The Heart of Mid-Lothian

The Heart of Mid-Lothian,
Complete,
by Sir Walter Scott

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Title: The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete, Illustrated
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Release Date: October 23, 2006 [EBook #6944]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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Produced by David Widger

THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN
By Walter Scott

TALES OF MY LANDLORD
COLLECTED AND ARRANGED
BY JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM,
SCHOOLMASTER AND PARISH CLERK
OF GANDERCLEUGH.

SECOND SERIES.
[Illustration: Titlepage]

THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN.
Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots, Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny
Groat's, If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede ye tent it; A chiel's
amang you takin' notes, An' faith he'll prent it! Burns.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN.
SCOTT began to work on "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" almost before
he had completed "Rob Roy." On Nov. 10, 1817, he writes to
Archibald Constable announcing that the negotiations for the sale of the
story to Messrs. Longman have fallen through, their firm declining to
relieve the Ballantynes of their worthless "stock." "So you have the
staff in your own hands, and, as you are on the spot, can manage it your
own way. Depend on it that, barring unforeseen illness or death, these
will be the best volumes which have appeared. I pique myself on the
first tale, which is called 'The Heart of Mid-Lothian.'" Sir Walter had
thought of adding a romance, "The Regalia," on the Scotch royal
insignia, which had been rediscovered in the Castle of Edinburgh. This

story he never wrote. Mr. Cadell was greatly pleased at ousting the
Longmans--"they have themselves to blame for the want of the Tales,
and may grumble as they choose: we have Taggy by the tail, and, if we
have influence to keep the best author of the day, we ought to do
it."--[Archibald Constable, iii. 104.]
Though contemplated and arranged for, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian"
was not actually taken in hand till shortly after Jan. 15, 1818, when
Cadell writes that the tracts and pamphlets on the affair of Porteous are
to be collected for Scott. "The author was in great glee . . . he says that
he feels very strong with what he has now in hand." But there was
much anxiety concerning Scott's health. "I do not at all like this illness
of Scott's," said James Ballantyne to Hogg. "I have eften seen him look
jaded of late, and am afraid it is serious." "Hand your tongue, or I'll gar
you measure your length on the pavement," replied Hogg. "You fause,
down-hearted loon, that ye are, you daur to speak as if Scott were on
his death-bed! It cannot be, it must not be! I will not suffer you to speak
that gait." Scott himself complains to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe of
"these damned spasms. The merchant Abudah's hag was a henwife to
them when they give me a real night of it."
"The Heart of Mid-Lothian," in spite of the author's malady, was
published in June 1818. As to its reception, and the criticism which it
received, Lockhart has left nothing to be gleaned. Contrary to his
custom, he has published, but without the writer's name, a letter from
Lady Louisa Stuart, which really exhausts what criticism can find to
say about the new novel. "I have not only read it myself," says Lady
Louisa, "but am in a house where everybody is tearing it out of each
other's hands, and talking of nothing else." She preferred it to all but
"Waverley," and congratulates him on having made "the perfectly good
character the most interesting. . . . Had this very story been conducted
by a common hand, Effie would have attracted all our concern and
sympathy, Jeanie only cold approbation. Whereas Jeanie, without youth,
beauty, genius, warns passions, or any other novel-perfection, is here
our object from beginning to end." Lady Louisa, with her usual
frankness, finds the Edinburgh lawyers tedious, in the introduction, and
thinks that Mr. Saddletree "will not entertain English readers." The

conclusion "flags"; "but the chief fault I have to find relates to the
reappearance and shocking fate of the boy. I hear on all sides 'Oh, I do
not like that!' I cannot say what I would have had instead, but I do not
like it either; it is a lame, huddled conclusion. I know you so well in it,
by-the-by! You grow tired yourself,