Article #382-1 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Time has wrought its changes most notably around the precincts of St.
Giles’s Church. The church itself, if it were not for the spire, would
be unrecognisable; the Krames are all gone, not a shop is left to
shelter in its buttresses; and zealous magistrates and a misguided
architect have shorn the design of manhood, and left it poor, naked, and
pitifully pretentious. As St. Giles’s must have had in former days a
rich and quaint appearance now forgotten, so the neighbourhood was
bustling, sunless, and romantic. It was here that the town was most
overbuilt; but the overbuilding has been all rooted out, and not only a
free fair-way left along the High Street with an open space on either
side of the church, but a great porthole, knocked in the main line of the
lands, gives an outlook to the north and the New Town.

[Picture: The Spire of St. Giles’s] There is a silly story of a
subterranean passage between the Castle and Holyrood, and a bold Highland
piper who volunteered to explore its windings. He made his entrance by
the upper end, playing a strathspey; the curious footed it after him down
the street, following his descent by the sound of the chanter from below;
until all of a sudden, about the level of St. Giles’s, the music came
abruptly to an end, and the people in the street stood at fault with
hands uplifted. Whether he was choked with gases, or perished in a quag,
or was removed bodily by the Evil One, remains a point of doubt; but the
piper has never again been seen or heard of from that day to this.
Perhaps he wandered down into the land of Thomas the Rhymer, and some
day, when it is least expected, may take a thought to revisit the sunlit
upper world. That will be a strange moment for the cabmen on the stance
besides St. Giles’s, when they hear the drone of his pipes reascending
from the bowels of the earth below their horses’ feet.

But it is not only pipers who have vanished, many a solid bulk of masonry
has been likewise spirited into the air. Here, for example, is the shape
of a heart let into the causeway. This was the site of the Tolbooth, the
Heart of Midlothian, a place old in story and namefather to a noble book.
The walls are now down in the dust; there is no more squalor carceris
for merry debtors, no more cage for the old, acknowledged prison-breaker;
but the sun and the wind play freely over the foundations of the jail.
Nor is this the only memorial that the pavement keeps of former days.
The ancient burying-ground of Edinburgh lay behind St. Giles’s Church,
running downhill to the Cowgate and covering the site of the present
Parliament House. It has disappeared as utterly as the prison or the
Luckenbooths; and for those ignorant of its history, I know only one
token that remains. In the Parliament Close, trodden daily underfoot by
advocates, two letters and a date mark the resting-place of the man who
made Scotland over again in his own image, the indefatigable,
undissuadable John Knox. He sleeps within call of the church that so
often echoed to his preaching.

Explanation

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes (1878) is a lyrical, semi-autobiographical sketch of Scotland’s capital, blending history, folklore, and personal observation. The excerpt provided focuses on St. Giles’ Cathedral and its surroundings, using the physical transformations of the city as a lens to explore themes of time, memory, loss, and the haunting persistence of the past. Stevenson’s prose is rich with nostalgia, irony, and gothic undertones, reflecting his fascination with Edinburgh’s layered history—both its grandeur and its darker, vanished aspects.

Context & Themes

Historical & Physical Change Stevenson writes during the Victorian era, a time when Edinburgh was undergoing rapid modernization. The demolition of the Krames (medieval market stalls clinging to St. Giles’) and the clearing of the Tolbooth prison (the "Heart of Midlothian") symbolize the erasure of the city’s chaotic, pre-industrial past. The passage mourns this loss, framing progress as both necessary and destructive.
Memory & Erasure The text is obsessed with what remains and what disappears. The subterranean piper, the Tolbooth’s heart-shaped cobblestone, and John Knox’s nearly forgotten grave serve as ghosts of the past, lingering in the city’s fabric. Stevenson suggests that history is not just recorded in books but embedded in the streets themselves—though often ignored.
Gothic & Folkloric Elements The piper’s disappearance into the earth evokes Scottish folklore (e.g., fairy abductions, deals with the devil) and the uncanny. The story—likely inspired by local legends—hints at a hidden, supernatural Edinburgh beneath the rational Victorian surface. The piper’s potential return ("a strange moment for the cabmen") injects humor but also unease, as if the past could erupt into the present at any moment.
Literary Allusions
- The Heart of Midlothian references Walter Scott’s 1818 novel of the same name, set around the Tolbooth prison. Stevenson’s mention of it as "namefather to a noble book" ties his work to Scotland’s literary tradition.
- Thomas the Rhymer (a 13th-century prophet said to have been taken to the fairy underworld) links the piper’s fate to myths of vanished figures who might return. This reinforces the idea of Edinburgh as a liminal space between reality and legend.

Literary Devices & Stylistic Analysis

Juxtaposition of Past & Present
- "The church itself... would be unrecognisable": Stevenson contrasts the stripped-down, "pitifully pretentious" St. Giles’ with its former "rich and quaint" appearance, critiquing modern "improvements."
- "The overbuilding has been all rooted out": The violent imagery ("rooted out," "porthole knocked in") suggests destruction masquerading as progress.
Personification & Anthropomorphism
- "Zealous magistrates and a misguided architect have shorn the design of manhood": The church is given human traits (manhood, nakedness), emphasizing its emasculated, diminished state.
- "The sun and the wind play freely over the foundations of the jail": Nature is active, almost gleeful, in reclaiming the space left by human structures.
Irony & Dark Humor
- The piper’s abrupt silence ("the music came abruptly to an end") is both comic and sinister. The theories about his fate ("choked with gases," "removed by the Evil One") are delivered with wry detachment.
- The cabmen’s shock at the piper’s potential return is a humorous image, but it also underscores how the past can intrude on the mundane present.
Symbolism
- The Heart of Midlothian (cobblestone): A literal marker of the Tolbooth’s location, but also a symbol of collective memory—trodden underfoot yet enduring.
- John Knox’s grave: Marked only by "two letters and a date," it represents how even monumental figures fade into obscurity. Knox’s proximity to St. Giles’ ("within call of the church") ties him to the city’s religious and political upheavals.
Sensory & Auditory Imagery
- The piper’s music ("playing a strathspey," "the drone of his pipes reascending") creates a haunting soundtrack for the excerpt. The sudden silence is more eerie than any description of his death.
- "Squalor carceris" (the squalor of prison): The Latin phrase adds a gothic, almost medieval weight to the Tolbooth’s legacy.
Tone: Nostalgic, Elegy, Wry Stevenson’s tone shifts between:
- Mournful ("now forgotten," "never again been seen or heard of")
- Ironic ("pitifully pretentious," "spirited into the air")
- Whimsical (the piper’s potential return, the cabmen’s surprise)

Significance of the Excerpt

Edinburgh as a Palimpsest Stevenson presents the city as a text written over time, where each era leaves traces—but also erases others. The physical changes (demolitions, new buildings) mirror cultural amnesia.
The Uncanny in Urban Space The subterranean passage and the piper’s fate suggest that Edinburgh’s history is not just buried but active beneath the surface. This aligns with Stevenson’s later works (e.g., The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), where the city’s duality (enlightened yet haunted) is central.
Critique of Progress The passage subtly questions whether modernization (clearing the Krames, demolishing the Tolbooth) is truly progress or merely sanitization. The loss of romance ("sunless and romantic") in favor of openness ("free fair-way") is ambiguous—is it gain or loss?
Literary Legacy Stevenson’s blend of history, folklore, and personal reflection influenced later writers like Muriel Spark (who titled her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie after a real Edinburgh schoolteacher) and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), who also explore the city’s layered identity.

Key Takeaways from the Text Itself

St. Giles’ as a Microcosm: The church’s transformations reflect Edinburgh’s broader shifts—from medieval chaos to Victorian order.
The Past is Not Dead: The piper, the Tolbooth’s heart, Knox’s grave—all suggest that history lingers, even if unseen.
Irony of Memorials: The most enduring "memorials" are accidental (a cobblestone, a date on a slab) rather than grand monuments.
Stevenson’s Voice: The passage balances scholarly detail (e.g., squalor carceris) with folksy storytelling (the piper’s tale), showcasing his ability to merge history and myth.

Final Thought

This excerpt is not just about Edinburgh’s architecture; it’s about how we remember—and forget. Stevenson’s genius lies in making the stones and streets speak, revealing a city that is both a graveyard and a living entity. The piper’s silent pipes, like the erased Krames or Knox’s unmarked grave, remind us that the past is never truly gone—only waiting to be heard again.

Questions

Question 1

The passage’s depiction of the "zealous magistrates and a misguided architect" who altered St. Giles’s Church primarily serves to:

A. illustrate the inevitable conflict between preservation and urban development in Victorian cities.
B. critique the aesthetic sensibilities of 19th-century civic leaders through overt sarcasm.
C. embody the tension between progress as destruction and progress as liberation, framed through anthropomorphic language.
D. provide historical context for the architectural decline of Edinburgh’s religious sites.
E. contrast the practicality of modern urban planning with the romanticism of medieval design.

Question 2

The subterranean piper’s story functions in the passage as a:

A. literal account of a historical event, underscoring Edinburgh’s folklore tradition.
B. metaphor for the irreversible loss of cultural artifacts to time and neglect.
C. gothic interruption that destabilizes the passage’s otherwise nostalgic tone, introducing the uncanny as a counterpoint to progress.
D. humorous anecdote to lighten the somber discussion of urban decay.
E. critique of Scottish superstition, framed as a relic of a less enlightened era.

Question 3

The "Heart of Midlothian" cobblestone is most thematically resonant with which of the following ideas in the passage?

A. The futility of memorialization in a city that constantly reinvents itself.
B. The persistence of collective memory in physical, if unassuming, remnants of the past.
C. The irony of a prison’s legacy being reduced to a decorative urban feature.
D. The contrast between the grandeur of literary allusion and the mundanity of its real-world referent.
E. The inevitability of historical figures like John Knox being overshadowed by architectural landmarks.

Question 4

The passage’s closing sentence—"He sleeps within call of the church that so often echoed to his preaching"—primarily achieves its effect through:

A. bathos, undercutting Knox’s historical significance with a prosaic detail.
B. irony, highlighting the distance between Knox’s fiery rhetoric and his unmarked grave.
C. pathos, evoking sympathy for Knox’s forgotten legacy.
D. foreshadowing, implying that Knox’s influence might yet resurface in modern Edinburgh.
E. juxtaposition, placing the permanence of Knox’s ideological impact against the ephemerality of physical memorials.

Question 5

Which of the following best describes the passage’s overarching structural strategy?

A. A dialectical movement between concrete descriptions of urban change and abstract meditations on memory and erasure.
B. A linear narrative of Edinburgh’s architectural history, punctuated by folkloric digressions.
C. A contrast between the author’s personal nostalgia and the city’s impersonal modernization.
D. An argument for the superiority of Edinburgh’s medieval past over its Victorian present.
E. A series of vignettes united by the theme of supernatural intervention in civic life.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: C

Why C is most correct: The phrase "shorn the design of manhood" anthropomorphizes the church, framing its alteration as an act of violent emasculation—a destruction disguised as "progress." The passage does not merely describe change (A, D) or mock civic leaders (B) but embodies a paradox: progress is both liberating (clearing "overbuilding," creating "free fair-way") and destructive (leaving the church "poor, naked"). The tension between these dualities is central to Stevenson’s critique.