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
