We next went to the great church of St Giles, which has lost its
original magnificence in the inside, by being divided into four places
of Presbyterian worship. 'Come,' said Dr Johnson jocularly to
Principal Robertson, [Footnote: I have hitherto called him Dr William
Robertson, to distinguish him from Dr James Robertson, who is soon to
make his appearance. But 'Principal', from his being the head of our
college, is his usual designation, and is shorter; so I shall use it
hereafter.] 'let me see what was once a church!' We entered that
division which was formerly called the New Church, and of late the
High Church, so well known by the eloquence of Dr Hugh Blair. It is
now very elegantly fitted up; but it was then shamefully dirty. Dr
Johnson said nothing at the time; but when we came to the great door
of the Royal Infirmary, where, upon a board, was this inscription,
CLEAN YOUR FEET! he turned about slyly, and said, 'There is no
occasion for putting this at the doors of your churches!'

We then conducted him down the Post-house stairs, Parliament Close,
and made him look up from the Cow-gate to the highest building in
Edinburgh (from which he had just descended), being thirteen floors or
stories from the ground upon the back elevation; the front wall being
built upon the edge of the hill, and the back wall rising from the
bottom of the hill several stories before it comes to a level with the
front wall. We proceeded to the College, with the Principal at our
head. Dr Adam Fergusson, whose Essay on the History of Civil Society
gives him a respectable place in the ranks of literature, was with us.
As the College buildings are indeed very mean, the Principal said to
Dr Johnson, that he must give them the same epithet that a Jesuit did
when shewing a poor college abroad: Hae miseriae nostrae. Dr Johnson
was, however, much pleased with the library, and with the conversation