Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

EDINBURGH
brated magazine which bears his name. Gathering
round him some of the ablest literary men of the day,
including Wilson, Hogg, and Lockhart, Blackwood
instantly achieved success. Till his death, Sept. 16,
1834, Blackwood was the leading spirit of the magazine,
of which there was never a sole and irresponsible editor.
As a political organ of the Tory party it was long a
power, and at first a terror. But its forte was litera-
ture ; and if the ' sound of revelry by night ' was in the
old days too loudly echoed in its pages, it has now
completely died away. Yet it has not lost, but only
changed its spirit. Under the successors of 'Ebony, '
Blackwood maintains its position in the face of numerous
and formidable rivals, and is still admirable for the
various talent it commands.
Other similar literary ventures followed, such as
Tail's Edinburgh Magazine, with various success, but
generally of short duration, till Dr William Chambers
started Chambers's Edinburgh Journal in 1832, a periodi-
cal — purely literary and entirely unsectarian as regards
either politics or religion — which was at once successful,
and still retains, in undiminished degree, its excellence
and popularity. After its fourteenth number Robert
Chambers became joint editor, and the firm of William
and Robert Chambers was established. By the sterling
merits both of the publishers and their works, the firm
soon became, and has ever since continued to be, one of
the foremost in the northern part of the kingdom. The
people of Scotland have long regarded it with a feeling
of national pride not bestowed on any other firm how-
ever eminent. The jubilee of Chambers's Journal was
celebrated in February 1882. This firm did not con-
fine their attention solely to their Journal, but have
been the publishers of many educational works and
other books of a popular kind. Various other periodi-
cals and magazines are published in Edinburgh, but
these are mostly of a sectional or ecclesiastical character,
having limited circulations.
Perhaps the greatest work ever published by the press
of Edinburgh is the Encyclopaedia Britannica, first pub-
lished in 1771 (the ninth edition of which being now
in course of publication) ; but important as that work
■was in its first issue, it was but an imperfect indication
of the literary activity soon to follow, and which has
had so important an effect upon the city's prosperity.
The far-reaching speculations of Constable with his
popular Miscellany and other works, the many produc-
tions of the Ballantyne Press, with its everflowing
stream of novels from the pen of the author of Waver-
ley, gave ample proof to the world that Edinburgh was
rapidly becoming a centre of literature. Since then this
has rapidly increased, and now it may be said to pro-
duce a more than proportional quantity of informational
standard works than any other city, with perhaps the
exception only of London. It ought not to be forgot-
ten, as an important aid to the cheap production of
literature, that the process of stereotyping was the
invention of an Edinburgh silversmith, named John
Ged, specimens of whose work may be seen in the
Advocates Library, where a case in one of the halls
contains stereo-plates of an edition of Sallust, which
were made by him. The publishing firms now are
many, the printing establishments numerous and com-
plete. That of Messrs Nelson, where publishing and
printing are combined, gives employment to nearly 700
people, and that of Messrs Chambers to about 600,
while several others have nearly as many. Engraving,
lithographing, and bookbinding are carried on also in
many large establishments — some in connection with
printing offices, and others independently, and alto-
gether many thousands of people are thus engaged
in the production of books. The literary prestige
which the northern capital attained in the days of
Waverley and the Edinburgh, Meview has thus been
well maintained, even although in these latter days
the great capital attracts and absorbs the principal
literary talent of the nation.
Newspapers. — The newspaper press of Edinburgh ori-
ginated during the civil wars of the 17th century — the
538
EDINBURGH
first being the Scots Intelligencer (1643), which was
followed in Oct. 1653 by a reprint of a London paper
called Mercurius Politicus. This was first issued at Leith
by Christopher Higgins, a printer who came with Crom-
well's troops in 1652 to garrison the citadel of that town,
and who afterwards transferred his office to Edinburgh,
where he continued to print his paper till 1660. The
Politicus was almost wholly devoted to the affairs of
Cromwell and of his army of invasion. Shortly after the
discontinuance of Higgins' reprint, the Mercurius Calc-
donius was issued, the first number bearing the date,
'From Monday Decemb. 31 to Tuesday, Jan. 8th, 1661,'
and this paper was the first which was wholly edited
and published in Edinburgh. It shortly changed its
named to Mercurius Publicus, and was succeeded by
The Kingdom's Intelligencer. For some time the in-
habitants were wholly destitute of anything in the
shape of a ' news-letter, ' till a printer named James
Watson started the Edinburgh Gazette in 1669, and fol-
lowed this by the Edinburgh Courant in 1705, which
lasted long enough to issue 55 numbers. The Scots
Cmirant, also published by Watson, followed in 1706,
and it again was succeeded by the Edinburgh Flying
Post and the Scots Postman. These papers were all
short-lived. In 1718 a privilege was given to a printer
named James M'Ewan to publish the Edinburgh Evening
Courant three times a week, on condition that a copy
should be given to the magistrates before publication.
This paper, as The Courant, is still in existence as the
organ of the Conservative and Established Church parties.
The Caledonian Mercury was published first as a three
times a-week paper in 1720 by James Rolland, but always
claimed a longer history by tracing back its lineage to
the Mercurius Caledonius of 1660. The political his-
tory of this paper was full of change. The entrance
of Prince Charles Stewart into Edinburgh altered its
sentiments from the soundest Hanoverianism to the
most rabid Jacobitism, while the retreat from Derby
was the signal for a demonstrative rejoicing at the over-
throw of ' Rebellion. ' When Liberal doctrines began
to pervade Scotland, the Mercury espoused them with
moderateness ; and during this period, as well as for
many years previously, it was conducted with much
ability. It latterly became a Radical organ of the
fiercest sort, and about 1865 was finally merged in
the Weekly Scotsman. The Edinburgh Advertiser, esta-
blished in 1764, was also a Tory organ, and was so pro-
fitable a venture, combined as it was with a book-work
office, that its proprietor, James Donaldson, at his death
in 1830 was enabled to leave £200,000 for the erection
and endowment of the princely hospital which bears his
name. Another, named the Edinburgh Weekly Journal,
which continued down to 1848, was also a successful
paper. The Scotsman, founded in 1817 in the Whig
interest, has always been one of the ablest and most
consistent of that party's organs, and fought the battles
of Reform and Free Trade with indefatigable vigour.
Under the editorship of Charles M'Laren, J. R. M'Cul-
loch, and particularly Alexander Russel, it distanced
all competitors, and has now attained a circulation
greater than that of any paper in Britain out of London.
The Scotsman was the first to initiate various enter-
prises, in which it has been followed with commendable
alacrity by several other Scotch papers, such as the
establishment of special telegraphic wires to London,
and the running of special trains to different parts of
the country for the transmission of early editions. It
also introduced the ' Walter Press ' into the printing
department before any other non-metropolitan journal.
It has two special London wires and three Walter
presses. Under its present management it has shown
a resolute determination to throw off the reproach of
provincialism (which Mr Russel's editorship, brilliant
though it was, tended to confirm), has boldly challenged
the infallibility of the London press, and on several
notable occasions anticipated the latter in the publica-
tion of important news. It has also conspicuously
widened the range of its intellectual sympathies — litera-
ture, education, and social progress receiving a much