Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

462
EDINBURGH.
that quarter, it is extremely difficult to ascertain."
The only corporation connected with the Calton is
that of the incorporated trades.
Manufactures.
The manufactures of Edinburgh are of very trivial
importance ; and, in 1831, employed only 792 males
of 20 years and upwards. In 1828 the number of
hand-looms throughout the entire county of Mid-
Lothian was only 300 ; and in 1838 they were only
108, of which 48 were factory looms, and 60 plain
looms. The making of shawls and plaids, com-
posed of silk and wool, of very rich designs and
excellent quality, is the chief. The shawl weav-
ing is all conducted in factories, and yields to the
workman 10s. a- week in clear wages; but it has con-
siderably declined, in consequence, as is believed, of
spirited competition in Paisley. The other depart-
ments of manufactures are net- weaving, lace-making,
the weaving of haircloth and silk, and coach-building.
The Merchants' company is intimately connected with
the guildry, and has the virtual patronage and man-
agement of three great public charities, but exerts
little influence or none in what would seem to be its
legitimate direction. The company was established
by royal charter, dated 19th October, 1681, which
erected " the then haill present merchants, burgesses,
and gild brethren of the burgh of Edinburgh, who
were importers or sellers of cloths, stuffs, or other
merchandize, for the apparell or wear of the bodies
of men or women, for themselves and successors in
their said trade in all time comeing, in a society or
company, to be designed the Company of Merchants
of the city of Edinburgh," which was ratified by act
of parliament, 1693. A subsequent charter, and two
successive acts of parliament, the last dated 28th
May, 1827, have regulated the dues of entry, and»
authorized the company to admit all persons " being
merchants, burgesses, and guild brethren, or entitled
to be chosen merchant-councillors or magistrates of
the city of Edinburgh." The rate of entry-money, as
regulated by the last statute, is £63. The company's
stock, at September, 1834, was £23,776. The In-
come from interest of money, rents of real property,
and entry money, &c, amounts to about £1,100 per
annum, and is expended chiefly in supporting widows
and decayed members. Edinburgh, as to water, coals,
facilities of communication, and relative position, is
peculiarly well-situated for manufactures; but hither-
to it has expended its physical advantages chiefly
in promoting the health and comfort of its inhabi-
tants. Such trade as it has is carried on principally
through Leith, and will be noticed in the article on
that port.
Publishing Trade.
Literature may, in a sense, be called the staple
produce of the metropolis. In the printing of law
papers for the legal functionaries, of bibles and school-
books for general diffusion over Scotland, of num-
erous periodicals of national circulation, and of vol-
umes or ponderous works of popular attraction or
standard and enduring value, a proportion of opera-
tives and of literary persons— particularly of the for-
mer — incomparably greater is employed in Edinburgh
than in any other town of the three kingdoms except
London. So late as near the close of the 18th cen-
tury, literature, in the strict sense of the word, was
little more an article of manufacture than in any
Scottish provincial town ; but it started up with an
energy, and proceeded with attractions, and in-
creased with a rapidity which have eventually earned
for the city the name " Modern Athens," in compli-
ment more to her learnedness and her being the em-
porium of the nation's means of knowledge, than even
to the characteristic features of her topographical
position. The Encyclopedia Britannica was the first
large work which the Edinburgh press produced ;
and, bulky and magnificent as it was, it gave but im-
perfect indication of the spirit of achievement which
had been roused. The beautiful and incessant and
very varied productions Qf the Ballantyne press,
combined with the princely speculations of Con-
stable, and the corruscations of talent which played
from the literary coteries of the Edinburgh Review
and Blackwood's Magazine, were the first demon-
strations to the world that Edinburgh was taking
her place as a manufactory and a mart of litera-
ture. But the machinery of publishing was as yet
chiefly propelled by one individual, and after his
death, seemed, for a time, to be obscured partially
from view ; but it has since been greatly multiplied
in its powers, and advantageously distributed among
many possessors, and works with the vigour and the
glee of healthful competition. The periodicals of
the city — though scarcely a fair index of its produc-
tiveness in the more valuable department of standard
works and serials — are sufficiently numerous and im-
portant to indicate its standing. In 1840 the perio-
dicals were the Edinburgh Review, the Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal, the Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, the
Phrenological Review, the Journal of Agriculture,
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Chambers' Jour-
nal, the Presbyterian Review, the Edinburgh Chris-
tian Instructor, the United Secession Magazine, the
Scottish Congregational Magazine, the Scottish Bap-
tist Magazine, the Scottish Christian Herald, the
Scottish Missionary Record, and several annual
publications. The Newspapers of the city are the
Edinburgh Evening Courant and the Caledonian
Mercury, three times a- week ; the Gazette, the Ob-
server, the Advertiser, the Scotsman, the New North
Briton, and the Scottish Pilot, twice a-week ; and
the Weekly Chronicle, the Weekly Journal, the
Saturday Evening Post, and the Edinburgh, Leith,
and Glasgow Advertiser, once a-week.
Banks, Societies, Sfc.
The chartered Banks of Edinburgh are three,
the Bank of Scotland, established in 1695, originally
upon a stock of £100,000 ; the Royal Bank of Scot-
land, established in 1727, on a capital of £111,000;
the British Linen company, instituted in 1746, on a
capital of £100,000. These all, after their estab-
lishment, very greatly increased their capitals. The
Joint-stock banks are four, — the Commercial Bank-
ing company of Scotland, established in 1810, on 500
shares of £500 each ; the National Bank of Scotland,
established in 1825, on a very large number of shares
of £100 each ; the Eastern bank of Scotland, and the
Edinburgh and Leith bank. The private banks are
two, — that of Sir W. Forbes, J. Hunter & Co., and
that of Alexander Allan & Co. There are also branch
offices of the Clydesdale banking company, and the
Western bank of Scotland -Of the Insurance com-
panies belonging to Scotland, and branch-offices of
English companies, the list is numerous. The Friendly
Insurance company was established in 1720 for the
private benefit of its founders, but has since become
a public institution. The Caledonian Fire Insurance
company was instituted in 1 805, and received a royal
charter in 1810. Its capital is £15,000, divided
into shares of £100. The Hercules Fire Insurance
company was instituted in 1809, with a capital oi
£75,000, by shares on the same plan as that of the
Caledonian. The North British Fire-office was
established in 1809, with a capital of £500,000.
The Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance
society was established in 1813, on the model of the