EDINBURGH, the capital of Scotland, and chief town in the co. of Mid-Lothian, occu pies a picturesque situation on a cluster of eminences, at a distance of about a mile and a half from the firth of Forth (q.v.), which is here about 6 m. in breadth. The out skirts extend almost to the shore, and a connection has thus been formed on the n. with Leith, the ancient port; Newhaven, a fishing village; and Granton, a modern and rising port. The admirable position of E. has induced the comparison with Athens, from which, as well as its literary fame, it takes the title "Modern Athens." The Gaelic name of the city is "Dunedin." The castle, which crowns the highest point in the city, was undoubtedly built first, a town gradually forming on the top and sides of the ridge, which slopes downwards to the east. For some centuries the city was confined entirely to this ridge or hill, and was flanked on the n, by a lake or marsh called the Nor' Loch. The remaining means of defense was a wall built by the citizens about the middle of the 15th c., a few relics of which, of different erns, still exist. E. w#3,tircrefore a fortified Own, protected by the castle at its western extremity. When David I. was induced by his piety and munifi cence to found the abbey of Holyrood in the low ground eastward of the city, he at the same time empowered the canons of this religious house to found a burgh in a westerly direction towards the city of E., and thus was built the Canongate, afterwards united to the city. The beautiful abbey itself has been a ruin since the fall of its roof in 1768. In connection with the abbey sprung up the palace, which became a favorite abode of the Scottish sovereigns. Not, however, till about the era of the murder of James I. at Perth in 1437, did E. become the recognized capital of the kingdom. either Perth nor Scone, Stirling nor Dunfermline, being able to offer to royalty security against the designs of the nobles, E. with its castle was thenceforth selected as the only place of safety for the royal household, the parliament, the mint, and the various important government offices. By this means rising in importance, E. became densely peopled, and the houses were built to an unusual height, that the inhabitants might keep within the walls for the sake of protection. The town then consisted of the original main way called the High street, reaching to the Canongate, and a parallel way, narrow and con fined, on the s., called the Cowgate, connected with each other by upwards of 100 nar
row cross alleys or closes, between dense clusters of houses. Most of these houses consisted of a succession of floors or flats, each being a separate dwelling, and of such floors there were seldom fewer than 6, and sometimes 10 or 12, towering to an immense height, and rendered still more imposing from being built on an eminence.
The citizens remained content with these confined limits till about the middle of the 18th century. Between 1763 and 1769, the North bridge was erected, connecting the old city with the fields on the n., on which the New Town was beginning to be built. Shortly afterwards, in 1788. the line of this bridge was extended southwards by 22 arches (the South bridge), only one of which is seen where the structure spans the Cowgate, and thus a level way was opened to the southern suburbs, which have since rivaled the new town in rapid growth. George the Fourth's bridge was erected over the same valley a. short distance to the westward, a considerable time afterwards. The Nor' Loch was drained and partially bridged over by the Mound formed from the earth dug from the foundations of the new town, and its situation is occupied by fine public and private gardens which now lie in the center of modern E., and separate Princes street, the south most and most picturesque street of the new town, from the old town. Two other bridges give access to E.—the Regent's bridge, 'Waterloo place, which arches the valley between Princes street and the Calton hill to the e.; and at the iv. end, the fine Dean bridge over the water of Leith, which is 106 ft. high. Quite recently, a very handsome and com modious bridge has been completed by the railway company, near to and parallel with the North bridge. The new town being built with much regularity in straight streets, and in squares and crescents with numerous gardens, contrasts with the crowded, though picturesque masses of the old town. The dilapidated and dangerous state of part of the old town, and the necessities of sanitary ameliorations in the over-crowded buildings, have occasioned great changes of recent years, and several new streets have been opened up through the most crowded and ruinous localities.