EDINBURGH
285
EDINBURGH
duced many eminent men. The Edinburgh medical
school has a world-wide reputation, and attracts stu-
dents from all parts of the empire, as well as many
foreigners. No religious tests prevent Catholics from
enjoying the full benefit of university education in
Edinburgh; but the number of Catholics frequenting
the schools is remarkably small. The total number of
students frequenting the university is between three
and four thousand.
EccLEsi.\STic,i.L History. — Edinburgh is naturally much bound up in its ecclesiastical history with the country at large. In the earliest centuries of its exist- ence, belonging as it did to the Ivingdom of North- urabria, Edinburgh was included in the Diocese of Lindisfarne, as we find from the list of churches be- longing to that see compiled by Simeon of Durham in
dral had been in existence for some fifteen years. It
has no architectural interest, but a spacious chancel
was added, and other improvements carried out, in
1891. A cathedral for the Episcopalian body (whose
bishop resides in Edinburgh) was erected about 1878,
at a cost of over $500,000, from funds left by two
charitable ladies. It is a Gothic building of much dig-
nity, and by far the finest ecclesiastical building, either
ancient or modern, now existing in Edinburgh. The
Presbyterians have some handsome churches, but the
grand old church of St. Giles, now in their hands, has
been hopelessly vulgarized by the "restorer". A new
church built by the Ir^•ingites is adorned within by
some fine mural paintings.
The seven Catholic churches which (besides the cathedral) .supply the needs of the Catholic population
854. The early connexion of the city with Lindisfarne
is shown by the dedication to St. Cuthbert of its oldest
church, founded probably in the ninth century. St.
Cuthbert's church was presented to the newly estab-
lished Abbey of Holyrood b'^-iling David; it was the
richest church in Edinburgh, and possessed several
outlying chapels, such as St. Ninian's, St. Roque's,
and St. John Baptist's. When the diocesan system
came to be fully established in Scotland, under Malcolm
and Margaret and their sons, Edinburgh was included
in the metropolitan Diocese of St. Andrews, and con-
tinued to be so until the suppression of the ancient
hierarchy in the sixteenth century. The archbishop's
see, as well as the episcopal residence, was of course
in the primatial city of St. Andrews, beyond the Firth
of Forth ; and there was no building known as a cathe-
dral in Edinburgh prior to 1634, when the new An-
j glican Diocese of Edinburgh was formed out of the
ancient archdeaconry of Lothian, and Forbes became
the first occupant of the see. The old collegiate church
of St. Giles was at this time, and during the revival of
Episcopalianism in Scotland, used as the cathedral of
the Protestant bishop. As regards the Catholic
Church, Edinburgh was the head-quarters of the vicars
Apostolic of the Eastern District of Scotland from the
time of the foundation of that vicariate in 1828, when
the church now known as St. Mary's Catholic Cathe-
of Edinburgh are of no particularmerit architecturally,
the most interesting being the latest erected, St.
Peter's, which is in the earliest Byzantine style, and
forms, with its presbytery, a little group of much
originality and charm. The Catholic Archbishop of
St. Andrews and Edinburgh (the fourth who has held
that office in thirty years) resides in Edinburgh, and
has his episcopal seat in St. Mary's Cathedral. St.
Andrews (to which the title of Edinburgh was added
at the restoration of the hierarchy in 1878) possesses
a small Catholic church; but the Catholic population
of the primatial city is — except for summer visitors —
only a handful. In Edinburgh the Catholics are esti-
mated to numberabout20,006. In the reign of Queen
Anne (1702-14) a list sent in to the pri\'y council of
" Popish parents and their children in various districts
of Scotland" gives the number of Catholics in Edin-
burgh as 160, including the Duke and Duchess of
Gordon with their family and household, and several
other noble families. The majority of the Catholics
of Edinburgh to-day are of tlie poorer classes, and of
Irish origin; but the past decade or so has witnessed a
considerable number of conversions among the more
well-to-do inhabitants of the city. Since the great
anti-Catholic tumults of 1779, when the chapels and
houses belonging to the insignificant Catholic body
were burned by the rioters, the spirit of tolerance has
