"Traced like a map the landscape lies
In cultured beauty stretching wide;
There Pentland's green acclivities;

There Ocean, with its azure tide;
There Arthur's Seat; and, gleaming through
Thy southern wing, Dunedin blue !
While in the orient, Lammer's daughters,
A distant giant range, are seen,

North Berwick-Law, with cone of green,

And Bass amid the waters."*

To most of the great cities in the kingdom the approaches lie through mean and squalid suburbs, by which the stranger is gradually introduced to the more striking streets and public edifices. The avenues to Edinburgh, on the contrary, are lined with streets of a highly respectable class, the abodes of poverty being, for the most part, confined to those gigantic piles of building in the older parts of the city, where they so essentially contribute to the picturesque grandeur of the place.

The general architecture of the city is very imposing, whether we regard the picturesque disorder of the buildings in the Old Town, or the symmetrical proportions of the streets and squares in the New. Of the public edifices it may be observed, that while the greater number are distinguished by chaste design and excellent masonry, there are none of those sumptuous structures, which, like St. Paul's or Westminster Abbey, York Minster, and some other of the English Provincial Cathedrals, astonish the beholder alike by their magnitude and their architectural splendour. But in no city of the kingdom is the general standard of excellence so well maintained. If there be no edifice to overwhelm the imagination by its magnificence, there are comparatively few to offend taste by their deformity or meanness of design. Above all, Edinburgh is wholly exempt from such examples of ostentatious deformity as, in London, may be seen to mingle with some of the most graceful specimens of domestic architecture in the Regent Park.

The resemblance between Athens and Edinburgh, which

* Delta.

has been remarked by most travellers who have visited both capitals, has conferred upon the Scottish Metropolis the title of "The Modern Athens." Stuart, author of "The Antiquities of Athens," was the first to draw attention to this resemblance, and his opinion has been confirmed by the testimony of many later writers. Dr. Clarke remarks, that the neighbourhood of Athens is just the Highlands of Scotland enriched with the splendid remains of art; and Mr. W. H. Williams observes, that the distant view of Athens from the Egean Sea, is extremely like that of Edinburgh from the Firth of Forth, "though certainly the latter is considerably superior."*

Nor are the natural or artificial beauties of the place its only attractions, for many of its localities teem with the recollections of " the majestic past," and are associated with events of deep historical importance. Other of its localities have been invested with an interest no less engrossing by the transcendent genius of Sir Walter Scott, whose novels have not only refreshed and embellished the incidents of history, but have conferred on many a spot, formerly unknown to fame, a reputation as enduring as the annals of history itself.

In literary eminence, also, Edinburgh claims a distinguished place. At the commencement of the present century, its University displayed an array of contemporaneous talent unequalled by any similar institution either before or since,† and many of the present professors honourably maintain its scientific and literary reputation.

The population of Edinburgh and Leith, at the Union in 1707, was estimated at 35,000, in 1755 at 57,195, and in 1775 at 70,430. The population of the city and suburbs,

* In one of those altercations with which Lords Brougham and Camphell occasionally enliven the discussions in the Upper House of Parliament, it was stated by the former that the epithet "Modern Athens" was resented by the inhabitants of Edinburgh, as a mockery or an insult. So far as our own experience goes, we have never heard of any of our townsmen quarrelling with the epithet.

We have only to remind our readers of the nam es of Robertson, Playfair, Black, Cullen, Robison, Blair, Dugald Stewart, Gregory, and Monro, to vindicate what might otherwise appear a sweeping assertion.

exclusive of Leith, according to the decennial census since 1801, has been,-in 1801, 66,544; in 1811, 81,784 ; in 1821, 112,235; in 1831, 136,301; and in 1841, 138,182.

POPULATION RETURNS OF 1841 FOR EDINBURGH AND ITS SUBURBS.

Distinguishing males from females, the above table shows an excess of the latter amounting to 15,556. Probably no great city in the kingdom exhibits such a numerical disproportion in the sexes. This circumstance is

mainly to be attributed to the stationary or retrograde state of industrial occupation in the town, the young men being obliged to seek for employment in other fields of enterprise, while the females, less adventurous, and less able to indulge the spirit of adventure where it exists, are compelled to remain" cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd," in their native town. The numerical preponderance of the gentler sex may further be accounted for by the fact that an unusually large proportion of the inhabitants of Edinburgh are in circumstances enabling them to employ one or more domestic servants.

A comparison of the population returns of Edinburgh, with those of five other of the large towns of the kingdom, will enable the reader to form some idea of the proportions which the professional and other liberally educated classes bear to the other orders of society. The returns for 1831 admitting of a more accurate classification than those of 1841, we adopt the former as being more convenient for our present purpose.

B