here Porteous was done to death, and other objects
described in the most dramatic part of "The Heart of Mid-Lothian." In
one of these tall houses Hume wrote part of his History of England,
and on this spot still nearer was the home of Allan Ramsay. A thousand
other interesting and pregnant associations present themselves every
time I look out of the window.

In the open square between us and the Old Town is to be the terminus
of the railroad, but as the building will be masked with trees, it
is thought it will not mar the beauty of the place; yet Scott could
hardly have looked without regret upon an object that marks so
distinctly the conquest of the New over the Old, and, appropriately
enough, his statue has its back turned that way. The effect of the
monument to Scott is pleasing, though without strict unity of thought
or original beauty of design. The statue is too much hid within the
monument, and wants that majesty of repose in the attitude and drapery
which a sitting figure should have, and which might well accompany the
massive head of Scott. Still the monument is an ornament and an honor
to the city. This is now the fourth that has been erected within two
years to commemorate the triumphs of genius. Monuments that have risen
from the same idea, and in such quick succession, to Schiller, to
Goethe, to Beethoven, and to Scott, signalize the character of the new
era still more happily than does the railroad coming up almost to the
foot of Edinburgh Castle.

The statue of Burns has been removed from the monument erected in his
honor, to one of the public libraries, as being there more accessible
to the public. It is, however, entirely unworthy its subject, giving
the idea of a smaller and younger person, while we think of Burns
as of a man in the prime of manhood, one who not only promised, but
_was_, and with a sunny glow and breadth, of character of which this
stone effigy presents no sign.

A Scottish gentleman told me the following story, which would afford
the finest subject for a painter capable of representing the glowing
eye and natural kingliness of Burns, in contrast to the poor, mean
puppets he reproved.

Burns, still only in the dawn of his celebrity, was invited to dine
with one of the neighboring so-called gentry (unhappily quite void
of true gentle blood). On arriving he found his plate set in the
servants' room!! After dinner he was invited into a room where guests
were assembled, and, a chair b