The magnificent hall used for academic and public functions was the gift of William M ` Ewan, some time M.P. for the Central division of Edinburgh.
The brewers and distillers, such as M ` Ewan, Usher and Ure, have been amongst the most generous benefactors of the city.
Classical concerts and concerts of the better sort, chiefly held in the M ` Ewan and Music Halls, are well attended, and lectures are patronized to a degree unknown in most towns.
He was the son of William Airay, the favourite servant of Bernard Gilpin, "the apostle of the North," whose bounty showed itself in sending Henry and his brother Evan (or Ewan) to his own endowed school, where they were educated "in grammatical learning," and were in attendance at Oxford when Gilpin died.
Ewan caught sight of the barbarian's look of righteous wrath and hastily grabbed his horse's bridle.
