Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-08 00:00:00

GREAT FIRE IN EDINBURGH•

ir.o THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—l suppose your " special correspondent'
will have already informed you that the 6, modern
Athens" has been visited by a calamity in the
shape of a pretty large fire. Accustomed as we
"Dicky Same" are to fires of enormous magni'
tude, the one which happened here yesterdaY
seems trifling, but it was larger than the good
folks of this city are used to, and excited great
attention, and brought together , lookers-on by
thousands. If you are familiar with Edinburgh; 901/
will know that as you pass up Prince's-street t°
Calton-hill,your view on the right hand is bounded
by the frowning Castle, and the hill on whiell
it stands.; and, passing further up, you get a view
of tha new Free Church College, with its 10°
towers ; and next you come to a range of old houses'
remarkable for their great height, antique Oa
picturesque appearance-30M3 of the them ar°
from ten to eleven stories high, and present s°
many windows towards Prince's-street, that, whe°
gilded by a setting sun, reflect a mass of mans'
coloured lights with which no illumination could
vie. None of these buildings are what the follo
here call "self-contained" houses, but are let 05
in flats, each flat to a single family in many cases
~he entrance to these' flats being by a " common
stair." The fire began about one o'clock, at about
the middle of the pile, and by four o'ol°ol4
had destroyed about thirty flats towards
Prince's-street. As a spectator from Prince's'
street, the spectacle was striking, as tit°
devouring element made its way from story
to story, aided by just sufficient wind as fanned it'
and feeding upon the heavy timbers, a century ana
mare old, and tinder dry. The roar of the flames
and the glare of the intense inward fire, showing
itself through upwards of one hundred windoWs'
awed the spectator. At one time strong fears Nver°
entertained that the Free Church might want a
new college, for the fire was close upon it, and its
leading professors, turned firemen for the nonce,
,
were covering its church with carpets, kept wetted
to cool the already hot slates, and these efforfs
were at length successful—the college is saved.
The old cry of a " want of water," so familiar to
us a few years ago, was here the reply you got to al°
inquiry, " Where are the engines?' as for several
hours none played in Bank-street. Not to enter int°
further details, it will suffice to state that the event
makes homeless about eighty persons, chiefly poor
people, and that the fire is commonly attributed t°
some children playing with lacifers.

I have spoken of the fire as it appeared to fi
spectator in Prince's-court—the western side 01
the burning house faced James's-court, and as yoati
have many readers interested in historic all
antiquarian matters, the following notes will 001
that we have to regret the destruction of sever
$,
which the curious visitor loved to inspect f°l:'
associations with many time honored names
The house in which David Hume resided I.°l
many years was one of the flats (third flat, countin,t
;
from James's-court) now burned ; Dr. Blair O5
Hume's tenant in the same house while Hume
on the Continent for a year or two ; and James
Boswell succeeded Humo as tenant, afterwards
removing to the fl it immediately below which Wl°
been for many years occupied by Messrs Pillang
-
as a printing office, and is now also totally 01311,
sumed, and it was here Dr. Johnson was received
as a guest by his biographer. Mr. Robert Chanl;
bers, in his " Traditions of Edinburgh,' says, °
Boswell's second house :

This was an extraordinary house in its day ; for itc 01-
sisted of two floors connected by an internal stair. ger°
it was that the Ursa Major of literature stayed for a fell
days, in August 1773, while preparing to set out to t 5
Hebrides, and also for some time after his return. Sere
did he receive the homage of the trembling literati °f
Edinburgh ; here, after handling them in his rag'
manner, did he relax in play with little Miss Veroniciff
whom Boswell promised to consider peculiarly in his Will'
for showing a liking to so estimable a man. _ _

Of Hurno's proprietorship and occupancy of 02°
house above referred to, Mr. Chambers writes
Hume removed at Whitsunday, 1762, to a house whiell
he purchased in James's Court—the eastern portion of the
third floor in the west stair (counting fam the level of the
court.) This was such a stop as a man would take in
those days as a consequence of improvement in his eir:
cumstances. The philosopher had lived is James's Court
but a short time when he was taken to France as secret
to the embassy. In his absence, which lasted sever'a
years, his house was occupied by D. Blair, who here 1114 •
a son of the Duke of Northumberland as a pupil.
In 1766,he re-entered into possession of his flat in Jame°
Court, but was soon a:ain called from it, by an invitatioo
from Mr. Conway to be an Under Secretary of State. It
length, in 1769, he returned permanently to his native city'
in possession of what he thought opulence—a thousand
,
a-year. We find him immediately writing from his retreat
in James's Court to his frieni Adam Smith, then cop'
mewing his great work on the Wealth of Na'ions in the
quiet of his mother's house at Kirkcaldy.
The military proved of great service at the ely
gines, and the prancings of half a dozen cavalry
horses sufficed to keep the road clearer than,
whole troop of police could do.

Apropos of these extraordinary flats—a clever
young physician here, Doctor T—, narrated to
us one of his experiences, when, as a medical stw
dent, a few years ago, he had to visit in the Higli
Town, where the typhus fever raged. In flat No. 8,
to which you must mount by as many stairs as woull
take you to the roof of our Town Hall, and in a suol i
room, resided seven patients in fever; not an artiol°
of furniture, save a table and a stool, was there ; til°
neighbours, dreading contagion, would 120" b
come to assist, and the only attendant to Ad-
minister food was a daughter, herself a motile)"
nursing an infant. All the water and necessaries
were brought up to this flat by the comn3o°
stair, and by her. At length, too, she 05
seized, and worn down with watching and
nursing; delirium supervened, and my friend
was appalled one day by being met bi
her as he entered the room, changed into
furious maniac, and holding out to his admiration
her own babe lying lifeless in her arms, its braills
having been dashed out by herself. Yet, marvel-
lons as it may appear, most of these patients got
better. It is doubtful, I should think, whether
these " fiats" now destroyed will be rebuilt. 113
cases of fire or contageous disease, life in snob.
places must be fearfully exposed.—l am, y011"5
truly, T. B. r•

Edinburgh, 6th August, 1857.

A TOAD IN A Boles aremAcu.—About three o'clock 01;
Thureday morning, a boy, nine years of age, name
Thomas Ncklethwaite, son of
William Micklet hwaitel
farm labourer, Alvorthorpe, near Wakefield, parted with 41/
toad. The reptile, which was alive, was put into a basin °
water, and has since become much swollen. Its body nodmeasures about three-and-a-half inches "long, two bras;
and in colour is dark brown streaked with black. 111
boy for some weeks past has been worn almost to a skeleton,
and perfectly ravenous in regard to food, constantly eating 2
and never seeming satisfied. The medical attendant t`
the family says the boy must have swallowed the toad
in
the spawn.

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new and old) and STEAMERS they have on SALE,
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AND

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NOTICE OF REMOVAL.
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TONGS & CO.,
•-'-1-. ' BROKERS FOR THE SALE AND PUR-
W. '.7;, :t
k
CHASE OF SHIPS, -
NIA V-4" •
INE AUCTIONEERS AND SHIP VALUERS,
11A` 1 REMOVED TO MIDDLETON BUILDINGS,
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PATON AND M`NICOL,
X SHIP BROKERS, AND BROKERS FOR
?‘"#-fain THE SALE AND PIIRCHME OF SHIPS,
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LIVERPOOL.

THE LIVERPOOL LINE OF AUSTRALIAN PACKETS.
Loading berth north-cast corner Qmsen's Dock.
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Taking Goods to GEELONG,
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ft, J. JONES, CCEGMELIder
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j 4.4
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Bills of Lading must be ebtained from Messrs. Turner & Dunnett,
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STEAM UNDER SIX CY DAYS TO AUSTRALIA.
PASSAGE ..el4 AND UPWARDS.
THE LIVERPOOL & AUSTRALIAN NAVIGATION COMPANY'S
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