this youth his preferment, since after all, it is sense, firmness, and
gallantry, which have put him in possession of wealth, rank, and
beauty!"




Rob Roy


The title of "Rob Roy" was suggested by Constable, the
publisher, who one day informed the novelist that the name of
the hero would be the best possible name for the book. "Nay,"
answered Scott, "never let me have to write up to a name. You
know well that I have generally adopted a title that told
nothing." But the bookseller persevered and in the end Sir
Walter's scruples gave way. "Rob Roy," by the author of
"Waverley," was published on December 31, 1817, and although
it is not among the greatest of Scott's novels, it certainly
figures among his next best. It is crowded with incident and
adventure, and the character of Rob Roy himself will last as
long as English literature. Diana Vernon, too, is perhaps the
most attractive and surely-drawn in all Scott's gallery of
portraits of distinguished women. "Rob Roy" was dramatised
shortly after its appearance in book form; Scott himself first
witnessed a performance of it at Edinburgh on February 15,
1819, the same company later appearing in it at Glasgow before
George IV.