The upper floors of the house which looks down into the Grassmarket
formed the mansion of Mr Archibald Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh
in 1745. This is an abode of singular structure and arrangements,
having its principal access by a close out of another street, and
only a postern one into the Bow, and being full of curious little
wainscoted rooms, concealed closets, and secret stairs. In one
apartment there is a cabinet, or what appears a cabinet, about three
feet high: this, when cross-examined, turns out to be the mask of a
trap-stair. Only a smuggler, one would think, or a gentleman conducting
treasonable negotiations, could have bethought him of building such a
house. Whether Provost Stewart, who was a thorough Jacobite, was the
designer of these contrivances, I cannot tell; but fireside gossip
used to have a strange story as to his putting his trap-stair to use
on one important occasion. It was said that, during the occupation of
Edinburgh by the Highland army in ’45, his lordship was honoured one
evening with a secret visit from the Prince and some of his principal
officers. The situation was critical, for close by was the line between
the Highland guards and the beleaguered environs of the Castle.
Intelligence of the Prince’s movements being obtained by the governor
of the fortress, a party was sent to seize him in the provost’s house.
They made their approach by the usual access from the Castle-hill
Street; but an alarm preceded them, and before they obtained admission,
the provost’s visitors had vanished through the mysterious cabinet, and
made their exit by the back-door. What real foundation there may have
been for this somewhat wild-looking story I do not pretend to say.
The house was at a subsequent time the residence of Alexander Donaldson
the bookseller, whose practice of reprinting modern English books in
Edinburgh, and his consequent litigation with the London booksellers,
attracted much attention sixty years since. Printing and publishing
were in a low state in Edinburgh before the time of Donaldson. In
the frank language of Hugo Arnot: ‘The printing of newspapers and of
school-books, of the fanatick effusions of Presbyterian clergymen, and
the law papers of the Court of Session, joined to the patent Bible
printing, gave a scanty employment to four printing-offices.’ About
the middle of the century, the English law of copyright not extending
to Scotland, some of the booksellers began to reprint the productions
of the English authors of the day; for example, the _Rambler_ was
regularly reproduced in this manner in Edinburgh, with no change but
the addition of English translations of the Latin mottoes, which were
supplied by Mr James Elphinstone. From this and minor causes, it came
to pass that, in 1779, there were twenty-seven printing-offices in
Edinburgh. The most active man in this trade was Alexander Donaldson,
who likewise reprinted in Edinburgh, and sold in London, English books
of which the author’s fourteen years’ copyright had expired, and which
were then only protected by a usage of the London trade, rendering it
dishonourable as between man and man, among themselves, to reprint a
book which had hitherto been the assigned property of one of their
number. Disregarding the rule of his fraternity, Donaldson set up a
shop in the Strand for the sale of his cheap Edinburgh editions of the
books of expired copyright. They met an immense sale, and proved of
obvious service to the public, especially to those of limited means;
though, as Johnson remarked, this made Donaldson ‘no better than Robin
Hood, who robbed the rich in order to give to the poor.’ In reality,
the London booksellers had no right beyond one of class sentiment,
and this was fully found when they wrestled with Mr Donaldson at law.
Waiving all question on this point, Donaldson may be considered as a
sort of morning-star of that reformation which has resulted in the
universal cheapening of literary publications. Major Topham, in 1775,
speaks of a complete set of the English classics which he was bringing
out, ‘in a very handsome binding,’ at the rate of one and sixpence a
volume!
[Donaldson, in 1763, started a twice-a-week newspaper under the name of
the _Edinburgh Advertiser_, which was for a long course of years the
prominent journal on the Conservative side, and eminently lucrative,
chiefly through its multitude of advertisements. All his speculations
being of a prosperous nature, he acquired considerable wealth, which
he left to his son, the late Mr James Donaldson, by whom the newspaper
was conducted for many years. James added largely to his wealth by
successful speculations in the funds, where he held so large a sum
that the rise of a per cent. made him a thousand pounds richer than he
had been the day before. Prompted by the example of Heriot and Watson,
and partly, perhaps, by that modification of egotism which makes
us love to be kept in the remembrance of future generations, James
Donaldson, at his death in 1830, devoted the mass of his fortune—about
£240,000—for the foundation of a _hospital_ for the maintenance and
education of poor children of both sexes; and a structure for the
purpose was erected, on a magnificent plan furnished by Mr Playfair, at
an expense, it is said, of about £120,000.
The old house in the West Bow—which was possessed by both of these
remarkable men in succession, and the scene of their entertainments to
the literary men of the last age, with some of whom Alexander Donaldson
lived on terms of intimacy—stood unoccupied for several years before
1824, when it was burnt down. New buildings now occupy its site.]