Walter Scott

Although written mostly as a fictional work, this piece of literature uses many real world examples of the occult to make its fictional points. Written in a series of ten letters, the book gives a very personal perspective on one person's view of the occult. Although Walter Scott was failing in health while writing this work, a unique charm is given to the text in the midst of his illness near the end of his life.

The Lady of the LakeBy Sir Walter ScottEdited with Notes by William J. RolfeThe Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day. The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the lowland Scots (led by James V) and the highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival. By the late nineteenth century, however, the poem was much less popular. (It continued, however, to be a standard reading in elementary schools until the early twentieth century.) Its influence is indirect: Schubert's Ellens Dritter Gesang (later adapted to use the full lyrics of the Latin Ave Maria), Rossini's La Donna del Lago (1819), the Ku Klux Klan custom of cross burning, the last name of U. S. abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and the song "Hail to the Chief," were all inspired by the poem. It shares its name with the Arthurian character, the Lady of the Lake. Other allusions to the legend are scant.

L'intrigue de Kenilworth est centr e sur le mariage secret de Robert Dudley, comte de Leicester, et d'Amy Robsart, fille de sir Hugh Robsart. La trag die commence quand Amy, trahissant les esp rances de son p re - qui la destine au fils d'un vieil ami, Tressilian -, se laisse s duire par le comte et accepte de s'enfuir avec lui pour l' pouser. Amy aime passionn ment son poux, qui prouve les m mes sentiments, mais est domin par une ambition d vorante. Favori de la reine lisabeth 1 re, il fait un mariage contrecarrant ses projets, qui sont d'obtenir la main d' lisabeth pour partager le tr ne avec elle. la fin du roman, le comte finit par avouer la v rit la reine. Mais cette r v lation arrive trop tard pour Amy qui, victime des intrigues de l' cuyer du comte, Varney, un homme aussi ambitieux que son ma tre et pr sent comme un tre d moniaque, p rit assassin e Cumnor Place, o elle demeurait cach e.