The Mound.] A PROPOSED HARBOUR. no
?And such a lot, my Skene, was thine,
When thou of late wert doomed to twine- - Just when thy bridal hour was by-
The cypress with the myrtle tie.
Just on thy bride her sire had smiled,
And blessed the union of his child,
When love must change its joyous cheer,
And wipe affection?s filial tear.?
In the subsequent March Scott had left his
beloved house in Castle Street for ever.
Among the memorials of the Pictish race, illustrated
so ably in Dr. Stuarfs ? Sculptured Stones
of Scotland,? is one with the peculiar emblems of
the crescent and sceptre, which was found under
the Castle rock and near the west churchyard.
The line of railway which intersects the garden,
and passes by a tunnel under the new portion of
St. Cuthbert?s churchyard, fails to mar its beauty,
as it is almost entirely hidden by trees and
shrubbery, especially about the base of the rock,
from which the castle ?looks down upon the
city as if out of another world: stem with all its
peacefulness, its garniture of trees, its slopes of
grass. The rock is dingy enough in colour,
but after a shower its lichens laugh our greenly
in the returning sun, while the rainbow is brightening
on the lowering sky beyond. How deep
the shadow which the castle throws at noon
on the gardens at its feet, where the children
play! How grand when giant bulk and towery
crown blacken against the sunset !
In the extreme western portion of the gardens
lie some great fragments of masonry, which have
fallen down in past sieges from some of the older
walls in the vicinity of the sallyport, while thefoundations
of these are to be traced from point to point,
some feet on the outside of the present fortifications,
and lower down the rock.
In the western hollow is an ornamental fountain
of considerable beauty, and formed of iron, named
after its donor, Mr. Ross, who spent A3;ooo on
its erection. In 1876 the gardens were acquired
by the citizens, and were thea much improved
They are used in summer for musicaI promenades,
and in contour and embellishment, though
much more extensive, have a certain resemblance
to the gardens on the east side of the Earthen
Mound.
For long years after the loch had passed away
the latter was but a reedy, marshy hollow, intersected
by what was called the Little Mound, that
led from near South St. Andrew Street to the foot
of Mary King?s Close. The ground was partially
drained when the North Bridge was built, but
more effectually about 1821, when it was let as a
nursery.
.When the Union canal was projected, towards
the close of the last century, the plans for it, not
unlike those of the Earl of Mar in 1728, included
the continuation of it through the bed of the North
Loch, past where a street was built, and actually
called Canal Street. ?From thence it was proposed
to conduct it to Greenside, in the area of
which was an immense harbour ; and this, again,.
being connected by a broad canal with the sea, it
was expected that by such means the New Town
would be converted into a seaport, and the
unhappy traders of Leith compelled either to
abandon their traffic or remove within the precincts
of their jealous rivals. Chimerical as this project
may now appear, designs were furnished by experienced
engineers, a map of the whole plan was
engraved on a large scale, and no doubt our civic
reformers rejoiced in the anticipation of surmounting
the disadvantages of an inland position, and
seeing the shipping of the chief ports of Europe
crowding into the heart of their new capital ! ?
The operations for forming the canal were
delayed in 1776 by a dispute between the magistrates
and the feuars of the extended royalty
relative to Canal Street, that ended in the Court
of Session, which sustained ? the defences pled by
the magistrates of Edinburgh, and assoilie from the
conclusion of the declarator j but with respect to
the challenge brought with regard to particular
houses being built contrary to the Act of Parliament,
1698, remit to the Lord Ordinary to hear
parties to do as he shall see cause.? The Lord
President, the Lord Justice Clerk, and Lord
Covington, were of a different opinion from the
rest of the court, and condemned the conduct of
the magistrates in very severe terms.
The Act of 1698, referred to, was one restricting
the height of houses within the city, and to
the effect that none should be above five storeys,
with a front wall of three feet in thickness at the
base. In March, 1776, the dispute was adjusted,
and a print of the time tells us that the public
?? will now be gratified with a pleasure-ground upon
the south side of Princes Street, to a considerable
extent ; and the loch will in time be formed into a
canal, which will not only be ornamental, but of
great benefit to the citizens?
This Utopian affair was actually commenced, for
in the Edinburgh We&y Magazine of the 28th
March, 1776, we are told that on the 25th instant
twenty labourers ? began to work at the banks of
the intended canal between the old and new town
but how far the work proceeded we hake no means
of knowing.
The site of the projected canal is now occupied
