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 Memories of Sir Walter Scott, 
 
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MEMORIES OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
From the Picture by 
 
 ^^2'g>^z^^^ 
 
 Sir Henkv Raebukn, K.A. 
 
 o^^§^^^^^=^-^ 
 
 [Frontispiece 
 
THE SKENE PAPERS 
 
 MEMORIES OF 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
 , BY JAMES SKENE 
 
 EDITED BY BASIL THOMSON 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1909 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 Eleven years we now may tell, 
 
 Since we have known each other well ; 
 
 Since, riding side by side, our hand 
 
 First drew the voluntary brand ; 
 
 And sure, through many a varied scene, 
 
 Unkindness never came between. 
 
 Marmion. Introduction to Canto iv. 
 
 James Skene of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen, was 
 born on the 7th March 1775. His father, a 
 brilliant but erratic young barrister, died the year 
 after his birth, and he was left to the guardianship 
 of his mother, the heiress of the Jacobite Moirs 
 of Stoneywood, a woman of character and eccen- 
 tricity, who shocked her contemporaries by such 
 extravagances as making her annual journey to 
 Edinburgh on horseback in a scarlet riding-habit. 
 By the early death of his elder brother he in- 
 herited Rubislaw at the age of sixteen, and his 
 mother then removed him from the High School 
 at Edinburgh and set him to find his way alone 
 to Hanau in Germany to complete his educa- 
 tion — no small feat for a boy of sixteen in 
 the year of the Revolution. Returning from 
 Germany with a fluent knowledge of French 
 and German, and a taste for German literature, 
 a2 
 
vi SKENE'S EARLY YEARS 
 
 he applied himself to the study of law, and was 
 admitted to the Scottish Bar in 1797. It was 
 his acquaintance with contemporary German 
 literature, as he himself narrates, which procured 
 him an introduction to Sir Walter Scott, just 
 then fired with the spirit of Biirger. The 
 acquaintance soon ripened in the atmosphere of 
 camaraderie that enveloped the Edinburgh Light 
 Horse in which they both held commissions. 
 The martial fever that possessed them at this 
 period excited some ridicule among their fellow- 
 advocates. 
 
 Skene's tastes were artistic and scientific rather 
 than literary, and Scott, who considered him ' the 
 first amateur draughtsman in Scotland,' had a 
 high opinion of his talent. The pencil sketches 
 and water-colour drawings that adorn the journals 
 of his foreign travels are exquisitely finished, 
 though the etchings he published of the ' Waverley 
 Localities ' scarcely do him justice. In the ballad- 
 hunting expeditions in Ettrick Forest, which were 
 an excuse for the wild 'cross-country riding that 
 they both loved, Skene was seldom without his 
 sketch-book. 
 
 ■ As thou with pencil, I with pen, 
 The features traced of hill and glen.' 
 
 At the peace of 1802 Skene took the road 
 again. Landing at Calais he traversed Belgium, 
 Germany, Switzerland and Italy in leisurely 
 fashion. He was now twenty-seven, and, as he 
 
HIS MARRIAGE vii 
 
 frankly admits, it was the Sentimental Journey 
 that inspired him to keep a journal of his travels, 
 a habit which happily he was never able to shake 
 off. 
 
 After exploring Sicily he returned slowly 
 through France, where he had made many friends 
 and acquired a local knowledge which was after- 
 wards turned to account by his friend in Quentin 
 Durward. 
 
 On his return he fell in love with Jane, the 
 daughter of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo. 
 Before the date of the marriage was fixed. Sir 
 William fell ill, and knowing that his end was 
 near, he sent for Skene and insisted on the 
 marriage being solemnised by his bedside that he 
 might die happy. 
 
 ' And such a lot, my Skene, was thine. 
 When thou of late wert doomed to twine, 
 Just when thy bridal hour was by. 
 The cypress with the myrtle tie.' 
 
 For the eight years following his marriage in 
 1806, Skene lived the life of a cultured country 
 gentleman, in Kincardineshire and Edinburgh, 
 paying frequent visits to Scott at Ashestiel, and 
 meeting him daily in Edinburgh. In 1816 he 
 returned to Edinburgh for the education of his 
 children, and here he set himself, with Scott's 
 help, to reorganise the literary and scientific 
 societies, which had fallen on evil days. As 
 Secretary to the Royal Society and Curator of 
 its Library and Museum under Scott's presidency. 
 
viii SETTLES IN GREECE 
 
 and as a member of the Antiquarian Society, he 
 became keenly interested in antiquarian research, 
 and later, as Secretary to the Board of Trustees 
 and Manufactures, he did much for the promo- 
 tion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. In 1820 he 
 took his family to Aix-en -Provence for a pro- 
 longed sojourn, and there was born his seventh 
 child, Felicia, known afterwards as the pioneer 
 of the modern Prison Visitor. Of his other 
 children the best known was his second son, 
 William, Historiographer Royal for Scotland, 
 and author of Celtic Scotland, who died in 1892 
 at the age of eighty-three. 
 
 On his return from France, Skene lived in 
 Edinburgh, and from the time of Scott's financial 
 ruin the intimacy between the two men seems to 
 have become closer. It fell naturally to Skene to 
 organise the national memorial to his dead friend. 
 His papers of 1832 are full of letters from sub- 
 scribers in remote parts of the earth. 
 
 His third son, my grandfather, who was quartered 
 at Malta with his regiment, having made a romantic 
 marriage with a daughter of Jacques Rizo-Rangabe, 
 the head of an old Fanariot family in Athens, sold 
 his commission and settled in Greece, and he sent 
 home such a glowing picture of the climate that 
 Skene set out with his whole family overland to pay 
 him a visit. Under the glamour of his first few 
 weeks in that enchanted country, he bought a con- 
 siderable property and built a villa in which he 
 lived for nearly eight years. Two of his daughters 
 
LITERARY MODESTY ix 
 
 married in the country. His journal and sketches 
 of that period are of the highest interest. It was 
 perhaps the happiest time of his life, but at length 
 an acute nostalgia carried him back to England, 
 and in 1844 he settled permanently at Frewen 
 Hall, near Oxford, where he died in 1864, in his 
 ninetieth year, his wife having preceded him by 
 a few months. 
 
 He was a man of much industry and many 
 accomplishments. He spoke French, German, 
 and Italian fluently, and had more than a super- 
 ficial knowledge of the science of his time. His 
 writings fill many volumes of manuscript, and yet 
 so great was his modesty that, beyond a few papers 
 to the journals of scientific societies and a volume 
 of etchings, he pubhshed nothing. His literary 
 bent was too weak a plant to grow up under the 
 shadow of a great tree. Had Scott belonged to 
 another generation it is possible that Skene's wide 
 experience and his keen observation would have 
 brought him some measure of literary fame. This 
 volume of recollections and letters was written for 
 the purpose of preserving among his descendants 
 the memory of his intimacy with Scott. He placed 
 it freely at Lockhart's disposal, but he seems to 
 have felt, and to have impressed the feeling on his 
 sons, that to publish it without the permission of 
 his dead friend would be an act of impropriety. 
 The MS. was lent by his daughter to Mr. David 
 Douglas when the famous journal was going 
 through the press, and hence it comes that several 
 
X GREEN MANTLE'S MOTHER 
 
 of the letters have already appeared in print. 
 They are reprinted here in their proper place. 
 
 These papers, and many other unpublished jour- 
 nals and MSS., have passed into the hands of my 
 cousin, Mr. Maurice Skene-Tytler, the grandson 
 of his eldest son, who has kindly permitted me to 
 publish them. I have to thank my uncle, Mr. 
 Felix Skene, for many useful suggestions. 
 
 A few letters addressed to Mrs. Skene are in- 
 cluded in this volume. Her friendship with Scott 
 seems to have been of the formal and conven- 
 tional order, except in one particular. Though 
 Mrs. Skene makes no allusion to her sister-in-law. 
 Green Mantle, nor to the following episode, it fell 
 to her in 1827, when poor Green Mantle was dead, 
 to accompany Sir Walter on his first visit to the 
 mother of his early love, whom he had not seen for 
 more than thirty years. Lady Jane Stuart was 
 then seventy-four. Her letter inviting Scott to 
 the interview contained the following passage : 
 'Not the mother who bore you followed you 
 more anxiously (though secretly) with her bless- 
 ing than 1 1 Age has tales to tell and sorrows 
 to unfold.' ^ All that Mrs. Skene would ever say 
 of this interview, even to members of her own 
 family, was that a very painful scene occurred, and 
 that she thought it probable that Scott wrote the 
 lines 'To Time, by his Early Favourite,' on 
 returning from the visit. 
 
 It is a little difficult to fix the exact place that 
 
 ' Journal, note to p. 66, vol. ii. 
 
COMRADES IN THE FIELD xi 
 
 Skene held in Scott's intimacy. On the one side 
 we have the fact that he was not among the six or 
 eight persons admitted to the secret of the author- 
 ship of Waverley, and Scott's reference to him in 
 the journal of January 1826 ^ does not imply a very 
 close intimacy, but a fortnight later, when Scott 
 was staggering under the blow of financial ruin, it 
 was to ' good Samaritan Skene' that he turned for 
 comfort. On the other hand, had Skene not been 
 an intimate, Scott would have taken more trouble 
 about his letters to him — as he did, for instance, in 
 those he wrote to Lady Louisa Stuart, Sir Alex- 
 ander Young, and others of his acquaintance, nor 
 would he have sent to him first for comfort in his 
 distress. The friendship of the two men had, in 
 fact, two phases. In their early manhood Skene 
 was the friend of Scott's open-air life, of the Edin- 
 burgh Cavalry, of the exploratory rides into the 
 Border moorland, of the otter hunts and the fish- 
 spearing, and he touched the intellectual life only 
 in his archffiological studies and in the glimpses he 
 was able to give of the life and thought of foreign 
 countries which suggested new fields of romance. 
 
 ' 'Mr. and Mrs. Skene, my excellent friends, came to us from 
 Edinburgh. Skene, distinguished for his attainments as a draughts- 
 man, and for his highly gentlemanlike feeling and character, is Laird 
 of Ruhislaw, near Aberdeen. Having had an elder brother, his edu- 
 cation was somewhat neglected in early life, against which disadvan- 
 tage he made a most gallant (fight), exerting himself much to obtain 
 those accomplishments which he has since possessed. Of late he has 
 given himself much to the study of Antiquities. 
 
 ' . . . They bring so much old-fashioned kindness and good-humour 
 with them, besides the recollections of other times, that th^y are most 
 welcome guests.' — Journal, vol. i. p. 75. 
 
xii SKENE'S LOYALTY 
 
 As a critic he was too easily pleased to be of use, 
 and it was to Morritt and Erskine that Scott turned 
 when he needed friendly criticism. From 1798 to 
 1826 they were bound together by comradeship 
 and community of tastes and political opinions. 
 But Skene's chivalrous affection after the financial 
 disaster of 1826 seems to have brought the two 
 men into a closer relationship, which, as these 
 letters show, endured until the clouds had settled 
 down upon Scott's intellect. In one of the lucid 
 intervals of the last illness, Skene was the first 
 friend for whom the dying man inquired, and it 
 seemed natural to the family to choose him as a 
 trustee to select the relics of the dead which 
 were to be preserved at Abbotsford. In Scott's 
 intimacy, therefore, Skene may be said to have 
 come next below Clerk, Erskine, and Morritt. 
 
 But to Skene's devotion to Scott no bounds 
 were set. His deep admiration of his genius never 
 descended to foolish adulation ; his respect for his 
 character was the respect of one strong man for 
 another. How poignantly Skene felt his loss may 
 be judged by the fact, unrecorded in his minute 
 account of the funeral, that he fell down in a 
 fainting fit beside the open grave at Dryburgh. 
 
 His journal of the thirty-three years that re- 
 mained to him are filled with recollections of his 
 dead friend, and a few days before his death, 
 when, despite his ninety years, his memory and 
 intelligence seemed as bright as ever, his daughter 
 found him one autumn evening 'almost trans- 
 
THE LAST MEETING xiii 
 
 figured by an expression of the most radiant 
 delight.' * The moment I came in,' she wrote, ' he 
 turned to me and told me that he had just ex- 
 perienced an inexpressible joy ; he had just seen 
 dear Scott again ! He had walked into the room 
 quite suddenly, and told him that he had come 
 from a very long distance to visit him. Then my 
 father described his unchanged appearance, and 
 how he had sat down on the other side of the 
 hearth. " It has been such a joyful meeting, but 
 dear Scott did not stay very long." This account 
 was so detailed and clear that I almost felt as if I 
 
 had myself seen what he described.' 
 
 B. T. 
 
 London, October 1909. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PORTRAIT OF JAMES SKENE, . . Frontispiece 
 From the Picture by Sir Henry Raebubn, R.A. 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF 30th APRIL 
 
 1823, facing pA08 
 
MEMORIES OF 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
 By JAMES SKENE 
 
 The removal from life of my early and much- 
 valued friend has at length closed to me the 
 source of long and habitual enjoyment, leaving 
 to memory alone all the traces of our inter- 
 course while they are suffered to last ; but it has 
 stamped in a manner with the value of relics that 
 portion which chanced to have been epistolary. 
 And as under that sacred character I feel their 
 claim to regard, however much they may be of a 
 merely private, careless, and familiar class, I desire 
 to have them collected into a volume for their 
 security, and also for the satisfaction I anticipate 
 in revising them, and in adding such notes relating 
 to the circumstances they may refer to as recent 
 memory can yet supply. 
 
 I may perhaps be excused for feeling some 
 degree of pride in wishing to transmit in safety to 
 my family the testimony borne by these letters, 
 from an early period down to the termination of 
 the life of so illustrious a man as Sir Walter Scott, 
 of the friendship which existed between us. I 
 have reason to think that the last letter in the 
 
2 GERMAN STUDIES 
 
 series which he wrote to me from Italy was 
 probably the last which the state of his health 
 permitted him to write, as the fatal complaint 
 which arrested his faculties occurred so soon 
 afterwards, in the course of the journey in which 
 he was then engaged. His extreme anxiety to 
 hasten the course of his homeward progress 
 showed that he had foreseen the fate which did 
 at length overtake him, while journeying by the 
 Rhine to Holland. 
 
 My first acquaintance with Sir Walter Scott 
 arose from the circumstance of my having at an 
 early period of my life acquired some knowledge of 
 the German language, and having thus antici- 
 pated the time when a taste for it began to gain 
 ground in this country. Until the close of the 
 last century the literature of Germany was but 
 little known in Scotland, where the idea prevailed 
 that it contained few treasures worth knowing, 
 and that it was chiefly confined to monkish 
 chronicles, and such-like dry annals of the numer- 
 ous small states and dependencies into which the 
 country was subdivided, with pondorous tomes 
 of commentators on Law, Theology, and the 
 Classics, and treatises on Alchemy and the Occult 
 Sciences. But about this time the first works of 
 Schiller and Klopstock had begun to be noticed, 
 and some of the wild ballads or Volkslieder of 
 Biirger having fallen into Scott's hands, he forth- 
 with set himself to work to master the idiom, and 
 even to translate some of them into English. The 
 
INTRODUCTION TO SCOTT 3 
 
 chivalrous and romantic character of most of these 
 legendary tales chimed in with the bent and taste 
 of Sir Walter's mind, and having somewhat 
 familiarised himself with the structure of the 
 language by putting the play of Gotz von 
 Berlichingen into an English dress, he made a 
 very successful translation of Lenore and some 
 of the other ballads. Books of this class, however, 
 were but rarely to be met with in the country at 
 that period, and in his quest for a supply to feed 
 the craving for German romance that seized 
 him, Sir Walter learned that I had recently 
 returned from a several years' residence at school 
 in Germany, and that I had brought a collection 
 of the best German authors along with me, which 
 he, of course, became desirous to obtain access to. 
 Accordingly, our mutual friend, Mrs. Edmonston 
 of Newton, waited upon me to introduce Sir 
 Walter in the year 1794. Among his intimate 
 acquaintances Scott had always been a general 
 favourite on account of his unaffected, cheerful, 
 and kindly habits, and was even then a person in 
 some request for his convivial habits and enter- 
 taining conversation, but to me, who had for some 
 years been abroad, he was as unknown in name as 
 in character. However, the objects of his research 
 were there before him in a goodly range of German 
 volumes, comprehending the works of most of the 
 German authors then in repute ; they soon fixed 
 his attention, and became the subject of our con- 
 versation, and when I intimated to him that the 
 
4 FELLOW BARRISTERS 
 
 collection was altogether at his service, a cordial 
 shake of the hand which accompanied his thanks 
 seemed to seal that bond, which rose from this 
 first introduction to an intimacy and friendship 
 uninterrupted for forty years, and even still on 
 the increase when the close of his life dissolved 
 that bond of affection which had constituted one 
 of the chief charms of mine. 
 
 Without the vanity to suppose that in the early 
 period of our acquaintance my resources of con- 
 versation could in any respect approach the 
 quality of those which I soon discovered in 
 Scott, yet the opportunities of travel I happened 
 so early to have enjoyed, not then so common as 
 they have since become, afforded me the means of 
 supplying matter of some entertainment to him 
 and some information of that description which 
 I have noticed that Scott throughout life was 
 always particularly desirous to acquire— a taste 
 which, in fact, appears reflected throughout his 
 works. 
 
 The peculiarities of foreign countries, the habits 
 of the people, the striking features of scenery, and, 
 above all, the traditions, songs of the people, and 
 legendary tales always supplied an ample and 
 agreeable theme, and to such subjects of interest 
 was joined the influence of similarity of pursuits 
 in several important respects, for, although he was 
 by several years my senior in life, I was preparing 
 to join him at the Scottish Bar, and we soon 
 afterwards became also associates in Court. 
 
CLOSE COMPANIONSHIP 5 
 
 Residing for the first years of our acquaintance 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of each other, in 
 South Castle Street, so as to be in the daily habit 
 of meeting while in town, and often passing a 
 considerable portion of the summer together in the 
 country in some rambling excursion, we had little 
 opportunity for correspondence by letter, beyond 
 such casual notes as are seldom preserved, when 
 nothing has as yet occurred to render the autograph 
 of the writer of value. Accordingly the letters 
 from Sir Walter Scott which I happen to have 
 preserved are of a considerably later period, when 
 his rising name had begun to stamp a value on 
 every trifle which proceeded from his pen, but at 
 the same time I cannot take blame for having 
 neglected at any time the communications of a 
 friend I valued so much, but in fact, the intervals 
 of separation had during a considerable space been 
 so few and short as to produce small need of 
 correspondence betwixt us. 
 
 In the explanatory notes which I intend occa- 
 sionally to add to the following series of letters, I 
 am far from proposing any attempt to picture the 
 mind of my late lamented friend. My evidence 
 bears on one point especially, that of his familiar 
 moments. Although I have seen him much in 
 the intercourse of general society, and often in 
 company where he was naturally called upon to 
 observe more ceremony, yet the unpretending and 
 guileless simplicity of his nature seemed altogether 
 unsusceptible of influence from those circumstances 
 
 a2 
 
6 SIR WALTER'S CHARACTER 
 
 which are usually found more or less to affect the 
 manners of most people. With Sir Walter the 
 same peculiar characteristics prevailed whatever 
 might be the situation in which he was placed. 
 Even under the scourge of protracted sickness and 
 pain, in family distress and misfortune, exposed to 
 those irritating trifles by which the equilibrium of 
 temper is often more effectually spoiled than by 
 severer calamities, the same elevation of soul was 
 conspicuous throughout ; his mind seemed to move 
 in a sphere incapable of descending ; the amiable 
 and the good, the higher and more dignified 
 attributes of our nature alone seemed to bound his 
 view. With a brilliancy of ideas that commanded 
 every phase of imagination, even the most common 
 thoughts acquired an embellishment, a degree of 
 beauty, and at the same time a simplicity and 
 playfulness which was surprising. He did not so 
 much describe, as by the vivacity of his conception 
 evoke the very presence of what he described ; of 
 this feature his writings bear the lasting portrait, 
 and his usual conversation was equally character- 
 ised by it. A remarkable instance recurs to my 
 memory, which I may mention now if only to 
 preserve my consistency by breaking off from 
 an analysis of his character, which in spite of my 
 determination to the contrary I have insensibly 
 fallen into. 
 
 In one of our frequent walks to the pier of 
 Leith, where the freshness of the sea-breeze was a 
 strong temptation to those accustomed to pass a 
 
A TEA-TABLE OF ICE 7 
 
 few of the morning hours within the close and 
 impure atmosphere of the Court of Session, I 
 happened to meet with the master of a vessel in 
 which I had sailed in the Mediterranean/ Our 
 mutual recognition was cordial, as the grasp of the 
 seaman's hard fist showed. It was some years 
 since we had been shipmates ; he had visited 
 almost every quarter of the globe, but he shook 
 his head and looked serious when he came to 
 mention his last trip. He had commanded a 
 whaler, and having been for weeks exposed to 
 great stress of weather in the polar regions, the 
 voyage finally terminated in the total loss of his 
 vessel with most of her equipage in the course of 
 a dark, tempestuous night. When the ship was 
 thrown on her beam ends, my friend was washed 
 overboard, and in his struggles to keep himself 
 above water he got hold of a piece of ice on the 
 top of which he succeeded at length in raising 
 himself. ' And there I was, sir, on a cursed dark, 
 dirty night, squatted on a round lump of floating 
 ice, for all the world like a tea-table adrift in the 
 middle of a stormy sea, without being able to see 
 whether there was any hope within sight, and 
 having enough to do to hold on, cold as my seat 
 was, with sometimes one end of me in the water 
 and sometimes the other, as the ill-fashioned crank 
 thing kept whirling and twirling about all night. 
 However, praised be God, daylight had not been 
 long in when a boat's crew on the look-out hove in 
 
 1 From Leghorn to Civita Vecchia. 
 
8 A RESCUE AT SEA 
 
 sight, and taking me for a basking seal, and, may- 
 be, I was not unlike that same, up they came of 
 themselves, for neither voice nor hand had I to 
 signal them, and if they lost their blubber, faith, 
 sir, they did get a willing prize on board. So, 
 after just a little bit gliff of a prayer for the mercy 
 that sent them to my help, I soon came to myself 
 again, and now that I am landed safe and sound, I 
 am walking about, ye see, like a gentleman, till I 
 get some new craft to try the trade again.' 
 
 Sir Walter, who was leaning on my arm during 
 this narrative, had not taken any share in the 
 dialogue, and kept gazing to seaward with his 
 usual heavy, absorbed expression, and only joined 
 in wishing the seaman better success in his next 
 trip as we parted. However, the detail had by no 
 means escaped his notice, but dropping into the 
 fertile soil of his mind, speedily yielded fruit 
 quite characteristic of his habits. We happened 
 that evening to dine in company together. I was 
 not near Sir Walter at table, but in the course of 
 the evening my attention was called to listen to 
 a narrative with which he was entertaining those 
 around him, and exciting as usual the eager 
 interest of his hearers. I had not heard the 
 beginning of the story, but I soon perceived that 
 a shipwreck was the theme, which he described 
 with all the vivid touches of his fancy, marshal- 
 ling the incidents and striking features of the 
 situations with a degree of dexterity that seemed 
 to bring all the horrors of a polar storm home to 
 
SCOTT'S POWERS OF DESCRIPTION 9 
 
 every one's mind ; and although it occurred to me 
 that our rencontre in the morning with the ship- 
 wrecked whaling captain might have recalled a 
 similar story to his recollection, it was not until 
 he came to mention the 'tea-table of ice' that 
 I recognised the identity of my friend's tale, 
 which had luxuriated to such an extent in the 
 fertile soil of the poet's imagination, as to have 
 left the original germ in comparative insignifi- 
 cance. He cast a glance towards me at the close, 
 and observed with a significant nod, 'You see 
 that you did not hear one-half of that honest sea- 
 man's story this morning,' It was such slender 
 hints, which in the common intercourse of life 
 must have hourly dropped on the soil of his re- 
 tentive memory, that fed the exuberance of Sir 
 Walter's invention, and supplied the seemingly 
 inexhaustible stream of fancy, from which he 
 drew forth at pleasure the groundwork of his 
 romances. 
 
 The power of agreeable conversation with most 
 persons who have the good fortune to possess it 
 requires the aid of favourable circumstances to 
 draw it forth, but that was not the case with Sir 
 Walter. His peculiar talent never seemed to be 
 checked by what might have been considered the 
 most hopeless theme, or the most unpromising 
 company. Every class and character seemed to 
 him a study which he delighted to bring out in 
 its everyday dress by the easy plan of his own 
 conversation, and he seemed to succeed with all. 
 
10 THE TIMBER GOVERNESS 
 
 from the highest to the lowest; for it was my 
 fortune to have seen him in company of all kinds, 
 even in that of many of the most remarkable 
 persons of the age, and I have never seen his 
 powers of conversation fail to excite a correspon- 
 ding impression, except in one instance, where, 
 conscious of his fruitless efforts, he returned 
 repeatedly to the attack, but in vain ; his very 
 best jokes, and most amusing sallies fell powerless 
 to the ground before the prim countenance and 
 most imperturbable propriety of a governess. He 
 fairly gave up the attempt, and observed that she 
 was the best specimen he had ever seen of a 
 ' timber governess.' 
 
 The following letter, written in consequence 
 of having been asked by Mr. Lockhart to give 
 him a few notes relating to Sir Walter Scott's 
 connection with the Volunteer Cavalry, with a 
 view to the life he was writing, wiU serve as a 
 sketch of our intercourse during the ten years 
 from 1798 to 1808. 
 
 Edinburgh, 28th July 1834. 
 
 My dear Lockhart, — You desired me to send 
 you any recollections I might retain of that period 
 of our late friend's life in which he joined the 
 ranks of the Edinburgh Cavalry, that of the latter 
 years of the last century and those towards the 
 commencement of the present. It is a period pro- 
 fuse enough in recollections delightful to myself 
 as recalling a sort of after-taste of pleasures long 
 gone by, which I fear, however, would appear too 
 insipid to warrant my inflicting on you the task 
 
SCOTT'S LETTERS 11 
 
 of reading them, particularly as I find, upon look- 
 ing to my epistolary relics, they are necessarily 
 but scanty at that time, as Sir Walter's pursuits 
 and my own led us so much in the same course 
 that for a good many years we were seldom 
 separated, even for a whole day when in town, 
 and when even in the summer recess, either at 
 Ashestiel or engaged in frequent border excursions 
 of some extent and duration on horseback, we 
 were so much together as to leave little occasion 
 for epistolary intercourse beyond the interchange 
 of casual notes, of which the proportion that have 
 been accidentally preserved, though no doubt of 
 value to me as serving to recall the circumstances 
 connected with them, could not otherwise be 
 made serviceable. But from the period of my 
 retirement to the country in 1808 our correspon- 
 dence assumed a more regular character, and 
 continued without intermission until so short a 
 time prior to the last attack of the fatal malady 
 when on his homeward journey through Italy, 
 that I am inclined to think that the last letter I 
 received from him must have been among the 
 last he was ever permitted to write. It is long, of 
 two sheets, full of interest, and partaking of his 
 usual easy, cheerful style, although not without 
 an ominous presentiment of the approaching 
 event ; it is written with a more unsteady hand 
 than usual, and without either date or super- 
 scription, owing apparently to the accident of 
 finding when he had reached the last page that he 
 had inadvertently written upon a sheet of paper 
 on which he had begun a letter as to his literary 
 occupations of the time, intended, I presume, for 
 Mr. Cadell. He accordingly finished abruptly, 
 observing that I would perceive he had made a 
 mistake. I have sent a copy of the letter to my 
 daughter, which I mentioned to you, as you might 
 
12 QUARTERMASTER SCOTT 
 
 consider it interesting, but as you said that you 
 had not much occasion for letters, I have merely 
 added another one from Sir Walter, in which he 
 desires me to communicate to the Royal Society 
 that portion which might afford them some enter- 
 tainment, but as I merely read it without giving 
 the Society the means of making use of it, I 
 thought you might perhaps wish to have it. 
 
 As to Sir Walter's dragonades, you are aware 
 that the crisis when we were called upon to 
 assume the sabre was one of extraordinary and 
 very general excitement, and the cause the 
 threatened invasion of the country, when its army 
 and navy were at a distance struggling in every 
 quarter of the Globe, our shores consequently 
 defenceless, and treason hatching throughout the 
 kingdom. It was exactly such an one as could not 
 fail to rouse the patriotic spirit and chivalrous 
 propensities of our friend to a degree of fervour 
 which made him the soul of our association. The 
 London Light Horse had set the example, but in 
 truth it was to Sir Walter's zeal that the mounted 
 volunteers of Scotland, which soon after became 
 so very numerous, owe their origin. Unable by 
 reason of his lameness to serve amongst his friends 
 on foot, he had nothing for it but to awake the 
 spirit of the moss-trooper with which he readily 
 inspired all those who possessed the means of sub- 
 stituting the sabre for the musket. No fatigue 
 seemed too much for him, and notwithstanding 
 his infirmity, he had a remarkably firm seat on 
 horseback, and on all occasions a fearless one. 
 His post as Quartermaster, purposely selected for 
 him on that account, spared him the rougher 
 usage in the ranks, but his ardour and animation 
 seemed to sustain the enthusiasm of the whole 
 corps, and upon all occasions his mot-a-rire, as the 
 French term it, kept up a degree of good-humour 
 
THE EDINBURGH CAVALRY 13 
 
 and relish for the service in all, without which the 
 fatigue and privations of long daily drills would 
 not easily have been submitted to. The order to 
 * stand at ease ' was the signal for the Quarter- 
 master to lead the squadron to merriment. Every 
 eye instinctively turned upon those occasions to 
 ' Earl Walter,' as he was familiarly called by his 
 associates of that date, and his ready joke seldom 
 failed to raise the ready laugh. 
 
 I recollect that upon one of these occasions, 
 after a pretty severe drill, the men were dis- 
 mounted on the sands and standing at ease in 
 front of their horses ; some joke of Sir Walter's 
 raised a laugh among a party that was standing 
 around him so loud and so sudden, that it startled 
 the horses, who, finding themselves at liberty, 
 with one accord scampered off in all directions, 
 oversetting various troopers in their dispersion. 
 They were seen galloping on the distant sands, 
 in emulation of each other, kicking and fighting 
 and occasionally disburdening themselves of their 
 accoutrements, while one or two were descried in 
 the water swimming to Inchkeith on the opposite 
 coast of Fife to the no small alarm of their owners. 
 The trumpet-call brought back the better disci- 
 plined to their ranks and ultimately induced even 
 the navigators to return, after the trumpeters had 
 gone in, saddle deep, to charm them back to their 
 duty. The various dilemmas and disagreements 
 which this escapade occasioned you may well 
 suppose afforded a fertile theme of merriment for 
 the descriptive powers of our friend. But it was 
 at our daily mess (for the whole squadron dined 
 together) that the habitual good-humour of the 
 Quartermaster reigned supreme. Not that he 
 was in any respect deficient in the knowledge of a 
 strict observance of the regular duties of the 
 corps, for in fact he took unbounded delight in its 
 
14 A WAR SONG 
 
 progress and proficiency, taking his full share, 
 which his very powerful frame of body and zeal in 
 the cause enabled him to do. I send you a copy 
 of the Troop Book, by which you will perceive 
 that the duties of Paymaster and Secretary were 
 at first consigned to the Quartermaster, but this 
 was soon found burdensome, and Mr. Colin 
 Mackenzie became Paymaster, Sir Walter re- 
 maining Quartermaster till the dissolution of the 
 corps upon the termination of the war. He 
 composed a troop song, which was much sung 
 and relished by those for whom it was intended. 
 It was set to the music of the German Kriegslied, 
 Der Ahschiedstag ist da, and, when sung at mess, 
 in imitation of the dirk songs of the Gael, every 
 trooper stood up and unsheathed his sabre, for 
 enthusiasm was the order of the day, and although 
 the remembrance of such demonstrations may 
 now call forth a smile when everything allied to 
 patriotism and the feelings it inspires stinks in the 
 nostrils of our degenerate race, yet at that period 
 it had its effect in sustaining a spirit of devotion 
 to the cause, and to the honour of the country, 
 which I fear we shall never again see. 
 
 During one period of our service there was 
 daily expectation (or apprehension if you choose) 
 of the enemy attempting a landing at Aberlady 
 Bay, from a hint having transpired that it was 
 their intention to make simultaneous attempts of 
 the same kind on the coasts of Scotland, Kent, 
 and Norfolk. At this juncture a false alarm was 
 given by a mistaken signal, which, however, 
 having set all the beacons on blaze, showed the 
 alacrity of the volunteer troopers, who poured into 
 Edinburgh in the course of the day from sixty 
 miles off. Sir Walter had a good story of a 
 renegade tailor of Selkirk upon this occasion, 
 which you have doubtless heard him narrate. I 
 
'BATTLE' OF CROSS CAUSEWAY 15 
 
 happened to be in Fife with Sir William Rae and 
 another trooper, when discovering the long-looked 
 for signal as evening set in, we lost no time in 
 embarking ourselves and our chargers, and after 
 being buffeted about during the whole of a dark 
 and boisterous night, we landed early in the 
 morning and galloped off to the rendezvous of the 
 corps. Learning the mistake, we put up our 
 horses and proceeded to breakfast with Sir Walter 
 and to laugh over our exploits. But if the 
 foreign enemy failed, there was no want of dis- 
 affection at home to excite disturbances, which 
 often kept us under arms both day and night. 
 Upon one occasion we were three-and-twenty 
 hours in our saddles without relief ' L'affaire du 
 Cross Causeway' was one of these, which you 
 recollect Sir Walter jocularly availed himself of 
 when in Paris he happened to be questioned by a 
 General Officer ^ as to the occasions of service he 
 had seen. When engaged on that duty notice 
 reached the party of an attack on Moredun Mill. 
 Twenty men were accordingly despatched under 
 my command as Cornet and the Quartermaster. 
 It was midnight before we reached the spot, and 
 the rioters had taken to their heels. We pursued 
 them to Gilmerton where they took shelter in the 
 coal-pits, a somewhat puzzling field for cavalry to 
 act in, after having previously defended a large 
 house at the entrance of the village which has 
 ever since been called by the name of the ' Man of 
 War.' A dismounted party with Sir Walter 
 gained access, when they were resisted by a band 
 of Amazons, as the men had for safety descended 
 the adjoining coal-pits. A cart was procured, into 
 which half a dozen of the most outrageous of the 
 warrior dames were packed and placed in charge 
 of Spottiswood, to the great amusement of the 
 
 1 The Czar. 
 
16 POETRY ON THE DRILL GROUND 
 
 rest of the party on both sides. After a time the 
 ladies were released, and much was the merriment 
 that the Quartermaster made out of the incidents 
 of this amusing night attack. When in quarters 
 Sir Walter was generally billeted in the house of 
 a cousin of his own, whose name I have forgotten, 
 residing between Musselburgh Mill and the manse 
 of old Dr. Carlyle, who was known as a most 
 venerable-looking patriarch, and who had obtained 
 the name of Jupiter from having sat to Hamilton, 
 the history painter, in the character of the 
 Olympian god for one of that artist's composi- 
 tions. A good deal of Marmion was composed in 
 this house, and one whole Canto, I think the 
 Fifth, on the drill ground at Portobello Sands, 
 where they assembled at five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and where, during our evolutions. Sir Walter 
 was often seen dodging up and down on his black 
 gelding at the very edge of the sea in complete 
 abstraction. He used to join me in the rear of 
 the squadron when returning from exercises, and 
 recite what he had been composing. I was 
 perhaps indebted for this entertainment to the 
 circumstance of his having engaged me to sketch 
 some appropriate pencil designs for a copy of the 
 forthcoming poem, intended to be presented to 
 Queen Caroline. 
 
 Apropos of Marmion, I was sorry to observe a 
 mistake in the notes to the new edition with 
 reference to a verse which is there said to allude to 
 Lord Medwyn, with whom at that time Sir 
 Walter was not even acquainted, and who bore in 
 his character no feature analogous to the expres- 
 sions of the lines, whereas Sir WiUiam Forbes 
 was his early and much-loved friend, his brother 
 trooper, and one of those intimates to whom that 
 Canto especially refers. 
 
 There was at this time a volunteer garrison in 
 
WAR FEVER IN EDINBURGH 17 
 
 Edinburgh of about eight thousand men, besides 
 Militia, under the command of Earl Moira, who, 
 being fond of parade, had them often brigaded in 
 a body for various purposes of field exercise, and 
 many were the amusing occurrences which took 
 place during the sham battles occasionally got up. 
 Leith was more than once occupied by one 
 division and defended against the assault by the 
 other, and a grand action was fought in conse- 
 quence on the Unks, which nearly proved disastrous 
 from the Highland regiment absolutely refusing 
 to be beat, which according to the programme of 
 the battle was intended. They were to have 
 yielded to a desperate charge of the cavalry. We 
 sustained the fusillade and prepared to break their 
 hnes, but Donald was obdurate and kept firm 
 with bayonets determinedly levelled. We were 
 obliged to wheel off, and charge again. The wrath 
 of Murray Macgregor, who commanded them, 
 could be contained no longer. With a great oath 
 he shouted to his men ' Open the fieldpieces upon 
 them ' ! (they had three or four on each flank). 
 He paid no sort of attention to Lord Moira's aides- 
 de-camp, who were curvetting in the rear of his 
 line, swearing at them that they knew nothing of 
 Highlanders if they thought that they could yield, 
 so that there was nothing for it but to change the 
 intended issue of the battle. Sir Walter was 
 delighted with this trait of character. Craigmillar 
 Castle was stormed upon another occasion ; every 
 variety of position was taken up throughout the 
 neighbourhood of the city, and for a time there 
 was a positive military craze, in the infliction of 
 which upon so many otherwise sober citizens I do 
 consider our friend as having been mainly instru- 
 mental. You will not doubt this when you 
 recollect the tone he gave to the feelings and con- 
 duct of all classes at the time of the visit to 
 
18 TROOPERS BEHIND THE COUNTER 
 
 Edinburgh of King George iv. It was quite 
 common to see the advocate's gown thrown over 
 the military uniform at the bar of the Court of 
 Session ; tradesmen in arms behind their counters, 
 measuring forth yards of ribbon ; chairmen 
 in belted plaids and claymores hobbling along 
 with their sedans, and the able-bodied of all ranks 
 and degrees using the soldier's dress fully more 
 than that of the civilian. It was calculated that 
 thl'oughout Great Britain a volunteer army of not 
 less tha'n three hundred thousand men was banded 
 for the defence of the kingdom, independent of the 
 Militia. Query, How many would the standard 
 of our present rulers bring into the field ? They 
 have had the merit of eflfectually stifling that old 
 prestige which was capable of calUng forth the 
 noblest feelings and arming every hand in support 
 of the country's cause. 
 
 I am somewhat doubtful if your patience has 
 been sufficient to bring you thus far, and if it has, 
 probably not without denouncing my letter as 
 intolerably prosy, and I feel therefore that it is 
 time to release you from the infliction, particularly 
 as you must have heard much and more to the 
 purpose from the life of Sir Walter himself of the 
 recollections of those days when he used to taunt 
 us with the old French song : 
 
 ' Dragons pour boire, 
 L'on dit que vous avez renom, 
 Mais pour combattre 
 L'on dit que non.' 
 
 Your inquiries, if I mistake not, were merely 
 confined to that subject, so that with best regards 
 to Mrs. Lockhart, I remain, most faithfully yours, 
 
 James Skene. 
 
 John G. Lockhart, Esq. 
 
MARMION WRITTEN IN CAMP 19 
 
 In mentioning that a considerable part of 
 Marmion was composed while Sir Walter was 
 quartered as a dragoon at Musselburgh, I 
 omitted to notice what always appeared to me 
 one of the most remarkable instances of the 
 facility of versification proceeding from the intui- 
 tive power of his mind, and not from great 
 practice in that kind of composition, as it some- 
 times is with others. The first time the 
 regiment was in quarters, when accidents among 
 the troops were frequent. Sir Walter did not 
 escape his share, and was confined to his room for 
 three days in consequence of a kick or some such 
 misadventure, and the produce of these three 
 days' confinement was the composition of the 
 three first Cantos of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
 his first great poetical work, in the state in which 
 they were published. I had occasion once or 
 twice to see him while thus engaged, but his 
 associates being sufficiently occupied with their 
 military tasks, he was little disturbed or inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 From the reason mentioned in the foregoing 
 letter, he was in the practice while composing 
 Marmion to read it to me in the proof-sheets. In 
 doing so upon one occasion, he suddenly stopped 
 at a passage, saying ' I don't like this,' and sitting 
 down at my table he drew his pen through a portion 
 of it, and replaced it by a considerable number of 
 lines written as rapidly and apparently as easily 
 as one would write a note. The passage as 
 
20 LOCKHART'S MATERIALS 
 
 reformed was sent to the press, but I regret now 
 having omitted to note at the time which it was. 
 
 London, Qth February 1834. 
 
 My dear Skene, — 1 have read with the 
 greatest delight your reminiscences of the cavalry 
 period. They place the man and all his friends 
 completely in one's view, and are equipped with 
 a grace which he himself, I think, would not have 
 surpassed. I am sorry to bother you, but you 
 really would confer a most important favour on 
 me, and I even venture to say on many thousands 
 besides and after us, by setting down in a similar 
 way any anecdotes, etc., that may suggest them- 
 selves to your recollection with respect to other 
 periods ; more particularly those early tours per- 
 formed in company with Sir Walter which you 
 allude to in the letter I have received, and by 
 the bye you mistook me in supposing that I was 
 indifferent as to having copies of his letters to 
 you, i.e. of such parts of them as you might deem 
 fit to transmit to me. Quite the contrary. I 
 know his letters to you must have a value totally 
 beyond the mass that he addressed to mere 
 acquaintances. I have seventy-two to Morritt, 
 every sentence of which is precious — perhaps as 
 many to one fine lady, the whole whereof would 
 hardly furnish one extract — Ever yours most 
 truly, J. G. LocKHART. 
 
 London, 27<A February 1834. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have again to thank you 
 for a most interesting and valuable contribution 
 to the Memoir of our dear friend. I am afraid to 
 trespass on your great goodness, but I assure you 
 I think by continuing your reminiscences you 
 
SKENE'S DRAWINGS 21 
 
 will be doing a most important service to his 
 memory as well as to the world at large. If 
 WiUiam Clerk would speak out as you have done 
 and will, I hope, do still further, and thus throw 
 light which he alone can now do on Sir Walter 
 in the period of his studies, I believe I should have 
 little left to desire. You have already filled up 
 what was to me almost a blank. Sophia begs 
 her love to Mrs. Skene. — Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 J. G. LOCKHART. 
 
 The two following notes have reference to 
 a project which my friends had probably induced 
 him to entertain, but to which I never felt 
 cordially disposed to concur, that of having a 
 series of my foreign drawings engraved and 
 published. For this purpose a few of them had 
 been sent to London for the inspection of the 
 Rev. Edward Forster, a friend of Sir Walter, 
 engaged in literary pursuits, and particularly con- 
 versant with works in the line of the Fine Arts. 
 He was pleased with the drawings, and some of 
 them were engraved upon trial, but it afterwards 
 appeared that they could not be executed within 
 such an amount of expense and risk as it would 
 not have been prudent to encounter, and accord- 
 ingly the intention was for the time abandoned. 
 And although in after years, when the taste for 
 publications of that class had become a little 
 more prevalent, Sir Walter frequently recurred 
 to the idea, and with a view to its success was 
 willing to add the now effective aid of his pen, it 
 was never put into practice. i 
 
 b2 
 
22 BOOK ILLLUSTRATIONS 
 
 April 1S05, 
 
 Deak Skene,— The enclosed arrived yesterday. 
 I think you had better, to save time, etc., answer 
 it yourself. Mr. F.'s address is Rev. Edward 
 Forster, South Audley Street, Berkeley Square. 
 Adam Ferguson came yesterday opportunely to 
 supply in part the blank your departure made 
 in our fireside circle. He is just setting off, so no 
 more, except that we hope to hear of your speedy 
 return to Ashestiel. — Yours truly, 
 
 W. S. 
 
 Sunday Night, Zlst April 1805. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I write now merely relative to 
 the drawings of Mr. Skene. I have put one in 
 kand, and as soon as finished I will forward a 
 proof; but it has struck me since that he will be 
 laying out a great deal of money unnecessarily 
 from the large size of the plates, as I think the 
 whole effect might be produced in such a size as I 
 now enclose, and it would save one-third of the 
 expense at least. Besides, they would form a 
 better-sized work, as they are of similar form to 
 many already published, and would therefore 
 assort with others, no small motive to book- 
 fanciers that they will class and stand in a shelf 
 together. However, I will obey in all things. 
 By the bye I should like Mr. Skene to see the 
 enclosed and tell me how he likes the style of its 
 etching. I think well of some of it, very well 
 indeed. When also would he want any number 
 done ? I hope to hear from you soon upon the 
 subject of my last letter. I have only to add that 
 I do not think Ballantyne has yet got a proper 
 idea of library printing. 
 
 I do not think him quite so correct a printer as 
 you do ; I have had lately some sad complaints to 
 
•EARL WALTER' 23 
 
 make to him. For the large paper I should pre- 
 fer Imperial to Royal, and the booksellers are 
 getting very much into that size for large paper 
 books. — In haste, believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 E. FORSTER. 
 
 AsHESTiEL, 9,SrdJuh) 1805. 
 
 Dear Skene, — I enclose you what Forster calls 
 and I think a poor impression of the drawing. 
 The background seems almost effaced, and the 
 cows in the front look like rabbits. I think, how- 
 ever, the manner, independent of the execution, 
 conveys some notion of your style. 
 
 I presume this will find you wandering among 
 the Highlands, and will be happy to hear from 
 you both how you were entertained, and what is 
 to be said about the etching. Forster says he is to 
 write me further particulars. I hope he will send 
 me a better sample of his friends' labours. We 
 are all here as idle as usual, only I have prepared a 
 second edition of the Lay, 1500 strong, moved 
 thereunto by the faith, hope and charity of the 
 London booksellers. Comps. to Mr. Greenough. 
 Charlotte sends you kind respects. — Believe me, 
 ever, dear Baron, yours sincerely, 
 
 Walter Scott, 
 
 Baron was a familiar appellation which Sir 
 Walter was long in use of giving me, arising from 
 an anecdote which is not worth while to be 
 mentioned. In the same manner he himself for 
 many other years received no other name from 
 his intimate friends than that of ' Earl Walter.' 
 
 The subject of the next letter is Mr. Campbell, 
 who pubUshed Alhin's Anthology, and Travels in 
 
24 A CARELESS SECRETARY 
 
 Scotland with plates of remarkable scenery. He 
 was a person of some accomplishments and talent, 
 but blundering and remarkably injudicious in his 
 proceedings. Sir Walter was very kind to him, 
 as in fact he stood much in need of assistance. 
 He employed him occasionally to copy and 
 arrange papers, and any little matters of that 
 kind, until he found that the blunders he made 
 and awkward dilemmas which he sometimes 
 created, rendered it unprofitable to rely upon him. 
 And I have often been surprised at the good 
 temper [with] which Sir Walter received his 
 apologies for mistakes which often produced much 
 inconvenience. Death soon interposed to remove 
 the poor Anthologist from giving further trouble. 
 
 Castle Street, Srd August 1805, 
 
 My dear Skene, — Mr. Alexander Campbell, 
 drawing-master, is upon an expedition through 
 your glens, and has begged from me a card to you 
 as a brother of the brush. He is a very good- 
 natured man whom fortune has pleased to deal 
 rather hardly with. He is, moreover, a little 
 flighty, which you must brave for a day for the 
 sake of his good-nature and misfortunes. Or if 
 he is more bore than is permissible, pray set down 
 the overplus to value in accompt with your truly 
 faithful, Walter Scott. 
 
 The journey alluded to in the next letter was 
 one which I had undertaken in company with my 
 friend George Bellace Greenough, Esq., at that 
 time President of the Geological Society of Lon- 
 
VOYAGE TO THE HEBRIDES 25 
 
 don, and formerly my travelling companion in 
 Sicily and some other countries. The Hebrides 
 were the scene of our rambles, and geology the 
 object, for which purpose we had obtained the use 
 of one of the Excise cutters, the Melville Castle, 
 commanded by Captain Beatson. We visited 
 almost all the islands, and landed on many points 
 of the mainland both of Scotland and Ireland 
 wherever any object of interest existed to attract 
 us, or any family lived to whom we desired to pay 
 our respects, so that the whole summer was agree- 
 ably consumed in the excursion, which we con- 
 cluded by visiting the northern counties of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 AsHESTiEL, 9.5th August [1805]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — I lately forwarded you an etch- 
 ing which I hope came safe to hand, though I have 
 heard nothing of it since. But I presume your 
 motions in the Hebrides have been too uncertain 
 to admit of much correspondence. In this per- 
 suasion, as you know the great value of my time 
 in this place and season, I will employ no more 
 of it than is necessary to forward the enclosed. 
 All our little household are in usual health, and 
 beg to be kindly remembered to you, and I am 
 always, dear Skene, truly yours, 
 
 W. Scott. 
 
 We hope to see you soon after your return. 
 
 The following was written on the occasion of 
 my approaching marriage, which had for some 
 time been retarded by the illness of my future 
 father-in-law, the late Sir William Forbes of 
 
26 THE FORD AT ASHESTIEL 
 
 Pitsligo, to whose estimable character Sir Walter 
 alludes in this letter, and also in the Introduction 
 to the Fourth Canto of Marmion, which he 
 had done me the unexpected honour of address- 
 ing to me. I well remember the ravages left 
 by the storm and flood described in this letter ; 
 the ford at Ashestiel, which was never a good one, 
 remained for some time very perilous. Sir Walter 
 was himself one of the first to attempt it, on his 
 favourite black horse. Captain, who had scarcely 
 entered the river before he plunged out of his 
 depth and had to swim to the other side with his 
 burden, who in spite of his lameness kept his seat 
 manfully. A cart in which there was a new kitchen 
 range or grate was upset in the ford ; the cart and 
 horse were got out, but the grate remained to do 
 duty for some time as a horse trap, and certainly 
 in the most unsuitable place that could well be 
 imagined for a kitchen grate. It afforded, how- 
 ever, the subject of many jokes at Ashestiel, when 
 Lady Scott complained of the imperfections of her 
 kitchen. 
 
 Ashestiel, Monday, llth August 1806. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I am favoured with your 
 letter giving me an account of the transactions of 
 the Meeting of Officers relating to our corps, which 
 is such as I expected and indeed wished. I should 
 have been sorry that the pet had had the least 
 share in our breaking up, having seen so little of 
 it in the Troop while embodied. I wish I could 
 promise to add to your convenience by accommo- 
 dating the boarder, but our grass has been so scanty 
 
A THUNDERSTORM 27 
 
 that, upon consulting with James and Mr. Laidlaw, 
 they both agree we could not do him justice. I 
 have indeed cut grass for the horses in the house, 
 but that you know requires exercise, and I have 
 no one to whom I could trust your horse when 
 Peter is out of the way, which must sometimes 
 happen. I have plenty of forage for the winter, 
 and should it then continue to be an accommoda- 
 tion to you, I will gladly take care of Billie as 
 usual. 
 
 I am truly sorry for Sir William's bad health, 
 both as a friend and as one of the most estimable 
 characters in Scotland. I also feel for your situa- 
 tion, which is an unpleasant one in its way, but I 
 hope the worthy Bart.'s health will soon admit of 
 execution being done on Cawdor. If in the interim 
 you could find a moment to spend here, you know 
 the way, and the ford is where it was ; which by 
 the way is more than I expected, after Saturday 
 last, which was the most dreadful storm of thunder 
 and lightning I ever witnessed. The lightning 
 broke repeatedly in our immediate vicinity, i.e. 
 betwixt us and the Peel Wood. Charlotte re- 
 solved to die in bed like a good Christian, the 
 servants thought it was the preface to the end of 
 the world, and I was the only person that main- 
 tained my character for stoicism, which I assure 
 you was some merit, as I had no doubt that we 
 were in real danger. It was accompanied with a 
 flood so tremendous that I would have given five 
 pounds you had been here to make a sketch of it. 
 The little Glenkinnen brook was unpassable for 
 all the next day, and indeed I have been obliged 
 to send all hands to repair the ford, which was 
 converted into a deep pool. 
 
 Will you slip into my book-room, and on the 
 ground shelves next the window you will see 
 some volumes of the Biographia Britannica. 
 
28 CORRESPONDENCE INTERRUPTED 
 
 Will you give that containing the article * Burnet, 
 Gilbert, D.D.' to our old housekeeper, and tell her 
 to send it out to Ashestiel with the basket which 
 she will receive by the carrier, and which is to 
 return this week. Also to clap in parcels, letters, 
 etc. Excuse, my dear Skene, this trouble from, 
 yours truly, Walter Scott. 
 
 Having gone to reside in Aberdeenshire in the 
 beginning of the year 1807, while Sir Walter's 
 official situation, being now Sheriff of Selkirk- 
 shire and one of the Clerks of Session, con- 
 fined him much to Edinburgh and the county of 
 his Sheriffdom, I met him but rarely, and, as it 
 appears by the next letter, our correspondence 
 also had not been frequent. At the period of 
 that letter my family had removed for a time 
 to the south of England, on account of the state 
 of Mrs. Skene's health, which had suffered from 
 the unusual severity of several of the late 
 winters in the highlands of Aberdeenshire where 
 we resided. Although considerably benefited by 
 the mildness of the Hampshire climate, her 
 health was, however, not sufficiently re-established 
 to supersede the precaution of choosing a still 
 warmer region for our residence the ensuing 
 winter, which we accordingly passed at the town 
 of Aix in Provence. 
 
 The change in my condition from the free and 
 unfettered life of a bachelor to that of a home- 
 stricken Benedict for some time interfered with 
 the time I had been used to pass in Sir Walter's 
 
'BURNING THE WATER' 29 
 
 company, especially in the summer. For durmg 
 his residence at Ashestiel I never failed to pass 
 part of the season with him, in those occupations 
 and amusements which suited the taste of each. 
 The morning portion of the day was invariably 
 allotted by Sir Walter from the early hour of six 
 to his study. We spent some hours riding at 
 random over the hills, or coursing with the grey- 
 hounds, visiting such scenes as history or tradition 
 had marked as interesting, spearing salmon in the 
 Tweed by sunshine, and often by torch at night, 
 called ' Burning the water,' as described by Hogg, 
 the Ettrick shepherd, in some of his works. This 
 amusement is not without its hazard, and it is 
 generally in the pools of the river where the best 
 fish are found to lie, the depth of which it is not 
 easy by torchlight to estimate with sufficient 
 accuracy. So that it not infrequently happens 
 that in making a determined thrust at a fish 
 discovered at the bottom of the water, the depth 
 far exceeds what is expected, and instead of the 
 point reaching the bottom, the fisher finds himseK 
 launched with corresponding vehemence heels 
 over head into the water; the fish and spear 
 both gone, the light thrown out of the grate by 
 the concussion given to the boat, and quenched 
 in the stream, while the boat itself recedes perhaps 
 beyond his reach. Such are the perils of ' burning 
 the water ' : the pleasure consists in being chilled 
 with wet and cold, in having your shins broken 
 against the stones in the dark, and probably in 
 
30 THE ' SHIRRA'S ' FRIEND 
 
 missing every fish you aim at. Upon one of these 
 occasions Sir Walter went over the boat's gun- 
 wale, having missed his blow, and had I not 
 accidentally been at the moment close to him 
 and made a grasp at him as he went overboard, 
 by which I got hold of him by the pocket of his 
 jacket, he would have had to swim on shore. 
 
 But our excursions from Ashestiel were often 
 of greater extent and longer duration, in the 
 course of which there were few subjects of Border 
 history or romance, and scarcely a portion of the 
 scenery of the Border counties, however secluded 
 and remote, that we did not explore. 
 
 We traversed the entire vale of the Ettrick 
 with its beautiful tributary pasture glens, and 
 everywhere found a hearty welcome from the 
 farmers at whose houses we stopped, either for 
 dinner, or for passing the night. Nothing could 
 be more gratifying than the frank and hospitable 
 reception which everywhere greeted our arrival, 
 however unexpected, while the exhilarating air of 
 the mountains and the exercise of the day made 
 us relish the fare and enjoy the varied display of 
 character in its simple, unaffected dress, which the 
 affability of the Sheriff" never failed to draw forth 
 in genuine purity. Hence the accuracy and 
 characteristic traits of that interesting class of 
 persons, the pasture farmers of the Border, which 
 pervade the delineations in Sir Walter's works. 
 
 The beauty of the scenery gave full employ- 
 ment to my pencil, with the free and frequent 
 
BORDER RIDES 31 
 
 exercise of which he never seemed to feel im- 
 patient, for he was ready and willing at all 
 times to alight where any scene attracted our 
 notice, and set himself down beside me on the 
 braeside to con over some appropriate ballad, or 
 narrate the traditions of the glen, and sometimes, 
 but rarely, to note in his book some passing ideas, 
 for in general his memory was the great store- 
 house on which he confidently relied for all 
 occasions. And much amusement we had in 
 talking over the incidents, conversations, and 
 exhibition of manners that had occurred in the 
 different houses where we had baited. 
 
 The course of the Yarrow had also its full share 
 of these rambling excursions, which derived an 
 additional zest from the uncertainty which so 
 often attended the issue of our proceedings as we 
 chanced to get entangled among the hills, in 
 following any game which the dogs had started, 
 and had thus to trust to chance for our night's 
 lodging. These casual adventures were quite to 
 Sir Walter's taste ; and he particularly enjoyed 
 the perplexities which often befell our two 
 attendants, the one a Savoyard, the other a 
 portly Scottish butler, both uncommonly bad 
 horsemen, but equally sensitive to then- personal 
 dignity, which the roughness of the ground we 
 had to traverse made it difficult with either to 
 maintain, and particularly with my foreigner, 
 whose seat on horseback resembled that of a 
 pair of compasses astride. His companion, a 
 
32 SUFFERINGS OF THE ESQUIRES 
 
 lumbering, heavy fellow, had protected himself 
 against the occasional showers which skirted 
 along the hill paths we had to pursue, with a 
 great cloak, which streamed from his shoulders 
 when his steed was urged to a gallop, and kept 
 flapping in the face of his neighbour, who could 
 never manage to keep out of its way, having 
 enough to do to preserve his own equilibrium 
 without thinking of attempting to control the 
 pace of his horse, or to seek other relief than 
 indulging in a volley of French oaths, which of 
 course fell quite harmless on the ears of his 
 companion. Occasionally the interruption of a 
 ditch or turf fence rendered it indispensable to 
 venture on a leap, and no farce could be more 
 amusing than the state of perplexity into which 
 such occurrences threw our worthy squires, 
 politely declining in favour of each other the 
 honour of first daring the adventure, while their 
 impatient steeds kept fretting about, and the 
 dogs clamouring their encouragement to them 
 to get on. These amusing scenes generally 
 terminated in the horses renouncing their allegi- 
 ance and springing forward, whether their masters 
 chose or not, leaving them to settle with their 
 saddles as best they could. Although a tumble 
 was not an infrequent result of these exploits, 
 they had one day their full revenge in seeing both 
 their masters prostrated in a peat bog. Having 
 been to visit the wild scenery of the hills above 
 Moffat, remarkable for the cascade of the ' Grey 
 
A LONELY LOCH 38 
 
 Mare's Tail,' and the dark mountain tarn, called 
 Loch Skene, we had got bewildered by the thick 
 fog which generally envelops the wild and 
 rugged features of that lonely scene, and in grop- 
 ing our Way among the bogs and black peat hags, 
 the ground gave way, and down we went, horse- 
 men, horses and all, into a slough of peaty mud 
 and black water, out of which, entangled as we 
 were with our plaids and our prostrate nags, it was 
 not easy to extricate ourselves. We had prudently 
 left our own horses at a farmhouse below, and got 
 the use of the farmer's hill ponies for the occasion ; 
 otherwise the result might have been serious. As 
 it was we rose like the spirits of the bog, covered 
 with slime ; to free themselves from this our 
 ponies rolled about among the heather, and we 
 had nothing for it but to follow their example. 
 We finally reached the loch, and saw an eagle rise 
 majestically from its margin. One cannot well 
 imagine a more desolate and savage scene than 
 that part of Loch Skene, particularly as it then 
 presented itself, partially disclosed from under the 
 thick folds of fog that rolled over its surface ; 
 suddenly caught by an occasional gust of wind 
 the fog was rent asunder, giving for a moment 
 some more distant portion to view, then closing 
 again and opening in some other quarter, so as 
 at one time to show a projecting rocky point, 
 at another an island with a few blighted trees and 
 the cheerless scene of hags and heath in which it 
 lay. Much of the scenery in the tale of Old 
 
 c 
 
34 'TOD GABBIE' 
 
 Mortality was drawn from the recollection of this 
 day's ride. We got down to Moffat, and thence 
 returned by Ettrick Water. 
 
 It was in the course of one of these excursions 
 that we encountered the amusing personage 
 introduced into the tale of Guy Mannering under 
 the name of ' Tod Gabbie,' although the appella- 
 tion by which the original passed in the country 
 was ' Tod Willie.' ^ He was one of those vermin- 
 destroyers who gain a subsistence among the 
 farmers in Scotland by relieving them of foxes, 
 polecats, rats, and such like depredators. The 
 individual in question was a half-witted, stutter- 
 ing, and most original-looking creature, ingeniously 
 clothed in a sort of tattered attire, to no part of 
 which could any of the usual appellations of 
 man's garb be appropriately given. We came 
 suddenly upon this crazy sportsman in one of the 
 wild glens of Roxburghshire, shouting and bellow- 
 ing on the track of a fox ; which his not less ragged 
 pack of mongrels were tracking round the rocky 
 face of a hill. He was like a scarecrow run off, with 
 some half-dozen grey-plaided shepherds in pursuit 
 of him, with a reserve of shaggy curs yelping at their 
 heels. Of course we soon joined the hurry-scurry 
 with all our auxiliaries in attendance, and the 
 chase having been at length brought to a success- 
 ful termination, a most whimsical scene of vocifera- 
 tion and triumph took place between Willie and 
 the favourite individuals of his pack, for he 
 
 1 Chapter XXV. 
 
THE MAD HUNTSMAN 35 
 
 disdained for some time to notice any one who 
 had joined in the chase, until he had caressed each 
 dog in his turn, praising some and scolding others, 
 and ever and anon spurning with his foot the 
 poor slaughtered fox, and pouring on him what 
 seemed to be a volley of abuse and indignation, 
 in language apparently intelligible to his dogs, but 
 certainly not so to the hearers of his own species. 
 At Sir Walter's request I made a drawing of 
 this scene which forms one of the series of 
 ' Waverley Localities.' 
 
 We were kindly invited by Mr. Laidlaw to ac- 
 company him to his father's farm of the Blackhouse 
 Tower, which we reached after a long and intricate 
 ride, having been again led out of our direct 
 course by the greyhounds, with whom some 
 stranger dogs had joined company, setting off in 
 full pursuit upon the track of what we presumed 
 to be another fox. The course was long and 
 perplexing, from the mist that skirted the tops of 
 the hills. At length we reached the scene of 
 slaughter, and were much distressed to find that a 
 stately he-goat had been the unhappy victim of 
 our pursuit. He seemed to have fought a stout 
 battle for his life, but now lay mangled in the 
 midst of his panting enemies, of whom some bore 
 the scars of battle, and all exhibited a strong 
 consciousness of delinquency and apprehension of 
 the lash, which was of course bestowed upon 
 them, to soothe the manes of the poor goat. After 
 all, the dogs were not so much to blame for 
 
36 BLACKHOUSE FARM 
 
 mistaking the game flavour of the luckless 
 Capricorn for legitimate sport, as the fog effect- 
 ually hid the object of pursuit from their sight as 
 well as from ours. 
 
 We received, as usual, a most cordial welcome 
 at the farm of the Blackhouse, where we passed 
 the night, and as so many traits of our entertain- 
 ment seem to have been the original types of 
 incidents afterwards introduced into various parts 
 of Sir Walter's works, it may be worth while to 
 notice the demeanour of our ancient host and his 
 family. There was none of the hurry and discom- 
 posure which the sudden arrival of guests upon a 
 retired family so often occasions. We had been 
 descried from a distance, and the old man was 
 abeady at the door with a bottle and glass to 
 welcome our arrival. We were taken to inspect 
 the flock of lambs, while the room was prepared 
 for dinner, to which the good wife got a hint that 
 a little addition might be required. And a plain, 
 substantial repast it was, graced with a huge 
 flagon of home-brewed ale, the principal farm 
 servants sitting down at the same table, but in the 
 most respectful manner, with their bonnets in 
 their hand, while the old man delivered a some- 
 what lengthy grace, with a very impressive 
 solemnity of manner. The old mistress did show 
 some symptoms of household anxieties upon the 
 occasion, and the other females most unnecessarily 
 pinched themselves in room upon their seats, but 
 the decorum of all was quite pleasing, and the 
 
BORDER HOSPITALITY 37 
 
 conversation unembarrassed and far from un- 
 interesting. With the removal of the dishes, 
 and the conclusion of the old man's after-grace, 
 the lads and lasses made their hasty reverence, 
 and bundled oflf with more precipitation than was 
 required, especially as they jammed up the door 
 in their haste and upset a stool or two in their 
 impatience to get from under restraint. A punch- 
 bowl was then introduced, filled and emptied to 
 many good sentiments and toasts. Then followed 
 a second visit to the sheep and the farm-yard, 
 and upon returning to the house the whole house- 
 hold of every class assembled to hear the master 
 read a chapter of the Bible, offer up a prayer 
 for all, and give them his blessing for the night : 
 a little cheese and bread followed, and then 
 every one to bed. Our repose was somewhat 
 disturbed by the gambols of the rats, who seemed 
 to have established free passage through every 
 corner of the house, and, having got possession of 
 the remainder of a leg of mutton, they had a hot 
 skirmish about the prize, which was dragged 
 about to our great disturbance, and finally 
 transported to the top of my servant's bed, who 
 complained in the morning that he had been kept 
 awake all night by their ' charring the jiggot 
 about over his head for hours,' finally dropping it 
 into his bed along with a host of combatants for 
 the property. We were astir betimes, and Mr. 
 Laidlaw attended to conduct us to the stream 
 that ran past the house, conducting Sir Walter to 
 
 c2 
 
38 THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD 
 
 one position, and me to another for the purpose 
 of our morning ablutions, the rest of the house- 
 hold taking lower stations, and a herd-boy attend- 
 ing with a great towel for our use. Then followed 
 the morning prayer, and all dispersed to their 
 respective avocations. 
 
 Such was the mode of life which under small 
 modification seemed to prevail generally among 
 the Border farmers, and such was the absence of 
 ceremony so far as it presented itself to us, when- 
 ever we had occasion to partake of it. Sometimes, 
 it is true, a little more whisky punch was urged 
 upon us than was altogether agreeable, but from 
 motives of pure, unostentatious hospitality alone, 
 and the anecdotes of some of the burly Dinmonts 
 we met with when a little heated with the glass 
 were often quite original and entertaining. 
 
 St. Mary's Loch and the Loch of the Lowes 
 was a favourite excursion, where we generally had 
 the company of Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, 
 bandying with Sir Walter ballad upon ballad, and 
 tradition upon tradition, and whatever of ancient 
 legend the scenery and subject of conversation 
 suggested to them. Hogg was in the habit of 
 chanting his verses in a sort of sing-song recitative, 
 which had a rather pleasing effect. He sang to us 
 his song of Donald Macdonald, and various other 
 very characteristic compositions. We ascended 
 the Megget and came down the beautiful vale of 
 the Manor Water, where some mention of ' Bowed 
 Davie,' an eccentric inhabitant of that quarter, was 
 
HOME OF THE BLACK DWARF 89 
 
 afterwards elaborated in the fertile imagination of 
 my friend into the interesting romance of the 
 Black Dwarf. We visited Traquair, the ruined 
 tower of Elibank, which never failed to produce the 
 story of ' Muckle Mou'ed Meg,' and incidents relat- 
 ing to the old Lairds of the Black Barony, Teviot- 
 dale, and Borthwick Water, and the wild and lonely 
 tower of Buccleugh. The fine castle of Newark, 
 the subject of the Minstrelsy, was a frequent 
 object of our rides ; also Ancrum, Thirlestane, and 
 Jedburgh, where we dined with the historian of 
 Queen Anne ; Kelso, where a fine old gentleman, an 
 uncle of Sir Walter, gave us a frequent welcome, 
 and Minto, Roxburgh, and Gilnockie ; in short, 
 wherever amusement was to be found or informa- 
 tion gained. We paid a most agreeable visit of a 
 week to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh 
 while residing at Langholme, and upon that 
 occasion the otter hunt, which is well described 
 in Guy Mannering, was got up at the Duke's 
 desire. 
 
 There was one excursion which had been long 
 projected, but which I am sorry to say was by one 
 circumstance or another constantly postponed, 
 and which never took place. Its object was to 
 explore the English side of the debatable land, 
 making Rokeby our abiding point, whose most 
 agreeable proprietor, Mr. Morritt, had long be- 
 spoken our visit. Sir Walter had already been 
 there, but he desired to explore it afresh when 
 more at leisure, and have drawings made of the 
 
40 SCOTT'S LOVE OF FORDS 
 
 scenery. Kirkcudbright and Wigtonshire were 
 also postponed, but afterwards at Sir Walter's 
 request I went there to see some views he wished 
 to have introduced into etchings of the ' Waverley 
 Localities.' 
 
 Whatever interesting spots are to be found on 
 the banks of the Tweed from its source to its 
 mouth were frequently visited, and I verily believe 
 that there is not a ford in the whole course of the 
 river which we did not traverse. Sir Walter had 
 an amazing fondness for fords, and was not a little 
 adventurous in plunging through them in what- 
 ever state the river might chance to be. Even 
 where there happened to be an adjoining bridge, 
 he scorned to go ten yards out of his way if it was 
 possible to scramble through the water, and it is 
 to be remarked that most of his heroes seem to 
 have been endowed with similar tastes ; even 
 the White Lady of Avenel delighted in the 
 ford. He had many amusing anecdotes and jokes 
 about fords. He sometimes even attempted them 
 on foot, where his lameness considerably interfered 
 with his progress among the slippery stones. 
 Upon one occasion of that kind I was assisting him 
 to pass the Ettrick on foot, and we had got upon 
 a stone in the middle of the water, when some 
 story about a Kelpie occurred to him, which he 
 stopped upon our slippery footing to relate, and 
 laughing at his own joke, he slipped off and pulled 
 me headlong after him ; so that we had both a 
 complete drenching, to the great entertainment of 
 
BOKEBY 41 
 
 Mrs. Skene and Mr. Morritt, who were standing 
 on the bank of the stream. 
 
 The portly quarto with which Sir Walter inti- 
 mates his intention to 'jog my elbow ' was that 
 containing Bokeby, which had just made its 
 appearance. He was kind enough to send me a 
 copy of all his works as they came out, generally 
 accompanied with expressions not less acceptable 
 from his unaffected kindness. 
 
 Edinburgh, 6ih January 1813. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Although we are both bad 
 correspondents, yet as there are few things would 
 give me more pain than to think you had actually 
 forgotten me, I take the liberty to jog your elbow 
 with an immense quarto which Longman and 
 Company, Booksellers, Paternoster Row, London, 
 will receive with all the speed of a Berwick smack. 
 Be so good as to desire any of your correspond- 
 ents in London to inquire for it, and send it down 
 to Southampton. I trust it will give you some 
 amusement. There is a bandit in the poem, a 
 man who may match the Fra Diavolo of your 
 Italian friends. 
 
 I am delighted to hear that Mrs. Skene's state 
 of health leaves you at full liberty to enjoy the 
 beautiful and picturesque country of which you 
 are a temporary inhabitant. I have seldom been in 
 any which interested me so much. The depth 
 and variety of woodland scenery in the Forest 
 puts our Scottish woods to shame, but they want 
 our beautiful dales and glens and rivulets, for 
 which their marshy brooks are a most wretched 
 substitute. I wish you much to make a little 
 sketch for me of the ruinous fort and landing- 
 
42 VISIT TO FLANDERS 
 
 place at Netley Abbey, with which I was particu- 
 larly struck, more so indeed than with the ruins 
 themselves, though so very finely situated and 
 accompanied. But the character of the sand fort 
 and landing-place had to me something vej-y 
 original. 
 
 If William Rose comes to your neighbourhood 
 you must get acquainted with him. I will swear 
 for your liking each other, and will send you a 
 line of introduction, though I judge it unnecessary, 
 as this letter might serve the purpose. He was 
 my guide through the New Forest, where I spent 
 some very happy days. Return, my dear Skene, 
 my kind compliments to Mrs. S., and believe me 
 ever yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 All good things of the new season attend you 
 and yours. 
 
 The following was written upon the eve of Sir 
 Walter's setting out upon his visit to Flanders 
 and France upon the restoration of peace in the 
 year 1815, and of which an account is given to the 
 public in Paul's Letters. 
 
 He was still desirous to have my drawings 
 published with letterpress from the corresponding 
 parts of a journal, which I had been in the habit 
 of keeping when engaged in any foreign travel, 
 but my reluctance to that ordeal was not easily 
 overcome, so that the project did not take effect. 
 
 Edinburgh, 7th January 18l6. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I would long since have 
 written to you on the subject of your journal, but 
 I waited for Constable's return from London. He 
 
THE PROFITS OF AUTHORSHIP 43 
 
 seems well disposed to enter into the transaction 
 
 upon the footing of his taking upon him the 
 
 whole risk and expense and dividing the full 
 
 profits. To understand this, however, you must 
 
 be aware that first the publisher subtracts from 
 
 the gross sum about £27 or £28 per cent, as the 
 
 allowance to the retail booksellers, so that the 
 
 calculation is made upon what they call sale price. 
 
 From what remains there is deducted the expenses 
 
 of print, paper, engraving, etc., and something in 
 
 the way of incidents or advertising. All these, 
 
 speaking roughly, come to more than a third of 
 
 the gross amount, the rest is considered free profit 
 
 and divisible. Upon the best calculation I can 
 
 make, an author gains generally about one-sixth 
 
 part of the whole, or half a guinea upon three 
 
 guineas. I believe upon the whole it is the fairest 
 
 mode of transacting business, and at present, when 
 
 capital is ill to be come at, it is perhaps the only 
 
 eligible one. 
 
 But the most difficult thing is to arrange the 
 mode in which the engravings are to be executed, 
 which I need not tell you I am totally ignorant of. 
 Stroke engraving is intolerably expensive, and 
 one is by no means sure of having it executed 
 well even by employing the best engravers and 
 paying the highest price. These gentlemen's 
 temptation to make money is so great that they 
 do not hesitate to employ their pupils on works 
 to which they give their own name. Constable 
 seems to incline to a sort of etching or aqua 
 tinta affair, which looks showy enough and can be 
 executed, he says, for five or six guineas a plate. 
 As I wish you to judge for yourself, I caused him 
 to send you a copy of Sir George Mackenzie's 
 Travels as a specimen of the style in which he 
 thinks your journal should be published. He 
 proposes one edition of five hundred copies of one 
 
44 PURCHASE OF ABBOTSFORD 
 
 of the volumes should be published, and would 
 prefer the Tour through Sicily and Malta, though 
 I believe he would take either you recommend. 
 I have sent the volume of Mackenzie to Miss 
 Skene, who will forward it by the first conveyance. 
 As we must hope for your coming up in the 
 spring, if you do not like this style of etching, 
 which appears to me slight and a little too sketchy 
 I own, I think you had better put off a settlement 
 till you come up, for although I could take it 
 upon me to act for you in matters of literary 
 concern, yet I am by no means quaUfied to do so 
 in point of vertu. 
 
 I cannot express to you how much I was dis- 
 appointed by finding you had left Edinburgh just 
 two days before my arrival. I was obliged to 
 stay till I had completed a small purchase in the 
 neighbourhood of Abbotsford, which lies con- 
 venient for me, and being the property of a 
 country body I did not know what sort of pigs 
 might have seen through the bargain if I had left 
 it before signing and sealing. Indeed, it was well 
 I stuck by it, for twenty-four hours after, I had 
 the offer of £600 profit on my bargain, which was 
 more than an eighth part of the whole purchase 
 money. 
 
 I have looked over the journals, and think 
 them, as I always did, excellently fitted for 
 publication; though the language may here and 
 there want a little combing, it is plain, distinct, 
 and impressive upon striking subjects. What- 
 ever I can do to help the matter through as 
 corrector of the press or otherwise, believe I will 
 do it with pleasure. But still, if you are to come 
 up in two or three months, as I hope and trust 
 you will, I think the matter will be more satis- 
 factorily set a-going under your own eye and 
 little or no time lost. Should you, however, 
 
PROJECTED TRAVELS 45 
 
 entirely approve of Mackenzie's book and plates, 
 there can be no occasion for delay. 
 
 I hope you will have no objection to take 
 a scamper to the Continent one of these days. I 
 think of it seriously either this year or the year 
 after, for as my children are getting up and my 
 household can go on as well in my absence as 
 presence, I would willingly, while I have some 
 stamina left, take a view of the Rhine and Switzer- 
 land and as far in Italy as I could, returning by 
 Spain and the South of France. Should you think 
 of this seriously we will go together, for you, like 
 me, are I know of opinion with the old song : 
 
 ' A light heart and a thin pair of breeches, 
 Go through the wide world, brave boys ' ; 
 
 and are not therefore disposed, when out of 
 England, to bother themselves for want of English 
 comforts. 
 
 My best and kindest compliments attend Mrs. 
 Skene and the young people, and believe me 
 ever, my dear Skene, most truly and affectionately 
 yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 This letter referred to the same subject of 
 bringing my crude remarks before the public; 
 had they been even worthy of it, the statement 
 from Sir Walter's experience of the small share 
 of the proceeds which can be permitted to slip by 
 the booksellers' pocket holds out but slender 
 inducement in point of profit. The proposal of 
 another journey to the Continent continued for 
 some time to be a favourite subject m contempla- 
 tion, but circumstances did not permit its taking 
 effect. 
 
46 NEW ROAD TO ABBOTSFORD 
 
 Abbotsford, 4itk September 1816. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I had your letter this morn- 
 ing, and take the opportunity of writing by your 
 old acquaintance William Laidlaw of Blackhouse 
 (whose hospitality you cannot have forgotten) to 
 say how delighted I am with the prospect of 
 seeing Mrs. Skene and you at this the tiniest of 
 all possible houses. The circuit comes on next 
 week, and as I must attend it, it would be greatly 
 in the way of our enjoying ourselves. After the 
 17th I shall be at home and most happy to see 
 you and Mrs. Skene. Mrs. Scott's love attends 
 Mrs. S. and the Mackenzies. Morritt, I expect, 
 will be at Abbotsford about the same time ; you 
 will be delighted with him, and we will have such 
 fun as never was. 
 
 Laidlaw is in quest of a highland factory, his 
 farm not answering well in these bad times. We 
 
 hear L ^ wants such a person, and I have 
 
 begged Colin to recommend him if he finds an 
 opening. He will be a real treasure. 
 
 In coming to Abbotsford you do not pass the 
 Yair Bridge, but take a turn to the left down 
 a fine new road which continues down the north 
 side of the Tweed until you come opposite to 
 Abbotsford, where there is a good ford. You 
 will know it by seeing the road go up the hill 
 from the riverside. It is rather past this cottage 
 than opposite to it, at the foot of a bank. But if 
 we know your day, we will be on the look out 
 for you. Once more health and fraternity, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Tuesday, lOlh December 1818. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Mr. Terry, whom you have 
 I believe seen at our house, is going to Aberdeen 
 
 > Illegible. 
 
TERRY THE ACTOR 47 
 
 on a professional expedition for a week or ten 
 days. All my old acquaintance in your northern 
 capital are dead or have forgot me, so that I will 
 beg the favour of you to give Mr. Terry (whose 
 manners and acquirements are far above his pro- 
 fession) a card to any one who may be disposed to 
 show him a little civility and point out what is to 
 be seen at Aberdeen and in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Terry is passionately fond of drawing, and is 
 himself a tolerable artist. I wish you would let 
 him look at one of your portfolios, as he admires 
 your sketches extremely. He was bred an archi- 
 tect under Wyatt, and has been assisting me in 
 my doings here. — Ever, my dear Skene, most 
 truly yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 The person alluded to in the last note was Mr. 
 Terry, an actor of some celebrity, who married a 
 daughter of Mr. Nasmyth, landscape-painter in 
 Edinburgh, and herself also a very good artist. 
 Sir Walter was very kind to Terry and, after his 
 death, to his family. He generally supplied him 
 with any poetical address he might have occasion 
 to deliver in the way of his profession, and other- 
 wise assisted him in many things. It was his 
 desire to befriend Terry which first led to his 
 dramatising some of the Waverley romances, in 
 which Terry, being a man of considerable literary 
 acquirements and good taste, gave his assistance ; 
 and the extraordinary success which attended the 
 first productions of one of these on the stage soon 
 led to the arrangement of the others for the same 
 purpose. Sir Walter was at this time deeply 
 engaged in the composition of these remarkable 
 
48 THE WAVERLEY NOVELS 
 
 works, which for so great a length of time seemed 
 altogether to supersede any other class of literary 
 production in the possession of public attention, 
 and the impatience with which the appearance 
 of each new work was awaited by almost all 
 classes of readers from the lightest to the 
 gravest, after it had been announced, was quite 
 extraordinary. It was the regular subject of con- 
 versation in every society, and so quick was the 
 succession of the volumes, that the merits of one 
 had hardly been discussed among its numerous 
 readers, and the collision of opinions on the 
 subject, which were in general advocated with 
 a degree of keenness resembling the fervour of 
 party spirit, had hardly settled down, when a new 
 romance, of perhaps a totally different character, 
 made its entrance on the public stage, to undergo 
 a similar scrutiny. The effort not of mind only, 
 but of actual bodily labour which was required to 
 sustain this full flood of brilliant works, was to 
 none more extraordinary than to those who were 
 privileged to see the ease and unexcited tran- 
 quillity with which it was continued. He had his 
 regular hours for study and writing, which no 
 doubt began early, usually at six o'clock, but 
 seldom engrossed above one-half of the day, as the 
 afternoon from dinner-tinie to bedtime (eleven 
 o'clock) was uniformly passed with his family and 
 friends, in conversation and music when there were 
 strangers ; when alone, he generally read aloud for 
 part of the evening. But even during his regular 
 
SCOTT'S LOVE OF DOGS 49 
 
 hours of writing he never showed the least impa- 
 tience of interruption, but on the contrary was 
 always ready to break off from his occupation, and 
 join in whatever was proposed with a degree of 
 good-humour and indulgence to the wish of others 
 which has often surprised me, when it was obvious 
 that his mind had been deeply engaged in some- 
 thing quite foreign to the employment suggested 
 to him. He made little mystery of the subject 
 which had been occupying his attention, for the 
 train of his anecdotes and conversation at the time 
 was generally such as distinctly to indicate the 
 theme on which he had been writing. His dogs 
 were the usual inmates of his study, and to them 
 many a good joke was addressed. He had great 
 amusement in supposing what the observations of 
 his dogs, could they utter them, would be on such 
 occasions, diversified by their several characters and 
 propensities. He took great pleasure in his dogs 
 at all times, and nothing delighted him more than 
 observing the fine character of the animals, and 
 their devotion to their master. Accordingly dogs 
 bear a conspicuous part in most of his works, 
 and they are always noble beasts in their way. 
 When I had occasion, which was not infrequent, 
 to go to his study during his usual hours of writing, 
 it was a matter of surprise to me to observe the 
 readiness with which he broke off" his employment, 
 however much he seemed to be engrossed with it. 
 He laid aside his pen with seeming indifference, 
 although in the middle of a sentence, or closed the 
 
 D 
 
50 EASE OF COMPOSITION 
 
 book he was reading without even marking the 
 page, and entering immediately with perfect 
 cheerfulness and attention upon the subject pro- 
 posed, seemed to dismiss without any appearance 
 of reluctance the subject upon which he had just 
 been engaged. And upon returning, perhaps some 
 hours after, to his study, he would instantly resume 
 his subject as if it had suffered no interruption, 
 and go on with the half-finished sentence, continu- 
 ing to write with perfect ease and readiness as if 
 he had been writing to dictation. The irritability 
 and impatience which are generally found to 
 accompany the keenness of feelings and activity 
 of mind characteristic of Scott, seemed utterly 
 foreign to his natural disposition; placidity and 
 kindness of demeanour to every one was in him 
 no factitious result of self-control or breeding, and 
 required no effort to maintain, but obviously welled 
 forth freely and naturally from the source of a 
 pure and amiable heart. He was remarkably bold 
 and intrepid, and would, there is little doubt, have 
 proved under exciting circumstances a most de- 
 termined and dangerous antagonist as a man, but 
 the passion of anger seemed unnatural to him, 
 and it surrendered its momentary hold on his 
 mind, giving place to kindness upon the very 
 first opportunity. He always volunteered some 
 jocular excuse for any waywardness or incon- 
 venience to which any one had subjected him, 
 with two exceptions, which, though apparently 
 of but trifling import, were the only occurrences 
 
THE GREAT UNKNOWN 51 
 
 under which I observed him to testify impatience : 
 namely, if any one had inadvertently used his pen, 
 or if he found a book carelessly treated, as is 
 sometimes the case in drawing-rooms. 
 
 By this time the conviction had become very 
 general that the authorship of the 'Waverley 
 Novels ' belonged exclusively to Sir Walter, and 
 those friends who enjoyed his intimacy at the 
 time these works were in progress had abundant 
 evidence of that fact in the frankness of his con- 
 versation in general, had evidence been otherwise 
 required. The object of his incognito on the sub- 
 ject was as obvious as it was judicious, and although 
 jocular allusions to the fact were not infrequent, 
 few had the bad taste to court a confidence which 
 was unnecessary, and which might be unpleasant 
 to the candour of his disposition. A good deal has 
 been said on the directness of his denial of the 
 authorship when it was suddenly put to him by 
 the late King, George iv., but the fact, which I had 
 from his own lips, is that he dexterously gave the 
 King's question the go-by, and His Majesty by his 
 expression showed that he was aware of having put 
 the question somewhat inadvertently. Sir Walter's 
 answer was, ' I should be most proud to be the 
 author of any work which your Royal Highness 
 judged worthy of approval. ' 
 
 I was little with Sir Walter at the time Waverley 
 was written and published, being then resident in 
 Aberdeenshire, and his claim to it I did not detect, 
 although some parts created a little suspicion on 
 
52 DIRK HATTERAICK'S SONG 
 
 the subject, but Guy Mannering left no doubt ; 
 the identity of my friend shone forth in every 
 chapter, and most accusingly in one instance. 
 Something in the course of one of our rides had 
 suggested to me the words of a German drinking- 
 song, which I repeated to him ; it took his fancy, 
 and he made me repeat it to him two or three 
 times over, which led me to expect a translation, 
 and accordingly my song very soon made its appear- 
 ance, not in translation, but in ipsissimis verbis, as 
 Dirk Hatteraick's song in Guy Mannering, in one 
 line of which, however, there was a small mistake. 
 Accordingly the first time I saw Sir Walter after 
 having read the book, I mentioned how much de- 
 lighted I had been with the work, and begged him, 
 if he should chance to know the author, that he 
 would give my best compliments to him and tell 
 him that Dirk Hatteraick had made a mistake in 
 his song, which ought to have been so and so. He 
 laughed and said, ' Very well, I shall endeavour to 
 let him know, and I have no doubt he will bow to 
 your criticism.' In fact, so little scrupulous was 
 he of caution in this respect, that the original 
 narrators of many of the anecdotes and incidents 
 so dexterously worked up in these various publica- 
 tions could have no difficulty in recognising their 
 stories, so that, however much for a time the public 
 in general may have canvassed the probabilities of 
 the authorship of these novels and given plausible 
 reasons for attributing them to others, his imme- 
 diate friends were abundantly aware of the futility 
 
CHALLENGED TO A DUEL 53 
 
 of such an attempt. Sir Walter himself was very 
 much amused with a laborious and most ingenious 
 work of an Oxford man on this question, and said, 
 with a most whimsical expression as he tossed down 
 the book, ' Faith, that fellow has almost convinced 
 me that he is right after all,' the object of the book 
 being to demonstrate that Sir Walter Scott was 
 positively not the author of any one of the Waver- 
 ley Novels. But the most amusing adventure con- 
 nected with the subject was his being nearly 
 compelled to defend his incognito, pistol in hand. 
 Calling upon him one day in North Castle Street, 
 I found him standing in the middle of his room 
 with a spruce little man, who took his leave when I 
 entered. Sir Walter returned from accompanying 
 his friend to the door, laughing and striding up 
 and down the room, as was his custom when much 
 amused. 'You little thought that you would 
 come to be my second in a duel,' he said ; ' my 
 
 cousin, Mr. C of A , a ci-devant Major, has 
 
 been here to challenge me, and what do you think 
 is the cause of umbrage ? He told me that as he 
 had reason to suspect me of being the author of 
 Waverley and other novels, he came to acknowledge 
 his having offered me an unpardonable affront in 
 declaring in a company lately that he himself was 
 the author of these works, and that therefore the 
 real author was entitled to ample satisfaction, and 
 that he, the Major, could not feel at ease until he 
 had given it, and received his fire.' Sir Walter in 
 vain assured him that so far as he. Sir Walter, 
 
 d2 
 
54 A BELLIGERENT COUSIN 
 
 could have anything to do in the matter, the Major 
 was at full liberty to claim all or any part of these 
 works, and that he had no doubt that the real author, 
 whoever he might be, would feel quite indifferent 
 also on the subject, particularly as he did not choose 
 to advance any claim publicly, and therefore that 
 the Major might look upon them as common pro- 
 perty, free to anybody. This, however, would not 
 satisfy the Major, who seemed to resolve that 
 nothing short of the purification of gunpowder 
 could cleanse the stain, and Sir Walter said that 
 after exhausting all his arguments, both serious and 
 jocular, he had despaired of succeeding, till he 
 assured his belligerent cousin that he would meet 
 him, should the authorship of these novels ever be 
 brought home to him, or if the Major should 
 ever claim to be the author of the poems which he 
 had put his name to, and were the only works 
 anybody was entitled to lay to his door. He was 
 much entertained with the absurdity of the adven- 
 ture, and as the individual is now gone, as well as 
 the object of his hostile intentions, there is no harm 
 in mentioning it. He generally read his poems to 
 several of his friends in proof-sheets as they were 
 printed, and a copy of Marmion was sent to me 
 progressively in sheets as it came out, with a view 
 to that copy being interspersed with pencil vignettes 
 on the blank portions of the sheets and a few draw- 
 ings, to form a presentation copy to Queen Caro- 
 line, then recently married to the Regent. This 
 was long before the misunderstanding which led 
 
QUEEN CAROLINE'S GIFT 55 
 
 to so many disagreeable occurrences in the fate of 
 that princess. Sir Walter had been presented to 
 her in London, had frequently had the honour of 
 dining at her table, and had obtained permission to 
 send her a copy of his forthcoming work. I did my 
 best to embellish the work so far as my feeble 
 pencil gave me the means, and when the Queen 
 afterwards sent a piece of plate to Sir Walter, it was 
 accompanied with a similar gift to me, of which 
 at the time I was proud, fully as much from being 
 associated, even in so slender a manner, with that 
 celebrated work, as the honour of receiving a 
 gift from so high a quarter. However, the mis- 
 fortunes of the princess took place soon after this, 
 and the public (already somewhat busy with the 
 Queen's character) took the liberty of accusing 
 my worthy friend of malapropos adulation, a 
 purpose entirely at variance with his disposition. 
 So violent were the feelings on the subject, that I 
 recollect having been severely taken to task by the 
 late Duchess of Gordon at a party she gave, 
 because I still retained the gift which had been 
 given to me, and Sir Walter came in for his 
 share of abuse. I did my best to defend us both, 
 but the Duchess was not to be pacified by any- 
 thing I could say. In the introduction to the 
 Fourth Canto the description about the shepherd's 
 life really took place shortly before it became 
 arrayed in verse, and, as I have said, one whole 
 Canto was composed on Portobello sands during 
 the early morning drills of the Midlothian cavalry, 
 
56 A CONVIVIAL CLUB 
 
 which were then quartered in Mxisselburgh 
 and Inveresk for their annual season of training. 
 He delighted in the hilarity of the cavalry mess, 
 of which he was himself the great exciting spirit. 
 At the first formation of that corps a weekly 
 supper meeting of the officers took place alter- 
 nately at each other's houses to regulate the 
 affairs of the corps, which continued for many 
 years after in the shape of a cavalry club for con- 
 vivial purposes, when the duty part of the meeting 
 had ceased to be required any longer. At 
 supper the ladies joined the party, and for many 
 years it continued to be a most agreeable meeting, 
 and one in which Sir Walter much delighted. 
 When some of the members had retired to the 
 country, the evening meetings were sometimes 
 commuted to a dinner-party in the country, 
 productive not infrequently of adventures which 
 afforded subject of amusement afterwards. Re- 
 turning by the Glasgow Road from one of these 
 scenes of festivity, some of the party on horseback 
 and some in gigs. Sir Walter was in my gig, and 
 the Lord Advocate, Sir William Rae, then High 
 Sheriff of Orkney, drove another also with a friend. 
 Chief Baron Dundas, Baron Clerk, then Sheriff of 
 Edinburgh, Sir William Forbes, Mr. Mackenzie, 
 and several others were on horseback, and it was 
 agreed among the horsemen on setting out that 
 there should not be any racing, considering the 
 lateness of the hour and the state of the party. 
 However, as the Lord Advocate and I agreed that 
 
LAW OFFICERS AS HIGHWAYMEN 57 
 
 the interdict had not included the charioteers, the 
 speed of our progress soon increased to a positive 
 race, the consequence of which was that a wheel 
 of my gig struck a milestone, and the Bard and 
 myself were projected over a wall and some 
 distance into an adjoining field. The body of the 
 gig ensconced itself between the milestone and 
 the wall, and the horse made his escape into town 
 with the shafts, dismounting a few of our friends 
 as he passed with his extraordinary equipage. 
 The horses of those that had been dismounted 
 also took the hint and made the best of their way 
 to their respective stables, leaving their riders in 
 the dust. In the meantime a Glasgow coach 
 came up, and was most unceremoniously assailed 
 on the King's way by these great law authorities, 
 who were taken for a band of regular footpads, 
 and there ensued a skirmish which resulted, as we 
 came up, in the escape of the coach, the whole 
 party having to walk into town as they best 
 could. However, these days of revelry soon 
 passed away, and it is melancholy to reflect that 
 of the revellers there now only remain in life the 
 Lord Advocate and myself. 
 
 The unprecedented success of Sir Walter's 
 publications and the profit accompanying that 
 success enabled him to extend his establishment, 
 and to purchase Abbotsford, to which he trans- 
 ferred his residence, and to commence the 
 erection of the singular but very picturesque 
 mansion which has since attracted so much 
 
58 TINY ASHESTIEL 
 
 notice. Nevertheless, it was with considerable 
 reluctance that he quitted the snug little mansion 
 of Ashestiel, where he had passed so many happy 
 days, and where the very inconveniences 
 occasioned by its limited extent were a source 
 of amusement, and an exercise for the ingenuity 
 of his contrivance. The dining-parlour was 
 often found to be so small as absolutely to 
 preclude access to the table, which nearly filled 
 the space when his party became swelled by 
 accidental arrivals ; and I recollect well the 
 delight with which he discovered the means of 
 making a most whimsical addition to it, in 
 contriving a sort of low alcove under the adjoining 
 stairs, where a person might sit, but had not 
 height sufficient to enable him to stand up. 
 Here chairs were placed, and a portion of the 
 dinner-party had to creep into the recess, where 
 they were very comfortable so long as they kept 
 their seats, but might suffer for the indiscretion of 
 rising up. He took care that his friend Mr. 
 Morritt of Rokeby, a frequent and most agreeable 
 guest, should not sit under the alcove, from his 
 habitual absence of mind, and the custom he had 
 when narrating any anecdote, which no one did 
 in a more entertaining manner, or with a more 
 richly stored memory, of getting up to act the 
 part he was describing. But even in the most 
 unencumbered portion of the room he was sure 
 in these dramatic exploits, either to tread on some 
 of the dogs, or overset something, which, however. 
 
MORRITT'S INDISCRETION 59 
 
 could in no way stay the animation of his style of 
 narrating. Upon one occasion when Sir Walter 
 was at Rokeby, he accompanied the squire on a 
 visit to a neighbour of his, inhabiting a very old 
 manor-house. A large and somewhat stiflF party 
 was assembled in the drawing-room, awaiting the 
 announcement of dinner. The floor of this old 
 apartment had become so uneven and so much 
 sunk towards the middle, that the careful hostess 
 had found it necessary for the symmetry of her 
 room, and the stability of the chairs, to have them 
 attached round the wall in their proper places by 
 a cord. A circle of formal personages of both 
 sexes occupied the chairs thus moored to each 
 other, and amongst them Mr. Morritt, who, 
 having got engaged in some story, and reaching 
 the pitch of earnestness which generally evoked 
 his pantomimic propensities, gave his chair an 
 incautious jerk forward. The moorings of the 
 whole party gave way, to the entire discomposure 
 of its ceremonious circle. The impetus of the 
 narrator's movement had instantly whirled him 
 into the middle of the floor, whither he was 
 followed with equal speed and surprise by several 
 of his hearers, quite unconscious of the moving 
 cause which had brought them into that con- 
 spicuous and awkward position, and none was 
 more startled than Mr. Morritt himself, who could 
 understand what had brought him into this situa- 
 tion, but could by no means comprehend how all 
 these grand ladies and gentlemen had so miracu- 
 
60 THE BUILDING OF ABBOTSFORD 
 
 lously followed his example, among whom the 
 hostess herself was perhaps the most embarrassed, 
 not so much by the catastrophe itself, as by the 
 difficulty of retrieving the propriety and decorum 
 of her party. In the meantime Mr. Morritt began 
 an apologetic oration, which was interrupted, to 
 the great relief of all present, by the announcement 
 of dinner. 
 
 Sir Walter was at this time knee-deep in the 
 mortar tub, and very busily engaged in the com- 
 pletion of the house of Abbotsford, of which he 
 was himself the chief architect, so far as the idea 
 went ; for its expression on paper he generally 
 applied to my pencil. Much of the architectural 
 detail was supplied by that very clever artist Mr. 
 Blore, who is more conversant with the Gothic 
 style than any professional man in this country, 
 beside possessing the advantage of a very pure 
 and excellent taste. Mr. Bullock of London 
 supplied much of the inner architecture, which in 
 most respects is remarkably successful in the 
 correct and elegant execution of the wainscoting ; 
 he also supplied a great portion of the furnishing, 
 which in general savours of the antique, and is 
 quite in character with the decoration of the 
 house. While the house was in this unfinished 
 state, a circumstance occurred which, for the 
 curious coincidence accompanying it, afforded 
 some amusing speculation, and which, as Sir 
 Walter said, appeared to defy satisfactory ex- 
 planation. He had been for some time expecting 
 
THE GHOST 61 
 
 the arrival of a portion of the furniture along 
 with the wainscot doors and windows of the 
 library and principal apartments, and had already 
 written to Mr. Bullock on the subject, when one 
 night he was awakened by a most extraordinary 
 noise in the unfurnished rooms of flapping of 
 doors and window shutters, and apparently the 
 dragging about of heavy articles of furniture 
 through the rooms, where he was aware there was 
 nothing for even the wind to act upon, and at 
 that hour of the night there was no probability of 
 any person being there. After listening for a 
 time to the noise, which was of some continuance, 
 and for which he could in no way account, he 
 awoke Lady Scott, who also heard it distinctly, 
 and he then got up and went down to the rooms 
 whence it proceeded. It had now ceased ; every- 
 thing was still and undisturbed in the apartments, 
 nor had the temporary defence of the casements 
 been blown out or so loosened as to occasion the 
 flapping noise, and he could discover no cause 
 whatever for the disturbance which awoke him. 
 
 Next morning he wrote to London to hasten 
 down the furniture, and he mentioned as a joke 
 the disturbance which his family had received 
 from the ghosts of the furniture which, like 
 Lochiel's Warning, had not only thrown their 
 shadows, but their substance before, and that in 
 a state of merriment and recklessness which he 
 trusted would not be habitual to them. The 
 answer brought by return of the post was not 
 
62 BYRON'S DEATH 
 
 only consistent with the usual train of ghostly 
 adventure, but absolute fact ; it announced the 
 sudden death of Mr. Bullock on the very night 
 the noise had occurred, and what is still more 
 curious, it appears that a family in the neighbour- 
 hood of London, whose house also Mr. Bullock 
 was employed to furnish, was disturbed on the 
 same night by extraordinary noises of a similar 
 description, which they also had mentioned in a 
 jocular manner by letter addressed to Mr. Bullock 
 the day after his death. This unaccountable 
 coincidence was mentioned in the letter received 
 in answer to Sir Walter's. I was not at Abbots- 
 ford at the time, but Sir Walter has often 
 mentioned it since, but was never able to assign 
 the cause which could have led to it. 
 
 Some years after, however, I was at Abbotsford 
 on the occurrence of a somewhat similar incident 
 which has been more talked of than anything 
 connected with it would warrant. I allude to 
 the supposed vision of Lord Byron, which Sir 
 Walter Scott is alleged to have seen, but which 
 in truth amounted to this simple occuiTcnce. 
 The account of Byron's death had reached Sir 
 Walter in the morning, and had of course been 
 the subject of conversation throughout the day. 
 Towards dusk Sir Walter had parted from me in 
 the library, and as he came round by the entrance 
 hall, which was ornamented by armour and 
 curiosities hung around the walls, and dimly 
 lighted by the stained-glass windows, a cloak 
 
SCOTT'S ANALYSIS OF ART 63 
 
 carelessly thrown over a suit of armour in the 
 corner, and surmounted by a head-piece upon 
 which a gleam of party-coloured light fell, took to 
 his eye so exactly the form, attitude, and even 
 features of his departed friend, that he was for a 
 moment staggered with the resemblance, which 
 his imagination assisted in completing. The de- 
 ception was so perfect that it was only upon a 
 close approach that it yielded to the reality. 
 Upon rejoining me in the library he mentioned 
 the circumstance, and observed that it was the 
 most perfect illusion he had ever met with, but 
 the light had shifted by the time we returned to 
 look at it again, and in no position could we recall 
 the spectre. The circumstance, I recollect, led 
 us to converse on the powers of the imitative 
 arts, and the great dependence of their success in 
 general on the influence they were able to exercise 
 on the imagination. Sir Walter considered the 
 main end and object of painting, music, and 
 poetry to be in that respect the same ; that the 
 powers of each of them rested not in furnishing 
 the subjects of imagination, ready dressed and 
 served up, so much as in those happy and masterly 
 touches which gave play to the imagination, and 
 exerted the fancy to act and paint for itself by 
 skilfully leading it to the formation of lofty con- 
 ceptions and to the most pleasing exercise of its 
 own attribute. Hence the superior effect to most 
 minds of an ingenious sketch, where a dexterous 
 and clever hint gives being to beauties which the 
 
64 MUSIC AND VERSE 
 
 laborious details of painting could never portray. 
 The value of simple melodies which touch the 
 soul, and excite the music of the mind to fill up 
 the measure, which the difficult and perplexing 
 execution of professional skill, however surprising, 
 can never call forth. In verse it is precisely the 
 same ; a poem should aim at skilful and delicate 
 touches, which, avoiding too palpable a disclosure, 
 strike the key-notes and give the desired action to 
 the willing chords of imagination. He considered 
 that view of the matter as accounting for the 
 singular callousness of many people to the magic 
 of the fine arts, and persons feeling susceptible to 
 the beauties of one style, who were quite insensible 
 to those of the others, because the gratification 
 did not so much depend upon the success of the 
 artist, or the merits of the poem, as on the 
 capacity to catch up and receive the intended 
 idea, and thence to fill up the picture or train of 
 sentiment by the more vivid colours of imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 Edinburgh, Saturday [1819]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — Sir William Forbes has promised 
 to dine here on Thursday at Jive ; pray come if you 
 possibly can with Mrs. Skene, if she can venture 
 so far. — Yours truly, • W. Scott. 
 
 I insert this simple note of invitation on 
 account of an amusing occurrence that took place 
 at the party and rendered an adjournment to the 
 nearest hotel necessary. We were nearly all 
 
DOMESTIC CATASTROPHE 65 
 
 assembled and expecting the announcement of 
 dinner when sudden sounds of loud speaking and 
 hubbub arose from the lower region of the house, 
 followed by such a suffocating stench of soot as 
 left no doubt as to the cause of disturbance below, 
 which was confirmed by the volume of smoke that 
 began to darken the windows from without. 
 Some of us went down to the kitchen, and there 
 beheld the flames driving out of the chimney ; the 
 spit with its well-roasted charge prostrate in the 
 ashes ; pots and pans in which was our expected 
 dinner buried in soot; the fat cook-maid in an 
 attitude of despair, lamenting over a fine turbot 
 which had been overthrown on the floor, covered 
 with soot as she was herself, and all the other 
 servants also, each in her own way bewailing 
 some of the varied items of the mischief The 
 only personages of the household who seemed 
 rather to enjoy the catastrophe were honest Sir 
 Walter himself, who laughed immoderately at the 
 poor cook's dilemma, a pawky rogue of a servant- 
 boy, who seemed to enjoy an accident which dis- 
 tressed cooky, and at the same time promised him 
 some good pickings, and the dog Camp, who was 
 busy shaking the soot from some mutton chops 
 which he had extricated from an overturned pan. 
 It was clear that matters were altogether irretriev- 
 able, especially as the chimney-sweeps had already 
 got into the house, and were proceeding to execute 
 their functions without much regard to the com- 
 fort of the family, and a servant was accordingly 
 
 E 
 
66 PREMATURE OLD AGE 
 
 despatched to order dinner at a neighbouring 
 hotel, and to send coaches to convey the party 
 thither. We met a lady coming in a chair as one 
 of the guests, and her expression of surprise was 
 most amusing when she found her chairmen 
 turned to the right about by Sir Walter's orders, 
 and pursuing with due speed a couple of 
 hackney-coaches, she knew not whither, but cer- 
 tainly in the direction opposite to her intended 
 destination. We passed an exceedingly agreeable 
 evening. 
 
 Under the infliction of a severe illness Sir Walter 
 had for nearly two years to struggle for his life, 
 and only the natural strength of his constitution 
 at length enabled him to throw it off. But with 
 its disappearance, although he was restored to 
 health, disappeared also much of his former vigour 
 of body, activity and power of undergoing fatigue, 
 while in personal appearance he had advanced 
 twenty years in the downward course of hfe ; his 
 hair had become scanty and bleached to pure 
 white, the fire of his eye was quenched, his step 
 was more uncertain; he had lost the vigorous 
 swinging gait with which he was used to move — 
 in fact, old age had by many years anticipated its 
 usual progress, and had marked how severely he 
 had suffered. The complaint, that of gallstones, 
 caused extreme bodily suffering. During his 
 severest attack, he had been alone at Abbotsford 
 with his daughter Sophia before her marriage to 
 Mr. Lockhart, and had sent to say that he was 
 
SERIOUS ILLNESS 67 
 
 desirous I should come to him, which I did, 
 remaining for ten days, till the attack had subsided. 
 During the course of it, the extreme violence of 
 the pain and spasmodic contractions of the 
 muscles of the stomach were such at times that 
 we scarcely expected that his powers of endurance 
 could sustain him through the trial, and so much 
 was he exhausted by some of the attacks as to 
 leave us in frightful alarm as to what the result 
 had actually been. One night I shall not soon 
 forget. He had been frequently and severely ill 
 during the day, and in the middle of the night I 
 was summoned to his room where his daughter 
 was already standing at his bedside, the picture of 
 deep despair. The attack seemed to be intense, 
 and we followed the directions left by the phy- 
 sician to assuage the pain, which for nearly a full 
 hour bid defiance to our best endeavours. At 
 length it seemed to subside, and he fell back 
 exhausted on the pillows ; his eyes were closed, 
 and his countenance wan and livid. Apparently 
 with corresponding misgivings, his daughter at 
 one side of the bed and I at the other gazed for 
 some time intently and in silence on his counten- 
 ance, and then glanced with anxious inquiring 
 looks at each other, till at length I placed my 
 fingers on his pulse, to ascertain whether it had 
 actually ceased to throb. I shall never forget the 
 sudden beam which brightened his daughter's 
 countenance, and for a moment dispelled the 
 intense expression of anxiety which had for some 
 
68 ASSAULT UPON THE MONASTERY 
 
 time overspread it, when Sir Walter, aware of 
 my feeling his pulse and the probable purpose, 
 whispered with a faint voice, but without opening 
 his eyes, 'I am not yet gone.' After a time he 
 recovered, and gave us a proof of the mastery of 
 his mind over the sufferings of the body. ' Do 
 you recollect,' he said to me, 'a small round 
 turret near the gate of the Monastery of Aber- 
 brothwick, and placed so as to overhang the 
 street?' Upon answering that I did perfectly, 
 and that a picturesque little morsel it was, he said : 
 * Well, I was there when a mob had assembled, 
 excited by some purpose which I do not recollect, 
 but failing of their original purpose, they took 
 Umbrage at the venerable little emblem of aristo- 
 cracy, which still bore its weather-stained head so 
 conspicuously aloft, and resolving to level it with 
 the dust, they got a stout hawser from a vessel in 
 the adjoining harbour, which a sailor lad, climbing 
 up, coiled round the body of the little turret, and 
 the rabble seizing the rope by both ends, tugged 
 and pulled, and laboured long to strangle and 
 overthrow the poor old turret, but in vain, for it 
 withstood all their endeavours. Now that is 
 exactly the condition of my poor stomach. There 
 is a rope twisted round it, and the malicious 
 devils are straining and tugging at it, and faith, I 
 could almost think that I sometimes hear them 
 shouting and cheering each other to their 
 task, and when they are at it, I always have 
 
SCOTT'S FUTURE TOMB 69 
 
 the little turret and its tormentors before my 
 eyes.' 
 
 He complained that particular ideas fixed them- 
 selves down upon his mind, which he had not 
 power to shake off, but this was in fact the 
 obvious consequence of the quantity of laudanum 
 which it was necessary for him to swallow to 
 allay the spasms. In the morning, after he had 
 got some repose and had become rather better, he 
 said with a smile : ' If you will promise not to 
 laugh at me, I have a favour to ask. Do you 
 know I have taken a childish desire to see the 
 place where I am to be laid when I go home, 
 which there is some probability may not now be 
 long delayed. Now, as I cannot go to Dryburgh 
 Abbey — that is out of the question at present — 
 it would give me much pleasure if you would take 
 a ride down, and bring me a drawing of that spot.' 
 And he described the position minutely, and the 
 exact point from which he wished the drawing to 
 be made, that the site of his future grave might 
 appear. His wish was accordingly complied with. 
 It was afterwards engraved as a frontispiece to an 
 account of the Family of Haliburton, of which 
 he was a descendant by the female line. He had 
 also prepared at this time the account of the 
 recently discovered Regalia of Scotland, and had 
 asked me to relieve him of the labour of correct- 
 ing the proof-sheets. It was prepared for the 
 benefit of his friend Sir Adam Ferguson, then 
 
 £ 2 
 
70 A TEST OF EFFICIENCY 
 
 only Captain Ferguson, whom he had got ap- 
 pointed Keeper of the Regalia, and who was 
 afterwards knighted on King George the Fourth's 
 visit to Scotland. 
 
 In the progress of his illness upon this occasion 
 he asked me one day to read to him a short ballad 
 of Biirger in German, that he might amuse him- 
 self in translating it, which was accordingly done, 
 and he put up the translation in his pocket-book, 
 and refused to let me see it, saying it was not 
 worth reading. However, some months after, when 
 he began to be decidedly convalescent, he reminded 
 me of the translation, and taking it out of his 
 pocket-book, he said that he had had his reasons 
 both for writing it and for refusing to show what 
 he had written, and that he now felt more nervous 
 than he could express in putting it to the use he 
 intended, which was as a test of the state of his 
 mind during his late illness, for that he had had 
 frequent misgivings in the progress of it that his 
 faculties were giving way, and might never again 
 be recovered. ' Now, I really am not bold 
 enough,' he said, ' to be my own executioner ; do 
 you now take the manuscript, and after I have 
 read the original, read it aloud, and let it pro- 
 nounce the sentence of sanity or imbecility as it 
 may chance.' Accordingly this singular experi- 
 ment was put to the test. Sir Walter read his 
 part, and turning his head aside, desired me to go 
 on, and upon my reading the translation, which 
 really was very good, cast a most whimsical glance 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF INFANCY 71 
 
 from under his heavy eyebrows, 'Well, is Richard 
 himself again?' There was no doubt of it. I 
 wanted to pocket the manuscript, but he would 
 not suffer me ; he said it had answered its end 
 and must not be urged further. 
 
 In fact, it was the use of laudanum which gave 
 birth to all these apprehensions, and he was now 
 satisfied of the truth of this ; the failure of his 
 mind, he said, was the only dread that preyed 
 upon his spirits, for he had no reason to trust 
 much to the stability of a frame of body which 
 had had to struggle through such a state of 
 feebleness as his had in infancy. He described to 
 me his state in early childhood to have been so 
 exceedingly weakly that he was not able either to 
 walk or to move his limbs, and when he lived at 
 his grandfather's at Sandy Knowe, or Smailholm 
 Tower, it was their practice, whenever a sheep was 
 killed, instantly to wrap him up in the warm hide, 
 with a view to his thereby gaining strength, and 
 that one of the very earliest recollections of his 
 Hfe was being laid in his sheepskin on the floor of 
 his grandfather's parlour; that old Sir George 
 Makdougall of Makerstoun, formerly Colonel of 
 the Scots Greys, and a friend of his grandfather, 
 used to try to induce him to move forward on all- 
 fours, by placing his watch on the floor before 
 him, and dragging it on in proportion as he strove 
 to advance, and he recollected equally his anxious 
 desire to do this and his inability to accom- 
 plish it. The appearance of the kind old soldier 
 
72 A NARROW ESCAPE 
 
 was still quite fresh in his memory, although he 
 was then only three years old — ^that he was a 
 grey-headed, erect old man, wearing a whitish 
 coloured coat, embroidered with silver lace, a red 
 vest and breeches, and a small cocked-hat turned 
 up with gold lace. 
 
 He recollected being carried out on the sunny 
 mornings to the place where the shepherd was 
 tending the flocks, and being there laid down 
 upon the grass among the sheep to roll about all 
 day long at his pleasure, and he thought that the 
 sort of fellowship with the sheep and lambs had 
 impressed an affection in his mind towards these 
 animals that had ever continued unabated. When 
 he became impatient to go home, the shepherd 
 was instructed to give a loud, shrill whistle as a 
 signal to his maid to come for him. By degrees 
 he gained more strength, but in the meantime he 
 narrowly escaped being the victim of a tragedy 
 of which his maid was the heroine. She had 
 formed a connection with a young man in the 
 neighbourhood of Smailholm, but had had her 
 fond hopes suddenly blighted by the desertion of 
 the faithless swain, which the poor girl took so 
 much to heart as to become nearly distracted. 
 According to her own confession afterwards, she 
 had determined, since she could not be revenged 
 on the young man himself, to wreak her malice 
 on the poor innocent child, Walter, who, by some 
 means most unwittingly had contributed to the 
 
CAUSE OF LAMENESS 73 
 
 loss of her lover. She confessed to having twice 
 taken the child to the top of the crag on which 
 the old tower is built, intending to cut its throat 
 with a pair of scissors, and to conceal the body in 
 the adjoining marshy ground, but fortunately her 
 courage had failed her at the critical moment, or 
 some accidental circumstance had occurred to 
 prevent the crime, and in a moment of contrition, 
 she hurried to the old gentleman. Sir Walter's 
 grandfather, and, renouncing her charge, confessed 
 her criminal intention, and fled from that quarter 
 of the country, and what her after fate had been, 
 he never had learned. In the course of her dis- 
 traction, however, she had managed to inflict an 
 injury upon him by letting him fall among some 
 stones, from whence he conceived that much of 
 his lameness had arisen, a circumstance which had 
 influenced his future life in so far that a sedentary 
 profession was the only one for which he was 
 considered suitable. Accordingly the profession 
 of his father, who was a Writer to the Signet, 
 was his first destination, and ultimately the 
 Scottish Bar, although a contingency had at one 
 time very nearly taken place which would have 
 sent him on a very different course. When it 
 was proposed to send the late Lord Melville to 
 India as Governor- General, Scott was engaged to 
 accompany him as Secretary, but matters had 
 turned out otherwise, and as he thought, much 
 more fortunately for him than he had any reason 
 
74 SERMONS BY A LAYMAN 
 
 to expect ; he rejoiced, he said, in not having gone 
 to India even in the high situation in which it was 
 proposed to have placed him. 
 
 [1819.] 
 
 Dear Skene, — I have not young Gordon's 
 address at hand at this moment, but I will 
 endeavour to send him to you to-morrow at the 
 hour appointed. He is as deaf as a post, and talks 
 pure Aberdeenshire, but in a murmur — an ex- 
 cellent and gentlemanlike creature. — Yours ever, 
 
 W. S. 
 
 This note refers to a young man whom Sir 
 Walter had very much befriended.^ He is the son 
 of Major Pryse Gordon, and had the misfortune 
 to be so afflicted with deafness as to disappoint his 
 expectations in the profession for which he had been 
 educated, which was that of the Church. When 
 he was upon one occasion unexpectedly called 
 upon to preach a sermon, which might have been 
 the means of advancing his interest, Sir Walter 
 was kind enough to compose and write one for 
 him, which was afterwards printed, and which 
 affords a singular proof of the versatility of Sir 
 Walter's talent and the readiness of composition 
 which characterises his books throughout, however 
 foreign the subject may be to the usual train of 
 his study ; not that subjects of devotion were in 
 any respect uncongenial to his mind, which was 
 
 1 G. Huntly Gordon, for whom Scott wrote two sermons, afterwards 
 sold by Gordon for £250, and published under the title of Beligiout 
 Discourse* by a Layman. 
 
WILLIAM LAIDLAW 75 
 
 sufficiently shown by the pious and reverential turn 
 of his sentiments, apparent in his works and 
 more strongly indicated still when in the common 
 intercourse of life any occasion called forth an 
 expression of his habitual feelings in that respect. 
 How Mr. Gordon became recommended to Sir 
 Walter, I am not aware, but this note refers to his 
 having asked me to procure some employment for 
 him as an amanuensis. Sir Walter afterwards 
 had him for a long time at Abbotsford to make a 
 catalogue of the library, and afterwards to classify 
 and prepare an index for Sir Walter's very 
 voluminous correspondence. He was never 
 employed in the capacity of Secretary, which I 
 have understood he was disposed to insinuate : 
 his deafness rendered him quite unfit for that 
 purpose, even had Sir Walter wished to employ 
 an amanuensis, which he never did, except in 
 his later years, when a numbness in his fingers, 
 consequent upon the complaint which for some 
 time threatened to assail him, rendered it 
 necessary, and he was then in the habit of 
 dictating to Mr. William Laidlaw, a man of very 
 superior talent and information, in whose discretion 
 Sir Walter would confidently repose, and who, 
 residing as land steward at Abbotsford, was 
 always at hand. But even Mr. Laidlaw's assist- 
 ance in this respect was rarely resorted to, as Sir 
 Walter was always in the habit himself of putting 
 his compositions on paper, nor am I aware that 
 he ever dictated any of his letters, even after his 
 
76 INHERITED TASTES 
 
 hand had become enfeebled, and his writing 
 consequently not very legible, when an amanu- 
 ensis might have been desirable. 
 
 Edinburgh, 25ih December 1819. 
 
 Sib, — The honour of your attending the funeral 
 of Mrs. Scott, my mother, from her house in 
 George Street, to the new burying-ground at St. 
 John's Chapel, on Wednesday the 29th current, at 
 two o'clock, is requested by, sir, your most 
 obedient, humble servant, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 James Skene, Esq. 
 
 This letter announces the death of Mrs. Scott, Sir 
 Walter's mother, to whom he was most devotedly 
 attached, and who, to judge from the frequent 
 opportunities I had of seeing them together, felt 
 a boundless affection for 'Wattie, my lamb,' as 
 she generally accosted him. She was a woman of 
 very superior talents and acquirements joined to 
 an unaffected kindliness of manner, an inexhaust- 
 ible store of anecdote and agreeable conversation, 
 which she had transmitted in full perfection to her 
 son, and which most likely, had her circumstances 
 been cast in a different course from the homely 
 routine in which her life had been spent, would 
 have rendered her a very conspicuous person. 
 Much of Sir Walter's taste for poetry, and much of 
 his legendary lore, had been supplied from the taste 
 and retentive memory of this excellent old lady. 
 She was struck with palsy at the age of eighty- 
 seven, and although become quite speechless. 
 
SCOTT'S MOTHER 77 
 
 she showed an anxious solicitude to have her son by 
 her bedside. After a few days, when her physician 
 desired that she should be kept perfectly quiet, 
 for some time she fixed a wistful gaze on the 
 countenance of Mrs. Scott, then at her bedside, 
 and afterwards directed her eyes anxiously 
 towards the door. Mrs. Scott, judging that she 
 meant to indicate a desire to see her son, sent for 
 him. When he arrived the old lady's counten- 
 ance beamed joy ; for some time she pressed his 
 hand in silence, patted his cheek, and then 
 solemnly placing her hand on the crown of his 
 head, seemed for some time to struggle for utter- 
 ance, but failing in the attempt, turned her face 
 to the wall, and closed her eyes, and when he 
 asked her if she wished him to remain or to go 
 and return again soon, she shook her head slowly, 
 as if she had meant to say, ' You have received 
 my last blessing, and with it I now give up all 
 connection with this world,' and in this tranquil 
 state of fibstraction she remained two days, and 
 then expired. 
 
 She was the sister of Dr. Rutherford of Edin- 
 burgh, a distinguished member of the great con- 
 stellation of men of talent at that time existing in 
 this city, a profound scholar and a most agree- 
 able man. That most accomplished paragon of 
 the old Scottish Lady, Mrs. Murray Keith, was an 
 intimate friend of Mrs. Scott, and in many 
 respects, although it had been the fate of the 
 former to move in a more distinguished circle. 
 
78 AN ECHO OF THE '45 
 
 they much resembled each other in the substan- 
 tial qualities of talent, information, and the agree- 
 able manner they both had of communicating it. 
 To Mrs. Murray Keith Sir Walter was indebted 
 for the groundwork of The Bride of Latnmer- 
 moor and much of the Chronicles of the Canon- 
 gate, and to his mother for much of the Minstrelsy 
 and historical anecdotes of remarkable persons 
 which are interwoven throughout his work. Many 
 of them I have heard the old lady narrate, but I 
 think the following has not been made use of by 
 Sir Walter, unless it be by analogy in one of the 
 characters of Guy Mannering or Redgauntlet. 
 
 Murray of Broughton was Secretary to Prince 
 Charles Edward in his unfortunate attempt to 
 regain the British throne, and after the final over- 
 throw of that enterprise, and dispersion of all those 
 who had been engaged in it, Murray was among 
 the number of those taken by the victorious party. 
 From the conspicuous situation which he had held, 
 he was aware that his chance of escaping execu- 
 tion was but small: he therefore determined to 
 save his life by becoming informer against his 
 former comrades in arms. Under the influence 
 therefore of this ignoble resolution, he freely 
 divulged to a vindictive Government the names, 
 and so far as he knew, the retreats of all those 
 implicated, and consequently he became the cause 
 of the suffering of many who might otherwise 
 have escaped. For this conduct he became the 
 object of universal contempt and of implacable 
 
THE TRAITOR MURRAY 79 
 
 hatred to the great portion of the Scottish who 
 still favoured that unfortunate cause. One even- 
 ing, long after the events in which this personage 
 had acted so base a part, Mrs. Scott's family were 
 at tea in their house in George Square, when a 
 gentleman was announced as desiring to see Sir 
 Walter's father ; as the conference seemed to last 
 long, Mrs. Scott sent her son down to offer a cup 
 of tea to the gentleman. Entering his father's 
 business room, he found him in conversation 
 with an elderly, but very erect-looking grey- 
 haired gentleman wrapped in a large cloak. He 
 seemed startled at Walter's entrance, but upon 
 the object being explained, accepted the proffered 
 cup of tea with graceful politeness. He had come 
 to consult Mr Scott about the state of his pecuni- 
 ary affairs in Scotland. When he had retired 
 Mr. Scott deliberately took up the cup and saucer, 
 and opening the window, dashed them into the 
 street, to his son's very great surprise, saying : 'No 
 honest lips shall use that cup after it has served 
 those of a traitor. That, Walter, was the 
 notorious Murray of Broughton, by whose 
 treachery so many brave patriots and worthy men 
 suffered.'^ 
 
 Abbotsford, Sunday, September 1819. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I was at Melville for two 
 days and had intended to call upon you, but I 
 was too much hurried for the only hour I was in 
 town. I have written to Lizars to send you a 
 
 ' The story is told by Lockhart. 
 
80 INVITATION TO ABBOTSFORD 
 
 proof of his engraving and attend to any altera- 
 tions which your good skill may recommend. On 
 the whole I think his effort is very creditable. I 
 do not intend to have the prints thrown off till I 
 come to town in November. My health con- 
 tinues very good indeed, rather better than it has 
 been for several years, but I cannot write very 
 long at a time without feeling a very disagree- 
 able aching pain in my back. I shall be con- 
 demned to use an amanuensis, which is grievous 
 work for one accustomed to independence. I 
 wish you would come and see us now the weather 
 is like to be favourable for exercise, and we will 
 waken Newark Hill once more with the grey- 
 hounds. I was at Langholm Lodge the other day. 
 What a change since we saw Lord and Lady 
 Dalkeith there, the one in full strength, the other 
 in all the bloom of beauty, with a fine family, of 
 whom two, with themselves, are now in the 
 grave I 
 
 Adieu, my dear Skene; the more friends one 
 loses, the dearer they ought to be who remain 
 behind, and you are one of those whom I have 
 every reason to value most highly. I beg compli- 
 ments to Mrs, Skene ; I need not say how happy 
 we will be to see her if she can come with you. 
 We have the Macleods with us here at this 
 moment, but they leave us soon. — Yours most 
 truly, Walter Scott. 
 
 Monday [December 1819]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I daresay Count Iterburg 
 and Mons. de Poller would be gratified by what 
 you propose ; at any rate, if you will take the 
 trouble to offer them your escort, they cannot but 
 be obliged by having it placed within their power. 
 —Yours truly, W. S. 
 
CROWN PRINCE OF SWEDEN 81 
 
 The ex-Crown Prince of Sweden is the subject 
 of this note. This interesting young man had 
 arrived in Edinburgh with his tutor, Baron PoUer 
 of Lausanne, in the autumn of 1819 with a view to 
 the prince attending the Classes of the University, 
 for which purpose he assumed the title of Count 
 Iterburg, but this incognito did not answer the 
 intended purpose ; his illustrious rank having soon 
 become known, he became so much the object of 
 notice as to find his attendance at college irksome, 
 and he very soon confined himself to private lessons 
 from masters in those sciences he meant to cultivate. 
 He was at that time a tall, handsome young man 
 of nineteen, of a fair complexion, and a counten- 
 ance possessing a very strong resemblance to the 
 portraits of his great ancestor, Charles xii. of 
 Sweden. The Earl of Liverpool, head of the 
 Ministry, had written to Sir Walter Scott request- 
 ing him to show attention to the prince, and to 
 make his reception in Edinburgh as agreeable as 
 possible consistently with the privacy he wished 
 to observe. In the discharge of this duty Sir 
 Walter engaged my assistance, feeling that, 
 although he could read several of the foreign lan- 
 guages well enough, he possessed so little freedom 
 in expressing himself either in French or German 
 as to render his intercourse with foreigners some- 
 what more a matter of restraint than was either 
 agreeable to himself, or useful to them. 
 
 The prince dined with Sir Walter Scott the 
 day after his arrival, and he and his friend made 
 
82 A PRINCE IN EXILE 
 
 themselves as agreeable as their very slender 
 acquaintance with the English language at that 
 time enabled them. Sir Walter happened to 
 possess a portrait of Charles xii. of Sweden, 
 which hung over the dining-room fireplace; the 
 prince was much struck, and apparently gratified 
 with the circumstance, as he obviously conceived 
 that it had been placed there as a compliment to 
 him, and the company present were equally im- 
 pressed with the remarkably striking family like- 
 ness between the portrait of the warrior king and 
 his present representative. Some time after this, 
 when he did me the honour to dine at my table, 
 he was equally interested in a set of portraits of 
 the two last generations of the Royal Family of 
 Scotland, which hung in my dining-room, and 
 which had been presented to my grandfather by 
 Prince Charles Edward in consideration of the 
 sacrifices he made for the prince's service in the 
 unfortunate enterprise of the year 1745, when he 
 raised and commanded one of the battalions of 
 Lord Lewis Gordon's brigade. The portrait of 
 Prince Charles Edward, painted at about the same 
 age as that of Count Iterburg, and, no doubt also, 
 the marked analogy in the circumstances to which 
 they had each been reduced, seemed much to 
 engage his notice, and when the ladies had retired, 
 he begged me to give him some account of the 
 rebellion of 1745, and of the various endeavours 
 of the ex-family of Stuart to regain the Scottish 
 crown. The subject was rather a comprehensive 
 
THE YOUNG PRETENDER 88 
 
 one, but when I had done my best to put him in 
 possession of the leading features, it seemed to 
 have taken a very strong hold of his mind, as he 
 frequently reverted to the subject at our sub- 
 sequent meetings. Upon another occasion, when 
 I had the honour of his company at dinner, and 
 by degrees the topic of conversation had slipped 
 into its wonted channel, the rebellion of the 
 1745, its final disaster and the singular escape 
 of the prince from the pursuit of his enemies 
 during many weeks, the Count inquired what 
 effect the failure of the enterprise had upon the 
 prince's character, with whose gallant bearing 
 and enthusiasm in the conduct of his desperate 
 enterprise he evinced the strongest interest and 
 sympathy. I related briefly the mortifying dis- 
 appointments to which Charles Edward was after- 
 wards exposed in France and the other events of 
 his life, the hopelessness of his cause, and the 
 indifference generally shown to him by the 
 Continental Courts, which so much preyed upon 
 his spirits as finally to stifle every remnant of his 
 former spirit and character, and to reduce him to 
 listless indifference, which terminated in his 
 becoming a sot during the latter years of his life. 
 On turning round to the prince, who had been 
 listening to these details, I perceived the big 
 drops chasing each other down his cheeks, so that 
 we changed the subject, and he never again 
 recurred to it. If fate should ever place him in 
 a situation to testify the vigour of his own char- 
 
84 HARD TRAINING 
 
 acter in striving to regain the crown of which the 
 eccentricities of his father deprived him, I shall be 
 mistaken if Prince Gustavus does not exhibit a 
 character becoming the illustrious names which 
 preceded him on the throne of Sweden. I 
 mentioned to him that my grandfather had taken 
 refuge in Gothenburg after the fatal defeat at 
 CuUoden, and that having remained many years in 
 exile in Sweden, he had been naturalised and had 
 obtained a patent of nobility which was still in 
 my custody. He desired to see it, and was much 
 pleased to find that it had been preserved ; it was 
 from his grandfather, whose signature he at once 
 recognised, and he was good enough to dictate 
 the literal translation of the deed, while I wrote 
 it down, and then he said with a smile : ' Should 
 it ever be my fate to regain my father's crown, I 
 beg that this patent may be presented, that I 
 may have the pleasure of directing your name to 
 be inscribed in the list of the nobles of my 
 kingdom.' 
 
 The prospect of his becoming eventually 
 engaged in a struggle for the attainment of that 
 great object was obviously ever uppermost in 
 his mind ; all his pursuits seemed to tend that 
 way, and he had imposed upon himself a species 
 of training to fit his habits and constitution for 
 the hardships and endurance he might have 
 occasion to exercise. He practised athletic exer- 
 cises and the use of all kinds of arms ; he rode 
 well, and in order to inure himself to exposure in 
 
SIR WALTER'S RING 85 
 
 bad weather, he often set off in dark stormy 
 nights to find his way across country, sometimes 
 on horseback and sometimes on foot, to the great 
 annoyance of his friend and tutor. Baron Poher. 
 He studied particularly to acquire a knowledge 
 of military affairs, which I understand to have 
 been the unremitting and anxious pursuit of his 
 after life, in the Austrian service, in which he has 
 been raised to high rank. 
 
 Before preparing to quit Edinburgh the prince 
 consulted me one day on the subject of presenting 
 Sir Walter Scott with some memento. As Sir 
 Walter had just at that time been created a 
 Baronet, and was engaged in devising his coat of 
 arms, of which I had made a sketch, it occurred 
 to me that if the prince were to get a seal cut 
 with this new device, I would manage to prevent 
 Sir Walter from supplying himself otherwise. 
 The plan was accordingly adopted, and a beautiful 
 amethyst having been obtained, it was correctly 
 engraved, and inscribed on one side of the setting 
 with the donor's name, * Gustaf '; on the opposite, 
 ' To Sir Walter Scott,' according to directions 
 from Baron Poller. In the meantime Sir Walter 
 had gone to Abbotsford, where the prince was 
 to pay him a visit, and Mrs. Skene and myself 
 were to be of the party. The morning after 
 our arrival he took the opportunity of finding 
 Sir Walter alone in the breakfast parlour to 
 present the seal, and he was just making acknow- 
 ledgments as I entered the room. He held the 
 
 r2 
 
86 GLENGARRY'S RETAINERS 
 
 seal out to me to admire its beauty, when the 
 prince, laughing, said, 'There is no occasion to 
 show it to Mr. Skene, for it is to him 1 am 
 indebted for any merit it may possess.' He had 
 sent to me one of his books as a keepsake. The 
 seal was the one which Sir Walter constantly 
 used during the remainder of his life, and he 
 valued it very much for the sake of the donor, of 
 whom he entertained a high opinion, and he often 
 adverted to the simple inscription as a testimony 
 of regard of which he felt proud. 
 
 As he was desirous of seeing whatever was in- 
 teresting in Scotland before quitting the country, 
 I was at pains to prepare a suitable route, and to 
 obtain for him such introductions as might be 
 useful, and with a view to his witnessing the 
 hospitality of a Highland chief, I induced the 
 prince to visit my brother-in-law. Glengarry, who 
 accordingly gave him a reception with which he 
 afterwards told me, when I saw him in Germany, 
 he had been highly gratified. Glengarry, after 
 the old Highland fashion, awaited his arrival at 
 the boundary of his property, accompanied by a 
 numerous following in the full Highland garb, 
 with bagpipes, broadswords and targets, and a 
 barrel of whisky. The unexpected appearance of 
 the warlike retinue by which the pass through 
 which they had to penetrate was closely invested 
 the screaming of the pipes, and the wild shouts of 
 the people, the prince confessed, perplexed them 
 not a little at first, as they could not account 
 
A HIGHLAND WELCOME 87 
 
 for it, knowing the distance they had still to go 
 before reaching Glengarry. However, the worthy 
 chief soon removed their doubts by advancing to 
 receive them with that kind and dignified manner 
 for which he was remarkable, and explaining in due 
 form the meaning of the Gaelic welcomes which 
 were shouted by the surrounding followers, they 
 proceeded on their way like a Highland army. 
 They were received at the house by the young 
 Laird, surrounded also by his following in the 
 Highland garb, and the neighbourhood was in- 
 formed of the event by repeated salvos from the 
 wall-pieces of the old castle. The prince was 
 much pleased with this visit, which afforded him 
 an opportunity of witnessing in such perfection 
 the peculiarities of Highland manners and hospit- 
 ality, which he said he would never forget, and 
 also of learning many anecdotes of the enthu- 
 siastic devotion of the Highlanders to the young 
 representative of their ancient sovereigns, when 
 he threw himself unprotected and unattended 
 upon their loyalty, which touched my young 
 friend in a sensible part. 
 
 From the Highlands they proceeded to make 
 the tour of Ireland, whence, learning my intention 
 to go abroad on account of the then delicate state 
 of Mrs. Skene's health, the prince and his friend 
 sent me numerous letters of introduction, amongst 
 others one to the Queen of Sweden, residing at that 
 time at Baden, to be delivered in case the prince, 
 her son, should not happen to be there at the time. 
 
88 PRINCE WASA'S FAMILY 
 
 In the course of the ensuing winter, when I 
 had established myself at Aix in Provence with 
 a portion of my family, I was honoured by a visit 
 from Duke William of Baden, cousin-german of 
 Prince Gustavus, then travelling for the recovery 
 of his health, which had suffered from a severe 
 wound received when in command of a division 
 of the combined army under Prince Schwartz- 
 enberg. 
 
 He mentioned his having been commissioned 
 by his cousin to express how sensible he was of 
 the kindness and attention shown to him in 
 Scotland, and from the Queen, his mother, a 
 desire that we should not fail to take Baden on 
 our return to Scotland, where she would be happy 
 to see us, which accordingly we decided to do. 
 The Duke talked quite frankly of the confidence 
 entertained by the friends of the Swedish family 
 that circumstances would sooner or later occur 
 to enable them to be restored to their kingdom, 
 and the dispositions and talents of the Crown 
 Prince (who had now dropped the assumed name 
 of Comte Iterburg) gave them the greatest 
 hopes.^ 
 
 Castle Street, Tuesday Night [1819]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have looked over the 
 Memoir in which I have had only occasion to 
 mark one or two passages as being perhaps some- 
 thing too flowing for a publication of the sort. 
 
 * Under the title of Prince Wasa he rose to high conimt^nd in the 
 Austrian army. 
 
MRS. SCOTT'S DEATH 89 
 
 All that you say is true and well said, and if 
 people only want to have their attention called to 
 the subject, you can show capitalists inclined to 
 speculate in this line where their interest lies. 
 
 The concern is, however, a large one, and you 
 cannot expect that it will speedily be ventured 
 upon. In fact, men who have actually money in 
 their pouches seldom run far in these experiments 
 until time has shown them where the profit lies. 
 Those who form the readiest adventurers are 
 men who, lacking the feu, must build and 
 sell their houses before they are brought home. 
 
 This was written when your note came. As- 
 suredly if we are all well, Mrs. Scott and I will 
 meet you on the 25th. I do not wish to protract 
 the formal observances of mourning beyond the 
 proper and decorous period, and I will be glad to 
 make yours the first house I go to. — Most truly 
 yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 If you will call on me to-morrow at-half past 
 one, we will give a glance at the paper together. 
 
 This letter was written soon after Mrs. Scott's 
 death, and the latter part refers to that event. 
 The first part is in regard to a Memorial I had 
 prepared for publication on the subject of an 
 extensive plan of opening part of my property in 
 Aberdeenshire with a view to building. 
 
 AbbotsforDj Melrose, 29th August 1820. 
 
 My dear Skene. — It is a sad thing that you 
 are obliged to begin your rambles again, but 
 prevention is easier than cure, and much as I shall 
 feel your absence, and that of my much-esteemed 
 friend Mrs. Skene, I must comfort myself by 
 
90 A VALEDICTORY LETTER 
 
 thinking that you are amused both of you, and her 
 health strengthened and confirmed. If I take the 
 Continent, which I should wish greatly, I will not 
 fail to direct my course so as to insure our meeting, 
 for you will scarce choose a nook in the Continent 
 where I will not poke you out. We have had 
 Ken with us, who with very infirm health has as 
 much whim and originality as ever.^ I am sorry 
 you will not be in Edinburgh when we visit it 
 next week. He is now at the Laird of Harden's. 
 The specimen of Mthography is capital, but when 
 shall we set about our ' Antiquitates Reekianag ' ? 
 When indeed ? Meanwhile I hope you will not 
 fail to add to your stock of drawings whatever 
 memorables may occur in your travels. The 
 etching was very clever indeed. God bless you, 
 my dear Skene, your excellent partner and your 
 family, and send us a speedy and a happy meeting. 
 All here, Lockharts included, send kindest re- 
 gards. — I am very truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Previous to setting out on the journey alluded 
 to in the foregoing pages, I received this vale- 
 dictory letter from Sir Walter in which he 
 expresses a desire, for some time in possession of 
 his mind, of making a continental tour of some 
 length, in which I had engaged to accompany 
 him, but circumstances prevented its accomplish- 
 ment at that time. He was deeply engaged in 
 the composition of his romances, which had begun 
 to yield a large income, and to justify the 
 expensive operations he had undertaken in form- 
 ing his new residence at Abbotsford. He 
 
 ' Henry Mackenzie. 
 
ABSENCE OF MIND 91 
 
 mentioned to me as early as this period, when he 
 had been little more than five years engaged in 
 literary production, that the proceeds had already 
 reached £50,000, and that he felt it to be his duty 
 not to omit the opportunity of establishing the 
 fortune of his family so long as that fickle resource 
 of public taste favoured his endeavours. And 
 however much he took delight in the progress of 
 his improvements, the singular absence of mind 
 which began now to exhibit itself, showed how 
 very much his mind was engaged in the labours 
 of his study. During his absence on one occasion, 
 the new furnishing of his drawing-room had taken 
 place, of which he seemed altogether unconscious 
 upon his return, and he continued for some time 
 to occupy the room without observing that any 
 change had taken place, until Lady Scott, who 
 had been anticipating the agreeable surprise she 
 had prepared for him, called his attention to it. 
 But a more amusing instance of preoccupation 
 of mind occurred while he was attending the 
 circuit at Jedburgh. He had an aunt, a Mrs. 
 Curle,^ who lived in that town, and to whom he 
 never failed upon these occasions to pay a visit, 
 but upon this occasion the old lady happened 
 to have changed her abode, of which Sir Walter 
 had been informed ; but old habit led him in- 
 stinctively to her former residence, which was 
 
 * ' Poor Aunt Curie died like a Roman. . . . She turned every 
 one out of the room, and drew her last breath alone.' — Letter to 
 Thomas Scott, January 1826. 
 
92 AN EMBARRASSING MISTAKE 
 
 then in the occupation of another old lady, a 
 total stranger to Sir Walter. Lady Scott and 
 the late Mr. Solicitor-General Wedderburn 
 happened to walk with him to the door, and he 
 invited them to join him and see his aunt. The 
 lady who occupied the house proved to be at 
 home, but in age and appearance she was altogether 
 the reverse of Mrs. Curie, who was a stout, burly- 
 looking personage, well advanced in life. Never- 
 theless, Sir Walter saluted, as he entered, a wan- 
 looking, shrivelled old maid, with ' How do you do, 
 my dear aunt ? ' She rose in some confusion to 
 receive her unexpected guests, and although Lady 
 Scott, being at once aware of the mistake, strove 
 to undeceive him, he proceeded to embrace the 
 astonished old maiden, who was quite at a loss to 
 comprehend the cause or meaning of these 
 demonstrations of kindness, to which she had been 
 probably but little habituated, till, when he 
 addressed her again as his aunt, Lady Scott told 
 him that it was not Mrs. Curie. He was much 
 embarrassed when he became aware of the 
 mistake, and made the best apology he could, but 
 I observed afterwards that he never liked this 
 story to be alluded to. 
 
 The friend he speaks of in this letter was Mr. 
 Stewart Rose, author of many very elegant works, 
 at whose residence in the New Forest I had 
 recently passed a most agreeable week. 
 
 The ' Antiquitates Reekianse ' was a joint under- 
 taking of Sir Walter's and mine, illustrative of 
 
THE BOSWELLS 93 
 
 the ancient history, manners and antiquities of 
 Edinburgh, but the necessity of nay going abroad 
 at that time delayed its appearance, and before 
 I returned at the lapse of a year and a half, 
 circumstances had occurred altogether to prevent 
 its publication. The drawings I had prepared for 
 the purpose had been seen, and the delay gave 
 time for the idea to be taken up and turned to use 
 by others, without, however, the only part of the 
 scheme which would probably have given it 
 merit in the public eyes, the narrative part from 
 Sir Walter's pen. 
 
 Abbotsford, Saturday, December 1821. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I am truly sorry I have an 
 engagement with the Lockharts which prevents 
 my dining with you on Monday as you kindly 
 proposed. I could surely have broken short with 
 them, but I beheve they are to have company. I 
 hope J. Boz ^ comes to make some stay, but shall 
 scarce forgive him not coming here in the fine 
 season. My best love to him. I shall be most 
 anxious to see him. Compliments to Mrs. Skene. 
 — Always most truly yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Simple as this note may appear, it brings with 
 it a varied crowd of recollections of years of early 
 friendships, and of the melancholy termination 
 in which they closed. Sir Alexander Boswell of 
 Auchenleck and his brother, Mr. James Boswell, 
 the person alluded to in the note, had been my 
 
 1 James Boswell. 
 
94 ILL-FATED BROTHERS 
 
 schoolfellows and long my intimate friends; we 
 lived much together, both in England and Scot- 
 land. They were both men of remarkable talents, 
 and James, a man of great learning, author of an 
 edition of Shakespeare. Both of them evinced a 
 dash of their father's eccentricity, but joined to 
 greater talent. Sir Walter took great pleasure in 
 their society, but as James resided in London, the 
 opportunity of enjoying his company had of late 
 been rare. Upon the present occasion he had 
 dined with me in the greatest health and spirits, 
 the evening before his departure for London, and 
 in a week we had accounts of his having been seized 
 by a sudden illness which carried him off, and in a 
 few weeks more his brother. Sir Alexander, was 
 killed in a duel occasioned by a foolish political 
 lampoon which he had written, and in a thought- 
 less moment suffered to find its way into a news- 
 paper.* 
 
 In company with the two Boswells I had made 
 the tour of Wales and of a considerable portion of 
 England, after having passed six rather riotous 
 weeks at Oxford with the friends of James Bos- 
 well, then a member of Brazenose College, in 
 high reputation for his talents as well as for his 
 agreeable and most eccentric manners. Upon 
 the same occasion we also passed a week at 
 Clifton in visiting the venerable ex-king of Corsica, 
 General Paoli, the friend of their father. 
 
 ' The Glasgow Sentinel. 
 
A BAD PUN 95 
 
 Jedburgh, 2Ut April 1822. 
 
 My dear Skene, — -I received yours on my way 
 to the Circuit. I have plenty of room, and will 
 be delighted to received Colin and you either on 
 Tuesday or Wednesday. Come either day before 
 five — you cannot come amiss — and stay as long as 
 you can. 
 
 I am grieved to say I must decline the swan, 
 for my loch is, you know, debatable between Nicol 
 Milne and me, and as he ploughs and reaps in the 
 vicinity, he would object with some reason to my 
 putting on the swan. I shall be very sorry if his 
 Cantus should be the consequence of my refusal ; 
 pray let a bad pun save his life. It is a shame 
 the Keeper of the Cygnet should destroy a Swan. 
 
 In hopes of a merry meeting with said Keeper 
 and you, I always am very truly yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 My brother-in-law, Mr. Colin Mackenzie, is the 
 person here mentioned, then deputy-keeper of the 
 King's Signet in Scotland. Sir Walter, to whom 
 he had offered a swan for his lake at Abbotsford, 
 which circumstances prevented him from accept- 
 ing at the time, hopes it will not be the death- 
 warrant of the swan, supposed to perform his own 
 requiem on the eve of departure, and that a 
 keeper of the Cygnet must of necessity be merciful 
 to a Swan. 
 
 Castle Street, Saturday Morning [Mm/ 1822]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I am very hastily summoned 
 to Abbotsford, which prevents my seeing Mr. 
 Raeburn till I return. My carts are to be in 
 
96 THE SWAN 
 
 town with lambs for the market on Wednesday. 
 Would it not be possible to get the stones down 
 so as to return with said carts on Thursday ? If 
 so, I know it can only be through your active 
 mediation. I beg the expense of scaffolding, etc., 
 may not be considered, but that your men will 
 get them down in the way safest for the workmen 
 and the reliques. I will see Mr. Raeburn, whom 
 I am plundering thus unmercifully, the instant I 
 return. — Yours very truly, W. Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Monday. 
 
 My dear Colin, — I am happy to feel quite at 
 liberty to accept the Lord of the Lake, as my 
 neighbour readily and willingly agrees to protect 
 him. I send this letter in some anxiety, lest the 
 reprieve should come too late, and will send for 
 the bird on Friday a careful person with a pony. 
 I hope he will like his new dominions. 
 
 Mr. Milne expects for his house, wholly un- 
 furnished, but with garden and rickyard, £70, 
 which is something high, but not altogether 
 unreasonable. The house is to be completely 
 painted and repaired, four-stalled stable and ac- 
 commodation for a carriage, etc., appended. Mr. 
 Milne engages to put no cattle into the paddocks 
 around the house, or to let it if desired on reason- 
 able terms. Will you let Skene know all this, as 
 I conclude this will find him still with you. Mr. 
 Milne will let a lease for five years. I think if it 
 suits Skene to have a place at all, he will scarce 
 find one more congenial to his habits — all walks, 
 etc., to be open to them. I said nothing of 
 shooting. Pray let Skene let me know in a day or 
 two if he makes up his mind. — Always, my dear 
 Colin, most truly yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 If I were a Catholic I would have Masses said 
 
STORIES OF EDINBURGH CROSS 97 
 
 for the soul of Wattie Ross, who saved these 
 stones by stealing them. 
 
 Abbotsford, 8th May 1822. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Your valued letter reached 
 me yesterday. I think I shall adopt your plan 
 for the garden, with an addition of my own, which 
 I will communicate at meeting. 
 
 I send three carts to-morrow for the stones, and 
 I will desire the men to receive directions from 
 you. I will also write to Mr. Raeburn, to whom 
 I am much obliged, but I must be burthensome 
 to you to give the men their directions. I wish 
 much to see them before I go away to arrange 
 where they may be used. The carts and men can 
 wait your convenience. 
 
 I find Mr. Milne is in town. He lives very 
 near the Gibbet toll. Perhaps you had better 
 communicate with him personally or by your 
 agent, mentioning that you are the party con- 
 cerning whom I spoke to him. I do not think 
 the rent much out of the way, though £60 or £65 
 would be more germane to the matter. Candle- 
 mas is an unusual term for entry, and I know not 
 how he will like to have the place lie three- 
 quarters of a year on his hand ; not well certainly. 
 If he can help himself to the break, I think he 
 will have no objection. When houses are let 
 unfurnished, the tenant pays taxes. It strikes me 
 you should have a plan to put up a gardener's 
 cottage at Faldenside, for example. Mr. Milne 
 seems anxious to settle, and I think you may be 
 even with him in the course of half-an-hour's 
 conversation. 
 
 If Sir Robert Dundas be well and hearty, I 
 intend to stay here for two days after the Session 
 begins. — Yours truly, Walter Scott. 
 
 G 
 
&8 THE SOUTERS OF SELKIRK 
 
 The swan arrived safe and is in beautiful 
 feather. 
 
 Of the reliques which Mr. Raeburn's kindness 
 has induced me to expect, I think you said the 
 window was what he especially prized, and of 
 course I do not wish to trespass upon his 
 generosity further than consists with his own 
 purposes. The door wiU be invaluable to me, so 
 will the heads ; the window is also acceptable, but 
 less so than the carved stones, as I have less means 
 of disposing of it. 
 
 Sir Walter, in decorating the new mansion of 
 Abbotsford, had collected from all quarters what- 
 ever sculptured stones or inscriptions from old 
 Scottish buildings could be procured to insert in 
 the walls, and as most of these are in some respect 
 historical, he took great delight in narrating the 
 events and history of the persons to which they 
 referred. He procured from the Magistrates of 
 Edinburgh, at the time when the old prison-house 
 of the city (The Heart of Midlothian) was pulled 
 down, as much of the stones of the entrance tower 
 as enabled him to erect it, with its sculptured 
 doorway and the ponderous prison keys, as the 
 entrance to the kitchen at Abbotsford. There is 
 a memorial also of the ' Souters of Selkirk,' ^ and 
 various inscriptions and sculptured coats of arms 
 around the walls. For the same purpose I had 
 obtained for Sir Walter the fine old Gothic door- 
 
 '■ In conferring the freedom of the burgh of Selkirk, four or five 
 bristlesj such as are used by shoemakers, are attached to the burgess 
 seal, and these the new-made burgess must dip in his wine in token 
 of respect for the Souters of Selkirk, who died on the battlefield of 
 Flodden. 
 
AN INGENIOUS FRAUD 99 
 
 way of what was called the ' Black Turnpike,' an 
 ancient mansion in the High Street of Edinburgh, 
 which had been pulled down when the South 
 Bridge was built; and also by the kindness of 
 Sir Henry Raeburn, I procured some still more 
 valuable relics of that description in the series of 
 sculptured portraits of the kings of Scotland 
 which ornamented the ancient cross of Edinburgh, 
 removed some fifty years ago from the site it had 
 for centuries occupied, the dumb witness of more 
 important events than perhaps any spot in the 
 kingdom, and in itself a stately edifice becoming 
 the dignity of the metropolis of which it was the 
 centre. Nevertheless, this venerable memorial of 
 former days, although it stood in a place so open 
 as not to create the slightest interruption, became 
 the victim of the ignorant indifference and fidgety 
 conceit of the civic functionaries of the day, who, 
 after they had pulled it down, were at a loss how 
 to dispose of the materials to the best account. 
 The piUar which rose from the centre of the 
 octagon substructure was disposed of to the pro- 
 prietor of the neighbouring estate, where it still 
 continues to do duty as a decoration to the 
 pleasure-grounds of that place. The other 
 sculptured portions, comprehending the armorial 
 bearings of the city, the portraits of the kings 
 and other smaller morsels, became a prey to the 
 ingenious device of a whimsical character of that 
 day. Mr. Walter Ross, W.S., was constructing 
 a villa at Stockbridge, which was to be under the 
 
100 THE TOWN COUNCIL TRICKED 
 
 apparent protection of a sort of mock fortress he 
 had reared upon a mound in the adjoining garden, 
 and for this purpose had cast a covetous eye on 
 the materials of the old cross, then lying in ruins, 
 until the wiseacres of the Town Council, who had 
 so inconsiderately pulled it down, should de- 
 termine as to the disposal. Mr. Ross solved the 
 difficulty by this ingenious device. At midday, 
 when it could not escape public notice, he sent 
 his carts containing some rubbish of stones and 
 bricks which were emptied down beside the cross. 
 An officer was forthwith despatched by the 
 magistrates to complain of so extraordinary a 
 proceeding, and to desire the rubbish to be again 
 removed from the street. Mr. Ross avowed his 
 mistake and remorse, and promised obedience, 
 which, however, it was not convenient for him to 
 perform until it had become dusk. And it so 
 happened that in the meantime his rubbish had 
 formed acquaintance with all the portraits and 
 sculptured stones, and in the morning it appeared 
 that they had all taken their departure in com- 
 pany, and were soon after discovered decorating 
 Mr. Ross's garden fortress. 
 
 Sir Henry Raeburn became proprietor of the 
 villa in question, which has been since entirely 
 covered with town buildings, and in the course of 
 removing the tower, I obtained the relics of the 
 cross for Abbotsford, where they are now em- 
 ployed in the decoration of the cloister which 
 surrounds the front court. 
 
SPOILS FOR ABBOTSFORD 101 
 
 The latter part of the letter refers to my inten- 
 tion of taking a lease of a residence in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Abbotsford, which did not, however, 
 take effect. 
 
 Abbotsford, 8th May 1822. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I enclose a letter to 
 Raeburn. Will you be kind enough to give the 
 bearer, the captain of the carts whom I have sent 
 on this foray, a word of direction about the mode 
 of delivery, etc. I need scarce request you will 
 be as moderate as possible in your exactions from 
 Mr. Raeburn's kindness, which means in broad 
 Scotch, take as much as you can get. — Yours ever 
 truly, W. Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Monday, IMh May 1822. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The stones, thanks to your 
 activity and Mr. Raeburn's liberality, arrived in 
 perfect safety and were most acceptable. I have 
 found yeoman's service for the niche and doorway, 
 which will come in capitally. Our motions for 
 Edinburgh are delayed on Sir Robert's kindly 
 taking my duty for the week, which allows me to 
 see some delicate arches executed about the 
 building. We only come to town Thursday 
 sennight, when we are engaged to the Lockharts. 
 Have at your mutton any day you like after. 
 
 You had better see Milne soon ; he is a close 
 dealer, but a safe one. That is, he will make a 
 hard bargain, but be true to what he promises. 
 Pen and ink though, should you come to close 
 quarters, are not amiss. Scripta manent saith the 
 Scholiast. 
 
 I beg you will tell Colin how beautifully his 
 swan promenades in the loch. We have dubit 
 [dubbed] him Sir Lancelot of the Lake, and he 
 
 g2 
 
102 THE MORTON PAPERS 
 
 comes to us for bread as natural as a pet lamb. I 
 must look out for a wife to him, however, that he 
 may not be alone in his watery domains. I am 
 very glad I saved so beautiful a creature. Yet he 
 has a most ungainly frown at times when the 
 presence of a dog exasperates his rougher propen- 
 sities. — Love to Mrs. Skene. I am always, most 
 truly yours. Walter Scott. 
 
 Castle Street, Sunday, 1822. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The Morton papers, a most 
 secret collection, are at present in my hands by 
 Lady Morton's courtesy. Sharpe dines with me 
 to-day at five to look over them. Pray come to 
 this antiquarian banquet and bring the lady sans 
 fapon. — Yours ever. Walter Scott. 
 
 The Morton papers alluded to are a valuable 
 collection of family documents, and many papers 
 of historical interest connected with the period of 
 Regent Morton are still in possession of the family. 
 The settlements of the last earl had unfortunately 
 put it into the power of his widow to alienate 
 many of the valuable heirlooms of that ancient 
 family. The interesting old library, the family 
 plate, and many of the pictures, which ought to 
 have been suffered to pass to the representative 
 of the earldom, were disposed of in London, and 
 the family papers, generally valuable for their 
 historical interest, had nearly shared the same fate, 
 and had with that view been put into Sir Walter's 
 hands in order that he might estimate their 
 value. Means were, however, found to have 
 them preserved to the family. 
 
JOHN KNOX'S CHAIR 103 
 
 [1822.] 
 
 Dear Skene, — A man has brought a chair 
 which he calls John Knox's. It is an ugly one and 
 does not suit me, but if its pedigree can be ascer- 
 tained, perhaps the Antiquaries may choose to have 
 it— Yours truly. W. Scott. 
 
 I want a chat with you much about my plans. 
 Will you call at Raeburn's to-day, where I am to 
 be at two o'clock. 
 
 Castle Street, Monday [1822]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have to propose to you 
 our friend Colin Mackenzie as a member of the 
 Royal Society Club, and I beg you will put him 
 upon the list as a candidate accordingly. — Believe 
 me truly yours. Walter Scott. 
 
 I hope to be down with the Club on Monday 
 unless slued in the road. 
 
 This recommendation is addressed to me as 
 Secretary of the Royal Society Club, an office I 
 have continued to hold from its institution to the 
 present time. During this time one-half of the 
 original members have passed to their graves. 
 The club consists of fifty of the principal members 
 of the Royal Society, to which number it is 
 limited: they dine together monthly during the 
 Session of the Society, with a view to having an 
 opportunity of introducing to the members any 
 strangers of distinction who may be in town. 
 
 As my acquaintance with Mr. Croker, then 
 Secretary to the Admiralty, was but slight, a small 
 
104 THE USES OF PUBLISHERS 
 
 request I had to make connected with my eldest 
 son, then in the Navy, was forwarded by Sir 
 Walter and granted. 
 
 Jedburgh, 4ith April [1823], 
 
 My dear Skene, — I received your parcel safe, 
 and I have no doubt whatever that the ' Reekianse ' 
 will answer, so very beautiful are the specimens 
 you have supplied. Three hundred copies appears 
 rather a large impression, but we will see what 
 Constable says. The man of books is to be here 
 on Wednesday or Thursday next, and I will take 
 the opportunity to take his advice about it, for a 
 man can no more be delivered of a book without 
 a bookseller than a woman of a child without an 
 accoucheur, and much trouble and risk is saved 
 in both cases by having recourse to the first 
 assistance. Constable and Dr. Hamilton are 
 worth all the old women in the world. 
 
 Lockhart, I am sure, will not want good-will, 
 but I doubt if his very excellent sketches are 
 finished enough for publication. Charles Sharpe's 
 assistance would be truly invaluable, both in 
 explanation and delineation. 
 
 I was greatly obliged indeed by your interesting 
 suggestion about my hobby-horsical matters. I 
 have, however, been led, upon much consideration, 
 to abandon my plan of an iron palisade between 
 the court and garden, and to substitute a screen of 
 flat Gothic arches executed in freestone, support- 
 ing a light cornice of the same material, the 
 vacant space of the arches to be filled up with 
 cast iron in some simple but handsome forms, so 
 as to represent, or rather to resemble the shafts 
 and muUions of, a Gothic window. This screen 
 will be a little in the outset, but it will save much 
 heavier expense, for I have ascertained by putting 
 
FINISHING TOUCHES 105 
 
 up a screen of deal to the height of nine feet that 
 such a colonnade as I propose, with the flower-pots 
 to be placed in the corner, will sufficiently throw 
 back and conceal the height of the eastern wall, 
 and consequently render it unnecessary to do more 
 than open an entrance from it into the upper 
 garden. For the garden and court will be in this 
 way totally separated from each other in the 
 spectacular imagination, whereas any slight iron 
 paling would have rather brought forward than 
 thrown back the east wall. I shall thus get rid of 
 all the awkwardness of this eastern boundary and 
 save myself the expense and trouble of doing any- 
 thing more than striking a door through it ; save 
 myself also much expense in the conservatory, 
 which, as by this plan it will be much out of 
 view, may be made as plain as I shall find con- 
 venient. 
 
 I have desired Mr. Patterson, the ironfounder, 
 to call on you and show you a sketch of the pro- 
 posed screen or colonnade, or whatever you choose 
 to call it. What I now want from you is a 
 sketch of how the ironwork, now limited to that 
 which is to fill up the arches, ought to be managed. 
 There is no occasion for much actual massiveness 
 or strength, where no violence will probably be 
 attempted, but it should not be quite a bird's-cage 
 neither. 
 
 I hope you intend to come to Abbotsford with 
 Mrs. Skene and the youngster, and Missie, or one 
 of them at least, this spring. We shall be at 
 home the whole vacation, and, I need scarcely add, 
 deUghted to see you. 
 
 Here I am in the middle of the stupefaction of 
 a Justice-air rendered doubly stupid by a total 
 want of its appropriate amusements, horrors and 
 hangings. — Yours ever, Walter Scott. 
 
106 ANTIQUITATES REEKIANJE 
 
 Abbotsford, Saturday January 3rd, 1823. 
 
 My dear Skene, — It is scarce worth postage 
 to say what you must have reckoned on, that your 
 letter is on its way to Croker with all the 
 additional fervour which my intimacy can add to 
 the very reasonable request which it contained, 
 and which I sincerely hope will be granted. 
 
 My house here is finished in the shell, and looks 
 like a Temple of Solomon, not that I insinuate 
 any comparison between the founders. I think 
 on the whole you will like it, for it is quite devoid 
 of the ' nipped foot and clipped foot ' air of a 
 Scots Mansion, which grudges every farthing and 
 every foot's space. . . . ^ I hope you will see it in 
 spring, and if possible arrange with neighbour 
 Milne. 
 
 I bring your beautiful sketch-book to town with 
 me, and am, with kindest love to Mrs. Skene, in 
 which my wife and Anne sincerely join, ever 
 yours, W- Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Sunday [1821]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have given Constable the 
 plates, and he seems much pleased with the plan 
 of the ' Reekianae.' All that I can do will be done, 
 of course. He will hold communication with you 
 on the subject himself. I conceive that it should 
 be something that would pay your time and 
 trouble. 
 
 I have perhaps given you trouble to no purpose 
 about the iron screen, having almost determined 
 to adopt a plan of my own, namely a screen com- 
 posed of open arches of hewn stone filled up with 
 cast-iron lattice and supporting a cornice on which 
 earthen vases with flowers may be placed, one of 
 
 1 Illegible. 
 
THE 'GREAT BABYLON' 107 
 
 the windows to open as a door. I sent Patterson 
 a drawing of this per Friday's Blucher. The 
 advantage is that, though dearer in itself, such a 
 screen renders all further expense unnecessary by 
 dividing the garden from the courtyard and throw- 
 ing back the east wall. Indeed, while the garden 
 itself is partially seen through the perforated 
 screen, the top of it, supposing it nine feet high, 
 will totally intercept the view of the wall behind, 
 which will thus remain untouched. I have ascer- 
 tained this by putting up boards to the desired 
 height. All that will be necessary in that wall 
 will be a flight of four steps up to an arched door- 
 way, and we will build a break against the wall to 
 make the archway seem more massive. I hope 
 you understand all this, which is at least very 
 simple. 
 
 Sophia's baby has a bad turn of this confounded 
 influenza, which makes me rather uneasy — it is 
 such a slight creature. 
 
 Yours, with kindest wishes and remembrances 
 to your lady, W. Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, IStk April [1823]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — You promised me a visit 
 about this time, and in hopes you maybe inclined 
 to keep your word by such pleasing information, I 
 beg to acquaint you that though there are not as 
 yet many clean-run fish in the Tweed, there are 
 plenty of kelts which rise freely to the fly, and I 
 saw one of them hold a good fisher in play for half 
 an hour yesterday. In addition to this sport I 
 want your advice about my house, this great 
 Babylon which I am building, and I want you be- 
 sides, of all living, to look at a vacant mansion or 
 two which I think might serve you for country 
 quarters. I have no engagements and expect no 
 
108 TURNER'S PRICES 
 
 company, only on the 20th I go to Jedburgh for 
 two days for the circuit. On the 30th I go for 
 one day to an election for our collector. Pray 
 
 come and oblige Affectionately yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Our kindest compliments attend Mrs. Skene. 
 
 The good fisher Sir Walter alludes to was our 
 mutual friend Mr. Scrope of Boulton, then resid- 
 ing in the Pavilion, a small property near 
 Abbotsford belonging to Lord Somerville, also 
 our mutual friend, who had recently died in 
 Switzerland. Both these gentlemen were expert 
 salmon-fishers, with whom I had long been in the 
 custom of competing in that art, and they were 
 both men of superior accomplishments and most 
 agreeable manners also, and of course much at 
 Abbotsford. 
 
 Abbotsford, 30th April [1823] 
 
 Deak Skene, — I enclose the introduction you 
 wish for Stevenson and Sir Willie. But Turner's 
 palm is as itchy as his fingers are ingenious, and 
 he will, take my word for it, do nothing without 
 cash, and anything for it. He is almost the only 
 man of genius I ever knew who is sordid in these 
 matters. But a sketch of the Bell Rock from so 
 masterly a pencil would be indeed a treasure. 
 
 Suppose they try John Thomson of Dudding- 
 ston, who of late has succeeded admirably in 
 sea-views. 
 
 I am keeping well, but the necessity of taking 
 some part in a d d dirty Burgh contest * has 
 
 1 An election of the Collector of Jedburgh. 
 
j,^C,tA.<^«^5tj«^V<,-W> 
 
 
 
 <ju*,^''a-^*-7 4^^^^ ^^ ,y( , /4::c ^v «-^iu-..<j^ 
 
 tri-^Ly6^ {''W.v^.*^ /Ua..*^/A^ -^ , ^ ^^2Lt„.-i. 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF 30TH APRIL 1823. 
 
 [T'tf /ac^ /Srt^e 108 
 
THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE 109 
 
 worried me of late, and I must make this a short 
 letter. — Yours ever, Walter Scott. 
 
 I will be truly happy if Rae gets something 
 good. 
 
 Sir Walter's own disposition was so free from 
 the slightest taint of anything approaching to 
 sordidness that he had an utter contempt for it in 
 others, and he alludes pretty sharply to that 
 failing in the character of Mr. Turner, the land- 
 scape-painter, to whom application was desired to 
 be made for a frontispiece to the account of the 
 building of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, of which 
 Mr. Stevenson, civil engineer, was the editor, and 
 Sir William Rae a great promoter.^ The drawing 
 of the Bell Rock, which Turner painted from 
 a sketch of mine, was certainly a clever perform- 
 ance, but Sir Walter's prognostic as to the 
 expense was amply fulfilled. 
 
 Sir Walter was again desirous to resume the 
 idea of the ' Reekianas,' but Mr. Constable's pro- 
 posals, which were something of the wolfs division 
 usual to booksellers, and often oppressive to the 
 many authors who engage in such compacts, were 
 not to be risked. The screen was executed 
 according to the ideas conveyed in these letters, 
 and forms one of the most striking features of 
 Abbotsford. The interest which Sir Walter 
 took in completing his residence, and in plant- 
 ing and laying out the grounds, was at this 
 
 ' An Account oj the Bell Rock Lighthouse, 4to, Edinburgh, 1824. 
 
110 THE EILDON TREE 
 
 time of the greatest importance to his health ; 
 it compensated for the laborious exertions tvhich 
 his literary pursuits required for keeping up the 
 quick succession of new compositions in which he 
 was engaged. Whatever the weather might be, 
 he seldom omitted a daily ramble among his 
 young plantations, especially to a favourite glen 
 upon the property, which, after he had planted 
 it and constructed a walk through it, he was 
 much delighted to find was the traditional scene 
 of Thomas the Rhymer's amusing encounter 
 with the Queen of the Fairies, which forms the 
 subject of one of the Ballads of Minstrelsy. It 
 is, in fact, close to the spot which still retains the 
 name of the Eildon Tree at the western base of 
 that beautiful three-headed hill with which it 
 shares the name. A brawling stream ^ penetrates 
 for upwards of two miles through this little glen, 
 in general wild and rocky, and, now that it is 
 planted, in many parts very romantic. Sir 
 Walter often exulted in having been the dis- 
 coverer and the improver of the natural beauties 
 of this little solitude, where he delighted to pass 
 his idle hours, and for those friends and visitors 
 who could scramble, it was his show scene. 
 He seemed never to tire of it, and was wont to 
 croon over such parts of the Rhymer's legend as 
 the scene recalled to his memory. Times in- 
 numerable have I accompanied him in this 
 somewhat laborious walk, either alone or in 
 
 ' The Bogle Bum (Ministrelty of the Scottish Border). 
 
THE RHYMER'S GLEN 111 
 
 company with his guests; it had, however, 
 latterly become more difficult for him to get 
 over the irregular ground, and the last time he 
 was able to visit this, his favourite haunt, I had 
 much difficulty in helping him through the glen. 
 He was often reduced to scramble up the steeper 
 parts on his hands and knees, having now but 
 little reliance on the strength of his lame leg, and 
 so laborious was it that he seemed to become 
 aware that the effort had nearly exceeded his 
 powers, and that it was likely to be the last 
 attempt he might make. After some time passed 
 in silence and thought, he addressed me with 
 moistened eyes and in words which I shall not 
 soon forget : ' Hey-hou, my dear Skene, this is not 
 as it used to be ; everything has its day, and 
 that day is but short. We have enjoyed many 
 a ramble here together, and I hope you may be 
 spared to see this spot often again and to recollect 
 the days that are gone by, but I doubt I must be 
 content to say farewell to the Haxelcteugh.' And 
 so indeed it proved ; it was the last time he 
 ventured so far, and I have never seen it since. 
 On horseback, however, he was still able to go 
 a good way, and one morning he proposed to me 
 to explore the ' Nameless Dean,' which, under the 
 name of ' Glendearg,' is made the subject of the 
 Monastery. When we visited it, some years had 
 passed since the publication of the romance 
 where the wildness of the scene js so beautifully 
 portrayed, and he said he felt very curious to 
 
112 COLMSLIE TOWER 
 
 visit it, having never been there before ; ' which,' 
 he observed smiling, 'you may think droll 
 enough ; however, it is not the less true. I had 
 conceived a sort of ghost story, and I felt un- 
 willing that reality should interfere to disenchant 
 the images.' It is a solitary moorland glen that 
 follows the course of the Elvan Water, wild 
 enough, but commanding a fine view of the 
 distant Eildon hills. As we proceeded his 
 remarks on the different aspect of nature from 
 what his fancy had imagined were very amusing ; 
 but when we reached the confined hollow in which 
 the glen terminates, he was altogether bothered 
 to find a sort of confederacy of towers where he 
 had supposed that of Colmslie to be predominant. 
 However, there they were, like a group of old 
 weather-beaten warriors, almost shoulder to 
 shoulder, occupying the throat of a Highland 
 pass. Colmslie is old, but the other two bore the 
 date 1585, posterior to the era of the tale. He 
 comforted himself by reflecting that the reality of 
 the text in Glendearg was not positively infringed 
 by the solitary mansion of his fancy having been 
 multiplied into three. 
 
 Sir Walter was at this time very much dis- 
 tressed by the unexpected death of his intimate 
 friend, Mr. William Erskine, Lord Kinnedder. 
 Their friendship had existed from early life to the 
 death of the Judge, who was a man of learning 
 and accomplishments, and who possessed great 
 taste and judgment in poetical composition. Sir 
 
DEATH OF LORD KINNEDDER 113 
 
 Walter was in the habit of consulting him in 
 those matters more than any of his other friends, 
 having great reliance upon his critical skill. The 
 manuscripts of all his poems, and also of the 
 earlier of his prose works, were submitted to 
 Kinnedder's judgment, and a considerable corre- 
 spondence on these subjects had taken place 
 betwixt them, which would, no doubt, have 
 constituted one of the most interesting series of 
 letters Sir Walter left, and yet, I lament to say, 
 they are probably the only series from his pen 
 which has been unfortunately destroyed. 
 
 Lord Kinnedder was a man of retired habits, 
 little known except to those with whom he 
 lived on terms of intimacy, and by whom he 
 was much esteemed ; being naturally of a 
 remarkably sensitive mind, he was altogether 
 overthrown by a report having got abroad 
 of some alleged indiscretions on his part in 
 which a lady was also implicated. Whether 
 the report had any foundation in truth or not 
 I am altogether ignorant, but such an allegation, 
 affecting a person in his situation in life as a 
 Judge, and doing such violence to the suscepti- 
 bility of his feelings, had the effect of bringing 
 on a severe illness which in a few days terminated 
 his life. I never saw Sir Walter so much affected 
 by any event, and at the funeral, which he 
 attended, he was quite unable to suppress his 
 feelings, but wept like a child. The family, 
 suddenly bereft of their protector, were young 
 
 H 
 
114 SCOTT'S SECRET 
 
 orphans, their mother, a daughter of Professor 
 John Robison,'' having previously died, and 
 they had also to struggle against embarrassed 
 circumstances; neither had they any near 
 relative in Scotland to take charge of their 
 affairs. But a lady. Miss M., a friend of the 
 family, was active in their service, and it so 
 happened that in the course of arranging their 
 affairs, the packet of letters from Sir Walter 
 Scott containing the whole of his correspondence 
 with Lord Kinnedder came into her hands, and 
 she very soon discovered that the correspondence 
 laid open the secret of the authorship of the 
 Waverley Novels, at that period the subject of 
 general and intense interest, and as yet unacknow- 
 ledged by Sir Walter. She was in much per- 
 plexity what under these circumstances it was her 
 duty to do, whether to replace the letters and 
 suffer some accident to bring to light what the 
 author seemed anxious might remain unknown, 
 or to seal them up and keep them in her own 
 custody undivulged, or finally to destroy them in 
 order to preserve the secret. With, doubtless, the 
 best and most upright motives, so far as her own 
 judgment enabled her to decide in a matter in 
 which she was unable to take advice without 
 betraying what it was her object to respect, she 
 came to the resolution, most unfortunately for 
 the world, of destroying the letters. And accord- 
 
 ' Author oi Elements of Mechanical Phihsophy. 
 
PRICELESS LETTERS DESTROYED 115 
 
 ingly the whole of them were committed to 
 the flames, depriving the descendants of Lord 
 Kinnedder of a possession which could not fail to 
 he much valued by them, and which in connection 
 with Lord Kinnedder's letters to Sir Walter, 
 which are doubtless preserved, would have been 
 equally valuable to the public, as containing the 
 contemporary opinions, prospects, views and 
 sentiments under which these works were sent 
 forth into the world. It would also have been 
 curious to learn the unbiassed impressions which 
 the different works created on the mind of such a 
 man as Lord Kinnedder, before public opinion 
 had suffused its influence over the opinions of 
 people in general in this matter. 
 
 Sir Walter's fame had by this time become so 
 generally spread throughout the world that few 
 persons of any distinction came to Scotland with- 
 out having previously provided themselves with 
 the means of forming his acquaintance, and the 
 extent of society and constant succession of 
 recommendations to his attentions were often 
 very burdensome, although it had its redeeming 
 qualities in the number of distinguished and 
 agreeable acquaintance it obtained for him. In 
 these benefits I was accordingly a frequent sharer 
 and acquired the acquaintance of many gifted 
 persons of both sexes which otherwise I had little 
 claim to obtain. Among the ladies was the 
 authoress of Plays on the Passions, Miss Joanna 
 
116 THE BOARD OF GREEN CLOTH 
 
 Baillie, Mrs. Siddons, Mrs. Hamilton, authoress 
 of Glenburme, etc., Miss Edgeworth, and the 
 authoress of Inheritance. 
 
 The veteran poet Crabbe, that acute observer of 
 mankind in the humble walks of life, Sir Humphry 
 Davy, Mr. Croker, and many other characters 
 distinguished in literature, passed some time with 
 him, and during the period of King George iv.'s 
 visit to Scotland there was, of course, a concourse of 
 distinguished persons, by all of whom Sir Walter's 
 society was much cultivated. At Abbotsford he 
 had previously had a visit from Prince Leopold, 
 now King of the Belgians, who passed the day 
 there without any other society than that of Mrs. 
 Skene and myself. 
 
 Sir Walter took a great share in the arrange- 
 ments during King George's visit to Scotland, for 
 which purpose a committee had been formed, con- 
 sisting of the Lord Provost, First Bailie, Sir 
 Walter Scott, Baron Clerk Rattray and myself, 
 who met daily during the whole time as a Board 
 of Green Cloth to issue instructions and take 
 charge of aU matters connected with His Majesty's 
 reception, and a most laborious duty it was. For, 
 independently of the public function, most of our 
 houses were filled with friends. Such was the con- 
 course that had assembled for the occasion that 
 accommodation elsewhere was not to be obtained. 
 This, joined to a constant turmoil of parties, made 
 it a period of great excitement, which was finally 
 crowned by the city banquet to His Majesty, given 
 
KING GEORGE AT EDINBURGH 117 
 
 in the great hall of the Parliament House, the most 
 splendid scene I ever witnessed. Here the whole 
 Peerage of Scotland sat at an elevated table at 
 which His Majesty presided, having the Lord Pro- 
 vost on his right hand, and four other tables where 
 the members of the committee had the duty of 
 presiding, while the hall was hung with tapestry 
 and the finest paintings that could be collected ; 
 but as a particular account of the whole proceed- 
 ings was printed, there is no need to recall it here. 
 The two following letters allude to the intention 
 of my eldest son to quit the Navy in which he had 
 served a few years. 
 
 Abbotsford, 1st May 182S. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Is your son so completely 
 done with the sea that a very tempting opportunity 
 wiU not place him again on the quarter-deck? 
 The question will do no harm though the answer 
 be affirmative. John Fergusson, one of the best 
 trusted men alive, is just put into command of the 
 Mersey, a 26-frigate, and goes down on the Spanish 
 Main immediately. No country scarcely is so 
 interesting as South America, and your son would 
 be very particularly attended to. Fergusson asked 
 m6 very kindly if I had any youngster to recom- 
 mend, and your boy came into my head. If you 
 think of it, write instantly, and I think you had 
 better address Capt. Fergusson himself, 'Care of 
 Sir Charles Ommanney, No. 22 Norfolk Street, 
 Strand, London,' which will save some time. — 
 Yours, in great haste to save post, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Monday [1823]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I just drop a line to say how 
 
 h2 
 
118 ADVICE TO A SCHOOLGIRL 
 
 happy I will be to see you and your youngster on 
 Thursday. Perhaps he is right in giving way to 
 his personal feelings, at any rate you are certainly 
 so. Kind compliments to Mrs. Skene. You will 
 find my hobby in full canter* — Yours truly, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Castle Street, 3 o'clock. [1823.] 
 
 My DEAR Skene, — I must throw myself on 
 your mercy and ask you for a call instead of making 
 one as I promised ; the cause is a fit of weariness, 
 which you, I am sure, will commiserate. — ^Yours 
 truly, W. Scott. 
 
 Castle Street, 3 o'clock. [1823.] 
 
 Dear Skene, — As the day is bad and there can 
 be no walking, Hope and I have settled to go 
 dressed for dinner, and beg you will call for us in 
 succession about half-past three. I cannot take 
 my servant, owing to the arrival of Charles and a 
 young friend, but I am quite prepared to do 
 without attendance, which is at all times rather a 
 bore to yours faithfully, W. Scott. 
 
 Just come from Court, dripping wet. 
 
 My daughter Eliza (a great favourite of Sir 
 Walter) having asked him to recommend a 
 course of Scottish history, such as he thought 
 would best suit her reading, he was kind enough 
 to send her a letter, of which the following is 
 a copy. 
 
 Castle Street, 9,nd December 1824. 
 
 I have been much pressed for time lately, my 
 dear young friend, or I would not so long have 
 neglected a letter so interesting as yours, and 
 when I began to answer your simple and sensible 
 
SCOTTISH HISTORY 119 
 
 question, I assure you, my dear, I do not know, 
 for excepting what is called Littleton's Letters on 
 English History (in reality written by Goldsmith), 
 and which you have read, I know no work on 
 British history of an elementary nature. In 
 ancient history you have Ferguson and Gibbon 
 for the Roman history, and Mitford for that of 
 Greece. But I believe you are rather looking to 
 the history of Britain, and then I am pretty much 
 at a loss, for a complete acquaintance with the 
 subject is only to be derived from a perusal of 
 diflferent works, some of them very ill-written. 
 You have often, I dare say, tried to wind a 
 puzzled skein of silk: the work goes on very 
 slowly till you get the right end of the thread, 
 and then it seems to disentangle itself voluntarily 
 and as a matter of course. It is just so with read- 
 ing history, you poke about at first and run your 
 nose against aU manner of contradictions till 
 a little light breaks in and then you begin to see 
 things distinctly. I venture to recommend to 
 you to commence with Lord Hailes' Annals, 
 which, in some places a dull and heavy work, 
 is lively and entertaining in others, and has the 
 advantage of the most genuine statement of facts. 
 After this I am afraid you have no resource but 
 John Pinkerton to lead you through the James' 
 reigns. It is a book intolerably ill-written ; still, 
 however, it cannot be dispensed with. The reign 
 of James rv. and v. are told with great spirit and 
 naivete by the ancient Scottish historian Pitscottie, 
 but the earlier reigns are not authentic in his 
 book. If you tire extremely of Pinkerton you 
 may read a more agreeable but less correct 
 account of the same period in Drummond of 
 Hawthomden's history of the four James'. He 
 writes a good, firm, old-fashioned style, and is not 
 very tedious. Having got through the James' 
 
120 DEFINITION OF HAPPINESS 
 
 you come to the reign of Mary, the most 
 important in Scotland, and happily written by 
 an author equally distinguished for taste and 
 philosophy, the late Dr. Robertson. 
 
 When you have once got the general facts of 
 history, whether English, Scottish, or any other 
 country fixed in your head, you can read memoirs 
 or detached histories of particular areas or 
 incidents with use and pleasure, but a traveller 
 must first be sure of his general landmarks before 
 he has any disposition to stop for the purpose of 
 admiring any particular point of view. 
 
 Adieu, my dear young friend. Do not neglect 
 to cultivate your taste for reading just now, for go 
 the world how it will, and I hope it will go most 
 happily with you, you will always find that with a 
 taste for useful knowledge you will have happi- 
 ness in this, of which scarce any course of events 
 can deprive you. Perhaps I should have used a 
 less strong word, and said comfort and amusement, 
 but alas ! my dear, you will know one day that 
 our utmost allotment of happiness in this world 
 means little more. I would have written more 
 about history, but I am interrupted, You must 
 come and tell me how you get on. Give my love 
 to your papa and mamma. — Always your affec- 
 tionate friend, Walter Scott. 
 
 Castle Street, Sunday [1824]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — WiU you come without preface 
 and take your dinner here to-day at half-past five. 
 I wish to consult you about a letter I have from 
 Lord Aberdeen about the Castle Hill antiquities. 
 — Yours truly, W. Scott. 
 
 I had been recently engaged in exploring some 
 antiquities connected with the Castle of Edin- 
 
A FIGHT FOR THE RECTORSHIP 121 
 
 burgh and the North Loch, in consequence of 
 the opportunity which was afforded me when I 
 took charge of laying out Princes Street Gardens, 
 and in clearing away the rubbish from the base of 
 the Castle Rock I had made some discoveries of 
 which an account is given in the Transactions of 
 the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. 
 
 The occasion of the next two letters was a con- 
 test which took place for the situation of Rector 
 of the New Academy, for which there were many 
 competitors, and as the Board of Directors, in 
 whose gift the situation was, were divided in 
 political sentiments, party had its influence in 
 this matter, although politics were foreign to the 
 question. Mr. Williams was decidedly the pre- 
 ferable candidate for the situation to which he 
 aspired, but in the eyes of the Whig portion of 
 the Directors the brand of Toryism neutralised 
 all his merits. Nevertheless, his election was 
 accomplished, and the success of his management 
 of the establishment has sufficiently sanctioned 
 the wisdom of the choice. Mr. Heber is the 
 elder brother of Bishop Heber of Calcutta. He 
 is a man of great learning, whose acquaintance I 
 had formed many years before at Oxford, and he 
 is particularly remarkable as the most insatiable 
 of book collectors, being supposed to possess the 
 largest private library in Great Britain, amounting 
 to near 200,000 volumes, but scattered about in 
 houses hired for the purpose in various parts of 
 the country. 
 
122 A SCHOLARS' CABAL 
 
 Abbotsford, Z6tk March [ISS*]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I send you Leslie's letter 
 concerning Mr. Williams.^ It is directed to 
 Charles. Mr. Surtees is a young man of excellent 
 principles and great promise as a scholar, about 
 twenty-one years of age. Probably a letter from 
 Major Evans of Highmead addressed to me has 
 reached Mr. RusseU, to whose care it was addressed, 
 in which case I beg you will take the trouble to 
 open it and communicate it to the Directors if 
 you see proper. 
 
 Our opponents will be very busy, but they can 
 but bring the Crambe bis cocta, the repetition of 
 the same report which the Wykehamists are 
 necessarily interested in spreading to justify their 
 own treatment of Mr. Williams. I trust to you 
 to keep our friends up to this Whig gossip, for 
 such it is. Aytoun spoke fairly and about the 
 influence of opinions out of doors. For my part, 
 knowing how easily a cry is raised, I will be the 
 last to trust the vox populi. For the reputation of 
 the school, one month of Williams will set it on 
 its legs, and I think Horner and Cockburn will 
 not draw in others to this extremity, but will 
 make the best of a bad bargain. 
 
 I have a letter from one MacCuUoch, Mr. 
 Russell's clerk, in which he, pretending to give 
 the shortened list of candidates, has omitted the 
 name of Ridley. Has Ridley retired ? or is this 
 gross negligence or something worse, or is it but 
 a slip of the pen in my particular letter ? I beg 
 you will inquire into this. I have written my 
 sense of it to send Mr. MacCuUoch. 
 
 Adieu, sleep with your eyes open, and believe 
 me ever yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 ' Vicar of Lampeter, and Charles Scott's tutor. 
 
POLITICS AT OXFORD 123 
 
 Abbotsford, Sunday [1824]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The enclosed puts Mr. 
 Williams' character into a striking and, I conclude, 
 a fair point of view, and accounts for the origin of 
 much of the scandal. Major Evans is a man of 
 fortune, residing in his immediate neighbourhood, 
 son-in-law to Lord Robert Seymour. Mr. Aytoun's 
 principle is totally inadmissible. What man of 
 common-sense would give up a charge to come 
 down here upon a trial ? In one sense, indeed, he 
 is always on a trial, and may be parted with accord- 
 ing to the terms of the prospectus upon very short 
 notice if found unworthy, and Mr. Williams on 
 his own offer, of course, has expressly taken out 
 of the way any delicacy we could have on this 
 point arising from circumstances of a pecuniary 
 nature. 
 
 I agree with you we cannot easily get over 
 Barker. I have little doubt private influence has 
 been used to take Ridley out of the field. I wish 
 Barker had been rather an under- than an English 
 master. But I do not see how we can put any 
 suitable person in his place. I have good opinion 
 of Thistlethwaite. It is true he may be rather 
 too good for our purpose, but such a character as 
 his will keep the school high. 
 
 Heber sends me enclosed a long tirade addressed 
 to him by Mr. Hare of Trinity College, to be 
 shown to me, repeating the charges against 
 Williams, but Heber intimates at the same time 
 Hare is a Whig, and he himself desires to be con- 
 sidered as saying nothing on the subject. I shall 
 answer these properly. 
 
 Your order of battle is excellent, and by adher- 
 ing to it we shall be secure of victory. I know 
 nothing these gentlemen can have to say except 
 producing the records of N[ew] College, which I 
 
124 A QUESTION OF PATRONAGE 
 
 told Cockburn I would admit without seeing them. 
 But they will lump the Rectorship as dogs do 
 pudding, and try to play some back game. I will 
 be with you on Friday. — Yours truly, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Our friend Sir Robert is, I understand, much 
 stumbled. 
 
 Abbotsford, Thursday [March 1824J. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Although I am to be with 
 you before five to-morrow, I think it as well to 
 send the enclosed by the Mail coach as they not 
 only contain some very important evidence in Mr. 
 Williams' favour, but an account of Mr. Hare's 
 conduct (Mr. Harris' friend) not much to the credit 
 of his fairness or liberality. I allude to compel- 
 ling a young man of New College to withdraw a 
 testimony in favour of Mr. Williams as being a 
 slur upon the College. It seems a little hard that, 
 not being contented with disposing of their own 
 patronage, these gentlemen Wykehamists should 
 meddle with ours. You will be pleased with 
 Surtees's letters and zeal. — I am always truly 
 yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 I look upon Hare's letter to Heber as extremely 
 ultroneous and uncalled for. 
 
 This refers to the same subject of the Whig 
 struggle to undermine Mr, Williams as an obnox- 
 ious Tory, and Sir Walter's sentiments of Whig 
 tactics is amusingly given. In the common inter- 
 course of society his habitual good-humour 
 prevented him from ever giving way to sharp 
 expressions to those opposed to him in sentiments, 
 
MANNERS IN CONTROVERSY 125 
 
 but I never knew any person of more quick and 
 acute discernment in detecting the manoeuvres of 
 those having an object in view which was not 
 altogether avowed, and in this case he was goaded 
 to state his opinion more sharply than was 
 his usual practice. For although possessing a 
 character of most unflinching candour and 
 straightforwardness, he always avoided giving 
 any unnecessary cause for irritation. Neverthe- 
 less, although his great good-humour and un- 
 aflFected frankness of manner could not but 
 secure esteem, his brilliant talents and his 
 unassailable rectitude and firmness of principle 
 made him more obnoxious to the opposite party in 
 politics than many of far less conciliatory manners, 
 and to such an extent that I could state instances 
 where it amounted to a degree of fiendish vindic- 
 tiveness that would have delighted in the sacrifice 
 of his life, had any opportunity of fixing a quarrel 
 upon him occurred. He was himself aware of 
 this, and of those to whom it applied, but I 
 never observed that in their society it had the 
 slightest influence on his behaviour towards them. 
 His mind was as free from rancour and guile as 
 it was dauntless. In fact, it was often a matter of 
 great surprise to me to observe in Sir Walter's 
 habitual intercourse in society how supremely his 
 mind seemed to discard those prepossessions and 
 circumstances from the influence of which most 
 people are so incapable of extricating themselves 
 that their intercourse with the individuals who 
 
126 A COURTEOUS OPPONENT 
 
 have given cause to the excitement is perceptibly 
 affected by it. 
 
 The open and unembarrassed candour of Sir 
 Walter's manner upon all occasions set every one 
 at his ease, and at once relieved of restraint those 
 who might feel conscious of not deserving it, and 
 whatever the rank or station of those he conversed 
 with, the same kindliness of manner predominated. 
 However much he might have been aware of his 
 mental superiority, he never suffered the conscious- 
 ness to be apparent. However deficient in condi- 
 tion, age, or mental acquirements the persons he 
 had occasion to converse with, the immeasurable 
 distance that separated them was at once swept 
 away by the frank, cordial, and considerate treat- 
 ment with which he met them, and where he had 
 reason to be offended the offence only showed 
 itself in tranquil dignity. At the same time we 
 must admit that coarseness and vulgarity in the 
 persons he may at times have had to converse with 
 would be less irksome to him than to most people, 
 from his love of studying and availing himself 
 of character in all its phases. 
 
 Abbotsford, IStk March 1824. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I had not the least doubt 
 from the beginning that there was party at the 
 bottom of this opposition. Harris' letter showed 
 the cloven foot in every line. It amounts to no 
 more than that Mr. Williams, a plain man and 
 perhaps conceited of his erudition, was dis- 
 agreeable to them with whom he early struggled 
 
WHIG TACTICS 127 
 
 in the course of preferment, a common cir- 
 cumstance in the life of many scholars. What 
 if he were as rude as Dr. Johnson and Dr. Parr ? 
 Might he not be the best for our purpose not- 
 withstanding ? A schoolmaster has almost always 
 something pedantic about him, from being long and 
 constantly a man among boys. I have no doubt 
 that Mr. Williams has some of the carelessnesses 
 of an abstracted scholar, and that he may not be 
 quite a pupil of Lord Chesterfield. But I know 
 that his conversation is not only agreeable, but, 
 to literary people, fascinating, and that he has the 
 art of attaching his pupils in a most uncommon 
 degree, which is totally incompatible with the 
 description now drawn. Young Morritt, Villiers 
 Surtees, and my own son — the two last lived with 
 him for years — have the most sincere attachment 
 to him, and describe him as one of the best- 
 humom-ed men in the world. Is not their tes- 
 timony, upon whom he exercised the very talents 
 which we desire to judge, much better than that 
 of men whom he was only known to as a student, 
 and that ten years ago ? And am not I as pure a 
 channel for conveying their testimony to the 
 Committee as Mr. Harris for reporting the private 
 opinions which he has had the goodness to collect ? 
 I never knew the match of the Whigs for talking 
 up and whispering down their friends, and this is 
 exactly the second edition of Wilson's business, 
 and it must be crushed at once. I have written 
 to Major Evans and Mr. Harford of Blaise Castle, 
 and one or two gentlemen whom we know to be 
 men of education, deserving, and well acquainted 
 with Mr. Williams, but I doubt there is little 
 time for receiving answers, and I think with you 
 that we should decide on the 22nd. Pray let our 
 friends know how the business stands. I never 
 heard Blackwood's Magazine received any con- 
 
128 CANNING'S PROJECTED VISIT 
 
 tributions from Williams, and I do not believe 
 it. I know, however, that Williams extinguished 
 the bonfires at Lampeter which were kindled in 
 honour of Saint Caroline, and perhaps that is as 
 great a crime. For God's sake let us have a full 
 meeting, and let our friends be confidentially 
 apprised of what you tell me. To secure the 
 stronghold of education has been a part of the 
 Whig tactics for this twenty years past. They 
 have not wealth or numbers to found schools, 
 but by a constant system of manoeuvres they en- 
 deavour to intrigue us out of our natural influence 
 in these matters. But if with our eyes open we 
 allow them to get on our backs and ride us with 
 a cobweb in our mouths, I for one think we will 
 deserve the fate we meet with. I have always 
 expected this, and I am glad the thing is put upon 
 a right footing. I hope Dr. Gabell's ^ letter will 
 arrive in time. — Yours truly, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Monday [September 1824], 
 
 My deab, Skene, — I did not answer your letter 
 immediately because I could not exactly ascertain 
 my own motions. If Mr. Canning had come 
 here, it would have been impossible for me to have 
 attended the meeting, but as he is detained from 
 his Scottish tour by the King of France's exit, 
 my time is at my own disposal, and therefore I put 
 it at yours on the 1st October. I am, I own, no 
 particular friend to this species of blow-out, 
 though humbug is so general nowadays that 
 perhaps something of the kind may be necessary. 
 I will, however, be in Castle Street on the night 
 of the 30th and ready to receive your commands, 
 either that night or next morning. 
 
 1 Henry Gabell, D.D. Resigned the Headmastership of Winchester, 
 December 1823. 
 
FORENOON ORATORY 129 
 
 I hope you expect no forenoon oratory. 
 
 'Ego nunquam potui loquere jejunus, 
 Me jejunum vincere potest puer unus, 
 
 as sung my namesake, Walter de Mapes. — Yours 
 truly, W. Scott. 
 
 Mr. Canning never made his intended visit, 
 which occasioned me much regret, as I was 
 desirous to have an opportunity of being in 
 company with him. The * blow-out' which Sir 
 Walter alludes to was the first opening of the 
 New Academy in Edinburgh, where he was re- 
 quested to preside, and notwithstanding his 
 deprecating 'jejune oratory,' his speech upon that 
 occasion was in his usual good taste. 
 
 Castle Street, Edinburgh, I8th January 1825. 
 
 SiE, — The honour of your company to attend 
 the funeral of my much respected friend Lady 
 Alvanley, from the British Hotel, Queen Street, 
 to the place of Interment in the Chapel Royal, on 
 Thursday next the 20th Instant at two o'clock 
 afternoon, is particularly requested by, sir, your 
 most obedient servant, Walter Scott. 
 
 Lady Alvanley, with her two daughters, the 
 Misses Arden, had come from England to visit 
 Sir Walter Scott, and the lady dying upon 
 that occasion at a distance from the relatives 
 of the family. Sir Walter considered it his duty 
 to take charge of her funeral, and of course to 
 invite the attendance of a sufficient number of 
 
 I 
 
130 WALTER SCOTT'S MARRIAGE 
 
 his own friends to join in the due respect shown 
 to the memory of a stranger. She was buried in 
 the chapel at Holyrood House, which was 
 granted at Sir Walter's request. 
 
 39 Castle Street, Thursday Evening. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Will you come and dine with me 
 at six o'clock on Tuesday next at the British 
 Hotel. — Yours truly, W. Scott. 
 
 {N.B.— The marriage of Walter Scott, 1st Feb. 
 1825.) 
 
 I insert this note for two reasons, the strong 
 resemblance which the writing of the son, the 
 present Sir Walter, already bore to his father's 
 hand, and also as marking the period of his 
 marriage with Miss Jobson. As he was desirous 
 to have a party comprising an union of his father's 
 friends with his own yoimger class of acquaint- 
 ances, the size of the party required its being held 
 in a tavern. Sir Walter was much and devotedly 
 attached to his eldest son, whose conduct on his 
 part was always that of the most affectionate 
 duty. He had inherited much of the amiable 
 qualities of his father's disposition, and as a child 
 even gave him much pleasure by the traits of 
 open-hearted and fearless bearing which Ji€ ex- 
 hibited whenever his disposition was put to trial. 
 For many years of his youth he had no other 
 name in the family than that of Gilnockie, the 
 provincial name of Armstrong, the bold free- 
 
A LITTLE GAMECOCK 131 
 
 booter, who was most ungenerously put to death 
 by King James v. His father took much plea- 
 sure in recording little anecdotes of young 
 Walter's proceedings. Upon one occasion he 
 was invited to a youthful party at the then Lord 
 Advocate Colquhoun's house, where Sir Walter 
 was also present. In the course of the children's 
 amusement young Walter came to say to his 
 father that the young hopeful of the family was 
 not making himself at all agreeable to £he party, 
 to which Sir Walter jocularly replied, 'Then 
 knock him down,' upon which young Walter 
 returned to the group of playmates, and desiring 
 his young host to defend himself, gave him a 
 straightforward blow, which levelled him on the 
 floor, to the great consternation of the party. Sir 
 Walter was obliged to take the blame upon him- 
 self, but as it did not seem to pacify the anxieties 
 of the Lady Advocate, he very soon retired with 
 his little gamecock. 
 
 Edinburgh, 24iA June [1825]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I was favoured with your 
 kind letter, which I have delayed answering until 
 I should have arranged my motions for the Irish 
 trip. I shall set out on my journey with Lock- 
 hart and Anne in the steamboat for Ireland on 
 Tuesday, 13th July, and shall go right for Belfast 
 and Dublin, making it always a principle to 
 attain the furthest point of my journey as soon as 
 possible. I have considerable doubt whether I 
 shall return by the same route, or through Eng- 
 land, to show Anne, who has been little from 
 
182 THE TOUR IN IRELAND 
 
 home, something of the sister-country. If I come 
 via Belfast or Dublin you may depend upon it a 
 principal object will be to visit Mrs. Skene and 
 you in your Highland retirement, but if England 
 shall carry it, then I must nurse that great plea- 
 sure till another season. In the meantime I 
 think it highly probable that Sophia and Lady 
 Scott may look in upon you as they go to 
 Helensburgh for sea-bathing and will be in your 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 The bathing is on account of little Johnnie 
 Lockhart to whom it is recommended as strength- 
 ening. All public business (of that kind which 
 is unpaid for) is suffering for want of your 
 patriotic care, so I hope you will return early next 
 winter to take care ne quid detrimenti respvhlica 
 capiat. 
 
 We have had Marechal MacDonald here. We 
 had a capital account of Glengarry visiting the 
 interior of a convent in the ancient Highland garb, 
 and the effect of such an apparition on the nuns, 
 who fled in all directions. — My kindest respects 
 attend Mrs. Skene, and I remain, most truly 
 yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 I had been desirous that Sir Walter and his 
 party should give us the pleasure of a few 
 days at Glenfinart, where my family was then 
 established for the summer. It is one of the 
 most beautiful residences in the Highlands, 
 situated on the shore of Loch Long, the property 
 of the Earl of Dunmore. He was much de- 
 lighted with his Irish tour, but has throughout 
 his works refrained from availing himself of any 
 knowledge of that portion of the British Empire, 
 
KILTS IN A CONVENT 133 
 
 or of touching upon the peculiarities of the Irish 
 character. Feeling that it had been so admirably 
 portrayed in the works of his friend Miss Edge- 
 worth, he, with his usual good feeling, avoided 
 cautiously the slightest appearance of encroach- 
 ment on a field of illustration which that accom- 
 plished lady had so successfully displayed in her 
 numerous publications. In conversation, how- 
 ever, he took great pleasure in detailing the 
 observations this journey afforded him the means 
 of making on the peculiarities and manners of the 
 Irish, the remarkable features of the country, its 
 antiquities and history, and showed that he had 
 not failed to store up abundant materials on these 
 subjects which might have been turned to account 
 had he not considered the field preoccupied. 
 
 He was much tickled with the idea of my 
 worthy friend Glengarry visiting a nunnery in the 
 simplicity of his native garb, and more than once 
 I have heard him make it the subject of most 
 amusing description, in which he supposed the 
 consternation of the demure sisterhood at the 
 apparition of a half-naked man in the heart of 
 their sanctuary. 
 
 Edinburgh, 21*/ January 1826. 
 
 Sir, — The honour of your company is requested 
 to attend the Funeral of The Chevalier Yelin, 
 from the Royal Hotel, Princes Street, to the 
 Calton Burying Ground, on Tuesday next at two 
 o'clock, which will much oblige, sir, your most 
 obedient servant. Baron B. d'Eichthal. 
 
 i2 
 
134 DEATH OF CHEVALIER YELIN 
 
 The Chevalier Yelin and his friend and travel- 
 ling companion, Baron d'Eichthal, were learned 
 Bavarians. They were very anxious to have an 
 opportunity of seeing Sir Walter Scott, who 
 happened to be in the country at the time of their 
 visit to Edinburgh. They remained on purpose 
 until he came to town, when the Chevalier pro- 
 posed to see him and to read a paper, descriptive 
 of some scientific discovery he had made, at the 
 first meeting of the Royal Society of which 
 Sir Walter was at the time President. In the 
 interim the Chevalier had caught a feverish cold, 
 nothwithstanding which he came in a chair to 
 the meeting of the Society, when, however. Sir 
 Walter was not present, being prevented by 
 indisposition. The Chevalier made an attempt 
 to read his paper, but was soon obliged by illness 
 to desist. He was conveyed home, grew worse, 
 and died in a fortnight, without ever having seen 
 Sir Walter. He had been induced to make the 
 fatal attempt of coming to the Society in conse- 
 quence of a letter from his wife in answer to 
 his last, regretting his disappointment, saying 
 jocularly that she would not consent to his 
 leaving Scotland without having seen the great 
 Bard. Little did she think that this injunction 
 was to cost her the loss of her husband, with the 
 only consolation that his remains were attended 
 to the grave by the man he had been so anxious 
 to see while in life. The funeral was attended 
 by the President, office-bearers, and many of 
 
FINANCIAL RUIN 185 
 
 the members of the Royal Society, by the 
 Principal and Professors of the University, the 
 Lord Provost, several Judges and persons of 
 distinction willing to show proper respect to the 
 funeral of a foreigner so suddenly arrested by death 
 far from home and friends. The Chevalier bore 
 a singularly striking resemblance to the late 
 distinguished Professor Playfair, and by an odd 
 coincidence their graves were close together under 
 the tower which covers the bones of Hume the 
 historian. 
 
 Castle Street, 2Srd January [1826]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — If you are disposed for a walk 
 in your gardens any time this morning, I would 
 gladly accompany you for an hour, since keeping 
 the house so long begins rather to hurt me, and 
 you who supported the other day the weight of 
 my body are perhaps best disposed to endure the 
 gloom of my mind. — Yours ever, W. S. 
 
 I will call when you please. All hours after 
 twelve are the same to me. 
 
 This note was written about a week after the 
 occurrence which deprived Sir Walter of all the 
 well-earned fruits of his literary labours. The 
 family had been at Abbotsford, and it had long 
 been their practice, the day they came to town, 
 to take a family dinner at my house, which had 
 accordingly been complied with upon the present 
 'occasion (winter 1825-1826), and I never had 
 seen Sir Walter in better spirits or more agree- 
 
136 A RALLY 
 
 able. The fatal intimation of his bankruptcy, 
 however, awaited him at home, and next morning 
 early I was surprised by a verbal message to come 
 to him as soon as I had got up. Fearful that he 
 had got a fresh attack of the complaint from 
 which he had now for some years been free, or 
 that he had been involved in some quarrel, I went 
 to him by seven o'clock, and found him already 
 seated by candle-light at his writing-table, sur- 
 rounded by papers which he was examining. 
 Holding out his hand to me as I entered, he said, 
 ' Skene, this is the hand of a beggar ; Constable 
 has failed, and I am ruined du fond au comble. 
 It 's a hard blow, but I must just bear up ; the 
 only thing which wrings me is poor Charlotte and 
 the bairns.' However, he did bear the misfortune 
 with uncommon fortitude, forming the resolution 
 thus early of working himself out of his difficulties. 
 This resolution was no sooner formed than acted 
 on, for among the papers which he had assembled 
 around him, he was in search of whatever would 
 admit of publication, and such was his energy that 
 instead of giving way to fruitless repining, betwixt 
 this morning, being Wednesday, and the following 
 Saturday, he had sent to the press half a volume 
 of The Life of Napoleon. He calculated that 
 from the smallness of his writing, sixty pages of 
 his usual manuscript go to one 8vo volume of the 
 usual size. This was early in January 1826. I 
 find that I had at the time taken a note of this 
 interview ; it is jotted down on a subsequent note 
 
FORTITUDE IN ADVERSITY 137 
 
 of his requesting me to accompany him in a walk 
 to 'recover the fatigue he had undergone in his 
 first endeavours to rebuild the foundation on 
 which, should health serve, he meant to rear the 
 fabric of his fortunes. ' But woe 's me ! ' he said, 
 ' I must mistrust my vigour, for the best of my 
 energies are already expended. You have seen, 
 my dear Skene, the Roman coursers urged to 
 their speed by a loaded spur attached to their 
 backs to whet the rusted metal of their age — aye, 
 it is a leaden spur indeed, and it goads hard.' 
 
 I added, ' But what do you think, Scott, of the 
 bits of flaming paper that are pasted on the flanks 
 of the poor jades : if we could but stick certain 
 small documents on your back, and set fire to 
 them, I think you might submit for a time to the 
 pricking of the spur.' 
 
 He laughed and said, ' Aye ! aye ! these weary 
 bUls ; if they were but as the thing that is not. 
 Come, cheer me up with an account of the 
 Roman Carnival.' And accordingly with my 
 endeavour to do so, he seemed as much interested 
 as if nothing had happened to discompose the 
 usual tenor of his mind, but still our conversa- 
 tion ever and anon dropped back into the same 
 subject, in the course of which he said to me, ' Do 
 you know I experience a sort of determined 
 pleasure in confronting the very worst aspect of 
 this sudden reverse — in standing, as it were, in 
 the breach that has overthrown my fortunes, and 
 saying, " Here I stand, at least an honest man," 
 
138 SYMPATHY AND GOOD- WILL 
 
 and God knows if I have enemies. This I may at 
 least with truth say, that I have never wittingly 
 given cause of enmity in the whole course of my 
 life, for even the burnings of political hate seemed 
 to find nothing in my nature to feed the flame. 
 I am not conscious of ever having borne a grudge 
 towards any man, and at this moment of my 
 overthrow, so help me God, I wish well and feel 
 kindly to every one. And if I thought that any 
 of my works contained a sentence hurtful to any 
 one's feelings, I would burn it. I think even my 
 novels (for he did not disavow any of them) are 
 free from that blame.' 
 
 He had been led to make this protestation, 
 from my having remarked to him the singularly 
 general feeling of good- will and sympathy towards 
 him, which every one was anxious to testify upon 
 the present occasion. The sentiments of resigna- 
 tion and of cheerful acquiescence in the dispensa- 
 tion of the Almighty which he expressed were 
 those of a Christian thankful for the blessings left, 
 and willing, without ostentation, to do his best. 
 It was really beautiful to see the workings of a 
 strong and upright mind under the first lash of 
 adversity, calmly reposing upon the consolation 
 afibrded by his own integrity and manful pur- 
 poses. ' Lately,' he said, ' you saw me under the 
 apprehension of the decay of my mental faculties, 
 and I confess that I was under mortal fear when 
 I found myself writing one word for another, and 
 misspelling every word, but that wore off, and 
 
SCOTT RETIRES FROM SOCIETY 139 
 
 was perhaps occasioned by the effects of the 
 medicine I had been taking. But have I not 
 reason to be thankful that that misfortune did 
 not assail me ? Aye ! few have more reason to 
 feel grateful to the Disposer of all events than 
 I have.' For some little time after this event 
 Sir Walter withdrew himself almost altogether 
 from society, and was hard at work preparing for 
 the press, and I was in the habit every day of 
 unkennelling him from his study, when we walked 
 for an hour and a half in Princes Street Gardens, 
 talking with a degree of subdued cheerfulness 
 which seemed to soothe him very much. He 
 talked freely of his plans, and the natural buoyancy 
 of his temperament and sanguine disposition led 
 him soon to feel confident that if health was 
 allowed him he would at length replace his family 
 in their former circumstances. 
 
 9,6th January 1826. 
 
 My dear Skene, — A thousand thanks for your 
 most kind proposal. But I am a solitary monster 
 by temper, and must necessarily couch in a den of 
 my own. I should not, I assure you, have made 
 any ceremony in accepting your offer, had it at 
 all been like to suit me. But I must make an 
 arrangement which is to last for years, and 
 perhaps for my lifetime, therefore the sooner I 
 place myself oh my footing it will be so much 
 the better. — Always, dear Skene, your obliged 
 and faithful, W. Scott. 
 
 This was an answer to a proposal of mine, in 
 
140 SIR WALTER'S PROTEGE 
 
 consequence of Sir Walter's intention to sell his 
 town-house and live in the country, coming to 
 town only for the Session and inhabiting any 
 conveniently situated lodging — that for the 
 next summer he should take up his quarters at 
 my house, as my own family would be in the 
 country, leaving a housekeeper to take care ot 
 my younger sons till vacation time, which would 
 likewise be the termination of the Session. This 
 would have given him time to look out for apart- 
 ments. 
 
 Castle Street, 2nd March [1826]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — I will tryst with you on the 
 9th at six o'clock with pleasure. 
 
 I have the enclosed letter of which I much like 
 the tone and spirit, It is from the lad whose 
 paintings I showed you, and does him credit. 
 We must study to get him into the Academy 
 if possible. How is it to be managed? — Yours 
 truly, W. Scott. 
 
 This note refers to the admission of a young 
 artist to the Institution under the patronage of 
 the Board of Trustees, which was obtained for 
 Sir Walter's prot^gd 
 
 Adverting one day to the subject of the Fine 
 Arts, he said that he had been reflecting on a con- 
 versation that we had formerly had on that topic, 
 and that he considered the remarkable genius 
 that seemed to be more profusely displayed in 
 that branch compared with poetic and oratorical 
 talent to be owing to painting having become 
 
THE TRUE PURPOSE OF ART 141 
 
 more trammelled by the pedantry of criticism, 
 through which imagination and invention were 
 confined within rules of art, than is the case with 
 the other branches. It is common to hear people 
 say that they are not good judges of painting, but 
 this ought not to be so. Every one that has a 
 reasonable share of susceptibility ought to be able 
 to judge of painting as well as of poetry ; if either 
 art fails to grasp the feelings, it is imperfect. It 
 may be imitation, but it is neither painting nor 
 poetry. He said that he has seen the poet Burns 
 shed tears on looking at the engraving by 
 Bartolozzi of the soldier lying dead, with his 
 disconsolate widow sitting beside the body, with 
 their child in her arms, taken from a poem of 
 Langhorne's. Probably honest Burns never heard 
 of the poem, yet to his mind the engraving spoke 
 the tale of afiliction and touched the right chord 
 in his susceptible mind. ' That is what I call 
 painting, although a critic perhaps would have 
 discovered many deficiencies in it as to art, yet 
 it proved true to its real purpose.' 
 
 The energy with which Sir Walter had set him- 
 self about turning his resources both present and 
 past to immediate account, with a view to prove 
 to his creditors with as little delay as possible that 
 everything that could depend upon him should be 
 put into operation to retrieve his affairs, made 
 him often reluctant to quit his study, however 
 much he found himself exhausted. However, the 
 employment served to occupy his mind and pre- 
 
142 THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL 
 
 vent him from brooding over the misfortune which 
 had befallen him, and this, joined to the natural 
 contentment of his disposition, prevented any 
 approach to despondency. ' Here is an old effort 
 of mine to compose a melodrama' (showing me 
 one day a bundle of papers which he had found in 
 his repositories) ; ' this trifle would have been long 
 ago destroyed had it not been for our poor old 
 friend Kinnedder who arrested my hand, as he 
 thought it not bad, and for his sake it was kept. I 
 have just read it over, and, do you know, with some 
 satisfaction. Faith, I have known many worse 
 things make their way in the world, so, God willing, 
 it shall e'en see the light if it can do aught to help 
 the hand that fashioned it in the hour of need.' 
 When I asked the name of this production he said, 
 * I suspect I must change the name, having already 
 forestalled it by the Fortunes of Nigel. I had 
 called it The Fortunes of Devorgoil, but we must 
 not begin to double up in that way, for if you 
 leave anything hanging loose, you may be sure 
 that some malicious devil will tug at it. I think 
 I shall call it The Doom of Devorgoil. It will 
 make a volume of itself, and I do not see why it 
 should not come out, by particular desire, as a 
 fourth volume to Woodstock. They have some 
 sort of connection, and it would not be a difficult 
 matter to bind the connection a little closer. As 
 the market goes, I have no doubt of the Biblio- 
 polist pronouncing it worth £1000 or £1500.' I 
 asked him if he meant it for the stage. * No, no, 
 
SHERIDAN'S PAYMENTS 148 
 
 the stage is a sorry job. That course will not do 
 for these hard days : besides, there is too much 
 machinery in the piece for the stage.' I observed 
 that I was not sure of that, for pageant and 
 machinery was the order of the day, and had Shake- 
 speare been of this date, he might have been left 
 to die a deer-stealer. ' Well then, with all my 
 heart, if they can get the beast to lead or to drive, 
 they may bring it on the stage if they like. It is 
 a sort of goblin tale, and so was The Castle Spectre 
 which had its runs.' I asked him if The Castle 
 Spectre had jdelded Lewis much. 'Little of 
 that ; in fact, to its author absolutely nothing, and 
 yet its merits ought to have brought something 
 handsome to poor Mat. But Sheridan, then 
 manager, you know, generally paid in jokes instead 
 of cash, and the joke that poor Mat got, was, after 
 all, not a bad one. Have you heard it ? Don't 
 let me tell you a story you know.' As I had not 
 heard it, he proceeded. ' Well, they were disput- 
 ing about something, and Lewis had clenched his 
 argument by proposing to lay a bet about it. " I 
 shall lay what you ought long ago to have paid 
 me for my Castle Spectre." " No, no. Mat," said 
 Sheridan, " I never lay large bets, but come, I will 
 bet a trifle with you, I '11 bet what the Castle 
 Spectre was worth." Now Constable managed 
 differently : he paid well and promptly, but devil 
 take him, it was all spectral together, moonshine 
 and merriment ; he sowed my field with one hand, 
 and as liberally scattered the tares with the other. 
 
144 MEETING WITH CONSTABLE 
 
 He was here yesterday in this very room, and our 
 meeting was a droll one. He came puffing in like 
 a steamboat, holding out the hand as of fellowship, 
 which, however, I somehow managed to elude, and 
 I felt a sort of unwonted reserve, perhaps I may 
 say repugnance, creeping over my countenance, 
 which had never before mingled in our intercourse. 
 But I felt myself an ill-used man, mired up to the 
 throat by a person in whom I had placed undoubt- 
 ing confidence, towards whom I had the most 
 friendly feelings, who lay under some obligations 
 to me, and who could not but have been long 
 aware how he was about to requite them. 
 
 ' To look all complacency, approve of the free 
 hand with which I had for some time been laying 
 out my income, partaking with others of the 
 luxuries I thought myself entitled to indulge in, 
 while he was binding about my neck the cords 
 which were to drag me and all that belonged to 
 me in the vortex which speculation had hollowed 
 under his own feet ! He tried even to be jocose 
 about it, but that would not do ; nature always 
 affords some chink through which the blessed light 
 of truth will show itself, however thick the veil 
 that has been drawn over it. How capitally Rich 
 has caught this in the countenance of Mephisto- 
 pheles I To me there is nothing so detestable as 
 that sort of fitful grimace which is meant to repre- 
 sent a smile where there is no fountain in the 
 heart to yield it. Our interview was prolonged 
 to a degree of painful irksomeness, and ended 
 
A PAINFUL MEETING 145 
 
 where it began, for it was like the meeting of oil 
 and water ; the longer the collision was persevered 
 in, the stronger seemed to be the resistance to 
 anything like union. It was a painful meeting to 
 both, but I dare say less so to me than to my 
 visitor, for at least I had nothing to accuse my- 
 self of, but misplaced confidence. So at length up 
 got the man of books, and with a last effort to 
 dispel the clouds that were gathered betwixt us, 
 "Come, come. Sir Walter, matters may come 
 round, and I trust that you and I may yet crack a 
 cheerful bottle of port together at Abbotsford ! " 
 I answered him gravely, " Mr. Constable, whether 
 we ever meet again under these conditions must 
 depend upon circumstances which yet remain to 
 be cleared up."' 
 
 I am not aware that Sir Walter ever even saw 
 Mr. Constable again, and certainly they never met 
 upon terms such as he had anticipated. Mr. Con- 
 stable's death occurred not very long after. It 
 appeared that the apparent extent of his business 
 had of late years been sustained by pretexts which 
 the mercantile world sometimes deems justifiable. 
 The world was blinded with a degree of success 
 and prosperity which had no foundation in fact, 
 and, whether from a desire to keep up these appear- 
 ances or from reckless extravagance I know not, 
 Mr. Constable indulged in an expensive establish- 
 ment, pushing his family forward to a station in 
 life far above that to which they had been born. 
 He was a man of talents, information, and very 
 
 K 
 
146 CONSTABLE'S CAREER 
 
 plausible address, and had certainly opened quite a 
 new field for the pursuit of literary adventure in 
 Scotland. His prosperity first arose upon the 
 reputation which the Edinburgh Review, of which 
 he was the publisher, soon began to acquire, 
 although before that he had been successful with 
 the Farmers' Magazine. The Edinburgh Review 
 soon acquired a most unprecedented sale, but the 
 principles it advocated, for the diffusion of which 
 it had been chiefly undertaken, drew down upon 
 it a formidable rival in the Quarterly Review and 
 a most active and powerful auxiliary in Black- 
 wood's Magazine. From these attacks the Edin- 
 burgh Review soon sustained a serious diminution 
 in the sales, and to conceal this symptom of dis- 
 comfiture to the popularity of Whig principles, it 
 appears that Constable kept up the amount of the 
 edition, and even somewhat increased it, to give 
 an opportunity of boasting that testimony to its 
 prevalence, while at the same time he was secreting 
 a considerable portion of the edition to his great 
 loss, giving out that they were sold, when at his 
 death the back numbers were found stored up in 
 great quantity in cellars where they had been kept 
 concealed, somewhat upon the principle of the 
 Dutch who were in the practice on the arrival of 
 their East Indian vessels of throwing a certain 
 proportion of the bales of coffee into the Zuyder 
 Zee. Along with the Reviews was found also a 
 great part of the edition of the Encyclopcedia Brit- 
 annica, which Mr. Constable had also undertaken. 
 
DEVOTION OF SERVANTS 147 
 
 and which had been conceived to have been a most 
 profitable undertaking. There was also much 
 property of the same kind in other publications, 
 so that this species of humbug seemed to have been 
 the system of his trade, and it accounted in a great 
 measure for the catastrophe which had finally over- 
 taken it. 
 
 It had become necessary for Sir Walter to break 
 up his establishment both in town and in the 
 country, to dismiss all his servants, and reduce his 
 household to the smallest possible scale, and in the 
 progress of these plans of retrenchment instances 
 occurred of disinterested attachment in his ser- 
 vants that was very gratifying to him. His butler 
 Macgleish, when told of the necessity of his finding 
 another master, and offered his wages to the next 
 term, burst into tears, and not only refused posi- 
 tively to accept of the wages due, but begged 
 earnestly that he might be allowed to remain 
 without wages, saying that he had saved a small 
 sum already, which would supply his wants, and 
 that Sir Walter having been so kind a master 
 to him in prosperity, it would break his heart to 
 forsake him in his adversity, when he must still 
 have somebody to die with him. An effbrt was 
 accordingly made to keep Macgleish. Sir Walter's 
 house in North Castle Street, which he had now 
 inhabited for a good many years, was sold, and 
 also the whole of the furniture, upon which occa- 
 sion he sent me Sir Henry Raeburn's beautiful 
 full-length portrait of him, saying that he did not 
 
148 RAEBURN'S PORTRAIT 
 
 hesitate to claim my protection for his picture, 
 which was threatened to be paraded under the 
 hammer of the auctioneer, and he felt that his 
 interposition to turn aside that buffet might admit 
 of being justified. As a piece of successful art 
 many might fancy the acquisition, but for the sake 
 of the original he knew no refuge where it Was 
 likely to find a truer welcome. The picture accord- 
 ingly remained for many years in my possession, 
 but when his health had begun to break, and the 
 plan of his going abroad was proposed, I thought 
 it would be proper to return the picture, and for 
 this purpose I had got a most successful copy made 
 of it, an absolute facsimile, for when the two were 
 placed side by side it was almost impossible to 
 determine which was the original and which was 
 the copy. Upon that occasion he wrote to me a 
 very affecting letter, which will be found in the 
 proper place in point of date. When the estabhsh- 
 ment in Edinburgh was broken up, the family 
 retired to Abbotsford to live in the most private 
 manner, while Sir Walter accommodated himself 
 in lodgings in town. Before Sir Walter's misfor- 
 tune Lady Scott's health had begun to decline, 
 which this circumstance, preying on her spirits, 
 very much aggravated, and in the May of 1826 
 she sank under it, which the accompanying letter 
 announced. She was buried in the family vault 
 at Dryburgh Abbey, and the friends assembled 
 upon that occasion were very much surprised, 
 when the procession reached the ground, to see Sir 
 
LADY SCOTT'S FUNERAL 149 
 
 Walter step from his own carriage, which as usual 
 had followed the hearse with the blinds drawn up. 
 He assisted in bearing the coffin to the grave, stood 
 beside it in silence till the ceremony was completed, 
 then, solemnly bowing to the company assembled, 
 again entered his carriage without uttering a word 
 and drove home. 
 
 Abbotsford, Friday, 9,0th May 1 826. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I know that the tried 
 friendship of Mrs. Skene and yourself will make 
 you anxious about us in our present calamitous 
 circumstances. Anne, who has discharged a 
 most arduous duty very firmly, is now unwell from 
 watching, over-exertion and distress of mind, but 
 it is nothing serious, and she is better the last two 
 days. I expect Lockhart and Charles here on 
 Sunday, which will be some comfort. I propose 
 to be here till I see Anne fairly well. She has 
 her cousin Anne Scott with her, which is a great 
 comfort. — I am, dear Skene, truly yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Pray mention this to Cohn Mackenzie. 
 
 The next letter is a reply to one of mine written 
 on this sad occasion. The Rev. Edward Ramsay 
 had attended in his official capacity. 
 
 Abbotsford, ZSrd May [1826]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I take the advantage of 
 Mr. Ramsay's return to Edinburgh to answer 
 your kind letter. It would have done no good 
 to have brought you here when I could not have 
 enjoyed your company, and there were enough of 
 
 k2 
 
150 SAIR BACK AND SAIR BONES 
 
 friends here to insure everything being properly 
 adjusted. Anne, contrary to a natural quickness 
 of temper, is quite quiet and resigned in her 
 distress, but has been visited by many fainting fits, 
 the efFect I am told of weakness, over-exertion, 
 and distress of mind. Her brothers are both here, 
 Walter having arrived from Ireland yesterday in 
 time to assist at the munus inane. Their presence 
 will do her much good, but I cannot think of 
 leaving her till Monday next, nor indeed could I 
 do my brethren much good coming to town, 
 having still that stunned and giddy feeling, which 
 great calamities temporarily produce. It will 
 soon give way to my usual state of mind, and my 
 friends will not find me much different from what 
 I have usually been. Mr. Ramsay, who I find is 
 a friend of yours, appears an excellent young man. 
 — My kind love to Mrs. Skene, and am always 
 yours truly, Walter Scott. 
 
 Walker Street, Friday, \%th May 1827. 
 
 My dear Friends, — I am just returned from 
 Court, dripping like the water kelpy when he 
 finished the Laird of Murphie's Bridge, and am 
 like that ill-used drudge disposed to sing 
 
 ' Sair back and sair bones,' 
 
 In finale, I have the rheumatism in head and 
 shoulders, and am obliged to deprive myself of the 
 pleasure of waiting upon you to-day to dinner to 
 my great mortification. — Always yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Sir Walter began to suffer severely from 
 rheumatism, which settled in his knee, adding 
 greatly to his lameness ; in fact, shortly after this 
 
THE BURNING OF FRENDRAUGHT 151 
 
 time the power of his unsound leg failed him very 
 much. 
 
 Wednesday [1827]. 
 
 Dear James, — I send you an old book contain- 
 ing a satire upon Frendraught ^ in hopes that you 
 may find something germane to the matter of 
 your inquiries. 
 
 I will meet you at the R. Socy. rooms, the 
 sitting of the Court permitting. — Yours truly, 
 
 W. Scott. 
 
 The inquiries to which Sir Walter alludes to 
 my being then engaged in was the edition of 
 Spalding's History of the Troubles, published for 
 the Bannatyne Club. I had intended to illustrate 
 that work with the history of such remarkable 
 occurrences as were referred to in the context, of 
 which the burning of Frendraught was one, but 
 found that it would have rendered the work too 
 voluminous, besides being a departure from the 
 regulations of the Club. 
 
 [May 1827.] 
 
 My dear Skene, — I heartily grieve for my 
 young friend's disappointment. He is, it seems, 
 too old for the Engineers, which I should hardly 
 have thought. Perhaps something else might be 
 shaped out under the same patronage, as you have 
 younger boys. — Yours truly, W. S. 
 
 * Frendraught Tower was burned by an incendiary in October 1630. 
 The Viscount Melgum, Lord Rothemay, and four servants perished in 
 the fire. Confessions were wrung by torture from several of the 
 servants, but it was generally believed that, to avenge herself on her 
 guests. Viscountess Frendraught herself had set fire to her castle. 
 — Griminal Roisters of Scotland, 1684-1655, collected by Lord 
 Fouutaiuhall. 
 
152 AN ARTIST PROT^G^ 
 
 Sir Walter had been kind enough to apply to' 
 the Duke of Wellington for one of my sons who 
 was at that time desirous to enter into the service 
 of the Engineer Corps. The Duke wrote a very 
 kind letter in answer, regretting that my son had 
 passed the age to which admission had been con- 
 fined, but offering to appoint a younger son, if I 
 happened to have one so disposed. 
 
 3 Walker Street, Wednesday [Ma^ 1827]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The bearer is Mr. Stewart 
 Watson, painter of some pieces now in the 
 Exhibition to which I have not been, and there- 
 fore cannot judge of their merit. He is naturally 
 ambitious in case he shall be thought deserving to 
 be admitted as one of the Associate Artists, and I 
 beg leave to say that he is a distant relation of my 
 own, and is a very respectable young man. On the 
 point of vertu I say not a word, because my word 
 would not be worth a penny. — Ever yours truly, 
 
 W. Scott. 
 
 I admitted the young man according to Sir 
 Walter's request, having the power to do so as 
 Secretary of the Royal Institution. 
 
 Saturday Morning [May 1827]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The Oil Gas business comes 
 on to-day in Exchequer, so I cannot go to the lev^e 
 or of course to the dinner. W. S. 
 
 Sir Walter was at this time Chairman of the 
 Directors of the recently established Oil Gas 
 
THE OIL GAS COMPANY 153 
 
 Company in Edinburgh, a concern which, after 
 promising great success, ultimately turned out a 
 failure. I was also one of the Directors, and we 
 each lost a few hundred pounds by the specula- 
 tion, after having had a great deal of trouble in 
 the management, and having received the usual 
 reward of voluntary labourers for the public good 
 — much abuse.^ 
 
 My dear Skene, — I give you joy of what you 
 will find on the other side. We have turned the 
 corner after all, — Yours truly, W. Scott. 
 
 London, 21 Fludyeh Street, 
 9,9th May 1827. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have much pleasure in being 
 enabled to state to you that the Report of the 
 Barons has been favourable for us, and that the 
 Treasury have abandoned their opposition to us 
 in consequence. We therefore proceed with the 
 Report to-morrow, and I hope to get through the 
 House of Commons forthwith. — I am, dear Sir, 
 very respectfully yours, J. Mackenzie. 
 
 Tuesday Morning [June 1827]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Anne and I will wait on 
 Mrs. Skene and you with great pleasure on 
 Thursday. I am just come from Fife, where I 
 have seen many family pictures. Of their value I 
 say nothing, but you should examine Wemys 
 Castle, Ely House, Balcaskie, and other Fifean 
 mansions. — Yours truly, W. S. 
 
 • ' The Oil Gas have determined to apply once more to Parliament : 
 they are to pay Sir Walter's expenses up to London to manage it for 
 them,' — Letter from W, F, Skene to James Skene. 
 
154. ANCIENT SCOTTISH MONUMENTS 
 
 From the numerous collections of drawings 
 which I possessed of the most ancient mansions 
 of Scotland, and the observations I had made on 
 the peculiarities in the style of the baronial and 
 castellated residences. Sir W9,lter had often urged 
 me to arrange my notes on that subject, and as he 
 had also some ideas, he thought we might throw 
 off something of general interest in that matter. 
 The accompanying note had reference to that 
 purpose, which I am sorry to say J did not put in 
 practice till too late to secure that aid which might 
 have given value to the undertaking. But im- 
 mediately after Sir Walter's death I did follow 
 up his proposal, and have arranged my notes into 
 a volume on, the 'Domestic Architecture of Scot- 
 land,' in manuscript, in which state it is likely to 
 to remain.^ 
 
 Abbotsford, 26tk December [1828]. 
 
 Dear Skene, — We will be delighted to see 
 you, as I learn from Anne your kind intention to 
 look in on us during the vacation. I hope Mrs. 
 Skene will accompany you, as we can give you a 
 comfortable bedroom. We are very sorry that 
 we cannot on this occasion beg for the company 
 of our young friends, George and Miss Eliza, 
 whom we hope to see in spring. If you can 
 easily bring with you the striking description of the 
 subterranean vaults at Baden (I think supposed 
 to be the place of meeting of the secret tribunal) 
 with your plan and drawings, they will do me 
 yeoman's service in something I am now about. 
 You will meet John Morritt and his niece. Sir 
 
 ' The MS. is now among the Skene papers. 
 
ANNE OF GEIERSIEIN 155 
 
 James Stewart, and Lockhart, who will give us 
 all the news. Any day after Mowday will suit us 
 excellently well, or Monda,y itself — only we have 
 a number of people whom you would not care 
 about — will see you equally welcome. 
 
 This is a truly horrid business about Burke and 
 his associates. I have been poring at the account 
 in the papers till I am well-nigh blind, therefore 
 conclude in haste,^ — Always affectionately yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 At this time Sir Walter was engaged in the 
 composition of the novel of Anne of Geierstein,tov 
 which purpose he wished to see a paper I had 
 contributed some time before to the Memoirs of 
 the Society of Antiquaries on the subject of the 
 Secret Tribunals of Germany, and upon which 
 accordingly he grounded the scene in the novel. 
 Upon his describing to me the scheme which he 
 had formed for that work, I suggested to him that 
 he might with advantage connect the history of 
 Rend, King of Provence, which would lead to 
 many interesting topographical details, which my 
 residence in that country would enable me to supply, 
 besides giving him the opportunity of illustrating 
 
 ' It was proved at the trial that Burke, Hare, and other Irish had 
 enticed a number of vagrants and children to a cellar in the West 
 Port and had there murdered them in order to sell their bodies to the 
 dissecting rooms. Burke was hanged on 28th January 1829 ; Hare 
 escaped the gallows by turning approver. Recognised by some 
 navvies after the trial he was thrown into a lime pit, which destroyed 
 his sight. He is said to have lived for forty years as a blind beggar 
 in the London streets. The crime gave a new word to the English 
 language — a word hurled at Sir Walter Scott himself by the mob at 
 Jedburgh during the Reform meeting in 1831. 
 
156 THE GOOD KING RENE 
 
 so eccentric a character as ' le bon Roi Ren^ ' full of 
 traits which were admirably suited to Sir Walter's 
 graphic style of illustration, and that he could 
 beside introduce the amusing ceremonies of the 
 Fete Dieu with great advantage, as I had fortun- 
 ately seen its revival the first time it was cele- 
 brated after the interruption of the Revolution. 
 He liked the idea much, and accordingly a journal 
 which I had written during my residence in 
 Provence, with a volume of accompanying draw- 
 ings and Papon's History of Provence, were forth- 
 with sent for, and in the course of a few days I 
 received a most amusing note from him, announc- 
 ing the suppression of the already printed volume 
 of Anne of Geier stein and the readjustment of 
 the tale. He proposed to retain Papon's History 
 and my manuscript volumes till the novel was 
 finished, as he meant to locate his dramatis 
 personce in many of the positions I had described, 
 even in the secret chambers of the Geheim 
 Gericht, so that on perusal I should find the new 
 Anne an old acquaintance. I never met with a 
 stronger instance of the uncommon versatility 
 of Sir Walter's genius than he displayed in the 
 facility with which he took up the spirit of a 
 narrative altogether new to him and the char- 
 acteristics of a country which he had never seen. 
 He had never been either in Switzerland or those 
 parts of ancient Burgundy where the remainder 
 of the scenery of that work is placed, but he 
 availed himself of the drawings which my collec- 
 
THE BURKE MURDERS 157 
 
 tions afforded him, and the knowledge of the 
 country that I was able to give him. 
 
 The allusion at the close of this letter is to the 
 horrible murders of which Burke and his associates 
 had just been convicted. There was nothing in 
 which he seemed really to take more interest than 
 the details of criminal trials, and I have often 
 heard him say that imagination, however brilliant, 
 could never equal the interest and extraordinary 
 development of human character, as well as the 
 striking combination of incident which many of 
 these trials disclosed ; that in writing romance 
 there was no source whence so much could be 
 derived as from the journals of a criminal court ; 
 that the singular coincidences which led to detec- 
 tion, the infatuated proceedings of the criminal, 
 the mental workings of the witnesses, and every 
 stage of the proceedings afforded an invaluable 
 school as well as an inexhaustible fund of 
 materials to work upon. Accordingly Sir Walter 
 has largely availed himself of this fund in his 
 various writings. 
 
 I recollect his narrating to me in 1826 an in- 
 cident of a Scottish schoolmaster which occurred 
 during the period when the minds of the common 
 and middle ranks of the country were much set 
 agog by the delusions practised on them by the 
 demagogues of 1794, calling themselves ' Friends 
 of the People.' With a view to explode the 
 fallacy of these attempts, the schoolmaster had 
 written a pamphlet addressed to his countrymen. 
 
158 SELF-EFFACEMENT 
 
 full of good sense and sound principle, which 
 he showed to Mr, Somerville, a clergyman of 
 Jedburgh, who was so much pleased with the 
 unaffected simplicity of the style as strongly to 
 urge its pubhcation. This the modest school- 
 master declined, both on the ground of the 
 humble station he held and his deficiency of 
 means to bear any expense which might attend 
 its being printed, but as Mr. Somerville was 
 allowed to make any use he chose of the manu- 
 script, he undertook the expense and made the 
 address public under the schoolmaster's name. 
 It soon rose in fame, and even attracted the 
 notice of Government, and the late Lord Melville 
 wrote to the author desiring to be informed in 
 what way he could reward him, for if there was 
 any preferment in the gift of the Government 
 which he desired, he would use his influence to 
 obtain it for him. The schoolmaster answered 
 this flattering letter by saying that he felt happy 
 in his Lordship's approbation, but that, being 
 already possessed of a salary of £50 a year as a 
 teacher, and being without children, he had in that 
 respect nothing further to desire. If, however, 
 he might take the liberty to offer a suggestion, 
 any preferment bestowed upon the Revd. Mr. 
 Somerville, who had a family and but a small 
 stipend, would be very gratifying to himself. 
 The consequence was the immediate promotion 
 of Mr. Somerville both in fortune and dignity. 
 He became Dr. Somerville, subsequently known 
 
THE WAVERLEY LOCALITIES 159 
 
 to the public as the author of The Reign of 
 Queen Anne. 
 
 June 1829. 
 
 Dear James, — I wish you had postponed your 
 visit to Dumfries till we knew where Train was 
 and where the objects that are to be sought for 
 lie. Sir Adam is also at present in town. I will 
 call as I come from the Parliament House and 
 take the chance of seeing you. 
 
 I send a manuscript for the Antiquarian 
 Society, presented by Colonel Franklin of the 
 East India Company's service, and enclose his 
 letter. — I am, very truly yours, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Many of the real localities of the Waverley 
 Novels were connected with my collection of 
 drawings, of which a part had been taken at his 
 suggestion, many during the various excursions 
 we had made together, and not a few in countries 
 where Sir Walter never had been, though he had 
 taken the descriptions from the drawings I 
 possessed. The idea occurred to him that a 
 collection of these ' Localities ' might be found 
 interesting, and he therefore recommended me to 
 undertake it. It was so arranged as to come out 
 simultaneously with each volume of the new 
 series of the novels, in which he gives an intro- 
 ductory account of each, and as he had previously 
 communicated with me as to the identity of the 
 subjects to be etched, their appearance obtained 
 the advantage of perfect authenticity, and that 
 
160 THE CROOKSTON DOLLAR 
 
 before any person could be aware of the subjects 
 which were applicable. For completing the 
 necessary set of drawings I had occasion to make- 
 a few provincial trips, of which that alluded to in 
 the accompanying note was one. Mr. Train, 
 whose assistance he wished me to obtain, was a 
 person who had furnished Sir Walter with various 
 traditions of which he availed himself in his novels. 
 Twenty numbers of this work, which completed a 
 volume comprehending the Localities of above 
 one-half of the series of novels, were accordingly 
 published, but as I was my own engraver as well 
 as draughtsman, the minuteness of the work neces- 
 sary to bring the scale of the engravings to the 
 size of the novels, made it too severe a strain 
 upon the eyes, so that it was discontinued at the 
 close of the first volume,^ and the second volume 
 remains unpublished in a manuscript, in which all 
 the original drawings are inserted. 
 
 lith July 1829. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I write in great haste to 
 acknowledge your kind letter, and thank you for 
 your opinion about the coins. I think your idea 
 of putting the Crookston dollar, if to be had, in 
 the bottom of the large one is excellent, and if 
 Wrighton can show the reverse as well as obverse 
 of the coin in the small cups, keeping them 
 whiskey-tight at the same time, it will be admir- 
 able. I should have thought it odd indeed if 
 
 ' A Series of Sketches of the Escisting Localities alluded to in the 
 Waverley Novels, Etched from Original Drawings by James Skene. 
 Published by Cadell & Co., Edinburgh^ 1829. 
 
HIGHLAND QUAICHS 161 
 
 Gibbie^ had unloosed his sporran for any other 
 purpose than clinking in the cash. 
 
 We are all here well, that is Johnnie is not 
 worse than Mrs. Skene and you saw him. I send 
 the Highland Dictionary for your own acceptance 
 and George's use. Anne sends a letter for Mrs. 
 Skene, and all send love and compliments to her 
 and your family. I trust the etchings get on and 
 are like to succeed. — Yours truly, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 This refers to the appropriate mounting of a 
 set of Highland quaichs, .or cups, made of the 
 wood of various remarkable trees and other relics. 
 Sir Walter took much pleasure in displaying them 
 on his table and in relating the merits and his- 
 torical anecdotes connected with them. As he 
 had requested me to take charge of their embel- 
 lishment, I had obtained from the collections of 
 the Antiquarian Society several very interesting 
 and beautiful Scottish coins, duplicates of their 
 series, which the Society very liberally presented 
 to Sir Walter for the use intended to be made of 
 them. But of the fine gold piece of King James v., 
 called the Bonnet piece, they had no duplicate, 
 and I applied to Mr. Gilbert Innes of Stow, a 
 great collector recently deceased, knowing that 
 he possessed several specimens, but failed in 
 prevailing upon him to bestow one upon Sir 
 Walter. 
 
 As my son was studying the Gaelic language 
 for the purpose of deciphering the ancient manu- 
 
 1 Gilbert Innes of Stow. 
 L 
 
162 AN ANCIENT CANNON 
 
 scripts in that language which are preserved, Sir 
 Walter presented me with a copy of the magni- 
 ficent Gaelic Dictionary recently published, of 
 which a copy had been sent to him by the 
 publishers. 
 
 Abbotsfokd, 15th July 1829. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Captain Carmichael, who is 
 just returned from India, has just placed at my 
 disposal what I consider as a curiosity. It is a 
 Scottish piece of artillery, a four-pounder, cast by 
 James Menteith at Edinburgh, 1642, and by an 
 extraordinary chance taken at Bhurtpore in the 
 last war. Mr. Carmichael's goodness having con- 
 sulted me as to the disposal of this curious piece 
 of artillery, I have recommended its being de- 
 posited in the Antiquarian Museum, to which 
 Captain Carmichael has willingly agreed. I beg 
 therefore to introduce him to you, as he seems 
 a fine manly soldier, and has behaved most 
 [liberally] to the Society in this transaction. — 
 Yours very affectionately, Walter Scott. 
 
 Abbotsford, Slsi July [1 829]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I enclose you Basil Hall's 
 letter, which is very interesting to me, but I would 
 rather decUne fixing the attention of the public 
 further on my old friend George Constable. You 
 know the modern rage for publication, and it 
 might serve some newsman's purpose by putting 
 on publishing something about my old friend, 
 who was an humourist, which may be unpleasing 
 to his friends and surviving relations. 
 
 I did not think on Craignethan in writing about 
 TiUietudlem, and I believe it differs in several 
 respects from my chateau en Espagne. It is not 
 on the Clyde in particular, and if I recollect, the 
 
CONSTABLE AS OLDBUCK 163 
 
 view is limited and wooded, but there can be no 
 objection to adopting it as that which public 
 taste has adopted as coming nearest to the ideal of 
 the place* 
 
 Of the places in the Black Dwarf, Mucklestane 
 Moor, Elshie, Earnscliff, are all and each vox et 
 prceterea nihil. Westburnflat is or was a real 
 spot. Now there is no subject for the pencil. 
 The vestiges of a town at the junction of two 
 wild brooks with a rude hillside are aU that are 
 subjects for the pencil, and they are very poor 
 ones. Earnscliff and Gamescleugh are also 
 visions. 
 
 I hope your work is afloat and sailing bobbishly. 
 1 have not heard of or seen it. 
 
 Rob Roy has some good and real subjects, as 
 the peep at Lochard, the beautiful fall at Lediart 
 near the head of the lake. Let me know all you 
 desire to be informed about without fear of 
 bothering. Kindest compliments to Mrs. Skene 
 and the young folk. — Always yours entirely, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Woe 's me for the oil gas ! 
 
 Sic transit gloria mundi. 
 
 But my eyes are too sleepy to cry. 
 
 The letter which Sir Walter here alludes to 
 from Captain Basil Hall, was one which he had 
 addressed to me, enclosing an account from a friend 
 of the House of Wallace Craigie, now pulled 
 down, but which had been the residence of Mr. 
 Constable, the original of the Laird of Monk- 
 barns, the Oldbuck of the Antiquary ; also some 
 anecdotes of that old friend of Sir Walter's. He 
 proposed that as he could not assign any very 
 
164 TOM PURDIE 
 
 distinct localities that he had had in view in re- 
 spect to topography when he wrote the Antiquary, 
 he would prefer the omission of the Antiquary 
 in the series of localities which I was then 
 publishing, and this was accordingly attended to. 
 As to Craignethan, he authorises its admission 
 into the series. The rest of the letter explains 
 itself. 
 
 It was about this time that Sir Walter met 
 with a domestic calamity which affected him very 
 much, in the sudden and unexpected death of a 
 faithful servant,^ and in a manner a companion. 
 Upon his assiduity and assistance he had been 
 long dependent, and he was amused by his eccen- 
 tricities. Tom Purdie identified himself with all 
 his master's pursuits and concerns. He had in 
 early life been a shepherd, and came into Sir 
 Walter's service upon his first taking up his abode 
 at Ashestiel, of which he became at last the farm 
 manager, and upon the family removing to 
 Abbotsford, he continued to discharge that func- 
 tion, to which were added those of gamekeeper, 
 forester, librarian, and henchman to his master in 
 all his rambles about the property. He used to 
 talk of Sir Walter's publications as 'our books,' 
 and said that the reading of them was the greatest 
 comfort to him, for whenever he was off his sleep, 
 which sometimes happened to him, he had only 
 to take one of the novels, and before he had read 
 two pages it was sure to set him asleep. Tom, 
 
 I Tom Purdie died on the 29th October 1829. 
 
AN ODD LIBRARIAN 165 
 
 with the usual shrewdness common to his country- 
 men in that class of life, joined a quaintness and 
 drollery in his notions and mode of expressing 
 himself that were very amusing. He was familiar, 
 but at the same time perfectly respectful, although 
 he was sometimes tempted to deal sharp cuts, 
 particularly at Sir Adam Ferguson, whom he 
 seemed to take a pleasure in assailing. When 
 Sir Walter obtained the honour of knighthood 
 for Sir Adam upon the plea of his being the 
 custodian of the Regalia of Scotland, Tom was 
 very indignant, ' because,' he said, ' it will take 
 some of the shine out of us,' meaning Sir Walter. 
 Tom was very fond of salmon-fishing, which from 
 an accordance of taste contributed much to 
 elevate my merits in his eyes, and I believe I was 
 his greatest favourite among all Sir Walter's 
 friends, which he used occasionally to testify by 
 imparting to me in confidence some secret about 
 fishing, which he concluded that no one knew but 
 himself. He was remarkably fastidious in his 
 care of the library, and it was exceedingly amusing 
 to see a clodhopper (for he was always in the garb 
 of a ploughman) moving about in the splendid 
 apartment wrhich had been fitted up for the 
 library^ scrutinising the state of the books, putting 
 any derangement to rights, and remonstrating 
 when he observed anything that indicated care- 
 lessness. 
 
 The library at Abbotsford was entirely collected 
 by Sir Walter himself, and, in the progress of his 
 
 l2 
 
166 THE ABBOTSFORD LIBRARY 
 
 literary career, considerably augmented by pre- 
 sents of books from all quarters. The collection 
 in Scottish history especially was very valuable, 
 as containing not only standard books on 
 the subject, but also a complete collection of 
 pamphlets, tracts, and other rare pieces, as well as 
 manuscripts connected with the subject. It was 
 also very rich in Scandinavian and northern 
 literature, in rare and curious works in German, 
 French, and Spanish, in poetry and plays, and in 
 a curious collection in English history, antiquities, 
 and topography, besides the works of general 
 literature. 
 
 Sir Walter had adopted the emblem of the 
 Portcullis as the library badge which was stamped 
 upon his books, with the motto Clausus tutus ero, 
 which, it will be observed, if the letters are 
 rearranged, forms ' Walter Scott.' 
 
 A clever bust of poor Tom was executed by 
 one of the masons employed in building Abbots- 
 ford. Although a little of a caricature, it pos- 
 sessed a strong resemblance. Sir Walter had it 
 placed over the south access to the Kitchen 
 Court, where it still remains. Tom was buried at 
 Melrose Abbey, and a handsome stone, with an 
 inscription, was placed by Sir Walter over his 
 grave. He attended his funeral as chief mourner, 
 and was indeed a sincere mourner, for the upright 
 character and strong attachment of the poor fellow 
 was well calculated to secure the affection of his 
 master. 
 
CHARLES MATHEWS 167 
 
 I had long been in the habit of passing Christ- 
 mas with Sir Walter in the country. He had 
 great pleasure in assembling what he called a 
 fireside party, where he was always disposed to 
 indulge in the free and unrestrained outpouring 
 of his cheerful and convivial disposition. Upon 
 one of these occasions, the comedian Mathews 
 and his son were at Abbotsford, and most enter- 
 taining they were, giving us a full display of all 
 their varied powers in scenic representations, nar- 
 rations, songs, ventriloquism, and frolic of every 
 description, and drawing upon a store of most 
 amusing anecdotes connected with the professional 
 adventures of the elder, and the travels of the son, 
 who seemed as much of a genius as his father. 
 He has never appeared on the stage, although 
 abundantly fit to distinguish himself in that de- 
 partment, but has taken to the profession of 
 architecture. Notwithstanding that the snow 
 lay pretty deep on the ground. Sir Walter, old 
 Mathews and myself set out with the deer-hounds 
 and terriers to have a wide range through the 
 woods and high grounds, and a most amusing 
 excursion it was, from the difficulties which beset 
 Mathews, who was unused to that sort of 
 scrambling, and was somewhat lame from an 
 accident he had met with in being thrown 
 from a gig. The good-humoured manner with 
 which each of my two lame companions strove to 
 get over the bad passes, their jokes as they alter- 
 nately shouted for my assistance to help them 
 
168 LAST VISIT TO SMAILHOLM 
 
 through, and the liveliness of their conversation, 
 as each tried to cap the story of the other by 
 some incident equally if not more entertaining, 
 were most amusing ; and it may be well supposed 
 that the healthful exercise of a walk of this 
 description disposed every one to enjoy the 
 festivity which was to close the day. 
 
 But these exertions on the part of Sir Walter 
 were soon to terminate. Infirmity, once begun, 
 made rapid encroachments upon that defective 
 portion of his frame which caused his lameness, 
 against which his strength and the general vigour 
 of his constitution had hitherto prevailed. He 
 began to lose confidence in the support of his 
 lame leg, and for a short time used a pony, but 
 finding inconvenience in that mode of exercise 
 also, he became at last reduced to an open car- 
 riage, and confined his excursions to where it 
 could have access. The roads, hills, and glens, 
 his former favourite haunts, had now to give 
 place to more practicable circuits. From time to 
 time he had great delight in performing a sort of 
 pilgrimage to some more distant scene, which 
 circumstances had rendered interesting to him. 
 Of these, the farm of Sandy Knowe, with the old 
 tower of Smailholm, the home of his infant years, 
 was a favourite object of pilgrimage. The last 
 time he undertook this excursion — and he seemed 
 to foresee that it would prove to be the last — 
 there was only his daughter, his niece, Mrs. Skene, 
 and myself. He became very thoughtful when 
 
THE Ubiquitous reporter i69 
 
 we reached the wild, craggy glen in which the old 
 tower stands. He wandered over every part, 
 stopping at times to gaze in silence at particular 
 spots, the little grassy corners, which had been 
 the playground of his infancy, and made me take 
 drawings of the scene from different points, for 
 the picturesque and wild aspect of the scene was 
 highly deserving of being portrayed. We lingered 
 there the whole forenoon, and, having lunched on 
 the grass, quitted it with regret. It afforded the 
 subject of many early recollections, which Sir 
 Walter seemed to take great pleasure in narrating, 
 adding, 'and here I am, an old, decrepit man, come 
 to take my leave of Smailholm.' 
 
 We were surprised soon afterwards at seeing in 
 the newspaper an account of this little excursion, 
 which had found its way there through the 
 vigilance of a schoolmaster who overlooked our 
 proceedings. 
 
 AbbotsfohDj Easter Monday, 18S0. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The London people wrote 
 me a long time ago for countenance and assistance 
 to their plan, which I declined, alleging truly 
 that I was pledged to you on the subject. They 
 wrote again, about a month ago, that they did 
 not consider their publication as interfering with 
 yours, wished to send me a copy, etc., which 
 letter I left unanswered, thinking it sufficiently 
 replied to by my first, I cannot presume to give 
 advice about the advertising, and Cadell is best 
 counsellor in that case. You might surely hint 
 that you were the real Simon Pure, and had your 
 scratchings, which are from the Cock Lane ghost 
 
170 FAST CASTLE 
 
 himself. But I am quite unacquainted with the 
 best way of saying this. A positive controversy 
 with people of their description is always a scrape. 
 I am glad you have taken Fast Castle. If I 
 could get to Lord Napier's he would let me have 
 some curious matter for illustration, a contract 
 between the famous Napier of Merchiston 
 (Logarithm) and John Logan of Fast Castle 
 about raising the Devil. 
 
 I do not believe these English folks can tell 
 what castles I meant, since I do not know them 
 myself. 
 
 There has been a smart thunderstorm. I was 
 in the wood the whole time, and though I am no 
 great starter, one clap was so close above me that 
 I attempted a superb entrechat in the height of 
 my astonishment. It struck, as I afterwards 
 learned, a house in Melrose. 
 
 Brace from Badenogh is in high favour. He 
 was lost for a day, but very judiciously found 
 himself strayed. He went to the best house in 
 his neighbourhood, which was Haining, where he 
 was most hospitably received. Thank Heaven he 
 did not find out the deer park. 
 
 Anne acquaints me that you are looking this 
 way with the lady and young folks. I wish you 
 would include the 19th current in your visit, as 
 the Strange family talk of coming that day. Sup- 
 pose, to euiter the encounter of posthorses, you 
 come next Saturday 17th, or any other day more 
 convenient in the end of this week, Monday next 
 being the 19th. 
 
 Always yours, with best regards to Mrs. Skene 
 and family, Walter Scott. 
 
 This has been delayed by foolish accident. 
 This refers to the same subject — the etchings I 
 
BRITISH AND AMERICANS 171 
 
 was engaged in publishing. The London work 
 on the same subject which he alludes to, I after- 
 wards gave my assistance to, and a considerable 
 proportion of the engravings are from drawings of 
 mine. 
 
 Brace was a very magnificent deer-hound, a 
 great favourite with Sir Walter. 
 
 FROM SIK WALTER SCOTT TO SIR AI-EXANDER 
 YOUNG OF HARBURN, BART.^ 
 
 Edinburgh, 20th May 1830. 
 
 I received your kind letter and that of Mr. 
 -^ which last I return. I am sorry to see him 
 
 express so much feeUng of pain on account of our 
 friend Capt. Hall's book, and I think some 
 part of it will disappear on a second perusal after 
 
 an interval. I am far from saying that Mr. 
 
 has not reason for some remarks, and probably for 
 others that I am no judge of. But some allow- 
 ance must be always made for the delicate and 
 difficult task of making a comparison between 
 two nations who have so many things in common 
 that they are apt to dispute with more keenness 
 the comparative few on which they differ, as 
 religious sects are found to be most irreconcilably 
 opposed to each other exactly in proportion to 
 the trifling nature of the questions of difference. 
 The Americans are so like the British as the 
 British to the American, that they have not much 
 patience with each other for not being in all 
 respects the same with each other. Captain Hall, 
 
 I can assure Mr. , went out with the most 
 
 favourable views of America and the same desire 
 
 ' This is included in the Collection. ^ Name not given. 
 
172 BASIL HALL 
 
 to paint things couleur de rose as in his account 
 of South America. This I know to be the case, 
 having spoken to him on the subject. Perhaps a 
 preconceived wish to find everything perfect is 
 not the state of mind to avoid disappointment, 
 for when our expectations are highly raised the 
 circumstances are apt to disappoint us. Basil 
 Hall I should call a good Whig, but for that very 
 reason I can easily conceive that I, a staunch 
 Tory as ever was hanged for whistling 'You're 
 welcome, Charlie Stewart,' might form a much 
 more agreeable society, because I would, or at 
 least ought to, avoid subjects of controversy, and 
 I am sure I would find gentlemen who would find 
 more agreeable topics, which would offend neither. 
 But a person who did not feel the same check or 
 retenue in his conversation would, I think, be more 
 apt than a more direct opponent to get on painful 
 subjects. Captain Hall has also in an uncommon 
 degree the habit of pursuing inquiries, time and 
 place not always considered, and like his poor 
 father pushes on direct to the point on which 
 he desires to be informed. He is, however, a 
 discriminating man, and powerful writer; and 
 when such take into consideration the manners 
 of another country, there may be always expected 
 a certain advantage to the country criticised. 
 For example, there was of old a certain philo- 
 sopher, called Dr. Johnson, who came down to a 
 wild northern region called Scotland, where he 
 was regaled with the best they had to give, in 
 hopes he would give a flaming picture of the 
 beauties of the land ; but the false loon, being 
 high gravel blind, as far as the beauties of land- 
 scape were concerned, saw no beauties at all, but 
 discerned an amazing lack of trees and sundry 
 tokens of poverty, sluttishness, and laziness, which 
 he noted and censured very roundly and con- 
 
VALUE OF CRITICISM 173 
 
 tumeliously. Now when this appeared, our dear 
 countrymen fell to crying shame and falsehood 
 and other bad words, and could they have got the 
 doctor under their Andrew Ferraras, he was in 
 danger of being made fit for the contents of a 
 haggis. But when the first heat was over the 
 canny Scots discerned that the best mode of 
 vengeance was that which should wipe away the 
 sense of obloquy ; and thus it is to the doctor's 
 sarcasm that the Scots owe the existence of the 
 extensive woodlands of Alexander Young and 
 Walter Scott, etc., etc., to say nothing of Sir 
 Henry Stewart who teaches the full-grown 
 hamadryades to dance like figurantes in a ballet. 
 In fact, on all such occasions there is a disposition 
 to defend the point attacked though it be in some 
 degree indefensible. The report of the Traveller 
 is something like Abhorson's mystery ; if it be 
 too Uttle, the person who confers it thinks it large 
 enough ; and if it be too liberal, the party receiv- 
 ing it accounts it little enough. It requires time 
 and patient perusal to discover which way the 
 balance should be made to incline ; indeed, though 
 I heartily deprecate the ripping up of the defects 
 or imperfections of any country in an illiberal or 
 insulting manner, I am rather a friend to descrip- 
 tion of contested points between them with 
 temper and arguments. If, on finding arguments 
 against the peculiar customs or laws of our 
 country urged with decency and power of reason, 
 we still find that the attack is erroneous, we gain 
 no important advantage by the advantage of 
 proving that right by reason, which we had 
 previously believed to be so on authority. It is 
 probable, I should hope, that both nations having 
 so close points of resemblance in general matters 
 may derive benefit from calmly collating their 
 points of difference, and perhaps they may both 
 
174 AMERICAN SUSCEPTIBILITIES 
 
 derive advantage from such an amicable discussion. 
 Your excellent friend would, I am sure, desire 
 such an amicable discussion, if likely to be 
 followed with friendly results and an improvement 
 of the principles of public measures on both sides ; 
 and Capt. Hall, I am positive, did not write the 
 censure which he has taken the liberty to use 
 in some points of his publication from any 
 illiberal or insolent spirit of taunting our 
 American countrymen and brothers. He cut 
 down his work from an immense mass of material, 
 and it may well be that he has dwelt too much 
 upon what he considers as imperfections in the 
 American Constitution; but having heard him 
 speak very freely on the subject, I think I can 
 attest that he had no intention to bring bad 
 humour or national prejudices into the discussion 
 on such a subject, though in some places he may 
 inadvertently have fallen into error, and at others 
 expressed himself with too much severity or too 
 much confidence in cursory observation. 
 
 As your well-tempered and excellent corre- 
 spondent gives more weight to my opinion than I 
 could venture to claim, I can have no objection 
 to your transmitting to him any part of this 
 letter which you may think apposite to the 
 purpose, only concluding that I see discussion 
 between us and the Americans as threatening 
 infinite disadvantage to both nations and oflfering 
 no adequate advantage to either. 
 
 Selkirk, SOth September [1830]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Nothing could give me more 
 sincere pleasure than your letter. Poor Sir 
 William Arbuthnot's place was so exactly cut out 
 for you that I wonder it did not occur to me at 
 the time it opened. Luckily others were sharper 
 sighted. You have such pretensions from having 
 
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 175 
 
 been the willing and gratuitous servant of the 
 public, that I am sure you have deserved and will 
 meet with preference. I cannot think that any 
 one can touch you ; all the same, let me know if 
 I can do anything to decide the dubious. I trust 
 Rae will not be wanting at this crisis, where his 
 own interest can be in no way impinged upon, I 
 am happy on my own account as well as yours, 
 having always some fears that if you were not 
 attached to Auld Reekie by some such cable you 
 might one day cut and run to distant parts. 
 
 I think Cadell should have enlarged the im- 
 pression. I trust he will now do so. The 
 expense can be but a trifle. The whole affair 
 seems to go on swimmingly. 
 
 Sophia is still ill of the rheumatism, and though 
 there is no danger, it is like to be a very tedious 
 business. Lockhart must set out to London in 
 two days; he thinks of taking steam from 
 Edinburgh, and leaves us Sunday for that purpose. 
 Anne talks of going on to see Johnnie on board, 
 I have no more to add to this letter, save to wish 
 you success on this occasion as I do with unfeigned 
 zeal, and add my best compliments to Mrs. Skene 
 and all the youngsters. — Believe me, most truly 
 and joyfully yours, Walter Scott. 
 
 Bring that Count. 
 
 I shall get a frank. 
 
 We have been plagued with strolling foreigners 
 — a Venetian Count Rivadun, or some such name, 
 who contrived last night to get a little torticular, 
 which was funny enough. 
 
 Sir William Arbuthnot was Secretary to the 
 Board of Trustees.^ Upon his death I had applied 
 
 ^ W^hieh had powers analogous to those of the Local Government 
 Board. 
 
176 EXCESSIVE RECTITUDE 
 
 to become his successor in office, and was success- 
 ful, all the members of the Board, with scarcely 
 any exception, having given my application the 
 most gratifying reception. To show the acuteness 
 of Sir Walter's judgment of character, our 
 intimate acquaintance and early associate. Sir 
 William Rae, was one of those most unexpected 
 exceptions, acting, in his official capacity of Lord 
 Advocate, upon the preposterous and time- 
 honoured principle which some officials entertain, 
 of aiming at the reputation of stern integrity by 
 resisting the advancement of a friend because he 
 is a friend, however otherwise' adequate to the 
 duties of the situation he may be aiming to attain. 
 It was a degree of pusillanimity and littleness of 
 mind which the straightforward honesty of Sir 
 Walter's disposition led him to hold in great 
 contempt. He had himself met with it from the 
 same quarter in the resistance to the advancement 
 of his own son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, a man of 
 first-rate abilities and attention to business, for 
 whom Sir Walter had asked of his old friend the 
 situation of Deputy-Advocate, but after much 
 demonstration of good-will and shuffling, it re- 
 ceived the go-by, and was the occasion of Mr. 
 Lockhart quitting the Scottish Bar and estab- 
 lishing himself in England in literary engage- 
 ments. As Sir Walter was by this means 
 deprived of his assistance and society, which he 
 much valued, and also had his favourite daughter 
 removed to a great distance from him at a time 
 
COLONEL MACDONNELL 177 
 
 when he stood much in need of her soothing care, 
 it is not to be wondered that he felt severely the 
 slight which had been put upon his friendship 
 from a quarter whence it had been least expected. 
 The present occasion, I am sorry to say, afforded 
 me a parallel experience of how little we are 
 justified in trusting to the appearance of friendship 
 until it has passed the ordeal of proof. Hurt as 
 Sir Walter was in his own case and also in mine, 
 with him it left no rancour behind, and 1 can 
 conscientiously say that I experience none, and 
 I should be happy to have an opportunity of 
 requiting towards my old associate good for 
 evil. 
 
 Abbotsford, 24/A October 1830. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have paused a day on 
 your letter merely to consider whether I could 
 meet your wishes by an express application to 
 Sir Edward Paget, to whom I am totally unknown, 
 or at least I cannot suppose myself otherwise 
 with[out] exhibiting a culpable degree of vanity. 
 It occurs to me that your point will be as likely 
 to be gained so far as I am concerned by the 
 present letter to Colonel MacDonnell,^ which I 
 enclose. If Sir Edward wishes to be kind or civil 
 to me, it can only be as a man of letters, and it 
 must be nearly the same whether I write to him 
 directly or express my wishes and feelings other- 
 wise, leaving them to go for what they may be 
 worth. This gets over the extreme difficulty 
 which I find in venturing] to afficher my[self] as 
 
 1 Who held the gate at Hougotnont. It was he who, when 
 Landseer applied for leave to paint him, replied, ' Is thy servant a dog 
 that he should do this thing ? ' 
 
 M 
 
178 A GHOST TRIAL 
 
 a person entitled, contrary to the usual courtesies 
 of life, to ask favours of entire strangers, and you 
 must be sensible that a direct letter to Sir Edward 
 would express no less. We are favoured with a 
 visit from Lady Wellesley, who is looking unwell. 
 Love to the Lady and fireside. This must go a 
 double letter, for our members are off in different 
 directions. All here salute you. — Most truly 
 yours, Walter Scott, 
 
 The letter alluded to had the desired effect. 
 It was, as intended, communicated to Sir Edward 
 Paget, then Governor of Sandhurst College, and 
 produced a kind answer in which he expressed 
 much pleasure in having it in his power to forward 
 any object in which Sir Walter Scott took an 
 interest. It was the admission of my youngest 
 son, then in the army, to the senior class of that 
 establishment, and it was freely promised so soon 
 as a vacancy occurred and he was disposed to 
 join. My son having been sent with his regiment 
 upon foreign service never had an opportunity of 
 availing himself of the offer. 
 
 124 Princes Street, 6th December 1830. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I fear MacDonnell's talisman 
 of 'One word from you, Mr. Dean,' is going 
 to better our young soldier no more than I 
 suspect, having no title, God knows, to an ' open 
 Sesame ' at Sandhurst. I am writing, or printing 
 rather, a ghost trial (a curious story every way). 
 As the scene lies in your country in Invercauld's 
 district, as I take it, I will be obliged to you for 
 a word or two of geography respecting the Hill 
 
THE BANNATYNE CLUB 179 
 
 of Christie where the murder was committed. 
 I have got the Duke of Buccleuch to enter upon 
 the Cartulary of Melrose, a great hit for the Club. 
 I hope Thomson will not sleep on it. — Yours in 
 haste, Walter Scott. 
 
 The first part of this letter refers to the sucess- 
 ful application to Sir Edward Paget for the 
 admission of my son to Sandhurst College. The 
 trial is that of Clerk and Macdonald, presented by 
 Sir Walter to the Bannatyne Club. Being well 
 acquainted with the scene of that tragical story, 
 I was able to furnish him with all the topo- 
 graphical notices required. The Cartulary of 
 Melrose was the Duke of Buccleuch's contribu- 
 tion to the Bannatyne Club. 
 
 Abbotsford, \6th January 1831. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I have had no very pleasant 
 news to send you, as I know it will give Mrs. 
 Skene and you pain to know that I am suffering 
 under the encroachment of a hundred little 
 ailments which have greatly encroached in upon 
 the custom of the exercise which I used to take. 
 On this I could say much, but it is better to leave 
 alone what may be said with painful feeling and 
 you would be vexed with reading. 
 
 One thing I will put to rights with all others 
 respecting my little personal affairs. I am put- 
 ting [sic] this house with what it contains, and as 
 Walter will probably be anxious to have a 
 remnant of my better days, I intend to beg you 
 and my dear Mrs. Skene's acceptance of a legacy 
 of £105, to have it copied by such an artist as you 
 
180 THE RAEBURN PORTRAIT 
 
 shall approve of, to supply the blank which must 
 then be made on your hospitable wall with the 
 shadow of a shade. If an opportunity should 
 occur of copying the picture to your mind, I will 
 be happy to have the copy as soon as possible. 
 You must not think that I am nervous or foolishly 
 apprehensive that I take these precautions. They 
 are necessary and right, and if one puts off too 
 long, we sometimes are unfit for the task when 
 we desire to take it up. My children will be 
 in their own right indifferent wealthy, and are in 
 no chance of feeling any inconvenience from such 
 a bequest. 
 
 I beg to introduce a literary man of great merit 
 who might be called James of that ilk, since he 
 is James of James'. I have promised him that 
 you will procure him admission to the Museum 
 of the Antiquaries. His wife is with him, whose 
 maiden name chances oddly enough to be 
 Thomas. She is a ladylike person. They have 
 been long abroad. If you show them any petty 
 kindness it will be gratefully felt, and well 
 bestown, and I think you will like them. 
 
 At the next election I would like to be useful 
 to Sir John if he stands, serving him to whom 
 I reckon myself particularly obliged. I would 
 assist my neighbour Alexander Pringle, with 
 whose family I have long had both some relation- 
 ship and great, friendly intercourse. Will you, 
 who are on the spot, tell me how the cat jumps, 
 that is to say, apprise me how I can best carry 
 my wishes into effect. 
 
 When the weather becomes milder I hope Mrs. 
 Skene and you and some of the children will 
 come out to brighten the chain of friendship with 
 your truly faithful, Walter Scott. 
 
 So poor old Henry Mackenzie is gone. 
 
A SEIZURE 181 
 
 The hand of infirmity had begun to be heavy 
 on my poor friend, as the writing of this letter, 
 as well as the subdued tone in which it is written, 
 independently of the subject, shows. Some 
 warning indications of a paralytic tendency had 
 already announced the breaking up of his consti- 
 tution. He was not a man to give way to alarm 
 even at the palpable approach of the event which 
 was to terminate his earthly course, but he did 
 feel much perplexed by the singular effect of 
 the first advances of that disease. He then 
 occupied the house No. 6 Shandwick Place, and 
 was not aware of any previous indisposition, but 
 one morning, soon after breakfast, he was at his 
 writing-table, when the servant informed him of 
 a woman desiring to see him, having some tale 
 of distress by which she hoped to obtain his com- 
 passion and aid;^ he desired her to be admitted, 
 but by the time she had told her story, of which 
 he seemed afterwards to have retained but a con- 
 fused recollection, he found that the power of 
 utterance had entirely left him. He felt quite 
 aware of where he was and what he was doing, 
 but when he strove to answer the woman, he 
 found himself altogether unable, and when they 
 had gazed for some minutes in mutual astonish- 
 ment at each other, he rang his bell, and when the 
 servant came in, was unable to express what he 
 wanted, but made a sign which satisfied them 
 
 ^ Miss Young of Hawick, who came on February 16th 1830 to 
 consult Scott about a MS. memoir of her father. 
 
 m2 
 
182 FEAR OF PARALYSIS 
 
 that he was unwell, and the servant instantly 
 called his daughter to attend him while he ran off 
 for a medical man. The attack lasted about a 
 quarter of an hour. He was bled and put to bed, 
 and I saw him about an hour later, when he gave 
 me the account I have just stated, adding that he 
 strongly suspected this to be the forerunner of 
 palsy. ' All I pray for is, that when it does come 
 in God's good time, it may be conclusive, and 
 not leave me a helpless imbecile, a burden to my 
 friends, to wear out the shreds of a useless exist- 
 ence. I have a great apprehension of this ; 
 whether it may be a foreshadowing of the fate 
 that awaits me, I know not. As to the crazy 
 machine, I am indifferent where and how it may 
 fall to pieces, were I but blessed with retaining 
 my faculties entire till it pleases the Almighty to 
 remove me hence.' 
 
 He never entirely recovered this first attack; 
 it left his limbs weak, and the power in his hands 
 was so much impaired as to affect his writing, 
 of which the accompanying letter affords proof. 
 He repeated his words and blurred the paper. 
 He was recommended to observe a spare regimen 
 in his living, and although he had always been 
 a remarkably temperate man, yet the change 
 affected his spirits from the entire removal of the 
 stimulants he had been accustomed to. His bodily 
 energies were much relaxed, and he became 
 heavy and dull, and was never again roused to 
 the hilarity which was natural to his disposition. 
 
RAEBURN PORTRAIT COPIED 183 
 
 In his letter he alludes to his portrait, which 
 had been now for several years in my possession. 
 I had, however, anticipated his wishes with 
 regard to it by having it copied, and the 
 original was sent out to Abbotsford at this 
 time. As to the kind intention he expresses of 
 bequeathing to me a mark of his regard in his 
 will, which he was at that time occupied in 
 arranging, I wrote to him to say how much I felt 
 gratified with this affectionate remembrance of 
 our long and uninterrupted friendship, and that 
 his bearing it in mind even in the solemn duty in 
 which he was engaged I might well feel proud 
 of, but that the mere testimony of his regard 
 appearing in that record was quite sufficient, 
 without the necessity of diverting anything what- 
 ever from the funds due to his family. At the 
 same time he might be sure that the notice he 
 had conveyed to me of his intention had touched 
 me most sensibly, as well as the unfavourable 
 account he gave of his health, which I trusted 
 was temporary, and that the vigour of his consti- 
 tution would again brace up as soon as he had 
 doubled Cape Climacteric, which he must re- 
 collect that he had just reached. 
 
 In the state of his affairs mentioned in this 
 letter, it afterwards appeared that Sir Walter had 
 been a little too sanguine, and whether the in- 
 tended bequest formed a part of his will or not, I 
 was never informed, but as circumstances turned 
 out in respect to the provision for his family, I 
 
184 QUENTIN DURWARD 
 
 must have decidedly declined permitting any part, 
 however small, to be withdrawn on my account. 
 
 Mr. James, whose acquaintance he engages me 
 to favour, is the author of many clever and most 
 interesting works in the walk of historical 
 romance, and is also a most agreeable man, whom 
 I had occasion frequently to meet afterwards. 
 
 The election he adverts to was of members of 
 the Bannatyne Club, which, being limited in 
 numbers, had become much in request and 
 generally very keenly contested. 
 
 Cognisant as my constant intimacy and associ- 
 ation with Sir Walter Scott rendered me with 
 all the circumstances of his literary occupations, 
 I may here note down a few reminiscences 
 connected with that subject, chiefly with reference 
 to the Waverley series. 
 
 The very amusing introduction to Queniin 
 Durward is a somewhat embellished account 
 (which I had happened to narrate to Sir Walter) 
 of a visit I had paid the Marquis de Forbin at 
 his magnificent ancient castle of La Barben in 
 Provence, with an account of the kind and amus- 
 ing reception given to me by my excellent friend 
 the Marquis, a sadly plundered emigrant, in the 
 chateau of his ancestors, the only portion of their 
 extensive territories which had been restored to 
 him (see vol. v. of my travelling memoranda,^ 
 whence Sir Walter also borrowed the account of 
 the forest of Les Ardennes, of La Marck, and 
 
 ' Not yet published. 
 
IVANHOE 185 
 
 various other localities for the wanderings of his 
 hero, Quentin Durward, places with which Sir 
 Walter himself was personally unacquainted). 
 After having for some time dwelt on Scottish 
 subjects in his romances. Sir Walter mentioned to 
 me that he was contemplating an English ground 
 for his next tale, of which he stated the proposed 
 outline. I happened to observe that I thought a 
 new and very interesting subject might be ex- 
 tracted from the barbarous treatment to which 
 the Jewish race had been subjected in England 
 and other Christian countries. I did not allude to 
 the atrocities of King John, but to a later period 
 of their existence in England as an oppressed 
 people, when the oppression was somewhat less 
 revolting. He swung about the room in silence 
 for a space, as was his usual habit when reflecting, 
 and then, with a slap on my shoulder, pronounced 
 the idea not a bad one, and Ivanhoe was the 
 result. I was abroad during the publication of 
 several of the later novels, having gone to reside 
 in the South of France on account of Mrs. 
 Skene's health. 
 
 In The Antiquary, the encounter with the 
 Phocas or seals there described is my friend's 
 edition of an adventure which actually happened 
 to myself in descending into a lonely creek of the 
 rocky shore of Kincardineshire near Dunottar 
 Castle, where I unexpectedly found six or eight 
 seals basking on the sunny beach ; they certainly 
 gave me determined battle as they squattered 
 
186 LIFE OF NAPOLEON 
 
 down to the sea, launching stones at me with 
 their fins, with greater precision and dexterity 
 than I could have supposed possible, and paying 
 but little regard to my missiles ; had they stood 
 their ground, my retreat would probably have 
 become indispensable. 
 
 An old Chevalier whom I met in France gave 
 me an interesting criticism of the Life of Napoleon ; 
 he was one of the very few then remaining of the 
 ante-revolutionary savants of France, and he still 
 retained not only his faculties, but his personal 
 activity in full vigour. He happened to be 
 engaged in the perusal of Sir Walter Scott's Life 
 of Napoleon, and mentioned that he believed that 
 there were very few now in France whose 
 personal and minute acquaintance with the 
 events of the Revolution and subsequent wars 
 was as extensive as his own, or whose memory 
 about them could be more relied upon. He 
 therefore felt himself entitled to give a confident 
 opinion of that work, and he said that he would 
 do the author justice to say that the general 
 accuracy of the statements had been a subject of 
 admiration and surprise to him, which every page 
 in the progress of the perusal kept alive; that 
 with the exception of a few oversights and 
 trifling inaccuracy of dates, he could bear testi- 
 mony to the historical truth of the work and the 
 singular impartiality which pervades the opinions 
 expressed; that it was impossible not to jostle 
 sharply against the prejudices of various classes 
 
A FRENCH CRITICISM 187 
 
 in the candid conduct of such a work ; the more 
 fairly it laid open and exposed the truth, the 
 more generally was it likely to rouse angry feel- 
 ings, so multifarious had been the crimes, so 
 unprincipled the duplicity of the temporary rulers 
 vouchsafed to France, whom the revolutionary 
 cauldron from time to time worked up to the 
 surface, where for a season they occupied attention, 
 and then boiled over. Their agents and abettors, 
 reposing upon the oblivion of mutual forbearance 
 in their countrymen, saw in this work their old 
 sores most unceremoniously exposed to view. 
 And, as for the generality of the people, they had 
 during the progress of events been so industriously 
 kept in ignorance of everything unfavourable to 
 the cause that many of the facts of their own 
 history were not only actually new to them, but 
 being in opposition to their previously received 
 impressions on the subject, were naturally received 
 with doubt. It was consistent with their natural 
 vanity that they should sturdily deny the author's 
 accuracy, and abuse him as a detractor of French 
 glory, and as an uncandid vaunter of the un- 
 deserved merits of his own countrymen. Where 
 individual interest or national fame are considered 
 the French are sometimes not very scrupulous in 
 the means used to promote them ; accordingly 
 in many particulars the French translation of the 
 LAfe of Napoleon has by intentional mistranslation 
 truckled to the vainglory of their countrymen by 
 making the author appear to advance offensive 
 
188 SKENKE FORT 
 
 absurdities he never intended, which may be seen 
 by comparing in the two those passages more 
 particularly criticised in France. The translation 
 makes the author, in discussing the qualifications 
 common to the soldiery of the two countries, say 
 ' that one Englishman can at any time beat two 
 Frenchmen,' when the author merely says that 
 the determined character of a British soldier will 
 make him seldom hesitate to fight two French- 
 men, but that he will heat them is more doubtful. 
 The French translation omits the latter clause of 
 the sentence, which deprives it of any offensive 
 application. 
 
 I was not aware till Sir Walter himself told me, 
 that the amusing character of the old soldier 
 Dugald Dalgetty was taken from the record of an 
 ancestor of mine in the military annals of Holland, 
 the General Martin Skene, who, in command of 
 the Dutch army at the siege of Namur, was killed 
 in forcing the passage of the river. His body 
 floated down to the island on which he had con- 
 structed a strong fort, which still bears his name, 
 but the euphonious taste of the Dutch does not 
 appear to have been satisfied with the orthography 
 of his short name, having only one ' k,' for they 
 have added another at the end, and the fort he 
 constructed is called Skenke Fort to this day. 
 
 In our frequent walks and rides together, Scott 
 seldom failed to turn the conversation more or 
 less directly towards the particular theme which 
 happened at the time to occupy his attention, 
 
SCOTT'S MEMORY 189 
 
 with the purpose, no doubt, of sharpening his own 
 inventive faculty, as well as of forwarding the 
 chance of eliciting information or anecdotes con- 
 nected with his subject, possessing as he did a 
 memory almost indelible, so that the nature of the 
 forthcoming composition was easily guessed by 
 those familiar with his habits. I have seen almost 
 all the manuscripts of his works, written in a 
 small firm hand, and I do not recollect to have 
 perceived any corrections or erasures, which was 
 surprising considering the rapidity and tireless- 
 ness of his composition. Sickness did no doubt 
 at times interrupt his literary industry, and on 
 one occasion caused a lapse of some duration 
 and great suffering, from gall-stones. I was 
 frequently with him at Abbotsford during the 
 progress of this malady, which ultimately confined 
 him to bed, causing at times excessive pains, 
 which he bore with manly fortitude and patience, 
 showing, while thus tormented, no irritation of 
 his habitual kind and gentle temper. 
 
 Abbotsford, Sunday [Feb. 1831]. 
 
 My dear Skene, — The snow has fallen so 
 thick and is still falling, that I will, considering 
 the nature of my party, rather give [up] the 
 chance of getting back than encounter the road 
 to-morrow, being Monday. Tuesday will, I hope, 
 find us, or me at least, at your hospitable board, 
 that is if Anne be fit for a guest. — Always yours 
 very truly, Walter Scott. 
 
 This was the last time Sir Walter was able to 
 
190 LAST VISIT TO EDINBURGH 
 
 be in Edinburgh, with the exception of that 
 melancholy transit which he made through the 
 city, when conveyed in a state of insensibility as 
 to where he was, from the steam-vessel in which 
 he came from London, on his way to Abbotsford, 
 a short time before his death. It was upon the 
 occasion of this visit, when he remained a week 
 in town, partly in my house and partly with Mr. 
 Cadell, that he completed the arrangement of his 
 family affairs, and finished the preparation of his 
 Romances for the new edition. His strength 
 was so much gone that he was not able to move 
 about with any degree of comfort as there was a 
 heavy storm of snow on the ground. Nevertheless 
 he was very cheerful in the small parties of friends 
 who met him at dinner, both in my house and Mr. 
 Cadell's, and was exceedingly sanguine as to 
 accomplishing ultimately the retrieval of his affairs, 
 the new edition at that time yielding £10,000 
 yearly in payment of the debt. All his friends 
 united in urging him to try the efficacy of a foreign 
 tour, to which he became ultimately reconciled, 
 from learning the advantage which Mr. Wilkie, 
 the celebrated painter, had just derived from 
 trying that scheme to restore him from a state 
 of health that had for some time prevented him 
 altogether from pursuing his professional occupa- 
 tions. The only doubt which Sir Walter had on 
 the subject was that he did not feel it possible to 
 give up writing, and he continued even in his 
 journey to occupy himself in his accustomed 
 
GRANT'S PORTRAIT 191 
 
 pursuits, ' To tell me now not to write ! ' he said ; 
 * you might as well tell the kettle, when filled with 
 water and put on a good fire, not to boil.' 
 
 Abbotsford, Thursday, SOih May 1831. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I am greatly obliged for 
 your kind trouble in getting the copy made, but 
 remember I am the artist's debtor. You must let 
 me know to whom and for what sum, and Mr. 
 Cadell, who stands my paymaster on such 
 occasions, will settle my debt as soon as he comes 
 down. I expected him every day. 
 
 I hardly think I shall be able to come to town 
 again, but must bid the world good-night like 
 poor Colin,^ when I enjoy almost for the first time 
 in my hfe the privilege of directing my own 
 motions. Michael Mercer, Darroch and Melrose 
 Carrier, wiU call for the portrait on Wednesday or 
 Thursday this week next — third or fourth, that is, 
 of next June. I will take good advice on the subject 
 of the varnish, for I do not feel myself adequate to 
 decide a question so important. I expect to see 
 the great landscape-painter one of these [days], 
 who will advise me what I ought to do. Frank 
 Grant has made a good portrait of me for Lady 
 Ruthven, who honoured me by the expression of a 
 wish to have one, and the addition of the two large 
 deer-hounds has given an interest to the perform- 
 ance which it could hardly have gained otherways. 
 
 I must cut short, for my head does not stand 
 writing for very long, for I still have fits of head- 
 ache, which are I suppose the dregs, the reliques of 
 my old malady, which I never expect to get free 
 of — I remain, with much love to Mrs. Skene and 
 family, very much yours, Walter Scott, 
 
 ■ Colin Mackenzie, James Skene's brother-in-law. 
 
192 VOYAGE TO MALTA 
 
 This letter was in answer to one from me, 
 announcing the death of my brother-in-law, 
 Mr. Colin Mackenzie, long our mutual friend, 
 and an object of affection to all who knew him. 
 His death created a blank in our society, which 
 could never be supplied. He was to me an 
 early friend, and latterly a most affectionate 
 relative, as well as an invaluable support in 
 everything which regarded the interest of myself 
 or my family. 
 
 What Sir Walter alludes to in the latter part of 
 his letter was his intention of retiring from his 
 office as Clerk of Session, and also from the Royal 
 Society, of which he had been for some time 
 President. The Society requested that he would 
 continue at the head of their body, although it 
 might not be convenient for him to officiate any 
 longer, and accordingly he remained President till 
 his death. 
 
 The arrangements were made for his journey 
 in the ensuing spring and summer, during the 
 course of which I had frequently written to him 
 from Perthshire, where I was then residing, but 
 the labour of writing was often irksome to him. 
 He expected me at Abbotsford, but I was pre- 
 vented from making the journey, and the next 
 letter I received from him, in which he gives a 
 description of the volcanic island which had lately 
 sprung up in the Mediterranean, was written during 
 his voyage out. As he wished this account to be 
 communicated to the Royal Society, I copied that 
 
CITY OF THE KNIGHTS 193 
 
 portion of his letter in order to be able to read it 
 more easily. 
 
 The erased portion of this letter had been in- 
 tended for his publisher, mentioning a work 
 entitled The Siege of Malta, and his intention of 
 preparing what he calls a ' thumping journal ' of his 
 tour. Neither of these works have yet seen the 
 light. 
 
 My son, James Henry,^ was in garrison at Malta 
 when Sir Walter was there, and of course attended 
 him very often. By his account it must have been 
 delightful to see how much Sir Walter enjoyed a 
 scene so new to him as the beautiful city of the 
 Knights, and particularly the fine old library ; but 
 as it is to be hoped that his Journal will be given 
 to the public we shall have his impressions from 
 his own hand. 
 
 My son had a note from Sir Walter one morning, 
 desiring to see him at an earlier hour than usual, 
 and giving as his reason that he had felt so much 
 oppressed by the number of people that generally 
 escorted him in his walks through the town, that 
 he wished my son to come and conduct him quietly 
 to see the principal objects of interest, in order 
 that he might be able to enjoy them leisurely, and 
 without the tax of being gazed at as a lion, which 
 was so irksome to him as to make him rather 
 avoid sight-seeing altogether than encounter its 
 
 ' Afterwards H.M. Vice-Consul at Aleppo. Author of Frontier 
 Lands of the Christian and the Turk) etc., and other books on the near 
 East. 
 
 N 
 
194 THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN 
 
 accompaniment. In early life Sir Walter's lame- 
 ness had little effect on the vigour or activity of 
 his movements, but later in life it obliged him to 
 use the friendly arm of a companion in addition 
 to the support of his cane, and heavily enough he 
 sometimes found himself obliged to lean, as my 
 own arm could well testify. 
 
 Proceeding accordingly in this manner to 
 various parts of the town and surrounding forts, 
 when they came to the Church of St. John, he 
 slipped his arm free from my son's support. He 
 stood some time in silence at the door of the 
 church, with his eyes cast down in that musing 
 mood which was so much his wont, and that for 
 so long a time, that my son, suspecting that he 
 felt unwell, again offered his support. ' No, no, 
 my good young friend. When I have to enter 
 the House of God, it demands a moment's 
 thought, and here I must enter unsupported, 
 and so remain as best T can. When we come 
 out I shall beg your arm again, which in the 
 meantime will not be the worse of the respite, 
 for an old fellow like me hangs heavy on his 
 friends.' And so accordingly he proceeded, and 
 enfeebled as he had now become, his progress 
 was obviously very laborious to himself. I may 
 remark that this mode of expressing veneration for 
 the House of God was a very ancient one, and 
 especially in observance among the Jews, who were 
 not permitted in the Temple to use a staff, which 
 they left at the door, considering that it was inde- 
 
TOMBS OF THE KNIGHTS 195 
 
 corous while within the Sanctuary to lean on any 
 support save the staff of God. But to return to 
 Sir Walter, my son being familiarly acquainted 
 with the more remarkable monuments which deco- 
 rate the chapels of the different nations of the 
 old Knights of St. John, was surprised to find as 
 he pointed them out in succession, the intimate 
 knowledge Sir Walter seemed to possess of the 
 individual history of each of the Grand Masters 
 and distinguished knights, which he took 
 pleasure in relating at length as they proceeded. 
 He contemplated the effigy and its accompani- 
 ments, as if the better to imprint its appearance 
 on his memory, perhaps with a view to future 
 use. But the task was a long and laborious one, 
 and although seemingly much exhausted before 
 they had got through with it, he still refused assist- 
 ance until they had recrossed the threshold of the 
 church, when, grasping my son's arm, he leaned so 
 heavily that his companion had some difficulty 
 in supporting him to his hotel. 
 
 I ought also to have mentioned that before 
 setting out on this exploratory ramble, when my 
 son asked him where he more particularly desired 
 to be conducted to, he had the kindness to say, 
 ' The first place you are to take me to, is the house 
 your father inhabited at Malta. It will do my 
 heart good, just to see it and be able to tell him 
 so, if it should be God's will that we meet again,' 
 But, alas ! it was not our fate ever to meet again 
 in life. 
 
196 THE LIBRARY 
 
 While at Malta, Sir Walter passed a great deal 
 of his time in the old Library of the Knights, and 
 in fact had begun to compose a romance connected 
 with their history, of which, without intending it, 
 he accidentally sent me the evidence in one of the 
 letters of our correspondence at this period. He 
 had not perceived that a page of the sheet of paper 
 on which he wrote to me contained a portion of 
 the story he was engaged upon, and, the posthorn 
 close at hand before he became aware of the mis- 
 take, he still despatched the letter, merely adding 
 in the postscript, ' You will perceive my blunder 
 in sending to you what was intended for a different 
 purpose, which, however, pray keep to yourself 
 As he did not live to finish this work, and no part 
 was ever given to the public, the small fragment 
 in my possession comes to be a curious relic, 
 perhaps of the last literary labour on which he 
 employed his pen. 
 
 Fort Manuel, Island op Malta, 23rd November 1831. 
 
 Mt dear Skene,* — Our habits of non-corre- 
 spondence are so firmly established that it must 
 be a matter of some consequence that sets either 
 of us a- writing to the other must be a matter of 
 uncommon occurrence [sic], and you know I must 
 account it too valuable to be neglected when I 
 tell you that on my part it consists in a wish to 
 do something which may oblige our friends of the 
 Royal Society to whom I owe so much for their 
 long and constant indulgence. As it has been 
 
 * This letter is quoted by Lockhart, but not verbatim. 
 
VOLCANIC ISLAND 197 
 
 my lot to see the new volcano called Graham 
 Island, either employed in establishing itself, or 
 more likely in decomposing itself, and as it must 
 be an object of much curiosity to many of our 
 brethren, I have taken it into my head that even 
 the very imperfect account which I can give of a 
 matter of this extraordinary kind may be in some 
 degree valued by and, compared to my scientific 
 ignorance, may furnish a not entirely useless 
 example that the King's errand may be in the 
 Cadger's gate, or more plainly that the travels of 
 an ignorant man may by chance convey some 
 things of interest to a learned body. At least it 
 will show that I was willing rather to expose my- 
 self by an attempt I am unfit for. Not being able 
 to borrow your fingers, those of the Captain's 
 clerk have been put in requisition for the enclosed 
 sketch, and the notes adjoined are as accurate as 
 can be expected from our hurried visit to 
 Graham's Island. 
 
 You have a view of the island very much as it 
 shows at present, but nothing is more certain than 
 that it is on the eve of a very important change, 
 though in what respect is doubtful. In the first 
 place, the bulkiest portion of what is presently its 
 highest and most conspicuous part being com- 
 posed of the lightest and least adhesive, is per- 
 petually crumbling away of itself, or if aiFected 
 by the feet of occasional visitants. I saw a 
 portion of about five or six feet in height give 
 way under the feet of one of our companions in 
 the very ridge of the southern corner, and 
 become completely annihilated, giving us some 
 anxiety for the fate of our friend, till the dust and 
 confusion of the dispersed pinnacle had subsided. 
 You know my old talents for horsemanship. 
 Find[ing] the earth or what seemed a substitute 
 for it, sunk at every step up to the knee and 
 
 n2 
 
198 SULPHUR AND PUMlCE 
 
 made the walking of an infirm and heavy man 
 nearly impossible, I mounted the shoulder of an 
 able and willing seaman, and by dint of his 
 exertions rode nearly to the top of the island. 
 I would have given a great deal for you, my 
 friend, the frequent and- willing supplier of my 
 defects, but in this journey, though undertaken 
 late in life, I have found from the benevolence 
 of my companions that where one man's strength 
 was insufficient to supply my deficiencies, I had 
 the willing aid of twenty, if it could be useful. 
 
 I have sent you one of the largest blocks of 
 lava which I could find on the islet, though small 
 pieces are innumerable. We found two dolphins, 
 killed apparently by the hot temperature, and the 
 body of a Robin-redbreast which seemingly had 
 come off from the nearest land and starved to 
 death on the islet where it had neither found food 
 nor water. Such had been the fate of the first 
 attempts to stock the islet with fish and fowl. 
 
 On the south side of the island the volcanic 
 principle which produced the island was still 
 apparently active. This power had raised from the 
 bottom and added to the south side of the 
 original cliff — the tall portion, I mean, of the 
 island — a small bay of some extent, large enough 
 to admit our boats, being the place marked in the 
 draught as shaded on one side only. It is barely 
 covered by salt water, and the operations beneath 
 the sand seem by their perpetual ebullition to 
 show it is still increasing. The perpetual bubbling 
 up from the bottom produces a quantity of steam 
 which perpetually rises all round the base of the 
 island and surrounds it as with a cloak when seen 
 from a distance. 
 
 Most of these appearances struck the other 
 gentlemen, I believe, as well as myself, but a 
 gentleman who has visited the rock repeatedly is 
 
A SUBMARINE ERUPTION 199 
 
 of opinion that the island is certainly increasing 
 in magnitude. The decrease in height may be 
 certainly reconciled with the increase of its more 
 level parts and even its general appearance above 
 water, for the ruins which crumble down from 
 the top and like to remain at the bottom of the 
 ridge of the rock, add to the general size of the 
 islet [and] tend to give the ground firmness and 
 consistence. The gales of this new-born island 
 are anything but odoriferous. Brimstone and 
 such are the prevailing savours to a degree almost 
 suffocating. Every hole dug in the sand is filled 
 vnth boiling water or what was nearly such, and 
 if a ship's bottom was washed into the bay it 
 would probably be as effectually cleansed as if it 
 were hove down. 
 
 Our friend Mr. Walker, when First Lieutenant 
 of the Britannia, was returning in that ship to 
 England, and passed this way, when the island 
 * arose from out the azure main,' and received a 
 shock probably from some part of it encountering 
 the ship [in] its ascent, which brought all hands 
 on deck, and passed as a shock of an earth- 
 quake which it greatly resembled. I cannot help 
 think[ing] that the great ebullition in the bay 
 mentioned as of boiling water, mentioned in the 
 draught, is the remains of the original crater, 
 now almost filled up, yet still the extraordinary 
 operations were going on in the subterranean 
 regions. 
 
 If you think, my dear Skene, that any of these 
 trifling particulars concerning an interesting fact 
 can interest their pursuits, you are free to com- 
 municate them either to the Society or to the 
 Club as you judge most proper. 
 
 I have just seen James in full health, but he 
 vanished like a guilty thing when, forgetting that 
 I was a contraband commodity, I went to shake 
 
200 QUARANTINE 
 
 him by the hand, which would have cost him ten 
 days' imprisonment, I being in present in quar- 
 antine and a contraband commodity. We saw an 
 instance of the strictness with which this law is 
 observed. In entering the harbour a seaman was 
 brushed from our yardarm. He swam strongly 
 notwithstanding the fall, but the Maltese boats, 
 of which there were several, backed from him to 
 avoid taking him up for fear of the quarantine 
 law, and an English boat which did take the poor 
 man up was condemned to ten days' imprisonment 
 to reward the benevolence of the action. It is 
 in the capacity of quarantine prisoners that we 
 now inhabit the decayed grandeur of a magnificent 
 old Spanish palace, which resembles the panta- 
 loon of the Don in his youth, a world too wide for 
 his shrunk shanks. But you know Malta, where 
 there is more magnificence than comfort, though 
 we have met many friends and much kindness. 
 
 My best compliments to Mrs. Skene to whom 
 I am bringing a fairy cup made out [of] a 
 Nautilus shell, which was the only one I found 
 entire on Graham's Island. The original owner 
 had suffered shipwreck. I beg to be respectfully 
 remembered to all friends of the Club. — Yours 
 ever, with love to your fireside, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 [The situation is delightful and the weather 
 enchanting. If climate can do me good this 
 surely must, but as yet I cannot say much to that 
 point. I am in my usual spirits, however, and 
 look so well that I believe my Malta friends think 
 I am shamming Abraham. If our Siege of 
 Malta answers as I hope, the author's proceeds 
 may enter Messrs. Coutts to assist us on our 
 return, when I hope to bring a thumping journal 
 with me, for, of course, we cannot expect travel- 
 
THE ISLAND VANISHES 201 
 
 ling to be without its]^ When I see James at 
 more leisure I will consult him on the best way 
 of forwarding the box with the specimen, which 
 may be broke to pieces if you think it would be 
 more interesting. In short, it may be disposed of 
 as will most gratify the members, and happy will 
 I be if it can be made to interest them in any 
 manner. 
 
 Malta, 23rd December 1831. 
 
 My dear Skene, — I wrote to you last week 
 some account, some little account, of the present 
 state of the new volcano on Graham's Island, 
 which by the last accounts has vanished altogether 
 from the surface of the ocean, leaving not a wrack 
 behind. I have been by accident one of the last 
 persons whose feet have trodden its very unstable 
 shores, which are now returned to the caves of 
 ocean whence it came. Such at least were the 
 latest reports, but I have no means of ascertaining 
 the fact. It would be a choice subject for an ode 
 to the tune of ' Polly put the Kettle on.' I sup- 
 pose the former epistle and this note will reach 
 you at once, and you will make such use of both 
 as you think proper. Here is delightful weather 
 and some very pleasant [people]. I have seen 
 James repeatedly since we were liberated from, 
 quarantine. 
 
 Remember our best love to Mrs. Skene and 
 your fireside, a convenience for which we Malta 
 folks have no occasion. The more I see the more 
 I am astonished at what a gorgeous generation 
 the Order must have been of old. I never saw 
 nor could conceive the immense richness of 
 architectural ornament which they have lavished on 
 their houses and even on their very fortifications. 
 
 They have suggested an improvement at 
 
 ^ The words [ ] erased and marked 'this written by mistake.' 
 
202 THE CHANNEL OF MALTA 
 
 Abbotsford, which I think will complete the 
 picture in the original style. It is only a screen 
 for the west front of the old barn, so nothing 
 involving much expense. I must finish this 
 letter. Trust it will reach you safely. — Yours 
 ever, Walter Scott. 
 
 My dear Skene,^ — Last night I received 
 your kind letter of 27th December, and behold 
 is not this the 5th of March ! After long hunger- 
 ing and thirsting for it, it having pleased the Post 
 Office at length to forward them to Naples by a 
 steamboat which has been of late disused between 
 ports. 
 
 It is pipers' news to tell of the splendid beauties 
 of what is called the Channel of Malta, which is 
 one of the most glorious scenes, with the assist- 
 ance of the Great Mongibello, which I ever saw 
 in my life. Certainly if landscape various as the 
 heart of man can conceive could atone for a 
 curious want of national character, this land has 
 it all to show for itself, but further the deponent 
 saith not. Their former great men of literature 
 were indeed giants in the land, but they live less 
 in the hearts of their countrymen than the much 
 inferior personages of our own. 
 
 Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay even, and less 
 men than even the last, have received fully 
 their meed from their countrymen. I myself 
 have every right to be grateful to my country- 
 men, and I will say in your ear that I have 
 not been undeserving of good-will at their 
 hands, and particularly those who in a matter-of- 
 fact age enough are much acted upon by the 
 feelings of the very imaginative one which pre- 
 ceded us. I hope I should not be so absurdly 
 deaf to the voice of sober reason to anything else 
 
 ' This letter is incoherent and almost undecipherable. 
 
±'JblAJNTUM WEALTH 203 
 
 as I acknowledge to be in the present case. 
 However, having made the amende honorable, 
 I must proceed to news, though I have not much 
 to tell. I admire the face of the country ex- 
 tremely about Naples, but, alas 1 I can no longer 
 crawl up the hills on pony back, at which no man 
 on earth would ever have defeated me, and it 
 would be quite folly under all the circumstances 
 to hope to acquire so much dexterity again. I 
 can have a pony cart, and we may have a race of 
 gigs if we wish to revive old frolics. By the way, 
 the deuce take Ressie, how came you to stick 
 yourself here on the other side of the Tweed and 
 Forth and all ? It was, I must say, really malice 
 prepense. 
 
 By the bye, my efforts to furnish two very so- 
 so novels have proved, as has sometimes happened 
 to me, so much better than they deserve that 
 I verily believe that they will in the course of this 
 year pay off all the painful and burdensome debt 
 of six years gone. It amounts to no less than 
 £120,000 stg., and makes me once more a wealthy 
 man, which though I flatter myself I did hope I 
 bore well, yet I am as well pleased to be tried in 
 another way. This most joyful piece of intelli- 
 gence arrived, as I may say, at the very dead of 
 night, as I may say allegorically. When I came 
 to Malta I had only a credit for £500, which 
 circumstances had considerably reduced, so when 
 I saw myself rather shut up, never knowing what 
 might have happened to stop my resources, I felt 
 very uneasy. Luckily my son, to whom there 
 had occurred the possibility of a short commons 
 in such times, had ample supplies for Malta, and 
 even for Naples. To be sure, Cadell was not like to 
 
 have played me such a trick, but ' burn bairn ' — 
 
 In short, that did not prevent my supposing it 
 had actually happened. I do not know what 
 
204 DELUSIONS 
 
 I could have done. You may [be sure] Cadell 
 had no scarcity of letters, but unluckily responses, 
 accompts, and I wot not what were sent to Malta, 
 and unhappily went a great way round. When I 
 came to Naples, where I made next to sure of 
 letter and money, the man scarce looked at the 
 letters and said there was no letter for me. 
 Charles came in, and having occasion himself en 
 fait d'argent sometimes to complain of his SiciUan 
 
 Majesty's Post Office But I was so humbled 
 
 that when the man of letters spelled out a little 
 oblong letter in Cadell's hand, stating the happy 
 general result, all is well. Accounts sent to 
 Malta. Meantime am ready to answer for 
 £2000 or more if you may have occasion. That 
 you may have no trouble I will remit it to Coutts 
 through Sir William Forbes & Coy. I could not 
 even have had the sad remedy of self-destruction 
 if I had [been] desperate enough to have taken it, 
 for I had paid to the extent of £20,000, which 
 would have been lost to that extent if I had been 
 guilty of a crime of that nature. So I had 
 nothing to do but to compose myself, and readily 
 found a banker to give me what cash I wanted. 
 So my straits were at an end ; for the fright, 
 which I promise you was not a little one, . . } 
 
 I saw James after I got out of the quarantine. 
 He was very kind and offered us all manner of 
 service. I found a very fine old Churchman who 
 had fought at the head of the inhabitants against 
 the French when they began to plunder the 
 churches, which are the most splendid I have seen 
 anywhere. The prelate is now Bishop of Malta. 
 He has got a journal of the siege, which he is well- 
 nigh willing to pubMsh. He is a fine-looking man. 
 I pressed him to allow me to publish it for the 
 
 ' The next sentence is incoherent, and shows painfully how near 
 the brain was to its eclipse. 
 
SCOTT'S LAST LETTER 205 
 
 benefit of the poor of the diocese, and would 
 become bound to make them £500 at least, but 
 the bishop is a very modest man, although almost 
 I had persuaded. 
 
 Miss Skene came to Naples yesterday and was 
 so good [as] to look in upon us at tea-time, and 
 will take care to be of service to you if we can. 
 I think of undertaking a voyage to the Ionian 
 Islands. Sir Frederick and Lady Adam are very 
 pressing, and the weather at this time of year is 
 excellent and very healthy. I can scarcely pro- 
 pose resistance [breaks off]. 
 
 This letter closes my correspondence with Sir 
 Walter Scott. It was the last I received from 
 him, and I have reason to think that it was 
 among the last he ever wrote, as the fatal com- 
 plaint which deprived him of the use of his hands, 
 and which soon led him to the grave, overtook 
 him but a short time after the date of this letter, 
 whicb, although he omitted to insert it, and even 
 forgot to subscribe his name, was written on the 
 5th March 1832, and from Naples. 
 
 Although Sir Walter's hand had now become 
 exceedingly illegible, this letter strongly evinces 
 the accuracy and even liveliness of his ideas at 
 a time when he was so rapidly approaching his 
 end, and in point of subject it is interesting, as 
 well as displaying the usual playfulness of his 
 epistolary style. He mentions his having finished 
 two novels which yet remain to be brought 
 to light, as also the journal of the Bishop 
 Militant which he mentions. The voyage to the 
 
206 RETURN TO ABBOTSFORD 
 
 Ionian Islands did not take place, as he began to 
 get impatient to set out on his homeward course. 
 I understand that by the time he had reached 
 Rome the state of his health did not permit of 
 his enjoying the wonders of that city, for he be- 
 came impatient to reach home, having most pro- 
 bably experienced some premonitions of the 
 catastrophe which finally overtook him in pro- 
 ceeding down the Rhine by steamboat. The 
 remainder of his journey, as may be well sup- 
 posed, was most anxious and painful to his son and 
 daughter who attended him, and full of impatience 
 to himself, from the eagerness of his desire to reach 
 home in life, which was finally accomplished. He 
 was conscious of the blessing of being permitted 
 again to see his home, and the adjoining letter 
 from Mr. Lockhart conveyed to me the last 
 communication I was ever to receive from my 
 friend. 
 
 Abbotsford, 12iA July 1832. 
 
 My dear Skene, — Sir W. Scott has stood his 
 journey pretty well, and is to-day more like him- 
 self than he has been since his last attack. He 
 has evidently derived comfort from finding himself 
 at home, and if he goes on as he has begun, we 
 may yet, I would fain hope, see him able to enjoy 
 something of the society of his friends. I told 
 him I was going to write to you, and he desired 
 his best regards, saying, ' As soon as they think I 
 ought to see any one, I must have Skene out for a 
 day or two.' — Yours truly, 
 
 J. G. Lockhart. 
 
MEETING WITH THORWALDSEN 207 
 
 Thorwaldsen, the celebrated sculptor, thus 
 described to me Sir Walter Scott's visit to Rome 
 a short time before his death. These two re- 
 nowned characters, it appears, had often expressed 
 their anxious wish to have an opportunity of 
 meeting, and when they did thus meet, both in 
 the wane of their illustrious course, having in 
 their respective external appearances, as well as in 
 their celebrity and unassuming modesty, many 
 remarkable traits of resemblance — both tall, dig- 
 nified-looking men, bent with age, both having a 
 profusion of grey hair encircling their marked 
 features, with heavily shaded eyes — they found 
 that, though by reputation so intimately ac- 
 quainted with each other, and impressed with 
 mutual regard, they were altogether devoid of 
 any common language of communication. Gazing 
 at each other for a moment in silence, with in- 
 expressible satisfaction beaming in their counten- 
 ances, they embraced each other with fervour, 
 repeatedly shook each other cordially by the hand, 
 their eyes brightening in silent sympathy, and after 
 a short time of mutual contemplation without a 
 word said, repeated their embrace and parted, my 
 poor friend to hasten to his premature tomb, and 
 the other to repose a few years longer from the 
 labour of his active life. 
 
 Thorwaldsen mentioned the circumstance with 
 tears in his eyes, saying that it was the most 
 remarkable and beautifully interesting interview 
 he had ever enjoyed, and although it had been 
 
208 MENTAL ECLIPSE 
 
 his proud fate, during a long life, to have bieen 
 presented to almost all the illustrious characters 
 of his day, the impression of his meeting with 
 Scott dwelt more deeply in his mind than any 
 other. 
 
 Kaesidk, 15th August 1832. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I would immediately have 
 answered your letter, which I received a week 
 ago, but having called at Abbotsford just when I 
 got it, and telling the ladies your anxiety to 
 know about Sir Walter, Miss Scott said she ought 
 to have written to Mrs. Skene, and would 
 immediately do so, as it would do her good, she 
 said. So I thought I would wait for a few days. 
 
 But, alas ! I have nothing to say but what is 
 very painful, and although you seem to me to 
 have a right to know all about him, yet I feel it 
 impossible to give you an account in detail. 
 
 Your friend is helpless, and requires to be 
 attended in every respect as an infant of six 
 months old. Of his powerful mind, which, as it 
 were, shone over the civilised world, there remains 
 only a pale and uncertain glimmering. Some- 
 times, though but rarely, it blazes out for a brief 
 moment, and this makes the melancholy sight 
 more hard to bear. 
 
 They tell me he is seldom conscious, and he 
 complains greatly and speaks much, and he is 
 generally extremely restless and impatient, and, 
 they tell me, irritable. I have rarely seen him 
 show such symptoms, for he always knows me, 
 seems relieved to see m«, holds out his hand and 
 grasps mine, and looks in my face, and always 
 attempts to speak. Often he seems anxious to 
 inquire about or to tell me something, but he 
 rarely makes out a sentence, and when he finds he 
 
THE LAST DAYS 209 
 
 cannot make himself understood, he lets his head 
 sink and he remains silent until I offer to go 
 away, when he holds my hand firmly and some- 
 times entreats me not to go yet 1 I cannot well 
 picture to myself any scene more distressing. 
 From what I have heard and from anything I 
 have seen of the wanderings of his mind — for his 
 imagination (as I think) is, as heretofore, never at 
 rest — he seems more like one in a brain-fever than 
 anything else. He has evidently the power of 
 rousing and checking himself, but the effort 
 seems painful. He often cries out of pain, but 
 when questioned he says he feels none. 
 
 He is often out of bed in a Bath-chair, and has 
 several times been out on the grass before the 
 house. He always, as I think, understands what 
 I say. 
 
 All this is too distressing ; perhaps 1 need not 
 have said so much — for it must have given you 
 much pain. Should you favour me with a line to 
 ask me, I will from time to time let you know. 
 — With high esteem and regards, I am, sir, yours 
 very truly W. Laidlaw. 
 
 Sir Walter is certainly thinner, even greatly so, 
 than he was ; but I think it is from the effect of 
 his regimen. His pulse is very various. One day 
 I felt it 120 and rather feeble. Last night he 
 rested better than during the two previous ones. 
 He had got a large dose of Hyoscyamus. The 
 ladies were sinking from close and harassing 
 attendance, but I spoke to Clarkson, and he 
 prevailed on them to give it up. 
 
 Kaesidk, Sunday Even., 10 o'clock. 
 
 My dear Sie, — Although you have not asked 
 me, I write this as it were to prepare you for what 
 is next to come. 
 
 o 
 
210 DEATH 
 
 It is most probable that your illustrious friend 
 will not survive over to-morrow. Gangrene com- 
 menced more than twenty-four hours ago. 
 
 The back became excoriated. Dr. Ross, who 
 has long been his physician in Edinburgh, was 
 upon a visit to his brother. Col. Ross, at Gatton- 
 side House, and has attended him for nearly the 
 last week. 
 
 Mr. Lockhart has written for Major Scott and 
 Charles. 
 
 When the end comes that we have hoped for, 
 it often comes to surprise us. — I am, with high 
 regard and esteeni, your most obedient servant, 
 
 W. Laidlaw. 
 
 Mr. William Laidlaw, the writer of the above 
 letters, was a sincere and attached friend of Sir 
 Walter Scott. He had long had the charge of 
 his property at Abbotsford, and was a man of very 
 superior acquirements and merit, whose society 
 was always most deservedly cherished by Sir 
 Walter. His letters to me upon this occasion 
 need no comment. They were speedily followed 
 by the intimation of my friend's death. 
 
 Abbotsford, S.\st September 1832. 
 
 Dear Mr. Skene, — Your old friend, my poor 
 father, expired here to-day at 1 p.m. 
 
 The funeral will take place at one o'clock on 
 Wednesday next, when your company is requested. 
 — Very faithfully yours, Charles Scott. 
 
 We may truly apply to the fate of Sir Walter 
 Scott the words of the biographer of Wicklyff: 
 
 'Thus prematurely was terminated the career 
 
SCOTT'S CHARACTER 211 
 
 of this extraordinary man. His days were not 
 extended to the length usually allotted to our 
 species. Ten more years of vigorous exertion 
 might reasonably have been expected from the 
 virtuous and temperate habits of his exemplary 
 life, but the earthly tenement was probably worn 
 out by the intense and fervid energy of the spirit 
 within ; and if his mortal existence be measured 
 by the amount of his labours and achievements, 
 he must appear to us as full of days as he was of 
 honours.' 
 
 Slender as the foregoing correspondence is, it 
 would be sufficient, were nothing else in existence, 
 to show the very amiable character of the man, 
 and the singular stability of that character under 
 all the vicissitudes and assaults to which its 
 steadiness was exposed. But his disposition was 
 habitually and imperturbably of that modest and 
 unpretending tone that seemed to be proof against 
 the allurements of applause, and the result of my 
 knowledge of his character was such that I do 
 most conscientiously consider it as standing above 
 the power of a flattered portraiture, were I capable 
 of drawing it. 
 
 The only apprehension I ever heard him express 
 as connected with his death, and it was an idea 
 which often disturbed his thoughts, was the dread 
 that his body would survive his mind, and that 
 a second childhood would overtake him. He 
 seemed quite aware that he was not destined to 
 be an old man, and a consciousness of a constitu- 
 
212 SCOTT'S TORYISM 
 
 tional tendency to palsy led to the apprehension 
 of the event which actually befell him, and the 
 latter term of his life, as was so feelingly described 
 by Mr, Laidlaw, was that of utter helplessness 
 both of body and mind, evincing occasionally a 
 momentary gleam of reason, seldom lasting 
 beyond the utterance of one sane thought, and 
 then instantly again subsiding into the vague 
 and meaningless wanderings to which he gave 
 utterance. 
 
 During his last days, he repeatedly beckoned to 
 his son-in-law as if anxious to make some com- 
 munication, but the consciousness had always 
 passed before Mr, Lockhart could reach him, so 
 that his object was never attained. It probably 
 had reference to the patrimonial affairs of his 
 family, for his literary arrangements had been 
 some time before settled to his satisfaction, and, 
 as appears from his letter to me from Naples, 
 apparently to his conviction more advantageously 
 than what ultimately turned out to be the case : 
 as to public affairs, the unhappy tendency which 
 they had for some time taken, had made him 
 banish that subject from his mind in utter disgust 
 and sorrow. Yet there did not breathe a man 
 within these kingdoms so disinterestedly and in- 
 tensely patriotic as Sir Walter Scott, in so far as 
 patriotism consists in the love of and devotion to 
 one's country, in anxiety for its best interests, 
 and pure affection for one's countrymen, and not 
 that hypocritical cant and unprincipled disguise 
 
INSULTED AT JEDBURGH 218 
 
 which had latterly begun to usurp that sacred 
 name, and to mislead the unwary multitude to 
 their ruin. Nothing so much embittered the 
 closing years of his life as the waning character 
 of the people he so much loved, and whose better 
 features it had ever been the pleasure of his 
 life to portray, to see them the prey of an 
 heartless and designing faction, eagerly swallow- 
 ing the poison so industriously diffused among 
 them, as well by those who knew its virulence, 
 as by the many unconscious and conceited 
 tools who propagated the mischief which their 
 honesty would have spurned, had they been clear- 
 sighted enough to penetrate the veil under which 
 they were led. 
 
 The last public appearance which Sir Walter 
 made was in the County meeting at Jedburgh, 
 where he found himself in the midst of his neigh- 
 bours and acquaintances. Bent with an infirmity 
 which seemed to have doubled his age, he rose to 
 address the meeting, and in his usual mild and 
 affectionate manner to offer the reasonings of his 
 powerful mind, the conclusions of his acute dis- 
 cernment and experience, and the advice of a pure 
 and virtuous heart. Then, for the first time in 
 his life, he was insulted by the hissings and 
 hootings of a set of miscreants brought there for 
 that purpose. There sat there men claiming 
 public esteem, calling themselves Sir Walter's 
 friends, yet not a voice was raised to cry 
 ' Shame.' So much for party ! No wonder that 
 
 o2 
 
214 THE FUNERAL 
 
 this scene should have rankled in a generous 
 mind like Sir Walter's ; it entirely reconciled him 
 to the idea of going abroad to remove himself 
 from the darkening scene and the corruption 
 which crept like a stinking fog over the land. 
 
 On Wednesday the 25th September 1832, I 
 proceeded to Abbotsford to accompany the re- 
 mains of my departed friend to the grave. It 
 had been the intention of the family to confine 
 the invitations to the funeral to the relations 
 and more particular friends, but by degrees it had 
 been found necessary to include the whole neigh- 
 bourhood, and many came unbidden, so that the 
 multitude assembled was very great, and some- 
 what oppressive to the family, because it did not 
 comprehend many residing at a greater distance 
 whose intimacy with the deceased would have 
 rendered their presence more acceptable. On 
 approaching the place, every access seemed 
 crowded with travellers bent on the same melan- 
 choly errand. I felt much affected by the 
 lugubrious aspect of the groups of mourners 
 gathered around that mansion where I had passed 
 so many cheerful and happy days. The avenue 
 and court were nearly blocked with the prepara- 
 tions for the ceremony about to ensue, yet the 
 welcome of my old friend and the sound of his 
 peculiar footfall seemed to sound in my ear as I 
 joined the assembled crowd in the library, and 
 heard my name announced, which used to call 
 forth the hearty salutation of him who now lay 
 
PUBLIC MOURNING 215 
 
 silent on his bier. We had a long, dreary time to 
 wait ; at length Principal Baird addressed the 
 meeting in prayer, and pronounced a panegyric 
 on the eminent character of Sir Walter, which 
 seemed a severe task for his son to bear. It 
 was beautiful to see the struggle which his manly 
 countenance exhibited during this part of the 
 ceremony, the powerful efforts he was making 
 to restrain the feelings which all but mastered 
 him, the compression of features, which instantly 
 responded to every affecting word which dropped 
 from the preacher's lips : it was the finest picture 
 I ever beheld. At length the painful scene was 
 closed, and the company proceeded to their car- 
 riages, as the distance to Dryburgh Abbey, the 
 place of interment, was considerable. Every ele- 
 vation as we passed along was crowded with the 
 country -people, generally in mourning, both men 
 and women. Every cottage, every house in 
 the villages through which we passed bore some 
 emblem of mourning — black drapery from the 
 windows or over the doors, crape covering the 
 signpost and boards — and the inhabitants stand- 
 ing in mourning at their doors gazed silently on 
 the pageant as it moved slowly along. The inhabi- 
 tants of Melrose were drawn up in mourning 
 on the sides of the street, and stood there with 
 their hats in their hands, and some old people 
 were set in chairs ; many were in tears : it was 
 an uncommonly touching scene. I observed an 
 old blind man sitting on a chair placed by the 
 
216 JOHNNY LOCKHART 
 
 side of the road. He also was in mourning, and 
 he turned up his sightless countenance to the pro- 
 cession as it passed, and showed that tears could 
 find their way out where no light could enter. It 
 was upon the whole a beautiful demonstration of 
 unbidden and unfeigned respect for the great 
 and virtuous character which had been re- 
 moved to a better world. When the coffin was 
 removed from the hearse, the servants of the 
 family insisted on being the only persons to bear 
 the remains of their beloved master to the grave, 
 which was readily acquiesced in. The pall-bearers 
 were his two sons, Walter and Charles Scott ; his 
 son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart; his two nearest relatives, 
 Scott of Nesbit and his brother, Scott of Rae- 
 burn ; the others, also relatives, were Scott of 
 Harden, Colonel Russell, Mr. Rutherford, and 
 Dr. Keith. Mr. Rector Williams read the service 
 of the English Liturgy at the grave. The grand- 
 son of the deceased, Mr. Lockhart's son, a beauti- 
 ful boy of seven years old, was also there. He 
 was his grandfather's name-son, and it was curious 
 to observe the workings of the little fellow's mind, 
 as his expression and attitude disclosed them, while 
 he stood beside his father when the company were 
 assembling in the library at Abbotsford. He was 
 obviously at a loss to comprehend the meaning 
 of the numerous assemblage with which the room 
 became silently but densely crowded, the grave 
 aspect of every one as they saluted with mute 
 respect the different members of the family, the 
 
A CHILD'S WONDER 217 
 
 stillness that pervaded the whole, interrupted 
 only by an occasional whisper dropped in some 
 corner. He gazed around in obvious wonder, 
 then looked inquiringly on his father's counten- 
 ance, and every now and then his hat, which he 
 held in his hand, and which was covered with a long 
 crape band, caught his attention, and he would 
 turn it round and round, and gaze at the long 
 black streamers which hung from it, then at the 
 weepers on the sleeves of his jacket. He was 
 quite startled when Principal Baird's sonorous 
 voice broke suddenly upon the silence, and the 
 agitation apparent in his uncle's countenance 
 during this part of the ceremony fixed his gaze 
 intently, and I observed his eyes fill, and the tears 
 at length trickling down his cheeks seemed to 
 the poor boy a relief. I could not but reflect 
 how true to nature, and how beautifully his de- 
 parted grandfather would have portrayed the 
 workings of that youthful mind had it fallen 
 under his observation, and how strikingly and 
 graphically he would have represented the affec- 
 ting scene of which I was then a witness. No 
 wonder that the poor child was perplexed, vague 
 as must have been his ideas about an event which 
 occasioned so many strange proceedings, for well 
 do I still recollect the incoherent notions which 
 struggled in my own mind upon the first occasion 
 when Death was palpably and practically intro- 
 duced to my thoughts by the death of a sister 
 when I myself was but a child, and the nursery- 
 
218 THE MYSTERY OF DEATH 
 
 maid had complied with my desire to look upon 
 the inanimate form of my little playmate. It 
 drew forth no tears, for I was incapable of under- 
 standing what had actually taken place ; it was 
 but a subject of alarm and distressing perplexity. 
 The first thing that affected me was seeing my 
 mother in tears, which I had never seen before or 
 conceived possible, and this made an impression 
 that is still vivid in my mind. I rushed out of 
 doors in quest of a place to hide myself in, and 
 made for the hen-house, where, climbing up into 
 the beams of the roof, I found means to ensconce 
 myself in a corner, where I remained the whole 
 day, weeping because I had seen the distressing 
 spectacle of my mother in tears, and not because 
 I had gazed upon the lifeless body of my poor 
 sister, for that circumstance conveyed to me no 
 idea that she was actually gone, and that I should 
 never see her again. 
 
 We may reason satisfactorily on the mysterious 
 event of Death, and persuade ourselves of thor- 
 oughly understanding its actual condition and 
 consequence ; nevertheless, a great degree of 
 uncertainty and dread must ever hang about it, at 
 which Nature involuntarily recoils. And even 
 upon the present occasion, when looking upon 
 the bier which contained the mortal remains of 
 the friend of many years, I seemed to hear the 
 tone of his familiar voice, the tread of his step, 
 and I had his form distinctly before me, not as 
 in sickness, far less as in death, but in his habitual 
 
SAD REFLECTIONS 219 
 
 cheerful bearing ; nor could I by any effort bring 
 my mind to be satisfied that the black case 
 actually contained the substance of which the 
 remembrance seemed to stand so vividly before 
 me. The conviction of his being somewhere else, 
 and of everything before me being an empty 
 pageant, was so deep as to seem beyond the reach 
 of reason, and internally to refuse concurrence or 
 sympathy with the proceedings in which I was 
 a partaker, and which the occasion was calculated 
 so strongly to call forth. I sympathised most 
 sincerely with the many struggles of poor Walter 
 to restrain his grief within due bounds, with the 
 alarm and vague wonder of Lockhart's little boy, 
 with the recollections excited by the scenes in 
 which I had passed so many happy hours, with 
 the solemn aspect and demeanour of the venerable 
 person who addressed the meeting, and with the 
 deep impression it seemed to make on the multi- 
 tude of strangers now crowding the apartment, 
 which my mind could not but connect with 
 circumstance of so different a character ; but 
 while I knew that the body of my friend lay in 
 the adjoining room, the walls of which had so 
 often rung with the merriment his lively conversa- 
 tion had excited (for the bed on which he expired 
 had been put up in the dining-room), it seemed to 
 refuse to connect itself with the image so indelibly 
 impressed on my mind, or with the proceedings 
 which were going forward. The deep impressions 
 pf the positive absence of my friend's personality. 
 
220 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 and of his existence elsewhere in full possession of 
 all those kindly feelings and associations with 
 which 1 had been so long connected, and without 
 which it would possess no identity, disposed my 
 mind to refuse even to acknowledge that there lay 
 the mortal part of poor Scott, ready dissolved to 
 mingle with the dust and be no more seen.^ 
 
 Postscript 
 (From James Skene's Journal) 
 
 Athens, 4<A December 1841. 
 
 The sorrowful news reached us to-day of the 
 unexpected death of my poor young friend, 
 Charles Scott, the penult member of Sir Walter's 
 once numerous family, whom we saw so lately, 
 full of health and spirits, on his passage to Persia 
 along with the Ambassador, of whose legation he 
 formed a part. He caught the malignant fever 
 of these unhealthy climates but a few days before 
 the conclusion of his journey, and expired soon 
 after reaching Teheran. He was not naturally of 
 a good constitution, as, in fact, none of Sir 
 Walter's family was, but when he came to see us 
 only two months ago at Athens, I was delighted 
 to hear him boast that he was in better health than 
 he had ever enjoyed, and that his professional 
 prospects had at length begun to brighten upon 
 him. For though a young man of good talents, 
 and most perseveringly zealous in attention to his 
 official duties in the British Foreign Office for 
 above fifteen years in the face of most discouraging 
 treatment, he had, to the disgrace of our Whig 
 rulers, been industriously kept down, and that 
 from no fault or incapacityof his own, but from the 
 
 • It is recorded that the writer fainted at the graveside. 
 
PALMERSTON AND PATRONAGE 221 
 
 very reason which with honourable minds might, 
 and would, have procured him justice, if not 
 favour, that of his being the son of so distinguished 
 and universally admired a character as Sir Walter 
 Scott. But Sir Walter and his family differed 
 from them in political sentiments, and with all 
 the sham pretences so loudly proclaimed of that 
 party, of joining in the public veneration for that 
 departed genius, his son, as a Conservative, was 
 considered a fitting object of their mean and 
 contemptible oppression. Fully sensible of the 
 injustice done him, he persevered in his duty 
 without a murmur, and, in the pride of his own 
 integrity, cautiously avoided giving any cause of 
 complaint, but he confessed to me how bitterly 
 galling it had been to him to see young Whiglings 
 of not half his standing in office constantly put 
 over his head and promoted to appointments, 
 which were his due, by his Whig chief. Lord 
 Palmerston, now happily dismissed from office ; 
 while he was suffered to linger on in neglect and 
 disappointment, wasting the best years of his life 
 in ill-requited labour and fruitless expectancy. 
 Nor was the injury less acutely felt firom the 
 consciousness that he owed it to so mean a sense 
 of vindictiveness against the memory of his revered 
 father. Such is the ascendency of party rancour 
 over the best principles of the human mind. 
 But poor Charles was also the brother-in-law of 
 Mr. LiOckhart, who in the Quarterly Review had 
 often and successfully shown up the political 
 conduct of my Lord Palmerston, a sin not to be 
 forgiven, and quite justifying the visitation of the 
 iniquity on all connected with him who might be 
 indisposed to serve their party views. 
 
 Charles Scott was my godson, and the time 
 seems but short since at his baptism I held up 
 the infant who is already numbered with the 
 
222 CHARLES SCOTT'S CAREER 
 
 dead, and laid in that far-distant region, a stranger, 
 where none exist to cherish the memory of the 
 poor youth, and when now even at home so few 
 remain of those who greeted his entrance into life 
 with the fond sympathy so many attached friends 
 felt for whatever interested his much-loved father. 
 For, engaged as Sir Walter's mind was in all 
 the fascinating pursuits of literature, always so 
 engrossing, and with him so rapidly spreading 
 out into the extended field of his fame, therie 
 never was a heart so bound up in domestic 
 affections as his, so simply pure, so kind and 
 true, and so free from every selfish thought. It 
 was his fond ambition, which I remember well he 
 often expressed to me, while engaged in estab- 
 lishing and decorating his newly acquired property 
 in his native district, that Heaven might bless him 
 by making him the founder of a family among 
 his much-loved Border Scots. Having begun life 
 on slender means and doubtful prospects, he 
 looked forward with boundless thankfulness, as 
 his quiver filled with a hopeful race, and his 
 rapidly augmenting fortune kept pace with their 
 increase, to seeing sons and daughters gathering 
 round him, responding to his most sanguine hopes 
 in their progress and acquirements, and, as life 
 crept on, marrying and presenting him with 
 grandchildren to confirm his hopes. It seems to 
 me but the recollection of yesterday, when at 
 Abbotsford all was prosperity, hope and joy, my 
 ever-cheerful friend encircled by those he loved, 
 blessed in his oflFspring, then stepping confidently 
 into their stations in life, happy in the society 
 of his choice, and the incense of public favour and 
 admiration of his talents, as well as esteem for 
 his character — comforts which gladdened the very 
 atmosphere he breathed. 
 
 How changed is now the scene, and how short 
 
LAST VISIT TO ABBOTSFORD 223 
 
 the space required to dissipate all these fond 
 anticipations, to reduce to dust the whole fabric 
 of hopes that seemed so promising I The mansion 
 so redolent to me of past delight and of pleasing 
 recollections, the seat of constant welcome, of 
 comfort, of enjoyment so unalloyed, is now in the 
 silence of desertion, fast falling to decay. The 
 master-spirit that animated its walls is laid low 
 in the tomb, and even borne with sorrow to the 
 grave to which had preceded him his wife, his 
 favourite daughter, and even his grandchild, whose 
 gentle nature and precocious talents had so much 
 engaged his affection, and for whose instruction 
 he had prepared the Tales of a Grandfather. His 
 remaining daughter soon followed, and now his 
 son, leaving but one remaining, the present Sir 
 Walter, who has no children, and should his 
 rather precarious constitution, exposed to the 
 hazard of an Indian climate, give way, the grave 
 would close on the whole family. 
 
 Since Sir Walter's death I have but once seen 
 Abbotsford, and that when on a melancholy 
 errand as trustee to set apart those articles more 
 immediately associated with the memory of my 
 departed friend for the purpose of preserving 
 them in the mansion under the safeguard of 
 the entail, and it is not likely that I shall ever 
 again pass its threshold, nor do I wish to. So 
 great a change has of late come over everything 
 connected with my former haunts, that I seem to 
 myself as if translated to a different sphere of 
 being, and why should the mind linger like a rest- 
 less spirit around the subjects of bygone recollec- 
 tions, however strong their hold on memory ? As 
 it is, it is surely for the best ; these changes come 
 as kind monitors pointing to its final, and, at my 
 time of life, not distant close. 
 
 The following are a few reminiscences regarding 
 
224 MRS. SKENE'S REMINISCENCES 
 
 Sir Walter Scott by Mrs. Skene, with letters 
 addressed to her by Sir Walter : — 
 
 The first time I recollect hearing of Sir Walter 
 Scott was soon after I left the schoolroom, in 
 October 1804, when my sister Lady Wood and I 
 went to a review of the Yeomanry at Dalkeith. 
 Sir Walter, not being acquainted, did not ride up 
 to the carriage, so I did not know which was he, 
 but each of our friends, and they were not few, as 
 they came up to us, had some good saying of his 
 to repeat for our entertainment. From that time 
 I constantly heard of him, but did not meet him 
 for a year and a half after, a few months after 
 I was married, when I went to a Committee 
 supper at Sir William Rae's, where he was. Of 
 course, from that time I was in the habit of seeing 
 him often, but it was not till the winter of 1807- 
 1808, when we were living in Castle Street with 
 Mrs. Skene, that I really became acquainted with 
 him. He was then engaged in writing Marmion 
 and was desirous to have some drawings made for 
 a copy he meant to present to the Princess of 
 Wales, which Skene undertook to do for him, and 
 as several of the drawings were done on the pages 
 of the book itself as they came from the printers, 
 Sir Walter used to come in every day on his way 
 from the Parliament House, and sit an hour with 
 us, bringing the sheet with him. Very often he 
 read to us the proof-sheet of other parts, which he 
 was taking home to correct, making his remarks 
 
JEFFREY AND MARMION 225 
 
 upon it as he went along; telling us how he 
 meant to alter it, if he was not quite pleased with 
 the poetry. This, however, did not happen often, 
 but I remember being particularly struck on one 
 occasion by the readiness with which it was done 
 when necessary. One day he had delighted us 
 very much with the famous description of the 
 Battle of Flodden, which he read to us with great 
 animation. I see him before me at this moment 
 as he stood in the middle of the room, partly read- 
 ing, partly reciting it. After finishing, he pointed 
 out some lines he did not like ; then pacing up and 
 down the room for a few seconds, while Skene 
 was putting by his things to go to walk with him, 
 he sat down at the table, and taking up the pen, 
 he wrote the new lines, which he repeated to us, on 
 the margin of the proof-sheet. 
 
 During the whole of this winter we were much 
 at Sir Walter's house, often at dinner, and still 
 oftener in the evening. On one of these occasions 
 we were of the party when Mr. Jeffrey was invited 
 after having published his review of Marmion. 
 The party was a most amusing one ; it was that of 
 which so many absurd accounts were given after- 
 wards. I have always looked back to the society 
 at Sir Walter's house that winter as the most 
 delightful I ever knew. The party at dinner 
 seldom exceeded ten or twelve, and a few more 
 were added during the evening. If it was small 
 enough we returned to the dining-room to supper, 
 when Sir Walter either read something, generally 
 
226 EDINBURGH SOCIETY 
 
 suggested by the conversation, or told stories and 
 talked till near twelve o'clock, when we departed. 
 I recollect our having a most amusing discussion 
 one night. Sir Walter had read part oi Marmion, 
 not then published, where the death of Constance 
 is described. Some of the ladies pleaded for poor 
 Constance, and there was a most animated debate, 
 but Sir Walter was quite inexorable, and insisted 
 on building her up. When the party in the 
 evening was more numerous and less intimate, we 
 supped in the drawing-room at small tables, and 
 the conversation was, of course, more general, and 
 if the Ballantynes were there they generally sang 
 after supper. Our party generally consisted of 
 Mrs. Hamilton, the authoress, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Erskine, Miss Rutherford and the Miss Russells, 
 Miss Skene and myself, with the addition some- 
 times of poor Lydia White, who spent that 
 winter in Edinburgh, Mrs. H. Siddons, the 
 Scotts of Harden, and Murrays of Simprin; 
 besides these we generally met with Mr. WiUiam 
 Clerk, Mr. JefFrey, J. A. Murray, Professor Play- 
 fair, Mrs. Thomson, Lord Desart and his friend 
 Mrs. Smythe, and any strangers or people of 
 distinction who happened to be in Edinburgh; 
 in short, the best society of all sorts was always 
 to be met at his house, and to those who mix in 
 the society of Edinburgh now, such evenings can 
 only be recollected with regret that none such are 
 now to be enjoyed ; the change that has taken 
 place in the society of Edinburgh is remarked by 
 
NEWARK CASTLE 227 
 
 every one, and the great cause seems to be that 
 there is at present no very distinguished literary 
 character, and that all our Scottish families who 
 can afford it spend the winter in London, so that 
 there is nobody entitled, either by birth, fortune, 
 or distinguished talent, to take a decided lead in 
 the society so as to collect together at their house 
 talented and agreeable people or political parties. 
 Formerly my father's house did this service to 
 society.^ No stranger came in any way distin- 
 guished for rank or talent, who did not bring an 
 introduction to him, and at his house they were 
 sure to meet all who were worth meeting in 
 Scotland. At his death Sir Walter succeeded to 
 the same sort of thing, and latterly, though in a 
 much smaller degree, Sir John Hay ; since his 
 death the society of Edinburgh may be considered 
 as entirely broken up. 
 
 In the course of the summer of 1808 we 
 paid a visit to Ashestiel, the only time I ever 
 was there while Sir Walter inhabited it, and 
 spent a few days most agreeably, as I had never 
 been in that part of the country before. We 
 drove about all the forenoon, Skene and Sir 
 Walter being generally on horseback. One day 
 we drove to Newark Castle, and after walking 
 about till we were tired, we all sat down on the 
 grass, when Sir Walter recited Southey's ballad 
 of • Queen Orraca,' which he had heard some 
 time before. I was so much amused by it that 
 
 ■ Sir William Forbes. 
 
228 AUTHORSHIP OF WAFEBLEY 
 
 he repeated it every night while we remained. It 
 was afterwards published in a collection called 
 The English Minstrels, of which he sent me a 
 copy, and on reading the ballad which I had heard 
 so often recited, I was quite aware that, in spite of 
 the length and of his only having heard it once, 
 he had not made a single change. For some years 
 after this we lived in the country and only paid 
 occasional visits to Edinburgh. During one of 
 these, when Napoleon had received a check in his 
 career just before the peace of Tilsit, Sir Walter 
 composed two songs, which I copied, and which I 
 am sorry to say I lost along with many other 
 things of the kind. During another of these 
 short visits, I recollect sitting after supper at his 
 house till two o'clock of the morning we were to 
 leave Edinburgh, listening to his reading of part 
 of The Lady of the Lake, then about to be 
 published. 
 
 While we were living in the country, Waverley 
 appeared. It was sent to us amongst other new 
 books from the Circulating Library in Aberdeen. 
 We read it with much delight and with many 
 conjectures as to the author, but from the first I 
 was convinced from an odd circumstance that it 
 was written by Sir Walter. All the time I was 
 reading it I could not help fancying I heard him 
 relating it aloud in his peculiar manner, for which 
 I could only account by supposing that he was 
 the author, and that the turn of expression and 
 language insensibly led me to think of him, 
 
VISIT TO ABBOTSFORD 229 
 
 and recalled the sound of his voice to my recollec- 
 tion. As so few of his early associates who knew 
 the circumstance remain, although it occurred 
 before I knew him, it is perhaps worth while to 
 mention that just as he was commencing to write 
 The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the Yeomanry 
 went to spend their usual yearly fortnight at 
 Musselburgh, where Sir Walter, having met 
 with some slight accident, was confined to the 
 house for three or four days, during which time he 
 wrote three Cantos of the poem, I rather think 
 the three first, but I am not quite sure. 
 
 In 1816, we returned to reside in Edinburgh, 
 and from that time till his death our intercourse 
 was uninterrupted and of the most intimate kind. 
 During the six months Sir Walter spent in town 
 we were seldom a day without meeting, and 
 during summer we always spent some time with 
 him at Abbotsford, besides generally visiting him 
 in spring or at Christmas. 
 
 The first visit we paid to Abbotsford was in 
 July 1818, when the party consisted of the family, 
 Miss Skene, Mrs. Morritt of Rokeby, and our- 
 selves ; with such a party, which the late Lord 
 Somerville sometimes joined, our time passed 
 most agreeably. One evening the conversation 
 led to the mention of St. Mary's Loch, which I 
 expressed a great wish to see, and, Mrs. Morritt 
 never having been there, it was agreed we should 
 go next morning. As it was twenty miles off, we 
 were to set out early. Upon inquiring, it was 
 
 p2 
 
230 ST. MARY'S LOCH 
 
 found that Peter, the old coachman, was ill and 
 could not go, but as we were all unwilling to give 
 up an expedition from which we promised our- 
 selves so much pleasure, it was determined that 
 Lady Scott, Miss Skene, and Anne were to go in 
 our carriage, while Sir Walter and Mr. Morritt 
 Were to join in his landaulet, with Sophia and 
 myself on the dickie, and Skene was to ride 
 Walter's pony. To this arrangement I certainly 
 owed one of the most delightful days of my life. 
 We left Abbotsford about nine o'clock on a most 
 beautiful summer's morning. Our way lay for 
 some time along the banks of the Tweed, and 
 after that we followed the course of the Yarrow 
 to its source, where it issues from St. Mary's 
 Loch. Every inch of the ground had its ballad 
 and its story, with all of which Sir Walter was 
 acquainted, and as Mr. Morritt knew most of 
 them and had an equally good memory, if Sir 
 Walter forgot a few lines, Mr. Morritt was sure 
 to supply them. The last part of the way we all 
 walked, and after wandering about the banks of 
 the lake till we were tired, we adjourned to an old 
 churchyard, where we spread a shepherd's plaid 
 upon one of the table tombstones and made 
 a most comfortable luncheon. Our horses being 
 by this time fed and rested, we got into our 
 carriages to return home. When the evening 
 began to be cold, we shut up the carriage, I 
 sitting between the gentlemen, and Sophia, then 
 but a girl, sat on her father's knee. During the 
 
A LITERARY PICNIC 231 
 
 four hours occupied in returning home Sir Walter 
 and Mr. Morritt conversed upon every sort of 
 subject in a manner which none but themselves 
 would have done, and to which I wish I could do 
 justice. They discussed all the modern poets, 
 and finding that I had never read Wordsworth's 
 Excursion and rather held his other poems cheap, 
 they recited passage after passage for my benefit. 
 Coleridge, Southey, Crabbe, and many others 
 were treated in the same manner. Some parts 
 of the ground we were passing over led to the 
 Covenanters and Dundee, a subject about which 
 Sir Walter was then much occupied, as he was 
 employed upon Old Mortality. We had then 
 the traditions still remaining in the country and 
 the places named from those events, which led 
 Mr. Morritt to the traditions and superstitions of 
 Yorkshire and to many acute observations and 
 anecdotes of Greece, where he had travelled. 
 In short, it would require a memory as good as 
 theirs to recollect a tithe of the conversation of 
 those eight uninterrupted hours, and yet every 
 word was worth recollecting. In returning, the 
 postillion proposed going round by Selkirk to get 
 fresh horses, which we did, and while we were 
 sitting in the Inn till the carriage was ready, Sir 
 Walter bid Sophia sing the old ballad of 'The 
 Souters of Selkirk,' as an appropriate conclusion 
 to the day. About nine o'clock we arrived safely 
 at Abbotsford, having been fuUy twelve hours 
 absent. At this time Sir Walter was still living 
 
232 THE CHAPEL ROOM 
 
 in the old farmhouse, which was very small 
 indeed, consisting only of two small public rooms 
 and four very small bedrooms above. This just 
 contained his own family. Besides this he had 
 built a kitchen and small bedroom and dressing- 
 room in a detached building which were inhabited 
 by Mr. Morritt and us. One morning Skene 
 proposed to him to connect this building (after- 
 wards called the ' Chapel Room,' I don't know 
 why) to the house by building a small addition 
 to the drawing-room. Sir Walter was delighted 
 with the idea, and they set to work immediately 
 to measure the ground and make plans which 
 were afterwards much enlarged, but the ground- 
 plan executed was that concocted at the first. 
 
 It is evident that from an intercourse so con- 
 stant as ours and continued through so many 
 years, it would be quite easy to fill any number 
 of sheets with notes such as these, but as I know 
 it has been done by another much better than I 
 can do it, I need not waste time and paper much 
 longer on the subject. I never had any confi- 
 dential conversation with Sir Walter of a nature 
 to be committed to paper, and as to general con- 
 versation, opinions, and remarks, unless I had 
 written them down at the time — ^^although I have 
 heard many that well deserved to be preserved — 
 I could not answer for their correctness, and 
 thus they would lose all their value. I need only 
 say that during the fifteen years from the time 
 we returned to Edinburgh till his death, we had 
 
ACTUAL INCIDENTS 233 
 
 the opportunity of meeting at his house with every 
 person of rank or note that came to Scotland. 
 
 I shall now only mention a few instances, 
 which I picked up in conversation, of the very 
 happy use to which he turned every httle circum- 
 stance that occurred to him. He not only never 
 forgot anything he heard, but it was there to be 
 made use of when he was writing his novels, and 
 this probably gave many of his descriptions the air 
 of truth that characterises them. As an instance, 
 the very amusing description in the introduction 
 to Quentin Durward, of the dish of spinach with 
 the hare and hounds cut in toast upon it, I heard 
 him give as having been prepared for himself by 
 an old Mr, Canvon, who was his French master, 
 and with whom he once dined. The 'Blessed 
 Bear ' in Waverley shaped like a lion he had been 
 forced to drain to the bottom by Lord Strath- 
 more's Factor, the first time he visited Glamis. 
 Another time I remember hearing him describe 
 the death of the late Mr. Elphinstone of Glack, 
 who dropped down in the Parliament House 
 when Sir Walter, who was then very young, 
 happened to be close to him, and he of course 
 went to his assistance to try if anything could 
 be done to save him. A very short time after 
 Ivanhoe was published, I found the death of 
 Bois-Guilbert described in the very same words 
 he had used in describing that of Mr. Elphinstone. 
 To these I might add many others, but I think 
 I have written enough already. 
 
234 AN UNWILLING PUBLISHER 
 
 Abbotsford, 29th September 1830. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Skene, — I am extremely 
 obliged to you for informing me of the health 
 of poor Mrs. Mackenzie, whose loss has been 
 heavy in itself and must be very severely felt 
 from the blank which it draws over future pros- 
 pects. The family are, however, promising, 
 dutiful and affectionate, which opens a hopeful 
 though distant prospect for quiet so soon as the 
 sense of affliction becomes less poignant. William 
 Mackenzie left me this morning, though too early 
 to put this in his pocket. 
 
 I can make nothing satisfactory out of Murray, 
 who is the case of the horse whom one man 
 may bring to the water, but twenty cannot 
 compel him to drink. He objects the impossi- 
 bility of finding a competent young person to 
 execute the necessary curtailment and abridg- 
 ment, the improbability of such person giving 
 contentment to the others, and the increase of 
 expense attached to the double task of author and 
 editor. In short, he differs from Lockhart in the 
 opinion that the journals might be used in the 
 shape of his Family Library, so I fear that there 
 is no more to be done, for Lockhart, of course, 
 has not the means of forcing upon his bookseller 
 anything which he does not consider as hopeful. 
 The times are so very critical that nothing will 
 do in literature that has not the advantage, de- 
 served or undeserved, of a run of success, and 
 there was never a time in my acquaintance with 
 such things that booksellers were more unwilling 
 to encounter expense or undertake adventures 
 which they consider as doubtful. All this is 
 unpleasant, but there is no help for it, it must be 
 told. It could not be agreeable to Skene or his 
 friends to have such an undertaking forced on the 
 
LORD PITSLIGO 235 
 
 publisher, if it were indeed possible to do so. 
 Lockhart's natural desire to get over the obstacle 
 has perhaps kept him too long from communicat- 
 ing the unpleasant fact. 
 
 Sophia and he will be here for a week or longer 
 in case your leisure should permit you to come 
 this way within that time, and we will be 
 always here by ourselves. I begin to wonder 
 how 1 shall do under a total alteration of habits, 
 but if I live I have always the resource of coming 
 to town for a few days. 
 
 I am so anxious to get my disagreeable com- 
 munication over that 1 will not just now send it 
 up with other matter, for I am heartily vexed and 
 cannot mend. My love to Skene and the young 
 family whom I conclude you will not be absent 
 from longer than Mrs. Mackenzie will necessarily 
 require your attendance. — Believe me, always 
 with much respect and regard, yours most 
 sincerely, Walter Scott. 
 
 AbbotsforDj Thursday. 
 
 My deab Mrs. Skene, — I am sorry our good 
 weather is beginning now you have left us. Noth- 
 ing can give us more pleasure than that Kitty 
 enjoyed and was the better for her visit. I wove 
 your anecdote of Lord Pitsligo into the sheet you 
 saw. I had not then got your letter, so inter- 
 preted the proverbial phrase as if it had recom- 
 mended steadiness to the party you are engaged 
 with ; if a man goes to the first day of a wedding, 
 it is unfair to blink the second. 
 
 I will soon hear from Lockhart, which I will 
 have the honour to acquaint you with. 
 
 Kindest love to Skene and the young people. — 
 I am, dear Mrs. Skene, always most respectfully 
 and truly yours, Walter Scott. 
 
236 ANXIETIES OF AUTHORSHIP 
 
 Edinburgh, Tuesday. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Skene, — The Sisters of the Silver 
 Cross have extended their subscription to two 
 hundred guineas. 
 
 * Where'er you laid a stick before. 
 See ye lay ten times mair.' 
 
 I should like to call with Lady Morton betwixt 
 four and five to see progress and will bring the 
 motto with me. — Yours truly, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Tuesday Morning. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Skene, — I will be sure to see 
 Cadell to-day and speak to him on the subject of 
 your note ; his proposal is a foolish one, for in 
 what sense can any one subscribe a quotation, but 
 what he wishes may perhaps be got at in some 
 more natural manner. I have no doubt he may 
 be in time for the second livraison of Waverley 
 and the first of Guy Mannering. I do not know 
 whether I should congratulate or condole with 
 you on embarking in the anxieties of authorship. 
 — Always yours most truly and respectfully, 
 
 W. S. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbotsford, 223, 232. 
 
 ghost story, 60, 106. 
 
 Alvanley, Lady, . dies at Edin- 
 burgh, 129. 
 
 America criticised, 171-174. 
 
 Ancrum, 39. 
 
 Anne of Qeierstein, 165. 
 
 Antiquary, The, 163, 185. 
 
 Antiquitates Reekiana, 90, 92, 104, 
 106, 109. 
 
 Antiquities of Edinburgh Castle, 
 121. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Sir William, 176. 
 
 Architecture, Domestic, of Scot- 
 land, 154. 
 
 Armstrong, the Freebooter, 130. 
 
 Ashestiel, 30, 68, 227. 
 
 Baden, Duke of, 88. 
 
 Baillie, Joanna, 116. 
 
 Baird, Principal, 215. 
 
 Bannatyne Club, 179. 
 
 'Battle' of Cross Causeway, 16. 
 
 Bell Rock Lighthouse, 109. 
 
 Black Dwarf, 39, 163. 
 
 Black Turnpike, 99. 
 
 Blore, Edward, Architect of Ab- 
 botsford, 60. 
 
 Blackwood's Magazine, 125, 146. 
 
 Board of Trustees, 175. 
 
 Border farmers, 38. 
 
 Borthwick Water, 39. 
 
 Boswell, James, 93, 94. 
 
 Sir A., 93 ; killed in duel, 
 
 94. 
 
 Bowed Davie, 38. 
 
 Brace, Scott's deerhound, 170. 
 
 Bride of Lammermow, 78. 
 
 Buccleuch, Duke of, 39, 179. 
 
 Tower, 39. 
 
 Burger's VolksMeder, 2, 70, vi. 
 
 Burke murders, 155, 167. 
 
 ' Burning the Water,' 29. 
 
 Burns, Robert, 141. 
 
 Byron, alleged ghost of, 62. 
 
 Cadell, Mr., 11, 190, 191, 236. 
 
 Camp, Scott's dog, 66. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander, 23. 
 
 Canning, Mr., 128, 129. 
 
 Cannon, ancient, 162. 
 
 Carmichael, Captain, 162. 
 
 Cartulary of Melrose, 179. 
 
 Castle Spectre, The, 143. 
 
 Chronicles of the Canongate, 78. 
 
 Clerk, William, 21, 226, xii. 
 
 Colmslie, 112. 
 
 Constable, Archibald, 42, 43, 104 ; 
 his career, 146, 146 ; last inter- 
 view with Scott, 143. 
 
 Constable, George, 162, 163. 
 
 Crabbe, the poet, 116. 
 
 Craigmillar Castle, 17. 
 
 Craignethan, 162. 
 
 Croker, J. W. 103, 106, 116. 
 
 Crookston Dollar, 160. 
 
 Cross Causeway, 'Battle' of, 16. 
 
 Cross of Edinburgh, 99. 
 
 Curie, Mrs., Scott's aunt, 91, 92. 
 
 Dalkeith, Lord, 80. 
 Davy, Sir Humphry, 116. 
 Dinner-party spoilt, 66. 
 Dirk Hatteraick's song, 62. 
 Doom of Devorgoil, The, 142. 
 Douglas, Mr. David, ix. 
 Dryburgh Abbey, 69, 216. 
 Dundas, Sir R., 97. 
 
 'Earl Walter,' 13, 23. 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss, 116. 
 
 Edinburgh Academy, 121 ; open- 
 ing of, 129. 
 
 Light Horse, vi, 10-13. 
 
 Edinburgh Review, 146. 
 
 Edmonston, Mrs., introduces 
 Skene to Scott, 3. 
 
 Elphinstone of Glack, 233. 
 
 Eildon Hills, 112. 
 
 Tree, 110. 
 
 Elibank Tower, 39. 
 
 2S7 
 
238 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Elvan Water, 112. 
 Encyclopeedia Britannica, 146. 
 Erskine, William, Lord Kin- 
 
 nedder, 112, 142, 226, xii; 
 
 death of, 113 : letters to Scott, 
 
 116. 
 Ettrick Valley, 30. 
 
 Water, 34. 
 
 Evans, Major, 122, 123. 
 
 Fast Castle, 170. 
 
 Ferguson, Sir Adam, 22, 69, 
 
 166. 
 Forbes, Sir William, 16, 26, 27, 
 
 227, vii. 
 Forster, Rev. Edward, 21, 22. 
 Forbin, Marquis de, 184. 
 Ford at Ashestiel, 26. 
 Frendraught, burning of, 161. 
 'Friends of the People,' 157. 
 
 Gabbll, Dr., Headmaster of 
 
 Winchester, 128. 
 Gaelic Dictionary, 162. 
 Ghost at Abbotsford, 60. 
 Glenkinnen Brook, 27. 
 Gilnockie, 39. 
 Glendearg, 111, 112. 
 Glengarry receives Prince 
 
 Gustavus, 86. 
 Gordon, G. Huntly, 74-76. 
 Gordon, Major Pryse, 74. 
 OStz von Berlichingen, Transla- 
 
 lation of, 3. 
 Graham Island, 197-201. 
 Grant, Sir Francis, his portrait 
 
 of Scott, 191. 
 Great Unknown, The, 61, xi. 
 Greenough, G. B., 23. 
 Green Mantle, x. 
 Grey Mare's Tail, 32. 
 Gtuy Mannering, 34, 39, 52, 236. 
 
 Hall, Captain Basil, 171-174. 
 Hamilton, Mrs., 116. 
 Haxelcleugh, 111. 
 Heber, Richard, 121. 
 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, 
 29, 38. 
 
 Innbs, Gilbert, of Stow, 161. 
 Iterburg, Count. See Prince Gus- 
 tavus. 
 Ivanhoe, 185, 233. 
 
 James, G. P. R., 180, 184. 
 Jedburgh, 39. 
 Jeffrey, Francis, 226. 
 Johnson, Doctor, 127, visit to 
 Scotland, 172. 
 
 Kelso, 39. 
 
 King of the Belgians, 116. 
 King Rene of Provence, 165. 
 Knox, John, his Chair, 103. 
 
 Ladp of the Lake, The, 228. 
 Laidlaw, W., 27, 36, 46; as 
 
 amanuensis, 75 ; entertains 
 
 Scott, 36; letter from, 208, 
 
 209. 
 Langholm, 39, 80. 
 LUy of the Last Minstrel, The, 19, 
 
 23, 229. 
 Lenore, Ti'anslation of, 3. 
 Library at Abbotsford, 165, 166. 
 Liverpool, Lord, 81. 
 Loch of the Lowes, 38. 
 Loch Skene, 83. 
 Lockhart, J. G., 176, 234; letter 
 
 from, 20, 206. 
 Lockhart, Johnnie, 216. 
 
 Macgleish, Scott's butler, 147. 
 Macgregor, Murray, 17. 
 Mackenzie, Colin, 103, 191, 192 ; 
 
 paymaster in Yeomanry, 14 ; 
 
 presents Scott with swan, 96. 
 Mackenzie, Henry, 180. 
 Macdonell, Colonel, 177. 
 Makdougall, Sir G., 71. 
 Malta, Scott's visit to, 193-196. 
 Manor Water, 38. 
 Marmion, 16, 19, 26, 54, 224, 226, 
 
 226 ; Canto iv, dedicated to 
 
 James Skene, v. 
 Mathews, Charles, 167, 168. 
 Megget River, 38. 
 Melrose, 216. 
 Melville, Lord, 73. 
 Milne, Nicol, 96, 96, 97, 101. 
 Minstrelsy, The, 39, 78. 
 Minto, 39. 
 Moira, Earl of, 17. 
 Moirs, The, of Stoney wood, v. 
 Monastery, The, 111. 
 Morritt, J. B. S.,20, 39, 46, 230, 
 
 231, xii ; habits of anecdote, 68. 
 Morritt, Mrs., 229. 
 Morton Papers, 102. 
 
INDEX 
 
 239 
 
 Murray of Broughton, 78. 
 Murray Keith, Mrs., 77 ; suggests 
 
 Bride qf Lammermoor, 78. 
 Murray, Mr. John, 234. 
 
 Napier op Merchiston, 170. 
 Naples, Scott's visit to, 202-206. 
 Napoleon, Life of, 186. 
 Newark Castle, 227. 
 
 Oil, Gas Company, 162, 163, 163. 
 Old Mortality, 33, 231. 
 
 Passt, Sir Edward, 177. 
 Papon's History of Provence, 166. 
 Parr, Doctor, 127. 
 Paul's Letters, 42. 
 Pitsligo, Lord, 236. 
 Poller, Baron, 80, 86. 
 Prince Charles Edward, 82; de- 
 terioration of, 83. 
 Prince Gustavus of Sweden, 80, 
 
 84 ; presents a ring to Scott, 
 
 85 ; visits Highlands, 86 ; visits 
 Ireland, 87; wounded under 
 Prince Schwartzenberg, 88. 
 
 Pringle, Alexander, 180. 
 Purdie, Tom, 164, 165, 166. 
 
 QuAicHS, Highland, 161. 
 
 Quarterly Review, 146. 
 
 Quentin Durmard, 184, 233, vii. 
 
 Rab, Sir W., 16, 108, 109, 176. 
 
 Raehurn, Sir H., 95, 98, 99, 100; 
 portrait of Scott, 147, 148, 179, 
 180, 183 ;servesin Yeomanry, 16. 
 
 Ramsay, Rev. E. B., 149. 
 
 Regalia of Scotland, 69. 
 
 Rhymer's Glen, 110. 
 
 Rob Roy, 163. 
 
 Rokeby, 39. 
 
 Rokeby, 41. 
 
 Rose, William Stewart, 42, 92. 
 
 Ross, Walter, 97, 99. 
 
 Roxburgh, 39. 
 
 Royal Society's Club, 103. 
 
 Royal visit to Edinburgh, 116, 
 117. 
 
 Rutherford, Dr. , Scott's uncle, 77. 
 
 Ruthven, Lady, 191. 
 
 St. Mary's Loch, 38, 229. 
 Sandy Knowe, 71, 168, 169. 
 
 Scott, Anne, 149. 
 
 Scott, Charles, 122, 220, 221. 
 
 Scott, Lady, 91 ; death of, 148, 
 149, 230. 
 
 Scott, Sophia, 230. 
 
 Scott, a bad linguist, 81 ; accident 
 to, 19 ; admitted to the Bar, 
 4 ; advice to a schoolgirl, 119 ; 
 appointed Sheriff and Clerk of 
 Session, 28 ; behaviour in 
 society, 6 ; Border excursions, 
 31 ; ' burning the water,' 29 ; 
 challenged to a duel, 63 ; charm 
 of conversation, 9 ; cheerful- 
 ness and good temper, 60 ; con- 
 duct in political controversy, 
 126 ; composes war song, 14 ; 
 conviviality, 66 ; death of, 210 ; 
 describes a shipwreck, 8 ; 
 desires drawing of his grave, 
 69 ; discharge of servants, 147 , 
 financial ruin, 135-139 ; funeral 
 of, 214-220, xii ; industry, 48 ; 
 insulted at Jedburgh, 213 ; 
 interest in criminal trials, 167 ; 
 interview with the Czar, 16 ; in- 
 terview with Thorwaldsen, 207 ; 
 journal of, ix ; lameness due to 
 a fall, 73 ; last illness, 208-210, 
 2121; last interview with Con- 
 stable, 143 ; love of dogs, 49; 
 nicknamed 'Earl Walter,' 13, 
 23 ; nursemaid plots to murder 
 him, 72 ; on publishing, 42 ; 
 opinion of Whigs, 127; powers 
 of description, 6 ; presents 
 Marmion to Queen Caroline, 
 66, 226 ; profits from writings 
 91 ; proposed as secretary to 
 Viceroy, 73 ; receives swan, 95 ; 
 service in Edinburgh Yeomanry, 
 10-13 vi ; severe illness, 66, 
 181 ; thrown out of gig, 67 ; 
 translation of Biirger, 70 ; 
 views on Art, 63, 140, 141 ; 
 vision of Aberbrothock Monas- 
 tery, 68; visits Flanders and 
 France, 42; visits Ireland, 131; 
 visits Malta, 193-196; visits 
 Naples, 202-205 ; weakness in 
 infancy, 71 ; writes sermons, 74. 
 Scott, Mrs., funeral, 76; last 
 
 moments, 77. 
 Scott, Walter, 130, 223. 
 Seymour, Lord Robert, 123. 
 
240 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Scrope, William, 108. 
 
 Seals, 185. 
 
 Sham figkts, 17. 
 
 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 143. 
 
 Siddons, Mrs., 116, 226. 
 
 Siege of Malta, The, 193. 
 
 Skene, Felicia, viii ; relates her 
 father's vision of Scott, xiii. 
 
 Skene, Mr. Felix, x. 
 
 Skene, General Martin, 188. 
 
 Skene, James, 193, viii; ad- 
 mitted to the Bar, 4j artistic 
 skill, vi ; at Aix in Provence, 
 
 1 28 ; birth, v ; death of, ix ; 
 faints beside Scott's grave, 
 220; introduction to Scott, 
 2 ; knowledge of German, 2 ; 
 last Visit to Abbotsford, 223; 
 letter to Lockhart, 14 ; literary 
 ability, ix ; Marmion, canto iv. 
 dedicated to him, v; marriage 
 of, vii ; scheme for selling pro- 
 perty, 89 ; serves with Scott in 
 Yeomanry, 14 ; settlesin Greece, 
 viii; travels, 4, vi; vision of 
 Scott, xiii ; visits the Hebrides, 
 25. 
 
 Skene, Mrs. James, x ; reminis- 
 cences, 224-236 ; visits Abbots- 
 ford, 229. 
 
 Skene, William Forbes, viii. 
 
 Skene-Tytler, Mr. Maurice, x. 
 
 Skenke For'., x<J8. 
 
 Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick, 104. 
 
 SmaUholm, 71. 
 
 Last visit to, 168, 169. 
 
 Somerville, Lord, 108, 229. 
 
 Somerville, Doctor, 39, 158. 
 
 Souters of Selkirk, 98, 231. 
 
 Southey, R., ballad of 'Queen 
 Orraca,' 227. 
 
 Spalding's Memorialk of the 
 Truhles, 161. 
 
 Stevenson, Robert, 108, 109. 
 Stuart, Lady Jane, x. 
 Surtees, Mr., 122. 
 
 Taies oj a Grandfather, 223. 
 
 Terry, Daniel, the actor, 46. 
 
 Teviotdale, 39. 
 
 Thivlestane, 39. 
 
 Thomas the Rhymer, 110. 
 
 Thorwaldsen,interview with Scott, 
 
 507. 
 Thunderstorm, 27, 170. 
 Tillietudlem, 162. 
 Train, Joseph, 159. 
 Traquair, 39. 
 Tod Gabbie, 34. 
 Turner, J. M. W., landscape 
 
 painter, 108, 109. 
 
 Volcanic Island, A, 197-201. 
 
 War Fever in EmNBURea, 18. 
 
 Watson, Stuart, 152. 
 
 Wasa, Prince. See Prince 
 
 Gustavus. 
 Waverley, 51, 233; disputed 
 
 authorship, 53, 228. 
 ' Waverley Localities,' 35, 40, 169, 
 
 160, 236, vi, 
 Wellesley, Lady, 178. '": 
 Westburnflat, 163. 
 Wilkie the painter, 190. 
 Williams, Rev. John, appointed 
 
 Rector of Edinburgh Academy, 
 
 121-124. 
 
 Yair Bridge, 46. 
 Yarrow River, 31. 
 Yelin, Chevalier, 134, 136. 
 Young, Sir Alexander, 171. 
 Miss, of Hawick, 181. 
 
 Printed by X. and A. Constable, Frinteis to His Majeity 
 at the Edinbun;)! University Press