Plate XVII.

                                      GILMERTON QUARRY.

ALTHOUGH there is nothing, that will particularly interest the antiquary in scenes of this nature, yet the
admirers of the picturesque and the artist are highly gratified by the investigation. It is a view in a lime-
quarry at Gilmerton, near Edinburgh; and is thus described in "Remarks on local Manners and Scenery in
Scotland." "This quarry is formed by a vast shelving stratum of lime-stone, which, rising to the surface
of the ground, admits of an easy entrance, and, extending above a mile in length, forms a succession of
caverns, supported by numerous massy pillars. The light, admitted by the winding entrances, is soon
broken among the stony masses, and dies away in the distant recesses, or is faintly reflected by the pools
of water, which are formed in the bottom of the quarry." The place too has an animation not very fre-
quent in such places, from the number of persons occupied in hewing out the lime-stone, breaking it into
smaller pieces, loading, and driving the carts, horses, and asses. Besides those, who are employed in car-
rying out the produce, there are nearly forty persons engaged in the quarry, which yields about seventy
thousand bolls of lime annually. This view was made in 1799.