to the south and north; for building bridges over the intermediate valleys to connect these districts with the old town ; and for turning the North Loch into a canal, with terraced gardens on each side. In consequence chiefly of the strenuous exertions of provost Drummond, the success which attended these projects was very considerable. On the 3d of September, 1753, he, as grand-master of the free masons in Scotland, laid the foundation of the royal exchange, on which occasion, there was a very splendid procession. In 1754, he was a fourth time chosen provost, chiefly that he might forward and superintend the improvements. In the year 1755, he was appointed one of the trustees on the forfeited estates, and elected a manager of the select society for the encouragement of arts and sciences in Scotland. In the year 1758, he again held the office of provost; and in October, 1763, during his sixth provostship, he laid the foundation stone of the North Bridge.
Mr Drummond, having seen his schemes for the improvement of the city accomplished to an extent beyond his most sanguine expectations, retired from public life on the expiration of his sixth provostship ; and after enjoying good health until within a short time of his death, he died on the 4th of November, 1766, in the 80th year of his age. He was buried in the Canongate churchyard. His funeral, which was a public one, was attended by the magistrates and town council in their robes, with their sword and mace covered with crape; by the professors of the university in their gowns; by most of the lords of session, and barons of the exchequer; the commissioners of the excise and customs; the ministers of Edinburgh; several of the nobility; and some hundreds of the principal inhabitants of the city and neighbourhood. A grand funeral concert was performed in St Cecilia's hall, on the 19th of December, to his memory, by the musical society, of which he was deputy-governor. The concert was crowdedly attended, the whole assembly being dressed in mourning. The most solemn silence and attention prevailed during the performance. Similar honours were paid to his memory by the masons' lodge of which he had been grand master. The managers of the royal infirmary, some few years after his death, placed a bust of him by Nollekins in the public hall of the hospital, under which the following inscription, written by his friend Dr Robertson the historian, was placed:—"George Drummond, to whom this country is indebted for all the benefit which it derives from the royal infirmary."
His strict integrity and great talents for business, together with his affable manners and his powers as a public speaker, which were considerable, peculiarly fitted Mr Drummond to take a prominent part in civic affairs. His management of the city revenues was highly creditable to him; and although the great improvements which were accomplished under his auspices, and during his provostships, might have warranted additional demands upon the citizens, he did not even attempt to increase the taxation of the town. Not only was he highly popular with his fellow citizens, but during four successive reigns, he obtained the confidence of the various administrations successively in power, and was the means of communicating, on several important occasions, most valuable information to government
Mr Drummond was about the middle stature, and was of a graceful and dignified deportment His manners were conciliating and agreeable, and his hospitality profuse; more especially during those years in which he was provost, when he kept open table at his villa called Drummond Lodge, which stood almost on the site of Bellevue House, (afterwards the custom house, and more recently the excise office,) and nearly in the centre of the modern square called Drummond Place. Mr Drummond was strenuous in his support of religion and literature. He was a member of the "Select Society," which contained
