PLACES OF MEETING. 535 



it may be remarked, was known as a place of fashionable 

 resort long before the new town existed. It may be also 

 noticed that the Commissioner to the General Assembly, 

 with the permission of the Directors, held his levees in the 

 Society's hall in the years 1808, 1809, and 18 10. The 

 Society remained here till 18 13. 



On the 1 2th of January of that year it was stated at 

 the General Meeting of the Society that, as most of the 

 members of the Society were then resident in the new town, 

 the Directors were of opinion that it would be desirable to 

 procure accommodation for the meetings of the Society 

 there. The meeting fully approved of the suggestion of 

 the Directors, and remitted to and authorised them and the 

 hall committee to dispose of the Society's hall and premises 

 in the Assembly Close, and further gave power to purchase 

 or take a lease of premises in such other situation as they 

 should find most suitable, having in view that the General 

 Meetings could be held in some of the public rooms of the 

 new town. The premises in the Assembly Close were 

 accordingly disposed of in 18 13 to the Commercial Bank. 

 As the old Assembly Room was in some respects a his- 

 torical building, it may be added that it was afterwards 

 occupied by the Free Tron Church. 



From 1813 to 1817 a house for the Society was rented 

 at No. 28, South Frederick Street. In 18 17 the Society 

 purchased No. 50, North Frederick Street, and re-sold it in 

 1824. There being no hall at either of these two houses, 

 the General Meetings of the Society, from 28th June 181 3 

 to 5th July 1824, were held in the Physicians' Hall in 

 George Street, the site of which is now occupied by the 

 Commercial Bank of Scotland. 



In 1824, the palatial Albyn Place Building was pur- 

 chased, and the first General Meeting of the Society which 



when room was made for them by the dancing being over. It was in conse- 

 quence of these inconveniences that the present Assembly Rooms in George 

 Street were begun in 1784, although they were not finished till 1787. 

 On the removal of the Assembly Room to George Street, the house in the 

 High Street appears to have been converted into an inn, by the designation of 

 the King's Arms Tavern. 



