or, as it is frequently called, Mid-Lothian, the seat of the metropolis of North Britain. It is situated between 55° 39' and 55° 59' north latitude, and between 2° 36' and 3° 33' longitude west from Greenwich. Its boundaries are the Frith of Forth on the north; Linlithgowshire or West-Lothian on the west; the counties of Haddington or East-Lothian, Berwick, and Roxburgh on the east; and those of Selkirk, Peebles, and Lanark on the south; the length of the whole line, which is very irregular and longest on the south, being about 90 miles. The medium length of the county may be taken at 24 miles, and the breadth 15, the area thus comprising 360 square miles, or, by the latest computation, 354 square miles, or 226,560 English acres, of which 145,000, or 64 acres in a hundred, are in cultivation, and the remainder, or more than a third, hilly, or otherwise comparatively unproductive.

The surface of this county exhibits a great variety of natural scenery, almost everywhere blended and embellished with the labours of taste and opulence. The lower and richer part of it is of a semi-circular form, inclining towards the Frith of Forth on the north, and terminating near Mid Calder on the west, and Fala on the south-east, but interrupted by the Pentland Hills, which, rising in the southwest, approach to within five miles of the frith, and thus divide the southern part of this tract into two large plains. These hills cover about 40 square miles, and though none of them rise to the height of more than 1700 feet, yet their situation in a flat country, and bleak and barren aspect, render them very prominent objects in the landscape. On the south-east, where the county terminates almost in a point, between Roxburgh and Selkirk shires, and about 15 miles from the sea, there is another mountainous tract, called the Morefoot Hills, the highest of which rise to upwards of 1800 feet, and extend over 50 square miles. From the rivulet Gala, which flows through it, this is commonly known by the name of the Gala Water district. Fertile valleys are found among these hills, and many of the hills themselves have been cultivated. With the exception of these two hilly tracts, Edinburghshire may be considered as a low lying country, though not level or flat, the surface being varied by ridges and gentle acclivities, and occasionally by detached hills of moderate elevation, among which Arthur's Seat, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, and the Corstorphine Hills, are the most considerable. The view from these eminences is singularly rich and beautiful, embracing, besides the city itself, a great many gentlemen's seats, with their pleasure grounds, and elegant villas thickly planted in every direction,—with the town and shipping of Leith, and the estuary of the Forth expanding into the ocean on the north and north-east, and the plains and high grounds of Fife beyond,—while the naked and rugged hills to the south form a striking contrast with the highly ornamented landscape into which they protrude.

The climate is exceedingly variable, but not subject to extremes. Snow seldom falls before December. From March to June, cold east winds often prevail, sometimes attended by great falls of rain. July and August are warm and pleasant. Partly from the nature of the soil, as well as the climate, the corn crops do not come to maturity so soon as in the south of Scotland by three weeks or a month. The fields, in late seasons, are not all cleared, even near the city, till the end of October. According to a register kept in its immediate vicinity, for eight years, from 1785 to 1792, inclusive, the average number of rainy days was 175, and the quantity of rain 25.75 inches. The thermometer once in the same period was at 89°, and twice besides above 80°; the lowest point 11°; and the average of the whole period was 46.570.

The streams of this county are so inconsiderable as not to be called rivers, but waters, a term which in Scotland is employed to denote a stream somewhat larger than a brook or burn, and whose bed is never in ordinary seasons altogether dry. Almond water, which rises in the borders of Lanarkshire, separates this county from Linlithgowshire for a great part of its course, and falls into the sea near the village of Cramond, where, at high water, it is navigable by sloops for about a quarter of a mile. The water of Leith has its source in the western extremity of the parish of Currie, on the north side of the Pentland Hills, and falls into the sea at Leith, after a course of about 16 miles. It flows in a deeper channel than the former; the banks are, for the most part, beautifully fringed with wood. In no part of the island perhaps is so small a body of water employed with greater effect, there being upwards of seventy mills, the greater number corn mills, on ten miles of its course. The Esk is the most considerable rivulet, and also the most beautiful. It is formed of two others of the same name, called the North Esk and the South Esk. The North Esk rises on the southern side of the Pentland Hills, above Newhall, about 14 miles from Edinburgh, and flows by Penicuik, Roslin, Hawthornden, Laswade, and Melville Castle, till it meets with the South Esk below Dalkeith. The South Esk has its source in the Morefoot Hills. On its banks, which are also well wooded and picturesque, stand Arniston, Dalhousie, and Newbattle. Their united streams flow into the sea at Musselburgh. The Tyne, which rises in this county, after a course of five or six miles in a north-east direction, passes into East-Lothian; and the Gala, the only rivulet that flows to the south, rising on the north of the Morefoot Hills, leaves this county after it has proceeded about 10 miles, and falls into the Tweed below Galashiels. The Eks and the Gala contain trout, and salmon are caught in the Esk at Musselburgh; but the quantity of either is not considerable.

Edinburghshire abounds in coal, limestone, and Minerals. sandstone, or, as it is popularly called, freestone. A continued bed of coal extends across the whole county from Carlops, on the confines of Tweeddale or Peebles-shire, in a direction from south-west to north-east, nearly 15 miles in length, and from seven to eight in breadth, on both sides of the North Esk. But it is chiefly towards the lower end of this vale that the coal is wrought, where there are in some places 26 seams, from two to ten feet thick. Some of the seams are horizontal, and others almost perpendicular, from which they are distinguished by the names of flat seams and edge seams; and it has been remarked, that the position of the coal corresponds in some degree with the surface of the ground, being level in the valley of the North Esk, and inclined to the horizon on the higher grounds at a distance. Coal has been wrought in the parish of Laswade for upwards of two centuries, where it is still so abundant, that the quantity raised is said to be equal to a sixth part of what is obtained from all the coal works of the county. Limestone is found not only in the same tract with the coal, but still farther to the east, and also in the south-west, where coal has not yet been discovered. The great quarry at Gilmerton, in the parish of Libberton, about four miles from Edinburgh, is nearly a mile in length, everywhere open to the light of day, and has the appearance of a long chasm, advancing obliquely to the surface. Like the coal in its neighbourhood, the stone rests in an inclined position, which, when removed, leaves a floor of such a moderate declivity as to be descended by paths among the fragments of rock that have been left. At the bottom there is a pool of water. Overhead is a roof of considerable height, consisting of a bed of solid rock, supported by pillars of limestone. The principal freestone quarries are at Craigleith, in the neighbourhood of the city, from which the six columns in the front of the New College were obtained, and at Hales, in the parish of Colinton, about three miles to the westward. The stone of the former, from its superior whiteness, has been of late most in request for building, but the latter is still unrivalled for flags and for stairs. A stone similar to that of Craigleith, but easier wrought, is now got at Redhall, also in the parish of Colinton. Mill-stones have been wrought in the parish of Penicuik. Copper has been found in the parish of Currie and some other places, but not so rich as to pay for working. Iron stone abounds in the coal district, and also along the shore from Leith westwards, and stones for building and paving in every parish of the county. A stone similar to the Chinese Petunse, used in the manufacture of porcelain, has been found in the Pentland Hills, and clay, fit for being made into crucibles, in the parish of Duddingston. There are mineral waters in different parts, none of which are of much celebrity. St Bernard's Well, to the north-west of the city, rose into some repute a few years ago, chiefly by means of the late Lord Gardenstone, but it is now resorted to rather as the termination of an agreeable walk than for its medicinal properties.

The valuation of Edinburghshire, which appears to have been taken in 1649, is L.191,054, 3s. 9d. Scots, and in 1811, the real rent of the lands, according to the returns made under the property-tax, was L.277,827, 19s. 1d. Sterling, and of the houses, L.400,004, 5s. 6d. In 1795, the landed property was divided into 542 estates, of which 12 belonged to hospitals and other corporate bodies, of the valued rent of Edinburgh, L.10,628, 4s. 5d. Scots, or more than an eighteenth part of the whole. Here, as throughout the rest of Scotland, the land is occupied by tenants on leases for a term of years, excepting the comparatively small portion possessed by the proprietors themselves, or let in grass for the season. Within a few miles around the city, the cultivation of farms is conducted with a view to the wants of that great market, where potatoes, turnips, and clovers, are found more profitable than corn. The price of these crops, sold on the ground, the purchaser taking upon himself all the expence of carrying them to market, or taking them away for his own consumption, may average about L.20 the Scots acre, (about L. 16 the English,) and very fine crops sometimes bring more than L.30. Early potatoes, raised within a mile of the city, have been sold, to the extent of several acres on one farm, at L.50 an acre. The manure for raising these crops is amply supplied by the streets and stables of the city, which sells at 3s. a cubic yard or more, according to its quality and the demand. A few years ago, the street soil was let out to one individual, and brought the city a clear revenue of L.2000 a-year. This kind of manure, the effects of which are not so lasting as those of stable or farm-yard dung, enables the farmers to raise large crops of wheat, and other kinds of corn, after the green crops, upon soils that are not naturally very fertile; but the seeds of all sorts with which it abounds are unfavourable to the cleanliness of their fields. Their straw, instead of being consumed or converted into manure on their farms, is carried to the city, and sold at a rate averaging from L.3 to L.5 an acre, or sometimes given to stables in exchange for their dung. The rent of farms, of from 50 to 100 acres, within a mile of the city, is in some instances so high as L.8 or L.10 an acre. Lime is very little employed as a manure within the circle to which the town dung extends. Beyond this circle, the radius of which may be about five miles, the system of cultivation is nearly the same as we have already described under other Scottish counties. The extent of the natural wood Woods has been estimated at 3000 acres, and of plantations about 14,000, together about one acre in every fourteen.

In 1812, 400 acres were employed in raising vegetables for the city, within a circuit of five miles, and 100 acres more were under strawberries. Mr Neill, Secretary to the Horticultural Society, states the produce of the former at L.45, and the rent from L.8 to L.16 an acre. Between 60,000 and 70,000 Scots pints of strawberries (nearly half as many English gallons) are annually sold in Edinburgh, at from 10s. 6d. a pint down to 9d. The produce of an acre is from 800 to 900 pints, thus yielding a return not very different from the garden grounds. There are also several nurseries in the immediate vicinity of the city, some of them equal to any in the United Kingdom for their collection of fruit and forest trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, as well as for the arrangement and keeping of the grounds. About 130 acres are employed in this way.

The manufactures and commerce of this county, Manufac- tures, &c. exclusive of Edinburgh, and Leith its sea-port, are inconsiderable. None of the three great branches of industry, the woollen, cotton, or linen manufacture, is carried on here to any extent. Distilleries, paper-mills on both branches of the Esk, iron works at Cramond, potteries and salt-pans at Inveresk, and gunpowder works at Temple, on the South Esk, are the most worthy of notice. From the metropolis of Scotland being situated here, the public roads that pass through it in every direction are kept in the best order, and thus promote its internal trade. A system of railways is now in contemplation from the coal works to the south-east of the city, but with a view to their further extension.

A communication between Edinburgh and Glasgow is now about to be obtained by means of the Union Canal, a work which promises to be of great utility to this county; and the want of which has long been felt. This canal, which is to be five feet deep, and at the surface 37 feet wide, contracting to 22 feet at the bottom, begins at the Lothian Road, on the west of Edinburgh, and, crossing the Water of Leith at Slateford, passes the villages of Ratho, Broxburn, and Winchburgh, and the towns of Linlithgow and Falkirk, and joins the Forth and Clyde Canal at Lock No. 16, near the village of Camelorn, after a course of 30 miles. The principal aqueducts are, one over the Water of Leith, at Slateford, 500 feet long and 50 feet high; and another of 12 arches of 50 feet span, over the river Avon, two miles above Linlithgow Bridge, 885 feet long, and 90 feet in height above the bed of the river. Both of these are to be lined with an iron trough instead of puddle. About 25½ miles from Edinburgh, as the line passes Falkirk, there is to be a tunnel through Prospect Hill, a third of a mile in length. There will be nine locks in all on this canal, close together, about a mile west of Falkirk; and to Glasgow from the point of junction, there are four locks more, on the Forth and Clyde Canal; but it is proposed to carry a branch from the Union up to the summit level of the other canal, by which four of the Union locks and the four of the Forth and Clyde, will be saved to vessels going directly from Edinburgh to Glasgow, leaving only five locks on that passage. The estimate for the Union Canal was L.240,500, which has been raised in shares of L.50 each; and it is not expected that the expence will be more. It was begun at Edinburgh in March 1818, and in March 1819, 14 miles of the 30 were nearly excavated; the whole, it is hoped, may be finished by September 1821. It has been found, on survey, that it may be continued on the same level through East Lothian, by Dalkeith, Haddington, &c. A lockage of 250 feet would carry it down to Leith. One great object of this work is to facilitate the conveyance of coals to the city from the coal-fields near Falkirk.

Besides the capital itself, there is no town of any note in Edinburghshire, but a great many thriving villages. Of these may be mentioned, Mid-Calder, Corstorphine, and Cramond, in the north-west; Penicuik, Dalkeith, Laswade, Loanhead, and Gilmerston, in the east and south, and Musselburgh, including the villages of Inveresk and Fishrow, Portobello and Newhaven, on the Frith of Forth. Portobello is a pleasant village, lately built, and much resorted to for sea-bathing. Hot and cold baths have been constructed there upon a very elegant plan. Edinburgh is plentifully supplied with fish by the fishwives (as they are called) of Newhaven and Fishrow, a singularly active and laborious race, and very acute in their dealings, who bring in the fish on their backs in large creels or wicker-baskets, and cry them through the streets of the city. Dalkeith, the most populous of the places we have mentioned, has been long distinguished for its great weekly markets for meal and grain. The agreeable and healthy situation of Musselburgh obtained for it of old the name of the Montpelier of Scotland.

Among the principal seats are, Dalkeith House, Principal Duke of Buccleuch; Newbattle Abbey, Marquis Seats. of Lothian; Duddingstone, Marquis of Abercorn; Dalmahoy, Earl of Morton; Dalhousie Castle, Earl of Dalhousie; Melville Castle, Viscount Melville; Calder House, Lord Torphichen; Arniston, Lord Chief Baron Dundas; Penicuik, Sir George Clerk, member for the county. There is a curious fossil tree on the south bank of the North Esk, in the grounds of Penicuik, which has lately attracted some notice. A figure of it is given in the new series of the Scots Magazine for December 1818. To the above may be added, the names of some other old families, who have long held estates in the county, viz. Baird, Borthwick, Craig, Dalrymple, Dick, Drummond, Foulis, Hope, Inglis, Law, Little, Nesbit, Scott, Trotter, Watson, Wauchope, and Wilkie.

Edinburghshire sends two members to Parliament, Population. one for the county and another for the city, the only royal burgh in it. The annexed abstract exhibits the state of the population of the county in 1800 and 1811, which there is reason to believe has increased considerably since the last enumeration.—See Robertson's Survey of Mid Lothian—the Statistical Account of Scotland—Beauties of Scotland, Vol. I.—Sir John Sinclair's General Report of Scotland—and for the history and antiquities of the county, Chalmers's Caledonia, Vol. II. (A.)

<table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="3">OCCUPATIONS.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th>Persons chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th>Persons chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft.</th> <th>All other Persons not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> <th>Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>17,111</td> <td>28,186</td> <td>1081</td> <td>54,224</td> <td>68,730</td> <td>7758</td> <td>21,036</td> <td>90,256</td> <td>122,954</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <th rowspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="4">OCCUPATIONS.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th><i>Families</i> chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th><i>Families</i> chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft.</th> <th>All other Families not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> <th>Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>15,789</td> <td>33,043</td> <td>1167</td> <td>65,004</td> <td>83,603</td> <td>3594</td> <td>13,254</td> <td>16,195</td> <td>148,607</td> </tr> </table>