The repair of the kirk, the next job I took in hand, was not so easily
managed as that of the causey; for it seems, in former times, the whole
space of the area had been free to the parish in general, and that the
lofts were constructions, raised at the special expense of the heritors
for themselves. The fronts being for their families, and the back seats
for their servants and tenants. In those times there were no such things
as pews; but only forms, removeable, as I have heard say, at pleasure.
It, however, happened, in the course of nature, that certain forms came
to be sabbathly frequented by the same persons; who, in this manner,
acquired a sort of prescriptive right to them. And those persons or
families, one after another, finding it would be an ease and convenience
to them during divine worship, put up backs to their forms. But still,
for many a year, there was no inclosure of pews; the first, indeed, that
made a pew, as I have been told, was one Archibald Rafter, a wright, and
the grandfather of Mr Rafter, the architect, who has had so much to do
with the edification of the new town of Edinburgh. This Archibald's form
happened to be near the door, on the left side of the pulpit; and in the
winter, when the wind was in the north, it was a very cold seat, which
induced him to inclose it round and round, with certain old doors and
shutters, which he had acquired in taking down and rebuilding the left
wing of the whinny hill house. The comfort in which this enabled him and
his family to listen to the worship, had an immediate effect; and the
example being of a taking nature, in the course of little more than
twenty years from the time, the whole area of the kirk had been pewed in
a very creditable manner.
Families thus getting, as it were, portions of the church, some, when
removing from the town, gave them up to their neighbours on receiving a
consideration for the expense they had been at in making the pews; so
that, from less to more, the pews so formed became a lettable and a
vendible property. It was, therefore, thought a hard thing, that in the
reparation which the seats had come to require in my time, the heritors
and corporation should be obligated to pay the cost and expense of what
was so clearly the property of others; while it seemed an impossibility
to get the whole tot of the proprietors of the pews to bear the expense
of new-seating the kirk. We had in the council many a long and weighty
sederunt on the subject, without coming to any practical conclusion. At
last, I thought the best way, as the kirk was really become a disgrace to
the town, would be, for the corporation to undertake the repair entirely,
upon an understanding that we were to be paid eighteen pence a bottom-
room, per _annum_, by the proprietors of the pews; and, on sounding the
heritors, I found them all most willing to consent thereto, glad to be
relieved from the awful expense of gutting and replenishing such a great
concern as the kirk was. Accordingly the council having agreed to this
proposal, we had plans and estimates made, and notice given to the owners
of pews of our intention. The whole proceedings gave the greatest
satisfaction possible to the inhabitants in general, who lauded and
approved of my discernment more and more.
By the estimate, it was found that the repairs would cost about a
thousand pounds; and by the plan, that the seats, at eighteen pence a
sitter, would yield better than a hundred pounds a-year; so that there
was no scruple, on the part of the town-council, in borrowing the money
wanted. This was the first public debt ever contracted by the
corporation, and people were very fain to get their money lodged at five
per cent. on such good security; in so much, that we had a great deal
more offered than we required at that time and epoch.