98 OLD AKD NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mound
and ten elders, of whom five shall retire ?by
rotation from year to year, two only of whom may
be re-elected, and reserving the rights competent
to all parties under the laws of the Church ; with
authority to undertake the general administration
of college property and finances, to give advice in
cases of difficulty ; to originate and prosecute before
the Church Court processes asainst any of the
professors for heresy or immorality, and to make
necessary inquiries for that purpose ; to originate
also, and prepare for the decision of the General
Assembly, proposals for the retirement of professors
disabled by age or infirmity, and for fixing the
retiring allowance they are to receive.? The
convener is named by the Assembly, and his committees
meet as often as may be necessary. They
submit to the Assembly an annual report of their
proceedings, with a summary of the attendance
during the session.
The election of professors is vested in the
General Assembly ; but they are inducted into their
respective offices by the Presbytery. There is a
Senatus Acadet?~icus, composed of the Principal and
professors.
The library of this college originated with Dr.
Welsh, who in 1843 brought the subject before the
Assembly. He obtained large and valuable
donations in money and books from friends and
from Scottish publishers in this country and
America. Among the benefactors were the Earl
of Dalhousie, Lords Effingham and Rutherford,
General McDowall of Stranraer, Buchan of Kelloe,
and others. The endowment now? amounts
to about A139 per annum. The library is extensive
and valuable, numbering about 35,000 volumes. It
is peculiarly rich in patristic theology, ecclesiastical
history, systematic theology, and works belonging
to the epoch of the Reformation.
The museum was begun by Dr. Fletning, but was
mainly indebted to the efforts of the late Mrs.
Macfie of Longhouse, who, at its commencement;
enriched it with a large number of valuable
specimens, and led many of her friends to take an
interest in its development. The geological
department, which is on the same floor with the
class-room, contains a large number of fossils, many
of which are very curious. In the upper museum
is the varied and valuable collection of minerals,
given by the late Dr. Johnston of Durham. In the
same room are numerous specimens of comparative
anatomy, The herbarium is chiefly composed of
British plants.
The endowment fund now amounts to above
&+4,ooo, exclusive of LIO,OOO bequeathed for the
endowment of a chair for natural science.
The whole scheme of scholarships in the Free
Church College originated with Mr. James Hog
of Newliston, who, in 1845, by personal exertions,
raised about A700 for this object, and continued to
do so for eight years subsequently. Legacies and
donations at length accumulated such a fund as to
render subscriptions no longer necessary.
A dining hall, wherein the professors preside by
turn, is attached to the New College, to which all
matriculated students, i.e., those paying the common
fee, or securing as foreigners a free ticket,
are entitled to dine on payment of a moderate
sum.
The common hall of the college is converted
into a reading-room during the session. All
students may become members on the payment of
a trifling fee, and the arrangements are conducted
by a committee of themselves. Since 1867 a large
mnasium has been fitted up for the use of the
students, under the management of eight of their
number, the almost nominal subscription of sixpence
from each being found sufficient to defray
the current expenses.
Westward of the Earthen Mound, the once fetid
morass that formed the bed of the loch, and
which had been styled ?a pest-bed for all the
city,? is now a beautiful garden, so formed
under the powers of a special statute in 1816-20,
by which the ground there belonging originally to
the citizens became the private property of a few
proprietors of keys-the improvements being in
the first instance urged by Skene, the friend of
Sir Walter Scott
In his ?Journal,? under date of January, 1826, Sir
Walter says :-? Wrote till twelve a.ni., finishing half
of what I call a good day?s work, ten pages of print,
or rather twelve. Then walked in the Princes
Street pleasure grounds with the Good Samaritan
James Skene, the only one among my numerous
friends who can properly be termed amicus curarum .
mearem, others being too busy or too gay. The.
walks have been conducted on the whole with
much taste, though Skene has undergone much?
criticism, the usual reward of public exertions,
on account of his plans. It is singular to walk
close beneath the grim old castle and think what
scenes it must have seen, and how many generations
of threescore and ten have risen and passed
away. It is a place to cure one of too much
sensation over eanhly subjects of imitation.?
He refers here to James Skene of Rubislaw, a
cornet of the Light Horse Volunteers, the corps of
which he himself was quartermaster, and to whom
he dedicated the fourth canto of ? Marmion,? and
refers thus :-
