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
St Andrew Square] ROYAL BANK
bank. The other existing banks have all been
constituted by contracts of co-partnery since the
year 1825, and, with the exception of the Caledonian
Banking Company, are all carrying on
business under the Companies Act of 1862. With
this office is incorporated No. 41, which, in 1830,
was the shop of Messrs. Robert Cadell and Co.,
the eminent booksellers and publishers.
The Royal Bank of Scotland occupies a pre
minent position on the west side of the square, in a
deep recess between the British Linen Company
and the Scottish Provident Institution.
It was originally the town house of Sir Lawrence
Dundas, Bart., and was one of the first houses
built in the square, on what we believe was intended
as the place for st. Andrew?s church. The
house was designed by Sir William Chambers, on
the model of a much-admired villa near Rome, and
executed by William Jamieson, mason. Though
of an ancient family, Sir Lawrence was the architect
of his own fortune, and amassed wealth as a conimissary-
general with the army in Flanders, 1748 to
1759. He was the second son of Thomas Dundas,
a bailie of Edinburgh, whose diffculties brought
him to bankruptcy, and for a time Sir Lawrence
served behind a counter, He was created a
baronet in 1762, with remainder, in default of
male issue, to his elder brother, Thomas Dundas,
who had succeeded to the estate of Fingask. His
son Thomas was raised to the peerage of Great
Britain as Baron Dundas of Aske, in Yorkshire, in
August, 1794 and became ancestor of the Earls of
Zetland.
About 1820 the Royal Bank, which had so long
conducted its business in the Old Bank Close in
the High Street, removed to the house of Sir
Lawrence Dundas.
We have thus shown that St. Andrew Square is
now as great a mart for business as it was once a
fashionable quarter, and some idea may be had of
the magnitude of the interests here at stake when
it is stated that the liabilities-that is, the total sums
insured-of the six leading insurance houses alone
exceed ~45,ooo,ooo, and that their annual income
is upwards of ~1,8oo,ooo-a revenue greater than
that of several States !
Melville?s monument, in the centre of the square,
was erected in 1821, in memory of Henry Dundas,
first Viscount Melville, who was Lord Advocate in
1775, and filled some high official situations in the
Government of Britain during the administration
of William Pitt He was raised to the peerage in
OF SCOTLAND. 171
1802, and underwent much persecution in 1805
for alleged malversation in his office as treasurer to
the navy; but after a trial by his peers was triumphantly
judged not guilty.
Designed by William Burn, this monument consists
of pedestal, pillar, and statue, rising to the
height of 150 feet, niodelled after the Trajan
column at Rome, but fluted and not ornamented
with sculpture; the statue is 14 feet in height.
The cost was _f;8,ooo, defrayed-8s the inverse
side of the plate in the foundation stone states
-?by the voluntary contribbtions of the officers,
petty-officers, seamen, and marines of these united
kingdoms.? It was laid by Admirals Sir D a d
Milne and Otway, naval commander-inchief in
Scotland, after prayer by Principal Baird, on the
anniversary of Lord Melville?s birthday. In the
stone was deposited a great plate of pure gold,
bearing the inscription. A plate of silver bearing
the names of the committee was laid in the stone
at the same time.
The Hopetoun monument, within the recess in
front of the Royal Bank, is in memory of Sir John
Hope, fourth Earl of Hopetoun, G.C.H., Colonel
of the gznd Gordon Highlanders, who died in
1823, a distinguished Peninsular officer, who assumed
the command of the army at Corunna, on
the fall of his countryman Sir John Moore. It was
erected in 1835, and comprises a bronze statue, in
Roman costume, leaning on a pawing charger.
West Register Street, which immediately adjoins
St. Andrew Square, is a compound of several
short thoroughfares, and contains the site of
?( Ambrose?s Tavern,? the scene of Professor NIson?s
famous ?Noctes Ambrosianze,? with a remnant
of the once narrow old country pathway
known as Gabriel?s Road. cG Ambrose?s Tavern,?
a tall, three-storeyed edifice, like a country farmhouse,
enjoyed much repute independent of the
?Noctes,? and was removed in 1864. Hogg, the
Ettrick .Shepherd, who was fond of all athletic
sports and manly exercises, was long made to
figure conspicuously in these Noctes ? in BZack3
wmZs Magazine, which gave his name a celebrity
beyond that acquired by his own writings.
At one of the corners of West Register Street is
the great palatial paper warehouse of the Messrs
Cowan, one of the most elaborately ornate busiqess
establishments in the city, which was erected in
1865, by the Messrs. Beattie, at a cost of about
A7,000, and has two ornamental fronts with chaste
and elegant details in the florid Italian styk
