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qualities we find it irksome to conserve。  Assuredly; in 

driving streets through the black labyrinth; a few 

curious old corners have been swept away; and some 

associations turned out of house and home。  But what 

slices of sunlight; what breaths of clean air; have been 

let in!  And what a picturesque world remains untouched!  

You go under dark arches; and down dark stairs and 

alleys。  The way is so narrow that you can lay a hand on 

either wall; so steep that; in greasy winter weather; the 

pavement is almost as treacherous as ice。  Washing 

dangles above washing from the windows; the houses bulge 

outwards upon flimsy brackets; you see a bit of sculpture 

in a dark corner; at the top of all; a gable and a few 

crowsteps are printed on the sky。  Here; you come into a 

court where the children are at play and the grown people 

sit upon their doorsteps; and perhaps a church spire 

shows itself above the roofs。  Here; in the narrowest of 

the entry; you find a great old mansion still erect; with 

some insignia of its former state … some scutcheon; some 

holy or courageous motto; on the lintel。  The local 

antiquary points out where famous and well…born people 

had their lodging; and as you look up; out pops the head 

of a slatternly woman from the countess's window。  The 

Bedouins camp within Pharaoh's palace walls; and the old 

war…ship is given over to the rats。  We are already a far 

way from the days when powdered heads were plentiful in 

these alleys; with jolly; port…wine faces underneath。  

Even in the chief thoroughfares Irish washings flutter at 

the windows; and the pavements are encumbered with 

loiterers。



These loiterers are a true character of the scene。  

Some shrewd Scotch workmen may have paused on their way 

to a job; debating Church affairs and politics with their 

tools upon their arm。  But the most part are of a 

different order … skulking jail…birds; unkempt; bare…foot 

children; big…mouthed; robust women; in a sort of uniform 

of striped flannel petticoat and short tartan shawl; 

among these; a few surpervising constables and a dismal 

sprinkling of mutineers and broken men from higher ranks 

in society; with some mark of better days upon them; like 

a brand。  In a place no larger than Edinburgh; and where 

the traffic is mostly centred in five or six chief 

streets; the same face comes often under the notice of an 

idle stroller。  In fact; from this point of view; 

Edinburgh is not so much a small city as the largest of 

small towns。  It is scarce possible to avoid observing 

your neighbours; and I never yet heard of any one who 

tried。  It has been my fortune; in this anonymous 

accidental way; to watch more than one of these downward 

travellers for some stages on the road to ruin。  One man 

must have been upwards of sixty before I first observed 

him; and he made then a decent; personable figure in 

broad…cloth of the best。  For three years he kept falling 

… grease coming and buttons going from the square…skirted 

coat; the face puffing and pimpling; the shoulders 

growing bowed; the hair falling scant and grey upon his 

head; and the last that ever I saw of him; he was 

standing at the mouth of an entry with several men in 

moleskin; three parts drunk; and his old black raiment 

daubed with mud。  I fancy that I still can hear him 

laugh。  There was something heart…breaking in this 

gradual declension at so advanced an age; you would have 

thought a man of sixty out of the reach of these 

calamities; you would have thought that he was niched by 

that time into a safe place in life; whence he could pass 

quietly and honourably into the grave。



One of the earliest marks of these DEGRINGOLADES is; 

that the victim begins to disappear from the New Town 

thoroughfares; and takes to the High Street; like a 

wounded animal to the woods。  And such an one is the type 

of the quarter。  It also has fallen socially。  A 

scutcheon over the door somewhat jars in sentiment where 

there is a washing at every window。  The old man; when I 

saw him last; wore the coat in which he had played the 

gentleman three years before; and that was just what gave 

him so pre…eminent an air of wretchedness。



It is true that the over…population was at least as 

dense in the epoch of lords and ladies; and that now…a…

days some customs which made Edinburgh notorious of yore 

have been fortunately pretermitted。  But an aggregation 

of comfort is not distasteful like an aggregation of the 

reverse。  Nobody cares how many lords and ladies; and 

divines and lawyers; may have been crowded into these 

houses in the past … perhaps the more the merrier。  The 

glasses clink around the china punch…bowl; some one 

touches the virginals; there are peacocks' feathers on 

the chimney; and the tapers burn clear and pale in the 

red firelight。  That is not an ugly picture in itself; 

nor will it become ugly upon repetition。  All the better 

if the like were going on in every second room; the LAND 

would only look the more inviting。  Times are changed。  

In one house; perhaps; two…score families herd together; 

and; perhaps; not one of them is wholly out of the reach 

of want。  The great hotel is given over to discomfort 

from the foundation to the chimney…tops; everywhere a 

pinching; narrow habit; scanty meals; and an air of 

sluttishness and dirt。  In the first room there is a 

birth; in another a death; in a third a sordid drinking…

bout; and the detective and the Bible…reader cross upon 

the stairs。  High words are audible from dwelling to 

dwelling; and children have a strange experience from the 

first; only a robust soul; you would think; could grow up 

in such conditions without hurt。  And even if God tempers 

His dispensations to the young; and all the ill does not 

arise that our apprehensions may forecast; the sight of 

such a way of living is disquieting to people who are 

more happily circumstanced。  Social inequality is nowhere 

more ostentatious than at Edinburgh。  I have mentioned 

already how; to the stroller along Princes Street; the 

High Street callously exhibits its back garrets。  It is 

true; there is a garden between。  And although nothing 

could be more glaring by way of contrast; sometimes the 

opposition is more immediate; sometimes the thing lies in 

a nutshell; and there is not so much as a blade of grass 

between the rich and poor。  To look over the South Bridge 

and see the Cowgate below full of crying hawkers; is to 

view one rank of society from another in the twinkling of 

an eye。



One night I went along the Cowgate after every one 

was a…bed but the policeman; and stopped by hazard before 

a tall LAND。  The moon touched upon its chimneys; and 

shone blankly on the upper windows; there was no light 

anywhere in the great bulk of building; but as I stood 

there it seemed to me that I could hear quite a body of 

quiet sounds from the interior; doubtless there were many 

clocks ticking; and people snoring on their backs。  And 

thus; as I fancied; the dense life within made itself 

faintly audible in my ears; family after family 

contributing its quota to the general hum; and the whole 

pile beating in tune to its timepieces; like a great 

disordered heart。  Perhaps it was little more than a 

fancy altogether; but it was strangely impressive at the 

time; and gave me an imaginative measure of the 

disproportion between the quantity of living flesh and 

the trifling walls that separated and contained it。



There was nothing fanciful; at least; but every 

circumstance of terror and reality; in the fall of the 

LAND in the High Street。  The building had grown rotten 

to the core; the entry underneath had suddenly closed up 

so that the scavenger's barrow could not pass; cracks and 

reverberations sounded through the house at night; the 

inhabitants of the huge old human bee…hive discussed 

their peril when they encountered on the stair; some had 

even left their dwellings in a panic of fear; and 

returned to them again in a fit of economy or self…

respect; when; in the black hours of a Sunday morning; 

the whole structure ran together with a hideous uproar 

and tumbled story upon story to the ground。  The physical 

shock was felt far and near; and the moral shock 

travelled with the morning milkmaid into all the suburbs。  

The church…bells never sounded more dismally over 

Edinburgh than that grey forenoon。  Death had made a 

brave harvest; and; like Samson; by pulling down one 

roof; destroyed many a home。  None who saw it can have 

forgotten the aspect of the gable; here it was plastered; 

there papered; according to the rooms; here the kettle 

still stood on the hob; high overhead; and there a cheap 

picture of the Queen was pasted over the chimney。  So; by 

this disaster; you had a glimpse into the life of thirty 

families; all suddenly cut off

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