Moming+3c] THE ROYAL EDINBURGH ASYLUM. 39
sions and villas seem to crowd and jostle each other,
till it has become an integral part of Edinburgh;
but the adjacent hamlet of Tipperlinn, the abode
chiefly of weavers, and once also a summer resort,
has all disappeared, and nothing of it now remains
but an old draw-well The origin of its name is
evidently Celtic.
Falcon Hall, eastward of the old village, is an
elegant modem villa, erected early in the present
century byawealthy Indian civilian, named Falconer;
but, save old Morningside House, or Lodge, before
that time no other niansion of importance stood
here.
In the latter-which stands a little way back kom
the road on the west side-there died, in the year
1758, William Lockhart, Esq., of Carstairs, who
had been thrown from his cliaise at the Burghmuir-
head, and was so severely injured that he expired
two days after. Here also resided, and died
in 1810, William Coulter, a wealthy hosier, who was
then in office as Lord Provost of the city, which
gave him a magnificent civic and military funeral,
which was long remembered for its grandeur and
solemnity.
On this occasion long streamers of crape floated
from Nelson?s monument ; the bells were tolled.
Mr. Claud Thompson acted as chief mourner-in
lieu of the Provost?s only son, Lieutenant Coulter,
then serving with the army in Portugal-and the city
arms were borne by a man seven feet high before
the coffin, whereon lay a sword, robe, and chain
of office.
Three volleys were fired over it by the Edinburgh
Volunteers, of which he was colonel. A portrait
of him in uniform appears in one of Kay?s
sketches.
In 1807 Dr. Andrew Duncan (already noticed
in the account of Adam Square) proposed the
erection of a lunatic asylum, the want of which
had long been felt in the city. Subscriptions came
in slowly, but at last sufficient was collected, a
royal charter was obtained, and on the 8th of June,
1809, the foundation stone of the now famous and
philanthropic edifice at Morningside was laid by
the Lord Provost Coulter, within an enclosure, four
acres in extent, south of old Morningside House
Towards the erection a sum of LI,IOO came from
Scotsmen in Madras.
The object of this institution is to afford every
possible advantage in the treatment of insanity.
The unfortunate patients may be put under the
care of any medical practitioner in Edinburgh
(says the Scots Magmine for that year) whom the
relations may choose to employ, while the poor
will be attended gratis by physicians and surgeons
appointed by the managers. In every respect,
it is one of the most efficient institutions of the
kind in Scotland, It is called the Royal Edinburgh
Asylum, and has as its patron the reigning
sovereign, a governor, four deputies, a board of
managers, and another of medical men.
The original building was afterwards more than
doubled in extent by the addition of another, the
main entrance to which is from the old road that
led to Tipperlinn. This is called the west department,
where the average number of inmates is
above 500. It is filled with patients of the humbler
order, whose friends or parishes pay for them 6 1 5
per annum.
The east department, which was built in 1809, is
for patients who pay not less than A56 per annum
as an ordinary charge, though separate sitting-rooms
entail an additional expense. On the other hand,
when patients are in straitened circumstances a
yearly deduction of ten, or even twenty pounds, is
made from the ordinary rate.
In the former is kept the museum of plaster
casts from the heads of patients, a collection continually
being added to ; and no one, even without
a knowledge of phrenology, can behold these lifeless
images without feeling that the originals had
been afflicted by disease of the mind, for even the
cold, white, motionless plaster appears expressive
of ghastly insanity.
In the west department the patients who are
capable of doing so ply their trades as tailors,
shoemakers, and so forth; and one of the most
interesting features of the institution is the
printing-office, whence, to quote Chambers?sJournal,
?is issued the Morningside Mirror, a monthly
sheet, whose literary contents are supplied wholly
by the inmates, and contain playful hits and puns
which would not disgrace the habitual writers of
facetious articles.??
From the list of occupations that appear in the
annual report, it would seem that nearly every
useful trade and industry. is followed within the
walls, and that the Morningside Asylum supplies
most of its own wants, being a little world complete
in itself.
Occupation and amusement here take the place
of irksome bondage, with results that have been
very beneficial, and among the most extraordinary
of these are the weekly balls, in which the patients
figure in reels and in country dances, and sing
songs.
At the foot of Morningside the Powburn takes the
singular name of the Jordan as it flows through a
farm named Egypt, and other Scriptural names
abound close by, such as Hebron Bank, Canaan
40 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Braid.
~~
Lodge, and Canaan Lane. By some, the origin of
these names has been attributed to Puritan times ;
by others to gipsies, when the southern side of the
Muir was open and unenclosed.
In the secluded house of Millbank, westward of
Canaan Lane, there occurred, on the 26th of
September, 1820, a marriage which made some
noise at the time-that of ? Alexander Ivanovitch,
Sultan Katte Ghery Krim Gery, to Anne, fourth
daughter of Tames Neilson, Esq., of Millbank,? as
t
~~
for education. There he married, Dr. Lyall visited
him in 1822, and describes him and his sultana as
living in the greatest happiness. According to
Mr. Spencer, he had not succeeded in 1836 in
making a single convert.?
He was dead before 1855, when his mother
was living near the field of Alma. He had a son in
the Russian army, and a daughter who became ladyin-
waiting to the wife of the Grand Duke Constantine.
Mrs. Neilson was alive in 1826, as her
BRAID COTTAGES, 1850. (Fmm 1 Drawiwh Williom C&nnm?&-, in th# #OSEGSJ~UU of D+./. A. Sidey.)
it is announced in the Edinburgh papers for that
year.
According to a writer in ? Notes and Queries,?
in 1855, this personage-the Sultan of the Crimeahad
fled from his own country in consequence of his
religion, and was being educated in Edinburgh, at the
expense of the ?Emperor Alexander of Russia, with
a view to his returning as a Christian missionary,
?? and his wife was hardly ever known by any other
appellation than that of Sultana.?
A portion of this story is further corroborated by
?Clarke?s Travels.? ? It is here (Simpheropol)
that Katti Gheri Krim Gheri resides. Having
become acquainted with the Scotch missionaries at
Carass, in the Caucasus, he was sent to Edinburgh
name occurs in the Directory for that year as resident
at ? Millbank, Canaan,? Morningside,
Sn aged thorn-tree, that overhung the road
leading to Braid, was long a feature in the view
south of Morningside. At this tree, on the 25th
of January, 1815, two Irish criminals, named Kelly
and O?Neil (who had been convicted of different
acts of robbery, under circumstances of great
brutality), were hanged before a great multitude.
They were brought hither from the Tolbooth to
the limits of the City jurisdiction by the high
constable, and handed over to the sheriff clerk
for execution. They are said to have been buried
by the wayside, near the old thorn-tree.
The range of pastoral hills named Braid bound
