Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1886 - Slater's (late Pigot and Co's) Royal national commercial directory and topography of Scotland

EDINBURGHSHIRE
EDINBURGH
SLATER'S
and Linlithgow, they found their purposed woi
anticipated by the people ; but it is fori ge of the
reformers in Edinburgh was confined to the de
furniture of the churches, so that two
edifices still remain, while the conve erics were
converted into dwelling houses, some oi' which are
The struggle between the two parties now bo. - ie fierce,
for the arrival of an English force to the assistance of the
Protestants, the issue of the contest would have been doubtful;
but the reformers, with these auxiliaries, becoming asi
the triumph of the popular sentiment was complet< The first
assembly of the reformed kirk met in Edinburgh on the 15th of
January, 1560. On the 9th of August, 15(31, Mary, Queen of
Scots, landed at Leith, from France, to sway the sceptre of her
ancestors, and she was well received ; hat her predilection for the
Romish ritual soon abated her popularity, and subjected her to
insult ; even her private chapel was invaded and her devotions
interrupted. The drama now became fearfully interesting, the
scenes were rapidly shifted, and tragical incidents occurred in
quick succession. Darnley was proclaimed king at the market
cross on the 28th of July, 1565. and on the next morning, within
the chapel of Holyrood, he became the husband of Queen Mary.
On the 9th of the following March, David Kizzio, the Italian
favourite of the Queen, was murdered, in the palace, by Darnley
and his confederates. On the 19th of June the queen gave birth
to a son. afterwards James the Sixth of Scotland, and the First of
England. On the 10th of the ensuing February, 1567, while
Darnley sojourned in a secluded house, called the Kirk-o'- Field,
near the site of the present University, it was blown up by gun-
powder, and he lost his life. Many circumstances coincided to
involve the Earl of Bothwell in suspicion of plauning the
murder, and the queen of a guilty privity. Be this as it may,
Bothwell, having divorced himself from his wife, became the
husband of the queen in three short months after its perpetration.
This shameless marriage took place on the 15th of May, 1567, in
the palace of Holyrood, and was the occasion of fresh disturbances
in Edinburgh. So formidable was the insurrection, that the
queen and Bothwell, on the 6th of June, fled from the popular
odium, first to Borthw'ck Castle, and thence to Dunbar, which
abandonment of the capital was followed by the entry of tbree
thousand insurgents, who took possession of the seat of govern-
ment. Shortly afterwards the queen was brought back to
Edinburgh, a spectacle for the insults of the populace, and the
next day was sent a prisoner to Lochleven Castle. A regency was
then formedin the name of the infant son of Mary, James VI.,
and the Earl of Moray was proclaimed regent ; but the assassina-
tion of this popular favourite, two years after, at Linlithgow, threw
the capital into confusion. The struggle between the contending
parties was renewed with alternate ascendancy ; the Earl of
Lennox became the new regent, and Kirkcaldy of Grange, the
provost of the town and governor of the castle, declared for the
queen, whose party held a parliament in the Tolbooth, while that
of the regent held theirs in the Canongate. Kirkcaldy seized all
the arms he could find, and planted a battery on the steeple of
St. Giles', and being supplied by France with money and
ammunition, he and his associates became formidable antagonists
to the regency. The Earl of Morton and the regent, on the othe-
side, having united, fortified Leith, and for two years the two
parties waged a fluctuating warfare, until Queen Elizabeth of
England, at the entreaty of Morton, sent a small army from
Berwick, which soon reduced the castle, and the captive
Kirkcaldy, with his brother, were shortly afterwards hanged at
the cross, although they had surrendered under a promise of
merciful treatment.
But the time had now arrived for the young king to assume the
government himself. He entered the city with great pomp, and
immediately convened a parliament in the Tolbooth, and
tranquillity was in some degree restored. The Earl of Morton,
the late regent, was now accused of being an accessory to the
murder of Darnley, was convicted, and executed by a machine
called the *' maiden," similar to the guillotine, alleged to be an
invention of his owu. The Reformation now being firmly
established, education became an object of solicitude ; the
University of Edinburgh arose, and around it many subordinate
colleges and schools, by which the character of the city was
elevated. The poor, also, were not forgotten; funds for their
maintenance were granted from the rcenues of the suppressed
religious houses and their lands, Kii^g James, though he had
assumed the throne, held the sceptre with a feeble hand. The
chijf nobility, clergy, and a considerable portion of the com-
munity, were jealous of monarchy, and the uncompromising
character of the new religion, with the austere manners of its
professors, were little in unison with the manners and practices
of the Court. They preferred presenting James with 5,000 merks,
about £280 sterling, to provide an entertainment, and shortly
after they were required to send a beautiful ship to Denmark, at
the cost of £500, to bring home the king and his bride ; they also
presented the bride with a valuable jewel, pledged to them by the
king as security for â–  a considerable sum advanced him, * Still
these munificent donations did not exempt the citizens from
" intolerable impositions and grievous exactions." The execution
of Queen Mary, in 1586, excited great indignation in Edinburgh,
but neither the king nor his subjects displayed their feelings by
any deeds. In 1591, the Earl of Bothwell made a daring attempr.
to seize the person of the king. Having introduced himself at
night into the court of the palace, he advanced to the royal
apartment ; but before he could force the doors the alarm was
given, the citizens flew to arms, and frustrated the attempt.
Bothwell escaped, but eight of his followers were executed. A
fresh cause of tumult soon arose : the y mg ] â–  of Moray, the
heir of the regent, was assassinated by »1 ITuntly ; and
as the king was snsne' ted of connivance i dijgnantly
--lilted both the king
[â– rudent to retreat
> ' ricane had subsided. Not long afl i
the mo i 1 1 ted by these same citi
r their number were in atten
baptism of Prince Henry ; a guard of fifty citizens was also
itppointed to protect his person from Bothwell. In 1598 a
: '-llion broke out among the boys in the High School, nd one
of the bailies was shot by a youth while attempting to s odue it.
James, annoyed by the freedom of the language tu *â–  was
uttered from the pulpits, attempted to restrain it, which < xcited
an insurrection that not only occasioned his prerogativ to be
iusulted but his person to be endangered. He, in conse* lence,
retired from the city, ordered all the public courts to be re .oved,
and was v only prevented from avenging himself on the cit ' still
further by the supplications and cash of the magistrate . in
1596 James was again in collision with his subjects, in onse-
quence of some English players being introduced into the city.
Shakspeareis supposed to have been one of the number. The clergy
fulminated their abhorrence, and the presbytery issued a decree
against the players, which the privy council annulled, and the
continuance of the players was tolerated, which was followed up,
in June. 1598, by an ordinance that every Monday should be: lay
day. At this period an important alteration was made i_> the
computation of time. The year had hitherto commenced on the
25th of March, but by a convention of estates, which met i
10th December. 1599, it was ordered that in future New ^ ear's
Day should be on the first of January.
The manners of the times are thus described by an Englishnurti
who visited Edinburgh in the year 1598: — "Myself," says
" was at a knight's house, who had many servants to atteud to
him, that brought in his meat with their heads covered with blue
caps, the table being covered with great platters of porridge, each
having a little piece of sodden meat, and when the table was
served the servants sat down with us; but th.. upper mesa,
instead of porridge, had a pullet with some prunes in the broth ;
and I observed no art of cookery or furniture of household stuff,
but rather rude neglect of both, though myself and companions,
sent from the governor of Berwick about bordering affairs, were
entertained after the best manner. They drink pure wines, not
mixed with sugar like the English ; yet at feasts they put comfits
in their wines, after the French fashion, hut they have not our
vintners* fraud to mix their wines. I did never see nor hear that 1
6hey have any public inns with signs hanging out, but the better I
sort of citizens brew ale, their usual drink, which will distemper I
a stranger's body. Their bedsteads were then like cupboards in I
the wall, with doors to be opened and shut at pleasure ; so that we I
climbed up to our beds," &c. In ItiuO, the Duke of Rohan, having â– 
visited Edinburgh, states that the city was about one thousand 1
pacesin length, and from four to five hundred in breadth; and I
adds that there was nothing remarkable in it but the great street, â– 
which was very long and broad, and extended from one end of the M
town to the other ; the houses, he says, were not sumptuous, I
being almost all built of wood.
On the 24th of March, 1003, Queen Elizabeth died, and dames a
succeeded to the throne of England, to which country he imrae- â– 
diately departed, after taking formal farewell of the citizens >f
Edinburgh, at the church of St. Giles's, where he addressed them 9
after the sermon, and both partif-s, it is said, evinced deepâ„¢
emotion. The superior splendour of the English throne caused I
James, perhaps, to think his Scottish 'one too plain and 'I
unostentatious ; and. to change its character a little, he sent down J
to the magistrates of Edinburgh patttrns for their gowns, whicq -
they were directed to wear, and, moreover, to have a sword of fl
state carried before them; but instead of sending with these â– 
patterns 59,000 merks, which he owed, he obliged them i I
content with 20,000, in full of all demands; notwithstan g
which, when the king paid his long-promised visit to his Sco^ ish 1
capital, in 1618, he was received with pomp and addressed vr.lth J
adulation; the magistrates, upon the " verie knees of their *!
harts." doing him reverence, and styling him the "perfection of 1
eloquence and the quintessence of rulers." They entertained him |
with a banquet, and presented him with a silver basin ^ h
10,0C0 merks (about £560 sterling) in it, in double gold angelt A i
parliament was immediately convened, and among othei :ts
which it passed was one for the restitution of archbist ps, â– 
bishops, and chapters. About this time the town eg id]
purchased the mills of Bonnington from Robert and John LI m,
with the lands and tiends belonging to them, for 1,230 n -ks
Scots (£68 6s. Sd. sterling). In 1621 an act was passed 10 he A
coping of houses with lead, slate or tiles, instead of thatch, id
water was introduced the same year by pipes ; three newi jls
were imported from Holland — two for St. Giles's church and ne 1
for the Netherbow Port. March 27th, 1625, closed Jan -s's
career; and on the 31st, Charles I. was proclaimed king ii. his I
stead ; and in June, 1633, he was oi owned King of Scotland in the
Abbey of Holyrood.
The erection of Edinburgh into a bishopric, and an order for
the introduction of a liturgy into the churches, caused great J
tumults in the city, resulting in a general assembly at Glasgow,
in 1638, by which Presbyterianism was immediately restored.
The treaties of Berwick and Ripon exhibit both the hatred of the 1
Scotch to prelacy and the folly of the monarch in endeavouring
to enforce it. Soon after the treaty of Ripon, Charles visited
Edinburgh, but though he was ostentatiously received, his
conduct during his residence was neither discreet nor grateful.
The " great rebellion," as it is termed, broke out shortly after, j
during which the "solemn league and covenant" between
two nations, for the extirpation of prelacy, was signed in the J
High Church, Edinburgh, in July, 1643, and twelve hundred men j
were sent in consequence to assist the English parliamentary I
forces against Charles ; but in 1645, the covenanters bemg routed I
by Montrose, at Kilsyth, Edinburgh was threatened with |
destruction by the Marquis unless the prisoners of the king's
party were instantly released, and the city at this moment being
desolated by the plague, his demands were complied with. On
the 18th of May. 1650, the Marquis of Montrose was brought a
prisoner into Edinburgh, and three days after was hanged at the
â– jross.
Averse to Republicanism, the Scots proclaimed the exiled
Charles the Second as their king, which brought upon them the
8 enging sword of Cromwell ; and in December, 1650, he was in