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factors by the ears. Its clock is provided with a dial-plate of dimmed glass, which is lighted with gas from the inside after nightfall. Ascending the High Street, the

ROYAL EXCHANGE BUILDINGS

stand upon the right hand side of the way, opposite St. Giles's Cathedral. The Council Chamber for the meetings of the Magistracy, and various other apartments for the transaction of municipal business, occupy the side of the quadrangle opposite the entrance. Parties proposing to visit the Crown Room in the Castle, will here obtain orders of admission on the terms mentioned on page 55 of the present work. The spot where the city Cross formerly stood is now indicated by a radiated pavement about twenty-five yards from the entrance to the Exchange. It was demolished in 1756. the morning of the day when the workmen began their labours, 66 some gentlemen who had spent the night over a social bottle, caused wine and glasses be carried thither, mounted the ancient fabric, and solemnly drank its dirge."

"Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillar'd stone,

Rose on a turret octagon;

But now is razed that monument,

Whence royal edict rang,

And voice of Scotland's law was sent
In glorious trumpet clang.
O! be his tomb as lead to lead;
Upon its dull destroyer's head.
A minstrel's malison is said.”—

Marmion, canto v. st. 25.

On

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ST. GILES'S CATHEDRAL

is nearly opposite the Royal Exchange. It derives its name from its patron, St. Giles, abbot and confessor, the tutelar saint of Edinburgh. The date

* Mr. Stark, in his very accurate work, relates that the legend regarding St. Giles, describes him as "a native of Greece, born in the sixth century. On the death of his parents, he gave all his estate to the poor, and travelled into France, where he retired into the deep recess of a wilderness, near the conflux of the Rhone with the sea, and continued there for three years, living upon the spontaneous produce of the earth and the milk of a doe. Having obtained the reputation of extraordinary sanctity, various miracles were attributed to him; and he founded a monastery in Languedoc, long after known by the name of St. Giles. In the reign of James II., Mr. Preston of Gourton, a gentleman whose descendants still possess an estate in the county of Edinburgh, procured a supposed arm-bone of this holy man, which relic he

of its foundation is unknown. It is first mentioned in the year 1359, in a charter of David II. In 1466, it was made a collegiate church, and no fewer than forty altars were at this period supported within its walls. The Scottish poet, Gavin Douglas, (the translator of Virgil,) was for some time Provost of St. Giles. After the Reformation it was partitioned into four places of worship, and the sacred vessels and relics which it contained, including the arm-bone referred to in the preceding note, were seized by the Magistrates of the City, and the proceeds of their sale applied to the repairing of the building. In 1603, before the departure of James VI. to take possession of the throne of England, he attended divine service in this Church, after which he delivered a farewell address to his Scottish subjects, assuring them of his unalterable affection. "His words were often interrupted by the tears of the whole audience, who, though they exulted at the King's prosperity, were melted into sorrow by these tender declarations.' On the 13th October 1643, the Solemn League and Covenant was sworn to and subscribed within its walls by the Committee of Estates of Parliament, the Commission of the

most piously bequeathed to the Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh. In gratitude for this invaluable donation, the magistrates of the city, in 1454, considering that the said bone was 'freely left to oure moyer kirk of Saint Gele of Edinburgh, withoutyn ony condition makyn,' granted a charter in favour of Mr. Preston's heirs, by which the nearest heir of the name of Preston was entitled to the honour of carrying it in all public processions. This honour the family of Preston continued to enjoy till the Reformation."-Picture of Edinburgh, p. 217.

* ROBERTSON'S History of Scotland.

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