Old Mortality

On 30 April 1816 Scott signed a contract with William Blackwood for a four-volume work of fiction, and on 22 August James Ballantyne, Scott's printer and partner, indicated to Blackwood that it was to be entitled Tales of My Landlord, which was planned to consist of four tales relating to four regions of Scotland. In the event the second tale, Old Mortality, expanded to take up the final three volumes, leaving The Black Dwarf as the only story to appear exactly as intended. Scott completed The Black Dwarf in August, and composed Old Mortality during the next three months.[2]

Scott was steeped in 17th-century literature, but among the printed sources drawn on for The Tale of Old Mortality the following may be singled out for special mention:

• Memoirs of Captain John Creichton in The Works of Jonathan Swift D. D., which Scott edited in 1814
• The Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland by James Kirkton, edited by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe in 1817
• Some Remarkable Passages of the Life and Death of Mr. Alexander Peden, by Patrick Walker (1724)
• The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, by Robert Wodrow (1721–22).[3]

Old Mortality appeared as the second, third, and fourth volumes of Tales of My Landlord, published by Blackwood's in Edinburgh on 2 December and by John Murray in London three days later. As with all the Waverley novels before 1827 publication was anonymous. The title-page indicated that the Tales were 'collected and arranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham', reinforcing the sense of a new venture moving on from the first three novels with 'the Author of Waverley' and his publishers, Archibald Constable in Edinburgh and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown in London. The print run was 2000 copies, and the price £1 8s (£1.40).[4] Two further editions with minor changes followed in the next two months. There is no clear evidence for authorial involvement in these, or in any of the novel's subsequent appearances except for the 18mo Novels and Tales (1823) and the 'Magnum' edition. Some of the small changes to the text in 1823 are attributable to Scott, but that edition was a textual dead end. In October 1828 he provided the novel with an introduction and notes, and revised the text, for the Magnum edition in which it appeared in February to April 1830 as part of the ninth volume, the whole of the tenth, and part of the eleventh.[5]

The standard modern edition, by Douglas Mack, was published with Scott's apparently preferred title "The Tale of Old Mortality", as Volume 4b of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels in 1993: this is based on the first edition with emendations from manuscript and the editions immediately following the initial publication; the Magnum material appears in Volume 25a.

After an Introduction to the Tales of My Landlord, supposedly written by the novel's (fictional) editor Jedediah Cleishbotham, the first chapter by the (fictional) author Peter Pattieson describes Robert Paterson ('Old Mortality'), a Scotsman of the 18th century, who late in life decided to travel around Scotland re-engraving the tombs of 17th-century Covenanter martyrs. Pattieson describes at length meeting Robert Paterson, hearing his anecdotes, and finding other stories of the events to present an unbiased picture.

The novel then describes a wapenshaw held in 1679 by Lady Margaret Bellenden, life-rentrix of the barony of Tillietudlem. This was a show of her support for the Royalist cause, but most of her tenants favoured the opposing Covenanters (who wanted the re-establishment of presbyterianism in Scotland) and she has to enlist her unwilling servants. After her supporters are duly mustered, the main sport is a shoot at the popinjay in which the Cavalier favourite is narrowly defeated by Henry Morton, son of a Covenanter. He is introduced to Lady Margaret and her lovely granddaughter Edith Bellenden, with whom he is in love.

During celebrations of his popinjay victory in the inn that evening, Morton stands up for John Balfour of Burley against bullying by Cavalier dragoons. That night, Burley seeks shelter at Morton's house; Morton reluctantly agrees. It emerges that Burley was one of the assassins of Archbishop James Sharp. In the morning they have to flee Cavalier patrols. As a consequence, Morton finds himself outlawed, and joins Burley in the uprising at the Battle of Drumclog. During this battle a small but well organised group of Covenanters defeated a force of dragoons led by John Graham of Claverhouse. However, after this initial success, Scott traces the growth of factionalism, which hastened its defeat at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679, by forces led by the Duke of Monmouth and John Graham of Claverhouse.

Henry Morton's involvement in the rebellion causes a conflict of loyalties for him, since Edith Bellenden belongs to a Royalist family who oppose the uprising. Henry's beliefs are not as extreme as those of Burley and many other rebel leaders, which leads to his involvement in the factional disputes. The novel also shows their oppressors, led by Claverhouse, to be extreme in their beliefs and methods. Comic relief is provided by Cuddie Headrigg, a peasant who works as a manservant to Morton. He reluctantly joins the rebellion because of his personal loyalty to Morton, as well as his own fanatical Covenanting mother, Mause Headrigg.

Following the defeat at Bothwell Bridge, Morton flees the battle field. He is soon captured by some of the extreme Covenanters, who see him as a traitor, and get ready to execute him. He is rescued by Claverhouse, who has been led to the scene by Cuddie Headrigg. Morton later witnesses the trial and torture of fellow rebels, before going into exile.

The novel ends with Morton returning to Scotland in 1689 to find a changed political and religious climate following the overthrow of James VII, and to be reconciled with Edith.

Principal characters in bold

Mr Morton of Milnewood, a Presbyterian

Henry Morton, his nephew

Alison Wilson, his housekeeper

Lady Margaret Bellenden of Tillietudlem

Edith, her granddaughter

Major Bellenden, her brother-in-law

Gudyill, her butler

Goose Gibbie, her half-witted servant

Jenny Dennison, Edith's maid

Mause Headrigg

Cuddie, her son

Lord Evandale

Lady Emily Hamilton, his sister

Niel Blane, a publican

Jenny, his daughter

John Grahame of Claverhouse

Francis Stuart (Bothwell), his sergeant

Cornet Richard Grahame, his nephew

Tam Halliday, Bothwell's comrade

Gabriel Kettledrummle, Peter Poundtext, Ephraim Macbriar, and Habbakuk Mucklewraith, Covenanting preachers

John Balfour or Burley, a Covenanter

The Duke of Monmouth

General Dalzell, his aide-de-camp

The Duke of Lauderdale

Basil Olifant

Bessie MacClure

Peggy, her granddaughter

Wittenbold, a Dutch dragoon commander

In an introduction written by Scott in 1830, he describes his own chance meeting with 'Old Mortality' at Dunottar, which he describes as having happened about 30 years before the time of writing.[6]

The novel centres on the actual events of a Covenanter uprising in 1679, and describes the battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge. The character of Henry Morton is fictional, as is Tillietudlem Castle, but readers identified the place with Craignethan Castle which Scott had visited. This castle soon attracted literary tourists, and a railway halt built nearby became the hamlet of Tillietudlem.[7]

Most of the reviewers rated Old Mortality considerably higher than The Black Dwarf, with particular appreciation of the characters and descriptions, though there were several objections to the weakness of the hero Henry Morton.[8] Although four critics, including Francis Jeffrey in The Edinburgh Review, judged the presentation of the Covenanters and the royalists to be fair, there were several assertions that the Covenanters were caricatured and the royalists whitewashed, most notably in a long (and otherwise generally appreciative) article by the Rev. Thomas McCrie the elder in The Edinburgh Christian Instructor.[9] Scott himself responded indirectly to McCrie's criticisms in an anonymous self-review for The Quarterly Review. The Eclectic Review accused Scott of distorting and diminishing history for the sake of amusing his readers, while admitting he did it well. Henry Duncan, who opened the first savings bank, published a set of three novels attempting to counteract the negative view of the Covenanters given in Old Mortality.

Sculpture of "Old Mortality and His Pony" at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

'Old Mortality', Balmaclellan

The play Têtes rondes et Cavaliers (1833) by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine is based on Scott's novel.[10]

Vincenzo Bellini's opera I puritani (1835), with a libretto written by Italian emigre in Paris, Count Carlo Pepoli, is in turn based on that play. It has become one of Bellini's major operas.[10]

Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration Black Linn of Linklater. to a painting by Alexander Chisholm is effectively a eulogy on Sir Walter Scott himself following his death and also recounts his visit to Italy. The titled picture is of a location mentioned in Old Mortality.[11]

• Page on Old Mortality at the Walter Scott Digital Archive
• Old Mortality at Project Gutenberg
• Old Mortality public domain audiobook at LibriVox