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
George Street.] THE MASONIC HALL. k5 1
Glasgow Union Bank Company, which dates from
1830; in 1843 the name was changed to the
Union Bank of Scotland. ? As was stated by Mr.
Gairdner to the Committee of the House of
Commons on ?Banks of Issue? (1874), several
private and public banks were incorporated from
time to time in the Union: notably, the Thistle
Bank of Glasgow in 1836, the Paisley Union Bank
iri 1838, the Ayr Bank, the Glasgow Arms and
Ship Gank in 1843, Sir William Forbes and J.
Hunter and Co. in the same year. The Aberdeen
Bank was also absorbed in the Union system in
1849, and the Perth Banking Company in 1857.
The special general ;meeting ?or ? considering
whether or not this bank should be registered
under the Companies Act, 1862,? was called on
the 10th December, 1862, but the bank had in
fact %een so registered on the 3rd November of
the same year. At the meeting, Sir John Stuart
Forbes, Bart., was in the chair, and it was unanimously
agreed ?that it is expedient that the
bank register itself 9s an unliniited company under
the Companies Act, 1862, and that the meeting do
now assent to the. bank being so registered, and
authorise the directors to take all necessary steps
for carrying the motion into effect.?
Opposite the Northern Club-3 mere plain
dwelling-house-is the Masonic Hall and offices
of the grand lodge of Scotland, No. 98, George
Street. The foundation &one was laid on the
24th of June, 1858, with due masonic honours, by
the Grand Master, the Duke of Athole, whose
henchman, a bearded Celt of vast proportions, in
Drumrnond tartan, armed with shield and claymore,
attracted great attention. The streets were lined
by the i7th Lancers and the Staffordshire Militia.
The building was finished in. the following year,
snd, among many objects of great masonic interest,
contains the large picture of the ? Inauguration of
Robert Bums as Poet Laureate of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland,? by William Stewart Watson,
a deceased artist, nephew of George Watson, first
president of the Scottish Academy, and cousin of
the late Sir John Watson-Gordon. He was an ardent
Freemason, and for twenty years was secretary
to the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge.
His picture is a very valuable one, as containing
excellent portraits of many eminent men who took
part in that ceremony. He was the same artist
who designed the embellishments of the library at
Abbotsford, at the special request of Sir Walter
Scott, to whom he was nearly related.
In this office are the rooms and records of the
Grand Secretary, and there the whole general
business of the? entire masonic body in Scotland is
transacted.
Three fine bronze pedestrian statues decorate
this long and stately street.
The first of these statues, at the intersection of
George Street and Hanover Street, to the memory
of George IV., is by Chantrey, and was erected in
November, 183r. It is twelve feet in height, on a
granite pedestal of eighteen feet, executed by Mr.
Wallace. The largest of the blocks weighed
fifteen tons, and all were placed by meatls of some
of the cranes used in the erection of the National
Monument.
The second, at the intersection of Frederick
Street, is ?also by Chantrey, to the memory of
William Pitt, and was erected in 1833.
The third, at the intersection of Castle Street, on
a red granite pedestal, was erected in 1878 to the
memory of Dr. Chalmers, and is by the hand of
Sir John Steel.
CHAPTER XX
QUEEN STREET.
The Philosophical Iostitution-House of Bamn Ode-New Physicians? Hall-Sir James Y. Simpron, M.D.-The House of hf-
Wilson-Sir John Leslic-Lord Rockville-Sir Jams Grant of Grant-The Hopetoun Rooms-Edinburgh Educational Institution
for Ladies.
QUEEN STREET was a facsimile of Princes Street,
but its grouping and surroundings are altogether
different.
Like Princes Street, it is a noble terrace, but not
overlooked at a short distance by the magnificent
castle and the Dunedin of the Middle Ages. It
looks northward pver its whole length on beautiful
gardens laid out in shrubs and flowers, beyond
which lie fair white terraces and streets that far
excel itself-the assembled beauties of another new
town spreading away to the wide blue waters of the
Firth of Forth. How true are the lines of Scott !-
