I44 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [George Street. --
already been made in the account of that institution,
of which he was the distinguished head.
Opposite is a new building occupied as shops and
chambers ; and the vast Elizabethan edifice near it
is the auction rooms of Dowel1 and Co., built
in 1880.
The Mercaitile Bank of India, London, and
China occupies No. 128, formerly the mansion of
Sir James Hall of Dunglass, Bart., a man in his
time eminent for his high attainments in geological
and chemical science, and author of popular but
peculiar works on Gothic architecture. By his
wife, Lady Helena Douglas, daughter of Ddnbar,
Earl of Selkirk, he had three sons and three
daughters-his second son being the well-known
Captain Basil Hall, R.N. While retaining his
house in George Street, Sir James, between 1808
and 1812, represented the Cornish borough of St.
Michael?s in Parliament. He died at Edinburgh,
after a long illness, on the z3rd of June, 1832.
Collaterally with him, another distiiiguished
baronet, Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, was long the
occupant of No. 133, to the print of whom Kay
appends the simple title of ?The Scottish Patriot,?
and never was it more appropriately applied. To
attempt even an outline of his long, active, and
most useful life, would go far beyond our limits ;
suffice it to say, that his ? Code of Agriculture?
alone has been translated into nearlyevery European
language. He was born at Thurso in 1754, and so
active had been his mind, so vast the number of
his scientific pursuits and objects, that by 1797 he
began to suffer seriously from the effects of his
over-exertions, and being thus led to consider the
subject of health generally, he published, in 1803,
a quarto pamphlet, entitled ? Hints on Longevity?
-afterwards, in 1807, extended to four volumes
8vo. In 1810 he was made a Privy Councillor,
and in the following year, under the administration
of the unfortunate Mr. Perceval, was appointed
Cashier of Excise for Scotland. On retiring from
Parliament, he was succeeded as member for
Caithness by his son. He resided in Edinburgh
for the last twenty years of his life, and died at
his house in George Street in December, 1835, jn
his eighty-first year, and was interred in the Chapel
Royal at Holyrood.
By his first wife he
had two children j by tbe second, Diana, daughter
of Lord Macdonald, he had thirteen, one of whom,
Julia, became Countess of Glasgow. All these
attained a stature like his own, so great-being
nearly all above six feet-that he was wont playfully
to designate the pavement before No. 133 as
?? The Giants? Causeway.?
Sir. John was twice married.
St. Andrew?s church stands zoo feet westward
if St. Andrew?s Square; it is a plain building of
ival form, with a handsome portico, having four
;reat Corinthiafi pillars, and built, says Kincaid,
iom a design of Major Fraser, of the Engineers,
whose residence was close by it. It was erected
.n 178s.
It was at first proposed to have a spire of some
iesign, now unknown, between the portico and thc
body of the church, and for a model of this a
young man of the city, named M?Leish, received a
premium of sixty guineas from the magistrates, with
the freedom of the city j but on consideration, his
design ? was too great in proportion to the space left
for its base.? So the present spire, which is 168 feet
in height, and for its sky-line is one of the most
beautiful in the city, was designed by Major
Andrew Fraser, who declined to accept any
premium, suggesting that it should be awarded to
Mr. Robert Kay, whose designs for a square
church on the spot were most meritorious.
The last stone of the spire was placed thereon
on the 23rd of November, 1787. A chime of bells
was placed in it, 3rd June, 1789, ?to be rung in
the English manner.?
The dimensions of this church, as given by
Kincaid, are, within the walls from east to west
eighty-seven feet, and from north to south sixtyfour
feet. ?The front, consisting of a staircase
and portico, measures forty-one feet, and projects
twenty-six and a half feet.? The entrance is nine
feet in height by seven feet in breadth.
This parish was separated from St. Cuthbert?s in
1785, and since that date parts of it have been
assigned to other parishes of more recent erection
as the population increased.
The church cost A7,000, and is seated for about
1,053. The charge was collegiate, and is chiefly
remarkable for the General Assembly?s meeting in
1843, at which occurred the great Disruption, or
exodus of the Free Church-one of the most
important events in the modern history of Scotland
or of the United Kingdom.
It originated in a zealous movement of the
Presbyterian Church, mainly promoted by the great
Chalmers, to put an end to the connection between
Church and State. In 1834 the Church had passed
a law of its own, ordaining that thenceforth no
presentee to a parish should be admitted if opposed
by the majority of the male communicants-a law
which struck at the system of patronage restored
after the Union-a system involving importint1
civil rights.
When the Annual Assembly met in St. Andreds
Church, in May, 1843, it was generally understood
