The Heart of Midlothian (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Walter Scott (Author), Tony Inglis (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1994 | Series: Penguin Classics

Jeanie Deans, a dairymaid, decides she must walk to London to gain an audience with the Queen. Her sister is to be executed for infanticide and, while refusing to lie to help her case, Jeanie is desperate for a reprieve. Set in the 1730s in a Scotland uneasily united with England, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" dramatizes different kinds of justice - that meted out by the Edinburgh mob in the lynching of Captain Porteous, and that encountered by a terrified young girl suspected of killing her baby. Based on an anonymous letter Scot received in 1817, this is the seventh and finest of Scott's Waverley' novels. It was an international bestseller and inspired succeeding novelists from Balzac to George Eliot.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The present volume offers the modern reader a version very close to that a reader in 1818 would have experienced...Highly recommended.

I recommend the book to admirers of Scott and to those who, like me, have never read his work but always felt they should.

(Sue Asher The Historical Novels Review )

By comparing the first edition of Scott's famous work to the manuscript, the editors of this excellent edition produce 'an ideal first edition.'

(Choice ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140431292
• ISBN-13: 978-0140431292
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,422,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Trials and Triumphs of Jeanie Deans, October 28, 2000

By 

mp - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of Midlothian (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Sir Walter Scott's 1818 novel, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" deals with events in the lives of the Deans family from 1736 to the early 1750's. The novel begins with the 1736 Porteous riots, in which disgruntled citizens of Edinburgh storm the local prison to take revenge on a needlessly cruel official. With Anglo-Scottish relations in a tailspin and Queen Caroline levying a rash of punishments against Edinburgh in the background, the action of "Mid-Lothian" commences.

The principle heroes of the novel are Jeanie Deans and her longtime suitor, Reuben Butler. The two rustic born youths are from differently oriented Presbyterian ancestry - their parents' religious differences force an almost interminable delay in the progress of their affections. Butler's extensive formal and ministerial education notwithstanding, his financial position is such that he cannot comfortably propose a union to Jeanie's father. Further complication arises when Jeanie's younger and more impulsive half-sister, Effie, is seduced and later accused of murdering her child. The majority of the novel details Jeanie's attempts to question the impropriety of the judgement against her sister, and her interactions with the world outside of provincial northern Scotland.

As always, Scott deals with a range of social, economic, political, and legal issues. Among these in "Mid-Lothian" is the right of the Scottish to control their own internal disputes - are Scottish law and British law compatible? On a related tip, the novel calls into question whether the governors of the people have sufficient sympathy with and understanding of all the people they govern. Scott also examines the nature of language - with plain English, various Scottish dialects, and quotations from classical Latin and the Bible - the characters in the novel often have to understand each other before they can adequately communicate.

"Mid-Lothian" has a number of quirky and interesting minor characters: from the soft-spoken, yet intently-staring Dumbiedikes, to the hardline theologian-father David Deans, to the rake George Robertson, to the tragically mysterious Madge Wildfire, to the courtly, wistful Duke of Argyle. These minor characters add substance, humor, and diversity to Scott's intricate plot. In "The Heart of Mid-Lothian," Jeanie Deans, an unpretentious young woman, takes on a world beyond the enclosed experience of her home, bearing the troubles of her family, her community, and her nation on her back. The result is a great, if sometimes gregarious novel which you will certainly enjoy.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Development of Calvinistic Piety, March 26, 2005

By 

Leslie Richford (Selsingen, Lower Saxony) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heart of Midlothian (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Having been asked to spend a few weeks at a remote Naval base in the former “German Democratic Republic”, I had plenty of time on my hands to read Walter Scott’s “Heart of Midlothian” in the Oxford World’s Classics edition (with notes, 580 pages), something that whiled away the time more than satisfactorily, this novel being perhaps the best that Scott ever wrote. In his previous Waverley novel, “Old Mortality”, he had described the unruly, extreme tendencies of Covenanter Calvinism. In this book, he shows us the other side of the strict Biblical piety he had got to know during his own childhood. The novel is based on two true stories, the Porteous riots in Edinburgh, and the heroics of one Helen Walker, a simple Scots lass who walked to London to save her sister from an unjustly imposed death penalty for child murder. Scott’s way of combining these two stories, making the leader of the riot to be the father of the child that had disappeared, is neither historical nor particularly convincing, and the fate of the child is, indeed, a horrible one. But for me, the most interesting aspect of the book was the description of the Christianity practised by Lowland Scots at the beginning of the 18th century. Davie Deans, the father of Scott’s heroine, is something of a Cameronian or strict covenanter, and it is, perhaps, his very strictness which drives his young daughter Effie to the worldly pursuits that he so much abhorrs. But Davie Deans is an honest soul, and despite his wordy arguments with his neighbours, emerges as a very sympathetic figure, who, towards the end of the book, reaches something of a compromise to enable himself and his elder daughter to live in fairly comfortable circumstances; this, surely, is a picture of how Scott sees the development of theological Calvinism, forced to come to terms with the political and social realities of a Scotland dominated by “prelatist” English interests. Jeannie Deans, Scott’s rather romanticized version of Helen Walker, is an equally strict believer, but her faith expresses itself not in words but in actions, and this is what makes her both a charming heroine and a symbol of what, according to Scott, is best in Christianity and Calvinism.

As for the rest of the book, it is the descriptions of the Porteous riots and the storming of the Edinburgh prison, the “Heart of Midlothian”, at the beginning which make the greatest impression, followed perhaps by the trial scenes and then the interviews in London with the Duke of Argyll and with Queen Caroline, wife of George II. The last part of the book, which is due entirely to Scott’s imagination and has no basis in reality, is more disappointing, as though Scott thought he could not publish a novel without at least some scenes in the Highlands, scenes which here do not ring absolutely true.

Reading Scott is never easy, but the World’s Classics edition makes a brave attempt at facilitating the procedure with copious explanatory notes, a historical overview and a glossary which, while not containing every difficult word, is comprehensive enough to help the reader through the intricacies of Scottish legal Latin and Lowland dialect.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Scott, February 12, 2005

By 

Mr Peter G George (Ellon, Aberdeenshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heart of Mid-Lothian (Hardcover)

Heart of Midlothian is best known today in Scotland as the name of a football team from Edinburgh. Many may be aware that the team took its name from a novel, but Scott's story is little read nowadays so few indeed are aware that the novel took its name from a prison. This prison was situated in the centre of Edinburgh in the county of Midlothian, until it was torn down in 1817, and no doubt a certain irony was intended when it became known as The Heart of Midlothian. Scott's novel focuses on the prison firstly in its description of the Porteous riot of 1736 when a mob stormed the prison in order to revenge itself on a prisoner who it seemed was to escape justice. More importantly it is to this prison that Effie Deans is sent for the crime of child murder, because she has kept the fact of her pregnancy secret and cannot produce the child. Effie faces the prospect of execution even though there is no evidence that she has killed her baby. The law considered her secrecy as evidence enough of her guilt. This leads to a terrible dilemma for the novel's heroine Jeannie Deans. If she would merely say that she had been told of her sister's pregnancy, Effie would go free. Jeannie will go to any lengths to free her sister, but she will not lie. In her search for justice Jeannie must walk to London and her extraordinary journey takes her to the very top of 18th century society.

Jeannie Deans is the greatest of Scott's heroines. She is strong both physically and morally. While she may not have the education of some of those she meets, she more than matches their learning with her own common sense. It is the investigation of her character, which makes the novel so interesting. The story is well told and is often exciting with lots of suspense and emotion, but Scott is less concerned with romance in this novel than in some of his others. The story of Jeannie's love for her childhood friend Reuben Butler is important, but told in such a way as to emphasise Jeannie's morals and sense rather than her romantic inclinations. If there is a romantic heroine in the novel, it is Effie, but her wilful, petulant nature together with her involvement with a rake is contrasted unfavourably with the behaviour and character of her sister. Heart of Midlothian is a long novel perhaps too long, as the fourth part is not quite as good as the first three. It is also quite a difficult read with a good deal of difficult legalistic language and a greater than usual amount of Scots dialect. The best edition of the novel is undoubtedly that edited by David Hewitt and Alison Lumsden. The editors have gone back to Scott's manuscript and the first edition of the novel in order to correct numerous errors and restore a number of important readings, which have previously been lost. The result is a stunning example of modern editorial scholarship, which provides the reader with a text, which is easier and more enjoyable to read. This edition moreover has an extensive set of notes and a full glossary both of which are essential if Scott's text is to be fully understood. Heart of Midlothian is perhaps not the best place to begin reading Scott. But it is a novel, which anyone who reads Scott should aim towards, for it is quite possibly the best of the Waverley novels.