Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott (1818)

This is a famous novel and I am divided in mind about it. It has Scott's trademark largesse and broad richness. It also has his trademark diffusion. The element which most strongly comes to mind that it particularly displays is an accentuation of that in the novels by the author I have read thus far (I am slowly reading through Virtue's Dryburgh Edition from 1904), the slow-growing Waverley and Guy Mannering and the far zestier The Antiquary. This is his wandering habit, whereby a character is introduced and is clearly in Scott's mind being built up to serve a significant dramatic purpose. Then his mind wanders, or the purported drama doesn't quite fit a newer plan, and the character is dropped or backgrounded while fresher vistas are plumbed. Somehow with Scott we forgive this; there is some relish of life, sparkiness of mind in him which means that this permanent deviation matters a lot less than it would with a less joyful author. The cases here are the stories of Rashleigh Osbaldistone and Diana Vernon particularly. Rashleigh's intricate two-faced manoeuvrings and Diana's no-less-than-heroine stature are belied in the time they are given in the ultimate half of the novel. But after all is said and done it's Scott, and still a joy...