As the Parliament House is built upon a slope, although it presents only one story to the north, it measures half-a-dozen at least upon the south; and range after range of vaults extend below the libraries.

Few places are more characteristic of this hilly capital.

You descend one stone stair after another, and wander, by the flicker of a match, in a labyrinth of stone cellars.

Now, you pass below the Outer Hall and hear overhead, brisk but ghostly, the interminable pattering of legal feet.

Now, you come upon a strong door with a wicket: on the other side are the cells of the police office and the trap-stair that gives admittance to the dock in the Justiciary Court.
Many a foot that has gone up there lightly enough, has been dead-heavy in the descent.