t was
then I first became acquainted with the quarter, which my little work
will, I hope, render immortal, and grew familiar with those magnificent
wilds, through which the Kings of Scotland once chased the dark-brown
deer, but which were chiefly recommended to me in those days, by their
being inaccessible to those metaphysical persons, whom the law of the
neighbouring country terms John Doe and Richard Roe. In short, the
precincts of the palace are now best known as being a place of refuge at
any time from all pursuit for civil debt.

Dire was the strife betwixt my quondam doer and myself; during which my
motions were circumscribed, like those of some conjured demon, within
a circle, which, "beginning at the northern gate of the King's
Park, thence running northways, is bounded on the left by the King's
garden-wall, and the gutter, or kennel, in a line wherewith it crosses
the High Street to the Watergate, and passing through the sewer, is
bounded by the walls of the Tennis Court and Physic Gardens, etc. It
then follows the wall of the churchyard, joins the north west wall of St
Ann's Yards, and going east to the clackmill-house, turns southward to
the turnstile in the King's Park wall, and includes the whole King's
Park within the Sanctuary."

These limits, which I abridge from the accurate Maitland, once marked
the Girth, or Asylum, belonging to the Abbey of Holyrood, and which,
being still an appendage to the royal palace, has retained the privilege
of an asylum for civil debt. One would think the space sufficiently
extensive for a man to stretch his limbs in, as, besides a reasonable
proportion of level ground (considering that the scene lies in
Scotland), it includes within its precincts the mountain of Arthur's
Seat and the rocks and pasture land called Salisbury Crags. But yet it
is inexpressible how, after a certain time had elapsed, I used to long
for Sunday, which permitted me to extend my walk without limitation.
During the other six days of the week I felt a sickness of heart, which,
but for the speedy approach of the hebdomadal day of liberty, I could
hardly have endured. I experienced the impatience of a mastiff who tugs
in vain to extend the limits which his chain permits.

Day after day I walked by the side of the kennel which divides the
Sanctuary from the unprivileged part of the Canongate; and though the
month was July, and the scene the old town of Edinburgh, I preferred
it to the fresh air and v