The daily gazette., 1880-08-31
Our European Letter.
TWO WEEKS IN EDINBURGH-AN
INTERESTING PEN PICTURE OF
sCoTLAND's CAPITAL.
Special correspondence of the GAZETTE.
EDINBURGH, Scotland, !
AunnSl | / 1880

II layihS OuI pans, uay was
allotted to Edinburgh. We have
now been here two weeks, and have
scarcely yet seen all the interesting
objects within the city and the at
tractive places around about it. The
place is different from anything we
have seen, being literally stone
city. There is not a building of
either wood or brick in it. Ali the
houses are built Of stone, have stone
stairs throughout, and first or ground
floors paved with stone.
The city is chiefly built upon three
high hills, and the old portion is
divided from the new by deep val
ley, through which passes the Rail
way. The new part has broad, well
paved streets and handsome well
proportioned houses. The old city
is Of its own kind, with streets
wandering about anywhere and
eveywhere-some broad and roomy,
most of them too narrow for any
wheeled vehicle wider than a wheel
barrow. The houses, too, are
peculiar, many of them having
eight, ten and even eleven stories,
with the second stories projecting
out over the streets, bringing the
upper stories so close together that
their occupants may shake hands
across the streets. Every flooe or
flat is separate dwelling or family
home, and opens out TO the general
passage of stone steps. On the
streets, beside the hall doors, are bell
pulls for each fiat, with the name of
the head OF the family in possession,
under it.
On one of the hills stands the
monument to Lord Nelson. On an
other is the famous Edinburgh
Castle, while from Arthur's Seat,
near the sea, one may see, on a
clear day, all the city with its towns
and hamlets nesting around it, the
Firth of Forth, the Abbey and
Castle of Holy-rood, Cragmiller
Castle and the country around about
for many miles. Arthur's Seat is
800 feet high, and looks out into the
Atlantic to the great Bass Rock,
which stands in the sea perpen-
dicular 3l3 feet above the water.
Far away we see the misty head of
Ben Samond and other peaks thrust
ing themselves into the clouds.
! Cannongate is the principal street
in the old city, aud in it are st.
! Giles Church, where Knox preach
ed and is buried, as well as the resi-
dences of Knox, Ramsey, Sir Walter
| SaaNN f,rhnV, fntunl III
many other Scottish celebrities.
Here, too, is the old Tolbooth, once
the Parliament House, still standing
| in good condition. Holy-rood Palace
and Abbey are at the foot of the
street, the most interesting of the
historical buildings of Scotland.
This was the home of Mary Queen
of Scots, where Rizzio was murdered
and Charles First was crowned.
In the Abbey are buried many of
Scotland's kings and queens, includ-
ing David ii, James II, James V
and his queen, and Lord Darnley,
husband of Mary. In the Picture
Gallery are life size pictures of one
| hundred and six of Scotland's kings
and queens from Fergus l, $50
years before the Christian era, down
to the termination Of the Stuart dy-
nasty. On the floor of the audience
room is shown the stains of Rizzio's
blood, who was murdered by Darn
lev and others whilst at supper with
| Queen Mary. Queen Mary's furni-
ture, including her bed with all its
| tinselled rags, still remain as they
were three hundred years ago.
But the old Castles must have
been sadly lacking in luxuries OF
even comforts, as considered in
modern sense.
The only evidence of luxury or
splendor left to us is in the hangings
| Of the rooms, which in most cases,
are in themselves rough walls and
stone floors. The sides fthe rooms
were hung with rich tapestry, repre-
senting rural scenes, battles, or
something interesting in the history
of the country. Here many of the
rooms are still adorned with the
work of the fair hands of Queen
| Mary and her maideEs, though it
| looks as it might fall to pieces at
touch. There are also few frames
containing tatters of silken hangings
from which all the colors and bright
ness have faded.
From Holyrood to Leith, the ship
ing port of Edinburgh, is only
short walk. Here are the piers run
| ming three-fourths of a mile out into
the Firth. Near this is Newhaven
the home of the fishermen who, it is
said, still retain the pure Scandana-
Wan blood by intermarriage. The
fishwlves of Edinburgh constitute
one of its most picturesque features.
Early in the morning we hear their
peculiar cry, and looking out see an
animated bundle Of bright colored
RAGS. moving with huge basket on
the TOP of it. We saw them in their
homes, too, houses of a single story
forming long street on the waters
edge, with their boats drawn up into
the yards in front.
To describe one of the old feud;l
castles is, in measure, to describe
them all. Cragmiller Castle, two
miles from the city and another resi-
de- ICE of Mary, is strictly castle with
ont any religious belongings. Except
+ ,e strong doors, there is not "a piece
of wood about it. 1t is ten feet thick
at the base of the walls, tapering to
five feet at the top, and is ON the high
: side about sixty feet to its roof of
J stone. Every room has its arched
II a