The Heart of Mid-Lothian | Page 3

be maintained in
the law of Scotland. Sins are acknowledged, and since the Covenant
every political step--Cromwell's Protectorate, the Restoration, the
Revolution, the accession of the "Dukes of Hanover"--has been a sin. A
Court of Elders is to be established to put in execution the Law of
Moses. All offenders against the Kirk are to be "capitally punished."
Stage plays are to be suppressed by the successors of the famous
convention at Lanark, Anno 1682. Toleration of all religions is "sinful,"
and "contrary to the word of God." Charles Edward and the Duke of
Cumberland are cursed. "Also we reckon it a great vice in Charles, his
foolish Pity and Lenity, in sparing these profane, blasphemous
Redcoats, that Providence delivered into his hand, when, by putting
them to death, this poor land might have been eased of the heavy
burden of these vermin of Hell." The Auld Leaven swore terribly in
Scotland. The atrocious cruelties of Cumberland after Culloden are
stated with much frankness and power. The German soldiers are said to
have carried off "a vast deal of Spoil and Plunder into Germany," and
the Redcoats had Plays and Diversions (cricket, probably) on the Inch
of Perth, on a Sabbath. "The Hellish, Pagan, Juggler plays are set up
and frequented with more impudence and audacity than ever." Only the
Jews, "our elder Brethren," are exempted from the curses of Haldane
and Leslie, who promise to recover for them the Holy Land. "The
Massacre in Edinburgh" in 1736, by wicked Porteous, calls for
vengeance upon the authors and abettors thereof. The army and navy
are "the most wicked and flagitious in the Universe." In fact, the True
Blue Testimony is very active indeed, and could be delivered, thanks to
hellish Toleration, with perfect safety, by Leslie and Haldane. The
candour of their eloquence assuredly proves that Davie Deans is not
overdrawn; indeed, he is much less truculent than those who actually
were testifying even after his decease.
In "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" Scott set himself to draw his own
people at their best. He had a heroine to his hand in Helen Walker, "a
character so distinguished for her undaunted love of virtue," who,
unlike Jeanie Deans, "lived and died in poverty, if not want." In 1831

he erected a pillar over her grave in the old Covenanting stronghold of
Irongray. The inscription ends--
Respect the Grave of Poverty, When combined with Love of Truth And
Dear Affection.
The sweetness, the courage, the spirit, the integrity of Jeanie Deans
have made her, of all Scott's characters, the dearest to her countrymen,
and the name of Jeanie was given to many children, in pious memory
of the blameless heroine. The foil to her, in the person of Effie, is not
less admirable. Among Scott's qualities was one rare among modern
authors: he had an affectionate toleration for his characters. If we
compare Effie with Hetty in "Adam Bede," this charming and genial
quality of Scott's becomes especially striking. Hetty and Dinah are in
very much the same situation and condition as Effie and Jeanie Deans.
But Hetty is a frivolous little animal, in whom vanity and silliness do
duty for passion: she has no heart: she is only a butterfly broken on the
wheel of the world. Doubtless there are such women in plenty, yet we
feel that her creator persecutes her, and has a kind of spite against her.
This was impossible to Scott. Effie has heart, sincerity, passion, loyalty,
despite her flightiness, and her readiness, when her chance comes, to
play the fine lady. It was distasteful to Scott to create a character not
human and sympathetic on one side or another. Thus his robber "of
milder mood," on Jeanie's journey to England, is comparatively a good
fellow, and the scoundrel Ratcliffe is not a scoundrel utterly. "'To make
a Lang tale short, I canna undertake the job. It gangs against my
conscience.' 'Your conscience, Rat?' said Sharpitlaw, with a sneer,
which the reader will probably think very natural upon the occasion.
'Ou ay, sir,' answered Ratcliffe, calmly, 'just my conscience; a body has
a conscience, though it may be ill wunnin at it. I think mine's as weel
out o' the gate as maist folk's are; and yet it's just like the noop of my
elbow, it whiles gets a bit dirl on a corner.'" Scott insists on leaving his
worst people in possession of something likeable, just as he cannot
dismiss even Captain Craigengelt without assuring us that Bucklaw
made a provision for his necessities. This is certainly a more humane
way of writing fiction than that to which we are accustomed in an age
of humanitarianism. Nor does Scott's art suffer from his kindliness, and

Effie in prison, with a heart to be broken, is not less pathetic