This is the fully illustrated and extended annotated edition including a rare and extensive biographical essay on the author, his life and works plus a wealth of illustrations. The Porteous Riot, which occurred in Edinburgh during the reign of George II, is the historical rallying point of this story of Scotch middle life. The narrative, however, harks back several months and also extends forward some years; the present argument, therefore, will be more intelligible if it gives the facts in their proper order, rather than as set forth in the opening chapters of the novel. David Deans, an honest but stern old Scotch Covenanter and farmer, marries twice in the course of his life, and by each wife has a daughter—Jeanie being some ten years older than her half-sister, Effie. Jeanie has two suitors—a childhood's playmate, Reuben Butler, now a university graduate and candidate for the ministry; and the dull Laird of Dumbiedikes, who is content to come month in and month out and merely look his admiration. Effie grows up into beautiful girlhood, being called the "Lily of St. Leonard's," but is willful and spoiled. Her sister Jeanie has little control over the motherless girl, who secretly frequents dances and other gatherings abhorred by her father ...

Jeanie Deans, a young woman from a family of highly devout Presbyterians, goes to London, partly by foot, hoping to achieve an audience with the Queen through the influence of the Duke of Argyll. She is determined to receive a royal pardon for her sister, who was unjustly imprisoned at the Old Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh, known as The Heart of Midlothian, and notorious for the cruelty and severity of its guards.

This eBook edition of "The Heart of Midlothian" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Jeanie Deans, a young woman from a family of highly devout Presbyterians, goes to London, partly by foot, hoping to achieve an audience with the Queen through the influence of the Duke of Argyll. She is determined to receive a royal pardon for her sister, who was unjustly imprisoned at the Old Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh, known as The Heart of Midlothian, and notorious for the cruelty and severity of its guards.

Rob Roy (1817) is a historical novel by Walter Scott. It is a tale of adventure in the 18th century, set in the Scottish highlands, whose hero is the legendary maverick outlaw Rob Roy Macgregor. Though Rob Roy is not the lead character, his personality and actions are key to the novel's development. The Heart of Midlothian is a novel of Scottish history by Sir Walter Scott, published in four volumes in 1818. It is often considered to be his finest novel. The Old Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh is called "the heart of Midlothian," and there Effie Deans is held on charges of having murdered her illegitimate son. Her sister, Jeanie Deans, makes a dangerous journey through outlaw-infested regions to London to seek the queen's pardon for Effie. Justice and Scottish Presbyterianism are discussed at length, and issues of conscience provide the novel's themes. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a prolific Scottish novelist, poet, historian, and biographer who is often considered both the inventor and the greatest practitioner of the historical novel.

If a sister asks a sister's life on her bended knees, they will pardon her; and they will win a thousand hearts by it. Edinburgh, 1736: Captain John Porteous is charged with murder and locked up in Edinburgh's Tolbooth prison, also known as the Heart of Midlothian. When news comes that he has been pardoned, a baying mob breaks into the jail, liberating its inmates and bringing Porteous to their own form of justice. But one prisoner, Effie Deans, chooses not to take the opportunity to flee. Wrongly convicted of murder, Effie has been sentenced to death. Jeanie, her older sister, sets about walking to London to beg for her pardon from the queen. A gripping tale of religious piety and filial devotion, this new edition of The Heart of Midlothian has been expertly reworked for modern readers by David Purdie.