airless hovel, and equally without work or diversion. The father may
carve a rude piece of furniture, but that is all that will be done until
the spring sets in again, and along with it the labours of the field. It
is not for nothing that you find a clock in the meanest of these
mountain habitations. A clock and an almanack, you would fancy, were
indispensable in such a life....

EDINBURGH
PICTURESQUE NOTES
EDINBURGH

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The ancient and famous metropolis of the North sits overlooking a windy
estuary from the slope and summit of three hills. No situation could be
more commanding for the head city of a kingdom; none better chosen for
noble prospects. From her tall precipice and terraced gardens she looks
far and wide on the sea and broad champaigns. To the east you may catch
at sunset the spark of the May lighthouse, where the Firth expands into
the German Ocean; and away to the west, over all the carse of Stirling,
you can see the first snows upon Ben Ledi.

But Edinburgh pays cruelly for her high seat in one of the vilest
climates under heaven. She is liable to be beaten upon by all the winds
that blow, to be drenched with rain, to be buried in cold sea fogs out
of the east, and powdered with the snow as it comes flying southward
from the Highland hills. The weather is raw and boisterous in winter,
shifty and ungenial in summer, and a downright meteorological purgatory
in the spring. The delicate die early, and I, as a survivor, among bleak
winds and plumping rain, have been sometimes tempted to envy them their
fate. For all who love shelter and the blessings of the sun, who hate
dark weather and perpetual tilting against squalls, there could scarcely
be found a more unhomely and harassing place of residence. Many such
aspire angrily after that Somewhere else of the imagination, where all
troubles are supposed to end. They lean over the great bridge which
joins the New Town with the Old--that windiest spot, or high altar, in
this northern temple of the winds--and watch the trains smoking out from
under them and vanishing into the tunnel on a voyage to brighter skies.
Happy the passengers who shake off the dust of Edinburgh, and have heard
for the last time the cry of the east wind among her chimney-tops! And
yet the place establishes an interest in people's hearts; go where they
will, they find no city of the same distinction; go where they will,
they take a pride in their old