embodiment of architectural contradictions: touches of the Roman, Gothic, and Corinthian are mingled with Scottish characteristics; and it is said, that of its two hundred windows, not one is precisely similar to another. It is usually stated* that this noble building was reared according to plans supplied by Inigo Jones, under the inspection of Dr. Walter Balcanquhar, Dean of Rochester, one of the executors named in Heriot's last will, dated January 21, 1623, O.S. The balance of testimony, however, would appear to be against Inigo Jones; and 'two master masons,' by name William Wallace and William Aytoun, would seem to have been the chief designers of this picturesque and symmetrical building, of which Turner made a very effective picture.† The other great hospital of Edinburgh, known as Donaldson's Hospital,' from the name of its founder, who was formerly a printer in the city, is a modern Elizabethan edifice, of palatial dimensions, standing on a terraced ground a short distance westward of the new town. Like Heriot's Hospital, it is not a building for the cure of disease, but for the rearing and education of about 300 poor boys and girls. Similar institutions are found in George Watson's Hospital,' for the education of some 80 boys who are the children or grandchildren of decayed merchants; in the Merchant Maiden Hospital,' which maintains and educates 100 daughters of merchant burgesses; in the Trades' Maiden Hospital;' and in the Deaf and Dumb Hospital.' * As, for example, in A. Campbell's Scotland, ii. 114; Penny Magazine, viii. 100; Fullarton's Gazetteer, i. 449; Beattie's Scotland, i. 103; Black's Guide, 76; and Nelson's Guide, 120; though, in the lastnamed work, it is stated that the ascription to Inigo Jones is without any good evidence.' See Dr. Stevens' History of Heriot's Hospital, p. 68. Scott's Provincial Antiquities, p. 263. WEST BOW AND PORT. 271 Following the example of Heriot, therefore, the nobleminded benefactors of Edinburgh have used the word 'Hospital' in the like signification which it bears in "Christ's Hospital;' and the hospitals of Edinburgh are not the least notable things to be seen in that most notable city. The Grass Market is approached by the West Bow and the West Port, through which Anne of Denmark, James I., Charles I., Oliver Cromwell, Charles II., and James II. entered the city. The preparations for the reception of Charles the First, and for his subsequent coronation at Holyrood, were on the most costly and extensive scale. Indeed, if we may believe John Spalding, the loyalty of the citizens on this occasion cost their 'gude toun' the sum of 41,489l. 78. Scots, equivalent to 3,500l. sterling.* At the West Port triple tiers of seats had been erected, and the king was met by the Provost and Bailies, all clad in red robes, well furred,' who, after the customary speeches, presented to his majesty a golden basin, 'estimated at 5,000 merks,' in which they poured out from an embroidered purse a thousand double golden angels, as a token of the town of Edinburgh, their love and humble service.' In the West Bow lived the notorious Major Weir, who, with his sister, was strangled at the stake and burnt, for his crimes, in the year 1670. He refused all the offers of the consolations of religion, saying, 'I have lived like a beast, and I must die like one.'+ The house (of 6 * Arnot's History of Edinburgh, 103; Maitland's History of Edinburgh, 63. ↑ Or, according to Law's version, 'his condemnation was sealed; and, since he was to go to the devil, he did not wish to anger him!' See Chambers' Domestic Annals of Scotland, ii. 332; Chambers' Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh, p. 82; and Scott's Provincial Antiquities, p. 271. course!) was haunted for many years afterwards. At night it would be lit up by ghostly fires, and would resound with unearthly revelry. Then a chariot, drawn by six headless steeds, would clatter up the Lawn Market, and pull up at the door of the haunted house to receive the ghostly guests: and as they drove off, the lights in the windows would die out, and all would be hushed again. Whether or no the major's magical staff of thornwood, which was wont to take walks, and even to go out shopping by itself, enacted any part in this diablerie, we are not informed; though the cane suffered the same penalty as its owner, and was burnt by the hangman. But we may easily credit the tale that the house remained vacant for fifty years, until a bold man, William Patullo by name, entered upon it as a tenant. But the very first night a headless monster approached the bed on which Mr. and Mrs. Patullo were lying, and so horribly frightened them that they at once left the house, which remained vacant another fifty years. In more modern times the evil name of this district (despite Dr. Chalmers' labours in it) was revived in a terrible way by the deeds of Burke and Hare, who, in 1829, lived in the West Port, and made their house a receptacle of murder.* * See The Court of Cacus, for full particulars. CHAPTER XXVII. HOLYROOD AND THE CASTLE. The Castle Barns-Extraordinary Road-making-The Old AKING our way from these evil memories and the MAKI tottering houses of the West Port, and keeping under the Castle Terrace, we come upon the Lothian Road, which connects the old town with Princes Street. Here was formerly the Castle Barns, or Grange. The modern road is said to have been formed in an extraordinary manner. The ground was fully occupied by fields, gardens, orchards, and a number of small houses; and through these a gentleman undertook, for an inconsiderable wager, to carry a road a quarter of a mile long and twenty paces broad, in a single day, and to drive over it in his carriage before nightfall. Secresy was observed up to the very day, to obviate any opposition, whether corporeal or legal; but, at the given time, hundreds of labourers were brought to the spot, who forthwith uprooted trees and hedges, and demolished houses and dykes; and with such success and speed, that the road was roughly formed before night, and the gentleman drove along it in his carriage, T 1 and so won his wager. It happened that an old milkwoman, who lived on the spot, left her home early in the morning, leaving some sheep's-head broth to simmer in the kail-pot until her return, when, with the aid of that delicacy, she had promised to entertain a select circle of friends. Evening came, and with it the old milk-woman. Was she drunk? no; she could not be fou', for nothing stronger than buttermilk had passed her lips. And yet there was the Castle, as she had left it that morning; but where were her cottage, and cows, and byre, and kail-pot? And if Echo answered 'Where, indeed!' let us also hope that the old lady received a goodly compensation for her wrongs and rights. St. Cuthbert's Lane leads into this road; and on the other side is St. Cuthbert's, or the West Church-a conventicle-looking building, with a Christopher Wren spire, and in great contrast, not only to the domed St. George, but to its florid Gothic neighbour St. John, with its clerestory and aisles, and its crowd of pinnacles and buttresses. St. Cuthbert's was erected in 1775 on the site of the oldest church in Edinburgh-a church so old, indeed, that it is said to have originated in a Culdee cell of the seventh century. Arnot, in his "History of Edinburgh,' represents the usurper Macbeth' to have made donations to the cruciform church that had risen on the site of the Culdee's timber-cell; but the Macbeth here mentioned was probably Macbeth, Bishop of Ross. This church, therefore, with its surrounding cemetery, can date its memories to those early days in the history of the city, when the Castle of the Maidens, that had been reared on the lofty rock that frowned down upon the church, was named Edwinsburgh, in honour of Edwin, the Northumbrian king, |