Neglected Edinburgh 
until one notices the cleverly 
depressed skylights that one 
enjoys the novel sensation 
of taking a promenade on 
the market roof. It was 
here that I first saw a New- 
haven fishwife. I recog¬ 
nized her instantly but was 
at a loss to account for 
her appearance on Princes 
Street, for in my then igno¬ 
rance of her history 1 had 
always associated her with 
that Newhaven on the far 
southeastern coast of Eng¬ 
land where travellers, less 
timorous of the tossing 
channel, take ship for the picturesque 
Dieppe route to Paris. Apparently quite 
unconscious of her anachronistic garb, I 
watched her out of sight; and shortly was 
aware of her Scandinavian ancestry and the 
tenacity with which the little fishing hamlet 
near Leith clings to its ancestral costume 
and traditions, unmixing with the lowland 
Scots who surround and overwhelm them on 
every side. 
It was on Princes Street, too, that I saw 
my first Highlander; a magnificent specimen 
of a man, largely built in every dimension and 
JOHN KNOX’S HOUSE 
THE CITY FROM CALTON HILL 
clad as to his upper man in bowler hat and 
nineteenth century coat, but as to his lower 
in Highland kilt and sporan, hose and 
garters, all complete. His social status I 
was unable to guess, as it seemed unlikely 
that a Highland gentleman would so array 
himself, but he made an imposing object 
amid the busy throng and was apparently 
as unconscious as was the Newhaven 
woman of his historic dress. 
I here is no finer street in Europe than 
this same Princes Street. Others there are 
of greater historic interest or possessing in¬ 
dividual buildings more 
imposing or romantic, but 
none can vie with it in the 
beauty of its setting. One- 
quarter turn of the head 
carries the line of vision 
away from the modern town 
across the be-parked valley 
to historic Edinburgh; 
where the lands rise ten 
and twelve storeys high like 
inhabited cliffs above the 
depths below; having Holy- 
rood and Arthur’s Seat for 
their eastern limit, with the 
all-dominating castle on the 
west; while above lands and 
cliffs rises serene the crown 
of St. Giles’. 
But let us first examine 
Princes Street a little in 
detail. Its eastern and west 
