Sir Walter Scott, página 2 de 5

The period of "Ivanhoe" is a few months subsequent to "The Talisman." Richard I has abandoned his Crusade, and, after an incarceration in an Austrian prison returns to his English throne to find plots against him headed by his brother John, and also a general state of unrest. Normans and Saxons still quarrel, and the story as a whole gives an admirable picture of feudal times.Ivanhoe is the only son of Cedric the Saxon, and has been disinherited by his father on account of his love for Cedrics ward, the Lady Rowena. lie thereupon goes with King Richard to Palestine and wins renown in the Crusade. He returns to England disguised as a Palmer. Meanwhile his father maintains the ancient Saxon state at his manor of Rotherwood, at odds with the Norman "interlopers." Cedric therefore accords but grudging hospitality to a Norman knight, Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, when the latter seeks shelter from a storm, being guided thereto by a pilgrim. During the evening repast, Lady Rowena inquires news of the Crusade and is informed that Ivanhoe has gained fame and the favor of the King. Bois-Guilbert thereupon boasts that he himself would like to meet him at a pending tournament; at which the pilgrim takes up the gage forthe knight ...

Although France is the scene of this romance, the hero and several other characters are members of the Scottish guard to the French King. The period is that when chivalry and feudalism are passing away, and the governments becoming centralized, Louis XI of France is, in fact, warring against his most powerful vassal, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.Quentin Durward, a Scotch youth, comes to Tours, where his uncle is a member of the celebrated Scottish bodyguard, and seeks military service. First, however, he meets the pretended merchant, Maitre Pierre, who is actually King Louis himself; and next the young adventurer narrowly escapes hanging for interfering with a public execution. He is enrolled among the guards and finds favor in Louiss eyes by aiding him against the attack of a frenzied boar, in a hunt.On the same day of the hunt, the Count de Crevecoeur, on behalf of his master, openly renounces allegiance to Louis, and also demands the surrender of Isabelle de Croye, the Dukes ward, who has fled from Burgundy to escape a political marriage ...

"Old Mortality" was the familiar title of an actual personage, Robert Paterson, a harmless itinerant hermit who received this nickname because of his habit of visiting the tombs of Scotch Covenanters. His daily labor of love was to care for these stones and deepen their lettering with his chisel; doing this in honor of the martyrs for the cause, who had fallen in their struggle against the state. He died about the beginning of the 19th century. The incidents of the present story are supposed to be based on reminiscences which he related to a friend. They deal with the Covenanters insurrection during the reign of Charles II of England.At a general muster of troops and volunteers, in Lanarkshire, Henry Morton, a young man of Presbyterian stock, wins a victory over Lord Evandale in a target-shooting contest. Morton stops with friends at a neighboring tavern where he meets John Balfour, a Covenanter or Whig, and also is party to a quarrel with Sergeant Bothwell of the Kings troops. Balfour escapes from the sergeant and is sheltered for the night by Morton. The next day the young man is arrested by the trooper, for aiding the insurgent, and is carried to Lady Bellendens castle, where Colonel Graham of Claverhouse is stationed temporarily ...

The last of the "Waverley Novels" in point of time reaches a period only a few years prior to its day of writing. It is also "upon a plan different from any other that the author had ever writtenthat of depicting contemporary social life. The chief thread of the plot, relating to the victimizing of an unfortunate young woman, is somewhat involved (and perhaps weakened by the authors subsequent change in his original MS.) and can be explained more clearly at the outset than by following the development of the story.Clara Mowbray, the only daughter of a wealthy landowner in southern Scotland, is at sixteen the romantic comrade of an older and more unprincipled cousin, Hannah Irwin. Together they roam the countryside and read exotic works of fiction. In the course of these jaunts Clara meets a handsome young stranger, Francis Tyrrel, whose birth is under a cloud. They declare a mutual passion which is fostered by Hannah. Franciss half-brother, Valentine Bulmer, the ostensible heir of their father, the Earl of Etherington, acts as go-between for the young people and arranges a secret marriage at night; but at the ceremony Bulmer substitutes himself as the bridegroom ...

Scotts extensive biography of John Dryden is essentially the first of eighteen volumes that were published as "The Works of John Dryden". There are many biographies like this on the market, but there is hardly any that offers such an in-depth and healthy knowledge about the author.

"The Betrothed" is a picture of the troublous times at home, while English knights were away upon the Crusades. The scene is laid upon the borderland of Wales, during the reign of Henry II, and the action clusters around the person of a young Norman heiress beset by Welsh and English alike.The venerable Archbishop of Canterbury makes it his chief business to preach the Third Crusade; and to this end he exhorts Normans, settled in England and Wales, to lay aside all private feuds with their neighbors. Moved by his teaching, Gwenwyn, a Welsh chieftain, and Sir Raymond Berenger, a Norman knight, exchange friendly courtesies; and Gwenwyn even goes so far as to make plans to divorce his wife in order that he may wed the Normans daughter Eveline. When he makes this proposal, however, an answer is returned that the lady is already betrothed to Sir Hugo de Lacy, an accomplished soldier, but a man of mature years. The fiery Welsh consider this in the light of an affront, and make war upon Sir Raymond in his stronghold of Garde Doloureuse ...

"The Pirate" is not connected with historic annals, nor does it deal with the sea, except in an incidental way. It is a tale of neighborhood life off the northeast coast of Scotland.Basil Mertoun, a reticent and misanthropic man about which nothing is known, takes up his residence in a tumble-down mansion on a Shetland cape, which he rents at a nominal sum from Magnus Troil, an old landowner. Basil is accompanied only by a young son, Mordaunt, who, more sociable and agreeable than his father, makes acquaintances all about the countryside. Especially does he frequent the Troil home, attracted thither by the two charming daughters of Magnus, Minna and Brenda; but he is so impartial in his attentions that the local gossips do not know which he courts. Returning from their home one stormy night he takes refuge in the cottage of the Yellowleys, an eccentric old farmer and his miserly sister; but is warned by Norna, a half-crazed seeress, to proceed on his way ...

"The Antiquary" is an intimate picture of Scotch neighborhood life in its varied phases, from the fishermans hut to the noblemans castle, at the close of the eighteenth century. The popular tumult over the threatened French invasion, following upon the Revolution in that country, is the only hint of historical connection. Jonathan Oldbuck, a gentleman past middle life and of pronounced antiquarian tastes, takes a great liking to a young man known as Lovel, whom he meets on a short journey. Lovel is an army officer, but both his actions and his antecedents are somewhat of a mystery to the curious villagers of Fairport, a seaport town, near Oldbucks country estate. Oldbuck, however, recognizes him to be a gentleman, and invites him to dinner, where he is presented to Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter, Isabella. The two young people greet as strangers, although they have met before. In fact, Lovel is then in Fairport to urge his suit for the young ladys hand, but a cloud upon his parentage renders him unsuccessful ...

Rob Roy MacGregor was a historical figurean outlaw who "owed his fame in a great measure to his residing on the very verge of the Highlands, and playing such pranks in the beginning of the eighteenth century as are usually ascribed to Robin Hood in the Middle Ages,and that within forty miles of Glasgow." He was implicated in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which is the period of this storybut from motives of self-interest.Francis Osbaldistone, the ostensible narrator of this tale, is a young Londoner whose father is a successful merchant and naturally wishes his son to succeed him in the business. But Francis has other ideas, and a quarrel results, in which his father sets him adrift in the world to make his own way, and threatens to disinherit him in favor of Rashleigh Osbaldistone, a Scottish cousin. Francis rides northward on a visit to Rashleighs father, Sir Hildebrand of Osbaldistone Hall. On his way thither he falls in with a nervous traveller named Morris, who afterwards accuses him wrongly of the theft of his bag; but is cleared on the intervention of a supposed cattle-dealer, Campbell ...

"The Fair Maid of Perth," the daughter of a sturdy glover of that city, is the central figure of a romance of the time of Robert III of Scotland. Prince David, his dissolute son, is the connecting link between court and people, and the story is likewise concerned with the feuds of warring elans which stained so many pages of Scottish history.The best swordsman in all Perth is the doughty armorer, Henry Smith. Brave in other quarters, however, he is easily frightened by the mere presence of Catharine Glover, the "Fair Maid," whom he loves devotedly. His devotion is soon put to good service in beating off a party of roystering courtiers who have placed a scaling ladder underneath her window with evil intent. He cuts off the hand of Sir John Ramorny in the melee, and the party take to flight. As this is St. Valentines Eve, Smith is rewarded by being chosen the valentine of Catharine for the ensuing twelvemonth, according to a local custom. Citizens indignant at the attack of the courtiers lay the matter before the provost who in turn brings it before the King. The King learns that his son David, Duke of Rothsay, has been among the roysterers, and he orders that Ramornywho has been the princes master of horseshall be dismissed from his service ...

In a historical sense " Redgauntlet" is a sequel to Waverley. It takes up the action some eighteen years later, at "that point of time when the Chevalier Charles Edward, though fallen into the sere and yellow leaf, was yet meditating a second attempt, which could scarcely have been more hopeless than his first."Mr. Alexander Fairford, a worthy advocate of Edinburgh, has received into his home, for his son Alans sake, an impulsive young man known as Darsie Latimer. Darsie has an ample income and is assured of a legacy upon reaching the age of twenty-five; but meanwhile knows nothing of his family history and is warned not to venture into England. The two young men have a David and Jonathan affection, although Mr. Fairford eyes Darsies harum-scarum tendencies with disapproval. Alan enters the law, while Darsie sets forth on a jaunt to Dumfries, writing back chatty letters to his friend, who replies in kind.At Solway Firth, Darsie escapes the dangers of tide and quicksand by the intervention of a taciturn stranger, who conducts him grudgingly to an out-of-the-way and mysterious home, where Darsie is sheltered for the night ....

The scene of "A Legend of Montrose" is laid "during the period of that great and bloody Civil War which agitated Britain during the 17th century," and which finally cost Charles I his kingdom and head. In the Scottish Highlands the struggle lay between the Covenanters who adhered to the Royalist cause, and the Presbyterians; the field being further complicated by private feuds and the presence of outlaw clans.Dugald Dalgetty, a boastful soldier of fortune, meets the Earl of Menteith, who persuades him to join the Royalist army. They remain overnight at Darnlinvaroch Castle, where Dalgetty is told the story of Angus and Allan McAulay and their troubles at the hands of outlaws. Allan, who is of gloomy nature, is soothed by the harp-playing of Annot Lyle, a girl whose birth is enshrouded in mystery. The next day several heads of clans arrive; whereupon the Earl of Montrose, who has been in disguise, takes command of the troops in the Kings name ...

The term "Castle Dangerous" was applied to the feudal home of the Scotch Douglases, because of the many fierce fights for its possession which raged between the English and the Scotch lords, during the struggle of Kobert Bruce against King Edward I.Sir James Douglas, popularly called the Black Douglas, chief supporter of Bruce, has sworn that Douglas Castle shall not remain in the hands of the English. More than one English lord has attempted to hold it against attack or trickery, but in every case has come to a violent end. At last Lady Augusta de Berkely promises her hand and large estates to Sir John de Walton on condition that he hold the "Dangerous Castle" for a year and a day. He accepts the task and is made governor of the stronghold; but as the months slowly go by, Lady Augusta is overcome by misgivings and resolves to go to the castle and shorten the probation. Disguising herself as a youth, she goes in company of her fathers minstrel Bertram as his son. They meet the deputy governor, De Valence, who agrees that the supposed boy shall be left at the convent of St. Brides, near by, until formal permission to enter the castle has been secured, while the minstrel obtains entrance upon pretext of examining ancient songs ...

Count Robert of Paris is a knight of the First Crusade (1096-1099), and the story is chiefly concerned with his insult to a Greek ruler and its reparation. In order to protect his domain from invasion, Alexius Comnenus, Greek emperor of Constantinople, hires a bodyguard of warriors from other nations, who are termed Varangians. Jealousies arise between these and native soldiers, and Hereward a Saxon is attacked by a Greek, but escapes and afterwards becomes a valuable retainer for the imperial family.The armies of the First Crusade approach the city, and the Emperor, knowing himself powerless to check their progress, consents to allow them to pass through his country. On their part, the Crusaders acknowledge his sovereignty in a public review, though many of the arrogant nobles deem themselves his peers. One in particular, Count Robert of Paris, shows his contempt for the imperial authority by seating himself upon the throne for a moment, with his dog at his feet. Alexius feigns to overlook the insult but secretly plots vengeance, and thereafter the Counts stay in Constantinople is full of peril. He is separated by trickery from his wife, Brenhilda, a handsome Amazonian who had followed him to the wars, and is cast into a dungeon with a tiger which he slays ...

Although the period of this tragedy of Lammermoor is placed within the reign of William and Mary, the story (unlike most of the others) has little historical connection. It tells, instead, of the feud of two Scotch families, whichas in "Romeo and Julietbrings woe to two lovers who have dared plight their troth despite the ancestral hatred. Scott states that it is based closely upon fact.Edgar of Ravenswood is the last of a noble house which has formerly been rich and powerful; but his father, having been involved in the Jacobite cause, is ousted from the family estates by Sir William Ashton. After the old lords death, nothing remains to Edgar save the dilapidated Tower of Wolfs Crag, and the fidelity of two ancient servants Mysie and Caleb. Shortly after his fathers funeral, the young man rescues Sir William and his daughter Lucy from the charge of an infuriated bull, and thus wins the respect of his ancient enemy and a warmer interest on the part of the maiden ...

(Note: from Tales Of My Landlord, 1st Series)

Note: two tales from The Keepsake Stories