Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1886 - Slater's (late Pigot and Co's) Royal national commercial directory and topography of Scotland

I DIRECTORY
EDINBURGH
EDINBURGHSHIRE
land a memoVial window to David Anderson, of Moreduu, placed
i in the chancel in 1884. It is seated for 550. Patrons, The Vestry.
United Presbyterian Church.
This body of Presbyterian dissenters have many places of wor-
ship in Edinburgh, some of them large. .____., . +
Nicolson Sthekt Church is on the west side of Nicolson street,
and its lofty Gothic front is very commanding. The hue Saxon
arch of the doorway springs from two sculptured human heads.
For many years Dr. Jamieson, the compiler ot the Scottish
Dictionary," was the minister of this numerous congregation.
Broughton Place Church is a massive building, with a por-
tico and Doric columns ; it will contain 1,600 worshippers.
Eose Street Church is a handsome building, in the eastern
division of Rose sireet, and is very capacious. _
Newington U. P. Church, in Causewayside, is an ornament
to that neighbourhood. , _ , , . „ .
The (Tnited Presbyterian Church, which has Presbyteries in
England as well as Scotland, holds a meeting of synod annually
in Edinburgh, on the Monday after the first Sunday in May. the
meetings are held in the Theological Hall, Castle terrace.
Free Church of Scotland.
This, which is the largest of the non-established churches of
Scotland, holds the meetings of its General Assembly in Edin-
burgh annually, at the same time with that of the Established
Church. These meetings take place in a beautiful hall erected
for the purpose, and capable of containing from 1,600 to 1,800
persons. This hall is situated behind the Free Church College,
through the quadrangle, which is the principal entrance to it,
a broad flight of steps leading up. The hall was erected in
The Free Church College, a theological seminary, stands
at the head of the Mound, and is a very beautiful ediliee m
the Elizabethan style, designed by Mr. Play fair, founded in
1840, and consisting of a quadrangle, 84 feet by 56, with two
centre towers 121 teet in height, and a tower at the north-
east corner 95 feet in height, xhe college has a staff of seven
theological professors, including a professor of natural science.
The library was founded in 1843, and was removed to the present
buildings in 1850. It contains about 40,000 volumes, mainly
theological. The Free Church has also theological seminaries in
Glasgow and Aberdeen. It has near forty places of worship in
Edinburgh, some of them very beautiful building?, adorned with
lofty spires, as Free St. George's, Shandwick place, Free St. Mary's,
at the corner of Albany street and Broughton street, Barclay
Church in Bruntsfield Links, and Free Buccleuch Church, near
George iquare. Free St. John's, near the Victoria Hall, and
Free .New North Church, near the Greyfriars Churches, are also
Worthy of notice.
Baptists, Congregationalists, &c.
There are six Baptist churches in Edinburgh. One place
of worship, in Dublin-street, is a beautiful building. There
are ' seven Con gregationa list churches, and the only place of
worship of any external beauty is Augustine Chapel, on George
IV. bridge. The Catholic Apostolic Church, at the corner of
East London street, was opened in 1876. It is in the later
Norman style, measures 200 feet in length, 45 feet in height
to the wall head, and 64 feet in height to the apex of the internal
roof vault; and comprises a nave, a chancel, a west and tower,
and a baptistry. The cost was about £35,000. The places of
worship of minor Protestant denominations do not require special
notice.
Roman Catholics.
The principal Roman Catholic Church, St. Mary's, occupies
a site near York place, in Broughton street, and is a hand-
some Gothic edifice ; it was built by subscription in 1813,
and cost £8,000. It has a very fine organ ; and above the altar is
an excellent painting by Vandyke, representing a dead Saviour.
There is a second chapel (St. Patrick's), of smaller dimensions, in
Cowgate ; and a larger Roman Catholic place of worship, called the
Church of the Sacred Heart, lighted by cupolas, "is situated in
Lauriston street.
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS, LIBRARIES, INSTITU-
TIONS, SOCIETIES, HOSPITALS, &e.
The University.
Edinburgh could not boast of a University at an early-
period. Robert Reid, bishop of Orkney, left a bequest of 8,000
merks in 1558 for the purpose of founding one, and the
magistrates in consequence purchased part of the ground on which
the University now stands, which was then quite out of the
town. There stood the house called Kirk o'Ficld. where Darnley,
the husband of Queen Mary, was murdered in 1567. Some of the
church property confiscated at the Reformation was assigned for
the support of the proposed University. In the year 1579 a col-
lection of books was bequeathed to it by Mr. Clement Little, as a
foundation for a library. The building was begun in 1580 ; a
charter of erection was granted by James VI. in 1582 ; and in the
year following the college was opened for the reception of stu-
dents, although at first with only one class and one regent or
teacher. In 1617 James was so pleased with the progress which
his favourite university had made that he honoured the establish-
ment by calling it " The College of King James VI." In 1619 Sir
William Nisbet, provost of Edinburgh, gave 1,000 Scots (£S3 6s.
8d. sterling) towards the maintenance of a professor of divinity.
The Protector Cromwell endowed the University with an annuity
of £200 sterling, William III. also bestowed on it £300 a year,
but part of this grant was afterwards withdrawn by Queen Anne.
By an Act of Parliament passed in 1S5S, f<" r the regulation of
Scotch universities, a general Council of the University of
Edinburgh has been constituted, consisting of the prin-
cipal, professors, graduates, and persons who, before
August, 1861, satisfied the University Commissioners of
their having completed a certain course of attendance at
the University. The affairs of the University are now
immediately under the care of the Senatus Academicus and Uni-
versity Court, which was constituted at the same time. The
General Council has the right of electing a Chancellor, who holds
office for life ; and on the 28th October, 1859, Lord Brougham, an
alumnus of the University, was elected its first chancellor. The
University Court consists of the rector, the principal, the lord
provost of Edinburgh, and five assessors. 1he Act of 1858 took
from the Town Council of Edinburgh not only the government of
the University but the patronage of its chaira, which was trans-
ferred to sev>n curators, three of whom are nominated by the
University Court, and four by the Town Council. The number of
professors is now 38, classified into the four faculties of oiyinity,
law, medicine, and the arts, the last named including literature
and general science. The school of medicine in this University,
which has s'nee risen to so much eminence, was first founded in
L721. Some of the present professors in the faculty of medicine are
among the most distinguished men in Europe, and. the University of
Edinburgh has in former times had men of equal eminence, not
only in the faculty of medicine but also in other faculties, of whom
it may be enough to mention Dugald Stewart, Sir William Hamil-
ton, and Dr. Chalmers. The students are not obliged to adopt any
particular mode of living or of dress. None of them live within
the walls of the college, asat Oxford and Cambridge. The winter
session begins in the last week of November and terminates in
April. Th* summer session, for medical students only, extends
over the months of May, June, and July. Students are attracted
to Edinburgh, not only from every part of the British dominions,
but from almost every nation in Europe, and every State in
America. The did building being found too small, part of it was
taken down, and the present one begun in 1789. The architect
was Mr. Robert Adam. But the sum collected, though large,
being far from sufficient for the erection of a building of such ele-
gance and magnitude, it was necessarily stopped. In 1815, how-
ever, Parliament made a yearly grant of £10,000 for ten years, to
be expended in the completion of the building, under the superin-
tendence of commissioners appointed by Parliament. A handsome
portico, supported by stone columns of the Doric order, twenty-
six feet high, forms the chief entrance. The east and west sides
are 255 feet in length, and the south and north 356 feet. The de-
sign of the interior quadrangle is by Mr. Playfair. The accommo-
dation then provided proved inadequate to the rapid growth of
the University, under the Universities Act (1858). To mee* more
particularly the increasing requirements of the faculty of medi-
cine, extensive additional buildings have been constructed m
Teviot row, in convenient proximity to the old buildings and to
the Royal Infirmary. In these the faculty of medicine is pro-
vided with laboratories and class rooms unequalled probably in
Great Britain for their extent and equipment. The music class
room in Park place, the finest university building of its kind, was
erected in 1860. The organ therein is « f European celebrity, and
the museum contains a unique collection of musical instruments.
The University Natural History Museum and the Museum
of Science and Art of Scotland.— Sir Andrew Balfour, to \s horn
Edinburgh owes the institution of the Botanic Gardens, was
also the founder of the University Museum of Natural
History. His collections, which were very extensive, were
placed, after his death, in 1694, in the hall of the college;
and in 1697 Sir Robert Sihbald presented the college with a great
variety of curiosities, both native and exotic, but from neglect
it was almost completely destroyed. In the present century, the
Museum, under the care of the late Professor Jameson, was en-
riched by various and extensive collections, particularly by the
purchase of the magnificent one of M. Dufresne, of Paris ; and
the co'lection of birds alone contains upwards of 3,000 specimens,
besides minerals. &c. The whole collection is exceeded by few in
Europe. It was some time ago removed from the place which it
formerly occupied in the University to the Museum of Science
and Art of Scotland, which has been erected behind the University,
and the foundation stone of which was laid by His Royal Highness
Prince Albert on the same day with that of the new General Post
Office. It is a beautiful building ; and, although the design is not
yet completed, it affords ample space for the existing collections.
The collection of specimens illustrative of the arts— raw materials,
progress and processes of manufacture, implements, and machines,
products, &c. — is probably unriva led in the world. It was begun
by the late lamented Dr. George Wilson, Professor of Technology
in the University of h dinburgh.
The University Library is valuable and extensive, and contains
many interesting historical documents. It formerly enjoyed ihe
right to claim a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall,
but now receives, instead, an annual sum of £575 The other
funds for its support are derived from the General University
Fund. The volumes, which are under the care of a librarian ,and his
assistants, amount to nbout 150,000, besides 2,000 volumes of MSS.
There are several curious and valuable manuscripts, such as the
protest of the Bohemian nobles against the burning of John
Huss; the original marriage contract of Queen Mary with the
Dauphin of France, and a vellum copy of Fordun's "Seotichroni-
con." The books are deposited in a hall 190 feet long by 50 wide,
one of the noblest rooms in Scotland.
The Advocates' Library, by far the most valuable in Scotland,
was founded by Sir George Mackenzie, in 1682. The collection of
manuscripts numbers about 3,000 volumes, relating chiefly to
the civil and ecclesiastical history of Scotland, most of which
have been printed. In 1858 the library was estimated to contain
174,000, and is now (1S85) computed to have increased to 300,000
volumes. Thomas Ruddiman, the Latinist, and David Hume, the
historian, were amongst its librarians. It is one of the five public
libraries which still enjoy the privilege of receiving a copy of
every book published in the United Kingdom. It is distinguished
by the liberality of its management — every respectable applicant
being freely permitted to consult its contents.
The Library of the Writers to the Signet. — The origin of the Signet
Library dates from 1755, when the Society of Writers to Her
Majesty'3 Signet set aside certain funds for the purchase of law-
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