I D R 



722 



JED 



Idria, subject to shjverings, convulsions, decrepitude, and a pre- 

 .Tcdburfili. mature old age. Their wages, partly in grain, and part* 

 s "Y""' ]y in money, are exceedingly moderate ; but by the pa- 

 ternal care of government, all are provided with a com- 

 petency when they are unable to continue their labours. 

 History. The quicksilver mine of Idria was accidentally dis- 



covered in the year 1497, by a peasant, while receiving 

 the water of a spring into a tub for the purpose of trying 

 if it was tight. He was astonished on emptying its con- 

 tents to find some metallic globules at the bottom, which 

 he immediately ascribed to witchcraft. But having 

 conquered his apprehensions, he collected them toge- 

 ther for the inspection of a goldsmith in the small town 

 of Bischoflaach, about four leagues distant. Neither 

 promises nor presents, however, could induce him to 

 point out the spot ; and he engaged another peasant, 

 Cazian Anderlin, to assist him in working the mine. 

 But soon ceasing to find native mercury, their labours 

 were abandoned. Other peasants followed in their foot- 

 steps, and were equally disappointed. A company of 

 miners nevertheless had better success. In 1525, the 

 works were interrupted, and the miners totally ruined by 

 an earthquake ; nor was the pursuit resumed with ac- 

 tivity until 1572. The Archduke Charles of Austria 

 having taken possession of the mines, established a re- 

 gular system for their management. Vast quantities of 

 mercury were extracted from them ; and their riches, 

 together with their great extent, attracted the notice of 

 the curious from all parts of the world. In 1 803, a fire 

 broke out in the mine, which did great damage, and oc- 

 casioned the loss of several lives ; but it was observed, 

 that the subterraneous temperature was lower, and that 

 the air of certain galleries was less easily vitiated than 

 before. The French extorted the cession of Idria in 

 1 809, and worked the mine for behoof of the order of 

 the three golden faeces. Numerous and important im- 

 provements were made by them, until the Emperor of 

 Austria regained possession of it in 1813. 



Town of Immediately above the site of the mines the town of 

 Idria. Idria is built, spreading over the valley, and up the sides 



of the hills. All the houses are detached ; they are small; 

 but each is inhabited by two or three families, and has a 

 piece of ground from which the owners endeavour to 

 raise a few vegetables. Though irregularly built, its as- 

 pect is not unpleasant to the eye, and it exhibits none of 

 that black and dismal appearance which is common to 

 towns in the vicinity of mines. Its principal public build- 

 ings are, a handsome parish church ; a very fine hospital, 

 to which two physicians and a surgeon are attached ; and 

 & dispensary for supplying medicines to the sick. There 

 is a public school for the education of youth, with six 

 masters, and a female to superintend that of girls. An 

 old castle contains the treasure for the necessary expen- 

 diture, and a magazine for storing up the products of 

 the mine ; also one for provisions to the inhabitants ; 

 several public offices, as a hall for the council of admi- 

 nistration, and accommodation for its chief direc- 

 tor. Some of the edifices devoted to public purposes 

 were erected here during the occupation of Idria by 

 the French. In the year 1812, the population of the 

 town amounted to 4095, and that of the whole district 

 to 7060. Lat. 46 16' W. ; Long. 33 53' E. Distant 

 18 miles from Upper Laybach. See Philosophical 

 Transactions, vol. i iv. ; Brown's Travels, p. 83 ; Kutt- 

 ner's Travels ; Jar's Voyages Metallurgiques, torn, iii ; 

 Keysler's Travels, vol. ii. (c) 

 JEDBURGH, a burgh town of Scotland, and the 



principal town of the county of Roxburgh, is pleasant- 

 ly situated on a declivity on the north side of the river 

 Jed. From historical evidence, it appears that a vil. 

 lage, castle and church, had been founded at New Jed- 

 worth, now called Jedburgh, before the middle of the 

 ninth century.* As Roxburgh, originally the principal 

 town of the county, was often possessed by the Eng- 

 lish, and the village reduced to ruins by the frequent 

 sieges of the castle, the seat of the judicatories was 

 transferred to Jedburgh after the reign of David the 

 First. The natural beauty of its situation, as well as 

 its vicinity to the borders, attracted the frequent re- 

 sidence of some of the princes and persons of high dis- 

 tinction in both nations, as the town occasionally fell 

 into the hands of the English or the Scots. Here 

 the pious David founded, or, according to the opinion 

 of some historians, rebuilt, A. D. 11 38, a monastery, 

 which he dedicated to the holy Virgin, and appropri- 

 ated to canons regular of the order of St Augustin, 

 imported from Beauvais in France. A church had been 

 erected at Jedburgh during the Saxon period, in the 

 ninth century ; and, as the lower storey and gable wall 

 of the monastery still remaining, exhibit beautiful spe- 

 cimens of the Saxon architecture, it affords a strong 

 presumption of their remote antiquity, t Great addi- 

 tions, during successive ages, were made to the reve- 

 nue of the abbots and monks, by the liberal donations 

 of the heirs of the throne, and of opulent barons and 

 individuals belonging to both kingdoms. Before the 

 expiration of the 12th century, the churches of An- 

 crum, Longnewton, Oxnam, Eckford, Crailing, Nis- 

 bet, Hobkirk, Liddel or Castleton, had all become the 

 property of the abbey of Jedburgh ; and various ac- 

 commodations of fuel, fish, &c. were also acquired in 

 distant districts of the country. The increasing emo- 

 luments of the monastery of Jedburgh were beheld 

 with a jealous eye by the bishops of Glasgow, to whose 

 diocese it belonged, and occasioned frequent disputes 

 and litigation between them and the abbots, which 

 were at length terminated by the interposition of royal 

 authority. J A convent of Carmelites was founded 

 at Jedburgh by the donations of the citizens and 

 neighbouring inhabitants in 1513, which gives colour ' 

 to a conjecture, that the constant rage of hostile in- 

 cursions from the neighbouring kingdom did not in- 

 trude upon the tranquillity of religious communities, 

 and that even the savage spirit of the border warriors 

 was overawed by a reverence for superstitious pageant- 

 ry, and the display of consecrated grandeur. The names 

 of all the streets and closes in the town of Jedburgh, 

 and of the adjacent fields, denote the ancient occupan- 

 cy and predominance of the ecclesiastical orders ; Ca- 

 nongate, Abbot's Tower, Abbey Close, Dean's Close, 

 Friars, Prior Meadow, Monklaw, Virgin, Ladysyards, 

 &c. A part of the ruins of the Abbot's Tower, at the 

 head of the Abbey Close, and of the castle, on the hill 

 at the west entrance to the town, have been lately re- 

 moved. The only building of antiquity now remain- 

 ing, with the exception of the abbey, is a house at 

 the bottom of the town, celebrated on account of its 

 having been the residence of Queen Mary, October 

 1566, when she held a justice court at Jedburgh, and 

 from whence she made a visit to Bothwell at his house 

 in Liddisdale, distant from Jedburgh 17 Scots miles, 

 and returned the same day. 



All the lands, baronies, and estates, vested in the 

 Abbey of Jedburgh, were conferred by James VI. 



" It was called New Jcdworth, as distinguished from Old Jedworth, five miles south, and nearer the English border, 

 f- See Civil, ARCHITECTURE, Plate CLXVII. 



J The bishop of Durham claimed a right to Roxburghshire as a part of his diocese, ascertained, and acknowledged by ancient treaties 

 between the kings of England and Scotland. 



