The baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland . s system. From the new bridge across theCowgate, some of the square turrets and other characteristic specimens of the old exterior architec-ture of the Pailiament House, not visible of course from the front, may still be seen • and thewhole irregular cluster of buildings, old and new, has from this point a fine picturesque effect. Before the erection of this Hall, the National Parliament, with the Courts of Justice, and theTown Council of Edinburgh held their sittings in an edifice built in the middle of the sixteenthcentury, occupying
The baronial and ecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland . s system. From the new bridge across theCowgate, some of the square turrets and other characteristic specimens of the old exterior architec-ture of the Pailiament House, not visible of course from the front, may still be seen • and thewhole irregular cluster of buildings, old and new, has from this point a fine picturesque effect. Before the erection of this Hall, the National Parliament, with the Courts of Justice, and theTown Council of Edinburgh held their sittings in an edifice built in the middle of the sixteenthcentury, occupying nearly the same site.* The ground on which both edifices were built,constituted, at a still earlier period, the churchyard of St. Giles ; and in the laying of the founda-tion of some recent additions to the Courts of Law, the remains of many bodies which had beenthere interred were discovered. Both these edifices were built at the expense of the citizens of * Maitlands Hist, p. 21. Edinburgh in the Olden Time, p. House, Edinburgh, 1— Edinburgh, acting under a species of compulsion, in the threatened removal of Parhament, andthe CourtSj to some other place, if satisfactory accommodation were not provided for them. In1632 the Town Council began to raise funds for meeting the expense of the new edifice; anain order to try the generosity of the citizens on this occasion, caused books to be made, andappointed certain days for the inhabitants of the several parts of the town, to repair to the TownCouncil House, to subscribe such sums as they were respectively willing to contribute, to promotethe erection of those necessary and desirable works.* As might have been anticipated, theprospect of partaking in the common advantage was not sufficient to elicit large individual sacri-fices for such a purpose ; and Maitland in continuation says, The expensive work being begun,it was found, that neither the sums subscribed, or money borrowed, were sufficient to accomplishth
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectarchitecture, booksubjectchurcharchi
