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To ED'IFY, v. a. Icdifco, Lat.] To build ; . ■ 
There was a holy chapel edify’’d, 
Wherein the hermit wont to fay 
If is holy things each morn and eventide. Spcnfcr. 
To inftrudl; to improve.—Life is no life, without the 
blefling of a friendly and an .edifying converfation. L’E- 
Jl range. 
He gave, he taught; and edify'd the more, 
Becaufe he fhew’d, by proof, ’twas eafy to be poor. 
Dry den 4 
To teach ; to perfuade. This is now either obfolete or 
ludicrous.—You fhall hardly edify me that thofe nations 
might not, by the law of nature, have been fubdued by 
any nation that had only policy and moral virtue. Bacon. 
EDIKO'FEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 
Lower Rhine, and palatinate of the Rhine, where a bat-' 
tie was fought between the PrulTians and the French re¬ 
publican army, on the 12 th of July 1794 ; the con ted was 
long and bloody, but the victory doubtful : the French 
general, Laboiffiere, by venturing too far, was taken pri- 
foner : the battle was renewed the next day, and ended 
in favour of the republicans : four miles north of Landau. 
E'DiLE, J. \_eedilis, Lat.] The title of a magiftrate in 
old Rome. See ./Edile, vol. i. p. 133.—The edile, ho! 
let him be apprehended. Shakefpeare. 
E'DILESHIP,/; The office of edile in ancient Rome : 
Haply eyed at diftance 
Some edilefiip, ambitious of the power 
To judge of weights and meafures. Gay. 
EDIN'BURGH, the metropolis of Scotland, and capi¬ 
tal of the county to which it gives name, delightfully 
fituated on three lofty eminences, about two miles from 
the Frith of Forth. This city is comparatively of mo¬ 
dern name and note. Maitland, and other antiquaries, 
have fallen into miferable mi (fakes and mifquotations 
concerning its origin. A pallage from an old writer, 
(fays Mr. Pinkerton,) has been adduced for its exifl- 
ence in 854, while the original itfelf is completely fi- 
lent! Whatever may be the epoch of its exigence, the 
earlieft hint that can be applied to it as a town, occurs 
in the Chronicon Piftorum, about the year 955, where 
mention is made of Eden , as religned by the Englilh to 
the Scots, then ruled by Indulph. In the next century, 
Malcolm III. and Margaret of England, his celebrated 
queen, are faid to have refided in the caftle ; but her 
life, by Turgot, omits this circumdance ; and Holyrood- 
houfewas the foundation of the fir ft king David, id the 
year 1128. If we confide in the Chronicon Pictorum, 
its derivatibn will naturally arife from Eden , a beautiful 
place, and burg, a fortified tower or caftle. Other deri¬ 
vations, however, are contended for; as from Etk, a fup- 
pofed king of the Pitts; or from Edwin, a Saxon prince 
of Northumberland ; or from the Gallic words Dun Edin , 
implying its lituation on a hill. Thofe who attribute its 
derivation to Edwin, contracted into Edin, are the more 
-fandtioned in fuch conclufion, becaufe under that prince, 
the Anglo-Saxons of Northumberland, as early as the 
iixth century, eftabliffied a permanent military ftation on 
the rock on which the caftle of Edinburgh (fill (lands. 
For Come centuries following, here was no town but what 
flood within the immediate precintls of the caftle. It was 
not till long after the Scots and Picls from the north and 
north-weft of the Forth had fubdued the fouthern coun¬ 
try, nearly to the prefect border of England, that the Scot- 
ti(h kings began to refide, for a part of the year, at Edin¬ 
burgh, as well as at Dunfermline, Stirling, and Linlith¬ 
gow. David I. by founding the monaftery of the Holy- 
rood, at about a mile’s diftance, on the fouth-eaft fite of 
the caftle, added the vicinity of a religious community 
to a military (trong-hold, which thus gave rife to the 
exiftencc of a town between them, that was to become 
at length fo confiderable. The firft buildings of the town, 
■which extended beyond the preempts of the caftle, were 
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framed chiefly of wood ; were covered on the roof with 
turf, draw, heath, and fern ; and lay in an irregular lints 
along the ridge Which runs from the Caftle-hill to that 
which is flill called the Abbey. As the inhabitants be¬ 
came more numerous, the ftreets and lanes were extended 
on the fouth, on the weft, and on the fouth-eaft, of the 
High-ftreet; and the Grafs-market, th$ Canon-gate, the 
Cow-gate, were gradually filled with buildings. The ac¬ 
clivity which rifes, fouth ward from the Cow-gate, was 
more loofely occupied by religious houfes, and the refi- 
dence of fome of the nobility, and other attendants'on 
the court. The walls encompafled the High-ftreet, the 
Cow-gate, and the fouthern elevation to a fmall' diftance 
beyond where the buildings of-the college and the infir¬ 
mary at prefent Hand. From the era of the institution 
of the court of feilion, and its permanent local eftablifti- 
ment in Edinburgh, this town may be confidered as hav¬ 
ing properly become, and not before, the capital of the 
kingdom. It was greatly enlarged and improved during 
the reign of James the Sixth, (the Firft of England.) The 
acceffion of-the line of the Scottifli kings to the Englifti 
throne, inftead of interrupting the profperity. of Edin¬ 
burgh as a metropolis, feeins rather to have advanced it. 
Edinburgh became, thenceforth, the permanent feat of 
government for Scotland, and the centre of correfpon- 
dence for all the reft of the kingdom with the court in 
England. Bcfides, the inftitution of the college by king 
James, and that of the high fchool, were fuch events as 
could not but advantageoufiy influence the growth of 
the city. Even during the civil wars and the ufurpatiou 
of Cromwell, Edinburgh, though, perhaps, not another 
town in Scotland, frill continued to thrive. After 
the reftoration, many new and lofty edifices were built in 
it; and it began to experience a livelinefs of trade to 
which it had been before a ftranger. That trade was 
greatly enlivened in confequence of the revolution. 
From the era of the revolution to that of the union, the 
buildings and the wealth of Edinburgh appear to have 
been very much enlarged. By the immediate confequences 
of the union, the profperity of the Scottifli capital was, 
for a while, interrupted. It was not effectually renewed 
till after the rebellion of 1745 was fuppreffied. From 
that period till the acceffion of George the Third, many 
bold projects were conceived for the improvement and 
extenfion of this city, and fome progrefs was even made 
in their execution. But, it was not till after the peace of 
1763, that the old edifices began to be generally reno¬ 
vated, and the city to be extended to the north and the 
fouth over more than twice that compals of ground which 
it had fo long irregularly covered. Till the commence¬ 
ment of the American war, the fpirit of building conti¬ 
nued to prevail. During the continuance of that war, 
it languiihed ; but it revived again upon the return of 
peace. From that era till the renewal of war, the public 
and private buildings of Edinburgh, and the ftreets, 
roads, and bridges belonging to it, were extended and im¬ 
proved dill more rapidly than at any former time. Even 
within tlie laft ten years, the afflictions which the French 
republican war impofed on the v hole country had no 
power to interrupt the extenfion of this town, efpecially 
towards the north. 
Edinburgh, thus enlarged and improved, is fituate in 
Ion. 2. 55. W. from the meridian of Greenwich, and 
in lat. 55. 52. N. and fends one member to the impe¬ 
rial parliament. It may be about fix miles in circum¬ 
ference, and fpreads over three oblong hills or elevated 
ridges; covering, likewife, more or lefs clofely, the in¬ 
termediate declivities, and rifing irregularly up the (ides 
of two or three infulated heights, in which the lower 
elevations, more or lefs, abruptly terminate. Confidered 
in regard merely to its ftreets and buildings, this metro- 
polis^may vie with mod great towns in Europe. It con- 
fi(Is of three parts: the new town, its mod northern di- 
vifion ; tlie old town, comprehending the High-ftreet, 
Canon-gate, Cow-gate, and other parts within the circuit 
