of London, called Christ's Hospital," he left his property to be applied to the building and endowing a similar institution, for the education and sup. port of orphans of decayed burgesses and freemen of Edinburgh.

After making these arrangements, Heriot soon died.

There was a portrait of Heriot by Vansomer. It does not appear to have been preserved; but a copy of it by a Scottish artist is now in the Councilroom of the Hospital :

"This picture represents Heriot apparently in the vigour of life, habited in the court dress of the time, with a richly embroidered mantle, and an ample lawn ruff or collar: The fair hair that overshades the thoughful brow and calm calculating eye, with the cast of humour on the lower part of the countenance, are all indicative of the genuine Scottish character, and well distinguish a personage fitted to move steadily and wisely through the world, with a strength of resolution to ensure success, and a disposition to enjoy it.'No 37.

The institution which has preserved his name," is," says Scott, "one of the proudest ornaments of Edinburgh, and is equally distinguished for the purposes of the institution and the excellence of the administration."

We have before stated the object of the institution. Its due administration is guarded by a clause in the founder's will which, in the event of mal-administration, gives the whole funds to the University of St. Andrew's.

To two of his friends, Dr. Robert Johnstone, of the house of Newby

*

in Annandale, and Dr. Balcanquel, was entrusted by Heriot the special charge of his affairs after his death. Balcanquel was born at Edinburgh in 1586. He had been a fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and in 1624, James gave him the deanery of Rochester. Johnstone was a barrister or advocate of some kind or other, and wrote a Latin history of his own times, more often praised than read. But, author and lawyer as he was, he was also an honest man, and his first act in the trust was relieving it from threatened litigation, by effecting some compromise with the niece of Heriot, who could not be brought to understand the reasonableness of her uncle's disposition of his property. There appears to have been no delay in the effort to call in the funds, for in the year but one after Heriot's death, the trustees commenced their purchase of grounds in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Some confusion and consequent misrepresentation arose from the blunder of an accountant, who mistook pounds Scots for pounds sterling. The sum actually received was £23,625 10s. 3 d. In 1627, the ground on which the hospital stood was purchased, and in the same year a ship was freighted with timber from Norway for the buildings. Inigo Jones is believed to have furnished the plan, and on the first of July, 1628, the first stone was laid. The accounts were so carefully kept, that there could be no difficulty in ascertaining, if it were at any time felt an object to do so, the name of the person by whom any particular ornament was executed, and what he got for his work. The mas

66

fownd,

[clearing] the xxxiiij s. xij s. xxxiiij s. iii lib. xij s. xxii s.

xxii s.

vii lib. iiij s.

at vi s. the

iiij lib. iiij s.

xij.s.

"A general description of the building, conformable to the original design, will naturally be expected in this place. George Heriot's Hospital is a commanding edifice, consisting of one square court, encompassed with buildings. It has as shewn in the frontispiece to this volume-projecting turrets at the external angles, and a square tower over the entrance, which is carried up to double the height of the rest of the building, and finished with a cupola. The windows have pediments over them; some of these are pointed, some semi-circular, and open in the middle. The entrance archway has coupled Doric columns with fully enriched entablature; but this is broken by heavy trusses, having grotesque Gothic ornaments. Immediately above the archway are twisted Corinthian columns ; the whole of the centre front is crowned and surrounded by minute sculptures. On entering the court, and immediately above the centre archway, stands a fine statue of the Founder. The interior of the square, which is about thirtytwo yards by thirty, has arcades on the east and north sides, and towers at the four angles, in which are stairs. The windows of three sides have pilasters and regular sculptured ornaments over them. In the upper row, on the north or entrance side, in the middle of the sculpture over the windows, there are small niches, with busts in them. On the south side is the chapel with large Gothic windows: but the entrance door has small coupled Corinthian columns, with a semi-circular pediment over each pair. There are

upwards of two hundred windows in the hospital, and, strange to say, no one is precisely the same as the other. Notwithstanding this ingenious variety, even an experienced eye would not at

first discover this singular freak of the architect. 'We know,' says Sir Thomas Telford, to whom we have been chiefly indebted for the preceding description, "of no other instance in the works of a man of acknowledged talents, where the operation of changing styles is so evident. In the chapel windows, although the general outlines are fine Gothic, the mouldings are Roman. In the entrance archways, although the principal members are Roman, the pinnacles, trusses, and minute sculptures partake of the Gothic. The outlines of the whole design have evidently been modelled on the latter style of the baronial castellated dwelling. It forms one of the most magnificent features of this singular city, and is a splendid monument of the munificence of one of its citizens."—p. c. 3.

Balcanquel's name does not often again occur in the records of the hospital. He was supposed to have been consulted in Charles's efforts to introduce the English form of Church government into Scotland. He became Dean of Durham, but was soon proclaimed an incendiary, and had to fly. He died in Wales, in the year 1645.

Laud had assisted at the coronation in Scotland of Charles, and he interested himself in the prosperity of the institution. But Laud's power for good or evil soon ceased, and the civil distractions of the period interrupted every thing that the trustees were doing, or had proposed to do. Johnstone, whose heart was in the work, had hoped before his death to have seen the hospital opened for the reception of scholars. He died without having his wish accomplished, leaving a large property of his own to purposes similar in kind to that of Heriot's.

The governor of Heriot's Hospital, as owner of the lands of Broughton, held baronial courts for fully a century, and capital crimes were occasionally tried before them.

During the time occupied in build

ing the hospital, and while nothing could be done for the proper objects of Heriot's bounty, the trustees felt themselves justified in giving small pensions to relatives of Heriot. In 1650 the building was nearly completed, and was first occupied by a visiter on whom its governors little counted. Cromwell was destined to visit them, when he

"To peace and truth his glorious way had ploughed,
And on the back of crowned Fortune proud
Had reared God's trophies, and his work pursued:
While Derwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbarfield resound his praises loud,
And Worcester's laureate wreath."

It is probable that the governors of Heriot's thought that Oliver had as little right to the high praises given him by puritan John, as to the hospital itself in which he stabled his troopers, and to which, after seizing it unceremoniously by the right of the strongest, he put forward other claims. "Heriot," quoth Cromwell, "was a naturalized Englishman, and had acquired his fortune in England. He had no right to bequeath it to Scotland -[we do not see the consequence of this reasoning, Oliver; it sounds like what Newman calls logical sequence] -and at all events the revenue has been applied contrary to the founder's orders, and therefore belongs to the parliament of England!' Well argued, heroic soldier! There is something to be said in praise of robbery when it assumes this high tone. Thou, too, shalt have thine admirers!

Oliver's stormy hour, however, passed away. More lands were bought. All was again prosperous, and on the 13th of April, 1659, thirty boys were elected on the foundation. On the same day, the first "schoolmaster" was elected. New brooms sweep clean, and the first act of the governors was ereditable. There were three candidates, whom they examined in grammar and arithmetic. One of the candidates was a relative of Heriot's "he was a weak professor of both" [grammar and arithmetic]. The two others were equal, and in these circumstances a preference was given to one who had the good fortune to be a "burgess's bairn." The dress of the boys was "sad-russet cloth doublets, breeches, and stockings, hose and gown of the same colour, with black hats and strings."

Anniversary sermons are preached on what is called Heriot's day (the 27th of June). The first was by Robert Douglas, a remarkable man, who had been a chaplain in Gustavus Adolphus's army. Gustavus said of him-"There goes a man that, for wisdom, might be a counsellor to any king in Europe; for gravity, moderator to any assembly in the world; and for his skill in military affairs, might be general of any army."

The Heriot gardens were a fashionable promenade. The governors took care from the first that they should present some of the advantages of a botanic garden. Some fear of the plants being stolen by florists is suggested, and endeavoured to be guarded against; but we suppose all such regulations are vain. Pennant, writing in 1769, tells us that these gardens "were formerly the resort of the gay, and there the Scottish poets often laid, in their comedies, the scenes of intrigue."

An amusing story is told of the boys of Heriot's Hospital, in 1682. The Earl of Argyle was in this year convicted of high treason, for refusing the test oath without certain qualifications. The Heriot boys ordered their watch dog to take the test, and offered him the paper. When he refused, they rubbed it over with butter. He then licked off the butter, but spat out the paper. They empannelled a jury, tried him for treason, and hanged him.

In 1741, Whitfield visited Edinburgh, and went to Heriot's Hospital. He is said to have wrought a great change on the boys in the institution. However this be, the record of his visit states the Heriot's Hospital boys to have been the worst boys in the town -a fact not unlikely, for we believe that no anxiety on the part of trustees or governors can ever be of the same use as the ceaseless vigilance of the parental eye. Much may be done for children in these public institutions, but more than is possible to be effected may also be expected. The fagging (or, as it was called, the garring) system prevailed till within the last twenty years to a fearful extent. would appear that some of the appointments of masters were of weak, obstinate, well-meaning men; that to this the insubordination of the boys was

It

to be referred. "The depraving influence of one ill-judged appointment may have extended its consequences not only over the duration of a single incumbency, but over every succeeding period. Something, of course, must be referred to the imperfect civilization of the period." In 1752, cock fighting was prohibited. In 1756 a master was solemnly deposed on account of his unfitness for his office.

In 1759, the governor of the hospital had a matter of some difficulty to manage. It was one of those cases in which honest and obstinate men might easily be supposed never to come to an agreement. The whole of the ground to the north of the city, on which the new town of Edinburgh stands, was the property of the hospital, and it was sold by the trustees to the city. The prodigious increase of value of this property which was anticipated, and which has since been realized to an extent far surpassing all anticipation, made a transaction, in which the magistrates of the city acting as sellers on the one side (for they, as such magistrates, were governors of the hospital), and purchasers on the other, one of great delicacy. The act was represented as a dishonest sacrifice of the property of the institution. This clearly was a mistake, for in the hands of the institution it could be worth comparatively little; but it led to litigation, and it was not till after some time that a right to sell was established.

In 1762, John Erskine returned to the institution the sum given him for an anniversary sermon, which he preached, requesting that it might be expended in the purchases of religious and moral treatises for the boys. this gift originated the library.

In

In 1835, it was found that there was a surplus fund, and on the motion of Duncan M'Laren, Esq., one of the magistrates of Edinburgh, a part of this surplus revenue was applied "to the erection of schools for the education of such burgesses' sons as cannot be admitted into the hospital." Infant and juvenile schools were established in the several districts of the city. The payment of the masters and mistresses was made to depend, in part, on the number of pupils attending. Within a fortnight after the first

school was opened, the applications for admission were seven hundred, though the number to be received was limited by the government to two hundred and fifty. The children eligible are: first, children in poor circumstances of deceased burgesses and freemen of Edinburgh; second, children of such burgesses and freemen as are not sufficiently able to maintain them; and, thirdly, children of poor citizens of Edinburgh, residing within the royalty.

Of these schools the plan seems admirable, and the success, as far as we have the means of judging, perfect. They are connected with the hospital, not only by being under the management of the same governors, but by the head master of the hospital being the inspector of all the Heriot schools. Of the latter, we believe, the whole expense is not more than £3000 ayear. Two governors-one lay, one clerical-are each fortnight obliged to inspect the schools in addition to the weekly visits of the head master of the hospital; and written reports are made of the results of these visits halfyearly. There is no charge for education, and not only are school requisites supplied, but each school is furnished with a valuable library. The gratuitous education of the poor will compel a higher order of education for the rich. The masters of the juvenile schools are persons highly qualified; and their remuneration is, considering the average income of parochial teachers in Scotland, liberal in the extreme. The salary is £140 a-year. The masters are assisted by apprentice-teachers an exceedingly well-conceived part of the system, and which almost wholly gets rid of the plan of monitors, prefects, &c. These younger assistants are bound to act as apprentice-teachers for three years. They are paid three shillings and sixpence a-week for the first year, four shillings and sixpence during the second, and six shillings for the third. When the apprentice-teachers are selected from the boys educated at the hospital, they are bound for five years, and, in addition to their weekly pay, receive £10 a-year. The school is divided into five sections; four are taught by apprentices-the fifth by the head master. The apprenticeteachers receive lessons themselves