New-York tribune., 1880-06-27
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS
= "REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.
& BY CHARLES T. coNGpox.
xxx.
A GLIMPSE OF EDINBURGH.

xxx
A GLIMPSE OF EDINBURGH.
rur RAILWAY RUN-AE OLD HISTORIC TOWN.
PRINCES STREET Asb THE PUBLIC GARDEN
FINE CRY scKNHRY-A CITY OF sTATUEs AND
MoSuMgSTs-THg ALBERT MEMoRlAL-THK
scoTr MoNUMKNT-THE RESIDENCE OF SIR
WALTER scoTr-THB cAsrLS AND HOLLYWOOD
MARY srUAKr--A STROLL TO LEirH.
Amidst the noise and confusion. the general
marine flavor and commercial hurry or
Liverpool, remembered that there was CITY
sEdina. Scotis's darling seat and dear to the
heart Of every reading man, to t6e minu on
every historical student and ahke 70 tnS
yotaries of literature and religion; "a coulo
60 there, there seemed to be hqnoreo reasUn9 E
why should, and no reason Whatever N.Y. WY 1
should not To pack my bag. to buy aeKet,
and 30 reserve reflection until 1t should come
spontaneously, was but the work OF moment
The journey, not Rarttcularly nteres1ng, ere Ma1.
Town easily by decent bed time.
This summary way of disposing or q great
many miles ought not to preclude menuon OF
the glance which had at the fine old historic
town Of Carlisle, Just as we were cfoSang tnS sac
forsys aud for fights, full OF suggestions Oh tne
desperate efforts Of the Stuarts to recover the
throne of their imprudent and 1mprovldenG an
cestors, and not without 'ts remuaer o. o"G
am not sure that it is not quite as pleasant ana,
NAV be. quite as profitable, for a traveller to go
by a place as into it. Doubtless l should have
had the rampancy of my imagination exceedingly
stimulated IT L had climbed up neo Gnis'e, trni,;
But imagination was not wanting as our Iialh
went rushing by. l saw the bOnneted high-
landers, claymOre in hand, their naked legs
twinkling in tn, September sun OF victory
gained at Prestonpans, rushing Pelme inyU hnIU
enough in the evening air as we cTanen our
necks at it. How the poor Prince sto9d Ihere
In that ancient place, and peered into the Eng
land Of bis hopes: saw the lowers lowers Oh fro eVerv
steeple in London, and remembered with
clsnched teeth and right hand clasped upon
his hilt the indignities to which his venerable
and royal house had been subjected Gnne dnSle
was only Scotland for a while, and then Gallo
denl / saw, too, in deeper distance, me
Roman sOdiery building with skilled ana swift
hands those white embat!ements which, before
Belona changed her metbods, were such erlm
def ance to all comers, but which the modern
expedents of military dllapidatlon w0dld re-
duce to dusty debris in day. l lett tbs past
behind me, for another and nearer one was
before NE. A few hours after was eating an
excellent supper in q PIinces-st. hotei, anu
bearing testimony by the vigor of my appetite
to the skill of Scotch cookery. And since nave
in these papers occasionally grOwed at what, to
Americans, seems the desOlate character OF the
English inn, desire to bear my testimony 20
Edinburgh. Without naming that when smell
tered me for week or SO, l may say that, IN
every TesYect of cleanliness, OF comfort, ana or
cuisine, it was quite the eqnal OF our pest New
York houses was mere like them than anything
else which saw abroad, and beyond even our
captious Yankee criticism in all its appointments
Upon the whole, l am not sure that ones
emotions upon finding himself IN EdlBbuIGh do
not surpass in intensity hose which ne feels, or
processes to feel, in London. AS walked out
In tie morning, ought to admit that the gen.
er1h beauty and brightness and freshness OIL All
saw impressed me. / had not forgotten J0hn
Ruskin's somewhat subfcidulOus criticism OF
the EdinDurgh architecture, and the rage which
it provoked in tine Caledonlan bosom.
But had not come all this long way to study
lintels and cOrnices, mOuldingS and hllttS. AS
took my fist stroll through Prlnces-st., L was
struck by its beauty, and might almost say It's
magnifcenee Upon one side were lofty build
ings of modern type. The shops were brilliant
with their great collections of eleartnt mer-
chandise. There was sufficient hustle and
ample evidence of the enterprise and Ingenuity
of man but here, too, was the handlWorS or
nature, in a glorious conjunction which i sell
dom presented Suppose Broadway, for i'll
stance, with the best edifices In 1t upon the
right, and the pavement there alive with eager
pedestIi ms bent upon business or pleasure !; and
then sweep away everything which could OBJ
struct the vision upon the other side; plant there
n carefully tended garden stretching for nearly
q mile, full of trees and of flowers, aud making
an aDSOluIe fuS W UUC6. 1iudSlHc, IlSiu- Iul
into the sky, lofty hills covered with historical
monuments and castellated crags, tic heights
of Salisbury and Arthurs Seat! Think OF
CaltoD Hill looking down always upon our clvlc
turmoil and cOmmotiOn! Il there be per-
petual suggestion of moral elevation in noun
tains how much would few such be worth to
MS, il only We could see them from the BOwerY
Doubtless we ought to be thankful that we have
no Hoy1Oods, for they would carry with them
chronicles which we can well spare; but II
there could always be painted upon our sky the
memorials of better history, or even II we
could always have the cOmpaniOnship OF the
scenery which mas been vOuehsated TO Edln-
brlrgh, surely we should not be the worse Tor
the benefcenee. The old city is always Ia close
companionship with the heavens, ard you walk
with uptuned face, as If you had caught
something of the reverence of the COvcnanioIs,
and like them were ever remembering that thO
world is not our perpel lual abldng-ple~"
Of mere sights seeing there IL no o. lin
burgh-spOts of romantic interest -
OF natural scenery. hooks where ~
should fail to gaze with wonder
eyes. Ii is in the first place n city ~ Fl.
ments and statues. They aIe entirely snre In
the venerable town that blood IL thicker than
water, while the old. stitf Tory pohucs show
themselves occasionally in.memOrialsOf nObus,ics
and of weli-nigh forgotten statesmen. In front
of the Registrar House rears the hOrsr OF the
Dake OF Wellington with his rider upon his
back Christopher North, in solid bronze, beilt-
ting the Editor of BIackpoods Magazine, stands,
calm and colossal, not very far away. In q
corner of the Princes Street Gardens is u marble
statue of Allan Ramsay, dear to all Scotchmen
rs the author of The GeDtle Shepherd" In
the Great Hall Of the Parliament House are
statues of Lord Cockburn, Lord jeffrey, and a
great many other great ScOtchmen. The Nell
son monument in Waterloo Place serves a
double purpOse-it keeps in perpetual memory
the hero OF Trafalgar, while q time ball which
drops every day at o'clock from its Flagstaff
enables the honest buyr,hers TO set their
watches. In st. Andrew Square a tcll column
serves to remind one of the impeachment of
Dundas, Yiscount Melville. That model of In
teRrity and virtue, and that exemplar of all royal
graees, His Sacred Majesty George the Fourth,
has statue in Ge0rge-st.; which commentaries
the royal visit to Edinburgh ia 1892. Does the
reader who, in spite of the changes of literary
taste, still maintains liking for Sir Walter
Scott, Of whom we shall have someth ing to say