WAVERLEY

WAVERLEY

OR 'TIS SIXTY YEARS HENCE

By SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart.

Under which King, Bezonian? speak, or die!

_Henry IV. Part II._

TO

MARY MONICA HOPE SCOTT

OF ABBOTSFORD

THIS EDITION OF

THE NOVELS OF HER GREAT-GRANDFATHER

WALTER SCOTT

IS

DEDICATED

BY THE PUBLISHERS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In printing this New Edition of the Waverley Novels, the

Publishers have availed themselves of the opportunity thus

afforded them of carefully collating it with the valuable interleaved

copy in their possession, containing the Author's latest

manuscript corrections and notes; and from this source they

have obtained several annotations of considerable interest, never

before published. As examples of some of the more important

of these may be mentioned the notes on ``High Jinks'' in Guy

Mannering, ``Pr<ae>torium'' in the Antiquary, and the ``Expulsion

of the Scotch Bishops'' in the Heart of Midlothian.

There have also been inserted (within brackets) some minor

notes explanatory of references now rendered perhaps somewhat

obscure by the lapse of time. For these, the Publishers have

been chiefly indebted to Mr. David Laing, Secretary of the

Bannatyne Club, and one of the few surviving friends of the

Author.

Fortunately there is now little more required in the way of

annotation to the Waverley Novels; but in order to afford every

facility of reference, a special glossary has been added to such

of the novels as require it, and each volume will contain a

separate index. A General Index will also be appended to the

concluding volume of the series.

EDINBURGH, _December_ 1869,

ADVERTISEMENT TO EDITION 1829

It has been the occasional occupation of the Author of Waverley for

several years past to revise and correct the voluminous series of

Novels which pass under that name, in order that, if they should

ever appear as his avowed productions, he might render them in

some degree deserving of a continuance of the public favour with

which they have been honoured ever since their first appearance. For

a long period, however, it seemed likely that the improved and illustrated

edition which he meditated would be a posthumous publication.

But the course of the events which occasioned the disclosure of the

Author's name having in a great measure restored to him a sort of

parental control over these Works, he is naturally induced to give

them to the press in a corrected, and, he hopes, an improved form,

while life and health permit the task of revising and illustrating

them. Such being his purpose, it is necessary to say a few words

on the plan of the proposed Edition.

In stating it to be revised and corrected, it is not to be inferred

that any attempt is made to alter the tenor of the stories, the character

of the actors, or the spirit of the dialogue. There is no doubt

ample room for emendation in all these points---but where the tree

falls it must lie. Any attempt to obviate criticism, however just,

by altering a work already in the hands of the public, is generally

unsuccessful. In the most improbable fiction the reader still desires

some air of vraisemblance, and does not relish that the incidents of

a tale familiar to him should be altered to suit the taste of critics,

or the caprice of the author himself. This process of feeling is so

natural that it may be observed even in children, who cannot endure

that a nursery story should be repeated to them differently from the

manner in which it was first told.

But without altering in the slightest degree either the story or the

mode of telling it, the Author has taken this opportunity to correct

errors of the press and slips of the pen. That such should exist

cannot be wondered at, when it is considered that the Publishers

found it their interest to hurry through the press a succession of the

early editions of the various Novels, and that the Author had not

the usual opportunity of revision. It is hoped that the present

edition will be found free from errors of that accidental kind.

The Author has also ventured to make some emendations of a

different character, which, without being such apparent deviations

from the original stories as to disturb the reader's old associations,

will, he thinks, add something to the spirit of the dialogue, narrative,

or description. These consist in occasional pruning where the language

is redundant, compression where the style is loose, infusion of

vigour where it is languid, the exchange of less forcible for more

appropriate epithets---slight alterations, in short, like the last touches

of an artist, which contribute to heighten and finish the picture,

though an inexperienced eye can hardly detect in what they consist.