Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/414

 406 EDINBURGH the frith at Leith, the port of Edinburgh, dis- tant 2 m. Leith is connected with Edinburgh by a spacious street called the Leith Walk. Edinburgh castle is one of the most remark- able public buildings of the city. In former times it was called Castrum Puellarum, be- cause, as it is said, the daughters of the Pictish kings resided there before their marriage. Its position upon a rugged basaltic rock, perpen- dicular on all sides except that next the old town, is picturesque and romantic. Its con- struction is irregular, and it has no great value as a fortification. It can accommodate 2,000 soldiers, and has an armory with space for 30,000 stand of arms. On its summit is a huge cannon, Mons Meg, formed of staves of wrought iron surrounded by hoops, supposed to have been constructed at Mons, Hainaut, in 1468. The regalia of Scotland, consisting of the crown, sceptre, sword of state, and trea- surer's mace, are deposited in the crown room of the castle, and on the ground floor is a small apartment in which Queen Mary gave birth to James VI. The palace of Holyrood, in the E. part of the town, was the ancient residence of the Scottish kings. A part of the present structure was built in 1528, in the reign of James V. The edifice is quadran- gular, with an open square in the centre, the sides of which are 94 ft. long. This palace was the residence of Mary, queen of Scots, and was the scene of Rizzio's murder. The queen's bedchamber is still shown almost exactly in the same state as when she occupied it. The largest apartment in the palace is known as the picture gallery ; it contains 106 pictures which purport to be portraits of the ancient kings of Scotland. Adjoining the palace are the ruins of the abbey of Holyrood, founded by David I. in 1128. Its precincts, including Salisbury crags and Arthur's Seat, are a sanc- tuary within which debtors are privileged from arrest. The royal institution, one of the finest buildings of Edinburgh, built between 1823 and 1836, stands at the termination of the Earthen Mound and fronts on Princes street. It has a range of Doric pillars on each side and one in front. It belongs to the board of trus- tees for manufactures in Scotland, and furnish- es rooms for the accommodation of the royal institution for the encouragement of fine arts in Scotland, and for other institutions. The national gallery of painting and sculpture stands upon the Mound ; it is a fine building of the Ionic order of architecture. At the E. end of Princes street is the register house, a costly building 200 ft. long and 120 ft. broad, de- signed for the accommodation of the records of the Scottish supreme court, &c. Victoria hall, for the use of the general assembly of the church of Scotland, with its spire 241 ft. high, occupies a conspicuous position upon Castle hill. Edinburgh is remarkable for the number of its monuments erected in honor of distinguished men. The Scott monument in Princes street is 200 ft. high. A marble statue of Sir Walter by Steell is in its centre, and it has niches for representations of the principal characters in his writings. On Calton hill are monuments in honor of Dugald Stewart, Play- fair, Nelson, and the Scotch soldiers who fell at Waterloo. On the S. side of the hill is the Burns monument, with a statue by Flaxman. Within the city are monuments also to Hume, Lord Melville, George IV., William Pitt (by Chantrey), the duke of Wellington, and others. Edinburgh formerly consisted of a single parish, of which John Knox was for a time minister. The parish church was St. Giles's in the High street, named after the tutelary saint of the city. It is an ancient cathedral, 206 ft. long, containing three separate places of wor- The Scott Monument. ship, and adorned with a square tower which is surmounted by arches. They unite in the centre and support a spire which rises to the height of 161 ft. from the ground. The Tron church, so named from the tron or weighing beam which was formerly on or near its site, is in the High street at the intersection of the South bridge. The city has several other noted churches, of which three are Roman Catholic. Among the charitable institutions, the most noted is George Heriot's hospital, founded by George Heriot, goldsmith and jew- eller to James VI. ; it is a fine old Elizabeth- an structure, designed by Inigo Jones. It is near the Grass market, on what is called High Riggs. It has a revenue of more than 17,000,