In the Encyclopædia will be found a full account of this City, till the year 1812; and we shall now give a short view of its improvements and increase since that period.

Ever since the year 1769, when the building of the New Town commenced, the improvement of Edinburgh has been prosecuted with extraordinary zeal, both by the magistrates and by the inhabitants; and, of late years more especially, the exertions of all ranks have been directed to this object. In consequence of this general and laudable spirit, the city of Edinburgh has not only been extended on all sides, but has been improved by the addition of some splendid public edifices; while the access to it from every quarter has been greatly facilitated and embellished.

In addition to the original streets of the New Town, namely, Prince's Street, George's Street, and Queen's Street, with their respective cross streets, and several other intermediate ones of inferior note, an important extension has been projected, and is now in part executing, on the inclined plane towards the north. The plan of these additional streets is nearly similar to that of the original part of the New Town, consisting chiefly of parallel rows of building, into which the improvement of incurved streets is tastefully introduced. Part of an interval of unoccupied ground between the old and these new streets, formerly private property, has been purchased, and is now open to the inhabitants of this quarter of the town, for whose convenience it has been tastefully laid out in walks, ornamented with trees; forming a garden view extremely pleasant to the eye from its verdure and beauty. Fronting this space, a very elegant street and crescent have been already built, together with several parallel and retiring streets; and this part of the town continues rapidly to increase. The ground, which, within these four last years, consisted of green fields, is now covered with elegant and spacious streets; other streets are in progress; and new and important additions are in contemplation, by which some of them will be prolonged eastward as far as Leith Walk.

The inconvenience of the access to Edinburgh by the great London road was long a subject of general regret. In entering the city from this quarter, the road lay through narrow and inconvenient streets, forming an approach no way suited to the general elegance of the place. In the year 1814, active measures were at length adopted to remedy this defect. For this purpose, it was proposed to form a magnificent entrance across the Calton Hill, and this plan is now nearly completed. A spacious road, paved at an immense expense, has been carried quite across the hill;—in one part, a passage has been cut through the solid rock, and an immense mass of ground has been levelled, so as to facilitate the ascent. Between the Calton Hill and Prince's Street, a deep ravine intervened, which was formerly occupied with old and ill-built streets. In or- der to connect the hill with Prince's Street, all these have been swept away, and an elegant bridge of one arch has been thrown over the hollow, which makes the descent from the Hill into this street easy and agreeable. Thus, in place of being carried, as formerly, through long and narrow streets, the great road from the east into Edinburgh sweeps along the side of the singular and steep elevation of the Calton Hill; whence the traveller has first a view of the Old Town, with its elevated buildings crowning the summit of the adjoining ridges, and rising upon the eye in imposing masses; and, afterwards, of the New Town finely contrasted with the Old, in the regularity and elegance of its general outline. The Calton Hill is a singularly striking and romantic object, and in laying it out, there is ample scope for picturesque effect. In the late improvements this has not been neglected. Walks at different elevations have been cut around it, from which is seen, to great advantage, the Old and New Town projected on the plain below; while, at a greater distance, the eye ranges over a wide extent of the adjacent country, viewing in the north and east the Frith of Forth, the high grounds of Fife, and the German Ocean, and towards the south and west, a wide extent of cultivated plains terminated by distant hills.

According to a plan which has been drawn out by Mr William Playfair, a young architect of the greatest promise, the ground which lies between the Calton Hill and Leith is proposed to be laid out in new streets; and some farther embellishments are to be added to the Hill for the purpose of making it subservient to the general effect of the intended improvements. On the grand road, which is just begun, and which is to run along the bottom of the Hill on the north, it is proposed to build a large crescent, from which three main streets will diverge towards the town. The northern side of the main road being left partly unbuilt, an excellent situation will be obtained for public buildings; and it is proposed that a building of this description should be erected as an appropriate termination to each of the principal streets just mentioned. Above these public buildings, a handsome row or terrace is to be built, sufficiently elevated to overlook the houses below, and to present an extensive prospect of the more distant country. It is intended that this terrace should sweep round by an easy curve into a long line of building, proposed to be ranged along the side of the Regent Road on the opposite side of the hill; and that the space between this and the Regent Road should be converted into gardens, which, when properly laid out and planted, will become an agreeable and inviting retirement; and will, at the same time, present a pleasing foreground to the delightful scenery which is to be seen from the public walks above. In planning the ground along Leith Walk, it is proposed, in like manner, that squares and incurved streets, should be tastefully introduced, that the eye may be relieved from the dull uniformity which is presented by the constant recurrence of the same regular parallels. Besides these improvements, the Eastern Road, which forms one of the great communications with Leith, will be Edinburgh considerably widened, and four rows of trees planted along its whole length, in order to convert it into an agreeable walk for the inhabitants.

This extension of the city is, however, only in contemplation. But there are other improvements equally important which are either already executed or in progress.

The Encyclopædia contains an account of the University; and it is stated, that the original structure was partly taken down to make way for one more suited to the taste of modern times, and capable of accommodating the increasing concourse of students which the growing celebrity of this seminary was attracting from all parts. A most magnificent and extensive pile was begun, the funds for which were to be supplied by subscription. But it was soon found, that this work was planned on too extensive a scale, and the money collected being exhausted, the progress of the work was interrupted, and the building remained, in consequence, for a long time in a most awkward and unfinished state, a deformity, in place of an ornament, to the metropolis. By the liberality of Government a grant of public money has been obtained, and the work has been recommenced on a reduced, and it may, perhaps, be added, an improved plan, furnished by Mr Playfair. According to the original plan of Mr Adam, the interior space inclosed by the buildings of the University was divided into two courts or areas by a central range of buildings. In the new plan this range of buildings is left out, and the whole interior space is thrown into an open court; and such alterations and additions have been introduced, as were necessary to obviate incongruities, and to give to the whole an aspect of perfect uniformity. The access into the court is through a spacious gateway; and a person entering will have, on the one hand, a view of the buildings containing the library, and on the other those occupied by the rooms for the accommodation of the classes; while opposite to him will be the museum, the front of which is finely ornamented with Corinthian columns, resting on a rusticated arcade.

With respect to its interior arrangements, this edifice is laid out in suitable apartments for the library, the museum, the graduation hall, and chapel, and class rooms for the professors. According to the new plan, the library will be divided into two stories, the lower of which will be separated into five compartments, communicating with each other by folding doors. The anti-room will form a spacious apartment, forty-seven feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and twenty-two feet high, well lighted by a large window from the court. The next apartment is of a circular form, forty feet in diameter and sixty-four feet in height, lighted from the top, and having a gallery running round it. Farther on is the central room, sixty feet long, forty-seven feet wide, and twenty-two feet high, which is intended to be fitted up as a graduation hall and chapel. Beyond this are two rooms to correspond to the circular room and the outer room already described. The upper compartment of the library is on a plan similar to the one below, with this exception, that the central di- vision is thirty feet in height, having an arched ceiling supported by sixteen Corinthian columns. In place, also, of a division into compartments, the whole is thrown into one great room; so that the eye ranges from one extremity to the other, extending to a distance of 190 feet; the circular rooms with their domes, and the centre compartment with its arched ceiling, producing a noble variety, while the columns with their unbroken entablature, will give simplicity and coherence to the whole. The museum for specimens of natural history, the stock of which is daily accumulating, occupies two large rooms in different stories. The lower room is ninety feet long, thirty-four feet wide, and twenty-four feet high. It is proposed to furnish it in a simple and appropriate manner, the ceiling being left quite plain, and supported by Doric columns. The upper apartment is of the same length and breadth as the one below; but is considerably higher as it extends upwards towards the roof. In the middle of it is a dome 22 feet in diameter, the centre of which is occupied by a sky-light, from which and from other points an abundant supply of light is obtained for the exhibition of the specimens.

The rooms appropriated to the different classes are conveniently disposed on the intermediate floors between the pavement floor and the attics. The following is the number of students that have attended the University for the last four years: In 1814, 2029; 1815, 2097; 1816, 2025; 1817, 2024; and in 1818, 2160.

That large and irregular pile of building in the Parliament Square, in which the Supreme Courts hold their sittings for the administration of justice, has lately received various additions and improvements. In the interior, great reparations have been made, and the front has been replaced by another, with an elegant piazza. Attached to the north-west corner of the Parliament House, magnificent apartments have lately been finished for the reception of the Advocates' Library, and that of the Writers to the Signet. The room appropriated to the latter, which is 105 feet in length, is divided into two parts, by means of open arches, the first of the compartments being oblong, and the second square. The ceiling of the oblong division is supported by two rows of Corinthian columns, which, besides being in themselves highly elegant and ornamental, completely obviate the want of height, which might otherwise have in some degree marred the general appearance of so large a room. On entering the great door, the colonnade continued for seven intercolumniations, without any break or interruption, produces a simple and noble effect, and through the ornamented arches by which this part of the hall is separated from the inner apartment, the latter appears rich and magnificent. Nor is the view from the upper end of the room at all inferior, the colonnade as seen through the arch receding from the eye in regular and beautiful gradation. The room over this is appropriated to the Advocates' Library, and is about 25 feet longer. It is loftier, and more gorgeously ornamented; but the general effect is not so pleasing. Both were executed from designs furnished by the late Mr William Stark, who has left some other noble monuments of his genius in the public buildings of Glasgow.

Several new churches have been erected in Edinburgh of very elegant architecture. St George's Churches, Church, which was opened for divine service in June 1814, presents a front to Charlotte Square of 112 feet, with a portico, supported by four Ionic columns, 35 feet in height, elevated on a flight of steps. A dome, 48 feet square, rises from a basement behind the portico, above which is a circular row of columns, surmounted by the upper compartments of the dome; and the whole is crowned by a lantern, with a cross, 160 feet from the ground. This church is favourably situated for effect, and, viewed from particular points, and at a distance, it appears a grand and striking object. It is, however, greatly surpassed in elegance of architecture by the two Episcopal chapels of St Paul's and St John's, opened for divine service in the year 1818. The chapel of St Paul's is finished in the style of Gothic architecture, which prevailed in the reign of Henry VI., during which period it had reached its greatest perfection. It is 122 feet in length, by 78 feet over the walls, and resembles in its form that of King's College, Cambridge, with this difference, however, that the circles are wider in proportion, and the octagon towers more ornamented. Although this style of architecture is susceptible of the highest decoration, the design of this chapel is remarkable, chiefly for the simplicity and continuity of its parts; and it is in vain that we look for the same striking effect in any of the edifices executed at the commencement, or during the decline of this style of architecture. The building consists of a nave and two side aisles. The interior dimensions are 105 feet by 63 feet; the nave is 105 feet by 26 feet, and 46 feet high; the two aisles are each 79 feet by 18 feet 6 inches, and 29 feet high. The ceiling of the nave is a flat Gothic arch, with ornamented ribs and tracery mouldings. The ceilings over the galleries are ornamented in the same manner, and those under the galleries are decorated with perforated ribs, and head and point ornaments. The altar window, which is 32 feet high, by 13 feet wide, is ornamented with a flaming cross, pendant, amid a wreath of clouds, and the opposite window is set with coloured glass. Over the buttresses of the outer and inner walls are richly carved pinnacles; and on each side of the two principal windows a graceful octagonal tower ascends to the height of 75 feet. This edifice was designed by Mr Elliot, and the plan and execution reflect great credit on his taste and talents. It was begun in 1816, and finished in 1818, at an expence of L.12,000. The chapel of St John, which stands at the west end of Prince's Street, and which is built from a design by Mr Burn, architect, is generally regarded as a fine specimen of Gothic architecture. Its form is that of a parallelogram, running east and west, with a projection in front 150 feet. The chapel is 109 feet in length, by 66 in breadth. The east end is embellished with a large window, nearly 30 feet high, which, with the lofty Gothic tower, has a striking effect when seen from a distance. The finishing of the roof, in the interior of the nave, is in Edinburgh, the florid Gothic style, similar to Henry the Seventh's Chapel, and is finely softened by the orange-coloured light of the upper windows. There are no galleries to break the continuity of the general appearance, which is at once grand and simple. In addition to those churches, a Roman Catholic chapel has been lately built at the end of York Place, in the purist style of Gothic architecture. An elegant church for an Antiburgher congregation has been erected in Nicholson's Street, in the same style of architecture.

The want of an Observatory was long a subject of regret among the men of science in Edinburgh; and so early as the year 1736, a building of this nature was begun, but, from various causes, it was not prosecuted to a conclusion. In the year 1812, an Astronomical Institution was formed partly for the purpose of remedying this want; and, on the 25th April 1818, the foundation-stone of an Observatory was laid on the Calton Hill, in order, as is expressed on the plate deposited at the foundation, "that a great city, renowned for luxury and knowledge, might no longer be without the means of cultivating the most sublime and most perfect of the sciences." The building, the plan of which was furnished by Mr Playfair, is in the shape of a cross, formed by four Doric porticoes facing the four quarters of the heavens, and consisting each of six columns elevated upon steps. The interior contains an entrance-hall, with a staircase adjoining, a room for the accommodation of the observer, and the great room for the astronomical instruments, which consist of a transit instrument, an astronomical circle, and a mural circle. These are to rest on massive stone piers, which are founded on the solid rock, and every precaution is taken to prevent vibration. The roof is intersected by apertures for the mural circle, and for the transit instrument, and a moveable dome is provided for the astronomical circle.

The old Tolbooth, which was originally intended for the Parliament of Scotland, and the Courts of Justice, and which, with the buildings connected with it, long remained an encumbrance on the High Street, was taken down in the year 1817; previous to which a new prison was finished on the Calton Hill, in every respect better calculated both for the security and comfort of the prisoners. It is an extensive building, the ground-floor of which is divided into seven compartments, each containing a good day-room and a court-yard, the court-yards meeting at a point, at which is placed a watch-house. Above the watch-house, on a steep hill impending over the prison, is the governor's house, a most imposing structure, which completely overlooks the several yards. The upper stories of the building are occupied by the night cells of the different prisoners, ranged on both sides of long galleries. An infirmary is attached to the prison, and also a chapel, in which a clergyman is appointed to officiate. The outward aspect of the building is heavy, and serves to impress on the mind of the spectators the gloomy purpose for which it is erected.

Owing to the great extension of Edinburgh, and to the improvements introduced into the interior economy of the houses, the supply of water brought into the city has of late years been found insufficient for the use of its increasing inhabitants; and a great scarcity of this necessary article has been experienced at different times. To remedy this grievance a joint stock company has been established, with a capital of L.135,000. There are several springs at the distance of about eight miles, in the Pentland Hills, which it is proposed to bring into the city at the estimated expense of L.85,000, to be defrayed by an increased rate of duty on the houses. A company has also been established for lighting the streets and shops with gas. Their capital amounts to L.100,000, and the principal streets and warehouses have already received the full benefit of this improvement.

At Leith, which is the sca-port of Edinburgh, Leith Docks, great improvements have been executed for the accommodation of the increasing trade. In 1800, a magnificent suite of wet-docks was planned; and the first of these beautiful basins, 250 yards in length by 100 in breadth, and sufficient to accommodate 40 ships of 200 tons, was opened in 1806; a second was opened in 1817, and it is intended to have another dock, equal in size to the two former, which will be sufficient for the accommodation of frigates. The two docks, already finished, have cost L.250,000.

Edinburgh is in no respect a trading or manufacturing town. Being the seat of the supreme Courts of Justice for Scotland, and also of a celebrated university, with other important institutions for education, it is chiefly supported by the numerous retainers of these establishments. Law is the leading profession, and those who are connected with it are divided into different classes, namely, Advocates, who plead before the courts, Writers to the Signet, who form the great body of conveyancers, with certain valuable exclusive privileges, and Writers, a generic name for all those who act as solicitors, whether before the supreme or inferior Courts. A considerable class, also, depends on the university and other seminaries; and the constant residence in Edinburgh of so many persons attached to the learned professions has produced a most favourable influence on the minds and character of the inhabitants, and has given generally to the society of this metropolis a tone and polish not to be found in any mercantile place. Edinburgh is also the resort of rank and fashion, as well as of literature and taste. Many opulent families make it their winter residence, partly for the sake of educating their children, and also for the purpose of introducing them on easy terms into the circles of fashionable society. The manufactures of Edinburgh are chiefly of the finer sort, and such as tend to minister to the immediate wants of a refined and luxurious population. They consist of household furniture, travelling carriages, the construction of musical instruments, &c. There are also manufactures of glass, marble, brass, and iron. Two distilleries are established in the neighbourhood, and Edinburgh has always been noted for excellent ale. The trade of Bookselling and Printing has of late years increased to a great extent, and various periodical and other works have been published, some of which have deservedly attained the most extensive celebrity. Of these the principal is the Edinburgh Review, which circulates quarterly 15,000 copies. There are also two monthly magazines, a Monthly Review, besides eight Newspapers, three published thrice a-week, two twice, and three once a-week. The King's printing office, which has the exclusive right of printing Bibles, annually throws off 100,000 copies.