L ist of I llu str a tio ns

VOLUM E II

P AG E W S IR ALTER S COTT Fr onti: piece AB B EY STRAND ’ HOLYROOD AND ARTH UR s S EAT TH N V O O CH E A E , H LYR OD APEL W T D O CH ES ERN OORWAY, H LYROOD APEL ’ J EANIE DEANS COTT AGE ’ SYM SON TH P T O S C T E RIN ER S H U E , OWGA E TH F O W IN TH V E L DDEN ALL , E ENNEL TH E POTT ERROW ’ O L D GR EYP RLARS CH URCH ’ MARTYRS MONUMENT ’ H ERTOT S HOSPITAL EDTNE URGH IN T 560 L As S WAD E COTT AGE ' TH E CANONGAT E D URING T H E PROCESSION OF G IV A T 1 822 EORGE , UGUS WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN ALLAN RAMSAY TH UNl V E RS IT Y SO TH B E , U RIDGE

H T AxT TH B OM P . J O N , E RO EDDLER A BELLE AND BEAU List of Illustra tions

P AG R

S S CouNT E s s O E T U ANNA , F GLIN ON L O KA HENRY HOM E , RD MES L ORD NEWTON ’ JOH NNIE D OWI E S TA V ERN JOH NNIE DOWIE WILLIAM CO K E AND J OH N GUTHRIE A MORRI S DAN CER L E E L EWE s M RS . M R . AND

C CH M RS . Y T M R . LIN AND A ES O L D PLAYHOUSE CLOSE ST G TH NORTHW T . ILES FROM E ES GEORGE HERIOT “ TH E O L D TOLB OOTH ( TH E HEART OF MI D ’ LOT H IAN CAPTAINS OF TH E TOWN GUARD GEORGE S MITH AND D EACON WILLIAM BRODIE GREYFRIARS’ CH URCHYARD FACSIMILE OF A PLATE IN A RARE BLACK LETT ER TRAC T ON WITCHCRAFT PRINT ED IN 1 1 E T T NEW E s S C T 59 , N I LED FROM O LAND TH E NEW TOWN OF EDIN B URGH (dia gr a m) RO S E B URN HOUSE PIN KIE HOUSE HAWTHORNDEN HOUSE VALE OF ROSLIN O ld Edinbur gh

Volume I I

CHAPTER I

H OL Y RO OD

T the foot of the Canonga te we

meet , as we go down to Holyrood , a significant arrangement of stones in the causeway the Girth Strand and our step across it brings us within the bounds of the old Sanctuary of the Abb ey of Holy rood . Here upon its frontier in ancient ” times stood the Girth Cross . This bound ary the “ Sanctuary Girth enclosed the Abbey Lands . In ancient times , many a hard-pressed criminal has fled panting over the boundary to claim sanctuary from his vengeful pursuers . Once over the line he was safe . ri This p vilege , however, was confined after the Reformation to impecunious debtors . It is estimated that between and 2 Old Edinburgh persons sought protection from their creditors within the Liberty of Holyrood during a the last two hundred ye rs of its existence . Curious scenes have been witnessed by the ancient dwellings and inns near the Palace gates . Their lodgers were called the Abbey ” an d Lairds , were privileged to cross the bounds of the Sanctuary only between mid On night Saturday , and midnight on Sunday . Many amusin g stories are told of ingenious stratagems by watchful credi tors to capture these gentlemen of fallen fortunes . Some times this wa s accomplished by putting back the hands of the tavern Clock , thus lulling the thirsty victim who was joyously ” moistening his clay , into a false sense of security . Again , a belated fugitive who was being chased hot-foot down the Ca nonga te by the minions of the law , managed to throw himself prostrate across the boundary a s just they clutched him from behind . As in his nobler parts were sanctuary, he was adjudged free . It is also related that the fugitive has sometimes been made the object of a tug-of-war between his friends on one side of the boundary , and the bailies T ABBEY S RAND .

H olyroo d

a on the other, gre tly to his physical di

comfitu r e .

An amusing incident occurred in 1 7 2 .

! , A Mr s . Dilks being a booked inmate of t u e Abbey Sanct ary , one of her creditors form a design of getting possession of her persor e -a t- n He s nt a messenger law , who , planti himself in a tavern within th e privilege its ft ground , but close upon verge , sent

h c the la dy to come and speak with him . S with or obeying, could not reach the house

treading for a few paces beyond the girth , and the messenger ’ s concurrents took th

‘

o or tunit to . h ovs pp y lay hold of her This , wa s rn - ever, too much to be bo e by a fair pla r es ideni loving populace . The very female a tta c kin of the Abbey rose at the news , and

r . h e the pa ty , rescued Mrs Dilks , and bore

back in triumph within the charmed circle . ffi th An o cial , called the Bailie of " H er edita r Abbey , was appointed by the

Keeper of the Palace to keep order , and t administer justice within the Sancta Although imprisonment for debt was abo' ish ed 1 8 8 0 sanctu a r in , the privilege of

still exists . The foundation charter of th 4 Old E dinburgh

Abbey of Holyrood records the right of trial by wager of battle , by water, by red ” hot iron , and other ancient privileges , including the right of girth , or sanctuary , quh ilk privilege has bene inv iolablie Ob s er vit to all maner of per sonis cu mand wythin sa committa nd the bounder afore id , not the c r ymes ex pr e sslie ex c eptit past mem ” orie of man . The crimes excepted were treason and sacrilege .

When David I . founded Holyrood Abbey in I 1 2 8 the picturesque legend from which it derives its name being related elsewhere he granted to its canons quite an extensive h tract of land , which stretc ed between the ’ town and the foot of Arthur s Seat . This was added to by the later monarchs , and at the Reformation the “ Abbey Lands em ’ braced the whole of the present King s Park, Duddin ston from g to Greenside , and from ” Placentia Brae , now the Pleasance, to ” Res a lr i s o t . g The Abbey Lands , called, c an are a regality by themselves , and thus never be entirely merged in the municipality E of dinburgh . As we pass onward from the Strand

H olyrood 5

and gray old Holyrood , the House of ” Kings , confronts us , one who is at all familiar with its history cannot fail to be “ Old impressed . If this romance in stone and lime had but a voice what a story it m could unfold . It could tell us of the sole n

Chanting of the monks , and the sound of the vesper bell . Again , of the Clash of steel , and of the leaping flame which found birth in the torch of the Southron invader . It could speak to us of brilliant festivities , and the magnificence of splendid processions ; of t solemn funeral pomp , and of ghas ly tragedy . So great is the number of memorable events and names associated with this gray old pile, that we cannot look upon it without pro found interest and reverence . The approach to Holyrood from the Ca non a te g has not its former stateliness , and on two sides a poor quarter of the city l presses against these ancient wa ls . But on the other side are free air and th e everlasting hills . The red crags of Salisbury and the seamed sides of the great Arthur ’ s Seat remain unchanged from th e time when David chose here the place to build his 6 Old Edinburgh

M onastery ; and in fact , half the domain remains as he sa w it . Probably no part of the remaining Abbey buildings go back to the time of David I . The Abbey through his munificenc e soon became one of the greatest religious houses in Scotland , and like all monasteries , had many apartments for the accommodation of visitors of every rank . Royalty looked upon it as a favourite place of abode , and it is not the only instance of a conventual building being taken posses sion of by the

King and Court for a res idence . James I . of Scotland was residing in the Blackfriars M onastery at Perth , we remember, when r u l he was so c e ly murdered there . Holyrood to -day is of interes t almost solely on account of its connection with Mary

Stuart . Two portions only of the ancient structure have remained since her time her own apartments , and the ruins of the Chapel Royal but these fragments are full of absorbing interest , and appeal more i strongly to the imag native mind , perhaps , than any other relics of her career . The d panelled audience chamber , which witnesse

H olyrood 7 the stormy interviews with Knox ; the fatal - wa s supper room, where Rizzio stabbed and then dragged from the presence of the terror stricken Queen , and her bedroom , with its lofty ca nopied bed which is still dressed with its decaying finery . These are all pathetic reminders of the youn g and girlish Queen whose unhappy car eer ha s always so appealed to sympathy . The ruined and mutilated nave is all that remains of the once magnificent Old Abbey . The Church of the Holy Rude was cruci in form plan , and had a great central tower rising above the joinin g of th e transepts with the nave and choir, in addition to the western towers . Very few fragments of these parts of the building remain . The Cloisters were on the ea stern side of th e a present Pal ce , and under the flying but tresses of the southern side of the Chapel ca n s ee Royal , we some portions of the

Cloister walk . To obtain the best view of the entire build a ing , we take our stand in front of the gre t western doorway . Over this is a tablet a e I b e HE SHAL L pl c d by Charles inscri d , 8 Old Edinburgh

BU L D ANE US FOR MY NA I HO E ME , AND I WILL STAB LISH T H E THRONE OF HIS K INGDOM FOR EVER : BASILI CAM HANC SEMIRVT AM CAROLUS RE! OPT IMV S IN T NN S AVRAVIT . A O

D 1 6 OM. 3 3 .

1 68 The roof of the nave remained until 7 , when the folly of an architect who in th e course of repair covered it with fia gstones in l place of slates , resulted in its col apse during a heavy December storm . After this final catastrophe in its history of mutilation a nd neglect , nothing was left but the skeleton of the walls , a portion of the west front , and f part of the vaulting of the south aisle . A ter withstanding the assaults of the English s ix invaders for over centuries , the grand Old structure was fated to become a ruin through the mistaken efforts of its pr otec tors . During the fighting centuries which came after the War of Independence , the Church and Abbey were many times ravaged and

E . burnt . dward II . and Richard II made sa d b havoc here , urning the buildings of the

Abbey after fir s t looting their treasures .

H olyrood 9

The walls always rose again , however , when the storm of war had spent its force . Abbot Crawford is said to have done noble work in his restoration of Holyrood at the end of the fifteenth century , and his handi w in i ork is seen the beaut ful doorway , and in the buttresses and arches of the north and south aisles of the nave . In the shattered but beautiful remains of Holyrood Abbey many styles of Gothic are represented , but the parts added by Charles I . and James

VII . are a nondescript attempt at conformity with the earlier work . The Abbey witnessed a strange scene in

1 2 . 4 9 , when King James I and his Queen were at mass on the Feast of St . Aug ustine . The priests suddenly in amazement ceased

- their chanting, as the figure of a half clad man with a drawn sword in his hand appeared wa s before the High Altar . This Donald ,

Lord of the Isles , one of the most powerful of the wild Highland Chieftains He had ’ defied the King s authority , taken arms n agai st him , and burnt the town of Inverness . Holding now his naked sword with point t in owards himself he knelt , and token of 1 0 Old Edinburgh his submission presented it to the astonished

King . Queen Jane in the same year bore twin sons to James in Holyrood Abbey . Seven years later , after her husband was murdered r at Pe th , it was here that the eldest , little

James II . , was crowned in haste . Holyrood witnessed his marriage to Mary Gu eldr es wa s of , and here also he buried r where he had been bo n , crowned , and married . In the Abbey , their son , James

III . , was married to little Margaret of Den mark , who brought as her marriage portion the Shetlands and the Orkneys . The union of the Thistle and the Rose took place i so within its walls , that splend d festival long remembered ; when James IV . wedded

- -Ol the fourteen year d Margaret Tudor .

From the days of Robert the Bruce , the Abbey h a s been the occasional residence of

s I . the Kings of Scotland . Jame , the Poet

King , loved the place , living much in it , a nd to the Second James it was a favoured abode . James III . also spent much of his time here with his fiddling and other diver

Sions . H olyrood 1 1

1 During the Hertford Invasion in 544 . the a ll Abbey buildings were entirely destroyed , that remained being th e northwest wing of the Palace , and the nave , choir , and transepts

. f of the church . Charles I made some ef ort to restore a nd beautify the church of his ancestors in which he was crowned Kin g of

Scotland . To what remained of the ancient l fabric he gave the name of Chapel Roya . s on James , his , gave it over to the use of the Knights of the Order of the Thistle of which order he was the founder, and had it fitted for the Roman ritual . During the Revolution in 1 68 8 the Abbey was attacked by a mob , who , after their work of vandalism was completed , left nothing standing but the bare walls . The monuments and decorations were destroyed , the roof stripped of its lead , and the altar and organ E burnt at the City Cross . ven the Royal O Vault and others were pened and desecrated . The bones of royalty and nobility were f n scattered about most barbarously , the co fi s even being wantonly destroyed , and the head of Darnley stolen . Poor young Queen ’ Magdalene s head , which retained much of 12 Old Edinburgh

- its life like appearance and beauty , was handed about among the rabble . An ex ’ amination of Da r nley s bones at this time revealed the fact that he had been seven feet in height .

Very fortunately , however , some time previously a Commission had by authority opened the vault to find wh o had actually been placed therein . They found the bodies of James V . and his first queen , Magdalene , Of Dame Jane Stewart , Countess Argyll , two coffins without plates and the coffins of two r child en . The embalmed bodies of King

David Bruce , and James II . of Scots , were f probably within the unmarked co fins . Darn ley without doubt was buried in the Royal

Vault , although some historians state that his remains now repose in Westminster Abbey . Wh en Trinity College Church was taken Gu eldr es down , the body of Mary of , its foundress , and wife of James of the Fiery ” Face , was brought to Holyrood and placed in the Royal Vault . n th The only remaini g monument , one to e memory of Alexander of the famous family M lnes of y , who were for many generations H olyrood 1 3

Master Masons to the King , stands on the “ site of the ancient choir . To this worthy ” man and ingenious mason , one of Scot ' land s great architects , is due the restoration t of much of the Palace . Monumen al slabs , ff some with almost e aced inscriptions , many Old of them and quaint , pave the floor of the Chapel Royal and mark the places where repose some of the noblest of Scotland : Dou la se s Gordons , Sinclairs , g , Hamiltons ,

Campbells , and Kerrs . In the passage leading

a from the Chapel to the Pal ce , a flat stone , bearing almost obliterated carving , marks the grave Of Rizzio . Around the walls we read the epitaphs of m many church en and nobles , and in the northwest tower is an imposing altar- tomb to Lord Belhaven , Counsellor to King

Charles , and Master of the Horse to Henry , ” Prince of Wales . A pillar in the south aisle bears a tablet with a Latin inscription in praise of the very doubtful virtues of Adam

Bothwell , Bishop of Orkney , who married w Mary and Both ell ; and here also Mary , dressed in a robe of black velvet , was married at five o ’ clock one Sunday morning in July 1 4 Old Edinburgh to the young and dissipated Lord Da n ley . The Royal Vault is said to have original been near the High Altar in the chance which of course no longer exists . The Blac Rude a relic of the True Cross wh ic th e saintly Queen Margaret left to h . Hi children , was reverently guarded at the g off a s Altar un til E dward I . carried it and g T h it to the great Church of Durham . relic may be regarded as the most pr ob a b source of the name and holiness of the Abbe‘ rather than the mythical story of the Wh i‘ Hart which is common to the history 1 many religious foundations . The western doorway is high-arched a n deeply recessed , the eight detached shaf on either side being tied together midwa e with a band . The capitals are ornament wi1 with leaves and grotesque heads , and the fine flor ia ted and dog-tooth moulding E a r the whole is a good example of the . E nglish style . A row of cherubs on tl architrave supports the five pointed arches the tympanum . The northern tower is an illustration of t]

1 6 Old E dinburgh

As we enter the chapel , bearing in mind the fact that what we now s ee is only the nave of the original church , we realize that the complete structure in its noble proportions must well have merited its title of the

- a s magnificent Abbey Kirk , it was called in the Olden time . The great window which occupied nearly the whole of the eastern end of the church , at once arrests the eye .

2 0 This is feet in width , and 3 4 feet high , being subdivided by four mullions and a

-fifth s transom , while for about two of its length it is filled with quatrefoil tracery .

After the Reformation , the eastern ends of th e aisles were filled in with windows in order that the structure might be used as a

Chapel Royal . The roof of the southern aisle and the pillars still remain , with some fragments of the Clerestory and the arches t of the riforium . The pillars are of the E E grouped arly nglish style , and sculptured heads and foliage adorn the capitals . A — door now built u p a t the western ex tr emity of the southern aisle formerly com uni m ca ted with the Palace . The doorway at the western end of th e H olyrood 1 7 northern aisle is richly ornamented in a style at least z oo years later than its other parts . A small doorway , now built up , may be seen at the back of th e mass of masonry surmounting the Royal Vault . This com mun ica ted with the old Cloisters , and this door with the wall immediately adjoining it are without doubt the most ancient part s of the building . They were built evidently in the closing years of the Romanesque

wa period , for the door y presents the round headed arch with receding orders and — the zig zag and billet mouldings rest on two n w si gle shafts ith a square abacus . In the niches of the lower sta ge of flying buttresses on either side of the building are the arms of Abbot Crawford . ’ a s o- is Queen M ry s Dial , called , in the garden to the west of the Chapel . This w remarkable old horologe , hich in reality I dates from the reign of Charles . , has a separate gnomon on each of the twenty sides of the apex of the pedestal . Queen Mary ’ s Bath still stands near the site of the ancient Water Yett or Water Gate which gu arded the entrance to the 1 8 Old E dinburgh

on a te Burgh of Ca n g . In this quaint] sh aped little building tradition asserts sh was wont to bathe in milk and in whit b u t th e t wine to enhance her charms , . presen of a spring of clear water under the str u ctu r perhaps would suggest that this was th

fluid most often employed . ’ e The house of Rizzio , Queen Mary s secr tary , stood directly opposite the mai entrance to the Palace on the site which i now occupied by the guardhouse . The Fountain in the centre of the Palae Yard is an exact restoration of the m ine fountain which formerly stood in the Quad

wa s er ec te rangle of Holyrood Palace , and by the late Prince Albert . It is an elaborat c piece of work in the Gothic style , and interest from its historical or na menta tior The statuary in the lowest range repres ent the Duke of Sussex , Ida Irondale , and Georg Buchanan stabbing the Duke of Dev onsh ir c E c together with the heads of dward I . E ngland , Shakespeare , Oliver Cromwell an others . The second range shows Ri zzi<

u E E a ' Q een lizabeth , Lady Crawford , the ] of Stair , Queen Mary , Sir John Cope , Isabel H olyrood 1 9

r u of France , and the old town d mmer of

Linlithgow . The third range shows four old

Can onga te heralds . The monastic buildings once covered the gr oun d now occupied by the Palace . The first Palace of Holyr ood wa s built aroun d a great principal inner court and at its back c on joined the Abbey . Other courts were nec ted i with the building , mak ng in all five in number . Its towered and pinnacled front looked upon a great outer courtyard , which separated the Palace groun ds from the edge of the town ; while a wall surrounded the its whole Palace and extensions , stretching to ’ the foot of Arthur s Seat . Within this enclosure were included bea utiful plea s ure gardens and cultivated fields which supplied the dwellers within the walls with fruit and vegetables . During the occupation of the Palace a s a barracks by Cromwell ’ s soldiers it was care s set an d th e le sly on fire , most ancient

portions , built by James III . and James IV . , were destroyed , nothing being left but Queen ’

Mary s apartments and the northwest towers . It is not quite certain when a royal residence 20 Old Edinburgh

was joined to the Abbey , but James IV . however , we learn bigged a palice beside ” ye Abbay of Haly Croce , to which royal h is nest he brought fair young bride , Mar E w n garet of ngland . The north est wi g of O w the Palace , the ldest part hich remains ,

V . was built by James , and contains the rooms in which dwelt Mary , Queen of

Scots . The present palace was built in the reign ’ M ln . e of Charles II by Robert y , the King s

Mason , after plans drawn by Sir William r c on Bruce of Kinross , and the st ucture now sists of the State Apartments , with quad rangle and piazzas . The general style of the is architecture of the Palace French baronial , h the structure being quadrangular in s ape , and enclosing a central cour t 9 5 feet square .

2 1 The main front is 5 feet long , with two towers at either end Of the northern and c ol southern wings . The grand entrance , m um ed and pedimented , and surmounted by is the Royal Arms and Crown , opposite the G uard House . A screen , lower than the rest th e of the facade , connects the entrance with two great flanking towers that complete the H olyrood 21

Palace front . These turreted towers at i in the corners are un form , but one sees s tan tly that th e northwestern one is much the

Older . th e Within Palace , the Picture Gallery

1 0 e 2 a noble space 5 f et long, 4 feet wide , and 2 0 feet high h a s its walls covered with over one hundred repu ted portraits of

u . Scottish Kings , beginning with Ferg s I

0 B . who flourished in the year 3 3 c . These were painted by contract we are almost tempted to say by the mile by a Flemish artist , De Witt , in the last year of the reign h e of t Merry Monarch , who built this addition containing the Picture Gallery . De Witt agreed to furnish canvas and

1 1 0 colors , and to paint in two years portraits for £ 1 2 0 sterling . With these facts in mind the visitor will be duly prepared to admire the industry of the artist , if not his ability . dl sa The portraits , it is almost nee ess to y, ’ are imaginary likenesses . Af ter Hawley s dragoons had been routed by the Young ’ Chevalier s despised Highlanders at Falkirk, they , in revenge , attacked the long line of Scottish Kings , slashing the pictures 22 Old Edinburgh

viciously . The injuries were repaired but the dishonourable scars still remain . Of greater historic and artistic interest th e are curious diptychs at the end of room , believed to represent , on the obverse , James

hi s r III . of Scotland , and Queen , Marga et of Denmark , at their devotions ; on the th e reverse sides are Holy Trinity , and Sir E B oncle dward , Provost of Trinity College u Church , with a fig re representing St . Cecilia seated at an organ , which is said to be a Gu eldr es portrait of Mary of , Queen of

James II . These paintings , supposed to have been originally an altar-piece for Trinity

College Church , were taken by James VI . with everything else he could lay his hands E on to ngland , where they remained until brought back from Hampton Court

Palace in 1 8 57 . In this Picture Gallery during the eventful year of 1 7 4 5 were held th e receptions and balls of Prince Charles

E . dward , as described in Waverley ’ Lord Da r nley s rooms consisting of

Audience Chamber, Bedroom , and Dressing room contain some exquisite specimens r a s of tapest y used as arras , as well some

24 Old Edinburgh

M x i a ent u s . between him and The motto , IN HOC (SIGNO) VINCES appears c om prominently in this piece , while the

A 1 2 panion piece shows the battle . D . 3 where the soldiers of Constantine bear the emblem of the cross on their shields and banners . The best of the pictures in this room are the portraits of James VI . and

' James VII . , Charles II . , and Henry VI . ’ Da r nley s Bedroom has in addition to the fin e arras-tapestry which is much like that in the audience chamber a screen

I . which belonged to Charles , a few articles of ancient furniture , and some pictures . Of these latter , the most notable are Queen

Mary , of Scots ; Lady Reres , her confidante ; Lord Darnley and his brother ; John Knox ; and Queen Mary , consort of William III . The little turret-room on the left which was ’ D a r nle s - y Dressing room , contains nothing of special interest . The portion of the Palace of greatest interest to the visitor , however , is that which c t ontains the apartmen s of Mary , Queen of

Scots . During that period of her career which was so full of dramatic and tragic H olyrood 25

wa s incident , this her almost constant resi sh e dence . Here held her stormy interviews with John Knox , and the private staircase h a s echoed to the tread of Darnley and

- Bothwell ; while in the tiny Supper Room ,

Rizzio was mur dered before her eyes . The private stair to Queen Mary ’ s apart ments leads upward from a little turret th e room on right , and it was by this narrow passage that Rizzio ’ s assassins entered the

Palace on their murderous errand . This staircase is not now open to the public . Queen Mary 's Audience Chamber is of good size and lighted by two windows , while the walls are hung with ancient and faded tapestry . The bed in this apartment , once h a s a magnificent piece of furniture , held in historic occupants . Charles I . slept it during his residence in Holyrood ; the Youn g Chevalier before Prestonpans ; and the Duke of Cumberland the Butcher after

Culloden . In this room Queen Mary had her stormy scenes with that fiery preacher

John Knox , and the blurred old mirror may have reflected his stern form as he assailed the ears of his tearful and angr y sovereign with his harsh admonitions . 26 Old Edinburgh

In the fireplace stands the first grate used th e in Scotland , and room also contains some elaborately carved Chairs and tables of the time of Charles I . Of the pictures , the ” most notable are the Bacchic Festival , ” the Magdalen , and a portrait of the

Regent Moray , which are all valuable . In the panelled compartments of the ceiling appear royal armorial bearings . ’ - Queen Mary s Bed Chamber, with the ancient bed , its once rich crimson damask hangings and dainty finery now faded and

- decayed , her work box , and the pictures which were so familiar to her , are objects of thrilling interest and seem to bring us very near to her personality . In this bed sh e slept on the last night she ever spent in

Holyrood . The diamond and hexagonal-shaped c om pa r tm ents of the panelled ceiling bear

Scottish armorial bearings , while the ancient tapestry on the walls depicts the Fall of ” Phaeton , told in Greek mythology . The t portrai s in this room of Queen Mary , Queen

E . lizabeth and Henry VIII are very valuable . A narrow door leads into the Queen 's H olyrood 27

- Dressing room , a small room hung with faded in th e tapestry , and tiny private supper room at the head of the secret winding

staircase , we come upon the spot where

Rizzio was so savagely murdered . Standing in this cramped little closet-like space which is of greater interest than any other room

in the Palace , it does not require a very vivid imagination to picture the tragedy which

t l- here took place . The gloomy lit le cel like room with its secret entrance seems somehow its to suggest fitness for su ch an event . The blood- stain on the floorin g where the wa s l body found is sti l shown , and the partition which now encloses the spot was ’ is a s o placed , it said , by M ry s orders , that sh u lde while not visible to her , the marks remane a s ane mem or ia ll to quych en and ” confirm her revenge .

Then Mary S tuart brushed aside th e tears that trickling fell ’ ’ ‘ Now for t ‘ ’ my fa her s arm, she said, my woman s t w ’ hear , fare ell .

Holyrood has sheltered also beneath its

roof Louis XVIII . , and the exiled Charles 28 Old Edinburgh

X . of France , while in later years it has been the residence of George IV . , Queen Victoria , E and Prince Albert Victor . King dward

w 1 8 VII . lived here hen in 59 he was studying under the Rector of the Royal High School ,

Dr . Leonard Schmitz . During a fortnight th e in the month of May each year , Palace is occupied by the Lord High Commissioner, who represents the sovereign at the Royal

Assembly .

The Royal Apartments , which are used by the sovereign when residing here , are in the t sou hern wing of the Palace , and are not visible to the public without special order . While Holyrood is seldom now the abode of royalty it still provides b efittingly dignified accommodation .

If there is any place where ghosts walk, it must be in th e ancient and gloomy chambers of this gray old palace . The lover of antiquity should not fail to visit the quaint old mansion -house which lies behind the buildings of Holyrood . This bears the curious Gaelic title of Croft-an Righ - the Kings Croft and is well remember ed a s Cr ofta ngr y in the H olyrood 29

Ca non a te . Chronicles of the g This , as its name indicates , was a former enclosure within the royal demesnes . The ancient tenement near the Palace has its north front ornamented by dormer windows , while the angles of its southern gable are flanked with large round turrets in the castellated style ’ - of James the Sixth s reign . This next door neighbor to the Palace of Holyrood was th e E t the family mansion of arls of Air h , and at one time is said to have been occupied by the Regent Moray . The boundaries of the Queen ’ s Park the royal domain behin d Holyrood are nearly five miles in circuit . A fine road , the ’ Queen s Drive , encircles this area , which geologists say is one of the most interesting spots in the British Isles , showing as it does such striking evidences of volcanic energy . Almost from the Palace gates rise the im E posing Salisbury Crags , named after the arl of Salisbury (husband of the fair Countess ” in whose honour the Order of the Garter

0 was instituted) , which reach a height of 4 5 l feet or more above the level . Stil higher ’ - rises the lion like form of Arthur s Seat , 3 0 Old Edinburgh

is 8 0 which at its top 3 feet above the sea .

Its cone is said to be strongly magnetic .

This rugged bit of nature , with its lakes , and glens , and peaks , might be termed a

Switzerland in miniature . ’ But the region of the Q ueen s Park is of more recent human interest from having been the scene of conspiracies and murders , duels and mutinies , with many other hap enin s set p g , which to forth would take a volume alone . Within its border or about its margin are holy wells and springs , with here and there the fragments of old religious houses .

If the visitor is a good walker , a little tour in this vicinity is full of interest . If weariness has overtaken him or if he feels luxuriously inclined , a drive about the Park will be found t both picturesque and interesting , for his is said to be one of the finest carriage drives in r Europe . A ound about here Scott got much ” a d of his material for the He rt of Mi lothian , w as ill be seen presently . Keeping to the south after leaving the outer gates of the Palace , ten minutes walk will ’ so bring us to St . Leonard s Hill , called from

H olyrood

I a hospital dedicated to St . Leonard ’ t once stood on it . Jeanie Dean s Cot with its stone sea t and garden may b e

its a r r on eastern slope , and near by ” Du mb ied kes s t y , long walls which

Du ' towards Holyrood . The Laird of dykes according to Sir Walter S co

Midlothian flourished hereabout . A further on is the station of the Inn ” s o t Railway , nicknamed from the fac no life has ever been lost thereon . Thi of old the E dinburgh and Dalkeith Rai its cars being drawn by horses long steam was introduced . It is now the pro of the North British Railway . ' From this point we follow the sh rising road which skirts the haunch o ’ leonine form of Arthur s Seat , and a top of the steep ascent , to the left i ’ n - r Hunter s Bog , a favourite hawki g g in ancient days ; in 1 7 4 5 a portion of I Charles Edward ’ s army made their u s nee here . Below in a cottage garden ’ w l 0 Wea r ie lo er road are the Wel s , haunt of disconsolate lovers so often tioned in Sc ottish ballads : 3 2 Old E dinburgh

w Wade in , ade in, my lady fair, Na e m t har sall hee befall, Aft t I w t t imes hae here a ered my s eed, ’ ’ ’ ” Wi the t w Wa er 0 Wea rie s ell .

At the turn of the road a magnificent t view greets our eyes . Immedia ely below is the pretty little village of Du ddings ton with swans and water-fowl picturesquely

th e r its - dotting su face of reed fringed loch , and the square Norman tower of its ancient church rising above the treetops . On the ll th e ch urchyard wa still hang jougs , a a sort of iron collar formerly used to confin e scolds and vagrants as a temporary punish t e - ment . Near h gate is a well pres erved

i -on - loup ng stone , for the convenience of

- stiff jointed lairds in mounting their steeds . Sir Walter Scott was one of the elders of c this chur h , and it is said he wrote several chapters of the Hea rt of Midlothian in the manse garden , while staying at one time with the Rev . John Thomson . To the south rises above the trees the t r a i illa r b e s ately ruin of C grn Castle , while tween us and the distant blue line of the Pent an Moorfoots L a mmer muir s l ds , the , and the , H olyrood 3 3 are the most fair and fertile parts of the

Lothians , and the valleys of the Tyne and t e E k Dun sa ie of h s . Where we pass pp Loch and Hill further onward , is the point from which the ascent of Arthur ’ s Seat may be t e most easily accomplished . If h day is clear this effort will be well repaid by a view which will not soon be forgotten . Af ter rounding the end of the lake the road ’ skirts Whinny Hill and we pass Mu s ch a t s

— 1 2 0 Mu sch a t Cairn , where in 7 Nichol , a dissolute surgeon , cruelly murdered his wife which we remember as the trysting place of Jeanie Deans and Geordie Robertson . It was here that Jeanie hea rd Madge Wild ’ fir e s warning in the darkness :

’ th e th e C o When gled s in blue l ud, The laverock lies still ; ’ the o the woo When h und s in green d , ” The hind keeps th e hill .

’ ’ St . Margaret s Loch and St . Margaret s

Well are passed on our way , the latter reputed to be the Holy Rood Well of mir a cu lous virtues . On the left we pass the Haggis c E Knowe , from whi h Charles dward first Old E dinburgh w the vast crowd assembled to meet him

n . the Park in 1 74 5 . The remai s of St ’ I th ony s Chapel and Hermitage crown the

> e p of this hill , while in the vicinity is the “ ’ all mentioned in Lady Anne B othwell s

Im en t where Lady Anne declares ,

’ S t to l . An n s Well shal be my drink , ’ ” S inc e my true love s f orsaken me .

’ St . Anthony s Chapel is said to have been jlt in 1 4 3 0 and to have been attached to e institution of the Knights Hospitallers of t An hony in Leith . The chapel was of > thic architecture with a square tower forty

= t in height . A light in this tower tended the good monks guided mariners in the r th of Forth at night . ’ We end our journey by the Duke s Walk, named from its having been the favourite unter in g place of the Duke of York , after

i . rds James VII , during his residence at olyr ood . Around the base of the Salisbury ags which rise above us , winds the romantic

I dica l . Road From its highest point , 5 7 5 at - above the sea level , where the road ems almost to overhang the City , there is H olyrood 3 5

’ - E i n interes ting bird s eye view of d nburgh . t wa s from this path that Reuben Butler lW the s un rise after his night in the city ” f ith the Porteous Mob . This road , Sir I l r a ter tells us , was his own favou ite vening and morning resort when engaged i th a favourite author, or new subject of ” mdy. CHAPTER II

AROUND T H E COWGATE AND GRAS S MAR K E T

H E Cowgate wa s in ancient times a simple rural road ” with hedgerows f c om enclosing either side , which a forded mun ica tion between Holyrood and the old ’ Church of St . Cuthbert s . The southern slope of the Cowgate , crowned by the ancient

Blackfriars Monastery, was covered with the beautiful gardens and orchards belonging to this abode of the Dominican monks . Ca non a te wa s Next to the g , the Cowgate th e most fashionable of the streets of the Old w To n , and despite the changes which have so altered its appearance and inhabitants there are still evidences of an interesting historic past . In the time of James III . it was considered an aristocratic suburb , and

1 0 . in 53 , Alexander Alesse , a canon of St “ t w Andrews , wri es of it as a place here r nothing is humble or homely , but eve ything 3 6

3 8 Old Edinburgh the projecting poles which flaunt the dingy washing of its denizens , the Cowgate still retains more of the ancient air of an old E dinburgh Street than ca n be found else where . The stream which in olden times wandered the r u down stic glen still flows , but at some

n . distance u derground This water, by the w way , has peculiar properties hich greatly contribute to the excellence of E dinburgh ale, and a site on the line of flow is eagerly sought by makers of the barley bree . Breweries crowd thick and fast near the foot t e of h Cowgate , and it might be added that many of its denizens evince ample evidence of their deep appreciation of the product . The houses in the Cowgate were mostly

- timber fronted , being thus constructed by reason of the vast supply of oak to be had from the neighbouring dense forest of the B or ou hmuir g , and likewise because this E style of architecture then prevailed in urope . Up to the middle of the eighteenth century these quaint structures , with their projecting open galleries and piazzas , made the Cowgate an extremely picturesque throughfare , greatly T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 3 9 resembling Chester or Nuremberg a s we - n i know them to day . It is u derstood that ts i wa s w 1 60 orig n some here about 4 , when it arose as an aristocratic suburb ; the Old

Town at this time , which consisted of the

High Street alone , being enclosed by a wall . It was to enclose this important suburb that the city wall wa s so hurriedly extended after the battle of Flodden . The Cowgate extends from the northeast corner of the Gr a s sma r ket to the point where the Pleasance so named from the Convent r of St . Ma y of Placentia , which of old stood near this spot joins St . Mary Street , ’ VV nd which in ancient times was St . Mary s y . t Here was the Cowgate Port , a fortified ga e i a t - way l ke that the Nether Bow , and the principal entrance to the city from th e south . During the sixteenth and seventeenth c en tur ies the spikes which fringed its top were seldom without a grisly garnishment of human heads , hands, and quarters , according to the cheerful and humane custom of the wa s times . It through the Cowgate Port that Butler escaped after having unwillin gly wit nessed the lynching of Jock Porteous . The 40 Old E dinburgh

Pleasance wa s in ancient times a suburb which in old deeds is sometimes oddly called ” - Dear enough . 8 Cow a h . te ea d In No g , the windows of which look up Candlemaker Row , there lived

1 . in 7 7 7 a widow named Syme , sister of Dr

. Robertson , the historian To her house a E young nglish gentleman , Henry Brougham of Brougham Hall , went to lodge . He had met with a great sorrow , his intended bride dying suddenly on the eve of their wedding . He had brought letters of introduction to

Robertson , and the latter, not being able personally to entertain him , asked his sister to take him under her roof . The mourning ’ lover no sooner saw Mrs . Syme s daughter than from her extraordinary likeness to his deceased fianc ée he fell in love with her . The f young lady reciprocate d his af ection , the pair were married , and Henry , Lord e E Brougham , Lord Chanc llor of ngland , was born of this un ion . Almost at the entrance to the Cowgate e th e stands the Magdalen Chap l , one of most E remarkable buildings in dinburgh , whose little spire has b een a landmark for over The Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 41

0 3 5 years . Its windows , it is said , have the only fragments of stained glass that survived the Reformation in Scotland . Besides the

Royal Arms of Scotland , surrounded by a u wreath of thistles , and those of the Q een G Regent , Mary of uise , encircled by a wreath of laurel , are the shields of the founder and foundress within ornamental borders . The little chapel contains many objects of great s intere t to the antiquarian , among them being the tomb of the foundress , and a fine t St . Bar holomew in stained glass which dates back to the middle of the sixteenth century . The chapel has undergone little change an d since its erection , its architecture is quaint and archaic . Ar ound the spire are a - a w c nnon shaped gargoyles , e ch ith a ball t stuck in o the muzzle , and these are pro noun ced by authorities to be unique of their type . In the steeple hangs an ancient bell i S L DE O GL bear ng the legend , O I ORIA MICHAEL BURGE RHUYS ME FECIT

ANNO , Below is written , God bles ” H a mme the r rnen of Magdalen Chapel . Over the door of the chapel is the figure of 42 Old Edinburgh an E dinburgh Hammerman of the sixteenth century , with a hammer in his right hand ; clad in doublet and hose and with pointed beard and moustache . The massive oak table on which the headless body of the Earl of Argyll lay after his execution in 1 66 1 is still preserved . After the Reformation the chapel became the meeting-place of the Incorporation of

Hammermen , and here was kept the famous ” E Blue Blanket , the banner of the din ’ burgh Crafts . John Craig , Knox s assistant , preached here in Latin un til he had recovered

u s e . the of his native tongue , which had become unfamiliar to him after his long residence abroad ; and here the National Covenant was prepared for signature in the adjoinin g Greyfriars Churchyard . Niddr At the foot of y Street , which stands ’ nearly on the site of Niddr y s Wynd of many ’ memories , is St . Cecilia s Hall . In this once

1 62 beautiful oval concert room , built in 7 M lne by Robert y , Master Mason , after the model of the great Opera House at Parma , the music-loving élite of E dinburgh gathered E weekly to listen and criticize . An nglish

44 Old E dinburgh

days before the South Bridge existed . Here on the third floor of a house which stood at n t wa s the head of the Wy d , Sir Walter Scot

1 1 1 born August 5 , 7 7 . This house like its neighbours was of plain aspect , and in it for a century and a half many of the professors were wont to reside . The situation is said to have been unhealthful , and Sir Walter used to attribute the early death of several brothers and sisters born before him to this fact . When public improvements finally swept away the house , the elder Scott

2 removed to an airier mansion at No . 5

George Square , where Sir Walter spent his boyhood and youth . Sir Walter once pointed out the site of his birthplace to Robert Chambers during one t of their walks , and men ioned that his father had received a good price for his share of the house when it was taken down for the public convenience . Mr . Chambers jocularly suggested that more money might have been made , and the public much more t ’ gra ified , had Scott s birthplace remained A ” w . a t to be sho n y , y , said Sir Wal er , that is very well ; but I am afraid I should T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 4 5

have required to be dead first , and that would not have been s o comfortable you know . Up this narrow alley when the author of wa s Waverley a baby, Boswell and n Principal Robertson conducted Dr . Joh son ’ to view the Town s College . We have no doubt but that the bearish Samuel at the time was grumbling and making un favourable comments according to his pleas ant custom .

Further east was the High School Wynd , where once stood the Black Friary until it was wrecked by the Reformation mob and its stones used in the bigging of dykes .

Later, here was the Grammar School of the

Burgh with its ancient tower and spire . Hither the school had come from Black ’ n friar s Wy d , to which place it had been brought from Holyrood Abbey . For two centuries it stood in the High School Wynd ; a narrow , turreted building , over the porch

t 1 8 of which was a s one bearing the date 5 7 , and the words MUSI S RE S P UBL ICA F LORET . Some of the teachers and scholars of the original High School, and its 4 6 Old Edinburgh

1 more spacious successor erected in 7 7 7 , have prominent places in the history of learning and literature . The poet Drummond of Hawthornden was taught his letters and no doubt birched in the High School .

Among the old boys were Walter Scott , ff Francis Je rey , and three Lord Chancellors E E i of ngland rsk ne , Loughborough and

Brougham . Henry Mackenzie , author of ” The Man of Feeling , was of an earlier generation when the pupils were expected to present themselves for their Latin exercise s ’ at seven o clock in the morning . The lane called the High School Yards perpetuates the memory of what was once Wa s the playground of the school . This the scene of the games and battles , in which young Walter Scott took so active a part notwithstanding his lameness , while his genius as a story-teller even then gained him fame among his mates . He is said to have made a brighter figure in the Yards than in the class . Among the memories of the place are the bickers , in which Walter Scott took active part , between the High School boys and the gamins of the Cowgate and T he Cowg a te and Gr a ssma r ket 4 7

P otter r ow , who were led by the celebrated ” Green Breeks , a noted fighter . Sir Walter writes that this cognomen was taken from the principal part of his dress being a pair of old green livery breeches . At the head of High School Wynd was ’ “ ” James Brown s Jib House , as the shop was called wherein was made that famous ” r delicacy called jib , so dear to the hea t of c om the school youth . This delectable pound was made of sugar and trea cle boiled together for a certain time and flavou red with cinnamon or ginger , or from little bottles of essences , to suit the taste of the juvenile customer . T h e Parliament or Back Stairs formerly descended into the Cowgate from

Parliament Close . These were the thorough t th e fare daily for thousands , as hey were most convenient means of access to Parlia

Mr s . ment House . The beautiful young

Macfarlane , to whom Pope refers in a letter to Lady Mary Wortley Montague , lived in a wa s house whose entrance on the stairs . T h e n E f death of a you g nglish o ficer, Captain 48 Old Edinburgh

Cayley , at her hands during his attempt at

1 1 6 outrage created a great sensation in 7 . She escaped and foun d a temporary shelter in Swinton House , Berwickshire , in a secret P ev er il room behind a sliding panel . In of the Peak Sir Walter Scott introduces this incident . ’ Tailors Hall , with its lofty gable pierced by a double tier of windows , presents an imposing front to the Cowgate . Over the massive archway is the craft insignia , a

1 6 huge pair of shears , with the date 44 and the legend :

H R VN AL MI G T I E GOD , WH O E OVND E D BVI L T AND C O D ” TH S WARK W TH B L E s I N M AR I T T AB VND . I , I s Gs O O

The quadrangle still shows traces of former stateliness though now used as a brewer ’ s yard . A pediment which surmounts the east wing of the building shows the emblem of

1 6 2 1 the shears again , with the date , and blis in the appeal , God give the g to the ” a z E T il er Craft in the gude toun of dinburgh . Over the entrance to the Tailor ’ s Hall was the inscription : T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ss ma r ket 49

T H E CVM P ANI E OF T AIL ZE OV R S WITHIN TH IS GUD E

TOV N E .

F OR M E I T I NG . OP .T H AI R . CR AP T T H Is . H AL . H E s . E RE CT E D

T R S T . I N G D G D NE T B E . B L I . AN . P R WITH . U o s OO s o sT D o ” T E CT E D .

Within this hall met the 3 00 clergymen 1 6 8 E in February , 3 , to discuss with arls

Loudon , Lindsay and Rothes , the renewal of the National Covenant , which next day the people flocked to sign in Greyfriars t Churchyard . It was also used as he Court house of the Scottish commissioners whom Cromwell appointed for the administration of the forfeited estates of Scottish Royalists .

1 2 1 Later, from 7 7 to 7 53 , the hall was used as a theatre by itinerant players . A moulded doorway of Charles the First ’ s time to the west of this bears the inscription :

. MA NIP TE T H E L O RD W TH M E . H R H o G . . I —J E E R A D M . AND L E T US E ! ALT H I S NAME TOG TH N . O 1 64 1 3 ’

th e This , tradition states , is original residence E of the Carmichaels , afterwards the arls of l Hyndfor d . Here ived also at the end of the seventeenth century , John Damien , an Italian wizard of marvellous powers , according to vague and uncertain report . Where are now the southern piers of George

IV . Bridge stood the massive mansion of E Thomas Hamilton , first arl of Haddington , who in 1 6 1 2 was Secretary of State for Scot land . His master , James VI . , with whom he u n was a prime favo rite, gave him the nick ame ’ ” E of Tam o the Cowgate . The arl had fi risen through high legal of ces to the peerage, and was noted for his great legal acumen and industry . His talent for amassing wealth wa s such , that King James firmly believed ’ ” him to possess the Philosopher s Stone . f Tam did not dispute his belief , but of ered to tell his secret to secure wea lth and success to Kin g and courtiers at a dinner on the morrow . Filled with curiosity they awaited u his important disclos re , which was , Never put off till to -morrow what c a n be done to -day ; never trust to the hand of another c a n what your own do . An anecdote is related that one night after ’ a day s hard work in the public service , the Earl was enjoying himself with a friend over

5 2 Old E dinburgh

’ A younger son of Tam o the Cowgate was popularly known for some reason or other by the nickname of “ Dear Sandie

Hamilton . He was a man of great inge nu it P otter r ow y , and had a foundry in the where he made the cannon used in the first

Covenanting war in 1 63 9 . These were made c on very largely of leather , but withal did i r s de able execution . They were commonly l ’ cal ed Dear Sandie s Stoups (jugs) , and were carried swivel fashion b etween two horses .

Candlemaker Row , one of the most ancient streets in the city , was of old the road which P o r n lead to Bristo and wb u . It was down this way in 1 3 3 5 that a body of the routed t Gu Flemings , wi h y of Namur at their head , fled towards the Castle Rock after B r u hmu ir their defeat on the o o g . On the western side at the foot of the Row ” was the Cunzie Nook , the early Mint , which was afterwards established in Mint

Close . Near here is th e old entrance f ’ to Grey riars Churchyard , and a tablet over the archway originally bore these T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 5 3

RE ME MB E R MA A T HO GO E S B Y N , s U , TH O AR T Now s o O C E W AS 1 As U , N , As 1 AM Now s o SH T T H O B E , AL U ” RE ME MBE R MA TH AT THO M ST D E E . N , U U

At the head of Candlemaker Row where s ee it joins Bristo , we still may the Hall of the ancient Corporation of Candlemakers . We may note also the drinking fountain erected to the memory of Greyfriars ’

Bobby , a small terrier which followed his master to his grave near by , and for twelve years afterwards visited it daily . He died ’ lying stretched upon his master s grave , which by special permission wa s opened that the faithful little creature might be laid beside him he loved so well . The Baroness - th e Burdett Coutts , to commemorate fidelity ” of loyal little Bobby , placed this token . Many and grim are the associations which hover about the great quadrangle of the Gr a s sma r ket , which extends from the West

Bow to the entrance to the West Port . Still picturesque , we can imagine what it must have been when the square wa s lined with timber fronts , quaint peaked and crow stepped gables and dormer windows . Some 54 Old E dinburgh of the houses had projecting turret or turn pike stairs , while from the fronts of others fores tairs boldly advanced into the cause way . These last were favourite points of vantage from which to witness the public so executions that were frequent here . Overhanging this place of sinister renown

' th h u e towers e g mass of the Castle . At the northeast end of the Gr a ss ma r ket was the termination of the West Bow or - s o- Bow foot called , where the public ’ executions took place , and a Saint Andrew s Cross in the pavement still marks the spot where the gibbet reared its dismal shape . Here it was that s o many of the Martyrs of the Covenant , from Guthrie to Renwick, met their fate . With the merest semblance unfor of a trial , or even without it , these tuna te men were condemned to death for their faith , and murdered here by scores . Each execution seemed only to whet th e bloodthirsty ferocity of those Scottish Alvas s of the Killing Times , Lauderdale , Rothe ,

Dalziel , Sharp , Grierson and Claverhouse . Into the Gr a s sm a r ket on the night of

1 6 September 7 , 7 3 , there poured from the T he Cowga te and Gr a ssma r ket 5 5

West Port a vast , surging multitude who bore r among them a sh inking , miserable mortal

- on his way to death by lynch law . By the light of flaring torches the rope wa s fix ed to ’ ’ d ster s a y (dyer s) pole on the south side ,

and there Captain John Porteous was hanged . This wa s the vengeance taken by the E din burgh mob ou one whose fiery and savage temper had caused the ruthless slaughter of

some worthy citizens a short time before . E An dinburgh mob , it may be here remarked , has always been noted a s the fiercest to be u E fo nd in urope . Gr a ss ma r ket The , which commands such

a romantic view of the Castle , was long the t place for the sale of horses and cat le , the custom having been initiated in 1 4 7 7 by the

monks of the Greyfriars Monastery , whose buildings and gardens covered all the ground Gr a s sma r ket B or ou hloc h south of the to the g , or South Loch . This large sheet of water so-called in contra-distinction to the Nor th w wa s Loch on the other side of the to n ,

1 2 2 w drained in 7 , and thus the Meado s came into being . The weekly sale of horses is still held in the h ld h for Ia s not been e ere nearly a cent ury . i t the lower end on the north side is still the Inc ient White Hart Inn mentioned by

e v er a l writers in the sixteenth century , ind even as late as the eighteenth , from it ;tarted the coaches bound to the north or

o h I r t wes t of Scotland . This was the rendez r ous in its day of the West Country gentry i nd of Highland lairds and drovers who z Gr a s sma r ket ame to town , the being their

I ea r est and most convenient terminus . In 1 8 0 3 William and Dorothy Wordsworth put up at the White Hart , and found it " ” ’ cheap and noisy . In Plainstane s Close , at wa s the back of the inn , the Cockpit built for the purpose of that sport . The old Corn E xchange stood on the west side of the s quare .

The Temple Lands , which Scott de scribes a s bearing on their fronts and gables th e iron cross of the Orders of the Templar and Hospitaller Knights who owned them , ” stood not far from the Bow -foot Well nd a the site of the scaffold . The house of G raham of Claverhouse , deadly foe of the The Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 5 7

is n Covenanters , the o ly house of historic interest now remaining . This , now a lodging is house , at the northeastern end of the Grass wa s market . From his window Claverhouse wont to watch the execution of the Cove

‘ a r h n nte s w om he had caught in his toils . It is claimed he wa s not the bloodthirsty fiend represented by some historians , but like grim old General Dalziel thought the ex ec u s o tion of Charles I . great a crime , that death was the only punishment fit for upholders “ n of the principles of the regicides . Bo nie ” Dundee was gr eatly beloved by his own friends . s The We t Port , still a darksome , nar wa row y , leads from the western end of the

- market place , and on the left we climb the ” steep lane called the Vennel . Along the eastern side of this alley ran the City Wall , ” which terminated in the West Port , the chief entrance to the walled city from the west , and somewhat similar in appearance - I t to the Nether Bow Port . ts battlemen ed gateway never lacked the same ghastly n m gar ishment of heads and li bs of traitors , criminals or martyrs . Through this West 5 8 Old Edinburgh

Port Mar y of Guise entered her city for ’

r on . 1 the fi st time St Margaret s Day in 538 .

Here also were received her daughter, Mary , Queen of Scots ; Anne of Denmark ; Charles I . ; and other royal personages . Here we may still see a portion of the old ” Flodden Wall , of which about eighty yards are still intact with one bastion . It may readily be observed that it was built in haste and by unskilled hands , from the character of the material and its clumsy construction . But this was a time of great

w n . stress and sorrow , hen wome and even children helped in this work of prime neces i s t . y The plague was in the city , while the

E nglish enemy threatened without . In 1 8 2 7 and 1 8 2 8 the West Port was the scene of the hideous series of murders c om mitted e by those fiends in human shap ,

William Burke and William Hare , who had ’ their den in Tanner s Close . Outside the “ ” P or t sb ur h - Port lay Wester g , pre emi ’ nentl E y the Trades suburb of Old dinburgh , as the Royal burgh of Ca nonga te outs ide ' th e

- Nether Bow Port was its Court suburbs . E P or t sb ur h With aster g , which was outside

T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ssma r ket 5 9

P otter r ow wa s the Bristo and Gates , it a i its d stinct municipality , having own court , and its own incorporated trades . The King ’ s Stables Road leaves the Grass market at the point where the City Wall met the foot of the Castle Rock . This road derived its name from the Royal Mews , which from the time of Robert II . were situated here . Three hundred feet above us frown the battlements of the Castle , and from the windows of the Banqueting Hall James

IV . often viewed the sports in the joust

- ing ground below . The house of Thomas

Borland , one of the finest old houses in

E - dinburgh , with its picturesque crow stepped gables and dormer windows , long stood in ’ King s Stables Road . Over the fine old wa s F moulded door written , EAR GOD ; N H E K N B HO OUR T I G. T . . ; V . B .

There was also near here in ancient days , a small chapel devoted to the purpose of shriving knights about to engage in c om bat . A little way further along King ’ s Stables ’ Road and we come to St . Cuthbert s or the ha s West Kirk , which a history reaching 60 Old Edinburgh further back into the mists of antiquity E than any other sacred edifice in dinburgh . ’ - - St . Cuthbert s under Castle occupied this site as early as the eighth century , being dedicated to St . Cuthbert , Bishop of Dur 68 ham , who had died in 7 . The present

1 building was erected in 7 7 5 , but was later altered and enlarged . In the churchyard is buried with many distinguished sons of

Scotland , Thomas de Quincey , the Opium ” eater .

Divided by a wall only from St . Cuth bert ’ s graveyard is the cemetery of the ’

E . Scottish piscopal Church of St . John s The church wa s erected in 1 8 1 7 after the ’ model of St . George s Chapel at Windsor .

The genial Dean Ramsay , who compiled a volume of most interesting anecdotes of wa s Scottish life and character , long its incumbent . A Celtic cross stands here as hi s memorial ; and here rest also Sir Henry

Raeburn , the great Scottish painter ; Sir ’ s William Hamilton , one of Scotland s greate t philosophers ; Catherine Sinclair , the novel ist , and many others . It may be of interest to mention that T he Cowga te and Gr a ssma r ket 61

Lothian Road which here joins King ’ s w a s . Stables Road , built in a single day

A gentleman , said to be Sir John Clerk of Penicuik , laid a bet with a friend to the ff e ect that he would , between sunrise and sunset , execute the line of road , extending nearly a mile in length by twenty paces in breadth . This scheme he concerted with address and executed with promptitude . It happened to be the winter season when many ff men were unemployed . He had no di iculty in collecting several hundreds of these on the ground at the appointed time , when he l f gave them all a plentifu break ast of porter, whisky , and bread and cheese , after which , just as the sun rose , he ordered them to set w w to ork , some to tear do n enclosures , others to unroof and demolish cottages , and a considerable portion to bring earth where with to fill up the natural hollow (near the churchyard gate) to the required height .

The inhabitants , dismayed at so vast a force and so summary a mode of procedure , made no resistance . And so active were the was workmen that , before sunset , the road sufficiently formed to allow the bettor to 62 Old Edinburgh drive his carriage triumphantly over which he did amidst the accumulation of

flOCkl great multitude of persons , who from the town witness the issue of tl . to extraordinary undertaking . Behind the Royal Scottish Museum ti Science and Art in Chambers Street ,

: finest of its kind except that in London , m be seen another fragment of the Old Ci a Wall . This is in a narrow alley and is p of the se ction which ran between the c P otter r c Bristo , or Greyfriars , and the

. Sor Ports , the two City exits to the south idea of its thickness may be formed 1 observing how it has been c ut for the windo of the quaint building with which it ingeniously combined . Just within the Bristo Port was t George Inn the Hole-in -the-Wall where Colonel Mannering and Dandie D a C mont put up . Very ne r here stood the r e Darien House , the headquarters of that g Scottish company which was to make untc riches by colonizing the Isthmus of Darien the scheme which brought ruin to so ma r

64 Old E dinburgh

however , was ultimately won by appeal to the House of Lords . It wa s in a lodging in the P otter r ow that the notorious Casket Letters were dis covered if we believe the Regent Morton which gave such fatal evidence against

Queen Mary after the murder of Darnley . They were said to have been smuggled here ' ’ B othwell s from the Castle by Dalgleish , henchman . The two divisions of P otter r ow used to be connected by a small cour t called Alison

Square , and in one of its houses Thomas ” Campbell wrote his Pleasures of Hope . Another house in the square was known as ’ E General s ntry , from having been the residence of General Monk while he was wa s Governor of Scotland . It in this house at a later time that Burns ’ Clarinda lived while she was carrying on the famous corre ” s ondenc v a nder p e with her Syl the poet .

George Square , a short distance away , was once a highly fashionable neighbourhood , and here lived many famous men . At No . 2 wa s 5 the residence of Walter Scott , father s his of Sir Walter, who here pas ed youth and T he Cowga te a nd Gr a ssm a r ket 65

n At - 2 0 t early ma hood . No . lived Timo hy ” k Noc tes Amb r os ia na e wh o Tic ler of the , wa s l in real ife Robert Sym , uncle to Chris ” h r to e . p North Sir Noel Paton , the famous painter, resided at No . 3 3 . His collection rm u fin of arms and a o r, one of the est in the country , is now to be seen in the Royal

Scottish Museum , Chambers Street .

2 wa s e No . 7 George Square the r sidence of

Sir Ralph Abercromby , one of the most d gallant of Scottish sol iers , who fell at

1 8 0 1 Aboukir in . An amusing incident is related about a pet ape of his which he had w taught to wear a sort of uniform , of hich a cocked hat with a feather in it wa s a promi nent part . An ancient maiden lady one day im called at his house , and seeing the an al t t m for the firs ime exclai ed , Oh , Sir Ralph , ’ ’ that will be one 0 these awfu French ’ hi t nkin . prisoners , I m CHAPTER III

OL D GREYFRIARS

‘ HIS remarkably plain edifice ha s no history beyond the year 1 6 1 2 In 1 the New Greyfriars was added to s the older church became too small to

3mmoda te the inh abitants of the parish . 3 spot wa s once the garden of Greyfriars

ra s ter 1 2 I . y , founded about 4 9 by James , n which the church derived its name The church formerly had a spire , but this 1g strangely used for the storage of gun rder s n , was destroyed by an explo io in

8 . I the newer building was placed the fir st — ” an or kist of whistles ever used t a Sco t ish Presbyt erian Church . The

Old Greyfri a rs 67 with eminent men who have preached or i worshi pped within ts walls . The Greyfriars the main entrance of which is almost Opposite the end of George r IV . B idge is undoubtedly one of the most interesting a s well as the most dismal of Its Scottish churchyards . quaint and a smoke encrusted tombs , its many he dstones ” sunk deep in the long rank grass , have been often described . Stevenson says in i its his Picturesque Notes , speak ng of strange medley of associations : Here a window is partly blocked up by di the pe ment of a tomb ; there , where the street partly falls far below the level of the h a s graves , a chimney been trained up the back of a monument , and a red pot looks vulgarly over from behind . A damp smell of the graveyard fin ds its way into houses where workmen sit at meat . Domestic life on a small scale goes on visibly at the win d ows . The very solitude and stillness of th e enclosure , which lies apart from the ’ to ffi wn s tra c , serves to accentuate the contrast . As you walk upon the graves , you see children scatte ring crumbs to feed the 68 Old Edinburgh sparrows ; you hear people singing or washing di shes , or the sound of tears or castiga tion ; the linen on a clothes-pole flaps against funereal sculpture ; or a ca t slips over the lintel and descends on a memorial ” urn . 1 66 About 5 , the Churchyard of St . Giles f and even St . Giles itsel had become so over crowded with the remains of mortality , that w the To n Magistrates , by a charter from n Quee Mary , acquired the Greyfriars Gar

- dens as a burying ground . For the succeed ing two hundred years it wa s here that most of ! the eminent citizens found their final

1 8 resting place , and in December , 7 9 , several tons of human bones which had been gathered its from under the floor of St . Giles during s proce s of restoration , were placed in boxes and buried here under the direction of the city authorities . At this time Dr . William Chambers caused strict search to be made by expert anatomists of the University for the mutilated remains of the Marquis of Montrose

s 1 66 1 buried in St . Gile but no trace of them could be found . During the visita 1 68 tion of the plague in 5 , it is recorded that

7 0 Old Edinburgh

d signed by all the congregation , was hande out to the multitude gathered in the church wa s yard . As it laid upon the flat tombstone n of Boswell of Auchi leck, the crowd surged s excitedly about it to sign their names , ome writing in their own blood . In the Anti ’ ua r ian s q Museum , and in the Advocate

Library , copies of this famous document may be seen . The inscriptions on the stone of Alexander Henderson were ordered by Parliament to d be erased at the Restoration , and it is sai this was done by the bullets of the soldiers , the marks of which are still pointed out .

Near by , in a once splendid but now grimy mausoleum rests Sir George Mackenzie, ’

King s Advocate in the time of persecution , and next to Claverhouse most abhorred by a the Covenan ters . For many ye rs after wards his troubled spirit wa s supposed to haunt this spot . In old days small boys used to prove their daring by marching up to the ponderous doors of his tomb and crying in at the keyhole :

c z co oot Bluidy Ma ken ie, me if ye daur, L t th c w th e if e sne k , and dra bar , ’ MART YR s T MONUMEN .

Old Greyfri a rs 7 1 after which they would scuttle away as if was pursued by hobgoblins . It in this dismal refuge that young James Hay , a boy of sixteen under sentence of death for s ix a burglary , hid for weeks after his esc pe H from the Tolbooth . He had been a er iot

Hospital boy , and many of his mates lived in this neighbourhood . They loyally braved ’ Bluidy Mackenzie s ghost , and secretly fed their sc h oolrna te until a chance favoured hi s escape abroad . ’ The Martyrs Monument , which replaces a s o the original slab , be rs the inscription expressive of the sorrow and bitterness which filled Scottish hea rts during the Killing

Time . It runs thus :

t affen er l t W t ou do Hal p g ake heed ha y fee , to ot f r This mb d h fbew o What fome men did die . ’ Here lies inter r d th e duft of thole who ftood ’ Ga inf t r r efif tin to oo pe jury , g un bl d to the Co ts w Adhering venan and la s , E fta blifhing the fame whic h was th e c a ufe ’ Their lives were fa Cr ifiC d unto th e luft ’ Of P r e la f t t ti ts a bjur d . Though here heir duf L x t w t ot c w ies mi i h murderers , and her re , o uftic e uftl to t urf ue Wh m j , j y, did dea h p ; B ut a s for t no ca uf e was to o n hem , be f u d 7 2 Old Edinburgh

Worthy of death b ut only they were found onf ta nt ftedfa ft z lo witneffin C and , ea us , g For th e Prerogatives of Christ their King ’ ’ Whi c h Tru ths were feal d by famous Guthrie s he ad ’ And all along to Mr. Renwi ck s blood . th e w t of They did endure ra h enemies,

o c to t t i . Repr a hes , rmen s , dea h , and injur es ’ u t t thofe wh o o l c t o ca B t ye hey re fr m u h r ubles me , ’ in w t th e And now triumph glory i h Lamb .

F a th 1 66 1 t t th e moft o rom May 7 , , ha n ble Marquis l wa s to th e 1 th of F 1 668 of Argyl beheaded, 7 ebruary , , t w c fuffer ed w one wa or ot tha Mr J ames Ren i k , ere y her Murdered and D ef tr oye d for th e fame Ca ufe about E igh teen th ousand ; of wh om were ex ec uted a t E din o t a h of N oble men t burgh ab u hundred , Gen lemen,

M inifter s Ot o t for E S S CH R ST . , and hers , n ble Mar yrs J U I ’ f For t c c co t The moi t o them lie here . ( a par i ular a un h of t S f i th e of t e c ause and manner heir u fer ngs , see ’ ’ ’ C o of Witneffes C D o l ud , and ruikshank s and ef e s

H iftor ies . ) The oblong enclosure at the southwest of the churchyard , is the place where over of the Covenanters captured at Bothwell Brig in 1 67 9 were herded together like cattle in the open air during five months of bitter t win er weather . The jails were already filled to overflowing with the adherents of so nf t this cause , these u or unates were hud Old Greyfri a rs 7 3 dled here , where many of them died from cold and exposure . Night and day they were guarded by soldiers who had to answer with their lives if any escaped . Such was their vigilance in consequence , that if a prisoner rose from the ground during th e night he was shot at . Their food was four l ounces of bread daily , with a sma l allowance to of water . They were allowed , however, receive in addition food or clothing brought

- to them by some noble hearted women . n is In this con ection , a romantic story told of an attachment which sprang up between a young Covenanter and a young lady during her daily visits of mercy to Grey friars . He was transported to the Planta tions , but long afterwards managed to make his way back to E dinburgh to his faithf ul

- ' and tender hearted loved one . They were married , and lived happily ever after, leaving behind them many descendants . Of the Covenanters who were shipped to the Plan tations 2 0 , was one body of over 5 who were put on board ship to be sent to the Barbadoes . The vessel wa s wrecked on the Orkney

' iv en no o or ~ Islands , and as they were g pp 4 Old E dinburgh

u e nity to save their lives , all but forty wer r own d . e . Old Greyfriars Churchyard may well be a lled E the Westminster Abbey of dinburgh , or here repose a great number of her eminent ons whose reputations are far beyond being ner el Al y local . Among these are lan Ram a y , author of the Gentle Shepherd ; I enr y Mackenzie , The Man of Feel ’ n g ; George Buchanan , Scotland s greatest

. cholar ; George Jamesone , the Scottish 7 an Dyck ; Allan Ramsay , the younger, por

. rait painter of royalty ; George Heriot , V goldsmith to James . , and father of the ’ ounder of Heriot s Hospital , who was gold w ith and banker to James VI . ; and Prin : Ca r s ta r es n ipal , friend and chaplai of

W . illiam of Orange and minister of St Giles , 1 leading spirit in the Revolution of 68 8 1 .

It is impossible to detail them all , so let t suffi ce to say that among the illustrious lead are Lords President of the Supreme ~ Jour t of Scotland ; Lords of Session ; the nost brilliant lawyers of their time, one

>f - E an them Vice Chancellor of ngland , d

7 6 Old Edinburgh

e Somewhere about here , in a plac r n h e rese ved for common crimi als , the E M corpse of James Douglas , arl of was huddled under ground by nigh' Captain John Porteous of the Town C was here buried . Back of the old ’ e makers Hall , which has degenerat a public-house since the days of illumination , are some quaint epitaphs magistrate of the Old Town reposes b the legend

w T tw c D of I W T i c e reasurer, i e ean Gild ’ T o E dinburgh s fair town and publick c a

Near the entrance to the Heriot ’ s H grounds the father of Sir Walter S f buried . It was in Grey riars that Sir

first fell in love on a rainy Sunday , w offered his umbrella and his escort c or to the fair Miss Stuart . His long however, was fruitless , and it nearly his heart when sh e married Sir I

. Forbes , the eminent banker Old Greyfri a rs 7 7

’ n is Heriot s Hospital , a mag ificent edifice which stands within large and beautiful grounds once included in the Greyf riars ’

n r . Mo aste y and gardens George Heriot ,

' s on o V f . the goldsmith to James , was born

E 1 6 1 8 8 in dinburgh in 5 3 , and in 5 was admitted to the craft , speedily becoming the foremost man in th e trade in E dinburgh . He became appointed goldsmith and jeweller

n . to An e of Denmark , and later to James VI whom he followed to London . There his business in Cornhill became so enormous , that on one occasion by royal proclamation all the Mayors of E ngland were ordered to assist him in procuring workmen at the current rate of wages . i He was twice married , but hav ng lost both wives without issue he left the bulk of his wealth — about a vast sum in those days to be used in the foundation “ of a hospital for the education and up bringing of puir orphans and fatherless children of d eca yit burgesses and freemen

‘ of his native town . So enormously profitable became the original investments , that the large revenues , which far exceeded the 7 8 Old E dinburgh

demands of the Hospital , made it necessary to enlarge the charity of the pious founder ; hence the establishment of the Heriot-Watt

College and School of Art , and the Heriot free schools .

This Hospital , of mixed Gothic design , the wonder of the age in which it was built , Gr a s sma r ket has its architectural front to the , where under the tower is a pillared entrance of quaint design leading to the inner court . The side fronting the thoroughfare to Lauris its ton , having in centre the Gothic windows of the Hospital Chapel , is perhaps the most familiar . The whole building begun in — 1 6 2 8 and not finished until 1 659 forms a quadrangle 1 6 2 feet on each side enclosing r a central court , the outer co ners being embellished with corbelled turrets having cupola roofs and vanes . It is believed that the architect was the celebrated Inigo Jones , but this strangely enough cannot be verified .

At all events , the fine old structure shows its design to have been drawn by no common a nd hand , holds its own with any example of Scottish architecture of the period . Its bold beauty and symmetry are very striking

Old Greyfri a rs 7 9

point of view . A feature of the building is that of its 2 1 3 richly ornamented windows no two are exactly alike . In the time of the Common a it we lth , Cromwell used as a shelter for his

1 8 L una r di troops . In 7 5 Vincent , the his famous aeronaut , made ascent from the Hospital Grounds in presence of eighty CHAPTER IV

CALTON H I LL

F all places for a view , says Steven s on , the Calton Hill is perhaps the c a n s ee best ; since you the Castle , which you ’ lose from the Castle ; and Arthur s Seat , ’ which you lose from Arthur s Seat ; and it may be truly called one of the finest views in

Europe . Calton Hill with its monuments forms a striking termination of the vista eastward along Princes Street , and it may be here interesting to note that the foot of the Hill ’ was once a boundary of the Nor Loch . The hill is crowned by the National Monument , modelled from the Parthenon of Athens , and intended to be a memorial of the gallant deeds of Scotland ’ s sons during the great war with wa s France . The foun da tion stone laid in

1 8 2 2 by George IV . during his historic visit E to dinburgh , but after the completion of the 80

C a lton H ill 8 1

base , and the erection of the twelve columns with the architraves and each block of stone in the twelve columns weighs from ten to fif teen tons the undertaking proved s o enormous that lack of fun ds compelled the abandonment of the idea s o enthusiastically t aken up . It stands unfinished to this day , and probably many future generations will see no addition to it . However, even as it t now appears in its pa hetic incompleteness , it is perhaps sufficiently impressive to fulfill t its purpose . From the Firth of For h , t ravellers say , it appears much like the pres t ent Parthenon , and hus helps to perfect the E similarity between dinburgh and Athens . Turning to the eastward from Waverley t Bridge , passing the Pos Office we enter 1 8 1 s i n ifi Waterloo Place , formed in 5 a g — cant date and cross the Regent Bridge ,

1 1 - opened in 8 9 . On the right hand side we pass the entrance to the Old Calton Grave of yard , one the oldest in the City . Here under a circular mausoleum resembling an ” ancient brough , sleeps David Hume , historian ; David Allan , the Scottish Hogarth , is buried here ; and William Blackwood and 82 Old E dinburgh

Archibald Constable , great publishers and rivals in life , lie quietly almost side by side ; the latter well remembered a s the publisher ’ of Scott s novels . There is also a memorial ” of the representative of Bailie Nicol Jarvie , and in an unmarked grave lies the dust of ’ nd - Burns great crony a fellow lodger, Willie ” ' o Nicol Willie , who brewed a peck maut .

Particularly prominent , two monuments at once arrest the eye ; one a lofty obelisk erected to the memor y of five political Skir v in martyrs Muir , Palmer , , Gerald, — g and Ma r ga r ot who were banished in 1 7 94 for their efforts in the cause of popular free dom . The other monument , erected to

President Abraham Lincoln , owes its origin to the Honourable Wallace Bruce , late United E States Consul in dinburgh , and serves the purposes both of paying a tribute to one of the greatest Americans , and of a memorial of the gallant deeds of Scottish-American s ol e diers who fell in the Civil War . It repres nts a freed slave kneeling on the pedestal , and looking gratefully up to a life-size bronze statue of the great President .

84 Old Edinburgh which they gaze with approving or reproach ful interest . Some Russian cannon captured at Sebastopol are placed at the foot of the monument .

The monument to Dugald Stewart , one ’ of Scotland s greatest philosophers , stands near th e head of the steps leadin g up from Waterloo Place ; further on is a memorial to

Professor John Playfair , the mathematician , which stands at the south—eastern end of the

New Observatory ; the New , together with the Old Observatory built in 1 7 7 6 are un der the charge of the city astronomer .

The Royal High School , a fine example of the Grecian Doric style , which follows even in the smallest details the Athenian Temple

is - of Theseus , at the foot of the south east corner of Calton Hill . On the opposite side of the road from the High School Hall is the monument to Robert Burns , which , although a pretentious Corinthian cyclostyle of twelve columns and a cupola , crowned by ” iffin s winged gr supporting a tripod , fails to please . Near this monument a long flight of steps climbs up from the North Back of the anon a te C g , giving the denizens of that C a lton H ill 8 5 humbler quarter an Opportun ity to ascend to a purer atmosphere . In the New Calton ” Graveyard , a short distance away, the gentle

Dr . John Brown , author of Rab and his ”

ll . Friends , reposes peacefu y ’ h A Lepers Hospital , whic before the Ref or m a tion had been a Carmelite Monastery , stood in olden days on the north -western ll spur of the Hi , and it is here interesting to note that until recently there was in the ff Convent of Carmelites at Rome , an o icial who bore the title of Father of the Priory of ” ’ Greenside . The barbarous rules of the time , r a bo n of fear of the dre d disease , ordered that any of the lepers who strayed beyond bounds , or who , between sunset and sunrise , O l even pened the door, shou d be hanged on the gallows beside the gate .

The Rood of Greenside , where witches and sorcerers were burned at the stake , stood under the Hill in this quarter, where now in the deep hollow we s ee a fores t of chimney pots and many quaint gables . Here were held also on festive occasions , sports , tourna O r r ments , and pen air d amatic pe formances ; vast multitudes witnessing these spectacles 86 Old Edinburgh

from the surrounding heights . Sir David Lyndsay ’ s Pleasant Satyre of the Three E sta its was acted on this spot , until the prelates of the Ancient Church , incensed by the free references to the vices of the clergy , r An forbade its pe formance . d tradition has E t a t it , that here the arl of Bo hwell first tracted the bright eyes of Queen Mary , by gallopin g down the steep hill and leaping his

- horse into the tilting yard . The magnificent panorama from the top of the Hill is worth a journey of many miles to see , and he needs must be a bold man who attempts with either pen or pencil to describe it , for to accomplish this adequately

- well nigh impossible .

o th e o of F ou s aw Y nder sh res ife y , P to B w c L a w Here res n ay and Ber i k , o tw t o And, br ad be een hem r lled t F t th e t ot The gallan ir h eye migh n e , o on its o o flo Wh se islands b s m at, ” L ike emeralds c hased in gold .

c a n On a fine day, one , looking down the e t Firth of Forth , trace the outlin s of bo h its shores a distance of twenty miles , although

88 Old E dinburgh

energy . This imposing mass , one of the most interesting geologically in the British Isles ,

th e Ca non a te rises sheer above the roofs of g , while about its base winds the romantic Radical Road ; favourite morning and eve ning haunt of Sir Walter Scott when mentally m evolving some of his i mortal tales . Perhaps the scene from the southern crest of the Hill —whether viewed by day or night may impress the observer most strongly : the towering houses of Old E din burgh rearing in ragged outline against the sky with the graceful crown of St . Giles in their midst ; and , grim and massive on its crag where it has watched for a thousand years , supreme over all , looms the great

Castle .

Return thither, says Stevenson , on t some clear, dark , moonless night , wi h a ring a n of frost in the air, d only a star or two sparsely in the heavens , and you will find a sight as stimulating as the hoariest summit of ” the Alps . CHAPTER V

’ S I R WA LTER S COTT S ED IN B URGH

H E name of Sir Walter Scott is linked E E for all time with dinburgh . very where there is something to bring him to mind . His beautiful Gothic spire , next to the Castle , makes most appeal to the eye , ’ and his is the name , next to Queen Mary s , that is most often mentioned in connection with the town . 3 Chambers in his inimitable Traditions of E di nburgh gives us a fascinatin g picture of the Old Town as Sir Walter Scott knew it . He says : E dinburgh was at the i l ’ I I . s beg nning of George reign a picturesque ,

- odorous , inconvenient , old fashioned town of about seventy thousand inhabitants . It had no court , no factories , no commerce ; but there was a nest of lawyers in it attending upon the Court of Session ; and a considerable number of the Scotch gentry one of whom 80 9 0 Old E dinburgh passed as rich then with a thousand a year gave it the benefit of their presence during the winter .

Thus the town had lived for some ages , during which political discontent and division had kept the country poor . A stranger approaching the city , seeing it piled close ’ and massy , deep and high a series of towers rising from a palace on the plain to a castle in the air would have thought it . a truly romantic place ; and the impression would not have subsided much on a near him inspection , when he would have found self admitted by a fortified gate through an

an t . cient wall , s ill kept in repair Then he tells of the High Street of which n the tow chiefly consisted, with its massive and lofty houses mi ngled with more lowly but also more interesting structures ; St .

Giles , a huge and irregular but venerable Gothic church with its aerial crown ; and the Castle esplanade, from which could be seen half a score of counties stretching to the E blue Grampians . verywhere in the town wa s a dense population ; the open High

Street one vast market , and throngs of of the four seasons , a sampler , and a portrait of the Marquis of Granby . When the stranger came to mingle in the c on society of the town, however, he might clude that his accommodation compared with that of some of the first people was not s o inferior after a ll . He would have found on going to tea at the house of Mr . Bruce of Kennet country gentleman and lawyer ’ in Forrester s Wynd , that the family lived in a region of profound darkness and mystery at an annual rental of fifteen pounds . Had he got into familiar terms with the worthy lady of the mansion , he might have ascertained that they had just three rooms and a kitchen ; one room , my ’ lady s that is , the kind of parlour he was

n l - sitting in another , a co su ting room for the head of the family ; the third , a bed room . The children with their maid had beds laid down for them at night in their ’ father s room ; the housemaid slept under ’ Sir Wa lter Scott s E dinburgh 93 the kitchen dresser ; and the one man r servant was tu ned at night out of the house . The stranger would have found th e domestic quarters of the tradespeople even more

t . restricted when he visi ed Mr Kerr , a wealthy goldsmith in Parliament Square . Here the living space consisted of two small rooms above his little booth-like shop which clung ’ like a swallow s nest to the wall of St . Giles , while the nursery and kitchen were in a cellar under the level of the street . But while things were on such a homely nev er th e and narrow scale , the town was a not less funny , familiar , compact , and ” its unlikeable place . The College had approach through a narrow alley , the College Wynd ; the churches were chiefly Clustered under one roof , that of St . Giles ; the jail or Tolbooth was a narrow building half fillin t g up the bread h of the street , and the public offices generally were obscure places in n dark arrow closes . The wits and men

t a of let ers , with a proportion of men of r nk , met as clubs in various taverns , to which dark retreats our stranger could have scarcely found his way without a guide . In the 94 Old Edinburgh

Assembly Rooms during the proper season , he would have found a congregation of ladies met for dancing , and whom the t gentlemen joined rather la e , and rather ” merry . The only theatre was a dingy of th a non a resort situated in the depths e C g te . But there was much kindly feeling and hospitality to atone for the discomforts and inconveniences of the Old Town . Aristocrat and plebeian living within the narrow limits of a single close , or even a single house , knew Ac and were interested in each other . qua inta nc es might not only be formed Pyramus - and-Thisbe fashion through party walls , but from window to window , across alleys narrow enough in many cases to allow of hand coming to hand , and even lip to lip .

There was no great elegance , but a great amount of modest sociality . Provokingly comical clubs founded each upon one joke were abundant The ladies had tea- drinking s ix at the primitive hour of , from which they cruised home under the care of a lantern

a t - be ring , pat en shod lass ; or perhaps of a ’ bad night in Saunders Ma cAlpin e s sedan E chair . ach forenoon , for several hours , the

96 Old Edinburgh barrels ; barbers with their hair-dressing materials , and so forth , made up a scene hi perfectly unique , w ch once contemplated was not easily forgotten . It is not difficult to trace the E dinburgh life of the great novelist from door to door . His birthplace in College Wynd where he

n 1 th 1 1 was bor on August 5 , 7 7 , has vanished f wa s it is true , with the Wynd itsel , but this his home only for a short time The other E dinburgh dwellings of the Wizard of the North are still left to us as objects of n interest , and to these shrines of ge ius many a literary pilgrim wends his way . The home of his youth and boyhood stands to-day at 2 5 George Square looking exactly as it did when young Walter Scott lived there . His father , Mr . Walter Scott , writer to the Signet one of the three great divisions into which the Scottish legal profession is separated is described by a s Lockhart a most just , honourable and conscientious man who passed from the cradle to the grave without making an ” enemy or losing a friend . Far from having ’ any prescience of his son s future greatness , ’ Sir Wa lter Scott s Edinburgh 9 7 he once said when young Walter expressed a taste for wandering , flute in hand , like E Goldsmith over urope , I greatly doubt , sir , you were born for nae better than a

- gangrel scrape gut (fiddler) . That the display of any such leaning towards artistic vagabondism should horrify the staid legal mind of the worthy and practical sire , we n ca have no doubt . Here the little lame boy lived and grew up to young manhood . In his early youth a swelling in his ankle which later developed t into a permanent lameness , kep him long confined to the house . This first led to his love of reading , and the acquisition of a great store of knowledge which his retentive memory made afterwards a most valuable possession . He wandered far and wide through the enchanted fields of mediaeval romance , which to his young mind of natural antiquarian bent were fascinating above all others . From the house in George Square young Walter limped back and forth to the High

School , and despite his lameness held his own commendably in the rough sports of his I eua a nd t i w e p a r t i e s y , some mes 1 rage fiercely around aristocratic George re In the High School yard he gained among the boys as a teller of exciting s of the past , and this led to rambles I d wide to the historic spots where these rous things had happened In their rambles the little limping historian i only ask that his fellow pilgrims nmoda te his their pace to , and he would far as they . ’ > tt s youthf ul days were not passed in es s n , for we have abu dant evidence of i dustr y and activity in the pursuit of istory of bygone times which exercised him such a fascination . It appears , ver , that literature was not so engrossing f w w inter ere ith play hours , hich it s were marked by unusual hilarity .

Cumming , their next door neighbour , in to petition the parents that the might not all be flogged at the same

1 00 Old E dinburgh

’ upon the boy , said , You ll be a man yet . Thus briefly met and spoke each other in passing these two great poets of Scotland .

In deference to the wishes of his father, who saw with alarm the spell which trumpery romance and balladry were weaving about the s on mind of his , young Scott began the study of law under the parental eye . He tells how while studying with a friend , William Clerk , for mutual benefit , they arranged alternate ’ early mor ning meetings at each other s ’ houses . Clerk s resolution , however, failed when the time came for him to sever himself from his couch , so Scott says he agreed every morning to go to his house , which was at the extremity of Princes Street , New Town a walk of two miles and beat him up to hi s ’ task before seven o clock . He kept on with the study of law in defer ’ f ence to his father s wish , but far dif erent matters filled his mind during his long f l rambles over Black ord Hil , and the country roundabout . Many were the excursions to historic spots , and many and curious were the ancient tales and traditions beguiled from

- auld wives and moss grown gossips . All ’ Sir Wa lter Scott s E dinburgh 1 01 this lore of the past sank deeply into his eager retentive mind , which absorbed all hungrily and ever asked for more . Thus it came to pass that his brain became a vast storehouse of strange half-forgotten history and curious legends , most of which but for the trend of ni his ge us would undoubtedly have perished . If there ever was an illustration of the man and the hour this was one . Scott at this time is described a s a young t man of many friends , deep en husiasm , and slovenly dress . When Francis afterward Lord Jeff rey called on the young student after Scott had read a paper on Ballads ” at the Speculative Society , he found him in a small den in the sunk floor of his ’ ” father s house surrounded with books . ’ “ ” Lockhart s description of the den is as follows : Walter had soon begun to collect

- - - out of the way things of all sorts . He had more books than shelves ; a small painted e cabin t with Scotch and Roman coins in it , so and forth ; a Claymore , a Lochaber axe given him by old Inv er na hyle mounted guard on a little print of Prince Charlie ; ’ ’ and Broughton s Saucer wa s hooked up 1 02 Old Edinburgh

i wa s against the wall below t . Such the germ of the magnificent library and museum at " Abbotsford . ’ This relic , Broughton s Saucer, was a memento which young Walter had carefully preserved of a scene which took place between his own father and mother the latter said to have been a lady short of stature and ” by no means comely . Her curiosity became excited by the mysterious visits of a person carefully muffied in a mantle who arrived in a sedan chair at a certain hour every evening , and was immediately ushered into her hus ’ band s private room . Feminine inquisitive ness at last could stand it no longer , and one M t night r s . Scott came uninvited in o the room just as the mysterious visitor was on the i point of departing , on the pretext of br nging tea , as their interview had been so prolonged .

The stranger , of distinguished appearance, and richly dressed , bowed , took one of the cups and drank , but her husband , turning n aside , neither dra k his tea nor introduced his guest . As soon as the latter had departed, c u Mr . Scott threw the empty p out of the ’ window , and in reply to the lady s exclama

1 04 Old E dinburgh

His reading for the Bar , while his mind was filled with wondrous tales in the process of Wa nder lus t con evolution , and with the tinu a ll l y ca ling him to the open , was a drudgery which he hated . At last he and his to friend Clerk were called the Bar together ,

th e and together , after dread ordeal was over, they stood about the great hall in imposing array of wigs and gowns . After awhile ’

Scott s humour rose to the occasion , and imitating a servant-lass waiting at the E dinburgh Cross to be hired , he whispered to

Clerk, We hae stood here an hour by the ’ Tron , hinny , and de il a ane has speered oor ’ pr ice . Scott s first fee of any consequence is said to have been spent for a present to

- his mother a silver taper stand . The young advocate for the first few years i w h a d had l ttle professional ork . He plenty of time to drink claret at Fortune ’ s ’ and eat oysters at John s Coffee House . Now and again he had an odd case given him whi ch wa s more ludicrous than lucrative . His maiden effor t as counsel was at a criminal trial at the Jedburgh Assizes , where he was successful in helping a notorious poacher to ’ Sir W a lter Scott s Edinburgh 1 05

wa esca pe punishm ent . When the verdict s t pronounced Scott whispered to his Clien , ’ ’ You re a lucky scoundrel . I m just ’ ” 0 w d th e your mind , ans ere desperado , and ’ I ll send ye a maukin (hare) in the morn , ” man . ’ Scott s most import ant case a s an a dv o cate wa s in th e General Assembly of the

Church of Scotland , when he was counsel for a clergyman accused of drunkenness and immorality . The House was crowded natu

a rally with m ny divines , and forgetting their th e presence as he progressed in his speech , young advocate quoted in a rollicking man ner an indecent and irreverent remark which l it was al eged his client had made . The Assembly immediately concluded that Scott

a was taking unw rrantable libert ies . The leader of the House at once arose , called n him to order, and administered a ster rebuke . The House cheered , and that cheer ’ was the death- knell of Scott s future hopes as an advocate . His sensitive spirit never ff . s got over this rebu He finished his addre s , but in a voice trembling with emotion . Some of his young legal friends in the gallery, 1 06 Old Edinburgh thinking their colleague had been too severely n in treated , gave him a cheer which o ly nf creased the co usion , for they were at once As l turned out . a result Scott not on y lost s his ca e , but his good name as a speaker of taste and judgment . His subsequent career in law amounted to a small practice which came principally ’ 1 through his father s hands . In 7 99 he obtained through the influence of his friend ffi ff the Duke of Buccleuch , the o ce of Sheri of substitute Selkirkshire , with a salary of n c o £3 00 per ann um . This positio was n s ider ed at the Bar to indicate a graceful

1 8 0 6 shelving of the recipient . In he received his appointment a s Clerk of the Court of n Session , which was likewise looked upo as a sinecure . It was humour ously said that to fill the office satisfactorily required no special faculty except the faculty of not sleeping , or of sleeping gracefully in other words not to snore s o a s to disturb the business of the Court . ’ A little story is told of Sir Walter s suc cessor in the clerkship , who in later years wa s somewhat somnolent . One day jus t

1 08 Old Edinburgh

ball in the Assembly Rooms , where gathered the rank and fashion of Edinburgh . Scott could not dance , but he could talk . He afterwards said : It wa s a proud night for me when I first found that a pretty young woman could think it worth her while to sit and talk to me hour after hour in a corner of the ballroom , while all the world were ” capering in our view . The pretty young woman was the same lady of the umbrella .

His long courtship , however , came to nought . di f There were objections , chiefly of f erence in wealth and rank , and when she married l Sir Wil iam Forbes of Pitsligo , Scott says it broke his heart He avoided meeting her wa s for years . Sir William Forbes after wards a true friend to the author of Waver ley during his dark days of financial stress . E di ’ nburgh is Scott s own city , for here his youth was passed and here happened most of the great events in his life . Here were his group of friends . Clerk the original of Darsie Latimer ; Skene of Rub isla w ; ” Adam Fergusson , the merry knight , as

Sir Walter called him ; Thomas Thomson , the ’ Sir Wa lter Scott s Edinburgh 1 09

a nti u a r wi h legal q y , t all the others who loved and admired him . He was not without his Cr a nstoun women friends , for there was Miss , to whom he brought his first poem before f break ast , and who had already been his confidante in his early love aff air . Then there i was his young kinswoman , w fe of Hugh t Sco t of Harden , the first woman of real ” fashion that took him up , he says . In 1 7 9 7 Scott marri ed and brought his pretty little half-French bride to lodgings

1 0 8 t on the second floor at George S reet . tt née This vivacious li le lady , Miss Charlotte t Charpen ier , he had met while on a holiday , becoming at first sight a victim to her charms of person and manner She is described as a brunette of the piquant and dainty order . Lockhart tells us that the landlady wa s greatly shocked at the custom of the young bride in using the best rooms to s it in on ordinary days . It was at this period of his life that Scott took such great interest in the E dinburgh Volunteer Light Horse which he had been instrumental in organi zing when he lived in George Square . They paraded on Por to 1 1 0 Old Edinburgh bello Sands in preparation for the ex; w French invasion . We are told tha

blare of the trumpet , the flashing of and the tramp of the hoofs so excite

e Spirit of the poet , that during the int of drill he composed some of his most st e stanzas . These he would usually rep his friend Skene of Rub isla w on the n home . Between the pretty little pastoral r e at Lasswade still unchanged a nd 0 house in Castle Street , the young lived comf ortably and with simple h ospii wa s on their combined incomes . It at wade that William and Dorothy W worth arrived at the early hour of 1 ” f 1 8 1 0 . break ast , on September 7 th , 3 it was at 3 9 Castle Street that wir workship whence issued so myster i those wonderful tales to delight an astor world that Scott lived and worker - wa twenty eight years . Abbotsford show-place and his pride ; but No wa s his his literary laboratory , where mental stores of ancient lore were c om we with his marvellous fancy , with such ful results .

’ Sir Wa lter Scott s Edinburgh 1 1 1

It wa s here a greater part of his literary

work was done , from the Lay of the Last ” Minstrel to Woodstock . Here he lived

- the life of a sturdy , high spirited Citizen of E t dinburgh , proud of his bir hplace and of

his townsmen . Here his children grew up

around him , and here his friends were wel comed with the gracious hospitality which

made him so beloved . Lord Cockburn says

of him , Scarcely , however , even in his novels wa s he more striking than in society ;

where the halting limp , the burr in the a throat , the he vy cheeks , the high Gold c smith forehead , the unkempt lo ks , and

general plainness of appearance , with the

Scotch accent and stories and sayings , all

graced by gaiety , simplicity and kindness , made a combination most worthy of being ” enjoyed . “ n He was a most extraordi ary being , says Hogg ; how or when he composed his voluminous works no man could tell . When in E dinburgh he wa s bound to the Parlia w s ment House all the forenoon . He never a denied to any living lady or gentleman , poor e or rich , and he never seem d discomposed 1 12 OId Edinburgh when intruded on ; but always good humoured and kind . Many a time have I r been sor y for him , for I have remained in his study in Castle Street in hopes to get a quiet word out of him , and witnessed the l admission of ten intruders forbye myse f . The celebrated first visit of the E ttrick h Shepherd was paid here , w en Hogg , feeling sure that etiquette bade him copy the lady f of the house , comfortably laid himsel out at full length on the sofa opposite hers . n The plebeian poet , with his rustic ma ners , n di ed heartily and drank freely , and by jest , anecdote and song afforded merriment . As f the wine circulated about , the af ection and enthusiasm of the honest Shepherd ” became apparent in the increasing familiarity of his addresses to his host , who first Sir ” " Walter , became Shirra then Scott ,

Wa ttie . Walter , and finally The climax was reached , however , when he ”

r s . addressed M . Scott as Charlotte Another droll scene took place in Sir Walter ’ s town house at the time of George I ’ s . v . visit to the city Among the many visitors who pa id their respects to the great

T h e f amous d i nners a ll t ook place In 3 1 including the informal ones on Sunday n di d his intimates , whe silver shes were pens e d with . These merry gatherings included his e school friend Clerk ; Skene of Rub isla h Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe , the distinguis and eccentric antiquarian , most caustic l tongue , but fond of merriment ; Wil i ’ B ozz ie s Ale Allan , the artist ; son , Sir l c wr e ander Boswell of Auchin e k , who

' Jenny Dang the Weaver ; Sir Alex a nc b es ie Don of Newton , and many others ’ - h e The walls of Scott s dining rooms , both Abb ots r d and at , echoed to the voices

; many whose names are famous , for ma were the pilgrims who came from all com e of the earth to s it at his board and hear h talk . ’ Sir W a lter Scott s Edinburgh 1 1 5

- was Behind the dining room his study,

which , says Lockhart , had a single Venetian window opening on a patch of turf not much

larger than itself , and the aspect of the ” place wa s sombrous . The only table wa s a massive piece of furniture which had been

made for him on the model of one at Rokeby . On either side of it stood a desk with all its

fittings , so that when inclined , amanuenses could relieve him of the manual dr udgery of his literary work . ’ ’ o A g od day s work, from Scott s own

wa s . account , about words Leaving composition out of the question , the mere operation of putting this number of words on paper would occupy at an estimate , seven or eight hours . How trifling besides this output seems the fractional par t which the degenerate sc ribbler of modern times n co siders an ample daily task . But it is a matter of wonder even when we consider the whirlwind pace at which Scott wrote , that he should have been able with his official duties and his social life to a c c om lish se t p the tremendous tasks he for himself . The Opinion has been advanced that Scott 1 1 6 Old Edinburgh

a s Dumas is said to have done sketched his the outlines of works , which were left for h inf er ior hands to finish . This idea as no foundation to sustain it , except that there is reason for believing that James Ballan tyne , his publisher , a man of great literary taste and ability , corrected and polished the manuscript of the Waverley Novels , t which Sir Walter wrote at ligh ning speed .

This , however , does not in any way diminish ’ wa s Scott s fame and genius . His alone the brain which could conceive those master pieces . The literary den a t Castle Street is further described a s having its walls lined

r with books , there being no space for pictu es wa s except one . This an original portrait of Claverhouse Bonnie Dundee which hung over the chimney-piece ; having at either side a Highland target , or shield , with broadswords and dirks each with its own

- history arranged star fashion about them .

By means of a ladder , low , broad , well carpeted and guarded with oaken rails , the great author reached the books on the higher u shelves . Before opening one , he caref lly

1 1 8 Old E dinburgh tells of the hand whi ch never paused ; h ow it threw page after page on the r a pidlj growing pile of manuscript and still kept o: ’ unwearied . This was the master s h a m writing Waverley for the delight of hi

I t ' wa s own and future generations . in thi ’ 1 81 8 f same study , in , that Scott s great sel control and courage saved his life from th

. n e attack of a madman This man , ame

n liter a r I Webber , had bee befriended in a

i way by Scott , but in a fit of temporar insanity conceived a murderous hatred to wards his benefactor . He suddenly appearer ins istee before him armed with pistols , and w on a duel in the room . Sir Walter ca lml suggested that such a proceeding woule r disturb the ladies of the family, and propose

h e that they dine first . Then locking up t

o th i pistols , he coolly to k the lunatic to

- dining room , and there while they diner with the unsuspecting family , Scott sen for the friends of the unfortunate man . There was never s o close a c onnec tior between literature and the Scottish Bar a at the end of the eighteenth and beginning r of the nineteenth centu ies , but the othe ’ Sir Wa lte r Scott s Edinburgh 1 1 9

men of letters became dwarfed when c om pared with the great intellect of Sir Walter c a n Scott . In Parliament House we still see the table at which he sat with kindly face recording carefully the decisions of wa s the First Division . Much of his time

spent in Parliament House , for after his ff o icial duties were over for the day , were fill there not the vaults below , ed with rich treasure in the shape of ancient parchments covered with dust and mold ! is The old proverb , Truth stranger than " ’ fiction , was the secret of Scott s magical spell . He searched for years among the ancient Scottish literature , old ballads and e black lett r writings , to which was added much he obtained from the lips of human t documents which had o herwise been lost . Thus we get in his fascinating pages the quintessence of this ancient lore , mingled with the fancies no one but he could weave . Well may it be said that some of Scott ’ s romances can be compared , with their quaint figures and richness of colouring , to splendid mediaeval tapestry . Sir Walter may have actually composed 1 20 Old Edinburgh part of the Waverley Novels amid the judicial atmosphere of Parliament House . At all events , he had the pleasure of hearing them H . er ma nd quoted from the bench Judge , who is elsewhere spoken of as one of the old school of Scottish lawyers , was completely f ” in atuated with the Novels . Lockhart says that for weeks after Guy Mann ering i came out , the old judge talked from morn ng Ple dell till night about y , Dandie Dinmont ” and the high jinks . One morning in court he even lugged the subject in bodily in the middle of some dry legal speech , and in Spite of all the objections of his brethren , read aloud a whole passage for their edifica tion . Throughout this scene Sir Walter Scott then the Great Unknown was in his official capacity seated close to the old judge . It was during the great novelist ’ s life that ’ the Old Town of Queen Mar y s time became merged in modern E dinburgh . First came some fashionable squares south of the Cow gate ; then , when easy communication with the northern suburbs came about by means of the North Bridge and the Mound , the

1 22 Old E dinburgh

’ his daughter s arm , his own trembling

I excitement , and speaking not a word way . In nei hb ou Brown Square , near the g of his birthplace , in the fine mansi Lord Glenlee (now the Dental Hospita author of R edga untlet located the

e fords . From this stately dwelling issu fair Lady Green Mantle with the of her silken farthingale ; her hood c e tishl ez y adjusted , and a faint odour of luce about her . We remember also from this same door the maudlin Peebles was handed by worthy James

c a d l kinson to the grinning Dugald , the

r k The L a wnm a et and St . Giles bri mind the Heart of Midlothian an 8 Porteous Mob , while Parliament and Parliament House , witnessed for years Sir Walter ’ s familiar form b hobbling back and forth under the s f of St . Giles . Near here also was the workshop of Jingling Geordie 0‘ ” a Fortunes of Nigel , who made the fire of bank-notes for the e difica tion impecunious patron King James VI . ’ Sir W a lter S cott s Edinburgh 1 23

e Off In Covenant Clos the High Street , ’ wa s Nanty Ewart s lodging on the sixth Red a untlet r e floor . Readers of g will member how Nanty in crossing the Solway Firth gives Allan Fair ford a bit of

personal history . He thought his father had been wiser if he had kept him at home than to send him at nineteen to study divinity a t th e head of the highest stair in Covenant wa s Close . It a cursed mistake in the old ’ wa s gentleman . In Writers Court the famous tavern mentioned in Guy Manner ” ’ ing . Craig s Close , Close by , was visited m al ost daily by Sir Walter , when Constable wa s printing here the first edition of the W Waverley Novels , hile among the historical Ca non a te associations of the g , Scott was never weary of lingering .

1 8 1 8 wa s - In , when Scott forty seven , Lock hart says in speaking of this time : At this a ll moment his position , take it for in all , wa s , I am inclined to believe , what no other man had won for himself by the pen alone . His works were the daily food not only of E his countrymen , but of all educated urope . His society wa s courted by whatever England 1 24 Old Edinburgh

could show of eminence . Station , power, i wealth , beauty , and gen us , strove with each other in every demonstration of respect and worship . Whenever he appeared in w to n or country , whoever had Scotch blood ’ in him , gentle or simple , felt it move more rapidly through his veins when he wa s ” in the presence of Scott . Lockhart further says : descending to what many looked on as higher things , ’ Scott s annual profits for several years from his novels alone had been not less than His Castle of Abbotsford was assuming form , and few doubted that ere long he might receive from the just favour n of his Prince , some distinctio in the way of external rank such as had seldom before been dreamt of as the possible consequences ” of mere literary celebrity . When the Prince

Regent became King , the distinction came , and in 1 8 2 0 Scott went to London to receive E the baronetcy conf erred upon him . din burgh in addition showered honours on her favourite son , and he became President of the Royal Society , Professor of Ancient

History to the Royal Scottish Academy , and

1 26 Old Edinburgh

to keep the glass , which he deposited in his coat-tail pocket and went back to Castle Street carefully holding the skirt of his coat before him . But his precious relic was doomed , for on arriving home he found

Crabbe , the poet , waiting to greet him , and Scott in the warmth of his hospitality for got all else temporarily . He sat down beside e Crabb , and the historic glass was no more . Great was the reception given to George

IV . , and Sir Walter was at the head and front of ever ything . He was with the King at the levees at Holyrood , at St . Giles on Sunday at the special performance of Rob Roy given by Murray ’ s company at the Theatre

Royal , and at the great banquet to the King at Parliament House It was Scott who arranged the splendid procession from Holy rood to the Castle to represent the ancient ” Riding of the Parliament , and as he stood with the pleased monarch on the King ’ s Bastion he made the earnest reques t tha t ” n the old Scottish ational relic Mons Meg , h e then in the Tower of London , returned to her former place on the Citadel . T H E CANO NGAT E DURING T H E PROCESSION O F GEORGE I v T 2 2 D 1 8 2 2 H T , AUGUS , , S OWING CANO NGAT E OL

BOOTH .

128 Old Edinburgh

His proud nature would accept no help . ” a ll wa s his This right hand shall pay it , answer to every one , and he kept his word at hi the cost of s life . He simply worked him self to death to pay his debts . How much he was attached to his home is shown by the entry in his diary two months la ter March

1 1 8 2 6 . 5 , This morning I left No 3 9 Castle

Street for the last time . The cabin wa s convenient and habit made it agreeable to me so farewell poor No . 3 9 . What a portion of my life has been spent there ! It has sheltered me from the prime of my life

its - to decline , and now I must bid good bye ” to it . At a public dinner given in the Assembly

1 8 2 Rooms in George Street in February , 7 , in aid of the Theatrical Fund , Sir Walter

Scott occupied the chair , and the occasion was made memorable by his public avowal that he alone was the author of The Wa ” verley Novels . While heroically working , ” a s no longer the Great Unknown , to pay as his v t indebtedness , Sir Walter first took 6 shabby lodgings , all alone , at No . North

St . David Street . Next day there, as if ’ Sir W a lter Scott s E dinburgh 1 29

fate had not used him harshly enough , he ’ heard of his wife s death at Abbotsford . t Next winter , he lived alone wi h his youngest daughter in a furnished house at 6 No . 3 Walker Street , and finally at Shand t E wick Place , his las fixed residence in din

a - burgh . As white haired , feeble old man he was often seen slowly limping along, leaning on the arm of the gray-plaided E ttrick

-ih Shepherd , or that of Lockhart , his son 6 law . In Athole Crescent No . the house of Cadell , his publisher , he stayed for a few days , and made his will before starting on the voyage to Italy . When he came home from this last sad journey to die at his beloved Abbotsford , his last night in his ” own romantic town wa s passed consciousness at the old Douglas Hotel , then the chief hostelry of the New Town , in

St . Andrew Square . In Dr yb ur gh Abbey the simple inscription ’ shows us the last res ting-place of E dinburgh s most beloved and illustrious son : Sir

d 2 1 Walter Scott , Baronet , ied September ,

A . D . His name will ever stand in glowing letters on the pages of Scotland ’ s h istory . CHAPTER VI

LITERA RY ED IN B URGH AND T H E U NI VE R S I T ‘

H E minstrels and troubadours who ll early times were numerous about th E n th Courts of urope , were not unknow at

: Courts of Scottish kings , in contradictio to the statements of some early writers wh r contended that Scotland was a wilder nes s ll peopled by barbarians . Dr . Dick on his Accounts of the Lord High Treasure ” of Scotland says : Minstrels as contrib uting largely to the general enjoyment wer 3 t not forgotten , a gratuity usually of 9 . t 1 8 s . being given to each one presen ’ whether they were in the king s service 0 not . That wandering minstrels were alway welcome numerous entries show in th ’ 1 Treasurer s accounts 49 5 Item , to y E nglish mens tr ellis be ye Kingis command — i 63 . 8 d m ns tr a li 1 . 1 £ 3 . ; 49 7 Item , to ye for their Pasche (E aster) reward ; a m 130

132 Old Edinburgh of the Dominicans or Black Friars in the

Cowgate . From almost the first years of the Stuarts they made E dinburgh the centre of learning and of culture . St . Andrews was the home of the oldest Scottish university , but this institution was more of a religious than literary character . With the invention of E t printing , dinburgh , through the en erprise Ch e ma n M lla r of its early craftsmen p and y , at once took the lead in the spread of letters n in Scotla d . Several of the s ix Jameses were not only supporters of letters but were themselves writers of some literary ability . The Poet

1 King James I . ( 3 94 whose education E had been in ngland , was familiar with the best literature of his time , and especially with the poems of Chaucer and of Gower . His learning is well shown in his noble poem ’ ” the King s Quh a ir .

1 1 —8 8 James III . ( 4 5 ) we remember was a student and philosopher , being in culture E far in advance of his age . ntirely out of touch with his people , who deemed his culture a sign of weakness , he lived the life Li te ra ry Edinburgh 1 33 practically of a recluse except for the com pa nionship of a few men of letters . Among the authors of his time were Sir Mungo Lock hart of the Lee ; Sir John the Ross ; Clerk of Tranent ; Roull of Corstorphine ; and Robert “ ’ t Henryson , Chaucer s aptest and brigh est ” scholar , all of whom were associated with

Edinburgh .

‘ From the time of William Dunbar , the friar of many wanderings and King ’ s ” Makar, or Laureate , of James IV . , down to A t oun E the days of Scott , y , and Wilson , din burgh may well be called a city of song . The romantic town ” where poets were born and bred has in turn inspired the lays which have made indelible imprint on the pages ’ of the world s literature . William Dunbar deep thinker and wise man of the world was he , as his writings ” t plainly show as a cour ier , says Mr . Oliphant Smeaton in his interesting “ Life ” ’ of Dunbar , boarded at the King s expense , and received each year his robe of red velvet ’ edged with costly fur . Dunbar s Fly tings ” (scoldings) with his rival poet and ” kindly foe , Gude Maister Walter Ken 13 4 Old Edinburgh ned dii y , which were written for the of James IV . and his Court , doubtless as the essence of humour of that age . are amusing even now as examples of I play in rhyme , wherein each poet by s cu friendly agreement , heaps the most abuse on the head of the other with intent . But William Dunbar must not be ” l 0 by his Flytings , which were on y frolicsome mood to amuse King and The beautiful Thistle and the R08 1 Epithalamium on the marriage of E 8 110 IV . with Margaret of ngland , rank as fir st in the list of tuneful p< that age . Others among his principal ” e are The Golden Targe , The Lam ” the Makars , and the Dance of the ” r Deadly Sins , with a number of p satires . ’ n fr ienc Walter Ke nedy , Dunbar s ” -fl t er wa s fellow y , a poet of no mean but next to Dunbar must be named C wit Douglas , Bishop of Dunkeld ,

tr a nsla t ‘ Palace of Honour, and i ZEne d . the The reign of James IV .

13 6 Old Edinburgh

A roving in th e night ; ’ o We ll gang nae mair a r ving, ’ ” L et th e oo m n shine e er so bright. A greater era of culture prevailed during the reign of Mary and of her son James VI . wa s James himself a poet , and one of his ” pieces , the Poem of Time, may be given honourable mention :

For w t t b ut t me to t l fe ha ha h man y in his y , ” c i da is Whi h g ves him y his God aright to know. But the great poet of this epoch was William m Drummond of Hawthornden , whose char ing lyrics are unequalled among the poetry of " : his age , as his madrigal , A Kiss , shows

o Hark , happy l vers , hark , t t of o This firs and las j ys, s weetner of no This an ys, This nectar of the gods You c w t t a t od s all a kiss , is i h i self d , And half s o sweet is not I n equal measure g ot

At t of as it th e . ligh sun, is in dark ” o . Hark , happy l vers, hark

Sir Robert Aytoun was another graceful poet who wrote the oft-quoted Forsaken Mis tress : WILLIAM DRUMMOND or HAWTHORNDEN .

1 38 Old Edinburgh

c his George Buchanan , the great S ots torian and Latinist , who was for a time the wa s tutor of James VI . , one of the great literary lights who dwelt in Edinburgh . As author and reformer his influence was widely felt . In 1 58 2 E dinburgh University was l founded , and next year Robert Rol ock, r a professor at St . Andrews , became the fi st ” Regent and Master of the New College . Four yea rs after the foundation of the college the staff consisted of a principal and three regents , each of whom carried his classes a ll : through the subjects Latin , Greek, sc i Philosophy, Divinity , Hebrew and the

ences . From the lengt h of the term and of ea ch da c a n l working y , we readily infer that col ege life in the Old Town did not mean one continuous round of pleasure . The term lasted from October until the end of August , when the Town Council examined the

A . M . students . Classes met at 5 in summe r M 6 A . . and in winter and studied until 9 . After a recess of one hour they met agai n at

1 0 n and conti ued till noon , at which time Litera r y E dinburgh 13 9

i P M the disputations began , lasting unt l 4 . .

6 P . M . A recess was allowed until , when 8 examination began which continued until . It is impossible to estimate the influence of the University upon the culture and learning E u its of dinb rgh . Among the names of principals and professors may be found many

illustrious ones .

Taylor, the Water Poet , made his journey on foot from London to Edinburgh

in 1 6 1 8 , and makes many waggish comments

anent the Old Town and its inhabitants . The Revolution of 1 68 8 was a great s timu lant to the poetic life of the Old Town , and many were the satires published by both the

Jacobite and the Royalist factions . Allan Ramsay was at this time writing his Gentle ” wa s Shepherd , and Dr . Archibald Pitcairn describing the quaint life of the Old Town in his fascinating Latin E clogues . The half century from 1 7 2 5 to 1 7 7 5 was the period of convivial Edinburgh ; the time s o w when clubs were numerous , and hen if a man did not do his share of the prevalent deep drinking he was looked upon a s most eccentric and unsociable . David Hume in 140 Old Edinburgh this era wrote his History of E ngland ; his Home wrote Douglas , which cost him his position as a minister in the Church of t Scotland , and William Rober son gave to ” the world his brilliant History of Scotland , ” and the History of America . Among the other great writers were Adam t Fergusson , author of the His ory of the n t Roma Republic ; Ty ler , who gave a ’ diff erent V iew of Scotland s history from that of Robertson , and Dr . Hugh Blair, the brilliant preacher . This epoch in the literary life of E dinburgh shows many great men of letters , among them Lords Hailes , Kames , Monb oddo and , who wrote not only in legal vein , but upon other subjects with equal facility .

Among the poets were Robert Fergusson , whose poems in the vernacular were the inspiration of Burns ; Falconer , who wrote the Shipwreck ; Dr . Blacklock , the blind t poet , who wrote the beau iful descriptions of scenery which his eyes had never beheld ; n th e and He ry Mackenzie , author of Man ” of Feeling .

With the bright advent of Scott , all other

142 Old Edinburgh

t Rober Louis Stevenson , who passed away so untimely in distant Samoa . Here lived also

Miss Ferrier , who so delightfully depicted A toun Scottish character ; y , who wrote Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers ; John Hill ’ - Burton , historian and Book Hunter ; W .

F . Skene , the historian of Celtic Scotland ; and David Laing , the profound antiquarian , who edited so many ancient Scottish works , in verse and prose . These are but a few of the many who might be quoted .

To the literary pilgrim , some mention of the houses in which dwelt the more famous E ’ of dinburgh s authors may be of interest . The homes ‘ of Sir Walter Scott are spoken of in the section devoted to the great novel ist . In Allan Ramsay ’ s house on Castle Hill where the author of the Gentle Shepherd

1 8 t died in 7 5 , John Galt , the novelist , dwel in n later years , and there wrote his A nals of ” the Parish . The Ramsay house is now a part of the University Hall . In the West Princes Street Gardens is the fine statue of ” Honest Allan by Sir John Steell . At 4 2 Lothian Street is the house where

144 Old Edinburgh

’ Opium-eater s habits : An ounce of laudanum per diem prostrated animal life in the early part of the day . It was no infrequent sight to fin d him in his room lying on the rug in front of the fire , his head resting on a book , with his arms crossed over

a his breast in profound slumber . For sever l in hours he would lie this state , until the w torpor passed away . The time hen he was

a th e most brilli nt , was generally towards

a early morning hours ; and then , more th n w off t once , in order to sho him , my fa her arranged his supper-part ies so that sitting t till hree or four in the morning , he brought

Mr . De Quincey to the point at which in charm and power of conversation he wa s s o ” truly wonderful .

2 1 - At No . in old fashioned Crichton Street t lived Mrs . Cockburn of Ormis on , who wrote the later version of the Flowers of the ” “ t Forest . In her li tle parlour used to assemble , says Scott , a very distinguished and accomplished circle , among whom David Monb oddo Hume , John Home , Lord , and many other men of name were frequently t o ” wa s be found . Mrs . Cockburn a friend of Lite ra ry E dinburgh 145

’

Scott s mother, and wrote her a prophetic letter about him when he was but a child of

s rx .

8 wa s . t No St . David S reet (New Town) the house in which David Hum e spent his la st in years , and where he died . Says Burton his Life of Hume : When the house wa s t w built and inhabi ed by Hume , but hile yet the street had no name , a witty young lady daughter of Chief Baron Ord w chalked on the all the words St . David ’ ’ sl n u Street , in y allusio to H me s religious ’

w . vie s Hume s lass , judging that it was not meant in honour or reverence , ran into the to h ow house , much excited , tell her master he was made game of . Never mind , ’ t h a s lassie , he said , many a be ter man ’ been made a saint of before .

1 At 7 Heriot Row , in the older part of the , New t Town , Robert Louis S evenson lived from 1 8 57 until his final departure on that weary hunt for health which ended in the a t I t lonely grave Samoa . was in this house that he spent h is boyish days ; here he dreamed and read , and here some of his earliest and best essays were written . That 1 46 Old Edinburgh he was a keen lover of E dinburgh his Pic tur es que Notes bear ample testimony . 6 wa s No . Gloucester Place the residence of ” s Profes or John Wilson , Christopher North ,

1 8 2 1 8 from 5 until his death in 54 , and here all his best work was done . Carlyle writes —“ of him in 1 8 2 7 : a man of the most fervid temperament , fond of all stimulating things from tragic poetry down to whisky f punch . He snuf ed , and smoked cigars , and drank liquors , and talked in a most indescribable style . Daylight came on before we parted ; indeed , it was towards three o ’ clock when the professor and I walked

a s . homeward , smoking we went He is a h broad sincere man of six feet , wit long dishevelled hair , and two blue eyes keen ’ ” as an eagle s .

Robert Chambers , friend of Sir Walter r Scott , and a writer of prodigious indust y as his long list of works testifies , lived at

1 No . Doune Terrace . He was the younger of the two brothers to whom Scotland and

s o c . all Scotsmen owe mu h At twenty , he wrote his b r illiant Traditions of E din a t burgh , which attracted once the aston

148 Old Edinburgh

his study , a roomy , not over neat apart w ment on the ground floor , ith a big baize covered table loaded with book rows and paper bundles five pairs of candles i were cheerfully burn ng , in the light of which sate my famous little gentleman ; laid aside s it his work cheerfully invited me to , and began talking in a perfectly human man ” ner .

At No . 3 Randolph Crescent was the resi n w l dence of Joh Black ood , editor of B ack wood ’ s Magazine ” and discoverer ” of E l George iot , whose Scenes of Clerical ” a Life , sent to him anonymously , first p ” ea r ed h is p in Magazine . John was a son of the founder of the famous firm of William A Blackwood Sons . fter his death , George E w liot rote , He will be a heavy loss to me ; he has been bound up with what I most cared for in my life for more than twenty years ; and his good qualities have made t t many things easy to me ha , without him , t ” would of en have been diff erent . She received from him for one of her later works . On the northwest outskirts of the city in Litera ry E dinburgh 149 one of a row of small houses in Comely

2 1 Bank No . Thomas Carlyle lived for the first eighteen months after his marriage with Jane Welsh , and gives us a sketch of his days spent here : Directly a fter brea k fast , the good wife and the doctor (his brother

John , who was staying with them) retire

- a upstairs to the drawing room , a little pl ce ’ all fitted up like a lady s workbox , where a fir e spunk of is lit for the forenoon , and I s it meanwhile scribbling , and meditating a nd wrestling with the powers of dulness ’ till one or two o clock , when I sally forth into the city , or towards the seashore , taking care only to be home for the important purpose of consuming my mutton chop at a r four . After dinner, we all read le ned languages till coff ee (which we now often t ea s o take at night instead of ) , and till t w bed ime , only that Jane often se s , and th e the doctor goes up to celestial globe , studying the fixed stars through an up shoved window , and generally comes down t t en t to his porridge abou , wi h a nose dripping t at its extremi y . Thus we pass our days in our little cotta ge . Many a time on a 15 0 Old Edinburgh

in soft mild night , I smoke my pipe our little

flower garden , and look upon all this , and think of all absent and present friends , and feel that I have good reason to be thankful ” I am not in Purgatory . Any reference to literary E dinburgh would be incomplete without some account of the Free Library founded in 1 8 90 through r the generous gift of Mr . And ew Carnegie , a native of Dunfermline , and whose interest in the land of his birth has been displayed in so many ways . This handsome edifice in the French Renaissance style , designed by

Washington Brown , was erected at a cost of through the public-spiritedness of ” the American Steel King . Under the able supervision of its committee , and its chief librarian , Dr . Morrison , it has been of the greatest value in extending to great numbers the intellectual help which other wise had been beyond their reach . The building contains a large lending library and a fine reference library , with newspaper and magazine rooms , while branches are maintained in various parts of the city . Such an institution as this cannot help but

152 Old E dinburgh

T he Univer si ty E T i dinburgh University , Oure oun s Col lege as it used to be called , sprang up ’ on -o - r the site of Kirk Field , where Da nley met his death . Its origin was in the b e of quest Robert Reid , Bishop of Orkney, who left to the town in 1 5 58 merks for the erection of a University . Queen

Mary , who strongly approved the proposal , drew up a charter for the new institution

1 66 wa s in 5 , but this rendered void by her abdication soon after . In fact , on this very spot one year after the drafting of her char ter, there happened that tragic event the murder of Darnley which resulted in ’ Mary s loss of crown and kingdom .

The Town Council , left to their own

1 8 2 resources , erected in 5 the original quaint group of quadrangular buildings with the royal approbation of James VI . , who further gave his gracious permission in 1 6 1 7 that the

College might be named after himself . It does not appear that James strained hi s generosity beyond this point . The Univer si ty owes little to royal favour , and the E V T TH B . T H UNI ERSI Y , SOU RIDGE

154 Old E dinburgh

walls . From the foot of the dome the view a s e is magnificent , embracing it do s nearly l i all Mid othian and the coast of F fe . There are in the University forty pr ofes s ix sors , distributed among the Faculties of Divinity , Law , Medicine, Arts , Science , and Music , while each session sees about

students chiefly medical enrolled . In medicine and surgery E dinburgh has held a foremost place for nearly two hundred years , and the rapid growth of these depart ments necessitated in recent years the erec tion of the imposing pile of buildings in Teviot Place the Edinburgh University

Medical School . ma nif This , before the completion of the g ic ent di new Harvard Me cal School in Boston ,

Massachusetts , was without doubt the most fully equipped medical institution in the world . We may mention that in the Ana tomic a l Museum of the E dinburgh Medical School is kept the skeleton of William nf r es ur r ec Burke , the i amous murderer and tionist whose stor y is told elsewhere . The first building devoted to the study and teaching of anatomy in E dinburgh was the Litera ry Edinburgh 1 5 5

’ old Surgeons Hall in Surgeon Square . This institution belonged to the Incorporation of

Surgeons and Barbers , who received their

1 0 charter from the Town Council in 5 5 . Almost all the great teachers whose reputa tion helped to make the E dinburgh Medica l

School famous throughout the world , have passed part of their youth or manhood in

Surgeon Square . In the Charter to the Surgeons and Bar

1 0 f bers in 5 5 , a special privilege was con erred upon them to receive once a year the body of a criminal for dissection after he was ” i dead . Th s strange condition was imposed because it was said that cases were not uncommon where natural death had been anticipated by dissection . Hanging in former days wa s not always an eff ective mode of a s punishment , illustrated in the case of ” Half-hanged Maggie Dickson which ha s been quoted . In the middle of the seventeenth century wa s a it found that one body in the ye r, in wa s ina de view of scientific progress , totally r quate for anatomical pu p oses , so thus came i E u a s into ex stence in . dinb rgh elsewhere 1 5 6 Old E dinburgh the daring and ghoulish trade of the resur

ctionist . i r e It must be adm tted however, u that rep lsive as this practice was , the Medi c a l School without it would have been many years longer in gaining her great reputation .

r ofes However, as matters then stood , p s iona l - - body snatchers , grave diggers , and beadles heartily c o-operated with the doctors in procuring subjects from the surrounding villages and towns , as well as from the local graveyards . The authorities at Carlisle not infrequently pounced upon consignm ents from London , and the verdict given at the coroner’ s inquest was usually “ found dead ” ff in a box . After this state of a airs had con tinued for a time , so great became the fear among the people of these resurrection ” f practices , that co fins were enclosed in iron cages , or iron bars were fixed over the graves , examples of which the curious may see in ’ Greyfriars , St . Cuthbert s and other local churchyards . If the reader is inclined for further pa rt iculars on this not particula rly r cheerful subject , he will find them in a sho t story by Robert Louis Stevenson called ” The Body Snatcher , but it may be

1 5 8 Old Edinburgh

. e tumblers before my assistants , Dr Georg

Keith , Dr . Duncan , and myself . Before sitting down to supper we all inhaled the

fluid , and were all under the mahogany in a ’

l . trice , to my wife s consternation and a arm r On awakening, my fi st perception was mental , viz . , that this was stronger and better than ether, my second was to note that I was prostrate on the floor among a heap of others , and that there was confusion and alarm in the room . I then saw that Dr. wa s Duncan snoring heavily , and that

Dr . Keith was kicking violently . We made i a ll several more trials with it that even ng , ” being absolutely satisfactor y . The memory of this benefactor to humanity is perpetuated ’ by Brodie s statue of him in the beautiful

West Princes Street Gardens , which were ’ a R isla w pl nned by Skene of ub , Scott s intimate friend . We get a hint regarding the strange ideas of medica l treatment long ago in the receipt for the celebrated Powder of Sympathy which in somewhat earlier times in England was held a sovereign specific for the cure of

1 wounds . In 659 a Scottish gentleman sends Litera r y E dinburgh 1 59

the receipt to a friend Take of asphodel s un Romano , and set it under the in the i can cular days till it become in white ashes ,

or like white powder . That done , put it in : a box . Then to apply Take the blood or a matter of the wound on a cle n linen , and lay on a little of the powder to the blood or matter ; and keep the cloth in a box , where it may neither get cold nor much heat . This done , dress the wounded person every day once , and keep always linen Cloths above the t wound . But let no linen clo h which hath been used or worn by any woman come near the powder or wounded person . Observe this secret , and keep it to yourself .

1 6 P onth us m In 7 7 Jon , a Ger an styling f h s io E himsel a professor of p y , visited din i ff ll burgh , and his proceed ngs a ord an i us tr a tion of the state of medica l science in Scotland at this time as well as of the views of the public mind regarding the qua lifica E tions of a good physician . recting a stage E on the High Street of dinburgh , he had one person to play the fool , and another to dance on a rope , in order to attract and amuse his audience . Then he commenced selling his Old Edinburgh

- drugs , which cost eighteen pence per packet , and Nicoll allows that they proved very ” good and real . This honest chronicler seems to have been much pleased with the antics of the performers . Upon a great rope fixed from side to side of the street , a man de n scended upo his breast , his hands loose and stretched out like the wings of a fowl , to the ”

mi . ad ration of many Most curious of all ,

the chirurgeons of the country , and also fin the apothecaries , ding thir drugs and E recipes good and cheap , came to dinburgh from a ll parts of the kingdom and bought ” them , for the purpose of selling them again at a profit . Thir plays and dancings upon the rope continued the space of many days , whose agility and nimbleness was admirable to the beholders ; ane of these dancers having danced sevenscore times at a time without intermission , lifting himself and vaulting s ix a r a wn qu ter heigh above his head , and lighting directly upon the tow (rope) as punctua lly as gif he had been dancing upon ” - the plain stones .

1 62 Old E dinburgh of cloth in making of hose ; all using of plaids in the kirk , by readers or ministers ; all kind ni doublettin of gow ng , cutting , g , or breeks f of velvet , satin , taf eta , or such like ; all Silk ” w hats of divers and light colours . It as recommended to the clergy that their whole habit be of grave colour, as black , russet , s a d sad gray , or brown ; or serges , worset , chamlet , grogram , lytes worset , or such like . And their wives to be subject to the same order . It seems strange that any such sumptuar y regulations should have been required for the Presbyterian ministers or even their wives , for their incomes were most meagre . The proceedings of the General Assembly of 1 57 6 reveal the fact that some were c om pelled to eke out their miserable stipends by selling ale to their parishioners . The question was formally put , Whether a minister or reader may tap ale , beer , or wine, and ” keep an open tavern! to which it was answered , Ane minister or reader that taps ale or beer or wine , and keeps ane open s ould c om tavern , be exhorted by the missioners to keep decorum . H T AI 'D T H E O L D H JO N BROOM PEDDLER . AN E DIN BURG

CHARAC T ER .

1 64 Old E dinburgh thus devoted her plate to the maintenance of

. 2 the Covenanted cause ) August 3 , paid for twa pair sweet gloves to Lord James and Mr .

E . Will . rskine , £3 September 9 , to Lord James to play at the totum with John Hamil d 1 s . . a s sh e ton , 4 To my lady went to dine with my Lord Haddington (for vails to the

a . serv nts) , ane dollar and four shillings Paid

t E 1 2 5 . in contribu ion to dward the fool ,

Paid to Gilbert Somerville , for making ane suit clothes to Lord James of red lined with

1 0 3 . 2 satin , £7 , November 9 , paid to the Glenur ch Lady y her man , for ane little barrel

- of aqua vitae , £3 . “ 2 1 6 0 May 7 , 4 , to ane man who brought

5 . 1 the parroquet her cage , 4 June 5 , to ane

w sa t 6d . poor oman as my lady at the fishing , ’

us e r s . August , for tobacco to my lady s ,

1 6 1 March 4 , 4 , to Blind Wat the piper that

E 5 . day , as my lady went to the xercise , 4 6 E March , given to John rskine to buy a cock ’

t E 65 . to fight on Fas en s ven (Shrovetide) , 8 rf June , to ane maste ul beggar who did

knock at the gate , my lady being at table ,

2 s . (It was then customary to lock the outer

1 th e door during dinner . ) November 5 , ( Old M a nners a nd Customs 165 countess having visited E dinburgh to s ee the two king) , given for torches to lighten in my lady to court , to take her leave of the

6 2 2 5 . 2 1 1 king , 4 February , 4 , sent to Sir Charles E rskine to buy e s c or s e de s idr one d a 8 . 2 1 ma r rn ol t 65 . and , 5 , March , to ane woman cla ir sh och er (harper) who usit the

1 2 5 . 1 0 house in my lord his time , August , to John E rskine to buy a bladder for tr ying t a t c a ma hem ical con lusion , December w ni htmutch es 7 , paid for three hite g (caps) a 1 2 5 1 to my Lord of Buch n , £3 , . January 3 ,

1 6 4 3 , for ane Prognostication (an almanac) ,

d . 1 9 February 7 , for dressing ane red four ’ 5 8 d t 1 . . tailed coa of Mr . William s February

1 3 , to my lady in her own chamber , when the

- a w 1 0 1 2 5 . d . Valentines were dra ing , £ , 4

1 E April 3 , to Mr . William rskine , to go to the ’ d ” r 5 . 6 . dwa f s marriage , 7 The ceremoni es observed upon the death of a person of rank were both elaborate and costly , no expense being spared to indicate the importance of the one deceased . Taylor , E l an nglish traveller , te ls us in his account of E dinburgh in 1 7 0 5 That when any one dyes out of a n oble 1 66 Old E dinburgh

door es Entr es Family , all the and y are painted black , with some dashes of white to dis ma ll make it look more , and an Hatch

" m ent of the persons Arms and the Marriages i ” h s . of Family , hung up over the front door Before the middl e of the eighteenth c en tury , none of the poor wore stockings . A visiting E nglishman who called at the mansion of Lord President Craigie in the

L a wnm a r ket 1 in 7 59 , gives a humourous description of his being received by a female porter without shoes or stockings .

Upon arriving at the entrance to a house , the visitor would announce his approach by a vigorous solo on the risp , or tirling pin , which was found attached to the door . This arrangement , which answered the purpose of a knocker, consisted of a notched iron rod fastened to the door vertically and provided with a ring , which , being drawn roughly r along the serrated rod , made a ve y audible noise within . The tirling pin is frequently alluded to in Scottish song :

’ c o t to t oo There ame a gh s Margare s d r, ’ Wi mony a grievous groan ; t a t the And aye he irled pin , B ut w ans er made she none .

1 68 Old Edinburgh

l These dogs , it is said , un ess kept secured , would quietly go into hiding when they observed indications that there was to be a t roas for dinner . Household furnishings were Simple and inexpensive ; wooden plates and platters were more or less in use in every house , and in those of the farmers and of many of th e clergy , exclusively . Consider , O modern t housewives , the calm sense of securi y which would be yours were such now the fashion , and consider also the baffl ed fury of th e kitchen deity who would attempt to wreak her vengeance on your best seasoned oak dinner plates . Pewter ware was used in many families

- - n of the well to do , with a set of delft or chi a for the second course at table in the case of those wh o could aff ord fashionable three ’ di o clock nners . The ordinary hour for ’ wa s dinner twelve or one o clock , and never la ter than three in the most fashionable houses .

- A punch bowl , and teacups and saucers w w of china , ere considered , ho ever , absolute t necessities , being os entatiously arrayed in Old M a nne rs a nd Customs 1 69

the cupboard , which occupied a prominent

- - place in th e dining room . The dinner table was usually of oak , polished like a mirror E by constant rubbing . ven in houses richly n fur ished mahogany tables were rarely seen , except for serving tea .

w th e In families belo highest rank , the beverages off ered to ordinary guests were

- a home brewed ale and a gl ss of brandy . If w the occasion was one of ceremony , there ere

- claret and brandy punch . Carpets were found only on the principal rooms the

w - - dra ing room and dining room ; indeed , ex cept in houses of some pretension they were t al ogether unknown . Hung bells and bell pulls were then hardly known ; a hand-bell on the dining-room ta ble summoned the t l servan s , and very common y the poker or

th e t heel of the shoe served the purpose , bet er for the reason that few of th e ceilings were

a t . deafened or pl s ered Household clocks , or knocks , were confined to large houses , and no one below th e middle class of society wa s distinguished by the possession of a watch . Ladies were accustomed to travel on 1 7 0 Old Edinburgh

horseback when going any distance, and rode on pads behind their husbands or servants .

Sewing , embroidery , pastry , and cookery were then considered the most important branches of learning for a good housewife and were taught at all the female schools in Edin of l burgh . Young ladies high rank on y in received instruction music and drawing, and many of these favoured ones were Shame fully deficient in the elementary accomplish ments of writing and spelling . The musical instruments then in use were the harp and t spine , the latter being most common . The pianoforte was not known in Scotland until after 1 7 60 . Although drinking was almost universal and carried to great excess , private families , and even taverns were scantily supplied with glasses , and a single glass would often go

- around a large company . A noted old time toper , Armstrong of Sorbie , laments in his

th e later days degeneracy of the times , and says that it was a better world when there ” were more bottles and fewer glasses .

Handball , football , ninepins , golf , and curl ing were the favourite games . Bowls were

E h 1 72 Old dinburg .

Up to 1 6 2 1 the dwellers in E dinburgh were entirely dependent on the public wells and

- on the water peddled by the water carriers .

th e r The stoups , as vessels for ca rying water were called , were among the most indispensable of the household utensils .

With a pair of these jugs , each holding over a gallon , the housewife would sally forth to w l l the public el , at which general y a long line ’ Wh a s was waiting . The newcomer shouted last ! and on being informed took a posi tion at the tail and awaited her turn . It was a common occurrence to s ee a hundred women in a row moving forward to . these square pieces of masonry foot by foot until their turn came to fill their stoups . It can be imagined what the inconvenience must have been to the dwellers in these ” lands , some of them even fourteen and

fifteen stories high . All the water for family use had to be carri ed up the narrow turnpike a ll stairs , and household refuse had to be carried down the stairs or thrown out of the w indows . The following quaint advertisements a p pear ih the E dinburgh Courant under the da te

1 0 : September 9 , 7 9 The finest and freshest Lemmons newly come home from Spain in Captain Key ’ s

Ship , together with the true London Ginger bread , and finest Spanish Nutts and all other fruits in season , are sold by Lucky Law , at her stand , nigh to the Cross , or at her house ” in the Old Post House Closs . All sorts of Dead Cloa th es made after the British fashion , are made by Janet ’

Chamers in Patrick Turnbull s , Goldsmith , ’ a s at the head of Forester s Wynd , at rea sonable rates as elsewhere . In 1 7 83 perfumers had splendi d shops in a dv r every principal street . Some of them e tis e d th e ll l keeping of bears , to ki occasional y , “ ’ ’ for greasing ladies and gentlemens hair, ’ ” a s superior to any other ani mal s fat . Hair l dressers were not on y very numerous , but there wa s a professor who advertised a hair r s d essing Academy , and gave lecture on l that noble and usefu art . CHAPTER VIII

B ELLES AND B EAU!

DINBURGH had full share of gallant

men and beautiful women , and its belles and beaux of the eighteenth century furnished a gay element in the life of the Old

Town . As these butterflies of fashion flitted

n r about the High Street in all their fi e y, their bright colours and stately airs and graces must have added greatly to the picturesque t ness of the quaint old ci y . The dresses and decorations of the ladies during this period it cannot be denied had n a certain dig ity and grace , but many of these fine feathers must have been most a s inconvenient to wear . Still , we know , fair ladi es in all ages have ever smilingly obeyed the decrees of the tyrant Fashion , with heroic disregard for any physical dis comfort occasioned by the changes de 17 4

Belles a nd B eaux 1 7 5 manded in their personal style of archi tecture . An old resident writes of how fine it was to see two grand dames with their enormous hooped skirts sailing along the L a wnma r ket of a summer evening , their fair and volumi l nous persons fi ling up the whole footway . It seems they might bring to mind the c om n parison of stately Spanish galleons , bowli g along before a fair wind . Ladies when visiting or receiving company wore silk gowns , or riding habits with gold or gilded buttons and fringes . A silk plaid wrapped loosely about the head and body was the prevailing fashion at church . Plaids were also used by ladies for street wear to f cover their heads and mu fle their faces . The council records of E dinburgh Show frequent entries forbidding the use of this article of dress , which they said confounded decent m women with those who were not . A ong the other ar ticles of feminine attire in those days were many now forgotten ; stays , hoops , lappets , calashes , bongraces , capu s chins , negligees , stomacher , pinners , busks,

- and rumple knots . 1 7 6 Old Edinburgh

’ ' As Mally Lee ca m doun th e street her capucl un did flee : She coost a look behind her to see her neg lzgee: ’ ’ t w t w ’ ’ And we re a gaun eas and as , e re a gaun agee ,

’ ’ ’ t w t c o t l L . We re a gaun eas and as , ur in Mal y ee

“ S Za er; a t t t fla unted he had twa pp her head , ha gal

la ntlie , And r ibbon knot: a t back and breast of bonnie M ally Lee : ’ ’ etc And we re a gaun, .

Stays were made s o long that when a lady sat they touched the chair both in front and rear . So tightly did they fit , that the wearer had to cling to the bedpost while the maid was lacing them . An amusing story is told of a dame of high station , which illustrates h e t severity and inconvenience of this fashion . This noble lady kept her daughters on a low i in mi d et , having nd the improvement of their shapes , but the young ladies strangely maintained a provoking and plebeian bux mness o . It seems they had enlisted the sympathy of the cook , and after their armour t e had been removed , and h lady mother was asleep , the hungry girls would make up for all the stinting of the day with a most satisfying meal . The savoury smell of a roast

11 7 8 Old Edinburgh

- ff r . di e ent shapes and sizes The pocket hoop ,

for morning wear, was like a pair of small panniers such as were slung across the back

- of a pa c kmule . The bell hoop was a sort of petticoat made with a framework of cane o or r pe , and shaped like a bell , but this was not quite full dress . There was also a straw

h OO s ee petticoat , a species of p , such as we

- in old French prints . The full sized evening hoop was s o enormous that people saw a vast expanse of it enter the room before the wearer became visible When the doorways s o and closes were narrow , as they were in the Old Town , ladies were obliged to tilt their hoops and carry them under their arms when they essayed the passage of a Close , or moun ted a turnpike stair . At these times a Show petticoat was revealed below , and such was the attention paid to these interesting details , that the garters were embroidered , or had gold or silver tassels and fringes . The French silks worn during this period were of most beautiful design and colour, while the quality was superb The most a expensive broc des were a guinea a yard , Belles and B eaux 1 7 9

that is , excepting those with gold or silver,

which cost considerably more . The lappet was a piece of point or B r ussels th e lace , hanging in two pieces from crown

of the head , and streaming gracefully behind . a s E The pinners , such the gyptian Sphinx

wears , were pinned down the stomacher . The stomacher was a triangular piece of i rich silk , one corner po nting downward , and joining the fine black lace-bordered e apron , while the other two angles point d to the shoulders . Great pains were taken in the adornment of this beautiful and most attractive piece of dress . Many wore jewels upon it , and the least embellishments were strings of bugles or tinsel . The calash wa s a kind of Silk hood made u upon a framework of cane . It co ld be pu sh ed b a c k like th e h ood of a carriage s o as to wa s lie folded together behind the neck . This used a s a protection to a c a p or head-dres s n a in walki g out , or riding in a c rriage . The bongrace was also a head covering of silk and cane , but more like a modern bonnet in shape . The capuchin was a short cloak of silk edged a with lace , or velvet , re ching not below the 1 80 Old E dinburgh

. u n elbows Gentlemen also wore cap chi s . ’ A lady s mode tippet was nearly the same piece of dress . The negligee wa s a gown projecting in loose and ample folds in the back, and could only be worn with stays . In front it wa s entirely open so as to Show the stomacher, across which it was laced with flat silk cords , while below it opened more widely , and displayed the petticoat . This latter , though shorter, was more splendid than the gown ,

flounc e . and had a deep In walking, ladies generally carried the Skirt of the gown over the arm , and exhibited the petticoat , but on entering a room they always came sailin g in with the train sweeping at full and majestic length behind them .

Women of all degrees wore enormous busks , with a heart generally carved at the upper w wa s end . Among the lo er classes this a common present to sweethearts , and carpen ter swains would adorn them with artificial

. r veneers Fans were ve y large , with sticks curiously carved , and if of leather, were n artistically ornamented with painti gs , being e imported from Italy or Holland . T h for of the full dress of ladies . A song in the 1 1 : Charmer , 7 5 , alludes to these two latter

Come all ye young ladies wh ose business and c are

Is co t ne w c o n riving dresses, and urling y ur hair ; Wh o flirt and c oquet wi th eac h cox c omb wh o comes

T o to a t o to t t t o oo y y ur ile s , and s ru in y ur r ms ; ’ o c tc or t o o While y u re pla ing a pa h adjus ing p ng p ng, ” Ye may listen and learn by th e truth of my song .

Young matrons wore fly- caps encircling the head , while the old ones wore mob caps falling down over the ears . The elder ladies ” also wore large linen caps called toys , encroaching on the face and tied under in the chin , while their costume further

- cluded worsted short gown and apron . The word toy is probably derived from to ue the French q , the hood worn by women of the lower class in France . Young girls wore a pocket of either Silk or satin over their other attire . Stockings W t ere of silk or linen ; never of cot on , which is a comparatively modern material . Thes e were slashed with pieces of a strong contrast ing colour or had gold or silver clocks woven in . Stockings of scarlet silk were th e fashion 1 in 7 33 , and were worn by both ladies and Belles and B eaux 1 83

gentlemen . The silk stockings were ver y

thick , and could not be washed on account

of the gold and silver interwoven . Sharply

- pointed high heeled shoes , set off with fine e d lace or sewed work, adorn d the pe al extremities of milady The amount expended upon the trousseau of a bride of quality was often considerable .

When Margaret Rose , daughter of the Laird

Kilr a v ock r 1 0 1 wa s of , was mar ied in 7 , there n an account from Francis Brodie , mercha t in E n - in di burgh , for her wedding clothes , cludin g seventeen and a quarter ells of 1 1 flowered silk, £ , nine and a quarter

2 ells of green silk shagreen for lining, £ ,

1 5 . 6d six and half ells of green galloon , 9 . ; an d with the other sums for a gown coat , for un an der coat , and an undermost coat ; also , l for a pair of silk stockings , a neck ace h and cu r ch er and silk , and some thirty or forty other articles , amounting in all to

d . c a r 8 5 . . £55 , 9 sterling This young lady ried a dowry of merks about nine times the value of her marri age outfit to her husband , John Mackenzie , eldest son of Sir Alexander Mackenzie of Coull. 1 84 Old Edinburgh

The hats of the gentlemen were all cocked , and for full dress were fringed with gold ‘ or silver lace as were likewise their body clothes . Their dress was often gaudy ; a crimson or purple coat , green plush waistcoat with black or coloured breeches , and white stockings .

Thus attired , with his cocked hat at one ex tr e mit y , and his buckled Shoes at the other, it may be imagined that a beau made a suffi i n c e tly startling figu re . Many of the gentle men , however, wore velvet caps , and leather caps were a favouri te head covering of the lower classes . Swords , which had been held at an earlier date as being an indispen f sable article of ashionable costume , were still s o worn , but not universally as formerly . In 1 67 7 the celebrated Beau Fielding paid

a. E ffi l visit to dinburgh , while in di cu ties on account of his suspected share in the mur der of Robert Perceval a young libertine found dead one morning near the Maypole

t e in h Strand . He and two Scotch gentlemen own n of his sort , being met one eveni g at E their cups in a house in dinburgh , were reputed to have drunk three toasts , horrid to think on namely , the Trinity , their

1 86 Old E dinburgh mor ning at an open window so that the barbarous natives might learn how a gentleman ou ght to dress . His toilet occupied three hours in duration , and as he dressed twice a day, a fourth part of his time wa s spent before the glass .

The famous Susanna, Countess of the E E ninth arl of glinton , was renowned as the most bea utiful woman of her time . She had hosts of admirers , but her friends always predicted that sh e would marry the Earl of Eglinton who wa s forty years her — senior for while walkin g one day in her ’ Colz ea n father s garden at , there alighted on her shoulder a hawk with his lordship ’ s name upon its bells , which was considered an infallible omen of her fate . Just at this ’ time Lord Eglinton s second wife was fatally ill . When , therefore , Sir John Clerk asked the father of the fair Susanna Sir Archibald ’ Kennedy - for his daughter s hand in mar r ia e E g , the parent consulted Lord glinton , ur as an old friend and neighbo , as to his opinion on the subject . Bide a wee , Sir ” ’ i n Archy , said the old lord , my w fe s u co ” E l d sickly . Shortly after Lady g inton die , CO NT OF T . SUSANNA , U ESS EGLIN ON

1 8 8 on Edinburgh

No rac ing to the danc e wi th rival hurry

S c was th w O Nick ' M ur r u h y s ay, famed Miss y ay!

Miss Nicky Murray , who ruled with aristo s wa s cratic severity over these As emblies , E a sister of the arl of Mansfield . She lived in ’ F f e s Bailie y Close , and there finished youn g lady cousins from the country who wished to enter society . On hearing a young lady ’ s name pronounced for the first time sh e would say Miss of what ! If no territorial addition could be made she t manifestly cooled . Sea ed on a raised sh e throne in despotic dignity , with a wave of her fan silenced th e musicians when it became time for the festivities to cease . Here it wa s that Goldsmith wa s s o shocked at the solemnity of the ballroom . Ladies sat most demurely at one end of the hall , and the gentlemen herded disconsolately at the other ; no more intercourse between ” wo the sexes than between t countries at war , until partners were found by th e lady dir ec tress . This was th e era of those formal and

a st tely dances , the minuet , the pavan , and the galliard . t Rober Sym , uncle of Christopher North , Belles and Beaux 1 8 9 and the Timothy Tickler of the Noc tes ” Amb r os ianae , was one of the beaux of the town . Although a lawyer by profession , he devoted a great portion of his time to literary pursuits , and was held to be a great dandy . At the festive gatherings in Am ’ Noc tes brose s Tavern , where the were held , his witty sallies were provocative of great merriment .

The last one of th e old beaux was Dr . James Hamilton familiarly kn own a s Cooked Hat Hamilton — who was noted as the last gentleman in society who wore the old

- th e fashioned three cornered hat , collarless

uffl - coat , r es , and knee breeches of a past age , with hair queued and powdered . With the costume he retained much of the gracious courtesy and manly hardihood of the old E Scottish school . Old ben Wilson , bell ringer of the Tron Church , was the recipient ’ of the doctor s left-off cocked hats and enor E mous shoe buckles . ben and the doctor were for years the only men to wear the old

th e t dress , which la ter consistently retained

1 until he also died in 8 3 5 . t The wit y Jane , Duchess of Gordon , was 1 90 Old Edinburgh

another famous belle . It is elsewhere men tioned in ul how her romping , youthf days s h e and her sister would merrily ri de about the High Street on the backs of the pigs that in those unsanitary days of free an d easy man ners rooted abou t the rubbish heaps n of the tow . Then another among the noted fair ones was Miss Burnett , the beautiful daughter of the eccentric Lord Monb oddo . She was one of the toasts of the day in E dinburgh society , and her charms and wit were cele r d T h e b a te by Robert Burns . poet also wrote in praise of another young beauty , Miss ” Burns , his namesake , as he called her . Among his poems are the Lines as hav “ ing been Written un der the portrait of the celebrated Miss Burns :

C o o ease, ye prudes , y ur envi us railing, h Lovely Burns as Charms c onfess .

Burns ’ Clarinda was one of the belles of the Old Town . Clarinda was the Ma cl os e . eh very beautiful Mrs , cousin of an Lord Craig . She , forsaken by her husb d , had met Burns but once at some social gather

CHAPTER IX

CON V I V IAL ED INB URGH

’ Auld Reekie ! wale o ilka toon That S cotland kens beneath th e moon ; ’ ’ c ooth c a t c enin t Where y hields mee , ’ ’ biz zin c o to w t Their raigs and m u s ee , bl thl C And y y gar auld are gae by, ’ ’ ’ ” Wi blinkin l r in and wi b ee eye .

in E wa s N the olden time dinburgh , it considered an evidence of manlin ess an d di gnity to be possessed of powers of deep potation ; a four-bottle man one who could at a sitting comfortably dispose of this quantity was a man of social c ons e u enc e if his q , while capacity went a bottle or two further he became almost an object wa s of veneration to his associates . It held that persons who could not drink must have some degree of physical feeble ness and irnb ec ility of character . As a 192 H V V N Y HOM O KAM S , A C AT CON I IA E R E , L RD E ELEBR ED L

JUDGE .

1 94 Old Edinburgh drin king brought out the best and most t ’ benevolent trai s of a man s character . His wa s wa s lordship a great imbiber, but also a capital lawyer and gained great distinction as a judge . Lord Cockburn says , With H er ma n d drinking was a virtue ; he had a sincere respect for drinkin g ; in deed a high moral approbation , and a serious compas sion for the poor wretches who could not indulge in it , and with due contempt of ” those who could but did not . An anecdote corroborating this opinion is related of a the le rned judge . A case was tried before him where the prisoner had stabbed his c om

- panion during an all night drinking bout , and the coun sel pleaded extenuation for his client in that he wa s drunk when he f r ! committed the of ence . D unk ex claimed Lord H er ma nd in high indignation

he had been all night with his friend , and they had drank two bottles of rum together . If he would do such a thing when d u he was r nk , what might he not have done when he was sober ! A story is told of a celebrated circuit o H where L rd er mand wa s judge . The legal Convivi a l Edinburgh 1 95

party got in a condition of alcoholi c eleva s o tion at Ayr, and continued although quite equal to their duties until the busi

ness was concluded at Jedburgh . It is said that ever after ward at Jedburgh this circuit ” was referred to as the daft circuit . Lord Cockburn was fond of relating an experience of his when a young man at a dinner where o H er ma nd d n L rd preside After di ner , when the wine had been circulating freely n for some time , you g Cockburn observed vacancies at the table , but no one leaving the room . The mystery was solved when on looking under the table he saw those who had fallen in the fray curled up in un n consc ious negligence o the floor . He took the hint and likewise retired from the fes tive scene , lying quiet until the beams of the mor ning sun shone into the room . The judge then with his faithful followers coolly rose , washed their faces and hands , went a down to bre kfast , and appeared in court quite fresh and fit for work . The diurn al of a Scottish judge of the olden time presents a strikin g picture of the s i n habits of men of busines that age . There 196 Old E dinburgh was hardly a night that was not passed in a tavern , not always of reputable name, where his lordship ’ s associates on the bench were his boon companions in a carouse , and it is not easy to un derstand how men who drugged their intellects s o continually ff could consider or transact business e iciently , or even make a decent appearance in the hours of duty . Possibly the explanation lies in training for these deed of alcoholic valour , coupled with the purity of the spirits consumed . A laird of the old school expressed great indi gnation at the charge brought against hard dr inking that it actually killed people . ’ on b od l wi Na , na , I never knew y y ki led ’ dr inkin , but I hae kend some that deed in the But however difficult to reconcile with our modern ideas of sobriety in connection with business , there seems to be no room for doubt that deep drinking was in many instances in the old days com patible with remarkable business ability and application . AS an example of the convivial habits of r the time , we give an extract from the jou nal

Convivi a l E dinburgh 1 9 7

of an English gentleman who visited E din

in 1 0 : burgh 7 5 , in company with two friends i And thus we merr ly spent the night , in drinking to the Success of the treaty and Colonell happy union , and next day , Ogilby ’ and some Scotch Lords en qu ir d mightily ’ E c a ll d for the 3 nglish Gentlemen , as they i u s us , having a mind to g ve a chirrupping

Cup , but we went to Leith that day , being ’ look t willing to avoid them ; however , they u s all over the Town for , but not finding t t us , says Ogilby If I meet wi h hem they ’ I ll in Shall come , for bring one one hand , t and another in the o her , and a third in ’ my teeth , which expression may seem pr a gm a tica ll to those that have not been s witnesse of his strength , but he having one Evening took me on his fingers and held r me at A ms length , and at the same time lifting another with his other hand and holding him at arms length , we were con v in c ed he would ha ve been able to run n w a ll a ay with us , had we not kept out of the “ s o s ee way ; they went first to Leith , to ” a Dogg and a Cock fight .

Let it here be whispered , with bated breath , that the fair sex likewise were not

- exempt from the charge of over indulgence .

- n E It was a well know story in dinburgh , that three fair dames of high degree had one night a merrymaking in a tavern near

the Town Cross , which was prolonged until

r . a ve y early hour At last , on reaching the street in a dazed condition , all seemed strange to them , but as it was bright moon light they found their way along until they

th e . came to Tron Kirk Here , however , was an obstacle in the way . The moon , wa s n which shini g high in the south , threw the shadow of the steeple straight across the street from one side to the other ; and the merry ladies being no more clear-sighted - t than they were clear headed , mistook his t for a broad and rapid s ream , which they were obliged to cross before proceeding on

. s a t their way Thus deluded , they down on the brink of the imaginary water, de lib er a tel off y took their shoes and stockings , t tucked skir s under arms , and waded through th e to opposite side . The perilous passage having been accomplished in safety , they , n resuming Shoes and stocki gs , passed on gaily as before .

200 Old E dinburgh who evidently thought his constitution in danger from his foaming libations and in need of a corrective , They tell me these wea kenrn mineral waters is very . It is related that the Lord Advocate

Dundas , one of the old school of hard drink t c ing judges , af er a convivial meeting whi h t ’ las ed from noon until nine o clock at night , began then to dictate a most important appeal case . The task was finished at four ’ o clock in the morning , and when the papers were sent to London it was not necessary on revisal to correct five words .

Business and pleasure were not , however, always so successfully combined . The story is told of an eminent lawyer , who , being n n confi ed to his room by ill ess , sent for his clerk at a late hour to draw up a paper which r was urgently required next mo ning . The scribe , though noted for the preservation of his faculties under great alcoholic stress , when found at his usual tavern was rather a further gone than usual . He m naged to ’ get to his master s bedroom , however , and seat himself at the desk with sufficient a p

ea r a nce . p of a collected mind The lawyer, Convivi a l Edinburgh 201

was who by the way quite deaf , began to

n - dictate from behi d his bed curtains , and after continuing for two or three hours until the matter was finished , looked out to find Jamie Sleeping peacefully on the table and the paper without a mark upon it . A droll incident is told of a Sight witnessed one Sunday morning by Church-goers passing along th e High Street . The house door of an eminent advocate suddenly opened , and there appeared in the broad sun light the strange sight of the blinking host with lighted candle , which he solicitously held that h is dishevelled gu ests might sa fely find th e their way down steps . In their merry vigils time had passed unnoted . It was thought necessary when a man gave an entertainment for him to press his to to guests imbibe the extreme limit . A particularly hospita ble individual would lock his door in order that no gu est of moderate t in inclina ions could escape , and an adjoining room beds would be provided for those who

a fell in the festive tourn ment . It was cus tom a r y for gentlemen not to wear their 202 Old Edinburgh

s be t attire to these scenes of conviviality, but something less liable to be damaged . A story told by Dean Ramsay referring to this deep drinking among a ll classes during the eighteenth century , is almost too shock ing to relate , but it illustrates with terrible force the extreme to which it was carried f in Scottish social li e , and the hardening ff e ects of habitual drunkenness . This inci a s dent , vouched for by good authority , is follows : At a prolonged drinking bout one of the party remarked , What gars the ’ ’ Ga r s ka dden ! Laird o luk sae gash Ou , ’ Kilma r dinn says his neighbour the Laird o y , ’ ’ Ga r s ka dden s been wi his Maker these twa hours ; I saw him step awa , but didna like ’ to disturb gude company . It was not only at night that conviviality reigned , for

’ O er t of w th wo o o draugh s ine e beau uld m an his l ve, ’ O er t of w th e c it o draugh s ine his bargain dr ve, ’ O er t of w th e w t w draugh s ine ri er penned his ill, ’ ” And legal wisdom c ounselled o er a gill .

E an d very man took his meridian , this was generally indulged in at a tavern . A

Ghas tly.

’ Wi sang and glass they fley th e power ’ ” 0 c t t wa d th e o . are , ha harass h ur

The Shops at this time closed at eight ’ o clock , and from that time until ten the “ tavern presented a lively scene . The ten ’ ” u o clock dr m , beaten by the Town Guard u n dr mmer , was the warni g for good citizens to seek their homes and beds , but the night wa s only then just beginning for the clubs .

as th e tt When big burns gu ers rin , ’ I c tc o t S f ye ha e a hed a dr uki kin, ’ T o Luc Middlemis t s o kie l up in, ’ S it fu And snug , ’ w t o in O re oys ers and a dram g , " O r haddock lug . It was the custom in olden times among society in E dinburgh to resort to what were called oyster- cellars for an informal n merry maki g . Ladies as well as gentlemen of aristocratic rank took part in these fes tiv ities c i , whi h give curious ind cation of the

Itlemen sa t d d again down , or a journe sher tavern to crown the pleasures of ening with an unlimited debauch . lies would sometimes have the oyster

to dance in the ballroom , though r ere known to be of the worst char n . indication of the French influence

customs of the people , claret was ing time a favourite drink of the Edin

r s . , being both cheap and good In 1 days , when a cargo of claret came th , the usual way of proclaiming its was by sending a hogshead of it h the town on a cart . The driver blew ones a nd a n b od to notify the thirsty , y y anted a sample , or a drink under pre of a sample , had only to go to the ith a jug, which without much ques

its size was filled for a Sixpence . t days of claret drinking , it is said tha s ita lit p y at Culloden House , the resi of Duncan Forbes , Lord President

Court of Session , was almost without It was the custom to take out the

8 Old E dinburgh

n out in the morni g , ye may just brace ’ wi’ ursel anither dram , and tak anither the forenoon , but dinna be always dram ammin g ; and when the dessert is brought ’ ’ t a wa and af er it s taen ; and perhaps ane , it may be twa , in the course of the after oh dr ows in , just to keep ye frae y g and oozling ; but dinna be always drinking . w ore tea and after tea , and bet een tea and

er pp , is no more than right and gude , but ’

me caution ye , brethren , no to be always ’ - am dramming . Just when you re gaun to ’ ’ into t d , and when you re ready to pop , d perhaps when ye wake in the night , to k a dram or twa is no more than a Chris in may lawfully do , but brethren , let me ’ ’ ution ye no to drink more than I ve entioned , or maybe ye may pass the bounds ” moderation . CHAPTER !

O L D TIME CLUB S AND TAVE RNS

ROM the general atmosphere of c on v iv ia lity it is natural that many clubs E should exist in dinburgh , and of these some were witty , some were wise , while others tended to disgraceful excesses . Some trifling c cir umstance , or joke , or custom , gave a pretext for founding a club of a more or less

t . political , literary , scien ific or sporting nature u The Cape Club , to which Ferg sson alludes , where

t c o t dee es td ed Mir h , musi , p r er p y , ” to wo t Are never here r h denied ,

s a pired to a refined and classical character, its numerous members includin g many men of talents , Fergusson himself being among these . The name of the club had its origin in th e difficulty experienced by a b ibulous 21 0 Old Edinburgh member living in Low Calton in doubling the cape of Leith Wynd , on his way homeward with a full cargo . The gentleman aforesaid generally had to exercise great n seamanship in tacking arou d this corner, and this furnish ed material for a standing joke . The favourite meeting place of this club was the Isle of Ma n Arms tavern ’ in Craig s Close . The Pious Club met regularly to consume ’ pies . The members were all ten o clock men of good character and their potations were very moderate , being but a gill of toddy n to each person at a Sitti g . One of the mem bers , a Mr . Lund , was distinguished by his weight of 3 50 pounds and wa s a prodigious feaster . The favourite dish of this fragile in being was a strange one salmon Sk s . It is said that on any occasion where salmon was on the table he made no scruple of raking the skins off the plates of the rest of the

- guests . The facetious poet laureate to this

a. . club Mr Drummond , says of this mem ber :

’ I o to o t wa n g ing dinner , he ne er l s his y,

Th ough often when done he was c arted away .

Old Edinburgh

of dissipated young men who met in

1: places throughout the town , where held orgies which may not be here n d io e . Their president was named ) evil , and the old inhabitants believed th e members were really in compact the E vil One . e Sweating Club resembled the Mo i mentioned in the Spectator . The ing custom of its members was to sally at midnight after becoming intoxicated itta c k any one they met upon the street . to the luckless Wight wh o fell into their 5 wa s , for he chased , jostled , pinched , ) ulled about until he was ready to drop

and die with ex haustion . The Town d were unable to protect the sober

I n . from these wild young blades , and as late as the beginning of the last Ir y it was unsafe to walk the streets of b urgh at night , on account of the numer rands of drunken young men who reeled t bent on mischief at all hours . aring off door knockers was an especial me , and these were frequently used I e bucks of the day as missile weapons Old T ime Clubs a nd Taverns 213

n ot infr e against the Town Guard . It was quently the case to find many knockers strewn about th e High Street in the morning t af er one of these encounters . An old resi dent tells of once hearing a drunken party making a most intolerable din at her door . In the morning sh e found the greater part n of the k ocker gone , and sticking in the frag wa s ments , to her horror, part of a finger which had been forcibly wrenched from the hand . E dinburgh boasted of many of the joke

a clubs , some of which we enumer te by way : of illustration . The Dirty Club no gentle m a n to appear in clean linen ; the Black Wigs : members wore black wigs ; the Odd Fellows : members wrote their names upside down ; the Bonnet Lairds . members wore blue bonnets ; and the Doctors of Faculty

Club , whose members were regarded as physicians and so styled , their club attire n bei g wigs and gowns . There was also a Wig

Club , the president of which wore an immense wig which had belonged to the Moray family for three generations . The Wigs drank twopenny ale , on which it was possible to 214 Old Edinburgh get most satisfactorily drunk for a groat

(four pence) , and with it they ate a coarse sort of bread called souters ’ (Shoemakers ’) ” E wa s clods . ach new member required to drink a quart of claret at one draught to t the health of the fraterni y . The L a wnma r ket Club had as its members

- chiefly the woollen merchants of that street . A set of them met ever y morning at seven ’ ffi o clock , and walked down to the Post O ce , where they posted themselves on the latest

. a d news After a discussion of this , they jou r ned to a public- house and had a dram

' fir s of brandy . They were always the t men in town to know the foreign news , and on dn We esday mornings , when there was no

London post , they amused themselves in the absence of real news by the manufacture of what was imaginary , to the consternation t often of the un ini iated . When the Duke of Argyll was Comm is sioner 1 0 in the Scottish Parliament in 7 5 , a curious kind of fashionable club composed of ladies and gentlemen was organized chiefly E by the arl of Selkirk , who was a great beau at this period . This was called the Horn

21 6 Old E dinburgh

’ ’ 0 Glenliv a t C We hae a kinds Whisky , frae sae lear, ’ — That ne er gies a headac he to th e five bawbee gear ; S t nic kna cke ts We hae Gin, Rum , hrub , and i her , For them whom th e Clear stuff their brain se ts in t racke s . P P o t nn We hae fine Yill frae eebles , an r er frae L o on ; ’ ’ ’ the too S foa min Ginger beer frae n , and ma , brisk an ; ’ C a lia s t We hae Teas , Bread an heese, Welsh Rabbi s ; ’ E for w t t Ham , ggs , an Red Herrings airsh as ed

g abb e ts .

I a t on t t o w t f y ime augh else sh uld be an ed, ’ ’ ’ ” r a ith er o t t s e e c h o t We ll send f r han fre s disapp in ed .

n From this annou cement , it would appear that mine host was a most accommoda t ting individual , and cri ical indeed would be the patron whose wants he could not satisfy . With the restricted household a c c omm o dation in the Old Town , and when the wor of ship Bacchus held such sway , the taverns were places of some importance and their now use was compelled more than . In his favourite tavern th e eminent physician would receive his patients , and the prominent bar t t ris er his clien s , according to a custom which lasted in London until even a later day . A story is told relating to this , of a woman from the country who called on a clever Old Time Clubs a nd Taverns 21 7 physician at his favourite shrine of Bacchus to consult him regarding the health of her daughter, when he gave shrewd hygienic advice in a pithy metaphor not to be men tioned to ears polite . However , as the result l of fol owing his prescription , the young th e t woman recovered her health , so mo her r came again to thank Dr . Pitcai n , and to i g ve him a small present . Seein g him in the same place and circum c om stances , and surrounded by the same Sh e in panions as on the former visit , l gered with a look of surprise . Upon being ques tion ed sh e sh e n , said had o ly one thing to Speer at him (a sk him) and sh e hoped he would not be angry . Oh , no , my good woman . s ir Well , , have you been sitting here ever since I saw you last ! This favourite lair of the doctor ’ s was a subterranean retreat e in the Parliament Close , r ached by a de n scendi g stair opposite the oriel of St . Giles , in a building called the Pillars . By the wits who there congregated , it was called the Greping- offic e because way could be found through its dark passages only by gre ping 21 8 Old Edinburgh

The city traditions respecting taverns do not go far back into the eighteenth century , but we get some notion of the principal houses in Queen Anne ’ s time from the Latin lyrics of this same Dr . Pitcairn , whom we have u s e just mentioned . In addition to their by professional men , almost every tradesman had his Special seat in his favourite tavern . ’ n w s Here after eight o clock , when busi ess a his over and his booth closed , he would have ’ i c ollo s supper of sheep s head , m nce p , or rizzared haddock , and crack jokes with his friends over a bottle before going home to bed . An E dinburgh tavern of the eighteenth centur y usually situated in some obscure spot in a court or close , away from the public thoroughfare —was by no means a fine or inviting place . On the contrary , they often presented such narrow and stifling a c com m oda tion s that it would seem they might

t . repel rather than at ract visitors The fact , however, was that a coarse and darksome snugness wa s desired by the convivial spirits who haunted these resorts . Large well -lighted rooms with an outlook to th e

220 Old E dinburgh

expressed in Scottish money . This occasion was evidently a supper given to several persons .

S ir J ohn Swinton to Mrs . Kendall .

For ot br h , For o t tto c t t 0 r s mu n and u le s , For of ane dish hens, For harenes , For a llmonds 0 and rasens,

For 1b . of co c t o 3 nfe i nes , For bread and ale , For nts of cla r ite 3 py , For c sa k , For o t fr ed r aw ys ers y and , For brandie and sugare, For t servan s ,

Coming down to a later period about 1 7 60 we find the tavern in highest vogue ’ ffi to have been Fortune s , in Stamp O ce th e E E Close , in house which the arl of glinton wa had once occupied . This s a famous t avern . Scholars , philosophers , gay men of rank , and the worthy burghers all came hither . Here the Royal Commissioner for the General Assembly held his levees , and Old T ime Clubs a nd T a ve rns 221 hence proceeded to church with his splendid t cortege , ladies in their cour dresses walking

w m et in it as ell a s gentlemen . Here also th e t w Poker Club , that brillian galaxy hich

a comprised mong many others , Hume , Rob er t s on , Blair and Fergusson , but whose potations were comparatively of a modera te

In Writers ’ Court was another famous old t th e t t avern , S ar and Garter , kep by one ’ le r th e ler ihu h s a u to C ih ugh . This is C g ll ded w r in Guy Mannering , he e Colonel Manner ing and Dandie Dinmont found Coun sellor Ple d ll wa s a t th e y e . This a f vourite resor of t wh o Magistra es and Town Council , in those

a a t d ys combined , in pleasing m nner, priva e enjoyment with public duties . ’ a w u a th e n D ney Do gl s s , in A chor Close ,

wa s a t near the Cross , no ed house in the a r latter p rt of the eighteenth centu y . This howff wa s a good specimen of the p r o foun d retreats whic h Cha mbers says were valued in th e inverse ratio of the amoun t of a t a few d ylight which visited hem . Going

a r a a a yards down a d k n rrow lley , p ssing on th e left hand a doorway over which wa s ih 222 Old Edinburgh

D . Y . L . NL scribed THE OR IS O . MY . SV P ORT , then passing another door bear D ing the legend O . LOR . IN . THE . IS . AL .

MY . TRAIST , immediately beyond an ar B ME R I VL c r v E . C F . hit a e calling out TO . ” ME a , you entered the hospit ble mansion wa of Dawney Douglas . This s the scene of the daily and nightly orgies of the Pley Fa ir for ds E dells , and , the Hays , rskines ,

Crosbies , and countless others of the bench a n a r d b . Familiar also were the faces of all t t Scot ish litera i , from the time of Hume and

Blair , and Beattie and Henry Mackenzie , downward . The visitor of Douglas ’ s after ascending a few steps , found himself in a capacious a ndemo kitchen , in which dark and fiery p nium numerous culinary sprites were con s ta ntl y flying about . Beside the door sat

. w Mrs Dawney , a large fat oman in a tower

- w wh o ing head dress and flo ered silk gown ,

a f t bowed f ably to every one passing . Mos

th e likely on emerging from this fiery region , visitor would fall into the hands of Da wney an himself , and then be conducted to apart ment .

224 Old Edinburgh

improbable . At all even ts the Crown Room fin e was a apartment ; finely panelled , with two l a decorated fireplace , and tal windows facing the alley . Dawney occasionally sang an old Gaelic ” Ch a lien song called Cro , detailing how a sorrowing widower used to see his young wife — who had died after a brief married life milking the cows in the gloaming, w hile she sang the chorus to the lay . This led to the establishment of a club at his Cr och a llan tavern called the Club , a famous convivial association , which was l founded by Wil iam Smellie , author of the

Philosophy of Natural H istory . A great

- d deal of mirth and horse play prevaile , and when Smellie while engaged professionally in printing the E dinburgh edition of the poems of Burns introduced that genius to Cr och a lla ns the , the bard declared after wards that he had never been s o a b omi i ” na bly thrashed in his l fe . The references “ ” by Burns to . the club and to Willie Smellie are numerous :

c Cr oc h allan As I ame by , I c annily keekit ben Old Time Clubs a nd Ta ve rns 225

' ’ Ra ttlin roarin Willie ’ Was si tting a t you board en ’ S tt a t ou o i ing y b ard en , Amang gude c ompanie ; ’ ’ tt o l Ra lin r arin Wi lie , ’ Ye re welcome hame to me .

As the printing office of Smellie was at the bottom of the close , Burns was thus enabled to make easy transition from the correction r oc a l of proofs to the roaring scenes at C h lan . An anecdote is told relating to a member of this club , a comical gentleman , old r Williamson of Cardrona , in Peeblesshi e . As he emerged one night heavily primed from Anchor Close , it occurred to him that it wa s necessary that he Should take pos session of the Castle . He accordingly arrived at the outer gate and demanded immediate possession of the garrison , to which he said wa he s entitled . The sentinel at first laughed so at him , but he became clamorous that fi the commanding of cer, aroused by his out w cries , came do n to inquire into the meaning s of such an inva ion . He at once recogn ized h is friend Williamson , whom he had left at the festive board of the Cr och a llans but a short 226 Old Edinburgh

n hi time before . Accordi gly humouring m in i s h conceit , he said, Certainly , you have every ri ght to the command of this gar rison , and I will conduct you to your proper apartment . He then conducted him to a his an d bedroom in house , Williamson , after s taking formal pos ession of the Castle , went to bed . Next morning , when he looked out and found himself surrounded by soldi ers u and great g ns , his feelings may be better a imagined th n described . When this story Cr och a llans reached the ears of the , William son said that they teased him s o much about hi s galla nt exploit that he ever afterward led the life of a dog . ’ ’ n Dowie s L ibb er ton s th Joh nie , in Wynd , e ’ M Bu m s s wa s ermaid Tavern of time, a still more perf ect specimen of these snug and darksome retreats . A great portion of this u house was literally witho t light , consisting of a series of windowless chambers , decreasing in size until the smallest was a mere box , ” jocularly known a s the Coffin . This wa s dark Closet , it is said , a favourite retreat of Burns , who here composed many of his poems . But two rooms in the house received

as a daylight , and this c me from a deep , was i narrow alley, it but feeble illum nation . r s was Neve theles , this one of the most E r celebrated of the dinburgh tave ns , and hither came many of the Parliament House “ ” men for their meridian . Here nightly t assembled worthy ci izens , and men of wit and of fashion , to spend long convivial hours . Fergu sson and Burns frequented the place “ t in succession , and Chris opher Nort met here with Tom Campbell . Many cele br a ted men were regular customers , and seldom allowed a night to pass without a ’ ” ’ Dowie s merry session at Johnnie Dowie s . its etits s ou er s a s was celebrated for p p , a patron h as recorded :

D eed, gif ye please , e t bit to t c Ye may g a as ed heese , c of t of A rumb ripe , ham , dish peas, The season fitting ; or c a uler the An egg, , frae seas , ” A fle uk or whi ting .

’ Johnnie s great specialty , however , ’ was a most potent fluid Youn ger s Edin burgh ale of which it is said one bottle 228 Old E dinburgh

ffi n was su cient for most drinkers . Joh , says Chambers , in his most interesting account of this famous tavern , was a sleek, quiet man who dressed in a bygone fashion .

He always brought in the liquor himself , decanted it carefully , drank a glass to the ” th e healths of company , and then retired . H is careful management of the bottle must have been entirely commended by old Will iam Coke , the Leith bookseller, of whom it is said that if he saw a waiter carelessly handling a bottle , he would rush indignantly up to him , take the ale out of his hands , caress it tenderly as if to soothe and put it to rights again , and then decant it himself , “ : saying You rascal , is that the way you ! attend to your business Sirrah , you should handle a bottle of ale as you would a new ” born babe . A more humble style of tavern s o far a s t appointmen s went , but equally comfortable ’ F kie s in entertainment , was Lucky y in the

P otter r ow wa s . This a small , obscure place , apparently from its exter nal appearance a

hu c kstr y shop . Within was a compre h ensiv e variety of articles , as ropes , tea ,

Old Time Clubs and Taverns 229

- sugar , whip stocks . porter , ale , beer , yellow ca lmsta ne sand , herrings , nails , lamp dl wicks , stationery , thread , nee es , tapes , potatoes , lollipops (candy) , onions , matches , etc . The lady who presided over this assortment was a neat , small , thin , elderly In woman , who always dressed a plain striped blue gown , and apron of the same f stuf , with a black ribbon around her head , and lappets tied under her Chin . From the shop was partitioned a tiny space ” called the hotel , which every forenoon was on put in neatest order , and the bunker seat in the hotel ” window were placed three bottles , containing , severally , rum , brandy and whisky . These were flanked by several glasses , and a plate of gingerbread biscuits .

About noon , the thirsty procession would begin to move . Anyone who had been in a position to watch proc eedings would have seen a string of elderly gentlemen in rapid E succession enter the humble shop . ach one as he entered would salute the lady with a Hoo d ’ ye do mem ! then pass into i lf r t the side space , help h mse from one o o her W hiting . 23 0 Old Edinburgh

of the bottles , and emerge with renewed vigour . On special occasions Lucky would s et forth a soss (stew) which the favoured ones might partake of upon a clean napkin in a closet , which admitted but one chair at a time . Such were among the habits of old time distinguished citizens , for these patrons were all men of importance , including among them judges , lawyers , and bankers . The oldest house in E dinburgh known to have been used as an inn was the White H orse Inn , or White Horse Stables , in the close of the same name at the foot of the

Ca nonga te . This was conveniently Situated wa s for travellers to or from London , as it close to the ancient exit of the town in that direction . This exit the Water Gate took its name from a horse-pond which belonged to the inn .

For travellers by the west road , there was Gr a ssma r ket the White Hart , in the ; for ’ the east , the White Horse Inn , in Boyd s Ca non a te Close , g ; for the south , Peter ’ ’ Ramsay s at the bottom of St . Mary s Wynd .

These places , in fact , were mainly used for keeping horses . Unless the guests were of

Old Time Clubs a nd T a ve rns 23 1

c a c t u su a very temporary h ra ter , hey were

l t - c al y relega ed to lodging houses , of whi h n there were several quite pretentious o es .

Mr s . n th e t Thomso , at Cross , adver ises in 1 7 54 that persons not bringing their silver

tea a ta c a tea plate , , Chin , ble hin , and linen ,

t a can be served in hem all , lso in wines and ri w t spi ts ; likewise , that persons boarding i h her may expect ever ythin g in a very gen ” teel manner . t w t w The unflat ering Arnot ri es , ho ever , He (the stranger) is probably c onduc ted

t t a to the hird or four h floor , up d rk and i S a a t d rty tairs , and there shewn into p r ments meanly filled up and poorly furnished . E n In dinburgh , letting of lodgi gs is a business lf t by itse , and hereby the prices are very t a ex ravag nt ; and every article of furniture , fa r from wea ring the appearance of having w been purchased for a happy o ner , seems to t w be scraped toge her ith a penurious hand , to pass muster before a stranger wh o will never wish to return At the inns , he says , the stran ger will be shewn into a room t s by a dir y sunburnt wench , without shoe ” or stockings . 23 2 Old Edinburgh

t t In West Regis er S reet , which is opposite th e fine hotel of the North British ’ a a wa s t t Railw y Comp ny , Si ua ed Ambrose s

w c t t Tavern , hi h Chris opher Nor h made ” i i na the scene of h s Noc tes Amb r os a e .

234 Old Edinburgh

bookseller tells us , who sat patiently on the bank at Greenside for nine hours to witness the play . The Treasurer ’ s Accounts give us a hint of the theatrical diversions of the Court in the “

. 1 1 0 reign of James IV January , 5 3 n ch t sa r is x Item , ye samyn y to ye gy that la i K t n e 5 . 8 p y to ye y g , £4 4 February th .

To ye mene yat brocht in ye Morice Dance , and to ye m ens tr a lis in Str ev elin (Stirling) — 2 5 1 8th . n 4 . February To ye Que e of ye Ca non a it g , This character seems to have been a favourite masker, and is fre

1 0 1 quently mentioned . 5 4 , January , To

- 1 5 Hog ye tale tellar , 4 . January 3 Yat daye to Maister Johne to by beltis for ye

2 8 5 s a m n e n c . h t Morise Danse , Yat y y to G sa r is E 8 c r ye y of Ye Toune of dinburgh , fr . .

1 0 (French crowns) . June Payit to James Dog yat he la yd doune for girse one Corpus

Christi day , at ye playe to ye Kingis and ”

i a r 5 . d u en s ch m e is . Q , 3 5 4

The Stuarts were all patrons of the drama,

1 James VI . being the most liberal . In 599 and 1 60 1 Lawrence Fletcher and his English

9 P a . G s l yers ras .

236 Old E dinburgh

t l w t or oo Ye nei her me l i h lad l n, B ut with the best in all this toun ; w a s it o o t o His ife may y f rem s d un,

At t b uir d or ei her bink , o o t a t oo or tt Gang f rem s in d r ye , a th e t —d a w e t And y firs guid y ald g , t honour it w -t t Wi h all men and eel re , As ony heart wald think

’ S w t wo ’ ee ha a man s mind may meese , A w t o ou w t nd hear ha h n r, eal h , and ease , et w t Ye may g i h him , an ye please T o do as I devise : o t c Y ur fire sall firs be burning lear, Your maidens then sall have your geir 3 P ut o f 3 in guid rder and e feir,

r 4 Ilk morning o you rise .

L O t o And say , mis ress, here y ur muils 6 P ut on your wylie coat or it c uils 7 ' L O of o t s tuils , here ane y ur velve , Whereon ye sall s it doun

tw o 9 c o to o Then as me me kame y ur hair, P ut on your head-geir soft and fair ; — T a k there your glass See all be . Clair ; n And sae gaes o your goun .

T ta k to t c o o o t hen , s an h y ur m rning dr u h ,

c u of o for o o t Ane p Malv isie, y ur m u h ;

3 nd t o C a m r t . A e Co l , g a ify ppar l . i i n 6 4 E r e 5 S e A fla n e t . lipp rs . n l ves . 3 Stoo 9 T wo ls . . MR . AN D MRS . LEE LEWES IN TH E CHARACTERS or “ CH “ ” TH T GOLDFIN AND WI DOW WARREN , EA RE

23 8 OId Edinburgh

’ For to co c a r ka t c de re , ane rave, c - That c omely ollar bane . o t o c h ein ie for o c Y ur grea g ld y y ur ne k , B bowsome to th e c c e arle , and be k, For o c w t- c ! he has g ld eneu h , ha re k n I t will stand o nane.

for o ouns a th e n ew And y ur g , y guise w t o t o Ye i h y ur ail rs may devise , T o t oo w t t have hem l se , i h plai s and plies , r l s i O c a p t c l ose behind . t f t not 3 The s u f , my hear , ye need hain, P t fi ur it or an velve raised, g plain, S l t or r o r a in i k , sa in, damask , g g ,

The finest ye c a n find .

o cla ith s on c o o c uttit out Y ur l urs , a s mente d o o t And all p r und ab u , on t t o t My blessing ha seemly sn u , S w I t ow s et t ! ae eel , r , sall hem ou S ’ of o t oo Y r hanks silk , y ur velve sh n , o o w c o t oo Y ur br idered ylie a ab n , o As ye devise, all sall be d ne , i 6 U ncr a it w e t t . p , hen ye g hem

o t t o ’ t t Y ur able , by y ur halse ha hings , o c t ot t G ld bra ele s , and all her hings, o of And all y ur fingers full rings , t Wi th pearls and prec ious s anes .

1 e c ce C 3 W t N kla . ivil . an . 4 c o te w t c 5 Stoc De ra d i h la e . kings . 6 U o tte c t 7 T o t nsp d, perfe . hr a .

240 Old E dinburgh

After the Duke of York ’ s arrival in E din

1 68 0 a t burgh in , and during his residence

Holyrood , plays were again given in the

Royal Tennis Court . The actors came from ’ r sl London , and from D yden s y allusions i were not the most em nent in their pr ofes sion . Apparently some of the members of the company had gone to Oxford to assist in r pe formances there , according to annual cus ” r tom . D yden , in his Miscellanies , makes one of the players apologize to the University of Oxford for the meagre ranks of the com pany . He at the same time insinuates that n lea v m o ly the lesser lights have gone north , g the talent at the service of the University '

O ur t o to w t bre hren have fr m Thames T eed depar ed, T o E dinbor ou h o or co c or c t g g ne , a hed ar ed ; With bonny b lue c a p there they a c t all night

For S c otc -c ow E t c t h half r ns , in nglish , hreepen e high , ’ O ne to w o fa t S o F t ff nymph , h m ir J hn als a s lean,

There with her single person fills th e sc ene .

1 6 About 7 3 , Allan Ramsay , who was strongly attached to the drama , built his ’ playhouse at the foot of Ca r r ubb er s Close . This wa s the fir st specially built and equipped O L D H C O PLAY OUSE L SE .

242 Old Edinburgh

I 1 6 n 7 7 , in consequence of a dispute b e tween the public and the management , a band of rioters , mostly students , completely wrecked the building, finally setting it on

fire .

The Town Guard was called out , but on r s arriving at the scene of distu bance , the e veterans , many of whom had fought at

Blenheim and Dettingen , faltered at the thought of entering this domain of the Evil n One . Whe their commander, therefore , ordered them to enter the theatre and cross the stage , they stopped Short amidst the scenery , the glaring colours of which surprised and terrified them . Their timidity filled s o the gallant captain with great indignation , seizing a musket , and striking an attitude equal to anything that had ever been on those boards , he exclaimed , Now , my ! lads , follow me At the same moment the

- trap door on which he stood gave way, and n if in an insta t , as by magic , the hero dis appeared . This was proof to the excited warriors that the Devil had snatched thei r leader by in the heels, so they fled complete disorder . T he Edinburgh Sta ge 243

They received the captain when he appeared a s later , a gentleman from the lower regions , and were hardly convinced of his human identity even when he cursed them most artistically in picturesque Gaelic for a pack of cowardly scoundr els . No recourse wa s possible for the proprie n tors agai st the ringleaders , for by the Act of

1 wa s 7 3 7 , the playhouse both illegal and wa s imm oral . A Royal Letters Patent d secure , and the old theatre reopened De r 6 c emb e 1 . , 7 7 Among other famous actors connected with this theatre were the elder

Sheridan , Mrs . Ward , Lampe (the composer) , i Signor Pasqual , Samuel Foote , John Lee ,

West Digges , Tate Wilkinson , John Jackson ,

Mr s . . Bellamy , and Stayley , an eccentric th 1 6 On December 9 , 7 9 , the manager , his a David Ross , opened new The tre Royal in Shakespeare Square , where the General ffi u Post O ce now stands . D ring a period of forty years the Thea tre Royal passe d s i through many vici situdes . Among ts man agers were Ross , Samuel Foote , Tate Wil kinson , Stephen Kemble and John Jackson . Nearly all the great stars of the day a p~ 244 Old Edinburgh

ea r ed Mr s p here , including . Siddons and

John Kemble , and Sir Walter , then plain Mr . t wa s . Scott , a frequent visi or 8 r 1 8 0 . In , Hen y , son of the famous Mrs t Siddons , became manager of the Thea re

Royal , but fortune went steadily against him and doubtless hastened his death in 8 1 1 . . 5 His wife , Mrs Harriet Siddons , how ever, under the able management of W . H . s et Murray , her brother , about the produc

n 1 8 1 8 tio of the Waverley dramas , and in

Rob Roy was a tremendous success .

1 8 2 2 George IV . visited the theatre in E wa s when dmund Kean starring there , ’ and much to the great tragedian s chagrin , H is Majesty commanded Murray to perform ” 1 8 0 Rob Roy . In 3 , Murray took entire possession both of the Royal and of the smaller ‘ theatre (which stood on the site

r e of the present Royal) , which latter he christened the Adelphi .

Murray was himself a fine actor, and his management continued most successfully

1 8 1 until 5 . Many stars owed their suc cess to the training of Murray , and of Wynd him E ham , who followed , for the dinburgh

CHAPTER XII

AN CIENT TRAD ES

K courtmen cr a ftis m n f n irkmen, , and e y e ; D octour is medic n in jure, and y e ; ’ 3 D iv inour is r eth or is hilos o h our is , , and p p ,

As tr lo is a r tis tis or a tour i o g , , and s

of v a il e a nd kn ch tis Men armes, and y y , And mony vth er g udlie wigh tis ;

M us icia nis me ns tr a lis mir r ie s in a r i , , and g s Ch ev alour is c a lla nda r is ‘ flin a r is 3 , , and g 6 7 Cun eour is c a r v our is c ar enta r is y , , and p , B e ilda r is of barkis ’ and balling a r is ” M as ounis l a nd v on the , y p land , And s c hip-wr igh tis h ewa nd v pone th e strand : wr i h tis olds m this la ida r is Glasing g , g y and p , ” ‘3 P r ntour is a ntour is otin a r is . y , p y , and p g HUS Dunbar enumerates some of the

craftsmen , among others of the throng which the varied interests of James IV .

1! oc to of la w Fo tu t D rs . r ne ellers . 3 E o u t w te or l q en ri rs speakers . 4 R t r of ocu t 3 c egis e s d men s . Dan ers . 6 C o 7 C iners . arvers . 3 B u 9 M c t S of wa r ilders . er han vessels . hips . ‘1 Mas o A ot c . ns . p he aries 246 Anci ent Tra des 247

brought about him . It is curious to observe n c u how , with the Change in ma ners and s a n toms , one trade becomes extinct while its other arises in place , and some mention

- of the Trade , or Craft Gilds , which exercised such important influence in the aff airs of E t i . d nburgh , may be of passing in erest m In ancient times , before govern ent had a s become fairly established , in Scotland , elsewhere , the dwellers in populous places , l ml vi lages , or ha ets , were almost always under the protection of some royal or baronial wa s i castle . Scotland a feudal k ngdom , divided into numerous small principalities which were almost independent , and the country was held together by th e feeblest wa s ties . The authority of the Sovereign t not only curtailed , but a large par of his revenues went into the greedy hands of the feudal nobility . The division of the country r t into clans , and the lack of great cities , g ea ly w strengthened the po er of baronial authority , and weakened the Throne . Most of the people in those times existed in a state of absolute serfdom or slavery, being entirely dependent on the will or whim 248 Old E dinburgh

of the lord of the soil . They had not only no property of their own , but even the prod uot of the greatest industry on their part , or any profit in such trade or barter a s came their way , was often subjected to heavy demands by either the Crown or their over w a s a. lord . It simply case of the strong plundering the weaker . At length these extortions became so oppressive that their very severity tended to bring about a cure , a s and paradoxical it may seem , the very point which rectified all these wrongs was what may be called the exercise of exclusive privilege . The Crown , and many of the u feudal lords , began , even from a p rely selfish point of view , to take a greater interest in the growing prosperity of their vassals , for they s a w that this meant their own greater welfare . Professor Cosmo Innes says With th e twelfth century rose the general desire , E through France and over urope , to shake off the oppression of the feudal lords , and to restore or establish some municipal rights and freedom in towns a share at least in the choice of their own magistrates , and

25 0 Old Edinburgh

l itse f among the members of the Gilds . In E dinburgh , as was the case in Continental towns , the Gild , though consisting originally of the Merchant or Burgensic class , had , in the course of time , admitted to its privileges members of the Craftsmen class , provided they held full rights of citizenship by owning estates of a certain recognized value within the town . But as the merchants amassed wealth , they became more exclusive in their association .

An ancient statute of the Belgian , Danish , and German Gilds forbids the admittance of any one with dirty hands ” or with ” blue nails , or who hawked his wares on the streets , and further states that crafts men must have for e swom their trade for a year and a day before being admitted to the

Gild .

It was soon evident , therefore , in the contest for municipal control , and in the f regulation of town af airs , that the Mer t chan class , and the various Arts or Trades became a s distinctly separated as were the Patricians and Plebeians in early Roman days Anci ent Tra des 25 1

nl f i They not o y di fered in opin on , but their frequent hostile collisions occasioned E much turmoil in dinburgh . The Merchant . a s n class , the wealthiest and most i fluential n s members , co sidered themselve the trade e ri . a stocracy They, th refore , assumed the i f leading part in mun cipal a fairs , and not only excluded the Craftsmen from the brethren 0 of the Gild , but instituted a system of p pression against them . This explanation is necessary to show the origin of Trade or Craft-Gilds Guilds as later known which it will be seen were occas ioned by the necessities of the period . Combination was the only mea ns by which the Crafts could oppose the oppression of the l s uc Mercantile Gild , and they eventual y c eeded in obtaining a share in the civic administration . Thes e Trades Crafts were close corpora n m wa s tio s , and ad ission not easily obtained . wa s e It not desired to increas their numbers , for by so doing they lessened the profits of con their trade . If the applicant was not nec ted wa s with some of the craftsmen , he E almost certain to be refused . ach craft 25 2 Old Edinburgh elected a Dea kon or Kir kma ister accord

1 2 . ing to an Act of James I . in 4 4 n r ea hn e That y ilk toune of ye , of ilk us t h ch os n sindry craft y t arin , thar be y ane wise man of thar Craft be ye la yff (mem bers) of ye Craft and be ye counsel of ye ia r i uhilk a h a ld n offic s of ye toune , ye q s ll be y Dekyn or Maister-man owre ye la yff for ye me to b m a ss i n t l ty till ( ) y g y , ti l assay and govern (examine and judge) all wer kis that wer kmen beis maid be ye of hys Craft , sua that ye Kingis lieges be nocht defr a udyt and sca th t n t me a s y (harmed) y y to come , thai have bene yn tyme bygane thorow untr ew r is men of c a ft . The original constitution of these Trade I n Societies , later better known as Trade corporations , seems to have been inspired by a desire for union , mutual help , and self l protection . They not on y tried to maintain a high standard of good and substantial m - m work anship , but had also in pre Refor a n m tio ti es strict religious duties to fulfil . E ach trade society had a patron saint to whom they dedicated an altar in the Church of St . Giles . Members were bound to pay ,

Anci ent Tra des 253

i ouklie in add tion to other benefactions , the ” penny (weekly payment) for the mainte nance of their altar , and the sustenance of the priest attached thereto . In 1 48 3 the famous Incorporation of t Hammermen , next to the Baxters the mos ancient of the civic corporations , was granted a Seal or charter from the Town Council Edi of nburgh , the terms of which gives curi ous information on the trade customs of m the ti e . Some of the strict rules binding the members are as follows , rendered in modern style : No one was to be allowed to practise more arts than one , to prevent damage or hurt to each other ; no goods were to be exposed for sale in the streets but on th e market day ; certain judicious persons of the corporation were employed to search and inspect the goods made by the members f of the craft , and if found bad and insu ficient to forbid the sale thereof under the pain of forfeiture . About thi s period the manufacture of offensive weapons predominated over all E i E other trades in d nburgh , and an din burgh armourer was held to be the equal of a ndles - only . Dag makers made hackbuts short guns) and dags (pistols) ; while dal ra s c a r s gilded swords . We find also belt r akers , whose business it was to furnish elts for swords ; and beltons to keep the Ody firm while they provided also for the E de pistols . ach applicant for admission ” a s required to perform a task or essay ’ 5 t his entrance examina ion . The cutler s ss a y in 1 584 was ane plain finished quh a n ” e a r w , or s ord . It is interesting to note how when the

r earing of arms went into disuse , other arts rhich tended to provide the comforts and

1 8 6 rx ur ies of civilized life arose . About 5 'e find notice of the first locksmith in din r h s h ea r smith s b u . g Then came , tinklers z inkers) , coppersmiths , pewterers , white °on o smiths (tin workers) , makers of kn cks : - locks) and watches ; edge tool makers ,

- 6 in fishh ook . 1 1 makers and a maker In 9 ,

25 0 Old E dinburgh

or binding up . The barber has fallen from his old-time high estate and can now com n w hi s ma d but a lo ly stipend , while former i tw n brother , the surgeon , has mounted to lofty heights with corresponding fees . Goldsm this The y , or Goldsmiths , were a wealthy and important body . George Heriot Jingling Geordie was their Deacon

1 1 — 1 60 6 1 6 0 0 . Convener in 59 , 59 3 4 , , and 7 Geordie must have been a very ma gnifi n cent being , to judge from the descriptio of his a ttire by Sir Walter Scott in the For tunes of Nigel . His hose were of black w velvet , lined ith purple silk, which garniture appeared at the slashes . His doublet was of h is purple cloth , and short cloak to correspond with his hose , and both were adorned with a great number of small silver buttons , richly wrought in filigree . A triple chain of gold w hung round his neck , and in place of s ord or dagger he wore at h is belt an ordinary n th e k ife for the purpose of table , with a small Silver case which appeared to contain ” writing materials .

The Incorporation of Baxters , or Bakers , was the most ancient civic incorporation GEORGE H ERIOT J INGLING GEORDIE

Old E dinburgh us skins into leather or furs , and as occupation called for a location by a n g stream , their workhouses were at w Vater of Leith . The Glover Craft a s led in this corporation , it being their es s to manuf acture the leather or furs f l gloves , breeches , mu fs , and the ike .

Cordwainers or Cordiners , a very nt craft , were the Shoemakers , their Cor dov a n being derived from the word , zher made of goat skins in the city of

iv a . t , Spain Their char er stipulates i ll B uits or Schone (shoes) must be ” of gude ledder . T a lzour is , or Taylors , fitted the male > urgh person to guid Galashiels grey

satins , or velvets according to require This former fabric was once the

manufacture of that prosperous burgh , 5 thus described by an aged resident ashiels wa s grey a maist durable claith , ’ ’ ’ 0 wi sound woo , a guid twined thread , ’ ra ir it i p and weftit w conscience . The ‘s had the privilege of exacting certain ” - rom all Mantua makers , or makers ’ m t n . en s apparel , wi hi the city Ancient Tra des 25 9

Wob sta r is The , or Websters , were the

Weavers , of which craft the good Bailie

Nicol Jarvie wa s a member . In former days the weaving business wa s extensively carried on within the city and suburbs of Ed inburgh , chiefly by Quakers . The far famed Paisley shawls were or gina lly de sign ed and manufactured in the suburbs w of Sc iennes . At first they ere called E din burgh shawls , and were known throughout i the world . This district derived ts name from the Convent of St . Catherine of Sienna , erected here by the pious Janet , Lady Seton , after the fatal day of Flodden had left her ’ wi ow a d . The weaver s motto , My life is ’ ” as a weaver s shuttle , was carved on the front of an old factory which formerly stood Edi in the West Port of nburgh . Wa eker is The business of the , or Waulkers , was the dressing of cloth and the making of h ee n c is s . S r me S or smen felt The ( ) , and later

H . the atters , were branches of this craft

- Then there were the Bonnet makers , and the L i r ts te s . , or Dyers u in The Trades Maiden Hospital , fo nded 1 69 5 for the maintenance and education of 260 Old Edinburgh

is poor maidens , perhaps the most b enev o lent outcome of the Incorporated Trades of

E . dinburgh This hospital , now removed

to the southern Side of the Meadows , origi nally stood on the site now occupied by the A Museum of Science and r t . In conclusion we must not forget the a n cient and important Corporation of Candle w makers , hose hall still stands at the head of

Candlemaker Row . Over the doorway , boldly cut , stand the arms of the craft with N N F S LU the motto OM IA MA I E TA CE , i 1 2 2 . l and the date 7 In olden times , an lumination of the town wa s a glorious ha rvest for the candlemakers . The penalty for not lighting up the windows was the breaking

h u eh ol o of the glass by the mob . The o s der could obtain no redress from the town a u th or ities his , for omission was a gross act of ’ disobedience to the Magistrates order . Proc la m a tions for a General Illumination were quite frequent in those days , and were ordered on many occasions when the general public did not quite s ee th e necessity for such . This was the origin of the old rhyme

Old Edinburgh a voluntate tua edific enter muri J er u sa In thy good pleasure let the walls er usa lem be built and from its colour familiarly known as the Blue Blanket . i , on their return , the craftsmen dedicated ’

E . t . loi s altar in the Church of St Giles . i tev er ground there may be for this story s more ancient origin , it is true that in

James III . in recognition of signal ices of the craftsmen gave them many ile es g , and bestowed upon them this n g ; his Queen , Margaret , embroidering r heraldic bearings upon it with her

hands . v l E ery loyal tradesman , not on y of din h g , but of all Scotland , is held bound to r at the summons when it is unfurled , ” r il bodin in feir of weir, to fight for king

country . The United Incorporation Ia mm er m en , an ancient body of twenty es corporations , were the guardians of the E Blanket . It was carried by the din

1 1 [hers at the battle of Flodden in 5 3 , is still to be seen in the Council Chamber I e Trades Maiden Corporation . CHAPTER ! III

O L D TOL B O OTH AND ROG S AND T H E , UE CRI M INA LS

HIS ancient jail , which Sir Walter Scott has immortalized in his Heart wa s of Midlothian , a dismal looking edifice five stories high and occupying half the width

1 8 1 of the High Street , which until the year 7 stood at the northwest corner of St . Giles

Church . At the western end was a project sh O S f ing ground floor formed of p , the roo which covered them forming a platform on which executions took place . The build ing consisted of two parts , one more antique and massive than the other , and resembling , s with its turret staircase , one of tho e tall , narrow fortalices which are so common in the Border countries .

Without doubt the house , or a portion of it , was of great antiquity , for it was old n and ruinous in the reig of Mary , and nar 264 Old Edinburgh

r owly escaped destruction at that time . his Chambers says in interesting account , that in all probability the older portion of the Tolbooth was in early times a sort of peel n tower or house of defe ce , built by the towns people when they were so liable to predatory invasions . This probably is the pr etor i um bur gi de E dinbur i 1 8 g , where a Parliament met in 4 3 , after the assassination of the Poet- King I James . , to deliberate on the proceedings which then became necessary . Here the

Court of Session met in its earliest years , and it was here also the Parliaments of wa s Mary assembled . It on the Tolbooth door at night that the citizens fastened libels charging the Earl of Bothwell with ’ Da r nley s murder . In those simple days great and humble things came close together, and the house which contained Parliaments

a upst irs , presented shops in the lower story, a nd thus drew in a little revenue to the t " magis rates .

But long before this , all greatness had departed from the old building and it was devoted to the purposes of a jail alone , with

T he Old Tolbooth 265

e the shops still remaining undern ath . The main entrance to the Tolbooth , and the only wa s one used in later years , at the bottom of the turret next the church . The gateway

- was of carved stone work , while the door , of massive construction , was secured by an immense lock and besides this by a flap dl pa ock . It was this door that the leaders of the Porteous Mob had to destroy by fire in order to get at their prey . A private of the Town Guard clad in rusty red , with

Lochaber axe or musket , always loitered about in front of the door . The door next to the gateway led into ’ ” K etten s Michael Shoe Shop , which had ’ ” formerly been the Thieves Hole , where ’ these gentry were confined . The turnkey s residence wa s the next door westward to that ; a dismal den , where the gray old ofli c ia l was always to be found when not engaged in locking or unlocking the jail door . ” w w -u The next door est ard was a lock p , wa s but in later times not used . The Town

a Guard , in the l st days of the Tolbooth , had their quarters in that part of the ground

floor on the north fronting the streets , where 266 Old Edinburgh

had once been shops . Any communication between these ground-floor apartments and the jail above was eff ectually prevented by the massive arches upon which the super structure was reared . o When the ponderous outer do r was passed, in the keeper Shut this instantly , thereby volving everything in darkness . An ascent of twenty steps led to the inner door , which , wa s being duly knocked upon , opened by

- a bottle nosed personage named Peter, who like his sainted namesake always carried ” two or three large keys . The visitor then entered the Hall , which being free to all the prisoners excepting those confined for serious off ences was generally filled with a shabby but very merry crowd . Here a sentinel of the Town Guard was constantly patrolling , with either a bayonet or ramrod in his hand The Hall ” was c on also used as the chapel of the jail , and ta ined a singular old pulpit which tradition stated John Knox had preached from . A large turnpike stair led up to the rooms wa s occupied by the criminals , one of which

- of plate iron . At the west end of the Hall

T he Old Tolbooth 267 hung a board on which were inscribed these

o o of c A pris n is a h use are , c w o c a n t A pla e here n ne hrive, to c to t to tr A u hs ne rue y a friend , A grave for men alive

S o t c for of t me imes a pla e men righ , S o t c of w o me imes a pla e r ng , S o t c for t s me imes a pla e jades and hieve , ” And h onest men among . On the north side of the hall were par titioned off two small rooms , one of which ’ his fi was the captain s pantry , the other of ce .

An old musket or two , a pair of obsolete bandoleers or powder cases , and a bayonet sheath hung in this official lair as fancied i protection against a mutiny of the pr soners . ” ’ The Hall , including the captain s quarters , was about twenty-seven feet long by twenty wide and twelve feet in height . ’ Wi thin the captain s two rooms wa s a Sin gular double window , which tradition , supported by appearances pointed out as having been formerly a door by which royalty entered the hall in the days when it was the

House of Parliament . It is said that a sort 268 Old Edinburgh of bridge wa s placed between this aperture and a house across the street . The sovereign , having donned his robes of state in that house , at the proper time walked across the bridge into the Parliament Hall . This ar rangement was not at all improbable in those days of limited accommodation . A large window Close to the entrance door of the hall was strongly barred . On the south side of the hall wa s a window overlooking w the outer gate ay , and employed by the inner turnk ey a s a means of communication with his outer brother when any visitor was going out . He would c r y from this window in the tone of a military order upon parade , “ ” u u T rn yo r hand , upon which the outer turnk ey on the pavement below would open the door to let the visitor out . Immediately wa s above the hall the room for felons , and to an iron bar running along part of the

floor condemned criminals were chained . In the centre of this room wa s a square box “ - of plate iron called The Cage , which was said to have been made for the purpose of securing some extraordinary criminal wh o ha d broken half the jails in the kingdom .

27 0 Old Edinbur gh

the indescribable smell of poverty , making a combination almost overpowering to th e stranger . The story is told of a dashing young blade who had been confined in th e i Tolbooth for debt , who , on his release , wen with a party of friends to the neighbouring fish ing -village of Newhaven to celebrate his freedom by a fish dinner , for which enter

ta inments . the place was , and still is , famous His dainty lordship professed to be highly indignant at the odoriferousness of the quar ters they had honoured for this occasion , which immediately aroused the ire of hwife fis . Meggy Ramsay , and proprietress Smell ! wrathf ully shouted honest Meggy ’ smell ! De il scrape the partan face 0 ye ; the last time I s a w ye was in the Auld ’

T owb uith . , and ony smell s sweet efter that Eh n me n , sirs , it afte gars fent whe I gang ’

wi . in oysters After this very terse remark . the young laird was discreetly silent upor the subject of smells . The promenaders in the hall were appar ently generally not greatly depressed by their w 01 situation and chatted ith their friends , ’ cracked jokes on Peter s nose . If any mes T he Old Tolbooth 27 1

senger were sent out for a bottle of whisky , Peter never expressed any offi cial curiosity as to the state of poc kets when the messenger returned , but it might be noticed shortly after this that his nose had increased in i ’ brilliancy . Mistress La ng s little tavern underneath was very convenient , and did a thriving trade . New arrivals were greeted with the cheery chorus

c o w c o ot to Wel me , el me , br her deb r, T o this p oor but merry plac e ; no f nor tt Here baili f, dun, fe er,

D ares to Sh ow his gloomy face . It was remarkable how soon in most cases a all became familiar , easy , and even to p r a c E pea n e in good spirits . ach one had his wa s story to tell , and sure of sympathy .

As far as the regulations permitted , the administration of the place seems to have - wa s been of a good natured kind . It not at all impossible that a debtor could share his lodging with some even more destitute friend for the night , or even for many nights . wa s This done in some noted instances , and strange as it may appear , the Old Tolbooth had been the means of escapes from justice . 27 2 Old Edinburgh

When the Rye-House Plot in th e reign wa s . i s of Charles II d covered, the notorious ” n Robert Fergusso , called the Plotter, was searched for in Edi nburgh with a view of subjecting him to the extreme penalty wa s n c er of the law . When it know to a wa s tainty that he in the town , the gates were ul closed , and the authorities congrat ated themselves that he was surely in their toils . ” The ingenious Plotter, however, hied him to the Tolbooth , where a friend chanced to be confined at the time , and there found r pe fect concealment . At his leisure he his emerged from retirement , and escaped in 1 6 to the Continent . The same device 7 4 enabled a gentleman who had been c on i cerned n the Rebellion to save his head . One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Tolbooth was its inability to retain any n n its i fluential perso s committed to care , and it wa s notorious that almost every cri mi

nal of rank confined in it escaped . Lord n wa s Burleigh , an i sane peer who imprisoned

1 00 here about the year 7 for murder, escaped

by changing clothes with his sister . The Scottish people were greatly excited in

" m a u u a a o b s u u b U L b u t ; L I 1 0 5 C 1 1 6 1 a . , n a s sh e y thump on the back went out , g her at the same time a howling old el sh e , and wishing might never come again . ce outside , a coach in waiting carried wiftly to a place of concealment . The man , it is said , had orders from her ons in case of pursuit to drive into 3a , that she might drown herself , which wa s considered preferable to the igno

of a public execution . She escaped to

“ e , married , was the exemplary mother

a . rge family , and died at a good old age a ccomplice , Patrick Ogilvie , was exe k in the Gr a s sm a r et . following anecdote was related to a l . by Sir Walter Scott . It was arranged a certain prisoner of rank Should be gled out of the Tolbooth in a chest ,

:a r r ied by a porter to Leith , where a lay ready to sail from Scotland once o l b ema n was on board . The escape a il i was made successfully, but the final 11 the plot failed through an unlucky T he Old Tolbooth 27 5

. e a r accident It so happ ned th t the po ter, wa s who not in the plot , in hoisting the chest to his back placed the end which corresponded u er mos t to the feet of the prisoner pp . The head of the unf ortunate man was thus

pressed against the lower end of the box , and had to sustain the whole weight of his wa s f body . The position most pain ul , but

life was precious , and he kept silent . The porter trudged away innocently with the chest , until he met a friend at the Nether wa s n Bow , who asked him where he goi g ” hi was s . with large burden To Leith , the h ih reply . The t irsty friend thereupon quired if the job wa s good enough to aff ord some liquid refreshment before proceeding so on long a journey . This being answered fi in the af rmative by the carrier of the box , who readily appreciated the philosophy of ’ r his friend s inquiry , they at once adjou ned to a tavern near by . Meanwhile , the victim in the chest wa s wishing that his suff erings might be at once well over with in the Gras s i . wa s market But th s not the worst , for the porter in depositing his burden upon the causeway dr opped the end of the chest 27 0 Old E dinburgh

so heavily , that , unable to bear it any r im longer , the p isoner screamed out , and n mediately became unco scious . The porter , in consternation , burst open the chest , and the unlucky nobleman wa s found in a sad

t . condi ion A crowd gathered , the town guard approached , and all chance of escape was then hopeless . Later , however, he his managed to gain freedom in another way .

Deacon William Brodie , that artful indi vidual , was one of the most remarkable n olb ooth criminals ever co fined in the Old T . His first step on the downward path came c oc kfi hts from his habit of attending g , at one time a favourite diversion among the sporting rni E frate ty of dinburgh . He became through his mechani cal ingenuity a most aecom lish ed a p burglar , and for m ny years carried h is on malpractices without being suspected . n Fi ally, however, he was convicted of a daring robbery of the E xcise Office in the i Ca non a te . r g , and executed At his t al he - u appeared in a full dress black silk s it , and “ conducted himself in a most gentlemanly ” n and composed manner . A ge tleman of t l n th e his acquain ance , cal i g upon him in

T he Old Tolbooth 27 7 c n o demned room , was surprised to hear him ’ sing ing cheerily the song from the Beggars ” ’ ”

n . Opera , Tis woma seduces all mankind He managed to cut the figure of a check on board the stone floor of his dungeon , and amused himself by playing his right hand against his left . This diagram remained on the floor until the jail was demolished . William Brodie was the Deacon of the Incorpor ation of Wrights and Masons ; a man of wealth , of high repute , and a skilled mechanic . Specimens of his beautiful work , easily recognized by craftsmen , are still to be found about the city . Brodie gradually

b fr e drifted into evil ways , and ecame a ue nter Fishma r ket q of a club in Close , ma - naged by one Clark , a tavern keeper . c oc kfi h tin Here he spent his nights g g , gambling and in high revelry with kindred w Spirits ; by day, ho ever , still outwardly a mos t respectable and worthy citizen indus tr ious ly pursuing his trade .

1 8 6 e In the winter of 7 , a seri s of mysterious b urglaries filled the citizens with terror and e i consternation . The crim s are sa d to have en so d n s n be ari g , and so ingeniou ly pla ned , 27 8 Old Edinburgh

ff as to ba le all attempts at detection . T he shopkeepers , it appears , had a habit of c onfidingly hanging their keys on a nail b e a h hind the shop door . Brodie also had abit , so hi s not guileless however, of going about work during the day with a piece of wax in the palm of his hand , ready to take the impression of any key he desired . This he accomplished without raising any suspicion , m im and , being a skilled work an , with the n pressio in his possession the rest was easy . After the robbery of the E xcise Office in ’ Ca non a te con Chessel s Court , g , one of his federates betrayed the gang , but Brodie escaped to Amsterdam . He was brought T O1 back however, and hanged at the

r s t 1 8 8 booth , October , 7 , together with his accomplice , George Smith , on the same gal lows he himself had ingeniously perfected during his career as a reputable craftsman . The Deacon went to his fate with remark

- able composure , due to the facts after wards learned that a bargain had been ” made with the hangman for a short drop , and a certain French surgeon had been e n~ so gaged to resuscitate him , actually going

280 Old Edinburgh had no rights over a woman who had bee n officially certified a s dead . When the body of the Dea con was taken was nds down , it placed in a cart by some frie a nd dr iven furiously over the rough cobble n stones to the house of the French surgeo , with the idea that the violent motion would All stimulate the currents of circulation. ff uh e orts at resuscitation , however, were availing ; the Deacon had pass ed beyond wa s recall , and he buried in the graveyard of the Buccleuch Parish Church . m The escape of young Ja es Hay , a youth of Sixteen under sentence of death for rob bery , is an example of the Simple and lax system of managing public aff airs in the olden time . This incident happened during the later years of the Old Tolbooth . A few days b efore that appointed for the execution , the father went up to the condemned room with the apparent purpose of condoling with his unfortunate son . By the aid of files , the boy had succeeded previously in freeing himself from the shackles which bound him to the

floor .

After nightfall , when most visitors had T he Old Tolbooth 28 1

left the jail , old Hay invited the inner turnkey to come into the room and par take of some ffi liquor he had brought with him . The o cial i e read ly ass nted , and became mellow at just about the hour for locking up the jail ’ — ten o clock at that pe riod by which time the bottle wa s empty . Hay expressed a gr eat unwillingness to part just as they were beginning to enjoy themselves , which senti ment the turnkey heartily reciprocated .

Taking a crown from his pocket , Hay pro posed that his friend go out and purchase a bottle of good rum at a neighbouring shop .

The man readily assented , and , staggering b e away , neglected to lock the inner door wa s hind him . The expected opportunity b e realized , and young Hay followed close hind as had been planned . When the man had gone out , and the outer turnkey had locked the outer door , the boy stood just i h s i . l within , ready to run for l fe After a low ing time for the drunken turnkey to get started on his way , old Hay cried out of the ” th e great window of hall , Turn your hand , the usual drawling c r y which summoned the O outer turnkey to pen the door . The turnkey 282 Old Edinburgh

came mechanically at the call , and opened the outer door , when the young criminal sprang out and sped down Beth’ s Wynd a lane opposite the jail to the Greyf riars

Churchyard . The boy had been provided with a key which would open Sir George Mackenzie ’ s e mausoleum , a place looked upon with p culia r horror, as it was supposed to be haunted by the spirit of that bloody per n secutor of the Cove anters . Here young s ix Hay remained concealed for weeks , a few faithful c onfida nts supplying him . with food in the meantime . At length , when the vigour of the search for him had somewhat sub sided , he ventured forth and escaped abroad . When the Heart of Midlothian wa s

1 8 1 torn down in 7 , Sir Walter Scott , ever eager to obtain souvenirs o mine own ” romantic town , secured the ancient door hf for preservation at Abbotsford . His fait ul s servant , Tom Purdie , it seems had scruple about this relic being made part of his ’ master s beautiful mansion . His objection was that it had been grippit ower aften by wa s the hangman , and if it to be made use

284 Old Edinburgh

following are examples . Under the date 0 1 6 : October 3 , 5 7 , it is recorded that T a iliefeir Ca non a te E Bessie , in the g , din m burgh , having Slandered Bailie Tho as

Hunter , by saying he had in his house ane false stoup which was found not b r a nkit to be true , she was sentenced to be , ” and s et on the Cross for an hour . The n h wa s c us pu is ment of branking , which a tom a r y one for scolds , slanderers , and other ff r o enders of a seconda y class , consisted in having the head enclosed in an iron frame, from which projected a kind of spike s o as to enter the mouth and prevent speech .

During the time of Cromwell , when any ex pression favourable to the King wa s deemed f a criminal o fence , the Diary of Nicoll tells “ 6 2 : 1 . us that Last day of September , 5 E Twa nglisches , for drinking the Kingis h elth , war takin and bund to the gallous E r uh a ir at dinbu gh Croce , q ather of thame r esa v it thr ettie -nyne quhipes upone thair na iked Sh oulder is th a ir eftir bakes and , thair luggis wer na illit to the gallous . The ane haid his lug c uttit from the r uitt with a r es our e ; the uther being also na illit to the The Old Tolbooth 28 5

’ s kob it gibbet , haid his mouth , and his i wa s tong be ng drawn out the full lenth , bund togidder b etuix twa s tic kes hard to s ka inz ie thr eid gidder with ane , the space of i half ane hour or tha r by . E Coming down to a later period , the din u t burgh Co rant , under the da e of November

1 2 8 7 , 7 , tells of the curious punishment of a female thief :

Yesterday , one Margaret Gibson , for the crime of theft , was drummed through the city in a very disgraceful manner . Over her w neck was fixed a board ith spring and bells , At which rung a s s h e walked . some inches

wa s - distant from her face fixed a false face , ’ over which was hung a fox s tail . In short ” she wa s a ver y odd spectacle .

B ur ke a nd H a r e M ur der s

The discovery of the Burke and Hare murders in 1 8 2 8 horrified th e whole c iv iliz ed b world , and the mode employed y these two Thugs in killing the unfortunates who fell into their murderous clutches , led ” r to the origin of the word Bu king , mean l g to strangle . The story of these two men nd their victims is such a curiosity in the nna ls of criminology , that a brief account

f it may be here admissible . ’ In the year 1 8 2 8 there lived in Tanner s E lose , in the West Port of dinburgh , an

r ishma n , by name William Burke , and with ’ rim M Dou a l his paramour , Helen g , a woman

if Scotch birth . Not far from them lived

. a n nother couple , William Hare , Irishman ,

.nd n his compa ion , Margaret Log , also a

Ia iv t e of Ireland . All four belonged to the o i west class of human ty , but up to the year 8 2 7 appear to have comm itted nothing more

.er ious than the petty outrages on society i i r ec ul a to persons of their class . Hare and he woman Log kept a lodging house for ’ s o ramps , Log s Lodging , called , and a er ta in circumstance determined their follow n g atrocious career .

1 8 2 About Christmas , 7 , an old pensioner Ia m ed Donald died a short time before his ’

ua r t er s . [ pension was due , owing Hare £4 ns tea d of burying the body , Hare , with cofli n he aid of Burke , filled the with tan

) ark, and sold the body to the assistants

288 Old Edinburgh

s ec ifii proven . In the indictment three p

th i crimes were charged . The first was 0 murder of Mary Paterson , the second ” ch a r a cte Daft Jamie , a well known local

Mr s of feeble mind , and the third of a

h e Docherty . The last was that on which t l ] prosecution was main y founded , and i regard to which evidence was led at the trial The mode followed in disposing of thei

r victims was first intoxication , and the f su f ocation . In the words of the indictment 0 you , the said William Burke , did place lay your body over the breast and face 0 sh e t Mary Paterson , when was lying in a sta f of intoxication , did by the pressure thereo and by covering her mouth and nose witl your person , and forcibly compressing he throat with your hands , and forcibly keeping her down notwithstanding her resistance

s uffoca t ' preventing her from breathing , did ”

. n or strangle her The sums , varying fro

1 2 whicl £7 to £ , were the sole inducements

led these monsters to commit their crimes . ” 0 Bonny Mary Paterson , a woman wa the town , who was one of their victims , for her class in life a well -educated girl T he Old Tolbooth 28 9 and rema rkable for her beauty of face and

figure . Knox , the anatomist , struck with her l l beautifu form , and unsuspecting fou play , preserved the body in spirits for three months , and then engaged an artist to make a draw ing of it . The sad death of this beautiful woman has been made the subject of a story by Robert Louis Stevenson . ’ Burke s execution is popularly linked with the death of Daft Jamie , a great E favourite with the dinburgh townspeople , whose fate was the talk of the whole country . Burke was publicly hanged on a gallows ’ L ibb e r ton s erected at the head of Wynd , the cross stones in the roadway still marking the Spot where the gallows stood . To appease the excited mob who witnessed the ex ec u tion , the magistrates allowed the people to view Burke ’ s body as it lay on a black marble slab in the dissecting room , and from ten in the morning until dusk , the crowd poured through the theatre in Sur ’ geon Square . Burke s Skeleton is now in the University Anatomical Museum . CHAPTER ! IV

T H E P LAGUE

DI NBURGH di d not escape the visita l tions of that frightfu scourge , the E r Plague , or Pest , which so ravaged u ope d during the Mid le Ages . This dreaded disease was a malignant and fatal contagious sickness , resembling in its nature typhus fever . It was characterized by buboes , or swelling of certain lymphatic glands , and frequently attended by purpuric spots , due to a rupture of the blood vessels under the

s o- skin . These marks were the called ” plague spots , and were always considered a fatal Sign . During the various epidemics E u throughout rope , the mortality ranged from 50 to 90 per cent .

This disease , which in olden times was considered to be a visitation of God to punish the wickedness of the people , we now know to have its origin in a specific germ . The 290

292 Old Edinburgh

Hanging was not at a ll uncommon for f this of ence of concealment , and the case below quoted is recorded under August 2 d of this same year : The quhilk day for sa m ekle as it wes per fytlie v nder sta nd Da uid ul ta il our and kend that D y , y , has haldin his wife s eyk in ye contagious s eiknes e s tilens i da is of p j y in his houss , and wald nocht revele ye samyn to ye offic ia r is of ye toune quh ill scho (Sh e) wes deid in ye said s eikn es . And in ye meyn tyme ye sa yde D a u id past to Sanct Gelis Kirk quh ilk wes a ma n is Sonday , and thair said mess g ye cle ne e ill h in ex tr emis y p p , his wife eand in s eiknes b ye said , doand qu at wes in him kk a uhi till haif inf e it ll ye toune . For the q lk c a us is he wes a djudgit to be h a ngit on ane eb a t g befor his awin durr , and that wes gevin ” for dome . e It appears , however , that in this cas David miraculously escaped by reason of the breaking of the rope when he was swung : from the gibbet , for the record says later b ec a us at ye will of God he has esc ha pit r a i b r okin ibb a t and ye p , and fallin of ye g , a nd l is ane pure (poor) man with sma l barnis ,

opinion , from a corruption of the air , which he traces to the wrath of the just God at the sins of mankind . But to Show that even in the old days medical observation and judg if ment were not wanting , even treatment wa s fi in inef cient , he states that there are er ior f causes . These he mentions as corrupt i ing an mal matters and filth , unwholesome food and bad water . He gives a variety r of curious recipes and ules of treatment , expressed partly in Latin , and partly in E nglish .

1 1 r e Again , under October 4 , 57 4 , it is E corded that the plague entered dinburgh , brought in by ane doc hter (daughter) ” Ma lv is Kir k ld a . of Curll , out of y The Court of Session abstained from sitting in cou se

u enc e - q , and the kirk session later appointed ane public fast and humiliation to last ” for eight days to remove the scourge . Apparently the disease did not claim many

a victims t this time . i . n King James VI tells us , his Basilicon T he Pla gue 295

h Doron , t at the pest always smites the s ic kar es t such as flies it furthest and a ppr e ” dee lies hends p t the peril thereof . It is to be noted , however , that whenever the plague “ ’ ” n appeared in Jamie s vici ity , the royal person wa s removed to more salubrious parts ri with great and exceeding cele ty . When he

1 8 was hunting at Ruthven , in September , 5 4 , word came that there were five or s ix houses ff a ected with the plague in Perth , where his ’ Majesty s servants were for the time . Where upon his Majesty depa r ted the s a me night T ullib a r di ne with a very small train to , and next day to Stirling , leaving his whole household servants enclosed in the place of

Ruthven , with express command not to follow , nor remove forth of the same , until they saw what became of them on the s u s ” picion .

1 8 In May , 5 5 , the pest was brought by a servant - woman to the Fish -market in Edin “ r kna wn burgh , where it was fi st to be in ’ ” r nk s Simon Mer c e b a house . On the very E day the disease appeared in dinburgh , King Jamie suddenly remembered an important engagement at Dirleton with the 296 Old Edinburgh

E arl of Arran , and departed so swiftly , that see to quote an old saying , you could not ” his heels for dust . The pest raged in the city until the following January, and many died , the total number being about All those who were able to do s o fled from the city . The people attributed the severity of this pestilence to the infamous life of the E his arl of Arran and lady , then the ruling p ower of Scotland .

The plague , which continued to appear E its from time to time in dinburgh , made last and most fatal visitation in 1 64 5 . So fiercely did it rage that it is said there were scarcely sixty men left capable of defending h the city . W en the Marquis of Montrose ,

therefore , wrote to the Magistrates and Council after his victor y over the Covenanters

at Kilsyth , demanding the immediate libera

tion , under threats of fire and sword , of the E w arl of Cra ford , with other political pris

wh o oners had been confined in the Tolbooth , the Magistrates had no alternative but to obey . Montrose was prevented solely by the plague from advancing and taking the city .

298 Old Edinb urgh cla t h uha ir b ma y on the end , q y thay y be i v kna win quh a r e ir thay pass . That thair color it be maid twa clois beris , with foure feet , uh ite over with blak , and ane q cross , with ane bell to be hung in upoun the side of the i said beir, quilk sall mak warn ng to the e i ll deli nc p p ll. That with a ge e possible s a a s inf ec tit h a ill sone ony houss sall be , the h ou sh a ld udds de esc it , with thair g , be p tower t b ur iet the muir , the deid , and with d i i ” like el genc e the houss cleng t . At this time a gentleman sends to a friend the following specific for the plague , the invention of Dr . Burgess : Take three Ma lv o s ie h a ndfull mutchkins of y , and ane h a ndfull of red sage , and ane of rue , and boil them till ane mutchkin be wasted . Then s et : strain it , and it over the fire again then w put thereinto ane penny orth of lang pepper, half ane of ginger , and ane quarter of ane unce of nutmegs , all beaten together ; then let it boil a little , and put thereto five penny of r a worth Mith idate and two of tre cle , and ane quarter of ane mutchkin of the best

Angelic water . Keep this all your life above l a l . bodily treasures Tak it always warm , T he Pla gue 299

i f ul baith morn ng and evening , ane half spoon if al ye be in he th , and ane or two if ye be infec i t t ; and sweat thereupon . In all your plague time under God trust to this ; for was there never man , woman nor child that c om this deceived . This is not only for the ca llit mon plague which is the Sickness , but - Miss les S urf ea t also for the Small pox , , , and ” divers other diseases . On this occasion the pes t lingered for a considerable time , but it is remarkable that it appears not to have visited Scotland again

i E 1 66 after th s date . ven in 5 , that deadly year of the Great Plague in London ,

Scotland escaped . This seems the more extraordinary as the plague invaded Ireland , proving highly destructive in Dublin . An anecdote illustrating the terror in spired by the plague is related with reference

n 1 6 s to the visitatio of 4 5 . Sir Thoma

Stewart and a friend , James Denham , a merchant apprentice , both young men , went E r e into a public house in dinburgh , and c e iv e d change of some money . Next day that house was shut up as infected with the u h plag e , and t is at once caused strong alarm 3 00 Old Edinburgh

n at home . Both De ham and Stewart were strictly examined a s to all circumstances . Young Stewart had received the money in so Change , and frightened were all that none would touch the pocket where the money was , but at a distance . Finally the pocket c ut was out and with tongs cast into a fire. Both boys were shut up in a bedchamber and supplied with food , but kept from all m co munication with others . While they thus stood their quarantine , by strength of r imagination , or power of fancy , some fie y spots broke out on their arms and thighs , and they lamented no less than unavoidable death . They mutually lamented ; Thomas had more courage and Christian resignation ’ than his companion . James , said he , let us trust in God and the family prayers ’ for Jesus sake , who , as he cures the plague of the heart can if we are infected cure the ’ most noisome disease of the body . They both went to their knees , and joined in m sole n prayer , had much spiritual comfort ,

a s et t and in fortnight were at liber y , and the family retired to the country .

CHAPTER XV

WIT CH CRAFT

N olden times the Scots not only shared

r in the gene al belief in witchcraft , but perhaps were remarkable for a greater c r edu lity than was common . Many examples are shown by the repeated executions and “ worryings of witches and warlocks . Of wa s E the earlier cases that of the arl of Mar , acc used of plotting with witches and s of

c er e r s . the death of his brother , James III Mar was bled to dea th in his lodgings with or t t out trial convic ion , and six een witches and wiza rds four men and twelve women — E were burnt at the stake in dinburgh . We have already mentioned th e cruel fate of a t ul a Gla mmis the be u if J net Douglas , Lady , who was burnt in cha ins on Castle Hill in ’ 1 5 3 7 for an alleged attempt on the King s life by sorcery . She is said to have been a

' ’ the Dou la ses victim of the King s hate for g , 301 3 02 Old Edinburgh of which her brother the E arl of Angus wa the head . Trials for sorcery were very numerou ’ during Mary s reign , and James VI . , by hi. extreme curiosity to investigate these mys

h i f . T ter es , attracted great attention to them witches as a rule were poor and insignific a n ' r oc e persons , and the methods of judicial p

a dmis s ibli dure , together with the nature of evidence , promised little chance of acquitta to the accused . Tales of witchcraft have a certain monot

wer e ony , but as the witches we speak of countrywomen of the weird sisters in Mac ” o beth , perhaps some account of their pra tices may be interesting . During the reigi a ne of James VI . the general spite of Satan his followers was supposed to be dir ectee against him on account of his marriage te Anne of Denmark the union of Protestan Cler princess and Protestant prince . The gj considered in those days that their pr in cipa e ua ll* enemies , the Roman Catholics , were q h devoted to the devil , the mass , and witc craft . It is curious now to read of the implic i

t o ow S c and c Wi h s rr , i h , mi kle c are ; ’ I o th e And sall g in devil s name , ” w I co Aye hile me hame again .

Isobel said that once while in the likeness sh e wa s of a hare pursued by hounds . Being sh e hard pressed , ran into a house and took refuge behind a chest , in order to gain time to s a y the di senchanting rhyme which trans formed her again into a woman

God t c Hare , hare , send hee are , ’ I am in a hare s likeness now ; B ut I sall be a woman even now ; ” God t c a . Hare, hare , send hee re

Such accidents s h e said sometimes hap pened , and when the witches were bitten by dogs , the marks remained after they had resumed human Shape .

- By bestriding bean stalks or rushes , and

elfin na calling the Sig l for mounting , Horse i ’ and hattock in the dev l s name, the witches flew swiftly through the air to any place they wished . Very strict ceremonial ’ was Obser ved at the meetings on the Devil s ” Sabbath . The Foul Fiend exacted the Witchcra ft 305

greatest deference from his votaries , and the title of Lord when addr essed by them . Some times when whispering among themselves the weird sisters would speak of their master ” a s Black John , whereupon the Fiend rushed furi ously at them and buff eted them without mercy , saying (being a Scottish devil) , I ken weel eneugh what ye are ’ ” sayin aboot me . There were attendant devils a nd imps s who waited upon the witches . The e were u called Thomas the Feary , Robert the R le ,

- - Thief of Hell , Wait upon Herself , and others . E witc hfinder Matthew Hopkins , the nglish , discovered some of these spiri ts wh o r e oic ed th e P ewa c ket -ih j in names of y , Peck

- - the Crown , and Vinegar Tom . The fair sisterhood were rebaptized by a s wa s the devil in their own blood , he said to be fond of mimicking the forms of the i Chr stian Church . Margaret Wilson wa s called Pickle- nearest -the-Wind ; Bessie Wil s on was Throw -the-Cor nya r d ; Bessie Hay wa s called Able-and- Stout ; while Jane Mair ten , the Maiden of the Covine or the ’ devil s favouri te wa s kn own a s Ower-the

- - Dike with it . 306 Old Edinburgh

As we read the stories of these trials , it is hard to realize that so dense a mist of ignorance and superstition surrounded the most common and natural events in ancient times . This great credulity of the people regarding the supernatural wa s doubtless often taken advantage of by shrewder minds for the purpose of profit or revenge, but many of the cases noted had their origin , without question , in insanity .

A witch was detected by various tests , ” in one being called pricking, where a p was thrust into various parts of the body s ee if to blood followed the puncture . If thrust into certain spots called witch marks there was no pain or Sign of blood , f which was an in allible Sign of a witch . It is stated that the professional witch wa s finders , whose business a profitable one , used a pin of ingenious construction in which the point receded into a hollow upper part when it was pressed against the Skin . These were pins three inches in length , and , while t appearing to pene rate to a great depth , in reality did not enter the Skin at all . We read elsewhere that a suspected witch wa s

308 Old Edinburgh

had given her the power of a witch , but information likewise in criminating other per sons . Among these were John Fian , school mas ter at Prestonpans ; Agnes Sampson , f f midwife of Keith ; Barbara Napier, wi e o a ’ citizen of E dinburgh ; and E upha me M Ca l E k yean of dinburgh , a lady of ran , and daughter of a judge of the Court of Session . There were about thirty other persons of the lowest condition , among the rest an l a s hi s old ploughman cal ed nickname , Gr a mea l ff y , who said the devil had cu ed him for simply saying, God bless the

King James VI . , deeply interested always in ll the occult , persona y presided at these trials , and even assisted with his own hands in the examination by torture . There can be little doubt but that his experience at this time formed the groundwork of his tract Daemonolo i on g e . John Fian admitted under torture that ’ he had attended several meetings , or Devil s ”

Parliaments , in North Berwick Kirk where the Fiend presided as a muckle black

l . On man , with horns and tai these occasions Witchcra ft 309

’ a s he had acted the devil s scribe or clerk . He conf essed that he had been one of a

party of witches in a frolic , when they set to s ea an d in sieves with much mirth jollity , the devil rolling himself before them upon the waves and resembling in Size and appear

ance an immense haystack . Invisible to

the crew , they boarded a foreign ship with a a rich c rgo of wines , and after feasting until nk the sport became tiresome , Satan su the

vessel with all on board . i f Fian afterwards den ed his con ession , and although repeatedly tortured by James

to bring him back to it would say no more . The sagacious Jamie then was convinced that he had made a new compact with the

Prince of Darkness , and Fian was condemned ,

strangled , and burnt on Castle Hill . His torture to bring about confession was as follows : His nails were torn away with dl pincers , nee es were thrust up to the head his in his fingers , while legs were crushed in the boots until the blood and marrow ” spouted forth . In the indictment dr awn up by King James it was laid to his charge that : 3 10 Old E dinburgh

Passing to Tranent on horseback , and ane man with him , he by his devilish craft ’ r a is it up four candles upon the horse s twa lugs (ears) , and ane other candle upon the ff ma n his sta whilk the had in hand , and gave s ic light as gif it had been da ylicht : like as th e said candles r etur nit with the said - c a us it man at his hame coming , and him ” fall dead at the entry within the house . The cases were the more remarkable on account of the character and station of some of the accused . Agnes Sampson was a grave elderly matron , and called from her skill in ” treating disease the Wise Wife of Keith . It was alleged that for her cures sh e repeated : incantations in rhyme , one of which was

of t t All kinds ills ha ever may be, ’ I n Christ s name I c onjure ye ; I co t njure ye bai h mair and less, With all th e vertues of th e Mess ; c t th e na ilis s a e And ri h sae , by , That na ilit J esus and nae mae ; c t th e And ri h sae , by samen blude , ’ That r eekit o er th e ruthful rood : F t of th e fl of th e ur h esh and bane , the th e t And in erd and in s ane , ’ I conjure ye in God s name I

3 1 2 Old Edinburgh

’ ns er i them . She a w t It s ould not be sae d e a r tit and sae (he) p frae her yowling . Frae l r ema init this time ti l after supper, he in the well . “ When the gentlewomen came in , the a ea r it dogg came out of the well , and pp to ff them ; whereat they were a r a yit . In the meantime , ane of the said gentlewomen , T or s once the Lady , ran to the well , being a nd forcit drawn by the Devil , wha wald dr ownit have her , were not the said Agnes and the rest of the gentlewomen gat ane grip a ll of her , and with their forces drew her ff r a a it . back again , whilk made them all y The dogg pa s s it away thereafter with ane h yowl . Then s e said to the gentlewomen that she could not help the lady , in respect that her prayer stoppit , and that she was sorry for it . f Her con ession before the King , which was obtained by the torture of a twisted cord around her head , according to the custom

th e : of Spanish buccaneers , was as follows The Devil in man ’ s likeness met her going out into the fields from her awn house b etwix in Keith , five and sax at even , being Witchcra ft 3 13

comma ndit her alane , and her to be at North a ss it Berwick Kirk the next nicht . She p lichtit there on horseback , and down at the h . s e kirkyard A little before came to it , about eleven hours at even , she and others d a nc it alangs the kirkyard ; Geilie Duncan la it p y to them on ane trump . John Fian mis sa lit (masked) led all the rest , the said followit Agnes and her daughter next , and a ll some others , in above ane hundred per a ll th e t sons , whereof sax were men , and res n women . The wome first made their hom n age , then the men . The men turned ine

w ther s h n a bou t i i s . e . times (i , contrary to s un the course of the ) , and the women sax times . The witches then took hands and ’ d a nc it a reel to the music of Geilie D uncan s ’ : Jew s trump , singing the while

C o C ummer, gang ye bef re , ummer gang ye, ” Gif w not o C let . ye ill gang bef re , ummers me

Geilie Duncan , at this stage of the pro c eedin s r g , was sent for , and played the ve y ’ r tune over again upon a Jew s ha p , greatly ’ i to James s edifica t on . According to Sir u Walter Scott , another witch t ne which 3 14 Old Edinburgh wa s popular on such occasions had the follow ing words :

bit c c a r c t c The silly hi ken , g as her a pi kle, w ow c And she ill gr mi kle, S w do And he ill good .

John Fian blew in the doors with his o enit t breath , and they p ; he then wi h his breath blew in the lichts , whilk were like muckle black candles sticking round about the pulpit . The Devil started up in the pul c a llit pit , like ane muckle black man , and ev er a ne a n y by his or her name , and they ’ wer i c om s t . Here , Master On his o enit mand they p up the graves , two within c ut off and ane without the kirk , and the joints of the fingers , taes , and knees of the dead , and partit them amang them , so that having ground them to ane powder they ” t migh do evil therewith . The devil then ordered them to perform an act of homage towards himself which does not admit of description , but which may be said to have been at least very unc onv en iona l t . It is stated that on this occasion the on devil had him ane gown and ane hatt ,

Old Edinburgh

1 6 8 Under the year 5 , Nicoll says in his Diary : Burning of witches and warlocks were maist frequent . In Februa r twa women and ane man were prisoners for this crime in the E Tolbooth of dinburgh . Ane of the women wor r it died in the prison , the warlock was y at the stake on the Castlehill . The other onet nl woman , J Anderson , wha had o y been c onf es s it married three months before , that she had given hersel bodie and soul to the

sh e s a w Devil , and that at her wedding Satan ” standing in the kirk ahint the pulpit .

1 6 0 In 7 , Major Weir , the famous Scottish wa s im wizard , executed for impiety and morality . He lived with his sister Grizel ” in the sanctified bends of the Bow , as the picturesque West Bow was then called , from its being a nest of religious fanatics known ” a s Bowhead Saints . Of these the Major : was one a tall black man , and ordinarily looked down to the ground ; a grim c ounte i ” H i nance and a b g nose . s ordinary garb was a long black cloak , and he carried a long ff i sta ; s o tradition further states . Our m a ina tion g tops his figure with a tall , conical , Witchcra ft 3 1 7

i ' black hat , for th s article of apparel is not specified . The Major outwardly was a pattern of sanctity . Among his brethren of the Pres byter ia n strict sect he was looked upon as a t leading light , and at private mee ings he prayed to admiration . Many resorted to his house to hear him pray ; but it was ob served that he could not offic ia te in any holy duty without his black staff in his hand . Leaning upon this , his eloquence in s o prayer was so great , and his gestures inspired , that he was thought more angel than man . Among the holy sisters of the ” Bow he wa s known as Angelical Thomas . But alas ! Angelical Thomas was but a whited sepulchre . He fell into a severe Sickness which s o aff ected his mind that he made a voluntary confession of a long list of peculiarly horrible crimes . So incredible wa s his tale deemed at first , that the provost , r a Sir And ew R msay , refused for some time to take him into custody . Finally , however, hi s f the Major , sister , and his sta f , were imprisoned . He made full confession of all hi s crimes , but refused to appeal to the 3 1 8 Old Edinbur gh

’ f A . lmighty for pardon The Major s staf , which had a curiously carved head , was held wa s to be his familiar , and said to have been seen on many occasions going about alone ’ f l on its master s errands . Its further use u offices were to answer the door when anyone called , and to run before the Major at night n - as li k boy , when he walked down the Lawn market .

The Major was strangled , and burnt at the stake , but his sister Grizel , partner in his crimes , was out of consideration for her x r r k s e deferentially hanged in the G a s sma et . The magic staff was cast into the fire after the Major had perished , and it is said that it ” - a . gave rare turnings , and was long burning The popular imagination wove a hundred fearsome legends about the names of Major

Weir and his sister . For more than a century ’ fe a rf u after his death , sichts were seen in the West Bow . The Major was seen at night

flitting about the street , and his house , though deserted , was often observed to be bril lia ntl y lighted at midnight . From it issued w t sounds of dancing, ho ling , and s range to sa y , of spinning . Sometimes the Major

Old Edinburgh

all At events , he and his spouse were lying awake in their bed on their very first night in the house , not altogether easy in their minds a dim uncertain light proceeding from the gathered embers of their fire , and a ll being silent around them when S ome th n i g approached the bed . It had a form like l a nd a ca f , , raising its forefeet , placed them on - Af the bed rail . ter looking steadily at f the un ortunate pair for several minutes , to their great relief it slowly retired , and gradually vanished . On the following morn ing there wa s a hurried flitting from thi s uncanny abode , and for another half century it had no te nants of this world at least . CHAPTER XVI

T H E NE W TOWN

HE E dinburgh of to -day presents the curious spectacle of two distinct divi a s sions ; separated topographically , well as historically and socially Old E din New E burgh and dinburgh . Across the valley from th e ancient city lies Princes Street and the New Town :

A ne w uld Reekie and Reekie beside , ’ L C t wi o o ike a hief ain grim and grey, a y ung b nny ” bride .

wa s i It a patr archal Fife laird , Durham of Largo , who had the honour of giving to ” s obr i u et E dinburgh the q of Auld Reekie . It appears that this old gentleman wa s in the habit of regulating th e time of evening worship by the appearance of the smoke of E n di burgh , which he could easily see through the clear summer twilight from his own door . When he observed the smoke increa s e in 821 3 22 Old Edinburgh

density , in consequence of the good folks of the capital preparing their supper , he l would ca l all the family into the house , saying, ’ 1100 h m It s time , , ai s , to tak the buiks , ’ u and gang to our beds , for yonder s A ld

Reekie , I see , putting on her nightcap . n In the olden time , betwee the Old Town and the fair open country to the northward , lay a wide sheet of water with reedy margins ’ - the Nor Loch the haunt of water fowl , and the home of mammoth eels Nor ’ Loch eels were famed for their size and excellence .

Along its northern bank , between two low stone walls ran a long straight highway , called the Lang Gait . Beyond this , as far as the Water of Leith and the rural Ca nonm ills l village of , were to be seen on y

e . farmhouses , fields , and bra s About the middle of the eighteenth c en “ E ictur tury , dinburgh described as a . p

- esque odorous , inconvenient , old fashioned town had become s o packed and crammed with humanity , that the citizens , as Dunbar says , were hampered in a ” o i h neyca m of their own making . The city

3 24 Old Edinburgh

a nd was a veritable human beehive , even at the present day it is stated that no equal E area in urope is so thickly populated . In the tall old houses which lined the sides of the High Street and the closes , some being even crowded into the middle of the street , the people fairly swarmed . Some of these “ ” tenements , or lands , were sixteen stories

w . high , and all were filled to overflo ing Citizens of dignity and means were c om elled p to live in most restricted quarters .

An eminent lawyer lived with his wife , chil dren , and servants , in three rooms and a kitchen . A wealthy goldsmith had a dwell ing of two small rooms above his booth , the nursery and kitchen being placed in a cellar under the level of the street , where the chil off dren are said to have rotted like sheep . With families of the well- to- do and respect s o able closely confined , it is a matter of wonder how the families of artisans and small tradesmen , not to mention the poorest classes , managed to exist at all . That the attempts at clea nliness by the w w f to n authorities ere not ef ective , is not a strange . When we realize the limited are T he New Town 325

its of the Old Town , and teeming population , it is not a difficult matter to imagine what the state of aff airs must have been from a sani

tary point of view . The conditions of the

old days were altogether unfavourable , and the habits of the people opposed to all

principles of sanitary science , which was then

little thought of . Now , let us consider for a moment the causes for this condition of

s e e h ow n overcrowding , and we can aturally

it came about . For a thousand years the Old Town had ’ perched upon this hill . The Nor Loch , the

deep ravines , and the wall defences against the English were restrictions aga inst her s o growth ; the nature of the site , and the

necessities of defence , demanded that the town should ever build higher and closer

on its narrow and confined space . At length the condition of the citizens a bec me so intolerable , and the desire for t more air and light so irresis ible , that it became imperative to seek an outlet , and several schemes were advanced for the build ing of a New Town on the opposite bank ’ of the Nor Loch . The North Bridge , which Old Edinburgh

had always been considered essential in any

such scheme , had several times been planned ,

once by the architect of Charles II . , Sir Will r w iam Bruce of Kin oss , andafter ard by others . M lnes The plan which the y proposed , how

ever, was finally adopted . A design was

1 2 accepted in 7 5 , but the open country beyond the Nor ’ Loch and the Lang Gait or Lang Dykes was not available until the Town Council had received from Parliament a Bill granting authority to extend the royalty of the city over the w ground where the New To n now stands . The application for this Bill was made in

1 7 59 , but pending the tardy action of Parlia ment , which followed the usual course of enc our all large bodies , the Town Council , aged by George Drummond then Lord Provost commenced the bridge without a

Bill to authorize the work . A part of the Nor ’ Loch which had degenerated to a f swamp , of ensive both to eyes and nose was drained , foundations were built , and in 1 6 7 3 , amid great rejoicing , the first stone was placed . The solid front of towering houses which

328 Old Edinburgh

ll wa s on the opposing hi , there such a flitting, such a change of domicile and dweller, as was never excelled in the history of cities ; the cobbler succeeded the earl ; the baker ’ ensconced himself by the judge s chimney ; what had been a palace wa s used a s a pauper refuge ; and great mansions were s o parcelled out among the least and lowest in society , that the hearth -stone of the old proprietor was thought large enough to be partitioned ” off into a bedroom by the new . After its desertion by the aristocratic part t of the popula ion , the historic High Street was soon opened up to s un and air . Its lofty houses were pierced by streets , and bridges were thrown across the Cowgate in two places to serve the traffi c between the Old and New Towns . The Old Tolbooth the Hear t of Midlothian together with the Krames and ‘ Luckenbooths s ur di St . roun ng Giles , although adding greatly to th e general picturesqueness of the High

Street , were removed as obstructions , and the Church for the first time in centuries stood unveiled to the public gaze Roads were built around the Calton Hill and the The New Town 3 29

’ Castle Rock ; and the Nor Loch , which had long been an offence to the citizens , became a beautiful garden . With the completion of the bridge came the question of plans for the New Town . E James Craig , an dinburgh architect of note , and nephew of Thomson the poet , who wrote

s e t the Seasons , prepared a of plans , which with some modifications satisfied th e a Town Council . His arr ngement was to have the main thoroughf ares form with those intersecting them a series of parallelo grams , the streets being named chiefly from ’ the royal family , and Scotland s patron saints . The name originally proposed for ’ ” t t St . Princes Street was Giles S ree , but s a w George III . , when he the plan , would not a s listen to this , to a Londoner it was too suggestive of the slums . The royal objection l of course led to a new appel ation , and Princes

Street it became , in honour to the younger members of the royal family .

John Neale , a silk mercer , built the first house in Princes Street , and in reward for his enterprise was freed from the payment

1 0 of burghal taxes This building , No . , 3 30 Old Edinburgh was afterwards used as a place of business by Archibald Constable , the great publisher .

At first , except at its extreme eastern end ,

Princes Street was lined with residences , but gradually these were replaced by busi ness premises , until now it is lined by the

finest shops in the city . As the result of its architecture being under the watchf ul eye of the Dean of Guild Court , it is generally admitted that this magnificent thoroughfare is not surpassed in beauty by any street in E urope .

Princes Street and its beautiful Gardens , with the looming background of the Old

Town and Castle , form a remarkable setting to the Scott Monument , the finest monu ment that has yet been raised anywhere on the earth to the memory of a man of l a r t etters . This work of , from its graceful beauty and harmonious proportions , has n ever been a charm to the eye , and ca not fail to delight generations to come . Pilgrims from every land have gazed upon it , and in all corners of the earth may imprints of it be found .

2 0 0 The stately memorial is feet in height ,

3 3 2 Old Edinburgh

a s ing a common mason . Unfortunately h did i s ee h not l ve to the completed work , t design for which wa s born of his genius corr b ined with love and admiration for th t a works and charac er of Sir Walter . He w accidentally drowned before the work ha far advanced . The total cost of the mom ment wa s f wr ot Lord Jef rey , early friend of Scott , the following remarkable inscription for th plate to be deposited under the foun da tio stone b a r This graven plate , deposited in the of a votive building on the fifteenth day a 1 8 0 a n August , in the ye r of Christ , 4 , never likely to see the light again unt a ll the surrounding structures are crumble a to dust by the decay of time , or by hum e tes tif or el mental violence , may then to a distant posterity that his c ountr yme began on that day to raise an effi gy and a c hitectur a l m on um en t t o the memor v of S T he New Town 333 than those of any other author with the ex c e tion p of Shakespeare alone , and which were therefore thought likely to be remem bered long after this act of gratitude on the part of the first generation of his admirers wa s E should be forgotten . He born at din

1 th 1 1 burgh , August 5 , 7 7 , and died at

2 r s t 1 8 2 . Abbotsford , September , 3 At the east end of Princes Street oppo t fi site the Pos Of ce is the Register House , erected in 1 7 7 4 as a place of deposit for the public records . From the twelfth to the th e sixteenth century, Register House wa s a loc ted in one of the towers of the Castle .

Later, a vault below Parliament House was a s used a place of deposit , but dampness and vermin caused great damage to the docu ments . The present repository was built in the t ’ Palladian s yle from Robert Adam s design , and contains upwards of 1 0 0 vaulted rooms devoted to the preservation of the historical legal documents of Scotland . Many of these , it is needless to say , are of great value and interest . Among them is the Act of Settle t men of the Crown on the House of Stua rt , Old Edinburgh a document which represents the right of the present royal family to the Throne of Eng oi land . In front the building is an equestr ian statue of the Duke of Wellington , by Sir

John Steell . Wits of the day called this l ” the Iron Duke , in bronze , by Steel . At the east end of Queen Street is the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Mu seum of Antiquities . The Gallery is well filled with an interesting collection of por traits of men and women prominent in

Scottish history , while in the Museum are countless relics which will fill the soul of the antiquarian with delight . This great collection of the “ material documents ” of Scotland ’ s past contains many interesting memorials of the Old Edinburgh we have endeavoured to portray ; among them John ’ ’ th e Knox s pulpit , Jenny Geddes stool , and ancient Sc ottish guillotine the Maiden which among its grim harvest numbers the head of the Regent Morton , and those of the gallant Argylls . Dividing the East and West Princes Street

Gardens , and connecting the Old Town with the New , is the Mound, a vast accumulation

Old Edinburgh of the old mansions in Edinburgh ; Run c ima n , David Allan , Sir William Allan , Sir n e u David Wilkie , and Sir He ry Ra b rn .

Two pictures by Sir Noel Paton , the Quar ” Rec rel of Oberon and Titania , and the onc ilia tion of Oberon and Titania , will ’ i s linger long n the mind s eye . The e are simply superb examples of delicate drawing and rare beauty of colouring . Some mention should be made of the grand ’ St . Mary s Cathedral , which stands in Manor

Place , westward of the Castle . This noble structure is the most beautiful ecclesiastical building raised in Scotland since the time of the Reformation . The Cathedral is in the E arly Pointed style , designed by the late

its 1 2 0 Sir Gilbert Scott , and cost over £ , 000 was defrayed by the Misses Walker E of Coates , representatives of an old piscopal family . The length of the building 1 8 2 8 erected in 7 4 is 7 9 feet by 9 in width , and its lofty spire ca n be seen all over E din burgh . The interior is planned and finished in harmonious accordance with the whole design , with all the details expressing a most artistic sense of the fitting and proper . Under the shadow of the Cathedral is the - E old manor house of aster Coates , the only old Scottish mansion to be found in the New E Town . rected in the seventeenth century by Sir John Byres of Coates , whose initials with the date 1 6 1 5 appear on one of the dormer windows , it forms with its quaint turrets and carvings a curious contrast to t the surrounding buildings . The lin els and u other stones , bearing ancient legends , fig res , t t to and let ering of s ill older date , are said have been removed from the old town resi ’ dence of the family in Byre s Clos e in the

- t High Street . With its crow s epped gables , th e the heavily corbelled corner turrets , and

- - tall dormers , with thistles and fleur de lys finia ls is , this a perfect representation of the typical Scottish country house of three centuries ago . Though carefully preserved , it now serves only as accommodation for the driving mechanism of the great Cathe dral organ . Space and subject forbid the writer in this history of Old E dinburgh to enter into a detailed description of the New Town . ff h as f His e ort been , perhaps with indif erent 3 3 8 Old Edinburgh

n success , to depict that portio of the city wherein the greatest historical interest is centred , and to present to the reader some record of the life of the Old Town in its most picturesque and interesting periods . There is much to s ee about the vicini ty E of dinburgh to interest the traveller . Leith , a with its historic Shore and gre t harbour, is scarcely two miles distant , and among its quaint old buildings are the Old Ship

Hotel and the New Ship Inn , both famous old houses dating back to the seven

teenth . century Robert Fergusson , the poet , mentions them , and they have been referred to by many travellers and writers for the last two centuries . The town of Leith has a historic past , as perhaps may be remembered from our many references to it . If the visitor wishes to cultivate an appetite for n a fish di ner, for which Newhaven is famous , let him first take a stroll down

Leith Walk to Leith , about two miles . Should w he chance to be a book orm , it may be mentioned that along Leith Walk are many shops with fascinating store of old volumes . If it is his lucky day he may happen on a

340 Old Edinburgh

M Water Lane , now Water Street , ary of Guise lived while her palace on the Castle Ki k Hill wa s building . In the r ga te is the its Trinity House , with the legend on wall YE in antique ornamental letters , IN NA YE YE MAST E RIS ME OF LORD , AND MARI NERIS BYL DIS THIS H OVS TO YE P R D M 1 I O . . n OV . AN NO . 555 the Trin ity Hall , where the Trinity Masters meet , are some remarkable paintings , among them a portrait of Mary of Guise . There is E ” also a model of La Belle sperance , the sh e vessel in which came to Scotland .

To the westward , along the shore from

Leith , lies the little fishing village of New fishwiv es a nd haven , with its picturesque , its quaint main street and closes . This settle ment is a very ancient one , arising , so tradi m s ur tion says , fro the Dutch or Frisian v v i or s of a shipwreck on this shore . Its inhabitants for centuries formed an isolated community , all being related by inter s marriages . Charle Reade found here his

Christie Johnstone , and the descendants of her prototype may still be seen , along ki " with those of Steenie Muckleb a c t . T he New Town 3 41

If the pedestrian after his fish dinner still feels ambitious enough to push onward to Granton along the shore road , a fine view of the islands of I nchkeith and Inch c olm is obtained . Further on , we pass the ruins of

Royston Castle , and then start on a shore i a s walk of two m les , amid scenery beautiful as any in Scotland , until we come to Cra mond , rich in historic interest . This village wa s a maritime station of the Romans , and many traces of them are hereabout . The Cobble Ferry will take us across th e t Almond Water, and some little dis ance k up the ban of the beautiful Almond , which winds its silvery way through the rich meadows , is the famous scene of the Twa ” Brigs . It was upon th e old bridge that Jock

Howieson , a farm labourer, rescued James V . from the clutches of the irate father and brothers of a pretty country maiden . James had been wandering about in disguise in u search of advent res , under the name of the ” n flir t Gudema of Ballangeich , and while

' ing with the fair one had been discovered . l Jock saw the unequa contest , and rushing 342 Old E dinburgh

to the rescue with a shout of What , sax ’ ” th ot s agin ane , no fair, he whirled his flail ’ SO skilf ully that James s opponents were put to rout The king , thereupon , in his gratitude asked him to come to Holyrood ” and ask for the Gudeman of Ballangeich .

Jock went , and was given the farm of Brae head on the curious condition that he or his descendants should present a basin of water and a towel for the king to wash his hands whenever he passed the farm . This cere mony was per formed to Queen Victoria 8 ’ in 1 4 2 by Howieson s descendants . From Cramond Brig to Queensferry is ca n about five miles , which be made by coach , or by a further tramp along the B a r nb ou le Shore line , passing g Castle , the E seat of the arl of Rosebery , on the way . This stands in Dalmeny Park on a point jutting into the Forth . South Queensferry , further on , is an interesting old village with

- many quaint red tiled houses . This royal burgh dates back to the days of the saintly Queen Margaret and here was her ferry ’ — th e Queen s Ferry b y which s h e went on her way to Dunfermline . The Old

T he New Town 343

Hawes Inn mentioned by Rober t Louis ” Stevenson in Kidnapped , and by Sir Walter Scott in The Antiquar y still

‘

. n exists That great marvel of engineeri g , th e Forth Bridge , may be viewed from the

pier . There are many other excursions of equal or greater interest to be made from Edin burgh . Its many suburbs are both historic s and picturesque . At the we t side of the Coltb r id e City near g , on the Water of Leith , where the tramcar stops , is the old manor Ros eb ur n house of , formerly the seat of the Ros eb ur n Russells of , whose arms are over the doorway . This curious old house , which possesses traditions of Queen Mary and of

Cromwell , has probably the most elaborately E carved lintel stones in dinburgh . On one of these are two tablets which

I E MINE e E N TER YI T I RYM AT CHRYST T o YE PVRE I s D V R E

1 562 .

1s rea d as follows Old Edinburgh

ou w l t a t C t oo When y i l en er hris his d r, ” u Aye mind yo the room to th e poor .

Mur r a field o y , near the fo t of Corstorphine ll rm . Hi , is another cha ing suburb About here are many fin e old mansions ; notably Ra v els ton r , whose fo m suggested the Castle T ull v eolan off of y in Waverley . Not far

a short walk is Lauriston Castle , where resided John Law of Lauriston , whose famous Mississippi scheme s et all Paris mad with the fever of speculation . In the southern suburbs are the beautiful Braid Hills the golfer ’s paradise and f H Black ord ill , beloved by Sir Walter Scott and by Stevenson . The latter has intro ’ duc ed the scenery about his father s summer home at Swanston in his Weir of Her ” i miston . The v ews all about here are superb . l Craigmi lar Castle , favourite residence of ’ n r Da r nle s Quee Ma y , and the place where y wa s e l murder plott d , is but a pleasant wa k E from dinburgh , or is easily reached by N a o rail to Craigmillar Station . e r here als P eff il e is old er m l Hous , the House of Dumb iedykes in the Heart of Midlo

T he New Town 3 45

In l thian . the vi lage of Gilmerton , further a south , is the c ve which is said to have furnished Sir Walter Scott with the idea of Wayland Smith ’ s underground forge in ” Kenilworth . t To the eastward lie Por obello , a popular seaside resort , and Fisherrow , a fishing village much like Newhaven . The fisher folk of both these latter are most conserva dr tive in their manners and ess , clinging s tenaciously to old usage , and intermarrying only among themselves . Across the river E sk , at its mouth , lies the old town of Mus s elb ur h g , with its Roman bridge and its many quaint houses . Pinkie House , at the east end of the town , with its secret passage ff to the beach , a orded shelter to Prince

Charles E dward . The walk from Musselburgh to Dalkeith along the bank of the E sk is a most delight

- ful one . Dalkeith itself , with its old world quaintness , is perhaps more interesting than any of th e places so far mentioned . At the al upper end of the town is Dalkeith P ace, where James IV . paid his first visit to young Margaret of England when she came to 3 46 Old Edinburgh

Scotland to marry him . Newbattle Abbey ,

1 1 founded by David I . in 4 0 for the Cister o ian Order , is about a mile distant from

Dalkeith . n l ul But of all excursio s , the travel er sho d not omit the one to picturesque Hawthornden and the beautiful Roslin Chapel . On the way by train to Hawthornden we pass by Bonny rigg , the station for Lasswade . The thatched cottage in which Sir Walter lived in the early days of his married life , and which is said to have been the prototype of Gander ” c leu s g in Tale of My Landlord , is s still to be seen . Near here al o , at Polton , Ma v isb u sh is , where Thomas De Quincey lived . E sk On the bank of the , in one of the most beautiful glens in all Scotland , is the romantically situated Hawthornden House , once the residence of the poet Drumm ond . Hither walked Ben Jonson in 1 6 1 8 all the way from London , to visit his friend and view fair Scotland . Tradition says that Drummond greeted the great drama tist w wofds ith the ,

co w co o Wel me , el me, r yal Ben ;

T he New Town 3 47

to which the visitor made the rhyming

response ,

t wt o . Thank ye , hank ye, Ha h rnden

The modern mansion , with the venerable remains of the older structure , much of it 600 ff n years old , stands on a cli overlooki g E s k the , which , far below , murmurs along its rocky bed . From some points of view , its the quaint irregular structure , with turrets and towers , its groups of chimneys , its crow-stepped gables and richly orna mented dormer windows , seems to rise from an emerald s ea of foliage . Below the ff house, in the cli , are some artificial caves

- used as hiding places in times gone by . s s One of the e , with its shelve , is called the ” is a s Library , and another known ’ ” Bruce s bedchamber . The walk to Roslin Chapel through the ll glen wi linger long in the memor y . Here f are rugged cli f and mossy rock , green banks starred with blossoms of varied hues , and dark mysterious forest depths , with the rushing stream below half hidden by the thick overhanging foliage . 348 Old Edinburgh

Roslin Chapel is sa id to have the most elaborate and beautiful decorations of any sacred edifice of its size in the world . Among them is a quaint example which illustrates fl n the in uence of nationality upo art , for in a concert of angels is one performing with great determination upon the Highland bagpipes . In the vaults of the Chapel were buried the proud barons of Roslin in their full ff armour, and without co ins . The moulder ing walls of their Castle near by overhang the river . In the romantic little village of Roslin is a n old inn which has known Johnson and Boswell , and Burns has also visited there . The return to Edinburgh ca n be made by rail or coach , or if you choose to walk the n distance of seve miles , your way lies through a pleasant country . If one comes along the road by Morningside , he may see the in Bore Stone , which the standard of

James IV . was fixed when his army was gathering on the B or oughmuir before the fatal day of Flodden . L et the chronicle of Old Edinburgh be