The History of Matthew Wald

The History of Matthew Wald (1824) is John Gibson Lockhart’s fourth and final novel and perhaps his most focused, stylistically successful fiction. The title character tells his own story, which is set in the context of, and carefully interwoven with, the larger historical, social, and political events and circumstances of Scotland in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Matthew Wald exemplifies Lockhart’s idea that the novel should portray the ‘human mind under the influence of not one, but many of its passions—ambition—love—revenge—remorse’ and should reflect the historical and social truth of the age. This scholarly edition includes an Introduction that discusses the literary and historical contexts of the narrative and the novel’s early reception and textual history. Detailed Explanatory Notes complement the Introduction to provide the modern reader with the resources to re-evaluate Lockhart’s place in the history of the Scottish novel and Romantic fiction.