master.

I., who reigned from 1001 to 1038. The story, as commonly related, goes on to state that one of the brothers, Edmund (or, as some call him, Edwin), married a daughter of the Hungarian king, but died without issue; and that the other, Edward, married Agatha, the daughter of the Emperor Henry II. and the sister of Queen Sophia, the wife of Solomon. Here again there must be some great mistake; for the Emperor Henry II. never had any children. Who Agatha really was, therefore, it is impossible to say. She bore to her husband, besides Edgar, two daughters, Margaret and Christina.

Edgar, as well as his sisters, must have been born in Hungary; but the year of his birth has not, we believe, been recorded. His father, after an exile of forty years, was sent for to England, in 1057, by his uncle King Edward the Confessor, who professed an intention of acknowledging him as next heir to the crown: the Outlaw accordingly came to this country with his wife and children, but he was never admitted to his uncle's presence, and he died shortly after, not without the suspicion of foul play, which one hypothesis attributes to Earl Harold, another to the duke of Normandy. There is nothing like proof, however, of the guilt of either. The event in the mean time was generally considered as placing young Edgar in the position of his father as heir to the crown; and it seems to have been now that the title of the Atheling (which had been borne by his father) was assumed by or conferred upon him. He was at any rate the Confessor's nearest relation; and if Edmund Ironside, from whom he sprung, was illegitimate, as some have supposed, the circumstance of his having worn the crown seems to have been regarded as scendants into the regular line of the succession. All Edmund's brothers and half-brothers, with the exception of the reigning king, had perished, most of them having been cut off by Canute and the other kings of the Danish stock; and the Confessor himself and his grandnephew, young Edgar, were now the only remaining male descendants of Ethelred II.

story told in the Saxon chronicle and elsewhere of his having been rowed in his barge on the Dee by the eight subject kings of Scotland, Cumberland, Anglesey with the Isle of Man and the Hebrides, Westmoreland, Galloway, North, South, and Middle Wales, is well known. It is also affirmed that the greater part of Ireland had submitted to his authority. The dominion which he arrogated to himself appears in fact not to have been inferior to what we find claimed for him by his panegyrists. Among the titles assumed by him on his seals and in charters are-Edgarus Anglorum Basileus, omniumque regum insularum oceani quae Britanniam circumjacent, cunctarumque nationum quae infra eam includuntur, Imperator et Dominus'-'Rex et Primicerius tocius Albionis'-Basileus dilectae insulae Albionis, subditis nobis sceptris Scottorum, Cumbrorumque, atque Brittonum, et omnium circumcirca regionum,' &c. These pompous and boastful titles,' observes Mr. Turner, 'sometimes run to the length of fifteen or eighteen lines.' Much difficulty in believing that this assumption of power had any real foundation is occasioned by the absence of any record or notice of the subjugation of the more important of these neighbouring kingdoms by any of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs. What event ever happened for instance that could possibly have induced the king of Scotland to acknowledge himself in this manner as the vassal of the king of England? The pacific character claimed for the reign of Edgar, who is said never to have had occasion to draw the sword against an enemy, makes it still more difficult to understand how he should thus have compelled all his neighbours to do him homage, and take him for their lord and The monkish writers, with whom Edgar is such a favour-sufficient to wipe away the stain, and to bring his deite, have not altogether concealed the fact that he was no saint in his morals. Even Lingard seems to admit that one story is tolerably well authenticated, which attributes to him the violation of a lady of noble birth, and that too while she was resident in a convent. Another is told of his having, on one occasion, ordered one of his nobles, whose guest he was, to give him his daughter for a bedfellow, and of the young lady's honour having been saved by her Edgar was still in England when the Confessor died in mother substituting for her a handsome slave, with whom January, 1066; but he was yet very young, and appeared the king was so well pleased that, after discovering the de- to be feeble in mind as well as in body, and therefore was ception, he took her to court and retained her for some years in nowise fitted either to take a part, or to be used as an as his favourite mistress. He was twice married, first to instrument by others, in the first tumult of the contest in Elfleda the Fair, by whom he had a son, Edward, who suc- which two such energetic spirits as Harold and the Norman ceeded him; and, secondly, to Elfrida, the daughter of William now proceeded to try their strength. Insignificant Ordgar, Earl of Devonshire, who bore him Edmund, who as he was, however, from his personal endowments, the died in his infancy, and Ethelred, for whom his infamous Atheling derived an importance from his descent and his mother opened a way to the throne by the murder of Ed- position which afterwards occasioned him to be conspiward. The circumstances of the marriage of Edgar and El-cuously brought forward on various occasions, and has frida-the commission given by the king to Ethelwold to made him an historic character. On the destruction of the visit the lady and ascertain the truth of the reports of her power of Harold at the battle of Hastings, he was actually beauty-the treachery of Ethelwold, who represented her to proclaimed king by the citizens of London; but on the aphis royal master as unworthy of her fame, and then married proach of the Conqueror, he was one of the first to go to her himself the discovery by her and Edgar of the deceit that him at Berkhamstead and to offer full submission. He had been practised on both of them-and the subsequent then took up his residence at the court of William, who assassination by the king of his unfaithful emissary- are allowed him to retain the earldom of Oxford, which had related by Malmsbury on the faith of an antient ballad. been bestowed upon him by Harold. When the Conqueror There is nothing in the character either of Elfrida or Edgar the following year visited his Norman dominions, we find that need occasion us any difficulty in believing the story. him taking the Atheling in his train. In 1068, however Edgar, for some reason which does not clearly appear, (the Saxon Chronicle says in 1067, but see a note upon the was not solemnly crowned till the fourteenth year after he discrepancy of the authorities as to this and other dates in succeeded to the throne. The ceremony was performed at Lord Hailes's Annals, A.D. 1068), Edgar appears to have Akemanceastre, that is, Bath, on the 11th of May, 973. He fallen into the hands of the discontented Northumbrian lived only two years longer, dying in 975, when he was suc-lords Maerleswegen (or Marleswine), Cospatric, and others, ceeded by his eldest son Edward, afterwards designated the Martyr.

EDGAR ATHELING, that is, Edgar of the blood royal, or Prince Edgar, as we should now say. [ATHELING.] The personage commonly understood in English history by this title is Edgar, the grandson of King Edmund Ironside through his son Edward surnamed the Outlaw. Edward and his brother had been sent from England by Canute in 1017, the year after his accession, to his half-brother Olave, king of Sweden, by whom it was probably intended that they should be made away with; but Olave spared the lives of the children, and had them removed to the court of the king of Hungary. All the English historians make the Hungarian king by whom they were received to be Solomon; but this must be a mistake, for that king did not ascend the throne till 1062, and was only born in 1051. The king of Hungary at the time when the children of Edmund Ironside were sent to that country was Stephen

who, deserting the Norman conqueror, carried the heir of the Saxon line and his mother and sisters with them to the court of the Scottish King Malcolm Canmore. This movement was attended with important consequences. Malcolm soon after married Edgar's eldest sister Margaret, and of this marriage came Matilda, whose union (A.D. 1100) with Henry I. of England was the first step towards the reconcilement of the Saxon and Norman races. Meanwhile Edgar and his friends were followed to Scotland by many other Saxon fugitives, who were the means of introducing into that country much of the superior civilization of the southern part of the island. A connection between Scotland and Hungary appears also to have arisen out of this flight of Edgar and the subsequent marriage of his sister with the Scottish king.

It was not intended however by Cospatric and his associates that Scotland should serve them merely as a place of refuge. A powerful confederacy was immediately formed

EDGEHILL. [CHARLES I. OF ENGLAND.] EDGEWORTH, RICHARD LOVELL, an ingenious mechanical philosopher, but better known as the father and literary associate of Maria Edgeworth, was born at Bath, in 1744. He was descended from an English family, which had settled in Ireland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and resided at Edgeworth-town, in the county of Longford, where his boyhood was chiefly spent. A hasty marriage, contracted at the age of nineteen, while he was an under-graduate of Corpus College, Oxford, cut short his studies at that university, and led him to return home; but in 1765, intending to be called to the bar, he came to England, and took a house at Hare Hatch, between Maidenhead and Reading. During his visits to London to keep his terms, he became acquainted with Sir Francis Delaval and other gay and sporting men of the day, concerning whom a number of anecdotes are preserved in Mr. Edgeworth's autobiography. In that society he was distinguished by a high flow of spirits, and an uncommon share of that activity and ingenuity which adapts itself to the lighter pursuits of social amusement as readily as to higher and more serious purposes. At home he was chiefly occupied in prosecuting a variety of ingenious mechanical contrivances, among which we nay mention the first erection of a telegraph in England, originating in a bet relative to the speedy transmission of racing news from Newmarket to London. During this residence in Berkshire he became acquainted with the eccentric philanthropist Thomas Day, with whom he lived in the closest friendship. His mechanical pursuits introduced him to Dr. Darwin, and subsequently to Watt and Bolton, Wedgwood, and other eminent scientific men. In 1769, by his father's death, he came into possession of a handsome, fortune and gave up the intention of following the law as a profession.

against the English king, in which they and their protégé | thing like romance on record, and the narrative of his life Edgar were associated with the men of Northumberland may be quoted as a curious instance of the interest that will and Sweyn Estridsen the king of Denmark. The united be sometimes awakened by the position and fortunes of an forces of these several powers stormed the castle of York on individual however personally insignificant. the 22nd of October, 1069, and put the Norman garrison to EDGE. [ARRIS.] the sword; on which, according to some authorities, Edgar Atheling was a second time actually proclaimed king. But the approach of William soon compelled him to fly for his life, and he again took refuge in Scotland. Here he appears to have remained inactive till the year 1073, when he was again induced to engage in a scheme for annoying the English king at the instigation of Philip king of France, who invited him to come to that country, promising to give him some place of strength from which he might attack either England or Normandy. Edgar on this set out with a few ships; but he was wrecked in a storm on the coast of Northumberland, from which he with difficulty made his escape for the third time to Scotland, in a state of almost complete destitution. He was now advised by his brotherin-law Malcolm to make his peace with William; and that king having received his overtures favourably, he proceeded to England, where William gave him an apartment in his palace, and a daily allowance of a pound of silver for his support. In this state of dependence he remained for some years; but at length he seems to have gone over to Normandy, where, after the death of the Conqueror, his son Duke Robert made the Saxon prince a grant of some lands. The grant, however, for some reason which does not appear, was soon resumed, and the Atheling was compelled, for the fourth time, to betake himself to Scotland in 1091. In the end of the same year it is related that a peace was effected by the good offices of Edgar and Duke Robert between Malcolm and William Rufus, when their armies were met and ready to engage, in Lothene or Loidis (that is, most probably, the part of Scotland now called Lothian, then considered as a part of England). On this occasion Edgar was reconciled to the English king, and he again took up his abode at the court of William. In January, 1092, however, Duke Robert and he suddenly withdrew together to Normandy; and not long after Malcolm and William were again at war. The Scottish king fell in a conflict with an English force commanded by Robert de Moubray near Alnwick on the 13th November, 1093; his eldest son Edward was slain with him; and his Queen, the sister of Edgar Atheling, died three days after, having only survived to learn the loss of her husband and her son. Immediately after this we read of Edgar securing the children of his deceased brother-law and sister from the attempts of their uncle, Donald Bane, who had usurped the Scottish throne, and conveying them to a place of safety in England, a circumstance that would apparently imply that he had himself returned to that country from Normandy, and once more secured the protection of the English king. Here he seems to have remained during the remainder of the reign of Rufus. In 1097 he is recorded to have raised, with the approbation and aid of that king, a body of troops, and marched with them into Scotland, where he drove Donald Bane from the throne, and placed on it his nephew Edgar, the son of Malcolm. One account makes him to have immediately after this joined his old friend Robert duke of Normandy in the Holy Land with a force of 20,000 men, collected from all parts of England and Scotland; but this part of his story is neither well supported, nor very probable in itself. It is certain however that on the breaking out of the war between Henry I. and his brother Robert, a few years after the accession of the former to the English throne, Edgar was found on the side of Robert, although the recent marriage of his sister to Henry might be supposed to have attached him to the interests of that prince. He was one of the prisoners taken by Henry at the decisive battle of Tinchbrai on the 27th of September, 1106, in which Robert finally lost his dukedom and his liberty. The victor however treated the Saxon prince with more lenity or contempt than he showed in his treatment of his own brother. Soon after being brought to England, Edgar was restored to liberty; and some accounts state that he subsequently visited Palestine. But the remainder of his history is very obscure. Malmsbury only informs us, without specifying any date of his decease, that he died in England after having lived to a good old age, without ever having been married or having had any issue, leaving behind him the character of a weak but inoffensive and well-intentioned man. He has certainly the distinction of being about the most insipid hero of any

Mr. Edgeworth returned to Ireland in 1782, with the firm determination,' he says, 'to dedicate the remainder of his life to the improvement of his estate and the educa tion of his children, and with the sincere hope of contributing to the amelioration of the inhabitants of the country from which he drew his subsistence.' To this resolution, during the remaining thirty-five years of his life, he steadily adhered; devoting his best powers to the useful performance of his duties as a magistrate, a landlord, and a father. He was an active and influential member of the Irish Volunteers, and continued, after their dissolution, and through life, a steady advocate of reform in parliament. He was a member of the last Irish house of commons, and spoke and voted in opposition to the Union. Retaining the ardent spirit of his youth, he engaged in a variety of projects for reclaiming bogs, establishing a system of telegraphic communication, experiments on the construction of carriages, moveable railroads, &c. In the cultivation of his estate and in the management of his tenantry he was skilful, prudent, and humane: and in his 'Memoirs' (vol. 2, chap. ii.) may be found an instructive account of the difficulties to be met and the patience requisite in effecting any real improvement in the condition of the Irish peasantry. His judicious and discriminating kindness and his acknowledged impartiality as a magistrate (a rare quality then in Ireland) gained their sincere affection, insomuch that in the insurrection of 1798, though he was absent and assisting with his corps of yeomanry in the defence of Longford, his house at Edgeworthtown was visited by the rebels, and yet was preserved uninjured and untouched. He died June 13, 1817, after an old age of unusual activity and power of enjoyment.

Mr. Edgeworth married four wives, by all of whom he had children. The number of his children, and their unusual difference in age, a difference amounting, between the eldest and youngest, to more than forty years, gave him unusual opportunities of trying experiments in edu cation, and watching their results. His family were brought up almost entirely at home, and with an unusual degree of parental care. The results of his experience were made public in 1798, in Practical Education,' a treatise written principally by Miss Edgeworth, but partly by himself; and based on his theory of education, his

or Mid-Lothian, and the capital of Scotland, is situated in 55° 57′ 20′′ N. lat., and 3° 10' 30" W. long., about 392 miles north from London. It stands upon a group of hills separated by deep depressions, and is at once the site and the scene of views of great beauty and grandeur. On the highest of the hills the Old Town is built; the summit of the hill forms a street upwards of a mile long, ascending in nearly a straight line from the palace of Holyrood on the east, about 120 feet above the level of the sea to the Castle, which is elevated upwards of 380 feet above the same level, and is accessible only on the eastern side, all the others being nearly perpendicular. The view from this height is singularly varied and grand; the spectator is in the midst of an amphitheatre of hills. On the east are the Calton Hill, Salisbury Craigs, and Arthur's Seat, rising 822 feet above the level of the sea; and on the west are the Pentland range, and the woody eminence of Corstorphine. Below, on the north, are the noble mansions of the New Town, the Frith of Forth, with its ports and shipping, and the counties on the opposite coasts to the Highland hills; a landscape forming a beautiful contrast with the rich open country which spreads before us on the south to the hills of Berwickshire and the borders, till at length the eye rests upon the Braid Hills.

and one of the earliest additions to the town after the erection of the city-wall in the middle of the fifteenth century. Over this street the South Bridge, and more lately King George the Fourth's Bridge, are thrown, to connect the Old Town with the South Side or Southern Districts. These districts mostly stand upon a rising ground, which is here closely adjacent to the Old Town ridge, but neither so elevated, so limited in extent, nor so steep in its descent, as that hill. From its western side, however, there runs a hill of a different character, and thence called the High Riggs. It is separated from the Castle-hill by a spacious street called the Grass Market, and on it are built Heriot's Hospital and the neighbouring suburb of Portsburgh. On a line with the South Bridge is the North Bridge, thrown from the summit of the Old Town ridge, at the middle of the High-street, to the rising ground which forms the site of the New Town. This ground partakes much of the character of the Old Town ridge, and terminates like it in a bold rock, namely the Calton Hill; but the aspect of the houses is wholly different: for having been erected according to regular plans conceived in a spirit of improvement, the greatest regularity and beauty characterize its buildings, streets, and squares. From the earth and rubbish thrown from the foundation of the New Town buildings, the Earthen Mound was formed as a communication across the morass which lies between the Old and New Town.

Edinburgh is supposed to have derived its name from Edwin, a king of Northumberland in the time of the Heptarchy. Simeon of Durham mentions the town of Edwinesburch as existing in the middle of the eighth century; and in the charter of foundation of the abbey of Holyrood, in the year 1128, King David I. calls it his burgh of Ed-ever, a place of little strength, and derives its interest winesburg, whence we infer it was then a royal burgh. The historians of Edinburgh say that the first parliament held in the city was on the accession of King Alexander II.; but upwards of half a century previous, we find a concordia,' or agreement, entered into between the bishop of St. Andrews and the abbot of Dunfermline, apud Castellum Puellarum (a name long bestowed on Edinburgh Castle), in presence of the king, Prince Henry his son, and their barons (Connell On Tithes, App. No. 1), which we apprehend was no other than an as-embly of the great council of the nation. The castle was then perhaps the chief building and place of concourse in the city; and in the reign of King Malcolm IV., Geoffrey de Maleville, of Maleville Castle, in the shire of Edinburgh, was vicecomes de Castrum Puellarum, meaning thereby, no doubt, sheriff of the shire, in like manner as Macbeth, the earliest sheriff in the shire of Perth, was styled sheriff of Scone. The abbey of Holyrood, however, was growing into importance. In 1177 a national council was held there on the arrival of the legate Vivian, to determine the dispute between the English and Scottish clergy; and it is not unlikely that its neighbourhood early became a royal residence.

The city appears to have remained open and defenceless till about the middle of the fifteenth century, when, on the representations of the provost and community, King James II. granted the citizens' full license and leiff to fosse, bulwark, wall, tour, turate, and other ways to strength the burgh, in quhat maner of wise or degree that beis sene maist spedeful to thaim.' The same king soon afterwards granted a charter to the city confirming to it the privilege of holding therein the antient and important court of Four Boroughs, sicut à temporibus retroactis tenebatur.' His successor, grateful for the interest which the citizens had shown in his behalf when he was at variance with his nobles, erected the city into a sheriffdom within itself, and presented to the incorporated trades a banner or standard, which has since been known by the name of the Blue Blanket, and is still preserved. King James IV. patronized the erection of its first printing-press; and in the succeeding reign it became the undisputed capital of the kingdom; the seat of the royal palace, of the parliament, and of the superior courts of justice.

The accession of King James VI. to the throne of England put a temporary stop to the progress of the town; but at the Union the spirit of improvement revived, and has continued to our own day.

Edinburgh is divided into three principal parts: the Old Town, the South Side, or Southern Districts, and the New Town; each of which has its own peculiar features and character. The Old Town is intersected by the street previously mentioned: on each side descend in regular lines a multitude of narrow wynds, closes, and styles, which on the south lead for the most part into the Cowgate, a confined street running along the southern base of the hill,

Among the chief buildings of the city is the Castle, which is the most antient part of the city, and must have been of considerable importance in former times. It is now, howchiefly from the associations connected with it and its own formidable appearance. At no great distance from the Castle stands the Parliament House, with the courts of justice. In the first of these the parliament of Scotland met between the time of its erection in 1640 and the Union. The hall now forms the Outer House of the Court of Session, and in its immediate neighbourhood are rooms appropriated to the Inner House and to the courts of Justiciary and Exchequer. The valuable library of the faculty of adVocates occupied till lately the ground-floor of the Parlia ment House. A considerable part still remains there; but adjacent buildings have been erected not only for it, but also for the library of the writers to the signet. The courts of the sheriff and justices of the peace are held in the county hall, an elegant building of recent erection, close by the range of building which contains the library of the writers to the signet. The antient Gothic fabric, formerly the cathedral of St. Giles, is also in this neighbourhood; from between the arches which constitute the imperial crown that rests upon its lofty tower, there is an interesting view of the city and surrounding country. On the opposite side of the street is the Royal Exchange, with the common council-room and other offices of the magistracy; and in the centre of the street, a little way down, is a radiated causeway to mark the site of the old market cross, where proclamations used to be made and offenders punished. At the foot of the High Street stands one of the oldest stone houses in Edinburgh, the house of the great Scottish reformer, John Knox; and on the front wall, to the west, is a figure in alto rilievo pointing to a radiated stone, whereon is sculptured the name of the Deity in Greek, Latin, and English. Below this is the Canongate, at the foot of which are the palace and abbey of Holyrood, whose extensive precincts constitute a sanctuary for insolvent debtors. On the summit of the Calton Hill, which rises in the immediate neighbourhood, and commands a delightful prospect of the Forth and surrounding scenery, some columns of the National Monument have been erected, and stand in solitary grandeur. Near them are the observatory and the monuments to Dugald Stewart and Playfair. On the low ground, towards the west, are the bridewell and gaol; and in the same line, at a point nearly equidistant from the palace and castle, stands the Register House, where the public records of the kingdom are preserved, and what is almost peculiar to this part of the empire, theregister of all deeds conveying or charging territorial property.

The city churches are properly 13 in number, among which the most deserving of notice are St. Giles's, St. George's, St. Andrew's, St. Stephen's, and St. Mary's: but to these are to be added St. Cuthbert's or West Kirk, the Canongate Church, and various chapels belonging to the establishment. The elegant Gothic edifices, St. Paul's, St. Giles's, and St. George's chapels, belonging to the episcopal communion, are also deserving of attention, and the Roman

Catholic chapel at the head of Leith Walk. The Roman | the citizens; the remaining eight, who are called extra deaCatholics have another chapel in the town, and at the head of Bruntisfield Links, a convent of nuns, attached to which is an establishment at Milton House, in the Canongate. Edinburgh has some noble hospitals and charitable institutions. Among these are the Royal Infirmary, erected on a rising ground in the neighbourhood of the college; Heriot's Hospital, already mentioned; Watson's Hospitals, Merchant-Maiden and Trades'-Maiden Hospitals, Orphan Hospital, and Gillespie's Hospital; Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Asylum for the Blind, Magdalen Asylum, and Lunatic Asylum. Most of the banking-houses of Edinburgh are large edifices: such, in particular, are the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank, and the Commercial Bank.

The public amusements of Edinburgh are limited, and do not, generally speaking, succeed. The habits of the people are domestic; and the professional and literary, not less than the religious character which prevails, does not accord with the occupations of the theatre and assembly-rooms. Printing, shawl-making, and coach-building, are carried on with much success; but the manufactures of Edinburgh are of no great importance. The city however is well situated both for water and fuel, which might be made available for manufactures. They have been of essential consequence to the comfort of the inhabitants; and notwithstanding the variable climate, there are few, if any, diseases to which the residents of Edinburgh can be said to be peculiarly liable. The situation of the place is favourable to health and energy, and the mortality, it is believed, is small in proportion to the population. The city returns two members to parliament.

Until a comparatively recent period, Edinburgh was a place of very limited extent. The contiguous country, which has now been made to form a part of the capital, comprehends various places antiently subject to different jurisdictions, and which have as yet continued municipally disunited, except for the purpose of returning members to parliament under the recent Reform Act. Besides various districts subject only to the jurisdiction of the county sheriff, the boundaries fixed by the Reform Act include

within their limits

1. The Royalty of Edinburgh. 2. The Burgh of Regality of Canongate. 3. The Burgh of Barony of Portsburgh, Easter and Wester. 4. Calton.

cons, are not called councillors, but have a vote in the council in all cases where the money in question exceeds 17. 138. 4d. (201. Scots). For the purposes of the election the city is divided into wards or districts. One-third part of the councillors go out of office every year, but are eligible for re-election. The provost, baillies, treasurer, and other office-bearers, are elected by the councillors. The provost's term of office is three years, and he is eligible for immediate re-election. The other office-bearers go out at the expiration of one year, and cannot be re-elected until each shall have been out of his particular office one year; but this does not prevent their being kept in the council from year to year by their being elected to fill the different oflices in succession.

None but burgesses or freemen of the burgh are entitled to carry on trade or manufactures within the bounds. There are eight incorporated crafts within the burgh, all enjoying exclusive privileges and possessed of funds which are appropriated to the support of decayed members or the widows of such as are deceased. These crafts are hammermen, tailors, wrights, bakers, shoemakers, weavers, fleshers, and barbers: the number of burgesses has not been ascertained, but is estimated to amount to about 400. The magistrates grant temporary licenses to trade to persons not freemen, and charge for such licenses from 5s. to 108. per annum.

From an early period the property of the burgh has been administered very improvidently. In 1658 the debt of the city was stated to amount to 54,7617. sterling, and in 1692 had increased to 64,2507. In 1819, when the affairs of Edinburgh were examined by a Committee of the House of Commons, the actual debts of the city were stated to amount to 497,101. including 264,2587. incurred on account of the Leith docks; and in 1833 a statement was drawn up under the authority of the magistrates and council which gave the amount of ordinary debts and obligations of the city at 425,194., in which amount the engagements on account of the Leith docks are not included.". The revenue of the city, as stated under the same authority, amounted then to 27,5247., and its annual current expenditure to upwards of 33,000l. Under these circumstances, the city was declared insolvent, and an act was passed in August, 1833, conveying its whole properties and revenues to trustees for the general benefit, whereby they were preserved from the legal attacks of individual creditors. Some circumstances connected with the accounts of the city have been published, which have subjected the members of its government to much censure. Among these circumstances, it may be stated that the late Dr. Bell having bequeathed a considerable fund for the purposes of education, a sum of 10,0007. 3 per cent. stock was placed in the hands of the magistrates and council in trust to apply the dividends to the support of a school or schools in Edinburgh on the principles of the Madras system. Being pressed by a clamorous creditor for the payment of his claim, this stock was sold, and the greater part of the proceeds appropriated to prevent a blow-up in the city's affairs, and to enable them to continue the existing system a little longer.'

The existence of Edinburgh as a king's burgh may be traced to the reign of David I., and before the middle of the twelfth century. At a very early period it was one of those burghs royal whose magistrates constituted the Court of Four Burghs; and by a charter dated in 1452 king James II. conferred on it the privilege of being exclusively the seat of that court: the other three burghs were Stirling, Linlithgow, and Lanark. In 1482 the valuable right of sheriffship within the bounds of the burgh was given by James III., and this jurisdiction was confirmed by succeeding monarchs. A general charter of confirmation was granted to Edinburgh by James VI. in 1603; and another charter, known under the name of Novo Damus, was the gift of Charles I. in 1636. These charters specify Leith and Newhaven as belonging to the burgh, and detail the markets, tolls, and customs, which constitute a part of the common good,' for the protection of which a comprehensive jurisdiction is conferred. Other grants and charters were afterwards obtained at different times from the crown, prior to the Union in 1707; but not any of these created any substantial change in the political or municipal constitution of the burgh. Since the Union, and more particularly within ́ the last fifty years, various acts of parliament have been The population of the Shire of Edinburgh passed for extending the bounds of the royalty, and for pur- at these four periods, including the capi poses of police. By a charter of George III. in 1794, the tal, was . provost, who by previous charters was sheriff and coroner, was constituted lord-lieutenant of the county of the city. Previous to the late Scotch Burgh Reform Act, Edinburgh was governed by a close corporation, the members of which constantly re-elected each other; but by that act (3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 76), the right of election to corporate offices was declared to be in all those persons who are entitled to vote for members of parliament.

The population of the city of Edinburgh and the suburbs, which together constitute the capital, were at each census of the present century as follows:

The government of the city of Edinburgh is vested in the magistracy and town council. The magistracy consists of a lord provost, a dean of guild, a treasurer, and four baillies, each of whom is ex officio a member of the council. The council consists of seventeen merchants, six deacons, and two trades' councillors, in all twenty-five; the six deacons are selected from among fourteen who are elected by

Parishes in the city

the suburbs, including Can-
ongate and St. Cuthbert's
North and South Leith

.

1801. 1811. 1821 1831, 20,658 22,578 29,850 40.315 45,886 59,206 82,385 95,379 15,272 20,363 26,000 25,855

81,816 102,147 138,235 161,909

122,954 148,607 191,514 219,345

The further particulars obtained at the census of 1831 exhibit the following results:

Houses inhabited
building
uninhabited.

Families

employed chiefly in agriculture

city. 10,179 95 582 35,116

Edinburgh Remainder Total

of county.

9,563

19,744

55

150

527 12,299

1,109 47,415

563

in trade, manufac-
tures, &c.
all not comprised in the two preced-
ing classes

3,076

3,639

21,034

Males
Females.

Males 20 years of age and upwards
Female servants

Edinburgh contains the supreme courts of justice for