![Parliament House.] LORD HERMAND. I73
never fully recovered the shock, and died in July,
1824.
George Fergusson, Lord Hermand, succeeded
Lord Braxfield in 1799, and was on the Bench
during all the political trials connected with the
West Country seditions of 1817. He and Lord
Newton were great cronies and convivialists ; but
the former outlived Newton and all his old lastcentury
contemporaries of the Bar, and was the
last link between the past and present race of
Scottish lawyers. On the Bench he was hasty and
sarcastic. He was an enthusiast in the memories
of bygone days, and scorned as “priggishness” the
sham decorum of the modem legal character.. He
with the strongest broad Scottish accent, and when
there was fond of indulging in pungent jokes. He
was made a judge in 1798, and officiated as such
till 1822. In the March of that year his friend
and kinsman Sir Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck
was mortally wounded in a duel with James
Stuart of Dunearn, about a mile from Balmuto
House, whither he was borne, only to die ; and the
venerable senator, who was then in his 83rd year,
he lugged in the subject, head and shoulders, in
the midst of a speech about some dry point oflaw
; nay, getting warmer every moment he spoke
of it, he at last fairly plucked the volume from his
pocket, and, in spite of all the remonstrances of‘
his brethren, insisted on reading aloud the whole
passage for their edification. He went through the.
task with his wonted vivacity, gave great effect to
every speech, and most appropriate expression to.
every joke. During the whole scene Sir Walter
Scott was present-seated, indeed, in his official
capacity-close under the judge.’’ He died at hislittle
estate of Hermand, near Edinburgh, in 1827~
I when in his 80th year.
is thus mentioned in “ Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk
:”-“ When ‘ Guy Mannefmg ’ came out the
judge was so delighted with the picture of the life
of the old Scottish judges in that most charming.
novel, that he could talk of nothing else but Pley--
dell, Dandie, and the high jinks, for many weeks.
He usually carried one volume of the book about.
with him; and one morning, on the Bench, his
~ love for it so completely got the better of him that
RUINS IN PARLIAMENT SQUARE AFTER THE GREAT FIRE, IN NOVEMBER, I824](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p185.gif "Volume 1 Page 173")
... moment he spoke
of it, he at last fairly plucked the volume from his
pocket, and, in spite of all the ...
Vol. 1 p. 173 (Rel. 1.75)
... died, in 1788, in the thirty-third year of
his age. A volume of his sermons, published soon
after his death, ...
Vol. 5 p. 160 (Rel. 1.73)
![Princes Street.] THE IRISH GIANTS. 121
two Irish giants-twin brothers-exhibited themselves
to visitors at a shilling per head, from four
till nine every evening, Sundays excepted. “ These
wonderful Irish giants are but twenty-three years
of age, and measure nearly eight feet high,” according
to the newspapers. ‘‘ These extraordinary
young men have had the honour to be seen by
~~ ~~~ ~
inches high); and the late Swedish giant will
scarce admit of comparison.”
Of these Irish giants, whose advent is among
the first notabilia of Princes Street, Kay gives
us a full-page drawing in his first volume, including,
by, way of contrast, Lord Monboddo, Bailie Kyd,
a wine merchant in the Candlemaker Row, who
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE. ( A I . the Podraif by Raebunr.)
their ma,jesties and the royal family at Windsor, in
November, 1783, with great applause, and likewise
by gentlemen of the faculty, Royal Society, and
other admirers of natural curiosity, who allow them
to surpass anything of the kind ever offered (xi.) to
the public. Their address is singularly pleasing ;
their persons truly shaped and proportioned to
their height, and afford an agreeable surprise.
They excel the famous Maximilian Miller, born in
1674, shown in London in 1733 (six feet ten
64
died in 18r0, Andrew Bell, an engraver (who died
in Lauriston Lane in 18og), and others of very small
stature.
In 1811 this house and No. I were both hotels,
the former being named “The Crown,” and from
them both, the “Royal Eagle” and “Prince Regent’’
Glasgow stagecoaches started daily at g am. and
4 p.m. ‘‘ every lawful clay-’’
Taking the houses of note as they occur seriatim,
the first on the north side, No. 10-for some time a](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p133.gif "Volume 3 Page 121")
... Street, Kay gives
us a full-page drawing in his first volume , including,
by, way of contrast, Lord Monboddo, ...
Vol. 3 p. 121 (Rel. 1.21)
![St. Giles Street] THE DAILY REVIBW: 289
the vehicle for the dissemination of the rich vein
of humour which ran through his character,
His qualities as a writer in a daily journal were
amply displayed during the six years he edited the
Ddy Review, and a melancholy interest attaches
to his connection with that journal, as he literally
“died in harness.” His great reading gave him
genuine mind and culture, was ever and anon made
evident, sometimes with curious solicitude.” When
death came upon Mr. Manson he was only in his
forty-ninth year, and had not been confined by illness
to the house for a single day. After breakfast,
he had seated himself in his study to write a leader
welcoming John Bright to Edinburgh j and the few
*
TRINITY COLLEGE CHURCH (RESTORED).
extensive resources, while his long study of public
matters and knowledge of past political transactions
were remarkable, or equalled only in the parallel
instance of Alexander Russel, of the Scotsman
His tastes were various ; for in classic authors and
in the Scottish vernacuIar he was equally at home.
“He could scourge pretenders, but he loved to
welcome every genline accession to our literary
treasures, and to give a fresh and advantageous
setting to any gFms that might be found in the
volume with which he had to deaL Indeed, amid
the rough strokes of political war, his regard for
any opponent whom he believed to be a man of
31
lines he wrote were penned, as usual, without a
single elision, when Mrs. Manson entering the
room about twelve o’clock, saw him lying back
in his chair, as she supposed asleep-but it was
the sleep of death. This was on the 2nd of November,
1868.
Mr. Manson, who was long regretted by men
of many professions pver the length and breadth
of the kingdom, and by friends who mourned
him as a genial acquaintance, was succeeded by
the late Henry Kingsley, who occupied the editonal
chair for eighteen months, and who was
succeeded in turn by Dr. George Smith, formerly](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p109.gif "Volume 2 Page 289")
... to any gFms that might be found in the
volume with which he had to deaL Indeed, amid
the rough ...
Vol. 2 p. 289 (Rel. 1.11)
... to give any account
here, is still preserved in Volume IV. of the works
of Professor Wilson.
The ...
Vol. 3 p. 140 (Rel. 1.08)
![Parlirmcnt House.] LORDS MONBODDO, KAMES, AND HAILES 171
ministration of certain medicines ; but the famer
went beyond these, and mixed in it a considerable
quantity of treacle. As the horse died next
morning, Lord Monboddo raised a prosecution for
its value, and pleaded his own cause at the Bar.
He lost the case, and was so enraged against his
brother judges that he never afterwards sat with
them on the Bench, but underneath, among the
clerks. This case was both a remarkable and illl
amusing one, from the mass of Roman law quoted
on the occasion.
Though hated and despised by his brethren for
his oddities, Lord Monboddo was one of the most
learned and upright judges of his time. “His
philosophy,” says Sir Walter Scott, “as is well
known, was of a fanciful and somewhat fantastic
character ; but his learning was deep, and he possessed
a singular power of eloquence, which re-
,,mhded the hearer of the os ro&ndum of the Grove
or Academe. Enthusiastically partial to classical
habits, his entertainments were always given in the
evening, when there was a circulation of excellent
Bordeaux, in flasks garlanded with roses, which
were also strewed on the table, after the manner
Qf Horace.”
The best society in Edinburgh was always ‘ta be
found at his house, St John’s Street, Canongate.
His youngest daughter, a lady of amiable disposition
and of surpassing beauty, which Burns
panegyrised, is praised in one of the papers of
the Mirror as, rejecting the most flattering and
advantageous opportunities of Settlement in marriage,
that she might amuse her father’s loneliness
and nurse his old age.
He was the earliest patron of one of the best
scholars of his time, Professor John Hunter, who
was for many years his secretary, and wrote the
first and best volume of his lordship’s “ Treatise on
the Origin of Languages.” When Lord Monboddo
travelled to London he’ always did so on hoeeback.
On his last journey thither he ’got no
farther than Dunbar. His nephew inquiring the
Teason of this, ‘.‘Oh, George,” said he, “ I find I
am noo aughty-four,” The manners of Lord Monboddo
were as’odd as his personal appearance.
He has been described as looking “more like an
.old stuffed monkey dressed in judge’s robes than
anything else;” and so convinced is he said to
have been of his fantastic theory of human tails
that, when a child was born in his house he would
watch at the chamber door, in order to see it in its
first state, as he had an idea that midwives cut the
tails off!
He never recoveied the shock of his beautiful
in 1790. He kept her portrait covered with black
cloth; at this he would often look sadly, without
lifting it, and then turn to his volume of Herodotus.
He died in 1799.
The other eccentric we have referred to was
Henry Home, Lord Kames, who was equally distinguished
for his literary abilities, his metaphysical
subtlety, and wonderful powers of conversation j
yet he was strangely accustomed to apply towards
his intimates a coarse term which he invariably
used, and this peculiarity is well noted by Sir Walter
Scott in “Redgauntlet.” He was raised to the
Bench in 1752, and afterwards lived in New Street,
in a house then ranking as one of the first in the
city, The catalogue of his printed works is a very
long one.
On retiring from the Bench he took a public
farewell of. his brother judges. After a solemn
and pathetic speech, and shaking hands all round,
as he was quitting the Court, he turned round,
and exclaimed, in his familiar manner, “Fare ye
a’ weel, ye auld -” here using his customary
expression. A day or two b.efore his death he
told Dr. Cullen that he earnestly wished to be
away,’as he was exceedingly curious to learn the
manners of another world ; adding, “ Doctor, as I
never could be idle in this world, I shall gladly
perform any task that may be imposed upon me
in the next” He died in December, 1782, in
his 87th year.
Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, the annalist
of Scotland, was raised to the Bench in 1766. He
had studied law at Utrecht, and was distinguished
for his strict integrity, unwearied diiigence, and dignity
of manner, but he was more conspicuous as
a scholar and author than as a senator. His researches
were chiefly directed t9 the history and
antiquities of his native country; and his literary
labours extended over a period of close on forty
years. .4t his death, in 1792, an able funeral
sermon was preached by the well-known b r .
Alexander Carlyle of Inveresk; and, as no will
could be found, the heir-male was about to take
possession of his estates, to the exclusion of his
daughter, but some months after, when she was
about to give up Ne% Hailes, and quit the house
in New Street, one was found behind a windowshutter,
in the latter place, and it secured her iu
the possession of all, till her own death, which
took place forty years after.
Francis Gardner, Lord Gardenstone, appointed
in 1764, was one of those ancient heroes of the
Bar, who, after a night of hard drinking, would,
without having been in bed, or studying a case,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p183.gif "Volume 1 Page 171")
... for many years his secretary, and wrote the
first and best volume of his lordship’s “ Treatise on
the ...
Vol. 1 p. 171 (Rel. 1.07)
... himself, but he pursued it no further than the
sixth volume , in March, 1802. From thenceforth,
with the ...
Vol. 6 p. 336 (Rel. 1.06)
... is fortunately still
preserved. It is a large folio volume of 132 leaves
of thick vellum, in oak boards ...
Vol. 3 p. 50 (Rel. 1.05)
... that the mere
enumeration of their names would make a volume ,
and we can but select a few. Here lie ...
Vol. 4 p. 380 (Rel. 0.99)
![NioiLson Street.] JOHN MACLAREN. 337
spend a portion of each day in education, often
passing an hour or more daily in learning to read
by means of raised letters, under the direction of
the chaplain.
One of the most remarkable inmates here was
John Maclaren, who deserves to be recorded for
his wonderful memory. He was a native of Edinburgh,
and lost his sight by small-pox in infancy.
He was admitted into the first asylum ir. Shakespeare
Square in 1793, and was the last survivor
In West Richmond Street, which opens off the
east side of Nicolson Street, is the McCrie Free
Church, so named from being long the scene of
the labours of Dr. Thomas McCric, the zealous
biographer of Knox and Melville. Near it, a large
archway leads into a small and dingy-looking court,
named Simon Square, crowded by a humble, but
dense population ; yet it has associations intimately
connected with literature and the fine arts, for
there a poor young student from Rnnandale, named
SURGEONS’ HALL.
of the original members. With little exception,
he had committed the whole of the Scriptures to
memory, and was most earnest in his pious efforts
to instruct the blind boys of the institution in portions
of the sacred volume. He could repeat an
entire passage of the Bible, naming chapter and
verse, wherever it might be opened for him. As
age came upon him the later events of his life eluded
his memory, while all that it had secured of the
earlier remained distinct to the last. Throughout
his long career he was distinguished by his zeal
in promoting the spiritual welfare and temporal
comfort of the little community of which he was
a member, and also for 3 life of increasing industry,
which closed on the 14th of November, 1840.
91
Thomas Carlyle, lodged when he first came to
Edinburgh, and in a narrow alley called Paul
Street David Wilkie took up his abode on his
arrival in Edinburgh in 1799.
He was then in his fourteenth year; and so little
was thought of his turn for art, that it required all
the powerful influence of the kind old Earl of
Leven to obtain him admission as a student at the
Academy of the Board of Trustees. The room he
occupied in Paul Street was a little back one, about
ten feet square, at the top of a common stair on
the south side of the alley, and near the Pleasance.
From this he removed to a better lodging in East
Richmond Street, and from thence to an attic in
Palmer‘s Lane, West Nicolson Street, where hq](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p157.gif "Volume 4 Page 337")
... blind boys of the institution in portions
of the sacred volume . He could repeat an
entire passage of the Bible, ...
Vol. 4 p. 337 (Rel. 0.98)
![Abbeyhill.] BARON NORTON. I27
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DISTRICT OF RESTALRIG.
Abhey Hill-Baron Norton-Alex. Campbell and “ Albyn’s Anthology ”--Comely Gardens-Easter Road-St. Margaret’s Well-Church and
Legend of St. Triduana-Made Collegiate by James 111.-The Mausoleum-Old Bardns of Restalrig-pe Logans, &c.-Conflict of
Black Saturday-Residents of Note-First Balloon in Britain-Rector Adams-The Nisbets of Craigantinnie and Dean-The Millers-
The Craieantinnie Tomb and Marbles-The Marionville Traeedv-The Hamlet of Jock‘o Lodge-Mail-bag Robberies in seventeenth and - _
eighteenth centuries-Piershill House and Barracks.
AT the Abbey Hill, an old house-in that antiquated
but once fashionable suburb, which grew
up in the vicinity of the palace of Holyrood-with
groups of venerable trees around it, which are now,
like itself, all swept away to make room for the present
Abbeyhill station and railway to Leith, there
lived long the Hon. Fletcher Norton, appointed one
of the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer in 1776,
with a salary of &2,865 per annum, deemed a handsome
income in those days.
He was the second son of Fletcher Norton of
Grantley in Yorkshire, who was Attorney-General
of England in 1762, and was elevated to the British
peerage in 1782, as Lord Grantley.
He came to Scotland at a time when prejudices
then against England and Englishmen were strong
and deep, for the rancour excited by the affair of
1745, about thirty years before, was revived by the
periodical publication of the Nhth Briton, but
Baron Norton soon won the regard of all who knew
him. His conduct as a judge increased the respect
which his behaviour in private life obtained, His
perspicacity easily discovered the true merits of any
cause before him, while his dignified and conciliatory
manner, joined to the universal confidence
which prevailed in his rigid impartiality, reconciled
to him even those who suffered by such verdicts as
were given against them in consequence of his
charges to the juries.
He married in 1793 a Scottish lady, a Miss Balmain,
and in the Edinburgh society of his time stood
high in the estimation of all, “as a husband, father,
friend, and master,” according to a print of 1820.
“ His fund of information-of anecdotes admirably
told-his social disposition, and the gentlemanly
pleasantness of his manner, made his society to be
universally coveted. Resentment had no place in
his bosom. He seemed almost insensible to injury
so immediately did he pardon it. Amongst his
various pensioners were several who had shown
marked ingratitude ; but distress, with him, covered
every offence against himself.”
He was a warm patron of the amiable and enthusiastic,
but somewhat luckless Alexander Campbell,
author of “ The Grampians Desolate,” which
“fell dead ” from the press, and editor of “ Albyn’s
Anthology,” who writes thus in the preface to the
first volume of that book in 1816, and which, we
may mention, was a “ collection of melodies and
local poetry peculiar to Scotland and the isles ” :-
“ So far back as the year 1780, while as yet the
editor of ‘Albyn’s Anthology’ was an organist to
one of the Episcopal chapels in Edinburgh, he projected
the present work. Finding but small encouragement
at that period, and his attention being
directed to pursuits of quite a different nature, the
plan was dropped, till by an accidental turn of conversation
at a gentleman’s table, the Hon. Fletcher
Norton gave a spur to the speculation now in its
career. He with that warmth of benevolence
peculiarly his own, offered his influence with the
Royal Highland Society of Scotland, of which he is
a member of long standing, and in conformity with
the zeal he has uniformly manifested for everything
connected with the distinction and prosperity of our
ancient realm, on the editor giving him a rough
outline of the present undertaking, the Hon. Baron
put it into the hands of Henry Mackenzie, Esq., of
the Exchequer, and Lord Bannatyne, whose influence
in the society is deservedly great. And
immediately on Mr. Mackenzie laying it before a
select committee for music, John H. Forbes, Esq.
(afterwards Lord Medwyn), as convener of the
committee, convened it, and the result was a recommendation
to the society at large, who embraced
the project cordially, voted a sum to enable the
editor to pursue his plan ; and forthwith he set out
on a tour through the Highlands and western
islands. Having performed a journey (in pursuit
of materials for the present work) of between eleven
and twelve hundred miles, in which he collected
191 specimens of melodies and Gaelic vocal poetry,
he returned to Edinburgh, and laid the fruits of
his gleanings before the society, who were pleased
to honour with their approbation his success in
attempting to collect and preserve the perishing remains
of what is so closely interwoven with the
history and literature of Scot!and.”
From thenceforth the ‘‘ Anthology” was a success,
and a second volume appeared in 1818. Under
the influence of Baron Norton, Campbell got many
able contributors, among whom appear the names
of Scott, Hogg, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, RIaturin, and
Jamieson.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p138.gif "Volume 5 Page 127")
... who writes thus in the preface to the
first volume of that book in 1816, and which, we
may ...
Vol. 5 p. 127 (Rel. 0.98)
... other works of local notoriety, but
more especially a volume of one hundred songs,
with music, many of which ...
Vol. 4 p. 348 (Rel. 0.97)
![THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. 97 The Mound]
one persons ;61,ooo each, a sum which more than
sufficed to purchase the site of the college-the
old Guise Palace, with its adjacent closes-and to
erect the edifice, while others were built at
Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Plans by W. H. Playfair, architect, were prepared
and adopted, after a public competition had
been resorted to, and the new buildings were at
once proceeded with. The foundation stone was
iaid on the 4th of June, 1846, by Dr. Chalmers,
~ The stairs on the south side of the quadrangle
lead to the Free Assembly Hall, on the exact site
of the Guise Palace. It was erected from designs
by David Bryce, at a cost of A7,000, which was
collected by ladies alone belonging to the Free
Church throughout Scotland.
The structure was four years in completion, and
was opened on the 6th of November, 1850,under the
sanction of the Commission of the Free General
Assembly, by their moderator, Dr. N. Paterson,
LIBRARY OF THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE. (Fwm o P/wtozm#h by G. W. Wi&on and Co.)
exactly one year previous to the day which saw his
remains consigned to the tomb. The ultimate cost
was ;646,506 8s. Iod., including the price of the
ground, Ero,ooo.
The buildings are in the English collegiate style,
combining the common Tudor with somd of the later
Gothic They form an open quadrangle (entered
by a handsome groined archway), 165 feet from
east to west and 177 from south to north, including
on the east the Free High Church. The edifice
has two square towers (having each four crocketed
pinnacles), IZI feet in height, buttressed at the
corners from base to summit. There is a third
tower, 95 feet in height. The college contains
seven great class-rooms, a senate hall, a students'
hall, and a library, the latter adorned with a
statue of Dr, Chalmers as Principal, by Steel
61
who delivered a sermon and also a special address
to the professors and students. Subsequently, this
inaugural sermon and the introductory lectures
delivered on the same occasion to their several
classes by Professors Cunningham, Buchanan,
Bannerman, Duncan, Black, Macdougal, Fraser,
and Fleming, were published in a volume, as a
record of that event.
The constitution of this college is the same as
that of the Free Church colleges elsewhere. The
Acts of Assembly provide for vesting college
property and funds, for the election of professors,
and for the general management and superintendence
of college business. The college buildings
are vested in trustees appointed by the Church.
A select committee is also appointed bp the
j General Assembly, consisting of " eleven ministers](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p109.gif "Volume 3 Page 97")
... Black, Macdougal, Fraser,
and Fleming, were published in a volume , as a
record of that event.
The ...
Vol. 3 p. 97 (Rel. 0.94)
![Arthur’s Seat.] . ORIGIN OF
battle of Camelon, unsupported tradition has always
alleged that Arthur‘s Seat obtained its name ; while
with equal veracity the craigs are said to have
been so entitled from the Earl of Salisbury, who
accompanied Edward 111. in one of his invasions
of Scotland, an idle story told by h o t , and ofter,
repeated since.
Maitland, a much more acute writer, says, ‘(that
the idea of the mountain being named from Arthur,
a British or Cimrian king, I cannot give into,” and
305 THE NAME.
“Do thou not thus, brigane, thou sal1 be brynt,
With pik, tar, fire, gunpoldre, and lynt
On Arthuris-Sete, or on a hyar hyll.”
And this is seventy-seven years before the publication
of Camden’s c‘Britannia,” in which it is so
named. But this is not the only Arthur‘s Seat in
Scotland, as there is one near the top of Loch
Long, and a third near Dunnichen in Forfarshire.
Conceriiing the adjacent craigs, Lord Hailes in a
note to the first volume of his Annals, says of ‘‘ the
THE HOLYROOD DAIKY.* (firm a CarOtypr (5. Dr. Tkmmu Keith.)
[The circular structure in the background to the right waq a temporary Government store.]
adds that he considers (‘ the appellation of Arthur’s
Seat to be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard-na-Said,
which implies the ‘ Height of Arrows ; ’ than which
nothing can be more probable; for no spot of
ground is fitter for the exercise of archery, either
at butts or rovers, than this; wherefore Ard-na-
Sad, by an easy transition, might well be changed
to Arthur‘s Seat.”
Many have asserted the latter to be a name of
yesterday, but it certainly bore it at the date of
WalterKennedy’s poem, his “ flyting,” With Dunbar,
which was published in 1508 :- 1
precipice now called Salisbury Craigs; some of
my readers may wish to be informed of the ongin
of a word so familiar to them. In the Anglo-
Saxon language, saw, sme, means dty, withered,
zcrasfe. The Anglo-Saxon termination of Burgh,
Burh, Barrow, BUY^, Biry, implies a castle, town,
or habitation ; but in a secondary sense only, for it
is admitted that the common original is Beorg a
rock . . . . Hence we may conclude, &m>bury,
Sbisbuv, Salisbury, is the waste or dg hbifafion.
An apt description, when it is remembered that the 1 hills which now pass under the general but corrupted
Dr. J. A. Sidey writes: “The Holyrood Dairy, which stood at the enhance to St. Aone’s Yard, had no reference to the F’alaoc (from
which it was 19 feet distant) except in =gad to name. It was taken down about 1858. and was kept by R o b McBan, whose sm was afterwards
m e of the ‘ Keeperr’ d the F’ab(as Mr. Andrew Kar tdL me) and Rad the old sign in his porrasion. Mr. K a says the dairy Man@
m the Corpont;on of Path, and was held for charitable purpmq and sold frr the sum of money that wuuld yield the ame amount as the reatal of
the dairy.”
87](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p125.gif "Volume 4 Page 305")
... the adjacent craigs, Lord Hailes in a
note to the first volume of his Annals, says of ‘‘ the
THE HOLYROOD ...
Vol. 4 p. 305 (Rel. 0.93)
... Street.
ROBERT CHAMBERS.
(From a *ate PkOtog~U#h.)
1
volume by the firm in 1868, and is the preface tD
which ...
Vol. 2 p. 224 (Rel. 0.81)
![Salisbury Road.] THE HOSPITAL FOR INCURABLES. 5<
three plain shields under a moulding, with the date
1741-
Though disputed by some, Sciennes Hill House
once the residence of Professor Adam Fergusson
author of the (‘ History of the Roman Republic,’
is said to have been the place where Sir Waltei
Scott was introduced to Robert Burns in 1786
when that interesting incident occurred which ir
related by Sir Walter himself in the following letter
which occurs in Lockhart’s Life of him :--“As foi
Rums, I may truly say, 1GYgiZimn vidi tantum. I
was a lad of fifteen in 1786-7, when he first cam€
to Edinburgh, but had sense and feeling enough to
he much interested in his poetry, and would have
given the world to know him; but I had very
little acquaintance with any literary people, and
less with the gentry of the West County, the two
sets he most frequented. I saw him one day at the
venerable Professor Fergusson’s, where there were
several gentlemen of literary reputation, among
whom I remember the celebrated Dugald Stewart.
“ Ofcourse, we youngsters sat silent, and listened.
The only thing I remember which was remarkable
in Burns’s manner was the effect produced upon
him by a print of Bunbury’s, representing a soldier
lying dead on the snow, his dog sitting in misery
on one side ; on the other his widow, with a child
in her arms. These lines were written underneath
:-
“ ‘ Cold on Canadian hills, or Minden’s plain,
Perhaps that parent wept her soldier slain-
Bent o’er her babe, her eyes dissolved in dew,
The big drops mingling with the drops he drew,
Gave the sad presage of his future years,
The child of misery baptised in tears.’
‘‘ Burns seemed much affected by the print, or
Tather, the ideas which it suggested to his mind.
He actually shed tears. He asked whose the lines
were, and it chanced that nobody but myself remembered
that they occur in a half-forgotten poem
of Langhorne’s, called by the unpromising title of
‘ The Justice of the Peace.’ I whispered my information
to a friend present, who mentioned it to
Burns, who rewarded me with a look and a word,
which, though of mere civility, I then received,
and still recollect, with very great pkasuye.”
Westward of Sciennes Hill is the new Trades
Maiden. Hospital, in the midst of a fine grassy
park, called Rillbank. The history of this
charitable foundation, till its transference here, we
have already given elsewhere fully. Within its
walls is preserved the ancient ‘( Blue Blanket,” or
banner of the city, of which there will be found
an engraving on page 36 of Volume I.
In Salisbury Road, which opens eastward off
Minto Street, is the Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables,
founded in 1874; and through the chanty
of the late Mr. J. A. Longmore, in voting a grant
of &IO,OOO for that purpose, provided the institution
‘‘ should supply accommodation for incurable
patients of all classes, and at the same time commemorate
Mr. Longmore’s munificent bequest for
the relief of such sufferers,” the directors were
enabled,in 1877, to secure Nos. g and 10 in this
thoroughfare. The building has a frontage of 160
feet by 180 feet deep. It consists of a central
block and two wings, the former three storeys high,
and the latter two. The wards for female patients
measure about 34 feet by 25 feet, affording accommodation
for about ten beds.
Fronting the entrance door to the corridors are
SEAL OA THE CONVENT OF ST. KATHARINE.
(After H. Laing.)
ieparate staircases, one leading to the female
iepartment, the other to the male. On each floor
.he bath, nurses’ rooms, gic., are arranged similarly.
[n the central block are rooms for “paying patients.’’
The wards are heated with Manchester open fire-
)laces, while the corridors are fitted up with hot
Mater-pipes. The wards afford about 1,100 cubic
’eet of space for each patient.
Externally the edifice is treated in the Classic
;tyle. In rear of it a considerable area of ground
ias been acquired, and suitably laid out. The site
:ost A4,000, and the hospital LIO,OOO. Since it
Nas opened there have been on an average one hunlred
patients in it, forty of whom were natives of
Edinburgh, and some twenty or so from England
md Ireland. The funds contributed for its support
ire raised entirely in the city. It was formally
3pened in December, 1880.
A little way south from this edifice, in South](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p066.gif "Volume 5 Page 55")
... of which there will be found
an engraving on page 36 of Volume I.
In Salisbury Road, which opens eastward ...
Vol. 5 p. 55 (Rel. 0.65)
![The Tolhwth] THE SIGNET ANI) ADVOCATES’ LIBRARIES. 123
THE genius of Scott has shed a strange halo around
the memory of the grim and massive Tolbooth
prison, so much so that the creations of his imagination,
such as Jeanie and Effie Deans, take the
place of real persons of flesh’ and blood, and suchtraders.
They have been described as being “a
dramdrinking, news-mongering, facetious set of
citizens, who met every morn about seven o’clock,
and after proceeding to the post-office to ascertain
the news (when the mail arrived), generally adjourned
to a public-house and refreshed themselves
with a libation of brandy.” Unfounded articles of
intelligence that were spread abroad in those days
were usually named “ Lawnmarket Gazettes,” in
allusion to their roguish or waggish originators.
At all periods the Lawnmarket was a residence
for nien of note, and the frequent residence of
English and other foreign ambassadors; and so
long as Edinburgh continued to be the seat of the
Parliament, its vicinity to the House made it a
favourite and convenient resort for the members
of the Estates.
On the ground between Robert Gourlay’s house
and Beith’s Wynd we now find some of those portions
of the new city which have been engrafted on
the old. In Melbourne Place, at the north end of
George IV. Bridge, are situated many important
offices, such as, amongst others, those of the Royal
Medical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce
and Manufactures, built in an undefined style of
architecture, new to Edinburgh. Opposite, with
its back to the bridge, where a part of the line of
Liberton’s Wynd exists, is built the County Hall,
presenting fronts to the Lawnmarket and to St.
Giles’s. The last of these possesses no common
beauty, as it has a very lofty portico of finely-flutcd
columns, overshadowing a flight of steps leading to
the main entrance, which is modelled after the
choragic monument of Thrasyllus, while the ground
plan and style of ornament is an imitation of the
Temple of Erechtheius at Athens. It was erected
in 1817, and contains several spacious and lofty
court-rooms, with apartments for the Sheriff and
other functionaries employed in the business of the
county. The hall contains a fine statue of Lord
Chief Baron Dundas, by Chantrey.
is the power of genius, that with the name of the
Heart of Midlothian we couple the fierce fury of
the Porteous mob. “Antique in form, gloomy and
haggard in aspect, its black stanchioned windows,
opening through its dingy walls like the apertures
~
Adjoining it and stretching eastward is the library
of the Writers to the Signet. It is of Grecian architecture,
and possesses two long pillared halls of
beautiful proportions, the upper having Corinthian
columns, and a dome wherein are painted the
Muses. It is 132 feet long by about 40 broad,
and was used by George IV. as a drawing-room,
on the day of the royal banquet in the Parliament ,
House. Formed by funds drawn solely from contributions
by Writers to H.M. Signet, it is under
a body of curators. The library contains more
than 60,000 volumes, and is remarkably rich in
British and Irish history.
Southward of it and lying psxallel with it, nearer
the Cowgate, is the Advocates’ Library, two long
halls, with oriel windows on the north side. This
library, one of the five in the United Kingdom entitled
to a copy of every work printed in it, was
founded by Sir George Mackenzie, Dean of Faculty
in 168z, and contains some zoo,ooo volumes,
forming the most valuable cpllection of the kind
in Scotland. The volumes of Scottish poetry alone
exceed 400. Among some thousand MSS. are those
of Wodrow, Sir James Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald,
and others. In one of the lower compartments
may be seen Greenshield’s statue of Sir Walter
Scott, and the original volume of Waverley; two
volumes of original letters written by Mary Queen
of Scots and Charles I.; the Confession of Faith
signed by James VI. and the Scottish nobles in
1589-90; a valuable cabinet from the old Scottish
mint in the Cowgate; the pennon borne by
Sir William Keith at Flodden; and many other
objects of the deepest interest. The office of
librarian has been held by many distinguished
men of letters; among them were Thomas Ruddiman,
in 1702; David Hume, his successor, in,
1752 ; Adani Ferguson ; and David Irving, LL.D.
A somewhat minor edifice in the vicinity forms
the library of the Solicitors before the Supreme
Court](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v1p135.gif "Volume 1 Page 123")
... body of curators. The library contains more
than 60,000 volume s, and is remarkably rich in
British and Irish ...
Vol. 1 p. 123 (Rel. 0.63)
... in our chapter on Princes Street in the
second volume of this work), James Gibson, W.S.
(afterwards Sir ...
Vol. 6 p. 322 (Rel. 0.63)
![Waniston.] LORD WARRISTON. 99
family, the Laird of Dunipace ; but, owing to some
alleged ill-treatment, she grew estranged from him,
and eventually her heart became filled with a
deadly hatred.
An old and attached nurse began to whisper of
a means of revenge and relief from her married
thraldom, and thus she was induced to tamper
with a young man named Robert Weir, a servant
or vassal of her father at Dunipace, to become her
instrument.
At an early hour in the morning of the 2nd of
July, Weir came to the place of Warriston, and
being admitted by the lady to the chamber of her
husband, beat him to death with his clenched fists.
He then fled, while the lady and her nurse remained
at home. Both were immediately seized,
subjected to a summary trial of some kind before
the magistrates, and sentenced to death ; the lady
to have “ her heade struck frae her bodie ” at the
Canongate Cross.
In the brief interval between sentence and execution,
this unfortunate young girl, who was only
twenty-one, was brought, by the impressive discourse
of a good and amiable clergyman, from a
state of callous indifference to a keen sense of
her crime, and also of religious resignation. Her
case was reported in a small pamphlet of the day,
entitled, “Memorial of the Conversion of Jean
Livingston (Lady Waniston), with an account of
her carriage at her execution ”-a dark chapter of
Edinburgh social history, reprinted by Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe. “She stated, that on Weir
assaulting her husband, she went to the hall, and
waited till the deed was done. She thought she
still heard the pitiful cries uttered by her husband
while struggling with his murderer.” She tried to
. weep, but not a tear could she shed, and could
only regard her approaching death as a just expiation
of her crime.
Deeply mortified by the latter and its consequences,
her relations used every effort to secure
as much privacy as was possible for the execution;
hence it was arranged that while her nurse
was being burned on the Castle Hill at four o’clock
in the morning, thus attracting the attention of
all who might be out of bed at that time, Lady
Waniston should be taken to the Girth Cross, at
the east end of the town, and there executed by
the Maiden.
“The whole way as she went to the place,”
says the pamphlet referred to, “ she behaved herself
so cheerfully as if she was going to her
wedding, and not to her death. When she came
to the scaffold, and was carried up upon it, she
looked up to the Maiden with two longsome looks,
for she had never seen it before.
of her, to which all that saw her will bear record,
that her only countenance moved [sic, meaning
that its expression alone was touching], although
she had not spoken a word; for there appeared
such majesty in her countenance and visage, and
such a heavenly courage in gesture, that many
said, ‘That woman is gifted with a higher spirit
than any man or woman’s! ’”
She read an address to the spectators at the four
corners of the scaffold, and continued to utter
expressions of devotion till the swift descent of
the axe decapitated her. Balfour, in his “Annals,”
gives the year 1599 as the date of this tragedy.
Four years after Weir was taken, and on the
26th January, 1606, was broken on the wheel, a
punishment scarcely ever before inflicted in Scotland.
In the year 1619 Thomas Kincaid of Wamston
was returned heir to his father Patrick Kincaid of
Warriston, in a tenement in Edinburgh. This was
probably the property that was advertised in the
Couranf of 1761, as about to be sold, “that
great stone tenement of land lying at the head of
the old Bank Close, commonly called Warriston’s
Land, south side of the Lawn Market, consisting
of three bedchambers, a dining-room, kitchen, and
garret.” There is no mention of a drawing-room,
such apartments being scarcely known in the Edinburgh
of those days.
In 1663 another proprietor of Warriston came
to a tragic end, and to him we have already referred
in our account of Waniston’s Close.
This was Sir Archibald Johnston, who was known
as Lord Warriston in his legal capacity. He wag
an advocate of 1633. In 1641 he was a Lord of
Session. He was made Lord Clerk Register by
Cromwell, who also created him a peer,under the title
of Lord Wamston, and as such he sat for a time
in the Upper House in Parliament. After the
Restoration he was forfeited, and fled, but was
brought to Edinburgh and executed at the Marke
Cross, as we have recorded in Chapter XXV. ct.
Volume I.
Wodrow, in his “History of the Church of
Scotland,” states that Wamston’s memoirs, in his
handwriting, in the form of a diary, are still extant ;
if so, they have never seen the light. His character,
admirably drawn in terse language by his nephew,
Bishop Burnet, is thus given in the U History of his
Own Times,” Vol. 1.:-
“ Waniston was my own uncle. He was a man of
great application ; could seldom sleep above three
hours in the twenty-four. He studied the law
carefully, and had a great quickness of thought,
This I may say ,
.
*](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p110.gif "Volume 5 Page 99")
... Marke
Cross, as we have recorded in Chapter XXV. ct.
Volume I.
Wodrow, in his “History of the Church ...
Vol. 5 p. 99 (Rel. 0.62)
... a hundred years before Cromwell’s invasion;
but the volume , which comes down to
1588, had been long ...
Vol. 3 p. 2 (Rel. 0.62)
![Arlhur‘s Seat.] DR. JOHN BELL 303
sity of Edinburgh that the Medical Society has
contributed much to the prosperity and reputation
of this school of physic.”
Such are still the objects of the Royal Medical
Society, which has now, however, quitted its old
hall and chambers for newer premises in 7 Melbourne
Place. Its staff consists of four presidents,
two honorary secretaries, curators of the library
and museum, with a treasurer and sub-librarian.
Many old citizens of good position had residences
in and near the High School yards and
Surgeon Square. Among these was Mr. George
Sinclair of Ulbster, who married Janet daughter of
Lord Strathmore, and who had a house of seven
rooms in the yard, which was advertised in the
Courant of 1761. His son was the eminent agriculturist,
and first baronet of the family.
In 1790 a theatre for dissections and an anatomical
museum were erected in Surgeon Square
by Dr. John Bell, the eminent anatomist, who was
born in the city on the 12th May, 1763, and who
most successfully applied the science of anatomy
to practical surgery-a profession to which, curiously
enough, he had from his birth been devoted by
his father. The latter,about a month before the
child’s birth, had-when in his 59th yea-undergone
with successapainful surgicaloperation, and his gratitude
led him tovowhe would rear his son John to the
cause of medicine for the relief of mankind ; and
after leaving the High School the boy was duly
apprenticed to Mr. Alexander Wood, surgeon, and
soon distinguished himself in chemistry, midwifery,
and surgery, and then anatomy, which had been
somewhat overlooked by Munro.
In the third year after his anatomical theatre
had been opened in the now obscure little square,
he published his “ Anatomy of the Human Body,”
consisting of a description of the action and play
of the bones, muscles, and joints. In 1797 appeared
the second volume, treating of the heart
and arteries. During a brilliant career, he devoted
himself with zeal to his profession, till in 1816 he
was thrown from his horse, receiving a shock from
which his constitution never recovered.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
AKTHUR’S SEAT AND ITS VICINITY.
The Sanctuary-Geology of the Hill-Origin of its Name, and that of the Craigs-The Park Walls, 2554-A Banquet alfrrsc6The Pestilence
-A Duel-“The Guttit Haddie”-Mutiny of the Old 78th Regiment-Proposed House on the Summit-bfuschat and his Cairn-
Radical Road Formed-May Day-Skeletons found at the Wells 0’ Wearic-Park Improvements-The Hunter’s Bog-Legend of the
Hangman’s big-Duddingston-The Church-Rev. J. Thomson-Robert Monteith-The Loch-Its Sw-ans-Skatcrs--The Duddingston
Thoro-The Argyle and Abercorn FamilisThe Earl of Mob-Lady Flon. HastingsCnuvin’s Hospica-Parson’s Grecn-St.
Anlhonfs Chapel and Well-The Volunteer Renew before the Queen.
TAKING up the history of the districts of the city
in groups as we have done, we now come to Arthur‘s
Seat, which is already well-nigh surrounded, especially
on the west and north, by streets and
mansions.
Towering to the height of 822 feet above the
Forth, this hill, with the Craigs of Salisbury, occupies
the greater portion of the ancient Sanctuary of
Holyrood, which included the royal park (first
enclosed and improved from a condition of natural
forest by James V. and Queen Mary), St. Anne’s
Yard and the Duke’s Walk (both now obliterated),
the Hermitage of St. Anthony, the Hunter’s Bog,
and the southern parks as far as Duddingston, a
tract of five miles in circumference, in which persons
were safe from their creditors for twenty-four
hours, after which they must take out a Protectim,
as it was called, issued by the bailie of the abbey ;
the debtors were then at liberty to go where they
pleased on Sundays, without molestation j but later
legal alterations have rendered retirement to the
Sanctuary to a certain extent unnecessary.
The recent formation of the Queen’s Drive
round the hill, and the introduction of the rifle
ranges in the valley to the north of it, have destroyed
the wonderful solitude which for ages
reigned there, even in the vicinity of a busy and
stormy capital. Prior to these changes, and in
some parts even yet, the district bore the character
which Arnot gave it when he wrote :-“ Seldom are
human beings to be met in this lonely vale, or any
creature to be seen, but the sheep feeding on the
mountains, or the hawks and ravens winging their
flight among the rocks’: The aspect of the lionshaped
mountain and the outline of the craig
are known to every one. There is something certainly
grand and awful in the front of mighty slope
and broken rock and precipice, which the latter
present to the city. Greenstone, which has been
upheaved through strata surfaced with sandstone](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p123.gif "Volume 4 Page 303")
... bones, muscles, and joints. In 1797 appeared
the second volume , treating of the heart
and arteries. During a ...
Vol. 4 p. 303 (Rel. 0.62)
... the river constantly, and to an important
amount, varies both the depth of the harbour and
the height ...
Vol. 6 p. 270 (Rel. 0.62)
![Gnonpnte.] JVHN PATERSON. I1
The latter is an anagram on the name of “John
Paterson,” while the quatrain was the production
of Dr. Pitcairn, and is referred to in the first
volume of Gilbert Stuart’s Edinburgh Magazine
andRevim for 1774, and may be rendered thus:
--“In the year when Paterson won the prize in
golfing, a game peculiar to the Scots (in which his
ancestors had nine times won the same honour), he
then raised this mansion, a victory more honourable
than all the rest.”
According to tradition, two English nobles at
Holyrood had a discussion with the royal duke
as to the native country of golf, which he was
frequently in the habit of playing on the Links of
Leith with the Duke of Lauderdale and others,
and which the two strangers insisted to be an
English game as well, No evidence of this being
forthcoming, while many Scottish Parliamentary
edicts, some as old as the days of James II., in
1457, could be quoted concerning the said game,
the Englishmen, who both vaunted their expertness,
offered to test the legitimacy of their pretensions
on the result of a match to be played by them
against His Royal Highness and any other .Scotsman
he chose to select. After careful inquiry he
chose a man named John Paterson, a poor shoemaker
in the Canongate, but the worthy descendant
of a long line of illustrious golfers, and the association
will by no means surprise, even in the present
age, those who practise the game in the true old
Scottish spirit The strangers were ignominiously
beaten, and the heir to the throne had the best of
this practical argument, while Paterson’s merits
were rewarded by the stake played for, and he
built the house now standing in the Canongate.
On its summit he placed the Paterson arms-three
pelicans vuZned; on a chief three mullets ; crest,
a dexter-hand grasping a golf club, with the wellold
and well-known tradition, Chambers says, “it
must be admitted there is some uncertainty. The
house, the arms, and the inscriptions only indicate
that Paterson built the house after being victor at
golf, and that Pitcairn had a hand in decorating it.’’
In this doubt Wilson goes further, and believes
that the Golfers’ Land was Zmt, not won, by the
gambling propensities of its owner. It was acquired
by Nicol Paterson in 1609, a maltman in Leith,
and from him it passed, in 1632, to his son John
(and Agnes Lyel, his spouse), who died 23rd April,
1663, as appears by the epitaph upon his tomb in
the churchyard of Holyrood, which was extant in
Maitland’s time, and the strange epitaph on which
is given at length by Monteith. He would appear
to have been many times Bailie of the Canongate.
known mOttO-FAR AND SURE. Concerning this
Both Nicol and John, it may be inferred from the
inscriptions on the ancient edifice, were able and
successful golfers. The style of the bNilding, says
Wilson, confirms the idea that it had been rebuilt
by him “with the spoils, as we are bound to
presume, which he won on Leith Links, from ‘OUT
auld enemies of England.’ The title-deeds, however,
render it probable that other stakes had been
played for with less success. In 1691 he grants
a bond over the property for A400 Scots. This is
followed by letters of caption and hornhg, and
other direful symptoms of legal assault, which
pursue the poor golfer to his grave, and remain
behind as his sole legacy to his heirs.”
The whole tradition, however, is too serious to
be entirely overlooked, but may be taken by the
reader €or what it seems worth.
Bailie Paterson’s successor in the old mansion
was John, second Lord Bellenden of Broughton
and Auchnoule, Heritable Vsher of the Exchequer,
who married Mary, Countess Dowager of Dalhousie,
and daughter of the Earl of Drogheda. Therein
he died in 1704, and was buried in the Abbey
Church ; and as the Union speedily followed, like
other tenements so long occupied by the old
courtiers in this quarter, the Golfers’ Land became,
as we find it now, the abode of plebeians.
Immediately adjoining the Abbey Court-house
was an old, dilapidated, and gable-ended mansion
of no great height, but of considerable extent,
which was long indicated by oral tradition as the
abode of David Rizzio. It has now given place
to buildings connected with the Free Church of
Scotland. Opposite these still remain some of
the older tenements of this once patrician burgh,
distinguishable by their lofty windows filled in with
small square panes of glass ; and on the south side
of the street, at its very eastern end, a series of
pointed arches along the walls of the Sanctuary
Court-house, alone remain to indicate the venerable
Gothic porch and gate-house of the once famous,
Abbey of Holyrood, beneath which all that was
great and good, and much that was ignoble and
bad have passed and repassed in the days that are
no more.
. This edifice, of which views from the east and
west are still preserved, is supposed to have been
the work of “the good-Abbot Ballantyne,” who
rebuilt the north side of the church in 1490, and
to whom we shall have occasion to refer elsewhere.
His own mansion, or lodging, stood here on the
north side of the street, and the remains of it,
together With the porch, were recklessly destroyed
and removed by the Hereditary Keeper of the
Palace in 1753.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p023.gif "Volume 3 Page 11")
... Dr. Pitcairn, and is referred to in the first
volume of Gilbert Stuart’s Edinburgh Magazine
andRevim ...
Vol. 3 p. 11 (Rel. 0.61)
... IV. became a naval power, so much so,
that we find by a volume culled from the “Archives
of Venice,” by Mr. ...
Vol. 6 p. 274 (Rel. 0.61)
... of the Parliament Close is given in
the second volume of ‘‘ Peter‘s Letters to his ...
Vol. 1 p. 174 (Rel. 0.61)
... of his
contemporaries, has left behind him an interesting
volume of “ Memorials.” Many can yet recall ...
Vol. 2 p. 282 (Rel. 0.6)
![North Bridge.] ADAM BLACK. 339
removal in 1850 to a handsome and more spacious
.one, built in a kind of old Scoto-English style of
.architecture, an the opposite side, and on the site
of a portion of Halkerston’s Wynd, and numbered
as 6 in the street, the establishment of the old and
well-known firm of publishers, Adam and Charles
Black. The former, long a leading citizen, magistrate,
and member of the city, was born in 1784,
.and died on the 24th of January, 1874.
Educated at the High School and University of
his native city Edinburgh, though but the son of a
humble builder, Adam Black raised himself to affluuence,
and is said to have more than once declined
the honour of knighthood. After serving his apprenticeship,
he started in business as a bookseller,
and among other important works brought out the
“ Encyclopzedia Britannica,” under the joint conduct
of Professor Macvey Napier and James
Browne, LL.D.; and to this his own pen contributed
many articles. From the beginning of his
career he took an active part in the politics of the
city, and in the early part of the present century was
among the boldest of the slender band of Liberals
who stood up for burgh reform, as the preliminary
to the great measure of a Parliamentary one.
When the other wel!-known firm of constable
and Co. failed, the publication of The Edinburgh
Revim passed into the hands of Adam Black, and
thus drew the Liberal party more closely by his
side. He was Provost of the city from 1843 to
1848, and filled his trust so much to the satisfaction
of the citizens, that they subscribed to have
his portrait painted to ornament the walls of the
Council Room. He was proprietor, by purchase,
of the copyright of ‘‘ The Waverley Novels,” and
many other works by Sir Walter Scott. It was
when he was beyond his seventieth year that he
was returned to the House of Commons as member
. for the city, in succession to Lord Macaulay ; and
being a member of the Independent body, he
was ever an advocate for unsechrian education,
absolute freedom of trade, and the most complete
toleration in religion; but the cradle of his fortunes
was that little shop which till 1821 was, as
we said, deemed ample enough for the postal
establishment and requirements of all Scotland.
The new buildings along the west side of the
North Bridge, from Princes Street to the first open
arch, were erected between 1817 and 1819, with a
Tange of shops then deemed magnificent, but far
outshone by hundreds erected since in their vicinity,
These buildings are twice the height in rear that
they are to the bridge front, and their erection
intercepted a grand view from Waterloo Place
south-westward to the Castle, and thus roused a
spirited, but, as it eventually proved, futile resistance,
on the part of Cockburn and Cranston, Professor
Playfair, Henry Mackenzie, James Stuart of
Dunearn, and others, who spent about &I,OOO in
the work of opposition.
Their erection led to the demolition of a small
edificed thoroughfare named Ann Street, which
once contained the house of a well-known literary
citizen, John Grieve, who gave free quarters to
James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, when the latter
arrived in Edinburgh in 1810, and published a
little volume of poems entitled “The Forest Mintrel,”
from which he derived no pecuniary benefit.
Poverty was pressing sorely on Hogg, “but,” says
a biographer, “he found kind and steady friends in
Messrs. Grieve and Scott, hatters, whose welltimed
benevolence supplied all his wants.”
While he was still in obscurity, John Grieve
obtained him introductions to Professor Wilson
and other local literati, which ultimately led to his
becoming a contributor to BZackwood’s Magazine.
Mr. Grieve is referred to in the quarrel between
the Shepherd and the Blackwoods concerning the
famous Nocft-s Ambrosiana ’ He ceased to contribute,
whereupon Wilson wrote thus to Grieve on
the subject :-
“If Mr. Hogg puts his return to ‘Maga’ on the
ground that ‘ Maga’ suffers from his absence from
her pages, and that Mr. B. must be very desirous
of his re-assistance, that will be at once a stumblingblock
in the way of settlement ; for Mr. B., whether
rightly or wrongly, will not make, the admission.
No doubt Mr. H.’s articles were often excellent,
and no doubt ‘Noctes’ were very popular, but the
magazine, however much many readers must have
missed Mr. Hogg and the ‘Noctes,’ has been
gradually increasing in sale, and therefore Mr.
B. will never give in to that view of the Subject.
“ Mr. Hogg in his letter to me, and in a long
conversation I had with him in my own house
yesterday after dinner, sticks to his proposaf of LIOO settled on him, on condition of writing,
and becoming again the hero of the ‘Noctes’ as
before. I see many difficulties in the way of such
an arrangement, and I know that Mr. Blackwood
will never agree to it in any shape, for it might
eventually prove degrading and disgraceful to both
parties, appearing to the public to be a bribe given
and taken dishonourably.”
“My father,” adds Mrs. Gordon, whose life of
the Professor we quote, “never wrote another
‘Noctes ’ after the Shepherd‘s death, which took
place in 1835.”
In consequence of tie increase of populatibn
and traffic by its vicinity to the railway termini,](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v2p159.gif "Volume 2 Page 339")
... in Edinburgh in 1810, and published a
little volume of poems entitled “The Forest ...
Vol. 2 p. 339 (Rel. 0.6)
... in Cumberland), to
whom we have referred in our first volume , communicated
to BZwkwood’s Magazine in 1826. ...
Vol. 5 p. 192 (Rel. 0.6)
... a trial, which occupies zoo pages of an
octavo volume (printed for Crawford in the Parlia-
.merit ...
Vol. 2 p. 322 (Rel. 0.6)
... Here it was, that in 1724 he published
the first volume of “The Tea Table Miscellany,”
a collection ...
Vol. 2 p. 210 (Rel. 0.6)
... died in 1741, has already been
referred to in our first volume .
Regarding her family, the following ...
Vol. 5 p. 114 (Rel. 0.59)
... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
The first volume of the ‘‘ Parochial Records ”
begins in January, 1605, ...
Vol. 6 p. 254 (Rel. 0.59)
... it, by the
weight of its downward and concentrated volume ,
to sweep away, or at least diminish, the bar, ...
Vol. 6 p. 271 (Rel. 0.59)
... hours in retirement,
sometimes engaged in the perusal of the
volume , and anon stopping short, ...
Vol. 3 p. 78 (Rel. 0.59)
![I
The Second High School.] JAMES PILLANS. 295
Of the Rector and other teachers we have the
following description by Mr. B. Mackay, M.A., in
Steven’s work :-“ I first saw the High School in
1803. I was then a youth of sixteen, and had come
from Caithness, my native county, with a view to
prosecute the study ofmedicine . . . . . The
first master to whom I was introduced was the celebrated
Dr. Adam. He was sitting at his study
table with ten or twelve large old volumes spread
out before him. He received us with great kindness,
invited me to visit his class, and obligingly
offered to solve any difficulties that might present
themselves in the course of my classical reading,
but held out no prospect of private teaching. His
appearance was that of a fresh, strong, healthy
old man, with an exceedingly benevo!ent countenance.
Raeburn’s portrait of him, hung up in the
school, is an admirable likeness, as well as the
print engraved from it. He wore a short threadbare
spencer, or jacket, which gave him rather a
droll appearance, and, as I then thought, indicated
economical habits. I was successively introduced
to all the other masters, and visited their classes.
The first day I entered Dr. Adam’s class he came
forward to meet me, and said, ‘ Come away, sir !
You will see more done here in an hour than in
any other school in Europe.’ I sat down on one
of the cross benches. The Doctor was calling up
pupils from all parts of it ; taking sometimes the
head, sometimes the foot of the forms ; sometimes
he examined the class downwards from head to
ioot, and sometimes from foot to head. . . . .
The next class I visited was that of Mr. Alexander
Christison, afterwards Professor of Humanity. He
was seated quite erect in his desk, his chin resting
on his thumb, and his fore-finger turned up towards
his temple, and occasionally pressed against his
nose. When we entered he.took no notice of us.
He was giving short sentences in English, and
requiring the boys to turn them extmfore into
Latin, and vary them through all the moods and
tenses, which they did with great readiness and
precision. His class was numerous, but presented
the stillness of death. You might have heard a
pin drop. . . . . . The next master to
whom I was introduced was Mr. Luke Fraser,
whom we found standing on the floor examining
his class. He was, I think, the strongest built man
I ever beheld. He was then old, and wore a
scratch wig. The class, like the rest, was numerous
and in fine order. In changing books, however,
the boys made a little noise, which he checked by
a tremendous stamp on the floor that made both
them and me quake, and enveloped his own legs
in a cloud of dust.’’
During all the years of his rectorship Adam
was contributing from time to time to the classical
literature of the country. The least popular of his
many works is the “Classical Biography,” published
in 1800 ; and the last and most laborious of
his useful compilations was his abridged “ h i c o n
Lingue mine Compendiarium,” 8v0, published in
1805. Through life he had been a hard student
and an early riser. On leaving his class at three
pm., his general walk was round by the then
tree-shaded Grange Loan ; but in earlier years his
favourite ramble was up the green slopes of Arthur’s
Seat. Having been seized in school with an
apoplectic attack, he languished for five days, and
as death was approaching, fancying himself during
the wanderings of his mind, as the light faded
from his eyes, still among his pupils, he said, “But
it grows dud-boys, you may go ! ’’ and instantly
expired, in the 68th year of liis age, on the 18th
December, 1809.
His remains were laid in the gloomy little ground
attached to St. Cuthbert’s chapel of ease, where a
monument was erected to his memory with a Latin
inscription thereon, written by Dr. James Gregory
of the Edinburgh University. He was among the
last who adhered to the old-fashioned dress,
breeches and silk stockings, with knee and shoebuckles
and the queue, though he had relinquished
the use of hair-powder.
A successor was found to him in the person of
Mr. James Pillans, M.A. (the “paltry Pillans” of
Byron’s “ English Bards and Scotch Reviewers ”),
who was elected rector on the 24th of January, 1810.
As one of the Doctor‘s early pu~ils, and ranking next
to Francis Homer, who had borne off the highest
honours, he entered upon his duties with enthusiasm,
and the ardour with which he was received in the hall
of the High School on his a, karance there, augured
well for the future. In 1811 he published a selection
from the school exercises of his best pupils, a
volume, which, excepting imperfections, was most
honourable to the boyish authors, the oldest of
whom had not reached his fifteenth year. A
favourable critique of this unique work-which was
in Latin metre-appeared in the Quarter& Review
from the pen of the then poet laureate, Southey.
To the cultivation of Greek literature great
attention was now paid, and the appearance made
by the pupils at their periodical examinations was
so brilliant, that on the motion of Sir John
Marjoribanks, Bart., the Ldrd Provost, the Town
Council unanimously resolved on the 27th July,
1814, “that there be annually presented by the
City of Edinburgh to the boy at the head of the
Greek class, taught by the Rector of the High](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v4p115.gif "Volume 4 Page 295")
... sitting at his study
table with ten or twelve large old volume s spread
out before him. He received us with great ...
Vol. 4 p. 295 (Rel. 0.59)
![Restalrig.] LHL LA31 UP THE LOGANS. I35 -_7n T I”-
,
sible eyrie, Fast Castle, there to await the orders
of Elizabeth or the other conspirators as to the disposal
of his person.
Logan’s connection with this astounding treason
remained unknown till nine years after his death,
when the correspondence between him and the
Earl of Gowrie was discovered in possession of
Sprott, a notary at Eyemouth, who had stolen
them from a man named John Bain, to whom
they had been entrusted. Sprott was executed,
and Logan’s bones were brought into court to
havea sentence passed upon them, when it was
ordained “that the memorie’and dignitie of the
said umqle Robert Logan be extiiict and abolisheit,”
his arms riven and deleted from all books
of arms and all his goods escheated.
The poor remains of the daring old conspirator,
were then retaken to the church of St. Mary at
Leith and re-interred j and during the alterations
in that edifice, in 1847, a coffin covered with the
richest purple velvet was found in a place where
no interment had taken place for years, and the
bones in it were supposed by antiquaries to be
those of the turbulent Logan, the last laird of
Restalrig.
His lands, in part, with the patronage of South
Leith, were afterwards bestowed upon James
Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino ; but the name still
lingered in Restalrig, as in 1613 we find that
John Logan a portioner there, was fined LI,OOO
for hearing mass at the Netherbow with James of
Jerusalem.
Logan was forfeited in 1609, but his lands had
been lost to him before his death, as Nether Gogar
was purchased from him in I 596, by Andrew Logan
of Coatfield, Restalrig in 1604 by Balmerino, who
was interred, in 1612, in thevaulted mausoleum beside
the church ; “and the English army,’ says
Scotstarvit, “ on their coming to Scotland, in 1650,
expecting to have found treasures in that place,
hearing that lead coffins were there, raised up his
body and threw it on the streets, because they
could get no advantage or money, when they expected
so much.”
In 1633 Charles I. passed through, or near,
Restalrig, on his way to the Lang Gate, prior to
entering the city by the West Port.
William Nisbet of Dirleton was entailed in the
lands of Restalrig in 1725, and after the attainder
and execution of her husband, Arthur Lord Balmerino,
in I 746, his widow-Elizzbeth, daughter
of a Captain Chalmers-constantly resided in the
village, and there she died on the 5th January, 1767.
Other persons of good position dwelt in the
village in those days; among them we may note
’
Sir James Campbell of Aberuehill, many years a
Commissioner of the Customs, who died there 13th
May, 1754, and was buried in the churchyard ; and
in 1764, Lady Katharine Gordon, eldest daughter
of the Earl of Aboyne, whose demise there is
recorded in the first volume of the Edinburgh
Adverhjer.
Lord Alemoor, whose town house was in Niddry’s
Wynd, was resident at Hawkhill, where he died in
1776 ; and five years before that period the village
was the scene of great festal rejoicings, when
Patrick Macdowal of Freugh, fifth Earl of Dumfries,
was married to Miss Peggy Crawford, daughter of
Ronald Crawford, Esq., of Restalng.”
From Peter Williamson’s Directory it appears
that Restalrig was the residence, in 1784, of Alexander
Lockhart, the famous Lord Covington. In
the same year a man named James Tytler, who had
ascended in a balloon from the adjacent Comely
Gardens, had a narrow escape in this quarter. He
was a poor man, who supported himself and his
family by the use of his pen, and he conceived the
idea of going up in a balloon on the Montgolfier
principle ; but finding that he could not carry a firestove
with him, in his desperation and disappointment
he sprang into his car with no other sustaining
power than a common crate used for packing
earthenware; thus his balloon came suddenly
down in the road near Restalrig. For a wonder
Tytler was uninjured; and though he did not
reach a greater altitude than three hundred feet,
nor traverse a greater distance than half a mile, yet
his name must ever be mentioned as that of the
first Briton who ascended with a balloon, and who
was the first man who so ascended in Britain.”
It is impossible to forget that the pretty village,
latterly famous chiefly as a place for tea-gardens
and strawbemy-parties, was, in the middle of the
last century, the scene of some of the privations
of the college life of the fine old Rector Adam of
the High School, author of “Roman Antiquities,”
and other classical works. In 1758 he lodged
there in the house of a Mr. Watson, and afterwards
with a gardener. The latter, says Adam, in some
of his MS. memoranda (quoted by Dr. Steven),
was a Seceder, a very industrious man, who had
family worship punctually morning and evening,
in which I cordially joined, and alternately said
prayers. After breakfast I went to town to attend
my classes and my private pupils. For dinner I
had three small coarse loaves called baps, which I
got for a penny-farthing. As I was now always
dressed in my best clothes, I was ashamed to buy
these from a baker in the street. I therefore went
down to a baker‘s in the middle of a close. I put](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p146.gif "Volume 5 Page 135")
... of Aboyne, whose demise there is
recorded in the first volume of the Edinburgh
Adverhjer.
Lord Alemoor, whose ...
Vol. 5 p. 135 (Rel. 0.59)
![Albany Street.] GENERAL SCOTT. 19=
Gray was ordained his successor to that charge in
1773, but he resigned it ten years afterwards. In
1785 he was appointed joint Professor of Mathematics
in the University of Edinburgh with the
celebrated Adam Ferguson, LL.D., and discharged
the duties of that chair till the death of
his friend Professor Robinson, in 1805, when he
was appointed his successor. Among his works
are “ Elements of Geometry ” published in I 796 ;
“Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the
Earth ” in 1804; ‘‘ Outlines of Natural Philosophy;”
besides many papers to the scientific department
of the Edinburgh &view and to various other
periodicals.
He died at No. 2, Albany Street, in his seventieth
year, on the 20th of July, 1819. An unfinished
‘‘ Memoir of John Clerk of Eldin,” the inventor of
naval tactics, left by him in manuscript, was
published after his death in the ninth volume of
the “ Edinburgh Transactions.” An interesting account
of the character and merits of this illustrious
mathematician, from the pen of Lord Jeffrey,
was inserted in the ‘‘ Encyclopzdia Britannica ”
and in the memoir prefixed to his works by his
nephew, and a noble monument to his memory
is erected on the Calton Hill.
Northwards of the old village of Broughton,
in the beginning of the present century, the land
was partly covered with trees ; a road led fkom it
to Canonmills by Bellevue to Newhaven, while
another road, by the water of Leith, led westward.
In the centre of what are now the Drummond
Place Gardens stood a country house belonging
to the Lord Provost Drummond, and long inhabited
by him ; he feued seven acres from the
Governors of Heriot’s Hospital. The approach to
this house was by an avenue, now covered by West
London Street, and which entered from the north
road to Canonmills.
On the site of that house General Scott of Balcolnie
subsequently built the large square threestoreyed
mansion of Bellevue, afterwards converted
into the Excise Office, and removed when the
Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company
constructed the now disused tunnel from Princes
Street to the foot of Scotland Street.
In 1802 the l a d s of Bellevue were advertised
to be sold “by roup within the Justiciary
Court Roomy for feuing purposes, but years
elapsed before anything was done in the way of
building. In 1823 the papers announce that
‘‘ preparations are making for levelling Bellevue
Gardens and filling up the sand-pits in that
neighbourhood, with a view to finishing Bellevue
Crescent, which will connect the New Town with
Canonmills on one side, as it is already connected
with Stockbridge on the other.”
By that year Drummond Place was nearly completed,
and the south half of Bellevue Crescent
was finished and occupied; St. Mary’s parish church
was founded and finished in 1824 from designs b j
Mr. Thomas Brown, at the cost of A13,ooo for
1,800 hearers. It has a spire of considerable elegance,
168 feet in height.
General Scott, the proprietor of Bellevue, was
one of the most noted gamblers of his time. It
is related of him that being one night at Stapleton’s,
when a messenger brought him tidings that Mrs.
Scott had been delivered of a daughter, he turned
laughingly to the company, and said, “You see,
gentlemen, I must be under the necessity of
doubling my stakes, in order to make a fortune for
this little girl.“ He accordingly played rather
deeper than usual, in consequence of which, after
a fiw hours’ play, he found himself a loser by
A8,ooo. This gave occasion for some of the
company to rally him on his ‘‘ daughter‘s fortune,”
but the general had an equanimity of temper
that nothing could ruffle, and a judgment in play
superior to most gamesters. He replied that he
had still a perfect dependence on the luck of the
night, and to make his words good he played steadily
on, and about seven in the morning, besides
clearing his .&8,000, he brought home A15,ooo.
His eldest daughter, Henrietta, became Duchess
of Portland.
Drummond Place was named after the eminent
George Drummond, son of the Laird of Newton, a
branch of the Perth family, who was no less than
six times Lord Provost of the city, and who died
in 1776, in the eightieth year of his age.
The two most remarkable denizens of this
quarter were Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Hoddam
(previously of 93, Princes Street) and Lord
Robertson.
Among the attractions of Edinburgh during the
bygone half of the present century, and accessible
only to a privileged few, were the residence
and society of the former gentleman. Born of an
ancient Scottish family, and connected in many
ways with the historical associations of his country,
by his reputation as a literary man no less than
by his high Cavalier and Jacobite tenets, Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe was long looked up to as one
of the chief authorities on all questions connected
with Scottish antiquities.
No. 93, Princes Street, the house of Mrs. Sharpe
of Hoddam, was the home of her son till the time
of her death, and there he was visited by Scotc
Thomas Thomson, and those of the next genera](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p203.gif "Volume 3 Page 191")
... in manuscript, was
published after his death in the ninth volume of
the “ Edinburgh Transactions.” An ...
Vol. 3 p. 191 (Rel. 0.59)
... has been referred to in our first volume
The CAPILLAIRE CLUB was one famous in thq
annals ...
Vol. 5 p. 124 (Rel. 0.59)
... Society, the mere description of which would
require a volume to themselves.
In the entire square there are ...
Vol. 3 p. 167 (Rel. 0.59)
... underwent
adventures so strange and remarkable that a
volume would be required to describe them.
Merchiston ...
Vol. 5 p. 38 (Rel. 0.59)
... Hut, in the Horse Wynd.
In 1792 he published the first volume of the
“Philosophy of the Human Mind,” and in ...
Vol. 4 p. 206 (Rel. 0.58)
... on ‘( Judith.” In his eighteenth year
he published a volume entitled Poland and other
Poems,” which ...
Vol. 4 p. 207 (Rel. 0.58)
![Cmigmillar.] CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE. Si
Robert XI., “of the lands of Craigmillar, in Vic
du Edinburgh, whilk William de Capella resigned,
sustennand an archer in the king‘s army.” (Robertson’s
“ Index”)
Under the same monarch, some time after,
another charter was granted, confirming “John de
Capella, keeper of the king’s chapel, in the lands of
Erolly (sic), whilk Simon de Prestoun resigned ; he,
John, performing the same service in the king’s
chapel that his predecessors used to perform for
the third part of Craigmillar.”
The date 1474 above the principal gate probably
refers to some repairs. Four years afterwards,
William, a successor of Sir Simon Preston,
was a member of the parliament which met at
Edinburgh June I, 1478. He had the title .of
Domine de Craigmillar, the residence of his race
for nearly three hundred years.
In 1479 this castle became connected with a
dark and mysterious State tragedy. The Duke
of Albany was accused of conspiring treasonably
with the English against the life of his brother,
James III., but made his escape from Edinburgh
Castle, as related in Volume I. Their younger
brother John, Earl of Mar, was placed a prisoner
in Craigmillar on the same charges. James 111.
did not possess, it was alleged, the true characteristics
of a king in those days. He loved music,
architecture, poetry, and study. “He was ane
man that loved solitude,” says Pitscottie, “and
desired never to hear of warre ”-a desire that the
Scottish noblemen never’ cared to patronise.
Mar, a handsome and gay fellow, “ knew nothing
but nobility.” He was a keen hunter, a sportsman,
and breeder of horses for warlike purposes.
Whether Mar was guilty or not of the treasons which
were alleged against him will never be known, but
certain it is that he never left his captivity alive.
Old annalists say that he chose his own mode 01
death, and had his veins opened in a warm bath
but Drummond, in his “ History of the Jameses,’
says he was seized by fever and delirium in Craig
millar, and was’ removed to the Canongate, wherc
he died in the hands of the king‘s physician, eithei
from a too profuse use of phlebotomy, or from his
having, in a fit of frenzy, torn off the bandages.
In 1517 Balfour records that the young king
James V. was removed from Edinburgh to Craig
millar, and the queen-mother was not permitted tc
see him, in consequence of the pestilence ther
raging. But he resided here frequently. In 1544
it is stated in the “ Diurnal of Occurents ” that thc
fortress was too hastily surrendered to the Englisl
invaders, who sacked and burned it.
By far the most interesting associations of Craig
nillar, like so many other castles in the south of
kotland, are those in which Queen Mary behrs a
)art, as she made it a favourite country retreat.
Within its walls was drawn up by Sir James
Balfour, with unique legal solemnity, the bond of
Dardey’s murder, and there signed by so many
iobles of the first rank, who pledged themselves
o stand by Bothwell with life and limb, in weal or
woe, after its perpetration, which bond of blood the
wily lawyer afterwards destroyed.
Some months after the murder of Rizzio, and
while the grasping and avaricious statesmen of the
!ay were watching the estrangement of Nary and
ier husband, on the 2nd December, 1560, Le
3oc, the French Ambassador, wrote thus to the
4rchbishop of Glasgow :-“ The Queen is for the
xesent at Craigmillar, about a league distant from
.his city. She is in the hands of the physicians,
and I do assure you is not at all well, and do
Jelieve the principal part of her disease to consist
n deep grief and sorrow. Nor does it seem possible
to make her forget the same. Still she repeats
ihese words--‘lcould wish to be dead!”’
Craigmillar narrowly escaped being stained with
the blood of the dissolute Darnley. It would zppear
that when he returned from Glasgow, early in
1567, instead of lodging him in the fatal Kirk-0’-
Field, the first idea of the conspirators was to bring ,
him hither, when it was suggested that his recovery
from his odious disease might be aided by the
sanitary use of a bath--“ an ominous proposal to a
prince, who might remember what tradition stated
to have happened ninety years earlier within the
same walls.”
The vicinity abounds with traditions of the
hapless Mary. Her bed closet is still pointed out ;
and on the east side of the road, at Little France,
a hamlet below the castle walls, wherein some of
her French retinue was quartered, a gigantic
plane-the largest in the Lothians-is to this day
called “ Queen Mary’s Tree,’’ from the unauthenticated
tradition that her own hands planted it, and
as such it has been visited by generations. In
recent storms it was likely to suffer ; and Mr. Gilmour
of Craigmillar, in September, 1881, after consulting
the best authorities, had a portion of the
upper branches sawn off to preserve the rest
In ‘‘ the Douglas wars,” subsequent to the time
when Mary was a captive and exile, Craigmillar
bore its part, especially as a prison ; and terrible
times these were, when towns, villages, and castles
were stormed and pillaged, as if the opposite
factions were inspired by the demon of destruction
-when torture and death were added to military
execution, and the hapless prisoners were hurried](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p070.gif "Volume 5 Page 59")
... made his escape from Edinburgh
Castle, as related in Volume I. Their younger
brother John, Earl of Mar, was ...
Vol. 5 p. 59 (Rel. 0.58)
![Currie.] DR. JAMES ANDERSON. . 335
were appointed to look after the king’s exchequer,
“properties, and casualties,” were named. (“Moyses’
Memoirs.”)
In April, 1598, he witnessed at Stirling the
contract between James VL, Ludovick Stewart,
Duke of Lennox, and Hugh, fifth Earl of Eglinton,
for the marriage of the latter and Gabriella,
sister of the duke.
He is best known in Scottish legal literature by
his treatise ‘‘ De Verborum Significatione,” and the
edition of the ‘‘ Regiam Majestatem,” but Lord
Hailes doubted if his knowledge of Scottish antiquities
was equal to his industry.
In 1607, with reference to the latter work, Sir
James Balfour records in his Annales” that ‘‘ The
ancient Lawes of Scotland, collected by s” John
Skeene, Clerke of Register, on the Lordes of the
Privey Counsall’s recommendation to the King,
by their letters of the 4th of Marche this yeire
wer ordained to be published and printed, on his
Majestie’s charges.”
This work, which was printed in folio at Edinburgh
in 1609, is entitled “ REGIAM MAJESTATEM
SCOTIR;. The auld lawes and constitutions of Scotland,
faithfullie collected furth of the Register, and
other auld authentick Bukes, from the dayes of King
hlalcolme the Second vntill the time of King Jame
the First.” It contains the Quoniam Attachianzentq
or Baron Laws, the Burgh Laws, the Forest Law:
of William the Lion, and many other quaint anc
curious statutes.
His son, Sir James Skene of Curriehill, succeedec
Thomas, Earl of Mehose, as President of thc
Court of Session in 1626. At what time he w;1!
made a baronet of Nova Scotia is unknown, bui
his death as such is thus recorded by Balfour :-
“The 20 of October (1663) deyed s” Jame:
Skeine of Curriehill, Knight and Barronet, Presi
dent of the Colledge of Justice, at his auen houssc
in Edinburghe, and was interred in the Greyfriar:
ther.” Re was buried within the church, when
his tomb was found a few years ago; and tht
house in which he died is that described as bein;
“beside the Grammar School,” within the south
east angle of the Flodden wall, and in after years
the official residence of the Professor of Divinity.
Sir Archibald Johnston (Lord Warriston) wa:
a considerable heritor in the parish of Currie
Maitland (Lord Ravelrig) we have already referrec
to, and also to Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton
“The Scotts of hlalleny, father and son, were like
wise eminent lawyers at the same period, and tht
latter had a seat on the bench,” says the “Olc
Statistical Account” ; but if so, his name does no1
appear in the list of senators at that time.
(“ Eglinton Memorials.”)
.
The late General Thomas Scott of Malleny, who
lied at the age of ninety-six, served on the contilent
of Europe, and in the American War under
.he Marquis of Cornwallis.
He entered the army when a boy, and was a
:aptain in the 53rd Foot in October, 1777. It is
-ecorded of him that he carried some very impor-
:ant despatches in the barrel of his spontoon with
ucess and dexterity, passing through the American
hes in the disguise of aa armed pedler. These
services were recognised by Lord Melbourne, who
gave him a pension without solkitation.
He belonged latterly to the Scots Brigade ; was
t major-general of 1808, and a lieutenant-general
af 1813.
In 1882 his ancient patrimony of Malleny was
purchased by the Earl of Rosebery.
James Anderson, LLD., a miscellaneous writer
of considerable eminence, the son of a farmer, was
born at Hermiston, near Currie, in 1739, “His
ancestors had been farmers,” says the Sots Magazine
for 1809, “and had for several generations
farmed the same land, which circumstance is supposed
to have introduced him to that branch of
knowledge which formed the chief occupation of
his life.”
Among the companions of his youth, born in
the same hamlet, was Dr. James Anderson, who in
the early years of the present century was Physician-
General of the Forces in Madras. They were
related, educated together, and maintained a correspondence
throughout life.
Losing his father at the age of fifteen, he entered
upon the management of his ancestral farm, and
at the same time attended the chemistry class of
Dr. Cullen in the University of Edinburgh, studying
also several collateral branches of science. He
adopted a number of improvements, one of which,
the introduction of a small two-horse plough, was
afterwards so common in Scotland.
Amid his ’ agricultural labours, so great was his
thirst for knowledge, and so steady his application,
that he contrived to acquire a considerable stock
of information; and in 1771, under the nouz de
phme of “ Agricola,” he contributed to Ruddiman’s
Edinburgh Week4 Xagazine a series of “ Essays
on Planting,” which were afterwards published in
a volume. In 1773 he furnished the article
Monsoon” to the first edition of the EmycZopdia
Britannica,. in which, curiously enough, he
confidently predicted the failure of’captain Cook‘s
first expedition in search of a southern polar continent.
Previous to ,1777 he had removed from Hermistop
to a large uncultivated farm, consisting of](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v6p154.gif "Volume 6 Page 335")
... Planting,” which were afterwards published in
a volume . In 1773 he furnished the article
Monsoon” to ...
Vol. 6 p. 335 (Rel. 0.57)
... and wigs.
THE DOCTORS OF FACULTY
CLUB . . . . . . .
In Volume 11. of the “ Mirror Club Papers ” we
find ...
Vol. 5 p. 123 (Rel. 0.57)
... who is so well known for his pleasant and gossiping
volume of ‘‘ Memorials,” and for the deep ...
Vol. 3 p. 174 (Rel. 0.57)
![castle Street.] NUMBER THIRTY-NINE CASTLE STREET. 163
lived for a time James Grant of Corrimony,
advocate, who had his town house in Mylne’s
Court, Lawnmarket, in 1783. This gentleman, the
representative of an old Inverness-shire family,
was born in 1743, in the house of Commony in
Urquhart, his mother being Jean Ogilvie, of the
family of Findlater. His father, Alexander Grant,
was induced by Lord Lovat to join Prince Charles,
and taking part in the battle of Culloden, was
wouiided in the thigh. The cave at Corrimony in
which he hid after the battle, is still pointed out to
tourists. His son was called to the bar in 1767,
and at the time of his death, in 1835, he was the
oldest member of the Faculty of Advocates. Being
early distinguished for his liberal principles, he
numbered among his friends the Hon. Henry
Erskine, Sir James Macintosh, Francis Jeffrey, and
many others eminent for position or attainments;
In 1785 he published his ‘‘ Essays on the Origin of
Society,” Src j in 1813, “Thoughts on the Origin
and Descent of the Gael,” &c: works which, illustrated
as they are by researches into ancient Greek,
Latin, and Celtic literature, show him to have been
a man of erudition, and are valuable contributions
to the early history of the Celtic races.
The next thoroughfare is Castle Street, so called
from its proximity to the fortress. As the houses
spread westward they gradually improved in external
finish and internal decoration. By the French
Revolutionary war, according to the author of
“Old Houses in Edinburgh,” writing in 1824, an
immense accession of inhabitants of a better class
were thrown into.the growing city, All the earlier
buildings of the new town were rubble-work, nnd
so simple were the ideas of the people at that
time, “ that main doors (now so important) were
not at all thought of, and many of the houses in
Princes Street had only common stairs entering
from the Mews Lane behind. But within the last
twenty years a very different taste has arisen, and
the dignity of a front door has become almost
indispensable. The later buildings are, with few
exceptions, of the finest ashlar-work, erected on a
scale of magnificence said to be unequalled ; yet,
it cannot be denied that here and there common
stairs-a nuisance that seems to cling to the very
nature of Edinburgh-have crept in. However,
even that objection has in most cases been got
over by an ingenious contrivance, which renders
them accessible only to the occupants of the various
flats,” it., the crank communicating from eabh,
with the general entrance-door below-a feature
altogether peculiar to Edinburgh and puzzling to
all strangers.
No. I Castle Street, now an hotel, was in 1811
he house of the first Lord Meadowbank, already
.ererred to, who died in 1816. At the same time
:he adjoining front door was occupied by the Hon.
Miss Napier (daughter of Francis; seventh Lord
Napier), who died unmarried in 18zc~. No. 16
,vas the house of Skene of Rubislaw, the bosom
iiend of Sir Walter Scott, and the last survivor of
$e six particdar friends to whom he dedicated
:he respective cantos of “ Marmion.” He possessed
the Bible used by Charles I. on the scaffold, and
which is described by Mr. Roach Smith in his
“ Collectanea Antiqua.” Latterly Mr. Skene took
up his residence at Oxford. pis house is now
legal offices.
About 1810 Lady Pringle of Stitchel occupied
No. 20, at the corner of Rose Street. She was the
daughter of Norman Macleod of Macleod, and
widow of Sir James Pringle, Bar!., a lieutenantcolonel
in the army, who died in 1809. At the
opposite corner lived Mrs. Fraser of Strichen; and
No. 27, now all sub-divided, was the residence of
Robert Reed, architect to the king. No. 37, in
1830, was the house of Sir Duncan Cameron, Bart.,
of Fassifem, brother of the gallant Colonel Cameron
who fell at Quatre Bras, and won a baronetcy for
his family. And now we come to the most important
house in New Edinburgh, No. 39, on the east side
of the northern half of the street, in which
Sir Walter Scott resided for twenty-six years prior
to 1826, and in which the most brilliant of his
works were written and he spent his happiest years,
“from the prime of life to its decline.” He considered
himself, and was considered by those about
him, as amassing a large fortune ; the annual profits
of his novels alone had not been less than A;IO,OOO
for several years. His den, or study, there is thus
described by Lockhart :-“ It had a single Venetian
window, opening on a patch of turf not much
Larger than itself, and the aspect of the place was
sombrous. . . . A dozen volumes or so, needful
for immediate purposes of reference, were placed
close by him on a small movable form. All the
rest were in their proper niches, and wherever a
volume had been lent its room was occupied by a
wooden block of the same size, having a card with
the name of the borrower and date of the lending
tacked on its front . . . The only table wasa
massive piece of furniture which he had constructed
on the model of one at Rokeby, with a desk and all
its appurtenances on either side, that an arnanuensis
might work opposite to him when he chose, with
small tiers of drawers reaching all round to the
floor. The top displayed a goodly array of session
papers, and on the desk below were, besides the
MS. at which he was working, proof-sheets and so](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v3p175.gif "Volume 3 Page 163")
... and the aspect of the place was
sombrous. . . . A dozen volume s or so, needful
for immediate purposes of ...
Vol. 3 p. 163 (Rel. 0.57)
... Peter Williamson,
“from the other world.” In this volume are
“The Echo of the Royal Porch of ...
Vol. 4 p. 250 (Rel. 0.57)
... her sister, who says in her preface thal
the profits of the volume would be dedicated ‘‘ tc
the service of ...
Vol. 4 p. 318 (Rel. 0.57)
... longer in the Greek channg1.a
He was author sf a large quarto volume of singu-
-.
W h d s ‘‘ Memoirs,” ...
Vol. 4 p. 193 (Rel. 0.56)
![Leith Walk.] . REPULSE OF CROMWELL. 1.5 I
direction of Leith Walk, as by charter under thc
Great Seal, dated at Edinburgh, 13thAugust, 1456
King James 11. granted, “preposito, baZZiuis et corn
munitati nosh‘ de Rdinlbuv-gh,” the valley or loa
ground between the well called Craigangilt, on thc
east side (i.e., the Calton Hill), “ and the commor
way and road towards the town of Leith, on tht
west side,” etc.
. But the origin of Leith Loan-or Leith Walk, a:
.we now call it-was purely accidental, and tht
result of the contingencies of war.
In 1650, to repel Cromwell’s attack upon thc
city, Sir Alexander Leslie had the whole Scottish
army skilfully entrenched in rear of a strong breastwork
of earth that lay from north to south between
Edinburgh and Leith. Its right flank was de.
fended by redoubts armed with guns on the green
slope of the Calton Hill ; its left by others on the
eastern portions of Leith and St. ilnthony’s Port,
which enfiladed the line and swept all the open
ground towards Restalrig. In addition to all this,
the walls of the city were everywhere armed with
cannon, and the banners of the trades were displayed
above its gates.
Along the line of this entrenchment Charles II.,
after landing at Leith from Stirling, proceeded on
horseback to the city. His appearance created the
greatest enthusiasm, all the more so that Cromwell’s
arms were seen glittering in the distance. Around
Charles was his Life Guard of Horse, led by the Earl
of Eglinton, magnificently armed and mounted, and
having on their embroidered standards the crown,
sword, and sceptre, with the mottoes Nobis hczc inviita
misemnt, and Pro Religione, Rege, et Patrid.
On Monday, the 24th of July, Cromwell furiously
attacked the entrenchment, as he had been exasperated
by the result of a sortie made by Major
General Montgomery, who at the head of 2,000
Scottish dragoons, had repulsed an advanced
column, and ‘( killed five Colonells and Lieutenant-
Colonells, mortally wounded Lieut.-Gen. Lambert
and five hundred soldiers.” (Balfour.) As the
English advanced, the rising sun shone full upon
the long lines of Scottish helmets glittering above
the rough earthwork, where many a pike was
gleaming and inany a standard waving. Clearing
the rocks and house of Restalrig, they advanced
over the plain westward from Lochend, when the
field batteries atthe Quarry Holes, the guns on Leith
and theCalton,openedon them simultaneously, while
a rolling and incessant fire of musketry ran along
the whole Scottish line from flank to flank, and was
poured in closely and securely from the summit of
the breastwork. They were speedily thrown into
confusion, and fled in considerable disorder, leaving
behind them some pieces of cannon and the ground
strewn with dead and wounded.
Cromwell’s vigorous attack on the southern part
of the city was equally well repulsed, and he then
drew off from it till after his victory at Dunbar.
At this time General Leslie’s head-quarters were
in the village of Broughton, from whence many of
his despatches were dated ; and when the war was
shifted to other quarters, his famous breastwork
became the established footway between the capital
and its seaport.
Midway between these long stood an edifice, of
which no vestige remains-the Rood Chapel, repairs
upon which were paid for by the city in
1554-5. It stood in the vicinity of the Gallow
Lee, a place memorable for a desperate conflict
between the Kingsmen and Queensmen in 1571,
when the motto of “God shaw the Richt,” was
conferred on Captain Crawford, of Jordan Hill, by
the Regent Morton, and whose tombstone is yet
to be seen in the churchyard of Kilbirnie. On
nearly the same ground in 1G04 James Hardie, of
Bounmylnerig, with others, in the month of April,
between nine and ten in the evening, assailed
Jacques de la Berge, a Fleming, forced him to quit
his saddle, and thereafter rypeit him” of gold
and silver, for which Hardie was hanged at the
Cross and his goods forfeited.
Though in 1610 Henrie Anderson, a native of
Stralsund, in Pomerania, obtained a royal patent
for coaches to run between Edinburgh and Leith
at the rate of zd. per passenger, we have no record
of how his speculation succeeded ; nor was it until
1660 that William Woodcock obtained a license
“to fitt and set up ane haickney coatch for the
service of his Majesty’s lieges, betwix Leith and
Edinburgh,” at the rate of 12s. (Scots) per passenger,
if the latter decided to travel alone, but if
three went with him, the charge was to be no more
than 12s. ; and all who came upward to Edinburgh
were to alight at the foot of Leith Wynd, “for the
staynes yr of.”
From that time we hear no more of Leith stages
till 1678, as mentioned in our first volume; but in
1702 a person named Robert Miller obtained permission
to keep four vehicles to ply between the
two towns for nine years. Individual enterprise
having failed to make stages here remunerative,
the magistrates in 1722 granted to a company the
cxclusive right to run coaches on Leith Walk for a
period of twenty-one years, each to hold six passengers,
the fare to be gd. in summer and 4d. in
winter; but this speculation did not seem to pay,
md in 1727 the company raised the fares to 4d.
md 6d. respectively.](images/thumbs/old_new_edin_v5p162.gif "Volume 5 Page 151")
... of Leith stages
till 1678, as mentioned in our first volume ; but in
1702 a person named Robert Miller ...
Vol. 5 p. 151 (Rel. 0.56)
... that the Roman urn was found of which
an engraving will be seen on page 10 of the first
volume of this work. ...
Vol. 5 p. 70 (Rel. 0.55)