New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-18


The matchless beauty Of the capitai
among hills and ravines may be defaced
by unsightly barracks around the castle
by grimy railway at the bottom OF
the Princes Gardens, by ugly memorials
! like the Nelson Lighthouse and the
Burns Temple and by tasteless recon-
structlons in the old town. and fantas-
/ tic medley of architectural styles in the
Is the glory Of letters which endures
from decade TO decade. Burns may
have dwelt here only a few weeks ana
Carlyle may have done his best work IN
Chelsea, and Scott may have been the
only giant to spend lifetime within
sight OF the beautiful crown Of st. Giles;
but Edinburgh has remained untainted
with trade and politics, and, like Flor
ence. has continued to love letters and
the arts, and by its leisured quiet has
fascinated seekers after intellectual life
There are more interesting pilgrimages
to he made to literary shrines in the OLD
and the new towns than in any other
city of the kingdom. The homes of the
master spirits may not be marked with
mural tablets. as In London and Bath;
and havoc may have been made with
stored structures and sites by architects
and municipal reformers. and yet there
are benignant ghosts reckoning with
jewelled fingers among the steep wynds
and breezy avenues, and Aud Reekie
remains a realm Of imagination and ro-
nance.
In the course OF a long stroll one
may see the birth tablet Of Scott, In
Guthrie street, the houses In George
Square and Grange Road, where he spent
his youth and had his only glimpse Of
! Burns; and the workshop in Castle
street, where he toiled at his desk before
catching up his plaid, whlstling to his
| dog and Fastening to Charlotte street
for frolic with Marjorie. Burns's
lodgings in Bakers Close are marked
with a tablet. but Boswells, in James's
| Court, where Johnson was entertained,
have disappeared. In RddelPs Close a
spiral staircase leads to the den where
Hume began the History OF England
and another house i'm st. David's street
/ bears record of the close of his life's
work. The first home OF the Carlyles
can be easily found in Comely Bank,
and so can the early haunts Of Steven
son. I'm Heriot Row, Canon Mills, and by
the waters of Leith and also the old
infirmary where Henley was revealed
as a poet. How rapid is the transition
from Smollett's lair in Canongate, or
/ the mansion where Gay was secretary
to his eccentric duchess: or from Adam
! Smiths home, at the foot Of Panmure
| Close. or Allan Ramsay's shop, to the
! centre Of Potter Row, where Campbell
wrote the Pleasures of Hope" or TO
De Quincey's lodging, in Lothian street.
or 10 Jeffrey's house, in Buccleuch place,
where THE Edinburgh Review" was
proposed,
More prosaic in environment but
equally varied In interest is the circuit
from Raeburns studio in York Place
or Brougham's house near St Andrews
Square, or the home of Byrons mother
to Christopher North's rooms where the
Chaldee manuscript was written up for
"Blackwood;" or TO the scene Of Shell
ley's elopement, or 10 the hall where
Dickens and Thackeray were enter
tanned, or to Dugald Stewards home in
| A Tn ell n q i1
| las Crescent. without a sign of Greek
taste i'm the lines of dull architecture.
There are as many blends of theology
as OF the strenuous whiskeys for which
Edinburgh is famous. John Knox's
| house and the Council Chamber at Holy
rood where he lorded it over Queen
Mary, are the starting places; the pull
pits and homes Of Blair. Chalmers,
! Guthrie. Robertson and Dean Ramsay
are readily found and If Sydney Smiths
chapel be no longer recognizable, the
house can be identified where he wrote
his sermons and proved that 1t was not
necessary to handle the most sublime
/ subjects in the dullest language and in
High Commissioners phantom court,
where theologians i'm their three cor
nered hats look as uncomfortable as the
judges and university professors. are the
levees of Aud Reckless lettered spirits
The cold gray city is indeed haunt
ed realm where the bustling Present is
overshadowed by the broodIng inspira-
/ ton Of the Past l. ~ f..