[891] In MS. G, "dewtiefull;" Vautr. edit. "duteifull obedience."
[892] In MS. G, "towards us your."
[893] "Mot" is omitted both in MS. G. and Vautr. edit.
[894] The inhabitants or Congregation of Edinburgh, met in the Tolbooth or Council House, on the 7th July 1559, and publickly elected Knox as their Minister.—(Historie of the Estate of Scotland, in Wodrow Miscellany, p. 63.) "With this choice, (Dr. MʻCrie remarks,) which was approved by his brethren, Knox judged it his duty to comply, and immediately began his labours in the City." He was soon afterwards obliged to leave Edinburgh, but John Willock, who became his colleague, supplied his place, and in the month of August dispensed the Sacrament in St. Giles's Church.—(ib. p. 67.)
[895] In MS. G. and Vautr. edit. "began."
[896] The Tolbooth or Council House must not be confounded with the Old Tollbooth or Jail, which was described in 1561 as ruinous, and ordered to be demolished. It was, however, repaired, and has been immortalized as "The Heart of Mid-Lothian." In Chambers's "Reekiana," a number of curious and interesting notices are collected regarding this building, which was situated at the west-end of St. Giles's Church, and encroached so much on that part of the High Street, called the Luckenbooths, as to leave only a kind of lane to the north, of 14 feet wide. Further to the south, and connected with the south-west corner of St. Giles's Church, with a covered passage to the Parliament Square, there was a large mass of buildings, which included what was known as the New Tolbooth or Council House, the Goldsmith's Hall, &c. All these were pulled down when the Signet Library was built, and the ornamented exterior of the Parliament House, (begun in 1632, and completed in 1640,) was so unfortunately sacrificed. The Old Tolbooth or Jail was demolished in 1817; and the changes which took place in and around the Parliament Square at that time, completely altered the singularly picturesque character of the Old Town of Edinburgh.
[897] Here, and in other places, Vautr. edit. has "Church."
[898] In Vautr. edit. the word "Kirk" or "Church" is omitted.
[899] The Abbey of Cambuskenneth was founded by King David the First, in the year 1147. This House, of the order of Canon-Regulars of St. Augustine, although connected with Stirling, is in the parish of Logie, and shire of Clackmannan. It was situated on the north side of the river Forth, about one mile N.E. from the town of Stirling. During the wars with England, it was often plundered, but in 1569, it was nearly all demolished; and there now remains little besides a square tower of fine proportions, to indicate its site.—See Sir J.G. Dalyell's "Brief Analysis of the Chartularies of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, Chapel Royal of Stirling," &c. Edinb. 1828. 8vo.
[900] In Vautr. edit. "Lyndors."—The Abbey of Lindores, in the parish of Newburgh, Fife, was, like most of our monastic buildings, finely situated, overlooking the fertile shores of the Tay. It was founded by David Earl of Huntingdon, brother to King William the Lion, upon his return from the Holy Land, about the year 1178. It was erected into a temporal lordship by King James the Sixth, 20th December 1600, in favour of Sir Patrick Lesley of Pitcairly, son of Andrew fifth Earl of Rothes, who had held the Abbacy in Commendam, since 1581.—John Abbot of Lindores who is here mentioned, must have been a person of some importance; yet his name has not been discovered, although he sat in Parliament in 1542 and subsequent years, and he appears in the Sederunt of the Lords of Session, in November 1544. Some further particulars respecting him will be given in a subsequent note.