Guy Mannering
Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer is the second of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, but changed his mind soon after starting. The book was a huge success, the first edition selling out on the first day of publication.[2]
"The Astrologer" redirects here. For the films, see The Astrologer (1975 horror film) and The Astrologer (1975 science fiction film). For the 1744 play, see The Astrologer (play).Author
English, Lowland Scots
Archibald Constable and Co. (Edinburgh); Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown (London)
24 February 1815[1]
Scotland
355 (Edinburgh Edition, 1999)
Composition[edit]
Scott began the composition of Guy Mannering in the last days of 1814, immediately after completing his last long narrative poem The Lord of the Isles. Writing with remarkable speed, he finished it by mid-February 1815.[3] In a letter dated 19 January 1815, Scott writes: "I want to shake myself free of Waverley, and accordingly have made a considerable exertion to finish an odd little tale within such time as will mystify the public... W. Erskine, and Ballantyne, are of opinion that it is much more interesting than Waverley."[4]
Editions[edit]
Guy Mannering appeared in three volumes in Edinburgh, published by Archibald Constable and Co. The print run was 2000, and the selling price one guinea (£1.05). The London publishers were Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, who had to wait some days before receiving their consignment of 1500 copies by sea, anticipated by copies sent down via the faster road route by Edinburgh publishers.[5] As with all the Waverley novels before 1827, publication was anonymous. The first edition was followed by a further 5,000 copies in March and May, the second and third editions. 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. At the beginning of 1828 he provided the novel with an introduction and notes, and revised the text, for the Magnum edition in which it appeared as Volumes 3 and 4 in August and September 1829.
The standard modern edition, by P. D. Garside, was published as Volume 2 of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels in 1999: this is based on the first edition; the Magnum material appears in Volume 25a.
Plot background[edit]
Guy Mannering is set in the 1760s to 1780s, mostly in the Galloway area of southwest Scotland, but with episodes in Cumberland, Holland, and India. It tells the story of Henry "Harry" Bertram, the son of the Laird of Ellangowan, who is kidnapped at the age of five by smugglers after witnessing the murder of a customs officer. It follows the fortunes and adventures of Harry and his family in subsequent years, and the struggle over the inheritance of Ellangowan. The novel also depicts the lawlessness that existed at the time, when smugglers operated along the coast and thieves frequented the country roads.
Principal characters in bold
Chapter summary[edit]
Volume One
Ch. 1: Guy Mannering loses his way while visiting Dumfriesshire and is conducted to Ellangowan by a local boy.
Ch. 2: Guy meets the decayed laird of Ellangowan and his companion Dominie Sampson, a failed minister.
Ch. 3: The gipsy Meg Merrilees arrives for the birth of Ellangowan's heir, and Guy contemplates the stars prior to drawing up a scheme of nativity for the infant (Harry Bertram), though without himself believing in astrology.
Ch. 4: Guy is surprised that the new scheme is identical with one he had prepared for his wife before their marriage. He comes across Meg spinning and singing a spell, interrupted by the smuggler Dirk Hatteraick seeking her blessing for his boat.
Ch. 5: Ellangowan tells Guy of his unhappiness at being passed over as a justice of the peace; Guy gives him the sealed nativity scheme.
Ch. 6: Four years pass. With the help of his agent Glossin, Ellangowan becomes a Justice of the Peace and exercises his power severely.
Ch. 7: Relations between Ellangowan and the gipsies on his land deterioriate.
Ch. 8: The gipsies are evicted, provoking a dramatic rebuke by Meg.
Ch. 9: Francis Kennedy is killed after interrupting smugglers, and Harry Bertram whom he has taken with him disappears.
Ch. 10: An investigation by the Sheriff-Depute draws a blank.
Ch. 11: Seventeen years pass. At the local inn Guy hears differing versions of Harry's disappearance.
Ch. 12: Guy writes to his friend Arthur Mervyn telling how during his service in India he had shot the cadet Brown [later to be identified as Harry Bertram] in a duel arising from Brown's [apparent] attentions to his wife Sophia. Sophia's poor health was further damaged by this incident and she died leaving Guy a daughter Julia. Guy discusses with the Sheriff-Substitute Mac-Morlan the forthcoming sale of the Ellangowan estate, the likely purchaser being Glossin.
Ch. 13: Ellangowan dies at the sale.
Ch. 14: The sale is suspended for a fortnight, but Guy's written authority to Mac-Morlan to purchase is delayed in transmission and the estate goes to Glossin.
Ch. 15: Sampson accompanies Lucy Bertram to live with the Mac-Morlans, where Mac-Morlan requires him to stop teaching Charles Hazlewood who evidently has an interest in Lucy.
Ch. 16: Mervyn writes to Guy telling how Julia, staying with him in Westmorland, has been serenaded from a boat on the lake.
Ch. 17: In letters to her friend Matilda Marchmont, Julia indicates that her serenader was Brown, whose attentions in India had been directed to her rather than her late mother.
Ch. 18: In further letters Julia tells of repeated visits by Brown, and of her father's decision that she should move with him to a newly-rented house in Scotland.
Ch. 19: Guy completes arrangements for the household at Woodbourne which will include Sampson and Lucy as Julia's companion.
Ch. 20: The household settles in at Woodbourne.
Ch. 21: In a letter to his regimental friend Delasserre, Brown explains his cautious tactics in his pursuit of Julia.
Volume Two
Ch. 1 (22): Brown encounters the farmer Dinmont and Meg at a Cumberland inn, where Dinmont tells of the developments at Ellangowan.
Ch. 2 (23): Brown reminds Meg of Harry in his appearance. On the road he helps Dinmont to repel two highwaymen and they arrive at his farm Charlieshope.
Ch. 3 (24): Brown's reception at Charlieshope.
Ch. 4 (25): At a fox-hunt one of the participants behaves in an oddly shifty way.
Ch. 5 (26): A week's rural sports ensue: Brown enquires about the strange hunter, but ascertains only that he is called Gabriel.
Ch. 6 (27): Resuming his journey Brown loses his way in a snowstorm and finds Meg singing over a dying man [Vanbeest Brown]. She conceals him as five ruffians arrive.
Ch. 7 (28): After hiding overnight Brown loses his money and papers, but receives even more money and treasure (possibly stolen) from Meg and promises to be immediately available when she calls for him.
Ch. 8 (29): In a letter to Matilda, Julia reports on her teasing treatment of Lucy and Hazelwood.
Ch. 9 (30): Julia writes of an attack on Woodbourne by smugglers, repelled by Guy and Hazlewood.
Ch. 10 (31): Julia writes that Brown has appeared suddenly and has accidentally wounded Charles Hazelwood in an ensuing struggle.
Ch. 11 (32): Hoping to improve his standing in the community, the attorney Gilbert Glossin pursues Brown with inquiries.
Ch. 12 (33): The jailor MacGuffog brings Glossin the smuggler Dirk Hattaraick whom he has apprehended. Glossin arranges for him to escape, mindful that he had collaborated with him in abducting Harry, whose return Hattaraick announces.
Ch. 13 (34): In a cave Hattaraick tells Glossin that Gabriel (Meg's nephew) had recognised Harry at the hunting. They discuss the possibility of Hatteraick removing Harry from the country again.
Ch. 14 (35): Glossin tells Guy that Lucy is likely to benefit by the will of her aunt Margaret Bertram.
Ch. 15 (36): Guy goes to Edinburgh to attend the reading of the will and finds the lawyer Paulus Pleydell indulging in High Jinks. Pleydell dismisses a trivial territorial dispute of Dinmont's.
Ch. 16 (37): Pleydell takes Guy to Greyfriars Church. Next day Guy attends Miss Bertram's funeral.
Ch. 17 (38): The lawyer Protocol produces Miss Bertram's final will leaving the estate in trust to him for the eventual benefit of Harry on his return to Scotland.
Ch. 18 (39): Pleydell provides Guy with introductions to eminent Edinburghers, of whom he sends brief accounts to Mervyn. Guy's investigations determine that Miss Bertram heard of Harry's survival from Meg.
Volume Three
Ch. 1 (40): After a short stay in Cumberland, Harry is landed at Ellangowan.
Ch. 2 (41): At Ellangowan, Harry encounters Glossin, who has him arrested.
Ch. 3 (42): Glossin arranges for Harry to be examined by Sir Robert Hazelwood.
Ch. 4 (43): Harry is examined.
Ch. 5 (44): Harry is confined in the Portanferry jail.
Ch. 6 (45): Dinmont arrives, hears Harry's story, and stays in the jail to protect him.
Ch. 7 (46): Sampson meets Meg at Derncleugh: she gives him a message for Guy.
Ch. 8 (47): Guy gives orders to his valet on receiving Meg's letter. Meg tells Charles Hazelwood to get the guard sent back from Hazelwood House to Portanferry, but Mac-Morlan actually does this.
Ch. 9 (48): As the custom house and prison are attacked by smugglers two of them help Harry and Dinmont to escape.
Ch. 10 (49): Pleydell arrives at Woodbourne, where Guy tells him he has complied with Meg's instructions to send a carriage to bring people from Portanferry.
Ch. 11 (50): Harry and Sampson arrive at Woodbourne, where matters are clarified.
Ch. 12 (51): Sampson introduces Harry and Lucy to each other as brother and sister. Guy and Julia sort out Guy's confusion about Harry's attentions in India (see Ch. 17).
Ch. 13 (52): Although Pleydell sees difficulties in establishing Harry's identity in law, Sir Robert Hazlewood is persuaded to grant him bail. Observing Ellangowan from a distance, Harry is confronted by Meg.
Ch. 14 (53): Meg leads Harry and Dinmont to the cave.
Ch. 15 (54): Hattaraick is captured, and in the process Meg is shot.
Ch. 16 (55): Meg dies and Harry is acclaimed.
Ch. 17 (56): Pleydell examines Hattaraick and Glossin, resulting in their committal to prison.
Ch. 18 (57): Hattaraick kills Glossin and hangs himself.
Ch. 19 (58): Plans are made for the marriages of Charles and Lucy, and Harry and Julia. Guy will have a bungalow close to a large and splendid new house to be built at Ellangowan.
Reception[edit]
Although Guy Mannering sold briskly the critical reception was mixed. Most of the reviews were broadly favourable, but they generally had more or less substantial reservations.[13] Positive features mentioned by several reviewers included the energetic and virtuoso writing, the vivid descriptions, the acute knowledge of human nature, and the near-sublime Meg Merrilies with the contrasting Dandie Dinmont. John Wilson Croker in The Quarterly Review was alone in thinking that Meg was given undue importance. There were objections to the inappropriate introduction of astrology, the weak plot, the insipid young ladies and the exaggerated Dominie Sampson (though he was generally appreciated), and the unintelligible Scots speeches.
Adaptations[edit]
Daniel Terry, an English playwright and friend of Scott, wrote an adaptation of the work for the stage for which Henry Bishop provided the music. The musical play was premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in London on 12 March 1816,[14] with Sarah Egerton in the role of Meg Merrilies.[15] It may have been the first full opera production performed in New Zealand, when it was toured to Dunedin by the Carandini troupe in September 1862.[16][17]
This article incorporates text from the revised 1898 edition of Henry Grey's A Key to the Waverley Novels (1880), now in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)