NEW PICTURE OF EDINBURGH. 89 



offspring ; while the young folks on the other hand can hardly dissemble their 

 contempt for the narrow prejudices of the Wynds, the barbaric hauteur of the 

 Castle, and antiquated style of the Cannon-gate. The frowning battlements 

 of that fortress on the rock sigh to every breeze over their fallen greatness, and 

 their country's degeneracy — so rarely do their portals open to receive a captive 

 prince or a laveless usurper ! Even that awful symbol of our religion," continues 

 the same spirited author, in a serio-comico sarcastic vein — " the Cathedral, 

 no longer exhibits within its sacred precincts the animating spectacle of a 

 patriot beheaded, a chieftain hanged, or a witch incinerated ! In the royal 

 palace itself, a crowned or uncrowned head may sleep with safety, if not con- 

 tentment — a queen may be regaled with a C07iversazione or a sonato, without' 

 having her supper interrupted by an assassination, or her Paganini of the day 

 massacred by a royal bravo ! No — all is changed ! — no ' Porteous mob' to poise 

 the beam of justice when a privy council had kicked the balance in favour of 

 homicide ! The yawning ravine that separates the parent from the youthful 

 city is no longer an impassable gulf. Along those stupendous mounds* of 

 earth — bridges without rivers — still ebbs and flows the great tide of human 

 existence. The claymore and dirk have long been converted into the ploughshare 

 and sickle — the plaid and feather into the cap and gown — while the masculine 

 intellect that either lay uncultivated, or was only roused into activity by feuds, 

 raids, and rebellions, is now directed to mighty exertions in the cause of 

 literature, art, and science, which flow from these rugged rocks in all directions, 

 and fertilize every land from the rising to the setting sun. Those who bask in 

 the sunny bowers of Minerva, on the banks of the Cam and the Isis, may 

 affect to contemn the peripatetic and uncloistered philosophy of a Caledonian 

 university ; but they who have wandered over the world, explored the 

 busy haunts of man, and permeated the various grades of society, can well 

 appreciate the extended sphere and powerful influence of that j^i'actical infor- 

 mation which is zealously inculcated and imbibed in these humbler eniporia of 

 knowledge. When learning is placed within the grasp of only a few — and 

 those few of the upper classes, much good soil is lost for its culture. It is like 

 sowing grains on the hills and uplands of a country, while the plains and valleys 

 are suffered to lie waste. The Nile may be majestic through the Nubian 



• This mound of earth, thrown across the North-loch, or sheet of water which anciently served as a moat 

 to the castle, was made passable for carriages in three years. The quantity of earth above the surface is 

 290,167 cubit yards; but as one-third of the mass is concealed from view, it may be estimated at 435,250 

 cubic yards, equal to 1,305,780 loads in all ; and which, at the most moderate calculation of id. per cart- 

 load, must have cost 32,643/. I5s. The originator of this immense undertaking was G. Boyd, a Tartan- 

 draper, in the Lawn-market. — See Hist, of Ed. Slatist. 



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