EDINBURGH. 



333 



Gaelic 



Chapels 



Dissenting 

 Chapels 

 and Meet- 

 ing-booses. 



Edinburgh, in 1 757 ; another built by Lady Glenorchy in 1773 ; and 

 s< " "V""'' two others connected with the Canongate. 



A number of the citizens of Edinburgh are very im- 

 perfectly acquainted with the English language, from 

 being Highlanders by birth. These are chiefly among 

 the lower ranks, and their usual communications are in 

 Gaelic only. Two places are appropriated for public 

 worship in that language ; one near the Grassmarket, 

 anil the other close to the college. 



Hut many inhabitants of this city professing oftier 

 modes of worship, there are various churches and cha- 

 pels in different parts of the city for their accommo- 

 dation. Of these, the chief for the Episcopalians is 

 what is commonly called the Cowgate chapel, a plain 

 building, which, though in a very unfavourable situa- 

 tion, stands apart from other buildings. The dimen- 

 sions without are 90 feet by 75. It has a good organ 

 made by Snetzler ; some paintings ; and is decorated 

 with a steeple of moderate height, provided with a bell 

 said to have formerly belonged to the chapel royal of 

 Holyrood-house. It was founded in the year 1771. 

 Another chapel, dedicated to St George, was built in 

 Queen Street in ITfH, after a design in Gothic archi- 

 tecture, by Mr Robert Adam ; and Charlotte chapel, 

 a building in which nothing but simplicity seems to 

 have been studied, was etui more recently erected 

 in the vicinity of Charlotte Square. There are other 

 three Episcopal chapels ; one in Roxburgh Place, ano- 

 ther in Blackfriars \Vynd, and another in Carrubber's 

 Close. 



An elegant Roman Catholic chapel is nearly comple- 

 ted, in place of the one which was burnt in the year 

 1780. The purest Gothic architecture is studied here ; 

 the door enters by a pointed arch supported on columns, 

 fliid the windows are also pointed above. Pinnacles, ac- 

 cording to the antique, rise from the front, which is to 

 the east, and produce a fine effect to those who admire 

 the stile adopted. 1'his chapel we believe is about 100 

 feet long, by 5'1 in breadth ; it stands a little to the south 

 f York Place, with an end front to the street. 



There are three meeting houses belonging to the An- 

 tiburghers, four to the Burghers, three to the Relief, 

 two to the Independents, five to the Baptists, one to 

 the Cameraman*, one to th Quakers, one to the Metho- 

 "iie to the Bcreans, one to the Cilassites, one to the 

 I nitariaus. There being only four Jews in Edinburgh, 

 they >.annot hold a synagogue. 



Edinburgh is the seat of a presbytery of the .-.11110 

 uame: it i.s also the place where the Synod of I.othiun 

 and Tweddale, and the General Assembly of the Church 

 of Scotland, meet for ecelesiastical business. 



After the edifices devoted to sacred purposes, those 

 which next claim attention are the buildings appropri- 

 ated for sonic of the judicial establishments alxmndiiig 

 in this city. A great irregular pile, partly old and part ly 

 new. in the Parliament Square, serves for accommodat- 

 ing the supreme courts of justice. In the year luV,2, a 

 building for reception of the Scoti.sh Parliament was 

 commenced, and finished in 1(>M), which constitu: 

 Jiirge portion of it. This consists of one extensive hall, 

 lii-J feet in length by 49 in width, and not le-.s than 40 

 fret high ; the inner roof, of a polygonal figure, of mas- 

 sy oak timber*, ornamented with gilding, and supported 

 by abutments projecting from the wall. There is a very 

 lar^c modern window at one end, besides others at the 

 *ide tor admission of light. It is fitted up with benches 

 tor different judges, ar.d accommodation lor the public, 

 being now converted to a court room ; and in a uich 



supreme 



furl*. 



there is a statue of white marble of Duncan Forbes of Edinburgh. 

 Culloden, who was long president of the court of ses- ''^"Y" 1 '' 

 sion. A stranger would, at first sight, conceive it im- 

 possible to conduct business amidst the apparent bustle 

 and confusion which prevail in this large apartment, 

 called the outer-house. Sometimes four barristers are 

 pleading at a time before four different judges ; attornies 

 are forcing their way through a crowd almost impene- 

 trable, in quest of counsel already too late for impatience 

 in dispatching causes ; conversations are carrying on, 

 criers vociferating names, and a universal murmur per- 

 vading the remotest corner. Yet such is the force of 

 habit, that many may be seen quietly studying their 

 papers, while others are engaged in consultations, or 

 the judge gives deliberate decisions without the slightest 

 inconvenience. 



At each side of the outer-house are two chambers, 

 each about 40 feet square, with a gallery, and a lofty 

 roof, called the inner-house, where the remainder of 

 the supreme civil and criminal court sit in judgment. 

 The court of session, the former of these, consists of 

 fifteen judges, who sit in two divisions since the year 

 1 808 ; previous to which there was such an accumula- 

 tion of business, that the road to justice was totally ob- 

 structed. Yet a great portion of the evil, perhaps, f ourt e j 

 arose less from the multiplicity of judges called on to 

 decide in each cause, than from the mode in which the 

 procedure was conducted ; for had the regulations of 

 court been rigidly enforced, and some skilful, energetic, 

 and upright person been sought out to preside, the 

 court might possibly have remained entire. But there 

 were examples of judges retaining papers a whole year 

 in their possession without pronouncing a decision ; and 

 after judgment was pronounced, it has been known, that 

 it was allowed to be objected to above thirty times suc- 

 cessively, for the purpose of delay. Besides the interest 

 of the agent and the client were at direct variance : the 

 advantage of the one consisted in protracting the suit, 

 the safety of the other in bringing it to a close ; and 

 from the combination of these and other causes, the 

 supreme court entirely lost the confidence of the pub- 

 lic. The late division of the judges in 1808, has been 

 attended with infinite benefit ; many excellent regula- 

 tions have been successively made, and although others 

 seem objectionable from not protecting litigants against 

 expence, justice is undoubtedly more speedily and equi- 

 tably administered. The public confidence is restored, 

 and if care be taken in the selection of liberal and en- 

 lightened men to fill the seat of justice, it will not like- 

 ly be again impaired. By a statute, in 1810, no cause, 

 involving a smaller interest than 25, can be brought 

 originally into the court of session, unless by appeal 

 from an inferior judicature ; and every cause is first de- 

 cided by a single judge in the outer-house, on oral or 

 written pleadings. The party dissatisfied may then 

 carry it before either division of the inner-house within 

 2 1 days, where all the proceedings are printed, or if 

 pleadings follow, it is on printed papers. Both parties 

 having stated their case, which is deliberately decided, 

 he who is dissatisfied, may bring the whole matter 

 again under review of the same division within an in- 

 terval of '21 days. If now unsuccessful, his only re- 

 medy lies in an appeal to the House of Peers. Thus, 

 the systematic arrangements practised here, are admir- 

 ably adapted for the administration of the laws. 



The supreme civil court sits only 112 days in the 

 year, infinitely too short a period for discharging the 

 public service; and there is an absolute cessation of 



* 



