Note 60 — Part III.

The old jail in the Canongate of Edinburgh is still an object of interest. Jailers in the past occupied a very different position from what they do now. They acted more in the capacity of taverners than their brethren of the present day. In English plays and novels of last century their position is fully shown; and in the same period a similar state of matters existed in Scotland. In Glasgow, after the erection of the Tolbooth at the Cross, in 1627, the jailer was given a yearly salary of 40 merks (£2 4s. 5½ sterling), and he was to receive from every burgess or inhabitant of the city who should be committed to his care 2s. Scots (2d. sterling) for entry and booking fee, and the same sum for every twenty-four hours during which the person should be incarcerated. Outsiders, however, had double fees to pay their host. On account of ‘having only thiefes and lounes as prisoners,’ and getting no profit from them, the jailer of 1661 received from the Town Council of Glasgow a grant of £20 Scots (£1 13s. 4d. sterling). The Privy Council Records show that in 1696 the keeper of Canongate Tolbooth was allowed 2s. Scots per night, with one penny sterling for the servants—in all 3d. sterling—for every recruit he kept.