A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible LandsWhittle, Walter Andrew
Religion
A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands
Whittle, Walter Andrew
Europe -- Description and travel; Middle East -- Description and travel
In one hour more we had reached the end of our journey. Edinburgh has
two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, just half the number of
Glasgow, and is a magnificent city. It is the pride of every Scotchman.
It is called “The Classic City,” “The Bonnie City,” “The Capital City,”
“The Monumental City,” and “The Athens of Britain.” I expected to hear
it called “The Boston of Europe,” but the people did not seem to think
of it. This was the birthplace of Sir Walter Scott, the novelist and
poet; the home of Hume, the scholar and historian; of John Knox, the
reformer, who never feared the face of man, nor doubted the Word of
God; of Thomas Chalmers, the Astronomical preacher from whose pulpit
the stars poured forth a flood of light and glory; and it was for a
thousand years the home of the Scottish Kings and state officials. It
is now the political home of Gladstone, who is perhaps the greatest
living statesman, and the home of Drummond, author of “Natural law in
the Spiritual World.”
The city is filled with many objects of peculiar interest, only a
few of which I will mention. About a hundred years ago, though the
people here speak of it as “recently,” the city was greatly enlarged,
and I suppose the object of the enlargement was to make room for
the monuments and statues. One sees a monument on almost every
street-corner, and there is a perfect forest of statuary. These Scotch
people are very fond of honoring great men. I am going to leave here
to-morrow, for fear they put up a monument to me. They have not said
anything about the monument yet, but I notice the police have been
following me about for two or three days, as though they thought of
something of that sort.
[Illustration: SCOTT’S MONUMENT.]
On Princess street, in the prettiest and most romantic part of the
city, stands a colossal monument to Sir Walter Scott which was
fashioned by one of the world’s greatest artists, and which is said to
be one of the most superb structures of the kind ever built. I am quite
prepared to believe the statement. In this monument architectural
grandeur and artistic beauty are blended in the sweetest and most
perfect manner imaginable. Like a sunset at sea, it never becomes
monotonous, but is always pleasing. A fit emblem this of Scott himself,
in whom a strong character was so gracefully blended with smooth
and polished manners. This monument may be painted, but it beggars
description.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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