THE SOCIETY OF IMPROVERS. 25 



the southern part of the city of Edinburgh. Hope Park 

 End, named after him, was the scene of part of his improve- 

 ments ; while in Rankeilor Street there is preserved the 

 name of the estate he owned. Mr Maxwell tells us that 

 Mr Hope studied agriculture in England, France, Flanders, 

 Holland, and other countries; and returning home, 'preached 

 up the public and private advantage of agriculture for a 

 tract of more than twenty years' time.' In order to furnish 

 an example of what might be done, he leased from the 

 city of Edinburgh a morass called Straton's Loch, and, 

 having drained it, ' raised beautiful hedges and trees, where 

 (in 1743) gentlemen and ladies resort, and all around, in 

 imitation of what he had done, the power or prevalency of 

 his example appears.' The land thus drained and improved 

 has been long known as The Meadows. Mr Stark, in his 

 Picture of Edinburgh, says ' Hope became bound by the terms 

 of his lease not only to drain the lake or marsh, but to make 

 a walk round it of 24 feet in breadth, with a hedge and a 

 row of trees, and a walk across from North to South, bor- 

 dered with lime trees. This is the origin of the present 

 beautiful walks.' The citizen of Edinburgh, as he enjoys 

 the fresh air in those Meadows, will perhaps have a kindly 

 remembrance of the enterprise and taste of the Preses of 

 the Society of Improvers.* Mr Hope's residence was at 

 Hope Park, at the east end of The Meadows ; and Mr 

 Maxwell tells that the Honourable the Improvers ' ordinarily 

 met there in a Society way, that, having the pleasant 

 prospect and the encouraging precedent in view, its zeal to 

 promote agriculture might be more excited.' 



It would be pleasant to picture the Honourable the 

 Improvers meeting in a ' Society way ' at the hospitable 

 residence of their Preses at Hope Park. Of course all 

 would be in ' linen of British manufacture.' The flowers 

 on the table might recall the Society's directions for the 

 propagation of hyacinths, or for ' engrafting a hundred-leaf 

 pale rose into a stock of broom.' With the appearance of 



* The Highland Society has benefited by Mr Hope's exertions, the show 

 of the Society for 1869 having been held on the Meadows, the ground being 

 level, spacious, and of easy access. 



