The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1Finden, W. (William)
History
The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1
Finden, W. (William)
Coasts -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works; Great Britain -- Pictorial works
In 1484, it was agreed on, by commissioners appointed by the two
kingdoms, that the debatable ground in the neighbourhood of Berwick
should remain without culture, buildings, or inhabitants; and by a
treaty, concluded at Norham, 10th June, 1551, between Edward VI. and
Mary Queen of Scots, Berwick was declared to be a free town, independent
of both kingdoms. Notwithstanding this declaration, Berwick continued
subject to English authority, and, during the reigns of Mary and
Elizabeth, was garrisoned with English soldiers. At the Union of the two
kingdoms in 1707, Berwick, as a salvo to national pride, was considered
as a separate and independent territory; and it is to this cause that,
in Public Acts and Forms of Prayer, the "Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed" is
especially mentioned.
[10] The other three were Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh.
[Illustration: LEITH PIER AND HARBOUR.]
LEITH.
This view is taken from the pier, with Edinburgh, the Castle,
the Calton-hill, Salisbury-crags, and Arthur's-seat in the
background.
Leith, which performs nearly the same important services to the "Modern
Athens" as the "Piræus" did to the Ancient, has long served as the port
and harbour of Edinburgh, to the prosperity of which, as well as to that
of the whole country, it has greatly contributed. As early as the
beginning of the fourteenth century the citizens of Edinburgh received
from King Robert I. a grant of the harbour of Leith; but, owing to the
resistance of a powerful family, to whose interests it was prejudicial,
the royal grant was of little or no value to the city. As soon, however,
as the difference was adjusted, and the corporation of Edinburgh had
obtained undisturbed possession of the harbour, symptoms of mercantile
prosperity became visible. But as this prosperity was confined to the
corporation, the inhabitants of Leith were naturally incensed at the
monopoly; they felt themselves debarred from the natural advantages,
profits, and employments of their maritime position, and daily beheld
the wealth which flowed into their port transferred to the hands of
those who were neither resident nor proprietors in the place. In 1555 a
strong effort was made by the inhabitants of Leith to throw off their
humiliating dependence. With this object in view they petitioned the
Queen Regent of Scotland, Mary of Lorraine, for the royal sanction and
assistance; and succeeded as far as to get Leith erected into a burgh of
barony, a preparatory step to its being raised to the independence of a
burgh royal. From this epoch, however, having obtained letters patent,
empowering the inhabitants to elect magistrates, and charters for
erecting divers of their trades and arts into corporations, Leith
acquired the name and distinction of a town. By these charters the
people were divided into four classes, each of which became an
incorporated body, known as the shipmasters, the traffickers or
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