determined band of associates.
The appearance of premeditation and order which distinguished the riot,
according to his account, had its origin, not in any previous plan or
conspiracy, but in the character of those who were engaged in it. The story also
serves to show why nothing of the origin of the riot has ever been discovered,
since though in itself a great conflagration, its source, according to this
account, was from an obscure and apparently inadequate cause.
I have been disappointed, however, in obtaining the evidence on which this story
rests. The present proprietor of the estate on which the old man died (a
particular friend of the author) undertook to question the son of the deceased
on the subject. This person follows his father's trade, and holds the employment
of carpenter to the same family. He admits that his father's going abroad at the
time of the Porteous Mob was popularly attributed to his having been concerned
in that affair; but adds that, so far as is known to him, the old man had never
made any confession to that effect; and, on the contrary, had uniformly denied
being present. My kind friend, therefore, had recourse to a person from whom he
had formerly heard the story; but who, either from respect to an old friend's
memory, or from failure of his own, happened to have forgotten that ever such a
communication was made. So my obliging correspondent (who is a fox-hunter) wrote
to me that he was completely planted; and all that can be said with respect to
the tradition is, that it certainly once existed, and was generally believed.
 
14 A beautiful and solid pathway has, within a few years, been formed around
these romantic rocks; and the Author has the pleasure to think, that the passage
in the text gave rise to the undertaking.
 
15 Dumbiedikes, selected as descriptive of the taciturn character of the
imaginary owner, is really the name of a house bordering on the King's Park, so
called because the late Mr. Braidwood, an instructor of the deaf and dumb,
resided there with his pupils. The situation of the real house is different from
that assigned to the ideal mansion.
 
16 Immediately previous to the Revolution, the students at the Edinburgh College
were violent anti-catholics. They were strongly suspected of burning the house
of Prestonfield, belonging to Sir James Dick, the Lord Provost; and certainly
were guilty of creating considerable riots in 1688-9.
 
17 The Author has been flattered by the assurance, that this naïve mode of
recommending arboriculture