Sin 



EDINBURGH. 



Rink of 



V .:'...!. 



Royal 



British 

 l.inen Com. 

 {uny Bank. 



Insurance 



OificM. 



of smaller amount. . we believe nono are above L. 20. 



In the yv the Hunk of Nolljmd, commonly 



called the Old Bank, was constituted by act of (wulia- 

 ment ; the stock of the proprietors being then only 

 L. 100,1 '( 0. Now it amount.-, to a million, or more. 

 An elegant and commodious edifice lia> lately been 

 erected nt. ir the south cud of the Mound, opposite to 

 the High Mrcct. lor conducting the business of the 

 bank. The architecture is greatly admired, from uni- 

 ting an elegance ami simplicity free of needless deco- 

 ration ; but thii can only be said with regard to the 

 front and one of the >ide>, tor the remainder of the 

 building bears no distant appearance to a great tower 

 of modern structure. Nothing can l>e more extraordi- 

 nary than selecting the spot on which it is founded, the 

 back l)cing exposed to the principal street of Edin- 

 burgh, and rising 100 feet perpendicularly; while the 

 front, being on the top of a declivity, l>ehoved to be 

 restricted to very moderate height. It is ornamental, 

 therefore, only in one jxiint of view ; and from 1'rince's 

 .Mrcet, the extreme disproportion is disguised by a kind 

 of curtain, con>i.sting of a wall with a stone balustrade, 

 about half way fiom the foundation. On the front 

 there is a coat armorial, with supporters as large as 

 life, which was executed by an artist with only one 

 hand. The lobby is very spacious ; the door-ways sup- 

 ported by pillars ; and there is a teller's room, of an oc- 

 tagonal figure, fifty feet in length. 



The Royal Bank was constituted in 1727, by royal 

 charter, on L. 111,000 of original stock; 'which was, in 

 1738, enlarged to L. 150,000; and now it is a million, 

 or more. Business is transacted in a mean looking 

 building, down a lane of the High Street, in a confined 

 airless situation. 



Some years later, in 1746, a company was establish- 

 ed for promoting the linen manufacture, ami then con- 

 stituted into a banking company by royal charter, by 

 the name of the British Linen Company. The advan- 

 tages soon became conspicuous, by the increase of the 

 linen trade, and other commercial concerns. Its capi- 

 tal at first was small, but very lately it has been consi- 

 derably enlarged, after a good deal of opposition from 

 the other public banks. That such should have arisen 

 in the earlier years of the nineteenth century, when 

 the spirit of enterprise is so great, as also the usual li- 

 berality by which it is met, may appear singular. The 

 terms of dealing in simple accounts by the banks, is 

 their lending money at 5 per cent, and allowing 3 per 

 cent, interest on what is lodged with them for periods 

 less than six months. Some, nevertheless, allow 4 per 

 cent, even on daily transactions. Almost all the banks 

 in Edinburgh enjoy a high share of public confidence ; 

 resulting from the acknowledged wealth of the part- 

 ners, and from it having been remarked, that no bank 

 ever failed in Scotland, which did not pay in full. The 

 transactions of the bankers in Edinburgh are in gene- 

 ral characterised by great liberality, not only in coun- 

 tenancing the legitimate objects of speculative traffic, 

 but in relieving individuals from temporary and unex- 

 pected pressure. 



There are several insurance offices here against losses 

 by fire, of which the oldest is called the Friendly In- 

 surance. In the year 1720, several owners of property 

 agreed to insure each other against losses of this de- 

 scription, whereby the party insured had to pay a pre- 

 mium equivalent to a fifteenth of the property insured. 

 The sum thus paid in by the association was declared 

 a joint stock, and each proprietor had an interest pro- 

 portional to his share ; but this interest was annexed to 



the property, and passed along with it to every sue- Kdinl.un.-l. 

 coding owner; and as it is still tran>fcm-d in tin- * ~ 

 same way, property so injured brings a high premium, 

 along with the policy of insurance. In JT'-'T, li. 



- constituted into a body corporate, and 

 their privileges have since been continued by parlia- 

 ment. 



More recently three companies, each exclusively <:' 

 Scoti-h origin, have since Keen established, under the 

 name of the Caledonian, I Ierciile>, Mid North British 

 Insurance Ollices. The share.-, of each are divided 

 among a number of proprietors, some of whom are 

 among the wealthy inhabitant- of Scotland, and many 

 insurances which would otherwise be cll'cctcd in Kng- 

 l.ind are now done here. The business of all these of- 

 fices is chiefly, if not entirely, rc.stricted to insurance 

 from fire : life insur; nee is little understood in Scotland ; 

 but there are several agencies for English offices in 

 Edinburgh, where insurance both on lives and against 

 tire may be easily effected, only, the proposal must al- 

 ways be transmitted to the principal oflice for refusal 

 or approbation. In general this is a profitable concern 

 for the company ; because the usual architecture of the 

 houses in Scotland is an effectual safeguard against the 

 ravages of fire. A fire in Edinburgh is a rare occur- 

 rence ; a house being totally destroyed is almost unex- 

 ampled ; and we do not know where it is preserved on 

 record tliat a life was lost. 



There are numerous public and private literary in- Literary In- 

 stitutions in this city ; at the head of which is the uni- stitution.. 

 versity. The first proposal for establishing a university 

 in Edinburgh, soon after the Reformation in 1560, is said University, 

 to have been opposed by the universities of St An- 

 drews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. However, one was 

 founded in the years 1580 and 1581, and a royal grant 

 of certain revenues obtained for its support in 1582. 

 Only one professor, a clergyman of the city, seems to 

 have originally l>een appointed ; but others gradually 

 increased to the number of seven. In 15J)0, the judges, 

 advocates, writers to the sigiK-t, and town council, 

 contributed a joint stock for establishing a professorship 

 of law, and Sir Adrian Damman, a Dane, was the first 

 who held that office. A professorship of Hebrew was 

 instituted in lu'K), ami Conrad Otto, a learned Jew, ap- 

 pointed by the magistrates to discharge its duties. Suc- 

 cessive chairs were established, either under royal pa- 

 tronage, by the magistrates of the city, or by the li- 

 berality of private individuals : of the latter description 

 is a modern endowment by the late Sir William 1'ul- 

 teney, for a course of lectures on agriculture ; and still 

 more recently, "an ample fund has been bequeathed by 

 General Reid, for instituting a professorship of music, 

 to be applied to that purpose on the decease of certain 

 relatives by whom it should be liferented. So lately 

 also as the years 1806 and 1807, the crown created two 

 new professorships, one for military surgery, and ano- 

 ther for medical jurisprudence. The total number of 

 chairs now amounts to '27, which are classed as fol- 

 lows : 



Faculty of Theology. 



Divinity. 

 Church History. 

 Oriental Languages. 



Faculty ofLarv. 



Law of Nature and Nations. 

 Civil Law. 



