380 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxix. 



of the Lord Justice-Clerk, were heard approaching, on 

 which the sentinel exclaimed, with an oath, ' Here come 

 the rounds I have been telling you of this half-hour ; you 

 have ruined both yourself and me ; I can serve you no 

 longer.' With that he threw down the grappling-iron and 

 ladders, and, in the hope of covering his own guilt, fired 

 his musket, and cried ' Enemy ! ' Every man was then 

 compelled to shift for himself, the patrol firing on them 

 from the wall. Twelve soldiers of the burgher guard, who 

 had been directed by the Lord Justice-Clerk to make the 

 round of the Castle on the outside, took prisoners three 

 youths, who insisted that they were found there by mere 

 accident, and an old man, Captain MacLean, an officer of 

 James VII, who was much bruised by a fall from the 

 rocks. The rest of the party escaped alongst the north 

 bank of the North Loch, through the fields called Bare- 

 foord's Parks, on which the new town of Edinburgh now 

 stands. In their retreat they met their tardy engineer, 

 Charles Forbes, loaded with the ladders which were so 

 much wanted a quarter of an hour before. Had it not 

 been for his want of punctuality, the information and pre- 

 cautions of the Lord Justice-Clerk would have been in- 

 sufficient for the safety of the place. It does not appear 

 that any of the conspirators were punished, nor would 

 it have been easy to obtain proof of their guilt. The 

 treacherous sergeant was hanged by the sentence of a 

 court-martial, and the Deputy-Governor (whose name of 

 Stewart might perhaps aggravate the suspicions that 

 attached to him), was deprived of his office, and imprisoned 

 for some time." 



That the physician-conspirator of this history is Professor 

 William Arthur, King's Botanist, is established by his own 

 confession, as will appear in the account I now proceed to 

 give of what I have been able to learn about him. 



William Arthur was a native of Fifeshire, the fourth son 

 of Patrick Arthur of Ballone, near Elie. He was born in 

 1680. 1 His father, who was at one time Surgeon- Apothe- 

 cary at Wemyss, and afterwards settled at Elie, must have 



1 William Arthur, son to Margaret and Patrick Arthur, was baptised 

 2nd of September 1680 — Witnesses, David Leslie, Master of Newwark ; 

 Dr. William Borthwick. (Baptismal Register, Elie Parish.) 



