[90] A full description of the old Parliament Hall, with a plan showing
the divisions and the arrangements of the ‘booths,’ is given in
_Reekiana_; _or, Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh_. It is not now called
the Outer House.
[91] Several of the illustrations in the present section are
immediately derived from a curious volume, full of entertainment for
a denizen of the Parliament House—_The Court of Session Garland_.
Edinburgh: Thomas Stevenson. 1839.
[92] _A Moral Discourse on the Power of Interest._ By David Abercromby,
M.D. London, 1691. P. 60.
[93] John Sinclair of Murkle, appointed a Lord of Session in 1733.
[94] Alexander Leslie, advocate, succeeded his nephew as fifth Earl of
Leven, and fourth Earl of Melville, in 1729. He was named a Lord of
Session, and took his seat on the bench on the 11th of July 1734. He
died 2nd February 1754.
[95] Sir Walter Pringle of Newhall, raised to the bench in 1718.
[96] Andrew Fletcher of Milton was appointed, on the resignation of
James Erskine of Grange, Lord Justice-clerk, and took his seat on the
bench 21st June 1735.
[97] Probably Gibson of Pentland.
[98] Hew Dalrymple of Drummore, appointed a Lord of Session in 1726.
[99] Afterwards Lord Dreghorn.
[100] Author of a Treatise on Election Laws, and Solicitor-general
during the Coalition Ministry in 1783.
[101] Afterwards Lord Polkemmet.
[102] Afterwards Lord Eskgrove and Lord Justice-clerk.
[103] Alexander Boswell, Esq., of Auchinleck, the author’s
father—appointed to the bench in 1754; died 1782. This gentleman was
a precise old Presbyterian, and therefore the most opposite creature
in the world to his son, who was a cavalier in politics and an
Episcopalian.
[104] Afterwards Lord Braxfield—appointed 1776; died 1800, while
holding the office of Lord Justice-clerk. Lord Braxfield is the
prototype of Stevenson’s _Weir of Hermiston_.
[105] Alexander Lockhart, Esq., decidedly the greatest lawyer at the
Scottish bar in his day—appointed to the bench in 1774; died in 1782.
[106] Andrew Pringle, Esq.—appointed a judge in 1759; died 1776. This
gentleman was remarkable for his fine oratory, which was praised highly
by Sheridan the lecturer (father of R. B. Sheridan) in his _Discourses
on English Oratory_.
[107] Henry Home, Esq.—raised to the bench 1752; died 1783. This
great man, so remarkable for his metaphysical subtlety and literary
abilities, was strangely addicted to the use of the coarse word in the
text.
[108] Sir David Dalrymple—appointed a judge in 1766; died 1792. A
story is told of Lord Hailes once making a serious objection to a
law-paper, and, in consequence, to the whole suit to which it belonged,
on account of the word _justice_ being spelt in the manner mentioned in
the text. Perhaps no author ever affected so much critical accuracy as
Lord Hailes, and yet there never was a book published with so large an
array of _corrigenda et addenda_ as the first edition of the _Annals of
Scotland_.
[109] George Brown, Esq., of Coalstoun—appointed 1756; died 1776.
[110] Alexander Fraser of Strichen—appointed 1730; died 1774.
[111] James Erskine, Esq., subsequently titled Lord Alva—appointed
1761; died 1796. He was of exceedingly small stature, and upon that
account denominated ‘Lordie.’
[112] James Veitch, Esq.—appointed 1761; died 1793.
[113] Francis Garden, Esq.—appointed 1764; died 1793—author of
several respectable literary productions.
[114] Robert Dundas, Esq., of Arniston—appointed 1760; died 1787.
[115] The bench being semicircular, and the President sitting in the
centre, the seven judges on his right hand formed the _east_ wing,
those on his left formed the _west_. The decisions were generally
announced by the words ‘Adhere’ and ‘Alter’—the former meaning an
affirmance, the latter a reversal, of the judgment of the Lord Ordinary.
[116] The term of the summer session was then from the 12th of June to
the 12th of August.
[117] Henry, first Viscount Melville, then coming forward as an
advocate at the Scottish bar. When this great man passed advocate, he
was so low in cash that, after going through the necessary forms, he
had only one guinea left in his pocket. Upon coming home, he gave this
to his sister (who lived with him), in order that she might purchase
him a gown; after which he had not a penny. However, his talents soon
filled his coffers. The gown is yet preserved by the family.
[118] ‘To See’ is to appoint the petition against the judgment
pronounced to be answered.
[119] John Erskine of Carnock, author of the _Institute of the Law of
Scotland_.
[120] Thomas Miller, Esq., of Glenlee—appointed to this office in
1766, upon the death of Lord Minto. He filled this situation till
the death of Robert Dundas, in 1787, when (January 1788) he was made
President of the Court of Session, and created a baronet, in requital
for his long service as a judge. Being then far advanced in life, he
did not live long to enjoy his new accession of honours, but died in
September 1789.
[121] John Campbell, Esq., of Stonefield.
[122] James Burnet, Esq.—appointed 1767; died 1799.
[123] James Fergusson, Esq.—appointed 1761; died 1777. He always wore
his hat on the bench, on account of sore eyes.
[124] Robert Bruce, Esq.—appointed 1764; died 1785.
[125] Alexander Tait, Clerk of Session.
[126] He was the grandson of Lord President Lockhart, who was shot by
Chiesly of Dalry (see p. 75).
[127] Within the memory of an old citizen, who was living in 1833, the
Post-office was in the first floor of a house near the Cross, above
an alley which still bears the name of the Post-office Close. Thence
it was removed to a floor in the south side of the Parliament Square,
which was fitted up like a shop, and the letters were dealt across an
ordinary counter, like other goods. At this time all the out-of-door
business of delivery was managed by one letter-carrier. About 1745
the London bag brought on one occasion no more than a single letter,
addressed to the British Linen Company. From the Parliament Square the
office was removed to Lord Covington’s house, above described; thence,
after some years, to a house in North Bridge Street; thence to Waterloo
Place; and finally, to a new and handsome structure on the North Bridge.
[128] Lord Gardenstone erected the building (in the form of a Grecian
temple) which encloses St Bernard’s Well, on the Water of Leith,
between the Dean Bridge and Stockbridge. He also founded the town of
Laurencekirk in Kincardineshire, which he hoped to make a manufacturing
centre.
[129] Notes to _Redgauntlet_.