Historical Fiction

Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete

The Novel or Romance of Waverley made its way to the public slowly, of course, at first, but afterwards with such accumulating popularity as to encourage the Author to a second attempt. He looked about for a name and a subject; and the manner in which the novels were composed...

Chapters

1. Chapter 1

The Novel or Romance of Waverley made its way to the public slowly, of course, at first, but afterwards with such accumulating popularity as to encourage the Author to a second...

60. Chapter 60

called Mumps's Hall, that is, being interpreted, Beggar's Hotel, near to Gilsland, which had not then attained its present fame as a Spa. It was a hedge alehouse, where the Bord...

48. Chapter 48

As Mr. Sampson crossed the hall with a bewildered look, Mrs. Allan, the good housekeeper, who, with the reverent attention which is usually rendered to the clergy in Scotland, w...

37. Chapter 37

Mannering, with Sampson for his companion, lost no time in his journey to Edinburgh. They travelled in the Colonel's post-chariot, who, knowing his companion's habits of abstrac...

51. Chapter 51

JUSTICE This does indeed confirm each circumstance The gipsy told! No orphan, nor without a friend art thou. _I_ am thy father, HERE'S thy mother, THERE Thy uncle, THIS thy firs...

10. Chapter 10

Paint Scotland greeting ower her thrissle, Her mutchkin stoup as toom's a whistle, And d--n'd excisemen in a bustle, Seizing a stell, Triumphant crushin't like a mussel, Or lamp...

33. Chapter 33

A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears. See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark in thine ear: Change places; and, handy-dandy, which...

29. Chapter 29

Nor board nor garner own we now, Nor roof nor latched door, Nor kind mate, bound, by holy vow, To bless a good man's store Noon lulls us in a gloomy den, And night is grown our...

38. Chapter 38

But this poor farce has neither truth nor art To please the fancy or to touch the heart Dark but not awful dismal but yet mean, With anxious bustle moves the cumbrous scene, Pre...

35. Chapter 35

On the next morning, great was the alarm and confusion of the officers when they discovered the escape of their prisoner. Mac-Guffog appeared before Glossin with a head perturbe...

40. Chapter 40

'Why, I don't know; the battle is not to the strong, but he shall come off triumphant over Jock of Dawston if we can make it out. I owe him something. It is the pest of our prof...

39. Chapter 39

There is a fable told by Lucian, that while a troop of monkeys, well drilled by an intelligent manager, were performing a tragedy with great applause, the decorum of the whole s...

12. Chapter 12

ENTER TIME, AS CHORUS I, that please some, try ail, both joy and terror Of good and bad; that make and unfold error, Now take upon me, in the name of Time, To use my wings Imput...

34. Chapter 34

A man that apprehends death to be no more dreadful but as a drunken sleep, careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and des...

46. Chapter 46

Plunged in the gloomy reflections which were naturally excited by his dismal reading and disconsolate situation, Bertram for the first time in his life felt himself affected wit...

56. Chapter 56

After the space of about three-quarters of an hour, which the uncertainty and danger of their situation made seem almost thrice as long, the voice of young Hazlewood was heard w...

50. Chapter 50

We must now return to Woodbourne, which, it may be remembered, we left just after the Colonel had given some directions to his confidential servant. When he returned, his absenc...

47. Chapter 47

Upon the evening of the day when Bertram's examination had taken place, Colonel Mannering arrived at Woodbourne from Edinburgh. He found his family in their usual state, which p...

30. Chapter 30

All school day's friendship childhood innocence' We Hermia like two artificial gods Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler sitting on one cushion, Bo...

52. Chapter 52

At the hour which he had appointed the preceding evening the indefatigable lawyer was seated by a good fire and a pair of wax candles, with a velvet cap on his head and a quilte...

11. Chapter 11

But see, his face is black and full of blood; His eye-balls farther out than when he lived, Staring full ghastly like a strangled man, His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch d...

54. Chapter 54

To hail the king in seemly sort The ladie was full fain, But King Arthur, all sore amazed, No answer made again 'What wight art thou,' the ladie said, 'That will not speak to me...

44. Chapter 44

'Twas he Gave heat unto the injury, which returned, Like a petard ill lighted, into the bosom Of him gave fire to't. Yet I hope his hurt Is not so dangerous but he may recover

5. Chapter 5

Come and see' trust thine own eyes A fearful sign stands in the house of life, An enemy a fiend lurks close behind The radiance of thy planet O be warned!

19. Chapter 19

We must proceed with our extracts from Miss Mannering's letters, which throw light upon natural good sense, principle, and feelings, blemished by an imperfect education and the...

36. Chapter 36

When Glossin returned home he found, among other letters and papers sent to him, one of considerable importance. It was signed by Mr. Protocol, an attorney in Edinburgh, and, ad...

27. Chapter 27

Without noticing the occupations of an intervening day or two, which, as they consisted of the ordinary silvan amusements of shooting and coursing, have nothing sufficiently int...

53. Chapter 53

And Sheriff I will engage my word to you, That I will by to morrow dinner time, Send him to answer thee or any man, For anything he shall be charged withal

41. Chapter 41

Can no rest find me, no private place secure me, But still my miseries like bloodhounds haunt me? Unfortunate young man, which way now guides thee, Guides thee from death? The c...

57. Chapter 57

There was a great movement at Woodbourne early on the following morning to attend the examination at Kippletringan. Mr. Pleydell, from the investigation which he had formerly be...

13. Chapter 13

Reputation! that's man's idol Set up against God, the Maker of all laws, Who hath commanded us we should not kill, And yet we say we must, for Reputation! What honest man can ei...

45. Chapter 45

A prison is a house of care, A place where none can thrive, A touchstone true to try a friend, A grave for one alive Sometimes a place of right, Sometimes a place of wrong, Some...

4. Chapter 4

Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages Of strange turns m the world's affairs, Foreseen by astrologers, soothsayers, Chaldeans, learned genethliacs, And som...

42. Chapter 42

Yes ye moss-green walls, Ye towers defenceless, I revisit ye Shame-stricken! Where are all your trophies now? Your thronged courts, the revelry, the tumult, That spoke the grand...

49. Chapter 49

We return to Portanferry, and to Bertram and his honest-hearted friend, whom we left most innocent inhabitants of a place built for the guilty. The slumbers of the farmer were a...

3. Chapter 3

The company in the parlour at Ellangowan consisted of the Laird and a sort of person who might be the village schoolmaster, or perhaps the minister's assistant; his appearance w...

23. Chapter 23

Let the reader conceive to himself a clear frosty November morning, the scene an open heath, having for the background that huge chain of mountains in which Skiddaw and Saddleba...

22. Chapter 22

What say'st thou, Wise One? that all powerful Love Can fortune's strong impediments remove, Nor is it strange that worth should wed to worth, The pride of genius with the pride...

43. Chapter 43

Bring in the evidence. Thou robed man of justice, take thy place, And thou, his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side; you are of the commission, Sit you too.

28. Chapter 28

Our traveller hired a post-chaise at the place where he separated from Dinmont, with the purpose of proceeding to Kippletringan, there to inquire into the state of the family at...

24. Chapter 24

The hint of the hospitable farmer was not lost on Brown. But while he paid his reckoning he could not avoid repeatedly fixing his eyes on Meg Merrilies. She was in all respects...

9. Chapter 9

So the red Indian, by Ontario's side, Nursed hardy on the brindled panther's hide, As fades his swarthy race, with anguish sees The white man's cottage rise beneath the trees; H...

16. Chapter 16

My gold is gone, my money is spent, My land now take it unto thee. Give me thy gold, good John o' the Scales, And thine for aye my land shall be.

14. Chapter 14

They told me, by the sentence of the law, They had commission to seize all thy fortune. Here stood a ruffian with a horrid face, Lording it o'er a pile of massy plate, Tumbled i...

8. Chapter 8

Come, princes of the ragged regiment, You of the blood! PRIGS, my most upright lord, And these, what name or title e'er they bear, JARKMAN, or PATRICO, CRANKE or CLAPPER-DUDGEON...

31. Chapter 31

I renounce your defiance; if you parley so roughly I'll barricade my gates against you. Do you see yon bay window? Storm, I care not, serving the good Duke of Norfolk

17. Chapter 17

Our Polly is a sad slut, nor heeds what we have taught her, I wonder any man alive will ever rear a daughter, For when she's drest with care and cost, all tempting, fine, and ga...

18. Chapter 18

Heaven first, in its mercy, taught mortals their letters, For ladies in limbo, and lovers in fetters, Or some author, who, placing his persons before ye, Ungallantly leaves them...

7. Chapter 7

Next, the Justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances-- And so he plays his part

55. Chapter 55

The progress of the Borderer, who, as we have said, was the last of the party, was fearfully arrested by a hand, which caught hold of his leg as he dragged his long limbs after...

32. Chapter 32

'For two or three days we talked of nothing but our siege and its probable consequences, and dinned into my father's unwilling ears a proposal to go to Edinburgh, or at least to...

21. Chapter 21

The appointed day arrived when the Colonel and Miss Mannering were expected at Woodbourne. The hour was fast approaching, and the little circle within doors had each their separ...

58. Chapter 58

The jail at the county town of the shire of----was one of those old-fashioned dungeons which disgraced Scotland until of late years. When the prisoners and their guard arrived t...

6. Chapter 6

You have fed upon my seignories, Dispark'd my parks, and fell'd my forest woods, From mine own windows torn my household coat, Razed out my impress, leaving me no sign, Save men...

26. Chapter 26

Give ye, Britons, then, Your sportive fury, pitiless to pour Loose on the nightly robber of the fold. Him from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, Let all the thunder of the ch...

2. Chapter 2

He could not deny that, looking round upon the dreary region, and seeing nothing but bleak fields and naked trees, hills obscured by fogs, and flats covered with inundations, he...

15. Chapter 15

The bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke, I feel the solemn sound.

20. Chapter 20

Which sloping hills around inclose, Where many a beech and brown oak grows Beneath whose dark and branching bowers Its tides a far-fam'd river pours, By natures beauties taught...

25. Chapter 25

The present store-farmers of the south of Scotland are a much more refined race than their fathers, and the manners I am now to describe have either altogether disappeared or ar...

59. Chapter 59

As Glossin died without heirs, and without payment of the price, the estate of Ellangowan was again thrown upon the hands of Mr. Godfrey Bertram's creditors, the right of most o...