HERIOT's hospital. — SCHOOL OF ARTS. 



103 



One hundred and eighty boys, sons of burgesses of the city, are here maintained 

 and provided with an education suited to their future prospects, or the natural 

 aptitude which they may severally evince. The style of the building, after the 

 plan of Inigo Jones, is princely, not only in its costly architecture and accommo- 

 dation, but in the munificent and Kberal scale on which its domestic affairs are 

 conducted. The education is hberal in all respects ; and what is, perhaps, 

 unparalleled in the history of charitable institutions, the expenses of a university 

 education are defrayed for such of the meritorious pupils as desire it. On their 

 setting out in the world, a sum is provided for their assistance ; and, on proof 

 of good conduct, an additional sum to estabUsh them in business. 



Among other estabhshments combining similar advantages with the preceding 

 —but eacli possessing specific recommendations for the class entitled to admis- 

 sion—we may enumerate Watson's, Merchant Maidens', Trades Maidens', 

 Gillespie's, and the Orphan Hospitals ; the first of these is conducted on the 

 same hberal principles as Heriot's. 



Among the numerous churches* which severally arrest the stranger's attention 

 in Edinburgh, we might collect much interesting materials did our limits 

 permit. But " to write of the cities of om- own island," says Johnson, " with 

 the solemnity of a geograpliical description, as if we had been cast on a newly 

 discovered coast, has the appearance of very frivolous ostentation." With this 

 caution, therefore, we shall only observe, that the ecclesiastical architectm-e of 

 this city, within the last fifteen or twenty years, has undergone a striking 

 change, and been enriched by several elegant specimens, where the florid Gothic 

 has been revived with great effect. Of these, two of the seven episcopal, and 

 one of the cathoHc chapels, afford striking examples, and 'are highly ornamental 

 to the city. 



As an edifice upon a Grecian model, and very appropriate as a pubUc 

 building, the stranger will remark the County-Hall, situated in the Lawn- 

 Market. The School of Arts— another specimen in the same style, and intended 

 as a Scottish Louvre, was first opened to the public in 1826, and by its 

 position on the Earthen-mound has a commanding effect. The halls of the 

 Royal and Antiquarian Societies, whose " Transactions" have conferred lasting 

 benefits on the coimtry, are each entitled to notice. In the Museum of the 

 latter, open on Tuesdays and Fridays, is seen the maiden, or Scottish guillotine, 

 introduced by the regent Morton, for the decapitation of state criminals, and 

 first exercised upon his own neck; so in ancient times the inventor of the 



• The city and its dependencies are divided into sixteen parishes, with tlie same number of churches, 

 nine of which are collegiate. ITie total number of places of worship is seventy. 



