EDINBURGH.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20550, 19 May 1932, Page 3

EDINBURGH.

A CITY ANCIENT AND MODERN. A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS. 1 (By T.C.L.) Tlie visitor to Edinburgh who is the . guest of an enthusiastic citizen needs ; time and energy at his disposal. Though : the motor-car lias more or less eliminated distance there is still much of the . ancient citj' that must be visited afoot • if it is to be really inspected. Indeed, • the whole atmosphere of Scotland's capital gives the impression that it is , no place for weaklings. It was a Seot- • tisli parson who said it could be de--5 scribed as an "east-windy, west-windy climate,'' and the stranger is inclined to think there is truth in the observation. 1 Edinburgh, old or new, is a city of c hills and valleys, and the gardens of 2 Princes street that more or less define . the boundary between ancient and modern have been reclaimed from an . old loch that formerly mado a sharp • division between the two areas. If the , breezes are shrewd they do at' least add i to the feeling of spaciousness that is . the charm of the later city, and even in the old congested alleyways prevent the feeling of suffocation that is so often an attribute of crowded industrial areas further south. i The City's History. Seen on a fine summer's day the iici pressions of the city are very gracious. Eastward there is Calton Hill with Nelson's monument in an arresting site, a little more to the south lies Arthur's ' Seat, that magnificent open space where ( tradition says King Arthur watched his southern troops drive back the northeru tribes, and when that has been shown the stranger he may be said to have sipped his first draught of the wine of the city's history. It is heady stuff. It goes back to. Roman days, for the district was an outpost of Empire for 300 years, and from those far-off days is a stout record of struggle between clau and clan, between district and dis trict, but all of them nearly always ready to act together and drive back the hated Southron. That is old Edinburgh. The new :s of gentler birth and development. Its century or so of history is of co-opera-tion with England, and when is considered the long list of Scottish soldiers and sailors, administrators who have played brave parts in the development of the Empire, the value of that cooperation to civilisation is sufficiently evident. But with all that it represents in charm of social life, of advances in education, art. and science the new Edinburgh has scarcely the appeal of the old. Walk along Princes street and admire it as much as you like as a | piece of wonderful town planning, it is the wrinkled face of the Castle Rock, rising almost as abruptly as the Sugarloaves in Taranaki,. that arrests attention. As one writer puts it: '"As you look up to the Castle all you see on the long neck between the old town and the Castle port are a few small trees, perhaps a monument or so. You know later that there arc many houses beyond, but the first impression is that the Castle and its approaches are is isolated as if open country wctc oh the: far side." The First Village. Around a fort on that grim old hill grew the first prehistoric village. Under its protection a settlement was formed in the valley at the foot of the precipices known as the Salisbury Crags, between Arthur's Seat and the Palace of Holyrood. If you would really sco Edinburgh climb up to the oH citadel at the head, of the rock. Fr'om its walls you can look down on the city as a whole. You can see where history has been unrolled in every vista, in every turn and twist of those narrow old streets with their houses of hard grev Outside them there is the charm ancl spaciousness of the newer city 5 beyond that again country behind with rich farms and broad highways. You may look down upon the watefs of the Firth, upon harbours and shipping and beyond the grey channel a hazy country that you learn is the green Fifesliire hills. Whether it be traffic 011 the city roads that rush headlong downhill or the leisurely progress of. a steamer on its lawful occasions that arrests your, attention there is an air of detachment and yet of vivid, palpitating human effoit and enterprise that is wonderfully fascinating. To keep down any undue pride in modernity your guide may direct your attention towards the west, where-an old Roman camp is now the village of Cranmond, or southwards to another I'oman outpost at Currie, near which Currichill Castle was heldby the rebels against Queen Mary. It is a brief reference, but it shows how painfully slow is the evolution of a nation and how pitifully inadequate tlie outlook and wisdom of a generation, or of a century appears when it takes its place in that nation's history. The Castle. The Castle itself is, of course, only a fragment of its .former size and strength. No records .exist of the first fortifications or of their builders. The oldest of the buildings that remain : s St. Margaret's Chapel, said to have been built for the English mother of King David 1., but certainly erected as long ago as the middle of the 12tli century. There are some remains of the ancient Keep, thought by some to be more ancient than the chapel, but are really little more than foundations, though of a size that gives some idea of the strength of the building they were intended to support. Not far froni the chapel is the banqueting hall, sometime also used as the meeting place of Parliament. Here may be seen a wonderful collection of Scottish armour and weapons. Around the walls are shields with the coats of arm? of many of the Scottish nobility, and hanging overhead the tattered regimental colours that have meant so much in British history. Across the yard are the buildings in which Mary of Guise and her still more famous daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, had official apart ments, in addition to those provided in the Palace of Holyrdbd at the other end of the rugged High street. In one of the Castle bedrooms the first of the English Stuart Kings was bom. In other chambers of the building the visitor is shown the Scottish Royal Regalia, sword of State P 1 sented to James IV. by Pope -Julius 11. ~ The Crown Jewels. Here lie can see also the Crown Jewels returned to Scotland's keeping when the last of the Stuarts, Cardinal York, was gathered to his fathers. The visitor is not allowed to stand at bib leisure and closely examine the jewel.?. The custodian keeps him moving so that no opportunity is given any with ligiitfingering tendencies to break the glass, snatch, aijd run. ■ • ' ■ V The large "arsenal," subsequently •used as barracks by the garrison, modern design, and for the past nine years there tained at the Castle. - Perhaps it i 3 as

well. The fortress represents a day that has gone. To have grafted 011 to it the stir and bustle of modern armament must have seemed incongruous. The old weapons that are exhibited are in keeping with the "Castle and all it has stood for. With judgment that is beyond question, Scotland has chosen the Crown Court of the old citadel as the site of the war memorial. Different men,'different days, different methods, but the same loyalty to nation.and to' the; demands of liberty. That is the predominant impression one le.aves with.