Overview

1816. Originally the first of The Tales of My Landlord, The Black Dwarf is set in the early 18th century in the Liddesdale hills, an area which Scott knew well from the time he had spent hunting ballads for his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The dwarf of the title is Sir Edward Mauley, who, in his youth, has embraced the quarrel of his friend and kinsman Richard Vere, killing his rival the Laird of Earnscliff. While imprisoned for manslaughter, he learns that Vere has betrayed him by marrying his intended bride. He retires in misanthropical disgust to Mucklestane Moor, where his extraordinary strength, knowledge of medicine, and ready wealth lead the local people to regard him as a supernatural being in league with the Devil. Living incognito, he is known as Elshender the Recluse. Vere lives nearby with his daughter Isabella who has fallen in love with Earnscliff's son, Patrick. Vere opposes the union, and, in order to further his Jacobite schemes, forces Isabella to consent to marriage with Sir Frederick Langley. Isabella appeals to Mauley for assistance. As Vere's expenditures have brought his lands under Mauley's control, he is able to show Langley that Isabella is penniless without his consent, and the marriage is prevented at the last minute. The Jacobite plot is discovered, and Vere and Langley flee the country. Revealing his true identity, Mauley bestows his fortune upon Isabella who marries Patrick Earnscliff. Mauley disappears and his ultimate fate remains a mystery.

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