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diff --git a/44435-0.txt b/44435-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6deec3c --- /dev/null +++ b/44435-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2210 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44435 *** + +THE CENTENARY GARLAND + +Being Pictorial Illustrations Of The Novels Of Sir Walter Scott, + +In Their Order Of Publication. + +By George Cruikshank, and Other Artists of Eminence. + +With Descriptions, Memoir, Etc. + +Edinburgh: + +William P. Nimmo. + +1871. + + + Who comes, alone, with soul of fire, + And in his hand the Border lyre? + He sweeps the strings, and in his strain + Old times and manners live again; + 'Tis Scott! great Master of his art, + He fires, subdues, or storms the heart! + Rapt by the magic of his rhymes, + I seem to live in feudal times; + I hear the swelling bugle's call, + And see the warder on the wall; + And many a squire, and many a knight, + In mail and gloves of steel bedight, + Impatient for the fiery fight. + + Captain Charles Gray. + + The land was charm'd to list his lays; + It knew the harp of ancient days. + The Border chiefs, that long had been + In sepulchres unhearsed and green, + Passed f rom their mouldy vaults away, + In armour red and stern array, + And by their moonlight halls were seen, + In visor helm, and habergean. + Even fairies sought our land again, + So powerful was the magic strain. + + The Ettrick Shepherd. + +[Illustration: 009] + +[Illustration: 006] + +[Illustration: 011] + +PREFATORY NOTE, + +BY THE EDITOR. + +THE enthusiasm with which Scotsmen and others have hailed the proposal +to celebrate in public demonstration the Centenary of Sir Walter Scott's +birth, has suggested the publication of this little work. The Memoir +includes some interesting particulars omitted by preceding biographers; +while a history of the Scott Monument at Edinburgh has been prepared +from original materials. The illustrations are printed on stone by +Messrs Schenck & M'Farlane, from steel plates by artists of eminence. +The spirited etchings by Mr George Cruikshank will be especially +welcomed by the numerous admirers of that distinguished artist. It has +been the Editor's aim to produce a souvenir worthy of the occasion, and +he is inclined to believe that his intentions have been in some measure +realised. + +CHARLES ROGERS. + +Snowdoun Villa, + +Lewisham, Kent, + +June 1871. + + + + +MEMOIR. + +[Illustration: 014] + +ON the 15th of August 1771, at Edinburgh, it is believed, Sir Walter +Scott was born, but his birth does not seem to have been entered in +any Register. The _Scots Magazine_ recorded only births in families +of distinction, and Edinburgh newspapers had not yet begun to notify +domestic changes. The Kirk-session Registers of the capital were indeed +well kept, but parents who claimed for their children baptism in the +Established Church were those only who systematically enrolled the names +of their offspring in the Presbyterian Records. The father of the +great novelist, Walter Scott, Writer to the Signet, was a member of +the Scottish Episcopal Church, in which, doubtless, his children were +baptized. He therefore ignored the Presbyterian registers; yet it is +sufficiently singular that, albeit a man of business of good capacity, +he was not careful to secure elsewhere a record of his children's +births. + +Sir Walter was born in a house which has long ago disappeared; it stood +at the head of the College Wynd, and was removed to make room for the +northern front of the University buildings. On his father's side he +was descended from the Scotts of Harden, the elder branch of the great +Border sept of that name. In his personal aspects he much resembled +his paternal ancestry, his features being of the Saxon type, rugged, +massive, heavy,-almost stolid. Through his paternal grandmother, he +traced an old lineage in the Haliburtons of Newmains, a considerable +family of Berwickshire landowners. Of the Haliburtons he printed for +family use a volume of "Memorials," and he rejoiced, through his descent +from that sept, to possess a right of sepulture in Dryburgh Abbey. +On his mother's side, his progenitors were likewise respectable; his +maternal grandfather, Dr John Rutherford, was Professor of the Practice +of Physic in Edinburgh University, and his mother's brother, Dr Daniel +Rutherford, an eminent chemist, occupied the Chair of Botany. His mother +possessed a vigorous intellect, which she had successfully cultivated. +Of a family of twelve, six of whom survived infancy, Walter alone +evinced the possession of genius. Born a healthy child, he became +exposed to serious peril by being intrusted to a consumptive nurse. When +under two years old, he was seized with an illness which impaired the +use of his right limb, a misfortune which continued during his life. +With the view of restoring his strength, he was placed with his paternal +grandfather, Robert Scott, who rented the farm of Sandyknowe, near +Smailholm Tower, Roxburghshire. At Sandyknowe, he narrowly escaped +destruction through the violence of a servant who had become insane; +but he had afterwards to congratulate himself on having formed an early +acquaintance with rural scenes. No advantage arising to his lameness, +he was, in his fourth year, removed to Bath, where he remained some +time without experiencing benefit from the thermal waters. The three +following years were chiefly spent at Sandyknowe. In his eighth year he +returned to Edinburgh, with his mind largely stored with Border legends +derived from his grandmother, a person of romantic humour and sprightly +intelligence. At this period, Pope's translation of Homer, and the songs +of Ramsay's "Evergreen," were his favourite studies; he took delight +in reading aloud the more striking passages. In 1779 he was sent to +the High School, where he had the advantage of being taught by Mr Luke +Fraser, an able scholar, and Dr Adam, the erudite Rector. His scholastic +progress was not equal to his talents; he was devoted to romance, and +experienced greater pleasure in a country ramble, than in giving due +attention to the business of the class-room. As he became older, his +love of miscellaneous literature amounted to a passion; and as his +memory was singularly retentive, he accumulated a store of knowledge. + +On the completion of his High School attendances, he was sent to reside +with relatives at Kelso; and in this interesting locality his early +attachment to legendary lore experienced a revival. Returning to +Edinburgh, he, in October 1783, entered the University. Here his +progress was even less marked than it had been at school. Mr Dalzell, +the Professor of Greek, spoke of his hopeless incapacity. The Professor +survived to make reparation for prophesying so rashly. + +The aspirations of the future poet turned to a military life; but +his lameness interposed a barrier. At length he adopted a profession +suitable to his physical capabilities; in his fourteenth year he entered +into indentures with his father. + +To confinement at the desk, irksome to one of his peculiar tastes, he +was reconciled by the consideration that his fees enabled him to add to +his library. + +Rapid growth in a constitution which continued delicate till his +fifteenth year, led to his bursting a blood-vessel. While precluded from +active duty, being closely confined to his bed, and not allowed to exert +himself by speaking, he was yet permitted to read, a privilege of which +he largely availed himself. To complete his recovery, he was recommended +exercise on horseback; and in obeying his physician, he gratified his +own inclinations by visiting localities famous in history or tradition. +When his health was restored, he engaged in the study of law, which he +did seriously. After passing the requisite examinations, he was on the +10th July 1792, called to the Bar. At the age of twelve he had composed +some verses for his preceptor, Dr Adam; but he seems in early life to +have written little poetry, while his prose compositions lacked force +of thought and ease of diction. As an advocate his manner was not very +attractive, and both suitors and their agents had obtained the notion, +not quite unfounded, that the young barrister was more inclined to +literary than legal pursuits. Scott was not unconscious of the popular +judgment, and began to dream of independence in other spheres. He +thought of marriage. He courted unsuccessfully Miss Williamina Stuart, +whose mother had been his own mother's early friend, and who was +personally an heiress. She refused him, and with a heart stung +by disappointment, and ready to seek relief on the first fitting +opportunity, he at the rising of the Court in July 1797, joined a little +party of friends in a tour to Cumberland. Not long after, a charming +brunette at Gilsland Spa arrested his fancy and stole his affection. She +was an attractive young Frenchwoman, a ward of Lord Downshire, and under +the temporary protection of a respected English clergyman. After a +short acquaintance Scott proposed and was accepted. He was married in St +Mary's Church, Carlisle, on the 24th December 1797. With less haste he +might have married more advantageously. As it was, he was now free from +any apprehension about the means of living, for his wife, Charlotte +Charpentier, possessed an annuity of £200. His own finances were +materially increased in 1800, when he became Sheriff of Selkirkshire, +with a salary of £300. + +While in his father's office Scott had studied French and Italian, and +made himself familiar with the writings of Tasso and Ariosto. Afterwards +he obtained an acquaintance with German ballad poetry, through the +translations of Mr Lewis. In 1796, he made his _début_ as an author, by +publishing translations of "Lenoré" and "The Wild Huntsman" of Bürger. +The attempt was unsuccessful. A second time he essayed his skill as a +translator, by publishing in 1799, an English version of Goethe's "Goetz +of Berlichingen." It was better received, but his fame was destined to +rest on a more substantial basis than on the art of translation. + +The ballads and songs of the south of Scotland, preserved among the +peasantry, had at an early period occupied his attention. He now made +excursions to Liddesdale in quest of these interesting remains; and the +fruits of his research, along with much curious information, he gave to +the world in 1802, in two octavo volumes, entitled "Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border."' He afterwards added a third volume, consisting of +imitations of ancient ballads, composed by himself and others. These +volumes were issued from the printing press of his early friend, James +Ballantyne of Kelso, who had already begun to indicate his skill as a +typographer. + +In 1804, he published from the Auchinleck Manuscript, the ancient +metrical tale of "Sir Tristrem." In an introduction, he endeavoured to +show that it was composed by Thomas of Ercildoune, better known as _the +Rhymer._ "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," a ballad poem, appeared from +his pen in 1805, and obtaining an extensive circulation, procured for +him poetical fame and an immediate profit of £600. + +Scott's prosperity rose with his reputation. In 1806 he was appointed +a principal clerk in the Court of Session, an office which afterwards +yielded him £1200 per annum. To literary work he henceforth dedicated +the intervals of leisure. In 1808 he produced "Marmion," his second +great poem, which brought him £1000, and materially increased his fame. +During the same year he edited the works of Dryden, in eighteen volumes. +In 1809 he edited the "State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler," +and became a contributor to the "Edinburgh Annual Register," conducted +by Southey. "The Lady of the Lake," the most happily-conceived of his +poetical works, appeared in 1810; "Don Roderick," in 1811; "Rokeby," in +1813; and "The Lord of the Isles," in 1814. "Harold the Dauntless," and +"The Bridal of Triermain," appeared subsequently. + +After the publication of "Marmion," Mr Alexander Gibson Hunter of +Blackness, partner in the publishing house of Constable & Co., a +gentleman of superior culture, entreated the author to dedicate his +talents to prose fiction, with the prediction that he would in this +department attain an eminence unrivalled in literature.* Scott did not +readily accept the proffered counsel; he dreaded that by sailing in +unexplored waters he might make shipwreck of his poetical laurels. A +prose tale which he had commenced in 1805, was on this account laid +aside; and when it was again taken up and completed, and under the title +of "Waverley" given to the world, it was without the authors name. +This was in 1814, when Sir Walter was in his 43rd year. "Waverley" +sold slowly at first, but after some favourable criticisms the +demand steadily increased till twelve thousand copies were put into +circulation. Having attained such an earnest of success as a writer +of fiction, he chose in this department to maintain his original +_incognito_, abundantly content to rest his personal distinction on his +celebrity as a poet. The author of "Waverley" accordingly soon passed +into "The Great Unknown;" and the rapidity with which this mysterious +character produced a succession of entertaining romances became one of +the marvels of the age; while attempts to withdraw the curtain which +concealed his individuality proved comparatively unavailing. Each year +gave birth to one-often two-novels, of a class infinitely superior to +the romances of the past age, and all having reference to the manners +and customs of the most interesting and chivalrous periods of Scottish +or British history. Subsequent to the publication of "Guy Mannering" and +"The Antiquary," in 1815 and 1816, and as an expedient to sustain public +interest, a series of novels was commenced, under the title of "Tales of +my Landlord," these being professedly written by a different author; +but this resort was afterwards abandoned. Every romance by the author +of "Waverley" awakened renewed enthusiasm, and commanded a universal +circulation throughout Britain and America. In 1814 Scott published +an edition of Swift's works in nineteen octavo volumes. For some years +after his marriage he occupied a cottage at Lasswade; in 1804 he +removed to Ashestiel, a mansion situated on the banks of the Tweed, near +Innerleithen, where for several years he continued to reside during +the vacation of the Court. His ruling desire was, to acquire an +ample demesne, and thus to realise in his own person, and by his +representatives, somewhat of the territorial importance of those old +barons, whose wassails and feuds he delighted to celebrate. To attain +such a distinction he was prepared to incur many sacrifices; nor +in comparison did he value the highest literary honours. In 1811 he +purchased, on the south bank of the Tweed, near Melrose, the little farm +of _Clarty Hole_, the first portion of that estate which under the name +of Abbotsford has become indelibly associated with his name. The soil +was wet and unpromising, but by a course of agricultural appliances the +place began to display considerable amenities. The mansion, a curious +amalgamation of different styles of Scottish manorial architecture, +was partly built in 1811, and gradually extended with the increasing +emoluments of the owner. By successive purchases the Abbotsford property +was increased till the rental amounted to about £700 a year, a return +not too great for an expenditure of at least £50,000. + + * See Letter from Archibald Constable to Mr Hunter's son, + David Hunter, Esq., now of Blackness, dated "Edinburgh, 26th + March 1825: Century of Scottish Life, Edinb. 1871, pp. 82, + 83." Mr A. G. Hunter of Blackness died on the 9th March + 1812, aged forty-one. His remains were interred in the + Greyfriars Churchyard. + +At Abbotsford Scott maintained the character of a country gentleman. He +was visited by distinguished persons from the sister kingdom, from the +Continent, and from America, all of whom he elegantly entertained. +Nor did his constant intercourse with his visitors interfere with the +regular prosecution of his literary labours: he rose at six, and engaged +in composition till breakfast, and afterwards till one o'clock. While in +the country he devoted the rest of the day to exercise on horseback, the +superintendence of improvements on his estate, and the entertainment of +his guests. In March 1820, George IV., to whom he was personally known, +and who was a warm admirer of his genius, created him a baronet, the +first titular honour which he bestowed after his accession. Besides the +works enumerated, he had already given to the world his romances of "The +Black Dwarf," "Old Mortality," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," +"The Bride of Lammermoor," "A Legend of Montrose," and "Ivanhoe." The +attainment of the baronetcy stimulated him to increased literary ardour. +"Ivanhoe" appeared early in 1820, and during the same year he produced +"The Monastery" and "The Abbot;" and in the beginning of 1821, the +romance of "Kenilworth," being twelve volumes within twelve months. "The +Pirate" and "The Fortunes of Nigel" appeared in 1822; "Peveril of the +Peak" and "Quentin Durward" in 1823; "St Ronan's Well" and "Redgauntlet" +in 1824; and the "Tales of the Crusaders" in 1825. + +During the royal visit to Scotland in 1822, Sir Walter was, by general +consent, constituted Master of Ceremonies, and the duties he discharged +to the entire satisfaction of his sovereign and of the nation. But while +prosperity seemed to smile upon him with increasing lustre, adversity +hovered near. In 1826, Archibald Constable & Company, the publishers of +his works, became insolvent, involving in their bankruptcy the printing +firm of the Messrs Ballantyne, of which he was a partner. For the sum of +£120,000, Sir Walter was found to be individually responsible. On a +mind less securely balanced, the wrecked hopes of a lifetime would have +produced irretrievable despondency; but Sir Walter bore his misfortune +with magnanimous resignation. To both the establishments which had +involved him in their fall, he had been largely indebted, and he felt +bound in honour, not less than by legal obligation, fully to discharge +his debt. An offer by the creditors to accept a composition he +declined, and claiming only to be allowed time, applied himself to his +undertaking, with the full determination, if his life was spared, to +cancel every obligation. At the crisis of his embarrassments, he +was engaged in the composition of "Woodstock," which soon afterwards +appeared. The "Life of Napoleon," which had for a considerable time +occupied his attention, was published in 1827, in nine octavo volumes. +In the course of preparing it, he visited London and Paris in search of +materials. In the same year he produced "Chronicles of the Canongate," +first series; and in the year following, the second series of those +charming tales, and the first portion of his "Tales of a Grandfather." A +second portion of these latter tales appeared in 1829, and the third +and concluding series in 1830, when he also contributed a "History of +Scotland," in two volumes, to "Lardner's Cyclopedia." In 1829 likewise +appeared "Anne of Geierstein," and in 1830 the "Letters on Demonology +and Witchcraft." In 1831 he produced a series of "Tales on French +History," uniform with the "Tales of a Grandfather," and his novels +"Count Robert of Paris," and "Castle Dangerous," as a fourth series of +"Tales of my Landlord." Other productions of less importance appeared +from his pen: he contributed to the _Edinburgh Review_, during the first +year of its existence; wrote the articles "Chivalry," "Romance," and +"Drama," for the sixth edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica;" and +during his latter years frequently contributed to the _Quarterly +Review_. + +At a public dinner in Edinburgh, for the benefit of the Theatrical Fund, +on the 23d of February 1827, Sir Walter first publicly avowed himself +author of the Waverley Novels-an announcement which scarcely took the +public by surprise. His physical energies were now suffering a rapid +decline, and in his increasing infirmities, and liability to sudden and +severe attacks of pain, and even of unconsciousness, it became evident +to his friends that in the praiseworthy effort to liquidate his +obligations he was sacrificing his health. Those apprehensions proved +not without foundation. In the autumn of 1831, his health became so +lamentably broken, that his medical advisers recommended a residence +in Italy, and entire cessation from mental labour, as the only means +of restoring his energies. This counsel came too late; the patient +proceeded to Naples, and afterwards to Rome, but experiencing no benefit +from the change, he was rapidly conveyed home in the following summer, +in obedience to his own express wish, that he might close his eyes at +Abbotsford. The wish was gratified; he arrived at Abbotsford on the 11th +of July 1832, and survived till the 21st of the ensuing September. As +he had desired, his remains were interred in an aisle of Dryburgh Abbey, +which had belonged to his ancestors, and had been specially granted him +by the Earl of Buchan. A massive block of marble rests upon the grave, +in juxtaposition with another which has been laid on that of Lady Scott, +who died in May 1826. + +In stature, Sir Walter Scott was above six feet; but his form which had +otherwise been commanding, was marred by the lameness of his right +limb, which caused him considerably to limp, and ultimately to walk with +difficulty. His countenance, so correctly represented in his portraits +and busts, was remarkable for depth of forehead; his features have been +described. His eyes, covered with thick eyelashes, were dull, unless +animated by congenial conversation. He was of a fair complexion; and +his hair, originally sandy, became grey after a severe illness which +he suffered in his forty-eighth year. His conversation abounded in +anecdotes of the old times. His memory treasured up accurately, and +could readily recall, all that he had read. In fertility of invention he +surpassed all his contemporaries. As a poet, if he does not possess the +graceful elegance of Campbell and the fervid energy of Byron, he +excels the latter in purity of sentiment, and the former in vigour of +conception. His style was well adapted for the composition of lyric +poetry; but as he had no ear for music, his songs are few. Several of +them have been set to music, and are frequently sung. But Sir Walter's +skill as a poet, great as it is, has been eclipsed by his power as a +writer of fiction; the _Waverley_ Novels will be forgotten only when +the English language is disused. A cabinet edition of his novels, +illustrated with elegant engravings, appeared in forty-eight volumes +shortly before his decease. Numerous editions were issued by Mr Cadell; +and Messrs Adam and Charles Black, the present possessors of the +copyright, have distinguished themselves not only by producing several +elegant library editions, but by placing within reach of the humblest +artisan those instructive, interesting, and admirable works. From a +gentleman, who was many years manager of Mr Cadell's publishing house, +we have received some details respecting the production of Sir Walter's +publications, which seem worthy of being recorded. Down to October 1856 +there had, writes our informant, been printed of his Works and Life, +7,967,369 volumes, in which had been used 99,592 reams of paper, +weighing 1245 tons. Mr Cadell's "People's Editions" exhausted 227,631 +reams, or 2848 tons. The gross weight of paper in Mr Cadell's original +and cheap editions amounted to 4093 tons. The sheets of paper used in +the entire works were 106,542,438, which, laid side by side, would cover +3363 square miles. + +Sir Walter Scott lived at a period when indifference to religion among +men of letters, even in Scotland, was by no means uncommon, and many of +his contemporaries were, it is to be feared, most imperfectly +influenced with proper views of Christian obligation. With sentiments of +indifference on a theme so important, Sir Walter had no sympathy. While +contemning sectarian exclusiveness, and abhorring superstition, he was +zealous in maintaining sound Scriptural doctrine, and he discouraged the +utterance of every sentiment which savoured of profanity or bordered on +scepticism. His "Religious Discourses," published anonymously, indicate +deep moral earnestness, while his hymn on the "Day of Judgment" attests +the sincerity of his devotion. + +Desirous that these brief memorials might contain some additional +testimony to the religious earnestness of one who occupies so prominent +a place in national and literary history, we requested our venerated +friend Dean Ramsay to state his impressions of Sir Walter's personal +bearing during his residence at Abbotsford after Lady Scott's death, and +before her funeral. To our request the Dean, with his usual courtesy, +acceded. He writes thus: + +"You ask me the impression left on my mind by my visit to Abbotsford on +the occasion of Lady Scott's death. It is indeed a very easy and a very +pleasing office to give you that impression. I could not but feel all +the time I was there that our great Sir Walter was as much to be loved +for the qualities of his heart as he had been admired for the high gifts +of his intellect and his genius. He displayed throughout the whole time +the subdued and calm spirit of a Christian mourner. There was manifest +an entire acquiescence in the wisdom and goodness of his heavenly +Father, who had bereaved him of the wife and companion of his early +years. His kind, gentle manner to his domestics; his devoted attention +to his daughter, who was in deep distress; his serious appearance during +the funeral service; his own proposal in the evening to have domestic +worship, and his devotional manner at the time, have left a deep and +pleasing impression on my mind--the impression that I had witnessed +so much gentleness and so much right feeling, which, I could not but +perceive, were the genuine emotions of his heart. Sir Walter Scott was +one of the good and the great of his race and country." + +During his last illness, Sir Walter desired portions of the New +Testament and of the Church Service to be frequently read to him, and +when free of pain he repeated portions of the Scottish version of the +Psalms and of evangelical hymns. To Mr Lockhart, his son-in-law, he +said: "Be a good man-be virtuous-be religious-be a good man! Nothing +else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here." These were +among his last words. + +For sterling integrity, Sir Walter Scott requires no eulogy from his +biographer. To the effort to cancel his pecuniary obligations he fell a +martyr; while to his survivors it was a source of satisfaction to know +that, by his extraordinary exertions, the policy of life insurance +payable at his death, and the sum of £30,000 given by Mr Cadell for +copyrights, his debt was fully discharged. + +The object of his original ambition, Sir Walter did not attain: no +family of his descent and name has been planted at Abbotsford to point +to him as their founder. His children, two sons and two daughters, died +young. His eldest daughter, Sophia, married to Mr Lockhart, gave birth +to several children, all of whom are dead. Her only daughter married Mr +James Hope, Q.C., who has added to his patronymic the name of Scott, and +made Abbotsford his autumnal residence. Mrs Hope Scott died at Edinburgh +on the 26th October 1858, leaving three children. One child, a daughter, +Mary Monica, survives, Sir Walter's only living descendant. + +But Sir Walter has obtained posthumous honours far exceeding those of +establishing a landed family in Tweedside. His name is imperishable in +his works-of which the popularity is steadily on the increase. Nor have +his fellow-countrymen lacked in evincing their vigorous appreciation. +Besides several local memorials of respectable construction, the +most graceful monument ever raised by human instrumentality, has been +dedicated to his memory. + +An account of that monument will form no inappropriate sequel to the +present narrative. On the 24th day of September 1832, being the third +day after Sir Walter's death, a circular letter was issued convening a +meeting at the Rooms of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to consider +the best means of honouring his memory. At this meeting a committee was +appointed to arrange a convocation of the citizens. This took place on +the 5th of October, under the presidency of the Lord Provost, when a +resolution in favour of a national monument to Sir Walter, was moved by +the Duke of Buccleuch, and seconded by Lord Rosebery. Sir John Forbes, +Bart., announced that the Bank of Scotland and other banks in Edinburgh, +Sir Walter's creditors, would subscribe £500, in token of their +appreciation of the honourable feelings which induced the deceased +Baronet to dedicate his talents in insuring the full payment of his +debts. Differences arose as to the character of the monument By a +London Committee, of which the Bishop of Exeter and Sir Robert Peel were +conspicuous members, nearly £10,000 were collected. A portion of +this sum was embezzled by a young person unhappily intrusted with the +secretaryship. The balance, amounting to nearly £8000, was employed in +liquidating the debt on the library and museum at Abbotsford. At Glasgow +the subscriptions amounted to about £1200, and a handsome Corinthian +column, surmounted with a statue, has been erected in the chief square +of that city, which is likewise adorned with elegant monuments to royal +personages and national celebrities. + +In the market-place at Selkirk, a statue in freestone, by Handyside +Ritchie, commemorates Sir Walter in his capacity of Sheriff of "The +Forest." + +In November 1833, the Edinburgh committee had collected £5534, a sum +sufficient to insure the construction of a substantial cenotaph. The +question of a site arose next. Among those suggested were the space in +the Lawn Market, bounded on the east by St Giles' Church; the west end +of Princes Street opposite to St John's Church; the foot of St David +Street near Queen Street Gardens; the open space at Picardy Place; +the rocky angle at the north-east corer of the Calton Hill; Charlotte +Square, Moray Place, and Randolph Crescent. The committee suspended +their decision, and in thirty-two newspapers advertised for designs. +These were lodged with the secretary on the 1st September 1836. +Fifty-five were offered. For each of the three best the committee +adjudged prizes of fifty guineas. One of these bore the signature +"John Morvo," the name of a master mason, commemorated in the abbey of +Melrose. It was assumed by George Meikle Kemp, then a working joiner. +Kemp had studied the peculiarities of Gothic architecture in different +parts of the kingdom, and latterly added to his emoluments by +architectural sketching. + +The committee, not quite satisfied with any of the designs received, +advertised a second time. Among those who joined in the new competition +were Sir William Allan, David Roberts, R.A., and William H. Playfair, +the well-known architect. Kemp lodged his former design, considerably +amended. It was adopted by the committee on a majority of twenty-one to +ten, in April 1838. At the same time Mr John Steell, the distinguished +sculptor, was commissioned to prepare a marble statue of Sir Walter, +to be placed under the canopy of the structure. The site was fixed in +Princes Street, opposite to South St David Street. The architect +had designed the monument to reach the height of 180 feet, but the +committee's funds did not justify their proceeding on so large a scale. +In May 1840 an auxiliary committee undertook to procure the balance. + +An Act of Parliament securing the site having been obtained, the +foundation stone was, on the 15th August 1840, laid by Sir James Forrest +of Comiston, Bart., Lord Provost of the city, and Grand Master Mason. +A metallic plate deposited in the foundation stone bore the following +inscription, composed by Lord Jeffrey: "This graven plate, deposited in +the base of a votive building on the 15th day of August 1840, and never +likely to see the light again till all the surrounding structures are +crumbled to dust by the decay of time or by human or elemental violence, +may then testify to a distant posterity that his countrymen began on +that day to raise an effigy and architectural monument to the memory of +Sir Walter Scott, part., whose admirable writings were then allowed to +have given more delight and suggested better feeling to a larger class +of readers in every rank of society, than those of any other author, +with the exception of Shakspeare alone, and which were therefore thought +likely to be remembered long after this act of gratitude on the part of +the first generation of his admirers should be forgotten. He was born +at Edinburgh, 15th August 1771, and died at Abbotsford 21st September +1832." + +The monument was, at the cost of upwards of £1500, founded on the solid +rock, fifty-two feet under the level of Princes Street. It assumes the +form of a Gothic spire, and may be thus described. From each corner of a +raised platform of masonry rise elegantly clustered columns, from which +spring four grand Early English arches, which converge into a vaulted +roof crossing each other by ribbed groinings with beautifully-carved +bosses, and terminating in a richly ornamented pendant or drop centre. +The arches are successively supported by projecting buttresses also +arched upon clustered columns, and after ascending to the first gallery +spring into the open air to the height of ninety-eight feet, and +terminate in pinnacles carved with crockets and crowned with richly +ornamented finials. The connecting buttresses are decorated with large +niches adorned with brackets and canopies, and each of the abutment +towers at the height of the first gallery has two chaste and +tastefully-wrought gargoyles in the form of grotesque griffins. The +pilasters which separate the different clustered pillars that support +the roof of the structure, are crowned with finely-ornamented capitals, +containing likenesses of sixteen Scottish poets. + +The lateral towers are connected with the central one by means of flying +buttresses, and with spandrils and crockets. The four principal arches +and buttresses sustain an open trellis, which extends round the building +in front of the first gallery. On a level with this gallery is an +apartment used as a Waverley Museum. From the gallery rises the +principal tower. On each side is an arched window. A flying staircase +leads to the third gallery. Around are towers, buttresses, pinnacles, +arches, crockets, corbels and finials-in all the rich profusion of +Gothic architecture. On reaching the fourth gallery the view is grand in +the extreme. At each successive stage are elegantly-sculptured niches, +intended for statues illustrative of the poet's works. The height of the +Monument (increased beyond the original design) is two hundred feet six +inches above the level of Princes Street. It is ascended by 289 steps. + +The monumental statue under the canopy represents Sir Walter in a +sitting attitude, with the ample folds of a Scottish plaid hanging +loosely about him, and his favourite hound Maida at his feet. Mr Steell +has seized the moment when the great novelist has just recorded some of +his imperishable thoughts in the volume which is in his hand, and he has +communicated to the features a look of complete abstraction, while the +dog, as if startled by the closing of the book, is in the act of lifting +up its head to catch the expression of its master's countenance. The +statue was inaugurated in 1846. The block of marble from which it was +chiselled, contained 200 cubic feet, and weighed upwards of 25 tons. The +monument is constructed of sandstone from Binny Quarry. The funds raised +by the original and auxiliary committees amounted to £17,243, 4s. The +sum of £1871, 12s. 8d., was expended in procuring subscriptions. For the +statue, Mr Steell received £2000-eight small statues cost £179, 5s. +10d. a sum of £460, 3s. 5d. was lost by a contractor, and a railing was +constructed at the expense of £147, 13s. 6d. The balance, amounting to +£13,584, 8s. 6d., was expended in the monumental fabric. + +Persevering as were their labours, the auxiliary committee were unable +to procure funds sufficient to provide statues for all the niches. +Thirty niches are still unoccupied, but Mr James Ballantyne, the +esteemed Scottish poet, is now exerting himself to complete the work. +The sum of £2000, Mr Ballantyne believes, will suffice to provide the +remaining statues. + +On the memory of Sir Walter Scott is to be conferred a new honour. There +is to be a centenary celebration of his birth. All classes, including +the most illustrious, have resolved, on the hundredth anniversary of +his natal day, co testify their hearty appreciation. His praise will be +celebrated in every town--descanted on in every hamlet His poetry will +be rehearsed in scenes which his poetical descriptions have rendered +famous; and in every spot celebrated by his pen, flying banners and an +assembled population will testify to the potency of his' enchantment. +The keenest trader will for a time sacrifice before the shrine of +genius; abandoning his counting-house and his ledger to do reverence +to the memory of one whose writings have cheered his home circle, and +amidst corroding cares awakened within him pleasurable emotions. + +Nor may the ordinary caviller begrudge the tribute. Of these centenary +honours three Britons only have been deemed worthy; Shakspeare, Burns, +and Walter Scott. All these have exalted and purified human nature, +and, by the force and splendour of their genius, fitted mankind more +fully to appreciate and enjoy the forthgivings of a higher and nobler +inspiration. + +[Illustration: 026] + + + + +THE CENTENARY GARLAND. + + + + +WAVERLEY. + +IN the romance of "Waverley," the gifted author depicts the manners of +Scottish Highlanders at the period of the '45. The tale was sketched +out, and one-third written in 1805. Laid aside till 1811, it was then +resumed; it appeared anonymously in 1814. For the copyright, Constable +tendered £700, but the offer was declined on the ground that the sum +was too much should the novel prove a failure, and too little if it were +successful. The success exceeded the utmost expectations both of the +author and the publishers. + +In MacMurrough's Chant, Mr Daniel Maclise, R.A., represents a scene in +the twentieth chapter. Waverley is entertained at Glennaquoich by Fergus +Maclvor in the hall of his ancestor, _Ian-nan-Chaistel_, "John of the +Tower." The hall occupied all the first storey of the original erection, +and a huge oak table extended through its whole length. The company +was numerous, even to crowding. At the head of the table sat the +chief himself, with Waverley, and two or three Highland visitors +of neighbouring tribes; the elders of his own tribe, wadsetters and +tacksmen, who occupied portions of his estate, as mortgagers or +lessees, sat next in rank; beneath them, their sons and nephews, and +foster-brethren; then the officers of the chief's household, according +to their order; and lowest of all, the tenants.... Beyond this long +perspective, upon the green, to which a huge pair of folding doors +opened, might be seen a multitude of Highlanders of a yet inferior +description, who, nevertheless, were considered as guests, and had their +share both of the countenance of the entertainer and the cheer of the +day. In the distance, and fluctuating round the extreme verge of the +banquet, was a changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, beggars +young and old. + +[Illustration: 028] + +[Illustration: 029] + +The banquet was approaching its close, when the chief signalled the +piper to cease, and then exclaimed, "Where is the song hidden, my +friends, that MacMurrough cannot find it?" The _bhairdh_ took the hint, +and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a profusion of +Celtic verses. As he advanced in his declamation, his ardour seemed to +increase: he had at first spoken with eyes fixed on the ground; he now +cast them around, as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding attention; +and his tones rose into wild and impassioned notes, accompanied with +appropriate gestures. The poet's ardour communicated itself to the +audience; their wild and sun-burnt countenances assumed a fiercer and +more animated expression; all bent towards the reciter, many sprang up +and waved their arms in ecstasy, and some laid their hands upon their +swords. + +***** + +In the accompanying etching, Mr George Cruikshank represents the droll +scene where Mr Duncan Macwheeble is informed by Waverley of his present +fortune and future expectations, and of his intention to share all with +Miss Rose Bradwardine. Waverley had found the Bailie (Macwheeble) in his +office, and before him a large bicker of oatmeal porridge, with a horn +spoon and a bottle of twopenny, "while a potbellied Dutch bottle of +brandy which stood by, intimated that this honest limb of the law had +taken his morning already, or that he meant to season his porridge with +such digestive." At the instant Waverley revealed the secret of his +attachment to Miss Rose, he almost deprived the Bailie of his senses. He +started from his three-footed stool, like the pythoness from her tripod; +flung his best wig out of the window, because the block on which it was +placed stood in the way of his career; chucked his cap to the ceiling, +and caught it as it fell; whistled "Tullochgorum," danced a Highland +fling with inimitable grace and agility, and then threw himself, +exhausted, into a chair, exclaiming, "Lady Wauverley!-Ten thousand +a-year, the least penny!--Lord preserve my poor understanding!" + + + + +GUY MANNERING. + +GUY MANNERING, the second novel of the author of "Waverley" was composed +during six weeks preceding Christmas 1814. It appeared in the following +February in three small volumes, at the price of one guinea. The +edition, consisting of 2000 copies, was sold the day after publication, +and within three months, 5000 copies were circulated. The novel was +founded on a tale which Scott had received from an old Highlander, a +servant of his father, who related how that a grave and elderly person +being benighted while travelling in Galloway, had experienced the +hospitality of a country laird whose wife was on the eve of her +confinement. The stranger being informed of the exact minute of the +birth, made, by astrological signs, a remarkable augury respecting the +fortunes of the young stranger. Though based on the supernatural, "Guy +Mannering" embraces an interesting portraiture of Scottish life during +the early portion of the eighteenth century. One of the more conspicuous +characters is Dandie Dinmont, of Charlie's Hope, with his breed of +terriers, Auld Pepper, Auld Mustard, Young Pepper, Young Mustard, Little +Pepper, Little Mustard, and the others. From the fireside of the little +inn of Mumps Ha', Dandie carried away some uncomfortable surmises. These +were not removed by the several tall figures that appeared advancing +towards him. He advised Brown (Harry Bertram) not to wait for their +arrival, but to jump behind him on Dumple's back, and deprecated any +declinature under the circumstances. "Dumple could carry six folk," said +Dandie, "if his back were long enough; but, God's sake, haste ye, get +on, for I see some folk coming through the slack yonder, that it may be +just as weel no to wait for." Brown was of opinion that this apparition +of five or six men, with whom the other villains seemed to join company, +coming across the moss towards them, should abridge ceremony. He +therefore mounted Dumple, _en croup_, and the little spirited nag +cantered away with two men of great size and strength, as if they had +been children of six years old. The rider, to whom the paths of these +wilds seemed intimately known, pushed on at a rapid pace, managing with +much dexterity to choose the safest route, in which he was aided by the +sagacity of the Galloway, who never failed to take the difficult passes +exactly at the particular spot, and in the special manner by which they +could be most safely crossed. The scene of this adventure is graphically +delineated in the engraving. + +[Illustration: 032] + +[Illustration: 033] + +In his present etching, Mr George Cruikshank is eminently +characteristic. Dominie Sampson, as entreated by Mrs Bertram, had +undertaken the task of watching little Harry in his rambles. The worthy +Dominie was devoted to his charge, and was delighted with his success +in having brought him so far in his learning as to spell words of three +syllables. He dreaded the idea of the child being seized by gipsies; and +though the occupation essentially differed from his former mode of life, +he stalked about with young Harry, who, being only of five years, was +constantly rambling into awkward situations. Twice was the Dominie +pursued by a cross-grained cow, and at another time he plunged into a +brook in crossing it at the stepping-stones. At length he fell into the +peril depicted by the artist. In seeking to pluck a water-lily for the +young laird he fell into the slough of Lochend, in which he was bogged +up to the middle. In his plight he exclaimed as usual "Pro-di-gi-ous!" +amidst the laughter of the village matrons, one of whom offered her hand +to help him out. Another declared that "the laird might as weel trust +the care of his bairn to a potato-bogle." + + + + +THE ANTIQUARY. + +THE ANTIQUARY appeared in May 1816: it was commenced a little before +the close of the previous year. By the author it was regarded as less +interesting than its predecessors, but the public showed appreciation by +purchasing 6000 copies within six days of its publication. Like the two +former novels, it is a representation of various scenes and phases +of Scottish Life as contemplated by the author himself. In our first +engraving, Mr Oldbuck is on a visit at Elspeth's hut to inquire into +mysteries connected with the house of Glenallan, mysteries in which she +had been initiated, and crimes to which she had been accessory. He is +accompanied by his nephew and Edie Ochiltree, the latter having on one +occasion been dispatched by Elspeth with a message to Lord Glenallan. +"No, wretched Beldam," exclaimed Oldbuck, who could keep silence no +longer, "they drank the poison that you and your wretched mistress +prepared for them." + +"Ha, ha!" she replied, "I aye thought it would come to this; it's but +sitting silent when they examine,-there's nae torture in our days; +and if there is, let them rend me. It's ill o' the vassal's mouth that +betrays the bread it eats." + +"Speak to her, Edie," said the Antiquary, "she knows your voice, and +answers to it most readily." + +"We shall mak naething mair out o' her," said Ochiltree; "when she has +clinkit herself down that way, and faulded her arms, she winna speak a +word, they say, for weeks thegither. And besides, to my thinking, her +face is sair changed since we came in. However, I'll try her once more +to satisfy your honour. So you canna keep in mind, cummer, that your +auld mistress, the Countess Joscelin, has been removed?" + +"Removed!" she exclaimed, for that name never failed to produce its +usual effect upon her, "then we maun a' follow. A' maun ride when she is +in the saddle: tell them to let Lord Geraldin know we're on before them. +Bring my hood and scarf; ye wadna hae me gang in the carriage wi' my +leddy, and my hair in this fashion?" She raised her shrivelled arms, +and seemed busied like a woman who puts on her cloak to go abroad, then +dropped them slowly and stiffly; and the same idea of a journey still +floating apparently through her head, she proceeded in a hurried +and interrupted manner-"Call Miss Neville; what do you mean by Lady +Geraldine? I said Eveline Neville-not Lady Geraldine-there's no Lady +Geraldine; tell her that, and bid her change her wet gown, and no' look +so pale. Teresa-Teresa, my lady calls us! Bring a candle, the grand +staircase is as mirk as a yule midnight. We are coming, my lady!" With +these words she sunk back on the settle, and from thence sidelong to the +floor. Edie ran to support her, but hardly got her in his arms before he +said, "It's a' ower, she has passed away even with that last word." + +[Illustration: 036] + +[Illustration: 037] + +Mr Cruikshank has portrayed with his wonted humour the amusing scene at +the Post-Office, in which Mrs Heukbane and Mrs Shortcake are examining, +with eager countenances, the love-letter of Richard Taffrail to Jenny +Caxon. They threw themselves on the supposed love-letter, like the weird +sisters in Macbeth, upon the pilot's thumb, with curiosity as eager, +and scarcely less malignant. Mrs Heukbane was a tall woman; she held the +precious epistle up between her eyes and the window. Mrs Shortcake, a +little squat personage, strained and stood on tiptoe to have her share +of the investigation. "It's frae him sure enough," said the butcher's +lady; "I can read Richard Taffrail on the corner; and it's written, like +John Thomson's wallet, frae end to end.' + +"Haud it lower down, madam," exclaimed Mrs Shortcake, in a tone above +the prudential whisper which their occupation required; "haud it lower +down; div ye think naebody can read hand o' writ but yoursel'?" + +"Whisht, whisht," said Mrs Mail-letter, "there's somebody in the shop." + + + + +ROB ROY, + +THE romance of "Rob Roy" was composed in 1817, and published in January +of the following year. An edition of 10,000 disappeared in two weeks, +when a second impression was printed. Rob Roy and his wife, Bailie Nicol +Jarvie and his housekeeper, Die Vernon and Rashleigh Osbaldistone, +were all favourite characters; and the novel essentially sustained the +reputation of the "unknown" author. In the accompanying engraving, Mr +Melville has represented the lower section of Loch Lomond, the Queen of +Scottish lakes. On the right is presented the massive shoulder of Ben +Lomond, which raises its lofty head 3192 feet above the ocean's level, +while on the left extend the craggy forms of the Arrochar mountains. +With the promise of mutual aid and good will, Bailie Nicol Jarvie and +Frank Osbaldistone have parted with the Macgregor, and in their skiff +bear away from the shore towards the south western angle of the lake, +where it gives birth to the Leven. Rob Roy remained for some time +standing on the rock, from beneath which they had departed, conspicuous +by his long gun, waving tartans, and the single plume in his cap, which, +in those days, denoted the Highland gentleman and soldier, though the +present military taste has decorated the Highland bonnet with a quantity +of black plumage, resembling that which is borne before funerals. + +***** + +To every reader of "Rob Roy," the scene in Jeanie MacAlpine's +public-house, sketched by Mr Cruikshank, is abundantly familiar. Let +the scene be illustrated in the novelist's own words: "I (Frank +Osbaldistone) put myself in a posture of defence, and, aware of the +superiority of my weapon, a rapier or small sword, was little afraid of +the issue of the contest. The Bailie behaved with unexpected mettle: +as he saw the gigantic Highlander about to confront him with his weapon +drawn, he tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his _shabble_, as he +called it; but finding it loth to quit the sheath, to which it had long +been secured by rust and disuse, he seized, as a substitute, on the +red-hot coulter of a plough, which had been employed in arranging the +fire by way of a poker, and brandishing it with such effect, that at the +first pass he set the Highlander's plaid on fire, and compelled him to +keep a respectful distance, till he could get it extinguished. Andrew +Fairservice, who ought to have faced the Lowland champion, vanished +at the very commencement of the fray; but his antagonist, crying +'fair-play,' seemed courteously disposed to take no share in the +scuffle.' Osbaldistone's aim was to possess himself of his antagonist's +weapon, but he declined from closing with him through fear of a dirk +which he held in his left hand. The Bailie, notwithstanding the success +of his first onset, was sorely bested. The weight of his weapon, the +corpulence of his person, the very effervescence of his own passion, +were rapidly exhausting his strength and his breath, and he was almost +at the mercy of his antagonist, when up started the sleeping Highlander, +with his naked sword and target in his hand, and threw himself between +the discomfited magistrate and his assailant, exclaiming, 'Her ownsell +has eaten the town bread at the cross o' Glasgow; and by her troth, +she'll fight for Bailie Sharvie at the clachan of Aberfoil.'" + +[Illustration: 040] + +[Illustration: 041] + + + + +OLD MORTALITY. + +OLD MORTALITY commenced a series of novels which Scott entitled "Tales +of my Landlord." The title was a _sobriquet_ given to Robert Paterson, +an eccentric native of Dumfriesshire, who, during the latter portion of +the eighteenth century, repaired without recompence the tombstones +of the Covenanters in the southern counties; but the novel treats +of Scottish manners during the period when those commemorated by Old +Mortality were alive. It was published in December 1816, and within six +weeks two editions, each of two thousand, disappeared. + +In the sketch of the "Black Linn of Linklater," the artist has caught +the moment when Morton looked round him, and the girl, his companion, +pulled his sleeve, and pointing to the oak and the projecting rock +beyond it, indicated that there lay his farther passage. "He gazed +at her with surprise, for although he well knew that the persecuted +Presbyterians had sought refuge among dells and thickets, caves and +cataracts, in spots the most extraordinary and secluded, yet his +imagination had never exactly figured out the horrors of such a +residence..... He began to consider how he should traverse the doubtful +and terrific bridge, which, skirted by the cascade, and rendered wet and +slippery by its constant drizzling, traversed the chasm above sixty feet +from the bottom of the fall Fixing his eye on a stationary object on +the other side he resolved to attempt the passage...." The inhabitant of +this secluded retreat was Balfour of Burley, with whom he was desirous +of renewing an acquaintance, which had been broken off since the fight +of Bothwell Bridge. + +***** + +The scene of "Cuddie's leave-taking" has formed an appropriate subject +for the pencil of Mr Cruikshank. "Fare ye weel, Jenny," said Cuddie, +with a loud exertion of his lungs, intended, perhaps, to be a sigh, but +rather resembling a groan. "Ye'll think of puir Cuddie sometimes; an +honest lad that lo'es ye, Jenny! Ye'll think o' him now and then?" + +"Whiles-at brose time," answered the malicious damsel, unable either to +suppress the repartee, or the arch smile that attended it. Cuddie took +his revenge, as rustic lovers are wont, and as Jenny probably expected, +caught his mistress round the neck, kissed her cheeks and lips heartily, +and then turned his horse and trotted after his master. "Deil'sin the +fallow," said Jenny, wiping her lips, and adjusting her head-dress, "he +has twice the spunk o' Tam Halliday, after a'!-Coming, my leddy, coming. +Lord have a care o' us! I trust the auld leddy didna see us!" + +"Jenny," said Lady Margaret, as the damsel came up, "was not that young +man who commanded the party, the same who was captain of the popinjay, +and who was afterwards prisoner at Tillietudlem, on the morning +Claverhouse came there?" Jenny, happy that the query had no reference +to her own little matters, looked at her young mistress, to discover, if +possible, whether it was her cue to speak truth or not. Being unable to +catch any hint to guide her, she followed her instinct, and expressed +herself fictitiously. + +[Illustration: 044] + +[Illustration: 045] + +[Illustration: 046] + + + + +A LEGEND OF MONTROSE, + +THIS novel, one of the series of the "Tales of my Landlord," was +produced while the author was suffering from severe illness; and it was +passed through the press without his revision. It was, however, well +received by the public, and rapidly obtained a wide circulation. It is +chiefly founded on the melancholy fate of John, Lord Kilpont, eldest son +of William, Earl of Airth and Menteith, and the remarkable circumstances +which attended the birth and career of Stewart of Ardvoirlich, by whose +hand he fell. + +In the accompanying sketch, the artist has represented the meeting of +Lord Menteith and Dugald Dalgetty in the Pass of Leny, a picturesque +defile in Perthshire, of which the scenery is depicted in the "Lady of +the Lake." + +"The Pass" is approached from the low country by a road winding round +the base of Benledi. At a sudden bend of the road is disclosed Loch +Lubnaig, the source of the river which flows rapidly on the left. In the +background rises the massive summit of Benmore, overtopping the heights +of Balquhidder. Lord Menteith, accompanied by his two servants, one +leading a sumpter horse, had just wound round the projecting mountain, +which skirts the lake's northern shore, when he remarked a single +horseman coming down the shore as if to meet him. The stranger was +mounted on a powerful horse, and his rider occupied his war-saddle with +an air which showed it was his familiar seat. He wore a bright burnished +head-piece with a plume of feathers, together with a cuirass, thick +enough to resist a musket-ball. These defensive arms he wore over a +buff-jerkin, along with a pair of gauntlets, the tops of which reached +to his elbows. At the front of his saddle hung a case of pistols, nearly +two feet in length, and carrying bullets of twenty to the pound. A +buff belt, with a broad silver buckle, sustained on one side a long, +straight, double-edged sword, with a strong guard, and calculated either +to strike or push. On the right side hung a dagger of about eighteen +inches in length; a shoulder-belt sustained at his back a musketoon, +and was crossed by a bandalier containing his charges of ammunition. +Thigh-pieces of steel called taslets, met the top of his jack-boots, and +completed the equipage of Rittmaster Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket. + +[Illustration: 048] + +[Illustration: 049-050] + +Mr Cruikshank represents Captain Dalgetty's landing at Ardenvohr. The +boatman, seizing the Captain with rough civility, horsed him on the back +of a sturdy Highlander, and wading through the surf with him, landed him +on the beach under the Castle Rock. In the face of the rock appeared +the entrance of a low-browed cavern, toward which his attendants were +hurrying him, when Dalgetty, shaking himself from their grasp, insisted +upon seeing Gustavus, his horse, safely landed, before he proceeded a +step further. The Highlander could not comprehend what he meant, until +one who had picked up a little English, exclaimed, "Hout! it's a' +about her horse, ta useless baste." Farther remonstrance on the part +of Dalgetty was interrupted by the appearance of Sir Duncan Campbell +himself, from the mouth of the cavern, for the purpose of inviting +Captain Dalgetty to accept of the hospitality of Ardenvohr, pledging his +honour, at the same time, that Gustavus should be treated as became the +hero from whom he derived his name, not to mention the important +person to whom he now belonged. Notwithstanding this very satisfactory +guarantee, Captain Dalgetty would still have hesitated, had not two +Highlanders seized him by the arms, two more pushed him on behind, while +a fifth exclaimed, "Hout! awa' wi' the daft Sassenach! does she no hear +the Laird bidding her up to her ain castle, wi' her especial voice; and +isna' that very mickle honour for the like o' her?" + + + + +THE BLACK DWARF, + +THE tale of the "Black Dwarf" appeared in 1819. One of the "Tales of My +Landlord" series, it was founded on the character and peculiarities of +David Ritchie, a misshapen creature, popularly known as _Bow'd Davie_, +who lived on a wild moorland near Peebles, and who, from his deformed +aspects and uncouth manners, was an object of superstitious dread in +the locality. Mr Turner, the celebrated artist, has, in the accompanying +illustration, strikingly delineated a familiar scene in the novel. As +Earnscliff and Hobbie Elliott were crossing the common, the latter was +interrupted in certain protestations of heroism which he was uttering, +by the outline of a form seemingly human, but under the ordinary size, +moving among the grey stones which formed the buttress of the granite +column which they were approaching. The figure was descried by aid of +the moon, which, struggling with the clouds, shed a doubtful light upon +the scene. From time to time came a sort of indistinct muttering sound. +The entire spectacle so much resembled his idea of an apparition, that +Hobbie, making a dead pause, while his hair stood on end, whispered to +his companion, "It's Auld Ailie hersel'! shall I gi'e her a shot?" + +"For Heaven's sake, no," said Earnscliff, holding down the weapon, which +he was about to raise to the aim; "for Heaven's sake, no; it's some poor +distracted creature." + +In his etching Mr George Cruikshank has effectively represented the +strange interview between Hobbie Elliott and the Dwarf. It is described +by the novelist. "The Dwarf turned his rage on the young farmer, and +by a sudden effort, far more powerful than Hobbie expected from such a +person, freed his wrist from his grasp, and offered the dagger at his +heart All this was done in the twinkling of an eye, and the incensed +recluse might have completed his vengeance by plunging the weapon in +Elliott's bosom, had he not been checked by an internal impulse, +which made him hurl the knife at a distance. 'No! he exclaimed, as he +voluntarily deprived himself of the means of gratifying his rage; 'not +again-not again!' Hobbie retreated a step or two in great surprise, +discomposure, and disdain, at having been placed in such danger by an +object apparently so contemptible, exclaiming, 'The deil's in the body, +for strength and bitterness!'" + +[Illustration: 053] + +[Illustration: 054-55] + + + + +THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. + +THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN, one of the most popular of the Waverley +novels, appeared in June 1818. It is founded on the well-known incident +of Helen Walker, a woman in humble life, who refused to save her +sister's life when it rested upon her oath, but who, after her sister's +condemnation, undertook a foot journey to London, where, from the Duke +of Argyll, she procured a pardon and returned with it, again on foot, in +time to stay the execution. + +The accompanying illustration represents the death of Captain Porteous, +a leading event in the novel. The scene depicted is the Grassmarket of +Edinburgh. The opening to the right is the Cowgate, near which Porteous +was hanged. Beyond is Edinburgh Castle, occupying the summit of the +lofty rock which rises precipitously above the houses of the Old Town. +The mob having ascertained that the sentence of death passed upon +Captain Porteous would not be carried out, resolved to become his +executioners themselves; and bursting the prison doors, seized on the +unfortunate officer, whom they hurried to the place of execution. While +a gibbet was being prepared, Butler, the clergyman who had been pressed +into the service of the mob, endeavoured to dissuade them from their +desperate design. Porteous protested that what he had done fell out +in self-defence, in the lawful exercise of his duty; but the enraged +multitude were determined on his destruction. Separated from the unhappy +victim by the press, Butler hastened from the spot, and casting back a +terrified glance, discovered a figure struggling as it hung suspended +above the heads of the multitude, and could observe men striking at it +with their axes. + +***** + +Our other illustration is of a humorous character. Mr Cruikshank +represents the visit of the Laird of Dumbiedykes to Jeanie Deans. When +a change of residence, from Woodend to St Leonard's Crags, was resolved +upon, Jeanie concluded that she would be released from the visits of +Dumbiedykes, but in this expectation she was disappointed; for, on the +sixth day after her arrival, the laird appeared at St Leonard's, laced +hat, tobacco pipe, and all, and, with the self-same greeting of "How is +a' wi' you, Jeanie?" assuming nearly the same position as at Woodend. +With an unusual exertion of the powers of conversation, he added, +"Jeanie-I say-Jeanie, woman!" at the same time extending his hand +towards her shoulder, with all the fingers spread out as if to clutch +it, but in so awkward a manner, that when she whisked beyond its reach, +the paw remained suspended in the air with the palm open, like the claw +of a heraldic griffin. "Jeanie," continued the swain, in this moment of +inspiration, "I say, Jeanie, it's a braw day out-by, and the roads are +no that ill for boot-hose." + +"The deil's in that driv'ling body," muttered Jeanie, "wha wad hae +thought o' his daunerin' out this length?" for the landed proprietor +looked so unco gleg and canty, that she didna ken what he might be +coming out wi' next. + +[Illustration: 058] + +[Illustration: 059] + + + + +THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. + +BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR, one of the products of 1819, is founded on +a remarkable narrative, connected with the marriage of Miss Janet +Dalrymple, daughter of the first Lord Stair, who, without the parental +knowledge, engaged herself to the Lord Rutherford, but who subsequently +consented to abandon her noble lover, and accept the hand of David +Dunbar, younger of Baldoon, whose suit was supported by her parents. On +the 24th August 1669, shortly after the nuptial ceremony, the bridegroom +was found in the bridal chamber lying across the threshold, frightfully +wounded and streaming with blood. On a search, the bride was discovered +in the chimney-corner, dabbled in gore, and moping as an idiot; she +survived only two weeks. The bridegroom, who recovered from his wounds, +refused to answer any questions in relation to the tragedy; he was +killed by a fall from his horse in March 1682.* + + * The marriage contract of the Bride of Lammermoor has + lately been discovered at St Mary's Isle, the seat of the + Earl of Selkirk. His lordship is the representative of the + family of Dunbar of Baldoon, and has the family papers in + his possession. In arranging these he came upon the + contract. The four signatures are, David Dunbar the + bridegroom, Janet Dalrymple the bride, James Dalrymple, and + Baldoon, father of the bridegroom. James Dalrymple may have + been the bride's brother, who rode behind her to the church, + and whose dagger was used in the assault There is a little + tremor in the bride's signature. + +The accompanying illustration represents Fast Castle, the original +of Wolf's Crag, of which the proprietors, the Logans and Humes, were +conspicuous in Scottish history. Margaret of England, on her way to +join her husband, James IV, at Edinburgh, lodged a night in the castle. +"Yonder is Wolf's Crag," said Ravenswood, "and whatever it still +contains is at your service, Bucklaw." The roar of the sea had long +announced their approach to the cliff, on the summit of which, like the +nest of some sea-eagle, the founder of the fortalice had perched his +eyrie. The pale moon, which had hitherto been contending with flitting +clouds, now shone out, and gave them a view of the solitary and naked +tower, situated on a projecting cliff that beetled on the German Ocean. +On three sides the rock was precipitous; on the fourth, which was +towards the land, it had been originally fenced by an artificial ditch +and drawbridge, but the latter was broken down and ruinous, and the +former had been in part filled up, so as to allow a passage for a +horseman into the narrow courtyard, encircled on two sides by low +offices and stables partly ruinous, and closed on the landward front +by a low embattled wall, while the remaining side of the quadrangle +was occupied by the tower, built of a greyish stone, glimmering in the +moonlight like the sheeted spectre of some huge giant. A wilder or +more disconsolate dwelling, it was perhaps difficult to conceive. The +sombrous and heavy sound of the billows successively dashing against +a rocky beach at a profound distance beneath, was to the ear what +the landscape was to the eye, a symbol of unvaried and monotonous +melancholy. + +[Illustration: 062-063] + +[Illustration: 064] + +Mr Cruikshank has successfully depicted the humorous spectacle of Caleb +Balderstone snatching provisions for his master's table. Dame Lightbody +expected a number of guests to the christening of her "bit wean," when +Caleb entered. There bubbled on the bickering fire a huge caldron, while +before it revolved two spits, one loaded with a quarter of mutton, +the other with a fat goose and a brace of wild ducks. Caleb turned to +reconnoitre as the mother and grandmother hastened to attend the hero of +the evening in a remote corner. Sending one of the youthful turnspits for +"snishing," Caleb, not apprehending danger from the other, lifted up +the spit bearing the wild-fowl, put on his hat, and marched off with +the plunder. The boy at the spit was so bewildered that he became +motionless, and suffered the mutton to burn as black as a coal. + + + + +IVANHOE. + +IVANHOE (published in December 1819) was Scott's first attempt to depict +the manners and incidents of old English life, and the effort was hailed +with universal delight An impression of 12,000 copies was immediately +disposed of. + +Our first illustration represents Prince John and Rebecca at the Passage +of Arms at Ashby. Prince John instantly recognised the Jew, but was +much more agreeably attracted by the beautiful daughter of Zion, who, +terrified by the tumult, clung to the arm of her aged father. "The +figure of Rebecca might have been compared with the proudest beauties of +England. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and showed to advantage +by an Eastern dress, which she wore according to the fashion of the +females of her nation. The turban of yellow silk suited well with the +darkness of her complexion. The brilliancy of her eyes, the superb +circle of her eyebrows, her aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, +and the profusion of her sable tresses, which fell down upon as much of +a lovely neck as a simar of rich Persian silk permitted to be visible. +All these constituted a combination of loveliness. A diamond necklace, +with pendants of inestimable value, was conspicuous on her bosom. The +feather of an ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agraffe, was another +distinction of the beautiful Jewess, another attraction to the quick +eye of Prince John." The Prince presented an open set of features, +well formed by nature, and accurately moulded by art to the rules of +courtesy. His dress was one of the richest splendour, a costly mantle +lined with the finest sables fell down from his shoulder or floated in +the breeze; maroquin boots with golden spurs adorned his well-formed +legs and feet, and the grace with which he managed his palfrey gained +him the unlimited applause of the glittering assemblage. Turning towards +the gallery to which the Jew and his lovely charge in vain attempted to +obtain admission, he gave instructions that both should have a place. + +"What is she, Isaac, thy wife or thy daughter?" + +"My daughter Rebecca, so please thy grace." + +"Daughter or wife," replied the Prince, "she shall be preferred +according to her beauty and thy merits." + +[Illustration: 067] + +[Illustration: 068] + +The interview of the Black Knight and the Friar of Copmanhurst is from +the pencil of Mr Cruikshank. King Richard, otherwise the Black Sluggard, +having extorted the confidence of the jolly hermit, obeyed his command +as master of the feast: "Sit down, fill thy cup; let us drink, sing, and +be merry; fill a flagon; nought pitches the voice and sharpens the ear +like a cup of wine; and I love to feel the grape at my fingers' ends, +before they make the harp-strings tickle." The king essayed a ballad, +which he had learned in the Holy Land, during which the friar demeaned +himself like a first-rate critic at a new opera. When the ballad was +ended, the friar took up his harp, and entertained the king with a +characteristic song, the concluding stanza of which is deserving of +remembrance by brothers of the trade: + + "Long flourish the sandal, the cord, and the rope, + The dread of the devil, and trust of the Pope; + For to gather life's roses unscathed by the briar, + Is granted alone to the bare-footed friar." + + + + +THE MONASTERY. + +AFTER the publication of "Ivanhoe," Scott returned for a time to the +illustration of Scottish life. "The Monastery" was published in March +1820, in three duodecimo volumes. Owing to the supernatural element +introduced by the White Lady of Avenel, the novel was less successful +than its predecessors. It was, however, redeemed from absolute failure +through the beautiful descriptions of natural scenery and the striking +Scottish manners which it presented. + +In the accompanying engraving is represented the Abbey of Melrose +amidst the beautiful scenery by which it is surrounded. It is the finest +specimen of Gothic architecture in Scotland. The spire of the central +tower has disappeared, but the tower itself, eighty-four feet in +height, imparts dignity to the structure. The grand east window is +of unparallelled beauty and elegance. Gothic pinnacles terminate the +principal buttresses,'which, with the various windows, are decorated +with admirably carved figures and niches richly sculptured. In Melrose +Abbey was deposited the heart of King Robert the Bruce, after the +unsuccessful attempt to carry it to Palestine. + +The absence of Father Eustace, superior of the abbey, who was detained +much beyond his accustomed hour of returning home, created alarm among +his brethren, and the dependants had all been summoned to assist, with +torches, in searching for the venerable man. The shout of joy that +was raised as he approached, soon convinced him of the object of the +assemblage; and the invitations distributed to the people, to call +at the convent kitchen for a "quarter of a yard of roast beef each," +demonstrated the esteem in which he was held in the institution. + +***** + +In our second illustration Herbert Glendinning is presenting the silver +bodkin which he received from the White Lady. The production of this +token has caused the most extraordinary change in the aspect of Sir +Piercie Shafton, whose serenity has suddenly become transformed into +fury. He has started up, quivering with rage, and in his inflamed and +agitated features he resembles a demoniac rather than a mortal under +the government of reason. He thrusts both his clenched fists towards +Glendinning's face, but the next moment withdraws them, and striking his +open palm against his forehead, rushes from the apartment. + +[Illustration: 071-072] + +[Illustration: 073] + + + + +THE ABBOT. + +THE ABBOT was published in September 1820, as a sequel to "The +Monastery," which appeared in the preceding March. According to Mr +Lockhart, it arose in Scott's mind during a visit to Blair-Adam. The +beautiful localities of that estate are distinctly alluded to, while the +virtues of the amiable owner, Mr Chief Commissioner Adam, are admirably +portrayed. + +In the accompanying illustration, the artist represents an apartment in +Holyrood Palace, in which the Regent Murray has just held a meeting +of the Privy Council. In the room is a long open table, surrounded by +stools of the same wood. In front of a large elbow chair covered with +crimson velvet, the Regent is standing. The usher has marshalled Roland +Græme into the apartment, and the Regent, who had been laughing with the +Lords, now assumed a deep and even melancholy gravity. He was dressed in +black velvet after the Flemish fashion, and wore in his high crowned +hat a jewelled clasp which looped it up on one side, and formed the only +ornament of his apparel. He had his poignard by his side, and his sword +lay on die table. Roland presented himself with a feeling of awe, and +with an abashed manner placed in his hand the letter of Sir Halbert +Avenel. The Earl paused before he broke the silk with which the letter +was secured, to ask the page his name, so much was he struck with his +handsome features and form. + +***** + +Mr George Cruikshank depicts the entrance of the Abbot of Unreason to +the church of St Mary's. The door was thrown open with a shout which +brought up the Abbot and his brethren, when the Abbot of Unreason +entered. Then was a scene of ridiculous confusion. Boys shrieked and +howled; men laughed and hallooed; women giggled and screamed; and the +beasts roared; and the dragon walloped and hissed; and the hobby-horse +neighed, pranced, and capered; and the rest frisked and frolicked, +clashing their hob-nailed shoes against the pavement till it sparkled +with the marks of their energetic caprioles. The Abbot seemed at a +stand. He made a gesture of his hand as if commanding silence, which was +at first only replied to by redoubled shouts and peals of laughter. + +[Illustration: 076] + +[Illustration: 077] + + + + +KENILWORTH. + +MR CONSTABLE requested that Sir Walter would introduce Queen Elizabeth +in his next romance as a companion to Mary Stuart of the Abbot. The +great novelist consented, and having selected that period when the +sudden death of the first Countess of Leicester opened to her husband's +ambition the way to sharing a crown, gave to his romance the name of +"Kenilworth." It was published in January 1821, in three volumes, and +at once excited the deepest interest. "Kenilworth," writes Mr Lockhart, +"continues, and I doubt not, will ever continue, to be placed in the +very highest rank of prose fiction. The rich variety of character and +scenery and incident in this novel has never indeed been surpassed, +nor, with the one exception of the 'Bride of Lammermoor,' has Scott +bequeathed us a deeper and more affecting tragedy than that of Amy +Robsart." Refer-ing to his materials for the novel, Sir Walter writes in +1831: "The reader will find I have borrowed several incidents, as well +as names, from 'Ashmole's Antiquities,' and the more early authorities; +but my first acquaintance with the history was through the more pleasing +medium of verse. There is a period in youth when the mere power of +numbers has a more strong effect on ear and imagination, than in more +advanced life. At this season of immature taste the author was greatly +delighted with the poems of Mickle and Langliome, poets who, though by +no means deficient in the higher branches of their art, were eminent +for their powers of verbal melody above most who have practised this +department of poetry. One of those pieces of Mickle, which the author +was particularly pleased with, is a ballad, or rather a species of +elegy, on the subject of Cumnor Hall, which, with others by the same +author, were to be found in Evans's 'Ancient Ballads' (vol. iv., p. +130), to which work Mickle made liberal contributions." + +Among the sports at Kenilworth got up to entertain Queen Elizabeth, was +a mock battle between the English and the Danes, somewhat resembling the +ancient hocktide play. On a preconcerted signal the combatants engaged, +but the concussion was less violent than had been anticipated. This was +not owing to any apprehension of each other, but to the fear of being +pushed into the lake. When the battle raged furiously the former +precaution was neglected, and the pressure causing the railings to +yield, many were precipitated into the water. This scene is depicted in +the accompanying illustration. + +[Illustration: 080] + +[Illustration: 081] + +In his etching Mr Cruikshank represents a stirring incident in the +novel. Wayland Smith and Tresilian, being now partners in a serious +adventure, the former consented to abandon for a season his mysterious +forge; but scarcely had he done so, when Flibbertigibbet entered the +dark tenement, and employed the combustibles he found there to blow up +the cave. He had hinted at his mischievous intentions as Tresilian and +Wayland were mounting their horses, but when the former attempted to +catch, and compel him to speak less mystically, the urchin fled with +a velocity almost preternatural, and baffled the best efforts of his +pursuers. + + + + +THE PIRATE. + +BY his four novels, published between December 1819, and January 1821, +Sir Walter had realised at least £10,000, while £5000 additional were +paid him by Constable and Co. for the remainder of these copyrights. +The "Pirate" appeared in December 1821, and in the words of Mr Lockhart, +"the wild freshness of its atmosphere, the beautiful contrast of Minna +and Brenda, and the exquisitely-drawn character of Captain Cleveland, +found a reception which they deserved." + +In the accompanying illustration, Noma has arrived at the spot where +the shipwrecked seaman had been cast, just in time to restore suspended +animation, and to protect him from plunder. Assisted by Mordaunt she +raised the pirate's head to enable him to disgorge the sea water; but +while her kind services were in progress, Bryce Snailsfoot, the pedlar, +exhibited symptoms of dishonesty, by commencing to remove the pirate's +finger-rings, while he cast an avaricious glance towards the chest. Of +the latter the contents were plain and lace ruffled shirts, a silver +compass, a silver hilted sword, and other valuable articles which +the pedlar knew would stir in the trade. From his villainy Bryce was +deterred by the menaces of Noma, which were scarcely uttered before the +voices of approaching _wreckers_ fell upon her ear. But her vigorous +determination, and the superstitious influence which she exercised over +the islanders, enabled her to save both the life and the property of +Cleveland. + +The second illustration represents "Noma Despatching the Provisions." +The attendants of Magnus Troil had just laid out the cold collation +which they had brought with them, and were about to take seats at the +table, when Noma, seizing one article after another, flung them out of +the window into the sea which foamed below; hams and pickled beef flew +into the empty space, smoked geese were returned to the air, and cured +fish to their native element. With some difficulty the Udaller rescued +his silver drinking-cup from the destroyer's hands. What occasioned +Magnus the deepest chagrin was to find his brandy flask, first in the +possession of the dwarf Pacolet, and afterwards in its passage through +the window, an event which was attended by a fiendish grin on the part +of Norna's attendant. + +[Illustration: 084] + +[Illustration: 085-086] + + + + +FORTUNES OF NIGEL + +THIS highly interesting and popular romance was published on the 30th +May 1822. Next day Constable wrote from London to the author as follows: +"I learn with astonishment, but not less delight, that the press is +at work again. A new novel, from the author of Waverley, puts aside-in +other words, puts down for the time-every other literary performance. +The smack 'Ocean,' by which the new work was shipped, arrived at the +wharf on Sunday; the bales were got out by _one_ on Monday morning, and +before half-past _ten_ o'clock, 7000 copies had been dispersed from +90 Cheapside."* Though chiefly connected with the fortunes of George +Heriot, the benevolent Scottish jeweller, who founded the Hospital at +Edinburgh which bears his name, the novel fully depicts the habits of +English court life during the reign of James I. The character of that +weak and vacillating prince, and the corrupt manners which he introduced +or countenanced, are skilfully set forth. + + * Constable's London Agents, Messrs Hunt, Robertson, & Co., + had their premises in Cheapside. + +The accompanying illustration represents the meeting of King James +and Nigel Olifaunt When the king had leisure to take a view of his new +companion, he exclaimed, "Ye are nane of our train, man; in the name of +God, what are ye?" + +"If your majesty will look on me," said Nigel, "you will see one whom +necessity makes bold to avail himself of an opportunity which may +never occur again." The king looked-his face became pale-he dropped the +_couteau de chasse_ from his hand, and exclaimed, "Glenvarlochides, as +sure as I am christened James Stuart: this is a bonnie spot of work, +and me alone and on foot too!" The prince meanwhile came up, and seeing +Nigel, thus accosted him, "Sir, you knew yourself to be accused of a +heavy offence, and instead of rendering yourself up to justice, you are +found intruding yourself upon his majesty's presence, and armed with +unlawful weapons." + +"Hear me, hear me, noble prince!" said Nigel, eagerly, "hear me; +you-even you yourself-may one day ask to be heard, and in vain." + +"How am I to construe that, my lord?" said the prince, haughtily. "If +not on earth, sir," replied the prisoner, "yet to heaven we must all +pray for patient and favourable audience." + +"Well, sir," said the prince, "we will ourselves look into your case." + +[Illustration: 089] + +[Illustration: 090] + +Mr Cruikshank represents the encounter between the citizen and the +soldier. The citizen took his ground in the midst of the bowling alley, +brandishing his blade, as if he were to measure cambric with it; while +the captain stood at the distance of twelve paces, having looked over +his shoulder to secure a retreat. Perceiving that the man of war did not +advance, the citizen rushed at him, beat down his guard, and thrust, as +it seemed, his sword clean through his body, when he, with a deep +groan, fell lengthwise on the ground. A score of voices exclaimed to the +conqueror, as he stood utterly overcome by his own feat, "Away with you! +Fly to Whitefriars', while we keep off the constables." While the hero +was flying with all speed, they raised the fallen swordsman, and +opening his vest to search for a wound which did not exist, he suddenly +recovered his senses; and concluding "that the ordinary was no longer +a place or stage on which to display his valour, took to his heels, +pursued by the laughter and shouts of the assemblage." + + + + +PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. + +SCENES and events in old English life again employed the pen of the +great novelist. The reign of Charles II. was the period of his present +narrative. It was composed hastily, and in the opinion of many was +not equal to his powers. "Peveril of the Peak," writes Mr Lockhart, +"appeared in January 1823. Its reception was somewhat colder than that +of its three immediate predecessors.... Fenella was an unfortunate +conception. What is good in it is not original, and the rest +extravagantly absurd and incredible. Yet did any dramatist ever produce, +in spite of all the surrounding bewilderment, characters more powerfully +conceived, or on the whole more happily portrayed, than those of +Christian, Bridge-north, Buckingham, and Chiffinch?-sketches more vivid +than those of young Derby, Colonel Blood, and the keeper of Newgate?" + +Our artist depicts the departure of the Countess of Derby from Peveril's +Castle. The sounds "boot and saddle" rang through the halls of the +castle, and in a few minutes the deep dell which separated the rugged +rocks of that wild district was occupied with Peveril's followers +proceeding cautiously to escort the Countess to the Cheshire border. +A party of troopers in advance was followed by the main body which +accompanied the Countess, mounted on Peveril's palfrey, along with a +groom of approved fidelity, and attended by the Knight of the Peak with +three files of horsemen. Dreading pursuit, they rode "with the beard +on the shoulder," looking round from time to time at the sound of any +unusual noise. + +***** + +Mr Cruikshank represents the encounter between the dishonest Chiffinch +and Peveril and Lance his pursuers. Chiffinch, in full presumption of +his security, was riding along leisurely with his prize, when Peveril +and Lance reached a solitary part of the road, where neither man nor +woman were in sight. Lance then pushed forward with so much alacrity +that he was between the courtier and his attendant, and had actually +upset the Frenchman and his horse before any effort could be made to +resist him. Julian* snatched the bridle of Chiffinch's horse with one +hand, and presented at him a pistol with the other. "Rogue," cried +Chiffinch, "take my purse, do me no harm, and spare the spices." + + * When, in 1821, Charles Mayne Young, the eminent tragedian, + was on a visit to Edinburgh, he waited on Sir Walter at his + residence in Castle Street. He was accompanied by his son + Julian, then a youth. After warmly shaking hands with the + tragedian, Sir Walter laid his hand gently on his son's + shoulder, and asked his Christian name. As soon as he heard + it he exclaimed, "Why, who is he called after?" + +"Master Chiffinch," said Peveril, "give me back that packet which you +stole from me the other night, or I will send a brace of balls through +you, and search for it at leisure" The tone of Peveril's voice, and the +closeness of his pistol, convinced Chiffinch that an immediate delivery +was necessary; thrusting his hand into a side-pocket, he brought out the +object of Peveril's pursuit. By presenting the butt-end of his whip _à +la militaire_, Lance pinned his enemy to the ground, where he lay on his +back imploring mercy. + +[Illustration: 093] + +[Illustration: 094] + +"It is a fancy name in memoriam of his mother, compounded of her two +names, Julia Anne," said Mr Young. "It's a capital name for a novel," +responded Sir Walter. In his next novel, Peveril of the Peak, the hero's +name was Julian.--Memoir of Charles Mayne Young, by Julian Charles +Young; M.A. London, 1871. + + + + +QUENTIN DURWARD. + +ON his next adventure, Sir Walter took a wider field. In the romance of +"Quentin Durward," which appeared in June 1823, he portrayed characters +and events connected with the history and times of Louis XI. and Charles +the Bold. "The sensation," writes Mr Lockhart, "which this novel, on its +first appearance, created in Paris, was extremely similar to that which +attended the original 'Waverley' in Edinburgh, and 'Ivanhoe' afterwards +in London. For the first time, Scott had ventured on foreign ground; +and the French public, long wearied of the pompous tragedians and feeble +romancers, who had alone striven to bring out the ancient history +and manners of their country, were seized with a fever of delight.... +Germany had been fully awake to his merits years before, but the public +there also felt their sympathies appealed to with hitherto unmatched +strength and effect. The infection of admiration ran far and wide on the +Continent, and soon reacted most potently on Britain." + +The accompanying illustration represents one of the most stirring scenes +in the novel. Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege, having accused De la +Marck of sacrilege, and advised him to array himself in sackcloth and +ashes, and proceed on a pilgrimage to Rome, the rage of the tyrant +rose gradually with the admonitions of the priest, until he at length +determined upon vengeance. Raising himself in his chair as Louis ceased, +he looked to Nickel Blok, and lifted his finger, without speaking a +word. The ruffian struck, as if he had been doing his office in the +shambles, and the murdered Bishop sunk at the foot of the Episcopal +throne. + +Mr Cruikshank is in his element in describing Cardinal Balue's +predicament at the boar hunt. While the Cardinal was in conversation +with the king, his horse, seizing the bit with his teeth, set off at an +uncontrollable gallop, leaving the king and Dunois far behind. The limbs +of the quadruped, no way under the rider's control, fly at such a +rate as if the hindermost meant to overtake the foremost, while the +cardinal's body, instead of sitting upright, hangs crouched on the back +of the animal, representing a picture sufficiently ludicrous. His short +violet-coloured gown, which he used as a riding-dress, his scarlet +stockings, and scarlet hat, with the long strings hanging down, together +with his utter helplessness, impart infinite zest to his exhibition of +horsemanship. + +[Illustration: 097] + +[Illustration: 099] + + + + +ST RONAN'S WELL + +IN the romance which followed "Quentin Durward," Sir Walter resumed +his illustration of the manners of his own country. "St Ronan's Well" +appeared in December 1823, and in this novel he, for the first time, +adventured on the representation of contemporaneous history. In England, +its reception was cold; but Scottish readers maintained that Meg Dods +and Clara Mowbray were among the best creations of the "Unknown." At +Innerleithen, the scene of the novel, there was great rejoicing, the +inhabitants proposing to drop its old name, and substitute that of St +Ronan's. + +In our first illustration, our artist represents the meeting of Tyrrel +and Clara Mowbray. "She pulled up the reins, and stopped as if arrested +by a thunderbolt. 'Clara!' 'Tyrrel!' These were the only words that were +exchanged between them until Tyrrel, moving his feet as slowly as if +they had been lead, began gradually to diminish the distance which lay +betwixt them.... 'Surely you need not come,' said Clara, 'either to +renew your own unhappiness or to augment mine.' 'To augment yours-God +forbid!' answered Tyrrel. 'No; I came hither only because, after so many +years of wandering, I longed to revisit the spot where all my hopes lay +buried.' 'Ay, buried is the word,' she replied; 'crushed down and buried +when they budded fairest. I often think of it, Tyrrel; and there are +times when-Heaven help me!-I can think of little else. Look at me; you +remember what I was; see what grief and solitude have made me.' She +flung back the veil which surrounded her riding-hat, and which had +hitherto hid her face. It was the same countenance which he had formerly +known in all the bloom of early beauty; but though the beauty remained, +the bloom was fled for ever. Not the agitation of exercise-not that +which arose from the pain and confusion of this unexpected interview-had +called to poor Clara's cheek even the momentary semblance of colour. Her +complexion was marble-white, like that of the finest piece of statuary." + +With inimitable zest, Mr George Cruikshank has represented the rencontre +between Meg Dods and Captain MacTurk. Meg flourished the broom round +her head, exclaiming, as the Captain approached, "I ken your errand +weel eneugh, and I ken yoursel'; ye are ane of the folk that gang aboot +yonder, setting folks by the lugs, as callants set their collies to +fecht; but ye shall come to nae lodger o' mine, let-a-be Maister Tirl, +wi' ony sic ungodly errand; for I am ane that will keep God's peace and +the king's within my dwelling." The apostrophe was followed by another +flourish of the broom, which obliged the Captain to retire a few paces, +and stand on the defensive. + +[Illustration: 102] + +[Illustration: 103] + + + + +RED GAUNTLET. + +RED GAUNTLET was published in June 1824. The introduction of Prince +Charles Edward, amidst the dulness of hopeless fortune and of advancing +age, contrasting painfully with his romantic portraiture in "Waverley," +considerably affected the popularity of the novel on its first +appearance. The characters of Peter Peebles, Nanty Ewart, and Wandering +Willie, all so skilfully portrayed, redeemed the work from absolute +failure. + +The accompanying engraving represents salmon hunting in the Solway. "The +banks of that great estuary are here bare and exposed, the waters having +receded from a large space of sand through which a stream feeble and +fordable found its way to the ocean. The whole was illuminated by +the beams of the setting sun, who showed his ruddy front over a huge +battlemented wall of crimson and black clouds, resembling some immense +Gothic fortress into which the lord of day was descending. At this +moment the salmon hunters hastened to the shore, and commenced the +ancient sport. They chased the fish at full gallop, and struck them with +barbed spears--as hunters spearing boars, in the old tapestry. The feats +of one horseman, in particular, called forth the clamorous applause of +his companions so repeatedly, that the very banks rang again with their +shouts. He was a tall man, well mounted on a strong black horse, which +he caused to turn and wind like a bird in the air, carried a longer +spear than the others, and wore a sort of fur cap or bonnet, with a +short feather in it, which gave him rather a superior appearance to the +other fishermen. He seemed to hold some sort of authority among them, +and occasionally directed their motions, both by voice and hand; at +which times his gestures were striking, and his voice sounded uncommonly +sonorous and commanding." + +In our second illustration Mr Cruikshank presents the frightful +adventure of Hutcheon and Dougal MacCallum in presence of the dead body +of Redgauntlet. "When midnight came, and the house was quiet as the +grave, the silver whistle sounded as sharp and shrill as if Sir Robert +was blowing it, and up got the two old serving-men, and tottered into +the room where the dead man lay. Hutcheon saw enough at the first +glance; for there were torches in the room, which showed him the foul +fiend in his ain shape, sitting on the laird's coffin! Ower he couped, +as if he had been dead. He could not tell how long he lay in a trance at +the door; but when he gathered himself, he cried on his neighbour, and +getting nae answer, raised the house, when Dougal was found lying dead +within twa steps of the bed where his master's coffin was placed. As for +the whistle, it was lost ance and aye, but mony a time it was heard at +the top of the house on the bartizan and among the auld chimneys and +turrets, where the howlets have their nests." + +[Illustration: 106] + +[Illustration: 107] + + + + +THE BETROTHED. + +THE BETROTHED appeared in June 1825 as one of the "Tales of the +Crusaders." On account of certain scruples of James Ballantyne and Mr +Constable, Sir Walter had nearly consented to cancel the sheets, +after the tale, excepting the two last chapters, had been printed off. +Subsequently, he consented to prepare the tale of the "Talisman" +which might accompany its entrance into the world. Both tales appeared +together, and their success left nothing to be desired. + +The accompanying illustration represents a striking scene in the novel. +While the monk and the Fleming slept soundly under the shade of the +battlement, Eveline Berenger could forbear no longer in breaking +silence. "Men, my beloved Rose," she said, "are happy; their anxious +thoughts were either diverted by toil, or drowned in the insensibility +which follows it; they may encounter wounds or death, but women feel a +keener anguish than the body knows; and in the gnawing sense of present +ill, and fear of future misery, suffer a living death more cruel than +that which ends our woes at once." In vain Rose endeavoured to assuage +her grief; she answered, "You have a father to fight and watch for you; +mine-my kind, noble, and honoured parent, lies dead on yonder field." +So saying, she sunk down on the banquette, murmuring to herself, "He +is gone for ever!" One hand grasped unconsciously the weapon which she +held, and served at the same time to prop her forehead, while tears, by +which she was now relieved, flowed in torrents from her eyes, and +her sobs seemed so convulsive, that Rose almost feared her heart was +bursting. + +[Illustration: 110-111] + +[Illustration: 112] + + + + +THE HIGHLAND WIDOW. + +THE tale of the "Highland Widow" was included in the first series of the +"Chronicles of the Canongate." It appeared in November 1827, subsequent +to the breaking up of Constable's publishing house. + +In the accompanying illustration is presented the striking scene where +Hamish Bean Mac Tavish was urged by his mother to fire upon the military +party who sought to apprehend him. It was evening; the gigantic shadows +of the mountains streamed in darkness towards the east, while their +western peaks were still glowing with crimson and gold. From the road +which wound round Ben Cruachan, five Highland soldiers were fully +visible at the door of the bothy. One walked a little before the others; +this was Serjeant Cameron, who called out, "Hamish Bean Mac Tavish, lay +down your arms and surrender!" At the door of the bothy Hamish stood +like a statue holding his firelock, while his mother standing behind +him, and almost driven to frenzy by the violence of her passions, +reproached him for want of resolution and faintness of heart. Her words +increased the bitter gall which was arising in his spirit, as he saw his +late comrades making towards him like hounds towards the stag at bay. +"The scourge, the scourge, my son, beware the scourge," whispered the +mother. It was enough. Hamish fired his piece, and Serjeant Cameron +dropped dead. + + + + +THE TALISMAN. + +THE TALISMAN was pronounced by James Ballantyne to be so decided a +masterpiece that "The Betrothed" might venture abroad under its wing. +It relates to that period of the Crusades in which Richard Cour de Lion +evinces his heroism and his cruelty in opposition to the noble qualities +of the brave and generous Saladin. + +The accompanying illustration represents the scene in which the Knight +of the Leopard reluctantly introduces the Baron of Gilsland into his +hut. There lay extended his squire under the influence of an Asiatic +fever. Having apologised for the homely appearance of the Scottish +quarter, he proceeded to inquire after the state of the patient. The +person seated beside the sick bed is a Moorish physician whom Saladin +had sent to minister to the malady of King Richard, but whom the +English distrusted, and first made trial of his sincerity and skill +by committing to his care the Squire of Sir Kenneth. As the visitors +entered, the invalid had fallen into a refreshing sleep, from which +El-Hakim assured them he would awake invigorated. + +***** + +The chapel scene of Sir Kenneth and the dwarf is admirably hit by Mr +Cruikshank. As the knight stood alone in the chapel a shrill whistle +rung sharply. It was a sound ill suited to the place, and reminded Sir +Kenneth that he should be upon his guard. A creaking sound as of a +screw or pulley succeeded, and a light streaming upwards showed that +a trap-door had been raised or depressed. In less than a minute a long +skinny arm, partly naked, partly clothed in a sleeve of red samite, +arose out of the aperture, holding a lamp as high as it could stretch +upwards, and the figure to which the arm belonged ascended step by +step to the level of the floor. The form and face of the being who thus +presented himself were those of a frightful dwarf with a large head, a +cap fantastically adorned with three peacock's feathers, a dress of red +samite, the richness of which rendered his ugliness more conspicuous, +distinguished by gold bracelets and armlets, and a white silk sash, in +which he wore a gold-hilted dagger. The figure held a broom in his +left hand, and with his right moved the lamp over his face and person, +illuminating his wild features and misshapen limbs. The dwarf whistled, +and a second figure ascended in the same manner as the first. It was +a female. Her dress, also of red samite, was fantastically cut and +flounced. She also passed the lamp over her face and person, which +seemed to rival the male in ugliness. Approaching the knight, they +turned the gleam of their lamps upon him, and raised a yelling laugh. +Upon his demanding who they were, he was answered--"I am the dwarf +Nectabanus;" "and I Guenevra, his lady and his love." + +"Hush, fools, and begone!" said a voice from the side on which the +knight had entered. The dwarfs heard the command, blew out their lights, +and left the knight in darkness. + +[Illustration: 115] + +[Illustration: 116] + + + + +WOODSTOCK. + +THE novel of "Woodstock, or, The Cavalier: a Tale of the Year Sixteen +Hundred and Forty-one," was issued in June 1826, and was the last of +the compositions which were published under the _nominis umbra_ of the +Author of "Waverley." It was composed within the space of three months, +and immediately realised to the estate of the ingenious author, no less +than £8228, less cost of paper and printing the first edition. + +The first illustration represents the aged Sir Henry Lee expressing his +blessing over the head of King Charles II. It was evident policy in +the monarch to recognise those who had been faithful to his family when +fortune frowned. The presence of Sir Henry Lee, attended by Bevis, awoke +most grateful feelings in the royal breast. Springing from his horse, +and hastening to the aged gentleman, whom he prevented from rising to do +him homage, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the spectators, he threw +himself at his feet, and said-"Bless, father, bless your son, who has +returned in safety, as you blessed him when he departed in danger." + +The King returned, joined the cavalcade, and the gorgeous array again +put in motion, was followed by the watchful eyes of Alice, and the +attendants of Sir Henry, who, on their return, were startled to perceive +"that his cheek had assumed an unearthly paleness; that his eyes were +closed; that his features expressed a rigidity that was not that of +sleep. They had come too late-the light that burned so low in the socket +had leaped up, and expired in one exhilarating flash." + +***** + +Mr Cruikshank admirably portrays Mr Holdenough's triumph over the +military intruder. Holdenough was in the act of ascending the steps of +the pulpit when one of the soldiers seized him by the cloak saying, "Is +it your purpose to hold forth to these good people?" + +"Ay, marry is it," said the clergyman, "let me not in my labour." But +the man of war being himself minded to address the congregation, Mr +Holdenough called out:-"Give place, thou man of Satan; respect mine +order-my cloth." The soldier protested that he perceived no more to +respect in the cut of Mr Holdenough's cloak than he did in the +bishop's rochets-_they_ were black and white; _his_, blue and brown. Mr +Holdenough, finding the enemy incorrigible, called out-"Master Mayor of +Woodstock, wilt thou be amongst those wicked magistrates, who bear the +sword in vain? Citizens, will you not help your pastor? Worthy Alderman, +will you see me strangled on the pulpit-stairs by this man of buff and +Belial? But, lo! I will overcome him, and cast his cords from us." As he +thus spoke, he dexterously slipped the string which fastened his cloak +round his neck, so that the garment suddenly gave way, and the soldier, +who had a tenacious grasp of it, fell backwards, down the steps of the +pulpit; while the divine skipped actively up, and immediately gave forth +a psalm of triumph. + +[Illustration: 119] + +[Illustration: 120] + + + + +THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH. + +THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH was published in April 1828, and became popular +at once; it commenced a second series of the "Chronicles of the +Canongate." The narrative is founded upon an interesting event in +Scottish history. Two clans who were at variance deputed thirty +champions to fight out a quarrel of old standing in the presence of +King Robert III., his brother the Duke of Albany, and the whole Scottish +Court, at Perth, in the year 1396. Two characters in the novel, the +glee-maiden and Conachar are regarded as among Scott's very best +conceptions. + +The accompanying illustration represents an interesting scene. The Fair +Maid and the Carthusian monk are seated at the foot of Kinnoul hill, +which commands the beautiful vale of the Tay. The monk, who wore his +white gown and scapular, sat for some time with his eyes fixed on the +glorious prospect, of which even the early and chilly season could not +conceal the beauties. At length he addressed his proselyte: "When I +behold this rich and varied land, with its castles, churches, convents, +stately palaces, and fertile fields, these extensive woods, and that +noble river, I know not, my daughter, whether most to admire the bounty +of God or the ingratitude of man. He hath given us the beauty and +fertility of the earth, and we have made the scene of His bounty a +charnel-house and a battle-field. He hath given us power over the +elements, and skill to erect houses for comfort and defence, and we have +converted them into dens for robbers." + +"Yet surely, my father, there is room for comfort," replied Catherine. +"Yonder four goodly convents, and their inhabitants, who have separated +themselves from the world for the service of Heaven, bear witness that +if Scotland be a sinful land, she is yet sensible to the claims of +religion." + +"Verily, daughter," answered the priest, "what you say seems truth, but +it is to be feared that the love of many has waxed cold." + +***** + +The second illustration is from the pencil of Cruikshank. The common +people had throughout the day toiled and struggled at football. The +usual revels had taken place, and the carnival was closing quietly in +general, but in some places the sport was still kept up. One company of +revellers seemed unwilling to conclude their frolic. The Entry, as it +was called, consisted of thirteen persons, habited in the same manner, +having doublets of chamois leather sitting close to their bodies, +curiously slashed and laced. They wore green caps with silver tassels, +red ribands, and white shoes, had bells hung at their knees and around +their ankles, and naked swords in their hands. This gallant party, +having exhibited a sword-dance before the king, with much clashing of +weapons, and fantastic interchange of postures, went on gallantly to +repeat their exhibition before the door of Simon Glover, where, having +made a fresh exhibition of their agility, they caused wine to be served +round to their own company and the bystanders, and with a loud shout +drank to the health of the Fair Maid. + +[Illustration: 123] + +[Illustration: 124] + + + + +ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN. + +ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN, or the "Maiden of the Mist" was published in May +1829. "It may," writes Mr Lockhart, "be almost called the last work of +Scott's imaginative genius, and it was received at least as well (out of +Scotland, that is), as the 'Fair Maid of Perth' had been, or indeed +as any novel of his after the Crusaders. I partake very strongly, I am +aware, in the feeling which most of my own countrymen have little shame +in avowing, that no novel of his where neither scenery nor character is +Scottish, belongs to the same pre-eminent class with those in which he +paints and peoples his native landscape. I have confessed that I cannot +rank even his best English romances with such creations as 'Waverley' +and 'Old Mortality;' far less can I believe that posterity will attach +similar value to this Maid of the Mist Its pages, however, display in +undiminished perfection all the skill and grace of the mere artist, with +occasional outbreaks of the old poetic spirit, more than sufficient +to remove the work to an immeasurable distance from any of its order +produced in this country in our own age. Indeed, the various plays of +fancy in the combination of persons and events, and the airy liveliness +of both imagery and diction, may well justify us in applying to the +author what he beautifully says of his King René-- + + 'A mirthful man he was; the snows of age + Fell, but they did not chill him. + + Gaiety + Even in life's closing, touch'd his teeming brain + With such wild visions as the setting sun + Raises in front of some hoar glacier, + Painting the bleak ice with a thousand hues.'" + +The first of the accompanying illustrations represents Margaret of Anjou +and Arthur Philipson in Strasburg Cathedral. When Philipson, who had +been bred a devoted adherent to the dethroned line of Lancaster, of +which his father was a firm supporter, saw the dauntless widow of +Henry VI., whose courage and policy had upheld the sinking cause of her +husband, he threw his bonnet on the pavement and knelt at the feet of +the injured Queen. Margaret, throwing back the veil which concealed her +majestic features, gave one hand to the young knight, who covered it +with tears and kisses, and with the other endeavoured to raise him from +the posture he had assumed. + +[Illustration: 127] + +[Illustration: 128] + +The second illustration represents "Philipson and the German Innkeeper." +Philipson inquired for the landlord, and was answered by a finger +pointed towards a recess behind the great stove, where, veiled in his +glory, the monarch obscured himself from vulgar gaze. He was short, +stout, bandy-legged, and consequential; his countenance and manner +differing from the merry host of England or of France. Philipson was too +well acquainted with German customs to expect the suppliant qualities of +a French mâitre d' hotel, or the frankness of an English landlord; +but this man's brow was a tragic volume; his answers were short and +repulsive; and the tone as sullen as the tenor. + + + + +THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTER. + +THE "Surgeon's Daughter" was published in 1827, in the second series of +the "Chronicles of the Canongate." The first plate represents Julia de +Moncada and her father. "Follow me, gentlemen," said Gideon, "and you +shall see the young lady." And then, his strong features working with +emotion at anticipation of the distress which he was about to inflict, +he led the way up the small staircase, and, opening the door, said to +Moncada, who had followed him--"This is your daughter's only place of +refuge, in which I am, alas! too weak to be her protector. Enter, sir, +if your conscience will permit you." The stranger turned on him a scowl, +into which it seemed as if he would willingly have thrown the power of +the fabled basilisk. Then stepping proudly forward, he stalked into the +room. He was followed by Lawford and Gray, at a little distance. The +messenger remained in the doorway. The unhappy young woman heard the +disturbance, and guessed the cause too truly. It is possible she might +have seen the strangers on their descent from the carriage. When they +entered the room, she was on her knees beside an easy-chair. Moncada +uttered a single word, but none knew its import. The female gave a +convulsive shudder, such as that by which a half-dying soldier is +affected in receiving a second wound. + +***** + +With his wonted humour, Mr Cruikshank has sketched Dr Gideon Gray and +the wives of Middlemas. Gideon Gray, surgeon at Middle-mas, was a plain, +blunt, middle-aged man, with a touch of cynicism about him. Late of an +autumn evening, three old women raced towards his door, accompanied +by some idle young fellows, who were loudly betting on the winner. +"Half-a-mutchkin on Luckie Simson." + +"Auld Peg Tamson against the field." + +"Mair speed, Alison Jaup, ye'll tak' the wind out of them yet." + +"Canny against the hill, lassies, or we may ha'e a burstin' auld carline +amang ye." These, and a thousand such gibes, rent the air, without being +noticed by the anxious racers, whose object of contention seemed to +be which should first reach the doctor's door. Mr Gray, who had just +dismounted from a long journey, hastened downstairs, auguring some +new occasion for his services. He had just reached the door as Luckie +Simson, one of the racers, arrived in the little area before it. She +stood, blowing like a grampus, her loose toy flying back from her face, +making the most violent efforts to speak, but without the power of +uttering a word. Peg Tamson whipped in before her-"The leddy, sir; the +leddy!" + +"Instant help! instant help!" screeched, rather than uttered, Alison +Jaup; while Luckie Simson, who had certainly won the race, found words +to claim the prize which had set them all in motion-"And I hope, sir, +you will recommend me to be the sick-nurse; I was here to bring you the +tidings long before ony o' thae lazy queans." + +[Illustration: 131] + +[Illustration: 132] + + + + +COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. + +IN his "Diary," under February 19th, 1826, Sir Walter thus writes: +"Being troubled with thick-coming fancies, and a slight palpitation of +the heart, I have been reading the 'Chronicle of the Good Knight Messire +Jacques de Lalain'-curious, but dull, from the constant repetition of +the same species of combats in the same style and phrase. It is like +washing bushels of sand for a grain of gold..... Still, things occur +to one. Something might be made of a tale of chivalry-taken from the +passage of arms, which Jacques de Lalain maintained for the first day of +every month for a twelvemonth..... This would be light summer work." The +suggestion thus obtained Scott did not carry out for some time. In the +autumn of 1830, he commenced the romance of "Count Robert of Paris," +which was published in November of the following year. During its +composition, he gave decided indications of failing energies; his +penmanship became shaky, and he misplaced words, but the composition +itself presented no trace of decayed intelligence. + +In the first illustration is presented the Varangian, or English exile, +asleep at the Golden Gate of Constantinople. While the exile lay wrapped +in sleep, on the stone benches outside the arch of Theodosius, two women +of the humbler class cast their eyes upon him: "Holy Maria!" said one, +"if he does not put me in mind of the Eastern tale, how a genie brought +a gallant young prince from his nuptial chamber in Egypt, and left him +sleeping at the gate of Damascus! I will awake the poor lamb, lest he +catch harm from the night-dew." + +"Harm!" replied the older and crosser-looking woman: "ay, such harm as the +cold water of the Cydnus does to the wild swan. A lamb, forsooth! why, +he is a wolf, or a bear, at least a Varangian, and no modest matron +would exchange a word with such an unmannered barbarian." + +***** + +The sketch of Brenhilda, Agelastes, and Sylvan, is from the pencil of +Mr Cruikshank. Agelastes, after looking with surprise and horror at the +figures in the glass, turned round his head to examine the substance, +which produced so strange a reflection. The object, however, had +disappeared behind the curtain, under which it had probably lain hid; +and, after a minute or two, the half-gibing, half-growling countenance +showed itself again in the same position in the mirror. "By the gods," +exclaimed the philosopher, "it is Sylvan! that mockery of humanity, +but who shrinks before a philosopher as ignorance before knowledge." So +speaking, he struck the animal a heavy blow; which so enraged him, +that he flew on the man of letters, clasped him round the throat, and +compressed it until life was extinct. + +[Illustration: 135] + +[Illustration: 136] + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Centenary Garland, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44435 *** |