1 8 1 4- 1 840 PARE NT A GE 



described in Scott's Heart of Midlothian, the mob, 

 coming down the West Bow with their wretched victim, 

 stopped at the shop of Crombie, the dyer, with the 

 object of hanging Porteous from the pole above the 

 door, when a shout arose that it would be a shame to 

 do the deed at the door of so worthy a man. The 

 crowd, determined as it was on vengeance, recognised 

 the justice of this protest, and passed down into the 

 Grassmarket, where they made use of the pole of 

 another dyer not so popular among his townsmen. 

 The last representative of the family who still carried 

 on the trade of dyer in Edinburgh was a not less 

 worthy citizen John Crombie, who, firm in the ancient 

 ways, went about in a tail-coat and ' stock ' up to the 

 end of his life, in 1874. He was a cousin of Sir 

 Andrew C. Ramsay, who often stayed in his hospi- 

 table house during visits to Edinburgh. 



Mrs. Ramsay was a woman of strongly-marked 

 character, uniting a firmness of purpose with a gentle- 

 ness and sweetness of nature that gave her remarkable 

 influence over all who came in contact with her. 

 Clever and wise, she had had her natural powers 

 quickened and trained by an excellent education. She 

 was beloved by the young, for whom her face used 

 to light up with a cordial welcome. In the esteem 

 and affections of her sons she ever held the foremost 

 place. Her husband died in 1827, and her circum- 

 stances became thereafter somewhat straitened, but her 

 cheery spirit and unruffled temper enabled her to keep 

 a happy, though modest home for her children. She 

 survived until the year 1858. The children of this 

 marriage were four in number Eliza, born in 1810, 

 William in 1811, Andrew Crombie in 1814, and John 

 in 1816. 



