Scott's 'A Legend of Montrose' 1819

 

A later edition of the book

I have used a later edition of A Legend of Montrose as the first edition is that shown in my last blog on The Bride of Lammermoor. The former takes up the last one and half volumes of the four.  The short novel was written during May 1819, with perhaps some of the tale being written before its companion. The story occurs during the Earl of Montrose's 1644-1645 campaign in Scotland on behalf of King Charles I. In amongst the scenes of forced marches and battles are two subplots: a love triangle between Allan M'Aulay, his friend the Earl of Menteith, and a young girl brought up by the M'Aulays, Annot Lyle; and the adventures of Dugald Dalgetty a mercenary from the Thirty Years' War.

Dalgetty meets up with Menteith

Dalgetty meets Menteith and his two servants (one of whom is Montrose in disguise) early on, in Chapter II: the solitary stranger was mounted upon an able horse, fit for military service, and for the great weight which he had to carry, and his rider occupied his demipique, or war-saddle, with an air that showed it was his familiar seat...his age might be forty and upwards, and his countenance was that of a weather-beaten veteran... Scott wrote in an 1830 Introduction to the novel: Still Dalgetty, as the production of his own fancy, has been so far a favourite with its parent, that he has fallen into the error of assigning to the Captain too prominent a part in the story. In fact, if Dalgetty had not appeared the tale would have been rather flat. The scenes of his being taken to Argyle's castle at Inverary; his imprisonment; his meeting with Argyle himself in the dungeon; his escape and travails in the Highlands; are probably the most compelling of the novel. Dalgetty's catchphrases can eventually grate a little (but that is a typical Scott failing) e.g. the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, and that invincible monarch, the bulwark of the Protestant faith, the Lion of the North, the terror of Austria, Gustavus the victorious. But one can forgive him much, due to his love and loyalty for his faithful horse, Gustavus. Moreover, his repetition to Sir Duncan Campbell on his failure to fortify the round hill in front of his castle, with a fosse or ditch, to make an impregnable sconce is quite amusing.

There are other interesting characters:

Annot Lyle playing the harp

The girl Annot Lyle, although we soon realise who she really is, is well drawn, as is the Son of the  Mist, Ranald MacEagh. Annot, most beautiful little fairy that ever danced upon a heath by moon-light...far exceeds the best performers in this country in playing on the clashach or harp is loved by the unstable, dangerous Allan and the gentler Menteith. Her stature, considerably less than the ordinary size of woman, gave her the appearance of extreme youth...her figure, hands, and feet, were formed upon a model of exquisite symmetry with the size and lightness of her person...her hair was a dark shade of the colour usually termed flaxen... It is Ranald who guides Dalgetty's escape from Inverary Castle: there lives not a man to whom the mountain passes, the caverns, the glens, the thickets and the corries are known, as they are to the Children of the Mist. 

Allan M'Aulay takes some swallowing as a realistic character - one critic called him Byronic.

It is abundantly clear which of Montrose and Argyle Sir Walter favours: the former was little above the middle size, but in person he was uncommonly well built, and capable both of exerting great force, and enduring much fatigue...he was perfect in all exercises, whether peaceful or martial, and possessed, of course, that graceful ease of deportment proper to those to whom habit has rendered all postures easy. There are another two pages praising the Earl. As for Argyle - dark complexion, furrowed forehead, and downcast look...something there was cold in his address and sinister in his look.

It has been suggested that Scott intended the novel to highlight the changing nature of warfare in the 17th century, 'showing how the lack of a professional army caused the "civilised" society of the Lowlands to become "temporarily vulnerable to the barbarous" society of the Highlands. Certainly one of the strengths of the tale is the description of the various skirmishes and battles.

The flight of Argyle

The Battle of Inverlochy was a signal success for Montrose and a demeaning disaster for Argyle, which included his flight on the loch. Scott also described the battle scene well. After that, the novel simply disentangles Annot Lyle's history, moves swiftly to her marriage with Lord Monteith, apart from the hiccough with Allan M'Aulay, and ends with a brief account of Dalgetty's further martial exploits and his wedded retirement to his paternal estate of Drumthwacket - very old, very deaf, and very full of interminable stories about the immortal Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, and the bulwark of the Protestant faith.