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.

C. E. S. CHAMBERS.