Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
shape of an open cross or spire , one hundred and ninety feet in height , and having a stair up to a gallery surrounding the spire , within a few feet of the top , commanding a splendid view of all the adjacent country , and a complete bird ' s eye inspection of the whole town . When the block from which the figure of Sir AValter Scott is sculptured arrived in Leith , great difficulty was experienced in finding apparatus sufficiently powerful to lift it out of the vessel ; and no sliht danger
g , in addition to enormous labour , was incurred in effecting its landing . After being set upon a four-wheeled truck , it was got to Edinburgh without accident , in a sort of triumphal procession ; the transit being effected from Junction-bridge , Leith , to Mr . Steel ' s studio in Randolphplace , by the strenuous and admirably directed exertions of not fewer than twenty powerful horses , in forty-three minutes , although it had taken four days to bring it from the ship ' s hold through the yard at which it
was landed to the road , —a distance not exceeding two hundred yards . Its weight was variously estimated at from thirty to thirty-three tons . It may not be uninteresting to state , that while the ponderous mass was in the act of being shipped at Leghorn , the shears , by which it had been raised to be swung on board , from the car conveying it from the mountains , suddenly gave way , and the future statue was precipitated right through the bottom of the vessel into the sea ; and it was nearly
subjected to a similar accident while being lifted on shore at Leith . AVhile on the subject of the sculpture , it is proper to mention that the figures occupying the four niches immediately over the principal arch , were designed and executed by three Edinburgh artists , whose admiration of Scott , and approbation of the general design , induced them
spontaneously to undertake their execution , at a rate which can hardly bs considered other than gratuitous . The figure on the north , representing ' Prince Charles Edward , ' and that of ' Meg Merrilees' looking eastwards , being the work of Mr . Alexander H . Ritchie ; the ' Last Minstrel , ' filling the western niche , was contributed by Mr . James Ritchie ; and the ' Lady of the Lake / on the south , by Mr . Patrick Slater . The Gothic structure was designed hy Mr . George Mickle Kemp , a gentleman whose history is not a little singular . Brought up as an obscure
country carpenter , he in early life imbibed an enthusiastic admiration for Gothic architecture , indeed , according to his own account , by an accidental visit , while a mere child , to Roslin chapel . In the study of that branch of art , when arrived at manhood , he travelled on foot , without friends , and unassisted , save by his own indefatigable industry as a mechanic , and his enthusiasm as an amateur , over the whole of Great Britain , and a very considerable nortion of continental Eurone .
Returning to his native country , he devoted his energies to an investigation of the principles and capahilities of Gothic architecture ; and , on a competition of designs for a monument to Sir Walter Scott being advertised , he entered the lists , and , after much opposition , some of which was of the most ungenerous description , he was at length declared the victor , and his design ordered to be proceeded with . When the structure was about half builtthe unfortunate architect lost his life
, by an accident . In the course of a dark night , on his way home , he missed his footing and fell into the Union canal , where he was drowned . " A little after six o ' clock , a party of upwards of five hundred gentlemen sat down to » iinner in the Music-hall , in honour of the proceedings of the day . The Lord Provost occupied the chair , who was supported vox ., iv . zz
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
shape of an open cross or spire , one hundred and ninety feet in height , and having a stair up to a gallery surrounding the spire , within a few feet of the top , commanding a splendid view of all the adjacent country , and a complete bird ' s eye inspection of the whole town . When the block from which the figure of Sir AValter Scott is sculptured arrived in Leith , great difficulty was experienced in finding apparatus sufficiently powerful to lift it out of the vessel ; and no sliht danger
g , in addition to enormous labour , was incurred in effecting its landing . After being set upon a four-wheeled truck , it was got to Edinburgh without accident , in a sort of triumphal procession ; the transit being effected from Junction-bridge , Leith , to Mr . Steel ' s studio in Randolphplace , by the strenuous and admirably directed exertions of not fewer than twenty powerful horses , in forty-three minutes , although it had taken four days to bring it from the ship ' s hold through the yard at which it
was landed to the road , —a distance not exceeding two hundred yards . Its weight was variously estimated at from thirty to thirty-three tons . It may not be uninteresting to state , that while the ponderous mass was in the act of being shipped at Leghorn , the shears , by which it had been raised to be swung on board , from the car conveying it from the mountains , suddenly gave way , and the future statue was precipitated right through the bottom of the vessel into the sea ; and it was nearly
subjected to a similar accident while being lifted on shore at Leith . AVhile on the subject of the sculpture , it is proper to mention that the figures occupying the four niches immediately over the principal arch , were designed and executed by three Edinburgh artists , whose admiration of Scott , and approbation of the general design , induced them
spontaneously to undertake their execution , at a rate which can hardly bs considered other than gratuitous . The figure on the north , representing ' Prince Charles Edward , ' and that of ' Meg Merrilees' looking eastwards , being the work of Mr . Alexander H . Ritchie ; the ' Last Minstrel , ' filling the western niche , was contributed by Mr . James Ritchie ; and the ' Lady of the Lake / on the south , by Mr . Patrick Slater . The Gothic structure was designed hy Mr . George Mickle Kemp , a gentleman whose history is not a little singular . Brought up as an obscure
country carpenter , he in early life imbibed an enthusiastic admiration for Gothic architecture , indeed , according to his own account , by an accidental visit , while a mere child , to Roslin chapel . In the study of that branch of art , when arrived at manhood , he travelled on foot , without friends , and unassisted , save by his own indefatigable industry as a mechanic , and his enthusiasm as an amateur , over the whole of Great Britain , and a very considerable nortion of continental Eurone .
Returning to his native country , he devoted his energies to an investigation of the principles and capahilities of Gothic architecture ; and , on a competition of designs for a monument to Sir Walter Scott being advertised , he entered the lists , and , after much opposition , some of which was of the most ungenerous description , he was at length declared the victor , and his design ordered to be proceeded with . When the structure was about half builtthe unfortunate architect lost his life
, by an accident . In the course of a dark night , on his way home , he missed his footing and fell into the Union canal , where he was drowned . " A little after six o ' clock , a party of upwards of five hundred gentlemen sat down to » iinner in the Music-hall , in honour of the proceedings of the day . The Lord Provost occupied the chair , who was supported vox ., iv . zz