[Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott]@TWC D-Link bookRob Roy INTRODUCTION---( 1829)
When the author projected this further encroachment on the patience of an
indulgent public, he was at some loss for a title; a good name being very
nearly of as much consequence in literature as in life 117/122
Concerning Andrew Fairservice, the first edition tells us what the final edition leaves us to guess--that Tresham "may recollect him as gardener at Osbaldistone Hall." Andrew was not a friend who could be shaken off.
Diana may have ruled the hall, but Andrew must have remained absolute in the gardens, with "something to maw that he would like to see mawn, or something to saw that he would like to see sawn, or something to ripe that he would like to see ripen, and sae he e'en daikered on wi' the family frae year's end to year's end," and life's end.
His master "needed some carefu' body to look after him." Only Shakspeare and Scott could have given us medicines to make us like this cowardly, conceited "jimp honest" fellow, Andrew Fairservice, who just escapes being a hypocrite by dint of some sincere old Covenanting leaven in his veins.
We make bold to say that the creator of Parolles and Lucie, and many another lax and lovable knave, would, had he been a Scot, have drawn Andrew Fairservice thus, and not otherwise. The critics of the hour censured, as they were certain to censure, the construction, and especially the conclusion, of "Rob Roy." No doubt the critics were right.
In both Scott and Shakspeare there is often seen a perfect disregard of the denouement.
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