Towns > Edinburgh > 1867-1870 - New Edinburgh, Leith, and county (business) directory > 1869-1870

South Bridge
GUIDE.
£^iccIson Strea'J
xliii
The Hoyal Infirmary.— It was erected in
1738, for the philanthropic purpose of affording
relief to the " ciirable distressed," not only of
Edinburgh, or even Scotland, but of the world.
The yearly average of patients in its wards is up-
wards of 3000. As a proof that its benefits have
been appreciated by the general public, it is suffi-
cient to state that about £80,000 have been re-
cently subscribed to erect ff better building for the
accommodation of its patients.
The two ecclesiastical buildings opposite to the
Infirmary are Lady Yester's Parish Church,
with a j)lain Gothic front, built in 1803, and a
chapel belonging to the United Presbyterians,
erected in 1822. The building at the foot of
the street, facing westwards, and now forming
part of the Surgical Hospital, was the Migh
School of Edinburgh from 1111 till 1828,
when it was sold to the managers of the Infirmary
for £7500. The first High School was erected on
the same site in 1578, and was used as such till
the present building v/as erected. To this dull-
looking place, then, for more than 270 years the
youth of the Scottish metropolis repaired for the
acquisition of knowledge ; and here the well-known
Dr Adam taught such pupils as Henry Mackenzie,
the "Man of Feeling," Scott, Jeffrey, Brougham,
Cockburn, Horner, and a host of others, whose
names are known wherever the language is slacken.
— Nearly opx^osite Infirmary Street is
The University. —It is a large quadrangular
edifice, in what is known as the Greece - Italian
style of architecture, extending 255 feet from north
to south, and 358 from east to west. The original
college, founded in 1582, comprised a range of
mean-looking buildings, which were demolished in
1789, to give jjlace to the present massive pile. If
the plans of the original architect, Mr Adam, had
been carried out in their integrity, the structure
would have been much more imposing and magni-
ficent than it is ; but as the erection progressed,
funds failed, and a curtailment of the original
design became necessary. This was accomj)lished
by Mr Playfaii-, and in 1815, Parliament granted
an annual sum of £10,000 for ten years to carry
out the proposed modifications. The work of
teaching began in the olct buildings in 1583, under
Kobert Rollick, the first Principal. By degrees
the fame of the College, and its long line of distin-
guished teachers, spread far and wide, and pupils
from all quarters flocked to it. Its early-won
fame is still maintained, and although the youngest
.of the Scottish universities, it annually enrols the
largest number of students. The aggregate yearly
value of the fellowships and scholarshixas (all
founded since 18.58) is £1400. The library of the
University, the principal apartment of which is a
magnificent room 200 feet long and 50 feet broad,
occupies the south side of the quadrangle, and
contains several hundred curious manuscrixDts, and
upwards of 130,000 printed volumes.
_ The Industrial Museum, still unfinished, is
situated behind the University, with which it is
connected by a small glass-covered bridge. It is
in the Venetian Eenaissance style, from a design
by the late Cax^tain Fowke, and consists cf a series
of courts opening into a great hall 260 feet long,
70 feet wide, and 70 feet high. The laying of the
foundation-stone of this building, on the 23d of
October 1861, was the last public act of his late
Royal Highness the Prihce Consort. The Museum
is open free on Wednesdays from 10 to 4 ; and on
Fridays and Saturdays from 10 to 4, and from 6 to
9. A charge of 6d. each is made for admission on
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 10 to 4.
It is well worthy of a visit, as it contains objects
of interest to all classes of the community. Besides
the specimens of the "Industrial" department,
may be seen one of the finest collections of birds
in the world, and also the most complete assort-
ment of minerals believed to exist in the kmgdom.
In North College Street is the College "Wynd,
which was anciently known by the name of " The
Wynd of the Bless'ed Virgin Mary in the Field,"
in a house at the top of which, now swept away,
Sir Walter Scott was born ; in an adjoining ho^ise
lived the celebrated chemist, Dr Black ; and here
also Oliver Goldsmith took up his abode while
studying medicine at the University. — A little
to the west is the Horse Wynd, where the
Coiuitess of Galloway, Lord Kennet, Baron
Stuart, and other titled people formerly resided,
and where their houses still remain. StUl farther
east, within a railed wall, stands Minto House,
the town mansion of the Earls of Minto.
A few paces south of the University is Nicol-
son Street, built about the end of the last
century, on the east side of which, a little way
south of Drummond Street, is
The Royal College of Surgeons, a beauti-
ful buUding in the Grecian style, with a handsome
portico and pediment, supported by six fluted
Ionic columns, erected in 1833, after a design by
W. H. Playfair, at a cost of £20,000. The exten-
sive museum, containing a valuable collection of
anatomical and surgical preparations, may be seen
on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, from 10 till
3, and on Saturdays from 12 till 3, by order from
a member of the College. — Nearly opposite is
Nicolson Square, in a house in which the
sixth Earl of Leven, Lord High Commissioner to
the General Assembly for many years, long resided-
— A little farther south, on the left. No. 58, is
The Blind Asylum, one of our most useful
and deserving public charities, and which was
originated in 1765, by the benevolent exertions of
Dr David Johnston, minister of North Leith.
Still farther south, on the same side, is West
Kichmond Street, a little way down which, on
the right, is the church in which Dr Thomas
M'Crie, the distinguished biographer of Knox and
Melville, preached for many years. — A little be-
yond Richmond Street, on the left, a large arch-
way leads to Simon Square, on the east of which
is Paul Street, where Sir David Wilkie first
took up his abode on his arrival in Edinburgh in
1799, and from which he afterwards removed to a
better lodging in East Richmond Street, and
thence to a comfortable attic in Palmer's Land,
West Nicolson Street. The latter .apartment,
it may be interesting to know, had been occupied
for some years previously by Alexander Runciman,
the artist. — Still proceeding southwards, a few
paces brings us, on the right, to
Nicolson Street Church, erected in 1820,
and where the well-known Dr John Jamieson, the
author of the "Etymological Dictionary of the
Scottish Language," and other works, preached for
many years. It has a handsome Gothic front,
v/ith two octagonal towers 90 feet high, and a very
elegant doorway.— Taking the first opening to the
right, southward, we reach
Succleuch Church, an unpretending little
structure, erected in 1755, at a cost of £800, but
which has recently been restored and embellished
at an expense of over £2000. It is adorned with
several very fine memorial windovi's— one vei-y