Old Mortality

Product Information

Henry Morton's involvement in the rebellion causes a conflict of loyalties for him, since Edith Bellenden belongs to a Royalist family who oppose the uprising. Henry's beliefs are not as extreme as those of Burley and many other rebel leaders, which leads to his involvement in the factional disputes. The novel also shows their oppressors, led by Claverhouse, to be extreme in their beliefs and methods. Comic relief is provided by Cuddie Headrigg, a peasant who works as a manservant to Morton. He reluctantly joins the rebellion because of his personal loyalty to Morton, as well as his own fanatical Covenanting mother, Mause Headrigg. Later, I became a great reader of short stories, fantastic and ghost stories. Sir Walter Scott as well as Robert Louis Stevenson, among many other Scottish authors have excelled in this kind of literature… Finally, we see Miranda at 18. She's dropped out of school and eloped with a man her family doesn't approve of. As she shares a train car with an old cousin, her romantic notions of Aunt Amy are further shattered, even though she can now more easily identify with her. The novella ends with the word "ignorance," fitting because even though 18-year-old Miranda has a clearer vision of not only her Aunt Amy but also her entire family, she cannot see how her own life mirrors that of her aunt. The picture is clearer, but it's still fuzzy. Ch. 4: At Niel Blane's inn John Balfour (or Burley) defeats Francis Stuart (Bothwell) in a wrestling bout. After Burley has left, Cornet Grahame arrives to announce that the Archbishop of St Andrews has been murdered by a band under Burley's command. Like the rest of Scott’s novels, it’s important to pay attention early on. If you get a good grasp on “who’s who,” his writing style is easy to follow.

I read this in a group led by Monica Miller, author of Being Ugly: Southern Women Writers and Social Rebellion. Insight from the group setting pushed this up to ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.. The “change” that happens to Henry Morton is perfectly captured. Scott notes, “Desperate himself, he determined to support the rights of his country, insulted in his person” (160). Many god-fearing citizens throughout history aren’t really fanatical. And this is a warning to the Deep State today: there is a limit beyond which we will not be pushed. Don’t go there. Tillietudlem (TIHL-ee-TUHD-lehm). Ancient Scottish castle characterized by its great central tower and sturdy battlements that is the home of the Bellendens. Scott based Tillietudlem mainly on his firsthand knowledge of the ruined castle of Craignethan. Although Tillietudlem is itself fictional, the popularity of Scott’s novel was so great that the Caledonian Railway established a station called Tillietudlem in the 1860’s to accommodate those passengers who insisted on seeing the “real” Tillietudlem. In the novel itself, the castle is in part a symbol of the deeply felt Royalist faith of the Bellenden family. For Lady Bellenden, Tillietudlem is a holy place because Charles II once had breakfast there. Tillietudlem stands in the novel with its proud tower looking down, in every sense, on the wild Covenanters whose fanatical Presbyterianism leads them to rebel against Charles II. Despite this, Tillietudlem and the feudal faith it represents are surrounded by conflict and rebellion, and throughout the novel it is a place caught in the middle of strife, under siege, and threatened by both war and legal fraud. The trials of Tillietudlem become Scott’s main way of showing the cost of civil unrest. He first portrayed peasant characters sympathetically and realistically and equally justly portrayed merchants, soldiers, and even kings.Sir Walter received a visit from Joseph Train, who had provided him with so much antiquarian information for The Lord of the Islesand Guy Mannering. The remarkable person called by the title of Old Mortality was well known in Scotland about the end of the last century. His real name was Robert Paterson. He was a native, it is said, of the parish of Closeburn in Dumfriesshire, and probably a Mason by profession – at least educated to the use of the chisel. Whether family dissensions, or the deep and enthusiastic feeling of supposed duty, drove him to leave his dwelling, and adopt the singular mode of life in which he wandered, like a palmer, through Scotland, is not known. It could not be poverty, however, which prompted his journeys, for he never accepted anything beyond the hospitality which was willingly rendered him, and when that was not proferred he always had money enough to provide for his own humble wants. His personal appearance, and favourite, or rather soul, occupation are accurately described in the preliminary chapter of the following work. However, it is later revealed that the family's frequent reminisces about the beautiful, deified women of their ancestry conveniently discounts Great-Aunt Keziah and the girls' cousin Eva, who is homely in appearance, described as having a "chinless" face. Eva presents a sharp, prosaic contrast to the poetic, ephemeral, and dramatically sorrowful specter of Aunt Amy that has been conveyed through the family's stories. Cousin Eva, far from conforming to the archetype of Southern womanhood, fought staunchly for women's suffrage.

Scott's novel begins in leisurely fashion by describing an old man, many years after the wars, who goes about the countryside cleaning and repairing deteriorating grave markers of Covenanters who were killed in the wars. He goes by the name of "Old Morality", and serves to remind the reader that without his efforts, and by symbolic extension, Scott's story, these religious warriors of the past and what they fought for would be forgotten. Scott's original title was The Tale of Old Mortality, but this is generally shortened in most references. Following the defeat at Bothwell Bridge, Morton flees the battle field. He is soon captured by some of the extreme Covenanters, who see him as a traitor, and get ready to execute him. He is rescued by Claverhouse, who has been led to the scene by Cuddie Headrigg. Morton later witnesses the trial and torture of fellow rebels, before going into exile. This book is an education. I don't get it all--war between presbyterians and episcopalians? I had no idea--but I understand so much Scottish history so much more now. In the autumn of 1799, while on a visit to Lord Douglas at Bothwell Castle, on the Clyde, Scott made an excursion to Craignethan and, as he afterwards said, immediately fell in love with it so much that he wanted to live there. Lord Douglas offered him the use for life of a very good house at one corner of the court. It was built in 1665 and we found it still in excellent repair. Scott did not at once decline the offer, but circumstances made it impossible to accept. That he made a very careful examination of the ruin, however, is shown by the unusually accurate descriptions.

Subject or Title                 

Sir Walter Scott The Great Unknown, the title of Edgar Johnson’s biography of Sir Walter, is not innocent! It is set in the late seventeenth-century, in a nation still in the throes of a decaying feudal system, beset by religious warfare and corresponding conflict between the impulses of modernity and reaction; and this feeling of both closeness and contrast to modern times holds one of the book's fascinations. In an introduction written by Scott in 1830, he describes his own chance meeting with 'Old Mortality' at Dunottar, which he describes as having happened about 30 years before the time of writing. [6]