Gazetteer of Scotland

EDI
ED I
other refpect, remarkable. The tables
of the middling ranks not only exhibit
varieties of difhes, but wines are al-
niolt univerfaily drank ; and, when a
party goes abroad .to dine,, there they
alio ipend the afternoon. It is much
to be regretted that the ladies are fo
much neglected in thefe parties; the
gentlemen, in general, preferring the
bottle to the drawing-room. That
foftnefs and elegance of manners,
which can only be acquired in the
company of ladies, is much on the
decline. The hour of dinner now is
4, and often 5 o'clock, and bufmefs is
but feldom attended in the evening.
Sunday is now the principal day for
feeing company; of ccurfe,the church-
es are but badly attended. The drefs
of people of fafhion was coftly and
elegant ; it was accounted abfolutely
necefTary to be in drefs at a public
place. This part of ceremony is much
given up, and people go to affemblies,
plays, and concerts, much in the fame
way as they go to dinner. The ladies,
itill, however, attend more to drefs ;
many good confequences might be
figured to enfue, were the gentlemen
equally attentive to. this part of ce-
remony. Hoipitality is a leading fea-
ture of the inhabitants. The lower
ranks may, with juftice, be charged
with intemperance, and this is much
owing to the cheap price of whiiky.
There were very few inftances ( if any )
of a citizen of Edinburgh keeping his
carriage 20 years fince; now, there are
many. The. lodgings, particularly of
the New Town, and other newly e-
recled buildings, are elegant and
healthy. In general furniture is to
be feen correfponding to the houfes.
Though the wages of fervants have
been much the fame thefe 20 years,
yet their appearance and drefs is great-
ly improved ; now, perhaps, thefe are
on the other extreme. The extent of
the ancient and extended royalty of
Edinburgh is about 2 Englilh miles
from the W. end of the Fountain-
bridge to the E. end of the Abbey-
hill, and nearly the fame length from
the Grange toll-bar on the S. to
Broughton on the N. and the circum-
ference is about 7 miles. It compre-
hends 9 parochial districts ; but in cal-
culating the population, the parilhes of
Canoiigate, St. Cuthbert's, South and
North Leith, are included j making the
whole, in 1791, 84,886. In the vicinitv
of Edinburgh there are many ruins of
ancient religious eilablifhments, which
it would be foreign to our work to
detail at length ; for a defcription of
Leith, as the port of the city, fee
Leith; and at Arthur's-Seat will
be found the mineralogy of that moun-
tain. The Calton and Caftle-hill are
chiefly compofed of a fpecies of hard
whinftone, of a dark colour, called trap
by the Swedifh mineralogies, and cor~
neus trapezius nigerfolidus by Schmeif-
fer : fome of it contains a confiderable
quantity of decompofed hematites and
fcbeorl, and is acted upon by the mi-
neral acids: many of the rocks affume
a bafaltic appearance, in irregular
cryftallizations : the lower ftratum of
the Calton is of coarfe breccia, com-
pofed of pieces of porphyric lava,
cemented by a reddifh feldt-fpar ; a-
bove this is a ftratum of porphyry. In
1785, a conliderable quantity of the
rare mineral, called the margodes by
Linnaeus, w r as difcovered in this ftra-
tum, from the fize of a pea to that of
a nutmeg, of a teffalated cryftallized
fnape, refembling a garnet; it is near-
ly of a fimilar nature to the zeolite, of
which many beautiful fpecimens have
alfo been found. In St. Cuthbert's,
or Weft Church parifh, is that excel-
lent freeftone quarry which fupplies
the city, and contributes to its ele-
gance. Near Stock-bridge, in the fame
parifh, is St. Bernard's well, a ftrong
fulphureous fpring, which is much re-
forted to for its medicinal virtues.
The late Lord Gardenftone, thinking
highly of the quality of the water,
and finding relief from drinking it,
caufed a very elegant temple to be
erected over it, containing a ftatue of
Hygeia, the goddefs of Health, which,
though beautifully proportioned in it-
felf, is by far too large for the temple
under which it ftands.
Edinburgh (University of.) In
the year 15 81, the magiftrates and
town council of Edinburgh obtained
a grant from James VI. for founding
and eftablifhing an univerfity or college
within that city. "The patrons, aided
by various donations, purchafed the
area, belonging to the collegiate pro-
voftry and prebends of the Kirk-a-field,
on the S. fide of the city, and began im-
mediately to prepare the buildings in
the belt manner, for the reception of
U