The Provost

Provost Pawkie of Gudetown tells, in his own words and with complete self-satisfaction, how he rose to be chief magistrate and what he did with the office — every stroke of it corrupt and every word of it plausible. Galt failed at business on three continents, founded the Canadian town of Guelph, was recalled in disgrace and did time for debt; he invented the political novel in Scots, and Pawkie is a permanent contribution. Thirty-seven plates, from Wilkie to Turner, catch the weather of Galt's Scotland and beyond: storm scenes, Highland families, a castle in a gale, the everyday bustle of a burgh.