Edinburgh Past and Present

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 « Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Cover Title Pages Contents Ch I: General Description of Edinburgh Ch II: The Old Town Ch III: Edinburgh from Warriston Cemetery Ch IV: Historical and Descriptive Notes Ch V: Modern Dwellings of the People Ch VI: Queensferry to Mussleburgh, Along the Shore Ch VII: Roslin, Hawthornden, and The Vale of The Esk Ch VIII: Outline of the Geology of Edinburgh and Its Neighbourhood » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

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.

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140 ROSLIN, HAWTHORNDEN, also his brother, Mr. Nicholas Monk, stayed with him about two months in the year 1659, having been sent, it is said, to sound his views as to the restoration of Charles. In November 1659, when Monk drew his army together from all parts of Scotland, in preparation for that famous march of his to London, which did lead to the restoration of Charles, Dalkeith at last relapsed into quietude. The crumbling ruins of a long stone building in the old Chapelwell Close, a tuping off the High Street nearly opposite the Church, are still known as ‘ Cromwell’s Orderly House.’ Cromwell had been in Scotland for about a year, and Dalkeith had been one of his stations ; but Monk was there so much longer and so much more familiarly, that if any one meets an English ghost thereabouts at night, in a military costume of the seventeenth century, he may be sure it is Monk‘s. DALKEITH PALACE. The present Palace was built by Anne, sister of the young Mary,’from whom it was leased by Monk. Mary was mamed at the age of eleven to Walter Scott of Harden, and died two years afterwards, leaving the property to her sister Anne. Anne was’but twelve years old when she was mamed to Charles II.’s unfortunate son the Duke of Monmouth, himself only fifteen, and on the day of their mamage they were created Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. On the Duke’s death his confiscated lands &ere restored to-his widow ; and she built the present Palace of Dalke-ith, a gloomy-looking three sided erection, in imitation of the Palace of Loo in the Netherlands, designed

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