Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth

Walter Scott’s St Valentine’s Day; or The Fair Maid of Perth forms “The second series of Chronicles of the Canongate”. A late Scott novel dating from 1828 it has not the same instant recognition of other Scott titles such as Ivanhoe, Redgauntlet, Rob Roy or Old Mortality, to name just four of Scott’s more well‐known titles. Set in fourteenth century Perth, The Fair Maid of Perth is regarded as his most accomplished medieval fiction. The genesis of the composition of the novel lies, as its editors Andrew Hook and Donald Mackenzie indicate in their excellently written “Essay...