[4] A disturbance broke out, and when the detested City Guard Captain John Porteous gave the order for his soldiers to open fire into the crowd, the mob was subdued, instantly killing a man and injuring numerous innocent bystanders.

They attacked the Guard House on the Royal Mile with Bayonet and Lochaber axes before taking control of the city's ports.

Drummond's dramatic interpretation of the events in Sir Walter Scott's novel takes place against a beautiful backdrop of the Grassmarket in Edinburgh.

[6] Based on his own vivid paintings of Old Town buildings in the 1840s and 1850s, Drummond created a dramatic lighting scheme for his "stage set" of the Castle and the Grassmarket apartments.

[1] Torches illuminate Candlemaker Rows and faces can be seen peeping out of every window, where rioters stop a woman in her vehicle and drag a drummer to the cobblestones.