 convent.
Edinburgh is considerably extended on the south side, where there are divers
little elegant squares built in the English manner; and the citizens have
planned some improvements on the north, which, when put in execution, will add
greatly to the beauty and convenience of this capital.
    The sea-port is Leith, a flourishing town, about a mile from the city, in
the harbour of which I have seen above one hundred ships lying all together. You
must know, I had the curiosity to cross the Frith in a passage-boat, and stayed
two days in Fife, which is remarkably fruitful in corn, and exhibits a
surprising number of fine seats, elegantly built, and magnificently furnished.
There is an incredible number of noble houses in every part of Scotland that I
have seen. - Dalkeith, Pinkie, Yester, and lord Hopton's, all of them within
four or five miles of Edinburgh, are princely palaces, in every one of which a
sovereign might reside at his ease. - I suppose the Scots affect these monuments
of grandeur. - If I may be allowed to mingle censure with my remarks upon a
people I revere, I must observe, that their weak side seems to be vanity. - I am
afraid that even their hospitality is not quite free of ostentation. - I think I
have discovered among them uncommon pains taken to display their fine linen, of
which, indeed, they have great plenty, their furniture, plate, house-keeping,
and variety of wines, in which article, it must be owned, they are profuse, if
not prodigal. - A burgher of Edinburgh, not content to vie with a citizen of
London, who has ten times his fortune, must excel him in the expence as well as
elegance of his entertainments.
    Though the villas of the Scotch nobility and gentry have generally an air of
grandeur and state, I think their gardens and parks are not comparable to those
of England; a circumstance the more remarkable, as I was told by the ingenious
Mr. Philip Miller of Chelsea, that almost all the gardeners of South-Britain
were natives of Scotland. The verdure of this country is not equal to that of
England. - The pleasure-grounds are, in my opinion, not so well laid out
according to the genius loci; nor are the lawns, and walks, and hedges kept in
such delicate order. - The trees are planted in prudish rows, which have not
such an agreeable natural effect, as when they are thrown into irregular
groupes, with intervening glades; and the firs, which
