Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-09-18
Mutes 1T Trapel III Gurupe,
EDINBURGH.
One of the Oldest Towns of the British
IsIes-Ponts of Interest in the City.
Written for the Yorkuiile Enquirer.


IsIes-Points of Interest in the City.
Written for the YorkuiUe Enquirer.
What London is to England, New York
is to the United States, and what Athens is
to Greece, Edinburgh is to Scotland. The
Scotch regard Edinburgh, which they famil-
iarly call "Auld Reeky," the chief city in
the world. With pride, they speak of the
striking resemblance, as they assert, which
exists between it and the capital of Attica
So great is the Scotchman's love for the an
cient capital of his country that he insists
that it not only resembles Athens in it's sit
uation and in the number of great men it
has produced, but that Athens and not Ed
inburgh is honored by the comparison,
Making all due allowance for the eXtrav-
agant notions which an intense love of coun-
try is wont to beget aid foster, the Scotch
man has just grounds to be proud of "Auld
Reeky." There is no city on the globe
which has such history. Edinburgh, the
ancient capital and most important city of
Scotland, is situated in Midlothian county,
a short distance south Of the Firth of Forth
The situation is very romantic-being a
group of hills separated by deep ravines:
By one of these ravines the city is divided
into two sections, one Of which is known as
"Old Town." and the other as "NeW Town."
What is called New Town is of recent orr
gin. AS late as the beginning of the present
century it was regarded by the inhabitants
of the Old Town as kind of pretentious
upstart. The rich and polite feeling, no
doubt, kind Of disgust for the crowded
and filthy streets of the Old Town, began to
build beautiful residences on Princess street.
At No. II, on this street, Blackwood, in
April 1917, brought out the first number OF
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. This
was among the first, if not the first, public
ENTERPRISE inaugurated in the New Town.
The New Town is far more beautiful than
the Old. In everything that is calculated
to make town attractive that part Of the city
of Edinburgh which is called New Town,
will compare favorably with any town in
either England or America. The streets
are wide and straight and the whole of this
part of the city is interspersed with beauti-
full public gardens, or places, as they are
called.
That part of the city of Edinburgh which
is called Old Town may be reckOned among
the old towns of the British Isles. Moth
ing, however, is certainly known of the
time of it's first settlement. The present
population of Edinburgh is put down at two
hundred and thirty-six thousand, and it is
increasing steadily. The city of Edinburgh
was originally built up round the castle
which forms an important feature OF the
city at present. When this castle, to which
the city owes it's existence, was built, no
one at present can learn with certainty. All
that can be said on this point is that as early
as the year A. D. 600, there was a fortress
on the site of the present castle. About the
middle of the ninth century Edinburgh
had attained the proportions of consider
able village.
The country around Edinburgh is said,
at that time, to have been a dense forest,
full of elk, wolves and wild bOars. This
we can neither affirm as true or contradict
as false. If it be true that Scotland was, as
is claimed by some, old historians, settled
may be true that the country was at the
time of their arrival we'll wooded, and that
they, in obedience to that spirit of deStruc-
tion which seems ever to have character
lied the Spaniard cut down all the trees:
Be this as it may, the country is not well
wooded at present, and it is scarcely proba-
bic that it ever will be, unless some great
event occurs which will render it uninhab-
liable. Still it is one of the most pictur-
esque regions of country on which the sun sun
shines. In fact, all Scotland is wildly
grand. One can readily believe it to be the
birth place of poets and orators as well as
of profound thinkers. TO make out a cata-
logue of all the interesting places and things
in Edinburgh would require considerable
time and much space. There is no city in
the world except Jerusalem in which SO
many and so mighty events have occurred.
To large number of the people of the Uni
ted States the name Edinburgh is peculiar
ly dear. TO Christians of every creed, and
on this broad earth so full of halloWed re-
collections as Edinburgh. At one end of
High Street is the castle at the other end is
Holyrood palace. On this street Is the
house Of John Knox, and st. Giles church,
near by which is the grave Of Knox marked
with little black stone, on which is cut the
letters I. X. This stone does not, as might
be supposed, stand above the ground as 90
headstones in our country; but is on level
with the square near the midst of which it
is placed. Here the great Scotch reformer
was buried on the 26th of November, 1872,
and the only thing which marks the spotis
and six inches wide. The grave of Knox is
not on High street, but in what is called
Parliament square. This space was, until
about the beginning of the seventeenth cen
tury, used as burying ground. From that
time to the present it has been used for va
rious purposes, principally for erecting
buildings connected with the Law Courts.
In the midst of this open square stands an
equestrian statue of Charles the Second,
looking down upon the grave of John Knox,
which is but a few feet to the west. This
statue is in bronzed lead, and was erected
by the magistrates and town council of Ed
inburgh, in 1855, at cost of about one thou
sand dollars.
The individual who sees this strange
sight cannot but conclude that the Scotch
are marvelously strange people. There is
the grave of John Knox, the man to whom
they, in the providencc Of God, owe all
their religious liberty, literally tramped
under foot by every passer by, and there is
within few feet of that neglected grave,
the statue of the man who did everything
that mortal man could do to rob them Of
that liberty. 1t is wonderful that the Scotch
suffer the grave of Knox to be SO abused,
and it is no less wonderful that they have
so signally honored the memory of Charles
the Second.
Near by the spot where repose the ashes
of Knox is the house in which he lived and
in which he died. This house has nothing
attractive about it except that it is the house
in which John Knox lived for thirteen
years. In 1863 he moved into it, and in one
OF it's little back rooms he died or the 9th
of November, 1872. Previous to its occu-
pancy by Knox, it was the town residence
of George Durie, the last Abbot of Dunfern-
line. All the rooms in the house are small.
The servants rooms are in the second story
The study of the reformer is very small
not more than six feet wide by ten long
This study was built for him by the people
who worshipped in st. Giles Church. II
was constructed by building up wall on
the pavement to the height of the original