John Galt
John Galt - A Famous Scottish Novelist & Inspired Social Historian
John Galt (1779-1839) was born in Irvine and educated at Greenock Grammar School, Galt was first employed in the customs and excise. He was forced to travel abroad during his early adulthood because of a health condition. On his travels to the eastern part of the Mediterranean (1809-11), he met Lord George Byron (of whom he was to write A Life, 1830), and published a series of letters on his journeys. His book The Annals of the Parish (1821), has been hailed as his masterpiece. In this volume his descriptions of the life of a Scottish parish minister offer much interesting background information on contemporary social history. Galt went to Canada in 1826 and founded the town of Guelph, Ontario. He played a prominent part in the organization of immigration to Canada, but returned to Scotland in 1829, a ruined man due to heavy debts. In 1832 he produced The Member, the first political novel in English concerning the House of Commons before the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832.
Today Galt is remembered as an immortalizer of Scotland's rich humour and dialect; his description of daily life in small rural communities is reputedly unrivalled. An example of his characterization is seen in this extract from The Entail (1823), in which Lady Grippy talks on the modern girl:
'Lassie! Lassie!' exclaimed the Leddy, 'if ye live to be a grandmother like me, yell ken the right sense o' a lawful and tender affection. But there's no sincerity noo like the auld sincerity, when me and your honest grandfather, that was in mine, and is noo in Abraham's bosom, came thegither - we had no foistring and parleyvooing, like your nouvelle turtle-doves - but discoursed in a sober and wise-like manner anent the cost and charge o' a family; and the upshot was a visibility of solid cordiality and kindness, very different, Beenie, my dear, frae the puff-paste love o' your Clarissy Harlots.'
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