EDINBURGH. "Caledonia's Queen is chang'd, THE Edinburgh- the "Dun-Edin" the "Auld Reekie," thus apostrophized in the Introduction to Marmion-is now within fourteen hours' distance of the Great Metropolis! A revolution has occurred, in time and space, the full consequences of which no one can predict. All those social influences which result from frequent intercourse between town and town, or between state and state-all that follows on interchange of thought and interchange of produce-will be now presented to us more rapidly, by the iron roads of the north, than at any former period. There have been three great stages in the process which has made Englishmen acquainted with Edinburgh, and with Scotland generally. The Rebellion of 1745, Walter Scott, and the Railways, mark these stages. There are others of minor import; but it is impossible, in this point of view, to lose sight of the peculiar influence of those now mentioned. That the attempt made by the grandson of James II., commonly known as the Young Pretender, to regain the throne of his forefathers in 1745, was a means, though an unforeseen one, of bringing England and Scotland into closer intimacy than before, is plain from the details given in histories of the period. From the time of the union of the two countries, in 1707, Edinburgh had been almost a terra incognita to Englishmen the centre of honour, and power, and patronage, and political influence, was London; and no one seemed, unless from urgent motives, to think of going thence to Edinburgh. But after the chequered fortunes of the war of the Rebellion in 1745-6, the Government found it necessary to be better acquainted with their northern dominions. Roads were cut, settled habits were encouraged, manufactures began to spring up, the Highland clan-system gradually lost some of its force, Scotch cattle-rearers and English VOL. II. cattle-dealers engaged in more frequent transactions along the border counties, and English travellers began more commonly to bend their steps towards the lochs and mountains of the north. That Sir Walter Scott has opened up-not only to England but to all the world- scenes which were before like a sealed book, can still less be doubted. The vivid description of places, buildings, persons, and events, scattered through his novels and poems, have made a deeper impression on his readers than any sober histories or topographies could have done. Not a year passes without seeing numbers flocking from England and other countries to Scotland, to visit scenes which they would probably never have heard of but for Scott. Who does not know something about Holyrood and the Canongate, the Cowgate, and the Grass-market, and the Tolbooth, at Edinburgh? Who is not familiar with Loch Katrine, and its 'Lady of the Lake;' Loch Lomond, with its 'Rob Roy's Country;' Loch Leven, with the place of poor Queen Mary's incarceration; Fifeshire, with the scenes of the old Antiquary' and 'Edie Ochiltree;' the Solway, and its stirring associations with Redgauntlet?' If visited, they are examined with eager curiosity; if yet unvisited, they have still a place in the mind: they are bright spots, which we yearn to look upon some day or other. We can no more shake off the belief that the 'Lady' did live on Loch Katrine,-that Marmion did assemble his adherents on the hills southward of Edinburgh, that Jeannie Deans did meet Geordie Robertson at a spot just by Arthur's Seat; we can with scarcely more ease shake off this abiding faith, than that Richard fought at Bosworth Field, or that Queen Elizabeth went to Tilbury Fort. It is no guess-work to say that Scott's writings have wrought this feeling beyond the limits of his own country. Soon after the publication of the Lady of the Lake,' a letter, written by Mr. Cadell, contained the following remarks:"Crowds set off to view the scenery of Loch Katrine, till then comparatively unknown; and as the book came out just before the season for excursions, every house and inn in that neighbourhood was crammed with a constant succession of visitors. It is a wellascertained fact, that from the date of the publication of the Lady of the Lake,' the post-horse duty in Scotland rose in an extraordinary degree; and, indeed, it continued to do so, regularly, for a number of years, the author's succeeding works keeping up the enthusiasm for all scenery which he had thus originally created." That the extension of the railway system is drawing still closer the ties that bind England to Scotland, and the attractions which draw Englishmen towards the north, is so obvious as scarcely to need proof. Until 1847, a notable link was wanting. The Edinburgh F and Glasgow Railway has been opened for some years; there have also been scraps of lines in other quarters -from Glasgow to Greenock, Ayr, and Kilmarnock; from Edinburgh to Dalkeith, Leith, and Musselburgh; from Dundee to Arbroath, and to Forfar. But these were all Scottish: no line of rails crossed the Cheviot Hills, or the debateable 'border-land,' or the Tweed, or the Solway. We have at length, however, on the east coast, the North British Railway, running from Edinburgh to Berwick, there to join, by a bridge, the Northumberland and Yorkshire network of lines; we have, farther west, the gigantic Caledonian Railway, extending from Edinburgh in one direction, from Stirling and Castlecary in another, and from Glasgow, along the rich Clydesdale district, in a third, to a point of junction near the famed 'falls of Clyde,' at Lanark, whence a nearly north and south course of seventy miles brings us to English ground at Carlisle; and lastly, we shall have, when works at present in progress shall have been completed, another line of railway-the Nithsdale-still farther west, which will proceed from Glasgow by way of Kilmarnock, Dumfries, and Annan, to Carlisle. When we consider that the finely-appointed coaches from Glasgow to Carlisle, and from Edinburgh to Newcastle, the beautiful steamers from Liverpool to Glasgow, and the yet larger steamers from London to Edinburgh, have been for many years busily laden, and yet that they took small numbers compared with those who now travel by railway, we may easily conclude how many are the points of contact where English ramblers may meet with scenes famous in Scottish story, and how rapid the assimilation of habits and customs, of wants and wishes, between the two countries. Indeed, this process is advancing almost too rapidly for some lovers of the picturesque; since the distinctive features of many spots are fast melting away into the smooth level of modern civilization. There is no place in Scotland which has been more influenced by such circumstances than the capital itself-Edinburgh. Edinburgh, before the Rebellion Edinburgh, after the Rebellion: Edinburgh, as made memorable by Scott: Edinburgh, in our own railroad times-all have their marked features of distinction; and there are many parts of the city whose history is particularly connected with one or other of these eras, to the exclusion of the rest. But beyond these external circumstances, the past and present features of Edinburgh have been remarkably influenced by the undulating surface of the ground on which it is built. Glasgow, and Liverpool, and Newcastle, and many others of our large towns, have begun their existence on the water-side, and have extended landward, as increased space became necessary-new streets branching out from, or forming continuations of the old ones; but in Edinburgh there are formidable depressions of surface, which rendered necessary a good deal of ingenuity in planning and contriving. The 'Court-end,' the city, the suburbs all these terms have suffered more change at Edinburgh than in most British towns; and these changes have occurred quite as much from the remarkable character of the site itself, as from a necessity of enlargement to meet the increasing population of the city. Let us, then, in the first place, take a bird's-eye view of the portion of ground on which Edinburgh is situated, and by which it is surrounded. A clear conception of this matter will much facilitate the comprehension of subsequent details. The Firth of Forth is a wide estuary, opening into the German Ocean: it is, in fact, an expansion of the mouth of the river Forth, having Fifeshire on the north, and Edinburghshire and one or two other counties on the south. Towards the inner part of this Firth the width contracts very considerably, forming the passage of Queensferry, having the two towns of North and South Queensferry on the north and south shores. Eastward of this there is an undulating coast on the Edinburgh or southern side, studded with various towns, fishing-villages, havens, and piers. First, after passing Dalmeny Park, comes the village of Cramond, at the mouth of the river Cramond, which river is crossed by Cramond Brig or Bridge, rendered famous by an incident in Scottish history; then comes the newly-formed village of Granton, with the fine stone pier, built by the Duke of Buccleuch for the accommodation of steamers; and these are followed by a chain-pier, Newhaven village and pier, and the commercial town of Leith, with its harbour and piers; while, still further east, are the towns or villages of Portobello, Fisherrow, Musselburgh, and Preston Pans, all near the shore of the Firth and all on a low level. Taking Leith as a centre, we may trace a curved line of hills, comprising Corstorphine, Craiglockhart, Braid, Blackford, and Craigmillar Hills, and the famed Arthur's Seat; and these hills form a kind of cordon round the southern half of Edinburgh; or in other words, we may say that Edinburgh is placed in the midst of a tolerably flattish country, bounded by hills on the east, west, and south, and by Leith and the Firth of Forth on the north. But, if this were all, Edinburgh would be analogous merely to many other cities. It is itself, however, built upon a series of hills, which, with the three or four intervening valleys, give that remarkable undulating character to which allusion has been before made. These hills we may designate the central, the northern, the southern, and the eastern; or, to come to more familiar appellations, the Castle Hill, the North Town, the South Town, and the Calton Hill. Salisbury Crag and Arthur's Seat, two hills far higher than any of the others, lie beyond the precincts of the town on the east, and can hardly be considered as forming part of the town itself, though they add not a little to the grandeur of the features presented by it. The central hill, by far the most important one to Edinburgh, has a remarkable shape: it is like a wedge, lying with its sloping side uppermost, having the Castle at its upper or thick end, and Holyrood Palace at its lower or thin end. This simile, however, |