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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ca857c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69330 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69330) diff --git a/old/69330-0.txt b/old/69330-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 387b77d..0000000 --- a/old/69330-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6099 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Sir Walter Scott, by Robert -Chambers - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Life of Sir Walter Scott - with Abbotsford Notanda - -Authors: Robert Chambers - Robert Carruthers - -Editor: W. Chambers - -Release Date: November 11, 2022 [eBook #69330] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Susan Skinner, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF SIR WALTER -SCOTT *** - - - - - - LIFE - - OF - - SIR WALTER SCOTT. - - - - - LIFE OF - SIR WALTER SCOTT - - BY - ROBERT CHAMBERS. LL.D. - WITH - ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA - BY - ROBERT CARRUTHERS, LL.D. - - [Illustration: View of Abbotsford and grounds from the Tweed.] - - EDITED BY W. CHAMBERS. - - W. & R. CHAMBERS, - EDINBURGH AND LONDON. - 1871. - - - - - LIFE - - OF - - SIR WALTER SCOTT - - BY ROBERT CHAMBERS, LL.D. - - - WITH - - ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA - - BY ROBERT CARRUTHERS, LL.D. - - - EDITED BY W. CHAMBERS - - - W. & R. CHAMBERS - LONDON AND EDINBURGH - 1871 - - - - - Edinburgh: - Printed by W. and R. Chambers. - - - - -PREFATORY NOTE. - - -The present Memoir of Sir Walter Scott was written by my brother, -the late Dr R. Chambers, immediately after the decease of the great -novelist, and having been issued at a small price for popular reading, -had what was then considered a large circulation--180,000 copies. -It was subsequently republished, with some improvements. The Memoir -is now reproduced in somewhat better style, as a small but fitting -contribution in homage of the great man, the centenary of whose birth, -15th August 1871, is about to be very generally celebrated. I have -taken the liberty of adding only a few paragraphs, distinguishable -by being enclosed within brackets. The principal of these insertions -refers to the manner in which my brother had the honour to become -acquainted with, and acquired the esteem of, Sir Walter Scott. - -To the Memoir are now appropriately appended certain ‘Abbotsford -Notanda,’ descriptive of the friendly intercourse which long subsisted -between Sir Walter and his factor and amanuensis, William Laidlaw, -prepared by one well qualified to write on the subject, Dr R. -Carruthers, Inverness. - - W. C. - -EDINBURGH, _June 1871_. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - PARENTAGE 1 - - BIRTH--BIRTHPLACE--EARLY SCENES 8 - - THE LAND OF SCOTT 10 - - SCHOOL-BOY DAYS 16 - - UNIVERSITY 25 - - PROFESSION 28 - - POLITICAL OPINIONS--SOLDIERING 33 - - VISIT TO PEEBLESSHIRE 35 - - MARRIAGE 37 - - POEMS 42 - - WAVERLEY NOVELS 51 - - SIR WALTER AND MR R. CHAMBERS 64 - - LATER NOVELS, AND LIFE OF NAPOLEON 67 - - PECUNIARY MISFORTUNES 70 - - LATER EXERTIONS 82 - - CONCLUDING YEARS--DECEASE 87 - - PERSONAL APPEARANCE 97 - - CHARACTER 99 - - CONCLUSION 105 - - - ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA 109 - - - - -LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. - - - - -PARENTAGE. - - -Sir Walter Scott was one of the sons of Walter Scott, Esq., Writer to -the Signet, by Anne, daughter of Dr John Rutherford, Professor of the -Practice of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. - -His paternal grandfather, Mr Robert Scott, farmer at Sandyknow, in -the vicinity of Smailholm Tower, in Roxburghshire, was the son of Mr -Walter Scott, a younger son of Walter Scott of Raeburn, who in his -turn was third son of Sir William Scott of Harden, in which family the -chieftainship of the race of Scott is now understood to reside. Sir -Walter’s grandfather, Mr Robert Scott, farmer at Sandyknow, as we learn -from the _Border Antiquities_, ‘though both descended from and allied -to several respectable Border families, was chiefly distinguished for -the excellent good sense and independent spirit which enabled him to -lead the way in agricultural improvement--then a pursuit abandoned to -persons of a very inferior description. His memory was long preserved -in Teviotdale, and still survives, as that of an active and intelligent -farmer, and the father of a family all of whom were distinguished by -talents, probity, and remarkable success in the pursuits which they -adopted.’ - -Walter, the third son of Sir William Scott of Harden, lived at the time -of the Restoration, and embraced the tenets of Quakerism, which at -that period made their way into Scotland. For this he endured a degree -of persecution for which it is now difficult to assign a reason. The -Scottish Privy-council, by an edict dated June 20, 1665, directed his -brother, the existing representative of the Harden family, to take away -his three children, and educate them separately, so that they might -not become infected with the same heresy; and, for doing so, he was to -be entitled to sue his brother for the maintenance of the children. By -a second edict, dated July 5, 1666, the Council directed two thousand -pounds Scots money to be paid by the Laird of Raeburn for this purpose; -and, as he was now confined in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, where he -was liable to be further tainted by converse with others of the same -sect there also imprisoned, the Council further ordered him to be -transported to the jail of Jedburgh, where no one was to have access -to him but such as might be expected, to convert him from his present -principles. - -Walter, the second son of this gentleman, and father to the novelist’s -grandfather, received a good education at Glasgow College, under -the protection of his uncle. He was a zealous Jacobite--a friend and -correspondent of Dr Pitcairn--and made a vow never to shave his beard -till the exiled House of Stuart should be restored; whence he acquired -the name of _Beardie_. - -Dr John Rutherford, maternal grandfather to the subject of this memoir, -was one of four Scottish pupils of Boerhaave, who, in the early part -of the last century, contributed to establish the high character of -the Edinburgh University as a school of medicine. He was the first -Professor of the Practice of Physic in the university, to which office -he was elected in 1727, and which he resigned in 1766, in favour of -the celebrated Dr John Gregory. He was also the first person who -delivered lectures on Clinical Medicine in the Infirmary. His son, Dr -Daniel Rutherford, maternal uncle to the novelist, was afterwards, for -a long period, Professor of Botany in the Edinburgh University, and -further distinguished by his great proficiency in chemistry. Dr D. -Rutherford was one of the cleverest scientific men of his day; and, -but for certain unimportant circumstances, would have been preferred -to the high honour of succeeding Black in the chair of Chemistry. When -he took his degree in 1772, Pneumatic Chemistry was in its infancy. -Upon this occasion he published a thesis, in which the doctrines -respecting gaseous bodies are laid down with great perspicuity, as -far as they were then known, and an account also given of a series of -experiments made by himself, which discover much ingenuity and address. -He was the first European chemist who, if the expression may be used, -_discovered_ nitrogen. Had he proceeded a single step farther, he would -have anticipated the discoveries of Priestley, Scheele, and Lavoisier, -respecting oxygen, which have rendered their names immortal. As it -was, the experiments and discoveries of Dr Rutherford made his name -respected all over Europe. - -The wife of Dr John Rutherford, and maternal grandmother of Sir -Walter Scott, was Jean Swinton, daughter of Swinton of Swinton, in -Berwickshire, one of the oldest families in Scotland, and at one period -very powerful. Sir Walter has introduced a chivalric representative of -this race into his drama of _Halidon Hill_. The grandfather of Jean -Swinton was Sir John Swinton, the twentieth baron in lineal descent, -and the son of the celebrated Judge Swinton, to whom, along with Sir -William Lockhart of Lee, Cromwell intrusted the chief management of -civil affairs in Scotland during his usurpation. Lord Swinton, as he -was called, in virtue of his judicial character, was seized, after the -Restoration, and brought down to Scotland for trial, in the same vessel -with the Marquis of Argyll. It was generally expected that one who had -played so conspicuous a part in the late usurpation, would not elude -the vengeance of the new government. He escaped, however, by suddenly -adopting the tenets of the society to which Walter Scott of Raeburn -afterwards attached himself. On being brought before the parliament for -trial, he rejected all means of legal defence; and his simply penitent -appearance and venerable aspect wrought so far with his judges, that -he was acquitted, while less obnoxious men were condemned. It was -from this extraordinary person, and while confined along with him in -Edinburgh Castle, that Colonel David Barclay, father of Robert Barclay, -the eminent author of the _Apology for the Quakers_, contracted those -sentiments which afterwards shone forth with such remarkable lustre in -his son. - -While the ancestry of Sir Walter Scott is thus shewn to have been -somewhat more than respectable, it must be also stated, that, in his -character as a man, a citizen, or a professional agent, there could not -be a more worthy member of society than his immediate parent. Mr Walter -Scott, born in 1729, and admitted as a Writer to the Signet in 1755, -was by no means a man of shining abilities. He was, however, a steady, -expert man of business, insomuch as to prosper considerably in life; -and nothing could exceed the gentleness, sincerity, and benevolence -of his character. For many years, he held the honourable office of an -elder in the parish church of Old Greyfriars, while Dr Robertson, the -historian of _America_ and _Charles V._, acted as one of the ministers. -The other clergyman was Dr John Erskine, much more distinguished as -a divine, and of whom Sir Walter has given an animated picture in -his novel of _Guy Mannering_. The latter person led the more zealous -party of the Church of Scotland, in opposition to his colleague, Dr -Robertson, who swayed the moderate and predominating party; and it is -believed that, although a Jacobite, and employed mostly by that party, -the religious impressions of Mr Scott were more akin to the doctrines -maintained by Erskine, than those professed by Robertson. - -Mrs Scott, while she boasted a less prepossessing exterior than -her husband, was enabled, partly by the more literary character of -her connections and education, and more perhaps by native powers -of intellect, to make a greater impression in conversation. It has -thus become a conceded point, that Sir Walter derived his abilities -almost exclusively from this parent. Without pretending to judge in -a matter of such delicacy, it may at least be allowed that the young -poet was at first greatly indebted to his mother for an introduction -to the literary society of which her father and brother were such -distinguished ornaments. It has somewhere been alleged that Mrs -Scott, who was an intimate friend of Allan Ramsay, Blacklock, and -other poetical wits of the last century, wrote verses, like them, in -the vernacular language of Scotland. But this can be denied, upon -the testimony of her own son. The mistake has probably arisen in -consequence of a Mrs Scott of Wauchope, whose maiden name was likewise -Rutherford, having published poetry of her own composition. Mrs Walter -Scott, who was altogether a woman of the highest order of intellect -and character, was, at an early age, deemed worthy by her father -to be intrusted with the charge of his house, during his temporary -widowhood; and thus she possessed opportunities enjoyed by few young -ladies of her own age, and of the period when she lived, of mixing -in literary society. It is unquestionable that this circumstance -was likely to have some effect in later life upon her son, with the -training of whose mind she must, in virtue of her maternal character, -have had more to do than her husband. It may be further mentioned that -Mrs Scott had been principally educated by a reduced gentlewoman, -a Mrs Euphemia Sinclair (grand-daughter of Sir Robert Sinclair of -Longformacus), who kept a school for young ladies in the now wretched -precincts of Blackfriars’ Wynd, in Edinburgh, and who had the honour -of educating many of the female nobility and gentry of Scotland, some -of whom were her own relations. Sir Walter’s own words respecting -this person are given in the work entitled _Traditions of Edinburgh_: -‘To judge by the proficiency of her scholars, although much of what is -called accomplishment might then be left untaught, she must have been -possessed of uncommon talents for education; for all the ladies above -mentioned’ [the list includes Mrs Scott] ‘had well-cultivated minds, -were fond of reading, wrote and spelled admirably, were well acquainted -with history and with the belles-lettres, without neglecting the more -homely duties of the needle and accompt-book; and, while two of them’ -[meaning, as there is reason to believe, Mrs Scott, and Mrs Murray -Keith, the Mrs Bethune Baliol of the _Chronicles of the Canongate_] -‘were women of extraordinary talents, all of them were perfectly well -bred in society.’ Sir Walter further communicated that his mother, and -many others of Mrs Sinclair’s pupils, were sent, according to a fashion -then prevalent in good society, to be _finished off_ by the Honourable -Mrs Ogilvie, lady of the Honourable Patrick Ogilvie of Longmay, whose -brother, the Earl of Seafield, was so instrumental, as Chancellor of -Scotland, in carrying through the union with England. Mrs Ogilvie -trained her young friends to a style of manners which would now be -considered intolerably stiff; for instance, no young lady, in sitting, -was permitted ever to touch the back of her chair. Such was the effect -of this early training upon the mind of Mrs Scott, that even when she -approached her eightieth year, she took as much care to avoid touching -her chair with her back as if she had still been under the stern eye of -Mrs Ogilvie. - - - - -BIRTH--BIRTHPLACE--EARLY SCENES. - - -Sir Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh on the 15th of August 1771, -being the birthday of the great European hero [Napoleon] whose deeds -he was afterwards to record. He was the third of a family consisting -of six sons and one daughter. The eldest son, John, attained to a -captaincy in an infantry regiment, but was early obliged to retire -from service on account of the delicate state of his health. Another -elder brother, Daniel, was a sailor, but died in early life. Of him Sir -Walter has often been heard to assert, that he was by far the cleverest -and most interesting of the whole. Thomas, the next brother to Sir -Walter, followed the father’s profession, and was for some years factor -to the Marquis of Abercorn, but eventually died in Canada in 1822, in -the capacity of paymaster to the 70th Regiment. Sir Walter himself -entertained a fondly high opinion of the talents of this brother; but -it is not borne out by the sense of his other friends. He possessed, -however, some burlesque humour, and an acquaintance with Scottish -manners and character--qualities which were apt to impose a little, -and even induced some individuals to believe, for some time, that he, -rather than his more gifted brother, was the author of ‘The Novels.’ - -Existence opened upon the author of _Waverley_ in one of the duskiest -parts of the ancient capital, which he has been pleased to apostrophise -in _Marmion_ as his ‘own romantic town.’ At the time of his birth, and -for some time after, his father lived at the head of the College Wynd, -a narrow alley leading from the Cowgate to the gate of the college. -The two lower flats of the house were occupied by Mr Keith, W.S., -grandfather of the Knight Marischal of Scotland, and Mr Walter Scott -lodged on the third floor, his part of the mansion being accessible by -a stair behind. - -It was a house of what would now be considered humble aspect, but at -that time neither humble from its individual appearance nor from its -vicinage. As it stood on the line necessary for the opening of a street -along the north skirt of the new university buildings, it was destroyed -on that occasion, and never rebuilt. Speaking of this house in a series -of notes communicated to a local antiquary in 1825, Sir Walter said: -‘It consisted of two flats above Mr Keith’s, and belonged to my father, -Mr Walter Scott, Writer to the Signet; there I had the chance to be -born, 15th August 1771. My father, soon after my birth, removed to -George’s Square, and let the house in the College Wynd, first to Mr -Dundas of Philipstoun, and afterwards to Mr William Keith, father of -Sir Alexander Keith. It was purchased by the public, together with Mr -Keith’s’ [the inferior floors], ‘and pulled down to make way for the -new college.’ - -It appears, however, that, before Sir Walter could receive any -impressions from the romantic scenery of the Old Town of Edinburgh, he -was removed, on account of the delicacy of his health, to the country, -and lived for a considerable period under the charge of his paternal -grandfather at Sandyknow. This farm is situated upon high ground, near -the bottom of Leader Water, and overlooks a large part of the vale of -Tweed. In the immediate neighbourhood of the farm-house, upon a rocky -foundation, stood the Border fortlet called Smailholm Tower, which -possessed many features to attract the attention of the young poet. It -was his early residence at this romantic spot that imparted an intense -affection for the southern part of Scotland, to which he finally -adjourned. Some account of the district which he so dearly loved may -here properly be given. - - - - -THE LAND OF SCOTT. - - -The district which this mighty genius has appropriated as his own, -may be described as restricted in a great measure to the counties of -Roxburgh and Selkirk, the former of which is the central part of the -frontier or Border of Scotland, noted of old for the warlike character -of its inhabitants, and even, till a comparatively late period, for -certain predatory habits, unlike anything that obtained at the same -time, at least in the southern portion of Scotland. Though born in -Edinburgh, Walter Scott was descended from Roxburghshire families, -and was familiar in his early years with both the scenery and the -inhabitants, and the history and traditions, of that romantic land. -He was indeed fed with the legendary lore of the Borders as with a -mother’s milk; and it was this, no doubt, which gave his mind so -remarkable a taste for the manners of the middle ages, to the exclusion -of all sympathy for either the ideas of the ancient classics, or the -literature of modern manners. There was something additionally engaging -to a mind like his in the poetical associations which have so long -rendered this region the very Arcadia of Scotland. The Tweed, flowing -majestically from one end of it to the other; the Teviot, a scarcely -less noble tributary; with all the lesser streams connected with these -two--the Jed, the Gala, the Ettrick, the Yarrow, and the Quair--had, -from the revival of Scottish poetry, been sung by unnumbered bards, -many of whose names have perished, like flowers, from the face of the -earth which they adorned. From all these associations mingled together, -did the mind of this transcendent genius draw its first and its -happiest inspiration. - -The general character of this district of Scotland is pastoral. Here -and there, along the banks of the streams, there are alluvial strips -called _haughs_, all of which are finely cultivated; and the plough, in -many places, has ascended the hill to a considerable height; but the -land in general is a succession of pastoral eminences, which are either -green to the top, or swathed in dusky heath, unless where a patch of -young and green wood seeks to soften the climate and the soil. Much of -the land still belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, and other descendants -of noted Border chiefs, and it annually supplies much of what both -clothes and feeds the British population. Being little intruded upon by -manufactures, or any other thing calculated to introduce new ideas, its -population exhibit, in general, those primitive features of character -which are so invariably found to characterise a pastoral people. Even -where, in such cases as Hawick and Galashiels, manufactures have -established an isolated seat, the people are hardly distinguishable, in -simplicity and homely virtues, from the tenants of the hills. - -Starting at Kelso upon an excursion over this country, the traveller -would soon reach Roxburgh, where the Teviot and the Tweed are joined--a -place noted in early Scottish history for the importance of its town -and castle, now alike swept away. Pursuing upwards the course of the -Teviot, he would first be tempted aside into the sylvan valley of -the Jed, on the banks of which stands the ancient and picturesque -town of Jedburgh, and whose beauties have been rapturously described -by Thomson, who spent many of his youngest and happiest years amidst -its beautiful _braes_. Farther up, the Teviot is joined by the Aill, -and, farther up still, by the Rule, a rivulet whose banks were once -occupied almost exclusively by the warlike clans of Turnbull and -Rutherford. Next is the Slitrig, and next the Borthwick; after which, -the accessories of this mountain stream cease to be distinguished. -Every stream has its valley; every valley has its particular class -of inhabitants--its own tales, songs, and traditions; and when the -traveller contrasts its noble hills and clear trotting _burnies_ with -the tame landscapes of ‘merry England,’ he is at no loss to see how the -natives of a mountainous region come to distinguish their own country -so much in poetical recollection, and behold it with such exclusive -love. When the Englishman is absent from his home, he sees a scene -not greatly different from what he is accustomed to, and regards his -absence with very little feeling. But when a native of these secluded -vales visits another district, he finds an alien peculiarity in every -object; the hills are of a different height and vesture; the streams -are different in size, or run in a different direction. Everything -tells him that he is not at home. And, when returning to his own glen, -how every distant hill-top comes out to his sight as a familiar and -companionable object! How every less prominent feature reminds him of -that place which, of all the earth, he calls _his own_! Even when he -crosses what is termed the height of the country, and but sees the -waters running _towards_ that cherished place, his heart is distended -with a sense of home and kindred, and he throws his very soul upon -the stream, that it may be carried before him to the spot where he has -garnered up all his most valued affections. - -There is one part of Roxburghshire which does not belong to the great -vale of the Tweed, and yet is as essentially as any a part of the Land -of Scott. This is Liddesdale, or the vale of the Liddel, a stream which -seeks the Solway, and forms part of the more westerly border. Nothing -out of Spain could be more wild or lonely than this pastoral vale, -which once harboured the predatory clans of Elliot and Armstrong, but -is now occupied by a race of more than usually primitive sheep-farmers. -It is absolutely overrun with song and legend, of which Sir Walter -Scott reaped an ample harvest for his _Border Minstrelsy_, including -the fine old ballads of _Dick o’ the Cow_ and _Jock o’ the Syde_. - -It may be said, indeed, that, of all places in the south of Scotland, -the attention of the great novelist was first fixed upon Liddesdale. -In his second literary effort--the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_--he -confined himself in a great measure to Teviotdale, in the upper part -of which, about three miles above Hawick, stands Branxholm Castle, the -chief scene of the poem. The old house has been much altered since -the supposed era of the _Lay_; but it has nevertheless more of an -ancient than a modern appearance, and does not much disappoint a modern -beholder. For a long time, the Buccleuch family have left it to the -occupancy of the individuals who act as their agents or chamberlains -on this part of their extensive property; and it is at present kept in -the best order, and surrounded by some fine woods of ancient and modern -growth. Seated on a lofty bank, it still overlooks that stream, and is -overtopped by those hills, to which, it will be recollected, ‘the lady’ -successively addressed her witching incantations. - -The small vale of Borthwick Water, which starts off from the strath -of the Teviot a little above Hawick, contains a scene which cannot -well be overlooked--namely, Harden Castle, the original though now -deserted seat of the family of Scott of Harden, from which, through the -Raeburn branch, Sir Walter Scott was descended. This, though neglected -alike by its proprietor and by tourists, is one of the most remarkable -pieces of scenery which we, who have travelled over nearly the whole of -Scotland, have yet seen within its shores. Conceive, first, the lonely -pastoral beauty of the vale of Borthwick; next, a minor vale receding -from its northern side, full of old and emaciated, but still beautiful -wood: penetrating this recess for a little way, the traveller sees, -perched upon a lofty height in front, and beaming perhaps in the sun, -a house which, though not picturesque in its outline, derives that -quality in a high degree from its situation and accompaniments. This is -Harden House or Castle; but, though apparently near it, the wayfarer -has yet to walk a long way around the height before he can wind his -way into its immediate presence. When arrived at the platform whereon -the house stands, he finds it degraded into a farm-house; its court -forming perhaps a temporary cattle-yard; every ornament disgraced; -every memorial of former grandeur seen through a slough of plebeian -utility and homeliness, or broken into ruin. A pavement of black and -white diced marble is found in the vestibule, every square of which -is bruised to pieces, and the whole strewed with the details of a -dairy. The dining-room, a large apartment with a richly ornamented -stucco roof, is now used as the farmer’s kitchen. Other parts of the -house, still bearing the arms and initials of Walter Scott, Earl of -Tarras, great-grandfather of the late Mr Scott of Harden, and of his -second wife, Helen Hepburn, are sunk in a scarcely less proportion. -This nobleman was at first married to Mary, Countess of Buccleuch, who -died, however, without issue, leaving the succession open to her sister -Anne, who became the wife of the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, eldest -natural son of Charles II. Through this family connection, the Earl of -Tarras was induced to join in the conspiracy which usually bears the -name of the Rye-house Plot, for which he was attainted, only saving his -life by giving evidence against his more steadfast companion, Baillie -of Jerviswood, the great-grandfather of another Scottish proprietor, -who happened to be an immediate neighbour of Harden. It may be asked -why Mr Scott did not inherit the title of his ancestor: the answer -is, that it was only thought necessary to invest the husband of the -Countess of Buccleuch with a title for his own life--which proves that -the hereditary character of the peerage has not always been observed -in our constitution. While all of this scene that springs from art is -degraded and wretched, it is striking to see that its natural grandeur -suffers no defalcation. The wide-sweeping hills stretch off grandly on -all hands, and the celebrated _den_, from which the place has taken its -name, still retains the features which have rendered it so remarkable -a natural curiosity. This is a large abyss in the earth, as it may -be called, immediately under the walls of the house, and altogether -unpervaded by running water--the banks clothed with trees of all kinds, -and one side opening to the vale, though the bottom is much beneath -the level of the surrounding ground. Old Wat of Harden--such is the -popular name of an aged marauder celebrated in the _Minstrelsy of the -Scottish Border_--used to keep the large herds which he had draughted -out of the northern counties of England in this strange hollow; and -it seems to have been admirably adapted for the purpose. It was this -Border hero of whom the story is told somewhere by his illustrious -descendant, that, coming once homeward with a goodly prey of cattle, -and seeing a large haystack standing in a farm-yard by the way, he -could not help saying, with some bitterness: ‘By my saul, an ye had -four feet, ye should gang too!’ - - - - -SCHOOL-BOY DAYS. - - -It is understood that, at the ‘evening fire’ of Sandyknow, Sir Walter -learned much of that Border lore which he afterwards wrought up in his -fictions. To what extent his residence there retarded his progress in -school instruction, is not discovered. After being at Sandyknow, he -was, for the sake of the mineral waters, sent, in his fourth year, -to Bath, where he attended a dame’s school, and received his first -lessons in reading. Returning to Edinburgh, he made some advances in -the rudiments of learning at a private school kept by a Mr Leechman in -Hamilton’s Entry, Bristo Street [now a small, decayed building, with -a tiled roof, occupied by a working blacksmith]. This was his first -school in Edinburgh. It is almost certain that his attendance at school -was rendered irregular by his delicate health. He entered Fraser’s -class at the High School in the _third year_--that is to say, when -that master had carried his class through one half of the ordinary -curriculum of the school; wherefore it is clear that any earlier -instruction he could have received must have been in some inferior -institution, and very probably communicated in a hurried and imperfect -manner. It is at the commencement of the school year in October 1779 -that his name first appears in the school register: he must have then -been eight years of age, which, it may be remarked, is an unusually -early period for a boy to enter the third year of his classical course. -What is further remarkable, his elder brother attended the same class. -It is therefore to be suspected that his educational interests were -sacrificed, in some measure, to the circumstances of the school, which -were at that period in such an unhappy arrangement as to teachers, -that parents often precipitated their children into a class for which -they were unfitted, in order to escape a teacher whom they deemed -unqualified for his duties, and secure the instructions of one who bore -a superior character. - -Although Mr Luke Fraser was one of the severest flagellators even of -the _old school_, he enjoyed the reputation of being a sound scholar, -so far as scholarship was required for his duties, and also that of -a most conscientious and painstaking teacher. He first caused his -scholars to get by heart Ruddiman’s _Rudiments_, and as soon as they -were thoroughly grounded in the declensions, the Vocabulary of the same -great grammarian was put into their hands, and a small number of words -prescribed to be repeated every morning. They then read in succession -the _Colloquies_ of Corderius, four or five lives of Cornelius Nepos, -and the first four books of Cæsar’s _Commentaries_. Ere this course -was perfected, the greater part of Ruddiman’s _Grammatica Minora_, in -Latin, was got by heart. Select passages from Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_, -the _Bucolics_ and the first _Æneid_ of Virgil, concluded the fourth -year; after which the boys were turned over to the rector, by whom -they were instructed for two years more; making the course in all six -years. It must also be understood, that every one of the three masters -besides Mr Fraser pursued the same system, bringing forward a class -from the first elements to the state in which it was fitted for the -attention of the rector; after which he returned once more to take up -a new set of boys in the first class--and so forth for one lustrum -after another, so long as he was connected with the school. If any -teacher could have brought a boy over such a difficulty as that which -attended the commencement of Sir Walter’s career at the High School, -it would have been Mr Fraser; for few of his profession at that time -were more anxious to explain away every obstruction in the path of his -pupils, or took so much pains to ascertain that they were carrying the -understandings of the boys along with them through all the successive -stages. Apparently, however, neither the care of the master nor the -inborn genius of the pupil availed much in this case, for it is said -that the twenty-fifth place was no uncommon situation in the class for -the future author of the Waverley Novels. - -After two years of instruction, commenced under these unfavourable -circumstances, Sir Walter, in October 1781, entered the rector’s -class, then taught by Dr Alexander Adam, the author of many excellent -elementary books, and one of the most meritorious and most eminent -teachers that Scotland has ever produced. The authors read by Dr Adam’s -class at this period, and probably during the whole of his career, were -Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Sallust, Livy, and Terence; but it was not in -reading and translating alone that an education under this eminent man -consisted. Adam, who was an indefatigable student, as the number and -excellence of his works testify, was a complete contrast to Mr Fraser. -The latter hardly ever introduced a single remark but what was intended -to illustrate the _letter_ of the author; whereas Dr Adam commented at -great length upon whatever occurred in the course of reading in the -class, whether it related to antiquities, customs, and manners, or -to history. He was of so communicative a disposition, that whatever -knowledge he had acquired in his private studies, he took the first -opportunity of imparting to his class, paying little regard whether it -was above the comprehension of the greater number of his scholars or -not. He abounded in pleasant anecdote; and while he never neglected -the proper business of his class, it is certain that he inspired a -far higher love of knowledge and of literary history into the minds -of his pupils than any other teacher of his day. At the same time, -he displayed a benevolence of character which won the hearts of his -pupils, and nothing ever gave him so much pleasure as to hear of their -success in after-life. To this venerable person, Sir Walter was always -ready to acknowledge his obligations, and it is not improbable that -much of his literary character was moulded on that of Dr Adam. - -As a scholar, nevertheless, the subject of this memoir never became -remarkable for proficiency. There is his own authority for saying, -that, even in the exercise of metrical translation, he fell far -short of some of his companions; although others preserve a somewhat -different recollection, and state that this was a department in which -he always manifested a superiority. It is, however, unquestionable, -that in his exercises he was remarkable, to no inconsiderable extent, -for blundering and incorrectness; his mind apparently not possessing -that aptitude for mastering small details, in which so much of -scholarship, in its earliest stages, consists. - -Regarding his school-days, we may introduce an extract from an original -letter on the subject. ‘The following lines were written by Walter -Scott when he was between ten and eleven years of age, and while he was -attending the High School, Edinburgh. His master there had spoken of -him as a remarkably stupid boy, and his mother with grief acknowledged -that they spoke truly. She saw him one morning, in the midst of a -tremendous thunder-storm, standing still in the street, and looking at -the sky. She called to him repeatedly, but he remained looking upwards -without taking the least notice of her. When he returned into the -house, she was very much displeased with him: “Mother,” he said, “I -could tell you the reason why I stood still, and why I looked at the -sky, if you would only give me a pencil.” She gave him one, and, in -less than five minutes, he laid a bit of paper on her lap, with these -words written on it: - - “Loud o’er my head what awful thunders roll, - What vivid lightnings flash from pole to pole, - It is thy voice, my God, that bids them fly, - Thy voice directs them through the vaulted sky; - Then let the good thy mighty power revere, - Let hardened sinners thy just judgments fear.” - -The old lady repeated them to me herself, and the tears were in her -eyes: for I really believe, simple as they are, that she values these -lines, being the first effusion of her son’s genius, more than any -later beauties which have so charmed all the world besides.’ - -Before quitting the High School, he, along with his brothers, received -the advantages of some tutorial training under a Mr Mitchell, who -afterwards became a minister connected with the Scotch Church. Previous -to entering the university of Edinburgh, young Walter spent some time -with his aunt at Kelso. Here, in order that he might be kept up in his -classical studies, he attended the grammar-school, at that time under -the rectorship of Mr Lancelot Whale, a worthy man and good scholar, -who possessed traits of character not unlike some of those which have -been depicted in Dominie Sampson. It was while thus residing for a -short time at Kelso, about 1783, that Sir Walter made the acquaintance -of James Ballantyne, then a schoolboy of his own age, with kindred -literary tastes. - -Sir Walter’s education being irregular from bad health, he did not -distinguish himself as a scholar, yet often surprised his instructors -by the miscellaneous knowledge which he possessed, and now and then was -acknowledged to display a sense of the beauties of the Latin authors -such as is seldom seen in boys. In the rough amusements which went -on out of school, his spirit enabled him to take a leading share, -notwithstanding his lameness. He would help to man the Cowgate Port -in a snow-ball match, and pass the Kittle Nine Steps on the Castle -Rock with the best of them. In the winter evenings, when out-of-door -exercise was not attractive, he would gather his companions round -him at the fireside, and entertain them with stories, real and -imaginary, of which he seemed to have an endless store. Unluckily, his -classical studies, neglected as they comparatively were, experienced an -interruption from bad health, just as he was beginning to acquire some -sense of their value. - -It would, nevertheless, be difficult to say whether Scott was the worse -or the better of the interruptions he experienced in school learning. -He lost a certain kind of knowledge, it is true, but he gained another. -The vacant time at his disposal he gave to general reading. History, -travels, poetry, and prose fiction he devoured without discrimination, -unless it were that he preferred imaginative literature to every -other; and of all imaginative writers, was fondest of such as Spenser, -whose knights and ladies, and dragons and giants, he was never tired -of contemplating. Any passage of a favourite poet which pleased him -particularly was sure to remain on his memory, and thus he was able -to astonish his friends with his poetical recitations. At the same -time, he admits that solidly useful matters had a poor chance of -being remembered. His sober-minded parents and other friends regarded -these acquirements without pride or satisfaction; they marvelled at -the thirst for reading and the powers of memory, but thought it all -to little good purpose, and only excused it in consideration of the -infirm health of the young prodigy. Scott himself lived to lament the -indifference he shewed to that regular mental discipline which is -to be acquired at school. He says in his autobiography: ‘It is with -the deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood the opportunities -of study which I neglected in my youth; through every part of my -literary career, I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance; -and I would at this moment give half the reputation I have had the -good-fortune to acquire, if by doing so I could rest the remaining part -upon a solid foundation of learning and science.’ - -It is the tradition of the family--and the fact is countenanced by this -propensity to tales of chivalric adventure--that Sir Walter wished at -this period of his life to become a soldier. The illness, however, -which had beset his early years rendered this wish bootless, even -although his parents had been inclined to gratify it. His malady had -had the effect of contracting his right leg, so that he could hardly -walk erect, even with the toes of that foot upon the ground. It has -been related by a member of his family that, on this being represented -to him as an insuperable obstacle to his entering the army, he left -the room in an agony of mortified feeling, and was found some time -afterwards suspended by the wrists from his bedroom window, somewhat -after the manner of the unfortunate Knight of the Rueful Countenance, -when beguiled by the treacherous Maritornes at the inn. On being asked -the cause of this strange proceeding, he said he wished to prove to -them that, however unfitted by his limbs for the profession of a -soldier, he was at least strong enough in the arms. He had actually -remained in that uneasy and trying posture for upwards of an hour. - -His parents made many efforts to cure his lameness. Edinburgh at this -time boasted of an ingenious mechanist in leather, the first person -who extended the use of that commodity beyond ordinary purposes; on -which account there is an elaborate memoir of him in Dodsley’s _Annual -Register_ for 1793. His name was Gavin Wilson, and, being something of -a humorist, he exhibited a sign-board intended to burlesque the vanity -of his brother-tradesmen--his profession being thus indicated: ‘Leather -leg-maker, _not_ to his Majesty.’ Honest Gavin, on the application of -his parents, did all he could for Sir Walter, but in vain. - -An attempt was made about the same time to give him instructions in -music, which used to be a branch of ordinary education in Scotland. -His preceptor was Mr Alexander Campbell, then organist of an Episcopal -chapel in Edinburgh, but known in later life as the editor of _Albyn’s -Anthology_, and author of various other publications. Mr Campbell’s -efforts were entirely in vain: he had to abandon his pupil in a -short time, with the declaration, that he was totally deficient in -that indispensable requisite to a musical education--an _ear_. It -may appear strange, that he who wrote so many musical verses, should -have wanted this natural gift; but there are other cases to shew -that a perception of metrical quantities does not depend on any such -peculiarity. Dr Johnson is a splendid instance. Throughout life, Sir -Walter, however capable of enjoying music, was incapable of producing -two notes consecutively that were either in tune or in time. He used to -be pressed, however, at an annual agricultural dinner, to contribute -his proper quota to the cantations of the evening; on which occasions -he would break forth with the song of _Tarry Woo_, in a strain of -unmusical vehemence, which never failed, on the same principle as Dick -Tinto’s ill-painted sign, to put the company into good-humour. - - - - -UNIVERSITY. - - -Sir Walter was placed in the University of Edinburgh, October 1783. -The usual course at this famed seminary is, for the first year, to -attend the classes of Latin and Greek, to which, during the second, -are added Mathematics and Logic; the third and last year of the course -of a merely liberal education is spent in attending the lectures on -Moral and Natural Philosophy. It would appear that Sir Walter did not -proceed regularly through this academical course. He was matriculated, -or booked, in 1783, at once for the Humanity or Latin class under -Professor Hill, and the Greek class under Professor Dalyell; and for -the latter, once more in 1784. But the only other class for which he -seems to have matriculated at the college was that of Logic, under -Professor Bruce, in 1785. Although he may perhaps have attended -other classes without matriculation, there is reason to believe that -his irregular health produced a corresponding irregularity in his -academical studies. The result, it is to be feared, was, that he -entered life much in the condition of his illustrious prototype, the -Bard of Avon--that is, ‘with a little Latin and less Greek.’ - -Between his twelfth and fifteenth year, young Scott had a particularly -favourite companion of his own age, John Irvine, the mutual attraction -being a love of fictions of a chivalrous description, furnished by -an eminent circulating library, which had been founded in Edinburgh -by Allan Ramsay, and situated in the High Street, a short way above -the Tron Church, and then belonged to Mr James Sibbald, a person of -literary tastes, who edited the _Edinburgh Magazine_, and a collection -of Scottish poetry. This old-fashioned library, the first of its kind, -passed in time into the hands of Mr Alexander Mackay; and was finally -sold off in 1831. With a volume from this precious repository, the two -youths sometimes adjourned to the picturesque sides of Arthur’s Seat, -where, seated together so as to read from the same page, they revelled -in the adventures of heroes and heroines of romance. - -It will thus be observed that Sir Walter’s acquirements in his early -years did not lie nearly so much in ordinary branches of education, as -in a large stock of miscellaneous reading, taken up at the dictation -of his own taste. His thirst for reading is perhaps not described in -sufficiently emphatic terms, even in the above narrative. It amounted -to an enthusiasm. He was at that time very much in the house of his -uncle, Dr Rutherford, at foot of Hyndford’s Close, near the Netherbow, -and there, even at breakfast, he would constantly have a book open by -his side, to refer to while sipping his coffee, like his own Oldbuck -in the _Antiquary_. His uncle frequently commanded him to lay aside -his book while eating, and Sir Walter would only ask permission first -to read out the paragraph in which he was engaged. But no sooner was -one paragraph ended than another was begun, so that the doctor never -could find that his nephew finished a paragraph in his life. It may be -mentioned that Shakspeare was at this period frequently in his hands, -and that, of all the plays, the _Merchant of Venice_ was his principal -favourite. - -Another choice companion at this period was young Adam -Ferguson--afterwards known as Sir Adam Ferguson--son of Dr Adam -Ferguson, author of the _History of the Roman Republic_, and who -remained an intimate friend during life. The house of Dr Ferguson was -a villa situated on the east side of a southern suburb of Edinburgh, -called _The Sciennes_, from its proximity to the remains of an ancient -monastery, dedicated to St Catherine of Sienna. Dr Ferguson’s house -is remarkable as that in which young Walter Scott had an opportunity -of being in the company of Robert Burns. Scott had read Burns’s -poetry, and he ardently desired to see the poet. An opportunity was -at length furnished, when Burns, on visiting Edinburgh in 1787, came -by invitation to the residence of Dr Ferguson. Of the meeting, Scott -has communicated an unaffected description to Mr Lockhart. Sir Adam -Ferguson favoured me with some particulars of the visit of Burns to his -father’s house on this occasion. - -It was the custom of Dr Ferguson to have a conversazione at his house -in the Sciennes once a week, for his principal literary friends. Dr -Dugald Stewart, on this occasion, offered to bring Burns, a proposal -to which Dr Ferguson readily assented. The poet found himself amongst -the most brilliant literary society which Edinburgh then afforded. -Sir Adam thought that Black, Hutton, and John Home were among those -present. He had himself brought his young friend Walter Scott, as yet -unnoted by his seniors. Burns seemed at first little inclined to mingle -easily in the company; he went about the room, looking at the pictures -on the walls. The print described by Scott, from a painting by Bunbury, -attracted his attention. It represented a sad picture of the effects -of war: a soldier lying stretched dead on the snow, his dog sitting in -misery on one side, while on the other sat his widow, nursing a child -in her arms. The print was plain, yet touching; beneath were written -the following lines, which Burns read aloud: - - ‘Cold on Canadian hills or Minden’s plain, - Perhaps that parent mourned her soldier slain; - Bent o’er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew, - The big drops mingling with the milk he drew, - Gave the sad presage of his future years, - The child of misery baptised in tears.’ - -Before getting to the end of the lines, Burns’s voice faltered, and -his big black eye filled with tears. A little after, he turned with -much interest to the company, pointed to the picture, and, with some -eagerness, asked if any one could tell him who had written these -affecting lines. The philosophers were silent--no one knew; but, after -a decent interval, the pale lame boy near by said in a negligent -manner: ‘They’re written by one Langhorne.’ An explanation of the place -where they occur (poem of _The Country Justice_) followed, and Burns -fixed a look of half-serious interest on the youth, while he said: -‘You’ll be a man yet, sir.’ Scott may be said to have derived literary -ordination from Burns. Somewhat oddly, the name Langhorne is quoted -at the bottom of the lines, but in so small a character that the poet -might well fail to read it.[1] - - - - -PROFESSION. - - -About his sixteenth year, Sir Walter’s health experienced a sudden -but most decisive change for the better. Though his lameness remained -the same, his body became tall and robust, and he was thus enabled -to apply himself with the necessary degree of energy to his studies -for the bar. At the same time that he attended the Lectures of -Professor Dick on Civil Law in the college, he performed the duties of -a writer’s apprentice under his father; that being the most approved -method by which a barrister could acquire a technical knowledge of his -profession, though it has never been uniformly practised. - -Respect for his parents and for the common duties of life, was always a -strong feeling in Scott; he therefore applied himself without a murmur -to the desk in his father’s office, though he acknowledges that the -recess beneath was generally stuffed with his favourite books, from -which, at intervals, he would ‘snatch a fearful joy.’ He even made his -diligence in copying law-papers a means of gratifying his intellectual -passions, often writing an unusual quantity, that with the result he -might purchase some book or object of virtù which he wished to possess. -It should be mentioned that the little room assigned to him on the -kitchen-floor of his father’s house in George Square was already made -a kind of museum by his taste for curiosities, especially those of an -antiquarian nature. He never was heard to grudge the years he had spent -in his father’s painstaking business; on the contrary, he recollected -them with pleasure, for it was always a matter of pride with him to be -a man of business as well as a man of letters. The discipline of the -office gave him a number of little technical habits, which he never -afterwards lost. He was, for instance, much of a formalist in the -folding and disposal of papers. The writer of this narrative recollects -folding a paper in a wrong fashion in his presence, when he instantly -undid it, and shewed, with a school-masterlike nicety, but with great -good-humour, the proper way to perform this little piece of business. - -While advancing to manhood, and during its first few years, Scott, -besides keeping up his desultory system of reading, attended the -meetings of a literary society composed of such youths as himself. A -selection of these and of his early schoolfellows, became his ordinary -companions. Amongst them was William Clerk, son of Mr Clerk of Eldin, -and afterwards a distinguished member of the Scottish bar. It was -the pleasure of this group of young men to take frequent rambles in -the country, visiting any ancient castle or other remarkable object -within their reach. Scott, notwithstanding his limp, walked as stoutly, -and sustained fatigue as well, as any of them. Sometimes they would, -according to the general habits of those days, resort to taverns for -oysters and punch. Scott entered into such indulgences without losing -self-control; but he lived to think this ill-spent time. As to other -follies equally besetting to youth, it is admitted by all his early -friends that he was in a singular degree pure and blameless. His genial -good-humour made him a favourite with his young friends, and they could -not deny his possessing much out-of-the-way knowledge; yet it does not -appear that they saw in him any intellectual superiority, or reason to -expect the brilliant destiny which awaited him. The tendency of all -testimony from those who knew him at this time is rather to set him -down as one from whom nothing extraordinary was to be looked for in -mature manhood. - -We can easily see the grounds of this opinion. Scott had not been -a good scholar. He shewed none of the peculiarities of the young -sonneteer, for poetry was not yet developed in his nature. Any -advantage he possessed over others of his own standing lay in a kind -of learning which seemed useless. It is not, then, surprising that he -ranked only with ordinary youths, or perhaps a little below them. It -is asserted, however, by James Ballantyne, that there was a certain -firmness of understanding in Scott, which enabled him to acquire -an ascendency over some of his companions; giving him the power of -allaying their quarrels by a few words, and disposing them to submit -to him on many other occasions. Still, this must have looked like a -quality of the common world, and especially unconnected with literary -genius. - -When Scott’s apprenticeship expired, the father was willing to -introduce him at once into a business which would have yielded a -tolerable income; but the youth, stirred by ambition, preferred -advancing to the bar, for which his service in a writer’s office was -the reverse of a disqualification. Having therefore passed through the -usual studies, he was admitted of the Faculty of Advocates, July 1792. -This is a profession in which a young man usually spends a few years to -little purpose, unless peculiar advantages in the way of patronage help -him on. Scott does not appear to have done more for some sessions than -pass creditably enough through certain routine duties which his father -and others imposed upon him, and for which only moderate remuneration -was made. He wanted the ready fluent address which is required for -pleading, and his knowledge of law was not such as to attract business -to him as a consulting counsel. While lingering out the first few idle -years of professional life, he studied the German language and some -of its modern writers. He also continued the same kind of antiquarian -reading for which he had already become remarkable. - -Amongst other things giving a character to his mind, were certain -annual journeys he made into the pastoral district of Liddesdale, -where the castles of the old Border chiefs, and the legends of their -exploits, were still rife. On these occasions, he was accompanied by an -intelligent friend, Mr Robert Shortreed, long after sheriff-substitute -at Jedburgh. No inns, and hardly any roads, were then in Liddesdale. -The farmers were a simple race, knowing nothing of the outward world. -So much was this the case, that one honest fellow, at whose house the -travellers alighted to spend a night, was actually frightened at the -idea of meeting an Edinburgh advocate. Willie o’ Milburn, as this hero -was called, at length took a careful survey of Scott round a corner of -the stable, and getting somewhat reassured from the sight, said to Mr -Shortreed: ‘Weel, de’il ha’e me if I’s be a bit feared for him now; -he’s just a chield like ourselves, I think.’ On these excursions, Scott -took down from old people anecdotes of the old rough times, and copies -of the ballads in which the adventures of the Elliots and Armstrongs -were recorded. Thus were laid the foundations of the collection which -became in time the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. The friendship -of Mr Edmonstone of Newton led him, in like manner, to visit those -districts of Stirlingshire and lower Perthshire where he afterwards -localised his _Lady of the Lake_. There he learned much of the more -recent rough times of the Highlands, and even conversed with one -gentleman who had had to do with Rob Roy. These things constituted the -real education of Scott’s mind, as far as his character as a literary -man is concerned. - - - - -POLITICAL OPINIONS--SOLDIERING. - - -From his earliest years, Sir Walter’s political leanings were towards -Conservatism, or that principle which disposes men to wish for the -preservation of existing institutions, and the continuance of power -in the hands which have heretofore possessed it. ‘As for politics,’ -says Shenstone in his Letters, ‘I think poets are Tories by nature, -supposing them to be by nature poets. The love of an individual -person or family that has worn a crown for many successions, is an -inclination greatly adapted to the fanciful tribe. On the other -hand, mathematicians, abstract reasoners, of no manner of attachment -to persons, at least to the visible part of them, but prodigiously -devoted to the ideas of virtue, liberty, and so forth, are generally -Whigs.’ There is much in this passage that hits the particular case of -Sir Walter Scott. But moods of political feeling are not confined to -individuals--they sometimes become nearly general over entire nations. -At the time when Sir Walter entered public life, almost all the -respectable part of the community were replete with a Tory species of -feeling in behalf of the British constitution, as threatened by France; -and numerous bodies of volunteer militia were consequently formed, for -the purpose of local defence against invasion from that country. In the -beginning of the year 1797, it was judged necessary by the gentlemen -of Mid-Lothian to imitate the example already set by several counties, -by embodying themselves in a cavalry corps. This association assumed -the name of the Royal Mid-Lothian Regiment of Cavalry; and Mr Walter -Scott had the honour to be appointed its adjutant, for which office -his lameness was considered no bar, especially as he happened to be a -remarkably graceful equestrian. He was a signally zealous officer, and -very popular in the regiment, on account of his extreme good-humour and -powers of social entertainment. His appointment partly resulted from, -and partly led to, an intimacy with the most considerable man of his -name, Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, who had taken a great interest in the -embodying of the corps. It was also perhaps the means, to a certain -extent, of making him known to Mr Henry Dundas, who was now one of His -Majesty’s Secretaries of State, and a lively promoter of the scheme of -national defence in Scotland. Adjutant Scott composed a war-song, as he -called it, for the Mid-Lothian Cavalry, which he afterwards published -in the _Border Minstrelsy_. It is an animated poem, and might, as a -person is _now_ apt to suppose, have commanded attention, by whomsoever -written, or wherever presented to notice. Yet, to shew how apt men -are to judge of literary compositions upon general principles, and -not with a direct reference to the particular merits of the article, -it may be mentioned that the war-song was only a subject of ridicule -to many individuals of the troop. The individual, in particular, who -communicated this information, remembered a large party of the officers -dining together at Musselburgh, where the chief amusement, at a certain -period of the night, was to repeat the initial line, ‘To horse, to -horse!’ with burlesque expression, and laugh at ‘this attempt of -Scott’s’ as a piece of supreme absurdity. - - - - -[VISIT TO PEEBLESSHIRE. - - -In the autumn of 1797, Walter Scott, accompanied by his brother John, -and Adam Ferguson, made an excursion to the borders of Cumberland, -taking in their way the mansion of Hallyards, in the parish of Manor, -Peeblesshire, where Dr Adam Ferguson was now temporarily settled with -his family. Here Scott resided for a few days, visiting Barns and other -places in the neighbourhood. In a small cottage on the property of -Woodhouse resided a poor and singular recluse, dwarfed and decrepit, by -name David Ritchie, who was visited as one of the curiosities of the -district; and it was doubtless on this occasion that Scott received -those impressions which afterwards figured in the character of the -‘Black Dwarf.’ - -Ritchie, with all his oddities, had a deep veneration for learning; -and as he was told that Scott was a young advocate, he invested him -with extraordinary interest. Ferguson gave an amusing account of the -interview. He and his companion were accommodated with seats in the -lowly and dingy hut. After grinning upon Scott for a moment with -a smile less bitter than his wont, the dwarf passed to the door, -double-locked it, and then, coming up to the stranger, seized him by -the wrist with one of his hands, and said: ‘Man, hae ye ony poo’er?’ -By this he meant magical power, to which he had himself some vague -pretensions, or which, at least, he had studied and reflected upon -till it had become with him a kind of monomania. Scott disavowed -the possession of any gifts of this kind, evidently to the great -disappointment of the inquirer, who then turned round and gave a signal -to a huge black cat, hitherto unobserved, which immediately jumped -up to a shelf, where it perched itself, and seemed to the excited -senses of the visitors as if it had really been the familiar spirit -of the mansion. ‘_He_ has poo’er,’ said the dwarf, in a voice which -made the flesh of the hearers thrill, and Scott, in particular, looked -as if he conceived himself to have actually got into the den of one -of those magicians with whom his studies had rendered him familiar. -‘Ay, he has poo’er,’ repeated the recluse, and then going to his usual -seat, he sat for some minutes grinning horribly, as if enjoying the -impression he had made; while not a word escaped from any of the party. -Mr Ferguson at length plucked up his spirits, and called to David to -open the door, as they must now be going. The dwarf slowly obeyed; and -when they had got out, Mr Ferguson observed that his friend was as -pale as ashes, while his person was agitated in every limb. Under such -striking circumstances was this extraordinary being first presented to -the _real_ magician, who was afterwards to give him such a deathless -celebrity. - -Before quitting the district, Scott had an opportunity of visiting the -old inn and posting establishment of Miss Ritchie in Peebles, then, and -for ten or twelve years later, the principal place of accommodation for -travellers. Miss Ritchie, an elderly lady, was somewhat of an original -in manner, and there can be little doubt that her peculiarities -furnished such recollections as were afterwards matured in the -character of ‘Meg Dods of the Cleikum Inn, St Ronans.’ Proceeding -southwards, the tourists at length reached Carlisle, and extended their -excursion to Penrith and other places of interest in Cumberland, where -an incident occurred that requires more than a casual notice.] - - - - -MARRIAGE. - - -Two children, a boy and girl, named Charpentier, of French parentage, -fell by circumstances under the guardianship of the Marquis of -Downshire. In time, the boy received a lucrative appointment in -India; on his naturalisation as a British subject, changing his -name to Carpenter. Miss Carpenter was placed under the charge of a -governess, Miss Nicholson, and, requiring a change of scene, was, -through the kindness of Lord Downshire, sent with her governess to -Cumberland, where she was to live in such pleasant rural spot as might -be found by the Rev. Mr Burd, Dean of Carlisle. The two ladies arrived -unexpectedly, when Mrs Burd was setting out for the sake of her health -to Gilsland. This was at the end of the month of August or beginning of -September 1797. - -Having duly arrived at Gilsland, which is situated near the borders of -Scotland, they took up their residence at the inn, where, according to -the custom of such places, they were placed, as the latest guests, at -the bottom of the table. It chanced that three young Scottish gentlemen -had arrived the same afternoon, and being also placed at the bottom of -the table, one of them happened accidentally to come into close contact -with the party of Mr Burd. Enough of conversation took place during -dinner to let the latter individuals understand that the gentleman was -a Scotchman, and this was in itself the cause of the acquaintance being -protracted. Mrs Burd was intimate with a Scotch military gentleman, -a Major Riddell, whose regiment was then in Scotland; and as there -had been a collision between the military and the people at Tranent, -on account of the Militia Act, she was anxious to know if her friend -had been among those present, or if he had received any hurt. After -dinner, therefore, as they were rising from table, Mrs Burd requested -her husband to ask the Scotch gentleman if he knew anything of the -late riots, and particularly if a Major Riddell had been concerned in -suppressing them. On these questions being put, it was found that the -stranger knew Major Riddell intimately, and he was able to assure them, -in very courteous terms, that his friend was quite well. From a desire -to prolong the conversation on this point, the Burds invited their -informant to drink tea with them in their own room, to which he very -readily consented, notwithstanding that he had previously ordered his -horse to be brought to the door in order to proceed upon his journey. -At tea, their common acquaintance with Major Riddell furnished much -pleasant conversation, and the parties became so agreeable to each -other, that, in a subsequent walk to the Wells, the stranger still -accompanied Mr Burd’s party. He had now ordered his horse back to -the stable, and talked no more of continuing his journey. It may be -easily imagined that a desire of discussing the major was not _now_ the -sole bond of union between the parties. Mr Scott--for so he gave his -name--had been impressed, during the earlier part of the evening, with -the elegant and fascinating appearance of Miss Carpenter, and it was -on her account that he was lingering at Gilsland. Of this young lady, -it will be observed, he could have previously known nothing: she was -hardly known even to the respectable persons under whose protection she -appeared to be living. She was simply a lovely woman, and a young poet -was struck with her charms. - -Next day Mr Scott was still found at the Wells--and the next--and -the next--in short, every day for a fortnight. He was as much in the -company of Mr Burd and his family as the equivocal foundation of their -acquaintance would allow; and by affecting an intention of speedily -visiting the Lakes, he even contrived to obtain an invitation to the -dean’s country house in that part of England. In the course of this -fortnight, the impression made upon his heart by the young Frenchwoman -was gradually deepened; and it is not improbable that the effect was -already in some degree reciprocal. He only tore himself away, in -consequence of a call to attend certain imperative matters of business -at Edinburgh. - -It was not long ere he made his appearance at Mr Burd’s house, where, -though the dean had only contemplated a passing visit, as from a -tourist, he contrived to enjoy another fortnight of Miss Carpenter’s -society. In order to give a plausible appearance to his intercourse -with the young lady, he was perpetually talking to her in French, for -the ostensible purpose of perfecting his pronunciation of that language -under the instructions of one to whom it was a vernacular. Though -delighted with the lively conversation of the young Scotchman, Mr and -Mrs Burd could not now help feeling uneasy about his proceedings, being -apprehensive as to the construction which Lord Downshire would put upon -them, as well as upon their own conduct in admitting a person of whom -they knew so little to the acquaintance of his ward. Miss Nicholson’s -sentiments were, if possible, of a still more painful kind, as, indeed, -her responsibility was more onerous and delicate. In this dilemma, it -was resolved by Mrs Burd to write to a friend in Edinburgh, in order -to learn something of the character and status of their guest. The -answer returned was to the effect that Mr Scott was a respectable young -man, and rising at the bar. It chanced at the same time that one of Mr -Scott’s female friends, who did not, however, entertain this respectful -notion of him, hearing of some love adventure in which he had been -entangled at Gilsland, wrote to this very Mrs Burd, with whom she was -acquainted, inquiring if she had heard of such a thing, and ‘what kind -of a young lady was it, who was going to take Watty Scott?’ The poet -soon after found means to conciliate Lord Downshire to his views in -reference to Miss Carpenter, and the marriage took place at Carlisle -within four months of the first acquaintance of the parties. The match, -made up under such extraordinary circumstances, was a happy one; a kind -and gentle nature resided in the bosoms of both parties, and they lived -accordingly in the utmost peace and amity. - -Scott now commenced house-keeping in Edinburgh, where he had hitherto -lived in the paternal mansion. We now see him as a young married man, -spending the winter in the bosom of a frugal but elegant society in -Edinburgh, and the summer months in a retired cottage on the beautiful -banks of the Esk at Lasswade; cultivating, as before, literary tastes, -and storing his mind with his favourite kind of learning, but not as -yet conscious of his active literary powers, or thinking of aught but -the duties of his profession and the claims of his little family. As -an advocate, he had perhaps some little employment at the provincial -sittings of the criminal court, and occasionally acted in unimportant -causes as a junior counsel; but he neither obtained, nor seemed -qualified to obtain, a sufficient share of general business to insure -an independence. The truth is, his mind was not yet emancipated from -that enthusiastic pursuit of knowledge which had distinguished his -youth. His necessities, with only himself to provide for, and a sure -retreat behind him in the comfortable circumstances of his native -home, were not so great as to make an exclusive application to his -profession imperative; and he therefore seemed destined to join what a -sarcastic barrister has termed ‘the ranks of the gentlemen who are not -anxious for business.’ Although he could speak readily and fluently at -the bar, his intellect was not at all of a forensic cast. He appeared -to be too much of the abstract and unworldly scholar, to assume -readily the habits of an adroit pleader; and even although he had been -perfectly competent to the duties, it is a question if his external -aspect and general reputation would have permitted the generality of -agents to intrust them to his hands. Nevertheless, on more than one -occasion, he made a considerable impression on his hearers. Once, -in particular, when acting as counsel for a culprit before the High -Court of Justiciary, he exerted such powers of persuasive oratory as -excited the admiration of the court. It happened that there was some -informality in the verdict of the jury, which at that time was always -given in writing. This afforded a still more favourable opportunity for -displaying his rhetorical powers than what had occurred in the course -of the trial, and the sensation which he produced was long remembered -by those who witnessed it. The panel, as the accused person is termed -in Scotland, was acquitted. - -Simple and manly in habits, good-humoured, and averse to disputation, -full of delightful information, kind and obliging to all who came near -him, yet possessed of a rectitude and solidity of understanding which -never allowed him to be the fool of any of his feelings, it is no -wonder that Walter Scott was a general favourite, or that he attracted -the regard of several persons of rank, as the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord -Melville, and others. It was through the kindness of the first of these -noblemen that, in 1799, he obtained the appointment of sheriff of -Selkirkshire, an office of light duty, with a salary of £300 per annum. -In the same year, Scott lost his father, who died in his 70th year, -after a long period of suffering. - - - - -POEMS. - - -It was not Scott’s destiny to attain distinction as a lawyer. While -never neglecting his professional duties, his mind had its main bent -towards literature. Having learned German, he translated and published -a version of Goethe’s _Goetz von Berlichingen_, a drama of such a -romantic cast as harmonised entirely with his peculiar taste. He also -was induced, by Mr M. G. Lewis, the well-known author of _The Monk_, -to write two or three ballads on supernatural themes for a collection -which was to be entitled _Tales of Wonder_. _Goetz_ appeared in -February 1799, but met the fate of the former publication. When the -_Tales of Wonder_ came out, Scott’s ballads, though unfortunate in -their association, obtained some praise, yet, on the whole, might also -be considered as a failure. These would have been disappointments to a -man who had set his heart on literary reputation. To Scott, who was at -all periods of his career humble-minded about his literary efforts, -they were nothing of the kind. In this respect, he was a pattern to all -authors, present and to come. - -The circumstances seem to have been almost accidental which led -him to make his first serious adventure in the literary world. His -schoolfellow, James Ballantyne, was now settled at Kelso in the -management of a weekly newspaper. Merely to give employment to his -friend’s types during the intervals of their ordinary use, Scott -proposed to print a small collection of the old ballads which for -some years he had been collecting on the Border. When the design was -formed, he set about preparing the work, for which he soon obtained -some assistance from Richard Heber and John Leyden--the former an -Englishman of fortune, and an enthusiastic collector of books; the -latter a Scottish peasant’s son, who had studied for the church, and -become a marvel of learning, especially in languages and antiquities. -The _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ thus grew upon his hands, -until it became such an assemblage of ballads, ancient and modern, -and of historical annotation, as could only be contained in three -octavo volumes. The first two made their appearance in January 1802, -and met a favourable reception. Many of the ballads were entirely -new to the world; even those which had been published before, here -appeared in superior versions. Industry in the collection of copies, -and taste in the selection of readings, had enabled the editor to -present this branch of popular literature with attractions it never -possessed before; while the graceful and intelligent prose interspersed -throughout, rich with curious learning, and enlivened by many a -pleasant traditionary anecdote, served to constitute the whole as a -most agreeable mélange. The work gave Scott at once a respectable -place in the literary republic, more indeed as an editor than as an -author, though one would suppose few could be altogether insensible -to the spirit and graphic power displayed in the ballads of his own -composition. - -The public generally, and the booksellers in particular, were agreeably -surprised to find the _Minstrelsy_, while bearing the unwonted imprint -of ‘Kelso,’ a marvel of beautiful typography; a circumstance owing to -the good taste of James Ballantyne, and which was of some avail in -increasing the popularity of the work. It appears that Scott, besides -some gains from the first edition, obtained soon after £500 for the -copyright. - -About this time he inherited between five and six thousand pounds -from a paternal uncle. This, with his share of his deceased father’s -property, his sheriffship, and his wife’s allowance from her brother, -now advancing to fortune in India, made his income altogether about a -thousand a year. He had been ten years at the bar with little success; -his gains seldom reaching two hundred a year, and these from the merest -drudgeries of the profession. It began, therefore, to appear to him -that, in as far as any further income might be required to support his -station in life, and advance the prospects of his children, it would be -well to look for it rather to some post in the Court of Session, such -as one of the principal clerkships, than to practice as a barrister. -Assured in the meantime against want, and trusting to such a prospect -being realisable by his friends the Buccleuchs and Melvilles, he -gradually became disposed to give more of his regards to literature. -As to income from this source, he had little hope or faith. Literary -research and composition were as yet their own reward with him; if -any more solid remuneration accrued, he was happy to receive it; but -he would not depend on such gains. Let literature, he said, be at the -utmost a staff--not a crutch. It was natural for a prudent man of the -world to form these ideas at that time, when literary biography was -little besides a record of privation and sorrow. But it would have, -nevertheless, been well for Scott if he had been content with his -secured income, and the prospect of only such contingent additions to -it as a fixed post or the profits of literature might hold out. To his -over-anxious mind, when the temptation came, it appeared different, as -we shall presently see. - -It was about the time when the _Minstrelsy_ was issuing from the press, -that Scott was asked by the lovely and amiable Countess of Dalkeith -to write a ballad upon a traditionary goblin story respecting the -Buccleuch family. He commenced such a composition accordingly, adopting -for its measure that of a recent poem of Coleridge; but it grew upon -his hands far beyond ballad size. It became, in short, a long romantic -narrative, divided into cantos, and _set_ in a subordinate narrative, -wherein the author represented it as a recitation by the last survivor -of the fraternity of minstrels. This was published in January 1805, as -_The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, and at once placed Scott in the first -rank as an original poet, besides determining his fate as henceforth -chiefly that of a man of letters. Immediately on the first edition -proving successful, the publishers gave £600 for the copyright. - -Before this time, Mr Ballantyne had set up a printing-office in -Edinburgh, partly by the assistance of a loan from his old friend. -Getting rapidly into a considerable business, which his skill and -taste amply justified, he came to require additional capital, and -Scott at length agreed to advance the needful sum, on condition of his -being made a partner, but a secret one, in the concern. His dread of -dependence on literary gains seems to have blinded him to the fact, -that mercantile gains are also precarious, and usually attended by -risks. - -By the interest of his titled friends, he soon after obtained an -appointment to the duties of a clerkship in the Court of Session; -the salary, however, which afterwards was fixed at £1300 a year, was -not to be realised till the death of a superannuated predecessor in -office, and, in fact, Scott touched nothing of it till 1812. With -such an addition to his solid prospects, one cannot but wonder at the -eagerness and assiduity with which he commenced and pursued literary -labours of a severely tasking kind; such as an edition of the works -of Dryden, a publication of Sadler’s State Papers, and a reprint of -Somers’s collection of Tracts. It seems as if a naturally ambitious -and ardent spirit had at length found a vent for its energies, and -felt a self-rewarding pleasure in their exercise. At the same time, he -gave much of his time to volunteer soldiering, to politics, and to the -affairs of literary men less fortunate than himself. The recollections -of his friends present a charming picture of his ordinary life at -his summer retreat of Ashestiel on the Tweed, where he had found it -necessary to establish himself on account of his duties as sheriff of -Selkirkshire. His household, enlivened by four healthy children, and -superintended by Mrs Scott, was marked by simple elegance. On Sundays, -being far from church, he read prayers and a sermon to his family; -then, if the weather was good, he would walk with them, servants -and all, to some favourite spot at a convenient distance, and dine -with them in the open air. Frequent excursions on horseback, and -coursing-matches, varied the tenor of common domestic life. Friends -coming to pay visits found him in constant good-humour, and at all -times willing to introduce them to the fine scenery and interesting -antiquities of the district. In the evenings, his conversation, in -which stories and anecdotes formed a large part, was a sure resource -against ennui. As a husband and father, he was most kind and indulgent. -His children had access to his room at all times; and when they -came--unconscious of the nature of his studies--and asked for a story, -he would take them on his knee, repeat a tale or a ballad, kiss them, -and then set them down again to their sports, never apparently feeling -the least annoyance at the interruption. His dogs, of which he always -had two or three, were even more privileged, for he kept his window -open in nearly all weathers, that they might leap out and in as they -pleased. - -These were the happiest days of Scott’s life, when as yet in the -enjoyment of full vigour of body and mind, rather acquiring than -reposing upon fame, and unembarrassed by possessions and dignities -which afterwards made his position false and dangerous. He occasionally -visited London, and allowed himself to go through that kind of -exhibition called _lionising_, to which everything famous, or even -notorious, is liable to be subjected in the metropolis; but he never -was in the slightest degree spoiled by such idolatry. He fully shewed -that he estimated it at its real worth, and, after good-naturedly -submitting to it, could laugh at its absurdity. It is less pleasant -to record a change in his arrangements for study which took place -about this time. Finding the day apt to be broken in upon by little -duties and by visitors, he adopted the habit of rising and commencing -his literary toils at six in the morning, usually finishing them at -twelve, after the interruption of breakfast at ten. His biographer, Mr -Lockhart, tells us how careful he was to dress neatly before sitting -down, but he says nothing of his preparing for the duty before him by -taking food. We have come to understand such things better now, and can -easily see what fatal effects might arise in a few years from a habit -of performing the principal duties of life with an exhausted system. - -The year 1808 saw his poetical reputation brought to its zenith by the -publication of the admirable romantic tale of _Marmion_, for which, to -the astonishment of the public, Mr Constable undertook beforehand to -pay a thousand guineas. Not long after, his zeal in Tory politics, or, -as he thought it, solicitude for the honour and safety of his country, -then harassed by the Bonaparte wars, led to his quarrelling with this -eminent publisher, and to his taking an interest in the establishment -of the _Quarterly_, as an opposition to the _Edinburgh Review_. It -would have been well if he had stopped here; but the same feelings, -helped, perhaps, by that trafficking spirit which had entered into him -since he lost hopes at the bar, induced the false step of his setting -up a publishing-house in Edinburgh, under the _firm_ of John Ballantyne -and Company, the ostensible manager being a younger brother of the -printer, a clever comical being, not overstocked with worldly prudence, -and possessed of few qualifications for business beyond a knowledge of -accounts. - -From this house issued, in May 1810, his most pleasing poem, the _Lady -of the Lake_, which experienced even greater popularity than either -of its two predecessors, and might, if anything could, have made its -author a vain man. In this and his two preceding poems, the chief charm -lay in the vividness with which the author brought the past before the -minds of his readers. He gave the grace, the dignity, the gallantry -of old times, free from all their rudeness and grossness. All was -done, too, in such an easy and fluent style, that the reader was never -wearied. The singular fascination of these writings shewed itself in -numberless ways; for one thing, there was a rush of tourists to the -scene of the _Lady of the Lake_, so great, as to produce a marked -rise of the amount of post-horse duty raised in Scotland. Scott’s -own firm, in connection with another, undertook to pay two thousand -guineas for the _Lady of the Lake_, a fact in authorship at that time -without anything approaching to a parallel. Meanwhile, he was urging -into print, as a publisher, an _Annual Register_ (to commence with the -year 1808); an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, under the care of a -drudging German of the name of Weber; a huge quarto, under the title -of _Tixall Poetry_; an edition of Defoe’s novels; the _Secret Memoirs -of the Court of James I._; and some other books agreeable to his own -taste, but hardly to that of the public. - -These huge indigestible masses of paper and print had brought his -outlay in the printing and publishing concerns up to £9000 before -the end of this year. Scarcely ever did the most thoughtless of the -tuneful tribe make a more unfortunate adventure than this publishing -affair was destined to prove itself. If Scott had instituted some safe -and modest copartnery, to give himself the publishing profits of his -own writings, diminished only by expenses and the small profits due -to his acting associates, he would have been doing what perhaps it -will yet be seen all authors of decided popularity may rightly do. But -he had an antiquarian taste, and a disposition to over-estimate all -literary productions save his own--he indulged these tendencies in his -firm of John Ballantyne and Company, and unavoidably became a great -loser. Before it was fully seen that such was to be his fate as a man -of business--namely, in the summer of 1811--he had thought so well of -his means and prospects--the clerkship salary being now on the eve of -realisation--as to resolve on purchasing a hundred acres of land on -Tweedside, in order to build a cottage residence for himself, and this -notwithstanding that the £4000 requisite in the very first place had to -be borrowed, the one half as a permanent burden on the property. Such -was the origin of his estate of Abbotsford, where ultimately he reared -a castle. The purchase would have been perfectly a right one, if he had -not involved his superfluous fortune in business: as things actually -stood, it was only preparing for himself needless embarrassments. - -His removal to the little estate which he had purchased took place -in May 1812, and he soon became involved in the pleasant but costly -labours attendant on building, planting, and what is called _making -a place_. At the same time, besides attending to other literary -avocations, he was composing a fourth romance in verse, which appeared -just before the close of the year under the title of _Rokeby_, but in -point of popularity proved a comparative failure. Ere this time, the -concerns of John Ballantyne and Company were seriously embarrassed, -insomuch that Scott was glad to accept of a little credit from his -friend Mr Morritt of Rokeby Park. The difficulties had only increased -during the early months of 1813, and it then became necessary for -those who had begun in rivalry to Mr Constable, to resort to that -publisher for his friendly aid. To give an idea of the fatality of the -whole adventure, it appears that the single publication of _Tixall -Poetry_, which proved a dead failure, involved an outlay of £2500, -while the _Edinburgh Annual Register_ was attended by an annual loss -of £1000. At the same time, all the parties concerned were living in a -style rather suited to their hopes than to their realised profits. To -sustain so severe a drainage, the private fortune of Scott, and even -his unprecedented literary gains, were inadequate. Fortunately, the -hope of regaining the author of _Marmion_ as an adherent of his house, -induced Mr Constable to grant relief to some extent by the purchase -of stock, trusting that the rival house would as soon as possible be -extinguished. The Duke of Buccleuch also extended the favour of his -credit for the sum of £4000, by means of which, and of further sales -of stock to other publishers, the principal difficulties were passed, -though not without the most serious vexation to Scott for the greater -part of a year. In the midst of his worst perplexities, he resigned an -offer of the laureateship to Mr Southey, and was liberal as usual to -unfortunate men of letters, sending, for one thing, fifty pounds to Mr -Maturin, the Irish novelist. - - - - -WAVERLEY NOVELS. - - -Scott had, so early as 1805, commenced a prose fiction on the manners -of the Highlanders, which he designated _Waverley, or, ’Tis Sixty -Years Since_. Discouraged by the unfavourable opinion of his friends -regarding the first few chapters, he threw aside the manuscript, which -lay accordingly unthought of in an old desk for nine years. Happening -to find it while rummaging for fishing-tackle, he bethought him of -completing the story, and seriously trying his fortune in a new walk of -literature. Three weeks of June 1814 enabled him to add the second and -third volumes, and the tale appeared anonymously in the ensuing month. -The public almost immediately appreciated its merits, and the first -edition of a thousand copies meeting with a quick sale, was speedily -followed by a second and a third. The lifelike representation here -given of times not too remote for sympathy, and yet sufficiently so in -character to tell as eminently romantic, joined to the wonderful ease, -spirit, and mingled humour and pathos of the narrative, gave _Waverley_ -at once a place far above all contemporary novels, and awakened great -curiosity regarding the unknown author. - -Always unconcerned about the fate of his works, Scott immediately set -out on a six weeks’ yachting excursion round the north of Scotland, -with hardly a chance of hearing news from the world of letters -during that time. The excursion was performed in company with the -Commissioners of Northern Light-houses, of whom he was the guest. As -yet, the Commissioners had no steam-vessel for their annual trips, -but used a sailing yacht, provided with arms for defence, in case of -attack, against French privateers or other marauders. Sailing from -Leith on the 29th July 1814, the party first visited the Isle of May, -and thence proceeded northward. In passing, they landed on the Bell -Rock, and inspected the recently erected light-house on that dangerous -reef. In the album of the keepers, it is customary for visitors -to inscribe their name, along with any passing remark. Sir Walter -inscribed the following impromptu lines: - - - ‘PHAROS LOQUITUR. - - Far on the bosom of the deep, - O’er these wild shelves my watch I keep; - A ruddy gem of changeful light, - Bound on the dusky brow of night: - The seaman bids my lustre hail, - And scorns to strike his timorous sail.’ - -It was in this northern maritime excursion that Sir Walter visited -Shetland, and stored his mind with those materials which afterwards -were so charmingly developed in the romance of the _Pirate_. - -The secrecy which was maintained regarding the authorship of _Waverley_ -and the succeeding novels, helped to give them a certain piquancy, -independently of their intrinsic merits. At the same time, many -reflecting persons were at no loss to see that only the same mind which -had reproduced the times of the Jameses in _Marmion_ and the _Lady of -the Lake_, could have resuscitated the court and camp of the Chevalier -in 1745; but with the mass of the public the mystery was successful. -Some thought it most likely that Scott’s brother, Thomas, had produced -this romance; there were even some who attributed it to Mr Jeffrey. -Of Thomas he had himself so high an opinion, that he about this time -offered him money from his own pocket for any novel he might produce. -But the opinion of Walter Scott regarding the literary powers of his -contemporaries was of absolutely not the least value, in consequence -of the peculiar generosity of his nature. Thomas Scott and many others -whom he stimulated, and helped to become authors, were in the eyes of -the world very ordinary persons, and can only be remembered because -they were the objects of this great man’s love and esteem. - -The success of _Waverley_, and the necessity of money to relieve the -Ballantyne concern, quickly urged Scott to a new effort in the same -walk. During the short vacation at the Christmas of this year (1814), -he produced his tale of _Guy Mannering_, which, being published in -the ensuing February, was received with transports of delight (more -sober language would be quite inappropriate) by both the Scottish -and English public. The author had, only a month before, brought -out his last great poem, _The Lord of the Isles_, which met with a -reception so cool as to convince him that he must now resign the top -of the poetical walk to his young rival, Lord Byron. He heard the -report of the public decision on this point from James Ballantyne, was -disconcerted for a few minutes, and then, recovering his usual spirits, -tranquilly resumed the writing of his novel. How much it would tell to -the happiness of literary men in general, if they had but a tithe of -the equanimity of Scott about the success of their exertions! In the -summer of this memorable year he visited the field of Waterloo, and -wrote on that subject a descriptive work, entitled _Paul’s Letters to -his Kinsfolk_, and also a poem, which proved a failure in respect of -popular approbation. The results of these various labours, with his -professional income, not only set him free of the immediate pressure -of the publishing encumbrances, but enabled him to add somewhat to his -domains on Tweedside. This year was also memorable to him as that -which introduced him to the personal notice of the Prince Regent, who, -after greatly enjoying his society at Carlton House, sent him a present -of a gold snuff-box set in brilliants. - -Scott was now at ease in his circumstances. He had a pleasant house in -Edinburgh, No. 39 Castle Street--‘dear 39,’ as he affectionately called -it--where he enjoyed the best society in the Scottish capital. Then, -for recreation, he had that fanciful but costly domain on the Tweed. -His ordinary and assured income sufficed for any domestic expenditure -he chose to indulge in; the recent embarrassments were at an end; and -he might calculate on easily adding a few occasional thousands, for -the sake of posterity, by no very great exertion of his ever-fertile -brain. But who of mortal mould can ever say ‘enough,’ especially when -the temptation of great facility in acquiring is before him. For -Scott at this time to grow from the idea of a cottage retreat in the -country, to that of a little lairdship and a good sort of mansion, was -certainly very natural, when he found that the work of little more -than a month at any time could secure him enough of money to buy from -fifty to a hundred acres of ground. It was the more so in his case, -as his education, and the original bent of his own feelings, alike -tended to create in him a veneration for the possession of land. Add -to this, that he had a taste for planting and decoration, and felt a -genial joy in being bread-giver to a retinue of that kindly peasantry -whose virtues he has himself depicted in such lively colours. Of vulgar -ambition for wealth and state, there was in Scott not one particle: to -be a chief of the soil and its people, and contemplate his children as -succeeding him in the same character, was only, with him, to realise, -or set forth in substance, one of the poetical dreams which haunted his -mind. It is therefore not surprising at this period to find him far -from being disposed to suspend his energies, even although he might -have done so under the excuse of somewhat broken health, for he now had -frequent visits of stomach-cramp--in no small degree a consequence of -some of his literary habits. - -The spring of 1816 saw the public in possession of his novel of _The -Antiquary_, perhaps, of all his works, the one in which there is most -of the current matter of his own mind. It was scarcely published -before he had designed his _Tales of My Landlord_, the first series -of which came out, as by a new author, in December, and was at once -hailed with all the applause accorded to its predecessors, and set down -as another offshoot of the same tree. Early in 1817 appeared _Harold -the Dauntless_, which, not bearing his name, and being even a greater -failure than any of his recent poems, formed the last of that class -of his publications. The public might now, perhaps, have had a more -rapid succession of novels from his pen, if he had not thought proper -to write the historical part of his _Annual Register_, in a vain hope -to float that unfortunate work into popularity. As it was, he produced -this year his novel of _Rob Roy_, which came out at New Year 1818, -and experienced a brilliant reception. So great was his sense of the -encouragement extended to these novels, that in 1817 he made purchase -of an addition to his property, involving an outlay of no less than -£10,000. Just to shew, however, how much generosity towards others was -mixed with the no way mean ambition of Scott, his prime object here was -to secure a residence for his old school-friend, Adam Ferguson, and -his sisters, whom he was eager to plant near his own fireside. On his -concluding a rather hasty bargain for this estate, Ferguson expressed -his surprise and concern at seeing him exert so little pains to cheapen -it. ‘Never say a word about it,’ said Scott; ‘it will just answer you -and the ladies exactly; and it’s only scribbling a little more nonsense -some of these mornings, to pay anything it costs me more than enough.’ -From calculations of this kind, Scott is understood to have bought -nearly the whole of his landed property at a very large percentage -above its actual value. - -From this time till the close of 1825--a space of eight -years--prosperity reigned unchecked over the life of Scott. His novels -of _The Heart of Mid-Lothian_, _The Bride of Lammermoor_, _The Legend -of Montrose_, _Ivanhoe_, _The Monastery_, _The Abbot_, _The Pirate_, -_Kenilworth_, _The Fortunes of Nigel_, _Peveril of the Peak_, _Quentin -Durward_, _St Ronan’s Well_, _Redgauntlet_, and the _Tales of the -Crusaders_, streamed from his pen with a rapidity as wonderful as their -general merits were great. The public read with delight, and Scott was -happy to pipe to a dance which led to such solid results for his own -benefit. Generally, the first burst of sale called for ten thousand -copies, after which the books continued to go off in large numbers in -handsome collective reprints. It is odd after all, since Scott had -shewed a desire to increase his gains by being his own printer and -publisher, that he gave these books to be published by Constable, or -whatever other person, on the principle of a division of the profits--a -plan far too favourable to the tradesman, considering that the works -were sure to sell with little aid from that quarter. A more grasping -author would have given them to be published on commission, and thus -realised the whole profit excepting a fraction. The only deduction -he made from this liberality to the actual publisher consisted in -its being a point with him that the Ballantynes should have a share -of that portion of the profits--a mere grace on his part towards men -for whom he entertained a friendship. In 1819, Messrs Constable and -Company agreed to give him, for the copyright of the novels published -up to that time, and certain shares of poetical copyrights, the sum -of £12,000. Two years later, the same booksellers purchased for £5000 -the copyright of four succeeding novels--little more than a year’s -work--from which the author had already drawn £10,000. After another -similar interval, the author received five thousand guineas for other -four novels, which likewise had previously yielded him half-profits. -Scott spoke of these sums with triumph and pleasure, as wonderful -prices for what he was pleased to call his _yeld kye_--that is, cows -which have ceased to give milk. Such a result of successful authorship -was a surprising novelty in its day. Nor was the author alone blessed -by the pecuniary productiveness of the Waverley Novels. We find the -Edinburgh theatrical manager realising £3000 by the brilliant run of -the drama formed from _Rob Roy_. A painter gets £300 for sketches to -illustrate a section of the tales. - -If we reflect on the facility with which Scott could write these -inimitable novels--devoting to them merely the mornings of a life full -of other business and of amusement--we can hardly be surprised to learn -that he thought nothing of entering into engagements with Constable and -Company for producing four novels, not one line of which had then been -written, nor even the leading theme determined on. Nor was it wonderful -that he should have gradually been tempted to build additions to his -house on Tweedside till it became the architectural romance which it -now is, and fitted to receive and entertain a large assortment of -company. - -The house of Abbotsford, where Sir Walter Scott chiefly spent the last -twenty years of his life, may be assumed as the centre of a great part -of that region which we have styled _his_. This ‘romance in stone and -lime,’ as some Frenchman termed it, is situated on the south bank of -the Tweed, at that part of its course where the river bursts forth -from the mountainous region of the forest into the more open country -of Roxburghshire, two or three miles above the abbey of Melrose, and -six-and-thirty from Edinburgh. Though upon a small scale, the Gothic -battlements and turrets have a good effect, and would have a still -better, if the site of the house were not somewhat straitened by the -bank rising above it, and by the too close neighbourhood of the public -road. Descriptions of the house, with its armoury, its library, its -curiosities, and other particular features, have been given in so many -different publications, that no repetition here is necessary. The -house, if it be properly preserved, will certainly be perused by future -generations as only a different kind of emanation of the genius of this -wonderful man; though, preserve it as you will, it will probably be, of -all his works, the soonest to perish. - -All around Abbotsford, and what gave it a great part of its value in -his eyes, are the scenes commemorated in Border history, and tradition, -and song. The property itself comprises the spot on which the last -feudal battle was fought in this part of the country. The abbeys of -Melrose and Dryburgh, the latter of which now contains the revered -dust of the minstrel; the Eildon Hills, renowned in the annals of -superstition; Selkirk, whose brave burghers won glory in the field -where so much was lost by others, namely, at Flodden; Ettrick Forest, -with its lone and storied dales; and Yarrow, whose stream and ‘dowie -dens’ are not to be surveyed without involuntary poetry--are all in -the near neighbourhood of the spot. The love, the deep, heartfelt love -which Scott bore to the land which contains these places, was such as -no stranger can appreciate. It was a passion absorbing many others -which might have been expected to hold sway over him, and it survived -to the last. - -Scott was social and good-natured; to see him and his mansion was an -object of ambition to half the public, including the highest persons in -the land. He was thus led, during the seven months of the year which -he spent in the country, to be the host of so many persons of every -kind, that his wife spoke of the house as a hotel in all but the name. -Not that he would have voluntarily indulged in any undue expense on -this account, if he had been in limited circumstances; but believing -himself to be able to afford it, benevolence gave her irresistible -dictate that he should thus make himself the servant of the public, -even at the expense of much personal inconvenience to himself and his -family. It is stated in Mr Lockhart’s biography that sixteen uninvited -parties came in one day to Abbotsford. These would pass quickly away; -but fashionable tourists, some of them of high rank, came in scarcely -smaller shoals, to stay one or two days. A lady reports to us, from the -conversation of Miss Anne Scott, the younger daughter of Sir Walter, -that on one occasion there were _thirteen ladies’-maids_ in the house. - -In 1820, Scott was made a baronet. The honour was unsolicited, and he -considered himself as accepting it, partly because it was gratifying -to his family, and partly with a view to the interests of his eldest -son, who had entered a hussar regiment. If he had any enjoyment of the -honour in his own breast, it probably arose from no common worldly -vanity, but from its touching on some string of romantic feeling -amongst those to which we owe his delightful works. Though now a -_laird_ and a man of title, as well as the head idol in the temple of -the intellect-worshippers of his time, he was no whit different from -what he had been in his younger days, when content with love and a -cottage at Lasswade. His personal tastes and habits, his bearing to his -friends, his familiarity with the poor and lowly, remained the same. -As Wilkes is said to have never been a Wilkite, so Scott never, to -any appearance, joined the opinion which the world entertained about -him as an author. He spoke of his labours in this manner to Southey: -‘Dallying with time--tossing my ball and driving my hoop.’ Such men as -Davy and Watt he considered as the true honour of his age and country. -At home, in the bosom of his family, when the world would let him -alone, he was the most simple and kindly of associates. As he walked -about his grounds, he conversed freely and easily with his servants and -the peasantry, amongst whom he was an object of the deepest reverence -and affection. Often would this illustrious man work half a day at the -felling of trees in his woods, beside several workmen, trying which -could cut down one with the fewest blows, and laughing heartily when -he was victor. He delighted to walk in the evening towards the house -of an aged servant, that he might hear the psalm which the old man -was raising with his wife, as they conducted their evening devotions. -One of his retinue said to a visitor one day: ‘Sir Walter speaks to -every man as if they were blood-relations.’ It was not a condescending -kind of talk he indulged in with these people. He entered into their -feelings and tastes, and, speaking their own homely dialect, witched -them out of the idea that a master or a laird was before them. - -The year 1822 was a somewhat memorable one in Scott’s life, on account -of the concern he had to take in the arrangements necessary on the -occasion of the king’s visit to Scotland. The external character of -this piece of pageantry was much determined by that revival of national -and medieval associations which the novels had effected. Everywhere we -were reminded of the Stuarts in Holyrood, and the plaided clansmen on -their mountains. Feelings due towards the romantic kings of an elder -day were expended, often ludicrously, on the battered beau of Carlton -House and St James’s Street. Amidst the delirium of the time, the man -chiefly concerned in giving it a peculiar character, moved in perfect -possession of his wonderful powers of management, dictating or advising -in the principal doings, and attending to the minutest details of many -of them. The king afterwards expressed, both formally and in private, -his deep sense of obligation to Scott for what he had done to make this -visit pass off well. The affair is interesting for the proof it gives -of the business genius of Scott, and his qualifications for the affairs -of the world. Assuredly never was high imagination united with so many -of the soberest mental qualities as in his instance. - -His qualifications as a man of the world shone in various functions -which he consented to assume about this time, as the presidency of -the Royal Society of Edinburgh, that of an antiquarian book-printing -association called the Bannatyne Club, the chairmanship of an oil-gas -factory, and so forth. He had no inclination to thrust himself into -such situations, but having been drawn into them, he set about the -business which they involved with all the requisite zeal, and with a -marvellous amount of skill, good temper, and judgment. The common-sense -and sagacity which he exhibited in the performance of these duties, -form, perhaps, a greater distinction between Scott and the generality -of literary men than even his transcendent genius. - -Sir Walter, as has been stated, had strong Conservative leanings, in -which respect he sometimes unfortunately went beyond the dictates -of prudence. In 1820, he endeavoured to prove the absurdity of the -popular excitement in favour of a more extended kind of parliamentary -representation, by three papers which he inserted in the _Edinburgh -Weekly Journal_ newspaper, under the title of ‘The Visionary.’ However -well intended, these were not by any means happy specimens of political -disquisition. The truth is, Sir Walter, with all his high literary -gifts, did not possess the art of concocting a short essay, either on -politics or on any moral or general topic. He appears, moreover, to -have been in a great measure ignorant of the arguments and strength -of his political opponents. He treats them as if they were in the -mass a set of simple and uninformed people, led away by a few raving -demagogues; and his attempt, accordingly, appears nearly as ridiculous -as it might be to address grown men with the arguments which prevail -only with children. Some months afterwards, it was deemed necessary -by a few of the Tory gentlemen and lawyers, to establish a newspaper -in which the more violent of the radical prints should be met upon -their own grounds, and reprisals made for a long course of insults -which had hitherto been endured with patience. To this association Sir -Walter subscribed, and, by means partly furnished upon his credit, a -weekly journal was commenced under the title of _The Beacon_. As the -scurrilities of this print inflicted much pain in very respectable -quarters, and finally led to the death of one of the writers in a -duel, it sunk, after an existence of a few months, amidst the general -execrations of the community. Sir Walter Scott, though he probably -never contemplated, and perhaps was hardly aware of the guilt of -_The Beacon_, was loudly blamed for his connection with it. It must -be allowed, in extenuation of his offence, that the whole affair was -only an experiment, to try the effect of violent argument on the Tory -side, and that, if it did not exceed the warmth of the radical prints, -there was nothing abstractly unfair in the attempt. On the other hand, -a party who stand in the light of governors, and who, in general, -are placed in comfortable circumstances, assume violence with a much -worse grace than the multitudinous plebeians, who are confessedly in a -situation from which complaint and irritation are almost inseparable. - - - - -[SIR WALTER AND MR R. CHAMBERS. - - -In his preface to the new edition of the _Traditions of Edinburgh_ -(1869), Mr R. Chambers gives the following account of the manner in -which he became acquainted with Scott. ‘When not out of my teens, -I attracted some attention from Sir Walter Scott, by writing for -him and presenting him (through Mr Constable) a transcript of the -songs of the _Lady of the Lake_, in a style of peculiar caligraphy’ -[resembling small print], ‘which I practised for want of any way of -attracting the notice of people superior to myself. When George IV., -some months afterwards, came to Edinburgh’ [August 1822], ‘good Sir -Walter remembered me, and procured for me the business of writing the -address of the Royal Society of Edinburgh to His Majesty, for which I -was handsomely paid. Several other learned bodies followed the example, -for Sir Walter was the arbiter of everything during that frantic time, -and thus I was substantially benefited by his means. - -‘According to what Mr Constable told me, the great man liked me, in -part, because he understood I was from Tweedside. On seeing the earlier -numbers of the _Traditions_’ [1823] ‘he expressed astonishment as to -“where a boy got all the information.” But I did not see or hear from -him till the first volume had been completed. He then called upon me -one day, along with Mr Lockhart. I was overwhelmed with the honour, -for Sir Walter was almost an object of worship to me. I literally -could not utter a word. While I stood silent, I heard him tell his -companion that Charles Sharpe was a writer in the _Traditions_. A few -days after this visit, Sir Walter sent me, along with a kind letter, a -packet of manuscript, consisting of sixteen folio pages, in his usual -close hand-writing, and containing all the reminiscences he could at -that time summon up of old persons and things in Edinburgh. Such a -treasure to me! And such a gift from the greatest literary man of the -age to the humblest! Is there a literary man of the present age who -would scribble as much for any humble aspirant? Nor was this the only -act of liberality of Scott to me. When I was preparing a subsequent -work, _The Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, he sent me whole sheets of his -recollections, with appropriate explanations. For years thereafter, he -allowed me to join him in his walks home from the Parliament House, in -the course of which he freely poured into my greedy ears anything he -knew regarding the subjects of my studies. His kindness and good-humour -on these occasions were untiring. I have since found, from his journal, -that I had met him on certain days when his heart was overladen with -woe. Yet, his welcome to me was the same. After 1826, however, I saw -him much less frequently than before, for I knew he grudged every -moment not spent in thinking and working on the fatal tasks he had -assigned to himself for the redemption of his debts.’ - -It was in one of their walks through the Old Town that Scott pointed -out the place of his birth to my brother; also the little old school -in Hamilton’s Entry, where he had received some of his rudimentary -instruction. On another occasion, he shewed him the house once occupied -by Dr Daniel Rutherford at the foot of Hyndford’s Close, where he -had often been when a boy. It is a fine antique edifice, reputed to -have been the residence of the Earl of Selkirk in 1742. Latterly, it -has undergone some changes, with a new entrance from the Mint Close, -and forms the residence of a Roman Catholic clergyman, in connection -with a neighbouring chapel. Sir Walter communicated to Robert a -curious circumstance connected with this old mansion. ‘It appears -that the house immediately adjacent was not furnished with a stair -wide enough to allow a coffin being carried down in decent fashion. -It had, therefore, what the Scottish law calls a _servitude_ upon Dr -Rutherford’s house, conferring the perpetual liberty of bringing the -deceased inmates through a passage into that house, and down its stair -into the lane.’] - - - - -LATER NOVELS, AND LIFE OF NAPOLEON. - - -Scott had at this time the appearance of a respectable elderly -country-gentleman. Tall, robust, and rather handsome in person, he was -deformed by the shortness of his right limb, the foot of which only -touched the ground at the toes, while he rocked from side to side on -the support of a stout walking-cane, which he moved along with the -foot, and put down at the same time. While living in town, he wore -a common black suit; in the country, he had gray trousers, a short -green jacket, and a white hat. The public is made familiar with his -face by numberless portraits; it is only necessary to mention, that at -this time it was ruddy with the glow of health, and at the same time -somewhat venerable from his thin gray hair. The countenance and quick -gray eye usually had a common-world expression, but of a benevolent -kind. All was changed, however, when he told anything serious, or -recited a piece of ballad poetry; he then seemed to become a being of a -totally different grade and sphere. - -It has been hinted that Scott’s eldest son, Walter, had become an -officer in a hussar regiment. This youth, in 1825, wedded a young -heiress, Miss Jobson, much to the satisfaction of his father, who, -in the marriage-contract, placed against the young lady’s fortune a -settlement of the estate of Abbotsford upon his son, reserving only his -own liferent. He declared that he thus parted with the property of his -lands with more pleasure than he ever derived from the acquisition or -possession of them. He at the same time expended £3500 in purchasing a -company for his son. It was now that the great poet might be considered -as at the height of his fortunes. His career had hitherto been an -almost uninterrupted series of prosperous and happy events; he had -risen from the briefless barrister to the head of the literary world, -a title, and the possession of a landed fortune, with the prospect -of leaving a race of gentry to follow him. Alas! even while thus -triumphantly exalted, the ground was hollow beneath his feet, and a sad -prostration was approaching. - -Keeping this reverse for its proper place, it is proper here to -mention that the novels had fallen off somewhat in popularity since -_The Monastery_. The author was not made aware of this fact; but he -nevertheless felt the necessity of varying his themes as much as -possible, in order to preserve the public favour. Hence his shifting -ground to England and France, and his attempt, in _St Ronan’s Well_, -to depict the society of the modern world. Latterly, he bethought him -that history was a field of some promise, and he was disposed to enter -it. It was now (June 1825) that Mr Constable, moved by some examples -of popular publishing in London, adopted the idea that that trade -had never been conducted on right principles, seeing that it sought -customers only in the more affluent classes, while the masses were -left to regard books as luxuries beyond their reach. He projected a -periodical issue of volumes, at a comparatively low price, to consist -of reprints of approved copyright works belonging to his house, mingled -with original works; and claiming and obtaining the support of Scott, -it was arranged that the Waverley Novels should reappear in this cheap -form, alternated at starting with the volumes of a _Life of Napoleon -Bonaparte_, to be composed for the purpose by the same author. Thus -was Scott set down, in 1825, to the history of one whose career he had -beheld, while it lasted, with the strongest sentiments of reprobation -and hatred, feeling, as he did, that the French emperor was the public -enemy of England in the first place, and all Europe in the second. It -was at first intended that the work should consist of four volumes, or -less than a half of what it ultimately became. - -Just before going seriously into his task, he paid a visit to his son -in Ireland, where he was received and entertained with the greatest -enthusiasm by all classes--to his own surprise, as he had regarded -the Irish as not a reading people. He had not reflected that there -is such a thing as lionising great authors on the strength of their -fame, and without any but a superficial acquaintance, if so much, -with their writings. The contrast between the elegant mansions of the -gentry in which he lived, with the misery of the houses of the general -population, awoke painful feelings in his mind; but, upon the whole, -he much enjoyed his tour in Ireland. In the latter part of this year, -a second domestic change took place. His eldest daughter, Sophia, had -been married in 1820 to Mr J. G. Lockhart, a young barrister, whose -talents in literature have been fully acknowledged by the public. -Hitherto, the young couple had lived in his immediate neighbourhood, -both in town and country. He delighted in the ballads which Mrs -Lockhart sang to him with the accompaniment of her harp; he found Mr -Lockhart a useful adviser in literary matters, and a most agreeable -companion; and he felt the tenderest interest in their eldest child, -called John Hugh, or, familiarly, ‘Hugh Littlejohn,’ whose fatal -delicacy of constitution only heightened the affection he was otherwise -fitted to excite. In consequence of an offer of the editorship of the -_Quarterly Review,_ Mr Lockhart removed to London with his family, -by which Scott’s family circle was of course much contracted. This, -however, was but a trifling evil compared with others which were about -to befall the hitherto fortunate author of _Waverley_. - - - - -PECUNIARY MISFORTUNES. - - -The years 1824 and 1825 were distinguished by an extraordinary mania -for speculation, the consequence of which was, that, towards the close -of the latter year, a scarcity of money began to be generally felt. A -tightening of this kind always of course tells severely upon men who -have been keeping up their trade by means of fictitious bills; and of -this class it now appeared were Archibald Constable and Company. The -leading member of this firm had been fortunate in the proprietorship -of the _Edinburgh Review,_ and the publishing of many of the works of -Scott. Naturally grand in his ideas, and of an aspiring temper, at the -same time that he despised, and in practice wholly overlooked, common -mercantile calculations, he had come to conduct business in a manner -which usually leads to ruin. We have seen that the bookselling concern -of Scott (John Ballantyne and Company) was indebted to him for some -important assistance in enabling it to wind up; the printing concern -(James Ballantyne and Company) was also indebted to him for a vast -amount of business; while Scott, more personally, was so imprudent as -to take bill payments from him for works as yet unwritten, that he -might help out his equally imprudent purchases of land. By these means, -it came about very naturally that the name of James Ballantyne and -Company--that is, Sir Walter Scott--was lent to Constable and Company -for the raising of large sums amongst the banks. Scott, venerating -the supposed sagacity of Constable, recked not of the danger of -this traffic. Constable himself, inflated with a high sense of the -literary property and stock which he held, regarded himself as a rich -man, notwithstanding the large borrowings to which he condescended. -James Ballantyne, venerating both, easy of nature, and unprepared by -education or habit to keep a rigid supervision over business matters, -gave no alarm regarding the immense compromise of his own and his -friend’s name. - -These explanations serve so far; for what more is necessary, it must, -we fear, be admitted that the whole group of persons concerned in -the poems and novels, including the mighty Magician himself, were -naturally enough intoxicated to a certain degree by a literary success -so infinitely exceeding all precedent. All of them, excepting James -Ballantyne, had lived in an expensive manner. Scott himself had gone -in this respect a good way beyond what prudence dictated, though it -is also very certain that if his writings had been published under -reasonably favourable circumstances for the realisation of profit, he -might have bought land, and kept house as he did, without injury to -anybody. All, moreover, had been culpably negligent about accounts -and bargainings--Scott ridiculously so, to his own injury, as there -appears no good reason for his dividing the six or eight thousand -pounds realised by the first issues of his novels with his booksellers, -to whom a commission on sales would have been remuneration sufficient. -There was, however, at that time a much more loose and heedless fashion -in most business affairs than now prevails, and this requires that -some allowance should be made with regard to individual cases. So it -was that one of the firmest, and, generally speaking, most sagacious -men of his time, discovered, in the course of January 1826, that he -was involved in obligations far exceeding the extent of his whole -fortune--was, in short, a ruined man. - -On the 18th December 1825, fearing bad news of Constable’s affairs, he -says, in a diary which he kept, and surely few more touching words have -ever fallen from any man’s pen: ‘Men will think pride has had a fall. -Let them indulge their own pride in thinking that my fall will make -them higher, or seem so at least. I have the satisfaction to recollect -that my prosperity has been of advantage to many, and to hope that some -at least will forgive my transient wealth, on account of the innocence -of my intentions, and my real wish to do good to the poor. Sad hearts, -too, at Darnick and in the cottages of Abbotsford. I have half resolved -never to see the place again. How could I tread my hall with such a -diminished crest?--how live a poor indebted man, where I was once the -wealthy, the honoured? I was to have gone there on Saturday, in joy and -prosperity, to receive my friends. My dogs will wait for me in vain. -It is foolish--but the thoughts of parting from these dumb creatures -have moved me more than any of the painful reflections I have put down. -Poor things! I must get them kind masters. There may be yet those who, -loving me, may love my dog, because it has been mine. I must end these -gloomy forebodings, or I shall lose the tone of mind with which men -should meet distress. I feel my dogs’ feet on my knees--I hear them -whining and seeking me everywhere. This is nonsense, but it is what -they would do could they know how things may be.’ - -The evil day had not yet come in all its reality. Mr Constable went to -London, to endeavour to raise money on the copyrights he possessed, in -order to put over the difficulties. Moderate-minded men of the present -day read, as of something belonging to a different state of society, -of this ‘Napoleon of the realms of print’ seriously expecting to raise -one or two hundred thousand pounds on the pledge of his copyrights, -one large section of which afterwards, at a fair auction, brought only -£8500; his whole property being such as only in the long-run to pay 2s. -9d. a pound upon debts amounting to £256,000. Having utterly failed in -raising money on any terms amongst those who deal in it, he induced -Scott to advance him ten thousand, which the Laird of Abbotsford was -only able to do by acting upon a right he had reserved in his son’s -marriage-contract to borrow that sum on the security of his estate, -for the benefit of his younger children. And this last sacrifice for -Mr Constable he afterwards, very naturally, grudged more than all the -rest. It was on the 17th of January that Scott finally ascertained the -ruin of his affairs. ‘It was hard, after having fought such a battle,’ -as he says in his diary; but he sustained the first shock with Roman -firmness. His resolution was immediately taken, to accept of no grace -from his creditors beyond time. ‘God grant me health and strength,’ -he said in deep solemnity to his several friends, ‘and I will yet pay -every man his due.’ To those marvellous powers which he had exerted for -the purpose of buying land and keeping state, he trusted for the means -of clearing off the tremendous encumbrance which had fallen upon him. -At the same time, _state_ was to be given wholly up. He resolved to -sell his house in Edinburgh--‘dear 39’--and use a common lodging while -obliged to attend his duties in the Court of Session. At other times -he would join his family in strict retirement at Abbotsford, which -obviously could have been put to no better use. There was no bravado in -all this--nothing but a good, sound, honest resolution to redeem the -painful obligations into which his imprudence had hurried him. In the -same frame of mind, he declined many offers of money made to him by -friends. - -He was engaged at the time of his misfortunes in writing the _Life of -Bonaparte_, taking up his new novel of _Woodstock_ at intervals, by -way of relief. These tasks he continued with steady perseverance in -the midst of all his distresses. Even on the day which brought him -assurance of the grand catastrophe, he resumed in the afternoon the -task which had engaged him in the morning. There was more triumph over -circumstances here than might be supposed, for he had lately begun to -feel the first touches of the infirmities of age--age, to which ease, -not hard work, is naturally appropriate. His sleep was now less sound -than it had been; his eyesight was failing; and, above all, he felt -that backwardness of the intellectual power which is inseparable from -years. The will, however, was green as ever, and, under the prompting -of an honourable spirit, it did its work nobly. Doggedly, doggedly did -this glorious old man rouse himself from his melancholy couch, and set -to his task at an hour when gaiety has little more than sought his. -Firmly did he keep to his desk during long hours, till he could satisfy -himself that he had done his utmost. The temptations of society, the -more insinuating claims of an overworked system for rest, were alike -resolutely rejected. The world must ever hear with wonder, that between -the third day after his bankruptcy and the fifteenth day thereafter, -he had written a volume of _Woodstock_, although several of these days -had been spent in comparative vacancy, to allow the imagination time -for brooding. He believed that, for a bet, he could have written this -volume _in ten days_! Just a fortnight after his final breach with -fortune, he says in his journal: ‘I have now no pecuniary provisions -to embarrass me, and I think, now the shock of the discovery is past -and over, I am much better off on the whole.... I shall be free of a -hundred petty public duties imposed on me as a man of consideration--of -the expense of a great hospitality--and, what is better, of the waste -of time connected with it. I have known in my day all kinds of society, -and can pretty well estimate how much or how little one loses by -retiring from all but that which is very intimate.... If I could see -those about me as indifferent to the loss of rank as I am, I should -be completely happy. As it is, time must salve that sore, and to time -I trust it.’ With such philosophy could Scott regard his reverses, -even in the very crisis of their occurrence, and yet from many other -passages we find a keen sensibility to the circumstances of his -downfall. It was rectitude of mind, and not stoicism, which enabled him -to rise above his misfortunes. Nothing, indeed, of sensibility appeared -in his external demeanour, even to his children. To them, as to the -world, it must have been a lost secret, but for his diary. - -The obligations of James Ballantyne and Company--that is, of Sir Walter -Scott--were finally ascertained to amount to £117,000, of which only -£46,000 were the proper liabilities of his company. - -Early in spring, the ministry made an effort to correct the unsound -state of things which had led to the late fatal mania, by attempting to -pass a bill for the limitation of bank circulation. It was determined -to suppress all notes under five pounds. In Scotland, where there is -a vast faith in the utility of one-pound bank-notes, and no other -circulation is so much liked, this measure was very unpopular. By the -banks, it was regarded as fraught with ruin to their interests. Scott, -who had disapproved of some recent changes affecting old Scottish -institutions, and whose mind, serene as it was, perhaps required some -kind of vent for its own vexations, was led to take a strong, perhaps -exaggerated view of this question, under which he wrote three letters, -in the character of Malachi Malagrowther, originally published in a -newspaper, afterwards as a pamphlet. His great humour and fund of -droll anecdote gave wings to this production, and helped to rouse -the Scottish people to an attitude of resistance, to which, in the -long-run, the ministry gave way. The affair presented Scott in a -new light--namely, as one setting himself up against authority, and -appealing to popular sentiment on the adverse side. The public was -somewhat surprised; the ministers, some of whom were his friends, felt -hurt at opposition from such a quarter; and there was actually some -dryness between him and Lord Melville for a short time. The explanation -is, that Scott never was a servile friend of power, but one only as -far as his view of what was good for the country led him; and there -was a manliness and independence in his character which admitted of -no hesitation about a course, when he saw only men on the one side, -and the land of his birth on the other. It is gratifying to think that -Scott lost no friendship by his conduct on this occasion, beyond a -temporary coldness on the part of a few persons. - -The novel of _Woodstock_ came rapidly to completion, and, early in -April, the first edition of it was sold in the printed sheets for -£8228, in itself a proof that the author might have all along had a -better market for his works if he had chosen. This was a cheering -omen of what he was to do for his creditors. Removing at the close -of the winter session to Abbotsford, he continued there his habits -of application with unabated vigour, although, as appears from the -diary, not without some battlings between duty and inclination. The -daily amount of work he set to himself in the writing of Napoleon’s -life was four sheets of manuscript a day, making about twenty-four -of the printed pages. We find him on one occasion finishing this -before noon--a surprising effort, considering that reference to his -authorities or materials must have often been necessary during the -progress of the work. At the same time he commenced another work of -fiction, a series of tales entitled _Chronicles of the Canongate_, for -he felt the one task as a relief to the other. - -He now of course received no company at his rural retreat. Only a few -intimate friends of his neighbourhood occasionally joined the family -circle. It was a melancholy spring to one whose life in the country -had hitherto been a constant holiday. To add to his griefs, the health -of his wife had sunk to a low pitch. His kind-hearted Charlotte died -on the 16th of May, of water in the chest, the end being somewhat -accelerated by the late disasters. Scott, absent at the moment on duty -in Edinburgh, quickly hurried home. The event itself, and the grief of -his younger daughter on the occasion, powerfully affected him. He thus -communes with himself in his journal: ‘It would have been inexpressibly -moving to me as a stranger--what was it, then, to the father and the -husband! For myself, I scarce know how I feel--sometimes as firm as the -Bass Rock, sometimes as weak as the water that breaks on it. I am as -alert at thinking and deciding as I ever was in my life. Yet, when I -contrast what this place now is with what it has been not long since, I -think my heart will break. Lonely, aged, deprived of my family--all but -poor Anne; an impoverished, an embarrassed man, deprived of the sharer -of my thoughts and counsels, who could always talk down my sense of -the calamitous apprehensions which break the heart that must bear them -alone. Even her foibles were of service to me, by giving me things to -think of beyond my weary self-reflections.’ - -Allowing himself little rest for the indulgence of grief, he quickly -resumed, or rather hardly interrupted his usual employments. Between -the 12th of June and the 12th of August he wrote the fourth volume of -_Napoleon_, besides a portion of his novel. Thus he wrought all the -summer, and part of the autumn, till it was found necessary that he -should pay a visit to London and Paris, in order to consult documents -necessary for _Napoleon_. This journey occupied six weeks, and -perhaps was useful as a rally to his spirits. It is hardly necessary -to say that, with high and low, wherever he went, he was an object -of as cordial admiration and interest as ever. The king, the Duke of -Wellington, and many other eminent persons, paid him marked attentions. -In France, he was treated with no less distinction. Public papers in -both countries were placed at his disposal without reserve; and in -London he obtained an assurance that his second son, Charles, would be -employed in the diplomatic department. - -Till the failure of Messrs Constable and Company, the Waverley secret -was kept inviolate, though intrusted, as he has himself acknowledged, -to a considerable number of persons. The inquiries which took place -into the affairs of the house rendered it no longer possible to -conceal the nature of its connection with Sir Walter Scott; and he now -accordingly stood fully detected as the Author of _Waverley_, though he -did not himself think proper to make any overt claim to the honour. It -may be mentioned that, at the time of the failure, Sir Walter was in -possession of bills for the novel of _Woodstock_, of which but a small -part had as yet been written. A demand was made by the creditors of -Messrs Constable and Company upon the creditors of Sir Walter Scott, -for the benefits of this work, when it should be made public. But the -author, not reckoning this either just or legal, was resolved not to -comply. The bills, he said, were a mere promise to pay; since, then, -he had only promised to write, and they to pay, he would simply not -write, and then the transaction would fall to the ground. On the claim -being farther pressed, he said: ‘The work is in my head, and there -it shall remain.’ The question, however, was eventually submitted to -arbitration, and decided in favour of the creditors of the author, for -whose behoof the work was soon after published. - -The fact of the authorship continued to waver between secrecy and -divulgement till the 23d of February 1827, when Sir Walter presided at -the first annual dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association, -in the Assembly Rooms. There Lord Meadowbank, in proposing the health -of the chairman, used language to the following effect: ‘It was no -longer possible, consistently with the respect to one’s auditors, to -use upon this subject terms either of mystification, or of obscure -or indirect allusion. The clouds have been dispelled; the _darkness -visible_ has been cleared away; and the Great Unknown--the Minstrel -of our native land--the mighty Magician who has rolled back the -current of time, and conjured up before our living senses the men and -manners of days which have long passed away, stands revealed to the -hearts and the eyes of his affectionate and admiring countrymen.’ Sir -Walter, though somewhat taken by surprise, immediately resolved to -throw off the mantle, which was getting somewhat tattered. ‘He did -not think,’ he said, ‘that, in coming here to-day, he would have the -task of acknowledging before three hundred gentlemen a secret which, -considering that it was communicated to more than twenty people, had -been remarkably well kept. He was now before the bar of his country, -and might be understood to be on trial before Lord Meadowbank as an -offender; yet he was sure that every impartial jury would bring in a -verdict of _Not Proven_. He did not now think it necessary to enter -into the reasons of his long silence. Perhaps caprice had a great -share in it. He had now to say, however, that the merits of these -works, if they had any, and their faults were entirely imputable to -himself.’ [Here the audience broke into an absolute shout of surprise -and delight.] ‘He was afraid to think on what he had done. “Look on’t -again I dare not.” He had thus far unbosomed himself, and he knew that -it would be reported to the public. He meant, then, seriously to state -that, when he said he was the author, he was the total and undivided -author. With the exception of quotations, there was not a single word -written that was not derived from himself, or suggested in the course -of his reading. The wand was now broken, and the rod buried. His -audience would allow him further to say, with Prospero: “Your breath -has filled my sails.”’ - -The spring of 1827 was past, and summer had gone to June, ere Scott’s -great task was completed. He then finished the last volume of his _Life -of Napoleon_, which he had been engaged upon for about two years, but -had actually written in scarcely more than a twelvemonth of continuous -time. The paper and print of the first and second editions, in nine -volumes, brought the creditors £18,000--an amount of gain, in relation -to amount of labour, unexampled in the history of literature, and -which will probably have no parallel for ages to come. The book was -unfortunate in its excessive length; and, written in such haste, it -could not be expected to be very perfect, either in style or in facts. -Yet it made a tolerably fair impression on the public, and it has -since rather advanced than receded in public esteem. The contrast -between the manner of its composition and that of Hume, Robertson, -and Gibbon’s works, is startling. All of these narratives were the -study and the production of years. It had never till now entered the -head of man to think of a great historical task being executed in a -twelvemonth. The last-century historians filed and polished their -writings sentence by sentence--Scott did not once reperuse the matter -which had flowed from his pen. And all this labour had been performed -in the midst of grief and shaken health, and without interfering with -official duties, one of which called for several hours a day during -five months of the twelve. - - - - -LATER EXERTIONS. - - -Immediately on concluding _Napoleon_, he commenced another historical -work, his delightful _Tales of a Grandfather_; presenting a selection -of the most striking points from the Scottish chroniclers, in a style -designed to suit the intelligence of his descendant, ‘Hugh Littlejohn.’ -This he carried on alternately with his _Chronicles of the Canongate_, -the first series of which appeared early in the ensuing winter, and -was well, though not brilliantly received. He underwent at this period -some harassment from a Jewish London house, holding one of Constable -and Company’s bills for £2000. With a view to forcing payment by some -means, they threatened Scott with arrest; and he actually contemplated -at one moment resorting to that sanctuary (Holyrood), in which he -placed his imaginary hero, Chrystal Croftangry. At length the vexation -was taken off his head by Sir William Forbes, the leading member of a -banking company who were amongst his chief creditors. This generous -man paid the sum out of his own pocket, without letting Scott suppose -but that it was arranged for by the body of creditors. It is pleasant -to know that Scott unconsciously underwent several obligations of -this nature on the part of other old friends. The first series of -the _Tales of a Grandfather_ appeared before the end of 1827, and -was hailed with more rapture than any work of his for several years. -This was the date of another happy circumstance of a more important -kind. The copyrights of his novels and of a large proportion of his -poetical writings being presented for sale by Constable and Company’s -creditors, a purchase of them was made for £8500, on the part of his -own creditors as half-sharers, while the other half belonged to Mr -Robert Cadell, a member of Constable’s late house, now independently -in business. It was designed that the novels should be republished -by Cadell in a comparatively cheap form, with notes and prefaces by -the author, and certain trinkets of embellishment, such as--according -to his own phrase--elderly beauties are supposed to require. It was -hoped that the share of profits due to his creditors would tell -materially to the reduction of the debts; and this hope was more than -realised. Meanwhile, a first dividend was paid to these gentlemen -from the aggregate gains of Scott’s pen during the two past years, -amounting very nearly to the unheard-of sum of £40,000. Such were the -first-fruits of that hardy industry which he had determined to exert -for the redemption of his credit and good name. - -Scott’s conduct and demeanour towards his old associates in business -affairs become a matter of some importance, as it too often happens -that commercial adversity introduces wrath into such fraternities. It -is pleasant to relate, that even towards Mr Constable, who had been the -cause of so much loss, he maintained a friendly bearing. He did not, -indeed, shut his eyes to the new view he had obtained of Mr Constable’s -character as a man of business; but though he could trust no longer, he -was far from hardening his heart. One thing he felt sorely--his last -advance for Constable when in the jaws of ruin. Nor was it a soothing -circumstance that the bookseller had endeavoured to get his credit for -£20,000 more, which would have only been an additional loss at the -speedy and inevitable day of reckoning. Still, he was willing to regard -all this as only the effect of sanguine calculations; and accordingly -all his expressions regarding the fallen publisher, both in his diary -and his letters, are of a mild and even kindly tenor. Mr Cadell, on -the other hand, had secured Sir Walter’s esteem and confidence by an -honest warning which he gave as to the above £20,000. From the first, -he determined to befriend this member of the late house in preference -to the other. With regard to James Ballantyne, Scott told him, on the -very day when ruin was declared, that he would never forsake him. Mr -Ballantyne now conducted business on his own account, and was honoured -with the steady friendship and patronage of his old schoolfellow, as of -yore. - -On the other hand, the conduct of Scott’s immediate dependants had been -highly creditable. Deeply attached, in consequence of his long-enduring -kindness, all were anxious to remain, if possible, about his person. -His butler, Dalgleish, said he would take any or no wages, but go he -would not. His coachman, Peter Matheson, went to work with his horses -at the plough, glad to the core that he was allowed to remain at -Abbotsford on such terms. - -The spring of 1828 gave the world _The Fair Maid of Perth_, his last -popular novel. He then indulged in a little relaxation, by spending -a few weeks in London, in the enjoyment of Mr and Mrs Lockhart’s -society, as well as that of many attached friends. We have at this -time a valuable addition to that testimony to his temper which the -second last paragraph affords. He had some years before engaged his -credit for £1200 in favour of his friend Daniel Terry the actor, who -was then undertaking the management of the Adelphi Theatre. Being now -informed of the ruin of Mr Terry’s affairs, he wrote him a letter, in -which the following passage occurs: ‘For my part, I feel as little -title, as God knows I have the wish, to make any reflections on the -matter, beyond the most sincere regret on your own account. The sum -for which I stand noted in the schedule is of no consequence in the -now more favourable condition of my affairs.... I told your solicitor -that I desired he would consider me as a friend of yours, desirous to -take, as a creditor, the measures which seemed best to forward your -interest.’ These are precious things to put into a biography; but they -do not exhaust the list. Even while drudging so hard for the means -of diminishing his own encumbrances, he is found pretty frequently -composing and giving away a paper for the benefit of some unfortunate -man of letters, little regarding, perhaps, the strict merits of the -object of his bounty. One of the most remarkable of these benefactions -consisted in his allowing the publication of two religious discourses -for the benefit of a young man endeared to him by misfortune as well -as merit. This publication yielded £250, a sum which few other literary -men would allow to pass from their own pockets in such a manner. - -A great part of his time was now taken up with the new writing -connected with the popular edition of his works; yet before the end of -1828 he had advanced a good way with a new novel, the ground of which -he laid in Switzerland, notwithstanding his being acquainted with the -scenery of that country only by description and engravings. His mind -was now in a more cheerful mood regarding his affairs than it had been -since the dreadful January 1826; and if he had been free of various -ailments, inclusive of rheumatism, caught from a damp bed in France, he -might have enjoyed his life in the country almost as heartily as ever. -Suffer as he might, perseverance at his desk was a fixed principle -with him. Of this we have a striking trait in his finishing _Anne of -Geierstein_ before breakfast one morning, and commencing, as soon as -the meal was over, a new work, a _History of Scotland_, for Lardner’s -_Cabinet Cyclopædia_. - -The prospectus of what he called his _opus magnum_--namely, the -re-issue of the Waverley Novels--came out in February 1829, and was so -exceedingly well received that an edition of 10,000 seemed the least he -could throw off, a number which in those days appeared immense. When -the book was published, it was quickly found that this edition would be -quite insufficient to supply the public demand. In short, the sale of -the early volumes was not under 35,000. This was of course magnificent -success, and afforded the prognostic of a much quicker and more easy -settlement of the debts than had been anticipated. The volumes were -sold at five shillings. It was easy to see that, when a certain section -of the public had been supplied at that rate, a still cheaper edition -might be issued with benefit to all concerned. Thus it might be hoped -that Sir Walter would in time rest a free man, with little help from -his own immediate exertions. His heart rebounded at the prospect; and -he even glanced at the possibility of adding to his son’s estate before -he died. The public, too, had their visions on the subject, and, under -the idea that his embarrassments were, comparatively speaking, at an -end, the old stream of tourists and friend-visitors began once more to -pour into Abbotsford. The only drawback was in the infirm and failing -health. - - - - -CONCLUDING YEARS--DECEASE. - - -In February 1830, Scott experienced the first decidedly bad symptom, in -an attack of an apoplectic nature, which caused him to fall speechless -and insensible on the floor. This, it seems, was a hereditary affection -in his family, and it therefore gave him the greater apprehension, -though his physicians were of opinion that the attack proceeded from -the stomach. On still went the pen of the ready-writer, now engaged -on a volume of _Demonology_ for Murray’s _Family Library_. To obtain -even more time for literary task-work, he now resigned his clerkship -on a retiring allowance of £800 a year, and went to fix himself at -Abbotsford as a permanent residence. It was an injudicious step, as it -deprived him of the society of most of his old friends, and threw him -more and more upon that task-work which had already been prosecuted -only too zealously. His friends, Cadell and Ballantyne, were now -sensible that he had carried his zeal for the discharge of his debts -too far, and would have fain restricted him to lighter duty; but it -was difficult to deal with a mind acting under such powerful impulses. -Greatly against their wishes, he commenced a new novel, styled _Count -Robert of Paris_, which, when it appeared, shewed very clearly how -glory had departed from him. He also embroiled his mind in the politics -of the crisis then passing, and wrote a long pamphlet against the -reforming measures of the day, which afterwards he was induced to -suppress. The exaggerated view which he took of the reform cause is a -painful chapter in his history, not merely as shewing him unusually ill -informed and weak of judgment on passing events, but because it gave a -needless addition to anxieties of a real kind which were now pressing -severely on the springs of life. Amidst the vexations arising to him -from public affairs, one ray of pleasure visited him when his creditors -(December 1830) presented him with his library, furniture, plate, and -articles of virtù, considered as equivalent to £10,000, thus enabling -him to make a provision for the younger branches of his family. These -gentlemen were led to this act of generosity by their sense of his -unparalleled exertions in their behalf. Their claims against Scott -had now been reduced to £54,000, and as he had insured £22,000 upon -his life in their favour, and the Waverley Novels were continuing to -produce large returns, all doubt of the ultimate discharge of the -claims had ceased. About this time, the honour of being made a member -of the Privy Council was offered to him, but peremptorily declined, as -unsuitable to his circumstances. - -In November of the past year, Scott had had another slight stroke -of apoplexy. He lived in the most sparing manner, yet this did not -prevent a distinct paralytic affection befalling him in April 1831. -From this he recovered, by the care of a good surgeon, in a few days, -and was then placed, by way of caution, upon extremely low diet, which, -however, he did not always adhere to. He was now extremely infirm -in walking, and, from heedlessness, often tumbled over articles of -furniture or other impediments. The desire to be writing continued, -nevertheless, in full vigour as a ruling passion. Here, however, he -was destined to receive a shock more terrible to him than bodily -illness, when his friends, Cadell and Ballantyne, felt it right to tell -him that his tale of _Count Robert of Paris_ was, in their opinion, -an entire failure. ‘The blow is a stunning one, I suppose’--thus he -speaks in his diary--‘for I scarcely feel it.... I am at sea in the -dark, and the vessel leaky, I think, into the bargain. I have suffered -terribly, that is the truth, rather in body than in mind, and I often -wish I could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it -out if I can.’ His friends and medical attendants strongly advised -him to intermit these severe exertions, which evidently were only -a gentle form of self-murder; but they preached to deaf ears. They -were equally unsuccessful in their endeavours to keep him back from a -county election in which he felt interested. He went--took part in the -proceedings--and came to a collision with the populace, which could -not but leave distressing effects on one who, on all other points, -delighted to stand in kindly relations towards the humbler classes. -In the very depth of this dark crisis he began a tale, called _Castle -Dangerous_, in which the failing powers of his mind became even -more painfully conspicuous. He was now fully sensible that, in all -probability, he had but a short time to live; but it only made him the -more eager to work for the acquittance of his great obligations. So -much was this the case, that, being at a country-house in Lanarkshire -on a short visit, the intelligence of a friend having fallen down -suddenly in a fit, from which it was not expected he would recover, -caused him instantly to break up his engagement, and go home; answering -to all remonstrances on the subject: ‘The night cometh when no man may -work.’ - -He was now advised to spend the ensuing winter in Italy; and the -government having handsomely placed a ship at his disposal, he sailed -for Naples in October, attended by his eldest son and younger daughter. -He was most unwilling to leave home, but a long-entertained wish to see -some of the continental countries besides France served to reconcile -him to the change. The voyage was a pleasant one: he enjoyed the -objects to be seen at Malta, so full of middle-age associations, and -thought of fictions he could found upon them. On the 17th December, -he reached Naples, where everything was done by the king and the best -society of the place, including many English, to render his residence -happy. His chief companion here was Sir William Gell, an invalid -English gentleman, who wrote upon the antiquities of Italy, and with -whom Scott at once became extremely intimate. He beheld most of the -classical antiquities with indifference--saying only at Pompeii: ‘The -city of the dead!’--but was keenly interested in any object or document -which took his mind into the middle ages. Here he actually wrote a new -tale (entitled _The Siege of Malta_), and commenced a second, neither -of which was deemed by his friends as fit to see the light. For some -time he entertained cheerful views about his health; he was also under -an impression that his debts were all discharged: it is needless to say -that in both particulars he was deceived. Thus about four months rolled -on. He then became anxious to return home, and, as he would not obey -rule either as to writing or his diet, it was thought best to gratify -him, in the hope that a more effectual control might there be exercised. - -Attended by his younger son, who had been placed at Naples as an -attaché to the embassy there, and by his younger daughter as before, -Scott left Naples for Tweedside on the 16th of April. He paused a few -weeks at Rome, chiefly to gratify his daughter with the sights, of -which, however, he himself also partook, beholding, as before, the -medieval antiquities with the greater share of interest. The houses -occupied by the dethroned Stuarts, and their tombs in St Peter’s, -were objects of peculiar interest in his eyes. Here, as at Naples, he -was treated by persons of the highest rank, native and foreign, with -the greatest respect. Leaving Rome on the 11th of May, he proceeded -by Venice, through the Tyrol, to Frankfort, with a haste which must -have been unfavourable to him, but which nothing could control. It -was soon after necessary for him to have blood let by his servant -Nicolson, who had been instructed for that purpose. On the 13th of -June he reached London, totally exhausted. It was now evident that -this illustrious man was drawing near to the end of a greater journey. -He was kept three weeks in London, during which his friends saw in -him but occasional gleams of sense. He never knew distinctly where -he was: he knew, however, that he was not at Abbotsford, and there he -yearned to be. To gratify him, he was taken to Scotland by sea, and -from Edinburgh, as soon as possible, to his own house. As he approached -it, he began faintly to recognise familiar objects, and by and by it -was found difficult to keep him in the carriage, so greatly was he -excited. At length, alighting at the porch, and seeing his steward -and friend, he exclaimed: ‘Ha, Willie Laidlaw! O man, how often have -I thought of you!’ His dogs came about his knees, and he sobbed over -them until stupor fell again upon him. He remained in the sad state to -which he was now reduced for two months. Sometimes the mind cleared a -little, and on one occasion he caused himself to be placed at his desk -to write, where, however, the fingers failed to grasp the pen, and he -sunk back weeping in his chair. More generally he was in a state of -slumber. When sensible, he caused the Bible and church services to -be read to him. At length, on the 21st of September 1832, the scene -was gently closed. Sir Walter died in the sixty-second year of his -age--years undoubtedly being cut off from the sum of his existence by -that terrible exhaustion consequent on his later literary task-work. - -The funeral of this illustrious Scotsman was appointed to take place -on Wednesday the 26th; and, preparatory to that melancholy ceremony, -about three hundred gentlemen were invited by Major Sir Walter Scott, -the eldest son of the deceased. Among the persons thus called upon -were many individuals whose acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott was -simply of a local character. On an occasion like this, when the most -honoured head in the country was to be laid in the grave, it might -have been expected that many individuals would have come of their own -accord, especially from the neighbouring capital, to form part in a -procession, which, however melancholy, was altogether of a historical -character. Considering what the deceased had done for literature--what, -more specially, he had done to popularise Scotland, its scenery, -traditions, and character--we might not unnaturally have looked for -some very marked demonstration of respect, gratitude, and affection. -But great events sometimes make less impression at the time than they -do many years after: and such was the apathy towards this extraordinary -solemnity, that only ten or twelve persons, including the writer of -this and his brother William, had come from Edinburgh. It is also a -very remarkable circumstance, that, as in ordinary funerals, not nearly -the whole of those who had been invited found it convenient to attend. - -After a refection in the style usually observed on such occasions, the -funeral train set forward to Dryburgh, where the family of the deceased -possess a small piece of sepulchral ground, amidst the ruins of the -abbey. The spot originally belonged to the Halyburtons of Merton, -an ancient and respectable baronial family, of which Sir Walter’s -paternal grandmother was a member. It is composed simply of the area -comprehended by four pillars, in one of the aisles of the ruined -building. On a side-wall is the following inscription: ‘Sub hoc tumulo -jacet JOANNES HALIBURTONUS, Barro de Mertoun, vir religione et virtute -clarus, qui obiit 17 die Augusti, 1640;’ below which there is a coat -of arms. On the back wall, the latter history of the spot is expressed -on a small tablet, as follows: ‘Hunc locum sepulturæ D. Seneschallus, -Buchaniæ comes, GUALTERO, HOMÆ, et ROBERTO SCOTT, nepotibus -Haliburtoni, concessit, 1791.’--That is to say, the Earl of Buchan -(lately proprietor of the ruins and adjacent ground) granted this place -of sepulture, in 1791, to Walter, Thomas, and Robert Scott, descendants -of the Laird of Halyburton. The persons indicated were the father and -uncles of Sir Walter Scott; but though all are dead, no other member -of the family lies there, besides his uncle Robert and his deceased -lady. From the limited dimensions of the place, the body of the author -of _Waverley_ was placed in a direction north and south, instead of -the usual fashion; and thus, in death at least, he has resembled the -Cameronians, of whose character he was supposed to have given such an -unfavourable picture in one of his tales. - -The funeral procession consisted of about sixty vehicles of different -kinds, and a few horsemen. It was melancholy at the very first to see -the deceased carried out of a house which bore so many marks of his -taste, and of which every point, and almost every article of furniture, -was so identified with himself. But it was doubly touching to see him -carried insensible and inurned through the beautiful scenery, which he -has in different ways rendered, from its most majestic to its minutest -features, a matter of interest unto all time. There lay the gray and -august ruin of Melrose Abbey, whose broken arches he has rebuilt in -fancy, and whose deserted aisles he has repeopled with all their former -tenants--as lovely in its decay as ever; while he who had given it all -its charm was passing by, unconscious of its existence, and never more -to behold it. At every successive turn of the way appeared some object -which he had either loved because it was the subject of former song, -or rendered delightful by his own--from the Eildon Hills, renowned in -the legendary history of Michael Scott--to - - ‘Drygrange, with the milk-white yowes, - ’Twixt Tweed and Leader standing;’ - -to Cowdenknows, where once spear and helm - - ‘Glanced gaily through the broom;’ - -and so on to the heights above Gladswood, where Smailholm Castle -appeared in sight--the scene of his childhood being thus brought, after -all the transactions of a mighty and glorious life, into the same -prospect with his grave. - -During the time of the funeral, all business was suspended at the -burgh of Selkirk and the villages of Darnick and Melrose; and in the -former of these hamlets several of the signs of the traders were -covered with black cloth, while a flag of crape was mounted on the -old tower of Darnick, which rears itself in the midst of the inferior -buildings. At every side avenue and opening, stood a group of villagers -at gaze--few of them bearing the external signs of mourning, but all -apparently impressed with a proper sense of the occasion. The village -matrons and children, clustered in windows or in lanes, displayed a -mingled feeling of sorrow for the loss, and curiosity and wonder for -the show. The husbandmen suspended their labour, and leaned pensively -over the enclosures. Old infirm people sat out of doors, where some of -them, perhaps, were little accustomed to sit, surveying the passing -cavalcade. And though the feelings of the gazers had, perhaps, as much -reference to the local judge--‘the _Shirra_’--as to the poet of the -world and of time, the whole had a striking effect. Those forming the -procession, so far as they could abstract themselves from the feeling -of the occasion, were also impressed with the extraordinary appearance -which it bore, as it dragged its enormous length through the long -reaches of the road--the hearse sometimes appearing on a far height, -while the rear vehicles were stealing their way through a profound -valley or chasm. The sky was appropriately hung, during the whole time -of the ceremony, with a thick mass of cloud, which canopied the vale -from one end to the other like a pall. - -Towards nightfall the procession arrived within the umbrageous -precincts of Dryburgh; and the coffin, being taken from the hearse, -was borne along in slow and solemn wise through the shady walks, -the mourners following to the amount of about three hundred. Before -leaving Abbotsford, homage had been done to the religious customs of -the country by the pronunciation of a prayer by Dr Baird; the funeral -service of the Episcopal Church (to which the deceased belonged) -was now read in the usual manner by the Rev. John Williams, Rector -of the Edinburgh Academy, and Vicar of Lampeter, whose distinction -in literature and in scholarship eminently entitled him to this -honour. The scene was at this time worthy of the occasion. In a -small green space, surrounded by the broken but picturesque ruins of -a Gothic abbey, and overshadowed by wild foliage, just tinged with -the melancholy hues of autumn, with mouldering statuary, and broken -monuments meeting the eye wherever it attempted to pierce, stood the -uncovered group of mourners, amongst whom could be detected but one -feeling--a consciousness that the greatest man their country ever -produced was here receiving from them the last attentions that man -can pay to his brother man--which, however, in this case, reflected -honour, not from the living to the dead, but (and to such a degree!) -from the dead to the living. In this scene, where the efforts of man -seemed struck with desolation, and those of nature crowned with beauty -and triumph, the voice of prayer sounded with peculiar effect; for it -is rare that the words of Holy Writ are pronounced in such a scene; -and it must be confessed that they can seldom be pronounced over such -a ‘departed brother.’ The grave was worthy of a poet--was worthy of -Scott.--And so there he lies, amidst his own loved scenes, awaiting -throughout the duration of time the visits of yearly thousands, after -which the awakening of eternity, when alone can he be reduced to a -level with other men. - - - - -PERSONAL APPEARANCE. - - -In stature, Sir Walter Scott was upwards of six feet, bulky in the -upper part of the body, but never inclining in the least to what is -called corpulency. His right limb was shrunk from an early period of -boyhood, and required to be supported by a staff, which he carried -close to the toes, the heel turning a little inwards. The other limb -was perfectly sound, but the foot was too long to bring it within the -description of handsome. The chest, arms, and shoulders were those of -a strong man; but the frame, in its general movements, must have been -much enfeebled by his lameness, which was such as to give an ungainly, -though not inactive appearance to the figure. The most remarkable -part of Sir Walter’s person was his head, which was so very tall and -cylindrical as to be quite unique. The measurement of the part below -the eyes was fully an inch and a half less than that above, which, -both upon the old and the new systems of phrenology, must be held as -a striking mark of the intellectuality of his character. In early -life, the hair was of a sandy pale colour; but it was changed by his -illness in 1819 to a light gray, and latterly had become rather thin. -The eyebrows, of the same hue, were so shaggy and prominent, that, -when he was reading or writing at a table, they completely shrouded -the eyes beneath. The eyes were gray, and somewhat small, surrounded -by humorous diverging lines, and possessing the extraordinary property -of shutting as much from below as from above, when their possessor was -excited by a ludicrous idea. The nose was the least elegant feature, -though its effect in a front view was by no means unpleasing. The -cheeks were firm and close; and the chin small and undistinguished. -The mouth was straight in its general shape, and the lips rather thin. -Between the nose and mouth was a considerable space, intersected by -a hollow, which gave an air of firmness to the visage. When walking -alone, Sir Walter generally kept his eyes bent upon the ground, and had -a somewhat abstracted and even repulsive aspect. But when animated by -conversation, his countenance became full of pleasant expression. He -may be said to have had three principal kinds of aspects: _First_, when -totally unexcited, the face was heavy, with sometimes an appearance -of vacancy, arising from a habit of drawing the under-lip far into -his mouth, as if to facilitate breathing. _Second_, when stirred with -some lively thought, the face broke into an agreeable smile, and the -eyes twinkled with a peculiarly droll expression, the result of -that elevation of the lower eyelids which has been just noticed. In -no portrait is this aspect caught so happily as in that painted near -the close of his life by Watson Gordon, no other painter, apparently, -having detected the extraordinary muscular movement which occasions the -expression. The _third_ aspect of Sir Walter Scott was one of a solemn -kind, always assumed when he talked of anything which he respected, -or for which his good sense informed him that a solemn expression -was appropriate. For example, if he had occasion to recite but a -single verse of romantic ballad poetry, or if he were informed of any -unfortunate occurrence in the least degree concerning the individual -addressing him, his visage altered in a moment to an expression of deep -veneration or of grave sympathy. The general tone of his mind, however, -being decidedly cheerful, the humorous aspect was that in which he most -frequently appeared. It remains only to be mentioned, in an account of -his personal peculiarities, that his voice was slightly affected by the -indistinctness which is so general in the county of Northumberland in -pronouncing the letter _r_, and that this was more observable when he -spoke in a solemn manner, than on other occasions. - - - - -CHARACTER. - - -The character of Scott has already been indicated in the tenor of his -life, and it is not necessary to say much in addition. It certainly -included a wonderful amount of the very noblest and most lovable of -the qualities of humanity--rarely, perhaps, have so many been combined -in one person. The public had a stronger sense of this in Scott’s -lifetime than even now, for the revelations made by Mr Lockhart -and others regarding his commercial affairs have had the effect of -derogating considerably from his reputation. But we venture to predict -that this is only a temporary effect. It has damaged the ideal image -only; it has not injured the real man. Far better, we would say, to -look the actual character in the face, and judge of it from its shadows -as well as its lights; then only can we truly appreciate even the -worth and goodness of Scott, for then only do we see a bearer of our -own nature, charged with a share of its infirmities, as well as of its -glories. Admit, for instance, that he erred in his anxiety for wealth; -see, on the other hand, what objects he had here in view! There was -nothing sordid in this passion of his--the results were mainly used to -realise a poetic dream from which others were to derive the substantial -benefits. A large share was also devoted without a grudge to solace -the unfortunate. Grant, again, that he venerated rank; the feeling was -essentially connected with his historic taste. He worshipped not the -title or its living bearer; his idol was constituted by the romantic -associations which it awoke--and thus he has been known to pay far more -practical respect to a poor Highland chieftain than to a modern English -peer. It may, in like manner, be admitted that his judgments on passing -affairs were obsolete, and they may be excused by a similar reference -to his poetic habits. It was the same romance of the brain from which -we derived his novels, that misled him on these points. - -Sir Walter Scott possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of -imagination, with the gift of memory. If to this be added his strong -tendency to venerate past things, we at once have the most obvious -features of his intellectual character. A desultory course of reading -had brought him into acquaintance with almost all the fictitious -literature that existed before his own day, as well as the minutest -points of British, and more particularly Scottish history. His easy and -familiar habits had also introduced him to an extensive observation -of the varieties of human character. His immense memory retained the -ideas thus acquired, and his splendid imagination gave them new shape -and colour. Thus, his literary character rests almost exclusively upon -his power of combining and embellishing past events, and his skill -in delineating natural character. In early life, accident threw his -exertions into the shape of verse--in later life, into prose; but, in -whatever form they appear, the powers are not much different. The same -magician is still at work, reawaking the figures and events of history, -or sketching the characters which we every day see around us, and -investing the whole with the light of a most extraordinary fancy. His -versified writings, though replete with good feeling, display neither -the high imaginings nor the profound sympathies which are expected -in poetry; their charm lies almost entirely in the re-creation of -beings long since passed away, or the conception of others who might -be supposed to have once existed. As some of the material elements of -poetry were thus wanting, it was fortunate that he at last preferred -prose as a vehicle for his ideas--a medium of communication in which no -more was expected than what he was able or inclined to give, while it -afforded a scope for the delineation of familiar character, which was -nearly denied in poetry. As the discoverer and successful cultivator of -this kind of fictitious writing, Sir Walter Scott must rank among the -very highest names in British literature--Shakspeare, Milton, and Byron -being the only others who can be said to stand on the same level. - -Among the minor powers of his mind, humour was one of the most -prominent. Both in his prose writings and in private conversation, -he was perpetually making droll application of some ancient adage, -or some snatch of popular literature, or some whimsical anecdote of -real life, which he happened to think appropriate to the occasion.[2] -A strong feeling of nationality was another of the features of his -character, though perhaps it ought, in some measure, to be identified -with his tendency to admire whatever belonged to the past. He loved -Scotland and Scotchmen, but, it may be remarked, fully as much with -a view to what they were, and what they did long ago, as to their -later or present condition. Of the common people, when they came -individually before him, it cannot be said that he was a despiser: -to them, as to all who came in his way, he was invariably kind and -affable. Nevertheless, from the highly aristocratic tone of his mind, -he had no affection for the people as a body. He seems to have never -conceived the idea of a manly and independent character in middle or -humble life; and in his novels, where an individual of these classes is -introduced, he is never invested with any virtues, unless obedience, or -even servility to superiors, be of the number. Among the features of -his character, it would be improper to omit noticing his passion for -field-sports, and for all the machinery by which they are carried on. -He was so fond of a good horse, that the present writer has seen him -turn the most serious conversation, in order to remark the strength -and speed of one of these animals which he saw passing. He has also -recorded his attachment to dogs, by being frequently drawn with one by -his side. - -The gravest charge against Sir Walter Scott lies undeniably in -his heedlessness regarding his affairs. Apart altogether from his -accommodations to Constable and Company, he had entered deeply into -a false system of credit on his own account; and while much debt was -consequently hanging over him, he is found transferring the only solid -security for it--his estate--to his son. This, however, should be -contemplated in connection with all the circumstances which we can -suppose to have justified it in his own mind. To one who was producing -ten thousand a year by his pen, and who had done so for years, who, -moreover, saw large possessions in his own hands, there might appear -no pressing reason for looking anxiously into the accounts concerning -even so large a sum of floating debt as forty-six thousand pounds; at -least to one whose temperament, we now see, was sanguine and ideal as -ever poet manifested, though in his case usually veiled under an air -of worldly seeming. When this is considered, the weight of the charge -will, we think, appear much lessened, though it cannot be altogether -done away. For what remains, let us reflect on the latter days of -Scott, and surely we must own that never was fault more nobly expiated, -or punishment more nobly borne, than by the great Minstrel. - -It is by far the greatest glory of Sir Walter Scott, that he shone -equally as a good and virtuous man, as he did in his capacity of the -first fictitious writer of the age. His behaviour through life was -marked by undeviating integrity and purity, insomuch that no scandalous -whisper was ever yet circulated against him. The traditionary -recollection of his early life is burdened with no stain of any sort. -His character as a husband and father is altogether irreproachable. -Indeed, in no single relation of life does it appear that he ever -incurred the least blame. His good sense, and good feeling united, -appear to have guided him aright through all the difficulties and -temptations of life; and, even as a politician, though blamed by many -for his exclusive sympathy with the cause of established rule, he was -always acknowledged to be too benevolent and too unobtrusive to call -for severe censure. Along with the most perfect uprightness of conduct, -he was characterised by extraordinary simplicity of manners. He was -invariably gracious and kind, and it was impossible ever to detect in -his conversation a symptom of his grounding the slightest title to -consideration upon his literary fame, or of his even being conscious of -it. Of all men living, the most modest, as likewise the greatest and -most virtuous, was Sir Walter Scott. - - - - -[CONCLUSION. - - -The vast exertions made by Scott in his latter years to redeem his -financial blunders were happily successful. Since his death, the whole -of his debts have been cleared off by the profits of his writings. More -than a generation has elapsed since his decease, yet the popularity of -his works remains unabated. Written to satisfy no temporary feeling, -but founded on a knowledge of human character, and ever enduring -and elevating in their tendency, the fictions of Scott do not seem -destined to grow old or out of date. From the frantic novel-writing of -the period, too commonly the mere rack of invention, with characters -and incidents in violation of all known experience, one turns to the -fictions of Sir Walter with undiminished, if not increasing, delight -and admiration. Mr Cadell’s interest in the Waverley Novels having been -transferred in 1851 to Messrs A. & C. Black, innumerable editions have -since testified the lasting appreciation of these interesting works, -to which much justice has certainly been done as regards the method of -publication; though, like some others among the original readers of the -fictions, we could have spared the explanatory notes of the author, -which, with all their merits, are somewhat calculated to destroy the -vraisemblance of the respective narratives. A few years after the -death of Sir Walter, the citizens of Edinburgh resolved to erect a -monument to his memory, and the device adopted was that magnificent -Norman cross, from plans of Mr George M. Kemp, placed in so conspicuous -a situation in Princes Street as to strike the eye of every passing -traveller. It encloses, under open Gothic arches, a marble statue -(life-size) of the poet in a sitting posture, by a native artist, Mr -John Steell. The monument, which was completed in 1846, is open daily -for the inspection of strangers. The cost of the structure has been -upwards of £15,000. - -There is something sorrowful in the failure of Scott’s high hopes of -founding a family. The fond dream of his life may be said to have come -to nought. He left two sons and two daughters, who did not long survive -him. Miss Anne Scott died in London, 25th June 1833. Sophia, who was -married to John Gibson Lockhart, and who, in appearance and character, -most resembled her father, died 17th May 1837. Charles Scott, the -second son, died, unmarried, while acting as an attaché to a diplomatic -embassy to Persia, 28th October 1841. Walter, the eldest son, who -succeeded to the baronetcy, and rose to be lieutenant-colonel in the -15th Hussars, died on his passage home from India, 8th February 1847. -He was married, but left no issue, and the baronetcy is extinct. Mrs -Lockhart had three children, John Hugh Lockhart--the ‘Hugh Littlejohn’ -for whom Scott so lovingly wrote the _Tales of a Grandfather_--who died -15th December 1831; Walter Scott Lockhart, an officer in the army, -who died at Versailles, 10th January 1853; and Charlotte Harriet Jane -Lockhart, who was married in 1847 to James Robert Hope, barrister, -grandson of the Earl of Hopetoun. This lady, the last surviving child -of the novelist, died at Edinburgh 26th October 1858. She had three -children, two of whom died young, the only survivor being Mary Monica, -born 2d October 1852, who is now the only living descendant of Sir -Walter Scott. Mrs Hope having, in virtue of inheritance, succeeded to -the estate of Abbotsford, assumed with her husband the surname Scott, -in addition to that of Hope. Their daughter is accordingly known as -Miss Hope-Scott. Mr Hope-Scott, who occupies Abbotsford, was by a -second marriage united to a sister of the present Duke of Norfolk, -1861. All Sir Walter Scott’s brothers pre-deceased him. The only one of -them who was married was Thomas, who left a son and three daughters. - -In the occupancy of Mr Hope-Scott, Abbotsford remains a central point -of attraction to tourists, who, for the purpose of visiting it, and -also the mausoleum at Dryburgh, make the village of Melrose the spot -to which they first direct their pilgrimage. Carefully preserved in -every respect, the mansion of Abbotsford will be found almost in -the condition in which it was left by the great Scottish novelist. -The lapse of forty years, however, has effected great changes on -the grounds. The belts and clumps of plantation, the laying out and -thinning of which afforded so much delight to Sir Walter in the days -of his prosperity, when accompanied by Tom Purdie or William Laidlaw, -have become thick, umbrageous woods, clothing with beauty the once -bare hill-sides, and otherwise realising the anticipations of one who -fondly watched over their early development. The scene, one of the -most admired in the south of Scotland, ought not to be passed over -hurriedly. Here, within the murmuring sound of the Tweed, Sir Walter -Scott breathed his last, and here is the memorable shrine of his -affections.] - - - - - ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA - - OR - - SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS FACTOR - - BY - - ROBERT CARRUTHERS. LL.D. - - -Looking over the correspondence and other papers of my old friend, -William Laidlaw, long since deceased, and sleeping at the foot of a -Highland hill, far from his beloved Tweedside, it occurred to me that -certain portions of the letters and memoranda might possess interest -to some readers, and not be without value to future biographers. Mr -Laidlaw, it is well known, was factor or steward to Sir Walter Scott at -Abbotsford, and also occasional amanuensis. Lockhart has done justice -to his gentle, unassuming character, and merits, and to his familiar -intercourse with the Great Minstrel. Still, there are domestic details -and incidents unrecorded, such as we should rejoice to have concerning -Shakspeare at New Place, with his one hundred and seven acres of land -in the neighbourhood, or from Horace addressing the bailiff on his -Sabine farm. Such personal memorials of great men, if genuine and -correct, are seldom complained of, as Gibbon has observed, for their -minuteness or prolixity. - -The following pages are reprinted partly from _Chambers’s Journal_, and -partly from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, the proprietors of which kindly -permitted their republication. - - R. C. - -INVERNESS. - - - - -ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA. - - -The death of Mr William Laidlaw, a man of fine natural powers, and -of most estimable character, removed another of the few individuals -connected directly and confidentially with the daily life and literary -history of Sir Walter Scott, and also with the revival of the antique -Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The loss of Hogg, while the -twilight from Scott’s departed greatness still shone on the land, was -universally regretted; and by the death of Laidlaw, another ‘flower of -the forest,’ less bright, but a genuine product of the soil, was ‘wede -away.’ As the author of one of our sweetest and most characteristic -Scottish ballads, _Lucy’s Flittin’_, and as a collaborateur with Scott -in the collection of the ancient minstrelsy, Laidlaw is entitled to -honourable remembrance. Let us never forget those who have added even -one wild-rose to the chaplet of Scottish song! It is chiefly, however, -as the companion and factor or land-steward of Scott, that William -Laidlaw will be known in after-times. During most of those busy and -glorious years when Scott was pouring out so prodigally the treasures -of his prose fictions, and building up his baronial romance of -Abbotsford, Laidlaw was his confidential adviser and assistant. From -1817 to 1832, he was resident on the poet’s estate, and emphatically -one of his household friends. Not a shade of distrust or estrangement -came between them; and this close connection, notwithstanding -a disparity in circumstances and opinions, in fame and worldly -consequence, is too honourable to both parties to be readily forgotten. -The manly kindness and consideration of one noble nature was paralleled -by the affectionate devotion and admiration of another; and literary -history is brightened by the rare conjunction. - -Scott’s early excursions to Liddesdale and Ettrick form one of the -most interesting epochs of his life. He was then young, not great, -but prosperous, high-spirited, and overflowing with enthusiasm. His -appointment as sheriff had procured him confidence and respect. He had -given hostages to fortune as a husband and a father, and no one felt -more strongly the force and tenderness of those ties. Friends were -daily gathering round him; his German studies and ballads inspired -visions of literary distinction; and he was full of hope and ambition. -In his Border raids, he revelled among the choice and curious stores -of Scottish poetry and antiquities. Almost every step in his progress -was marked by some memorable deed or plaintive ballad--some martial -achievement or fairy superstition. Every tragic tale and family -tradition was known to him. The old _peels_, or castles, the bare -hills and treeless forest, and solitary streams were all sacred in his -eyes. They told of times long past--of warlike feuds and forays--of -knights and freebooters, and of primitive manners and customs, fast -disappearing, yet embalmed in songs, often rude and imperfect, but -always energetic or tender. Thus, the Border towers, and streams, and -rocks were equally dear to him as memorials of feudal valour, and as -the scenes of lyric poetry and pastoral tranquillity. He contrasted -the strife and violence of the warlike Douglases, the Elliots, and -Armstrongs, with the peace and security of later times, when shepherds -ranged the silent hill, or Scottish maidens sang ancient songs, and, -like the Trojan dames, - - ‘Washed their fair garments in the days of peace.’ - -Much of this romance was in the scene, but more was in the mind of the -beholder. - -William Laidlaw’s acquaintance with Scott commenced in the autumn -of 1802, after two volumes of the _Minstrelsy_ had been published, -and the editor was making collections for a third. The eldest son -of a respectable sheep-farmer, Mr Laidlaw was born at Blackhouse, -Selkirkshire, in November 1780. He had received a good education, -had a strong bias towards natural history and poetry, was modest and -retiring, and of remarkably mild and agreeable manners. The scheme of -collecting the old ballads of the Forest was exactly suited to his -taste. Burns had filled the whole land with a love of song and poetry, -James Hogg was his intimate friend and companion. Hogg had been ten -years a shepherd with Mr Laidlaw’s father, had taught the younger -members of the family their letters, and recited poetry to the old, and -was engaged in every _ploy_ and pursuit at Blackhouse, the name of the -elder Laidlaw’s farm. - -A solitary and interesting spot is Blackhouse!--a wild extensive -sheep-walk, with its complement of traditional story, and the suitable -accompaniment of a ruined tower. The farm lies along the Douglas -Burn, a small mountain-stream which falls into the Yarrow about two -miles from St Mary’s Loch. Near the house, at the foot of a steep, -green hill, and surrounded with a belting of trees, is Blackhouse -Tower, or the Tower of Douglas, so called, according to tradition, -after the Black Douglas, one of whose ancestors, Sir John Douglas of -Douglas-burn, as appears from Godscroft’s history of the family, sat -in Malcolm Canmore’s first parliament. The tower has in one corner the -remains of a round turret, which contained the stair, and the walls -rise in high broken points, which altogether give the ruin a singular -and picturesque appearance. It is also the scene of a popular ballad, -_The Douglas Tragedy_, in which, as in the old Elizabethan dramas, -blood is shed and horrors are accumulated with no sparing hand. A -knightly lover, the ‘Lord William’ of so many ballads, carries off -a daughter of Lord Douglas, and is pursued by this puissant noble -and his seven sons. All these are slain by Lord William, while the -fair betrothed looks on, holding his steed; and the lover himself is -mortally wounded in the combat, and dies ere morn. The lady also falls -a prey to her grief; and, in the true vein of antique story and legend, -we are told - - ‘Lord William was buried in St Mary’s kirk, - Lady Margaret in Mary’s quire; - Out o’ the lady’s grave grew a bonny red rose, - And out o’ the knight’s a brier.’ - -The tower and legend interested Scott as they had done Laidlaw. He -listened attentively to the traditionary narrative, and, like the -lovers in the ballad, - - ‘He lighted down to take a drink - Of the spring that ran sae clear,’ - -and visited the seven large stones erected upon the neighbouring -heights of Blackhouse to mark the spot where the seven brethren were -slain. - -Mr Laidlaw was prepared for Scott’s mission. He had heard from a -Selkirk man in Edinburgh, Mr Andrew Mercer--a Border rhymester, -and connected with the _Edinburgh Magazine_--that the sheriff was -meditating a poetical raid into Ettrick, accompanied by John Leyden, -and he had written down various ballads from the recitation of old -women and the singing of the servant-girls. He had also enlisted the -Ettrick Shepherd into this special service. The following is one of -Hogg’s rambling bizarre epistles, which relates chiefly to the ballad -of the Outlaw Murray: - - ‘DEAR SIR--I received yours, with the transcript, on the day before - St Boswell’s Fair’ [17th of July], ‘and am sorry to say it will not - be in my power to procure you manuscripts of the two old ballads, - especially as they which Mr Scott hath already collected are so - near being published. I was talking to my uncle concerning them, - and he tells me they are mostly escaped his memory, and they really - are so--in so much, that of the whole long transactions betwixt - the Scottish king and Murray, he cannot make above half-a-dozen - of stanzas to metre, and these are wretched. He attributed it to - James V., but as he can mention no part of the song or tale from - whence this is proven, I apprehend, from some expressions, it - is much ancienter. Upon the whole, I think the thing worthy of - investigation--the more so as he’ [Murray of the ballad] ‘was the - progenitor of a very respectable family, and seems to have been - a man of the utmost boldness and magnanimity. What way he became - possessed of Ettrick Forest, or from whom he conquered it, remains - to me a mystery. When taken prisoner by the king at Permanscore, - above Hanginshaw, where the traces of the encampments are still - visible, and pleading the justice of his claim to Ettrick Forest, - he hath this remarkable expression: - - “I took it from the Soudan Turk - When you and your men durstna come see.”[3] - - Who the devil was this Soudan Turk? I would be very happy in - contributing any assistance in my power to the elucidating the - annals of that illustrious and beloved though now decayed house, - but I have no means of accession to any information. I imagine the - whole manuscript might be procured from some of the connections of - the family. Is it not in the library at Philiphaugh?[4] As to the - death of the Baron of Oakwood and his brother-in-law on Yarrow, - if Mr Mercer or Mr Scott, or either of them, wisheth to see it - poetically described, they might wait until my tragedy is performed - at the Theatre-royal; and if that shall never take place, they must - sit in darkness and the shadow of death for what light the poets - of Bruce’s time can afford them! - - ‘I believe I could get as much from these traditions as to make - good songs out of them myself. But without Mr Scott’s permission - this would be an imposition; neither would I undertake it without - an order from him in his own handwriting, as I could not bring my - language to bear with my date. As a supplement to his songs, if - you please, you may send him the one I sent last to you: it will - satisfy him, yea or nay, as to my abilities. Haste; communicate - this to him; and ask him if, in his researches, he hath lighted on - that of John Armstrong of Gilnockie Hall, as I can procure him a - copy of that. My uncle says it happened in the same reign with that - of Murray, and if so, I am certain it has been written by the same - bard. I could procure Mercer some stories--such as the tragical, - though well-authenticated one of the unnatural murder of the son - and heir of Sir Robert Scott of Thirlstane, the downfall of the - family of Tushilaw, and the horrid spirit that still haunts the - Alders. And we might give him that of John Thomson’s Aumrie, and - the Bogle of Bell’s Lakes. - - ‘My muse still lies dormant, and with me must sleep for ever, since - a liberal public hath not given me what my sins and mine iniquities - deserved.--I am yours for ever. - - JAMES HOGG. - - ‘_July 20th, 1801._’ - -The ‘liberal public’ had given a reception ‘the north side of -friendly,’ as Bailie Nicol Jarvie says, to a small publication which -made its appearance about six months before the date of the above -letter, entitled ‘_Scottish Pastorals, Poems_, &c., by James Hogg, -Farmer at Ettrick’--a most unlucky speculation. - -Mr Laidlaw was constantly annoyed, he said, to find how much the -affectation and false taste of Allan Ramsay had spoiled or superseded -many striking and beautiful old strains of which he got traces and -fragments, and how much Scott was too late in beginning his researches, -as many aged persons, who had been the bards and depositaries of a -former generation, were then gone. - -‘I heard,’ he says, ‘from one of our servant-girls, who had all the -turn and qualifications for a collector, of a ballad called _Auld -Maitland_, that a grandfather of Hogg’s could repeat, and she herself -had several of the first stanzas (which I took a note of, and have -still the copy). This greatly aroused my anxiety to procure the whole, -for this was a ballad not even hinted at by Mercer in his list of -desiderata received from Mr Scott. I forthwith wrote to Hogg himself, -requesting him to endeavour to procure the whole ballad. In a week -or two, I received his reply, containing _Auld Maitland_ exactly as -he had copied it from the recitation of his uncle, Will Laidlaw of -Phawhope, corroborated by his mother, who both said they learned it -from their father, a still older Will of Phawhope, and an old man -called Andrew Muir, who had been servant to the famous Mr Boston, -minister of Ettrick.’[5] These services of the olden time were marked -by reciprocal kindness and attachment, not unworthy of the patriarchal -age. Son succeeded father in tending the _hirsel_ or herding the cows, -while in the case of ‘the master,’ the same hereditary or family -succession was often preserved. - -The person of the sheriff was not unknown to the new friend with whom -he was afterwards destined to form so intimate a connection. ‘I first -saw Walter Scott,’ Laidlaw used to relate, ‘when the Selkirk troop of -yeomanry met to receive their sheriff shortly after his appointment. I -was on the right of the rear rank, and my front-rank man was _Archie -Park_, a brother of the traveller. Our new sheriff was accompanied by -a friend, and as they retired to the usual station of the inspecting -officer previous to the charges, the wonderful _springs_ and bounds -which Scott made, seemingly in the excitation and gaiety of his heart, -joined to the effect of his fine fair face and athletic appearance, -were the cause of a general murmur of satisfaction, bordering on -applause, which ran through the troop. Archie Park looked over his -shoulder to me, and growled, in his deep rough voice: “Will, what a -strong chield that would have been if his right leg had been like his -left ane!”’ - -Scott and Leyden duly appeared at Blackhouse, carrying letters of -introduction. They put up their horses, and experienced a homely -unostentatious hospitality, which afterwards served to heighten the -delightful traits of rustic character in the delineation of Dandie -Dinmont’s home at Charlies-Hope. If the sheriff did not ‘shoot -a blackcock and eat a blackcock too,’ the fault was not in his -entertainers. After the party had explored the scenery of the burn, -and inspected Douglas Tower, Laidlaw produced his treasure of _Auld -Maitland_. Leyden seemed inclined to lay hands on the manuscript, but -the sheriff said gravely that _he_ would read it. Instantly both Scott -and Leyden, from their knowledge of the subject, saw and felt that -the ballad was undoubtedly ancient, and their eyes sparkled as they -exchanged looks. Scott read with great fluency and emphasis. Leyden was -like a roused lion. He paced the room from side to side, clapped his -hands, and repeated such expressions as echoed the spirit of hatred to -King Edward and the Southrons, or as otherwise struck his fancy. ‘I had -never before seen anything like this,’ said the quiet Laidlaw; ‘and, -though the sheriff kept his feelings under, he, too, was excited, so -that his _burr_ became very perceptible.’ The wild Border energy and -abruptness are certainly seen in such verses as these: - - ‘As they fared up o’er Lammermore, - They burned baith up and down, - Until they came to a darksome house; - Some call it Leader-Town. - - “Wha hauds this house?” young Edward cried, - “Or wha gies’t ower to me?” - A gray-haired knight set up his head, - And crackit right crousely: - - “Of Scotland’s king I haud my house; - He pays me meat and fee; - And I will keep my gude auld house - While my house will keep me.” - - They laid their sowies to the wall, - Wi’ mony a heavy peal; - But he threw ower to them agen - Baith pitch and tar barrel. - - With springalds, stanes, and gads of airn, - Among them fast he threw; - Till mony of the Englishmen - About the wall he slew. - - Full fifteen days that braid host lay, - Sieging auld Maitland keen, - Syne they hae left him, hail and fair, - Within his strength of stane.’ - -Scott valued this ballad and his other lyrical acquisitions highly. -In a letter to Mr Laidlaw, dated 21st January 1803, he remarks as -follows: ‘_Auld Maitland_, laced and embroidered with antique notes -and illustrations, makes a most superb figure. I have got, through the -intervention of Lady Dalkeith, a copy of Mr Beattie of Meikledale’s -_Tamlane_. It contains some highly poetical stanzas descriptive of -fairy-land, which, after some hesitation, I have adopted, though they -have a very refined and modern cast. I do not suspect Mr Beattie of -writing ballads himself; but pray, will you inquire whether, within the -memory of man, there has been any poetical clergyman or schoolmaster -whom one could suppose capable of giving a coat of modern varnish to -this old ballad. What say you to this, for example? - - “We sleep on rose-buds soft and sweet, - We revel in the stream, - We wanton lightly on the wind, - Or glide on a sunbeam.” - -This seems quite modern, yet I have retained it.’ - -Laidlaw had procured a version of another ballad, _The Demon Lover_, -which he took down from the recitation of Mr Walter Grieve, then in -Craik, on Borthwick Water. Grieve sung it well to a singularly wild -tune; and the song embodies a popular but striking superstition, such -as Lewis introduced into his romance of _The Monk_. To complete the -fragment, Laidlaw added the 6th, 12th, 17th, and 18th stanzas; and -those who consult the ballad in Scott’s _Minstrelsy_ will see how well -our friend was qualified to excel in the imitation of these strains of -the elder muse. After the party had ‘quaffed their fill’ of old songs -and legendary story, they all took horse, and went to dine with Mr -Ballantyne of Whitehope, the uncle of Laidlaw. - -‘There was not a minute of silence,’ says Mr Laidlaw’s memorandum, -‘as we rode down the narrow glen, and over by the way of Dryhope, -to get a view of St Mary’s Loch and of the Peel or Tower. When we -entered the Hawkshaw-doors, a pass between Blackhouse and Dryhope, -where a beautiful view of the lake opens, Leyden, as I expected, was -so struck with the scene that he suddenly stopped, sprung from his -horse (which he gave to Mr Scott’s servant), and stood admiring the -fine Alpine prospect. Mr Scott said little; but as this was the first -time he had seen St Mary’s Loch, doubtless more was passing in his mind -than appeared. Often, when returning home with my fishing-rod, had I -stopped at this place, and admired the effect of the setting sun and -the approaching twilight; and now when I found it admired by those whom -I thought likely to judge of and be affected with its beauty, I felt -the same sort of pleasure that I experienced when I found that Walter -Scott was delighted with Hogg. Had I at that time been gifted with a -glimpse--a very slight glimpse--of the second-sight, every word that -passed, and they were not few, until we reached Whitehope or Yarrow -Church, I should have endeavoured to record. Scott, as all the world -knows, was great in conversation; and Leyden was by no means a common -person. He had about him that unconquerable energy and restlessness -of mind that would have raised him, had he lived, very high among -the remarkable men of his native country. I cannot forget the fire -with which he repeated, on the Craig-bents, a half-stanza of an -irrecoverable ballad-- - - “Oh swiftly gar speed the berry-brown steed - That drinks o’ the Teviot clear!”-- - -which his friend, when finally no brother to it could be found, adopted -in the reply of William of Deloraine to the Lady of Branksome.’ - -The regret that Laidlaw here expresses at having omitted to note down -the conversation of his friends is extremely natural, but few men -could be less fitted for such a task. He had nothing of Boswell in his -mind or character. He wanted both the concentration of purpose and the -pliant readiness of talent and power of retention. At Abbotsford he -had ample opportunities for keeping such a record, and he was often -urged to undertake it. Scott himself on one occasion, after some -brilliant company had left the room, remarked half jocularly, that -many a one meeting such people, and hearing such talk, would make a -very lively and entertaining book of the whole, which might some day -be read with interest. Laidlaw instantly felt it necessary to put -in a disclaimer. He said he would consider it disreputable in him -to take advantage of his position, or of the confidence of private -society, and make a journal of the statements and opinions uttered -in free and familiar conversation. We may respect the delicacy and -sensitiveness of his feelings, but society, collectively, would lose -much by the rigid observance of such a rule. The question, we think, -should be determined by the nature and quality of the circumstances -recorded. It must be a special, not a general case. There is nothing -more discreditable in noting down a brilliant thought or interesting -fact, than in repeating it in conversation; while to play the part of a -gossiping and malicious eavesdropper, is equally a degradation in life -and in literature. It would have been detestable (if the idea could -for a moment be entertained) for Mr Laidlaw to pry into the domestic -details and personal feelings or failings of his illustrious friend -at Abbotsford; but we may wish that his pen had been as ready as his -ear when Scott ran over the story of his literary life and opinions, -or discriminated the merits of his great contemporaries--when Davy -expatiated on the discoveries and delights of natural philosophy--when -Miss Edgeworth painted Irish scenes and character--when Moore -discoursed of poetry, music, and Byron--when Irving kindled up like -a poet in his recollections of American lakes, and woods, and old -traditions--when Mackintosh began with the Roman law, and ended in -Lochaber--when some septuagenarian related anecdotes of the past--when -artists and architects talked of pictures, sculpture, and buildings--or -when some accomplished traveller and _savant_ opened up the interior of -foreign courts and the peculiarities of national manners. Many a wise -and witty saying and memorable illustration--the life-blood of the best -books--might thus have been preserved, though with occasional _lacunæ_ -and mistakes; and all are now lost-- - - ‘Gone glittering through the dream of things that were’-- - -and cannot be recalled. Surely society is the worse for the loss of -these racy, spontaneous fruits of intellect, study, and observation. - -While dinner was getting ready at Whitehope, Laidlaw and Leyden -strolled into the neighbouring churchyard of Yarrow, and saw the -tomb of Mr Rutherford, the first minister of that parish after the -Revolution, and the maternal great-grandfather of Scott. Leyden recited -to his companion the ballads of _The Eve of St John_ and _Glenfinlas_, -which naturally impressed on the hearer a vivid idea of the poetical -talents of the sheriff, and Laidlaw felt towards him as towards an -old friend. This was increased by Scott’s partiality for dogs. He was -struck with a very beautiful and powerful greyhound which followed -Laidlaw, and he begged to have a brace of pups from the same dog, -saying he had now become a forester, as sheriff of Ettrick, and must -have dogs of the true mountain breed. ‘This request,’ said the other, -‘I took no little pains to fulfil. I kept the puppies till they were -nearly a year old. My youngest brother, then a boy, took great delight -in training them; and the way was this: he took a long pole having a -string and a piece of meat fastened to it, and made the dogs run in a -circular or oval course. Their eagerness to get the meat gave them, by -much practice, great strength in the loins, and singular expertness -in turning, besides singular alertness in _mouthing_, for which they -were afterwards famous. Scott hunted with them for two years over the -mountains of Tweedside and Yarrow, and never dreamed that a hare could -escape them. He mentions them in the Introduction to the second canto -of _Marmion_-- - - “Remember’st thou my greyhounds true? - O’er holt or hill there never flew, - From slip or leash there never sprang, - More fleet of foot, or sure of fang.”’ - -After this visit, Laidlaw doubled his diligence in gathering -up fragments of the elder Muse, and the sheriff was profuse in -acknowledgments: - - ‘MY DEAR SIR--I am very much obliged to you for your letter and - the enclosure. The _Laird o’ Logie_ is particularly acceptable, as - coming near the real history. Carmichael, mentioned in the ballad, - was the ancestor of the Earl of Hyndford, and captain of James - VI.’s guard, so that the circumstance of the prisoner’s being in - his custody is highly probable. I will adopt the whole of this - ballad instead of the common one called _Ochiltree_. _Geordie_ I - have seen before: the ballad is curious, though very rude. _Ormond_ - may be curious, but is modern. The story of _Confessing the Queen - of England_ is published by Bishop Percy, so I will neither trouble - you about that nor about _Dundee_. “Glendinning” is a wrong - reading: the name of the Highland chief who carries off the lady is - Glenlyon, one of the Menzieses. Among Hogg’s ballads is a curious - set of _Lamington_ or _Lochinvar_, which I incline to adopt as - better than that in the _Minstrelsy_. Who was Katherine Janfarie, - the heroine? She could hardly be a damsel of rank, as the estate - of Whitebank is an ancient patrimony of the Pringles. I don’t know - what to make of Cockburn’s name, unless it be Perys, the modern - Pierce, which is not a common name in Scotland. I am very much - interested about the Tushilaw lines, which, from what you mention, - must be worth recovering. I forgot to bring with me from Blackhouse - your edition of the _Goshawk_, in which were some excellent various - readings. I am so anxious to have a complete Scottish _Otterburn_, - that I will omit the ballad entirely in the first volume, hoping - to recover it in time for insertion in the third. I would myself - be well pleased to delay the publication of all three for some - time, but the booksellers are mutinous and impatient, as a book is - always injured by being long out of print. As to the Liddesdale - traditions, I think I am pretty correct, although doubtless much - more may be recovered. The truth is that, in these traditions, as - you must have observed, old people are usually very positive about - their own mode of telling a story, and as uncharitably critical in - their observations on those who differ from them.--Yours faithfully, - - WALTER SCOTT.’ - -Before the friends parted, Scott made a note of Hogg’s address, and -from that time never ceased to take a warm interest in his fortunes. -He corresponded with him, and becoming curious to see the poetical -Shepherd, made another visit to Blackhouse, for the purpose of -getting Laidlaw along with him as guide to Ettrick. The visit was -highly agreeable. The sheriff’s _bonhomie_ and lively conversation -had deeply interested his companion, and he rode by his side in a -sort of ecstasy as they journeyed again by St Mary’s Loch and the -green hills of Dryhope, which rise beyond the wide expanse of smooth -water. It was a fine summer morning, and the impressions of the day -and the scene have been recorded in imperishable verse.[6] Dryhope -Tower, so intimately associated with the memory of Mary Scott, the -‘Flower of Yarrow,’ made the travellers stop for a brief space; and -_Dhu Linn_ (where Marjory, the wife of Percy de Cockburn, sat while -men were hanging her husband), with Chapelhope and other scenes and -ruins famous in Border tradition, deeply interested Scott. At the west -end of the Loch of the Lowes, the surrounding mountains close in, in -the face of the traveller, apparently preventing all farther egress. -At this spot, as Laidlaw was trying to find a safe place where they -might cross the marsh through which the infant Yarrow finds its way -to the loch, Scott’s servant, an English boy, rode up, and, touching -his hat, respectfully inquired, with much interest, where the people -got their necessaries! This unromantic question, and the _naïveté_ of -the lad’s manner, was a source of great amusement to the sheriff. The -day’s journey was a favourite theme with Laidlaw. First, after passing -the spots we have described, the horsemen crossed the ridge of hills -that separates the Yarrow from her sister stream. These hills are high -and green, but the more lofty parts of the ridge are soft and boggy, -and they had often to pick their way, and proceed in single file. Then -they followed a foot-track on the side of a long _cleugh_ or _hope_, -and at last descended towards the Ettrick, where they had in view the -level green valley, walled in by high hills of dark green, with here -and there gray crags, the church and the old _place_ of Ettrick Hall -in ruins, embosomed in trees. Scott was somewhat chafed by having -left in his bedroom that morning his watch--a valuable gold repeater, -presented to him on the occasion of his marriage--and to Laidlaw’s -ejaculations of delight he sometimes replied quickly: ‘A savage enough -place--a very savage place.’ His good-humour, however, was restored -by the novelty of the scenes and the fine clear day, and he broke out -with snatches of song, and told endless anecdotes, either new, or -better told than ever they were before. The travellers went to dine at -Ramsey-cleugh, where they were sure of a cordial welcome and a good -farmer’s dinner; and Laidlaw sent off to Blackhouse for the sheriff’s -watch (which he received next morning), and to Ettrick House for Hogg, -that he might come and spend the evening with them. The Shepherd (who -then retained all his original simplicity of character) came _to tea_, -and he brought with him a bundle of manuscripts, of size enough at -least to shew his industry--all of course ballads, and fragments of -ballads. The penmanship was executed with more care than Hogg had ever -bestowed on anything before. Scott was surprised and pleased with -Hogg’s appearance, and with the hearty familiarity with which _Jamie_, -as he was called, was received by Laidlaw and the Messrs Bryden of -Ramsey-cleugh. Hogg was no less gratified. ‘The sheriff of a county -in those days,’ said Laidlaw, ‘was regarded by the class to whom Hogg -belonged with much of the fear and respect that their _forbears_ -looked up to the ancient hereditary sheriffs, who had the power of -pit and gallows in their hands; and here Jamie found himself all at -once not only the chief object of the sheriff’s notice and flattering -attention, but actually seated at the same table with him.’ Hogg’s -genius was sufficient passport to the best society. His appearance was -also prepossessing. His clear ruddy cheek and sparkling eye spoke of -health and vivacity, and he was light and agile in his figure. When a -youth, he had a remarkably fine head of long curling brown hair, which -he wore coiled up under his bonnet; and on Sundays, when he entered -the church and let down his locks, the _lasses_ (on whom Jamie always -turned an expressive _espiègle_ glance) looked towards him with envy -and admiration. He doubtless thought of himself as the Gaelic bard did -of Allan of Muidart-- - - ‘And when to old Kilphedar’s church - Came troops of damsels gay, - Say, came they there for Allan’s fame, - Or came they there to pray?’ - -Mr Laidlaw thus speaks of the evening at Ramsey-cleugh: ‘It required -very little of that tact or address in social intercourse for which Mr -Scott was afterwards so much distinguished, to put himself and those -around him entirely at their ease. In truth, I never afterwards saw -him at any time apparently enjoy company so much, or exert himself -so greatly--or probably there was no effort at all--in rendering -himself actually fascinating; nor did I ever again spend such a night -of merriment. The qualities of Hogg came out every instant, and his -unaffected simplicity and fearless frankness both surprised and charmed -the sheriff. They were both very good mimics and story-tellers born and -bred; and when Scott took to employ his dramatic talent, he soon found -he had us all in his power; for every one of us possessed a quick sense -of the ludicrous, and perhaps of humour of all kinds. I well recollect -how the tears ran down the cheeks of my cousin, George Bryden; and -although his brother was more quiet, it was easy to see that he too -was delighted. Hogg and I were unbounded laughers when the occasion -was good. The best proof of Jamie’s enjoyment was, that he never sung -a song that blessed night, and it was between two and three o’clock -before we parted.’ - -Next morning, Scott and Laidlaw went, according to promise, to visit -Hogg in his low thatched cottage. The situation is fine, and the -opposite mountains, from the grand simplicity of their character, -may almost be termed sublime. The Shepherd and his aged mother--‘Old -Margaret Laidlaw,’ for she generally went by her maiden name--gave -the visitors a hearty welcome. James had sent for a bottle of wine, -of which each had to take a glass; and as the exhilarating effects -of the previous night had not quite departed, he insisted that they -should help him in drinking every drop in the bottle. Had it been -a few years earlier in Scott’s life, and before he was sheriff of -the county, the request would probably have been complied with; but -on this occasion the bottle was set aside. The scene was curious -and interesting. ‘Hogg may be a great poet,’ said Scott, ‘and, like -Allan Ramsay, come to be the founder of a sort of family.’ Hogg’s -familiarity of address, mingled with fits of deference and respect -towards the sheriff, was curiously characteristic. Many years after -this, we recollect a gentleman asking Laidlaw about an amusing anecdote -told of the Shepherd. Hogg had sagacity enough to detect the authorship -of the Waverley novels long before the secret was divulged, and had -the volumes as they appeared bound and lettered on the back ‘SCOTT’S -NOVELS.’ His friend discovered this one day when visiting Hogg at -Altrive, and, in a dry humorous tone of voice, remarked: ‘Jamie, your -bookseller must be a stupid fellow to spell _Scots_ with two _t_s.’ -Hogg is said to have rejoined: ‘Ah, Watty, I am ower auld a cat to -draw that strae before.’ Laidlaw laughed immoderately at the story, -but observed: ‘Jamie never came lower down than _Walter_.’ Lockhart, -however, appears to think he did occasionally venture on such a descent. - -From Hogg’s cottage the party proceeded up Rankleburn to see Buccleuch, -and inspect the old chapel and mill. They found nothing at the kirk of -Buccleuch, and saw only the foundations of the chapel. Scott, however, -was in high spirits, and, being a member of the Edinburgh Light -Cavalry, and Laidlaw one of the Selkirkshire Yeomanry, they sometimes -set off at a gallop--the sheriff leading as in a mimic charge, and -shouting: ‘Schlachten, meine kinder, schlachten!’ Hogg trotted up -behind, marvelling at the versatile powers of the ‘wonderful _shirra_.’ -They all dined together with a ‘lady of the glen,’ Mrs Bryden, -Crosslee; and next morning Scott returned to Clovenford Inn, where he -resided till he took a lease of the house of Ashestiel. - -Amidst these and similar scenes, Walter Scott inhaled inspiration, and -nursed those powers which afterwards astonished the world. The healthy -vigour of his mind, and his clear understanding, grew up under such -training, and his imagination was thence quickened and moulded. Byron -studied amidst the classic scenes of Greece and Italy--Southey and -Moore in their libraries, intent on varied knowledge. All the ‘shadowy -tribes of mind’ were known to the metaphysical Coleridge. Wordsworth -wandered among the lakes and mountains of Westmoreland, brooding over -his poetical and philosophical theories, from which his better genius, -in the hour of composition, often extricated him. Scott was in all -things the simple, unaffected worshipper of nature and of Scotland. His -chivalrous romances sprung from his national predilections; for the -warlike deeds of the Border chiefs first fired his fancy, and directed -his researches. In these mountain excursions he imbibed that love and -veneration of past times which coloured most of his compositions; and -human sympathies and solemn reflections were forced upon him by his -intercourse with the natives of the hills, and the simple and lonely -majesty of the scenes that he visited. These early impressions were -never forgotten. Nor could there have been a better nursery for a -romantic and national poet. Scholastic and critical studies would have -polished his taste and refined his verse; but we might have wanted the -strong picturesque vigour--the simple direct energy of the old ballad -style--the truth, nature, and observation of a stirring life--all -that characterises and endears old Scotland. Scott’s destiny was on -the whole pre-eminently happy; and when we think of the fate of other -great authors--of Spenser composing amidst the savage turbulence of -Ireland--of Shakspeare following a profession which he disliked--of -Milton, blind and in danger--Dante in exile--and Tasso and Cervantes -in prison--we feel how immeasurably superior was the lot of this noble -free-hearted Scotsman, whose genius was the proudest inheritance of his -country. ‘Think no man happy till he dies,’ said the sage. Scott’s star -became dim, but there was only a short period of darkness, and he never -‘bated one jot of heart or hope,’ nor lost the friendly and soothing -attentions of those he loved. The world’s respect and admiration he -always possessed. - -The _Minstrelsy_ appeared complete in the spring of 1803--the first -two volumes being then reprinted, and a third volume added, containing -the editor’s more recent collections. The work was very favourably -received: indeed, so valuable a contribution to our native literature -had not appeared since the publication of Percy’s _Reliques_. And the -Introduction is an admirable historical summary, foreshadowing Scott’s -future triumphs as a prose writer.[7] - -The sheriff made four visits to Blackhouse, the fourth time in company -with his attached friend, Mr Skene of Rubislaw. All the party turned -out to visit a fox-hunt, a successful one, for the fox was killed; and -Mr Skene made a spirited drawing of the scene, including a portrait -of old Will Tweedie, the fox-hunter. The visit was closed by the whole -party riding to see the wild scenery of the Grey Mare’s Tail and Loch -Skene, Hogg and Adam Ferguson being of the party. Laidlaw thus writes -of the expedition to Moffatdale: - -‘We proceeded with difficulty up the rocky chasm to reach the foot -of the waterfall. The passage which the stream has worn by cutting -the opposing rocks of grey-wacke, is rough and dangerous. My brother -George and I, both in the prime of youth, and constantly in the habit -of climbing, had difficulty in forcing our way, and we felt for Scott’s -lameness. This, however, was unnecessary. He said he could not perhaps -climb so fast as we did, but he advised us to go on, and leave him. -This we did, but halted on a projecting point before we descended to -the foot of the fall, and looking back, we were struck at seeing the -motions of the sheriff’s dog _Camp_. The dog was attending anxiously on -his master; and when the latter came to a difficult part of the rock, -_Camp_ would jump down, look up to his master’s face, then spring up, -lick his master’s hand and cheek, jump down again, and look upwards, as -if to shew him the way, and encourage him. We were greatly interested -with the scene. Mr Scott seemed to depend much on his hands and the -great strength of his powerful arms; and he soon fought his way over -all obstacles, and joined us at the foot of the Grey Mare’s Tail, the -name of the cataract.’ - -This excursion, like most of the others, Scott described in _Marmion_ -(Introd. to Canto II.) He was apt, on a journey among the hills, -especially if the district was new to him, to fall at times into fits -of silence, revolving in his mind, and perhaps throwing into language, -the ideas that were suggested at the moment by the landscape; and -hence those who had often been his companions knew the origin of many -of the beautiful passages in his future works. Of this Laidlaw used -to relate one instance. About a mile down Douglas-burn, a small brook -falls into it from the Whitehope hills; and at the junction of the -streams, at the foot of a bank celebrated in traditionary story, stood -the withered remains of what had been a very large old hawthorn tree, -that had often engaged the attention of the young men at Blackhouse. -Laidlaw on one occasion pointed out to the sheriff its beautiful site -and venerable appearance, and asked him if he did not think it might -be centuries old, and once a leading object in the landscape. As the -district had been famous for game and wild animals, he said there -could be little doubt that the red deer had often lain under the shade -of the tree, before they ascended to feed on the open hill-tops in -the evening. Scott looked on the tree and the green hills, but said -nothing. The enthusiastic guide repeated his admiration, and added, -that Whitehope-tree was famous for miles around; but still Scott was -silent. The subject was then dropped; ‘but some years afterwards,’ said -Laidlaw, ‘when the sheriff read to me his manuscript of _Marmion_, I -found that Whitehope-tree was not forgotten, and that he had felt all -the associations it was calculated to excite.’ The description of the -thorn is eminently suggestive and beautiful: - - ‘The scenes are desert now and bare, - Where flourished once a Forest fair, - When these waste glens with copse were lined, - And peopled with the hart and hind. - Yon Thorn, perchance, whose prickly spears - Have fenced him for three hundred years, - While fell around his green compeers-- - Yon lonely Thorn, would he could tell - The changes of his parent dell.’[8] - -We may here notice another poetical scene, the _Bush aboon Traquair_, -celebrated in the well-known popular song by Crawford. Burns says that -when he saw the old bush in 1787, it was composed of eight or nine -ragged birches, and that the Earl of Traquair had planted a clump -of trees near the place, which he called ‘The New Bush.’ Laidlaw -maintained that the new bush was in reality the old bush of the song. -One of the sons of Murray of Philiphaugh used to come over often on -foot, and meet one of the ladies of Traquair at the _Cless_, a green -hollow at the foot of the hill that overhangs Traquair House. This -was the scene of the song. The straggling birches that Burns saw are -half a mile up the water, the remains of a wooded bog--out of sight of -Traquair House, to be sure, but far out of the way between Hanginshaw, -on the Yarrow, and Traquair. - -One morning in autumn 1804 was vividly impressed on the recollection of -Laidlaw; for Scott then recited to him nearly the whole of the _Lay of -the Last Minstrel_, as they journeyed together in the sheriff’s gig up -Gala Water. The wild, irregular structure of the poem, the description -of the old minstrel, the goblin machinery, the ballads interspersed -throughout the tale, and the exquisite forest scenes (the Paradise -of Ettrick), all entranced the listener. Now and then, Scott would -stop to tell an anecdote of the country they were passing through, -and afterwards, in his deep _serious_ voice, resume his recitation of -the poem. Laidlaw had, the night before, gone to Lasswade, where the -sheriff then resided in a beautiful cottage on the banks of the Esk; -and on the following morning, after breakfast, they went up the Gala, -when Scott poured forth what truly seemed to be an unpremeditated lay. -They returned about sunset, and found the sheriff’s young and beautiful -wife looking on at the few shearers engaged in cutting down their crop -in a field adjoining the cottage. Mrs Scott seemed to Laidlaw a ‘lovely -and interesting creature,’ and the sheriff met her with undisguised -tenderness and affection. This was indeed his golden prime: - - ‘How happily the days of Thalaba went by!’ - -After this period, Laidlaw commenced householder, entering on extensive -farming experiments; and, so long as the war lasted and high prices -prevailed, his schemes promised to be ultimately successful. But with -peace came a sudden fall in the market value of corn. He struggled on -with adverse circumstances for a twelvemonth, till capital and credit -failed, and he was obliged to abandon his lease. - -In the summer of 1817, we find him at Kaeside, on the estate of -Abbotsford. At first, this seemed a temporary arrangement. The two -friends had kept up a constant intercourse after Scott’s visit to the -Yarrow in 1802. Presents of trout and blackcock from the country, -and return presents of books from Castle Street, in Edinburgh, were -interchanged; and, when Laidlaw’s evil day was at hand, Scott said: -‘Come to Abbotsford, and help me with my improvements. I can put you -into a house on the estate--Kaeside--and get you some literary work -from the Edinburgh publishers.’ The offer was cheerfully accepted, and -the connection became permanent. Scott had then commenced building and -planting on a large scale; and the same year he made his most extensive -purchase--the lands of Toftfield, for which he gave £10,000. - -‘I have more than once--such was his modesty’--said Laidlaw, ‘heard -Sir Walter assert that had his father left him an estate of £500 or -£600 a year, he would have spent his time in miscellaneous reading, -not writing. This, to a certain extent, might have been the case; and -had he purchased the property of Broadmeadows, in Yarrow, as he at one -time was very anxious to do, and when the neighbourhood was in the -possession of independent proprietors, the effect might have been the -same. At Abbotsford, surrounded by little lairds, most of them ready -to sell their lands as soon as he had money to advance, the impulse to -exertion was incessant; for the desire to possess and to add increased -with every new acquisition, until it became a passion of no small -power. Then came the hope to be a large landed proprietor, and to found -a family.’ - -When the poet was in Edinburgh attending to his official duties as -Clerk of Session, he sighed for Abbotsford and the country, and -took the liveliest interest in all that was going on under the -superintendence of his friend. Passages like the following remind us of -the writings of Gilpin and Price on forest and picturesque scenery: - -‘George must stick in a few wild-roses, honeysuckles, and sweet-briers -in suitable places, so as to produce the luxuriance we see in the -woods which Nature plants herself. We injure the effect of our -plantings, so far as beauty is concerned, very much by neglecting -underwood.... I want to know how you are forming your glades of hard -wood. Try to make them come handsomely in contact with each other, -which you can only do by looking at a distance on the spot, then and -there shutting your eyes as you have done when a child looking at the -fire, and forming an idea of the same landscape with glades of woodland -crossing it. Get out of your ideas about expense. It is, after all, but -throwing away the price of the planting. If I were to buy a picture -worth £500, nobody would wonder much. Now, if I choose to lay out £100 -or £200 to make a landscape of my estate hereafter, and add so much -more to its value, I certainly don’t do a more foolish thing. I mention -this, that you may not feel limited so much as you might in other cases -by the exact attention to pounds, shillings, and pence, but consider -the whole on a liberal scale. We are too apt to consider plantations as -a subject of the closest economy, whereas beauty and taste have even a -marketable value after the effects come to be visible. Don’t dot the -plantations with small patches of hard wood, and always consider the -ultimate effect.’ - -It is pleasant to see from the Laidlaw manuscripts with what alacrity -and zeal the noble friends of the poet came forward with kindly -contributions. The Duke of Buccleuch sent bushels of acorns; the Earl -of Fife presented seed of Norway pines; Lord Montagu forwarded a box -of acorns and a packet of lime-seed. One arboricultural missive to the -factor says: ‘I send the seeds of the Corsican pine, got with great -difficulty, and also two or three of an unknown species which grows to -a great height on the Apennines. Dr Graham says they should be raised -in mould, finely prepared, under glass, but without artificial heat.’ -A box of fine chestnuts came from Lisbon: the box was sent on from -Edinburgh to Abbotsford unopened, and before Laidlaw heard of them, the -chestnuts were peeled, and rendered useless for planting. ‘Confound the -chestnuts, and those who peeled them!’ exclaimed Scott; ‘the officious -blockheads did it by way of special favour.’ One object was to form -at the top of the dikes an impenetrable copse or natural hedge or -verdurous screen--the poet uses all the epithets (Milton has ‘verdurous -wall’); and for this purpose there were sent from Edinburgh 3000 -laburnums, 2000 sweet-briers, 3000 Scotch elms, 3000 horse-chestnuts, -loads of hollies, poplars for the marshy ground, and filberts for the -glen. The graceful birch-tree, ‘the lady of the wood,’ was not, of -course, neglected. ‘I am so fond of the birch,’ writes the poet; ‘and -it makes such a beautiful and characteristic underwood, that I think -we can hardly have too many. Besides, we may plant them as hedges.’ -He purchased at this time about 100,000 birches. Mr Morritt of Rokeby -writes to a friend: ‘He (Scott) tells me he never was so happy in his -life as in having a place of his own to create. In this Caledonian -Eden, he labours all day with his own hands; though, since the Fall, he -and his wife will not find many luxuriant branches to prune in Ettrick -Forest I sent him a bushel of Yorkshire acorns, which, except docks -and thistles, are, I believe, likely to be in three years the largest -vegetables upon the domain.’[9] - -‘There are many little jobs about the walks,’ writes the busy and -happy laird, ‘which, though Tom Purdie contemns them, are not less -necessary towards comfort: a seat or two, for example, and covering any -drains, so as to let the pony pass. In the front of the old Rispylaw -(now Anne’s Hill) is an old quarry, which, a little made up and -accommodated with stone seats and some earth to grow a few honeysuckles -and sweet-briers, would make a very sweet place. Many of the walks will -_thole_’ [bear] ‘a mending; for instance, that to the thicket might be -completely gravelled, as Mrs Scott uses it so much.’ - -Here the kindly, loving nature of the man peeps out. To Tom himself, -Scott writes in a big, plain, round hand: - -‘As Mrs Scott comes out on the 22d, and brings some plants to cover the -paling of the court, you must have a border of about a spade’s breadth -and a spade’s depth dug nicely, and made up with good earth and a -little dung, all along in front of the paling, and along the east end -of it. She will bring the plants from Edinburgh, so they can be put -into the ground the evening she arrives.’ - -Afterwards, as years ran on, a thread of business was intermixed with -the rural pleasure. The poet began to calculate on the probable return -from the woods, not omitting the value of the bark used for tanning -purposes. - - ‘DEAR WILLIE--How could you be such a gowk’ [fool] ‘as to suppose - I meant to start a hare upon you by my special inquiries about the - bark? I am perfectly sensible you take more care of my affairs - than you would of your own; but anything about wood or trees - amuses me, and I like to enter into it more particularly than - into ordinary farming operations. In particular, this of drying - and selling our bark--at present a trifle--is a thing which will - one day be of great consequence, and I wish to attend to the - details myself. I think it should not be laid on the ground, but - dried upon stools made of the felled wood; and if you lay along - these stools the peeled trees, and pile the bark on them, it will - hide the former from the sun, and suffer them to dry gradually. - I have been observing this at Blair-Adam. I have got a new light - on larch-planting from the Duke of Athole’s operations. He never - plants closer than eight feet, and says they answer admirably. If - this be so, it will be easy to plant our hill-ground. Respecting - the grass in the plantations, I have some fears of the scythe, and - should prefer getting a host of women with their hooks, which would - also be a good thing for the poor folks.’ [Another touch of the - poet’s kindly nature.] ‘Tom must set about it instantly. He is too - much frightened for the expense of doing things rapidly, as if it - were not as cheap to employ twelve men for a week as six men for a - fortnight.--Yours, - - W. S.’ - -In the matter of dwellings for the small tenants and labourers, the -laird of Abbotsford was equally careful and considerate. ‘I think -stone partitions would be desirable on account of vermin, &c. If -their houses are not comfortable, the people will never be cleanly. -For windows I would much prefer the cast-iron lattices, turning on a -centre, and not made too large. These windows being in small quarrels, -or panes, a little breach is easily repaired, and saves the substitute -of a hat or clout through a large hole. Certainly the cottages should -be rough-plastered.’ Perhaps the little iron lattices were as much -preferred for their antique, picturesque associations as for their -utility--‘something poetical,’ as Pope’s old gardener said of the -drooping willow; and the aged minstrel’s hut near Newark Tower, it will -be recollected, had such a window: - - ‘The little garden hedged with green, - A cheerful hearth and lattice clean.’ - -When times were hard and winter severe, he thought of the firesides of -the labourers: - - ‘DEAR SIR--I have your letter, and have no doubt in my own mind - that a voluntary assessment is the best mode of raising money to - procure work for the present sufferers, because I see no other way - of making this necessary tax fall equally upon the heritors.... I - shall soon have money, so that if you can devise any mode by which - hands can be beneficially employed at Abbotsford, I could turn £50 - or £100 extra into that service in the course of a fortnight. In - fact, if it made the poor and industrious people a little easier, I - should have more pleasure in it than in any money I ever spent in - my life.--Yours, very truly, - - W. S.’ - -The same year, which was a period of some excitement and discontent, he -writes to Laidlaw: - -‘I am glad you have got some provision for the poor. They are the -minors of the state, and especially to be looked after; and I believe -the best way to prevent discontent is to keep their minds moderately -easy as to their own provision. The sensible part of them may probably -have judgment enough to see that they could get nothing much better for -their class in general by an appeal to force, by which, indeed, if -successful, ambitious individuals might rise to distinction, but which -would, after much misery, leave the body of the people just where it -found them, or rather much worse.... Political publications must always -be caricatures. As for the mob of great cities, whom you accuse me of -despising too much, I think it is impossible to err on that side. They -are the very _riddlings_ of society, in which every useful cinder is, -by various processes, withdrawn, and nothing left but dust, ashes, -and filth. Mind, I mean the mob of cities, not the lowest people in -the country, who often, and, indeed, usually, have both character and -intelligence.’ - -Again: - -‘I think of my books amongst this snow-storm; also of the birds, and -not a little of the poor. For benefit of the former, I hope Peggy -throws out the crumbs; and a corn-sheaf or two for the game would be -to purpose, if placed where poachers could not come at them. For the -poor people, I wish you to distribute five pounds or so among the -neighbouring poor who may be in distress, and see that our own folks -are tolerably off.’ - -Scott introduced his friendly factor to _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and -Laidlaw used to compile for it a monthly chronicle of events, besides -occasionally contributing a descriptive article, which the ‘Great -Magician’ overhauled previous to its transmission. There was, in the -autumn of 1817, a great combustion in Edinburgh about the _Chaldee -Manuscript_, inserted in the magazine for October. An edition of two -thousand copies was soon sold, and fifteen hundred more were printed; -so Blackwood writes to Scott. ‘He was dreadfully afraid,’ says Laidlaw, -‘that Mr Scott would be offended; and so he would, he says, were -it not on my account.’ The Ettrick Shepherd (who was the original -concocter of the satire) was also alarmed. ‘For the love of God, open -not your mouth about the _Chaldee Manuscript_,’ he writes to Laidlaw. -‘There have been meetings and proposals, and an express has arrived -from Edinburgh to me. Deny all knowledge, else, they say, I am ruined,’ -&c. This once famous production is so local and personal that, although -it is now included in Professor Wilson’s works, it is almost unknown -to the present generation. The subject is a bookseller’s quarrel, a -contest between the rival magazines of Blackwood and Constable, and it -is one of the most harmless of all the parodies couched in Scriptural -phraseology. Professor Ferrier, the editor of Wilson’s works, says -it is quite as good, in its way, as Swift’s _Battle of the Books_; -but this is a monstrous delusion. There are some quaint touches of -character in the piece. It may be compared to the parodies by Hone; but -it is a sort of profanation to place it on a level with the classic -satire of Swift. - -It is never too late to do justice. In one of these magazine missives, -written in January 1818, Blackwood refers to the Ettrick Shepherd. -‘If you see Hogg, I hope you will press him to send me instantly his -_Shepherd’s Dog_, and anything else. I received his _Andrew Gemmells_; -but the editor is not going to insert it in this number.’ [Had Ebony -really an editor, or was he not himself the great sublime?] ‘I expected -to have received from him the conclusion of the _Brownie of Bodsbeck_; -there are six sheets of it already printed.’ - -Now, the latter part of this extract seems distinctly to disprove -a charge which Hogg thoughtlessly brought against Mr Blackwood. -His novel, the _Brownie of Bodsbeck_, was published in 1818, and he -suffered unjustly, as he states in his autobiography, with regard -to that tale, as it was looked upon as an imitation of Scott’s _Old -Mortality_. It was wholly owing to Blackwood, he asserts, that his -story was not published a year sooner; and he relates the case as a -warning to authors never to intrust booksellers with their manuscripts. -But the fact is, _Old Mortality_ was published in December 1816; and -we have Blackwood, in the above letter to Laidlaw, stating that he had -not, in January 1818--more than a twelvemonth afterwards--received -the whole of the ‘copy’ of the _Brownie of Bodsbeck_. How could he go -to press with an unfinished story? How make bricks without straw? The -accusation is altogether a myth, or, to use one of the Shepherd’s own -expressions, ‘a mere shimmera’ [chimera] ‘of the brain.’ - -Of Hogg’s prose works, Scott writes: ‘Truly, they are sad daubing, -with, here and there, fine dashes of genius.’ The _daubing_ is chiefly -seen in the dialogues and attempts at humour; the _genius_ appears -in the descriptions of pastoral or wild scenery, as in the account -of the ‘Storms,’ and in the fine introduction to the _Brownie of -Bodsbeck_, and in some of the delineations of humble Scottish life -and superstition. Hogg is as true and literal as Crabbe. His peasants -always speak and think as peasants; but he gives us, sometimes, coarse -and poor specimens. It is certain, however, that, even in the worst of -his stories, there are gleams of fancy--‘fairy blinks of the sun’--far -above the reach of writers immensely his superiors in taste and -acquirements. - -There was another person in whom Scott was interested with -reference to the slashing articles in _Blackwood’s Magazine_. He -writes to Laidlaw: ‘So they let poor Charles Sharpe alone, they -may satirise all Edinburgh, your humble servant not excepted.’ -Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, with his antiquarian tastes, personal -oddities, and aristocratic leanings, was a special favourite with -Scott. He was a kind of Scotch Horace Walpole (so considered by his -illustrious friend), but much feebler; perhaps stronger with the -pencil, but infinitely weaker with the pen. His celebrated sketch of -the ‘Inimitable Virago,’ or Queen Elizabeth dancing _disposedly_, as -described by the Scotch ambassador, Sir James Melville, was esteemed -by Scott as an unrivalled production. It is highly ludicrous and -effective as a picture, but is too extravagant to serve even as a -caricature representation of Elizabeth. Neither face nor figure has any -resemblance. Hogarth, in his etching of old Simon Lord Lovat of the -’45, seems, by a happy stroke of genius, to have hit the true medium -in works of this class. He preserved the strong points in personal -appearance and character--combining them with irresistible humour and -drollery of expression. - -Here is another scrap: - -‘I am glad to send you Maga, which continues to be clever. I hope for -two or three happy days on the brae-sides about the birthday’ [the -king’s birthday, June 4]. ‘Blackwood has been assaulted by a fellow who -came from Glasgow on purpose, and returned second-best. The bibliopole -is like the little French lawyer, who never found out he could fight -till he was put to it, and was then for cudgelling all and sundry. You -never saw anything so whimsical. - -‘I think often, of course, about my walks; and I am sickening to -descend into the glen at the little waterfall by steps. We could cut -excellent ones out where the quarry has been. It is the only way we -shall ever make what Tom Purdie calls a _neat job_; for a deep descent -will be ugly, and difficult to keep. I would plant betwixt the stair -and the cascade, so as to hide the latter till you came down to the -bottom.’ - -Visitors now began to appear at Abbotsford, an increasing stream -every season from 1817 to 1825. They consisted of persons of rank and -fashion, literary men and artists of all nations, who travelled to the -Tweed to pay homage to the poet. There was no envy or jealousy with -the Great Minstrel. Indeed, with the single exception of Byron, his -position was such that he had no cause to fear any rival, and he could -afford to throw largess to the crowd. All were welcome at Abbotsford. -Washington Irving has described the cordial reception he experienced on -the occasion of his visit in 1817, and Laidlaw thus notes the event: - -‘We had a long walk up by the glen and round by the loch. It was fine -sunshine when we set out, but we met with tremendous dashing showers. -Mr Irving told me he had a kind of devotional reverence for Scotland, -and most of all for its poetry. He looked upon it as fairy-land, and -he was beyond measure surprised at Mr Scott, his simple manners and -brotherly frankness. He was very anxious to see Hogg, and said that -several editions of Hogg’s different poems had been published in -America.’ - -Irving always regretted that he had not met with the Shepherd. Such a -meeting could not have failed to give infinite pleasure to both. The -gentle manners and literary enthusiasm of the American author would -at once have attached the Shepherd; while the rustic frankness, -liveliness, and perfect originality of Hogg possessed an indescribable -attraction and charm which the other would have fully appreciated. -Many years after this period, Hogg retained a careless brightness of -conversation and joyous manner which were seen in no other man. The -union of the shepherd and the poet formed a combination as rare and -striking as that of the soldado with the divinity student of Marischal -College, in the person of the renowned Dugald Dalgetty. - -One day, after Hogg had been in London--and ‘The Hogg,’ as Lockhart -said, ‘was the lion of the season’--Allan Cunningham chanced to meet -James Smith of the _Rejected Addresses_ at the table of the great -bibliopole, John Murray. ‘How,’ said Smith, aloud, to Allan, ‘how -does Hogg like Scotland’s small cheer after the luxury of London?’ -‘Small cheer!’ echoed Allan; ‘he has the finest trout in the Yarrow, -the finest lambs on its braes, the finest grouse on its hills, and, -besides, he as good as keeps a _sma’ still_’ [smuggled whisky]. ‘Pray, -what better luxury can London offer?’ All these sumptuosities the -Shepherd cheerfully shared with the wayfarers who flocked to Altrive -Cottage. - -Another visitor at Abbotsford during the season of 1817, was Lady -Byron. ‘I have had the honour,’ says Laidlaw, ‘of dining in the company -of Lady Byron and Lord Somerville. Her ladyship is a beautiful little -woman with fair hair, a fine complexion, and rather large blue eyes; -face not round. She looked steadily grave, and seldom smiled. I thought -her mouth indicated great firmness, or rather obstinacy. Miss Anne -Scott and Lady Byron rode to Newark.’ After the date of this visit -by Lady Byron, Laidlaw says he had many conversations with Scott -concerning the life and poetry of Byron. ‘He seemed to regret very -much that Byron and he had not been thrown more together. He felt the -influence he had over his great contemporary’s mind, and said there was -so much in it that was very good and very elevated, that any one whom -he much liked could, as he (Scott) thought, have withdrawn him from -many of his errors.’ - -All went on smoothly and gaily at Abbotsford. Every year had added to -the beauty of the poet’s domain, and to the richness of his various -collections and library. His opinion of Gothic architecture is thus -expressed: ‘I have got a very good plan from Atkinson for my addition, -but I do not like the outside, which is modern Gothic, a style I hold -to be equally false and foolish. Blore and I have been at work to -_Scotify_ it, by turning battlements into bartisans, and so on. I think -we have struck out a picturesque, appropriate, and entirely new line -of architecture.’ Abbotsford must certainly be considered picturesque, -but it is a somewhat incongruous, ill-placed pile; and without the -beautiful garden-screen in front, the general effect would be heavy. - -In the Waverley Novels, then appearing in that marvellously rapid -succession which astonished the world, there was an ample reservoir -of wealth, if it had been wisely secured, as well as of fame. But an -alarming interruption was threatened by the illness of the novelist. -His malady--cramp of the stomach, with jaundice--was attended with -exquisite pain; but in the intervals of comparative ease his literary -labours were continued; and it certainly is an extraordinary fact in -literary history that under such circumstances the greater part of -the _Bride of Lammermoor_, the whole of the _Legend of Montrose_, -and almost the whole of _Ivanhoe_ were produced. The novelist lay -on a sofa, dictating to John Ballantyne or to Laidlaw; chiefly to -the latter, as he was always at hand, whereas Ballantyne was only an -occasional visitor at Abbotsford. Sometimes, in his most humorous -or elevated scenes, Scott would break off with a groan of torture, -as the cramp seized him, but when the visitation had passed, he was -ever ready gaily to take up the broken thread of his narrative and -proceed _currente calamo_. It was evident to Laidlaw that before he -arrived at Abbotsford (generally about ten o’clock) the novelist had -arranged his scenes for the day, and settled in his mind the course -of the narrative. The _language_ was left to the inspiration of the -moment; there was no picking of words, no studied _curiosa felicitas_ -of expression. Even the imagery seemed spontaneous. Laidlaw abjured -with some warmth the old-wife exclamations which Lockhart ascribes to -him--as, ‘Gude keep us a’’--‘The like o’ that!’--‘Eh, sirs! eh, sirs!’ -But he admitted that while he held the pen he was at times so deeply -interested in the scene or in the development of the plot, that he -could not help exclaiming: ‘Get on, Mr Scott, get on!’ on which the -novelist would reply, smiling: ‘Softly, Willie; you know I have to make -the story,’ or some good-humoured remark of a similar purport. It was -quite true, he said, that when dictating some of the animated scenes -and dialogues in _Ivanhoe_, Scott would rise from his seat and act the -scene with every suitable accompaniment of tone, gesture, and manner. -Both the military and dramatic spirit were strong in him--too strong -even for the cramp and calomel! The postscript to a short business -letter from Edinburgh, June 14, 1819, refers to this business of -dictation. ‘Put your fingers in order, and buy yourself pens!--I won’t -_stand_ the expense of your quills, so pluck the goose ’a God’s name!’ -And it was plucked on this occasion to record the sorrows of the Bride -of Lammermoor. - -According to Mr Laidlaw, Scott did not like to speak about his novels -after they were published, but was fond of canvassing the merits and -peculiarities of the characters while he was engaged in the composition -of the story. ‘He was peculiarly anxious,’ says Laidlaw, ‘respecting -the success of Rebecca in _Ivanhoe_. One morning, as we were walking -in the woods after our forenoon’s labour, I expressed my admiration -of the character, and, after a short pause, he broke out with: “Well, -I think I shall make something of my Jewess.” Latterly, he seemed to -indulge in a retrospect of the useful effect of his labours. In one of -these serious moods, I remarked that one circumstance of the highest -interest might and ought to yield him very great satisfaction--namely, -that his narratives were the best of all reading for young people. -I had found that even his friend Miss Edgeworth had not such power -in engaging attention. His novels had the power, beyond any other -writings, of arousing the better passions and finer feelings; and the -moral effect of all this, I added, when one looks forward to several -generations--every one acting upon another--must be immense. I well -recollect the place where we were walking at this time--on the road -returning from the hill towards Abbotsford. Sir Walter was silent -for a minute or two, but I observed his eyes filled with tears.... I -never saw him much elated or excited in composition but one morning, -out of doors, when he was composing that simple but humorous song, -_Donald Caird_. I watched him limping along at good five miles an hour -along the ridge or sky-line opposite Kaeside, and when he came in, he -recited to me the fruits of his walk. His memory was an inexhaustible -repertory, so that Hogg, in his moments of super-exaltation and vanity, -used to say that if he had the _shirra’s_ memory he would beat him as a -poet!’ - -The memory of Sir Walter Scott was vast, but inexact. In this respect -he was inferior to Macaulay or Sir James Mackintosh. In quoting poetry, -Sir Walter was seldom verbally correct, and sometimes the harmony of -the verse suffered. The two famous lines of Milton’s _Comus_: - - ‘The aery tongues that syllable men’s names, - On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses,’ - -are thus given in the _Letters on Demonology_: - - ‘The aery tongues that syllable men’s names, - On shores, in desert sands, and wildernesses.’ - -Thomas Campbell used to relate, as an instance of Sir Walter’s -extraordinary memory, that he read to him his poem of _Locheil’s -Warning_ before it was printed; after which his friend asked permission -to read it himself. He then perused the manuscript slowly and -distinctly, and on returning it to its author, said: ‘Campbell, look -after your copyright, for I have got your poem.’ And he repeated, with -very few mistakes, the whole sixty lines of which the poem (which was -subsequently enlarged) then consisted. - -Hogg was generally exalted and buoyant enough. On one occasion we -find him writing to Laidlaw: ‘I rode through the whole of Edinburgh -yesterday in a barouche by myself, having four horses and two -postillions! Never was there a poet went through it before in such -style since the world began!’ We may exclaim with Johnson on the amount -of Goldsmith’s debts, ‘Was ever poet so trusted before!’ - -In the midst of his business details and directions, Scott’s peculiar -humour and felicity of illustration are perpetually breaking out. Of -a neighbouring county magnate he says: ‘I have heard of a Christian -being a Jew, but our friend is the essence of a whole synagogue.’ His -relation of the simplest occurrence is vivid and characteristic. A high -wind in Edinburgh, in January 1818, he thus notices: ‘I had more than -an anxious thought about you all during the gale of wind. The Gothic -pinnacles were blown from the top of Bishop Sandford’s Episcopal chapel -at the end of Princes Street, and broke through the roof and flooring, -doing great damage. This was sticking the horns of the mitre into the -belly of the church. The devil never so well deserved the title of -Prince of the power of the air, since he has blown down this handsome -church, and left the ugly mass of new building standing on the North -Bridge.’ One incidental remark illustrates the deception men often -practise on themselves: ‘I have not,’ he says, ‘a head for accounts, -and detest debt. When I find expense too great, I strike sail, and -diminish future outlay, which is the only principle for careless -accountants to act upon.’ Happy would it have been for him if his -practice had corresponded with his theory! - -The year 1820 was, in the family calendar of the poet, one of peculiar -interest and importance. It was the year in which his eldest daughter -was married; the year in which he received the honour of the baronetcy; -and the year in which he sat to Chantrey for his bust--that admirable -work of art which has made his features familiar in every quarter of -the globe. He sat also this year to Sir Thomas Lawrence. ‘The king,’ -he writes, ‘has commanded me to sit to Sir Thomas Lawrence for a -portrait, for his most sacred apartment. I want to have in _Maida_’ -[his favourite deer-hound], ‘that there may be one handsome fellow of -the party.’ Late in life, Sir Walter sat to Lawrence Macdonald the -sculptor, and Laidlaw says of the artist and his work: - -‘We were much pleased with some days of Macdonald the sculptor, who -modelled Sir Walter while he was dictating to me. Macdonald’s model -was in a higher style of art than Chantrey’s, and from that cause, had -not so much character. Macdonald confessed this was not so much his -object. It was a faithful likeness, nevertheless, but not so familiar. -For the same reason, he would not take the exact figure of the head, -which is irregular. Chantrey likewise declined to shew this, which the -phrenologists will probably regret.’ - -Mr Lawrence Macdonald still lives to delight his friends, and pursue -his art in Rome, where he has long resided. He has no recollection -of the ‘irregularity,’ referred to. Laidlaw knew nothing of art, and -by ‘high style,’ he probably meant an idealised likeness--a look -to ‘elevate and surprise.’ The extreme length of the upper lip was -a personal characteristic of Sir Walter, which he was glad to see -artists reduce, and which none of the portraits fully represents. It -is by no means uncommon among the stalwart men of the Border, but is -unquestionably a defect as respects personal appearance. The Stratford -bust of Shakspeare, it will be recollected, has the same long upper -lip, as well as the memorable high forehead, that distinguished Scott. -Of Chantrey, Laidlaw writes: - -‘I met at breakfast Chantrey the sculptor, a real blunt, spirited, fine -Yorkshireman, with great good-humour, and an energy of character about -him that would have made his fortune--and a great one--had he gone -to London as a tailor. He killed a fine salmon in the Tweed, and led -another a long time, but let it go among the great stones and cut his -line. Colonel Ferguson said he believed he would rather have given his -best statue than lost the fish.’ - -Chantrey was an enthusiastic angler. - -The baronetcy was a step of rank which Sir Walter said was the king’s -own free motion, and none of his seeking. To a lady whom he highly -esteemed--the late Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth--he wrote: - -‘The circumstance of my children being heirs to their uncle’s fortune, -relieved me in a great degree of the chief objection to accepting with -gratitude what was so graciously offered, namely, that which arose from -a more limited income than becomes even the lowest step of hereditary -rank.... Mr Lockhart, to whom Sophia is now married, is the husband of -her choice. He is a man of excellent talents, master of his pen and -of his pencil, handsome in person, and well-mannered, though wanting -that ease which the _usage du monde_ alone can give. I like him very -much; for having no son who promises to take a literary turn, it is -of importance to me, both in point of comfort and otherwise, to have -some such intimate friend and relation, whose pursuits and habits are -similar to my own--so that, upon the whole, I trust I have gained a son -instead of losing a daughter.’[10] - -Early next year (1821), Scott was in London, and on February 16, took -place the unfortunate duel, in which John Scott, editor of the _London -Magazine_, fell. The antagonist of John Scott was Mr Christie, a -barrister, the friend of Lockhart. ‘I have had much to plague me here,’ -writes Sir Walter, ‘besides the death of John Scott, who departed last -night; so much for being slow to take the field!’ And in another letter -he recurs to the subject: ‘The death of my unlucky namesake, John -Scott, you will have heard of. The poor man fought a most unnecessary -duel to regain his lost character, and so lost his life into the -bargain.’ The loss of life was chiefly owing to the blundering of John -Scott’s second in the duel, who permitted a second fire to take place -after Mr Christie had discharged his pistol down the field. - -The visit of King George IV. to Scotland in 1822, was an event sure -to call forth the enthusiastic loyalty of Sir Walter. His Majesty’s -personal attentions, besides the distinction of the baronetcy, elicited -his warmest gratitude, and, in addition, all his fervid nationality and -veneration for the throne were kindled on this occasion. To see the -king in the ancient palace of Holyrood, was itself an incident like -the realisation of a dream. The whole city was in a state of frantic -excitement: ‘Edinburgh is irrecoverably mad,’ said Scott. To Laidlaw, -the chivalrous poet writes: - - ‘DEAR WILLIE--You are quite right in your opinion of Saunders. He - never shewed himself a more true-blooded gentleman. The extreme - tact and taste of all ranks has surprised the king and all about - him. No rushing or roaring, but a devoted attachment, expressed - by a sort of dignified reverence, which seemed divided betwixt - a high veneration for their sovereign and a suitable regard for - themselves. I have seen in my day many a levee and drawing-room, - but none so august and free from absurdity and ridicule as those - of Holyrood. The apartments also, desolate and stripped as they - have been, are worth a hundred of Carlton or Buckingham House; but - the singular and native good-breeding of the people, who never - saw a court, is the most remarkable of all. The populace without, - shew the same propriety as the gentles within. The people that - our carriages passed amongst to-day were all full of feeling, - and it was remarkable that, instead of huzzaing, they shewed the - singular compliment of lifting up their children to see them--the - most affecting thing you ever witnessed. When Saunders goes wrong, - it must be from _malice prepense_; for no one knows so well how - to do right. Mamma (Lady Scott), Sophia, and Anne were dreadfully - frightened, and I, of course, though an old courtier, in such a - court as Holyrood, was a good deal uneasy. The king, however, spoke - to them, and they were all kissed in due form, though they protest - they are still at a loss how the ceremony was performed. The king - leaves on Wednesday, to my great joy, for strong emotions cannot - last. He has lived entirely within doors. To-morrow, I suppose, - there is a dinner-party at Dalkeith, as I am commanded there, but - it is the first. I have had, from over-exertion and distress of - mind, a strong cutaneous eruption in my legs and arms. You would - think I had adopted the national musical instrument to regale his - Majesty; but, seriously, I believe I should have been ill but for - the relief Nature has been pleased to afford me in this ungainly - way. Fortunately, my hands and face are clear. - - W. S.’ - -And Laidlaw, writing to a friend, gives some further particulars: - -‘Sir Walter was very full of the king for a while, but we went up -Ettrick, and I have seen but little of him since. He had serious work -with the English noblemen in the king’s train, who did not seem to -wish that Scotland should shew off as an independent kingdom, which, -by the articles of the Union, was provided for in the event of the -king’s coming to Edinburgh. They wanted all to be done according to -English form, as was the case in Ireland, but he settled them. They -proposed, too, that the Highland guard (indeed they objected to the -guard altogether) should have the flints taken from their pistols! A -deputy, Colonel Stevenson, had the management, and corresponded with -Sir Walter; and as he was to dine at Castle Street with a number of -the Highland chiefs, Sir Walter proposed that the colonel should speak -to them on the subject. After they were a little warmed with wine, Sir -Walter addressed Stevenson, who sat beside him, saying he had better -now propose what he had mentioned before. The Highlanders had got to -telling old stories, and were in high spirits; they were, of course, -in full dress. Colonel Stevenson said he saw now that he had mistaken -the sort of people beside him; and on Sir Walter pressing him (rather -slyly) to proceed, he declared he would rather not. - -‘The king was greatly surprised and affected with the behaviour of the -people on Sunday. They did not cheer as usual, but took off their hats -and bowed as they passed along. He expressed himself strongly to Sir -Walter about this. Sir Walter said the verses of the cavalier to his -mistress might be applied to the people: - - “Yet this inconstancy is such - As you too shall adore; - I could not love thee, dear, so much, - Loved I not honour more.” - -I found the lines were by Lovelace, addressed to his Lucasta, on his -going to the wars. The king witnessed an incident that seemed, as Sir -Walter said, to have made a deep impression on his mind. As he came -along the Calton Hill road, the crowd made a rush down hill towards the -royal carriage, and the king saw a child fall. Had it been in London, -he said, the child would have been trampled to death, and he expected -nothing else. But in a moment there was a loud cry of “Stop!” and five -or six men linked themselves together arm-in-arm, and set themselves to -keep off the crowd, standing like an arch; then a man stepped before -them and lifted the boy, and held him up above the crowd, to shew that -he was not hurt. Sir Walter heard the king relate this incident twice.’ - -In the autumn of 1825, Sir Walter visited Ireland, and thus, in homely -confidential style, records his impressions: - - ‘MY DEAR WILLIE--I conclude you are now returned, with wife and - bairns, to Kaeside, and not the worse of your tour. I have been - the better of mine; and Killarney being the extreme point, I am - just about to commence my return to Dublin, where I only intend to - remain two or three days at farthest. I should like to find a line - from you, addressed “Care of David Macculloch, Esq., Cheltenham,” - letting me know how matters go on at Abbotsford--if you want money - (as I suppose you do), and so forth. - - ‘I have every reason to make a good report of Ireland, having - been received with distinction, which is flattering, and with - warm-hearted kindness, which is much better. I am happy to say the - country is rapidly improving every year, which argues the spirit - that is afloat, and indicates that British capital is finding its - way into a country where it can be employed to advantage. The idea - of security is gaining ground even in those districts which are, or - rather were, the most unsettled, and plenty has brought her usual - companion content, in her hand. But the public peace is secured - chiefly by large bodies of armed police, called by the civil term - of constables, but very unlike the Dogberries of England, being, - in fact, soldiers on foot and horse, well armed and mounted, and - dressed exactly like our yeomen. It is not pleasant to see this, - but it is absolutely necessary for some time at least; and from all - I can hear, the men are under strict discipline, and behave well. - They are commanded by the magistracy, and are very alert. - - ‘The soil is in most places extremely rich, but cultivation is - not as yet well understood. That accursed system of making peats - interferes with everything; and I have passed through whole - counties where a very noble harvest, ripe for the sickle, was - waiting for the next shower of rain; while all the population who - should cut were up to the midst in bogs. Not a single field of - turnips have I seen, owing probably to the same reason. - - ‘The political disputes are of far less consequence here than we - think in Britain; but, on the whole, it would be highly desirable - that the Catholic Bill should pass. It would satisfy most of the - higher classes of that persuasion, who seem much inclined to form a - sort of Low Church, differing in ceremonies more than in essential - points from that of the English Church. I mean they would do this - tacitly and gradually. The lower class will probably continue for a - long time bigoted Papists; but education becoming general, it is to - be supposed that popery, in its violent tenets, will decline even - amongst them. By the way, education is already far more general - than in England. I saw in the same village four hundred Catholic - children attending school, and about two hundred Protestants - attending another. The peculiar doctrines of neither church were - permitted to be taught; and there were Protestants amongst the - Papist children, and Papists among the Protestant. - - ‘The general condition of the peasantry requires much improvement. - Their cabins are wretched, and their dress such a labyrinth of - rags, that I have often feared some button would give way, and - shame us all. But this is mending, and the younger people are all - more decently dressed, and the new huts which are arising are - greatly better than the old pigsties. In short, all is on the move - and the mend. But as I must be on the move myself, I must defer the - rest of my discoveries till we meet. We have in our party, Anne, - Lockhart, Walter and his wife, and two Miss Edgeworths, so we are a - jolly party. Will you shew this to Lady Scott? I wrote to her two - days since.--Always truly yours, - - WALTER SCOTT. - - ‘KILLARNEY, _8th August_.’ - -The brilliance of Abbotsford had now reached its culminating point. -The commercial crisis of 1825–26 was close at hand, and the first -note of the alarm and confusion in the money-market suspended all -improvements, and occasioned intense anxiety to Sir Walter. We add two -letters as supplementing Lockhart’s narrative: - - ‘MY DEAR WILLIAM--The money-market in London is in a tremendous - state, so much so that, whatever good reason I have, and I have - the best, for knowing that Constable and his allies, Hurst and - Robinson, are in perfect force, yet I hold it wise and necessary to - prepare myself for making good my engagements, which come back on - me suddenly, or by taking up those which I hold good security for. - For this purpose I have resolved to exercise my reserved faculty - to burden Abbotsford with £8000 or £10,000. I can easily get the - money, and having no other debts, and these well secured, I hold it - better to “put money in my purse,” and be a debtor on my land for a - year or two, till the credit of the public is restored. I may not - want the money, in which case I will buy into the funds, and make - some cash by it. But I think it would be most necessary, and even - improper not to be fully prepared. - - ‘What I want of you is to give me a copy of the rental of - Abbotsford, as it now stands, mentioning the actual rents of ground - let, and the probable rents of those in my hand. You gave me one - last year, but I would rather have the actual rents, and as such - business is express, I would have you send it immediately, and keep - it all as much within as you think fair and prudent. Your letter - need only contain the rental, and you may write your remarks - separately. I have not the slightest idea of losing a penny, but - the distrust is so great in London that the best houses refuse the - best bills of the best tradesmen, and as I have retained such a - sum in view of protecting my literary commerce, I think it better - to make use of it, and keep my own mind easy, than to carry about - bills to unwilling banks, and beg for funds which I can use of my - own. I have more than £10,000 to receive before Midsummer, but then - I might be put to vexation before that, which I am determined to - prevent. - - ‘By all I can learn, this is just such an embarrassment as may - arise when pickpockets cry “Fire!” in a crowd, and honest men - get trampled to death. Thank God, I can clear myself of the - _mêlée_, and am not afraid of the slightest injury. If the money - horizon does not clear up in a month or two, I will abridge my - farming, &c. I cannot find there is any real cause for this; but - an imaginary one will do equal mischief. I need not say this is - confidential.--Yours truly, - - WALTER SCOTT. - - ‘_16th December_ [1825], EDINBURGH.’ - -‘The confusion of 1814 is a joke to this. I have no debts of my own. On -the contrary, £3000 and more lying out on interest, &c. It is a little -hard that, making about £7000 a year, and working hard for it, I should -have this botheration. But it arises out of the nature of the same -connection which gives, and has given me, a fortune, and therefore I am -not entitled to grumble.’ - - [EDINBURGH, _January 26, 1826_.] - - ‘MY DEAR WILLIE--I wrote to you some days since, but from yours by - the carrier I see my letter has not reached you. It does not much - signify, as it was not, and could not be, of any great consequence - until I see how these untoward matters are to turn up. Of course, - everything will depend on the way the friends of the great house - in London, and those of Constable here, shall turn out. Were they - to be ultimately good, or near it, this would pass over my head - with little inconvenience. But I think it better to take the worst - point of view, and suppose that I do not receive from them above - five shillings in the pound; and even in that case, I am able to - make a proposal to my creditors, that if they allow me to put my - affairs into the hands of a private trustee, or trustees, and - finish the literary engagements I have on hand, there is no great - chance of their being ultimate losers. This is the course I should - choose. But if they wish rather to do what they can for themselves, - they will, in that case, give me a great deal of pain, and make - a great deal less of the funds. For, it is needless to say, that - no security can make a man write books, and upon my doing so--I - mean completing those in hand--depends the instant payment of a - large sum. I have no reason to apprehend that any of the parties - concerned are blind to their interest in this matter. I have had - messages from all the banks, &c., offering what assistance they - could give, so that I think my offer will be accepted. Indeed, as - they cannot sell Abbotsford, owing to its being settled in Walter’s - marriage contract, there can be little doubt they will adopt the - only way which promises, with a little time, to give them full - payment, and my life may, in the meanwhile, be insured. My present - occupations completed, will enable me to lay down, in the course of - the summer, at least £20,000 of good cash, which, if things had - remained sound among the booksellers, would have put me on velvet. - - ‘The probable result being that we must be accommodated with the - delay necessary, our plan is to sell the house and furniture - in Castle Street, and Lady S. and Anne to come to Abbotsford, - with a view of economising, while I take lodgings in Edinburgh, - and work hard till the Session permits me to come out. All our - farming operations must, of course, be stopped so soon as they can - with least possible loss, and stock, &c., disposed of. In short, - everything must be done to avoid outlay. At the same time, there - can be no want of comfort. I must keep Peter and the horses for - Lady Scott’s sake, though I make sacrifices in my own [case]. - Bogie, I think, we will also keep, but we must sell the produce of - the garden. As for Tom, he and I go to the grave together. All idle - horses, &c., must be dispensed with. - - ‘For you, my dear friend, we must part--that is, as laird and - factor--and it rejoices me to think that your patience and - endurance, which set me so good an example, are like to bring - round better days. You never flattered my prosperity, and in my - adversity it is not the least painful consideration that I cannot - any longer be useful to you. But Kaeside, I hope, will still be - your residence; and I will have the advantage of your company and - advice, and probably your services as amanuensis. Observe, I am - not in indigence, though no longer in affluence; and if I am to - exert myself in the common behalf, I must have honourable and easy - means of life, although it will be my inclination to observe the - most strict privacy, both to save expense and also time; nor do we - propose to see any one but yourself and the Fergusons. - - ‘I will be obliged to you to think over all these matters; also - whether anything could be done in leasing the saw-mill, or Swanston - working it for the public. I should like to keep him if I could. I - imagine they must leave me my official income, which, indeed, is - not liable to be attached. That will be £1600 a year, but there - is Charles’s college expenses come to £300 at least. I can add, - however, £200 or £300 without interrupting serious work. Three or - four years of my favour with the public, if my health and life - permit, will make me better off than ever I have been in my life. I - hope it will not inconvenience the Miss Smiths to be out of their - money for a little while. It is a most unexpected chance on my part. - - ‘All that I have said is for your consideration and making up your - mind, for nothing can be certain till we hear what the persons - principally concerned please to say. But then, if they accede to - the trust, we will expect to have the pleasure of seeing you here - with a list of stock and a scheme of what you think best to be - done. My purpose is that everything shall be paid ready money from - week to week. - - ‘I have £180 to send to you, and it is in my hands. Of course it - will be paid, but I am unwilling to send it until I know the exact - footing on which I am to stand. The gentleman whom I wish should be - my trustee--or one of them--is John Gibson, the Duke’s factor. - - ‘Lady Scott’s spirits were affected at first, but she is getting - better. For myself, I feel like the Eildon Hills--quite firm, - though a little cloudy. I do not dislike the path which lies - before me. I have seen all that society can shew, and enjoyed - all that wealth can give me, and I am satisfied much is vanity, - if not vexation of spirit. I am arranging my affairs, and mean to - economise a good deal, and I will pay every man his due.--Yours - truly, - - WALTER SCOTT.’ - -There was some delusion in all this. Sir Walter never fully -comprehended the state of his pecuniary affairs. It was one of his -weaknesses, as James Ballantyne has said, to shrink too much from -looking evil in the face, and he was apt to carry a great deal too far -‘sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.’ Laidlaw mentions another -small weakness: ‘he was always in alarm lest the servants should -suspect he was in want of money.’ This, of course, was subsequent to -the public declaration of the failure. Laidlaw went to Edinburgh to -report to the trustees with respect to the best way of closing the farm -business, and there met Sir Walter. - -‘He bears himself wonderfully. Miss Scott does not seem to be quite -aware or sensible of anything but that they are to reside in retirement -at Abbotsford. Lady Scott is rather unwilling to believe it, and does -not see the necessity of such complete retrenchment as Sir Walter tells -her is absolutely necessary. I have dined three times there, and there -is not much difference in their manner. Sir W. is often merry, and so -are they all, but still oftener silent. I think that if they were a -week or two at Abbotsford they would be more happy than they have been -for many a day. I am sure this would be the case with Sir Walter, for -the weight of such an immense system of bills sent for his signature -every now and then would be off his mind. I heard to-day that the Duke -of Somerset and another English nobleman have written to Sir Walter, -offering him £30,000 each, which he has firmly refused; and it is -reported that the young Duke of Buccleuch has written him, offering to -take the whole loss on himself, and to pay the interest of Sir Walter’s -debt until he comes of age. If that is true, Sir Walter should accept -the offer for the Duke’s own sake--for the glorious moral effect it -would have upon the truly noble young fellow. But, apart from all -this, cannot they set up Constable again? He has likewise been a real -benefactor to his country, and then Sir Walter would, of course, be -relieved.’ - -The private grief of Scott was for a short time merged in what he -considered an important public cause. The Liverpool Administration at -this time proposed to change the Scotch system of currency, abolishing -the small bank-notes, and assimilating the monetary system of Scotland -to that of England. This project was assailed by the wit, humour, -sound sense, and nationality of Scott, in a series of letters signed -‘Malachi Malagrowther,’ and the letters of Malachi were as successful -as those of Swift’s ‘M. B. Drapier’ concerning the currency of Ireland. -The English government, in both cases, was compelled to abandon the -denationalising scheme. Scott writes to Laidlaw, March 1, 1826: - -‘I enclose a couple of copies of a pamphlet on the currency, which may -amuse you. The other copy is for Mr Craig, Galashiels. I have got off -some bile from my stomach which has been disturbing me for some years. -The Scotch have a fair opportunity now to give battle, if they dare -avail themselves of it. One would think I had little to do, that I -should go loose upon politics.’ - -He had, in fact, entered upon his herculean task of paying off some -£120,000 of debt by his pen! The _Life of Napoleon_ was commenced, and -in the autumn the biographer set off for London and Paris to consult -state-papers and gather information. He succeeded well in his errand. -‘My collection of information,’ he writes, ‘goes on faster than I -can take it in; but, then, it is so much coloured by passion and -party-feeling, that it requires much scouring. I spent a day at the -Royal Lodge at Windsor, which was a grand affair for John Nicholson, as -he got an opportunity to see his Majesty.’ And the incident, no doubt, -afforded as much gratification to the kind, indulgent master as it did -to the servant. - -After the Abbotsford establishment was broken up, Laidlaw was some time -engaged in cataloguing the large library of Scott of Harden, and at -times visiting his brothers, sheep-farmers in Ross-shire. The following -description of a scene he witnessed, a Highland Summer Sacrament out of -doors, evinces no mean powers of observation and description: - -‘The people here gather in thousands to the sacraments, as they did -in Ettrick in Boston’s time. We set out on Sunday to the communion -at Ferrintosh, near Dingwall, to which the people resort from fifty -miles’ distance. Macdonald, the minister who attracts this concourse -of persons, was the son of a piper in Caithness (but from the Celtic -population of the mountains there). He preached the sermon in the -church in English, with a command of language and a justness of tone, -action, and reasoning--keeping close to the pure metaphysics of -Calvin--that I have seldom, if ever, heard surpassed. He had great -energy on all points, but it never touched on extravagance. The -Highland congregation sat in a _cleugh_, or dell, of a long, hollow, -oval shape, bordered with hazel and birch and wild roses. It seemed -to be formed for the purpose. We walked round the outside of the -congregated thousands, and looked down on the glen from the upper end, -and the scene was really indescribable. Two-thirds of those present -were women, dressed mostly in large, high, wide muslin caps, the back -part standing up like the head of a paper kite, and ornamented with -ribbons. They had wrapped round them bright-coloured plaid shawls, the -predominant hue being scarlet. - -‘It was a warm, breezy day, one of the most glorious in June. The -place will be about half a mile from the Frith on the south side, and -at an elevation of five hundred feet. Dingwall was just opposite at -the foot of Ben Wyvis, still spotted with wreaths of snow. Over the -town, with its modern castle, its church, and Lombardy poplars, we -saw up the richly cultivated valley of Strathpeffer. The tufted rocks -and woods of Brahan (Mackenzie of Seaforth) were a few miles to the -south, and fields of wheat and potatoes, separated with hedgerows of -trees, intervened. Further off, the high-peaked mountains that divide -the county of Inverness from Ross-shire towered in the distance. I -never saw such a scene. We sat down on the brae among the people, -the long white communion tables being conspicuous at the bottom. The -congregation began singing the psalm to one of the plaintive, wild old -tunes that I am told are only sung in the Gaelic service. The people -all sing, but in such an extended multitude they could not sing all -together. They chanted, as it were, in masses or large groups. I can -compare the singing to nothing earthly, except it be imagining what -would be the effect of a gigantic and tremendous Æolian harp with -hundreds of strings! There was no resisting the impression. After -coming a little to myself, I went and paced the length and breadth of -the amphitheatre, taking averages, and carefully noting, as well as I -could, how the people were sitting together, and I could not, in this -way, make them less than 9500, besides those in the church, amounting -perhaps to 1500. Most of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, with their -families, were there. I enjoyed the scene as something perfect in its -way, and of rare beauty and excellence--like Melrose Abbey under a fine -light, or the back of old Edinburgh during an illumination, or the Loch -of the Lowes in a fine calm July evening, five minutes after sunset!’ - -The following brief and pleasant note, without date, must be referred -to 1827, as it was in June of that year that the _Life of Napoleon_ was -published: - - ‘MY DEAR MR LAIDLAW--I would be happy if you would come down - at _kail-time_ to-day. _Napoleon_ (6000 copies) is sold for - £11,000.--Yours truly, - - W. S. - - ‘_SUNDAY._’ - -Mr Gibson, W.S., in his _Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott_ (1871), -says of the transactions of this period: ‘Of _Woodstock_, 9850 copies -were sold for £9500; and of the _Life of Napoleon_, 8000 copies were -sold for £18,200, and these sums, with some other funds realised, were -speedily divided amongst the creditors.’ Under the date of August 1827, -Sir Walter writes in the following affectionate strain: - -‘Your leaving Kaeside makes a most melancholy blank to us. You, Mrs -Laidlaw, and the bairns, were objects we met with so much pleasure, -that it is painful to think of strangers being there. But they do -not deserve good weather who cannot endure the bad, and so I would -“set a stout heart to a stey” [steep] “brae;” yet I think the loss of -our walks, plans, discussions, and debates, does not make the least -privation that I experience from the loss of world’s gear. But, _sursum -corda_, and we shall have many happy days yet, and spend some of them -together. I expect Walter and Jane, and then our long-separated family -will be all together in peace and happiness. I hope Mrs Laidlaw and -you will come down and spend a few days with us, and revisit your old -haunts. I miss you terribly at this moment, being engaged in writing a -planting article for the _Quarterly_, and not having patience to make -some necessary calculations.’ - -Mr Laidlaw has written on the back of the communication: ‘This letter -lies in the drawer in which the unfinished manuscript of _Waverley_ was -found, amongst fishing-tackle, &c. which yet remain. I got the desk as -a present from Sir Walter.’ - -The death, in the autumn of 1829, of faithful Tom Purdie--forester, -henchman, and humble friend--was a heavy blow to Sir Walter, then fast -sinking in vigour and alacrity. The proverbial difficulty of obtaining -a precisely exact account of any contemporary event, even from parties -most closely connected with it, is illustrated in this case. Lockhart -reports the death as follows: - -‘Thomas Purdie leaned his head one evening on the table, and dropped -asleep. This was nothing uncommon in a hard-working man; and his family -went and came about him for several hours, without taking any notice. -When supper came, they tried to awaken him, and found that life had -been for some time extinct.’ - -Scott’s account is different: - - ‘MY DEAR WILLIE--I write to tell you the shocking news of poor - Tom Purdie’s death, by which I have been greatly affected. He had - complained, or rather spoken, of a sore throat; and the day before - yesterday, as it came on a shower of rain, I wanted him to walk - fast on to Abbotsford before me, but you know well how impossible - that was. He took some jelly, or trifle of that kind, but made no - complaint. This morning he rose from bed as usual, and sat down - by the table with his head on his hand; and when his daughter - spoke to him, life had passed away without a sigh or groan. Poor - fellow! There is a heart cold that loved me well, and, I am sure, - thought of my interest more than his own. I have seldom been so - much shocked. I wish you would take a ride down and pass the night. - There is much I have to say, and this loss adds to my wish to see - you. We dine at four. The day is indifferent, but the sooner the - better.--Yours very truly, - - WALTER SCOTT. - - ‘ABBOTSFORD, _31st October_.’ - -A few days afterwards (November 5), Laidlaw thus relates the story: - -‘Tom Purdie, poor fellow! died on Friday night or Saturday morning. He -had fallen asleep with his head on his hands resting on the table, his -usual practice. Margaret and Mary’ [his wife and daughter] ‘left him -to go to bed when he should awaken; and Margaret found him exactly in -the same situation when she rose, but dead, cold, and stiff. Sir Walter -wrote to me, in great distress, to come down. I did so on Sunday, and -on Tuesday I went to poor Tom’s funeral. Sir Walter had my pony put -in again, and made me stay all day. He was in very great distress -about Tom, and will miss him continually, and in many ways that come -nearest to him. Sir Walter wants us to return to Kaeside at Whitsunday. -_Kindness of heart is positively the reigning quality of Sir Walter’s -character!_’ - -A noble eulogium, and pronounced by one better qualified, perhaps, than -any of his contemporaries, to form the opinion so expressed. Of the -greatest author of his age it might truly be said: - - ‘His highest honours to the heart belong.’ - -William Laidlaw _did_ return to Kaeside. At Whitsuntide 1830, he -dropped anchor safely at his old roadstead, which had been suitably -prepared for his reception. But before doing so, we find him putting in -a kind word for the Ettrick Shepherd, who was in difficulties. In March -1830, Laidlaw wrote to Sir Walter: - -‘I had your letter from Bowhill, and was much gratified to learn that -you and Miss Scott had passed so much time with the duke and duchess. -I have no doubt that His Grace would bring our friend the Shepherd -and his concerns before you, and I am anxious to know if it is the -duke’s intention to render him a little more comfortable at Altrive. -You know that Hogg built the cottage there, at his own expense (with -an allowance of wood, perhaps), and he likewise built a considerable -addition to Mount Benger, and a barn--all which cost him a great sum -of money, quite disproportionate to a holding of £7 a year, even at a -nominal rent. The cottage was intended for a bachelor’s abode, and is -very inadequate to what is now required by the bard’s family; and I see -that if His Grace does not think of giving him some allowance as an -addition, it will most likely banish him from the district with which -his poetry and feeling are so closely associated. I mention all this -because I have observed that there is a prejudice against him among the -sub-agents since Christie left the service, or rather, since the late -duke’s death. One of them said to me, when I mentioned Hogg’s genius -and amiable character, _Cui bono?_ I, too, say, _Cui bono?_ What is the -use of all his poetry, and the rest? Now, from R.’s usage of him, there -is every reason to suspect that he is a _cui bono_ man too, and Hogg -stands a bad chance among them, and I believe the duke knows nothing -about the truth of the matter.’ - -Nothing was done. ‘As to the success of an application to the duke,’ -writes Scott, ‘I am doubtful. The duke seemed to have made up his mind -on the subject, and I saw no chance of being of service.’ Literature -and the journey to London did something for the Shepherd. He wrote and -struggled on at Altrive till November 1835, when the ‘world’s poor -strife’ was over, and he sank to rest. - -Among the dearest and most valued of all the visitors at Abbotsford -were the Fergusons of Huntly Burn. Here is a kindly note sent to -Kaeside: - - ‘Miss Ferrier is to be at Abbotsford this day, being Tuesday, 20th - October’ [1829], ‘and Mr Wilkie is to be there on Thursday; so, if - you come, you will have painting, poetry, history, and music--as - Miss Wilkie is a musician. In short, all the Muses will be there. - If this does not tempt you, I don’t know what will.--Yours truly, - - ISABELLA FERGUSON.’ - -Ill-health and political agitation brought darker days to Abbotsford. -The Reform Bill was Sir Walter’s _bête noire_. The neighbouring Tory -lairds, proud of his co-operation, induced him to join in their local -movement against the bill, and this still further aggravated his morbid -feeling. In March 1831, he was present at a meeting of the freeholders -of Roxburgh, held at Jedburgh, to pass resolutions against the Reform -Bill. He was dragged to the meeting by the young Duke of Buccleuch and -Mr Henry Scott of Harden, contrary to his prior resolution, and his -promise to Miss Scott; for his health was then much shattered. ‘He -made a confused imaginative speech,’ says Laidlaw, ‘which was full of -evil forebodings and mistaken views. The people who were auditors, -in proportion to their love and reverence for him, felt disappointed -and sore, and, like himself, were carried away by their temporary -chagrin, to the great regret of the country around.’ At the election in -Jedburgh, Sir Walter was hooted at, and hissed, and saluted with cries -of ‘Burke Sir Walter!’ Laidlaw adds: ‘The same people, a few weeks -afterwards, when Mr Oliver, the sheriff of Roxburgh, was foolishly -swearing in constables at Melrose, said boldly they need not bring them -to fight against reform, for they would fight for it; but if any one -meddled with Sir Walter Scott, they would fight for him.’ Amidst all -the excitement of politics, and in sinking health, Sir Walter continued -to write, or rather to dictate, and worked steadily at his novel of -_Count Robert of Paris_. - -‘I am now writing as amanuensis for Sir Walter,’ said Laidlaw; ‘and -have the satisfaction of finding that I am of essential service to him, -as he was attacked with chilblains on his hands to such a degree as to -unfit him for writing long unless with great pain. We go on with almost -as great spirit as when he dictated _Ivanhoe_. He has become a good -deal lamer, which prevents him from taking his usual walks; and he gets -upon a pony with great difficulty. But of late he has been in excellent -spirits. His memory seems to be as good as ever; at least, it is far -beyond that of other people. I come down at seven o’clock, and write -until nine; we are at it again before ten, and continue until one. He -is impatient and miserable when not employed.’ - -About this time--the spring of 1831--Joanna Baillie published a thin -volume of selections from the New Testament ‘regarding the nature and -dignity of Jesus Christ.’ The tendency of the work was Socinian, or -at least Arian; and Scott was indignant that his friend should have -meddled with such a subject. ‘What had _she_ to do with questions of -that sort?’ He refused to add the book to his library, and gave it to -Laidlaw. One day Sir Walter was loud in praise of one of the workmen -engaged at Abbotsford, a native of the neighbouring village of Darnick. -‘Yes,’ added Laidlaw; ‘and do you know, Sir Walter, he is an excellent -Burgher preacher.’[11] ‘A preacher, d--n him!’ exclaimed Scott -jocularly, and wheeling round as if to whistle the Burgher preacher -down the wind. - -In a very manly and interesting letter, addressed to Lockhart (of which -he had kept a copy), Laidlaw enters into further particulars concerning -the studies at Abbotsford: - -‘Sir Walter is very greatly better. He has given up smoking, and takes -porridge to his supper instead of the long and hearty pull of brown -stout. He is full of jokes and glee. Were it possible to prevail upon -him to wear a greatcoat when he rides out to the hills in a north-west -wind, and to take champagne and water instead of a monstrous tumbler -of strong ale after tea, I am positive--and so are the regular medical -people--that he would get right again. He drinks no wine, and has -been advised to take gin-toddy instead of whisky. He has given up the -regular dram out of a _quaich_, but takes a sly taste of the excellent -hollands before he _coups_ it into the tumbler, thereby satisfying -his conscience, no doubt, by reducing it to the half-glass which, it -seems, is the Abercromby law as to strong liquors. Don’t you mind the -style of his letters; that is all, or nearly all, humbug. What he -dictates of _Robert of Paris_ is, much of it, as good as anything he -ever wrote. He does not go on so fast; but I do not see that he is -much more apt to make blunders--that is, to let his imagination get -ahead of his speech--than when he wrote _Ivanhoe_. The worst business -was that accursed nonsensical petition in the name of the magistrates, -justices of the peace, and freeholders of the extensive, influential, -and populous county of Selkirk! We were more than three days at it. -At the beginning of the third day, he walked backwards and forwards, -enunciating the half-sentences with a deep and awful voice, his -eyebrows seemingly more shaggy than ever, and his eyes more fierce and -glaring--altogether, like the royal beast in his cage! It suddenly came -over me, as politics was always Sir Walter’s weak point, that he was -crazy, and that I should have to come down to Abbotsford, and write -on and away at the petition until the crack of doom! I was seized at -the same moment with an inclination, almost uncontrollable, to burst -into laughter. But seriously, you know, as well as anybody, his great -excitability on political matters; and I must say it surprised me not a -little that a person of your sagacity and acuteness should have thought -of writing him upon politics at all, the more, because I believe that -if a magpie were to come and chatter politics, or even that body, -Lord M., he would believe all they said, if they spoke of change, and -danger, and rumours of war--_belli servilis_ more than all. (May I -speak and live!) I felt inclined to doubt whether you had not _gane -gyte_’ [gone crazy] ‘yourself! Could you not have sent him literary -chit-chat and amusing anecdotes from London, which would have been the -very thing for him, as it was of great consequence that his mind should -be kept calm and cheerful?’ - -Mental disease and physical infirmity continued to increase, and a -winter at Naples, with complete abstinence from literary labour, was -prescribed. Wordsworth prayed for favouring gales: - - ‘Be true, - Ye winds of ocean, and the midland sea, - Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope!’ - -Alas! it was all in vain. Before quitting the country, Sir Walter gave -Laidlaw a mandate, or letter of authority, to represent him at county -meetings, and a paper of directions as to keeping the house, the books, -and garden in order. Two items are worth quoting as characteristic: - -‘The dogs to be taken care of, especially to shut them up separately -when there is anything to quarrel about. - -‘When Mr Laidlaw thinks it will be well taken, to consult Mr Nicol -Milne, and not to stop young Mr Nicol when shooting on our side of the -hedge.’ - -Having made these arrangements, the invalid thought of taking a -farewell look of Melrose Abbey. One morning Mr Laidlaw’s family were -startled to see Sir Walter approaching Kaeside, feeble, and wearing -his nightcap, which apparently he had forgotten to exchange for a -hat. No notice was taken of the circumstance. After the usual kindly -salutations, he said, with a tremulous voice, that he had come to take -a last look of the abbey. He proceeded to an elevated point commanding -a view of the spot, and after gazing long and anxiously down on the -town and abbey, he said slowly: ‘It is a venerable ruin!’ and returned -to Abbotsford. - -The government, as is well known, placed a frigate at his disposal -for the voyage to the Mediterranean. The reception at Portsmouth, and -the arrangements on board the _Barham_, were highly gratifying to Sir -Walter and his family. ‘The ship is magnificent,’ writes Mrs Lockhart, -‘and carries four hundred and eighty men. The rooms are excellent, and -everything that could be thought of for papa’s comfort, in every way, -has been done.’ Hopes of his ultimate recovery were entertained. Cadell -writes, December 29, 1831: ‘I have two long letters from Sir Walter, -one dated “Off Trafalgar, 14th November,” and finished at Malta on the -23d. He is in great glee, and must be much better. He has made some -progress with a new novel, _The Siege of Malta_.’ At the date of the -second letter, he had got through thirty of his own pages. Major Scott -arrived from Naples on the 1st of April 1832, and brought no very -flattering tidings. ‘From his talk,’ writes Lockhart, ‘and from a huge -bundle of letters which he conveyed, we draw one inference--namely, -that though the bodily strength of your friend has improved since he -left us, there has been rather, if anything, a further dislocation and -prostration of the better part. Cadell is here, and he and I and the -major spent a sad enough evening over the budget.’ All hope was soon -dispelled. The hurried journey home from Italy induced another attack -of apoplexy. He was struck while in the steamboat on the Rhine at -Cologne, and fell into Miss Scott’s arms. Nicholson bled him instantly, -and restored animation. They pushed on for Rotterdam, and got there -just as the London boat was setting off for England. Laidlaw writes to -a friend: - -‘You will see by the newspapers that Sir Walter is coming home to die, -I fear, or worse. It has come to what I always feared since he told -me that Mr Cadell had half the proceeds of the great new edition. -Sir Walter’s permanent income is, as you know, reduced salary, £840; -sheriffdom, £300--total, £1140. No person can live at Abbotsford, and -keep it up, in a country-gentlemanly way, under £2000 a year, for it -will take nearly £1200 for servants, taxes, coals, garden, horses, -&c. The run of strangers was immense. Sir Walter wrote for Keepsakes, -Reviews, &c., and kept things going; but of late this stream dried up, -and he has been confused in his notions of money matters. He is much -involved, and will not be able to draw any more than his salaries. He -has all this winter taken it into his head that his debts are paid -off, and this was from catching at an idea of Cadell’s of borrowing -money and paying the creditors all except the interest. He will know -the truth when he comes to London, and this, with the winter and cold -weather, will kill him. How can a man with his sensibility, used -for thirty years to the strongest excitement, and living on popular -applause, in luxury, glitter, and show, survive when all is gone, and -nothing but ruin, coldness, and darkness remain?’ - -Deprived of the use of his right arm and side, weak and depressed, Sir -Walter reached London on the evening of the 13th of June 1832. Five -days later, Cadell writes: ‘Our poor friend is still alive, but very -ill. He took leave of his children to-day, very clearly and distinctly. -In the morning, he mistook Lockhart for me; and it was some time before -he could be put right. The doctors doubt his getting over to-night.’ He -rallied, however, and next month was conveyed to Abbotsford. Laidlaw’s -account of Sir Walter’s arrival (written the day after) differs in some -particulars from the narrative of Lockhart--one of the most affecting -narratives in the language. - -‘I was at the door when he’ [Sir Walter], ‘Mr and Mrs Lockhart, and -Miss Scott arrived. They said he would not know me. He was in a sort -of long carriage that opened at the back. He had an uncommon stupid -look, staring straight before him; and assuredly he did not know -where he was. It was very dismal. I began to feel myself agitated in -spite of all my resolution. Lockhart ordered away the ladies; and two -servants, in perfect silence, lifted him out, and carried him into -the dining-room. I followed, of course. They had placed him in a low -arm-chair, where he reclined. Mrs Lockhart made a sign for me to step -forward to see if he would recognise me. She said: “Mr Laidlaw, papa.” -He raised his eyes a little, and when he caught mine, he started, and -exclaimed: “Good God, Mr Laidlaw! I have thought of you a thousand -times!” and he held out his hand. They were all very much surprised; -and it being quite unexpected, I was much affected. He was put to bed. -I had gone into one of the empty rooms, and some little time after -Nicholson came to tell me that Sir Walter wished to see me. He spoke -a little confusedly, but inquired if the people were suffering any -hardship, if they were satisfied, &c. I had written to him that I had -paid off nine or ten of the men after he had gone away last year. I did -not remain long. - -‘I understand Sir Walter’s mind has been wandering from one dream -to another; but now and then breaking through the cloud that hangs -over it, and surprising his attendants with glimpses of his original -intellect. Alas, alas! However, he has rested better than for some -time past, and was wheeled into the library’ [July 12], ‘and seemed -gratified. When I called about eleven o’clock, he was sound asleep.’ - -A fortnight later, Laidlaw writes: - -‘Sir Walter is generally collected in the morning, and very restless -and troublesome to his daughters during the afternoon and night; often -raving, but always quiet, and generally shewing command of himself when -Lockhart comes in. Sometimes he seemed gratified at being at home, and -even once or twice made pertinent quotations, and spoke of books, &c. -Until yesterday, he always knew me, and I clearly saw he had then a -distressing desire to speak to me. I perceived that although he might -appear to feel little pain, he was really suffering a great deal, -partly from a sense of his situation and inaction, but chiefly from the -overpowering cloud and weight upon his great intellect. Yesterday, -he was apparently unconscious; he could not speak, but was wheeled -into the library for awhile. I never witnessed a more moving or more -melancholy sight. Once, when Lockhart spoke of his restlessness, he -replied: “There will be rest in the grave.”’ - -One delusion under which the illustrious sufferer laboured was -preparing Abbotsford for the reception of the Duke of Wellington. -Another was, his personation of the character of a Scottish judge -trying his own daughters. In the course of the latter, there were -painful bursts of violence and excitement. ‘It is strange,’ said -Laidlaw, ‘that he never refers to any of his works or literary plans.’ -The truth is, he had thrown them off, to use an expression of his own, -with ‘an effort as spontaneous as that of a tree resigning its leaves -to the wind,’ and they soon passed from his memory. Besides, he had, -when in health, always practised a modest reticence respecting his -works, which had become habitual. The following points to the end of -the struggle: - - ‘Poor papa still lingers, although in the most hopeless state of - mind and body. For this week past, the doctor has taken leave every - day, saying he could not survive the twenty-four hours; and to-day, - he says the pulse is weaker and worse than ever it has been, and - that his living is almost a miracle. How thankful we shall be when - it pleases God he is at rest, for a more complete aberration of - mind never was before; and he even now is so violent we sometimes - dare not go within reach of his hand. And the miserable scenes we - have witnessed before his strength was reduced as it now is! One - great comfort has been, all suffering, so far as we can judge, - mental or bodily, has been spared, and that for two months past he - has not for an instant been aware of his situation. My brothers - were sent for, and have been here for two days. When all is over, - Anne and I and the children will leave this now miserable place for - ever. Lockhart is obliged to go straight to London, but we mean - to spend a couple of weeks with his relations in Lanarkshire, and - perhaps take Rokeby in our way up. We are both much better than you - would expect under such sad circumstances. Excuse this miserable - scrawl; I hardly know what I write.... - - C. SOPHIA LOCKHART. - - ‘ABBOTSFORD, _Sunday’ [September 16, 1832]_.[12] - -On the day succeeding that on which this melancholy letter would seem -to have been written, Sir Walter had a brief interval of consciousness, -as described by Lockhart, although the biographer would appear to -have misdated the arrival of the sons of the poet. A few more days -terminated the struggle; Sir Walter died on the 21st of September. In -October, Laidlaw notes that Major Scott had given him, accompanied with -a most gratifying letter, the locket which Sir Walter constantly wore -about his neck. This was presented to Sir Walter by Major Scott and his -wife (inscribed ‘From Walter and Jane’) on the day of their marriage, -and it contained some of the hair of each. Major Scott enclosed as -much of Sir Walter’s hair as would supply the place of theirs, which -he wished to be taken out of the locket. ‘I shall try to find room for -all,’ said Mr Laidlaw; and he did find room, interlacing the various -hairs, and wearing the invaluable jewel to his dying day. ‘What a -change the loss of Abbotsford must be to the Fergusons and you all!’ -writes Mrs Lockhart, ‘the gentle Sophia,’ as Miss Martineau describes -the fair sufferer. ‘It breaks my heart when I think of the silence and -desolation that now reign there. They talk of a monument! God knows -papa needs no monument; he has left behind him that which won’t pass -away. But if the people of Melrose do anything, I think a great cairn -on one of the hills would be what he would have chosen himself.’ Let -the hills themselves suffice! - - ‘A mightier monument command - The mountains of his native land.’[13] - -After the death of his chief, Mr Laidlaw removed to the county of Ross, -and was successively factor on the estates of Seaforth and Balnagown. -His health failing, he went to reside with his brother, Mr James -Laidlaw, sheep-farmer at Contin, also in Ross-shire, and there he died -May 18, 1845. His remains were interred in the churchyard of Contin, -a retired spot under the shade of Tor Achilty, one of the loftiest -and most picturesque of the Ross-shire mountains, and amidst the most -enchanting Highland scenery. The lord of the manor, Sir George S. -Mackenzie of Coul, Bart., erected a tomb, with a marble tablet, to his -memory. - -Mr Laidlaw cherished with religious care all his memorials of -Abbotsford, where, indeed, his heart may be said to have remained -till its last pulsation. The desk in which the first manuscript of -_Waverley_ was deposited stood in his room; the works inscribed and -presented by the author were carefully ranged on his shelves; the -letters he had received from him were treasured up; the pens with -which _Ivanhoe_ was written were laid past, and kept as a sacred -thing; but above all he valued the brooch which was round the neck of -Scott when he died. That most interesting ornament Mr Laidlaw wore -while a trace of sensibility remained, and it has descended to another -generation--one of the most precious of the personal _reliquiæ_ of a -splendid but melancholy friendship. - - * * * * * - -The biographer of Scott, John Gibson Lockhart, was not a social or -clubable man. He was fastidious and reserved, silent in mixed company -(he heard with only one ear, and was too proud to acknowledge it), -and was inveterately prone to satire, so that he earned for himself -the appellation of ‘The Scorpion,’ and he was a victim to dyspepsia, -which, perhaps, like charity, ought to cover a multitude of sins. -His fine acute intellect and classic taste were often obscured and -his better sympathies chilled by pain and languor. To a few friends, -however, Lockhart at times unbosomed himself. With them his cold, -sarcastic, haughty manner melted away--at least for a season--and -in those genial hours he was the most confiding and delightful of -companions. As shewing the better nature and higher feelings of the -man, we are tempted to subjoin one of his letters to William Laidlaw, -in which he speaks of the sense of duty and responsibility under which -he wrote the Memoirs of Scott--a work which, with all its faults, is -unquestionably the best biography since Boswell’s _Life of Johnson_. -There is great tenderness in the following letter; and the picture -which the writer draws of his happy fireside contrasts painfully with -his latter years, when broken health, a desolate hearth, and feelings -lacerated by paternal troubles and anxieties, might have made him join -in that lamentation of the ancient British bard which he applied to the -old age of Thomas Campbell: - - ‘God hath provided unpleasant things for me; - Dead is Morgeneu, dead is Mordav, - Dead is Morien, dead are those I love.’[14] - -Few letters of Lockhart’s are so generally interesting or so valuable, -biographically, as the following: - - ‘LONDON, _January 19, 1837_. - - ‘MY DEAR LAIDLAW--I received yesterday your letter and a very - munificent donation of ptarmigan, for both which accept my best - thanks. They were both welcome as remembrancers of Scotland, - of old days, and of your kindness and affection, of which last, - though I am the worst of correspondents, neither I nor my wife are - ever forgetful. The account you give of your situation at present - is, considering how the world wags, not unsatisfactory. Would it - were possible to find myself placed in something of a similar - locality, and with the means of enjoying the country by day and my - books at night, without the necessity of dividing most of my time - between the labours of the desk--mere drudge-labours mostly--and - the harassing turmoil of worldly society, for which I never had - much, and now-a-days have rarely indeed any, relish! But my wife - and children bind me to the bit, and I am well pleased with the - fetters. Walter is now a tall and very handsome boy of near eleven - years; Charlotte, a very winsome gipsy of eight--both intelligent - in the extreme, and both, notwithstanding all possible spoiling, - as simple, natural, and unselfish as if they had been bred on a - hillside and in a family of twelve. Sophia is your old friend--fat, - fair, and by-and-by to be forty, which I now am, and over, God - bless the mark! but though I think I am wiser, at least more sober, - neither richer nor more likely to be rich than I was in the days of - Chiefswood and Kaeside--after all, _our_ best days, I still believe. - - ‘Politics, over which we used sometimes to dispute, I have quite - forsworn. I have satisfied myself that the age of Toryism is by - for ever; and the business of a party which can in reason propose - to itself nothing but a defensive attitude, without hope either of - plunder or honour, seems to me to have few claims on those who, - when it was in power, never were permitted to share any of the - advantages it so lavishly bestowed on fools and knaves. So I am a - very tranquil and indifferent observer. - - ‘Perhaps, however, much of this equanimity as to passing affairs - has arisen from the call which has been made on me to live in - the past, bestowing for so many months all the time I could - command, and all the care I have had really any heart in, upon - the manuscript remains of our dear friend. I am glad that Cadell - and the few others who have seen what I have done with these are - pleased, but I assure you none of them can think more lightly of - my own part in the matter than I do myself. My sole object is to - do him justice, or rather to let him do himself justice, by so - contriving it that he shall be as far as possible, from first to - last, his own historiographer; and I have therefore willingly - expended the time that would have sufficed for writing a dozen - books on what will be no more than the compilation of one. A stern - sense of duty--that kind of sense of it which is combined with the - feeling of his actual presence in a serene state of elevation above - all terrestrial and temporary views--will induce me to touch the - few darker points in his life and character as freely as the others - which were so predominant; and my chief anxiety on the appearance - of the book will be, not to hear what is said by the world, but - what is _thought_ by you and the few others who can really compare - the representation as a whole with the facts of the case. I shall, - therefore, desire Cadell to send you the volumes as they are - printed, though long before publication, in the confidence that - they will be kept sacred, while unpublished, to yourself and your - own household; and if you can give me encouragement on seeing the - first and second, now I think nearly out of the printer’s hands, - it will be very serviceable to me in the completion of the others. - I have waived all my own notions as to the manner of publication, - &c., in deference to the bookseller,[15] who is still so largely - our creditor, and, I am grieved to add, will probably continue to - be so for many years to come. - - ‘Your letters of the closing period I wish you would send to me; - and of these I am sure some use, and some good use, may be made, as - of those addressed to myself at the same time, which all, however - melancholy to compare with those of the better day, have traces of - the man. Out of these confused and painful scraps I think I can - contrive to put together a picture that will be highly touching of - a great mind shattered, but never degraded, and always to the last - noble, as his heart continued pure and warm as long as it could - beat.--Ever affectionately yours, - - J. G. LOCKHART.’ - -We are tempted to add a short extract from another letter of -Lockhart’s, because it mentions a pleasing incident in the life of the -second Sir Walter Scott. He writes, 25th May 1843, that Major Scott and -his wife enjoyed perfect health in India, and he adds: ‘He (Sir W. S.) -tells me that hearing a Highland battalion was to pass about fifty -miles off from his station (Bangalore), he rode that distance one day, -and back the next, merely to hear the _skirl_ of the pipes! No doubt -there would be a jolly mess for his reception besides; but I could not -but be pleased with the touch of the “auld man.”’ - - - LUCY’S FLITTIN’. - - ‘’Twas when the wan leaf frae the birk-tree was fa’in, - And Martinmas dowie had wound up the year, - That Lucy row’d up her wee kist wi’ her a’ in ’t, - And left her auld master and neebours sae dear. - - For Lucy had serv’d i’ the Glen[16] a’ the simmer; - She cam there afore the bloom cam on the pea;[17] - An orphan was she, an’ they had been gude till her; - Sure that was the thing brought the tear to her ee. - - She gaed by the stable, where Jamie was stan’in’, - Right sair was his kind heart her flittin’ to see; - Fare ye weel, Lucy! quo’ Jamie, and ran in-- - The gatherin’ tears trickled fast frae her ee. - - As down the burn-side she gaed slow wi’ her flittin’, - Fare ye weel, Lucy! was ilka bird’s sang; - She heard the craw sayin ’t, high on the tree sittin’, - And Robin was chirpin ’t the brown leaves amang. - - O what is’t that pits my puir heart in a flutter? - And what gars the tears come sae fast to my ee? - If I wasna ettled to be ony better, - Then what gars me wish ony better to be? - - I ’m just like a lammie that loses its mither, - Nae mither nor frien’ the poor lammie can see; - I fear I hae tint my bit heart a’ thegither; - Nae wonder the tear fa’s sae fast frae my ee. - - Wi’ the rest o’ my claes, I hae row’d up the ribbon, - The bonnie blue ribbon that Jamie gae me; - Yestreen, when he gae me ’t, and saw I was sabbin’, - I’ll never forget the wae blink o’ his ee. - - Though now he said naething but Fare ye weel, Lucy! - It made me I neither could speak, hear, nor see; - He couldna say mair but just Fare ye weel, Lucy! - Yet that I will mind till the day that I dee. - - The lamb likes the gowan wi’ dew when it’s droukit; - The hare likes the brake and the braird on the lea; - But Lucy likes Jamie;--she turn’d, and she lookit; - She thought the dear place she wad never mair see!’ - -In publishing the ballad, Hogg added the following verse, in order, -as he said, to _complete the story_; but it will be felt, we think, -that he has marred the pathetic simplicity of the original, which was -complete enough as a picture of the flittin’: - - ‘Ah, weel may young Jamie gang dowie and cheerless, - And weel may he greet on the bank o’ the burn! - His bonnie sweet Lucy, sae gentle and peerless, - Lies cauld in her grave, and will never return.’ - -Lockhart has truly characterised Laidlaw’s ballad as ‘a simple and -pathetic picture of a poor Ettrick maiden’s feelings in leaving a -service where she had been happy,’ and he adds that it has ‘long been -and must ever be a favourite with all who understand the delicacies -of the Scottish dialect, and the manners of the district in which the -scene is laid.’ A no less flattering or discriminating notice had -been previously given by a critic in the _Edinburgh Review_, who, in -quoting _one_ song from the four volumes of Allan Cunningham’s _Songs -of Scotland, Ancient and Modern_, selected Laidlaw’s ‘simple ditty’ as -a ‘fair example of the lowly pathetic’ which would ‘go to the heart of -many a village-bred Scotchman in remote regions and all conditions of -society.’ - - - THE END. - - - Edinburgh: - Printed by W. & R. Chambers. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] This print, glazed in a black frame, was presented by Sir Adam -Ferguson to my brother Robert, and it is now in my possession.--W. C. - -[2] [For a number of years after the decease of Sir Walter, there were -many small floating anecdotes and memorabilia of his habits, and the -happy way in which he would make some pleasantry out of very ordinary -occurrences. Two or three instances occur to recollection.--One -day, when walking along Princes Street, Edinburgh, my brother, who -accompanied him, made the remark that he was evidently well known, -for many persons looked back at him on passing. ‘Oh, ay, ay,’ replied -Scott jocosely; ‘more know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows!’--The late Mr -Thomas Tegg, publisher, Cheapside, having, on the occasion of visiting -Scotland, ventured with a friend to call on Sir Walter at Abbotsford, -was somewhat doubtful of his reception, for he had published a small -book in doggerel verse, designed to bring Scott’s muse into ridicule. -He was speedily relieved of his apprehensions. ‘I am sorry to say,’ -said Tegg apologetically, ‘that I happen to be the publisher of -_Jokeby, a Burlesque on Rokeby_.’ ‘Glad to see you, Mr Tegg,’ replied -Sir Walter; ‘the more jokes the better!’--Mrs John Ballantyne, in -her reminiscences of Scott, states that, besides his story-telling -manner, he had another quite distinct, in which he was accustomed to -utter any snatch of poetry, such as a verse of a Border ballad, or a -simple but touching popular rhyme. ‘I can never forget,’ she says, -‘the awe-striking solemnity with which he pronounced an elegiac stanza -inscribed on a tombstone in Melrose Abbey: - - “Earth walketh on the earth - Glistering like gold; - Earth goeth to the earth - Sooner than it wold. - Earth buildeth on the earth - Palaces and towers; - Earth sayeth to the earth, - All shall be ours.”’ - ---On the occasion of an excursion with a friend to Dumfriesshire and -Galloway, Scott’s money happened to run out; and he borrowed from his -companion a pound-note at Tinwald Manse, and two pounds at the inn of -Beattock Bridge. The payment of the loan became the subject of a bit -of pleasantry. Returning home, he enclosed three pounds to his friend, -with the following lines: - - ‘One at Tinwald Manse, and two at Beattock Brig, - That makes three, if Cocker’s worth a fig; - Borrow while you may, pay when you can, - And at the last you’ll die an honest man!’] - - -[3] - - ‘From Soldan Turk I this Forest wan - When the king and his men was not to see.’ - -In the copy printed in the _Border Minstrelsy_, this is _Soudron_--i. -e., Southron or English, which I have no doubt is the proper -reading.--_Aytoun._ - -[4] The Shepherd’s conjecture proved correct. Mr Aytoun procured his -copy of the ballad from the charter-chest at Philiphaugh. The copy in -the _Border Minstrelsy_ was printed from one found among the papers of -Mrs Cockburn, authoress of _The Flowers of the Forest_. - -[5] MS. notes by W. Laidlaw. Professor Aytoun says that one cause of -his doubts as to the antiquity of _Auld Maitland_ was that it wanted -a clear intelligible story and main plot, so that it could not be -retained in memory for a couple of months. If the Professor (alas, -now no more!) had chanced, in any of his angling excursions on the -Tweed, to have fallen in with a brother of the rod, Mr Stirling, Depute -Sheriff-clerk of Peebles (also now gone), he would have found at least -one gentleman who could repeat the whole ballad without a break, though -he had not read a line of it for more than twenty years. Hogg states -explicitly that when the sheriff visited his cottage at Ettrick, -his mother recited or chanted the ballad; and in a poetical address -to Scott congratulating him on his elevation to the baronetcy, the -Shepherd says: - - ‘When Maitland’s song first met your ear, - How the furled visage up did clear, - Beaming delight! though now a shade - Of doubt would darken into dread, - That some unskilled presumptuous arm - Had marred tradition’s mighty charm. - Scarce drew thy lurking dread the less - Till she, the ancient Minstreless, - With fervid voice and kindling eye, - And withered arms waving on high, - Sung forth these words in eldritch shriek, - While tears stood on thy nut-brown cheek: - - “Na, we are nane o’ the lads o’ France, - Nor e’er pretend to be; - We be three lads of fair Scotland, - Auld Maitland’s sons a’ three!” - - Thy fist made all the table ring-- - “By ----, sir, but that is the thing!”’ - - -[6] _Marmion_--Introduction to Canto II. - -[7] He rarely made corrections on his published works, but there is one -alteration worth noting in the opening of this Introduction. In the -first edition he says: ‘From the remote period when the Roman deity -TERMINUS retired behind the ramparts of SEVERUS,’ &c. This seemed a -little inflated, and also inappropriate, for it represents Terminus as -if capable of motion, though the Romans represented the god as wanting -legs and arms, to shew that he was immovable; and Scott reduced the -illustration to sober historical limits: ‘From the remote period when -the Roman province was contracted by the ramparts of SEVERUS,’ &c. - -[8] _Marmion_: Introd. to Canto II. When the poem was published, its -author wrote to his friend at Blackhouse: ‘This accompanies a copy -of _Marmion_, which I will see put up with my own eyes. Constable is -greatly too busy to be uniformly accurate.’ - -[9] Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie. - -[10] Seaforth Papers at Brahan Castle, Ross-shire. - -[11] The Burghers were a religious sect, now merged in the United -Presbyterian body. - -[12] Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie. - -[13] Lockhart also was in favour of a cairn: ‘As to monuments, if I -could choose--passing Abbotsford--I should say, put a plain sitting -statue of Sir W. S. on Princes Street, Edinburgh, at the south end -of Castle Street, backed by the rock; and put a cairn on the Eildon -Hill, that every lad might carry his stone to. As for _temples_ and -_pillars_, they have been vulgarised in Edinburgh. A friend said to -me: ‘Good God, what a grand thing it will be to have Sir Walter put -on a level with the late Lord Melville! Let us have another pillar at -the west end of George Street, by all means.’ This man is a sensible -one, and was dead serious. On a level with Lord Melville, whose name -will appear only in the fag-end of a note to the future history of -this country, and really will be kept in memory chiefly by the pillar! -Dugald Stewart and Playfair, admirable dominies both, have their -temples; so I fancy will now Sir John Leslie. The Calton Hill had -better be left to the schoolmasters; in a hundred years they will have -covered it; but, if they please, they may keep a place in the midst for -Sir John Sinclair.’--_Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie._ - -[14] Vide _Quarterly Review_, June 1849. - -[15] Mr Cadell. In the autumn of the same year, the enterprising -bookseller writes to Laidlaw: ‘Strange that all the Ballantynes and -Constable are gone, and I am left alone of those behind the curtain -during so many critical years! Born at Cockenzie, in East Lothian, -educated for business above five years in Glasgow, I came here’ [to -Edinburgh] ‘a raw young man of twenty-one in the winter of 1809–10, and -have cuckooed all these men out of their nests, firmly seated in which -they all were at that time. And here is Lockhart telling about all of -us to posterity. We will all be handed down as appendages to the great -man!’ Mr Cadell died January 20, 1849, having, it is said, made about -£100,000 in business, chiefly by Scott’s works. ‘Our late illustrious -friend used to joke me about a Waverley Cottage or Waverley Hall: I am -now rated for a palace!’ (Cadell to Laidlaw, July 1834.) Latterly, he -was proprietor of the estate of Ratho, near Edinburgh. - -[16] The Glen is a small mountain valley on the banks of the Quair, -about four and a half miles from Innerleithen. A magnificent residence -has been built on the estate by the proprietor, Charles Tennant, Esq. -Vide description and engraving in Chambers’s _History of Peeblesshire_. - -[17] Hogg altered this line as follows: - - ‘She cam there afore the flower bloom’d on the pea.’ - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- font-family: sans-serif, serif; - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 5%; - margin-top: 8em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - padding: 1em; -} -.x-ebookmaker .transnote { - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; - margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - padding: .5em; -} - -.gesperrt { - letter-spacing: 0.2em; - margin-right: -0.2em; -} -.wspace {word-spacing: .3em;} - -span.locked {white-space:nowrap;} -.pagenum br {display: none; visibility: hidden;} - - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> - -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Sir Walter Scott, by Robert Chambers</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Life of Sir Walter Scott</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>with Abbotsford Notanda</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Authors: Robert Chambers</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em;'>Robert Carruthers</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: W. Chambers</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 11, 2022 [eBook #69330]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Susan Skinner, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT ***</div> - -<h1>LIFE<br> -<span class="xsmall">OF</span><br> -SIR WALTER SCOTT.</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="center"> - -<p class="vspace wspace larger"> -LIFE OF<br> -<span class="large">SIR WALTER SCOTT</span></p> - -<p class="p0"><span class="small">BY</span><br> -ROBERT CHAMBERS. LL.D.<br> -<span class="small">WITH</span><br> -<span class="larger">ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA</span><br> -<span class="small">BY</span><br> -ROBERT CARRUTHERS, LL.D.</p> - -<div id="il_1" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 20em;"> - <img src="images/i_title.png" width="387" height="470" alt=""> - <div class="caption">View of Abbotsford and grounds from the Tweed.</div> -</div> - -<p class="p2 smaller">EDITED BY W. CHAMBERS.</p> - -<p class="p2">W. & R. CHAMBERS,<br> -<span class="larger gesperrt">EDINBURGH AND LONDON.</span><br> -1871. -</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="vspace2"> -<span class="larger gesperrt">LIFE</span><br> -<span class="small">OF</span><br> -<span class="large gesperrt">SIR WALTER SCOTT</span><br> -<span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT CHAMBERS, LL.D.</p> - -<p class="p2 vspace"><span class="small">WITH</span><br> - -<span class="gesperrt">ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA</span><br> - -<span class="smaller"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT CARRUTHERS, LL.D.</span></p> - -<p class="p2 gesperrt"><span class="smcap">Edited by</span> W. CHAMBERS</p> - -<p class="p2 vspace"><span class="gesperrt larger">W. & R. CHAMBERS</span><br> -<span class="gesperrt">LONDON AND EDINBURGH</span><br> -<span class="smaller">1871</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p class="newpage p4"><span class="smaller">Edinburgh:<br> -Printed by W. and R. Chambers.</span></p> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak large" id="PREFATORY_NOTE">PREFATORY NOTE.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0"><span class="smcap">The</span> present Memoir of Sir Walter Scott was written -by my brother, the late Dr R. Chambers, immediately -after the decease of the great novelist, and having been -issued at a small price for popular reading, had what was -then considered a large circulation—180,000 copies. It -was subsequently republished, with some improvements. -The Memoir is now reproduced in somewhat better -style, as a small but fitting contribution in homage -of the great man, the centenary of whose birth, 15th -August 1871, is about to be very generally celebrated. -I have taken the liberty of adding only a few paragraphs, -distinguishable by being enclosed within brackets. The -principal of these insertions refers to the manner in -which my brother had the honour to become acquainted -with, and acquired the esteem of, Sir Walter Scott.</p> - -<p>To the Memoir are now appropriately appended -certain ‘Abbotsford Notanda,’ descriptive of the friendly -intercourse which long subsisted between Sir Walter -and his factor and amanuensis, William Laidlaw, prepared -by one well qualified to write on the subject, -Dr R. Carruthers, Inverness.</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. C. -</p> - -<p class="in0 in1"><span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>, <i>June 1871</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak large" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" class="wspace smaller"> -<tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">PARENTAGE</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">BIRTH—BIRTHPLACE—EARLY SCENES</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_8">8</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">THE LAND OF SCOTT</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_10">10</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">SCHOOL-BOY DAYS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_16">16</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">UNIVERSITY</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_25">25</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">PROFESSION</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_28">28</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">POLITICAL OPINIONS—SOLDIERING</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">VISIT TO PEEBLESSHIRE</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_35">35</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">MARRIAGE</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_37">37</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">POEMS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_42">42</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">WAVERLEY NOVELS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_51">51</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">SIR WALTER AND MR R. CHAMBERS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_64">64</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">LATER NOVELS, AND LIFE OF NAPOLEON</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_67">67</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">PECUNIARY MISFORTUNES</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_70">70</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">LATER EXERTIONS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_82">82</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">CONCLUDING YEARS—DECEASE</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_87">87</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">PERSONAL APPEARANCE</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_97">97</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">CHARACTER</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_99">99</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl">CONCLUSION</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_105">105</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> <td colspan="2"><hr class="narrow"></td></tr> -<tr class="p0"> - <td class="tdl larger">ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_109">109</a></td> -</tr> -</table> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak vspace" id="LIFE_OF"><span class="xlarge gesperrt">LIFE</span><br> -<span class="small">OF</span><br> -<span class="xlarge gesperrt">SIR WALTER SCOTT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr class="narrow"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_1">PARENTAGE.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap b"><span class="smcap1">Sir Walter Scott</span> was one of the sons of -Walter Scott, Esq., Writer to the Signet, by Anne, -daughter of Dr John Rutherford, Professor of the -Practice of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh.</p> - -<p>His paternal grandfather, Mr Robert Scott, farmer at -Sandyknow, in the vicinity of Smailholm Tower, in -Roxburghshire, was the son of Mr Walter Scott, a -younger son of Walter Scott of Raeburn, who in his -turn was third son of Sir William Scott of Harden, in -which family the chieftainship of the race of Scott is -now understood to reside. Sir Walter’s grandfather, Mr -Robert Scott, farmer at Sandyknow, as we learn from -the <i>Border Antiquities</i>, ‘though both descended from -and allied to several respectable Border families, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span> -chiefly distinguished for the excellent good sense and -independent spirit which enabled him to lead the way -in agricultural improvement—then a pursuit abandoned -to persons of a very inferior description. His memory -was long preserved in Teviotdale, and still survives, as -that of an active and intelligent farmer, and the father -of a family all of whom were distinguished by talents, -probity, and remarkable success in the pursuits which -they adopted.’</p> - -<p>Walter, the third son of Sir William Scott of Harden, -lived at the time of the Restoration, and embraced the -tenets of Quakerism, which at that period made their -way into Scotland. For this he endured a degree of -persecution for which it is now difficult to assign a -reason. The Scottish Privy-council, by an edict dated -June 20, 1665, directed his brother, the existing representative -of the Harden family, to take away his -three children, and educate them separately, so that -they might not become infected with the same heresy; -and, for doing so, he was to be entitled to sue his -brother for the maintenance of the children. By a -second edict, dated July 5, 1666, the Council directed -two thousand pounds Scots money to be paid by the -Laird of Raeburn for this purpose; and, as he was now -confined in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, where he was -liable to be further tainted by converse with others of -the same sect there also imprisoned, the Council further -ordered him to be transported to the jail of Jedburgh, -where no one was to have access to him but such as -might be expected, to convert him from his present -principles.</p> - -<p>Walter, the second son of this gentleman, and father -to the novelist’s grandfather, received a good education<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -at Glasgow College, under the protection of his uncle. -He was a zealous Jacobite—a friend and correspondent -of Dr Pitcairn—and made a vow never to shave his -beard till the exiled House of Stuart should be restored; -whence he acquired the name of <em>Beardie</em>.</p> - -<p>Dr John Rutherford, maternal grandfather to the -subject of this memoir, was one of four Scottish pupils -of Boerhaave, who, in the early part of the last century, -contributed to establish the high character of the Edinburgh -University as a school of medicine. He was -the first Professor of the Practice of Physic in the -university, to which office he was elected in 1727, and -which he resigned in 1766, in favour of the celebrated -Dr John Gregory. He was also the first person who -delivered lectures on Clinical Medicine in the Infirmary. -His son, Dr Daniel Rutherford, maternal uncle to the -novelist, was afterwards, for a long period, Professor of -Botany in the Edinburgh University, and further distinguished -by his great proficiency in chemistry. Dr -D. Rutherford was one of the cleverest scientific men -of his day; and, but for certain unimportant circumstances, -would have been preferred to the high honour -of succeeding Black in the chair of Chemistry. When -he took his degree in 1772, Pneumatic Chemistry was in -its infancy. Upon this occasion he published a thesis, -in which the doctrines respecting gaseous bodies are -laid down with great perspicuity, as far as they were -then known, and an account also given of a series -of experiments made by himself, which discover much -ingenuity and address. He was the first European -chemist who, if the expression may be used, <em>discovered</em> -nitrogen. Had he proceeded a single step farther, he -would have anticipated the discoveries of Priestley,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -Scheele, and Lavoisier, respecting oxygen, which have -rendered their names immortal. As it was, the experiments -and discoveries of Dr Rutherford made his name -respected all over Europe.</p> - -<p>The wife of Dr John Rutherford, and maternal grandmother -of Sir Walter Scott, was Jean Swinton, daughter -of Swinton of Swinton, in Berwickshire, one of the -oldest families in Scotland, and at one period very -powerful. Sir Walter has introduced a chivalric representative -of this race into his drama of <i>Halidon Hill</i>. -The grandfather of Jean Swinton was Sir John Swinton, -the twentieth baron in lineal descent, and the son of -the celebrated Judge Swinton, to whom, along with Sir -William Lockhart of Lee, Cromwell intrusted the chief -management of civil affairs in Scotland during his -usurpation. Lord Swinton, as he was called, in virtue -of his judicial character, was seized, after the Restoration, -and brought down to Scotland for trial, in the -same vessel with the Marquis of Argyll. It was -generally expected that one who had played so conspicuous -a part in the late usurpation, would not elude -the vengeance of the new government. He escaped, -however, by suddenly adopting the tenets of the society -to which Walter Scott of Raeburn afterwards attached -himself. On being brought before the parliament for -trial, he rejected all means of legal defence; and his -simply penitent appearance and venerable aspect -wrought so far with his judges, that he was acquitted, -while less obnoxious men were condemned. It was -from this extraordinary person, and while confined -along with him in Edinburgh Castle, that Colonel David -Barclay, father of Robert Barclay, the eminent author of -the <i>Apology for the Quakers</i>, contracted those sentiments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -which afterwards shone forth with such remarkable -lustre in his son.</p> - -<p>While the ancestry of Sir Walter Scott is thus -shewn to have been somewhat more than respectable, -it must be also stated, that, in his character as a man, -a citizen, or a professional agent, there could not be a -more worthy member of society than his immediate -parent. Mr Walter Scott, born in 1729, and admitted -as a Writer to the Signet in 1755, was by no means a -man of shining abilities. He was, however, a steady, -expert man of business, insomuch as to prosper considerably -in life; and nothing could exceed the gentleness, -sincerity, and benevolence of his character. For -many years, he held the honourable office of an elder -in the parish church of Old Greyfriars, while Dr -Robertson, the historian of <i>America</i> and <i>Charles V.</i>, -acted as one of the ministers. The other clergyman was -Dr John Erskine, much more distinguished as a divine, -and of whom Sir Walter has given an animated picture -in his novel of <i>Guy Mannering</i>. The latter person led -the more zealous party of the Church of Scotland, in -opposition to his colleague, Dr Robertson, who swayed -the moderate and predominating party; and it is -believed that, although a Jacobite, and employed mostly -by that party, the religious impressions of Mr Scott -were more akin to the doctrines maintained by Erskine, -than those professed by Robertson.</p> - -<p>Mrs Scott, while she boasted a less prepossessing -exterior than her husband, was enabled, partly by the -more literary character of her connections and education, -and more perhaps by native powers of intellect, -to make a greater impression in conversation. It has -thus become a conceded point, that Sir Walter derived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -his abilities almost exclusively from this parent. Without -pretending to judge in a matter of such delicacy, it -may at least be allowed that the young poet was at -first greatly indebted to his mother for an introduction -to the literary society of which her father and brother -were such distinguished ornaments. It has somewhere -been alleged that Mrs Scott, who was an intimate -friend of Allan Ramsay, Blacklock, and other poetical -wits of the last century, wrote verses, like them, in the -vernacular language of Scotland. But this can be -denied, upon the testimony of her own son. The -mistake has probably arisen in consequence of a Mrs -Scott of Wauchope, whose maiden name was likewise -Rutherford, having published poetry of her own composition. -Mrs Walter Scott, who was altogether a woman -of the highest order of intellect and character, was, at -an early age, deemed worthy by her father to be intrusted -with the charge of his house, during his temporary -widowhood; and thus she possessed opportunities enjoyed -by few young ladies of her own age, and of the -period when she lived, of mixing in literary society. It -is unquestionable that this circumstance was likely to -have some effect in later life upon her son, with the -training of whose mind she must, in virtue of her -maternal character, have had more to do than her -husband. It may be further mentioned that Mrs Scott -had been principally educated by a reduced gentlewoman, -a Mrs Euphemia Sinclair (grand-daughter of Sir -Robert Sinclair of Longformacus), who kept a school -for young ladies in the now wretched precincts of -Blackfriars’ Wynd, in Edinburgh, and who had the -honour of educating many of the female nobility and -gentry of Scotland, some of whom were her own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -relations. Sir Walter’s own words respecting this -person are given in the work entitled <i>Traditions of -Edinburgh</i>: ‘To judge by the proficiency of her -scholars, although much of what is called accomplishment -might then be left untaught, she must have been -possessed of uncommon talents for education; for all -the ladies above mentioned’ [the list includes Mrs -Scott] ‘had well-cultivated minds, were fond of reading, -wrote and spelled admirably, were well acquainted with -history and with the belles-lettres, without neglecting -the more homely duties of the needle and accompt-book; -and, while two of them’ [meaning, as there is -reason to believe, Mrs Scott, and Mrs Murray Keith, -the Mrs Bethune Baliol of the <i>Chronicles of the Canongate</i>] -‘were women of extraordinary talents, all of them -were perfectly well bred in society.’ Sir Walter further -communicated that his mother, and many others of -Mrs Sinclair’s pupils, were sent, according to a fashion -then prevalent in good society, to be <em>finished off</em> by -the Honourable Mrs Ogilvie, lady of the Honourable -Patrick Ogilvie of Longmay, whose brother, the Earl -of Seafield, was so instrumental, as Chancellor of -Scotland, in carrying through the union with England. -Mrs Ogilvie trained her young friends to a style of -manners which would now be considered intolerably -stiff; for instance, no young lady, in sitting, was permitted -ever to touch the back of her chair. Such was -the effect of this early training upon the mind of Mrs -Scott, that even when she approached her eightieth -year, she took as much care to avoid touching her chair -with her back as if she had still been under the stern -eye of Mrs Ogilvie.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_8">BIRTH—BIRTHPLACE—EARLY SCENES.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Sir Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh on the 15th -of August 1771, being the birthday of the great European -hero [Napoleon] whose deeds he was afterwards -to record. He was the third of a family consisting of -six sons and one daughter. The eldest son, John, -attained to a captaincy in an infantry regiment, but was -early obliged to retire from service on account of the -delicate state of his health. Another elder brother, -Daniel, was a sailor, but died in early life. Of him -Sir Walter has often been heard to assert, that he was -by far the cleverest and most interesting of the whole. -Thomas, the next brother to Sir Walter, followed the -father’s profession, and was for some years factor to the -Marquis of Abercorn, but eventually died in Canada in -1822, in the capacity of paymaster to the 70th Regiment. -Sir Walter himself entertained a fondly high -opinion of the talents of this brother; but it is not borne -out by the sense of his other friends. He possessed, -however, some burlesque humour, and an acquaintance -with Scottish manners and character—qualities which -were apt to impose a little, and even induced some -individuals to believe, for some time, that he, rather than -his more gifted brother, was the author of ‘The Novels.’</p> - -<p>Existence opened upon the author of <i>Waverley</i> in one -of the duskiest parts of the ancient capital, which he has -been pleased to apostrophise in <i>Marmion</i> as his ‘own -romantic town.’ At the time of his birth, and for some -time after, his father lived at the head of the College -Wynd, a narrow alley leading from the Cowgate to the -gate of the college. The two lower flats of the house -were occupied by Mr Keith, W.S., grandfather of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -Knight Marischal of Scotland, and Mr Walter Scott -lodged on the third floor, his part of the mansion being -accessible by a stair behind.</p> - -<p>It was a house of what would now be considered -humble aspect, but at that time neither humble from its -individual appearance nor from its vicinage. As it -stood on the line necessary for the opening of a street -along the north skirt of the new university buildings, it -was destroyed on that occasion, and never rebuilt. -Speaking of this house in a series of notes communicated -to a local antiquary in 1825, Sir Walter said: ‘It consisted -of two flats above Mr Keith’s, and belonged to -my father, Mr Walter Scott, Writer to the Signet; there -I had the chance to be born, 15th August 1771. My -father, soon after my birth, removed to George’s Square, -and let the house in the College Wynd, first to Mr -Dundas of Philipstoun, and afterwards to Mr William -Keith, father of Sir Alexander Keith. It was purchased -by the public, together with Mr Keith’s’ [the inferior -floors], ‘and pulled down to make way for the new -college.’</p> - -<p>It appears, however, that, before Sir Walter could -receive any impressions from the romantic scenery of -the Old Town of Edinburgh, he was removed, on -account of the delicacy of his health, to the country, -and lived for a considerable period under the charge of -his paternal grandfather at Sandyknow. This farm is -situated upon high ground, near the bottom of Leader -Water, and overlooks a large part of the vale of Tweed. -In the immediate neighbourhood of the farm-house, -upon a rocky foundation, stood the Border fortlet -called Smailholm Tower, which possessed many features -to attract the attention of the young poet. It was his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> -early residence at this romantic spot that imparted an -intense affection for the southern part of Scotland, to -which he finally adjourned. Some account of the district -which he so dearly loved may here properly be given.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_10">THE LAND OF SCOTT.</h2> -</div> - -<p>The district which this mighty genius has appropriated -as his own, may be described as restricted in a great -measure to the counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk, the -former of which is the central part of the frontier or -Border of Scotland, noted of old for the warlike character -of its inhabitants, and even, till a comparatively -late period, for certain predatory habits, unlike anything -that obtained at the same time, at least in the southern -portion of Scotland. Though born in Edinburgh, -Walter Scott was descended from Roxburghshire families, -and was familiar in his early years with both the scenery -and the inhabitants, and the history and traditions, -of that romantic land. He was indeed fed with the -legendary lore of the Borders as with a mother’s milk; -and it was this, no doubt, which gave his mind so -remarkable a taste for the manners of the middle ages, -to the exclusion of all sympathy for either the ideas of -the ancient classics, or the literature of modern manners. -There was something additionally engaging to a mind -like his in the poetical associations which have so long -rendered this region the very Arcadia of Scotland. The -Tweed, flowing majestically from one end of it to the -other; the Teviot, a scarcely less noble tributary; with -all the lesser streams connected with these two—the -Jed, the Gala, the Ettrick, the Yarrow, and the Quair—had, -from the revival of Scottish poetry, been sung by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -unnumbered bards, many of whose names have perished, -like flowers, from the face of the earth which they -adorned. From all these associations mingled together, -did the mind of this transcendent genius draw its first -and its happiest inspiration.</p> - -<p>The general character of this district of Scotland is -pastoral. Here and there, along the banks of the -streams, there are alluvial strips called <em>haughs</em>, all of -which are finely cultivated; and the plough, in many -places, has ascended the hill to a considerable height; -but the land in general is a succession of pastoral -eminences, which are either green to the top, or swathed -in dusky heath, unless where a patch of young and green -wood seeks to soften the climate and the soil. Much -of the land still belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, and -other descendants of noted Border chiefs, and it annually -supplies much of what both clothes and feeds the British -population. Being little intruded upon by manufactures, -or any other thing calculated to introduce new ideas, -its population exhibit, in general, those primitive features -of character which are so invariably found to characterise -a pastoral people. Even where, in such cases -as Hawick and Galashiels, manufactures have established -an isolated seat, the people are hardly distinguishable, -in simplicity and homely virtues, from the tenants -of the hills.</p> - -<p>Starting at Kelso upon an excursion over this country, -the traveller would soon reach Roxburgh, where the -Teviot and the Tweed are joined—a place noted in -early Scottish history for the importance of its town -and castle, now alike swept away. Pursuing upwards -the course of the Teviot, he would first be tempted -aside into the sylvan valley of the Jed, on the banks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -of which stands the ancient and picturesque town of -Jedburgh, and whose beauties have been rapturously -described by Thomson, who spent many of his youngest -and happiest years amidst its beautiful <em>braes</em>. Farther -up, the Teviot is joined by the Aill, and, farther up still, -by the Rule, a rivulet whose banks were once occupied -almost exclusively by the warlike clans of Turnbull and -Rutherford. Next is the Slitrig, and next the Borthwick; -after which, the accessories of this mountain -stream cease to be distinguished. Every stream has -its valley; every valley has its particular class of inhabitants—its -own tales, songs, and traditions; and when -the traveller contrasts its noble hills and clear trotting -<em>burnies</em> with the tame landscapes of ‘merry England,’ -he is at no loss to see how the natives of a mountainous -region come to distinguish their own country so much -in poetical recollection, and behold it with such exclusive -love. When the Englishman is absent from his -home, he sees a scene not greatly different from what he -is accustomed to, and regards his absence with very -little feeling. But when a native of these secluded vales -visits another district, he finds an alien peculiarity in -every object; the hills are of a different height and -vesture; the streams are different in size, or run in a -different direction. Everything tells him that he is not -at home. And, when returning to his own glen, how -every distant hill-top comes out to his sight as a familiar -and companionable object! How every less prominent -feature reminds him of that place which, of all the earth, -he calls <em>his own</em>! Even when he crosses what is termed -the height of the country, and but sees the waters running -<em>towards</em> that cherished place, his heart is distended -with a sense of home and kindred, and he throws his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> -very soul upon the stream, that it may be carried before -him to the spot where he has garnered up all his most -valued affections.</p> - -<p>There is one part of Roxburghshire which does not -belong to the great vale of the Tweed, and yet is as -essentially as any a part of the Land of Scott. This -is Liddesdale, or the vale of the Liddel, a stream which -seeks the Solway, and forms part of the more westerly -border. Nothing out of Spain could be more wild or -lonely than this pastoral vale, which once harboured -the predatory clans of Elliot and Armstrong, but is now -occupied by a race of more than usually primitive sheep-farmers. -It is absolutely overrun with song and legend, -of which Sir Walter Scott reaped an ample harvest for -his <i>Border Minstrelsy</i>, including the fine old ballads of -<i>Dick o’ the Cow</i> and <i>Jock o’ the Syde</i>.</p> - -<p>It may be said, indeed, that, of all places in the south -of Scotland, the attention of the great novelist was first -fixed upon Liddesdale. In his second literary effort—the -<i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>—he confined himself in -a great measure to Teviotdale, in the upper part of -which, about three miles above Hawick, stands Branxholm -Castle, the chief scene of the poem. The old -house has been much altered since the supposed era of -the <i>Lay</i>; but it has nevertheless more of an ancient -than a modern appearance, and does not much disappoint -a modern beholder. For a long time, the Buccleuch -family have left it to the occupancy of the -individuals who act as their agents or chamberlains on -this part of their extensive property; and it is at present -kept in the best order, and surrounded by some fine -woods of ancient and modern growth. Seated on a -lofty bank, it still overlooks that stream, and is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -overtopped by those hills, to which, it will be recollected, -‘the lady’ successively addressed her witching -incantations.</p> - -<p>The small vale of Borthwick Water, which starts off -from the strath of the Teviot a little above Hawick, contains -a scene which cannot well be overlooked—namely, -Harden Castle, the original though now deserted seat -of the family of Scott of Harden, from which, through -the Raeburn branch, Sir Walter Scott was descended. -This, though neglected alike by its proprietor and by -tourists, is one of the most remarkable pieces of scenery -which we, who have travelled over nearly the whole of -Scotland, have yet seen within its shores. Conceive, -first, the lonely pastoral beauty of the vale of Borthwick; -next, a minor vale receding from its northern side, -full of old and emaciated, but still beautiful wood: -penetrating this recess for a little way, the traveller sees, -perched upon a lofty height in front, and beaming -perhaps in the sun, a house which, though not picturesque -in its outline, derives that quality in a high degree from -its situation and accompaniments. This is Harden -House or Castle; but, though apparently near it, the -wayfarer has yet to walk a long way around the height -before he can wind his way into its immediate presence. -When arrived at the platform whereon the house stands, -he finds it degraded into a farm-house; its court forming -perhaps a temporary cattle-yard; every ornament disgraced; -every memorial of former grandeur seen through -a slough of plebeian utility and homeliness, or broken -into ruin. A pavement of black and white diced -marble is found in the vestibule, every square of which -is bruised to pieces, and the whole strewed with the -details of a dairy. The dining-room, a large apartment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -with a richly ornamented stucco roof, is now used as the -farmer’s kitchen. Other parts of the house, still bearing -the arms and initials of Walter Scott, Earl of Tarras, -great-grandfather of the late Mr Scott of Harden, and -of his second wife, Helen Hepburn, are sunk in a -scarcely less proportion. This nobleman was at first -married to Mary, Countess of Buccleuch, who died, -however, without issue, leaving the succession open to -her sister Anne, who became the wife of the unfortunate -Duke of Monmouth, eldest natural son of Charles II. -Through this family connection, the Earl of Tarras was -induced to join in the conspiracy which usually bears -the name of the Rye-house Plot, for which he was -attainted, only saving his life by giving evidence against -his more steadfast companion, Baillie of Jerviswood, the -great-grandfather of another Scottish proprietor, who -happened to be an immediate neighbour of Harden. -It may be asked why Mr Scott did not inherit the title -of his ancestor: the answer is, that it was only thought -necessary to invest the husband of the Countess of -Buccleuch with a title for his own life—which proves -that the hereditary character of the peerage has not -always been observed in our constitution. While all of -this scene that springs from art is degraded and wretched, -it is striking to see that its natural grandeur suffers no -defalcation. The wide-sweeping hills stretch off grandly -on all hands, and the celebrated <em>den</em>, from which the -place has taken its name, still retains the features which -have rendered it so remarkable a natural curiosity. -This is a large abyss in the earth, as it may be called, -immediately under the walls of the house, and altogether -unpervaded by running water—the banks clothed with -trees of all kinds, and one side opening to the vale,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -though the bottom is much beneath the level of the -surrounding ground. Old Wat of Harden—such is the -popular name of an aged marauder celebrated in the -<i>Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border</i>—used to keep the large -herds which he had draughted out of the northern -counties of England in this strange hollow; and it -seems to have been admirably adapted for the purpose. -It was this Border hero of whom the story is told -somewhere by his illustrious descendant, that, coming -once homeward with a goodly prey of cattle, and seeing -a large haystack standing in a farm-yard by the way, -he could not help saying, with some bitterness: ‘By my -saul, an ye had four feet, ye should gang too!’</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_16">SCHOOL-BOY DAYS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>It is understood that, at the ‘evening fire’ of Sandyknow, -Sir Walter learned much of that Border lore -which he afterwards wrought up in his fictions. To -what extent his residence there retarded his progress in -school instruction, is not discovered. After being at -Sandyknow, he was, for the sake of the mineral waters, -sent, in his fourth year, to Bath, where he attended -a dame’s school, and received his first lessons in -reading. Returning to Edinburgh, he made some -advances in the rudiments of learning at a private -school kept by a Mr Leechman in Hamilton’s Entry, -Bristo Street [now a small, decayed building, with a -tiled roof, occupied by a working blacksmith]. This -was his first school in Edinburgh. It is almost -certain that his attendance at school was rendered -irregular by his delicate health. He entered Fraser’s -class at the High School in the <em>third year</em>—that is to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -say, when that master had carried his class through one -half of the ordinary curriculum of the school; wherefore -it is clear that any earlier instruction he could have -received must have been in some inferior institution, -and very probably communicated in a hurried and -imperfect manner. It is at the commencement of the -school year in October 1779 that his name first appears -in the school register: he must have then been eight -years of age, which, it may be remarked, is an unusually -early period for a boy to enter the third year of -his classical course. What is further remarkable, his -elder brother attended the same class. It is therefore -to be suspected that his educational interests -were sacrificed, in some measure, to the circumstances -of the school, which were at that period in -such an unhappy arrangement as to teachers, that -parents often precipitated their children into a class -for which they were unfitted, in order to escape a -teacher whom they deemed unqualified for his duties, -and secure the instructions of one who bore a superior -character.</p> - -<p>Although Mr Luke Fraser was one of the severest -flagellators even of the <em>old school</em>, he enjoyed the -reputation of being a sound scholar, so far as scholarship -was required for his duties, and also that of -a most conscientious and painstaking teacher. He -first caused his scholars to get by heart Ruddiman’s -<i>Rudiments</i>, and as soon as they were thoroughly -grounded in the declensions, the Vocabulary of the -same great grammarian was put into their hands, and -a small number of words prescribed to be repeated -every morning. They then read in succession the -<i>Colloquies</i> of Corderius, four or five lives of Cornelius<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -Nepos, and the first four books of Cæsar’s <i>Commentaries</i>. -Ere this course was perfected, the greater part of -Ruddiman’s <i>Grammatica Minora</i>, in Latin, was got by -heart. Select passages from Ovid’s <i>Metamorphoses</i>, the -<i>Bucolics</i> and the first <i>Æneid</i> of Virgil, concluded the -fourth year; after which the boys were turned over to -the rector, by whom they were instructed for two years -more; making the course in all six years. It must -also be understood, that every one of the three masters -besides Mr Fraser pursued the same system, bringing -forward a class from the first elements to the state in -which it was fitted for the attention of the rector; after -which he returned once more to take up a new set of -boys in the first class—and so forth for one lustrum -after another, so long as he was connected with the -school. If any teacher could have brought a boy over -such a difficulty as that which attended the commencement -of Sir Walter’s career at the High School, it -would have been Mr Fraser; for few of his profession -at that time were more anxious to explain away every -obstruction in the path of his pupils, or took so much -pains to ascertain that they were carrying the understandings -of the boys along with them through all the -successive stages. Apparently, however, neither the -care of the master nor the inborn genius of the pupil -availed much in this case, for it is said that the twenty-fifth -place was no uncommon situation in the class for -the future author of the Waverley Novels.</p> - -<p>After two years of instruction, commenced under -these unfavourable circumstances, Sir Walter, in October -1781, entered the rector’s class, then taught by Dr -Alexander Adam, the author of many excellent elementary -books, and one of the most meritorious and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> -most eminent teachers that Scotland has ever produced. -The authors read by Dr Adam’s class at this period, -and probably during the whole of his career, were Virgil, -Horace, Cicero, Sallust, Livy, and Terence; but it was -not in reading and translating alone that an education -under this eminent man consisted. Adam, who was an -indefatigable student, as the number and excellence of -his works testify, was a complete contrast to Mr Fraser. -The latter hardly ever introduced a single remark but -what was intended to illustrate the <em>letter</em> of the author; -whereas Dr Adam commented at great length upon -whatever occurred in the course of reading in the class, -whether it related to antiquities, customs, and manners, -or to history. He was of so communicative a disposition, -that whatever knowledge he had acquired in his -private studies, he took the first opportunity of imparting -to his class, paying little regard whether it was above -the comprehension of the greater number of his scholars -or not. He abounded in pleasant anecdote; and while -he never neglected the proper business of his class, it -is certain that he inspired a far higher love of knowledge -and of literary history into the minds of his pupils than -any other teacher of his day. At the same time, he -displayed a benevolence of character which won the -hearts of his pupils, and nothing ever gave him so much -pleasure as to hear of their success in after-life. To -this venerable person, Sir Walter was always ready to -acknowledge his obligations, and it is not improbable -that much of his literary character was moulded on that -of Dr Adam.</p> - -<p>As a scholar, nevertheless, the subject of this memoir -never became remarkable for proficiency. There is his -own authority for saying, that, even in the exercise of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> -metrical translation, he fell far short of some of his -companions; although others preserve a somewhat -different recollection, and state that this was a department -in which he always manifested a superiority. It -is, however, unquestionable, that in his exercises he was -remarkable, to no inconsiderable extent, for blundering -and incorrectness; his mind apparently not possessing -that aptitude for mastering small details, in which so -much of scholarship, in its earliest stages, consists.</p> - -<p>Regarding his school-days, we may introduce an -extract from an original letter on the subject. ‘The -following lines were written by Walter Scott when he -was between ten and eleven years of age, and while -he was attending the High School, Edinburgh. His -master there had spoken of him as a remarkably stupid -boy, and his mother with grief acknowledged that they -spoke truly. She saw him one morning, in the midst of -a tremendous thunder-storm, standing still in the street, -and looking at the sky. She called to him repeatedly, -but he remained looking upwards without taking the -least notice of her. When he returned into the house, -she was very much displeased with him: “Mother,” he -said, “I could tell you the reason why I stood still, and -why I looked at the sky, if you would only give me a -pencil.” She gave him one, and, in less than five -minutes, he laid a bit of paper on her lap, with these -words written on it:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“Loud o’er my head what awful thunders roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What vivid lightnings flash from pole to pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is thy voice, my God, that bids them fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy voice directs them through the vaulted sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then let the good thy mighty power revere,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let hardened sinners thy just judgments fear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> -<p class="in0">The old lady repeated them to me herself, and the tears -were in her eyes: for I really believe, simple as they -are, that she values these lines, being the first effusion -of her son’s genius, more than any later beauties which -have so charmed all the world besides.’</p> - -<p>Before quitting the High School, he, along with his -brothers, received the advantages of some tutorial training -under a Mr Mitchell, who afterwards became a minister -connected with the Scotch Church. Previous to entering -the university of Edinburgh, young Walter spent some -time with his aunt at Kelso. Here, in order that he -might be kept up in his classical studies, he attended -the grammar-school, at that time under the rectorship -of Mr Lancelot Whale, a worthy man and good scholar, -who possessed traits of character not unlike some of -those which have been depicted in Dominie Sampson. -It was while thus residing for a short time at Kelso, -about 1783, that Sir Walter made the acquaintance of -James Ballantyne, then a schoolboy of his own age, with -kindred literary tastes.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter’s education being irregular from bad health, -he did not distinguish himself as a scholar, yet often -surprised his instructors by the miscellaneous knowledge -which he possessed, and now and then was acknowledged -to display a sense of the beauties of the Latin -authors such as is seldom seen in boys. In the rough -amusements which went on out of school, his spirit -enabled him to take a leading share, notwithstanding his -lameness. He would help to man the Cowgate Port in -a snow-ball match, and pass the Kittle Nine Steps on -the Castle Rock with the best of them. In the winter -evenings, when out-of-door exercise was not attractive, he -would gather his companions round him at the fireside,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> -and entertain them with stories, real and imaginary, of -which he seemed to have an endless store. Unluckily, -his classical studies, neglected as they comparatively -were, experienced an interruption from bad health, just -as he was beginning to acquire some sense of their -value.</p> - -<p>It would, nevertheless, be difficult to say whether -Scott was the worse or the better of the interruptions he -experienced in school learning. He lost a certain kind -of knowledge, it is true, but he gained another. The -vacant time at his disposal he gave to general reading. -History, travels, poetry, and prose fiction he devoured -without discrimination, unless it were that he preferred -imaginative literature to every other; and of all imaginative -writers, was fondest of such as Spenser, whose -knights and ladies, and dragons and giants, he was never -tired of contemplating. Any passage of a favourite poet -which pleased him particularly was sure to remain on his -memory, and thus he was able to astonish his friends -with his poetical recitations. At the same time, he -admits that solidly useful matters had a poor chance of -being remembered. His sober-minded parents and -other friends regarded these acquirements without pride -or satisfaction; they marvelled at the thirst for reading -and the powers of memory, but thought it all to little -good purpose, and only excused it in consideration of -the infirm health of the young prodigy. Scott himself -lived to lament the indifference he shewed to that -regular mental discipline which is to be acquired at -school. He says in his autobiography: ‘It is with -the deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood -the opportunities of study which I neglected in my -youth; through every part of my literary career, I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance; and -I would at this moment give half the reputation I have -had the good-fortune to acquire, if by doing so I could -rest the remaining part upon a solid foundation of -learning and science.’</p> - -<p>It is the tradition of the family—and the fact is -countenanced by this propensity to tales of chivalric -adventure—that Sir Walter wished at this period of his -life to become a soldier. The illness, however, which -had beset his early years rendered this wish bootless, -even although his parents had been inclined to gratify -it. His malady had had the effect of contracting his -right leg, so that he could hardly walk erect, even with -the toes of that foot upon the ground. It has been -related by a member of his family that, on this being -represented to him as an insuperable obstacle to his -entering the army, he left the room in an agony of -mortified feeling, and was found some time afterwards -suspended by the wrists from his bedroom window, -somewhat after the manner of the unfortunate Knight of -the Rueful Countenance, when beguiled by the treacherous -Maritornes at the inn. On being asked the cause -of this strange proceeding, he said he wished to prove -to them that, however unfitted by his limbs for the profession -of a soldier, he was at least strong enough in the -arms. He had actually remained in that uneasy and -trying posture for upwards of an hour.</p> - -<p>His parents made many efforts to cure his lameness. -Edinburgh at this time boasted of an ingenious mechanist -in leather, the first person who extended the use of that -commodity beyond ordinary purposes; on which account -there is an elaborate memoir of him in Dodsley’s <i>Annual -Register</i> for 1793. His name was Gavin Wilson, and,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -being something of a humorist, he exhibited a sign-board -intended to burlesque the vanity of his brother-tradesmen—his -profession being thus indicated: ‘Leather leg-maker, -<em>not</em> to his Majesty.’ Honest Gavin, on the -application of his parents, did all he could for Sir -Walter, but in vain.</p> - -<p>An attempt was made about the same time to give -him instructions in music, which used to be a branch of -ordinary education in Scotland. His preceptor was Mr -Alexander Campbell, then organist of an Episcopal -chapel in Edinburgh, but known in later life as the -editor of <i>Albyn’s Anthology</i>, and author of various other -publications. Mr Campbell’s efforts were entirely in -vain: he had to abandon his pupil in a short time, with -the declaration, that he was totally deficient in that -indispensable requisite to a musical education—an <em>ear</em>. -It may appear strange, that he who wrote so many -musical verses, should have wanted this natural gift; -but there are other cases to shew that a perception of -metrical quantities does not depend on any such -peculiarity. Dr Johnson is a splendid instance. -Throughout life, Sir Walter, however capable of enjoying -music, was incapable of producing two notes -consecutively that were either in tune or in time. He -used to be pressed, however, at an annual agricultural -dinner, to contribute his proper quota to the cantations -of the evening; on which occasions he would break -forth with the song of <i>Tarry Woo</i>, in a strain of -unmusical vehemence, which never failed, on the same -principle as Dick Tinto’s ill-painted sign, to put the -company into good-humour.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_25">UNIVERSITY.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Sir Walter was placed in the University of Edinburgh, -October 1783. The usual course at this famed -seminary is, for the first year, to attend the classes of -Latin and Greek, to which, during the second, are added -Mathematics and Logic; the third and last year of the -course of a merely liberal education is spent in attending -the lectures on Moral and Natural Philosophy. It -would appear that Sir Walter did not proceed regularly -through this academical course. He was matriculated, -or booked, in 1783, at once for the Humanity or Latin -class under Professor Hill, and the Greek class under -Professor Dalyell; and for the latter, once more in -1784. But the only other class for which he seems to -have matriculated at the college was that of Logic, -under Professor Bruce, in 1785. Although he may -perhaps have attended other classes without matriculation, -there is reason to believe that his irregular health -produced a corresponding irregularity in his academical -studies. The result, it is to be feared, was, that he -entered life much in the condition of his illustrious -prototype, the Bard of Avon—that is, ‘with a little -Latin and less Greek.’</p> - -<p>Between his twelfth and fifteenth year, young Scott -had a particularly favourite companion of his own age, -John Irvine, the mutual attraction being a love of -fictions of a chivalrous description, furnished by an -eminent circulating library, which had been founded in -Edinburgh by Allan Ramsay, and situated in the High -Street, a short way above the Tron Church, and then -belonged to Mr James Sibbald, a person of literary -tastes, who edited the <i>Edinburgh Magazine</i>, and a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -collection of Scottish poetry. This old-fashioned library, -the first of its kind, passed in time into the hands of -Mr Alexander Mackay; and was finally sold off in -1831. With a volume from this precious repository, -the two youths sometimes adjourned to the picturesque -sides of Arthur’s Seat, where, seated together so as to -read from the same page, they revelled in the adventures -of heroes and heroines of romance.</p> - -<p>It will thus be observed that Sir Walter’s acquirements -in his early years did not lie nearly so much in -ordinary branches of education, as in a large stock of -miscellaneous reading, taken up at the dictation of his -own taste. His thirst for reading is perhaps not described -in sufficiently emphatic terms, even in the above narrative. -It amounted to an enthusiasm. He was at that -time very much in the house of his uncle, Dr Rutherford, -at foot of Hyndford’s Close, near the Netherbow, -and there, even at breakfast, he would constantly have a -book open by his side, to refer to while sipping his -coffee, like his own Oldbuck in the <i>Antiquary</i>. His -uncle frequently commanded him to lay aside his book -while eating, and Sir Walter would only ask permission -first to read out the paragraph in which he was engaged. -But no sooner was one paragraph ended than another -was begun, so that the doctor never could find that -his nephew finished a paragraph in his life. It may -be mentioned that Shakspeare was at this period frequently -in his hands, and that, of all the plays, the -<i>Merchant of Venice</i> was his principal favourite.</p> - -<p>Another choice companion at this period was -young Adam Ferguson—afterwards known as Sir Adam -Ferguson—son of Dr Adam Ferguson, author of the -<i>History of the Roman Republic</i>, and who remained an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -intimate friend during life. The house of Dr Ferguson -was a villa situated on the east side of a southern -suburb of Edinburgh, called <i>The Sciennes</i>, from its -proximity to the remains of an ancient monastery, -dedicated to St Catherine of Sienna. Dr Ferguson’s -house is remarkable as that in which young Walter -Scott had an opportunity of being in the company of -Robert Burns. Scott had read Burns’s poetry, and he -ardently desired to see the poet. An opportunity was -at length furnished, when Burns, on visiting Edinburgh -in 1787, came by invitation to the residence of Dr -Ferguson. Of the meeting, Scott has communicated an -unaffected description to Mr Lockhart. Sir Adam -Ferguson favoured me with some particulars of the visit -of Burns to his father’s house on this occasion.</p> - -<p>It was the custom of Dr Ferguson to have a conversazione -at his house in the Sciennes once a week, -for his principal literary friends. Dr Dugald Stewart, -on this occasion, offered to bring Burns, a proposal to -which Dr Ferguson readily assented. The poet found -himself amongst the most brilliant literary society which -Edinburgh then afforded. Sir Adam thought that Black, -Hutton, and John Home were among those present. -He had himself brought his young friend Walter Scott, -as yet unnoted by his seniors. Burns seemed at first -little inclined to mingle easily in the company; he went -about the room, looking at the pictures on the walls. -The print described by Scott, from a painting by -Bunbury, attracted his attention. It represented a sad -picture of the effects of war: a soldier lying stretched -dead on the snow, his dog sitting in misery on one -side, while on the other sat his widow, nursing a child -in her arms. The print was plain, yet touching;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -beneath were written the following lines, which Burns -read aloud:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘Cold on Canadian hills or Minden’s plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perhaps that parent mourned her soldier slain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bent o’er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The big drops mingling with the milk he drew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gave the sad presage of his future years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The child of misery baptised in tears.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Before getting to the end of the lines, Burns’s voice -faltered, and his big black eye filled with tears. A little -after, he turned with much interest to the company, -pointed to the picture, and, with some eagerness, asked -if any one could tell him who had written these -affecting lines. The philosophers were silent—no one -knew; but, after a decent interval, the pale lame boy -near by said in a negligent manner: ‘They’re written -by one Langhorne.’ An explanation of the place where -they occur (poem of <i>The Country Justice</i>) followed, and -Burns fixed a look of half-serious interest on the youth, -while he said: ‘You’ll be a man yet, sir.’ Scott may -be said to have derived literary ordination from Burns. -Somewhat oddly, the name Langhorne is quoted at the -bottom of the lines, but in so small a character that the -poet might well fail to read it.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_28">PROFESSION.</h2> -</div> - -<p>About his sixteenth year, Sir Walter’s health experienced -a sudden but most decisive change for the better. -Though his lameness remained the same, his body<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> -became tall and robust, and he was thus enabled to -apply himself with the necessary degree of energy to his -studies for the bar. At the same time that he attended -the Lectures of Professor Dick on Civil Law in the -college, he performed the duties of a writer’s apprentice -under his father; that being the most approved method -by which a barrister could acquire a technical knowledge -of his profession, though it has never been uniformly -practised.</p> - -<p>Respect for his parents and for the common duties -of life, was always a strong feeling in Scott; he therefore -applied himself without a murmur to the desk in -his father’s office, though he acknowledges that the -recess beneath was generally stuffed with his favourite -books, from which, at intervals, he would ‘snatch a -fearful joy.’ He even made his diligence in copying -law-papers a means of gratifying his intellectual passions, -often writing an unusual quantity, that with the result -he might purchase some book or object of virtù which -he wished to possess. It should be mentioned that the -little room assigned to him on the kitchen-floor of his -father’s house in George Square was already made a -kind of museum by his taste for curiosities, especially -those of an antiquarian nature. He never was heard -to grudge the years he had spent in his father’s painstaking -business; on the contrary, he recollected them -with pleasure, for it was always a matter of pride with -him to be a man of business as well as a man of letters. -The discipline of the office gave him a number of little -technical habits, which he never afterwards lost. He -was, for instance, much of a formalist in the folding and -disposal of papers. The writer of this narrative recollects -folding a paper in a wrong fashion in his presence,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -when he instantly undid it, and shewed, with a school-masterlike -nicety, but with great good-humour, the -proper way to perform this little piece of business.</p> - -<p>While advancing to manhood, and during its first few -years, Scott, besides keeping up his desultory system of -reading, attended the meetings of a literary society -composed of such youths as himself. A selection of -these and of his early schoolfellows, became his ordinary -companions. Amongst them was William Clerk, son -of Mr Clerk of Eldin, and afterwards a distinguished -member of the Scottish bar. It was the pleasure of -this group of young men to take frequent rambles in the -country, visiting any ancient castle or other remarkable -object within their reach. Scott, notwithstanding -his limp, walked as stoutly, and sustained fatigue as -well, as any of them. Sometimes they would, according -to the general habits of those days, resort to taverns for -oysters and punch. Scott entered into such indulgences -without losing self-control; but he lived to think this -ill-spent time. As to other follies equally besetting to -youth, it is admitted by all his early friends that he was -in a singular degree pure and blameless. His genial -good-humour made him a favourite with his young -friends, and they could not deny his possessing much -out-of-the-way knowledge; yet it does not appear that -they saw in him any intellectual superiority, or reason -to expect the brilliant destiny which awaited him. The -tendency of all testimony from those who knew him at -this time is rather to set him down as one from whom -nothing extraordinary was to be looked for in mature -manhood.</p> - -<p>We can easily see the grounds of this opinion. Scott -had not been a good scholar. He shewed none of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -peculiarities of the young sonneteer, for poetry was not -yet developed in his nature. Any advantage he possessed -over others of his own standing lay in a kind of -learning which seemed useless. It is not, then, surprising -that he ranked only with ordinary youths, or perhaps a -little below them. It is asserted, however, by James -Ballantyne, that there was a certain firmness of understanding -in Scott, which enabled him to acquire an -ascendency over some of his companions; giving him -the power of allaying their quarrels by a few words, and -disposing them to submit to him on many other occasions. -Still, this must have looked like a quality of the -common world, and especially unconnected with literary -genius.</p> - -<p>When Scott’s apprenticeship expired, the father was -willing to introduce him at once into a business which -would have yielded a tolerable income; but the youth, -stirred by ambition, preferred advancing to the bar, for -which his service in a writer’s office was the reverse of -a disqualification. Having therefore passed through -the usual studies, he was admitted of the Faculty of -Advocates, July 1792. This is a profession in which -a young man usually spends a few years to little -purpose, unless peculiar advantages in the way of -patronage help him on. Scott does not appear to have -done more for some sessions than pass creditably -enough through certain routine duties which his father -and others imposed upon him, and for which only -moderate remuneration was made. He wanted the -ready fluent address which is required for pleading, and -his knowledge of law was not such as to attract business -to him as a consulting counsel. While lingering out -the first few idle years of professional life, he studied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> -the German language and some of its modern writers. -He also continued the same kind of antiquarian reading -for which he had already become remarkable.</p> - -<p>Amongst other things giving a character to his mind, -were certain annual journeys he made into the pastoral -district of Liddesdale, where the castles of the old -Border chiefs, and the legends of their exploits, were -still rife. On these occasions, he was accompanied by -an intelligent friend, Mr Robert Shortreed, long after -sheriff-substitute at Jedburgh. No inns, and hardly any -roads, were then in Liddesdale. The farmers were a -simple race, knowing nothing of the outward world. -So much was this the case, that one honest fellow, at -whose house the travellers alighted to spend a night, -was actually frightened at the idea of meeting an -Edinburgh advocate. Willie o’ Milburn, as this hero -was called, at length took a careful survey of Scott -round a corner of the stable, and getting somewhat -reassured from the sight, said to Mr Shortreed: ‘Weel, -de’il ha’e me if I’s be a bit feared for him now; he’s -just a chield like ourselves, I think.’ On these excursions, -Scott took down from old people anecdotes of -the old rough times, and copies of the ballads in which -the adventures of the Elliots and Armstrongs were -recorded. Thus were laid the foundations of the -collection which became in time the <i>Minstrelsy of the -Scottish Border</i>. The friendship of Mr Edmonstone of -Newton led him, in like manner, to visit those districts -of Stirlingshire and lower Perthshire where he afterwards -localised his <i>Lady of the Lake</i>. There he learned much -of the more recent rough times of the Highlands, and -even conversed with one gentleman who had had to -do with Rob Roy. These things constituted the real<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -education of Scott’s mind, as far as his character as a -literary man is concerned.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_33">POLITICAL OPINIONS—SOLDIERING.</h2> -</div> - -<p>From his earliest years, Sir Walter’s political leanings -were towards Conservatism, or that principle -which disposes men to wish for the preservation of -existing institutions, and the continuance of power in -the hands which have heretofore possessed it. ‘As -for politics,’ says Shenstone in his Letters, ‘I think -poets are Tories by nature, supposing them to be by -nature poets. The love of an individual person or -family that has worn a crown for many successions, is -an inclination greatly adapted to the fanciful tribe. -On the other hand, mathematicians, abstract reasoners, -of no manner of attachment to persons, at least to the -visible part of them, but prodigiously devoted to the -ideas of virtue, liberty, and so forth, are generally -Whigs.’ There is much in this passage that hits the -particular case of Sir Walter Scott. But moods of -political feeling are not confined to individuals—they -sometimes become nearly general over entire nations. -At the time when Sir Walter entered public life, almost -all the respectable part of the community were replete -with a Tory species of feeling in behalf of the British -constitution, as threatened by France; and numerous -bodies of volunteer militia were consequently formed, -for the purpose of local defence against invasion from -that country. In the beginning of the year 1797, it -was judged necessary by the gentlemen of Mid-Lothian -to imitate the example already set by several counties, -by embodying themselves in a cavalry corps. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -association assumed the name of the Royal Mid-Lothian -Regiment of Cavalry; and Mr Walter Scott -had the honour to be appointed its adjutant, for which -office his lameness was considered no bar, especially as -he happened to be a remarkably graceful equestrian. -He was a signally zealous officer, and very popular in -the regiment, on account of his extreme good-humour -and powers of social entertainment. His appointment -partly resulted from, and partly led to, an intimacy with -the most considerable man of his name, Henry, Duke -of Buccleuch, who had taken a great interest in the -embodying of the corps. It was also perhaps the -means, to a certain extent, of making him known to Mr -Henry Dundas, who was now one of His Majesty’s -Secretaries of State, and a lively promoter of the -scheme of national defence in Scotland. Adjutant -Scott composed a war-song, as he called it, for the Mid-Lothian -Cavalry, which he afterwards published in the -<i>Border Minstrelsy</i>. It is an animated poem, and might, -as a person is <em>now</em> apt to suppose, have commanded -attention, by whomsoever written, or wherever presented -to notice. Yet, to shew how apt men are to judge of -literary compositions upon general principles, and not -with a direct reference to the particular merits of the -article, it may be mentioned that the war-song was only -a subject of ridicule to many individuals of the troop. -The individual, in particular, who communicated this -information, remembered a large party of the officers -dining together at Musselburgh, where the chief amusement, -at a certain period of the night, was to repeat -the initial line, ‘To horse, to horse!’ with burlesque -expression, and laugh at ‘this attempt of Scott’s’ as a -piece of supreme absurdity.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_35">[VISIT TO PEEBLESSHIRE.</h2> -</div> - -<p>In the autumn of 1797, Walter Scott, accompanied -by his brother John, and Adam Ferguson, made an -excursion to the borders of Cumberland, taking in their -way the mansion of Hallyards, in the parish of Manor, -Peeblesshire, where Dr Adam Ferguson was now temporarily -settled with his family. Here Scott resided for a -few days, visiting Barns and other places in the neighbourhood. -In a small cottage on the property of -Woodhouse resided a poor and singular recluse, dwarfed -and decrepit, by name David Ritchie, who was visited -as one of the curiosities of the district; and it was -doubtless on this occasion that Scott received those -impressions which afterwards figured in the character of -the ‘Black Dwarf.’</p> - -<p>Ritchie, with all his oddities, had a deep veneration -for learning; and as he was told that Scott was a young -advocate, he invested him with extraordinary interest. -Ferguson gave an amusing account of the interview. -He and his companion were accommodated with seats in -the lowly and dingy hut. After grinning upon Scott for -a moment with a smile less bitter than his wont, the -dwarf passed to the door, double-locked it, and then, -coming up to the stranger, seized him by the wrist with -one of his hands, and said: ‘Man, hae ye ony poo’er?’ -By this he meant magical power, to which he had -himself some vague pretensions, or which, at least, he -had studied and reflected upon till it had become with -him a kind of monomania. Scott disavowed the possession -of any gifts of this kind, evidently to the great -disappointment of the inquirer, who then turned round -and gave a signal to a huge black cat, hitherto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -unobserved, which immediately jumped up to a shelf, -where it perched itself, and seemed to the excited -senses of the visitors as if it had really been the familiar -spirit of the mansion. ‘<em>He</em> has poo’er,’ said the dwarf, -in a voice which made the flesh of the hearers thrill, -and Scott, in particular, looked as if he conceived himself -to have actually got into the den of one of those -magicians with whom his studies had rendered him -familiar. ‘Ay, he has poo’er,’ repeated the recluse, and -then going to his usual seat, he sat for some minutes -grinning horribly, as if enjoying the impression he had -made; while not a word escaped from any of the party. -Mr Ferguson at length plucked up his spirits, and called -to David to open the door, as they must now be going. -The dwarf slowly obeyed; and when they had got out, -Mr Ferguson observed that his friend was as pale as -ashes, while his person was agitated in every limb. -Under such striking circumstances was this extraordinary -being first presented to the <em>real</em> magician, who -was afterwards to give him such a deathless celebrity.</p> - -<p>Before quitting the district, Scott had an opportunity -of visiting the old inn and posting establishment of -Miss Ritchie in Peebles, then, and for ten or twelve -years later, the principal place of accommodation for -travellers. Miss Ritchie, an elderly lady, was somewhat -of an original in manner, and there can be little doubt -that her peculiarities furnished such recollections as were -afterwards matured in the character of ‘Meg Dods of -the Cleikum Inn, St Ronans.’ Proceeding southwards, -the tourists at length reached Carlisle, and extended -their excursion to Penrith and other places of interest -in Cumberland, where an incident occurred that requires -more than a casual notice.]</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_37">MARRIAGE.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Two children, a boy and girl, named Charpentier, -of French parentage, fell by circumstances under the -guardianship of the Marquis of Downshire. In time, -the boy received a lucrative appointment in India; on -his naturalisation as a British subject, changing his -name to Carpenter. Miss Carpenter was placed under -the charge of a governess, Miss Nicholson, and, requiring -a change of scene, was, through the kindness of -Lord Downshire, sent with her governess to Cumberland, -where she was to live in such pleasant rural spot -as might be found by the Rev. Mr Burd, Dean of -Carlisle. The two ladies arrived unexpectedly, when -Mrs Burd was setting out for the sake of her health to -Gilsland. This was at the end of the month of August -or beginning of September 1797.</p> - -<p>Having duly arrived at Gilsland, which is situated -near the borders of Scotland, they took up their residence -at the inn, where, according to the custom of -such places, they were placed, as the latest guests, at -the bottom of the table. It chanced that three young -Scottish gentlemen had arrived the same afternoon, -and being also placed at the bottom of the table, -one of them happened accidentally to come into close -contact with the party of Mr Burd. Enough of conversation -took place during dinner to let the latter individuals -understand that the gentleman was a Scotchman, -and this was in itself the cause of the acquaintance -being protracted. Mrs Burd was intimate with a Scotch -military gentleman, a Major Riddell, whose regiment -was then in Scotland; and as there had been a collision -between the military and the people at Tranent, on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -account of the Militia Act, she was anxious to know if -her friend had been among those present, or if he had -received any hurt. After dinner, therefore, as they -were rising from table, Mrs Burd requested her husband -to ask the Scotch gentleman if he knew anything of the -late riots, and particularly if a Major Riddell had been -concerned in suppressing them. On these questions -being put, it was found that the stranger knew Major -Riddell intimately, and he was able to assure them, in -very courteous terms, that his friend was quite well. -From a desire to prolong the conversation on this point, -the Burds invited their informant to drink tea with -them in their own room, to which he very readily consented, -notwithstanding that he had previously ordered -his horse to be brought to the door in order to proceed -upon his journey. At tea, their common acquaintance -with Major Riddell furnished much pleasant conversation, -and the parties became so agreeable to each other, -that, in a subsequent walk to the Wells, the stranger -still accompanied Mr Burd’s party. He had now -ordered his horse back to the stable, and talked no -more of continuing his journey. It may be easily -imagined that a desire of discussing the major was not -<em>now</em> the sole bond of union between the parties. Mr -Scott—for so he gave his name—had been impressed, -during the earlier part of the evening, with the elegant -and fascinating appearance of Miss Carpenter, and it -was on her account that he was lingering at Gilsland. -Of this young lady, it will be observed, he could have -previously known nothing: she was hardly known even -to the respectable persons under whose protection she -appeared to be living. She was simply a lovely woman, -and a young poet was struck with her charms.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span></p> - -<p>Next day Mr Scott was still found at the Wells—and -the next—and the next—in short, every day for a -fortnight. He was as much in the company of Mr Burd -and his family as the equivocal foundation of their -acquaintance would allow; and by affecting an intention -of speedily visiting the Lakes, he even contrived to -obtain an invitation to the dean’s country house in -that part of England. In the course of this fortnight, -the impression made upon his heart by the young -Frenchwoman was gradually deepened; and it is not -improbable that the effect was already in some degree -reciprocal. He only tore himself away, in consequence -of a call to attend certain imperative matters of business -at Edinburgh.</p> - -<p>It was not long ere he made his appearance at Mr -Burd’s house, where, though the dean had only contemplated -a passing visit, as from a tourist, he contrived to -enjoy another fortnight of Miss Carpenter’s society. In -order to give a plausible appearance to his intercourse -with the young lady, he was perpetually talking to her -in French, for the ostensible purpose of perfecting his -pronunciation of that language under the instructions of -one to whom it was a vernacular. Though delighted -with the lively conversation of the young Scotchman, -Mr and Mrs Burd could not now help feeling uneasy -about his proceedings, being apprehensive as to the -construction which Lord Downshire would put upon -them, as well as upon their own conduct in admitting a -person of whom they knew so little to the acquaintance -of his ward. Miss Nicholson’s sentiments were, if -possible, of a still more painful kind, as, indeed, her -responsibility was more onerous and delicate. In this -dilemma, it was resolved by Mrs Burd to write to a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -friend in Edinburgh, in order to learn something of -the character and status of their guest. The answer -returned was to the effect that Mr Scott was a respectable -young man, and rising at the bar. It chanced at -the same time that one of Mr Scott’s female friends, -who did not, however, entertain this respectful notion -of him, hearing of some love adventure in which he -had been entangled at Gilsland, wrote to this very Mrs -Burd, with whom she was acquainted, inquiring if she -had heard of such a thing, and ‘what kind of a young -lady was it, who was going to take Watty Scott?’ The -poet soon after found means to conciliate Lord Downshire -to his views in reference to Miss Carpenter, and -the marriage took place at Carlisle within four months -of the first acquaintance of the parties. The match, -made up under such extraordinary circumstances, was a -happy one; a kind and gentle nature resided in the -bosoms of both parties, and they lived accordingly in -the utmost peace and amity.</p> - -<p>Scott now commenced house-keeping in Edinburgh, -where he had hitherto lived in the paternal mansion. -We now see him as a young married man, spending the -winter in the bosom of a frugal but elegant society in -Edinburgh, and the summer months in a retired cottage -on the beautiful banks of the Esk at Lasswade; cultivating, -as before, literary tastes, and storing his mind with -his favourite kind of learning, but not as yet conscious -of his active literary powers, or thinking of aught but -the duties of his profession and the claims of his little -family. As an advocate, he had perhaps some little -employment at the provincial sittings of the criminal -court, and occasionally acted in unimportant causes as -a junior counsel; but he neither obtained, nor seemed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -qualified to obtain, a sufficient share of general business -to insure an independence. The truth is, his -mind was not yet emancipated from that enthusiastic -pursuit of knowledge which had distinguished -his youth. His necessities, with only himself to provide -for, and a sure retreat behind him in the comfortable -circumstances of his native home, were not so -great as to make an exclusive application to his profession -imperative; and he therefore seemed destined -to join what a sarcastic barrister has termed ‘the ranks -of the gentlemen who are not anxious for business.’ -Although he could speak readily and fluently at the bar, -his intellect was not at all of a forensic cast. He -appeared to be too much of the abstract and unworldly -scholar, to assume readily the habits of an adroit -pleader; and even although he had been perfectly -competent to the duties, it is a question if his external -aspect and general reputation would have permitted the -generality of agents to intrust them to his hands. -Nevertheless, on more than one occasion, he made a -considerable impression on his hearers. Once, in -particular, when acting as counsel for a culprit before -the High Court of Justiciary, he exerted such powers of -persuasive oratory as excited the admiration of the -court. It happened that there was some informality in -the verdict of the jury, which at that time was always -given in writing. This afforded a still more favourable -opportunity for displaying his rhetorical powers than -what had occurred in the course of the trial, and the -sensation which he produced was long remembered by -those who witnessed it. The panel, as the accused -person is termed in Scotland, was acquitted.</p> - -<p>Simple and manly in habits, good-humoured, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -averse to disputation, full of delightful information, -kind and obliging to all who came near him, yet -possessed of a rectitude and solidity of understanding -which never allowed him to be the fool of any of his -feelings, it is no wonder that Walter Scott was a general -favourite, or that he attracted the regard of several -persons of rank, as the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord -Melville, and others. It was through the kindness of -the first of these noblemen that, in 1799, he obtained -the appointment of sheriff of Selkirkshire, an office of -light duty, with a salary of £300 per annum. In the -same year, Scott lost his father, who died in his 70th -year, after a long period of suffering.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_42">POEMS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>It was not Scott’s destiny to attain distinction as a -lawyer. While never neglecting his professional duties, -his mind had its main bent towards literature. Having -learned German, he translated and published a version -of Goethe’s <i xml:lang="de" lang="de">Goetz von Berlichingen</i>, a drama of such a -romantic cast as harmonised entirely with his peculiar -taste. He also was induced, by Mr M. G. Lewis, the -well-known author of <i>The Monk</i>, to write two or three -ballads on supernatural themes for a collection which -was to be entitled <i>Tales of Wonder</i>. <i>Goetz</i> appeared in -February 1799, but met the fate of the former publication. -When the <i>Tales of Wonder</i> came out, Scott’s -ballads, though unfortunate in their association, obtained -some praise, yet, on the whole, might also be considered -as a failure. These would have been disappointments -to a man who had set his heart on literary reputation. -To Scott, who was at all periods of his career<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -humble-minded about his literary efforts, they were -nothing of the kind. In this respect, he was a pattern -to all authors, present and to come.</p> - -<p>The circumstances seem to have been almost accidental -which led him to make his first serious adventure -in the literary world. His schoolfellow, James Ballantyne, -was now settled at Kelso in the management of a -weekly newspaper. Merely to give employment to his -friend’s types during the intervals of their ordinary use, -Scott proposed to print a small collection of the old -ballads which for some years he had been collecting on -the Border. When the design was formed, he set about -preparing the work, for which he soon obtained some -assistance from Richard Heber and John Leyden—the -former an Englishman of fortune, and an enthusiastic -collector of books; the latter a Scottish peasant’s son, -who had studied for the church, and become a marvel -of learning, especially in languages and antiquities. -The <i>Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border</i> thus grew upon his -hands, until it became such an assemblage of ballads, -ancient and modern, and of historical annotation, as -could only be contained in three octavo volumes. The -first two made their appearance in January 1802, and -met a favourable reception. Many of the ballads were -entirely new to the world; even those which had been -published before, here appeared in superior versions. -Industry in the collection of copies, and taste in the -selection of readings, had enabled the editor to present -this branch of popular literature with attractions it never -possessed before; while the graceful and intelligent -prose interspersed throughout, rich with curious learning, -and enlivened by many a pleasant traditionary anecdote, -served to constitute the whole as a most agreeable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -mélange. The work gave Scott at once a respectable -place in the literary republic, more indeed as an editor -than as an author, though one would suppose few could -be altogether insensible to the spirit and graphic power -displayed in the ballads of his own composition.</p> - -<p>The public generally, and the booksellers in particular, -were agreeably surprised to find the <i>Minstrelsy</i>, while -bearing the unwonted imprint of ‘Kelso,’ a marvel of -beautiful typography; a circumstance owing to the good -taste of James Ballantyne, and which was of some avail -in increasing the popularity of the work. It appears -that Scott, besides some gains from the first edition, -obtained soon after £500 for the copyright.</p> - -<p>About this time he inherited between five and six -thousand pounds from a paternal uncle. This, with his -share of his deceased father’s property, his sheriffship, -and his wife’s allowance from her brother, now advancing -to fortune in India, made his income altogether about a -thousand a year. He had been ten years at the bar -with little success; his gains seldom reaching two -hundred a year, and these from the merest drudgeries of -the profession. It began, therefore, to appear to him -that, in as far as any further income might be required -to support his station in life, and advance the prospects -of his children, it would be well to look for it rather to -some post in the Court of Session, such as one of the -principal clerkships, than to practice as a barrister. -Assured in the meantime against want, and trusting to -such a prospect being realisable by his friends the -Buccleuchs and Melvilles, he gradually became disposed -to give more of his regards to literature. As to income -from this source, he had little hope or faith. Literary -research and composition were as yet their own reward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -with him; if any more solid remuneration accrued, he -was happy to receive it; but he would not depend on -such gains. Let literature, he said, be at the utmost a -staff—not a crutch. It was natural for a prudent man -of the world to form these ideas at that time, when -literary biography was little besides a record of privation -and sorrow. But it would have, nevertheless, been well -for Scott if he had been content with his secured income, -and the prospect of only such contingent additions to -it as a fixed post or the profits of literature might hold -out. To his over-anxious mind, when the temptation -came, it appeared different, as we shall presently see.</p> - -<p>It was about the time when the <i>Minstrelsy</i> was -issuing from the press, that Scott was asked by the -lovely and amiable Countess of Dalkeith to write a -ballad upon a traditionary goblin story respecting the -Buccleuch family. He commenced such a composition -accordingly, adopting for its measure that of a recent -poem of Coleridge; but it grew upon his hands far -beyond ballad size. It became, in short, a long -romantic narrative, divided into cantos, and <em>set</em> in a -subordinate narrative, wherein the author represented it -as a recitation by the last survivor of the fraternity of -minstrels. This was published in January 1805, as <i>The -Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>, and at once placed Scott in -the first rank as an original poet, besides determining -his fate as henceforth chiefly that of a man of letters. -Immediately on the first edition proving successful, the -publishers gave £600 for the copyright.</p> - -<p>Before this time, Mr Ballantyne had set up a printing-office -in Edinburgh, partly by the assistance of a loan -from his old friend. Getting rapidly into a considerable -business, which his skill and taste amply justified, he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -came to require additional capital, and Scott at length -agreed to advance the needful sum, on condition of his -being made a partner, but a secret one, in the concern. -His dread of dependence on literary gains seems to -have blinded him to the fact, that mercantile gains are -also precarious, and usually attended by risks.</p> - -<p>By the interest of his titled friends, he soon after -obtained an appointment to the duties of a clerkship in -the Court of Session; the salary, however, which afterwards -was fixed at £1300 a year, was not to be realised -till the death of a superannuated predecessor in office, -and, in fact, Scott touched nothing of it till 1812. With -such an addition to his solid prospects, one cannot but -wonder at the eagerness and assiduity with which he -commenced and pursued literary labours of a severely -tasking kind; such as an edition of the works of Dryden, -a publication of Sadler’s State Papers, and a reprint of -Somers’s collection of Tracts. It seems as if a naturally -ambitious and ardent spirit had at length found a vent -for its energies, and felt a self-rewarding pleasure in -their exercise. At the same time, he gave much of his -time to volunteer soldiering, to politics, and to the -affairs of literary men less fortunate than himself. The -recollections of his friends present a charming picture of -his ordinary life at his summer retreat of Ashestiel on -the Tweed, where he had found it necessary to establish -himself on account of his duties as sheriff of Selkirkshire. -His household, enlivened by four healthy children, and -superintended by Mrs Scott, was marked by simple -elegance. On Sundays, being far from church, he read -prayers and a sermon to his family; then, if the weather -was good, he would walk with them, servants and all, to -some favourite spot at a convenient distance, and dine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -with them in the open air. Frequent excursions on -horseback, and coursing-matches, varied the tenor of -common domestic life. Friends coming to pay visits -found him in constant good-humour, and at all times -willing to introduce them to the fine scenery and -interesting antiquities of the district. In the evenings, -his conversation, in which stories and anecdotes formed -a large part, was a sure resource against ennui. As a -husband and father, he was most kind and indulgent. -His children had access to his room at all times; and -when they came—unconscious of the nature of his -studies—and asked for a story, he would take them on -his knee, repeat a tale or a ballad, kiss them, and then -set them down again to their sports, never apparently -feeling the least annoyance at the interruption. His -dogs, of which he always had two or three, were even -more privileged, for he kept his window open in nearly -all weathers, that they might leap out and in as they -pleased.</p> - -<p>These were the happiest days of Scott’s life, when -as yet in the enjoyment of full vigour of body and -mind, rather acquiring than reposing upon fame, and -unembarrassed by possessions and dignities which afterwards -made his position false and dangerous. He -occasionally visited London, and allowed himself to go -through that kind of exhibition called <em>lionising</em>, to which -everything famous, or even notorious, is liable to be -subjected in the metropolis; but he never was in the -slightest degree spoiled by such idolatry. He fully -shewed that he estimated it at its real worth, and, after -good-naturedly submitting to it, could laugh at its -absurdity. It is less pleasant to record a change in his -arrangements for study which took place about this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -time. Finding the day apt to be broken in upon by -little duties and by visitors, he adopted the habit of -rising and commencing his literary toils at six in the -morning, usually finishing them at twelve, after the -interruption of breakfast at ten. His biographer, Mr -Lockhart, tells us how careful he was to dress neatly -before sitting down, but he says nothing of his preparing -for the duty before him by taking food. We have come -to understand such things better now, and can easily see -what fatal effects might arise in a few years from a -habit of performing the principal duties of life with an -exhausted system.</p> - -<p>The year 1808 saw his poetical reputation brought to -its zenith by the publication of the admirable romantic -tale of <i>Marmion</i>, for which, to the astonishment of the -public, Mr Constable undertook beforehand to pay a -thousand guineas. Not long after, his zeal in Tory -politics, or, as he thought it, solicitude for the honour -and safety of his country, then harassed by the Bonaparte -wars, led to his quarrelling with this eminent -publisher, and to his taking an interest in the establishment -of the <i>Quarterly</i>, as an opposition to the <i>Edinburgh -Review</i>. It would have been well if he had stopped here; -but the same feelings, helped, perhaps, by that trafficking -spirit which had entered into him since he lost -hopes at the bar, induced the false step of his setting up -a publishing-house in Edinburgh, under the <em>firm</em> of John -Ballantyne and Company, the ostensible manager being -a younger brother of the printer, a clever comical being, -not overstocked with worldly prudence, and possessed -of few qualifications for business beyond a knowledge of -accounts.</p> - -<p>From this house issued, in May 1810, his most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -pleasing poem, the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, which experienced -even greater popularity than either of its two predecessors, -and might, if anything could, have made its -author a vain man. In this and his two preceding -poems, the chief charm lay in the vividness with which -the author brought the past before the minds of his -readers. He gave the grace, the dignity, the gallantry -of old times, free from all their rudeness and grossness. -All was done, too, in such an easy and fluent style, that -the reader was never wearied. The singular fascination -of these writings shewed itself in numberless ways; for -one thing, there was a rush of tourists to the scene of -the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, so great, as to produce a marked -rise of the amount of post-horse duty raised in Scotland. -Scott’s own firm, in connection with another, undertook -to pay two thousand guineas for the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, -a fact in authorship at that time without anything -approaching to a parallel. Meanwhile, he was urging -into print, as a publisher, an <i>Annual Register</i> (to commence -with the year 1808); an edition of Beaumont -and Fletcher, under the care of a drudging German of -the name of Weber; a huge quarto, under the title of -<i>Tixall Poetry</i>; an edition of Defoe’s novels; the <i>Secret -Memoirs of the Court of James I.</i>; and some other books -agreeable to his own taste, but hardly to that of the -public.</p> - -<p>These huge indigestible masses of paper and print -had brought his outlay in the printing and publishing -concerns up to £9000 before the end of this -year. Scarcely ever did the most thoughtless of the -tuneful tribe make a more unfortunate adventure than -this publishing affair was destined to prove itself. If -Scott had instituted some safe and modest copartnery,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -to give himself the publishing profits of his own writings, -diminished only by expenses and the small profits due -to his acting associates, he would have been doing what -perhaps it will yet be seen all authors of decided popularity -may rightly do. But he had an antiquarian taste, -and a disposition to over-estimate all literary productions -save his own—he indulged these tendencies in his -firm of John Ballantyne and Company, and unavoidably -became a great loser. Before it was fully seen that such -was to be his fate as a man of business—namely, in the -summer of 1811—he had thought so well of his means -and prospects—the clerkship salary being now on the -eve of realisation—as to resolve on purchasing a hundred -acres of land on Tweedside, in order to build a cottage -residence for himself, and this notwithstanding that the -£4000 requisite in the very first place had to be -borrowed, the one half as a permanent burden on the -property. Such was the origin of his estate of Abbotsford, -where ultimately he reared a castle. The purchase -would have been perfectly a right one, if he had not -involved his superfluous fortune in business: as things -actually stood, it was only preparing for himself needless -embarrassments.</p> - -<p>His removal to the little estate which he had purchased -took place in May 1812, and he soon became -involved in the pleasant but costly labours attendant on -building, planting, and what is called <em>making a place</em>. -At the same time, besides attending to other literary -avocations, he was composing a fourth romance in verse, -which appeared just before the close of the year under -the title of <i>Rokeby</i>, but in point of popularity proved a -comparative failure. Ere this time, the concerns of John -Ballantyne and Company were seriously embarrassed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -insomuch that Scott was glad to accept of a little -credit from his friend Mr Morritt of Rokeby Park. -The difficulties had only increased during the early -months of 1813, and it then became necessary for those -who had begun in rivalry to Mr Constable, to resort to -that publisher for his friendly aid. To give an idea of -the fatality of the whole adventure, it appears that the -single publication of <i>Tixall Poetry</i>, which proved a dead -failure, involved an outlay of £2500, while the <i>Edinburgh -Annual Register</i> was attended by an annual loss -of £1000. At the same time, all the parties concerned -were living in a style rather suited to their hopes than -to their realised profits. To sustain so severe a drainage, -the private fortune of Scott, and even his unprecedented -literary gains, were inadequate. Fortunately, the hope -of regaining the author of <i>Marmion</i> as an adherent of -his house, induced Mr Constable to grant relief to some -extent by the purchase of stock, trusting that the rival -house would as soon as possible be extinguished. The -Duke of Buccleuch also extended the favour of his -credit for the sum of £4000, by means of which, and -of further sales of stock to other publishers, the principal -difficulties were passed, though not without the -most serious vexation to Scott for the greater part of a -year. In the midst of his worst perplexities, he resigned -an offer of the laureateship to Mr Southey, and was -liberal as usual to unfortunate men of letters, sending, -for one thing, fifty pounds to Mr Maturin, the Irish -novelist.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_51">WAVERLEY NOVELS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Scott had, so early as 1805, commenced a prose -fiction on the manners of the Highlanders, which he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -designated <i>Waverley, or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since</i>. Discouraged -by the unfavourable opinion of his friends -regarding the first few chapters, he threw aside the -manuscript, which lay accordingly unthought of in an -old desk for nine years. Happening to find it while -rummaging for fishing-tackle, he bethought him of -completing the story, and seriously trying his fortune -in a new walk of literature. Three weeks of June 1814 -enabled him to add the second and third volumes, and -the tale appeared anonymously in the ensuing month. -The public almost immediately appreciated its merits, -and the first edition of a thousand copies meeting with -a quick sale, was speedily followed by a second and a -third. The lifelike representation here given of times -not too remote for sympathy, and yet sufficiently so in -character to tell as eminently romantic, joined to the -wonderful ease, spirit, and mingled humour and pathos -of the narrative, gave <i>Waverley</i> at once a place far -above all contemporary novels, and awakened great -curiosity regarding the unknown author.</p> - -<p>Always unconcerned about the fate of his works, Scott -immediately set out on a six weeks’ yachting excursion -round the north of Scotland, with hardly a chance of -hearing news from the world of letters during that time. -The excursion was performed in company with the -Commissioners of Northern Light-houses, of whom -he was the guest. As yet, the Commissioners had no -steam-vessel for their annual trips, but used a sailing -yacht, provided with arms for defence, in case of attack, -against French privateers or other marauders. Sailing -from Leith on the 29th July 1814, the party first -visited the Isle of May, and thence proceeded northward. -In passing, they landed on the Bell Rock, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -inspected the recently erected light-house on that -dangerous reef. In the album of the keepers, it is -customary for visitors to inscribe their name, along with -any passing remark. Sir Walter inscribed the following -impromptu lines:</p> - -<p class="phead"> -‘<span class="smcap">Pharos Loquitur.</span> -</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Far on the bosom of the deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er these wild shelves my watch I keep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A ruddy gem of changeful light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bound on the dusky brow of night:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The seaman bids my lustre hail,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scorns to strike his timorous sail.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">It was in this northern maritime excursion that Sir -Walter visited Shetland, and stored his mind with those -materials which afterwards were so charmingly developed -in the romance of the <i>Pirate</i>.</p> - -<p>The secrecy which was maintained regarding the -authorship of <i>Waverley</i> and the succeeding novels, -helped to give them a certain piquancy, independently -of their intrinsic merits. At the same time, many -reflecting persons were at no loss to see that only -the same mind which had reproduced the times of the -Jameses in <i>Marmion</i> and the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, could -have resuscitated the court and camp of the Chevalier -in 1745; but with the mass of the public the mystery -was successful. Some thought it most likely that -Scott’s brother, Thomas, had produced this romance; -there were even some who attributed it to Mr Jeffrey. -Of Thomas he had himself so high an opinion, that -he about this time offered him money from his -own pocket for any novel he might produce. But -the opinion of Walter Scott regarding the literary -powers of his contemporaries was of absolutely not the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> -least value, in consequence of the peculiar generosity -of his nature. Thomas Scott and many others whom he -stimulated, and helped to become authors, were in the -eyes of the world very ordinary persons, and can only -be remembered because they were the objects of this -great man’s love and esteem.</p> - -<p>The success of <i>Waverley</i>, and the necessity of money -to relieve the Ballantyne concern, quickly urged Scott -to a new effort in the same walk. During the short -vacation at the Christmas of this year (1814), he produced -his tale of <i>Guy Mannering</i>, which, being published -in the ensuing February, was received with transports -of delight (more sober language would be quite inappropriate) -by both the Scottish and English public. The -author had, only a month before, brought out his last -great poem, <i>The Lord of the Isles</i>, which met with a -reception so cool as to convince him that he must now -resign the top of the poetical walk to his young rival, -Lord Byron. He heard the report of the public -decision on this point from James Ballantyne, was disconcerted -for a few minutes, and then, recovering his -usual spirits, tranquilly resumed the writing of his novel. -How much it would tell to the happiness of literary men -in general, if they had but a tithe of the equanimity -of Scott about the success of their exertions! In the -summer of this memorable year he visited the field of -Waterloo, and wrote on that subject a descriptive work, -entitled <i>Paul’s Letters to his Kinsfolk</i>, and also a poem, -which proved a failure in respect of popular approbation. -The results of these various labours, with his professional -income, not only set him free of the immediate pressure -of the publishing encumbrances, but enabled him to -add somewhat to his domains on Tweedside. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -year was also memorable to him as that which introduced -him to the personal notice of the Prince Regent, -who, after greatly enjoying his society at Carlton House, -sent him a present of a gold snuff-box set in brilliants.</p> - -<p>Scott was now at ease in his circumstances. He had -a pleasant house in Edinburgh, No. 39 Castle Street—‘dear -39,’ as he affectionately called it—where he enjoyed -the best society in the Scottish capital. Then, for recreation, -he had that fanciful but costly domain on the Tweed. -His ordinary and assured income sufficed for any domestic -expenditure he chose to indulge in; the recent embarrassments -were at an end; and he might calculate on -easily adding a few occasional thousands, for the sake -of posterity, by no very great exertion of his ever-fertile -brain. But who of mortal mould can ever say ‘enough,’ -especially when the temptation of great facility in -acquiring is before him. For Scott at this time to grow -from the idea of a cottage retreat in the country, to that -of a little lairdship and a good sort of mansion, was -certainly very natural, when he found that the work of -little more than a month at any time could secure him -enough of money to buy from fifty to a hundred acres -of ground. It was the more so in his case, as his -education, and the original bent of his own feelings, -alike tended to create in him a veneration for the -possession of land. Add to this, that he had a taste -for planting and decoration, and felt a genial joy in -being bread-giver to a retinue of that kindly peasantry -whose virtues he has himself depicted in such lively -colours. Of vulgar ambition for wealth and state, there -was in Scott not one particle: to be a chief of the soil -and its people, and contemplate his children as succeeding -him in the same character, was only, with him, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -realise, or set forth in substance, one of the poetical -dreams which haunted his mind. It is therefore not -surprising at this period to find him far from being disposed -to suspend his energies, even although he might -have done so under the excuse of somewhat broken -health, for he now had frequent visits of stomach-cramp—in -no small degree a consequence of some of his -literary habits.</p> - -<p>The spring of 1816 saw the public in possession of -his novel of <i>The Antiquary</i>, perhaps, of all his works, -the one in which there is most of the current matter of -his own mind. It was scarcely published before he had -designed his <i>Tales of My Landlord</i>, the first series of -which came out, as by a new author, in December, and -was at once hailed with all the applause accorded to its -predecessors, and set down as another offshoot of the -same tree. Early in 1817 appeared <i>Harold the Dauntless</i>, -which, not bearing his name, and being even a greater -failure than any of his recent poems, formed the last of -that class of his publications. The public might now, -perhaps, have had a more rapid succession of novels -from his pen, if he had not thought proper to write the -historical part of his <i>Annual Register</i>, in a vain hope to -float that unfortunate work into popularity. As it was, -he produced this year his novel of <i>Rob Roy</i>, which came -out at New Year 1818, and experienced a brilliant -reception. So great was his sense of the encouragement -extended to these novels, that in 1817 he made -purchase of an addition to his property, involving an -outlay of no less than £10,000. Just to shew, however, -how much generosity towards others was mixed with the -no way mean ambition of Scott, his prime object here -was to secure a residence for his old school-friend,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -Adam Ferguson, and his sisters, whom he was eager to -plant near his own fireside. On his concluding a rather -hasty bargain for this estate, Ferguson expressed his -surprise and concern at seeing him exert so little pains -to cheapen it. ‘Never say a word about it,’ said Scott; -‘it will just answer you and the ladies exactly; and it’s -only scribbling a little more nonsense some of these -mornings, to pay anything it costs me more than -enough.’ From calculations of this kind, Scott is -understood to have bought nearly the whole of his -landed property at a very large percentage above its -actual value.</p> - -<p>From this time till the close of 1825—a space of eight -years—prosperity reigned unchecked over the life of -Scott. His novels of <i>The Heart of Mid-Lothian</i>, <i>The -Bride of Lammermoor</i>, <i>The Legend of Montrose</i>, <i>Ivanhoe</i>, -<i>The Monastery</i>, <i>The Abbot</i>, <i>The Pirate</i>, <i>Kenilworth</i>, <i>The -Fortunes of Nigel</i>, <i>Peveril of the Peak</i>, <i>Quentin Durward</i>, -<i>St Ronan’s Well</i>, <i>Redgauntlet</i>, and the <i>Tales of the -Crusaders</i>, streamed from his pen with a rapidity as -wonderful as their general merits were great. The -public read with delight, and Scott was happy to pipe -to a dance which led to such solid results for his own -benefit. Generally, the first burst of sale called for ten -thousand copies, after which the books continued to go -off in large numbers in handsome collective reprints. -It is odd after all, since Scott had shewed a desire to -increase his gains by being his own printer and publisher, -that he gave these books to be published by Constable, -or whatever other person, on the principle of a division -of the profits—a plan far too favourable to the tradesman, -considering that the works were sure to sell with -little aid from that quarter. A more grasping author<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -would have given them to be published on commission, -and thus realised the whole profit excepting a fraction. -The only deduction he made from this liberality to the -actual publisher consisted in its being a point with him -that the Ballantynes should have a share of that portion -of the profits—a mere grace on his part towards men for -whom he entertained a friendship. In 1819, Messrs -Constable and Company agreed to give him, for the -copyright of the novels published up to that time, -and certain shares of poetical copyrights, the sum of -£12,000. Two years later, the same booksellers -purchased for £5000 the copyright of four succeeding -novels—little more than a year’s work—from which the -author had already drawn £10,000. After another -similar interval, the author received five thousand -guineas for other four novels, which likewise had -previously yielded him half-profits. Scott spoke of -these sums with triumph and pleasure, as wonderful -prices for what he was pleased to call his <em>yeld kye</em>—that -is, cows which have ceased to give milk. Such a result -of successful authorship was a surprising novelty in -its day. Nor was the author alone blessed by the -pecuniary productiveness of the Waverley Novels. We -find the Edinburgh theatrical manager realising £3000 -by the brilliant run of the drama formed from <i>Rob Roy</i>. -A painter gets £300 for sketches to illustrate a section -of the tales.</p> - -<p>If we reflect on the facility with which Scott could -write these inimitable novels—devoting to them merely -the mornings of a life full of other business and of -amusement—we can hardly be surprised to learn that -he thought nothing of entering into engagements with -Constable and Company for producing four novels, not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> -one line of which had then been written, nor even the -leading theme determined on. Nor was it wonderful -that he should have gradually been tempted to build -additions to his house on Tweedside till it became the -architectural romance which it now is, and fitted to -receive and entertain a large assortment of company.</p> - -<p>The house of Abbotsford, where Sir Walter Scott -chiefly spent the last twenty years of his life, may be -assumed as the centre of a great part of that region -which we have styled <em>his</em>. This ‘romance in stone and -lime,’ as some Frenchman termed it, is situated on the -south bank of the Tweed, at that part of its course -where the river bursts forth from the mountainous region -of the forest into the more open country of Roxburghshire, -two or three miles above the abbey of Melrose, -and six-and-thirty from Edinburgh. Though upon a -small scale, the Gothic battlements and turrets have a -good effect, and would have a still better, if the site of -the house were not somewhat straitened by the bank -rising above it, and by the too close neighbourhood of -the public road. Descriptions of the house, with its -armoury, its library, its curiosities, and other particular -features, have been given in so many different publications, -that no repetition here is necessary. The -house, if it be properly preserved, will certainly be -perused by future generations as only a different kind of -emanation of the genius of this wonderful man; though, -preserve it as you will, it will probably be, of all his -works, the soonest to perish.</p> - -<p>All around Abbotsford, and what gave it a great part -of its value in his eyes, are the scenes commemorated in -Border history, and tradition, and song. The property -itself comprises the spot on which the last feudal battle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -was fought in this part of the country. The abbeys of -Melrose and Dryburgh, the latter of which now contains -the revered dust of the minstrel; the Eildon Hills, -renowned in the annals of superstition; Selkirk, whose -brave burghers won glory in the field where so much -was lost by others, namely, at Flodden; Ettrick Forest, -with its lone and storied dales; and Yarrow, whose -stream and ‘dowie dens’ are not to be surveyed without -involuntary poetry—are all in the near neighbourhood -of the spot. The love, the deep, heartfelt love which -Scott bore to the land which contains these places, was -such as no stranger can appreciate. It was a passion -absorbing many others which might have been expected -to hold sway over him, and it survived to the last.</p> - -<p>Scott was social and good-natured; to see him and his -mansion was an object of ambition to half the public, -including the highest persons in the land. He was thus -led, during the seven months of the year which he -spent in the country, to be the host of so many persons -of every kind, that his wife spoke of the house as a -hotel in all but the name. Not that he would have -voluntarily indulged in any undue expense on this -account, if he had been in limited circumstances; but -believing himself to be able to afford it, benevolence -gave her irresistible dictate that he should thus make -himself the servant of the public, even at the expense -of much personal inconvenience to himself and his -family. It is stated in Mr Lockhart’s biography that -sixteen uninvited parties came in one day to Abbotsford. -These would pass quickly away; but fashionable tourists, -some of them of high rank, came in scarcely smaller -shoals, to stay one or two days. A lady reports to us, -from the conversation of Miss Anne Scott, the younger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -daughter of Sir Walter, that on one occasion there were -<em>thirteen ladies’-maids</em> in the house.</p> - -<p>In 1820, Scott was made a baronet. The honour -was unsolicited, and he considered himself as accepting -it, partly because it was gratifying to his family, and -partly with a view to the interests of his eldest son, who -had entered a hussar regiment. If he had any enjoyment -of the honour in his own breast, it probably arose -from no common worldly vanity, but from its touching -on some string of romantic feeling amongst those to -which we owe his delightful works. Though now a -<em>laird</em> and a man of title, as well as the head idol in the -temple of the intellect-worshippers of his time, he was -no whit different from what he had been in his younger -days, when content with love and a cottage at Lasswade. -His personal tastes and habits, his bearing to his -friends, his familiarity with the poor and lowly, remained -the same. As Wilkes is said to have never been a -Wilkite, so Scott never, to any appearance, joined the -opinion which the world entertained about him as an -author. He spoke of his labours in this manner to -Southey: ‘Dallying with time—tossing my ball and -driving my hoop.’ Such men as Davy and Watt he -considered as the true honour of his age and country. -At home, in the bosom of his family, when the world -would let him alone, he was the most simple and kindly -of associates. As he walked about his grounds, he -conversed freely and easily with his servants and the -peasantry, amongst whom he was an object of the -deepest reverence and affection. Often would this -illustrious man work half a day at the felling of trees -in his woods, beside several workmen, trying which -could cut down one with the fewest blows, and laughing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -heartily when he was victor. He delighted to walk in -the evening towards the house of an aged servant, that -he might hear the psalm which the old man was raising -with his wife, as they conducted their evening devotions. -One of his retinue said to a visitor one day: ‘Sir Walter -speaks to every man as if they were blood-relations.’ -It was not a condescending kind of talk he indulged in -with these people. He entered into their feelings and -tastes, and, speaking their own homely dialect, witched -them out of the idea that a master or a laird was before -them.</p> - -<p>The year 1822 was a somewhat memorable one in -Scott’s life, on account of the concern he had to take -in the arrangements necessary on the occasion of the -king’s visit to Scotland. The external character of this -piece of pageantry was much determined by that revival -of national and medieval associations which the novels -had effected. Everywhere we were reminded of the -Stuarts in Holyrood, and the plaided clansmen on their -mountains. Feelings due towards the romantic kings -of an elder day were expended, often ludicrously, on -the battered beau of Carlton House and St James’s -Street. Amidst the delirium of the time, the man chiefly -concerned in giving it a peculiar character, moved in -perfect possession of his wonderful powers of management, -dictating or advising in the principal doings, and -attending to the minutest details of many of them. The -king afterwards expressed, both formally and in private, -his deep sense of obligation to Scott for what he had -done to make this visit pass off well. The affair is -interesting for the proof it gives of the business genius -of Scott, and his qualifications for the affairs of the -world. Assuredly never was high imagination united<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -with so many of the soberest mental qualities as in his -instance.</p> - -<p>His qualifications as a man of the world shone in -various functions which he consented to assume about -this time, as the presidency of the Royal Society of -Edinburgh, that of an antiquarian book-printing association -called the Bannatyne Club, the chairmanship of an -oil-gas factory, and so forth. He had no inclination to -thrust himself into such situations, but having been -drawn into them, he set about the business which they -involved with all the requisite zeal, and with a marvellous -amount of skill, good temper, and judgment. -The common-sense and sagacity which he exhibited -in the performance of these duties, form, perhaps, a -greater distinction between Scott and the generality of -literary men than even his transcendent genius.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter, as has been stated, had strong Conservative -leanings, in which respect he sometimes unfortunately -went beyond the dictates of prudence. In 1820, he -endeavoured to prove the absurdity of the popular -excitement in favour of a more extended kind of -parliamentary representation, by three papers which he -inserted in the <i>Edinburgh Weekly Journal</i> newspaper, -under the title of ‘The Visionary.’ However well -intended, these were not by any means happy specimens -of political disquisition. The truth is, Sir Walter, with -all his high literary gifts, did not possess the art of concocting -a short essay, either on politics or on any moral -or general topic. He appears, moreover, to have been -in a great measure ignorant of the arguments and -strength of his political opponents. He treats them as -if they were in the mass a set of simple and uninformed -people, led away by a few raving demagogues; and his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -attempt, accordingly, appears nearly as ridiculous as it -might be to address grown men with the arguments -which prevail only with children. Some months afterwards, -it was deemed necessary by a few of the Tory -gentlemen and lawyers, to establish a newspaper in -which the more violent of the radical prints should be -met upon their own grounds, and reprisals made for a -long course of insults which had hitherto been endured -with patience. To this association Sir Walter subscribed, -and, by means partly furnished upon his credit, a weekly -journal was commenced under the title of <i>The Beacon</i>. -As the scurrilities of this print inflicted much pain in -very respectable quarters, and finally led to the death of -one of the writers in a duel, it sunk, after an existence -of a few months, amidst the general execrations of the -community. Sir Walter Scott, though he probably never -contemplated, and perhaps was hardly aware of the guilt -of <i>The Beacon</i>, was loudly blamed for his connection -with it. It must be allowed, in extenuation of his -offence, that the whole affair was only an experiment, to -try the effect of violent argument on the Tory side, and -that, if it did not exceed the warmth of the radical -prints, there was nothing abstractly unfair in the attempt. -On the other hand, a party who stand in the light of -governors, and who, in general, are placed in comfortable -circumstances, assume violence with a much worse -grace than the multitudinous plebeians, who are confessedly -in a situation from which complaint and irritation -are almost inseparable.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_64">[SIR WALTER AND MR R. CHAMBERS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>In his preface to the new edition of the <i>Traditions of -Edinburgh</i> (1869), Mr R. Chambers gives the following<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -account of the manner in which he became acquainted -with Scott. ‘When not out of my teens, I attracted some -attention from Sir Walter Scott, by writing for him and -presenting him (through Mr Constable) a transcript of -the songs of the <i>Lady of the Lake</i>, in a style of peculiar -caligraphy’ [resembling small print], ‘which I practised -for want of any way of attracting the notice of people -superior to myself. When George IV., some months -afterwards, came to Edinburgh’ [August 1822], ‘good -Sir Walter remembered me, and procured for me the -business of writing the address of the Royal Society of -Edinburgh to His Majesty, for which I was handsomely -paid. Several other learned bodies followed the -example, for Sir Walter was the arbiter of everything -during that frantic time, and thus I was substantially -benefited by his means.</p> - -<p>‘According to what Mr Constable told me, the great -man liked me, in part, because he understood I was -from Tweedside. On seeing the earlier numbers of the -<i>Traditions</i>’ [1823] ‘he expressed astonishment as to -“where a boy got all the information.” But I did not -see or hear from him till the first volume had been -completed. He then called upon me one day, along -with Mr Lockhart. I was overwhelmed with the honour, -for Sir Walter was almost an object of worship to me. -I literally could not utter a word. While I stood silent, -I heard him tell his companion that Charles Sharpe was -a writer in the <i>Traditions</i>. A few days after this visit, -Sir Walter sent me, along with a kind letter, a packet of -manuscript, consisting of sixteen folio pages, in his usual -close hand-writing, and containing all the reminiscences -he could at that time summon up of old persons and -things in Edinburgh. Such a treasure to me! And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -such a gift from the greatest literary man of the age to -the humblest! Is there a literary man of the present age -who would scribble as much for any humble aspirant? -Nor was this the only act of liberality of Scott to me. -When I was preparing a subsequent work, <i>The Popular -Rhymes of Scotland</i>, he sent me whole sheets of his recollections, -with appropriate explanations. For years thereafter, -he allowed me to join him in his walks home from -the Parliament House, in the course of which he freely -poured into my greedy ears anything he knew regarding -the subjects of my studies. His kindness and good-humour -on these occasions were untiring. I have since -found, from his journal, that I had met him on certain -days when his heart was overladen with woe. Yet, his -welcome to me was the same. After 1826, however, I -saw him much less frequently than before, for I knew he -grudged every moment not spent in thinking and working -on the fatal tasks he had assigned to himself for the -redemption of his debts.’</p> - -<p>It was in one of their walks through the Old Town -that Scott pointed out the place of his birth to my -brother; also the little old school in Hamilton’s Entry, -where he had received some of his rudimentary instruction. -On another occasion, he shewed him the house -once occupied by Dr Daniel Rutherford at the foot of -Hyndford’s Close, where he had often been when a boy. -It is a fine antique edifice, reputed to have been the -residence of the Earl of Selkirk in 1742. Latterly, it -has undergone some changes, with a new entrance from -the Mint Close, and forms the residence of a Roman -Catholic clergyman, in connection with a neighbouring -chapel. Sir Walter communicated to Robert a curious -circumstance connected with this old mansion. ‘It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -appears that the house immediately adjacent was not -furnished with a stair wide enough to allow a coffin -being carried down in decent fashion. It had, therefore, -what the Scottish law calls a <em>servitude</em> upon Dr -Rutherford’s house, conferring the perpetual liberty of -bringing the deceased inmates through a passage into -that house, and down its stair into the lane.’]</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_67">LATER NOVELS, AND LIFE OF NAPOLEON.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Scott had at this time the appearance of a respectable -elderly country-gentleman. Tall, robust, and rather -handsome in person, he was deformed by the shortness -of his right limb, the foot of which only touched the -ground at the toes, while he rocked from side to side -on the support of a stout walking-cane, which he moved -along with the foot, and put down at the same time. -While living in town, he wore a common black suit; in -the country, he had gray trousers, a short green jacket, -and a white hat. The public is made familiar with his -face by numberless portraits; it is only necessary to -mention, that at this time it was ruddy with the glow of -health, and at the same time somewhat venerable from -his thin gray hair. The countenance and quick gray -eye usually had a common-world expression, but of a -benevolent kind. All was changed, however, when he -told anything serious, or recited a piece of ballad -poetry; he then seemed to become a being of a totally -different grade and sphere.</p> - -<p>It has been hinted that Scott’s eldest son, Walter, had -become an officer in a hussar regiment. This youth, -in 1825, wedded a young heiress, Miss Jobson, much -to the satisfaction of his father, who, in the marriage-contract,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -placed against the young lady’s fortune a -settlement of the estate of Abbotsford upon his son, -reserving only his own liferent. He declared that he -thus parted with the property of his lands with more -pleasure than he ever derived from the acquisition or -possession of them. He at the same time expended -£3500 in purchasing a company for his son. It was -now that the great poet might be considered as at the -height of his fortunes. His career had hitherto been -an almost uninterrupted series of prosperous and happy -events; he had risen from the briefless barrister to the -head of the literary world, a title, and the possession of -a landed fortune, with the prospect of leaving a race -of gentry to follow him. Alas! even while thus triumphantly -exalted, the ground was hollow beneath his feet, -and a sad prostration was approaching.</p> - -<p>Keeping this reverse for its proper place, it is proper -here to mention that the novels had fallen off somewhat -in popularity since <i>The Monastery</i>. The author was -not made aware of this fact; but he nevertheless felt -the necessity of varying his themes as much as possible, -in order to preserve the public favour. Hence his -shifting ground to England and France, and his attempt, -in <i>St Ronan’s Well</i>, to depict the society of the modern -world. Latterly, he bethought him that history was a -field of some promise, and he was disposed to enter it. -It was now (June 1825) that Mr Constable, moved by -some examples of popular publishing in London, adopted -the idea that that trade had never been conducted on -right principles, seeing that it sought customers only in -the more affluent classes, while the masses were left to -regard books as luxuries beyond their reach. He projected -a periodical issue of volumes, at a comparatively<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -low price, to consist of reprints of approved copyright -works belonging to his house, mingled with original -works; and claiming and obtaining the support of Scott, -it was arranged that the Waverley Novels should reappear -in this cheap form, alternated at starting with -the volumes of a <i>Life of Napoleon Bonaparte</i>, to be -composed for the purpose by the same author. Thus -was Scott set down, in 1825, to the history of one whose -career he had beheld, while it lasted, with the strongest -sentiments of reprobation and hatred, feeling, as he did, -that the French emperor was the public enemy of -England in the first place, and all Europe in the second. -It was at first intended that the work should consist of -four volumes, or less than a half of what it ultimately -became.</p> - -<p>Just before going seriously into his task, he paid -a visit to his son in Ireland, where he was received -and entertained with the greatest enthusiasm by all -classes—to his own surprise, as he had regarded the -Irish as not a reading people. He had not reflected -that there is such a thing as lionising great authors on -the strength of their fame, and without any but a superficial -acquaintance, if so much, with their writings. The -contrast between the elegant mansions of the gentry in -which he lived, with the misery of the houses of the -general population, awoke painful feelings in his mind; -but, upon the whole, he much enjoyed his tour in -Ireland. In the latter part of this year, a second -domestic change took place. His eldest daughter, -Sophia, had been married in 1820 to Mr J. G. Lockhart, -a young barrister, whose talents in literature have -been fully acknowledged by the public. Hitherto, the -young couple had lived in his immediate neighbourhood,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -both in town and country. He delighted in the ballads -which Mrs Lockhart sang to him with the accompaniment -of her harp; he found Mr Lockhart a useful -adviser in literary matters, and a most agreeable companion; -and he felt the tenderest interest in their eldest -child, called John Hugh, or, familiarly, ‘Hugh Littlejohn,’ -whose fatal delicacy of constitution only heightened -the affection he was otherwise fitted to excite. In consequence -of an offer of the editorship of the <i>Quarterly -Review,</i> Mr Lockhart removed to London with his -family, by which Scott’s family circle was of course -much contracted. This, however, was but a trifling evil -compared with others which were about to befall the -hitherto fortunate author of <i>Waverley</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_70">PECUNIARY MISFORTUNES.</h2> -</div> - -<p>The years 1824 and 1825 were distinguished by an -extraordinary mania for speculation, the consequence of -which was, that, towards the close of the latter year, a -scarcity of money began to be generally felt. A tightening -of this kind always of course tells severely upon -men who have been keeping up their trade by means -of fictitious bills; and of this class it now appeared -were Archibald Constable and Company. The leading -member of this firm had been fortunate in the proprietorship -of the <i>Edinburgh Review,</i> and the publishing -of many of the works of Scott. Naturally grand in his -ideas, and of an aspiring temper, at the same time that -he despised, and in practice wholly overlooked, common -mercantile calculations, he had come to conduct business -in a manner which usually leads to ruin. We have -seen that the bookselling concern of Scott (John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -Ballantyne and Company) was indebted to him for -some important assistance in enabling it to wind up; -the printing concern (James Ballantyne and Company) -was also indebted to him for a vast amount of business; -while Scott, more personally, was so imprudent as to -take bill payments from him for works as yet unwritten, -that he might help out his equally imprudent purchases -of land. By these means, it came about very naturally -that the name of James Ballantyne and Company—that -is, Sir Walter Scott—was lent to Constable and Company -for the raising of large sums amongst the banks. -Scott, venerating the supposed sagacity of Constable, -recked not of the danger of this traffic. Constable himself, -inflated with a high sense of the literary property -and stock which he held, regarded himself as a rich -man, notwithstanding the large borrowings to which he -condescended. James Ballantyne, venerating both, -easy of nature, and unprepared by education or habit -to keep a rigid supervision over business matters, gave -no alarm regarding the immense compromise of his own -and his friend’s name.</p> - -<p>These explanations serve so far; for what more is -necessary, it must, we fear, be admitted that the whole -group of persons concerned in the poems and novels, -including the mighty Magician himself, were naturally -enough intoxicated to a certain degree by a literary -success so infinitely exceeding all precedent. All of -them, excepting James Ballantyne, had lived in an -expensive manner. Scott himself had gone in this -respect a good way beyond what prudence dictated, -though it is also very certain that if his writings had -been published under reasonably favourable circumstances -for the realisation of profit, he might have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -bought land, and kept house as he did, without injury -to anybody. All, moreover, had been culpably negligent -about accounts and bargainings—Scott ridiculously -so, to his own injury, as there appears no good reason -for his dividing the six or eight thousand pounds realised -by the first issues of his novels with his booksellers, to -whom a commission on sales would have been remuneration -sufficient. There was, however, at that time a much -more loose and heedless fashion in most business affairs -than now prevails, and this requires that some allowance -should be made with regard to individual cases. So it -was that one of the firmest, and, generally speaking, -most sagacious men of his time, discovered, in the -course of January 1826, that he was involved in obligations -far exceeding the extent of his whole fortune—was, -in short, a ruined man.</p> - -<p>On the 18th December 1825, fearing bad news of -Constable’s affairs, he says, in a diary which he kept, and -surely few more touching words have ever fallen from -any man’s pen: ‘Men will think pride has had a fall. -Let them indulge their own pride in thinking that my -fall will make them higher, or seem so at least. I have -the satisfaction to recollect that my prosperity has been -of advantage to many, and to hope that some at least -will forgive my transient wealth, on account of the -innocence of my intentions, and my real wish to do -good to the poor. Sad hearts, too, at Darnick and in -the cottages of Abbotsford. I have half resolved never -to see the place again. How could I tread my hall -with such a diminished crest?—how live a poor indebted -man, where I was once the wealthy, the honoured? I -was to have gone there on Saturday, in joy and prosperity, -to receive my friends. My dogs will wait for me<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -in vain. It is foolish—but the thoughts of parting from -these dumb creatures have moved me more than any of -the painful reflections I have put down. Poor things! -I must get them kind masters. There may be yet those -who, loving me, may love my dog, because it has been -mine. I must end these gloomy forebodings, or I shall -lose the tone of mind with which men should meet -distress. I feel my dogs’ feet on my knees—I hear -them whining and seeking me everywhere. This is -nonsense, but it is what they would do could they know -how things may be.’</p> - -<p>The evil day had not yet come in all its reality. Mr -Constable went to London, to endeavour to raise money -on the copyrights he possessed, in order to put over the -difficulties. Moderate-minded men of the present day -read, as of something belonging to a different state of -society, of this ‘Napoleon of the realms of print’ seriously -expecting to raise one or two hundred thousand -pounds on the pledge of his copyrights, one large section -of which afterwards, at a fair auction, brought only -£8500; his whole property being such as only in the -long-run to pay 2s. 9d. a pound upon debts amounting -to £256,000. Having utterly failed in raising money -on any terms amongst those who deal in it, he induced -Scott to advance him ten thousand, which the Laird of -Abbotsford was only able to do by acting upon a right -he had reserved in his son’s marriage-contract to borrow -that sum on the security of his estate, for the benefit of -his younger children. And this last sacrifice for Mr -Constable he afterwards, very naturally, grudged more -than all the rest. It was on the 17th of January that -Scott finally ascertained the ruin of his affairs. ‘It was -hard, after having fought such a battle,’ as he says in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -his diary; but he sustained the first shock with Roman -firmness. His resolution was immediately taken, to -accept of no grace from his creditors beyond time. -‘God grant me health and strength,’ he said in deep -solemnity to his several friends, ‘and I will yet pay -every man his due.’ To those marvellous powers which -he had exerted for the purpose of buying land and -keeping state, he trusted for the means of clearing off -the tremendous encumbrance which had fallen upon -him. At the same time, <em>state</em> was to be given wholly -up. He resolved to sell his house in Edinburgh—‘dear -39’—and use a common lodging while obliged to attend -his duties in the Court of Session. At other times he -would join his family in strict retirement at Abbotsford, -which obviously could have been put to no better use. -There was no bravado in all this—nothing but a good, -sound, honest resolution to redeem the painful obligations -into which his imprudence had hurried him. In -the same frame of mind, he declined many offers of -money made to him by friends.</p> - -<p>He was engaged at the time of his misfortunes in -writing the <i>Life of Bonaparte</i>, taking up his new novel -of <i>Woodstock</i> at intervals, by way of relief. These tasks -he continued with steady perseverance in the midst of -all his distresses. Even on the day which brought him -assurance of the grand catastrophe, he resumed in the -afternoon the task which had engaged him in the morning. -There was more triumph over circumstances here -than might be supposed, for he had lately begun to feel -the first touches of the infirmities of age—age, to which -ease, not hard work, is naturally appropriate. His sleep -was now less sound than it had been; his eyesight was -failing; and, above all, he felt that backwardness of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -intellectual power which is inseparable from years. The -will, however, was green as ever, and, under the prompting -of an honourable spirit, it did its work nobly. -Doggedly, doggedly did this glorious old man rouse -himself from his melancholy couch, and set to his task -at an hour when gaiety has little more than sought his. -Firmly did he keep to his desk during long hours, till -he could satisfy himself that he had done his utmost. -The temptations of society, the more insinuating claims -of an overworked system for rest, were alike resolutely -rejected. The world must ever hear with wonder, that -between the third day after his bankruptcy and the -fifteenth day thereafter, he had written a volume of -<i>Woodstock</i>, although several of these days had been -spent in comparative vacancy, to allow the imagination -time for brooding. He believed that, for a bet, he -could have written this volume <em>in ten days</em>! Just a -fortnight after his final breach with fortune, he says in -his journal: ‘I have now no pecuniary provisions to -embarrass me, and I think, now the shock of the discovery -is past and over, I am much better off on the -whole.... I shall be free of a hundred petty public -duties imposed on me as a man of consideration—of -the expense of a great hospitality—and, what is better, -of the waste of time connected with it. I have known -in my day all kinds of society, and can pretty well -estimate how much or how little one loses by retiring -from all but that which is very intimate.... If I could -see those about me as indifferent to the loss of rank as -I am, I should be completely happy. As it is, time -must salve that sore, and to time I trust it.’ With such -philosophy could Scott regard his reverses, even in the -very crisis of their occurrence, and yet from many other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -passages we find a keen sensibility to the circumstances -of his downfall. It was rectitude of mind, and not -stoicism, which enabled him to rise above his misfortunes. -Nothing, indeed, of sensibility appeared in -his external demeanour, even to his children. To them, -as to the world, it must have been a lost secret, but for -his diary.</p> - -<p>The obligations of James Ballantyne and Company—that -is, of Sir Walter Scott—were finally ascertained to -amount to £117,000, of which only £46,000 were the -proper liabilities of his company.</p> - -<p>Early in spring, the ministry made an effort to correct -the unsound state of things which had led to the late -fatal mania, by attempting to pass a bill for the limitation -of bank circulation. It was determined to suppress all -notes under five pounds. In Scotland, where there is a -vast faith in the utility of one-pound bank-notes, and no -other circulation is so much liked, this measure was -very unpopular. By the banks, it was regarded as -fraught with ruin to their interests. Scott, who had -disapproved of some recent changes affecting old -Scottish institutions, and whose mind, serene as it was, -perhaps required some kind of vent for its own vexations, -was led to take a strong, perhaps exaggerated -view of this question, under which he wrote three letters, -in the character of Malachi Malagrowther, originally -published in a newspaper, afterwards as a pamphlet. -His great humour and fund of droll anecdote gave wings -to this production, and helped to rouse the Scottish -people to an attitude of resistance, to which, in the -long-run, the ministry gave way. The affair presented -Scott in a new light—namely, as one setting himself up -against authority, and appealing to popular sentiment on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> -the adverse side. The public was somewhat surprised; -the ministers, some of whom were his friends, felt hurt -at opposition from such a quarter; and there was -actually some dryness between him and Lord Melville -for a short time. The explanation is, that Scott never -was a servile friend of power, but one only as far as his -view of what was good for the country led him; and -there was a manliness and independence in his character -which admitted of no hesitation about a course, when -he saw only men on the one side, and the land of his -birth on the other. It is gratifying to think that Scott -lost no friendship by his conduct on this occasion, beyond -a temporary coldness on the part of a few persons.</p> - -<p>The novel of <i>Woodstock</i> came rapidly to completion, -and, early in April, the first edition of it was sold in the -printed sheets for £8228, in itself a proof that the -author might have all along had a better market for his -works if he had chosen. This was a cheering omen of -what he was to do for his creditors. Removing at the -close of the winter session to Abbotsford, he continued -there his habits of application with unabated vigour, -although, as appears from the diary, not without some -battlings between duty and inclination. The daily -amount of work he set to himself in the writing of -Napoleon’s life was four sheets of manuscript a day, -making about twenty-four of the printed pages. We -find him on one occasion finishing this before noon—a -surprising effort, considering that reference to his -authorities or materials must have often been necessary -during the progress of the work. At the same time he -commenced another work of fiction, a series of tales -entitled <i>Chronicles of the Canongate</i>, for he felt the one -task as a relief to the other.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p> - -<p>He now of course received no company at his rural -retreat. Only a few intimate friends of his neighbourhood -occasionally joined the family circle. It was a -melancholy spring to one whose life in the country had -hitherto been a constant holiday. To add to his griefs, -the health of his wife had sunk to a low pitch. His -kind-hearted Charlotte died on the 16th of May, of -water in the chest, the end being somewhat accelerated -by the late disasters. Scott, absent at the moment on -duty in Edinburgh, quickly hurried home. The event -itself, and the grief of his younger daughter on the -occasion, powerfully affected him. He thus communes -with himself in his journal: ‘It would have been -inexpressibly moving to me as a stranger—what was it, -then, to the father and the husband! For myself, I -scarce know how I feel—sometimes as firm as the Bass -Rock, sometimes as weak as the water that breaks on it. -I am as alert at thinking and deciding as I ever was in -my life. Yet, when I contrast what this place now is -with what it has been not long since, I think my heart -will break. Lonely, aged, deprived of my family—all -but poor Anne; an impoverished, an embarrassed man, -deprived of the sharer of my thoughts and counsels, who -could always talk down my sense of the calamitous -apprehensions which break the heart that must bear -them alone. Even her foibles were of service to me, -by giving me things to think of beyond my weary self-reflections.’</p> - -<p>Allowing himself little rest for the indulgence of grief, -he quickly resumed, or rather hardly interrupted his -usual employments. Between the 12th of June and the -12th of August he wrote the fourth volume of <i>Napoleon</i>, -besides a portion of his novel. Thus he wrought all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -summer, and part of the autumn, till it was found -necessary that he should pay a visit to London and -Paris, in order to consult documents necessary for -<i>Napoleon</i>. This journey occupied six weeks, and -perhaps was useful as a rally to his spirits. It is hardly -necessary to say that, with high and low, wherever he -went, he was an object of as cordial admiration and -interest as ever. The king, the Duke of Wellington, -and many other eminent persons, paid him marked -attentions. In France, he was treated with no less -distinction. Public papers in both countries were -placed at his disposal without reserve; and in London -he obtained an assurance that his second son, Charles, -would be employed in the diplomatic department.</p> - -<p>Till the failure of Messrs Constable and Company, -the Waverley secret was kept inviolate, though intrusted, -as he has himself acknowledged, to a considerable -number of persons. The inquiries which took place -into the affairs of the house rendered it no longer -possible to conceal the nature of its connection with Sir -Walter Scott; and he now accordingly stood fully -detected as the Author of <i>Waverley</i>, though he did not -himself think proper to make any overt claim to the -honour. It may be mentioned that, at the time of the -failure, Sir Walter was in possession of bills for the -novel of <i>Woodstock</i>, of which but a small part had as -yet been written. A demand was made by the creditors -of Messrs Constable and Company upon the creditors -of Sir Walter Scott, for the benefits of this work, when -it should be made public. But the author, not reckoning -this either just or legal, was resolved not to comply. -The bills, he said, were a mere promise to pay; since, -then, he had only promised to write, and they to pay,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -he would simply not write, and then the transaction -would fall to the ground. On the claim being farther -pressed, he said: ‘The work is in my head, and there -it shall remain.’ The question, however, was eventually -submitted to arbitration, and decided in favour of the -creditors of the author, for whose behoof the work was -soon after published.</p> - -<p>The fact of the authorship continued to waver between -secrecy and divulgement till the 23d of February 1827, -when Sir Walter presided at the first annual dinner of -the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association, in the -Assembly Rooms. There Lord Meadowbank, in proposing -the health of the chairman, used language to the -following effect: ‘It was no longer possible, consistently -with the respect to one’s auditors, to use upon this -subject terms either of mystification, or of obscure or -indirect allusion. The clouds have been dispelled; the -<em>darkness visible</em> has been cleared away; and the Great -Unknown—the Minstrel of our native land—the mighty -Magician who has rolled back the current of time, and -conjured up before our living senses the men and -manners of days which have long passed away, stands -revealed to the hearts and the eyes of his affectionate and -admiring countrymen.’ Sir Walter, though somewhat -taken by surprise, immediately resolved to throw off the -mantle, which was getting somewhat tattered. ‘He did -not think,’ he said, ‘that, in coming here to-day, he -would have the task of acknowledging before three hundred -gentlemen a secret which, considering that it was -communicated to more than twenty people, had been -remarkably well kept. He was now before the bar of -his country, and might be understood to be on trial -before Lord Meadowbank as an offender; yet he was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -sure that every impartial jury would bring in a verdict -of <em>Not Proven</em>. He did not now think it necessary to -enter into the reasons of his long silence. Perhaps -caprice had a great share in it. He had now to say, -however, that the merits of these works, if they had any, -and their faults were entirely imputable to himself.’ -[Here the audience broke into an absolute shout of -surprise and delight.] ‘He was afraid to think on -what he had done. “Look on’t again I dare not.” -He had thus far unbosomed himself, and he knew that -it would be reported to the public. He meant, then, -seriously to state that, when he said he was the author, -he was the total and undivided author. With the -exception of quotations, there was not a single word -written that was not derived from himself, or suggested -in the course of his reading. The wand was now -broken, and the rod buried. His audience would allow -him further to say, with Prospero: “Your breath has -filled my sails.”’</p> - -<p>The spring of 1827 was past, and summer had gone -to June, ere Scott’s great task was completed. He then -finished the last volume of his <i>Life of Napoleon</i>, which -he had been engaged upon for about two years, but had -actually written in scarcely more than a twelvemonth of -continuous time. The paper and print of the first and -second editions, in nine volumes, brought the creditors -£18,000—an amount of gain, in relation to amount of -labour, unexampled in the history of literature, and -which will probably have no parallel for ages to come. -The book was unfortunate in its excessive length; and, -written in such haste, it could not be expected to be -very perfect, either in style or in facts. Yet it made a -tolerably fair impression on the public, and it has since<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -rather advanced than receded in public esteem. The -contrast between the manner of its composition and -that of Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon’s works, is -startling. All of these narratives were the study and -the production of years. It had never till now entered -the head of man to think of a great historical task being -executed in a twelvemonth. The last-century historians -filed and polished their writings sentence by sentence—Scott -did not once reperuse the matter which had flowed -from his pen. And all this labour had been performed -in the midst of grief and shaken health, and without -interfering with official duties, one of which called for -several hours a day during five months of the twelve.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_82">LATER EXERTIONS.</h2> -</div> - -<p>Immediately on concluding <i>Napoleon</i>, he commenced -another historical work, his delightful <i>Tales of a Grandfather</i>; -presenting a selection of the most striking points -from the Scottish chroniclers, in a style designed to suit -the intelligence of his descendant, ‘Hugh Littlejohn.’ -This he carried on alternately with his <i>Chronicles of the -Canongate</i>, the first series of which appeared early in the -ensuing winter, and was well, though not brilliantly -received. He underwent at this period some harassment -from a Jewish London house, holding one of -Constable and Company’s bills for £2000. With a -view to forcing payment by some means, they threatened -Scott with arrest; and he actually contemplated at one -moment resorting to that sanctuary (Holyrood), in -which he placed his imaginary hero, Chrystal Croftangry. -At length the vexation was taken off his head by Sir -William Forbes, the leading member of a banking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -company who were amongst his chief creditors. This -generous man paid the sum out of his own pocket, -without letting Scott suppose but that it was arranged -for by the body of creditors. It is pleasant to know -that Scott unconsciously underwent several obligations -of this nature on the part of other old friends. The -first series of the <i>Tales of a Grandfather</i> appeared -before the end of 1827, and was hailed with more -rapture than any work of his for several years. This -was the date of another happy circumstance of a more -important kind. The copyrights of his novels and of -a large proportion of his poetical writings being presented -for sale by Constable and Company’s creditors, -a purchase of them was made for £8500, on the part of -his own creditors as half-sharers, while the other half -belonged to Mr Robert Cadell, a member of Constable’s -late house, now independently in business. It was -designed that the novels should be republished by Cadell -in a comparatively cheap form, with notes and prefaces -by the author, and certain trinkets of embellishment, -such as—according to his own phrase—elderly beauties -are supposed to require. It was hoped that the share of -profits due to his creditors would tell materially to the -reduction of the debts; and this hope was more than -realised. Meanwhile, a first dividend was paid to these -gentlemen from the aggregate gains of Scott’s pen -during the two past years, amounting very nearly to -the unheard-of sum of £40,000. Such were the first-fruits -of that hardy industry which he had determined -to exert for the redemption of his credit and good -name.</p> - -<p>Scott’s conduct and demeanour towards his old -associates in business affairs become a matter of some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -importance, as it too often happens that commercial -adversity introduces wrath into such fraternities. It is -pleasant to relate, that even towards Mr Constable, who -had been the cause of so much loss, he maintained a -friendly bearing. He did not, indeed, shut his eyes to -the new view he had obtained of Mr Constable’s -character as a man of business; but though he could -trust no longer, he was far from hardening his heart. -One thing he felt sorely—his last advance for Constable -when in the jaws of ruin. Nor was it a soothing -circumstance that the bookseller had endeavoured -to get his credit for £20,000 more, which would have -only been an additional loss at the speedy and inevitable -day of reckoning. Still, he was willing to regard -all this as only the effect of sanguine calculations; and -accordingly all his expressions regarding the fallen -publisher, both in his diary and his letters, are of a mild -and even kindly tenor. Mr Cadell, on the other hand, -had secured Sir Walter’s esteem and confidence by an -honest warning which he gave as to the above £20,000. -From the first, he determined to befriend this member -of the late house in preference to the other. With -regard to James Ballantyne, Scott told him, on the very -day when ruin was declared, that he would never forsake -him. Mr Ballantyne now conducted business on his -own account, and was honoured with the steady friendship -and patronage of his old schoolfellow, as of yore.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the conduct of Scott’s immediate -dependants had been highly creditable. Deeply attached, -in consequence of his long-enduring kindness, all were -anxious to remain, if possible, about his person. His -butler, Dalgleish, said he would take any or no wages, -but go he would not. His coachman, Peter Matheson,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -went to work with his horses at the plough, glad to the -core that he was allowed to remain at Abbotsford on -such terms.</p> - -<p>The spring of 1828 gave the world <i>The Fair Maid of -Perth</i>, his last popular novel. He then indulged in a -little relaxation, by spending a few weeks in London, -in the enjoyment of Mr and Mrs Lockhart’s society, as -well as that of many attached friends. We have at this -time a valuable addition to that testimony to his temper -which the second last paragraph affords. He had some -years before engaged his credit for £1200 in favour of -his friend Daniel Terry the actor, who was then undertaking -the management of the Adelphi Theatre. Being -now informed of the ruin of Mr Terry’s affairs, he wrote -him a letter, in which the following passage occurs: -‘For my part, I feel as little title, as God knows I have -the wish, to make any reflections on the matter, beyond -the most sincere regret on your own account. The sum -for which I stand noted in the schedule is of no consequence -in the now more favourable condition of my -affairs.... I told your solicitor that I desired he -would consider me as a friend of yours, desirous to -take, as a creditor, the measures which seemed best to -forward your interest.’ These are precious things to -put into a biography; but they do not exhaust the list. -Even while drudging so hard for the means of diminishing -his own encumbrances, he is found pretty frequently -composing and giving away a paper for the benefit -of some unfortunate man of letters, little regarding, -perhaps, the strict merits of the object of his bounty. -One of the most remarkable of these benefactions consisted -in his allowing the publication of two religious -discourses for the benefit of a young man endeared to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span> -him by misfortune as well as merit. This publication -yielded £250, a sum which few other literary men -would allow to pass from their own pockets in such a -manner.</p> - -<p>A great part of his time was now taken up with the -new writing connected with the popular edition of his -works; yet before the end of 1828 he had advanced -a good way with a new novel, the ground of which he -laid in Switzerland, notwithstanding his being acquainted -with the scenery of that country only by description and -engravings. His mind was now in a more cheerful -mood regarding his affairs than it had been since the -dreadful January 1826; and if he had been free of -various ailments, inclusive of rheumatism, caught from -a damp bed in France, he might have enjoyed his life -in the country almost as heartily as ever. Suffer as he -might, perseverance at his desk was a fixed principle -with him. Of this we have a striking trait in his finishing -<i>Anne of Geierstein</i> before breakfast one morning, -and commencing, as soon as the meal was over, a new -work, a <i>History of Scotland</i>, for Lardner’s <i>Cabinet Cyclopædia</i>.</p> - -<p>The prospectus of what he called his <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">opus magnum</i>—namely, -the re-issue of the Waverley Novels—came out -in February 1829, and was so exceedingly well received -that an edition of 10,000 seemed the least he could -throw off, a number which in those days appeared -immense. When the book was published, it was quickly -found that this edition would be quite insufficient to -supply the public demand. In short, the sale of the -early volumes was not under 35,000. This was of -course magnificent success, and afforded the prognostic -of a much quicker and more easy settlement of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> -debts than had been anticipated. The volumes were -sold at five shillings. It was easy to see that, when a -certain section of the public had been supplied at that -rate, a still cheaper edition might be issued with benefit -to all concerned. Thus it might be hoped that Sir -Walter would in time rest a free man, with little help -from his own immediate exertions. His heart rebounded -at the prospect; and he even glanced at the possibility -of adding to his son’s estate before he died. The -public, too, had their visions on the subject, and, under -the idea that his embarrassments were, comparatively -speaking, at an end, the old stream of tourists and -friend-visitors began once more to pour into Abbotsford. -The only drawback was in the infirm and failing health.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_87">CONCLUDING YEARS—DECEASE.</h2> -</div> - -<p>In February 1830, Scott experienced the first decidedly -bad symptom, in an attack of an apoplectic nature, -which caused him to fall speechless and insensible on -the floor. This, it seems, was a hereditary affection in -his family, and it therefore gave him the greater apprehension, -though his physicians were of opinion that the -attack proceeded from the stomach. On still went the -pen of the ready-writer, now engaged on a volume of -<i>Demonology</i> for Murray’s <i>Family Library</i>. To obtain -even more time for literary task-work, he now resigned -his clerkship on a retiring allowance of £800 a year, -and went to fix himself at Abbotsford as a permanent -residence. It was an injudicious step, as it deprived -him of the society of most of his old friends, and threw -him more and more upon that task-work which had -already been prosecuted only too zealously. His friends,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> -Cadell and Ballantyne, were now sensible that he had -carried his zeal for the discharge of his debts too far, -and would have fain restricted him to lighter duty; but -it was difficult to deal with a mind acting under such -powerful impulses. Greatly against their wishes, he -commenced a new novel, styled <i>Count Robert of Paris</i>, -which, when it appeared, shewed very clearly how glory -had departed from him. He also embroiled his mind -in the politics of the crisis then passing, and wrote a -long pamphlet against the reforming measures of the -day, which afterwards he was induced to suppress. The -exaggerated view which he took of the reform cause is -a painful chapter in his history, not merely as shewing -him unusually ill informed and weak of judgment on -passing events, but because it gave a needless addition -to anxieties of a real kind which were now pressing -severely on the springs of life. Amidst the vexations -arising to him from public affairs, one ray of pleasure -visited him when his creditors (December 1830) presented -him with his library, furniture, plate, and articles -of virtù, considered as equivalent to £10,000, thus -enabling him to make a provision for the younger -branches of his family. These gentlemen were led to -this act of generosity by their sense of his unparalleled -exertions in their behalf. Their claims against Scott -had now been reduced to £54,000, and as he had -insured £22,000 upon his life in their favour, and the -Waverley Novels were continuing to produce large -returns, all doubt of the ultimate discharge of the claims -had ceased. About this time, the honour of being -made a member of the Privy Council was offered to -him, but peremptorily declined, as unsuitable to his -circumstances.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span></p> - -<p>In November of the past year, Scott had had another -slight stroke of apoplexy. He lived in the most sparing -manner, yet this did not prevent a distinct paralytic -affection befalling him in April 1831. From this he -recovered, by the care of a good surgeon, in a few -days, and was then placed, by way of caution, upon extremely -low diet, which, however, he did not always -adhere to. He was now extremely infirm in walking, -and, from heedlessness, often tumbled over articles of -furniture or other impediments. The desire to be writing -continued, nevertheless, in full vigour as a ruling -passion. Here, however, he was destined to receive a -shock more terrible to him than bodily illness, when his -friends, Cadell and Ballantyne, felt it right to tell him -that his tale of <i>Count Robert of Paris</i> was, in their -opinion, an entire failure. ‘The blow is a stunning one, -I suppose’—thus he speaks in his diary—‘for I scarcely -feel it.... I am at sea in the dark, and the vessel -leaky, I think, into the bargain. I have suffered terribly, -that is the truth, rather in body than in mind, and I -often wish I could lie down and sleep without waking. -But I will fight it out if I can.’ His friends and medical -attendants strongly advised him to intermit these severe -exertions, which evidently were only a gentle form of -self-murder; but they preached to deaf ears. They -were equally unsuccessful in their endeavours to keep -him back from a county election in which he felt -interested. He went—took part in the proceedings—and -came to a collision with the populace, which could -not but leave distressing effects on one who, on all other -points, delighted to stand in kindly relations towards -the humbler classes. In the very depth of this dark -crisis he began a tale, called <i>Castle Dangerous</i>, in which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span> -the failing powers of his mind became even more painfully -conspicuous. He was now fully sensible that, in -all probability, he had but a short time to live; but it -only made him the more eager to work for the acquittance -of his great obligations. So much was this the -case, that, being at a country-house in Lanarkshire on a -short visit, the intelligence of a friend having fallen down -suddenly in a fit, from which it was not expected he -would recover, caused him instantly to break up his -engagement, and go home; answering to all remonstrances -on the subject: ‘The night cometh when no -man may work.’</p> - -<p>He was now advised to spend the ensuing winter in -Italy; and the government having handsomely placed a -ship at his disposal, he sailed for Naples in October, -attended by his eldest son and younger daughter. He -was most unwilling to leave home, but a long-entertained -wish to see some of the continental countries besides -France served to reconcile him to the change. The -voyage was a pleasant one: he enjoyed the objects to -be seen at Malta, so full of middle-age associations, and -thought of fictions he could found upon them. On the -17th December, he reached Naples, where everything -was done by the king and the best society of the place, -including many English, to render his residence happy. -His chief companion here was Sir William Gell, an -invalid English gentleman, who wrote upon the antiquities -of Italy, and with whom Scott at once became -extremely intimate. He beheld most of the classical -antiquities with indifference—saying only at Pompeii: -‘The city of the dead!’—but was keenly interested in -any object or document which took his mind into the -middle ages. Here he actually wrote a new tale (entitled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span> -<i>The Siege of Malta</i>), and commenced a second, neither -of which was deemed by his friends as fit to see the -light. For some time he entertained cheerful views -about his health; he was also under an impression that -his debts were all discharged: it is needless to say that -in both particulars he was deceived. Thus about four -months rolled on. He then became anxious to return -home, and, as he would not obey rule either as to -writing or his diet, it was thought best to gratify him, -in the hope that a more effectual control might there -be exercised.</p> - -<p>Attended by his younger son, who had been placed -at Naples as an attaché to the embassy there, and by -his younger daughter as before, Scott left Naples for -Tweedside on the 16th of April. He paused a few -weeks at Rome, chiefly to gratify his daughter with the -sights, of which, however, he himself also partook, -beholding, as before, the medieval antiquities with the -greater share of interest. The houses occupied by the -dethroned Stuarts, and their tombs in St Peter’s, were -objects of peculiar interest in his eyes. Here, as at -Naples, he was treated by persons of the highest rank, -native and foreign, with the greatest respect. Leaving -Rome on the 11th of May, he proceeded by Venice, -through the Tyrol, to Frankfort, with a haste which -must have been unfavourable to him, but which nothing -could control. It was soon after necessary for him to -have blood let by his servant Nicolson, who had been -instructed for that purpose. On the 13th of June he -reached London, totally exhausted. It was now evident -that this illustrious man was drawing near to the end of -a greater journey. He was kept three weeks in London, -during which his friends saw in him but occasional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> -gleams of sense. He never knew distinctly where he -was: he knew, however, that he was not at Abbotsford, -and there he yearned to be. To gratify him, he was -taken to Scotland by sea, and from Edinburgh, as soon -as possible, to his own house. As he approached it, he -began faintly to recognise familiar objects, and by and -by it was found difficult to keep him in the carriage, so -greatly was he excited. At length, alighting at the -porch, and seeing his steward and friend, he exclaimed: -‘Ha, Willie Laidlaw! O man, how often have I thought -of you!’ His dogs came about his knees, and he -sobbed over them until stupor fell again upon him. He -remained in the sad state to which he was now reduced -for two months. Sometimes the mind cleared a little, -and on one occasion he caused himself to be placed at -his desk to write, where, however, the fingers failed to -grasp the pen, and he sunk back weeping in his chair. -More generally he was in a state of slumber. When -sensible, he caused the Bible and church services to be -read to him. At length, on the 21st of September 1832, -the scene was gently closed. Sir Walter died in the -sixty-second year of his age—years undoubtedly being -cut off from the sum of his existence by that terrible -exhaustion consequent on his later literary task-work.</p> - -<p>The funeral of this illustrious Scotsman was appointed -to take place on Wednesday the 26th; and, preparatory -to that melancholy ceremony, about three hundred -gentlemen were invited by Major Sir Walter Scott, the -eldest son of the deceased. Among the persons thus -called upon were many individuals whose acquaintance -of Sir Walter Scott was simply of a local character. -On an occasion like this, when the most honoured head -in the country was to be laid in the grave, it might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -have been expected that many individuals would have -come of their own accord, especially from the neighbouring -capital, to form part in a procession, which, however -melancholy, was altogether of a historical character. -Considering what the deceased had done for literature—what, -more specially, he had done to popularise -Scotland, its scenery, traditions, and character—we -might not unnaturally have looked for some very marked -demonstration of respect, gratitude, and affection. But -great events sometimes make less impression at the -time than they do many years after: and such was the -apathy towards this extraordinary solemnity, that only -ten or twelve persons, including the writer of this and -his brother William, had come from Edinburgh. It is -also a very remarkable circumstance, that, as in ordinary -funerals, not nearly the whole of those who had been -invited found it convenient to attend.</p> - -<p>After a refection in the style usually observed on -such occasions, the funeral train set forward to Dryburgh, -where the family of the deceased possess a small -piece of sepulchral ground, amidst the ruins of the -abbey. The spot originally belonged to the Halyburtons -of Merton, an ancient and respectable baronial -family, of which Sir Walter’s paternal grandmother was -a member. It is composed simply of the area comprehended -by four pillars, in one of the aisles of the ruined -building. On a side-wall is the following inscription: -‘Sub hoc tumulo jacet <span class="smcap">Joannes Haliburtonus</span>, Barro -de Mertoun, vir religione et virtute clarus, qui obiit 17 -die Augusti, 1640;’ below which there is a coat of -arms. On the back wall, the latter history of the spot -is expressed on a small tablet, as follows: ‘Hunc locum -sepulturæ D. Seneschallus, Buchaniæ comes, <span class="smcap">Gualtero,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -homæ</span>, et <span class="smcap">Roberto Scott</span>, nepotibus Haliburtoni, -concessit, 1791.’—That is to say, the Earl of Buchan -(lately proprietor of the ruins and adjacent ground) -granted this place of sepulture, in 1791, to Walter, -Thomas, and Robert Scott, descendants of the Laird -of Halyburton. The persons indicated were the father -and uncles of Sir Walter Scott; but though all are dead, -no other member of the family lies there, besides his -uncle Robert and his deceased lady. From the limited -dimensions of the place, the body of the author of -<i>Waverley</i> was placed in a direction north and south, -instead of the usual fashion; and thus, in death at least, -he has resembled the Cameronians, of whose character -he was supposed to have given such an unfavourable -picture in one of his tales.</p> - -<p>The funeral procession consisted of about sixty -vehicles of different kinds, and a few horsemen. It -was melancholy at the very first to see the deceased -carried out of a house which bore so many marks of -his taste, and of which every point, and almost every -article of furniture, was so identified with himself. But -it was doubly touching to see him carried insensible -and inurned through the beautiful scenery, which he -has in different ways rendered, from its most majestic -to its minutest features, a matter of interest unto all -time. There lay the gray and august ruin of Melrose -Abbey, whose broken arches he has rebuilt in fancy, -and whose deserted aisles he has repeopled with all -their former tenants—as lovely in its decay as ever; -while he who had given it all its charm was passing by, -unconscious of its existence, and never more to behold -it. At every successive turn of the way appeared some -object which he had either loved because it was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -subject of former song, or rendered delightful by his -own—from the Eildon Hills, renowned in the legendary -history of Michael Scott—to</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘Drygrange, with the milk-white yowes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt Tweed and Leader standing;’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">to Cowdenknows, where once spear and helm</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w15"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Glanced gaily through the broom;’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">and so on to the heights above Gladswood, where -Smailholm Castle appeared in sight—the scene of his -childhood being thus brought, after all the transactions -of a mighty and glorious life, into the same prospect -with his grave.</p> - -<p>During the time of the funeral, all business was -suspended at the burgh of Selkirk and the villages of -Darnick and Melrose; and in the former of these -hamlets several of the signs of the traders were covered -with black cloth, while a flag of crape was mounted -on the old tower of Darnick, which rears itself in the -midst of the inferior buildings. At every side avenue -and opening, stood a group of villagers at gaze—few -of them bearing the external signs of mourning, but -all apparently impressed with a proper sense of the -occasion. The village matrons and children, clustered -in windows or in lanes, displayed a mingled feeling of -sorrow for the loss, and curiosity and wonder for the -show. The husbandmen suspended their labour, and -leaned pensively over the enclosures. Old infirm people -sat out of doors, where some of them, perhaps, were -little accustomed to sit, surveying the passing cavalcade. -And though the feelings of the gazers had, perhaps, as -much reference to the local judge—‘the <i>Shirra</i>’—as to -the poet of the world and of time, the whole had a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -striking effect. Those forming the procession, so far as -they could abstract themselves from the feeling of the -occasion, were also impressed with the extraordinary -appearance which it bore, as it dragged its enormous -length through the long reaches of the road—the hearse -sometimes appearing on a far height, while the rear -vehicles were stealing their way through a profound -valley or chasm. The sky was appropriately hung, -during the whole time of the ceremony, with a thick -mass of cloud, which canopied the vale from one end to -the other like a pall.</p> - -<p>Towards nightfall the procession arrived within the -umbrageous precincts of Dryburgh; and the coffin, -being taken from the hearse, was borne along in slow -and solemn wise through the shady walks, the mourners -following to the amount of about three hundred. Before -leaving Abbotsford, homage had been done to the -religious customs of the country by the pronunciation -of a prayer by Dr Baird; the funeral service of the -Episcopal Church (to which the deceased belonged) -was now read in the usual manner by the Rev. John -Williams, Rector of the Edinburgh Academy, and Vicar of -Lampeter, whose distinction in literature and in scholarship -eminently entitled him to this honour. The scene -was at this time worthy of the occasion. In a small -green space, surrounded by the broken but picturesque -ruins of a Gothic abbey, and overshadowed by wild -foliage, just tinged with the melancholy hues of autumn, -with mouldering statuary, and broken monuments -meeting the eye wherever it attempted to pierce, stood -the uncovered group of mourners, amongst whom could -be detected but one feeling—a consciousness that the -greatest man their country ever produced was here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span> -receiving from them the last attentions that man can -pay to his brother man—which, however, in this case, -reflected honour, not from the living to the dead, but -(and to such a degree!) from the dead to the living. -In this scene, where the efforts of man seemed struck -with desolation, and those of nature crowned with -beauty and triumph, the voice of prayer sounded with -peculiar effect; for it is rare that the words of Holy -Writ are pronounced in such a scene; and it must be -confessed that they can seldom be pronounced over -such a ‘departed brother.’ The grave was worthy of -a poet—was worthy of Scott.—And so there he lies, -amidst his own loved scenes, awaiting throughout the -duration of time the visits of yearly thousands, after -which the awakening of eternity, when alone can he be -reduced to a level with other men.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_97">PERSONAL APPEARANCE.</h2> -</div> - -<p>In stature, Sir Walter Scott was upwards of six feet, -bulky in the upper part of the body, but never inclining -in the least to what is called corpulency. His right -limb was shrunk from an early period of boyhood, and -required to be supported by a staff, which he carried -close to the toes, the heel turning a little inwards. The -other limb was perfectly sound, but the foot was too -long to bring it within the description of handsome. -The chest, arms, and shoulders were those of a strong -man; but the frame, in its general movements, must -have been much enfeebled by his lameness, which was -such as to give an ungainly, though not inactive appearance -to the figure. The most remarkable part of Sir -Walter’s person was his head, which was so very tall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> -and cylindrical as to be quite unique. The measurement -of the part below the eyes was fully an inch and -a half less than that above, which, both upon the old -and the new systems of phrenology, must be held as a -striking mark of the intellectuality of his character. In -early life, the hair was of a sandy pale colour; but it -was changed by his illness in 1819 to a light gray, and -latterly had become rather thin. The eyebrows, of the -same hue, were so shaggy and prominent, that, when -he was reading or writing at a table, they completely -shrouded the eyes beneath. The eyes were gray, and -somewhat small, surrounded by humorous diverging -lines, and possessing the extraordinary property of -shutting as much from below as from above, when their -possessor was excited by a ludicrous idea. The nose -was the least elegant feature, though its effect in a front -view was by no means unpleasing. The cheeks were -firm and close; and the chin small and undistinguished. -The mouth was straight in its general shape, and the -lips rather thin. Between the nose and mouth was a -considerable space, intersected by a hollow, which gave -an air of firmness to the visage. When walking alone, -Sir Walter generally kept his eyes bent upon the ground, -and had a somewhat abstracted and even repulsive -aspect. But when animated by conversation, his -countenance became full of pleasant expression. He -may be said to have had three principal kinds of -aspects: <i>First</i>, when totally unexcited, the face was -heavy, with sometimes an appearance of vacancy, -arising from a habit of drawing the under-lip far into -his mouth, as if to facilitate breathing. <i>Second</i>, when -stirred with some lively thought, the face broke into an -agreeable smile, and the eyes twinkled with a peculiarly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -droll expression, the result of that elevation of the -lower eyelids which has been just noticed. In no -portrait is this aspect caught so happily as in that -painted near the close of his life by Watson Gordon, -no other painter, apparently, having detected the -extraordinary muscular movement which occasions the -expression. The <i>third</i> aspect of Sir Walter Scott was -one of a solemn kind, always assumed when he talked -of anything which he respected, or for which his good -sense informed him that a solemn expression was -appropriate. For example, if he had occasion to recite -but a single verse of romantic ballad poetry, or if he -were informed of any unfortunate occurrence in the -least degree concerning the individual addressing him, -his visage altered in a moment to an expression of deep -veneration or of grave sympathy. The general tone -of his mind, however, being decidedly cheerful, the -humorous aspect was that in which he most frequently -appeared. It remains only to be mentioned, in an -account of his personal peculiarities, that his voice was -slightly affected by the indistinctness which is so general -in the county of Northumberland in pronouncing the -letter <em>r</em>, and that this was more observable when he -spoke in a solemn manner, than on other occasions.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_99">CHARACTER.</h2> -</div> - -<p>The character of Scott has already been indicated in -the tenor of his life, and it is not necessary to say much -in addition. It certainly included a wonderful amount -of the very noblest and most lovable of the qualities of -humanity—rarely, perhaps, have so many been combined -in one person. The public had a stronger sense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -of this in Scott’s lifetime than even now, for the revelations -made by Mr Lockhart and others regarding -his commercial affairs have had the effect of derogating -considerably from his reputation. But we venture to -predict that this is only a temporary effect. It has -damaged the ideal image only; it has not injured the -real man. Far better, we would say, to look the actual -character in the face, and judge of it from its shadows -as well as its lights; then only can we truly appreciate -even the worth and goodness of Scott, for then only do -we see a bearer of our own nature, charged with a share -of its infirmities, as well as of its glories. Admit, for -instance, that he erred in his anxiety for wealth; see, -on the other hand, what objects he had here in view! -There was nothing sordid in this passion of his—the -results were mainly used to realise a poetic dream from -which others were to derive the substantial benefits. -A large share was also devoted without a grudge to -solace the unfortunate. Grant, again, that he venerated -rank; the feeling was essentially connected with his -historic taste. He worshipped not the title or its living -bearer; his idol was constituted by the romantic associations -which it awoke—and thus he has been known to -pay far more practical respect to a poor Highland chieftain -than to a modern English peer. It may, in like -manner, be admitted that his judgments on passing -affairs were obsolete, and they may be excused by a -similar reference to his poetic habits. It was the same -romance of the brain from which we derived his novels, -that misled him on these points.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter Scott possessed, in an eminent degree, the -power of imagination, with the gift of memory. If to -this be added his strong tendency to venerate past<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -things, we at once have the most obvious features of his -intellectual character. A desultory course of reading had -brought him into acquaintance with almost all the fictitious -literature that existed before his own day, as well -as the minutest points of British, and more particularly -Scottish history. His easy and familiar habits had also -introduced him to an extensive observation of the varieties -of human character. His immense memory retained -the ideas thus acquired, and his splendid imagination -gave them new shape and colour. Thus, his literary -character rests almost exclusively upon his power of -combining and embellishing past events, and his skill in -delineating natural character. In early life, accident -threw his exertions into the shape of verse—in later life, -into prose; but, in whatever form they appear, the -powers are not much different. The same magician is -still at work, reawaking the figures and events of history, -or sketching the characters which we every day see -around us, and investing the whole with the light of a -most extraordinary fancy. His versified writings, though -replete with good feeling, display neither the high -imaginings nor the profound sympathies which are -expected in poetry; their charm lies almost entirely in -the re-creation of beings long since passed away, or the -conception of others who might be supposed to have -once existed. As some of the material elements of -poetry were thus wanting, it was fortunate that he at last -preferred prose as a vehicle for his ideas—a medium of -communication in which no more was expected than -what he was able or inclined to give, while it afforded a -scope for the delineation of familiar character, which was -nearly denied in poetry. As the discoverer and successful -cultivator of this kind of fictitious writing, Sir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -Walter Scott must rank among the very highest names -in British literature—Shakspeare, Milton, and Byron -being the only others who can be said to stand on the -same level.</p> - -<p>Among the minor powers of his mind, humour was -one of the most prominent. Both in his prose writings -and in private conversation, he was perpetually making -droll application of some ancient adage, or some snatch -of popular literature, or some whimsical anecdote of real -life, which he happened to think appropriate to the -occasion.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> A strong feeling of nationality was another -of the features of his character, though perhaps it ought, -in some measure, to be identified with his tendency to -admire whatever belonged to the past. He loved Scotland<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> -and Scotchmen, but, it may be remarked, fully as -much with a view to what they were, and what they did -long ago, as to their later or present condition. Of the -common people, when they came individually before -him, it cannot be said that he was a despiser: to them, -as to all who came in his way, he was invariably kind -and affable. Nevertheless, from the highly aristocratic -tone of his mind, he had no affection for the people as a -body. He seems to have never conceived the idea of a -manly and independent character in middle or humble -life; and in his novels, where an individual of these -classes is introduced, he is never invested with any -virtues, unless obedience, or even servility to superiors, -be of the number. Among the features of his character, -it would be improper to omit noticing his passion for -field-sports, and for all the machinery by which they are -carried on. He was so fond of a good horse, that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -present writer has seen him turn the most serious conversation, -in order to remark the strength and speed of -one of these animals which he saw passing. He has -also recorded his attachment to dogs, by being frequently -drawn with one by his side.</p> - -<p>The gravest charge against Sir Walter Scott lies -undeniably in his heedlessness regarding his affairs. -Apart altogether from his accommodations to Constable -and Company, he had entered deeply into a -false system of credit on his own account; and while -much debt was consequently hanging over him, he is -found transferring the only solid security for it—his -estate—to his son. This, however, should be contemplated -in connection with all the circumstances -which we can suppose to have justified it in his own -mind. To one who was producing ten thousand a year -by his pen, and who had done so for years, who, moreover, -saw large possessions in his own hands, there -might appear no pressing reason for looking anxiously -into the accounts concerning even so large a sum of -floating debt as forty-six thousand pounds; at least to -one whose temperament, we now see, was sanguine and -ideal as ever poet manifested, though in his case usually -veiled under an air of worldly seeming. When this is -considered, the weight of the charge will, we think, -appear much lessened, though it cannot be altogether -done away. For what remains, let us reflect on the -latter days of Scott, and surely we must own that never -was fault more nobly expiated, or punishment more -nobly borne, than by the great Minstrel.</p> - -<p>It is by far the greatest glory of Sir Walter Scott, that -he shone equally as a good and virtuous man, as he did -in his capacity of the first fictitious writer of the age.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> -His behaviour through life was marked by undeviating -integrity and purity, insomuch that no scandalous -whisper was ever yet circulated against him. The traditionary -recollection of his early life is burdened with no -stain of any sort. His character as a husband and -father is altogether irreproachable. Indeed, in no -single relation of life does it appear that he ever incurred -the least blame. His good sense, and good feeling -united, appear to have guided him aright through all the -difficulties and temptations of life; and, even as a politician, -though blamed by many for his exclusive sympathy -with the cause of established rule, he was always acknowledged -to be too benevolent and too unobtrusive to -call for severe censure. Along with the most perfect -uprightness of conduct, he was characterised by extraordinary -simplicity of manners. He was invariably -gracious and kind, and it was impossible ever to detect -in his conversation a symptom of his grounding the -slightest title to consideration upon his literary fame, or -of his even being conscious of it. Of all men living, -the most modest, as likewise the greatest and most -virtuous, was Sir Walter Scott.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="toclink_105">[CONCLUSION.</h2> -</div> - -<p>The vast exertions made by Scott in his latter years -to redeem his financial blunders were happily successful. -Since his death, the whole of his debts have been -cleared off by the profits of his writings. More than -a generation has elapsed since his decease, yet the -popularity of his works remains unabated. Written to -satisfy no temporary feeling, but founded on a knowledge -of human character, and ever enduring and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> -elevating in their tendency, the fictions of Scott do not -seem destined to grow old or out of date. From the -frantic novel-writing of the period, too commonly the -mere rack of invention, with characters and incidents -in violation of all known experience, one turns to the -fictions of Sir Walter with undiminished, if not increasing, -delight and admiration. Mr Cadell’s interest -in the Waverley Novels having been transferred in -1851 to Messrs A. & C. Black, innumerable editions -have since testified the lasting appreciation of these -interesting works, to which much justice has certainly -been done as regards the method of publication; -though, like some others among the original readers -of the fictions, we could have spared the explanatory -notes of the author, which, with all their merits, -are somewhat calculated to destroy the vraisemblance -of the respective narratives. A few years after the -death of Sir Walter, the citizens of Edinburgh -resolved to erect a monument to his memory, and the -device adopted was that magnificent Norman cross, -from plans of Mr George M. Kemp, placed in so -conspicuous a situation in Princes Street as to strike -the eye of every passing traveller. It encloses, under -open Gothic arches, a marble statue (life-size) of the -poet in a sitting posture, by a native artist, Mr John -Steell. The monument, which was completed in 1846, -is open daily for the inspection of strangers. The -cost of the structure has been upwards of £15,000.</p> - -<p>There is something sorrowful in the failure of Scott’s -high hopes of founding a family. The fond dream of -his life may be said to have come to nought. He left -two sons and two daughters, who did not long survive -him. Miss Anne Scott died in London, 25th June 1833.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span> -Sophia, who was married to John Gibson Lockhart, and -who, in appearance and character, most resembled her -father, died 17th May 1837. Charles Scott, the second -son, died, unmarried, while acting as an attaché to a -diplomatic embassy to Persia, 28th October 1841. -Walter, the eldest son, who succeeded to the baronetcy, -and rose to be lieutenant-colonel in the 15th Hussars, -died on his passage home from India, 8th February -1847. He was married, but left no issue, and the -baronetcy is extinct. Mrs Lockhart had three children, -John Hugh Lockhart—the ‘Hugh Littlejohn’ for whom -Scott so lovingly wrote the <i>Tales of a Grandfather</i>—who -died 15th December 1831; Walter Scott Lockhart, -an officer in the army, who died at Versailles, 10th -January 1853; and Charlotte Harriet Jane Lockhart, -who was married in 1847 to James Robert Hope, -barrister, grandson of the Earl of Hopetoun. This lady, -the last surviving child of the novelist, died at Edinburgh -26th October 1858. She had three children, two -of whom died young, the only survivor being Mary -Monica, born 2d October 1852, who is now the only -living descendant of Sir Walter Scott. Mrs Hope -having, in virtue of inheritance, succeeded to the estate -of Abbotsford, assumed with her husband the surname -Scott, in addition to that of Hope. Their daughter -is accordingly known as Miss Hope-Scott. Mr Hope-Scott, -who occupies Abbotsford, was by a second -marriage united to a sister of the present Duke of -Norfolk, 1861. All Sir Walter Scott’s brothers pre-deceased -him. The only one of them who was married -was Thomas, who left a son and three daughters.</p> - -<p>In the occupancy of Mr Hope-Scott, Abbotsford -remains a central point of attraction to tourists, who,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> -for the purpose of visiting it, and also the mausoleum -at Dryburgh, make the village of Melrose the spot -to which they first direct their pilgrimage. Carefully -preserved in every respect, the mansion of Abbotsford -will be found almost in the condition in which it was -left by the great Scottish novelist. The lapse of forty -years, however, has effected great changes on the -grounds. The belts and clumps of plantation, the -laying out and thinning of which afforded so much -delight to Sir Walter in the days of his prosperity, when -accompanied by Tom Purdie or William Laidlaw, have -become thick, umbrageous woods, clothing with beauty -the once bare hill-sides, and otherwise realising the -anticipations of one who fondly watched over their early -development. The scene, one of the most admired in -the south of Scotland, ought not to be passed over -hurriedly. Here, within the murmuring sound of the -Tweed, Sir Walter Scott breathed his last, and here -is the memorable shrine of his affections.]</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="p4 center vspace2"> -<span class="large gesperrt">ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA</span><br> - -<span class="small">OR</span><br> - -<span class="smaller">SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS FACTOR</span><br> - -<span class="small">BY</span><br> - -<span class="smaller">ROBERT CARRUTHERS. LL.D.</span> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span></p> - -<p>Looking over the correspondence and other papers of my old -friend, William Laidlaw, long since deceased, and sleeping at the -foot of a Highland hill, far from his beloved Tweedside, it occurred -to me that certain portions of the letters and memoranda might -possess interest to some readers, and not be without value to future -biographers. Mr Laidlaw, it is well known, was factor or steward -to Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, and also occasional amanuensis. -Lockhart has done justice to his gentle, unassuming character, and -merits, and to his familiar intercourse with the Great Minstrel. -Still, there are domestic details and incidents unrecorded, such -as we should rejoice to have concerning Shakspeare at New -Place, with his one hundred and seven acres of land in the -neighbourhood, or from Horace addressing the bailiff on his Sabine -farm. Such personal memorials of great men, if genuine and -correct, are seldom complained of, as Gibbon has observed, for -their minuteness or prolixity.</p> - -<p>The following pages are reprinted partly from <i>Chambers’s -Journal</i>, and partly from the <cite>Gentleman’s Magazine</cite>, the proprietors -of which kindly permitted their republication.</p> - -<p class="right"> -R. C. -</p> - -<p class="p0"><span class="smcap">Inverness.</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak large gesperrt" id="toclink_109">ABBOTSFORD NOTANDA.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="narrow"> - -<p class="in0"><span class="smcap">The</span> death of Mr William Laidlaw, a man of fine -natural powers, and of most estimable character, -removed another of the few individuals connected -directly and confidentially with the daily life and literary -history of Sir Walter Scott, and also with the revival of -the antique Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The loss -of Hogg, while the twilight from Scott’s departed greatness -still shone on the land, was universally regretted; -and by the death of Laidlaw, another ‘flower of the -forest,’ less bright, but a genuine product of the soil, -was ‘wede away.’ As the author of one of our sweetest -and most characteristic Scottish ballads, <i>Lucy’s Flittin’</i>, -and as a collaborateur with Scott in the collection of -the ancient minstrelsy, Laidlaw is entitled to honourable -remembrance. Let us never forget those who have -added even one wild-rose to the chaplet of Scottish -song! It is chiefly, however, as the companion and factor -or land-steward of Scott, that William Laidlaw will be -known in after-times. During most of those busy and -glorious years when Scott was pouring out so prodigally -the treasures of his prose fictions, and building up his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> -baronial romance of Abbotsford, Laidlaw was his confidential -adviser and assistant. From 1817 to 1832, he -was resident on the poet’s estate, and emphatically one -of his household friends. Not a shade of distrust or -estrangement came between them; and this close connection, -notwithstanding a disparity in circumstances -and opinions, in fame and worldly consequence, is too -honourable to both parties to be readily forgotten. The -manly kindness and consideration of one noble nature -was paralleled by the affectionate devotion and admiration -of another; and literary history is brightened by -the rare conjunction.</p> - -<p>Scott’s early excursions to Liddesdale and Ettrick -form one of the most interesting epochs of his life. He -was then young, not great, but prosperous, high-spirited, -and overflowing with enthusiasm. His appointment as -sheriff had procured him confidence and respect. He -had given hostages to fortune as a husband and a father, -and no one felt more strongly the force and tenderness -of those ties. Friends were daily gathering round him; -his German studies and ballads inspired visions of literary -distinction; and he was full of hope and ambition. -In his Border raids, he revelled among the choice -and curious stores of Scottish poetry and antiquities. -Almost every step in his progress was marked by some -memorable deed or plaintive ballad—some martial -achievement or fairy superstition. Every tragic tale and -family tradition was known to him. The old <em>peels</em>, or -castles, the bare hills and treeless forest, and solitary -streams were all sacred in his eyes. They told of times -long past—of warlike feuds and forays—of knights and -freebooters, and of primitive manners and customs, fast -disappearing, yet embalmed in songs, often rude and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> -imperfect, but always energetic or tender. Thus, the -Border towers, and streams, and rocks were equally dear -to him as memorials of feudal valour, and as the scenes -of lyric poetry and pastoral tranquillity. He contrasted -the strife and violence of the warlike Douglases, the -Elliots, and Armstrongs, with the peace and security of -later times, when shepherds ranged the silent hill, or -Scottish maidens sang ancient songs, and, like the Trojan -dames,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w25"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Washed their fair garments in the days of peace.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Much of this romance was in the scene, but more was -in the mind of the beholder.</p> - -<p>William Laidlaw’s acquaintance with Scott commenced -in the autumn of 1802, after two volumes of the <i>Minstrelsy</i> -had been published, and the editor was making -collections for a third. The eldest son of a respectable -sheep-farmer, Mr Laidlaw was born at Blackhouse, -Selkirkshire, in November 1780. He had received a -good education, had a strong bias towards natural -history and poetry, was modest and retiring, and of -remarkably mild and agreeable manners. The scheme -of collecting the old ballads of the Forest was exactly -suited to his taste. Burns had filled the whole land with -a love of song and poetry, James Hogg was his intimate -friend and companion. Hogg had been ten years a -shepherd with Mr Laidlaw’s father, had taught the -younger members of the family their letters, and recited -poetry to the old, and was engaged in every <em>ploy</em> and -pursuit at Blackhouse, the name of the elder Laidlaw’s -farm.</p> - -<p>A solitary and interesting spot is Blackhouse!—a wild -extensive sheep-walk, with its complement of traditional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> -story, and the suitable accompaniment of a ruined tower. -The farm lies along the Douglas Burn, a small mountain-stream -which falls into the Yarrow about two miles from -St Mary’s Loch. Near the house, at the foot of a steep, -green hill, and surrounded with a belting of trees, is -Blackhouse Tower, or the Tower of Douglas, so called, -according to tradition, after the Black Douglas, one of -whose ancestors, Sir John Douglas of Douglas-burn, as -appears from Godscroft’s history of the family, sat in -Malcolm Canmore’s first parliament. The tower has -in one corner the remains of a round turret, which -contained the stair, and the walls rise in high broken -points, which altogether give the ruin a singular and -picturesque appearance. It is also the scene of a -popular ballad, <i>The Douglas Tragedy</i>, in which, as in -the old Elizabethan dramas, blood is shed and horrors -are accumulated with no sparing hand. A knightly -lover, the ‘Lord William’ of so many ballads, carries -off a daughter of Lord Douglas, and is pursued by this -puissant noble and his seven sons. All these are slain -by Lord William, while the fair betrothed looks on, -holding his steed; and the lover himself is mortally -wounded in the combat, and dies ere morn. The lady -also falls a prey to her grief; and, in the true vein of -antique story and legend, we are told</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘Lord William was buried in St Mary’s kirk,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lady Margaret in Mary’s quire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Out o’ the lady’s grave grew a bonny red rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And out o’ the knight’s a brier.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">The tower and legend interested Scott as they had done -Laidlaw. He listened attentively to the traditionary -narrative, and, like the lovers in the ballad,</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container w15"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘He lighted down to take a drink</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the spring that ran sae clear,’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">and visited the seven large stones erected upon the -neighbouring heights of Blackhouse to mark the spot -where the seven brethren were slain.</p> - -<p>Mr Laidlaw was prepared for Scott’s mission. He -had heard from a Selkirk man in Edinburgh, Mr Andrew -Mercer—a Border rhymester, and connected with the -<i>Edinburgh Magazine</i>—that the sheriff was meditating -a poetical raid into Ettrick, accompanied by John -Leyden, and he had written down various ballads from -the recitation of old women and the singing of the -servant-girls. He had also enlisted the Ettrick Shepherd -into this special service. The following is one of Hogg’s -rambling bizarre epistles, which relates chiefly to the -ballad of the Outlaw Murray:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>—I received yours, with the transcript, on -the day before St Boswell’s Fair’ [17th of July], ‘and am -sorry to say it will not be in my power to procure you -manuscripts of the two old ballads, especially as they -which Mr Scott hath already collected are so near being -published. I was talking to my uncle concerning them, -and he tells me they are mostly escaped his memory, -and they really are so—in so much, that of the whole -long transactions betwixt the Scottish king and Murray, -he cannot make above half-a-dozen of stanzas to metre, -and these are wretched. He attributed it to James V., -but as he can mention no part of the song or tale from -whence this is proven, I apprehend, from some expressions, -it is much ancienter. Upon the whole, I think -the thing worthy of investigation—the more so as he’ -[Murray of the ballad] ‘was the progenitor of a very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span> -respectable family, and seems to have been a man of -the utmost boldness and magnanimity. What way he -became possessed of Ettrick Forest, or from whom he -conquered it, remains to me a mystery. When taken -prisoner by the king at Permanscore, above Hanginshaw, -where the traces of the encampments are still visible, -and pleading the justice of his claim to Ettrick Forest, -he hath this remarkable expression:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“I took it from the Soudan Turk</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When you and your men durstna come see.”<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Who the devil was this Soudan Turk? I would be -very happy in contributing any assistance in my power -to the elucidating the annals of that illustrious and -beloved though now decayed house, but I have no -means of accession to any information. I imagine the -whole manuscript might be procured from some of the -connections of the family. Is it not in the library at -Philiphaugh?<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> As to the death of the Baron of Oakwood -and his brother-in-law on Yarrow, if Mr Mercer -or Mr Scott, or either of them, wisheth to see it poetically -described, they might wait until my tragedy is -performed at the Theatre-royal; and if that shall never -take place, they must sit in darkness and the shadow of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -death for what light the poets of Bruce’s time can afford -them!</p> - -<p>‘I believe I could get as much from these traditions -as to make good songs out of them myself. But without -Mr Scott’s permission this would be an imposition; -neither would I undertake it without an order from him -in his own handwriting, as I could not bring my language -to bear with my date. As a supplement to his -songs, if you please, you may send him the one I sent -last to you: it will satisfy him, yea or nay, as to my -abilities. Haste; communicate this to him; and ask -him if, in his researches, he hath lighted on that of -John Armstrong of Gilnockie Hall, as I can procure -him a copy of that. My uncle says it happened in the -same reign with that of Murray, and if so, I am certain -it has been written by the same bard. I could procure -Mercer some stories—such as the tragical, though well-authenticated -one of the unnatural murder of the son -and heir of Sir Robert Scott of Thirlstane, the downfall -of the family of Tushilaw, and the horrid spirit that -still haunts the Alders. And we might give him that -of John Thomson’s Aumrie, and the Bogle of Bell’s -Lakes.</p> - -<p>‘My muse still lies dormant, and with me must sleep -for ever, since a liberal public hath not given me what -my sins and mine iniquities deserved.—I am yours for -ever.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">James Hogg.</span> -</p> - -<p>‘<i>July 20th, 1801.</i>’</p> -</div> - -<p>The ‘liberal public’ had given a reception ‘the north -side of friendly,’ as Bailie Nicol Jarvie says, to a small -publication which made its appearance about six months -before the date of the above letter, entitled ‘<i>Scottish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> -Pastorals, Poems</i>, &c., by James Hogg, Farmer at -Ettrick’—a most unlucky speculation.</p> - -<p>Mr Laidlaw was constantly annoyed, he said, to find -how much the affectation and false taste of Allan -Ramsay had spoiled or superseded many striking and -beautiful old strains of which he got traces and fragments, -and how much Scott was too late in beginning his -researches, as many aged persons, who had been the -bards and depositaries of a former generation, were -then gone.</p> - -<p>‘I heard,’ he says, ‘from one of our servant-girls, -who had all the turn and qualifications for a collector, -of a ballad called <i>Auld Maitland</i>, that a grandfather of -Hogg’s could repeat, and she herself had several of the -first stanzas (which I took a note of, and have still the -copy). This greatly aroused my anxiety to procure the -whole, for this was a ballad not even hinted at by -Mercer in his list of desiderata received from Mr Scott. -I forthwith wrote to Hogg himself, requesting him to -endeavour to procure the whole ballad. In a week or -two, I received his reply, containing <i>Auld Maitland</i> -exactly as he had copied it from the recitation of his -uncle, Will Laidlaw of Phawhope, corroborated by his -mother, who both said they learned it from their father, -a still older Will of Phawhope, and an old man called -Andrew Muir, who had been servant to the famous Mr -Boston, minister of Ettrick.’<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> These services of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -olden time were marked by reciprocal kindness and -attachment, not unworthy of the patriarchal age. Son -succeeded father in tending the <em>hirsel</em> or herding the -cows, while in the case of ‘the master,’ the same -hereditary or family succession was often preserved.</p> - -<p>The person of the sheriff was not unknown to the -new friend with whom he was afterwards destined to -form so intimate a connection. ‘I first saw Walter -Scott,’ Laidlaw used to relate, ‘when the Selkirk troop -of yeomanry met to receive their sheriff shortly after -his appointment. I was on the right of the rear rank, -and my front-rank man was <i>Archie Park</i>, a brother of -the traveller. Our new sheriff was accompanied by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> -friend, and as they retired to the usual station of the -inspecting officer previous to the charges, the wonderful -<em>springs</em> and bounds which Scott made, seemingly in the -excitation and gaiety of his heart, joined to the effect -of his fine fair face and athletic appearance, were the -cause of a general murmur of satisfaction, bordering on -applause, which ran through the troop. Archie Park -looked over his shoulder to me, and growled, in his deep -rough voice: “Will, what a strong chield that would -have been if his right leg had been like his left ane!”’</p> - -<p>Scott and Leyden duly appeared at Blackhouse, -carrying letters of introduction. They put up their -horses, and experienced a homely unostentatious hospitality, -which afterwards served to heighten the delightful -traits of rustic character in the delineation of Dandie -Dinmont’s home at Charlies-Hope. If the sheriff did -not ‘shoot a blackcock and eat a blackcock too,’ the -fault was not in his entertainers. After the party had -explored the scenery of the burn, and inspected Douglas -Tower, Laidlaw produced his treasure of <i>Auld Maitland</i>. -Leyden seemed inclined to lay hands on the manuscript, -but the sheriff said gravely that <em>he</em> would read it. -Instantly both Scott and Leyden, from their knowledge -of the subject, saw and felt that the ballad was -undoubtedly ancient, and their eyes sparkled as they -exchanged looks. Scott read with great fluency and -emphasis. Leyden was like a roused lion. He paced -the room from side to side, clapped his hands, and -repeated such expressions as echoed the spirit of hatred -to King Edward and the Southrons, or as otherwise -struck his fancy. ‘I had never before seen anything -like this,’ said the quiet Laidlaw; ‘and, though the -sheriff kept his feelings under, he, too, was excited, so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -that his <em>burr</em> became very perceptible.’ The wild Border -energy and abruptness are certainly seen in such verses -as these:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘As they fared up o’er Lammermore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They burned baith up and down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until they came to a darksome house;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some call it Leader-Town.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Wha hauds this house?” young Edward cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Or wha gies’t ower to me?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A gray-haired knight set up his head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And crackit right crousely:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Of Scotland’s king I haud my house;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He pays me meat and fee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I will keep my gude auld house</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While my house will keep me.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They laid their sowies to the wall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wi’ mony a heavy peal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he threw ower to them agen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Baith pitch and tar barrel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With springalds, stanes, and gads of airn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Among them fast he threw;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till mony of the Englishmen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the wall he slew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Full fifteen days that braid host lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sieging auld Maitland keen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Syne they hae left him, hail and fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within his strength of stane.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Scott valued this ballad and his other lyrical acquisitions -highly. In a letter to Mr Laidlaw, dated 21st -January 1803, he remarks as follows: ‘<i>Auld Maitland</i>, -laced and embroidered with antique notes and illustrations, -makes a most superb figure. I have got, through -the intervention of Lady Dalkeith, a copy of Mr Beattie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -of Meikledale’s <i>Tamlane</i>. It contains some highly -poetical stanzas descriptive of fairy-land, which, after -some hesitation, I have adopted, though they have -a very refined and modern cast. I do not suspect Mr -Beattie of writing ballads himself; but pray, will you -inquire whether, within the memory of man, there has -been any poetical clergyman or schoolmaster whom one -could suppose capable of giving a coat of modern -varnish to this old ballad. What say you to this, for -example?</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“We sleep on rose-buds soft and sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We revel in the stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We wanton lightly on the wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or glide on a sunbeam.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">This seems quite modern, yet I have retained it.’</p> - -<p>Laidlaw had procured a version of another ballad, -<i>The Demon Lover</i>, which he took down from the recitation -of Mr Walter Grieve, then in Craik, on Borthwick -Water. Grieve sung it well to a singularly wild tune; -and the song embodies a popular but striking superstition, -such as Lewis introduced into his romance of <i>The Monk</i>. -To complete the fragment, Laidlaw added the 6th, -12th, 17th, and 18th stanzas; and those who consult -the ballad in Scott’s <i>Minstrelsy</i> will see how well our -friend was qualified to excel in the imitation of these -strains of the elder muse. After the party had ‘quaffed -their fill’ of old songs and legendary story, they all took -horse, and went to dine with Mr Ballantyne of Whitehope, -the uncle of Laidlaw.</p> - -<p>‘There was not a minute of silence,’ says Mr Laidlaw’s -memorandum, ‘as we rode down the narrow glen, -and over by the way of Dryhope, to get a view of St -Mary’s Loch and of the Peel or Tower. When we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> -entered the Hawkshaw-doors, a pass between Blackhouse -and Dryhope, where a beautiful view of the lake -opens, Leyden, as I expected, was so struck with the -scene that he suddenly stopped, sprung from his horse -(which he gave to Mr Scott’s servant), and stood -admiring the fine Alpine prospect. Mr Scott said little; -but as this was the first time he had seen St Mary’s -Loch, doubtless more was passing in his mind than -appeared. Often, when returning home with my fishing-rod, -had I stopped at this place, and admired the effect -of the setting sun and the approaching twilight; and -now when I found it admired by those whom I thought -likely to judge of and be affected with its beauty, I felt -the same sort of pleasure that I experienced when I -found that Walter Scott was delighted with Hogg. -Had I at that time been gifted with a glimpse—a very -slight glimpse—of the second-sight, every word that -passed, and they were not few, until we reached Whitehope -or Yarrow Church, I should have endeavoured to -record. Scott, as all the world knows, was great in -conversation; and Leyden was by no means a common -person. He had about him that unconquerable energy -and restlessness of mind that would have raised him, -had he lived, very high among the remarkable men of -his native country. I cannot forget the fire with which -he repeated, on the Craig-bents, a half-stanza of an -irrecoverable <span class="locked">ballad—</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“Oh swiftly gar speed the berry-brown steed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That drinks o’ the Teviot clear!”—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">which his friend, when finally no brother to it could be -found, adopted in the reply of William of Deloraine to -the Lady of Branksome.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span></p> - -<p>The regret that Laidlaw here expresses at having -omitted to note down the conversation of his friends is -extremely natural, but few men could be less fitted for -such a task. He had nothing of Boswell in his mind or -character. He wanted both the concentration of purpose -and the pliant readiness of talent and power of -retention. At Abbotsford he had ample opportunities -for keeping such a record, and he was often urged to -undertake it. Scott himself on one occasion, after some -brilliant company had left the room, remarked half -jocularly, that many a one meeting such people, and -hearing such talk, would make a very lively and entertaining -book of the whole, which might some day be -read with interest. Laidlaw instantly felt it necessary -to put in a disclaimer. He said he would consider it -disreputable in him to take advantage of his position, -or of the confidence of private society, and make a -journal of the statements and opinions uttered in free -and familiar conversation. We may respect the delicacy -and sensitiveness of his feelings, but society, collectively, -would lose much by the rigid observance of such a rule. -The question, we think, should be determined by the -nature and quality of the circumstances recorded. It -must be a special, not a general case. There is nothing -more discreditable in noting down a brilliant thought -or interesting fact, than in repeating it in conversation; -while to play the part of a gossiping and malicious eavesdropper, -is equally a degradation in life and in literature. -It would have been detestable (if the idea could for a -moment be entertained) for Mr Laidlaw to pry into the -domestic details and personal feelings or failings of his -illustrious friend at Abbotsford; but we may wish that -his pen had been as ready as his ear when Scott ran<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span> -over the story of his literary life and opinions, or discriminated -the merits of his great contemporaries—when -Davy expatiated on the discoveries and delights of -natural philosophy—when Miss Edgeworth painted Irish -scenes and character—when Moore discoursed of poetry, -music, and Byron—when Irving kindled up like a poet -in his recollections of American lakes, and woods, and -old traditions—when Mackintosh began with the Roman -law, and ended in Lochaber—when some septuagenarian -related anecdotes of the past—when artists and architects -talked of pictures, sculpture, and buildings—or -when some accomplished traveller and <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">savant</i> opened -up the interior of foreign courts and the peculiarities -of national manners. Many a wise and witty saying -and memorable illustration—the life-blood of the best -books—might thus have been preserved, though with -occasional <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">lacunæ</i> and mistakes; and all are now <span class="locked">lost—</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container w25"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Gone glittering through the dream of things that were’—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">and cannot be recalled. Surely society is the worse for -the loss of these racy, spontaneous fruits of intellect, -study, and observation.</p> - -<p>While dinner was getting ready at Whitehope, Laidlaw -and Leyden strolled into the neighbouring churchyard -of Yarrow, and saw the tomb of Mr Rutherford, -the first minister of that parish after the Revolution, and -the maternal great-grandfather of Scott. Leyden recited -to his companion the ballads of <i>The Eve of St John</i> -and <i>Glenfinlas</i>, which naturally impressed on the hearer -a vivid idea of the poetical talents of the sheriff, and -Laidlaw felt towards him as towards an old friend. This -was increased by Scott’s partiality for dogs. He was -struck with a very beautiful and powerful greyhound<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> -which followed Laidlaw, and he begged to have a brace -of pups from the same dog, saying he had now become -a forester, as sheriff of Ettrick, and must have dogs of -the true mountain breed. ‘This request,’ said the other, -‘I took no little pains to fulfil. I kept the puppies -till they were nearly a year old. My youngest brother, -then a boy, took great delight in training them; and -the way was this: he took a long pole having a string -and a piece of meat fastened to it, and made the dogs -run in a circular or oval course. Their eagerness to -get the meat gave them, by much practice, great strength -in the loins, and singular expertness in turning, besides -singular alertness in <em>mouthing</em>, for which they were -afterwards famous. Scott hunted with them for two -years over the mountains of Tweedside and Yarrow, -and never dreamed that a hare could escape them. He -mentions them in the Introduction to the second canto -of <span class="locked"><i>Marmion</i>—</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“Remember’st thou my greyhounds true?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er holt or hill there never flew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From slip or leash there never sprang,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More fleet of foot, or sure of fang.”’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>After this visit, Laidlaw doubled his diligence in -gathering up fragments of the elder Muse, and the -sheriff was profuse in acknowledgments:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Sir</span>—I am very much obliged to you -for your letter and the enclosure. The <i>Laird o’ Logie</i> -is particularly acceptable, as coming near the real -history. Carmichael, mentioned in the ballad, was the -ancestor of the Earl of Hyndford, and captain of James -VI.’s guard, so that the circumstance of the prisoner’s -being in his custody is highly probable. I will adopt -the whole of this ballad instead of the common one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -called <i>Ochiltree</i>. <i>Geordie</i> I have seen before: the ballad -is curious, though very rude. <i>Ormond</i> may be curious, -but is modern. The story of <i>Confessing the Queen of -England</i> is published by Bishop Percy, so I will neither -trouble you about that nor about <i>Dundee</i>. “Glendinning” -is a wrong reading: the name of the Highland -chief who carries off the lady is Glenlyon, one of the -Menzieses. Among Hogg’s ballads is a curious set of -<i>Lamington</i> or <i>Lochinvar</i>, which I incline to adopt as -better than that in the <i>Minstrelsy</i>. Who was Katherine -Janfarie, the heroine? She could hardly be a damsel -of rank, as the estate of Whitebank is an ancient patrimony -of the Pringles. I don’t know what to make of -Cockburn’s name, unless it be Perys, the modern Pierce, -which is not a common name in Scotland. I am very -much interested about the Tushilaw lines, which, from -what you mention, must be worth recovering. I forgot -to bring with me from Blackhouse your edition of the -<i>Goshawk</i>, in which were some excellent various readings. -I am so anxious to have a complete Scottish <i>Otterburn</i>, -that I will omit the ballad entirely in the first volume, -hoping to recover it in time for insertion in the third. -I would myself be well pleased to delay the publication -of all three for some time, but the booksellers are -mutinous and impatient, as a book is always injured by -being long out of print. As to the Liddesdale traditions, -I think I am pretty correct, although doubtless much -more may be recovered. The truth is that, in these -traditions, as you must have observed, old people are -usually very positive about their own mode of telling -a story, and as uncharitably critical in their observations -on those who differ from them.—Yours faithfully,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span>.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span></p> - -<p class="in0">Before the friends parted, Scott made a note of Hogg’s -address, and from that time never ceased to take a warm -interest in his fortunes. He corresponded with him, -and becoming curious to see the poetical Shepherd, -made another visit to Blackhouse, for the purpose of -getting Laidlaw along with him as guide to Ettrick. -The visit was highly agreeable. The sheriff’s <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bonhomie</i> -and lively conversation had deeply interested his companion, -and he rode by his side in a sort of ecstasy as -they journeyed again by St Mary’s Loch and the green -hills of Dryhope, which rise beyond the wide expanse -of smooth water. It was a fine summer morning, and -the impressions of the day and the scene have been -recorded in imperishable verse.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Dryhope Tower, so -intimately associated with the memory of Mary Scott, -the ‘Flower of Yarrow,’ made the travellers stop for a -brief space; and <i>Dhu Linn</i> (where Marjory, the wife -of Percy de Cockburn, sat while men were hanging her -husband), with Chapelhope and other scenes and ruins -famous in Border tradition, deeply interested Scott. At -the west end of the Loch of the Lowes, the surrounding -mountains close in, in the face of the traveller, apparently -preventing all farther egress. At this spot, as Laidlaw -was trying to find a safe place where they might cross -the marsh through which the infant Yarrow finds its -way to the loch, Scott’s servant, an English boy, rode -up, and, touching his hat, respectfully inquired, with -much interest, where the people got their necessaries! -This unromantic question, and the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">naïveté</i> of the lad’s -manner, was a source of great amusement to the sheriff. -The day’s journey was a favourite theme with Laidlaw. -First, after passing the spots we have described, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -horsemen crossed the ridge of hills that separates the -Yarrow from her sister stream. These hills are high -and green, but the more lofty parts of the ridge are -soft and boggy, and they had often to pick their way, -and proceed in single file. Then they followed a foot-track -on the side of a long <em>cleugh</em> or <em>hope</em>, and at last -descended towards the Ettrick, where they had in view -the level green valley, walled in by high hills of dark -green, with here and there gray crags, the church and -the old <em>place</em> of Ettrick Hall in ruins, embosomed in -trees. Scott was somewhat chafed by having left in -his bedroom that morning his watch—a valuable gold -repeater, presented to him on the occasion of his marriage—and -to Laidlaw’s ejaculations of delight he sometimes -replied quickly: ‘A savage enough place—a very -savage place.’ His good-humour, however, was restored -by the novelty of the scenes and the fine clear day, and -he broke out with snatches of song, and told endless -anecdotes, either new, or better told than ever they -were before. The travellers went to dine at Ramsey-cleugh, -where they were sure of a cordial welcome and -a good farmer’s dinner; and Laidlaw sent off to Blackhouse -for the sheriff’s watch (which he received next -morning), and to Ettrick House for Hogg, that he might -come and spend the evening with them. The Shepherd -(who then retained all his original simplicity of character) -came <em>to tea</em>, and he brought with him a bundle -of manuscripts, of size enough at least to shew his -industry—all of course ballads, and fragments of ballads. -The penmanship was executed with more care than -Hogg had ever bestowed on anything before. Scott -was surprised and pleased with Hogg’s appearance, and -with the hearty familiarity with which <i>Jamie</i>, as he was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> -called, was received by Laidlaw and the Messrs Bryden -of Ramsey-cleugh. Hogg was no less gratified. ‘The -sheriff of a county in those days,’ said Laidlaw, ‘was -regarded by the class to whom Hogg belonged with -much of the fear and respect that their <em>forbears</em> -looked up to the ancient hereditary sheriffs, who had -the power of pit and gallows in their hands; and here -Jamie found himself all at once not only the chief -object of the sheriff’s notice and flattering attention, -but actually seated at the same table with him.’ Hogg’s -genius was sufficient passport to the best society. His -appearance was also prepossessing. His clear ruddy -cheek and sparkling eye spoke of health and vivacity, -and he was light and agile in his figure. When a youth, -he had a remarkably fine head of long curling brown -hair, which he wore coiled up under his bonnet; and -on Sundays, when he entered the church and let down -his locks, the <em>lasses</em> (on whom Jamie always turned an -expressive <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">espiègle</i> glance) looked towards him with envy -and admiration. He doubtless thought of himself as -the Gaelic bard did of Allan of <span class="locked">Muidart—</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘And when to old Kilphedar’s church</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came troops of damsels gay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say, came they there for Allan’s fame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or came they there to pray?’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Mr Laidlaw thus speaks of the evening at Ramsey-cleugh: -‘It required very little of that tact or address -in social intercourse for which Mr Scott was afterwards -so much distinguished, to put himself and those around -him entirely at their ease. In truth, I never afterwards -saw him at any time apparently enjoy company so much, -or exert himself so greatly—or probably there was no -effort at all—in rendering himself actually fascinating;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> -nor did I ever again spend such a night of merriment. -The qualities of Hogg came out every instant, and his -unaffected simplicity and fearless frankness both surprised -and charmed the sheriff. They were both very -good mimics and story-tellers born and bred; and when -Scott took to employ his dramatic talent, he soon found -he had us all in his power; for every one of us possessed -a quick sense of the ludicrous, and perhaps of -humour of all kinds. I well recollect how the tears -ran down the cheeks of my cousin, George Bryden; and -although his brother was more quiet, it was easy to see -that he too was delighted. Hogg and I were unbounded -laughers when the occasion was good. The best proof -of Jamie’s enjoyment was, that he never sung a song -that blessed night, and it was between two and three -o’clock before we parted.’</p> - -<p>Next morning, Scott and Laidlaw went, according to -promise, to visit Hogg in his low thatched cottage. -The situation is fine, and the opposite mountains, from -the grand simplicity of their character, may almost be -termed sublime. The Shepherd and his aged mother—‘Old -Margaret Laidlaw,’ for she generally went by her -maiden name—gave the visitors a hearty welcome. -James had sent for a bottle of wine, of which each had -to take a glass; and as the exhilarating effects of the -previous night had not quite departed, he insisted that -they should help him in drinking every drop in the -bottle. Had it been a few years earlier in Scott’s life, -and before he was sheriff of the county, the request -would probably have been complied with; but on this -occasion the bottle was set aside. The scene was -curious and interesting. ‘Hogg may be a great poet,’ -said Scott, ‘and, like Allan Ramsay, come to be the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> -founder of a sort of family.’ Hogg’s familiarity of -address, mingled with fits of deference and respect -towards the sheriff, was curiously characteristic. Many -years after this, we recollect a gentleman asking Laidlaw -about an amusing anecdote told of the Shepherd. -Hogg had sagacity enough to detect the authorship of -the Waverley novels long before the secret was divulged, -and had the volumes as they appeared bound and -lettered on the back ‘<span class="smcap">Scott’s Novels</span>.’ His friend -discovered this one day when visiting Hogg at Altrive, -and, in a dry humorous tone of voice, remarked: -‘Jamie, your bookseller must be a stupid fellow to spell -<i>Scots</i> with two <em>t</em>s.’ Hogg is said to have rejoined: ‘Ah, -Watty, I am ower auld a cat to draw that strae before.’ -Laidlaw laughed immoderately at the story, but observed: -‘Jamie never came lower down than <i>Walter</i>.’ Lockhart, -however, appears to think he did occasionally -venture on such a descent.</p> - -<p>From Hogg’s cottage the party proceeded up Rankleburn -to see Buccleuch, and inspect the old chapel and -mill. They found nothing at the kirk of Buccleuch, -and saw only the foundations of the chapel. Scott, -however, was in high spirits, and, being a member of -the Edinburgh Light Cavalry, and Laidlaw one of the -Selkirkshire Yeomanry, they sometimes set off at a -gallop—the sheriff leading as in a mimic charge, and -shouting: ‘Schlachten, meine kinder, schlachten!’ Hogg -trotted up behind, marvelling at the versatile powers of -the ‘wonderful <em>shirra</em>.’ They all dined together with -a ‘lady of the glen,’ Mrs Bryden, Crosslee; and next -morning Scott returned to Clovenford Inn, where he -resided till he took a lease of the house of Ashestiel.</p> - -<p>Amidst these and similar scenes, Walter Scott inhaled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span> -inspiration, and nursed those powers which afterwards -astonished the world. The healthy vigour of his mind, -and his clear understanding, grew up under such training, -and his imagination was thence quickened and -moulded. Byron studied amidst the classic scenes of -Greece and Italy—Southey and Moore in their libraries, -intent on varied knowledge. All the ‘shadowy tribes -of mind’ were known to the metaphysical Coleridge. -Wordsworth wandered among the lakes and mountains -of Westmoreland, brooding over his poetical and philosophical -theories, from which his better genius, in the -hour of composition, often extricated him. Scott was -in all things the simple, unaffected worshipper of nature -and of Scotland. His chivalrous romances sprung from -his national predilections; for the warlike deeds of the -Border chiefs first fired his fancy, and directed his -researches. In these mountain excursions he imbibed -that love and veneration of past times which coloured -most of his compositions; and human sympathies and -solemn reflections were forced upon him by his intercourse -with the natives of the hills, and the simple and -lonely majesty of the scenes that he visited. These -early impressions were never forgotten. Nor could -there have been a better nursery for a romantic and -national poet. Scholastic and critical studies would -have polished his taste and refined his verse; but we -might have wanted the strong picturesque vigour—the -simple direct energy of the old ballad style—the truth, -nature, and observation of a stirring life—all that -characterises and endears old Scotland. Scott’s destiny -was on the whole pre-eminently happy; and when we -think of the fate of other great authors—of Spenser -composing amidst the savage turbulence of Ireland—of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -Shakspeare following a profession which he disliked—of -Milton, blind and in danger—Dante in exile—and -Tasso and Cervantes in prison—we feel how immeasurably -superior was the lot of this noble free-hearted -Scotsman, whose genius was the proudest inheritance of -his country. ‘Think no man happy till he dies,’ said the -sage. Scott’s star became dim, but there was only a -short period of darkness, and he never ‘bated one jot of -heart or hope,’ nor lost the friendly and soothing -attentions of those he loved. The world’s respect and -admiration he always possessed.</p> - -<p>The <i>Minstrelsy</i> appeared complete in the spring of -1803—the first two volumes being then reprinted, and a -third volume added, containing the editor’s more recent -collections. The work was very favourably received: -indeed, so valuable a contribution to our native literature -had not appeared since the publication of Percy’s -<i>Reliques</i>. And the Introduction is an admirable historical -summary, foreshadowing Scott’s future triumphs as a -prose writer.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p> - -<p>The sheriff made four visits to Blackhouse, the fourth -time in company with his attached friend, Mr Skene of -Rubislaw. All the party turned out to visit a fox-hunt, -a successful one, for the fox was killed; and Mr Skene<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> -made a spirited drawing of the scene, including a -portrait of old Will Tweedie, the fox-hunter. The visit -was closed by the whole party riding to see the wild -scenery of the Grey Mare’s Tail and Loch Skene, Hogg -and Adam Ferguson being of the party. Laidlaw thus -writes of the expedition to Moffatdale:</p> - -<p>‘We proceeded with difficulty up the rocky chasm to -reach the foot of the waterfall. The passage which the -stream has worn by cutting the opposing rocks of grey-wacke, -is rough and dangerous. My brother George -and I, both in the prime of youth, and constantly in -the habit of climbing, had difficulty in forcing our way, -and we felt for Scott’s lameness. This, however, was -unnecessary. He said he could not perhaps climb so -fast as we did, but he advised us to go on, and leave -him. This we did, but halted on a projecting point -before we descended to the foot of the fall, and looking -back, we were struck at seeing the motions of the -sheriff’s dog <i>Camp</i>. The dog was attending anxiously -on his master; and when the latter came to a difficult -part of the rock, <i>Camp</i> would jump down, look up to -his master’s face, then spring up, lick his master’s hand -and cheek, jump down again, and look upwards, as if -to shew him the way, and encourage him. We were -greatly interested with the scene. Mr Scott seemed to -depend much on his hands and the great strength of -his powerful arms; and he soon fought his way over all -obstacles, and joined us at the foot of the Grey Mare’s -Tail, the name of the cataract.’</p> - -<p>This excursion, like most of the others, Scott described -in <i>Marmion</i> (Introd. to Canto II.) He was apt, on a -journey among the hills, especially if the district was -new to him, to fall at times into fits of silence, revolving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -in his mind, and perhaps throwing into language, the -ideas that were suggested at the moment by the landscape; -and hence those who had often been his companions -knew the origin of many of the beautiful -passages in his future works. Of this Laidlaw used to -relate one instance. About a mile down Douglas-burn, -a small brook falls into it from the Whitehope hills; -and at the junction of the streams, at the foot of a bank -celebrated in traditionary story, stood the withered remains -of what had been a very large old hawthorn tree, -that had often engaged the attention of the young men -at Blackhouse. Laidlaw on one occasion pointed out to -the sheriff its beautiful site and venerable appearance, -and asked him if he did not think it might be centuries -old, and once a leading object in the landscape. As the -district had been famous for game and wild animals, he -said there could be little doubt that the red deer had -often lain under the shade of the tree, before they -ascended to feed on the open hill-tops in the evening. -Scott looked on the tree and the green hills, but said -nothing. The enthusiastic guide repeated his admiration, -and added, that Whitehope-tree was famous for -miles around; but still Scott was silent. The subject -was then dropped; ‘but some years afterwards,’ said -Laidlaw, ‘when the sheriff read to me his manuscript -of <i>Marmion</i>, I found that Whitehope-tree was not forgotten, -and that he had felt all the associations it was -calculated to excite.’ The description of the thorn is -eminently suggestive and beautiful:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘The scenes are desert now and bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where flourished once a Forest fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When these waste glens with copse were lined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And peopled with the hart and hind.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon Thorn, perchance, whose prickly spears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have fenced him for three hundred years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While fell around his green compeers—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon lonely Thorn, would he could tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The changes of his parent dell.’<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>We may here notice another poetical scene, the <i>Bush -aboon Traquair</i>, celebrated in the well-known popular -song by Crawford. Burns says that when he saw the -old bush in 1787, it was composed of eight or nine -ragged birches, and that the Earl of Traquair had -planted a clump of trees near the place, which he called -‘The New Bush.’ Laidlaw maintained that the new -bush was in reality the old bush of the song. One of -the sons of Murray of Philiphaugh used to come over -often on foot, and meet one of the ladies of Traquair at -the <i>Cless</i>, a green hollow at the foot of the hill that -overhangs Traquair House. This was the scene of the -song. The straggling birches that Burns saw are half -a mile up the water, the remains of a wooded bog—out -of sight of Traquair House, to be sure, but far out of the -way between Hanginshaw, on the Yarrow, and Traquair.</p> - -<p>One morning in autumn 1804 was vividly impressed -on the recollection of Laidlaw; for Scott then recited -to him nearly the whole of the <i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>, -as they journeyed together in the sheriff’s gig up Gala -Water. The wild, irregular structure of the poem, the -description of the old minstrel, the goblin machinery, -the ballads interspersed throughout the tale, and the -exquisite forest scenes (the Paradise of Ettrick), all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span> -entranced the listener. Now and then, Scott would stop -to tell an anecdote of the country they were passing -through, and afterwards, in his deep <em>serious</em> voice, resume -his recitation of the poem. Laidlaw had, the night -before, gone to Lasswade, where the sheriff then resided -in a beautiful cottage on the banks of the Esk; and on -the following morning, after breakfast, they went up the -Gala, when Scott poured forth what truly seemed to be -an unpremeditated lay. They returned about sunset, -and found the sheriff’s young and beautiful wife looking -on at the few shearers engaged in cutting down their -crop in a field adjoining the cottage. Mrs Scott seemed -to Laidlaw a ‘lovely and interesting creature,’ and the -sheriff met her with undisguised tenderness and affection. -This was indeed his golden prime:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘How happily the days of Thalaba went by!’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">After this period, Laidlaw commenced householder, -entering on extensive farming experiments; and, so -long as the war lasted and high prices prevailed, his -schemes promised to be ultimately successful. But with -peace came a sudden fall in the market value of corn. -He struggled on with adverse circumstances for a twelvemonth, -till capital and credit failed, and he was obliged -to abandon his lease.</p> - -<p>In the summer of 1817, we find him at Kaeside, on -the estate of Abbotsford. At first, this seemed a -temporary arrangement. The two friends had kept up -a constant intercourse after Scott’s visit to the Yarrow -in 1802. Presents of trout and blackcock from the -country, and return presents of books from Castle -Street, in Edinburgh, were interchanged; and, when -Laidlaw’s evil day was at hand, Scott said: ‘Come to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span> -Abbotsford, and help me with my improvements. I -can put you into a house on the estate—Kaeside—and -get you some literary work from the Edinburgh publishers.’ -The offer was cheerfully accepted, and the -connection became permanent. Scott had then commenced -building and planting on a large scale; and the -same year he made his most extensive purchase—the -lands of Toftfield, for which he gave £10,000.</p> - -<p>‘I have more than once—such was his modesty’—said -Laidlaw, ‘heard Sir Walter assert that had his -father left him an estate of £500 or £600 a year, he -would have spent his time in miscellaneous reading, -not writing. This, to a certain extent, might have been -the case; and had he purchased the property of Broadmeadows, -in Yarrow, as he at one time was very anxious -to do, and when the neighbourhood was in the possession -of independent proprietors, the effect might have -been the same. At Abbotsford, surrounded by little -lairds, most of them ready to sell their lands as soon as -he had money to advance, the impulse to exertion was -incessant; for the desire to possess and to add increased -with every new acquisition, until it became a passion of -no small power. Then came the hope to be a large -landed proprietor, and to found a family.’</p> - -<p>When the poet was in Edinburgh attending to his -official duties as Clerk of Session, he sighed for Abbotsford -and the country, and took the liveliest interest in -all that was going on under the superintendence of his -friend. Passages like the following remind us of the -writings of Gilpin and Price on forest and picturesque -scenery:</p> - -<p>‘George must stick in a few wild-roses, honeysuckles, -and sweet-briers in suitable places, so as to produce the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -luxuriance we see in the woods which Nature plants -herself. We injure the effect of our plantings, so far as -beauty is concerned, very much by neglecting underwood.... -I want to know how you are forming -your glades of hard wood. Try to make them come -handsomely in contact with each other, which you can -only do by looking at a distance on the spot, then and -there shutting your eyes as you have done when a child -looking at the fire, and forming an idea of the same -landscape with glades of woodland crossing it. Get -out of your ideas about expense. It is, after all, but -throwing away the price of the planting. If I were to -buy a picture worth £500, nobody would wonder much. -Now, if I choose to lay out £100 or £200 to make a -landscape of my estate hereafter, and add so much more -to its value, I certainly don’t do a more foolish thing. -I mention this, that you may not feel limited so much -as you might in other cases by the exact attention to -pounds, shillings, and pence, but consider the whole on -a liberal scale. We are too apt to consider plantations -as a subject of the closest economy, whereas beauty and -taste have even a marketable value after the effects come -to be visible. Don’t dot the plantations with small -patches of hard wood, and always consider the ultimate -effect.’</p> - -<p>It is pleasant to see from the Laidlaw manuscripts with -what alacrity and zeal the noble friends of the poet -came forward with kindly contributions. The Duke of -Buccleuch sent bushels of acorns; the Earl of Fife -presented seed of Norway pines; Lord Montagu forwarded -a box of acorns and a packet of lime-seed. -One arboricultural missive to the factor says: ‘I send -the seeds of the Corsican pine, got with great difficulty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> -and also two or three of an unknown species which -grows to a great height on the Apennines. Dr Graham -says they should be raised in mould, finely prepared, -under glass, but without artificial heat.’ A box of fine -chestnuts came from Lisbon: the box was sent on from -Edinburgh to Abbotsford unopened, and before Laidlaw -heard of them, the chestnuts were peeled, and rendered -useless for planting. ‘Confound the chestnuts, and those -who peeled them!’ exclaimed Scott; ‘the officious blockheads -did it by way of special favour.’ One object was -to form at the top of the dikes an impenetrable copse -or natural hedge or verdurous screen—the poet uses all -the epithets (Milton has ‘verdurous wall’); and for this -purpose there were sent from Edinburgh 3000 laburnums, -2000 sweet-briers, 3000 Scotch elms, 3000 horse-chestnuts, -loads of hollies, poplars for the marshy ground, -and filberts for the glen. The graceful birch-tree, ‘the -lady of the wood,’ was not, of course, neglected. ‘I am -so fond of the birch,’ writes the poet; ‘and it makes -such a beautiful and characteristic underwood, that I -think we can hardly have too many. Besides, we may -plant them as hedges.’ He purchased at this time -about 100,000 birches. Mr Morritt of Rokeby writes -to a friend: ‘He (Scott) tells me he never was so happy -in his life as in having a place of his own to create. In -this Caledonian Eden, he labours all day with his own -hands; though, since the Fall, he and his wife will not -find many luxuriant branches to prune in Ettrick Forest -I sent him a bushel of Yorkshire acorns, which, except -docks and thistles, are, I believe, likely to be in three -years the largest vegetables upon the domain.’<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></p> - -<p>‘There are many little jobs about the walks,’ writes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> -the busy and happy laird, ‘which, though Tom Purdie -contemns them, are not less necessary towards comfort: -a seat or two, for example, and covering any drains, so -as to let the pony pass. In the front of the old -Rispylaw (now Anne’s Hill) is an old quarry, which, a -little made up and accommodated with stone seats and -some earth to grow a few honeysuckles and sweet-briers, -would make a very sweet place. Many of the walks -will <em>thole</em>’ [bear] ‘a mending; for instance, that to the -thicket might be completely gravelled, as Mrs Scott uses -it so much.’</p> - -<p>Here the kindly, loving nature of the man peeps out. -To Tom himself, Scott writes in a big, plain, round hand:</p> - -<p>‘As Mrs Scott comes out on the 22d, and brings -some plants to cover the paling of the court, you must -have a border of about a spade’s breadth and a spade’s -depth dug nicely, and made up with good earth and a -little dung, all along in front of the paling, and along -the east end of it. She will bring the plants from Edinburgh, -so they can be put into the ground the evening -she arrives.’</p> - -<p>Afterwards, as years ran on, a thread of business was -intermixed with the rural pleasure. The poet began to -calculate on the probable return from the woods, not -omitting the value of the bark used for tanning -purposes.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Willie</span>—How could you be such a gowk’ -[fool] ‘as to suppose I meant to start a hare upon you by -my special inquiries about the bark? I am perfectly -sensible you take more care of my affairs than you -would of your own; but anything about wood or trees -amuses me, and I like to enter into it more particularly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -than into ordinary farming operations. In particular, -this of drying and selling our bark—at present a trifle—is -a thing which will one day be of great consequence, -and I wish to attend to the details myself. I think it -should not be laid on the ground, but dried upon stools -made of the felled wood; and if you lay along these -stools the peeled trees, and pile the bark on them, it -will hide the former from the sun, and suffer them to -dry gradually. I have been observing this at Blair-Adam. -I have got a new light on larch-planting from -the Duke of Athole’s operations. He never plants -closer than eight feet, and says they answer admirably. -If this be so, it will be easy to plant our hill-ground. -Respecting the grass in the plantations, I have some -fears of the scythe, and should prefer getting a host of -women with their hooks, which would also be a good -thing for the poor folks.’ [Another touch of the poet’s -kindly nature.] ‘Tom must set about it instantly. He -is too much frightened for the expense of doing things -rapidly, as if it were not as cheap to employ twelve -men for a week as six men for a fortnight.—Yours,</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. S.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p>In the matter of dwellings for the small tenants and -labourers, the laird of Abbotsford was equally careful -and considerate. ‘I think stone partitions would be -desirable on account of vermin, &c. If their houses are -not comfortable, the people will never be cleanly. For -windows I would much prefer the cast-iron lattices, -turning on a centre, and not made too large. These -windows being in small quarrels, or panes, a little breach -is easily repaired, and saves the substitute of a hat or -clout through a large hole. Certainly the cottages<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -should be rough-plastered.’ Perhaps the little iron -lattices were as much preferred for their antique, -picturesque associations as for their utility—‘something -poetical,’ as Pope’s old gardener said of the drooping -willow; and the aged minstrel’s hut near Newark Tower, -it will be recollected, had such a window:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘The little garden hedged with green,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A cheerful hearth and lattice clean.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>When times were hard and winter severe, he thought -of the firesides of the labourers:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>—I have your letter, and have no doubt in -my own mind that a voluntary assessment is the best -mode of raising money to procure work for the present -sufferers, because I see no other way of making this -necessary tax fall equally upon the heritors.... I -shall soon have money, so that if you can devise any -mode by which hands can be beneficially employed at -Abbotsford, I could turn £50 or £100 extra into that -service in the course of a fortnight. In fact, if it made -the poor and industrious people a little easier, I should -have more pleasure in it than in any money I ever spent -in my life.—Yours, very truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. S.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p>The same year, which was a period of some excitement -and discontent, he writes to Laidlaw:</p> - -<p>‘I am glad you have got some provision for the poor. -They are the minors of the state, and especially to be -looked after; and I believe the best way to prevent discontent -is to keep their minds moderately easy as to -their own provision. The sensible part of them may -probably have judgment enough to see that they could -get nothing much better for their class in general by an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -appeal to force, by which, indeed, if successful, ambitious -individuals might rise to distinction, but which would, -after much misery, leave the body of the people just -where it found them, or rather much worse.... -Political publications must always be caricatures. As -for the mob of great cities, whom you accuse me of -despising too much, I think it is impossible to err on -that side. They are the very <em>riddlings</em> of society, in -which every useful cinder is, by various processes, withdrawn, -and nothing left but dust, ashes, and filth. Mind, -I mean the mob of cities, not the lowest people in the -country, who often, and, indeed, usually, have both -character and intelligence.’</p> - -<p>Again:</p> - -<p>‘I think of my books amongst this snow-storm; also -of the birds, and not a little of the poor. For benefit -of the former, I hope Peggy throws out the crumbs; and -a corn-sheaf or two for the game would be to purpose, -if placed where poachers could not come at them. For -the poor people, I wish you to distribute five pounds or -so among the neighbouring poor who may be in distress, -and see that our own folks are tolerably off.’</p> - -<p>Scott introduced his friendly factor to <i>Blackwood’s -Magazine</i>, and Laidlaw used to compile for it a monthly -chronicle of events, besides occasionally contributing a -descriptive article, which the ‘Great Magician’ overhauled -previous to its transmission. There was, in the -autumn of 1817, a great combustion in Edinburgh about -the <i>Chaldee Manuscript</i>, inserted in the magazine for -October. An edition of two thousand copies was soon -sold, and fifteen hundred more were printed; so Blackwood -writes to Scott. ‘He was dreadfully afraid,’ says -Laidlaw, ‘that Mr Scott would be offended; and so he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> -would, he says, were it not on my account.’ The -Ettrick Shepherd (who was the original concocter of the -satire) was also alarmed. ‘For the love of God, open -not your mouth about the <i>Chaldee Manuscript</i>,’ he -writes to Laidlaw. ‘There have been meetings and -proposals, and an express has arrived from Edinburgh -to me. Deny all knowledge, else, they say, I am -ruined,’ &c. This once famous production is so local -and personal that, although it is now included in -Professor Wilson’s works, it is almost unknown to the -present generation. The subject is a bookseller’s -quarrel, a contest between the rival magazines of -Blackwood and Constable, and it is one of the most -harmless of all the parodies couched in Scriptural -phraseology. Professor Ferrier, the editor of Wilson’s -works, says it is quite as good, in its way, as Swift’s -<i>Battle of the Books</i>; but this is a monstrous delusion. -There are some quaint touches of character in the -piece. It may be compared to the parodies by Hone; -but it is a sort of profanation to place it on a level with -the classic satire of Swift.</p> - -<p>It is never too late to do justice. In one of these -magazine missives, written in January 1818, Blackwood -refers to the Ettrick Shepherd. ‘If you see Hogg, I -hope you will press him to send me instantly his <i>Shepherd’s -Dog</i>, and anything else. I received his <i>Andrew -Gemmells</i>; but the editor is not going to insert it in this -number.’ [Had Ebony really an editor, or was he not -himself the great sublime?] ‘I expected to have -received from him the conclusion of the <i>Brownie of -Bodsbeck</i>; there are six sheets of it already printed.’</p> - -<p>Now, the latter part of this extract seems distinctly to -disprove a charge which Hogg thoughtlessly brought<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> -against Mr Blackwood. His novel, the <i>Brownie of -Bodsbeck</i>, was published in 1818, and he suffered -unjustly, as he states in his autobiography, with regard -to that tale, as it was looked upon as an imitation of -Scott’s <i>Old Mortality</i>. It was wholly owing to Blackwood, -he asserts, that his story was not published a -year sooner; and he relates the case as a warning to -authors never to intrust booksellers with their manuscripts. -But the fact is, <i>Old Mortality</i> was published in -December 1816; and we have Blackwood, in the above -letter to Laidlaw, stating that he had not, in January -1818—more than a twelvemonth afterwards—received -the whole of the ‘copy’ of the <i>Brownie of Bodsbeck</i>. How -could he go to press with an unfinished story? How -make bricks without straw? The accusation is altogether -a myth, or, to use one of the Shepherd’s own -expressions, ‘a mere shimmera’ [chimera] ‘of the brain.’</p> - -<p>Of Hogg’s prose works, Scott writes: ‘Truly, they are -sad daubing, with, here and there, fine dashes of genius.’ -The <em>daubing</em> is chiefly seen in the dialogues and -attempts at humour; the <em>genius</em> appears in the descriptions -of pastoral or wild scenery, as in the account of -the ‘Storms,’ and in the fine introduction to the <i>Brownie -of Bodsbeck</i>, and in some of the delineations of humble -Scottish life and superstition. Hogg is as true and -literal as Crabbe. His peasants always speak and think -as peasants; but he gives us, sometimes, coarse and -poor specimens. It is certain, however, that, even in -the worst of his stories, there are gleams of fancy—‘fairy -blinks of the sun’—far above the reach of writers -immensely his superiors in taste and acquirements.</p> - -<p>There was another person in whom Scott was -interested with reference to the slashing articles in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -<i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i>. He writes to Laidlaw: ‘So -they let poor Charles Sharpe alone, they may satirise all -Edinburgh, your humble servant not excepted.’ Charles -Kirkpatrick Sharpe, with his antiquarian tastes, personal -oddities, and aristocratic leanings, was a special -favourite with Scott. He was a kind of Scotch Horace -Walpole (so considered by his illustrious friend), but -much feebler; perhaps stronger with the pencil, but -infinitely weaker with the pen. His celebrated sketch -of the ‘Inimitable Virago,’ or Queen Elizabeth dancing -<em>disposedly</em>, as described by the Scotch ambassador, Sir -James Melville, was esteemed by Scott as an unrivalled -production. It is highly ludicrous and effective as a -picture, but is too extravagant to serve even as a -caricature representation of Elizabeth. Neither face -nor figure has any resemblance. Hogarth, in his etching -of old Simon Lord Lovat of the ’45, seems, by a happy -stroke of genius, to have hit the true medium in works -of this class. He preserved the strong points in personal -appearance and character—combining them with -irresistible humour and drollery of expression.</p> - -<p>Here is another scrap:</p> - -<p>‘I am glad to send you Maga, which continues to be -clever. I hope for two or three happy days on the -brae-sides about the birthday’ [the king’s birthday, June -4]. ‘Blackwood has been assaulted by a fellow who -came from Glasgow on purpose, and returned second-best. -The bibliopole is like the little French lawyer, -who never found out he could fight till he was put to it, -and was then for cudgelling all and sundry. You never -saw anything so whimsical.</p> - -<p>‘I think often, of course, about my walks; and I am -sickening to descend into the glen at the little waterfall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -by steps. We could cut excellent ones out where the -quarry has been. It is the only way we shall ever make -what Tom Purdie calls a <em>neat job</em>; for a deep descent -will be ugly, and difficult to keep. I would plant -betwixt the stair and the cascade, so as to hide the -latter till you came down to the bottom.’</p> - -<p>Visitors now began to appear at Abbotsford, an -increasing stream every season from 1817 to 1825. -They consisted of persons of rank and fashion, literary -men and artists of all nations, who travelled to the -Tweed to pay homage to the poet. There was no -envy or jealousy with the Great Minstrel. Indeed, with -the single exception of Byron, his position was such that -he had no cause to fear any rival, and he could afford -to throw largess to the crowd. All were welcome at -Abbotsford. Washington Irving has described the -cordial reception he experienced on the occasion of his -visit in 1817, and Laidlaw thus notes the event:</p> - -<p>‘We had a long walk up by the glen and round by the -loch. It was fine sunshine when we set out, but we -met with tremendous dashing showers. Mr Irving told -me he had a kind of devotional reverence for Scotland, -and most of all for its poetry. He looked upon it as -fairy-land, and he was beyond measure surprised at Mr -Scott, his simple manners and brotherly frankness. He -was very anxious to see Hogg, and said that several -editions of Hogg’s different poems had been published -in America.’</p> - -<p>Irving always regretted that he had not met with the -Shepherd. Such a meeting could not have failed to -give infinite pleasure to both. The gentle manners and -literary enthusiasm of the American author would at -once have attached the Shepherd; while the rustic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -frankness, liveliness, and perfect originality of Hogg -possessed an indescribable attraction and charm which -the other would have fully appreciated. Many years -after this period, Hogg retained a careless brightness of -conversation and joyous manner which were seen in no -other man. The union of the shepherd and the poet -formed a combination as rare and striking as that of the -soldado with the divinity student of Marischal College, -in the person of the renowned Dugald Dalgetty.</p> - -<p>One day, after Hogg had been in London—and -‘The Hogg,’ as Lockhart said, ‘was the lion of the -season’—Allan Cunningham chanced to meet James -Smith of the <i>Rejected Addresses</i> at the table of the great -bibliopole, John Murray. ‘How,’ said Smith, aloud, to -Allan, ‘how does Hogg like Scotland’s small cheer after -the luxury of London?’ ‘Small cheer!’ echoed Allan; -‘he has the finest trout in the Yarrow, the finest lambs -on its braes, the finest grouse on its hills, and, besides, -he as good as keeps a <em>sma’ still</em>’ [smuggled whisky]. -‘Pray, what better luxury can London offer?’ All -these sumptuosities the Shepherd cheerfully shared with -the wayfarers who flocked to Altrive Cottage.</p> - -<p>Another visitor at Abbotsford during the season of -1817, was Lady Byron. ‘I have had the honour,’ says -Laidlaw, ‘of dining in the company of Lady Byron and -Lord Somerville. Her ladyship is a beautiful little -woman with fair hair, a fine complexion, and rather -large blue eyes; face not round. She looked steadily -grave, and seldom smiled. I thought her mouth indicated -great firmness, or rather obstinacy. Miss Anne -Scott and Lady Byron rode to Newark.’ After the date -of this visit by Lady Byron, Laidlaw says he had many -conversations with Scott concerning the life and poetry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span> -of Byron. ‘He seemed to regret very much that Byron -and he had not been thrown more together. He felt -the influence he had over his great contemporary’s -mind, and said there was so much in it that was very -good and very elevated, that any one whom he much -liked could, as he (Scott) thought, have withdrawn him -from many of his errors.’</p> - -<p>All went on smoothly and gaily at Abbotsford. Every -year had added to the beauty of the poet’s domain, and -to the richness of his various collections and library. -His opinion of Gothic architecture is thus expressed: -‘I have got a very good plan from Atkinson for my -addition, but I do not like the outside, which is modern -Gothic, a style I hold to be equally false and foolish. -Blore and I have been at work to <em>Scotify</em> it, by turning -battlements into bartisans, and so on. I think we have -struck out a picturesque, appropriate, and entirely new -line of architecture.’ Abbotsford must certainly be considered -picturesque, but it is a somewhat incongruous, -ill-placed pile; and without the beautiful garden-screen -in front, the general effect would be heavy.</p> - -<p>In the Waverley Novels, then appearing in that -marvellously rapid succession which astonished the -world, there was an ample reservoir of wealth, if it had -been wisely secured, as well as of fame. But an alarming -interruption was threatened by the illness of the -novelist. His malady—cramp of the stomach, with -jaundice—was attended with exquisite pain; but in the -intervals of comparative ease his literary labours were -continued; and it certainly is an extraordinary fact in -literary history that under such circumstances the greater -part of the <i>Bride of Lammermoor</i>, the whole of the -<i>Legend of Montrose</i>, and almost the whole of <i>Ivanhoe</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span> -were produced. The novelist lay on a sofa, dictating to -John Ballantyne or to Laidlaw; chiefly to the latter, as -he was always at hand, whereas Ballantyne was only an -occasional visitor at Abbotsford. Sometimes, in his -most humorous or elevated scenes, Scott would break -off with a groan of torture, as the cramp seized him, but -when the visitation had passed, he was ever ready gaily -to take up the broken thread of his narrative and proceed -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">currente calamo</i>. It was evident to Laidlaw that -before he arrived at Abbotsford (generally about ten -o’clock) the novelist had arranged his scenes for the -day, and settled in his mind the course of the narrative. -The <em>language</em> was left to the inspiration of the moment; -there was no picking of words, no studied <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">curiosa felicitas</i> -of expression. Even the imagery seemed spontaneous. -Laidlaw abjured with some warmth the old-wife exclamations -which Lockhart ascribes to him—as, ‘Gude keep -us a’’—‘The like o’ that!’—‘Eh, sirs! eh, sirs!’ But -he admitted that while he held the pen he was at times -so deeply interested in the scene or in the development -of the plot, that he could not help exclaiming: ‘Get on, -Mr Scott, get on!’ on which the novelist would reply, -smiling: ‘Softly, Willie; you know I have to make the -story,’ or some good-humoured remark of a similar purport. -It was quite true, he said, that when dictating -some of the animated scenes and dialogues in <i>Ivanhoe</i>, -Scott would rise from his seat and act the scene with -every suitable accompaniment of tone, gesture, and -manner. Both the military and dramatic spirit were -strong in him—too strong even for the cramp and -calomel! The postscript to a short business letter from -Edinburgh, June 14, 1819, refers to this business of -dictation. ‘Put your fingers in order, and buy yourself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> -pens!—I won’t <em>stand</em> the expense of your quills, so -pluck the goose ’a God’s name!’ And it was plucked -on this occasion to record the sorrows of the Bride of -Lammermoor.</p> - -<p>According to Mr Laidlaw, Scott did not like to speak -about his novels after they were published, but was fond -of canvassing the merits and peculiarities of the characters -while he was engaged in the composition of the -story. ‘He was peculiarly anxious,’ says Laidlaw, -‘respecting the success of Rebecca in <i>Ivanhoe</i>. One -morning, as we were walking in the woods after our -forenoon’s labour, I expressed my admiration of the -character, and, after a short pause, he broke out with: -“Well, I think I shall make something of my Jewess.” -Latterly, he seemed to indulge in a retrospect of the -useful effect of his labours. In one of these serious -moods, I remarked that one circumstance of the highest -interest might and ought to yield him very great satisfaction—namely, -that his narratives were the best of all -reading for young people. I had found that even his -friend Miss Edgeworth had not such power in engaging -attention. His novels had the power, beyond any other -writings, of arousing the better passions and finer feelings; -and the moral effect of all this, I added, when one -looks forward to several generations—every one acting -upon another—must be immense. I well recollect the -place where we were walking at this time—on the road -returning from the hill towards Abbotsford. Sir Walter -was silent for a minute or two, but I observed his eyes -filled with tears.... I never saw him much elated or -excited in composition but one morning, out of doors, -when he was composing that simple but humorous song, -<i>Donald Caird</i>. I watched him limping along at good<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> -five miles an hour along the ridge or sky-line opposite -Kaeside, and when he came in, he recited to me the -fruits of his walk. His memory was an inexhaustible -repertory, so that Hogg, in his moments of super-exaltation -and vanity, used to say that if he had the <em>shirra’s</em> -memory he would beat him as a poet!’</p> - -<p>The memory of Sir Walter Scott was vast, but inexact. -In this respect he was inferior to Macaulay or Sir James -Mackintosh. In quoting poetry, Sir Walter was seldom -verbally correct, and sometimes the harmony of the -verse suffered. The two famous lines of Milton’s -<i>Comus</i>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘The aery tongues that syllable men’s names,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses,’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">are thus given in the <i>Letters on Demonology</i>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘The aery tongues that syllable men’s names,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On shores, in desert sands, and wildernesses.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Thomas Campbell used to relate, as an instance of Sir -Walter’s extraordinary memory, that he read to him his -poem of <i>Locheil’s Warning</i> before it was printed; after -which his friend asked permission to read it himself. -He then perused the manuscript slowly and distinctly, -and on returning it to its author, said: ‘Campbell, look -after your copyright, for I have got your poem.’ And -he repeated, with very few mistakes, the whole sixty -lines of which the poem (which was subsequently -enlarged) then consisted.</p> - -<p>Hogg was generally exalted and buoyant enough. -On one occasion we find him writing to Laidlaw: ‘I -rode through the whole of Edinburgh yesterday in a -barouche by myself, having four horses and two postillions! -Never was there a poet went through it before<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -in such style since the world began!’ We may exclaim -with Johnson on the amount of Goldsmith’s debts, ‘Was -ever poet so trusted before!’</p> - -<p>In the midst of his business details and directions, -Scott’s peculiar humour and felicity of illustration are -perpetually breaking out. Of a neighbouring county -magnate he says: ‘I have heard of a Christian being a -Jew, but our friend is the essence of a whole synagogue.’ -His relation of the simplest occurrence is vivid and -characteristic. A high wind in Edinburgh, in January -1818, he thus notices: ‘I had more than an anxious -thought about you all during the gale of wind. The -Gothic pinnacles were blown from the top of Bishop -Sandford’s Episcopal chapel at the end of Princes -Street, and broke through the roof and flooring, doing -great damage. This was sticking the horns of the mitre -into the belly of the church. The devil never so well -deserved the title of Prince of the power of the air, -since he has blown down this handsome church, and -left the ugly mass of new building standing on the -North Bridge.’ One incidental remark illustrates the -deception men often practise on themselves: ‘I have -not,’ he says, ‘a head for accounts, and detest debt. -When I find expense too great, I strike sail, and diminish -future outlay, which is the only principle for careless -accountants to act upon.’ Happy would it have been -for him if his practice had corresponded with his theory!</p> - -<p>The year 1820 was, in the family calendar of the -poet, one of peculiar interest and importance. It was -the year in which his eldest daughter was married; -the year in which he received the honour of the -baronetcy; and the year in which he sat to Chantrey -for his bust—that admirable work of art which has made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -his features familiar in every quarter of the globe. He -sat also this year to Sir Thomas Lawrence. ‘The king,’ -he writes, ‘has commanded me to sit to Sir Thomas -Lawrence for a portrait, for his most sacred apartment. -I want to have in <i>Maida</i>’ [his favourite deer-hound], -‘that there may be one handsome fellow of the party.’ -Late in life, Sir Walter sat to Lawrence Macdonald the -sculptor, and Laidlaw says of the artist and his work:</p> - -<p>‘We were much pleased with some days of Macdonald -the sculptor, who modelled Sir Walter while he was -dictating to me. Macdonald’s model was in a higher -style of art than Chantrey’s, and from that cause, had -not so much character. Macdonald confessed this was -not so much his object. It was a faithful likeness, -nevertheless, but not so familiar. For the same reason, -he would not take the exact figure of the head, which -is irregular. Chantrey likewise declined to shew this, -which the phrenologists will probably regret.’</p> - -<p>Mr Lawrence Macdonald still lives to delight his -friends, and pursue his art in Rome, where he has long -resided. He has no recollection of the ‘irregularity,’ -referred to. Laidlaw knew nothing of art, and by ‘high -style,’ he probably meant an idealised likeness—a look -to ‘elevate and surprise.’ The extreme length of the -upper lip was a personal characteristic of Sir Walter, -which he was glad to see artists reduce, and which none -of the portraits fully represents. It is by no means -uncommon among the stalwart men of the Border, -but is unquestionably a defect as respects personal -appearance. The Stratford bust of Shakspeare, it will -be recollected, has the same long upper lip, as well as -the memorable high forehead, that distinguished Scott. -Of Chantrey, Laidlaw writes:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span></p> - -<p>‘I met at breakfast Chantrey the sculptor, a real -blunt, spirited, fine Yorkshireman, with great good-humour, -and an energy of character about him that -would have made his fortune—and a great one—had -he gone to London as a tailor. He killed a fine salmon -in the Tweed, and led another a long time, but let it -go among the great stones and cut his line. Colonel -Ferguson said he believed he would rather have given -his best statue than lost the fish.’</p> - -<p>Chantrey was an enthusiastic angler.</p> - -<p>The baronetcy was a step of rank which Sir Walter -said was the king’s own free motion, and none of his -seeking. To a lady whom he highly esteemed—the -late Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth—he -wrote:</p> - -<p>‘The circumstance of my children being heirs to their -uncle’s fortune, relieved me in a great degree of the -chief objection to accepting with gratitude what was so -graciously offered, namely, that which arose from a more -limited income than becomes even the lowest step of -hereditary rank.... Mr Lockhart, to whom Sophia -is now married, is the husband of her choice. He is -a man of excellent talents, master of his pen and of his -pencil, handsome in person, and well-mannered, though -wanting that ease which the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">usage du monde</i> alone can -give. I like him very much; for having no son who -promises to take a literary turn, it is of importance to -me, both in point of comfort and otherwise, to have -some such intimate friend and relation, whose pursuits -and habits are similar to my own—so that, upon the -whole, I trust I have gained a son instead of losing a -daughter.’<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span></p> - -<p>Early next year (1821), Scott was in London, and on -February 16, took place the unfortunate duel, in which -John Scott, editor of the <i>London Magazine</i>, fell. The -antagonist of John Scott was Mr Christie, a barrister, -the friend of Lockhart. ‘I have had much to plague -me here,’ writes Sir Walter, ‘besides the death of John -Scott, who departed last night; so much for being slow -to take the field!’ And in another letter he recurs to -the subject: ‘The death of my unlucky namesake, John -Scott, you will have heard of. The poor man fought -a most unnecessary duel to regain his lost character, -and so lost his life into the bargain.’ The loss of life -was chiefly owing to the blundering of John Scott’s -second in the duel, who permitted a second fire to take -place after Mr Christie had discharged his pistol down -the field.</p> - -<p>The visit of King George IV. to Scotland in 1822, -was an event sure to call forth the enthusiastic loyalty -of Sir Walter. His Majesty’s personal attentions, besides -the distinction of the baronetcy, elicited his warmest -gratitude, and, in addition, all his fervid nationality and -veneration for the throne were kindled on this occasion. -To see the king in the ancient palace of Holyrood, was -itself an incident like the realisation of a dream. The -whole city was in a state of frantic excitement: ‘Edinburgh -is irrecoverably mad,’ said Scott. To Laidlaw, -the chivalrous poet writes:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Willie</span>—You are quite right in your opinion -of Saunders. He never shewed himself a more true-blooded -gentleman. The extreme tact and taste of all -ranks has surprised the king and all about him. No -rushing or roaring, but a devoted attachment, expressed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -by a sort of dignified reverence, which seemed divided -betwixt a high veneration for their sovereign and a -suitable regard for themselves. I have seen in my day -many a levee and drawing-room, but none so august -and free from absurdity and ridicule as those of Holyrood. -The apartments also, desolate and stripped as -they have been, are worth a hundred of Carlton or -Buckingham House; but the singular and native good-breeding -of the people, who never saw a court, is the -most remarkable of all. The populace without, shew -the same propriety as the gentles within. The people -that our carriages passed amongst to-day were all full -of feeling, and it was remarkable that, instead of -huzzaing, they shewed the singular compliment of lifting -up their children to see them—the most affecting thing -you ever witnessed. When Saunders goes wrong, it -must be from <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">malice prepense</i>; for no one knows so well -how to do right. Mamma (Lady Scott), Sophia, and -Anne were dreadfully frightened, and I, of course, -though an old courtier, in such a court as Holyrood, -was a good deal uneasy. The king, however, spoke to -them, and they were all kissed in due form, though they -protest they are still at a loss how the ceremony was -performed. The king leaves on Wednesday, to my great -joy, for strong emotions cannot last. He has lived -entirely within doors. To-morrow, I suppose, there is -a dinner-party at Dalkeith, as I am commanded there, -but it is the first. I have had, from over-exertion and -distress of mind, a strong cutaneous eruption in my -legs and arms. You would think I had adopted the -national musical instrument to regale his Majesty; but, -seriously, I believe I should have been ill but for the -relief Nature has been pleased to afford me in this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> -ungainly way. Fortunately, my hands and face are -clear.</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. S.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p>And Laidlaw, writing to a friend, gives some further -particulars:</p> - -<p>‘Sir Walter was very full of the king for a while, but -we went up Ettrick, and I have seen but little of him -since. He had serious work with the English noblemen -in the king’s train, who did not seem to wish that Scotland -should shew off as an independent kingdom, which, -by the articles of the Union, was provided for in the -event of the king’s coming to Edinburgh. They wanted -all to be done according to English form, as was the -case in Ireland, but he settled them. They proposed, -too, that the Highland guard (indeed they objected to -the guard altogether) should have the flints taken from -their pistols! A deputy, Colonel Stevenson, had the -management, and corresponded with Sir Walter; and as -he was to dine at Castle Street with a number of the -Highland chiefs, Sir Walter proposed that the colonel -should speak to them on the subject. After they were -a little warmed with wine, Sir Walter addressed Stevenson, -who sat beside him, saying he had better now propose -what he had mentioned before. The Highlanders -had got to telling old stories, and were in high spirits; -they were, of course, in full dress. Colonel Stevenson -said he saw now that he had mistaken the sort of people -beside him; and on Sir Walter pressing him (rather -slyly) to proceed, he declared he would rather not.</p> - -<p>‘The king was greatly surprised and affected with the -behaviour of the people on Sunday. They did not -cheer as usual, but took off their hats and bowed as -they passed along. He expressed himself strongly to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> -Sir Walter about this. Sir Walter said the verses of the -cavalier to his mistress might be applied to the people:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“Yet this inconstancy is such</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As you too shall adore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not love thee, dear, so much,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Loved I not honour more.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">I found the lines were by Lovelace, addressed to his -Lucasta, on his going to the wars. The king witnessed -an incident that seemed, as Sir Walter said, to have -made a deep impression on his mind. As he came -along the Calton Hill road, the crowd made a rush down -hill towards the royal carriage, and the king saw a child -fall. Had it been in London, he said, the child would -have been trampled to death, and he expected nothing -else. But in a moment there was a loud cry of “Stop!” -and five or six men linked themselves together arm-in-arm, -and set themselves to keep off the crowd, standing -like an arch; then a man stepped before them and lifted -the boy, and held him up above the crowd, to shew that -he was not hurt. Sir Walter heard the king relate this -incident twice.’</p> - -<p>In the autumn of 1825, Sir Walter visited Ireland, -and thus, in homely confidential style, records his -impressions:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Willie</span>—I conclude you are now returned, -with wife and bairns, to Kaeside, and not the worse of -your tour. I have been the better of mine; and Killarney -being the extreme point, I am just about to -commence my return to Dublin, where I only intend -to remain two or three days at farthest. I should like -to find a line from you, addressed “Care of David -Macculloch, Esq., Cheltenham,” letting me know how<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span> -matters go on at Abbotsford—if you want money (as I -suppose you do), and so forth.</p> - -<p>‘I have every reason to make a good report of -Ireland, having been received with distinction, which -is flattering, and with warm-hearted kindness, which is -much better. I am happy to say the country is rapidly -improving every year, which argues the spirit that is -afloat, and indicates that British capital is finding its -way into a country where it can be employed to advantage. -The idea of security is gaining ground even in -those districts which are, or rather were, the most -unsettled, and plenty has brought her usual companion -content, in her hand. But the public peace is secured -chiefly by large bodies of armed police, called by the -civil term of constables, but very unlike the Dogberries -of England, being, in fact, soldiers on foot and horse, -well armed and mounted, and dressed exactly like our -yeomen. It is not pleasant to see this, but it is -absolutely necessary for some time at least; and from -all I can hear, the men are under strict discipline, and -behave well. They are commanded by the magistracy, -and are very alert.</p> - -<p>‘The soil is in most places extremely rich, but cultivation -is not as yet well understood. That accursed -system of making peats interferes with everything; and -I have passed through whole counties where a very -noble harvest, ripe for the sickle, was waiting for the -next shower of rain; while all the population who should -cut were up to the midst in bogs. Not a single field -of turnips have I seen, owing probably to the same -reason.</p> - -<p>‘The political disputes are of far less consequence -here than we think in Britain; but, on the whole, it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -would be highly desirable that the Catholic Bill should -pass. It would satisfy most of the higher classes of -that persuasion, who seem much inclined to form a sort -of Low Church, differing in ceremonies more than in -essential points from that of the English Church. I -mean they would do this tacitly and gradually. The -lower class will probably continue for a long time bigoted -Papists; but education becoming general, it is to be -supposed that popery, in its violent tenets, will decline -even amongst them. By the way, education is already -far more general than in England. I saw in the same -village four hundred Catholic children attending school, -and about two hundred Protestants attending another. -The peculiar doctrines of neither church were permitted -to be taught; and there were Protestants amongst the -Papist children, and Papists among the Protestant.</p> - -<p>‘The general condition of the peasantry requires -much improvement. Their cabins are wretched, and -their dress such a labyrinth of rags, that I have often -feared some button would give way, and shame us all. -But this is mending, and the younger people are all -more decently dressed, and the new huts which are -arising are greatly better than the old pigsties. In -short, all is on the move and the mend. But as I must -be on the move myself, I must defer the rest of my -discoveries till we meet. We have in our party, Anne, -Lockhart, Walter and his wife, and two Miss Edgeworths, -so we are a jolly party. Will you shew this to -Lady Scott? I wrote to her two days since.—Always -truly yours,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span>. -</p> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Killarney</span>, <i>8th August</i>.’</p> -</div> - -<p>The brilliance of Abbotsford had now reached its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -culminating point. The commercial crisis of 1825–26 -was close at hand, and the first note of the alarm and -confusion in the money-market suspended all improvements, -and occasioned intense anxiety to Sir Walter. -We add two letters as supplementing Lockhart’s narrative:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear William</span>—The money-market in London -is in a tremendous state, so much so that, whatever -good reason I have, and I have the best, for knowing -that Constable and his allies, Hurst and Robinson, are -in perfect force, yet I hold it wise and necessary to -prepare myself for making good my engagements, which -come back on me suddenly, or by taking up those -which I hold good security for. For this purpose I -have resolved to exercise my reserved faculty to burden -Abbotsford with £8000 or £10,000. I can easily get -the money, and having no other debts, and these well -secured, I hold it better to “put money in my purse,” -and be a debtor on my land for a year or two, till -the credit of the public is restored. I may not want -the money, in which case I will buy into the funds, -and make some cash by it. But I think it would -be most necessary, and even improper not to be fully -prepared.</p> - -<p>‘What I want of you is to give me a copy of the -rental of Abbotsford, as it now stands, mentioning the -actual rents of ground let, and the probable rents of -those in my hand. You gave me one last year, but I -would rather have the actual rents, and as such business -is express, I would have you send it immediately, and -keep it all as much within as you think fair and prudent. -Your letter need only contain the rental, and you may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -write your remarks separately. I have not the slightest -idea of losing a penny, but the distrust is so great in -London that the best houses refuse the best bills of the -best tradesmen, and as I have retained such a sum in -view of protecting my literary commerce, I think it -better to make use of it, and keep my own mind easy, -than to carry about bills to unwilling banks, and beg -for funds which I can use of my own. I have more -than £10,000 to receive before Midsummer, but then -I might be put to vexation before that, which I am -determined to prevent.</p> - -<p>‘By all I can learn, this is just such an embarrassment -as may arise when pickpockets cry “Fire!” in a crowd, -and honest men get trampled to death. Thank God, I -can clear myself of the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">mêlée</i>, and am not afraid of the -slightest injury. If the money horizon does not clear -up in a month or two, I will abridge my farming, &c. -I cannot find there is any real cause for this; but an -imaginary one will do equal mischief. I need not say -this is confidential.—Yours truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span>. -</p> - -<p>‘<i>16th December</i> [1825], <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.’</p> -</div> - -<p>‘The confusion of 1814 is a joke to this. I have no -debts of my own. On the contrary, £3000 and more -lying out on interest, &c. It is a little hard that, -making about £7000 a year, and working hard for it, -I should have this botheration. But it arises out of the -nature of the same connection which gives, and has -given me, a fortune, and therefore I am not entitled to -grumble.’</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"> -[<span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>, <i>January 26, 1826</i>.] -</p> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Willie</span>—I wrote to you some days since,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> -but from yours by the carrier I see my letter has not -reached you. It does not much signify, as it was not, -and could not be, of any great consequence until I see -how these untoward matters are to turn up. Of course, -everything will depend on the way the friends of the -great house in London, and those of Constable here, -shall turn out. Were they to be ultimately good, or -near it, this would pass over my head with little inconvenience. -But I think it better to take the worst point -of view, and suppose that I do not receive from them -above five shillings in the pound; and even in that case, -I am able to make a proposal to my creditors, that if -they allow me to put my affairs into the hands of a -private trustee, or trustees, and finish the literary engagements -I have on hand, there is no great chance of their -being ultimate losers. This is the course I should -choose. But if they wish rather to do what they can -for themselves, they will, in that case, give me a great -deal of pain, and make a great deal less of the funds. -For, it is needless to say, that no security can make a -man write books, and upon my doing so—I mean completing -those in hand—depends the instant payment of -a large sum. I have no reason to apprehend that any -of the parties concerned are blind to their interest in -this matter. I have had messages from all the banks, -&c., offering what assistance they could give, so that I -think my offer will be accepted. Indeed, as they cannot -sell Abbotsford, owing to its being settled in Walter’s -marriage contract, there can be little doubt they will -adopt the only way which promises, with a little time, to -give them full payment, and my life may, in the meanwhile, -be insured. My present occupations completed, -will enable me to lay down, in the course of the summer,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span> -at least £20,000 of good cash, which, if things had -remained sound among the booksellers, would have put -me on velvet.</p> - -<p>‘The probable result being that we must be accommodated -with the delay necessary, our plan is to sell -the house and furniture in Castle Street, and Lady S. -and Anne to come to Abbotsford, with a view of economising, -while I take lodgings in Edinburgh, and work -hard till the Session permits me to come out. All our -farming operations must, of course, be stopped so soon -as they can with least possible loss, and stock, &c., -disposed of. In short, everything must be done to -avoid outlay. At the same time, there can be no want -of comfort. I must keep Peter and the horses for Lady -Scott’s sake, though I make sacrifices in my own [case]. -Bogie, I think, we will also keep, but we must sell the -produce of the garden. As for Tom, he and I go to -the grave together. All idle horses, &c., must be -dispensed with.</p> - -<p>‘For you, my dear friend, we must part—that is, as -laird and factor—and it rejoices me to think that your -patience and endurance, which set me so good an -example, are like to bring round better days. You -never flattered my prosperity, and in my adversity it is -not the least painful consideration that I cannot any -longer be useful to you. But Kaeside, I hope, will still -be your residence; and I will have the advantage of -your company and advice, and probably your services -as amanuensis. Observe, I am not in indigence, though -no longer in affluence; and if I am to exert myself in -the common behalf, I must have honourable and easy -means of life, although it will be my inclination to -observe the most strict privacy, both to save expense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span> -and also time; nor do we propose to see any one but -yourself and the Fergusons.</p> - -<p>‘I will be obliged to you to think over all these -matters; also whether anything could be done in leasing -the saw-mill, or Swanston working it for the public. I -should like to keep him if I could. I imagine they -must leave me my official income, which, indeed, is not -liable to be attached. That will be £1600 a year, but -there is Charles’s college expenses come to £300 at -least. I can add, however, £200 or £300 without -interrupting serious work. Three or four years of my -favour with the public, if my health and life permit, will -make me better off than ever I have been in my life. -I hope it will not inconvenience the Miss Smiths to be -out of their money for a little while. It is a most -unexpected chance on my part.</p> - -<p>‘All that I have said is for your consideration and -making up your mind, for nothing can be certain till -we hear what the persons principally concerned please -to say. But then, if they accede to the trust, we will -expect to have the pleasure of seeing you here with a -list of stock and a scheme of what you think best to be -done. My purpose is that everything shall be paid -ready money from week to week.</p> - -<p>‘I have £180 to send to you, and it is in my hands. -Of course it will be paid, but I am unwilling to send it -until I know the exact footing on which I am to stand. -The gentleman whom I wish should be my trustee—or -one of them—is John Gibson, the Duke’s factor.</p> - -<p>‘Lady Scott’s spirits were affected at first, but she is -getting better. For myself, I feel like the Eildon Hills—quite -firm, though a little cloudy. I do not dislike -the path which lies before me. I have seen all that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span> -society can shew, and enjoyed all that wealth can give -me, and I am satisfied much is vanity, if not vexation -of spirit. I am arranging my affairs, and mean to -economise a good deal, and I will pay every man his -due.—Yours truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span>.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p>There was some delusion in all this. Sir Walter never -fully comprehended the state of his pecuniary affairs. -It was one of his weaknesses, as James Ballantyne has -said, to shrink too much from looking evil in the face, -and he was apt to carry a great deal too far ‘sufficient -for the day is the evil thereof.’ Laidlaw mentions -another small weakness: ‘he was always in alarm lest -the servants should suspect he was in want of money.’ -This, of course, was subsequent to the public declaration -of the failure. Laidlaw went to Edinburgh to report to -the trustees with respect to the best way of closing the -farm business, and there met Sir Walter.</p> - -<p>‘He bears himself wonderfully. Miss Scott does not -seem to be quite aware or sensible of anything but that -they are to reside in retirement at Abbotsford. Lady -Scott is rather unwilling to believe it, and does not see -the necessity of such complete retrenchment as Sir -Walter tells her is absolutely necessary. I have dined -three times there, and there is not much difference in -their manner. Sir W. is often merry, and so are they -all, but still oftener silent. I think that if they were a -week or two at Abbotsford they would be more happy -than they have been for many a day. I am sure this -would be the case with Sir Walter, for the weight of -such an immense system of bills sent for his signature -every now and then would be off his mind. I heard to-day -that the Duke of Somerset and another English<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span> -nobleman have written to Sir Walter, offering him -£30,000 each, which he has firmly refused; and it is -reported that the young Duke of Buccleuch has written -him, offering to take the whole loss on himself, and to -pay the interest of Sir Walter’s debt until he comes of -age. If that is true, Sir Walter should accept the offer -for the Duke’s own sake—for the glorious moral effect -it would have upon the truly noble young fellow. But, -apart from all this, cannot they set up Constable again? -He has likewise been a real benefactor to his country, -and then Sir Walter would, of course, be relieved.’</p> - -<p>The private grief of Scott was for a short time merged -in what he considered an important public cause. The -Liverpool Administration at this time proposed to -change the Scotch system of currency, abolishing the -small bank-notes, and assimilating the monetary system -of Scotland to that of England. This project was -assailed by the wit, humour, sound sense, and nationality -of Scott, in a series of letters signed ‘Malachi Malagrowther,’ -and the letters of Malachi were as successful -as those of Swift’s ‘M. B. Drapier’ concerning the -currency of Ireland. The English government, in both -cases, was compelled to abandon the denationalising -scheme. Scott writes to Laidlaw, March 1, 1826:</p> - -<p>‘I enclose a couple of copies of a pamphlet on the -currency, which may amuse you. The other copy is -for Mr Craig, Galashiels. I have got off some bile from -my stomach which has been disturbing me for some -years. The Scotch have a fair opportunity now to give -battle, if they dare avail themselves of it. One would -think I had little to do, that I should go loose upon -politics.’</p> - -<p>He had, in fact, entered upon his herculean task of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -paying off some £120,000 of debt by his pen! The -<i>Life of Napoleon</i> was commenced, and in the autumn -the biographer set off for London and Paris to consult -state-papers and gather information. He succeeded -well in his errand. ‘My collection of information,’ he -writes, ‘goes on faster than I can take it in; but, then, -it is so much coloured by passion and party-feeling, that -it requires much scouring. I spent a day at the Royal -Lodge at Windsor, which was a grand affair for John -Nicholson, as he got an opportunity to see his Majesty.’ -And the incident, no doubt, afforded as much gratification -to the kind, indulgent master as it did to the -servant.</p> - -<p>After the Abbotsford establishment was broken up, -Laidlaw was some time engaged in cataloguing the large -library of Scott of Harden, and at times visiting his -brothers, sheep-farmers in Ross-shire. The following -description of a scene he witnessed, a Highland Summer -Sacrament out of doors, evinces no mean powers of -observation and description:</p> - -<p>‘The people here gather in thousands to the sacraments, -as they did in Ettrick in Boston’s time. We set -out on Sunday to the communion at Ferrintosh, near -Dingwall, to which the people resort from fifty miles’ -distance. Macdonald, the minister who attracts this -concourse of persons, was the son of a piper in Caithness -(but from the Celtic population of the mountains -there). He preached the sermon in the church in -English, with a command of language and a justness of -tone, action, and reasoning—keeping close to the pure -metaphysics of Calvin—that I have seldom, if ever, -heard surpassed. He had great energy on all points, -but it never touched on extravagance. The Highland<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -congregation sat in a <em>cleugh</em>, or dell, of a long, hollow, -oval shape, bordered with hazel and birch and wild roses. -It seemed to be formed for the purpose. We -walked round the outside of the congregated thousands, -and looked down on the glen from the upper end, and -the scene was really indescribable. Two-thirds of those -present were women, dressed mostly in large, high, -wide muslin caps, the back part standing up like the -head of a paper kite, and ornamented with ribbons. -They had wrapped round them bright-coloured plaid -shawls, the predominant hue being scarlet.</p> - -<p>‘It was a warm, breezy day, one of the most glorious -in June. The place will be about half a mile from the -Frith on the south side, and at an elevation of five -hundred feet. Dingwall was just opposite at the foot of -Ben Wyvis, still spotted with wreaths of snow. Over -the town, with its modern castle, its church, and -Lombardy poplars, we saw up the richly cultivated -valley of Strathpeffer. The tufted rocks and woods of -Brahan (Mackenzie of Seaforth) were a few miles to the -south, and fields of wheat and potatoes, separated with -hedgerows of trees, intervened. Further off, the high-peaked -mountains that divide the county of Inverness -from Ross-shire towered in the distance. I never saw -such a scene. We sat down on the brae among the -people, the long white communion tables being conspicuous -at the bottom. The congregation began -singing the psalm to one of the plaintive, wild old tunes -that I am told are only sung in the Gaelic service. The -people all sing, but in such an extended multitude they -could not sing all together. They chanted, as it were, -in masses or large groups. I can compare the singing -to nothing earthly, except it be imagining what would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -be the effect of a gigantic and tremendous Æolian harp -with hundreds of strings! There was no resisting the -impression. After coming a little to myself, I went and -paced the length and breadth of the amphitheatre, -taking averages, and carefully noting, as well as I could, -how the people were sitting together, and I could not, -in this way, make them less than 9500, besides those in -the church, amounting perhaps to 1500. Most of the -gentlemen of the neighbourhood, with their families, -were there. I enjoyed the scene as something perfect in -its way, and of rare beauty and excellence—like Melrose -Abbey under a fine light, or the back of old Edinburgh -during an illumination, or the Loch of the Lowes in a -fine calm July evening, five minutes after sunset!’</p> - -<p>The following brief and pleasant note, without date, -must be referred to 1827, as it was in June of that year -that the <i>Life of Napoleon</i> was published:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Mr Laidlaw</span>—I would be happy if you -would come down at <em>kail-time</em> to-day. <i>Napoleon</i> (6000 -copies) is sold for £11,000.—Yours truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. S. -</p> - -<p>‘<i>Sunday.</i>’</p> -</div> - -<p>Mr Gibson, W.S., in his <i>Reminiscences of Sir Walter -Scott</i> (1871), says of the transactions of this period: -‘Of <i>Woodstock</i>, 9850 copies were sold for £9500; and -of the <i>Life of Napoleon</i>, 8000 copies were sold for -£18,200, and these sums, with some other funds -realised, were speedily divided amongst the creditors.’ -Under the date of August 1827, Sir Walter writes in the -following affectionate strain:</p> - -<p>‘Your leaving Kaeside makes a most melancholy -blank to us. You, Mrs Laidlaw, and the bairns, were -objects we met with so much pleasure, that it is painful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> -to think of strangers being there. But they do not -deserve good weather who cannot endure the bad, and -so I would “set a stout heart to a stey” [steep] “brae;” -yet I think the loss of our walks, plans, discussions, -and debates, does not make the least privation that I -experience from the loss of world’s gear. But, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sursum -corda</i>, and we shall have many happy days yet, and -spend some of them together. I expect Walter and -Jane, and then our long-separated family will be all -together in peace and happiness. I hope Mrs Laidlaw -and you will come down and spend a few days with us, -and revisit your old haunts. I miss you terribly at this -moment, being engaged in writing a planting article for -the <i>Quarterly</i>, and not having patience to make some -necessary calculations.’</p> - -<p>Mr Laidlaw has written on the back of the communication: -‘This letter lies in the drawer in which the -unfinished manuscript of <i>Waverley</i> was found, amongst -fishing-tackle, &c. which yet remain. I got the desk as -a present from Sir Walter.’</p> - -<p>The death, in the autumn of 1829, of faithful Tom -Purdie—forester, henchman, and humble friend—was a -heavy blow to Sir Walter, then fast sinking in vigour -and alacrity. The proverbial difficulty of obtaining a -precisely exact account of any contemporary event, even -from parties most closely connected with it, is illustrated -in this case. Lockhart reports the death as follows:</p> - -<p>‘Thomas Purdie leaned his head one evening on the -table, and dropped asleep. This was nothing uncommon -in a hard-working man; and his family went and came -about him for several hours, without taking any notice. -When supper came, they tried to awaken him, and found -that life had been for some time extinct.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span></p> - -<p>Scott’s account is different:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Willie</span>—I write to tell you the shocking -news of poor Tom Purdie’s death, by which I have been -greatly affected. He had complained, or rather spoken, -of a sore throat; and the day before yesterday, as it -came on a shower of rain, I wanted him to walk fast on -to Abbotsford before me, but you know well how -impossible that was. He took some jelly, or trifle of -that kind, but made no complaint. This morning he -rose from bed as usual, and sat down by the table with -his head on his hand; and when his daughter spoke to -him, life had passed away without a sigh or groan. -Poor fellow! There is a heart cold that loved me well, -and, I am sure, thought of my interest more than his -own. I have seldom been so much shocked. I wish -you would take a ride down and pass the night. There -is much I have to say, and this loss adds to my wish to -see you. We dine at four. The day is indifferent, but -the sooner the better.—Yours very truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span>. -</p> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Abbotsford</span>, <i>31st October</i>.’</p> -</div> - -<p>A few days afterwards (November 5), Laidlaw thus -relates the story:</p> - -<p>‘Tom Purdie, poor fellow! died on Friday night or -Saturday morning. He had fallen asleep with his head -on his hands resting on the table, his usual practice. -Margaret and Mary’ [his wife and daughter] ‘left him -to go to bed when he should awaken; and Margaret -found him exactly in the same situation when she rose, -but dead, cold, and stiff. Sir Walter wrote to me, in -great distress, to come down. I did so on Sunday, and -on Tuesday I went to poor Tom’s funeral. Sir Walter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -had my pony put in again, and made me stay all day. -He was in very great distress about Tom, and will miss -him continually, and in many ways that come nearest to -him. Sir Walter wants us to return to Kaeside at Whitsunday. -<em>Kindness of heart is positively the reigning -quality of Sir Walter’s character!</em>’</p> - -<p>A noble eulogium, and pronounced by one better -qualified, perhaps, than any of his contemporaries, to -form the opinion so expressed. Of the greatest author -of his age it might truly be said:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘His highest honours to the heart belong.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>William Laidlaw <em>did</em> return to Kaeside. At Whitsuntide -1830, he dropped anchor safely at his old roadstead, -which had been suitably prepared for his reception. -But before doing so, we find him putting in a kind word -for the Ettrick Shepherd, who was in difficulties. In -March 1830, Laidlaw wrote to Sir Walter:</p> - -<p>‘I had your letter from Bowhill, and was much -gratified to learn that you and Miss Scott had passed -so much time with the duke and duchess. I have no -doubt that His Grace would bring our friend the Shepherd -and his concerns before you, and I am anxious to -know if it is the duke’s intention to render him a little -more comfortable at Altrive. You know that Hogg -built the cottage there, at his own expense (with an -allowance of wood, perhaps), and he likewise built a -considerable addition to Mount Benger, and a barn—all -which cost him a great sum of money, quite disproportionate -to a holding of £7 a year, even at a -nominal rent. The cottage was intended for a -bachelor’s abode, and is very inadequate to what is now -required by the bard’s family; and I see that if His<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span> -Grace does not think of giving him some allowance as -an addition, it will most likely banish him from the -district with which his poetry and feeling are so closely -associated. I mention all this because I have observed -that there is a prejudice against him among the sub-agents -since Christie left the service, or rather, since the -late duke’s death. One of them said to me, when I -mentioned Hogg’s genius and amiable character, <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">Cui -bono?</i> I, too, say, <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">Cui bono?</i> What is the use of all his -poetry, and the rest? Now, from R.’s usage of him, -there is every reason to suspect that he is a <i xml:lang="it" lang="it">cui bono</i> -man too, and Hogg stands a bad chance among them, -and I believe the duke knows nothing about the truth -of the matter.’</p> - -<p>Nothing was done. ‘As to the success of an application -to the duke,’ writes Scott, ‘I am doubtful. The -duke seemed to have made up his mind on the subject, -and I saw no chance of being of service.’ Literature -and the journey to London did something for the -Shepherd. He wrote and struggled on at Altrive till -November 1835, when the ‘world’s poor strife’ was -over, and he sank to rest.</p> - -<p>Among the dearest and most valued of all the visitors -at Abbotsford were the Fergusons of Huntly Burn. -Here is a kindly note sent to Kaeside:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘Miss Ferrier is to be at Abbotsford this day, being -Tuesday, 20th October’ [1829], ‘and Mr Wilkie is to be -there on Thursday; so, if you come, you will have -painting, poetry, history, and music—as Miss Wilkie is -a musician. In short, all the Muses will be there. If -this does not tempt you, I don’t know what will.—Yours -truly,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Isabella Ferguson</span>.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span></p> - -<p>Ill-health and political agitation brought darker days -to Abbotsford. The Reform Bill was Sir Walter’s <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">bête -noire</i>. The neighbouring Tory lairds, proud of his -co-operation, induced him to join in their local movement -against the bill, and this still further aggravated -his morbid feeling. In March 1831, he was present at -a meeting of the freeholders of Roxburgh, held at -Jedburgh, to pass resolutions against the Reform Bill. -He was dragged to the meeting by the young Duke -of Buccleuch and Mr Henry Scott of Harden, contrary -to his prior resolution, and his promise to Miss Scott; -for his health was then much shattered. ‘He made a -confused imaginative speech,’ says Laidlaw, ‘which was -full of evil forebodings and mistaken views. The -people who were auditors, in proportion to their love -and reverence for him, felt disappointed and sore, and, -like himself, were carried away by their temporary -chagrin, to the great regret of the country around.’ At -the election in Jedburgh, Sir Walter was hooted at, and -hissed, and saluted with cries of ‘Burke Sir Walter!’ -Laidlaw adds: ‘The same people, a few weeks afterwards, -when Mr Oliver, the sheriff of Roxburgh, was -foolishly swearing in constables at Melrose, said boldly -they need not bring them to fight against reform, for -they would fight for it; but if any one meddled with Sir -Walter Scott, they would fight for him.’ Amidst all the -excitement of politics, and in sinking health, Sir Walter -continued to write, or rather to dictate, and worked -steadily at his novel of <i>Count Robert of Paris</i>.</p> - -<p>‘I am now writing as amanuensis for Sir Walter,’ -said Laidlaw; ‘and have the satisfaction of finding that -I am of essential service to him, as he was attacked -with chilblains on his hands to such a degree as to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -unfit him for writing long unless with great pain. We -go on with almost as great spirit as when he dictated -<i>Ivanhoe</i>. He has become a good deal lamer, which -prevents him from taking his usual walks; and he gets -upon a pony with great difficulty. But of late he has -been in excellent spirits. His memory seems to be as -good as ever; at least, it is far beyond that of other -people. I come down at seven o’clock, and write until -nine; we are at it again before ten, and continue -until one. He is impatient and miserable when not -employed.’</p> - -<p>About this time—the spring of 1831—Joanna Baillie -published a thin volume of selections from the New -Testament ‘regarding the nature and dignity of Jesus -Christ.’ The tendency of the work was Socinian, or at -least Arian; and Scott was indignant that his friend -should have meddled with such a subject. ‘What had -<em>she</em> to do with questions of that sort?’ He refused to -add the book to his library, and gave it to Laidlaw. -One day Sir Walter was loud in praise of one of the -workmen engaged at Abbotsford, a native of the neighbouring -village of Darnick. ‘Yes,’ added Laidlaw; -‘and do you know, Sir Walter, he is an excellent Burgher -preacher.’<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> ‘A preacher, d—n him!’ exclaimed Scott -jocularly, and wheeling round as if to whistle the -Burgher preacher down the wind.</p> - -<p>In a very manly and interesting letter, addressed to -Lockhart (of which he had kept a copy), Laidlaw enters -into further particulars concerning the studies at Abbotsford:</p> - -<p>‘Sir Walter is very greatly better. He has given up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span> -smoking, and takes porridge to his supper instead of -the long and hearty pull of brown stout. He is full -of jokes and glee. Were it possible to prevail upon -him to wear a greatcoat when he rides out to the hills -in a north-west wind, and to take champagne and water -instead of a monstrous tumbler of strong ale after tea, I -am positive—and so are the regular medical people—that -he would get right again. He drinks no wine, and -has been advised to take gin-toddy instead of whisky. -He has given up the regular dram out of a <em>quaich</em>, but -takes a sly taste of the excellent hollands before he -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coups</i> it into the tumbler, thereby satisfying his conscience, -no doubt, by reducing it to the half-glass which, -it seems, is the Abercromby law as to strong liquors. -Don’t you mind the style of his letters; that is all, or -nearly all, humbug. What he dictates of <i>Robert of -Paris</i> is, much of it, as good as anything he ever wrote. -He does not go on so fast; but I do not see that he is -much more apt to make blunders—that is, to let his -imagination get ahead of his speech—than when he wrote -<i>Ivanhoe</i>. The worst business was that accursed nonsensical -petition in the name of the magistrates, justices -of the peace, and freeholders of the extensive, influential, -and populous county of Selkirk! We were more than -three days at it. At the beginning of the third day, he -walked backwards and forwards, enunciating the half-sentences -with a deep and awful voice, his eyebrows -seemingly more shaggy than ever, and his eyes more -fierce and glaring—altogether, like the royal beast in -his cage! It suddenly came over me, as politics was -always Sir Walter’s weak point, that he was crazy, and -that I should have to come down to Abbotsford, and -write on and away at the petition until the crack of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> -doom! I was seized at the same moment with an -inclination, almost uncontrollable, to burst into laughter. -But seriously, you know, as well as anybody, his great -excitability on political matters; and I must say it -surprised me not a little that a person of your sagacity -and acuteness should have thought of writing him upon -politics at all, the more, because I believe that if a -magpie were to come and chatter politics, or even that -body, Lord M., he would believe all they said, if they -spoke of change, and danger, and rumours of war—<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">belli -servilis</i> more than all. (May I speak and live!) I felt -inclined to doubt whether you had not <em>gane gyte</em>’ [gone -crazy] ‘yourself! Could you not have sent him literary -chit-chat and amusing anecdotes from London, which -would have been the very thing for him, as it was of -great consequence that his mind should be kept calm -and cheerful?’</p> - -<p>Mental disease and physical infirmity continued to -increase, and a winter at Naples, with complete abstinence -from literary labour, was prescribed. Wordsworth -prayed for favouring gales:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">‘Be true,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye winds of ocean, and the midland sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wafting your charge to soft Parthenope!’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Alas! it was all in vain. Before quitting the country, -Sir Walter gave Laidlaw a mandate, or letter of authority, -to represent him at county meetings, and a paper of -directions as to keeping the house, the books, and -garden in order. Two items are worth quoting as -characteristic:</p> - -<p>‘The dogs to be taken care of, especially to shut -them up separately when there is anything to quarrel -about.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span></p> - -<p>‘When Mr Laidlaw thinks it will be well taken, to -consult Mr Nicol Milne, and not to stop young Mr -Nicol when shooting on our side of the hedge.’</p> - -<p>Having made these arrangements, the invalid thought -of taking a farewell look of Melrose Abbey. One -morning Mr Laidlaw’s family were startled to see Sir -Walter approaching Kaeside, feeble, and wearing his -nightcap, which apparently he had forgotten to exchange -for a hat. No notice was taken of the circumstance. -After the usual kindly salutations, he said, with a -tremulous voice, that he had come to take a last look -of the abbey. He proceeded to an elevated point -commanding a view of the spot, and after gazing long -and anxiously down on the town and abbey, he said -slowly: ‘It is a venerable ruin!’ and returned to -Abbotsford.</p> - -<p>The government, as is well known, placed a frigate -at his disposal for the voyage to the Mediterranean. -The reception at Portsmouth, and the arrangements on -board the <i>Barham</i>, were highly gratifying to Sir Walter -and his family. ‘The ship is magnificent,’ writes Mrs -Lockhart, ‘and carries four hundred and eighty men. -The rooms are excellent, and everything that could be -thought of for papa’s comfort, in every way, has been -done.’ Hopes of his ultimate recovery were entertained. -Cadell writes, December 29, 1831: ‘I have two long -letters from Sir Walter, one dated “Off Trafalgar, 14th -November,” and finished at Malta on the 23d. He is -in great glee, and must be much better. He has made -some progress with a new novel, <i>The Siege of Malta</i>.’ -At the date of the second letter, he had got through -thirty of his own pages. Major Scott arrived from -Naples on the 1st of April 1832, and brought no very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> -flattering tidings. ‘From his talk,’ writes Lockhart, -‘and from a huge bundle of letters which he conveyed, -we draw one inference—namely, that though the bodily -strength of your friend has improved since he left us, -there has been rather, if anything, a further dislocation -and prostration of the better part. Cadell is here, and -he and I and the major spent a sad enough evening -over the budget.’ All hope was soon dispelled. The -hurried journey home from Italy induced another attack -of apoplexy. He was struck while in the steamboat on -the Rhine at Cologne, and fell into Miss Scott’s arms. -Nicholson bled him instantly, and restored animation. -They pushed on for Rotterdam, and got there just as -the London boat was setting off for England. Laidlaw -writes to a friend:</p> - -<p>‘You will see by the newspapers that Sir Walter is -coming home to die, I fear, or worse. It has come to -what I always feared since he told me that Mr Cadell -had half the proceeds of the great new edition. Sir -Walter’s permanent income is, as you know, reduced -salary, £840; sheriffdom, £300—total, £1140. No -person can live at Abbotsford, and keep it up, in a -country-gentlemanly way, under £2000 a year, for it -will take nearly £1200 for servants, taxes, coals, garden, -horses, &c. The run of strangers was immense. Sir -Walter wrote for Keepsakes, Reviews, &c., and kept -things going; but of late this stream dried up, and he -has been confused in his notions of money matters. -He is much involved, and will not be able to draw any -more than his salaries. He has all this winter taken it -into his head that his debts are paid off, and this was -from catching at an idea of Cadell’s of borrowing money -and paying the creditors all except the interest. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -will know the truth when he comes to London, and -this, with the winter and cold weather, will kill him. -How can a man with his sensibility, used for thirty years -to the strongest excitement, and living on popular -applause, in luxury, glitter, and show, survive when all -is gone, and nothing but ruin, coldness, and darkness -remain?’</p> - -<p>Deprived of the use of his right arm and side, weak -and depressed, Sir Walter reached London on the -evening of the 13th of June 1832. Five days later, -Cadell writes: ‘Our poor friend is still alive, but very -ill. He took leave of his children to-day, very clearly -and distinctly. In the morning, he mistook Lockhart -for me; and it was some time before he could be put -right. The doctors doubt his getting over to-night.’ -He rallied, however, and next month was conveyed to -Abbotsford. Laidlaw’s account of Sir Walter’s arrival -(written the day after) differs in some particulars from -the narrative of Lockhart—one of the most affecting -narratives in the language.</p> - -<p>‘I was at the door when he’ [Sir Walter], ‘Mr and Mrs -Lockhart, and Miss Scott arrived. They said he would -not know me. He was in a sort of long carriage that -opened at the back. He had an uncommon stupid -look, staring straight before him; and assuredly he did -not know where he was. It was very dismal. I began -to feel myself agitated in spite of all my resolution. -Lockhart ordered away the ladies; and two servants, in -perfect silence, lifted him out, and carried him into the -dining-room. I followed, of course. They had placed -him in a low arm-chair, where he reclined. Mrs Lockhart -made a sign for me to step forward to see if he -would recognise me. She said: “Mr Laidlaw, papa.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -He raised his eyes a little, and when he caught mine, -he started, and exclaimed: “Good God, Mr Laidlaw! -I have thought of you a thousand times!” and he held -out his hand. They were all very much surprised; and -it being quite unexpected, I was much affected. He -was put to bed. I had gone into one of the empty -rooms, and some little time after Nicholson came to -tell me that Sir Walter wished to see me. He spoke a -little confusedly, but inquired if the people were suffering -any hardship, if they were satisfied, &c. I had written -to him that I had paid off nine or ten of the men after -he had gone away last year. I did not remain long.</p> - -<p>‘I understand Sir Walter’s mind has been wandering -from one dream to another; but now and then breaking -through the cloud that hangs over it, and surprising his -attendants with glimpses of his original intellect. Alas, -alas! However, he has rested better than for some -time past, and was wheeled into the library’ [July 12], -‘and seemed gratified. When I called about eleven -o’clock, he was sound asleep.’</p> - -<p>A fortnight later, Laidlaw writes:</p> - -<p>‘Sir Walter is generally collected in the morning, and -very restless and troublesome to his daughters during -the afternoon and night; often raving, but always quiet, -and generally shewing command of himself when Lockhart -comes in. Sometimes he seemed gratified at being -at home, and even once or twice made pertinent -quotations, and spoke of books, &c. Until yesterday, -he always knew me, and I clearly saw he had then a -distressing desire to speak to me. I perceived that -although he might appear to feel little pain, he was -really suffering a great deal, partly from a sense of his -situation and inaction, but chiefly from the overpowering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> -cloud and weight upon his great intellect. Yesterday, -he was apparently unconscious; he could not speak, -but was wheeled into the library for awhile. I never -witnessed a more moving or more melancholy sight. -Once, when Lockhart spoke of his restlessness, he -replied: “There will be rest in the grave.”’</p> - -<p>One delusion under which the illustrious sufferer -laboured was preparing Abbotsford for the reception of -the Duke of Wellington. Another was, his personation -of the character of a Scottish judge trying his own -daughters. In the course of the latter, there were -painful bursts of violence and excitement. ‘It is -strange,’ said Laidlaw, ‘that he never refers to any of -his works or literary plans.’ The truth is, he had -thrown them off, to use an expression of his own, with -‘an effort as spontaneous as that of a tree resigning its -leaves to the wind,’ and they soon passed from his -memory. Besides, he had, when in health, always -practised a modest reticence respecting his works, -which had become habitual. The following points to -the end of the struggle:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>‘Poor papa still lingers, although in the most hopeless -state of mind and body. For this week past, the doctor -has taken leave every day, saying he could not survive -the twenty-four hours; and to-day, he says the pulse is -weaker and worse than ever it has been, and that his -living is almost a miracle. How thankful we shall be -when it pleases God he is at rest, for a more complete -aberration of mind never was before; and he even now -is so violent we sometimes dare not go within reach of -his hand. And the miserable scenes we have witnessed -before his strength was reduced as it now is! One<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> -great comfort has been, all suffering, so far as we can -judge, mental or bodily, has been spared, and that for -two months past he has not for an instant been aware of -his situation. My brothers were sent for, and have -been here for two days. When all is over, Anne and I -and the children will leave this now miserable place for -ever. Lockhart is obliged to go straight to London, -but we mean to spend a couple of weeks with his -relations in Lanarkshire, and perhaps take Rokeby in -our way up. We are both much better than you would -expect under such sad circumstances. Excuse this -miserable scrawl; I hardly know what I write....</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">C. Sophia Lockhart.</span> -</p> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">Abbotsford</span>, <i>Sunday’ [September 16, 1832]</i>.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></p> -</div> - -<p>On the day succeeding that on which this melancholy -letter would seem to have been written, Sir Walter had -a brief interval of consciousness, as described by Lockhart, -although the biographer would appear to have -misdated the arrival of the sons of the poet. A few -more days terminated the struggle; Sir Walter died on -the 21st of September. In October, Laidlaw notes -that Major Scott had given him, accompanied with a -most gratifying letter, the locket which Sir Walter constantly -wore about his neck. This was presented to Sir -Walter by Major Scott and his wife (inscribed ‘From -Walter and Jane’) on the day of their marriage, and it -contained some of the hair of each. Major Scott -enclosed as much of Sir Walter’s hair as would supply -the place of theirs, which he wished to be taken out of -the locket. ‘I shall try to find room for all,’ said Mr -Laidlaw; and he did find room, interlacing the various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -hairs, and wearing the invaluable jewel to his dying day. -‘What a change the loss of Abbotsford must be to the -Fergusons and you all!’ writes Mrs Lockhart, ‘the -gentle Sophia,’ as Miss Martineau describes the fair -sufferer. ‘It breaks my heart when I think of the -silence and desolation that now reign there. They -talk of a monument! God knows papa needs no -monument; he has left behind him that which won’t -pass away. But if the people of Melrose do anything, -I think a great cairn on one of the hills would be what -he would have chosen himself.’ Let the hills themselves -suffice!</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w18"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘A mightier monument command</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mountains of his native land.’<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>After the death of his chief, Mr Laidlaw removed to -the county of Ross, and was successively factor on the -estates of Seaforth and Balnagown. His health failing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span> -he went to reside with his brother, Mr James Laidlaw, -sheep-farmer at Contin, also in Ross-shire, and there he -died May 18, 1845. His remains were interred in the -churchyard of Contin, a retired spot under the shade of -Tor Achilty, one of the loftiest and most picturesque of -the Ross-shire mountains, and amidst the most enchanting -Highland scenery. The lord of the manor, Sir -George S. Mackenzie of Coul, Bart., erected a tomb, -with a marble tablet, to his memory.</p> - -<p>Mr Laidlaw cherished with religious care all his -memorials of Abbotsford, where, indeed, his heart may -be said to have remained till its last pulsation. The -desk in which the first manuscript of <i>Waverley</i> was -deposited stood in his room; the works inscribed and -presented by the author were carefully ranged on his -shelves; the letters he had received from him were -treasured up; the pens with which <i>Ivanhoe</i> was written -were laid past, and kept as a sacred thing; but above -all he valued the brooch which was round the neck of -Scott when he died. That most interesting ornament -Mr Laidlaw wore while a trace of sensibility remained, -and it has descended to another generation—one of the -most precious of the personal <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">reliquiæ</i> of a splendid but -melancholy friendship.</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * *</div> - -<p>The biographer of Scott, John Gibson Lockhart, was -not a social or clubable man. He was fastidious and -reserved, silent in mixed company (he heard with only -one ear, and was too proud to acknowledge it), and was -inveterately prone to satire, so that he earned for himself -the appellation of ‘The Scorpion,’ and he was a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -victim to dyspepsia, which, perhaps, like charity, ought -to cover a multitude of sins. His fine acute intellect -and classic taste were often obscured and his better -sympathies chilled by pain and languor. To a few -friends, however, Lockhart at times unbosomed himself. -With them his cold, sarcastic, haughty manner melted -away—at least for a season—and in those genial hours -he was the most confiding and delightful of companions. -As shewing the better nature and higher feelings of the -man, we are tempted to subjoin one of his letters to -William Laidlaw, in which he speaks of the sense of -duty and responsibility under which he wrote the -Memoirs of Scott—a work which, with all its faults, is -unquestionably the best biography since Boswell’s <i>Life -of Johnson</i>. There is great tenderness in the following -letter; and the picture which the writer draws of his -happy fireside contrasts painfully with his latter years, -when broken health, a desolate hearth, and feelings -lacerated by paternal troubles and anxieties, might have -made him join in that lamentation of the ancient -British bard which he applied to the old age of Thomas -Campbell:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘God hath provided unpleasant things for me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dead is Morgeneu, dead is Mordav,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dead is Morien, dead are those I love.’<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Few letters of Lockhart’s are so generally interesting or -so valuable, biographically, as the following:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"> -‘<span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>January 19, 1837</i>. -</p> - -<p>‘<span class="smcap">My dear Laidlaw</span>—I received yesterday your letter -and a very munificent donation of ptarmigan, for both -which accept my best thanks. They were both welcome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -as remembrancers of Scotland, of old days, and of your -kindness and affection, of which last, though I am the -worst of correspondents, neither I nor my wife are ever -forgetful. The account you give of your situation at -present is, considering how the world wags, not unsatisfactory. -Would it were possible to find myself placed -in something of a similar locality, and with the means -of enjoying the country by day and my books at night, -without the necessity of dividing most of my time -between the labours of the desk—mere drudge-labours -mostly—and the harassing turmoil of worldly society, -for which I never had much, and now-a-days have -rarely indeed any, relish! But my wife and children -bind me to the bit, and I am well pleased with the -fetters. Walter is now a tall and very handsome boy of -near eleven years; Charlotte, a very winsome gipsy of -eight—both intelligent in the extreme, and both, notwithstanding -all possible spoiling, as simple, natural, -and unselfish as if they had been bred on a hillside -and in a family of twelve. Sophia is your old friend—fat, -fair, and by-and-by to be forty, which I now am, -and over, God bless the mark! but though I think I am -wiser, at least more sober, neither richer nor more -likely to be rich than I was in the days of Chiefswood -and Kaeside—after all, <em>our</em> best days, I still believe.</p> - -<p>‘Politics, over which we used sometimes to dispute, -I have quite forsworn. I have satisfied myself that the -age of Toryism is by for ever; and the business of a -party which can in reason propose to itself nothing but -a defensive attitude, without hope either of plunder or -honour, seems to me to have few claims on those who, -when it was in power, never were permitted to share -any of the advantages it so lavishly bestowed on fools<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -and knaves. So I am a very tranquil and indifferent -observer.</p> - -<p>‘Perhaps, however, much of this equanimity as to -passing affairs has arisen from the call which has been -made on me to live in the past, bestowing for so many -months all the time I could command, and all the care -I have had really any heart in, upon the manuscript -remains of our dear friend. I am glad that Cadell and -the few others who have seen what I have done with -these are pleased, but I assure you none of them can -think more lightly of my own part in the matter than I -do myself. My sole object is to do him justice, or -rather to let him do himself justice, by so contriving it -that he shall be as far as possible, from first to last, his -own historiographer; and I have therefore willingly -expended the time that would have sufficed for writing -a dozen books on what will be no more than the compilation -of one. A stern sense of duty—that kind of -sense of it which is combined with the feeling of his -actual presence in a serene state of elevation above all -terrestrial and temporary views—will induce me to touch -the few darker points in his life and character as freely -as the others which were so predominant; and my chief -anxiety on the appearance of the book will be, not to -hear what is said by the world, but what is <em>thought</em> by -you and the few others who can really compare the -representation as a whole with the facts of the case. -I shall, therefore, desire Cadell to send you the volumes -as they are printed, though long before publication, in -the confidence that they will be kept sacred, while unpublished, -to yourself and your own household; and if -you can give me encouragement on seeing the first and -second, now I think nearly out of the printer’s hands,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -it will be very serviceable to me in the completion of -the others. I have waived all my own notions as to -the manner of publication, &c., in deference to the -bookseller,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> who is still so largely our creditor, and, I -am grieved to add, will probably continue to be so for -many years to come.</p> - -<p>‘Your letters of the closing period I wish you would -send to me; and of these I am sure some use, and -some good use, may be made, as of those addressed to -myself at the same time, which all, however melancholy -to compare with those of the better day, have traces of -the man. Out of these confused and painful scraps I -think I can contrive to put together a picture that will -be highly touching of a great mind shattered, but never -degraded, and always to the last noble, as his heart -continued pure and warm as long as it could beat.—Ever -affectionately yours,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">J. G. Lockhart</span>.’ -</p> -</div> - -<p>We are tempted to add a short extract from another -letter of Lockhart’s, because it mentions a pleasing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -incident in the life of the second Sir Walter Scott. He -writes, 25th May 1843, that Major Scott and his wife -enjoyed perfect health in India, and he adds: ‘He -(Sir W. S.) tells me that hearing a Highland battalion -was to pass about fifty miles off from his station -(Bangalore), he rode that distance one day, and back -the next, merely to hear the <em>skirl</em> of the pipes! No -doubt there would be a jolly mess for his reception -besides; but I could not but be pleased with the touch -of the “auld man.”’</p> - -<p class="phead"> -LUCY’S FLITTIN’. -</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w25"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘’Twas when the wan leaf frae the birk-tree was fa’in,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Martinmas dowie had wound up the year,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Lucy row’d up her wee kist wi’ her a’ in ’t,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And left her auld master and neebours sae dear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For Lucy had serv’d i’ the Glen<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> a’ the simmer;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She cam there afore the bloom cam on the pea;<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">An orphan was she, an’ they had been gude till her;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sure that was the thing brought the tear to her ee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She gaed by the stable, where Jamie was stan’in’,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Right sair was his kind heart her flittin’ to see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fare ye weel, Lucy! quo’ Jamie, and ran in—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gatherin’ tears trickled fast frae her ee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As down the burn-side she gaed slow wi’ her flittin’,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fare ye weel, Lucy! was ilka bird’s sang;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> - <div class="verse indent0">She heard the craw sayin ’t, high on the tree sittin’,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Robin was chirpin ’t the brown leaves amang.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O what is’t that pits my puir heart in a flutter?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And what gars the tears come sae fast to my ee?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I wasna ettled to be ony better,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then what gars me wish ony better to be?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I ’m just like a lammie that loses its mither,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nae mither nor frien’ the poor lammie can see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I fear I hae tint my bit heart a’ thegither;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nae wonder the tear fa’s sae fast frae my ee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Wi’ the rest o’ my claes, I hae row’d up the ribbon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bonnie blue ribbon that Jamie gae me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yestreen, when he gae me ’t, and saw I was sabbin’,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I’ll never forget the wae blink o’ his ee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Though now he said naething but Fare ye weel, Lucy!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It made me I neither could speak, hear, nor see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He couldna say mair but just Fare ye weel, Lucy!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet that I will mind till the day that I dee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The lamb likes the gowan wi’ dew when it’s droukit;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hare likes the brake and the braird on the lea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Lucy likes Jamie;—she turn’d, and she lookit;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She thought the dear place she wad never mair see!’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">In publishing the ballad, Hogg added the following -verse, in order, as he said, to <em>complete the story</em>; but it -will be felt, we think, that he has marred the pathetic -simplicity of the original, which was complete enough -as a picture of the flittin’:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w25"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘Ah, weel may young Jamie gang dowie and cheerless,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And weel may he greet on the bank o’ the burn!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His bonnie sweet Lucy, sae gentle and peerless,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lies cauld in her grave, and will never return.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Lockhart has truly characterised Laidlaw’s ballad as ‘a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span> -simple and pathetic picture of a poor Ettrick maiden’s -feelings in leaving a service where she had been happy,’ -and he adds that it has ‘long been and must ever be a -favourite with all who understand the delicacies of the -Scottish dialect, and the manners of the district in which -the scene is laid.’ A no less flattering or discriminating -notice had been previously given by a critic in the -<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, who, in quoting <em>one</em> song from the -four volumes of Allan Cunningham’s <i>Songs of Scotland, -Ancient and Modern</i>, selected Laidlaw’s ‘simple ditty’ -as a ‘fair example of the lowly pathetic’ which would -‘go to the heart of many a village-bred Scotchman in -remote regions and all conditions of society.’</p> - -<p class="p2 center wspace">THE END.</p> - -<p class="p2 center smaller"> -Edinburgh:<br> -Printed by W. & R. Chambers.</p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="footnotes"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> This print, glazed in a black frame, was presented by Sir Adam -Ferguson to my brother Robert, and it is now in my possession.—<span class="allsmcap">W. -C.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> [For a number of years after the decease of Sir Walter, there -were many small floating anecdotes and memorabilia of his habits, -and the happy way in which he would make some pleasantry out of -very ordinary occurrences. Two or three instances occur to recollection.—One -day, when walking along Princes Street, Edinburgh, -my brother, who accompanied him, made the remark that he was -evidently well known, for many persons looked back at him on -passing. ‘Oh, ay, ay,’ replied Scott jocosely; ‘more know Tom -Fool than Tom Fool knows!’—The late Mr Thomas Tegg, -publisher, Cheapside, having, on the occasion of visiting Scotland, -ventured with a friend to call on Sir Walter at Abbotsford, was -somewhat doubtful of his reception, for he had published a small -book in doggerel verse, designed to bring Scott’s muse into ridicule. -He was speedily relieved of his apprehensions. ‘I am sorry to -say,’ said Tegg apologetically, ‘that I happen to be the publisher -of <i>Jokeby, a Burlesque on Rokeby</i>.’ ‘Glad to see you, Mr Tegg,’ -replied Sir Walter; ‘the more jokes the better!’—Mrs John -Ballantyne, in her reminiscences of Scott, states that, besides his -story-telling manner, he had another quite distinct, in which he -was accustomed to utter any snatch of poetry, such as a verse of -a Border ballad, or a simple but touching popular rhyme. ‘I -can never forget,’ she says, ‘the awe-striking solemnity with which -he pronounced an elegiac stanza inscribed on a tombstone in -Melrose Abbey:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w15"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentq">“Earth walketh on the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Glistering like gold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth goeth to the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sooner than it wold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth buildeth on the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Palaces and towers;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth sayeth to the earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All shall be ours.”’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>—On the occasion of an excursion with a friend to Dumfriesshire -and Galloway, Scott’s money happened to run out; and he -borrowed from his companion a pound-note at Tinwald Manse, and -two pounds at the inn of Beattock Bridge. The payment of the -loan became the subject of a bit of pleasantry. Returning home, -he enclosed three pounds to his friend, with the following lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘One at Tinwald Manse, and two at Beattock Brig,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That makes three, if Cocker’s worth a fig;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Borrow while you may, pay when you can,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at the last you’ll die an honest man!’]</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1 b0"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> </p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20 p0"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘From Soldan Turk I this Forest wan</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the king and his men was not to see.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In the copy printed in the <cite>Border Minstrelsy</cite>, this is <em>Soudron</em>—i. e., -Southron or English, which I have no doubt is the proper reading.—<cite>Aytoun.</cite></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> The Shepherd’s conjecture proved correct. Mr Aytoun procured -his copy of the ballad from the charter-chest at Philiphaugh. -The copy in the <cite>Border Minstrelsy</cite> was printed from one found -among the papers of Mrs Cockburn, authoress of <i>The Flowers of -the Forest</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> MS. notes by W. Laidlaw. Professor Aytoun says that one -cause of his doubts as to the antiquity of <i>Auld Maitland</i> was that -it wanted a clear intelligible story and main plot, so that it could -not be retained in memory for a couple of months. If the Professor -(alas, now no more!) had chanced, in any of his angling -excursions on the Tweed, to have fallen in with a brother of the -rod, Mr Stirling, Depute Sheriff-clerk of Peebles (also now gone), -he would have found at least one gentleman who could repeat the -whole ballad without a break, though he had not read a line of it -for more than twenty years. Hogg states explicitly that when the -sheriff visited his cottage at Ettrick, his mother recited or chanted -the ballad; and in a poetical address to Scott congratulating him -on his elevation to the baronetcy, the Shepherd says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w20"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indentsq">‘When Maitland’s song first met your ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How the furled visage up did clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beaming delight! though now a shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of doubt would darken into dread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That some unskilled presumptuous arm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had marred tradition’s mighty charm.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce drew thy lurking dread the less</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till she, the ancient Minstreless,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With fervid voice and kindling eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And withered arms waving on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sung forth these words in eldritch shriek,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While tears stood on thy nut-brown cheek:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“Na, we are nane o’ the lads o’ France,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Nor e’er pretend to be;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">We be three lads of fair Scotland,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Auld Maitland’s sons a’ three!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy fist made all the table ring—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“By ——, sir, but that is the thing!”’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> <cite>Marmion</cite>—Introduction to Canto II.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> He rarely made corrections on his published works, but there -is one alteration worth noting in the opening of this Introduction. -In the first edition he says: ‘From the remote period when the -Roman deity <span class="smcap">Terminus</span> retired behind the ramparts of <span class="smcap">Severus</span>,’ -&c. This seemed a little inflated, and also inappropriate, for it -represents Terminus as if capable of motion, though the Romans -represented the god as wanting legs and arms, to shew that he was -immovable; and Scott reduced the illustration to sober historical -limits: ‘From the remote period when the Roman province was -contracted by the ramparts of <span class="smcap">Severus</span>,’ &c.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> <cite>Marmion</cite>: Introd. to Canto II. When the poem was published, -its author wrote to his friend at Blackhouse: ‘This accompanies a -copy of <cite>Marmion</cite>, which I will see put up with my own eyes. -Constable is greatly too busy to be uniformly accurate.’</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Seaforth Papers at Brahan Castle, Ross-shire.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> The Burghers were a religious sect, now merged in the United -Presbyterian body.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Lockhart also was in favour of a cairn: ‘As to monuments, -if I could choose—passing Abbotsford—I should say, put a plain -sitting statue of Sir W. S. on Princes Street, Edinburgh, at the -south end of Castle Street, backed by the rock; and put a cairn -on the Eildon Hill, that every lad might carry his stone to. As -for <em>temples</em> and <em>pillars</em>, they have been vulgarised in Edinburgh. -A friend said to me: ‘Good God, what a grand thing it will be -to have Sir Walter put on a level with the late Lord Melville! -Let us have another pillar at the west end of George Street, by all -means.’ This man is a sensible one, and was dead serious. On -a level with Lord Melville, whose name will appear only in the -fag-end of a note to the future history of this country, and really -will be kept in memory chiefly by the pillar! Dugald Stewart -and Playfair, admirable dominies both, have their temples; so I -fancy will now Sir John Leslie. The Calton Hill had better be -left to the schoolmasters; in a hundred years they will have covered -it; but, if they please, they may keep a place in the midst for Sir -John Sinclair.’—<cite>Letter to Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie.</cite></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Vide <cite>Quarterly Review</cite>, June 1849.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> Mr Cadell. In the autumn of the same year, the enterprising -bookseller writes to Laidlaw: ‘Strange that all the Ballantynes -and Constable are gone, and I am left alone of those behind the -curtain during so many critical years! Born at Cockenzie, in East -Lothian, educated for business above five years in Glasgow, I came -here’ [to Edinburgh] ‘a raw young man of twenty-one in the winter -of 1809–10, and have cuckooed all these men out of their nests, -firmly seated in which they all were at that time. And here is -Lockhart telling about all of us to posterity. We will all be -handed down as appendages to the great man!’ Mr Cadell died -January 20, 1849, having, it is said, made about £100,000 in -business, chiefly by Scott’s works. ‘Our late illustrious friend -used to joke me about a Waverley Cottage or Waverley Hall: I -am now rated for a palace!’ (Cadell to Laidlaw, July 1834.) -Latterly, he was proprietor of the estate of Ratho, near Edinburgh.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> The Glen is a small mountain valley on the banks of the -Quair, about four and a half miles from Innerleithen. A magnificent -residence has been built on the estate by the proprietor, Charles -Tennant, Esq. Vide description and engraving in Chambers’s -<em>History of Peeblesshire</em>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Hogg altered this line as follows:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container w25"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">‘She cam there afore the flower bloom’d on the pea.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> -</div></div> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made -consistent when a predominant preference was found -in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced -quotation marks were remedied when the change was -obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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