diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-08 04:52:47 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-08 04:52:47 -0800 |
| commit | 0a50a4b1780ad16d14a21f9e8f8114eb91861ef8 (patch) | |
| tree | 69e8943e33b4d835f0fbad58fde712719abce0fb /42062-0.txt | |
| parent | c3f958068b8ac7e57125cf56080aa7879fac71ce (diff) | |
Diffstat (limited to '42062-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42062-0.txt | 10017 |
1 files changed, 10017 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42062-0.txt b/42062-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2851a4b --- /dev/null +++ b/42062-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10017 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42062 *** + + Large Paper Edition + + + LOCKHART'S + LIFE OF SCOTT + + COPIOUSLY ANNOTATED AND ABUNDANTLY ILLUSTRATED + + IN TEN VOLUMES + VOL. IV + + + + + [Illustration: WALTER SCOTT IN 1817 + _From the water-color portrait by William Nicholson_] + + + + + MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE + OF + SIR WALTER SCOTT + BART. + + + by + + JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART + + + In Ten Volumes + VOLUME IV + + + + + Boston and New York + Houghton, Mifflin and Company + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + MCMI + + Copyright, 1901 + by Houghton, Mifflin and Company + All Rights Reserved + + Six Hundred Copies Printed + Number, 200 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + Page + + XXV. The "Flitting" to Abbotsford. -- Plantations. -- + George Thomson. -- Rokeby and Triermain in Progress. -- + Excursion to Flodden. -- Bishop-Auckland, and Rokeby + Park. -- Correspondence with Crabbe. -- Life of Patrick + Carey, etc. -- Publication of Rokeby, -- and of The + Bridal of Triermain. 1812-1813 1 + + XXVI. Affairs of John Ballantyne and Co. -- Causes of + their Derangement. -- Letters of Scott to his Partners. + -- Negotiation for Relief with Messrs. Constable. -- + New Purchase of Land at Abbotsford. -- Embarrassments + continued. -- John Ballantyne's Expresses. -- + Drumlanrig, Penrith, etc. -- Scott's Meeting with the + Marquis of Abercorn at Longtown. -- His Application to + the Duke of Buccleuch. -- Offer of the + Poet-Laureateship, -- considered, -- and declined. -- + Address of the City of Edinburgh to the Prince Regent. + -- Its Reception. -- Civic Honors conferred on Scott. + -- Question of Taxation on Literary Income. -- Letters + to Mr. Morritt, Mr. Southey, Mr. Richardson, Mr. + Crabbe, Miss Baillie, and Lord Byron. 1813 50 + + XXVII. Insanity of Henry Weber. -- Letters on the + Abdication of Napoleon, etc. -- Publication of Scott's + Life and Edition of Swift. -- Essays for the Supplement + to the Encyclopædia Britannica. -- Completion and + Publication of Waverley. 1814 100 + + XXVIII. Voyage to the Shetland Isles, etc. -- Scott's + Diary kept on Board the Lighthouse Yacht. 1814 124 + + XXIX. Diary on Board the Lighthouse Yacht continued. -- + The Orkneys. -- Kirkwall. -- Hoy. -- The Standing + Stones of Stennis, etc. 1814 163 + + XXX. Diary continued. -- Stromness. -- Bessy Millie's + Charm. -- Cape Wrath. -- Cave of Smowe. -- The + Hebrides. -- Scalpa, etc. 1814 178 + + XXXI. Diary continued. -- Isle of Harris. -- Monuments + of the Chiefs of Macleod. -- Isle of Skye. -- Dunvegan + Castle. -- Loch Corriskin. -- Macallister's Cave. 1814 193 + + XXXII. Diary continued. -- Cave of Egg. -- Iona. -- + Staffa. -- Dunstaffnage. -- Dunluce Castle. -- Giant's + Causeway. -- Isle of Arran, etc. -- Diary concluded. + 1814 206 + + XXXIII. Letter in Verse from Zetland and Orkney. -- + Death of the Duchess of Buccleuch. -- Correspondence + with the Duke. -- Altrive Lake. -- Negotiation + concerning The Lord of the Isles completed. -- Success + of Waverley. -- Contemporaneous criticisms on the + Novel. -- Letters to Scott from Mr. Morritt, Mr. Lewis, + and Miss Maclean Clephane. -- Letter from James + Ballantyne to Miss Edgeworth. 1814 237 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Page + + WALTER SCOTT IN 1817 _Frontispiece_ + From the water-color portrait by William Nicholson, + R. S. A., in the possession of W. C. C. Erskine, Esq. + Through the courtesy of David Douglas, Esq., Edinburgh. + + ABBOTSFORD IN 1812 6 + + ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE 50 + From the painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, R. A., at Braeburn, + Currie, Mid-Lothian. By permission of William Patrick + Bruce, Esq. + + J. B. S. MORRITT 100 + From the painting by Sir M. A. Shee, P. R. A., in the + possession of R. A. Morritt, Esq., of Rokeby. + + WILLIAM ERSKINE, LORD KINNEDDER 124 + From the water-color portrait by William Nicholson, + R. S. A., in the possession of W. C. C. Erskine, Esq. + Through the courtesy of David Douglas, Esq., Edinburgh. + + JAMES HOGG 250 + From the water-color portrait by Stephen Poyntz Denning, + in the National Portrait Gallery. + + + + +SIR WALTER SCOTT + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + THE "FLITTING" TO ABBOTSFORD. -- PLANTATIONS. -- GEORGE THOMSON. + --ROKEBY AND TRIERMAIN IN PROGRESS. -- EXCURSION TO FLODDEN. + --BISHOP-AUCKLAND, AND ROKEBY PARK. -- CORRESPONDENCE WITH + CRABBE. --LIFE OF PATRICK CAREY, ETC. -- PUBLICATION OF ROKEBY, + -- AND OF THE BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN + +1812-1813 + + +Towards the end of May, 1812, the Sheriff finally removed from +Ashestiel to Abbotsford. The day when this occurred was a sad one +for many a poor neighbor--for they lost, both in him and his wife, +very generous protectors. In such a place, among the few evils which +counterbalance so many good things in the condition of the +peasantry, the most afflicting is the want of access to medical +advice. As far as their means and skill would go, they had both done +their utmost to supply this want; and Mrs. Scott, in particular, had +made it so much her business to visit the sick in their scattered +cottages, and bestowed on them the contents of her medicine-chest as +well as of the larder and cellar, with such unwearied kindness, that +her name is never mentioned there to this day without some +expression of tenderness. Scott's children remember the parting +scene as one of unmixed affliction--but it had had, as we shall see, +its lighter features. + +Among the many amiable English friends whom he owed to his frequent +visits at Rokeby Park, there was, I believe, none that had a higher +place in his regard than the late Anne, Lady Alvanley, the widow of +the celebrated Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was +fond of female society in general; but her ladyship was a woman +after his heart; well born and highly bred, but without the +slightest tinge of the frivolities of modern fashion; soundly +informed, and a warm lover of literature and the arts, but holding +in as great horror as himself the imbecile chatter and affected +ecstasies of the bluestocking generation. Her ladyship had written +to him early in May, by Miss Sarah Smith (now Mrs. Bartley), whom I +have already mentioned as one of his theatrical favorites; and his +answer contains, among other matters, a sketch of the "Forest +Flitting." + + +TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LADY ALVANLEY. + + ASHESTIEL, 25th May, 1812. + +I was honored, my dear Lady Alvanley, by the kind letter which you +sent me with our friend Miss Smith, whose talents are, I hope, +receiving at Edinburgh the full meed of honorable applause which they +so highly merit. It is very much against my will that I am forced to +speak of them by report alone, for this being the term of removing, I +am under the necessity of being at this farm to superintend the +transference of my goods and chattels, a most miscellaneous +collection, to a small property, about five miles down the Tweed, +which I purchased last year. The neighbors have been much delighted +with the procession of my furniture, in which old swords, bows, +targets, and lances, made a very conspicuous show. A family of turkeys +was accommodated within the helmet of some _preux chevalier_ of +ancient Border fame; and the very cows, for aught I know, were bearing +banners and muskets. I assure your ladyship that this caravan, +attended by a dozen of ragged rosy peasant children, carrying +fishing-rods and spears, and leading ponies, greyhounds, and +spaniels, would, as it crossed the Tweed, have furnished no bad +subject for the pencil, and really reminded me of one of the gypsy +groups of Callot upon their march. + + + EDINBURGH, 28th May. + +I have got here at length, and had the pleasure to hear Miss Smith +speak the Ode on the Passions charmingly last night. It was her +benefit, and the house was tolerable, though not so good as she +deserves, being a very good girl, as well as an excellent performer. + +I have read Lord Byron with great pleasure, though pleasure is not +quite the appropriate word. I should say admiration--mixed with +regret, that the author should have adopted such an unamiable +misanthropical tone.--The reconciliation with Holland House is +extremely edifying, and may teach young authors to be in no hurry to +exercise their satirical vein. I remember an honest old Presbyterian, +who thought it right to speak with respect even of the devil himself, +since no one knew in what corner he might one day want a friend. But +Lord Byron is young, and certainly has great genius, and has both time +and capacity to make amends for his errors. I wonder if he will pardon +the Edinburgh Reviewers, who have read their recantation of their +former strictures. + +Mrs. Scott begs to offer her kindest and most respectful compliments +to your ladyship and the young ladies. I hope we shall get into +Yorkshire this season to see Morritt: he and his lady are really +delightful persons. Believe me, with great respect, dear Lady +Alvanley, your much honored and obliged + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +A week later, in answer to a letter, mentioning the approach of the +celebrated sale of books in which the Roxburghe Club originated, +Scott says to his trusty ally, Daniel Terry:-- + + + EDINBURGH, 9th June, 1812. + +MY DEAR TERRY,--I wish you joy of your success, which, although all +reports state it as most highly flattering, does not exceed what I had +hoped for you. I think I shall do you a sensible pleasure in +requesting that you will take a walk over the fields to Hampstead one +of these fine days, and deliver the enclosed to my friend Miss +Baillie, with whom, I flatter myself, you will be much pleased, as she +has all the simplicity of real genius. I mentioned to her some time +ago that I wished to make you acquainted, so that the sooner you can +call upon her, the compliment will be the more gracious. As I suppose +you will sometimes look in at the Roxburghe sale, a memorandum +respecting any remarkable articles will be a great favor. + +Abbotsford was looking charming, when I was obliged to mount my wheel +in this court, too fortunate that I have at length some share in the +roast meat I am daily engaged in turning. Our flitting and removal +from Ashestiel baffled all description; we had twenty-four cart-loads +of the veriest trash in nature, besides dogs, pigs, ponies, poultry, +cows, calves, bare-headed wenches, and bare-breeched boys. In other +respects we are going on in the old way, only poor Percy is dead. I +intend to have an old stone set up by his grave, with "_Cy gist li +preux Percie,_" and I hope future antiquaries will debate which hero +of the house of Northumberland has left his bones in Teviotdale.[1] + +Believe me yours very truly, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +This was one of the busiest summers of Scott's busy life. Till the +12th of July he was at his post in the Court of Session five days +every week; but every Saturday evening found him at Abbotsford, to +observe the progress his laborers had made within doors and without +in his absence; and on Monday night he returned to Edinburgh. Even +before the Summer Session commenced, he appears to have made some +advance in his Rokeby, for he writes to Mr. Morritt, from +Abbotsford, on the 4th of May: "As for the house and the poem, there +are twelve masons hammering at the one, and one poor noddle at the +other--so they are both in progress;"--and his literary labors +throughout the long vacation were continued under the same sort of +disadvantage. That autumn he had, in fact, no room at all for +himself. The only parlor which had been hammered into anything like +habitable condition served at once for dining-room, drawing-room, +school-room, and study. A window looking to the river was kept +sacred to his desk; an old bed-curtain was nailed up across the room +close behind his chair, and there, whenever the spade, the dibble, +or the chisel (for he took his full share in all the work on hand) +was laid aside, he pursued his poetical tasks, apparently +undisturbed and unannoyed by the surrounding confusion of masons and +carpenters, to say nothing of the lady's small talk, the children's +babble among themselves, or their repetition of their lessons. The +truth no doubt was, that when at his desk he did little more, as far +as regarded _poetry_, than write down the lines which he had +fashioned in his mind while pursuing his vocation as a planter, upon +that bank which received originally, by way of joke, the title of +_the thicket_. "I am now," he says to Ellis (October 17), "adorning +a patch of naked land with trees _facturis nepotibus umbram_, for I +shall never live to enjoy their shade myself otherwise than in the +recumbent posture of Tityrus or Menalcas." But he did live to see +_the thicket_ deserve not only that name, but a nobler one; and to +fell with his own hand many a well-grown tree that he had planted +there. + +Another plantation of the same date, by his eastern boundary, was +less successful. For this he had asked and received from his early +friend, the Marchioness of Stafford, a supply of acorns from +Trentham, and it was named in consequence _Sutherland bower_; but +the field-mice, in the course of the ensuing winter, contrived to +root up and devour the whole of her ladyship's goodly benefaction. A +third space had been set apart, and duly enclosed, for the reception +of some Spanish chestnuts offered to him by an admirer established +in merchandise at Seville; but that gentleman had not been a very +knowing ally as to such matters, for when the chestnuts arrived, it +turned out that they had been boiled. + +[Illustration: ABBOTSFORD IN 1812] + +Scott writes thus to Terry, in September, while the Roxburghe sale +was still going on:-- + + +I have lacked your assistance, my dear Sir, for twenty whimsicalities +this autumn. Abbotsford, as you will readily conceive, has +considerably changed its face since the auspices of Mother Retford +were exchanged for ours. We have got up a good garden wall, complete +stables in the haugh, according to Stark's plan, and the old farmyard +being enclosed with a wall, with some little picturesque additions in +front, has much relieved the stupendous height of the Doctor's barn. +The new plantations have thriven amazingly well, the acorns are coming +up fast, and Tom Purdie is the happiest and most consequential person +in the world. My present work is building up the well with some debris +from the Abbey. Oh, for your assistance, for I am afraid we shall make +but a botched job of it, especially as our materials are of a very +miscellaneous complexion. The worst of all is, that while my trees +grow and my fountain fills, my purse, in an inverse ratio, sinks to +zero. This last circumstance will, I fear, make me a very poor guest +at the literary entertainment your researches hold out for me. I +should, however, like much to have the Treatise on Dreams, by the +author of the New Jerusalem, which, as John Cuthbertson the smith said +of the minister's sermon, must be neat work. The Loyal Poems, by N. +T.,[2] are probably by poor Nahum Tate, who associated with Brady in +versifying the Psalms, and more honorably with Dryden in the second +part of Absalom and Achitophel. I never saw them, however, but would +give a guinea or thirty shillings for the collection. Our friend John +Ballantyne has, I learn, made a sudden sally to London, and doubtless +you will crush a quart with him or a pottle pot; he will satisfy your +bookseller for The Dreamer, or any other little purchase you may +recommend for me. You have pleased Miss Baillie very much both in +public and in society, and though not fastidious, she is not, I think, +particularly lavish of applause either way. A most valuable person is +she, and as warm-hearted as she is brilliant.--Mrs. Scott and all our +little folks are well. I am relieved of the labor of hearing Walter's +lesson by a gallant son of the church, who, with one leg of wood and +another of oak, walks to and fro from Melrose every day for that +purpose. Pray stick to the dramatic work,[3] and never suppose either +that you can be intrusive, or that I can be uninterested in whatever +concerns you. + +Yours, + + W. S. + + +The tutor alluded to at the close of this letter was Mr. George +Thomson, son of the minister of Melrose, who, when the house +afforded better accommodation, was and continued for many years to +be domesticated at Abbotsford. Scott had always a particular +tenderness towards persons afflicted with any bodily misfortune; and +Thomson, whose leg had been amputated in consequence of a rough +casualty of his boyhood, had a special share in his favor from the +high spirit with which he refused at the time to betray the name of +the companion that had occasioned his mishap, and continued ever +afterwards to struggle against its disadvantages. Tall, vigorous, +athletic, a dauntless horseman, and expert at the singlestick, +George formed a valuable as well as picturesque addition to the +_tail_ of the new laird, who often said, "In the Dominie, like +myself, accident has spoiled a capital lifeguardsman." His many +oddities and eccentricities in no degree interfered with the respect +due to his amiable feelings, upright principles, and sound learning; +nor did _Dominie Thomson_ at all quarrel in after-times with the +universal credence of the neighborhood that he had furnished many +features for the inimitable personage whose designation so nearly +resembled his own; and if he has not yet "wagged his head" in a +"pulpit o' his ain," he well knows it has not been so for want of +earnest and long-continued intercession on the part of the author of +Guy Mannering.[4] + +For many years Scott had accustomed himself to proceed in the +composition of poetry along with that of prose essays of various +descriptions; but it is a remarkable fact that he chose this period +of perpetual noise and bustle, when he had not even a summer-house +to himself, for the new experiment of carrying on two poems at the +same time--and this, too, without suspending the heavy labor of his +edition of Swift, to say nothing of the various lesser matters in +which the Ballantynes were, from day to day, calling for the +assistance of his judgment and his pen. In the same letter in which +William Erskine acknowledges the receipt of the first four pages of +Rokeby, he adverts also to The Bridal of Triermain as being already +in rapid progress. The fragments of this second poem, inserted in +the Register of the preceding year, had attracted considerable +notice; the secret of their authorship had been well kept; and by +some means, even in the shrewdest circles of Edinburgh, the belief +had become prevalent that they proceeded not from Scott, but from +Erskine. Scott had no sooner completed his bargain as to the +copyright of the unwritten Rokeby, than he resolved to pause from +time to time in its composition, and weave those fragments into a +shorter and lighter romance, executed in a different metre, and to +be published anonymously, in a small pocket volume, as nearly as +possible on the same day with the avowed quarto. He expected great +amusement from the comparisons which the critics would no doubt +indulge themselves in drawing between himself and this humble +candidate; and Erskine good-humoredly entered into the scheme, +undertaking to do nothing which should effectually suppress the +notion of his having set himself up as a modest rival to his friend. +Nay, he suggested a further refinement, which in the sequel had no +small share in the success of this little plot upon the sagacity of +the reviewers. Having said that he much admired the opening of the +first canto of Rokeby, Erskine adds, "I shall request your +_accoucheur_ to send me your _little Dugald_ too as he gradually +makes his progress. What I have seen is delightful. You are aware +how difficult it is to form any opinion of a work, the general plan +of which is unknown, transmitted merely in legs and wings as they +are formed and feathered. Any remarks must be of the most minute and +superficial kind, confined chiefly to the language, and other such +subordinate matters. I shall be very much amused if the secret is +kept and the knowing ones taken in. To prevent any discovery from +your prose, what think you of putting down your ideas of what the +preface ought to contain, and allowing me to write it over? And +perhaps a quizzing review might be concocted." + +This last hint was welcome; and among other parts of the preface to +Triermain which threw out "the knowing ones," certain Greek +quotations interspersed in it are now accounted for. Scott, on his +part, appears to have studiously interwoven into the piece allusions +to personal feelings and experiences more akin to his friend's +history and character than to his own; and he did so still more +largely, when repeating this experiment, in the introductory parts +of Harold the Dauntless. + +The same post which conveyed William Erskine's letter, above quoted, +brought him an equally wise and kind one from Mr. Morritt, in answer +to a fresh application for some minute details about the scenery and +local traditions of the Valley of the Tees. Scott had promised to +spend part of this autumn at Rokeby Park himself; but now, busied as +he was with his planting operations at home, and continually urged +by Ballantyne to have the poem ready for publication by Christmas, +he would willingly have trusted his friend's knowledge in place of +his own observation and research. Mr. Morritt gave him in reply +various particulars, which I need not here repeat, but added,-- + + +I am really sorry, my dear Scott, at your abandonment of your kind +intention of visiting Rokeby, and my sorrow is not quite selfish, for +seriously, I wish you could have come, if but for a few days, in +order, on the spot, to settle accurately in your mind the localities +of the new poem, and all their petty circumstances, of which there are +many that would give interest and ornament to your descriptions. I am +too much flattered by your proposal of inscribing the poem to me, not +to accept it with gratitude and pleasure. I shall always feel your +friendship as an honor--we all wish our honors to be permanent--and +yours promises mine at least a fair chance of immortality. I hope, +however, you will not be obliged to write in a hurry on account of the +impatience of your booksellers. They are, I think, ill advised in +their proceeding, for surely the book will be the more likely to +succeed from not being forced prematurely into this critical world. Do +not be persuaded to risk your established fame on this hazardous +experiment. If you want a few hundreds independent of these +booksellers, your credit is so very good, now that you have got rid of +your Old Man of the Sea, that it is no great merit to trust you, and I +happen at this moment to have five or six for which I have no sort of +demand--so rather than be obliged to spur Pegasus beyond the power of +pulling him up when he is going too fast, do consult your own judgment +and set the midwives of the trade at defiance. Don't be scrupulous to +the disadvantage of your muse, and above all be not offended at me for +a proposition which is meant in the true spirit of friendship. I am +more than ever anxious for your success--The Lady of the Lake more +than succeeded--I think Don Roderick is less popular--I want this work +to be another Lady at the least. Surely it would be worth your while +for such an object to spend a week of your time, and a portion of your +Old Man's salary, in a mail-coach flight hither, were it merely to +renew your acquaintance with the country, and to rectify the little +misconceptions of a cursory view. Ever affectionately yours, + + J. B. S. M. + + +This appeal was not to be resisted. Scott, I believe, accepted Mr. +Morritt's friendly offer so far as to ask his assistance in having +some of Ballantyne's bills discounted; and he proceeded the week +after to Rokeby, by the way of Flodden and Hexham, travelling on +horseback, his eldest boy and girl on their ponies, while Mrs. Scott +followed them in the carriage. Two little incidents that diversified +this ride through Northumberland have found their way into print +already; but, as he was fond of telling them both down to the end of +his days, I must give them a place here also. Halting at Flodden to +expound the field of battle to his young folks, he found that +Marmion had, as might have been expected, benefited the keeper of +the public house there very largely; and the village Boniface, +overflowing with gratitude, expressed his anxiety to have a _Scott's +Head_ for his sign-post. The poet demurred to this proposal, and +assured mine host that nothing could be more appropriate than the +portraiture of a foaming tankard, which already surmounted his +doorway. "Why, the painter-man has not made an ill job," said the +landlord, "but I would fain have something more connected with the +book that has brought me so much good custom." He produced a +well-thumbed copy, and handing it to the author, begged he would at +least suggest a motto from the tale of Flodden Field. Scott opened +the book at the death scene of the hero, and his eye was immediately +caught by the "inscription" in black-letter,-- + + "Drink, weary pilgrim, drink, and pray + For the kind soul of Sibyl Grey," etc. + +"Well, my friend," said he, "what more would you have? You need but +strike out one letter in the first of these lines, and make your +painter-man, the next time he comes this way, print between the +jolly tankard and your own name,-- + + "Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and PAY." + +Scott was delighted to find, on his return, that this suggestion had +been adopted, and, for aught I know, the romantic legend may still +be visible. The other story I shall give in the words of Mr. +Gillies:-- + + +"It happened at a small country town that Scott suddenly required +medical advice for one of his servants, and, on inquiring if there was +any doctor at the place, was told that there were two,--one long +established, and the other a newcomer. The latter gentleman, being +luckily found at home, soon made his appearance;--a grave, +sagacious-looking personage, attired in black, with a shovel hat, in +whom, to his utter astonishment, Sir Walter recognized a Scotch +blacksmith, who had formerly practised, with tolerable success, as a +veterinary operator in the neighborhood of Ashestiel.--'How, in all +the world,' exclaimed he, 'can it be possible that this is John +Lundie?'--'In troth is it, your honor--just _a' that's for +him_.'--'Well, but let us hear; you were a _horse_-doctor before; now, +it seems, you are a _man_-doctor; how do you get on?'--'Ou, just +extraordinar weel; for your honor maun ken my practice is vera sure +and orthodox. I depend entirely upon twa _simples_.'--'And what may +their names be? Perhaps it is a secret?'--'I'll tell your honor,' in a +low tone; 'my twa simples are just _laudamy_ and _calamy_!'--'Simples +with a vengeance!' replied Scott. 'But, John, do you never happen to +_kill_ any of your patients?'--'Kill? Ou ay, may be sae! Whiles they +die, and whiles no;--but it's the will o' Providence. _Ony how, your +honor, it wad be lang before it makes up for Flodden!_'"[5] + + +It was also in the course of this expedition that Scott first made +acquaintance with the late excellent and venerable Shute Barrington, +Bishop of Durham. The travellers having reached Auckland over night were +seeing the public rooms of the Castle at an early hour next morning, +when the Bishop happened, in passing through one of them, to catch a +glimpse of Scott's person, and immediately recognizing him, from the +likeness of the engravings by this time multiplied, introduced himself +to the party, and insisted upon acting as cicerone. After showing them +the picture-gallery and so forth, his Lordship invited them to join the +morning service of the chapel, and when that was over, insisted on their +remaining to breakfast. But Scott and his Lordship were by this time so +much pleased with each other that they could not part so easily. The +good Bishop ordered his horse, nor did Scott observe without admiration +the proud curvetting of the animal on which his Lordship proposed to +accompany him during the next stage of his progress. "Why, yes, Mr. +Scott," said the gentle but high-spirited old man, "I still like to feel +my horse under me." He was then in his seventy-ninth year, and survived +to the age of ninety-two, the model in all things of a real prince of +the Church. They parted after a ride of ten miles, with mutual regret; +and on all subsequent rides in that direction, Bishop-Auckland was one +of the poet's regular halting-places.[6] + +At Rokeby, on this occasion, Scott remained about a week; and I +transcribe the following brief account of his proceedings while +there from Mr. Morritt's _Memorandum_:-- + + +"I had, of course," he says, "had many previous opportunities of +testing the almost conscientious fidelity of his local descriptions; +but I could not help being singularly struck with the lights which +this visit threw on that characteristic of his compositions. The +morning after he arrived he said, 'You have often given me materials +for romance--now I want a good robber's cave, and an old church of the +right sort.' We rode out, and he found what he wanted in the ancient +slate quarries of Brignall and the ruined Abbey of Egglestone. I +observed him noting down even the peculiar little wild flowers and +herbs that accidentally grew round and on the side of a bold crag near +his intended cave of Guy Denzil; and could not help saying, that as he +was not to be upon oath in his work, daisies, violets, and primroses +would be as poetical as any of the humble plants he was examining. I +laughed, in short, at his scrupulousness; but I understood him when he +replied, 'that in nature herself no two scenes were exactly alike, and +that whoever copied truly what was before his eyes would possess the +same variety in his descriptions, and exhibit apparently an +imagination as boundless as the range of nature in the scenes he +recorded; whereas, whoever trusted to imagination would soon find his +own mind circumscribed, and contracted to a few favorite images, and +the repetition of these would sooner or later produce that very +monotony and barrenness which had always haunted descriptive poetry in +the hands of any but the patient worshippers of truth. Besides which,' +he said, 'local names and peculiarities make a fictitious story look +so much better in the face.' In fact, from his boyish habits, he was +but half satisfied with the most beautiful scenery when he could not +connect with it some local legend, and when I was forced sometimes to +confess with the Knife-grinder, 'Story! God bless you! I have none to +tell, sir,'--he would laugh and say, 'Then let us make one--nothing so +easy as to make a tradition.'" + + +Mr. Morritt adds, that he had brought with him about half The +Bridal of Triermain--told him that he meant to bring it out the same +week with Rokeby--and promised himself particular satisfaction in +_laying a trap for Jeffrey_; who, however, as we shall see, escaped +the snare. + +Some of the following letters will show with what rapidity, after +having refreshed and stored his memory with the localities of +Rokeby, he proceeded in the composition of the romance:-- + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ. + + ABBOTSFORD, 12th October, 1812. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I have this morning returned from Dalkeith House, to +which I was whisked amid the fury of an election tempest, and I found +your letter on my table. More on such a subject cannot be said among +friends who give each other credit for feeling as they ought. + +We peregrinated over Stanmore, and visited the Castles of Bowes, +Brough, Appleby, and Brougham with great interest. Lest our spirit of +chivalry thus excited should lack employment, we found ourselves, that +is, _I_ did, at Carlisle, engaged in the service of two distressed +ladies, being no other than our friends Lady Douglas and Lady Louisa +Stuart, who overtook us there, and who would have had great trouble in +finding quarters, the election being in full vigor, if we had not +anticipated their puzzle, and secured a private house capable of +holding us all. Some distress occurred, I believe, among the waiting +damsels, whose case I had not so carefully considered, for I heard a +sentimental exclamation--"Am I to sleep with the greyhounds?" which I +conceived to proceed from Lady Douglas's _suivante_, from the +exquisite sensibility of tone with which it was uttered, especially as +I beheld the fair one descend from the carriage with three half-bound +volumes of a novel in her hand. Not having it in my power to alleviate +her woes, by offering her either a part or the whole of my own +couch.--"_Transeat_," quoth I, "_cum cæteris erroribus_." + +I am delighted with your Cumberland admirer,[7] and give him credit +for his visit to the vindicator of Homer; but you missed one of +another description, who passed Rokeby with great regret, I mean +General John Malcolm, the Persian envoy, the Delhi resident, the poet, +the warrior, the polite man, and the Borderer. He is really a fine +fellow. I met him at Dalkeith, and we returned together;--he has just +left me, after drinking his coffee. A fine time we had of it, talking +of Troy town, and Babel, and Persepolis, and Delhi, and Langholm, and +Burnfoot;[8] with all manner of episodes about Iskendiar, Rustan, and +Johnny Armstrong. Do you know, that poem of Ferdusi's must be +beautiful. He read me some very splendid extracts which he had himself +translated. Should you meet him in London, I have given him charge to +be acquainted with you, for I am sure you will like each other. To be +sure, I know him little, but I like his frankness and his sound ideas +of morality and policy; and I have observed, that when I have had no +great liking to persons at the beginning, it has usually pleased +Heaven, as Slender says, to decrease it on further acquaintance. +Adieu, I must mount my horse. Our last journey was so delightful that +we have every temptation to repeat it. Pray give our kind love to the +lady, and believe me ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO THE SAME. + + EDINBURGH, 29th November, 1812. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I have been, and still am, working very hard, in +hopes to face the public by Christmas, and I think I have hitherto +succeeded in throwing some interest into the piece. It is, however, a +darker and more gloomy interest than I intended; but involving one's +self with bad company, whether in fiction or in reality, is the way +not to get out of it easily; so I have been obliged to bestow more +pains and trouble upon Bertram, and one or two blackguards whom he +picks up in the slate quarries, than what I originally designed. I am +very desirous to have your opinion of the three first Cantos, for +which purpose, so soon as I can get them collected, I will send the +sheets under cover to Mr. Freeling, whose omnipotent frank will +transmit them to Rokeby, where, I presume, you have been long since +comfortably settled-- + + "So York may overlook the town of York."[9] + +I trust you will read it with some partiality, because, if I have not +been so successful as I could wish in describing your lovely and +romantic glens, it has partly arisen from my great anxiety to do it +well, which is often attended with the very contrary effect. There are +two or three songs, and particularly one in praise of Brignall Banks, +which I trust you will like--because, _entre nous_, I like them +myself. One of them is a little dashing banditti song, called and +entitled Allen-a-Dale. I think you will be able to judge for yourself +in about a week. Pray, how shall I send you the _entire goose_, which +will be too heavy to travel the same way with its _giblets_--for the +Carlisle coach is terribly inaccurate about parcels? I fear I have +made one blunder in mentioning the brooks which flow into the Tees. I +have made the Balder distinct from that which comes down Thorsgill--I +hope I am not mistaken. You will see the passage; and if they are the +same rivulet, the leaf must be cancelled. + +I trust this will find Mrs. Morritt pretty well; and I am glad to find +she has been better for her little tour. We were delighted with ours, +except in respect of its short duration, and Sophia and Walter hold +their heads very high among their untravelled companions, from the +predominance acquired by their visit to England. You are not perhaps +aware of the polish which is supposed to be acquired by the most +transitory intercourse with your more refined side of the Tweed. There +was an honest carter who once applied to me respecting a plan which he +had formed of breeding his son, a great booby of twenty, to the +Church. As the best way of evading the scrape, I asked him whether he +thought his son's language was quite adapted for the use of a public +speaker?--to which he answered, with great readiness, that he could +knap English with any one, having twice driven his father's cart to +Etal coal-hill. + +I have called my heroine Matilda. I don't much like Agnes, though I +can't tell why, unless it is because it begins like Agag. Matilda is a +name of unmanageable length; but, after all, is better than none, and +my poor damsel was likely to go without one in my indecision. + +We are all hungering and thirsting for news from Russia. If Boney's +devil does not help him, he is in a poor way. The Leith letters talk +of the unanimity of the Russians as being most exemplary; and troops +pour in from all quarters of their immense empire. Their commissariat +is well managed under the Prince Duke of Oldenburgh. This was their +weak point in former wars. + +Adieu! Mrs. Scott and the little people send love to Mrs. Morritt and +you. Ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO THE SAME. + + EDINBURGH, Thursday, 10th December, 1812. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I have just time to say that I have received your +letters, and am delighted that Rokeby pleases the owner. As I hope the +whole will be printed off before Christmas, it will scarce be worth +while to send you the other sheets till it reaches you altogether. +Your criticisms are the best proof of your kind attention to the +poem. I need not say I will pay them every attention in the next +edition. But some of the faults are so interwoven with the story, that +they must stand. Denzil, for instance, is essential to me, though, as +you say, not very interesting; and I assure you that, generally +speaking, the _poeta loquitur_ has a bad effect in narrative; and when +you have twenty things to tell, it is better to be slatternly than +tedious. The fact is, that the tediousness of many really good poems +arises from an attempt to support the same tone throughout, which +often occasions periphrasis, and always stiffness. I am quite sensible +that I have often carried the opposite custom too far; but I am apt to +impute it partly to not being able to bring out my own ideas well, and +partly to haste--not to error in the system. This would, however, lead +to a long discussion, more fit for the fireside than for a letter. I +need not say that, the poem being in fact your own, you are at perfect +liberty to dispose of the sheets as you please. I am glad my geography +is pretty correct. It is too late to inquire if Rokeby is insured, for +I have burned it down in Canto V.; but I suspect you will bear me no +greater grudge than at the noble Russian who burned Moscow. Glorious +news to-day from the North--_pereat iste_! Mrs. Scott, Sophia, and +Walter, join in best compliments to Mrs. Morritt; and I am, in great +haste, ever faithfully yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + +P. S.--I have heard of Lady Hood by a letter from herself. She is +well, and in high spirits, and sends me a pretty topaz seal, with a +talisman which secures this letter, and signifies (it seems), which +one would scarce have expected from its appearance, my name. + + +We are now close upon the end of this busy twelvemonth; but I must +not turn the leaf to 1813, without noticing one of its miscellaneous +incidents--his first intercourse by letter with the poet Crabbe. Mr. +Hatchard, the publisher of his Tales, forwarded a copy of the book +to Scott as soon as it was ready; and, the bookseller having +communicated to his author some flattering expressions in Scott's +letter of acknowledgment, Mr. Crabbe addressed him as follows:-- + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH. + + MUSTON, GRANTHAM, 13th October, 1812. + +SIR,--Mr. Hatchard, judging rightly of the satisfaction it would +afford me, has been so obliging as to communicate your two letters, in +one of which you desire my Tales to be sent; in the other, you +acknowledge the receipt of them; and in both you mention my verses in +such terms, that it would be affected in me were I to deny, and I +think unjust if I were to conceal, the pleasure you give me. I am +indeed highly gratified. + +I have long entertained a hearty wish to be made known to a poet whose +works are so greatly and so universally admired; and I continued to hope +that I might at some time find a common friend, by whose intervention I +might obtain that honor; but I am confined by duties near my home, and +by sickness in it. It may be long before I be in town, and then no such +opportunity might offer. Excuse me, then, sir, if I gladly seize this +which now occurs to express my thanks for the politeness of your +expressions, as well as my desire of being known to a gentleman who has +delighted and affected me, and moved all the passions and feelings in +turn, I believe--Envy surely excepted--certainly, if I know myself, but +in a moderate degree. I truly rejoice in your success; and while I am +entertaining, in my way, a certain set of readers, for the most part, +probably, of peculiar turn and habit, I can with pleasure see the effect +you produce on all. Mr. Hatchard tells me that he hopes or expects that +thousands will read my Tales, and I am convinced that your publisher +might, in like manner, so speak of your ten thousands; but this, though +it calls to mind the passage, is no true comparison with the related +prowess of David and Saul, because I have no evil spirit to arise and +trouble me on the occasion; though, if I had, I know no David whose +skill is so likely to allay it. Once more, sir, accept my best thanks, +with my hearty wishes for your health and happiness, who am, with great +esteem, and true respect, + +Dear Sir, your obedient servant, + + GEORGE CRABBE. + + +I cannot produce Scott's reply to this communication. Mr. Crabbe +appears to have, in the course of the year, sent him a copy of all +his works, "ex dono auctoris," and there passed between them several +letters, one or two of which I must quote. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH. + +Know you, sir, a gentleman in Edinburgh, A. Brunton (the Rev.), who +dates St. John Street, and who asks my assistance in furnishing hymns +which have relation to the Old or New Testament--anything which might +suit the purpose of those who are cooking up a book of Scotch +Psalmody? Who is Mr. Brunton? What is his situation? If I could help +one who needed help, I would do it cheerfully--but have no great +opinion of this undertaking.... + +With every good wish, yours sincerely, + + GEORGE CRABBE. + + +Scott's answer to this letter expresses the opinions he always held +in conversation on the important subject to which it refers; and +acting upon which, he himself at various times declined taking any +part in the business advocated by Dr. Brunton:-- + + +TO THE REV. GEORGE CRABBE, MUSTON, GRANTHAM. + +MY DEAR SIR,--I was favored with your kind letter some time ago. Of +all people in the world, I am least entitled to demand regularity of +correspondence; for being, one way and another, doomed to a great deal +more writing than suits my indolence, I am sometimes tempted to envy +the reverend hermit of Prague, confessor to the niece of Queen +Gorboduc, who never saw either pen or ink. Mr. Brunton is a very +respectable clergyman of Edinburgh, and I believe the work in which he +has solicited your assistance is one adopted by the General Assembly, +or Convocation of the Kirk. I have no notion that he has any +individual interest in it; he is a well-educated and liberal-minded +man, and generally esteemed. I have no particular acquaintance with +him myself, though we speak together. He is at this very moment +sitting on the outside of the bar of our Supreme Court, within which I +am fagging as a clerk; but as he is hearing the opinion of the Judges +upon an action for augmentation of stipend to him and to his brethren, +it would not, I conceive, be a very favorable time to canvass a +literary topic. But you are quite safe with him; and having so much +command of scriptural language, which appears to me essential to the +devotional poetry of Christians, I am sure you can assist his purpose +much more than any man alive. + +I think those hymns which do not immediately recall the warm and +exalted language of the Bible are apt to be, however elegant, rather +cold and flat for the purposes of devotion. You will readily believe +that I do not approve of the vague and indiscriminate Scripture +language which the fanatics of old and the modern Methodists have +adopted, but merely that solemnity and peculiarity of diction, which +at once puts the reader and hearer upon his guard as to the purpose of +the poetry. To my Gothic ear, indeed, the _Stabat Mater_, the _Dies +Iræ_, and some of the other hymns of the Catholic Church, are more +solemn and affecting than the fine classical poetry of Buchanan; the +one has the gloomy dignity of a Gothic church, and reminds us +instantly of the worship to which it is dedicated; the other is more +like a Pagan temple, recalling to our memory the classical and +fabulous deities.[10] This is, probably, all referable to the +association of ideas--that is, if the "association of ideas" continues +to be the universal pick-lock of all metaphysical difficulties, as it +was when I studied moral philosophy--or to any other more fashionable +universal solvent which may have succeeded to it in reputation. Adieu, +my dear sir,--I hope you and your family will long enjoy all happiness +and prosperity. Never be discouraged from the constant use of your +charming talent. The opinions of reviewers are really too +contradictory to found anything upon them, whether they are favorable +or otherwise; for it is usually their principal object to display the +abilities of the writers of the critical lucubrations themselves. Your +Tales are universally admired here. I go but little out, but the few +judges whose opinions I have been accustomed to look up to, are +unanimous. Ever yours, most truly, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH. + +_MY DEAR SIR_,--Law, then, is your profession--I mean a profession you +give your mind and time to--but how "fag as a _clerk_"? Clerk is a +name for a learned person, I know, in our Church; but how the same +hand which held the pen of Marmion holds that with which a clerk fags, +unless a clerk means something vastly more than I understand, is not +to be comprehended. I wait for elucidation. Know you, dear sir, I have +often thought I should love to read _reports_--that is, brief +histories of extraordinary cases, with the judgments. If that is what +is meant by _reports_, such reading must be pleasant; but, probably, I +entertain wrong ideas, and could not understand the books I think so +engaging. Yet I conclude there are _histories of cases_, and have +often thought of consulting Hatchard whether he knew of such kind of +reading, but hitherto I have rested in ignorance.... Yours truly, + + GEORGE CRABBE. + + +TO THE REV. GEORGE CRABBE. + +MY DEAR SIR,--I have too long delayed to thank you for the most kind +and acceptable present of your three volumes. Now am I doubly armed, +since I have a set for my cabin at Abbotsford as well as in town; and, +to say truth, the auxiliary copy arrived in good time, for my original +one suffers as much by its general popularity among my young people, +as a popular candidate from the hugs and embraces of his democratical +admirers. The clearness and accuracy of your painting, whether +natural or moral, renders, I have often remarked, your works generally +delightful to those whose youth might render them insensible to the +other beauties with which they abound. There are a sort of +pictures--surely the most valuable, were it but for that reason--which +strike the uninitiated as much as they do the connoisseur, though the +last alone can render reason for his admiration. Indeed our old friend +Horace knew what he was saying when he chose to address his ode, +"_Virginibus puerisque_," and so did Pope when he told somebody he had +the mob on the side of his version of Homer, and did not mind the +high-flying critics at Button's. After all, if a faultless poem could +be produced, I am satisfied it would tire the critics themselves, and +annoy the whole reading world with the spleen. + +You must be delightfully situated in the Vale of Belvoir--a part of +England for which I entertain a special kindness, for the sake of the +gallant hero, Robin Hood, who, as probably you will readily guess, is +no small favorite of mine; his indistinct ideas concerning the +doctrine of _meum_ and _tuum_ being no great objection to an outriding +Borderer. I am happy to think that your station is under the +protection of the Rutland family, of whom fame speaks highly. Our lord +of the "cairn and the scaur," waste wilderness and hungry hills, for +many a league around, is the Duke of Buccleuch, the head of my clan; a +kind and benevolent landlord, a warm and zealous friend, and the +husband of a lady--_comme il y en a peu_. They are both great admirers +of Mr. Crabbe's poetry, and would be happy to know him, should he ever +come to Scotland, and venture into the Gothic halls of a Border chief. +The early and uniform kindness of this family, with the friendship of +the late and present Lord Melville, enabled me, some years ago, to +exchange my toils as a barrister, for the lucrative and respectable +situation of one of the Clerks of our Supreme Court, which only +requires a certain routine of official duty, neither laborious nor +calling for any exertion of the mind; so that my time is entirely at +my own command, except when I am attending the Court, which seldom +occupies more than two hours of the morning during sitting. I besides +hold _in commendam_ the Sheriffdom of Ettrick Forest, which is now no +forest; so that I am a pluralist as to law appointments, and have, as +Dogberry says, "two gowns, and everything handsome about me."[11] + +I have often thought it is the most fortunate thing for bards like you +and me to have an established profession, and professional character, +to render us independent of those worthy gentlemen, the retailers, or, +as some have called them, the midwives of literature, who are so much +taken up with the abortions they bring into the world, that they are +scarcely able to bestow the proper care upon young and flourishing +babes like ours. That, however, is only a mercantile way of looking at +the matter; but did any of my sons show poetical talent, of which, to +my great satisfaction, there are no appearances, the first thing I +should do would be to inculcate upon him the duty of cultivating some +honorable profession, and qualifying himself to play a more +respectable part in society than the mere poet. And as the best +corollary of my doctrine, I would make him get your tale of The Patron +by heart from beginning to end. It is curious enough that you should +have republished The Village for the purpose of sending your young men +to college, and I should have written The Lay of the Last Minstrel for +the purpose of buying a new horse for the Volunteer Cavalry. I must +now send this scrawl into town to get a frank, for, God knows, it is +not worthy of postage. With the warmest wishes for your health, +prosperity, and increase of fame--though it needs not--I remain most +sincerely and affectionately yours, + + WALTER SCOTT.[12] + + +The contrast of the two poets' epistolary styles is highly amusing; +but I have introduced these specimens less on that account, than as +marking the cordial confidence which a very little intercourse was +sufficient to establish between men so different from each other in +most of the habits of life. It will always be considered as one of +the most pleasing peculiarities in Scott's history, that he was the +friend of every great contemporary poet: Crabbe, as we shall see +more largely in the sequel, was no exception to the rule: yet I +could hardly name one of them who, manly principles and the +cultivation of literature apart, had many points of resemblance to +him; and surely not one who had fewer than Crabbe. + +Scott continued, this year, his care for the Edinburgh Annual +Register--the historical department of which was again supplied by +Mr. Southey. The poetical miscellany owed its opening piece, the +Ballad of Polydore, to the readiness with which Scott entered into +correspondence with its author, who sent it to him anonymously, with +a letter which, like the verses, might well have excited much +interest in his mind, even had it not concluded with stating the +writer's age to be _fifteen_. Scott invited the youth to visit him +in the country, was greatly pleased with the modesty of his manners +and the originality of his conversation, and wrote to Joanna +Baillie, that, "though not one of the crimps for the muses," he +thought he could hardly be mistaken in believing that in the boyish +author of Polydore he had discovered a true genius. When I mention +the name of my friend William Howison of Clydegrove, it will be +allowed that he prognosticated wisely. He continued to correspond +with this young gentleman and his father, and gave both much advice, +for which both were most grateful. There was inserted in the same +volume a set of beautiful stanzas, inscribed to Scott by Mr. Wilson, +under the title of The Magic Mirror, in which that enthusiastic +young poet also bears a lofty and lasting testimony to the gentle +kindness with which his earlier efforts had been encouraged by him +whom he designates, for the first time, by what afterwards became +one of his standing titles, that of The Great Magician. + + "Onwards a figure came, with stately brow, + And, as he glanced upon the ruin'd pile + A look of regal pride, 'Say, who art thou' + (His countenance bright'ning with a scornful smile, + He sternly cried), 'whose footsteps rash profane + The wild romantic realm where I have willed to reign?' + + "But ere to these proud words I could reply, + How changed that scornful face to soft and mild! + A witching frenzy glitter'd in his eye, + Harmless, withal, as that of playful child. + And when once more the gracious vision spoke, + I felt the voice familiar to mine ear; + While many a faded dream of earth awoke, + Connected strangely with that unknown seer, + Who now stretch'd forth his arm, and on the sand + A circle round me traced, as with magician's wand," etc. + +Scott's own chief contribution to this volume was a brief account of +the Life and Poems (hitherto unpublished)[13] of Patrick Carey, whom +he pronounces to have been not only as stout a Cavalier, but almost +as good a poet as his contemporary Lovelace. That Essay was +expanded, and prefixed to an edition of Carey's Trivial Poems and +Triolets, which Scott published in 1820; but its circulation in +either shape has been limited: and I believe I shall be gratifying +the majority of my readers by here transcribing some paragraphs of +his beautiful and highly characteristic introduction of this +forgotten poet of the seventeenth century. + + +"The present age has been so distinguished for research into poetical +antiquities, that the discovery of an unknown bard is, in certain +chosen literary circles, held as curious as an augmentation of the +number of fixed stars would be esteemed by astronomers. It is true, +these 'blessed twinklers of the night' are so far removed from us, +that they afford no more light than serves barely to evince their +existence to the curious investigator; and in like manner the pleasure +derived from the revival of an obscure poet is rather in proportion to +the rarity of his volume than to its merit; yet this pleasure is not +inconsistent with reason and principle. We know by every day's +experience the peculiar interest which the lapse of ages confers upon +works of human art. The clumsy strength of the ancient castles, which, +when raw from the hand of the builder, inferred only the oppressive +power of the barons who reared them, is now broken by partial ruin +into proper subjects for the poet or the painter; and as Mason has +beautifully described the change, + + 'Time + Has mouldered into beauty many a tower, + Which, when it frowned with all its battlements, + Was only terrible.' + +"The monastery, too, which was at first but a fantastic monument of +the superstitious devotion of monarchs, or of the purple pride of +fattened abbots, has gained by the silent influence of antiquity the +power of impressing awe and devotion. Even the stains and +weather-taints upon the battlements of such buildings add, like the +scars of a veteran, to the affecting impression:-- + + 'For time has softened what was harsh when new, + And now the stains are all of sober hue; + The living stains which nature's hand alone, + Profuse of life, pours forth upon the stone.'--_Crabbe._ + +"If such is the effect of Time in adding interest to the labors of the +architect, if partial destruction is compensated by the additional +interest of that which remains, can we deny his exerting a similar +influence upon those subjects which are sought after by the +bibliographer and poetical antiquary? The obscure poet, who is detected +by their keen research, may indeed have possessed but a slender portion +of that spirit which has buoyed up the works of distinguished +contemporaries during the course of centuries, yet still his verses +shall, in the lapse of time, acquire an interest, which they did not +possess in the eyes of his own generation. The wrath of the critic, +like that of the son of Ossian, flies from the foe that is low. Envy, +base as she is, has one property of the lion, and cannot prey on +carcases; she must drink the blood of a sentient victim, and tear the +limbs that are yet warm with vital life. Faction, if the ancient has +suffered her persecution, serves only to endear him to the recollection +of posterity, whose generous compassion overpays him for the injuries he +sustained while in life. And thus freed from the operation of all +unfavorable prepossessions, his merit, if he can boast any, has more +than fair credit with his readers. This, however, is but part of his +advantages. The mere attribute of antiquity is of itself sufficient to +interest the fancy by the lively and powerful train of associations +which it awakens. Had the pyramids of Egypt, equally disagreeable in +form and senseless as to utility, been the work of any living tyrant, +with what feelings, save those of scorn and derision, could we have +regarded such a waste of labor? But the sight, nay, the very mention of +these wonderful monuments, is associated with the dark and sublime ideas +which vary their tinge according to the favorite hue of our studies. The +Christian divine recollects the land of banishment and of refuge; to the +eyes of the historian's fancy, they excite the shades of Pharaohs and of +Ptolemies, of Cheops and Merops, and Sesostris drawn in triumph by his +sceptred slaves; the philosopher beholds the first rays of moral truth +as they dawned on the hieroglyphic sculptures of Thebes and Memphis; and +the poet sees the fires of magic blazing upon the mystic altars of a +land of incantation. Nor is the grandeur of size essential to such +feelings, any more than the properties of grace and utility. Even the +rudest remnant of a feudal tower, even the obscure and almost +indistinguishable vestige of an altogether unknown edifice, has power to +awaken such trains of fancy. We have a fellow interest with the 'son of +the winged days,' over whose fallen habitation we tread:-- + + 'The massy stones, though hewn most roughly, show + The hand of man had once at least been there.'--_Wordsworth._ + +"Similar combinations give a great part of the delight we receive from +ancient poetry. In the rude song of the Scald, we regard less the +strained imagery and extravagance of epithet, than the wild +impressions which it conveys of the dauntless resolution, savage +superstition, rude festivity, and ceaseless depredation of the ancient +Scandinavians. In the metrical romance, we pardon the long, tedious, +and bald enumeration of trifling particulars; the reiterated sameness +of the eternal combats between knights and giants; the overpowering +languor of the love speeches, and the merciless length and similarity +of description--when Fancy whispers to us that such strains may have +cheered the sleepless pillow of the Black Prince on the memorable eves +of Cressy or Poictiers. There is a certain romance of Ferumbras, which +Robert the Bruce read to his few followers, to divert their thoughts +from the desperate circumstances in which they were placed, after an +unsuccessful attempt to rise against the English. Is there a true +Scotsman who, being aware of this anecdote, would be disposed to yawn +over the romance of Ferumbras? Or, on the contrary, would not the +image of the dauntless hero, inflexible in defeat, beguiling the +anxiety of his war-worn attendants by the lays of the minstrel, give +to these rude lays themselves an interest beyond Greek and Roman +fame?" + + +The year 1812 had the usual share of minor literary labors--such as +contributions to the journals; and before it closed, the Romance of +Rokeby was finished. Though it had been long in hand, the MS. sent +to the printer bears abundant evidence of its being the _prima +cura_: three cantos at least reached Ballantyne through the Melrose +post--written on paper of various sorts and sizes--full of blots and +interlineations--the closing couplets of a despatch now and then +encircling the page, and mutilated by the breaking of the seal. + +According to the recollection of Mr. Cadell, though James Ballantyne +read the poem, as the sheets were advancing through the press, to +his usual circle of literary _dilettanti_, their whispers were far +from exciting in Edinburgh such an intensity of expectation as had +been witnessed in the case of The Lady of the Lake. He adds, +however, that it was looked for with undiminished anxiety in the +south. "Send me _Rokeby_," Byron writes to Murray on seeing it +advertised,--"Who the devil is he? No matter--he has good +connections, and will be well introduced."[14] Such, I suppose, was +the general feeling in London. I well remember, being in those days +a young student at Oxford, how the booksellers' shops there were +beleaguered for the earliest copies, and how he that had been so +fortunate as to secure one was followed to his chambers by a tribe +of friends, all as eager to hear it read as ever horse-jockeys were +to see the conclusion of a match at Newmarket; and indeed not a few +of those enthusiastic academics had bets depending on the issue of +the struggle, which they considered the elder favorite as making, to +keep his own ground against the fiery rivalry of Childe Harold. + +The poem was published a day or two before Scott returned to +Edinburgh from Abbotsford, between which place and Mertoun he had +divided his Christmas vacation. On the 9th and 10th of January, +1813, he thus addresses his friends at Sunning Hill and Hampstead:-- + + +TO GEORGE ELLIS, ESQ. + +MY DEAR ELLIS,--I am sure you will place it to anything rather than +want of kindness that I have been so long silent--so very long, indeed, +that I am not quite sure whether the fault is on my side or yours--but, +be it what it may, it can never, I am sure, be laid to forgetfulness in +either. This comes to train you on to the merciful reception of a Tale +of the Civil Wars; not political, however, but merely a pseudo-romance +of pseudo-chivalry. I have converted a lusty buccaneer into a hero with +some effect; but the worst of all my undertakings is, that my rogue +always, in despite of me, turns out my hero. I know not how this should +be. I am myself, as Hamlet says, "indifferent honest;" and my father, +though an attorney (as you will call him), was one of the most honest +men, as well as gentlemanlike, that ever breathed. I am sure I can bear +witness to that--for if he had at all _smacked_, or _grown to_, like the +son of Lancelot Gobbo, he might have left us all as rich as Croesus, +besides having the pleasure of taking a fine primrose path himself, +instead of squeezing himself through a tight gate and up a steep ascent, +and leaving us the decent competence of an honest man's children. As to +our more ancient pedigree, I should be loath to vouch for them. My +grandfather was a horse-jockey and cattle-dealer, and made a fortune; my +great-grandfather a Jacobite and traitor (as the times called him), and +lost one; and after him intervened one or two half-starved lairds, who +rode a lean horse, and were followed by leaner greyhounds; gathered with +difficulty a hundred pounds from a hundred tenants; fought duels; cocked +their hats,--and called themselves gentlemen. Then we come to the old +Border times, cattle-driving, halters, and so forth, for which, in the +matter of honesty, very little I suppose can be said--at least in modern +acceptation of the word. Upon the whole, I am inclined to think it is +owing to the earlier part of this inauspicious generation that I +uniformly find myself in the same scrape in my fables, and that, in +spite of the most obstinate determination to the contrary, the greatest +rogue in my canvas always stands out as the most conspicuous and +prominent figure. All this will be a riddle to you, unless you have +received a certain packet, which the Ballantynes were to have sent under +Freeling's or Croker's cover, so soon as they could get a copy done up. + +And now let me gratulate you upon the renovated vigor of your fine old +friends the Russians. By the Lord, sir! it is most famous, this +campaign of theirs. I was not one of the very sanguine persons who +anticipated the actual capture of Buonaparte--a hope which rather +proceeded from the ignorance of those who cannot conceive that +military movements, upon a large scale, admit of such a force being +accumulated upon any particular point as may, by abandonment of other +considerations, always insure the escape of an individual. But I had +no hope, in my time, of seeing the dry bones of the Continent so warm +with life again, as this revivification of the Russians proves them to +be. I look anxiously for the effect of these great events on Prussia, +and even upon Saxony; for I think Boney will hardly trust himself +again in Germany, now that he has been plainly shown, both in Spain +and Russia, that protracted, stubborn, unaccommodating resistance will +foil those grand exertions in the long run. All laud be to Lord +Wellington, who first taught that great lesson. + +Charlotte is with me just now at this little scrub habitation, where +we weary ourselves all day in looking at our projected improvements, +and then slumber over the fire, I pretending to read, and she to work +trout-nets, or cabbage-nets, or some such article. What is Canning +about? Is there any chance of our getting him in? Surely Ministers +cannot hope to do without him. Believe me, dear Ellis, ever truly +yours, + + W. SCOTT. + +ABBOTSFORD, 9th January, 1813. + + +TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE. + + ABBOTSFORD, January 10, 1813. + +Your kind encouragement, my dear friend, has given me spirits to +complete the lumbering quarto, which I hope has reached you by this +time. I have gone on with my story _forth right_, without troubling +myself excessively about the development of the plot and other +critical matters-- + + "But shall we go mourn for that, my dear? + The pale moon shines by night; + And when we wander here and there, + We then do go most right." + +I hope you will like Bertram to the end; he is a Caravaggio sketch, +which, I may acknowledge to you--but tell it not in Gath--I rather +pique myself upon; and he is within the keeping of Nature, though +critics will say to the contrary. It may be difficult to fancy that +any one should take a sort of pleasure in bringing out such a +character, but I suppose it is partly owing to bad reading, and +ill-directed reading, when I was young. No sooner had I corrected the +last sheet of Rokeby, than I escaped to this Patmos as blithe as bird +on tree, and have been ever since most decidedly idle--that is to say, +with busy idleness. I have been banking, and securing, and diking +against the river, and planting willows, and aspens, and +weeping-birches, around my new old well, which I think I told you I +had constructed last summer. I have now laid the foundations of a +famous background of copse, with pendent trees in front; and I have +only to beg a few years to see how my colors will come out of the +canvas. Alas, who can promise that? But somebody will take my +place--and enjoy them, whether I do or no. My old friend and pastor, +Principal Robertson (the historian), when he was not expected to +survive many weeks, still watched the setting of the blossom upon some +fruit-trees in the garden with as much interest as if it was possible +he could have seen the fruit come to maturity, and moralized on his +own conduct, by observing that we act upon the same inconsistent +motive throughout life. It is well we do so for those that are to come +after us. I could almost dislike the man who refuses to plant +walnut-trees, because they do not bear fruit till the second +generation; and so--many thanks to our ancestors, and much joy to our +successors, and truce to my fine and very new strain of morality. +Yours ever, + + W. S. + + +The following letter lets us completely behind the scenes at the +publication of Rokeby. The "horrid story" it alludes to was that of +a young woman found murdered on New Year's Day in the highway +between Greta Bridge and Barnard Castle--a crime, the perpetrator of +which was never discovered. The account of a parallel atrocity in +Galloway, and the mode of its detection, will show the reader from +what source Scott drew one of the most striking incidents in his Guy +Mannering:-- + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., ROKEBY PARK. + + EDINBURGH, 12th January, 1813. + +DEAR MORRITT,--Yours I have just received in mine office at the +Register-House, which will excuse this queer sheet of paper. The +publication of Rokeby was delayed till Monday, to give the London +publishers a fair start. My copies, that is, my friends', were all to +be got off about Friday or Saturday; but yours may have been a little +later, as it was to be what they call a picked one. I will call at +Ballantyne's as I return from this place, and close the letter with +such news as I can get about it there. The book has gone off here very +bobbishly, for the impression of 3000 and upwards is within two or +three score of being exhausted, and the demand for these continuing +faster than they can be boarded. I am heartily glad of this, for now I +have nothing to fear but a bankruptcy in the Gazette of Parnassus; but +the loss of five or six thousand pounds to my good friends and +school-companions would have afflicted me very much. I wish we could +whistle you here to-day. Ballantyne always gives a christening dinner, +at which the Duke of Buccleuch, and a great many of my friends, are +formally feasted. He has always the best singing that can be heard in +Edinburgh, and we have usually a very pleasant party, at which your +health as patron and proprietor of Rokeby will be faithfully and +honorably remembered. + +Your horrid story reminds me of one in Galloway, where the perpetrator +of a similar enormity on a poor idiot girl was discovered by means of +the print of his foot which he left upon the clay floor of the cottage +in the death struggle. It pleased Heaven (for nothing short of a +miracle could have done it) to enlighten the understanding of an old +ram-headed sheriff, who was usually nicknamed Leather-head. The steps +which he took to discover the murderer were most sagacious. As the +poor girl was pregnant (for it was not a case of violation), it was +pretty clear that her paramour had done the deed, and equally so that +he must be a native of the district. The sheriff caused the minister +to advertise from the pulpit that the girl would be buried on a +particular day, and that all persons in the neighborhood were invited +to attend the funeral, to show their detestation of such an enormous +crime, as well as to evince their own innocence. This was sure to +bring the murderer to the funeral. When the people were assembled in +the kirk, the doors were locked by the sheriff's order, and the shoes +of all the men were examined; that of the murderer was detected by the +measure of the foot, tread, etc., and a peculiarity in the mode in +which the sole of one of them had been patched. The remainder of the +curious chain of evidence upon which he was convicted will suit best +with twilight, or a blinking candle, being too long for a letter. The +fellow bore a most excellent character, and had committed this crime +for no other reason that could be alleged, than that, having been led +accidentally into an intrigue with this poor wretch, his pride +revolted at the ridicule which was likely to attend the discovery. + +On calling at Ballantyne's, I find, as I had anticipated, that your +copy, being of royal size, requires some particular nicety in +hot-pressing. It will be sent by the Carlisle mail _quam +primum_.--Ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + +P. S.--Love to Mrs. Morritt. John Ballantyne says he has just about +eighty copies left, out of 3250, this being the second day of +publication, and the book a two-guinea one. + + +It will surprise no one to hear that Mr. Morritt assured his friend +he considered Rokeby as the best of all his poems. The admirable, +perhaps the unique fidelity of the local descriptions, might alone +have swayed, for I will not say it perverted, the judgment of the +lord of that beautiful and thenceforth classical domain; and, +indeed, I must admit that I never understood or appreciated half the +charm of this poem until I had become familiar with its scenery. But +Scott himself had not designed to rest his strength on these +descriptions. He said to James Ballantyne while the work was in +progress (September 2), "I hope the thing will do, chiefly because +the world will not expect from _me_ a poem of which the interest +turns upon _character_;" and in another letter (October 28, 1812), +"I think you will see the same sort of difference taken in all my +former poems,--of which I would say, if it is fair for me to say +anything, that the force in the Lay is thrown on style--in Marmion, +on description--and in The Lady of the Lake, on incident."[15] I +suspect some of these distinctions may have been matters of +afterthought; but as to Rokeby, there can be no mistake. His own +original conceptions of some of its principal characters have been +explained in letters already cited; and I believe no one who +compares the poem with his novels will doubt that, had he undertaken +their portraiture in prose, they would have come forth with effect +hardly inferior to any of all the groups he ever created. As it is, +I question whether even in his prose there is anything more +exquisitely wrought out, as well as fancied, than the whole contrast +of the two rivals for the love of the heroine in Rokeby; and that +heroine herself, too, has a very particular interest attached to +her. Writing to Miss Edgeworth five years after this time (10th May, +1818), he says, "I have not read one of my poems since they were +printed, excepting last year The Lady of the Lake, which I liked +better than I expected, but not well enough to induce me to go +through the rest--so I may truly say with Macbeth-- + + 'I am afraid to think what I have done-- + Look on 't again I dare not.' + +"This much of _Matilda_ I recollect--(for that is not so easily +forgotten)--that she was attempted for the existing person of a lady +who is now no more, so that I am particularly flattered with your +distinguishing it from the others, which are in general mere +shadows."[16] I can have no doubt that the lady he here alludes to +was the object of his own unfortunate first love; and as little, +that in the romantic generosity, both of the youthful poet who fails +to win her higher favor, and of his chivalrous competitor, we have +before us something more than "a mere shadow." + +In spite of these graceful characters, the inimitable scenery on +which they are presented, and the splendid vivacity and thrilling +interest of several chapters in the story--such as the opening +interview of Bertram and Wycliffe--the flight up the cliff on the +Greta--the first entrance of the cave at Brignall--the firing of +Rokeby Castle--and the catastrophe in Eglistone Abbey;--in spite +certainly of exquisitely happy lines profusely scattered throughout +the whole composition, and of some detached images--that of the +setting of the tropical sun,[17] for example--which were never +surpassed by any poet; in spite of all these merits, the immediate +success of Rokeby was greatly inferior to that of The Lady of the +Lake; nor has it ever since been so much a favorite with the public +at large as any other of his poetical romances. He ascribes this +failure, in his Introduction of 1830, partly to the radically +unpoetical character of the Roundheads; but surely their character +has its poetical side also, had his prejudices allowed him to enter +upon its study with impartial sympathy; and I doubt not, Mr. Morritt +suggested the difficulty on this score, when the outline of the +story was as yet undetermined, from consideration rather of the +poet's peculiar feelings, and powers as hitherto exhibited, than of +the subject absolutely. Partly he blames the satiety of the public +ear, which had had so much of his rhythm, not only from himself, but +from dozens of mocking-birds, male and female, all more or less +applauded in their day, and now all equally forgotten.[18] This +circumstance, too, had probably no slender effect; the more that, in +defiance of all the hints of his friends, he now, in his narrative, +repeated (with more negligence) the uniform octosyllabic couplets of +The Lady of the Lake, instead of recurring to the more varied +cadence of the Lay or Marmion. It is fair to add that, among the +London circles at least, some sarcastic flings in Mr. Moore's +Twopenny Post Bag must have had an unfavorable influence on this +occasion.[19] But the cause of failure which the poet himself places +last was unquestionably the main one. The deeper and darker passion +of Childe Harold, the audacity of its morbid voluptuousness, and the +melancholy majesty of the numbers in which it defied the world, had +taken the general imagination by storm; and Rokeby, with many +beauties and some sublimities, was pitched, as a whole, on a key +which seemed tame in the comparison. + +I have already adverted to the fact that Scott felt it a relief, not +a fatigue, to compose The Bridal of Triermain _pari passu_ with +Rokeby. In answer, for example, to one of James Ballantyne's +letters, urging accelerated speed with the weightier romance, he +says, "I fully share in your anxiety to get forward the grand work; +but, I assure you, I feel the more confidence from coquetting with +the guerilla." + +The quarto of Rokeby was followed, within two months, by the small +volume which had been designed for a twin birth;--the MS. had been +transcribed by one of the Ballantynes themselves, in order to guard +against any indiscretion of the press-people; and the mystification, +aided and abetted by Erskine, in no small degree heightened the +interest of its reception. Except Mr. Morritt, Scott had, so far as +I am aware, no English confidant upon this occasion. Whether any of +his daily companions in the Parliament House were in the secret, I +have never heard; but I can scarcely believe that any of those +intimate friends, who had known him and Erskine from their youth +upwards, could have for a moment believed the latter capable either +of the invention or the execution of this airy and fascinating +romance in little. Mr. Jeffrey, for whom chiefly "the trap had been +set," was far too sagacious to be caught in it; but, as it happened, +he made a voyage that year to America, and thus lost the opportunity +of immediately expressing his opinion either of Rokeby or of The +Bridal of Triermain. The writer in the Quarterly Review (July, 1813) +seems to have been completely deceived. + + +"We have already spoken of it," says the critic, "as an imitation of +Mr. Scott's style of composition; and if we are compelled to make the +general approbation more precise and specific, we should say, that if +it be inferior in vigor to some of his productions, it equals or +surpasses them in elegance and beauty; that it is more uniformly +tender, and far less infected with the unnatural prodigies and +coarseness of the earlier romances. In estimating its merits, however, +we should forget that it is offered as an imitation. The diction +undoubtedly reminds us of a rhythm and cadence we have heard before; +but the sentiments, descriptions, and characters, have qualities that +are native and unborrowed." + + +If this writer was, as I suppose, Ellis, he probably considered it +as a thing impossible that Scott should have engaged in such a +scheme without giving him a hint of it; but to have admitted into +the secret any one who was likely to criticise the piece, would have +been to sacrifice the very object of the device. Erskine's own +suggestion, that "perhaps a quizzical review might be got up," led, +I believe, to nothing more important than a paragraph in one of the +Edinburgh newspapers. He may be pardoned for having been not a +little flattered to find it generally considered as not impossible +that he should have written such a poem; and I have heard James +Ballantyne say that nothing could be more amusing than the style of +his coquetting on the subject while it was yet fresh; but when this +first excitement was over, his natural feeling of what was due to +himself, as well as to his friend, dictated many a remonstrance; +and, though he ultimately acquiesced in permitting another minor +romance to be put forth in the same manner, he did so reluctantly, +and was far from acting his part so well. + +Scott says, in the Introduction to The Lord of the Isles, "As Mr. +Erskine was more than suspected of a taste for poetry, and as I took +care, in several places, to mix something that might resemble (as +far as was in my power) my friend's feeling and manner, the train +easily caught, and two large editions were sold." Among the passages +to which he here alludes are no doubt those in which the character +of the minstrel Arthur is shaded with the colorings of an almost +effeminate gentleness. Yet, in the midst of them, the "mighty +minstrel" himself, from time to time, escapes; as, for instance, +where the lover bids Lucy, in that exquisite picture of crossing a +mountain stream, trust to his "stalwart arm"-- + + "Which could yon oak's prone trunk uprear." + +Nor can I pass the compliment to Scott's own fair patroness, where +Lucy's admirer is made to confess, with some momentary lapse of +gallantry, that he + + "Ne'er won--best meed to minstrel true-- + One favoring smile from fair Buccleuch;" + +nor the burst of genuine Borderism,-- + + "Bewcastle now must keep the hold, + Speir-Adam's steeds must bide in stall, + Of Hartley-burn the bowmen bold + Must only shoot from battled wall; + And Liddesdale may buckle spur, + And Teviot now may belt the brand, + Tarras and Ewes keep nightly stir, + And Eskdale foray Cumberland." + +But, above all, the choice of the scenery, both of the Introductions +and of the story itself, reveals the early and treasured +predilections of the poet. For who that remembers the circumstances +of his first visit to the vale of St. John, but must see throughout +the impress of his own real romance? I own I am not without a +suspicion that, in one passage, which always seemed to me a blot +upon the composition--that in which Arthur derides the military +coxcombries of his rival-- + + "Who comes in foreign trashery + Of tinkling chain and spur, + A walking haberdashery + Of feathers, lace, and fur; + In Rowley's antiquated phrase, + Horse-milliner of modern days"-- + +there is a sly reference to the incidents of a certain ball, of +August, 1797, at the Gilsland Spa.[20] + +Among the more prominent Erskinisms, are the eulogistic mention of +Glasgow, the scene of Erskine's education; and the lines on +Collins--a supplement to whose Ode on the Highland Superstitions is, +as far as I know, the only specimen that ever was published of +Erskine's verse.[21] + +As a whole, The Bridal of Triermain appears to me as characteristic +of Scott as any of his larger poems. His genius pervades and +animates it beneath a thin and playful veil, which perhaps adds as +much of grace as it takes away of splendor. As Wordsworth says of +the eclipse on the lake of Lugano-- + + "'T is sunlight sheathed and gently charmed;" + +and I think there is at once a lightness and a polish of +versification beyond what he has elsewhere attained. If it be a +miniature, it is such a one as a Cooper might have hung fearlessly +beside the masterpieces of Vandyke. + +The Introductions contain some of the most exquisite passages he +ever produced; but their general effect has always struck me as +unfortunate. No art can reconcile us to contemptuous satire of the +merest frivolities of modern life--some of them already, in twenty +years, grown obsolete--interlaid between such bright visions of the +old world of romance, when + + "Strength was gigantic, valor high, + And wisdom soared beyond the sky, + And beauty had such matchless beam + As lights not now a lover's dream." + +The fall is grievous, from the hoary minstrel of Newark, and his +feverish tears on Killiecrankie, to a pathetic swain, who can stoop +to denounce as objects of his jealousy-- + + "The landaulet and four blood bays-- + The Hessian boot and pantaloon." + +Before Triermain came out, Scott had taken wing for Abbotsford; and +indeed he seems to have so contrived it in his earlier period, that +he should not be in Edinburgh when any unavowed work of his was +published; whereas, from the first, in the case of books that bore +his name on the title-page, he walked as usual to the Parliament +House, and bore all the buzz and tattle of friends and acquaintance +with an air of good-humored equanimity, or rather total apparent +indifference. The following letter, which contains some curious +matter of more kinds than one, was written partly in town and partly +in the country:-- + + +TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE, HAMPSTEAD. + + EDINBURGH, March 13, 1813. + +MY DEAREST FRIEND,--The pinasters have arrived safe, and I can hardly +regret, while I am so much flattered by, the trouble you have had in +collecting them. I have got some wild larch-trees from Loch Katrine, +and both are to be planted next week, when, God willing, I shall be at +Abbotsford to superintend the operation. I have got a little corner of +ground laid out for a nursery, where I shall rear them carefully till +they are old enough to be set forth to push their fortune on the banks +of Tweed.--What I shall finally make of this villa-work I don't know, +but in the mean time it is very entertaining. I shall have to resist +very flattering invitations this season; for I have received hints, +from more quarters than one, that my bow would be acceptable at +Carlton House in case I should be in London, which is very flattering, +especially as there were some prejudices to be got over in that +quarter. I should be in some danger of giving new offence, too; for, +although I utterly disapprove of the present rash and ill-advised +course of the princess, yet, as she always was most kind and civil to +me, I certainly could not, as a gentleman, decline obeying any +commands she might give me to wait upon her, especially in her present +adversity. So, though I do not affect to say I should be sorry to take +an opportunity of peeping at the splendors of royalty, prudence and +economy will keep me quietly at home till another day. My great +amusement here this some time past has been going almost nightly to +see John Kemble, who certainly is a great artist. It is a pity he +shows too much of his machinery. I wish he could be double-capped, as +they say of watches;--but the fault of too much study certainly does +not belong to many of his tribe. He is, I think, very great in those +parts especially where character is tinged by some acquired and +systematic habits, like those of the Stoic philosophy in Cato and +Brutus, or of misanthropy in Penruddock; but sudden turns and natural +bursts of passion are not his forte. I saw him play Sir Giles +Overreach (the Richard III. of middling life) last night; but he came +not within a hundred miles of Cooke, whose terrible visage, and short, +abrupt, and savage utterance, gave a reality almost to that +extraordinary scene in which he boasts of his own successful villainy +to a nobleman of worth and honor, of whose alliance he is ambitious. +Cooke contrived somehow to impress upon the audience the idea of such +a monster of enormity as had learned to pique himself even upon his +own atrocious character. But Kemble was too handsome, too plausible, +and too smooth, to admit its being probable that he should be blind to +the unfavorable impression which these extraordinary vaunts are likely +to make on the person whom he is so anxious to conciliate. + + + ABBOTSFORD, 21st March. + +This letter, begun in Edinburgh, is to take wing from Abbotsford. John +Winnos (now John Winnos is the sub-oracle of Abbotsford, the principal +being Tom Purdie)--John Winnos pronounces that the pinaster seed ought +to be raised at first on a hot-bed, and thence transplanted to a +nursery; so to a hot-bed they have been carefully consigned, the upper +oracle not objecting, in respect his talent lies in catching a salmon, +or finding a hare sitting--on which occasions (being a very complete +Scrub) he solemnly exchanges his working jacket for an old green one +of mine, and takes the air of one of Robin Hood's followers. His more +serious employments are ploughing, harrowing, and overseeing all my +premises; being a complete Jack-of-all-trades, from the carpenter to +the shepherd, nothing comes strange to him; and being extremely +honest, and somewhat of a humorist, he is quite my right hand. I +cannot help singing his praises at this moment, because I have so many +odd and out-of-the-way things to do, that I believe the conscience of +many of our jog-trot countrymen would revolt at being made my +instrument in sacrificing good corn-land to the visions of Mr. Price's +theory. Mr. Pinkerton, the historian, has a play coming out at +Edinburgh; it is by no means bad poetry, yet I think it will not be +popular; the people come and go, and speak very notable things in good +blank verse, but there is no very strong interest excited; the plot +also is disagreeable, and liable to the objections (though in a less +degree) which have been urged against the Mysterious Mother; it is to +be acted on Wednesday; I will let you know its fate. P., with whom I +am in good habits, showed the MS., but I referred him, with such +praise as I could conscientiously bestow, to the players and the +public. I don't know why one should take the task of damning a man's +play out of the hands of the proper tribunal. Adieu, my dear friend. I +have scarce room for love to Miss, Mrs., and Dr. B. + + W. SCOTT. + + +To this I add a letter to Lady Louisa Stuart, who had sent him a +copy of these lines, found by Lady Douglas on the back of a tattered +bank-note:-- + + "Farewell, my note, and wheresoe'er ye wend, + Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man's friend. + You've left a poor one; go to one as poor, + And drive despair and hunger from his door." + +It appears that these noble friends had adopted, or feigned to +adopt, the belief that The Bridal of Triermain was a production of +Mr. R. P. Gillies--who had about this time published an imitation of +Lord Byron's Romaunt, under the title of Childe Alarique. + + +TO THE LADY LOUISA STUART, BOTHWELL CASTLE. + + ABBOTSFORD, 28th April, 1813. + +DEAR LADY LOUISA,--Nothing can give me more pleasure than to hear from +you, because it is both a most acceptable favor to me, and also a sign +that your own spirits are recovering their tone. Ladies are, I think, +very fortunate in having a resource in work at a time when the mind +rejects intellectual amusement. Men have no resource but striding up +and down the room, like a bird that beats itself to pieces against the +bars of its cage; whereas needle-work is a sort of sedative, too +mechanical to worry the mind by distracting it from the points on +which its musings turn, yet gradually assisting it in regaining +steadiness and composure; for so curiously are our bodies and minds +linked together, that the regular and constant employment of the +former on any process, however dull and uniform, has the effect of +tranquillizing, where it cannot disarm, the feelings of the other. I +am very much pleased with the lines on the guinea note, and if Lady +Douglas does not object, I would willingly mention the circumstance in +the Edinburgh Annual Register. I think it will give the author great +delight to know that his lines had attracted attention, and _had_ sent +the paper on which they were recorded, "heaven-directed, to the +poor." Of course I would mention no names. There was, as your Ladyship +may remember, some years since, a most audacious and determined murder +committed on a porter belonging to the British Linen Company's Bank at +Leith, who was stabbed to the heart in broad daylight, and robbed of a +large sum in notes.[22] If ever this crime comes to light, it will be +through the circumstance of an idle young fellow having written part +of a playhouse song on one of the notes, which, however, has as yet +never appeared in circulation. + +I am very glad you like Rokeby, which is nearly out of fashion and +memory with me. It has been wonderfully popular, about ten thousand +copies having walked off already, in about three months, and the +demand continuing faster than it can be supplied. As to my imitator, +the Knight of Triermain, I will endeavor to convey to Mr. Gillies +(_puisque Gillies il est_) your Ladyship's very just strictures on the +Introduction to the second Canto. But if he takes the opinion of a +hacked old author like myself, he will content himself with avoiding +such bevues in future, without attempting to mend those which are +already made. There is an ominous old proverb which says, _Confess and +be hanged_; and truly if an author acknowledges his own blunders, I do +not know who he can expect to stand by him; whereas, let him confess +nothing, and he will always find some injudicious admirers to +vindicate even his faults. So that I think after publication the +effect of criticism should be prospective, in which point of view I +dare say Mr. G. will take your friendly hint, especially as it is +confirmed by that of the best judges who have read the poem.--Here is +beautiful weather for April! an absolute snow-storm mortifying me to +the core by retarding the growth of all my young trees and +shrubs.--Charlotte begs to be most respectfully remembered to your +Ladyship and Lady D. We are realizing the nursery tale of the man and +his wife who lived in a vinegar bottle, for our only sitting-room is +just twelve feet square, and my Eve alleges that I am too big for our +paradise. To make amends, I have created a tolerable garden, occupying +about an English acre, which I begin to be very fond of. When one +passes forty, an addition to the quiet occupations of life becomes of +real value, for I do not hunt and fish with quite the relish I did ten +years ago. Adieu, my dear Lady Louisa, and all good attend you. + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXV. + +[1: The epitaph of this favorite greyhound may be seen on +the edge of the bank, a little way below the house of Abbotsford.] + +[2: The Reverend Alexander Dyce says, "N. T. stands for +_Nathaniel Thompson_, the Tory bookseller, who published these +_Loyal Poems_."--(1839.)] + +[3: An edition of the British Dramatists had, I believe, +been projected by Mr. Terry.] + +[4: Mr. Thomson died 8th January, 1838, before the +publication of the first edition of these Memoirs had been +completed.--(1839.)] + +[5: _Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott_, p. 56.] + +[6: [From a passage in a letter to Lady Abercorn, written +September 10, 1818, on the return from a similar journey (see +_Familiar Letters_, vol. ii. p. 24), it seems probable that some at +least of the incidents of this visit belong to that of the later +date.]] + +[7: This alluded to a ridiculous hunter of lions, who, +being met by Mr. Morritt in the grounds at Rokeby, disclaimed all +taste for picturesque beauties, but overwhelmed their owner with +Homeric Greek; of which he had told Scott.] + +[8: _Burnfoot_ is the name of a farmhouse on the Buccleuch +estate, not far from Langholm, where the late Sir John Malcolm and +his distinguished brothers were born. Their grandfather had, I +believe, found refuge there after forfeiting a good estate and an +ancient baronetcy in the _affair_ of 1715. A monument to the gallant +General's memory has recently been erected near the spot of his +birth.] + +[9: _3d King Henry VI._ Act I. Scene 4.] + +[10: See _Life of Dryden_, Scott's _Miscellaneous Prose +Works_, vol. i. p. 293.] + +[11: _Much Ado about Nothing_, Act IV. Scene 2.] + +[12: Several of these letters having been enclosed in +franked covers, which have perished, I am unable to affix the exact +dates to them.] + +[13: The Rev. Alexander Dyce informs me that _nine_ of +Carey's pieces were printed in 1771, for J. Murray of Fleet Street, +in a quarto of thirty-five pages, entitled _Poems from a MS. written +in the time of Oliver Cromwell_. This rare tract had never fallen +into Scott's hands.--(1839.)] + +[14: Byron's _Life and Works_, vol. ii. p. 169.] + +[15: Several letters to Ballantyne on the same subject are +quoted in the notes to the last edition of _Rokeby_. See Scott's +_Poetical Works_, 1834, vol. ix. pp. 1-3; and especially the note on +p. 300, from which it appears that the closing stanza was added, in +deference to Ballantyne and Erskine, though the author retained his +own opinion that "it spoiled one effect without producing another."] + +[16: [See _Familiar Letters_, vol. ii. p. 16.]] + +[17: + + "My noontide, India may declare; + Like her fierce sun, I fired the air! + Like him, to wood and cave bid fly + Her natives, from mine angry eye. + And now, my race of terror ran, + Mine be the eye of tropic sun! + No pale gradations quench his ray, + No twilight dews his wrath allay; + With disk like battle-target red, + He rushes to his burning bed. + Dyes the wide wave with bloody light, + Then sinks at once--and all is night."--_Canto_ vi. 21.] + +[18: "Scott found peculiar favor and imitation among the +fair sex. There was Miss Holford, and Miss Mitford, and Miss +Francis; but, with the greatest respect be it spoken, none of his +imitators did much honor to the original except Hogg, the Ettrick +Shepherd, until the appearance of _The Bridal of Triermain_ and +_Harold the Dauntless_, which, in the opinion of some, equalled if +not surpassed him; and, lo! after three or four years, they turned +out to be the master's own compositions."--Byron, vol. xv. p. 96.] + +[19: See, for instance, the Epistle of Lady Corke--or that +of Messrs. Lackington, booksellers, to one of their dandy authors,-- + + "Should you feel any touch of _poetical_ glow, + We've a scheme to suggest--Mr. Scott, you must know + (Who, we're sorry to say it, now works for the _Row_), + Having quitted the Borders to seek new renown, + Is coming by long Quarto stages to town, + And beginning with Rokeby (the job's sure to pay), + Means to do all the gentlemen's seats on the way. + Now the scheme is, though none of our hackneys can beat him, + To start a new Poet through Highgate to meet him; + Who by means of quick proofs--no revises--long coaches-- + May do a few Villas before Scott approaches; + Indeed if our Pegasus be not curst shabby, + He'll reach, without foundering, at least Woburn-Abbey," etc., etc.] + +[20: See _ante_, vol. i. p. 246.] + +[21: It is included in the _Border Minstrelsy_, vol. i. p. +270.] + +[22: This murder, perpetrated in November, 1806, remains a +mystery in 1836. The porter's name was Begbie. [See _Familiar +Letters_, vol. i. p. 63.]] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + AFFAIRS OF JOHN BALLANTYNE AND CO. -- CAUSES OF THEIR + DERANGEMENT. --LETTERS OF SCOTT TO HIS PARTNERS. -- NEGOTIATION + FOR RELIEF WITH MESSRS. CONSTABLE. -- NEW PURCHASE OF LAND AT + ABBOTSFORD. --EMBARRASSMENTS CONTINUED. -- JOHN BALLANTYNE'S + EXPRESSES. --DRUMLANRIG, PENRITH, ETC. -- SCOTT'S MEETING WITH + THE MARQUIS OF ABERCORN AT LONGTOWN. -- HIS APPLICATION TO THE + DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH. --OFFER OF THE POET-LAUREATESHIP, -- + CONSIDERED, -- AND DECLINED. --ADDRESS OF THE CITY OF EDINBURGH + TO THE PRINCE REGENT. -- ITS RECEPTION. -- CIVIC HONORS CONFERRED + ON SCOTT. -- QUESTION OF TAXATION ON LITERARY INCOME. -- LETTERS + TO MR. MORRITT, MR. SOUTHEY, MR. RICHARDSON, MR. CRABBE, MISS + BAILLIE, AND LORD BYRON + +1813 + + +About a month after the publication of The Bridal of Triermain, the +affairs of the Messrs. Ballantyne, which had never apparently been +in good order since the establishment of the bookselling firm, +became so embarrassed as to call for Scott's most anxious efforts to +disentangle them. Indeed, it is clear that there had existed some +very serious perplexity in the course of the preceding autumn; for +Scott writes to John Ballantyne, while Rokeby was in progress +(August 11, 1812),--"I have a letter from James, very anxious about +your health and state of spirits. If you suffer the present +inconveniences to depress you too much, you are wrong; and if you +conceal any part of them, are very unjust to us all. I am always +ready to make any sacrifices to do justice to engagements, and would +rather sell anything, or everything, than be less than true men to +the world." + +[Illustration: ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE + +_From the painting by Raeburn_] + +I have already, perhaps, said enough to account for the general want +of success in this publishing adventure; but Mr. James Ballantyne +sums up the case so briefly in his deathbed paper, that I may here +quote his words. "My brother," he says, "though an active and +pushing, was not a cautious bookseller, and the large sums received +never formed an addition to stock. In fact, they were all expended +by the partners, who, being then young and sanguine men, not +unwillingly adopted my brother's hasty results. By May, 1813, in a +word, the absolute throwing away of our own most valuable +publications, and the rash adoption of some injudicious speculations +of Mr. Scott, had introduced such losses and embarrassments, that +after a very careful consideration, Mr. Scott determined to dissolve +the concern." He adds: "This became a matter of less difficulty, +because time had in a great measure worn away the differences +between Mr. Scott and Mr. Constable, and Mr. Hunter was now out of +Constable's concern.[23] A peace, therefore, was speedily made up, +and the old habits of intercourse were restored." + +How reluctantly Scott had made up his mind to open such a +negotiation with Constable, as involved a complete exposure of the +mismanagement of John Ballantyne's business as a publisher, will +appear from a letter dated about the Christmas of 1812, in which he +says to James, who had proposed asking Constable to take a share +both in Rokeby and in the Annual Register, "You must be aware, that +in stating the objections which occur to me to taking in Constable, +I think they ought to give way either to absolute necessity or to +very strong grounds of advantage. But I _am_ persuaded nothing +ultimately good can be expected from any connection with that +house, unless for those who have a mind to be hewers of wood and +drawers of water. We will talk the matter coolly over, and, in the +mean while, perhaps you could see W. Erskine, and learn what +impression this odd union is like to make among your friends. +Erskine is sound-headed, and quite to be trusted with _your whole +story_. I must own I can hardly think the purchase of the Register +is equal to the loss of credit and character which your surrender +will be conceived to infer." At the time when he wrote this, Scott +no doubt anticipated that Rokeby would have success not less +decisive than The Lady of the Lake; but in this expectation--though +10,000 copies in three months would have seemed to any other author +a triumphant sale--he had been disappointed. And meanwhile the +difficulties of the firm, accumulating from week to week, had +reached, by the middle of May, a point which rendered it absolutely +necessary for him to conquer all his scruples. + +Mr. Cadell, then Constable's partner, says in his +_Memoranda_,--"Prior to this time the reputation of John Ballantyne +and Co. had been decidedly on the decline. It was notorious in the +trade that their general speculations had been unsuccessful; they +were known to be grievously in want of money. These rumors were +realized to the full by an application which Messrs. B. made to Mr. +Constable in May, 1813, for pecuniary aid, accompanied by an offer +of some of the books they had published since 1809, as a purchase, +along with various shares in Mr. Scott's own poems. Their +difficulties were admitted, and the negotiation was pressed +urgently; so much so, that a pledge was given, that if the terms +asked were acceded to, John Ballantyne and Co. would endeavor to +wind up their concerns, and cease as soon as possible to be +publishers." Mr. Cadell adds: "I need hardly remind you that this +was a period of very great general difficulty in the money market. +It was the crisis of the war. The public expenditure had reached an +enormous height; and even the most prosperous mercantile houses were +often pinched to sustain their credit. It may easily, therefore, be +supposed that the Messrs. Ballantyne had during many months besieged +every banker's door in Edinburgh, and that their agents had done the +like in London." + +The most important of the requests which the laboring house made to +Constable was that he should forthwith take entirely to himself the +stock, copyright, and future management of the Edinburgh Annual +Register. Upon examining the state of this book, however, Constable +found that the loss on it had never been less than £1000 per annum, +and he therefore declined that matter for the present. He promised, +however, to consider seriously the means he might have of ultimately +relieving them from the pressure of the Register, and, in the mean +time, offered to take 300 sets of the stock on hand. The other +purchases he finally made on the 18th of May were considerable +portions of Weber's unhappy Beaumont and Fletcher--of an edition of +De Foe's novels in twelve volumes--of a collection entitled Tales of +the East in three large volumes, 8vo, double-columned--and of +another in one volume, called Popular Tales--about 800 copies of The +Vision of Don Roderick--and a fourth of the remaining copyright of +Rokeby, price £700. The immediate accommodation thus received +amounted to £2000; and Scott, who had personally conducted the +latter part of the negotiation, writes thus to his junior partner, +who had gone a week or two earlier to London in quest of some +similar assistance there:-- + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE, CARE OF MESSRS. LONGMAN & CO., LONDON. + + PRINTING-OFFICE, May 18, 1813. + +DEAR JOHN,--After many _offs_ and _ons_, and as many _projets_ and +_contre-projets_ as the treaty of Amiens, I have at length concluded +a treaty with Constable, in which I am sensible he has gained a great +advantage;[24] but what could I do amidst the disorder and pressure of +so many demands? The arrival of your long-dated bills decided my +giving in, for what could James or I do with them? I trust this +sacrifice has cleared our way, but many rubs remain; nor am I, after +these hard skirmishes, so able to meet them by my proper credit. +Constable, however, will be a zealous ally; and for the first time +these many weeks I shall lay my head on a quiet pillow, for now I do +think that, by our joint exertions, we shall get well through the +storm, save Beaumont from depreciation, get a partner in our heavy +concerns, reef our topsails, and move on securely under an easy sail. +And if, on the one hand, I have sold my gold too cheap, I have, on the +other, turned my lead to gold. Brewster[25] and Singers[26] are the +only heavy things to which I have not given a blue eye. Had your news +of Cadell's sale[27] reached us here, I could not have harpooned my +grampus so deeply as I have done, as nothing but Rokeby would have +barbed the hook. + +Adieu, my dear John. I have the most sincere regard for you, and you +may depend on my considering your interest with quite as much +attention as my own. If I have ever expressed myself with irritation +in speaking of this business, you must impute it to the sudden, +extensive, and unexpected embarrassments in which I found myself +involved all at once. If to your real goodness of heart and integrity, +and to the quickness and acuteness of your talents, you added habits +of more universal circumspection, and, above all, the courage to tell +disagreeable truths to those whom you hold in regard, I pronounce that +the world never held such a man of business. These it must be your +study to add to your other good qualities. Meantime, as some one says +to Swift, I love you with all your failings. Pray make an effort and +love me with all mine. Yours truly, + + W. S. + + +Three days afterwards Scott resumes the subject as follows:-- + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE, LONDON. + + EDINBURGH, 21st May, 1813. + +DEAR JOHN,--Let it never escape your recollection, that shutting your +own eyes, or blinding those of your friends, upon the actual state of +business, is the high road to ruin. Meanwhile, we have recovered our +legs for a week or two. Constable will, I think, come in to the +Register. He is most anxious to maintain the printing-office; he sees +most truly that the more we print the less we publish; and for the +same reason he will, I think, help us off with our heavy quire-stock. + +I was aware of the distinction between the _state_ and the _calendar_ +as to the latter including the printing-office bills, and I summed and +docked them (they are marked with red ink), but there is still a +difference of £2000 and upwards on the calendar against the business. +I sometimes fear that, between the long dates of your bills, and the +tardy settlements of the Edinburgh trade, some difficulties will occur +even in June; and July I always regard with deep anxiety. As for loss, +if I get out without public exposure, I shall not greatly regard the +rest. Radcliffe the physician said, when he lost £2000 on the South +Sea scheme, it was only going up 2000 pair of stairs; I say, it is +only writing 2000 couplets, and the account is balanced. More of this +hereafter. Yours truly, + + W. SCOTT. + +P. S.--James has behaved very well during this whole transaction, and +has been most steadily attentive to business. I am convinced that the +more he works the better his health will be. One or other of you will +need to be constantly in the printing-office henceforward,--it is the +sheet-anchor. + + +The allusion in this _postscript_ to James Ballantyne's health +reminds me that Scott's letters to himself are full of hints on that +subject, even from a very early period of their connection; and +these hints are all to the same effect. James was a man of lazy +habits, and not a little addicted to the more solid, and perhaps +more dangerous, part of the indulgences of the table. One letter +(dated Ashestiel, 1810) will be a sufficient specimen:-- + + +TO MR. JAMES BALLANTYNE. + +MY DEAR JAMES,--I am very sorry for the state of your health, and +should be still more so, were I not certain that I can prescribe for +you as well as any physician in Edinburgh. You have naturally an +athletic constitution and a hearty stomach, and these agree very ill +with a sedentary life and the habits of indolence which it brings on. +Your stomach thus gets weak; and from those complaints of all others +arise most certainly flatulence, hypochondria, and all the train of +unpleasant feelings connected with indigestion. We all know the +horrible sensation of the nightmare arises from the same cause which +gives those waking nightmares commonly called the blue devils. You +must positively put yourself on a regimen as to eating, not for a +month or two, but for a year at least, and take regular exercise--and +my life for yours. I know this by myself, for if I were to eat and +drink in town as I do here, it would soon finish me, and yet I am +sensible I live too genially in Edinburgh as it is. Yours very truly, + + W. SCOTT. + + +Among Scott's early pets at Abbotsford there was a huge raven, +whose powers of speech were remarkable, far beyond any parrot's that +he had ever met with; and who died in consequence of an excess of +the kind to which James Ballantyne was addicted. Thenceforth, Scott +often repeated to his old friend, and occasionally scribbled by way +of postscript to his notes on business-- + + "When you are craving, + Remember the Raven." + +Sometimes the formula is varied to-- + + "When you've dined half, + Think on poor Ralph!" + +His preachments of regularity in book-keeping to John, and of +abstinence from good cheer to James Ballantyne, were equally vain; +but on the other hand it must be allowed that they had some reason +for displeasure--(the more felt, because they durst not, like him, +express their feelings)[28]--when they found that scarcely had these +"hard skirmishes" terminated in the bargain of May 18, before Scott +was preparing fresh embarrassments for himself, by commencing a +negotiation for a considerable addition to his property at +Abbotsford. As early as the 20th of June he writes to Constable as +being already aware of this matter, and alleges his anxiety "to +close at once with a very capricious person," as the only reason +that could have induced him to make up his mind to sell the whole +copyright of an as yet unwritten poem, to be entitled The Nameless +Glen. This copyright he then offered to dispose of to Constable for +£5000; adding, "this is considerably less in proportion than I have +already made on the share of Rokeby sold to yourself, and surely +that is no unfair admeasurement." A long correspondence ensued, in +the course of which Scott mentions The Lord of the Isles, as a title +which had suggested itself to him in place of The Nameless Glen; but +as the negotiation did not succeed, I may pass its details. The new +property which Scott was so eager to acquire was that hilly tract +stretching from the old Roman road near Turn-again towards the +Cauldshiels Loch: a then desolate and naked mountain-mere, which he +likens, in a letter of this summer (to Lady Louisa Stuart), to the +Lake of the Genie and the Fisherman in the Arabian Tale. To obtain +this lake at one extremity of his estate, as a contrast to the Tweed +at the other, was a prospect for which hardly any sacrifice would +have appeared too much; and he contrived to gratify his wishes in +the course of that July, to which he had spoken of himself in May as +looking forward "with the deepest anxiety." + +Nor was he, I must add, more able to control some of his minor +tastes. I find him writing to Mr. Terry, on the 20th of June, about +"that splendid lot of ancient armor, advertised by Winstanley," a +celebrated auctioneer in London, of which he had the strongest fancy +to make his spoil, though he was at a loss to know where it should +be placed when it reached Abbotsford; and on the 2d of July, this +acquisition also having been settled, he says to the same +correspondent: "I have written to Mr. Winstanley. My bargain with +Constable was otherwise arranged, but Little John is to find the +needful article, and I shall take care of Mr. Winstanley's interest, +who has behaved too handsomely in this matter to be trusted to the +mercy of our little friend the Picaroon, who is, notwithstanding his +many excellent qualities, a little on the score of old Gobbo--doth +somewhat smack--somewhat grow to.[29] We shall be at Abbotsford on +the 12th, and hope soon to see you there. I am fitting up a small +room above _Peter-House_, where an unceremonious bachelor may +consent to do penance, though the place is a cock-loft, and the +access that which leads many a bold fellow to his last nap--a +ladder."[30] And a few weeks later, he says, in the same sort, to +his sister-in-law, Mrs. Thomas Scott: "In despite of these hard +times, which affect my patrons the booksellers very much, I am +buying old books and old armor as usual, and adding to what your old +friend Burns[31] calls-- + + 'A fouth of auld nick-nackets, + Rusty airn caps and jingling jackets, + Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets + A towmont gude, + And parritch-pats and auld saut-backets, + Before the flude.'" + +Notwithstanding all this, it must have been with a most uneasy mind +that he left Edinburgh to establish himself at Abbotsford that July. +The assistance of Constable had not been granted, indeed it had not +been asked, to an extent at all adequate for the difficulties of the +case; and I have now to transcribe, with pain and reluctance, some +extracts from Scott's letters, during the ensuing autumn, which +speak the language of anxious, and, indeed, humiliating distress; +and give a most lively notion of the incurable recklessness of his +younger partner. + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE. + + ABBOTSFORD, Saturday, 24th July. + +DEAR JOHN,--I sent you the order, and have only to hope it arrived +safe and in good time. I waked the boy at three o'clock myself, +having slept little, less on account of the money than of the time. +Surely you should have written, three or four days before, the +probable amount of the deficit, and, as on former occasions, I would +have furnished you with means of meeting it. These expresses, besides +every other inconvenience, excite surprise in my family and in the +neighborhood. I know no justifiable occasion for them but the +unexpected return of a bill. I do not consider you as answerable for +the success of plans, but I do and must hold you responsible for +giving me, in distinct and plain terms, your opinion as to any +difficulties which may occur, and that in such time that I may make +arrangements to obviate them if possible. + +Of course, if anything has gone wrong you will come out here +to-morrow. But if, as I hope and trust, the cash arrived safe, you +will write to me, under cover to the Duke of Buccleuch, Drumlanrig +Castle, Dumfries-shire. I shall set out for that place on Monday +morning early. + + W. S. + + +TO MR. JAMES BALLANTYNE. + + ABBOTSFORD, 25th July, 1813. + +DEAR JAMES,--I address the following jobation for John to you, that +you may see whether I do not well to be angry, and enforce upon him +the necessity of constantly writing his fears as well as his hopes. +You should rub him often on this point, for his recollection becomes +rusty the instant I leave town and am not in the way to rack him with +constant questions. I hope the presses are doing well, and that you +are quite stout again. Yours truly, + + W. S. + + +(_Enclosure._) + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE. + +MY GOOD FRIEND JOHN,--The post brings me no letter from you, which I +am much surprised at, as you must suppose me anxious to learn that +your express arrived. I think he must have reached you before +post-hours, and James or you _might_ have found a minute to say so in +a single line. I once more request that you will be a businesslike +correspondent, and state your provisions for every week prospectively. +I do not expect you to _warrant them_, which you rather perversely +seem to insist is my wish, but I do want to be aware of their nature +and extent, that I may provide against the possibility of miscarriage. +The calendar, to which you refer me, tells me what sums are due, but +cannot tell your shifts to pay them, which are naturally altering with +circumstances, and of which alterations I request to have due notice. +You say you _could not suppose_ Sir W. Forbes would have refused the +long dated bills; but that you _had_ such an apprehension is clear, +both because in the calendar these bills were rated two months lower, +and because, three days before, you wrote me an enigmatical expression +of your apprehensions, instead of saying plainly there was a chance of +your wanting £350, when I would have sent you an order to be used +conditionally. + +All I desire is unlimited confidence and frequent correspondence, and +that you will give me weekly at least the fullest anticipation of your +resources, and the probability of their being effectual. I may be +disappointed in my own, of which you shall have equally timeous +notice. Omit no exertions to procure the use of money, even for a +month or six weeks, for time is most precious. The large balance due +in January from the trade, and individuals, which I cannot reckon at +less than £4000, will put us finally to rights; and it will be a shame +to founder within sight of harbor. The greatest risk we run is from +such ill-considered despatches as those of Friday. Suppose that I had +gone to Drumlanrig--suppose the pony had set up--suppose a thousand +things--and we were ruined for want of your telling your apprehensions +in due time. Do not plague yourself to vindicate this sort of +management; but if you have escaped the consequences (as to which you +have left me uncertain), thank God, and act more cautiously another +time. It was quite the same to me on what day I sent that draft; +indeed it must have been so if I had the money in my cash account, and +if I had not, the more time given me to provide it the better. + +Now, do not affect to suppose that my displeasure arises from your not +having done your utmost to realize funds, and that utmost having +failed. It is one mode, to be sure, of exculpation, to suppose one's +self accused of something they are not charged with, and then to make +a querulous or indignant defence, and complain of the injustice of the +accuser. The head and front of your offending is precisely your not +writing explicitly, and I request this may not happen again. It is +your fault, and I believe arises either from an ill-judged idea of +smoothing matters to me--as if I were not behind the curtain--or a +general reluctance to allow that any danger is near, until it is +almost unparriable. I shall be very sorry if anything I have said +gives you pain; but the matter is too serious for all of us, to be +passed over without giving you my explicit sentiments. To-morrow I set +out for Drumlanrig, and shall not hear from you till Tuesday or +Wednesday. Make yourself master of the post-town--Thornhill, probably, +or Sanquhar. As Sir W. F. & Co. have cash to meet my order, nothing, I +think, can have gone wrong, unless the boy perished by the way. +Therefore, in faith and hope, and--that I may lack none of the +Christian virtues--in charity with your dilatory worship, I remain +very truly yours, + + W. S. + + +Scott proceeded, accordingly, to join a gay and festive circle, whom +the Duke of Buccleuch had assembled about him on first taking +possession of the magnificent Castle of Drumlanrig, in Nithsdale, +the principal messuage of the dukedom of Queensberry, which had +recently lapsed into his family. But, _post equitem sedet atra +cura_--another of John Ballantyne's unwelcome missives, rendered +necessary by a neglect of precisely the same kind as before, reached +him in the midst of this scene of rejoicing. On the 31st, he again +writes:-- + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE, BOOKSELLER, EDINBURGH. + + DRUMLANRIG, Friday. + +DEAR JOHN,--I enclose the order. Unfortunately, the Drumlanrig post +only goes thrice a week; but the Marquis of Queensberry, who carries +this to Dumfries, has promised that the guard of the mail-coach shall +deliver it by five to-morrow. I was less anxious, as your note said +you could clear this month. It is a cruel thing that no State you +furnish excludes the arising of such unexpected claims as this for the +taxes on the printing-office. What unhappy management, to suffer them +to run ahead in such a manner!--but it is in vain to complain. Were it +not for your strange concealments, I should anticipate no difficulty +in winding up these matters. But who can reckon upon a State where +claims are kept out of view until they are in the hands of a _writer_? +If you have no time to say that _this_ comes safe to hand, I suppose +James may favor me so far. Yours truly, + + W. S. + + +Let the guard be rewarded. + +Let me know exactly what you _can_ do and _hope_ to do for next +month; for it signifies nothing raising money for you, unless I see +it is to be of real service. Observe, I make you responsible for +nothing but a fair statement.[32] The guard is known to the Marquis, +who has good-naturedly promised to give him this letter with his own +hand; so it must reach you in time, though probably past five on +Saturday. + +Another similar application reached Scott the day after the guard +delivered his packet. He writes thus, in reply: + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE. + + DRUMLANRIG, Sunday. + +DEAR JOHN,--I trust you got my letter yesterday by five, with the +draft enclosed. I return your draft accepted. On Wednesday I think of +leaving this place, where, but for these damned affairs, I should have +been very happy. + + W. S. + + +Scott had been for some time under an engagement to meet the Marquis +of Abercorn at Carlisle, in the first week of August, for the +transaction of some business connected with his brother Thomas's +late administration of that nobleman's Scottish affairs; and he had +designed to pass from Drumlanrig to Carlisle for this purpose, +without going back to Abbotsford. In consequence of these repeated +harassments, however, he so far altered his plans as to cut short +his stay at Drumlanrig, and turn homewards for two or three days, +where James Ballantyne met him with such a statement as in some +measure relieved his mind. + +He then proceeded to fulfil his engagement with Lord Abercorn, whom +he encountered travelling in a rather peculiar style between +Carlisle and Longtown. The ladies of the family and the household +occupied four or five carriages, all drawn by the Marquis's own +horses, while the noble Lord himself brought up the rear, mounted on +horseback, and decorated with the ribbon of the order of the Garter. +On meeting the cavalcade, Scott turned with them, and he was not a +little amused when they reached the village of Longtown, which he +had ridden through an hour or two before, with the preparations +which he found there made for the dinner of the party. The Marquis's +major-domo and cook had arrived there at an early hour in the +morning, and everything was now arranged for his reception in the +paltry little public house, as nearly as possible in the style usual +in his own lordly mansions. The ducks and geese that had been +dabbling three or four hours ago in the village pond were now ready +to make their appearance under numberless disguises as _entrées_; a +regular bill-of-fare flanked the noble Marquis's allotted cover; +every huckaback towel in the place had been pressed to do service as +a napkin; and, that nothing might be wanting to the mimicry of +splendor, the landlady's poor remnants of crockery and pewter had +been furbished up, and mustered in solemn order on a crazy old +beauffet, which was to represent a sideboard worthy of Lucullus. I +think it worth while to preserve this anecdote, which Scott +delighted in telling, as perhaps the last relic of a style of +manners now passed away, and never likely to be revived among us. + +Having despatched this dinner and his business, Scott again turned +southwards, intending to spend a few days with Mr. Morritt at +Rokeby; but on reaching Penrith, the landlord there, who was his old +acquaintance (Mr. Buchanan), placed a letter in his hands: _ecce +iterum_--it was once more a cry of distress from John Ballantyne. He +thus answered it:-- + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE. + + PENRITH, August 10, 1813. + +DEAR JOHN,--I enclose you an order for £350. I shall remain at Rokeby +until Saturday or Sunday, and be at Abbotsford on Wednesday at latest. + +I hope the printing-office is going on well. I fear, from the state of +accompts between the companies, restrictions on the management and +expense will be unavoidable, which may trench upon James's comforts. I +cannot observe hitherto that the printing-office is paying off, but +rather adding to its embarrassments; and it cannot be thought that I +have either means or inclination to support a losing concern at the +rate of £200 a month. If James could find a monied partner, an active +man who understood the commercial part of the business, and would +superintend the conduct of the cash, it might be the best for all +parties; for I really am not adequate to the fatigue of mind which +these affairs occasion me, though I must do the best to struggle +through them. + +Believe me yours, etc. + + W. S. + + +At Brough he encountered a messenger who brought him such a painful +account of Mrs. Morritt's health, that he abandoned his intention of +proceeding to Rokeby; and, indeed, it was much better that he should +be at Abbotsford again as soon as possible, for his correspondence +shows a continued succession, during the three or four ensuing +weeks, of the same annoyances that had pursued him to Drumlanrig and +to Penrith. By his desire, the Ballantynes had, it would seem, +before the middle of August, laid a statement of their affairs +before Constable. Though the statement was not so clear and full as +Scott had wished it to be, Constable, on considering it, at once +assured them, that to go on raising money in driblets would never +effectually relieve them; that, in short, one or both of the +companies must stop, unless Mr. Scott could find means to lay his +hand, without farther delay, on at least £4000; and I gather that, +by way of inducing Constable himself to come forward with part at +least of this supply, John Ballantyne again announced his intention +of forthwith abandoning the bookselling business altogether, and +making an effort to establish himself--on a plan which Constable had +shortly before suggested--as an auctioneer in Edinburgh. The +following letters need no comment:-- + + +TO MR. JOHN BALLANTYNE. + + ABBOTSFORD, August 16, 1813. + +DEAR JOHN,--I am quite satisfied it is impossible for J. B. and Co. +to continue business longer than is absolutely necessary for the sale +of stock and extrication of their affairs. The fatal injury which +their credit has sustained, as well as your adopting a profession in +which I sincerely hope you will be more fortunate, renders the closing +of the bookselling business inevitable. With regard to the printing, +it is my intention to retire from that also, so soon as I can possibly +do so with safety to myself, and with the regard I shall always +entertain for James's interest. Whatever loss I may sustain will be +preferable to the life I have lately led, when I seem surrounded by a +sort of magic circle, which neither permits me to remain at home in +peace, nor to stir abroad with pleasure. Your first exertion as an +auctioneer may probably be on "that distinguished, select, and +inimitable collection of books, made by an amateur of this city +retiring from business." I do not feel either health or confidence in +my own powers sufficient to authorize me to take a long price for a +new poem, until these affairs shall have been in some measure +digested. This idea has been long running in my head, but the late +fatalities which have attended this business have quite decided my +resolution. I will write to James to-morrow, being at present annoyed +with a severe headache. + +Yours truly, + + W. SCOTT. + + +Were I to transcribe all the letters to which these troubles gave +rise, I should fill a volume before I had reached the end of another +twelvemonth. The two next I shall quote are dated on the same day +(the 24th August), which may, in consequence of the answer the +second of them received, be set down as determining the crisis of +1813. + + +TO MR. JAMES BALLANTYNE. + + ABBOTSFORD, 24th August, 1813. + +DEAR JAMES,--Mr. Constable's advice is, as I have always found it, +sound, sensible, and friendly,--and I shall be guided by it. But I +have no wealthy friend who would join in security with me to such an +extent; and to apply in quarters where I might be refused would insure +disclosure. I conclude John has shown Mr. C. the state of the affairs; +if not, I would wish him to do so directly. If the proposed +accommodation could be granted to the firm on my personally joining in +the security, the whole matter would be quite safe, for I have to +receive in the course of the winter some large sums from my father's +estate.[33] Besides which, I shall certainly be able to go to press in +November with a new poem; or, if Mr. Constable's additional security +would please the bankers better, I could insure Mr. C. against the +possibility of loss, by assigning the copyrights, together with that +of the new poem, or even my library, in his relief. In fact, if he +looks into the affairs, he will I think see that there is no prospect +of any eventual loss to the creditors, though I may be a loser myself. +My property here is unincumbered; so is my house in Castle Street; and +I have no debts out of my own family, excepting a part of the price of +Abbotsford, which I am to retain for four years. So that, literally, I +have no claims upon me unless those arising out of this business; and +when it is considered that my income is above £2000 a year, even if +the printing-office pays nothing, I should hope no one can possibly be +a loser by me. + + Clerkship, £1300} + Sheriffdom, 300 } + Mrs. Scott, 200 } + Interest, 100 } + Somers, (say) 200 } + ______ + £2100 } + +I am sure I would strip myself to my shirt rather than it should be +the case; and my only reason for wishing to stop the concern was to do +open justice to all persons. It must have been a bitter pill to me. I +can more confidently expect some aid from Mr. Constable, or from +Longman's house, because they can look into the concern and satisfy +themselves how little chance there is of their being losers, which +others cannot do. Perhaps between them they might manage to assist us +with the credit necessary, and go on in winding up the concern by +occasional acceptances. + +An odd thing has happened. I have a letter, by order of the Prince +Regent, offering me the laureateship in the most flattering terms. +Were I my own man, as you call it, I would refuse this offer (with all +gratitude); but, as I am situated, £300 or £400 a year is not to be +sneezed at upon a point of poetical honor--and it makes me a better +man to that extent. I have not yet written, however. I will say little +about Constable's handsome behavior, but shall not forget it. It is +needless to say I shall wish him to be consulted in every step that is +taken. If I should lose all I advanced to this business, I should be +less vexed than I am at this moment. I am very busy with Swift at +present, but shall certainly come to town if it is thought necessary; +but I should first wish Mr. Constable to look into the affairs to the +bottom. Since I have personally superintended them, they have been +winding up very fast, and we are now almost within sight of harbor. I +will also own it was partly ill-humor at John's blunder last week that +made me think of throwing things up. + +Yours truly, + + W. S. + + +After writing and despatching this letter, an idea occurred to Scott +that there was a quarter, not hitherto alluded to in any of these +anxious epistles, from which he might consider himself as entitled +to ask assistance, not only with little, if any, chance of a +refusal, but (owing to particular circumstances) without incurring +any very painful sense of obligation. On the 25th he says to John +Ballantyne:-- + + +After some meditation, last night, it occurred to me I had some title +to ask the Duke of Buccleuch's guarantee to a cash account for £4000, +as Constable proposes. I have written to him accordingly, and have +very little doubt that he will be my surety. If this cash account be +in view, Mr. Constable will certainly _assist us_ until the necessary +writings are made out--I beg your pardon--I dare say I am very stupid; +but very often you don't consider that I can't follow details which +would be quite obvious to a man of business;--for instance, you tell +me daily, "that _if_ the sums I count upon _are_ forthcoming, the +results must be as I suppose." But--in a week--the scene is changed, +and all I can do, and more, is inadequate to bring about these +results. I protest I don't know if at this moment £4000 _will_ clear +us out. After all, you are vexed, and so am I; and it is needless to +wrangle who has a right to be angry. Commend me to James. + +Yours truly, + + W. S. + + +Having explained to the Duke of Buccleuch the position in which he +stood--obliged either to procure some guarantee which would enable +him to raise £4000, or to sell abruptly all his remaining interest +in the copyright of his works; and repeated the statement of his +personal property and income, as given in the preceding letter to +James Ballantyne--Scott says to his noble friend:-- + + +I am not asking nor desiring any loan from your Grace, but merely the +honor of your sanction to my credit as a good man for £4000; and the +motive of your Grace's interference would be sufficiently obvious to +the London Shylocks, as your constant kindness and protection is no +secret to the world. Will your Grace consider whether you can do what +I propose, in conscience and safety, and favor me with your answer?--I +have a very flattering offer from the Prince Regent, of his own free +motion, to make me poet laureate; I am very much embarrassed by it. I +am, on the one hand, afraid of giving offence where no one would +willingly offend, and perhaps losing an opportunity of smoothing the +way to my youngsters through life; on the other hand, the office is a +ridiculous one, somehow or other--they and I should be well +quizzed,--yet that I should not mind. My real feeling of reluctance +lies deeper--it is, that favored as I have been by the public, I +should be considered, with some justice, I fear, as engrossing a petty +emolument which might do real service to some poorer brother of the +Muses. I shall be most anxious to have your Grace's advice on this +subject. There seems something churlish, and perhaps conceited, in +repelling a favor so handsomely offered on the part of the Sovereign's +representative; and on the other hand, I feel much disposed to shake +myself free from it. I should make but a bad courtier, and an +ode-maker is described by Pope as a poet out of his way or out of his +senses. I will find some excuse for protracting my reply till I can +have the advantage of your Grace's opinion; and remain, in the mean +time, very truly your obliged and grateful + + WALTER SCOTT. + +P. S.--I trust your Grace will not suppose me capable of making such a +request as the enclosed, upon any idle or unnecessary speculation; +but, as I stand situated, it is a matter of deep interest to me to +prevent these copyrights from being disposed of either hastily or at +under prices. I could have half the booksellers in London for my +sureties, on a hint of a new poem; but bankers do not like people in +trade, and my brains are not ready to spin another web. So your Grace +must take me under your princely care, as in the days of lang syne; +and I think I can say, upon the sincerity of an honest man, there is +not the most distant chance of your having any trouble or expense +through my means. + + +The Duke's answer was in all respects such as might have been looked +for from the generous kindness and manly sense of his character. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., ABBOTSFORD. + + DRUMLANRIG CASTLE, August 28, 1813. + +MY DEAR SIR,--I received yesterday your letter of the 24th. I shall +with pleasure comply with your request of guaranteeing the £4000. You +must, however, furnish me with the form of a letter to this effect, as +I am completely ignorant of transactions of this nature. + +I am never willing to _offer_ advice, but when my opinion is asked by +a friend I am ready to give it. As to the offer of his Royal Highness +to appoint you laureate, I shall frankly say that I should be +mortified to see you hold a situation which, by the general +concurrence of the world, is stamped ridiculous. There is no good +reason why this should be so; but so it is. _Walter Scott, Poet +Laureate_, ceases to be the Walter Scott of the Lay, Marmion, etc. Any +future poem of yours would not come forward with the same probability +of a successful reception. The poet laureate would stick to you and +your productions like a piece of _court plaster_. Your muse has +hitherto been independent--don't put her into harness. We know how +lightly she trots along when left to her natural paces, but do not try +driving. I would write frankly and openly to his Royal Highness, but +with respectful gratitude, for he _has_ paid you a compliment. I would +not fear to state that you had hitherto written when in poetic mood, +but feared to trammel yourself with a fixed periodical exertion; and I +cannot but conceive that his Royal Highness, who has much taste, will +at once see the many objections which you must have to his proposal, +but which you cannot write. Only think of being chaunted and +recitatived by a parcel of hoarse and squeaking choristers on a +birthday, for the edification of the bishops, pages, maids of honor, +and gentlemen-pensioners! Oh horrible! thrice horrible! Yours +sincerely, + + BUCCLEUCH, ETC. + + +The letter which first announced the Prince Regent's proposal was +from his Royal Highness's librarian, Dr. James Stanier Clarke; but +before Scott answered it he had received a more formal notification +from the late Marquis of Hertford, then Lord Chamberlain. I shall +transcribe both these documents. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH. + + PAVILION, BRIGHTON, August 18, 1813. + +MY DEAR SIR,--Though I have never had the honor of being introduced to +you, you have frequently been pleased to convey to me very kind and +flattering messages,[34] and I trust, therefore, you will allow me, +without any further ceremony, to say--That I took an early opportunity +this morning of seeing the Prince Regent, who arrived here late +yesterday; and I then delivered to his Royal Highness my earnest wish +and anxious desire that the vacant situation of poet laureate might be +conferred on you. The Prince replied, "that you had already been +written to, and that if you wished it, everything would be settled as +I could desire." + +I hope, therefore, I may be allowed to congratulate you on this event. +You are the man to whom it ought first to have been offered, and it +gave me sincere pleasure to find that those sentiments of high +approbation which my Royal Master had so often expressed towards you +in private, were now so openly and honorably displayed in public. Have +the goodness, dear sir, to receive this intrusive letter with your +accustomed courtesy, and believe me, yours very sincerely, + + J. S. CLARKE, + +Librarian to H. R. H., the Prince Regent. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH. + + RAGLEY, 31st August, 1813. + +SIR,--I thought it my duty to his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, +to express to him my humble opinion that I could not make so +creditable a choice as in your person for the office, now vacant, of +poet laureate. I am now authorized to offer it to you, which I would +have taken an earlier opportunity of doing, but that, till this +morning, I have had no occasion of seeing his Royal Highness since Mr. +Pye's death. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, humble +servant, + + INGRAM HERTFORD. + + +The following letters conclude this matter:-- + +TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF HERTFORD, ETC., ETC., RAGLEY, +WARWICKSHIRE. + + ABBOTSFORD, 4th September. + +MY LORD,--I am this day honored with your Lordship's letter of the +31st August, tendering for my acceptance the situation of poet +laureate in the Royal Household. I shall always think it the highest +honor of my life to have been the object of the good opinion implied +in your Lordship's recommendation, and in the gracious acquiescence of +his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent. I humbly trust I shall not +forfeit sentiments so highly valued, although I find myself under the +necessity of declining, with every acknowledgment of respect and +gratitude, a situation above my deserts, and offered to me in a manner +so very flattering. The duties attached to the office of poet laureate +are not indeed very formidable, if judged of by the manner in which +they have sometimes been discharged. But an individual selected from +the literary characters of Britain, upon the honorable principle +expressed in your Lordship's letter, ought not, in justice to your +Lordship, to his own reputation, but above all to his Royal Highness, +to accept of the office, unless he were conscious of the power of +filling it respectably, and attaining to excellence in the execution +of the tasks which it imposes. This confidence I am so far from +possessing, that, on the contrary, with all the advantages which do +now, and I trust ever will, present themselves to the poet whose task +it may be to commemorate the events of his Royal Highness's +administration, I am certain I should feel myself inadequate to the +fitting discharge of the regularly recurring duty of periodical +composition, and should thus at once disappoint the expectation of the +public, and, what would give me still more pain, discredit the +nomination of his Royal Highness. + +Will your Lordship permit me to add, that though far from being +wealthy, I already hold two official situations in the line of my +profession, which afford a respectable income. It becomes me, +therefore, to avoid the appearance of engrossing one of the few +appointments which seem specially adapted for the provision of those +whose lives have been dedicated exclusively to literature, and who too +often derive from their labors more credit than emolument. + +Nothing could give me greater pain than being thought ungrateful to +his Royal Highness's goodness, or insensible to the honorable +distinction his undeserved condescension has been pleased to bestow +upon me. I have to trust to your Lordship's kindness for laying at the +feet of his Royal Highness, in the way most proper and respectful, my +humble, grateful, and dutiful thanks, with these reasons for declining +a situation which, though every way superior to my deserts, I should +chiefly have valued as a mark of his Royal Highness's approbation. + +For your Lordship's unmerited goodness, as well as for the trouble you +have had upon this occasion, I can only offer you my respectful +thanks, and entreat that you will be pleased to believe me, my Lord +Marquis, your Lordship's much obliged and much honored humble servant, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC., DRUMLANRIG CASTLE. + + ABBOTSFORD, September 5, 1813. + +MY DEAR LORD DUKE,--Good advice is easily followed when it jumps with +our own sentiments and inclinations. I no sooner found mine fortified +by your Grace's opinion than I wrote to Lord Hertford, declining the +laurel in the most civil way I could imagine. I also wrote to the +Prince's librarian, who had made himself active on the occasion, +dilating, at somewhat more length than I thought respectful to the +Lord Chamberlain, my reasons for declining the intended honor. My +wife has made a copy of the last letter, which I enclose for your +Grace's perusal: there is no occasion either to preserve or return +it--but I am desirous you should know what I have put my apology upon, +for I may reckon on its being misrepresented. I certainly should never +have survived the recitative described by your Grace: it is a part of +the etiquette I was quite unprepared for, and should have sunk under +it. It is curious enough that Drumlanrig should always have been the +refuge of bards who decline court promotion. Gay, I think, refused to +be a gentleman-usher, or some such post;[35] and I am determined to +abide by my post of Grand Ecuyer Trenchant of the Chateau, varied for +that of tale-teller of an evening. + +I will send your Grace a copy of the letter of guarantee when I +receive it from London. By an arrangement with Longman and Co., the +great booksellers in Paternoster Row, I am about to be enabled to +place their security, as well as my own, between your Grace and the +possibility of hazard. But your kind readiness to forward a +transaction which is of such great importance both to my fortune and +comfort can never be forgotten--although it can scarce make me more +than I have always been, my dear Lord, your Grace's much obliged and +truly faithful, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +(_Copy--Enclosure._) + +TO THE REV. J. S. CLARKE, ETC., ETC., ETC., PAVILION, BRIGHTON. + + ABBOTSFORD, 4th September, 1813. + +SIR,--On my return to this cottage, after a short excursion, I was at +once surprised and deeply interested by the receipt of your letter. I +shall always consider it as the proudest incident of my life that his +Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, whose taste in literature is so +highly distinguished, should have thought of naming me to the +situation of poet laureate. I feel, therefore, no small embarrassment +lest I should incur the suspicion of churlish ingratitude in declining +an appointment in every point of view so far above my deserts, but +which I should chiefly have valued as conferred by the unsolicited +generosity of his Royal Highness, and as entitling me to the +distinction of terming myself an immediate servant of his Majesty. But +I have to trust to your goodness in representing to his Royal +Highness, with my most grateful, humble, and dutiful acknowledgments, +the circumstances which compel me to decline the honor which his +undeserved favor has proposed for me. The poetical pieces I have +hitherto composed have uniformly been the hasty production of +impulses, which I must term fortunate, since they have attracted his +Royal Highness's notice and approbation. But I strongly fear, or +rather am absolutely certain, that I should feel myself unable to +justify, in the eye of the public, the choice of his Royal Highness, +by a fitting discharge of the duties of an office which requires +stated and periodical exertion. And although I am conscious how much +this difficulty is lessened under the government of his Royal +Highness, marked by paternal wisdom at home and successes abroad which +seem to promise the liberation of Europe, I still feel that the +necessity of a regular commemoration would trammel my powers of +composition at the very time when it would be equally my pride and +duty to tax them to the uttermost. There is another circumstance which +weighs deeply in my mind while forming my present resolution. I have +already the honor to hold two appointments under Government, not +usually conjoined, and which afford an income, far indeed from wealth, +but amounting to decent independence. I fear, therefore, that in +accepting one of the few situations which our establishment holds +forth as the peculiar provision of literary men, I might be justly +censured as availing myself of his Royal Highness's partiality to +engross more than my share of the public revenue, to the prejudice of +competitors equally meritorious at least, and otherwise unprovided +for; and as this calculation will be made by thousands who know that I +have reaped great advantages by the favor of the public, without being +aware of the losses which it has been my misfortune to sustain, I may +fairly reckon that it will terminate even more to my prejudice than if +they had the means of judging accurately of my real circumstances. I +have thus far, sir, frankly exposed to you, for his Royal Highness's +favorable consideration, the feelings which induce me to decline an +appointment offered in a manner so highly calculated to gratify, I +will not say my vanity only, but my sincere feelings of devoted +attachment to the crown and constitution of my country, and to the +person of his Royal Highness, by whom its government has been so +worthily administered. No consideration on earth would give me so much +pain as the idea of my real feelings being misconstrued on this +occasion, or that I should be supposed stupid enough not to estimate +the value of his Royal Highness's favor, or so ungrateful as not to +feel it as I ought. And you will relieve me from great anxiety if you +will have the goodness to let me know if his Royal Highness is pleased +to receive favorably my humble and grateful apology. + +I cannot conclude without expressing my sense of your kindness and of +the trouble you have had upon this account, and I request you will +believe me, sir, your obliged humble servant, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ., KESWICK. + + ABBOTSFORD, 4th September, 1813. + +MY DEAR SOUTHEY,--On my return here I found, to my no small surprise, +a letter tendering me the laurel vacant by the death of the poetical +Pye. I have declined the appointment, as being incompetent to the task +of annual commemoration; but chiefly as being provided for in my +professional department, and unwilling to incur the censure of +engrossing the emolument attached to one of the few appointments which +seems proper to be filled by a man of literature who has no other +views in life. Will you forgive me, my dear friend, if I own I had you +in my recollection? I have given Croker the hint, and otherwise +endeavored to throw the office into your option. I am uncertain if you +will like it, for the laurel has certainly been tarnished by some of +its wearers, and, as at present managed, its duties are inconvenient +and somewhat liable to ridicule. But the latter matter might be +amended, as I think the Regent's good sense would lead him to lay +aside these regular commemorations; and as to the former point, it has +been worn by Dryden of old, and by Warton in modern days. If you quote +my own refusal against me, I reply--first, I have been luckier than +you in holding two offices not usually conjoined; secondly, I did not +refuse it from any foolish prejudice against the situation, otherwise +how durst I mention it to you, my elder brother in the muse?--but from +a sort of internal hope that they would give it to you, upon whom it +would be so much more worthily conferred. For I am not such an ass as +not to know that you are my better in poetry, though I have had, +probably but for a time, the tide of popularity in my favor. I have +not time to add ten thousand other reasons, but I only wished to tell +you how the matter was, and to beg you to think before you reject the +offer which I flatter myself will be made to you. If I had not been, +like Dogberry, a fellow with two gowns already, I should have jumped +at it like a cock at a gooseberry. Ever yours most truly, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +Immediately after Mr. Croker received Scott's letter here alluded +to, Mr. Southey was invited to accept the vacant laurel. But, as the +birthday ode had been omitted since the illness of King George III., +and the Regent had good sense and good taste enough to hold that +ancient custom as "more honored in the breach than the observance," +the whole fell completely into disuse.[36] The office was thus +relieved from the burden of ridicule which had, in spite of so many +illustrious names, adhered to it; and though its emoluments did not +in fact amount to more than a quarter of the sum at which Scott +rated them when he declined it, they formed no unacceptable addition +to Mr. Southey's income. Scott's answer to his brother poet's +affectionate and grateful letter on the conclusion of this affair is +as follows:-- + + +TO R. SOUTHEY, ESQ., KESWICK. + + EDINBURGH, November 13, 1813. + +I do not delay, my dear Southey, to say my _gratulor_. Long may you +live, as Paddy says, to rule over us, and to redeem the crown of +Spenser and of Dryden to its pristine dignity. I am only discontented +with the extent of your royal revenue, which I thought had been £400, +or £300 at the very least. Is there no getting rid of that iniquitous +modus, and requiring the _butt_ in kind? I would have you think of it; +I know no man so well entitled to Xeres sack as yourself, though many +bards would make a better figure at drinking it. I should think that +in due time a memorial might get some relief in this part of the +appointment--it should be at least, £100 wet and £100 dry. When you +have carried your point of discarding the ode, and my point of getting +the sack, you will be exactly in the situation of Davy in the farce, +who stipulates for more wages, less work, and the key of the +ale-cellar.[37] I was greatly delighted with the circumstances of your +investiture. It reminded me of the porters at Calais with Dr. +Smollett's baggage, six of them seizing upon one small portmanteau, +and bearing it in triumph to his lodgings. You see what it is to laugh +at the superstitions of a gentleman-usher, as I think you do +somewhere. "The whirligig of time brings in his revenges."[38] + +Adieu, my dear Southey; my best wishes attend all that you do, and my +best congratulations every good that attends you--yea even this, the +very least of Providence's mercies, as a poor clergyman said when +pronouncing grace over a herring. I should like to know how the Prince +received you; his address is said to be excellent, and his knowledge +of literature far from despicable. What a change of fortune even since +the short time when we met! The great work of retribution is now +rolling onward to consummation, yet am I not fully satisfied--_pereat +iste_!--there will be no permanent peace in Europe till Buonaparte +sleeps with the tyrants of old. My best compliments attend Mrs. +Southey and your family. + +Ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +To avoid returning to the affair of the laureateship, I have placed +together such letters concerning it as appeared important. I regret +to say that, had I adhered to the chronological order of Scott's +correspondence, ten out of every twelve letters between the date of +his application to the Duke of Buccleuch, and his removal to +Edinburgh on the 12th of November, would have continued to tell the +same story of pecuniary difficulty, urgent and almost daily +applications for new advances to the Ballantynes, and endeavors, +more or less successful, but in no case effectually so, to relieve +the pressure on the bookselling firm by sales of its heavy stock to +the great publishing houses of Edinburgh and London. Whatever +success these endeavors met with, appears to have been due either +directly or indirectly to Mr. Constable; who did a great deal more +than prudence would have warranted, in taking on himself the results +of its unhappy adventures,--and, by his sagacious advice, enabled +the distressed partners to procure similar assistance at the hands +of others, who did not partake his own feelings of personal kindness +and sympathy. "I regret to learn," Scott writes to him on the 16th +October, "that there is great danger of your exertions in our favor, +which once promised so fairly, proving finally abortive, or at least +being too tardy in their operation to work out our relief. If +anything more can be honorably and properly done to avoid a most +unpleasant shock, I shall be most willing to do it; if not--God's +will be done! There will be enough of property, including my private +fortune, to pay every claim; and I have not used prosperity so ill, +as greatly to fear adversity. But these things we will talk over at +meeting; meanwhile believe me, with a sincere sense of your kindness +and friendly views, very truly yours, W. S."--I have no wish to +quote more largely from the letters which passed during this crisis +between Scott and his partners. The pith and substance of his, to +John Ballantyne at least, seems to be summed up in one brief +_postscript_: "For God's sake treat me as a man, and not as a +milch-cow!" + +The difficulties of the Ballantynes were by this time well known +throughout the commercial circles not only of Edinburgh, but of +London; and a report of their actual bankruptcy, with the addition +that Scott was engaged as their surety to the extent of £20,000, +found its way to Mr. Morritt about the beginning of November. This +dear friend wrote to him, in the utmost anxiety, and made liberal +offers of assistance in case the catastrophe might still be +averted; but the term of Martinmas, always a critical one in +Scotland, had passed before this letter reached Edinburgh, and +Scott's answer will show symptoms of a clearing horizon. I think +also there is one expression in it which could hardly have failed to +convey to Mr. Morritt that his friend was involved, more deeply than +he had ever acknowledged, in the concerns of the Messrs. Ballantyne. + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., ROKEBY PARK. + + EDINBURGH, 20th November, 1813. + +I did not answer your very kind letter, my dear Morritt, until I could +put your friendly heart to rest upon the report you have heard, which +I could not do entirely until this term of Martinmas was passed. I +have the pleasure to say that there is no truth whatever in the +Ballantynes' reported bankruptcy. They have had severe difficulties +for the last four months to make their resources balance the demands +upon them, and I, having the price of Rokeby, and other monies in +their hands, have had considerable reason for apprehension, and no +slight degree of plague and trouble. They have, however, been so well +supported, that I have got out of hot water upon their account. They +are winding up their bookselling concern with great regularity, and +are to abide hereafter by the printing-office, which, with its stock, +etc., will revert to them fairly. + +I have been able to redeem the offspring of my brain, and they are +like to pay me like grateful children. This matter has set me +a-thinking about money more seriously than ever I did in my life, and +I have begun by insuring my life for £4000, to secure some ready cash +to my family should I slip girths suddenly. I think my other property, +library, etc., may be worth about £12,000, and I have not much debt. + +Upon the whole, I see no prospect of any loss whatever. Although in +the course of human events I may be disappointed, there certainly +_can_ be none to vex your kind and affectionate heart on my account. I +am young, with a large official income, and if I lose anything now, I +have gained a great deal in my day. I cannot tell you, and will not +attempt to tell you, how much I was affected by your letter--so much, +indeed, that for several days I could not make my mind up to express +myself on the subject. Thank God! all real danger was yesterday put +over--and I will write, in two or three days, a funny letter, without +any of these vile cash matters, of which it may be said there is no +living with them nor without them. + +Ever yours, most truly, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +All these annoyances produced no change whatever in Scott's habits of +literary industry. During these anxious months of September, October, +and November, he kept feeding James Ballantyne's press, from day to day, +both with the annotated text of the closing volumes of Swift's works, +and with the MS. of his Life of the Dean. He had also proceeded to +mature in his own mind the plan of The Lord of the Isles, and executed +such a portion of the First Canto as gave him confidence to renew his +negotiation with Constable for the sale of the whole, or part of its +copyright. It was, moreover, at this period, that, looking into an old +cabinet in search of some fishing-tackle, his eye chanced to light once +more on the Ashestiel fragment of Waverley.--He read over those +introductory chapters--thought they had been undervalued--and determined +to finish the story. + +All this while, too, he had been subjected to those interruptions +from idle strangers, which from the first to the last imposed so +heavy a tax on his celebrity; and he no doubt received such guests +with all his usual urbanity of attention. Yet I was not surprised to +discover, among his hasty notes to the Ballantynes, several of +tenor akin to the following specimens:-- + + + "September 2, 1813. + +"My temper is really worn to a hair's breadth. The intruder of +yesterday hung on me till twelve to-day. When I had just taken my pen, +he was relieved, like a sentry leaving guard, by two other lounging +visitors; and their post has now been supplied by some people on real +business." + + +Again:-- + + "Monday evening. + + "Oh James! oh James! Two Irish dames + Oppress me very sore; + I groaning send one sheet I've penned-- + For, hang them! there's no more." + +A scrap of nearly the same date to his brother Thomas may be +introduced, as belonging to the same state of feeling:-- + + +DEAR TOM,--I observe what you say as to Mr. ****; and as you may +often be exposed to similar requests, which it would be difficult to +parry, you can sign such letters of introduction as relate to persons +whom you do not delight to honor short, _T. Scott_; by which +abridgment of your name I shall understand to limit my civilities. + + +It is proper to mention that, in the very agony of these +perplexities, the unfortunate Maturin received from him a timely +succor of £50, rendered doubly acceptable by the kind and judicious +letter of advice in which it was enclosed; and I have before me +ample evidence that his benevolence had been extended to other +struggling brothers of the trade, even when he must often have had +actual difficulty to meet the immediate expenditure of his own +family. All this, however, will not surprise the reader. + +Nor did his general correspondence suffer much interruption; and, +as some relief after so many painful details, I shall close the +narrative of this anxious year by a few specimens of his +miscellaneous communications:-- + + +TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE, HAMPSTEAD. + + ABBOTSFORD, September 12, 1813. + +MY DEAR MISS BAILLIE,--I have been a vile lazy correspondent, having +been strolling about the country, and indeed a little way into +England, for the greater part of July and August; in short, "aye +skipping here and there," like the Tanner of Tamworth's horse. Since I +returned, I have had a gracious offer of the laurel on the part of the +Prince Regent. You will not wonder that I have declined it, though +with every expression of gratitude which such an unexpected compliment +demanded. Indeed, it would be high imprudence in one having literary +reputation to maintain, to accept of an offer which obliged him to +produce a poetical exercise on a given theme twice a year; and +besides, as my loyalty to the royal family is very sincere, I would +not wish to have it thought mercenary. The public has done its part by +me very well, and so has Government: and I thought this little +literary provision ought to be bestowed on one who has made literature +his sole profession. If the Regent means to make it respectable, he +will abolish the foolish custom of the annual odes, which is a +drudgery no person of talent could ever willingly encounter--or come +clear off from, if he was so rash. And so, peace be with the laurel, + + "Profaned by Cibber and contemned by Gray." + +I was for a fortnight at Drumlanrig, a grand old chateau, which has +descended, by the death of the late Duke of Queensberry, to the Duke +of Buccleuch. It is really a most magnificent pile, and when embosomed +amid the wide forest scenery, of which I have an infantine +recollection, must have been very romantic. But old Q. made wild +devastation among the noble trees, although some fine ones are still +left, and a quantity of young shoots are, in despite of the want of +every kind of attention, rushing up to supply the places of the +fathers of the forest from whose stems they are springing. It will now +I trust be in better hands, for the reparation of the castle goes hand +in hand with the rebuilding of all the cottages, in which an aged race +of pensioners of Duke Charles, and his pious wife,--"Kitty, blooming, +young and gay,"--have, during the last reign, been pining into +rheumatisms and agues, in neglected poverty. + +All this is beautiful to witness: the indoor work does not please me +so well, though I am aware that, to those who are to inhabit an old +castle, it becomes often a matter of necessity to make alterations by +which its tone and character are changed for the worse. Thus a noble +gallery, which ran the whole length of the front, is converted into +bedrooms--very comfortable, indeed, but not quite so magnificent; and +as grim a dungeon as ever knave or honest man was confined in, is in +some danger of being humbled into a wine-cellar. It is almost +impossible to draw your breath, when you recollect that this, so many +feet under-ground, and totally bereft of air and light, was built for +the imprisonment of human beings, whether guilty, suspected, or merely +unfortunate. Certainly, if our frames are not so hardy, our hearts are +softer than those of our forefathers, although probably a few years of +domestic war, or feudal oppression, would bring us back to the same +case-hardening both in body and sentiment. + +I meant to have gone to Rokeby, but was prevented by Mrs. Morritt +being unwell, which I very much regret, as I know few people that +deserve better health. I am very glad you have known them, and I pray +you to keep up the acquaintance in winter. I am glad to see by this +day's paper that our friend Terry has made a favorable impression on +his first appearance at Covent Garden--he has got a very good +engagement there for three years, at twelve guineas a week, which is a +handsome income.--This little place comes on as fast as can be +reasonably hoped; and the pinasters are all above the ground, but +cannot be planted out for twelve months. My kindest compliments--in +which Mrs. Scott always joins--attend Miss Agnes, the Doctor, and his +family. Ever, my dear friend, yours most faithfully, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO DANIEL TERRY, ESQ., LONDON. + + ABBOTSFORD, 20th October, 1813. + +DEAR TERRY,--You will easily believe that I was greatly pleased to +hear from you. I had already learned from The Courier (what I had +anticipated too strongly to doubt for one instant) your favorable +impression on the London public. I think nothing can be more judicious +in the managers than to exercise the various powers you possess, in +their various extents. A man of genius is apt to be limited to one +single style, and to become perforce a mannerist, merely because the +public is not so just to its own amusement as to give him an +opportunity of throwing himself into different lines; and doubtless +the exercise of our talents in one unvaried course, by degrees renders +them incapable of any other, as the over-use of any one limb of our +body gradually impoverishes the rest. I shall be anxious to hear that +you have played _Malvolio_, which is, I think, one of your +_coups-de-maître_, and in which envy itself cannot affect to trace an +imitation. That same charge of imitation, by the way, is one of the +surest scents upon which dunces are certain to open. Undoubtedly, if +the same character is well performed by two individuals, their acting +must bear a general resemblance--it could not be well performed by +both were it otherwise. But this general resemblance, which arises +from both following nature and their author, can as little be termed +imitation as the river in Wales can be identified with that of +Macedon. Never mind these dunderheads, but go on your own way, and +scorn to laugh on the right side of your mouth, to make a difference +from some ancient comedian who, in the same part, always laughed on +the left. Stick to the public--be uniform in your exertions to study +even those characters which have little in them, and to give a grace +which you cannot find in the author. Audiences are always grateful for +this--or rather--for gratitude is as much out of the question in the +theatre, as Bernadotte says to Boney it is amongst sovereigns--or +rather, the audience is gratified by receiving pleasure from a part +which they had no expectation would afford them any. It is in this +view that, had I been of your profession, and possessed talents, I +think I should have liked often those parts with which my brethren +quarrelled, and studied to give them an effect which their intrinsic +merit did not entitle them to. I have some thoughts of being in town +in spring (not resolutions by any means); and it will be an additional +motive to witness your success, and to find you as comfortably +established as your friends in Castle Street earnestly hope and trust +you will be. + +The summer--an uncommon summer in beauty and serenity--has glided away +from us at Abbotsford, amidst our usual petty cares and petty +pleasures. The children's garden is in apple-pie order, our own +completely cropped and stocked, and all the trees flourishing like the +green bay of the Psalmist. I have been so busy about our domestic +arrangements, that I have not killed six hares this season. Besides, I +have got a cargo of old armor, sufficient to excite a suspicion that I +intend to mount a squadron of cuirassiers. I only want a place for my +armory; and, thank God, I can wait for that, these being no times for +building. And this brings me to the loss of poor Stark, with whom more +genius has died than is left behind among the collected universality +of Scottish architects. O Lord!--but what does it signify?--Earth was +born to bear, and man to pay (that is, lords, nabobs, Glasgow traders, +and those who have wherewithal)--so wherefore grumble at great castles +and cottages, with which the taste of the latter contrives to load the +back of Mother Terra?--I have no hobbyhorsical commissions at present, +unless if you meet the Voyages of Captain Richard, or Robert Falconer, +in one volume--"cow-heel, quoth Sancho"--I mark them for my own. Mrs. +Scott, Sophia, Anne, and the boys, unite in kind remembrances. Ever +yours truly, + + W. SCOTT. + + +TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD BYRON, 4 BENNET STREET, ST. JAMES'S, LONDON. + + ABBOTSFORD, 6th November, 1813. + +MY DEAR LORD,--I was honored with your Lordship's letter of the 27th +September,[39] and have sincerely to regret that there is such a +prospect of your leaving Britain, without my achieving your personal +acquaintance. I heartily wish your Lordship had come down to Scotland +this season, for I have never seen a finer, and you might have renewed +all your old associations with Caledonia, and made such new ones as +were likely to suit you. I dare promise you would have liked me well +enough--for I have many properties of a Turk--never trouble myself +about futurity--am as lazy as the day is long--delight in collecting +silver-mounted pistols and ataghans, and go out of my own road for no +one--all which I take to be attributes of your good Moslem. Moreover, +I am somewhat an admirer of royalty, and in order to maintain this +part of my creed, I shall take care never to be connected with a +court, but stick to the _ignotum pro mirabili_. + +The author of The Queen's Wake will be delighted with your +approbation. He is a wonderful creature for his opportunities, which +were far inferior to those of the generality of Scottish peasants. +Burns, for instance--(not that their extent of talents is to be +compared for an instant)--had an education not much worse than the +sons of many gentlemen in Scotland. But poor Hogg literally could +neither read nor write till a very late period of his life; and when +he first distinguished himself by his poetical talent, could neither +spell nor write grammar. When I first knew him, he used to send me his +poetry, and was both indignant and horrified when I pointed out to him +parallel passages in authors whom he had never read, but whom all the +world would have sworn he had copied. An evil fate has hitherto +attended him, and baffled every attempt that has been made to place +him in a road to independence. But I trust he may be more fortunate in +future. + +I have not yet seen Southey in the Gazette as Laureate. He is a real +poet, such as we read of in former times, with every atom of his soul +and every moment of his time dedicated to literary pursuits, in which +he differs from almost all those who have divided public attention +with him. Your Lordship's habits of society, for example, and my own +professional and official avocations, must necessarily connect us much +more with our respective classes in the usual routine of pleasure or +business, than if we had not any other employment than _vacare musis_. +But Southey's ideas are all poetical, and his whole soul dedicated to +the pursuit of literature. In this respect, as well as in many others, +he is a most striking and interesting character. + +I am very much interested in all that concerns your Giaour, which is +universally approved of among our mountains. I have heard no objection +except by one or two geniuses, who run over poetry as a cat does over +a harpsichord, and they affect to complain of obscurity. On the +contrary, I hold every real lover of the art is obliged to you for +condensing the narrative, by giving us only those striking scenes +which you have shown to be so susceptible of poetic ornament, and +leaving to imagination the says I's and says he's, and all the minutiæ +of detail which might be proper in giving evidence before a court of +justice. The truth is, I think poetry is most striking when the mirror +can be held up to the reader, and the same kept constantly before his +eyes; it requires most uncommon powers to support a direct and +downright narration; nor can I remember many instances of its being +successfully maintained even by our greatest bards. + +As to those who have done me the honor to take my rhapsodies for their +model, I can only say they have exemplified the ancient adage, "One +fool makes many;" nor do I think I have yet had much reason to suppose +I have given rise to anything of distinguished merit. The worst is, it +draws on me letters and commendatory verses, to which my sad and sober +thanks in humble prose are deemed a most unmeet and ungracious reply. +Of this sort of plague your Lordship must ere now have had more than +your share, but I think you can hardly have met with so original a +request as concluded the letter of a bard I this morning received, who +limited his demands to being placed in his due station on +Parnassus--_and_ invested with a post in the Edinburgh Custom House. + +What an awakening of dry bones seems to be taking place on the +Continent! I could as soon have believed in the resurrection of the +Romans as in that of the Prussians--yet it seems a real and active +renovation of national spirit. It will certainly be strange enough if +that tremendous pitcher, which has travelled to so many fountains, +should be at length broken on the banks of the Saale; but from the +highest to the lowest we are the fools of fortune. Your Lordship will +probably recollect where the Oriental tale occurs, of a Sultan who +consulted Solomon on the proper inscription for a signet-ring, +requiring that the maxim which it conveyed should be at once proper +for moderating the presumption of prosperity and tempering the +pressure of adversity. The apophthegm supplied by the Jewish sage was, +I think, admirably adapted for both purposes, being comprehended in +the words, "And this also shall pass away." + +When your Lordship sees Rogers, will you remember me kindly to him? I +hope to be in London next spring, and renew my acquaintance with my +friends there. It will be an additional motive if I could flatter +myself that your Lordship's stay in the country will permit me the +pleasure of waiting upon you. I am, with much respect and regard, your +Lordship's truly honored and obliged humble servant, + + WALTER SCOTT. + +I go to Edinburgh next week, _multum gemens_. + + +TO MISS JOANNA BAILLIE, HAMPSTEAD. + + EDINBURGH, 10th December, 1813. + +Many thanks, my dear friend, for your kind token of remembrance, which +I yesterday received. I ought to blush, if I had grace enough left, at +my long and ungenerous silence: but what shall I say? The habit of +procrastination, which had always more or less a dominion over me, +does not relax its sway as I grow older and less willing to take up +the pen. I have not written to dear Ellis this age,--yet there is not +a day that I do not think of you and him, and one or two other friends +in your southern land. I am very glad the whiskey came safe: do not +stint so laudable an admiration for the liquor of Caledonia, for I +have plenty of right good and sound Highland Ferintosh, and I can +always find an opportunity of sending you up a bottle. + +We are here almost mad with the redemption of Holland, which has an +instant and gratifying effect on the trade of Leith, and indeed all +along the east coast of Scotland. About £100,000 worth of various +commodities, which had been dormant in cellars and warehouses, was +sold the first day the news arrived, and Orange ribbons and _Orange +Boven_ was the order of the day among all ranks. It is a most +miraculous revivification which it has been our fate to witness. +Though of a tolerably sanguine temper, I had fairly adjourned all +hopes and expectations of the kind till another generation: the same +power, however, that opened the windows of heaven and the fountains of +the great deep has been pleased to close them, and to cause his wind +to blow upon the face of the waters, so that we may look out from the +ark of our preservation, and behold the reappearance of the mountain +crests, and old, beloved, and well-known land-marks, which we had +deemed swallowed up forever in the abyss: the dove with the olive +branch would complete the simile, but of that I see little hope. +Buonaparte is that desperate gambler, who will not rise while he has a +stake left; and, indeed, to be King of France would be a poor +pettifogging enterprise, after having been almost Emperor of the +World. I think he will drive things on, till the fickle and impatient +people over whom he rules get tired of him and shake him out of the +saddle. Some circumstances seem to intimate his having become jealous +of the Senate; and indeed anything like a representative body, however +imperfectly constructed, becomes dangerous to a tottering tyranny. The +sword displayed on both frontiers may, like that brandished across the +road of Balaam, terrify even dumb and irrational subjection into +utterance;--but enough of politics, though now a more cheerful subject +than they have been for many years past. + +I have had a strong temptation to go to the Continent this Christmas; +and should certainly have done so, had I been sure of getting from +Amsterdam to Frankfort, where, as I know Lord Aberdeen and Lord +Cathcart, I might expect a welcome. But notwithstanding my earnest +desire to see the allied armies cross the Rhine, which I suppose must +be one of the grandest military spectacles in the world, I should like +to know that the roads were tolerably secure, and the means of +getting forward attainable. In spring, however, if no unfortunate +change takes place, I trust to visit the camp of the allies, and see +all the pomp and power and circumstance of war, which I have so often +imagined, and sometimes attempted to embody in verse.--Johnnie +Richardson is a good, honorable, kind-hearted little fellow as lives +in the world, with a pretty taste for poetry, which he has wisely kept +under subjection to the occupation of drawing briefs and revising +conveyances. It is a great good fortune to him to be in your +neighborhood, as he is an idolater of genius, and where could he offer +up his worship so justly? And I am sure you will like him, for he is +really "officious, innocent, sincere."[40] Terry, I hope, will get on +well; he is industrious, and zealous for the honor of his art. +Ventidius must have been an excellent part for him, hovering between +tragedy and comedy, which is precisely what will suit him. We have a +woeful want of him here, both in public and private, for he was one of +the most easy and quiet chimney-corner companions that I have had for +these two or three years past. + +I am very glad if anything I have written to you could give pleasure +to Miss Edgeworth, though I am sure it will fall very short of the +respect which I have for her brilliant talents. I always write to you +_à la volée_, and trust implicitly to your kindness and judgment upon +all occasions where you may choose to communicate any part of my +letters.[41] As to the taxing men, I must battle them as I can: they +are worse than the great Emathian conqueror, who + + "bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + Went to the ground."[42] + +Your pinasters are coming up gallantly in the nursery-bed at +Abbotsford. I trust to pay the whole establishment a Christmas visit, +which will be, as Robinson Crusoe says of his glass of rum, "to mine +exceeding refreshment." All Edinburgh have been on tiptoe to see +Madame de Staël, but she is now not likely to honor us with a visit, +at which I cannot prevail on myself to be very sorry; for as I tired +of some of her works, I am afraid I should disgrace my taste by tiring +of the authoress too. All my little people are very well, learning, +with great pain and diligence, much which they will have forgotten +altogether, or nearly so, in the course of twelve years hence: but the +habit of learning is something in itself, even when the lessons are +forgotten. + +I must not omit to tell you that a friend of mine, with whom that +metal is more plenty than with me, has given me some gold mohurs to be +converted into a ring for enchasing King Charles's hair; but this is +not to be done until I get to London, and get a very handsome pattern. +Ever, most truly and sincerely, yours, + + W. SCOTT. + + +The last sentence of this letter refers to a lock of the hair of +Charles I., which, at Dr. Baillie's request, Sir Henry Halford had +transmitted to Scott when the royal martyr's remains were discovered +at Windsor, in April, 1813.[43] Sir John Malcolm had given him some +Indian coins to supply virgin gold for the setting of this relic; +and for some years he constantly wore the ring, which is a massive +and beautiful one, with the word REMEMBER surrounding it in highly +relieved black-letter. + +The poet's allusion to "taxing men" may require another word of +explanation. To add to his troubles during this autumn of 1813, a +demand was made on him by the commissioners of the income-tax, to +return in one of their schedules an account of the profits of his +literary exertions during the last three years. He demurred to this, +and took the opinion of high authorities in Scotland, who confirmed +him in his impression that the claim was beyond the statute. The +grounds of his resistance are thus briefly stated in one of his +letters to his legal friend in London:-- + + +TO JOHN RICHARDSON, ESQ., FLUDYER STREET, WESTMINSTER. + +MY DEAR RICHARDSON,--I have owed you a letter this long time, but +perhaps my debt might not yet be discharged, had I not a little matter +of business to trouble you with. I wish you to lay before either the +King's counsel, or Sir Samuel Romilly and any other you may approve, +the point whether a copyright being sold for the term during which +Queen Anne's act warranted the property to the author, the price is +liable in payment of the property-tax. I contend it is not so liable, +for the following reasons: 1st, It is a patent right, expected to +produce an annual, or at least an incidental profit, during the +currency of many years; and surely it was never contended that if a +man sold a theatrical patent, or a patent for machinery, property-tax +should be levied in the first place on the full price as paid to the +seller, and then on the profits as purchased by the buyer. I am not +very expert at figures, but I think it clear that a double taxation +takes place. 2d, It should be considered that a book may be the work +not of one year, but of a man's whole life; and as it has been found, +in a late case of the Duke of Gordon, that a fall of timber was not +subject to property-tax because it comprehended the produce of thirty +years, it seems at least equally fair that mental exertions should not +be subjected to a harder principle of measurement. 3d, The demand is, +so far as I can learn, totally new and unheard of. 4th, Supposing that +I died and left my manuscripts to be sold publicly along with the rest +of my library, is there any ground for taxing what might be received +for the written book, any more than any rare printed book, which a +speculative bookseller might purchase with a view to republication? +You will know whether any of these things ought to be suggested in the +brief. David Hume, and every lawyer here whom I have spoken to, +consider the demand as illegal. Believe me truly yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +Mr. Richardson having prepared a case, obtained upon it the opinions +of Mr. Alexander (afterwards Sir William Alexander and Chief Baron +of the Exchequer) and of the late Sir Samuel Romilly. These eminent +lawyers agreed in the view of their Scotch brethren; and after a +tedious correspondence, the Lords of the Treasury at last decided +that the Income-Tax Commissioners should abandon their claim upon +the produce of literary labor. I have thought it worth while to +preserve some record of this decision, and of the authorities on +which it rested, in case such a demand should ever be renewed +hereafter. + +In the beginning of December, the Town Council of Edinburgh resolved +to send a deputation to congratulate the Prince Regent on the +prosperous course of public events, and they invited Scott to draw +up their address, which, on its being transmitted for previous +inspection to Mr. William Dundas, then Member for the City, and +through him shown privately to the Regent, was acknowledged to the +penman, by his Royal Highness's command, as "the most elegant +congratulation a sovereign ever received, or a subject offered."[44] +The Lord Provost of Edinburgh presented it accordingly at the levee +of the 10th, and it was received most graciously. On returning to +the north, the Magistrates expressed their sense of Scott's services +on this occasion by presenting him with the freedom of his native +city, and also with a piece of plate,--which the reader will find +alluded to, among other matters of more consequence, in a letter to +be quoted presently. + +At this time Scott further expressed his patriotic exultation in the +rescue of Europe, by two songs for the anniversary of the death of +Pitt; one of which has ever since, I believe, been chanted at that +celebration:-- + + "O dread was the time and more dreadful the omen, + When the brave on Marengo lay slaughter'd in vain," etc.[45] + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXVI. + +[23: Mr. Hunter died in March, 1812.] + +[24: "These and after purchases of books from the stock of +J. Ballantyne and Co. were resold to the trade by Constable's firm, +at less than one half and one third of the prices at which they were +thus obtained."--_Note from Mr. R. Cadell._] + +[25: Dr. Brewster's edition of Ferguson's _Astronomy_, 2 +vols. 8vo, with plates, 4to, Edin. 1811. 36_s_.] + +[26: Dr. Singers's _General View of the County of +Dumfries_, 8vo, Edin. 1812. 18_s_.] + +[27: A trade sale of Messrs. Cadell and Davies in the +Strand.] + +[28: Since this work was first published, I have been +compelled to examine very minutely the details of Scott's connection +with the Ballantynes, and one result is, that both James and John +had trespassed so largely, for their private purposes, on the funds +of the Companies, that, Scott being, as their letters distinctly +state, the only "monied partner," and his over-advances of capital +having been very extensive, any inquiry on their part as to his +uncommercial expenditure must have been entirely out of the +question. To avoid misrepresentation, however, I leave my text as it +was.--(1839.)] + +[29: _Merchant of Venice_, Act II. Scene 2.] + +[30: The court of offices, built on the haugh at Abbotsford +in 1812, included a house for the faithful coachman, Peter +Mathieson. One of Scott's Cantabrigian friends, Mr. W. S. Rose, gave +the whole pile soon afterwards the name, which it retained to the +end, of _Peter-House_. The loft at Peter-House continued to be +occupied by occasional bachelor guests until the existing mansion +was completed.] + +[31: Mrs. Thomas Scott had met Burns frequently in early +life at Dumfries. Her brother, the late Mr. David MacCulloch, was a +great favorite with the poet, and the best singer of his songs that +I ever heard.] + +[32: John Ballantyne had embarked no capital--not a shilling--in the +business; and was bound by the contract to limit himself to an allowance +of £300 a year, in consideration of his _management_, until there should +be an overplus of profits!--(1839.)] + +[33: He probably alludes to the final settlement of +accounts with the Marquis of Abercorn.] + +[34: The Royal Librarian had forwarded to Scott +presentation copies of his successive publications--_The Progress of +Maritime Discovery_--Falconer's _Shipwreck, with a Life of the +Author_--_Naufragia_--_A Life of Nelson_, in two quarto volumes, +etc., etc., etc.] + +[35: Poor Gay--"In wit a man, simplicity a child"--was insulted, on the +accession of George II., by the offer of a gentleman-ushership to one of +the royal infants. His prose and verse largely celebrate his obligations +to Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, and the charming Lady Catharine +Hyde, his Duchess--under whose roof the poet spent the latter years of +his life.] + +[36: See the Preface to the third volume of the late +Collective Edition of Mr. Southey's _Poems_, p. xii., where he +corrects a trivial error I had fallen into in the first edition of +these Memoirs, and adds, "Sir Walter's conduct was, as it always +was, characteristically generous, and in the highest degree +friendly."--(1839.)] + +[37: Garrick's _Bon Ton, or High Life Above Stairs_.] + +[38: _Twelfth Night_, Act V. Scene 1.] + +[39: The letter in question has not been preserved in +Scott's collection of correspondence. This leaves some allusions in +the answer obscure.] + +[40: Scott's old friend, Mr. John Richardson, had shortly +before this time taken a house in Miss Baillie's neighborhood, on +Hampstead Heath.] + +[41: Miss Baillie had apologized to him for having sent an +extract of one of his letters to her friend at Edgeworthstown.] + +[42: Milton, _Sonnet No. VIII._ [_When the Assault was +intended to the City._]] + +[43: [On May 3, Scott had written to his daughter, that +this hair was light brown, and later, writing to Joanna Baillie, he +says, "I did not think Charles's hair had been quite so light; that +of his father, and I believe of all the Stuarts till Charles II., +was reddish." Of the king, he goes on to say: "Tory, as I am, my +heart only goes with King Charles in his struggles and distresses, +for the fore part of his reign was a series of misconduct; however, +if he sow'd the wind, God knows he reap'd the whirlwind.... Sound +therefore be the sleep, and henceforward undisturbed the ashes, of +this unhappy prince.... His attachment to a particular form of +worship was in him conscience, for he adhered to the Church of +England ... when by giving up that favorite point he might have +secured his reëstablishment; and in that sense he may be justly +considered as a martyr, though his early political errors blemish +his character as King of England."--_Familiar Letters_, vol. i. p. +288.]] + +[44: Letter from the Right Hon. W. Dundas, dated 6th +December, 1813.] + +[45: See Scott's _Poetical Works_, vol. xi. p. 309, Edition +1834 [Cambridge Edition, p. 409].] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + INSANITY OF HENRY WEBER. -- LETTERS ON THE ABDICATION OF + NAPOLEON, ETC. -- PUBLICATION OF SCOTT'S LIFE AND EDITION OF + SWIFT. -- ESSAYS FOR THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA + BRITANNICA. -- COMPLETION AND PUBLICATION OF WAVERLEY + +1814 + + +I have to open the year 1814 with a melancholy story. Mention has +been made, more than once, of Henry Weber, a poor German scholar, +who escaping to this country in 1804, from misfortunes in his own, +excited Scott's compassion, and was thenceforth furnished, through +his means, with literary employment of various sorts. Weber was a +man of considerable learning; but Scott, as was his custom, appears +to have formed an exaggerated notion of his capacity, and certainly +countenanced him, to his own severe cost, in several most +unfortunate undertakings. When not engaged on things of a more +ambitious character, he had acted for ten years as his protector's +amanuensis, and when the family were in Edinburgh, he very often +dined with them. There was something very interesting in his +appearance and manners: he had a fair, open countenance, in which +the honesty and the enthusiasm of his nation were alike visible; his +demeanor was gentle and modest; and he had not only a stock of +curious antiquarian knowledge, but the reminiscences, which he +detailed with amusing simplicity, of an early life chequered with +many strange-enough adventures. He was, in short, much a favorite +with Scott and all the household; and was invited to dine with +them so frequently, chiefly because his friend was aware that he had +an unhappy propensity to drinking, and was anxious to keep him away +from places where he might have been more likely to indulge it. This +vice, however, had been growing on him; and of late Scott had found +it necessary to make some rather severe remonstrances about habits +which were at once injuring his health, and interrupting his +literary industry. + +[Illustration: J. B. S. MORRITT + +_From the painting by Sir M. A. Shee_] + +They had, however, parted kindly when Scott left Edinburgh at +Christmas, 1813,--and the day after his return, Weber attended him +as usual in his library, being employed in transcribing extracts +during several hours, while his friend, seated over against him, +continued working at the Life of Swift. The light beginning to fail, +Scott threw himself back in his chair, and was about to ring for +candles, when he observed the German's eyes fixed upon him with an +unusual solemnity of expression. "Weber," said he, "what's the +matter with you?" "Mr. Scott," said Weber, rising, "you have long +insulted me, and I can bear it no longer. I have brought a pair of +pistols with me, and must insist on your taking one of them +instantly;" and with that he produced the weapons, which had been +deposited under his chair, and laid one of them on Scott's +manuscript. "You are mistaken, I think," said Scott, "in your way of +setting about this affair--but no matter. It can, however, be no +part of your object to annoy Mrs. Scott and the children; therefore, +if you please, we will put the pistols into the drawer till after +dinner, and then arrange to go out together like gentlemen." Weber +answered with equal coolness, "I believe that will be better," and +laid the second pistol also on the table. Scott locked them both in +his desk, and said, "I am glad you have felt the propriety of what I +suggested--let me only request further, that nothing may occur while +we are at dinner to give my wife any suspicion of what has been +passing." Weber again assented, and Scott withdrew to his +dressing-room, from which he immediately despatched a message to one +of Weber's intimate companions,--and then dinner was served, and +Weber joined the family circle as usual. He conducted himself with +perfect composure, and everything seemed to go on in the ordinary +way, until whiskey and hot water being produced, Scott, instead of +inviting his guest to help himself, mixed two moderate tumblers of +toddy, and handed one of them to Weber, who, upon that, started up +with a furious countenance, but instantly sat down again, and when +Mrs. Scott expressed her fear that he was ill, answered placidly +that he was liable to spasms, but that the pain was gone. He then +took the glass, eagerly gulped down its contents, and pushed it back +to Scott. At this moment the friend who had been sent for made his +appearance, and Weber, on seeing him enter the room, rushed past him +and out of the house, without stopping to put on his hat. The +friend, who pursued instantly, came up with him at the end of the +street, and did all he could to soothe his agitation, but in vain. +The same evening he was obliged to be put into a strait-waistcoat; +and though in a few days he exhibited such symptoms of recovery that +he was allowed to go by himself to pay a visit in the north of +England, he there soon relapsed, and continued ever afterwards a +hopeless lunatic, being supported to the end of his life, in June, +1818, at Scott's expense, in an asylum at York. + +The reader will now appreciate the gentle delicacy of the following +letter:-- + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., ROKEBY, GRETA BRIDGE. + + EDINBURGH, 7th January, 1814. + +Many happy New Years to you and Mrs. Morritt. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I have postponed writing a long while, in hopes to +send you the Life of Swift. But I have been delayed by an odd +accident. Poor Weber, whom you may have heard me mention as a sort of +grinder of mine, who assisted me in various ways, has fallen into a +melancholy state. His habits, like those of most German students, were +always too convivial--this, of course, I guarded against while he was +in my house, which was always once a week at least; but unfortunately +he undertook a long walk through the Highlands of upwards of 2000 +miles, and, I suppose, took potations pottle deep to support him +through the fatigue. His mind became accordingly quite unsettled, and +after some strange behavior here, he was fortunately prevailed upon to +go to **** who resides in Yorkshire. It is not unlikely, from +something that dropped from him, that he may take it into his head to +call at Rokeby, in which case you must parry any visit, upon the score +of Mrs. Morritt's health. If he were what he used to be, you would be +much pleased with him; for besides a very extensive general +acquaintance with literature, he was particularly deep in our old +dramatic lore, a good modern linguist, a tolerable draughtsman and +antiquary, and a most excellent hydrographer. I have not the least +doubt that if he submits to the proper regimen of abstinence and +moderate exercise, he will be quite well in a few weeks or days--if +not, it is miserable to think what may happen. The being suddenly +deprived of his services in this melancholy way, has flung me back at +least a month with Swift, and left me no time to write to my friends, +for all my memoranda, etc., were in his hands, and had to be +new-modelled, etc., etc. + +Our glorious prospects on the Continent called forth the +congratulations of the City of Edinburgh among others. The Magistrates +asked me to draw their address, which was presented by the Lord +Provost in person, who happens to be a gentleman of birth and +fortune.[46] The Prince said some very handsome things respecting the +address, with which the Magistrates were so much elated, that they +have done the genteel thing (as Winifred Jenkins says) by their +literary adviser, and presented me with the freedom of the city, and a +handsome piece of plate. I got the freedom at the same time with Lord +Dalhousie and Sir Thomas Graham, and the Provost gave a very brilliant +entertainment. About 150 gentlemen dined at his own house, all as well +served as if there had been a dozen. So if one strikes a cuff on the +one side from ill-will, there is a pat on the other from kindness, and +the shuttlecock is kept flying. To poor Charlotte's great horror, I +chose my plate in the form of an old English tankard, an utensil for +which I have a particular respect, especially when charged with good +ale, cup, or any of these potables. I hope you will soon see mine.[47] + +Your little friends, Sophia and Walter, were at a magnificent party on +Twelfth Night at Dalkeith, where the Duke and Duchess entertained all +Edinburgh. I think they have dreamed of nothing since but Aladdin's +lamp and the palace of Haroun Al-Raschid. I am uncertain what to do +this spring. I would fain go on the Continent for three or four weeks, +if it be then safe for non-combatants. If not, we will have a merry +meeting in London, and, like Master Silence, + + "Eat, drink, and make good cheer, + And praise heaven for the merry year."[48] + +I have much to say about Triermain. The fourth edition is at press. +The Empress Dowager of Russia has expressed such an interest in it, +that it will be inscribed to her, in some doggerel sonnet or other, by +the unknown author. This is funny enough.--Love a thousand times to +dear Mrs. Morritt, who, I trust, keeps pretty well. Pray write soon--a +modest request from + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +The last of Weber's literary productions were the analyses of the +Old German Poems of the _Helden Buch_, and the _Nibelungen Lied_, +which appeared in a massive quarto, entitled Illustrations of +Northern Antiquities, published in the summer of 1814, by his and +Scott's friend, Mr. Robert Jameson. Scott avowedly contributed to +this collection an account of the Eyrbiggia Saga, which has since +been included in his Prose Miscellanies (Vol. V., edition 1834); but +any one who examines the share of the work which goes under Weber's +name will see that Scott had a considerable hand in that also. The +rhymed versions from the Nibelungen Lied came, I can have no doubt, +from his pen; but he never reclaimed these, or any other similar +benefactions, of which I have traced not a few; nor, highly curious +and even beautiful as many of them are, could they be intelligible, +if separated from the prose narrative on which Weber embroidered +them, in imitation of the style of Ellis's Specimens of Metrical +Romance. + +The following letters, on the first abdication of Napoleon, are too +characteristic to be omitted here. I need not remind the reader how +greatly Scott had calmed his opinions, and softened his feelings, +respecting the career and fate of the most extraordinary man of our +age, before he undertook to write his history. + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON. + + ABBOTSFORD, 30th April, 1814 + +"Joy--joy in London now!"--and in Edinburgh, moreover, my dear +Morritt; for never did you or I see, and never again shall we see, +according to all human prospects, a consummation so truly glorious, as +now bids fair to conclude this long and eventful war. It is startling +to think that, but for the preternatural presumption and hardness of +heart displayed by the arch-enemy of mankind, we should have had a +hollow and ominous truce with him, instead of a glorious and stable +peace with the country over which he tyrannized, and its lawful ruler. +But Providence had its own wise purposes to answer--and such was the +deference of France to the ruling power--so devoutly did they worship +the Devil for possession of his burning throne, that, it may be, +nothing short of his rejection of every fair and advantageous offer of +peace could have driven them to those acts of resistance which +remembrance of former convulsions had rendered so fearful to them. +Thank God! it is done at last: and--although I rather grudge him even +the mouthful of air which he may draw in the Isle of Elba--yet I +question whether the moral lesson would have been completed either by +his perishing in battle, or being torn to pieces (which I should +greatly have preferred), like the De Witts, by an infuriated crowd of +conscripts and their parents. Good God! with what strange feelings +must that man retire from the most unbounded authority ever vested in +the hands of one man, to the seclusion of privacy and restraint! We +have never heard of one good action which he did, at least for which +there was not some selfish or political reason; and the train of +slaughter, pestilence, and famine and fire, which his ambition has +occasioned, would have outweighed five hundredfold the private virtues +of a Titus. These are comfortable reflections to carry with one to +privacy. If he writes his own history, as he proposes, we may gain +something; but he must send it here to be printed. Nothing less than a +neck-or-nothing London bookseller, like John Dunton of yore, will +venture to commit to the press his strange details uncastrated. I +doubt if he has _stamina_ to undertake such a labor; and yet, in +youth, as I know from the brothers of Lauriston, who were his +school-companions, Buonaparte's habits were distinctly and strongly +literary. Spain, the Continental System, and the invasion of Russia he +may record as his three leading blunders--an awful lesson to +sovereigns that morality is not so indifferent to politics as +Machiavelians will assert. _Res nolunt diu male administrari._ Why can +we not meet to talk over these matters over a glass of claret? and +when shall that be! Not this spring, I fear, for time wears fast away, +and I have remained here nailed among my future oaks, which I measure +daily with a foot-rule. Those which were planted two years ago begin +to look very gayly, and a venerable plantation of four years old looks +as _bobbish_ as yours at the dairy by Greta side. Besides, I am +arranging this cottage a little more conveniently, to put off the +plague and expense of building another year; and I assure you, I +expect to spare Mrs. Morritt and you a chamber in the wall, with a +dressing-room and everything handsome about you. You will not +stipulate, of course, for many square feet.--You would be surprised to +hear how the Continent is awakening from its iron sleep. The utmost +eagerness seems to prevail about English literature. I have had +several voluntary epistles from different parts of Germany, from men +of letters, who are eager to know what we have been doing, while they +were compelled to play at blind man's buff with the _ci-devant +Empereur_. The feeling of the French officers, of whom we have many in +our vicinity, is very curious, and yet natural.[49] Many of them, +companions of Buonaparte's victories, and who hitherto have marched +with him from conquest to conquest, disbelieve the change entirely. +This is all very stupid to write to you, who are in the centre of +these wonders; but what else can I say, unless I should send you the +measure of the future fathers of the forest? Mrs. Scott is with me +here--the children in Edinburgh. Our kindest love attends Mrs. +Morritt. I hope to hear soon that her health continues to gain ground. + +I have a letter from Southey, in high spirits on the glorious news. +What a pity this last battle[50] was fought. But I am glad the rascals +were beaten once more. + +Ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ., KESWICK. + + EDINBURGH, 17th June, 1814. + +MY DEAR SOUTHEY,--I suspended writing to thank you for the Carmen +Triumphale--(a happy omen of what you can do to immortalize our public +story)--until the feverish mood of expectation and anxiety should be +over. And then, as you truly say, there followed a stunning sort of +listless astonishment and complication of feeling, which, if it did +not lessen enjoyment, confused and confounded one's sense of it. I +remember the first time I happened to see a launch, I was neither so +much struck with the descent of the vessel, nor with its majestic +sweep to its moorings, as with the blank which was suddenly made from +the withdrawing so large an object, and the prospect which was at once +opened to the opposite side of the dock crowded with spectators. +Buonaparte's fall strikes me something in the same way: the huge bulk +of his power, against which a thousand arms were hammering, was +obviously to sink when its main props were struck away--and yet +now--when it has disappeared--the vacancy which it leaves in our minds +and attention marks its huge and preponderating importance more +strongly than even its presence. Yet I so devoutly expected the +termination, that in discussing the matter with Major Philips, who +seemed to partake of the doubts which prevailed during the feverish +period preceding the capture of Paris, when he was expressing his +apprehensions that the capital of France would be defended to the +last, I hazarded a prophecy that a battle would be fought on the +heights of Montmartre--(no great sagacity, since it was the point +where Marlborough proposed to attack, and for which Saxe projected a +scheme of defence)--and that if the allies were successful, which I +little doubted, the city would surrender, and the Senate proclaim the +dethronement of Buonaparte. But I never thought nor imagined that he +would have _given in_ as he has done. I always considered him as +possessing the genius and talents of an Eastern conqueror; and +although I never supposed that he possessed, allowing for some +difference of education, the liberality of conduct and political views +which were sometimes exhibited by old Hyder Ally, yet I did think he +might have shown the same resolved and dogged spirit of resolution +which induced Tippoo Saib to die manfully upon the breach of his +capital city with his sabre clenched in his hand. But this is a poor +devil, and cannot play the tyrant so rarely as Bottom the Weaver +proposed to do. I think it is Strap in Roderick Random, who, seeing a +highwayman that had lately robbed him, disarmed and bound, fairly +offers to box him for a shilling. One has really the same feeling with +respect to Buonaparte, though if he go out of life after all in the +usual manner, it will be the strongest proof of his own +insignificance, and the liberality of the age we live in. Were I a son +of Palm or Hoffer, I should be tempted to take a long shot at him in +his retreat to Elba. As for coaxing the French by restoring all our +conquests, it would be driving generosity into extravagance: most of +them have been colonized with British subjects, and improved by +British capital; and surely we owe no more to the French nation than +any well-meaning individual might owe to a madman, whom--at the +expense of a hard struggle, black eyes, and bruises--he has at length +overpowered, knocked down, and by the wholesome discipline of a bull's +pizzle and strait-jacket, brought to the handsome enjoyment of his +senses. I think with you, what we return to them should be well paid +for; and they should have no Pondicherry to be a nest of smugglers, +nor Mauritius to nurse a hornet-swarm of privateers. In short, draw +teeth, and pare claws, and leave them to fatten themselves in peace +and quiet, when they are deprived of the means of indulging their +restless spirit of enterprise. + +--The above was written at Abbotsford last month, but left in my +portfolio there till my return some days ago; and now, when I look +over what I have written, I am confirmed in my opinion that we have +given the rascals too good an opportunity to boast that they have got +well off. An intimate friend of mine,[51] just returned from a long +captivity in France, witnessed the entry of the King, guarded by the +Imperial Guards, whose countenances betokened the most sullen and +ferocious discontent. The mob, and especially the women, pelted them +for refusing to cry, "Vive le Roi." If Louis is well advised, he will +get rid of these fellows gradually, but as soon as possible. "Joy, joy +in London now!" What a scene has been going on there! I think you may +see the Czar appear on the top of one of your stages one morning. He +is a fine fellow, and has fought the good fight. Yours affectionately, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +On the 1st of July, 1814, Scott's Life and Edition of Swift, in +nineteen volumes 8vo, at length issued from the press. This +adventure, undertaken by Constable in 1808, had been proceeded in +during all the variety of their personal relations, and now came +forth when author and publisher felt more warmly towards each other +than perhaps they had ever before done. The impression was of 1250 +copies; and a reprint of similar extent was called for in 1824. The +Life of Swift has subsequently been included in the author's +Miscellanies, and has obtained a very wide circulation. + +By his industrious inquiries, in which, as the preface gratefully +acknowledges, he found many zealous assistants, especially among the +Irish literati,[52] Scott added to this edition many admirable +pieces, both in prose and verse, which had never before been +printed, and still more which had escaped notice amidst old bundles +of pamphlets and broadsides. To the illustration of these and of all +the better known writings of the Dean, he brought the same +qualifications which had, by general consent, distinguished his +Dryden, "uniting," as the Edinburgh Review expresses it, "to the +minute knowledge and patient research of the Malones and Chalmerses, +a vigor of judgment and a vivacity of style to which they had no +pretensions." His biographical narrative, introductory essays, and +notes on Swift, show, indeed, an intimacy of acquaintance with the +obscurest details of the political, social, and literary history of +the period of Queen Anne, which it is impossible to consider without +feeling a lively regret that he never accomplished a long-cherished +purpose of preparing a Life and Edition of Pope on a similar scale. +It has been specially unfortunate for that "true deacon of the +craft," as Scott often called Pope, that first Goldsmith, and then +Scott, should have taken up, only to abandon it, the project of +writing his life and editing his works. + +The Edinburgh Reviewer thus characterizes Scott's Memoir of the +Dean of St. Patrick's:-- + + +"It is not everywhere extremely well written, in a literary point of +view, but it is drawn up in substance with great intelligence, +liberality, and good feeling. It is quite fair and moderate in +politics; and perhaps rather too indulgent and tender towards +individuals of all descriptions--more full, at least, of kindness and +veneration for genius and social virtue, than of indignation at +baseness and profligacy. Altogether, it is not much like the +production of a mere man of letters, or a fastidious speculator in +sentiment and morality; but exhibits throughout, and in a very +pleasing form, the good sense and large toleration of a man of the +world, with much of that generous allowance for the + + 'Fears of the brave and follies of the wise,' + +which genius too often requires, and should therefore always be most +forward to show. It is impossible, however, to avoid noticing that Mr. +Scott is by far too favorable to the personal character of his author, +whom we think it would really be injurious to the cause of morality to +allow to pass either as a very dignified or a very amiable person. The +truth is, we think, that he was extremely ambitious, arrogant, and +selfish; of a morose, vindictive, and haughty temper; and though +capable of a sort of patronizing generosity towards his dependents, +and of some attachment towards those who had long known and flattered +him, his general demeanor, both in public and private life, appears to +have been far from exemplary; destitute of temper and magnanimity, and +we will add, of principle, in the former; and in the latter, of +tenderness, fidelity, or compassion."--_Edinburgh Review_, vol. xvii. +p. 9. + + +I have no desire to break a lance in this place in defence of the +personal character of Swift. It does not appear to me that he stands +at all distinguished among politicians (least of all, among the +politicians of his time) for laxity of principle; nor can I consent +to charge his private demeanor with the absence either of +tenderness, or fidelity, or compassion. But who ever dreamed--most +assuredly not Scott--of holding up the Dean of St. Patrick's as on +the whole an "exemplary character"? The biographer felt, whatever +his critic may have thought on the subject, that a vein of morbid +humor ran through Swift's whole existence, both mental and physical, +from the beginning. "He early adopted," says Scott, "the custom of +observing his birthday, as a term not of joy but of sorrow, and of +reading, when it annually recurred, the striking passage of +Scripture in which Job laments and execrates the day upon which it +was said in his father's house _that a man-child was born_;" and I +should have expected that any man who had considered the black close +of the career thus early clouded, and read the entry of Swift's +diary on the funeral of Stella, his epitaph on himself, and the +testament by which he disposed of his fortune, would have been +willing, like Scott, to dwell on the splendor of his immortal +genius, and the many traits of manly generosity "which he +unquestionably exhibited," rather than on the faults and foibles of +nameless and inscrutable disease, which tormented and embittered the +far greater part of his earthly being. What the critic says of the +practical and businesslike style of Scott's biography, appears very +just--and I think the circumstance eminently characteristic; nor, on +the whole, could his edition, as an edition, have been better dealt +with than in the Essay which I have quoted. It was, by the way, +written by Mr. Jeffrey, at Constable's particular request. "It was, +I think, the first time I ever asked such a thing of him," the +bookseller said to me; "and I assure you the result was no +encouragement to repeat such petitions." Mr. Jeffrey attacked +Swift's whole character at great length, and with consummate +dexterity; and, in Constable's opinion, his article threw such a +cloud on the Dean, as materially checked, for a time, the popularity +of his writings. Admirable as the paper is, in point of ability, I +think Mr. Constable may have considerably exaggerated its effects; +but in those days it must have been difficult for him to form an +impartial opinion upon such a question; for, as Johnson said of +Cave, that "he could not spit over his window without thinking of +The Gentleman's Magazine," I believe Constable allowed nothing to +interrupt his paternal pride in the concerns of his Review, until +the Waverley Novels supplied him with another periodical publication +still more important to his fortunes. + +And this consummation was not long delayed: a considerable addition +having by that time been made to the original fragment, there +appeared in The Scots Magazine, for February 1, 1814, an +announcement, that "Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, a novel, +in 3 vols., 12mo," would be published in March. And before Scott +came into Edinburgh, at the close of the Christmas vacation, on the +12th of January, Mr. Erskine had perused the greater part of the +first volume, and expressed his decided opinion that Waverley would +prove the most popular of all his friend's writings.[53] The MS. was +forthwith copied by John Ballantyne, and sent to press. As soon as a +volume was printed, Ballantyne conveyed it to Constable, who did not +for a moment doubt from what pen it proceeded, but took a few days +to consider of the matter, and then offered £700 for the copyright. +When we recollect what the state of novel literature in those days +was, and that the only exceptions to its mediocrity, the Irish Tales +of Miss Edgeworth, however appreciated in refined circles, had a +circulation so limited that she had never realized a tithe of £700 +by the best of them--it must be allowed that Constable's offer was a +liberal one. Scott's answer, however, transmitted through the same +channel, was that £700 was too much, in case the novel should not +be successful, and too little in case it should. He added, "If our +fat friend had said £1000, I should have been staggered." John did +not forget to hint this last circumstance to Constable, but the +latter did not choose to act upon it; and he ultimately published +the work, on the footing of an equal division of profits between +himself and the author. There was a considerable pause between the +finishing of the first volume and the beginning of the second. +Constable had, in 1812, acquired the copyright of the Encyclopædia +Britannica, and was now preparing to publish the valuable Supplement +to that work, which has since, with modifications, been incorporated +into its text. He earnestly requested Scott to undertake a few +articles for the Supplement; he agreed--and, anxious to gratify the +generous bookseller, at once laid aside his tale until he had +finished two essays--those on Chivalry and the Drama. They appear to +have been completed in the course of April and May, and he received +for each of them--as he did subsequently for that on Romance--£100. + +The two next letters will give us, in more exact detail than the +author's own recollection could supply in 1830, the history of the +completion of Waverley. It was published on the 7th of July; and two +days afterwards he thus writes:-- + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., M. P., LONDON. + + EDINBURGH, 9th July, 1814. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I owe you many apologies for not sooner answering +your very entertaining letter upon your Parisian journey. I heartily +wish I had been of your party, for you have seen what I trust will not +be seen again in a hurry; since, to enjoy the delight of a +restoration, there is a necessity for a previous _bouleversement_ of +everything that is valuable in morals and policy, which seems to have +been the case in France since 1790.[54] The Duke of Buccleuch told me +yesterday of a very good reply of Louis to some of his attendants, who +proposed shutting the doors of his apartments to keep out the throng +of people. "Open the door," he said, "to John Bull; he has suffered a +great deal in keeping the door open for me." + +Now, to go from one important subject to another, I must account for +my own laziness, which I do by referring you to a small anonymous sort +of a novel, in three volumes, Waverley, which you will receive by the +mail of this day. It was a very old attempt of mine to embody some +traits of those characters and manners peculiar to Scotland, the last +remnants of which vanished during my own youth, so that few or no +traces now remain. I had written great part of the first volume, and +sketched other passages, when I mislaid the MS., and only found it by +the merest accident as I was rummaging the drawers of an old +cabinet;[55] and I took the fancy of finishing it, which I did so +fast, that the last two volumes were written in three weeks. I had a +great deal of fun in the accomplishment of this task, though I do not +expect that it will be popular in the south, as much of the humor, if +there be any, is local, and some of it even professional. You, +however, who are an adopted Scotchman, will find some amusement in it. +It has made a very strong impression here, and the good people of +Edinburgh are busied in tracing the author, and in finding out +originals for the portraits it contains. In the first case, they will +probably find it difficult to convict the guilty author, although he +is far from escaping suspicion. Jeffrey has offered to make oath that +it is mine, and another great critic has tendered his affidavit _ex +contrario_; so that these authorities have divided the Gude Town. +However, the thing has succeeded very well, and is thought highly of. +I don't know if it has got to London yet. I intend to maintain my +_incognito_. Let me know your opinion about it. I should be most happy +if I could think it would amuse a painful thought at this anxious +moment. I was in hopes Mrs. Morritt was getting so much better, that +this relapse affects me very much. Ever yours truly, + + W. SCOTT. + +P. S.--As your conscience has very few things to answer for, you must +still burthen it with the secret of the Bridal. It is spreading very +rapidly, and I have one or two little fairy romances, which will make +a second volume, and which I would wish published, but not with my +name. The truth is, that this sort of muddling work amuses me, and I +am something in the condition of Joseph Surface, who was embarrassed +by getting himself too good a reputation; for many things may please +people well enough anonymously, which, if they have me in the +title-page, would just give me that sort of ill name which precedes +hanging--and that would be in many respects inconvenient if I thought +of again trying a _grande opus_. + + +This statement of the foregoing letter (repeated still more +precisely in the following one), as to the time occupied in the +composition of the second and third volumes of Waverley, recalls to +my memory a trifling anecdote, which, as connected with a dear +friend of my youth, whom I have not seen for many years, and may +very probably never see again in this world, I shall here set down, +in the hope of affording him a momentary, though not an unmixed +pleasure, when he may chance to read this compilation on a distant +shore--and also in the hope that my humble record may impart to some +active mind in the rising generation a shadow of the influence +which the reality certainly exerted upon his. Happening to pass +through Edinburgh in June, 1814, I dined one day with the gentleman +in question (now the Honorable William Menzies, one of the Supreme +Judges at the Cape of Good Hope), whose residence was then in George +Street, situated very near to, and at right angles with, North +Castle Street. It was a party of very young persons, most of them, +like Menzies and myself, destined for the Bar of Scotland, all gay +and thoughtless, enjoying the first flush of manhood, with little +remembrance of the yesterday, or care of the morrow. When my +companion's worthy father and uncle, after seeing two or three +bottles go round, left the juveniles to themselves, the weather +being hot, we adjourned to a library which had one large window +looking northwards. After carousing here for an hour or more, I +observed that a shade had come over the aspect of my friend, who +happened to be placed immediately opposite to myself, and said +something that intimated a fear of his being unwell. "No," said he, +"I shall be well enough presently, if you will only let me sit where +you are, and take my chair; for there is a confounded hand in sight +of me here, which has often bothered me before, and now it won't let +me fill my glass with a good will." I rose to change places with him +accordingly, and he pointed out to me this hand which, like the +writing on Belshazzar's wall, disturbed his hour of hilarity. "Since +we sat down," he said, "I have been watching it--it fascinates my +eye--it never stops--page after page is finished and thrown on that +heap of MS., and still it goes on unwearied--and so it will be till +candles are brought in, and God knows how long after that. It is the +same every night--I can't stand a sight of it when I am not at my +books."--"Some stupid, dogged, engrossing clerk, probably," +exclaimed myself, or some other giddy youth in our society. "No, +boys," said our host, "I well know what hand it is--'tis Walter +Scott's." This was the hand that, in the evenings of three summer +weeks, wrote the last two volumes of Waverley. Would that all who +that night watched it had profited by its example of diligence as +largely as William Menzies! + +In the next of these letters Scott enclosed to Mr. Morritt the +Prospectus of a new edition of the old poems of the Bruce and the +Wallace, undertaken by the learned lexicographer, Dr. John Jamieson; +and he announces his departure on a sailing excursion round the +north of Scotland. It will be observed that when Scott began his +letter, he had only had Mr. Morritt's opinion of the first volume of +Waverley, and that before he closed it he had received his friend's +honest criticism on the work as a whole, with the expression of an +earnest hope that he would drop his _incognito_ on the title-page of +a second edition. + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., M. P., PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON. + + ABBOTSFORD, July 24, 1814. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--I am going to say my _vales_ to you for some weeks, +having accepted an invitation from a committee of the Commissioners +for the Northern Lights (I don't mean the Edinburgh Reviewers, but the +_bona-fide_ Commissioners for the Beacons), to accompany them upon a +nautical tour round Scotland, visiting all that is curious on +continent and isle. The party are three gentlemen with whom I am very +well acquainted, William Erskine being one. We have a stout cutter, +well fitted up and manned for the service by Government; and to make +assurance double sure, the admiral has sent a sloop of war to cruise +in the dangerous points of our tour, and sweep the sea of the Yankee +privateers, which sometimes annoy our northern latitudes. I shall +visit the Clephanes in their solitude--and let you know all that I see +that is rare and entertaining, which, as we are masters of our time +and vessel, should add much to my stock of knowledge. + +As to Waverley, I will play Sir Fretful for once, and assure you that +I left the story to flag in the first volume on purpose; the second +and third have rather more bustle and interest. I wished (with what +success Heaven knows) to avoid the ordinary error of novel writers, +whose first volume is usually their best. But since it has served to +amuse Mrs. Morritt and you _usque ab initio_, I have no doubt you will +tolerate it even unto the end. It may really boast to be a tolerably +faithful portrait of Scottish manners, and has been recognized as such +in Edinburgh. The first edition of a thousand instantly disappeared, +and the bookseller informs me that the second, of double the quantity, +will not supply the market long.--As I shall be very anxious to know +how Mrs. Morritt is, I hope to have a few lines from you on my return, +which will be about the end of August or beginning of September. I +should have mentioned that we have the celebrated engineer, Stevenson, +along with us. I delight in these professional men of talent; they +always give you some new lights by the peculiarity of their habits and +studies, so different from the people who are rounded, and smoothed, +and ground down for conversation, and who can say all that every other +person says, and--nothing more. + +What a miserable thing it is that our royal family cannot be quiet and +decent at least, if not correct and moral in their deportment. Old +farmer George's manly simplicity, modesty of expense, and domestic +virtue, saved this country at its most perilous crisis; for it is +inconceivable the number of persons whom these qualities united in his +behalf, who would have felt but feebly the abstract duty of supporting +a crown less worthily worn. + +--I had just proceeded thus far when your kind favor of the 21st +reached Abbotsford. I am heartily glad you continued to like Waverley +to the end. The hero is a sneaking piece of imbecility; and if he had +married Flora, she would have set him up upon the chimney-piece, as +Count Borowlaski's wife used to do with him.[56] I am a bad hand at +depicting a hero, properly so called, and have an unfortunate +propensity for the dubious characters of Borderers, buccaneers, +Highland robbers, and all others of a Robin Hood description. I do not +know why it should be, as I am myself, like Hamlet, indifferent +honest; but I suppose the blood of the old cattle-drivers of +Teviotdale continues to stir in my veins. + +I shall _not_ own Waverley; my chief reason is that it would prevent +me of the pleasure of writing again. David Hume, nephew of the +historian, says the author must be of a Jacobite family and +predilections, a yeoman-cavalry man, and a Scottish lawyer, and +desires me to guess in whom these happy attributes are united. I shall +not plead guilty, however; and as such seems to be the fashion of the +day, I hope charitable people will believe my _affidavit_ in +contradiction to all other evidence. The Edinburgh faith now is, that +Waverley is written by Jeffrey, having been composed to lighten the +tedium of his late transatlantic voyage. So you see the unknown infant +is like to come to preferment. In truth, I am not sure it would be +considered quite decorous for me, as a Clerk of Session, to write +novels. Judges being monks, Clerks are a sort of lay brethren, from +whom some solemnity of walk and conduct may be expected. So, whatever +I may do of this kind, "I shall whistle it down the wind, and let it +prey at fortune."[57] I will take care, in the next edition, to make +the corrections you recommend. The second is, I believe, nearly +through the press. It will hardly be printed faster than it was +written; for though the first volume was begun long ago, and actually +lost for a time, yet the other two were begun and finished between the +4th June and the 1st July, during all which I attended my duty in +Court, and proceeded without loss of time or hindrance of business. + +I wish, for poor auld Scotland's sake,[58] and for the manes of Bruce +and Wallace, and for the living comfort of a very worthy and ingenious +dissenting clergyman, who has collected a library and medals of some +value, and brought up, I believe, sixteen or seventeen children (his +wife's ambition extended to twenty) upon about £150 a year--I say I +wish, for all these reasons, you could get me among your wealthy +friends a name or two for the enclosed proposals. The price is, I +think, too high; but the booksellers fixed it two guineas above what I +proposed. I trust it will be yet lowered to five guineas, which is a +more come-at-able sum than six. The poems themselves are great +curiosities, both to the philologist and antiquary; and that of Bruce +is invaluable even to the historian. They have been hitherto +wretchedly edited. + +I am glad you are not to pay for this scrawl. Ever yours, + + WALTER SCOTT. + +P. S.--I do not see how my silence can be considered as imposing on +the public. If I give my name to a book without writing it, +unquestionably that would be a trick. But, unless in the case of his +averring facts which he may be called upon to defend or justify, I +think an author may use his own discretion in giving or withholding +his name. Harry Mackenzie never put his name in a title-page till the +last edition of his works; and Swift only owned one out of his +thousand-and-one publications. In point of emolument, everybody knows +that I sacrifice much money by withholding my name; and what should I +gain by it, that any human being has a right to consider as an unfair +advantage? In fact, only the freedom of writing trifles with less +personal responsibility, and perhaps more frequently than I otherwise +might do. + + W. S. + + +I am not able to give the exact date of the following reply to one +of John Ballantyne's expostulations on the subject of _the +secret_:-- + + "No, John, I will not own the book-- + I won't, you Picaroon. + When next I try St. Grubby's brook, + The A. of Wa--shall bait the hook-- + And flat-fish bite as soon, + As if before them they had got + The worn-out wriggler + + WALTER SCOTT." + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXVII. + +[46: The late Sir John Marjoribanks of Lees, Bart.] + +[47: The inscription for this tankard was penned by the +late celebrated Dr. James Gregory, Professor of the Practice of +Physic in the University of Edinburgh; and I therefore transcribe +it. + + GUALTERUM SCOTT + + DE ABBOTSFORD + + VIRUM SUMMI INGENII + + SCRIPTOREM ELEGANTEM + + POETARUM SUI SECULI FACILE PRINCIPEM + + PATRIÆ DECUS + + OB VARIA ERGA IPSAM MERITA + + IN CIVIUM SUORUM NUMERUM + + GRATA ADSCRIPSIT CIVITAS EDINBURGENSIS + + ET HOC CANTHARO DONAVIT + + A. D. M.DCCC.XIII.] + +[48: _2d King Henry IV._ Act V. Scene 3.] + +[49: A good many French officers, prisoners of war, had +been living on parole in Melrose, and the adjoining villages; and +Mr. and Mrs. Scott had been particularly kind and hospitable to +them.] + +[50: The battle of Toulouse.] + +[51: Sir Adam Ferguson, who had been taken prisoner in the +course of the Duke of Wellington's retreat from Burgos.] + +[52: The names which he particularly mentions are those of +the late Matthew Weld Hartstonge, Esq., of Dublin, Theophilus Swift, +Esq., Major Tickell, Thomas Steele, Esq., Leonard Macnally, Esq., +and the Rev. M. Berwick.] + +[53: Entertaining one night a small party of friends, +Erskine read the proof sheets of this volume after supper, and was +confirmed in his opinion by the enthusiastic interest they excited +in his highly intelligent circle. Mr. James Simpson and Mr. Norman +Hill, advocates, were of this party, and from the way in which their +host spoke, they both inferred that they were listening to the first +effort of some unknown aspirant. They all pronounced the work one of +the highest classical merit. The sitting was protracted till +daybreak.--(1839.)] + +[54: Mr. Morritt had, in the spring of this year, been +present at the first levee held at the Tuileries by Monsieur +(afterwards Charles X.), as representative of his brother Louis +XVIII. Mr. M. had not been in Paris till that time since 1789.] + +[55: [The old writing-desk, in which, while searching for +some fishing-tackle for a guest, Scott found the long-lost +manuscript, was given by him to William Laidlaw, who till his death +cherished with religious care all his memorials of Abbotsford. The +desk is now a treasured possession of his grandson, Mr. W. L. +Carruthers, of Inverness.]] + +[56: _Count Borowlaski_ was a Polish dwarf, who, after +realizing some money as an itinerant object of exhibition, settled, +married, and died (September 5, 1837) at Durham. He was a well-bred +creature, and much noticed by the clergy and other gentry of that +city. Indeed, even when travelling the country as a show, he had +always maintained a sort of dignity. I remember him as going from +house to house, when I was a child, in a sedan chair, with a servant +in livery following him, who took the fee--_M. le Comte_ himself +(dressed in a scarlet coat and bag wig) being ushered into the room +like any ordinary visitor. + +The Count died in his 99th year-- + + "A SPIRIT brave, yet gentle, has dwelt, as it appears, + Within three feet of flesh for near one hundred years; + Which causes wonder, like his constitution, strong, + That one _so short alive_ should be _alive so long_!" + + _Bentley's Miscellany_ for November, 1837.] + +[57: _Othello_, Act III. Scene 3.] + +[58: Burns--lines _On my early days_.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + VOYAGE TO THE SHETLAND ISLES, ETC. -- SCOTT'S DIARY KEPT ON BOARD + THE LIGHTHOUSE YACHT + +1814 + + +The gallant composure with which Scott, when he had dismissed a work +from his desk, awaited the decision of the public--and the healthy +elasticity of spirit with which he could meanwhile turn his whole +zeal upon new or different objects--are among the features in his +character which will always, I believe, strike the student of +literary history as most remarkable. We have now seen him before the +fate of Waverley had been determined--before he had heard a word +about its reception in England, except from one partial +confidant--preparing to start on a voyage to the northern isles, +which was likely to occupy the best part of two months, and in the +course of which he could hardly expect to receive any intelligence +from his friends in Edinburgh. The Diary which he kept during this +expedition is--thanks to the leisure of a landsman on board--a very +full one; and, written without the least notion probably that it +would ever be perused except in his own family circle, it affords +such a complete and artless portraiture of the man, as he was in +himself, and as he mingled with his friends and companions, at one +of the most interesting periods of his life, that I am persuaded +every reader will be pleased to see it printed in its original +state. A few extracts from it were published by himself, in one of +the Edinburgh Annual Registers--he also drew from it some of the +notes to his Lord of the Isles, and the substance of several +others for his romance of the Pirate. But the recurrence of these +detached passages will not be complained of--expounded and +illustrated as the reader will find them by the personal details of +the context. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM ERSKINE (LORD KINNEDDER) + +_From the water-color portrait by William Nicholson_] + +I have been often told by one of the companions of this voyage, that +heartily as Scott entered throughout into their social enjoyments, +they all perceived him, when inspecting for the first time scenes of +remarkable grandeur, to be in such an abstracted and excited mood, +that they felt it would be the kindest and discreetest plan to leave +him to himself. "I often," said Lord Kinnedder, "on coming up from +the cabin at night, found him pacing the deck rapidly, muttering to +himself--and went to the forecastle, lest my presence should disturb +him. I remember, that at Loch Corriskin, in particular, he seemed +quite overwhelmed with his feelings; and we all saw it, and retiring +unnoticed, left him to roam and gaze about by himself, until it was +time to muster the party and be gone." Scott used to mention the +surprise with which he himself witnessed Erskine's emotion on first +entering the Cave of Staffa. "Would you believe it?" he said--"my +poor Willie sat down and wept like a woman!" Yet his own +sensibilities, though betrayed in a more masculine and sterner +guise, were perhaps as keen as well as deeper than his amiable +friend's. + +The poet's Diary, contained in five little paper books, is as +follows:-- + + +VACATION, 1814. + +_Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla, and the Lord knows +where._ + +"_July 29, 1814_.--Sailed from Leith about one o'clock on board the +Lighthouse Yacht, conveying six guns, and ten men, commanded by Mr. +Wilson. The company: Commissioners of the Northern Lights, Robert +Hamilton, Sheriff of Lanarkshire; William Erskine, Sheriff of Orkney +and Zetland; Adam Duff, Sheriff of Forfarshire. Non-commissioners, +Ipse Ego; Mr. David Marjoribanks, son to John Marjoribanks, Provost of +Edinburgh, a young gentleman; Rev. Mr. Turnbull, minister of Tingwall, +in the presbytery of Shetland. But the official chief of the +expedition is Mr. Stevenson, the Surveyor-Viceroy over the +Commissioners--a most gentlemanlike and modest man, and well known by +his scientific skill.[59] + +"Reached the Isle of May in the evening; went ashore, and saw the +light--an old tower, and much in the form of a border-keep, with a +beacon-grate on the top. It is to be abolished for an oil +revolving-light, the grate-fire only being ignited upon the leeward +side when the wind is very high. _Quære_--Might not the grate revolve? +The isle had once a cell or two upon it. The vestiges of the chapel +are still visible. Mr. Stevenson proposed demolishing the old tower, +and I recommended _ruining_ it _à la picturesque_--_i. e._, +demolishing it partially. The island might be made a delightful +residence for sea-bathers. + +"On board again in the evening: watched the progress of the ship round +Fifeness, and the revolving motion of the now distant Bell-Rock light +until the wind grew rough, and the landsmen sick. To bed at eleven, +and slept sound. + +"_30th July_.--Waked at six by the steward; summoned to visit the +Bell-Rock, where the beacon is well worthy attention. Its dimensions +are well known; but no description can give the idea of this slight, +solitary, round tower, trembling amid the billows, and fifteen miles +from Arbroath, the nearest shore. The fitting up within is not only +handsome, but elegant. All work of wood (almost) is wainscot; all +hammer-work brass; in short, exquisitely fitted up. You enter by a +ladder of rope, with wooden steps, about thirty feet from the bottom, +where the mason-work ceases to be solid, and admits of round +apartments. The lowest is a storehouse for the people's provisions, +water, etc.; above that a storehouse for the lights, of oil, etc.; +then the kitchen of the people, three in number; then their sleeping +chamber; then the saloon or parlor, a neat little room; above all, the +lighthouse; all communicating by oaken ladders, with brass rails, most +handsomely and conveniently executed. Breakfasted in the parlor.[60] +On board again at nine, and run down, through a rough sea, to +Aberbrothock, vulgarly called Arbroath. All sick, even Mr. Stevenson. +God grant this occur seldom! Landed and dined at Arbroath, where we +were to take up Adam Duff. We visited the appointments of the +lighthouse establishment--a handsome tower, with two wings. These +contain the lodgings of the keepers of the light--very handsome, +indeed, and very clean. They might be thought too handsome, were it +not of consequence to give those men, entrusted with a duty so +laborious and slavish, a consequence in the eyes of the public and in +their own. The central part of the building forms a single tower, +corresponding with the lighthouse. As the keepers' families live here, +they are apprised each morning by a signal that _all is well_. If this +signal be not made, a tender sails for the rock directly. I visited +the abbey church for the third time, the first being--_eheu!_[61]--the +second with T. Thomson. Dined at Arbroath, and came on board at night, +where I made up this foolish journal, and now beg for wine and water. +So the vessel is once more in motion. + +"_31st July_.--Waked at seven; vessel off Fowlsheugh and Dunnottar. +Fair wind, and delightful day; glide enchantingly along the coast of +Kincardineshire, and open the bay of Nigg about ten. At eleven, off +Aberdeen; the gentlemen go ashore to Girdle-Ness, a projecting point +of rock to the east of the harbor of Foot-Dee. There the magistrates +of Aberdeen wish to have a fort and beacon-light. The Oscar, whaler, +was lost here last year, with all her hands, excepting two; about +forty perished. Dreadful, to be wrecked so near a large and populous +town! The view of Old and New Aberdeen from the sea is quite +beautiful. About noon proceed along the coast of Aberdeenshire, which, +to the northwards, changes from a bold and rocky to a low and sandy +character. Along the bay of Belhelvie, a whole parish was swallowed up +by the shifting sands, and is still a desolate waste. It belonged to +the Earls of Errol, and was rented at £500 a year at the time. When +these sands are passed the land is all arable. Not a tree to be seen; +nor a grazing cow, or sheep, or even a labor-horse at grass, though +this be Sunday. The next remarkable object was a fragment of the old +castle of Slains, on a precipitous bank, overlooking the sea. The +fortress was destroyed when James VI. marched north [A. D. 1594], +after the battle of Glenlivet, to reduce Huntly and Errol to +obedience. The family then removed to their present mean habitation, +for such it seems, a collection of low houses forming a quadrangle, +one side of which is built on the very verge of the precipice that +overhangs the ocean. What seems odd, there are no stairs down to the +beach. Imprudence, or ill-fortune as fatal as the sands of Belhelvie, +has swallowed up the estate of Errol, excepting this dreary +mansion-house, and a farm or two adjoining. We took to the boat, and +running along the coast had some delightful sea-views to the northward +of the castle. The coast is here very rocky; but the rocks, being +rather soft, are wasted and corroded by the constant action of the +waves,--and the fragments which remain, where the softer parts have +been washed away, assume the appearance of old Gothic ruins. There are +open arches, towers, steeples, and so forth. One part of this scaur is +called _Dunbuy_, being colored yellow by the dung of the sea-fowls, +who build there in the most surprising numbers. We caught three young +gulls. But the most curious object was the celebrated Buller of +Buchan, a huge rocky cauldron, into which the sea rushes through a +natural arch of rock. I walked round the top; in one place the path is +only about two feet wide, and a monstrous precipice on either side. We +then rowed into the cauldron or buller from beneath, and saw nothing +around us but a regular wall of black rock, and nothing above but the +blue sky. A fishing hamlet had sent out its inhabitants, who, gazing +from the brink, looked like sylphs looking down upon gnomes. In the +side of the cauldron opens a deep black cavern. Johnson says it might +be a retreat from storms, which is nonsense. In a high gale the waves +rush in with incredible violence. An old fisher said he had seen them +flying over the natural wall of the buller, which cannot be less than +200 feet high. Same old man says Slains is now inhabited by a Mr. +Bowles, who comes so far from the southward that naebody kens whare he +comes frae. 'Was he frae the Indies?'--'Na; he did not think he came +that road. He was far frae the southland. Naebody ever heard the name +of the place; but he had brought more guid out o' Peterhead than a' +the Lords he had seen in Slains, and he had seen three.' About +half-past five we left this interesting spot, and after a hard pull +reached the yacht. Weather falls hazy, and rather calm; but at sea we +observe vessels enjoying more wind. Pass Peterhead, dimly +distinguishing two steeples and a good many masts. Mormounthill said +to resemble a coffin--a likeness of which we could not judge, Mormount +being for the present invisible. Pass Rattray-Head: near this cape are +dangerous shelves, called the Bridge of Rattray. Here the wreck of the +Doris merchant vessel came on shore, lost last year with a number of +passengers for Shetland. We lie off all night. + +"_1st August_.--Off Fraserburgh--a neat little town. Mr. Stevenson and +the Commissioners go on shore to look at a light maintained there upon +an old castle, on a cape called Kinnaird's Head. The morning being +rainy, and no object of curiosity ashore, I remain on board, to make +up my journal, and write home. + +"The old castle, now bearing the light, is a picturesque object from +the sea. It was the baronial mansion of the Frasers, now Lords +Saltoun--an old square tower with a minor fortification towards the +landing-place on the sea-side. About eleven, the Commissioners came +off, and we leave this town, the extreme point of the Moray Firth, to +stretch for Shetland--salute the castle with three guns, and stretch +out with a merry gale. See Mormount, a long flattish-topped hill near +to the West Trouphead, and another bold cliff promontory projecting +into the firth. Our gale soon failed, and we are now all but becalmed; +songs, ballads, recitations, backgammon, and piquet, for the rest of +the day. Noble sunset and moon rising; we are now out of sight of +land. + +"_2d August_.--At sea in the mouth of the Moray Firth. This day almost +a blank--light baffling airs, which do us very little good; most of +the landsmen sick, more or less; piquet, backgammon, and chess, the +only resources.--_P.M._ A breeze, and we begin to think we have passed +the Fair Isle, lying between Shetland and Orkney, at which it was our +intention to have touched. In short, like one of Sinbad's adventures, +we have run on till neither captain nor pilot know exactly where we +are. The breeze increases--weather may be called rough; worse and +worse after we are in our berths, nothing but booming, trampling, and +whizzing of waves about our ears, and ever and anon, as we fall +asleep, our ribs come in contact with those of the vessel; hail Duff +and the Udaller[62] in the after-cabin, but they are too sick to +answer. Towards morning, calm (comparative), and a nap. + +"_3d August_.--At sea as before; no appearance of land; proposed that +the Sheriff of Zetland do issue a _meditatione fugæ_ warrant against +his territories, which seem to fly from us. Pass two whalers; speak +the nearest, who had come out of Lerwick, which is about twenty miles +distant; stand on with a fine breeze. About nine at night, with +moonlight and strong twilight, we weather the point of Bard-head, and +enter a channel about three quarters of a mile broad which forms the +southern entrance to the harbor of Lerwick, where we cast anchor about +half-past ten, and put Mr. Turnbull on shore. + +"_4th August_.--Harbor of Lerwick. Admire the excellence of this +harbor of the metropolis of Shetland. It is a most beautiful place, +screened on all sides from the wind by hills of a gentle elevation. +The town, a fishing village built irregularly upon a hill ascending +from the shore, has a picturesque appearance. On the left is Fort +Charlotte, garrisoned of late by two companies of veterans. The +Greenlandmen, of which nine fine vessels are lying in the harbor, add +much to the liveliness of the scene. Mr. Duncan, Sheriff-substitute, +came off to pay his respects to his principal; he is married to a +daughter of my early acquaintance, Walter Scott of Scotshall. We go +ashore. Lerwick, a poor-looking place, the streets flagged instead of +being causewayed, for there are no wheel-carriages. The streets full +of drunken riotous sailors from the whale-vessels. It seems these +ships take about 1000 sailors from Zetland every year, and return them +as they come back from the fishery. Each sailor may gain from £20 to +£30, which is paid by the merchants of Lerwick, who have agencies from +the owners of the whalers in England. The whole return may be between +£25,000 and £30,000. These Zetlanders, as they get a part of this pay +on landing, make a point of treating their English messmates, who get +drunk of course, and are very riotous. The Zetlanders themselves do +_not_ get drunk, but go straight home to their houses, and reserve +their hilarity for the winter season, when they spend their wages in +dancing and drinking. Erskine finds employment as Sheriff, for the +neighborhood of the fort enables him to make _main forte_, and secure +a number of the rioters. We visit F. Charlotte, which is a neat little +fort mounting ten heavy guns to the sea, but only one to the land. +Major F., the Governor, showed us the fort; it commands both entrances +of the harbor: the north entrance is not very good, but the south +capital. The water in the harbor is very deep, as frigates of the +smaller class lie almost close to the shore. Take a walk with Captain +M'Diarmid, a gentlemanlike and intelligent officer of the garrison; we +visit a small fresh-water loch called _Cleik-him-in_; it borders on +the sea, from which it is only divided by a sort of beach, apparently +artificial: though the sea lashes the outside of this beach, the water +of the lake is not brackish. In this lake are the remains of a Picts' +castle, but ruinous. The people think the castle has not been built on +a natural island, but on an artificial one formed by a heap of stones. +These Duns or Picts' castles are so small, it is impossible to +conceive what effectual purpose they could serve excepting a temporary +refuge for the chief.--Leave _Cleik-him-in_, and proceed along the +coast. The ground is dreadfully encumbered with stones; the patches +which have been sown with oats and barley bear very good crops, but +they are mere _patches_, the cattle and ponies feeding amongst them, +and secured by tethers. The houses most wretched, worse than the +worst herd's house I ever saw. It would be easy to form a good farm +by enclosing the ground with Galloway dykes, which would answer the +purpose of clearing it at the same time of stones; and as there is +plenty of limeshell, marle, and alga-marina, manure could not be +wanting. But there are several obstacles to improvement, chiefly the +undivided state of the properties, which lie _run-rig_; then the +claims of Lord Dundas, the lord of the country, and above all, +perhaps, the state of the common people, who, dividing their attention +between the fishery and the cultivation, are not much interested in +the latter, and are often absent at the proper times of labor. Their +ground is chiefly dug with the spade, and their ploughs are beyond +description awkward. An odd custom prevails: any person, without +exception (if I understand rightly), who wishes to raise a few kail, +fixes upon any spot he pleases, encloses it with a dry stone wall, +uses it as a kailyard till he works out the soil, then deserts it and +makes another. Some dozen of these little enclosures, about twenty or +thirty feet square, are in sight at once. They are called +_planty-cruives_; and the Zetlanders are so far from reckoning this an +invasion, or a favor on the part of the proprietor, that their most +exaggerated description of an avaricious person is one who would +refuse liberty for a _planty-cruive_; or to infer the greatest +contempt of another, they will say, they would not hold a +_planty-cruive_ of him. It is needless to notice how much this license +must interfere with cultivation. + +"Leaving the _cultivated_ land, we turn more inland, and pass two or +three small lakes. The muirs are mossy and sterile in the highest +degree; the hills are clad with stunted heather, intermixed with huge +great stones; much of an astringent root with a yellow flower, called +_Tormentil_, used by the islanders in dressing leather in lieu of the +oak bark. We climbed a hill, about three miles from Lerwick, to a +cairn which presents a fine view of the indented coast of the island, +and the distant isles of Mousa and others. Unfortunately the day is +rather hazy--return by a circuitous route, through the same sterile +country. These muirs are used as a commonty by the proprietors of the +parishes in which they lie, and each, without any regard to the extent +of his peculiar property, puts as much stock upon them as he chooses. +The sheep are miserable looking, hairy-legged creatures, of all +colors, even to sky-blue. I often wondered where Jacob got speckled +lambs; I think now they must have been of the Shetland stock. In our +return, pass the upper end of the little lake of _Cleik-him-in_, which +is divided by a rude causeway from another small loch, communicating +with it, however, by a sluice, for the purpose of driving a mill. But +such a mill! The wheel is horizontal, with the cogs turned diagonally +to the water; the beam stands upright, and is inserted in a +stone-quern of the old-fashioned construction. This simple machine is +enclosed in a hovel about the size of a pig-sty--and there is the +mill![63] There are about 500 such mills in Shetland, each incapable +of grinding more than a sack at a time. + +"I cannot get a distinct account of the nature of the land rights. The +Udal proprietors have ceased to exist, yet proper feudal tenures seem +ill understood. Districts of ground are in many instances understood +to belong to Townships or Communities, possessing what may be arable +by patches, and what is muir as a commonty, _pro indiviso_. But then +individuals of such a Township often take it upon them to grant feus +of particular parts of the property thus possessed _pro indiviso_. The +town of Lerwick is built upon a part of the commonty of Sound, the +proprietors of the houses having feu-rights from different heritors of +that Township, but why from one rather than another, or how even the +whole Township combining (which has not yet been attempted) could +grant such a right upon principle, seems altogether uncertain. In the +mean time the chief stress is laid upon occupance. I should have +supposed, upon principle that Lord Dundas, as superior, possessed the +_dominium eminens_, and ought to be resorted to as the source of land +rights. But it is not so. It has been found that the heritors of each +Township hold directly of the Crown, only paying the _Scat_, or +Norwegian land-tax, and other duties to his lordship, used and wont. +Besides, he has what are called property lands in every Township, or +in most, which he lets to his tenants. Lord Dundas is now trying to +introduce the system of leases and a better kind of agriculture.[64] +Return home and dine at Sinclair's, a decent inn--Captain M'Diarmid +and other gentlemen dine with us.--Sleep at the inn on a straw couch. + +"_5th August 1814_.--Hazy disagreeable morning;--Erskine trying the +rioters--notwithstanding which, a great deal of rioting still in the +town. The Greenlanders, however, only quarrelled among themselves, and +the Zetland sailors seemed to exert themselves in keeping peace. They +are, like all the other Zetlanders I have seen, a strong, +clear-complexioned, handsome race, and the women are very pretty. The +females are rather slavishly employed, however, and I saw more than +one carrying home the heavy sea-chests of their husbands, brothers, or +lovers, discharged from on board the Greenlanders. The Zetlanders are, +however, so far provident, that when they enter the navy they make +liberal allowance of their pay for their wives and families. Not less +than £15,000 a year has been lately paid by the Admiralty on this +account; yet this influx of money, with that from the Greenland +fishery, seems rather to give the means of procuring useless +indulgences than of augmenting the stock of productive labor. Mr. +Collector Ross tells me that from the King's books it appears that the +quantity of spirits, tea, coffee, tobacco, snuff, and sugar, imported +annually into Lerwick for the consumption of Zetland, averages at sale +price, £20,000 yearly, at the least. Now the inhabitants of Zetland, +men, women, and children, do not exceed 22,000 in all, and the +proportion of foreign luxuries seems monstrous, unless we allow for +the habits contracted by the seamen in their foreign trips. Tea, in +particular, is used by all ranks, and porridge quite exploded. + +"We parade Lerwick. The most remarkable thing is, that the main street +being flagged, and all the others very narrow lanes descending the +hill by steps, anything like a cart, of the most ordinary and rude +construction, seems not only out of question when the town was built, +but in its present state quite excluded. A road of five miles in +length, on the line between Lerwick and Scalloway, has been already +made--upon a very awkward and expensive plan, and ill-lined as may be +supposed. But it is proposed to extend this road by degrees: carts +will then be introduced, and by crossing the breed of their ponies +judiciously, they will have Galloways to draw them. The streets of +Lerwick (as one blunder perpetrates another) will then be a bar to +improvement, for till the present houses are greatly altered, no cart +can approach the quay. In the garden of Captain Nicolson, R. N., which +is rather in a flourishing state, he has tried various trees, almost +all of which have died except the willow. But the plants seem to me to +be injured in their passage; seeds would perhaps do better. We are +visited by several of the notables of the island, particularly Mr. +Mowat, a considerable proprietor, who claims acquaintance with me as +the friend of my father, and remembers me as a boy. The day clearing +up, Duff and I walk with this good old gentleman to _Cleik-him-in_, +and with some trouble drag a boat off the beach into the fresh-water +loch, and go to visit the Picts' castle. It is of considerable size, +and consists of three circular walls of huge natural stones admirably +combined without cement. The outer circuit seems to have been simply a +bounding wall or bulwark; the second or interior defence contains +lodgments such as I shall describe. This inner circuit is surrounded +by a wall of about sixteen or eighteen feet thick, composed, as I +said, of huge massive stones placed in layers with great art, but +without mortar or cement. The wall is not perpendicular, but the +circle lessens gradually towards the top, as an old-fashioned +pigeon-house. Up the interior of this wall there proceeds a circular +winding gallery ascending in the form of an inclined plane, so as to +gain the top by circling round like a corkscrew within the walls. This +is enlightened by little apertures (about two feet by three) into the +inside, and also, it is said, by small slits--of which I saw none. It +is said there are marks of galleries within the circuit, running +parallel to the horizon; these I saw no remains of; and the interior +gallery, with its apertures, is so extremely low and narrow, being +only about three feet square, that it is difficult to conceive how it +could serve the purpose of communication. At any rate, the size fully +justifies the tradition prevalent here as well as in the south of +Scotland, that the Picts were a diminutive race. More of this when we +see the more perfect specimen of a Pict castle in Mousa, which we +resolve to examine, if it be possible. Certainly I am deeply curious +to see what must be one of the most ancient houses in the world, built +by a people who, while they seem to have bestowed much pains on their +habitations, knew neither the art of cement, of arches, or of stairs. +The situation is wild, dreary, and impressive. On the land side are +huge sheets and fragments of rocks, interspersed with a stinted +vegetation of grass and heath, which bears no proportion to the rocks +and stones. From the top of his tower the Pictish Monarch might look +out upon a stormy sea, washing a succession of rocky capes, reaches, +and headlands, and immediately around him was the deep fresh-water +loch on which his fortress was constructed. It communicates with the +land by a sort of causeway, formed, like the artificial islet itself, +by heaping together stones till the pile reached the surface of the +water. This is usually passable, but at present overflooded.--Return +and dine with Mr. Duncan, Sheriff-substitute--are introduced to Dr. +Edmonstone, author of a History of Shetland, who proposes to accompany +us to-morrow to see the Cradle of Noss. I should have mentioned that +Mr. Stevenson sailed this morning with the yacht to survey some isles +to the northward; he returns on Saturday, it is hoped. + +"_6th August._--Hire a six-oared boat, whaler-built, with a taper +point at each end, so that the rudder can be hooked on either at +pleasure. These vessels look very frail, but are admirably adapted to +the stormy seas, where they live when a ship's boat stiffly and +compactly built must necessarily perish. They owe this to their +elasticity and lightness. Some of the rowers wear a sort of coats of +dressed sheep leather, sewed together with thongs. We sailed out at +the southern inlet of the harbor, rounding successively the capes of +the Hammer, Kirkubus, the Ving, and others, consisting of bold cliffs, +hollowed into caverns, or divided into pillars and arches of fantastic +appearance, by the constant action of the waves. As we passed the most +northerly of these capes, called, I think, the Ord, and turned into +the open sea, the scenes became yet more tremendously sublime. Rocks +upwards of three or four hundred feet in height presented themselves +in gigantic succession, sinking perpendicularly into the main, which +is very deep even within a few fathoms of their base. One of these +capes is called the Bard-head; a huge projecting arch is named the +Giant's Leg. + + 'Here the lone sea-bird wakes its wildest cry.'[65] + +Not lone, however, in one sense, for their numbers and the variety of +their tribes are immense, though I think they do not quite equal those +of Dunbuy, on the coast of Buchan. Standing across a little bay, we +reached the Isle of Noss, having hitherto coasted the shore of +Bressay. Here we see a detached and precipitous rock, or island, being +a portion rent by a narrow sound from the rest of the cliff, and +called the Holm. This detached rock is wholly inaccessible, unless by +a pass of peril, entitled the Cradle of Noss, which is a sort of +wooden chair, travelling from precipice to precipice on rings, which +run upon two cables stretched across over the gulf. We viewed this +extraordinary contrivance from beneath, at the distance of perhaps one +hundred fathoms at least. The boatmen made light of the risk of +crossing it, but it must be tremendous to a brain disposed to be +giddy. Seen from beneath, a man in the basket would resemble a large +crow or raven floating between rock and rock. The purpose of this +strange contrivance is to give the tenant the benefit of putting a few +sheep upon the Holm, the top of which is level, and affords good +pasture. The animals are transported in the cradle by one at a time, a +shepherd holding them upon his knees. The channel between the Holm and +the isle is passable by boats in calm weather, but not at the time +when we saw it. Rowing on through a heavy tide, and nearer the +breakers than any but Zetlanders would have ventured, we rounded +another immensely high cape, called by the islanders the Noup of Noss, +but by sailors Hang-cliff, from its having a projecting appearance. +This was the highest rock we had yet seen, though not quite +perpendicular. Its height has never been measured: I should judge it +exceeds 600 feet; it has been conjectured to measure 800 and upwards. +Our steersman had often descended this precipitous rock, having only +the occasional assistance of a rope, one end of which he secured from +time to time round some projecting cliff. The collecting sea-fowl for +their feathers was the object, and he might gain five or six dozen, +worth eight or ten shillings, by such an adventure. These huge +precipices abound with caverns, many of which run much farther into +the rock than any one has ventured to explore. We entered (with much +hazard to our boat) one called the Orkney-man's Harbor, because an +Orkney vessel run in there some years since to escape a French +privateer. The entrance was lofty enough to admit us without striking +the mast, but a sudden turn in the direction of the cave would have +consigned us to utter darkness if we had gone in farther. The dropping +of the sea-fowl and cormorants into the water from the sides of the +cavern, when disturbed by our approach, had something in it wild and +terrible. + +"After passing the Noup, the precipices become lower, and sink into a +rocky shore with deep indentations, called by the natives, _Gios_. +Here we would fain have landed to visit the Cradle from the top of the +cliff, but the surf rendered it impossible. We therefore rowed on like +Thalaba, in 'Allah's name,' around the Isle of Noss, and landed upon +the opposite side of the small sound which divides it from Bressay. +Noss exactly resembles in shape Salisbury crags, supposing the sea to +flow down the valley called the Hunter's bog, and round the foot of +the precipice. The eastern part of the isle is fine smooth pasture, +the best I have seen in these isles, sloping upwards to the verge of +the tremendous rocks which form its western front. + +"As we are to dine at Gardie-House (the seat of young Mr. Mowat), on +the Isle of Bressay, Duff and I--who went together on this +occasion--resolve to walk across the island, about three miles, being +by this time thoroughly wet. Bressay is a black and heathy isle, full +of little lochs and bogs. Through storm and shade, and dense and dry, +we find our way to Gardie, and have then to encounter the sublunary +difficulties of wanting the keys of our portmanteaus, etc., the +servants having absconded to see the Cradle. These being overcome, we +are most hospitably treated at Gardie. Young Mr. Mowat, son of my old +friend, is an improver, and a _moderate_ one. He has got a ploughman +from Scotland, who acts as _grieve_, but as yet with the prejudices +and inconveniences which usually attach themselves to the most +salutary experiments. The ploughman complains that the Zetlanders work +as if a spade or hoe burned their fingers, and that though they only +get a shilling a day, yet the labor of three of them does not exceed +what one good hand in Berwickshire would do for 2_s._ 6_d._ The +islanders retort that a man can do no more than he can; that they are +not used to be taxed to their work so severely; that they will work +as their fathers did, and not otherwise; and at first the landlord +found difficulty in getting hands to work under his Caledonian +task-master. Besides, they find fault with his _ho_, and _gee_, and +_wo_, when ploughing. 'He speaks to the horse,' they say, 'and they +gang--and there's something no canny about the man.' In short, between +the prejudices of laziness and superstition, the ploughman leads a +sorry life of it;--yet these prejudices are daily abating, under the +steady and indulgent management of the proprietor. Indeed, nowhere is +improvement in agriculture more necessary. An old-fashioned Zetland +plough is a real curiosity. It had but one handle, or stilt, and a +coulter, but no sock; it ripped the furrow, therefore, but did not +throw it aside. When this precious machine was in motion, it was +dragged by four little bullocks yoked abreast, and as many ponies +harnessed, or rather strung, to the plough by ropes and thongs of +rawhide. One man went before, walking backward, with his face to the +bullocks, and pulling them forward by main strength. Another held down +the plough by its single handle, and made a sort of slit in the earth, +which two women, who closed the procession, converted into a furrow, +by throwing the earth aside with shovels. An antiquary might be of +opinion that this was the very model of the original plough invented +by Triptolemus; and it is but justice to Zetland to say, that these +relics of ancient agricultural art will soon have all the interest +attached to rarity. We could only hear of one of these ploughs within +three miles of Lerwick. + +"This and many other barbarous habits to which the Zetlanders were +formerly wedded seem only to have subsisted because their amphibious +character of fishers and farmers induced them to neglect agricultural +arts. A Zetland farmer looks to the sea to pay his rent; if the land +finds him a little meal and kail, and (if he be a very clever fellow) +a few potatoes, it is very well. The more intelligent part of the +landholders are sensible of all this, but argue like men of good sense +and humanity on the subject. To have good farming, you must have a +considerable farm, upon which capital may be laid out to advantage. +But to introduce this change suddenly would turn adrift perhaps twenty +families, who now occupy small farms _pro indiviso_, cultivating by +patches, or _rundale_ and _runrig_, what part of the property is +arable, and stocking the pasture as a common upon which each family +turns out such stock as they can rear, without observing any +proportion as to the number which it can support. In this way many +townships, as they are called, subsist indeed, but in a precarious and +indigent manner. Fishing villages seem the natural resource for this +excess of population; but, besides the expense of erecting them, the +habits of the people are to be considered, who, with 'one foot on land +and one on sea,' would be with equal reluctance confined to either +element. The remedy seems to be, that the larger proprietors should +gradually set the example of better cultivation, and introduce better +implements. They will, by degrees, be imitated by the inferior +proprietors, and by their tenants; and, as turnips and hay crops +become more general, a better and heavier class of stock will +naturally be introduced. + +"The sheep in particular might be improved into a valuable stock, and +would no doubt thrive, since the winters are very temperate. But I +should be sorry that extensive pasture farms were introduced, as it +would tend to diminish a population invaluable for the supply of our +navy. The improvement of the arable land, on the contrary, would soon +set them beyond the terrors of famine with which the islanders are at +present occasionally visited; and, combined with fisheries, carried on +not by farmers, but by real fishers, would amply supply the +inhabitants, without diminishing the export of dried fish. This +separation of trades will in time take place, and then the prosperous +days of Zetland will begin. The proprietors are already upon the +alert, studying the means of gradual improvement, and no humane person +would wish them to drive it on too rapidly, to the distress and +perhaps destruction of the numerous tenants who have been bred under a +different system. + +"I have gleaned something of the peculiar superstitions of the +Zetlanders, which are numerous and potent. Witches, fairies, etc., are +as numerous as ever they were in Teviotdale. The latter are called +_Trows_, probably from the Norwegian _Dwärg_ (or _dwarf_) the D being +readily converted into T. The dwarfs are the prime agents in the +machinery of Norwegian superstition. The _trows_ do not differ from +the fairies of the Lowlands, or _Sighean_ of the Highlanders. They +steal children, dwell within the interior of green hills, and often +carry mortals into their recesses. Some, yet alive, pretend to have +been carried off in this way, and obtain credit for the marvels they +tell of the subterranean habitations of the trows. Sometimes, when a +person becomes melancholy and low-spirited, the trows are supposed to +have stolen the real being, and left a moving phantom to represent +him. Sometimes they are said to steal only the heart--like Lancashire +witches. There are cures in each case. The party's friends resort to a +cunning man or woman, who hangs about the neck a triangular stone in +the shape of a heart, or conjures back the lost individual, by +retiring to the hills and employing the necessary spells. A common +receipt, when a child appears consumptive and puny, is that the +conjurer places a bowl of water on the patient's head, and pours +melted lead into it through the wards of a key. The metal assumes of +course a variety of shapes, from which he selects a portion, after due +consideration, which is sewn into the shirt of the patient. Sometimes +no part of the lead suits the seer's fancy. Then the operation is +recommenced, until he obtains a fragment of such a configuration as +suits his mystical purpose. Mr. Duncan told us he had been treated in +this way when a boy. + +"A worse and most horrid opinion prevails, or did prevail, among the +fishers--namely, that he who saves a drowning man will receive at his +hands some deep wrong or injury. Several instances were quoted to-day +in company, in which the utmost violence had been found necessary to +compel the fishers to violate this inhuman prejudice. It is +conjectured to have arisen as an apology for rendering no assistance +to the mariners as they escaped from a shipwrecked vessel, for these +isles are infamous for plundering wrecks. A story is told of the crew +of a stranded vessel who were warping themselves ashore by means of a +hawser which they had fixed to the land. The islanders (of Unst, as I +believe) watched their motions in silence, till an old man reminded +them that if they suffered these sailors to come ashore, they would +consume all their winter stock of provisions. A Zetlander cut the +hawser, and the poor wretches, twenty in number, were all swept away. +This is a tale of former times--the cruelty would not now be _active_; +but I fear that even yet the drowning mariner would in some places +receive no assistance in his exertions, and certainly he would in most +be plundered to the skin upon his landing. The gentlemen do their +utmost to prevent this infamous practice. It may seem strange that the +natives should be so little affected by a distress to which they are +themselves so constantly exposed. But habitual exposure to danger +hardens the heart against its consequences, whether to ourselves or +others. There is yet living a man--if he can be called so--to whom the +following story belongs: He was engaged in catching sea-fowl upon one +of the cliffs, with his father and brother. All three were suspended +by a cord, according to custom, and overhanging the ocean, at the +height of some hundred feet. This man being uppermost on the cord, +observed that it was giving way, as unable to support their united +weight. He called out to his brother who was next to him--'Cut away a +nail below, Willie,' meaning he should cut the rope beneath, and let +his father drop. Willie refused, and bid him cut himself, if he +pleased. He did so, and his brother and father were precipitated into +the sea. He never thought of concealing or denying the adventure in +all its parts. We left Gardie-House late; being on the side of the +Isle of Bressay, opposite to Lerwick, we were soon rowed across the +bay. A laugh with Hamilton,[66] whose gout keeps him stationary at +Lerwick, but whose good-humor defies gout and every other provocation, +concludes the evening. + +"_7th August, 1814._--Being Sunday, Duff, Erskine, and I rode to +Tingwall upon Zetland ponies, to breakfast with our friend Parson +Turnbull, who had come over in our yacht. An ill-conducted and +worse-made road served us four miles on our journey. This _Via +Flaminia_ of Thule terminates, like its prototype, in a bog. It is, +however, the only road in these isles, except about half a mile made +by Mr. Turnbull. The land in the interior much resembles the +Peel-heights, near Ashestiel; but, as you approach the other side of +the island, becomes better. Tingwall is rather a fertile valley, up +which winds a loch of about two miles in length. The kirk and manse +stand at the head of the loch, and command a view down the valley to +another lake beyond the first, and thence over another reach of land, +to the ocean, indented by capes and studded with isles; among which, +that of St. Ninian's, abruptly divided from the mainland by a deep +chasm, is the most conspicuous. Mr. Turnbull is a Jedburgh man by +birth, but a Zetlander by settlement and inclination. I have reason to +be proud of my countryman; he is doing his best, with great patience +and judgment, to set a good example both in temporals and spirituals, +and is generally beloved and respected among all classes. His glebe is +in far the best order of any ground I have seen in Zetland. It is +enclosed chiefly with dry-stone, instead of the useless turf-dykes; +and he has sown grass, and has a hay-stack, and a second crop of +clover, and may claim well-dressed fields of potatoes, barley, and +oats. The people around him are obviously affected by his example. He +gave us an excellent discourse and remarkably good prayers, which are +seldom the excellence of the Presbyterian worship.[67] The +congregation were numerous, decent, clean, and well-dressed. The men +have all the air of seamen, and are a good-looking hardy race. Some of +the old fellows had got faces much resembling Tritons; if they had had +conchs to blow, it would have completed them. After church, ride down +the loch to Scalloway--the country wild but pleasant, with sloping +hills of good pasturage, and patches of cultivation on the lower +ground. Pass a huge standing stone or pillar. Here, it is said, the +son of an old Earl of the Orkneys met his fate. He had rebelled +against his father, and fortified himself in Zetland. The Earl sent a +party to dislodge him, who, not caring to proceed to violence against +his person, failed in the attempt. The Earl then sent a stronger +force, with orders to take him dead or alive. The young Absalom's +castle was stormed--he himself fled across the loch, and was overtaken +and slain at this pillar. The Earl afterwards executed the +perpetrators of this slaughter, though they had only fulfilled his own +mandate. + +"We reach Scalloway, and visit the ruins of an old castle, composed of +a double tower or keep, with turrets at the corners. It is the +principal, if not the only ruin of Gothic times in Zetland, and is of +very recent date, being built in 1600. It was built by Patrick +Stewart, Earl of Orkney, afterwards deservedly executed at Edinburgh +for many acts of tyranny and oppression. It was this rapacious lord +who imposed many of those heavy duties still levied from the +Zetlanders by Lord Dundas. The exactions by which he accomplished this +erection were represented as grievous. He was so dreaded that upon his +trial one Zetland witness refused to say a word till he was assured +that there was no chance of the Earl returning to Scalloway. Over the +entrance of the castle are his arms, much defaced, with the unicorns +of Scotland for supporters, the assumption of which was one of the +articles of indictment. There is a Scriptural inscription also above +the door, in Latin, now much defaced:-- + + 'PATRICIUS ORCHADIÆ ET ZETLANDIÆ COMES. A. D. 1600. + CUJUS FUNDAMEN SAXUM EST, DOMUS ILLA MANEBIT + STABILIS: E CONTRA, SI SIT ARENA, PERIT.' + +"This is said to have been furnished to Earl Patrick by a Presbyterian +divine, who slyly couched under it an allusion to the evil practices +by which the Earl had established his power. He perhaps trusted that +the language might disguise the import from the Earl.[68] If so, the +Scottish nobility are improved in literature, for the Duke of Gordon +pointed out an error in the Latinity. + +"Scalloway has a beautiful and very safe harbor, but as it is somewhat +difficult of access, from a complication of small islands, it is +inferior to Lerwick. Hence, though still nominally the capital of +Zetland, for all edictal citations are made at Scalloway, it has sunk +into a small fishing hamlet. The Norwegians made their original +settlement in this parish of Tingwall. At the head of this loch, and +just below the manse, is a small round islet accessible by +stepping-stones, where they held their courts; hence the islet is +called Law-ting--Ting, or Thing, answering to our word business, +exactly like the Latin _negotium_. It seems odd that in +Dumfries-shire, and even in the Isle of Man, where the race and laws +were surely Celtic, we have this Gothic word Ting and Tingwald applied +in the same way. We dined with Mr. Scott of Scalloway, who, like +several families of this name in Shetland, is derived from the house +of Scotstarvet. They are very clannish, marry much among themselves, +and are proud of their descent. Two young ladies, daughters of Mr. +Scott's, dined with us--they were both Mrs. Scotts, having married +brothers--the husband of one was lost in the unfortunate Doris. They +were pleasant, intelligent women, and exceedingly obliging. Old Mr. +Scott seems a good country gentleman. He is negotiating an exchange +with Lord Dundas, which will give him the Castle of Scalloway and two +or three neighboring islands: the rest of the archipelago (seven, I +think, in number) are already his own. He will thus have command of +the whole fishing and harbor, for which he parts with an estate of +more immediate value, lying on the other side of the mainland. I found +my name made me very popular in this family, and there were many +inquiries after the state of the Buccleuch family, in which they +seemed to take much interest. I found them possessed of the remarkable +circumstances attending the late projected sale of Ancrum, and the +death of Sir John Scott, and thought it strange that, settled for +three generations in a country so distant, they should still take an +interest in those matters. I was loaded with shells and little +curiosities for my young people. + +"There was a report (January was two years) of a kraken or some +monstrous fish being seen off Scalloway. The object was visible for a +fortnight, but nobody dared approach it, although I should have +thought the Zetlanders would not have feared the devil if he came by +water. They pretended that the suction, when they came within a +certain distance, was so great as to endanger their boats. The object +was described as resembling a vessel with her keel turned upmost in +the sea, or a small ridge of rock or island. Mr. Scott thinks it might +have been a vessel overset, or a large whale: if the latter, it seems +odd they should not have known it, as whales are the intimate +acquaintances of all Zetland sailors. Whatever it was it disappeared +after a heavy gale of wind, which seems to favor the idea that it was +the wreck of a vessel. Mr. Scott seems to think Pontopiddan's +narrations and descriptions are much more accurate than we inland men +suppose; and I find most Zetlanders of the same opinion. Mr. Turnbull, +who is not credulous upon these subjects, tells me that this year a +parishioner of his, a well-informed and veracious person, saw an +animal, which, if his description was correct, must have been of the +species of sea-snake, driven ashore on one of the Orkneys two or three +years ago. It was very long, and seemed about the thickness of a +Norway log, and swam on the top of the waves, occasionally lifting and +bending its head. Mr. T. says he has no doubt of the veracity of the +narrator, but still thinks it possible it may have been a mere log, or +beam of wood, and that the spectator may have been deceived by the +motion of the waves, joined to the force of imagination. This for the +Duke of Buccleuch. + +"At Scalloway my curiosity was gratified by an account of the +sword-dance, now almost lost, but still practised in the Island of +Papa, belonging to Mr. Scott. There are eight performers, seven of +whom represent the Seven Champions of Christendom, who enter one by +one with their swords drawn, and are presented to the eighth +personage, who is not named. Some rude couplets are spoken (in +_English_, not _Norse_), containing a sort of panegyric upon each +champion as he is presented. They then dance a sort of cotillion, as +the ladies described it, going through a number of evolutions with +their swords. One of my three Mrs. Scotts readily promised to procure +me the lines, the rhymes, and the form of the dance. I regret much +that young Mr. Scott was absent during this visit; he is described as +a reader and an enthusiast in poetry. Probably I might have interested +him in preserving the dance, by causing young persons to learn it. A +few years since, a party of Papa-men came to dance the sword-dance at +Lerwick as a public exhibition with great applause. The warlike dances +of the northern people, of which I conceive this to be the only +remnant in the British dominions,[69] are repeatedly alluded to by +their poets and historians. The introduction of the Seven Champions +savors of a later period, and was probably ingrafted upon the dance +when _mysteries_ and _moralities_ (the first scenic representations) +came into fashion. In a stall pamphlet, called the history of +Buckshaven, it is said those fishers sprung from Danes, and brought +with them their _war-dance_ or _sword-dance_, and a rude wooden cut of +it is given. We resist the hospitality of our entertainers, and return +to Lerwick despite a most downright fall of rain. My pony stumbles +coming down hill; saddle sways round, having but one girth and that +too long, and lays me on my back. _N. B._ The bogs in Zetland as soft +as those in Liddesdale. Get to Lerwick about ten at night. No yacht +has appeared. + +"_8th August._--No yacht, and a rainy morning; bring up my journal. +Day clears up, and we go to pay our farewell visits of thanks to the +hospitable Lerwegians, and at the Fort. Visit kind old Mr. Mowat, and +walk with him and Collector Ross to the point of Quaggers, or +Twaggers, which forms one arm of the southern entrance to the sound of +Bressay. From the eminence a delightful sea view, with several of +those narrow capes and deep reaches or inlets of the sea, which indent +the shores of that land. On the right hand a narrow bay, bounded by +the isthmus of Sound, with a house upon it resembling an old castle. +In the indenture of the bay, and divided from the sea by a slight +causeway, the lake of _Cleik-him-in_, with its Pictish castle. Beyond +this the bay opens another yet; and, behind all, a succession of +capes, headlands, and islands, as far as the cape called +Sumburgh-head, which is the furthest point of Zetland in that +direction. Inland, craggy, and sable muirs, with cairns, among which +we distinguish the Wart or Ward of Wick, to which we walked on the +4th. On the left the island of Bressay, with its peaked hill called +the Wart of Bressay. Over Bressay see the top of Hang-cliff. Admire +the Bay of Lerwick, with its shipping, widening out to the northwards, +and then again contracted into a narrow sound, through which the +infamous Bothwell was pursued by Kirkaldy of Grange, until he escaped +through the dexterity of his pilot, who sailed close along a sunken +rock, upon which Kirkaldy, keeping the weather-gage, struck, and +sustained damage. The rock is visible at low water, and is still +called the Unicorn, from the name of Kirkaldy's vessel. Admire Mr. +Mowat's little farm, of about thirty acres, bought about twenty years +since for £75, and redeemed from the miserable state of the +surrounding country, so that it now bears excellent corn; here also +was a hay crop. With Mr. Turnbull's it makes two. Visit Mr. Ross, +collector of the customs, who presents me with the most superb +collection of the stone axes (or adzes, or whatever they are), called +_celts_. The Zetlanders call them _thunder-bolts_, and keep them in +their houses as a receipt against thunder; but the Collector has +succeeded in obtaining several. We are now to dress for dinner with +the Notables of Lerwick, who give us an entertainment in their +Town-hall. Oho! + +"Just as we were going to dinner, the yacht appeared, and Mr. +Stevenson landed. He gives a most favorable account of the isles to +the northward, particularly Unst. I believe Lerwick is the worst part +of Shetland. Are hospitably received and entertained by the Lerwick +gentlemen. They are a quick, intelligent race--chiefly of Scottish +birth, as appears from their names, Mowat, Gifford, Scott, and so +forth. These are the chief proprietors. The Norwegian or Danish +surnames, though of course the more ancient, belong, with some +exceptions, to the lower ranks. The Veteran Corps expects to be +disbanded, and the officers and Lerwegians seem to part with regret. +Some of the officers talk of settling here. The price of everything is +moderate, and the style of living unexpensive. Against these +conveniences are to be placed a total separation from public life, +news, and literature; and a variable and inhospitable climate. +Lerwick will suffer most severely if the Fort is not occupied by some +force or other; for, between whiskey and frolic, the Greenland sailors +will certainly burn the little town. We have seen a good deal, and +heard much more, of the pranks of these unruly guests. A gentleman of +Lerwick, who had company to dine with him, observed beneath his window +a party of sailors eating a leg of roast mutton, which he witnessed +with philanthropic satisfaction, till he received the melancholy +information, that that individual leg of mutton, being the very +sheet-anchor of his own entertainment, had been violently carried off +from his kitchen, spit and all, by these honest gentlemen, who were +now devouring it. Two others, having carried off a sheep, were +apprehended, and brought before a Justice of the Peace, who questioned +them respecting the fact. The first denied he had taken the sheep, but +said he had seen it taken away by a fellow with a red nose and a black +wig (this was the Justice's description). 'Don't you think he was like +his honor, Tom?' he added, appealing to his comrade. 'By G--, Jack,' +answered Tom, 'I believe it was the very man!' Erskine has been busy +with these facetious gentlemen, and has sent several to prison, but +nothing could have been done without the soldiery. We leave Lerwick at +eight o'clock, and sleep on board the yacht. + +"_9th August, 1814._--Waked at seven, and find the vessel has left +Lerwick harbor, and is on the point of entering the sound which +divides the small island of Mousa (or Queen's Island) from +Coningsburgh, a very wild part of the main island so called. Went +ashore, and see the very ancient castle of Mousa, which stands close +on the seashore. It is a Pictish fortress, the most entire probably in +the world. In form it resembles a dice-box, for the truncated cone is +continued only to a certain height, after which it begins to rise +perpendicularly, or rather with a tendency to expand outwards. The +building is round, and has been surrounded with an outer-wall, of +which hardly the slightest vestiges now remain. It is composed of a +layer of stones, without cement; they are not of large size, but +rather small and thin. To give a vulgar comparison, it resembles an +old ruinous pigeon-house. Mr. Stevenson took the dimensions of this +curious fort, which are as follows: Outside diameter at the base is +fifty-two feet; at the top thirty-eight feet. The diameter of the +interior at the base is nineteen feet six inches; at the top +twenty-one feet; the curve in the inside being the reverse of the +outside, or nearly so. The thickness of the walls at the base +seventeen feet; at the top eight feet six inches. The height outside +forty-two feet; the inside thirty-four feet. The door or entrance +faces the sea, and the interior is partly filled with rubbish. When +you enter you see, in the inner wall, a succession of small openings +like windows, directly one above another, with broad flat stones, +serving for lintels; these are about nine inches thick. The whole +resembles a ladder. There were four of these perpendicular rows of +windows or apertures, the situation of which corresponds with the +cardinal points of the compass. You enter the galleries contained in +the thickness of the wall by two of these apertures, which have been +broken down. These interior spaces are of two descriptions: one +consists of a winding ascent, not quite an inclined plane, yet not by +any means a regular stair; but the edges of the stones, being suffered +to project irregularly, serve for rude steps--or a kind of assistance. +Through this narrow staircase, which winds round the building, you +creep up to the top of the castle, which is partly ruinous. But +besides the staircase, there branch off at irregular intervals +horizontal galleries, which go round the whole building, and receive +air from the holes I formerly mentioned. These apertures vary in size, +diminishing as they run, from about thirty inches in width by eighteen +in height, till they are only about a foot square. The lower galleries +are full man height, but narrow. They diminish both in height and +width as they ascend, and as the thickness of the wall in which they +are enclosed diminishes. The uppermost gallery is so narrow and low, +that it was with great difficulty I crept through it. The walls are +built very irregularly, the sweep of the cone being different on the +different sides. + +"It is said by Torfæus that this fort was repaired and strengthened by +Erlind, who, having forcibly carried off the mother of Harold, Earl of +the Orkneys, resolved to defend himself to extremity in this place +against the insulted Earl. How a castle could be defended which had no +opening to the outside for shooting arrows, and which was of a +capacity to be pulled to pieces by the assailants, who could advance +without annoyance to the bottom of the wall (unless it were +battlemented upon the top), does not easily appear. But to Erlind's +operations the castle of Mousa possibly owes the upper and +perpendicular, or rather overhanging, part of its elevation, and also +its rude staircase. In these two particulars it seems to differ from +all other Picts' castles, which are ascended by an inclined plane, and +generally, I believe, terminate in a truncated cone, without that +strange counterpart of the perpendicular or projecting part of the +upper wall. Opposite to the castle of Mousa are the ruins of another +Pictish fort: indeed, they all communicate with each other through the +isles. The island of Mousa is the property of a Mr. Piper, who has +improved it considerably, and values his castle. I advised him to +clear out the interior, as he tells us there are three or four +galleries beneath those now accessible, and the difference of height +between the exterior and interior warrants his assertion. + +"We get on board, and in time, for the wind freshens, and becomes +contrary. We beat down to Sumburgh-head, through rough weather. This +is the extreme south-eastern point of Zetland; and as the Atlantic and +German oceans unite at this point, a frightful tide runs here, called +Sumburgh-rost. The breeze, contending with the tide, flings the +breakers in great style upon the high broken cliffs of Sumburgh-head. +They are all one white foam, ascending to a great height. We wished to +double this point, and lie by in a bay between that and the northern +or north-western cape, called Fitful-head, and which seems higher than +Sumburgh itself--and tacked repeatedly with this view; but a +confounded islet, called _The Horse_, always baffled us, and, after +three heats, fairly distanced us. So we run into a roadstead, called +Quendal Bay, on the south-eastern side, and there anchor for the +night. We go ashore with various purposes,--Stevenson to see the site +of a proposed lighthouse on this tremendous cape--Marjoribanks to +shoot rabbits--and Duff and I to look about us. + +"I ascended the head by myself, which is lofty, and commands a wild +sea-view. Zetland stretches away, with all its projecting capes and +inlets, to the north-eastward. Many of those inlets approach each +other very nearly; indeed, the two opposite bays at Sumburgh-head +seem on the point of joining, and rendering that cape an island. The +two creeks from those east and western seas are only divided by a low +isthmus of blowing sand, and similar to that which wastes part of the +east coast of Scotland. It has here blown like the deserts of Arabia, +and destroyed some houses, formerly the occasional residences of the +Earls of Orkney. The steep and rocky side of the cape, which faces the +west, does not seem much more durable. These lofty cliffs are all of +sand-flag, a very loose and perishable kind of rock, which slides down +in immense masses, like avalanches, after every storm. The rest lies +so loose, that, on the very brow of the loftiest crag, I had no +difficulty in sending down a fragment as large as myself: he thundered +down in tremendous style, but splitting upon a projecting cliff, +descended into the ocean like a shower of shrapnel shot. The sea +beneath rages incessantly among a thousand of the fragments which have +fallen from the peaks, and which assume an hundred strange shapes. It +would have been a fine situation to compose an ode to the Genius of +Sumburgh-head, or an Elegy upon a Cormorant--or to have written and +spoken madness of any kind in prose or poetry. But I gave vent to my +excited feelings in a more simple way; and sitting gently down on the +steep green slope which led to the beach, I e'en slid down a few +hundred feet, and found the exercise quite an adequate vent to my +enthusiasm. I recommend this exercise (time and place suiting) to all +my brother scribblers, and I have no doubt it will save much effusion +of Christian ink. Those slopes are covered with beautiful short +herbage. At the foot of the ascent, and towards the isthmus, is the +old house of Sumburgh, in appearance a most dreary mansion. I found, +on my arrival at the beach, that the hospitality of the inhabitants +had entrapped my companions. I walked back to meet them, but escaped +the gin and water. On board about nine o'clock at night. A little +schooner lies between us and the shore, which we had seen all day +buffeting the tide and breeze like ourselves. The wind increases, and +the ship is made SNUG--a sure sign the passengers will not be so. + +"_10th August, 1814._--The omen was but too true--a terrible +combustion on board, among plates, dishes, glasses, writing-desks, +etc., etc.; not a wink of sleep. We weigh and stand out into that +delightful current called _Sumburgh-rost_, or _rust_. This tide +certainly owes us a grudge, for it drove us to the eastward about +thirty miles on the night of the first, and occasioned our missing the +Fair Isle, and now it has caught us on our return. All the landsmen +sicker than sick, and our Viceroy, Stevenson, qualmish. This is the +only time that I have felt more than temporary inconvenience, but this +morning I have headache and nausea; these are trifles, and in a +well-found vessel, with a good pilot, we have none of that mixture of +danger which gives dignity to the traveller. But he must have a +stouter heart than mine, who can contemplate without horror the +situation of a vessel of an inferior description caught among these +headlands and reefs of rocks, in the long and dark winter nights of +these regions. Accordingly, wrecks are frequent. It is proposed to +have a light on Sumburgh-head, which is the first land made by vessels +coming from the eastward; Fitful-head is higher, but is to the west, +from which quarter few vessels come. + +"We are now clear of Zetland, and about ten o'clock reach the Fair +Isle;[70] one of their boats comes off, a strange-looking thing +without an entire plank in it, excepting one on each side, upon the +strength of which the whole depends, the rest being patched and +joined. This trumpery skiff the men manage with the most astonishing +dexterity, and row with remarkable speed; they have two banks, that +is, two rowers on each bench, and use very short paddles. The wildness +of their appearance, with long elf-locks, striped worsted caps, and +shoes of raw-hide--the fragility of their boat--and their extreme +curiosity about us and our cutter, give them a title to be +distinguished as _natives_. One of our people told their steersman, by +way of jeer, that he must have great confidence in Providence to go to +sea in such a vehicle; the man very sensibly replied that without the +same confidence he would not go to sea in the best _tool_ in England. +We take to our boat, and row for about three miles round the coast, in +order to land at the inhabited part of the island. This coast abounds +with grand views of rocks and bays. One immense portion of rock is +(like the Holm of Noss) separated by a chasm from the mainland. As it +is covered with herbage on the top, though a literal precipice all +round, the natives contrive to ascend the rock by a place which would +make a goat dizzy, and then drag the sheep up by ropes, though they +sometimes carry a sheep up on their shoulders. The captain of a sloop +of war, being ashore while they were at this work, turned giddy and +sick while looking at them. This immense precipice is several hundred +feet high, and is perforated below by some extraordinary apertures, +through which a boat might pass; the light shines distinctly through +these hideous chasms. + +"After passing a square bay called the North-haven, tenanted by +sea-fowl and seals (the first we have yet seen), we come in view of +the small harbor. Land, and breakfast, for which, till now, none of us +felt inclination. In front of the little harbor is the house of the +tacksman, Mr. Strong, and in view are three small assemblages of +miserable huts, where the inhabitants of the isle live. There are +about thirty families and 250 inhabitants upon the Fair Isle. It +merits its name, as the plain upon which the hamlets are situated +bears excellent barley, oats, and potatoes, and the rest of the isle +is beautiful pasture, excepting to the eastward, where there is a +moss, equally essential to the comfort of the inhabitants, since it +supplies them with peats for fuel. The Fair Isle is about three miles +long and a mile and a half broad. Mr. Strong received us very +courteously. He lives here, like Robinson Crusoe, in absolute solitude +as to society, unless by a chance visit from the officers of a +man-of-war. There is a signal-post maintained on the island by +Government, under this gentleman's inspection; when any ship appears +that cannot answer his signals, he sends off to Lerwick and Kirkwall +to give the alarm. Rogers[71] was off here last year, and nearly cut +off one of Mr. Strong's express-boats, but the active islanders +outstripped his people by speed of rowing. The inhabitants pay Mr. +Strong for the possessions which they occupy under him as sub-tenants, +and cultivate the isle in their own way, _i. e._, by digging instead +of ploughing (though the ground is quite open and free from rocks, and +they have several scores of ponies), and by raising alternate crops of +barley, oats, and potatoes; the first and last are admirably good. +They rather over-manure their crops; the possessions lie runrig, that +is, by alternate ridges, and the outfield or pasture ground is +possessed as common to all their cows and ponies. The islanders fish +for Mr. Strong at certain fixed rates, and the fish is his property, +which he sends to Kirkwall, Lerwick, or elsewhere, in a little +schooner, the same which we left in Quendal Bay, and about the arrival +of which we found them anxious. An equal space of rich land on the +Fair Isle, situated in an inland county of Scotland, would rent for +£3000 a year at the very least. To be sure it would not be burdened +with the population of 250 souls, whose bodies (fertile as it is) it +cannot maintain in bread, they being supplied chiefly from the +mainland. Fish they have plenty, and are even nice in their choice. +Skate they will not touch; dog-fish they say is only food for +Orkney-men, and when they catch them, they make a point of tormenting +the poor fish for eating off their baits from the hook, stealing the +haddocks from their lines, and other enormities. These people, being +about halfway between Shetland and Orkney, have unfrequent connection +with either archipelago, and live and marry entirely among themselves. +One lad told me, only five persons had left the island since his +remembrance, and of those, three were pressed for the navy. They +seldom go to Greenland; but this year five or six of their young men +were on board the whalers. They seemed extremely solicitous about +their return, and repeatedly questioned us about the names of the +whalers which were at Lerwick, a point on which we could give little +information. + +"The manners of these islanders seem primitive and simple, and they +are sober, good-humored and friendly,--but _jimp_ honest. Their +comforts are, of course, much dependent on _their master's_ pleasure; +for so they call Mr. Strong. But they gave him the highest character +for kindness and liberality, and prayed to God he might long be their +ruler. After mounting the signal-post hill, or Malcolm's Head, which +is faced by a most tremendous cliff, we separated on our different +routes. The Sheriff went to rectify the only enormity on the island, +which existed in the person of a drunken schoolmaster; Marchie[72] +went to shoot sea-fowl, or rather to frighten them, as his +calumniators allege. Stevenson and Duff went to inspect the remains or +vestiges of a Danish lighthouse upon a distant hill, called, as +usual, the Ward, or Ward-hill, and returned with specimens of copper +ore. Hamilton went down to cater fish for our dinner, and see it +properly cooked--and I to see two remarkable indentures in the coast +called _Rivas_, perhaps from their being rifted or _riven_. They are +exactly like the Buller of Buchan, the sea rolling into a large open +basin within the land through a natural archway. These places are +close to each other; one is oblong, and it is easy to descend into it +by a rude path; the other gulf is inaccessible from the land, unless +to a _crags-man_, as these venturous climbers call themselves. I sat +for about an hour upon the verge, like the cormorants around me, +hanging my legs over the precipice; but I could not get free of two or +three well-meaning islanders, who held me fast by the skirts all the +time--for it must be conceived that our numbers and appointments had +drawn out the whole population to admire and attend us. After we +separated, each, like the nucleus of a comet, had his own distinct +train of attendants.--Visit the capital town, a wretched assemblage of +the basest huts, dirty without, and still dirtier within; pigs, fowls, +cows, men, women, and children, all living promiscuously under the +same roof, and in the same room--the brood-sow making (among the more +opulent) a distinguished inhabitant of the mansion. The compost, a +liquid mass of utter abomination, is kept in a square pond of seven +feet deep; when I censured it, they allowed it might be dangerous to +the _bairns_; but appeared unconscious of any other objection. I +cannot wonder they want meal, for assuredly they waste it. A great +_bowie_ or wooden vessel of porridge is made in the morning; a child +comes and sups a few spoonfuls; then Mrs. Sow takes her share; then +the rest of the children or the parents, and all at pleasure; then +come the poultry when the mess is more cool; the rest is flung upon +the dunghill--and the goodwife wonders and complains when she wants +meal in winter. They are a long-lived race, notwithstanding utter and +inconceivable dirt and sluttery. A man of sixty told me his father +died only last year, aged ninety-eight; nor was this considered as +very unusual. + +"The clergyman of Dunrossness, in Zetland, visits these poor people once +a year, for a week or two during summer. In winter this is impossible, +and even the summer visit is occasionally interrupted for two years. +Marriages and baptisms are performed, as one of the Isles-men told me, +_by the slump_, and one of the children was old enough to tell the +clergyman who sprinkled him with water, 'Deil be in your fingers.' Last +time, four couple were married; sixteen children baptized. The +schoolmaster reads a portion of Scripture in the church each Sunday, +when the clergyman is absent; but the present man is unfit for this part +of his duty. The women knit worsted stockings, night-caps, and similar +trifles, which they exchange with any merchant vessels that approach +their lonely isle. In these respects they greatly regret the American +war; and mention with unction the happy days when they could get from an +American trader a bottle of peach-brandy or rum in exchange for a pair +of worsted stockings or a dozen of eggs. The humanity of their _master_ +interferes much with the favorite but dangerous occupation of the +islanders, which is _fowling_, that is, taking the young sea-fowl from +their nests among these tremendous crags. About a fortnight before we +arrived, a fine boy of fourteen had dropped from the cliff, while in +prosecution of this amusement, into a roaring surf, by which he was +instantly swallowed up. The unfortunate mother was laboring at the +peat-moss at a little distance. These accidents do not, however, strike +terror into the survivors. They regard the death of an individual +engaged in these desperate exploits as we do the fate of a brave +relation who falls in battle, when the honor of his death furnishes a +balm to our sorrow. It therefore requires all the tacksman's authority +to prevent a practice so pregnant with danger. Like all other precarious +and dangerous employments, the occupation of the crags-men renders them +unwilling to labor at employments of a more steady description. The Fair +Isle inhabitants are a good-looking race, more like Zetlanders than +Orkney-men. Evenson, and other names of a Norwegian or Danish +derivation, attest their Scandinavian descent. Return and dine at Mr. +Strong's, having sent our cookery ashore, not to overburthen his +hospitality. In this place, and perhaps in the very cottage now +inhabited by Mr. Strong, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Commander-in-Chief +of the Invincible Armada, wintered, after losing his vessel to the +eastward of the island. It was not till he had spent some weeks in this +miserable abode, that he got off to Norway. Independently of the moral +consideration, that, from the pitch of power in which he stood a few +days before, the proudest peer of the proudest nation in Europe found +himself dependent on the jealous and scanty charity of these secluded +islanders, it is scarce possible not to reflect with compassion on the +change of situation from the palaces of Estremadura to the hamlet of the +Fair Isle-- + + 'Dost thou wish for thy deserts, O Son of Hodeirah? + Dost thou long for the gales of Arabia?'[73] + +"Mr. Strong gave me a curious old chair belonging to Quendale, a +former proprietor of the Fair Isle, and which a more zealous antiquary +would have dubbed 'the Duke's chair.' I will have it refitted for +Abbotsford, however. About eight o'clock we take boat, amid the cheers +of the inhabitants, whose minds, subdued by our splendor, had been +secured by our munificence, which consisted in a moderate benefaction +of whiskey and tobacco, and a few shillings laid out on their staple +commodities. They agreed no such day had been seen in the isle. The +signal-post displayed its flags, and to recompense these distinguished +marks of honor, we hung out our colors, stood into the bay, and +saluted with three guns, + + 'Echoing from a thousand caves." + +and then bear away for Orkney, leaving, if our vanity does not deceive +us, a very favorable impression on the mind of the inhabitants of the +Fair Isle. The tradition of the Fair Isle is unfavorable to those +shipwrecked strangers, who are said to have committed several acts of +violence to extort the supplies of provision, given them sparingly and +with reluctance by the islanders, who were probably themselves very +far from being well supplied. + +"I omitted to say we were attended in the morning by two very sportive +whales, but of a kind, as some of our crew who had been on board +Greenland-men assured us, which it was very dangerous to attack. There +were two Gravesend smacks fishing off the isle. Lord, what a long +draught London makes! + +"_11th August, 1814._--After a sound sleep to make amends for last +night, we find, at awaking, the vessel off the Start of Sanda, the +first land in the Orkneys which we could make. There a lighthouse has +been erected lately upon the best construction. Landed and surveyed +it. All in excellent order, and the establishment of the keepers in +the same style of comfort and respectability as elsewhere, far better +than the house of the master of the Fair Isle, and rivalling my own +baronial mansion of Abbotsford. Go to the top of the tower and survey +the island, which, as the name implies, is level, flat, and sandy, +quite the reverse of those in Zetland: it is intersected by creeks and +small lakes, and, though it abounds with shell marle, seems barren. +There is one dreadful inconvenience of an island life, of which we had +here an instance. The keeper's wife had an infant in her arms--her +first-born, too, of which the poor woman had been delivered without +assistance. Erskine told us of a horrid instance of malice which had +been practised in this island of Sanda. A decent tenant, during the +course of three or four successive years, lost to the number of +twenty-five cattle, stabbed as they lay in their fold by some +abominable wretch. What made the matter stranger was, that the poor +man could not recollect any reason why he should have had the ill-will +of a single being, only that in taking up names for the _militia_, a +duty imposed upon him by the Justices, he thought he might possibly +have given some unknown offence. The villain was never discovered. + +"The wrecks on this coast were numerous before the erection of the +lighthouse. It was not uncommon to see five or six vessels on shore at +once. The goods and chattels of the inhabitants are all said to savor +of _Flotsome_ and _Jetsome_, as the floating wreck and that which is +driven ashore are severally called. Mr. Stevenson happened to observe +that the boat of a Sanda farmer had bad sails--'If it had been His +(_i. e._, God's) will that you hadna built sae many lighthouses +hereabout'--answered the Orcadian, with great composure--'I would have +had new sails last winter.' Thus do they talk and think upon these +subjects; and so talking and thinking, I fear the poor mariner has +little chance of any very anxious attempt to assist him. There is one +wreck, a Danish vessel, now aground under our lee. These Danes are the +stupidest seamen, by all accounts, that sail the sea. When this light +upon the Start of Sanda was established, the Commissioners, with +laudable anxiety to extend its utility, had its description and +bearings translated into Danish and sent to Copenhagen. But they +never attend to such trifles. The Norwegians are much better liked, as +a clever, hardy, sensible people. I forgot to notice there was a +Norwegian prize lying in the Sound of Lerwick, sent in by one of our +cruisers. This was a queer-looking, half-decked vessel, all tattered +and torn, and shaken to pieces, looking like Coleridge's Spectre Ship. +It was pitiable to see such a prize. Our servants went aboard, and got +one of their loaves, and gave a dreadful account of its composition. I +got and cut a crust of it; it was rye-bread, with a slight mixture of +pine-fir bark or sawings of deal. It was not good, but (as Charles +XII. said) might be eaten. But after all, if the people can be +satisfied with such bread as this, it seems hard to interdict it to +them. What would a Londoner say if, instead of his roll and muffins, +this black bread, relishing of tar and turpentine, were presented for +his breakfast? I would to God there could be a Jehovah-jireh, 'a ram +caught in the thicket,' to prevent the sacrifice of that people. + +"The few friends who may see this Journal are much indebted for these +pathetic remarks to the situation under which they are recorded; for +since we left the lighthouse we have been struggling with adverse wind +(pretty high too), and a very strong tide, called the Rost of the +Start, which, like Sumburgh Rost, bodes no good to our roast and +boiled. The worst is that this struggle carries us past a most curious +spectacle, being no less than the carcases of two hundred and +sixty-five whales, which have been driven ashore in Taftsness Bay, now +lying close under us. With all the inclination in the world, it is +impossible to stand in close enough to verify this massacre of +Leviathans with our own eyes, as we do not care to run the risk of +being drawn ashore ourselves among the party. In fact, this species of +spectacle has been of late years very common among the isles. Mr. +Stevenson saw upwards of a hundred and fifty whales lying upon the +shore in a bay at Unst, in his northward trip. They are not large, but +are decided whales, measuring perhaps from fifteen to twenty-five +feet. They are easily mastered, for the first that is wounded among +the sounds and straits so common in the isles usually runs ashore. The +rest follow the blood, and, urged on by the boats behind, run ashore +also. A cut with one of the long whaling knives under the back-fin is +usually fatal to these huge animals. The two hundred and sixty-five +whales, now lying within two or three miles of us, were driven ashore +by seven boats only. + +"_Five o'clock._--We are out of the _Rost_ (I detest that word), and +driving fast through a long sound among low green islands, which +hardly lift themselves above the sea--not a cliff or hill to be +seen--what a contrast to the land we have left! We are standing for +some creek or harbor, called Lingholm Bay, to lie to or anchor for the +night; for to pursue our course by night, and that a thick one, among +these isles, and islets, and sand-banks, is out of the question--clear +moonlight might do. Our sea is now moderate. But, oh gods and men! +what misfortunes have travellers to record! Just as the quiet of the +elements had reconciled us to the thought of dinner, we learn that an +unlucky sea has found its way into the galley during the last infernal +combustion, when the lee-side and boltsprit were constantly under +water; so our soup is poisoned with salt water--our cod and haddocks, +which cost ninepence this blessed morning, and would have been worth a +couple of guineas in London, are soused in their primitive +element--the curry is undone--and all gone to the devil. We all apply +ourselves to comfort our Lord High Admiral Hamilton, whose despair for +himself and the public might edify a patriot. His good-humor--which +has hitherto defied every incident, aggravated even by the +gout--supported by a few bad puns, and a great many fair promises on +the part of the steward and cook, fortunately restores his +equilibrium. + +"_Eight o'clock._--Our supplemental dinner proved excellent, and we +have glided into an admirable roadstead or harbor, called Lingholm +Bay, formed by the small island of Lingholm embracing a small basin +dividing that islet from the larger isle of Stronsay. Both, as well as +Sanda, Eda, and others which we have passed, are low, green, and +sandy. I have seen nothing to-day worth marking, except the sporting +of a very large whale at some distance, and H.'s face at the news of +the disaster in the cook-room. We are to weigh at two in the morning, +and hope to reach Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, by breakfast +to-morrow. I trust there are no _rusts_ or _rosts_ in the road. I +shall detest that word even when used to signify verd antique or +patina in the one sense, or roast venison in the other. Orkney shall +begin a new volume of these exquisite memoranda. + + * * * * * + +"OMISSION.--At Lerwick the Dutch fishers had again appeared on their +old haunts. A very interesting meeting took place between them and the +Lerwegians, most of them being old acquaintances. They seemed very +poor, and talked of having been pillaged of everything by the French, +and expected to have found Lerwick ruined by the war. They have all +the careful, quiet, and economical habits of their country, and go on +board their busses with the utmost haste so soon as they see the +Greenland sailors, who usually insult and pick quarrels with them. The +great amusement of the Dutch sailors is to hire the little ponies, and +ride up and down upon them. On one occasion, a good many years ago, an +English sailor interrupted this cavalcade, frightened the horses, and +one or two Dutchmen got tumbles. Incensed at this beyond their usual +moderation, they pursued the cause of their overthrow, and wounded him +with one of their knives. The wounded man went on board his vessel, +the crew of which, about fifty strong, came ashore with their long +flinching knives with which they cut up the whales, and falling upon +the Dutchmen, though twice their numbers, drove them all into the sea, +where such as could not swim were in some risk of being drowned. The +instance of aggression, or rather violent retaliation, on their part, +is almost solitary. In general they are extremely quiet, and employ +themselves in bartering their little merchandise of gin and +gingerbread for Zetland hose and night-caps." + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXVIII. + +[59: [Robert Stevenson, the eminent civil engineer, for +nearly half a century the engineer to the Board of Northern Lights. +He inaugurated the present Scottish lighthouse system, and no less +than twenty lighthouses were designed and constructed under his +superintendence, the most remarkable being the famous Bell Rock +tower. He died in 1850. Three of his sons, one of whom became his +biographer, greatly distinguished themselves in their father's +profession. Robert Louis Stevenson, in his fragment of family +history, _Records of a Family of Engineers_, has left a vivid +picture of his grandfather, though it be but an unfinished sketch.]] + +[60: On being requested, while at breakfast, to inscribe +his name in the album of the tower, Scott penned immediately the +following lines:-- + +PHAROS LOQUITUR. + + "Far in the bosom of the deep, + O'er these wild shelves my watch I keep; + A ruddy gem of changeful light, + Bound on the dusky brow of night, + The seaman bids my lustre hail, + And scorns to strike his timorous sail."] + +[61: This is, without doubt, an allusion to some happy +day's excursion when his _first love_ was of the party.] + +[62: Erskine--Sheriff of Shetland and Orkney.] + +[63: Here occurs a rude scratch of drawing.] + +[64: Lord Dundas was created Earl of Zetland in 1838, and +died in February, 1839.] + +[65: Campbell--_Pleasures of Hope_.] + +[66: Robert Hamilton, Sheriff of Lanarkshire, and +afterwards one of the Clerks of Session, was a particular favorite +of Scott--first, among many other good reasons, because he had been +a soldier in his youth, had fought gallantly and been wounded +severely in the American war, and was a very Uncle Toby in military +enthusiasm; secondly, because he was a brother antiquary of the +genuine Monkbarns breed; thirdly (last, not least), because he was, +in spite of the example of the head of his name and race, a steady +Tory. Mr. Hamilton sent for Scott when upon his deathbed in 1831, +and desired him to choose and carry off as a parting memorial any +article he liked in his collection of arms. Sir Walter (by that time +sorely shattered in his own health) selected the sword with which +his good friend had been begirt at Bunker's Hill.] + +[67: During the winter of 1837-38, this worthy clergyman's +wife, his daughter, and a servant, perished within sight of the +manse, from a flaw in the ice on the loch--which they were crossing +as the nearest way home.--(1839.)] + +[68: In his reviewal of Pitcairn's _Trials_ (1831), Scott +says: "In erecting this Earl's Castle of Scalloway, and other +expensive edifices, the King's tenants were forced to work in +quarries, transport stone, dig, delve, climb, and build, and submit +to all possible sorts of servile and painful labor, without either +meat, drink, hire, or recompense of any kind. 'My father,' said Earl +Patrick, 'built his house at Sumburgh on the sand, and it has given +way already; this of mine on the rock shall abide and endure.' He +did not or would not understand that the oppression, rapacity, and +cruelty, by means of which the house arose, were what the clergyman +really pointed to in his recommendation of a motto. Accordingly, the +huge tower remains wild and desolate--its chambers filled with sand, +and its rifted walls and dismantled battlements giving unrestrained +access to the roaring sea blast."--For more of Earl Patrick, see +Scott's _Miscellaneous Prose Works_, vol. xxi. pp. 230, 233; vol. +xxiii. pp. 327, 329.] + +[69: Mr. W. S. Rose informs me, that when he was at school +at Winchester, the morris-dancers there used to exhibit a +sword-dance resembling that described at Camacho's wedding in Don +Quixote; and Mr. Morritt adds, that similar dances are even yet +performed in the villages about Rokeby every Christmas.] + +[70: This is a solitary island, lying about halfway between +Orkney and Zetland.] + +[71: An American Commodore.] + +[72: Mr. Marjoribanks.] + +[73: _Thalaba_, Book VIII.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + DIARY ON BOARD THE LIGHTHOUSE YACHT CONTINUED. -- THE ORKNEYS. + --KIRKWALL. -- HOY. -- THE STANDING STONES OF STENNIS, ETC. + +1814 + + +"_12th August, 1814._--With a good breeze and calm sea we weighed at +two in the morning, and worked by short tacks up to Kirkwall Bay, +and find ourselves in that fine basin upon rising in the morning. +The town looks well from the sea, but is chiefly indebted to the +huge old cathedral that rises out of the centre. Upon landing we +find it but a poor and dirty place, especially towards the harbor. +Farther up the town are seen some decent old-fashioned houses, and +the Sheriff's interest secures us good lodgings. Marchie goes to +hunt for a pointer. The morning, which was rainy, clears up +pleasantly, and Hamilton, Erskine, Duff, and I walk to Malcolm +Laing's, who has a pleasant house about half a mile from the town. +Our old acquaintance, though an invalid, received us kindly; he +looks very poorly, and cannot walk without assistance, but seems to +retain all the quick, earnest, and vivacious intelligence of his +character and manner. After this, visit the antiquities of the +place, namely, the Bishop's palace, the Earl of Orkney's castle, and +the cathedral, all situated within a stone-cast of each other. The +two former are ruinous. The most prominent part of the ruins of the +Bishop's palace is a large round tower, similar to that of Bothwell +in architecture, but not equal to it in size. This was built by +Bishop Reid, _tempore Jacobi V._, and there is a rude statue of him +in a niche in the front. At the north-east corner of the building is +a square tower of greater antiquity, called the Mense or Mass Tower; +but, as well as a second and smaller round tower, it is quite +ruinous. A suite of apartments of different sizes fills up the +space between these towers, all now ruinous. The building is said to +have been of great antiquity, but was certainly in a great measure +reëdified in the sixteenth century. + +"Fronting this castle or palace of the Bishop, and about a gun-shot +distant, is that of the Earl of Orkney. The Earl's palace was built +by Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, the same who erected that of +Scalloway, in Shetland. It is an elegant structure, partaking at +once of the character of a palace and castle. The building forms +three sides of an oblong square, but one of the sides extends +considerably beyond the others. The great hall must have been +remarkably handsome, opening into two or three huge rounds or +turrets, the lower part of which is divided by stone shafts into +three windows. It has two immense chimneys, the arches or lintels of +which are formed by a flat arch, as at Crichton Castle. There is +another very handsome apartment communicating with the hall like a +modern drawing-room, and which has, like the former, its projecting +turrets. The hall is lighted by a fine Gothic-shafted window at one +end, and by others on the sides. It is approached by a spacious and +elegant staircase of three flights of steps. The dimensions may be +sixty feet long, twenty broad, and fourteen high, but doubtless an +arched roof sprung from the side walls, so that fourteen feet was +only the height from the ground to the arches. Any modern architect, +wishing to emulate the real Gothic architecture, and apply it to the +purposes of modern splendor, might derive excellent hints from this +room. The exterior ornaments are also extremely elegant. The ruins, +once the residence of this haughty and oppressive Earl, are now so +disgustingly nasty, that it required all the zeal of an antiquary to +prosecute the above investigation. Architecture seems to have been +Earl Patrick's prevailing taste. Besides this castle and that of +Scalloway, he added to or enlarged the old castle of Bressay. To +accomplish these objects, he oppressed the people with severities +unheard of even in that oppressive age, drew down on himself a +shameful though deserved punishment, and left these dishonored ruins +to hand down to posterity the tale of his crimes and of his fall. We +may adopt, though in another sense, his own presumptuous motto--_Sic +Fuit, Est, et Erit_. + +"We visit the cathedral, dedicated to St. Magnus, which greeted the +Sheriff's approach with a merry peal. Like that of Glasgow, this +church has escaped the blind fury of Reformation. It was founded in +1138, by Ronald, Earl of Orkney, nephew of the Saint. It is of great +size, being 260 feet long, or thereabout, and supported by +twenty-eight Saxon pillars, of good workmanship. The round arch +predominates in the building, but I think not exclusively. The +steeple (once a very high spire) rises upon four pillars of great +strength, which occupy each angle of the nave. Being destroyed by +lightning, it was rebuilt upon a low and curtailed plan. The +appearance of the building is rather massive and gloomy than +elegant, and many of the exterior ornaments, carving around the +doorways, etc., have been injured by time. We entered the cathedral, +the whole of which is kept locked, swept, and in good order, +although only the eastern end is used for divine worship. We walked +some time in the nave and western end, which is left unoccupied, and +has a very solemn effect as the avenue to the place of worship. +There were many tombstones on the floor and elsewhere; some, +doubtless, of high antiquity. One, I remarked, had the shield of +arms hung by the corner, with a helmet above it of a large +proportion, such as I have seen on the most ancient seals. But we +had neither time nor skill to decipher what noble Orcadian lay +beneath. The church is as well fitted up as could be expected; much +of the old carved oak remains, but with a motley mixture of modern +deal pews. All, however, is neat and clean, and does great honor to +the kirk-session who maintain its decency. I remarked particularly +Earl Patrick's seat, adjoining to that of the magistrates, but +surmounting it and every other in the church: it is surrounded with +a carved screen of oak, rather elegant, and bears his arms and +initials, and the motto I have noticed. He bears the royal arms +_without any mark of bastardy_ (his father was a natural son of +James V.) quarterly, with a lymphad or galley, the ancient arms of +the county. This circumstance was charged against him on his +trial.[74] I understand the late Mr. Gilbert Laing Meason left the +interest of £1000 to keep up this cathedral. + +"There are in the street facing the cathedral the ruins of a much +more ancient castle; a proper feudal fortress belonging to the Earls +of Orkney, but called the King's Castle. It appears to have been +very strong, being situated near the harbor, and having, as appears +from the fragments, very massive walls. While the wicked Earl +Patrick was in confinement, one of his natural sons defended this +castle to extremity against the King's troops, and only surrendered +when it was nearly a heap of ruins, and then under condition he +should not be brought in evidence against his father. + +"We dine at the inn, and drink the Prince Regent's health, being +that of the day--Mr. Baikie of Tankerness dines with us. + +"_13th August, 1814._--A bad morning, but clears up. No letters from +Edinburgh. The country about Kirkwall is flat, and tolerably +cultivated. We see oxen generally wrought in the small country +carts, though they have a race of ponies, like those of Shetland, +but larger. Marchie goes to shoot on a hill called Whiteford, which +slopes away about two or three miles from Kirkwall. The grouse is +abundant, for the gentleman who chaperons Marchie killed thirteen +brace and a half, with a snipe. There are no partridges nor hares. +The soil of Orkney is better, and its air more genial than Shetland; +but it is far less interesting, and possesses none of the wild and +peculiar character of the more northern archipelago. All vegetables +grow here freely in the gardens, and there are one or two attempts +at trees where they are sheltered by walls. How ill they succeed may +be conjectured from our bringing with us a quantity of brushwood, +commissioned by Malcolm Laing from Aberbrothock, to be sticks to his +pease. This trash we brought two hundred miles. I have little to +add, except that the Orkney people have some odd superstitions about +a stone on which they take oaths to Odin. Lovers often perform this +ceremony in pledge of mutual faith, and are said to account it a +sacred engagement.--It is agreed that we go on board after dinner, +and sail with the next tide. The magistrates of Kirkwall present us +with the freedom of their ancient burgh; and Erskine, instead of +being cumbered with drunken sailors, as at Lerwick, or a drunken +schoolmaster, as at Fair Isle, is annoyed by his own Substitute. +This will occasion his remaining two days at Kirkwall, during which +time it is proposed we shall visit the lighthouse upon the dangerous +rocks called the Skerries, in the Pentland Frith; and then, +returning to the eastern side of Pomona, take up the counsellor at +Stromness. It is further settled that we leave Marchie with Erskine +to get another day's shooting. On board at ten o'clock, after a +little bustle in expediting our domestics, washerwomen, etc. + +"_14th August, 1814._--Sail about four, and in rounding the mainland +of Orkney, called Pomona, encounter a very heavy sea; about ten +o'clock, get into the Sound of Holm or Ham, a fine smooth current +meandering away between two low green islands, which have little to +characterize them. On the right of the Sound is the mainland, and a +deep bay called Scalpa Flow indents it up to within two miles of +Kirkwall. A canal through this neck of the island would be of great +consequence to the burgh. We see the steeple and church of Kirkwall +across the island very distinctly. Getting out of the Sound of Holm, +we stand in to the harbor or roadstead of Widewall, where we find +seven or eight foreign vessels bound for Ireland, and a sloop +belonging to the lighthouse service. These roadsteads are common all +through the Orkneys, and afford excellent shelter for small vessels. +The day is pleasant and sunny, but the breeze is too high to permit +landing at the Skerries. Agree, therefore, to stand over for the +mainland of Scotland, and visit Thurso. Enter the Pentland Frith, so +celebrated for the strength and fury of its tides, which is boiling +even in this pleasant weather; we see a large ship battling with +this heavy current, and though with all her canvas set and a breeze, +getting more and more involved. See the two Capes of Dungsby or +Duncansby, and Dunnet-head, between which lies the celebrated John +o' Groat's house, on the north-eastern extremity of Scotland. The +shores of Caithness rise bold and rocky before us,--a contrast to +the Orkneys, which are all low, excepting the Island of Hoy. On +Duncansby-head appear some remarkable rocks, like towers, called the +Stacks of Duncansby. Near this shore runs the remarkable breaking +tide called the _Merry Men of Mey_, whence Mackenzie takes the +scenery of a poem-- + + 'Where the dancing Men of Mey, + Speed the current to the land.'[75] + +Here, according to his locality, the Caithness-man witnessed the +vision, in which was introduced the song, translated by Gray, under +the title of The Fatal Sisters. On this subject, Mr. Baikie told me +the following remarkable circumstance: A clergyman told him, that +while some remnants of the Norse were yet spoken in North Ronaldsha, +he carried thither the translation of Mr. Gray, then newly +published, and read it to some of the old people as referring to the +ancient history of their islands. But so soon as he had proceeded a +little way, they exclaimed they knew it very well in the original, +and had often sung it to himself when he asked them for an old Norse +song; they called it The Enchantresses.--The breeze dies away +between two wicked little islands called Swona and Stroma,--the +latter belonging to Caithness, the former to Orkney.--_Nota Bene_. +The inhabitants of the rest of the Orcades despise those of Swona +for eating limpets, as being the last of human meannesses. Every +land has its fashions. The Fair-Isles-men disdain Orkney-men for +eating dog-fish. Both islands have dangerous reefs and whirlpools, +where, even in this fine day, the tide rages furiously. Indeed, the +large high unbroken billows, which at every swell hide from our deck +each distant object, plainly intimate what a dreadful current this +must be when vexed by high or adverse winds. Finding ourselves +losing ground in the tide, and unwilling to waste time, we give up +Thurso--run back into the roadstead or bay of Long-Hope, and anchor +under the fort. The bay has four entrances and safe anchorage in +most winds, and having become a great rendezvous for shipping (there +are nine vessels lying here at present) has been an object of +attention with Government. + +"Went ashore after dinner, and visited the fort, which is only +partly completed: it is a _flêche_ to the sea, with eight guns, +twenty-four pounders, but without any land defences; the guns are +mounted _en barbette_, without embrasures, each upon a kind of +movable stage, which stage wheeling upon a pivot in front, and +traversing by means of wheels behind, can be pointed in any +direction that may be thought necessary. Upon this stage, the +gun-carriage moves forward and recoils, and the depth of the parapet +shelters the men even better than an embrasure. At a little distance +from this battery they are building a Martello tower, which is to +cross the fire of the battery, and also that of another projected +tower upon the opposite point of the bay. The expedience of these +towers seems excessively problematical. Supposing them impregnable, +or nearly so, a garrison of fourteen or fifteen men may be always +blockaded by a very trifling number, while the enemy dispose of all +in the vicinity at their pleasure. In the case of Long-Hope, for +instance, a frigate might disembark 100 men, take the fort in the +rear, where it is undefended even by a palisade, destroy the +magazines, spike and dismount the cannon, carry off or cut out any +vessels in the roadstead, and accomplish all the purposes that could +bring them to so remote a spot, in spite of a sergeant's party in +the Martello tower, and without troubling themselves about them at +all. Meanwhile, Long-Hope will one day turn out a flourishing place; +there will soon be taverns and slop-shops, where sailors rendezvous +in such numbers; then will come quays, docks, and warehouses; and +then a thriving town. Amen, so be it. This is the first fine day we +have enjoyed to an end since Sunday, 31st ult. Rainy, cold, and +hazy, have been our voyages around these wild islands; I hope the +weather begins to mend, though Mr. Wilson, our master, threatens a +breeze to-morrow. We are to attempt the Skerries, if possible; if +not, we will, I believe, go to Stromness. + +"_15th August, 1814._--Fine morning. We get again into the Pentland +Frith, and with the aid of a pilot-boat belonging to the lighthouse +service, from South Ronaldsha, we attempt the Skerries. +Notwithstanding the fair weather, we have a specimen of the violence +of the flood-tide, which forms whirlpools on the shallow sunken +rocks by the islands of Swona and Stroma, and in the deep water +makes strange, smooth, whirling, and swelling eddies, called by the +sailors, _wells_. We run through the _wells of Tuftile_ in +particular, which, in the least stress of weather, wheel a large +ship round and round, without respect either to helm or sails. Hence +the distinction of _wells_ and _waves_ in Old English; the _well_ +being that smooth, glassy, oily-looking eddy, the force of which +seems to the eye almost resistless. The bursting of the waves in +foam around these strange eddies has a bewildering and confused +appearance, which it is impossible to describe. Get off the Skerries +about ten o'clock, and land easily; it is the first time a boat has +got there for several days. The _Skerries_[76] is an island about +sixty acres, of fine short herbage, belonging to Lord Dundas; it is +surrounded by a reef of precipitous rocks, not very high, but +inaccessible, unless where the ocean has made ravines among them, +and where stairs have been cut down to the water for the lighthouse +service. Those inlets have a romantic appearance, and have been +christened by the sailors, the Parliament House, the Seals' +Lying-in-Hospital, etc. The last inlet, after rushing through a deep +chasm, which is open overhead, is continued under ground, and then +again opens to the sky in the middle of the island; in this hole the +seals bring out their whelps; when the tide is high, the waves rise +up through this aperture in the middle of the isle--like the blowing +of a whale in noise and appearance. There is another round cauldron +of solid rock, to which the waves have access through a natural arch +in the rock, having another and lesser arch rising just above it; in +hard weather, the waves rush through both apertures with a horrid +noise; the workmen called it the Carron Blast, and, indeed, the +variety of noises which issued from the abyss, somewhat reminded me +of that engine. Take my rifle, and walk round the cliffs in search +of seals, but see none, and only disturb the digestion of certain +aldermen-cormorants, who were sitting on the points of the crags +after a good fish breakfast; only made one good shot out of four. +The lighthouse is too low, and on the old construction, yet it is of +the last importance. The keeper is an old man-of-war's-man, of whom +Mr. Stevenson observed that he was a great swearer when he first +came; but after a year or two's residence in this solitary abode, +became a changed man. There are about fifty head of cattle on the +island; they must be got in and off with great danger and +difficulty. There is no water upon the isle, except what remains +after rain in some pools; these sometimes dry in summer, and the +cattle are reduced to great straits. Leave the isle about one; and +the wind and tide being favorable, crowd all sail, and get on at the +rate of fourteen miles an hour. Soon reach our old anchorage at the +Long-Hope, and passing, stand to the north-westward, up the Sound of +Hoy, for Stromness. + +"I should have mentioned, that in going down the Pentland Frith this +morning, we saw Johnnie Groat's house, or rather the place where it +stood, now occupied by a storehouse. Our pilot opines there was no +such man as Johnnie Groat, for, he says, he cannot hear that anybody +_ever saw him_. This reasoning would put down most facts of +antiquity. They gather shells on the shore, called _Johnnie Groat's +buckies_, but I cannot procure any at present. I may also add, that +the interpretation given to _wells_ may apply to the Wells of Slain, +in the fine ballad of Clerk Colvill; such eddies in the romantic +vicinity of Slains Castle would be a fine place for a mermaid.[77] + +"Our wind fails us, and, what is worse, becomes westerly. The Sound +has now the appearance of a fine land-locked bay, the passages +between the several islands being scarce visible. We have a superb +view of Kirkwall Cathedral, with a strong gleam of sunshine upon it. +Gloomy weather begins to collect around us, particularly on the +island of Hoy, which, covered with gloom and vapor, now assumes a +majestic mountainous character. On Pomona we pass the Hill of +Orphir, which reminds me of the clergyman of that parish, who was +called to account for some of his inaccuracies to the General +Assembly; one charge he held particularly cheap, namely, that of +drunkenness. 'Reverend Moderator,' said he, in reply, 'I _do_ drink, +as other gentlemen do.' This Orphir of the north must not be +confounded with the Orphir of the south. From the latter came gold, +silver, and precious stones; the former seems to produce little +except peats. Yet these are precious commodities, which some of the +Orkney Isles altogether want, and lay waste and burn the turf of +their land instead of importing coal from Newcastle. The Orcadians +seem by no means an alert or active race; they neglect the excellent +fisheries which lie under their very noses, and in their mode of +managing their boats, as well as in the general tone of urbanity and +intelligence, are excelled by the less favored Zetlanders. I observe +they always crowd their boat with people in the bows, being the +ready way to send her down in any awkward circumstance. There are +remains of their Norwegian descent and language in North Ronaldsha, +an isle I regret we did not see. A missionary preacher came ashore +there a year or two since, but being a very little black-bearded +unshaved man, the seniors of the isle suspected him of being an +ancient Pecht or Pict, and _no canny_, of course. The schoolmaster +came down to entreat our worthy Mr. Stevenson, then about to leave +the island, to come up and verify whether the preacher was an +ancient Pecht, yea or no. Finding apologies were in vain, he rode up +to the house where the unfortunate preacher, after three nights' +watching, had got to bed, little conceiving under what odious +suspicion he had fallen. As Mr. S. declined disturbing him, his +boots were produced, which being a _little_--_little_--_very little_ +pair, confirmed, in the opinion of all the bystanders, the suspicion +of Pechtism. Mr. S. therefore found it necessary to go into the poor +man's sleeping apartment, where he recognized one Campbell, +heretofore an ironmonger in Edinburgh, but who had put his hand for +some years to the missionary plough; of course he warranted his +quondam acquaintance to be no ancient Pecht. Mr. Stevenson carried +the same schoolmaster who figured in the adventure of the Pecht, to +the mainland of Scotland, to be examined for his office. He was +extremely desirous to see a tree; and, on seeing one, desired to +know what _girss_ it was that grew at the top on't--the leaves +appearing to him to be grass. They still speak a little Norse, and +indeed I hear every day words of that language; for instance, _Ja, +kul_, for '_Yes, sir_.' We creep slowly up Hoy Sound, working under +the Pomona shore; but there is no hope of reaching Stromness till we +have the assistance of the evening tide. The channel now seems like +a Highland loch; not the least ripple on the waves. The passage is +narrowed, and (to the eye) blocked up by the interposition of the +green and apparently fertile isle of Græmsay, the property of Lord +Armadale.[78] Hoy looks yet grander, from comparing its black and +steep mountains with this verdant isle. To add to the beauty of the +Sound, it is rendered lively by the successive appearance of seven +or eight whaling vessels from Davies' Straits; large strong ships, +which pass successively, with all their sails set, enjoying the +little wind that is. Many of these vessels display the _garland_; +that is, a wreath of ribbons which the young fellows on board have +got from their sweethearts, or come by otherwise, and which hangs +between the foremast and mainmast, surmounted sometimes by a small +model of the vessel. This garland is hung up upon the 1st of May, +and remains till they come into port. I believe we shall dodge here +till the tide makes about nine, and then get into Stromness: no +boatman or sailor in Orkney thinks of the wind in comparison of the +tides and currents. We must not complain, though the night gets +rainy, and the Hill of Hoy is now completely invested with vapor and +mist. In the forepart of the day we executed very cleverly a task of +considerable difficulty and even danger. + +"_16th August, 1814._--Get into Stromness Bay, and anchor before the +party are up. A most decided rain all night. The bay is formed by a +deep indention in the mainland, or Pomona; on one side of which +stands Stromness--a fishing village and harbor of _call_ for the +Davies' Straits whalers, as Lerwick is for the Greenlanders. Betwixt +the vessels we met yesterday, seven or eight which passed us this +morning, and several others still lying in the bay, we have seen +between twenty and thirty of these large ships in this remote place. +The opposite side of Stromness Bay is protected by Hoy, and Græmsay +lies between them; so that the bay seems quite land-locked, and the +contrast between the mountains of Hoy, the soft verdure of Græmsay, +and the swelling hill of Orphir on the mainland, has a beautiful +effect. The day clears up, and Mr. Rae, Lord Armadale's factor, +comes off from his house, called Clestrom, upon the shore opposite +to Stromness, to breakfast with us. We go ashore with him. His farm +is well cultivated, and he has procured an excellent breed of horses +from Lanarkshire, of which county he is a native; strong hardy +Galloways, fit for labor or hacks. By this we profited, as Mr. Rae +mounted us all, and we set off to visit the Standing Stones of +Stenhouse or Stennis. + +"At the upper end of the bay, about halfway between Clestrom and +Stromness, there extends a loch of considerable size, of fresh +water, but communicating with the sea by apertures left in a long +bridge or causeway which divides them. After riding about two miles +along this lake, we open another called the Loch of Harray, of about +the same dimensions, and communicating with the lower lake, as the +former does with the sea, by a stream, over which is constructed a +causeway, with openings to suffer the flow and reflux of the water, +as both lakes are affected by the tide. Upon the tongues of land +which, approaching each other, divide the lakes of Stennis and +Harray, are situated the Standing Stones. The isthmus on the eastern +side exhibits a semicircle of immensely large upright pillars of +unhewn stone, surrounded by a mound of earth. As the mound is +discontinued, it does not seem that the circle was ever completed. +The flat or open part of the semicircle looks up a plain, where, at +a distance, is seen a large tumulus. The highest of these stones may +be about sixteen or seventeen feet, and I think there are none so +low as twelve feet. At irregular distances are pointed out other +unhewn pillars of the same kind. One, a little to the westward, is +perforated with a round hole, perhaps to bind a victim; or rather, I +conjecture, for the purpose of solemnly attesting the deity, which +the Scandinavians did by passing their head through a ring,--_vide_ +Eyrbiggia Saga. Several barrows are scattered around this strange +monument. Upon the opposite isthmus is a complete circle, of +ninety-five paces in diameter, surrounded by standing stones, less +in size than the others, being only from ten or twelve to fourteen +feet in height, and four in breadth. A deep trench is drawn around +this circle on the outside of the pillars, and four tumuli, or +mounds of earth, are regularly placed, two on each side. + +"Stonehenge excels these monuments, but I fancy they are otherwise +unparalleled in Britain. The idea that such circles were exclusively +Druidical is now justly exploded. The northern nations all used such +erections to mark their places of meeting, whether for religious +purposes or civil policy; and there is repeated mention of them in +the Sagas. See the Eyrbiggia Saga,[79] for the establishment of the +Helga-fels, or holy mount, where the people held their Comitia, and +where sacrifices were offered to Thor and Woden. About the centre of +the semicircle is a broad flat stone, probably once the altar on +which human victims were sacrificed.--Mr. Rae seems to think the +common people have no tradition of the purpose of these stones, but +probably he has not inquired particularly. He admits they look upon +them with superstitious reverence; and it is evident that those +which have fallen down (about half the original number) have been +wasted by time, and not demolished. The materials of these monuments +lay near, for the shores and bottom of the lake are of the same kind +of rock. How they were raised, transported, and placed upright, is a +puzzling question. In our ride back, noticed a round entrenchment, +or _tumulus_, called the Hollow of Tongue. + +"The hospitality of Mrs. Rae detained us to an early dinner at +Clestrom. About four o'clock took our long-boat and rowed down the +bay to visit the Dwarfie Stone of Hoy. We have all day been pleased +with the romantic appearance of that island, for though the Hill of +Hoy is not very high, perhaps about 1200 feet, yet rising +perpendicularly (almost) from the sea, and being very steep and +furrowed with ravines, and catching all the mists from the western +ocean, it has a noble and picturesque effect in every point of view. +We land upon the island, and proceed up a long and very swampy +valley broken into peat-bogs. The one side of this valley is formed +by the Mountain of Hoy, the other by another steep hill, having at +the top a circular belt of rock; upon the slope of this last hill, +and just where the principal mountain opens into a wide and +precipitous and circular _corrie_ or hollow, lies the Dwarfie Stone. +It is a huge sandstone rock, of one solid stone, being about seven +feet high, twenty-two feet long, and seventeen feet broad. The upper +end of this stone is hewn into a sort of apartment containing two +beds of stone and a passage between them. The uppermost and largest +is five feet eight inches long, by two feet broad, and is furnished +with a stone pillow. The lower, supposed for the Dwarf's Wife, is +shorter, and rounded off, instead of being square at the corners. +The entrance may be about three feet and a half square. Before it +lies a huge stone, apparently intended to serve the purpose of a +door, and shaped accordingly. In the top, over the passage which +divides the beds, there is a hole to serve for a window or chimney, +which was doubtless originally wrought square with irons, like the +rest of the work, but has been broken out by violence into a +shapeless hole. Opposite to this stone, and proceeding from it in a +line down the valley, are several small barrows, and there is a very +large one on the same line, at the spot where we landed. This seems +to indicate that the monument is of heathen times, and probably was +meant as the temple of some northern edition of the _Dii Manes_. +There are no symbols of Christian devotion--and the door is to the +westward; it therefore does not seem to have been the abode of a +hermit, as Dr. Barry[80] has conjectured. The Orcadians have no +tradition on the subject, excepting that they believe it to be the +work of a dwarf, to whom, like their ancestors, they attribute +supernatural powers and malevolent disposition. They conceive he may +be seen sometimes sitting at the door of his abode, but he vanishes +on a nearer approach. Whoever inhabited this den certainly enjoyed + + 'Pillow cold and sheets not warm.' + +"Duff, Stevenson, and I now walk along the skirts of the Hill of +Hoy, to rejoin Robert Hamilton, who in the mean while had rode down +to the clergyman's house, the wet and boggy walk not suiting his +gout. Arrive at the manse completely wet, and drink tea there. The +clergyman (Mr. Hamilton) has procured some curious specimens of +natural history for Bullock's Museum, particularly a pair of fine +eaglets. He has just got another of the golden, or white kind, which +he intends to send him. The eagle, with every other ravenous bird, +abounds among the almost inaccessible precipices of Hoy, which +afford them shelter, while the moors, abounding with grouse, and the +small uninhabited islands and holms, where sheep and lambs are +necessarily left unwatched, as well as the all-sustaining ocean, +give these birds of prey the means of support. The clergyman told us +that a man was very lately alive in the island of ....., who, +when an infant, was transported from thence by an eagle over a broad +sound, or arm of the sea, to the bird's nest in Hoy. Pursuit being +instantly made, and the eagle's nest being known, the infant was +found there playing with the young eaglets. A more ludicrous +instance of transportation he himself witnessed. Walking in the +fields, he heard the squeaking of a pig for some time, without being +able to discern whence it proceeded, until looking up, he beheld the +unfortunate grunter in the talons of an eagle, who soared away with +him towards the summit of Hoy. From this it may be conjectured, that +the island is very thinly inhabited; in fact, we only saw two or +three little wigwams. After tea we walked a mile farther, to a point +where the boat was lying, in order to secure the advantage of the +flood-tide. We rowed with toil across one stream of tide, which set +strongly up between Græmsay and Hoy; but, on turning the point of +Græmsay, the other branch of the same flood-tide carried us with +great velocity alongside our yacht, which we reached about nine +o'clock. Between riding, walking, and running, we have spent a very +active and entertaining day. + +"_Domestic Memoranda._--The eggs on Zetland and Orkney are very +indifferent, having an earthy taste, and being very small. But the +hogs are an excellent breed--queer wild-looking creatures, with +heads like wild-boars, but making capital bacon." + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXIX. + +[74: "This noted oppressor was finally brought to trial, +and beheaded at the Cross of Edinburgh (6th February, 1614). It is +said that the King's mood was considerably heated against him by +some ill-chosen and worse written Latin inscriptions with which his +father and himself had been unlucky enough to decorate some of their +insular palaces. In one of these, Earl Robert, the father, had given +his own designation thus: 'Orcadiæ Comes _Rex_ Jacobi Quinti +Filius.' In this case he was not, perhaps, guilty of anything worse +than bad Latin. But James VI., who had a keen nose for puzzling out +treason, and with whom an assault and battery upon Priscian ranked +in nearly the same degree of crime, had little doubt that the use of +the nominative _Rex_, instead of the genitive _Regis_, had a +treasonable savor."--Scott's _Miscellaneous Prose Works_, vol. +xxiii. p. 232.] + +[75: Henry Mackenzie's Introduction to _The Fatal +Sisters_.--_Works_, 1808, vol. viii. p. 63.] + +[76: "A Skerrie means a flattish rock which the sea does +not overflow."--Edmonstone's _View of the Zetlands_.] + +[77: Clerk Colvill falls a sacrifice to a meeting with "a +fair Mermaid," whom he found washing her "Sark of Silk" on this +romantic shore. He had been warned by his "gay lady" in these +words:-- + + "O promise me now, Clerk Colvill, + Or it will cost ye muckle strife, + Ride never by the Wells of Slane, + If ye wad live and brook your life."] + +[78: Sir William Honeyman, Bart.--a Judge of the Court of +Session by the title of Lord Armadale.] + +[79: _Miscellaneous Prose Works_, vol. v. p. 355.] + +[80: _History of the Orkney Islands_, by the Rev. George +Barry, D. D., 4to, Edinburgh, 1805.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + DIARY CONTINUED. -- STROMNESS. -- BESSY MILLIE'S CHARM. -- CAPE + WRATH. -- CAVE OF SMOWE. -- THE HEBRIDES. -- SCALPA, ETC. + +1814 + + +"_Off Stromness, 17th August, 1814._--Went on shore after breakfast, +and found W. Erskine and Marjoribanks had been in this town all last +night, without our hearing of them or they of us. No letters from +Abbotsford or Edinburgh. Stromness is a little dirty straggling +town, which cannot be traversed by a cart, or even by a horse, for +there are stairs up and down, even in the principal streets. We +paraded its whole length like turkeys in a string, I suppose to +satisfy ourselves that there was a worse town in the Orkneys than +the metropolis, Kirkwall. We clomb, by steep and dirty lanes, an +eminence rising above the town, and commanding a fine view. An old +hag lives in a wretched cabin on this height, and subsists by +selling winds. Each captain of a merchantman, between jest and +earnest, gives the old woman sixpence, and she boils her kettle to +procure a favorable gale. She was a miserable figure; upwards of +ninety, she told us, and dried up like a mummy. A sort of +clay-colored cloak, folded over her head, corresponded in color to +her corpselike complexion. Fine light-blue eyes, and nose and chin +that almost met, and a ghastly expression of cunning, gave her quite +the effect of Hecate. She told us she remembered _Gow the pirate_, +who was born near the House of Clestrom, and afterwards commenced +buccaneer. He came to his native country about 1725, with a _snow_ +which he commanded, carried off two women from one of the islands, +and committed other enormities. At length, while he was dining in a +house in the island of Eda, the islanders, headed by Malcolm Laing's +grandfather, made him prisoner, and sent him to London, where he +was hanged. While at Stromness, he made love to a Miss Gordon, who +pledged her faith to him by shaking hands, an engagement which, in +her idea, could not be dissolved without her going to London to seek +back again her 'faith and troth,' by shaking hands with him again +after execution. We left our Pythoness, who assured us there was +nothing evil in the intercession she was to make for us, but that we +were only to have a fair wind through the benefit of her prayers. +She repeated a sort of rigmarole which I suppose she had ready for +such occasions, and seemed greatly delighted and surprised with the +amount of our donation, as everybody gave her a trifle, our faithful +Captain Wilson making the regular offering on behalf of the ship. So +much for buying a wind. Bessy Millie's habitation is airy enough for +Æolus himself, but if she is a special favorite with that divinity, +he has a strange choice. In her house I remarked a quern, or +hand-mill.--A cairn, a little higher, commands a beautiful view of +the bay, with its various entrances and islets. Here we found the +vestiges of a bonfire, lighted in memory of the battle of +Bannockburn, concerning which every part of Scotland has its +peculiar traditions. The Orcadians say that a Norwegian prince, then +their ruler, called by them Harold, brought 1400 men of Orkney to +the assistance of Bruce, and that the King, at a critical period of +the engagement, touched him with his scabbard, saying, 'The day is +against us.'--'I trust,' returned the Orcadian, 'your Grace will +_venture again_;' which has given rise to their motto, and passed +into a proverb. On board at half-past three, and find Bessy Millie a +woman of her word, for the expected breeze has sprung up, if it but +last us till we double Cape Wrath. Weigh anchor (I hope) to bid +farewell to Orkney.[81] + +"The land in Orkney is, generally speaking, excellent, and what is +not fitted for the plough is admirably adapted for pasture. But the +cultivation is very bad, and the mode of using these extensive +commons, where they tear up, without remorse, the turf of the +finest pasture, in order to make fuel, is absolutely execrable. The +practice has already peeled and exhausted much fine land, and must +in the end ruin the country entirely. In other respects, their mode +of cultivation is to manure for barley and oats, and then manure +again, and this without the least idea of fallow or green crops. Mr. +Rae thinks that his example--and he farms very well--has had no +effect upon the natives, except in the article of potatoes, which +they now cultivate a little more, but crops of turnips are unknown. +For this slovenly labor the Orcadians cannot, like the Shetland men, +plead the occupation of fishing, which is wholly neglected by them, +excepting that about this time of the year all the people turn out +for the dogfish, the liver of which affords oil, and the bodies are +a food as much valued here by the lower classes as it is contemned +in Shetland. We saw nineteen boats out at this work. But cod, tusk, +ling, haddocks, etc., which abound round these isles, are totally +neglected. Their inferiority in husbandry is therefore to be +ascribed to the prejudices of the people, who are all peasants of +the lowest order. On Lord Armadale's estate, the number of tenantry +amounts to 300, and the average of rent is about seven pounds each. +What can be expected from such a distribution? and how is the +necessary restriction to take place, without the greatest immediate +distress and hardship to these poor creatures? It is the hardest +chapter in Economics; and if I were an Orcadian laird, I feel I +should shuffle on with the old useless creatures, in contradiction +to my better judgment. Stock is improved in these islands, and the +horses seem to be better bred than in Shetland; at least, I have +seen more clever animals. The good horses find a ready sale; Mr. Rae +gets twenty guineas readily for a colt of his rearing--to be sure, +they are very good. + +"_Six o'clock._--Our breeze has carried us through the Mouth of Hoy, +and so into the Atlantic. The north-western face of the island forms +a ledge of high perpendicular cliffs, which might have surprised us +more, had we not already seen the Ord of Bressay, the Noup of Noss, +and the precipices of the Fair Isle. But these are formidable +enough. One projecting cliff, from the peculiarities of its form, +has acquired the name of the Old Man of Hoy, and is well known to +mariners as marking the entrance to the Mouth. The other jaw of this +mouth is formed by a lower range of crags, called the Burgh of +Birsa. The access through this strait would be easy, were it not for +the Island of Græmsay, lying in the very throat of the passage, and +two other islands covering the entrance to the harbor of Stromness. +Græmsay is infamous for shipwrecks, and the chance of these +_God-sends_, as they were impiously called, is said sometimes to +have doubled the value of the land. In Stromness, I saw many of the +sad relics of shipwrecked vessels applied to very odd purposes, and +indeed to all sorts of occasions. The gates, or _grinds_, as they +are here called, are usually of ship planks and timbers, and so are +their bridges, etc. These casualties are now much less common since +the lights on the Skerries and the Start have been established. +Enough of memoranda for the present.--We have hitherto kept our +course pretty well; and a King's ship about eighteen guns or so, two +miles upon our lee-boom, has shortened sail, apparently to take us +under her wing, which may not be altogether unnecessary in the +latitude of Cape Wrath, where several vessels have been taken by +Yankee-Doodle. The sloop of war looks as if she could bite hard, and +is supposed by our folks to be the Malay. If we can speak the +captain, we will invite him to some grouse, or send him some, as he +likes best, for Marchie's campaign was very successful. + +"_18th August, 1814._--Bessy Millie's charm has failed us. After a +rainy night, the wind has come round to the north-west, and is +getting almost contrary. We have weathered Whitten-head, however, +and Cape Wrath, the north-western extremity of Britain, is now in +sight. The weather gets rainy and squally. Hamilton and Erskine keep +their berths. Duff and I sit upon deck, like two great bears, wrapt +in watch-cloaks, the sea flying over us every now and then. At +length, after a sound buffeting with the rain, the doubling Cape +Wrath with this wind is renounced as impracticable, and we stand +away for Loch Eribol, a lake running into the extensive country of +Lord Reay. No sickness; we begin to get hardy sailors in that +particular. The ground rises upon us very bold and mountainous, +especially a very high steep mountain, called Ben-y-Hope, at the +head of a lake called Loch Hope. The weather begins to mitigate as +we get under the lee of the land. Loch Eribol opens, running up into +a wild and barren scene of crags and hills. The proper anchorage is +said to be at the head of the lake, but to go eight miles up so +narrow an inlet would expose us to be wind-bound. A pilot-boat comes +off from Mr. Anderson's house, a principal tacksman of Lord Reay's. +After some discussion we anchor within a reef of sunken rocks, +nearly opposite to Mr. Anderson's house of Rispan; the situation is +not, we are given to understand, altogether without danger if the +wind should blow hard, but it is now calm. In front of our anchorage +a few shapeless patches of land, not exceeding a few yards in +diameter, have been prepared for corn by the spade, and bear +wretched crops. All the rest of the view is utter barrenness; the +distant hills, we are told, contain plenty of deer, being part of a +forest belonging to Lord Reay, who is proprietor of all the +extensive range of desolation now under our eye. The water has been +kinder than the land, for we hear of plenty of salmon, and haddocks, +and lobsters, and send our faithful minister of the interior, John +Peters, the steward, to procure some of those good things of this +very indifferent land, and to invite Mr. Anderson to dine with us. +Four o'clock,--John has just returned, successful in both +commissions, and the evening concludes pleasantly. + +"_19th August, 1814, Loch Eribol, near Cape Wrath._--Went off before +eight A. M. to breakfast with our friend Mr. Anderson. His house, +invisible from the vessel at her moorings, and indeed from any part +of the entrance into Loch Eribol, is a very comfortable one, lying +obscured behind a craggy eminence. A little creek, winding up behind +the crag, and in front of the house, forms a small harbor, and gives +a romantic air of concealment and snugness. There we found a ship +upon the stocks, built from the keel by a Highland carpenter, who +had magnanimously declined receiving assistance from any of the +ship-carpenters who happened to be here occasionally, lest it should +be said he could not have finished his task without their aid. An +ample Highland breakfast of excellent new-taken herring, equal to +those of Lochfine, fresh haddocks, fresh eggs, and fresh butter, not +forgetting the bottle of whiskey, and bannocks of barley, and +oat-cakes, with the Lowland luxuries of tea and coffee. After +breakfast, took the long-boat, and, under Mr. Anderson's pilotage, +row to see a remarkable natural curiosity, called Uamh Smowe, or the +Largest Cave. Stevenson, Marchie, and Duff go by land. Take the +fowling-piece, and shoot some sea-fowl and a large hawk of an +uncommon appearance. Fire four shots, and kill three times. After +rowing about three miles to the westward of the entrance from the +sea to Loch Eribol, we enter a creek, between two ledges of very +high rocks, and landing, find ourselves in front of the wonder we +came to see. The exterior apartment of the cavern opens under a +tremendous rock, facing the creek, and occupies the full space of +the ravine where we landed. From the top of the rock to the base of +the cavern, as we afterwards discovered by plumb, is eighty feet, of +which the height of the arch is fifty-three feet; the rest, being +twenty-seven feet, is occupied by the precipitous rock under which +it opens; the width is fully in proportion to this great height, +being 110 feet. The depth of this exterior cavern is 200 feet, and +it is apparently supported by an intermediate column of natural +rock. Being open to daylight and the sea-air, the cavern is +perfectly clean and dry, and the sides are incrusted with +stalactites. This immense cavern is so well proportioned, that I was +not aware of its extraordinary height and extent, till I saw our two +friends, who had somewhat preceded us, having made the journey by +land, appearing like pigmies among its recesses. Afterwards, on +entering the cave, I climbed up a sloping rock at its extremity, and +was much struck with the prospect, looking outward from this +magnificent arched cavern upon our boat and its crew, the view being +otherwise bounded by the ledge of rocks which formed each side of +the creek. We now propose to investigate the farther wonders of the +cave of Smowe. In the right or west side of the cave opens an +interior cavern of a different aspect. The height of this second +passage may be about twelve or fourteen feet, and its breadth about +six or eight, neatly formed into a Gothic portal by the hand of +nature. The lower part of this porch is closed by a ledge of rock, +rising to the height of between five and six feet, and which I can +compare to nothing but the hatch-door of a shop. Beneath this hatch +a brook finds its way out, forms a black deep pool before the Gothic +archway, and then escapes to the sea, and forms the creek in which +we landed. It is somewhat difficult to approach this strange pass, +so as to gain a view into the interior of the cavern. By clambering +along a broken and dangerous cliff, you can, however, look into it; +but only so far as to see a twilight space filled with dark-colored +water in great agitation, and representing a subterranean lake, +moved by some fearful convulsion of nature. How this pond is +supplied with water you cannot see from even this point of vantage, +but you are made partly sensible of the truth by a sound like the +dashing of a sullen cataract within the bowels of the earth. Here +the adventure has usually been abandoned, and Mr. Anderson only +mentioned two travellers whose curiosity had led them farther. We +were resolved, however, to see the adventures of this new cave of +Montesinos to an end. Duff had already secured the use of a fisher's +boat and its hands, our own long-boat being too heavy and far too +valuable to be ventured upon this Cocytus. Accordingly the skiff was +dragged up the brook to the rocky ledge or hatch which barred up the +interior cavern, and there, by force of hands, our boat's crew and +two or three fishers first raised the boat's bow upon the ledge of +rock, then brought her to a level, being poised upon that narrow +hatch, and lastly launched her down into the dark and deep +subterranean lake within. The entrance was so narrow, and the boat +so clumsy, that we, who were all this while clinging to the rock +like sea-fowl, and with scarce more secure footing, were greatly +alarmed for the safety of our trusty sailors. At the instant when +the boat sloped inward to the cave, a Highlander threw himself into +it with great boldness and dexterity, and, at the expense of some +bruises, shared its precipitate fall into the waters under the +earth. This dangerous exploit was to prevent the boat drifting away +from us, but a cord at its stern would have been a safer and surer +expedient. + +"When our _enfant perdu_ had recovered breath and legs, he brought +the boat back to the entrance, and took us in. We now found +ourselves embarked on a deep black pond of an irregular form, the +rocks rising like a dome all around us, and high over our heads. The +light, a sort of dubious twilight, was derived from two chasms in +the roof of the vault, for that offered by the entrance was but +trifling. Down one of those rents there poured from the height of +eighty feet, in a sheet of foam, the brook, which, after supplying +the subterranean pond with water, finds its way out beneath the +ledge of rock that blocks its entrance. The other skylight, if I may +so term it, looks out at the clear blue sky. It is impossible for +description to explain the impression made by so strange a place, to +which we had been conveyed with so much difficulty. The cave +itself, the pool, the cataract, would have been each separate +objects of wonder, but all united together, and affecting at once +the ear, the eye, and the imagination, their effect is +indescribable. The length of this pond, or loch as the people here +call it, is seventy feet over, the breadth about thirty at the +narrowest point, and it is of great depth. + +"As we resolved to proceed, we directed the boat to a natural arch +on the right hand, or west side of the cataract. This archway was +double, a high arch being placed above a very low one, as in a Roman +aqueduct. The ledge of rock which forms this lower arch is not above +two feet and a half high above the water, and under this we were to +pass in the boat; so that we were fain to pile ourselves flat upon +each other like a layer of herrings. By this judicious disposition +we were pushed in safety beneath this low-browed rock into a region +of utter darkness. For this, however, we were provided, for we had a +tinder-box and lights. The view back upon the twilight lake we had +crossed, its sullen eddies wheeling round and round, and its echoes +resounding to the ceaseless thunder of the waterfall, seemed dismal +enough, and was aggravated by temporary darkness, and in some degree +by a sense of danger. The lights, however, dispelled the latter +sensation, if it prevailed to any extent, and we now found ourselves +in a narrow cavern, sloping somewhat upward from the water. We got +out of the boat, proceeded along some slippery places upon shelves +of the rock, and gained the dry land. I cannot say _dry_, excepting +comparatively. We were then in an arched cave, twelve feet high in +the roof, and about eight feet in breadth, which went winding into +the bowels of the earth for about an hundred feet. The sides, being +(like those of the whole cavern) of limestone rock, were covered +with stalactites, and with small drops of water like dew, glancing +like ten thousand thousand sets of birthday diamonds under the glare +of our lights. In some places these stalactites branch out into +broad and curious ramifications, resembling coral and the foliage of +submarine plants. + +"When we reached the extremity of this passage, we found it declined +suddenly to a horrible ugly gulf, or well, filled with dark water, +and of great depth, over which the rock closed. We threw in stones, +which indicated great profundity by their sound; and growing more +familiar with the horrors of this den, we sounded with an oar, and +found about ten feet depth at the entrance, but discovered in the +same manner, that the gulf extended under the rock, deepening as it +went, God knows how far. Imagination can figure few deaths more +horrible than to be sucked under these rocks into some unfathomable +abyss, where your corpse could never be found to give intimation of +your fate. A water kelpy, or an evil spirit of any aquatic +propensities, could not choose a fitter abode; and, to say the +truth, I believe at our first entrance, and when all our feelings +were afloat at the novelty of the scene, the unexpected plashing of +a seal would have routed the whole dozen of us. The mouth of this +ugly gulf was all covered with slimy alluvious substances, which led +Mr. Stevenson to observe, that it could have no separate source, but +must be fed from the waters of the outer lake and brook, as it lay +upon the same level, and seemed to rise and fall with them, without +having anything to indicate a separate current of its own. Rounding +this perilous hole, or gulf, upon the aforesaid alluvious +substances, which formed its shores, we reached the extremity of the +cavern, which there ascends like a vent, or funnel, directly up a +sloping precipice, but hideously black and slippery from wet and +sea-weeds. One of our sailors, a Zetlander, climbed up a good way, +and by holding up a light, we could plainly perceive that this vent +closed after ascending to a considerable height; and here, +therefore, closed the adventure of the cave of Smowe, for it +appeared utterly impossible to proceed further in any direction +whatever. There is a tradition that the first Lord Reay went through +various subterranean abysses, and at length returned, after +ineffectually endeavoring to penetrate to the extremity of the Smowe +cave; but this must be either fabulous, or an exaggerated account of +such a journey as we performed. And under the latter supposition, it +is a curious instance how little the people in the neighborhood of +this curiosity have cared to examine it. + +"In returning, we endeavored to familiarize ourselves with the +objects in detail, which, viewed together, had struck us with so +much wonder. The stalactites, or limy incrustations, upon the walls +of the cavern, are chiefly of a dark-brown color, and in this +respect, Smowe is inferior, according to Mr. Stevenson, to the +celebrated cave of Macallister in the Isle of Skye. In returning, +the men with the lights, and the various groups and attitudes of the +party, gave a good deal of amusement. We now ventured to clamber +along the side of the rock above the subterranean water, and thus +gained the upper arch, and had the satisfaction to see our admirable +and good-humored commodore, Hamilton, floated beneath the lower arch +into the second cavern. His goodly countenance being illumined by a +single candle, his recumbent posture, and the appearance of a +hard-favored fellow guiding the boat, made him the very picture of +Bibo, in the catch, when he wakes in Charon's boat:-- + + 'When Bibo thought fit from this world to retreat, + As full of Champagne as an egg's full of meat, + He waked in the boat, and to Charon he said, + That he would be row'd back, for he was not yet dead.' + +"Descending from our superior station on the upper arch, we now +again embarked, and spent some time in rowing about and examining +this second cave. We could see our dusky entrance, into which +daylight streamed faint, and at a considerable distance; and under +the arch of the outer cavern stood a sailor, with an oar in his +hand, looking, in the perspective, like a fairy with his wand. We at +length emerged unwillingly from this extraordinary basin, and again +enjoyed ourselves in the large exterior cave. Our boat was hoisted +with some difficulty over the ledge, which appears the natural +barrier of the interior apartments, and restored in safety to the +fishers, who were properly gratified for the hazard which their +skiff, as well as one of themselves, had endured. After this we +resolved to ascend the rocks, and discover the opening by which the +cascade was discharged from above into the second cave. Erskine and +I, by some chance, took the wrong side of the rocks, and, after some +scrambling, got into the face of a dangerous precipice, where +Erskine, to my great alarm, turned giddy, and declared he could not +go farther. I clambered up without much difficulty, and shouting to +the people below, got two of them to assist the Counsellor, who was +brought into, by the means which have sent many a good fellow out +of, the world--I mean a rope. We easily found the brook, and traced +its descent till it precipitates itself down a chasm of the rock +into the subterranean apartment, where we first made its +acquaintance. Divided by a natural arch of stone from the chasm down +which the cascade falls, there is another rent, which serves as a +skylight to the cavern, as I already noticed. Standing on a natural +foot-bridge, formed by the arch which divides these two gulfs, you +have a grand prospect into both. The one is deep, black, and silent, +only affording at the bottom a glimpse of the dark and sullen pool +which occupies the interior of the cavern. The right-hand rent, down +which the stream discharges itself, seems to ring and reel with the +unceasing roar of the cataract, which envelops its side in mist and +foam. This part of the scene alone is worth a day's journey. After +heavy rains, the torrent is discharged into this cavern with +astonishing violence; and the size of the chasm being inadequate to +the reception of such a volume of water, it is thrown up in spouts +like the blowing of a whale. But at such times the entrance of the +cavern is inaccessible. + +"Taking leave of this scene with regret, we rowed back to Loch +Eribol. Having yet an hour to spare before dinner, we rowed across +the mouth of the lake to its shore on the east side. This rises into +a steep and shattered stack of mouldering calcareous rock and stone, +called Whitten-head. It is pierced with several caverns, the abode +of seals and cormorants. We entered one, where our guide promised to +us a grand sight, and so it certainly would have been to any who had +not just come from Smowe. In this last cave the sea enters through a +lofty arch, and penetrates to a great depth; but the weight of the +tide made it dangerous to venture very far, so we did not see the +extremity of Friskin's Cavern, as it is called. We shot several +cormorants in the cave, the echoes roaring like thunder at every +discharge. We received, however, a proper rebuke from Hamilton, our +commodore, for killing anything which was not fit for _eating_. It +was in vain I assured him that the Zetlanders made excellent +hare-soup out of these sea-fowl. He will listen to no subordinate +authority, and rules us by the Almanach des Gourmands. Mr. Anderson +showed me the spot where the Norwegian monarch, Haco, moored his +fleet, after the discomfiture he received at Largs. He caused all +the cattle to be driven from the hills, and houghed and slain upon a +broad flat rock, for the refreshment of his dispirited army. Mr. +Anderson dines with us, and very handsomely presents us with a +stock of salmon, haddocks, and so forth, which we requite by a small +present of wine from our sea stores. This has been a fine day; the +first fair day here for these eight weeks. + +"_20th August, 1814._--Sail by four in the morning, and by half-past +six are off Cape Wrath. All hands ashore by seven, and no time +allowed to breakfast, except on beef and biscuit. On this dread +Cape, so fatal to mariners, it is proposed to build a lighthouse, +and Mr. Stevenson has fixed on an advantageous situation. It is a +high promontory, with steep sides that go sheer down to the +breakers, which lash its feet. There is no landing, except in a +small creek about a mile and a half to the eastward. There the foam +of the sea plays at long bowls with a huge collection of large +stones, some of them a ton in weight, but which these fearful +billows chuck up and down as a child tosses a ball. The walk from +thence to the Cape was over rough boggy ground, but good sheep +pasture. Mr. ---- Dunlop, brother to the laird of Dunlop, took from +Lord Reay, some years since, a large track of sheep-land, including +the territories of Cape Wrath, for about £300 a year, for the period +of two-nineteen years and a life-rent. It is needless to say that +the tenant has an immense profit, for the value of pasture is now +understood here. Lord Reay's estate, containing 150,000 square +acres, and measuring eighty miles by sixty, was, before commencement +of the last leases, rented at £1200 a year. It is now worth £5000, +and Mr. Anderson says he may let it this ensuing year (when the +leases expire) for about £15,000. But then he must resolve to part +with his people, for these rents can only be given upon the +supposition that sheep are generally to be introduced on the +property. In an economical, and perhaps in a political point of +view, it might be best that every part of a country were dedicated +to that sort of occupation for which nature has best fitted it. But +to effect this reform in the present instance, Lord Reay must turn +out several hundred families who have lived under him and his +fathers for many generations, and the swords of whose fathers +probably won the lands from which he is now expelling them. He is a +good-natured man, I suppose, for Mr. A. says he is hesitating +whether he shall not take a more moderate rise (£7000 or £8000), and +keep his Highland tenantry. This last war (before the short peace), +he levied a fine fencible corps (the Reay fencibles), and might +have doubled their number. _Wealth_ is no doubt _strength_ in a +country, while all is quiet and governed by law, but on any +altercation or internal commotion, it ceases to be strength, and is +only the means of tempting the strong to plunder the possessors. +Much may be said on both sides.[82] + +"Cape Wrath is a striking point, both from the dignity of its own +appearance, and from the mental association of its being the extreme +cape of Scotland, with reference to the north-west. There is no land +in the direct line between this point and America. I saw a pair of +large eagles, and if I had had the rifle-gun might have had a shot, +for the birds, when I first saw them, were perched on a rock within +about sixty or seventy yards. They are, I suppose, little disturbed +here, for they showed no great alarm. After the Commissioners and +Mr. Stevenson had examined the headland, with reference to the site +of a lighthouse, we strolled to our boat, and came on board between +ten and eleven. Get the boat up upon deck, and set sail for the +Lewis with light winds and a great swell of tide. Pass a rocky islet +called Gousla. Here a fine vessel was lately wrecked; all her crew +perished but one, who got upon the rocks from the boltsprit, and was +afterwards brought off. In front of Cape Wrath are some angry +breakers, called the _Staggs_; the rocks which occasion them are +visible at low water. The country behind Cape Wrath swells in high +sweeping elevations, but without any picturesque or dignified +mountainous scenery. But on sailing westward a few miles, +particularly after doubling a headland called the Stour of Assint, +the coast assumes the true Highland character, being skirted with a +succession of picturesque mountains of every variety of height and +outline. These are the hills of Ross-shire--a waste and thinly +peopled district at this extremity of the island. We would willingly +have learned the names of the most remarkable, but they are only +laid down in the charts by the cant names given them by mariners, +from their appearance, as the Sugar-loaf, and so forth. Our breeze +now increases, and seems steadily favorable, carrying us on with +exhilarating rapidity, at the rate of eight knots an hour, with the +romantic outline of the mainland under our lee-beam, and the dusky +shores of the Long Island beginning to appear ahead. We remain on +deck long after it is dark, watching the phosphoric effects +occasioned, or made visible, by the rapid motion of the vessel, and +enlightening her course with a continued succession of sparks and +even flashes of broad light, mingled with the foam which she flings +from her bows and head. A rizard haddock and to bed. Charming +weather all day. + +"_21st August, 1814._--Last night went out like a lamb, but this +morning came in like a lion, all roar and tumult. The wind shifted +and became squally; the mingled and confused tides that run among +the Hebrides got us among their eddies, and gave the cutter such +concussions, that, besides reeling at every wave, she trembled from +head to stern, with a sort of very uncomfortable and ominous +vibration. Turned out about three, and went on deck; the prospect +dreary enough, as we are beating up a narrow channel between two +dark and disconsolate-looking islands, in a gale of wind and rain, +guided only by the twinkling glimmer of the light on an island +called Ellan Glas.--Go to bed and sleep soundly, notwithstanding the +rough rocking. Great bustle about four; the light-keeper having seen +our flag, comes off to be our pilot, as in duty bound. Asleep again +till eight. When I went on deck, I found we had anchored in the +little harbor of Scalpa, upon the coast of Harris, a place dignified +by the residence of Charles Edward in his hazardous attempt to +escape in 1746. An old man, lately alive here, called Donald +Macleod, was his host and temporary protector, and could not, until +his dying hour, mention the distresses of the adventurer without +tears. From this place, Charles attempted to go to Stornoway; but +the people of the Lewis had taken arms to secure him, under an idea +that he was coming to plunder the country. And although his faithful +attendant, Donald Macleod, induced them by fair words, to lay aside +their purpose, yet they insisted upon his leaving the island. So the +unfortunate Prince was obliged to return back to Scalpa. He +afterwards escaped to South Uist, but was chased in the passage by +Captain Fergusson's sloop of war. The harbor seems a little neat +secure place of anchorage. Within a small island, there seems more +shelter than where we are lying; but it is crowded with vessels, +part of those whom we saw in the Long-Hope--so Mr. Wilson chose to +remain outside. The ground looks hilly and barren in the extreme; +but I can say little for it, as an incessant rain prevents my +keeping the deck. Stevenson and Duff, accompanied by Marchie, go to +examine the lighthouse on Ellan Glas. Hamilton and Erskine keep +their beds, having scarce slept last night--and I bring up my +journal. The day continues bad, with little intermission of rain. +Our party return with little advantage from their expedition, +excepting some fresh butter from the lighthouse. The harbor of +Scalpa is composed of a great number of little uninhabited islets. +The masts of the vessels at anchor behind them have a good effect. +To bed early, to make amends for last night, with the purpose of +sailing for Dunvegan in the Isle of Skye with daylight." + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXX. + +[81: Lord Teignmouth, in his recent _Sketches of the Coasts +and Islands of Scotland_, says: "The publication of _The Pirate_ +satisfied the natives of Orkney as to the authorship of the Waverley +Novels. It was remarked by those who had accompanied Sir Walter +Scott in his excursions in these Islands, that the vivid +descriptions which the work contains were confined to those scenes +which he visited."--Vol. i. p. 28.] + +[82: The whole of the immense district called _Lord Reay's +country_--the habitation, as far back as history reaches, of the +clan Mackay--has passed, since Sir W. Scott's journal was written, +into the hands of the noble family of Sutherland.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + DIARY CONTINUED. -- ISLE OF HARRIS. -- MONUMENTS OF THE CHIEFS OF + MACLEOD. -- ISLE OF SKYE. -- DUNVEGAN CASTLE. -- LOCH CORRISKIN. + --MACALLISTER'S CAVE + +1814 + + +"_22d August, 1814._--Sailed early in the morning from Scalpa +Harbor, in order to cross the Minch, or Channel, for Dunvegan; but +the breeze being contrary, we can only creep along the Harris shore, +until we shall gain the advantage of the tide. The east coast of +Harris, as we now see it, is of a character which sets human +industry at utter defiance, consisting of high sterile hills, +covered entirely with stones, with a very slight sprinkling of +stunted heather. Within, appear still higher peaks of mountains. I +have never seen anything more unpropitious, excepting the southern +side of Griban, on the shores of Loch-na-Gaoil, in the Isle of Mull. +We sail along this desolate coast (which exhibits no mark of human +habitation) with the advantage of a pleasant day, and a brisk, +though not a favorable gale. _Two o'clock_--Row ashore to see the +little harbor and village of Rowdill, on the coast of Harris. There +is a decent three-storied house, belonging to the laird, Mr. Macleod +of the Harris,[83] where we were told two of his female relations +lived. A large vessel had been stranded last year, and two or three +carpenters were about repairing her, but in such a style of Highland +laziness that I suppose she may float next century. The harbor is +neat enough, but wants a little more cover to the eastward. The +ground, on landing, does not seem altogether so desolate as from the +sea. In the former point of view, we overlook all the retired glens +and crevices, which, by infinite address and labor, are rendered +capable of a little cultivation. But few and evil are the patches so +cultivated in Harris, as far as we have seen. Above the house is +situated the ancient church of Rowdill. This pile was unfortunately +burned down by accident some years since, by fire taking to a +quantity of wood laid in for fitting it up. It is a building in the +form of a cross, with a rude tower at the eastern end, like some old +English churches. Upon this tower are certain pieces of sculpture, +of a kind the last which one would have expected on a building +dedicated to religious purposes. Some have lately fallen in a storm, +but enough remains to astonish us at the grossness of the architect +and the age. + +"Within the church are two ancient monuments. The first, on the +right hand of the pulpit, presents the effigy of a warrior +completely armed in plate armor, with his hand on his two-handed +broadsword. His helmet is peaked, with a gorget or upper corselet +which seems to be made of mail. His figure lies flat on the +monument, and is in bas-relief, of the natural size. The arch which +surmounts this monument is curiously carved with the figures of the +apostles. In the flat space of the wall beneath the arch, and above +the tombstone, are a variety of compartments, exhibiting the arms of +the Macleods, being a galley with the sails spread, a rude view of +Dunvegan Castle, some saints and religious emblems, and a Latin +inscription, of which our time (or skill) was inadequate to decipher +the first line; but the others announced the tenant of the monument +to be _Alexander, filius Willielmi MacLeod, de Dunvegan, Anno Dni_ +M.CCCC.XXVIII. A much older monument (said also to represent a laird +of Macleod) lies in the transept, but without any arch over it. It +represents the grim figure of a Highland chief, not in feudal armor +like the former, but dressed in a plaid--(or perhaps a shirt of +mail)--reaching down below the knees, with a broad sort of hem upon +its lower extremity. The figure wears a high-peaked open helmet, or +skull-cap, with a sort of tippet of mail attached to it, which falls +over the breast of the warrior, pretty much as women wear a +handkerchief or short shawl. This remarkable figure is bearded most +tyrannically, and has one hand on his long two-handed sword, the +other on his dirk, both of which hang at a broad belt. Another +weapon, probably his knife, seems to have been also attached to the +baldric. His feet rest on his two dogs entwined together, and a +similar emblem is said to have supported his head, but is now +defaced, as indeed the whole monument bears marks of the unfortunate +fire. A lion is placed at each end of the stone. Who the hero was, +whom this martial monument commemorated, we could not learn. Indeed, +our cicerone was but imperfect. He chanced to be a poor devil of an +excise-officer who had lately made a seizure of a still upon a +neighboring island, after a desperate resistance. Upon seeing our +cutter, he mistook it, as has often happened to us, for an armed +vessel belonging to the revenue, which the appearance and equipment +of the yacht, and the number of men, make her resemble considerably. +He was much disappointed when he found we had nothing to do with the +tribute to Cæsar, and begged us not to undeceive the natives, who +were so much irritated against him that he found it necessary to +wear a loaded pair of pistols in each pocket, which he showed to our +Master, Wilson, to convince him of the perilous state in which he +found himself while exercising so obnoxious a duty in the midst of a +fierce-tempered people, and at many miles' distance from any +possible countenance or assistance. The village of Rowdill consists +of Highland huts of the common construction, _i. e._, a low circular +wall of large stones, without mortar, deeply sunk in the ground, +surmounted by a thatched roof secured by ropes, without any chimney +but a hole in the roof. There may be forty such houses in the +village. We heard that the laird was procuring a schoolmaster--he of +the parish being ten miles distant--and there was a neatness about +the large house which seems to indicate that things are going on +well. Adjacent to the churchyard were two eminences, apparently +artificial. Upon one was fixed a stone, seemingly the staff of a +cross; upon another the head of a cross, with a sculpture of the +crucifixion. These monuments (which refer themselves to Catholic +times of course) are popularly called _The Croshlets_--crosslets, or +little crosses. + +"Get on board at five, and stand across the Sound for Skye with the +ebb-tide in our favor. The sunset being delightful, we enjoy it upon +deck, admiring the Sound on each side bounded by islands. That of +Skye lies in the east, with some very high mountains in the centre, +and a bold rocky coast in front, opening up into several lochs, or +arms of the sea;--that of Loch Folliart, near the upper end of which +Dunvegan is situated, is opposite to us, but our breeze has failed +us, and the flood-tide will soon set in, which is likely to carry us +to the northward of this object of our curiosity until next morning. +To the west of us lies Harris, with its variegated ridges of +mountains, now clear, distinct, and free from clouds. The sun is +just setting behind the Island of Bernera, of which we see one +conical hill. North Uist and Benbecula continue from Harris to the +southerly line of what is called the Long Island. They are as bold +and mountainous, and probably as barren as Harris--worse they cannot +be. Unnumbered islets and holms, each of which has its name and its +history, skirt these larger isles, and are visible in this clear +evening as distinct and separate objects, lying lone and quiet upon +the face of the undisturbed and scarce rippling sea. To our berths +at ten, after admiring the scenery for some time. + +"_23d August, 1814._--Wake under the Castle of Dunvegan, in the Loch +of Folliart. I had sent a card to the Laird of Macleod in the +morning, who came off before we were dressed, and carried us to his +castle to breakfast. A part of Dunvegan is very old; 'its birth +tradition notes not.' Another large tower was built by the same +Alaster Macleod whose burial-place and monument we saw yesterday at +Rowdill. He had a Gaelic surname, signifying the Hump-backed. +Roderick More (knighted by James VI.) erected a long edifice +combining these two ancient towers: and other pieces of building, +forming a square, were accomplished at different times. The whole +castle occupies a precipitous mass of rock overhanging the lake, +divided by two or three islands in that place, which form a snug +little harbor under the walls. There is a courtyard looking out upon +the sea, protected by a battery, at least a succession of +embrasures, for only two guns are pointed, and these unfit for +service. The ancient entrance rose up a flight of steps cut in the +rock, and passed into this courtyard through a portal, but this is +now demolished. You land under the castle, and walking round, find +yourself in front of it. This was originally inaccessible, for a +brook coming down on the one side, a chasm of the rocks on the +other, and a ditch in front, made it impervious. But the late +Macleod built a bridge over the stream, and the present laird is +executing an entrance suitable to the character of this remarkable +fortalice, by making a portal between two advanced towers and an +outer court, from which he proposes to throw a drawbridge over to +the high rock in front of the castle. This, if well executed, cannot +fail to have a good and characteristic effect. We were most kindly +and hospitably received by the chieftain, his lady, and his +sister;[84] the two last are pretty and accomplished young women, a +sort of persons whom we have not seen for some time; and I was quite +as much pleased with renewing my acquaintance with them as with the +sight of a good field of barley just cut (the first harvest we have +seen), not to mention an extensive young plantation and some +middle-aged trees, though all had been strangers to mine eyes since +I left Leith. In the garden--or rather the orchard which was +formerly the garden--is a pretty cascade, divided into two branches, +and called Rorie More's Nurse, because he loved to be lulled to +sleep by the sound of it. The day was rainy, or at least inconstant, +so we could not walk far from the castle. Besides the assistance of +the laird himself, who was most politely and easily attentive, we +had that of an intelligent gentlemanlike clergyman, Mr. Suter, +minister of Kilmore, to explain the _carte-de-pays_. Within the +castle we saw a remarkable drinking-cup, with an inscription dated +A. D. 993, which I have described particularly elsewhere.[85] I saw +also a fairy flag, a pennon of silk, with something like round red +rowan-berries wrought upon it. We also saw the drinking-horn of +Rorie More, holding about three pints English measure--an ox's horn +tipped with silver, not nearly so large as Watt of Harden's bugle. +The rest of the curiosities in the castle are chiefly Indian, +excepting an old dirk and the fragment of a two-handed sword. We +learn that most of the Highland superstitions, even that of the +second-sight, are still in force. Gruagach, a sort of tutelary +divinity, often mentioned by Martin in his history of the Western +Islands, has still his place and credit, but is modernized into a +tall man, always a Lowlander, with a long coat and white waistcoat. +Passed a very pleasant day. I should have said the fairy flag had +three properties: produced in battle, it multiplied the numbers of +the Macleods--spread on the nuptial bed, it insured fertility--and +lastly, it brought herring into the loch.[86] + +"_24th August, 1814._--This morning resist with difficulty Macleod's +kind and pressing entreaty to send round the ship, and go to the +cave at Airds by land; but our party is too large to be accommodated +without inconvenience, and divisions are always awkward. Walk and +see Macleod's farm. The plantations seem to thrive admirably, +although I think he hazards planting his trees greatly too tall. +Macleod is a spirited and judicious improver, and if he does not +hurry too fast, cannot fail to be of service to his people. He seems +to think and act much like a chief, without the fanfaronade of the +character. See a female school patronized by Mrs. M. There are about +twenty girls, who learn reading, writing, and spinning; and being +compelled to observe habits of cleanliness and neatness when at +school, will probably be the means of introducing them by degrees at +home. The roads around the castle are, generally speaking, very +good; some are old, some made under the operation of the late act. +Macleod says almost all the contractors for these last roads have +failed, being tightly looked after by Government, which I confess I +think very right. If Government is to give relief where a +disadvantageous contract has been engaged in, it is plain it cannot +be refused in similar instances, so that all calculations of +expenses in such operations are at an end. The day being +delightfully fair and warm, we walk up to the Church of Kilmore. In +a cottage, at no great distance, we heard the women singing as they +_waulked_ the cloth, by rubbing it with their hands and feet, and +screaming all the while in a sort of chorus. At a distance, the +sound was wild and sweet enough, but rather discordant when you +approached too near the performers. In the churchyard (otherwise not +remarkable) was a pyramidical monument erected to the father of the +celebrated Simon, Lord Lovat, who was fostered at Dunvegan. It is +now nearly ruinous, and the inscription has fallen down. Return to +the castle, take our luncheon, and go aboard at three--Macleod +accompanying us in proper style with his piper. We take leave of the +castle, where we have been so kindly entertained, with a salute of +seven guns. The chief returns ashore, with his piper playing the +Macleod's Gathering, heard to advantage along the calm and placid +loch, and dying as it retreated from us. + +"The towers of Dunvegan, with the banner which floated over them in +honor of their guests, now showed to great advantage. On the right +were a succession of three remarkable hills, with round flat tops, +popularly called Macleod's Dining-Tables. Far behind these, in the +interior of the island, arise the much higher and more romantic +mountains, called Quillen, or Cuillin, a name which they have been +said to owe to no less a person than Cuthullin, or Cuchullin, +celebrated by Ossian. I ought, I believe, to notice, that Macleod +and Mr. Suter have both heard a tacksman of Macleod's, called Grant, +recite the celebrated Address to the Sun; and another person, whom +they named, repeat the description of Cuchullin's car. But all agree +as to the gross infidelity of Macpherson as a translator and editor. +It ends in the explanation of the Adventures in the cave of +Montesinos, afforded to the Knight of La Mancha, by the ape of Gines +de Passamonte--some are true and some are false. There is little +poetical tradition in this country, yet there should be a great +deal, considering how lately the bards and genealogists existed as a +distinct order. Macleod's _hereditary_ piper is called MacCrimmon, +but the present holder of the office has risen above his profession. +He is an old man, a lieutenant in the army, and a most capital +piper, possessing about 200 tunes and pibrochs, most of which will +probably die with him, as he declines to have any of his sons +instructed in his art. He plays to Macleod and his lady, but only in +the same room, and maintains his minstrel privilege by putting on +his bonnet so soon as he begins to play. These MacCrimmons formerly +kept a college in Skye for teaching the pipe-music. Macleod's +present piper is of the name, but scarcely as yet a deacon of his +craft. He played every day at dinner.--After losing sight of the +Castle of Dunvegan, we open another branch of the loch on which it +is situated, and see a small village upon its distant bank. The +mountains of Quillen continue to form a background to the wild +landscape with their variegated and peaked outline. We approach +Dunvegan-head, a bold bluff cape, where the loch joins the ocean. +The weather, hitherto so beautiful that we had dined on deck _en +seigneurs_, becomes overcast and hazy, with little or no wind. Laugh +and lie down. + +"_25th August, 1814._--Rise about eight o'clock, the yacht gliding +delightfully along the coast of Skye, with a fair wind and excellent +day. On the opposite side lie the islands of Canna, Rum, and Muick, +popularly Muck. On opening the sound between Rum and Canna, see a +steep circular rock, forming one side of the harbor, on the point of +which we can discern the remains of a tower of small dimensions, +built, it is said, by a King of the Isles to secure a wife of whom +he was jealous. But, as we kept the Skye side of the Sound, we saw +little of these islands but what our spy-glasses could show us. The +coast of Skye is highly romantic, and at the same time displayed a +richness of vegetation on the lower grounds, to which we have +hitherto been strangers. We passed three salt-water lochs, or deep +embayments, called Loch Bracadale, Loch Eynort, and Loch Britta--and +about eleven o'clock open Loch Scavig. We were now under the western +termination of the high mountains of Quillen, whose weather-beaten +and serrated peaks we had admired at a distance from Dunvegan. They +sunk here upon the sea, but with the same bold and peremptory aspect +which their distant appearance indicated. They seemed to consist of +precipitous sheets of naked rock, down which the torrents were +leaping in a hundred lines of foam. The tops, apparently +inaccessible to human foot, were rent and split into the most +tremendous pinnacles; towards the base of these bare and precipitous +crags, the ground, enriched by the soil washed away from them, is +verdant and productive. Having passed within the small isle of Soa, +we enter Loch Scavig under the shoulder of one of these grisly +mountains, and observe that the opposite side of the loch is of a +milder character softened down into steep green declivities. From +the depth of the bay advanced a headland of high rocks which divided +the lake into two recesses, from each of which a brook seemed to +issue. Here Macleod had intimated we should find a fine romantic +loch, but we were uncertain up what inlet we should proceed in +search of it. We chose, against our better judgment, the southerly +inlet, where we saw a house which might afford us information. On +manning our boat and rowing ashore, we observed a hurry among the +inhabitants, owing to our being as usual suspected for _king's men_, +although, Heaven knows, we have nothing to do with the revenue but +to spend the part of it corresponding to our equipment. We find that +there is a lake adjoining to each branch of the bay, and foolishly +walk a couple of miles to see that next the farmhouse, merely +because the honest man seemed jealous of the honor of his own loch, +though we were speedily convinced it was not that which we had been +recommended to examine. It had no peculiar merit excepting from its +neighborhood to a very high cliff or mountain of precipitous +granite; otherwise, the sheet of water does not equal even +Cauldshiels Loch. Returned and reëmbarked in our boat, for our +guide shook his head at our proposal to climb over the peninsula +which divides the two bays and the two lakes. In rowing round the +headland, surprised at the infinite number of sea-fowl, then busy +apparently with a shoal of fish; at the depth of the bay find that +the discharge from this second lake forms a sort of waterfall or +rather rapid; round this place were assembled hundreds of trout, and +salmon struggling to get up into the fresh water; with a net we +might have had twenty salmon at a haul, and a sailor, with no better +hook than a crooked pin, caught a dish of trouts, during our +absence. + +"Advancing up this huddling and riotous brook, we found ourselves in +a most extraordinary scene: we were surrounded by hills of the +boldest and most precipitous character, and on the margin of a lake +which seemed to have sustained the constant ravages of torrents from +these rude neighbors. The shores consisted of huge layers of naked +granite, here and there intermixed with bogs, and heaps of gravel +and sand marking the course of torrents. Vegetation there was little +or none, and the mountains rose so perpendicularly from the water's +edge, that Borrowdale is a jest to them. We proceeded about one mile +and a half up this deep, dark, and solitary lake, which is about two +miles long, half a mile broad, and, as we learned, of extreme depth. +The vapor which enveloped the mountain ridges obliged us by assuming +a thousand shapes, varying its veils in all sorts of forms, but +sometimes clearing off altogether. It is true, it made us pay the +penalty by some heavy and downright showers, from the frequency of +which, a Highland boy, whom we brought from the farm, told us the +lake was popularly called the Water Kettle. The proper name is Loch +Corriskin, from the deep _corrie_ or hollow in the mountains of +Cuillin, which affords the basin for this wonderful sheet of water. +It is as exquisite as a savage scene, as Loch Katrine is as a scene +of stern beauty. After having penetrated so far as distinctly to +observe the termination of the lake, under an immense mountain which +rises abruptly from the head of the waters, we returned, and often +stopped to admire the ravages which storms must have made in these +recesses when all human witnesses were driven to places of more +shelter and security. Stones, or rather large massive fragments of +rock of a composite kind, perfectly different from the granite +barriers of the lake, lay upon the rocky beach in the strangest and +most precarious situations, as if abandoned by the torrents which +had borne them down from above; some lay loose and tottering upon +the ledges of the natural rock, with so little security that the +slightest push moved them, though their weight exceeded many tons. +These detached rocks were chiefly what are called plum-pudding +stones. Those which formed the shore were granite. The opposite side +of the lake seemed quite pathless, as a huge mountain, one of the +detached ridges of the Quillen, sinks in a profound and almost +perpendicular precipice down to the water. On the left-hand side, +which we traversed, rose a higher and equally inaccessible mountain, +the top of which seemed to contain the crater of an exhausted +volcano. I never saw a spot on which there was less appearance of +vegetation of any kind; the eye rested on nothing but brown and +naked crags,[87] and the rocks on which we walked by the side of the +loch were as bare as the pavement of Cheapside. There are one or two +spots of islets in the loch which seem to bear juniper, or some such +low bushy shrub. + +"Returned from our extraordinary walk and went on board. During +dinner, our vessel quitted Loch Scavig, and having doubled its +southern cape, opened the bay or salt-water Loch of Sleapin. There +went again on shore to visit the late discovered and much celebrated +cavern, called Macallister's cave. It opens at the end of a deep +ravine running upward from the sea, and the proprietor, Mr. +Macallister of Strath Aird, finding that visitors injured it, by +breaking and carrying away the stalactites with which it abounds, +has secured this cavern by an eight or nine feet wall, with a door. +Upon inquiring for the key, we found it was three miles up the loch +at the laird's house. It was now late, and to stay until a messenger +had gone and returned three miles, was not to be thought of, any +more than the alternative of going up the loch and lying there all +night. We therefore, with regret, resolved to scale the wall, in +which attempt, by the assistance of a rope and some ancient +acquaintance with orchard breaking, we easily succeeded. The first +entrance to this celebrated cave is rude and unpromising, but the +light of the torches with which we were provided is soon reflected +from roof, floor, and walls, which seem as if they were sheeted with +marble, partly smooth, partly rough with frost-work and rustic +ornaments, and partly wrought into statuary. The floor forms a steep +and difficult ascent, and might be fancifully compared to a sheet of +water, which, while it rushed whitening and foaming down a +declivity, had been suddenly arrested and consolidated by the spell +of an enchanter. Upon attaining the summit of this ascent, the cave +descends with equal rapidity to the brink of a pool of the most +limpid water, about four or five yards broad. There opens beyond +this pool a portal arch, with beautiful white chasing upon the +sides, which promises a continuation of the cave. One of our sailors +swam across, for there was no other mode of passing, and informed us +(as indeed we partly saw by the light he carried), that the +enchantment of Macallister's cave terminated with this portal, +beyond which there was only a rude ordinary cavern speedily choked +with stones and earth. But the pool, on the brink of which we stood, +surrounded by the most fanciful mouldings in a substance resembling +white marble, and distinguished by the depth and purity of its +waters, might be the bathing grotto of a Naiad. I think a statuary +might catch beautiful hints from the fanciful and romantic +disposition of the stalactites. There is scarce a form or group that +an active fancy may not trace among the grotesque ornaments which +have been gradually moulded in this cavern by the dropping of the +calcareous water, and its hardening into petrifactions; many of +these have been destroyed by the senseless rage of appropriation +among recent tourists, and the grotto has lost (I am informed), +through the smoke of torches, much of that vivid silver tint which +was originally one of its chief distinctions. But enough of beauty +remains to compensate for all that may be lost. As the easiest mode +of return, I slid down the polished sheet of marble which forms the +rising ascent, and thereby injured my pantaloons in a way which my +jacket is ill calculated to conceal. Our wearables, after a month's +hard service, begin to be frail, and there are daily demands for +repairs. Our eatables also begin to assume a real nautical +appearance--no soft bread--milk a rare commodity--and those +gentlemen most in favor with John Peters, the steward, who prefer +salt beef to fresh. To make amends, we never hear of sea-sickness, +and the good-humor and harmony of the party continue uninterrupted. +When we left the cave we carried off two grandsons of Mr. +Macallister's, remarkably fine boys; and Erskine, who may be called +_L'ami des Enfans_, treated them most kindly, and showed them all +the curiosities in the vessel, causing even the guns to be fired for +their amusement, besides filling their pockets with almonds and +raisins. So that, with a handsome letter of apology, I hope we may +erase any evil impression Mr. Macallister may adopt from our +storming the exterior defences of his cavern. After having sent them +ashore in safety, stand out of the bay with little or no wind, for +the opposite island of Egg." + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXXI. + +[83: The Harris has recently passed into the possession of +the Earl of Dunmore.--(1839.)] + +[84: Miss Macleod, now Mrs. Spencer Perceval.] + +[85: See Note, _Lord of the Isles_, Scott's _Poetical +Works_, vol. x. p. 294 [Cambridge Ed. p. 558].] + +[86: The following passage, from the last of Scott's _Letters on +Demonology_ (written in 1830), refers to the night of this 23d of +August, 1814. He mentions that twice in his life he had experienced the +sensation which the Scotch call _eerie_: gives a night-piece of his +early youth in the castle of Glammis, which has already been quoted +(_ante_, vol. i. p. 197), and proceeds thus: "Amid such tales of ancient +tradition, I had from Macleod and his lady the courteous offer of the +haunted apartment of the castle, about which, as a stranger, I might be +supposed interested. Accordingly I took possession of it about the +witching hour. Except, perhaps, some tapestry hangings, and the extreme +thickness of the walls, which argued great antiquity, nothing could have +been more comfortable than the interior of the apartment; but if you +looked from the windows, the view was such as to correspond with the +highest tone of superstition. An autumnal blast, sometimes clear, +sometimes driving mist before it, swept along the troubled billows of +the lake, which it occasionally concealed, and by fits disclosed. The +waves rushed in wild disorder on the shore, and covered with foam the +steep pile of rocks, which, rising from the sea in forms something +resembling the human figure, have obtained the name of Macleod's +Maidens, and, in such a night, seemed no bad representative of the +Norwegian goddesses, called Choosers of the Slain, or Riders of the +Storm. There was something of the dignity of danger in the scene; for, +on a platform beneath the windows, lay an ancient battery of cannon, +which had sometimes been used against privateers even of late years. The +distant scene was a view of that part of the Quillen mountains, which +are called, from their form, Macleod's Dining-Tables. The voice of an +angry cascade, termed the Nurse of Rorie Mhor, because that chief slept +best in its vicinity, was heard from time to time mingling its notes +with those of wind and wave. Such was the haunted room at Dunvegan; and, +as such, it well deserved a less sleepy inhabitant. In the language of +Dr. Johnson, who has stamped his memory on this remote place,--'I looked +around me, and wondered that I was not more affected; but the mind is +not at all times equally ready to be moved.' In a word, it is necessary +to confess that, of all I heard or saw, the most engaging spectacle was +the comfortable bed in which I hoped to make amends for some rough +nights on shipboard, and where I slept accordingly without thinking of +ghost or goblin, till I was called by my servant in the morning."] + +[87: + + "Rarely human eye has known + A scene so stern as that dread lake, + With its dark ledge of barren stone. + Seems that primeval earthquake's sway + Hath rent a strange and shatter'd way + Through the rude bosom of the hill, + And that each naked precipice, + Sable ravine, and dark abyss, + Tells of the outrage still. + The wildest glen, but this, can show + Some touch of Nature's genial glow; + On high Benmore green mosses grow, + And heath-bells bud in deep Glencroe, + And copse on Cruchan-Ben; + But here--above, around, below, + On mountain or in glen, + Nor tree, nor shrub, nor plant, nor flower, + Nor aught of vegetative power, + The weary eye may ken; + For all is rocks at random thrown, + Black waves, bare crags, and banks of stone, + As if were here denied + The summer's sun, the spring's sweet dew, + That clothe with many a varied hue + The bleakest mountain-side." + + _Lord of the Isles_, iii. 14.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + DIARY CONTINUED. -- CAVE OF EGG. -- IONA. -- STAFFA. -- + DUNSTAFFNAGE. -- DUNLUCE CASTLE. -- GIANT'S CAUSEWAY. -- ISLE OF + ARRAN, ETC. --DIARY CONCLUDED + +1814 + + +"_26th August, 1814._--At seven this morning were in the Sound which +divides the Isle of Rum from that of Egg. Rum is rude, barren, and +mountainous; Egg, although hilly and rocky, and traversed by one +remarkable ridge called Scuir-Egg, has, in point of soil, a much +more promising appearance. Southward of both lies Muick, or Muck, a +low and fertile island, and though the least, yet probably the most +valuable of the three. Caverns being still the order of the day, we +man the boat and row along the shore of Egg, in quest of that which +was the memorable scene of a horrid feudal vengeance. We had rounded +more than half the island, admiring the entrance of many a bold +natural cave which its rocks exhibit, but without finding that which +we sought, until we procured a guide. This noted cave has a very +narrow entrance, through which one can hardly creep on knees and +hands. It rises steep and lofty within, and runs into the bowels of +the rock to the depth of 255 measured feet. The height at the +entrance may be about three feet, but rises to eighteen or twenty, +and the breadth may vary in the same proportion. The rude and stony +bottom of this cave is strewed with the bones of men, women, and +children, being the sad relics of the ancient inhabitants of the +island, 200 in number, who were slain on the following occasion: The +Macdonalds of the Isle of Egg, a people dependent on Clanranald, had +done some injury to the Laird of Macleod. The tradition of the isle +says, that it was by a personal attack on the chieftain, in which +his back was broken; but that of the other isles bears that the +injury was offered to two or three of the Macleods, who, landing +upon Egg and using some freedom with the young women, were seized by +the islanders, bound hand and foot, and turned adrift in a boat, +which the winds and waves safely conducted to Skye. To avenge the +offence given, Macleod sailed with such a body of men as rendered +resistance hopeless. The natives, fearing his vengeance, concealed +themselves in this cavern, and after strict search, the Macleods +went on board their galleys, after doing what mischief they could, +concluding the inhabitants had left the isle. But next morning they +espied from their vessel a man upon the island, and, immediately +landing again, they traced his retreat, by means of a light snow on +the ground, to this cavern. Macleod then summoned the subterraneous +garrison, and demanded that the individuals who had offended him +should be delivered up. This was peremptorily refused. The chieftain +thereupon caused his people to divert the course of a rill of water, +which, falling over the mouth of the cave, would have prevented his +purposed vengeance. He then kindled at the entrance of the cavern a +huge fire, and maintained it until all within were destroyed by +suffocation. The date of this dreadful deed must have been recent, +if one can judge from the fresh appearance of those relics. I +brought off, in spite of the prejudices of our sailors, a skull, +which seems that of a young woman. + +"Before reëmbarking, we visit another cave opening to the sea, but +of a character widely different, being a large open vault as high as +that of a cathedral, and running back a great way into the rock at +the same height; the height and width of the opening give light to +the whole. Here, after 1745, when the Catholic priests were scarcely +tolerated, the priest of Egg used to perform the Romish service. A +huge ledge of rock, almost halfway up one side of the vault, served +for altar and pulpit; and the appearance of a priest and Highland +congregation in such an extraordinary place of worship might have +engaged the pencil of Salvator. Most of the inhabitants of Egg are +still Catholics, and laugh at their neighbors of Rum, who, having +been converted by the cane of their chieftain, are called +_Protestants of the yellow stick_. The Presbyterian minister and +Catholic priest live upon this little island on very good terms. +The people here were much irritated against the men of a revenue +vessel who had seized all the stills, etc., in the neighboring Isle +of Muck, with so much severity as to take even the people's bedding. +We had been mistaken for some time for this obnoxious vessel. Got on +board about two o'clock, and agreed to stand over for Coll, and to +be ruled by the wind as to what was next to be done. Bring up my +journal. + +"_27th August, 1814._--The wind, to which we resigned ourselves, +proves exceedingly tyrannical, and blows squally the whole night, +which, with the swell of the Atlantic, now unbroken by any islands +to windward, proves a means of great combustion in the cabin. The +dishes and glasses in the steward's cupboards become +locomotive--portmanteaus and writing-desks are more active than +necessary--it is scarce possible to keep one's self within bed, and +impossible to stand upright if you rise. Having crept upon deck +about four in the morning, I find we are beating to windward off the +Isle of Tyree, with the determination on the part of Mr. Stevenson +that his constituents should visit a reef of rocks called Skerry +Vhor where he thought it would be essential to have a lighthouse. +Loud remonstrances on the part of the Commissioners, who one and all +declare they will subscribe to his opinion, whatever it may be, +rather than continue this infernal buffeting. Quiet perseverance on +the part of Mr. S., and great kicking, bouncing, and squabbling upon +that of the Yacht, who seems to like the idea of Skerry Vhor as +little as the Commissioners. At length, by dint of exertion, come in +sight of this long ridge of rocks (chiefly under water), on which +the tide breaks in a most tremendous style. There appear a few low +broad rocks at one end of the reef, which is about a mile in length. +These are never entirely under water, though the surf dashes over +them. To go through all the forms, Hamilton, Duff, and I resolve to +land upon these bare rocks in company with Mr. Stevenson. Pull +through a very heavy swell with great difficulty, and approach a +tremendous surf dashing over black pointed rocks. Our rowers, +however, get the boat into a quiet creek between two rocks, where we +contrive to land well wetted. I saw nothing remarkable in my way, +excepting several seals, which we might have shot, but, in the +doubtful circumstances of the landing, we did not care to bring +guns. We took possession of the rock in name of the Commissioners, +and generously bestowed our own great names on its crags and creeks. +The rock was carefully measured by Mr. S. It will be a most desolate +position for a lighthouse--the Bell Rock and Eddystone a joke to it, +for the nearest land is the wild island of Tyree, at fourteen miles' +distance. So much for the Skerry Vhor. + +"Came on board proud of our achievement; and, to the great delight +of all parties, put the ship before the wind, and run swimmingly +down for Iona. See a large square-rigged vessel, supposed an +American. Reach Iona about five o'clock. The inhabitants of the Isle +of Columba, understanding their interest as well as if they had been +Deal boatmen, charged two guineas for pilotage, which Captain W. +abridged into fifteen shillings, too much for ten minutes' work. We +soon got on shore, and landed in the bay of Martyrs, beautiful for +its white sandy beach. Here all dead bodies are still landed, and +laid for a time upon a small rocky eminence, called the Sweyne, +before they are interred. Iona, the last time I saw it, seemed to me +to contain the most wretched people I had anywhere seen. But either +they have got better since I was here, or my eyes, familiarized with +the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are less shocked with +that of Iona. Certainly their houses are better than either, and the +appearance of the people not worse. This little fertile isle +contains upwards of 400 inhabitants, all living upon small farms, +which they divide and subdivide as their families increase, so that +the country is greatly over-peopled, and in some danger of a famine +in case of a year of scarcity. Visit the nunnery and _Reilig Oran_, +or burial-place of St. Oran, but the night coming on we return on +board. + +"_28th August, 1814._--Carry our breakfast ashore--take that repast +in the house of Mr. Maclean, the schoolmaster and cicerone of the +island--and resume our investigation of the ruins of the cathedral +and the cemetery. Of these monuments, more than of any other, it may +be said with propriety,-- + + 'You never tread upon them but you set + Your feet upon some ancient history.' + +I do not mean to attempt a description of what is so well known as +the ruins of Iona. Yet I think it has been as yet inadequately +performed, for the vast number of carved tombs containing the +reliques of the great exceeds credibility. In general, even in the +most noble churches, the number of the vulgar dead exceed in all +proportion the few of eminence who are deposited under monuments. +Iona is in all respects the reverse: until lately, the inhabitants +of the isle did not presume to mix their vulgar dust with that of +chiefs, reguli, and abbots. The number, therefore, of carved and +inscribed tombstones is quite marvellous, and I can easily credit +the story told by Sacheverell, who assures us that 300 inscriptions +had been collected, and were lost in the troubles of the seventeenth +century. Even now, many more might be deciphered than have yet been +made public, but the rustic step of the peasants and of Sassenach +visitants is fast destroying these faint memorials of the valiant of +the Isles. A skilful antiquary remaining here a week, and having (or +assuming) the power of raising the half-sunk monuments, might make a +curious collection. We could only gaze and grieve; yet had the day +not been Sunday, we would have brought our seamen ashore, and +endeavored to have raised some of these monuments. The celebrated +ridges called _Jomaire na'n Righrean_, or Graves of the Kings, can +now scarce be said to exist, though their site is still pointed out. +Undoubtedly, the thirst of spoil, and the frequent custom of burying +treasures with the ancient princes, occasioned their early +violation; nor am I any sturdy believer in their being regularly +ticketed off by inscriptions into the tombs of the Kings of +Scotland, of Ireland, of Norway, and so forth. If such inscriptions +ever existed, I should deem them the work of some crafty bishop or +abbot, for the credit of his diocese or convent. Macbeth is said to +have been the last King of Scotland here buried; sixty preceded him, +all doubtless as powerful in their day, but now unknown--_carent +quia vate sacro_. A few weeks' labor of Shakespeare, an obscure +player, has done more for the memory of Macbeth than all the gifts, +wealth, and monuments of this cemetery of princes have been able to +secure to the rest of its inhabitants. It also occurred to me in +Iona (as it has on many similar occasions) that the traditional +recollections concerning the monks themselves are wonderfully faint, +contrasted with the beautiful and interesting monuments of +architecture which they have left behind them. In Scotland +particularly, the people have frequently traditions wonderfully +vivid of the persons and achievements of ancient warriors, whose +towers have long been levelled with the soil. But of the monks of +Melrose, Kelso, Aberbrothock, Iona, etc., etc., etc., they can tell +nothing but that such a race existed, and inhabited the stately +ruins of these monasteries. The quiet, slow, and uniform life of +those recluse beings glided on, it may be, like a dark and silent +stream, fed from unknown resources, and vanishing from the eye +without leaving any marked trace of its course. The life of the +chieftain was a mountain torrent thundering over rock and precipice, +which, less deep and profound in itself, leaves on the minds of the +terrified spectators those deep impressions of awe and wonder which +are most readily handed down to posterity. + +"Among the various monuments exhibited at Iona is one where a +Maclean lies in the same grave with one of the Macfies or Macduffies +of Colonsay, with whom he had lived in alternate friendship and +enmity during their lives. 'He lies above him during death,' said +one of Maclean's followers, as his chief was interred, 'as he was +above him during life.' There is a very ancient monument lying among +those of the Macleans, but perhaps more ancient than any of them; it +has a knight riding on horseback, and behind him a minstrel playing +on a harp: this is conjectured to be Reginald Macdonald of the +Isles, but there seems no reason for disjoining him from his kindred +who sleep in the cathedral. A supposed ancestor of the Stewarts, +called Paul Purser, or Paul the Purse-bearer (treasurer to the King +of Scotland), is said to lie under a stone near the Lords of the +Isles. Most of the monuments engraved by Pennant are still in the +same state of preservation, as are the few ancient crosses which are +left. What a sight Iona must have been, when 360 crosses, of the +same size and beautiful workmanship, were ranked upon the little +rocky ridge of eminences which form the background to the cathedral! +Part of the tower of the cathedral has fallen since I was here. It +would require a better architect than I am, to say anything +concerning the antiquity of these ruins, but I conceive those of the +nunnery and of the _Reilig nan Oran_, or Oran's chapel, are +decidedly the most ancient. Upon the cathedral and buildings +attached to it, there are marks of repairs at different times, some +of them of a late date being obviously designed not to enlarge the +buildings, but to retrench them. We take a reluctant leave of Iona, +and go on board. + +"The haze and dulness of the atmosphere seem to render it dubious +if we can proceed, as we intended, to Staffa to-day--for mist among +these islands is rather unpleasant. Erskine reads prayers on deck to +all hands, and introduces a very apt allusion to our being now in +sight of the first Christian Church from which Revelation was +diffused over Scotland and all its islands. There is a very good +form of prayer for the Lighthouse Service, composed by the Rev. Mr. +Brunton.[88] A pleasure vessel lies under our lee from Belfast, with +an Irish party related to Macneil of Colonsay. The haze is fast +degenerating into downright rain, and that right heavy--verifying +the words of Collins:-- + + 'And thither where beneath the _showery west_ + The mighty Kings of three fair realms are laid.'[89] + +After dinner, the weather being somewhat cleared, sailed for Staffa, +and took boat. The surf running heavy up between the island and the +adjacent rock, called Booshala, we landed at a creek near the +Cormorant's cave. The mist now returned so thick as to hide all view +of Iona, which was our land-mark; and although Duff, Stevenson, and +I had been formerly on the isle, we could not agree upon the proper +road to the cave. I engaged myself, with Duff and Erskine, in a +clamber of great toil and danger, and which at length brought me to +the _Cannon-ball_, as they call a round granite stone moved by the +sea up and down in a groove of rock, which it has worn for itself, +with a noise resembling thunder. Here I gave up my research, and +returned to my companions, who had not been more fortunate. As night +was now falling, we resolved to go aboard and postpone the adventure +of the enchanted cavern until next day. The yacht came to an anchor +with the purpose of remaining off the island all night, but the +hardness of the ground, and the weather becoming squally, obliged us +to return to our safer mooring at Y-Columb-Kill. + +"_29th August, 1814._--Night squally and rainy--morning ditto--we +weigh, however, and return toward Staffa, and, very happily, the day +clears as we approach the isle. As we ascertained the situation of +the cave, I shall only make this memorandum, that when the weather +will serve, the best landing is to the lee of Booshala, a little +conical islet or rock, composed of basaltic columns placed in an +oblique or sloping position. In this way, you land at once on the +flat causeway, formed by the heads of truncated pillars, which leads +to the cave. But if the state of tide renders it impossible to land +under Booshala, then take one of the adjacent creeks; in which case, +keeping to the left hand along the top of the ledge of rocks which +girdles in the isle, you find a dangerous and precipitous descent to +the causeway aforesaid, from the table. Here we were under the +necessity of towing our Commodore, Hamilton, whose gallant heart +never fails him, whatever the tenderness of his toes may do. He was +successfully lowered by a rope down the precipice, and proceeding +along the flat terrace or causeway already mentioned, we reached the +celebrated cave. I am not sure whether I was not more affected by +this second, than by the first view of it. The stupendous columnar +side walls--the depth and strength of the ocean with which the +cavern is filled--the variety of tints formed by stalactites +dropping and petrifying between the pillars, and resembling a sort +of chasing of yellow or cream-colored marble filling the interstices +of the roof--the corresponding variety below, where the ocean rolls +over a red, and in some places a violet-colored rock, the basis of +the basaltic pillars--the dreadful noise of those august billows so +well corresponding with the grandeur of the scene--are all +circumstances elsewhere unparalleled. We have now seen in our voyage +the three grandest caverns in Scotland,--Smowe, Macallister's cave, +and Staffa; so that, like the Troglodytes of yore, we may be +supposed to know something of the matter. It is, however, impossible +to compare scenes of natures so different, nor, were I compelled to +assign a preference to any of the three, could I do it but with +reference to their distinct characters, which might affect different +individuals in different degrees. The characteristic of the Smowe +cave may in this case be called the terrific, for the difficulties +which oppose the stranger are of a nature so uncommonly wild, as, +for the first time at least, convey an impression of terror--with +which the scenes to which he is introduced fully correspond. On the +other hand, the dazzling whiteness of the incrustations in +Macallister's cave, the elegance of the entablature, the beauty of +its limpid pool, and the graceful dignity of its arch, render its +leading features those of severe and chastened beauty. Staffa, the +third of these subterraneous wonders, may challenge sublimity as its +principal characteristic. Without the savage gloom of the Smowe +cave, and investigated with more apparent ease, though, perhaps, +with equal real danger, the stately regularity of its columns forms +a contrast to the grotesque imagery of Macallister's cave, combining +at once the sentiments of grandeur and beauty. The former is, +however, predominant, as it must necessarily be in any scene of the +kind. + +"We had scarce left Staffa when the wind and rain returned. It was +Erskine's object and mine to dine at Torloisk on Loch Tua, the seat +of my valued friend, Mrs. Maclean Clephane, and her accomplished +daughters. But in going up Loch Tua between Ulva and Mull with this +purpose,-- + + 'So thick was the mist on the ocean green, + Nor cape nor headland could be seen.'[90] + +It was late before we came to anchor in a small bay presented by the +little island of Gometra, which may be regarded as a continuation of +Ulva. We therefore dine aboard, and after dinner, Erskine and I take +the boat and row across the loch under a heavy rain. We could not +see the house of Torloisk, so very thick was the haze, and we were a +good deal puzzled how and where to achieve a landing; at length, +espying a cartroad, we resolved to trust to its guidance, as we knew +we must be near the house. We therefore went ashore with our +servants, _à la bonne aventure_, under a drizzling rain. This was +soon a matter of little consequence, for the necessity of crossing a +swollen brook wetted me considerably, and Erskine, whose foot +slipped, most completely. In wet and weary plight we reached the +house, after a walk of a mile, in darkness, dirt, and rain, and it +is hardly necessary to say, that the pleasure of seeing our friends +soon banished all recollection of our unpleasant voyage and journey. + +"_30th August, 1814._--The rest of our friends come ashore by +invitation, and breakfast with the ladies, whose kindness would fain +have delayed us for a few days, and at last condescended to ask for +one day only--but even this could not be, our time wearing short. +Torloisk is finely situated upon the coast of Mull, facing Staffa. +It is a good comfortable house, to which Mrs. Clephane has made some +additions. The grounds around have been dressed, so as to smooth +their ruggedness, without destroying the irregular and wild +character peculiar to the scene and country. In this, much taste has +been displayed. At Torloisk, as at Dunvegan, trees grow freely and +rapidly; and the extensive plantations formed by Mrs. C. serve to +show that nothing but a little expense and patience on the part of +the proprietors, with attention to planting in proper places at +first, and in keeping up fences afterward, are a-wanting to remove +the reproach of nakedness, so often thrown upon the Western Isles. +With planting comes shelter, and the proper allotment and division +of fields. With all this Mrs. Clephane is busied, and, I trust, +successfully; I am sure, actively and usefully. Take leave of my +fair friends, with regret that I cannot prolong my stay for a day or +two. When we come on board, we learn that Staffa-Macdonald is just +come to his house of Ulva: this is a sort of unpleasant dilemma, for +we cannot now go there without some neglect towards Mrs. Maclean +Clephane; and, on the other hand, from his habits with all of us, he +may be justly displeased with our quitting his very threshold +without asking for him. However, upon the whole matter, and being +already under weigh, we judged it best to work out of the loch, and +continue our purpose of rounding the northern extremity of Mull, and +then running down the Sound between Mull and the mainland. We had +not long pursued our voyage before we found it was like to be a very +slow one. The wind fell away entirely, and after repeated tacks we +could hardly clear the extreme north-western point of Mull by six +o'clock--which must have afforded amusement to the ladies whose +hospitable entreaties we had resisted, as we were almost all the +while visible from Torloisk. A fine evening, but scarce a breath of +wind. + +"_31st August, 1814._--Went on deck between three and four in the +morning, and found the vessel almost motionless in a calm sea, +scarce three miles advanced on her voyage. We had, however, rounded +the north-western side of Mull, and were advancing between the +north-eastern side and the rocky and wild shores of Ardnamurchan on +the mainland of Scotland. Astern were visible in bright moonlight +the distant mountains of Rum; yet nearer, the remarkable ridge in +the Isle of Egg, called Scuir-Egg; and nearest of all, the low isle +of Muick. After enjoying this prospect for some time, returned to my +berth. Rise before eight--a delightful day, but very calm, and the +little wind there is, decidedly against us. Creeping on slowly, we +observe, upon the shore of Ardnamurchan, a large old castle called +Mingary. It appears to be surrounded with a very high wall, forming +a kind of polygon, in order to adapt itself to the angles of a +precipice overhanging the sea, on which the castle is founded. +Within or beyond the wall, and probably forming part of an inner +court, I observed a steep roof and windows, probably of the +seventeenth century. The whole, as seen with a spy-glass, seems +ruinous. As we proceed, we open on the left hand Loch Sunart, +running deep into the mainland, crossed by distant ridges of rocks, +and terminating apparently among the high mountains above Strontian. +On the right hand we open the Sound of Mull, and pass the Bloody +Bay, which acquired that name from a desperate battle fought between +an ancient Lord of the Isles and his son. The latter was assisted by +the Macleans of Mull, then in the plenitude of their power, but was +defeated. This was a sea-fight; galleys being employed on each side. +It has bequeathed a name to a famous pibroch. + +"Proceeding southward, we open the beautiful bay of Tobermory, or +Mary's Well. The mouth of this fine natural roadstead is closed by +an isle called Colvay, having two passages, of which only one, the +northerly, is passable for ships. The bay is surrounded by steep +hills, covered with copsewood, through which several brooks seek the +sea in a succession of beautiful cascades. The village has been +established as a fishing station by the Society for British +Fisheries. The houses along the quay are two and three stories high, +and well built; the feuars paying to the Society sixpence per foot +of their line of front. On the top of a steep bank, rising above the +first town, runs another line of second-rate cottages, which pay +fourpence per foot; and behind are huts, much superior to the +ordinary sheds of the country, which pay only twopence per foot. The +town is all built upon a regular plan, laid down by the Society. The +new part is reasonably clean, and the old not unreasonably dirty. +We landed at an excellent quay, which is not yet finished, and found +the little place looked thriving and active. The people were getting +in their patches of corn; and the shrill voices of the children +attending their parents in the field, and loading the little ponies +which are used in transporting the grain, formed a chorus not +disagreeable to those whom it reminds of similar sounds at home. The +praise of comparative cleanliness does not extend to the lanes +around Tobermory, in one of which I had nearly been effectually +bogged. But the richness of the round steep green knolls, clothed +with copse, and glancing with cascades, and a pleasant peep at a +small fresh-water loch embosomed among them--the view of the bay, +surrounded and guarded by the island of Colvay--the gliding of two +or three vessels in the more distant Sound--and the row of the +gigantic Ardnamurchan mountains closing the scene to the north, +almost justify the eulogium of Sacheverell, who, in 1688, declared +the bay of Tobermory might equal any prospect in Italy. It is said +that Sacheverell made some money by weighing up the treasures lost +in the Florida, a vessel of the Spanish Armada, which was wrecked in +the harbor. He himself affirms, that though the use of the +diving-bells was at first successful, yet the attempt was afterwards +disconcerted by bad weather. + +"Tobermory takes its name from a spring dedicated to the Virgin, +which was graced by a chapel; but no vestiges remain of the chapel, +and the spring rises in the middle of a swamp, whose depth and dirt +discouraged the nearer approach of Protestant pilgrims. Mr. +Stevenson, whose judgment is unquestionable, thinks that the village +should have been built on the island called Colvay, and united to +the continent by a key, or causeway, built along the southernmost +channel, which is very shallow. By this means the people would have +been much nearer the fishings, than retired into the depth of the +bay. + +"About three o'clock we get on board, and a brisk and favorable +breeze arises, which carries us smoothly down the Sound. We soon +pass Arros, with its fragment of a castle, behind which is the house +of Mr. Maxwell (an odd name for this country), chamberlain to the +Duke of Argyle, which reminds me of much kindness and hospitality +received from him and Mr. Stewart, the Sheriff-Substitute, when I +was formerly in Mull. On the shore of Morven, on the opposite side, +pass the ruins of a small fortalice, called Donagail, situated as +usual on a precipice overhanging the sea. The 'woody Morven,' though +the quantity of shaggy diminutive copse, which springs up where it +obtains any shelter, still shows that it must once have merited the +epithet, is now, as visible from the Sound of Mull, a bare +country--of which the hills towards the sea have a slope much +resembling those in Selkirkshire, and accordingly afford excellent +pasture, and around several farmhouses well-cultivated and improved +fields. I think I observe considerable improvement in husbandry, +even since I was here last: but there is a difference in coming from +Oban and Cape Wrath.--Open Loch Alline, a beautiful salt-water lake, +with a narrow outlet to the Sound. It is surrounded by round hills, +sweetly fringed with green copse below, and one of which exhibits to +the spy-glass ruins of a castle. There is great promise of beauty in +its interior, but we cannot see everything. The land on the southern +bank of the entrance slopes away into a sort of promontory, at the +extremity of which are the very imperfect ruins of the castle of +Ardtornish, to which the Lords of the Isles summoned parliaments, +and from whence one of them dated a treaty with the Crown of England +as an independent Prince. These ruins are seen to most advantage +from the south, where they are brought into a line with one high +fragment towards the west predominating over the rest. The shore of +the promontory on the south side becomes rocky, and when it slopes +round to the west, rises into a very bold and high precipitous bank, +skirting the bay on the western side, partly cliffy, partly covered +with brushwood, with various streams dashing over it from a great +height. Above the old castle of Ardtornish, and about where the +promontory joins the land, stands the present mansion, a neat +whitewashed house, with several well-enclosed and well-cultivated +fields surrounding it. + +"The high and dignified character assumed by the shores of Morven, +after leaving Ardtornish, continues till we open the Loch Linnhe, +the commencement of the great chain of inland lakes running up to +Fort William, and which it is proposed to unite with Inverness by +means of the Caledonian Canal. The wisdom of the plan adopted in +this national measure seems very dubious. Had the canal been of more +moderate depth, and the burdens imposed upon passing vessels less +expensive, there can be no doubt that the coasters, sloops, and +barks would have carried on a great trade by means of it. But the +expense and plague of lochs, etc., may prevent these humble vessels +from taking this abridged voyage, while ships above twenty or thirty +tons will hesitate to engage themselves in the intricacies of a long +lake navigation, exposed, without room for manoeuvring, to all the +sudden squalls of the mountainous country. Ahead of us, in the mouth +of Loch Linnhe, lies the low and fertile isle of Lismore, formerly +the appanage of the Bishops of the Isles, who, as usual, knew where +to choose church patrimony. The coast of the Mull, on the right hand +of the Sound, has a black, rugged, and unimproved character. Above +Scallister Bay are symptoms of improvement. Moonlight has risen upon +us as we pass Duart Castle, now an indistinct mass upon its +projecting promontory. It was garrisoned for Government so late as +1780, but is now ruinous. We see, at about a mile's distance, the +fatal shelve on which Duart exposed the daughter of Argyle, on which +Miss Baillie's play of The Family Legend is founded, but now,-- + + 'Without either sign or sound of their shock, + The waves flowed over the Lady's rock.'[91] + +The placid state of the sea is very different from what I have seen it, +when six stout rowers could scarce give a boat headway through the +conflicting tides. These fits of violence so much surprised and offended +a body of the Camerons, who were bound upon some expedition to Mull, and +had been accustomed to the quietness of lake-navigation, that they drew +their dirks, and began to stab the waves--from which popular tale this +run of tide is called _the Men of Lochaber_. The weather being +delightfully moderate, we agree to hover hereabout all night, or anchor +under the Mull shore, should it be necessary, in order to see +Dunstaffnage to-morrow morning. The isle of Kerrera is now in sight, +forming the bay of Oban. Beyond lie the varied and magnificent summits +of the chain of mountains bordering Loch Linnhe, as well as those +between Loch Awe and Loch Etive, over which the summit of Ben Cruachan +is proudly prominent. Walk on deck, admiring this romantic prospect, +until ten; then below, and turn in. + +"_1st September, 1814._--Rise betwixt six and seven, and having +discreetly secured our breakfast, take boat for the old castle of +Dunstaffnage, situated upon a promontory on the side of Loch Linnhe +and near to Loch Etive. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the day +and of the prospect. We coasted the low, large, and fertile isle of +Lismore, where a Catholic Bishop, Chisholm, has established a +seminary of young men intended for priests, and what is a better +thing, a valuable lime-work. Report speaks well of the lime, but +indifferently of the progress of the students. Tacking to the shore +of the loch, we land at Dunstaffnage, once, it is said, the seat of +the Scottish monarchy, till success over the Picts and Saxons +transferred their throne to Scoone, Dunfermline, and at length to +Edinburgh. The castle is still the King's (nominally), and the Duke +of Argyle (nominally also) is hereditary keeper. But the real right +of property is in the family of the depute-keeper, to which it was +assigned as an appanage, the first possessor being a natural son of +an Earl of Argyle. The shell of the castle, for little more now +remains, bears marks of extreme antiquity. It is square in form, +with round towers at three of the angles, and is situated upon a +lofty precipice, carefully scarped on all sides to render it +perpendicular. The entrance is by a staircase, which conducts you to +a wooden landing-place in front of the portal-door. This +landing-place could formerly be raised at pleasure, being of the +nature of a drawbridge. When raised, the place was inaccessible. You +pass under an ancient arch, with a low vault (being the porter's +lodge) on the right hand, and flanked by loopholes, for firing upon +any hostile guest who might force his passage thus far. This admits +you into the inner court, which is about eighty feet square. It +contains two mean-looking buildings, about sixty or seventy years +old; the ancient castle having been consumed by fire in 1715. It is +said that the nephew of the proprietor was the incendiary. We went +into the apartments, and found they did not exceed the promise of +the exterior; but they admitted us to walk upon the battlements of +the old castle, which displayed a most splendid prospect. Beneath, +and far projected into the loch, were seen the woods and houses of +Campbell of Lochnell. A little summer-house, upon an eminence, +belonging to this wooded bank, resembles an ancient monument. On +the right, Loch Etive, after pouring its waters like a furious +cataract over a strait called Connell Ferry, comes between the +castle and a round island belonging to its demesne, and nearly +insulates the situation. In front is a low rocky eminence on the +opposite side of the arm, through which Loch Etive flows into Loch +Linnhe. Here was situated _Beregenium_, once, it is said, a British +capital city; and, as our informant told us, the largest market town +in Scotland. Of this splendor are no remains but a few trenches and +excavations, which the distance did not allow us to examine. The +ancient masonry of Dunstaffnage is mouldering fast under time and +neglect. The foundations are beginning to decay, and exhibit gaps +between the rock and the wall; and the battlements are become +ruinous. The inner court is encumbered with ruins. A hundred pounds +or two would put this very ancient fortress in a state of +preservation for ages, but I fear this is not to be expected. The +stumps of large trees, which had once shaded the vicinity of the +castle, gave symptoms of decay in the family of Dunstaffnage. We +were told of some ancient spurs and other curiosities preserved in +the castle, but they were locked up. In the vicinity of the castle +is a chapel which had once been elegant, but by the building up of +windows, etc., is now heavy enough. I have often observed that the +means adopted in Scotland for repairing old buildings are generally +as destructive of their grace and beauty, as if that had been the +express object. Unfortunately most churches, particularly, have gone +through both stages of destruction, having been first repaired by +the building up of the beautiful shafted windows, and then the roof +being suffered to fall in, they became ruins indeed, but without any +touch of the picturesque farther than their massive walls and +columns may afford. Near the chapel of Dunstaffnage is a remarkable +echo. + +"Reëmbarked, and, rowing about a mile and a half or better along the +shore of the lake, again landed under the ruins of the old castle of +Dunolly. This fortress, which, like that of Dunstaffnage, forms a +marked feature in this exquisite landscape, is situated on a bold +and precipitous promontory overhanging the lake. The principal part +of the ruins now remaining is a square tower or keep of the ordinary +size, which had been the citadel of the castle; but fragments of +other buildings, overgrown with ivy, show that Dunolly had once been +a place of considerable importance. These had enclosed a courtyard, +of which the keep probably formed one side, the entrance being by a +very steep ascent from the land side, which had formerly been cut +across by a deep moat, and defended doubtless by outworks and a +drawbridge. Beneath the castle stands the modern house of +Dunolly,--a decent mansion, suited to the reduced state of the +MacDougalls of Lorn, who, from being Barons powerful enough to give +battle to and defeat Robert Bruce, are now declined into private +gentlemen of moderate fortune. + +"This very ancient family is descended from Somerled, Thane, or +rather, under that name, _King_ of Argyle and the Hebrides. He had +two sons, to one of whom he left his insular possessions--and he +became founder of the dynasty of the Lords of the Isles, who +maintained a stirring independence during the Middle Ages. The other +was founder of the family of the MacDougalls of Lorn. One of them +being married to a niece of the Red Cumming, in revenge of his +slaughter at Dumfries, took a vigorous part against Robert Bruce in +his struggles to maintain the independence of Scotland. At length +the King, turning his whole strength towards MacDougall, encountered +him at a pass near Loch Awe; but the Highlanders, being possessed of +the strong ground, compelled Bruce to retreat, and again gave him +battle at Dalry, near Tynedrum, where he had concentrated his +forces. Here he was again defeated; and the tradition of the +MacDougall family bears, that in the conflict the Lord of Lorn +engaged hand to hand with Bruce, and was struck down by that +monarch. As they grappled together on the ground, Bruce being +uppermost, a vassal of MacDougall, called MacKeoch, relieved his +master by pulling Bruce from him. In this close struggle the King +left his mantle and brooch in the hands of his enemies, and the +latter trophy was long preserved in the family, until it was lost in +an accidental fire. Barbour tells the same story, but I think with +circumstances somewhat different. When Bruce had gained the throne +for which he fought so long, he displayed his resentment against the +MacDougalls of Lorn, by depriving them of the greatest part of their +domains, which were bestowed chiefly upon the Steward of Scotland. +Sir Colin Campbell, the Knight of Loch Awe, and the Knight of +Glenurchy, Sir Dugald Campbell, married daughters of the Steward, +and received with them great portion of the forfeiture of +MacDougall. Bruce even compelled or persuaded the Lord of the Isles +to divorce his wife, who was a daughter of MacDougall, and take in +marriage a relation of his own. The son of the divorced lady was not +permitted to succeed to the principality of the Isles, on account of +his connection with the obnoxious MacDougall. But a large appanage +was allowed him upon the Mainland, where he founded the family of +Glengarry. + +"The family of MacDougall suffered farther reduction during the +great civil war, in which they adhered to the Stewarts, and in 1715 +they forfeited the small estate of Dunolly, which was then all that +remained of what had once been a principality. The then +representative of the family fled to France, and his son (father of +the present proprietor) would have been without any means of +education, but for the spirit of clanship, which induced one of the +name, in the humble situation of keeper of a public-house at +Dumbarton, to take his young chief to reside with him, and be at the +expense of his education and maintenance until his fifteenth or +sixteenth year. He proved a clever and intelligent man, and made +good use of the education he received. When the affair of 1745 was +in agitation, it was expected by the south-western clans that +Charles Edward would have landed near Oban, instead of which he +disembarked at Loch-nan-augh, in Arisaig. Stuart of Appin sent +information of his landing to MacDougall, who gave orders to his +brother to hold the clan in readiness to rise, and went himself to +consult with the chamberlain of the Earl of Breadalbane, who was +also in the secret. He found this person indisposed to rise, +alleging that Charles had disappointed them both in the place of +landing, and the support he had promised. MacDougall then resolved +to play cautious, and went to visit the Duke of Argyle, then +residing at Roseneath, probably without any determined purpose as to +his future proceedings. While he was waiting the Duke's leisure, he +saw a horseman arrive at full gallop, and shortly after, the Duke +entering the apartment where MacDougall was, with a map in his hand, +requested him, after friendly salutations, to point out +Loch-nan-augh on that map. MacDougall instantly saw that the secret +of Charles's landing had transpired, and resolved to make a merit +of being the first who should give details. The persuasions of the +Duke determined him to remain quiet, and the reward was the +restoration of the little estate of Dunolly, lost by his father in +1715. This gentleman lived to a very advanced stage of life, and was +succeeded by Peter MacDougall, Esq., now of Dunolly. I had these +particulars respecting the restoration of the estate from a near +relation of the family, whom we met at Dunstaffnage. + +"The modern house of Dunolly is on the neck of land under the old +castle, having on the one hand the lake with its islands and +mountains; on the other, two romantic eminences tufted with +copsewood, of which the higher is called Barmore, and is now +planted. I have seldom seen a more romantic and delightful +situation, to which the peculiar state of the family gave a sort of +moral interest. Mrs. MacDougall, observing strangers surveying the +ruins, met us on our return, and most politely insisted upon our +accepting fruit and refreshments. This was a compliment meant to +absolute strangers, but when our names became known to her, the good +lady's entreaties that we would stay till Mr. MacDougall returned +from his ride became very pressing. She was in deep mourning for the +loss of an eldest son, who had fallen bravely in Spain and under +Wellington, a death well becoming the descendant of so famed a race. +The second son, a lieutenant in the navy, had, upon this family +misfortune, obtained leave to visit his parents for the first time +after many years' service, but had now returned to his ship. Mrs. M. +spoke with melancholy pride of the death of her eldest son, with +hope and animation of the prospects of the survivor. A third is +educated for the law. Declining the hospitality offered us, Mrs. M. +had the goodness to walk with us along the shore towards Oban, as +far as the property of Dunolly extends, and showed us a fine spring, +called _Tobar nan Gall_, or the Well of the Stranger, where our +sailors supplied themselves with excellent water, which has been +rather a scarce article with us, as it soon becomes past a +landsman's use on board ship. On the seashore, about a quarter of a +mile from the castle, is a huge fragment of the rock called +_plum-pudding stone_, which art or nature has formed into a gigantic +pillar. Here, it is said, Fion or Fingal tied his dog Bran--here +also the celebrated Lord of the Isles tied up his dogs when he came +upon a visit to the Lords of Lorn. Hence it is called _Clach nan +Con_; _i. e._, the Dog's Stone. A tree grew once on the top of this +bare mass of composite stone, but it was cut down by a curious +damsel of the family, who was desirous to see a treasure said to be +deposited beneath it. Enjoyed a pleasant walk of a mile along the +beach to Oban, a town of some consequence, built in a semicircular +form, around a good harbor formed by the opposite isle of Kerrera, +on which Mrs. M. pointed out the place where Alexander II. died, +while, at the head of a powerful armament, he meditated the +reduction of the Hebrides. The field is still called Dal-ry--the +King's field. + +"Having taken leave of Mrs. MacDougall, we soon satisfied our +curiosity concerning Oban, which owed its principal trade to the +industry of two brothers, Messrs. Stevenson, who dealt in +ship-building. One is now dead, the other almost retired from +business, and trade is dull in the place. Heard of an active and +industrious man, who had set up a nursery of young trees, which +ought to succeed, since at present, whoever wants plants must send +to Glasgow; and how much the plants suffer during a voyage of such +length, any one may conceive. Go on board after a day delightful for +the serenity and clearness of the weather, as well as for the +objects we had visited. I forgot to say, that through Mr. +MacDougall's absence we lost an opportunity of seeing a bronze +figure of one of his ancestors, called _Bacach_, or the lame, armed +and mounted as for a tournament. The hero flourished in the twelfth +century. After a grand council of war, we determine, as we are so +near the coast of Ulster, that we will stand over and view the +celebrated Giant's Causeway; and Captain Wilson receives directions +accordingly. + +_"2d September, 1814._--Another most beautiful day. The heat, for +the first time since we sailed from Leith, is somewhat incommodious; +so we spread a handsome awning to save our complexions, God wot, and +breakfast beneath it in style. The breeze is gentle, and quite +favorable. It has conducted us from the extreme cape of Mull, called +the Black Head of Mull, into the Sound of Islay. We view in passing +that large and fertile island, the property of Campbell of +Shawfield, who has introduced an admirable style of farming among +his tenants. Still farther behind us retreats the Island of Jura, +with the remarkable mountains called the Paps of Jura, which form a +landmark at a great distance. They are very high, but in our eyes, +so much accustomed of late to immense height, do not excite much +surprise. Still farther astern is the small isle of Scarba, which, +as we see it, seems to be a single hill. In the passage or sound +between Scarba and the extremity of Jura, is a terrible run of tide, +which, contending with the sunk rocks and islets of that foul +channel, occasions the succession of whirlpools called the Gulf of +Corrievreckan. Seen at this distance, we cannot judge of its +terrors. The sight of Corrievreckan and of the low rocky isle of +Colonsay, betwixt which and Islay we are now passing, strongly +recalls to my mind poor John Leyden and his tale of the Mermaid and +MacPhail of Colonsay.[92] Probably the name of the hero should have +been MacFie, for to the MacDuffies (by abridgment MacFies) Colonsay +of old pertained. It is said the last of these MacDuffies was +executed as an oppressor by order of the Lord of the Isles, and lies +buried in the adjacent small island of Oransay, where there is an +old chapel with several curious monuments, which, to avoid losing +this favorable breeze, we are compelled to leave unvisited. Colonsay +now belongs to a gentleman named MacNeil. On the right beyond it, +opens at a distance the western coast of Mull, which we already +visited in coming from the northward. We see the promontory of Ross, +which is terminated by Y-Columb-kill, also now visible. The shores +of Loch Tua and Ulva are in the blue distance, with the little +archipelago which lies around Staffa. Still farther, the hills of +Rum can just be distinguished from the blue sky. We are now arrived +at the extreme point of Islay, termed, from the strong tides, the +_Runs of Islay_. We here only feel them as a large but soft swell of +the sea, the weather being delightfully clear and serene. In the +course of the evening we lose sight of the Hebrides, excepting +Islay, having now attained the western side of that island. + +"_3d September, 1814._--In the morning early, we are off +Innistulhan, an islet very like Inchkeith in size and appearance, +and, like Inchkeith, displaying a lighthouse. Messrs. Hamilton, +Duff, and Stevenson go ashore to visit the Irish lighthouse and +compare notes. A fishing-boat comes off with four or five stout +lads, without neckerchiefs or hats, and the best of whose joint +garments selected would hardly equip an Edinburgh beggar. Buy from +this specimen of Paddy in his native land some fine John Dories for +threepence each. The mainland of Ireland adjoining to this island +(being part of the county of Donegal) resembles Scotland, and, +though hilly, seems well cultivated upon the whole. A brisk breeze +directly against us. We beat to windward by assistance of a strong +tide-stream, in order to weather the head of Innishowen, which +covers the entrance of Lough Foyle, with the purpose of running up +the loch to see Londonderry, so celebrated for its siege in 1689. +But short tacks and long tacks were in vain, and at dinner-time, +having lost our tide, we find ourselves at all disadvantage both +against wind and sea. Much combustion at our meal, and the +manoeuvres by which we attempted to eat and drink remind me of the +enchanted drinking-cup in the old ballad,-- + + 'Some shed it on their shoulder, + Some shed it on their thigh; + And he that did not hit his mouth + Was sure to hit his eye.'[93] + +In the evening, backgammon and cards are in great request. We have +had our guns shotted all this day for fear of the Yankees--a +privateer having been seen off Tyree Islands, and taken some +vessels--as is reported.--About nine o'clock weather the Innishowen +head, and enter the Lough, and fire a gun as a signal for a pilot. +The people here are great smugglers, and at the report of the gun, +we see several lights on shore disappear.--About the middle of the +day, too, our appearance (much resembling a revenue cutter) +occasioned a smoke being made in the midst of a very rugged cliff on +the shore--a signal probably to any of the smugglers' craft that +might be at sea. Come to anchor in eight fathom water, expecting our +pilot. + +_"4th September, 1814._--Waked in the morning with good hope of +hearing service in Derry Cathedral, as we had felt ourselves under +weigh since daylight; but these expectations vanished when, going on +deck, we found ourselves only halfway up Lough Foyle, and at least +ten miles from Derry. Very little wind, and that against us; and the +navigation both shoally and intricate. Called a council of war; and +after considering the difficulty of getting up to Derry, and the +chance of being wind-bound when we do get there, we resolve to +renounce our intended visit to that town. We had hardly put the ship +about, when the Irish Æolus shifted his trumpet, and opposed our +exit, as he had formerly been unfavorable to our progress up the +lake. At length, we are compelled to betake ourselves to towing, the +wind fading into an absolute calm. This gives us time enough to +admire the northern, or Donegal, side of Lough Foyle--the other +being hidden from us by haze and distance. Nothing can be more +favorable than this specimen of Ireland.--A beautiful variety of +cultivated slopes, intermixed with banks of wood; rocks skirted with +a distant ridge of heathy hills, watered by various brooks; the +glens or banks being, in general, planted or covered with copse; and +finally, studded by a succession of villas and gentlemen's seats, +good farmhouses, and neat white-washed cabins. Some of the last are +happily situated upon the verge of the sea, with banks of copse or a +rock or two rising behind them, and the white sand in front. The +land, in general, seems well cultivated and enclosed--but in some +places the enclosures seem too small, and the ridges too crooked, +for proper farming. We pass two gentlemen's seats, called White +Castle and Red Castle; the last a large good-looking mansion, with +trees, and a pretty vale sloping upwards from the sea. As we +approach the termination of the Lough, the ground becomes more rocky +and barren, and the cultivation interrupted by impracticable +patches, which have been necessarily abandoned. Come in view of +Green Castle, a large ruinous castle, said to have belonged to the +MacWilliams. The remains are romantically situated upon a green bank +sloping down to the sea, and are partly covered with ivy. From their +extent, the place must have been a chieftain's residence of the very +first consequence. Part of the ruins appear to be founded upon a +high red rock, which the eye at first blends with the masonry. To +the east of the ruins, upon a cliff overhanging the sea, are a +modern fortification and barrack-yard, and beneath, a large battery +for protection of the shipping which may enter the Lough; the guns +are not yet mounted. The Custom-house boat boards us and confirms +the account that American cruisers are upon the coast. Drift out of +the Lough, and leave behind us this fine country, all of which +belongs in property to Lord Donegal; other possessors only having +long leases, at sixty years, or so forth. Red Castle, however, +before distinguished as a very good-looking house, is upon a +perpetual lease. We discharge our pilot--the gentlemen go ashore +with him in the boat, in order to put foot on Irish land. I shall +defer that pleasure till I can promise myself something to see. When +our gentlemen return, we read prayers on deck. After dinner go +ashore at the small fishing-village of Port Rush, pleasantly +situated upon a peninsula, which forms a little harbor. Here we are +received by Dr. Richardson, the inventor of the fiorin-grass (or of +some of its excellencies). He cultivates this celebrated vegetable +on a very small scale, his whole farm not exceeding four acres. Here +I learn, with inexpressible surprise and distress, the death of one +of the most valued of the few friends whom these memoranda might +interest.[94] She was, indeed, a rare example of the soundest good +sense, and the most exquisite purity of moral feeling, united with +the utmost grace and elegance of personal beauty, and with manners +becoming the most dignified rank in British society. There was a +feminine softness in all her deportment, which won universal love, +as her firmness of mind and correctness of principle commanded +veneration. To her family her loss is inexpressibly great. I know +not whether it was the purity of her mind, or the ethereal cast of +her features and form, but I could never associate in my mind her +idea and that of mortality; so that the shock is the more heavy, as +being totally unexpected. God grant comfort to the afflicted +survivor and his family! + +"_5th September, 1814._--Wake, or rather rise at six, for I have +waked the whole night, or fallen into broken sleeps only to be +hag-ridden by the nightmare. Go ashore with a heavy heart, to see +sights which I had much rather leave alone. Land under Dunluce, a +ruined castle built by the MacGilligans, or MacQuillens, but +afterwards taken from them by a Macdonnell, ancestor of the Earls of +Antrim, and destroyed by Sir John Perrot, Lord-Lieutenant in the +reign of Queen Elizabeth. This Macdonnell came from the Hebrides at +the head of a Scottish colony. The site of the castle much resembles +Dunnottar, but it is on a smaller scale. The ruins occupy perhaps +more than an acre of ground, being the level top of a high rock +advanced into the sea, by which it is surrounded on three sides, and +divided from the mainland by a deep chasm. The access was by a +narrow bridge, of which there now remains but a single rib, or +ledge, forming a doubtful and a precarious access to the ruined +castle. On the outer side of the bridge are large remains of +outworks, probably for securing cattle, and for domestic +offices--and the vestiges of a chapel. Beyond the bridge are an +outer and inner gateway, with their defences. The large gateway +forms one angle of the square enclosure of the fortress, and at the +other landward angle is built a large round tower. There are +vestiges of similar towers occupying the angles of the precipice +overhanging the sea. These towers were connected by a curtain, on +which artillery seems to have been mounted. Within this circuit are +the ruins of an establishment of feudal grandeur on the large scale. +The great hall, forming, it would seem, one side of the inner court, +is sixty paces long, lighted by windows which appear to have been +shafted with stone, but are now ruined. Adjacent are the great +kitchen and ovens, with a variety of other buildings, but no square +tower, or keep. The most remarkable part of Dunluce, however, is +that the whole mass of plum-pudding rock on which the fort is built +is completely perforated by a cave sloping downwards from the inside +of the moat or dry-ditch beneath the bridge, and opening to the sea +on the other side. It might serve the purpose of a small harbor, +especially if they had, as is believed, a descent to the cave from +within the castle. It is difficult to conceive the use of the +aperture to the land, unless it was in some way enclosed and +defended. Above the ruinous castle is a neat farmhouse. Mrs. More, +the good-wife, a Scoto-Hibernian, received us with kindness and +hospitality which did honor to the nation of her birth, as well as +of her origin, in a house whose cleanliness and neatness might have +rivalled England. Her churn was put into immediate motion on our +behalf, and we were loaded with all manner of courtesy, as well as +good things. We heard here of an armed schooner having been seen off +the coast yesterday, which fired on a boat that went off to board +her, and would seem therefore to be a privateer, or armed smuggler. + +"Return on board for breakfast, and then again take boat for the +Giant's Causeway--having first shotted the guns, and agreed on a +signal, in case this alarming stranger should again make his +appearance. Visit two caves, both worth seeing, but not equal to +those we have seen: one, called Port Coon, opens in a small cove, or +bay--the outer reach opens into an inner cave, and that again into +the sea. The other, called Down Kerry, is a sea-cave, like that on +the eastern side of Loch Eribol--a high arch up which the sea +rolls:--the weather being quiet, we sailed in very nearly to the +upper end. We then rowed on to the celebrated Causeway, a platform +composed of basaltic pillars, projecting into the sea like the pier +of a harbor. As I was tired, and had a violent headache, I did not +land, but could easily see that the regularity of the columns was +the same as at Staffa; but that island contains a much more +extensive and curious specimen of this curious phenomenon. + +"Row along the shores of this celebrated point, which are extremely +striking as well as curious. They open into a succession of little +bays, each of which has precipitous banks graced with long ranges of +the basaltic pillars, sometimes placed above each other, and divided +by masses of interweaving strata, or by green sloping banks of earth +of extreme steepness. These remarkable ranges of columns are in some +places chequered by horizontal strata of a red rock or earth, of the +appearance of ochre; so that the green of the grassy banks, the +dark-gray or black appearance of the columns, with those red seams +and other varieties of the interposed strata, have most uncommon and +striking effects. The outline of these cliffs is as singular as +their coloring. In several places the earth has wasted away from +single columns, and left them standing insulated and erect, like the +ruined colonnade of an ancient temple, upon the verge of the +precipice. In other places, the disposition of the basaltic ranges +presents singular appearances, to which the guides give names +agreeable to the images which they are supposed to represent. Each +of the little bays or inlets has also its appropriate name. One is +called the Spanish Bay, from one of the Spanish Armada having been +wrecked there. Thus our voyage has repeatedly traced the memorable +remnants of that celebrated squadron. The general name of the cape +adjacent to the Causeway is Bengore Head. To those who have seen +Staffa, the peculiar appearance of the Causeway itself will lose +much of its effect; but the grandeur of the neighboring scenery will +still maintain the reputation of Bengore Head. The people ascribe +all these wonders to Fin MacCoul, whom they couple with a Scottish +giant called Ben-an something or other. The traveller is plied by +guides, who make their profit by selling pieces of crystal, agate, +or chalcedony, found in the interstices of the rocks. Our party +brought off some curious joints of the columns, and, had I been +quite as I am wont to be, I would have selected four to be capitals +of a rustic porch at Abbotsford. But, alas! alas! I am much out of +love with vanity at this moment. From what we hear at the Causeway, +we have every reason to think that the pretended privateer has been +a gentleman's pleasure-vessel.--Continue our voyage southward, and +pass between the Main of Ireland and the Isle of Rachrin, a rude +heathy-looking island, once a place of refuge to Robert Bruce. This +is said, in ancient times, to have been the abode of banditti, who +plundered the neighboring coast. At present it is under a long lease +to a Mr. Gage, who is said to maintain excellent order among the +islanders. Those of bad character he expels to Ireland, and hence it +is a phrase among the people of Rachrin, when they wish ill to any +one, '_May Ireland be his hinder end_.' On the Main we see the +village of Ballintry, and a number of people collected, the remains +of an Irish fair. Close by is a small island, called Sheep Island. +We now take leave of the Irish coast, having heard nothing of its +popular complaints, excepting that the good lady at Dunluce made a +heavy moan against the tithes, which had compelled her husband to +throw his whole farm into pasture. Stand over toward Scotland, and +see the Mull of Cantyre light. + +"_6th September, 1814._--Under the lighthouse at the Mull of +Cantyre; situated on a desolate spot among rocks, like a Chinese +pagoda in Indian drawings. Duff[95] and Stevenson go ashore at six. +Hamilton follows, but is unable to land, the sea having got up. The +boat brings back letters, and I have the great comfort to learn all +are well at Abbotsford. About eight the tide begins to run very +strong, and the wind rising at the same time, makes us somewhat +apprehensive for our boat, which had returned to attend D. and S. We +observe them set off along the hills on foot, to walk, as we +understand, to a bay called Carskey, five or six miles off, but the +nearest spot at which they can hope to reëmbark in this state of the +weather. It now becomes very squally, and one of our jibsails +splits. We are rather awkwardly divided into three parties--the +pedestrians on shore, with whom we now observe Captain Wilson, +mounted upon a pony--the boat with four sailors, which is stealing +along in-shore, unable to row, and scarce venturing to carry any +sail--and we in the yacht, tossing about most exceedingly. At length +we reach Carskey, a quiet-looking bay, where the boat gets into +shore, and fetches off our gentlemen.--After this the coast of +Cantyre seems cultivated and arable, but bleak and unenclosed, like +many other parts of Scotland. We then learn that we have been +repeatedly in the route of two American privateers, who have made +many captures in the Irish Channel, particularly at Innistruhul, at +the back of Islay, and on the Lewis. They are the Peacock, of +twenty-two guns, and 165 men, and a schooner of eighteen guns, +called the Prince of Neuchatel. These news, added to the increasing +inclemency of the weather, induce us to defer a projected visit to +the coast of Galloway; and indeed it is time one of us was home on +many accounts. We therefore resolve, after visiting the lighthouse +at Pladda, to proceed for Greenock. About four drop anchor off +Pladda, a small islet lying on the south side of Arran. Go ashore +and visit the establishment. When we return on board, the wind being +unfavorable for the mouth of Clyde, we resolve to weigh anchor and +go into Lamlash Bay. + +"_7th September, 1814._--We had ample room to repent last night's +resolution, for the wind, with its usual caprice, changed so soon as +we had weighed anchor, blew very hard, and almost directly against +us, so that we were beating up against it by short tacks, which made +a most disagreeable night; as, between the noise of the wind and the +sea, the clattering of the ropes and sails above, and of the +movables below, and the eternal '_ready about_,' which was repeated +every ten minutes when the vessel was about to tack, with the lurch +and clamor which succeeds, sleep was much out of the question. We +are not now in the least sick, but want of sleep is uncomfortable, +and I have no agreeable reflections to amuse waking hours, +excepting the hope of again rejoining my family. About six o'clock +went on deck to see Lamlash Bay, which we have at length reached +after a hard struggle. The morning is fine and the wind abated, so +that the coast of Arran looks extremely well. It is indented with +two deep bays. That called Lamlash, being covered by an island with +an entrance at either end, makes a secure roadstead. The other bay, +which takes its name from Brodick Castle, a seat of the Duke of +Hamilton, is open. The situation of the castle is very fine, among +extensive plantations, laid out with perhaps too much formality, but +pleasant to the eye, as the first tract of plantation we have seen +for a long time. One stripe, however, with singular want of taste, +runs straight up a finely rounded hill, and turning by an obtuse +angle, cuts down the opposite side with equal lack of remorse. This +vile habit of opposing the line of the plantation to the natural +line and bearing of the ground is one of the greatest practical +errors of early planters. As to the rest, the fields about Brodick, +and the lowland of Arran in general, seem rich, well enclosed, and +in good cultivation. Behind and around rise an amphitheatre of +mountains, the principal a long ridge with fine swelling serrated +tops, called Goat-Fell. Our wind now altogether dies away, while we +want its assistance to get to the mouth of the Firth of Clyde, now +opening between the extremity of the large and fertile Isle of Bute, +and the lesser islands called the Cumbrays. The fertile coast of +Ayrshire trends away to the south-westward, displaying many +villages, and much appearance of beauty and cultivation. On the +north-eastward arises the bold and magnificent screen formed by the +mountains of Argyleshire and Dumbartonshire, rising above each other +in gigantic succession. About noon a favorable breath of wind +enables us to enter the mouth of the Clyde, passing between the +larger Cumbray and the extremity of Bute. As we advance beyond the +Cumbray, and open the opposite coast, see Largs, renowned for the +final defeat of the Norwegian invaders by Alexander III. [A. D. +1263]. The ground of battle was a sloping, but rather gentle, ascent +from the sea, above the modern Kirk of Largs. Had Haco gained the +victory, it would have opened all the south-west of Scotland to his +arms. On Bute, a fine and well-improved island, we open the Marquis +of Bute's house of Mount Stewart, neither apparently large nor +elegant in architecture, but beautifully situated among well-grown +trees, with an open and straight avenue to the seashore. The whole +isle is prettily varied by the rotation of crops: and the rocky +ridges of Goat-Fell and other mountains in Arran are now seen behind +Bute as a background. These ridges resemble much the romantic and +savage outline of the mountains of Cullin, in Skye. On the southward +of Largs is Kelburn, the seat of Lord Glasgow, with extensive +plantations; on the northward Skelmorlie, an ancient seat of the +Montgomeries. The Firth, closed to appearance by Bute and the +Cumbrays, now resembles a long irregular inland lake, bordered on +the one side by the low and rich coast of Renfrewshire, studded with +villages and seats, and on the other by the Highland mountains. Our +breeze dies totally away, and leaves us to admire this prospect till +sunset. I learn incidentally, that, in the opinion of honest Captain +Wilson, I have been myself the cause of all this contradictory +weather. 'It is all,' says the Captain to Stevenson, 'owing to the +cave at the Isle of Egg,'--from which I had abstracted a skull. +Under this odium I may labor yet longer, for assuredly the weather +has been doggedly unfavorable. Night quiet and serene, but dead +calm--a fine contrast to the pitching, rolling, and walloping of +last night. + +"_8th September._--Waked very much in the same situation--a dead +calm, but the weather very serene. With much difficulty, and by the +assistance of the tide, we advanced up the Firth, and, passing the +village of Gourock, at length reached Greenock. Took an early +dinner, and embarked in the steamboat for Glasgow. We took leave of +our little yacht under the repeated cheers of the sailors, who had +been much pleased with their erratic mode of travelling about, so +different from the tedium of a regular voyage. After we reached +Glasgow--a journey which we performed at the rate of about eight +miles an hour, and with a smoothness of motion which probably +resembles flying--we supped together and prepared to +separate.--Erskine and I go to-morrow to the Advocate's at +Killermont, and thence to Edinburgh. So closes my journal. But I +must not omit to say, that among five or six persons, some of whom +were doubtless different in tastes and pursuits, there did not +occur, during the close communication of more than six weeks aboard +a small vessel, the slightest difference of opinion. Each seemed +anxious to submit his own wishes to those of his friends. The +consequence was, that by judicious arrangement all were gratified in +their turn, and frequently he who made some sacrifices to the views +of his companions was rewarded by some unexpected gratification +calculated particularly for his own amusement. Thus ends my little +excursion, in which, bating one circumstance, which must have made +me miserable for the time wherever I had learned it, I have enjoyed +as much pleasure as in any six weeks of my life. We had constant +exertion, a succession of wild and uncommon scenery, good-humor on +board, and objects of animation and interest when we went ashore-- + + 'Sed fugit interea--fugit irrevocabile tempus.'" + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXXII. + +[88: The Rev. Alexander Brunton, D. D., now (1836) +Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Edinburgh.] + +[89: _Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands._] + +[90: + + "So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, + They cannot see the Sun on high." + + Southey's _Inchcape Rock_.] + +[91: Southey's _Inchcape Rock_.] + +[92: See _Minstrelsy of the Border_, vol. iv. pp. 285-306 +(Edin. Ed.).] + +[93: _The Boy and the Mantle_--Percy's _Reliques_, vol. +iii. p. 10.] + +[94: Harriet, Duchess of Buccleuch, died August 24, 1814.] + +[95: Adam Duff, Esq., afterwards and for many years Sheriff +of the county of Edinburgh, died on 17th May, 1840.--(1845.)] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + LETTER IN VERSE FROM ZETLAND AND ORKNEY. -- DEATH OF THE DUCHESS + OF BUCCLEUCH. -- CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DUKE. -- ALTRIVE LAKE. + --NEGOTIATION CONCERNING THE LORD OF THE ISLES COMPLETED. -- + SUCCESS OF WAVERLEY. -- CONTEMPORANEOUS CRITICISMS ON THE NOVEL. + -- LETTERS TO SCOTT FROM MR. MORRITT, MR. LEWIS, AND MISS MACLEAN + CLEPHANE. --LETTER FROM JAMES BALLANTYNE TO MISS EDGEWORTH + +1814 + + +I question if any man ever drew his own character more fully or more +pleasingly than Scott has done in the preceding diary of a six +weeks' pleasure voyage. We have before us, according to the scene +and occasion, the poet, the antiquary, the magistrate, the planter, +and the agriculturist; but everywhere the warm yet sagacious +philanthropist--everywhere the courtesy, based on the unselfishness, +of the thorough-bred gentleman;--and surely never was the tenderness +of a manly heart portrayed more touchingly than in the closing +pages. I ought to mention that Erskine received the news of the +Duchess of Buccleuch's death on the day when the party landed at +Dunstaffnage; but, knowing how it would affect Scott, took means to +prevent its reaching him until the expedition should be concluded. +He heard the event casually mentioned by a stranger during dinner at +Port Rush, and was for the moment quite overpowered. + +Of the letters which Scott wrote to his friends during those happy +six weeks, I have recovered only one, and it is, thanks to the +leisure of the yacht, in verse. The strong and easy heroics of the +first section prove, I think, that Mr. Canning did not err when he +told him that if he chose he might emulate even Dryden's command +that noble measure; and the dancing anapæsts of the second show that +he could with equal facility have rivalled the gay graces of Cotton, +Anstey, or Moore. This epistle did not reach the Duke of Buccleuch +till his lovely Duchess was no more; and I shall annex to it some +communications relating to that affliction, which afford a contrast, +not less interesting than melancholy, to the light-hearted glee +reflected in the rhymes from the region of Magnus Troil. + + +TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC., ETC., ETC. + + LIGHTHOUSE YACHT IN THE SOUND OF LERWICK, ZETLAND, 8th August, 1814. + + Health to the chieftain from his clansman true! + From her true Minstrel, health to fair Buccleuch! + Health from the isles, where dewy Morning weaves + Her chaplet with the tints that Twilight leaves; + Where late the sun scarce vanished from the sight, + And his bright pathway graced the short-lived night, + Though darker now as autumn's shades extend, + The north winds whistle and the mists ascend!-- + Health from the land where eddying whirlwinds toss + The storm-rocked _cradle_ of the Cape of Noss; + On outstretched cords the giddy engine slides, + His own strong arm the bold adventurer guides, + And he that lists such desperate feat to try, + May, like the sea-mew, skim 'twixt surf and sky, + And feel the mid-air gales around him blow, + And see the billows rage five hundred feet below. + + Here by each stormy peak and desert shore, + The hardy islesman tugs the daring oar, + Practised alike his venturous course to keep, + Through the white breakers or the pathless deep, + By ceaseless peril and by toil to gain + A wretched pittance from the niggard main. + And when the worn-out drudge old ocean leaves, + What comfort greets him, and what hut receives? + Lady! the worst your presence ere has cheered + (When want and sorrow fled as you appeared) + Were to a Zetlander as the high dome + Of proud Drumlanrig to my humble home. + Here rise no groves, and here no gardens blow, + Here even the hardy heath scarce dares to grow; + But rocks on rocks, in mist and storm arrayed, + Stretch far to sea their giant colonnade, + With many a cavern seam'd, the dreary haunt + Of the dun seal and swarthy cormorant. + Wild round their rifted brows with frequent cry, + As of lament, the gulls and gannets fly, + And from their sable base, with sullen sound, + In sheets of whitening foam the waves rebound. + + Yet even these coasts a touch of envy gain + From those whose land has known oppression's chain; + For here the industrious Dutchman comes once more + To moor his fishing craft by Bressay's shore; + Greets every former mate and brother tar, + Marvels how Lerwick 'scaped the rage of war, + Tells many a tale of Gallic outrage done, + And ends by blessing God and Wellington. + Here too the Greenland tar, a fiercer guest, + Claims a brief hour of riot, not of rest; + Proves each wild frolic that in wine has birth, + And wakes the land with brawls and boisterous mirth. + A sadder sight on yon poor vessel's prow + The captive Norse-man sits in silent woe, + And eyes the flags of Britain as they flow. + Hard fate of war, which bade her terrors sway + His destined course, and seize so mean a prey; + A bark with planks so warp'd and seams so riven, + She scarce might face the gentlest airs of heaven: + Pensive he sits, and questions oft if none + Can list his speech and understand his moan; + In vain--no islesman now can use the tongue + Of the bold Norse, from whom their lineage sprung. + Not thus of old the Norse-men hither came, + Won by the love of danger or of fame; + On every storm-beat cape a shapeless tower + Tells of their wars, their conquests, and their power; + For ne'er for Grecia's vales, nor Latian land, + Was fiercer strife than for this barren strand; + A race severe--the isle and ocean lords, + Loved for its own delight the strife of swords; + With scornful laugh the mortal pang defied, + And blest their gods that they in battle died. + + Such were the sires of Zetland's simple race, + And still the eye may faint resemblance trace + In the blue eye, tall form, proportion fair, + The limbs athletic, and the long light hair-- + (Such was the mien, as Scald and Minstrel sings, + Of fair-haired Harold, first of Norway's Kings); + But their high deeds to scale these crags confined, + Their only warfare is with waves and wind. + + Why should I talk of Mousa's castled coast? + Why of the horrors of the Sumburgh Rost? + May not these bald disjointed lines suffice, + Penn'd while my comrades whirl the rattling dice-- + While down the cabin skylight lessening shine + The rays, and eve is chased with mirth and wine? + Imagined, while down Mousa's desert bay + Our well-trimm'd vessel urged her nimble way, + While to the freshening breeze she leaned her side, + And bade her bowsprit kiss the foamy tide? + + Such are the lays that Zetland Isles supply; + Drenched with the drizzly spray and dropping sky, + Weary and wet, a sea-sick minstrel I.----W. SCOTT. + + + POSTSCRIPTUM. + + KIRKWALL, ORKNEY, August 13, 1814. + + In respect that your Grace has commissioned a Kraken, + You will please be informed that they seldom are taken; + It is January two years, the Zetland folks say, + Since they saw the last Kraken in Scalloway bay; + He lay in the offing a fortnight or more, + But the devil a Zetlander put from the shore, + Though bold in the seas of the North to assail + The morse and the sea-horse, the grampus and whale. + If your Grace thinks I'm writing the thing that is not, + You may ask at a namesake of ours, Mr. Scott-- + (He's not from our clan, though his merits deserve it, + But springs, I'm informed, from the Scotts of Scotstarvet;)[96] + He questioned the folks who beheld it with eyes, + But they differed confoundedly as to its size. + For instance, the modest and diffident swore + That it seemed like the keel of a ship, and no more-- + Those of eyesight more clear, or of fancy more high, + Said it rose like an island 'twixt ocean and sky-- + But all of the hulk had a steady opinion + That 't was sure a _live_ subject of Neptune's dominion-- + And I think, my Lord Duke, your Grace hardly would wish, + To cumber your house, such a kettle of fish. + Had your order related to nightcaps or hose, + Or mittens of worsted, there's plenty of those. + Or would you be pleased but to fancy a whale? + And direct me to send it--by sea or by mail? + The season, I'm told, is nigh over, but still + I could get you one fit for the lake at Bowhill. + Indeed, as to whales, there's no need to be thrifty, + Since one day last fortnight two hundred and fifty, + Pursued by seven Orkneymen's boats and no more, + Betwixt Truffness and Luffness were drawn on the shore! + You'll ask if I saw this same wonderful sight; + I own that I did not, but easily might-- + For this mighty shoal of leviathans lay + On our lee-beam a mile, in the loop of the bay, + And the islesmen of Sanda were all at the spoil, + And _flinching_ (so term it) the blubber to boil; + (Ye spirits of lavender, drown the reflection + That awakes at the thoughts of this odorous dissection.) + To see this huge marvel full fain would we go, + But Wilson, the wind, and the current said no. + We have now got to Kirkwall, and needs I must stare + When I think that in verse I have once called it _fair_; + 'Tis a base little borough, both dirty and mean-- + There is nothing to hear, and there's nought to be seen, + Save a church, where, of old times, a prelate harangued, + And a palace that's built by an earl that was hanged. + But farewell to Kirkwall--aboard we are going, + The anchor's a-peak and the breezes are blowing; + Our commodore calls all his band to their places, + And 't is time to release you--good-night to your Graces! + + +TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC. + + GLASGOW, September 8, 1814. + +MY DEAR LORD DUKE,--I take the earliest opportunity, after landing, to +discharge a task so distressing to me, that I find reluctance and fear +even in making the attempt, and for the first time address so kind and +generous a friend without either comfort and confidence in myself, or +the power of offering a single word of consolation to his affliction. +I learned the late calamitous news (which indeed no preparation could +have greatly mitigated) quite unexpectedly, when upon the Irish +coast; nor could the shock of an earthquake have affected me in the +same proportion. Since that time I have been detained at sea, thinking +of nothing but what has happened, and of the painful duty I am now to +perform. If the deepest interest in this inexpressible loss could +qualify me for expressing myself upon a subject so distressing, I know +few whose attachment and respect for the lamented object of our +sorrows can or ought to exceed my own, for never was more attractive +kindness and condescension displayed by one of her sphere, or returned +with deeper and more heartfelt gratitude by one in my own. But selfish +regret and sorrow, while they claim a painful and unavailing +ascendance, cannot drown the recollection of the virtues lost to the +world, just when their scene of acting had opened wider, and to her +family when the prospect of their speedy entry upon life rendered her +precept and example peculiarly important. And such an example! for of +all whom I have ever seen, in whatever rank, she possessed most the +power of rendering virtue lovely--combining purity of feeling and +soundness of judgment with a sweetness and affability which won the +affections of all who had the happiness of approaching her. And this +is the partner of whom it has been God's pleasure to deprive your +Grace, and the friend for whom I now sorrow, and shall sorrow while I +can remember anything. The recollection of her excellencies can but +add bitterness, at least in the first pangs of calamity, yet it is +impossible to forbear the topic; it runs to my pen as to my thoughts, +till I almost call in question, for an instant, the Eternal Wisdom +which has so early summoned her from this wretched world, where pain +and grief and sorrow is our portion, to join those to whom her +virtues, while upon earth, gave her so strong a resemblance. Would to +God I could say, _be comforted_; but I feel every common topic of +consolation must be, for the time at least, even an irritation to +affliction. Grieve, then, my dear Lord, or I should say my dear and +much honored friend,--for sorrow for the time levels the highest +distinctions of rank; but do not grieve as those who have no hope. I +know the last earthly thoughts of the departed sharer of your joys and +sorrows must have been for your Grace and the dear pledges she has +left to your care. Do not, for their sake, suffer grief to take that +exclusive possession which disclaims care for the living, and is not +only useless to the dead, but is what their wishes would have most +earnestly deprecated. To time, and to God, whose are both time and +eternity, belongs the office of future consolation; it is enough to +require from the sufferer under such a dispensation to bear his +burthen of sorrow with fortitude, and to resist those feelings which +prompt us to believe that that which is galling and grievous is +therefore altogether beyond our strength to support. Most bitterly do +I regret some levity which I fear must have reached you when your +distress was most poignant, and most dearly have I paid for venturing +to anticipate the time which is not ours, since I received these +deplorable news at the very moment when I was collecting some trifles +that I thought might give satisfaction to the person whom I so highly +honored, and who, among her numerous excellencies, never failed to +seem pleased with what she knew was meant to afford her pleasure. + +But I must break off, and have perhaps already written too much. I +learn by a letter from Mrs. Scott, this day received, that your Grace +is at Bowhill--in the beginning of next week I will be in the +vicinity; and when your Grace can receive me without additional pain, +I shall have the honor of waiting upon you. I remain, with the deepest +sympathy, my Lord Duke, your Grace's truly distressed and most +grateful servant, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +The following letter was addressed to Scott by the Duke of +Buccleuch, before he received that which the Poet penned on landing +at Glasgow. I present it here, because it will give a more exact +notion of what Scott's relations with his noble patron really were, +than any other single document which I could produce: and to set +that matter in its just light is essential to the business of this +narrative. But I am not ashamed to confess that I embrace with +satisfaction the opportunity of thus offering to the readers of the +present time a most instructive lesson. They will here see what pure +and simple virtues and humble piety may be cultivated as the only +sources of real comfort in this world and consolation in the +prospect of futurity,--among circles which the giddy and envious mob +are apt to regard as intoxicated with the pomps and vanities of +wealth and rank; which so many of our popular writers represent +systematically as sunk in selfish indulgence--as viewing all below +them with apathy and indifference--and last, not least, as +upholding, when they do uphold, the religious institutions of their +country, merely because they have been taught to believe that their +own hereditary privileges and possessions derive security from the +prevalence of Christian maxims and feelings among the mass of the +people. + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., POST OFFICE, GREENOCK. + + BOWHILL, September 3, 1814. + +MY DEAR SIR,--It is not with the view of distressing you with my +griefs, in order to relieve my own feelings, that I address you at +this moment. But knowing your attachment to myself, and more +particularly the real affection which you bore to my poor wife, I +thought that a few lines from me would be acceptable, both to explain +the state of my mind at present, and to mention a few circumstances +connected with that melancholy event. + +I am calm and resigned. The blow was so severe that it stunned me, and +I did not feel that agony of mind which might have been expected. I +now see the full extent of my misfortune; but that extended view of it +has come gradually upon me. I am fully aware how imperative it is upon +me to exert myself to the utmost on account of my children. I must +not depress their spirits by a display of my own melancholy feelings. +I have many new duties to perform,--or rather, perhaps, I now feel +more pressingly the obligation of duties which the unceasing exertions +of my poor wife rendered less necessary, or induced me to attend to +with less than sufficient accuracy. I have been taught a severe +lesson; it may and ought to be a useful one. I feel that my lot, +though a hard one, is accompanied by many alleviations denied to +others. I have a numerous family, thank God, in health, and profiting, +according to their different ages, by the admirable lessons they have +been taught. My daughter, Anne, worthy of so excellent a mother, +exerts herself to the utmost to supply her place, and has displayed a +fortitude and strength of mind beyond her years, and (as I had +foolishly thought) beyond her powers. I have most kind friends willing +and ready to afford me every assistance. These are my worldly +comforts, and they are numerous and great. + +Painful as it may be, I cannot reconcile it to myself to be totally +silent as to the last scene of this cruel tragedy. As she had lived, +so she died,--an example of every noble feeling--of love, attachment, +and the total want of everything selfish. Endeavoring to the last to +conceal her suffering, she evinced a fortitude, a resignation, a +Christian courage, beyond all power of description. Her last +injunction was to attend to her poor people. It was a dreadful but +instructive moment. I have learned that the most truly heroic spirit +may be lodged in the tenderest and the gentlest breast. Need I tell +_you_ that she expired in the full hope and expectation, nay, in the +firmest certainty, of passing to a better world, through a steady +reliance on her Saviour? If ever there was a proof of the efficacy of +our religion in moments of the deepest affliction, and in the hour of +death, it was exemplified in her conduct. But I will no longer dwell +upon a subject which must be painful to you. Knowing her sincere +friendship for you, I have thought it would give you pleasure, though +a melancholy one, to hear from me that her last moments were such as +to be envied by every lover of virtue, piety, and true and genuine +religion. + +I will endeavor to do in all things what I know she would wish. I have +therefore determined to lay myself open to all the comforts my +friends can afford me. I shall be most happy to cultivate their +society as heretofore. I shall love them more and more, because I know +they loved her. Whenever it suits your convenience I shall be happy to +see you here. I feel that it is particularly my duty not to make my +house the house of mourning to my children; for I know it was _her_ +decided opinion that it is most mischievous to give an early +impression of gloom to the mind. + +You will find me tranquil, and capable of going through the common +occupations of society. Adieu for the present. Yours very sincerely, + + BUCCLEUCH, etc. + + +TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC., ETC., ETC. + + EDINBURGH, 11th September, 1814. + +MY DEAR LORD DUKE,--I received your letter (which had missed me at +Greenock) upon its being returned to this place, and cannot +sufficiently express my gratitude for the kindness which, at such a +moment, could undertake the task of writing upon such a subject to +relieve the feelings of a friend. Depend upon it, I am so far worthy +of your Grace's kindness, that, among many proofs of it, this +affecting and most distressing one can never be forgotten. It gives me +great though melancholy satisfaction to find that your Grace has had +the manly and Christian fortitude to adopt that resigned and patient +frame of spirit, which can extract from the most bitter calamity a +wholesome mental medicine. I trust in God, that, as so many and such +high duties are attached to your station, and as He has blessed you +with the disposition that draws pleasure from the discharge of them, +your Grace will find your first exertions, however painful, rewarded +with strength to persevere, and finally with that comfort which +attends perseverance in that which is right. The happiness of hundreds +depends upon your Grace almost directly, and the effect of your +example in the country, and of your constancy in support of a +constitution daily undermined by the wicked and designing, is almost +incalculable. Justly, then, and well, has your Grace resolved to +sacrifice all that is selfish in the indulgence of grief, to the +duties of your social and public situation. Long may you have health +and strength to be to your dear and hopeful family an example and +guide in all that becomes their high rank. It is enough that one +light, and alas, what a light that was!--has been recalled by the +Divine Will to another and a better sphere. + +I wrote a hasty and unconnected letter immediately on landing. I am +detained for two days in this place, but shall wait upon your Grace +immediately on my return to Abbotsford. If my society cannot, in the +circumstances, give much pleasure, it will, I trust, impose no +restraint. + +Mrs. Scott desires me to offer her deepest sympathy upon this +calamitous occasion. She has much reason, for she has lost the +countenance of a friend such as she cannot expect the course of human +life again to supply. I am ever, with much and affectionate respect, +your Grace's truly faithful humble servant, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +TO J. B. S. MORRITT, ESQ., M. P., WORTHING. + + EDINBURGH, September 14, 1814. + +MY DEAR MORRITT,--"At the end of my tour on the 22d August"!!! Lord +help us!--this comes of going to the Levant and the Hellespont, and +your Euxine, and so forth. A poor devil who goes to Nova Zembla and +Thule is treated as if he had been only walking as far as Barnard +Castle or Cauldshiels Loch.[97] I would have you to know I only +returned on the 10th current, and the most agreeable thing I found was +your letter. I am sure you must know I had need of something pleasant, +for the news of the death of the beautiful, the kind, the +affectionate, and generous Duchess of Buccleuch gave me a shock, +which, to speak God's truth, could not have been exceeded unless by my +own family's sustaining a similar deprivation. She was indeed a light +set upon a hill, and had all the grace which the most accomplished +manners and the most affable address could give to those virtues by +which she was raised still higher than by rank. As she always +distinguished me by her regard and confidence, and as I had many +opportunities of seeing her in the active discharge of duties in which +she rather resembled a descended angel than an earthly being, you will +excuse my saying so much about my own feelings on an occasion where +sorrow has been universal. But I will drop the subject. The survivor +has displayed a strength and firmness of mind seldom equalled, where +the affection has been so strong and mutual, and amidst the very high +station and commanding fortune which so often render self-control more +difficult, because so far from being habitual. I trust, for his own +sake, as well as for that of thousands to whom his life is directly +essential, and hundreds of thousands to whom his example is important, +that God, as He has given him fortitude to bear this inexpressible +shock, will add strength of constitution to support him in the +struggle. He has written to me on the occasion in a style becoming a +man and a Christian, submissive to the will of God, and willing to +avail himself of the consolations which remain among his family and +friends. I am going to see him, and how we shall meet, God knows; but +though "an iron man of iron mould" upon many of the occasions of life +in which I see people most affected, and a peculiar contemner of the +commonplace sorrow which I see paid to the departed, this is a case in +which my stoicism will not serve me. They both gave me reason to think +they loved me, and I returned their regard with the most sincere +attachment--the distinction of rank being, I think, set apart on all +sides. But God's will be done. I will dwell no longer upon this +subject. It is much to learn that Mrs. Morritt is so much better, and +that if I have sustained a severe wound from a quarter so little +expected, I may promise myself the happiness of your dear wife's +recovery. + +I will shortly mention the train of our voyage, reserving particulars +till another day. We sailed from Leith, and skirted the Scottish +coast, visiting the Buller of Buchan and other remarkable +objects--went to Shetland--thence to Orkney--from thence round Cape +Wrath to the Hebrides, making descents everywhere, where there was +anything to be seen--thence to Lewis and the Long Island--to Skye--to +Iona--and so forth, lingering among the Hebrides as long as we could. +Then we stood over to the coast of Ireland, and visited the Giant's +Causeway and Port Rush, where Dr. Richardson, the inventor +(discoverer, I would say) of the celebrated fiorin-grass, resides. By +the way, he is a chattering charlatan, and his fiorin a mere humbug. +But if he were Cicero, and his invention were potatoes, or anything +equally useful, I should detest the recollection of the place and the +man, for it was there I learned the death of my friend. Adieu, my dear +Morritt; kind compliments to your lady; like poor Tom, "I cannot daub +it farther." When I hear where you are, and what you are doing, I will +write you a more cheerful epistle. Poor Mackenzie, too, is gone--the +brother of our friend Lady Hood--and another Mackenzie, son to the +Man of Feeling. So short time have I been absent, and such has been +the harvest of mortality among those whom I regarded! + +I will attend to your corrections in Waverley. My principal employment +for the autumn will be reducing the knowledge I have acquired of the +localities of the islands into scenery and stage-room for The Lord of +the Isles, of which renowned romance I think I have repeated some +portions to you. It was elder born than Rokeby, though it gave place +to it in publishing. + +After all, scribbling is an odd propensity. I don't believe there is +any ointment, even that of the Edinburgh Review, which can cure the +infected. Once more, yours entirely, + + WALTER SCOTT. + + +Before I pass from the event which made August, 1814, so black a +month in Scott's calendar, I may be excused for once more noticing +the kind interest which the Duchess of Buccleuch had always taken in +the fortunes of the Ettrick Shepherd, and introducing a most +characteristic epistle which she received from him a few months +before her death. The Duchess--"fearful" (as she said) "of seeing +herself in print"--did not answer the Shepherd, but forwarded his +letter to Scott, begging him to explain that circumstances did not +allow the Duke to concede what he requested, but to assure him that +they both retained a strong wish to serve him whenever a suitable +opportunity should present itself. Hogg's letter was as follows:-- + + +TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH, DALKEITH PALACE. FAVORED BY +MESSRS. GRIEVE AND SCOTT, HATTERS, EDINBURGH.[98] + + ETTRICKBANK, March 17, 1814. + +May it please your Grace,--I have often grieved you by my +applications for this and that. I am sensible of this, for I have +had many instances of your wishes to be of service to me, could you +have known what to do for that purpose. But there are some eccentric +characters in the world, of whom no person can judge or know what will +prove beneficial, or what may prove their bane. I have again and again +received of your Grace's private bounty, and though it made me love +and respect you the more, I was nevertheless grieved at it. It was +never your Grace's money that I wanted, but the honor of your +countenance; indeed my heart could never yield to the hope of being +patronized by any house save that of Buccleuch, whom I deemed bound to +cherish every plant that indicated anything out of the common way on +the Braes of Ettrick and Yarrow. + +I know you will be thinking that this long prelude is to end with a +request. No, Madam! I have taken the resolution of never making +another request. I will, however, tell you a story, which is, I +believe, founded on a fact:-- + +There is a small farm at the head of a water called *****, possessed +by a mean fellow named ****. A third of it has been taken off and laid +into another farm--the remainder is as yet unappropriated. Now, there +is a certain poor bard, who has two old parents, each of them upwards +of eighty-four years of age; and that bard has no house nor home to +shelter those poor parents in, or cheer the evening of their lives. A +single line from a certain very great and very beautiful lady, to a +certain Mr. Riddle,[99] would insure that small pendicle to the bard +at once. But she will grant no such thing! I appeal to your Grace if +she is not a very bad lady that? I am your Grace's ever obliged and +grateful + + JAMES HOGG, + THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. + +[Illustration: JAMES HOGG + +_From the water-color portrait by Denning_] + +Though the Duke of Buccleuch would not dismiss a poor tenant merely +because Hogg called him "a mean fellow," he had told Scott that if +he could find an unappropriated "pendicle," such as this letter +referred to, he would most willingly bestow it on the Shepherd. It +so happened, that when Scott paid his first visit at Bowhill after +the death of the Duchess, the Ettrick Shepherd was mentioned: "My +friend," said the Duke, "I must now consider this poor man's case as +_her_ legacy;" and to this feeling Hogg owed, very soon afterwards, +his establishment at Altrive, on his favorite braes of Yarrow. + +As Scott passed through Edinburgh on his return from his voyage, the +negotiation as to The Lord of the Isles, which had been protracted +through several months, was completed--Constable agreeing to give +fifteen hundred guineas for one half of the copyright, while the +other moiety was retained by the author. The sum mentioned had been +offered by Constable at an early stage of the affair, but it was not +until now accepted, in consequence of the earnest wish of Scott and +Ballantyne to saddle the publisher of the new poem with part of +their old "quire stock,"--which, however, Constable ultimately +persisted in refusing. It may easily be believed that John +Ballantyne's management of money matters during Scott's six weeks' +absence had been such as to render it doubly convenient for the Poet +to have this matter settled on his arrival in Edinburgh--and it may +also be supposed that the progress of Waverley during that interval +had tended to put the chief parties in good-humor with each other. + +In returning to Waverley, I must observe most distinctly that +nothing can be more unfounded than the statement which has of late +years been frequently repeated in memoirs of Scott's life, that the +sale of the first edition of this immortal Tale was slow. It +appeared on the 7th of July, and the whole impression (1000 copies) +had disappeared within five weeks; an occurrence then unprecedented +in the case of an anonymous novel, put forth at what is called among +publishers _the dead season_. A second edition, of 2000 copies, was +at least projected by the 24th of the same month;[100]--that +appeared before the end of August, and it, too, had gone off so +rapidly, that when Scott passed through Edinburgh, on his way from +the Hebrides, he found Constable eager to treat, on the same terms +as before, for a third of 1000 copies. This third edition was +published in October, and when a fourth of the like extent was +called for in November, I find Scott writing to John Ballantyne, "I +suppose Constable won't quarrel with a work on which he has netted +£612 in four months, with a certainty of making it £1000 before the +year is out;" and, in fact, owing to the diminished expense of +advertising, the profits of this fourth edition were to each party +£440. To avoid recurring to these details, I may as well state at +once, that a fifth edition of 1000 copies appeared in January, 1815; +a sixth of 1500 in June, 1816; a seventh of 2000 in October, 1817; +an eighth of 2000 in April, 1821; that in the collective editions, +prior to 1829, 11,000 were disposed of; and that the sale of the +current edition, with notes, begun in 1829, has already reached +40,000 copies. Well might Constable regret that he had not ventured +to offer £1000 for the whole copyright of Waverley! + +I must now look back for a moment to the history of the +composition.--The letter of September, 1810, was not the only piece +of discouragement which Scott had received, during the progress of +Waverley, from his first confidant. James Ballantyne, in his +deathbed _memorandum_, says: "When Mr. Scott first questioned me as +to my hopes of him as a novelist, it somehow or other did chance +that they were not very high. He saw this, and said: 'Well, I don't +see why I should not succeed as well as other people. At all events, +faint heart never won fair lady--'tis only trying.' When the first +volume was completed, I still could not get myself to think much of +the Waverley-Honor scenes; and in this I afterwards found that I +sympathized with many. But, to my utter shame be it spoken, when I +reached the exquisite descriptions of scenes and manners at +Tully-Veolan, what did I do but pronounce them at once to be utterly +vulgar!--When the success of the work so entirely knocked me down as +a man of taste, all that the good-natured author said was: 'Well, I +really thought you were wrong about the Scotch. Why, Burns, by his +poetry, had already attracted universal attention to everything +Scottish, and I confess I could n't see why I should not be able to +keep the flame alive, merely because I wrote Scotch in prose, and he +in rhyme.'"--It is, I think, very agreeable to have this manly +avowal to compare with the delicate allusion which Scott makes to +the affair in his Preface to the Novel. + +The only other friends originally entrusted with his secret appear +to have been Mr. Erskine and Mr. Morritt. I know not at what stage +the former altered the opinion which he formed on seeing the tiny +fragment of 1805. The latter did not, as we have seen, receive the +book until it was completed; but he anticipated, before he closed +the first volume, the station which public opinion would ultimately +assign to Waverley. "How the story may continue," Mr. Morritt then +wrote, "I am not able to divine; but, as far as I have read, pray +let us thank you for the Castle of Tully-Veolan, and the delightful +drinking-bout at Lucky Mac-Leary's, for the characters of the Laird +of Balmawhapple and the Baron of Bradwardine; and no less for Davie +Gelatly, whom I take to be a transcript of William Rose's motley +follower, commonly yclept Caliban.[101] If the completion be equal +to what we have just devoured, it deserves a place among our +standard works far better than its modest appearance and anonymous +title-page will at first gain it in these days of prolific +story-telling. Your manner of narrating is so different from the +slipshod sauntering verbiage of common novels, and from the stiff, +precise, and prim sententiousness of some of our female moralists, +that I think it can't fail to strike anybody who knows what style +means; but, amongst the gentle class, who swallow every blue-backed +book in a circulating library for the sake of the story, I should +fear half the knowledge of nature it contains, and all the real +humor, may be thrown away. Sir Everard, Mrs. Rachael, and the Baron +are, I think, in the first rank of portraits for nature and +character; and I could depone to their likeness in any court of +taste. The ballad of St. Swithin, and scraps of _old songs_, were +measures of danger if you meant to continue your concealment; but, +in truth, you wear your disguise something after the manner of +Bottom the weaver; and in spite of you the truth will soon peep +out." And next day he resumes: "We have finished Waverley, and were +I to tell you all my admiration, you would accuse me of +complimenting. You have quite attained the point which your +_postscript-preface_ mentions as your object--the discrimination of +Scottish character, which had hitherto been slurred over with +clumsy national daubing." He adds, a week or two later: "After all, +I need not much thank you for your confidence. How could you have +hoped that I should not discover you? I had heard you tell half the +anecdotes before--some turns you owe to myself; and no doubt most of +your friends must have the same sort of thing to say." + +Monk Lewis's letter on the subject is so short that I must give it +as it stands:-- + + +TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., ABBOTSFORD. + + THE ALBANY, August 17, 1814. + +MY DEAR SCOTT,--I return some books of yours which you lent me '_sixty +years since_'--and I hope they will reach you safe. I write in great +haste; and yet I must mention, that hearing Waverley ascribed to you, +I bought it, and read it with all impatience. I am now told it is not +yours, but William Erskine's. If this is so, pray tell him from me +that I think it excellent in every respect, and that I believe every +word of it. + + Ever yours, M. G. LEWIS. + + +Another friend (and he had, I think, none more dear), the late +Margaret Maclean Clephane of Torloisk, afterwards Marchioness of +Northampton, writes thus from Kirkness, in Kinross-shire, on the +11th October:-- + + +"In this place I feel a sort of pleasure, not unallied to pain, from +the many recollections that every venerable tree, and every sunny +bank, and every honeysuckle bower, occasions; and I have found +something here that speaks to me in the voice of a valued +friend--_Waverley_. The question that rises, it is perhaps improper to +give utterance to. If so, let it pass as an exclamation.--Is it +possible that Mr. Erskine can have written it? The poetry, I think, +would prove a different descent in any court in Christendom. The turn +of the phrases in many places is so peculiarly yours, that I fancy I +hear your voice repeating them; and there wants but verse to make all +Waverley an enchanting poem--varying to be sure from grave to gay, but +with so deepening an interest as to leave an impression on the mind +that few--very few poems--could awaken. But, why did not the author +allow me to be his Gaelic Dragoman? Oh! Mr. ----, whoever you are, you +might have safely trusted--M. M. C." + + +There was one person with whom it would, of course, have been more +than vain to affect any concealment. On the publication of the third +edition, I find him writing thus to his brother Thomas, who had by +this time gone to Canada as paymaster of the 70th regiment:-- + + +DEAR TOM,--A novel here called Waverley has had enormous success. I +sent you a copy, and will send you another, with The Lord of the +Isles, which will be out at Christmas. The success which it has had, +with some other circumstances, has induced people + + "To lay the bantling at a certain door, + Where lying store of faults, they'd fain heap more."[102] + +You will guess for yourself how far such a report has credibility; but +by no means give the weight of your opinion to the transatlantic +public; for you must know there is also a counter-report, that _you_ +have written the said Waverley. Send me a novel intermixing your +exuberant and natural humor with any incidents and descriptions of +scenery you may see--particularly with characters and traits of +manners. I will give it all the cobbling that is necessary, and, if +you do but exert yourself, I have not the least doubt it will be worth +£500; and, to encourage you, you may, when you send the MS., draw on +me for £100, at fifty days' sight--so that your labors will at any +rate not be quite thrown away. You have more fun and descriptive +talent than most people; and all that you want--_i. e._, the mere +practice of composition--I can supply, or the devil's in it. Keep this +matter a dead secret, and look knowing when Waverley is spoken of. If +you are not Sir John Falstaff, you are as good a man as he, and may +therefore face Colville of the Dale. You may believe I don't want to +make you the author of a book you have never seen; but if people will, +upon their own judgment, suppose so, and also on their own judgment +give you £500 to try your hand on a novel, I don't see that you are a +pin's-point the worse. Mind that your MS. attends the draft. I am +perfectly serious and confident that in two or three months you might +clear the cobs. I beg my compliments to the hero who is afraid of +Jeffrey's scalping-knife. + + +In truth, no one of Scott's intimate friends ever had, or could have +had, the slightest doubt as to the parentage of Waverley: nor, +although he abstained from communicating the fact formally to most +of them, did he ever affect any real concealment in the case of such +persons; nor, when any circumstance arose which rendered the +withholding of direct confidence on the subject incompatible with +perfect freedom of feeling on both sides, did he hesitate to make +the avowal. + +Nor do I believe that the mystification ever answered much purpose, +among literary men of eminence beyond the circle of his personal +acquaintance. But it would be difficult to suppose that he had ever +wished that to be otherwise; it was sufficient for him to set the +mob of readers at gaze, and above all, to escape the annoyance of +having productions, actually known to be his, made the daily and +hourly topics of discussion in his presence.[103] + +Mr. Jeffrey had known Scott from his youth--and, in reviewing +Waverley, he was at no pains to conceal his conviction of its +authorship. He quarrelled, as usual, with carelessness of style, and +some inartificialities of plot, but rendered justice to the +substantial merits of the work, in language which I shall not mar by +abridgment. The Quarterly was far less favorable in its verdict. +Indeed, the articles on Waverley, and afterwards on Guy Mannering, +which appeared in that journal, will bear the test of ultimate +opinion as badly as any critical pieces which our time has produced. +They are written in a captious, cavilling strain of quibble, which +shows as complete blindness to the essential interest of the +narrative, as the critic betrays on the subject of the Scottish +dialogue, which forms its liveliest ornament, when he pronounces +that to be "a dark dialogue of Anglified Erse." With this remarkable +exception, the professional critics were, on the whole, not slow to +confess their belief, that, under a hackneyed name and trivial form, +there had at last appeared a work of original creative genius, +worthy of being placed by the side of the very few real masterpieces +of prose fiction. Loftier romance was never blended with easier, +quainter humor, by Cervantes himself. In his familiar delineations +he had combined the strength of Smollett with the native elegance +and unaffected pathos of Goldsmith; in his darker scenes he had +revived that real tragedy which appeared to have left our stage with +the age of Shakespeare; and elements of interest so diverse had been +blended and interwoven with that nameless grace, which, more surely +perhaps than even the highest perfection in the command of any one +strain of sentiment, marks the master-mind cast in Nature's most +felicitous mould. + +Scott, with the consciousness (avowed long afterwards in his General +Preface) that he should never in all likelihood have thought of a +Scotch novel had he not read Maria Edgeworth's exquisite pieces of +Irish character, desired James Ballantyne to send her a copy of +Waverley on its first appearance, inscribed "from the author." Miss +Edgeworth, whom Scott had never then seen, though some literary +correspondence had passed between them, thanked the nameless +novelist, under cover to Ballantyne, with the cordial generosity of +kindred genius;[104] and the following answer, not from Scott, but +from Ballantyne--(who had kept a copy, now before me)--is not to be +omitted:-- + + +TO MISS EDGEWORTH, EDGEWORTHSTOWN, IRELAND. + + EDINBURGH, 11th November, 1814. + +MADAM,--I am desired by the Author of Waverley to acknowledge, in his +name, the honor you have done him by your most flattering approbation +of his work--a distinction which he receives as one of the highest +that could be paid him, and which he would have been proud to have +himself stated his sense of, only that being _impersonal_, he thought +it more respectful to require my assistance than to write an anonymous +letter. + +There are very few who have had the opportunities that have been +presented to me, of knowing how very elevated is the admiration +entertained by the Author of Waverley for the genius of Miss +Edgeworth. From the intercourse that took place betwixt us while the +work was going through my press, _I know_ that the exquisite truth and +power of your characters operated on his mind at once to excite and +subdue it. He felt that the success of his book was to depend upon the +characters, much more than upon the story; and he entertained so just +and so high an opinion of your eminence in the management of both, as +to have strong apprehensions of any comparison which might be +instituted betwixt his picture and story and yours; besides, that +there is a richness and _naïveté_ in Irish character and humor, in +which the Scotch are certainly defective, and which could hardly fail, +as he thought, to render his delineations cold and tame by the +contrast. "If I could but hit Miss Edgeworth's wonderful power of +vivifying all her persons, and making them live as _beings_ in your +mind, I should not be afraid:"--Often has the Author of Waverley used +such language to me; and I knew that I gratified him most when I could +say,--"Positively this _is_ equal to Miss Edgeworth." You will thus +judge, Madam, how deeply he must feel such praise as you have bestowed +upon his efforts. I believe he himself thinks the Baron the best drawn +character in his book--I mean the Bailie--honest Bailie Macwheeble. He +protests it is the most _true_, though from many causes he did not +expect it to be the most popular. It appears to me, that amongst so +many splendid portraits, all drawn with such strength and truth, it is +more easy to say which is your favorite, than which is best. Mr. Henry +Mackenzie agrees with you in your objection to the resemblance to +Fielding. He says you should never be forced to recollect, _maugre_ +all its internal evidence to the contrary, that such a work is a work +of fiction, and all its fine creations but of air. The character of +Rose is less finished than the author had at one period intended; but +I believe the characters of humor grew upon his liking, to the +prejudice, in some degree, of those of a more elevated and sentimental +kind. Yet what can surpass Flora, and her gallant brother? + +I am not authorized to say--but I will not resist my impulse to say to +Miss Edgeworth, that another novel, descriptive of more ancient +manners still, may be expected erelong from the Author of Waverley. +But I request her to observe, that I say this in strict +confidence--not certainly meaning to exclude from the knowledge of +what will give them pleasure, her respectable family. + +Mr. Scott's poem, The Lord of the Isles, promises fully to equal the +most admired of his productions. It is, I think, equally powerful, and +certainly more uniformly polished and sustained. I have seen three +cantos. It will consist of six. + +I have the honor to be, Madam, with the utmost admiration and respect, + +Your most obedient and most humble servant, + + JAMES BALLANTYNE. + + +Footnotes of the Chapter XXXIII. + +[96: The Scotts of Scotstarvet, and other families of the +name in Fife and elsewhere, claim no kindred with the great clan of +the Border--and their armorial bearings are different.] + +[97: Lord Byron writes to Mr. Moore, August 3, 1814: "Oh! I +have had the most amusing letter from Hogg, the Ettrick Minstrel and +Shepherd. I think very highly of him as a poet, but he and half of +these Scotch and Lake troubadours are spoilt by living in little +circles and petty coteries. London and the world is the only place +to take the conceit out of a man--in the milling phrase. Scott, he +says, is gone to the Orkneys in a gale of wind, during which wind, +he affirms, the said Scott, he is sure, is not at his ease, to say +the least of it. Lord! Lord! if these home-keeping minstrels had +crossed your Atlantic or my Mediterranean, and tasted a little open +boating in a white squall--or a gale in 'the Gut,'--or the Bay of +Biscay, with no gale at all--how it would enliven and introduce them +to a few of the sensations!--to say nothing of an illicit amour or +two upon shore, in the way of Essay upon the Passions, beginning +with simple adultery, and compounding it as they went along."--_Life +and Works_, vol. iii. p. 102. Lord Byron, by the way, had written on +July the 24th to Mr. Murray, "_Waverley_ is the best and most +interesting novel I have redde since--I don't know when," +etc.--_Ibid._ p. 98.] + +[98: Mr. Grieve was a man of cultivated mind and generous +disposition, and a most kind and zealous friend of the Shepherd.] + +[99: Major Riddell, the Duke's Chamberlain at Branksome +Castle.] + +[100: See letter to Mr. Morritt, _ante_, p. 120.] + +[101: This alludes to some mummery in which David Hinves, +of merry memory, wore a Caliban-like disguise. He lived more than +forty years in the service of Mr. W. S. Rose, and died in it last +year. Mr. Rose was of course extremely young when he first picked up +Hinves--a bookbinder by trade, and a preacher among the Methodists. +A sermon heard casually under a tree in the New Forest had such +touches of good feeling and broad humor, that the young gentleman +promoted him to be his valet on the spot. He was treated latterly +more like a friend than a servant by his master, and by all his +master's intimate friends. Scott presented him with a copy of all +his works; and Coleridge gave him a corrected (or rather an altered) +copy of _Christabel_, with this inscription on the flyleaf: "DEAR +HINVES,--Till this book is concluded, and with it '_Gundimore_, a +poem, by the same author,' accept of this _corrected_ copy of +_Christabel_ as a _small_ token of regard; yet such a testimonial as +I would not pay to any one I did not esteem, though he were an +emperor. Be assured I shall send you for your private library every +work I have published (if there be any to be had) and whatever I +shall publish. Keep steady to the FAITH. If the fountain-head be +always full, the stream cannot be long empty. Yours sincerely, + + S. T. COLERIDGE." + +11th November, 1816--Muddeford. + +Mr. Rose imagines that the warning, "keep steady to the faith," was +given in allusion to Ugo Foscolo's "supposed license in religious +opinions."--_Rhymes_ (Brighton, 1837), p. 92.--(1839.)] + +[102: Garrick's Epilogue to _Polly Honeycombe_, 1760.] + +[103: ["Except the first opening of the _Edinburgh Review_, +no work that has appeared in my time made such an instant and +universal impression. It is curious to remember it. The unexpected +newness of the thing, the profusion of original characters, the +Scotch language, Scotch scenery, Scotch men and women, the +simplicity of the writing, and the graphic force of the +descriptions, all struck us with an electric shock of delight. I +wish I could again feel the sensations produced by the first year of +these two Edinburgh works. If the concealment of the authorship of +the novels was intended to make mystery heighten their effect, it +completely succeeded. The speculations and conjectures, and nods and +winks, and predictions and assertions were endless, and occupied +every company, and almost every two men who met and spoke in the +street. It was proved by a thousand indications, each refuting the +other, and all equally true in fact, that they were written by old +Henry Mackenzie, and by George Cranstoun, and William Erskine, and +Jeffrey, and above all by Thomas Scott.... But 'the great unknown' +as the true author was then called, always took good care, with all +his concealment, to supply evidence amply sufficient for the +protection of his property and his fame; in so much that the +suppression of the name was laughed at as a good joke not merely by +his select friends in his presence, but by himself. The change of +line, at his age, was a striking proof of intellectual power and +richness. But the truth is that these novels were rather the +outpourings of old thoughts than new inventions."--Lord Cockburn's +_Memorials of His Time_.]] + +[104: [Miss Edgeworth wrote from Edgeworthstown, October +23, 1814, addressing her letter to the Author of _Waverley_ (see +_Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth_, vol. i. pp. 239-244):-- + + _Aut Scotus, aut Diabolus._ + +We have this moment finished _Waverley_. It was read aloud to this large +family, and I wish the author could have witnessed the impression it +made--the strong hold it seized of the feelings both of young and +old--the admiration raised by the beautiful description, of nature--by +the new and bold delineations of character--the perfect manner in which +every character is sustained in every change of situation from first to +last, without effort, without the affectation of making the persons +speak in character--the ingenuity with which each person introduced in +the drama is made useful and necessary to the end--the admirable art +with which the story is constructed and with which the author keeps his +own secrets till the proper moment when they should be revealed, whilst +in the mean time, with the skill of Shakespeare, the mind is prepared by +unseen degrees for all the changes of feeling and fortune, so that +nothing, however extraordinary, shocks us as improbable; and the +interest is kept up to the last moment. We were so possessed with the +belief that the whole story and every character in it was real, that we +could not endure the occasional addresses from the author to the reader. +They are like Fielding; but for that reason we cannot bear them, we +cannot bear that an author of such high powers, of such original genius, +should for a moment stoop to imitation. This is the only thing we +dislike, these are the only passages we wish omitted in the whole work; +and let the unqualified manner in which I say this, and the very +vehemence of my expression of this disapprobation, be a sure pledge to +the author of the sincerity of all the admiration I feel for his genius. + +I have not yet said half we felt in reading the work. The characters +are not only finely drawn as separate figures, but they are grouped +with great skill, and contrasted so artfully, and yet so naturally, +as to produce the happiest dramatic effect and at the same time to +relieve the feelings and attention in the most agreeable manner. The +novelty of the Highland world which is discovered to our view +excites curiosity and interest powerfully; but though it is all new +to us it does not embarrass or perplex, or strain the attention. We +never are harassed by doubts of the probability of any of these +modes of life; though we did not know them, we are quite certain +they did exist exactly as they are represented. We are sensible that +there is a peculiar merit in the work which is in a measure lost +upon us, the dialects of the Highlanders and Lowlanders, etc. But +there is another and a higher merit with which we are as much struck +and as much delighted as any true-born Scotchman could be: the +various gradations of Scotch feudal character, from the high-born +chieftain and the military baron, to the noble-minded lieutenant +Evan Dhu, the robber Bean Lean, and the savage Callum Beg. The +Pre--the Chevalier is beautifully drawn,-- + + "A prince: aye, every inch a prince!" + +His polished manners, his exquisite address, politeness, and +generosity, interest the reader irresistibly, and he pleases the +more from the contrast between him and those who surround him. I +think he is my favorite character; the Baron Bradwardine is my +father's. He thinks it required more genius to invent, and more +ability uniformly to sustain, this character than any one of the +masterly characters with which the book abounds. There is indeed +uncommon art in the manner in which his dignity is preserved by his +courage and magnanimity, in spite of all his pedantry and his +_ridicules_.... I acknowledge that I am not as good a judge as my +father and brothers are of his recondite learning and his law Latin, +yet I feel the humor, and was touched to the quick by the strokes of +generosity, gentleness, and pathos in this old man, who is, by the +bye, all in good time worked up into a very dignified father-in-law +for the hero.... + +Jinker, in the battle, pleading the cause of the mare he had sold to +Balmawhapple, and which had thrown him for want of the proper bit, +is truly comic; my father says that this and some other passages +respecting horsemanship could not have been written by any one who +was not master both of the great and little horse. + +I tell you without order the great and little strokes of humor and +pathos just as I recollect, or am reminded of them at this moment by +my companions.... Judging by our own feeling as authors, we guess +that he would rather know our genuine first thoughts, than wait for +cool second thoughts, or have a regular eulogium or criticism put in +the most lucid manner, and given in the finest sentences that ever +were rounded. + +Is it possible that I have got thus far without having named Flora +or Vich Ian Vohr--the last Vich Ian Vohr! Yet our minds were full of +them the moment before I began this letter; and could you have seen +the tears forced from us by their fate, you would have been +satisfied that the pathos went to our hearts. Ian Vohr from the +first moment he appears, till the last, is an admirably drawn and +finely sustained character--new, perfectly new to the English +reader--often entertaining--always heroic--sometimes sublime. The +gray spirit, the Bodach Glas, thrills us with horror. _Us!_ What +effect must it have upon those under the influence of the +superstitions of the Highlands?... + +Flora we could wish was never called Miss MacIvor, because in this +country there are tribes of vulgar Miss Macs, and this association +is unfavorable to the sublime and beautiful of your Flora--she is a +true heroine.... There is one thing more we could wish changed or +omitted in Flora's character.... In the first visit to her, where +she is to sing certain verses, there is a walk, in which the +description of the place is beautiful, but too long, and we did not +like the preparation for a scene--the appearance of Flora and her +harp was too like a common heroine; she should be far above all +stage effect or novelist's trick. + +These are, without reserve, the only faults we found or can find in +this work of genius. We should scarcely have thought them worth +mentioning, except to give you proof positive that we are not +flatterers. Believe me, I have not, nor can I convey to you the full +idea of the pleasure, the delight we have had in reading _Waverley_, +nor of the feeling of sorrow with which we came to the end of the +history of persons whose real presence had so filled our minds--we +felt that we must return to the flat realities of life, that our +stimulus was gone, and we were little disposed to read the +"Postscript, which should have been a Preface." + +"Well, let us hear it," said my father, and Mrs. Edgeworth read on. + +Oh! my dear sir, how much pleasure would my father, my mother, my +whole family as well as myself have lost, if we had not read to the +last page! And the pleasure came upon us so unexpectedly--we had +been so completely absorbed that every thought of ourselves, of our +own authorship, was far, far away. + +Thank you for the honor you have done us, and for the pleasure you +have given us, great in proportion to the opinion we had formed of +the work we had just perused--and believe me, every opinion I have +in this letter expressed was formed before any individual in the +family had peeped to the end of the book or knew how much we owed +you. + + Your obliged and grateful MARIA EDGEWORTH.] + + + + +END OF VOLUME FOUR + +[Transcriber's note: Only obvious printer's errors have been +corrected (e.g.: 3 s instead of 2, etc.). The author's spelling has +been maintained and inconsistencies have not been standardised.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter +Scott, Volume 4 (of 10), by John Gibson Lockhart + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42062 *** |