able characters that only a few years since gave so deep an interest to this busy spot. Here was the daily resort of sir Walter Scott, as one of the clerks of session, for many years; and here, till very recently, the acute and vigorous lord Jeffrey animated the scene. At no time, however, can it be without its attractions to the intelligent visitor, exhibiting as it does the most learned and influential body of men congregated together which can be seen in Scotland. The various members of the legal faculty, with the judges of the supreme, civil, and criminal courts, constitute what is styled the College of Justice, an institution of nearly four hundred years' standing. Churchmen continued to form a part of the court of session, and to exercise judicial functions, till the reign of James vi.; while the greatly more objectionable practice of noblemen or courtiers, nominated at pleasure by the king as extra-judges, under the title of extraordinary lords, and taking their seats on the bench and voting when they thought proper, continued in practice till the reform of the courts after the accession of the house of Hanover. The judges are styled lords of session, and as such have the title of lord, the head of the two divisions of the court being severally entitled, the lord chief justice-clerk, and the lord president, and the whole body of judges having the additional title of senators of the College of Justice. The Faculty of Advocates, corresponding to the English barristers, conduct all oral pleadings, both in the civil and criminal courts. They constitute the body from whence the judges are selected, including not only those in the supreme courts, but also the sheriffs who preside in the local courts of the various districts or sheriffdoms throughout the country. They thus constitute an important and influential class; and as the passing at the bar, as it is styled, is a necessary qualification for many lucrative appointments under the crown, as well as a sort of literate degree, fully equivalent in value as evidence of scholarship to that of Master of Arts in the English universities, many gentlemen become members of the faculty who have no intention of practising at the bar. "Advocates," says Mr. Chambers, 66 prepare all written pleadings, or, at least, are understood to do so; as every paper, whether composed by themselves or by inferior practitioners, must at least be sanctioned by their signature. They also give opinions upon. written statements of cases presented to them by the agents, both in their earlier and latter stages; and they are sometimes employed as arbiters, in deciding such cases as the parties may join in desiring to withhold from the court. They alone have the right of intercourse with the judges, whether by written or vivá voce discussion; and it may be said that they occupy the most advanced rank in the grand battle-array of a process, the other prac titioners being only the second's prompters, or esquires, to these chief men-at-arms." The class next to this in the legal body bears the title of WRITERS TO HER MAJESTY'S SIGNET; owing to their possessing the exclusive privilege of signing writs of summons and arrestment, bearing the royal signet-the king, according to a fiction of the Scottish supreme courts, being supposed to originate and sanction all such proceedings. The reader will remember that the father of sir Walter Scott was a member of this honourable legal fraternity. Nearly similar to this body in most respects-though destitute of some of their privileges, and especially of that of executing the mandates of the royal signet-is the society of solicitors before the supreme courts, who unite with the other bodies already named in constituting what is called the College of Justice. At the end of Prince's-street, facing the stranger as he crosses the North Bridge from the Old Town, stands the Register Office, which derives its name from the circumstance of it being the spot where deeds and other legal documents are registered-an admirable system, by which the intending purchaser of landed property can at once perceive whether it has been burdened by any previous charges. CHAPTER XIII. THE ENVIRONS OF EDINBURGH. To the traveller or the tourist who visits Edin burgh, its attractions are very naturally regarded as extending far beyond the limits of its old mural boundaries, or even of the small county which bears its name. The three Scottish shires which are united under the common denomination of the Lothians, form a district apart, and may truly be regarded as the rural suburbs of the Scottish capital. A very large proportion of the landed proprietors have their mansions in town, and spend a considerable portion of the year in Edinburgh; and very few indeed, even among the most ancient and exclusive of the nobility, fail to bear some occasional part in the proceedings of the old capital. Nor are the associations which add an interest to many of the picturesque attractions of the environs of Edinburgh in any degree inferior to those which confer so peculiar a charm on the faded or crumbling, though still substantial fabrics in the closes and wynds of the old town. We shall now direct attention to some of the most remarkable features which are deserving of notice in the surrounding districts, arranging these in such a way as that, while they may gratify the taste of the general reader, and supply desirable information to the local student, they may also serve the practical purpose of a guide to those who may be tempted by our descriptions to explore some of the picturesque beauties of the Lothians. Leaving Edinburgh by the south, the traveller passes along the edge of Bruntsfield Links, the small remnant of the ancient Borough Moor, which once extended for several miles on every side, and with its ancient forest of oaks formed a harbour for the daring outlaw, and a muster-ground whereon the Scottish army was wont to marshal at the summons of its kings. It sweeps away to the southward, gradually rising towards the heights of the Pentland Hills, which, with their outlying spurs, the Braid and Blackford Hills, bound the rich landscape to the south and west. Now, however, the ancient moor is crowded with villas, orchards, gardens, and cultivated farms; and we must fall back on the glowing, yet most truthful description of the author of "Marmion," if we would realize the former condition of this rich historic ground, of which Scott so truly says, "And I could trace each step they trode: |