EDINBURGH. 



KfUabargh. in which the remains of John Knox, the great Scotish 



""" ~~~~** reformer. ere deposited. 



In the steeple of St ( lilcs, there is net of music 

 belli, or carillons, which are played (hiring an hour 

 every forenoon ; and a family performing the ordinary 

 office of beadle, finds a dwelling somewhere in tin- re- 

 cesses on the top of the church. 



An aisle of this building is appropriated for the use 

 of the General Assembly, which meets a few da\ - in 

 the month of May : other parts are devoted to a jxilicc 

 olfice, and the accommodation of a Serjeant's guard. 

 Its uniformity is greatly impaired by every successive 

 alteration ; as in one place is to IK- seen an attempt to 

 restore or preserve the original architecture, which in 

 another undergoes partial demolition ; while a third 

 presents what is altogether discordant with both. 



The church of St Giles became a cathedral in 1633, 

 on the restoration of Episcopacy, when Edinburgh was 

 first constituted a bishop's see. 



Another church, of which the history can be better 

 traced, was founded by Mary of Gueldres, widow of 

 James II. soon after his decease, and is called the Trinity 

 College Church. It occupies part of the valley on the 

 north of the city, and although unfinished, is an edi- 

 fice of the most genuine antiquity in Edinburgh. The 

 original object of the pious founder was to endow a 

 collegiate church for " a provost, eight chaplains, two 

 boys ; as also an hospital for the maintenance of thir- 

 teen paupers, and two clerks, who should be subser- 

 vient to the direction of the provost." The interior 

 now presents a dull and gloomy aspect : it contains no 

 t-triking monument of antiquity ; and although the 

 foundress lies interred in one of the aisles, her place 

 of sepulture is unmarked by any memorial. The hos- 

 pital which stood south-east of the church having be- 

 come ruinous, was transferred to a more convenient 

 situation. 



There are no other ancient churches now extant in 

 Edinburgh, of many that were once devoted to religi- 



St ("nth- ous purposes. Perhaps the oldest of all was St Cutn- 



b * rt ' 8 - bert's, near the base of the castle rock, which is men- 

 tioned in the earliest records; but it was renewed a few 

 years ago, in a plain modern building, capable of con- 

 taining a large congregation, and decorated with a spire. 

 It stands on very low ground, amidst an extensive ce- 

 metery. 



The churches of older erection in the city are the 



Grcrfrian. Greyfriars, Canongate, and Tron Church. The first of 

 these stands near a spot that was the site of a monas- 

 tery of the game name, and contains two places of wor- 

 ship under one roof. A cemetery, equally extensive as 

 the former, environs it, wherein are many monuments, 

 recording the existence of celebrated characters. Al- 

 though this cemetery was probably used as such by the 

 monks, it was not appropriated to receive the bodies of 

 deceased citizens until the year 1561 ; and about Hi 12, 

 the church called Old Greyfriars was erected. The 

 New Greyt'riars church adjoining, was built in 1721. 

 Most of the children maintained in public hospitals sit 

 in these churches, .under the care of their respective 

 instructors. 



Trco In the earlier pnrt of the 17th century, a fund seems 



/'Lurch. to have been raised by voluntary contribution, for the 

 purpose of erecting a church dedicated to Christ, which 

 was founded near the castle, on the site of the present 

 reservoir. Hut soon afterwards, the materials were 

 transferred to a more convenient situation, and what is 

 now called the Tron Church founded in 1637- Jn the 



ye.ir lli-J-J-, lii.OOO pounds of copper were purchased in 

 Holland to cover the roof; but thin design l>eing alter- 

 ed, lead and slates were substituted in its place. The 

 whole exterior was lately renewed, and is at present a 

 neat plain edifice, with a steeple and a clock. It ap- 

 pears that, in KiM, it was dedicated to Christ and the 

 church, by the citizen-, of Edinburgh. 



In the year lfit-7, Margaret Ker, Lady Yester, daugh- l.Aj Y- 

 ter of the first Earl of Ixrthian, founded a church, tcr '- 

 opposite to which the Iloy.il Infirmary has since been 

 erected. She not only gave a sufficient sum to the com- 

 munity to complete the building, but liberally devoted 

 a farther endowment to provide for the clergyman. 

 The church was finished in 1( ;."."> ; but a few years ago 

 it was taken down, and a handsome edifice, after the 

 antique, built almost exactly on the same site. It stands 

 amidst a small cemetery, wherein patients dying in the 

 infirmary are interred. 



The chapel in the abbey seems to have l>een resorted Canongate. 

 to, subsequent to the Reformation in 1 560, as a place of 

 public worship. Hut when King James V 1 1. restored it to 

 its original purpose, for the exercise of die Homan Catho- 

 lic religion, the Protestants were necessarily excluded. 

 However, the inconvenience was not of long subsist- 

 ence, for Thomas Moodie, a merchant of Edinburgh, 

 having given L.I 100 sterling, to be employed in build- 

 ing a church, his design was carried into effect by the 

 royal mandate in 1688, and the Canongate church erect- 

 ed. It is a heavy edifice, has the end fronting the 

 street, and stands amidst a large cemetery. 



There are two churches for the established religion, 

 entirely of modern erection, in the New Town; the one 

 dedicated to St Andrew, the other to St George. This 

 relic of Popish superstition, the dedication of every new 

 church to a saint, is singular in a country where no- 

 thing but strict Presbyterian forms are recognised by 

 the legislature. The former, St Andrew's church, st AB- 

 is an oval building 87 feet by 64> of internal capacity, clrcw'e. 

 A handsome portico fronting the street, is supported by 

 four columns of the Corinthian order, from which 

 springs a spire, executed in good taste, 1(J8 feet high. 

 The church is lighted by two rows of windows, and a 

 gallery runs along two-thirds of the wall ; but the ex- 

 trerrio plainness of the whole, which is entirely void of 

 relief or decoration, gives a mean aspect to an edifice 

 which would otherwise have been both elegant and or- 

 namental. 



St George's church presents a front of 112 feet to St George's. 

 Charlotte-square, with a portico, supported by four Io- 

 nic columns, 35 feet high, including the capitals. They 

 are elevated on an extensive flight of steps, forming the 

 entrance to the church, which is 128 feet in extreme 

 width, and can accommodate 1 6'00 persons. A great 

 dome rises from a basement 48 feet square, behind the 

 portico, above which is n circular row of columns, with 

 their entablature and balustrade, surmounted by the 

 upper compartments of the dome. The whole is crown- 

 ed by a lantern, with a cross, 160 feet above the ground; 

 and produces a fine effect when viewed from different 

 parts of the city or the avenues approaching it. This 

 church was erected at the expence of above L.riO.OOO, 

 and opened for divine service on the 5th of June 

 1814. 



These are the princi]>al churches for exercise of the 

 established religion. There are besides, in connection Chapels at 

 with the establishment, a chapel of case, which stands 

 iimidst a small cemeteiy on the south side of the town, 

 belonging to the parish of St Cuthbcrt's, and erected 



