EDINBURG H. 0*9 
com mi fli oners of the boards of excife and cuftoms, with 
the inferior perfons ferving in Edinburgh and iLeith on 
thefe ellablifhments ; the officers belonging to the depart¬ 
ments of the lord clerk regiller, to the ftamp-office, the 
tax-office, pod-office, and the herald’s-office; with a few 
who belong to the eftabli fluff ent of the royal houfehold, 
and a few enjoying honorary or eleemofynary penfions 
from the crown ; may all be reckoned to defray the ex- 
pences of their living here, out of the revenues they re¬ 
ceive from government, chiefly for the difcharge of of¬ 
ficial duties. The whole firm thus contributed, out of 
the common revenue of the ltate, towards the fupport of 
perfons refident in Edinburgh, cannot be lefs than one 
hundred thoufand pounds fterling. Another part of the 
inhabitants of this place fubfift upon their incomes as 
practitioners in the law. Thefe clafles may draw from the 
whole country, profeffionally, for their fubfiftence, a 
grofs annual fum of perhaps 130,000!. fterling. The 
perfons belonging to the univerfity, the high-fchool, and 
the other eftablifhments for education, profelfors, mafters, 
and ftudents, may have, in all, an income of about one 
hundred thoufand pounds a-year. Of this, about fixty 
thouland pounds may confift of allowances by parents 
and others to the ftudents from the country and from fo¬ 
reign parts. Many ftudents pafs the whole year here; 
attending both the fummer and the winter courfes of lec¬ 
tures. Bankers, merchants, fhip-mafters, and fhop-keep- 
ers, compofe a large proportion of the inhabitants of 
Edinburgh and Leith ; and probably above two bundled 
thoufand pounds fterling of the total yearly income of 
thefe places may be the produce of their bufinefs and in- 
duftry. Here are two incorporated banking-companies, 
the Old Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland, and many 
private banking-houfes. The merchants refide rather at 
Leith than in Edinburgh,. The Hupping and the fea-far- 
ing trade belonging to thefe places is confiderable ; and 
they have been much augmented fince the completion of 
the canal which joins the Forth and the Clyde. The ar- 
tifans aud manufacturers are here a very confiderable 
body of people ; and a large (hare of the income of the 
place arifes from their induftry and extenfive connections. 
The merchants of Edinburgh, Leith, and the environs, 
are atfociated, with the approbation of government, in a 
chamber of commerce, w'ftich watches over their com¬ 
mon interefts, and occalionally correfponds with his tna- 
jefty’s minifters refpeCting matters in which thefe in¬ 
terefts are deeply concerned. The Ruffia, &c. merchants, 
trading to the dominions of Ruffia, Denmark, and Swe¬ 
den, in the Baltic and North Seas, are confiderably nu¬ 
merous and opulent. Tar, timber, iron, hemp, flax, 
coarfe linens, Ruilia leather, &c. are the imports from 
thofe parts. Cottons, glafs and bottles, articles of houfe- 
hold furniture and drefs, utenfils of the arts, &c. are the 
goods fent out in return. Many of the imports are for 
immediate confumption, not for manufacture in order to 
Te-exportation. For the articles of timber, tar, hemp, 
and flax, even alone, the nations of the Baltic draw vaft 
films from the merchants on the Frith of Forth. Corn 
to a great-value is imported, for the ufe of the diftillers, 
from Dantzic, Gothenburgh, Sec. The fame merchants 
trade likewife to the ports at the mouths of the Elbe, the 
Ems, and the Wefer. The exports are cottons, glafs, lead, 
caft-iron in various ufeful forms, with other forts of goods 
of the manufacture of this country. From the port of 
Leith, as from Hull and Newcaftle, there is an exportation 
of pit-coal to the Baltic. Since the Clyde and Forth were 
connected by a navigable canal, the merchants of Glafgovv 
prefer the navigation of that canal, and of the Forth, to 
the circuitous and hazardous navigation by the Hebudas 
and the Orkneys, for their trade to England, and for the ex- 
portationof their fugars, rums, and otherWeft-1 ndia goods, 
as well as of the cottons, to the markets of Germany and 
the Baltic; a preference which tends greatly to enliven and 
enlarge the trade of Edinburgh and Leith. The trade with 
London and tire other ports on the eaft coaft of England 
Von. VI. No. 346. 
employs much of the mercantile capital of thefe places, 
and affords large profits to its merchants. The products 
of the herring-fifhery, and of the other lifheries on thefe 
coafts, begin to render the exports from Leith to the 
ports of England much more valuable than they have 
heretofore been. Edinburgh ale is exported in con¬ 
fiderable quantity to London: vaft quantities of London 
porter are confumed in Edinburgh. The diftillers of 
Edinburgh and its neighbourhood fend vaft quantities of 
malt fpirits to the Englifh market. Woollen-cloth, to a 
prodigious amount, and almoft every article of more elegant 
manufacture, except cottons, linens, and glafs, are re¬ 
ceived from England for confumption in Edinburgh and 
its neighbourhood. The trade from Leith to Portugal 
and to the ports of the Mediterranean is confiderable. 
The wine-cellars of the merchants here are famous for 
fupplying the belt port that is drunk in Britain. Salted 
fifli of different forts are the chief exports from Leith to 
thofe fouthern parts. A trade is alfo carried on from this 
port to the Weft Indies and North America. It has been 
fuccefsful, and will probably become more confiderable. 
The great trade of Edinburgh is, in retail, for the 
confumption of its own inhabitants, and for the ufe 
of perfons in all parts of Scotland to whom its other ad¬ 
vantages of intercourfe, correfpondence, and opulence, 
as a capital, make it convenient to- fupply their wants 
rather direCtly from this than from any other market. 
Its ftaple manufactures for wholefale are glafs works, 
foap-works, a manufacture of table-linen, caft-iron works, 
tanneries, button manufactures, cotton-works, pit-coal 
works in the vicinity, fliip-building, houle-building, and 
the herring-fifhery, if we may name the cure of immenfe 
quantities as a manufacture. The merchants doing bufi- 
nefs in wholefale, and exporting and importing by fea, 
employ capitals of from 2000!. to 20,000!. or 30,000!. 
fterling. Fortunes of from 5000I. to 20,oool. are fre¬ 
quently acquired in the courfe of a fingle life, by (hop- 
keepers trading with prudence and fuccefs. Merchants 
in bufinefs on a greater fcale, not feldom realize from 
io,oool. to 50,0001. There are who have acquired by 
trade in tiffs metropolis to the clear amount of 200,000!. 
or even 300,0001. 
Edinburgh, as already obferved, owes much of its 
wealth and importance to the advantages it enjoys as the 
feat of the courts of juftice and the offices of govern¬ 
ment. The court of feffion, compofed of fifteen ordinary 
judges, is the fupreme court in Scotland for the decifion 
of civil caufes between parties who are fubjeCts. The 
court of judiciary is the fupreme court for criminal af¬ 
fairs. The court of exchequer tries caufes relating to 
the revenue. The (heriff’s courts-, the juftice of peace’s 
courts, and the town courts, are for the iubordinate dif- 
tribution of juftice for the diftridt. About feven hundred 
perfons in all may be here employed in tra n fa iff: ing juri¬ 
dical bufinefs, as judges, advocates, writers to the lignet, 
agents, procurators, notaries, meffengers, and clerks. 
The trial of caufes goes on with lefs difpatch than in the 
Englifh courts. The world has not feen judges mor£, 
upright, more learned, of greater abilities, or more affi- 
duous in their functions, than thofe who have for many 
fucceffions filled the benches of the courts of feffion, juf- 
ticiary, and exchequer, at Edinburgh. The advocates 
or counfellors are men of family ; often eminently (killed 
in all the branches of erudition, fcience, and ornamental 
literature ; always, in confiderable number, confummate 
mafters of the jurifprudence of their own and other coun¬ 
tries. Their order never wants orators, whole pleadings 
are not exceeded in eloquence by thofe at any other bar. 
The officers of the cuftoms, the excife, the (lamp-duties, 
the general poft-office, the court of admiralty, the poft- 
office, the herald’s-office, the fluff of the army for Scot¬ 
land, &c. form a numerous, and, efpecially for the higher 
orders, an eminently refpetfable body of men. Their 
duties are faithfully difeharged ; their incomes are ho¬ 
nourably expended. Edinburgh and Leith owe to them 
3 S much 
