At the foot of the wynd, on the east side, is a large mansion of
antique appearance, forming two sides of a quadrangle, with a
_porte-cochère_ giving access to a court behind, and a picturesque
overhanging turret at the exterior angle.[193] This house was built by
James Bethune, Archbishop of Glasgow (1508-1524), chancellor of the
kingdom, and one of the Lords Regent under the Duke of Albany during
the minority of James V. Lyndsay, in his _Chronicles_, speaks of it
as ‘his owen ludging quhilk he biggit in the Freiris Wynd.’ Keith, at
a later period, says: ‘Over the entry of which the arms of the family
of Bethune are to be seen to this day.’ Common report represents it as
the house of Cardinal Bethune, who was the nephew of the Archbishop
of Glasgow; and it is not improbable that the one prelate bequeathed
it to the other, and that it thus became what Maitland calls it, ‘the
archiepiscopal palace belonging to the see of St Andrews.’
[Illustration: Cardinal Bethune’s House.]
The ground-floor of this extensive building is arched over with strong
stone-work, after the fashion of those houses of defence of the same
period which are still scattered over the country. Some years ago, when
one of the arches was removed to make way for a common ceiling, a thick
layer of sand, firmly beaten down, was found between the surface of
the vault and the floor above. Ground-floors thus formed were applied
in former times to inferior domestic uses, and to the storing of
articles of value. The chief apartments for living in were on the floor
above—that is, the so-called _first floor_. And such is the case in
all the best houses of an old fashion in the city of St Andrews at this
day.
I shall afterwards have something to say of an event of the year 1517,
with which Archbishop Bethune’s house was connected. It appears to have
been occupied by James V. in 1528, while he was deliberating on the
propriety of calling a parliament.[194]
The Bethune palace is now, like its confrères, abandoned to the
humblest class of tenants. Eighty years ago, however, it must still
have been a tolerably good house, as it was then the residence of
Bishop Abernethy Drummond, of the Scottish Episcopal communion, the
husband of the heiress of Hawthornden. This worthy divine occupied
some space in the public eye in his day, and was particularly active
in obtaining the repeal of the penal statutes against his church. Some
wag, figuring the surprise in high places at a stir arising from a
quarter so obscure, penned this epigram:
‘Lord Sydney, to the privy-council summoned,
By testy majesty was questioned quick:
“Eh, eh! who, who’s this Abernethy Drummond,
And where, in Heaven’s name, is his bishopric?”’