150 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. LGeorge 2:rtet.
of the first, accompanied by Major-General Hope
and that famous old literary officer General Stewart
of Garth, who had been wounded under its colours
in Egypt; and nothing could surpxss the grand,
even tearful, enthusiasm with which the veterans
had been welcomed ?in every town and village
through which their route from England lay.
Early on the ~gth,? says the Scots Magazine, ?vast
crowds were collected on the streets, in expectation
of their arrival. The road as far as Musselburgh
was crowded with people ; and as they approached
the city, so much was their progress impeded by the
multitude that their march from Piershill to the
castle-less than two miles-occupied two hours.
House-tops and windows were crowded with spectators,
and as they passed along the streets, amid
the ringing of bells, waving of flags, and the
acclamation of thousands, their red and black
plumes, tattered colours-emblems of their wellearned
fame in fight-and glittering bayonets, were
all that could be seen of these heroes, except by
the few who were fortunate in obtaining elevated
situations. The scene, viewed from the windows
and house-tops, was the most extraordinary ever
witnessed in this city. The crowds were wedged
together across the whole breadth of the street, and
extended in length as far as the eye could reach,
and this motley throng appeared to tnove like a
solid body, till the gallant Highlanders were safely
lodged in the castle.?
To the whole of the non-commissioned officers
and privates a grand banquet by public subscription,
under the superintendence of Sir Walter Scott, was
given in the Assembly Room, and every man was
presented with a free ticket to the Theatre Royal.
Asimilar banquet and ovation was bestowed on the
78th or Ross-shire Buffs, who marched in a few
days after.
It was in the Assembly Rooms that Sir Walter
Scott, on the 23rd February, 1827, at the annual
dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association,
avowed himself to be ?the Great Unknown,?
acknowledging the authorship of the Waverley
Novels-scarcely a secret then, as the recent exposure
of Constable?s affairs had made the circumstance
pretty well known, particularly in literary
circles.
In June 1841 a great public banquet was given
to Charles Dickens in the Assembly Rooms, at
which Professor Wilson presided, and which the
novelist subsequently referred to as having been
a source of sincere gratification to him.
The rooms underwent considerable improvements
in 1871 ; but two shops have always been
in the basement storey, and the western of these
.
is now occupied by the Edinburgh branch of the
ImperiaI Fire and Life Assurance Company.
In immediate connection with the Assembly
Rooms is the great music hall, built in 1843? at
the cost of more than .&IO,OOO, It is a magnificent
apartment, with a vast domed and panelled
roof, 108 feet long by 91 feet broad, with orchestral
accommodation for several hundred performers,
and a powerful and splendid organ, by Hill of
London.
It is the most celebrated place in the city for
public meetings. There, in 1853, was inaugurated
by Lord Eglinton and others, the great Scottish
Rights Association, the ultimate influence of which
procured so many necessary grants of money for
Scottish purposes; in 1859 the first Burns Centenary,
and in 1871 the first Scott Centenary, were celebrated
in this hall. There, tooJ has the freedom of
the city been bestowed upon many great statesmen,
soldiers, and others. There has Charles Dickens
cften read his ?Christmas Carols? to delighted
thousands ; and there it was that, in 1856, the great
novelist and humourist, Thackeray, was publicly
hissed down (to the marked discredit of his audience,
be it said) in one of his readings, for making disparaging
remarks on Mary Queen of Scots.
The new Union Bank of Scotland is on the
south side of tbe street, Commenced in 1874, it
was finished in 1878, from designs by David
Bryce, R.S.A. It is in the Tuscan style, with a
frontage of more than IOO feet, and extends southwards
to Rose Street Lane. It exhibits three
storeys rising from a sunk basement, with their
entrances, each furnished with a portico of Ionic
columns. The first floor windows are flanked by
pilasters, and furnished with entablatures and
pediments ; the second floors have architraves,
and moulded sills, while the wall-head is terminated
by a bold cornice, supporting a balustrade. The
telling-room is magnificent-fully eighty feet long
by fifty feet broad, and arranged in a manner alike
commodious and elegant. In the sunk basement
is a library, with due provision of safes for various
bank purposes, and thither removed, in 1879, the
famous old banking house to which we have more
than once had occasion to fefer, from its old quarters
in the Parliament Square, which were then
announced as for sale, with its fireproof interior
?of polished stone, with groined arches on the
various floors ; its record rooms, book and bullion
jafes of dressed stone, alike thief and fire proof.?
Here we may briefly note that the Union Bank
was incorporated in 1862, and its paid-up capital
is .&I,OOO,OOO; but this bank is in reality of a
much older date, and was originally known as the
