Midwinter

Midwinter

By John Buchan.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Dedication
4. Preface
5. Midwinter
   1. I: In Which a Highland Gentleman Misses His Way
   2. II: In Which a Nobleman Is Perplexed
   3. III: In Which Private Matters Cut Across Affairs of State
   4. IV: Mr. Kyd of Greyhouses
   5. V: Chance-Medley
   6. VI: Introduces the Runaway Lady
   7. VII: How a Man May Hunt with the Hounds and Yet Run with the Hare
   8. VIII: Broom at the Crossroads
   9. IX: Old England
   10. X: Snowbound at the Sleeping Deer
   11. XI: Night at the Same: Two Visitors
   12. XII: The Hut in the Oak Shaw
   13. XIII: Journeyman John
   14. XIV: Duchess Kitty on the Road
   15. XV: Bids Farewell to a Scots Laird
   16. XVI: Bids Farewell to an English Lady
   17. XVII: Ordeal of Honour
   18. XVIII: In Which Three Gentlemen Confess Their Nakedness
   19. XIX: Ramoth-Gilead
   20. Postscript
6. Endnotes
7. Colophon
8. Uncopyright

Imprint

This ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain.

This particular ebook is based on a transcription from Project Gutenberg and on digital scans from the Internet Archive.

The source text and artwork in this ebook are believed to be in the United States public domain; that is, they are believed to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. They may still be copyrighted in other countries, so users located outside of the United States must check their local laws before using this ebook. The creators of, and contributors to, this ebook dedicate their contributions to the worldwide public domain via the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. For full license information, see the Uncopyright at the end of this ebook.

Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces ebook editions of public domain literature using modern typography, technology, and editorial standards, and distributes them free of cost. You can download this and other ebooks carefully produced for true book lovers at standardebooks.org.

To
Vernon Watney

We two confess twin loyalties⁠—
Wychwood beneath the April skies
Is yours, and many a scented road
That winds in June by Evenlode.
Not less when autumn fires the brake,
Yours the deep heath by Fannich’s lake,
The corries where the dun deer roar
And eagles wheel above Sgurr Mór.
So I, who love with equal mind
The southern sun, the northern wind,
The lilied lowland water-mead
And the grey hills that cradle Tweed,
Bring you this tale which haply tries
To intertwine our loyalties.

Preface

By the Editor

Last year my friend, Mr. Sebastian Derwent, on becoming senior partner of the reputable firm of solicitors which bears his name, instituted a very drastic clearing out of cupboards and shelves in the old house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Among a mass of derelict papers⁠—cancelled deeds, mouldy files of correspondence, copies of pleadings in cases long ago forgotten⁠—there was one little bundle which mystified him, since it had no apparent relation to the practice of the law. He summoned me to dinner, and, with our chairs drawn up to a bright fire and a decanter of his famous brown sherry between us, we discussed its antecedents.

First there was a document of three quarto pages, which appeared to be a fair copy in a scrivener’s hand. It started and finished abruptly, so we judged it to be a portion of a larger work. Then came a long ill-written manuscript, partly in a little volume of which the clasp and lock had been broken, and partly on loose paper which seemed to have been torn from the beginnings and ends of printed books. The paper had no watermark that we could discover, but its quality suggested the eighteenth century. Last there was a bundle of letters in various hands, all neatly docketed and dated. Mr. Derwent entrusted me with the papers, for certain words and phrases in the quarto sheets had stirred my interest. After considerable study I discovered that the packet contained a story, obscure in parts, but capable of being told with some pretence of continuity.

First for the matter copied by the amanuensis. It was clearly a fragment, intended by the compiler to form part of an introduction to the work. On first reading it I rubbed my eyes and tasted the joy of the discoverer, for I believed that I had stumbled upon an unknown manuscript of Mr. James Boswell, written apparently after the publication of his Life of Johnson, and designed for a supplementary volume, which, Dr. Johnson being dead, he felt at liberty to compile. On reflection I grew less certain. The thing was undoubtedly the work of an intimate friend of the Great Lexicographer, but, though there were mannerisms of style and thought which suggested Mr. Boswell, I did not feel able to claim his authorship with any confidence. It might be the production of one or other of the Wartons, or of Sir Robert Chambers, or of some Oxford friend of Johnson whose name has not come down to us. Mr. Derwent at my request explored the records of his firm, which extended back for the better part of a century, but could find no evidence that it had ever done business for any member of the family of Auchinleck. Nevertheless I incline to attribute the thing to Mr. Boswell, for he alone of Johnson’s circle was likely to have the eager interest in Scotland which the manuscript reveals, and the dates do not conflict with what we know of his movements.

Here, at all events, is the text of it:

In the last week of June in the year 1763 Johnson was in Oxford, and I had the honour to accompany him one afternoon to the village of Elsfield, some four miles from the city, on a visit to Mr. Francis Wise, one of