SIR WALTER SCOTT AND THE HIGHLANDS. Two Volumes Lorn M. Macintyre. % Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Glasgow Department of Scottish Literature. March 1976 Volume One. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For assistance, advice and encouragement in the preparation of this thesis, I am grateful to the follow- ing: the University of Glasgow, for granting me a scholarship for Advanced Study in the Arts, 1972-74; my supervisor Alexander Scott, Esq., Head of Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow; the staff of the University of Glasgow Library, and in particular the Special Collections staff; the Mitchell Library, Glasgow; the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, and in particu- lar the staff of the Manuscript Reading Room; the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh; Sir Lain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Albany Herald; Edith, Lady Congleton, Isle-of-Ulva; Brigadier I. M. Stewart of Achnacone, Appin; Captain Compton Farquharson of Invercauld and Torloisk; Professor Gordon Donaldson, Department of Scottish History, University of Edinburgh; G. A. M. Wood, Esq., Department of English Studies, University of Stirling; my brother Eric for checking the bibliography; Mrs Elder, Dunlop, Ayrshire, for typing a bulky and much corrected manuscript skilfully and speedily; and to my wife, for tolerating a Scott obsession which shows no sign of disappearing. SUMMARY In this study I examine Sir Walter Scott as a portrayer of the Highlands in both poetry and prose. The works studied are the two long poems The Lady of the Lake (1810) and The Lord of the Isles (1815). The prose works examined are: Waverley (1814); Rob Roy (1817); A Legend of Montrose (1819); The Highland Widow (1827); The Two Drovers (1827); and The Fair Maid of Perth (1828). Redgauntlet (1824) is excluded because it cannot be con- sidered to be a Highland work. Being Highland, and a writer in a small way, I am aware of the danger of prejudice and critical distortion (however unconscious) in examining those extended works of Scott's which refer to the north of Scotland. To counterbalance possible bias (and especially with regard to Culloden and the Clearances), I begin by giving a histori- cal account of the Highlands as they were in the eighteenth century, before and after Scott was born. In these introductory chapters which cover the social history of chief and clansmen, the Jacobite rebellions and the general condition of the north, I have sought impartiality by quoting from official reports, historical works, and famous travelogues which Scott was to use extensively in writing about the Highlands. I"hope that these early chapters give a use- ful resume of Highland history, clarifying what is to follow. There is a long chapter on the young Scott as yet another Highland traveller, dealing principally with Alexander Stewart of Invernahyle, apparently Scott's first tutor in Highland history, and acknowledged by Scott himself to be the inspiration for the Lowland lawyer's Highland works. I justify the length of this chapter by claiming that it makes a modest contribution to our under- standing of the life of Scott, and the influences which helped shape his literary destiny. Since Lockhart's great biography (the major source of all Scott biographies), there have been obscurities surr- ounding the life and career of Stewart of Invernahyle. I hope that I have shed light on some of these dark regions of his life, among which is the date of his birth, and his role in the '15 and '45. There follows a chapter on the literary situation in the eight- eenth and early nineteenth centuries, with particular reference to the Ossianic controversy, since Macpherson brought the Highlands to the attention of the world, and since Scott was obviously heavily influenced by Macpherson in his Highland writing. Having given accounts of the conception and writing of the two long Highland poems, I proceed to analyse them. Likewise with the fiction, in chronological order. In showing some of the historical sources of incidents and anecdotes in Scott's Highland writings, I have been considerably helped by James Anderson's 1965 University of Edinburgh doctoral thesis, compressed into a series of articles for Studies in Scottish Literature, 1966-68. But Anderson was con- cerned with sources, and not criticism, and his thesis did not cover the two long Highland poems. I have sought to show possible sources for the poems, and with regard to Scott's fiction, I have added new sources to Anderson's list. There is also new material on Highland aristocratic friends who gave Scott anecdotes and encour- agement. I am aware that the two long Highland poems lack a critical heritage, since they went out of fashion not long after they were published. My general critical method is to quote from contempor- ary reviews, but also taking into account modern criticism, of which there is little on my specific theme. In my conclusion I look at Scott's fictive treatment of the Highlands in relation to Georg Lukacs's theories on history as set out in his Historical Novel (1962). The conclusion I reach is that for reasons elaborated on throughout this thesis, only three of Scott's Highland works really portray the old Highlands. They are The Highland Widow, The Two Drovers, and The Fair Maid of Perth. A NOTE ON TEXTS In the case of Scott's two long Highland poems, The Lady of the Lake (1810) and The Lord of the Isles (1815) I have used the early editions, in an attempt to recapture (even at this remove in time) some of the flavour of their first impact upon the public. A more practical reason is that the bulky notes were not enlarged upon for later editions. In the case of the novels, I have used the massive forty- eight volumed edition of 1829-33, popularly called the Magnum Opus edition. I chose this edition in order to take into account the Prefaces and Introductions added by Scott to augment material al- ready in the notes of early editions, and to reveal forgotten or suppressed sources for his fiction, as well as bringing the facts of his life up to date. Thus the Magnum Opus edition, devised by Cad- ell to increase his fortune, and approved of by Scott to settle his debts, contains the final corrections and confessions of the master. Finally, a note about quotations from Sir Herbert Grierson's great twelve volumed edition of The Letters of Sir Walter Scott (1932-37), and W. K. Anderson's definitive edition of The Journal of Sir Walter Scott (1972). Like many great writers with a large cor- respondence, Scott was a careless speller, and one of his most common mistakes is to miss out the 'e' of an 'ed' ending. But it might be a convention. Thus we get 'touchd' instead of 'touched'. Grierson restores missing letters and words, but Anderson lets stand. To avoid a proliferation of square brackets I have let these small omissions stand without indication, but in the hope that the reader will see a Scott error, and not mine. A stop-press correction: reading through this thesis one final time before binding, I discover that there are two pages numbered 54, likewise with page 562. Rather than delay submission by putting in hand the massive task of renumber- ing all the pages, I have numbered the duplicate pages 54A and 562A. I apologise for these errors in pagination. CONTENTS * VOLUME I Page Introduction i Chapter 1 The eighteenth century Highlands: The condition of the Chiefs. Chapter 2 The eighteenth century Highlands: The condition of the people. 18 Chapter 3 The eighteenth century Highlands: Scott's personal approach 49 Chapter 4 The eighteenth century Highlands: The literary situation. 100 Chapter 5 Towards a Highland poem. 121 Chapter 6 The Lady of the Lake. 143 Chapter 7 The first Highland novel. 215 Chapter 8 Waverley 234 INTR0DUCT10N As for riding on Pegasus, depend upon it, I will never again cross him in a serious way, unless I should by some strange accident reside so long in the Highlands, and make myself master of their ancient manners, so as to paint them with some degree of accuracy in a kind of companion Lay 1 to the Minstrel ... So Walter Scott wrote to George Ellis2 in 1805, shortly after the publication of The Lay of the Last Minstrel. As John Buchan says: With the Lay Scott became famous, no longer a connoisseur esteemed by the elect, but the most popular poet of the day. 3 The poet could report to Ellis that booksellers 'in the plural'4 were knocking on his door, teaching him how to bargain. He was to put the lesson to good use later, when he became a prose writer. The future should have looked brilliant, for Scott was only 5 thirty-four years old, and in easy circumstances. In fact, in terms of ready money he was never to be so well off again, for the fatal promissory notes were not yet circulating and multiplying. His fixed income was nearly £1,000 per annum, a good sum in these days, and in May 1805 he signed a partnership agreement with James 1. J. G. Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. (Edinburgh, 1862), p. 127. Hereafter called Life. 2.1753-1815. '... if some memory of him lingers, it is trace- able to his intimate friendship with Scott. ' W. F. Gray,, Scott in Sunshine and Shadow (London, 1931), pp. 43-4. 3. J. Buchan, Sir Walter Scott (London, 1932), p. 72. 4. Lockhart, Life, p. 127. 5. If it is accepted that he was born in 1771, and not 1770.