190 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Hart Street
York Place he officiated there, until a severe illness
in 1831 compelled him to relinquish all public
duties, In ?Peter?s Letters? we are told that he
possessed all the qualifications of a popular orator.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh in the first year of its formation, and
was the intimate friend of many of its most distinguished
members, as he was of most of the men of
genius and learning of his time in Scotland. His
?Essays on Taste? appeared first in 1790, since
when it has passed through several editions, and
has been translated into French. His theory of
taste has met the approval of men of the highest
genius in poetry, criticism, and art. He died, universally
respected, on the 17th of May, 1839.
St. George?s Episcopal chapel, built in 1794,
stands on the south side of York Place. It was
designed by Robert Adam, and is of no known
style of architecture, and is every way hideous in
conception and in detail. This dingy edifice cost
North of the two streets we have described, and
erected coeval with them, are Forth and Albany
Streets.
In No. 10 of the former street lived for years,
, and died on the 27th of August, 1837, in his
seventy-first year, George Watson, first president
and founder of the Royal Scottish Academy, of
whom an account has already been given in connection
with that institution, as one of the most
eminent artists of his time. In the same house
also lived and died his third son, Smellie George
Watson, RSA, a distinguished portrait painter,
named from the family of his mother, who was
Rebecca, eldest daughter of William Smellie, the
learned and ingenious paintef and natural philosopher.
In the little and obscure thoroughfare named
Hart Street lived long one who enjoyed considerable
reputation in his day, though well-nig; forgotten
now: William Douglas, an eminent miniature
painter, and the lineal descendant of the
ancient line of Glenbervie. ? He received a useful
education,? says his biographer, ?and was well
acquainted with the dead and living languages
From his infancy he displayed a taste for the fine
arts. While yet a mere child he would leave his
playfellows to their sports, to watch the effects of
light and shade, and, creeping along the furrows of
the fields, study the perspective of the ridges.
This enabled him to excel as a landscape painter,
and gave great beauty to his miniatures.?
As aminiature painter he was liberally patronised
by the upper ranks in Scotland and England, and
his works are to be found in some of the finest
L3,ooo.
collections of both countries. In particular he was
employed by the family of Buccleuch, and in 1817
was appointed Miniature Painter for Scotland to
the Princess Charlotte, and Prince Leopold afterwards
King of the Belgians.
Prior to his removal to Hart Street he lived in
No. 17 St. James?s Square, a common stair. He
possessed genius, fancy, taste, and delicacy,, with a
true enthusiasm for his art; and his social worth
and private virtues were acknowledged by all who
had the pleasure of knowing him. He had a vast
fund of anecdote, and in his domestic relations was
an affectionate husband, good father, and faithful
friend. His constant engagements precluded his
contributing to the exhibitions in Edinburgh, but
his works frequently graced the walls of the Royal
Academy at Somerset House. In a note attached
to David Malloch?s ? Immortality of the Soul,? he
says :-?? The author would take this opportunity
of stating that if he has been at all successful in
depicting any of the bolder features of Nature, this
he in a great measure owes to the conversation of
his respected friend, William Douglas, Esq., Edinburgh,
who was no less a true poet than an eminent
artist.?
He died at his house in Hart Street on the 20th
of January, 1832, leaving a daughter, Miss Ranisay
Douglas, also an artist, and the inheritor of his
peculiar grace and delicacy of touch.
York Place being called from the king?s second
son by his English title, Albany Street, by a
natural sequence, was ndmed from the title of
the second son of the king of Scotland. Albany
Row it was called in the feuing advertisements
in 1800, and for some twenty years after. In
No. 2, which is now broken up and subdivided, lived
John Playfau, Professor of Natural Philosophy in
the University, z man of whom it has been said
that he was cast in nature?s happiest mould, acute,
clear, comprehensive, and having all the higher
qualities of intellect combined and regulated by
the most perfect good taste, being not less perfect
in his moral than in his intellectual nature. He
was a man every?way distinguished, respected, and
beloved.
When only eighteen years old he became a candidate
in 1766 for the chair of mathematics in
the Marischal College, Aberdeen, where, after a
lengthened and very strict examination, only two
out of six nval competitors were judged to have
excelled him-these were, Dr. Trill, who was
appointed to the chair, and Dr. Hamilton, who
subsequently succeeded to it. He was the son
of?the Rev. James Playfair, minister of Liff and
Benvie, and upon the representation of Lord
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