282 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [High Street.
style, with many ornate gables, dormer windows,
%ut was a second time stolen ; and in the strangulation
on the scaffold, and the being fouricl in a
ditch among water, the superstitious saw retributive
justice for the murder of which he was
assumed to be guilty. ? I t will be acknowledged,?
says the author of the ? Domestic Annals,?
?that in the circumstances related there is not a
particle of valid evidence against the young man.
The surgeons? opinion as to the fact of strangulation
is not entitled to much regard ; but, granting
its solidity, it does not prove the guilt of the ac-
.cused. The horror of the young man on seeing
his father?s blood might be referred to painful recol-
Jections of that profligate conduct which he knew
had distressed his parent, and brought his grey
hairs with sorrow to the grave-especially when we
reflect that Stanfield would himself be impressed
with the superstitious feelings of the age, and might
.accept the hzmorrhage as an accusation by heaven
on account of the concern his conduct had in
shortening the life of his father. The whole case
:seems to be a lively illustration of the effect of
superstitious feelings in blinding justice.?
We have thus traced the history of the High
Street and its closes down once more to the
Nether Bow.
In the World?s End Close Lady Lawrence was
a residenter in 1761, and Lady Huntingdon in 1784,
and for some years after the creation of the New
Town, people of position continued to linger in the
Old Town and in the Canongate. And from Peter
Williamson?s curious little ?? Directory ? for 1784,
we can glean a few names, thus :-
I Scottish gentleman, who, though he did not partici-
Lady Mary Carnegie, in Bailie Fyfe?s Close;
Lady Colstoun and the Hon. Alexander Gordon,
on the Castle Hill; General Douglas, in Baron
Maule?s Close; Lady Jean Gordon, in the Hammerman?s
Close; Sir James Wemyss, in Riddle?s
Close; Sir John Whiteford of that ilk, in the
Anchor Close ; Sir Jameg Campbell, in the Old
Bank Close; Erskine of Cardross, in the Horse
Wynd ; Lady Home, in Lady Stair?s Close.
In Monteith?s Close, in 1794, we find in the
? Scottish Hist. Register for 1795 recorded the
death of Mr. John Douglas, Albany herald, uncle
of Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, who was captain of
the Queen CharZoffe, of IIO guns, and who fought
her so valiantly in Lord Bridport?s battle on ? the
glonous 23rd of June, 1795.? The house occupied
?by Lady Rothiemay in Turk?s Close, below
Liberton?s Wynd, was advertised for sale in the
Couranf of 1761 ; and there lived, till his death in
1797, James Nelson, collector of the Ministers?
Widows? Fund.
In Morrison?s Close in 1783, we find one of the
most fashionable modisfes of Edinburgh announcing
in the Adverfiser of that year, that she is from ?one
of the most eminent houses in London,? and that
her work is finished in the newest fashions :-
? Chemize de Lorraine, Grecian Robes, Habit Bell,
Robe de Coure, and Levites, different kinds, all in
the most genteel and approved manner, and on the
most reasonable terms.?
In the same year, the signboard of James and
Francis Jeffrey, father and uncle of Lord Jeffrey,
still hung in the Lawnmarket.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
NEW STREETS WITHIN THE AREA OF THE FLODDEN WALL.
h r d ?Cockburn Street-Lord Cockburn-The Scotsmun NewspapeFCharles Maclaren and Alexander Russel-The Queen?s Edinburgh
Rifle Brigade-St. Giles Street-Sketch of the Rise d Journalism in Edinburgh-The EdinQxrgk Courunt-The Daily Rnrieur-Jelfrey
Street-New Trinity College Church
THE principal thoroughfare, which of late years has
been run through the dense masses of the ancient
alleys we have been describing, is Lord Cockburn
Street, which was formed in 1859, and strikes
northward from the north-west corner of Hunter?s
Square, to connect the centre of the 012 city with
-the railway terminus at Waverley Bridge ; it goes
curving down a comparatively steep series of slopes,
and is mainly edificed in the Scottish baronial
lofty tenements in many of the closes that descend
from the north side of the High Street, and was
very properly named after Lord Cockburn, one
entitled to special remembrance on many accounts,
and for the deep interest he took in all matters
connected with his birthplace. When he died,
in April, 1854, he was one of the best and kindliest
of the old school of ?Parliameht House Whigs,?
and was a thorough, honest, shrewd, and benevolent
and conical turrets, high over all of which towers
. the dark and mighty mass of the Royal Exchange.
This new street expdses aromantic section of the
pate to any extent in the literary labours of his
contemporaries, has left behind him an interesting
volume of ? Memorials.? Many can yet recall his
THE SCOTSMAN.
plain, old-fashioned, yet gentlemanly bearing, his
quiet gait, and shrewd features, when the clear
bright glance was never dimmed, though the shaggy
eyebrow grew snowier ; while in conversation he
furnished almost the last remnant of idiomatic
Scottish phrase and accent in its old courtly
gentility.
The most important edifice on the south side of
Cockburn Street is unquestionably, for many reasons,
the ofice of the Scotsman newspaper, No. 30
-the leading journal in Scotland, and of which it
may be truly said that there is no newspaper out
of London, and only one or two in it, which has
an influence so widely felt.
About 1860 the offices of the Scotsman were removed
from the High Street, where they had long
been situated, to the new buildings in Cockburn
Street, where no .expense had been spared to make
the establishment complete in all its appointments,
and the perfection of what a newspaper office should
be. The heading of the newspaper is carved in
stone along the front of the edifice.
The front block contains five floors. On the
street floor are the advertisement and publishing
offices, where orders for the paper are taken in and
the answers to numbered advertisements received.
This department is entirely managed by an ample
staff of fernale clerks. The manager's room and
counting room are on the first floor above. The
paper usually contains not less than from 700 to
3,600 advertisements daily, and in receiving and
entering these a large staff of clerks is engaged.
The editorial departments are on the next floor
above, and consist of a fine suite of eight rooms,
opening off a spacious corridor, and all are fitted
with speaking tubes and bells, communicating with
every department of the establishment. In each
room there is also a "copy" shoot of ingenious con
struction, which enables the printer's imp to be
dispensed with. " Copy" is simply dropped into
it, and, by pulling a cord, is drawn instantly to the
composing-room.
One of the rooms is set apad as a telegraph
office, the establishment being in direct communi.
cation with London by means of its own special
wires. The composing-room, 150 feet long by 30 in
breadth, is well-lighted and ventilated. Three
rooms for " readers " are screened off at one end,
and at the other are the lavatory, cloak,and smokingrooms,
for the use of the workmen, about a hundred
of whom are employed in the typographical department
alone. There is also a stereotype foundry j
and a library, composed of several thousand
volumes, free to all employed upon the premises.
Two spacious apartments that measure together
80 feet in length by 40 in breadth, and with ceilings
25 feet in height, are the machine rooms. In these
are three Walter presses, that print and fold from.
the web at the rate of 36,000 copies of a large eightpage
sheet per hour. As a provision against accidents,
there are two sets of engines and boilers.
There is also a small printing machine which is
used for printing the bill of contents. Over the
machine room is the despatching room, a spacious.
hall, the general fittings of which seem a compound
between a post-office and a railway ticket office.
Several rooms, in addition to these mentioned.
are connected with the machine department, and
on the east side of the Anchor Close is an extensive.
ink and paper store.
" In all the great towns in England correspon-.
dents are engaged," says David Bremner, in his.
" Industries of Scotland i' " and in London thereis
a staff of reporters and a sub-editor. Even in
New York the paper is represented, and special
telegrams from that city have appeared on several
occasions. The arrangements with the telegraph
companies for the supply of foreign news are most^
complete. With this vast organisation for collecting
news at command, the Scotsman daily presents.
not only a complete record of current events in
Scotland, but each copy may be said to be an
epitome of the world's history for a day." A special
express engine, hired by the proprietors at a cost
of &I,OOO a year, conveys the Scotsman parcels for
Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
At this time, including all departments, nearly
200 persons are employed on the premises; and:
if to these be added paid contributors and others,
the number of persons receiving remuneration
for their services will be swelled to fully 500,
who obtain among them &3,ooo a year. Of the
daily issue of the paper 330,000 copies are printed
every week, and of the weekly issue 60,000 copies,
which give a circulation of 3g0,ooo a week, or
20,280,000 a year. The annual production would,.
if spread out, cover about eleven square miles of
ground, and if the sheets were placed end' to end
they would form a ribbon about 18,000 miles long
and 4 feet broad.
According to a privately-printed memoir of Mr.
Charles Maclaren, who for thirty years (1817-47)
was editor of the Scotsman, it was in the year 1816
that the idea of starting an independent newspaper
in Edinburgh originated. The political influences
which overspread Scotland after the close of the
long war had permeated society, and the ruling
powers carried their repressive effects into every
sphere of action. Hence the local press was very
abject, without courage enough to expose any
