[The Editor’s first acquaintance with Claverhouse was obtained through an old nurse, who had lived on a farm beside a burn where, she said, the skulls7 of Covenanters shot by Bloody Claver’se were still occasionally found. The stream was a tributary9 of the Ettrick.]
“Might he not,” asked Mr. Train, “be made, in good hands, the hero of a national romance as interesting as any about either Wallace or Prince Charlie?” He suggested that the story should be delivered “as if from the mouth of Old Mortality.” This probably recalled to Scott his own meeting with Old Mortality in Dunnottar Churchyard, as described in the Introduction to the novel.
The account of the pilgrim, as given by Sir Walter from Mr. Train’s memoranda10, needs no addition. About Old Mortality’s son, John, who went to America in 1776 (? 1774), and settled in Baltimore, a curious romantic myth has gathered. Mr. Train told Scott more, as his manuscript at Abbotsford shows, than Scott printed. According to Mr. Train, John Paterson, of Baltimore, had a son Robert and a daughter Elizabeth. Robert married an American lady, who, after his decease, was married to the Marquis of Wellesley. Elizabeth married Jerome Bonaparte! Sir Walter distrusted these legends, though derived11 from a Scotch12 descendant of Old Mortality. Mr. Ramage, in March, 1871, wrote to “Notes and Queries” dispelling13 the myth.
According to Jerome Bonaparte’s descendant, Madame Bonaparte, her family were Pattersons, not Patersons. Her Baltimore ancestor’s will is extant, has been examined by Old Mortality’s great-grandson, and announces in a kind of preamble14 that the testator was a native of Donegal; his Christian15 name was William (“Notes and Queries,” Fourth Series, vol. vii. p. 219, and Fifth Series, August, 1874). This, of course, quite settles the question; but the legend is still current among American descendants of the old Roxburghshire wanderer.
“Old Mortality,” with its companion, “The Black Dwarf,” was published on December 1, 1816, by Mr. Murray in London, and Mr. Blackwood in Edinburgh.
The name of “The Author of ‘Waverley’” was omitted on the title-page. The reason for a change of publisher may have been chiefly financial (Lockhart, v. 152). Scott may have also thought it amusing to appear as his own rival in a new field. He had not yet told his secret to Lady Abercorn, but he seems to reveal it (for who but he could have known so much about the subject?) in a letter to her, of November 29, 1816. “You must know the Marquis well — or rather you must be the Marquis himself!” quoth Dalgetty. Here follow portions of the letter:
I do not like the first story, “The Black Dwarf,” at all; but the long one which occupies three volumes is a most remarkable16 production. . . . I should like to know if you are of my opinion as to these new volumes coming from the same hand. . . . I wander about from nine in the morning till five at night with a plaid about my shoulders and an immensely large bloodhound at my heels, and stick in sprigs which are to become trees when I shall have no eyes to look at them . . . .
I am truly glad that the Tales have amused you. In my poor opinion they are the best of the four sets, though perhaps I only think so on account of their opening ground less familiar to me than the manners of the Highlanders. . . . If Tom — [His brother, Mr. Thomas Scott.] — wrote those volumes, he has not put me in his secret. . . . General rumour18 here attributes them to a very ingenious but most unhappy man, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland, who, many years since, was obliged to retire from his profession, and from society, who hides himself under a borrowed name. This hypothesis seems to account satisfactorily for the rigid19 secrecy20 observed; but from what I can recollect21 of the unfortunate individual, these are not the kind of productions I should expect from him. Burley, if I mistake not, was on board the Prince of Orange’s own vessel22 at the time of his death. There was also in the Life Guards such a person as Francis Stewart, grandson of the last Earl of Bothwell. I have in my possession various proceedings23 at his father’s instance for recovering some part of the Earl’s large estates which had been granted to the Earls of Buccleugh and Roxburgh. It would appear that Charles I. made some attempts to reinstate him in those lands, but, like most of that poor monarch’s measures, the attempt only served to augment24 his own enemies, for Buccleugh was one of the first who declared against him in Scotland, and raised a regiment25 of twelve hundred men, of whom my grandfather’s grandfather (Sir William Scott of Harden) was lieutenant-colonel. This regiment was very active at the destruction of Montrose’s Highland17 army at Philiphaugh. In Charles the Second’s time the old knight26 suffered as much through the nonconformity of his wife as Cuddie through that of his mother. My father’s grandmother, who lived to the uncommon27 age of ninety-eight years, perfectly28 remembered being carried, when a child, to the field-preachings, where the clergyman thundered from the top of a rock, and the ladies sat upon their side-saddles, which were placed upon the turf for their accommodation, while the men stood round, all armed with swords and pistols. . . . Old Mortality was a living person; I have myself seen him about twenty years ago repairing the Covenanters’ tombs as far north as Dunnottar.
If Lady Abercorn was in any doubt after this ingenuous29 communication, Mr. Murray, the publisher, was in none. (Lockhart, v. 169.) He wrote to Scott on December 14, 1816, rejoicing in the success of the Tales, “which must be written either by Walter Scott or the Devil. . . . I never experienced such unmixed pleasure as the reading of this exquisite30 work has afforded me; and if you could see me, as the author’s literary chamberlain, receiving the unanimous and vehement31 praises of those who have read it, and the curses of those whose needs my scanty32 supply could not satisfy, you might judge of the sincerity34 with which I now entreat35 you to assure the Author of the most complete success.” Lord Holland had said, when Mr. Murray asked his opinion, “Opinion! We did not one of us go to bed last night — nothing slept but my gout.”
The very Whigs were conquered. But not the Scottish Whigs, the Auld36 Leaven37 of the Covenant8 — they were still dour38, and offered many criticisms. Thereon Scott, by way of disproving his authorship, offered to review the Tales in the “Quarterly.” His true reason for this step was the wish to reply to Dr. Thomas McCrie, author of the “Life of John Knox,” who had been criticising Scott’s historical view of the Covenant, in the “Edinburgh Christian Instructor39.” Scott had, perhaps, no better mode of answering his censor40. He was indifferent to reviews, but here his historical knowledge and his candour had been challenged. Scott always recognised the national spirit of the Covenanters, which he remarks on in “The Heart of Mid-Lothian,” and now he was treated as a faithless Scotsman. For these reasons he reviewed himself; but it is probable, as Lockhart says, that William Erskine wrote the literary or aesthetic41 part of the criticism (Lockhart, v.174, note).
Dr. McCrie’s review may be read, or at least may be found, in the fourth volume of his collected works (Blackwood, Edinburgh 1857). The critique amounts to about eighty-five thousand words. Since the “Princesse de Cleves” was reviewed in a book as long as the original, never was so lengthy42 a criticism. As Dr. McCrie’s performance scarcely shares the popularity of “Old Mortality,” a note on his ideas may not be superfluous43, though space does not permit a complete statement of his many objections. The Doctor begins by remarks on novels in general, then descends44 to the earlier Waverley romances. “The Antiquary” he pronounces to be “tame and fatiguing45.” Acknowledging the merits of the others, he finds fault with “the foolish lines” (from Burns), “which must have been foisted46 without the author’s knowledge into the title page,” and he denounces the “bad taste” of the quotation47 from “Don Quixote.” Burns and Cervantes had done no harm to Dr. McCrie, but his anger was aroused, and he, like the McCallum More as described by Andrew Fairservice, “got up wi’ an unto’ bang, and garr’d them a’ look about them.” The view of the Covenanters is “false and distorted.” These worthies48 are not to be “abused with profane49 wit or low buffoonery.” “Prayers were not read in the parish churches of Scotland” at that time. As Episcopacy was restored when Charles II. returned “upon the unanimous petition of the Scottish Parliament” (Scott’s Collected Works, vol. xix. p. 78) it is not unnatural50 for the general reader to suppose that prayers would be read by the curates. Dr. McCrie maintains that “at the Restoration neither the one nor the other” (neither the Scotch nor English Prayer Books) “was imposed,” and that the Presbyterians repeatedly “admitted they had no such grievance51.” No doubt Dr. McCrie is correct. But Mr. James Guthrie, who was executed on June 1, 1661, said in his last speech, “Oh that there were not many who study to build again what they did formerly52 unwarrantably destroy: I mean Prelacy and the Service Book, a mystery of iniquity53 that works amongst us, whose steps lead unto the house of the great Whore, Babylon, the mother of fornication,” and so forth54. Either this mystery of iniquity, the Book of Common Prayer, “was working amongst us,” or it was not. If it was not, of what did Mr. Guthrie complain? If it was “working,” was read by certain curates, as by Burnet, afterwards Bishop56 of Salisbury, at Saltoun, Scott is not incorrect. He makes Morton, in danger of death, pray in the words of the Prayer Book, “a circumstance which so enraged57 his murderers that they determined58 to precipitate59 his fate.” Dr. McCrie objects to this incident, which is merely borrowed, one may conjecture61, from the death of Archbishop Sharpe. The assassins told the Archbishop that they would slay62 him. “Hereupon he began to think of death. But (here are just the words of the person who related the story) behold63! God did not give him the grace to pray to Him without the help of a book. But he pulled out of his pocket a small book, and began to read over some words to himself, which filled us with amazement64 and indignation.” So they fired their pistols into the old man, and then chopped him up with their swords, supposing that he had a charm against bullets! Dr. McCrie seems to have forgotten, or may have disbelieved the narrative65 telling how Sharpe’s use of the Prayer Book, like Morton’s, “enraged” his murderers. The incident does not occur in the story of the murder by Russell, one of the murderers, a document published in C. K. Sharpe’s edition of Kirkton. It need not be true, but it may have suggested the prayer of Morton.
If Scott thought that the Prayer Book was ordained66 to be read in Scotch churches, he was wrong; if he merely thought that it might have been read in some churches, was “working amongst us,” he was right: at least, according to Mr. James Guthrie.
Dr. McCrie argues that Burley would never have wrestled67 with a soldier in an inn, especially in the circumstances. This, he says, was inconsistent with Balfour’s “character.” Wodrow remarks, “I cannot hear that this gentleman had ever any great character for religion among those that knew him, and such were the accounts of him, when abroad, that the reverend ministers of the Scots congregation at Rotterdam would never allow him to communicate with them.” In Scott’s reading of Burley’s character, there was a great deal of the old Adam. That such a man should so resent the insolence68 of a soldier is far from improbable, and our sympathies are with Burley on this occasion.
Mause Headrigg is next criticised. Scott never asserted that she was a representative of sober Presbyterianism. She had long conducted herself prudently69, but, when she gave way to her indignation, she only used such language as we find on many pages of Wodrow, in the mouths of many Covenanters. Indeed, though Manse is undeniably comic, she also commands as much respect as the Spartan70 mother when she bids her only son bear himself boldly in the face of torture. If Scott makes her grotesque71, he also makes her heroic. But Dr. McCrie could not endure the ridiculous element, which surely no fair critic can fail to observe in the speeches of the gallant72 and courageous73, but not philosophical74, members of the Covenant’s Extreme Left. Dr. McCrie talks of “the creeping loyalty75 of the Cavaliers.” “Staggering” were a more appropriate epithet76. Both sides were loyal to principle, both courageous; but the inappropriate and promiscuous77 scriptural language of many Covenanters was, and remains78, ridiculous. Let us admit that the Covenanters were not averse79 to all games. In one or two sermons they illustrate80 religion by phrases derived from golf!
When Dr. McCrie exclaims, in a rich anger, “Your Fathers!” as if Scott’s must either have been Presbyterians or Cavaliers, the retort is cleverly put by Sir Walter in the mouth of Jedediah. His ancestors of these days had been Quakers, and persecuted81 by both parties.
Throughout the novel Scott keeps insisting that the Presbyterians had been goaded82 into rebellion, and even into revenge, by cruelty of persecution83, and that excesses and bloodthirstiness were confined to the “High Flyers,” as the milder Covenanters called them. Morton represents the ideal of a good Scot in the circumstances. He comes to be ashamed of his passive attitude in the face of oppression. He stands up for “that freedom from stripes and bondage” which was claimed, as you may read in Scripture84, by the Apostle Paul, and which every man who is free-born is called upon to defend, for his own sake and that of his countrymen. The terms demanded by Morton from Monmouth before the battle of Bothwell Bridge are such as Scott recognises to be fair. Freedom of worship, and a free Parliament, are included.
Dr. McCrie’s chief charges are that Scott does not insist enough on the hardships and brutalities of the persecution, and that the ferocity of the Covenanters is overstated. He does not admit that the picture drawn85 of “the more rigid Presbyterians” is just. But it is almost impossible to overstate the ferocity of the High Flyers’ conduct and creed86. Thus Wodrow, a witness not quite unfriendly to the rigid Presbyterians, though not high-flying enough for Patrick Walker, writes “Mr. Tate informs me that he had this account front Mr. Antony Shau, and others of the Indulged; that at some time, under the Indulgence, there was a meeting of some people, when they resolved in one night . . . to go to every house of the Indulged Ministers and kill them, and all in one night.” This anecdote87 was confirmed by Mr. John Millar, to whose father’s house one of these High Flyers came, on this errand. This massacre88 was not aimed at the persecutors, but at the Poundtexts. As to their creed, Wodrow has an anecdote of one of his own elders, who told a poor woman with many children that “it would be an uncouth89 mercy” if they were all saved.
A pleasant evangel was this, and peacefully was it to have been propagated!
Scott was writing a novel, not history. In “The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” (1802-3) Sir Walter gave this account of the persecutions. “Had the system of coercion90 been continued until our day, Blair and Robertson would have preached in the wilderness91, and only discovered their powers of eloquence92 and composition by rolling along a deeper torrent93 of gloomy fanaticism94. . . . The genius of the persecuted became stubborn, obstinate95, and ferocious96.” He did not, in his romance, draw a complete picture of the whole persecution, but he did show, by that insolence of Bothwell at Milnwood, which stirs the most sluggish97 blood, how the people were misused98. This scene, to Dr. McCrie’s mind, is “a mere60 farce,” because it is enlivened by Manse’s declamations. Scott displays the abominable99 horrors of the torture as forcibly as literature may dare to do. But Dr. McCrie is not satisfied, because Macbriar, the tortured man, had been taken in arms. Some innocent person should have been put in the Boot, to please Dr. McCrie. He never remarks that Macbriar conquers our sympathy by his fortitude101. He complains of what the Covenanters themselves called “the language of Canaan,” which is put into their mouths, “a strange, ridiculous, and incoherent jargon102 compounded of Scripture phrases, and cant33 terms peculiar103 to their own party opinions in ecclesiastical politics.” But what other language did many of them speak? “Oh, all ye that can pray, tell all the Lord’s people to try, by mourning and prayer, if ye can taigle him, taigle him especially in Scotland, for we fear, he will depart from it.” This is the theology of a savage104, in the style of a clown, but it is quoted by Walker as Mr. Alexander Peden’s.’ Mr. John Menzie’s “Testimony105” (1670) is all about “hardened men, whom though they walk with you for the present with horns of a lamb, yet afterward55 ye may hear them speak with the mouth of a dragon, pricks106 in your eyes and thorns in your sides.” Manse Headrigg scarcely caricatures this eloquence, or Peden’s “many and long seventy-eight years left-hand defections, and forty-nine years right-hand extremes;” while “Professor Simson in Glasgow, and Mr. Glass in Tealing, both with Edom’s children cry Raze107, raze the very foundation!” Dr. McCrie is reduced to supposing that some of the more absurd sermons were incorrectly reported. Very possibly they were, but the reports were in the style which the people liked. As if to remove all possible charge of partiality, Scott made the one faultless Christian of his tale a Covenanting108 widow, the admirable Bessie McLure. But she, says the doctor, “repeatedly banns and minces109 oaths in her conversation.” This outrageous110 conduct of Bessie’s consists in saying “Gude protect us!” and “In Heaven’s name, who are ye?” Next the Doctor congratulates Scott on his talent for buffoonery. “Oh, le grand homme, rien ne lui peut plaire.” Scott is later accused of not making his peasants sufficiently111 intelligent. Cuddie Headrigg and Jenny Dennison suffice as answers to this censure112.
Probably the best points made by Dr. McCrie are his proof that biblical names were not common among the Covenanteers and that Episcopal eloquence and Episcopal superstition113 were often as tardy114 and as dark as the eloquence and superstition of the Presbyterians. He carries the war into the opposite camp, with considerable success. His best answer to “Old Mortality” would have been a novel, as good and on the whole as fair, written from the Covenanting side. Hogg attempted this reply, not to Scott’s pleasure according to the Shepherd, in “The Brownie of Bodsbeck.” The Shepherd says that when Scott remarked that the “Brownie” gave an untrue description of the age, he replied, “It’s a devilish deal truer than yours!” Scott, in his defence, says that to please the friends of the Covenanters, “their portraits must be drawn without shadow, and the objects of their political antipathy115 be blackened, hooved, and horned ere they will acknowledge the likeness116 of either.” He gives examples of clemency117, and even considerateness, in Dundee; for example, he did not bring with him a prisoner, “who laboured under a disease rendering118 it painful to him to be on horseback.” He examines the story of John Brown, and disproves the blacker circumstances. Yet he appears to hold that Dundee should have resigned his commission rather than carry out the orders of Government? Burley’s character for ruthlessness is defended by the evidence of the “Scottish Worthies.” As Dr. McCrie objects to his “buffoonery,” it is odd that he palliates the “strong propensity” of Knox “to indulge his vein119 of humour,” when describing, with ghoul-like mirth, the festive120 circumstances of the murder and burial of Cardinal121 Beaton. The odious122 part of his satire123, Scott says, is confined to “the fierce and unreasonable124 set of extra-Presbyterians,” Wodrow’s High Flyers. “We have no delight to dwell either upon the atrocities125 or absurdities126 of a people whose ignorance and fanaticism were rendered frantic127 by persecution.” To sum up the controversy128, we may say that Scott was unfair, if at all, in tone rather than in statement. He grants to the Covenanters dauntless resolution and fortitude; he admits their wrongs; we cannot see, on the evidence of their literature, that he exaggerates their grotesqueness129, their superstition, their impossible attitude as of Israelites under a Theocracy130, which only existed as an ideal, or their ruthlessness on certain occasions. The books of Wodrow, Kirkton, and Patrick Walker, the sermons, the ghost stories, the dying speeches, the direct testimony of their own historians, prove all that Scott says, a hundred times over. The facts are correct, the testimony to the presence of another, an angelic temper, remains immortal131 in the figure of Bessie McLure. But an unfairness of tone may be detected in the choice of such names as Kettledrummle and Poundtext: probably the “jog-trot” friends of the Indulgence have more right to complain than the “high-flying” friends of the Covenant. Scott had Cavalier sympathies, as Macaulay had Covenanting sympathies. That Scott is more unjust to the Covenanters than Macaulay to Claverhouse historians will scarcely maintain. Neither history or fiction would be very delightful132 if they were warless. This must serve as an apology more needed by Macaulay — than by Sir Walter. His reply to Dr. McCrie is marked by excellent temper, humour, and good humor. The “Quarterly Review” ends with the well known reference to his brother Tom’s suspected authorship: “We intended here to conclude this long article, when a strong report reached us of certain transatlantic confessions133, which, if genuine (though of this we know nothing), assign a different author to those volumes than the party suspected by our Scottish correspondents. Yet a critic may be excused for seizing upon the nearest suspected person, or the principle happily expressed by Claverhouse in a letter to the Earl of Linlithgow. He had been, it seems, in search of a gifted weaver134 who used to hold forth at conventicles: ‘I sent for the webster, they brought in his brother for him: though he, maybe, cannot preach like his brother, I doubt not but he is as well principled as he, wherefore I thought it would be no great fault to give him the trouble to go to jail with the rest.’”
Nobody who read this could doubt that Scott was, at least, “art and part” in the review. His efforts to disguise himself as an Englishman, aided by a Scotch antiquary, are divertingly futile135. He seized the chance of defending his earlier works from some criticisms on Scotch manners suggested by the ignorance of Gifford. Nor was it difficult to see that the author of the review was also the author of the novel. In later years Lady Louisa Stuart reminded Scott that “Old Mortality,” like the Iliad, had been ascribed by clever critics to several hands working together. On December 5, 1816, she wrote to him, “I found something you wot of upon my table; and as I dare not take it with me to a friend’s house, for fear of arousing curiosity”— she read it at once. She could not sleep afterwards, so much had she been excited. “Manse and Cuddie forced me to laugh out aloud, which one seldom does when alone.” Many of the Scotch words “were absolutely Hebrew” to her. She not unjustly objected to Claverhouse’s use of the word “sentimental” as an anachronism. Sentiment, like nerves, had not been invented in Claverhouse’s day.
The pecuniary136 success of “Old Mortality” was less, perhaps, than might have been expected. The first edition was only of two thousand copies. Two editions of this number were sold in six weeks, and a third was printed. Constable’s gallant enterprise of ten thousand, in “Rob Roy,” throws these figures into the shade.
“Old Mortality” is the first of Scott’s works in which he invades history beyond the range of what may be called living oral tradition. In “Waverley,” and even in “Rob Roy,” he had the memories of Invernahyle, of Miss Nairne, of many persons of the last generation for his guides. In “Old Mortality” his fancy had to wander among the relics137 of another age, among the inscribed138 tombs of the Covenanters, which are common in the West Country, as in the churchyards of Balmaclellan and Dalry. There the dust of these enduring and courageous men, like that of Bessie Bell and Marion Gray in the ballad139, “beiks forenenst the sun,” which shines on them from beyond the hills of their wanderings, while the brown waters of the Ken100 murmur140 at their feet.
Here now in peace sweet rest we take,
Once murdered for religion’s sake,
says the epitaph on the flat table-stone, beneath the wind tormented141 trees of Iron Gray. Concerning these Manes Presbyteriani, “Guthrie’s and Giffan’s Passions” and the rest, Scott had a library of rare volumes full of prophecies, “remarkable Providences,” angelic ministrations, diabolical142 persecutions by The Accuser of the Brethren — in fact, all that Covenanteers had written or that had been written about Covenanteers. “I’ll tickle143 ye off a Covenanter as readily as old Jack144 could do a young Prince; and a rare fellow he is, when brought forth in his true colours,” he says to Terry (November 12, 1816). He certainly was not an unprejudiced witness, some ten years earlier, when he wrote to Southey, “You can hardly conceive the perfidy145, cruelty, and stupidity of these people, according to the accounts they have themselves preserved. But I admit I had many prejudices instilled146 into me, as my ancestor was a Killiecrankie man.” He used to tease Grahame of “The Sabbath,” “but never out of his good humour, by praising Dundee, and laughing at the Covenanters.” Even as a boy he had been familiar with that godly company in “the original edition of the lives of Cameron and others, by Patrick Walker.” The more curious parts of those biographies were excised147 by the care of later editors, but they may all be found now in the “Biographia Presbyteriana” (1827), published by True Jock, chief clerk to “Leein’ Johnnie,” Mr. John Ballantyne. To this work the inquirer may turn, if he is anxious to see whether Scott’s colouring is correct. The true blue of the Covenant is not dulled in the “Biographia Presbyteriana.”
With all these materials at his command, Scott was able almost to dwell in the age of the Covenant hence the extraordinary life and brilliance148 of this, his first essay in fiction dealing149 with a remote time and obsolete150 manners. His opening, though it may seem long and uninviting to modern readers, is interesting for the sympathetic sketch151 of the gentle consumptive dominie. If there was any class of men whom Sir Walter could not away with, it was the race of schoolmasters, “black cattle” whom he neither trusted nor respected. But he could make or invent exceptions, as in the uncomplaining and kindly152 usher153 of the verbose154 Cleishbotham. Once launched in his legend, with the shooting of the Popinjay, he never falters155. The gallant, dauntless, overbearing Bothwell, the dour Burley, the handful of Preachers, representing every current of opinion in the Covenant, the awful figure of Habakkuk Mucklewrath, the charm of goodness in Bessie McLure, are all immortal, deathless as Shakspeare’s men and women. Indeed here, even more than elsewhere, we admire the life which Scott breathes into his minor156 characters, Halliday and Inglis, the troopers, the child who leads Morton to Burley’s retreat in the cave, that auld Laird Nippy, old Milnwood (a real “Laird Nippy” was a neighbour of Scott’s at Ashiestiel), Ailie Wilson, the kind, crabbed157 old housekeeper158, generous in great things, though habitually159 niggardly160 in things small. Most of these are persons whom we might still meet in Scotland, as we might meet Cuddie Headrigg — the shrewd, the blithe161, the faithful and humorous Cuddie. As to Miss Jenny Dennison, we can hardly forgive Scott for making that gayest of soubrettes hard and selfish in married life. He is too severe on the harmless and even beneficent race of coquettes, who brighten life so much, who so rapidly “draw up with the new pleugh lad,” and who do so very little harm when all is said. Jenny plays the part of a leal and brave lass in the siege of Tillietudlem, hunger and terror do not subdue162 her spirit; she is true, in spite of many temptations, to her Cuddie, and we decline to believe that she was untrue to his master and friend. Ikuse, no doubt, is a caricature, though Wodrow makes us acquainted with at least one Mause, Jean Biggart, who “all the winter over was exceedingly straitened in wrestling and prayer as to the Parliament, and said that still that place was brought before her, Our hedges are broken down!” (“Analecta,” ii. 173.) Surely even Dr. McCrie must have laughed out loud, like Lady Louisa Stuart, when Mause exclaims: “Neither will I peace for the bidding of no earthly potsherd, though it be painted as red as a brick from the tower o’ Babel, and ca’ itsel’ a corporal.” Manse, as we have said, is not more comic than heroic, a mother in that Sparta of the Covenant. The figure of Morton, as usual, is not very attractive. In his review, Scott explains the weakness of his heroes as usually strangers in the land (Waverley, Lovel, Mannering, Osbaldistone), who need to have everything explained to them, and who are less required to move than to be the pivots163 of the general movement. But Morton is no stranger in the land. His political position in the juste milieu164 is unexciting. A schoolboy wrote to Scott at this time, “Oh, Sir Walter, how could you take the lady from the gallant Cavalier, and give her to the crop-eared Covenanter?” Probably Scott sympathised with his young critic, who longed “to be a feudal165 chief, and to see his retainers happy around him.” But Edith Bellenden loved Morton, with that love which, as she said, and thought, “disturbs the repose166 of the dead.” Scott had no choice. Besides, Dr. McCrie might have disapproved167 of so fortunate an arrangement. The heroine herself does not live in the memory like Di Vernon; she does not even live like Jenny Dennison. We remember Corporal Raddlebanes better, the stoutest168 fighting man of Major Bellenden’s acquaintance; and the lady of Tillietudlem has admirers more numerous and more constant. The lovers of the tale chiefly engage our interest by the rare constancy of their affections.
The most disputed character is, of course, that of Claverhouse. There is no doubt that, if Claverhouse had been a man of the ordinary mould, he would never have reckoned so many enthusiastic friends in future ages. But Beauty, which makes Helen immortal, had put its seal on Bonny Dundee. With that face “which limners might have loved to paint, and ladies to look upon,” he still conquers hearts from his dark corner above the private staircase in Sir Walter’s deserted169 study. He was brave, he was loyal when all the world forsook170 his master; in that reckless age of revelry he looks on with the austere171 and noble contempt which he wears in Hell among the tippling shades of Cavaliers. He died in the arms of victory, but he lives among
The chiefs of ancient names
Who swore to fight and die beneath the banner of King James,
And he fell in Killiecrankie Pass, the glory of the Grahames.
Sentiment in romance, not in history, may be excused for pardoning the rest.
Critics of the time, as Lady Louisa Stuart reminds Sir Walter, did not believe the book was his, because it lacked his “tedious descriptions.” The descriptions, as of the waterfall where Burley had his den, are indeed far from “tedious.” There is a tendency in Scott to exalt172 into mountains “his own grey hills,” the bosses verdatres as Prosper173 Merimee called them, of the Border. But the horrors of such linns as that down which Hab Dab174 and Davie Dinn “dang the deil” are not exaggerated.
“Old Mortality” was the last novel written by Scott before the malady175 which tormented his stoicism in 1817-1820. Every reader has his own favourite, but few will place this glorious tale lower than second in the list of his incomparable romances.
ANDREW LANG.
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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5
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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6
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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9
tributary
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| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
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memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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11
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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12
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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13
dispelling
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的现在分词 ) | |
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14
preamble
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| n.前言；序文 | |
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15
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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16
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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17
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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18
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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19
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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20
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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21
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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22
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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23
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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24
augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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25
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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26
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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27
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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28
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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29
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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30
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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31
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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32
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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33
cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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34
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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35
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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36
auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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37
leaven
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| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
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38
dour
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| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
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39
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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40
censor
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| n./vt.审查，审查员；删改 | |
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41
aesthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的，有美感 | |
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42
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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43
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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44
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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45
fatiguing
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| a.使人劳累的 | |
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46
foisted
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| 强迫接受，把…强加于( foist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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49
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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50
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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51
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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52
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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53
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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54
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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55
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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56
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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57
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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58
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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59
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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60
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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61
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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62
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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63
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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64
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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65
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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66
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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67
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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68
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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69
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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70
spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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71
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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72
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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73
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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74
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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75
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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76
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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77
promiscuous
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| adj.杂乱的，随便的 | |
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78
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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79
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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80
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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81
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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82
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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83
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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84
scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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85
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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86
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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87
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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88
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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89
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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90
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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91
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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92
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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93
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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94
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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95
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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96
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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97
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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98
misused
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| v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用 | |
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99
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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100
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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101
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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102
jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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103
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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104
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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105
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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106
pricks
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| 刺痛( prick的名词复数 )； 刺孔； 刺痕； 植物的刺 | |
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107
raze
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| vt.铲平，把(城市、房屋等)夷为平地，拆毁 | |
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108
covenanting
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| v.立约，立誓( covenant的现在分词 ) | |
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109
minces
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| v.切碎( mince的第三人称单数 )；剁碎；绞碎；用绞肉机绞（食物，尤指肉） | |
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110
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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111
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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112
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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113
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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114
tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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115
antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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116
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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117
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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118
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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119
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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120
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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121
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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122
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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123
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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124
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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125
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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126
absurdities
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| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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127
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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128
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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129
grotesqueness
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130
theocracy
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| n.神权政治；僧侣政治 | |
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131
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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132
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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133
confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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134
weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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135
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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136
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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137
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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138
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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139
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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140
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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141
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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142
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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143
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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144
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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145
perfidy
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| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
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146
instilled
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| v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147
excised
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| v.切除，删去( excise的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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148
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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149
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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150
obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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151
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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152
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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153
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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154
verbose
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| adj.用字多的；冗长的；累赘的 | |
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155
falters
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的第三人称单数 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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156
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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157
crabbed
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| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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158
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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159
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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160
niggardly
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| adj.吝啬的，很少的 | |
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161
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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162
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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163
pivots
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| n.枢( pivot的名词复数 )；最重要的人（或事物）；中心；核心v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的第三人称单数 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开 | |
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164
milieu
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| n.环境；出身背景；(个人所处的)社会环境 | |
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165
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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166
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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167
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
stoutest
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| 粗壮的( stout的最高级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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169
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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170
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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171
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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172
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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173
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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174
dab
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| v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂 | |
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175
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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