Old Mortality by Sir Walter Scott

First published: 1816

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Historical

Time of plot: 1679

Locale: Scotland

Principal characters

• Henry Morton, the heir of Milnwood
• Lady Margaret Bellenden, the lady of Tillietudlem
• Edith, her granddaughter
• Colonel Grahame of Claverhouse, later viscount of Dundee
• Lord Evandale, a Royalist
• John Balfour of Burley, a Covenanter
• Basil Olifant, a renegade Covenanter

The Story:

Henry Morton has the misfortune of being a moderate man, a man who can see both sides of a question. During the rebellion of the Covenanters against the Crown in 1679, his position became an exceedingly precarious one. His uncle and guardian is the squire of Milnwood, by faith a Covenanter and by nature a miser, and Henry’s dead father had fought for the Covenanters at Marston Moor. The story of his family is frequently cause for comment among the cavalier gentry of the district, especially at the tower of Tillietudlem, the home of Lady Margaret Bellenden and Edith, her granddaughter.

Henry and Lord Evandale contest as marksmen, and Edith Bellenden is among the spectators when Henry defeats his opponent. Declared the victor at this festival of the popinjay, Henry bows his respects to Edith Bellenden, who responds with embarrassed courtesy under the watchful eyes of her grandmother. After the shooting, Henry goes with friends to a tavern where some dragoons of Claverhouse’s troop, under Sergeant Francis Bothwell, are also carousing. Bothwell, a descendant of the Stuart kings through the bar sinister line, is a man of domineering disposition. Henry and his friends drink a toast to the health of the king; Bothwell, intending to humiliate the Covenanters, resolves that they should drink also to the archbishop of St. Andrew’s. A stranger in the company proposes the toast to the archbishop, ending with the hope that each prelate in Scotland will soon be in the same position as his grace.

Henry and the stranger leave the inn; soon afterward, word comes that the archbishop has been assassinated. Bothwell realizes then that the stranger must have been one of the plotters in the deed, and he orders a pursuit.

Meanwhile, Henry has learned that his companion is John Balfour of Burley, a Covenanter leader who had saved the life of Henry’s father at Marston Moor. That night, Henry gives Balfour lodging at Milnwood without his uncle’s knowledge and next morning shows the fugitive a safe path into the hills. Bothwell and his troops arrive shortly afterward. Henry is arrested and taken away. In company with Henry in his arrest are Mause Headrigg, a staunch Covenanter, and her son, Cuddie. The prisoners are taken to Tillietudlem Castle, where Claverhouse sentences Henry to execution. He is saved, however, by the intercession of Edith and Lord Evandale.

Lord Evandale brings information that a group of Covenanters is gathering in the hills, and Claverhouse gives orders to have his troops advance against them. At a council of war, Lord Evandale, among others, suggests a parley in which both sides can air their grievances. Claverhouse sends his nephew, Cornet Grahame, to carry a flag of truce to the Covenanters. Balfour and a small group meet Cornet Grahame, but the Covenanters refuse to meet Claverhouse’s demands. To the surprise and suppressed indignation of all, Balfour shoots Cornet Grahame in cold blood after an interchange of words.

The killing of the young officer is the signal for a general fight. Bothwell and Balfour meet beard to beard, and Balfour kills Bothwell with his sword as the dragoon stands defenseless, his sword arm broken by the kick of a horse. In the fray, Henry saves the life of Lord Evandale after the young nobleman’s horse had been shot from under him.

Balfour’s rebels are victorious and next plan to capture Castle Tillietudlem. Claverhouse leaves a few of his men to defend the place under the command of Major Bellenden, brother-in-law of Lady Margaret. Balfour had taken Henry Morton from the troops of Claverhouse on the battlefield and now wants Henry to join with the rebels; Henry, however, still holds back. Trying to convince Henry of the righteousness of his cause, Balfour takes him to a council of war, where Henry is elected one of a council of six through Balfour’s insistence.

Major Bellenden refuses to surrender the castle to the insurgents, who then decide to starve out the small garrison. Realizing that Henry wishes to remain in the vicinity of the castle because he is concerned for Edith’s safety, Balfour sends the young man to Glasgow, the objective of the main Covenanter army. Claverhouse had retreated to Glasgow and laid careful plans for the defense of the city. Henry returns to Milnwood with Cuddie to learn what is happening at Tillietudlem. Hearing that Lord Evandale had been captured during a sortie from the castle, Henry once again saves Lord Evandale’s life from Balfour’s rough justice. Then Henry draws up a document stating the grievances of and the conditions offered by the Covenanters and sends Lord Evandale with the paper to the castle. Edith and Lady Margaret escape from the castle, and Henry raises the flag of the Covenanters to the castle tower.

The Covenanters are finally defeated at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. In the retreat from the field, Henry is taken prisoner by a party of Covenanter fanatics, who believe him to have deserted their cause. He is sentenced to death. Cuddie Headrigg catches a horse and escapes. He rides to Claverhouse and explains Henry’s predicament. Since Henry’s death is decreed on a Sabbath day, his captors decide he could not be executed until after midnight. This decision gives Claverhouse and his men time to rescue Henry. With the Covenanter revolt now broken, Claverhouse agrees to put Henry on a parole of honor. Henry accepts exile from Scotland, promising to remain in banishment until the king’s pleasure allows his return. Henry goes to Holland, where he lives in exile for several years, until William and Mary come to the throne.

When Henry returns to Scotland, he calls upon Cuddie, who has married Jenny Dennison, Edith’s maid. He learns from Cuddie of all that has occurred during his absence. He is informed that a man named Basil Olifant, a turncoat kinsman of Lady Margaret, has seized Tillietudlem and that Lady Margaret and Edith are forced to depend upon the charity of friends. Henry also learns that Balfour is still alive and that Lord Evandale is soon to marry Edith Bellenden. Henry sets out to find Balfour and get a document from him that will place the Bellenden estates in Edith’s possession once more. Balfour, however, burns the document and then threatens to fight Henry to the death; but Henry refuses to fight with the man who had saved his father’s life, and he makes his escape from Balfour’s fury by leaping across a ravine.

Meanwhile, Edith has refused marriage to Lord Evandale because she had caught a glimpse of Henry Morton as he passed her window. Later, at an inn, Henry overhears a plot to murder Lord Evandale; the murderers hope to obtain a substantial sum of money from Basil Olifant for so doing. Henry scribbles a note of warning to Lord Evandale and sends his message by Cuddie. Then he goes to Glasgow, intending to find Wittenbold, a Dutch commander of dragoons, and to get help from him to protect Lord Evandale. Cuddie, however, tarries too long at an alehouse and forgets that the letter is to be delivered to Lord Evandale. Instead, he asks to see Lady Margaret; when he is refused admittance, he stumbles away, bearing the letter with him. Therefore, Lord Evandale is not warned of his danger.

A party of horsemen, led by Basil Olifant, arrives to kill Lord Evandale. Cuddie knows the danger but warns him too late. Shots are exchanged, and Lord Evandale falls. Olifant orders Lord Evandale murdered in cold blood just before Henry arrives with a magistrate and a detachment of dragoons.

The troopers quickly disperse the attackers, and Olifant falls during the charge. Balfour attempts to escape but is swept to his death in a flooded stream. Henry hurries to the side of Lord Evandale, who recognizes him and makes signs that he wishes to be carried into Lady Margaret’s house. There he dies, surrounded by his weeping friends. His last act is to place Edith’s hand in that of Henry Morton. To the great joy of the countryside, Henry marries the young heir of Tillietudlem several months later. In the meantime, Basil Olifant dies without a will, and Lady Margaret recovers her castle and her estates.

Bibliography

D’Arcy, Julian Meldon. Subversive Scott: The Waverley Novels and Scottish Nationalism. Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press, 2005. Demonstrates how the novels contain dissonant elements, undetected manifestations of Scottish nationalism, and criticism of the United Kingdom and its imperial policy. Chapter 5 examines Old Mortality.

Dickson, Beth. “Sir Walter Scott and the Limits of Toleration.” Scottish Literary Journal 18, no. 2 (November, 1991): 46-62. Argues that although Scott struggles to understand the Cameronians, it is clear throughout that he also disapproves of them and does not regret their passing.

Fleischner, Jennifer B. “Class, Character, and Landscape in Old Mortality.” Scottish Literary Journal 9, no. 2 (December, 1982): 21-36. Landscape, a prominent element in many of Scott’s novels, is often overlooked by critics. Fleischner examines the Scottish landscape in relation to the social and moral standings of major characters in the novel.

Lincoln, Andrew. “Liberal Dilemmas—Scott and Covenanting Tradition: The Tale of Old Mortality and The Heart of Mid-Lothian.” In Walter Scott and Modernity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. In his examination of Scott’s novels and poems, Lincoln argues that these were not works of nostalgia; instead, Scott used the past as a means of exploring modernist moral, political, and social issues.

Rigney, Ann. Imperfect Histories: The Elusive Past and the Legacy of Romantic Historicism. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001. A scholarly study of the complex and controversial intersections of historical fiction and the “facts” of history. Chapter 1, “Hybridity: The Case of Sir Walter Scott,” examines Scott’s combining of fact and fiction in Old Mortality and how the novel’s hybrid nature was received by his contemporaries.

Shaw, Harry E., ed. Critical Essays on Sir Walter Scott: The Waverley Novels. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996. Collection of essays published between 1858 and 1996 about Scott’s series of novels. Includes journalist Walter Bagehot’s 1858 article about the Waverley novels and discussions of Scott’s rationalism, the storytelling and subversion of the literary form in his fiction, and what his work meant to Victorian readers. Peter D. Garside’s essay “Old Mortality’s Silent Minority” examines this novel.

Whitmore, Daniel. “Bibliolatry and the Rule of the World: A Study of Scott’s Old Mortality.” Philological Quarterly 65, no. 2 (Spring, 1986): 243-262. “Bibliolatry” is excessive veneration of the Bible, a term the Cameronians would have found objectionable in its presumption. Illuminates the clash within the novel between church and state.