58 Transactions. 



Of this we have ample contemporary evidence, but, for brevity's 

 sake, I shall confine myself to two competent authorities. 



William Creech, the well-known Edinbui-gh publisher, contri- 

 buted, about the end of the century, a series of letters to a 

 metropolitan periodical, chronicling the changes in the condition 

 of Edinburgh, and of a counti-y parish forty miles north-east of 

 that city, under his own observation between 1763 and 1792. 

 Creech notices the foundation, by Sir John Sinclair, in 1790 of 

 a Society for the improvement of wool, which speedily excited 

 mucli emulation among farmers and landholders, and says that in 

 a short time much labour and expense had been bestowed in 

 collecting the best breeds of sheep, foreign and domestic, and 

 spreading them over the country. As to the capital, in 1763 the 

 number of students at the College of Edinburgh was about 500 ; 

 it had risen to 1306 in 1791. In 1763 there were only two news- 

 papers printed in Edinburgh. They were in very small folio, 

 with from ten to twenty advertisements a-piece. In 1790 there 

 were four, and in 1792 six newspapers, fairly well as to advertise- 

 ments, notwithstanding a heavy and increased duty both on 

 advertisements and paper. In 1763 the Carron Company's 

 work was the only Iron Foundry in Scotland, and that had only 

 been established for a few years; in 1792 there were many expensive 

 iron foundries in Scotland, and iron, which had formerly been im- 

 ported, was now exported in great quantities. In 1792, also, many 

 textile manufactories had been established in different parts of the 

 country, which were in a nourishing condition. The printed 

 cottons, manufactured in 1790, amounted to 4,500,000 yards, an 

 increase of 4,335,000 over 1763. Umbrellas were introduced in 

 Edinburgh by Dr Alexander Wood (the eccentric Sandy Wood) 

 in 1780, and tlie fashion spread rapidly, for in 1783, Creech tells 

 us, they were much used, and continued to be so ; many 

 umbrella warehouses were opened, and a considerable trade done 

 in them. He also refers to the great consumption of strawberries 

 in Edinburgh, which then sold at an average price of 6d the Scot- 

 tish pint. Notwithstanding this marvellous cheapness, so favour- 

 able does the soil and climate of the Edinburgh district appear 

 to be for this fruit that an acre of strawberries had been known 

 to produce at that price above £50. Creech observes that these 

 strawberries were sold without stem or husk, as in other places. 

 It is one of many instances of the conservative habits of the 



