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Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V

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The Water of Leith.] EDINBURGH ACADEMY, 85 son Row. This useful and charitable institution was established in 1810, but the present house was founded on the 22nd of May, 1823, the stone being laid by one of the senior pupils, in presence of his voiceless companions, ? whose looks,? says the Edinburgh Advertiser, cc bespoke the feelings of their minds, and which would have been a sufficient recompense to the contributors for the building, had they been witnesses of the scene.? Children whose parents or guardians reside ? county, the Dean of Guild, and certain councillors. The committee of management of this institution is entirely composed of ladies. When digging the foundations of this edifice, in April, 1823, several rude earthen urns, containing human bones, were found at various depths under the surface. There were likewise discovered some vaults or cavities, formed of unhewn stone, which also contained human bones, but there were no inscriptions, carving, or accessory object, to indi- CANONMILLS LOCH AND HOUSE, 1830. C mm OII Oil ~.i~tiq&/. Kir;i) in Edinburgh or Leith are admissible as day scholars, and are taught the same branches of instruction as the other children, but on the payment of such fees as the directors may determine. The annual public examination of these deaf and dumb pupils takes place in summer, when visitors are invited to question them, by means of the manual alphabet, upon their knowledge of Scripture history and religion, English composition, geography, history, and arithmetic. There have also been Government examinations in drawing. A little way westward of this edifice stands the Dean Bank Institution, for the religious, moral, and industrial trainingof young girls, under the directorship of the Lord Provost, the sheriff of the cate the age to which these relics of pre-historic Edinburgh belonged. That great educational institution, the Edinburgh Academy, in Henderson Row, some two hundred and sixty yards north of St. Stephen?s Church, was founded on the 30th June, 1823, in a park feued by the directors from the governors of Heriot?s Hospital. In the stone were deposited a copper plate, with a long Latin inscription, and the names of the directors, with three bottles, containing a list of the contributors, maps of the city, and other objects. It was designed by Mr. William Burn, and is a somewhat low and plain-looking edifice, in the Grecian style, with a pillared portico, and is constructed with reference more to internal accom
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OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Canonmills. 86 modation than external display, and yet is not unsuited to the architecturally opulent district in its neighbourhood. The society which founded it had, by proprietary shares of E50 each, a capital of L ~ z , g o o , capable of being augmented to AI 6,000. Though similar in scope to the High School, it was at first more aristocratic in its plan or princiciples, which for a time rendered it less accessible to children of the middle classes, and has a longer period of study, and larger fees. There are a rector, masters for classics, French, and German, writing, mathematics, and English literature, and every other necessary branch. The Academy was incorporated by a royal charter from George IV., and is under the superintendence of a board of fifteen directors, three of whom are elected annually from the body of subscribers. The complete course of instruction given extends over seven years. The institution, which possesses a handsome public hall, a library, spacious class-rooms, and a large enclosed play-ground, is divided into two schools-the classical, adapted for boys destined for the learned professions, or who desire to possess a thorough classical training ; and the modem, intended for such as mean to take civil or military service, or enter on mercantile pursuits. In addition to special professional subjects of study, the complete course embraces every branch of knowledge now recognised as necessary for a liberal education. Though the Academy is little more than half; century old, yet so admirable has been the system pursued here, and so able have been the teachers in every department, that it has sent forth several of the most eminent men of the present day. Among them we may enumerate Dr. A. Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury ; Bishop Anderson of Rupert?s Land ; Sir Colin Blackburn, Justice of the Queen?s Bench ; Professor Edmonstone Aytoun; the late Earl of Fife; the Right Hon. Mountstuart E. Grant-Duff, M.P. for Elgin, and afterwards Governor of Madras. Among those who instituted this Academy in 1832 were Sir Walter Scott, Lord Cockburn, Skene of Rubislaw, Sir Robert Dundas, Bart., of Beechwood, and many other citizens of distinction. CHAPTER IX. CANONMILLS AND INVERLEITH. Canonmills-The Loch-Riots of &+-The Gymnasium-Tanfield Hall-German Church-Zmlogical Gardens-Powder Hall-Rosehank Cemetery-Red Rraes-The Crawfords of Jordanhill-Bonnington-BEhop Keith-The Sugar Refinery--Pilrig-The Balfour Family- Inverleith-Ancient Proprietors-The Tonri-The RocheidAld Lady Inverleith-General Crocket-Royal Botanical Gardens-Mr. James MacNab. THE ancient village of Canonmills lies within the old Barony of Broughton, and owes its origin to the same source as the Burgh of the Canoagate, having been founded by the Augustine canons of Holyrood, no doubt for the use of their vassals in Broughton and adjacent possessions ; but King David I. built for them, and the use of the inhabitants, a mill, the nucleus of the future village, which still retains marks of its very early origin, though rapidly being absorbed or surrounded by medern improvements. This mill is supposed to have been the massive and enormously buttressed edifice of which Wilson has preserved a view, at the foot ofthe brae, near Heriot?s Hill. It stood on the south side of the Water of Leith, being driven by a lade diverted from the former. By the agreement between the city and the directors of Heriot?s Hospital, when the mills were partly disposed of to the former, the city was ?bound not to prejudice the mills, but to allow those resident in the Barony to repair to them, and grind thereat, according to use and wont, and to help them to ane thirlage, so far as they can, and the same remain in their possession.? The Incorporation of Bakers in the Canongate were ?? thirled ? thither-that is, compelled to have their corn ground there, or pay a certain sum. About the lower end of the hollow, overlooked by the Royal Crescent now, there lay for ages the Canonmills Loch, where the coot and water-hen built their nests in the sedges, as at the North Loch ? and Duddingston ; it was a fair-sued sheet of water, ? the last portion of which was only drained recently, or shortly before the Gymnasium was formed. In 1682 there was a case before the Privy Council, when Alexander Hunter, tacksman of the Canonmills, was pursued by Peter de Bruis for demolishing a paper-mill he had erected there for the manufacture of playing-cards, of which he had a gift from the Council on 20th December, 1681, ? strictly prohibiting the importation of any such cards,? and allowing him a most exorbitant powm
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