Close beside this door was another, leading by a longer, but distinct
though adjacent stair to the second floor, and presenting on the
architrave the initials R. G. From this floor there was an internal
stair contained in a projecting turret, which connected it with the
higher floor. Thus, it will be observed, there were three houses in
this building, each having a distinct access; a nicety of arrangement
which, together with the excellence of the masonry, was calculated to
create a more respectful impression regarding the domestic ideas of
our ancestors in Queen Mary’s time than most persons are prepared for.
Finally, in the triangular space surmounting an attic window were the
initials of a married couple, D. G., M. S.
Our surprise is naturally somewhat increased when we learn that the
builder and first possessor of this house does not appear to have
been a man of rank, or one likely to own unusual wealth. His name
was Robert Gourlay, and his profession a humble one connected with
the law—namely, that of a messenger-at-arms. In the second book of
Charters in the Canongate council-house, Adam Bothwell, Bishop of
Orkney, and commendator of Holyrood, gave the office of messenger
or officer-at-arms to the Abbey to Robert Gourlay, messenger, ‘our
lovit familiar servitor,’ with a salary of forty pounds, and other
perquisites. This was the Robert Gourlay who built the noble tenement
in the Old Bank Close; and through his official functions it came into
connection with an interesting historical event. In May 1581, when the
ex-Regent Morton was brought to Edinburgh to suffer death, he was—as
we learn from the memoirs of Moyses, a contemporary—‘lodged in Robert
Gourlay’s house, and there keeped by the waged men.’ Gourlay had been
able to accommodate in his house those whom it was his professional
duty to take in charge as prisoners. Here, then, must have taken place
those remarkable conferences between Morton and certain clergymen,
in which, with the prospect of death before him, he protested his
innocence of Darnley’s death, while confessing to a foreknowledge
of it. Morton must have resided in the house from May 29, when he
arrived in Edinburgh, till June 2, when he fell under the stroke of
the ‘Maiden.’ In the ensuing year, as we learn from the authority just
quoted, De la Motte, the French ambassador, was lodged in ‘Gourlay’s
House.’
David Gourlay—probably the individual whose initials appeared on
the attic—described as son of John Gourlay, customer, and doubtless
grandson of the first man Robert—disposed of the house in 1637 to Sir
Thomas Hope of Craighall in liferent, and to his second son, Sir Thomas
Hope of Kerse.[52] We may suppose ‘the Advocate’ to have thus provided
a mansion for one of his children. A grandson in 1696 disposed of the
upper floor to Hugh Blair, merchant in Edinburgh—the grandfather, I
presume, of the celebrated Dr Hugh Blair.
This portion of the house was occupied early in the last century by
Lord Aberuchil, one of King William’s judges, remarkable for the
large fortune he accumulated. About 1780 his descendant, Sir James
Campbell of Aberuchil, resided in it while educating his family. It was
afterwards occupied by Robert Stewart, writer, extensively known in
Perthshire by the name of _Rob Uncle_, on account of the immense number
of his nephews and nieces, amongst the former of whom was the late
worthy General Stewart of Garth, author of the work on the Highland
regiments.
The building used by the bank was also a substantial one. Over the
architrave was the legend: