A Legend of Montrose is one of Sir Walter Scott's Tales of my Landlord. It is set in the tumultuous 17th century during the Earl of Montrose's military campaign in Scotland. Allan M'Aulay and his friend Lord Menteith both serve in Montrose's army, together with the loose cannon Dugald Dalgetty. The friends are also both in love with Annot Lyle, a beautiful young lady of mysterious heritage. Will they all make it through the war, and which of the friends will Annot finally choose?
By : Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832)
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The story takes place during the Earl of Montrose's 1644-5 military campaign in Scotland on behalf of King Charles I against the Covenanters who had sided with the English Parliament in the English Civil War.
Earl of Montrose
The main plot concerns a love triangle between Allan M'Aulay, his friend the Earl of Menteith, and Annot Lyle. Annot is a young woman who has been brought up by the M'Aulays since being captured as a girl during a blood feud against the MacEagh clan (also known as the Children of the Mist). M'Aulay and Menteith are both members of Montrose's army. Annot eventually marries Menteith after it is discovered that she has aristocratic blood, and was kidnapped by the MacEaghs as a baby. This leads to the jealous M'Aulay stabbing Menteith and then fleeing Montrose's army. Menteith survives whilst M'Aulay disappears and is rumoured to have been killed by the MacEaghs.
Dalgetty
A large section of the novel is taken up with a subplot involving an expedition into enemy territory by Dugald Dalgetty, an experienced mercenary fighting for Montrose. Dalgetty does not fight out of political or religious conviction, but purely for the love of carnage. However, he is very professional, and remains loyal to an employer to the end of his contract. He gained his experience fighting for various armies during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), then still raging in Germany. Dalgetty is regarded as one of Scott's finest comic characters, however Scott admitted that he dominated too much of the story. He wrote in an 1830 introduction to the novel, "Still Dalgetty, as the production of his own fancy, has been so far a favourite with its parent, that he has fallen into the error of assigning to the Captain too prominent a part in the story.
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