Old Mortality: Sir Walter Scott

'Old Mortality' is the nickname for Robert Paterson, who spent so many years of his life renewing the inscriptions on the tombstones of the Covenanters. 'Old Mortality' tells the story of Claverhouse, a Scottish soldier and nobleman, a Tory and an Episcopalian who was responsible for policing south-west Scotland during and after the religious unrest and rebellion of the 1670s/80s. He was 1st Viscount Dundee and known as the 7th Laird of Claverhouse until raised to the viscountcy in 1688. Scott creates a wonderful company of characters; The canny Poundtext; the windy Kettledrum; Macklewrath, the ecstatic visionary; MacBriar, the martyr and the delightful Jennie Dennison.