The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Mortality, Illustrated, Volume 1.
by Sir Walter Scott

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Title: Old Mortality, Illustrated, Volume 1.

Author: Sir Walter Scott

Release Date: August 22, 2004 [EBook #6939]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD MORTALITY, ILLUSTRATED, ***

Produced by David Widger, with assistance from an etext produced by
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[Illustration: Bookcover]

[Illustration: Spines]

OLD MORTALITY

by Sir Walter Scott

[Illustration: Titlepage]

[Illustration: Dedication]

[Illustration: First Series]

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO OLD MORTALITY.

The origin of "Old Mortality," perhaps the best of Scott's historical
romances, is well known. In May, 1816, Mr. Joseph Train, the gauger from
Galloway, breakfasted with Scott in Castle Street. He brought gifts in
his hand,--a relic of Rob Roy, and a parcel of traditions. Among these
was a letter from Mr. Broadfoot, schoolmaster in Pennington, who
facetiously signed himself "Clashbottom." To cleish, or clash, is to
"flog," in Scots. From Mr. Broadfoot's joke arose Jedediah Cleishbotham,
the dominie of Gandercleugh; the real place of Broadfoot's revels was the
Shoulder of Mutton Inn, at Newton Stewart. Mr. Train, much pleased with
the antiques in "the den" of Castle Street, was particularly charmed by
that portrait of Claverhouse which now hangs on the staircase of the
study at Abbotsford. Scott expressed the Cavalier opinions about Dundee,
which were new to Mr. Train, who had been bred in the rural tradition of
"Bloody Claver'se."

[The Editor's first acquaintance with Claverhouse was obtained
through an old nurse, who had lived on a farm beside a burn where,
she said, the skulls of Covenanters shot by Bloody Claver'se were
still occasionally found. The stream was a tributary of the
Ettrick.]

"Might he not," asked Mr. Train, "be made, in good hands, the hero of a
national romance as interesting as any about either Wallace or Prince
Charlie?" He suggested that the story should be delivered "as if from the
mouth of Old Mortality." This probably recalled to Scott his own mee