Royalty, and consequently the Canongate acquired greater importance: the residences of a number of the Nobility, as well as Ambassadors from foreign Courts, being situated within the Burgh. It is by no means clear what Scottish Prince first built a Palace, properly so called, in the precincts of this renowned seat of sanctity. The Abbey, endowed by successive sovereigns and many powerful nobles with magnificent gifts of lands and tithes, came in process of time to be one of the most important of the ecclesiastical corporations of Scotland; and, as early as the days of Robert Bruce, Parliaments were held occasionally within its buildings. We have evidence that James the Fourth had a royal lodging adjoining to the cloister; but it is generally agreed that the first considerable edifice specially erected for the accommodation of the Royal Family was by James the Fifth, about the year 1525, the greater part of which still remains, and forms the northwestern side of the existing Palace. The more modern buildings, which complete the quadrangle, were erected by King Charles II. The nave of the old conventual church was used as the Parish Church of the Canongate from the period of the Reformation until James II. claimed it for his Chapel Royal, and had it accordingly fitted up in a style of splendour which grievously outraged the feelings of his Presbyterian subjects. The roof of this fragment of a once magnificent church fell, in the year 1768, and the building has remained ever since in a state of ruin. Down to the accession of James the Sixth to the throne of England, the Burgh of Canongate continued to enjoy the substantial benefits derived from its : proximity to the Court and the presence of its nobles; but on the King's departure to England—the acquirements of residence there by the members of the Court and their followers-it became somewhat shorn of its grandeur. In 1618 it is thus described by Taylor, the Water poet, in his narrative of a visit made to Edinburgh " From the port (Netherbow), the street which they call Kennygate is one quarter of a mile more down to the King's Palace, called Holyroodhous, the buildings on each side of the way being all squared stones five or six stories high, and many bye lanes and closes on each side, wherein are gentlemen's houses, much finer than the buildings in High Street, where the merchants and tradesmen do dwell; but the gentlemen's houses are obscurely founded in the said lanes." On the extinction of the Scottish Parliament, the opening of new approaches to Edinburgh from the east, and the extension of the city northwards, the "Town" of the Canongate was almost entirely deserted by its nobility. The once palatial habitations of the old Burgh, in whose halls Scotland's beauties and gallant cavaliers passed the fleeting hours in gaiety or intrigue, have now almost disappeared, and what were formerly terraced gardens are now covered by manufactories or tenements divided into small houses crowded with inhabitants. With the exceptions of a few of the old buildings, and the names given to several of its lanes and closes to denote what were once the entrances to the dwellings of several of the nobles of Scotland, little remains to remind one of its former grandeur. Allan Ramsay, the poet, lamenting over the changes that occurred in his time, says,— "Oh Canongate, puir eldrich hole, What loss, what crosses, dost thou thole ! Wow but thou hast e'en a cauld coal Like the adjacent Barony of Broughton (on part of which is the New Town of Edinburgh), and holding likewise from the Abbacy of Holyrood, the independence of the Canongate as a Burgh has been swept away, the jurisdiction of its former magistracy abolished, and the entire area merged within the city. To use the words of one who steadfastly upheld the duty of preserving the landmarks of olden times :"Amidst all its changes, the Canongate has a sort of sacredness in it, independent of more distant recollections, such as containing the residences of many of the nobility of Scotland," &c.* In giving the following short account of the history of the Burgh and a few of the old buildings, however crude and imperfect the account may be, it may serve to assist in preserving some reminiscences of the Old Town of the Canongate. * Lord Cockburn's Memorials of his Times, p. 452. CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTION OF THE BURGH. A tected. LTHOUGH from an early date the town of Edinburgh was surrounded by fortifications, the Canongate was comparatively unproIn 1513 it was enclosed within walls, but these were of so slight a nature that no attempt to resist an enemy was ever made. Edinburgh on the north was defended by a marsh or bog and a sheet of water called the "Norloch," which lay between the base of the Castle rock and what was known as the "Lang-row" or "dykes," now the site of Princes Street. The loch extended to the foot of Halkerston's Wynd (a close immediately east of the North Bridge); a road or pathway from Moutrie's Hill (James' Square) led to the foot of Leith Wynd, at which a "port" giving access to the city was made in 1640. From the foot of Halkerston's Wynd a rampart extended to the north-west end of Leith Wynd, thence southwards to the Netherbow Port, St Mary's Wynd, (now St Mary's Street) the Cowgate Port, and then westwards. The town of the Canongate on the north was bounded by a roadway skirting the wall of the gardens of the houses, and which roadway commenced near the foot of Leith Wynd and extended to the Water-gate or Water-Yett, from which, by Abbey Hill, it joined the Easter Road, at that time the principal access to Edinburgh from Leith and other towns on the east coast. The only opening to the main street of the Burgh between Leith Wynd and the Water-Yett was by Rae's Close. On the south, the walls of gardens in rear of the houses on that side of the main street extended to the Parks and what is now called the "South Back of Canongate," and which will be seen from Gordon of Rothiemay's Map of Edinburgh, dated in 1646. As already mentioned, though the Canongate was surrounded by walls and had a gateway called the "Water-Yett," it was incapable of being defended, and when an enemy attacked Edinburgh, possession was at once taken of the Water Yett and Canongate, and an assault made on the city at the Netherbow Port. Numerous references are made to this Port in the accounts of the many conflicts during the wars with England and the struggles of contending parties in Scotland. When at war with England in 1540, Edinburgh was ordered to be put into a state of defence, the wall at Leith Wynd and the houses there being in a state of dilapidation, the citizens were called upon to repare honestlie thair waste and ruinous houses, quhilk if not dune it sall be lawful to cast doune and big ane honest substantial wa' frae the foot of the Netherbow Port to the Trinity College," then situated at the foot of the Wynd. The east side of the Wynd being also in disrepair, the Bailies of the Canongate were ordered to "get sic dune upoun the east side," as it lay within |