of St. Giles' Church, and placed some of his
men in the steeple to keep the citizens in awe.

They made "holes in the vaute of the Great Kirk of Edinburgh, which
they made like a riddell, to shoot thorough at suche as they pleased
within the kirk, or at such as would prease to breake down the
pillars."[274]

In 1560 St. Giles' again became the parish church, with John Knox for
its minister. It was afterwards considered too large for Protestant
worship, and in Knox's time the Magistrates began to cut it up into
sections and formed several churches. Other alterations were made at
different times, so that besides the High Church in the choir and the
Tolbooth Church in the nave there were under the same roof a grammar
school, courts of justice, the Town Clerk's office, a weaver's workshop,
and a place for the Maiden, or instruments of public executions! In
1633, on the introduction of Laud's form of worship, the church became
the seat of a bishop, and the choir was used as a cathedral. Between
1637 and 1661 it was again Presbyterian; from 1661 to 1690 it was once
more Episcopalian; at the Revolution the Presbyterian worship was again
restored, and the cathedral was divided with walls and filled with
galleries. The Tolbooth Church occupied the south-west angle, and
Haddow's Hole Church the north-west angle. The Old Church comprised the
south transept and portions adjoining; the Preston Aisle was used as a
place of meeting for the General Assembly and other purposes. The dark
portions under the crossing and north transept were occupied as the
police office. The alterations and rebuilding of 1829 left the cathedral
still divided into three separate churches, and "the ancient
architecture of the exterior of St. Giles was entirely obliterated by
the reconstruction."[275] As to this "restoration," Dr. Lees writes,
"What ensued was deplorable, and can scarcely be conceived by those who
have not themselves seen what was done."[276] On the other hand,
advantage was obtained by the removal of the small houses and booths
that had been built against the structure and between the buttresses.
All must at least be grateful that the steeple "was left alone."

The position of affairs remained thus until Dr. William Chambers, the
Lord Provost of Edinburgh, conceived the idea of removing the partitions
and opening up the whole building. By his exertions, and largely by his
own personal munificence, the restoration was effec