Product Description
Set against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Waverley depicts the story of Edward Waverley, an idealistic daydreamer whose loyalty to his regiment is threatened when they are sent to the Scottish Highlands. When he finds himself drawn to the charismatic chieftain Fergus Mac-Ivor and his beautiful sister Flora, their ardent loyalty to Prince Charles Edward Stuart appeals to Waverley's romantic nature and he allies himself with their cause - a move that proves highly dangerous for the young officer. Scott's first novel was a huge success when it was published in 1814 and marked the start of his extraordinary literary success. With its vivid depiction of the wild Highland landscapes and patriotic clansmen, Waverley is a brilliant evocation of the old Scotland - a world Scott believed was swiftly disappearing in the face of a new, modern era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Waverley
This is a hard-to-find novel by Sir Walter Scott. It is lengthy and not really gripping, but it is probably the earliest historical novel. I needed it for my Jane Austen Society book discussion group.
The price, $.02, was right, and it arrived promptly. I gave the book only one star because I don't think anyone would want to read this just for pleasure. However, Amazon is a tremendous resource for finding used books in good condition.
Kathleen O'Brien

Sir Walter Scott's Waverly is the first major historical romance in the English Language
Waverly is the granddaddy of all historical romance novels. It was published anonymously in 1814 in Edinburgh. Its author was Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) the famous poet. Among his many lyrics were "The Lady in The Lake" and
"Marmion." By 1814 his poetic star was fading while that of his rival Lord Byron was ascending into the heavenly realms of literary glory. Scott decided to take up novel writing producing over twenty famous novels.
Waverly is the first in the Waverly novels series. It is notable for many reasons:
1. Scott's book is considered to be the first major English historical novel. Scott sets his book during the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie's quest to seize the throne of Great Britain for the Stuart dynasty. His opponent was the Hanover ruler George II (1714-27).
2. Scott wrote of war, adventure and love in a way to attract male readers. He shows us that novels are not to become the sole baliwick of feminine authors such as Jane Austen, Jane Porter, Marie Edgeworth, Fanny Burney and others of that scribbling sisterhood of authors.
3. Scott helped introduce the highlands and lowlands of Scotland to readers in England. Scotland became part of Great Britain following the union of 1707 but many English people were unfamiliar with their fellow citizens living north of the River Tweed.
4, Scott influenced the works of such later literary giants as Charles Dickens, Honore de Balzac and James Fenimore Cooper.
And yet....! Scott has grievious faults as a novelist! Consider:
1. His books are very hard to read in the twenty-first century due to their use of abstruse Scottish dialect, the mixing of Latin and Greek quotations and the author's wide use of classical references unfamiliar to a modern audience.
2. Scott's plots are hard to follow and overcomplicated. He is not good at drawing multidimensiional human beings. All of the characters in Waverly are cardboard figures.
3, Scott often interrupts the story to make authorial comments and engages in long digressions on Scottish history and customs. These comments may enlighten but they may also bore!
4. Scott's two major love interests in Waverly are Flora MacIvor and the lowland maide Rose. Both of these women are portrayed as if they were placed on a pedestal. They are not well drawn human beings.
With all of his faults I still give Scott a five star recommendation because of the importance of Waverly in the long procession of the great novels of English Literature. He deserves reading and the man could introduce to a way of life that is foreign and exotic.

WAVERLEY: THE FIRST HISTORICAL NOVEL, THE FIRST POLITICAL NOVEL
Sir Walter Scott began WAVERLEY, his first novel, in 1805. Years later, after his move to his dream home Abbotsford near the border with England, he found his manuscript while rummaging in a fishing tackle box. He then brought the world's first historical novel to a conclusion in 1814.

Abe Lincoln read Walter Scott. His children entertained their mother re-enacting scenes from the WAVERLEY series of novels. I wonder therefore if Lincoln's "Four score and seven years ago..." does not echo WAVERLEY's frequently repeated sub-title, " 'Tis Sixty Years Since." WAVERLEY is narrated as from 1805, the year it was begun, and for both it and the Gettysburg Address, a reader inevitably starts calculating backwards. What date are we talking about? Ah,1745 for young Edward Waverley. We know (as he does not) what turmoil he is letting himself in for when he rides into the Highlands -- the last hurrah of the legitimate Stuart dynasty. And 1776 for Abe Lincoln meant the Declaration of Independence. In 1745 "auld" Scotland almost disappeared in defeat. In 1776 Hanoverian Britain began its retreat from North America.

Scott tells us in i.1 (p. 5) that in 1745 our ancestors expressed their anger directly, by taking up arms. But in 1805/1814 his generation was more indirect, taking enemies to court.

This very great novel should be read for sheer entertainment, for its characters, for the omnipresent black bears of the Baron of Bradwardine and for its love story. But I suggest that we read it as well as history and geography. Are we up for the sounds of broad Scots language? For a smidgen of Highland Gaelic (which Scott barely knew)? To learn about doch and dorroch and the stirrup-cup? Through hundreds of details of what Scotsmen ate, how they dressed, how beautiful were their mountains and waters near Perth, Walter Scott brought Scotland to life in England and throughout Europe and in the USA.

WAVERLEY makes us take Scotland, the real Scotland of history, seriously. We see its educated Catholic Highlanders sending their children to study in France and Italy. Bonnie Prince Charlie lost only one battle of several, but it was enough to secure Hanoverians their throne. We sense that the transition, however awful, was inevitable from fiercely independent Scotland to an uncomfortable, demoted "North Britain" within a prospering, peaceful United Kingdom of middle-class shopkeepers. Walter Scott makes us ask what if any history has to teach us.

Not only is WAVERLEY the first historical novel. It is also the first political novel. We see dimly how a generally dismal set of rulers, the Stuart dynasty, could continue to win men's loyalty to a lost cause. In a later novel, also about Prince Charlie 20 years later, we read of a Scottish family named REDGAUNTLET whose fate was always to be on the losing side. What makes subjects or citizens alike glory in losing for political principle?

Mark Twain wrote as if all Walter Scott cared about were kings and dynasties, knights, beautiful high-born ladies and lost inheritances. But day after day in court in Edinburgh he heard argued cases of little people with religious and inherited passions and prejudices, not to mention superstitions. He remembered them all, along with the tales he heard as a boy and the ballads he researched for seven consecutive summers as ayoung adult. These little people live again in WAVERLEY and in Scott's 26 other novels as well.

-OOO-

Like Reading K2, But Worthwhile
The first 200 pages of "Waverley" represent an early zenith for novelists testing the patience of their readership.

After a lengthy introduction where author Sir Walter Scott mocks the romantic pretentiousness then abounding among novelists, he proceeds to introduce us to assorted personages we will never meet again before finally focusing on the opaque central character, whose name not only gives us the book's title but a sense of grating irresolution which comes to define him. The reader's feet start tapping.

Scott then throws up a detailed sequence of non-events. Young Waverley joins the British army, marches off to Scotland, and becomes the guest of every Highland warlord with a grudge against His Majesty. I may have left off a couple of incidents, but that's the sum total of the action for the first third or so of the book. "Shall this be a long or short chapter?" he teasingly asks at the beginning of his 24th chapter, nearly 200 pages in.

"Waverley" does eventually kick itself into a higher gear, not that it ever becomes a thrill-ride. But he imbues his mysterious Scottish landscape with an aura that swirls around the reader and, though hard to explain coherently, becomes not only quite charming but compelling, too.

Waverley, like David Copperfield and many other such heroes of 19th century fiction, finds himself torn between two women, and as his attempts at wooing one fell painfully short, I found myself cutting across the chasm of time and really identifying with the guy.

"The sensation of hope with which he had nursed his affection in absence of the beloved object seemed to vanish in her presence..."

Scott's remedy for such pining is also too good not to quote: "I knew a very accomplished and sensible young man cured of a violent passion for a pretty woman, whose talents were not equal to her face and figure, by being permitted to bear her company for a whole afternoon."

I wish I had the stomach to finish this book the first time I tried to read it, when I was a sophomore in high school. It might have saved me much misery.

The noteworthy thing about "Waverley," as others here comment, is that it plays off the romantic ideal of the day in a character whose inconstancy is a deliberate statement about how such all-or-nothing sentiments can be misleading, even injurious. Edward Waverley, introduced to us memorably (if at great length) in terms of the books he starts but doesn't finish, becomes a waterbug skittering across the waves of history, once a loyal supporter of the Hanoveran throne, then a rebel Jacobite, as his loyalties are played by people of varying moral hues.

"Well, after all, every thing has its fair as well as its seamy side," Waverley declares by the second half of the book, beginning to understand.

What makes "Waverley" a great book are the characters around Waverley more than the man himself, especially one rebel named Fergus who takes his measure of Waverley's indecisive character, and his station as the heir to a British title, in order to manipulate him. Scott does this so subtly we may feel ourselves as caught out as young Edward when he learns the score, but it works not only because it carries logical force within the ever-shifting narrative but doesn't turn Fergus into a villain so much as a man who does what he can with what he has.

For all the romantic stuff, well presented indeed, it's the relationship between Waverley and Fergus that carries the strongest resonant strain, since it isn't exactly a friendship or adversarial, but a bit of both with an undercurrent of tragedy that becomes more focused toward the end.

"Waverley" isn't a well-structured novel per se, given the sluggish opening and Waverley's pinball-like relationship to the politics around him. Readers of "Ivanhoe" will miss the firmer storyline of that work, not to mention comic relief in the form of pithy Wamba of that book rather than the windy, Latin-loving Baron, though the latter has his moments.

Everyone in "Waverley" has their moments, and they add up to a great book once the momentum gets going. It's a tough climb, but you'll be glad you made the effort when it's over.

The ultimate coming-of-age novel
Scott can be a ragged storyteller, by our contemporary standards (which are unfair to apply, since he showed the way to all future English novelists).Patches of WAVERLEY are ragged and rambling.Such humor as there is is not very funny, and sometimes when the action is meant to be sweeping, it is more nearly absurd.

None of this is without compensations.The English novel was still young and unformed, and Scott is alive to all its possibilities, with a freshness and boldness not available to later writers.He thinks nothing, for instance, of having his hero (here as in IVANHOE) sick or asleep while the action is conducted elsewhere by more vidid, nominally secondary characters.

But WAVERLEY is not just of historical interest.It accomplishes something unique in the Bildungsroman genre.In its time, and even now, it is thought of as a nonpareil romantic adventure, but the reputation is misleading, since it is mostly about the unraveling of Waverley's romantic notions.For a time we share them:how merry and noble the highlanders seem, how manly and swashbuckling their leader, Fergus; how accomplished and womanly his sister, the beautiful Flora.By the the end of the book, however, Waverley's cause has turned to ashes, the man he idolized is revealed as an unfeeling monomaniac, and the woman he thought he loved seems just a sour harpy.

The cold slap of reality is an experience common enough in life, the painful accompaniment of growing up, but you'll have to look far and wide to find it so cannily presented in fiction as here. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook edition contains what are often considered to be the best of Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott's work.Along with classic novels like 'Ivanhoe,' this collection also contains his epic poems 'Marmion' and 'The Lady of the Lake.'Includes an active table of contents.

Contents:

Waverley
Rob Roy
Ivanhoe
The Bride of Lammermoor
The Heart of Mid-Lothian
Marmion
The Lady of the Lake
... Read more

Product Description
The epitome of the chivalric novel, Ivanhoe sweeps readers into Medieval England and the lives of a memorable cast of characters. Ivanhoe, a trusted ally of Richard-the-Lion-Hearted, returns from the Crusades to reclaim the inheritance his father denied him. Rebecca, a vibrant, beautiful Jewish woman is defended by Ivanhoe against a charge of witchcraft--but it is Lady Rowena who is Ivanhoe's true love. The wicked Prince John plots to usurp England's throne, but two of the most popular heroes in all of English literature, Richard-the-Lion-Hearted and the well-loved famous outlaw, Robin Hood, team up to defeat the Normans and reagain the castle. The success of this novel lies with Scott's skillful blend of historic reality, chivalric romance, and high adventure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Wonderful story!
Classic novel! The language can be a chore at times, but once you get into the story, it becomes easier. Thrilling!

Knights and Ladies for Children
This is an action packed account about Knights and Ladies. They fight all the time, but amazingly no one get killed. It seems mostly made for children.

IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott
Ivanhoe is an 1820 historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. In 1194, in the time of King Richard the Lionheart, Prince John and Robin Hood, disinherited Saxon knight Wilfred of Ivanhoe returns from the Crusades and seeks revenge against his Norman nemesis Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

But the story is so much more than that. Ivanhoe features an ensemble cast with perhaps a dozen noteworthy characters, and of these, Ivanhoe himself plays a supporting role at best, as he's absent from massive portions of the novel. Yet it is he who ties all the characters together.

The modern reader may be put off by a number of things, particularly Scott's tendency to devote entire pages to the descriptions of his characters' garb, and the unnaturally expository dialogue he puts in their mouths. But Ivanhoe is nearly two hundred years old, and some of these things we just have to get over. More just criticisms might target the book's sometimes too leisurely pace, the somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, and the unquestionably contrived and hackneyed, silly and pointless return of Athelstane, which is so literarily amateurish that Scott felt compelled to insert a footnote to acknowledge this fact, but that he was doing it anyway.

Ivanhoe is a three-act quest/reward adventure, and in spite of the book's more plodding characteristics, Scott usually keeps the pages turning in an impressive manner. His writing is clever as well as verbose, and quite frankly, there are a lot of exciting things going on here.

As far as the narrative, Scott sometimes has difficulty juggling all his characters, as he has to jump around chronologically, impeding the novel's flow. Neither does Scott feel compelled to wrap up all his many plot threads; some prominent characters, notably Prince John, are dropped by the wayside as the novel progresses and then only mentioned in passing later on.

Ivanhoe features an astounding degree of anti-Semitism from virtually every character, whether hero or villain (in addition to a historically accurate depiction of medieval persecution, this is also a political commentary contemporary to Scott's day, as England was moving toward the emancipation of its Jews). Yet for the point Scott is trying to make, Isaac of York fits very well the stereotype of the miserly Jew. But his daughter Rebecca is the noblest character in the novel.

Of similar historicity is the frustrating level of ignorance and superstition displayed by so many characters - it makes something like Monty Python and the Holy Grail's witch/duck scene seem hardly a bit farcical. And saddest of all is the time's horrendous misunderstanding of Christianity - the finding of virtue in unvirtuous acts, particularly the slaughter of any and all unbelievers.

While Scott took a number of liberties with other historical matters in Ivanhoe, no offense is egregious, and because of the degree of detail Scott provides, most everything is believable enough to the uninitiated. Ivanhoe is also noteworthy for its lasting influence. It sparked a renewed interest in the Middle Ages. And every single Robin Hood tale or film I've ever seen has used it in some way as source material, as have a large number of other medieval and fantasy stories.

In spite of its flaws, Ivanhoe remains a pillar of medieval historical fiction, and is a must for fans of that period.

Ivanhoe is sir Walter Scott's imaginative recreation of the days when Richard the Lionhearted ruled England
Ivanhoe. The very name seems to evoke romance when knights jousted in hopes of winning love bestowed by a fair and chaste maid! Ivanhoe was the first novel set in England written by the great romancer Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) the Scottish lawyer who wrote fiction.
The tale concerns Wilfred of Ivanhoe a young knight recently returned from the third crusade. He seeks to win the hand of the fair Rowena a Saxon girl. Ivanhoe has been banished from his father but wins Rowena following adventures pitting him against evil knights. Richard I King of England appear as do Robin Hood Friar Tuck, Allan A Dale and the merry men of the forest The court jester Wamba provides the laughs. Also featured is the loyal servant Gurth who serves Ivanhoe. The madwoman Ulrica is an early version of the daft Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca!
The least interesting character is Ivanhoe! Far better characters are the rich Jewish merchant Isaac and his beautiful and kind daughter Rebecca. Rebecca is tried and condemned as a witch. Will Ivanhoe rescue her at the last minute? Cedric, the father of Ivanhoe, is also a brave man who seeks to have his ward Rowena wed a Saxon claimant to the throne.
The book rambles over 500 densely written pages filled with poetry, long speeches and sporadic action. The literary sins of Scott are multitudious. He:
1. Writes in a turgidly pompous style alien to the eyes of 21st century readers.
2.His characters are one dimensional puppets who have no depth.
3. His plotting is slow moving and somewhat dull. The highlights are the tournament of knights, a caste's siege and the trial of Rebecca at novel's end.
Nevetheless Scott's works live because:
1. He practically created modern historical fiction.
2. The story is interesting if the reader will pay attention to the course of the tale. Scott could spin a tale!
3. Some of his characters are witty, wise and wonderful. Famous authors such as Balzac and Dickens were influenced by his oeuvre. Even Jane Austen perused Scott with pleasure and joy.
Sir Walter Scott wrote this book in 1819. That was a long time ago! He may not be your cup of tea and you may have hated to have to read this book in school! If so give it an adult reread. It is a great work of fiction for all of its many flaws.

Ivanhoe
This was a requested book from a friend.I read it a long, long ago in high school and enjoyed it greatly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Surprsingly Funny
"The Bride of Lammermoor"is surprisingly funny.It's about two Scottish families who, through the centuries, fight over the same fortune and land holdings.One family wrests it away from the other branch and a century or so later another grabs it back and so on.As the book opens Lord Ravenswood has just lost his father and his fortune.It's reverted back to the Ashton's.In his anguish Ravenswood decides to go back to the house he grew up in and confront Ashton but along the way some wayward cows get in the way and he not only doesn't kill Ashton but he saves his life and that of his beautiful daughter.Of course love blossoms a la Romeo and Juliet until Ashton's stalwart lady, a member of the famed Douglas clan, stomps it out.

I've tried to read at least two other Walter Scott books and failed so I was thrilled with how much fun this one was.The interactions between the Lord and his long suffering, loyal servant Caleb Balderstone were priceless.The third section of the book is very sad however.Donizetti's opera of the same name is based on that section.

This edition is full of typographical errors.
The Bride of Lammermoor, which I purchased from Amazon.com, is full of typographical errors -- about one on every page. It's impossible to read. Also, it's set in Helvetica or some other sans serif typeface, which is also hard to read. I'd be embarrassed to sell an inferior product like this.

Illegible edition
The story is magnificent, but this edition is extremely flawed. The font is a fairly large and somewhat choppy sans-serif that is not easy on the eyes, (the I and l characters seem darker than the rest, almost a strobe effect). In the first chapter alone there are nearly a dozen inversions of letters and other typographical errors. Absolutely read The Bride of Lammermoor, but buy a different printing.

The Oxford edition is very clear and legible, a much better choice!

More than a Gothic Romance
Walter Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor" became so famous in its day (the first third of the 19th century) that it even became the source of one of Donizetti's operas, "Lucia di Lammermoor", a work that, today, is probably better known than Scott's novel. However, a comparison between the two reveals that Donizetti, or his libretto-writer, fairly massacred Scott's story, which, in the original, is a good deal more involved than a two-and-a-half-hour opera can do justice to. The book is based, as was often Scott's wont, on a true story which he had heard as a youth. Its tragic outcome is nowhere in doubt, and the magic of the book is certainly not suspense; rather, it lies in Scott's superb historical portrayal of Scottish manners and customs at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century (including some fascinating allusions to Scottish superstitions later to be taken up in his Studies on Demonology and Witchcraft), perhaps also in the book's implicit criticism of arranged marriages and other pseudo-pious customs today known less among non-conformist Christians than among adherents of certain other faiths. At any rate, this is certainly more than a Gothic romance, its only failing being, in my opinion, the lack of real personality evinced by its heroine, Lucy Ashton, although, as editor Fiona Robertson points out, her circumstances deny her any opportunity of expression. Ms. Robertson has provided the Oxford World's Classics edition with a splendid introduction, probably best read after enjoying the novel, a bibliography, a chronology of Walter Scott, an overview of the main political events of the period (often referred to in the course of the story), wreaths of copious notes on details of Scott's text (including some painstaking research into the source of his quotations; I only noticed one Bible quote that Ms. Robertson had failed to recognize, and her indications of where Scott quotes from Shakespeare's dramas were a great help in understanding Scott's frame of reference), and last but not least an extremely helpful glossary with most if not all of the Scots dialect and other of those difficult words in which Scott's text abounds.

If you are unfamiliar with Scott's Waverley novels, I suggest you turn to "The Heart of Midlothian", "Old Mortality" or "Guy Mannering" as a starting point. But "The Bride of Lammermoor" is in every respect, and particularly in this edition, a worthy addition to the series of "Waverley" novels.

Love's Course
I read the biography of Anna Cora Mowatt, "Lady of Fashion."As the brightest theatre star of the 1840s-1850s, she starred in a stage version of "The Bride of Lammermoor."In addition to the opera, there were two stage adaptations of Scott's novel.I haven't been able to locate either of the stage versions, but I did check out Scott's book to read the story.

This is a tale that keeps your interest throughout.I found the Scottish dialect a bit hard to wade through although I "ken" understand it for the most part.Oddly, the first chapter starts with the tale of Dick Tinto who apparently relates this story to our narrator.Tinto is referred to in one other place in the novel.However, his story appears attached and unrelated to what comes after.

The tale of Lord Ravenswood and the demise of his family's fortune is an interesting one.Lucy Ashton's attachment to him happens quickly and seems as if it were enchanted.Alice, the old blind woman who foretells the lovers' fate, is a rich and vibrant character.The servant Caleb is hilarious as he manufactures excuses why the best food and accommodations cannot be given to Ravenswood's guests, even to the point of breaking empty bottles as he enters a room and then using that as an excuse for not having wine to serve.Lady Ashton seems to be more controlling than alert, missing all of the signals of her daughter's mental state nor particularly caring about them.The story's outworking after the wedding with Ravenswood's disappearance into the mist is likewise strange, with both he and his horse forever gone.I enjoyed this book, its gothic castles, the hunt, the commonfolk and the political alliances.

The novel written in 1819 holds up remarkably well 188 years later.Scott paces the unfolding of the adventure well, keeping the reader wanting to reach for one more chapter to uncover the next incident.While we never stop rooting for the lovers, we know that love's course never did run smooth!Enjoy!
... Read more

Product Description

Set at the time of the Third Crusade (1189 - 92),The Betrothed is the first of Scott'sTales of the Crusaders. The betrothed is Eveline, daughter of a Norman noble, who is a victim of the Crusade in that her intended husband is required by the Church to fulfil his vow to join the war and departs for three years. The full horror of an arranged marriage, and of being a possible prize as men seek to gain possession of her is vividly realised -- the heroine is never free; her fate is always determined by the agency of men. And being set on the Marches of Wales, it is not just men but differing cultures that strive for mastery over her.

Customer Reviews (1)

An enjoyable read from the late 12th century
In this entertaining volume, Scott characterizes the unrest between England and Wales in the year 1187, during the time of the Crusades. The Western Marches had not yet been subdued by English authority, and clouds of banditti continue to make inroads into English territory. Our characters are besieged in a castle that only at the moment of crisis is it put into a posture of defense to withstand the siege. A phlegmatic Fleming and his daughter form the sensible counters to the hot-blooded English family who owns the castle. Intrigues and sorcery (the product of the times), conflicts between religion, the foreign wars, infighting within the family (when a son would murder his father for his possessions) all have equal place here. A fascinating glimpse of the times, and a highly readable story make this yet another jewel in Scott's wonderful body of historical fiction. ... Read more

Product Description
Text extracted from opening pages of book: GUY MANNERING; OR, THE ASTROLOGER. Tis said that words and signs hare power O'er sprites in planetary hour ; But scarce I praise their venturous part, Who tamper with such dangerous art Lay of the Last Minstrel. VOL. IV. GUY MANNERING; OR, THE ASTROLOGER. CHAPTER I. I renounce your defiance ; if you parley so roughly I'll barricado my gates against you Do you see yon bay window ? Storm, I care not, serving the gtod Duke of Norfolk. Merry Devil of Edmonton, Julia Mannering to Matilda Marchmont. I RISE from a sick-Led, my dearest Matilda, ta communicate the strange and frightful scenes which have just passed. Alas ! how little we ought to jest with futurity I I closed my letter to you in high spirits, with some flippant remarks on your taste for the romantic and extraordinary in fictitious narrative. How little I expected to have had such events to record in the course of a few days I And to witness scenes of terror, or to contemplate them in description, is as different, my dearest Matilda, as to bend over the brink of a precipice holding by the frail tenure of a half-rooted shrub, or to admire the same precipice as represented in the landscape of Salvator. But I will not anticipate my narrative* 4 GUY MANNERING. The first part of my story is frightful enough, though it had nothing to interest my feelings. You must know that this country is particularly favour able to the commerce of a set of desperate men from the Isle of Man, which is nearly opposite. These smugglers are numerous, resolute, and for midable, and have at different times become the dread of the neighbourhood when any one has in terfered with their contraband trade. The local magistrates, from timidity or worse motives, have become shy of acting against them, and impunity has rendered them equally daring and desperate. With all this, my father, a stranger in the land, and invested with no official authority, had, one would think, nothing to do. But it must be owned, that, as he himself expresses it, he was born when Mars was lord of his ascendant, and that strife and blood shed find him out in circumstances and situations the most retired and pacific. About eleven o'clock on last Tuesday morning, while Hazlewood and nay father were proposing to walk to a little lake about three miles' distance, for the purpose of shooting wild ducks, and while Lucy and I were busied with arranging our plan of work attd study for the day, we were alarmed by the sound . of horses' feet, advancing very fast up the avenue. The ground was hardened by a severe frost, which made the clatter of the hoofs sound yet louder and sharper. In a moment, two or three men, armed, mounted, and each leading a spare horse loaded with packages, appeared on the lawn, and, without keepiag open the road, which makes GUY MANNERING. 5 a small sweep, pushed right across for the door of the house. Their appearance was in the utmost degree hurried and disordered, and they frequent ly looked hack like men who apprehended a close and deadly pursuit. My father and Hazlewood hur ried to the front door to demand who they were, and what was their business. They were revenue offi cers, they stated, who had seized these horses, load ed with contraband articles, at a place about three miles off. But the smugglers had heen reinforced, and were now pursuing them with the avowed pur pose of recovering the goods, and putting to death the officers who had presumed to do their duty. The men said, that their horses being loaded, and the pursuers gaining ground upon them, they had fled to Woodbourne, conceiving, that as my father had served the king, he would not refuse to protect the servants of government, when threatened to he murdered in the discharge of their duty. My father, to whom, in his enthusiastic feelings of military loyalty, even a dog would be of import ance if he came in the king's name, gave prompt or ders for securing the goods in the hall, arming the servants, and ... Read more

Product Description
Old Mortality (1816), which many consider the finest of Scott's Waverley novels, is a swift-moving historical romance that places an anachronistically liberal hero against the forces of fanaticism in seventeenth-century Scotland, in the period infamous as the `killing time'. Its central character, Henry Morton, joins the rebels in order to fight Scotland's royalist oppressors, little as he shares the Covenanters' extreme religious beliefs. He is torn between his love for a royalist's granddaughter and his loyalty to his downtrodden countrymen.

As well as being a tale of divided loyalties, the novel is a crucial document in the cultural history of modern Scotland. Scott, himself a supporter of the union between Scotland and England, was trying to exorcise the violent past of a country uncomfortably coming to terms with its status as part of a modern United Kingdom. This novel is in itself a significant political document, in which Scott can be seen to be attempting to create a new centralist Scottish historiography, which is not the political consensus of his own time, the seventeenth century, or today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Page Turner
I have read four of Scotts'novels and this was my favorite.The first several chapters were alittle slow, but the rest were full speed ahead. Scott is a master of language and ideas. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, chronologically and by category, making it easier to access individual books, stories and poems. This collection offers lower price, the convenience of a one-time download, and it reduces the clutter in your digital library. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography. Author's biography and stories in the trial version.

Customer Reviews (5)

Do Not Buy
I bought this and it kept freezing up my kindle dx.It also caused my collections to disappear. Now I need to spend the next 2 days reorganizing my books because the tech department couldnt fix it.I am disgusted with my stupid kindle...ipad here I come!

Works of Sir Walter Scott (mobi)
I was looking forward to getting this collection. It froze my Kindle. Twice. It is off my device now, and everything is working fine, but I don't see how I will be able to read this collection.

Simply Stunning Storytelling
What a gift Scott has. My favorite is My Aunt Margaret's Mirror, but easy to find on this kindle book is also Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Black Dwarf, Monastery, Talismen and Lady of the Lake. It is a booklover's joy to own.

Great literature
Works of Sir Walter Scott. (150+ Works) The Waverley Novels, Tales of My Landlord, Tales from Benedictine Sources & more. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

Sir Walter Scott is best known for his storytelling skills. You keep wanting to know what happens next, which is the essence of good plotting, and his stories is blessedly free of the incredible coincidences that plagued eighteenth and nineteenth century English novels.

vast collection
Works of Sir Walter Scott. Huge collection. (150+ Works) FREE Author's biography and stories in the trial version.

Walter Scott is a masterful story teller. This is a great ebook! ... Read more

Product Description
No historian's Queen Elizabeth was ever so perfectly a woman as the fictitious Elizabeth of Kenilworth," wrote Thomas Hardy. Scott's magnificent novel recreates the drama and the strange mixture of assurance and profound unease of the age of Elizabeth through the story of Amy Robsart. A woman of great beauty and integrity, Amy is married to the Earl of Leicester, one of the queen's favorites, who must keep his marriage secret or else incur royal displeasure. Rich in character, melodrama, and romance, Kenilworth is rivaled only by the great Elizabethan dramas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great Scott! Kenilworth is a five star classic by the pen of Scotland's greatest novelist Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) is Scotland's greatest novelist. The poet and lawyer turned to fiction after Lord Byron's poetic star ascended while his declined. Scott is the father of the historical novel. In his Waverly novels he revolutionized the novel and won glowing immortality in English literature.
Kenilworth (1821) shows Scott moving south of the border to Great Britain. Tne book is set in 1575 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Historical figures such as Sir Walter Scott and Shakespeare (fleetingly) appear in the excitingly melodramatic tale of intrigue, murder and court politics at Elizabeth's court.
The plot: Amy Robsart is secretly married to Dudley Lord Leicester. Leicester wishes the marriage to remain secret as he is courting Queen Elizabeth. Dudley dreams of becoming King of England. Amy is also loved by the Cornishman Tresillian who seeks to help her escape from Cumnor Place where she has been forced into seclusion by her husband. Scott is good at imprisonment images: Amy is often described as a bird in a cage.
Leicester and his chief henchamn Richard Varney want it believed that Amy is wed to Varney. Elizabeth learns the truth. Amy is murdered by Varney and the thughs who are in his employ (this is a fictional account; historians are divided as to what led to Amy's early death). Richard Varney is the most interesting figure in the novel. He is an amoral overachiever whose Machiavellian plotting leads him to disaster. He is one of the most dastardly villains in all of English literature.
The novel is divided into three parts:
Part One-Set in Cumnor Place and a local inn. Part II-The Elizabethean court in London. Part III-The estate of Kenilworth, owned by Leicester, where he is holding a magnificent reception in honor of his guest Queen Elizabeth.
Scott adds humor in his minor characters such as innkeeper Giles Gosling and Flbbertigibbet. Kenilworth is free of the Scotch dialect of most of his novels but is still a formidable read for 21st century eyes. The book is filled with excerpts of poetry and quotes from literary works. Scott is an acquired taste since his style is convoluted, formal and difficult to decipher.
As a fan of Scott I love the new Penguin Revised edition of his works based on the Edinburgh Edition. The Penguin edition includes a glossary of words used by Scott and over 50 pages of footnotes explaining the many arcane references.
Scott committed many literary crimes! Among them:
a. Difficult sentence structure hard to understand on a first reading.
b. Implausible plots based on coincidence
c. Wooden characters who are one dimensional. They are puppets.
4. Intrusive authorial comments on the plot development and characters.
5. Creaking plot manipulation.
6. Unrealistic dialogue. The characters talk as if they are on stage declaiming and revealing themselves to the audience. At times I thought I was watching a Shakespearean drama.
7. Too many words! The books needed better editing.
With all these failing Scott excells in the primary fictional requirement of an author. The author of Waverly knew how to tell a story! His tales will long be remembered by readers who soldier through the prose to reach their final page. Great Scott! What a genius was this father of the historical romance novel!

Evocative Descriptions of Elizabethan Pageantry
Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832): Kenilworth. A Romance. Edited and with an Introduction by J. H. Alexander. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1999. xlvi and 467 pages.

Scott started his literary life as a poet and only later turned to novel-writing. Perhaps that is why his plots are not always as brilliantly conceived as his descriptions of the life and times about which he writes. "Kenilworth" was his second novel, after "Ivanhoe", in which England and not Scotland stood in the centre of attention. Unlike "Ivanhoe", however, "Kenilworth" is set in the Renaissance, during the long reign of Elizabeth I (the year 1575 is mentioned at one point). And I suspect that it is Scott's description of Elizabeth and her court which remains in most Englishmen's common memory of this period until today. The story Scott tells is based, as is usual with him, on historical reality, which he has, using his incredibly full antiquarian knowledge of the period, described and expanded to cover a large canvas with some of the most colourful scenes and characters to be found in any historical novel. Next to the wonderfully evocative descriptions of Elizabethan pageantry I would name the profoundly skilful dialogues between the Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth or between the Earl and Varney, his master of horse, as the high points of the novel. These are reported in such detail that, inevitably, the story-line or plot only develops comparatively slowly, although this, of course, builds up enormous tension towards the end of the book until the whole is tragically resolved. The detailed descriptions and reports of conversations also create character, and Scott has here very ably created some of literature's most fascinating characters. Other reviewers have pointed to Elizabeth herself, here most wittily characterized, but personally I found equal pleasure in the power-hungry, wavering Earl of Leicester, in the cringing, miserly Forster, in the hypocritical astrologer Alasco, in his former assistant Wayland and in the grimassing, inquisitive boy known generally as "Flibbertigibbet". The villain Varney is painted in very black colours, almost too black to be true; the tragic heroine, Amy Robsart, has, interestingly enough, been compared with Lucy in "The Bride of Lammermoor", but for my taste Amy seems a little too passive and submissive. If there is a "hero" to the story, I suppose it is Tressilian, who is, however, lost sight of during considerable chunks of the story.

Reading Scott is always something of a daunting task because of his immense vocabulary and his constant use of antique or antiquarian terms. The Penguin Edition of "Kenilworth" makes this task somewhat easier by providing copious notes and an extended glossary, although these practically entail one in reading with two fingers in different places at the back of the book and constantly turning the pages back and forth. Scott's unbounded delight in quotes from the Bible, from Chaucer, from Shakespeare, from Webster and from Ben Johnson as well as from more obscure literary and historical works is perfectly documented in the notes. The "introduction" should only be read after studying the novel, not before, and should really have been printed at the end, not before the text. There are various other aids to understanding here, too, including a comparison of the novel with the known historical facts, and some 16th century maps and charts of Kenilworth Castle where the majority of the "action" in the second half of the book takes place.

"Kenilworth" is definitely one of Scott's major novels, although I would recommend that novices start with his more popular tales of Scotland: "Guy Mannering" Guy Mannering (Penguin Classics), "Old Mortality" Old Mortality (Oxford World's Classics), "The Heart of Midlothian" The Heart of Midlothian (Oxford World's Classics), "Rob Roy" Rob Roy (Oxford World's Classics) or "The Bride of Lammermoor" The Bride of Lammermoor (Oxford World's Classics), all of which were published some years prior to "Kenilworth".

Walter Scott's take on on Robert Dudley and Amy Robsart
As the book opens, Amy Robsart has left her family home and has secretly married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Amy's father, Sir Hugh and the man her father intended her to marry, Edmund Tressilian, have no knowledge of Amy's whereabouts and suspect foul play at the hands of Dudley's sneaky master of the horse, Richard Varney, and Tressilian goes in search of Amy at an old manor house, Cumnor Place. As Elizabeth I's attraction to Dudley grows, so does Dudley's ambitions to reach for the stars and a greater place at court than he ever dared for, and Amy becomes a bit of a liability -- especially to Varney who hopes to rise in power alongside his master--and thus the game is on.

This is the first Walter Scott that I have read, with the exception of Ivanhoe and that was many years ago when I was a young child. I admit to almost giving up a couple of times, as the vernacular used by the characters was hard to follow at times, but it's worth slugging through the first 50 or so pages until the story starts cooking along as Scott takes the reader on a grand ride through the court of Elizabeth Tudor. Even Walter Raleigh makes a wonderful secondary character, his characterization of Elizabeth I was spot on, and I loved the way Scott worked Dudley's famous fete of Elizabeth at his castle at Kenilworth into Amy's story.

Although Scott based this tale on an old English Ballad (which is printed in the back of the book) and not known history, it's still a jolly good yarn peopled with interesting characters, poison, astrology, treachery and all the well known intrigues of the Court of Elizabeth I. Those of you who are well versed in Tudor history already know the fate of Amy Robsart and I will have to warn those potential readers who are picky about historical accuracy that Scott definitely diddles with history in this tale. But for those readers who are willing to forget what's in the history books and ready to enjoy a jolly good yarn by a master storyteller about Elizabethan England, this is one book worth checking out, and I intend to read other books by this author. Five stars.

"It is a seething of the kid in the mother's milk"
In Sir Walter Scott's 1821 novel KENILWORTH, very young Amy Robsart of the English country gentry had once been engaged to marry a serious young scholar of Cornwall, Edmund Tressilian. But the handsome, rich, powerful Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, comes between them. Tressilian and Amy's father, Sir Hugh, know that Amy has either eloped or been carried off by someone. But they suspect ungainly Richard Varney, not the handsome, vastly wealthy Earl of Leicester. Richard Varney, as it happens, is the hugely influential right hand man of Dudley. Andone of Varney's jobs is to scout out pretty women for his Puritan master to seduce.

To this end Varney systematically ingratiates himself with Sir Hugh Robsart and brings his master and Miss Robsart together in clandestine meetings. Amy loves Dudley as woman has never loved man before but will not, like his other conquests, willingly go to bed with him unless and until they are married. The Earl, for his part, is smitten by Amy and impulsively weds her, over Varney's objections that he is ruining his political career. But the great Earl remains ambitious and prudent enough to keep the wedding secret until he can find a time and a way to make it known without doing harm to his rising status with his old childhood friend and onetime fellow prisoner of the Tower of London, Elizabeth Tudor.

Dudley has Varney fit up splendidly as Amy's closely guarded residence a ruined abbey which Varney has been given as spoils from Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. It pertains to the village of Cumnor near Oxford. The Earl hides his new wife in Cumnor Hall, where, after a search at novel's beginning, Tressilian finds her but cannot persuade her to return to her father.

From that point on, the plot becomes more and more complex and the secret marriage harder to keep secret or, once discovered, to explain. Varney assures the inquisitive Queen that Amy is his wife, not Leicester's and Leicester takes his good time telling the truth. Meanwhile Varney convinces the already great Earl to do his best to win Elizabeth's hand and become King of England. The pious Earl trusts the villainous Varney to find a way to make this happen that is both effective and compatible with the Earl's Puritan conscience.

Without revealing precisely what happens to love-smitten Amy Robarts, who remains devoted to Leicester through betrayal upon betrayal, let me quote her keeper's comment to Varney in the final pages of KENILWORTH on how Amy's love of her unworthy husband has scalded her: "It is a seething of the kid in the mother's milk" (Ch. 41).

There are twenty or more other rounded, energeticcharacters whom readers will enjoy seeing pass across the stage of KENILWORTH. They include Sir Walter Raleigh and his legendary muddied cloak. There is Will Shakespeare, whose rhymes the Queen can't get out of her mind. There are other memorable real and fictional minor characters of both sexes.

Walter Scott is famous for his descriptions of costumes, armor, jewelry and clothing. When the Queen visits Dudley's castle at KENILWORTH, her ladies must moderate their dresses lest they eclipse the vain monarch. But Elizabeth likes her men young and well turned out and the Earl of Leicester outdoes them all in dazzling white: "his shoes being of white velvet ... his stockings of knit silk, lined with cloth of silver ... the scabbard of his swordof white velvet with golden buckles" and on and on (Ch. 31).

This is a rich fable of a Lord who did his devious best to have his cake and eat it too. Its dramatic possibilities led into almost as many Walter Scott operas as did IVANHOE. KENILWORTH inspired Auber, Klein, de Lara, Donizetti, among others, to set the story to music.

Finally: a friend of mine grew up in affluent Kenilworth Village, north of Chicago. She says that street names there are daily reminders of characters from Sir Walter Scot's novel of the same name. My friend cites Amy Robsart as the prime example. An American town created as a monument to Sir Walter Scott!And why not? Sir Walter Scott's great historical, almost gothic, novel of 1821, KENILWORTH, deserves celebrating and is more exciting and heart-stopping fiction than plodding, minutely accurate history. Thank you, Illinois!


-OOO-

Scott's best plotted novel - No spoilers here...
Readers of Scott know not to read for plot, for even his most highly regarded novels meander and stray wilfully from the strict path of story-telling. Kenilworth, in addition to being a typically marvelous example of Scott's allusive narrative power, also happens to be the tightest and best contrived of his plots, one of the very few of his novels where all the ends are tied together convincingly. The novel has a gloriously conveyed Elizabethan atmosphere, which it is not timid about evoking at all levels and types: there is peasant comedy, taproom humor, stately politics, an aritocratic love story, villainous alchemists, and a sort of self-taught, lesser artisan hero whom its easy to root for (Wayland Smith).

If you're familiar with the movie Elizabeth, you'll recognize some of the situations in this novel. But Scott isn't particularly historically accurate here, nor is he trying to be. His source is an Elizabethan ballad, and he tries to convey that world in all its Shakespearian complexity.

Overall, one of the best, one of my favorite, of the Waverley novels, finally available in a dependable, well-edited edition. Bravo Scott, bravo Penguin Classics! More please! ... Read more

Product Description
A Legend of Montrose is an historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Scotland in the 1640s during the Civil War. It forms, along with The Bride of Lammermoor, the 3rd series of Scott's Tales of My Landlord. The two novels were published together in 1819.

The story takes place during the Earl of Montrose's 1644-5 Highland campaign on behalf of King Charles I against the Covenanters who had sided with the English Parliament in the English Civil War. The main plot concerns a love triangle between Allan M'Aulay, his friend the Earl of Menteith, and Annot Lyle. Annot is a young woman who has been brought up by the M'Aulays since being captured as a girl during a blood feud against the MacEagh clan (also known as the Children of the Mist). M'Aulay and Menteith are both members of Montrose's army. Annot eventually marries Menteith after it is discovered that she has aristocratic blood, and was kidnapped by the MacEaghs as a baby. This leads to the jealous M'Aulay stabbing Menteith and then fleeing Montrose's army. Menteith survives whilst M'Aulay disappears and is rumoured to have been killed by the MacEaghs.

Much of the novel is taken up with a subplot involving an expedition into enemy territory by Dugald Dalgetty, an experienced mercenary fighting for Montrose. Dalgetty does not fight out of political or religious conviction, but purely for the love of carnage. However, he is very professional, and remains loyal to an employer to the end of his contract. He gained his experience fighting for various armies during the Thirty Years' War, then still raging in Germany. Note: He did not fight all thirty years. Dalgetty is regarded as one of Scott's finest comic characters, however he dominates so much of the story that the main plot is not really developed in detail. -- from Wikipedia ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Outworkings of the Civil War in 17th Century Scotland
Sir Walter Scott: A Legend of Montrose (Clear Print). Teddington: The Echo Library, n. d. 356 pages.

"A Legend of Montrose" was originally published in the same year as "The Bride of Lammermoor" and was Scott's last Scottish novel before he turned to "Ivanhoe" and more general historical themes. Ostensibly, the story is about the battles between Highland royalists and their Presbyterian or Covenanter counterparts at the time of the Civil War (in the 1640's). The Earl of Montrose leads an army of Highland "gillies" under the command of their clan leaders through various adventures in Perthshire, Argyle and further to the north. The climax is the battle between Montrose's forces and those led by the Duke of Argyle. However, Scott would not be Scott if he did not weave a fascinating pattern of more personal interest. The central character here is Dugald Dalgetty, a verbose and opinionated ex-mercenary who falls in with Montrose's army and plays a leading role in the campaign. We also meet the Earl of Menteith and follow the history of his love for Annot Lyle, an orphan who has been befriended and is also loved by the younger brother of the Highland chieftain Angus M'Aulay.

In order not to spoil the story, I won't tell more, but this is enough to show that there are strains of "Waverley" here. And, true to form, the book is full of translations of supposedly ancient Gaelic poetry (this was the time of "Ossian") and peppered with Gaelic and other Scottish expressions. The Echo Library Clear Print edition reproduces in fairly large, clear print not only the novel itself but also the introduction from the 1830 edition of Scott's works. Scott's longer notes are printed at the end, the shorter ones are included within square parentheses in the text. There are no editor's notes and no glossary. The book is well-bound and does not fall apart while being read. I did find about half-a-dozen printing errors, mainly spelling, but these were not serious enough to cause any misunderstanding. "A Legend of Montrose" is not one of Scott's major novels. but those who enjoy his beautifully exact descriptions of Scots life and customs in previous centuries will not want to miss it.

February 2, 1645: Earl of Montrose Thumps Clan Campbell at Inverlochy
On February 2, 1645 Royalist Forces supporting King Charles I, after a forced march through snow covered mountains, routed the superior forces arrayed against them at Inverlochy in west central Scotland. Neverbefore or since did mighty Highlands Clan Campbell ("The Campbells Are Coming!") suffer such a military defeat. Their conqueror was their hereditary enemy James Graham, Earl of Montrose. For a few months in 1644-5 Montrose rallied dispirited, outgunned Royalists in support of their embattled King Charles Stuart. Once the King surrendered, he ordered Montrose to lay down his arms. The dreaded earl sailed for Norway and the Campbells, led by the Marquis of Argyl, took fearful revenge on all the lesser clans that had risen against them under Montrose.

Other players of Scott's novel include Annot Lyle, a beautiful 17-year old, protected by two noble brothers, clan chief Angus and Allan M'Aulay. They had spared her life 15 years earlier when slaying members of the bandit clan MacEagh, "Sons of the Mist." The Sons of the Mist had earlier and secretly spared the young girl's life when they had burned a castle belonging to Sir Duncan Campbell and killed three others of his children.

Allan M'Aulay is a strong giant, troubled in mind after his mother was terrified when the Chldren of the Mist had severed her brother's head and served it to her at a meal. Allan's lifetime mission: to avenge his uncle and to decapitate MacEaghs wherever he finds them. Both he and his friend the handsome young Earl of Menteith love the radiant Annot Lyle but will not marry her because they cannot prove she is of noble birth.

That Annot Lyle is noble is revealed in a prison of the Campbells to a 40-something mercenary recruit of Montrose, Dugald Dalgetty. After nearly 30 years fighting for all sides in the religious wars in Germany, Dalgetty has come home to Scotland for money and to regain his family's lost estate of Drumthwacket. He begins as Captain Dalgetty, is soon promoted to Major by Montrose and is ultimately knighted after leading the horse at the victorious battle of Inverlochy. Meanwhile he has bored many with his endless reminiscenses of his studies in Aberdeen and his campaigns in Germany, especially under his hero, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Captain Dalgetty so revered that monarch that he named his own horse Gustavus. After Gustavus is shot at Inverlochy by Sir Duncan Campbell, who had refused Dalgetty's offer of quarter, the new knight Sir Dugald resolves to skin Gustavus to make warm trousers against the Scottish winter.

Life goes on in Scotland, no matter how much world history is being created to the south in England by the Civil Wars. Once Annot Lyle is acknowledged suitably noble, she chooses to marry Lord Menteith. This enrages his best friend Allan M'Aulay who stabs Menteith on his wedding day, but not fatally. After the dust settles in 1660 and the Stuarts resume their thrones, Menteith regains public honor and Dalgetty marries the Presbyterian widow of the man who had acquired Dalgetty's old estate of Drumthwacket.

Despite being one of Walter Scott's shorter novels, MONTROSE is action-packed. Captain Dugald Dalgetty is one of Scott's greatest comic creations. Scotsmen are shown in the colorful twilight of their feudal system, with itsunending hatreds of clan for clan, competing religions and Highland versus Lowland. A comic masterpiece. A slice of Scottish history and society. -OOO- ... Read more

Product Description
Set during the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745, this novel springs from Scott's childhood recollections and his desire to preserve in writing the features of life in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland.Waverley was first published anonymously in 1814 and was Scott's first novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great novel
Thank you for the quick shipment!The novel is in great condition and will be a nice edition to my library. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1924, this classic work contains various Greek and Latin writings of religious or philosophic teachings attributed to the Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus, with Walter Scott's extensive notes, commentary, and addenda.

It is said that these teachings are records of private, intimate talks between a teacher and one or two of his disciples. The setting was in Egypt under the Roman Empire, among men who had received some instruction in Greek philosophy, and especially the Platonism of the period, but were not content with merely accepting and repeating the dogmas of the orthodox philosophic schools. Instead, they sought to expound a philosophic religion that would better satisfy their needs.

Included here are the libelli of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the Hermetic excerpts in the Anthologium of Stobaeus, and other fragments. The entire text is produced in the original Greek or Latin, with an English translation on facing pages.

Walter Scott (1855-1925), a classical scholar, devoted much of his life to the study of the Hermetica. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Contains Greek And Latin Text Mixxed In
I bought this book because Edgar Cayce had said that Christ in the form of a god named Hermes (together with Horus and Ra Ta) was involved with the construction of the mysterious Great Pyramid.

But maybe Cayce was referring to the 'first' Hermes (also called Thoth) I don't know.

The material in this book was written by the 'second' Hermes who was a philosopher I guess in Egypt about 2,000 years ago.

Since I don't speak Greek or Latin I could only understand about 65 percent of the information in this book.

This definitely had an effect on how much I really understood.

I enjoyed it however since I'm interested in philosophy.This book mentions Plato and Plato's writings a lot.Hermes was apparently influenced by Plato and Plato in turn studied in Egypt and held the wisdom of the Egyptians in 'high esteem' (as did Pythagorus).

So it fits in with my interest in philosophy and metaphysics.

This is not a scientific book.It tells why gods did things and what they did but it doesn't explain scientifically HOW they did them.

In that sense it's more of a metaphysical book.

To me Plato and those other guys were surrounded by a fog of confusion and ignorance anyway as far as their theories about nature.

This is volume 3 of a 4 part series and I have no plans of reading the other volumes at this time.

Jeff Marzano

Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work (Le Mystere Des Cathedrales ... of the Hermetic Symbols of Great Work)

The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future

The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Reader's Edition)

The Giza Power Plant : Technologies of Ancient Egypt

Initiation

Initiation in the Great Pyramid (Astara's Library of Mystical Classics)

The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Reader's Edition)

The core teachings of Gnosis
I am going to review this volume because I read every single English word of it, cover-to-cover. I admit that I didn't read the corresponding original language text, because my Latin was never all that good, and I have no Greek. I wish that I did, though. Just in English translation I can see where these teachings transport you to an entirely different sort of mind-set, an entirely different world.

Indeed, you will either come to develop a sort of intuitive understanding of the spiritual principles being discused here, or you will simple give up in disgust and dismiss it as meaningless and incomprehensible. Perhaps it is incomprehensible to modern sensibility, but it is far from meaningless. If you are familiar with Plato and Plotinus it will help. I also find that a familiarity with the concept of the Tao helps with understanding what is meant by Kosmos. I suppose that there could be esoteric teachings encoded and hidden in the original text, but personally I find the exoteric spiritual and metaphysical speculations to be quite interesting and valuable in their own right.

There was a reason that these teachings were preserved through so many centuries, while so much else was consigned to flames or left to rot....

Pretty good.
This is a pretty fascinating book, containing the works attributed to Hermes in English as well as the non-translated version, revealing one version on one page and the other version on the next page;Thus, when one reads the book, they find the non-translated version on one page and the English version on the other page, with footnotes and stuff to help out.Overall, a good book, and it gives some understanding of the thinking of the ancient Magickians and other Occultists.Worth getting, overall. ... Read more

Product Description
The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Scott's first romantic tale, was published in January, 1805, and won for its author his first great success. Constable offered as publisher to pay at once a thousand guineas for the copyright, when he heard that the new poem was begun, though he had not yet seen a line of it. Scott, thirty-five years old, had the impulse upon his mind of a preceding great success, took more than usual pains, and thoroughly enjoyed the writing. Scott continued work while practicing with the Light Horse Volunteers (in preparation for a planned invasion of France!), and in intervals between drill he would sometimes ride his charger at full speed up and down on the sands of Portobello within spray of the wave, while his mind was at work on such lines as --

"They close, in clouds of smoke and dust,
With sword-sway and with lance's thrust;
And such a yell was there,
Of sudden and portentous birth,
As if men fought in upper earth,
And fiends in upper air."
... Read more

Product Description
1905. Sir Walter Scott was a master of diverse talents. He was a man of letters, a dedicated historian and historiographer, a well-read translator of foreign texts, and a talented poet. Deriving most of his material from his native Scotland, its history and its legends, Scott invented and mastered what we know today as the historical novel. Sir Geoffrey Peveril, an old Cavalier, and Major Bridgenorth, a fanatical Puritan, are neighboring landowners in Derbyshire, and though of widely different opinions and modes of life, have been connected by ties of reciprocal kindness in the days of the Civil War. Julian, the son of Sir Geoffrey, and Alice, the daughter of Bridgenorth, are deeply in love, but the bitter political feeling during the period of the 'Popish plot' brings the parents into acute conflict. The author draws elaborate portraits of Charles II and Buckingham, and gives glimpses of Titus Oates, Colonel Blood and Sir Geoffrey Hudson. See the many other works by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

When Titus Oates Made England Hell for Catholics
PEVERIL OF THE PEAK, a sprawling novel covering the years 1658 -1678,appeared in 1822. It has enough plots and subplots for three novels. It displays more than a score of characters who appear and reappear, a majority real figures of 17th Century English history. Sir Walter Scott, however, for dramatic effect so alternately compresses or expands the chronology of this tale of the Titus Oates anti-Catholic frenzy that at least one historical character, the Countess of Derby, is made a part of events that took place well after her death.

Here is a preliminary guide to major characters. They cluster around three locations: (1) the Isle of Man, (2) the Peak District of Derbyshire and (3) London and the Court of King Charles II.

--(1) In other Walter Scott novels The Isle of Man is a base for smuggling, being situated between Ireland, Scotland and England. Its natives are Celtic-speaking. Its constitution makes its powerful hereditary ruler "King," albeit a feudal subordinate of the Crown of England. Dominating the Isle of Man is French-born Countess Charlotte, widow of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. Sheis mother of and regent for the bored young Earl Charles. William Christian, her steward, had surrendered Man to Cromwell. When King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 the Countess summarily executed Christian during a time the King had proclaimed amnesty. For this her son's estate was fined ruinously.

Edward Christian, brother of "the martyr," relentlessly sought hidden, devious vengeance on the Countess. To this end he had his half North African daughter Fenella ruthlessly starved and trained on the Continent as an acrobat. The Countess of Derby had taken pity on Fenella (not knowing that she thought --erroneously -- that she was daughter of the slain William Christian) as her serving maid and secretary.

--(2) Central England's Peak District. This is the home of a ruined 600 year old castle belonging to the Peverils. Sir Geoffrey Peveril is a tall Cavalier impoverished in the English Civil Wars for doing battle for the Stuart Kings Charles I and Charles II against Parliament and Oliver Cromwell. His wife is Margaret Stanley, kinswoman to the Earl of Derby executed by Cromwell in 1651. Lady Margaret is mother of Julian, age three in 1660. Lady Peveril had been entrusted with the raising of 18-month old Alice Bridgenorth, niece of that William Christian executed by the Countess of Derby. Alice's father is Ralph Bridgenorth, a rich Puritan commoner whose lands touch on those of the Peverils. During the Civil War there were times when the Peverils protected the Bridgenorths and times when the Bridgenorths shielded the Peverils. Over time Sir Geoffrey contracted very large debts to Ralph Bridgenorth. The two men quarreled when Bridgenorth attempted to arrest the Countess of Derby in Sir Geoffrey's castle.

Alice's nurse is Deborah Debbitch. Deb fancies Lance Outram, gamekeeper to the Peverils of the Peak.

Keep your eye on four women of this novel: the Countess, her diminutive deaf-mute maid Fenella, Deb Debbitch and Alice Bridgenorth.

--(3) London is the seat of the court of King Charles II. His favorite, George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham, lusts to become ruler (King) of the Isle of Man. Parliament had awarded Man to the Duke's father-in-law, Lord Fairfax during the Civil Wars but Charles had given it back to the Stanleys. Various courtiers, thugs, hangers on and others strut their parts on the London stage.

One historical character important in the novel's later stage is the dwarf Sir Geoffrey Hudson, imprisoned like the Peverils father and son on the false charges of Titus Oates.

Reverend Doctor TITUS OATES is today regarded as one of the vilest Englishman in history. From 1678 till 1681 he made his Protestant countrymen believe in a fictitious "Papish Plot." The tiny remnant of Roman Catholics in England were charged with being actively engaged in bringing a Spanish army into the Kingdom for the destruction of government and removal of King Charles II. Innocent men, including Saint Oliver Pluckett, Archbishop of Armagh, were put to death by the lying words of Titus Oates.

In PEVERIL OF THE PEAK all of these characters and others are brought together as Oates spins his web. The Peverils are accused of high treason. Bridgenorth and Christian organize fanatical Protestants (Fifth Monarchists and others) to league with Buckingham to capture the King. The King moves to trim Oates's sails. Julian Peveril pursues his childhood sweetheart Alice Bridgenorth. Fenella/Zarah loves Julian, the only man who has ever treated her with kindness, and tries in vain to persuade him to drop Alice. Fenella is used by Edward Christian to spy on Catholics, dance for Charles II and make Buckingham fall in love with her.

This book is a very slow read. It is hard to keep the characters straight. I have heard people say that PEVERIL OF THE PEAK is the price they paid for meeting Fenella! But in compensation there are many grand scenes, some laced with humor. ... Read more

Product Description
Sir Walter Scott's "Waverley Novels" take their name from "Waverley" (1814), the first in the series, because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Customs and Traditions of the Shetland Islands in the 17th Century
Sir Walter Scott: The Pirate. Illustrated Edition, Wildside Press, no date, being a facsimile reprint of the 19th century edition published by DeWolfe, Fiske & Co., 446 pages (including Scott's Introduction from the 1831 edition, the "Advertisement" to the First Edition of 1821, all of Scott's Notes, a very brief glossary and an index).

For those who may find this book by searching for "pirate", I should probably begin by saying that this is definitely NOT one of those swashbuckling "pirates of the Caribbean" style novels that its title seems perhaps to suggest. Although pirates do occur, the story is set, not on the Spanish Main, but rather in a quiet backwater of the Shetland Islands towards the end of the 17th century. The first two-thirds of the novel contain, more than anything else, a description of the life and customs of these remote islands at a time when the population, of Norse or Norwegian extraction, was still bi-lingual (English and Old Norse), when the feudal system, although officially abolished, was still influential, and when the inhabitants, although nominally converted to Christianity, were still steeped in Nordic legend and superstition. The "hero" of the story, if he can be called such, is Mordaunt Mertoun, a young man, who, although not born on the islands, has grown up there under the tuition of his idiosyncratic father and been accepted into island society, in particular into that of the leading family, of the "Udaller", Magnus Troil. Troil has two beautiful daughters, and I surely need say no more about the romantic developments that this presages. The novel is peopled with interesting characters who are introduced one after another, the most important being Clement Cleveland, whom Mertoun rescues after he is shipwrecked on the nearby coast, Norna of the Fitful Head, a clearly insane devotee of the old superstitions and a kind of prophetess for the islanders, Triptolemus Yellowley, a Yorkshireman sent by the authorities to reform the ever so primitive agricultural affairs of the island, and Claude Halcro, a local bard or poet who has spent time in London and loves to reminisce about his encounter with John Dryden in a London coffee-house. The story-line develops, as is usual with Scott, fairly slowly until about two-thirds of the way through when there is a certain dénouement leading to the last hundred pages or so taking place on the neighbouring Orkney Islands and actually involving some somewhat lamely swashbuckling pirates. On the whole, the plot seems a little far-fetched and did not go down too well with Scott's contemporaries. This it has in common with "The Monastery", one of Scott's earlier historical novels; both also contain considerable chunks of poetry, in the case of "The Pirate" allegedly translated from the Old Norse but presumably Scott's own verse. Scott's descriptions of life on the Shetlands at this remote period appear to be accurate, and he had journeyed there himself and interviewed a number of inhabitants to obtain the necessary real-life colouring.

Although the Shetland Islanders do not speak Scots dialect, the novel contains, as is normal for Scott, a plethora of difficult and rare expressions, only a handful of which are contained in the meagre glossary of the Wildside Press edition. The printing quality of the original, of which this edition is a facsimile, was also somewhat lacking: many words have missing letters, not too difficult to guess if you know English really well but at times still annoying. There is no attempt at a modern introduction, no brief Life of Scott and no justification of the printed text such as one would expect to find in a good modern edition. However, this appears to be one of the most affordable editions of "The Pirate" and is well-bound (my copy did not even begin to fall apart despite my habit of bending back the spine at every turn of the page). ... Read more

Product Description
Get the information needed to advocate for the significance of your library!

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Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott
Ivanhoe is an 1820 historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. In 1194, in the time of King Richard the Lionheart, Prince John and Robin Hood, disinherited Saxon knight Wilfred of Ivanhoe returns from the Crusades and seeks revenge against his Norman nemesis Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

But the story is so much more than that. Ivanhoe features an ensemble cast with perhaps a dozen noteworthy characters, and of these, Ivanhoe himself plays a supporting role at best, as he's absent from massive portions of the novel. Yet it is he who ties all the characters together.

The modern reader may be put off by a number of things, particularly Scott's tendency to devote entire pages to the descriptions of his characters' garb, and the unnaturally expository dialogue he puts in their mouths. But Ivanhoe is nearly two hundred years old, and some of these things we just have to get over. More just criticisms might target the book's sometimes too leisurely pace, the somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, and the unquestionably contrived and hackneyed, silly and pointless return of Athelstane, which is so literarily amateurish that Scott felt compelled to insert a footnote to acknowledge this fact, but that he was doing it anyway.

Ivanhoe is a three-act quest/reward adventure, and in spite of the book's more plodding characteristics, Scott usually keeps the pages turning in an impressive manner. His writing is clever as well as verbose, and quite frankly, there are a lot of exciting things going on here.

As far as the narrative, Scott sometimes has difficulty juggling all his characters, as he has to jump around chronologically, impeding the novel's flow. Neither does Scott feel compelled to wrap up all his many plot threads; some prominent characters, notably Prince John, are dropped by the wayside as the novel progresses and then only mentioned in passing later on.

Ivanhoe features an astounding degree of anti-Semitism from virtually every character, whether hero or villain (in addition to a historically accurate depiction of medieval persecution, this is also a political commentary contemporary to Scott's day, as England was moving toward the emancipation of its Jews). Yet for the point Scott is trying to make, Isaac of York fits very well the stereotype of the miserly Jew. But his daughter Rebecca is the noblest character in the novel.

Of similar historicity is the frustrating level of ignorance and superstition displayed by so many characters - it makes something like Monty Python and the Holy Grail's witch/duck scene seem hardly a bit farcical. And saddest of all is the time's horrendous misunderstanding of Christianity - the finding of virtue in unvirtuous acts, particularly the slaughter of any and all unbelievers.

While Scott took a number of liberties with other historical matters in Ivanhoe, no offense is egregious, and because of the degree of detail Scott provides, most everything is believable enough to the uninitiated. Ivanhoe is also noteworthy for its lasting influence. It sparked a renewed interest in the Middle Ages. And every single Robin Hood tale or film I've ever seen has used it in some way as source material, as have a large number of other medieval and fantasy stories.

In spite of its flaws, Ivanhoe remains a pillar of medieval historical fiction, and is a must for fans of that period.

A Classic We Should Re-Read Today
Even though this book was written nearly 300 years ago (wow) it still has a LOT to teach us about human nature today. The themes are classic: racial prejudice and hatred (Normans vs. Saxons vs. Jews), chivalry, religious fanatacism (the Templars), parental judgmentalism, and unrequieted love.

I was recently drawn to this again for what I believe is still taking place: anti-semitism. We may not call a Jew a "dog" or "accursed" as the book does - we probably call them something worse today, as our vocabulary has changed.

And yet, it is a Jew and a Saxon man and a Saxon woman who show kindness and godly attributes - not the Knights Templar, not the Normans, not the Saxon lord(s). They reach across racial barriers. If they hadn't, we wouldn't have a wonderfully rich dated story that is timeless in its themes.

Anti-semitism seems to be on the rise again today - even from certain Christian denominations. We have a muslim country calling to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And yet, it is a Jew, and only the Jew, who helped the Christian when he was wounded - and no other stepped forward to help...not even his own father.

I purchased this book as a reference and a reminder that prejudice and hatred need to be overcome. I recommend it to anyone. Oh - and I had an aunt named Rowena. My grandmother chose her name well.

Knighthood
Published in 1819, this is a classic tale of knighthood. It is one of the best chivalric novels ever published. It's set at the close of the 12th century. Deals with the Knights Templar.

lots of classics
I have purchased a number of used books from Amazon in the past few weeks and found them very satisfactory in appearance, condition and price. I only wish that my new internet program of display0ing e-mail was as easy to0 use an g0 screen ability to write further

A Fascinating Romance Novel
During the early 19th century in Great Britain, the Scottish historian Walter Scott wrote this fascinating romance novel of his time. Scott's intention for the novel was in response to the recurring events and activities in Great Britain and to preserve his Scottish heritage and culture. Scott's "Ivanhoe" revealed a story of a Saxon knight, Ivanhoe, who showed courage and heroism, and he became very loyal to the Norman king, Richard the Lionhearted, during the high civil unrest and hatred between the Saxon and Norman people in England. The significant question that is interesting and essential to one's mind from the novel is what purpose does the author Walter Scott had for his readers.

One thing that got me curious is why would Scott entitle his book after one of the minor characters. Ivanhoe was a knight who been tending to his injures throughout the main part of the book but it is not the character himself that is the main focus. Rather, it is what the character Ivanhoe represented in the story, such as his role and his actions as a knight that is significant. Since Ivanhoe became loyal to the Norman King, he portrayed a way for the Saxon people to live in the Norman community without being conquered or harassed by the Norman knights or people and to ease or to get rid of the hatred between the Saxon and the Norman people. The impression that comes to one's mind is that the character Ivanhoe was the only good knight in the novel since other knights seem to be very arrogant, rude, and vile. And he is represented as a best example of chivalry, which Ivanhoe had shown to be the vital spirit of an ideal knight. The reason that the author uses the character of Ivanhoe as a title for his romance novel instead of "The Return of King Richard" or "The Black Night" was to have a character that represented the pure spirit of a loyal knight or to have a character who become a link between the two worlds of the Middle Ages. It seems the author wished to re-establish the link between his native country of Scotland and the Country of England without a complete English domination of Scotland. An idea of "a link of two worlds" that Scott had was to preserve both cultures and to re-confirm the mutual respect of both cultures and their traditions.

During the Romantic period in which Sir Walter Scott had lived, "Ivanhoe" expressed the emotions and the moods of the Middle Ages that brings the readers into the world of unknown and unique. As a historian, Scott possessed a passionate fascination for the past, so he gives a detailed description of the medieval tradition and life in the Middle Ages. The author brings the readers to feel the believable narrative of hatred and tension between the Saxon and the Norman people. The emotions and the moods of the Middle Ages helped the readers of Ivanhoe to "see" the world of knights and thieves and corruption and injustice in which the novel revealed as unpredictable and satisfying to the readers. As a historian, Scott expressed the feeling of life in the Middle Age by using history, chivalry, and the traditions of ancient times.

One of themes in the novel was the civil unrest and the massive tension that were caused by the Norman arrogance, superior feelings, and injustice. Since the Norman people's influence of dominance and superiority spread throughout the land, Saxon people grew angry and felt resentment toward the Norman nobles. While the theme of high tension occurred in the novel, the character Ivanhoe is shown as a solution to end the tension.

As part of the Romantic Movement, Sir Scott used his historical knowledge to create his own fictional novel in which he wished to warn and to entertain his readers. Despite his use of historical inaccuracy in his "Ivanhoe," the author desired to use the famous historical individuals in his story to point out his indirect warning and to entertain his readers. In order to warn his readers about the situation and issues with the government, Scott portrayed the knights and unjust royalty in this book as the English government in Great Britain. He pointed out that they are corrupted and arrogant about preserving their nation and its history. Scott himself knew that learning from history can help the people of 19th century not to make the same mistakes or to have the repeated history of their nation. The impression that one can understand from the novel is that comprehending the history aspect of the book can help the readers to make a judgment or to make a change in the English government in such a way that they will not become corrupted or be power hungry.

The author's use of historical knowledge and wisdom with the indirect applied of warning and entertainment has turned his own fictional novel entitled Ivanhoe into a popular romance book of his time. As a historical romance author and a preserver of his Scottish culture, Sir Walter Scott can be considered admirably and honorably defender of his native country of Scotland during the Romantic period. And, "Ivanhoe" is such a fascinating read. ... Read more

Product Description
During the Crusades, Wilifrid, a young Saxon knight, embarks on a series of adventures to prove himself worthy of the princess Rowena, fighting the Normans and the Templars-and allied with such figures as Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart.

... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: Small, Maynard in 1910 in 299 pages; Subjects: Advertising; Psychology, Applied; Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion; Psychology / Applied Psychology; ... Read more