Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/689

667 EDINBURGH 667 the antique tower of Napier, famous as the inventor of logarithms, and the Watt Institution and School of Arts, all merit notice among the more important educational institutions; and under the Edinburgh School Board efficient schools are now in operation in various districts of the city, mostly lying beyond the range of the Heriot s schools. Charities. Among the public charities of the city the Trinity Hospital, no longer maintained as a hospital with resident pensioners, now expends its income in pensions of from 10 to 20, to 172 poor burgesses, their wives, or children, not under the age of fifty years. The benevolent branch of the Gillespie s Hospital endowment is similarly administered. The Chalmers Hospital, founded by George Chalmers in 1836, destined for the reception of the sick and hurt, stands on the southern slope of Lauriston, over looking the Meadows, and at no great distance from the New Royal Infirmary, to which it is a useful adjunct. In addition to those, it may suffice to name the Convalescent House where, in a pleasant country home near Corstor- phine, the convalescents of the Infirmary are transferred from the surgical or fever wards of that hospital to healthful fresh air, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, the Home for Crippled Children, the Hospital for Incurables, the Royal Maternity Hospital, along with other kindred institutions. The Royal Asylum for the Insane is at Morningside, on the southern outskirts of the city ; and the Royal Blind Asylum, and the Deaf and Dumb Benevolent Society, each provide for the special classes indicated by their names. Prisons. The different city prisons are grouped together on the southern terrace of the Calton Hill, styled of old the Dow Craig, so as to form a very striking feature in the general view of the city from various points. They are con structed in a semi-castellated style ; and the house of the governor of the jail, built on the summit of a rock overlook ing the whole, and on the very edge of a bold perpendicular cliff, looks not unlike one of the old castles familiar to the voyager on the Rhine. The General Post-Office is the central office for Scotland, alike for postal and telegraphic service, and the building devoted to those purposes is a large and effective structure in the Italian style of architecture, at the east end of Princes Street, directly opposite to the Register Office. General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. During the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland, Edinburgh was the seat of a bishop, and the ancient collegiate church of St Giles rose to the dignity of a cathedral. The annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Edinburgh is now the grand public manifestation of the predominance of Presbyterianism as the national church. Annually in the month of May a nobleman, commissioned to act as the representative of the Queen, takes up his abode at the Palace of Holyrood, and proceeds from thence in state to the High Church, and thence to the Assembly Hall on the Castle Hill, as the lord high commissioner to the General Assembly of the national church. The lord provost and magistrates loyally offer to him the keys of the city. Levees, receptions, and state dinners revive in some degree the ancient glories of Holyrood ; and, as the General Assembly of the Free Church and the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church are usually held at the same time, the streets of Edinburgh present a singular aspect to a stranger. Places of Worship The buildings set apart as places of worship by the various denominations include 30 belonging to the Church of Scotland, 29 to the Free Church, 23 to the United Presbyterian Church, 14 to the Episcopal Church, and about 30 others to different religious deno minations, including a Jewish synagogue. St Giles s Church. Among the buildings dedicated to the worship of the different denominations, the ancient collegiate church of St Giles is the most important, alike in its architecture and its historical associations. The Regent Murray, the marquis of Montrose, and Napier of Merchiston are distinguished among the eminent men interred in the ancient church, by monuments marking their tombs. The choir, which has recently been cleared of encumbering galleries, and tastefully fitted up with oaken stalls, and a fine carved pulpit of Caen-stone, is a beautiful example of the ecclesiastical architecture of the 15th century; and the fine Gothic crown which surmounts the central tower forms one of the most characteristic features in every view of the city. The domes, towers, and spires of the various churches add to the general effect of the city, and in some cases they even present an imposing aspect from their ele vated and commanding sites. But none of them is of sufficient importance to invite notice for any special architectural beauty, though several are works of merit. By the bequest of Miss Walker of Coates and Drumsheugh, who died in 1871, funds have been set apart for the erec tion of a cathedral for the use of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The plans have been prepared by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, in the Early Pointed style of the 14th century, and include a nave, choir, transepts, and chapter-house. If completed according to the approved design, it Avill be the largest and finest church erected in Scotland, if not in Britain, since the Reformation. Monuments. The monuments and statues which adorn the city are of a peculiar character, and contribute to the singular aspect which Edinburgh presents to the eye of a stranger. The fame of Sir George Mackenzie, David Hume, Dugald Stewart, Playfair, Burns, and Scott is commemorated in the case of each by an effective monumental structure dedicated to his memory. Of these the most remarkable is the monument erected by public subscription in memory of Sir Walter Scott, which stands in the eastern division of the Princes Street Gardens. The design, which was furnished by a young architect, Mr G. W. Kemp, is that of a spiral Gothic cross, of great elegance both in outline and in details. A marble statue of Scott, by Sir John Steell, is placed under the central canopy; and the prin cipal niches are occupied by figures of characters in Scott s writings. The Nelson monument, a lofty castel lated turret which crowns the highest cliff of the Calton Hill, though of questionable architectural taste, is a striking feature in the general view of the city ; and the Melville monument, a graceful and well-proportioned column 136 feet in height, surmounted by a colossal statue of Viscount Melville, first lord of the admiralty under Pitt, rises from the centre of St Andrew Square, and terminates the eastern vista of George Street, with a repro duction, in its proportions and general outline, of the celebrated Trajan column at Rome. Distant half a mile from this, at the west end of George Street, Charlotte Square furnishes a corresponding site for the monument of Prince Albert, from the design of Sir John Steell. A central pedestal, which sustains the equestrian statue of the Prince Consort, has at each of the four angles at its base a group of figures representing different classes of the com munity paying honour to him ; and bas-reliefs, executed, like the statues, in bronze, illustrate characteristic incidents in the Prince s career. George Street is further adorned at the intersection of two of the intermediate streets between St Andrew and Charlotte Squares, with colossal bronze statues by Chantrey of George IV. and Pitt. The beautiful garden terrace of Princes Street, on which the Scott monument stands, also affords appropriate sites for the statues of Allan Ramsay, John Wilson, and other distinguished Scotchmen; at other prominent points in