the day; nor ought any enthusiast to deny
that the heart-shaped figure on the High street pavement, marking the
spot where the Heart of Mid Lothian once stood, is a more cheerful sight
than would be presented by the foul walls of that romantic jail.

[Illustration: RIDDLE'S CLOSE, WHERE HUME COMMENCED HIS "HISTORY OF
ENGLAND."]

The modes of life in old Edinburgh have been amply illustrated by many
writers. Among the novel-writers, Scott and Miss Ferrier have especially
dwelt upon them. The tavern-haunting habits of the gentlemen are
pleasantly depicted in the "high jinks" in _Guy Mannering_, and the
depth of potations may be estimated by Burns's "Song of the Whistle." As
to the ladies, we should not have found their assemblies very hilarious,
where partners for the dance were obtained by drawing tickets, and the
lucky or unlucky swain danced one solemn minuet with his lady, and was
not expected to quit her side during the evening--

Through a long night to watch fair Delia's will,
The same dull swain was at her elbow still.

The huge stack of buildings called James's Court is associated with the
names of Boswell and of Hume. Half of it has been destroyed by fire,
and precisely that half in which these two worthies once dwelt, but
there is quite enough of it left to show what a grim monster it was,
and, for that matter, still is. In Boswell's time it was a fine thing to
have a flat in James's Court. Here Boswell was living when Dr. Johnson
came to visit him. Boswell, having received a note from Johnson
announcing his arrival, hastened to the inn, where he found the great
man had just thrown his lemonade out of the window, and had nearly
knocked down the waiter for sweetening the said lemonade without the aid
of the sugar-tongs.

"Mr. Johnson and I walked arm-in-arm up the High street," says Boswell,
"to my house in James's Court: it was a dusky night: I could not prevent
his being assailed by the evening effluvia of Edinburgh. As we marched
slowly along he grumbled in my ear, 'I smell you in the dark.'"

Mrs. Boswell had never seen Johnson before, and was by no means charmed
with him, as Johnson was not slow to discover. In a matrimonial aside
she whispered to her husband, "I have seen many a bear led by a man, but
I never before saw a man led by a bear." No doubt her provocations were
great, and she wins the compassionate sympathy of all good housekeepers
when they read of Ursa Major brightening up the ca