His comedies give a truthful and interesting picture of 18th century society, especially his best comedy, the Alec rim e Mangerona, in which he treats of the fidalgo pobre, a type fixed by Gil Vicente and Francisco Manoel de Mello.
Mrs Alec Tweedie's Mexico as I saw it (London, 1901) and Life of Porfirio Diaz (1906) contain valuable information personally obtained from good authorities in Mexico.
His first conspicuous success was achieved in 1862 with David Elginbrod, the forerunner of a number of popular novels, which include Alec Forbes of Howglen (1865), Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (1866), Robert Falconer (1868), Malcolm (1875), The Marquis of Lossie (1877), and Donal Grant (1883).
This also features the voices of Scarlett Johansson and Alec Baldwin, rapidly becoming the doyen of kid's movies.
Alec has a heart-to-heart with Hilary about her effect on men.
