TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 203 



fore the reform was eighty-six. The master, twelve assistants, and treasm-er of the 

 Merchant Company, five members of the Town Council, and one of the Established 

 Church Clergy of Edinburgh, constitute the management. 



(II.) The Merchant Maiden Hospital was founded in 1605 by the Edinburgh 

 Merchant Company and the widow of James Hair, druggist in Edinburgh, for the 

 maintenance and instruction of girls. The income of the Trust is about £6000 a 

 year. Previous to the changes it had seventy-five foundationers. Those eligible 

 for admission were the daughters or granddaughters of merchant burgesses of 

 Edinburgh, or of ministers thereof and suburbs, or of those who have been gover- 

 nors of, or benefactors to, the hospital. The management is in the hands of five 

 members of the Town Council, the Master, Treasurer, and two Assistants of the 

 Merchant Company, three of the Clergy of the city and suburbs, the Earl of Mar, 

 and nine persons elected by the Mercliant Company — in all, twenty-two. 



(HI.) l)aniel Stewart "s Hospital was founded by Daniel Stewart, of the Exche- 

 quer, who died in 1814, leaving upwards of £13,000, to accumulate for the purpose 

 of building and endowing an hospital for the maiutenauce and education of boys. 

 Those qualified for admission were sons of honest and industrious parents of Edin- 

 burgh and suburbs, including Leith, wliose circumstances in life did not enable 

 them suitably to support and educate their children at other schools, preference 

 being giveu to those of the name of Stewart or Macfarlane. The annual income 

 of this Trust is upwards of £5000, and the number of foundationers was sixt^'-nine. 

 The Master, Treasm-er, and twelve Assistants of the Merchant Company constitute 

 the management. 



(IV.) The last of these institutions, James Gillespie's Hospital and Free School, 

 was founded by James Gillespie, of Spylaw, merchant and tobacconist in Edin- 

 burgh, who, by his will dated in 179G, destined the greater part of his property to 

 the endowment of a charitable school for boys, and of a hospital for the aliment 

 and maintenance of old men and women. About forty aged foundationers were 

 maintained in the hospital building. The persons qualified for admission were, the 

 servants of the founder, or persons of his name, above the age of 55 ; persons be- 

 longing to Edinburgh and its suburbs above the same age ; failing these, persons 

 from Leith, Newhaven, and other parts of Mid-Lothian ; whom failing, persons 

 from any part of Scotland at the age of 55. The Free School was opened in 1803, 

 and had about 100 boj-s. For some time no fees were charged, but subsequently, 

 and until the recent reform, the pupils were made to pay a small sum per month, 

 and this change had the effect of increasing their number, which latterly amounted 

 to about 150. The annual income of the foundation is about £1800. The manage- 

 ment is in the hands of the Master, twelve Assistants, and Treasurer of the Mer- 

 chant Company, five members of the Town Coimcil, and the Ministers of St. An- 

 drew's and St. Stephen's churches. 



For upwards of a quarter of a century there has been a gi'owing feeling in Scot- 

 land against what is known as the hospital system ; and, happily, people generally 

 are now coming to believe in the truth of the saying that children should be brought 

 up in families — not in flocks. The education of large numbers of children apart 

 from their parents, relatives, or friends, and without their having almost any inter- 

 course with other persons except the oflicials of the hospital establishments, was a 

 system unnatural in itself, and not calculated to make them in after life useful 

 members of society. With whatever zeal those who were so brought up might be 

 trained niorall}' and intellectuallj-, many were found, on the completion of their 

 education, to be devoid of that general intelligence which is acquired from inter- 

 course with friends in the home circle ; and when they left the hospitals to begin 

 the business of life, they were, as a rule, unable to take their places ■with others 

 whose scholastic training had not been superior, but which had been carried on 

 under happier circumstances. Altogether, it was felt that, in return for the large 

 sum of money expended upon them, comparatively small benefits were derived ; 

 and it was to abolish this state of things that the Scheme w.as devised. 



The Merchant Company had for a long time been desirous of reforming the in- 

 stitutions referred to, and with this view they obtained, about nineteen years ago, 

 Parliamentary authority to admit daj'-scholars, selected from the privileged classes, - 

 to George Watson's Hospital, to be educated gratuitously along with the founda- 



