Jane Porter's 'The Scottish Chiefs' 1810

 

George Virtue Illustrated edition - 1840

Although I have purchased the five-volume first edition of The Scottish Chiefs (1810), I have decided to read the 'Revised, Corrected and Illustrated' edition of 1840. I have never read a five-volume novel before (and, if I am entirely honest, I cheated and read the later, two-volume illustrated version). My first edition is getting minor repairs from my invaluable book binder friend. I quote a synopsis of Jane Porter's tour de force: Rooted in political controversy, gender warfare, violence and revolution, Jane Porter's 'The Scottish Chiefs' is the epic story of William Wallace's struggle for Scottish independence from English rule. It took me three weeks to read, although there were several times I left it to pursue other things. There is a long (pp. 12-51) Recollective Preface to the 1840 Illustrated edition which, I must admit, I quickly skipped through, where Porter expands on her motives for writing the novel. But it is the very first sentence of the Preface to the First Edition that sums up its raison d'être: To paint the portrait of one of the most complete heroes that ever filled the page of history, may be bold, though I hope not a vain, design... it is a copy of such excellence, will be merit in the eyes of those who so love virtue, as to venerate its shade. The Wallace in these pages is a veritable Saint; every action proclaims his generosity of soul, his simple goodness. He is a Hentyesque 19th century Scottish public schoolboy. 

I have nothing but admiration for Porter (1776-1850), who was born in England but grew up in Edinburgh. Walter Scott, apparently, was a regular visitor to the family. It would come as no surprise to find out that not only had Scott read The Scottish Chiefs, but was strongly influenced by it. The story unfolds and gathers pace after the cruel death of Wallace's wife at the hands of the English Governor of Lanark. Wallace, forever distraught with his loss, spends the next 42/3rd volumes, seeking revenge on the English.  He soon kills Heselrigge, the Governor, and spends the next few years on a mixture of factual and fictitious exploits. Knowing next to nothing about this period of History, I was not alert as to which was which. The author certainly made up two major events: the Battle of Bannockburn did not involve Edward I, but his son Edward II; and Wallace was definitely hanged and dismembered after his capture and 'trial' in London, whereas Porter has his body swapped, with another's being cut up, and secretly returned for burial in Scotland.

The novel's strength lies not so much in its [in]fidelity to historical facts, but in the large cast of fascinating characters. There are the died-in-the-wool baddies - Lord William Soulis; the treacherous Scottish lords such as Buchan, Athol and Monteith; the faithful followers of Wallace - Lord Mar, Lord Andrew Murray, the rumbustious Sir Roger Kirkpatrick, Scrymgeour, (the fictitious?) Edwin Ruthven and Robert Bruce. The main  bête noir is Edward I of England, supported by a double-dealing Lord Aymer de Valence (Earl of Pembroke) but looked on in askance by the Earl de Warenne, the Lord Warden of Scotland, and the Earl of Montgomery, who admires Wallace and is ashamed of his king. Then there are the women - Lady Wallace, destined to take her place in the heavenly choir;  Helen Mar - Wallace's devoted but chaste lover, who is with him in the Tower of London at the end, where she marries him. Her step mother, Joanna, Countess of Mar is the archetype of evil. The author demonstrated that women had a crucial role to play in the drama of national identity, either as temptresses or national heroines. The sides are drawn in black and white - there are few characters who bestride the middle. The book begins and ends in tragedy and, as one commentator has remarked, the book requires an emotional intensity and earnest belief in patriotism and virtue that no longer are in vogue. 

The five volume first edition - 1810