160 OLD -4ND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith Walk.
on the verge of destitution ; and DIsraeli writes of
him thus in his ? Calamities of Authors ? :-
?? It was one evening I saw a tall, famished,
melancholy man enter a bookseller?s shop, his hat
flapped over his eyes, his whole frame evidently
feeble from exhaustion and utter misery. The
bookseller inquired how he proceeded with his
tragedy ? ? Do not talk to me about my tragedy I
Do not talk to me about my tragedy! I have,
indeed, more tragedy than I can bear at home,? was
Now all the ground eastward of the Walk to
the Easter Road is rapidly being covered by new
streets, and the last of the green fields there has
well-nigh disappeared, Between the North British
Goods Station and Lorne Street the ground fronting
the Walk belongs to the Governors of Heriot?s
Hospital, while the ground between the latter and
the Easter Road is the property of the Trinity
Hospital. The ground in these districts has been
feued at from A105 to Arzo per acre, for tene-
GREENSIDE CHURCH, FROM LEOPOLD PLACE.
his reply, and his voice faltered as he spoke. This
man was ? Mathew Bramble ?-Macdonald, the
author of ?Vimonda,? at that moment the writer of
comic poetry ! ?
D?Israeli then refers to his seven children, which,
however, is an error, as he had but one child, whom,
with his Wife, he left in utter indigence, whenafter
the privations to which he had been subjected
had a fatal effect on a naturally weak constitution-
he died, in 1788, in the thirty-third year of
his age. A volume of his sermons, published soon
after his death, met with a favourable reception ;
and in 1791 appeared his ?Miscellaneous Works,?in
one volume, containing all his dramas, with ? Probationary
Odes for the Laureateship,? and other pieces.
ments four storeys in height, at an average value
each of from A1,8oo to Az,ooo. Many of these
streets are devoid of architectural features, and
meant for the residence of artisans.
The Heriot feus have tenements valued at from
.&3,000 to A4,000, and contain houses of five and
nine apartments, with ranges of commodious shops
on the ground-floor. During the changes here the
old bum of Greenside has also been dealt with;
and instead of meandering, as heretofore, towards
where of old the Lawer Quarry Holes lay-latterly
in an offensive and muddy course-it is carried in
a culvert, which will be turned to account as a main
drain for the locality.
In the map of 1804 the upper part of Leith.
?
