may we return.« The application of these relics of the Heart of
Mid-Lothian to serve as the postern-gate to a court of modern offices, may be
justly ridiculed as whimsical; but yet it is not without interest, that we see
the gateway through which so much of the stormy politics of a rude age, and the
vice and misery of later times, had found their passage, now occupied in the
service of rural economy. Last year, to complete the change, a tomtit was
pleased to build her nest within the lock of the Tolbooth, - a strong temptation
to have committed a sonnet, had the Author, like Tony Lumpkin, been in a
concatenation accordingly.
It is worth mentioning, that an act of beneficence celebrated the demolition of
the Heart of Mid-Lothian. A subscription, raised and applied by the worthy
Magistrate above mentioned, procured the manumission of most of the unfortunate
debtors confined in the old jail, so that there were few or none transferred to
the new place of confinement.
 
12 This little incident, characteristic of the extreme composure of this
extraordinary mob, was witnessed by a lady, who, disturbed like others from her
slumbers, had gone to the window. It was told to the Author by the lady's
daughter.
 
13 The following interesting and authentic account of the inquiries made by
Crown Counsel into the affair of the Porteous Mob, seems to have been drawn up
by the Solicitor-General. The office was held in 1737 by Charles Erskine, Esq.
I owe this curious illustration to the kindness of a professional friend. It
throws, indeed, little light on the origin of the tumult; but shows how profound
the darkness must have been, which so much investigation could not dispel.
»Upon the 7th of September last, when the unhappy wicked murder of Captain
Porteus was committed, His Majesty's Advocate and Solicitor were out of town;
the first beyond Inverness, and the other in Annandale, not far from Carlyle;
neither of them knew anything of the reprieve, nor did they in the least suspect
that any disorder was to happen.
When the disorder happened, the magistrates and other persons concerned in the
management of the town, seemed to be all struck of a heap; and whether, from the
great terror that had seized all the inhabitants, they thought ane immediate
enquiry would be fruitless, or whether, being a direct insult upon the
prerogative of the crown, they did not care rashly to intermeddle; but no
proceedings was had by them. Only, soon after, ane express was sent to his
Majestie