meal and potatoes from the family of Riccarton, help to make a tolerable living to a single person.

Within the last few years a neat and commodious school and schoolhouse have been erected at Balerno, by means of a grant of L.100 obtained from the Government Board of Education, and an equal sum raised by subscription. The school is under the management of eight directors, half of them adhering to the Establishment, and the other half being Dissenters.

There are three Sabbath schools in the parish: one at Currie, taught by the parish minister; a second under his superintendence at Hermiston, taught by members of the Village Sabbath School Society; and a third at Balerno, by the Rev. Andrew Tod.

Library. A parish library was founded by the writer, 1839, which has been greatly enriched by donations in money and books from the heritors and others, and which, both for the number and value of the works it embraces, may vie with any similar institution in the country.

Poor and Parochial Funds.-The list of poor supplied at the expense of the parish of course varies according to circumstances. In the year 1842, there were 34 paupers on the permanent roll, and on the occasional 12,-making in all 46. There are various small sums occasionally given to poor travellers passing through the parish, the number of whom is considerable, particularly after the harvest. The amount of relief afforded to regular paupers varies from 4s. to 8s. a-month. In one instance, where an idiot girl was in the family, 12s. were given for a considerable time. The amount of legal assessment for the poor in the above-mentioned year was L.200, which was apportioned as follows:

The assessment is levied in equal proportions on the rate payers; one-half on the heritors according to their valued rent, and the other half on the tenants and possessors, in proportion to the real rent. None are assessed whose property falls under L.6 of yearly rent. An annual meeting of heritors and kirk-session determines the

amount of assessment for the ensuing year, which is held on 31st December. The only officer for collecting and distributing the. poor's funds is the schoolmaster, who for the former duty receives an allowance of L.5 per cent., levied along with, and over and above the sum assessed, and for the latter duty, L.6 per annum, paid out of the general funds. It may be added, that in the year to which the preceding data refer, the sum of L.3, 13s. 6d. was expended for the medical relief of paupers, and that this assistance is always given when required.

Besides the sources mentioned above, the poor's funds are increased by the collections made at the church doors, which amounted to L.36, 15s. 10 d., together with L.15 intrusted to the minister by private individuals, for the temporary aid of industrious workmen, who might be overtaken by disease, and distributed at his discretion.

There is no saving bank in the parish, but there are several depositors in the Edinburgh Savings Banks.

Two Friendly Societies have existed for some time. One of them has recently been dissolved, and the funds divided among the members. It was but of short duration, and never could boast of more than sixty supporters. The other and the principal one, which is very flourishing, was established in 1785, and has 200 members. Its affairs are regulated, and books audited at the yearly fair, which takes place in July.

March 1845.

PARISH OF NEWTON.

PRESBYTERY OF DALKEITH, SYNOD OF LOTHIAN AND TWEEDDALE.

THE REV. JOHN ADAMSON, MINISTER.

I.

TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY. Name, &c.-AcCORDING to Chalmers in his Caledonia, previous to the Reformation, there were two parishes,-Newton and "The name of Wymet, which now form the parish of Newton. Newton," (in former times, the spelling was Neaton or Nafon), as he there remarks, "is obvious, and seems to show that there was

EDINBURGH.

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in the neighbourhood some old town." Whatever there may be in this, the new town has in lapse of time passed away as well as the old, if there was one, there being now only what was the mansion-house when it formed a separate property, and a farm-steading remaining, the church and manse having been removed, nearly a hundred years ago, to a more central situation for the united parishes. Anciently, Newton comprehended that part of the parish which is described by Chalmers as lying" on the western side of the Esk below Dalkeith," the barony of Lugton, however, being interposed betwixt it and the river, except for a short distance towards the south-eastern extremity; and was composed of the lands of Sheriffhall and Newton; while the other comprehended the lands of Edmonstone and Wymet, now written Woomet, Wolmet, and Woolmet. "This name," as the same author observes, "is of very doubtful etymology."

Boundaries, &c.—The parish is bounded by that of Dalkeith on the south; Inveresk on the east; and Liberton on the north and west. It may be 2 miles in length by nearly 1 in breadth, -comprehending an area of upwards of 3 square miles. What formed the ancient parish of Newton is generally of a uniform surface sloping towards the Esk; the other part, however, is chiefly occupied by a ridge, which, commencing in the parish of Inveresk, makes a considerable rise just after entering this parish, and passes on by a gradual ascent to Gilmerton, where it attains its highest elevation.

From the crest of the ridge there is a very commanding prospect. Owing to the want of wood, the landscape for the most part is very uninteresting, and its aspect is far from being improved by the large villages of red-tiled houses and numerous steam engines connected with the collieries.

Climate, &c.-The climate is genial and salubrious, less rain, it is believed, falling in this parish and that of Inveresk adjoining, than in most other places, from the westerly, which are the prevailing winds in summer, carrying the clouds past on either side, after leaving the Pentlands,-constituting what is called a weather-shed. In common with the east coast in general, however, it is exposed to the ungenial easterly winds which prevail in the early part of the season, though the fogs with which they are so often accompanied do not prevail so much as on the opposite shores of the Frith. We are not aware that there are any peculiar phenomena of the atmosphere which serve as prognostics of the

weather, but our miners are made aware of approaching changes by the state of matters below ground, since they are preceded by an increased flow of water from crevices, and issue of gases and foul air from among the minerals; and when very bad weather is at hand, these last are emitted with such force as to make an audible sound not to be mistaken.

Hydrography.-As has been already noticed, the parish, at one point, touches the Esk within the policy of the Duke of Buccleuch, and the Powburn slightly intersects it at the north-west corner; but in the parish otherwise, there can scarcely be said to be a perennial streamlet, which, as compared with the country generally, may be regarded as a peculiarity. The want of water, consequently, in dry seasons is much felt, and puts the inhabitants, in these cases, to no small inconvenience.

Geology, &c.—The geology of this parish belongs exclusively to the coal formation, which renders it unnecessary to enter into detail, its general characteristics being well understood. The ridge above mentioned is traversed in the western part of the parish by numerous edge seams of this valuable mineral running in general from north, 40 degrees east, to south, 40 degrees west, and with the adjacent limestone on the north, dipping at an angle of nearly 90. Of these there are at least fifteen of various thickness from two to nine feet, and at no great distance there is the outcrop of about a dozen flat seams which run from south-east and north-east to north-west and south-west, with a dip of about 10 degrees. The first principal one of these from the surface, is the fourfoot or cubical coal, which terminates about the centre of the parish, the greatest depth at which it has been found being about fifty yards in sinking. The next in succession is the splint coal, about sixteen yards deeper than the former, which varies from 5 to 7 feet in thickness. The third is the rough coal, generally fourteen yards below the splint, and varying from 4 to 5 feet in thickness. The fourth is the beefy coal, which is found fourteen yards deeper than the former, and in thickness varies from 3 feet 8 inches to 5 feet. The fifth is the diamond coal, which lies about thirty yards below the bed of the preceding, and about 4 in thickness where it occurs. It is not found, however, in almost any of the workings of the Edmonstone colliery, which extend over the south-eastern part of the parish. The sixth is the jewel coal seam, which is the deepest that has been wrought. It is of very superior quality, and lies ten yards deeper than the last mentioned in those places where it is

found. Most probably there are a succession of valuable seams at a still greater depth, but as the expense of working would be too great to admit of their being turned to account, the riches of the field have not been farther explored.

The depths above given apply to the field about the centre of it. In the Edmonstone engine-pit, which is the farthest working to the dip of the jewel coal, its depth is 84 fathoms; and the splint, which is the nearest to the surface, the four-foot or cubical coal not being found there, is at the depth of 50 fathoms.

In general the flat seams in this parish are found extending in regular order: there are, however, what are technically termed nips and dikes, which, where they occur, occasion interruptions and dislocations, which have the effect of rendering mining operations often very troublesome and very uncertain in their results. In the eastern part of the parish there is a dike, whose course is in general from south-east to north-west, which has the effect of throwing the above seams down to the east from ten to fifteen feet. About 800 yards west of the place where this dike was first discovered in the Edmonstone coal-field, there is another in the jewel coal seam, which may more properly be called a nip, the coal being found nearly on the same level after the interruption thereby occasioned. It runs about north-east two degrees, in a direction to meet the one already mentioned, which in reality it is found to do. There are also two dikes in the Sheriff hall coal-field. The first occurs in the eastern part of it, where the diamond coal terminates, and runs generally north twenty degrees west. The other is near the hamlet of Sheriff hall, at the extremity of the parish, with a direction nearly north-west. This is called a revolution dike, because, to the west of it in the parish of Liberton, the nature and qualities of the seams are changed, and are decidedly inferior to those lying on the east, being the seams already described. With regard to the edge-seams, there is one found intersecting them a little to the north of the village of Edmonstone, which has the effect of shifting them some distance out of their previous All these dikes are of whinstone.

course.

As to the surface, there is a considerable variety of soils in the parish. Towards the south-east corner, the soil is light and sandy, which is succeeded by stiff clay. About the centre it is a rich loam, which deteriorates as we ascend the ridge, the northern exposure of which is indifferent, while there is at the foot of it, in