Some years later, in 1746, a company was establish ed for promoting the linen manufacture, and then consti tuted into a banking company by royal charter, by the name of the British Linen Company. The advantages soon becalm: conspicuous, by the increase of the linen trade, and other commercial concerns. Its capital at first was small, but very lately it has been considerably en after a good deal of opposition from the other public banks. That such should have arisen in the car her years of the nineteenth century, when the spirit of enterprise is so great, as also the usual liberality by which it is met, may appear singular. The terms of dealing in simple accounts by the banks, is their lending money at 5 per cent, and allowing 3 per cent. interest on what is lodged with them for periods less than six months. Some, nevertheless, allow 4 per cent. even on daily transactions. Almost all the banks in Edinburgh enjoy a high share of public confidence; resulting from the acknowledged wealth of the partners, and from it having been remarked, that no bank ever failed in Scotland, which did not pay in full. The transactions of the bank ers in Edinburgh are in general characterised by great liberality, not only in countenancing the legitimate ob jects of speculative traffic, hut in relieving individuals from temporary and unexpected pressure.
There are several insurance offices here against losses by fire, of which the oldest is called the Friendly In surance. In the year 1720, several owners of property agreed to insure each other against losses of this de scription, whereby the party insured had to pay a pre mium equivalent to a fifteenth of the property ii,sured. The sum thus paid in by the associaton was declared a joint stock, and each proprietor had an interest pro portional to his share ; but this interest was annexed lc, the property, and passed along with it to every succeed ing owner ; and as it is still transferred in the same way, property so insured brings a high premium, along with the policy of insurance. In 1727, the association was constituted into a body corporate, and their privileges have since been confirmed by parliament.
More recently three companies, each exclusively of Scotish origin, have since been established, under the name of the Caledonian, Hercules, and North British Insurance Offices. The shares of each are divided among a number of proprietors, some of whom are among the wealthy inhabitants of Scotland, and many in surances which would otherwise be effected in England are now done here. The business of all these offices is chiefly, if not entirely, restricted to insurance from fire : life insurance is little understood in Scotland; but there are several agencies for English offices in Edin burgh, where insurance both on lives and against fire may be easily effected, only, the proposal must always be transmitted to the principal office for refusal or ap probation. In general this is a profitable concern for the company; because the usual architecture of the houses in Scotland is an effectual safeguard against the ravages of fire. A fire in Edinburgh is a rare occur rence; a house being totally destroyed is almost unex ampled; and we do not know where it is preserved on record that a life was lost.
There are numerous public and private literary insti tutions in this city; at the head of which is the universi ty. The first proposal for establishing a university in Edinburgh, soon after the Reformation in 1560, is said to have been opposed by the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. However, one was founded in the years 15S0 and 1581, and a royal grant of certain revenues obtained for its support in 1582. Only one professor, a clergyman or the city, seems to have origi nally been appointed ; but others gradually increased to the number of seven. In 1590, tile judges, advocates, writers to the signet, and town conncil, contributed a joint stock for establishing a professorship of law, and Sir Adrian Damman, a Dane, was the first who held that office. A professorship of Hebrew was instituted in 1640, and Conrad Otto, a learned Jew, appointed by the magistrates to discharge its duties. Successive chairs were established, either under royal patronage, by the magistrates of the city, or by the liberality of private individuals: of the latter description is a modern endow ment by the late Sir William Pulteney, for a course of lectures on agriculture; and still more recently, an am ple fund has been bequeathed by General Reid, for in stituting a professorship of music, to be applied to that purpose on the decease of certain relatives by whom it should be liferented. So lately also as the years 1806 and 1807, the crown created two new professorships, one for military surgery, and another for medical juris prudence. The total number of chairs now amounts to 27, which arc classed as follows:— On three of these branches, the law of nature and nations, civil history, and practical astronomy, no lec tures have been deliver eta for several years. The sala ries of the professors are for the most part about 1001. per annum ; though some have less and some considera bly more ; and fees of 3/. 3.e. in some classes, and 41. 4s. in others, for the session, arc given by each student. The professor of Divinity receives no fees, and those of one class of civil law are 51 5s The mode of instruc tion is by lectures; no particular course of academical education is followed. nor do the professors exercise any control"' over the other pursuits of the students. The professors lecture in gowns, but the students are not dis tinguished by a particular costume; each attends what lectures he prefers, and he lives where and how he pleases. Particular professions, such as medicine, law, and theology, require a regular attendance at certain classes previous to being qualified for exercising them, certificates of which must be produced before degrees arc obtained. The senates acadcmicus forms a liberal and learned body of men, and the reputation of the uni versity bears ample testimony of their capacity. As a medical school, there is perhaps none of greater cele brity in Europe, and students are to be seen attending it from various quarters of the globe. The total number of students at this university during the session, termi nating in spring 1814, was 2010.