EDINBURGH SKETCHES & MEMORIES BY DAVID MASSON PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH LONDON AND EDINBURGH ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1892 PREFATORY NOTE The following Papers, though in their collected state they have a certain continuity of general subject, were written at different times and for different purposes. One is a modified reprint of an article which appeared in the _Westminster Review_ as long ago as 1856. Seven of the others were contributed, at intervals within the last twelve years, to _Macmillan’s Magazine_, _The Scotsman_, or _The Scots Observer_, and are reprinted now with courteous permission. The remaining five are from manuscript of various dates since 1867, and are now published for the first time. An occasional small recurrence of fact or of phrase in the series may be excused in consideration that the Papers, thus written separately, may still be read separately. EDINBURGH: _March 1892_. CONTENTS PAGE I. QUEEN MARY’S EDINBURGH:— 1. Queen Mary’s Return to Scotland, August 1561 1 2. Plan and Fabric of Edinburgh in 1561 9 3. The Edinburgh Population in 1561 20 II. ROBERT ROLLOCK AND THE BEGINNINGS OF EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 35 III. KING JAMES’S FAREWELL TO HOLYROOD 61 IV. PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN 76 V. ALLAN RAMSAY 88 VI. LADY WARDLAW AND THE BARONESS NAIRNE 110 VII. EDINBURGH THROUGH THE DUNDAS DESPOTISM 141 VIII. THE LAST YEARS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 204 IX. CARLYLE’S EDINBURGH LIFE:— Part I.—1809–1818 226 Part II.—1818–1822 262 Part III.—1822–1828 302 X. CHARLES KIRKPATRICK SHARPE 359 XI. JOHN HILL BURTON 372 XII. DR. JOHN BROWN OF EDINBURGH 384 XIII. LITERARY HISTORY OF EDINBURGH: A GENERAL REVIEW 417 QUEEN MARY’S EDINBURGH[1] I.—QUEEN MARY’S RETURN TO SCOTLAND, AUGUST 1561