Show edinburgh sights sky 74 xa M V I 1 A tat 4 evl one of Edin burghs many monuments prepared by national So society Clety washington D C Serl serece ce focal point of many E tours through scotland Is singularly gul arly it if austerely beautiful the city is a honeycomb of maishe stone buildings rising to heights that made it the Manh manhattan attain of the middle ages some or of the walls so thick that long afterward eleanors elea tors rould could be installed without into the rooms by all precedents and guide borics bauks the visitor should head straight for castle till rut put to some the first thriller they eer read adne tor jekel anti anil mr alde e still mill Is tile the most ill anil id arile of so they hunt out I 1 brodies close lank and dirk dark to this day though not so evil smelling as nhen its dual denizen deacon crodle brodie was a doctor jekyll by day and a mr air llyde hyde by night pause before entering the close you would call it an alley and the minds exe ee converges into a swift news reel of events along the history encrusted royal mile little into dillich it grand dame eleanor ue nor countess of stair leaps from yonder window still lu fit full mew to escape a tantrum of her violent if blue blooded husband down a whispers one liag hag to another gossip front from opposite seventh stor stories lc the ancient walls leaning like two dainty mias later lady wallace skips across the way to fill a kettle from the coultaus ally well hoydenish duchess of gordon rides a sow she had captured under a neighbors fore forestal stairs rs while her more dignified sister belabors the animal with a stick only the backbone street was wide enough for carriages in those days ladles and gallants were borne in sedan sadan chairs by stout highlanders High landers into the side arteries for teas and calls burghers wives in silks or Scot lands fine wool shopped for jewels in basement m ent cubbyholes cubby holes or bought velvet and laces at tiny booths under roofs of the balconies reached by the peculiar fore stairs of nearly every tenement they were jostled by countrywoman countrywomen country women in green and crimson homespun and by sailors from ships that brought over cattle and tallow from froin the low countries the Lawn market sector brodies Brod les close opens now as then into the Lawn market sector of the mile where Scot lands parliament once ordained all cotton white and prey all lynning la Is to be sold there and in no uther place open stalls and canvas topped booths displaying bolts of cotton and webs of linen were besieged na as are bargain counters today about you remain the lands or tenements of 0 the days when a city wall pressed to an altitude and compactness pact ness like the lower east side in new york 0 of course your memory can disregard time and bring events of centuries into instant focus toddling aristocrats play with racing ragamuffins raga muffins they scurry at the approach of a party or of knights of france to in glittering armor their pennants flying on their way to a tournament to compete for the coveted kings prize a golden lanco lance one lay mary queen of scots spirited in ID spite of her til reception at leith rides by on oil a white palfrey a tiny pearl crown nestling nestlin on oil her high dressed hair twelve courtiers in black arid and crimson curry carry a canopy for her at Net herbow site she halts baits to receive the keys of the city she extends tier her little hand fur for the to kiss the sun suddenly emerges and glistens in fit her white satin gown quick witted she ae utters an sive give greeting tile the sun comes out with me master alaster provost thu the oty Is hers from mouth to boulli passes the cry god cod bless her bouble face no place for night strolls stroll teti ten the tavern and clubs disgorge their crowds everybody runles for home up cp and down don the street rings out the worlds alost effect live curfew the cry gardy foo gardy loell loo gardez beau down pour swill and garbage from hundreds of tenement windows it Is a Lic kleSs elt alt izen who has not reached slid ter little wonder the fussy hoswell boswell try log ing to pu bis big towns best beat fort forward for captious johnson complained 1 it I could not prevent his being assailed by the evening effluvia of edinburgh the residents of fashionable st james court were thought very aloof and squeamish when they engaged a private scavenger to remove their refuse toddy today alt all burgh Is equipped with a modern sewage disposal system and even its narrowest streets ar are kept immaculate from brodies Bro dieg close steals greats a stealthy sinister figure all wrapped round in a black coat beneath its folds he ha clutches a pistol and a ring of keys 1 furtively urthelly urt hely he be enters this shop and that earlier in the evening any evening for several years a most respectable toxin tow n councilor who also was a deacon of the guild of wrights and masons attired in immaculate tall coat and breeches might have been seen leaning against a door post where some merchant had trustfully hung his keys while he was at his tavern concealed in the palm of his hand was a clay mold from an impression it was easy to make a key robberies became so frequent that the town counell council called a meeting deacon brodle brodie gracely counseled about ways of stopping the depredations ne ile thoughtfully advised tradesmen about the kinds of bolts to put on their doors so zealous was he that he even went about while merchants were at dinner to make sure their doors were locked one night a particularly heinous robbery took place and two culprits were caught A third escaped strangely the highly respectable deacon brodle brodie also disappeared stories went around certain cronies whispered how the good deacon gambled with them for high stakes two of his mistresses distresses mi stresses complained that the kind gentleman had gone away and made no provision for them deacon brodle brodie was apprehended in amsterdam lodged in the grim and executed october 1 1783 ills skeleton keys now dow hang in the museum of antiquities ilia his strange case was immortalized by stevenson the fact that he be could operate on such a cramped stage scarcely a twenty minute walk ln in any direction from hla his happy family fireside emphasizes emphasize the tremendous crowding of 0 tile old town architecture of old times the royal mile ilelle from rom castle mil through Lawn market high street and anon gate Is clean today but its tenements are just as crowded and they justify the modern implication of the term for wealth and fashion have migrated to the broad streets and stately squares of the new town there remain the molded doorways armorial bearings crests und and texts the peak gables the intricately carved flut als the mammoth locks and door handles and the exterior fore forestalls forestal staIrs rs leading up one flight to the interior turnpike to the floors above one architectural feature Is puzzling in some houses there appears a slit much narrower than other windows inspection discloses that these apertures aper tures light tiny closets opening off the dining rooms they were retreats for the head ot of the house where v here he be I 1 might perform his devotions from it Is only a short walk to castle rock whence edinburgh was hewn which anchored the old town which uplifts the castle whose history spring spans half the world standing guard over the opposite end of princes street from castle rock in calton affording a view that reaches out to fife and tile the calton Is dotted with fin an ani amazing axing collection of monumental and ar architectural curiosities which somehow seem to achieve harmony beside the incomplete parthenon of 0 columns there Is a nelson monument that shelters a museum homely bobble burns Is awarded a copy of the chora choragic ic temple of lyal crates a high school reproduces the temple of theseus at athens there also are an observatory a burying ground the tombs of flume and of Steen sons parents and a baill gazing in another direction from calton the lite eye catches lonely holyroyd Holy roud aloof from the lite vity ing under the mighty shadows of sal asbury crags |