THE BOWHEAD—WEIGH-HOUSE—ANDERSON’S PILLS—ORATORIES—COLONEL
GARDINER—‘BOWHEAD SAINTS’—‘THE SEIZERS’—STORY OF A JACOBITE
CANARY—MAJOR WEIR—TULZIES—THE TINKLARIAN DOCTOR—OLD
ASSEMBLY ROOM—PAUL ROMIEU—‘HE THAT THOLES OVERCOMES’—PROVOST
STEWART—DONALDSONS THE BOOKSELLERS—BOWFOOT—THE TEMPLARS’
LANDS—THE GALLOWS STONE.
[The West Bow has long since disappeared as a street; see note
on p. 54.]
In a central part of Old Edinburgh—the very Little Britain of our
city—is a curious, angular, whimsical-looking street, of great
steepness and narrowness, called the West Bow. Serving as a connection
between the Grassmarket and Lawnmarket, between the Low and the High
Town, it is of considerable fame in our city annals as a passage for
the entry of sovereigns, and the scene of the quaint ceremonials used
on those occasions. In more modern times, it has been chiefly notable
in the recollections of country-people as a nest of the peculiarly
noisy tradesmen, the white-iron smiths, which causes Robert Fergusson
to mark, as one of the features of Edinburgh deserted for a holiday:
‘The tinkler billies[17] o’ the Bow
Are now less eident[18] clinkin.’
Another remarkable circumstance connected with the street in the
popular mind is its having been the residence of the famed wizard,
Major Weir. All of these particulars serve to make it a noteworthy
sort of place, and the impression is much favoured by its actual
appearance. A perfect Z in figure, composed of tall antique houses,
with numerous dovecot-like gables projecting over the footway, full
of old inscriptions and sculpturings, presenting at every few steps
some darksome lateral profundity, into which the imagination wanders
without hindrance or exhaustion, it seems eminently a place of old
grandmothers’ tales, and sure at all times to maintain a ghost or two
in its community. When I descend into particulars, it will be seen what
grounds there truly are for such a surmise.