Waverley · Chapter
Waverley-Honour—A Retrospect explained
This chapter provides a retrospective on the Waverley family history, detailing the political and personal rift between Sir Everard Waverley, a staunch Tory and High-Churchman, and his younger brother Richard, who becomes a Whig placeman.
What happens
This chapter provides a retrospective on the Waverley family history, detailing the political and personal rift between Sir Everard Waverley, a staunch Tory and High-Churchman, and his younger brother Richard, who becomes a Whig placeman. It recounts Sir Everard's disappointed love for Lady Emily Blandeville, his subsequent celibacy, and the eventual reconciliation with Richard through young Edward Waverley, who becomes the heir and a bridge between the two households.
Themes in this chapter
Loyalty and Allegiance
The chapter contrasts Sir Everard's hereditary Tory loyalty to the Stuart cause with Richard's pragmatic shift to Whig allegiance for personal advancement.
Social Class and Hierarchy
The Waverley family's status, the entail of the estate, and the political maneuvering of the landed gentry illustrate the importance of class and inheritance.
Romanticism vs. Reality
Sir Everard's romantic disappointment with Lady Emily and his subsequent retreat into celibacy highlight the tension between idealised love and practical outcomes.
Change and Transition
The generational shift from Sir Everard's old Tory world to Richard's Whig modernity, and Edward's role as a bridge, underscores themes of change.
Characters to notice
- Edward Waverley
The hero of the tale, introduced as a young officer leaving Waverley-Honour; his childhood encounter with his uncle's carriage initiates reconciliation between his father and uncle.
- Sir Everard Waverley
The elderly baronet and Tory uncle, who remains a bachelor after a disappointed love; he becomes attached to young Edward and secures his position as heir.
- Richard Waverley
Edward's father, a Whig placeman who breaks with family Tory tradition; his political career and marriage lead to a cold but eventually renewed relationship with Sir Everard.
- Lady Emily Blandeville
The youngest daughter of a noble peer, whose affections were fixed on a young soldier; Sir Everard generously withdraws his suit, allowing her to marry her true love.
- Aunt Rachel
Sir Everard's sister, who presides at his table at Waverley-Honour, described as an ancient maiden lady and one of the kindest votaries of celibacy.
- Lawyer Clippurse
An attorney summoned by Sir Everard to draw up a deed disinheriting Richard, but dismissed after a change of heart prompted by a sunbeam.
Key passages
“It is, then, sixty years since Edward Waverley, the hero of the following pages, took leave of his family, to join the regiment of dragoons in which he had lately obtained a commission.”
The story begins sixty years ago when Edward Waverley left his family to join a dragoon regiment as a newly commissioned officer.
Opening sentence establishing the temporal setting and Edward's departure.
“Sir Everard had inherited from his sires the whole train of Tory or High-Church predilections and prejudices which had distinguished the house of Waverley since the Great Civil War.”
Sir Everard inherited the full set of Tory and High-Church beliefs and biases that had characterized the Waverley family since the English Civil War.
Explains the political and religious heritage of the Waverley family.
“Richard Waverley read and satisfied himself from history and sound argument that, in the words of the old song, Passive obedience was a jest, And pshaw ! was non-resistance;”
Richard convinced himself through history and logic that the doctrine of passive obedience was ridiculous and non-resistance was meaningless.
Richard's rational rejection of Tory principles in favor of Whig pragmatism.
“The memory of his unsuccessful amour was with Sir Everard, as with many more of his temper, at once shy, proud, sensitive, and indolent, a beacon against exposing himself to similar mortification, pain, and fruitless exertion for the time to come.”
Sir Everard's memory of his failed romance served as a warning to avoid future humiliation, pain, and wasted effort, given his shy, proud, sensitive, and lazy nature.
Describes Sir Everard's emotional retreat after his romantic disappointment.
“In the round-faced rosy cherub before him, bearing his eye and his name, and vindicating a hereditary title to his family, affection, and patronage, by means of a tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as either Garter or Blue-mantle, Providence seemed to have granted to him the very object best calculated to fill up the void in his hopes and affections.”
Seeing young Edward, who resembled him and bore his name, Sir Everard felt that Providence had given him the perfect child to fill the emptiness in his hopes and affections, as the bond of blood was as sacred to him as any knightly order.
The moment Sir Everard first sees Edward and feels a deep familial connection.
