It has been very shrewdly remarked by a famous essayist and critic
that a book is none the worse for having survived a generation or
two. Robert Chambers’s _Traditions of Edinburgh_ has survived many
generations since its first appearance in 1825, and I have before me
a copy of this edition in the original six parts, published at two
shillings each, the first of which aroused in Sir Walter Scott so much
interest. The work when completed appears to have passed through many
reprints, but retained its original form until it was remodelled and
almost rewritten in 1846, much new matter being then added, and certain
passages altogether omitted. Shortly before his death the author again
revised the work, adding a new introduction, in which he reviewed the
changes of the preceding forty years. This was in 1868, and since that
time old Edinburgh has almost ceased to exist. Many an ancient wynd
and close has disappeared, or remains simply as a right of way, on
all sides surrounded by modern buildings. The City Improvements Act,
obtained by Dr William Chambers when Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1865
and again in 1868, swept away hundreds of old buildings; and to it is
due the disappearance of Leith Wynd, St Mary’s Wynd, Blackfriars Wynd,
the Ancient Scottish Mint in the Cowgate, and other landmarks more or
less familiar to our grandfathers. These changes are confined not alone
to the old town of Edinburgh, but extend to other districts which at
the beginning of the nineteenth century were comparatively modern and
fashionable. Brown Square and the buildings adjoining it known as ‘the
Society’ have passed away, being intersected by the modern Chambers
Street. Adam Square, adjoining the College, has been absorbed in South
Bridge Street; Park Street and Park Place, where was once a fashionable
boarding-school for young ladies, have disappeared to make room for
the M’Ewan Hall and other University buildings.
If it is true that the old town of Edinburgh has been modernised out of
existence, the remark applies equally to its immediate suburbs. Indeed
the all-round changes of the last forty years can fitly be compared
to like changes which within the same period have taken place in the
city of Rome. Until within very recent times Edinburgh bore some slight
resemblance to the Rome of the Popes, with its stately villas and great
extent of walled-in garden ground. Much of this aristocratic old-world
aspect has passed away, and one can but lament the disappearance of
many an eighteenth-century house and grounds, interesting in not a few
cases as the former residence of a citizen whose memory extended back
to the Edinburgh of Sir Walter Scott and the famous men who were his
contemporaries and friends.
Falcon Hall on the south side of the town, with its great gardens and
walled-in parks, has disappeared. So also has the interesting villa
of Abbey Hill, occupied until very recent times by the Dowager Lady
Menzies. The Clock Mill House adjoining Holyrood Palace and the Duke’s
Walk, and surrounded by ancient trees, has gone, as have likewise the
many fine old residences with pleasant gardens which adjoined the two
main roads between Edinburgh and Leith. All have passed away, giving
place to rows of semi-detached villas and endless lines of streets
erected for the housing of an ever-increasing population.
One of the few surviving examples of the old Scotch baronial mansion
is Coates House, standing within the grounds of St Mary’s Episcopal
Cathedral at the west end of the city. This house was occupied by
Robert Chambers for several years prior to his removal to St Andrews
in 1840. It has since been modernised, and is now used for various
purposes in connection with the Cathedral.
Although Robert Chambers died so long ago as 1871, no adequate story of
his life has since been attempted. This is a matter for regret in view
of some comparatively recent discoveries, particularly those relating
to the history of the authorship of that famous work, _Vestiges of the
Natural History of Creation_, made public for the first time in 1884.
Of that work, written between the years 1841-44, in the solitude of
Abbey Park, St Andrews, a recent writer has said: ‘This book was almost
as great a source of wonder in its time as the _Letters of Junius_, or
_Waverley_ itself. The learning and common-sense of the book, its rare
temperateness and common-sense, commanded immediate attention. It was
the wonder of the world at that period, nor was the authorship ever
acknowledged, I believe.’ The mystery is now solved; but be it said
that in the opinion of many Robert Chambers is more interesting as an
antiquary than a scientist. It is in the former capacity that his name
will be handed down to posterity as author of the standard work on the
tradition and antiquities of the Scottish capital. The outstanding
feature of the present issue of the _Traditions_ is the series of
original drawings which have been provided by Mr James Riddel, R.S.W.,
and it is hoped they will enable the reader more readily to realise
the city’s old world charm, so sympathetically described by Robert
Chambers. While a few notes have been added to this edition, it has not
been deemed advisable to alter the text, and therefore that fact must
be borne in mind where dates and lapses of time are mentioned.