Entail

John Galt

Description

Scottish writer John Galt is hailed by many critics as one of the first authors to explicitly take on political themes in his fiction. In The Entail, Galt tackles the touchy issue of the value of inherited wealth as opposed to that which is earned and accumulated through one's own labor.

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781776580934
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE ENTAIL
OR, THE LAIRDS OF GRIPPY
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JOHN GALT
 
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The Entail Or, The Lairds of Grippy From a 1913 edition Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-093-4 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-094-1 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Introduction The Entail Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII Chapter XIV Chapter XV Chapter XVI Chapter XVII Chapter XVIII Chapter XIX Chapter XX Chapter XXI Chapter XXII Chapter XXIII Chapter XXIV Chapter XXV Chapter XXVI Chapter XXVII Chapter XXVIII Chapter XXIX Chapter XXX Chapter XXXI Chapter XXXII Chapter XXXIII Chapter XXXIV Chapter XXXV Chapter XXXVI Chapter XXXVII Chapter XXXVIII Chapter XXXIX Chapter XL Chapter XLI Chapter XLII Chapter XLIII Chapter XLIV Chapter XLV Chapter XLVI Chapter XLVII Chapter XLVIII Chapter XLIX Chapter L Chapter LI Chapter LII Chapter LIII Chapter LIV Chapter LV Chapter LVI Chapter LVII Chapter LVIII Chapter LIX Chapter LX Chapter LXI Chapter LXII Chapter LXIII Chapter LXIV Chapter LXV Chapter LXVI Chapter LXVII Chapter LXVIII Chapter LXIX Chapter LXX Chapter LXXI Chapter LXXII Chapter LXXIII Chapter LXXIV Chapter LXXV Chapter LXXVI Chapter LXXVII Chapter LXXVIII Chapter LXXIX Chapter LXXX Chapter LXXXI Chapter LXXXII Chapter LXXXIII Chapter LXXXIV Chapter LXXXV Chapter LXXXVI Chapter LXXXVII Chapter LXXXVIII Chapter LXXXIX Chapter XC Chapter XCI Chapter XCII Chapter XCIII Chapter XCIV Chapter XCV Chapter XCVI Chapter XCVII Chapter XCVIII Chapter XCIX Chapter C Chapter CI Chapter CII Glossary
Introduction
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For many years I have been wondering why John Galt's works are falleninto such neglect: that they should be almost wholly forgotten, even byreaders to whom Scott and Jane Austen, Fanny Burney and Miss Edgeworthare indispensable, is what I cannot understand. If his Autobiographywere not a rare book, an explanation might suggest itself. Forsupposing that the public, before reading The Entail , Annals of theParish , or The Ayrshire Legatees , had been so unfortunate as toattempt the reading of the Autobiography, no one could be surprisedthat it made up its mind to read no more of him. A more tedious,flat, and dull book was never written by a man of genius: it is neverinteresting, never amusing, and always exasperating to any one whoknows what he could do, and has done. To wade through it is very nearlyimpossible, and there is nothing to be gained by the achievement.Galt's life was not particularly interesting in itself, but many livesless eventful have been so written as to be worth reading, and easy toread.
There is, however, little danger of Galt's now losing possible admirersby the unlucky accident of their stumbling on his Autobiography beforemaking his acquaintance in the right way—by reading his reallyexcellent works of fiction: for copies of the Autobiography are notat all easy to come at. I suppose they have mostly been burned by hisadmirers.
There is not much to be told about him; his life does not matter tomy purpose. John Galt was one of the sons of a sea-captain, in theWest India trade, and was born on May 2, 1779, at Irvine in Ayrshire.When he was ten years old the family moved to Greenock, where the boyhad his schooling and became a clerk in the Custom House. At fiveand twenty he carried himself and an epic poem to London, in questof literary fame. The epic, on the Battle of Largs, he had printed,but it did not establish his repute as a poet, and, to judge by thespecimens I have read, the indifference of the public was not amalicious affectation. Later on he produced half a dozen dramas, whichdeserved, and met with, as much success as the epic. Falling into badhealth he made a tour through the Mediterranean and Levant, and hadByron and Hobhouse for fellow-travellers during a part of it. In theAutobiography he does not heap flattery on either 'Orestes or Pylades':perhaps, though he does not confess it, he extracted from his brotherpoet an opinion on his own muse. His experiences of travel were givento the world in Letters from the Levant , and the book was by no meansa failure, and is much easier reading than the Autobiography. In 1820appeared, in Blackwood , The Ayrshire Legatees : and in it he firstshowed the real power that was in him. It has been reprinted in recentyears and can easily be read, and should be read by every one. The bookhas the rather tiresome form of letters: and the letters of the younglady and young gentleman are not always particularly entertaining:those of Dr. Pringle and his wife are invariably excellent. Nonebetter of the sort exist anywhere in fiction. It is astounding that aman of genius, whose fiction is so extraordinarily real, could, whenwriting of his own real life, make it inhumanly dull and artificial.In the Autobiography there is nothing quaint, and nothing witty: Dr.and Mrs. Pringle are inimitably quaint and funny. It would seem thatwhen Galt looked at life, at men and manners, and things, throughimaginary eyes he could see everything there was to be seen, and seeit in a light intensely simple and vivid and real: that when he lookedat anything through his own eyes he saw nothing at all. The doctor andMrs. Pringle are indispensable to all readers who love dear oddities,and they are Galt's very own: you shall not find them anywhere else.He borrowed them nowhere, but made them himself in a jocund humour ofaffectionate creation.
In 1821 The Ayrshire Legatees was followed up by the Annals of theParish , which displayed Galt's singular and original genius in fullerperfection. That his epic failed, and the Annals marked a literarysuccess, is much to the credit of his contemporaries. Perhaps if Crabbehad not perversely insisted on being a poet we might have had countrytales of his as worthy of immortality as the Annals of the Parish .The book is commonly said to be Galt's masterpiece: which it is not.But it is unique and perfect. That The Entail is really Galt'smasterpiece seems to me clear: nevertheless there are weak parts in it,and the less good chapters are lamentably unequal to the best: whereasthe Annals of the Parish has no weak chapters, and the balance ofexcellence is maintained throughout. But there is no story in the Annals ; and, though it is a long gallery of perfect portraits, ithas no characters that can even be compared with Watty and the Leddy o'Grippy.
Where the Annals peculiarly excel is in the rare quality of charm :it has no hero, and the central figure is enriched with foibles thatdo not lean to heroism's side: but they are quaintly attractive, andno one but Galt has given to literature any one like him. Of pathosGalt is shy in the Annals ; nowhere is he at all disposed to 'wallow'in it: but he draws reverently near, and moves away as reverently.Nor is he boisterously funny: his wit is all his own, and it crops upat every corner, but not noisily: it cuts few capers, and has a pawkydiscretion. It is singularly void of malice and haughtiness, and hasa Shakespearian humanity and blandness that fails to remind one ofThackeray. The Annals of the Parish prove that a great writer canmake a whole book intensely amusing and extraordinarily amiable: thatperfectly clear sight need not be merciless, nor wit remorselesslycruel.
The great and just success of the Annals of the Parish made Galtprolific: and in rapid sequence came Sir Andrew Wylie , The Entail , The Steamboat , The Provost , Ringan Gilhaize , The Spaewife , Rothelan , and The Omen .
Almost all of these are worth reading, and to read them is no trouble:but they are of very unequal merit: and only one of them is worthyof being grouped with The Ayrshire Legatees and the Annals . Sir Andrew Wylie is extremely good, and much of it shows Galt inhis best vein. The more romantic tales, Ringan Gilhaize , TheSpaewife , Rothelan , and The Omen , have the defects of theirqualities, and the more Galt submits to those qualities the less weare pleased. To be romantic was, perhaps, a pardonable compliancewith fashion: but Galt had little to make with romance, and idealismwas his easiest road to failure. To be Ossianic may have seemed to hima literary duty, but the performance of some duties is hard on thepublic: as the district-visited might plead, to whom the perfectingof district-visitors appeals less than it ought. Galt had not a richimagination; what he possessed in a rare degree was the faculty ofrepresentation. In his works of fiction we find a gallery of portraitsof singular variety and perfection: of all of them he had seen theoriginals. When he chose to add characters invented by himself hissuccess was not great. It must not, however, be supposed that he couldonly reproduce with pedestrian fidelity: there can be no doubt thatfrom a mere hint in actual experience he could draw a vivid portrait ofabsolute and convincing reality.
He himself placed The Provost higher than the Annals of theParish and The Ayrshire Legatees , but no one will agree with him.Almost the only interesting thing he tells us in the Autobiography isthat the Annals , though published in 1821, the year following theappearance of The Ayrshire Legatees , were written in 1813, and laidaside and forgotten. Of The Entail he tells us little, except thatthe scene of the storm was introduced to admit of the description ofa part of Scotland he had never seen. He speaks complacently of thepraise accorded to tha