170 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [St. Andrew Square.
old Scottish school. His habits were active, anc
he was fond of all invigorating sports. He wa
skilled as an archer, golfer, skater, bowler, ant
curler, and to several kindred associations of thosc
sports he and ol$ Dr. Duncan acted as secretarie!
for nearly half a century. For years old EbeI
Wilson, the bell-ringer of the Tron Church, had thc
reversion of his left-off cocked hats, which he wore
together with enormous shoe-buckles, till his deatl
in 1823. For years he and the Doctor had been thc
only men who wore the old dress, which the latte
retained till he too died, twelve years after.
No. 24 was the house of the famous millionaire
Gilbert Innes of Stowe.
The Scottish Equitable Assurance Society occu
pies No. 26. It was established in 1831, and war
incorporated by royal charter in 1838 and 1846
It is conducted on the principle of mutual as
surance, ranks a~ a first-class office, and has accumu
lated funds amounting to upwards of ~ 2 , 2 5 0 , 0 0 0
with branch offices in London, Dublin, Glasgow
and elsewhere.
No. 29 was in 1802 the house of Sir Patrick
Murray, Bart., of Ochtertyre, Baron of the Ex
chequer Court, who died in 1837. It is now thc
offices of the North British Investment Corn
PanYNo.
33, now a shop, was in 1784 the house oi
the Hon. Francis Charteris of Amisfield, afterwards
fifth Earl of Wemyss. He was well known during
his residence in Edinburgh as the particular patron
of ?Old Geordie Syme,? the famous town-piper
of Dalkeith, and a retainer of the house of Buccleuch,
whose skill on the pipe caused him to be
much noticed by the great folk of his time. 01
Geordie, in his long yellow coat lined with red,
red plush breeches, white stockings, buckled shoes
and blue bonnet, there is an excellent portrait in
Kay. The earl died in 1808, and was succeeded
by his grandson, who also inherited the earldom
of March.
Nos. 34 and 35 were long occupied as Douglas?s
hotel, one of the most fashionable in the city, and
one which has been largely patronised by the royal
families of many countries, including the Empress
EugCnie when she came to Edinburgh, to avail
herself, we believe, of the professional skill of Sir
James Simpson. On that occasion Colonel Ewart
marched the 78th Regiment or Ross-shire Buffs,
recently returned from the wars of India, before
the hotel windows, with the band playing Padant
pour Za Syrie, on which the Empress came to
the balcony and repeatedly bowed and waved her
handkerchief to the Highlanders.
In this hotel Sir Walter Scott resided for a few
days after his return from Italy, and just before his
death at Abbotsford, in September, 1832.
No. 35 is now the new head office of the Scottish
Provident Institution, removed hither from No. 6.
It was originally the residence of Mr. Andrew
Crosbie, the advocate, a well-known character in
his time, who built it. He was the original of
Counsellor Pleydell in the novel of ? Guy Mannering.?
In 1754 Sir Philip Ainslie was the occupant of
No. 38. Born in 1728, he was the son of George
Ainslie, a Scottish merchant of Bordeaux, who,
having made a fortune, returned home in 1727,
and purchased the estate of Pilton, near Edinburgh.
Sir Philip?s youngest daughter, Louisa, became the
wife of John Allan of Errol House, who resided in
No. 8. Sir Philip?s mother was a daughter of
William Morton of Gray.
His house is now, with No. 39, a portion of the
office of the British Linen Company?s Bank, the
origin and pro?gress of which we have noticed in
our description of the Old Town. It stands immediately
south of the recess in front of the Royal
Bank, and was mainly built in 1851-2, after designs
by David Bryce, R.S.A., at a cost of about
~30,000. It has a three-storeyed front, above
sixty feet in height,.with an entablature set back
to the wall, and surmounted above the six-fluted
and projecting Corinthian columns by six statues,
each eight feet in height, representing Navigation,
Commerce, Manufacture, Art, Science, and Agricu!
ture; and it has a splendid cruciform tellingroom,
seventy-four feet by sixty-nine, lighted by a
most ornate cupola of stained glass, thirty feet in
diameter and fifty high. With its magnificent
columns of Peterhead granite, its busts of celebrated
Scotsmen, and its Roman tile pavement,
it is all in perfect keeping with the grandeur of
the external facade. This bank has about 1,080
partners.
Immediately adjoining, on the south, is the
National Bank of Scotland, presenting a flank to
West Register Street. It was enlarged backward
;n 1868, but is a plain almost unsightly building
mid its present surroundings. It is a bank of
:omparatively modem origin, having been estabished
on the zIst March, 1825. In terms of a
:ontract of co-partnership between and among the
iartners, the capit31 and stock of the company were
ixed at &,ooo,ooo, the paid-up portion of which
s ~I,OOO,OOO. In the royal charter granted to
he National Bank on the 5th August, 1831, a
ipecific declaration is made, that ? nothing in these
resents ? shall be construed to limit the responsiility
and liability of the individual partners of the
