The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott (1819)

This is another of Scott's short-lived group of retellings of supposed stories of his country's social life and history through obscure or less well-known incidents which were known under the collective title Tales of My Landlord. It is set around the time of Queen Anne in England I think, and among all the machinations which were happening at the same time in the politics of Scotland. Typical of Scott is the position of the main characters - the male, young Lord Ravenswood, being the last scion of a noble family who, through the actions of his dissolute father, have been stripped of their house and estates. He now lives in a decrepit tower of great age balanced on the edge of the cliffs to the sea called Wolf's Crag, and is struggling to get by, even to eat. The female, Lucy Ashton, is the daughter of the man who took advantage of Ravenswood's father's plight and gained all their estates in the process. There is, though, some hidden question as to whether, even with the culpability of the elder Ravenswood, the purchase of the estate was quite clean, and Lucy's father, Lord Ashton, experiences disquiet on this basis privately whilst maintaining outer confidence in his aggrandized circumstances. Lucy and Ravenswood fall for one another in an incident in the woods between their two habitations where he appears to save her life. Their romance develops, with her father, who is currently at home, providing qualified support, thinking that in an alliance of the two families there may be a veil thrown over any questions as to his actions in obtaining the estate. Lucy's mother is away at this time, but when she finally returns to discover that Lucy and Ravenswood have entered into an engagement, all her ancient family antagonism to the Ravenswoods is ignited. She comes from the opposite side of Scots politics and history and regards Ravenswood as the devil incarnate. She insults him savagely, effectually banishing him. Lucy pines, and the two lovers attempt to keep in touch by letter as Ravenswood is sent by a reinvigorated Scots government on a diplomatic mission to France, his side of politics being at that time given primacy for the first time in a long while. Lucy's mother, who is much stronger than her husband, and very determined, manages to stymie their letter-exchange, so that Lucy believes, after a very long 'silence', that Ravenswood is no longer interested. She pines still further, insisting on hearing the disavowal from Ravenswood's lips alone, even while Lady Ashton devises a new marriage for her with a loyal young lord who has an axe to grind with Ravenswood, though he quietly respects him. Eventually, Lucy has declined to such an extent that she gives in and the banns are undertaken. Just as she is signing the last document, Ravenswood bursts in, having finally received her very last letter which has been forwarded sneakily around the obstructions created by Lady Ashton. But it is too late; they have a scene, and Ravenswood departs dejectedly. His eruption into the scene and the realisation that he was true to her finally unhinges Lucy. Her mother forces the marriage to occur four days later and Lucy goes through with it in a stupor of lightheadedness. But that night, when visited by her new husband, her mind breaks and she stabs him almost to death. She then climbs up the chimney and sits on a ledge completely lost to sanity. She dies a little while later. Ravenswood hears of this and it finishes him in all but name. He comes to the funeral, makes a duel-date with Lucy's soldier brother who hates him as her murderer, and returns to Wolf's Crag a broken man. The following day, Lucy's brother is waiting on the field of action, sees Ravenswood madly riding towards him without attending to the well-known dangers of the place, and watches as Ravenswood disappears in a second, with his horse, in a quicksand mire, never to be seen again, and leaving only a long black hat-feather in the wavelets on the shore. There is a good amount of comedy in the background of this one, mainly housed in the person of Caleb Balderstone, Ravenswood's last retainer, and his overdone family loyalty and pride, and his attempts at bullying and obfuscation to keep up the family name. There is also a Macbethian chorus of local witches (or midwives, or herbalists, or hags) who comment sourly on the story as it progresses. This one has a quality of small-scenedness in it which is a strong contrast to the enormous scope of its predecessor The Heart of Midlothian. It has the mood of an out of the way tragedy, but is no sufferer for it on the whole, whilst not perhaps encompassing such a stirring pull as some of the author's grander canvases.

Commonplace Book

'...The thought of his Uncle Charles as a temporary refuge for the twins floated across his brain, but was rejected because Uncle Charles would speak to no woman under fifty except from his pulpit, and approached those he did speak to with caution till they were sixty. He regarded them as one of the chief causes of modern unrest. He liked them so much that he hated them. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance. Uncle Charles was no good as a refuge."

from Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth von Arnim (Chapter XI)