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diff --git a/77270-0.txt b/77270-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..744ab53 --- /dev/null +++ b/77270-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1025 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77270 *** + + + + + Monthly Supplement of + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + 37.] September 29 to October 31, 1832 + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. + + [Illustration: Sir Walter Scott. From Mr. Chantrey’s Bust.] + + [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.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Quaker_. 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 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 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 _Beardie_. 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. + +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[1].’” + +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.’ + +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. + +While his _poetical education_ (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[2]; 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. + +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 _eleventh_ in the Rector’s class. + +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 _romancer_. Of this curious fact he gives the +following account in the general introduction to the new edition of the +Waverley Novels:-- + + +“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, 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 _oasis_ in the pilgrimage which I have to +look back upon.” + + +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 +_study_) 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. + + +“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. + +“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. + +“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.” + + +Such a course of _study_ 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. + +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.” + +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:-- + +“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. + +“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 any of the periodical publications of the day.” + +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. + +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.” + +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 ‘The Wild Huntsman,’ in a thin quarto[3]. “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.” + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +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 _raids_, 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. + +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 _Writer_ 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. + +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. + +‘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. + +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. + +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. + +‘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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _gold_ and not _paper_, +the _seventy-four volumes_ 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +In the spring of the ensuing year (1820) he was created a baronet of the +United Kingdom, by George IV., 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. + +‘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. + +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. + +A month or two after the crash of Constable’s house Lady Scott +died--domestic affliction thus following fast on worldly calamity. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + [Illustration: Dryburgh Abbey.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + Memoir of Sir Walter Scott, by Mr. Cunningham, in the Athenæum. + +Footnote 2: + + 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. + +Footnote 3: + + The following is the title of this his first publication:--‘The Chace; + and William and Helen: Edinburgh; Manners and Miller, 1796.’ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at + 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. + + LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. + + _Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following + Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:--_ + + _London_, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley. + _Bath_, SIMMS. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Carlisle_, THURNAM; and SCOTT. + _Derby_, WILKINS and SON. + _Devonport_, BYERS. + _Doncaster_, BROOKE and CO. + _Exeter_, BALLE. + _Falmouth_, PHILIP. + _Hull_, STEPHENSON. + _Kendal_, HUDSON and NICHOLSON. + _Leeds_, BAINES and NEWSOME. + _Lincoln_, BROOKE and SONS. + _Liverpool_, WILLMER and SMITH. + _Manchester_, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. + _Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, CHARNLEY. + _Norwich_, JARROLD and SON. + _Nottingham_, WRIGHT. + _Oxford_, SLATTER. + _Plymouth_, NETTLETON. + _Portsea_, HORSEY, Jun. + _Sheffield_, RIDGE. + _Staffordshire, Lane End_, C. WATTS. + _Worcester_, DEIGHTON. + _Dublin_, WAKEMAN. + _Edinburgh_, OLIVER and BOYD. + _Glasgow_, ATKINSON and CO. + _New York_, JACKSON. + + Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Duke Street, Lambeth. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 297: Added period after phrase “alien to those their parent had + conscientiously adopted.” + • p. 299: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “any of the + periodical publications of the day.” + • p. 300: Added closing single quotation mark after title “The Wild + Huntsman.” + • p. 302: Replaced “marraige” with “marriage” in phrase “pecuniary + difficulties about the time of his marriage.” + • p. 304: Added period after phrase “Panyer Alley.” + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77270 *** |