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diff --git a/77270-h/77270-h.htm b/77270-h/77270-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b271ae --- /dev/null +++ b/77270-h/77270-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1418 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>The Penny Magazine, Monthly Supplement for October, 1832 | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } + p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } + sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; 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} + .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } + .id001 { width:100%; } + .x-ebookmaker .id001 { margin-left:0%; width:100%; } + .ic001 { width:100%; } + .ig001 { width:100%; } + .nf-center { text-align: center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align: left; margin: 0.5em 0; } + .nf-center-c1 { text-align: left; margin: 1em 0; } + .c000 { margin-top: 4em; } + .c001 { page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 1em; } + .c002 { margin-top: 1em; } + .c003 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .c004 { margin-left: 5.56%; text-indent: -2.78%; margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c005 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c006 { text-decoration: none; } + .c007 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c008 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; width: 10%; margin-left: 0; + margin-top: 1em; text-align: left; } + .c009 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin: 1em auto; } + .c010 { margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c011 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .transcribers-notes { width: 80%; margin: auto; padding: 0 1em; + color:black; background-color: #E3E4FA; border: 1px solid silver; + page-break-before:always;margin-top:4em; } + hr.full {width:100%; } + .masthead {text-align:center; display:inline-block; width:100%; } + .masthead-left {float:left;text-align:left; } + .masthead-right {float:right;text-align:right; } + .masthead-left, .masthead-right {width:24%; } + .masthead-centre {margin:auto;width:50% } + .colophon {font-size:75%; } + .colophon-left {float:left; } + .colophon-right {float:right; } + .colophon-left, .colophon-right {width:48%;text-align:left; } + .clear {clear:both; } + .illo-wide {width:100%; } + div.linegroup > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } + .shrink {font-size:90%; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77270 ***</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>Monthly Supplement of</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001' title='The Penny Magazine, September 29 to October 31 , 1832'>THE PENNY MAGAZINE</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='small'>OF THE</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='large'>Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> +<div class="masthead"> +<div class="masthead-right"></div> +<div class="masthead-left">37.]</div> +<div class="masthead-centre"><span class='sc'>September 29 to October 31</span>, 1832</div> +<hr class="full"> +</div> + +<div> + <h2 class='c003'>BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/walter-scott-1-full.jpg'><img src='images/walter-scott-1-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Sir Walter Scott. From Mr. Chantrey’s Bust.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c004'>[We have considered it proper to deviate, in some degree, from the +plan of our Supplement, by devoting the present number entirely +to a Memoir of Sir Walter Scott. The works, especially the +Novels and Romances, of this illustrious man have been so +universally read, and his name is so completely a “household +word” in every mouth, that we cannot doubt that the subject +will be of interest to the great majority of our readers. The +following Biographical Sketch has been drawn up by a gentleman +who had the advantage of a long personal acquaintance with +Sir Walter Scott. We have to regret that the limited space +which we could assign to the subject has necessarily prevented +him from fully employing his original materials.]</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c005'>Sir Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh on the 15th +of August, 1771. His father, Mr. Walter Scott, was a +respectable Writer to the Signet, a branch of the law +profession in Scotland, corresponding to that of attorney +or solicitor in the English Courts. The house occupied +by the family, at the period of the poet’s birth and for +some time afterwards, stood at the head of the College +Wynd, a narrow alley leading from the Cowgate to the +northern gate of the College, and now considered one of +the meanest lanes of the Old Town. At that time, +however, the College Wynd was inhabited by several +families of respectability; and, among others, by that of +Mr. Keith, grandfather to the present Sir Alexander +Keith, likewise a Writer to the Signet, who (agreeably +to the ancient Edinburgh fashion) occupied the two +lower flats of the same house of which the upper stories, +accessible by another entrance, belonged to the family +of the poet. This mansion was eventually pulled down +to make way for the new college.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The father of Sir Walter Scott was not a man of +shining talents, but was much esteemed as a steady and +expert man of business, and as a person of great benevolence +and integrity. He held for many years the +honourable office of elder in the parish church of Old +Grayfriars, of which Dr. Robertson the historian, and +Dr. Erskine, an eminent presbyterian divine, then had +the collegiate pastoral charge. His professional career +was prosperous, and he seems to have early attained ease +if not affluence of worldly circumstances.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The wife of this worthy man, and mother of the poet, +appears from all accounts to have been a more remarkable +person. She was a daughter of Dr. John Rutherford, +professor of the practice of Physic in the University +of Edinburgh, and sister of Dr. Daniel Rutherford, Professor +of Botany in the same institution, both men of +considerable scientific reputation, and living in habits of +familiar intercourse with the first literary society which +Scotland in their day produced. Besides the advantage +of such connexions, and of an excellent education, Mrs. +Scott possessed superior natural talents, had a good taste +for poetry, and great conversational powers. She is said +to have been well acquainted in her youth with Allan +Ramsay, Beattie, Blacklock, and other Scottish authors +of the last century; and independently of the influence +which her own talents and acquirements may have given +her in training the opening mind of her distinguished +son, it is obvious that he must have been greatly indebted +to her for his introduction, in early life, into the select +literary and intellectual society of which she and her +near relations were ornaments.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Sir Walter was connected, both by the father and +mother’s side, with several Scottish families of ancient +lineage and renown. His maternal grandmother was a +daughter of Swinton of Swinton, a border family whose +chivalric ancestor he has celebrated in his drama of +‘Halidon Hill;’ and through his father he was descended, +though more remotely, from the Scotts of Harden, +in which race the chieftainship of that doughty +border clan is understood to reside. It is, however, +a curious fact that his more immediate ancestor in this +warlike line was a <i>Quaker</i>. This worthy schismatic, to +whom his illustrious descendant has humorously referred +in some of his fictitious works, was Walter Scott of +Raeburn, third son of Sir William Scott of Harden. +He lived at the time of the Restoration, and having embraced +the tenets of Quakerism (which about that period +gained several disciples among the Scottish gentry), he +was on this account most iniquitously persecuted by the +Government of the day. He was imprisoned first in +the tolbooth of Edinburgh, and afterwards in the jail of +Jedburgh, where even his own family were denied +access to him. What was still more cruelly oppressive, +his three children were, by an edict of the Scotch Privy +Council, removed altogether out of his control, and +placed for their education, at his expense, under the tuition +of other relatives, with a view to embue them with +principles altogether <a id='tn-alien'></a>alien to those their parent had conscientiously +adopted. And this most arbitrary purpose, +it appears, was fully attained; for the Quaker Walter’s +three children became such staunch Jacobites, that the +second son, who was great grandfather to the poet, in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>testimony of his devotion to the unhappy house of +Stuart, bound himself at the Revolution, by a vow, +which he kept till his dying day, never to shave his +beard till the exiled race were restored to the British +throne; and from this circumstance he acquired among +his compatriots on the Border the name of <i>Beardie</i>. +Strong Jacobite predilections thus became hereditary in +the family, and descended to the infant poet mingled +with all the endearing and exciting associations of family +pride and feudal tradition. These circumstances have +been briefly noticed, because they tend to throw light on +the mental education of the great Scottish novelist. We +come now to what more directly relates to himself.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Sir Walter was the third child of a family of six +sons and one daughter, all of whom he survived. From +an early period of his infancy until the age of sixteen, +he was afflicted with frequent ill health; and either +from the effects of a sickly constitution, or as some accounts +say, from an accident occasioned by the carelessness +of a nurse, his right foot was injured and rendered +lame for life. The delicacy of his health induced his +parents to consent to his residence, during a considerable +part of his early boyhood, at Sandy Know, the house +of his paternal grandfather, a respectable farmer in +Roxburghshire. This farm-house occupies an elevated +situation near the old border fortlet, called Smailholm +Tower, and overlooks a large portion of the vale of the +Tweed and the adjacent country, the Arcadia of Scotland, +and the very cradle of Scottish romance and song. +Southward, on the Northumbrian marches, rise dark and +massive the Cheviot mountains, with the field of Flodden +on their eastern skirts; while on the west, within a few +miles’ distance, appears the legendary three-peaked +Eildon, looking down on the monastic ruins of Melrose +and Dryburgh, on the “Rhymer’s Tower,” and “Huntly +Bank,” and “Leader Haughs,” and “Cowdenknows,”—and +on the storied streams of Teviot and Ettrick, and +Yarrow and Gala-water, issuing to the Tweed from +their pastoral glens. “The whole land,” to use the +poetical language of Allan Cunningham, “is alive with +song and story: almost every stone that stands above +the ground is the record of some skirmish or single +combat; and every stream, although its waters be so +inconsiderable as scarcely to moisten the pasture through +which they run, is renowned in song and in ballad. ‘I +can stand,’ said Sir Walter, one day, ‘on the Eildon +Hill, and point out forty-three places, famous in war +and verse<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c006'><sup>[1]</sup></a>.’”</p> + +<p class='c005'>Such was the country that opened, from the thatched +farm-house at Smailholm Tower, to the eyes and the +imagination of the future minstrel; and the impressions +that were then indelibly stamped on his infant mind by +the pastoral scenery and legendary lore of the “land of +his sires,” are beautifully described in the introduction +to the third canto of ‘Marmion.’</p> + +<p class='c005'>His residence, with his venerable relatives, at this +secluded spot, which after early boyhood was, we believe, +occasionally renewed during the summer vacations of +the High School and College, was undoubtedly fraught +with many advantages, physical and mental. It was +here that his feeble constitution was, by the aid of free +air and exercise, gradually strengthened into robustness; +and though he never got rid of his lameness, it was so +far overcome as to be in after-life rather a deformity +than an inconvenience. It was here that his love of +ballad lore and border story was fostered into a passion; +and it was here, doubtless, and at the house of one of +his uncles (Mr. Thomas Scott, of Woolee, also a Roxburghshire +farmer), that he early acquired that intimate +acquaintance with the manners, character, and language +of the Scottish peasantry, which he afterwards turned to +such admirable account in his novels. That such was +the fact, indeed, the writer of this sketch is fully persuaded +from circumstances that have come within his +own knowledge, as well as from many incidents mentioned +to him in conversation by Sir Walter himself.</p> + +<p class='c005'>While his <i>poetical education</i> (if we may so term it) +was thus prosperously though unconsciously proceeding, +his progress in school instruction is understood to have +been considerably delayed or interrupted by his absence +in the country and his irregular health. Mr. Cunningham +mentions that he was taught the rudiments of +knowledge by his mother. Mr. Chambers states that he +received some part of his early education at a school +kept by a Mr. Leeshman in Bristo Street, Edinburgh<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c006'><sup>[2]</sup></a>; +other accounts say that he attended a school at Musselburgh; +and the present writer happens to know that he +resided some time at Kelso, in his early days, in the house +of a relative, but whether or not he attended any school +there he cannot say. These minute details, though all +highly interesting in reference to a man so distinguished, +must necessarily be left to be accurately sifted out by +more competent biographers. It is sufficient for our +present purpose, to mention that he entered the class of +Mr. Luke Frazer in the High School of Edinburgh in +October 1779, when he had completed his eighth year; +and two years subsequently he was transferred to the +class of the Rector, Dr. Adam,—an amiable man and an +excellent teacher, whose memory Sir Walter ever held +in high regard.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It would appear from all accounts that have yet +reached the public, that his progress in the classics was +at this period by no means extraordinary. It is even +affirmed that he was remarkable for incorrectness in his +exercises; and it appears, at least, pretty well ascertained +that he left no distinct impression of superior talent or +acuteness, either on his teachers or his fellow-pupils. +He is better remembered for having been “a remarkably +active and dauntless boy, full of all manner of fun, and +ready for all manner of mischief;” and so far from +being timid or quiet on account of his lameness, that +very defect (as he has himself remarked to be usually the +case in similar circumstances with boys of enterprising +disposition) prompted him to take the lead among all the +stirring boys in the street where he lived, or the school +which he attended. He left the High School in 1783, +ranking only <em>eleventh</em> in the Rector’s class.</p> + +<p class='c005'>However idle or backward, however, the schoolboy +Scott might be in regard to classical attainments, he +had, it seems, even then acquired a high character as a +<i>romancer</i>. Of this curious fact he gives the following +account in the general introduction to the new edition of +the Waverley Novels:—</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c007'>“I must refer to a very early period of my life, were I to +point out my first achievements as a tale-teller; but I believe +some of my old school-fellows can still bear witness that I +had a distinguished character for that talent, at a time when +the applause of my companions was my recompense for the +disgraces and punishments which the future romance-writer +incurred for being idle himself, and keeping others idle, +during hours that should have been employed on our tasks. +The chief enjoyment of my holidays was to escape with a +chosen friend, who had the same taste with myself, and alternately +to recite to each other such wild adventures as we +were able to devise. We told, each in turn, interminable +tales of knight-errantry and battles and enchantments, +which were continued from one day to another, as opportunity +offered, without our ever thinking of bringing them to a +conclusion. As we observed a strict secresy on the subject +of this intercourse, it acquired all the character of a concealed +pleasure; and we used to select for the scenes of our indulgence, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>long walks through the solitary and romantic environs +of Arthur’s Seat, Salisbury Craigs, Braid Hills, and similar +places in the vicinity of Edinburgh; and the recollection of +those holidays still forms an <em>oasis</em> in the pilgrimage which +I have to look back upon.”</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c007'>He entered the University of Edinburgh in October, +1783, at the age of twelve years; but he appears (as +far as can be ascertained from the matriculation records) +to have attended only the Greek and Humanity (or +Latin) classes for two seasons, and that of Logic one +season. If he entered any other classes, it seems probable +that his irregular health had interrupted his attendance. +The consequence was that he had little opportunity, +even if he had had the ambition, to distinguish himself +at college; and he thus entered the world with a very +desultory, and, as far as regards the classics, apparently +a rather defective education. Nor was his course of +private reading (it could scarcely be called <i>study</i>) much +calculated to remedy that disadvantage. He thus describes, +in the auto-biographical chapter already referred +to, the intellectual dissipation to which he was at that +period devoted.</p> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c007'>“When boyhood, advancing into youth, required more +serious studies and graver cares, a long illness threw me +back on the kingdom of fiction, as if it were by a species of +fatality. My indisposition arose, in part at least, from my +having broken a blood-vessel; and motion and speech were +for a long time pronounced positively dangerous. For several +weeks I was confined strictly to my bed, during which time +I was not allowed to speak above a whisper, to eat more +than a spoonful or two of boiled rice, or to have more covering +than one thin counterpane. When the reader is informed +that I was at this time a growing youth, with the spirits, +appetite, and impatience of fifteen, and suffered, of course +greatly under this severe regimen, which the repeated return +of my disorder rendered indispensable, he will not be surprised +that I was abandoned to my own discretion, so far as +reading (my almost sole amusement) was concerned, and +still less so, that I abused the indulgence which left my +time so much at my own disposal.</p> + +<p class='c005'>“There was at this time a circulating library at Edinburgh, +founded, I believe, by the celebrated Allan Ramsay, +which, besides containing a most respectable collection of +books of every description, was, as might have been expected, +peculiarly rich in works of fiction. It exhibited +specimens of every kind, from the romances of chivalry, and +the ponderous folios of Cyrus and Cassandra, down to the +most approved works of later times. I was plunged into +this great ocean of reading without compass or pilot; and +unless when some one had the charity to play at chess with +me, I was allowed to do nothing, save read, from morning +to night. I was, in kindness and pity, which was perhaps +erroneous, however natural, permitted to select my subjects +of study at my own pleasure, upon the same principles that +the humours of children are indulged to keep them out of +mischief. As my taste and appetite were gratified in +nothing else, I indemnified myself by becoming a glutton of +books. Accordingly, I believe I read almost all the old +romances, old plays, and epic poetry, in that formidable +collection, and no doubt was unconsciously amassing materials +for the task in which it has been my lot to be so much +employed.</p> + +<p class='c005'>“At the same time, I did not in all respects abuse the +license permitted me. Familiar acquaintance with the +specious miracles of fiction brought with it some degree +of satiety, and I began by degrees to seek in histories, +memoirs, voyages and travels, and the like, events nearly as +wonderful as those which were the work of the imagination, +with the additional advantage that they were, at least, in a +great measure true. The lapse of nearly two years, during +which I was left to the service of my own free will, was +followed by a temporary residence in the country, where I +was again very lonely, but for the amusement which I +derived from a good, though old-fashioned library. The +vague and wild use which I made of this advantage I +cannot describe better than by referring my reader to the +desultory studies of Waverley in a similar situation; the +passages concerning whose reading were imitated from +recollections of my own.”</p> + +</div> + +<p class='c007'>Such a course of <em>study</em> would probably have gone far +to ruin a less masculine intellect than that which Scott was +gifted with by nature; and even as it was, it may +remain a doubtful point whether the chief faults of his +style of writing, both in poetry and prose, may not be in +a great measure attributable to this “gluttony and literary +indigestion of his juvenile years.” There is no +doubt, however, that this dangerous habit was, in the +case of Scott, afterwards cured by a course of vigorous +voluntary application, in the acquisition of a vast fund +of antiquarian and other curious learning.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Having thus passed through a somewhat sickly and +solitary infancy, which threw him much into the society +of his elder relatives, and a somewhat idle boyhood, in +which the recurrence of ill health cast him upon the +resources of romance reading, and romance dreaming, +the constitution of the imaginative youth, about his sixteenth +year, experienced a decisive improvement. His +lameness indeed remained so far that he was obliged to +use a staff to assist his foot in walking; but in other +respects he became remarkably robust, and able to +endure great fatigue, whether bodily or mental. He +now applied himself with vigour to the study of law; and +besides attending the usual classes in the university +necessary to fit him for the bar, he performed the ordinary +duties of an attorney’s apprentice under his father, +in order to acquire a more thorough technical knowledge +of his profession. He exhibited, however, no ambition +to distinguish himself at any of the debating societies +at which the academical youth of Edinburgh, and more +especially the candidates for forensic honours, are wont to +train their unfledged powers of eloquence or argumentation. +“He was never heard of,” says a Scottish biographer, +“at any of those clubs; and so far as he was known +at all, it was only as a rather abstracted young man, very +much given to reading, but not the kind of reading with +which other persons of his age are conversant.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>On the 10th of July, 1792, about three months +before he had completed his 21st year, he passed Advocate +at the Scottish bar, after the usual examinations. +Mr. Chambers, whose respectable biographical sketch +we have already quoted, in reference to this period of +his professional career makes the following statement:—</p> + +<p class='c005'>“The young barrister was enabled, by the affluence +of his father, to begin life in an elegant house in the +most fashionable part of the town; but it was not his +lot to acquire either wealth or distinction at the bar. 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 independency. +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.</p> + +<p class='c005'>“Throughout all the earlier years of his life as a barrister, +he was constantly studying either one branch of +knowledge or another. Unlike most of the young men +of his order, he was little tempted from study into composition. +With all the diligence which the present +writer could exercise, he has not been able to detect any +fugitive piece of Sir Walter’s in <a id='tn-periodical'></a>any of the periodical +publications of the day.”</p> + +<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>The hereditary politics of his family, at least from the +time of the persecuted Quaker, Walter of Raeburn, had +been, as we have seen, strongly Jacobitical; and Sir +Walter’s own turn of mind, as well as the whole course +of his early studies, naturally led him to embrace with +ardour the same predilections. On the extinction of the +Stuart race the old Jacobites gradually assumed the +principles of high Toryism; and Sir Walter’s entrance +on public life being contemporary with the stirring +events of the French Revolution, he naturally ranged +himself under the banners of the ruling Pittite or Anti-Gallican +party. After the breaking out of the war with +France, and when the apprehensions of foreign invasion +led to the enrolment of yeomanry and volunteer militia +throughout every part of the country, the young barrister +entered into the martial feeling of the times with great +enthusiasm. He filled the post of Quarter-Master +of the Edinburgh Light Dragoons. Being an excellent +horseman, in spite of his lameness, and an exceedingly +zealous officer, he distinguished himself in this +favourite vocation; being naturally fond of all that +relates to warlike exercises, and with such a predilection +for the military profession, that but for his early personal +infirmity, he would, in all probability, have entered the +army. His good humour and powers of social entertainment +made him very popular in the regiment; and, what +was of more importance to his future fortunes, his regimental +zeal and general talents (conjoined no doubt +with his political opinions) recommended him to the +powerful patronage of Henry Duke of Buccleugh, who +had taken great interest in the organization of the yeomanry +cavalry of Scotland. Through the friendship of +this nobleman, he afterwards obtained, in December +1799, the crown appointment of Sheriff of Selkirkshire, +to which was attached a salary of £300 a year. But we +must now advert to the first dawn of his literary distinction, +which a few years preceded the period just mentioned.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Sir Walter was by no means a precocious author either +in verse or prose. He had reached his 25th year before +he had given any indications of the peculiar talents +which were destined to render him the most popular +and voluminous writer of his age. The circumstances +which awakened his dormant powers, and altered the +whole complexion of his future life, have been detailed by +himself in a very interesting manner in the biographical +introductions prefixed to the later editions of his works. +After mentioning the remarkably low ebb to which the +art of poetry had fallen during the last ten years of the +eighteenth century, he describes the effect produced by +the introduction of some translations of the German +ballad school, especially of Bürger’s ‘Leonore,’ and the +extraordinary excitement produced by the German poetry +on his own mind. Having recently made himself master +of the German language, he was led to form an +acquaintance with Mr. Lewis, the author of ‘The +Monk,’ who chanced about that period to visit Edinburgh; +and, “out of this acquaintance,” says Scott, +“consequences arose which altered almost all the Scottish +ballad-maker’s future prospects in life.” In early +youth he had been an eager student of ballad poetry, +both printed and oral, but he had never dreamt, he +says, of attempting that style of writing himself. “I +had,” he observes, “indeed, tried the metrical translations +which were occasionally recommended to us at the +High School. I got credit for attempting to do what was +enjoined, but very little for the mode in which the task +was performed; and I used to feel not a little mortified +when my verses were placed in contrast with others of admitted +merit.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>The result of this resolution was the translation of +several ballads from Bürger; and finding these very +favourably received by the friends to whom he showed +them in MS. he was induced to try their effect on the +public by publishing anonymously the translation of +‘Leonore,’ with that of <a id='tn-huntsman'></a>‘The Wild Huntsman,’ in a thin +quarto<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c006'><sup>[3]</sup></a>. “The fate of this my first publication,” he remarks, +“was by no means flattering. I distributed so +many copies among my friends, as materially to interfere +with the sale; and the number of translations which appeared +in England about the same time, including that +of Mr. Taylor, to which I had been so much indebted, +and which was published in the Monthly Magazine, +were sufficient to exclude a provincial writer from competition.… +In a word, my adventure proved a +dead loss; and a great part of the edition was condemned +to the service of the trunk-maker.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>Without allowing himself, however, to be discouraged +by this failure, the young poet continued his prosecution +of German literature, and, in 1799, published ‘Goetz +of Berlichingen,’ a tragedy translated from the German +of Goëthe. Meanwhile he continued his devotion to +ballad poetry, and by degrees gained sufficient confidence +to attempt original composition in that style, ‘Glenfinlas,’ +a Highland legend, and ‘The Eve of St. John,’ +a border ballad (of which the scene was Smailholm +Tower, the haunt of his early childhood), were his first +original productions; and from this period he appears to +have devoted himself, at least in secret, with increasing +confidence and ardour to his favourite pursuits. To his +confidential friend, William Erskine, he is said to have +opened the purpose of his heart—to secure a small competence, +and then dedicate all the time he could command +to literature.</p> + +<p class='c005'>By the time that Scott had attained his 32d year, he +was in a situation to take this step without imprudence. +His success as a barrister was not such as to hold out +any very flattering prospects of his attaining either wealth +or distinction by his profession; at least not with such +divided affection as he was inclined to bestow upon it. +“My profession and I,” he says, “came to stand nearly +upon the footing which honest Slender consoled himself +with having established with Mrs. Anne Page. +‘There was no great love between us at the beginning, +and it pleased Heaven to decrease it on farther acquaintance!’ +I became sensible that the time was come when +I must either buckle myself resolutely to ‘the toil by +day, the lamp by night,’ renouncing all the Dalilahs of +my imagination, or bid adieu to the profession of the +law, and hold another course.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>His appointment as Sheriff, however, with some fortune +left him by his father, secured him a moderate +competency; and his marriage, which took place in +1797, is understood to have augmented his family +resources by an annuity which Mrs. Scott possessed of +£400; so that when he made up his mind to abandon +his professional practice, he must have attained an income +of at least £700 or £800 a year. The lady he married +was a Miss Carpenter, a native, we believe, of the city +of Lyons, but of English parentage, with whom he had +become acquainted at the watering-place of Gilsland, in +Cumberland. She is said to have possessed in youth +great personal attractions.</p> + +<p class='c005'>After his marriage he spent several summers in a +delightful retreat at Lasswade, on the banks of the Esk, +about five miles from Edinburgh. Here he continued +the prosecution of his favourite studies, and commenced +the work which first established his name in literature—‘The +Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.’ The materials +of this work were collected during various excursions, or +<i>raids</i>, as Sir Walter was wont to call them, through the +most remote recesses of the border glens, made by the +poetical compiler in person, assisted by one or two other +enthusiasts in ballad lore. Preeminent among his +coadjutors in this undertaking, was Dr. John Leyden, an +enthusiastic borderer and ballad-monger like himself, +and to whom he has gratefully acknowledged his obligations +both in verse and prose.</p> + +<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>Some amusing anecdotes have been printed, and +others are yet extant in oral tradition among the border +hills, of the circumstances attending the collection of +these ballads. The old women, who were almost the +only remaining depositaries of ancient song and tradition, +though proud of being solicited to recite them by +“so grand a man” as “an Edinburgh Advocate,” +could not repress their astonishment that “a man o’ +sense an’ lair” (learning) should spend his time in writing +into a book “auld ballads and stories of the bluidy +border wars and paipish times.” The writer of this +sketch (himself a borderer) remembers well that the +first time he heard the name of Walter Scott mentioned +was on seeing some of the proof sheets of the ‘Border +Minstrelsy’ at Kelso in 1802, while the work was printing +by Mr. Ballantyne, a native of that town, and an +early friend of Sir Walter’s. On eagerly inquiring who +it was that had collected these old ballads, with many of +which he was previously familiar from oral recitation, +he was told that it was “one Mr. Scott, an Edinburgh +<i>Writer</i> or Advocate, who had lately been appointed +Sheriff of Selkirkshire;” and this was all he could then +learn on the subject. The Minstrelsy was issued at +first in two volumes, but a third was added with the +second edition. Two years subsequently he published +the romance of ‘Sir Tristram,’ a Scottish metrical tale +of the thirteenth century, which he showed, in a learned +disquisition, to have been composed by Thomas of +Ercildown, commonly called the Rhymer.</p> + +<p class='c005'>These works, especially the ‘Border Minstrelsy,’ were +favourably received by the public, and established Scott’s +reputation on a very respectable footing, as an excellent +poetical antiquary, and as a writer of considerable power +and promise, both in verse and prose. As yet, however, +he had produced no composition of originality and importance +sufficient to secure that high and permanent +rank in literature, to which his secret ambition led him +to aspire. But he had now a subject in hand which was +destined to attain for him a popularity far beyond what +his most sanguine hopes could have ventured to +anticipate.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel’ appeared in 1805. +The structure of the verse was suggested, as the author +states, by the ‘Christabel’ of Coleridge, a part of which +had been repeated to him, about the year 1800, by Sir +John Stoddart. The originality, wildness, poetical +beauty, and descriptive power of Scott’s border romance +produced an effect on the public mind, only to be +equalled, perhaps, by some of the earlier works of Byron.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In the spring of 1806 Sir Walter obtained an appointment +which, he says, completely met his moderate +wishes as to preferment. This was the office of a principal +Clerk of Session, of which the duties are by no +means heavy, though personal attendance during the +sitting of the courts is required. Mr. Pitt, under whose +administration the appointment had been granted, having +died before it was officially completed, the succeeding +Whig Ministry had the satisfaction of confirming it, +accompanied by very complimentary expressions from +Mr. Fox to the nominee on the occasion. The emoluments +of this office were about £1,200 a year; but Scott +received no part of the salary till the decease of his predecessor +in 1812, the appointment being a reversionary +one.</p> + +<p class='c005'>From the appearance of the ‘Lay of the Last Minstrel’ +the history of Sir Walter Scott is, with the exception +of a few important incidents, little else than the +history of his numerous publications. To criticise, or +even to enumerate with precision, the whole of that +voluminous and splendid array, forms no part of the +object of the present article; but we must briefly notice +the appearance of the principal works.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Marmion’ appeared in 1808, and, though pretty +sharply criticised by some of the reviewers, was received +by the public with a degree of favour, if possible, even +surpassing that experienced by the ‘Lay.’ This was +succeeded in 1810 by ‘The Lady of the Lake;’ in 1811 +appeared ‘Don Roderick;’ in 1813, ‘Rokeby;’ and +in 1814 ‘The Lord of the Isles.’ ‘The Bridal of Triermain,’ +and ‘Harold the Dauntless,’ appeared anonymously, +the former in 1813, and the latter in 1817.</p> + +<p class='c005'>After the publication of ‘The Lady of the Lake,’ the +popularity of Scott’s poetry began to decline. This was +partly owing to the public having become satiated with +his peculiar style, which had now lost the charm of novelty: +partly, also, to some inferiority, in interest or in +execution, of the poems themselves; but principally to +the circumstance of a rival having entered the lists, of +such prowess as to eclipse even the minstrel Knight of +Flodden Field and Bannockburn. This was Lord +Byron, who published the first two cantos of ‘Childe +Harold’ in 1812, and followed up these by a rapid +succession of brilliant productions, which for a time cast +every thing else in the shape of verse into the shade.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In the mean while Sir Walter appeared to prosper +apace in his worldly circumstances. In the enjoyment +of an income of above £2,000 a year, independently +altogether of his literary exertions, he was supposed at +least to double that income, one year with another, by +the exuberant harvest of his brain. His industry appeared +almost as extraordinary as the force and versatility +of his talents. Amidst the full blaze of his poetical +renown, and while one metrical romance followed another +with dazzling rapidity, he found time for a variety of +laborious works in criticism, biography, and miscellaneous +literature, which added considerably both to his +funds and his reputation. Among these were new editions +of the works of Dryden and Swift, with biographical +memoirs; ‘Sadler’s State Papers;’ ‘Somers’ Tracts;’ +‘Lives of the Novelists;’ besides numerous contributions +to encyclopædias, reviews, and other periodical +publications. Amidst all this labour, too, he found abundant +leisure not only for his official avocations, but for +social enjoyment and rural recreation.</p> + +<p class='c005'>While the Court of Session was sitting, Scott lived in +Edinburgh, in a good substantial house in North Castle +Street. During the vacations he resided in the country, +and appeared to enter with ardour into the ordinary +occupations and amusements of country gentlemen. +After he was appointed Sheriff of Selkirk, he hired for +his summer residence the house and farm of Ashiesteil, +in a romantic situation on the banks of the Tweed; and +here many of his poetical works were written. But +with the increase of his resources grew the desire to +possess landed property of his own, where he might +indulge his tastes for building, planting, and gardening. +Commencing with moderation, he purchased a small +farm of about one hundred acres, lying on the south +bank of the Tweed, three miles above Melrose, and in +the very centre of that romantic and legendary country +which his first great poem has made familiar to every +reader. This spot, then called Cartly Hole, had a +northern exposure, and at that time a somewhat bleak +and uninviting aspect; the only habitable house upon +it was a small and inconvenient farm-house. Such +was the nucleus of the mansion and estate of Abbotsford. +By degrees, as his resources increased, he added farm after +farm to his domain, and reared his chateau, turret after +turret, till he had completed what a French tourist not +inaptly terms “a romance in stone and lime;” clothing +meanwhile the hills behind, and embowering the lawns +before, with flourishing woods of his own planting. The +embellishment of his house and grounds, and the enlargement +of his landed property, became, after the establishment +of his literary reputation, the objects, apparently, of +Scott’s most engrossing interest: and whatever may be +the intrinsic value of the estate as a heritage to his +posterity, he has at least succeeded in creating a scene +altogether of no ordinary attractions, and worthy of being +for ever associated with his distinguished name.</p> + +<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>The appearance of the prose romance of Waverley in +1814 forms an epoch in modern literature as well as in +the life of Scott. The circumstances which led him to +attempt this new style of composition, and induced him +for so long a period carefully to conceal his authorship, +are detailed in a very interesting manner in his introduction +to the new edition of this extraordinary series of +tales. We cannot do more than merely refer to his own +narrative. But we may remark in passing, that however +well the secret was kept, and however vehement +and ludicrous the controversies to which it gave rise, it +was in reality no secret at all to any one (to any Scotchman, +at least, of literary sagacity) who was acquainted +with Sir Walter’s other works, or with his trains of +thought and modes of expression. Among the literary +men of Edinburgh, assuredly, there was scarcely even the +shadow of a doubt from the beginning. The writer of +this sketch remembers well a conversation he had with +Sir Walter, after the publication of ‘Guy Mannering,’ +about the gipsy heroine, Jean Gordon, subsequently +avowed to have been the prototype of Meg Merrilies. +After relating the story (now well known) of Jean Gordon +and the Goodman of Lochside,—“I have a great +notion,” added Scott, with impenetrable command of +countenance, though he saw that his auditor could not +repress a smile—“I have a great notion that the author +of Waverley had Jean Gordon in his eye when he drew +the character of Meg Merrilies.” And his visitor concurred +in the opinion as gravely as he could; having at +the same time no more doubt as to the authorship than +he has now.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The mystery, however, such as it was, had doubtless +some effect in increasing the interest of these extraordinary +fictions; though in truth, they required no adventitious +charm to render them popular. With faults neither +slight nor few, they evinced merit of such high order and +of such vast variety, that they firmly established the +author on that throne of literary supremacy, where the +very highest of his poetical works could not long legitimately +maintain him. In his metrical romances, Scott +appears like one of his own knights of chivalry, magnificent +and imposing, and stalwart in action, but at the +same time somewhat stiff and artificial from the very +constraint of the shining harness which incases him. But +in his best prose fictions he is free, natural, graceful, and +energetic as his Rob Roy with his foot on his native +heath. It was in prose fiction that Scott at length found +where the true secret of his strength lay.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It is a curious circumstance that he had commenced +the novel of Waverley so early as 1805, and had then +actually advertised it to be published by Mr. John Ballantyne, +bookseller in Edinburgh; but, after proceeding +as far as the seventh chapter, receiving an unfavourable +opinion from a critical friend, he had thrown it aside, +and continued his brilliant career in verse. He ascribes +to accident his resumption of novel writing at a later +period; but it would have been more wonderful if he +had not sooner or later discovered the richest vein of his +intellectual wealth. It also proved to be an actual mine +of gold in a more commercial sense. Year after year he +poured forth the rich creations of his fertile brain; and +such was their unprecedented success that all the chief +booksellers of the kingdom competed for the privilege of +turning his literary merchandise into money. Had he +indeed received <em>gold</em> and not <em>paper</em>, the <em>seventy-four +volumes</em> of his tales (for such was the amazing extent of +these works) would have realized a sum far beyond what +any author ever before received, and almost surpassing +the fairy gifts of oriental fiction. But his connexion +with the house of Constable and Co., who continued to +be his principal publishers, led him into pecuniary speculations +which eventually engulphed the larger portion of +his well-earned fortune.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In the meanwhile Sir Walter considered himself, and +was considered by the world in general, as a person in +very prosperous and enviable circumstances. By an +extraordinary union of great original genius with a +degree of promptitude and industry scarcely less surprising, +and regulated by a judgment and a tact which +enabled him to adapt his productions with complete success +to the popular taste of the age, he seemed to have +“fixed a spoke in the wheel of Fortune.” His aristocratic +ambition, too, to keep himself, as he expresses it, +“abreast of society,” had been eminently successful. +During the greater part of the summer and autumn, he +kept house at Abbotsford like a wealthy country gentleman, +receiving, with a cordial yet courtly hospitality, the +many distinguished persons, both from England and the +Continent, who found means to obtain an introduction +to his “enchanted castle.” Anything more delightful +than a visit to Abbotsford when Sir Walter was in the +full enjoyment of his health and spirits can scarcely be +imagined. After his morning labours, which, even when +busiest, were seldom protracted beyond mid-day, (his +time for composition being usually from seven to eleven +or twelve o’clock,) he devoted himself to the entertainment +of his guests with so much unaffected cordiality, +such hilarity of spirits, and such homely kindliness of +manner, and above all with such an entire absence of +literary pretension, that the shyest stranger found himself +at once on terms of the easiest familiarity with the +most illustrious man in Europe.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The writer of these pages will long remember with a +melancholy pleasure his first visit to Abbotsford. He +had been acquainted with Sir Walter in Edinburgh for a +year or two previously, but had not seen much of him in +domestic or social life, when in the autumn of 1819 he +received an invitation to visit him at his mansion on +Tweed Side. Exclusive of his own family, he found +five or six visitors, some like himself from a distance, +and others gentlemen of the neighbourhood; but all of +them early and intimate friends of Sir Walter, and more +than one of them honourably distinguished by name in +his works. Owing to this circumstance, probably, the +conversation after dinner turned much upon his earlier +days;—his moderate success as a barrister; his first +efforts in literature; his <a id='tn-marriage'></a>pecuniary difficulties about the +time of his marriage, which induced him for the sake of +£70 to part with a favourite collection of coins and +medals; and many similar topics,—which, though treated +chiefly in a humorous vein of conversational anecdote, +were of the highest interest as connected with the personal +history of this extraordinary man. But though +thus talking with the most delightful openness respecting +his own career, when led to do so by his old comrades, +he evinced not the slightest appearance of egotistical +assumption or literary vanity. Of arrogance or envy he +seemed not to have the slightest tinge in his composition; +and he spoke much and kindly of other eminent men who +had been his companions or rivals in the race of life, or +of literary ambition. Some others of the little party were +also men of conversational talent; but the object of all, +as if by tacit agreement, was to draw out Scott to talk of +“bygone times.” In this they were very successful, +and the result was an intellectual treat of the richest and +most racy description—such as those only who have seen +Sir Walter in his happiest, drollest, and most communicative +moods can have any conception of.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Such was Sir Walter at Abbotsford, in the heyday of +his prosperity. He had then nearly reached the highest +point of his literary eminence and worldly distinction. +He was still in the vigour of life; with all the +endearing links of his domestic circle unbroken; with +an affluent fortune acquired by intellectual toils which +had ennobled himself and enriched the literature of his +country; and with yet higher personal distinction in +immediate prospect. And no one who knew him then +will deny that he wore his honours meekly.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In the spring of the ensuing year (1820) he was +created a baronet of the United Kingdom, by George IV., +<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>as a testimony of personal favour and friendship. On +the King’s visit to Scotland, in 1822, Sir Walter was +invited to superintend the arrangements for his Majesty’s +reception; and he performed that delicate and difficult +task with admirable address and propriety, and gave, +by his animating influence, something of a high and +chivalrous character to what would probably have otherwise +appeared a formal as well as a frivolous piece of +pageantry.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘The author of Waverley’ was still continuing to issue +the apparently inexhaustible “coinage of his brain,” at the +rate of from three to eight volumes a year, exclusive of +as much additional poetry and prose ‘by Sir Walter +Scott’ as would have built up a goodly reputation for +any ordinary author,—when, in January, 1826, the +house of Constable and Co. became bankrupt. It then +became known, to the extreme surprise and universal +regret of the public, that their great literary benefactor +and favourite was involved by the failure to an extent +which appeared utterly ruinous. By bill transactions +with Messrs. Constable and Co., and by other means +not yet very distinctly detailed, he had become responsible +for debts to the enormous amount of £120,000, +of which not above one half were actually incurred on +his own account. How a man of Sir Walter’s characteristic +prudence and knowledge of business should have +been so incautious as to entangle himself in such transactions +is most surprising, and scarcely well accounted for +by any explanation that has yet appeared of these concerns. +Probably the very large sums expended in the +purchase and embellishment of Abbotsford, amounting, +it is said, to from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds, +was one chief originating cause of these involvements. +These points will be all developed when his life comes to +be published. But whatever may have been the causes of +this crushing misfortune, his conduct under it was admirable; +and the honour which rests upon his memory for +his gigantic exertions to pay off this immense debt +without deduction, is a far nobler heritage to his posterity +than the most princely fortune. Though this period +of his life is one of the most interesting passages of his +whole history, we must of necessity now hurry forward +to the close of his career.</p> + +<p class='c005'>He encountered adversity with dignified and manly +intrepidity. On meeting the creditors he refused to +accept of any compromise, and declared his determination, +if life was spared him, to pay off every shilling. He +insured his life in their favour for £22,000; surrendered +all his available property in trust; sold his town house +and furniture, and removed to a humbler dwelling; and +then set himself calmly down to the stupendous task of +reducing this load of debt. The only indulgence he +asked for was time; and, to the honour of the parties +concerned, time was liberally and kindly given him.</p> + +<p class='c005'>A month or two after the crash of Constable’s house +Lady Scott died—domestic affliction thus following fast +on worldly calamity.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The divulgement of the Waverley secret became, by +the exposure of Constable’s concerns, indispensable, and +took place at an anniversary dinner of the Edinburgh +Theatrical Fund Association in February, 1827. The +original MSS. of these works falling into the possession +of the creditors, were afterwards sold in London by +public auction.</p> + +<p class='c005'>For five years after his pecuniary misfortunes, namely, +from January, 1826, to the spring of 1831, Sir Walter +continued his indefatigable labours, and in that period, +besides some eight or ten new works of fiction, produced +the ‘Life of Napoleon,’ in nine volumes; a ‘History +of Scotland,’ in two volumes; ‘Tales of a Grandfather,’ +in nine small volumes; ‘Letters on Demonology;’ +‘Malagrowther’s Letters,’ and a variety of smaller productions. +The profits of these works, and of the new +edition of the Waverley Novels, which was commenced +in 1829, were so considerable, that towards the end of +the year 1830, £54,000 of debt had been paid off; all +of which, except six or seven thousand, had been produced +by his own literary labours.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The prodigious labour which these numerous and +voluminous works necessarily required, was too much, +however, for even the most ready intellect and robust +frame. The present writer, when he saw Sir Walter for +the last time at Abbotsford, in the autumn of 1830, was +exceedingly struck by the change which a comparatively +short period had produced on his personal appearance. +A few years previously he looked a hale and active man +in middle life; now, at the age of sixty, he appeared at +least ten or twelve years older. His hair had become +thin and perfectly white; the marks of old age were +gathering fast upon his countenance; and from increased +decrepitude he “hirpled” (as he expressed it) much +more than formerly in his gait. His cordial kindness +and conversational felicity remained unimpaired, but +something of his former hilarity of spirit was wanting. +When told of the death of a gentleman of his acquaintance +by paralysis, a few days previously, he appeared +much struck, and made a remark which seemed at the +time to indicate some secret apprehension in his own +mind of that fatal malady then lurking in his own overwrought +frame.</p> + +<p class='c005'>He had then just retired from his office as a principal +Clerk of Session, but the relief he thereby gained (if indeed +the time saved was not filled by more exhausting +labours) came too late. The springs of life, so long +overtasked, began to give way. During the ensuing +winter symptoms of gradual paralysis (a disease of +which his father, it seems, had also died, but at an advanced +age) began to be manifested. His lameness +became more distressing, and his utterance began to be +obviously affected. Yet even in this afflicting and +ominous condition he continued to work with undiminished +diligence.</p> + +<p class='c005'>During the summer of 1831 he grew gradually worse. +His medical attendants strictly forbade mental exertion; +yet he could not be restrained altogether from composition. +In the autumn a visit to Italy was recommended +and a passage to Malta in a ship of war was readily obtained +for him. He was with difficulty prevailed on +to leave Scotland; but yielded at length to the entreaties +of his friends, and sailed in October, accompanied by +his eldest son and his unmarried daughter. His health +seemed improved by the voyage; but after visiting +Naples and Rome, at both of which cities he was received +with almost regal honours, his desire to return +to his native land became irrepressible, and he hurried +homeward with a rapidity which, in his state of health, +was highly injurious, and doubtless accelerated the catastrophe +which perhaps no degree of skill or caution +could have long delayed. He experienced a further +severe attack of his disorder in passing down the Rhine, +and reached London in nearly the last stage of physical +and mental prostration. Medical aid could only, it was +found, for a short period protract dissolution; and to +gratify his most ardent dying wish, he was conveyed by +the steam-packet to Leith, and on the 11th of July, 1832, +reached once more his favourite house at Abbotsford,—but +in such a pitiable condition, that he no longer recognised +his dearest and nearest relations. After lingering +in this deplorable state till, in the progress of this melancholy +malady—this living death—mortification had been +some time proceeding in different parts of the mortal +frame—he expired without a struggle on the 21st of +September, 1832.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The funeral was attended chiefly by the personal +friends and relatives of the deceased, and by the gentlemen +of his acquaintance in the vicinity; but the inhabitants +of the neighbouring towns and villages evinced +their respect for his memory by spontaneously suspending +all business and generally assuming the emblems of +mourning, while the funeral train were proceeding to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>deposit the body in its last narrow dwelling. He was +interred in his family burial aisle amidst the ruins of +Dryburgh Abbey,—a spot of great picturesque beauty, +lying on Tweed Side about half way between Smailholm, +the scene of his simple infancy, and Abbotsford, +the stately home of his latter years.</p> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/walter-scott-2-full.jpg'><img src='images/walter-scott-2-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Dryburgh Abbey.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c005'>The death of Sir Walter Scott, though it had been +for some time expected, produced a great sensation; +and the exaggerated rumours of the amount of his +debts remaining unpaid, and the probability of Abbotsford +being in consequence lost to his family, called +forth a very general wish for some generous manifestation +of national gratitude to avert so afflicting a result. +It has been since ascertained that the whole of the debts +now remaining do not much exceed £20,000—a sum +which his family have, it is understood, declared their +ability and determination to meet without assistance.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Meetings have in the meanwhile been held on Tweed +Side, in Edinburgh, and in London, to give expression +to the national sorrow for his loss, and to decide on the +erection of more than one monument of national respect +and admiration.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Sir Walter Scott has left a family of two sons and +two daughters. The elder son, the present Sir Walter, +is a Major in the 15th Hussars; Charles the younger, +is an Attaché to the Neapolitan Legation. The elder +daughter was married in 1820 to Mr. J. G. Lockhart, +editor of the Quarterly Review; the younger, Miss Ann +Scott, remains still unmarried.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In person Sir Walter Scott was about six feet in +height, but from his somewhat stooping gait did not +look quite so tall. In middle life he was considered a +powerful and robust man. His dress and manners +were distinguished by a dignified simplicity. The character +and expression of his countenance have been +rendered familiar to the world by engravings from several +fine portraits, and casts from the admirable bust by +Chantry. His literary and social habits we have +already cursorily noticed. He was beloved by all +classes from the prince to the peasant; with all classes he +was equally at home; and the characters and manners +of all he has described in his writings with equal truth +and felicity. In this respect, he is equalled by Shakspeare +alone. He had a kindly sympathy for human +nature in all its aspects, and, though naturally of +decidedly aristocratic predilections, he respected the feelings +of the humblest individual. He was most punctual +in answering letters, though the labour which this task +involved (and much of it caused by uninvited correspondents) +was often a real affliction. Of his kindliness +of heart we could relate many most pleasing traits—especially +in acts of friendship to literary men whom he +found struggling in obscurity or adversity. To the +Ettrick Shepherd he was an early and active patron. +Mr. Allan Cunningham has gratefully recorded his +obligations to him, in obtaining, through his interest, +appointments for two of his sons in India. Mr. T. +Pringle (another of his border acquaintance) was warmly +recommended by him when he went abroad in 1820, +for a government appointment at the Cape. Some +of the sons of the poet Burns have been effectually +helped forward in life by his generous intervention. +The widow of Johnson, the engraver, (the early friend +and correspondent of Burns,) received in her destitute +old age a monthly allowance from his purse. +And the catalogue of such generous acts (though all +carefully concealed by himself) might be enlarged +tenfold were we at liberty to disclose merely all those +that have become known to ourselves. His graceful +mode of doing a friendly act was even more meritorious +than the act itself: he always endeavoured to represent +himself as the obliged person. With all these great and +good qualities Sir Walter Scott had, like all of Adam’s +race, his foibles and defects; but we have neither space +nor inclination to attempt their impartial delineation. +His colossal character, intellectual and moral, with all +its lights and shades, (and the latter were but few,) will +be, doubtless, ere long depicted by hands fully competent +to the task; and the influence of his genius on the +literature not of England merely, but of Europe, at the +same time, justly appreciated.</p> + +<hr class='c008'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Memoir of Sir Walter Scott, by Mr. Cunningham, in the +Athenæum.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. In ‘Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal’—a little work published +weekly, at three-halfpence;—which deserves, as it has received, +extensive support. We are happy to have an opportunity of recommending +this labourer in the same field with ourselves, especially as +the large sale of the Edinburgh Journal offers one of many proofs +that sound and accurate information, conveyed in a familiar and +agreeable shape, will be acceptable to the large body of readers, +without any of those attractions, whether of violence as to public +subjects, or frivolous tattling about private ones, which have been +formerly considered essential to popularity.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. The following is the title of this his first publication:—‘The +Chace; and William and Helen: Edinburgh; Manners and +Miller, 1796.’</p> +</div> + +<hr class='c009'> +<div class='colophon'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c000'> + <div>⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div>LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:—</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='colophon-left'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>London</i>, <span class='sc'>Groombridge</span>, <a id='tn-panyeralley'></a>Panyer Alley.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bath</i>, <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Birmingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Drake</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bristol</i>, <span class='sc'>Westley</span> and Co.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Carlisle</i>, <span class='sc'>Thurnam</span>; and <span class='sc'>Scott</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Derby</i>, <span class='sc'>Wilkins</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Devonport</i>, <span class='sc'>Byers</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Doncaster</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div> + <div class='line'><i>Exeter</i>, <span class='sc'>Balle</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Falmouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Philip</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Hull</i>, <span class='sc'>Stephenson</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Kendal</i>, <span class='sc'>Hudson</span> and <span class='sc'>Nicholson</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Leeds</i>, <span class='sc'>Baines</span> and <span class='sc'>Newsome</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Lincoln</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Sons</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Liverpool</i>, <span class='sc'>Willmer</span> and <span class='sc'>Smith</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='colophon-right'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Manchester</i>, <span class='sc'>Robinson</span>; and <span class='sc'>Webb</span> and <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Newcastle-upon-Tyne</i>, <span class='sc'>Charnley</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Norwich</i>, <span class='sc'>Jarrold</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Nottingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Wright</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Oxford</i>, <span class='sc'>Slatter</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Plymouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Nettleton</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Portsea</i>, <span class='sc'>Horsey</span>, Jun.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Sheffield</i>, <span class='sc'>Ridge</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Staffordshire, Lane End</i>, C. <span class='sc'>Watts</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Worcester</i>, <span class='sc'>Deighton</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Dublin</i>, <span class='sc'>Wakeman</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Edinburgh</i>, <span class='sc'>Oliver</span> and <span class='sc'>Boyd</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Glasgow</i>, <span class='sc'>Atkinson</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div> + <div class='line'><i>New York</i>, <span class='sc'>Jackson</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='clear'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Printed by <span class='sc'>William Clowes</span>, Duke Street, Lambeth.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c002'> +</div> +<div> + +<p class='c010'></p> + +</div> +<div class='transcribers-notes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized changes from the original text:</p> + <ul class='ul_1'> + <li><a href='#tn-alien'>p. 297</a>: Added period after phrase “alien to those their parent had + conscientiously adopted.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-periodical'>p. 299</a>: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “any of the + periodical publications of the day.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-huntsman'>p. 300</a>: Added closing single quotation mark after title “The Wild + Huntsman.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-marriage'>p. 302</a>: Replaced “marraige” with “marriage” in phrase “pecuniary + difficulties about the time of his marriage.” + </li> + <li><a href='#tn-panyeralley'>p. 304</a>: Added period after phrase “Panyer Alley.” + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77270 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-11-19 17:50:45 GMT --> +</html> |