Part 37

If my reader be an inhabitant of Edinburgh of any standing, he must have many delightful associations of Leith Walk in connection with his childhood. Of all the streets in Edinburgh or Leith, the _Walk_ in former times was certainly the street for boys and girls. From top to bottom, it was a scene of wonders and enjoyments peculiarly devoted to children. Besides the panoramas and caravan-shows, which were comparatively transient spectacles, there were several shows upon Leith Walk, which might be considered as regular fixtures and part of the _country-cousin sights_ of Edinburgh. Who can forget the waxworks of ‘Mrs Sands, widow of the late G. Sands,’ which occupied a _laigh_ shop opposite to the present Haddington Place, and at the door of which, besides various parrots and sundry birds of Paradise, sat the wax figure of a little man in the dress of a French courtier of the _ancien régime_, reading one eternal copy of the _Edinburgh Advertiser_? The very outsides of these wonder-shops was an immense treat; all along the Walk it was one delicious scene of squirrels hung out at doors, and monkeys dressed like soldiers and sailors, with holes behind where their tails came through. Even the half-penniless boy might here get his appetite for wonders to some extent gratified.

Besides being of old the chosen place for shows, Leith Walk was the Rialto of _objects_. This word requires explanation. It is applied by the people of Scotland to persons who have been born with or overtaken by some miserable personal evil. From one end to the other, Leith Walk was garrisoned by poor creatures under these circumstances, who, from handbarrows, wheelbarrows, or iron legs, if peradventure they possessed such adjuncts, entreated the passengers for charity—some by voices of song, some by speech, some by driddling, as Burns calls it, on fiddles or grinding on hand-organs—indeed, a complete continuous ambuscade against the pocket. Shows and _objects_ have now alike vanished from Leith Walk. It is now a plain street, composed of little shops of the usual suburban appearance, and characterised by nothing peculiar, except perhaps a certain air of pretension, which is in some cases abundantly ludicrous. A great number, be it observed, are mere tiled cottages, which contrive, by means of lofty fictitious fronts, plastered and painted in a showy manner, to make up a good appearance towards the street. If there be a school in one of those receptacles, it is entitled an _academy_; if an artisan’s workshop, however humble, it is a _manufactory_. Everything about it is still showy and unsubstantial; it is still, in some measure, the type of what it formerly was.

Near the bottom of Leith Walk is a row of somewhat old-fashioned houses bearing the name of Springfield. A large one, the second from the top, was, ninety years ago, the residence of Mr M’Culloch of Ardwell, a commissioner of customs, and noted as a man of pleasantry and wit. Here, in some of the last years of his life, did Samuel Foote occasionally appear as Mr M’Culloch’s guest—_Arcades ambo et respondere parati_. But the history of their intimacy is worthy of being particularly told; so I transcribe it from the recollection of a gentleman whose advanced age and family connections could alone have made us faithfully acquainted with circumstances so remote from our time.

In the winter of 1775-6 [more probably that of 1774-5], Mr M’Culloch visited his country mansion in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in company of a friend named Mouat, in order to be present at an election. Mr M’Culloch was a man of joyous temperament and a good deal of wit, and used to amuse his friends by spouting half-random verses. He and his friend spent a week or two very pleasantly in the country, and then set out on their return to Leith; Mr M’Culloch carrying with him his infant son David, familiarly called _Wee Davie_, for the purpose of commencing his education in Edinburgh. To pursue the narrative of my correspondent: ‘The two travellers got on pretty well as far as Dumfries; but it was with difficulty, occasioned by a snowstorm, that they reached Moffat, where they tarried for the night.

‘Early on a January morning, the snow having fallen heavily during the preceding night, they set off in a post-chaise and four horses to proceed on their perilous journey. Two gentlemen in their own carriage left the _King’s Arms Inn_ (then kept by James Little) at the same time. With difficulty the first pair of travellers reached the top of Erickstane, but farther they could not go. The parties came out of their carriages, and, aided by their postillions, they held a consultation as to the prudence of attempting to proceed down the vale of Tweed. This was considered as a vain and dangerous attempt, and it was therefore determined on to return to Moffat. The turning of the carriages having become a dangerous undertaking, Wee Davie had to be taken out of the chaise and laid on the snow, wrapped in a blanket, until the business was accomplished. The parties then went back to Moffat, arriving there between nine and ten in the morning. Mr M’Culloch and his friend then learned that, of the two strangers who had left the inn at the same time, and had since returned, one was the celebrated Foote, and the other either Ross or Souter, but which of the two favourite sons of Thalia I cannot remember at this distant period of time. Let it be kept in mind that Foote had lost a leg, and walked with difficulty.

‘Immediately on returning Foote had entered the inn, not in good-humour, to order breakfast. His carriage stood opposite the inn door, in order to get the luggage taken off. While this was going on a paper was placarded on one of the panels. The wit came out to see how all matters were going on, when, observing the paper, he in wrath exclaimed: “What rascal has been placarding his ribaldry on my carriage?” He had patience, however, to pause and read the following lines:

“While Boreas his flaky storm did guide, Deep covering every hill, o’er Tweed and Clyde, The north-wind god spied travellers seeking way; Sternly he cried: ‘Retrace your steps, I say; Let not _one foot_, ’tis my behest, profane The sacred snows which lie on Erickstane.’”

The countenance of our wit now brightened, as he called out, with an exclamation of surprise: “I should like to know the fellow who wrote that; for, be he who he may, he’s no mean hand at an epigram.” Mrs Little, the good but eccentric landlady, now stepped forward and spoke thus: “Trouth, Maister Fut, it’s mair than likely that it was our _frien’_ Maister M’Culloch of Ardwell that did it; it’s weel kent that he’s a poyet; he’s a guid eneugh sort o’ man, but he never comes here without poyet-teasing mysel’ or the guidman, or some are or other about the house. It wud be weel dune if ye wud speak to him.” Ardwell now came forward, muttering some sort of apology, which Foote instantly stopped by saying: “My dear sir, an apology is not necessary; I am fair game for every one, for I take any one for game when it suits me. You and I must become acquainted, for I find that we are brother-poets, and that we were this morning companions in misfortune on ‘the sacred snows of Erickstane.’” Thus began an intimacy which the sequel will show turned out to be a lasting one. The two parties now joined at the breakfast-table, as they did at every other meal for the next twenty days.

‘Foote remained quiet for a few hours after breakfast, until he had beat about for game, as he termed it, and he first fixed on worthy Mrs Little, his hostess. By some occult means he had managed to get hold of some of the old lady’s habiliments, particularly a favourite night-cap—provincially, a _mutch_. After attiring himself _à la_ Mrs Little, he went into the kitchen and through the house, mimicking the garrulous landlady so very exactly in giving orders, scolding, &c. that no servant doubted as to its being the mistress _in propriâ personâ_. This kind of amusement went on for several days for the benefit of the people in Moffat. By-and-by the snow allowed the united parties to advance as far as the Crook, upon Tweed, and here they were again storm-stayed for ten days. Nevertheless, Foote and his companion, who was well qualified to support him, never for a moment flagged in creating merriment or affording the party amusement of some sort. The snow-cleared away at last, so as to enable the travellers to reach Edinburgh, and there to end their journey. The intimacy of Foote and Ardwell did not end here, but continued until the death of Foote.

‘After this period Foote several times visited Scotland: he always in his writings showed himself partial to Scotland and to the Scotch. On every visit which he afterwards made to the northern metropolis, he set apart a night or two for a social meeting with his friend Ardwell, whose family lived in the second house from the head of that pretty row of houses more than half-way down Leith Walk, still called Springfield. In the parlour, on the right-hand side in entering that house, the largest of the row, Foote, the celebrated wit of the day, has frequently been associated with many of the Edinburgh and Leith worthies, when and where he was wont to keep the table in a roar.

‘The biography of Foote is well known. However, I may add that Mr Mouat and Mr M’Culloch died much lamented in the year 1793. David M’Culloch (Wee Davie) died in the year 1824, at Cheltenham, much regretted. For many years he had resided in India. In consequence of family connection, he became a familiar visitor at Abbotsford, and a favourite acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott.[272] Mr Lockhart tells us that, next to Tom Moore, Sir Walter thought him the finest warbler he had ever heard. He was certainly an exquisitely fine singer of Scotch songs. Sir Walter Scott never heard him sing until he was far advanced in life, or until his voice had given way to a long residence in India. Mr Lockhart also tells us that David M’Culloch in his youth was an intimate and favourite companion of Burns, and that the poet hardly ventured to publish many of his songs until he heard them sung by his friend. I will only add that the writer of this has more than once heard Burns say that he never fully knew the beauty of his songs until he heard them sung by David M’Culloch.’

FOOTNOTES

[271] The site was midway between Edinburgh and Leith, now represented by Shrub Place.

[272] Sir Walter’s brother Thomas was married to a sister of Mr M’Culloch.

[GABRIEL’S ROAD.

Previous to 1767 the eye of a person perched in a favourable situation in the Old Town surveyed the whole ground on which the New Town was afterwards built. Immediately beyond the North Loch was a range of grass fields called Bearford’s Parks, from the name of the proprietor, Hepburn of Bearford in East Lothian. Bounding these on the north, in the line of the subsequent Princes Street, was a road enclosed by two dry-stone walls, thence called the Lang Dykes; it was the line by which the Viscount Dundee rode with his small troop of adherents when he had ascertained that the Convention was determined to settle the crown upon the Prince of Orange, and he saw that the only duty that remained for him was to raise the Highland clans for King James.[273] The main mass of ground, originally rough with whins and broom, but latterly forming what was called Wood’s Farm, was crossed obliquely by a road extending between Silvermills, a rural hamlet on the mill-course of the Leith, and the passage into the Old Town obtained by the dam of the North Loch at the bottom of Halkerston’s Wynd. There are still some traces of this road. You see it leave Silvermills behind West Cumberland Street. Behind Duke Street, on the west side, the boundary-wall of the Queen Street Garden is oblique in consequence of its having passed that way. Finally it terminates in a short, oblique passage behind the Register House, wherein stood till lately a tall building containing a famous house of resort, Ambrose’s Tavern. This short passage bore the name of Gabriel’s Road, and it was supposed to do so in connection with a remarkable murder, of which it was the scene.

The murderer in the case was in truth a man named Robert Irvine. He was tutor to two boys, sons of Mr Gordon of Ellon. In consequence of the children having reported some liberties they saw him take with their mother’s maid, he conceived the horrible design of murdering them, and did so one day as he was leading them for a walk along the rough ground where the New Town is now situated. The frightful transaction was beheld from the Castle-hill; he was pursued, taken, and next day but one hanged by the baron of Broughton, after having his hands hacked off by the knife with which he had committed the deed. The date of this off-hand execution was 30th April 1717. Both the date and the murderer’s name have several times been misstated.[274]

Adjacent to this road, about the spot now occupied by the Royal Bank, stood a small group of houses called Mutrie’s Hill, some of which professed to furnish curds and cream and fruits in their seasons, and were on these accounts resorted to by citizens and their families on summer evenings. One in particular bore the name of ‘Peace and Plenty.’

The village of Silvermills, for the sake of which, as an access to the city, Gabriel’s Road existed, still maintains its place amidst the streets and crescents of the New Town. It contains a few houses of a superior cast; but it is a place sadly in want of the _sacer vates_. No notice has ever been taken of it in any of the books regarding Edinburgh, nor has any attempt ever been made to account for its somewhat piquant name. I shall endeavour to do so.

In 1607 silver was found in considerable abundance at Hilderstone, in Linlithgowshire, on the property of the gentleman who figures in another part of this volume as Tam o’ the Cowgate. Thirty-eight barrels of ore were sent to the Mint in the Tower of London to be tried, and were found to give about twenty-four ounces of silver for every hundredweight. Expert persons were placed upon the mine, and mills were erected on the Water of Leith for the melting and fining of the ore. The sagacious owner gave the mine the name of _God’s Blessing_. By-and-by the king heard of it, and thinking it improper that any such fountain of wealth should belong to a private person, purchased God’s Blessing for £5000, that it might be worked upon a larger scale for the benefit of the public. But somehow, from the time it left the hands of the original owner, God’s Blessing ceased to be anything like so fertile as it had been, and in time the king withdrew from the enterprise a great loser. The Silvermills I conceive to have been a part of the abandoned plant.[275]]

FOOTNOTES

[273] It was also along this road that the anxious citizens, watching on the Castle esplanade, saw the royalist cavalry retiring at full gallop from Coltbridge on the approach of Prince Charlie and his Highland army.

[274] In Mr Lockhart’s clever book, _Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk_, the murderer is called Gabriel. A work called _Celebrated Trials_ (6 vols. 1825) gives an erroneous account of the murder, styling the murderer as the Rev. Thomas Hunter.

[275] See _Domestic Annals of Scotland_, i. 407.

INDEX.

Abbey Chapel, 206.

Abbey Hill, 10, 316.

Abbey Zett (Yett, Gate), 257.

Abbotsford, 25, 83.

Aberuchil, Lord, 72.

Acheson House, 313.

Acheson, Sir Archibald, of Abercairny, 314.

Actors, Canongate Theatre, 346.

Adam Street, 187.

_Advertiser, Edinburgh_, 5, 49.

Advocates’ Library, 113.

Ainslie, Sir Philip, 300.

Airth, Laird of, 38.

Aitchinsoune, Thomas (Cunyie House), 260.

Aldridge, Robert, dancing-master, 151, 153.

Alesse, Alexander, 240.

Alison Square, 358, 359.

Aloetic medicine, an, 27.

Alston, Tony, 346.

Alva, Lord Justice-clerk, 204-208.

Ambrose’s Tavern, 366.

Amory, Captain, 355.

Anchor Close, 162.

Anderson, Samuel, anecdote of, 305.

Anderson’s pills, 27.

Angus, Earl of, 241.

Antemanum Club, 149.

Arbuthnot, Lord, 307.

Ardwell, residence of M’Culloch of, 362.

Argyll, 15, 51, 156, 175, 234, 307, 308, 345.

Arnot, Hugo, 4, 12, 36, 46, 49, 171.

Arran, Earl of, 241.

Arrot, Dr, 10.

Assemblies, 3, 14, 44, 265.

Assembly Close, 59.

Assembly Rooms, 43, 46, 195, 233, 253, 265.

_Assembly, The_, a play by Dr Pitcairn, 310.

Auchans House, Dr Johnson at, 197.

Auld Reekie, 138, 152.

_Auld Robin Gray_, author of, 277.

Aytoun of Inchdairnie, 123, 270.

Back Stairs, the, 291.

Baijen-hole, 112.

Baillie, Alexander, of Dochfour, 235.

Baird, Mr, of Newbyth, 20.

Baird’s Close, Castlehill, 58.

Baird, Sir David, 20.

Balcarres, Countess of, 277.

Balfour, James, accountant (‘Singing Jamie’), 141-143.

Balfour, Sir James (Lord Lyon), 315, 316.

Ballantyne, printer, 143.

Bank Close, Old, 70, 94.

Bank of Scotland, 70.

Bankton House, oratory at, 29.

Bannatyne Club, 73.

Bannatyne, Sir William Macleod, 10, 129, 317.

Banquet at Mint House to Danish lords, 260.

Barnard, Mr, violinist, 253.

Bassentyne’s house, 257.

Bearford’s Parks, 366.

Beatoun, Archbishop, 117.

Begbie’s murder, 36, 280.

Beith’s or Bess Wynd, 93, 113.

Bellamy, Mrs, 347-350.

Bell, Benjamin, surgeon, 355.

Bell’s Wynd, 46.

Bethune, Archbishop, 228, 241.

Bethune, Cardinal, 228.

Bickers (street fights of boys), 189, 245.

Birrel, the chronicler, 38.

Bishop’s Land, 269.

Black, Alexander, of Balbirney, 211.

Blackbird, a Jacobite, 30.

Blackfriars’ Monastery, 242.

Blackfriars Wynd, 10, 38, 223, 228, 234, 237, 238, 241, 257.

Black, Joseph, Professor, 242, 289.

Black Wigs Club, 155.

Blair, Dr, 56, 136, 288, 334.

Blair, Hugh, merchant, 72.

Blair, Rev. Robert, 307.

Blair’s Close, 18.

Blue Blanket, 183.

Blue-gowns—their annual assembly, 102.

Bluidy Mackenzie, 224.

Blyth’s Close, 22.

Boar Club, 151, 153.

Boarding-schools of last century, 230.

Bonnet Lairds’ Club, 155.

Bonnington, 348.

Booths, 3, 110.

Boroughmoor, 271.

Boswell, James, 16, 55, 60, 172, 197.

Boswell, James, advocate, 125.

Boswell, Sir Alexander, 126, _n._, 146, 266.

Bothwell, Adam, Bishop of Orkney, Commendator of Holyrood, 71, 97.

Bothwell, Anne, her _Lines_, 97.

Bothwell Bridge, 289.

Bothwell, Earl of, 38, 83, 121, 256.

Bow, angle of, 46.

‘Bowed Joseph,’ a general of mobs, 184-188.

Bowfoot, 50.

Bowhead, 27, 41.

Bowhead Saints, 30.

Bowling-greens, 247.

Bow, the West, 26, 53, 133.

Boyd, James, White Horse Inn, 172.

Boyd, Lord, 121.

Breadalbane, Earl of, 180.

Bridge, North, 269, 283, 360.

Bridges, the, 53.

British Linen Company’s Bank, 280.

Brodie, Deacon, 76, 91.

Brodie’s Close, 76.

Broomfield, Andrew, 124.

Brougham, Lord, 80.

Broughton, 360.

Broughton, Baron of, 367.

Brownhill, James, joiner, 55.

Brown, James, builder, 5.

Brown, Mrs, of Coalstoun, 266.

Brownonian System Club, 156.

Brown’s Close, 18.

Brown Square, 5, 248.

Bruce, Dame Magdalen, of Kinross, 19 _n._

Bruce of Kennet, 3.

Bruce of Kinnaird, 210.

Bruntsfield Links, 5.

Bryce, his small shop, 101.

Buccleuch, Duchess of, 327.

Buccleuch, Duke of, 328.

Buchanan, George, 288 _n._

Buchan, Earl of, 98.

Burke, Edward (Ned—a chairman engaged in the escape of Prince Charles), 177.

Burleigh, Lord, 307.

Burnett, Miss, of Monboddo, 251.

Burning, strange tale of a, 298.

Burns, Robert, 7, 14, 106, 164, 251, 351, 358, 362, 365.

Burton, Mrs, 58, 60.

Burt’s Letters, 176.

Busks, enormous size of, 201.

Bute, Lord, 10, 316, 317.

Byres of Coates, 95.

Byres’s Close, 96.

Caddies (street messengers), 175.

Cairnie, Lady, 124.

Caithness, Earls of, 77.

Caledonian Club, 155.

_Caledonian Mercury_, 15.

Calton, 149.

Calton Hill, 83, 297, 360.

Cambuskenneth, Abbot of, 223.

Campbell, Alexander, 180, 345.

Campbell, Lady Eleanor, 64.

Campbell, Mrs, of Monzie, 205, 208.

Campbell, Mungo, 90.

Campbell of Laguine, 134.

Campbell, Sir James, of Aberuchil, 72.

Campbell, Thomas, poet, 167, 359.

Canal, Forth and Clyde, 5.

Canongate, 3, 8, 11, 65, 295-301.

Canongate Council House, 71.

Canongate Theatre, 346.

Canongate Tolbooth, 248.

Canonmills, 154.

Cant’s Close, 221.

Cape Club, 149.

Cardross, Lord, 98.

Carrubber’s Close, 15.

Carters of Gilmerton, the, 4.

Castle-hill, 11, 18, 20, 22, 39, 150.

Castle Street, 8.

Cathcart, Robert, 39.

Cat Nick on Salisbury Crags, 91.

Cats, a lover of, 16.

Cayley, Squire, or Captain, 291.

Chairmen, 176.

Chalmers, Miss (Mrs Pringle), 251.

Chalmers, Miss, of Pittencrief, 251.

Chalmers’s Entry, 168.

Changes of the last hundred years, 1.

Chapman, Walter, printer, 109.

Charles I., 64, 170, 301, 306, 321.

Charles II., 260, 327.

Charles X., 228.

Charles, Prince, 27, 28, 48, 72, 175, 177, 181, 219, 235, 236, 269.

Charlotte Square, 9.

Charteris, Colonel, 328.

Chessels’s Court, 27, 91.

Chiesly of Dairy, 75, 211.

Circulating Library, 15, 104.

Citadel of Leith, inhabitants in 1745, 19.

City Guard, 4, 31, 84, 148, 179, 233, 238, 348.

Clarinda, 358.

Clarke, Stephen, musician, 253.

Clattering of tinsmiths in West Bow, 42.

Claudero, pamphleteer, 330.

Claverhouse, 6.

Cleanse the Causeway, 117, 241, 242.

Cleghorn, Miss, 251.

Clerihugh’s Tavern, 162.

Clerks, drucken, of Sir William Forbes, 138.

Clerk, Sir John, of Penicuik, 193.

Clubs, convivial, 149-157.

Coalstoun, Lord, and his wig, 96.

Coates, Sir John Byres of, 95.

Cockburn, Mrs, author of _Flowers of the Forest_, 58.

Cock-fights, 236.

Coffee-house, John’s, 112.

Coffee-house, Netherbow, 332.

Coffin, the, 166.

Coinage, 260.

Coke, William, bookseller, 167.

College of King James, 259.

College Street, North, 242.

College, the, 3.

College Wynd, 3, 242.

Colquhoun, Sir James, 132.

Commendator Bothwell’s house, 97.

Commercial Bank, 265.

Concerts, 249, 251.

Constable, Archibald, 7.

Convivial clubs, 149-157.

Convivialia, 138-157.

Corelli, musician, 254.

Corri, Signor and Signora Domenico, 250, 253.

_Court of Session Garland_, a burlesque poem, 124, 125.

Court, the Dirt, 115.

Covington, Lockhart of, 129.

Covington, Lord, fate of his gown, 130.

Cowgate, 72, 223, 240, 244, 257.

Cowgate Port, 152.

Craigie, Lord President, 9.

Craig, James, 7.

Crawford, Earl of, 311.

Crawfuird, 39.

Creech, Provost, bookseller, 9, 103, 339.

Crighton Street, Potterrow, 59.

_Criminal Trials_, by Hugo Arnot, 13.

Crochallan, a convivial society, 164.

Cromarty, Earl of, 225.

Cromwell, Oliver, 99, 122, 193, 307, 360.

Crosbie, advocate, 153.

Cross, the, 4, 174, 175; taken down, 178 _n._

Cullen, Dr, 261.

Cullen, Lord, 263.

Cullen, Robert, mimic, 261.

Culloden, 177.

Cumming of Lyon Office, 167.

Cunliffe, Sir Foster, of Acton, 252.

Cunningham, Rev. Mr, 352.

Cunyie House (Mint), 257, 260.

Dalrymple, Miss, New Hailes, 131.

Dalrymple, President, 123.

Dalrymple, Sir David (Lord Hailes), 126 _n._, 131, 300.

Dancing in Edinburgh, 44; Allan Ramsay on, 44; Goldsmith on, 45.

Danish lords entertained, 260.

Darien Expedition, the, 52.

Darnley, 71, 83, 107, 121, 256.

David I., 295.

Davidson’s Close, 170.

Defensive Band, 152.

Defoe, 337.

‘Deid-chack,’ the, 114.

De la Cour, artist, 9.

De Witt’s map, 259.

Dhu, Sergeant John, 180.

Dick, Lady Anne, of Corstorphine, her eccentricities and verses, 225.

Dick, Sir William, &c., 78, 100.

Dicks of Prestonfield, 78.

Dickson, Andrew, golf-club maker, 321.

Dickson, Rev. David, 307.

Dickson’s Close, 222.

Dirt Court, the, 115.

Dirty Club, 155.

_Diurnal_, the, of a Scottish judge, 139.

Doctors of Faculty Club, the, 155.

Doctor, the Tinklarian, 41.

Donacha Bhan, a Highland poet, 180.

Donaldson, Alexander, bookseller, 48.

Donaldson, James, bookseller, 49.

Douglas, Archibald, 238.

Douglas, Duke of, 9, 69.

Douglas, Gavin, poet, 240.

Douglas, Jeanie, Adam Smith’s cousin, 319.

Douglas, Lady Anne, ghost of, 343.

Douglas, Lady Jane, 69, 238.