Rob Roy is an 1817 historical novel by Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. It is probably set in 1715, the year of the first Jacobite rising, and the social and economic background to that event are an important element in the novel, though it is not treated directly.Walter Scott, Rob Roy, ed. David Hewitt (Edinburgh, 2008), 474–75. The depiction of Rob Roy bears little relation to the historical figure: "there are two Rob Roys. One lived and breathed. The other is a good story, a lively tale set in the past. Both may be accepted as ‘valid', but they serve different needs and interests."David Stevenson, The Hunt for Rob Roy: the Man and the Myths (Edinburgh, 2004), 205.
Frank Osbaldistone narrates the story. He is the son of an English merchant who parted from his family home in the north of England near the border with Scotland when he was a young man, being of different religion and temperament than his father or younger brother. Frank is sent by his father to live at the long unseen family home with his uncle and his male cousins, when he refuses to join his father's successful business. In exchange, his father accepts Frank's cousin Rashleigh to work in his business. Rashleigh is an intelligent young man, but he is unscrupulous, and he causes problems for the business of Osbaldistone and Tresham. To resolve the problems, Frank travels into Scotland and meets the larger-than-life title character, Rob Roy MacGregor.
Composition and sources John Ballantyne, Scott's literary agent, drew up a contract for Rob Roy on 5 May 1817 with Archibald Constable and Longman who had published the first three Waverley novels, the author having lost confidence in the publishers of his most recent fictional work Tales of my Landlord, John Murray and William Blackwood, who had turned out to be insufficiently committed to that project. Scott seems to have begun writing the novel immediately, but it was not completed until late December, partly because of illness.Rob Roy, ed. Hewitt, 345–46, 353–56.
The Rob Roy of Scott's novel is largely fictitious, with an input from stories Scott had heard, handed down over the generations. As is his wont, he adjusts historical chronology freely for his narrative purposes. A number of printed sources were valuable for different components of the work. Thus, for business matters he used The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce by Malachy Postlethwayt, of which he owned the third edition published in 1766. The depiction of Justice Inglewood and his clerk draws directly on The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer by Richard Burn, the 13th edition of 1776 being in Scott's library. Bailie Jarvie was suggested by another book he owned: The Highland Rogue: or, the Memorable Actions Of the Celebrated Robert Mac-gregor, Commonly called Rob-Roy [by Elias Brockett] (1723).Ibid., 475–79.
Editions The first edition, in three volumes, dated 1818, was published in Edinburgh on 30 December 1817 by Archibald Constable and Co. and in London on 13 January 1818 by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.McMullin, B.J. (2023). "The Early Editions of Rob Roy." The Library: Transaction of the Bibliographical Society. Seventh Series. 24: 487-495. (December). As with all the Waverley novels before 1827 publication was anonymous. The print run was 10,000 and the price £1 4s.William B. Todd and Ann Bowden, Sir Walter Scott: A Bibliographical History 1796–1832, 439. Scott was involved in only two of the subsequent editions of the novel. In 1823, he made significant changes to the text for the 18-month Novels and Tales, though that was essentially a textual dead end. At the end of 1828, he revised the text for the 'Magnum' edition somewhat sporadically and provided notes and a very long introduction; it appeared as Volumes 7 and 8 in December 1829 and January 1830.Rob Roy, ed. David Hewitt (Edinburgh, 2008), 375–86.
The standard modern edition by David Hewitt was published as Volume 5 of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels in 2008. This is based on the first edition with emendations principally from Scott's manuscript; the new Magnum material is included in Volume 25a.
Plot summary The story takes place just before the 1715 Jacobite Rising, with much of Scotland in turmoil.
Frank Osbaldistone, the narrator, quarrels with his father and is sent to stay with an uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, in Northumberland. Frank falls in love with Diana Vernon, Sir Hildebrand's niece, whose father has been forced to go into hiding because of his Jacobite sympathies. Frank's cousin, Rashleigh, steals important documents vital to the honour and economic solvency of Frank's father, William, and Frank pursues Rashleigh to Scotland. Several times his path crosses the mysterious and powerful figure Robert Roy MacGregor, known as Rob Roy, an associate of Diana's uncle Sir Hildebrand. There is much confusion as the action shifts to the beautiful mountains and valleys around Loch Lomond. A British army detachment is ambushed and there is bloodshed. All Sir Hildebrand's sons but Rashleigh are killed in the Jacobite Rising, and Rashleigh too meets a bloody end. Following this, Frank inherits Sir Hildebrand's property and marries Diana.
The plot has been criticised as disjointed. Robert Louis Stevenson, however, who loved it from childhood, regarded Rob Roy as the best novel of the greatest of all novelists.
The novel is a brutally realistic depiction of the social conditions in Highland and Lowland Scotland in the early 18th century. The Highlanders were compared with American Indians, as regards their primitive, isolated lifestyle. Some of the dialogue is in Scots, and the novel includes a glossary of Scottish words.
Characters Principal characters are listed in bold.
William Osbaldistone, of the firm of Osbaldistone and Tresham Frank, his son Mr Owen, his head clerk Morris, a government agent Andrew Fairservice, Frank's servant Sir Frederick Vernon, a Jacobite Diana (Die) Vernon, his daughter
Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, her maternal uncle Archie, Perceval, Thorncliff, John, Dick, and Wilfred, six of his sons Rashleigh, his youngest son Anthony Syddall, his butler Squire Inglewood, a justice of the peace Joseph Jobson, his clerk Dougal Gregor, jailor at the Glasgow Tolbooth Bailie Nicol Jarvie, a Glasgow merchant Jean MacAlpine, landlady of the inn at Aberfoil Major Duncan Galbraith of Garschattin Allan Stuart of Iverach and Inverashalloch, two Highlanders Father Vaughan, a Roman Catholic priest Captain Thornton, an English officer Rob Roy MacGregor (Campbell) Helen, his wife Robert and Hamish, their sons
Chapter summary
Volume One
Chapter 1: Frank Osbaldistone, the first-person narrator, is summoned home from France by his father to discuss his letter declining to take up his destined place in the family financial business Osbaldistone and Tresham.
Chapter 2: Despite his head clerk Owen's best efforts on behalf of his son, Frank's father makes plans for one of his Northumberland nephews, the sons of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, to fill the place in the firm. He sends Frank north to assist in the procedure.
Chapter 3: On the road, Frank encounters a traveller (who is later identified as Morris) with a particularly heavy portmanteau and teases him by encouraging his fears that he might be intending to rob him.
Chapter 4: The travellers are joined in the inn at Darlington by a Scottish gentleman called Campbell (later identified as Rob Roy) with a shrewd manner of speaking as he declines to accompany Morris as a protector.
Chapter 5: Approaching Osbaldistone Hall, Frank encounters his spirited cousin, Die, out hunting; they ride together to the hall.
Chapter 6: At dinner, Die comments caustically on five of her surviving cousins and tells Frank that the sixth, Rashleigh, is to leave home for a career with Osbaldistone and Tresham. Escaping from the circulating bottle, Frank encounters the gardener, Andrew Fairservice, who expresses his disapproval of the family's Roman Catholicism and Jacobitism.
Chapter 7: Die tells Frank that Morris, who is a government agent, has alleged before the local justice of the peace, Squire Inglewood, that Frank has robbed him of money and dispatches. Die advises Frank to flee to Scotland, but he insists on appearing before Inglewood.
Chapter 8: Arriving at Inglewood-Place, Frank and Die encounter Rashleigh who claims to have been putting in a word for Frank. The hearing before the incompetent Inglewood and his clerk, Jobson, descends into farce.
Chapter 9: Campbell arrives to testify that he was present at the robbery and that Frank was not involved. Frank and Die plan a meeting with Rashleigh.
Chapter 10: Die introduces Frank to the library, her sanctuary. Rashleigh arrives and gives an explanation of how he had persuaded Campbell to testify in Frank's behalf. Over coffee and cards, Frank finds Rashleigh fascinating.
Chapter 11: During a boring Sunday at Osbaldistone Hall, Rashleigh tells Frank that, following a decree by her late father, Die is destined to marry Thorncliffe, the second oldest of the brothers, or to enter a cloister. Frank is unconvinced by Rashleigh's assertion that he is only a friend of Die's.
Chapter 12: Frank gets drunk at dinner and assaults Rashleigh. The next morning, Sir Hildebrand smooths the matter over.
Chapter 13: Die tells Frank of Rashleigh's improper advances towards her as her tutor. Rashleigh leaves for London and Frank writes a warning letter to Owen before taking over the role of tutor.
Volume Two
Chapter 1 (14): Fairservice tells of news conveyed by a pedlar of concern in Parliament about the theft of Morris's portmanteau. Frank sees two figures from a distance in the library window.
Chapter 2 (15): Frank suspects that his letter to Owen has not arrived. Fairservice suggests that the second person in the library was probably the Roman Catholic priest, Fr Vaughan.
Chapter 3 (16): Die advises Frank to go to London, where Rashleigh has been put in charge and will further his own ambitions. Frank confesses his love for her, but she rejects him, citing her dedication to the cloister.
Chapter 4 (17): Frank surprises Die in the library, having learned that Fr Vaughan is away from the area, but she is alone and proves evasive. She asks that they continue as friends and hands him a letter from his father's partner, Tresham, announcing that Rashleigh has left for Scotland with large bills payable to individuals there. Frank resolves to go to Glasgow to investigate.
Chapter 5 (18): Fairservice offers to accompany Frank as his servant, and they leave for Glasgow.
Chapter 6 (19): After disposing of a horse stolen by Fairservice, Frank and his servant arrive in Glasgow and approach the cathedral.
Chapter 7 (20): Frank and Fairservice attend a service in the cathedral's Laigh Kirk, during which Frank receives a whispered warning with a summons to meet the speaker on the bridge.
Chapter 8 (21): After overhearing Fairservice talking about him in unflattering terms to an acquaintance, Frank meets his summoner, Campbell (Rob Roy), on the bridge and is conducted to the tolbooth. They are admitted by Dougal Gregor and Rob identifies himself in Gaelic.
Chapter 9 (22): Frank finds Owen in the tolbooth, committed at the behest of a firm which had worked closely with Osbaldistone and Tresham until made aware of its problems. Bailie Nicol Jarvie arrives and agrees to stand surety for Owen's appearance.
Chapter 10 (23): Jarvie and Rob, who are cousins, engage in good-natured verbal sparring. After receiving a letter from Die, Rob indicates that if Frank and Jarvie come to see him in the glens he may be able to help with the problem created by Rashleigh, the bills falling due in ten days' time. Jarvie takes Frank to his house.
Chapter 11 (24): Fairservice persuades Frank to continue to employ him. Jarvie suggests expedients for Owen to adopt in the meantime.