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Introductions and Notes and Illustrations to the Novels, Tales, and Romances of the Author of Waverley
Introductions and Notes and Illustrations to the Novels Tales and Romances of the Author of Waverley Author:Sir Walter Scott General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1833 Original Publisher: printed for Robert Cadell, Edinburgh, and Whittaker and Co., London Subjects: Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Literary Criticism / Women Authors... more » Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: INTRODUCTION ' A LEGEND OF MONTROSE. The Legend Of Montrose was written chiefly with a view to place before the reader the melancholy fate of John Lord Kilpont, eldest son of William Earl of Airth and Menteith, and the singular circumstances attending the birth and history of James Stewart of Ardvoir- lich, by whose hand the unfortunate nobleman fell. Our subject leads us to talk of deadly feuds, and we must begin with one still more ancient than that to which our story relates. During the reign of James IV,, a great feud between the powerful families of Drummond and Murray divided Perthshire. The former, being the most numerous and powerful, cooped up eight score of the Murrays in the kirk of Monivaird, and setfire to it. The wives and the children of the ill" fated men, who had also found shelter in the church, perished by the same conflagration. One man, named David Murray, escaped by the humanity of one of the Drummonds, who received him in his arms as he leaped from a- mongst the flames. As King James IV. ruled with more activity than most of his predecessors, this cruel deed was severely revenged, and several of the perpetrators were beheaded at Stirling. In consequence of the prosecution a- gainst his clan, the Drummond by whose assistance David Murray had escaped, fled to Ireland, until, by means of the person whose life he had...« less