272 EDINBURGH HOLYROOD HOUSE. sence, and even from her arms, dragging him through several rooms, pierced with their swords in fifty-six places. * We reached the fatal closet by the same back staircase, raised the same corner of the same tapestry, covering the narrow door in the thick wall, through which the murderers entered the queen's apartment. Traces of blood are visible on various parts of the floor. Our conductress observed, that the floor is scoured regularly once a week; and supposing it to have always been as well taken care of, that is 12,000 or 13,000 scourings since the murder;-yet the blood is there, and nothing can take it off! The gallery is decorated with a series of portraits of the sovereigns of Scotland, all evidently by the same hand, and much in the style of the kings and queens of a pack of cards. I do not know who the artist is; none of the elect, I believe. Yet Holbein, whose pictures hang on the walls of the connoisseurs, is not a better artist than this painter of the Scotch royalty. The garden is quite overgrown with weeds. The chapel, now unroofed, and in ruins, was deemed a model of the finest Gothic; its present desolate aspect suits the melancholy ensemble of the palace. I have taken a bird's eye view of it from Calton Hill, and of the singular hills called Salisbury Craig, and Arthur's Seat, behind the palace, with a few of the roofs of the old town below. The building for the records of title-deeds, &c. is well secured against fire, and very handsome. A lady artist has decorated it with a colossal statue * Hume's History. EDINBURGH-BRIDEWELL. 273 of his majesty, in white marble, which does more honour to the loyalty of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and their complaisance to the fair donor, than to their taste. By some strange accident an upper slice of the head, just all that part above the eyes, containing the brains, has been displaced, and laid by on a shelf, crown and all. It was probably originally an added piece, the block not being long enough, and has since come loose; but this accident might pass for a very improper joke. The advocates of Edinburgh have formed a very excellent library, filling six large rooms. The college has also a library much less considerable, and a cabinet of natural history, well arranged, but, as yet, in its infancy. August 18.-We have just seen the penitentiary house, constructed on a very ingenious plan ;- -a semicircular building, seven stories high, each containing fourteen cells, all open towards the common centre, which is like a great well open from top to bottom. A bow window, with lattices, repeated at each story, overlooks them all, and nothing can be done by the prisoners without being seen; they work solitary, and in silence, in these 98 cells; and at night sleep in other little rooms behind them. This tower, or rather section of a tower, is lighted by a sky light, and well ventilated. No bad smells,-no noise,-great order,—all as well as possible; except that the correction does not correct; and the same individuals are observed to return from time to time to enjoy again this philosophical retirement. A thing happened to us here which deserves to be mentioned. I had observed written over the door, an injunction not to give any money; but the woman who conducted us was so obliging, that I could not believe she 274 EDINBURGH HOUSES-LAND. did not expect some recompense for her trouble, and she received what I gave her without saying any thing; but when, on leaving the house, I was going to put something into the box for poor prisoners, the keeper said it was unnecessary, as the woman who had accompanied us had just put in the half crown I had given her! We had not seen her do it; she had disappeared immediately, and could have no motive of ostentation; nobody was present when she received the money. " Où la vertu va-t-elle se nicher !'" A large and convenient house in the best part of Edinburgh (Queen Street) built of freestone, has just been sold for L. 3000; another nearly equal, for L. 2500; and in inferior streets, very good houses may be had for L. 1800, or hired for L. 100 a-year, and about L. 30 taxes. A manservant L. 40 a-year; a woman-cook L. 12; a maid-servant L. 8. A carriage, including coachman, and every thing else, L. 250 a-year. Land in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, lets at the exorbitant price of L. 10 the Scotch acre; or feued lands, a perpetual lease, at L. 8 the English acre. High as it is, this permanent rent must become, in time, little more than nominal. All the arable land between Edinburgh and Berwick, lets between L. 5 and L. 6 an acre, (one-fifth more than the English acre). There being no tithes here to the clergy, nor poor's-rates, rents are of course high in proportion, or even higher. The farmers who have this rent to pay, must give also higher wages to their labourers, who have no parish assistance to depend upon,-18s. to 25s. a-week, equal to 3s. or 4s. a-day, instead of 2s. or 2s. 6d. generally paid in England. I do not understand how these farmers can live; yet they pay their rents as EDINBURGH THE POOR. 275 exactly as in England; and farms are in great request. The national habits of industry and frugality can alone account for their success. There are no public institutions here for the poor, not even for the old and infirm; no hospitals, but in the large towns. The destitute are assisted by voluntary contributions at the church doors, and private charity. I was informed by Mr A. of the following circumstance. Seventeen workmen were killed in a coal mine, by the accidental inflammation of hydrogen gas, and a greater number would have perished, if they had not been assisted immediately by the workmen of another mine in the vicinity. The latter raised among themselves a sum of L. 12, for the immediate assistance of the destitute families of those who had perished; and 32 young children left orphans, were immediately distributed among the neighbours and relations of the sufferers. Mr A. observed, at the same time, that there was more public spirit in England, and more individual charity in Scotland; the natural effect of different circumstances. During the nine days we have spent at Edinburgh, there has not been a single one without some showers of rain; but we are told it is after a long drought. The temperature of the air varies from 60° to 72°. It is strange to see the women going about the streets barefooted, on the pavement, which is very smooth, but continually wet; they are in other respects cleanly dressed, even with gloves on, and an umbrella. The fish-market is supplied by women, who come some miles with enormous loads of fish on their backs, strapped across the breast. Their husbands are out all night in their boats, catching these fish, with 276 EDINBURGH-FISH-WOMEN. which the women leave home at break of day. They look strong, healthy, and very cheerful, singing along the road; but in general remarkably ugly; and among the lower people in Scotland, the sex is certainly not beautiful. Pennant says of another part of Scotland, "the tender sex (I blush for the Caithnesians) are the only animals of burthen. They turn their patient backs to the dunghills, and receive in their keises or baskets, as much as their lords and masters think fit to fling in with their pitchforks, and then trudge to the fields in droves of sixty or seventy." I might, however, furnish a companion to this picture; for I recollect to have seen in France, that land of gallantry, a woman and an ass harnessed together to the same plough, and the tattered peasant behind stimulating his team with a seemingly impartial whip. We have reason to be grateful for the hospitality shewn us at Edinburgh, and we do not leave it without regret. Aug. 21.-Hamilton. We left Edinburgh yesterday morning. The first six miles were through a very fine rich country, well wooded, and full of gentlemen's houses; after that came extensive moors and waste lands, over which cultivation is encroaching here and there. At Lanark, 32 miles, we took a hasty dinner, and walked to the falls of the Clyde, three miles. Like all the Scotch rivers, the Clyde is a torrent, rolling its coffee-coloured, yet limpid waters, along a bed of rocks, deeply sunk between perpendicular banks, or walls of rocks, 150 feet high, with bold projections and indentments. An easy path follows the brink of this precipice; the other side of the chasm, rising in full view, is as high, or higher. You soon come |