I10 OLD -AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Calton Hill.
It was finished in 1832, and is a beautiful restoration,
with some variations, of the choragic monument
of Lysicrates, from a design by W. H. Playf5r.
The chaste Greek monument of Professor
Flayfair, at the south-east angle of the new
observatory serves also to enhance the classic
aspect of the hill, and was designed by his nephew.
This memorial to the great mathematician and
eminent natural philosopher is inscribed thus, in
large Roman characters :-
JOANNI PLAYFAIR
AMICORUM PIETAS
CESIDERIIS ICTA FIDELIBUS
QUO IPSE LOCO TEMPLUM X?RANAE SUAE
OLIM DICAVERIT
POSUIT.
NAT. VI. IDUS. MART. MDCCXLVIII.
OBIIT. XIV. KAL SEXTIL. MDCCCXIX.
Passing the eastern gate of the new prison, and
Jacob?s Ladder, a footway which, in two mutually
diverging lines, each by a series of steep traverses
and flights of steps, descends the sloping face of the
hill, to the north back of the Canongate, we find
Bums?s monument, perched over the line of the
tunnel, built in 1830, after a design by Thomas
Hamilton, in the style of a Greek peripteral temple,
its cupola being a literal copy from the monument
of Lysicrates at Athens. The original object of
this edifice was to serve as a shrine for Flaxman?s
beautiful statue of Bums, now removed to the
National Gallery, but replaced by an excellent
bust of the poet, by William Brodie, R.S.A., one
of the best of Scottish sculptors. This round
temple contains many interesting relics of Burns.
The entire length of the upper portion of the
hill is now enclosed by a stately terrace, more than
1,000 yards in length, with Grecian pillared doorwzrys,-
continuous iron balconies, and massive
cornices, commanding much of the magnificent
panorama seen from the higher elevations ; but,
by far the most important, interesting, and beautiful
edifice on this remarkable hill is the new High
School of Edinburgh, on its southern slope, adjoinimg
the Regent Terrace.
The new High School is unquestionably one
af the most chaste and classical edifices in Edinh
g h . It is a reproduction of the purest Greek,
and in every way quite worthy of its magnificent
site, which commands one of the richest of town
and country landscapes in the city and its
environs, and is in itself one of the most
striking features of the beautiful scenery with
which it is grouped.
When the necessity for having a new High
School in place of the old, within the city wall-the
old which had so many striking memories and
traditions (and to which we shall refer elsewhere)-
came to pass, several situations were suggested as a
site for it, such as the ground opposite to Princes
Street, and the then Excise Office (now the Royal
Bank), in St. Andrew Square; but eventually the
magistrates fixed on the green slope of the Calton
Hill, to the eastward of the Miller?s Knowe. In
digging the foundations copper ore in some quantities
was dug out, together with some fragments of
native copper.
The ceremony of laying the foundation stone
took place amid great pomp and display on the
28th of July, 1825. All the public bodies in the
city were present, with the then schola from the
Old School, the senators, academicians, clergy,
rector, and masters, and, at the request of Lord
Provost Henderson, the Rev. Dr. Brunton implored
the Divine blessing on the undertaking.
The stone was laid by Viscount Glenorchy,
Grand Master of Scotland, and the building was
proceeded with rapidly. It is of pure white stone,
designed by Thomas Hamilton, and has a front of
400 feet, including the temples, or wings, which
contain the writing and mathematical class-rooms.
The central portico is a hexastyle, and, having a
double range of twelve columns, projects considerably
in front of the general fa@e. The whole
edifice is of the purest Grecian Doric, and, even to its
most minute details, is a copy of the celebrated
Athenian Temple of Theseus. A spacious flight of
steps leading up to it from the closing wall in front,
and a fine playground behind, is overlooked by the
entrances to the various class-rooms. The interior
is distributed into a large hall, seventy-three feet by
forty-three feet ; a rector?s classroom, thirty-eight
feet by thirty-four feet ; four class-rooms for masters,
each thirty-eight feet by twenty-eight feet; a library ;
and two small rooms attached to each of the classrooms.
On the margin of the roadway, on a lower
site than the main building, are two handsome
lodges, each two storeys in height, oiie occupied by
the janitor, and the other containing class-rooms.
The area of the school and playground is two acres,
and is formed by cutting deep into the face of the
hill. The building cost when finished, according
to the City Chamberlain?s books, L34,rgg I IS. 6d.
There are a rector, and ten teachers of classics
and languages, in addition to seven lecturers on
science.
The school, the most important in Scotland,
and intimately connected with the literature and
progress of the kingdom, although at first only
a classical seminary, now furnishes systematic
Calton Hill.] THE HIGH SCHOOL. IT1
ture, including reading, orthography, recitation,
grammar, and composition, together with British
history, forms the prominent parts of the system ;
while the entire curriculum of study-which occupies
six years-embraces the Latin, Greek, French,
and German languages, history, geography, physiology,
chemistry, natural philosophy, zoology,
botany, algebra, geometry, drawing, fencing,
gymnastics, and military drill. In the library are
same form, each possessing no advantage over his
schoolfellow. ?? Edinburgh has reason to be proud
of this noble institution,? said Lord Provost
Black at the examination in 1845, ?as one which
has conferred a lustre upon our city, and which has
given a tone to the manners and intellect of its
Whether they remain in Edinburgh
or betake themselves to other lands, and whatever
be the walk of life in which they are led, I believe
I inhabitants.
all4ikelihood never will be.
In the long roll of its scholars are the names
of the most distinguished men of all professions,
and in every branch of science and literature,
many of whom have helped to form and consolidate
British India. It also includes three natives
of Edinburgh, High School callants,? who have
been Lord Chancellors of Great Britain-Wedderburn,
Erskine, and Brougham.
The annual examinations always take place in
presence of the Lord Provost and magistrates, a
number of the city clergy and gentlemen connected
with the other numerous educational establishments
in the city. There is also a large concourse of the
parents and friends of the pupils. The citizens have
ever rejoiced in this ancient school, and are justly
proud of it, not only for the prominent position it
occupies, but from the peculiarity of its constitumanity.
Dr. Carson held the office till October,
1845, when feeble health compelled him to resign,
and he was succeeded by Dr. Leonhard
Schmitz (as twenty-sixth Rector, from D. Vocat,
Rector in 151g), the first foreigner who ever held L
classical mastership in the High School. He was a
graduate of the University of Bonn, and a native
of Eupen, in Rhenish Prussia. He was the author
of a continuation of Niebuhr?s ?History of
Rome,? in three volumes, and many other works,
and in 1844 obtained from his native monarch
the gold medal for literature, awarded ?as a mark
of his Majesty?s sense of the honour thereby conferred
on the memory of Niebuhr, one of the
greatest scholars of Germany.? In 1859 he was
selected by her Majesty the Queen to give a
course of historical study to H.R.H. the Prince
, of Wales, and during the winter of 1862-3, he
