Authorities.—Saxon Chronicle(ed. Plummer and Earle, Oxford),sub. ann.;Vita Sancti Oswaldi(Historians of the Church of York, ed. Raine, Rolls Series); William of Malmesbury,Gesta regum(ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series); Birch,Cartularium Saxonicum, vol. iii. Nos. 1047-1319; F. Liebermann,A.-S. Laws, i. 192-216; “Florence of Worcester” (Mon. Hist. Brit.); E.W. Robertson,Historical Essays, pp. 189-215.
Authorities.—Saxon Chronicle(ed. Plummer and Earle, Oxford),sub. ann.;Vita Sancti Oswaldi(Historians of the Church of York, ed. Raine, Rolls Series); William of Malmesbury,Gesta regum(ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series); Birch,Cartularium Saxonicum, vol. iii. Nos. 1047-1319; F. Liebermann,A.-S. Laws, i. 192-216; “Florence of Worcester” (Mon. Hist. Brit.); E.W. Robertson,Historical Essays, pp. 189-215.
(A. Mw.)
EDGAR,orEadgar(c.1050-c.1130), called the Ætheling, was the son of Edward, a son of the English king Edmund Ironside, by his wife Agatha, a kinswoman of the emperor Henry II., and was born probably in Hungary some time before 1057, the year of his father’s death. After the death of Harold in 1066, Archbishop Aldred and the citizens of London desired to make him king, but on the advance of William, Edgar and his supporters made their submission. In 1068, after the failure of the first rising of the north, Edgar retired to Scotland, when his sister Margaret married the Scottish king, Malcolm Canmore.Next year he returned to take part in the second rising, but, this proving no more successful than the first, he again took refuge in Scotland. In 1074 he went to Normandy and made peace with William. In the struggle between Henry I. and Robert of Normandy, Edgar sided with the latter. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Tinchebrai in 1106, but was subsequently released. The date of his death is uncertain, but he was certainly alive about 1125.
EDGECUMBE,orEdgecombe, the name of a celebrated west of England family, taken from the manor of Edgecumbe in Cornwall. One of its earlier members was Sir Richard Edgecumbe (d. 1489), who was descended from a Richard Edgecumbe who flourished during the reign of Edward I. Richard was a member of parliament in 1467; afterwards he joined Henry, earl of Richmond, in Brittany, returned with the earl to England, and fought at Bosworth, where he was knighted. He received rich rewards from Henry, now King Henry VII., who also sent him on errands to Scotland, to Ireland and to Brittany, and he died at Morlaix on the 8th of September 1489. His son and successor, Sir Piers Edgecumbe, went to France with Henry VIII. in 1513, and when he died on the 14th of August 1539 he left with other issue a son, Sir Richard Edgecumbe (1499-1562), a cultured and hospitable man, who is celebrated through Richard Carew’sFriendly Remembrance of Sir Richard Edgecumbe. Sir Richard’s eldest son, Piers or Peter Edgecumbe (1536-1607), was a member of parliament under Elizabeth for about thirty years.
Another famous member of this family was Richard, 1st baron Edgecumbe (1680-1758), a son of Sir Richard Edgecumbe. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was successively member of parliament for St Germans, Plympton and Lostwithiel from 1701 to 1742; on two occasions he served as a lord of the treasury; and from 1724 to 1742 he was paymaster-general for Ireland, becoming chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in 1743. Edgecumbe was a faithful follower of Sir Robert Walpole, in whose interests he managed the elections for the Cornish boroughs, and his elevation to the peerage, which took place in 1742, was designed to prevent him from giving evidence about Walpole’s expenditure of the secret service money. He died on the 22nd of November 1758. His son and successor, Richard, the 2nd baron (1716-1761), was comptroller of the royal household, a member of parliament, and a major-general in the army. A wit, a writer of verse, a gambler and an intimate friend of Horace Walpole, “Dick Edgecumbe” died unmarried on the 10th of May 1761.
Edgecumbe’s brother, George, 1st earl of Mount Edgecumbe (1721-1795), was a naval officer who saw a great deal of service during the Seven Years’ War. Succeeding to the barony on the 1st baron’s death in 1761 he became an admiral and treasurer of the royal household; he was created Viscount Mount-Edgecumbe in 1781 and earl of Mount-Edgecumbe in 1789. He died on the 4th of February 1795, his only son being his successor, Richard, the 2nd earl (1764-1839), the ancestor of the present earl and the author ofMusical Reminiscences of an Old Amateur. He died on the 26th of September 1839. His son, Ernest Augustus, the 3rd earl (1797-1861), wroteExtracts from Journals kept during the Revolutions at Rome and Palermo.
EDGE HILL,an elevated ridge in Warwickshire, England, near the border of Oxfordshire. The north-western face is an abrupt escarpment of the lias, and the summit of the ridge is almost level for nearly 2 m., at a height somewhat exceeding 700 ft. The escarpment overlooks a rich lowland watered by streams tributary to the Avon; the gentle eastern slope sends its waters to the Cherwell, and the ridge thus forms part of the divide between the basins of the Severn and the Thames. Edge Hill gave name to the first battle of the Great Rebellion (q.v.), fought on the 23rd of October 1642. Charles I., marching on London from the north-west, was here met by the parliamentary forces under Robert Devereux, earl of Essex. The royalists were posted on the hill while the enemy was in the plain before Kineton. But the rash advice of Prince Rupert determined the king to give up the advantage of position; he descended to the attack, and though Rupert himself was successful against the opposing cavalry, he was checked by the arrival of a regiment with artillery under Hampden, and, in the meantime, the royalist infantry was driven back. The parliamentarians, however, lost the more heavily, and though both sides claimed the advantage, the king was able to advance and occupy Banbury.
EDGEWORTH, MARIA(1767-1849), Irish novelist, second child and eldest daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (q.v.) and his first wife, Anna Maria Elers, was born in the house of her maternal grandparents at Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, on the 1st of January 1767. Her early efforts in fiction were of a sufficiently melodramatic character; for she recollected one of her schoolgirl compositions, in which the hero wore a mask made of the dried skin taken from a dead man’s face. Her holidays were often spent in the house of the eccentric Thomas Day, for whom she entertained a genuine respect. She had ample opportunities for society among her father’s neighbours in Ireland, among whom were the second Lord Longford, whose daughter, “Kitty” Pakenham, became later duchess of Wellington, Lady Moira at Castle Forbes, and Maria’s aunt, Margaret Ruxton, at Black Castle. She gained a first-hand experience of the Irish peasantry by acting as her father’s assistant in the management of the estate. The Edgeworths were in Ireland from 1793 onwards through that dangerous period, and Maria’s letters, always gay and natural, make very light of their anxieties and their real perils.
Mr Edgeworth encouraged his daughter’s literary instincts. It has been the fashion to regard his influence over Maria’s work as altogether deplorable, but against the disadvantages arising from his interference must be weighed the stimulus she undoubtedly derived from his powerful mind. Her first publication was a plea for female education,Letters to Literary Ladies(1795), and in 1796 appeared the collection of stories known asThe Parent’s Assistant(2nd ed., 6 vols., 1800), an unpromising title which was not chosen by the author. The stories had been submitted as they were written to the juvenile critics of the Edgeworth nursery. They were therefore children’s stories for children, even though the morals were Mr Edgeworth’s. In 1798 Mr Edgeworth’s fourth marriage threatened the family harmony, but Maria soon became a close friend of her stepmother.Practical Education(2 vols., 1798) was written in conjunction with her father, who also collaborated with her in theEssay on Irish Bulls(1802). Miss Edgeworth’s first novel,Castle Rackrent, an Hibernian Tale taken from Facts, and from the Manners of the Irish Squires before the year 1782, was written without her father’s supervision, and appeared anonymously in 1800. It is the story of an Irish estate and its owners, the Rackrents, as told by Thady, the steward. Its success was immediate, and a second edition soon appeared with the author’s name. Perhaps because of the absence of Richard Lovell Edgeworth’s co-operation, the book is the most natural and vigorous of her novels. The course of the story is not altered to suit any moral, and the personages appear to be drawn immediately from the natives of Edgeworthstown, though Miss Edgeworth asserts that only Thady himself was an actual portrait. In her realistic pictures of Irish peasant life she opened up a new vein in fiction, and even if the unquestionable excellences ofCastle Rackrentwere less, it would still be a noteworthy book. In the “General Preface” to the 1829 edition of his novels Sir Walter Scott, writing of the publication ofWaverley, says: “I felt that something might be attempted for my own country, of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland,” and in the “Postscript, which should have been a preface,” in the original edition ofWaverley, he describes his aim as being “in some distant degree to emulate the admirable Irish portraits of Miss Edgeworth, so different from the ‘Teagues’ and ‘dear joys’ who so long, with the most perfect family resemblance to each other, occupied the drama and the novel.”Belinda(1801) is a society novel, and one of her best books. Mr Saintsbury thinks that Miss Austen’s heroines owe something of their naturalness to Belinda, who was one of the earliest to break with the tradition of faintingand blushing.Moral Tales for Young People(5 vols.) andEarly Lessons, which included “Harry and Lucy,” “Rosamond” and “Frank,” appeared in 1801.
In 1802 the Edgeworths went abroad, first to Brussels and then to Paris. They had already connexions in Paris through their kinsman, the abbé Henri Allen Edgeworth de Firmont, who was, however, then in exile. They met all the notabilities in Paris, and Maria refused an offer of marriage from a Swedish count named Edelcrantz. AlthoughLeonora, not published until four years later, is said to have been written to meet his taste, she apparently remained then and always heart-whole; but her stepmother thought otherwise, and maintained that she suffered severely for her decision (Memoir, i. 144). Returning to Edgeworthstown, Miss Edgeworth resumed her writing, which was always done in the rooms commonly used by the whole family.Popular Taleswas published in 1804, andThe Modern Griseldain the same year;Leonorain 1806; and in 1809 the first series ofTales of Fashionable Life, three volumes containing “Ennui,” “Madame de Fleury,” “Almeria,” “The Dun” and “Manœuvring”; the second series (3 vols., 1812) included “The Absentee,” one of her best tales, which was originally designed as a play, “Vivian” and “Émilie de Coulanges.” In 1813 Maria and her parents spent a considerable time in London, and her society was much sought after. WhenWaverleywas published, Miss Edgeworth received a copy from the publishers, and at once recognized the authorship. She wrote a long letter of appreciation (23rd of October 1814) to “the author ofWaverley,” which she began with the phraseaut Scotus, aut diabolus, but the letter was merely acknowledged by the publishers.Patronage(4 vols., 1814), the longest of her novels, andHarrington, a tale, andOrmond, a tale(3 vols., 1817) complete the list of the works which received what her father called hisimprimatur.
After his death in 1817 Miss Edgeworth occupied herself with completing hisMemoirs, which were published in 1820. The book was the excuse for an attack on Mr Edgeworth’s reputation in the July number of theQuarterly Review, which Miss Edgeworth had the courage to leave unread. Her life at Edgeworthstown was varied by visits to London, to Lord Lansdowne at Bowood, Wiltshire, to the Misses Sneyd in Staffordshire, and to many other friends. In 1820 she was again in Paris, and in 1823 she spent a happy fortnight with the Scotts at Abbotsford. In 1825 Scott went to Edgeworthstown, and their relations were always cordial.
Miss Edgeworth’s production was less after her father’s death. Sequels to “Rosamond,” “Frank,” “Harry and Lucy” in theEarly Lessonswere published in 1822-1825.Comic Dramasappeared in 1817, andHelenin 1834. She worked to the last, and in 1846 laboured strenuously for the relief of the famine-stricken Irish peasants. She died on the 22nd of May 1849.
Miss Edgeworth’s novels are distinguished by good sense, humour and an easy flowing style. As the construction of a plot is not her strong point, she is generally more successful in tales than in lengthy novels. The vivacity of her dialogues is extraordinary; and in them her characters reveal themselves in the most natural way possible. Her books are character-studies rather than intensely interesting narratives. Sobriety of judgment is seen throughout; and passion, romance and poetry rarely, if ever, shed their lustre on her pages. Three of her aims were to paint national manners, to enforce morality, and to teach fashionable society by satirizing the lives of the idle and worldly. She expressly calls some of her stories “Moral Tales”; but they all fall under this category. In her pages the heroic virtues give place to prudence, industry, kindness and sweetness of temper. There are few instances of overwhelming emotions or tumultuous passions in her works; and it is remarkable how little the love of nature appears. She never uses material which does not yield some direct moral lesson. But the freshness of her stories, her insight into character, lively dialogues, originality of invention, and delightfully clear style render it quite possible to read her works in succession without any sense of weariness. Among the many sweet memories her unsullied pages have bequeathed to the world, not the least precious is her own noble character, which ever responded to all that is best and most enduring in human nature.
SeeA Memoir of Maria Edgeworth, with a Selection from her Letters(1867), by her stepmother, F.A. Edgeworth, privately printed. A selection from this was made by Augustus J.C. Hare, and printed under the title ofThe Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth(2 vols., 1894). See alsoMaria Edgeworth(1883), by Helen Zimmern, in the “Eminent Women” series; Grace A. Oliver,A Study of Maria Edgeworth... (3rd ed., Boston, U.S.A., 1882); andMaria Edgeworth(1904), by the Hon. Emily Lawless in the “English Men of Letters” series. Among the numerous shorter articles dealing with Maria Edgeworth and the family circle at Edgeworthstown may be mentioned a friendly appreciation of Miss Edgeworth’s novels by George Saintsbury inMacmillan’s Magazine(July 1895), and a charming description of her family circle and surroundings in the preface supplied by Lady Thackeray Ritchie to Macmillan’s edition of the novels (1895).
SeeA Memoir of Maria Edgeworth, with a Selection from her Letters(1867), by her stepmother, F.A. Edgeworth, privately printed. A selection from this was made by Augustus J.C. Hare, and printed under the title ofThe Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth(2 vols., 1894). See alsoMaria Edgeworth(1883), by Helen Zimmern, in the “Eminent Women” series; Grace A. Oliver,A Study of Maria Edgeworth... (3rd ed., Boston, U.S.A., 1882); andMaria Edgeworth(1904), by the Hon. Emily Lawless in the “English Men of Letters” series. Among the numerous shorter articles dealing with Maria Edgeworth and the family circle at Edgeworthstown may be mentioned a friendly appreciation of Miss Edgeworth’s novels by George Saintsbury inMacmillan’s Magazine(July 1895), and a charming description of her family circle and surroundings in the preface supplied by Lady Thackeray Ritchie to Macmillan’s edition of the novels (1895).
EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL(1744-1817), British writer, was born at Bath on the 31st of May 1744. The greater part of his life, however, was spent at Edgeworthtown, or Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, Ireland, where the Edgeworth family had been settled for upwards of 150 years. He was of gentle blood—his father being the son of Colonel Francis Edgeworth, and his mother, Jane Lovell, being the daughter of Samuel Lovell, a Welsh judge. Richard’s mother taught him to read at a very early age; and from childhood he had a strong love for mechanical science. The Rev. Patrick Hughes initiated him in Lilye’sLatin Grammar—an office he also performed for Goldsmith, who was born on the property of the Edgeworths—and his public education began, in August 1752, in a school at Warwick. He subsequently attended Drogheda school, then reputed the best in Ireland; and, after spending two years at a school in Longford, entered Trinity College, Dublin, in April 1761, but was transferred to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in October of the same year. While still at college, he made a runaway match, marrying at Gretna Green, Anna Maria, one of the daughters of Paul Elers of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, an old friend of his father. His eldest son was born before Edgeworth reached his twentieth birthday, and his daughter Maria in 1767.
Shortly after the birth of his son, he and his wife went to Edgeworthstown, but in 1765 they took a house at Hare Hatch, near Maidenhead. Edgeworth devoted much time to scientific reading and experiments; and he made an attempt to establish telegraphic communication (Memoirs, 2nd edition, i. 144). He also invented a turnip-cutter, a one-wheeled chaise and other contrivances. In the pursuit of his mechanical inventions he visited Erasmus Darwin at Lichfield, where he met Anna Seward, and her cousin, Honora Sneyd. His home was now at Hare Hatch, in Berkshire, where he endeavoured to educate his son according to the method explained in Rousseau’sÉmile. In later life, however, the ill-success of this experiment led him to doubt many of Rousseau’s views (Memoirs, ii. 374). At the same time he kept terms at the Temple, and formed the greatest friendship of his life with Thomas Day, the author ofSandford and Merton, which was written at Edgeworth’s suggestion. In 1769, on the death of his father, he gave up the idea of being a barrister; but, instead of immediately settling on his Irish estate, he spent a considerable time in England and France, mainly in Day’s company. In Lyons, where he resided for about two years, he took an active part in the management of public works intended to turn the course of the Rhone. He was summoned to England by the death of his wife (March 1773), with whom he was far from happy. Edgeworth hurried to Lichfield, to Dr Erasmus Darwin’s, and at once declared his passion for Honora Sneyd, which had been the cause of his flight to France two years before. Miss Sneyd had been the object of attention from Thomas Day, but her views on marriage were not submissive enough to please him. She had other suitors, among them the unfortunate Major André. She married Edgeworth (July 1773), and after residing at Edgeworthstown for three years, they settled at Northchurch, in Hertfordshire. After six years of domestic happiness, Honora Edgeworth died(April 1780), recommending her husband to marry her sister Elizabeth; and they were actually married on Christmas Day, 1780.
In 1782 Edgeworth returned to Ireland, determined to improve his estate, educate his seven children, and ameliorate the condition of the tenants. Up to this point Edgeworth has told his own story in hisMemoirs. The rest of his life is written by his daughter, who opens with a lengthy panegyric on her father as a model landlord (Memoirs, ii. 12-36). In 1785 he was associated with others in founding the Royal Irish Academy; and, during the two succeeding years, mechanics and agriculture occupied most of his time. In October 1789 his friend Day was killed by a fall from his horse, and this trial was soon followed by the loss of his daughter Honora, who had just reached her fifteenth year. In 1792 the health of one of Edgeworth’s sons took him to Clifton, where he remained with his family for about two years, returning in 1794 to Edgeworthstown. Ireland was, at that time, harassed by internal disturbances, and threats of a French invasion, and Edgeworth offered to establish telegraphic communication of his own invention throughout the country. This offer was declined. A full account of the matter is given in Edgeworth’sLetter to Lord Charlemont on the Telegraph; and his apparatus is explained in an “Essay on the art of Conveying Swift and Secret Intelligence,” published in the sixth volume of theTransactions of the Royal Irish Academy. In the autumn of 1797 the third Mrs Edgeworth died.
Practical Education(1798) was written in collaboration with his daughter Maria, and embodied the experience of the authors in dealing with children. “So commenced,” says Miss Edgeworth, “that literary partnership which, for so many years, was the pride and joy of my life” (Memoirs, ii. 170). This book, generally regarded as old-fashioned, has a real value in the history of education. Mr Edgeworth’s interest in the subject had been inspired by the study of Rousseau and by his friendship with Thomas Day. But he went beyond Rousseau, who developed his theories from his own ingenious mind and related an imaginary process. The Edgeworths brought a scientific method to their work. The second Mrs Edgeworth (Honora Sneyd) began the collection of actual examples of conversations between the children and their elders. This was continued patiently by the writers of the book; and their reasonings were thus founded on an accurate record of childish methods of thought. They deprecated especially any measures that interrupted the child’s own chain of reasoning. The chapters on special subjects of study, chronology, geometry, &c., were written by Richard Lovell Edgeworth; those on toys, on rewards and punishments, on temper, &c., by his daughter.1
In 1798 Edgeworth married Miss Beaufort, and was elected M.P. for the borough of St John’s Town, Longford. The same year, too, saw a hostile landing of the French and a formidable rebellion; and for a short time the Edgeworths took refuge in Longford. The winter of 1802 they spent in Paris. In 1804 the government accepted his telegraphic apparatus, but the installation was left incomplete when the fear of invasion was past. In 1802 appeared theEssay on Irish Bullsby Mr and Miss Edgeworth; and in 1806 Edgeworth was elected a member of the board of commissioners to inquire into Irish education. From 1807 till 1809 much of his time was spent on mechanical experiments and in writing the story of his life. In 1808 appearedProfessional Education, and in 1813 hisEssay on the Construction of Roads and Carriages. He died on the 13th of June 1817, and was buried in the family vault in Edgeworthstown churchyard.
Many of Edgeworth’s works were suggested by his zeal for the education of his own children. Such werePoetry Explained for Young People(1802),Readings in Poetry(1816),A Rational Primer(unpublished), and the parts ofEarly Lessonscontributed by him. His speeches in the Irish parliament have also been published; and numerous essays, mostly on scientific subjects, have appeared in thePhilosophical Transactions, theTransactions of the Royal Irish Academy, theMonthly MagazineandNicholson’s Journal. The story of his early life, told by himself, is fully as entertaining as the continuation by Maria, as it contains less dissertation and more incident. One of his daughters by his first marriage, Anna Maria, married Dr Beddoes and became the mother of T.L. Beddoes, the poet.
SeeMemoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Esq., begun by himself and concluded by his daughter, Maria Edgeworth (2 vols., 1820, 3rd and revised ed. 1844). A selection from this, giving an optimistic view of him,Richard Lovell Edgeworth(1896), was edited by Mrs Lionel Tollemache.
SeeMemoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Esq., begun by himself and concluded by his daughter, Maria Edgeworth (2 vols., 1820, 3rd and revised ed. 1844). A selection from this, giving an optimistic view of him,Richard Lovell Edgeworth(1896), was edited by Mrs Lionel Tollemache.
1For an appreciation of the two Edgeworths from the teacher’s point of view, see Prof. L.C. Miall in theJournal of Education(August 1, 1894).
1For an appreciation of the two Edgeworths from the teacher’s point of view, see Prof. L.C. Miall in theJournal of Education(August 1, 1894).
EDGEWORTH DE FIRMONT, HENRY ESSEX(1745-1807), last confessor to Louis XVI., was the son of Robert Edgeworth, rector of Edgeworthstown in Ireland, his mother being a granddaughter of Archbishop Ussher. When he was three years old his father became a Roman Catholic, resigned his living and emigrated to Toulouse, where the boy was brought up by the Jesuits. In 1769, after his father’s death, he went to Paris to be trained for the priesthood. On taking orders he assumed the additional surname of de Firmont, from the family estate of Firmount near Edgeworthstown. Though originally studying with a view to becoming a missionary, he decided to remain in Paris, devoting himself especially to the Irish and English Roman Catholics. In 1791 he became confessor to the princess Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI., and earned the respect even of thesans-culottesby his courage and devotion. By Madame Elizabeth he was recommended to the king when his trial was impending; and after Louis’ condemnation to death he was able to obtain permission to celebrate mass for him and attend him on the scaffold, where he recommended the king to allow his hands to be tied, with the words: “Sire, in this new outrage I see only the last trait of resemblance between your Majesty and the God who will be your reward.” It is said that at the moment of the execution, the confessor uttered the celebrated words: “Son of St Louis, ascend to heaven.” But it is certain that the phrase was never spoken. The abbé himself does not quote it, either in his memoirs or in a letter written in 1796 to his brother, in which he describes the death of the king. Moreover, Edgeworth declared to several persons who asked him about it, that the words were not his. In spite of the danger he now ran, Edgeworth refused to leave France so long as he could be of any service to Madame Elizabeth, with whom he still managed to correspond. At length, in 1795, his mother having meanwhile died in prison, where his sister was also confined, he succeeded in escaping to England, carrying with him Elizabeth’s last message to her brother, the future King Charles X. whom he found in Edinburgh. He afterwards went with some papers to Monsieur (Louis XVIII.) at Blankenburg in Brunswick, by whom he was induced to accompany him to Mittau, where, on the 22nd of May 1807, he died of a fever contracted while attending some French prisoners.
Edgeworth’sMemories, edited by C.S. Edgeworth, were first published in English (London, 1815), and a French translation (really the letters and some miscellaneous notes, &c.) was published in Paris in 1816. A translation of theLettres de l’abbé Edgeworth avec des mémoires sur sa viewas published by Madame Elizabeth de Bow in Paris in 1818, andLetters from the Abbé Edgeworth to his Friends, with Memoirs of his Life, edited by T.B. England, in London in 1818. See J.B.A. Hanet-Cléry,Journal de ce qui s’est passé, &c.(Paris, 1825); A.H. du D. de Beauchesne,Vie de Madame Elisabeth(Paris, 1869); J.C.D. de Lacretelle,Précis historique de la Révolution française(Paris, 1801-1806).
Edgeworth’sMemories, edited by C.S. Edgeworth, were first published in English (London, 1815), and a French translation (really the letters and some miscellaneous notes, &c.) was published in Paris in 1816. A translation of theLettres de l’abbé Edgeworth avec des mémoires sur sa viewas published by Madame Elizabeth de Bow in Paris in 1818, andLetters from the Abbé Edgeworth to his Friends, with Memoirs of his Life, edited by T.B. England, in London in 1818. See J.B.A. Hanet-Cléry,Journal de ce qui s’est passé, &c.(Paris, 1825); A.H. du D. de Beauchesne,Vie de Madame Elisabeth(Paris, 1869); J.C.D. de Lacretelle,Précis historique de la Révolution française(Paris, 1801-1806).
EDGREN-LEFFLER, ANNE CHARLOTTE,duchess of Cajanello (1849-1892), Swedish author, daughter of the mathematician Prof. C.O. Leffler, was born on the 1st of October 1849. Her first volume of stories appeared in 1869, but the first to which she attached her name wasUr Lifvet(“From Life,” 1882), a series of realistic sketches of the upper circles of Swedish society, followed by three other collections with the same title. Her earliest plays,Skådespelerskan(“The Actress,” 1873), and its successors, were produced anonymously in Stockholm, but in 1883 her reputation was established by the success ofSanna Kvinnor(“True Women”), andEn Räddande engel(“An Angelof Deliverance”).Sanna Kvinnoris directed against false femininity, and was well received in Germany as well as in Sweden. Anne Leffler had married in 1872 G. Edgren, but about 1884 she was separated from her husband, who did not share her advanced views. She spent some time in England, and in 1885 produced herHur man gör godt(“How men do good”), followed in 1888 byKampen för lyckan(“The Struggle for Happiness”), in which she had the help of Sophie Kovalevsky. Another volume of theUr Lisvetseries appeared in 1889; andFamiljelycka(“Domestic Happiness,” 1891) was produced in the year after her second marriage, with the Italian mathematician, Pasquale del Pezzo, duca di Cajanello. She died at Naples on the 21st of October 1892. Her dramatic method forms a connecting link between Ibsen and Strindberg, and its masculine directness, freedom from prejudice, and frankness gave her work a high estimation in Sweden. Her last book was a biography (1892) of her friend Sophie (Sonya) Kovalevsky, by way of introduction to Sonya’s autobiography. An English translation (1895) by A. de Furnhjelm and A.M. Clive Bayley contains a biographical note on Fru Edgren-Leffler by Lily Wolffsohn, based on private sources.
See also Ellen Key,Anne Charlotte Leffler(Stockholm, 1893).
See also Ellen Key,Anne Charlotte Leffler(Stockholm, 1893).
EDHEM PASHA(c.1815-1893), Turkish statesman, was of Greek origin, and is said to have been taken into a Turkish household at the time of the Chio massacre in 1822, and to have been brought up as a Mussulman. He entered the Turkish government service and rose to high office, being successively minister of public works, grand vizier for eleven months (1878), ambassador at Vienna (1879) and minister of the interior. He was quick-tempered, but of kindly disposition, intelligent and patriotic, and he left a reputation of unblemished honesty and uprightness.
EDICT(Lat.edictum, frome, out, anddicere, to say, speak), an order or proclamation issued under authority and having the force of law. The word is especially used of the promulgations of the Roman praetor (q.v.), of the Roman emperors, and also of the kings of France (see alsoRoman Law).
EDINBURGH,a city and royal burgh, and county of itself, the capital of Scotland, and county town of Edinburghshire or Midlothian, situated to the south of the Firth of Forth, 396 m. by rail N. of London. The old Royal Observatory on Calton Hill stands in 55° 57′ 23″ N. and 12° 43′ 05″ W. Edinburgh occupies a group of hills of moderate height and the valleys between. In the centre is a bold rock, crowned by the castle, between which and the new town lies a ravine that once contained the Nor’ Loch, but is now covered with the gardens of Princes Street. To the east rises Calton Hill (355 ft.) with several conspicuous monuments, the city prison and the Calton cemetery. On the south-east, beyond the Canongate limits, stands the hill of Arthur’s Seat (822 ft.). Towards the north the site of the city slopes gently to the Firth of Forth and the port of Leith; while to the south, Liberton Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hills and Craiglockhart Hills roughly mark the city bounds, as Corstorphine Hill and the Water of Leith do the western limits. The views of the city and environs from the castle or any of the hills are very beautiful, and it is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque capitals in the world. Its situation, general plan and literary associations suggested a comparison that gave Edinburgh the name of “the modern Athens”; but it has a homelier nickname of “Auld Reekie,” from the cloud of smoke (reek) which often hangs over the low-lying quarters.
Chief Buildings.—Of the castle, the oldest building is St Margaret’s chapel, believed to be the chapel where Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, worshipped, and belonging at latest to the reign of her youngest son, David I. (1124-1153). Near it is the parliament and banqueting hall, restored (1889-1892) by the generosity of William Nelson (1817-1887) the publisher, which contains a fine collection of Scottish armour, weapons and regimental colours, while, emblazoned on the windows, are the heraldic bearings of royal and other figures distinguished in national history. Other buildings in the Palace Yard include the apartments occupied by the regent, Mary of Guise, and her daughter Mary, queen of Scots, and the room in which James VI. was born. Here also are deposited the Scottish regalia (“The Honours of Scotland”), with the sword of state presented to James IV. by Pope Julius II., and the jewels restored to Scotland on the death (1807) of Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts. The arsenal, a modern building on the west side of the rock, is capable of storing 30,000 stand of arms. In the armoury is a collection of arms of various dates; and on the Argyll battery stands a huge piece of ancient artillery, called Mons Meg, of which repeated mention is made in Scottish history. Argyll Tower, in which Archibald, 9th earl of Argyll, spent his last days (1685), was also restored in 1892 by Mr William Nelson.
Holyrood Palace was originally an abbey of canons regular of the rule of St Augustine, founded by David I. in 1128, and the ruined nave of the abbey church still shows parts of the original structure. Connected with this is a part of the royal palace erected by James IV. and James V., including the apartments occupied by Queen Mary, the scene of the murder of Rizzio in 1566. The abbey suffered repeatedly in invasions. It was sacked and burnt by the English under the earl of Hertford in 1544, and again in 1547. In a map of 1544, preserved among the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum, the present north-west tower of the palace is shown standing apart, and only joined to the abbey by a low cloister. Beyond this is an irregular group of buildings, which were replaced at a later date by additions more in accordance with a royal residence. But the whole of this latter structure was destroyed by fire in 1650 while in occupation by the soldiers of Cromwell; and the more modern parts were begun during the Protectorate, and completed in the reign of Charles II. by Robert Milne, after the designs of Sir William Bruce of Kinross. They include the picture gallery, 150 ft. in length, with 106 mythical portraits of Scottish kings, and a triptych (c.1484) containing portraits of James III. and his queen, which is believed to have formed the altar-piece of the collegiate church of the Holy Trinity, founded by the widowed queen of James II. in 1462, demolished in 1848, and afterwards rebuilt, stone for stone, in Jeffrey Street. The picture gallery is associated with the festive scenes that occurred during the short residence of Prince Charles in 1745; and in it the election of representative peers for Scotland takes place. Escaping from France at the revolution of 1789, the comte d’Artois, afterwards Charles X. of France, had apartments granted for the use of himself and the emigrant nobles of his suite, who continued to reside in the palace till August 1799. When driven from the French throne by the revolution of 1830, Charles once more found a home in the ancient palace of the Stuarts. George IV. was received there in 1822, and Queen Victoria and the prince consort occupied the palace for brief periods on several occasions, and in 1903 Edward VII., during residence at Dalkeith Palace, held his court within its walls. A fountain, after the original design of that in the quadrangle of Linlithgow Palace, was erected in front of the entrance by the prince consort. The royal vault in the Chapel Royal, which had fallen into a dilapidated condition, has been put in order; Clockmill House and grounds have been added to the area of the parade ground, and the abbey precincts generally and the approaches to the King’s Park have been improved. With the abolition of imprisonment for debt in 1881 the privileges of sanctuary came to an end.
Parliament House, begun in 1632 and completed in 1640, in which the later assemblies of the Scottish estates took place until the dissolution of the parliament by the Act of Union of 1707, has since been set apart as the meeting-place of the supreme courts of law. The great hall, with its fine open-timbered oak roof, is adorned with a splendid stained-glass window and several statues of notable men, including one (by Louis François Roubiliac) of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, lord president of the court of session (1685-1747), and now forms the ante-room for lawyers and their clients. The surrounding buildings, including the courtrooms, the Advocates’ and the Signet libraries, are all modern additions. The Advocates’ library is the finest in Scotland.Founded in 1682, at the instance of Sir George Mackenzie, king’s advocate under Charles II., and then dean of the faculty, it is regarded as the national library, and is one of the five entitled by the Copyright Act to receive a copy of every work published in Great Britain.
The General Register House for Scotland, begun in 1774 from designs by Robert Adam, stands at the east end of Princes Street. It contains, in addition to the ancient national records, adequate accommodation, in fireproof chambers, for all Scottish title-deeds, entails, contracts and mortgages, and for general statistics, including those of births, deaths and marriages.
The Royal Institution, in the Doric style, surmounted by a colossal stone statue Of Queen Victoria by Sir John Steell, formerly furnished official accommodation for the Board of Trustees for Manufactures and the Board of Fishery, and also for the school of art, and the libraries and public meetings of the Royal Society (founded in 1783), and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (founded in 1780). In 1910 it was renamed and appropriated to the uses of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which was instituted in 1826, and incorporated by royal charter in 1838, on the model of the Royal Academy in London. It is situated on the Mound close to the National Gallery, of which the prince consort laid the foundation stone in 1850. These collections, especially rich in Raeburn’s works, include also Alexander Nasmyth’s portrait of Robert Burns, Gainsborough’s “The Hon. Mrs. Graham” (seePainting, Plate VI. fig. 20), Sir Noel Paton’s “Quarrel” and “Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania,” several works by William Etty, Robert Scott Lauder and Sam Bough, Sir Edwin Landseer’s “Rent Day in the Wilderness,” and the diploma pictures of the academicians, besides many specimens of the modern Scottish school. The National Portrait Gallery and Antiquarian Museum are housed in Queen Street, in a building designed by Sir Rowand Anderson and constructed at the expense of J.R. Findlay of Aberlour (1824-1898), the government providing the site.
Churches.—In conformity with the motto of the city,Nisi Dominus frustra, there are numerous handsome places of public worship. St Giles’s church, which was effectively restored (1879-1883) by the liberality of Dr William Chambers the publisher, has interesting historical and literary associations. The regent Moray, the marquess of Montrose, and Napier of Merchiston were buried within its walls and are commemorated by monuments, and among the memorial tablets is one to R.L. Stevenson by Augustus St Gaudens. The choir (restored in 1873 by public subscription) is a fine example of 15th-century architecture, and the Gothic crown surmounting the central tower forms one of the most characteristic features in every view of the city. Just outside the church in Parliament Square, the supposed grave of John Knox is indicated by a stone set in the pavement bearing his initials, and in the pavement to the west a heart indicates the site of the old Tolbooth,1which figures prominently in Scott’sHeart of Midlothian. Other churches having historical associations are the two Greyfriars churches, which occupy the two halves of one building; Tron church, the scene of midnight hilarity at the new year; St Cuthbert’s church; St Andrew’s church in George Street, whence set out, on a memorable day in 1843, that long procession of ministers and elders to Tanfield Hall which ended in the founding of the Free Church; St George’s church in Charlotte Square, a good example of the work of Robert Adam. The United Free Church claims no buildings of much historic interest, but St George’s Free was the scene of the ministrations of Dr Robert S. Candlish (1806-1873), Dr Oswald Dykes (b. 1835), Dr Alexander Whyte (b. 1837), a man of great mark and influence in the city, and his successor Hugh Black (b. 1868). Preachers like Robert Candlish, Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873), Marcus Dods (b. 1834), occupied many pulpits, besides those of the particular congregations whom each served. The most imposing structure belonging to the Scottish Episcopal Church is St Mary’s cathedral, built on ground and chiefly from funds left by the Misses Walker of Coates, and opened for worship in 1879. It is in the Early Pointed style, by Sir Gilbert Scott, is 278 ft. long, and is surmounted by a spire 275 ft. high. The old-fashioned mansion of East Coates, dating from the 17th century, still stands in the close, and is occupied by functionaries of the cathedral. St John’s Episcopal church at the west end of Princes Street was the scene of the ministrations of Dean Ramsay, and St Paul’s Episcopal church of the Rev. Archibald Alison, father of the historian. The Catholic Apostolic church at the foot of Broughton Street is architecturally noticeable, and one of its features is a set of mural paintings executed by Mrs Traquair. The Central Hall at Tollcross testifies to Methodist energy. John Knox’s house at the east end of High Street is kept in excellent repair, and contains several articles of furniture that belonged to the reformer. The Canongate Tolbooth adjoins the parish church, in the burial-ground of which is the tombstone raised by Burns to the memory of Robert Fergusson, and where Dugald Stewart, Adam Smith and other men of note were buried. Almost opposite to it stands Moray House, from the balcony of which the 8th earl of Argyll watched Montrose led to execution (1650). The city gaol, a castellated structure on the black rock of Calton Hill, forms one of the most striking groups of buildings in the town. In the Music Hall in George Street, Carlyle, as lord rector of the university, delivered his stimulating address on books to the students, and Gladstone addressed the electors in his Midlothian campaigns. St Bernard’s Well, on the Water of Leith, was embellished and restored (1888) at the cost of Mr William Nelson. A sum of £100,000 was bequeathed by Mr Andrew Usher (1826-1898) for a hall to be called the Usher Hall and to supplementthe municipal buildings. The library of the solicitors to the supreme courts presents to the Cowgate a lofty elevation in red sandstone. The Sheriff Court Buildings stand on George IV. Bridge, and facing them is Mr Andrew Carnegie’s free library (1887-1889). At the corner of High Street and George IV. Bridge stand the County buildings. TheScotsmannewspaper is housed in an ornate structure in North Bridge Street, the building of which necessitated the demolition of many old alleys and wynds, such as Fleshmarket Close and Milne Square. Ramsay Gardens, a students’ quarter fostered by Prof. Patrick Geddes (b. 1854), grew out of the “goose-pie” house where Allan Ramsay lived, and with its red-tiled roof and effective lines adds warmth to the view of the Old Town from Princes Street. Not the least interesting structure is the old City Cross (restored at the cost of W.E. Gladstone), which stands in High Street, adjoining St Giles’s. Several of the quaint groups of buildings of Auld Reekie have been carefully restored, such as the White Horse Close in the Canongate; the mass of alleys on the north side of the Lawnmarket, from Paterson’s Close to James’s Court have been connected, and here Lord Rosebery acquired and restored the 17th-century dwelling which figures in the legend ofMy Aunt Margaret’s Mirror. Another model restoration of a historic close is found in Riddle’s Close, which contains a students’ settlement. If these and other improvements have led to the disappearance of such old-world picturesque buildings as Allan Ramsay’s shop “at the sign of the Mercury, opposite Niddry Wynd,” Cardinal Beaton’s palace, the old Cunzie House, or mint, the beautiful timber-fronted “land” that stood at the head of the West Bow, and even such “howffs” as Clerihugh’s tavern, where Mr Counsellor Pleydell and the rest played the “high jinks” described inGuy Mannering, it must be conceded that the changes in the Old Town (many of a drastic nature) have been carried out with due regard to the character of their environment.
Monuments.—Edinburgh is particularly rich in monuments of every description and quality. Of these by far the most remarkable is the Scott monument in East Princes Street Gardens, designed by George Meikle Kemp (1795-1844); it is in the form of a spiral Gothic cross with a central canopy beneath which is a seated statue of Scott with his dog “Maida” at his side, by Sir John Steell, the niches being occupied by characters in Sir Walter’s writings. A column, 136 ft. high, surmounted by a colossal figure of Viscount Melville, Pitt’s first lord of the Admiralty, rises from the centre of St Andrew Square. At the west end of George Street, in the centre of Charlotte Square, stands the Albert Memorial, an equestrian statue of the prince consort, with groups at each of the four angles of the base. Burns’s monument, in the style of a Greek temple, occupies a prominent position on the Regent Road, on the southern brow of the lower terrace of Calton Hill. It was originally intended to form a shrine for Flaxman’s marble statue of the poet (now in the National Portrait Gallery), but it proved to be too confined to afford a satisfactory view of the sculptor’s work and was at length converted into a museum of Burnsiana (afterwards removed to the municipal buildings). On Calton Hill are a number of finely placed monuments. The stateliest is the national monument to commemorate the victory of Waterloo, originally intended to be a reproduction of the Parthenon. The plan was abandoned for lack of funds, after twelve out of the twenty-four Greek pillars had been erected, but it is perhaps more effective in its unfinished state than if it had been completed. The Nelson monument, an elongated turreted structure, stands on the highest cliff of the hill. Close by is the monument to Dugald Stewart, a copy of the choragic monument of Lysicrates. Sir John Steell’s equestrian statue of the duke of Wellington stands in front of the Register House, and in Princes Street Gardens are statues of Livingstone, Christopher North, Allan Ramsay, Adam Black and Sir J.Y. Simpson. In George Street are Chantrey’s figures of Pitt and George IV., and a statue of Dr Chalmers; the 5th duke of Buccleuch stands beside St Giles’s. Charles II. surveys the spot where Knox was buried; the reformer himself is in the quadrangle of New College: Sir David Brewster adorns the quadrangle of the university; Dr William Chambers is in Chambers Street, and Frederick, duke of York (1763-1827), and the 4th earl of Hopetoun are also commemorated.
Cemeteries.—Obviously the churchyards surrounding the older and more important parish churches—such as Greyfriars’, St Cuthbert’s and the Canongate, contain the greatest number of memorials of the illustrious dead. In Greyfriars’ churchyard the Solemn League and Covenant was signed, and among its many monuments are the Martyrs’ monument, recording the merits of the murdered covenanters, and the tomb of “Bluidy” Mackenzie. To the three named should be added the Calton burying-ground, with its Roman tomb of David Hume, and the obelisk raised in 1844 to the memory of Maurice Margarot, Thomas Muir (1765-1798), Thomas Fyshe Palmer (1747-1802), William Skirving and Joseph Gerrald (1765-1796), the political martyrs transported towards the end of the 18th century for advocating parliamentary reform. The Scottish dead in the American Civil War are commemorated in a monument bearing a life-sized figure of Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave. The cemeteries are all modern. In Warriston cemetery (opened in 1843) in the New Town, were buried Sir James Young Simpson, Alexander Smith the poet, Horatio McCulloch, R.S.A., the landscape painter, the Rev. James Millar, the last Presbyterian chaplain of the castle, and the Rev. James Peddie, the pastor of Bristo Street church. In Dean cemetery, partly laid out on the banks of the Water of Leith, and considered the most beautiful in the city (opened 1845), were interred Lords Cockburn, Jeffrey and Rutherford; “Christopher North,” Professor Aytoun, Edward Forbes the naturalist, John Goodsir the anatomist; Sir William Allan, Sam Bough, George Paul Chalmers, the painters; George Combe, the phrenologist; Playfair, the architect; Alexander Russel, editor of theScotsman; Sir Archibald Alison, the historian; Captain John Grant, the last survivor of the old Peninsular Gordon Highlanders; Captain Charles Gray, of the Royal Marines, writer of Scottish songs; Lieutenant John Irving, of the Franklin expedition, whose remains were sent home many years after his death by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka, U.S. navy; and Sir Hector Macdonald, “Fighting Mac” of Omdurman. In the south side are the Grange, Newington or Echobank, and Morningside cemeteries. In the Grange repose the ashes of Chalmers, Guthrie and Lee, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Sir Hope Grant, Hugh Miller and the 2nd Lord Dunfermline.
Parks and Open Spaces.—Edinburgh is exceptionally well provided with parks and open spaces. The older are Princes Street Gardens, covering the old Nor’ Loch, Calton Hill, the Meadows and the Bruntsfield Links. The municipal golf links are on the Braid Hills. On the southern side Blackford Hill has been set apart for public use. Here stands the Royal Observatory, in which the great Dunecht telescope was erected in 1896. Harrison Park is a breathing spot for the congested district of Fountainbridge, and the park at Saughton Hall, opened in 1905, for the western district of the city. To the north of the Water of Leith lie Inverleith Park, the Arboretum and the Royal Botanical Garden. This institution has undergone four changes of site since its foundation in 1670 by Sir Andrew Balfour and Sir Robert Sibbald, and now occupies an area of 34 acres in Inverleith Row. It includes a herbarium and palm house, with an extensive range of hot-houses, a museum of economic botany, a lecture-room and other requisites for the study of botany. The most important open spaces, however, surround Arthur’s Seat (822 ft.). This basaltic hill, the name of which is believed to commemorate the British king Arthur, who from its height is said to have watched the defeat of the Picts by his followers, is shaped like a lioncouchant, with head towards the north. It is separated from the narrow valley, in which lie the Canongate and Holyrood Palace, by Salisbury Crags, named after Edward III.’s general William Montacute, 1st earl of Salisbury (1301-1344). At their base is the Queen’s Drive (3½ m. long), named by Queen Victoria. Adjoining Holyrood Palace is the King’s Park, used as a parade ground.Facing the crags on the south-west are the spots familiar to readers ofThe Heart of Midlothian, where stood Jeanie Deans’s cottage, and between the crags and Arthur’s Seat lies Hunter’s Bog, used as a shooting range. Near here too are three small lakes, Duddingston, Dunsappie and St Margaret’s, the last overlooked by the ruins of St Anthony’s chapel.
Environs.—In several directions many places once to be described among the environs have practically become suburbs of Edinburgh. Newhaven (population of parish, 7636), so called from the harbour constructed in the reign of James IV., had a shipbuilding yard of some repute in former times. The village has always been a fishing-place of importance, the “fishwives” in their picturesque garb being, till recently, conspicuous figures in the streets of the capital. It used to be a popular resort for fish dinners, and it plays a prominent part in Charles Reade’s novel ofChristie Johnstone. To the west lies Granton (pop. 1728), where the 5th duke of Buccleuch constructed a magnificent harbour. Before the building of the Forth Bridge the customary approach to Fifeshire and the north-east of Scotland was by means of a steam ferry from Granton to Burntisland, which is still used to some extent. There is regular communication with Iceland, the continental ports and London. A marine station here was established by Sir John Murray, but has been discontinued. Still farther west lies the village of Cramond (pop. of parish, 3815), at the mouth of the river Almond, where Roman remains have often been found. It was the birthplace of several well-known persons, among others of John Law (1671-1729), originator of the Mississippi scheme, Lauriston Castle being situated in the parish. Cramond Brig was the scene of one of the “roving” adventures of James V., when the life of the “Gudeman of Ballengeich” was saved by Jock Howieson of the Braehead. Corstorphine (pop. 2725), once noted for its cream and also as a spa, is now to all intents and purposes a western suburb of the capital. The parish church contains the tombs of the Forresters, of old the leading family of the district, with full-length sculptured figures, and at the base of Corstorphine Hill—from one point of which (“Rest and be Thankful”) is to be had one of the best views of Edinburgh—are the seats of several well-known families. Among these are Craigcrook Castle (where Lord Jeffrey spent many happy years, and the gardens of which are said to have given Scott a hint for Tullyveolan inWaverley), and Ravelston House, the home of the Keiths. To the south of the metropolis are Colinton (pop. 5499), on the Water of Leith, with several mansions that once belonged to famous men, such as Dreghorn Castle and Bonally Tower; and Currie (pop. 2513), which was a Roman station and near which are Curriehill Castle (held by the rebels against Queen Mary), the ruins of Lennox Tower, and Riccarton, the seat of the Gibson-Craigs, one of the best-known Midlothian families. At Dalmahoy Castle, near Ratho (pop. 1946), the seat of the earl of Morton, are preserved the only extant copy of the bible of the Scottish parliament and the original warrant for committing Queen Mary to Lochleven Castle in Kinross-shire. Craigmillar, though situated in the parish of Liberton, is really a part of Edinburgh. Its picturesque castle, at least the oldest portion of it, probably dates from the 12th century. Its principal owners were first the Prestons and latterly the Gilmours. After playing a varied rôle in local and national story, now as banqueting-house and now as prison, it fell gradually into disrepair. It was advertised as to let in 1761, and early in the 19th century, along with the chapel adjoining, was in ruins, but has been restored by Colonel Gordon-Gilmour. It was a favourite residence of Mary Stuart, and its associations with the hapless queen give it a romantic interest. Duddingston (pop. 2023), once a quiet village, has become a centre of the distilling and brewing industries. The parish church, effectively situated on an eminence by the side of the lake, was the scene of the ministration of the Rev. John Thomson (1778-1840), the landscape painter, who numbered Sir Walter Scott among his elders. Duddingston House is a seat of the duke of Abercorn. Liberton (pop. of parish, 7233), a name that recalls the previous existence of a leper’s hospital, is prominently situated on the rising ground to the south of Edinburgh, the parish church being a conspicuous landmark. Adjoining is the village of Gilmerton (pop. 1482), which used to supply Edinburgh with yellow sand, when sanded floors were a feature in the humbler class of houses. Portobello (pop. 9180), being within 3 m. of the capital, must always enjoy a large share of public patronage, though it is not in such favour as a watering-place as it once was. Its beautiful stretch of sands is flanked by a promenade extending all the way to Joppa. The beach was at one time used for the purpose of reviews of the yeomanry. The town dates from the middle of the 18th century, when a cottage was built by a sailor and named Portobello in commemoration of Admiral Vernon’s victory in 1739. The place does a considerable trade in the making of bricks, bottles, earthenware, pottery, tiles and paper. Joppa, which adjoins it, has salt works, but is chiefly a residential neighbourhood. Inveresk (pop. 2939), finely situated on the Esk some 6 m. from Edinburgh, is a quaint village with several old-fashioned mansions and beautiful gardens. Alexander Carlyle, the famous divine (1772-1805), whoseMemorials of his Timesstill affords fascinating reading, ministered for fifty-five years in the parish church, in the graveyard of which lies David Macbeth Moir (1798-1851), who under the pen-name of “Delta” wroteMansie Wauch, a masterpiece of Scots humour and pathos. Lasswade (pop. of parish, 9708), partly in the Pentlands, famous for its oatmeal, was often the summer resort of Edinburgh worthies. Here Sir Walter Scott lived for six years and De Quincey for nineteen, and William Tennant (1784-1848), author ofAnster Fair, was the parish dominie. Many interesting mansions were and are in the vicinity, amongst them Melville Castle, the seat of the Dundas Melvilles, and Auchendinny, where Henry Mackenzie, author ofThe Man of Feeling, resided. The two most celebrated resorts, however, amongst the environs of Edinburgh are Roslin (pop. 1805) and Hawthornden. Roslin Castle is romantically situated on the beautifully wooded precipitous banks of the Esk. It dates from the 12th century and is a plain, massive ruin, architecturally insignificant. Partially destroyed by fire in 1447 and afterwards rebuilt, it was sacked in 1650 and again in 1688, and then gradually fell into decay. The chapel, higher up the bank, a relic of great beauty, was founded in 1446 by William St Clair, 3rd earl of Orkney. It is believed to be the chancel of what was intended to be a large church. Although it suffered at the hands of revolutionary fanatics in 1688, the damage was confined mainly to the external ornament, and the chapel, owing to restoration in judicious taste, is now in perfect condition. The Gothic details are wonderful examples of the carver’s skill, the wreathed “Prentice’s pillar” being the subject of a well-known legend. The walk to Hawthornden, about 1½ m. distant, through the lovely glen by the river-side, leads to the mansion of the Drummonds, perched high on a lofty cliff falling sheer to the stream. The caverns in the sides of the precipice are said to have afforded Wallace and other heroes (or outlaws) refuge in time of trouble, but the old house is most memorable as the home of the poet William Drummond, who here welcomed Ben Jonson; the tree beneath which the two poets sat still stands. Near Swanston, on the slopes of the Pentlands, where R.L. Stevenson when a boy used to make holiday occasionally, is a golf-course which was laid out by the Lothianburn Club. The Pentland range contains many points of interest and beauty, but these are mostly accessible only to the pedestrian, although the hills are crossed by roads, of which the chief are those by Glencorse burn and the Cauld Stane Slap. Habbie’s Howe, the scene of Allan Ramsay’s pastoralThe Gentle Shepherd, is some 2 m. from Carlops, and Rullion Green is noted as the field on which the Covenanters were defeated in 1666. At Penicuik (pop. 5097), where the Clerks were long the ruling family, S.R. Crockett was minister until he formally devoted himself to fiction. The town is, industrially, remarkable for its paper mills and mines of coal and other minerals.
Communications.—The two trunk railways serving Edinburgh are the North British and the Caledonian. The North British station is Waverley, to which the trains of the Great Northern, North Eastern and the Midland systems run from England. TheCaledonian station is Princes Street, where the through trains from the London & North-Western system of England arrive. Leith, Granton and Grangemouth serve as the chief passenger seaports for Edinburgh. Tramways connect the different parts of the city with Leith, Newhaven, Portobello and Joppa; and the Suburban railway, starting from Waverley station, returns by way of Restalrig, Portobello, Duddingston, Morningside and Haymarket. In summer, steamers ply between Leith and Aberdour and other pleasure resorts; and there is also a service to Alloa and Stirling. In the season brakes constantly run to Queensferry (for the Forth Bridge) and to Roslin, and coaches to Dalkeith, Loanhead and some Pentland villages.
Population.—In 1801 the number of inhabitants was 66,544; in 1851 it was 160,302; in 1881 it was 234,402; and in 1901 it was 316,479. In 1900 the birth-rate was 26.90 per thousand, 7.8% of the births being illegitimate; the death-rate was 19.40 per thousand, and the marriage-rate 10 per thousand.
The area of the city has been enlarged by successive extensions of its municipal boundaries, especially towards the west and south. An important accession of territory was gained in 1896, when portions of the parishes of Liberton and Duddingston and the police burgh of Portobello were incorporated. Under the Edinburgh Corporation Act 1900, a further addition of nearly 1800 acres was made. This embraced portions of South Leith parish (landward) and of Duddingston parish, including the village of Restalrig and the ground lying on both sides of the main road from Edinburgh to Portobello; and also part of Cramond parish, in which is contained the village and harbour of Granton. The total area of the city is 10,597½ acres. The increase in wealth may best be measured by the rise in assessed valuation. In 1880 the city rental was £1,727,740, in 1890 it was £2,106,395, and in 1900-1901 £2,807,122.
Government.—By the Redistribution Act of 1885 the city was divided for parliamentary purposes into East, West, Central and South Edinburgh, each returning one member; the parliamentary and municipal boundaries are almost identical. The town council, which has its headquarters in the Municipal Buildings in the Royal Exchange, consists of fifty members, a lord provost, seven bailies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, a convener of trades, seven judges of police, and thirty-two councillors. The corporation has acquired the gas-works, the cable tramways (leased to a company), the electric lighting of the streets, and the water-supply from the Pentlands (reinforced by additional sources in the Moorfoot Hills and Talla Water). Among other duties, the corporation has a share in the management of the university, and maintains the Calton Hill observatory.
May Meetings.—During the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland, Edinburgh was the seat of a bishop, and the ancient collegiate church of St Giles rose to the dignity of a cathedral. But the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Edinburgh is now the public manifestation of the predominance of Presbyterianism as the national church. In May each year the sovereign appoints a representative as lord high commissioner to the General Assembly of the Established Church, who takes up his abode usually in the palace of Holyrood, and thence proceeds to the High Church, and so to the assembly hall on the Castle Hill. The lord provost and magistrates offer to him the keys of the city, and levees, receptions and state dinners revive in some degree the ancient glories of Holyrood. The General Assembly of the United Free Church is usually held at the same time.
University.—The university of Edinburgh, the youngest of the Scottish universities, was founded in 1583 by a royal charter granted by James IV., and its rights, immunities and privileges have been remodelled, ratified and extended at various periods. In 1621 an act of the Scottish parliament accorded to the university all rights and privileges enjoyed by other universities in the kingdom, and these were renewed under fresh guarantees in the treaty of union between England and Scotland, and in the Act of Security. Important changes were made in the constitution by acts passed in 1858 and 1889. It was one of the first universities to admit women students to its classes and degrees, and itsalumniare brought into close bonds of sympathy and activity by a students’ union. The number of students averages nearly three thousand a year. As a corporation it consists of a chancellor, vice-chancellor, lord rector (elected by the students every three years), principal, professors, registered graduates and matriculated students. The chancellor is elected for life by the general council, of which he is head; and the rights of the city as the original founder have been recognized by giving to the town council the election of four of the seven curators, with whom rest the appointment of the principal, the patronage of seventeen of the chairs, and a share in other appointments. Along with that of St Andrews, the university sends one member to parliament. While the college, as such, bears the name of the College of King James, or King’s college, and James VI. is spoken of as its founder, it really originated in the liberality of the citizens of Edinburgh. William Little of Craigmillar, and his brother Clement Little, advocate, along with James Lawson, the colleague and successor of John Knox, may justly be regarded as true founders. In 1580 Clement Little gave all his books, three hundred volumes, for the beginning of a library, and this was augmented by other valuable benefactions, one of the most interesting of which was the library of Drummond of Hawthornden. The library now contains upwards of 220,000 volumes, and more than 7000 MSS. The buildings of the university occupy the site of the ancient collegiate church of St. Mary in the Field (the “Kirk of Field”), the scene of the murder of Darnley. The present structure, the foundation-stone of which was laid in 1789, is a classical building, enclosing an extensive quadrangle. The older parts of it, including the east front, are from the design of Robert Adam, his plans being revised and modified by W.H. Playfair (1789-1857), but it was not till 1883 that the building was completed by the dome, crowned by the bronze figure of Youth bearing the torch of Knowledge, on the façade in South Bridge Street. This edifice affords accommodation for the lecture rooms in the faculties of arts, law and theology, and for the museums and library. The opening up of the wide thoroughfare of Chambers Street, on the site of College Wynd and Brown and Argyll Squares, cleared the precincts of unsightly obstructions and unsavoury neighbours. The Royal Scottish Museum, structurally united to the university, contains collections illustrative of industry, art, science and natural history; and Minto House college and Heriot-Watt college are practically adjuncts of the university. The library hall was restored and decorated, largely through the generosity of Sir William Priestley (1829-1900), formerly M.P. for the university; while munificent additions to the academic funds and resources were made by the 15th earl of Moray (1840-1901), Sir William Fraser (1816-1898), and others. The university benefits also, like the other Scottish universities, from Mr Andrew Carnegie’s endowment fund. The medical school stands in Teviot Row, adjoining George Square and the Meadows. To this spacious and well-equipped group of buildings the faculty of medicine was removed from the college. The medical school is in the Italian Renaissance style from the designs of Sir Rowand Anderson. The magnificent hall used for academic and public functions was the gift of William M’Ewan, some time M.P. for the Central division of Edinburgh. Closely associated with the medical school, and separated from it by the Middle Meadow Walk, is the Royal Infirmary, designed by David Bryce, R.S.A. (1803-1876), removed hither from Infirmary Street. Its wards, in which nearly ten thousand patients receive treatment annually, are lodged in a series of turreted pavilions, and cover a large space of ground on the margin of the Meadows, from which, to make room for it, George Watson’s College—the most important of the Merchant Company schools—was removed to a site farther west, while the Sick Children’s hospital was moved to the southern side of the Meadows.
Scientific Institutions.—The old Observatory is a quaint structure on Calton Hill, overlooking the district at the head of Leith Walk. The City Observatory stands close by, and on Blackford Hill is the newer building of the Royal Observatory.The Astronomer-Royal for Scotland also holds the chair of practical astronomy.
The museum and lecture-rooms of the Royal College of Surgeons occupy a handsome classical building in Nicolson Street. The college is an ancient corporate body, with a charter of the year 1505, and exercises the powers of instructing in surgery and of giving degrees. Its graduates also give lectures on the various branches of medicine and science requisite for the degree of doctor of medicine, and those extra-academical courses are recognized, under certain restrictions, by the University Court, as qualifying for the degree. The museum contains a valuable collection of anatomical and surgical preparations.
The Royal College of Physicians is another learned body organized, with special privileges, by a charter of incorporation granted by Charles II. in 1681. In their hall in Queen Street are a valuable library and a museum of materia medica. But the college as such takes no part in the educational work of the university.
Educational Institutions.—After the Disruption in 1843, and the formation of the Free Church, New College was founded in connexion with it for training students in theology. Since the amalgamation of the United Presbyterian and the Free Churches, under the designation of the United Free Church of Scotland, New College is utilized by both bodies. New College buildings, designed in the Pointed style of the 16th century, and erected on the site of the palace of Mary of Guise, occupy a prominent position at the head of the Mound.
Edinburgh has always possessed exceptional educational facilities. The Royal high school, the burgh schoolpar excellence, dates from the 16th century, but the beautiful Grecian buildings on the southern face of Calton Hill, opened in 1829, are its third habitation. It was not until 1825, when the Edinburgh Academy was opened, that it encountered serious rivalry. Fettes College, an imposing structure in a 16th-century semi-Gothic style, designed by David Bryce and called after its founder Sir William Fettes (1750-1836), is organized on the model of the great English public schools. Merchiston Academy, housed in the old castle of Napier, the inventor of logarithms, is another institution conducted on English public school lines. For many generations the charitable foundations for the teaching and training of youth were a conspicuous feature in the economy of the city. Foremost among them was the hospital founded by George Heriot—the “Jingling Geordie” of Scott’sFortunes of Nigel—the goldsmith and banker of James VI. At his death in 1624 Heriot left his estate in trust to the magistrates and ministers of Edinburgh for the maintenance and teaching of poor fatherless sons of freemen. The quadrangular edifice in Lauriston, sometimes ascribed to Inigo Jones, is one of the noblest buildings in the city. Even earlier than Heriot’s hospital was the Merchant Maiden hospital, dating from 1605, which gave to the daughters of merchants similar advantages to those which Heriot’s secured for burgesses’ sons. In 1738 George Watson’s hospital for boys was founded; then followed the Trades’ Maiden hospital for burgesses’ daughters, John Watson’s, Daniel Stewart’s, the Orphans’, Gillespie’s,2Donaldson’s3hospitals, and other institutions founded by successful merchants of the city, in which poor children of various classes were lodged, boarded and educated. Nearly all these buildings are characterized by remarkable distinction and beauty of design. This is especially true of Donaldson’s hospital at the Haymarket, which has accommodation for three hundred children. As the New Town expanded, the Heriot Trust—whose revenues were greatly benefited thereby—erected day-schools in different districts, in which thousands of infants and older children received a free education, and, in cases of extreme poverty, a money grant towards maintenance. Public opinion as to the “hospital” system of board and education, however, underwent a revolutionary change after the Education Act of 1872 introduced school boards, and the Merchant Company—acting as governors for most of the institutions—determined to board out the children on the foundation with families in the town, and convert the buildings into adequately equipped primary and secondary day-schools. This root-and-branch policy proved enormously successful, and George Watson’s college, Stewart’s college, Queen Street ladies’ college, George Square ladies’ college, Gillespie’s school, and others, rapidly took a high place among the educational institutions of the city. Nor did the Heriot Trust neglect the claims of technical and higher education. The Heriot-Watt college is subsidized by the Trust, and Heriot’s hospital is occupied as a technical school. Concurrently with this activity in higher branches, the school board provided a large number of handsome buildings in healthy surroundings. The Church of Scotland and the United Free Church have training colleges.
Charities.—Besides the Royal Infirmary there are a considerable number of more or less specialized institutions, two of the most important being situated at Craiglockhart. On the Easter Hill stands the Royal Edinburgh asylum for the insane, which formerly occupied a site in Morningside, while the City infectious diseases hospital is situated at Colinton Mains. The Royal blind asylum at Powburn in its earlier days tenanted humbler quarters in Nicolson Street. Chalmers’s hospital in Lauriston was founded in 1836 by George Chalmers for the reception of the sick and injured. The home for incurables is situated in Salisbury Place. The infirmary convalescents are sent to the convalescent house in Corstorphine. Other institutions are the Royal hospital for sick children, the home for crippled children, the Royal maternity hospital, and the deaf and dumb asylum. Though Trinity hospital no longer exists as a hospital with resident pensioners, the trustees disburse annually pensions to certain poor burgesses and their wives and children; and the trust controlling the benevolent branch of the Gillespie hospital endowment is similarly administered.
Industries.—Although Edinburgh is a residential rather than a manufacturing or commercial centre, the industries which it has are important and flourishing. From 1507, when Walter Chapman, the Scottish Caxton, set up the first press, to the present day, printing has enjoyed a career of almost continuous vitality, and the great houses of R. & R. Clark, T. & A. Constable, the Ballantyne Press, Morrison & Gibb, Turnbull & Spears, and others, admirably maintain the traditional reputation of the Edinburgh press. Publishing, on the other hand, has drifted away, only a few leading houses—such as those of Blackwood, Chambers and Nelson—still making the Scottish capital their headquarters. Mapmakers, typefounders, bookbinders and lithographers all contribute their share to the prosperity of the city. Brewing is an industry of exceptional vigour, Edinburgh ale being proverbially good. The brewers and distillers, such as M’Ewan, Usher and Ure, have been amongst the most generous benefactors of the city. The arts and crafts associated with furniture work, paper-making and coach-building may also be specified, whilst tanneries, glassworks, india-rubber and vulcanite factories, brass-founding, machinery works, the making of biscuits, tea-bread and confectionery are all prominent. In consequence of the large influx of tourists every year the North British and Caledonian railway companies give employment to an enormous staff. Building and the allied trades are chronically brisk, owing to the constant development of the city. Fine white freestone abounds in the immediate vicinity (as at Craigleith, from the vast quarry of which, now passing into disuse, the stone for much of the New Town was obtained) and furnishes excellent building material; while the hard trap rock, with which the stratified sandstones of the Coal formation have been extensively broken up and overlaid, supplies good materials for paving and road-making. On this account quarrying is another industry which is seldom dormant. Owing to the great changes effected during the latter part of the 19th century, some of theold markets were demolished and the system of centralizing trade was not wholly revived. The Waverley Market for vegetables and fruit presents a busy scene in the early morning, and is used for monster meetings and promenade and popular concerts. Slaughter-houses, cattle markets and grain markets have been erected at Gorgie, thus obviating the driving of flocks and herds through the streets, which was constantly objected to. An infantry regiment is always stationed in the castle, and there are in addition the barracks at Piers-hill (or “Jock’s Lodge”), half-way between Edinburgh and Portobello.