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

DIRECTORY
EDINBURGH
EDINBURGHSHIRE
Mons, in the fifteenth century. It burst in 1682, on being tired in
honour of the Duke of York's visit to Scotland. It was carried to
London in 1754, and brought back in 1829.
The view from the castle is very extensive and splend*
the highest point of the rock is a small ohapel in the I j
style of architecture, said to have been built in the fir $>o'j
the twelfth century, in the reign of David I. On the We
of the castle is a monument, in the form of a Runic cros ;cted
to the memory of the officers and soldiers of the 78th Hit . .ders,
who fell in India, in 1S57-8, while aiding to quell t$ 'Indian
mutiny. *' "
For a long period it was the general belief of the people of
Scitland that the regalia (placed in the castle in the year 1707)
had been surreptitiously removed to London ; but, tiy virtue of a
royal mandate, a search was made in 1818, when a large oaken
chest was found, in what is now called the ''Crown Room,"
firmly secured with locks; these having been forced, the
regalia, consisting of the crown, sceptre, and sword of state, were
discovered carefully wrapped in fine linen cloth. They are of
elegant workmanship, and in perfect preservation. The crown is
of pure gold, highly ornamented with precious stones ; the
sqsptr* is., of silver, double gilt, with a stem two feet long, of a
hexagonal form, divided by three buttons or knobs; it is
surmounted with a crystal globe, two inches and a quarter in
diameter; its whole length is thirty-four inches. The sword of
slate is five feet long, and of exquisite workmanship ; the pommel
and hilt are silver gilt, and fifteen inches in length ; the traverse
is seventeen inches and a half. The scabbard is of crimson velvet,
and richly ornamented. This sword was presented by Pope
Julius II. to James IV. The lord treasurer's rod of office is of
silver gilt, and of beautiful execution. These relies, together with
a ruby ring set with diamonds, worn by Charles I. at his Scottish
coronation; the golden collar of the Order of the Garter, sent by
Elizabeth to James VI. ; and the badge of the Order of the
Thistle, set with diamonds, bequeathed by Cardinal York to
George IV., are exhibited three hours every day. Tickets of
admission are obtained gratuitously at the City Chambers.
The Palace of Holyrood House stands at the eastern
extremity of the city, and at the bottom of the Canongate. It is
a beautiful building, of a quadrangular form, with an open court,
which is 94 feet square. The more ancient parts of this tine
edifice, consisting of the north-west towers, were rebuilt by James
V. about the year 1528 ; though Holyrood seems to have been an
occasional royal residence for ages before. During the minority
or Queen Mary, the palace of Holyrood was burnt, as well as the
city, ny the English forces under theE*rl of Hertford ; soon afLer
it was rep dred and enlarged beyond its present size.
. At that time it is said to have consisted of no fewer than five
courts, the most westerly of which was the largest. Great part
of the palace of Holyrood House was burnt by the soldiers of
Cromwell; but at the Restoration it was again repaired and
a ! te ^ e r ? n lnto lts present form by King Charles II.. from designs bv
Sir William Bruce. Prince Charles Stuart took up his residence
for some time in this mansion of his forefathers in 1745 ; and
hither the inhabitants of Edinburgh repaired to pay the contri-
bution levied on the city. It was afterwards occupied by the Duke
of Cumberland. In 1793 apartments were fitted up for the
residence of the Comte d'Artois, the Dues d'Angouleme and
Bern, and others of the French royal family. In 1831, the Conve
d Artois, Charles X. of France, returned to his old apartments,
after an absence of thirty years, with several of his family, but
soon quitted them, and went to Germany. Previouslv to the
visit of George IV. to Scotland, apartments in the palace were
htted up for his use ; and, though he resided at Dalkeith, a levee
drawing-room, and meetings of privy council were held here.
Ihe palace is now fitted up as a residence for her present Majesty,
who occasionally spends a short time here on her visits to
Scotland. Ihe apartments of Mary Queen of Scots are shown to
visitors. In them are many articles said to have been used bv
Jjueen Mary, and pieces of work said to have been wrought In-
ner, but their history is very doubtful. Dark stains on the floor
ot one of the rooms are said to have been made by the blood of
jKizzio, and to mark the spot where he was murdered on 9th
March, i^6b. A suit of armour and the boots and gloves which
XJarnley is said to have worn at the slaughter of Rizzio are placed
in a small apartment in which the deed was done. Along the
north side of Holyrood Palace extends the picture gallery, a lono-
apartment with a rather low roof, on the walls of which are hun*
pictures pretending to be portraits of the kings of Scotland, fro n
Fergus I. downwards. They are worthless as works of art, and
equally so as portraits, having been all painted in 1684-56 by
James de Witt, a Dutch painter, who received £240 for the whole
job. In the pictureg^Ilery the peers of Scotland meet to elect
their representatives for the House of Lords, and Her Majesty's
?a ^"Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church
ot Scotland holds his levees and receptions. Adjacent to the
palace stand the ruins of the church which belonged to the abbey
°l HoI yroo<l House. In 1128, David I. founded this abbey by a
charter the original of which is in the archives of the city ; it
was bestowed on the canons regular of St Augustine, who had
* l /g.^nted to them the church of Edinburgh Castle, with those
ot at. Cuthbert, Corstorphine. and Liberton, in the county of Mid-
Lothian ; and of Airth, in Stirlingshire; the priories of St.
vJFln •* ^ n Gall °way; of Blantyre. in Clydesdale; of
Jtowaaui, m Ross ; and three others in the "Western Islands.
J-ney had also portions of lands assigned to them in different
a most extensive jurisdiction ; and so many other
the remains of David II., James II., Prince Arthur, third son of
James IV., James V. and his consort, Magdalen, with their
second son, Arthur, Duke of Albany, and Henry, Lord Darnley.
This repository of the royal dead did not escape the fury of the
Revolution, when the populace plundered and burned it, their
fury having been excited by its use for Roman Catholic worship in
the time of James VII. Part of the leaden coffins were then carried
away, and the remainder at the clearing out of the rubbish, after
the roof fell from the weight of the heavy flags with which it was
covered, in 1768. The great eastern window, erected about 1570,
was blown down by a storm, in 1795, but restored about twenty
years after, from its own fragments. The precincts of th*- abbey
of Holyrood House, including the Queen's Park, were a sanctuary
for insolvent debtors. A very handsome fountain was erected in
1859, opposite to the front of the royal palace. This fountain is a
copy of an old and very beautiful one still standing in the court-
yard of the ancient palace of Linlithgow.
The Mint of Scotland.— In the lane called Gray's close stand
the buildings formerly occupied by the Mint of Scotland. They
were erected in 1574, but no money has been struck since the union
of the two kingdoms. The first coin seems to have been struck in
Scotland in the time of Alexander I., who commenced his reign in
1107. These coins were thin pieces of silver called pennies, and
this was the silver coin in use until the reign of Queen Mary, who
introduced reals or royals, afterwards called crowns. The oldest
gold coins bear the name of Robert, but whether of Robert I. is
not fully ascertained. James V., in h'S bonnet -pieces, contracted
tbe surface and increased the thickness of the coinage. The
general names for gold coin in Scotland -werv Jlorijis or nobles, and
lions. When copper was first coined in Scotland is uncertain;,
James III., however, in 1466, procured an act from his nrst
parliament for coining copper money, four to the penny.
Pennies, worth one-twelfth of an English penny, were coined by
James VI., and twopenny pieces, or oawbees, after the Restoration.
To the prince formerly belonged the exclusive right of coining
money and all mines of gold and silver ; but coinage was not
confined to the capital, and many coins bear the name of Aberdeen,
Perth, Stirling, Dundee, Linlithgow and Dumbarton. The
principal instrument used in coining before the Restoration (when
the mill and screw were introduced) were a hammer and steel
dies. It is conjectured that the total sum of money in circulation
at the Union amounted to upwards of £900,000 sterling.
The Parliament House, where the Scottish Parliament met
before the Union, occupies the south and west sides of Parliament
square, formerly known as Parliament close, on the south side of
High street, behind St. Giles's Cathedral. The present front of
the building is of recent date, in the Italian style ; the front was
originally in the renaissance style. The hall formerly used for
meetings of parliament is one hundred and twenty-two feet in
length and forty in breadth ; the ceiling is of massive carved oak,
and the floor is also of oak, arranged in panels. This apartment
now forms a handsome promenade, where gentlemen of the legal
profession meet daily during session to transact business and
attend their cases pending before the Supreme Courts, to the
meetings'of which the Parliament House has been appropriated
since the time of the Union. The subject of the stained glass
window, on the south side of the hall, is the inauguration of the
Court, in 1537, by James V., who is in the act of presenting the
deed of confirmation, by Pope Clement VII., to the Lord
President. The other figures represent Dunbar, Archbishop of
Glasgow, the Abbot of Cambuskenneth, and judges and nobles of
the time. The window was erected at Munich, in 1868, from a
design by Kaulbach, and cost £2,000. The hall is ornamented
with statues and portraits of distinguished lawyers, more or less
connected with Scotland. Of the statues, the principal are those
of Lord President Forbes, in his judicial robes ; Viscount Melville,
Dundas of Arniston, Blair of Avonton, Francis Jeffrey, Boyle,
and Cockburn. Among the portraits are — Lord Brougham, by Sir
Daniel Macnee ; Lords President M'Neill and Hope; John. Duke
of Argyll and Greenwich; Lord President Loekhart, of
Carnwath ; and other distinguished legal functionaries. Within
this hall was held the great banquet given by the corporation of
the city to George IV., on his visit to Scotland in 1822. The
Outer House, where the Lords Ordinary sit, is reached from below
the window mentioned above, and consists of four small courts,
where civil cases are tried for the first time. The Inner House is
divided into two divisions (first and second), where appeals are
heard from the Outer House and Sheriff-Courts. The High
Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal tribunal of Scotland,
and is situated in another part of the building. There are also
entrances from the hall leading to the Advocates' Library, the
Writers to the Signet Library, and the library of the. Solicitors
before the Supreme Courts. This noble hall, with the jus'.tic^ry,
exchequer, and jury courts, and the office of the police commis-
sioners, occupies the whole :«f Parliament square, except the north
side, w T here Saint Giles's Cathedral stands. , In the centre of the
square is an equestrian statue of Cha-les II.'; the figure, which is
in Roman costume, was raised in 1685, at an outlay of, it is stated,
£215.
John Knox's House.— This, ve jerable building, once the habita-
tion of the reformer Knox is a conspicuous object in passing
from High street towards the Canongate, as it projects at the
terminating corner of the former, narrowing the street several
feet at the point called Netherbow. On its angle there is a sundl
bust, often said to represent Knox, but really intended to
represent Moses, his right hand pointing to a stone above, on
which is the name of God in Greek, Latin and English, the left
giants and privileges were bestowed on this abbey, that" it was I hand resting on a tablet, supposed to represent the" tables of the
aeemeatne richest foundation in Scotland. In 1177 a national Law. In consequence of the dilapidated state of the building,
council was held in this abbey, on the arrival of a papal legate,
to take cognisance of a dispute between "
ii the English and
Scottish clergy as to the submission of the latter to the
asticil jurisdiction of "
__ ecclesi-
the English prelate. The part now
remaining was the nave of the original church, which, when
Pn f5f^ na l?Q e - 4 ° f f Ce " tre and tW ° a, ' 9leS - U WaS burDed h J the
n££* m L3s ^ ail <J. again in 1544 and 1547. In the south-east
cornei of the chapel is the royal vault, in which were deposited
and its inconvenient projection into the street, its removal was,
some time since, contemplated ; a subscription, however, was
raised to avert an act which would have been greatly deplored by
many. The building was repaired in 1850, and it has recently
become, by legacy, tbe property of the Free Church of Scotland.
Moray House, on the s> uth side of Canongate. was erected in
1618 by Mary, Countess of Home, eldest daughter of Lord Dudley,
and remained in the Earl of Moray's family until 1835. It was the