,338 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [North Bridge.
less than eight feet of this loose earth between his
shovels and the natural solid clay, Another error
seems to ha\-e been committed in not raising the
piers to a sufficient height ; and to remedy this he
raised about? eight feet of earth upon the vaults
and arches at the south end, causing thereby a
regular, but still unsightly slope.
The result of all this was that on the 3rd of
August, 1769, this portion gave way, by the mass
of earth having been swollen by recent rains.
The abutments burst, the vaults yielded to the
pressure, and five persons were buried in the ruins,
out of which they were dug at different times.
This event caused the greatest excitement in the
city, and had it happened half an hour sooner
might have proved very calamitous, as a vast
,multitude of persons of every religious denomination
was assembled in Orphan Hospital Park,
northward of the Trinity College church, to hear a
sermon preached by Mr. Townsend, an Episcopal
clergyman ; and after it was over some would have
had to cross the bridge, and others pass beneath
it, to their homes. Three or four scattered houses
were already erected in the New Town j but after
this event it was some time before people took
courage to erect more.
The bridge was repaired by pulling down the
side walls, rebuilding them with chain bars, removing
the vast masses of earth, and supplying its
place with hollow arches, and by raising the walls
that crossed the bridge, so that the vaults which
sprang from them might bring the road to a proper
elevation. Strong buttresses and counterforts were
added to the south end, and on these are erected
the present North Bridge Street. At the north
end there is only one counterfort on the east side;
but ere all this was done. there had been a plea
in law between the contracting parties before the
Court of Session, and an appeal to the House of
Lords, in both of which Mr. Mylne was unfortunate.
The expense of completion amounted to
&17,354. The height?of the great arches from the
top of the parapet to the base is 68 feet.
The bridge was first passable in 1772 ; but the
balustrades being open, a complaint was made
publicly in 1783 that ?passengers continue to be
blown from the pavement into the mud in the
middle of the bridge.? Those at the south end
were closed in 1782, thus screening the eyes ?! of
passengers from the blood and slaughter,? in the
markets below, according to the appendix to
Amot?s ?? History;? and regarding the tempests of
wind, to which Edinburgh is so subject, elsewhere
he tells us that in 1778 ?? the Leith Guard, consisting-
of a sergeant and twelve, men of the 70th
Regiment, were all there blown of the Castle Hilland
some of them sorely hurt.?
In 1774 the magistrates proclaimed that all
beggars found in the streets would be imprisoned
in the dark vaults beneath the North Bridge, and
there fed on bread and water.
From the then new buildings erected on the southwest
end of the bridge, a flight of steps upward
gives access to Mylne?s Court; and two flights
downward lead to the old market at the foot of the
Fleshmarket Close. 1
In Edgais plan, 1765, the Upper and Lower
Fleshmarkets are both shown as being in this.
quarter, and also that the bridge had run through a,
great portion of the ancient Greenmarket. Kincaid
$bus describes them in his time (1794) as.
consisting of three divisions forming oblong
squares. ? The uppermost is allotted for the veal
market, and as yet only finished on the north side;
the middlemost is occupied by the incorporation of
fleshers, and is neatly fitted up and arched all
round, and .each division numbered; the other,.
called the Low Market, is likewise arched round,
but not numbered, and allotted for those that are.
not of the incorporation. Few cities in Britain are.
better supplied with butcher meat of all kinds than.
this city, an instance of which, occurred in 1781.
Admiral Parker, with a fleet of 15 sail of the line,
g frigates, and 600 merchantmen, lay nearly two.
months in Leith Roads, and was supplied with every
kind of provisions, and the markets were not raised,
one farthing, although there could not be less than
zo,ooo men for nearly seven weeks. Merchants from;
different parts of Britain who, either from motives
of humanity, or esteeming it a profitable adventure,
had sent four transports with fresh provisions to,
the fleet, had them returned without breaking bulk.?
The market is now much more complete and.
perfect than in the days referred to, and smaller
town markets than the central suite are open in
other quarters. .
In the block of buildings next the north market
stair the General Post Office for Scotland was.
established, after its removal from Lord Covington?s
house; after which, in 1821, it was transferred
to a new edifice on the Regent Bridge, at which,
period, we are told, the despatch of the mails was
Zonducted in an apartment about thirty feet square,
ind purposely kept as dark as possible, in order to
Jerive the full advantage of artificial light employed
in the process of examining letters, to see
whether they contained enclosures or not. At this
time James Earl of Caithness was Deputy Postnaster-
General for Scotland.
The same edifice was latterly, and until their.
