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THE ROYAL EXCHANGE BUILDINGS

lie upon the right hand side of the way opposite St. Giles's Cathedral. The Council Chamber, for the meetings of the Magistracy, and various other apartments for the transaction of municipal business, occupy that side of the quadrangle opposite the entrance. Parties proposing to visit the Crown Room in the Castle, will here obtain orders of admission on the terms mentioned on page 53 of the present work. The spot where the city Cross formerly stood is now indicated by a radiated pavement about twenty-five yards from the entrance to the Exchange.

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is nearly opposite the Royal Exchange. It derives its name from its patron, St. Giles, abbot and confessor, and tutelar saint of Edinburgh. The date of its foundation

* Mr. Stark, in his very accurate work, relates that the legend regarding St. Giles, describes him as "a native of Greece born in the sixth century. On the

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is unknown. It is first mentioned in the year 1359, in a charter of David II. In 1466, it was made a collegiate church, and no fewer than forty altars were at this period supported within its walls. The Scottish poet, Gavin Douglas, (the translator of Virgil,) was for some time Provost of St. Giles. After the Reformation it was partitioned into four places of worship, and the sacred vessels and relics which it contained, including the arm-bone referred to in the preceding note, were seized by the magistrates of the city, and the proceeds of their sale applied to the repairing of the building. In 1603, before the departure of James VI. to take possession of the throne of England, he attended divine service in this church, after which he delivered a farewell address to his Scottish subjects, assuring them of his unalterable affection. "His words were often interrupted by the tears of the whole audience, who, though they exulted at the King's prosperity, were melted into sorrow by these tender declarations."* On the 13th October 1643, the Solemn League and Covenant was sworn to and subscribed within its walls by the Committee of Estates

death of his parents, he gave all his estate to the poor, and travelled into France, where he retired into the deep recess of a wilderness, near the conflux of the Rhone with the sea, and continued there for three years, living upon the spontaneous produce of the earth and the milk of a doe. Having obtained the reputation of extraordinary sanctity, various miracles were attributed to him; and he founded a monastery in Languedoc, long after known by the name of St. Giles. In the reign of James II. Mr. Preston of Gourton, a gentleman whose descendants still possess an estate in the county of Edinburgh, procured a supposed arm bone of this holy man, which relic he most piously bequeathed to the Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh. In gratitude for this invaluable donation, the magistrates of the city, in 1454, considering that the said bone was 'freely left to oure moyer kirk of Saint Gele of Edinburgh, withoutyn ony condition makyn,' granted a charter in favour of Mr. Preston's heirs, by which the nearest heir of the name of Preston was entitled to the honour of carrying it in all public processions. This honour the family of Preston continued to enjoy till the Reformation."-Picture of Edinburgh, p. 217.

* ROBERTSON's History of Scotland.

of Parliament, the Commission of the Church, and the English Commission. The Regent Murray and the Marquis of Montrose are interred near the centre of the south side of the church, and on the outside of its northern wall is the monument of Napier of Merchiston, the inventor of lagarithms.

The cathedral is now divided into three places of worship, viz. the High Church, the Tolbooth Church, and a Hall, originally intended for the meetings of the General Assembly, but which, after its completion, was found to be unfit for the purpose. In the High Church the Magistrates of the City, the Judges of the Court of Session, and the Barons of Exchequer, attend divine service in their official robes. The patronage of these, as well as of all the other city churches, is vested in the Magistrates and Town Council. The remains of John Knox, the austere Ecclesiastical Reformer, were deposited in the cemetery of St. Giles, which formerly occupied the ground where the buildings of the Parliament Square now stand.

With the exception of the spire, the whole of the external walls of the Cathedral have in recent years been renovated—a circumstance which has materially impaired the venerable aspect of the building.

In the centre of the Parliament Square, of which the Cathedral just described may be said to form the northern side, stands The Equestrian Statue of Charles II., which, in vigour of design and general effect, still maintains its rank as the best specimen of bronze statuary which Edinburgh possesses.

The Chambers of the Court of Exchequer, the Parliament House, and the Libraries of the Faculty of Advocates and of the Writers to the Signet, form the eastern, western, and southern sides of the Square.

THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE

is situated in the south-west angle. The large hall, now known by the name of the Outer-House, is the place in which the Scottish Parliament met before the Union. This hall is 122 feet long by 49 broad. Its roof is of oak, arched and handsomely finished. It contains two statues—one of Henry Dundas, the first Lord Melville, and the other of that eminent lawyer, Lord President Blair, who died in 1811. At the south end of the OuterHouse are four small chambers or Courts, in which the Lords Ordinary sit. Entering from the east side, are two larger Courts of modern and elegant structure, appropriated to the First and Second Divisions of the Court, before whom are tried those cases which are of unusual importance or difficulty, or where the judgment of a Lord Ordinary has been brought under review of the Court by a reclaimer or appeal. Adjoining to the Court-Rooms of the Divisions is another Court-Room of nearly similar appearance, in which sits the High Court of Justiciary, the supreme criminal tribunal of Scotland.

In session time, and during the hours of business, the Outer-House presents a very animated scene. As all the Courts open into it, it affords a very convenient promenade or lounging place for those counsel or agents whose cases are not then actually going on in Court. The well-employed advocates may be seen flitting from bar to bar, or Court to Court, while agents, whose causes have just been called, may be observed pressing through the crowd, with anxious face and hurried step, looking out for the counsel, whose absence from the debate might be fatal to their clients. Occasionally may be seen some unfortunate litigant, listening, with all reverence and humility, to an opinion on the merits of his case from one

of the fathers of the bar, his countenance unequivocally expressing the hopes or fears engendered by the communication. The less employed and unemployed counsel and agents, and a number of loungers who make this hall a place of resort, may be seen in groups conversing together, in every variety of tone and manner, from the gravity of consultation to the gaiety of uncontrolled merriment.

THE ADVOCATES' LIBRARY

adjoins the Parliament House, with which it has a communication. It contains the most valuable collection of books in Scotland, the printed works amounting to 150,000 volumes, and the manuscripts to 1700. The collection of Scottish poetry is exceedingly rare and curious. The volumes in this department amount to nearly 400, and the number is likely to be still further increased by the zeal and research of Dr. Irving, the present librarian, who devotes unremitting attention to augment its treasures. Of the manuscripts, the most valuable are those relating to the civil and ecclesiastical history of Scotland. The funds of the Library are chiefly derived from the fees paid by each advocate, upon his entering as a member of the Faculty. It is also one of the five libraries which receive from Stationers' Hall a copy of every new work published in Great Britain or Ireland. No public institution in Great Britain is conducted with greater liberality. Strangers are freely admitted without introduction; and no one who is at all known, is ever denied the privilege of resorting to, and of reading or writing in the Library. The members are entitled to borrow twenty-five volumes at one time, and to lend any of the books so borrowed to their friends. The literary wealth of the library is at present deposited

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