CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



559 



History, the monastery of Melross as a monk under Roisel. Cold- 

 "V 1 ' ingham was founded during the reign of Edgar, who 

 considered himself :,uch indebted tt> St Cuthbert for his 

 crown ; and it is also aid, that in 1098, the priory of 

 Coldingham wa-i founded by the abbot vf Durham, who 

 sent monks hither. Notwithstanding this introduction, 

 ecclesiastical architecture made little progress in Scot- 

 land till the time of David I. ; but during his reign it 

 was carried to an extent apparently beyond the resources 

 of the country. The following edifices are known to 

 have been- founded by that prince : 



The cathedral of Glasgow in the year 1129 



Ditto Dunkeld . . ditto . . 1130 



Ditto St Andrew's ditto . . 1140 



Ditto Aberdeen . . ditto . . 1154 



The abbey of Holyrood-house ditto . . 1128 



Ditto .... Kelso ditto . . 1128 



Ditto .... Melrose .... ditto ... 1136 

 Ditto .... Kinloss .... ditto . . 1141 

 Ditto .... Jedburgh . . . ditto . . 1147 

 Ditto .... Dryburgh . . . ditto . . 1150 

 Priory of Urquhart in Moray ditto . . 1125 



The chartulary of Elgin not going beyond 1200, we 

 are ignorant when it was erected into a bishopric, but it 

 has most probably been also indebted to David I. In 

 1178, William the Lyon founded the great abbey of 

 Aberbrothick; and in 1230, Alexander II. the priory of 

 Pluscardine in Moray. 



Tlu-ae structures, although inferior in magnitude to 

 many in England, were yet of no inconsiderable size, 

 and they were generally in the best style of Gothic archi- 

 tecture. As each of them will be more particularly de- 

 scribed when treating of the places where they were si- 

 tuated, and will also be referred to under the Practice of 

 Architectures the following dimensions may, for the pre- 

 sent, enable the reader to form a tolerably correct idea 

 of their magnitude. 



The cathedral of St Andrew's was 370 feet in length, 

 62 feet in breadth, and the length of the transept was 

 322 feet. The cathedral of Glasgow is 339 feet iu 

 length withiu the walls, 72 in breadth, 90 in height 

 from the floor of the choir to the roof, and the tower 

 and spire are in height 228 feet. The cathedral of El- 

 gin u 284 feet in length, 71 in breadth, the transept is 

 114, and the central tower 198 feet. The abbey of 

 Aberbrothick is 370 feet in length, 62 in breadth, and 

 the transept 165 feet. Under the head of Practice will 

 be found a very minute description of each apartment of 

 the priory of I lusc<irdine. 



Chalmers says, that the collegiate churches were not 

 known in Scotland till the reign of David II. The first 

 was established at Dunbar by Patrick, Earl of March, 

 in 1342; the next was at Dunglass in 1403 by Sir 

 Alexander Home of Home. After this several others 

 were established in Haddingtonshire. In 1446, William 

 St Clair, Earl of Orkney and Lord of Roslin, founded 

 a collegiate church at Roslm, for a provost, six preben- 

 daries, and two choristers, and endowed it with various 

 lands and revenues. It was contecrated tj St Matthew 

 the apostle. The chapel is justly admired as a singularly 

 beautiful piece of Gothic architecture ; the inside is 69 

 feet long, and 34 in breadth ; the roof is supported by 

 two rows of clustered columns, eight feet high ; the mid- 

 dlj aisle is. one continued arch, enriched by exquisite 

 sculpture. The comparative srr.allness of the dimen- 

 sions of this edifice, gives it the appearance of a fine mo- 

 del of a Gothic cathedral. 



From this general sketch we (hall proceed to a brief 



detail of the progress of architecture la the two principal History, 

 cities in Scotland ; and we conceive it will be most dis- V *"""~V~'~*' 

 tinct and satisfactory to state the progress made in each 

 city separately, beginning with the capital. 



This city appears to have taken its name from Edwin, Architec- 

 a Saxon prince of Northumberland, who began his reign ture in 

 in 617. For several centuries afterwards, the castle on- Edinburgh. 

 ly seems to have been of any importance. It is uncertain 

 at what period it came into the possession of the Scots : 

 It is known that Margaret, the widow of Malcolm Can- 

 more, died in it on the 10th November, 1093. The first 

 distinct information respecting the city, is derived from 

 the charter granted by David I. in 1128, in favour of 

 certain canons regular, for which he founded the abbey 

 of Holyrood-house. From this instrument it appears, 

 that Edinburgh had previously been erected into a royal 

 burgh. In the reign of Alexander II. the first parlia- 

 ment was held in Edinburgh in 1215. In 1255, the 

 daughter of Henry III. of England, the betrothed queen 

 of Alexander III. had the castle appointed for her resi- 

 dence. Robert I. bestowed upon the burgesses of Edin- 

 burgh the harbour and mills of Lenh. In 1437, the 

 kings of Scotland had their usual residences in Edin- 

 burgh ; and parliaments were frequently held in it. (See 

 Arnot's Hist, of Edinburgh.) By this time the city 

 must have been extensive and well built, for a writer of 

 the 16th century, (Braun Agrippinensus, lib. 3. voce 

 Edin.) says, " In this city there are two spacious streets, 

 of which the principal one, leading from the the castle, is 

 paved with square stones. The city itself is not built of 

 bricks, but of square freestones, and so stately in their 

 appearance, that single houses may be compared to pa- 

 laces. From the abbey to the castle there is one con- 

 tinued street, which, on both sides, contains a range of 

 excellent houses, and the better sort are all built of hewn 

 stone." Few cities in the island could, at this time, 

 justify a similar eulogium. 



Although \ve have accounts of many religious houses Holyrood 

 in Edinburgh which have fallen into decay, yet, as far Home, 

 as regards the architecture, excepting the abbey of Holy- 

 rood-house, there is no vestige deserving of much notice. 

 This, as has already been observed, was founded by David 

 1. in 1 128, and endowed with extensive privileges and ju- 

 risdiction. It s'ifiered much when the English burnt the 

 palace in 1544, but was speedily repaired. At the Re- 

 storation, King Charles gave it a complete repair, and . , , 

 ordered that it should be set apart as a chapel royal ; a 

 throne was erected for the sovereign, and twelve stalls 

 for Knights of the Thistle; but its splendour was of 

 short duration, for, in consequence of a mass having been 

 celebrated in it, in the time of James VII. the populace 

 sacked the inside. In 1758, the roof was injudiciously 

 covered with heavy stone slate, in consequence of which 

 it fell down in 1768; since that time, no attempts have 

 been made to repair it. This edifice is of the finest style Fine Go- 

 of Gothic architecture ; part of the arches are highly thic. 

 pointed ; on the south side are flying buttresses ; on the 

 other side they are solid, but of an elegant form, and 

 ornamented with canopied niches and pinnacles on the 

 top ; the windows of this side are but slightly pointed. 

 This variation of style arose, no doubt, from its having 

 been repaired at sundry times. Dailaway, in his Anec- 

 dotes of the Arts in England, p. 30. says, " Of Gothic 

 architecture in Scotland, the most beautiful pieces which 

 remain entire, have their date in the prior part of the 

 15th century. They are the chapel at Roslin, and that 

 in the palace of Holy rood house, the last mentioned of 

 which was finished about 1440, by King James II. of 

 that realm. Their sides are flanked with flying butt resse"*, 



