Walter Scott: Chronicles of the Canongate========================================= a machine-readable transcription [For archival on the Internet Wiretap, the portions have been concatenated. No other changes have been made.] Version 1.0: 1993-03-25 This machine-readable transcription of the Chronicles of the Canongate is based on the text published as volumes 41 and 48 of the Waverley Novels by Archibald Constable and Company in 1896. Volume 41 also included the Keepsake Stories, which have been separated from the Chronicles. The tale `The Surgeon's Daughter' originally appeared in volume 48, for reasons only printers and publishers will understand. The order of the files in this distribution are as follows: introduction - the author's introduction introduction.appendix - account of the first public announcement of Scott's authorship of the Waverley novels introductory - Chrystal Croftangry account of himself introductory.notes the.highland.widow the highland.widow.notes the.two.drovers.introduction the.two.drovers the two.drovers.notes the.surgeons.daughter.introduction the.surgeons.daughter.preface the.surgeons.daughter the.surgeons.daughter.conclusion Changes to the text ------------------- Page-breaks have been removed End-of-line hyphenations have been removed, and the previously hyphenated word placed at the end of the first text line. The text itself has been the main guide for keeping or removing the hyphen; in some cases the Centenary Edition has been consulted. Small capitals in names have been replaced by lower-case letters, otherwise by capitals. appendix.to.introduction p. lxvi: genius (genuis) introductory: p. 11: waistcoat (waistcoast) p. 17: position (postion) p. 44: magnificent (magnificient) p. 83: don't (dont) p. 87: postscript (postcript) the.highland.widow p. xxx: Corrie Dhu (Corri Dhu) Odd, that 'Dhu' is so spelled here, while previusly it is spelled 'dhu'. Same in C.E. p. 223 pedestrians (pedes- || trains) p. 223 termed (term-) p. 287 missing '?' (hast thou at lest become sick) Surgeons Daughter: p. 153: taken by an eminent artist (arilst) p. 174: But faith, this Schiller (``But faith) p. 216: of whose loss she had (lose) p. 304: adding fuel to fire (feul) p. 337: use, he apprehended, to enable (apprehended to - missing comma) p. 339: All these feelings (``All) p. 382: force on her inclinations.'' (inclinations,'') p. 383: ``Villain---double-dyed (missing dash) p. 385: thou art Governor (Go-||venor) p. 387: garment. In the (garment In) p. 395: former adventures, the plundering (missing comma) p. 403: brandished (bran-||nished) p. 404: we have formerly described (formesly) p. ???: he presumed him to be entirely ignorant (persumed) Markup conventions ------------------ _ _ is placed around words that are italicized in the text = = is placed around words with extra emphasis -- small caps in the text. --- is used to represent an em dash. Longer sequences of hyphens indicates correspondingly longer dashes Footnotes Footnotes in the text were placed at the foot of the page; in this edition they have been placed immediately after the line in which they are referenced. The footnote callout is always an asterisk,* * Like this and the text of the footnote has been placed, slightly indented, between two empty lines, as illustrated above. If the footnote comes at the end of a paragraph, the first line of the following paragraph is indented two spaces, as usual. Most footnotes are just references to end-notes. In the original text, these appeared at the end of each chapter -- in this electronic edition, they have been placed in a file of their own, following the model used in the Centenary Edition. The page numbers of the original footnotes have been replaced by letters A, B, etc, again on the pattern used in the Centenary Edition. Notes ----- In The Surgeon's Daughter, the various amounts of money are printed as L.100, L.200 and L.2000 etc. These are so printed in the original, although the Centenary Edition uses a pound sterling sign instead of "L.". The Surgeon's Daughter seems rather unevenly edited. Here are some of the unevennesses I've found: Hindostan, Hindustan Hindoo, Hindhu jackall, jackals Town-Clerk, Town-clerk There also seems to be some occasional inconsistence in the use of the following words. Governor, governor Government, government The differences appear in both the original source and the Cententary Edition The transcription and proof-reading was done by Anders Thulin, Rydsvagen 288, S-582 50 Linkoping, Sweden. Email address: ath@linkoping.trab.se I'd be glad to learn of any errors that you may find in the text. [1. Introduction] INTRODUCTION TO CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. The preceding volume of this Collection concluded the last of the pieces originally published under the _nominis umbra_ of The Author of Waverley; and the circumstances which rendered it impossible for the writer to continue longer in the possession of his incognito, were communicated in 1827, in the Introduction to the first series of Chronicles of the Canongate,---consisting (besides a biographical sketch of the imaginary chronicler) of three tales, entitled ``The Highland Widow,'' ``The Two Drovers,'' and ``The Surgeon's Daughter.'' In the present volume the two first named of these pieces are included, together with three detached stories, which appeared the year after in the elegant compilation called ``The Keepsake.'' The ``Surgeon's Daughter'' it is thought better to defer until a succeeding volume, than to ``Begin and break off in the middle.'' I have, perhaps, said enough on former occasions of the misfortunes which led to the dropping of that mask under which I had, for a long series of years, enjoyed so large a portion of public favour. Through the success of those literary efforts, I had been enabled to indulge most of the tastes, which a retired person of my station might be supposed to entertain. In the pen of this nameless romancer, I seemed to possess something like the secret fountain of coined gold and pearls vouchsafed to the traveller of the Eastern Tale; and no doubt believed that I might venture, without silly imprudence, to extend my personal expenditure considerably beyond what I should have thought of, had my means been limited to the competence which I derived from inheritance, with the moderate income of a professional situation. I bought, and built, and planted, and was considered by myself, as by the rest of the world, in the safe possession of an easy fortune. My riches, however, like the other riches of this world, were liable to accidents, under which they were ultimately destined to make unto themselves wings and fly away. The year 1825, so disastrous to many branches of industry and commerce, did not spare the market of literature; and the sudden ruin that fell on so many of the booksellers, could scarcely gave been expected to leave unscathed one, whose career had of necessity connected him deeply and extensively with the pecuniary transactions of that profession. In a word, almost without one note of premonition, I found myself involved in the sweeping catastrophe of the unhappy time, and called on to meet the demands of creditors upon commercial establishments with which my fortunes had long been bound up, to the extent of no less a sum than one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. The author having, however rashly, committed his pledges thus largely to the hazards of trading companies, it behoved him, of course, to abide the consequences of his conduct, and, with whatever feelings, he surrendered on the instant every shred of property which he had been accustomed to call his own. It became vested in the hands of gentlemen, whose integrity, prudence, and intelligence, were combined with all possible liberality and kindness of disposition, and who readily afforded every assistance towards the execution of plans, in the success of which the author contemplated the possibility of his ultimate extrication, and which were of such a nature, that, had assistance of this sort been withheld, he could have had little prospect of carrying them into effect. Among other resources which occurred, was the project of that complete and corrected edition of his Novels and Romances, (whose real parentage had of necessity been disclosed at the moment of the commercial convulsions alluded to,) which has now advanced with unprecedented favour nearly to its close; but as he purposed also to continue, for the behoof of those to whom he was indebted, the exercise of his pen in the same path of literature, so long as the state of his countrymen should seem to approve of his efforts, it appeared to him that it would have been an idle piece of affectation to attempt getting up a new _incognito_, after his original visor had been thus dashed from his brow. Hence the personal narrative prefixed to the first work of fiction which he put forth after the paternity of the ``Waverley Novels'' had come to be publicly ascertained: and though many of the particulars originally avowed in that Notice have been unavoidably adverted to in the prefaces and notes to some of the preceding volumes of the present collection, it is now reprinted as it stood at the time, because some interest is generally attached to a coin or medal struck on a special occasion, as expressing, perhaps, more faithfully than the same artist could have afterwards conveyed, the feelings of the moment that gave it birth. The Introduction to the first series of Chronicles of the Canongate ran, then, in these words: INTRODUCTION. All who are acquainted with the early history of the Italian stage are aware, that Arlechino is not, in his original conception, a mere worker of marvels with his wooden sword, a jumper in and out of windows, as upon our theatre, but, as his party-coloured jacket implies, a buffoon or clown, whose mouth, far from being eternally closed, as amongst us, is filled, like that of Touchstone, with quips, and cranks, and witty devices, very often delivered extempore. It is not easy to trace how he became possessed of his black vizard which was anciently made in the resemblance of the face of a cat; but it seems that the mask was essential to the performance of the character, as will appear from the following theatrical anecdote:--- An actor on the Italian stage permitted at the Foire du St Germain, in Paris, was renowned for the wild, venturous, and extravagant wit, the brilliant sallies and fortunate repartees, with which he prodigally seasoned the character of the party-coloured jester. Some critics, whose good-will towards a favourite performer was stronger than their judgment, took occasion to remonstrate with the successful actor on the subject of the grotesque vizard. They went wilily to their purpose, observing that his classical and attic wit, his delicate vein of humour, his happy turn for dialogue, were rendered burlesque and ludicrous by this unmeaning and bizzare disguise, and that those attributes would become far more impressive, if aided by the spirit of his eye and the expression of his natural features. The actor's vanity was easily so far engaged as to induce him to make the experiment. He played Harlequin barefaced, but was considered on all hands as having made a total failure. He had lost the audacity which a sense of incognito bestowed, and with it all the reckless play of raillery which gave vivacity to his original acting. He cursed his advisers, and resumed his grotesque vizard; but, it is said, without ever being able to regain the careless and successful levity which the consciousness of the disguise had formerly bestowed. Perhaps the Author of Waverley is now about to incur a risk of the same kind, and endanger his popularity by having laid aside his incognito. It is certainly not a voluntary experiment, like that of Harlequin; for it was my original intention never to have avowed these works during my lifetime, and the original manuscripts were carefully preserved, (though by the care of others rather than mine,) with the purpose of supplying the necessary evidence of the truth when the period of announcing it should arrive.* But the * These manuscripts are at present (August 1831) advertised for public sale, which is an addition, though a small one, to other annoyances. affairs of my publishers having unfortunately passed into a management different from their own, I had no right any longer to rely upon secrecy in that quarter; and thus my mask, like my Aunt Dinah's in ``Tristram Shandy,'' having begun to wax a little threadbare about the chin, it became time to lay it aside with a good grace, unless I desired it should fall in pieces from my face, which was now become likely. Yet I had not the slightest intention of selecting the time and place in which the disclosure was finally made; nor was there any concert betwixt my learned and respected friend Lord Meadowbank and myself upon that occasion. It was, as the reader is probably aware, upon the 23d February last, at a public meeting, called for establishing a professional Theatrical Fund in Edinburgh, that the communication took place. Just before we sat down to table, Lord Meadowbank* * One of the Supreme Judges of Scotland, termed Lords of Council and Session. asked me privately, whether I was still anxious to preserve my incognito on the subject of what were called the Waverley Novels? I did not immediately see the purpose of his lordship's question, although I certainly might have been led to infer it, and replied, that the secret had now of necessity become known to so many people that I was indifferent on the subject. Lord Meadowbank was thus induced, while doing me the great honour of proposing my health to the meeting, to say something on the subject of these Novels, so strongly connecting them with me as the author, that by remaining silent, I must have stood convicted, either of the actual paternity, or of the still greater crime of being supposed willing to receive indirectly praise to which I had no just title. I thus found myself suddenly and unexpectedly placed in the confessional, and had only time to recollect that I had been guided thither by a most friendly hand, and could not, perhaps, find a better public opportunity to lay down a disguise, which began to resemble that of a detected masquerader. I had therefore the task of avowing myself, to the numerous and respectable company assembled, as the sole and unaided author of these Novels of Waverley, the paternity of which was likely at one time to have formed a controversy of some celebrity, for the ingenuity with which some instructors of the public gave their assurance on the subject, was extremely persevering. I now think it further necessary to say, that while I take on myself all the merits and demerits attending these compositions, I am bound to acknowledge with gratitude, hints of subjects and legends which I have received from various quarters, and have occasionally used as a foundation of my fictitious compositions, or woven up with them in the shape of episodes. I am bound, in particular, to acknowledge the unremitting kindness of Mr Joseph Train, supervisor of excise at Dumfries, to whose unwearied industry I have been indebted for many curious traditions, and points of antiquarian interest. It was Mr Train who brought to my recollection the history of Old Mortality, although I myself had had a personal interview with that celebrated wanderer so far back as about 1792, when I found him on his usual task. He was then engaged in repairing the gravestones of the Covenanters who had died while imprisoned in the Castle of Dunnottar, to which many of them were committed prisoners at the period of Argyle's rising; their place of confinement is still called the Whigs' Vault. Mr Train, however, procured for me far more extensive information concerning this singular person, whose name was Patterson, than I had been able to acquire during my own short conversation with him.* He was (as I think I have * See, for some further particulars, the notes to Old Mortality, in the present collective edition. somewhere already stated) a native of the parish of Closeburn, in Dumfries-shire, and it is believed that domestic affliction, as well as devotional feeling, induced him to commence the wandering mode of life, which he pursued for a very long period. It is more than twenty years since Robert Patterson's death, which took place on the high-road near Lockerby, where he was found exhausted and expiring. The white pony, the companion of his pilgrimage, was standing by the side of its dying master; the whole furnishing a scene not unfitted for the pencil. These particulars I had from Mr Train. Another debt, which I pay most willingly, I owe to an unknown correspondent (a lady),* * The late Mrs Goldie. who favoured me with the history of the upright and high-principled female, whom, in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, I have termed Jeanie Deans. The circumstance of her refusing to save her sister's life by an act of perjury, and undertaking a pilgrimage to London to obtain her pardon, are both represented as true by my fair and obliging correspondent; and they led me to consider the possibility of rendering a fictitious personage interesting by mere dignity of mind and rectitude of principle, assisted by unpretending good sense and temper, without any of the beauty, grace, talent, accomplishment, and wit, to which a heroine of romance is supposed to have a prescriptive right. If the portrait was received with interest by the public, I am conscious how much it was owing to the truth and force of the original sketch, which I regret that I am unable to present to the public, as it was written with much feeling and spirit. Old and odd books, and a considerable collection of family legends, formed another quarry, so ample, that it was much more likely that the strength of the labourer should be exhausted than that materials should fail. I may mention, for example's sake, that the terrible catastrophe of the Bride of Lammermoor actually occurred in a Scottish family of rank. The female relative, by whom the melancholy tale was communicated to me many years since, was a near connexion of the family in which the event happened and always told it with an appearance of melancholy mystery, which enhanced the interest, She had known, in her youth, the brother who rode before the unhappy victim to the fatal altar, who, though then a mere boy, and occupied almost entirely with the gaiety of his own appearance in the bridal procession, could not but remark that the hand of his sister was moist, and cold as that of a statue. It is unnecessary further to withdraw the veil from this scene of family distress, nor, although it occurred more than a hundred years since, might it be altogether agreeable to the representatives of the families concerned in the narrative. It may be proper to say, that the events alone are imitated; but I had neither the means nor intention of copying the manners, or tracing the characters, of the persons concerned in the real story. Indeed, I may here state generally, that although I have deemed historical personages free subjects of delineation, I have never on any occasion violated the respect due to private life. It was indeed impossible that traits proper |