Q7'2 SCOTLAND. 



may be rendered elegant. What is of far more importance, it is sup- 

 plied with excellent professors in the several branches of learning ; 

 and its schools for every part of the medical art arc reckoned.'equal 

 to any in Europe. This college is provided with a library, founded by 

 one Clement Little, which has been of late greatly augmented ; and a 

 museum belonging to it was given by sir Andrew Balfour, a physician. 



The Parliament Square, or, as it is there called, Close, was formerly 

 the most ornamental part of this city : it is formed into a very noble 

 quadrangle, part of which consists of lofty buildings ; and in the mid- 

 dle is a fine equestrian statue of Charles II. The room built by 

 Charles I. for the parliament-hou^e, though not so large, is better 

 proportioned than Westminster-hall ; and its roof, though executed 

 in the same manner, has been by good judges held to be superior. 

 If is now converted into a court of law, where a single judge, called 

 the lord-ordinary, presides by rotation : in a room near it sit the other 

 judges ; and adjoining are the public offices of the law, exchequer, 

 chancery, shrievaiity, and magistracy of Edinburgh ; and the valuable 

 library of the lawyers. The latter equals any thing of the kind to be 

 found in England, or perhaps in any part of Europe, and was at first 

 entirely founded and furnished by lawyers. The number of printed 

 books it contains is amazing ; and the collection has been made with 

 exquisite taste and judgment. It contains likewise the most valuable 

 manuscript remains of the Scottish history, chartularities, and other 

 papers of antiquity, with a series of medals. 



The high church of Edinburgh, called that of St. Giles, is now 

 divided into four churches, and a room where the general assembly 

 sits. It is a large Gothic building, and its steeple is surmounted by 

 arches, formed into an imperial crown, which has a good effect. 



The modern edifices in and near Edinburgh, such as the exchange, 

 public offices, its hospitals, bridges, an l the like, demonstrate the 

 great improvement of the taste of tie Scots in their public works. 

 Parallel to the city of Edinburgh, on the north, the nobility, gentry, 

 and others, have erected a new town. The streets and squares are 

 laid out with the utmost regularity, and the houses are built with 

 stone, in an elegant taste. 



Between the old and the new town lies a narrow bottom or vale, 

 which, agreeably to the original plan, was to have been formed into a 

 sheet of water, bordered by a terrace-walk, and the ascent towards the 

 new town covered with pleasure-gardens, shrubberies, &c. This 

 design, however, has not yet been carried into execution. At the 

 west or upper end of this vale, the castle, a solid rock, n t less than 

 twenty stories high, looks down with awful magnificence. The eastern 

 extremity is bounded by a lofty bridge, the middle arch being ninety 

 feet high, which joins the new buildings to the city, and renders the 

 descent on each side the vale (there being no water in this place) 

 more commodious for carriages. 



Edinburgh contains a playhouse, sanctioned by act of parliament ; 

 aitd concerts, assemblies, bails, music-meetings, and other polite 

 amusements, are as frequent and brilliant here, as in any part of his 

 majesty's dominions, London and Bath excepted. In the new town 

 arc several handsome and convenient hotels, and the coffee-houses 

 and taverns in the old town are. much improved. 



Edinburgh is governed by a lord provost, four bailies, a dean of 

 guild, and a treasurer, annually chosen from the common council. 

 The lord provost is colonel of the town-guard, a military institution 



