6: of Commercial Cities.'{Jan.

«EDINBURGH, the-imetropolis of Scotland, owes its foundation to the Anslo-Saxons ot Northumberland. It‘became, at length, the capital of the Scottifh kingdom, as being, of all the towns ot Scotland, that which, with the proteQion of an impregnable caſtle, united the beſt maritime conveniencies, the moſt deſirable ad- vantages tor acceſs equally tothe ſouthern, the northern, and the weſtern parts from ot rie ſide of the country, together with the highly valued bgns i kof the preſence of ſeminaries, of monks,* of-extraordinary reputation for ſanétity and wiſdom. Its build- ings did not become numerous nor confiderable till in the énd of the fifteenth century.“ From that time till the æra of the Union between Scotland and. England, they continued to be extended and multiplied; théy were built jn a lofty turret-like faſhion,

artly for the end of crowding#äRuch of population as was poſ-

fible within the walls, and partly on« account of the inequalities

of the ground on which the town ſtood, from the æra of the Wnion, to that of the acceſlion of George HI. Since that time a

“‘lalie which had been gradually formed on the. northern ſide of

the city has been drained away; a new town, perhaps the nobleſt in Europe, as to order“and ſtatelineſs of edifices, has been reared beyond the deſiccated ſpace. The buildings have been equally,-though more trregularly, and with leſs magnificence, extending on the ſouthern ſide; two ftately bridges have been conſtructed, to form a páſſage of tolerably equal and continuous level between the three lulls, or rather long ridges on which the ton 4s built; a ſpacious walk, parallel to the carriage-road, has been formed, to cotne& the town by eaſy acceſs with LEITH, its$17@æeus or maritime. ſuburb. An irregular continuation of the buildings along the oppoſite ſides of the walk and the carriage-

‘road between Leith and Edinburgh, has almoſt joined the two

into one town, by a ſpacious and very agreeable, though not uniform freet. On all. hands Edinburgh has diffuſed itſelf jn long ſuburbs, in hamlets, and in gardens and villas, to a wide ex- tent over the ſurrounding country. Its buildings are all of ſtone, flately, ſpacious, commodious, though ſomewhat heavy in their aſpeé to the eye of architectural taſte,; EDINBURGH has hitherto derived its opulence and importance, as a great city, not ſo much from commercial advantages, as from its being the ſeat of the Government, the Supreme Courts at Juſtice,’ the beſt Seminaries for Education, and in conſequence of theſe circumßances, a favourite ſcene of reſort for thole who having money to purchaſe the ſumptuous and elegant accommo- dations of luxury, naturally repair to enjoy theſe where they are the moſt readily to be found. Its inhabitants' are, in the or- der of their eminence, Noblemen and Gentlemen, without official employment or profeſſion, who prefer it as a place of reſidence; the Zudges in the Courts of Juſtice; Advocates, and Writers to the Signet; the principal Officers for the collection of the revenue, and the other ſubordinate funétions of Government; the Profeſſors