Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

ABERDEEN—STREETS AND BUILDINGS.
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curious monumental plate of brass, commemorative of the death
of Dr. Duncan Liddell, founder of the professorship of Mathe¬
matics in Marischal College ; and a stone effigy of Sir Robert
Davidson, Provost of Aberdeen, who fell at Harlaw in 1411.
The East Church is a modern building, in the Gothic style. The
churches are separated by Drum’s Aisle, so called from its being
the burial-place of the ancient family of that name. It formed
the transept of the original church of St. Nicholas, a fabric of
the twelfth century. The only part of the old structure is the
central tower, in which the bells hang. The original date of
the great bell, Laurence, which weighs 40,000 lbs., is 1352. In
the church-yard reposes the hallowed dust of the poet of “ The
Minstrel,” of Principal Campbell, the learned Blackwell, and
Dr. Hamilton, the author of a work on the National Debt.
Part of Union Street is carried over a ravine, by means of a
bridge of dressed granite, consisting of one arch of 130 feet
span, 44 feet in breadth, and 50 feet above the surface of the
ground below, and surmounted by a cornice, parapet, and
balustrades. It cost <£13,342. Westward of the bridge, at
some distance, are situated the County Rooms, which, in point
of architecture and internal decoration, are inferior to none in
Scotland. The banqueting-room contains a portrait of the late
Duke of Gordon, by Lawrence, and another of Provost James
Hadden, by Pickersgill. To these has been added another, by
the latter artist, of the Hon. Captain Gordon, who for many
years represented the county in Parliament. Further west is
the New Prison, the erection of which cost ,£10,500 ; and at
the extreme west, or upper end, stands the Free Church
College.
From the north side of Union Street, a few paces to the
left of the Royal Hotel, diverges Market Street, forming a con¬
venient access to the quay and harbour. Here are the Post-
Office and Public Markets, the latter projected by a joint-stock
company to supply what had long been a local desideratum,
and the Mechanics’ Institution, containing an excellent library
and public hall for lectures. Under the same building are the
Government School of Design and the School for Navigation,
lately established by the Board of Trade. In the same street
is a handsome Coffee-Room, above which there is a Hall for
the accommodation of the Agricultural Association of Aber-