Readings from the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels

To me the finest passages in Scott's fiction are those in which his Scots-speaking characters get fully into their stride. The narrative of Rob Roy drags occasionally, especially in the first few chapters, but this is more than compensated for deeper into the novel by the wonderful dialogue of two of Scott's finest creations, Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Andrew Fairservice. This passage is a good example of their sparring.
 
In this passage from Rob Roy - Frank Osbaldistone, Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Andrew Fairservice are on their way into the Highlands near Loch Lomond to meet with Rob Roy himself. Baillie Nicol Jarvie and Andrew Fairservice cannot abide each other.

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Loch Lomond.1836 Steel engraving by Robert Sands based on a painting by Henry Melville. Used here with the permission of the Walter Scott Digital Archive Image Collection.

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The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels. Rob Roy by Walter Scott.  Edited by David Hewitt. 
Published in 2008 by Edinburgh University Press. © The University Court of the University of Edinburgh
Permission has been granted to The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club for usage here until Dec.2012.
For more information visit www.euppublishing.com/series/EEWN

Read more about this Edition on the EUP website

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