Heart of Midlothian

The former entrance to the Tollbooth prison.

The book of the same name by Walter Scott is actually based on a true story. Someone wrote to him and told him they had met a woman whose sister had been accused of child murder (for concealing a pregnancy and then the child going missing) She was asked to lie in court that her sister had told her about the pregnancy but she refused to lie and instead walked all the way to London is order to get a pardon. For added drama, Scott set his story at the time of the Porteous riots of 1736.

Apparently, before Porteous was removed from the Tolbooth by the mob, they went around the town telling passers by to go home. Unaccompanied ladies were escorted home and one of these ladies was an aunt of Scott's who often recounted the tale and told of the gallantry of her escort as he handed her down from her sedan chair!