Jane Douglas -could be in Edinburgh, I would say that was her child—he is so like -her!’ Upon returning home, she found a note from Lady Jane, informing -her that she had just arrived in Edinburgh, and had taken lodgings -in —— Land, which proved to be the house in which Lady Lovat had -observed the child, and that child was young Archibald Douglas. Lady -Lovat was a person of such strict integrity that no consideration -could have tempted her to say what she did not think; and at the time -she saw the child, she had no reason to suppose that Lady Jane was in -Scotland. - -Such was the generosity of her disposition that when her grandson -Simon was studying law, she at various times presented him with £50, -and when he was to pass as an advocate she sent him £100. It was -wonderful how she could spare such sums from her small jointure. Whole -tribes of grand-nephews and grand-nieces experienced the goodness of -her heart, and loved her with almost filial affection. She frequently -spoke to them of her misfortunes, and was accustomed to say: ‘I dare -say, bairns, the events of my life would make a good _novelle_; but -they have been of so strange a nature that nobody would believe -them’—meaning that they wanted the _vraisemblance_ necessary in -fiction. She contemplated the approach of death with fortitude, and -in anticipation of her obsequies, had her grave-clothes ready and -the stair whitewashed. Yet the disposal of her poor remains little -troubled her. When asked by her son if she wished to be placed in the -burial-vault at Beaufort, she said: ‘’Deed, Archie, ye needna put -yoursel’ to ony fash about me, for I dinna care though ye lay me aneath -that hearthstane!’ After all, it chanced, from some misarrangements, -that her funeral was not very promptly executed; whereupon a Miss -Hepburn of Humbie, living in a floor above, remarked, ’she wondered -what they were keeping her sae lang for—stinkin’ a’ the stair.’ This -gives some idea of circumstances connected with Old Town life. - -The conduct of her ladyship’s son in life was distinguished by a degree -of eccentricity which, in connection with that of his son already -stated, tends to raise a question as to the character of Lord Lovat, -and make us suspect that wickedness so great as his could only result -from a certain unsoundness of mind. It is admitted, however, that the -eldest son, Simon, who rose to be a major-general in the army, was a -man of respectable character. He retained nothing of his father but a -genius for making fine speeches.[203] The late Mrs Murray of Henderland -told me she was present at a supper-party given by some gentleman in -the Horse Wynd, where General Fraser, eating his egg, said to the -hostess: ‘Mrs ——, other people’s eggs overflow with _milk_; but yours -run over with _cream_!’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[193] This historic building was demolished many years ago. Its main -front faced the Cowgate, and to the north and east were extensive -gardens. - -[194] In this house, too, Queen Mary was entertained at a banquet given -by the citizens. ‘Upon the nynt day of Februar at evin the Queen’s -grace come up in ane honourable manner fra the palice of Holyrudhouse -to the Cardinal’s ludging in Blackfriars Wynd, ... and efter supper the -honest young men in the town come with ane convoy to her,’ and escorted -her back to Holyrood.—_Diurnal of Occurrents._ - -Before the opening of the original High School in the grounds of the -Blackfriars’ Monastery the pupils were temporarily accommodated in -Beaton’s palace. - -[195] The title ‘Ambassador Keith’ is usually applied to Sir Robert’s -father, who, after several minor diplomatic appointments on the -Continent, was the representative of Great Britain at the court of St -Petersburg. An interesting sketch of him, under the title of ‘Felix,’ -by Mrs Cockburn, is appended to the volume of that lady’s _Letters_, -edited by Mr T. Craig Brown. Miss Keith, known to Edinburgh society as -‘Sister Anne,’ was Scott’s ‘Mrs Bethune Balliol’ of the _Chronicles -of the Canongate_. This gentleman was absent from Edinburgh about -twenty-two years, and returned at a time when it was supposed that -manners were beginning to exhibit symptoms of great improvement. He, -however, complained that they were degenerated. In his early time, he -said, every Scottish gentleman of £300 a year travelled abroad when -young, and brought home to the bosom of domestic life, and to the -profession in which it might be his fate to engage, a vast fund of -literary information, knowledge of the world, and genuine good manners, -which dignified his character through life. But towards the year 1770 -this practice had been entirely given up, and in consequence a sensible -change was discoverable upon the face of good society. (See the _Life -of John Home_, by Henry Mackenzie, Esq.). - -[196] It is curious to observe how, in correspondence with the change -in our manners and customs, one trade has become extinct, while -another succeeded in its place. At the end of the sixteenth century -the manufacture of offensive weapons predominated over all other -trades in Edinburgh. We had then cutlers, whose _essay-piece_, on -being admitted of the corporation, was ‘ane plain finished quhanzear’ -or sword; gaird-makers, whose business consisted in fashioning -sword-handles; Dalmascars, who gilded the said weapon; and belt-makers, -who wrought the girdles that bound it to the wearer’s body. There were -also dag-makers, who made hackbuts (short-guns) and dags (pistols). -These various professions all became associated in the general one -of armourers, or gunsmiths, when the wearing of weapons went into -desuetude—there being then no further necessity for the expedition -and expediency of the modern political economist’s boasted ‘division -of labour.’ As the above arts gave way, those which tended to provide -the comforts and luxuries of civilised life gradually arose. About -1586 we find the first notice of locksmiths in Edinburgh, and there -was then only one of the trade, whose essay was simply ‘a kist lock.’ -In 1609, however, as the security of property increased, the essay -was ‘a kist lock and a hingand bois lock, with an double plate lock;’ -and in 1644 ‘a key and sprent band’ were added to the essay. In 1682 -‘a cruik and cruik band’ were further added; and in 1728, for the -safety of the lieges, the locksmith’s essay was appointed to be ‘a -cruik and cruik band, a pass lock with a round filled bridge, not -cut or broke in the backside, with nobs and jamb bound.’ In 1595 we -find the first notice of shearsmiths. In 1609 a heckle-maker was -admitted into the Corporation of Hammermen. In 1613 a tinkler makes -his appearance; Thomas Duncan, the first tinkler, was then admitted. -Pewterers are mentioned so far back as 1588. In 1647 we find the first -knock-maker (_clock-maker_), but so limited was his business that he -was also a locksmith. In 1664 the first white-iron man was admitted; -also the first harness-maker, though lorimers had previously existed. -Paul Martin, a distressed French Protestant, in 1691, was the first -manufacturer of surgical instruments in Edinburgh. In 1720 we find the -first pin-maker; in 1764, the first edge-tool maker and first fish-hook -maker. - -[197] The Highland appellative of Lord Lovat, expressing _the son of -Simon_. - -[198] _Quarterly Review_, vol. xiv. p. 326. - -[199] First door up the stair at the head of the wynd, on the west -side. The house was burnt down in 1824, but rebuilt in its former -arrangement. - -[200] [The window-tax was first imposed in 1695, and repealed in 1851.] - -[201] An old domestic of her ladyship’s preserved one of her shoes as a -relic for many years. The heel was three inches deep. - -[202] [The view of the famous ‘Douglas Cause,’ affirmed in the House of -Lords in 1771.] - -[203] Mrs Grant of Laggan held another opinion of General Simon -Fraser. A pleasing exterior covered a large share of the paternal -character—‘No heart was ever harder, no hands more rapacious than -his.’ - - - - -THE COWGATE. - - HOUSE OF GAVIN DOUGLAS THE POET—SKIRMISH OF - CLEANSE-THE-CAUSEWAY—COLLEGE WYND—BIRTHPLACE OF SIR WALTER - SCOTT—THE HORSE WYND—TAM O’ THE COWGATE—MAGDALEN CHAPEL. - - -Looking at the present state of this ancient street, it is impossible -to hear without a smile the description of it given by Alexander -Alesse about the year 1530—_Ubi nihil est humile aut rusticum, sed -omnia magnifica!_ (‘Where nothing is humble or homely, but everything -magnificent!’) The street was, he tells us, that in which the nobles -and judges resided, and where the palaces of princes were situated. The -idea usually entertained of its early history is that it rose as an -elegant suburb after the year 1460, when the existing city, consisting -of the High Street alone, was enclosed in a wall. It would appear, -however, that some part of it was built before that time, and that it -was in an advanced, if not complete, state as a street not long after. -It was to enclose this esteemed suburb that the city wall was extended -after the battle of Flodden. - - -HOUSE OF GAVIN DOUGLAS THE POET—SKIRMISH OF CLEANSE-THE-CAUSEWAY. - -So early as 1449, Thomas Lauder, canon of Aberdeen, granted an -endowment of 40s. annually to a chaplain in St Giles’s Church, ‘out of -his own house lying in the Cowgaite, betwixt the land of the Abbot of -Melrose on the east, and of George Cochrane on the west.’ This appears -to have been the same Thomas Lauder who was preceptor to James II., -and who ultimately became Bishop of Dunkeld. We are told that, besides -many other munificent acts, he purchased a lodging in Edinburgh _for -himself and his successors_.[204] That its situation was the same as -that above described appears from a charter of Thomas Cameron, in 1498, -referring to a house on the south side of the Cowgate, ‘betwixt _the -Bishop of Dunkeld’s land on the east_, and William Rappilowe’s on the -west, the common street on the north, and the gait that leads to the -Kirk-of-Field on the south.’ - -[Illustration: THE COWGATE. -‘Nothing is humble or homely, but everything magnificent!’ - -PAGE 240.] - -From these descriptions we attain a tolerably distinct idea of the site -of the house of the bishops of Dunkeld in Edinburgh, including, of -course, one who is endeared to us from a peculiar cause—Gavin Douglas, -who succeeded to the see in 1516. This house must have stood nearly -opposite to the bottom of Niddry Street, but somewhat to the eastward. -It would have gardens behind, extending up to the line of the present -Infirmary Street. - -We thus not only have the pleasure of ascertaining the Edinburgh -whereabouts of one of our most distinguished national poets, but we can -now read, with a somewhat clearer intelligence, a remarkable chapter in -the national history. - -It was in April 1520 that the Hamiltons (the party of the Earl of -Arran), with Bethune, Archbishop of Glasgow, called an assembly of -the nobility in Edinburgh, in order to secure the government for the -earl. The rival magnate, the Earl of Angus, soon saw danger to himself -in the great crowds of the Hamilton party which flocked into town. -Indeed warlike courses seem to have been determined on by that side. -Angus sent his uncle, the Bishop of Dunkeld, to caution them against -any violence, and to offer that he should submit to the laws if any -offence were laid to his charge. The reverend prelate, proceeding to -the place of assembly, which was in the archbishop’s house, at the -foot of Blackfriars Wynd, found the Hamilton party obstinate. Thinking -an archbishop could not or ought not to allow strife to take place if -he could help it, he appealed to Bethune, who, however, had actually -prepared for battle by putting on armour under his rochet. ‘Upon my -conscience, my lord,’ said Bethune, ‘I know nothing of the matter,’ -at the same time striking his hand upon his breast, which caused the -armour to return a rattling sound. Douglas’s remark was simply, ‘Your -conscience clatters;’ a happy pun for the occasion, clatter being -a Scotch word signifying to tell tales. Gavin then returned to his -lodging, and told his nephew that he must do his best to defend himself -with arms. ‘For me,’ he said, ‘I will go to my chamber and pray for -you.’ With our new light as to the locality of the Bishop of Dunkeld’s -lodging, we now know that Angus and his uncle held their consultations -on this occasion within fifty yards of the house in which the Hamiltons -were assembled. The houses, in fact, nearly faced each other in the -same narrow street. - -Angus now put himself at the head of his followers, who, though not -numerous, stood in a compact body in the High Street. They were, -moreover, the favourites of the Edinburgh citizens, who handed spears -from their windows to such as were not armed with that useful weapon. -Presently the Hamiltons came thronging up from the Cowgate, through -narrow lanes, and entering the High Street in separate streams, armed -with swords only, were at a great disadvantage. In a short time the -Douglases had cleared the streets of them, killing many, and obliging -Arran himself and his son to make their escape through the North Loch, -mounted on a coal-horse. Archbishop Bethune, with others, took refuge -in the Blackfriars’ Monastery, where he was seized behind the altar -and in danger of his life, when Gavin Douglas, learning his perilous -situation, flew to save him, and with difficulty succeeded in his -object. Here, too, local knowledge is important. The Blackfriars’ -Monastery stood where the High School latterly was, a spot not more -than a hundred yards from the houses of both Bethune and Gavin Douglas. -It would not necessarily require more than five minutes to apprise -Douglas of Bethune’s situation, and bring him to the rescue. - -The popular name given to this street battle is -characteristic—_Cleanse-the-Causeway_. - - -COLLEGE WYND—BIRTHPLACE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. - -The old buildings of the College of Edinburgh, themselves mean, had -for their main access, in former times, only that narrow dismal alley -called the College Wynd,[205] leading up from the Cowgate. Facing -down this humble lane was the gateway, displaying a richly ornamented -architrave. The wynd itself, strange as the averment may now appear, -was the abode of many of the professors. The illustrious Joseph Black -lived at one time in a house adjacent to the College gate, on the east -side, afterwards removed to make way for North College Street.[206] -Another floor of the same building was occupied by Mr Keith, father of -the late Sir Alexander Keith of Ravelston, Bart.; and there did the -late Lord Keith reside in his student days. There was a tradition, -but of a vague nature, that Goldsmith, when studying at the Edinburgh -University, lived in the College Wynd. - -[Illustration: OLD HOUSES, COLLEGE WYND. -Near here Sir Walter Scott was born. - -PAGE 242.] - -The one peculiar glory of this humble place remains to be -mentioned—its being the birthplace of Sir Walter Scott. In the third -floor of the house just described, accessible by an entry leading -to a common stair behind, did this distinguished person first see the -light, August 15, 1771. It was a house of plain aspect, like many of -its old neighbours yet surviving; its truest disadvantage, however, -being in the unhealthiness of the situation, to which Sir Walter -himself used to attribute the early deaths of several brothers and -sisters born before him. When the house was required to give way for -the public conveniency, the elder Scott received a fair price for his -portion of it; he had previously removed to an airier mansion, No. 25 -George Square, where Sir Walter spent his boyhood and youth. - -[Illustration: 25 George Square.] - -In the course of a walk through this part of the town in 1825, Sir -Walter did me the honour to point out the site of the house in which -he had been born. On his mentioning that his father had got a good -price for his share of it, in order that it might be taken down for -the public convenience, I took the liberty of jocularly expressing -my belief that more money might have been made of it, and the public -certainly _much more_ gratified, if it had remained to be shown as the -birthplace of a man who had written so many popular books. ‘Ay, ay,’ -said Sir Walter, ‘that is very well; but I am afraid I should have -required to be dead first, and that would not have been so comfortable, -you know.’ - -In the transition state of the College, from old to new buildings, the -gate at the head of the wynd was shut up by Principal Robertson, who, -however, living within the walls, found this passage convenient as an -access to the town, and used it accordingly. It became the joke of a -day, that from being the principal gate it had become only a gate for -the Principal.[207] - - -THE HORSE WYND. - -This alley, connecting the Cowgate with the grounds on the south side -of the town within the walls, and broad enough for a carriage, is -understood to have derived its name from an inn which long ago existed -at its head, where the Gaelic Church long after stood. Although the -name is at least as old as the middle of the seventeenth century, none -of the buildings appear older than the middle of the eighteenth. They -had all been renewed by people desirous of the benefit of such air as -was to be had in an alley double the usual breadth. Very respectable -members of the bar were glad to have a flat in some of the tall _lands_ -on the east side of the wynd.[208] - -On the west side of the wynd, about the middle, the Earl of Galloway -had built a distinct mansion, ornamented with vases at top. They kept -a coach and six, and it was alleged that when the countess made calls, -the leaders were sometimes at the door she was going to, when she was -stepping into the carriage at her own door. This may be called a _tour -de force_ illustration of the nearness of friends to each other in Old -Edinburgh. - - -TAM O’ THE COWGATE. - -A court of old buildings, in a massive style of architecture, existed, -previous to 1829, on a spot in the Cowgate now occupied by the southern -piers of George IV. Bridge. In the middle of the last century it was -used as the Excise-office; but even this was a kind of declension -from its original character. It is certain that the celebrated Thomas -Hamilton, first Earl of Haddington, President of the Court of Session, -and Secretary of State for Scotland, lived here at the end of the -sixteenth century, renting the house from Macgill of Rankeillour.[209] -This distinguished person, from the circumstance of his living here, -was endowed by his master, King James, with the nickname of TAM O’ THE -COWGATE, under which title he is now better remembered than by any -other. - -The earl, who had risen through high legal offices to the peerage, and -who was equally noted for his penetration as a judge, his industry -as a collector of decisions, and his talent for amassing wealth, -was one evening, after a day’s hard labour in the public service, -solacing himself with a friend over a flask of wine in his house in the -Cowgate[210]—attired, for his better ease, in a nightgown, cap, and -slippers—when he was suddenly disturbed by a great hubbub which arose -under his window in the street. This soon turned out to be a _bicker_ -between the High School youths and those of the College; and it also -appeared that the latter, fully victorious, were, notwithstanding a -valiant defence, in the act of driving their antagonists before them. -The Earl of Haddington’s sympathies were awakened in favour of the -retiring party, for he had been brought up at the High School, and -going thence to complete his education at Paris, had no similar reason -to affect the College. He therefore sprang up, dashed into the street, -sided with and rallied the fugitives, and took a most animated share -in the combat that ensued, so that finally the High School youths, -acquiring fresh strength and valour at seeing themselves befriended by -the prime judge and privy-councillor of their country (though not in -his most formidable habiliments), succeeded in turning the scale of -victory upon the College youths, in spite of their superior individual -ages and strength. The earl, who assumed the command of the party, and -excited their spirits by word as well as action, was not content till -he had pursued the Collegianers through the Grassmarket, and out at -the West Port, the gate of which he locked against their return, thus -compelling them to spend the night in the suburbs and the fields. He -then returned home in triumph to his castle of comfort in the Cowgate, -and resumed the enjoyment of his friend and flask. We can easily -imagine what a rare jest this must have been for King Jamie. - -[Illustration: A Court of Old Buildings.] - -When this monarch visited Scotland in 1617, he found the old statesman -very rich, and was informed that the people believed him to be in -possession of the Philosopher’s Stone; there being no other feasible -mode of accounting for his immense wealth, which rather seemed the -effect of supernatural agency than of worldly prudence or talent. King -James, quite tickled with the idea of the Philosopher’s Stone, and -of so enviable a talisman having fallen into the hands of a Scottish -judge, was not long in letting his friend and gossip know of the story -which he had heard respecting him. The Lord President immediately -invited the king, and the rest of the company present, to come to his -house next day, when he would both do his best to give them a good -dinner and lay open to them the mystery of the Philosopher’s Stone. -This agreeable invitation was of course accepted; and the next day -saw his Cowgate _palazzo_ thronged with king and courtiers, all of -whom the President feasted to their hearts’ content. After dinner -the king reminded him of his Philosopher’s Stone, and expressed his -anxiety to be speedily made acquainted with so rare a treasure, when -the pawky lord addressed His Majesty and the company in a short -speech, concluding with this information, that his whole secret lay -in two simple and familiar maxims—‘Never put off till to-morrow what -can be done to-day; nor ever trust to another’s hand what your own -can execute.’ He might have added, from the works of an illustrious -contemporary: - - ‘This is the only witchcraft I have used;’ - -and none could have been more effectual. - -A ludicrous idea is obtained from the following anecdote of the -estimation in which the wisdom of the Earl of Haddington was held by -the king, and at the same time, perhaps, of that singular monarch’s -usual mode of speech. It must be understood, by way of prefatory -illustration, that King James, who was the author of the earl’s popular -appellation, ‘_Tam o’ the Cowgate_,’ had a custom of bestowing such -ridiculous _sobriquets_ on his principal councillors and courtiers. -Thus he conferred upon that grave and sagacious statesman, John, Earl -of Mar, the nickname _Jock o’ Sklates_—probably in allusion to some -circumstance which occurred in their young days when they were the -fellow-pupils of Buchanan. On hearing of a meditated alliance between -the Haddington and Mar families, His Majesty exclaimed, betwixt jest -and earnest: ‘The Lord hand a grup o’ me! If Tam o’ the Cowgate’s -son marry Jock o’ Sklates’s daughter, what’s to come o’ _me_?’ The -good-natured monarch probably apprehended that so close a union betwixt -two of his most subtle statesmen might make them too much for their -master—as hounds are most dangerous when they hunt in couples. - -The Earl of Haddington died in 1637, full of years and honours. At -Tyningham, the seat of his family, there are two portraits of his -lordship, one a half-length, the other a head; as also his state-dress; -and it is a circumstance too characteristic to be overlooked that in -the crimson-velvet breeches there are no fewer than _nine pockets_! -Among many of the earl’s papers which remain in Tyningham House, one -contains a memorandum conveying a curious idea of the way in which -public and political affairs were then managed in Scotland. The paper -details the heads of a petition in his own handwriting to the Privy -Council, and at the end is a note ‘to _gar_ [that is, make] the -chancellor’ do something else in his behalf. - -A younger son of Tam o’ the Cowgate was a person of much ingenuity, and -was popularly known, for what reason I cannot tell, by the nickname -of ‘Dear Sandie Hamilton.’ He had a foundry in the Potterrow, where -he fabricated the cannon employed in the first Covenanting war in -1639. This artillery, be it remarked, was not formed exclusively of -metal. The greater part of the composition was leather; and yet, we -are informed, they did some considerable execution at the battle of -Newburnford, above Newcastle (August 28, 1640), where the Scots drove -a large advanced party of Charles I.’s troops before them, thereby -causing the king to enter into a new treaty. The cannon, which were -commonly called ‘Dear Sandie’s Stoups,’ were carried in swivel fashion -between two horses. - -The Excise-office had been removed, about 1730, from the Parliament -Square to the house occupied many years before by Tam o’ the Cowgate. -It afforded excellent accommodations for this important public office. -The principal room on the second floor, towards the Cowgate, was a very -superb one, having a stucco ceiling divided into square compartments, -each of which contained some elegant device. To the rear of the house -was a bowling-green, which the Commissioners of Excise let on lease -to a person of the name of Thomson. In those days bowling was a much -more prevalent amusement than now, being chiefly a favourite with the -graver order of the citizens. There were then no fewer than three -bowling-greens in the grounds around Heriot’s Hospital; one in the -Canongate, near the Tolbooth; another on the opposite side of the -street; another immediately behind the palace of Holyrood House, where -the Duke of York used to play when in Scotland; and perhaps several -others scattered about the outskirts of the town. The arena behind the -Excise-office was called Thomson’s Green, from the name of the man who -kept it; and it may be worth while to remind the reader that it is -alluded to in that pleasant-spirited poem by Allan Ramsay, in imitation -of the _Vides ut alta_ of Horace: - - ‘Driving their ba’s frae whins or tee, - There’s no ae gouffer to be seen, - Nor doucer folk wysing a-jee - The byas bowls on Tamson’s green.’ - -The green was latterly occupied by the relict of this Thomson; and -among the bad debts on the Excise books, all of which are yearly -brought forward and enumerated, there still stands a sum of something -more than six pounds against Widow Thomson, being the last half-year’s -rent of _the green_, which the poor woman had been unable to pay. -The north side of Brown’s Square was built upon part of this space -of ground; the rest remained a vacant area for the recreation of the -people dwelling in Merchant Street, until the erection of the bridge, -which has overrun that, as well as every other part of the scene of -this article.[211] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[204] Myln’s _Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld_. Edinburgh, 1831. - -[205] Originally the name was the ‘Wynd of the Blessed Virgin Mary in -the Fields,’ as being the approach to the collegiate church so named -which stood on the site of the University—the ‘Kirk o’ Field’ of the -Darnley tragedy. - -[206] Now Chambers Street. - -[207] A small ‘bit’ of College Wynd, ending in a _cul de sac_, is all -that remains of this once leading thoroughfare between the city and the -‘Oure Tounis Colledge.’ - -[208] When it became an unfashionable place of residence it was dubbed -by the fops of the town ‘Cavalry Wynd.’ The northern end of Guthrie -Street is the site of the old Horse Wynd. - -[209] Macgill was King’s Advocate to James VI., and is said to have -died of grief when his rival, Thomas Hamilton, was preferred for the -presidentship. - -[210] Most of the traditionary anecdotes in this article were -communicated by Charles, eighth Earl of Haddington, through -conversation with Sir Walter Scott, by whom they were directly imparted -to the author. - -[211] Near by is the Magdalen Chapel, a curious relic of the sixteenth -century, belonging to the Corporation of Hammermen. It was erected -immediately before the Reformation by a pious citizen, Michael -Macquhan, and Jonet Rhynd, his widow, whose tomb is shown in the floor. -The windows towards the south were anciently filled with stained glass; -and there still remain some specimens of that kind of ornament, which, -by some strange chance, had survived the Reformation. In a large -department at the top of one window are the arms of Mary of Guise, -who was queen-regent at the time the chapel was built. The arms of -Macquhan and his wife are also to be seen. In the lower panes, which -have been filled with small figures of saints, only one remains—a St -Bartholomew—who, by a rare chance, has survived the general massacre. -The whole is now very carefully preserved. When the distinguished -Reformer, John Craig, returned to Scotland at the Reformation, after -an absence of twenty-four years, he preached for some time in this -chapel, in the Latin language, to a select congregation of the learned, -being unable, by long disuse, to hold forth in his vernacular tongue. -This divine subsequently was appointed a colleague to John Knox, and -is distinguished in history for having refused to publish the banns -between Queen Mary and Bothwell, and also for having written the -National Covenant in 1589. Another circumstance in the history of this -chapel is worthy of notice. The body of the Earl of Argyll, after his -execution, June 30, 1685, was brought down and deposited in this place, -to wait till it should be conveyed to the family burying-place at -Kilmun. - - - - -ST CECILIA’S HALL. - - -Few persons now living (1847) recollect the elegant concerts that were -given many years ago in what is now an obscure part of our ancient -city, known by the name of St Cecilia’s Hall. They did such honour to -Edinburgh, nearly for half a century, that I feel myself called on to -make a brief record of them, and am glad to be enabled to do so by a -living authority, one of the most fervent worshippers in the temple of -the goddess. Hear, then, his last _aria parlante_ on this interesting -theme. - -[Illustration: St Cecilia’s Hall.] - -‘The concerts of St Cecilia’s Hall formed one of the most liberal and -attractive amusements that any city in Europe could boast of. The -hall was built on purpose at the foot of Niddry’s Wynd, by a number -of public-spirited noblemen and gentlemen; and the expense of the -concerts was defrayed by about two hundred subscribers paying two or -three guineas each annually; and so respectable was the institution -considered, that upon the death of a member there were generally -several applications for the vacancy, as is now the case with the -Caledonian Hunt. The concerts were managed by a governor and a set of -six or more directors, who engaged the performers—the principal ones -from Italy, one or two from Germany, and the rest of the orchestra -was made up of English and native artists. The concerts were given -weekly during most of the time that I attended; the instrumental -music consisting chiefly of the concertos of Corelli and Handel, and -the overtures of Bach, Abel, Stamitz, Vanhall, and latterly of Haydn -and Pleyel; for at that time, and till a good many years after, the -magnificent symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, which now -form the most attractive portions of all public concerts, had not -reached this country. Those truly grand symphonies do not seem likely -to be superseded by any similar compositions for a century to come, -transcending so immensely, as they do, all the orchestral compositions -that ever before appeared; yet I must not venture to prophesy, when I -bear in mind what a powerful influence fashion and folly exercise upon -music, as well as upon other objects of taste. When the overtures and -quartettes of Haydn first found their way into this country, I well -remember with what coldness the former were received by most of the -grave Handelians, while at the theatres they gave delight. The old -concert gentlemen said that his compositions wanted the solidity and -full harmony of Handel and Corelli; and when the celebrated leader—the -elder Cramer—visited St Cecilia’s Hall, and played a spirited charming -overture of Haydn’s, an old amateur next to whom I was seated asked me: -“Whase music is that, now?” “Haydn’s, sir,” said I. “Poor new-fangled -stuff,” he replied; “I hope I shall never hear it again!” Many years -have since rolled away, and mark what some among us now say: A friend, -calling lately on an old lady much in the fashionable circle of -society, heard her give directions to the pianist who was teaching her -nieces to bring them some new and fashionable pieces of music, but -no more of the _unfashionable_ compositions of Haydn! Alas for those -ladies whose taste in music is regulated by fashion, and who do not -know that the music of Haydn is the admiration and delight of all the -real lovers and judges of the art in Europe! - -‘The vocal department of our concerts consisted chiefly of the songs of -Handel, Arne, Gluck, Sarti, Jornelli, Guglielmi, Paisiello, Scottish -songs, &c.; and every year, generally, we had an oratorio of Handel -performed, with the assistance of a principal bass and a tenor singer, -and a few chorus-singers from the English cathedrals; together with -some Edinburgh amateurs,[212] who cultivated that sacred and sublime -music; Signor and Signora Domenico Corri, the latter our _prima donna_, -singing most of the principal songs, or most interesting portions of -the music. On such occasions the hall was always crowded to excess by -a splendid assemblage, including all the beauty and fashion of our -city. A supper to the directors and their friends at Fortune’s Tavern -generally followed the oratorio, where the names of the chief beauties -who had graced the hall were honoured by their healths being drunk: -the champion of the lady whom he proposed as his toast being sometimes -challenged to maintain the pre-eminence of her personal charms by -the admirer of another lady filling a glass of double depth to her -health, and thus forcing the champion of the first lady to _say more_ -by drinking a still deeper bumper in honour of her beauty; and if -this produced a rejoinder from the other, by his seizing and quaffing -the cup of _largest_ calibre, there the contest generally ended, and -the deepest drinker _saved_ his lady, as it was phrased, although he -might have had some difficulty in saving himself from a flooring while -endeavouring to regain his seat.[213] Miss Burnet of Monboddo and Miss -Betsy Home, reigning beauties of the time, were said more than once to -have been the innocent cause of the fall of man in this way. The former -was gifted with a countenance of heavenly sweetness and expression, -which Guido, had he beheld it, would have sought to perpetuate upon -canvas as that of an angel; while the other lady, quite piquant and -brilliant, might have sat to Titian for a Hebe or one of the Graces. -Miss Burnet died in the bloom of youth, universally regretted both for -her personal charms and the rare endowments of her mind. Miss Home was -happily married to Captain Brown, her ardent admirer, who had made her -his _toast_ for years, and vowed he would continue to do so till he -toasted her _Brown_. This sort of exuberant loyalty to beauty was by no -means uncommon at the convivial meetings of those days, when “time had -not thinned our flowing hair, nor bent us with his iron hand.” - -‘Let me call to mind a few of those whose lovely faces at the concerts -gave us the sweetest zest for the music. Miss Cleghorn of Edinburgh, -still living in single-blessedness; Miss Chalmers of Pittencrief, who -married Sir William Miller of Glenlee, Bart.; Miss Jessie Chalmers -of Edinburgh, who was married to Mr Pringle of Haining; Miss Hay of -Hayston, who married Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart.; Miss Murray -of Lintrose, who was called the _Flower of Strathmore_, and upon whom -Burns wrote the song: - - “Blithe, blithe, and merry was she, - Blithe was she but and ben; - Blithe by the banks of the Earn, - And blithe in Glenturit Glen.” - -She married David Smith, Esq. of Methven, one of the Lords of -Session; Miss Jardine of Edinburgh, who married Mr Home Drummond of -Blairdrummond—their daughter, if I mistake not, is now the Duchess -of Athole; Miss Kinloch of Gilmerton, who married Sir Foster Cunliffe -of Acton, Bart.; Miss Lucy Johnston of East Lothian, who married Mr -Oswald of Auchincruive; Miss Halket of Pitferran, who became the wife -of the celebrated Count Lally-Tollendal; and Jane, Duchess of Gordon, -celebrated for her wit and spirit, as well as for her beauty. These, -with Miss Burnet and Miss Home, and many others whose names I do not -distinctly recollect, were indisputably worthy of all the honours -conferred upon them. But beauty has tempted me to digress too long from -my details relative to the hall and its concerts, to which I return. - -‘The hall [built in 1762 from a design of Mr Robert Mylne, after the -model of the great opera theatre of Parma] was an exact oval, having -a concave elliptical ceiling, and was remarkable for the clear and -perfect conveyance of sounds, without responding echoes, as well as for -the judicious manner in which the seating was arranged. In this last -respect, I have seen no concert-room equal to it either in London or -Paris. The orchestra was erected at the upper end of the hall, opposite -to the door of entrance; a portion of the area, in the centre or widest -part, was without any seats, and served as a small promenade, where -friends could chat together during the intervals of performance. The -seats were all _fixed_ down on both sides of the hall, and each side -was raised by a gradual elevation from the level area, backward, the -rows of seats behind each other, till they reached a passage a few -feet broad, that was carried quite round the hall behind the last of -the elevated seats; so that when the audience was seated, each half of -it fronted the other—an arrangement much preferable to that commonly -adopted, of placing all the seats upon a _level_ behind each other, -for thus the whole company must look one way, and see each other’s -_backs_. A private staircase at the upper end of the hall, not seen by -the company, admitted the musicians into the orchestra; in the front -of which stood a harpsichord, with the singers, and the principal -violoncellist; and behind these, on a platform a little elevated, were -the violins, and other stringed and wind instruments, just behind which -stood a noble organ. The hall, when filled, contained an audience of -about four hundred. No money was taken for admission, tickets being -given gratis to the lovers of music, and to strangers. What a pity -that such a liberal and gratifying institution should have ceased to -exist! But after the New Town arose, the Old was deserted by the -upper classes: the hall was too small for the increased population, -and concerts were got up at the Assembly Rooms and Corri’s Rooms by -the professional musicians, and by Corri himself. Now a capacious -Music Hall is erected behind the Assembly Rooms, where a pretty good -subscription concert is carried on; and from the increased facility of -intercourse between Paris, London, and Edinburgh, it seems probable -that concerts by artists of the highest talents will ere long be set on -foot in Edinburgh in this fine hall, diversified sometimes by oratorios -or Italian operas. - -‘Before concluding this brief memoir of St Cecilia’s Hall Concerts, I -shall mention the chief performers who gave attractions to them. These -were Signor and Signora Domenico Corri, from Rome; he with a falsetto -voice, which he managed with much skill and taste; the signora with a -fine, full-toned, flexible soprano voice. Tenducci, though not one of -the band, nor resident among us, made his appearance occasionally when -he came to visit the Hopetoun family, his liberal and steady patrons; -and while he remained he generally gave some concerts at the hall, -which made quite a sensation among the musicals. I considered it a -jubilee year whenever Tenducci arrived, as no singer I ever heard sang -with more expressive simplicity, or was more efficient, whether he sang -the classical songs of Metastasio, or those of Arne’s _Artaxerxes_, or -the simple melodies of Scotland. To the latter he gave such intensity -of interest by his impassioned manner, and by his clear enunciation of -the words, as equally surprised and delighted us. I never can forget -the pathos and touching effect of his _Gilderoy_, _Lochaber no more_, -_The Braes of Ballenden_, _I’ll never leave thee_, _Roslin Castle_, -&c. These, with the _Verdi prati_ of Handel, _Fair Aurora_ from -Arne’s _Artaxerxes_, and Gluck’s _Che faro_, were above all praise. -Miss Poole, Mr Smeaton, Mr Gilson, and Mr Urbani were also for a time -singers at the hall—chiefly of English and Scottish songs. - -‘In the instrumental department we had Signor Puppo, from Rome or -Naples, as leader and violin concerto player, a most capital artist; -Mr Schetky, from Germany, the principal violoncellist, and a fine -solo concerto player; Joseph Reinagle, a very clever violoncello and -viola player; Mr Barnard, a very elegant violinist; Stephen Clarke, -an excellent organist and harpsichord player; and twelve or fifteen -violins, basses, flutes, violas, horns, and clarionets, with extra -performers often from London. Upon the resignation of Puppo, who -charmed all hearers, Stabilini succeeded him, and held the situation -till the institution was at an end: he had a good round tone, though, -to my apprehension, he did not exceed mediocrity as a performer. - -‘But I should be unpardonable if I omitted to mention the most -accomplished violin-player I ever heard, Paganini only excepted—I -mean Giornovicki, who possessed in a most extraordinary degree -the various requisites of his beautiful art: execution peculiarly -brilliant, and finely articulated as possible; a tone of the richest -and most exquisite quality; expression of the utmost delicacy, grace, -and tenderness; and an animation that commanded your most intense and -eager attention. Paganini did not appear in Edinburgh till [thirty -years] after the hall was closed. There, as well as at private parties, -I heard Giornovicki often, and always with no less delight than I -listened to Paganini.[214] Both, if I may use the expression, threw -their whole hearts and souls into their Cremonas, bows, and fingers. - - “Hall of sweet sounds, adieu, with all thy fascinations of langsyne, - My dearest reminiscences of music all are thine.”’ - - _G. T. Octogenarius Edinburgensis_, Feb. 1847.[215] - -Stabilini, to whom our dear G. T. refers, and who died in 1815, much -broken down by dissipation, was obliged, against his will, to give -frequent attendance at the private concerts of one of these gentlemen -performers, where Corelli’s trios were in great vogue. There was always -a capital supper afterwards, at which Stab (so he was familiarly -called) ate and drank for any two. A waggish friend, who knew his -opinion of Edinburgh amateurs, meeting him next day, would ask: ‘Well, -Mr Stabilini, what sort of music had you the other night at —— -——’s?’ - -‘Vera good soaper, sir; vera good soaper!’ - -‘But tell us the verse you made about one of these parties.’ - -Stabilini, twitching up his shirt-collar, a common trick of his, would -say: - - ‘A piece ov toarkey for a hungree bellee - Is moatch sup_eer_ior to Corelli!’ - -The accent, the manner, the look with which this was delivered, is said -to have been beyond expression rich. - -It is quite remarkable, when we consider the high character of the -popular melodies, how late and slow has been the introduction of a -taste for the higher class of musical compositions into Scotland. The -Earl of Kelly, a man of yesterday, was the first Scotsman who ever -composed music for an orchestra.[216] This fact seems sufficient. It -is to be feared that the beauty of the melodies is itself partly to -be blamed for the indifference to higher music. There is too great -a disposition to rest with the distinction thus conferred upon the -nation; too many are content to go no further for the enjoyments which -music has to give. It would be well if, while not forgetting those -beautiful simple airs, we were more generally to open our minds to the -still richer charms of the German and the Italian muses. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[212] The amateurs who took the lead as choristers were Gilbert -Innes, Esq. of Stow; Alexander Wight, Esq., advocate; Mr John Hutton, -papermaker; Mr John Russel, W.S.; and Mr George Thomson. As an -instrumentalist, we could boast of our countryman the Earl of Kelly, -who also composed six overtures for an orchestra, one of which I heard -played in the hall, himself leading the band. - -[213] See a different account of this custom, p. 147. - -[214] [‘John M. Giornovicki, commonly known in Britain under the name -of Jarnowick, was a native of Palermo. About 1770 he went to Paris, -where he performed a concerto of his famous master Lolli, but did not -succeed. He then played one of his own concertos, that in A major, and -became quite the fashion. The style of Giornovicki was highly elegant -and finished, his intonation perfect, and his taste pure. The late -Domenico Dragonetti, one of the best judges in Europe, told me that -Giornovicki was the most elegant and graceful violin-player he had ever -heard before Paganini, but that he wanted power. He seems to have been -a dissipated and passionate man; a good swordsman too, as was common in -those days. One day, in a dispute, he struck the Chevalier St George, -then one of the greatest violin-players and best swordsmen in Europe. -St George said coolly: “I have too much regard for his musical talent -to fight him.” A noble speech, showing St George in all respects the -better man. Giornovicki died suddenly at St Petersburg in 1804.’—G. F. -G.] - -[215] G. T., it may now be explained, was George Thomson, the -well-known and generally loved editor of the _Melodies of Scotland_. -He might rather have described himself as _Nonogenarius_, for at his -death, in 1851, he had reached the age of ninety-four, his violin, as -he believed, having prolonged his life much beyond the usual term. - -[216] The earl was the leader of the amateur orchestra of St Cecilia’s -Hall, which included Lord Colville, Sir John Pringle, Mr Seton of -Pitmedden, General Middleton, Lord Elcho, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Mrs -Forbes of Newhall, and others of the aristocracy. General Middleton was -credited with ‘singing a song with much humour,’ which he sometimes -accompanied with a key and tongs. Sir Gilbert Elliot, who played the -German flute, was the first to introduce that instrument to a Scottish -audience. St Cecilia’s Hall has passed through many vicissitudes since -then, and is now a bookbinder’s warehouse, but its fine ceiling and the -orchestral balcony at the southern end are still preserved as memorials -of its early days. - - - - -THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. - - -While this event is connected with one of the most problematical points -in our own history, or that of any other nation, it chances that the -whole topography of the affair is very distinctly recorded. We know not -only the exact spot where the deed was perpetrated, but almost every -foot of the ground over which the perpetrators walked on their way to -execute it. It is chiefly by reason of the depositions and confessions -brought out by the legal proceedings against the inferior instruments -that this minute knowledge is attained. - -The house in which the unfortunate victim resided at the time was one -called the Prebendaries’ Chamber, being part of the suite of domestic -buildings connected with the collegiate church of St-Mary-in-the-Fields -(usually called the _Kirk o’ Field_). Darnley was brought to lodge -here on the 30th of January 1566-7. He had contracted the smallpox -at Glasgow, and it was thought necessary, or pretended to be thought -necessary, to lodge him in this place for air, as also to guard against -infecting the infant prince, his son, who was lodged in Holyrood House. -The house, which then belonged, by gift, to a creature of the Earl -of Bothwell, has been described as so very mean as to excite general -surprise. Yet, speaking by comparison, it does not appear to have been -a bad temporary lodging for a person in Darnley’s circumstances. It -consisted of two stories, with a _turnpike_ or spiral staircase behind. -The gable adjoined to the town-wall, which there ran in a line east and -west, and the cellar had a postern opening through that wall. In the -upper floor were a chamber and closet, with a little gallery having a -window also through the town-wall.[217] Here Darnley was deposited -in an old purple travelling-bed. Underneath his room was an apartment -in which the queen slept for one or two nights before the murder took -place. On the night of Sunday, February 9, she was attending upon her -husband in his sick-room, when the servants of the Earl of Bothwell -deposited the powder in her room, immediately under the king’s bed. The -queen afterwards took her leave, in order to attend the wedding of two -of her servants at the palace. - -It appears, from the confessions of the wretches executed for this -foul deed, that as they returned from depositing the powder they saw -‘the Queenes grace gangand before thame with licht torches up the -Black Frier Wynd.’ On their returning to Bothwell’s lodging at the -palace, that nobleman prepared himself for the deed by changing his -gay suit of ‘hose, stockit with black velvet, passemented with silver, -and doublett of black satin of the same maner,’ for ‘ane uther pair -of black hose,[218] and ane canvas doublet white, and tuke his syde -[long] riding-cloak about him, of sad English claith, callit the new -colour.’ He then went, attended by Paris, the queen’s servant, Powry, -his own porter, Pate Wilson, and George Dalgleish, ‘downe the turnepike -altogedder, and along the bak of the Queene’s garden, till you come to -the bak of the cunyie-house [mint], and the bak of the stabbillis, till -you come to the Canongate fornent the Abbey zett.’ After passing up -the Canongate, and gaining entry with some difficulty by the Netherbow -Port, ‘thai gaid up abone Bassentyne’s hous on the south side of -the gait,[219] and knockit at ane door beneath the sword slippers, -and callit for the laird of Ormistounes, and one within answerit he -was not thair; and thai passit down a cloiss beneath the Frier Wynd -[_apparently Toddrick’s Wynd_], and enterit in at the zett of the Black -Friers, till thay came to the back wall and dyke of the town-wall, -whair my lord and Paris past in over the wall.’ The explosion took -place soon after, about two in the morning. The earl then came back -to his attendants at this spot, and ‘thai past all away togidder out -at the Frier zett, and sinderit in the Cowgait.’ It is here evident -that the alley now called the High School Wynd was the avenue by which -the conspirators approached the scene of their atrocity. Bothwell -himself, with part of his attendants, went up the same wynd ‘be east -the Frier Wynd,’ and crossing the High Street, endeavoured to get out -of the city by leaping a broken part of the town-wall in Leith Wynd, -but finding it too high, was obliged to rouse once more the porter at -the Netherbow. They then passed—for every motion of the villains has a -strange interest—down St Mary’s Wynd, and along the south back of the -Canongate to the earl’s lodgings in the palace. - -[Illustration: High School Wynd.] - -The house itself, by this explosion, was destroyed, ‘_even_,’ as the -queen tells in a letter to her ambassador in France, ‘_to the very -grund-stane_.’ The bodies of the king and his servant were found next -morning in a garden or field on the outside of the town-wall. The -buildings connected with the Kirk o’ Field were afterwards converted -into the College of King James, now our Edinburgh University. The hall -of the Senatus in the new buildings occupies nearly the exact site -of the Prebendaries’ Chamber, the ruins of which are laid down in De -Witt’s map of 1648. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[217] About seventy paces to the east of the site of the Prebendaries’ -Chamber, and exactly opposite to the opening of Roxburgh Place, was a -projection in the wall, which has been long demolished and the wall -altered. Close, however, to the west of the place, and near the ground, -are some remains of an arch in the wall, which Malcolm Laing supposes -to have been a gun-port connected with the projection at this spot. -It certainly has no connection, as Arnot and (after him) Whitaker -have supposed, with the story of Darnley’s murder. [This relic of the -Flodden wall is now removed, but a portion of the wall itself still -stands behind the houses at the north-east junction of Drummond Street -and the Pleasance. Another portion was recently discovered at the east -end of Lothian Street, between that street and the Royal Scottish -Museum. Another part forms the north side of a _cul de sac_ at Lindsay -Place, and at the Vennel is the largest part of this old wall, with -one of its few towers, forming the western boundary of the grounds of -Heriot’s Hospital.] - -[218] Hose in those days covered the whole of the lower part of the -person. - -[219] This indicates pretty nearly the site of the house of Bassendyne, -the early printer. It must have been opposite, or nearly opposite, to -the Fountain Well. - - - - -MINT CLOSE. - - THE MINT—ROBERT CULLEN—LORD CHANCELLOR LOUGHBOROUGH. - - -The _Cunyie House_, as the Scottish Mint used to be called, was near -Holyrood Palace in the days of Queen Mary. In the regency of Morton a -large house was erected for it in the Cowgate, where it may still be -seen,[220] with the following inscription over the door: - - BE. MERCYFULL. TO. ME. O. GOD. 1574. - -In the reign of Charles II. other buildings were added behind, forming -a neat quadrangle; and here was the Scottish coin produced till the -Union, when a separate coinage was given up and this establishment -abandoned; though, to gratify prejudice, the offices were still kept -up as sinecures. This court with its buildings was a sanctuary for -persons prosecuted for debt, as was the King’s Stables, a mean place at -the west end of the Grassmarket. There was, however, a small den near -the top of the oldest building, lighted by a small window looking up -the Cowgate, which was used as a jail for debtors or other delinquents -condemned by the Mint’s own officers. - -In the western portion of the old building, accessible by a stair from -the court, is a handsome room with an alcove ceiling, and lighted -by two handsomely proportioned windows, which is known to have been -the council-room of the Mint, being a portion of the private mansion -of the master. Here, in May 1590, on a Sunday evening, the town of -Edinburgh entertained the Danish lords who accompanied James VI. and -his queen from her native court—namely, Peter Monk, the admiral of -Denmark; Stephen Brahe, captain of Eslinburg [perhaps a relative of -Tycho?]; Braid Ransome Maugaret; Nicholaus Theophilus, Doctor of Laws; -Henry Goolister, captain of Bocastle; William Vanderwent; and some -others. For this banquet, ‘maid in Thomas Aitchinsoune, master of the -cunyie-house lugeing,’ it was ordered ‘that the thesaurer caus by and -lay in foure punsheouns wyne; John Borthuik baxter to get four bunnis -of beir, with foure gang of aill, and to furneis breid; Henry Charteris -and Roger Macnacht to caus hing the hous with tapestrie, set the -burdis, furmis, chandleris [_candlesticks_], and get flowris; George -Carketill and Rychert Doby to provyde the cupbuirds and men to keep -thame; and my Lord Provest was content to provyde naprie and twa dozen -greit veschell, and to avance ane hunder pund or mair, as thai sall -haif a do.’ - -In the latter days of the Mint as an active establishment, the -coining-house was in the ground-floor of the building, on the north -side of the court; in the adjoining house, on the east side, was -the finishing-house, where the money was polished and fitted for -circulation. The chief instruments used in coining were a hammer and -steel dies, upon which the device was engraved. The metal, being -previously prepared of the proper fineness and thickness, was cut into -longitudinal slips, and a square piece being cut from the slip, it -was afterwards rounded and adjusted to the weight of the money to be -made. The blank pieces of metal were then placed between two dies, and -the upper one was struck with a hammer. After the Restoration another -method was introduced—that of the mill and screw, which, modified -by many improvements, is still in use. At the Union, the ceremony of -destroying the dies of the Scottish coinage took place in the Mint. -After being heated red-hot in a furnace, they were defaced by three -impressions of a broad-faced _punch_, which were of course visible on -the dies as long as they existed; but it must be recorded that all -these implements, which would now have been great curiosities, are -lost, and none of the machinery remains but the press, which, weighing -about half a ton, was rather too large to be readily appropriated, or -perhaps it would have followed the rest. - -The floors over the coining-house—bearing the letters, C. R. II., -surmounting a crown, and the legend, GOD SAVE THE KING, 1674, -originally the mansion of the master—were latterly occupied by the -eminent Dr Cullen, whose family were all born here, and who died here -himself in 1792. - - -ROBERT CULLEN. - -Robert Cullen, the son of the physician, made a great impression -on Edinburgh society by his many delightful social qualities, and -particularly his powers as a mimic of the Mathews genus. He manifested -this gift in his earliest years, to the no small discomposure of his -grave old father. One evening, when Dr Cullen was going to the theatre, -Robert entreated to be taken along with him, but for some reason was -condemned to remain at home. Some time after the departure of the -doctor, Mrs Cullen heard him come along the passage, as if from his own -room, and say at her door: ‘Well, after all, you may let Robert go.’ -Robert was accordingly allowed to depart for the theatre, where his -appearance gave no small surprise to his father. On the old gentleman -coming home and remonstrating with his lady for allowing the boy to go, -it was discovered that the voice which seemed to give the permission -had proceeded from the young wag himself. - -In maturer years, Cullen could not only mimic any voice or mode of -speech, but enter so thoroughly into the nature of any man that -he could supply exactly the ideas which he was likely to use. His -imitations were therefore something much above mimicries—they were -artistic representations of human character. He has been known in a -social company, where another individual was expected, to stand up, -in the character of that person, and return thanks for the proposal -of his health; and this was done so happily that when the individual -did arrive and got upon his legs to speak for himself, the company -was convulsed with an almost exact repetition of what Cullen had -previously uttered, the manner also and every inflection of the voice -being precisely alike. In relating anecdotes, of which he possessed a -vast store, he usually prefaced them with a sketch of the character -of the person referred to, which greatly increased the effect, as the -story then told characteristically. These sketches were remarked to be -extremely graphic and most elegantly expressed. - -When a young man, residing with his father, he was very intimate -with Dr Robertson, the Principal of the university. To show that -Robertson was not likely to be easily imitated, it may be mentioned, -from the report of a gentleman who has often heard him making public -orations, that when the students observed him pause for a word, and -would themselves mentally supply it, they invariably found that the -word which he did use was different from that which they had hit -upon. Cullen, however, could imitate him to the life, either in his -more formal speeches or in his ordinary discourse. He would often, in -entering a house which the Principal was in the habit of visiting, -assume his voice in the lobby and stair, and when arrived at the -drawing-room door, astonish the family by turning out to be—Bob -Cullen. Lord Greville, a pupil of the Principal’s, having been one -night detained at a protracted debauch, where Cullen was also present, -the latter gentleman next morning got admission to the bedroom of the -young nobleman, where, personating Dr Robertson, he sat down by the -bedside, and with all the manner of the reverend Principal, gave him -a sound lecture for having been out so late last night. Greville, who -had fully expected this visit, lay in remorseful silence, and allowed -his supposed monitor to depart without saying a word. In the course of -a quarter of an hour, however, when the real Dr Robertson entered, and -commenced a harangue exactly duplicating that just concluded, he could -not help exclaiming that it was _too bad_ to give it him twice over. -‘Oh, I see how it is,’ said Robertson, rising to depart; ‘that rogue -Bob Cullen must have been with you.’ The Principal became at length -accustomed to Bob’s tricks, which he would seem, from the following -anecdote, to have regarded in a friendly spirit. Being attended -during an illness by Dr Cullen, it was found necessary to administer -a liberal dose of laudanum. The physician, however, asked him, in the -first place, in what manner laudanum affected him. Having received his -answer, Cullen remarked, with surprise, that he had never known any one -affected in the same way by laudanum besides his son Bob. ‘Ah,’ said -Robertson, ‘_does the rascal take me off there too_?’ - -Mr Cullen entered at the Scottish bar in 1764, and, distinguishing -himself highly as a lawyer, was raised to the bench in 1796, when he -took the designation of Lord Cullen. He cultivated elegant literature, -and contributed some papers of acknowledged merit to the _Mirror_ and -_Lounger_; but it was in conversation that he chiefly shone. - -The close adjoining to the Mint contains several old-fashioned houses -of a dignified appearance. In a floor of one bearing the date 1679, -and having a little court in front, Alexander Wedderburn, Earl of -Rosslyn and Lord Chancellor of England, resided while at the Scottish -bar. This, as is well known, was a very brief interval; for a veteran -barrister having one day used the term ‘presumptuous boy’ with -reference to him, and his own caustic reply having drawn upon him a -rebuke from the bench, he took off his gown, and making a bow, said -he would never more plead where he was subjected to insult, but would -seek a wider field for his exertions. His subsequent rapid rise at -the English bar is matter of history. It is told that, returning to -Edinburgh at the end of his life, after an absence of many years, he -wished to see the house where he had lived while a Scotch advocate. Too -infirm to walk, he was borne in a chair to the foot of the Mint Close -to see this building. One thing he was particularly anxious about. -While residing here, he had had five holes made in the little court to -play at some bowling game of which he was fond. He wished, above all -things, to see these holes once more, and when he found they were still -there, he expressed much satisfaction. Churchill himself might have -melted at such an anecdote of the old days of him who was - - ‘Pert at the bar, and in the senate loud.’ - -About midway up the close is a turreted mansion, accessible from -Hyndford’s Close, and having a tolerably good garden connected with it. -This was, in 1742, the residence of the Earl of Selkirk; subsequently -it was occupied by Dr Daniel Rutherford, professor of botany. Sir -Walter Scott, who, being a nephew of that gentleman, was often in the -house in his young days, communicated to me a curious circumstance -connected with it. It appears that the house immediately adjacent was -not furnished with a stair wide enough to allow of a coffin being -carried down in decent fashion. It had, therefore, what the Scottish -law calls a _servitude_ upon Dr Rutherford’s house, conferring the -perpetual liberty of bringing the deceased inmates through a passage -into that house and down _its_ stair into the lane. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[220] Now removed and the site built over. There was also a Cunyie -House in Candlemaker Row, which was used as the Mint during the regency -of Mary of Guise. - - - - -MISS NICKY MURRAY. - - -The dancing assemblies of Edinburgh were for many years, about the -middle of the last century, under the direction and dictatorship of -the Honourable Miss Nicky Murray, one of the sisters of the Earl of -Mansfield. Much good sense, firmness, knowledge of the world and of -the histories of individuals, as well as a due share of patience and -benevolence, were required for this office of unrecognised though -real power; and it was generally admitted that Miss Murray possessed -the needful qualifications in a remarkable degree, though rather more -marked by good manners than good-nature. She and her sisters lived for -many years in a floor of a large building at the head of Bailie Fife’s -Close—a now unhallowed locality, where, I believe, Francis Jeffrey -attended his first school. In their narrow mansion, the Miss Murrays -received flights of young lady-cousins from the country, to be finished -in their manners and introduced into society. No light task must theirs -have been, all things considered. I find a highly significant note on -the subject inserted by an old gentleman in an interleaved copy of my -first edition: ‘It was from Miss Nicky Murray’s—a relation of the Gray -family—that my father ran off with my mother, then not sixteen years -old.’ - -The Assembly Room of that time was in the _close_ where the -Commercial Bank was afterwards established.[221] First there -was a lobby, where chairs were disburdened of their company, -and where a reduced gentleman, with pretensions to the title of -Lord Kirkcudbright—descendant of the once great Maclellans of -Galloway—might have been seen selling gloves; this being the person -alluded to in a letter written by Goldsmith while a student in -Edinburgh: ‘One day, happening to slip into Lord Kilcobry’s—don’t be -surprised, his lordship is only a glover!’ The dancing-room opened -directly from the lobby, and above stairs was a tea-room. The -former had a railed space in the centre, within which the dancers -were arranged, while the spectators sat round on the outside; and no -communication was allowed between the different sides of this sacred -pale. The lady-directress had a high chair or throne at one end. Before -Miss Nicky Murray, Lady Elliot of Minto and Mrs Brown of Coalstoun, -wives of judges, had exercised this lofty authority, which was thought -honourable on account of the charitable object of the assemblies. -The arrangements were of a rigid character, and certainly tending to -dullness. There being but one set allowed to dance at a time, it was -seldom that any person was twice on the floor in one night. The most of -the time was spent in acting the part of lookers-on, which threw great -duties in the way of conversation upon the gentlemen. These had to -settle with a partner for the year, and were upon no account permitted -to change, even for a single night. The appointment took place at the -beginning of the season, usually at some private party or ball given -by a person of distinction, where the fans of the ladies were all put -into a gentleman’s cocked hat; the gentlemen put in their hands and -took a fan, and to whomsoever the fan belonged, that was to be his -partner for the season. In the general rigours of this system, which -sometimes produced ludicrous combinations, there was, however, one -palliative—namely, the fans being all distinguishable from each other, -and the gentleman being in general as well acquainted with the fan as -the face of his mistress, and the hat being open, it was possible to -peep in, and exercise, to a certain extent, a principle of selection, -whereby he was perhaps successful in procuring an appointment to his -mind. All this is spiritedly given in a poem of Sir Alexander Boswell: - - ‘Then were the days of modesty of mien! - Stays for the fat, and quilting for the lean; - The ribboned stomacher, in many a plait, - Upheld the chest, and dignified the gait; - Some Venus, brightest planet of the train, - Moved in a lustering _halo_, propped with cane. - Then the _Assembly Close_ received the fair— - Order and elegance presided there— - Each gay Right Honourable had her place, - To walk a minuet with becoming grace. - No racing to the dance, with rival hurry— - Such was thy sway, O famed Miss Nicky Murray! - Each lady’s fan a chosen Damon bore, - With care selected many a day before; - For, unprovided with a favourite beau, - The nymph, chagrined, the ball must needs forego; - But, previous matters to her taste arranged, - _Certes_, the constant couple never changed; - Through a long night, to watch fair Delia’s will, - The same dull swain was at her elbow still.’ - -A little before Miss Nicky’s time, it was customary for gentlemen to -walk alongside the chairs of their partners, with their swords by their -sides, and so escort them home. They called next afternoon upon their -Dulcineas to inquire how they were and drink tea. The fashionable time -for seeing company in those days was the evening, when people were -all abroad upon the street, as in the forenoon now, making calls and -_shopping_. The people who attended the assemblies were very _select_. -Moreover, they were all known to each other; and the introduction of a -stranger required nice preliminaries. It is said that Miss Murray, on -hearing a young lady’s name pronounced for the first time, would say: -‘Miss ——, of what?’ If no territorial addition could be made, she -manifestly cooled. Upon one occasion, seeing a man at the assembly who -was born in a low situation and raised to wealth in some humble trade, -she went up to him, and, without the least deference to his fine-laced -coat, taxed him with presumption in coming there, and turned him out of -the room. - -Major Topham praises the regularity and propriety observed at the -assemblies, though gently insinuating their heaviness. He says: ‘I was -never at an assembly where the authority of the manager was so observed -or respected. With the utmost politeness, affability, and good-humour, -Miss Murray attends to every one. All petitions are heard, and demands -granted, which appear reasonable. The company is so much the more -obliged to Miss Murray, as the task is by no means to be envied. -The crowd which immediately surrounds her on entering the room, the -impetuous applications of _chaperons_, maiden-aunts, and the earnest -entreaties of lovers to obtain a ticket in one of the first sets for -the dear object, render the fatigue of the office of lady-directress -almost intolerable.’[222] - -Early hours were kept in those days, and the stinted time was never -exceeded. When the proper hour arrived for dissolving the party, and -the young people would crowd round the throne to petition for one other -set, up rose Miss Nicky in unrelenting rigidity of figure, and with one -wave of her hand silenced the musicians: - - ‘Quick from the summit of the grove they fell, - And left it inharmonious.’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[221] The Assembly Room, afterwards occupied by the Commercial Bank, -was in Bell’s Wynd, to which place it was removed in 1756 from the -older room in Assembly Close. A scallop-shell above the entrance to -Bell’s Wynd long commemorated the site of the Clamshell Turnpike, -the lodging of the Earl of Home, to which Queen Mary, accompanied by -Darnley, retreated on their return from Dunbar in 1566, rather than -enter Holyrood so soon after the murder of Rizzio. - -[222] It must have been after Miss Nicky Murray’s day that an Edinburgh -Writer to the Signet, describing the unruliness of an assembly, writes: -‘I saw an English lady stand up at the head of a sett with a ticket -No. 1 of that sett. By-and-bye my namesake, Miss Mary ——, came up, -hauling after her a foolish-looking young man, who did as he was bid, -and with all the ease in the world placed herself above the stranger, -No. 1. The lady politely said there must be some mistake, for she had -that place. “No,” said Miss Mary, “I can’t help your ticket, for I have -the Lady Directress’s permission to lead down the sett!” The lady had -spunk, and scolded, for which I liked her the better; only she dealt -her sarcasms about Scotch politeness, Edinburgh manners, and so forth, -rather too liberally and too loudly.’ - - - - -[THE BISHOP’S LAND. - - -On the north side of the High Street, a hundred yards or so below the -North Bridge, there existed previous to 1813 an unusually large and -handsome old _land_ or building named the _Bishop’s Land_. It rested -upon an arcade or _piazza_, as it is called, and the entry in the first -floor bore the ordinary legend: - - BLISSIT BE ZE LORD FOR ALL HIS GIFTIS, - -together with the date 1578, and a shield impaled with two coats of -arms. Along the front of this floor was a balcony composed of brass, -a thing unique in the ancient city. The house had been the Edinburgh -residence of Archbishop John Spottiswood. Most unfortunately the whole -line of building towards the street was burned down in the year 1813. - -In the latter part of the last century the Bishop’s Land was regarded -as a very handsome residence, and it was occupied accordingly by -persons of consideration. The dictum of an old citizen to me many years -ago was: ‘Nobody without livery-servants lived in the Bishop’s Land.’ -Sir Stuart Threipland of Fingask occupied the first floor. His estate, -forfeited by his father in 1716, was purchased back by him, with money -obtained through his wife, in 1784; and the title, which was always -given to him by courtesy, was restored as a reality to his descendants -by George IV. He had himself been engaged in the affair of 1745-6, and -had accompanied ‘the Prince’ in some part of his wanderings. In the -hands of this ‘fine old _Scottish_ gentleman,’ for such he was, his -house in the Bishop’s Land was elegantly furnished, there being in -particular some well-painted portraits of royal personages—_not of -the reigning house_. These had all been sent to his father and himself -by the persons represented in them, who thus showed their gratitude -for efforts made and sufferings incurred in their behalf. There were -five windows to the street, three of them lighting the drawing-room; -the remaining two lighted the eldest son’s room. A dining-room, Sir -Stuart’s bedroom, his sister Janet’s (who kept house for him) room, -and other apartments were in the rear, some lighted from the adjacent -close—and these still exist, having been spared by the fire. The -kitchen and servants’ rooms were below. - -In the next floor above lived the Hamiltons of Pencaitland; in the next -again, the Aytouns of Inchdairnie. Mrs Aytoun, who was a daughter of -Lord Rollo, would sometimes come down the stair in a winter evening, -lighting herself with a little wax-taper, to drink tea with _Mrs_ -Janet Threipland, for so she called herself, though unmarried. In the -uppermost floor of all lived a reputable tailor and his family. All the -various tenants, including the tailor, were on good neighbourly terms -with each other; a pleasant thing to tell of this bit of the old world, -which has left nothing of the same kind behind it in these later days, -when we all live at a greater distance, physical and moral, from each -other.] - - - - -JOHN KNOX’S MANSE. - - -The lower portion of the High Street, including _the Netherbow_, was, -till a recent time, remarkable for the antiquity of the greater number -of the buildings, insomuch that no equal portion of the city was more -distinctly a memorial of the general appearance of the whole as it was -in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. On the north side of the -High Street, immediately adjacent to the Netherbow, there was a nest -of tall wooden-fronted houses of one character, and the age of which -generally might be guessed from the date existing upon one—1562. This -formed a perfect example of the _High Gait_ as it appeared to Queen -Mary, excepting that the open booths below had been converted into -close shops. The _fore-stairs_—that is, outside stairs ascending to -the _first floor_ (technically so called), from which the women of -Edinburgh reviled the hapless queen as she rode along the street after -her surrender at Carberry—were unchanged in this little district. - -The popular story regarding houses of this kind is that they took their -origin in an inconvenience which was felt in having the Boroughmoor -covered with wood, as it proved from that circumstance a harbour for -robbers. To banish the robbers, it was necessary to extirpate the wood. -To get this done, the magistrates granted leave to the citizens to -project their house-fronts seven feet into the street, provided they -should execute the work with timber cut from the Boroughmoor. Robert -Fergusson follows up this story in a burlesque poem by relating how, -consequently, - - ‘Edina’s mansions with lignarian art - Were piled and fronted. Like an ark she seemed - To lie on mountain’s top, with shapes replete, - Clean and unclean—— - To Jove the Dryads prayed, nor prayed in vain, - For vengeance on her sons. At midnight drear - Black showers descend, and teeming myriads rise - Of bugs abhorrent’—— - -The only authentic information to be obtained on the point is presented -by Maitland, when he tells us that the clearing of the Boroughmoor -of timber took place in consequence of a charter from James IV. -in 1508. He says nothing of robbers, but attributes the permission -granted by the magistrates for the making of wooden projections merely -to their desire of getting sale for their timber. After all, I am -inclined to trace this fashion to taste. The wooden fronts appear to -have originated in open galleries—an arrangement often spoken of -in early writings. These, being closed up or formed into a range of -windows, would produce the wooden-fronted house. It is remarkable -that the wooden fronts do not in many instances bear the appearance -of afterthoughts, as the stone structure within often shows such -an arrangement of the fore wall as seems designed to connect the -projecting part with the chambers within, or to give these chambers -as much as possible of the borrowed light. At the same time, it -is somewhat puzzling to find, in the closes below the buildings, -gateways with hooks for hinges seven feet or so from the present -street-front—an arrangement which does not appear necessary on the -supposition that the houses were built designedly with a stone interior -and a wooden projection. - -In the Netherbow the street receives a contraction from the advance of -the houses on the north side, thus closing a species of parallelogram, -of which the Luckenbooths formed the upper extremity—the market-place -of our ancient city. The uppermost of the prominent houses—having of -course two fronts meeting in a right angle, one fronting to the line -of street, the other looking up the High Street—is pointed to by -tradition as the residence or manse of John Knox during his incumbency -as minister of Edinburgh, from 1560 till (with few interruptions) his -death in 1572. It is a picturesque building of three above-ground -floors, constructed of substantial ashlar masonry, but on a somewhat -small scale, and terminating in curious gables and masses of chimneys. -A narrow door, right in the angle, gives access to a small room, -lighted by one long window presented to the westward, and apparently -the _hall_ of the mansion in former times. Over the window and door is -this legend, in an unusually old kind of lettering: - - LVFE·GOD·ABVFE·AL·AND·YI·NYCHTBOVR·[AS·]YI·SELF· - -The word ‘as’ is obliterated. The words are, in modern English, -simply the well-known scriptural command: ‘Love God above all, and -thy neighbour as thyself.’ Perched upon the corner above the door is -a small effigy of the Reformer, preaching in a pulpit, and pointing -with his right hand to a stone above his head in that direction, which -presents in rude sculpture the sun bursting from clouds, with the name -of the Deity inscribed on his disc in three languages: - - ΘΕΟΣ - DEUS - GOD - -Dr M’Crie, in his _Life of John Knox_, states that the Reformer, on -commencing duty in Edinburgh at the conclusion of the struggles with -the queen-regent, ‘lodged in the house of David Forrest, a burgess of -Edinburgh, from which he removed to the lodging which had belonged to -Durie, Abbot of Dunfermline.’ The magistrates acted liberally towards -their minister, giving him a salary of two hundred pounds Scottish -money, and paying his house-rent for him, at the rate of fifteen merks -yearly. In October 1561 they ordained the Dean of Guild, ‘with al -diligence, to mak ane warm studye of dailles to the minister, Johne -Knox, within his hous, aboue the hall of the same, with lyht and -wyndokis thereunto, and all uther necessaris.’ This study is generally -supposed to have been a very small wooden projection, of the kind -described a few pages back, still seen on the front of the _first -floor_. Close to it is a window in the angle of the building, from -which Knox is said by tradition to have occasionally held forth to -multitudes below. - -The second floor, which is accessible by two narrow spiral stairs, -one to the south, another to the west, contains a tolerably spacious -room, with a ceiling ornamented by stucco mouldings, and a window -presented to the westward. A partition has at one time divided this -room from a narrow one towards the north, the ceiling of which is -composed of the beams and flooring of the attic flat, all curiously -painted with flower-work in an ancient taste. Two inferior rooms extend -still farther to the northward. It is to be remarked that the wooden -projection already spoken of extends up to this floor, so that there -is here likewise a small room in front; it contains a fireplace, and a -recess which might have been a cupboard or a library, besides two small -windows. That this fireplace, this recess, and also the door by which -the wooden chamber is entered from the decorated room should all be -formed in the front wall of the house, and with a necessary relation to -the wooden projection, strikes one as difficult to reconcile with the -idea of that projection being an afterthought; the appearances rather -indicate the whole having been formed at once, as parts of one design. -The attic floor exhibits strong oaken beams, but the flooring is in bad -order. - -In the lower part of the house there is a small room, said by tradition -to have been used in times of difficulty for the purpose of baptising -children; there is also a well to supply the house with water, besides -a secret stair, represented as communicating subterraneously with a -neighbouring alley. - -From the size of this house, and the variety of accesses to it, it -becomes tolerably certain that Knox could have occupied only a portion -of it. The question arises, which part did he occupy? Probability -seems decidedly in favour of the _first floor_—that containing the -window from which he is traditionally said to have preached, and where -his effigy appears. An authentic fact in the Reformer’s life favours -this supposition. When under danger from the hostility of the queen’s -party in the castle—in the spring of 1571—‘one evening a musket-ball -was fired in at his window, and lodged in the roof of the apartment -in which he was sitting. It happened that he sat at the time in a -different part of the room from that which he had been accustomed to -occupy, otherwise the ball, from the direction it took, must have -struck him’ (M’Crie). The second floor is too high to have admitted -of a musket being fired in at one of the windows. A ball fired in at -the ground-floor would not have struck the ceiling. The only feasible -supposition in the case is that the Reformer dwelt in the _first -floor_, which was not beyond an assassin’s aim, and yet at such a -height that a ball fired from the street would hit the ceiling.[223] - -[Illustration: JOHN KNOX’S MANSE. - -PAGE 274.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[223] [The right of this house to be called ‘John Knox’s House’ has -been strenuously disputed; several other houses in which Knox actually -lived have been identified by Robert Miller, F.S.A. Scot., Lord Dean of -Guild of Edinburgh, in _John Knox and the Town Council of Edinburgh, -with a Chapter on the so-called ‘John Knox’s House’_ (1898). For the -genuineness of the tradition, said not to be older than 1806, see Lord -Guthrie’s _John Knox and John Knox’s House_ (1898).] - - - - -HYNDFORD’S CLOSE. - - -At the bottom of the High Street, on the south side, there is an -uncommonly huge and dense mass of stone buildings or _lands_, -penetrated only by a few narrow closes. One of these is Hyndford’s -Close, a name indicating the noble family which once had lodgment -in it. This was a Scotch peerage not without its glories—witness -particularly the third earl, who acted as ambassador in succession to -Prussia, to Russia, and to Vienna. It is now extinct: its _bijouterie_, -its pictures, including portraits of Maria Theresa, and other royal and -imperial personages, which had been presented as friendly memorials -to the ambassador, have all been dispersed by the salesman’s hammer, -and Hyndford’s Close, on my trying to get into it lately (1868), was -inaccessible (literally) from filth. - -[Illustration: Hyndford’s Close.] - -The entry and stair at the head of the close on the west side was a -favourite residence, on account of the ready access to it from the -street. In the second floor of this house lived, about the beginning of -the reign of George III., Lady Maxwell of Monreith, and there brought -up her beautiful daughters, one of whom became Duchess of Gordon. The -house had a dark passage, and the kitchen door was passed in going -to the dining-room, according to an agreeable old practice in Scotch -houses, which lets the guests know on entering what they have to -expect. The fineries of Lady Maxwell’s daughters were usually hung up, -after washing, on a screen in this passage to dry; while the coarser -articles of dress, such as shifts and petticoats, were slung decently -out of sight at the window, upon a projecting contrivance similar to a -dyer’s pole, of which numerous specimens still exist at windows in the -Old Town for the convenience of the poorer inhabitants. - -So easy and familiar were the manners of the great in those times, -fabled to be so stiff and decorous, that Miss Eglintoune, afterwards -Lady Wallace, used to be sent with the tea-kettle across the street -to the Fountain Well for water to make tea. Lady Maxwell’s daughters -were the wildest romps imaginable. An old gentleman, who was their -relation, told me that the first time he saw these beautiful girls was -in the High Street, where Miss Jane, afterwards Duchess of Gordon, was -riding upon a sow, which Miss Eglintoune thumped lustily behind with -a stick. It must be understood that in the middle of the eighteenth -century vagrant swine went as commonly about the streets of Edinburgh -as dogs do in our own day, and were more generally fondled as pets by -the children of the last generation.[224] It may, however, be remarked -that the sows upon which the Duchess of Gordon and her witty sister -rode, when children, were not the common vagrants of the High Street, -but belonged to Peter Ramsay, of the inn in St Mary’s Wynd, and were -among the last that were permitted to roam abroad. The two romps used -to watch the animals as they were let loose in the forenoon from the -stable-yard (where they lived among the horse-litter), and get upon -their backs the moment they issued from the close. - -The extraordinary cleverness, the genuine wit, and the delightful -_abandon_ of Lady Wallace made an extraordinary impression on Scottish -society in her day. It almost seemed as if some faculty divine had -inspired her. A milliner bringing home a cap to her when she was just -about to set off to the Leith races was so unlucky as to tear it -against the buckle of a porter’s knee in the street. ‘No matter,’ said -her ladyship; and instantly putting it on, restored all to grace by a -single pin. The cap thus misarranged was found so perfectly exquisite -that ladies tore their caps on nails, and pinned them on in the hope of -imitating it. It was, however, a grace beyond the reach of art. - -Of the many _bon mots_ attributed to her, one alone seems worthy, from -its being unhackneyed, of appearing here. The son of Mr Kincaid, king’s -printer—a great Macaroni, as the phrase went; that is, dandy—was -nicknamed, from his father’s lucrative patent, _Young Bibles_. This -beau entering a ballroom one evening, some of the company asked who was -that extraordinary-looking young man. ‘Only Young Bibles,’ quoth Lady -Wallace, ‘bound in calf, and gilt, but not lettered!’ - -[In the same stair in Hyndford’s Close lived another lady of rank, -and one who, for several reasons, filled in her time a broad space -in society. This was Anne, Countess of Balcarres, the progenitrix of -perhaps as many persons as ever any woman was in the same space of -time. Her eldest daughter, Anne, authoress of the ballad of _Auld -Robin Gray_, was, of all her eleven children, the one whose name is -most likely to continue in remembrance—yea, though another of them -put down the Maroon war in the West Indies. When in Hyndford’s Close, -Lady Balcarres had for a neighbour in the same alley Dr Rutherford, -the uncle of Sir Walter Scott; and young Walter, often at his uncle’s, -occasionally accompanied his aunt ‘Jeanie’ to Lady Balcarres’s. -Forty years after, having occasion to correspond with Lady Anne -Barnard, _née_ Lindsay, he told her: ‘I remember all the _locale_ of -Hyndford’s Close perfectly, even to the Indian screen with Harlequin -and Columbine, and the harpsichord, though I never had the pleasure of -hearing Lady Anne play upon it. I suppose the close, once too clean to -soil the hem of your ladyship’s garment, is now a resort for the lowest -mechanics—and so wears the world away.... It is, to be sure, more -picturesque to lament the desolation of towers on hills and haughs, -than the degradation of an Edinburgh close; but I cannot help thinking -on the simple and cosie retreats where worth and talent, and elegance -to boot, were often nestled, and which now are the resort of misery, -filth, poverty, and vice.’[225] - -The late Mrs Meetham, a younger sister of Miss Spence Yeaman, of -Murie, in the Carse of Gowrie, had often heard her grand-aunt, Miss -Molly Yeaman, describe, from her own recollection, the tea-drinkings -of the Countess of Balcarres in Hyndford’s Close. The family was not -rich, and it still retained something of its ancient Jacobitism. The -tea-drinkings, as was not uncommon, took place in my lady’s bedroom. -At the foot of a four-posted bed, exhibiting a finely worked coverlet, -stood John, an elderly man-servant, and a _character_, in full -Balcarres livery, an immense quantity of worsted lace on his coat. -Resting with his arm round a bedpost, he was ready to hand the kettle -when required. As the ladies went chattering on, there would sometimes -occur a difficulty about a date or a point in genealogy, and then -John was appealed to to settle the question. For example, it came to -be debated how many of the Scotch baronetcies were real; for, as is -still the case, many of them were known to be fictitious, or assumed -without legal grounds. Here John was known to be not only learned, but -eloquent. He began: ‘Sir James Kinloch, Sir Stuart Threipland, Sir -John Wedderburn, Sir —— Ogilvy, Sir James Steuart of Coltness’ [all -of them forfeited baronets, be it observed]: ‘these, leddies, are the -only _real_ baronets. For the rest, I do believe, the Deil’——then a -figurative declaration not fit for modern print, but which made the -Balcarres party only laugh, and declare to John that they thought him -not far wrong.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[224] The following advertisement, inserted in the _Edinburgh Courant_ -of August 1, 1754, illustrates the above in a striking manner: ‘If -any person has lost a LARGE SOW, let them call at the house of Robert -Fiddes, gardener to Lord Minto, over against the Earl of Galloway’s, in -the Horse Wynd, where, upon proving the property, paying expenses and -damages done by the said sow, they may have the same restored.’ - -[225] Lord Lindsay’s _Lives of the Lindsays_, iii. 190. - - - - -HOUSE OF THE MARQUISES OF TWEEDDALE—THE BEGBIE TRAGEDY. - - -[Illustration: Tweeddale Court.] - -The town mansion of the Marquises of Tweeddale was one of large extent -and dimensions, in a court which still bears the title of that family, -nearly opposite to the mansion of John Knox.[226] When John, the -fourth marquis, was Secretary of State for Scotland, in the reign of -George II., this must have been a dwelling of considerable importance -in the eyes of his countrymen. It had a good garden in the rear, -with a yard and coach entry from the Cowgate. Now all the buildings -and ‘pertinents’ are in the occupation of Messrs Oliver & Boyd, the -well-known publishers. - -[Illustration: Scene of the Begbie Murder.] - -The passage from the street into Tweeddale Court is narrow and dark, -and about fifteen yards in length. Here, in 1806, when the mansion was -possessed as a banking-house by the British Linen Company, there took -place an extraordinary tragedy. About five o’clock of the evening of -the 13th of November, when the short midwinter day had just closed, -a child, who lived in a house accessible from the close, was sent by -her mother with a kettle to obtain a supply of water for tea from the -neighbouring well. The little girl, stepping with the kettle in her -hand out of the public stair into the close, stumbled in the dark over -something which lay there, and which proved to be the body of a man -just expiring. On an alarm being given, it was discovered that this -was William Begbie, a porter connected with the bank, in whose heart -a knife was stuck up to the haft, so that he bled to death before -uttering a word which might tend to explain the dismal transaction. He -was at the same time found to have been robbed of a package of notes to -the value of above four thousand pounds, which he had been entrusted, -in the course of his ordinary duty, to carry from the branch of the -bank at Leith to the head-office.[227] The blow had been given with an -accuracy and a calculation of consequences showing the most appalling -deliberation in the assassin; for not only was the knife directed -straight into the most vital part, but its handle had been muffled in a -bunch of soft paper, so as to prevent, as was thought, any sprinkling -of blood from reaching the person of the murderer, by which he might -have been by some chance detected. The knife was one of those with -broad thin blades and wooden handles which are used for cutting bread, -and its rounded front had been ground to a point, apparently for the -execution of this horrible deed. The unfortunate man left a wife and -four children to bewail his loss. - -The singular nature and circumstances of Begbie’s murder occasioned -much excitement in the public mind, and every effort was of course -made to discover the guilty party. No house of a suspicious character -in the city was left unsearched, and parties were despatched to watch -and patrol all the various roads leading out into the country. The -bank offered a reward of five hundred pounds for such information as -might lead to the conviction of the offender or offenders; and the -government further promised the king’s pardon to any except the actual -murderer who, having been concerned in the deed, might discover their -accomplices. The sheriff of Edinburgh, Mr Clerk Rattray, displayed the -greatest zeal in his endeavours to ascertain the circumstances of the -murder, and to detect and seize the murderer, but with surprisingly -little success. All that could be ascertained was that Begbie, in -proceeding up Leith Walk on his fatal mission, had been accompanied by -‘a man;’ and that about the supposed time of the murder ‘a man’ had -been seen by some children to run out of the close into the street -and down Leith Wynd, a lane leading off from the Netherbow at a point -nearly opposite to the close. There was also reason to believe that the -knife had been bought in a shop about two o’clock on the day of the -murder, and that it had been afterwards ground upon a grinding-stone -and smoothed on a hone. A number of suspicious characters were -apprehended and examined; but all, with one exception, produced -satisfactory proofs of their innocence. The exception was a carrier -between Perth and Edinburgh, a man of dissolute and irregular habits, -of great bodily strength, and known to be a dangerous and desperate -character. He was kept in custody for a considerable time on suspicion, -having been seen in the Canongate, near the scene of the murder, a -very short time after it was committed. It has since been ascertained -that he was then going about a different business, the disclosure of -which would have subjected him to a capital punishment. It was in -consequence of the mystery he felt himself impelled to preserve on this -subject that he was kept so long in custody; but at length facts and -circumstances came out to warrant his discharge, and he was discharged -accordingly. - -Months rolled on without eliciting any evidence respecting the murder, -and, like other wonders, it had ceased in a great measure to engage -public attention, when, on the 10th of August 1807, a journeyman mason, -in company with two other men, passing through the Bellevue grounds in -the neighbourhood of the city, found, in a hole in a stone enclosure -by the side of a hedge, a parcel containing a large quantity of -bank-notes, bearing the appearance of having been a good while exposed -to the weather. After consulting a little, the men carried the package -to the sheriff’s office, where it was found to contain about £3000 in -large notes, being those which had been taken from Begbie. The British -Linen Company rewarded the men with two hundred pounds for their -honesty; but the circumstance passed without throwing any light on the -murder itself. - -Up to the present day the murderer of Begbie has not been discovered; -nor is it probable, after the space of time which has elapsed, that he -will ever be so. It is most likely that the grave has long closed upon -him. The only person on whom public suspicion alighted with any force -during the sixteen years ensuing upon the transaction was a medical -practitioner in Leith, a dissolute man and a gambler, who put an end to -his own existence not long after the murder. But I am not acquainted -with any particular circumstances on which this suspicion was grounded -beyond the suicide, which might spring from other causes. It was not -till 1822 that any further light was thrown on this mysterious case. -In a work then published under the title of _The Life and Trial of -James Mackoull_, there was included a paper by Mr Denovan, the Bow -Street officer, the object of which was to prove that Mackoull was the -murderer, and which contained at least one very curious statement. - -Mr Denovan had discovered in Leith a man, then acting as a teacher, but -who in 1806 was a sailor-boy, and who had witnessed some circumstances -immediately connected with the murder. The man’s statement was as -follows: ‘I was at that time (November 1806) a boy of fourteen years -of age. The vessel to which I belonged had made a voyage to Lisbon, -and was then lying in Leith harbour. I had brought a small present -from Portugal for my mother and sister, who resided in the Netherbow, -Edinburgh, immediately opposite to Tweeddale’s Close, leading to the -British Linen Company’s Bank. I left the vessel late in the afternoon, -and as the articles I had brought were contraband, I put them under -my jacket, and was proceeding up Leith Walk, when I perceived a tall -man carrying a yellow-coloured parcel under his arm, and a genteel -man, dressed in a black coat, dogging him. I was a little afraid: I -conceived the man who carried the parcel to be a smuggler, and the -gentleman who followed him to be a custom-house or excise officer. In -dogging the man, the supposed officer went from one side of the Walk to -the other [the Walk is a broad street], as if afraid of being noticed, -but still kept about the same distance behind him. I was afraid of -losing what I carried, and shortened sail a little, keeping my eyes -fixed on the person I supposed to be an officer, until I came to the -head of Leith Street, when I saw the smuggler take the North Bridge, -and the custom-house officer go in front of the Register Office; here -he looked round him, and imagining he was looking for me, I hove -to, and watched him. He then looked up the North Bridge, and, as I -conceive, followed the smuggler, for he went the same way. I stood a -minute or two where I was, and then went forward, walking slowly up -the North Bridge. I did not, however, see either of the men before me; -and when I came to the south end or head of the Bridge, supposing that -they might have gone up the High Street or along the South Bridge, I -turned to the left, and reached the Netherbow, without again seeing -either the smuggler or the officer. Just, however, as I came opposite -to Tweeddale’s Close, _I saw the custom-house officer come running -out of it with something under his coat_: I think he ran down the -street. Being much alarmed, and supposing that the officer had also -seen me and knew what I carried, I deposited my little present in my -mother’s with all possible speed, and made the best of my way to Leith, -without hearing anything of the murder of Begbie until next day. On -coming on board the vessel, I told the mate what a narrow escape I -conceived I had made: he seemed somewhat alarmed (having probably, like -myself, smuggled some trifling article from Portugal), and told me -in a peremptory tone that I should not go ashore again without first -acquainting him. I certainly heard of the murder before I left Leith, -and concluded that the man I saw was the murderer; but the idea of -waiting on a magistrate and communicating what I had seen never struck -me. We sailed in a few days thereafter from Leith; and the vessel to -which I belonged having been captured by a privateer, I was carried -to a French prison, and only regained my liberty at the last peace. I -can now recollect distinctly the figure of the man I saw; he was well -dressed, had a genteel appearance, and wore a black coat. I never saw -his face properly, for he was before me the whole way up the Walk; I -think, however, he was a stout big man, but not so tall as the man I -then conceived to be a smuggler.’ - -This description of the supposed custom-house officer coincides exactly -with that of the appearance of Mackoull; and other circumstances are -given which almost make it certain that he was the murderer. This -Mackoull was a London rogue of unparalleled effrontery and dexterity, -who for years haunted Scotland, and effected some daring robberies. -He resided in Edinburgh from September 1805 till the close of 1806, -and during that time frequented a coffee-house in the _Ship Tavern_ at -Leith. He professed to be a merchant expelled by the threats of the -French from Hamburg, and to live by a new mode of dyeing skins, but in -reality he practised the arts of a gambler and a pickpocket. He had a -mean lodging at the bottom of New Street in the Canongate, near the -scene of the murder of Begbie, to which it is remarkable that _Leith -Wynd_ was the readiest as well as most private access from that spot. -No suspicion, however, fell upon Mackoull at this period, and he left -the country for a number of years, at the end of which time he visited -Glasgow, and there effected a robbery of one of the banks. For this -crime he did not escape the law. He was brought to trial at Edinburgh -in 1820, was condemned to be executed, but died in jail while under -reprieve from his sentence. - -The most striking part of the evidence which Mr Denovan adduces against -Mackoull is the report of a conversation which he had with that person -in the condemned cell of the Edinburgh jail in July 1820, when Mackoull -was very doubtful of being reprieved. To pursue his own narrative, -which is in the third person: ‘He told Captain Sibbald [the superior of -the prison] that he intended to ask Mackoull a single question relative -to the murder of Begbie, but would first humour him by a few jokes, -so as to throw him off his guard, and prevent him from thinking he -had called for any particular purpose [it is to be observed that Mr -Denovan had a professional acquaintance with the condemned man]; but -desired Captain Sibbald to watch the features of the prisoner when he -(Denovan) put his hand to his chin, for he would then put the question -he meant. After talking some time on different topics, Mr Denovan put -this very simple question to the prisoner: “By the way, Mackoull, if -I am correct, you resided at the foot of New Street, Canongate, in -November 1806—did you not?” He stared—he rolled his eyes, and, as if -falling into a convulsion, threw himself back upon his bed. In this -condition he continued for a few moments, when, as if recollecting -himself, he started up, exclaiming wildly: “No, —— ——! I was then -in the East Indies—in the West Indies. What do you mean?” “I mean no -harm, Mackoull,” he replied; “I merely asked the question for my own -curiosity; for I think when you left these lodgings you went to Dublin. -Is it not so?” “Yes, yes, I went to Dublin,” he replied; “and I wish I -had remained there still. I won £10,000 there at the tables, and never -knew what it was to want cash, although you wished the folks here to -believe that they locked me up in Old Start (Newgate), and brought down -your friend Adkins to swear he saw me there: this was more than your -duty.” He now seemed to rave, and lose all temper, and his visitor bade -him good-night, and left him.’ - -It appears extremely probable, from the strong circumstantial evidence -which has been offered by Mr Denovan, that Mackoull was the murderer of -Begbie. - -One remaining fact regarding the Netherbow will be listened to with -some interest. It was the home—perhaps the native spot—of William -Falconer, the author of _The Shipwreck_, whose father was a wigmaker in -this street.[228] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[226] ‘During this peaceable time [1668-1675], he [John, Earl of -Tweeddale] built the park of Yester of stone and lime, near seven miles -about, in seven years’ time, at the expense of 20,000 pound; bought -a house in Edinburgh from Sir William Bruce for 1000 pound sterling, -and ane other house within the same court, which, being rebuilt from -the foundation, the price of it and reparations of both stood him -1000 sterling.’—Father Hay’s _Genealogie of the Hayes of Tweeddale_ -(Edinburgh, 1835), p. 32. - -[227] The notes are thus described in the _Hue and Cry_: £1300 in -twenty-pound notes of Sir W. Forbes and Company; £1000 in twenty-pound -notes of the Leith Banking Company; £1400 in twenty, ten, and five -pound notes of different banks; 240 guinea and 440 pound notes of -different banks—in all, £4392. - -[228] It was in this part of the High Street also that Robert -Lekprevick, the Scottish printer, lived before he removed to St Andrews -in 1571. - - - - -[THE LADIES OF TRAQUAIR. - - -Lady Lovat was at the head of a genus of old ladies of quality, who, -during the last century, resided in third and fourth _flats_ of Old -Town houses, wore pattens when they went abroad, had miniatures of the -Pretender next their hearts, and gave tea and card parties regularly -every fortnight. Almost every generation of a Scottish family of rank, -besides throwing off its swarm of male cadets, who went abroad in -quest of fortune, used to produce a corresponding number of daughters, -who stayed at home, and for the most part became old maids. These -gentlewomen, after the death of their parents, when, of course, a -brother or nephew succeeded to the family seat and estate, were -compelled to leave home, and make room for the new laird to bring up -a new generation, destined in time to experience the same fate. Many -of these ladies, who in Catholic countries would have found protection -in nunneries, resorted to Edinburgh, where, with the moderate family -provision assigned them, they passed inoffensive and sometimes -useful lives, the peace of which was seldom broken otherwise than by -irruptions of their grand-nephews, who came with the hunger of High -School boys, or by the more stately calls of their landed cousins and -brothers, who rendered their visits the more auspicious by a pound of -hyson for the caddy, or a replenishment of rappee for the snuff-box. -The _leddies_, as they were called, were at once the terror and the -admiration of their neighbours in the stair, who looked up to them as -the patronesses of the _land_, and as shedding a light of gentility -over the flats below. - -In the best days of the Old Town, people of all ranks lived very -closely and cordially together, and the whole world were in a manner -next-door neighbours. The population being dense, and the town small, -the distance between the houses of friends was seldom considerable. -When a hundred friends lived within the space of so many yards, the -company was easily collected, and consequently meetings took place -more frequently, and upon more trivial occasions, than in these latter -days of stately dinners and fantastic balls. Tea—simple tea—was then -almost the only meal to which invitations were given. Tea-parties, -assembling at four o’clock, were resorted to by all who wished for -elegant social intercourse. There was much careful ceremonial in the -dispensation of those pretty, small china cups, individualised by the -numbers marked on each of the miniature spoons which circulated with -them, and of which four or five returns were not uncommon. The spoon -in the saucer indicated a wish for more—in the cup the reverse. A few -tunes on the spinnet, a Scotch song from some young lady (solo), and -the unfailing whist-table furnished the entertainment. At eight o’clock -to a minute would arrive the sedan, or the lass with the lantern and -pattens, and the whole company would be at home before the eight -o’clock drum of the Town-guard had ceased to beat. - -In a house at the head of the Canongate, but having its entrance from -St Mary’s Wynd, and several stairs up, lived two old maiden ladies of -the house of Traquair—the Ladies Barbara and Margaret Stuart. They -were twins, the children of Charles, the fourth earl, and their birth -on the 3rd of September, the anniversary of the death of Cromwell, -brought a Latin epigram from Dr Pitcairn—of course previous to 1713, -which was the year of his own death. The learned doctor anticipated for -them ‘timid wooers,’ but they nevertheless came to old age unmarried. -They drew out their innocent, retired lives in this place, where, -latterly, one of their favourite amusements was to make dolls, and -little beds for them to lie on—a practice not quite uncommon in days -long gone by, being to some degree followed by Queen Mary.[229] - -I may give, in the words of a long-deceased correspondent, an anecdote -of the ladies of Traquair, referring to the days when potatoes had as -yet an equivocal reputation, and illustrative of the frugal scale by -which our ‘leddies’ were in use to measure the luxuries of their table. -‘Upon the return one day of their weekly ambassador to the market, and -the anxious investigation by the old ladies of the contents of Jenny’s -basket, the little morsel of mutton, with a portion of accompanying -off-falls, was duly approved of. “But, Jenny, what’s this in the bottom -of the basket?” “Oo, mem, just a dozen o’ ’taties that Lucky, the -green-wife, wad ha’e me to tak’—they wad eat sae fine wi’ the mutton.” -“Na, na, Jenny; tak’ back the ’taties—we need nae provocatives in this -house.”’ - -The latest survivor of these Traquair ladies died in 1794.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[229] ‘—— deliure a Jacques le tailleur deux chanteaux de damas gris -broches dor pour faire vne robbe a vne poupine;’ also ‘trois quartz -et demi de toille dargent et de soze blanche pour faire vne cotte et -aultre chose a des poupines.’—_Catalogues of the Jewels, Dresses, -Furniture, &c. of Mary Queen of Scots_, edited by Joseph Robertson. -Edinburgh, 1863, p. 139. - - - - -GREYFRIARS CHURCHYARD. - - SIGNING OF THE COVENANT—HENDERSON’S MONUMENT—BOTHWELL BRIDGE - PRISONERS—A ROMANCE. - - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: Henderson’s Monument, Greyfriars.] - -This old cemetery—the burial-place of Buchanan,[230] George Jameson -the painter, Principal Robertson, Dr Blair, Allan Ramsay, Henry -Mackenzie, and many other men of note—whose walls are a circle of -aristocratic sepulchres, will ever be memorable as the scene of the -Signing of the Covenant; the document having first been produced in the -church, after a sermon by Alexander Henderson, and signed by all the -congregation, from the Earl of Sutherland downward, after which it was -handed out to the multitudes assembled in the kirkyard, and signed on -the flat monuments, amidst tears, prayers, and aspirations which could -find no words; some writing with their blood! Near by, resting well -from all these struggles, lies the preacher under a square obelisk-like -monument; near also rests, in equal peace, the Covenant’s enemy, Sir -George Mackenzie. The inscriptions on Henderson’s stone were ordered -by Parliament to be erased at the Restoration; and small depressions -are pointed out in it as having been inflicted by bullets from the -soldiery when executing this order. With the ’88 came a new order of -things, and the inscriptions were then quietly reinstated. - -[Illustration: GREYFRIARS’ CHURCHYARD. - -PAGE 288.] - - -BOTHWELL BRIDGE PRISONERS. - -As if there had been some destiny in the matter, the Greyfriars -Churchyard became connected with another remarkable event in the -religious troubles of the seventeenth century. At the south-west -angle, accessible by an old gateway bearing emblems of mortality, and -which is fitted with an iron-rail gate of very old workmanship, is a -kind of supplement to the burying-ground—an oblong space, now having -a line of sepulchral enclosures on each side, but formerly empty. -On these enclosures the visitor may remark, as he passes, certain -names venerable in the history of science and of letters; as, for -instance, Joseph Black and Alexander Tytler. On one he sees the name of -Gilbert Innes of Stow, who left a million, to take six feet of earth -here. These, however, do not form the matter in point. Every lesser -particular becomes trivial beside the extraordinary use to which the -place was put by the Government in the year 1679. Several hundred of -the prisoners taken at Bothwell Bridge were confined here in the open -air, under circumstances of privation now scarcely credible. They had -hardly anything either to lie upon or to cover them; their allowance of -provision was four ounces of bread per day, with water derived from one -of the city pipes, which passed near the place. They were guarded by -day by eight and through the night by twenty-four men; and the soldiers -were told that if any prisoner escaped, they should answer it life for -life by cast of dice. If any prisoner rose from the ground by night, he -was shot at. Women alone were permitted to commune with them, and bring -them food or clothes; but these had often to stand at the entrance -from morning till night without getting access, and were frequently -insulted and maltreated by the soldiers, without the prisoners being -able to protect them, although in many cases related by the most -endearing ties. In the course of several weeks a considerable number -of the prisoners had been liberated upon signing a bond, in which they -promised never again to take up arms against the king or without his -authority; but it appears that about four hundred, refusing mercy on -such terms, were kept in this frightful bivouac for five months, being -only allowed at the approach of winter to have shingle huts erected -over them, which was boasted of as a great mercy. Finally, on the 15th -of November, a remnant, numbering two hundred and fifty-seven, were put -on board a ship to be sent to Barbadoes. The vessel was wrecked on one -of the Orkney Islands, when only about forty came ashore alive. - -From the gloom of this sad history there is shed one ray of romance. -Amongst the charitable women of Edinburgh who came to minister to -the prisoners, there was one attended by a daughter—a young and, at -least by right of romance, a fair girl. Every few days they approached -this iron gate with food and clothes, either from their own stores -or collected among neighbours. Between the young lady and one of the -juvenile prisoners an attachment sprang up. Doubtless she loved him for -the dangers he had passed in so good a cause, and he loved her because -she pitied them. In happier days, long after, when their constancy had -been well tried by an exile which he suffered in the plantations, this -pair were married, and settled in Edinburgh, where they had sons and -daughters. A respectable elderly citizen tells me he is descended from -them.[231] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[230] A skull represented as Buchanan’s has long been shown in the -College of Edinburgh. It is extremely thin, and being long ago shown in -company with that of a known idiot, which was, on the contrary, very -thick, it seemed to form a commentary upon the popular expression which -sets forth density of bone as an invariable accompaniment of paucity of -brain. The author of a diatribe called _Scotland Characterised_, which -was published in 1701, and may be found in the _Harleian Miscellany_, -tells us that he had seen the skull in question, and that it bore ‘a -very pretty distich upon it [the composition of Principal Adamson, who -had caused the skull to be lifted]—the first line I have forgot, but -the second was: - - “Et decus es tumulo jam, Buchanane, tuo.”’ - -[231] [Dr David Hay Fleming has shown that the contemporary evidence is -all in favour of the Covenant’s having been signed _in_ the Greyfriars’ -Church, and not in the churchyard; see a chapter by him in Mr Moir -Bryce’s _Old Greyfriars’ Church, Edinburgh_ (1912). And in the same -book Mr Moir Bryce has proved that the small strip of ground long -erroneously believed to be the Covenanters’ prison was not separated -off till 1703-4, and that the Covenanters were interned on a much -larger area to the east, now built over.] - - - - -STORY OF MRS MACFARLANE. - - ‘Let them say I am romantic; so is every one said to be that - either admires a fine thing or does one. On my conscience, as - the world goes, ’tis hardly worth anybody’s while to do one for - the honour of it. Glory, the only pay of generous actions, is - now as ill paid as other just debts; and neither Mrs Macfarlane - for immolating her lover, nor you for constancy to your lord, - must ever hope to be compared to Lucretia or Portia.’—_Pope to - Lady Mary W. Montagu._ - - -Pope here alludes to a tragical incident which took place in Edinburgh -on the 2nd of October 1716. The victim was a young Englishman, who had -been sent down to Scotland as a Commissioner of Customs. It appears -that Squire Cayley, or Captain Cayley, as he was alternatively called, -had become the slave of a shameful passion towards Mrs Macfarlane, -a woman of uncommon beauty, the wife of Mr John Macfarlane, Writer -to the Signet in Edinburgh. One Saturday forenoon Mrs Macfarlane was -exposed, by the treachery of Captain Cayley’s landlady, with whom she -was acquainted, to an insult of the most atrocious kind on his part, in -the house where he lodged, which seems to have been situated in a close -in the Cowgate, opposite to what were called the Back Stairs.[232] -Next Tuesday Mr Cayley waited upon Mrs Macfarlane at her own house, -and was shown into the drawing-room. According to an account given out -by his friends, he was anxious to apologise for his former rudeness. -From another account, it would appear that he had circulated reports -derogatory to the lady’s honour, which she was resolved to punish. A -third story represents him as having repeated the insult which he had -formerly offered; whereupon she went into another room, and presently -came back with a pair of pistols in her hand. On her bidding him -leave the house instantly, he said: ‘What, madam, d’ye design to act -a comedy?’ To which she answered that ‘_he would find it a tragedy if -he did not retire_.’ The infatuated man not obeying her command, she -fired one of the pistols, which, however, only wounded him slightly -in the left wrist, the bullet slanting down into the floor. The mere -instinct, probably, of self-preservation caused him to draw his sword; -but before he could use it she fired the other pistol, the shot of -which penetrated his heart. ‘This dispute,’ says a letter of the day, -‘was so close that Mr Cayley’s shirt was burnt at the sleeves with the -fire of one of the pistols, and his cravat and the breast of his shirt -with the fire of the other.’[233] Mrs Macfarlane immediately left the -room, locking the door upon the dead body, and sent a servant for her -husband, who was found at a neighbouring tavern. On his coming home -about an hour after, she took him by the sleeve, and leading him into -the room where the corpse lay, explained the circumstances which had -led to the bloody act. Mr Macfarlane said: ‘Oh, woman! what have you -done?’ But soon seeing the necessity for prompt measures, he went out -again to consult with some of his friends. ‘They all advised,’ says the -letter just quoted, ‘that he should convey his wife away privately, to -prevent her lying in jail, till a precognition should be taken of the -affair, and it should appear in its true light. Accordingly [about six -o’clock], she walked down the High Street, followed by her husband at a -little distance, and now absconds. - -‘The thing continued a profound secret to all except those concerned in -the house till past ten at night, when Mr Macfarlane, having provided a -safe retreat for his wife, returned and gave orders for discovering it -to the magistrates, who went and viewed the body of the deceased, and -secured the house and maid, and all else who may become evidence of the -fact.’ - -Another contemporary says: ‘I saw his [Cayley’s] corpse after he -was cereclothed, and saw his blood where he lay on the floor for -twenty-four hours after he died, just as he fell; so it was a -difficulty to straight him.’ - -A careful investigation was made into every circumstance connected -with this fatal affair, but without demonstrating anything except the -passionate rashness or magnanimity of the fair homicide. Mr Macfarlane -was discharged upon his own affirmation that he knew nothing of the -deed till after it had taken place. A pamphlet was published by Mrs -Murray, Mr Cayley’s landlady, who seems to have kept a grocery shop -in the Cowgate, vindicating herself from the imputation which Mrs -Macfarlane’s tale had thrown upon her character; but to this there -appeared an answer, from some friend of the other party, in which the -imputation was fixed almost beyond the possibility of doubt. Mrs Murray -denied that Mrs Macfarlane had been in her house on the Saturday before -the murder; but evidence was given that she was seen issuing from -the close in which Mrs Murray resided, and, after ascending the Back -Stairs, was observed passing through the Parliament Square towards her -own house. - -It will surprise every one to learn that this Scottish Lucrece was -a woman of only nineteen or twenty years of age, and some months -_enceinte_, at the time when she so boldly vindicated her honour. She -was a person of respectable connections, being a daughter of Colonel -Charles Straiton, ‘a gentleman of great honour,’ says one of the -letters already quoted, and who further appears to have been entrusted -with high negotiations by the Jacobites during the reign of Queen Anne. -By her mother, she was granddaughter to Sir Andrew Forrester. - -Of the future history of Mrs Macfarlane we have but one glimpse, but -it is of a romantic nature. Margaret Swinton, who was the aunt of Sir -Walter Scott’s mother, and round whom he and his boy-brothers used -to close to listen to her tales, remembered being one Sunday left by -her parents at home in their house of Swinton in Berwickshire, while -the rest of the family attended church. Tiring of the solitude of her -little nursery, she stole quietly downstairs to the parlour, which -she entered somewhat abruptly. There, to her surprise, she beheld the -most beautiful woman she had ever seen, sitting at the breakfast-table -making tea. She believed it could be no other than one of those -enchanted queens whom she had heard of in fairy tales. The lady, after -a pause of surprise, came up to her with a sweet smile, and conversed -with her, concluding with a request that she would speak only to her -mamma of the stranger whom she had seen. Presently after, little -Margaret having turned her back for a few moments, the beautiful vision -had vanished. The whole appeared like a dream. By-and-by the family -returned, and Margaret took her mother aside that she might talk of -this wonderful apparition. Mrs Swinton applauded her for thus observing -the injunction which had been laid upon her. ‘Had you not,’ she added, -‘it might have cost that lady her life.’ Subsequent explanations made -Margaret aware that she had seen the unfortunate Mrs Macfarlane, who, -having some claim of kindred upon the Swinton family, had been received -by them, and kept in a secret room till such time as she could venture -to make her way out of the country. On Margaret looking away for a -moment, the lady had glided by a sliding panel into her Patmos behind -the wainscot, and thus unwittingly increased the child’s apprehension -of the whole being an event out of the course of nature. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[232] The Back Stairs, built on the site of St Giles’ Churchyard, gave -direct communication between the Cowgate and Old Parliament Square. It -was by this way that Robertson the smuggler escaped from the Tolbooth -Church, where he and his accomplice Wilson had been taken, as was usual -with condemned prisoners, the Sunday before their execution. It was -Porteous’s behaviour at the execution of Wilson that led to the riot -and his own death in the Grassmarket. - -[233] The pistols belonged to Mr Cayley himself, having been borrowed a -few days before by Mr Macfarlane. - - - - -THE CANONGATE. - - DISTINGUISHED INHABITANTS IN FORMER TIMES—STORY OF A - BURNING—MOROCCO’S LAND—NEW STREET. - - -The Canongate, which takes its name from the Augustine canons of -Holyrood (who were permitted to build it by the charter of David I. in -1128, and afterwards ruled it as a burgh of regality), was formerly -the court end of the town. As the main avenue from the palace into -the city, it has borne upon its pavement the burden of all that was -beautiful, all that was gallant, all that has become historically -interesting in Scotland for the last six or seven hundred years. It -still presents an antique appearance, although many of the houses are -modernised. There is one with a date from Queen Mary’s reign,[234] and -many may be guessed, from their appearance, to be of even an earlier -era. Previously to the Union, when the palace ceased to be occasionally -inhabited, as it had formerly been, by at least the vicar of majesty in -the person of the Commissioner to the Parliament, the place was densely -inhabited by persons of distinction. Allan Ramsay, in lamenting the -death of Lucky Wood, says: - - ‘Oh, Canigate, puir elrich hole, - What loss, what crosses does thou thole! - London and death gars thee look droll, - And hing thy head; - Wow but thou has e’en a cauld coal - To blaw indeed;’ - -and mentions in a note that this place was ‘the greatest sufferer by -the loss of our members of parliament, which London now enjoys, many of -them having had their houses there;’ a fact which Maitland confirms. -Innumerable traces are to be found, in old songs and ballads, of the -elegant population of the Canongate in a former day. In the piteous -tale of Marie Hamilton—one of the Queen’s Maries—occurs this simple -but picturesque stanza: - - ‘As she cam’ doun the Cannogait, - The Cannogait sae free, - Mony a lady looked owre her window, - Weeping for this ladye.’ - -An old popular rhyme expresses the hauteur of these Canongate dames -towards their city neighbours of the male sex: - - ‘The lasses o’ the Canongate, - Oh they are wondrous nice; - They winna gi’e a single kiss - But for a double price. - - Gar hang them, gar hang them, - Hich upon a tree; - For we’ll get better up the gate - For a bawbee!’ - -[Illustration: Weir’s Close, Canongate—wretchedly squalid.] - -Even in times comparatively modern, this faubourg was inhabited by -persons of very great consideration.[235] Within the memory of a lady -living in 1830, it used to be a common thing to hear, among other -matters of gossip, ‘_that there was to be a braw flitting[236] in the -Canongate to-morrow_;’ and parties of young people were made up to go -and see the fine furniture brought out, sitting perhaps for hours in -the windows of some friend on the opposite side of the street, while -cart after cart was laden with magnificence.[237] Many of the houses -to this day are fit for the residence of a first-rate family in every -respect but _vicinage_ and _access_. The last grand blow was given to -the place by the opening of the road along the Calton Hill in 1817, -which rendered it no longer the avenue of approach to the city from -the east. Instead of profiting by the comparative retirement which it -acquired on that occasion, it seemed to become the more wretchedly -squalid from its being the less under notice—as a gentleman dresses -the least carefully when not expecting visitors. It is now a secluded -and, in general, meanly inhabited suburb, only accessible by ways -which, however lightly our fathers and grandfathers might regard them, -are hardly now pervious to a lady or gentleman without shocking more -of the senses than one, besides the difficulty of steering one’s way -through the herds of the idle and the wretched who encumber the street. - -One of the houses near the head of the Canongate, on the north side -of the street, was indicated to me by an old lady a few years ago as -that which tradition in her young days pointed to in connection with a -wild story related in the notes to _Rokeby_. She had often heard the -tale told, nearly in the same manner as it has been given by Scott, and -the site of the house concerned in the tragedy was pointed out to her -by her seniors. Perhaps the reader will again excuse a quotation from -the writings of our late gifted fellow-townsman: if to be related at -all—and surely in a work devoted to Edinburgh popular legends it could -not rightly be overlooked—it may as well be given in the language of -the prince of modern _conteurs_: - -‘About the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the large castles -of the Scottish nobles, and even the secluded hotels, like those -of the French _noblesse_, which they possessed in Edinburgh, were -sometimes the scenes of strange and mysterious transactions, a divine -of singular sanctity was called up at midnight to pray with a person -at the point of death. This was no unusual summons; but what followed -was alarming. He was put into a sedan-chair, and after he had been -transported to a remote part of the town, the bearers insisted upon -his being blindfolded. The request was enforced by a cocked pistol, -and submitted to; but in the course of the discussion, he conjectured, -from the phrases employed by the chairmen, and from some part of their -dress, not completely concealed by their cloaks, that they were greatly -above the menial station they assumed. After many turns and windings, -the chair was carried upstairs into a lodging, where his eyes were -uncovered, and he was introduced into a bedroom, where he found a -lady, newly delivered of an infant. He was commanded by his attendants -to say such prayers by her bedside as were fitting for a person not -expected to survive a mortal disorder. He ventured to remonstrate, -and observe that her safe delivery warranted better hopes. But he was -sternly commanded to obey the orders first given, and with difficulty -recollected himself sufficiently to acquit himself of the task imposed -on him. He was then again hurried into the chair; but as they conducted -him downstairs he heard the report of a pistol. He was safely conducted -home; a purse of gold was forced upon him; but he was warned, at the -same time, that the least allusion to this dark transaction would cost -him his life. He betook himself to rest, and after long and broken -musing, fell into a deep sleep. From this he was awakened by his -servant, with the dismal news that a fire of uncommon fury had broken -out in the house of ——, near the head of the Canongate, and that it -was totally consumed; with the shocking addition that the daughter of -the proprietor, a young lady eminent for beauty and accomplishments, -had perished in the flames. The clergyman had his suspicions, but to -have made them public would have availed nothing. He was timid; the -family was of the first distinction; above all, the deed was done, -and could not be amended. Time wore away, however, and with it his -terrors. He became unhappy at being the solitary depositary of this -fearful mystery, and mentioned it to some of his brethren, through -whom the anecdote acquired a sort of publicity. The divine, however, -had been long dead, and the story in some degree forgotten, when a -fire broke out again on the very same spot where the house of —— had -formerly stood, and which was now occupied by buildings of an inferior -description. When the flames were at their height, the tumult which -usually attends such a scene was suddenly suspended by an unexpected -apparition. A beautiful female, in a nightdress extremely rich, but at -least half a century old, appeared in the very midst of the fire, and -uttered these tremendous words in her vernacular idiom: “_Anes_ burned, -_twice_ burned; the _third_ time I’ll scare you all!” The belief in -this story was formerly so strong that on a fire breaking out, and -seeming to approach the fatal spot, there was a good deal of anxiety -testified, lest the apparition should make good her denunciation.’ - -A little way farther down the Canongate, on the same side, is an -old-fashioned house called _Morocco’s Land_, having an alley passing -under it, over which is this inscription[238]—a strange cry of the -spirit of man to be heard in a street: - - MISERERE MEI, DOMINE: A PECCATO, PROBRO, - DEBITO, ET MORTE SUBITA, LIBERA ME. - -From whom this exclamation proceeded I have never learned; but the -house, which is of more modern date than the legend, has a story -connected with it. It is said that a young woman belonging to -Edinburgh, having been taken upon a voyage by an African rover, was -sold to the harem of the Emperor of Morocco, with whom she became a -favourite. Mindful, like her countrymen in general, of her native land -and her relations, she held such a correspondence with home as led to -a brother of hers entering into merchandise, and conducting commercial -transactions with Morocco. He was successful, and realised a little -fortune, out of which he built this stately mansion. From gratitude, -or out of a feeling of vanity regarding his imperial brother-in-law, -he erected a statue of that personage in front of his house—a black, -naked figure, with a turban and a necklace of beads; such being the -notion which a Scottish artist of those days entertained of the -personal aspect of the chief of one of the Mohammedan states of Africa. -And this figure, perched in a little stone pulpit, still exists. As to -the name bestowed upon the house, it would most probably arise from the -man being in the first place called _Morocco_ by way of sobriquet, as -is common when any one becomes possessed by a particular subject, and -often speaks of it. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: Morocco’s Land.] - -A little farther along is the opening of New Street, a modern offshoot -of the ancient city, dating from a time immediately before the rise -of the New Town. Many persons of consequence lived here: Lord Kames, -in a neat house at the top, on the east side—an edifice once thought -so fine that people used to bring their country cousins to see it; -Lord Hailes, in a house more than half-way down, afterwards occupied -by Mr Ruthven, mechanist; Sir Philip Ainslie, in another house in -the same row. The passers-by were often arrested by the sight of Sir -Philip’s preparations for a dinner-party through the open windows, -the show of plate being particularly great. Now all these mansions -are left to become workshops. _Sic transit._[239] Opposite to Kames’s -house is a small circular arrangement of causeway, indicating where St -John’s Cross formerly stood. Charles I., at his ceremonial entry into -Edinburgh in 1633, knighted the provost at St John’s Cross.[240] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[234] A little below the church. - -[235] Subjoined is a list of persons of note who lived in the Canongate -in the early days of the late Mr Chalmers Izett, whose memory extended -back to 1769: - - ‘DUKES. - - Hamilton. - Queensberry. - - EARLS. - - Breadalbane. - Hyndford. - Wemyss. - Balcarras. - Moray. - Dalhousie. - Haddington. - Mar. - Srathmore. - Traquair. - Selkirk. - Dundonald. - Kintore. - Dunmore. - Seafield. - Panmure. - - COUNTESSES. - - Tweeddale. - Lothian. - - LORDS. - - Haddo. - Colvill. - Blantyre. - Nairn. - Semple. - A. Gordon. - Cranstoun. - - L. OF SESSION. - - Eskgrove. - Hailes. - Prestongrange. - Kames. - Milton. - Montgomery. - Bannatyne. - - BARONETS. - - Sir J. Grant. - Sir J. Suttie. - Sir J. Whiteford. - Sir J. Stewart. - Sir J. Stirling. - Sir J. Sinclair, Glorat. - Sir J. Halkett. - Sir James Stirling. - Sir D. Hay. - Sir B. Dunbar. - Sir J. Scott, Ancrum. - Sir R. Anstruther. - Sir J. Sinclair, Ulbster. - - COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF. - - General Oughton. - General Skene. - Lord A. Gordon. - Lord Moira. - - EMINENT MEN. - - Adam Smith. - Dr Young. - Dugald Stewart. - Dr Gardner. - Dr Gregory. - - BANK. - - Douglas, Heron, and Company. - - LADIES’ BOARDING-SCHOOL. - - Mrs Hamilton, Chessels’s Court. - - PRINCIPAL INNS. - - Ramsay’s, St Mary’s Wynd. - Boyd’s, Head of Canongate. - -‘Two coaches went down the Canongate to Leith—one hour in going, and -one hour in returning.’ - -[236] Removal. - -[237] ‘At a former period, when the Canongate of Edinburgh was a more -fashionable residence than at present, a lady of rank who lived in one -of the closes, before going out to an evening-party, and at a time when -hairdressers and peruke-makers were much in demand, requested a servant -(newly come home) to tell Tam Tough the hairdresser to come to her -immediately. The servant departed in quest of Puff, but had scarcely -reached the street before she forgot the barber’s name. Meeting with a -caddy, she asked him if he knew where the hairdresser lived. “Whatna -hairdresser is ’t?” replied the caddy. “I ha’e forgot his name,” -answered she. “What kind o’ name wus ’t?” responded Donald. “As near -as I can mind,” said the girl, “it was a name that wad neither _rug_ -nor _rive_.” “The deil ’s in ’t,” answered Donald, “but that’s a tam’d -tough name.” “Thank ye, Donald, that’s the man’s name I wanted—_Tam -Tough_.”’—[_From an Edinburgh Newspaper._] - -[238] The inscription is now removed. - -[239] With the exception of Lord Kames’s house, all the others -referred to have been swept away by the North British Railway and the -Corporation Gasworks, which at one time occupied the eastern side of -the street. - -[240] Although it was outside the wall, the city authorities -claimed jurisdiction over the Canongate as far as St John’s Cross, -notwithstanding that the Canongate was a separate burgh, which -it continued to be till the middle of the nineteenth century. -Proclamations were made at St John’s Cross as well as at the Mercat -Cross in the High Street, and at it the Canongate burgh officials -joined the city fathers when paying ceremonial visits to Holyrood. - - - - -ST JOHN STREET. - - LORD MONBODDO’S SUPPERS—THE SISTER OF SMOLLETT—ANECDOTE OF - HENRY DUNDAS. - - -[Illustration] - -St John Street, so named with reference to St John’s Cross above -mentioned, was one of the heralds of the New Town. In the latter -half of the last century it was occupied solely by persons of -distinction—nobles, judges, and country gentleman; now it is -possessed as exclusively by persons of the middle rank. In No. 13 lived -that eccentric genius, Lord Monboddo, whose supper-parties, conducted -in classic taste, frequented by the _literati_, and for a time presided -over by an angel in the form of a daughter of his lordship, were of -immense attraction in their day. In a stair at the head of this street -lived the sister of the author of _Roderick Random_. - -Smollett’s life as a literary adventurer in London, and the full -participation he had in the woes of authors by profession, have -perhaps conveyed an erroneous idea of his birth and connections. The -Smolletts of Dumbartonshire were in reality what was called in Scotland -a good old family. The novelist’s own grandfather had been one of the -commissioners for the Union between England and Scotland. And it is an -undoubted fact that Tobias himself, if he had lived two or three years -longer, would have become the owner of the family estate, worth about -a thousand a year. All this, to any one conversant with the condition -of the Scottish gentry in the early part of the last century, will -appear quite consistent with his having been brought up as a druggist’s -apprentice in Glasgow—‘the bubbly-nosed callant, wi’ the stane in his -pouch,’ as his master affectionately described him, with reference to -his notorious qualities as a Pickle. - -The sister of Smollett—she who, failing him, did succeed to the family -property—was a Mrs Telfer, domiciled as a gentle widow in a common -stair at the head of St John Street (west side), first door up. She -is described as a somewhat stern-looking specimen of her sex, with a -high cast of features, but in reality a good-enough-natured woman, and -extremely shrewd and intelligent. One passion of her genus possessed -her—whist. A relative tells me that one of the city magistrates, who -was a tallow-chandler, calling upon her one evening, she said: ‘Come -awa, bailie, and take a trick at the cartes.’ - -‘Troth, ma’am,’ said he, ‘I hav’na a bawbee in my pouch.’ - -‘Tut, man, ne’er mind that,’ replied the lady; ‘let’s e’en play for a -pund o’ candles!’ - -During his last visit to Edinburgh (1766)—the visit which occasioned -_Humphry Clinker_—Smollett lived in his sister’s house. A person who -recollects seeing him there describes him as dressed in black clothes, -tall, and extremely handsome, but quite unlike the portraits at the -front of his works, all of which are disclaimed by his relations. The -unfortunate truth appears to be that the world is in possession of no -genuine likeness of Smollett! He was very peevish, on account of the -ill-health to which he had been so long a martyr, and used to complain -much of a severe ulcerous disorder in his arm. - -His wife, according to the same authority, was a Creole, with a dark -complexion, though, upon the whole, rather pretty—a fine lady, but a -silly woman. Yet she had been the Narcissa of _Roderick Random_.[241] - -In _Humphry Clinker_, Smollett works up many observations of things and -persons which he had made in his recent visit to Scotland. His relative -Commissary Smollett, and the family seat near Loch Lomond, receive -ample notice. The story in the family is that while Matthew Bramble was -undoubtedly himself, he meant in the gay and sprightly Jerry Melford -to describe his sister’s son, Major Telfer, and in Liddy to depict his -own daughter, who was destined to be the wife of the major, but, to -the inexpressible and ineffaceable grief of her father, died before -the scheme could be accomplished. Jerry, it will be recollected, ‘got -some damage from the bright eyes of the charming Miss R——n, whom he -had the honour to dance with at the ball.’ Liddy contracted an intimate -friendship with the same person. This young beauty was Eleonora Renton, -charming by the true right divine, for she was daughter of Mr Renton -of Lamerton, by Lady Susan Montgomery, one of the fair offshoots of -the house of Eglintoune, described in a preceding article. A sister -of hers was married to Smollett’s eldest nephew, Telfer, who became -inheritor of the family estate, and on account of it took the surname -of Smollett: a large modern village in Dumbartonshire takes its name -from this lady. It seems to have been this connection which brought -the charming Eleonora under the novelist’s attention. She afterwards -married Charles Sharpe of Hoddam, and became the mother of Charles -Kirkpatrick Sharpe, the well-known antiquary. Strange to say, the lady -whose bright eyes had flamed upon poor Smollett’s soul in the middle of -the last century, was living so lately as 1836. - -[Illustration: ST JOHN’S CLOSE. -Entrance to Canongate Kilwinning Mason Lodge. - -PAGE 305.] - -When Smollett was confined in the King’s Bench Prison for the libel -upon Admiral Knowles, he formed an intimacy with the celebrated -Tenducci. This melodious singing-bird had recently got his wings -clipped by his creditors, and was mewed up in the same cage with the -novelist. Smollett’s friendship proceeded to such a height that he paid -the vocalist’s debts from his own purse, and procured him his liberty. -Tenducci afterwards visited Scotland, and was one night singing in a -private circle, when somebody told him that a lady present was a near -relation of his benefactor; upon which the grateful Italian prostrated -himself before her, kissed her hands, and acted so many fantastic -extravagances, after the foreign fashion, that she was put extremely -out of countenance. - -On the west side of the street, immediately to the south of the -Canongate Kilwinning Mason Lodge, there is a neat self-contained house -of old fashion, with a flower-plot in front. This was the residence -of —— Anderson, merchant in Leith, the father of seven sons, all -of whom attained respectable situations in life: one was the late Mr -Samuel Anderson of St Germains, banker. They had been at school with Mr -Henry Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville); and when he had risen to high -office, he called one day on Mr Anderson, and expressed his earnest -wish to have the pleasure of dining with his seven school companions, -all of whom happened at that time to be at home. The meeting took place -at Mr Dundas’s, and it was a happy one, particularly to the host, who, -when the hour of parting arrived, filled a bumper in high elation to -their healths, and mentioned that they were the only men who had ever -dined with him since he became a public servant who had not asked some -favour either for themselves or their friends. - -The house adjoining to the one last mentioned—having its gable to the -street, and a garden to the south—was, about 1780, the residence of -the Earl of Wemyss. A Lady Betty Charteris, of this family, occupied -the one farthest to the south on that side of the street. She was a -person of romantic history, for, being thwarted in an affair of the -heart, she lay in bed for twenty-six years, till dismissed to the world -where such troubles are unknown. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[241] Strap in _Roderick Random_ was supposed to represent one -Hutchinson, a barber near Dunbar. The man encouraged the idea as much -as possible. When Mr [Warren] Hastings (governor of India) and his wife -visited Scotland, they sent for this man, and were so pleased with him -that Mr Hastings afterwards sent him a couple of razors, mounted in -gold, from London. - - - - -MORAY HOUSE. - - -[Illustration] - -In the Canongate there is a house which has had the fortune to be -connected with more than one of the most interesting points in our -history. It is usually styled Moray House, being the entailed property -of the noble family of Moray. The large proportions and elegant -appearance of this mansion distinguish it from all the surrounding -buildings, and in the rear (1847) there is a fine garden, descending in -the old fashion by a series of terraces. Though long deserted by the -Earls of Moray, it has been till a recent time kept in the best order, -being occupied by families of respectable character.[242] - -This house was built in the early part of the reign of Charles I. -(about 1628) by Mary, Countess of Home, then a widow. Her ladyship’s -initials, M. H., appear, in cipher fashion, underneath her coronet upon -various parts of the exterior; and over one of the principal windows -towards the street there is a lozenge shield, containing the two lions -rampant which form the coat armorial of the Home family. Lady Home was -an English lady, being the daughter of Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley. -She seems to have been unusually wealthy for the dowager of a Scottish -earl, for in 1644 the English Parliament repaid seventy thousand -pounds which she had lent to the Scottish Covenanting Government; and -she is found in the same year lending seven thousand to aid in paying -the detachment of troops which that Government had sent to Ireland. -She was also a sufferer, however, by the civil war, in as far as -Dunglass House, which was blown up in 1640, by accident, when in the -hands of the Covenanters, belonged to her in liferent. To her affluent -circumstances, and the taste which she probably brought with her from -her native country, may be ascribed the superior style of this mansion, -which not only displays in the outside many traces of the elegant -architecture which prevailed in England in the reign of James I., but -contains two state apartments, decorated in the most elaborate manner, -both in the walls and ceilings, with the favourite stucco-work of -that reign. On the death of Lady Home the house passed (her ladyship -having no surviving male issue) to her daughters and co-heiresses, -Margaret, Countess of Moray, and Anne, Countess (afterwards Duchess) -of Lauderdale, between whom the entire property of their father, the -first Earl of Home, appears to have been divided, his title going into -another line. By an arrangement between the two sisters, the house -became, in 1645, the property of the Countess of Moray and her son -James, Lord Doune. - -It stood in this condition as to ownership, though still popularly -called ‘Lady Home’s Lodging,’ when, in the summer of 1648, Oliver -Cromwell paid his first visit to Edinburgh. Cromwell had then just -completed the overthrow of the army of the _Engagement_—a gallant -body of troops which had been sent into England by the more Cavalier -party of the Scottish Covenanters, in the hope of rescuing the king -from the hands of the sectaries. The victorious general, with his -companion Lambert, took up his quarters in this house, and here -received the visits of some of the leaders of the less loyal party of -the Covenanters—the Marquis of Argyll, the Chancellor Loudoun, the -Earl of Lothian, the Lords Arbuthnot, Elcho, and Burleigh, and the -Reverend Messrs David Dickson, Robert Blair, and James Guthrie. ‘What -passed among them,’ says Bishop Henry Guthrie in his _Memoirs_, ‘came -not to be known infallibly; but it was talked very loud that he did -communicate to them his design in reference to the king, and had their -assent thereto.’ It is scarcely necessary to remark that this was -probably no more than a piece of Cavalier scandal, for there is no -reason to believe that Cromwell, if he yet contemplated the death of -the king, would have disclosed his views to men still so far tinctured -with loyalty as those enumerated. Cromwell’s object in visiting -Edinburgh on this occasion and in holding these conferences, was -probably limited to the reinstatement of the ultra-Presbyterian party -in the government, from which the Duke of Hamilton and other loyalists -had lately displaced it. - -When, in 1650, the Lord Lorn, eldest son of the Marquis of Argyll, was -married to Lady Mary Stuart, eldest daughter of the Earl of Moray, the -wedding feast ‘stood,’ as contemporary writers express it, at the Earl -of Moray’s house in the Canongate. The event so auspicious to these -great families was signalised by a circumstance of a very remarkable -kind. A whole week had been passed in festivity by the wedded pair -and their relations, when, on Saturday the 18th of May, the Marquis -of Montrose was brought to Edinburgh, an excommunicated and already -condemned captive, having been taken in the north in an unsuccessful -attempt to raise a Cavalier party for his young and exiled prince. -When the former relative circumstances of Argyll and Montrose are -called to mind—when it is recollected that they had some years before -struggled for an ascendancy in the civil affairs of Scotland, that -Montrose had afterwards chased Argyll round and round the Highlands, -burned and plundered his country undisturbed, and on one occasion -overthrown his forces in a sanguinary action, while Argyll looked on -from a safe distance at sea—the present relative circumstances of -the two chiefs become a striking illustration of the vicissitudes in -personal fortune that characterise a time of civil commotion. Montrose, -after riding from Leith on a sorry horse, was led into the Canongate by -the Watergate, and there placed upon a low cart, driven by the common -executioner. In this ignominious fashion he was conducted up the street -towards the prison, in which he was to have only two days to live, and -in passing along was necessarily brought under the walls and windows of -Moray House. On his approach to that mansion, the Marquis of Argyll, -his lady, and children, together with the whole of the marriage-party, -left their banqueting, and stepping out to a balcony which overhangs -the street, there planted themselves to gaze on the prostrated enemy of -their house and cause. Here, indeed, they had the pleasure of seeing -Montrose in all external circumstances reduced beneath their feet; but -they had not calculated on the strength of nature which enabled that -extraordinary man to overcome so much of the bitterness of humiliation -and of death. He is said to have gazed upon them with so much serenity -that they shrank back with some degree of discomposure, though not till -the marchioness had expressed her spite at the fallen hero by spitting -at him—an act which in the present age will scarcely be credible, -though any one well acquainted with the history of the seventeenth -century will have too little reason to doubt it. - -In a Latin manuscript of this period, the gardens connected with the -house of the Earl of Moray are spoken of as ‘of such elegance, and -cultivated with so much care, as to vie with those of warmer countries, -and perhaps even of England itself. And here,’ pursues the writer, ‘you -may see how much the art and industry of man may avail in supplying the -defects of nature. Scarcely any one would believe it possible to give -so much beauty to a garden in this frigid clime.’ One reason for the -excellence of the garden may have been its southern exposure. On the -uppermost of its terraces there is a large and beautiful thorn, with -pensile leaves; on the second there are some fruit-trees, the branches -of which have been caused to spread out in a particular way, so as to -form a kind of cup, possibly for the reception of a pleasure-party, -for such fantastic twistings of nature were not uncommon among our -ancestors. In the lowest level of the garden there is a little -receptacle for water, beside which is the statue of a fishing-boy, -having a basket of fish at his feet, and a _clam-shell_ inverted -upon his head.[243] Here is also a small building, surmounted by two -lions holding female shields, and which may therefore be supposed -contemporaneous with the house: this was formerly a summer-house, -but has latterly been expanded into the character of a conservatory. -Tradition vaguely reports it as the place where the Union between -England and Scotland was signed; though there is also a popular story -of that fact having been accomplished in a _laigh shop_ of the High -Street (marked No. 117), at one time a tavern, and known as the _Union -Cellar_.[244] Probably the rumour, in at least the first instance, -refers only to private arrangements connected with the passing of -the celebrated statute in question. The Chancellor Earl of Seafield -inhabited Moray House at that time on lease, and nothing could be more -likely than that he should there have after-dinner consultations on the -pending measure, which might in the evening be adjourned to this garden -retreat. - -It would appear that about this period the garden attached to the house -was a sort of a public promenade or lounging-place; as was also the -garden connected with Heriot’s Hospital. In this character it forms a -scene in the licentious play called _The Assembly_, written in 1692 -by Dr Pitcairn. _Will_, ‘a discreet smart gentleman,’ as he is termed -in the prefixed list of _dramatis personæ_, but in reality a perfect -debauchee, first makes an appointment with Violetta, his mistress, to -meet her in this place; and as she is under the charge of a sourly -devout aunt, he has to propound the matter in metaphorical language. -Pretending to expound a particular passage in the Song of Solomon for -the benefit of the dame, he thus gives the hint to her young protégée: - -‘_Will._ “Come, my beloved, let us walk in the fields, let us lodge in -the villages.” The same metaphor still. The kirk not having the liberty -of bringing her servant to her mother’s house, resolveth to meet him in -the villages, such as the Canongate, in respect of Edinburgh; and the -vineyard, such as _my Lady Murray’s Yards_, to use a homely comparison. - -‘_Old Lady._ A wondrous young man this! - - * * * * * - -‘_Will._ The eighth chapter towards the close: “Thou that dwellest in -the gardens, cause me to hear thy voice.” - -‘_Violetta._ That’s still alluding to the metaphor of a gallant, who, -by some signs, warns his mistress to make haste—a whistle or so. The -same with early in the former chapter; that is to say, to-morrow by six -o’clock. Make haste to accomplish our loves. - -‘_Old L._ Thou art a hopeful girl; I hope God has blest my pains on -thee.’ - -In terms of this curious assignation, the third act opens in a walk in -Lady Murray’s Yards, where Will meets his beloved Violetta. After a -great deal of badinage, in the style of Dryden’s comedies, which were -probably Dr Pitcairn’s favourite models, the dialogue proceeds in the -following style: - -‘_Will._ I’ll marry you at the rights, if you can find in your heart to -give yourself to an honest fellow of no great fortune. - -‘_Vio._ In truth, sir, methinks it were fully as much for my future -comfort to bestow myself, and any little fortune I have, upon you, as -some reverend spark in a band and short cloak, with the patrimony of a -good gift of prayer, and as little sense as his father, who was hanged -in the Grassmarket for murdering the king’s officers, had of honesty. - -‘_Will._ Then I must acknowledge, my dear madam, I am most damnably -in love with you, and must have you by foul or fair means; choose you -whether. - -‘_Vio._ I’ll give you fair-play in an honest way. - -‘_Will._ Then, madam, I can command a parson when I please; and if you -be half so kind as I could wish, we’ll take a hackney, and trot up to -some honest curate’s house: besides, a guinea or so will be a charity -to him perhaps. - -‘_Vio._ Hold a little; I am hardly ready for that yet,’ &c. - -After the departure of this hopeful couple, Lord Huffy and Lord -Whigriddin, who are understood to have been intended for Lord Leven -(son of the Earl of Melville) and the Earl of Crawford, enter the -gardens, and hold some discourse of a different kind. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[242] For many years the Practising School for Teachers under the -management of the Free Church of Scotland, now the Training College for -Teachers under the Provincial Council of Education. - -[243] The terraces have long since been deprived of their last -semblance of the old gardens; but while recent excavations were being -made for an extension of the educational buildings, the statue of the -boy was discovered underground in the lowest terrace. The statue is -preserved, and forms a connecting link between ‘My Lady Murray’s Yards’ -and the ‘Yards’ of the modern school. - -[244] On the north side of the High Street, opposite the Tron Church. -The site is now covered by the opening of Cockburn Street. - - - - -THE SPEAKING HOUSE. - - -[Illustration] - -The mansion on which I venture to confer this title is an old one of -imposing appearance, a little below Moray House. It is conspicuous -by three gables presented to the street, and by the unusual space of -linear ground which it occupies. Originally, it has had no door to -the street. A _porte-cochère_ gives admittance to a close behind, -from which every part of the house had been admissible, and when this -gateway was closed the inhabitants would be in a tolerably defensible -position. In this feature the house gives a striking idea of the -insecurity which marked the domestic life of three hundred years ago. - -[Illustration: BAKEHOUSE CLOSE. -Back of ‘Speaking House.’ - -PAGE 313.] - -It was built in the year of the assassination of the Regent Moray, -and one is somewhat surprised to think that, at so dark a crisis of -our national history, a mansion of so costly a character should have -taken its rise. The owner, whatever grade he held, seems to have felt -an apprehension of the popular talk on the subject of his raising -so elegant a mansion; and he took a curious mode of deprecating its -expression. On a tablet over the ground-floor he inscribes: HODIE MIHI: -CRAS TIBI. CUR IGITUR CURAS? along with the year of the erection, -1570. This is as much as to say: ‘I am the happy man to-day; your turn -may come to-morrow. Why, then, should you repine?’ One can imagine -from a second tablet, a little way farther along the front, that as -the building proceeded, the storm of public remark and outcry had come -to be more and more bitter, so that the soul of the owner got stirred -up into a firm and defying anger. He exclaims (for, though a lettered -inscription, one feels it as an exclamation): UT TU LINGUÆ TUÆ, SIC -EGO MEAR. AURIUM, DOMINUS SUM (‘As thou of thy tongue, so I of my -ears, am lord’); thus quoting, in his rage on this petty occasion, an -expression said to have been used in the Roman senate by Titus Tacitus -when repelling the charges of Lucius Metellus.[245] Afterwards he -seems to have cooled into a religious view of the predicament, and in -a third legend along the front he tells the world: CONSTANTI PECTORI -RES MORTALIUM UMBRA; ending a little farther on with an emblem of the -Christian hope of the Resurrection, ears of wheat springing from a -handful of bones. It is a great pity that we should not know who was -the builder and owner of this house, since he has amused us so much -with the history of his feelings during the process of its erection. A -friend at my elbow suggests—a schoolmaster! But who ever heard of a -schoolmaster so handsomely remunerated by his profession as to be able -to build a house? - -Nothing else is known of the early history of this house beyond the -fact of the Canongate magistrates granting a charter for it to the -Hammermen of that burgh, September 10, 1647.[246] It was, however, -in 1753 occupied by a person of no less distinction than the Dowager -Duchess of Gordon.[247] - -In the alley passing under this mansion there is a goodly building of -more modern structure, forming two sides of a quadrangle, with a small -court in front divided from the lane by a wall in which there is a -large gateway. Amidst filthiness indescribable, one discerns traces of -former elegance: a crest over the doorway—namely, a cock mounted on -a trumpet, with the motto ‘VIGILANTIBUS,’ and the date 1633; over two -upper windows, the letters ‘S. A. A.’ and ‘D. M. H.’ These memorials, -with certain references in the charter before mentioned, leave no -room for doubt that this was the house of Sir Archibald Acheson of -Abercairny, Secretary of State for Scotland in the reign of Charles I., -and ancestor to the Earl of Gosford in Ireland, who to this day bears -the same crest and motto. The letters are the initials of Sir Archibald -and his wife, Dame Margaret Hamilton. Here of course was the _court_ -of Scotland for a certain time, the Secretary of State being the grand -dispenser of patronage in our country at that period—_here_, where -nothing but the extremest wretchedness is now to be seen! That boastful -bird, too, still seeming to assert the family dignity, two hundred -years after it ceased to have any connection with the spot! Verily -there are some moral preachments in these dark old closes if modern -refinement could go to hear the sermon! - -[Illustration: Acheson House.] - -Sir Archibald Acheson acquired extensive lands in Ireland,[248] -which have ever since been in the possession of his family. It was a -descendant of his, and of the same name, who had the gratification of -becoming the landlord of Swift at Market-hill, and whom the dean was -consequently led to celebrate in many of his poems. Swift seems to have -been on the most familiar terms with this worthy knight and his lady; -the latter he was accustomed to call _Skinnibonia_, _Lean_, or _Snipe_, -as the humour inclined him. The inimitable comic painting of her -ladyship’s maid Hannah, in the debate whether Hamilton’s Bawn should -be turned into a malt-house or a barrack, can never perish from our -literature. In like humour, the dean asserts the superiority of himself -and his brother-tenant Colonel Leslie, who had served much in Spain, -over the knight: - - ‘Proud baronet of Nova Scotia, - The dean and Spaniard much reproach ye. - Of their two fames the world enough rings; - Where are thy services and sufferings? - What if for nothing once you kissed, - Against the grain, a monarch’s fist? - What if among the courtly tribe, - You lost a place and saved a bribe? - And then in surly mood came here - To fifteen hundred pounds a year, - And fierce against the Whigs harangued? - You never ventured to be hanged. - How dare you treat your betters thus? - Are you to be compared to us?’ - -Speaking also of a celebrated thorn at Market-hill, which had long been -a resort of merry-making parties, he reverts to the Scottish Secretary -of former days: - - ‘Sir Archibald, that valorous knight, - The lord of all the fruitful plain, - Would come and listen with delight, - For he was fond of rural strain: - - Sir Archibald, whose favourite name - Shall stand for ages on record, - By Scottish bards of highest fame, - Wise Hawthornden and Stirling’s lord.’ - -[Illustration] - -The following letter to Sir Archibald from his friend Sir James -Balfour, Lord Lyon, occurs amongst the manuscript stores of the latter -gentleman in the Advocates’ Library: - - ‘To Sir ARCHIBALD ACHESONE, - one of the Secretaries of Staite. - - ‘WORTHY SIR—Your letters, full of Spartanical brevity to the - first view, bot, againe overlooked, Demosthenicall longe; - stuffed full of exaggerations and complaints; the yeast of your - enteirest affections, sent to quicken a slumbring friend as you - imagine, quho nevertheless remains vigilant of you and of the - smallest matters, which may aney wayes adde the least rill of - content to the ocean of your happiness; quherfor you may show - your comerad, and intreat him from me, as from one that trewly - loves and honors his best pairts, that now he vold refraine, - both his tonge and pen, from these quhirkis and obloquies, - quherwith he so often uses to stain the name of grate - personages, for hardly can he live so reteiredly, in so voluble - ane age, without becoming at one tyme or uther obnoxious to the - blow of some courtier. So begging God to bless you, I am your— - - JA. BALFOUR. - ‘_LONDON, 9 Apryll 1631._’ - -Twenty years before the Duchess of Gordon lived in the venerable house -at the head of the close, a preceding dowager resided in another part -of the town. This was the distinguished Lady Elizabeth Howard (daughter -of the Duke of Norfolk, by Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of the Marquis -of Worcester), who occasioned so much disturbance in the end of Queen -Anne’s reign by the Jacobite medal which she sent to the Faculty of -Advocates. Her grace lived in a house at the Abbeyhill, where, as we -are informed by Wodrow, in a tone of pious horror,[249] she openly -kept a kind of college for instructing young people in Jesuitism and -Jacobitism together. In this labour she seems to have been assisted -by the Duchess of Perth, a kindred soul, whose enthusiasm afterwards -caused the ruin of her family, by sending her son into the insurrection -of 1745.[250] The Duchess of Gordon died here in 1732. I should suppose -the house to have been that respectable old villa, at the extremity of -the suburb of Abbeyhill, in which the late Baron Norton, of the Court -of Exchequer, lived for many years. It was formerly possessed by Baron -Mure, who, during the administration of the Earl of Bute, exercised the -duties and dispensed the patronage of the _sous-ministre_ for Scotland, -under the Hon. Stuart Mackenzie, younger brother of the Premier. -This was of course in its turn the _court_ of Scotland; and from the -description of a gentleman old enough to remember attending the levees -(Sir W. M. Bannatyne), I should suppose that it was as much haunted by -suitors of all kinds as ever were the more elegant halls of Holyrood -House. Baron Mure, who was the personal friend of Earl Bute, died in -1774. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[245] I was indebted to my friend Dr John Brown (_Horæ Subsecivæ_, p. -42) for drawing my attention to a quotation of Seneca by Beyerlinck -(_Magn. Theatr. Vit. Human._, tom. vi. p. 60), involving this fine -expression. Some one, however, has searched all over the writings of -Seneca for it in vain. - -[246] The close entering by the archway at the east end of the house, -now called ‘Bakehouse Close,’ was formerly ‘Hammermen’s Close.’ - -[247] ‘The Speaking House’ is now recognised as a town mansion of the -Huntly family. It is said to be associated with the first marquis, who -killed the ‘Bonnie Earl of Moray’ at Donibristle, and died in 1636 at -Dundee on his way north to Aberdeenshire. His son, the second marquis, -who was beheaded in 1649, was residing in this house ten years prior -to his execution, and in it his daughter Lady Ann was married to Lord -Drummond, third Earl of Perth. - -[248] Which he named Gosford, after the estate in East Lothian, which -was acquired by Sir Archibald’s ancestor, a wealthy burgess in the -reign of Queen Mary. The Viscounts Gosford take their title from the -Irish estate. - -[249] In his MS. Diaries in the Advocates’ Library. - -[250] In an advertisement in a Jacobite newspaper, called _The -Thistle_, which rose and sank in 1734, the house is advertised as -having lately been occupied by the Duchesses of Gordon and Perth. -[1868. It is in the course of being taken down to make way for a -railway.] - - - - -PANMURE HOUSE—ADAM SMITH. - - -At the bottom of a close a little way below the Canongate Church, -there is a house which a few years ago bore the appearance of one of -those small semi-quadrangular manor-houses which were prevalent in -the country about the middle of the seventeenth century. It is now -altered, and brought into juxtaposition with the coarse details of -an ironfoundry, yet still is not without some traits of its original -style. The name of Panmure House takes the mind back to the Earls of -Panmure, the fourth of whom lost title and estates for his concern in -the affair of 1715; but I am not certain of any earlier proprietor of -this family than William Maule, nephew of the attainted earl, created -Earl of Panmure as an Irish title in 1743. _He_ possessed the house in -the middle of the last century. - -[Illustration: Back of Canongate Tolbooth—Tolbooth Wynd.] - -All reference to rank in connection with this house appears trivial -in comparison with the fact that it was the residence of Adam Smith -from 1778, when he came to live in Edinburgh as a commissioner of the -customs, till his death in 1790, when he was interred in a somewhat -obscure situation at the back of the Canongate Tolbooth. In his time -the house must have seen the most intellectual company to be had in -Scotland; but it had not the honour of being the birthplace of any -of Smith’s great works. His last and greatest—the book which has -undoubtedly done more for the good of the community than any other -ever produced in Scotland—was the work of ten quiet, studious years -previous to 1778, during which the philosopher lived in his mother’s -house in Kirkcaldy. - -The gentle, virtuous character of Smith has left little for the -anecdotist. The utmost simplicity marked the externals of the man. He -said very truly (being in possession of a handsome library) that ‘he -was only a beau in his books.’ Leading an abstracted, scholarly life, -he was ill-fitted for common worldly affairs. Some one remarked to a -friend of mine while Smith still lived: ‘How strange to think of one -who has written so well on the principles of exchange and barter—he -is obliged to get a friend to buy his horse-corn for him!’ The author -of the _Wealth of Nations_ never thought of marrying. His household -affairs were managed to his perfect contentment by a female cousin, a -Miss Jeanie Douglas, who almost necessarily acquired a great control -over him. It is said that the amiable philosopher, being fond of a bit -sugar, and chid by her for taking it, would sometimes, in sauntering -backwards and forwards along the parlour, watch till Miss Jeanie’s -back was turned in order to supply himself with his favourite morsel. -Such things are not derogatory to greatness like Smith’s: they link -it to human nature, and secure for it the love, as it had previously -possessed the admiration, of common men. - -The one personal circumstance regarding Smith which has made the -greatest impression on his fellow-citizens is the rather too well-known -anecdote of the two fishwomen. He was walking along the streets one -day, deeply abstracted, and speaking in a low tone to himself, when he -caught the attention of two of these many-petticoated ladies, engaged -in selling their fish. They exchanged significant looks, bearing strong -reference to the restraints of a well-managed lunatic asylum, and then -sighed one to the other: ‘Aih, sirs; and he’s weel put on too!’—that -is, well dressed; his gentleman-like condition making the case appear -so much the more piteous. - - - - -JOHN PATERSON THE GOLFER. - - -In the Canongate, nearly opposite to Queensberry House, is a narrow, -old-fashioned mansion, of peculiar form, having a coat-armorial -conspicuously placed at the top, and a plain slab over the doorway -containing the following inscriptions: - - ‘Cum victor ludo, Scotis qui proprius, esset, - Ter tres victores post redimitus avos, - Patersonus, humo tunc educebat in altum - Hanc, quæ victores tot tulit una, domum.’ - - ‘I hate no person.’ - -It appears that this quatrain was the production of Dr Pitcairn, while -the sentence below is an anagram upon the name of JOHN PATERSONE. The -stanza expresses that ‘when Paterson had been crowned victor in a -game peculiar to Scotland, in which his ancestors had also been often -victorious, he then built this mansion, which one conquest raised -him above all his predecessors.’ We must resort to tradition for an -explanation of this obscure hint. - -[Illustration: Golfers’ Land.] - -Till a recent period, golfing had long been conducted upon the Links of -Leith.[251] It had even been the sport of princes on that field. We -are told by Mr William Tytler of Woodhouselee that Charles I. and the -Duke of York (afterwards James II.) played at golf on Leith Links, in -succession, during the brief periods of their residence in Holyrood. -Though there is an improbability in this tale as far as Charles is -concerned, seeing that he spent too short a time in Edinburgh to -have been able to play at a game notorious for the time necessary in -acquiring it, I may quote the anecdote related by Mr Tytler: ‘That -while he was engaged in a party at golf on the green or Links of Leith, -a letter was delivered into his hands, which gave him the first account -of the insurrection and rebellion in Ireland; on reading which, he -suddenly called for his coach, and leaning on one of his attendants, -and in great agitation, drove to the palace of Holyrood House, from -whence next day he set out for London.’ Mr Tytler says, regarding the -Duke of York, that he ‘was frequently seen in a party at golf on the -Links of Leith with some of the nobility and gentry. I remember in my -youth to have often conversed with an old man named Andrew Dickson, a -golf-club maker, who said that, when a boy, he used to carry the duke’s -golf-clubs, and run before him, and announce where the balls fell.’[252] - -[Illustration: GOLFERS ON LEITH LINKS. - -PAGE 320.] - -Tradition reports that when the duke lived in Holyrood House he had on -one occasion a discussion with two English noblemen as to the native -country of golf; his Royal Highness asserting that it was peculiar to -Scotland, while they as pertinaciously insisted that it was an English -game as well. Assuredly, whatever may have been the case in those days, -it is not now an English game in the proper sense of the words, seeing -that it is only played to the south of the Tweed by a few fraternities -of Scotsmen, who have acquired it in their own country in youth. -However this may be, the two English nobles proposed, good-humouredly, -to prove its English character by taking up the duke in a match to be -played on Leith Links. James, glad of an opportunity to make popularity -in Scotland, in however small a way, accepted the challenge, and sought -for the best partner he could find. By an association not at this day -surprising to those who practise the game, the heir-presumptive of -the British throne played in concert with a poor shoemaker named John -Paterson, the worthy descendant of a long line of illustrious golfers. -If the two southrons were, as might be expected, inexperienced in the -game, they had no chance against a pair, one member of which was a -good player. So the duke got the best of the practical argument; and -Paterson’s merits were rewarded by a gift of the sum played for. The -story goes on to say that John was thus enabled to build a somewhat -stylish house for himself in the Canongate, on the top of which, being -a Scotsman, and having of course a pedigree, he clapped the Paterson -arms—three pelicans vulned; on a chief three mullets; crest, a dexter -hand grasping a golf-club; together with the motto—dear to all -golfers—FAR AND SURE. - -It must be admitted there is some uncertainty about this tale. The -house, the inscriptions, and arms only indicate that Paterson built -the house after being a victor at golf, and that Pitcairn had a hand -in decorating it. One might even see, in the fact of the epigram, as -if a gentleman wit were indulging in a jest at the expense of some -simple plebeian, who held all notoriety honourable. It might have -been expected that if Paterson had been enriched by a match in which -he was connected with the Duke of York, a Jacobite like Pitcairn -would have made distinct allusion to the circumstance. The tradition, -nevertheless, seems too curious to be entirely overlooked, and the -reader may therefore take it at its worth. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[251] In 1864 this favourite Scottish pastime was resuscitated on Leith -Links, and is now enjoyed with a relish as keen as ever. - -[252] _Archæologia Scotica_, i. - - - - -[LOTHIAN HUT. - - -The noble family of Lothian had a mansion in Edinburgh, though of but -a moderate dignity. It was a small house situated in a spare piece of -ground at the bottom of the Canongate, on the south side. Latterly it -was leased to Professor Dugald Stewart, who, about the end of the last -century, here entertained several English pupils of noble rank—among -others, the Hon. the Henry Temple, afterwards Lord Palmerston.[253] -About 1825 building was taken down to make room for a brewery. - -About the middle of the last century, Lothian Hut was occupied by the -wife of the fourth marquis, a lady of great lineage, being the only -daughter of Robert, Earl of Holderness, and great-granddaughter of -Charles Louis, Elector Palatine. Her ladyship was a person of grand -character, while yet admittedly very amiable. As a piece of very old -gossip, the Lady Marchioness, on first coming to live in the Hut, -found herself in want of a few trifling articles from a milliner, -and sent for one who was reputed to be the first of the class then -in Edinburgh—namely, Miss Ramsay. But there were two Miss Ramsays. -They had a shop on the east side of the Old Lyon Close, on the south -side of the High Street, and there made ultimately a little fortune, -which enabled them to build the villa of Marionville, near Restalrig -(called _Lappet Hall_ by the vulgar). The Misses Ramsay, receiving a -message from so grand a lady, instead of obeying the order implicitly, -came together, dressed out in a very splendid style, and told the -marchioness that every article they wore was ‘at the very top of the -fashion.’ The marchioness, disgusted with their forwardness and -affectation, said she would take their specimens into consideration, -and wished them a good-morning. According to our gossiping authority, -she then sent for Mrs Sellar, who carried on the millinery business -in a less pretentious style at a place in the Lawnmarket where Bank -Street now stands. (I like the localities, for they bring the Old Town -of a past age so clearly before us.) Mrs Sellar made her appearance at -Lothian Hut in a plain, decorous manner. Her head-dress consisted of a -mob-cap of the finest lawn, tied under her chin; over which there was -a hood of the same stuff. She wore a cloak of plain black silk without -any lace, and had no bonnet, the use of which was supplied by the hood. -Mrs Sellar’s manners were elegant and pleasing. When she entered, the -marchioness rose to receive her. On being asked for her patterns, she -stepped to the door and brought in two large boxes, which had been -carried behind her by two women. The articles, being produced, gave -great satisfaction, and her ladyship never afterwards employed any -other milliner. So the story ends, in the manner of the good-boy books, -in establishing that milliners ought not to be too prone to exhibit -their patterns upon their own persons.] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[253] A newspaper, giving an account of Lord Palmerston’s visit to -Edinburgh in 1865, mentions that his lordship, during his stay in -the city, was made aware that an aged woman of the name of Peggie -Forbes, who had been a servant with Dugald Stewart, well remembered -his lordship when under the professor’s roof in early days. Interested -in the circumstance, Lord Palmerston took occasion to pay her a visit -at her dwelling, No. 1 Rankeillor Street, and expressed his pleasure -at renewing the acquaintance of the old domestic. Dr John Brown had -discovered the existence of this old association, and with it a box of -tools which were the property of ‘young Maister Henry’ of those days. -The sight of them called up within the breast of the Premier further -associations of days long bygone. - - - - -HENRY PRENTICE AND POTATOES. - - -No doubt is entertained on any hand that the field-culture of the -potato was first practised in Scotland by a man of humble condition, -originally a pedlar, by name Henry Prentice. He was an eccentric -person, as many have been who stepped out of the common walk to do -things afterwards discovered to be great. A story is told that while -the potatoes were growing in certain little fields which he leased near -our city, Lord Minto came from time to time to inquire about the crop. -Prentice at length told his lordship that the experiment was entirely -successful, and all he wanted was a horse and cart to drive his -potatoes to Edinburgh that they might be sold. ‘I’ll give you a horse -and cart,’ said his lordship. Prentice then took his crop to market, -cart by cart, till it was all sold, after which he disposed of _the -horse and cart_, which he affected to believe Lord Minto had given him -as a present. - -Having towards the close of his days realised a small sum of money, he -sunk £140 in the hands of the Canongate magistrates, as managers of the -poorhouse of that parish, receiving in return seven shillings a week, -upon which he lived for several years. Occasionally he made little -donations to the charity. During his last years he was an object of no -small curiosity in Edinburgh, partly on account of his connection with -potato culture and partly by reason of his oddities. It was said of him -that he would never shake hands with any human being above two years of -age. In his bargain with the Canongate dignitaries, it was agreed that -he should have a _good grave_ in their churchyard, and one was selected -according to his own choice. Over this, thinking it as well, perhaps, -that he should enjoy a little quasi-posthumous notoriety during his -life, he caused a monument to be erected, bearing this inscription: - - ‘Be not anxious to know how I lived, - But rather how you yourself should die.’ - -He also had a coffin prepared at the price of two guineas, taking -the undertaker bound to screw it down gratis with his own hands. In -addition to all this, his friends the magistrates were under covenant -to bury him with a hearse and four coaches. But even the designs of -mortals respecting the grave itself are liable to disappointment. Owing -to the mischief done by the boys to the premature monument, Prentice -saw fit to have it removed to a quieter cemetery, that of Restalrig, -where, at his death in 1788, he was accordingly interred. - -Such was the originator of that extensive culture of the potato which -has since borne so conspicuous a place in the economics of our country, -for good and for evil. - -It is curious that this plant, although the sole support of millions of -our population, should now again (1846) have fallen under suspicion. -At its first introduction, and for several ages thereafter, it was -regarded as a vegetable of by no means good character, though for a -totally different reason from any which affect its reputation in our -day. Its supposed tendency to inflame some of the sensual feelings -of human nature is frequently adverted to by Shakespeare and his -contemporaries; and this long remained a popular impression in the -north.[254] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[254] Robertson, in his _Rural Recollections_ (Irvine, 1829), says: -‘The earliest evidence that I have met with of potatoes in Scotland -is an old household book of the Eglintoune family in 1733, in which -potatoes appear at different times as a dish at supper.’ They appear -earlier than this—namely, in 1701—in the household book of the -Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, where the price per peck is -intimated at 2s. 6d.—See Arnot’s _History of Edinburgh_, 4to, p. 201. - - - - -THE DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH AND MONMOUTH. - - -It is rather curious that one of my informants in this article should -have dined with a lady who had dined with a peeress married in the year -1662. - -This peeress was Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, the wife of -the unfortunate son of Charles II. As is well known, she was early -deserted by her husband, who represented, not without justice, that a -marriage into which he had been tempted for reasons of policy by his -relations, when he was only thirteen years of age, could hardly be -binding. - -The young duchess, naturally plain in features, was so unfortunate -in early womanhood as to become lame in consequence of some feats in -dancing. For her want of personal graces there is negative evidence in -a dedication of Dryden, where he speaks abundantly of her wit, but not -a word of beauty, which shows that the case must have been desperate. -[This, by the way, was the remark made to me on the subject by Sir -Walter Scott, who, in the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, has done what -Dryden could not do—flattered the duchess: - - ‘She had known adversity, - Though born in such a high degree; - In pride of power and _beauty’s bloom_, - Had wept o’er Monmouth’s bloody tomb.’] - -Were any further proof wanting, it might be found in the regard in -which she was held by James II., who, as is well known, had such a -tendency to plain women as induced a suspicion in his witty brother -that they were prescribed to him by his confessor by way of penance. -This friendship, in which there was nothing improper, was the means of -saving her grace’s estates at the tragical close of her husband’s life. - -It is curious to learn that the duchess, notwithstanding the terms -on which she had been with her husband, and the sad stamp put upon -his pretensions to legitimacy, acted throughout the remainder of her -somewhat protracted life as if she had been the widow of a true prince -of the blood-royal. In her state-rooms she had a canopy erected, -beneath which was the only seat in the apartment, everybody standing -besides herself. When Lady Margaret Montgomery, one of the beautiful -Countess of Eglintoune’s daughters, was at a boarding-school near -London—previous to the year _Thirty_—she was frequently invited by -the duchess to her house; and because her great-grandmother, Lady -Mary Leslie, was sister to her grace’s mother, _she_ was allowed a -chair; but this was an extraordinary mark of grace. The duchess was -the last person of quality in Scotland who kept _pages_, in the proper -acceptation of the term—that is, young gentlemen of good birth, who -acquired manners and knowledge of the world in attending upon persons -of exalted rank. The last of her grace’s pages rose to be a general. -When a letter was brought for the duchess, the domestic gave it to the -page, the page to the waiting-gentlewoman (always a person of birth -also), and she at length to her grace. The duchess kept a tight hand -over her clan and tenants, but was upon the whole beloved. - -She was buried (1732) on the same day with the too-much-celebrated -Colonel Charteris. At the funeral of Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, in the -year 1812, in the aisle of the church at Dalkeith, my informant (Sir -Walter Scott) was shown an old man who had been at the funeral of both -her grace and Colonel Charteris. He said that the day was dreadfully -stormy, which all the world agreed was owing to the devil carrying -off Charteris. The mob broke in upon the mourners who followed this -personage to the grave, and threw cats, dogs, and a pack of cards upon -the coffin; whereupon the gentlemen drew their swords, and cut away -among the rioters. In the confusion one little old man was pushed -into the grave; and the sextons, somewhat prompt in the discharge of -their duty, began to shovel in the earth upon the quick and the dead. -The grandfather of my informant (Dr Rutherford), who was one of the -mourners, was much hurt in the affray; and my informant has heard his -mother describe the terror of the family on his coming home with his -clothes bloody and his sword broken. - -As to pages—a custom existed among old ladies till a later day of -keeping such attendants, rather superior to the little polybuttoned -personages who are now so universal. It was not, however, to be -expected that a pranksome youth would behave with consistent respect -to an aged female of the stiff manners then prevalent. Accordingly, -ridiculous circumstances took place. An old lady of the name of -Plenderleith, of very stately aspect and grave carriage, used to walk -to Leith by the Easter Road with her little foot-page behind her. For -the whole way, the young rogue would be seen projecting burs at her -dress, laughing immoderately, but silently, when one stuck. An old -lady and her sequel of a page was very much like a tragedy followed by -a farce. The keeping of the rascals in order at home used also to be -a sad problem to a quiet old lady. The only expedient which Miss —— -could hit upon to preserve her page from the corruption of the streets -was, in her own phrase, to _lock up his breeks_, which she did almost -every evening. The youth, being then only presentable at a window, -had to content himself with such chat as he could indulge in with his -companions and such mischief as he could execute from that loophole of -retreat. So much for the parade of keeping pages. - - - - -CLAUDERO. - - -Edinburgh, which now smiles complacently upon the gravities of her -reviews and the flippancies of her magazines, formerly laughed outright -at the coarse lampoons of her favourite poet and pamphleteer, Claudero. -The distinct publications of this witty and eccentric personage (whose -real name was James Wilson) are well known to collectors; and his -occasional pieces must be fresh in the remembrance of those who, forty -or fifty years ago (1824), were in the habit of perusing the _Scots -Magazine_, amidst the general gravity of which they appeared, like the -bright and giddy eyes of a satyr, staring through the sere leaves of a -sober forest scene. - -Claudero was a native of Cumbernauld, in Dumbartonshire, and at an -early period of his life showed such marks of a mischief-loving -disposition as procured him general odium. The occasion of his lameness -was a pebble thrown from a tree at the minister, who, having been -previously exasperated by his tricks, chased him to the end of a -closed lane, and with his cane inflicted such personal chastisement as -rendered him a cripple, and a hater of the clergy, for the rest of his -life. - -In Edinburgh, where he lived for upwards of thirty years previous to -his death in 1789, his livelihood was at first ostensibly gained by -keeping a little school, latterly by celebrating what were called -_half-mark marriages_—a business resembling that of the Gretna -blacksmith. It is said that he, who made himself the terror of so -many by his wit, was in his turn held in fear by his wife, who was as -complete a shrew as ever fell to the lot of poet or philosopher. - -He was a satirist by profession; and when any person wished to have -a squib played off upon his neighbours, he had nothing to do but -call upon Claudero, who, for half a crown, would produce the desired -effusion, composed, and copied off in a fair hand, in a given time. He -liked this species of employment better than writing upon speculation, -the profit being more certain and immediate. When in want of money, it -was his custom to write a sly satire on some opulent public personage, -upon whom he called with it, desiring to have his opinion of the work, -and his countenance in favour of a subscription for its publication. -The object of his ridicule, conscious-struck by his own portrait, would -wince and be civil, advise him to give up thoughts of publishing so -hasty a production, and conclude by offering a guinea or two to keep -the poet alive till better times should come round. At that time there -lived in Edinburgh a number of rich old men who had made fortunes in -questionable ways abroad, and whose characters, labouring under strange -suspicions, were wonderfully susceptible of Claudero’s satire. These -the wag used to bleed profusely and frequently by working upon their -fears of public notice. - -In 1766 appeared _Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, by Claudero, Son -of Nimrod the Mighty Hunter, &c., &c._, opening with this preface: -‘Christian Reader—The following miscellany is published at the -desire of many gentlemen, who have all been my very good friends; -if there be anything in it amusing or entertaining, I shall be very -glad I have contributed to your diversion, and will laugh as heartily -at your money as you do at my works. Several of my pieces may need -explanation; but I am too cunning for that: what is not understood, -like Presbyterian preaching, will at least be admired. I am regardless -of critics; perhaps some of my lines want a foot; but then, if the -critic look sharp out, he will find that loss sufficiently supplied -in other places, where they have a foot too much: and besides, men’s -works generally resemble themselves; if the poems are lame, so is the -author—CLAUDERO.’ - -The most remarkable poems in this volume are: ‘The Echo of the Royal -Porch of the Palace of Holyrood House, which fell under Military -Execution, anno 1753;’ ‘The Last Speech and Dying Words of the Cross, -which was Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered on Monday the 15th of March -1756, for the horrid crime of being an Incumbrance to the Street;’ -‘Scotland in Tears for the horrid Treatment of the Kings’ Sepulchres;’ -‘An Elegy on the much-lamented Death of Quaker Erskine;’[255] ‘A Sermon -on the Condemnation of the Netherbow;’ ‘Humphry Colquhoun’s Last -Farewell,’ &c. Claudero seems to have been the only man of his time who -remonstrated against the destruction of the venerable edifices then -removed from the streets which they ornamented, to the disappointment -and indignation of all future antiquaries. There is much wit in his -sermon upon the destruction of the Netherbow. ‘What was too hard,’ he -says, ‘for the great ones of the earth, yea, even queens, to effect, -is now accomplished. No patriot duke opposeth the scheme, as did the -great Argyll in the grand senate of our nation; therefore the project -shall go into execution, and down shall Edina’s lofty porches be hurled -with a vengeance. Streets shall be extended to the east, regular and -beautiful, as far as the Frigate Whins; and Portobello[256] shall be a -lodge for the captors of tea and brandy. The city shall be joined to -Leith on the north, and a procession of wise masons shall there lay -the foundations of a spacious harbour. Pequin or Nanquin shall not be -able to compare with Edinburgh for magnificence. Our city shall be the -greatest wonder of the world, and the fame of its glory shall reach the -distant ends of the earth.[257] But lament, O thou descendant of the -royal Dane, and chief of the tribe of Wilson; for thy shop, contiguous -to the porch, shall be dashed to pieces, and its place will know thee -no more! No more shall the melodious voice of the loyalist Grant[258] -be heard in the morning, nor shall he any more shake the bending wand -towards the triumphal arch. Let all who angle in deep waters lament, -for Tom had not his equal. The Netherbow Coffee-house of the loyal -Smeiton can now no longer enjoy its ancient name with propriety; and -from henceforth _The Revolution Coffee-house_ shall its name be called. -Our gates must be extended wide for accommodating the gilded chariots, -which, from the luxury of the age, are become numerous. With an -impetuous career, they jostle against one another in our streets, and -the unwary foot-passenger is in danger of being crushed to pieces. The -loaded cart itself cannot withstand their fury, and the hideous yells -of _Coal Johnie_ resound through the vaulted sky. The sour-milk barrels -are overturned, and deluges of Corstorphin cream run down our strands, -while the poor unhappy milkmaid wrings her hands with sorrow.’ To the -sermon are appended the ‘Last Speech and Dying Words of the Netherbow,’ -in which the following laughable declaration occurs: ‘May my clock be -struck dumb in the other world, if I lie in this! and may MACK, the -reformer of Edina’s lofty spires, never bestride my weathercock on -high, if I deviate from truth in these my last words! Though my fabric -shall be levelled with the dust of the earth, yet I fall in hope that -my weathercock shall be exalted on some more modern dome, where it -shall shine like the burnished gold, reflecting the rays of the sun to -the eye of ages unborn. The daring Mack shall yet look down from my -cock, high in the airy region, to the brandy-shops below, where large -graybeards shall appear to him no bigger than mutchkin-bottles, and -mutchkin-bottles shall be in his sight like the spark of a diamond.’ -One of Claudero’s versified compositions, ‘Humphry Colquhoun’s -Farewell,’ is remarkable as a kind of coarse prototype of the beautiful -lyric entitled ‘Mary,’ sung in _The Pirate_ by Claud Halcro. One -wonders to find the genius of Scott refining upon such materials: - - ‘Farewell to Auld Reekie, - Farewell to lewd Kate, - Farewell to each ——, - And farewell to cursed debt; - With light heart and thin breeches, - Humph crosses the main; - All worn out to stitches, - He’ll ne’er come again. - - Farewell to old Dido, - Who sold him good ale; - Her charms, like her drink, - For poor Humph were too stale; - Though closely she urged him - To marry and stay, - Her Trojan, quite cloyed, - From her sailed away. - - Farewell to James Campbell, - Who played many tricks; - Humph’s ghost and Lochmoidart’s[259] - Will chase him to Styx; - Where in Charon’s wherry - He’ll be ferried o’er - To Pluto’s dominions, - ’Mongst rascals great store. - - Farewell, pot-companions, - Farewell, all good fellows; - Farewell to my anvil, - Files, pliers, and bellows; - Sails, fly to Jamaica, - Where I mean long to dwell, - Change manners with climate— - Dear Drummond, farewell.’ - -[Illustration: Netherbow.] - -It is not unworthy of notice that the publication of Dr Blair’s -_Lectures on Rhetoric and the Belles-lettres_ was hastened by Claudero, -who, having procured notes taken by some of the students, avowed an -intention of giving these to the world. The reverend author states in -his preface that he was induced to publish the lectures in consequence -of some surreptitious and incorrect copies finding their way to the -public; but it has not hitherto been told that this doggerel-monger was -the person chiefly concerned in bringing about that result. - -Claudero occasionally dealt in whitewash as well as blackball, and -sometimes wrote regular panegyrics. An address of this kind to a -_writer_ named Walter Fergusson, who built St James’s Square, concludes -with a strange association of ideas: - - ‘May Pentland Hills pour forth their springs, - To water all thy square! - May Fergussons still bless the place, - Both gay and debonnair!’ - -When the said square was in progress, however, the water seemed in no -hurry to obey the bard’s invocation; and an attempt was made to procure -this useful element by sinking wells for it, despite the elevation -of the ground. Mr Walter Scott, W.S., happened one day to pass when -Captain Fergusson of the Royal Navy—a good officer, but a sort of -Commodore Trunnion in his manners—was sinking a well of vast depth. -Upon Mr Scott expressing a doubt if water could be got there, ‘I will -get it,’ quoth the captain, ‘though I sink to hell for it!’ ‘A bad -place for water,’ was the dry remark of the doubter. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[255] A noted brewer, much given to preaching. Of him Claudero says: - - ‘Our souls with gospel he did cheer, - Our bodies, too, with ale and beer; - _Gratis_ he gospel got and gave away; - For ale and beer he only made us pay.’ - -[256] This thriving parliamentary burgh originated in a cottage built, -and long inhabited, by a retired seaman of Admiral Vernon’s squadron, -who gave it this name in commemoration of the triumph which his -commander there gained over the Spaniards in 1739. There must have been -various houses at the spot in 1753, when we find one ‘George Hamilton, -in Portobello,’ advertising in the _Edinburgh Courant_ that he would -give a reward of three pounds to any one who should discover the author -of a scandalous report, which represented him as harbouring robbers -in his house. The waste upon which Portobello is now partly founded -was dreadfully infested at this time with robbers, and resorted to -by smugglers; see _Courant_. [Portobello, while remaining one of the -‘Leith burghs’ for parliamentary purposes, was municipally incorporated -with Edinburgh in 1896. Claudero’s ‘Frigate Whins’ are better known as -the ‘Figgate Whins.’] - -[257] Claudero could have little serious expectation that several of -these predictions would come to pass before he had been forty years in -his grave. - -[258] A celebrated and much-esteemed fishing-rod maker, who afterwards -flourished in the old wooden _land_ at the head of Blackfriars Wynd. -He survived to recent times, and was distinguished for his adherence -to the cocked hat, wrist ruffles, and buckles of his youth. He was a -short, neat man, very well bred, a great angler, intimate with the -great, a Jacobite, and lived to near a century. He had fished in almost -every trouting stream in the three kingdoms, and was seen skating on -Lochend at the age of eighty-five. - -[259] This seems to bear some reference to the seizure of young -Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart at Lesmahagow in 1745. - - - - -QUEENSBERRY HOUSE. - - -In the Canongate, on the south side, is a large, gloomy building, -enclosed in a court, and now used as a refuge for destitute persons. -This was formerly the town mansion of the Dukes of Queensberry, and -a scene, of course, of stately life and high political affairs. It -was built by the first duke, the willing minister of the last two -Stuarts—he who also built Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire, which he -never slept in but one night, and with regard to which it is told that -he left the accounts for the building tied up with this inscription: -‘The deil pyke out his een that looks herein!’ Duke William was a noted -money-maker and land-acquirer. No little laird of his neighbourhood -had any chance with him for the retention of his family property. -He was something still worse in the eyes of the common people—a -_persecutor_; that is, one siding against the Presbyterian cause. -There is a story in one of their favourite books of his having died -of the _morbus pediculosus_, by way of a judgment upon him for his -wickedness. In reality, he died of some ordinary fever. It is also -stated, from the same authority, that about the time when his grace -died, a Scotch skipper, being in Sicily, saw one day a coach-and-six -driving to Mount Etna, while a diabolic voice exclaimed: ‘Open to the -Duke of Drumlanrig!’—‘which proves, by the way,’ says Mr Sharpe, ‘that -the devil’s porter is no herald. In fact,’ adds this acute critic, -‘the legend is borrowed from the story of Antonio the Rich, in George -Sandys’s _Travels_.’[260] - -It appears, from family letters, that the first duchess often resided -in the Canongate mansion, while her husband occupied Sanquhar Castle. -The lady was unfortunately given to drink, and there is a letter of -hers in which she pathetically describes her situation to a country -friend, left alone in Queensberry House with only a few bottles of -wine, one of which, having been drawn, had turned out sour. Sour wine -being prejudicial to her health, it was fearful to think of what might -prove the quality of the remaining bottles. - -The son of this couple, James, second duke, must ever be memorable as -the main instrument in carrying through the Union. His character has -been variously depicted. By Defoe, in his _History of the Union_, it is -liberally panegyrised. ‘I think I have,’ says he, ‘given demonstrations -to the world that I will flatter no man.’ Yet he could not refrain from -extolling the ‘prudence, calmness, and temper’ which the duke showed -during that difficult crisis. Unfortunately the author of _Robinson -Crusoe_, though not a flatterer, could not insure himself against the -usual prepossessions of a partisan. Boldness the duke must certainly -have possessed, for during the ferments attending the parliamentary -proceedings on that occasion, he continued daily to drive between his -lodgings in Holyrood and the Parliament House, notwithstanding several -intimations that his life was threatened. His grace’s eldest son, -James, was an idiot of the most unhappy sort—rabid and gluttonous, -and early grew to an immense height, which is testified by his coffin -in the family vault at Durisdeer, still to be seen, of great length -and unornamented with the heraldic follies which bedizen the violated -remains of his relatives. A tale of mystery and horror is preserved by -tradition respecting this monstrous being. While the family resided in -Edinburgh, he was always kept confined in a ground apartment, in the -western wing of the house, upon the windows of which, till within these -few years, the boards still remained by which the dreadful receptacle -was darkened to prevent the idiot from looking out or being seen. On -the day the Union was passed, all Edinburgh crowded to the Parliament -Close to await the issue of the debate, and to mob the chief promoters -of the detested measure on their leaving the House. The whole household -of the commissioner went _en masse_, with perhaps a somewhat different -object, and among the rest was the man whose duty it was to watch and -attend Lord Drumlanrig. Two members of the family alone were left -behind—the madman himself, and a little kitchen-boy who turned the -spit. The insane being, hearing everything unusually still around, the -house being deserted, and the Canongate like a city of the dead, and -observing his keeper to be absent, broke loose from his confinement, -and roamed wildly through the house. It is supposed that the savoury -odour of the preparations for dinner led him to the kitchen, where he -found the little turnspit quietly seated by the fire. He seized the -boy, killed him, took the meat from the fire, and spitted the body of -his victim, which he half-roasted, and was found devouring when the -duke, with his domestics, returned from his triumph. The idiot survived -his father many years, though he did not succeed him upon his death -in 1711, when the titles devolved upon Charles, the younger brother. -He is known to have died in England. This horrid act of his child was, -according to the common sort of people, the judgment of God upon him -for his wicked concern in the Union—the greatest blessing, as it has -happened, that ever was conferred upon Scotland by any statesman. - -[Illustration: Allan Ramsay’s Shop, High Street.] - -Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, who was born in Queensberry House, -resided occasionally in it when he visited Scotland; but as he was -much engaged in attending the court during the earlier part of his -life, his stay here was seldom of long continuance. After his grace -and the duchess embroiled themselves with the court (1729), on account -of the support which they gave to the poet Gay, they came to Scotland, -and resided for some time here. The author of the _Beggar’s Opera_ -accompanied them, and remained about a month, part of which was given -to Dumfriesshire. Tradition in Edinburgh used to point out an attic in -an old house opposite to Queensberry House, where, as an appropriate -abode for a poet, his patrons are said to have stowed him. It was said -he wrote the _Beggar’s Opera_ there—an entirely gratuitous assumption. -In the progress of the history of his writings, nothing of consequence -occurs at this time. He had finished the second part of the opera a -short while before. After his return to the south, he is found engaged -in ‘new writing a damned play, which he wrote several years before, -called _The Wife of Bath_; a task which he accomplished while living -with the Duke of Queensberry in Oxfordshire, during the ensuing months -of August, September, and October.’[261] It is known, however, that -while in Edinburgh, he haunted the shop of Allan Ramsay, in the -Luckenbooths—the flat above that well-remembered and classical shop -so long kept by Mr Creech, from which issued the _Mirror_, _Lounger_, -and other works of name, and where for a long course of years all the -_literati_ of Edinburgh used to assemble every day, like merchants at -an Exchange. Here Ramsay amused Gay by pointing out to him the chief -public characters of the city as they met in the forenoon at the Cross. -Here, too, Gay read the _Gentle Shepherd_, and studied the Scottish -language, so that upon his return to England he was enabled to make -Pope appreciate the beauties of that delightful pastoral. He is said -also to have spent some of his time with the sons of mirth and humour -in an alehouse opposite to Queensberry House, kept by one Janet Hall. -_Jenny Ha’s_, as the place was called, was a noted house for drinking -claret from the butt within the recollection of old gentlemen living in -my time. - -[Illustration: Jenny Ha’s Ale-House.] - -While Gay was at Drumlanrig, he employed himself in picking out a great -number of the best books from the library, which were sent to England, -whether for his own use or the duke’s is not known. - -Duchess Catherine was a most extraordinary lady, eccentric to a degree -undoubtedly bordering on madness. Her beauty has been celebrated by -Pope not in very elegant terms: - - ‘Since Queensberry to strip there’s no compelling, - ’Tis from a handmaid we must take a Helen.’ - -Prior had, at an early period of her life, depainted her irrepressible -temper: - - ‘Thus Kitty, beautiful and young, - And wild as colt untamed, - Bespoke the fair from whom she sprang, - By little rage inflamed; - Inflamed with rage at sad restraint, - Which wise mamma ordained; - And sorely vexed to play the saint, - Whilst wit and beauty reigned. - - “Shall I thumb holy books, confined - With Abigails forsaken? - Kitty’s for other things designed, - Or I am much mistaken. - Must Lady Jenny frisk about, - And visit with her cousins? - At balls must she make all the rout, - And bring home hearts by dozens? - - What has she better, pray, than I? - What hidden charms to boast, - That all mankind for her should die, - Whilst I am scarce a toast? - Dearest mamma, for once let me, - Unchained, my fortune try; - I’ll have my earl as well as she, - Or know the reason why. - - I’ll soon with Jenny’s pride quit score, - Make all her lovers fall; - They’ll grieve I was not loosed before, - She, I was loosed at all.” - Fondness prevailed, mamma gave way; - Kitty, at heart’s desire, - Obtained the chariot for a day, - And set the world on fire!’ - -It is an undoubted fact that, before her marriage, she had been -confined in a _strait-jacket_ on account of mental derangement; and -her conduct in married life was frequently such as to entitle her to a -repetition of the same treatment. She was, in reality, at all times to -a certain extent insane, though the politeness of fashionable society -and the flattery of her poetical friends seem to have succeeded in -passing off her extravagances as owing to an agreeable freedom of -carriage and vivacity of mind. Her brother was as clever and as mad as -herself, and used to amuse himself by hiding a book in his library, and -hunting for it after he had forgot where it was deposited. - -Her grace was no admirer of Scottish manners. One of their habits she -particularly detested—the custom of eating off the end of a knife. -When people dined with her at Drumlanrig, and began to lift their food -in this manner, she used to scream out and beseech them not to cut -their throats; and then she would confound the offending persons by -sending them a silver spoon or fork upon a salver.[262] - -When in Scotland her grace always dressed herself in the garb of a -peasant-girl. Her object seems to have been to ridicule and put out -of countenance the stately dresses and demeanour of the Scottish -gentlewomen who visited her. One evening some country ladies paid her -a visit, dressed in their best brocades, as for some state occasion. -Her grace proposed a walk, and they were of course under the necessity -of trooping off, to the utter discomfiture of their starched-up frills -and flounces. Her grace at last pretended to be tired, sat down upon -the dirtiest dunghill she could find, at the end of a farmhouse, -and saying, ‘Pray, ladies, be seated,’ invited her poor draggled -companions to plant themselves round about her. They stood so much in -awe of her that they durst not refuse; and of course her grace had the -satisfaction of afterwards laughing at the destruction of their silks. - -When she went out to an evening entertainment, and found a tea-equipage -paraded which she thought too fine for the rank of the owner, she -would contrive to overset the table and break the china. The forced -politeness of her hosts on such occasions, and the assurances which -they made her grace that no harm was done, &c., delighted her -exceedingly. - -Her custom of dressing like a _paysanne_ once occasioned her grace a -disagreeable adventure at a review. On her attempting to approach the -duke, the guard, not knowing her rank or relation to him, pushed her -rudely back. This threw her into such a passion that she could not be -appeased till his grace assured her that the men had all been soundly -flogged for their insolence. - -An anecdote scarcely less laughable is told of her grace as occurring -at court, where she carried to the same extreme her attachment to -plain-dealing and plain-dressing. An edict had been issued forbidding -the ladies to appear at the drawing-room in aprons. This was -disregarded by the duchess, whose rustic costume would not have been -complete without that piece of dress. On approaching the door she was -stopped by the lord in waiting, who told her that he could not possibly -give her grace admission in that guise, when she, without a moment’s -hesitation, stripped off her apron, threw it in his lordship’s face, -and walked on, in her brown gown and petticoat, into the brilliant -circle! - -Her caprices were endless. At one time when a ball had been announced -at Drumlanrig, after the company were all assembled her grace took a -headache, declared that she could bear no noise, and sat in a chair -in the dancing-room, uttering a thousand peevish complaints. Lord -Drumlanrig, who understood her humour, said: ‘Madam, I know how to -cure you;’ and taking hold of her immense elbow-chair, which moved on -castors, rolled her several times backwards and forwards across the -saloon, till she began to laugh heartily—after which the festivities -were allowed to commence. - -The duchess certainly, both in her conversation and letters, displayed -a great degree of wit and quickness of mind. Yet nobody perhaps, saving -Gay, ever loved her. She seems to have been one of those beings who are -too much feared, admired, or envied, to be loved. - -The duke, on the contrary, who was a man of ordinary mind, had the -affection and esteem of all. His temper and dispositions were sweet -and amiable in the extreme. His benevolence, extending beyond his -fellow-creatures, was exercised even upon his old horses, none of which -he would ever permit to be killed or sold. He allowed the veterans of -his stud free range in some parks near Drumlanrig, where, retired from -active life, they got leave to die decent and natural deaths. Upon his -grace’s decease, however, in 1778, these luckless pensioners were all -put up to sale by his heartless successor; and it was a painful sight -to see the feeble and pampered animals forced by their new masters to -drag carts, &c., till they broke down and died on the roads and in the -ditches. - -Duke Charles’s eldest son, Lord Drumlanrig, was altogether mad. He had -contracted himself to one lady when he married another. The lady who -became his wife was a daughter of the Earl of Hopetoun, and a most -amiable woman. He loved her tenderly, as she deserved; but owing to -the unfortunate contract which he had engaged in, they were never -happy. They were often observed in the beautiful pleasure-grounds at -Drumlanrig weeping bitterly together. These hapless circumstances had -such a fatal effect upon him that during a journey to London in 1754 -he rode on before the coach in which the duchess travelled, and shot -himself with one of his own pistols. It was given out that the pistol -had gone off by chance. - -There is just one other tradition of Drumlanrig to be noticed. The -castle, being a very large and roomy mansion, had of course a ghost, -said to be the spirit of a Lady Anne Douglas. This unhappy phantom used -to walk about the house, terrifying everybody, with her head in one -hand and her fan in the other—are we to suppose, fanning her face? - -On the death of the Good Duke, as he was called, in 1778, the title and -estates devolved on his cousin, the Earl of March, so well remembered -as a sporting character and debauchee of the old school by the name of -_Old Q._ In his time Queensberry House was occupied by other persons, -for he had little inclination to spend his time in Scotland. And this -brings to mind an anecdote highly illustrative of the wretchedness of -such a life as his. When professing, towards the close of his days, -to be eaten up with ennui, and incapable of any longer taking an -interest in anything, it was suggested that he might go down to his -Scotch estates and live among his tenantry. ‘I’ve tried that,’ said the -_blasé_ aristocrat; ‘it is not amusing.’ In 1801 he caused Queensberry -House to be stripped of its ornaments and sold. With fifty-eight -fire-rooms, and a gallery seventy feet long, besides a garden, it was -offered at the surprisingly low upset price of £900. The Government -purchased it for a barrack. Thus has passed away the [home of the] -Douglas of Queensberry from its old place in Edinburgh, where doubtless -the money-making duke thought it would stand for ever. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[260] Introduction to Law’s _Memorials_, p. lxxx. - -[261] See letters of Gay, Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot, in Scott’s -edition of Swift. - -[262] In a letter from Gay to Swift, dated February 15, 1727-8, we find -the subject illustrated as follows: ‘As to my favours from great men, -I am in the same state you left me; but I am a great deal happier, as -I have expectations. The Duchess of Queensberry has signalised her -friendship to me upon this occasion [the bringing out of the _Beggar’s -Opera_] in such a conspicuous manner, that I hope (for her sake) you -will take care to put your fork to all its proper uses, and suffer -nobody for the future to put their knives in their mouth.’ - -In the _P.S._ to a letter from Gay to Swift, dated Middleton Stoney, -November 9, 1729, Gay says: ‘To the lady I live with I owe my life and -fortune. Think of her with respect—value and esteem her as I do—and -never more despise a fork with three prongs. I wish, too, you would not -eat from the point of your knife. She has so much goodness, virtue, and -generosity, that if you knew her, you would have a pleasure in obeying -her as I do. She often wishes she had known you.’ - - - - -TENNIS COURT. - - EARLY THEATRICALS—THE CANONGATE THEATRE—DIGGES AND MRS - BELLAMY—A THEATRICAL RIOT. - - -‘Just without the Water-gate,’ says Maitland, ‘on the eastern side of -the street, was the Royal Tennis Court, anciently called the Catchpel -[from Cache, a game since called _Fives_, and a favourite amusement -in Scotland so early as the reign of James IV.].’ The house—a long, -narrow building with a court—was burned down in modern times, and -rebuilt for workshops. Yet the place continues to possess some interest -as connected with the early and obscure history of the stage in -Scotland, not to speak of the tennis itself, which was a fashionable -amusement in Scotland in the seventeenth century, and here played by -the Duke of York, Law the financial schemer, and other remarkable -persons. - -The first known appearance of the post-reformation theatre in Edinburgh -was in the reign of King James VI., when several companies came from -London, chiefly for the amusement of the Court, including one to which -Shakespeare is known to have belonged, though his personal attendance -cannot be substantiated. There was no such thing, probably, as a play -acted in Edinburgh from the departure of James in 1603 till the arrival -of his grandson, the Duke of York, in 1680. - -Threatened by the Whig party in the House of Commons with an exclusion -from the throne of England on account of his adherence to popery, this -prince made use of his exile in Scotland to conciliate the nobles, and -attach them to his person. His beautiful young wife, Mary of Modena, -and his second daughter, the _Lady Anne_, assisted by giving parties -at the palace—where, by the bye, tea was now first introduced into -Scotland. Easy and obliging in their manners, these ladies revived -the entertainment of the masque, and took parts themselves in the -performance. At length, for his own amusement and that of his friends, -James had some of his own company of players brought down to Holyrood -and established in a little theatre, which was fitted up in the Tennis -Court. On this occasion the remainder of the company playing at Oxford -apologised for the diminution of their strength in the following lines -written by Dryden: - - ‘Discord and plots, which have undone our age, - With the same ruin have o’erwhelmed the stage. - Our house has suffered in the common woe; - We have been troubled with Scots rebels too. - Our brethren have from Thames to Tweed departed, - And of our sisters, all the kinder-hearted - To Edinburgh gone, or coached or carted. - With bonny _Blew cap_ there they act all night, - For Scotch half-crowns—in English threepence hight. - One nymph to whom fat Sir John Falstaff’s lean, - There, with her single person, fills the scene. - Another, with long use and age decayed, - Died here old woman, and there rose a maid. - Our trusty door-keeper, of former time, - There struts and swaggers in heroic rhyme. - Tack but a copper lace to drugget suit, - And there’s a hero made without dispute; - And that which was a capon’s tail before, - Becomes a plume for Indian emperor. - But all his subjects, to express the care - Of imitation, go like Indians bare. - Laced linen there would be a dangerous thing, - It might perhaps a new rebellion bring; - The Scot who wore it would be chosen king.’ - -We learn from Fountainhall’s _Diary_ that on the celebration of the -king’s birthday, 1681, the duke honoured the magistrates of the city -with his presence in the theatre—namely, this theatre in the Tennis -Court. - -No further glimpse of our city’s theatrical history is obtained till -1705, when we find a Mr Abel announcing a concert in the Tennis Court, -under the patronage of the Duke of Argyll, then acting as the queen’s -commissioner to the Parliament. It is probable that the concert was -only a cloak to some theatrical representation. This is the more -likely from a tradition already mentioned of some old members of the -Spendthrift Club who once frequented the tavern of a Mrs Hamilton, -whose husband recollected having attended the theatre in the Tennis -Court at Holyrood House, when the play was _The Spanish Friar_, and -many members of the Union Parliament were present in the house. - -Theatrical amusements appear to have been continued at the Tennis Court -in the year 1710, if we are to place any reliance upon the following -anecdote: When Mrs Siddons came to Edinburgh in 1784, the late Mr -Alexander Campbell, author of the _History of Scottish Poetry_, asked -Miss Pitcairn, daughter of Dr Pitcairn, to accompany him to one of the -representations. The old lady refused, saying with coquettish vivacity: -‘Laddie, wad ye ha’e an auld lass like me to be running after the -play-actors—me that hasna been at a theatre since I gaed wi’ papa -to the Canongate in the year _ten_?’ The theatre was in those days -encouraged chiefly by such Jacobites as Dr Pitcairn. It was denounced -by the clergy as a hotbed of vice and profanity. - -After this we hear no more of the theatre in the Tennis Court. The next -place where the drama set up its head was in a house in Carrubber’s -Close, under the management of an Italian lady styled Signora Violante, -who paid two visits to Edinburgh. After her came, in 1726, one Tony -Alston, who set up his scenes in the same house, and whose first -prologue was written by Ramsay: it may be found in the works of that -poet. In 1727 the Society of High Constables, of which Ramsay was then -a member, endeavoured to ‘suppress the abominable stage-plays lately -set up by Anthony Alston.’[263] Mr Alston played for a season or two, -under the fulminations of the clergy and a prosecution on their part in -the Court of Session. - - -CANONGATE THEATRE. - -From a period subsequent to 1727 till after the year 1753, the -Tailors’ Hall in the Cowgate[264] was used as a theatre by itinerating -companies, who met with some success notwithstanding the incessant -hostility of the clergy.[265] It was a house which in theatrical -phrase, could hold from £40 to £45. A split in the company here -concerned led to the erection, in 1746-7, of a theatre at the bottom -of a close in the Canongate, nearly opposite to the head of New -Street. This house, capable of holding about £70—the boxes being -half-a-crown and pit one and sixpence—was for several years the -scene of good acting under Lee, Digges, Mrs Bellamy, and Mrs Ward. We -learn from Henry Mackenzie that the tragedy of _Douglas_, which first -appeared here in 1756, was most respectably acted—the two ladies above -mentioned playing respectively Young Norval and Lady Randolph.[266] The -personal elegance of Digges—understood to be the natural son of a man -of rank—and the beauty of Mrs Bellamy were a theme of interest amongst -old people fifty years ago; but their scandalous life was of course -regarded with horror by the mass of respectable society. They lived in -a small country-house at Bonnington, between Edinburgh and Leith. It is -remembered that Mrs Bellamy was extremely fond of singing-birds, and -kept many about her. When emigrating to Glasgow, she had her feathered -favourites carried by a porter all the way that they might not suffer -from the jolting of a carriage. Scotch people wondered to hear of ten -guineas being expended on this occasion. Persons under the social ban -for their irregular lives often win the love of individuals by their -benevolence and sweetness of disposition—qualities, it is remarked, -not unlikely to have been partly concerned in their first trespasses. -This was the case with Mrs Bellamy. Her waiting-maid, Annie Waterstone, -who is mentioned in her _Memoirs_, lived many years after in Edinburgh, -and continued to the last to adore the memory of her mistress. Nay, -she was, from this cause, a zealous friend of all kinds of players, -and never would allow a slighting remark upon them to pass unreproved. -It was curious to find in a poor old Scotchwoman of the humbler class -such a sympathy with the follies and eccentricities of the children of -Thespis. - -[Illustration: Tailors’ Hall, Cowgate.] - -While under the temporary management of two Edinburgh citizens -extremely ill-qualified for the charge—one of them, by the bye, a Mr -David Beatt, who had read the rebel proclamations from the Cross in -1745—a sad accident befell the Canongate playhouse. Dissensions of -a dire kind had broken out in the company. The public, as usual, was -divided between them. Two classes of persons—the gentlemen of the -bar and the students of the university[267]—were especially zealous -as partisans. Things were at that pass when a trivial incident will -precipitate them to the most fearful conclusion. One night, when -_Hamlet_ was the play, a riot took place of so desperate a description -that at length the house was set on fire. It being now necessary for -the authorities to interfere, the Town-guard was called forth, and -marched to the scene of disturbance; but though many of that veteran -corps had faced the worst at Blenheim and Dettingen, they felt it as a -totally different thing to be brought to action in a place which they -regarded as a peculiar domain of the Father of Evil. When ordered, -therefore, by their commander to advance into the house and across -the stage, the poor fellows fairly stopped short amidst the scenes, -the glaring colours of which at once surprised and terrified them. -Indignant at their pusillanimity, the bold captain seized a musket, -and placing himself in an attitude equal to anything that had ever -appeared on those boards, exclaimed: ‘Now, my lads, follow _me_!’ -But just at the moment that he was going to rush on and charge the -rioters, a trap-door on which he trod gave way, and in an instant the -heroic leader had sunk out of sight, as if by magic. This was too much -for the excited nerves of the guard; they immediately vacated the -house, leaving the devil to make his own of it; and accordingly it -was completely destroyed. It is added that when the captain by-and-by -reappeared, they received him in the quality of a gentleman from the -other world; nor could they all at once be undeceived, even when he -cursed them in vigorous Gaelic for a pack of cowardly scoundrels. - -[Illustration: Old Playhouse Close.] - -The Canongate theatre revived for a short time, and had the honour -to be the first house in our city in which the drama was acted with -a license. It was opened with this privilege by Mr Ross on the 9th -December 1767, when the play was _The Earl of Essex_, and a general -prologue was spoken, the composition of James Boswell. Soon after, -being deserted for the present building in the New Town,[268] it fell -into ruin; in which state it formed the subject of a mock elegy to the -muse of Robert Fergusson. The reader will perhaps be amused with the -following extract from that poem: - - ‘Can I contemplate on those dreary scenes - Of mouldering desolation, and forbid - The voice elegiac, and the falling tear! - No more from box to box the basket, piled - With oranges as radiant as the spheres, - Shall with their luscious virtues charm the sense - Of taste or smell. No more the gaudy beau, - With handkerchief in lavender well drenched, - Or bergamot, or [in] rose-waters pure, - With flavoriferous sweets shall chase away - The pestilential fumes of vulgar cits, - Who, in impatience for the curtain’s rise, - Amused the lingering moments, and applied - Thirst-quenching porter to their parched lips. - Alas! how sadly altered is the scene! - For lo! those sacred walls, that late were brushed - By rustling silks and waving capuchines, - Are now become the sport of wrinkled Time! - Those walls that late have echoed to the voice - Of stern King Richard, to the seat transformed - Of crawling spiders and detested moths, - Who in the lonely crevices reside, - Or gender in the beams, that have upheld - Gods, demigods, and all the joyous crew - Of thunderers in the galleries above.’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[263] Record of that Society. - -[264] The date over the exterior gateway of the Tailors’ Hall, towards -the Cowgate, is 1644; but it is ascertained that the corporation had -its hall at this place at an earlier period. An assembly of between -two and three hundred clergymen was held here on Tuesday the 27th of -February 1638 in order to consider the National Covenant, which was -presented to the public next day in the Greyfriars Church. We are -informed by the Earl of Rothes, in his _Relations_ of the transactions -of this period, in which he bore so distinguished a part, that some few -objected to certain points in it; but being taken aside into the garden -attached to this hall, and there lectured on the necessity of mutual -concession for the sake of the general cause, they were soon brought to -give their entire assent. - -[265] The announcements of entertainments given at this fashionable -place of amusement in the eighteenth century make amusing reading -to-day. ‘February 17, 1743. We hear that on Monday 21st instant, at the -Tailors’ Hall, Cowgate, at the desire of several ladies of distinction, -will be performed a concert of vocal and instrumental music. After -which will be given gratis _Richard the Third_, containing several -historical passages. To which will be added gratis “The Mock Lawyer.” -Tickets for the Concert (on which _are_ [sic] printed a new device -called Apology and Evasion) to be had at the Exchange and John’s -Coffee-houses, and at Mr Este’s lodgings at Mr Monro’s, musician in the -Cowgate, near Tailors’ Hall. As Mrs Este’s present condition will not -admit a personal application, she hopes the ladies notwithstanding will -grace her concert.’ - -[266] Among the audience on the first night of the performance of -_Douglas_ were the two daughters of John and Lady Susan Renton, one of -whom, Eleanor, was the mother of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, to whom -the author in his ‘Introductory Notice’ expresses his indebtedness -for assistance on the first appearance of this work. And it was for -attending one of the performances that the minister of Liberton -Church brought himself under sentence of six weeks’ suspension by the -Presbytery of Edinburgh—a sentence modified in consideration of his -plea that though he attended the play, ‘he concealed himself as well as -he could to avoid giving offence.’ - -[267] Maitland, in his _History of Edinburgh_, 1753, says that the -encouragement given to the diversions at the house ‘is so very great, -’tis to be feared it will terminate in the _destruction of the -university_. Such diversions,’ he adds, ‘are noways becoming a seat of -the Muses.’ - -[268] The Theatre Royal in Shakespeare Square, where the General Post -Office now stands. - - - - -MARIONVILLE—STORY OF CAPTAIN MACRAE. - - -[Illustration: Marionville.] - -Between the eastern suburbs of Edinburgh and the village of Restalrig -stands a solitary house named Marionville, enclosed in a shrubbery -of no great extent, surrounded by high walls. Whether it be that the -place has become dismal in consequence of the rise of a noxious fen -in its neighbourhood, or that the tale connected with it acts upon -the imagination, I cannot pretend to decide, but unquestionably there -is about the house an air of depression and melancholy such as could -scarcely fail to strike the most unobservant passenger. Yet, in 1790, -this mansion was the abode of a gay and fashionable family, who, -amongst other amusements, indulged in that of private theatricals, -and in this line were so highly successful that admission to the -Marionville theatre became a privilege for which the highest in the -land would contend. Mr Macrae, the head of this family, was a man of -good fortune, being the proprietor of an estate in Dumfriesshire, and -also of good connections—the Earl of Glencairn, whom Burns has so -much celebrated, being his cousin, while by his mother he was nearly -related to Viscount Fermoy and the celebrated Sir Boyle Roche. He had -been for some years retired from the Irish Carabiniers, and being still -in the prime of life, he was thinking of again entering the army, when -the incident which I am about to relate took place. He was a man of -gentlemanlike accomplishments and manners, of a generous and friendly -disposition, but marked by a keen and imperious sense of the deference -due to a gentleman, and a heat of temper which was apt to make him -commit actions of which he afterwards bitterly repented. After the -unfortunate affair which ended his career in Scotland, the public, -who never make nice distinctions as to the character of individuals, -adopted the idea that he was as inhumane as rash, and he was reported -to be an experienced duellist. But here he was greatly misrepresented. -Mr Macrae would have shrunk from a deliberate act of cruelty; and the -only connection he had ever had with single combat was in the way of -endeavouring to reconcile friends who had quarrelled—an object in -which he was successful on several memorable occasions. But the same -man—whom all that really knew him allowed to be a delightful companion -and kind-hearted man—was liable to be transported beyond the bounds of -reason by casual and trivial occurrences. A messenger of the law having -arrested the Rev. Mr Cunningham, brother of the Earl of Glencairn, -for debt, as he was passing with a party from the drawing-room to the -dining-room at Drumsheugh House, Mr Macrae threw the man over the -stair. He was prompted to this act by indignation at the affront which -he conceived his cousin, as a gentleman, had received from a common -man. But soon after, when it was represented to him that every other -means of inducing Mr Cunningham to settle his debt had failed, and when -he learned that the messenger had suffered severe injury, he went to -him, made him a hearty apology, and agreed to pay three hundred guineas -by way of compensation. He had himself allowed a debt due to a tailor -to remain too long unpaid, and the consequence was that he received -a summons for it before the sheriff-court. With this document in his -hand, he called, in a state of great excitement, upon his law-agent, to -whom he began to read: ‘Archibald Cockburn of Cockpen, sheriff-depute,’ -&c., till he came to a passage which declared that ‘he, the said James -Macrae, had been oft and diverse times desired and required,’ &c. ‘The -greatest lie ever uttered!’ he exclaimed. ‘He had never heard a word -of it before; he would instantly go to the sheriff and horsewhip him.’ -The agent had at the time letters of _horning_ against a very worthy -baronet lying upon his table—that is to say, a document in which the -baronet was denounced as a rebel to the king, according to a form of -the law of Scotland, for failing to pay his debt. The agent took up -this, and coolly began to read: ‘George III. by the grace of God,’ &c. -Macrae at once saw the application, and fell a-laughing at his own -folly, saying he would go directly and give the sheriff tickets for -the play at Marionville, which he and his family requested. It will be -seen that the fault of this unfortunate gentleman was heat of temper, -not a savage disposition; but what fault can be more fatal than heat of -temper? - -Mr Macrae was married to an accomplished lady, Maria Cecilia le Maitre, -daughter of the Baroness Nolken, wife of the Swedish ambassador. -They occasionally resided in Paris, with Mrs Macrae’s relations, -particularly with her cousin, Madame de la Briche, whose private -theatricals in her elegant house at the Marais were the models of those -afterwards instituted at Marionville. It may not be unworthy of notice -that amongst their fellow-performers at Madame de la Briche’s was -the celebrated Abbé Sieyès. When Mr Macrae and his lady set up their -theatre at Marionville, they both took characters, he appearing to -advantage in such parts as that of Dionysius in the _Grecian Daughter_, -and she in the first line of female parts in genteel comedy. Sir David -Kinloch and a Mr Justice were their best male associates; and the -chief female performer, after Mrs Macrae herself, was Mrs Carruthers -of Dormont, a daughter of the celebrated artist Paul Sandby. When all -due deduction is made for the effects of complaisance, there seems to -remain undoubted testimony that these performances involved no small -amount of talent. - -In Mr and Mrs Macrae’s circle of visiting acquaintance, and frequent -spectators of the Marionville theatricals, were Sir George Ramsay of -Bamff and his lady. Sir George had recently returned, with an addition -to his fortune, from India, and was now settling himself down for -the remainder of life in his native country. I have seen original -letters between the two families, showing that they lived on the most -friendly terms and entertained the highest esteem for each other. One -written by Lady Ramsay to Mrs Macrae, from Sir George’s country-seat in -Perthshire, commences thus: ‘My dear friend, I have just time to write -you a few lines to say how much I long to hear from you, and to assure -you how sincerely I love you.’ Her ladyship adds: ‘I am now enjoying -rural retirement with Sir George, who is really so good and indulgent, -that I am as happy as the gayest scenes could make me. He joins me in -kind compliments to you and Mr Macrae,’ &c. How deplorable that social -affections, which contribute so much to make life pass agreeably, -should be liable to a wild upbreak from perhaps some trivial cause, not -in itself worthy of a moment’s regard, and only rendered of consequence -by the sensitiveness of pride and a deference to false and worldly -maxims! - -The source of the quarrel between Mr Macrae and Sir George was of a -kind almost too mean and ridiculous to be spoken of. On the evening -of the 7th April 1790, the former gentleman handed a lady out of the -Edinburgh theatre, and endeavoured to get a chair for her, in which -she might be conveyed home. Seeing two men approaching through the -crowd with one, he called to ask if it was disengaged, to which the -men replied with a distinct affirmative. As Mr Macrae handed the lady -forward to put her into it, a footman, in a violent manner, seized hold -of one of the poles, and insisted that it was engaged for his mistress. -The man seemed disordered by liquor, and it was afterwards distinctly -made manifest that he was acting without the guidance of reason. His -lady had gone home some time before, while he was out of the way. He -was not aware of this, and, under a confused sense of duty, he was now -eager to obtain a chair for her, but in reality had not bespoken that -upon which he laid hold. Mr Macrae, annoyed at the man’s pertinacity -at such a moment, rapped him over the knuckles with a short cane to -make him give way; on which the servant called him a scoundrel, and -gave him a push on the breast. Incensed overmuch by this conduct, Mr -Macrae struck him smartly over the head with his cane, on which the -man cried out worse than before, and moved off. Mr Macrae, following -him, repeated his blows two or three times, but only with that degree -of force which he thought needful for a chastisement. In the meantime -the lady whom Mr Macrae had handed out got into a different chair, and -was carried off. Some of the bystanders, seeing a gentleman beating a -servant, cried shame, and showed a disposition to take part with the -latter; but there were individuals present who had observed all the -circumstances, and who felt differently. One gentleman afterwards gave -evidence that he had been insulted by the servant, at an earlier period -of the evening, in precisely the same manner as Mr Macrae, and that -the man’s conduct had throughout been rude and insolent, a consequence -apparently of drunkenness. - -Learning that the servant was in the employment of Lady Ramsay, -Mr Macrae came into town next day, full of anxiety to obviate any -unpleasant impression which the incident might have made upon her mind. -Meeting Sir George in the street, he expressed to him his concern -on the subject, when Sir George said lightly that the man being his -lady’s footman, he did not feel any concern in the matter. Mr Macrae -then went to apologise to Lady Ramsay, whom he found sitting for her -portrait in the lodgings of the young artist Raeburn, afterwards so -highly distinguished. It has been said that he fell on his knees before -the lady to entreat her pardon for what he had done to her servant. -Certainly he left her with the impression that he had no reason to -expect a quarrel between himself and Sir George on account of what had -taken place. - -James Merry—this was the servant’s name—had been wounded in the -head, but not severely. The injuries which he had sustained—though -nothing can justify the violence which inflicted them—were only of -such a nature as a few days of confinement would have healed. Such, -indeed, was the express testimony given by his medical attendant, -Mr Benjamin Bell. There was, however, a strong feeling amongst his -class against Macrae, who was informed, in an anonymous letter, -that a hundred and seven men-servants had agreed to have some -revenge upon him. Merry himself had determined to institute legal -proceedings against Mr Macrae for the recovery of damages. A process -was commenced by the issue of a summons, which Mr Macrae received -on the 12th. Wounded to the quick by this procedure, and smarting -under the insolence of the anonymous letter, Mr Macrae wrote next day -a note to Sir George Ramsay, in which, addressing him without any -term of friendly regard, he demanded that either Merry should drop -the prosecution or that his master should turn him off. Sir George -temperately replied ‘that he had only now heard of the prosecution for -the first time; that the man met with no encouragement from him; and -that he hoped that Mr Macrae, on further consideration, would not think -it incumbent on him to interfere, especially as the man was at present -far from being well.’ - -On the same evening Mr Amory, a military friend of Mr Macrae, called -upon Sir George with a second note from that gentleman, once more -insisting on the man being turned off, and stating that in the event -of his refusal Mr Amory was empowered to communicate his opinion of -his conduct. Sir George did refuse, on the plea that he had yet seen -no good reason for his discharging the servant; and Mr Amory then said -it was his duty to convey Mr Macrae’s opinion, which was ‘that Sir -George’s conduct had not been that of a gentleman.’ Sir George then -said that further conversation was unnecessary; all that remained was -to agree upon a place of meeting. They met again that evening at a -tavern, where Mr Amory informed Sir George that it was Mr Macrae’s wish -that they should meet, properly attended, next day at twelve o’clock at -Ward’s Inn, on the borders of Musselburgh Links. - -The parties met there accordingly, Mr Macrae being attended by Captain -Amory, and Sir George Ramsay by Sir William Maxwell; Mr Benjamin -Bell, the surgeon, being also of the party. Mr Macrae had brought an -additional friend, a Captain Haig, to favour them with his advice, but -not to act formally as a second. The two parties being in different -rooms, Sir William Maxwell came into that occupied by Mr Macrae, and -proposed that if Mr Macrae would apologise for the intemperate style of -his letters demanding the discharge of the servant, Sir George would -grant his request, and the affair would end. Mr Macrae answered that he -would be most happy to comply with this proposal if his friends thought -it proper; but he must abide by their decision. The question being put -to Captain Haig, he answered, in a deliberate manner: ‘It is altogether -impossible; Sir George must, in the first place, turn off his servant, -and Mr Macrae will then apologise.’ Hearing this speech, equally marked -by wrong judgment and wrong feeling, Macrae, according to the testimony -of Mr Bell, shed tears of anguish. The parties then walked to the -beach, and took their places in the usual manner. On the word being -given, Sir George took deliberate aim at Macrae, the neck of whose coat -was grazed by his bullet. Macrae had, if his own solemn asseveration -is to be believed, intended to fire in the air; but when he found Sir -George aiming thus at his life, he altered his resolution, and brought -his antagonist to the ground with a mortal wound in the body. - -There was the usual consternation and unspeakable distress. Mr Macrae -went up to Sir George and ‘told him that he was sincerely afflicted at -seeing him in that situation.’[269] It was with difficulty, and only at -the urgent request of Sir William Maxwell, that he could be induced to -quit the field. Sir George lingered for two days. The event occasioned -a great sensation in the public mind, and a very unfavourable view was -generally taken of Mr Macrae’s conduct. It was given out that during a -considerable interval, while in expectation of the duel taking place, -he had practised pistol-shooting in his garden at a barber’s block; -and he was also said to have been provided with a pair of pistols -of a singularly apt and deadly character; the truth being that the -interval was a brief one, his hand totally unskilled in shooting, and -the pistols a bad brass-mounted pair, hastily furnished by Amory. We -have Amory’s testimony that as they were pursuing their journey to -another country, he was constantly bewailing the fate of Sir George -Ramsay, remarking how unfortunate it was that he took so obstinate a -view about the servant’s case. The demand, he said, was one which he -would have thought it necessary to comply with. He had asked Sir George -nothing but what he would have done had it been his own case. This is -so consonant with what appears otherwise respecting his character that -we cannot doubt it. It is only to be lamented that he should not have -made the demand in terms more calculated to lead to compliance. - -The death of an amiable man under such deplorable circumstances -roused the most zealous vigilance on the part of the law -authorities; but Mr Macrae and his second succeeded in reaching -France. A summons was issued for his trial, but he was advised -not to appear, and accordingly sentence of outlawry was passed -against him. The servant’s prosecution meanwhile went on, and -was ultimately decided against Mr Macrae, although, on a cool -perusal of the evidence on both sides, there appears to me the -clearest proof of Merry having been the first aggressor. Mr -Macrae lived in France till the progress of the Revolution forced -him to go to Altona. When time seemed to have a little softened -matters against him, he took steps to ascertain if he could safely -return to his native country. It was decided by counsel that he -could not. They held that his case entirely wanted the extenuating -circumstance which was necessary—his having to contemplate -degradation if he did not challenge. He was under no such -danger; so that, from his letters to Sir George Ramsay, he -appeared to have forced on the duel purely for revenge. He came -to see the case in this light himself, and was obliged to make up -his mind to perpetual self-banishment. He survived thirty years. -A gentleman of my acquaintance, who had known him in early life in -Scotland, was surprised to meet him one day in a Parisian coffee-house -after the peace of 1814—the wreck or ghost of the handsome, -sprightly man he had once been. The comfort of his home, -his country, and friends, the use of his talents to all these, had -been lost, and himself obliged to lead the life of a condemned -Cain, all through the one fault of a fiery temper. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[269] Letter of Captain Amory, MS. - - - - -ALISON SQUARE. - - -This is a large mass of building between Nicolson Square and the -Potterrow, in the south side of the town. It was built about the middle -of the eighteenth century, upon venture, by one Colin Alison, a joiner, -who in after-life was much reduced in his circumstances, not improbably -in consequence of this large speculation. In his last days he spent -some of his few remaining shillings in the erection of two boards, at -different parts of his buildings, whereon was represented a globe in -the act of falling, with this inscription: - - ‘If Fortune smile, be not puffed up, - And if it frown, be not dismayed; - For Providence governeth all, - Although the world’s turned upside down.’ - -Alison Square[270] has enjoyed some little connection with the Scottish -muses. It was in the house of a Miss Nimmo in this place that Burns met -Clarinda. It would amuse the reader of the ardent letters which passed -between these two kindred souls to visit the plain, small, dusky house -in which the lady lived at that time, and where she received several -visits of the poet. It is situated in the adjacent humble street called -the Potterrow, the first floor over the passage into General’s Entry, -accessible by a narrow spiral stair from the court. A little parlour, a -bedroom, and a kitchen constituted the accommodations of Mrs M’Lehose; -now the residence of two, if not three, families in the extreme of -humble life. Here she lived with a couple of infant children, a young -and beautiful woman, blighted in her prospects in consequence of an -unhappy marriage (her husband having deserted her, after using her -barbarously), yet cheerful and buoyant, through constitutional good -spirits and a rational piety. To understand her friendship with Burns -and the meaning of their correspondence, it was almost necessary to -have known the woman. Seeing her and hearing her converse, even in -advanced life, one could penetrate the whole mystery very readily, -in appreciating a spirit unusually gay, frank, and emotional. The -perfect innocence of the woman’s nature was evident at once; and by her -friends it was never doubted. - -[Illustration: ALISON SQUARE. - -PAGE 358.] - -In Alison Square Thomas Campbell lived while composing his _Pleasures -of Hope_. The place where any deathless composition took its shape -from the author’s brain is worthy of a place in the chart. A lady, the -early friend of Campbell and his family, indicates their residence at -that time as being the second door in the stair, entered from the east -side, on the north side of the arch, the windows looking partly into -Nicolson Square and partly to the Potterrow. The same authority states -that much of the poem was written in the middle of the night, and from -a sad cause. The poet’s mother, it seems, was of a temper so extremely -irritable that her family had no rest till she retired for the night. -It was only at that season that the young poet could command repose of -mind for his task. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[270] The north and south sides only of this square now remain. The -west was removed to make a thoroughfare—Marshall Street, connecting -Nicolson Square and Potterrow. - - - - -LEITH WALK. - - -[Illustration] - -Up to the period of the building of the North Bridge, which connects -the Old with the New Town of Edinburgh, the Easter Road was the -principal passage to Leith. The origin of Leith Walk was accidental. At -the approach of Cromwell to Edinburgh, immediately before the battle of -Dunbar, Leslie, the Covenanting general, arranged the Scottish troops -in a line, the right wing of which rested upon the Calton Hill, and -the left upon Leith, being designed for the defence of these towns. A -battery was erected at each extremity, and the line was itself defended -by a trench and a mound, the latter composed of the earth dug from the -former. Leslie himself took up his head-quarters at Broughton, whence -some of his despatches are dated. When the war was shifted to another -quarter, this mound became a footway between the two towns. It is thus -described in a book published in 1748: ‘A very handsome gravel walk, -twenty feet broad, which is kept in good repair at the public charge, -and no horses suffered to come upon it.’ When Provost Drummond built -the North Bridge in 1769, he contemplated that it should become an -access to Leith as well as to the projected New Town. Indeed, he seems -to have been obliged to make it pass altogether under that semblance -in order to conciliate the people; for upon the plate sunk under -the foundations of the bridge it is solely described as the opening -of a road to Leith. At that time the idea of a New Town seemed so -chimerical that he scarcely dared to avow his patriotic intentions. -After the opening of the bridge, the _Walk_ seems to have become used -by carriages, but without any regard being paid to its condition or -any system established for keeping it in repair. It consequently fell -into a state of disorder, from which it was not rescued till after -the commencement of the present century, when a splendid causeway was -formed at a great expense by the city of Edinburgh, and a toll erected -for its payment. - -One terrible peculiarity attended Leith Walk in its former condition. -It was overhung by a gibbet, from which were suspended all culprits -whose bodies at condemnation were sentenced to be hung in chains. The -place where this gibbet stood, called the Gallow Lee, is now a good -deal altered in appearance. It was a slight rising ground immediately -above the site of the toll[271] and on the west side of the road, being -now partly enclosed by the precincts of a villa, where the beautiful -Duchess of Gordon once lived. The greater part of the Gallow Lee now -exists in the shape of mortar in the walls of the houses of the New -Town. At the time when that elegant city was built, the proprietor of -this redoubtable piece of ground, finding it composed of excellent -sand, sold it all away to the builders, to be converted into mortar, so -that it soon, from a rising ground, became a deep hollow. An amusing -anecdote is told in connection with this fact. The honest man, it -seems, was himself fully as much of a sand-bed as his property. He was -a big, voluminous man, one of those persons upon whom drink never seems -to have any effect. It is related that every day, while the carts were -taking away his sand, he stood regularly at the place receiving the -money in return, and every little sum he got was immediately converted -into liquor and applied to the comfort of his inner man. A public-house -was at length erected at the spot for his particular behoof; and, -assuredly, as long as the Gallow Lee lasted this house did not want -custom. Perhaps, familiar as the reader may be with stories of sots who -have drunk away their last acre, he never before heard of the thing -being done in so literal a manner. - -If my reader be an inhabitant of Edinburgh of any standing, he must -have many delightful associations of Leith Walk in connection with his -childhood. Of all the streets in Edinburgh or Leith, the _Walk_ in -former times was certainly the street for boys and girls. From top to -bottom, it was a scene of wonders and enjoyments peculiarly devoted -to children. Besides the panoramas and caravan-shows, which were -comparatively transient spectacles, there were several shows upon Leith -Walk, which might be considered as regular fixtures and part of the -_country-cousin sights_ of Edinburgh. Who can forget the waxworks of -‘Mrs Sands, widow of the late G. Sands,’ which occupied a _laigh_ shop -opposite to the present Haddington Place, and at the door of which, -besides various parrots and sundry birds of Paradise, sat the wax -figure of a little man in the dress of a French courtier of the _ancien -régime_, reading one eternal copy of the _Edinburgh Advertiser_? The -very outsides of these wonder-shops was an immense treat; all along -the Walk it was one delicious scene of squirrels hung out at doors, -and monkeys dressed like soldiers and sailors, with holes behind where -their tails came through. Even the half-penniless boy might here get -his appetite for wonders to some extent gratified. - -Besides being of old the chosen place for shows, Leith Walk was the -Rialto of _objects_. This word requires explanation. It is applied by -the people of Scotland to persons who have been born with or overtaken -by some miserable personal evil. From one end to the other, Leith -Walk was garrisoned by poor creatures under these circumstances, who, -from handbarrows, wheelbarrows, or iron legs, if peradventure they -possessed such adjuncts, entreated the passengers for charity—some by -voices of song, some by speech, some by driddling, as Burns calls it, -on fiddles or grinding on hand-organs—indeed, a complete continuous -ambuscade against the pocket. Shows and _objects_ have now alike -vanished from Leith Walk. It is now a plain street, composed of little -shops of the usual suburban appearance, and characterised by nothing -peculiar, except perhaps a certain air of pretension, which is in some -cases abundantly ludicrous. A great number, be it observed, are mere -tiled cottages, which contrive, by means of lofty fictitious fronts, -plastered and painted in a showy manner, to make up a good appearance -towards the street. If there be a school in one of those receptacles, -it is entitled an _academy_; if an artisan’s workshop, however -humble, it is a _manufactory_. Everything about it is still showy -and unsubstantial; it is still, in some measure, the type of what it -formerly was. - -Near the bottom of Leith Walk is a row of somewhat old-fashioned -houses bearing the name of Springfield. A large one, the second from -the top, was, ninety years ago, the residence of Mr M’Culloch of -Ardwell, a commissioner of customs, and noted as a man of pleasantry -and wit. Here, in some of the last years of his life, did Samuel -Foote occasionally appear as Mr M’Culloch’s guest—_Arcades ambo et -respondere parati_. But the history of their intimacy is worthy of -being particularly told; so I transcribe it from the recollection of a -gentleman whose advanced age and family connections could alone have -made us faithfully acquainted with circumstances so remote from our -time. - -In the winter of 1775-6 [more probably that of 1774-5], Mr M’Culloch -visited his country mansion in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in -company of a friend named Mouat, in order to be present at an election. -Mr M’Culloch was a man of joyous temperament and a good deal of wit, -and used to amuse his friends by spouting half-random verses. He and -his friend spent a week or two very pleasantly in the country, and -then set out on their return to Leith; Mr M’Culloch carrying with him -his infant son David, familiarly called _Wee Davie_, for the purpose -of commencing his education in Edinburgh. To pursue the narrative of -my correspondent: ‘The two travellers got on pretty well as far as -Dumfries; but it was with difficulty, occasioned by a snowstorm, that -they reached Moffat, where they tarried for the night. - -‘Early on a January morning, the snow having fallen heavily during -the preceding night, they set off in a post-chaise and four horses -to proceed on their perilous journey. Two gentlemen in their own -carriage left the _King’s Arms Inn_ (then kept by James Little) at the -same time. With difficulty the first pair of travellers reached the -top of Erickstane, but farther they could not go. The parties came -out of their carriages, and, aided by their postillions, they held -a consultation as to the prudence of attempting to proceed down the -vale of Tweed. This was considered as a vain and dangerous attempt, -and it was therefore determined on to return to Moffat. The turning -of the carriages having become a dangerous undertaking, Wee Davie -had to be taken out of the chaise and laid on the snow, wrapped in a -blanket, until the business was accomplished. The parties then went -back to Moffat, arriving there between nine and ten in the morning. Mr -M’Culloch and his friend then learned that, of the two strangers who -had left the inn at the same time, and had since returned, one was the -celebrated Foote, and the other either Ross or Souter, but which of the -two favourite sons of Thalia I cannot remember at this distant period -of time. Let it be kept in mind that Foote had lost a leg, and walked -with difficulty. - -‘Immediately on returning Foote had entered the inn, not in -good-humour, to order breakfast. His carriage stood opposite the inn -door, in order to get the luggage taken off. While this was going -on a paper was placarded on one of the panels. The wit came out to -see how all matters were going on, when, observing the paper, he in -wrath exclaimed: “What rascal has been placarding his ribaldry on my -carriage?” He had patience, however, to pause and read the following -lines: - - “While Boreas his flaky storm did guide, - Deep covering every hill, o’er Tweed and Clyde, - The north-wind god spied travellers seeking way; - Sternly he cried: ‘Retrace your steps, I say; - Let not _one foot_, ’tis my behest, profane - The sacred snows which lie on Erickstane.’” - -The countenance of our wit now brightened, as he called out, with an -exclamation of surprise: “I should like to know the fellow who wrote -that; for, be he who he may, he’s no mean hand at an epigram.” Mrs -Little, the good but eccentric landlady, now stepped forward and spoke -thus: “Trouth, Maister Fut, it’s mair than likely that it was our -_frien’_ Maister M’Culloch of Ardwell that did it; it’s weel kent that -he’s a poyet; he’s a guid eneugh sort o’ man, but he never comes here -without poyet-teasing mysel’ or the guidman, or some are or other about -the house. It wud be weel dune if ye wud speak to him.” Ardwell now -came forward, muttering some sort of apology, which Foote instantly -stopped by saying: “My dear sir, an apology is not necessary; I am fair -game for every one, for I take any one for game when it suits me. You -and I must become acquainted, for I find that we are brother-poets, -and that we were this morning companions in misfortune on ‘the sacred -snows of Erickstane.’” Thus began an intimacy which the sequel will -show turned out to be a lasting one. The two parties now joined at the -breakfast-table, as they did at every other meal for the next twenty -days. - -[Illustration: DYERS’ CLOSE. - -Old houses being demolished to make room for extension of Heriot Watt -College. - -PAGE 364.] - -‘Foote remained quiet for a few hours after breakfast, until he had -beat about for game, as he termed it, and he first fixed on worthy -Mrs Little, his hostess. By some occult means he had managed to get -hold of some of the old lady’s habiliments, particularly a favourite -night-cap—provincially, a _mutch_. After attiring himself _à la_ Mrs -Little, he went into the kitchen and through the house, mimicking the -garrulous landlady so very exactly in giving orders, scolding, &c. -that no servant doubted as to its being the mistress _in propriâ -personâ_. This kind of amusement went on for several days for the -benefit of the people in Moffat. By-and-by the snow allowed the united -parties to advance as far as the Crook, upon Tweed, and here they were -again storm-stayed for ten days. Nevertheless, Foote and his companion, -who was well qualified to support him, never for a moment flagged in -creating merriment or affording the party amusement of some sort. The -snow-cleared away at last, so as to enable the travellers to reach -Edinburgh, and there to end their journey. The intimacy of Foote and -Ardwell did not end here, but continued until the death of Foote. - -‘After this period Foote several times visited Scotland: he always in -his writings showed himself partial to Scotland and to the Scotch. -On every visit which he afterwards made to the northern metropolis, -he set apart a night or two for a social meeting with his friend -Ardwell, whose family lived in the second house from the head of that -pretty row of houses more than half-way down Leith Walk, still called -Springfield. In the parlour, on the right-hand side in entering that -house, the largest of the row, Foote, the celebrated wit of the day, -has frequently been associated with many of the Edinburgh and Leith -worthies, when and where he was wont to keep the table in a roar. - -‘The biography of Foote is well known. However, I may add that Mr Mouat -and Mr M’Culloch died much lamented in the year 1793. David M’Culloch -(Wee Davie) died in the year 1824, at Cheltenham, much regretted. -For many years he had resided in India. In consequence of family -connection, he became a familiar visitor at Abbotsford, and a favourite -acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott.[272] Mr Lockhart tells us that, next -to Tom Moore, Sir Walter thought him the finest warbler he had ever -heard. He was certainly an exquisitely fine singer of Scotch songs. Sir -Walter Scott never heard him sing until he was far advanced in life, or -until his voice had given way to a long residence in India. Mr Lockhart -also tells us that David M’Culloch in his youth was an intimate and -favourite companion of Burns, and that the poet hardly ventured to -publish many of his songs until he heard them sung by his friend. I -will only add that the writer of this has more than once heard Burns -say that he never fully knew the beauty of his songs until he heard -them sung by David M’Culloch.’ - - -FOOTNOTES - -[271] The site was midway between Edinburgh and Leith, now represented -by Shrub Place. - -[272] Sir Walter’s brother Thomas was married to a sister of Mr -M’Culloch. - - - - -[GABRIEL’S ROAD. - - -Previous to 1767 the eye of a person perched in a favourable situation -in the Old Town surveyed the whole ground on which the New Town was -afterwards built. Immediately beyond the North Loch was a range of -grass fields called Bearford’s Parks, from the name of the proprietor, -Hepburn of Bearford in East Lothian. Bounding these on the north, in -the line of the subsequent Princes Street, was a road enclosed by two -dry-stone walls, thence called the Lang Dykes; it was the line by which -the Viscount Dundee rode with his small troop of adherents when he had -ascertained that the Convention was determined to settle the crown upon -the Prince of Orange, and he saw that the only duty that remained for -him was to raise the Highland clans for King James.[273] The main mass -of ground, originally rough with whins and broom, but latterly forming -what was called Wood’s Farm, was crossed obliquely by a road extending -between Silvermills, a rural hamlet on the mill-course of the Leith, -and the passage into the Old Town obtained by the dam of the North Loch -at the bottom of Halkerston’s Wynd. There are still some traces of -this road. You see it leave Silvermills behind West Cumberland Street. -Behind Duke Street, on the west side, the boundary-wall of the Queen -Street Garden is oblique in consequence of its having passed that way. -Finally it terminates in a short, oblique passage behind the Register -House, wherein stood till lately a tall building containing a famous -house of resort, Ambrose’s Tavern. This short passage bore the name -of Gabriel’s Road, and it was supposed to do so in connection with a -remarkable murder, of which it was the scene. - -The murderer in the case was in truth a man named Robert Irvine. He was -tutor to two boys, sons of Mr Gordon of Ellon. In consequence of the -children having reported some liberties they saw him take with their -mother’s maid, he conceived the horrible design of murdering them, -and did so one day as he was leading them for a walk along the rough -ground where the New Town is now situated. The frightful transaction -was beheld from the Castle-hill; he was pursued, taken, and next day -but one hanged by the baron of Broughton, after having his hands hacked -off by the knife with which he had committed the deed. The date of -this off-hand execution was 30th April 1717. Both the date and the -murderer’s name have several times been misstated.[274] - -Adjacent to this road, about the spot now occupied by the Royal Bank, -stood a small group of houses called Mutrie’s Hill, some of which -professed to furnish curds and cream and fruits in their seasons, and -were on these accounts resorted to by citizens and their families on -summer evenings. One in particular bore the name of ‘Peace and Plenty.’ - -The village of Silvermills, for the sake of which, as an access to the -city, Gabriel’s Road existed, still maintains its place amidst the -streets and crescents of the New Town. It contains a few houses of a -superior cast; but it is a place sadly in want of the _sacer vates_. -No notice has ever been taken of it in any of the books regarding -Edinburgh, nor has any attempt ever been made to account for its -somewhat piquant name. I shall endeavour to do so. - -In 1607 silver was found in considerable abundance at Hilderstone, -in Linlithgowshire, on the property of the gentleman who figures in -another part of this volume as Tam o’ the Cowgate. Thirty-eight barrels -of ore were sent to the Mint in the Tower of London to be tried, -and were found to give about twenty-four ounces of silver for every -hundredweight. Expert persons were placed upon the mine, and mills -were erected on the Water of Leith for the melting and fining of the -ore. The sagacious owner gave the mine the name of _God’s Blessing_. -By-and-by the king heard of it, and thinking it improper that any -such fountain of wealth should belong to a private person, purchased -God’s Blessing for £5000, that it might be worked upon a larger scale -for the benefit of the public. But somehow, from the time it left the -hands of the original owner, God’s Blessing ceased to be anything like -so fertile as it had been, and in time the king withdrew from the -enterprise a great loser. The Silvermills I conceive to have been a -part of the abandoned plant.[275]] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[273] It was also along this road that the anxious citizens, watching -on the Castle esplanade, saw the royalist cavalry retiring at full -gallop from Coltbridge on the approach of Prince Charlie and his -Highland army. - -[274] In Mr Lockhart’s clever book, _Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk_, -the murderer is called Gabriel. A work called _Celebrated Trials_ (6 -vols. 1825) gives an erroneous account of the murder, styling the -murderer as the Rev. Thomas Hunter. - -[275] See _Domestic Annals of Scotland_, i. 407. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Abbey Chapel, 206. - -Abbey Hill, 10, 316. - -Abbey Zett (Yett, Gate), 257. - -Abbotsford, 25, 83. - -Aberuchil, Lord, 72. - -Acheson House, 313. - -Acheson, Sir Archibald, of Abercairny, 314. - -Actors, Canongate Theatre, 346. - -Adam Street, 187. - -_Advertiser, Edinburgh_, 5, 49. - -Advocates’ Library, 113. - -Ainslie, Sir Philip, 300. - -Airth, Laird of, 38. - -Aitchinsoune, Thomas (Cunyie House), 260. - -Aldridge, Robert, dancing-master, 151, 153. - -Alesse, Alexander, 240. - -Alison Square, 358, 359. - -Aloetic medicine, an, 27. - -Alston, Tony, 346. - -Alva, Lord Justice-clerk, 204-208. - -Ambrose’s Tavern, 366. - -Amory, Captain, 355. - -Anchor Close, 162. - -Anderson, Samuel, anecdote of, 305. - -Anderson’s pills, 27. - -Angus, Earl of, 241. - -Antemanum Club, 149. - -Arbuthnot, Lord, 307. - -Ardwell, residence of M’Culloch of, 362. - -Argyll, 15, 51, 156, 175, 234, 307, 308, 345. - -Arnot, Hugo, 4, 12, 36, 46, 49, 171. - -Arran, Earl of, 241. - -Arrot, Dr, 10. - -Assemblies, 3, 14, 44, 265. - -Assembly Close, 59. - -Assembly Rooms, 43, 46, 195, 233, 253, 265. - -_Assembly, The_, a play by Dr Pitcairn, 310. - -Auchans House, Dr Johnson at, 197. - -Auld Reekie, 138, 152. - -_Auld Robin Gray_, author of, 277. - -Aytoun of Inchdairnie, 123, 270. - - -Back Stairs, the, 291. - -Baijen-hole, 112. - -Baillie, Alexander, of Dochfour, 235. - -Baird, Mr, of Newbyth, 20. - -Baird’s Close, Castlehill, 58. - -Baird, Sir David, 20. - -Balcarres, Countess of, 277. - -Balfour, James, accountant (‘Singing Jamie’), 141-143. - -Balfour, Sir James (Lord Lyon), 315, 316. - -Ballantyne, printer, 143. - -Bank Close, Old, 70, 94. - -Bank of Scotland, 70. - -Bankton House, oratory at, 29. - -Bannatyne Club, 73. - -Bannatyne, Sir William Macleod, 10, 129, 317. - -Banquet at Mint House to Danish lords, 260. - -Barnard, Mr, violinist, 253. - -Bassentyne’s house, 257. - -Bearford’s Parks, 366. - -Beatoun, Archbishop, 117. - -Begbie’s murder, 36, 280. - -Beith’s or Bess Wynd, 93, 113. - -Bellamy, Mrs, 347-350. - -Bell, Benjamin, surgeon, 355. - -Bell’s Wynd, 46. - -Bethune, Archbishop, 228, 241. - -Bethune, Cardinal, 228. - -Bickers (street fights of boys), 189, 245. - -Birrel, the chronicler, 38. - -Bishop’s Land, 269. - -Black, Alexander, of Balbirney, 211. - -Blackbird, a Jacobite, 30. - -Blackfriars’ Monastery, 242. - -Blackfriars Wynd, 10, 38, 223, 228, 234, 237, 238, 241, 257. - -Black, Joseph, Professor, 242, 289. - -Black Wigs Club, 155. - -Blair, Dr, 56, 136, 288, 334. - -Blair, Hugh, merchant, 72. - -Blair, Rev. Robert, 307. - -Blair’s Close, 18. - -Blue Blanket, 183. - -Blue-gowns—their annual assembly, 102. - -Bluidy Mackenzie, 224. - -Blyth’s Close, 22. - -Boar Club, 151, 153. - -Boarding-schools of last century, 230. - -Bonnet Lairds’ Club, 155. - -Bonnington, 348. - -Booths, 3, 110. - -Boroughmoor, 271. - -Boswell, James, 16, 55, 60, 172, 197. - -Boswell, James, advocate, 125. - -Boswell, Sir Alexander, 126, _n._, 146, 266. - -Bothwell, Adam, Bishop of Orkney, Commendator of Holyrood, 71, 97. - -Bothwell, Anne, her _Lines_, 97. - -Bothwell Bridge, 289. - -Bothwell, Earl of, 38, 83, 121, 256. - -Bow, angle of, 46. - -‘Bowed Joseph,’ a general of mobs, 184-188. - -Bowfoot, 50. - -Bowhead, 27, 41. - -Bowhead Saints, 30. - -Bowling-greens, 247. - -Bow, the West, 26, 53, 133. - -Boyd, James, White Horse Inn, 172. - -Boyd, Lord, 121. - -Breadalbane, Earl of, 180. - -Bridge, North, 269, 283, 360. - -Bridges, the, 53. - -British Linen Company’s Bank, 280. - -Brodie, Deacon, 76, 91. - -Brodie’s Close, 76. - -Broomfield, Andrew, 124. - -Brougham, Lord, 80. - -Broughton, 360. - -Broughton, Baron of, 367. - -Brownhill, James, joiner, 55. - -Brown, James, builder, 5. - -Brown, Mrs, of Coalstoun, 266. - -Brownonian System Club, 156. - -Brown’s Close, 18. - -Brown Square, 5, 248. - -Bruce, Dame Magdalen, of Kinross, 19 _n._ - -Bruce of Kennet, 3. - -Bruce of Kinnaird, 210. - -Bruntsfield Links, 5. - -Bryce, his small shop, 101. - -Buccleuch, Duchess of, 327. - -Buccleuch, Duke of, 328. - -Buchanan, George, 288 _n._ - -Buchan, Earl of, 98. - -Burke, Edward (Ned—a chairman engaged in the escape of Prince Charles), 177. - -Burleigh, Lord, 307. - -Burnett, Miss, of Monboddo, 251. - -Burning, strange tale of a, 298. - -Burns, Robert, 7, 14, 106, 164, 251, 351, 358, 362, 365. - -Burton, Mrs, 58, 60. - -Burt’s Letters, 176. - -Busks, enormous size of, 201. - -Bute, Lord, 10, 316, 317. - -Byres of Coates, 95. - -Byres’s Close, 96. - - -Caddies (street messengers), 175. - -Cairnie, Lady, 124. - -Caithness, Earls of, 77. - -Caledonian Club, 155. - -_Caledonian Mercury_, 15. - -Calton, 149. - -Calton Hill, 83, 297, 360. - -Cambuskenneth, Abbot of, 223. - -Campbell, Alexander, 180, 345. - -Campbell, Lady Eleanor, 64. - -Campbell, Mrs, of Monzie, 205, 208. - -Campbell, Mungo, 90. - -Campbell of Laguine, 134. - -Campbell, Sir James, of Aberuchil, 72. - -Campbell, Thomas, poet, 167, 359. - -Canal, Forth and Clyde, 5. - -Canongate, 3, 8, 11, 65, 295-301. - -Canongate Council House, 71. - -Canongate Theatre, 346. - -Canongate Tolbooth, 248. - -Canonmills, 154. - -Cant’s Close, 221. - -Cape Club, 149. - -Cardross, Lord, 98. - -Carrubber’s Close, 15. - -Carters of Gilmerton, the, 4. - -Castle-hill, 11, 18, 20, 22, 39, 150. - -Castle Street, 8. - -Cathcart, Robert, 39. - -Cat Nick on Salisbury Crags, 91. - -Cats, a lover of, 16. - -Cayley, Squire, or Captain, 291. - -Chairmen, 176. - -Chalmers, Miss (Mrs Pringle), 251. - -Chalmers, Miss, of Pittencrief, 251. - -Chalmers’s Entry, 168. - -Changes of the last hundred years, 1. - -Chapman, Walter, printer, 109. - -Charles I., 64, 170, 301, 306, 321. - -Charles II., 260, 327. - -Charles X., 228. - -Charles, Prince, 27, 28, 48, 72, 175, 177, 181, 219, 235, 236, 269. - -Charlotte Square, 9. - -Charteris, Colonel, 328. - -Chessels’s Court, 27, 91. - -Chiesly of Dairy, 75, 211. - -Circulating Library, 15, 104. - -Citadel of Leith, inhabitants in 1745, 19. - -City Guard, 4, 31, 84, 148, 179, 233, 238, 348. - -Clarinda, 358. - -Clarke, Stephen, musician, 253. - -Clattering of tinsmiths in West Bow, 42. - -Claudero, pamphleteer, 330. - -Claverhouse, 6. - -Cleanse the Causeway, 117, 241, 242. - -Cleghorn, Miss, 251. - -Clerihugh’s Tavern, 162. - -Clerks, drucken, of Sir William Forbes, 138. - -Clerk, Sir John, of Penicuik, 193. - -Clubs, convivial, 149-157. - -Coalstoun, Lord, and his wig, 96. - -Coates, Sir John Byres of, 95. - -Cockburn, Mrs, author of _Flowers of the Forest_, 58. - -Cock-fights, 236. - -Coffee-house, John’s, 112. - -Coffee-house, Netherbow, 332. - -Coffin, the, 166. - -Coinage, 260. - -Coke, William, bookseller, 167. - -College of King James, 259. - -College Street, North, 242. - -College, the, 3. - -College Wynd, 3, 242. - -Colquhoun, Sir James, 132. - -Commendator Bothwell’s house, 97. - -Commercial Bank, 265. - -Concerts, 249, 251. - -Constable, Archibald, 7. - -Convivial clubs, 149-157. - -Convivialia, 138-157. - -Corelli, musician, 254. - -Corri, Signor and Signora Domenico, 250, 253. - -_Court of Session Garland_, a burlesque poem, 124, 125. - -Court, the Dirt, 115. - -Covington, Lockhart of, 129. - -Covington, Lord, fate of his gown, 130. - -Cowgate, 72, 223, 240, 244, 257. - -Cowgate Port, 152. - -Craigie, Lord President, 9. - -Craig, James, 7. - -Crawford, Earl of, 311. - -Crawfuird, 39. - -Creech, Provost, bookseller, 9, 103, 339. - -Crighton Street, Potterrow, 59. - -_Criminal Trials_, by Hugo Arnot, 13. - -Crochallan, a convivial society, 164. - -Cromarty, Earl of, 225. - -Cromwell, Oliver, 99, 122, 193, 307, 360. - -Crosbie, advocate, 153. - -Cross, the, 4, 174, 175; - taken down, 178 _n._ - -Cullen, Dr, 261. - -Cullen, Lord, 263. - -Cullen, Robert, mimic, 261. - -Culloden, 177. - -Cumming of Lyon Office, 167. - -Cunliffe, Sir Foster, of Acton, 252. - -Cunningham, Rev. Mr, 352. - -Cunyie House (Mint), 257, 260. - - -Dalrymple, Miss, New Hailes, 131. - -Dalrymple, President, 123. - -Dalrymple, Sir David (Lord Hailes), 126 _n._, 131, 300. - -Dancing in Edinburgh, 44; - Allan Ramsay on, 44; - Goldsmith on, 45. - -Danish lords entertained, 260. - -Darien Expedition, the, 52. - -Darnley, 71, 83, 107, 121, 256. - -David I., 295. - -Davidson’s Close, 170. - -Defensive Band, 152. - -Defoe, 337. - -‘Deid-chack,’ the, 114. - -De la Cour, artist, 9. - -De Witt’s map, 259. - -Dhu, Sergeant John, 180. - -Dick, Lady Anne, of Corstorphine, her eccentricities and verses, 225. - -Dick, Sir William, &c., 78, 100. - -Dicks of Prestonfield, 78. - -Dickson, Andrew, golf-club maker, 321. - -Dickson, Rev. David, 307. - -Dickson’s Close, 222. - -Dirt Court, the, 115. - -Dirty Club, 155. - -_Diurnal_, the, of a Scottish judge, 139. - -Doctors of Faculty Club, the, 155. - -Doctor, the Tinklarian, 41. - -Donacha Bhan, a Highland poet, 180. - -Donaldson, Alexander, bookseller, 48. - -Donaldson, James, bookseller, 49. - -Douglas, Archibald, 238. - -Douglas, Duke of, 9, 69. - -Douglas, Gavin, poet, 240. - -Douglas, Jeanie, Adam Smith’s cousin, 319. - -Douglas, Lady Anne, ghost of, 343. - -Douglas, Lady Jane, 69, 238. - -Douglas’s Tavern, 162. - -_Douglas_, tragedy of, 347. - -Doune, Lord, 307. - -Dowie, Johnnie, 138, 166. - -Dowie’s Tavern, 138, 166. - -Drem, Barony of, 50. - -Dresses, ladies’, of last century, 199. - -Drinking customs, 138, 143. - -Drumlanrig, 336, 339, 340, 343. - -Drummond, Bishop Abernethy, 229. - -Drummond, Pious Club poet, 150. - -Drummond, Provost, 5, 6, 360. - -Drummore, Lord, 9, 125. - -Drumsheugh, 205. - -Dryden, 327, 344. - -Duff, Miss (Countess of Dumfries and Stair), 230. - -Dunbar’s Close, 100. - -Dunbar, Willie, 164. - -Dundas, Robert, of Arniston, Lord President, 127, 132, 140. - -Dundee, Lord, 30, 366. - -Dundonald, Earl of, 69. - -Dunglass Castle, 99. - -Dunkeld, Bishop of, 223, 240. - -Dun, Lady, 124. - -Durie, Abbot of Dunfermline, 273. - - -Easter Road, 328, 360. - -Edward or Udward, Nicol, Provost, 210. - -Eglintoune, Countess of, 192-198. - -Eglintoune, Earl of, 90, 162, 192. - -Eglintoune, Miss (Lady Wallace), 276. - -Elcho, Lord, 307. - -Elibank, Lord, 14. - -Elliot, Jeanie, of Minto, 6. - -Elliot, Lady, of Minto, 266. - -Elliot, Sir Gilbert, of Minto, 206. - -Elphingston, Lady Betty, 124. - -Elphinstone, James, 49. - -Errol, Earl of (Constable), 103. - -Erskine, Alexander, the Hon., 98. - -Erskine, Harry, epigram by, on Hugo Arnot, 12. - -Erskine, James, of Cambo, 98. - -Erskine, James, of Grange, 211. - -Euphame, Mrs (Effie Sinclair), 230. - -Excise Office, 91, 244, 247, 248. - -Executioners of Edinburgh, 51. - - -Faculty of Doctors’ Club, 155. - -Falconer, William, author of _The Shipwreck_, 285. - -Female dresses of last century, 199-203. - -Ferguson, Dr, 56. - -Fergusson, Governor, his house in the Luckenbooths, 10. - -Fergusson, Robert, 26, 114 _n._, 148, 149, 162, 180, 233, 271, 349. - -Fergusson, Robert, the Plotter, took refuge in Old Tolbooth, 88. - -Fergusson, Walter, writer, digs for water in James’s Square, 335. - -Fife’s Close, Bailie, 265. - -Findlater, Earl of, 231. - -Fishmarket Close, 140. - -Fives, the game of, 344. - -Flockhart’s, Lucky, Tavern in Potterrow, 168. - -_Flowers of the Forest_, the author of, 58. - -Foliot, John and Bartoulme, 209. - -Foote, Samuel, anecdotes of, 363-365. - -Forbes, Lord President, 123, 125, 235. - -Forbes, Rev. Robert, Bishop of Orkney, 19 _n._ - -Forbes, Sir William, 115, 138, 199, 251. - -Fore-stairs, 100, 271. - -Forrest, David, 273. - -Forrester, Sir Andrew, 293. - -Forrester’s Wynd, 3. - -Forster of Corsebonny, 214. - -Forth and Clyde Canal, 5. - -Fortune’s Tavern, 143, 161, 192, 251. - -Foulis, William, of Woodhall, 124. - -Fountainhall, Lord, anecdote of, 61. - -Fyvie, Lord, 120. - - -Gabriel’s Road, 366. - -Galloway, Earl of, 244. - -Gallow Lee, the, 75, 185, 361. - -Gallows Stone in Grassmarket, 51. - -Gardenstone, Lord, 132. - -Gardiner, Colonel, his oratory, 29. - -Gask family, 10. - -Gay, John, poet, 4, 338, 339. - -Geddes, Jenny, and her stool, 105, 106. - -Ged, Dougal, of Town-guard, 233. - -Ged, Misses, their boarding-school, 232. - -General’s Entry, the residence of Burns’s ‘Clarinda,’ 358. - -George II., 279. - -George III., 16, 197, 275. - -George IV., 269. - -George IV. Bridge, 70, 167, 244. - -George Square, 5, 8, 169, 243. - -George Street, 46, 53. - -Gibson of Durie, 121, 124. - -Gilmerton, carters of, 4. - -Gilmour, Lord President, 122. - -Gilmour, Mr Little, of the Inch, 76. - -Gilson, Mr, singer, 253. - -Giornovicki, violinist, 254. - -Glencairn, 25, 352. - -Glenlee, Lord, 5. - -Glenorchy, Lady, 226, 205, 206. - -Goldsmith, 242, 265. - -Goldsmith, account of a dancing assembly in Edinburgh, 45. - -Goldsmiths in Parliament Square, 111. - -Golfers’ Land, 320. - -Golf, the game of, 52; - Charles I. plays on Leith Links, 321. - -Goolister, Henry, Captain, 260. - -Gordon, Captain, 181. - -Gordon, Duchess of, 145, 252, 275, 276, 313, 316, 361. - -Gordon family, 18, 316. - -Gordon, Mr, of Ellon, 366. - -Gourlay, Robert, house of, 70, 71. - -Grace, Countess, of Aboyne and Murray, 66. - -Grange, Lady, story of, 211-221. - -Grange, Lord, 15, 211. - -Grassmarket, 18, 26, 50, 51, 171, 260. - -Gray, Sir William, of Pittendrum, 64, 76. - -Green Breeks, a noted fighter, 190. - -Gregory, Dr John, 172. - -Greping-office Tavern, 159. - -Greville, Lord, 262. - -Greyfriars, 93, 95, 109, 224, 288. - -Guard, City or Town, 84, 148, 179, 233, 238, 348. - -Guard-house, 84, 140, 180. - -Guise, Mary of, 22. - -Guthrie, Bishop Henry, 307. - -Guthrie, Rev. James, 307. - - -Haddington, Earl of, 99, 244. - -Hailes, Lord (Sir D. Dalrymple), 126, 131, 300. - -Haining, Lord, 125. - -Halkerston’s Wynd, 5, 117, 366. - -Halket, Miss, of Pitferran, 252. - -Halyburton, James, 222. - -Hamilton, ‘Dear Sandie,’ 247. - -Hamilton, Duke of, 172, 308. - -Hamilton, Marie, 295. - -Hamiltons of Pencaitland, 270. - -Hamilton’s Tavern, Mrs, 345. - -Hamiltons, the, 241. - -Hamilton, Thomas (Tam o’ the Cowgate), - Lord President, first Earl of Haddington, 244. - -Hammermen of Canongate, 313. - -Hangman’s Craig, 52. - -Hangmen of Edinburgh, 51. - -Ha’s, Jenny, Ale-house, 142, 339. - -Harcarse, Lord, 123. - -Haunted houses, 35. - -Hawley, General, 181. - -Hay, advocate, Lord Newton, 139. - -Hay, a young criminal, singular escape, 92. - -Hay, Miss, of Hayston, 251. - -Heart of Midlothian, 82. - -Heckler, the, a lunatic litigant, 135. - -Hell-fire Club, 153. - -Henderland, Lord, 118. - -Henderson, Alexander, tombstone of, 288. - -Hepburn of Bearford, 366. - -Herd, David, 167, 168. - -Heriot, George, 50, 113-116; - stock with which he commenced business, 112 _n._; - a costly fire, 113. - -Heriot’s Hospital, 93, 247, 310. - -‘He that tholes overcomes,’ 47. - -High Constables, 346. - -High School, 76, 242, 245. - -High School Wynd, 257. - -High Street, 8, 11, 29. - -Hilderstone, 367. - -_History of Edinburgh_, by Hugo Arnot, 12. - -_History of England_, by Hume, 56. - -Hogg’s, Daniel, Tavern, 151, 153. - -Holderness, Lord, 323. - -Holstein, Duke of, entertained, 78. - -Holyrood, 11, 28, 206, 209, 228, 248, 256, 260, 295, 321, 344. - -Holyrood, Chapel of, 109. - -Holyroodhouse, Lord, 97. - -Home, Countess of, 306. - -Home-Drummond of Blairdrummond, 252. - -Home, Earl of, 307. - -Home, Miss Betsy, 251. - -Hoop, the, as worn by ladies, 200. - -Hope of Rankeillor, 216, 218. - -Hope’s Close, 70. - -Hope, Sir Thomas, K.C., 70, 72, 73, 74. - -Hope, Sir Thomas, of Kerse, 72. - -Hopetoun, Earl of, 204, 342. - -‘Horn Order,’ the, 157. - -Horse Wynd, 59, 239, 244. - -Howard, Lady Elizabeth, 316. - -Hume, David, 55-59, 162. - -Hume, Misses, of Linthill, 231. - -Humphrey, Duke, 107. - -Hunter, John, Professor, 133. - -Huntly, Marquis of, 19, 175, 210. - -Hyndford’s Close, 264, 275. - - -Inchdairnie, Aytouns of, 270. - -Inch, the, 76. - -Industrious Company Club, 154. - -Infirmary Street, 241. - -Innes, Gilbert, of Stow, 289. - -Innes, Mrs Gilbert, of Stow, 61. - -Inn, White Hart, 2. - -Inn, White Horse, 2. - -Irvine, Robert, 366. - -Irving, General, 27. - -Irving, Mrs, her recollections of the ’45, 27, 28. - - -Jack’s Land, 56. - -Jacobite blackbird, a, 30. - -Jail, 3, 83. - -James I., 83, 307. - -James II., 321, 327. - -James III., 183. - -James IV., 272. - -James V., 229. - -James VI., 38, 77, 175, 183, 210, 244, 260, 344. - -James’s Court, 55-62, 172. - -James’s Square, 335. - -Jameson, George, painter, 288. - -Jardine, Miss, 252. - -Jeddart staff possessed by each citizen, 100. - -Jeffrey, Francis, 265. - -‘Jock o’ Sklates’ (Earl of Mar), 246. - -John’s Coffee-house, 148. - -Johnson, Dr Samuel, 16, 49, 60, 172, 197. - -Johnston, James, of Westerhall, 37. - -Johnston, Miss Lucy, 252. - -Justice in bygone times, 120. - - -Kames, Lord, 130; - scene at the death of, 130; - his house, 300. - -Kay’s portraits, 181. - -Keith, Bishop, 170. - -Keith, Mrs, 230. - -Keith, Sir Alexander, of Ravelston, 242. - -Keith, Sir Robert, ambassador, 230. - -Kelly, Earl of, 255. - -Kennedy, Sir Archibald, 194. - -Kennedy, Susanna, 192. - -Kerr & Dempster, goldsmiths, 111. - -Kerr, goldsmith, Parliament Square, 3. - -Ketten’s, Michael, shoe-shop, 83. - -Kincaid, Mr (a great dandy), king’s printer, 277. - -King’s Bridge, 18. - -King’s Park, 91. - -King’s Stables, 260. - -Kinloch, Miss, of Gilmerton, 252. - -Kinloch, Sir Francis and Mrs, 124. - -Kinnaird, Miss, having second sight, 210. - -Kirkcudbright, Lord, 265. - -Kirk o’ Field, situation of, 256, 259. - -Knockers, 207. - -Knowles, Admiral, 304. - -Knox, John, 25, 84, 105, 107, 109, 271, 279. - -Krames, 102, 119. - - -Ladies and the drinking customs, 143, 147. - -Ladies of Traquair, 286. - -Lady’s Steps, the, payments made at, 103. - -Laigh shops, 145. - -Lally-Tollendal, Count, 252. - -Lament, a, by Anne Bothwell, 97. - -Lang Gait, or Lang Dykes, 6, 366. - -Lauderdale, Duchess of, 307. - -Lauderdale, Duke of, 122. - -Lauder, Sir Andrew, 61. - -Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, 61. - -Lauder, Thomas, Canon of Aberdeen, 240. - -Lawnmarket, 11, 26, 27, 39, 70, 223. - -Lawnmarket Club, 156. - -Leith Links, 320. - -Leith Street, 283. - -Leith Walk, 281, 283, 360. - -Leith Wynd, 149, 258, 281, 284. - -Lennox, Earl of, 107. - -Leslie, General, 39, 193, 360. - -Leslie, Lady Mary, 328. - -Leven, Lord, 124, 311. - -Liberton’s Wynd, 166. - -Lind, Mr, of the ‘Pious Club,’ 150. - -Lindsay, Sir Alexander, of Evelick, 17. - -Linlithgow road, 214. - -List of Notables who lived in Canongate, 296. - -Little, William, of Liberton, 76. - -Lockhart of Carnwath, 209. - -Lockhart of Covington, 129. - -Lockhart, President, murder of, 75. - -Lockhart’s Court, 209. - -Lodge, Canongate Kilwinning, 305. - -Logan, Rev. George, 27. - -Long Way, the, 214. - -Lord’s Day, walking on the, condemned, 11. - -Lorimer, the, a deceased trade, 233. - -Lorne, Lord, 308. - -Lothian, Earl of, 307, 323. - -Lothian Hut, 323. - -Lothian, Marchioness, 323. - -Loudon, Earl of, 64. - -Loudoun, Chancellor, 307. - -Loughborough, Chancellor, his house in the Mint Close, 263. - -_Lounger_, the, 6. - -Lovat, Lady, 234-239, 286. - -Lovat, Lord, 205, 213, 214, 234, 235. - -Luckenbooths, 10, 95-104, 272, 339. - -Lucky Fykie’s Tavern, 168. - -Lucky Middleman’s Tavern, 145, 146 _n._ - -Lyon Close, Old, 323. - - -Macalpine’s, Saunders, sedan-chair, 4. - -M’Crie, Dr, 273. - -M’Culloch, David (Wee Davie), 363. - -M’Culloch of Ardwell, residence of, 362. - -Macdonald, Sir Alexander, of Sleat, 216. - -Macdowalls of Logan, 60. - -Macduff of Ballenloan and his two law pleas, 136. - -Macfarlane, John and Mrs, 291. - -Macfarlane, William, judge, 60. - -Macgill of Rankeillour, 244. - -Macintyre, Duncan (Donacha Bhan), poet, 180. - -Mackenzie, Henry, attorney, 154. - -Mackenzie, Henry (_Man of Feeling_), 6, 288. - -Mackenzie, Hon. Stuart, 316. - -Mackenzie, Sir George, 93, 103, 223, 224, 225, 288. - -_Mackoull, James, Life and Trial of_ (supposed Murderer of Begbie), 282. - -Maclaurin, John, advocate, 125. - -M’Lehose, Mrs, house of (Clarinda of Burns), 358. - -Maclellans of Galloway, 265. - -Maclennan, Rev. Roderick, St Kilda, 217. - -Macleod, Alexander, of Muiravonside, 177. - -Macleod, John, of Muiravonside, 214. - -Macmoran, Bailie, killed, 76; - banquets held in house of, 77, 78. - -Macrae, Mr, Marionville, tragical story of, 351. - -Magdalen Chapel, Cowgate, 248 _n._ - -Mahogany Land, 47, 100. - -‘Maiden,’ the, 71. - -Maitland, _History of Edinburgh_, 209, 271, 272. - -_Mally Lee_, a ballad, 202. - -Mansfield, Earl of, 17, 265. - -March, Lady, 103. - -Mar, Countess of, 74, 213, 220. - -Mar, Earl of, 5, 98, 119, 246. - -Marionville, villa of, 323; - theatricals at, 351. - -Martin’s Wynd, story of, 209. - -Mary King’s Close, 36. - -Mary of Guise, her house in Edinburgh, 22; - her resistance to the Reformation, 25; - erection of Free Church Hall on the site of her house, 25. - -Mary, Queen, 71, 83, 109, 163, 257, 260, 271, 287. - -Mary, Regent, 23. - -Maugaret, Braid Ransome, 260. - -Maule, William, 318. - -Maxwell, Lady, of Monreith, her house, 275. - -Maxwell, Sir William, 355, 356. - -Meadows, the, 5. - -Meldrum, George, of Dumbreck, 121. - -Melrose, Abbot of, his ‘lodging’ in Edinburgh, 223. - -Melville, Lord, 127 _n._, 140, 145, 305. - -Merchant Street, 248. - -‘Meridian,’ a, 147. - -Meuse Lane, St Andrew Street, 13. - -Mickle, William Julius, on Parliament Close, 116. - -Miller, Sir William, of Glenlee, 251. - -Milliners, a story of two, 323, 324. - -Mint Close, 10, 260, 263. - -Minto, Lord, 325. - -Mint, the, 257-259. - -Mirror, magic, story of a, 65. - -_Mirror_, the, 6. - -Mitchell, William, pamphleteer, 41, 42. - -Mobs of Edinburgh, 183-188. - -Modena, Mary of, 344. - -Monastery, the Blackfriars’, 242. - -Monboddo, Lord, 59, 132, 133, 303. - -Monk, Peter, admiral of Denmark, 260. - -Monmouth, Duchess of, 327. - -Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 69, 220. - -Montgomery, Lady Margaret, 328. - -Montrose, Marquis of, 108, 170, 175, 308. - -Moray, Bonny Earl of, 312. - -Moray, Countess of, 307. - -Moray House, Canongate, 306. - -Moray, Lord, 66 _n._ - -Morocco’s Land, 299. - -Morton, Regent, 25, 71, 120, 260. - -Motte, De la, French ambassador, 71. - -Mound, the, 23, 55. - -Moyses’s memoirs, 71, 210. - -Murder, extraordinary, 366. - -Mure, Baron, 316. - -Murkle, Lord, 124. - -Murray, Hon. Miss Nicky, ball directress, 265-268. - -Murray, Miss, of Lintrose (‘Flower of Strathmore’), 251. - -Murray, Mr, of Henderland, 16, 17. - -Murray, Mrs, of Broughton, 175. - -Murray, Mrs, of Henderland, 15, 239. - -Murray, Regent, 38, 106. - -Murray, Sir John A. (Lord), erects a statue to Allan Ramsay, 18. - -Murray, Sir Peter, of Balmanno, 226. - -Music Hall, 253. - -Musselburgh Links, 355. - -Mutrie’s Hill, 5, 7, 367. - -Mylne, Robert, architect, 252. - -Mylnes, family of, 204. - -Mylne Square, 204. - - -Nairne, Katherine, her tale of guilt and escape from justice, 88. - -Nairn’s Close, 22. - -Neale, John (built first house in Princes Street), 7. - -Negligée, the, 199. - -Negro servants, 69 _n._ - -Netherbow Port (fortified gate), 1, 149, 257, 258, 271, 272, 281, 331, 332. - -Newberry, Mr J., his books for the young, 41. - -Newhall, Lord, 124. - -Newhaven, fishwomen of, 4. - -New Street, 8, 16, 131, 284, 300, 347. - -Newton, Lord, 44, 139. - -New Town, first house in, 8; - Hume’s house in, 58. - -Nichol, Andrew, diarist, 106. - -Nichol, Andrew (‘Muck Andrew’), claimant-at-law of a midden-stead, 136. - -Nicolson Square, 358. - -Niddry Street, 241. - -Niddry’s Wynd, 121, 209, 212, 249. - -Nimmo, Miss, in whose house Burns met Clarinda, 358. - -North Back of Canongate, 170. - -North Bridge, 6, 269, 283, 360. - -North, Christopher, 167. - -Northesk, Earl of, 204. - -North Loch, 8, 23, 64, 117, 118, 366. - -Norton, Baron, 316. - - -Odd Fellows Club, 155. - -Ogilvie, Hon. Mrs, her boarding-school, 231. - -Old Bank Close, 70. - -Oliphant, Miss, of Gask, house of, 10. - -Oliver & Boyd, publishers, 280. - -Oratories, a feature in houses of a certain era, 29. - -‘Order of the Horn,’ the, 156. - -Ormistounes, Laird of, 257. - -Oswald, Mr, of Auchincruive, 252. - -Oyster cellars, 145. - - -Paganini, 254. - -Pages, keeping of, 328, 329. - -Palmerston, Lord, a pupil of Dugald Stewart in Edinburgh, 323. - -Panmure, Earl of, 318. - -Panmure House, 318. - -Paoli, General, 172. - -Parliament Close, 109-116, 142, 159, 337. - -Parliament Council, 115. - -Parliament House, 8, 85, 106, 110, 119. - -Parliament House worthies, 134-137. - -Parliament Square, 3, 115, 247. - -Paterson, John, a golfing shoemaker, 320. - -Paterson, Lady Jane, 212. - -Paterson’s Court, 232. - -Paton, George, antiquary, 167. - -Patullo, William, 35. - -Peat or Pate, a, 123. - -Peebles, Peter, 134. - -Peebles Wynd, 39. - -Pettigrew, Rev. Mr, of Govan, 160. - -Picardy Place, 140. - -Pigs, 276. - -Pinners, 201. - -Pious Club, the, 149. - -Pitcairn, Dr, 158, 160, 166, 287, 310, 320, 345. - -Pitcairn, Miss, 345. - -Pitfour, Lord, 129. - -Pitilloch, Mr, advocate, 123. - -Playfair, architect, 50 - -Pleasance, 187. - -Poker Club, the, 3, 162. - -Poole, Miss, singer, 253. - -Population returns, the first in Scotland, 20. - -Porteous, Captain (Porteous Riot), 42, 47, 51, 111, 133, 180, 184. - -Portobello, origin of village of, 332 _n._ - -Post-office Close, 129 _n._ - -Post-office, old arrangement of, 129 _n._ - -Potatoes, earliest trace of, in Scotland, 325. - -Potterrow, 59, 168, 247, 358. - -Prebendaries’ Chamber, 256, 259. - -Prentice, Henry, introducer of the field-culture of potatoes, 325. - -Press, printing, used in the rebel army, 72. - -Prestonfield, 78. - -Primrose, Lady Dorothy, 237. - -Primrose, Lord, 124. - -Primrose, Viscount, a profligate, 64. - -Princes Street, 53, 214, 366. - -Princes Street Gardens, 18. - -Princes Street one hundred years ago, 6. - -Princes Street, the naming of, 7. - -Pringle, Dr and Miss, Newhall, 124. - -Pringle, Mr, of Haining, 251. - -Puppo, Signor, violinist, 253. - - -Queen Mary, 71, 83, 109, 163, 257-259, 271, 287. - -Queensberry, Catherine, Duchess of, 339. - -Queensberry House, 142, 320, 336. - -Queensberry, second Duke of, strange story of, 336. - -Queensberry, third Duke of, and poet Gay, 338. - -Queen’s garden, 257. - -Queen Street, 9. - - -Raeburn, Sir Henry, portrait-painter, 354. - -_Rambler_, the, reproduced in Edinburgh, 49. - -Ramsay, Allan, the painter, 16, 17. - -Ramsay, Allan, the poet, 4, 14-18, 44, 104, 161, 248, 288, 295, 339, 346. - -Ramsay, Christian, 16. - -Ramsay Gardens, 16. - -Ramsay, General John, 16. - -Ramsay, Lady, of Bamff, 353. - -Ramsay, Miss, anecdote of, 323. - -Ramsay’s Inn or Tavern, 152, 171, 276. - -Ramsay, Sir Andrew, Provost, 32. - -Ramsay, Sir George, of Bamff, killed in a duel, 353-356. - -Rats, pets of Lady Eglintoune, 197, 198. - -Rats, town, 179, 186. - -Rattray, Clerk, Sheriff, 281. - -Register House, 7, 366. - -Reinagle, Joseph, ’cellist, 253. - -Renton, Eleonora, of Lamerton, 304. - -Restalrig, 323, 326, 351. - -Riddel’s Close, Lawnmarket, 55, 76. - -Risps or tirlin’-pins on doors, 207. - -Rivane, Generall, 40. - -Robertson, Principal, 80, 162, 243, 262, 288. - -Rochester, Earl of, 122. - -Rockville, Lord, 230. - -Rollo, Lord, 270. - -Romieu, Paul, a noted watchmaker, 46. - -Rope for hanging Porteous bought, 47. - -Rose Court, George Street, 7. - -Rose, Dr Alexander, Bishop of Edinburgh, 170. - -Rosehaugh’s Close (Strichen’s), 224. - -Ross House, George Square, 209 _n._ - -Rosslyn, Earl of, 263. - -Rothes, the Duke of, his rough remark, 51. - -Roxburgh Street, 187. - -Royal Bank, 7, 367. - -Royal Bank Close, 154. - -Ruddiman, Thomas, 27. - -Rumple-knot, the, 201. - -Runciman, painter, 149. - -Rutherford, Dr Daniel (Professor), 264, 277, 328. - -Rutherford, Miss, Sir Walter Scott’s mother, 231. - -Ruthven, Mr, 300. - -Rye-House Plot, 88. - - -St Andrews, Bishop of, 223. - -St Andrew Square, 6, 8, 58. - -St Cecilia’s Hall, 152, 249. - -St Clair, Lord, 124. - -St David Street, a joke about name of, 58. - -St Giles’s, booths around, 3, 110. - -St Giles’s, characteristics of the High Kirk, 114. - -St Giles’s Church, endowment to chaplain of, 240. - -St Giles’s Churchyard, 109. - -St Giles’s Clock, 8. - -St Giles’s, memoranda of Old Kirk of, 105-108. - -St Giles’s, Old Kirk described, 114. - -St Giles’s, position of, relative to Heart of Midlothian, 82. - -St Giles’s Street, suggested name for Princes Street, 7. - -St Giles, statue of, thrown into North Loch, 118. - -St Giles’s, Tolbooth Church described, 114. - -St James’s Square, 335. - -St John’s Cross, 301. - -St John’s Street, 8, 302. - -St Mary-in-the-Fields (Kirk o’ Fields), situation of, 256. - -St Mary’s Wynd, 171, 258, 276, 287. - -Saints, Bowhead, the, 30. - -Salisbury Crags, 91. - -Sanctuary, 260. - -‘Saving the ladies,’ 147, 251. - -Schetky, J. G. H., musician, 152, 253. - -Scott, Sir Walter, 6, 24, 31, 38, 87, 134, 140, 143, 147, 181, - 182, 190, 231, 242, 243, 264, 277, 293, 298, 327, 328, 365. - -Scott, Walter, W.S., 335. - -Scott, William, Lord Stowell, 172. - -Scoundrels’ Walk, the, 115. - -Seafield, Earl of, 309. - -Selkirk, Earl of, 156, 264. - -Sellar, Mrs, milliner, anecdote of, 324. - -Shakspeare Square, 151. - -Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick, antiquary, 304. - -Ship Tavern, Leith, 284. - -Shows in Leith Walk, 362. - -Shut-up houses in Old Town, 35. - -Siddons, Mrs, 345. - -Silvermills, village of, 367. - -Sinclair, Effie (Mrs Euphame), her boarding-school, 230. - -Sinclair, Sir Robert, of Longformacus, 230. - -Sinclair, Sir William, of Mey, 77. - -Singing Jamie Balfour, 141. - -Sinkum the Cawdy, 130. - -Skull, the, of George Buchanan, 288 _n._ - -Smeaton, Mr, singer, 253. - -Smellie, William, printer of Burns’s Poems, 164. - -Smith, Adam, 57, 318. - -Smith, David, of Methven, 252. - -Smith, ‘General’ Joe, leader of Edinburgh mobs, 184. - -Smollett, a sister of, 303. - -Smollett, Tobias, 56, 303. - -Snuff-taking, prevalence of, 200. - -Somerville, Braid Hugh, a street fight in 1640, 39. - -Somerville family, arms of, 43. - -Somerville, Lord, and his method of litigation, 120. - -Somerville, Major, his combat with Captain Crawford, 39. - -Somerville of Cambusnethan, 120. - -Somerville, Peter and Bartholomew, 43. - -_Somervilles, Memorie of the_, 37. - -Sommers, Thomas, 149. - -South Back of Canongate, 258. - -South Bridge, 209. - -Speaking House, the, 312. - -Spendthrift Club, the, 150, 345. - -Spottiswoode, John, of Spottiswoode, 119, 269. - -Springfield, 362. - -Stabilini, musician, 254. - -Stair, Countess of, 63-69. - -Stair, Earl of, 63, 67, 123. - -Stamp-office Close, 143, 162, 192. - -Star and Garter Tavern, 162. - -Stays, 199. - -Steell, Sir John, sculptor, 18. - -Steil, John, musician, 161. - -Stewart, Archibald, Provost, 48, 181. - -Stewart, Dugald, Professor, 323. - -Stewart, General, of Garth, 72. - -Stewart, James, 25. - -Stewart, Robert (Rob Uncle), 72. - -Stewart, Sir William, killed in Blackfriars Wynd, 38. - -Stewarts of Bonskeid, 181. - -Stinking Close, 34. - -Stipends of Scotch Church, 20. - -Stomacher, the, 199. - -Strachan, Lord, 124. - -Straiton, Colonel Charles, 293. - -Strichen, Lord, 224, 236. - -Strichen’s Close, 222. - -Sutherland, Countess of, 205. - -Sutherland, Earl of, 205, 288. - -Sweating Club, 154. - -Swift, 314, 315. - -Swine roaming in the streets, 100. - -Swinton, Margaret, 293. - -Syme, Mrs, 80. - -Syme, Robert, W.S., 61. - - -Tailors’ Hall, Cowgate, 346. - -Tam o’ the Cowgate (first Earl of Haddington), 244, 367. - -Tappit-hen, 151. - -Taverns of old times, 158-173. - -Taylor, the Water-Poet, 138. - -Tea-parties, fashionable hour for, 286. - -Telfer, Mrs, Smollett’s sister, 303. - -Templars’ Lands in Grassmarket, 50. - -Tenducci, singer, 253, 304, 305. - -Tennis Court, 344, 345. - -Theatre in Canongate, 346. - -Theatre in Carrubber’s Close, 15, 346. - -Theatre Royal, 7. - -Theatres, early, in Edinburgh, 344, 346, 347. - -Theophilus, Nicholaus, 260. - -Thomson, George, his account of music in Edinburgh in last century, 249-254. - -Thomson, poet, 7. - -Thomson’s, Mrs, lodgings, 171. - -Thomson, William, dagger-maker, 39. - -Thrale, Mrs, 60. - -Threipland, Sir Stuart, of Fingask, 269. - -Tinklarian Doctor (William Mitchell), a prating fanatic, 41. - -Tinwald, Lord Justice-Clerk, 9. - -Tirlin’-pins, 207. - -Toddrick’s Wynd, 257. - -Tod’s Close, 22. - -Tolbooth, Canongate, 248, 319. - -Tolbooth Church, 53, 105, 107, 114, 115. - -Tolbooth, Old, 82-94, 179. - -Tolbooth or ‘Towbuith’ Whigs, 21, 115. - -Topham, Major, 49, 176, 267. - -Town-guard, the, 4, 30, 84, 148, 179-182, 233. - -Town Rats, the, 179, 186. - -Town-wall, 258. - -Tradesman, habits of an old Edinburgh, 148. - -Traquair, ladies of, 286. - -Tron Church, 39, 58, 143, 144, 209. - -Tulzies (street fights), 37. - -Tweeddale Court, 280. - -Tweeddale, Marquis of, 225, 279. - -Tytler, Alexander, 289. - -Tytler of Woodhouselee, 152, 321. - - -Udward’s house in Niddry’s Wynd, 210. - -Union Club, the, 155. - -Union, the, legends of, 309. - -University, the, 259. - -Urbani, Mr, singer, 253. - - -Veronica, Miss, 60. - -Violante, Signora, 346. - - -Wallace, Lady, 276, 277. - -Wall, town, 258. - -Ward’s Inn, 355. - -Warriston, 175. - -Water-gate, 150, 170, 308, 344. - -Water of Leith, 367. - -Waterstone, John, 39. - -Watson, George, 50. - -Webster, Dr Alexander, of convivial memory, 20, 115, 162. - -Webster’s Close, 20. - -Weigh-house, the, 27, 39. - -Weir, Grizel, 32. - -Weir, Major, wizard, 26, 31-37. - -Wemyss, Earl of, 111, 305. - -Wemyss, Laird of, 38. - -West Bow, 26-54, 133. - -West Port, 75, 245. - -Whey Club, the, 156. - -Whigs, Tolbooth, 21, 115. - -Whitefield, George, in Edinburgh, 7. - -Whiteford House, 10. - -White Hart Inn, 2, 171. - -White Horse Inn, 2, 170, 172. - -White Horse Stables, 170. - -Whitesmiths of the Bow, 26, 42. - -Wig Club, the, 155. - -Wig, the, of Lord Coalstoun, 96. - -Williamson of Cardrona, 165. - -Williamson, Peter, 114. - -Wilson, Daniel (_Memorials of Edinburgh_), 222. - -Wilson, James (Claudero), 330. - -Wilson the smuggler, 52, 180. - -Wodrow, historian, 15. - -Wooden-fronted houses, account of, 271. - -Woodhead, 61, 62. - -Woodhouselee, Lord, 130. - -Wood, Lang Sandy, 6. - -Wood’s Farm, 6, 366. - -Woods, Mr, actor, 149. - -Worthies, the, of Parliament House, 134. - -Writers’ Court, 162. - - -Young, Alexander, W.S., 59. - -Young Bibles, 277. - -Young, John, 7. - -York, Duke of, 80, 181, 248, 344. - - -THE END. - - -Edinburgh: -Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited. - - - - - * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - -The following changes have been made to this text: - -Footnote 167: ancedote to anecdote—‘an anecdote is told’. - -Page 238: encirling to encircling—‘encircling the head’. - -Page 291: where to were—‘what were called the Back Stairs’. - -Page 371: Newhailes to New Hailes—‘Dalrymple, Miss, Newhailes’. - -Page 372: Fyfie to Fyvie—‘Fyvie, Lord’. - Hardcarse to Harcarse—‘Harcarse, Lord’. - -Page 373: Jamieson to Jameson—‘Jameson, George’. - -Page 374: Moyse’s to Moyses’s. - North Esk to Northesk. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH*** - - -******* This file should be named 61314-0.txt or 61314-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/3/1/61314 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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