This alley, connecting the Cowgate with the grounds on the south side
of the town within the walls, and broad enough for a carriage, is
understood to have derived its name from an inn which long ago existed
at its head, where the Gaelic Church long after stood. Although the
name is at least as old as the middle of the seventeenth century, none
of the buildings appear older than the middle of the eighteenth. They
had all been renewed by people desirous of the benefit of such air as
was to be had in an alley double the usual breadth. Very respectable
members of the bar were glad to have a flat in some of the tall _lands_
on the east side of the wynd.[208]
On the west side of the wynd, about the middle, the Earl of Galloway
had built a distinct mansion, ornamented with vases at top. They kept
a coach and six, and it was alleged that when the countess made calls,
the leaders were sometimes at the door she was going to, when she was
stepping into the carriage at her own door. This may be called a _tour
de force_ illustration of the nearness of friends to each other in Old
Edinburgh.