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E10 G RAP H I C AL S K E T C HE S. 225
Eo. CCXLVI.
MAJOR CHARLES JOHNSTONE,
WHEX AN ENSIGN IN THE HOPETOUN FENCIBLES.
THEl ate MAJORJ OHNSTwaOs dNesEce nded from the Johnstones of Poldean, in
the parish of Wamphray, an old family in that district. His great-grandfather
was 'CVilliam Johnstone of Granton, a property situated at the head of the vale
of Annandale, but which is no longer in possession of the family. His grandfather
was an officer in the Scots Greys, and at one period aide-de-camp to John
Duke of Argyle. His father had also been in the army-had held the commission
of lieutenant in the third Buffs-and was an officer in the Hopetoun Fencibles
at the same time with his son.
When the Print was executed by Kay, in 1795, the Hopetoun Fencibles
were quartered in the Castle of Edinburgh. Johnstone was then only in his
fifteenth year, but had much of the soldier in his manner and appearance.
Fired with the ambition of militaryglory, the young Ensign did not long remain
in the Fencibles. In 1796 he obtained an ensigncy in the second battalion of
the Royals, and with that regiment served with much ardour and gallantry in
the expedition to Holland in 1799. During one of the actions in which he
was engaged, having incautiously advanced too far in front of his men, he was
separated from them among the sand hills, and taken prisoner by the enemy,
who proceeded to plunder him. On his sword being demanded, he presented it
with the scabbard ; but at the moment the Frenchman took hold of it, the painful
thought shot across his mind, of the grief his revered father would feel on
hearing that he had delivered up his sword, and actuated by a sudden impulse,
he quickly drew it out of the scabbard, disengaged himself with it from his
enemies, and safely rejoined his companions, who were advancing at no great
distance, with no other injury than a musket-ball, fired at him in his retreat,
having struck the heel of his boot. In the course of the campaign, howeven
he received a severe contusion on the breast, from a spent ball, the effects of
which, it is believed, he never entirely recovered
In the beginning of the year 1800 he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the
fourth Regiment of Foot; and, at his own request, was again removed to the
second battalion of the Royals. With this corps he served in Egypt during the
campaigns of 1801. At the landing, on the 8th of March, a grapeshot passed
through the crown of his hat, without injuring him; but, at the battle of
Alexandria, fought on the 21st, he was severely wounded by a musket-ball,
which lodged among the small bones of his foot, and was not extracted for six
VOL 11. 2 6 ... G RAP H I C AL S K E T C HE S. 225 Eo. CCXLVI. MAJOR CHARLES JOHNSTONE, WHEX AN ENSIGN IN THE HOPETOUN ...

Book 9  p. 300
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 291
No. CCLXVIII.
HARVEY CHRISTIAN COMBE, ESQ.,
LORD MAYOR OB LONDON.
THIS is another of the few portraits sketched by gay while he sojourned for
a short time in the great metropolis. ALDERMACNO MBEa,s he was usually
denominated, was well known in London, both politically and as a brewer in
very extensive business. He was born at Andover, in Hampshire, where his
father, an attorney, was the owner of considerable landed property. The eldest
son, and succeeding at an early age to the patrimonial inheritance, he might
have lived in independence, far from the bustling scenes of commercial activity ;
but his spirit of enterprise dictated a different course. Under the patronage of
a relative, he began his career in London as a corn factor-was successful-and,
by a matrimonial alliance with a cousin, he soon afterwards, on the death of his
father-in-law, came into possession of property to some extent. He subsequently
engaged in the brewing establishment so long and so successfully carried
on, first under the firm of Gyfford and Co., and latterly of Combe, Delafield,
and Co., in Castle Street, Long Acre.
The active mind and business habits of Mr. Combe were such a8 to call him
prominently forward, while his pleasing manners and liberality of disposition
tended greatly to his popularity. He waB elected Alderman of Aldgate Ward
in 1790-served as Sheriff in 1791-was appointed Governor of the Irish
Society in 1793-and arrived at the highest dignity of the Corporation, by
being elected Lord Mayor in 1799.
Though he so far concurred in the defensive measures recommended by
Government, as to hold the command of the loth Regiment of London Volunteers
for some time, the politics of Alderman Combe were decidedly opposed
to the Pitt administration. He was a member of the Whig Club; and first
stood candidate for the city in opposition to Mr. Lushington. He failed on this
occasion, but was returned at the general election in 1796 ; and, in 1802, his
popularity had so greatly increased that he stood at the head of the poll, having
3377 votes. His conduct in Parliament, throughout a period of more than
twenty years, was marked by a constant adherence to principle, and-to the
party with which he had been early associated.
In a work entitled “The Whig Club, or a Sketch of Modern Patriotism,”
Mr. Combe is favoured with a few passing touches of the sketcher’s pencil ; and,
in common with the other members, he is described as a frequenter of the
gaming table, and a bon vivant of unconquerable stamina. indeed:’ ... SKETCHES. 291 No. CCLXVIII. HARVEY CHRISTIAN COMBE, ESQ., LORD MAYOR OB LONDON. THIS is another of ...

Book 9  p. 388
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NOTES TO VOL- I.
BY PROFESSOR DANIEL WILSON,
AUTEOR OF ‘MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN TIME,E’T C. ETC.
Page 7, JAMIDEU FF.
Strictly speaking, Widow Duffs lodging was in the College Wynd ; though, as it
was at the foot of the wynd, its windows niay have looked into the Cowgate. Scott,
whose birthplace was in the same wynd, has introduced Jamie Duff in “ Guy Mannering,”
in attendance on the funeral of Mrs. Margaret Bertram of Singleside, to the family
burial-place in the Greyfriars’ Churchyard.
Page 18, ARNOT’RSE SIDENCE.
Mr. Arnot, according to information communicated to me, resided for a time on the
south side of the Canongate, immediately below St. Mary’sn Wynd. From thence he
removed to the New Town, where he occupied a floor in South St. Andrew Street-the
probable scene of the above occurrence.
Page 20, LORD MONBODDO.
An allusion will be found in Lord Cockburn’s dlemm‘als of his Time to the suppers
of Lord Moiiboddo as the most Attic of his day. Burns enjoyed them while in Edinbur,
qh, and was greatly charmed by the beauty of his daughter Eliza, of whom he makes
special note in his “ Address to Edinburgh,” “ Thy daughters bright thy walks adorn,”
etc. See the poem, and also Burns’s letter to Chalmers, in which he says-“ Fair Bis
the heavenly Miss Burnet, daughter to Lord Monboddo, at whose house I have had
the honour to be more than once,” etc. etc. See also the poet’s “ Elegy” on her premature
death from consumption,
Page 22, LORD GARDENSTONE.
In The Court of Session Garland, by James Baswell, notices of this and others of the
Judges will be found. It is reprinted by Robed Chambers in his Traditions, with
notes of his own.
Page 30, Dr. WEBSTER
Dr. Webster was one of the rare exceptions to Dr. Samuel Johnson’s antipathy
to a Scotsman. Brown’s Court, Castle Hill, where he entertained the lexicographer, bore
in his day the name of Webster’s Close.-Vide Dr. Johnson’s letters to him, relative
to his “Journey to the Western Islands.”
Page 37, MARIONVILLE.
Marionville is, or was, a handsome old-fashioned house near Restalrig, which originally
bore the popular name of “Lappet Ha’,” owing to its having been built by a
fashionable milliner of Auld Reekie with the proceeds of her professional services
among the grandees of the old closes and wynds.
Page 54, Dr. BLACJL
Dr. Black’s earlier residence was in the College Wynd, not far from the house in
which Sir Walter Scott was born, and in the immediate vicinity of the College. ... TO VOL- I. BY PROFESSOR DANIEL WILSON, AUTEOR OF ‘MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN TIME,E’T C. ...

Book 8  p. 600
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very probable that the Earl may often have been
a guest in that old mansion, and King James himself
in later years. The bishop, who married Margaret
Murray of Touchadam, died in 1593, and
was succeeded in the old mansion by his son John
Bothwell, designed of Auldhamer, who accompanied
King James to England, and was created Lord
Holyroodhouse, in the peerage of Scotland, in 1607.
Here dwelt his sister Anne, a woman of remarkable
beauty, whose wrongs are so touchingly re-
THE EXCISE OFFICE AT THE NETHERBOW. (After a Pkotograplr & A k x d e r A. Ingir.)
?? an English villain,? according to Balfour-a servsnt
boy, out of revenge against his master.
In the Scots Magazine for 1774 we have a
notice of the death of Eleonora Bothwell, daughter
of the deceased Henry, Lord Holyroodhouse.
Alexander, his son, Master of Holyroodhouse,
who died about the middle of the last century,
ended the line of the family, of whom no relic now
remains save the tomb of Bishop Adam, which
still exists in Holyrood chapel On the front of
.corded in the sweet old ballad known as ? Lady
Anne Bothwell?s Lament.? She was betrayed in a
.disgraceful Ziaison by Sir Alexander Erskine (a son
af John, 14th Earl of Mar), of whom a portrait by
Jamieson is still extant, and represents him in the military
dress of his time-a handsome man in a cuirass
.and scarf, with a face full of nobility of expression.
The lady?s name does not appear in the Douglas
peerage ; but her cruel desertion by Sir Alexander
was confidently believed at the time to have justly
exposed him to the vengeance of heaven, for he
perished with the Earl of Haddington and others
in the Castle of Dunglas, which was blown up by
guhpowder in 1640, through the instrumentality of
the third pillar from the east is a tablet with his
arms-a chevron, between three trefoils slipped,
with a crescent, and a very long inscription, the
first six lines of which run thus :-
? Hic reconditus jacet nobilissimus vir
Dominus Adamus Bothuelius, Episcopus,
Orcadum et Zethlandiz : Commendatonus Ifonasteni,
Sancti Crucis ; Senator et Consiliarius
Regius : qui obiit anno ztatis suz 67,
23 die Meosis August4 Anno Domini 1593.?
The ancient edifice is associated with an eminent
citizen, who lived in later but not less troublesome
and warlike times, Sir William Dick, ancestor of
the present baronets of Prestonfield. The south, ... probable that the Earl may often have been a guest in that old mansion, and King James himself in later ...

Book 2  p. 220
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~~
In 1543, when the traitorous Scottish nobles of
what was named the English faction, leagued with
Henry VIII. to achieve a marriage between his son
Edward, a child five years of age, and the infant
Queen of Scotland, the Earl of Lennox, who was
at the head of the movement, attempted an insurrection,
and, marching with all his adherents to
Leith, offered battle between that town and Edinburgh
to the Regent and Cardinal Beaton, who were
at the head of the Scottish loyalists. Aware that
PILRIG FREE CHURCH AND LEITH WALK, LOOKING NORTH.
After taking soundings at Granton Craigs, the
infantry were landed there by pinnaces, though the
water was so deep ? that a galley or two laid their
snowttis (i.e. bows) to the craigs,? at ten in the
morning of Sunday, the 4th of May. Between 12
and I o?clock they marched into Leith, ?and fnnd
the tables covered, the dinnaris prepared, such
abundance of wyne and victuallis besydes the other
substances, that the lyck ritches were not to be
found either in Scotland nor in England.? (Knox.)
the forces of Lennox were superior in number to
their own, they amused him with a pretended
treaty till his troops began to weary, and dispersed
to their homes; and Henry of England, enraged
at the opposition to his avarice and ambition, resolved
to invade Scotland in 1544.
In May the Earl of Hertford, with an army
variously estimated at from ten to twenty thousand,
on board of two hundred vessels, commanded by
Dudley, Lord Lisle, suddenly entered the Firth of
Forth, while 4,000 mounted men-at-arms came to
Leith by land.
So suddenly was this expedition undertaken, that
the Regent Arran and the Cardinal were totally unprepared
to resist, and retired westward from the city.
Leith was pillaged, the surrounding countqravaged
with savage and merciless ferocity. Craigmillar
was captured, with many articles of vahie
deposited there by the citizens, and Sir Simon
Preston, after being taken prisoner, was-as a
degradation-compelled to march on foot to London.
How Hertford was baffled in his attempts
on Edinburgh Castle and compelled to retreat we
have narrated in its place. He fell back on Leith,
where he destroyed the pier, which was of wood,
pillaged and left the town in flames. After which
he embarked all his troops, and sailed, taking with
him the &Znrnander and Unicorn, two large Scottish
ships of war, and all the small craft lying in the
harbour. ... 1543, when the traitorous Scottish nobles of what was named the English faction, leagued with Henry VIII. ...

Book 5  p. 169
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Arthut?s Seat] ? THE WILD MACRAAS.? 307
The Edinburgh Evening Courant of the 29th
of October, 1728, contains the following reference
to the Craigs, or the chasm, there named the
Catnick :-? A person who frequents the (King?s)
Park, having noticed a man come from a cleft
towards the north-west of Salisbury Rocks, had the
curiosity to climb the precipice, if possibly he
might discover something that could invite him
there, He found a shallow pit, which delivered
him into a little snug room or vault hung with
dressed leather, lighted from the roof, the window
covered with a bladder. It is thought to have been
the cave of a hermit of ancient times, though now
the hiding-place of a gang of thieves.?
The long, deep, and tremendous rift in the wes
t e n slope of Arthur?s Seat (locally known as the
Gutiit Haddie) was caused by a mighty waterspout,
on the 13th of September, 1744. ?Dividing its
force ?-says the ? Old Statistical -4ccount ?-?? it
discharged one part upon the western side, and
tore up a channel or chasm, which still remains a
monument of its violence ; the other division took
its direction towards the village of Duddingston,
carried away the gable .of the most westerly cottage,
and flooded the loch over the adjacent meadows.?
On the steep sloping shoulder of Arthur?s Seat,
south-westward, under the Rock of Dunsappie, the
Highland army encamped in September before
the battle of Prestonpans, and from thence it was
-after the Prince had held a council of his chief5
and nobles-the march began at daybreak on the
morning of the 20th through the old hedgerow:
and woods of Duddingston, with pipes playing
and colours flying, after Charles, in front of thc
he, had significantly drawn his claymore and flung
away the scabbard.
From a letter which appears in the Advertiser foi
the 15th of January, 1765, the entrance to tne Park
from St. Anne?s Yard to the Duke?s Walk having
become impassable, was privately repaired at tht
expense of a couple of classical wits, whose name:
were unknown, but who placed upon the entrance
the following inscription :-
Ite nunc faciles per gaudia uestra,
3 Cpuepecun sua re@&durn cur.
CaLIan. MD.C.CLXl?
rJ*i faciant ut haec smpiusjunf.
QUIRITES
Mungo Campbell (formerly officer of Excise ai
Saltcoats), who shot Archibald, tenth Earl oj
Eglinton, committed suicide in the Tolbooth ic
1770, on the day after he had been sentenced
to death, when the judge also directed that hi2
body should be given to the professor of anatomy,
His counsel having interposed on the plea that dip
section was not a legal penalty for self-murder, it
was privately interred at the foot of Salisbury Craigs.
But the Edinburgh mob, who were exasperated by
the manner in which he had shot the earl in a
poaching affray, took the .body out of the grave,
tossed it about till they were tired, and eventually
flung it over the cliffs. After this, to prevent
further indecency and outrage, Campbell?s friends
caused the body to be conveyed in a boat from
Leith and sank it in the Firth of Forth. (Caldwell
Papers ; S o t s Mug., Vol. XXXII.)
Southward of the coue of Arthur?s Seat are the
Raven?s Craig and the Nether Hill, or Lion?s
Haunch ; between the latter and the cone can still
be traced the trench and breastwork formed by the
Seaforth Highlanders when they revolted in 1778-
an event which created a profound sensation in
Scotland.
In the July of that year they had marched into
the Castle, replacing the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers,
or 80th Regiment of the Line, a corps
which was raised by General Sir William Erskme in
1777, and was disbanded in 1783-5.
Kenneth Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth, had
recently raised his noble regiment, which was then
numbered as the 78th (but is now known as the
Duke of Albany?s Own Highlanders), among his
clansmen in the district of Kintail and Applecross,
Kilcoy, and Redcastle ; of these Soawere from his
own estate; the rest were all from the others
named, and the corps mustered 1,130 bayonets at
its first parade in Elgin in the May of 1778 ; but
from a great number of another sept who were
in its ranks, the subsequent mutiny was known at
first as the afair of the WiZd Mwaas.
The latter was an ancient but subordinate tribe
of the west, who had followed the ? Caber Feigh,?
or banner of Seaforth, since the days when Black
Murdoch of Kintail carried it in the wars of
Robert I., and now many of its best men were
enrolled in Earl Kenneth?s new Fencible regiment,
perfect subordination in the ranks of which was
maintained in the Castle until the 5th of August,
when an order was issued for marching at an hour?s
notice. A landing of a French force being expected
near Greenock, zoo of them, with seven
9-pounders, marched there with the greatest enthusiasm
to meet the foe, who never appeared; but
by the time these two companies returned, transports
to convey the whole for foreign service had come
to anchor in Leith Roads.
Where the scene of that service lay the men
knew not. It was kept a mystery from them and
their officers. The former would not believe a
rumour spread that it was to be tine Isle of Guern ... Seat] ? THE WILD MACRAAS.? 307 The Edinburgh Evening Courant of the 29th of October, 1728, contains the ...

Book 4  p. 307
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IS2 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith
brunt in assis, and all thair moveable guidis to be
escheat.?
On the 6th of August, 1600, as Birrel tells us in
his Diary, there came to Edinburgh tidings of the
King?s escape from the Gowrie Conspiracy, upon
which the castle guns boomed from battery and
tower j the bells clashed, trumpets were sounded
and drums beaten; the whole town rose in arms,
?with schutting of muskettis, casting of fyre
workes and boynfyirs set furth,? with dancing and
such merriness all night, as had never before been
seen in Scotland.. The Earl of Montrose, Lord
Chancellor, the Master of Elphinstone, Lord Treasurer,
with other nobles, gathered the people around
the market cross upon their knees, to give thanks
to God for the deliverance of the King, who crossed
the Firth on the 11th of the month, and was received
upon the sands of Leith by the entire male
population of the city and suburbs, all in their
armour, ?with grate joy, schutting of muskettis,
and shaking of pikes.?
After hearing Mr. David Lindsay?s ? orisone,?
in St. Mary?s Church, he proceeded to the cross
of Edinburgh, which was hung with tapestry, and
where Mr. Patrick Galloway preached on the 124th
Psalm.
In 1601 a man was tried at Leith for stealing
grain by means of false keys, for which he was sentenced
to have his hands tied behind his back and
be taken out to the Roads and there drowned.
Birrel records that on the 12th July, 1605, the
King of France?s Guard mustered in all their bravery
on the Links of Leith, where they were sworn in
and received their pay ; but this must have referred
to some body of recruits for the Ecossuise du Roi,
of which ?? Henri Prince d?Ecosse ? was nominally
appointed colonel in 1601, and which carried on
its standards the motto, In omni modo JdeZis.
Exactly twenty years later another muster in the
same place was held of the Scots Guards for the
King of France, under Lord Gordon (son of the
Marquis of Huntly), whose younger brother, Lord
Melgum, was his lieutenant, the first gentleman of
the company being Sir William Gordon of Pitlurg,
son of Gordon of Kindroch. (? Gen. Hist. of the
Earls of Sutherland.?)
In the April of the year 1606 the Union Jack
first made its appearance in the Port of Leith. It
would seem that when the King of Scotland added
England and Ireland to his dominions, his native
subjects-very unlike their descendants-manifested,
says Chambers, the utmost jealousy regarding
their heraldic ensigns, and some contentions in
consequence arose between them and their English
neighbours, particularly at sea. Thus, on the 12th
April, 1606, ? for composing of some differences
between his subjects of North and South Britain
travelling by seas, anent the bearing of their flags,?
the King issued a proclamation ordaining the ships
of both nations to carry on their maintops the flags
of St. Andrew and St. George interlaced ; those of
North Britain in their stern that of St. Andrew, and
those of South Britain that of St. George.
In those days, whatever flag was borne, piracy
was a thriving trade in Scottish and English waters,
where vessels of various countries were often captured
by daring marauders, their crews tortured,
slaughtered, or thrown ashore upon lonely and
desolate isles. Long Island, on the Irish coast,
was a regular station for English pirate ships, and
from thence in 1609 a robber crew, headed by two
captains named Perkins and William Randall,
master of a ship called the Gryjhound, sailed for
Scottish waters in a great Dutch vessel called the
Iron Prize, accompanied by a swift pinnace, and
for months they roamed about the Northern seas,
doing an incredible deal of mischief, and they
even had the hardihood to appear off the Firth of
Forth.
The Privy Council upon this armed and fitted
out three vessels at Leith, from whence they sailed
in quest of the pirates, who had gone to Orkney to
refit. There the latter had landed near the castle
of Kirkwall, in which town they behaved barbarously,
were always intoxicated, and indulged
?in all manner of vice and villainy.? Three of
them, who had attacked a small vessel lying in
shore, belonging to Patrick Earl of Orkney, were
captured by his brother, Sir James Stewart (gentle
man of the bed-chamber to James VI.), and soon
after the three ships from Leith made their appearance,
on which many of the pirates fled in the
pinnace. A pursuit proving futile, the ships cap
tured the Iron Prize, but not without a desperate
conflict, in which several were killed and wounded.
lhirty English prisoners were taken and brought to
Leith, where-after a brief trial on the 26th of July
-twenty-seven of them, including the two captains,
were hanged at once upon a gibbet at the pier,
three of them being reserved in the hope of their
giving useful information. The Lord Chancellor,
in a letter to James VI., written on the day of the
execution, says that these pirates, oddly enough,
had a parson ?? for saying of prayers to them twice
a day,? who deserted from them in Orkney, but
was apprehended in Dundee, where he gave evidence
against the rest, and would be reserved for
the King?s pleasure.
The next excitement in Leith was caused by the
explosion of one of the King?s large English ships ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith brunt in assis, and all thair moveable guidis to be escheat.? On the 6th of ...

Book 5  p. 182
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2 14 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Castle Terrace.
Place, and now chiefly used as a coal dep8t.
Some of the merchants having coal offices here
are among the oldest and most extensive firms in
the city, one having been established so far back
as 1784 and having now business ramifications so
ample as to require a complete system of private
telegraphs for the transmission of orders between
their various offices and coal stores throughout
Edinburgh and the suburbs.
This station is reached from the East Princes
Street Gardens by a tunnel 3,000 feet in length,
passing under the West Church burial ground
and the foundations of several streets, and serves
as a port for the North British system at the West
End.
In its vicinity, on the north side of the way, is
a large Winter Garden at the corner between the
Glasgow Road and Coates Gardens. It was
formed in 1871, and has a southern front 130 feet
in length, with a main entrance 50 feet wide, 30
feet long, and surmounted by a dome 65 feet in
height.
A little westward of it is West Coates Established
Church, built in the later Pointed style, in
1869, with a tower and spire 130 feet in height.
It cost &7,500, and is seated for go0 persons.
The United Presbyterian Churches in Palmerston
Place (the old line of Bell's Mills Loan) and
Dalry Road were opened in 1875, and cost respectively
,f;13,000 and 'L5,ooo. The former is
an imposing edifice in the classic Italian style,
with a hexastyle portico, carrying semicircular
headed arches and flanked by towers IOO feet in
height.
On the gentle swell of the ground, about 600
yards westward of the Haymarket, amid a brilliant
urban landscape, stands Donaldson's Hospital, in
magnitude and design one of the grandest edifices
of Edinburgh, and visible from a thousand points
all round the environs to the westward, north,
and south. It sprang from a bequest of about
~210,000 originally by James Donaldson of
. Broughton Hall, a printer, at one time at the
foot of the ancient Rest Bow, who died in the
year 1830.
It was erected between the years 1842 and 1851,
after designs by W. H. Playfair, at a cost of about
~IOO,OOO, and forms a hollow quadrangle of 258
feet by 207 exteriorly, and 176 by 164 interiorly.
It is a modified variety of a somewhat ornate
Tudor style, and built of beautiful freestone. It
has four octagonal five-storeyed towers, each IZO
feet in height, in the centre of the main front,
and four square towers of four storeys each at the
corners; and most profuse, graceful, and varied
-
ornamentations on all the four fapdes, and much
in the interior.
It was speciallyvisited and much admired by
Queen Victoria in 1850, before it was quite completed,
and now maintains and ' educates poor
boys and girls. The building can accommodate
150 children of each sex, of whom a considerable
per centage are both deaf and dumb. According
to the rules of this excellent institution, those
eligible for admission are declared to be-'' I. Poor
children of the name of Donaldson or Marshall, if
appearing to the governors to be deserving. 2. Such
poor children as shall appear to be in the most destitute
circumstances and the most deserving of admission."
None are received whose parents are able
to support them. The children are clothed and
maintained in the hospital, and are taught such
useful branches of a plain education as will fit the
boys for trades and the girls for domestic service.
The age of admission is from seven to nine, and
that of leavhg the hospital fourteen years. The
Governors are the Lord Justice-General, the Lord
Clerk Register, the Lord Advocate, the Lord Provost,
the Principal of the University, the senior
minister of the Established Church, the ministers
of St. Cuthbert's and others ex-officio.
The Castle Terrace, of recent erection, occupies
the summit of a steep green bank westward of
the fortress and overhanging a portion of the old
way from the West Port to St. Cuthbert's. A
tenement at its extreme north-western corner is
entirely occupied by the Staff in Scotland. Here
are the offices of the Auxiliary Artillery, Adjutant-
General, Royal Engineers, the medical staff, and
the district Con~missariat.
Southward of this stands St. Mark's Chapel,
erected in 1835, the only Unitarian place of
worship in Edinburgh. It cost only Lz,ooo, and
is seated for 700. It has an elegant interior, and
possesses a iine organ. Previous to 1835 its congregation
met in a chapel in Young Street.
Near it, in Cambridge Street, stands the new
Gaelic Free Church, a somewhat village-like erection,
overshadowed by the great mass of the
United Presbyterian Theological Hall. The latter
was built in 1875 for the new Edinburgh or West
End Theatre, from designs by Mr. Pilkington, an
English architect, who certainly succeeded in
supplying an edifice alike elegant and comfortable.
In its fiqt condition the auditorium measured
70 feet square within the walls, and the accommodation
was as follows-pit and stalls, 1,ooo ;
dress circle and private boxes, 400; second
circle, 600; gallery, 1,000; total, 3,000. The
stage was expansive, and provided with all the ... 14 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. . [Castle Terrace. Place, and now chiefly used as a coal dep8t. Some of the merchants ...

Book 4  p. 214
(Score 0.4)

The West Bow.] THE HIDDEN SWORD. 317
from his sick-bed (a few months after to be his
death-bed, though he fled to Newcastle in the
interim); and, donning his armour, drew back the
arras of the Queen?s chamber, looking like a pale
spectre under his steel-barred helmet, on that fatal
night in the March of 1566, when he planted his
dagger into David Rizzio, whose death was mainly
his contrivance; and in the demolition of this
which the blade was covered, such as Vzncere a d
mori, Fide sed cui $e4 and Sdi De0 GZoria. The
manner of its concealment, and the fierce character
of the old Lord Ruthven, within whose ancient
lodging it was discovered, may readily suggest to
the fancy its having formed the instrument of some
dark and bloody deed ere it was consigned to its
strange hiding-place.?
ASSEMBLY ROOMS, WEST BOW.
(From U McMIrcd Diawing T. Hanriltm pu6lished im 1830).
house a singular relic of him apparently was discovered.
?? Between the ceiling ,and floor in one
of the apartments, a large and beautifully chased
sword was found concealed, with the scabbard
almost completely decayed, and the blade, which
was of excellent temper, deeply corroded with
rust half-way towards the hilt.? Was this the corrosion
of blood? ? ? The point of it,? says Daniel
Wilson, ?was broken 06 but it still measured
324 inches long. The maker?s name, WILHELM
WIRSBERG, was inlaid in brass upon the blade.
His device, seemingly a pair of pincers, was
engraved on both sides, surmounted by a coronet,
and encircled on one side with a motto partly
defaced, and on the other with his name repeated,
and the words in.soZ.ingen. Various other mottoes
were engraved amid the ornamental work with
He died at the close of 1566, or early in the
following year;? and a curious key, which was
found in the demolition of his house, was procured
by the Society of Antiquaries in 1848.
Up the West Bow for centuries did all that was
regal, noble, and diplomatic, advance on entering
the city; and down it, for 124 years-between the
Restoration and I f84-went more criminals than
can be reckoned, to their doom, and many a?victim
of misrule, such as the luckless and unflinching
Covenanters, testifying to the last and glorying in
their fate.
Down the Bow, on the 3rd of September, 1716,
there were marched from the Castle, en route for
trial at Carlisle, eighty-nine Jacobite prisoners.
?? The departing troop was followed by a wail of
indignant lament fiom the national heart, the ... West Bow.] THE HIDDEN SWORD. 317 from his sick-bed (a few months after to be his death-bed, though he fled to ...

Book 2  p. 317
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George Street.] THE BLACKWOODS. I39
CHAP,TER XIX.
GEORGE STREET.
Major Andrew Faser-The Father of Miss Femer-Grant of Kilgraston-William Blackwoad and his Magazine-The Mother of Sir Waltn
Scott-Sir John Hay, Banker-Colquhoun of Killermont-Mrs. Murray of Henderland-The Houses of Sir J. W. Gomon, Sir Jam-
Hall. and Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster-St. Andrew's Church-Scene of the Disruption-Physicians' Hall-Glance at the Histcry of thecollege
of Physicians-Sold and Removed-The Commercial Bank-Its Constitution-Assembly Rooms-Rules of 17+Banquet to Black
Watch-" The Author of Waverley"-The Music Hall-The New Union Bank-Its Formation, &c.-The Mlasonic Hall-Watsoa'E
Pictureof Bums-Statues of George IV., Pitt, and Chalmers. .
PREVIOUS to the brilliant streets and squares
erected in the northern and western portions of
new Edinburgh, George Street was said to have no
rival in the world ; and even yet, after having undergone
many changes, for combined length, space,
uniformity, and magnificence of vista, whether
viewed from the east or west, it may well be
pronounced unparalleled. Straight as an arrow
flies, it is like its sister streets, but is 1x5 feet
broad. Here a great fossil tree was found in 1852.
A portion of the street on the south side, near
the west end, long bore the name of the Tontine,
and owing to some legal dispute, which left the
houses there mfinished, they were occupied as
infantry barracks during the war with France.
Nos. 3 and 5 (the latter once the residence of
Major Andrew Fraser and cf William Creech the
eminent bookseller) forni the office of the Standard
Life Assurance Company, in the tympanum of
which, over four fine Corinthian pilasters, is a
sculptured group from the chisel of Sir John Steel,
representing the parable of the Ten Virgins. In
George Street are about thirty different insurance
offices, or their branches, all more or less ornate
in architecture, and several banks.
In No. 19, on the same side, is the Caledonian,
the oldest Scottish insurance company (having
been founded in June, 1805). Previously the
office had been in Bank Street. A royal charter
was granted to the company in May, 1810, and
twenty-three years afterwards the business of life
assurance was added to that of fire insurance.
No. 25 George Street was the residence (from
1784 till his death, in 18zg), of Mr. James Ferrier,
Principal Clerk of Session, and father of Miss
Susan Ferrier, the authoress of " Marriage," &c.
He was a keen whist player, and every night of his
life had a rubber, which occasionally included Lady
Augusta Clavering, daughter of his friend and client
John, fifth Duke of Argyll, and old Dr. Hamilton,
usually designated " Cocked Hat " Hamilton, from
the fact of his being one of the last in Edinburgh
who bore that head-piece. When victorious, he
wcdd snap his fingers and caper about the room,
to tbe manifest indignation of Mr. Ferrier, who
would express it to his partner in the words, "Lady
Augusta, did you ever see such rediculous leevity
in an auld man 7 " Robert Burns used also to be
a guest at No. 25, and was prescnt on one occasion
when some magnificent Gobelins tapestry arrived
there for the Duke of Argyll on its way to Inverary
Castle. Mrs. Piozzi also, when in Edinburgh, dined
there. Next door lived the Misses Edmonstone,
of the Duntreath family, and with them pitched
battles at whist were of frequent nightly occurrence.
These old ladies figure in " Marriage " as
Aunts Jacky, Grizzy, and Nicky; they were grandnieces
of the fourth Duke of Argyll. The eldest
Miss Ferrier was one of the Edinburgh beauties in
her day ; and Bums once happening to meet her,
while turning the corner of George Street, felt suddenly
inspired, and wrote the lines to her enclosed
in an elegy on the death of Sir D. H. Hair. Miss
Ferrier and Miss Penelope, Macdonald of Clanronald,
were rival belles ; the former married
General Graham ot Stirling Castle, the latter Lord
Belhaven.
In No. 32 dwelt Francis Grant of Kilgraston,
father of Sir Francis Grant, President of the Royal
Academy, born in 1803 ; and No. 35, now a shop,
was the town house of the Hairs of Balthayock, in
Perthshire.
No. 45 has long been famous as the establishment
of Messrs. Blackwood, the eminent publishers.
William Blackwood, the founder of the magazine
which stills bears his name, and on the model of
which so many high-class periodicals have been
started in the sister kingdom, was born at Edinburgh
in 1776, and after being apprenticed to the
ancient bookselling firni of Bell and Bradfute, and
engaging in various connections with other bibliopoles,
in 1804 he commenced as a dealer in old
books on the South Bridge, in No. 64, but soon
after became agent for several London publishing
houses. In 1S16 he disposed of his vast stock of
classical and antiquarian books, I 5,000 volumes in
number, and removing to No. 17 Princes Street,
thenceforward devoted his energies to the business
of a-general publisher, and No. 17 is to this day a
bookseller's shop. ... Street.] THE BLACKWOODS. I39 CHAP,TER XIX. GEORGE STREET. Major Andrew Faser-The Father of Miss ...

Book 3  p. 139
(Score 0.4)

280 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord Provosts.
burgh of great numbers of? His Majesty?s subjects
and strangers, there should be three weekly market
days for the sale of bread, when it should be
lawful for dealers, both buyers and landward, to
dispose of bread for ready money; three market
days for t k sale of meat under the same circumstances,
were also established-Sunday, Monday,
and Thursday.
In I 5 28 the Lord Maxwell became again provost
of Edinburgh, and when, some years after, his
exiled predecessor, Douglas of Kilspindie, became
weary of wandering in a foreign land he sought in
vain the clemency of James V., who, in memory of
all he had undergone at the hands of the Douglases,
had registered a vow niver to forgive them.
The aged warrior-who had at one time won the
affection of the king, who, in admiration of his
stature, strength, and renown in arms, had named
him ?? Greysteel,? after a champion in the romance
of ?? Sir Edgar and Sir Guion ?-threw himself in
lames?s way near the gates of Stirling Castle, to seek
pardon, and ran afoot by the side of his horse, encumbered
as he was by heavy armour, worn under
his clothes for fear of assassination. But James
rode in, and the old knight, sinking by the gate in
exhaustion, begged a cup of water. Even this was
refused by the attendants, whom the king rebuked
for their discourtesy ; but old Kilspindie turned
sadly away, and died in France of a broken heart.
In the year 1532 the provost and Council furnished
James V. with a guard of 300 men, armed
on all ?pointts for wayr,? to serve against his
? enimies of Ingland,? in all time coming.
In 1565, when Mary was in the midst of her
most bitter troubles, Sir Simon Preston of Craigiiiillar
and that ilk was provost, and it was in his
house, the Black Turnpike, she was placed a
prisoner, after the violated treaty of Carberry Hill ;
and four years after he was succeeded in office by
the celebrated Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange.
In 1573 Lord Lindsay was provost, the same
terrible and relentless noble who plotted against
Kizzio, led the confederate lords, conducted Mary
to Lachleven, who crushed her tender arm with
his steel glove, and compelled her under terror of
death to sign her zbdication, and who lived to
share in the first Cowrie conspiracy.
In 1578 the provost was George Douglas of
Parkhead, who was also Governor of the Castle ; a
riot having taken place in the latter, and a number
of citizens being slain by the soldiers, the Lords of
the Secret Council desired the magistrates to remove
him from office and select another. They
craved delay, on which the Council deposed
Douglas, and sent a precept commanding the city to
choose a new provost within three hours, under pain
of treason. In obedience to this threat Archibald
Stewart was made interim provost till the usual
time of election, Michaelmas ; previous to which,
the young king, James VI., wrote to the magistrates
desiring them to make choice of certain
persons whom be named to hold their offices for
the ensuing year. On receiving this peremptory
command the Council called a public meeting of
the citizens, at which it was resolved to allow no
interference with their civic privileges. A deputation
consisting of a bailie, the treasurer, a councillor,
and two deacons, waited on His Majestyat Stirling
and laid the resolutions before him, but received no
answer. Upon the day of election another letter was
read from James, commanding the Council to elect
as magistrates the persons therein named for the
ensuing year ; but notwithstanding this arbitrary
command, the Council, to their honour, boldly u p
held their privileges, and made their own choice of
magistrates.
Alexander Home, of North Berwick, was provost
from 1593 to 1596. He was a younger son of
Patrick Home of Polwarth, and his younger sister
was prioress of the famous convent at North Berwick,
where strange to say she retained her station
and the conventual lands till the day of her death.
In 1598 a Lord President of the College of
Justice was provost, Alexander Lord Fyvie, afterwards
Lord Chancellor, and Earl of Dunfermline
in 1606. Though the time was drawing near for
a connection with England, a contemporary writer
in 1598 tells us that ?in general, the Scots would
not be attired after the English fashion in anysort;
but the men, especially at court, followed the
French fashion.?
Sir William Nisbet, of Dean, was provost twice
in 1616 and 1622, the head of a proud old race,
whose baronial dwelling was long a feature on the
wooded ridge above Deanhaugh. His coat of
arms, beautifully carved, was above one of the doors
of the latter, his helmet surmcunted by the crest of
the city, and encircled by the motto,
? HIC MIHI PARTrVS HONOS.?
It was in the dark and troublesome time of
1646-7, when Sir Archibald Tod was provost, that
James Cordon, the minister of Rothiemay, made his
celebrated bird?s-eye view of Edinburgh-to which
reference has been made so frequently in these
pages, and of which we have engraved the greater
Part.
James Cordon, one of the eleven sons of the
Laird of Straloch, was born in 1615. He was
M.A. of Aberdeen, and in April, 1647, he submitted ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Lord Provosts. burgh of great numbers of? His Majesty?s subjects and strangers, there ...

Book 4  p. 280
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 469
He was immediately afterwards (May 14, 1804) created Earl of Powis, his
lordship having, in 1784, married Lady Henrietta-Antonia Herbert, daughter
of Henry-Arthur, the last Earl of that name, on whose death, in 1801, the
title had become extinct. By this lady, who died in 1830, his lordship had
several children. “he eldest, Viscount Clive, late M.P. for Ludlow, married, in
1818, Lucy Grahame, daughter of James third Duke of Montrose. One of his
lordship’s daughters was Charlotte Florentia, governess to the Queen while
Princess Victoria, and afterwards Duchess of Northumberland ; and another was
the late Lady Watkins William Wynne.
While in Edinburgh, Lord Clive had the freedom of the city conferred upon
him. The chief residences of the family are Powis Castle, Montgomeryshire ;
Walcot, and Oakley-Park, Shropshire.
A RCHIB D C
No. CCCXXIX.
ARCHIBALD CAMPBELT,,
CITY OFFICER.
MPEELL was a native of Rannoch, in Perthshire; nd, in the
true spirit of a clansman, gave himself out to be a fur-away cousin of the
Duke of Argyle. He was originally in the
service of Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon, and came to Edinburgh in 1793.
Archie was “a goodly portly man, and a comely,” as Sir John Falstaff
describes himself ; and, notwithstanding a certain abruptness and forwardness
of manner, was in reality possessed of much good nature and great warmth and
benevolence of heart. From the peculiar situation he held, his person was well
known for nearly half a century to almost every individual of all ranks in
Edinburgh. Previous to the institution of a regular police, and indeed long
after it, he acted as a sort of conservator-general of the public peace, which
invidious office he exercised with such perfect fairness and impartiality, and at
the same time with so much forbearance, that he never made himself an enemy.
On the contrary, he was a universal favourite with the mob. During the long
period that the late Mr. James Laing took an active management in public
matters, performing in his own person almost the entire duties of Chief Magistrate
and Superintendent of Police, Archie was his right-hand man, and executed
his commands with a fidelity and diligence that could not be surpassed. His
strict sobriety-a virtue so rarely to be met with in persons of his callingwas
so conspicuous, that he never was known to be drunk but once ; and the
shame and remorse he felt on that occasion were such that he hardly ever forgave
himself for his indiscretion.
His principal avocation was that of one of the city officers, of whom he was
He was born in the year 1768. ... SKETCHES. 469 He was immediately afterwards (May 14, 1804) created Earl of Powis, his lordship ...

Book 9  p. 627
(Score 0.4)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 133
beloved. The second, the Hon. Roger Montgomerie, who was a Lieutenant in
the navy, fell a victim to pestilential disease at Port Royal, Jamaica, in January
1799.
She was remarkable
for every domestic virtue which could adorn the female character; and
during her long residence at Eglinton Castle, a great portion of her time was
occupied in attending the sick and relieving the destitute. To her care her
brother the Earl was intrusted during his early years-a trust which she performed
with the utmost affection and fidelity. Lady Jane was married to
Archibald Hamilton, Esq. of Blackhouse, late of the East India Company’s
service, and resided at Roselle, a seat of the Earl of Eglinton, in the immediate
neighbourhood of Ayr ; where she continued to practise those charitable virtues
which so much distinguished her earlier years.
Lady Lilias was married at Coilsfield, on the 1st February 1796, to Robert
Dundas M‘Queen, Esq., of Braxfield, who died in 1819. Her ladyship afterwards
married Richard Alexander Oswald, Esq., of Auchincruive.
Lady Jane remained unmarried till after her father’s death.
No. CCXV,
REV. JAMES STRUTHERS,
MINISTER OF THE RELIEF CHAPEL, COLLEGE STREET.
MR. STRUTHEwRaSs born at the village of Glassford, in Lanarkshire, in 1770,
He early manifested abilities of no ordinary description ; and, having studied
with success at the University of Glasgow, he was licensed to preach at a period
of life when most other students are only about to commence their course of
divinity. In 1791, ere he had completed his majority, he was ordained to the
Relief Chapel in College Street-the first of that connection erected in Edinburgh,
and which had previously been filled by the Rev. Mr. James Baine.
Mr. Struthers soon became popular, and was considered one of the first
pulpit orators of his day. He was highly esteemed as a man of superior
intelligence; and his premature death, which took place on the 13th July 1507,
was deeply and generally lamented.
Although often importuned to publish his discourses, hfr. Struthers constantly
resisted the proposal. This diffidence was supposed to arise from a
conviction that they were better adapted for the pulpit than the closet ; but, on
on it. On obtaining the management of his own affairs in 1833, his lordship recommenced the
works which had been so long suspended at Ardrossan ; and we learn that that harbour is now the
most prosperous on the whole Ayrshire coast. ... SKETCHES. 133 beloved. The second, the Hon. Roger Montgomerie, who was a Lieutenant in the navy, ...

Book 9  p. 177
(Score 0.4)

Fanester?s Wynd.] THE ?MIRROR? CLUB. rzr
i ?The Diurnal of Occurrents? records, that in
1566, John Sinclair, Bishop of Brechin, Dean of
Restalrig, and Lord President of the College of
Justice, died in Forrester?s Wynd, in the house of
James Mossman, probably the same man who was a
goldsmith in Edinburgh at that time, and whose
father, also Jarnes Mossrnan, enclosed with the
present four arches the crown of Scotland, by
order of James V., when Henry VIII. closed
the crown of England. In consequence of the
houses being set on fire by the *Castle guns under
Kirkaldy, in 1572, it was ordered that all the
thatched houses between Beith?s J7ynd and St.
Giles?s should be unroofed, and that all stacks of
heather should be carried away from the streets
Fleshmarket Close ; but oftener, perhaps, in Lucky
Dunbar?s, a house situated in an alley that led
between Liberton?s Wynd and that of Forrester?s
Wynd. This Club commenced its publication of
the Mirror in January, 1729, and terminated it in
May, 1780. It was a folio sheet, published weekly
at three-halfpence. The *Lounger, to which Lord
Craig contributed largely, was commenced, by the
staff of the Mirror, on the 6th ot February, 1785,
and continued weekly till the 6th of January, 1787.
paid to their morals, behaviour, and every branch
of education.?
In this quarter Turk?s Close, Carthrae?s, Forrester?s,
and Beith?s Wynds, all stood on the slope
between Liberton?s Wynd and St. Giles?s Church ;
but every stone of these had been swept away many
years before the great breach made by the new
bridge was projected. Forrester?s Wynd occurs so
often in local annals that it must have been a place
of some consideration.
JOHN DOWIE?S TAVERN. (Fs~m fk Engraving in How?$ YearBwk.?)
Among the members of this literary Club were Mr.
Alexander Abercrombie, afterwards Lord Abercrombie
; Lord Bannatyne ; Mr. George Home,
Clerk of Session ; Gordon of Newhall ; and a Mr.
George Ogilvie ; among their correspondents were
Lord Hailes, Mr. Baron Hurne, Dr. Beattie, and
many other eminent literary men of the time ; but
of the IOI papers of the Lounger, fifty-seven are
the production of Henry Mackenzie, including his
general review of Burns?s poems, already referred to.
In Liberton?s Wynd, we find from the Ediduygh
Advertiser of 1783, that the Misses Preston,
daughters of the late minister of Narkinch, had a
boarding school for young ladies, whose parents
?may depend that the greatest attention will be
18 ... Wynd.] THE ?MIRROR? CLUB. rzr i ?The Diurnal of Occurrents? records, that in 1566, John Sinclair, ...

Book 1  p. 121
(Score 0.4)

150 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet.
of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope
and that famous old literary officer General Stewart
of Garth, who had been wounded under its colours
in Egypt; and nothing could surpxss the grand,
even tearful, enthusiasm with which the veterans
had been welcomed ?in every town and village
through which their route from England lay.
Early on the ~gth,? says the Scots Magazine, ?vast
crowds were collected on the streets, in expectation
of their arrival. The road as far as Musselburgh
was crowded with people ; and as they approached
the city, so much was their progress impeded by the
multitude that their march from Piershill to the
castle-less than two miles-occupied two hours.
House-tops and windows were crowded with spectators,
and as they passed along the streets, amid
the ringing of bells, waving of flags, and the
acclamation of thousands, their red and black
plumes, tattered colours-emblems of their wellearned
fame in fight-and glittering bayonets, were
all that could be seen of these heroes, except by
the few who were fortunate in obtaining elevated
situations. The scene, viewed from the windows
and house-tops, was the most extraordinary ever
witnessed in this city. The crowds were wedged
together across the whole breadth of the street, and
extended in length as far as the eye could reach,
and this motley throng appeared to tnove like a
solid body, till the gallant Highlanders were safely
lodged in the castle.?
To the whole of the non-commissioned officers
and privates a grand banquet by public subscription,
under the superintendence of Sir Walter Scott, was
given in the Assembly Room, and every man was
presented with a free ticket to the Theatre Royal.
Asimilar banquet and ovation was bestowed on the
78th or Ross-shire Buffs, who marched in a few
days after.
It was in the Assembly Rooms that Sir Walter
Scott, on the 23rd February, 1827, at the annual
dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association,
avowed himself to be ?the Great Unknown,?
acknowledging the authorship of the Waverley
Novels-scarcely a secret then, as the recent exposure
of Constable?s affairs had made the circumstance
pretty well known, particularly in literary
circles.
In June 1841 a great public banquet was given
to Charles Dickens in the Assembly Rooms, at
which Professor Wilson presided, and which the
novelist subsequently referred to as having been
a source of sincere gratification to him.
The rooms underwent considerable improvements
in 1871 ; but two shops have always been
in the basement storey, and the western of these
.
is now occupied by the Edinburgh branch of the
ImperiaI Fire and Life Assurance Company.
In immediate connection with the Assembly
Rooms is the great music hall, built in 1843? at
the cost of more than .&IO,OOO, It is a magnificent
apartment, with a vast domed and panelled
roof, 108 feet long by 91 feet broad, with orchestral
accommodation for several hundred performers,
and a powerful and splendid organ, by Hill of
London.
It is the most celebrated place in the city for
public meetings. There, in 1853, was inaugurated
by Lord Eglinton and others, the great Scottish
Rights Association, the ultimate influence of which
procured so many necessary grants of money for
Scottish purposes; in 1859 the first Burns Centenary,
and in 1871 the first Scott Centenary, were celebrated
in this hall. There, tooJ has the freedom of
the city been bestowed upon many great statesmen,
soldiers, and others. There has Charles Dickens
cften read his ?Christmas Carols? to delighted
thousands ; and there it was that, in 1856, the great
novelist and humourist, Thackeray, was publicly
hissed down (to the marked discredit of his audience,
be it said) in one of his readings, for making disparaging
remarks on Mary Queen of Scots.
The new Union Bank of Scotland is on the
south side of tbe street, Commenced in 1874, it
was finished in 1878, from designs by David
Bryce, R.S.A. It is in the Tuscan style, with a
frontage of more than IOO feet, and extends southwards
to Rose Street Lane. It exhibits three
storeys rising from a sunk basement, with their
entrances, each furnished with a portico of Ionic
columns. The first floor windows are flanked by
pilasters, and furnished with entablatures and
pediments ; the second floors have architraves,
and moulded sills, while the wall-head is terminated
by a bold cornice, supporting a balustrade. The
telling-room is magnificent-fully eighty feet long
by fifty feet broad, and arranged in a manner alike
commodious and elegant. In the sunk basement
is a library, with due provision of safes for various
bank purposes, and thither removed, in 1879, the
famous old banking house to which we have more
than once had occasion to fefer, from its old quarters
in the Parliament Square, which were then
announced as for sale, with its fireproof interior
?of polished stone, with groined arches on the
various floors ; its record rooms, book and bullion
jafes of dressed stone, alike thief and fire proof.?
Here we may briefly note that the Union Bank
was incorporated in 1862, and its paid-up capital
is .&I,OOO,OOO; but this bank is in reality of a
much older date, and was originally known as the ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet. of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope and that famous old ...

Book 3  p. 150
(Score 0.4)

hills of Braid to the sandy shores of the Firth of
Forth.
Edinburgh, now within a few hours? journey from
London, was long the capital of a land that was
almost a ferra incogniia, not only to England, but
to the greater part of Europe, and remained so till
nearly the era of the Scott novels. Spreading over
many swelling hills and deep ravines, that in some
instances are spanned by enormous bridges of stone,
it exhibits a striking peculiarity and boldness in its
features that render it totally unlike any other city
in the world, unless we admit its supposed resemblance
to Athens.
Its lofty and commanding site ascends gradually
from the shore of the great estuary, till it terminates
in the stupendous rock of the Castle, 500
feet above the level of the sea, and is surrounded
on the southward, east, and west, by an amphitheatre
of beautiful hills, covered either with purple
heath or the richest copse-wood; while almost from
amid its very streets there starts up the lionshaped
mountain named Arthur?s Seat, the bare and
rocky cone of which has an altitude of 822 feet.
In Edinburgh every step is historical; the
memories of a remote and romantic past confront
us at every turn and corner, and on every side
.arise the shades of the dead. Most marked, indeed,
is the difference between the old and the
new city-the former being sa strikingly picturesque
in its broken masses and the disorder of its architecture,
and the latter so symmetrical and almost
severe in the Grecian and Tuscan beauty of its
streets and squares ; and this perhaps, combined
with its natural situation quite as much as its
literary character, may have won for it the fanciful
name of ? the Modem Athens.?
On one hand we have, almost unchanged in
general aspect, yet changing in detail at the
xuthless demands of improvement, the Edinburgh
of the Middle Ages-?the Queen of the
North upon her hilly throne?-the city of the
Pavids and of five gallant Jameses-her massive
mansions of stone, weather-beaten, old, dark, and
time-worn, teeming with historical recollections oi
many generations of men ; many painful and man)
pitiful memories, some of woe, but more of wai
and wanton cruelty; of fierce combats and feudal
battles ; of rancorous quarrels and foreign invasions,
and of loyal and noble hearts that were wasted and
often broken in their passionate faith to religion
and a regal race that is now no more.
On the bther hand, and all unlike the warrioi
city of the middle ages, beyond the deep ravint
overlooked by Princes Street-that most beautifu
of European terraces-and by that noble pinnaclec
xoss which seems the very shrine of Scott, we
iave the modern Edinburgh of the days of peace
ind prosperity, with all its spacious squares and
ir-stretching streets, adorned by the statues of
those great men who but lately trod them. And
50 the Past and the Present stand face to face,
by.the valley where of old the waters of the North
Loch lay.
Ih these pages, accordingly, we intend to summon
back, like the dissolving views in the magic
mirror of Cornelius Agrippa, the Edinburgh of the
past, with all the stirring, brilliant, and terrible
events of which it has been the arena.
The ghosts of kings and queens, of knights and
nobles, shall walk its old streets again, and the
brave, or sad, or startling, story of every time-worn
tenement will be told ; nor shall those buildings that
have passed away be forgotten. Again the beacon
fires shall seem to blaze on the grassy summits of
Soltra and Dunpender, announcing that southern
hosts have crossed the Tweed, and summoning
the sturdy burgesses, from every echoing close and
wynd, in all the array of war, to man their gates
and walls, as all were bound, under pain of death,
to do when the Deacon Convener of the Trades
unfurled ?the Blue Blanket ? of famous memory.
In the ancient High Street we shall meet King
David riding forth with hound and horn to hunt in
his forest of Drumsheugh, as he did on that Roodday
in harvest when he had the alleged wondrous
escape which led to the founding of Holyrood ; or
we may see him seated at the Castle gdte, dispensing
justice to his people-especially to the poor
-in that simple fashion which won for him the
proud title of the Scottish Justinian.
In the same street we shall see the mail-clad
Douglases and Hamiltons carrying out their
mortal feud with horse and spear, axe and sword ;
and anon meet him ?who never feared the face of
man,? John Knox, grown old and tottering, whitebearded
and wan, leaning on the arm of sweet
young Margaret Stewart of Ochiltree, as he proceeds
to preach for the last time in St. Giles?s;
and we shall also see the sorrowing group that
gathered around his grave in the old churchyard
that lay thereby, and where still that grave is
marked by bronzes let into the pavement.
Again the trumpets that breathed war and defiance
shall ring at the Market Cross, and we may
hear the mysterious voice that at midnight called
aloud the death-roll of those who were doomed to
fall on Flodden field,. and the wail of?woe that
went through the startled city when tidings of the
fatal battle ca?me.
We shall see the countless windows of those ... of Braid to the sandy shores of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh, now within a few hours? journey ...

Book 1  p. 2
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 155
No. CCXXIV.
THE CITY T R 0 N -31 EN ;
CHPNNEY-S WEEPERS.
THE personal history of these men is almost entirely unknown ; and probably
few incidents in their humble progress through life would be found worthy of
recording. The elder of the two, DAVIDG ILCHRISTw,a s a worthy enough
person in his way ; and he is still remembered by some of the sable fraternity
of Edinburgh. He lived in the College Wynd, off the Cowgate.
At a remote period, there was only one individual of the name of Hamilton
-resident in the West Port ‘--who devoted his attention solely to the sweeping
of chimneys. He kept a number of men and boys in his employment;
but the city, notwithstanding, was very indifferently supplied. In order to
remedy this state of things-as well as to avoid the barbarous system of
“ climbing boys ” twelve men, previously porters, were appointed chimneysweepers
for the city, with an annual allowance of one guinea, and certain other
perquisites. They were called “ Tron-men,” from the circumstance of their
being stationed at the Trone,’ or public beam for weighing, which formerly
stood in front of the Tron Church.
A small wooden apartment was subsequently erected for them at the east end
of the City Guard-House, in which to deposit their apparatus ; and where the
men themselves were daily in waiting, ready to supply, in rotation, the demands
of their customers. In case of fire occurring, the duty of keeping watch at
night in the Guard-House devolved on one of their number alternately.
In the Print, the dress and apparatus of the “ City Tron-men ” are accurately
described. They wore flat bonnets--a coat peculiarly formed-and kneebreeches
and buckles-with a short apron. A ladder-a besom-with a coil
Hamilton resided a little to the west of the Vennel, and w89 known by the name of “ Sweep
The Trone appears to have been used as a pillory for the punishment of crime. In Nichoh Diary
for 1649, it is stated that “much falset and cheitting was dailie deteckit at this time by the Lords of
Sessioune ; for the whilk there was dailie hanging, skucging, nailing of lugs [ears], and Ending of
people to the TRONE, a d boring of tongues ; so that it was one fatal year for false notaries and
witnesses, as dailie experience did witness.” The wagh-house, wbich stood at the head of the West
Bow, built probably about the beginning of the seventeenth century, 85 a substitute for the Tmm,
was removed in 1822, on the King’s visit to Scotland, in order to make way for the Royal procession
to the Castle.
Jack.” He died about the end of last century. ... SKETCHES. 155 No. CCXXIV. THE CITY T R 0 N -31 EN ; CHPNNEY-S WEEPERS. THE personal history of ...

Book 9  p. 208
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 255
that it never will be drawn by you, but to support that constitution which has rendered thii
country great and powerful, and its inhabitants free and happy.
“ I shall detain you no longer from the duties of the day, than by wishing that every gift,
such as the present, may be equally well merited, and bestowed with an equal degree of sincerity
and pleasure, as that which I have now the honour to put into your hands.
In reply, the Lieut.-Colonel said-
“ I shall not make use of the commou profession of wanting words to express my feelings
on this occasion. I am much more afraid that I do not, and that I never cad feel as I ought
towards this regiment. But whatever may be the de,me of my feelings, I hope you are well
convinced that it does not require any excitement of this kind to call them forth ; and I can,
with truth, assure you, that without such expensive proofs as this, I am well satisfied of the
place I hold in the regard and affections of this regiment.
“ With respect to the present you have now made me, I hope and trust, for the sake of our
country, that I may never have occasion to me it but on occasions such a9 this, of parade and
rejoicing ; but if against the enemies of our King and country, I have only to pray that I may
be enabled to behave as becomes the commander of such a regiment.”
The military services of the Lord President did not terminate with the
disbanding of the Volunteers in 1814. The regiment having been embodied
for the third time, during the political disturbances of 1819, his lordship was
again at their head, and daily inspected them while doing duty in the Castle,
in the m m of the regular troops, all of whom were sent to the West country,
where the disaKection chiefly prevailed.
The Lord President married, in 1793, Lady Charlotte Hope, eighth daughter
of John second Earl of Hopetonn, by whom he had a numerous family, He
retired from the bench in 1841, and was succeeded by the Right Hon. David
Boyle. His eldest son, John Hope, Esq., was appainted in 1841 Lord Justice-
Clerk.
THE
No. CCLV.
RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PITT.
THIS Portrait of the “Pilot who weathered the storm” is one of the few
likenesses taken by Kay while in London in 1800. The name of the Right
Hon. WILLIAM PITT is indissolubly associated with an important epoch in the
political history of this country. Our readers are aware that he was the son of
the first Earl of Chatham; that under the vigilant superintendence of his
illustrious parent, the genius of the future Premier was early matured; and
that he first entered the House of Commons as one of the nominees of Sir James
Lowther, where he soon distinguished himself by those capabilities, as 8 firm
and eloquent debater, which afterwards enabled him to beat down one of the
most formidable oppositions ever arrayed against a Cabinet.
. It was the peculiar fortune of Pitt to be called to the helm of affairs, when,
at the conclusion of the American War of Independence, Britain laboured under ... SKETCHES. 255 that it never will be drawn by you, but to support that constitution which has rendered ...

Book 9  p. 339
(Score 0.39)

Calton HilL] THE NATIONAL MONUMENT. 109
~
Grand Master of Scotland, the various loQges
proceeded in procession from the Parliament Square,
accompanied by the commissioners for the King,
and a brilliant concourse. The foundation-stone
of the edifice (which was to be 228 feet long, by
IOZ broad) weighed six tons, and amid salutes of
cannon from the Castle, Salisbury Craigs, Leith
Majesty, the patron of the undertaking. The celebrated
Parthenon of Athens being model of the edifice.?
The Scots Greys and 3rd Dragoons formed
the escorts. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm displayed
when the undertaking was originated, and
though a vast amount of money was subscribed, the
former subsided, and the western peristyle alone
THE NATICNAL MORUMEST, CALTON HILL.
Fort, and the royal squadron in the roads, the
inscription plates were deposited therein, One is
inscribed thus, and somewhat fulsomely :-
?? To the glory of God, in honour of the King, for
the good of the people, this monument, the tribute
of a gratefur country to her gallant and illustrious
sms, as a memorial of the past and incentive to the
future heroism of the men of Scotland, was founded
on the 27th day of August in the year of our Lord
1822, and in the third year of the glorious reign of
George IV., under his immediate auspices, and in
commemoration of his most gracious and welcome
visit to his ancient capital, and the palace of his
royal ancestors; John Duke of Atholl, James Duke
of Montrose, Archibald Earl of Rosebery, John
Earl of Hopetoun, Robert Viscount Melville, and
Thomas Lord Lynedoch, officiating as commissioners,
by the special appointment of his august
was partially erected. In consequence of this
*emarkable end to an entefprise that was begun
mder the most favourable auspices, the national
monument is often referred to as ?Scotland?s
pride and poverty.? The pillars are of gigantic
proportions, formed of beautiful Craigleith stone ;
each block weighed from ten to fifteen tons, and
each column as it stands, with the base and frieze,
cost upwards of LI,OOO. As a ruin it gives a
classic aspect to the whole city. According to the
original idea, part of the edifice was to be used as
a Scottish Valhalla
On the face of the hill overlooking Waterloo
Place is the monument of one of Scotland?s gredtest
philosophers. It is simply inscribed :-
DUGALD STEWART.
BORN NOVEMBER 22ND, 1753;
DIED JUKE KITH, 1828. ... HilL] THE NATIONAL MONUMENT. 109 ~ Grand Master of Scotland, the various loQges proceeded in procession ...

Book 3  p. 109
(Score 0.39)

196 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGR, [High Street.
Torthorwald could defend himself, ran him through
the body, and slew him on the spot.
Stewart fled from the city, and of him we hear
no more ; but the Privy Council niet twice to consider
what should be done now, for all the Douglases
were taking arms to attack the Stewarts of
Ochiltree. Hence the Council issued imperative
orders that the Earl of Morton, James Commendator
of Melrose, Sir George and Sir Archibald
Douglas his uncles, William Douglas younger of
Drumlanrig, Archibald Uouglas of Tofts, Sir James
Dundas of Arniston, and others, who were breathing
vengeance, should keep within the doors of
their dwellings, orders to the same effect being
issued to Lord Ochiltree and all his friends.
? There is a remarkable connection of murders
recalled by this shocking transaction,? says a historian.
?? Not only do we ascend to Torthorwald?s
slaughter of Stewart in 1596, and Stewart?s deadly
prosecution of Morton to the scaffold in 1581 ; but
William Stewart was the son of Sir William Stewart
who was slain by the Earl of Bothwell in the Blackfriars
Wynd in 1588.?
A carved marble slab in the church of Holyrood,
between two pillars on the north side, still marks
the grave of the first lord, who took his title from
the lonely tower of Torthonvald on the green brae,
between Lockerbie and Dumfries. It marks also
the grave of his wife, Elizabeth Carlyle of that ilk,
and bears the arms of the house of Douglas,
quartered with those of Carlyle and Torthorwald,
namely, beneath a ch2f charged with three pellets,
a saltire proper, and the crest, a star, with the inscription
:-
? Heir lyis ye nobil and poten Lord Jarnes Dovglas, Lord
of Cairlell and Torthorall, vlm maned Daime Eliezabeth
Cairlell, air and heretrix yalof; vha vas slaine in Edinburghe
ye xiiii. day of Ivly, in ye zeier of God 1608-vas slain in
48 ze.
The guide daily reads this epitaph to hundreds
of visitors ; but few know the series of tragedies of
which that slab is the closing record.
In the year 1705, Archibald Houston, Writer to
the Signet in Edinburgh, was slain in the High
Street. As factor for the estate of Braid, the property
of his nephew, he had incurred the anger of
Kennedy of Auchtyfardel, in Lanarkshire, by failing
to pay some portion of Bishop?s rents, and Houston
had been ?put to the horn? foithis debt. On the
20th March, 1705, Kennedy and his two sons left
their residence in the Castle Hill, to go to the usual
promenade of the time, the vicinity of the Cross.
They met Houston, and used violent language, to
: which he was not slow in retorting. Then Gilbert
Kennedy, Auchtyfardel?s son, smote him on the
L. I. D. E. C.?
face, while the idlers flocked around them. Blows
with a cane were exchanged, on which Gilbert Kennedy
drew his sword, and, running Houston through
the body, gave him a mortal wound, of which he
died. He was outlawed, but in time returned
home, and succeeded to his father?s estate. According
to Wodrow?s ? Analecta,? he became morbidly
pious, and having exasperated thereby a
servant maid, she gave him some arsenic with his
breakfast of bread-and-milk, in 1730, and but for
the aid of a physician would have avenged the
slaughter gf Houston near the Market Cross in
1705.
One of the last brawls in which swords were
drawn in the High Street occurred in the same
year, when under strong external professions of
rigid ?Sabbath observance and morose sanctity of
manner there prevailed much of secret debauchery,
that broke forth at times. On the evening of the
2nd of February there had assembled a party in
Edinburgh, whom drinking and excitement had so
far carried away that nothing less than a dance in
the open High Street would satisfy them. Among
the party were Ensign Fleming of the Scots
Brigade in the Dutch service, whose father, Sir
James Fleming, Knight, had been Lord Provost in
1681 ; Thomas Barnet, a gentleman of the Horse
Guards ; and John Galbraith, son of a merchant in
the city. The ten o?clock bell had been tolled in
the Tron spire, to warn all good citizens home;
and these gentlemen, with other bacchanals, were
in full frolic at a pzrt of the street where there was
no light save-such as might fall from the windows
of the houses, when a sedan chair, attended by two
footmen, one of whom bore a lantern, approached.
In the chair was no less a personage than David
Earl of Leven, General of the Scottish Ordzance,
and member of the Privy Council, proceeding on
his upward way to the Castle of which he was
governor. It was perilous work to meddle with
such a person in those times, but the ensign and his
friends were in too reckless a mood to think of
consequences; so when Galbraith, in his dance
reeled against one of the footmen, and was warned
off with an imprecation, Fleming and his friend of
the Guards said, ? It would be brave sport to overturn
the sedan in the mud.? At once they assailed
the earl?s servants, and smashed the lantern. His
lordship spoke indignantly from his chair ; then
drawing his sword, Fleming plunged it into one
of the footmen ; but he and the others were overpowered
and captured by the spectators.
The young ?rufflers,? on learning the rank of
the man they had insulted, were naturally greatly
alarmed, and Fleming dreaded the loss of his corn
? ... OLD AND NEW EDINBURGR, [High Street. Torthorwald could defend himself, ran him through the body, and slew him ...

Book 2  p. 196
(Score 0.39)

II 7 7 AND THE VALE OF THE ESK. I39
Dalkeith, there to remain solitary.” Charles I., on his progress to and from
Edinburgh in 1633, rested there one night each way, being entertained with
much splendour by the Earl of Morton. Dalkeith, too, was chosen for the place
of sitting of the Council and Exchequer in 1637 ; and here must have been
discussed the sore subjects of the Book of Canons and Laud‘s Service Book.
A year later, when the King and the Covenanters were in strife, Dalkeith was
among the places attacked. ‘On Saturday, the 22d March 1639,’ some of
the chief Covenanters went thither, ‘and with them 1000 commandit musqueteires’
On the estate being delivered to them they discovered, in a ‘ seller,
dowcat, and draw-well,’ shot, powder, and muskets, all of which they carried at
night to Edinburgh, together with the royal insignia of the kingdom, crown,
sword, and sceptre. As they were proceeding with their regal burden from
Dalkeith to the capital t thrie staris fell doun above the thrie honoris of the
kingdome,’ and the omen was understood by the Covenanting lords as ‘prognosticating
the falling of the monarchical1 government from the royal1 family
for a tyme.”
The Castle and Manor of Dalkeith were purchased in 1642 by Francis,
second Earl of Buccleuch, who, dying in 1651, left two little daughters, Mary
and Anne. Cromwell had entered Scotland in the July of the year before.
Dunbar was fought in September ; and, when Cromwell pursued Charles 11.
into England, General Monk was left in Scotland to keep that country in
order. Dalkeith, only six miles from the capital, was then an important place.
Here met the Eight Commissioners appointed by the English Long Parliament
to manage the incorporation of Scotland with the English Commonwealth.
The town was filled with the representatives of the counties and
burghs, called to consult with the Commissioners as to the great business.
’After Cromwell was proclaimed Protector, and ‘the session of the Eight
Commissioners was at an end, the ‘great concourse of the English army’ was
still in Dalkeith. The seats of the old church of St. Nicholas were taken
out, the kirk being so filled with horse and guards that neither sermon nor
session could be kept therein.’ The key of the poor‘s-box was lost; the
contents of the penalty-box were stolen ; and the very minister was drighted
to come near his own parish !
Here one of his
sons died. The body was buried in the chancel of the parish church. Here
For five years the Palace was leased by General Monk.
Chambers‘s DornufiC Annals of ScotZand-Reign of James VI.
NicoZrs Diary. p. 78, Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh. x838,-&fe Statistical Account of
&tland-Dalkeith. ... 7 7 AND THE VALE OF THE ESK. I39 Dalkeith, there to remain solitary.” Charles I., on his progress to and ...

Book 11  p. 198
(Score 0.39)

'THE OLD TOWN. 13
~
clear April day, and the ethereal blue' of the heavens above its grey rocks, are
exquisite.'
The general view of the Old Town referred to here by Aird is certainly
the most imposing, but in its details and component parts it is scarcely less
interesting. To it belongs the Castle, as itself an object of view. And here
let us quote from PeteJs Utm-the best description we have read, or that
probably exists, now, we fear, little read-of this great old antiquity :-
'From whatever side you approach the city, whether by water or by land,
whether your foreground consist of height or of plain, of heath, of trees, or of
the buildings of the city itself, this gigantic rock lifts itself high above all that
surrounds it, and breaks upon the sky with the same commanding blackness
of mingled cliffs, buttresses, and battlements, These indeed shift a d vary
their outlines at every step, but everywhere there is the same unmoved
effect of general impression, the same lofty and imposing image to which the
eye tuns with the same unquestioning worship. Whether you pass on the
southern side, close under the bare and shattered blocks of granite, where the
crumbling turrets on the summit seem as if they had shot out of the kindred
rock in some fantastic freak of Nature, and where, amidst the overhanging
mass of darkness, you vainly endeavour to descry the track by which Wallace
scaled; or whether you look from the north, where the rugged cliffs find
room for some scanty patches of moss and broom to diversify their barren
grey, and where the whole mass is softened into beauty by the wild green
glen which inteienes between the spectator and the foundations ;-wherever
you are placed, and wherever it is viewed, you feel at once that here is the
eye of the landscape and €he essence of the grandeur.
' Neither is it possible to say under what sky or atmosphere all this appears
to the greatest advantage. The heavens may put on what aspect they choose,
they never fail to adorn it. If the air be cloudless and serene, what canbe
finer than the calm reposing dignity of those old towers, every delicate angle
of the fissured rock, every loophole and every lineament seen clearly and
distinctly in all their minuteness ! Or if the mist be wreathed around the
bases ofthe rock, and frowning fragments of the citadel emerge only here and
there from the racking clouds that envelop them, the mystery and the gloom
only rivet the eye the faster, and half-baffled'imagination does more than
the work of sight. At times the whole detail is lost to the eye,-one murky
tinge of impenetrable brown wraps rock and fortress from the root to the
summit ; all is lost but the outline ; but the outline atones abundantly for all
that is lost. The cold glare of the sun, plunging slowly down into a ... OLD TOWN. 13 ~ clear April day, and the ethereal blue' of the heavens above its grey rocks, ...

Book 11  p. 19
(Score 0.39)

21 EIOG RAP HI GAL SKETCH E S.
No. CLXXVIII.
GENERAL JAMES GRANT OF BALLINDALLOCH.
GENERAL GRANT entered the army as an ensign in the Royal Regiment in
1741, at the age of twenty-one, having previously applied himself to the study
of the law. In 1747 he was Aide-de-camp to General St. Clair on his embassy
to Vienna, to which David Hume, the historian, acted as secretary. On the
journey, Hume and Sir Henry Erskine, General St. Clair’s other Aide-de-camp,
quarrelled, and would not exchange words, on which occasion Captain Grant
had the difficult task of keeping up the conversation, while all four travelled
in the same carriage, so as to conceal from General St. Clair the terms on
which the other two stood. He saw a good deal of service both in the Low
Countries and in America : in the latter he held several high commands during
the war. He was second in command to Lord Albemarle at the taking of the
Havannah, directed the attack on the Morne Fortunbe at St. Lucia, and was
afterwards Governor of East Florida, After having been for some years
Governor of Dumbarton Castle, he was appointed in 1789 to the Government
of that of Stirling, in the room of Lieutenant-General Mackay, and was Colonel,
first of the 55th, and afterwards of the 11th Regiment of Foot. He represented
the county of Sutherland in Parliament for many years, and was an intimate
friend of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, as also of the Earls of Sutherland and
Panmure! and of General Scott of Balconie. When walking one day with the
last of these, Nisbet of Dirleton satirically remarked--“ There go the Imepam6Zes
-an honest but a simple pair.“
General Grant was one of the most noted bow vivants of his day; and
when travelling was always accompanied by his cooks. It was an established
rule with him not to hazard his palate on any dish until its quality had been
previously ascertained. While in command of the forces in the north of
England, where he kept an open table for his military friends, he would say to
his Aide-de-camp--“ Monypenny, have you ate of that dish more than once 8”
If answered in the affiative, he would add-“Then be kind enough to help
me.” He usuallf spent the winter in London, where the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of York frequently partook of his good cheer, and where he
daily entertained small and select parties. During summer he kept open house
at his country residence of Ballindalloch, beautifully situated on the banks of
the Spey and Avon, in Morayshire ; and spared no expense on its improvement.
Some parts of the waste lands, it is said, cost him at the rate of one hundred
pounds per acre ; but he used to say that he would rather “ Buy land at that
rate on his own estate than at a very low one anywhere else.’’ It was a maxim ... EIOG RAP HI GAL SKETCH E S. No. CLXXVIII. GENERAL JAMES GRANT OF BALLINDALLOCH. GENERAL GRANT entered the ...

Book 9  p. 28
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 279
confined for some trifling instance of improper conduct, an attempt was made
by a few of his comrades to effect a rescue ; but they failed in the endeavour,
and the ringleader was taken prisoner. A court-martial having been immediately
held, the prisoners were remanded back to the guard-room ; but on the way the
escort was attacked by fifty or sixty of the soldiers, with fixed bayonets, and
the prisoners rescued. By great exertions on the part of the Lieut.-Colonel and
officers, most of the parties were afterwards secured, when they expressed deep
regret for their improper conduct, and peaceably submitted to their fate. Sir
James was not with the regiment at this period, and arrived too late to interfere
with propriety and effect. At a general court-martial, held at Musselburgh
soon after, five of the mutineers were found guilty-four were adjudged to
suffer death, and one to receive corporal punishment. The melancholy spectacle
of the military execution took place in consequence at the Links of Gullane, on
the 19th July 1795, in presence of all the regular and volunteer troops in the
neighbourhood. When the prisoners had been marched to the scene, the sentence
was restricted to two individuals, who suffered accordingly. The Strathspey
Fencibles,along with most of the other similar regiments, was disbanded in
1799.
Sir James was one of the original office-bearers of the Highland Society of
Edinburgh, instituted in 1784; and continued to be one of the most zealous
members of that society. In 1794 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the
county of Inverness-which office he filled till he was compelled to resign, in
consequence of ill health, in 1809, when his son was nominated his successor.
In 1795 he was preferred as Cashier to the Excise, when his seat in Parliament
became vacated, in consequence of which Mr. M'Dougal Grant succeeded him
in the representation of Banffshire.
After a lingering illness, Sir James died at Castle Grant, on the 18th
February 1811, deeply regretted. He married, in 1763, Jane, only child of
Alexander Duff of Hatton, Esq., by whom he had seven sons and six daughters,
The eldest, Lewis Alexander Grant, succeeded to the estates and earldom of
Seafield on the death of his cousin, James Earl of Findlater' and Seafield, in
1811. The second son, Colonel Francis Grant, was some time member of Parliament
for Nairn. '
The earldom of Findlate?, which was destined to heirs male, was claimed by S i William
Ogilvie, Bart., but he failed to substantiate his right to it. ... SKETCHES. 279 confined for some trifling instance of improper conduct, an attempt was made by a few ...

Book 8  p. 391
(Score 0.39)

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