Tron Church.
sum had been paid but once in ten years, yet, if it
had been properly managed, the accumulated sum
behoved to have exceeded ~16,000 sterling."
The old spire had been partially built'of wood
covered with lead, according to a design frequently
repeated on public buildings then in Scotland. It
was copied from the Dutch ; but the examples of it
are rapidly disappearing. A bell, which cost 1,490
merks Scots, was hung in it in 1673, and continued
weekly to summon the parishioners to prayer and
-
EXPLANATION.
A The principal Entry.
B The mea 01 thrSyuare.
C The Piazza,
I3 The Coffee-room inthe west Coffec-hare.
d Rwnis aod Closets in diLlp.
a The Coffee-mm in the middk Ccffec
e Rmpis and Closets in ditm.
F The Coffee-room in the la t Coffeehoux.
f Raoms io ditto.
G The Great Sair leadiog to the Custon
H The P a q e Ieadioi 10 ditt-.
I 'An open for 1etriI.g in li6ht to the Houses
in the Writer's Court under the level of
the Square.
E The Passage belwecn the Square and
Wriicr's Court.
1. Seven Shops withiu the Square
m Four Shops behi d the raqe tvthe srect.
N Ten Shop an a line with the street.
0 An open of four feet for dcoopirg eaws
P Part ot the M'riter-5 Court.
g Area of ditto.
house. -
H0"W.
of the neighbouring houses
B
pounds yearly. It is an edifice of uninteresting
appearance and nondescript style, being neither
Gothic nor Palladian, but a grotesque mixture of
both. It received its name from its vicinity to the
Tron, or public beam for the weighing of merchandise,
which stood near it.
A very elegant stone spire, which was built in
1828, replaces that which perished in the great
conflaggation of four years before.
The Tron beam appears to have been used as
GENERAL PLAN OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. (Frmn an Engraviw in fhe "Scofs Mafizzine" fm 1754.)
sermon till the great fire of 1824, when it was
partly melted by heat, and fell with a mighty crash
through the blazing ruins of the steeple. Portions
of it were made into drinking quaighs and similar
memorials.
In 1678 the tower was completed by placing
therein the old clock which had formerly been in
the Weigh House.
Towards the building of this church the pious
Lady Yester gave 1,000 merks. In 1703 the
magistrates appointed two persons to preach alternately
in the Tron Church, to each of whom they
gave a salary of forty guineas, as the Council Re-,
gister shows ; but about 1788 they contented themselves
with one preacher, to whom they gave fifty
a pillory for the punishment of crime. In Niccol's
'' Diary" for 1649, it is stated that " much falset
and cheitting was daillie deteckit at this time by
the Lords of Sessioune; for the whilk there was
daillie nailing of lugs and binding of people to the
Trone, and boring of tongues; so that it was a
fatal year for false notaries and witnesses, as daillie
experience did witness."
On the night of Monday, the 15th of November,
1824, about ten o'clock, the cry of "Fire ! " was
heard in the High Street, and it spread throughout
the city from mouth to mouth ; vast crowds came
from all ,quarters rushing to the spot, and columns
of smoke and flame were seen issuing from the
second *floor of e house at the head of the old
