University.] THE NEW BUILDING COMPLETED. 2 3
Elder being Lord Provost of the city, William
Robertson, Principal of the University, and Robert
Adam, the architect. ? May the undertaking prosper
and be crowned with success.?
The proceedings of the day were closed by a
princely banquet in the Assembly Rooms.
The building was now begun, and, portion by
portion, the old edifices engrafted on those of the
Kirk-of-Field gave place to the stately quadrangular
university of the present day; and, as nearly as
can be ascertained, on the spot occupied by the
Senate Hall stood that fatal tenement in which
King Henry was lodged on his return from Glas
gow, and which was partly blown up on the night
of his assassination, between the 9th and 10th of
February, 1567. In the repaired portion some
of the professors resided, and it was averred to
be ghost haunted, and the abode of mysterious
sounds.
The foundation stone of the old university-if
it ever had one-was not discovered during the
erection of the present edifice. The magistrates,
with more zeal for the celebrity of the city than
consideration for their financial resources, having
wished that-subscriptions apart-they should bear
the chief cost of the erection, it remained for more
than twenty years after the foundation-stone
was laid a monument of combined vanity, rashness,
and poverty, Government, as usual in most
Scottish matters, especially in those days, withholding
all aid. Yet, in 1790, when Profess01
William Cullen, first physician to His Majesty in
Scotland, and holder of the chair of medicine from
1773, died, it was proposed (( to erect a . statue to
him in the new university,? the walls of which
were barely above the ground.
Within the area of the latter masses of the old
buildings still remained, and in the following year,
1761, these gave accommodation to 1,255 students.
In that year we learn from the Scots Magazine that
the six noble pillars which adorn the front, each
22 feet 4 inches high, and in diameter 3 feet 3 inches,
were erected. These were brought from Craigleith
quarry, each drawn by sixteen horses.
Kincaid records that the total sum subscribed
by the end of February, 1794, amounted to only
If;32,000. Hence the work languished, and at
times was abandoned for want of funds; and
about that time we read of a meeting of Scottish
officers held at Calcutta, who subscribed a sum
towards its completion, the Governor-General, Lord
Cornwallis, heading the list with a contribution ol
3,000 sicca rupees.
But many parts of the edifice remained an open
aid unfinished ruin, in which crows and other
.
birds built their nests ; and a strange dwarf, known
as Geordie More (who died so lately as 1828), built
unto himself a species of booth or hut at the
college gate unchallenged.
In an old (( Guide to Edinburgh,? published in
181 I, we read thus of the building :-? It cannot
said to be yet half finished, notwithstanding the
prodigious sums expended upon it ; if we advert to
the expenses which will unavoidably atttend the
completing of its ichnography or inside accommodations,
and, without the interference of the Legislature,
it will perhaps be exhibited to posterity as a
melancholy proof of the poverty of the nation.?
This state of matters led to the complete curtailment
of Adam?s grand designs, and modifications
of them were ultimately accomplished by Mr. W.
H. Playfair, after Parliament, in 1815, granted an
annual sum of LIO,OOO for ten years to finish
the work, which, however, was not completely done
till 1834; and since then, the idea of the great
central dome, which was always a part of the
original design, seems now to have been entirely
abandoned.
The university, as we find it now, presents its
main front to South Bridge Street, and forms an
entire side respectively to West College Street, to
South College Street, and to Chambers Street
on the north. It is a regular parallelogram,
356 feet long by 225 wide, extending in length
east and west, and having in its centre a stately
quadrangular court. The main front has some
exquisite, if simple, details, and is of stupendous
proportions. In style, within and without, it is
partly Palladian and partly Grecian, but is so
pent up by the pressure of adjacent streetson
three sides, at least-that it can never be seen
to advantage, It has been said that were the
university ? situated in a large park, particularly
upon a rising ground, it would appear almost
sublime, and without a parallel among the modern
edifices of Scotland ; but situated as it is, it makes
upon the mind of a stranger, in its exterior views
at least, impressions chiefly of bewilderment and
confusion.?
It is four storeys in height, and is entered by
three grand and lofty arched porticoes from the
east ; at the sides of these are the great Craigleith
columns above referred to, each formed of a single
stone.
On the summit is a vast entablature, bearing
the following inscription, cut in Roman letters :-
?Academia Jacobi VI., Scotorum Regis anno post
Christum natum b1,DLXXXII. instituta ; annoque
M,DCC,LXXXIX., renovari coepta ; regnante Georgio III.
Principe munificentissimo ; Urbis Edinensis Pmfecto
24 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [University.
Thoma Elder : Academire Primario Gulielmo Rabertson.
Architecto, Roberto Adam."
The ranges of buildings around the inner court
are in a plain but tasteful Grecian style, and have
an elegant stone balustrade, forming a kind of
paved gallery, which is interrupted only by the
entrance, and by flights of steps that lead to the
library, museum, the Senzte Hall, and various
class-rooms. At the angles on the west side are
spacious arcade piazzas, and in the centre is a fine
statue of Sir David Brewster.
At the Treaty of Union with England, and
when the Act of Security was passed, all the Acts
passed by the Scottish Parliament, defining the
rights, privileges, and imniunities of this and the
other universities of Scotland, were fully ratified ;
but its privileges and efficiency have been since
augmented by the Scottish Universities Act,
passed in 1858, making provision for their better
government and discipline, and for the improvement
and regulation of the course of study
therein.
It is now a corporation consisting of a chancellor,
who is elected for life by the General
Council, whose sanction must be given to all internal
arrangements, and through whom degrees
are conferred, and the first of whom was Lord
Brougham ; a vice-chancellor, who acts in absence
of :he former, and who has the duty of acting as
returning officer at Parliamentary elections, an3
the first of whom was Sir David Brewster; a
rector, who is elected by the matriculated students,
and whose term of office is three years, and among
whom have been William Ewart Gladstone, Thomas
Carlyle, Lord Moncneff, Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell,
and others ; a representative in Parliament, elected
in common with the University of St. Andrewsthe
first M.P. being Dr. Lyon Playfair.
After these come the university court, which
has the power of reviewing all the decisions of the
Senatus Academicus, the attention of professors as
to their modes, of teaching, Szc, the regulation of
class fees, the suspension and censure of professors,
the control of the pecuniary concerns of the
university, " including funds mortified for bursaries
and other purposes."
This court holds the patronage of the Chair of
Music, and a share in that of Agriculture, and it
consists of the rector, the principal, and six
assessors, one of whom is elected by the Town
CGuncil.
By the Act of 1858 the patronage of seventeen
cliairs, previously in the gift of the latter body,
was transferred to seven curators, who hold office
for three years. They also have the appointment
of the principal, who is the resident head of the
college for life.
He, with the whole of the professors, constitutes
the Senate, which is entrusted with the entire administration
of the university-its revenues, property,
library, museums, and buildings, &c.; and the business
is conducted by a secretary.
The chairs of the university are comprehended
in the four faculties, each of which is presided over
by a dean, elected from among the professors of
each particular faculty, and through whom the students
recommended for degrees are presented to
the Senatus.
The following is a list of the principals elected
since 1582, all of them famoils in literature or
art :-
1585. Robert Rollock.
1599. Henry Charteris.
1620. Patrick Sands.
1622. Robert Boyd.
1623. John Adamson.
1652. Williain Colville.
1653. Robert Leighton. '
1662. William Colville.
1675. Andrew Cant.
1685. Alexander Monro.
1690. Gilbert Rule.
1703. William Carstares.
1716. William Wishart.
1730. William Hamilton.
1732. James Smith.
1736. William Wishart recunlfus.
1754. John Gowdie.
1762. Willmm Robertson.
1793. Geo. Husband Baird.
1840. John Lee.
1859. Sir David Brewster.
1868. Sir Alex. Grant, Bart.
To attempt to enumerate all the brilliant alumni
who in their various Faculties have shed a glory
over the University of Edinburgh, would far
exceed our limits ; but an idea of its progress in
literature, science, and art, may be gathered from the
following enumeration of the professorships, with
the dates when founded, and the names of the first
ho!der of the chairs.
Those of Greek, Logic and Metaphysics, Moral
and Natural Philosophy, were occupied by the
regents in rotation from 1583, when Robert Rollock
was first Regent, till 1708.
3 FmuZzy of Arts.
Humanity, 1597. John Ray, Professor.
Mathematics, 1674. James Gregory.
Greek, 1708. William Scott.
Logic and Metaphysics, 1708.
Moral Philosophy, 1708. William Law.
Natural Philosophy, 1708. Robert Stewart.
Rhetoric, 1762. Hugh Blair.
Astronomy, 1786. Robert Biair.
Agriculture, 1790. Andrew Coventry.
Theory of Music, 1839. John Thornson.
Technology, 1855. George Wilson. (Abolished 18.59.)
Sanskrit, 1862. Theodor Aufrecht.
Engineering, 1868. Iileeming Jenkin.
Commercial Economy, 1871.
Education, 1876. Simon Lnurie.
Fine Arts, 1880. Baldwin Rrown.
Gmlogr~, 1871. Archibald Geikie.
Colin Druniinoiid.
W. B. Hodgson.
