1535 Peveril of the Peak - Redgauntlet - The Betrothed, by Sir Walter Scott (read 29 Sep 1979) I had never heard of Peveril of the Peak, and it really isn't well made. It reads as easy as most Scott novels but it really creaks, and there are few surprises. It is laid in the reign of Charles II and deals with the time of the Oakes plot. Julian Peveril, one of those flawless Scott heroes, seeks to win Alice Bridgeworth, daughter of a Puritan. Alice is a faultless Scott heroine. Julian has many adventures as he seeks to help his Cavalier father and his Catholic patroness, the Countess of Darby, who holds sway over the island of Man. The Duke of Buckingham and Charles II are prominent in the story, and all ends happily. Readable, but worthwhile?
Redgauntlet was finished in 1824. It is laid about 1765 and deals with a supposed visit of the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, to England at that time. It is all fiction, of course, since the Young Pretender never came back after 1745, or at least did not come in 1765. Alan Fairford is a young Scot lawyer and a friend of Darsie Latimer, who turns out to be the head of the house of Redgauntlet, and whose father died for the Stuart cause in 1745. His uncle;le is the chief instigator of an attempt to rally a new try for the Stuarts, which disintegrates when Charles Edward refuses to forsake a mistress who is a sister to a woman at George III's court. It--the story--maintains one's interest well, but of course is not one of Scott's great novels. Why do I read it? Well, I am going to finish this book. The third and last novel in the book deals with the Crusades, which is a period which interests me much.
The Betrothed was written in 1825. I like it the best of the three novels in this volume. [[SPOILER follows.]] Eveline Berenger is saved by Hugo de Lacy and consents to be his bride, though he is old and she is in love with his nephew Damian. Hugo goes off to the Crusades, and Damian is left to guard Eveline. Randal de Lacy, an evil kinsman of Hugo's, plots to have Eveline kidnapped by bandit Welshmen, but Damian scares them off and is wounded, Eveline is rescued from her earthen prison by Flammock, a faithful Fleming summoned by Damian's horn, and Damian, to recuperate, is taken to the Berenger castle. The peasants revolt, Damian is thought to be supporting them, and he is outlawed and imprisoned. Hugo comes back almost alone, his minstrel seeks to kill him but instead kills Randal, Hugo disguises himself and goes to Damian in prison, tests his sincerity and innocence, and then steps aside and Damian weds Eveline. An obvious happy ending which brought tears to my eyes! Scott wraps his endings up so neatly, and untimewastingly. Much stilted language, but the tale, laid in the closing days of the reign of Henry II, I found very easy to read, and enjoyable. ( )