The Heart of Midlothian is a heart-shaped mosaic, formed of coloured granite setts, located outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. It marks the site of the entrance to Edinburgh's Old Tolbooth, which was demolished in 1817. [1] Sir Walter Scott would immortalise the Tolbooth in his 1818 novel The Heart of Midlothian , which centres on a girl who is wrongfully imprisoned there.
Locals will often spit upon the heart, an action which is said to bring good luck, though it may have originated as a sign of disdain for the executions that took place in the Tolbooth. [2] The Edinburgh football team Heart of Midlothian F.C. takes its name from the Tolbooth and the mosaic that marks its former location. [3]
