of 6 1 0 each. The benefits of the endowments are
still destined to burgesses, their wives or children
not married, nor under the age of fifty years.? Ten
others have pensions of 6 1 0 each out of the funds
I
whole area occupied by the church and collegiate
buildings of the Holy Trinity was then included
in the original termini of the. Edinburgh and
Glasgow, the North British, the Edinburgh, Perth,
GROUND PLAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE CHURCH, 1814
following succinct account in the Scofs Magazine
for 1805:-
?In 1741 Captain Alexander Horn, of thecity of
London, by his last will bequeathed &3,500, old
and new South Sea Annuities, to be disposed of at
the discretion of the Lord Provost, Bailies, Dean
of Guild, and Treasurer of the city of Edinburgh,
on account of their early appearance and noble
stand in the cause of liberty (was this a reference
to the Porteous mob ?) as follows :-The interest
of &1,5oo on Christmas-day yearly, to such day
labourers of Edinburgh as by the inclemency of the
weather may be set idle and reduced to want;
interest of &I,OOO to day labourers as aforesaid,
in the Potter Row, Bristo, and West Port; and
I
boundary-wall of its garden, in which he shows
parterres and three rows of large trees, and also a
square lantern and vane above the roof of the large
hall; and in Edgar?s map, a hundred years later,
the waters of the loch came no farther eastward
than the line of the intended North Bridge, between
which and the hospital lay the old Physic Gardens.
?Its demolition brought to light many curious
evidences of its former state,? says Wilson. .?? A
beautiful large Gothic fireplace, with clustered
columns and a low, pointed arch, was disclosed in
she north gable, and many rich fragments of Gothic
ornament were found built into the walls, remains
no doubt of the original hospital buildings, used in
the enlargement and repair of the college.? The
Leith Wynd.1
the interest of LI,OOO to day labourers as aforesaid
of the neighbouring parish of Liberton ; LIOO
THE WEST BOW.
Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge ;
and no family to receive above A5 sterling per
309
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
T H E W E S T B O W .
The West Baw-Quaint Character of its Houses-Its Modern Aspect-Houses of the Tempbar Knights-The Bowfoot Well-The Bow Port-
The Bow-head-Major Weir?s Land-History of Major Thomas Weir-Personal Appearance-His Powerful Prayers-The ? Holy Sisters ??
-The Bowhead Saints-Weir?s Reputed Compact with the Devil-Sick-bed Confession-Arrest-Search of his House-Priwn Confession
-Trial of Him and His Sister GrLel-Execution--What was Weir ?-His Sister undoubtedly Mad-Terrible Reputation of the House-
Untenanted for upwards of a Century-Patullo?s Experience of a Cheap Lodging-Weir?s Land Improved Out of Existence-Hall of the
Knights of St. John-A Mysterious House-&mervi!le Mansion-The Assembly Rooms-Opposed by the Bigotry of the Times-The
Lad;-Directres;Curious Regulations.
NO part of Edinburgh was so rich in quaint old
houses as ?the sanctified bends of the Bow ?-
singular edifices, many of them of vast and unknown
antiquity, and all more or less irregular,
with stone gables and dovecot gablets, timbergalleries,
outshots, and strange projections, the
dormer windows, patches and additions made in
the succession of centuries, overhanging the narrow
and tortuous street, which took the windings of the
zig-zag road that led of old from the wooded waste
to Dunedin, the fort on the slope, at the gates of
which King David dispensed justice to his people,
and his queen daily distributed bread to the poor.
Among the last charters of David 11. is one to
Thomas Webster, of ?ane land in the West Bow.?
Its antique tenements, covered with heralc5c
carvings and quaint dates, half hidden by signboards
or sordid rags drying on poles, its nooks,
crooks, trap-doors, and gloomy chambers, abounded
with old memories, with heroic stories of ancient
martial families, and with grim legends and grandmother?
s tales of ghosts and of diablerie ; but to
those who see it now, or all that remains of it,
where it abuts on the Grassmarket, cut asunder
