HERIOT'S HOSPITAL.

This old and respected institution is situated in an open ground in Lauriston, and is approached by George the Fourth's Bridge, or by a street near the College. As the name imports, Heriot's Hospital was founded and endowed by George Heriot, jeweller to James VI., in the year 1624. The building, from a design of Inigo Jones, was begun in 1628, and finished in 1650. It is a large handsome structure, in the Elizabethan style, with turrets, and enclosing a quadrangular court. The cost of its erection was £30,000, which nearly swallowed up the funds; but, by careful management, these are now more than adequate for all demands, and the overplus, under powers granted by a late act of parliament, is devoted to the erection and support of schools for poor children in different quarters of the town. The object of Heriot's Hospital resembles that of Christ's Hospital in London-the board, clothing, and education of boys, of whom the present number is one hundred and eighty. They must all be the sons of poor burgesses of Edinburgh. The education, under different masters, is liberal; and in general management, it is acknowledged that the institution is the most munificent of the kind in Scotland. The Town-Council and clergy of Edinburgh are the governors. Orders to see Heriot's Hospital may be obtained from the secretary's office, Royal Exchange buildings. The free schools connected with the institution are likewise not unworthy of a visit from those interested in education.

Opposite Heriot's Hospital, on the south, stands a similar establishment-George Watson's Hospital; and there are various institutions of this class, including Donaldson's Hospital, a building of great magnificence recently erected at the west end of the New Town, the Orphan Hospital, &c.

East from Heriot's Hospital is situated Greyfriars' churchyard, which derives some interest from having been the place in which was signed the Solemn League and Covenant in 1638.

THE LINKS.

South from Heriot's and George Watson's Hospitals lie certain grounds called the Meadows, and Bruntsfield Links, the whole extending to about two hundred acres: the greater part of these grounds is open for the recreation of the inhabitants, in virtue of ancient royal grants to the city. Bruntsfield Links form fine open downs, and are used for the game of golf, an out-door sport peculiar to Scotland. The environs in this quarter abound in handsome villas, and the walks are retired and charming. Beyond the Links, to the south-west, is the salubrious and pleasant village of Morningside. Here has lately been erected a LUNATIC ASYLUM, on a large scale, and the management of which is on the most enlightened principles.

SCENE OF SCOTT'S INFANCY.

The whole of the "south side" was the scene of Walter Scott's infancy and boyhood. He was born (August 15, 1771) in a house long since gone, which stood at a spot in North College Street near the head of the College Wynd-formerly the chief avenue leading to the seat of learning. His father afterwards removed to the house No. 25 George Square, and here Walter spent the principal part of his boyish days; first attending a school in Hamilton's Entry, Bristo Street (now a farrier's shop), and subsequently the old High School, at the foot of Infirmary Street. In his memoirs, he alludes to various amusing incidents which occurred in the Meadows, the Links, and other parts of the neighbourhood. At the distance of about two miles south is Blackford Hill, a rocky eminence, from which a highly picturesque view of the city is obtained. It was on this, and Braid Hill adjoining on the south, that the unfortunate James IV. encamped with his army before setting out on the expedition which terminated in his defeat at Flodden. Scott must have possessed a vivid recollection of the locality when he wrote the lines in Marmion:

"Blackford! on whose uncultured breast,

Among the broom, and thorn, and whin,
A truant-boy, I sought the nest,
Or listed, as I lay at rest,

While rose, on breezes thin,
The murmur of the city crowd,
And, from his steeple jangling loud,
Saint Giles's mingling din.

Now, from the summit to the plain,
Waves all the hill with yellow grain;
And o'er the landscape as I look,
Nought do I see unchanged remain,

Save the rude cliffs and chiming brook.

To me they make a heavy moan,

Of early friendships past and gone."

Alluding to the view northwards towards Edinburgh from the spot, he continues :

"Still on the spot Lord Marmion stayed,

For fairer scene he ne'er surveyed.

When sated with the martial show

That peopled all the plain below,
The wandering eye could o'er it gɔ,
And mark the distant city glow
With gloomy splendour red;

For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow,
That round her sable turrets flow,

The morning beams were shed,

23

And tinged them with a lustre proud,
Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud.
Such dusky grandeur clothed the height,
Where the huge castle holds its state,
And all the steep slope down,
Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky,
Piled deep and massy, close and high,
Mine own romantic town!

But northward far, with purer blaze,
On Ochil mountains fell the rays,
And as each heathy top they kissed,
It gleamed a purple amethyst.
Yonder the shores of Fife you saw;
Here Preston-Bay, and Berwick-Law;
And, broad between them rolled,
The gallant Firth the eye might note,
Whose islands on its bosom float,
Like emeralds chased in gold."

OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN THE NEW TOWN.

THE CALTON HILL.

This eminence, approached from Princes Street by Waterloo Place, attains the height of 350 feet above the level of the sea. Laid out with walks for the recreation of the citizens, it offers a most extensive prospect of the town on the one side, and the sea on the other. On the rocky apex stands a MONUMENT TO LORD NELSON, in the form of a tall shaft springing from an octagonal base-an object in a poor style of art, and only redeemed by the magnificent panoramic view which is obtained from its summit. The lower part is a species of coffee or refresh

ment-room.

Near Nelson's Monument, on another protuberance, stands the NATIONAL MONUMENT, an unfortunate attempt to imitate the Parthenon of Athens: only thirteen columns for the west end of the edifice have been erected; we believe at an expense of upwards of £1000 each. The object of the erection was to commemorate those Scotsmen who had fallen in the different engagements by sea and land during the last war with France; but as the policy of this war is now extremely doubtful, if not considered to have been erroneous, the purpose of the monument has lost all public sympathy and support. The columns, which form not a bad ruin, were erected between 1824 and 1830. Near this unfortunate monument, on the east, is situated SHORT'S OBSERVATORY, a meritorious establishment, containing some good astronomical and other instruments, and therefore worthy of the stranger's attention. A small fee is paid for admission.

In front of the National Monument, to the west, is the ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY, a neat edifice in the Grecian

style, within a walled enclosure. In one of the corners of the wall is a small but neat monumental erection, commemorative of the late PROFESSOR PLAYFAIR. A little lower down the hill, on the south, is a handsome columnar erection, a copy, with variations, from the Choragic monument of Lysicrates, designed to commemorate the late DUGALD STEWART, author of several works on moral philosophy.

Eastward from these erections, and verging on the public road, with a southern exposure, stands the HIGH SCHOOL OF EDINBURGH-a splendid edifice, with a considerably projecting pediment. This building was erected after a design by Thomas Hamilton, architect, and cost about £30,000, a considerable portion of which sum was raised by subscription. The High School is an old and much-respected institution, and, as a grammar school, has been attended by many men of celebrity. In former times, the institution occupied a building in the Old Town, and was removed to this handsome new structure about 1828. The High School is under the immediate patronage of the TownCouncil.

In a conspicuous situation on the opposite side of the road from the High School, stands an edifice, within a railing, commemorative of ROBERT BURNS. This handsome structure was raised by subscription a few years ago. A marble statue of the poet which it once contained has, for the sake of better preservation, been removed to the College library.

The view from the railing in front of the High School, looking westward towards the North Bridge, and southwards towards the back of the Canongate (the tall chimney of the gas-works in the centre of the wildly-broken scene of house-tops), cannot but have a striking effect on strangers. The North British Railway proceeds by a tunnel beneath the hill in this quarter.

Westward, along the Calton Hill road from this spot, on the left-hand side in entering the town, is an extensive suite of castellated buildings erected within a high wall, constituting the PRISON OF EDINBURGH. The edifices are all modern, and their internal arrangements, under the general direction of the Prison Board for Scotland, are as perfect as circumstances will admit of. The establishment is supported by general taxation.

In entering the town from the Calton Hill, we proceed along Waterloo Place a handsome new street, in which are situated, on the southern side, the GENERAL POST-OFFICE and STAMPOFFICE, both elegant stone erections. Adjoining the Post-office is a small burying-ground of old date, containing the tomb of David Hume the historian: it is a round tower-like structure, conspicuous from its situation. Here also has lately been erected an obelisk called the MARTYRS' MONUMENT, designed to commemorate the sufferings and struggles for civil liberty of Muir, Palmer, and others about the year 1793.

Issuing from Waterloo Place, we have on our left the THEATRE

25

ROYAL, a building of plain appearance; and on our right, beyond the road which leads to Leith,

THE GENERAL REGISTER-HOUSE OF SCOTLAND.

This consists of a square building with a quadrangular court in the centre, containing a circular structure or tower fifty feet in diameter, which joins the sides of the court, and just leaves sufficient spaces at the four angles for the admission of light into the inner side of the outer edifice. To the spectator from the street it presents a compact building of 200 feet in length, by a breadth of 120 feet, possessing an elegant front of smooth ashlar work, with Corinthian pilasters and a pediment above the entrance. Each of the corners is surmounted by a small circular turret, with a clock and vane. From the centre is seen a dome which surmounts the inner structure. The building is two visible storeys in height, with a sunk area flat level with the street, and screened by an enclosing parapet, divided in the middle by a double flight of steps. It stands forty feet back from the line of Princes Street, and, from the felicity of its situation, as well as its tasteful design, it has a much better appearance than any other public building in Edinburgh.

The General Register-House is a depository not only of state papers and public archives connected with Scotland, but of copies or records of all the title-deeds of property, and of every description of legal contracts, mortgages, &c. existing in the country, and by the careful preservation of which innumerable disputes are prevented, and the just rights of every individual are discovered on the slightest examination. Besides the registers of the above nature, the establishment contains records of all suits at law, with the whole of the papers, printed and written, which have been used in actions before the supreme courts for centuries. To the immense collection of registers and papers which has thus been formed, additions are yearly made by the concentration of all the books of registers used in the counties by the sheriffs, by which means the most recent information can always be obtained. The collection of national archives is not of a very perfect kind, and the documents are not very ancient, in consequence of the disasters into which Scotland fell at different periods, the want of proper attention, and accidental losses. A great part of the papers relative to the country in its independent state were carried away by Edward I. and Cromwell. Among other remarkable documents in the establishment are shown the Scottish copy of the Articles of the Union between England and Scotland, with the Act of Ratification of the same. Both consist of several large leaves of vellum, bound in a volume, and highly illuminated with devices in colours and a miniature of Queen Anne. The General Register-House is under the immediate management of the depute clerk register, and is supported by government.