Lavengro · Chapter
VII: Same Subject Continued explained
The author continues his critique of Sir Walter Scott, arguing that Scott's novels and poems promoted Jacobitism, Popery, and arbitrary power, leading to moral and social harm.
What happens
The author continues his critique of Sir Walter Scott, arguing that Scott's novels and poems promoted Jacobitism, Popery, and arbitrary power, leading to moral and social harm. He contrasts Scott's gentility-obsessed pedigree with that of Joachim Murat, defending Murat's noble Moorish ancestry and heroic legacy. The author interprets Scott's personal and familial decline as divine punishment for his literary choices, culminating in his house becoming a center of Popery after his death.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Priestcraft
The author condemns Scott for indirectly promoting Popery through his works, leading to the conversion of his granddaughter and the transformation of his house into a Popish stronghold.
Social Class and Gentility
The author attacks Scott's obsession with gentility and aristocratic lineage, contrasting it with Murat's noble Moorish ancestry and arguing that true worth lies in talent and deeds, not birth.
Honor and Morality
The author frames Scott's literary choices as a moral failing, arguing that God punished him for defending the wicked Stuarts and calumniating the righteous.
Characters to notice
- George Borrow
The author, who delivers a scathing critique of Sir Walter Scott and defends Murat's pedigree.
- Lord Byron
Mentioned as a poet admired by the author, alongside Mickiewicz, as one of the greatest of the last hundred years.
- Napoleon
Referenced in the context of Scott's biography of him and Murat's service under Napoleon.
Key passages
“but Popery becomes fashionable through his novels and poems—the only one that remains of his race, a female grandchild, marries a person who, following the fashion, becomes a Papist, and makes her a Papist too.”
Scott's writings made Catholicism trendy, leading to his sole surviving descendant, a granddaughter, marrying a man who converted to Catholicism and converting her as well.
The author argues that Scott's literary influence had direct, tangible consequences for his own family.
“He who had the blood of the 'sons of the saddle' in him, became the wonderful cavalier of the most wonderful host that ever went forth to conquest, won for himself a crown and died the death of a soldier, leaving behind him a son, only inferior to himself in strength, in prowess, and in horsemanship.”
Murat, descended from Moorish horsemen, became a brilliant cavalry commander under Napoleon, earned a crown, and died a soldier's death, leaving a son nearly as skilled as himself.
The author contrasts Murat's heroic legacy with Scott's genteel but ultimately tragic life.
“The descendant of the cow-stealer became a poet, a novel writer, the panegyrist of great folk and genteel people; became insolvent because, though an author, he deemed it ungenteel to be mixed up with the business part of authorship; died paralytic and brokenhearted because he could no longer give entertainments to great folks;”
Scott, descended from cattle thieves, became a writer who flattered the aristocracy, went bankrupt due to his disdain for business, and died paralyzed and heartbroken when he could no longer host grand parties.
The author uses Scott's own ancestry and downfall to undermine his gentility.