THE BANK OF SCOTLAND. 93 The Mound. J
whereof are to be applied for ever for the support of
decayed and superannuated artists.? This property
consisted mainly of ancient houses, situated in the
old town, the free proceeds ofwhich were only~220.
It was sold, and the whole value of it, amounting
to Lt;5,420 IOS., invested in Bank of Scotland and
Eritish Linen Company Stock, and has been s6
carefully husbanded that the directors now possess
stock to the value of more than A6,618. ?It was
originally given in annuities varying from A;5o to
LIOO a year; but the directors some years ago
thought it advisable to restrict the amount of these,
so as to extend the benefit of the fund over a
larger number of annuitants, and they now do
not give annuities to a Iarger amount than if35,
and they require that the applications for these
shall in all cases be accompanied by a recommendation
from two members of the Royal Scottish
Academy who know the circumstances of the
applicant?
CHAPTER XIV.
THE HEAD OF THE EARTHEN MOUND.
The Bank of Scotland-Its Charter-Rivalry of the Royal Bank Notes for 65 and for 5s.-The New Bank of Scotland-Its Present Aspect-
The Projects of Mr. Trotter and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder-The National Security Savings Bank of Edinburgh-The Free Church
College and Assembly Hall-Their Foundation-Constitution-Library-Museum-Bu~~-Missiona~ and Theological Societies-The
Dining Hall, &.-The West Princes Street Gardens-The Proposed Canal and Seaport-The East Princes Street Gardens--Railway
TerminusWaverley Bridge and Market.
?HOW well the ridge of the old town was set off
by a bank of elms that ran along the front of
Tames?s Court, and stretched eastward over the
ground now partly occupied by the Bank of Scot-
Idnd,? says Cockburn, in his ?Memorials;? but
looking at the locdity now, it is difficult to realise
the idea that such a thing had been; yet Edgar
shows us a pathway running along the slope, between
the foot of the closes and a row of gardens
that bordered the loch.
Bank Street, which was formed in- 1798 a few
yards westward of Dunbar?s Close, occasioning in
its formation the destruction of some buildings of
great antiquity, looks at first sight like a broad
czdde-m blocked up by the front of the Bank of
Scotland, but in reality forms the carriage- way
downward from the head of the Mound to Princes
Street.
While as yet the bank was in the old narrow
alley that so long bore its name, we read in the
2Tddnburgh HeraZd ann! ChronicZe of March, 1800,
?(that the directors of the Bank of Scotland have
purchased from the city an area at the south end
of the Earthen Mound, on which they intend to
erect an elegant building, with commodious apartments
for carrying on their business.?
Elsewhere we have briefly referred to the early
progress of this bank, the oldest of the then old
?chartered banks? which was projected by John
Holland, a retired London merchant, according to
the scheme devised by William Paterson, a native
of Dumfries, who founded the Bank of England.
The Act of the Scottish Parliament for starting
the Bank of Scotland, July, 1695, recites, by way of
exordium, that ?? our sovereign lord, considering
how useful a public bank may be in this kingdom,
according to the custom of other kingdoms and
states, and that the same can only be best set up
and managed by persons in company with a
joint stock, sufficiently endowed with those powers,
authorities, and liberties necessary and usual in
such cases, hath therefore allowed, with the advice
and consent of the Estates of Parliament, a joint
stock of LI,ZOO,OOO money (Scots) to be raised
by the company hereby established for the carrying
on and managing a public bank.?
After an enumeration of the names of those who
were chosen to form the nucleus of the company,
including those of five Edinburgh merchants, the
charter proceeds to state that they have full powers
to receive in a book the subscriptions of either
native Scots or foreigners, ? who shall be willing to
subscribe and pay into the said joint stock, which
subscriptions the aforesaid persons, or their
quorum, are hereby authorised to receive in the
foresaid book, which shall lie open every Tuesday
or Friday, from nine to twelve in the forenoon, and
from three to six in the afternoon, between the
first day of November next and the first day of
January next following, in the public hall or
chamber appointed in the city of Edinburgh ; and
therein all persons shall have liberty to subscribe
for such sums of money as they shall think fit to
adventure in the said joint stock, AI,OOO Scots
being lowest sun1 and ~ 2 0 , 0 0 0 Scots the highest,
and the two-third parts of the said stocks belonging
always to persons residing in Scotland. Likewise,
each and every person, at the time of his subscribing,
shall pay into the hands of the forenamed
persons, or any three of them, ten of the hundred
