Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/413

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EDINBURGH 405 having been converted to Catholicism, and removed to France, he received his education under the Jesuits at Toulouse and at the Sor- bonne in Paris. He was the confessor of Ma- dame Elizabeth, the sister of Louis XVI. ; and at her suggestion he was invited by him at the time of his trial and condemnation to administer the consolations of religion. He attended the king during his last days, accompanied him to the scaffold, and was reported to have exclaimed at the moment of the execution, Louis, fiU de Saint Louis, montez au del. The abbe himself always professed that he had no recollection of having uttered these words, and Lord Holland has shown that they were a royalist invention, made some time later. After the death of Madame Elizabeth he joined Louis XVIII. at Blankenburg in Germany, and went with him to Mitau. While caring for French prisoners at that place, he contracted a disease which occasioned his death. He left a volume of "Memoirs," edited in English by C. S. Edge- worth (London, 1815), and in French by Du- pont (Paris, 1815). A collection of his "Let- ters " was also published at Paris in 1818. EDINBURGH, a city of Scotland, capital of Edinburghshire, about 2 m. S. of the frith of Forth, 357 m. N. N. W. of London by road, and 399 m. by the Great Northern railway, in lat. 55 57' N., Ion. 3 11' W. ; pop. in 1871, 196,500. It is built principally on three paral- lel ridges running E. and W., the central one terminated on the west by a mass of rock seven acres in extent at the top, which is 443 ft. above the sea, and upon which stands Edin- burgh castle. The palace of Holyrood is at the E. end of the same ridge. Along the top of the ridge runs the principal street of the old town for the distance of a mile, its succes- sive parts being named Castle Hill, Lawn Mar- ket, the High street, Netherbow, and Canon- gate ; it contains many public buildings, and is a fine street. Upon the sides of the ridge are the ancient houses, five, six, and sometimes ten and eleven stories high, laid out in flats, in which are concentrated a great part of the poor population. Steep lanes descend from the high ground on both sides, some not more than six feet wide, and others broad enough to admit the passage of a cart or carriage ; the narrower ones are called closes, and the wider ones wynds. Along the valley into which these closes and wynds descend on the south runs Cowgate, which was once a fashionable street. At its W. extremity toward the cas- tle is an open rectangular space called the Grass market. Near the E. end rises a belt of precipitous rocks called Salisbury crags, 547 ft. above the sea, behind which is a conical hill called Arthur's Seat, 822 ft. high. The S. portion of the city is connected with the old town by two bridges over the valley : South bridge, finished in 1788, and George the Fourth's bridge, finished in 1836. It is bounded S. by a large level park, called the Meadows. The ridge on which this part of the town stands is more elevated than that occupied by the new town, but the latter is much more handsomely built. It is N. of the castle and the High street, and separated from them by a valley crossed by the North bridge, which is opposite the South bridge, and was opened for use in 1768, and by a broad causeway, called the Earthen Mound, which has been a thorough- fare since the commencement of the century. This valley formed for centuries a lake called the North Loch, but it was drained in 1763, and has been laid out in gardens. The laying out of the new town beyond these gardens was begun in 1767. Its streets have a regu- larity and magnificence in strong contrast with those of the old town. The three principal ones are Queen, George, and Princes streets, parallel with each other and with the High street. George street runs along the middle of the ridge. Princes street is between it and the High street, and is one of the finest prom- enades in Europe ; it is built up only on one side, and commands a fine view of the castle and the old town. Queen street is N. of George street, and fronts toward the north on the Queen street gardens. The new town is adorned by many fine open squares, among which are St. Andrew square, Charlotte square, Drummond place, Moray place, the Eoyal Circus, &c. East of the new town is a rocky eminence called Calton hill, the broad, verdant summit ^ Edinburgh Castle. of which is studded with monuments and looks out upon the frith of Forth. The new town is bounded on the north by a small stream called the Water of Leith, which empties into