# Greyfriars explained — Travel Essays

> Chapter companion for Travel Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson.

## What happens

Stevenson reflects on Greyfriars churchyard in Edinburgh, describing its history, monuments, and the contrast between the dead and the living. He recounts visits with a gravedigger and gardener, notes the tomb of Sir George Mackenzie, the site of Covenanters' executions, and the story of martyrs' heads buried and later rediscovered. The chapter meditates on mortality, memory, and the grim humor of death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and the Passage of Time

The chapter is a meditation on death, graveyard monuments, and the fleeting nature of life, with vivid descriptions of tombs and the contrast between the living and the dead.

### Human Connection and Community

The interactions with the gravedigger and gardener, as well as the stories of the Covenanters and the Heriot's Hospital boys, highlight community bonds and shared history.

## Character check-ins

### John Knox

Mentioned as having taken refuge in a tomb at Greyfriars during a turmoil of the Reformation.

### Mary

Queen Mary is noted for having thrown open the gardens of the Grey Friars.

### Old Edinburgh

The city of Edinburgh is described in its layout and views from Greyfriars.

### The Judge

Sir George Mackenzie, 'Bloody Mackenzie,' is referenced as the Lord Advocate and author of an essay on toleration, whose mausoleum is in Greyfriars.

## Key lines

> An open outlook is to be desired from a churchyard, and a sight of the sky and some of the world's beauty relieves a mind from morbid thoughts.

A view of the sky and natural beauty helps lift one's spirits in a graveyard.

_Stevenson emphasizes the importance of perspective when confronting death._

> The proper inscription for the most part of mankind, I began to think, is the cynical jeer, cras tibi.

The most fitting epitaph for most people is a reminder that tomorrow it will be your turn.

_Reflects on the universal fate of death and the futility of grand tombs._

> When a man's soul is certainly in hell, his body will scarce lie quiet in a tomb however costly; some time or other the door must open, and the reprobate come forth in the abhorred garments of the grave.

If a person's soul is damned, their body will not rest peacefully, and will eventually be disturbed.

_Superstition about the restless dead, tied to the mausoleum of Sir George Mackenzie._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se/chapters/v-greyfriars
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/travel_essays_se/chapters