The chapel in the abbey seems to have been resorted to, subsequent to the Reformation in 1560, as a place of public worship. But when King James VII. restored it to its original purpose, for the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, the protestants were necessarily ex cluded. However, the inconvenience was not of long subsistence, for Thomas Moodie, a merchant of Edin burgh, having given 1100/. sterling, to be employed in building a church, his design was carried into effect by the royal mandate in 1688, and the Canongate church erected. It is a heavy edifice, has the end fronting the street, and stands amidst a large cemetery.
There are two churches for the established religion, entirely of modern erection, in the Nev Town; the one dedicated to St Andrew, the other to St George. This relic of Popish superstition, the dedication of every new church to a saint, is singular in a country where no, thing but strict Presbyterian forms are recognized by the legisiature. The former, St Andrew's church, is an oval building 87 feet by 64 of internal capacity. A handsome portico fronting the street, is supported by four columns of the Corinthian order, from which springs a spire, executed in good taste, 168 feet high. The church is lighted by two rows of windows, and a gallery runs along two-thirds of the wall ; but the extreme plain ness of the whole, which is entirely void of relief or de coration, gives a mean aspect to au edifice which would otherwise hat e been both elegant and ornamental.
St George's church presents a front of 112 feet to Oharlotte•squat•c, with a portico, supported by four Io nic columns, 35 feet high, including the capitals. They are elevated on an extensive flight of steps, forming the entrance to the church, which is 128 feet in extreme width, and can accommodate 1600 persons. A great dome rises from a basement 48 feet square, behind the portico, above which is a circular row of columns, with their entablature and balustrade, surmounted by the upper compartments of the dome. The whole is crown ed 'by a lantern, with a cross, 160 feet above the ground; and produces a fine effect when viewed front different parts of the city or the avenues approaching it. This church was erected at the expense of above 30,0001. and opened for divine service on the 5th of June 1814.
These arc the principal churches for exercise of the established religion. There are besides, in connection with the establishment, a chapel of ease, which stands amidst a small cemetery on the south side of the town, belonging to the parish of St Cuthbert's, and erected in 1757 ; another built by Ladv Glenorchy in 1773; and two others connected with the Canongate.
A number of the citizens of Edinburgh are very im pel fectly acquainted with the English language, from being Highlanders by birth. These are chiefly among the lower ranks, and their usual communications are in Gaelic only. Two places are appropriated for public worship in that language; one near the Grass market, and the other close to the college.
But many inhabitants of this city professing other modes of worship, there are various churches and cha pels in different parts of the city for their accommodation. Of these, the chief for the Episcopalians is what is com monly called the Cowgate chapel, a plain building, which, though in a very unfavourable situation, stands apart from other buildings. The dimensions without are 90 feet by 75. It has a good organ made by Snetzler ; some paintings ; and is decorated with a steeple of mo derate height, provided with a bell said to have formerly belonged to the chapel royal of Holyrood-housc. It was founded in the year 1771. Another chapel, dedicated to St George, was built in Queen Street in 1794, after a design in Gothic architecture, by Mr Robert Adam; and chapel, a building in which nothing but simplicity seems to have been studied, was still more recently erected in the vicinity of Charlotte Square. There are other three Episcopal chapels; one in Rox bu•gh Place, another in Blackfriars Wynd, and another in Ca•ubber's Close.
Au elegant Roman Catholic chapel is nearly complet ed, in place of the one which was burnt in the year 1780. The purcat Gothic architecture is studied here ; the door enters by a pointed arch supported on columns, and the windows are also pointed above. Pinnacles, accord ing to the antique, rise from the front, which is to the east, and produce a fine effect to those who admire the stile adopted. This chapel we believe is about 100 feet Ing, by 52 in breadth; it stands a little to the south of 'ork Place, with an end front to the street.