Some of the fine houses are left, but the inhabitants are of the poorest, and Miss Howden left her savings to start a Free Kindergarten in the Canongate.

THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH IV.

THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH.

The Canongate Tolbooth was our portion, the darkest and foulest of the city prisons; and presently I found myself forced through a gateway and up a narrow staircase, into a little chamber in which a score of beings were already penned.

I did not reflect that Miss Elspeth Blair must have risen early and ridden far to be in the Canongate at this hour.

And with her laughter most unpleasantly in my ears I made my way into the Canongate, and so to my lodgings at Mrs. Macvittie's.

Then she looked towards me again, and smiled with that witching mockery which had pricked my temper in the Canongate Tolbooth.

On Saturday the fourteenth of August, 1773, late in the evening, I received a note from him, that he was arrived at Boyd's inn, at the head of the Canongate.

Mr. Murray at once took advantage of this opening to draw closer the bonds between himself and Ballantyne, for he well knew who was the leading spirit in the firm, and showed himself desirous of obtaining the London agency of the publishing business, which, as he rightly discerned, would soon be started in connection with the Canongate Press, and in opposition to Constable.

Murray was able to place much printing work in their hands, and amongst other books, "Mrs. Rundell's Cookery," a valuable property, which had now reached a very large circulation, was printed at the Canongate Press.

All this they kept to themselves; and that same night they contrived to get the sexton of the Canongate to inter the body as that of a rebel who had been killed, and left where it was found.

" "Or the Chronicles of the Canongate.

* * CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE.

[We have the pleasure of submitting to our readers, (almost entire,) one of the stories of the forthcoming Chronicles of the Canongate, it being the second narrative, and the last in the first volume, and as well as the others, founded on true incidents.

It may not be generally known, that the first rehearsal of this tragedy took place in the lodgings in the Canongate, occupied by Mrs. Sarah Ward, one of Digges' company; and that it was rehearsed by, and in presence of, the most distinguished literary characters Scotland ever could boast of.

* * CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE.

To judge from what he says in the second volume of "the Chronicles of the Canongate," just publishedI mean in the character of Mr. Croftangry,it is clear that he is conscious of such slips and carelessness as I have before pointed out.

BA´LIOL (Edward), usurper of Scotland, introduced in Redgauntlet, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.). Ba´liol (Mrs.), friend of Mr. Croftangry, in the introductory chapter of The Fair Maid of Perth, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, Henry IV.). Ba´liol (Mrs. Martha Bethune), a lady of quality and fortune, who had a house called Baliol Lodging, Canongate, Edinburgh.

At her death she left to her cousin Mr. Croftangry two series of tales called The Chronicles of Canongate (q.v.), which he published.

CHRONICLES OF CANONGATE, certain stories supposed to have been written by Mrs. Martha Bethune Baliol, a lady of quality and fortune, who lived, when in Edinburgh, at Baliol Lodging, in the Canongate.

"Chronicles of Canongate" (introduction to The Highland Widow).

We threaded the Canongate and climbed to the Castle; and finally, after a day and a half's sojourn, buckled on our knapsacks and marched out of the Northern Athens.

" The next day they entered the town by the Canongate, and were surprised and amused at the busy scene passing there.

While going down the Canongate one day last year, I was presented with a parcel by a lady carrying a baby, which contained bread and cheese, cakes, and a threepenny piece.

Burns, who learned much from him, was an enthusiast in his regard for him, bared his head and shed tears over 'the green mound and the scattered gowans,' under which he found his exemplar lying in Canongate Churchyard, and got leave from the managers to put up a headstone at his own cost there" (1750-1774).