together with the date 1578, and a shield impaled with two coats of
arms. Along the front of this floor was a balcony composed of brass,
a thing unique in the ancient city. The house had been the Edinburgh
residence of Archbishop John Spottiswood. Most unfortunately the whole
line of building towards the street was burned down in the year 1813.
In the latter part of the last century the Bishop’s Land was regarded
as a very handsome residence, and it was occupied accordingly by
persons of consideration. The dictum of an old citizen to me many years
ago was: ‘Nobody without livery-servants lived in the Bishop’s Land.’
Sir Stuart Threipland of Fingask occupied the first floor. His estate,
forfeited by his father in 1716, was purchased back by him, with money
obtained through his wife, in 1784; and the title, which was always
given to him by courtesy, was restored as a reality to his descendants
by George IV. He had himself been engaged in the affair of 1745-6, and
had accompanied ‘the Prince’ in some part of his wanderings. In the
hands of this ‘fine old _Scottish_ gentleman,’ for such he was, his
house in the Bishop’s Land was elegantly furnished, there being in
particular some well-painted portraits of royal personages—_not of
the reigning house_. These had all been sent to his father and himself
by the persons represented in them, who thus showed their gratitude
for efforts made and sufferings incurred in their behalf. There were
five windows to the street, three of them lighting the drawing-room;
the remaining two lighted the eldest son’s room. A dining-room, Sir
Stuart’s bedroom, his sister Janet’s (who kept house for him) room,
and other apartments were in the rear, some lighted from the adjacent
close—and these still exist, having been spared by the fire. The
kitchen and servants’ rooms were below.
In the next floor above lived the Hamiltons of Pencaitland; in the next
again, the Aytouns of Inchdairnie. Mrs Aytoun, who was a daughter of
Lord Rollo, would sometimes come down the stair in a winter evening,
lighting herself with a little wax-taper, to drink tea with _Mrs_
Janet Threipland, for so she called herself, though unmarried. In the
uppermost floor of all lived a reputable tailor and his family. All the
various tenants, including the tailor, were on good neighbourly terms
with each other; a pleasant thing to tell of this bit of the old world,
which has left nothing of the same kind behind it in these later days,
when we all live at a greater distance, physical and moral, from each
other.]