290 OLD -4ND NEW EDINBURGH. urffrey Street
of The Friend of India, and author of the ?Life
of Dr. IVilson of Bombay.? The paper has ever
been an advanced Liberal one in politics, and
considerably ahead of the old Whig school.
Jeffrey Street, so named from the famous literary
critic, is one of those thoroughfares formed under
the City Improvement -4ct of 1867. It commences
at the head of Leith Wynd, and?occasioned
there the demolition of many buildings of remote
antiquity. From thence it curves north-westward,
behind the Ashley Buildings, and is carried on a
viaduct of ten massive arches. Proceeding westward
through Milne?s Court, and cutting off the
lower end of many quaint, ancient, narrow, and it
must be admitted latterly somewhat inodorous
alleys, it goes into line with an old edificed thoroughfare
at the back of the Flesh Market, under the
southern arch of the open part of the North Bridge,
and is built chiefly in the old Scottish domestic
style of architecture, so suited to its peculiar locality.
In this street stands the Trinity College Established
Church, re-erected from the stones of the
original church, to which we shall refer elsewhere.
When the North British Railway Company required
its site, it was felt by all interested in
archzology and art that the destruction of an edifice
so important and unique would be a serious
loss to the city, and, inspired by this sentiment,
the most strenuous efforts were made by the
Lord Provost, Adam Black, and others, to make
some kind of restoration of th; church of Mary
of Gueldres a condition of the company obtaining
possession ; and their efforts were believed to
have been successful when a clause was inserted
in the Company?s Act binding them, before acquiring
Trinity College church, to erect another,
after the same style and model, on a site to be
approved by the sheriff, in or near the parish and
about a dozen of these were suggested, among
others the rocky knoll adjoining the Calton stairs.
The company finding the delay imposed by this
clause extremely prejudicial to their interests,
sought to have it amended, and succeeded in
having ?the obligation to erect such a church
raised from them, on the payment of such a sum
as should be found on inquiry, under the authority
of the sheriff, to be sufficient for the site and restoration.
About E18,ooo was accordingly paid
to the Town Council in 1848; the church was
removed, and its stones carefully numbered, and
set aside.?
Questions of site, of the sitters, and the sum to
be actually expended, were long discussed by the
Council and in the press-some members of the
former, with a sentiment of injustice,.wishing to
abolish the congregation altogether, and give the
money to the city. After much litigation, extending
ultimately over a period of nearly thirty years,
the Court of Session in full bench decided that
all the money and the interest accruing therefrom
should be expended on +e church.
This judgment. was reversed, on appeal, by
Lord Chancellor Westbury, who decided that only
;G7,000 ?without interest should be given to buy
a site and build a church contiguous to Trinity
Hospital, in which the rest of the money should
vest.? The Town Council of those days seemed
ever intent on crushing this individual parish
church, and, as one of the congregation wrote in an
address in January, 1873, ?to these it seemed as
strange as sad, that while all over this island, corporations
and individuals were spending very large
sums in the restoration or preservation of the best
specimens of the art and devotion of their forefathers,
a city so beholden as Edinburgh to the
beautiful and picturesque in situation and buildings,
should not only permit the disappearance of
an edifice of which almost any other city would
have been proud, but when the means and the
obligation to preserve it had been secured, with
much labour by others, should, with almost as
much pains, seek to render nugatory alike the
efforts of these and the certain pious regrets of
posterity.? In 1871 the churchless parish, in
respect of population, held the fourth place in old
Edinburgh (2,882) exceeding the Tolbooth, Tron,
and other congregations.
The church, rebuilt from the stones of the
ancient edifice of 1462, stands on the south side
of Jeffrey Street, at the corner of Chalmers? Close.
It was erected in 1871-2, from drawings prepared
by Mr. Lessels, architect, and is an oblong structure,
with details in the Norman Gothic style, with
a tower and spire 115 feet in height. It is almost
entirely constructed from the ?? carefully numbered
stones ? of the ancient church, nearly every pillar,
niche, capital, and arch, being in its old place, and,
taken in this sense, the edifice is a very unique one.
Opened for divine service in October, 1877, it is
seated for 900, and has the ancient baptismal font
that stood in the vestry of the church of Mary of
Gueldres placed in the lobby. The old apse has
been restored in toto, and forms the most interesting
portion of the new building. The ancient
baptismal and communion plate of the church are
very valuable, and the latter is depicted in Sir
George Harvey?s well-kncwn picture of the ? Covenanter?s
Baptism,? and, like the communion-table,
date from shortly after the Reformation, and have
been the gifts of various pious individuals.
Victoria Street.] THE MECHANICS? LIBRARY. 291
CHAPTER XXXV.
SOME OF THE NEW STREETS WITHIN THE AREA OF THE FLODDEN WALL (concZuded).
Victoria Street and Ter-The India Buildings-Mechanics? Subscription Library-George IV. BridgeSt. Augustine?s Church-Martyrs?
Church-Chamber of the Hiehland and Amicultural Societv--SherifP Court Buildings and Solicitors? Hall-Johnstone Terrace-St. John?s -
Free Church-The Church of Scotland Training College.
VICTORIA STREET, which opens from the west side
of George IV. Bridge, and was formed as the result
of the same improvement Scheme by which
that stately bridge itself was erected, from the
north end of the Highland and Agricultural Society?s
Chambers curves downward to the northeast
corner of the Grassmarket, embracing in that
curve the last remains of the ancient West Bow.
Some portions of its architecture are remarkably
ornate, especially the upper portion of its south
side, where stands the massive pile, covered in
many parts with rich carving, named the India
Buildings, in the old Scottish baronial style, of
unique construction, consisting of numerous offices,
entered from a series of circular galleries, and
erected in 1867-8, containing the Scottish Chamber
of Agriculture, which was instituted in November,
1864. Its objects are to watch over the interests
of practical agriculture, to promote the advancement
of that science by the discussion of all subjects
relating to it, and to consider questions that
may be introduced into Parliament connected with
it. The business of the Chamber is managed by
a president, vice-president, and twenty directors,
twelve of whom are tenant farmers. It holds fixed
meetings at Perth in autumn, and at Edinburgh
in November, annually; and all meetings are open
to the press.
In the centre of the southern part of the street
is St. John?s Established church, built in 1838, in
a mixed style of architecture, with a Saxon doorway.
It is faced on the north side by a handsome
terrace, portions of which rise from an open arcade,
and include a Primitive Methodist church, or
Ebenezer chapel, and an Original Secession
church. Victoria Terrace is crossed at its western
end bya flight of steps, which seem to continue
the old line of access afforded by the Upper West
Bow.
No. 5 Victoria Terrace gives access to one of
the most valuable institutions in the city-the
Edinburgh Mechanics? Subscription Library. It
was established in 1825, when its first president
was Mr. Robert Hay, a printer, and Mr. John
Dunn, afterwards a well-known optician, was vicepresident,
and it has now had a prosperous career
of more than half a century.
The library is divided into thirteen sections :-
I, Arts and Sciences ; 2, Geography and Statistics ;
3, History; 4, Voyages, Travels, and Personal
Adventures ; 5, Biography ; 6, Theology ; 7, Law ;
8, Essays; 9, Poetry and the Drama; 10, Novels
and Romances ; I I, Miscellaneous ; I 2, Pamphlets ;
13, Periodicals. Each of these sections has a particular
classification, and they are all constantly
receiving additions, so as to CaNy out the original
object of the institution-? To procure an extensive
collection of books on the general literature
of the country, including the most popular works
on science.?
Thus every department of British literature is
amply represented on its shelves, and at a charge
so moderate as to be within the reach of all classes
of the community: the entry-money being only
2s. 6d., and the quarterly payments IS. 6d.
The management of this library has always been
vested in its own members, and few societies adhere
so rigidly to their original design as the
Mechanics? Library has done. It has, from the
first, adapted itself to the pecuniary circumstances
of the working man, and from the commencement
it has been a self-supporting institution ; though
in its infancy its prosperity was greatly accelerated,
as its records attest, by liberal donations of works
in almost every class of literature. Among the
earliest contributors in this generous spirit, besides
many of its own members, were Sir James Hall,
Bart., of Dunglas, so eminent for his attainments
in geological and chemical science; his son,
Captain Basil Hall, R.N., the well-known author ;
Mr. Leonard Horner ; and the leading publishers
of the day-Messrs. Archibald Constable, William
Blackwood, Adam Black, Waugh and Innes, with
John Murray of London. Some of them were
munificent in their gifts, ? besides granting credit
to any amount required-an accommodation of
vital service to an infant institution.?
The property of the library is vested in trustees,
who consist of two individuals chosen by vote
every fifth year, in addition to ?the Convener of
the Trades of the City of Edinburgh, the principal.
librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, and the
principal librarian to the Society of Writers to Her
Majesty?s Signet, for the time being.?
The right of reading descends to the heirs
