refusal to pay for his work--notwithstanding their promise to protect
him and his workmen from the Highland freebooters--so preyed upon his
mind that he was never again able to devote himself to business.
One evening, whilst sitting at his fireside with his grandchild on his
knee, a death-like faintness came over him; he set the child down
carefully by the side of his chair, and then fell forward dead on his
hearthstone.

Thus ended the life of Michael Naesmyth in 1705, at the age of
fifty-three. He was buried by the side of his ancestors in the old
family tomb in the Greyfriars Churchyard.

[Image] The Naesmyth Tomb in Greyfriars Churchyard

This old tomb, dated 1614, though much defaced, is one of the most
remarkable of the many which surround the walls of that ancient and
memorable burying-place.

Greyfriars Churchyard is one of the most interesting places in
Edinburgh. The National Covenant was signed there by the Protestant
nobles and gentry of Scotland in 1638. The prisoners taken at the
battle of Bothwell Brig were shut up there in 1679, and, after enduring
great privations, a portion of the survivors were sent off to
Barbadoes. When I first saw the tombstone, an ash tree was growing out
of the top of the main body of it, though that has since been removed.
In growing, the roots had pushed out the centre stone, which has not
been replaced. The tablet over it contains the arms of the family,
the broken hammer-shafts, and the motto "Non arte sed marte." There are
the remains of a very impressive figure, apparently rising from her
cerements. The body and extremities remain, but the head has been