Sir Walter Scott Appreciation discussion

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In these chapterw we meet some new characters-the Bradwardines. Our hero is spending time away from his military duties, and keeps extending his time away. As a member of King George's military he finds himself in some awkward positions amongst the rebels. I think that Miss Rose is fond of him, but he is quite oblivious to her feelings. He has had very little experience in the world, and especially not with girls and young women.

So this is me playing catch up....
I was a little surprised by Edward being able to just take time off like that. Is this realistic? Not sure. I think the position was one bought and therefore had privileges!?
Yes Rose is sweet on him as seems to be most females he has met so far (Alice Bean Lean; pronounced bane lane, for example).

Cranberries are mentioned in the meal Alice made which surprised me as I know cranberries as they are known in North America do not to be found naturally in the UK. I looked at the reference and thought called cranberries in Scotland they would have been cowberry or red whortleberry. I am wondering if Scottish influence was what named the red berries when found in the Americas that we know as cranberries? Anyhow, the ones in Scotland are sweet with or without cooking which the ones here are not. Just a bit of seasonal info.

Thanks for the correct way to pronounce Alice's name. My daughter did Celtic Studies in university, so when she was still living here, I would ask her. But that was years ago.
Talking about berries, one thing I miss about the prairies are Saskatoon berries.
Definitely not a name from Scotland.

Rosemarie wrote: "Thanks for the correct way to pronounce Alice's name. My daughter did Celtic Studies in university, so when she was still living here, I would ask her. But that was years ago.
Talking about berries..."

A lot of the names, as I travel around, I can see are from the British Isles; but also there are names from other European countries too. I am not sure where Saskatoon comes from but it has a Gaelic ring to it and a lot of Highlanders and Outer Islanders came to this country and Saskatchewan.

One other thing I was surprised to see was the word blackmail but apparenetly the origin of the word blackmail does come from this period and place:

The word is variously derived from the word for tribute (in modern terms, protection racket) paid by English and Scottish border dwellers to Border Reivers in return for immunity from raids and other harassment. The "mail" part of blackmail derives from Middle English male, "rent, tribute."[10] This tribute was paid in goods or labour (reditus nigri, or "blackmail"); the opposite is blanche firmes or reditus albi, or "white rent" (denoting payment by silver). Alternatively, Mckay derives it from two Scottish Gaelic words blathaich pronounced (the th silent) bla-ich (to protect) and mal (tribute, payment). He notes that the practice was common in the Highlands of Scotland as well as the Borders.

Here is some info on the Border Reivers which are just the sort of people that Edward is meeting in these chapters:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_...

Reive" is an early English word for "to rob", from the Northumbrian and Scots verb reifen from the old English rēafian, and thus related to the archaic standard English verb reave ("to plunder", "to rob"), and to the modern English word "ruffian".[2]

Tracey wrote: "So this is me playing catch up....
I was a little surprised by Edward being able to just take time off like that. Is this realistic? Not sure. I think the position was one bought and therefore had ..."

I was also surprised by how long Edward's "leave" was.
And thanks for all the linguistic information!

Edward does not appear to take his military service very seriously, that is for sure.

Patrick wrote: "Edward does not appear to take his military service very seriously, that is for sure."

He doesn't seem to take much seriously at this point but that could be a mix of both his personality and his upbringing.

Oh, that is absolutely true. This is a classic Bildungsroman (novel about the intellectual and moral growth of a young person).