CIHM Microfiche Series (Monographs) ICMH Collection de microfiches (monographies) m Canadtan Imtltun for Historical Mleroraproductions / Imthut Canadian da microraproductiona MatoriqHoa ©1995 I Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes technique et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming are checlced below. D D D D Cokiuied covers / Couverture de caul«ur I I Covers damaged / ' — ' Couverture endommag*e I I Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^ et/ou pellicula I I Cover title missing /Le litre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes gSographiques en couleur [^ Cotoured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Cotoured plates and/or illustratkwis/ Planches et/ou illustiations en couleur I I Bound with other material / Relie avec d'autres documents Only edition available / Seule MKk>n disponible Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin / La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorston le long de la marge jnt6rieure. Blank leaves added during restciatnns may appeer within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming / II se peut que certataes pages blanches ajouttes km d'une restauration apparaissant dans le tsxte, mais, k)rsque cela etait possible, oes pages n'ont pas ete IDm^es. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur examplaire qu'il lui a 616 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exem- plaire qui sort peut-Stre uniques du point de vue bibli- ographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modifications dans la m«h- ode normale de f ilmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. I I Cokjured pages/ Pages de couleur I I Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ — ' Pages restaurees et/ou pellKuiees r^ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed / Pages dSeolorSes, tacliet^es ou pkguees I I Pages detached/ Pages detach«es [^ Showthrough / Transparence I I Quality of print varies / ' — ' Quality • legale de I'impressmn I I Includes supplementary material / Compiend du materiel suppMmentaire [^ Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image / Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuilM d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t« filmtes i nouveau de fafon k obtenir la mellleure image possible. I I Opposing pages with varying colouration or Jiscolourations are filmed twtae to ensure the best possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des colorations variables ou des dteol- oratnns sont film^s deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilleur image possible. D AddtkHial comments/ Commentalres suppiementaires: 19 I Thi> iuffl ii f ihnad it th* raduetian ratio dMcksd betaw/ C» dacwiMfit Mt film* lu tau« dt iMiKtion indivtt ei-dmoui. lOX UX IIX MX 20X sx XX 32X Th* copy fllmad har* hu b««n raproducad Ihankt to tha ganaroaity of: MMOdrum Library Carlnon Uninntty L'axamplaira fllm4 fut raprodult grtca i la g*niroait< da: MacOdrum Library Caritton Uniranity Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaaibla conaidaring tha condition and lagibillty of tha original copy and In liaaping with tha filming contract tpaeificationa. Original coplaa in printad papar eovora ara filmad baginning with tha front eovar and anding on tha iaat paga with a printad or lliuatratad impraa- •ion, or tha bacic covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara fllmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or lliuatratad impraa- •ion, and anding on tha Iaat paga with a printad or lliuatratad impraaalon. Tha Iaat racordad frama on aach mieroficha ■hail contain tha symbol ^»lmaaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol V Imaaning "END"), whiehavar appUaa. IMapa, plataa, charts, ate., may ba fllmad at diffaram raductlon ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba antlraly ineludad in ona axpoaura ara fllmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand eomar. laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following dlagrama Mlustrata tha mathod: Laa imagaa suhrantaa ont M raproduitaa svae la plua grand soln. compta tanu da la condition at da la nattst* da raxamplaira flimt. at an eonformit* avae laa conditions du eontrat da flimaga. Laa axamplairaa originaux dont la eouvartura an papiar aat imprimto sont filmta an comman9ant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnl4ra paga qui compotta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou d'iiluatration. soit par la tacond plat, salon la caa. Toua Isa suttaa axampiairas originaux sont flimte sn commandant par la pramMfa paga qui comporta una amprainta dimprasaion ou dllluatration at an tarminant par la darniira paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Un daa symbolaa suivants apparaitra sur la damMra imaga da ehaqua mieroficha, salon la caa: la symbols — »■ signifla "A SUIVRF", la symbols ▼ signlfia "FIN". Laa cartaa, planchas, tablaaux, ate. pauvant ttra flimte A daa taux da rMuction difftrants. Lorsqua la doeumant ast trap grand pour itra raprodult an un aaul clich«. ii aat film* t partir da I'angia sup4riaur gaueha. da gaucha i droita. at da haut an bas. an pranant la nombra d'Imagas nteaasaira. Laa diagrammaa suivants lllustrant la mtthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 WCIOCOPr RKOUITION TBT CHART (ANSI ami ISO TEST CHART No. 2; I.I 2.2 2.0 1.8 m m, ij:6 jt APPLIED IM/OE Ine 653 Ea*t Main StrMl '^ RochMlar, PMv Tork 14C S (^'6) *e2 - 03O0 - Phon, S (716) 2M - 5SS9 -ro« Ixcst^iftt SBftion LOCKHART'S LIFE OP SCOTT GOK'OUBLY AMirOTATBD ASD ABONDAJITLY ILLUSTBATBD IN TEN VOLUMBS VOL. n WALTER SCOTT ,K ,5,5 A/trr Ih,- A„i,/ ewlier date been familiar; and it wa. whU. at iMwade th-t be formed intimacie., even more impor- Uot in their .«ulta, with the noble familie. of MeWlle •^Buooleuch, both of whom have cattle, in the «une "Simt » tha pMha, O pudic mM, Bj bk'i fait ttnaw that nu, Cat ali7 ataa|>, Um' oopaawood daap Impanlaw to tha na j " ftom that fab doma vhafa aiilt la said By blaat of Ingb fna,' To Aaohaadlaaj'i haial ahada, And baaatad Woodhoaaalaa. " Wko katm aot MaliUla'a baaehj gnra, Aad BoaUa'a nak; g Ian i Dalkalth, wbloh aU tha TJitiiaa lora, And olaiaio Hawtliatadaa f " > Anothe: verse reminda us that " Tliara tha rapt poat'a rtap maj Fora i " — «nd it wa> amidat these delicious soUtudes that he did produce the pieces which laid the imperishable founda- hZ J".' '"°''.- u ^* ™ '"'"'• *^* ''•'» W- warm Heart was beating with young and happy love, and his * Pennyouik. ■ [Sm Portico/ Works, Ctmhtia^ Edition, p. 18.] r 6 SIR WALTER SCOTT xr. 27 whole mind and spirit were nerved by new motives for exertion — it was here, that in the ripened glow of man- hood he seems to have first felt something of his real strength, and poured himself out in those splendid origi- nal ballads which were at once to fix his name. I must, however, approach these more leisurely. When William Erskine was in London in the spring of this year, he happened to meet in society with Matthew Gregory Lewis, M. P. for Hindon, whose romance of The Monk, with the ballads which it included, had made for him, in those barren days, a brilliant reputation. This good-natured fopling, the pet and plaything of cer- tain fashionable circles, was then busy with that miscel- lany which at length came out in 1801, under the name of Tales of Wonder, and was beating up in all quarters for contributions. Erskine showed Lewis Scott's ver- sions of Lenore and The Wild Huntsman; and when he mentioned that his friend had other specimens of the German diablerie in his portfolio, the collector anxiously requested that Scott might be enlisted in his cause. The brushwood splendor of "The Monk's" fame, " Tbe falM and foolJ«h fin that 'a wliiakt aboQt By popular air, and glarea, and than goea oat," ^ had a dazzling influence among the unknown aspirants of Edinburgh; and Scott, who was perhaps at all times rather disposed to hold popular favor as the surest test of literary merit, and who certainly continued through life to over-estimate all talents except his own, consid- ered this invitation as a very flattering compliment. He immediately wrote to Lewis, placing whatever pieces he had translated and imitated from the German Volkalieder at his disposal. The following is the first of Lewis's letters to him that has been preserved — it is without date, but i. arked by Scott "1798." ' Oldliani. 1798 MONK LEWIS TO WAITEB SCOTT, MQ., ADVOCATE, EDINBOTIOH. Sir, — I cannot delay eiprewing to you how much I feel obbged to you, both for the permission to publish the ballads I requested, and for the handsome manner in which that permi». •ion was granted. The plan I have proposed to myself is to coUect all the marvellota ballads which I can lay hands upon. Ancient as well as modem will be comprised in my design; and I shaU even aUow a place to Sir Gawaine's Foul Ladye, and the Ghost that came to Margaret's dooi and tirled at the pn. But as a ghost op a witch is a sine-qua^nm ingredient in aU the dishes of which I mean to compose my hobgoblin repast, I am afraid the Lied von Treue does not come within the pUn. With regard to the romance in Oaudina von Villa Bella, if I am not mistaken, it is only a fragment in the original j but, should you have finished it, you will oblige me much by letting me have a copy of it, as well as of the other marveUoua traditionary baUada you were so good as to offer me. Should yon be in Edinburgh when I arrive there, I shaU request Erskine to contrive an opportunity for my rehiming my personal thanks. MeanwhUe, I beg you to beUeve me > .,ur most obedient and obliged M. Q, Lewb. When Lewis reached Edinburgh, he met Scott accord- ingly, and the latter told Allan Cunningham, thirty years afterwards, that he thought he had.never felt such elation as when the "Monk" invited him to dine with him tor the first time at his hotel. Since he gazed on Burns in his seventeenth year, he had seen no one enjoying, by general consent, the fame of a poet; and Lewis, what- ever Scott might, on maturer consideration, think of his title to such fame, had certainly done him no small ser- vice; for the ballads of Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogme, and Durandarte, had rekindled effectually in his breast the spark of poetical ambition. Lady Char- lotte CampbeU (now Bury), always distinguished by her passion for elegant letters, was ready, "in pride of rank, m beauty's bloom," to do the honors of Scotland to the 8 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. 27 "Lion of Mayfair; " and I believe Scott's first introduo- tion to Lewis took place at one of her Ladyship's parties. But they met frequently, and, among other places, at Dalheith — as witness one of Scott's marginal notes, written in 1826, on Lord Byron's Diary: "Poor fellow," says Byron, "he died a martyr to his new riches — of a second visit to Jamaica. ' I 'd gire tlie kndi of Delonine Dark Mmgnre wan alira aKain ; * that is, ' I would giro nuuiy a logaHiane Monk Lewif wan aliva again.* " To which Scott adds: "I would pay my share I how few friends one has whose faults are only ridiculous. His visit was one of humanity to ameliorate the condition of his slaves. He did much good by stealth, and was a most generous creature. . . . Lewis was fonder of great people than he ought to have been, either as a man of talent or as a man of fashion. He had always dukes and duchesses in his mouth, and was pathetically fond of any one that had a title. You would have sworn he had been a parvenu of yesterday, yet he had lived all his life in good society. . . . Mat had queerish eyes — they pro- jected like those of some insects, and were flattish on the orbit. His person was extremely small and boyish he was indeed the least man I ever saw, to be strictly well and neatly made. I remember a picture of him by Saun- ders being handed round at Dalkeith House. The artist had ingeniously flung a dark folding-mantle around the form, under which was half hid a dagger, a dark lantern, or some such cut-throat appurtenance; with all this the features were preserved and ennobled. It passed from hand to hand into that of Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, who, hearing the general voice aflirm that it was very like, said aloud, ' Like Mat Lewis ! Why, that picture 's like a Man! ' He looked, and lo. Mat Lewis's head was at his elbow. This boyishness went through life with 1799 GOETZ VON BERLICHINGEN 9 him. He wu a chUd, and a .poUed ohUd, but a ohUd of high im^abonj and >o he wasted himself on chost .tones and German romances. He had the finest eu^ for rhythm I ever met with— finer than Byron's " During Lewis's stay in Scotknd this year ' he spent a day or two with Scott at Musselburgh, where thVyeo- manry corps were in quarters. Seott received him in his lodgmgs, under the roof of an ancient dame, wk aJForded him much amusement by her daily coUoquies with the fish- women- the Jfijciieiaci, of the place. HisdeUghtin studymg the dialect of these people is weU remembered by the survivors of the cavalry, and must have astonished the stranger dandy. While walking about before dinner on one of these days, Mr. Skene's recitation of the Ger- man Kn^d^, "Der Abschied's Tag ist da " (the day of departure is come), delighted both Lewis and the Quarter- imuter , and the latter produced next morning that spir- ited little piece m the same measure, which, embodvine the volunteer ardor of the time, was forthwith adopted as the troop-song of the Edinburgh Light Horse 1 . Z^^T^' "^^V J?'- ^"'^ »PP«»" "egotiating with a bookseUer^ named Bell, for the publication of Scott's version of Goethe's tragedy, Goetz von Berlichingen of tte ton Hand Bell seems flnaUy to have purchased the copyright for twenty-five guineas, and twenty-five more to be paid m case of a second edition - which was never oaJled for untU long after the copyright had ex- pired. Lewis mites, "I have made him distinctiy un- deistand, that, if you accept so smaU a sum, it wiU be only because this is your first pubUcation." The edition of Lenore and tiie Yager, in 1796, had been completely fo^otten; Mid Lewis thought of those ballads exactly L rf they had been MS. contributions to his own Tales of Wonder, still hngering on the threshold of the press, rhe Goetz appeared accordingly, with Scott's name on the title-page, m the following February. ' S.. PMicai Work., ToL 1,. p. 230 [(WbrMg. Edition p. »]. \ 10 SIR WALTER SCOTT jet. 17 In March, 1799, he carried his wife to London, this being the first time that he had seen the metropolis since the days of his infancy. The acquaintance of Lewis served to introduce him to some literary and fashionable society, with which he was much amused ; but his great anxiety was to examine the antiquities of the Tower and Westminster Abbey, and to make some researches among the MSS. of the British Museum. He found his Goetz spoken of favorably, on the whole, by the critics of the time; but it does not appear to have attracted general attention. The truth is, that, to have given Goethe any- thing like a fair chance with the English public, his first drama ought to have been translated at least ten years before. The imitators had been more fortunate than the master, and this work, which constitutes one of the most important landmarks in the history of German literature, had not come even into Scott's hands, until he had famil- iarized himself with the ideas which it first opened, in the feeble and puny mimicries of writers already forgot- ten. He readily discovered the vast gulf which separated Goethe from the German dramatists on whom he had heretofore been employing himself; but the public in general drew no such distinctions, and the English Goetz was soon afterwards condemned to oblivion, through the unsparing ridicule showered on whatever bore the name of German play, by the inimitable caricatu e of The Eovers. The tragedy of Goethe, however, has in truth nothing in common with the wild absurdities against which Can- ning and Ellis levelled the at rows of their wit. It is a broad, bold, free, and most picturesque delineation of real characters, manners, rjid events; the first-fruits, in a word, of that passionate admiration for Shakespeare, to which all that is excellent in the recent imaginative liter- ature of Germany must be traced. With wbai delight must Scott have found the scope and manner of on- Elizabethan drama revived on a foreign stage at the call 1799 GOETZ VON BERLICHINGEN ii of a real master I with what double delight most he have seen Goethe seizing for the noblest purposes of art, men and modes of life, scenes, incidents, and transac- tions, all claiming near kindred with those that had from boyhood formed the chosen theme of his own sympathy and reflection! In the baronial robbers of the Bhine, stem, bloody, and rapacious, but frank, generous, and, after their fashion, courteous — in their forays upon each other's domains, the besieged castles, the plundered herds, the captive hnights, the browbeaten bishop, and the baffle<> J«ge-lord, who vainly strove to quell all these turbulences — Scott had before him a vivid image of the life of his own and the rival Border clans, familiarized to him by a hundred nameless minstrels. If it be doubt- ful whether, but for Percy's Beliques, he would ever have thought of editing their Ballads, I think it not less so, whether, but for the Iron Handed Goetz, it would ever have flashed upon his mind, that in the wild traditions which these recorded, he had been unconsciously assem- bling materials for more works of high art than ibe long, est life could serve him to elaborate. As the version of the Goetz has at length been included in Scott's poetical works, I need not make it the subject of more detailed observation here. The reader who turns to it for the first time will be no less struck than I was under similar circiuustances a dozen years ago, with the many points of resemblance between the tone and spirit of Goethe's delineation, and that afterwards adapted by the translator in some of the most remarkable of his original works. One example, however, may be for- given ; — A l&ud alarmt vjith shcrutt and firing — Selbiss U borne in, temcndedf by two Troopers. SelbUa. Leave me here, and hasten to Goetz. let Trooper, Let as stay — you need onr aid. Sel. Get one of you on the watch-tower, and tell me how it II SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. ay lit Tnop. HowifaalllgetopP 2d Troop. Get upon my ■hoolder ; you can then n*eh the rained part. Ut Troop. (On the towtr.) Alat ! Alaa I Sel. What seest thou P Troop. Your cavaliera fly to the hill. Sol. Helliah coward* ! I would that they ttood, and that I had a ball through my head 1 Bide one of you at full speed — Cu«e and thunder them back to the field ! Seeit thou Goeti ? Troop. I we the three bhusk feathen in the midit of the tumult. Sel. Swim, brave awimmer — I lie here. Troop. A white plume ! Whose ii that ? Sel. The Captain. Troop. GoetzgaUopeuponhim — Craah — downheeoee. Sel. The Captain? Troop. Yes. Sel. Bravo! — bravo t JVoop. Alas! Alas! I see Goeti no more. Sa. Then die, Selbiss ! Troop. A dreadful tumult where he stood. George's blue plume vanishes too. Sel. Climb higher ! — Seest thou Lerse ? Troop. No — everything is in confusion. ^e^. No further — come down — tell me no more. Troop. I cannot — Bravo ! I see Goetz. Sd. On horseback ? Troop. Ay, ay — high on horseback — victory 1 — they flv ' Sel. The Imperialists? Troop. Standard and all — Goetz behind them*— he has it — he has it ! The first hint of this (as of what not in poetry?) may be found in the Iliad — where Helen pointe out the per- sons of the Greek heroes to old Priam seated on the walls of Troy; and Shakespeare makes some use of the same idea in his Julius Caesar. But who does not re- cognize in Goethe's drama the true original of the death scene of Marmion, and the storm in Ivanhoe? Scott executed about the same time his House of 1 1 ) ' •799 HOUSE OF ASPEN '3 A»pen, rattier a ri/acimento than a translation from one of the minor dramatista that had crowded to partake the popjJarity of Goeti of the Iron Hand. It also was sent to Lewi, in London, where having first been read and much reoommended by the celebrated actress, Mrs. Esten It was taken up by Kemble, and I believe actuaUy put m rehearsal for the stage. If «,, tie trial did not en- "ourage further preparation, and the notion was aban. doned. Discovering the play thirty years after among his i»pers, Scott sent it to one of the literary almanac, (the Keepsake of 1829). In the advertisement he says, he had Uiely chanced to look over these scenes with feehngs very different from those of the adventurous period of his literary life during which they were written, and yet with such, perhaps, a. a reformed libertine might regarf the illegitimate production of an early amour." He adds. There is something to be ashamed of, certainly • but aft«r all, paternal vanity whispers that the chUd has some resemblance to the father." This piece being also now included in the general edition of his works, I shaU not d .7eU upon it here. It owes its most effective scenes to the Secret Tribunal, which fountain of terror had first been diadosed by Goethe, and had by tiiis time lost much of Its affect through the "clumsy alacrity" of a hundred foUowers. Scott's scene, are intsrspersed with some lyrics, the numbers of which, at least, are worthy of atten- tion One has the metre — and not a little of the spirit, of the boat-song of Roderick Dhu and Clan Alpine: — " Jot to the Tioton, the ion of old Aqxn, Joy to the race of the battle and Boar I fflory'B pioad garlaod trimnphaoUy grMpioy, Qeoetons in peace, and notorioua in »«r. Honor acqairing, Valor inspirinff, Bureting rasistlen through foemen they eo, War azee vielding. Broken ranks yielding, mifrom the battle ptond Boderick retirinit, Tieldi in wild ront the fair pdm to hii foe." 14 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. ay Another ia the ant draft of Tie Maid of Toro;> and perhape he had forgotten the more perfect copy of that •ong, when he aent the original to the Keepsake. I incline to believe that the House of Aspen vas writ- ten after Scott's return from London; but it has been mentioned in the same page with the Goeti, to avoid any recurrence to either the German or the Germanised dmmas. His return was accelerated by the domestic calamity which forms the subject of the followine let- ter: — ° TO Mils. SCOTT, OEOKOE's SflUABE, EDD,BOTlOB. iMmox, 19th April, 1708. Mr DEAB MoTBEB,— I cannot express the feelings with which I Bit dow to the discharge of my present melmcholy duty, nor how much I regret the accident which has removed me from Edinburgh, at a time, of all others, when I should have wished to administer to your distress aU the consolation which sympathy and affection could have afforded. Your own principles of virtue and religion wiU, however, I well know, be your best sup- port in this heaviest of huma afflictions. The removal of my regretted parent from iis earthly scene is to him doubtless, the happiest change, if the firmest integrit^ and the best spent life can entitle us to judge of the state of our departed friends. When we reflect upon this, we ought almost to suppress the selfish feelings of regret that he was not spared to us a little longer, especially when we consider that it was not the will of Heaven that he should share the most inestimable of its earthly blessings such a portion of health as might have enabled him bJ enjoy his famUy. To my dear father, then, the putting off this mortal mask was happiness, and to us who re- main, a lesson so to live that we also may have hope in our latter end; and with you, my dearest Mother, remain many blessings and some duties, a grateful recoUection ' [See PoaiMi Worh, Cwiiliridge Edition, p. 10.] 1799 DEATH OF HIS FATHER ,j «t which will I u, ,ure, contribute to calm the current of your .ffl,ct.ou. The .ilection «.d .ttention whS.7ou hare . nght to expect {torn your chadren, «,d wUch I r'±r *^^"' f"^"" -e «»- W to the mem.; j ita fuU aliare to the alleviation of your distreai Th. .T nation of Charlotte', health, in it/p",:;;'^ LatJ .tJi prevented me ron. «tting off directly for &^S T^n I heard that .mmediate danger wa. apprehend^ ' I .^ now gUd I d.d not do «,, .. I conld no? with t^ ntm^ eve'^^hr* r* T^ ^'"'"""8h before the lam n^ event had taken place. The situation of my affair, mm^ wS"«t"'^ffT'°i!f'"',"'''y'"'°"' "-o instant I cri to^t^™ f * ^'^T'^- ^ "««> ■"" ««" yo not even S bSnl"""" '^i- '«"«'—»«'»■ «n «ertion w^I d me t. J\ 'y ?°^ ""P™P"- J"*" " Tom will let me know how my «.(», ,„d you do. I am, ever dear Mother, your dutiful and affectionate .on, W S. may perhaps be sufficient for the reader's curiosity. The versions from Burger were, in consequence of Lewis's remarks, somewhat corrected; and, indeed, although Scott speaks of himself as having " See Chmnidta of the Canotigate, ebmp. i. • Mm. ThomM Soolt, Mils Muodloeh of Arfwell, wu one of the 1>ert and vueit and moet agreeable women I have ever known. She had ■ motherly affection for all Sir Waller'i famUy, and ihe nmired thim all. She died at Canterbnry in April, 1848, ued 72. (1648.) • See itiuMtnlit, toL It. p. 19. 1799 FIRST ORIGINAL BALLADS 17 p»ld no attention "at tie timt," to the leotunw of hii nartinet in rhymee and nuniben"_"lecturei wliich were, he addi, "Mvere enough, but useful eventually, ai foicing on a young and carelew veniBer critiniims abeolutely neceesary to hia future tuoceas " — it i. certain aiat hu memory bad in lome degree de-eived him when be used thu Unguage, for, of aU the fabe rhymee and SoottioHms which Lewis had pointed out in tbeae "leo- turei," hardly one appears in the printed copies of the ballads contributed by Scott to the Tales of Wonder. As to bis imi>erfect Mymes of this period, I have no doubt be owed them to bis recent seal about ooUecting the ballads of the Border. He had, in his familiarity with compositions so remarkable for merite of a higher order, ceased to be offended, as in the days of hia devo- tion to Langhome and Miokle he would probably have been, with their loose and vague assonances, which are often, m fact, not rhymes at all; a license par.lonable enough in real minstrelsy, meant to be chanted to moas- troopera with the accompanying tonea of the war-pipe, but certamly not worthy of imitation in veraee written for the eye of a poliahed age. Of this carelessness as to rhyme, we see little or nothing in our few specimens of his boyish verse, and it does not occur, to any extent that has ever been thought worth notice, in his great works. But Lewis's coUection did not engross the leisure of thu summer. It produced aUo what Scott iusUy caUs his first serious attempte in verae;" and of these, the earhest appears to have been the Glenflnlaa. Here the Mene ia laid in the most favorite district of his favorite rerthshire Highlands; and the Gaelic tradition on which itia founded was far more likely to draw out the secret strength of his genius, as weU as to arrest the feelings of his countrymen, than any subject with which the stores of German diablerie could have supplied him. It has been alleged, however, that the poet makes a German use of his Scottish materials; that the legend, as briefly l8 SIR WALTER SCOTT jm il told in the limpla proM of hU prefaoe, U more qjfectin^ tlun the lofty and lonorottii itaniM themwlrei; that the vague terror of the original dream Iomi, instead of gain- ■Dgi by the expanded elaboration of the detail. 'Dieie may be aomething in theae objection* : but no man can pretend to be an impartial critic of the piece which first awoke hia own childish ear to the power of poetry and the melody of Tene. The next of theae compoaitiona waa, I believe, The Eve of St. John, in which Scott repeoplea the tower of SouU- holm, the awe-inspiring haunt of hia infancy; and heie he touches, for the flrat time, the one auperstition which can still be appealed to with full and perfect effect; the only one which linger) in minda lung since weaned from all sympathy with the machinery of witches and goblins. And surely this mystery was never touched with more thrilling skill than in tiat noble ballad. It is the first of his original pieces, too, in whic>< he uses the measure of hia own favorite Minstrels ; a measure which the mo- notony of mediocrity had long and successfully been laboring to degrade, but in itself adequate to the expres- sion of the highest thoughts, as well as the gentlest emo- tions ; and capable, in fit hands, of as rich a variety of music as any other of modem times. This war written at Mertoun-house in the autumn of 1T99. Some dilapi- dations had taken place in the tower of SmailhoI"> and Harden, being informed of the fact, and entreatea with needless earnestness by his kinsman to arrest the hand of the spoiler, requested playfully a ballad, of which Smailholm should be the scene, as the price of his assent. The stanza in which the groves of Mertoun are alluded to has been quoted in a preceding page. Then came The Gray Brother, founded on another superstition, which seems to have been almost as ancient as the belief in ghosts; namely, that the holiest service of the altar cannot go on in the presence of an unclean person — a heinous sinner unconlessed and unabsolved. 1799 BOTHWELL CASTLE 19 Th« fncmentary form of thU poem gre»Uy Iwightoni the ■wfulneM of ita impnuion; wd in couitruction and metre, the verwi which reaUy belong to the etory appear to me the happiert that hare ever been produced ex- preidy in imitation of the baUad of the Middle Agee. la ^e •tana., previou.ly quoted, on the icenery of the b«k, however beautiful in them.elve., and however inter- eetmg now u marking the locality of the compoiition, he muit be allowed to have bp>ed into another ttrain, and produced a pannut purpumu which interfere! with and mart the general texture. He wrote at the same period the Bne chivalrous ballad entitled The Fire-King, in which there !• more than enough to make us forgive the machinery. It was in the course of this autumn that he first visited BothweU CasUe, the seat of Archibald, Lord Doughis, who had married the Lady Frances Scott, sister to Henry, Uuke of Buooleuoh; a woman whose many amiable vir- tues wero (Hjmbined with extraordinary strength of mind and who had, from the first introduction of the young poet at Dalkeith, formed high anticipations of his futmS career. Udy Douglas was one of his dearest friends through life! and now, under her roof, he improved an acquamtanoe (begun aUo at Dalkeith) with one whose abilities and accompllahments not less qualified her to estimate him, and who still survives to lament the only event that could have interrupted their cordial confidence — the LoAj Louisa Stuart," daughter of the celebrated UdT DouglM .u th. kUi.w.m.„ „ ,,11 „ d,„ friend of Lsdr Loo- oUKr fnoDd. of her pnnio, dying in 1S51, at tlu •gg of w.] v/r ao SIR WALTER SCOTT jet, 28 John, Earl of Bute. These ladies, who were sisters ia mind, feeling, and affection, he visited among scenes the noblest and most interesting that all Scotland can show — alike famous in histoiy and romance; and he was not unwilling to make Bothwell and Blantyre the subject of another ballad. His purpose was never completed. I think, however, the reader will not complain of my intro- ducing the fragment which I have found among his papers. " When fruitful dydexUa'a spfOe-bowen An meUowing in the nowi ; WhflD ligha rotmd Pembroke's nun'd towers The mltry breath of June ; " When Clyde, despite his sheltering wood, Must leare his channel dry ; And Toinly o'er the limpid flood The angler guides bis fly ; " If chaooe by Bothwell's loTely braes A wanderer thon hast been, Or hid thee from the summer's blaze In Blantyre 's bowers of green, " Fnll where the copsewood t^ns wild Thy pilgrim step hath aUyed, Where Bothwell's toveis in mins piled O'erlook the verdant glode ; ** And many a tale of lore and fear Hath Bungled with the soene — Of Bothwell's banks that bloom'd so deu And Bothwell's bonny Jean. " O, if with m^^ minstrel lays Unsated be thy ear, And thou of deeds of other days Another tale wilt hear, " Then all beneath the spreading beech Flong earelen on the lea, Tlie Gothie mnse the tale shall teach Of Bothwell's nsters three. i8 ra m I the show I not ot of I. I itro- ' bis LADV LOUISA STLART fm, u, faiMi^^ if Hr, Ma ' au-1 by was liui r»j t.u* suMrct ol t ■ iv iatro- ' Vsd nt««(^ 4 tfct* (ff In^K mmI fiw> '799 BOTHWELL CASTLE a, H« W«w his hngh round, TiU tk. ,ad boU in Cdjow wood Bu nutad u tJuKiud. " St Ooorg.'. eroa, o „ BothwoB luiw, Wm waoioK f«r uul md», And from the loftj tnmt ilang Ito orinuon blue on Clyde ; "And riling at the hngle hbrt TLit nmrked the Scottish foe. Old Engl»nd'e jeomim nmster'd fast. And bent the Nomam bow. n»nd Pembroke's Earl was he — While " ^— . ^ ™y touches of his best manner that I cannot with- ^^^'^^^t:^-:^^ .rom ft« 0, the „„.. nTineisoalboOmytadlea "™* '"^ " »•" C~i«mU>an. This SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. a8 THE SHEPHERD'S TALE. i Ih liA ** And ne'er bnt onoe, mj ion,** h* Wkj%t " Wm 7011 ud amrern trod, In p«iwoiitioa'« iron dayt, When the Und vw left by Ood. *' From Bewlie bof, with eUnghter nd| A wanderer hither drew, And oft he vtopt and turned hit bend, Ai by fits the night wind blew ; '* For tmmidii^ ronod by Cheviot edge Were heard the troopers keen, And 'reqnent from the Whitelaw ridge The death-ehot flMhed between. " The moonbeama through the miity ahower On yon dark ca-rem fell ; Through the cloudy night the mow gleamed whit*, Which innbeam ne'er oonld qneU. " Yon cavern dark ia rou^h and rude, And cold ita jawa of mow ; But more rough and rude are the men of blood, That hout my life below ; *' Ton ipell-bound den, aa the aged tell, Waa hewn by demona* banda ; But I had lonrd ^ melle with the fiends of hell, Than with ClaTera and hia band." He heard the deep-roonthed bloodhonnd bark. He heard the hones neigh, He plunged him in the csvem dark. And downward aped hia way. Xow faintly down the wiading path Came the cry of the faulting hound, And the muttered oath of banlkM wratli Waa lost in hoUow aound. He threw him on the fliuted floor. And held his breath for fear ; ^ liourdj i. e., liafar— rather. 1799 THE SHEPHERD'S TALE Ha KM ud bittar niiHa Ui fo- Af tlu Miuiili diad oa Ua aar. " " S^.*""" '™' """ •"•«Ii»|[ Lord, For SeoUand'a waitdarlot '>"<1 i »3 Daahfram tha oppraaaoi'a gnap tlw awoid. And aweap him from the land " '^J^""* "■»" Ay paopla'a graua from dark Donnottar'a towar MU-d mth tie aeafowl'. akriUy'moMia, And ooeao'a bnratiiif roar I "O in fell Claren' hont of pride, ETen in hie mightieat day, Aa bold he atridea throngh ooniuaat'a Udt. Ofctretohhimontheelajl ^^ " Hia vidow and hia little onea, O may their tower of tmat RemoTe itaatronf; fonnd«tion atonea, And oniah them in the dnat I " — "*T™ '""'■ *" "•'" • "'»« "plied. Thrice weloome, gneat of mine I " — And glimmering o^ the oarem aide, A light waa aaen to ahine. An aged man, in amiee bnwn, Stood by the wanderer'a aide, ^JfmtrCrU charm, a dead man's arm The torch'a light anppliad. From each atift finger atretched upright, Aroae a ghaatly flame, Ttrt waved not in the bloat of night Which throngh the oarem came. O deadly Una waa that taper'a hoa. That flamed the caTem o'er, Bot mow deadly bine waa the ghaaUy hna Uf hia eyea who the taper bore. He laid on hia head a hand like lead, „*• iMaTy, pale, and cold : — Veyeanoe be thme, than gneat of mine, If thy heart be Arm and bold. 34 SIR WALTER SCOTT j^t. a8 " Bnt if faint thj hurt, aoA caitiM feu Tb7 noTMBt niMw* koow, Tha moantaiii cnM thy hurt iliAll twr, Thy MtTM th« boodtd erow." Th* wftodam niaed bim nndisnwy'd : " My fotd, hj daagm itwled, Ii itttbbom M mj bordar blada, Wbicb ntvar knav to yield. " Aod if thy power can ipaad tb« boor Of T«tig8aiiofl OD my foea, Tfaein be the fate, from bridge and gata To feed tb9 hooded crowi." The Browiiia looked him la tha faaa, Aod bii color fled with ipeed — " I fear me," qnoth be, " nnaatb it will b« To match thy word and daad. " In ancient dayi when Engliab bandi Sore raTBffed Scotland fair, The iword and shield of Soottidi land Was Taliant Halbert Kerr. " A warlock loved the warrior well, Sir Michael Scott by name, And he sooght for his sake a spell to maka. Should the Soathem foemen tame : " ' Look thoQ,' he aud, * from Cewford head, As the July ann sinks low, And when gliounering white on Chenot's height Thon shalt spy a wreath td snow, The ipell ia complete wbicb shall bring to thy feet The haughty Saxon foe.' " For many a year wrought the wiaaid here, In CheTiot'e bosom low. Till the spell was complete, and in July's heat Appeared December'a snow ; Bat Cessford'i Halbert never oama The wondrous canse to know. " For years before in Bowden uale Tha warrior's bones bad lain, And after short while, by female ffiule, Sir Michael Seott was slain. 1799 THE SHEPHERD'S TALE ** Bot ma and my bntliNB Ib tlilg mU Hk mighty ohunu ntala, — And h* that ou quU tb* pomrfnl iptU tiluai o'ar biohd Su>U«iid Niffn," He led him throagh u iroa doot And np a wiading ttair, And is wild amaw did the wanderer gaw On the light which opened there. Throngh the gloomy night flaahed ruddy light — A thonaand torohee' glow ; The cave roM high, like the Tanlted iky, O'er atalli in doable row. In «Tflry Btall of that endleaa hall Stood a ateed id barbing bright ; At the foot of each eteed, aU armed aare the head, Ley itretched a stalwart knight Zb eaoh mailed hand wai a naked brand ; Aa they lay on the black bull'a hide, Eaeh viaage item did npwanla ta^^ With eyeballi fixed and wide. A laoncegay etrong, full twelre ella long, By every warrior hnng ; At eaoh pommel there, for battle yare, A Jedwood ase waa elong. TIm oaeqne hong near eaoh oavaller ; The plumes waved monmfnlly At every tread which the wanderer made Through the hall of Oramarye ; The ruddy beam of the torebei* gl«am That glared the warrion on, Reflected light from armor bright. In no wild a blast from the bogle braat, That the CheTiot rook'd around. From Forth to Teea, from leaa to seaa, The awf nl hngle mng ; Ob Carlisle waU, and Berwick withal, To arms the wardera sp^img. ^th dank and clang the oaTem rang, The steeds did stamp and neigh ; And lond was tha yell as each warrior fell Starte np with hoop and ory. ** Woe, woe," they cried, " thon caitifF coward. That eTer thon wert bom I Why drew ye not the knightly awotd Before ye blew the horn ? " The morning on the mounts ahone, And on the bloody ground Hurled from the obts with shiver'd bone, The mangled wretch waa fonnd. And still beneath the earem draad, Among the glidders gray, A shapeleaa stone with lichens spread Marks where the wanderer lay. iKT. a 8 »799 FRAGMENTS «7 The reader may be interetted by comparing with thii ballad the author', proae vereion of part of its legend, M given m one of the laat works of his pen. Ho says, IV''* ^"*" °° Demonology and Witchcraft, 1830: 'Thomas of Ercildoune, during his retirement, has been supposed, from time to time, to bo levying forces to take the field in some crisis of his country's fate. The story has often been told, of a daring horse-jockey having sold a black horse to a man of venerable and antique appear- ance, who appointed the remarkable hillock upon Eildon hiUs, caUed the Lucken-hare, as the place where, at twelve o'clock at night, he should receive the price. He came, his money was paid in ancient coin, and he was in- yited by his customer to view his residence. The trader m horses foUowed his guide in the deepest astonishment through several long ranges of stalls, in each of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior Uy equally stiU at the charger's feet. ' All these men,' said the wizard in a whisper, ' will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmuir.' At the extremity of this extraordinary depot hung a sword and a horn, which the prophet pointed oat to the horse-dealer as containing the means of dissolving the spell. The man in confusion took the horn and attempted to wind it. The horses instantly started in their stalls, stamped, and shook their bridles, the men arose and clashed their armor, and the mortal, terrified at the tumult he had excited, dropped the horn from his hand. A voice like that of a giant, louder even than the tumult around, pronounced these words: ' Woe to tho oowanl that erer he wai born, That did not dnw the iword betoie he blew the hora.' A whirlwind expelled the horse-dealer from the cavern, the entrance to which he could never again find. A moral might be perhaps extracted from the legend, namely, that it is best to be armed against danger before bidding it defiance." One more fragment, in another style, and I shall have 38 SIR WALTER SCOTT Mr. 18 cxhtnited this budget. I am well aware that the intro- duction of luoh thing! will be ooniidered by many u of quettionable propriety ; but, on the whole, it appears to me the better ooum to omit nothing by which it is in my power to throw light on this experimental period. " Oo itt M CluTiot'a oiMt ImIow, And pviwiYt mark tha Unfaring anew In all hia aoaan abida, Atid alow diaaolviiiff from tha h(U lo many a aightlaaa, aomidlaaa rill, Faad aparkling Bowmoot'a ttita. " Fair aUiaa Ilia atraam b; bask aad laa, Aa wimpUoff to tha aaatam aaa Sha aoika TilU auHao bad, IndaotlDg daap tha fatal plain, Whara Seotland'a ttobleat, brave in nin, Around their monarch bled. " And weatward hilla on hiila yon aee, Even aa old Ooaan'a mightieat len Hearaa high her waTea of foam. Dark and anow^ridged from Cntafeld'a wold To the proud foot of ChaTiot roll'd, Earth'a monntaia billowa come." Notwithstanding all these varied essays, and the charms of the distinguished society into which his repu- tation had already introduced him, Scott's friends do not appear to hare as yet entertained the slightest notion that literature was to be the main business of his life. A letter of Kerr of Abbotmle congratulates him on his having had more to do at the autumnal assizes of Jed- burgh this year than on any farmer occasion, which intel- ligence he seems himself to have communicated with no feeble expressions of satisfaction. " I greatly enjoy this," says Kerr; "go on; and with your strong sense and hourly ripening knowledge, that you must rise to the top of the tree in the Parliament House in due season, I hold as certain as that Murray died Lord Mans&eld. But 1799 KERR OF ABBOTRULE 19 don't let many an Ovid,' or nther many a Barn, (which u better), b« lott in you. I rather think men of buiinew have produced a> good poet^r in their by-houra a. the profaaMd regulars; and I dont tee any .uiBcient reaaon why a Lord Preiident Scott should not be a famous poet (in the vacation time), when we have seen a President Montesquieu step so nobly beyond the trammels in the tspnt des Loix. I suspect Dryden would have been a happier man had he had jour profession. The reason, •ng talents visible in bis virses assure me that be would have ruled in Westminster Hall as easily as be did at Button s, and he might have found time enough besides for everythmg that one really honors bis memory for." This friend apjiean to have entertained, in October 1799 the ve^r opinion as to the prof,«,ion of literature on which bcott acted through life. Having again given a week to Liddesdale, in company with Mr. Shortreed, be spent a few days at Rosebank, and was preparing to return to Edinburgh for the winter when James Ballantyne called on him one morning, and begged bim to supply a few paragraphs on some legal question of the day for bis newspaper. Scott complied: and carrying bis article himself to the printing^rface, took with him also some of hu recent pieces, designed to appear m Lewis's coUection. With these, espeoiaUy. as bis Memorandum says, the "Morlachian fragment after Goethe," Ballantyne was charmed, and be ex- pressed his regret that Lewis's book was so lone in ap- peanng. Scott talked of Lewis with rapture ; and, after reciting some of bis stanzas, said, "1 ought to apologira to you for bavmg troubled you with anything of my own when I bad things like this for your ear." "I felt at once," says Ballantyne, "that his own verses were far above what Lewis could ever do, and though, when I said ' "How »••( an Grid, Mum; »u onp boaM ; How Dunj Mutiab wan in Pult'ney loat ! " Tht Dandad, b. !t. t. 170, )l 3° SIR WALTER SCOTT iBT. 28 this, he dissented, yet he seemed pleased with the warmth of my approbation." At parting, Scott threw out a cas- ual observation, that he wondered his old friend did not try to get some little booksellers' work, "to keep his types in play during the rest of the week." Ballantyne an- swered, that such an idea had not before occurred to him — that he had no acquaintance with the Edinburgh "trade;" but, if he had, his types were good, and he thought he could afford to work more cheaply than town printers. Scott, "with his good-humored smile," said, "You had better try what you can do. You have been praising my little ballads; suppose you print off a dozen copies or so of as many as will make a pamphlet, suffi- cient to let my Edinburgh acquaintances judge of your skill for themselves." Ballantyne assented; and I be- lieve exactly twelve copies of William and Helen, The Fire-Eing, The Chase, and a few more of those pieces, were thrown off accordingly, with the title (alluding to the long delay of Lewis's collection) of Apology tor Tales of Terror — 1799. This flrit specimen of a press, afterwards so celebrated, pleased Scott; and he sr,id to Ballantyne, "I have been for years collecting oM Bor- der ballads, and I think I could, with little tro'.ible, put together such a selection from them as might make a neat little volume, to sell for four or five shillings. I will talk to some of the booksellers about it when I get to Edinburgh, and if the thing goes on, you shall be the printer." Ballantyne highly relished the proposal; and the result of this little experiment changed wholly the course of his worldly fortunes, as well as of his friend's. Shortly after the commencement of the Winter Ses- sion, the office of Sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire became vacant by the death of an early ally of Scott's, Andrew Flummer of Middlestead, a scholar and antiquary, who had entered with zeal into his ballad researches, and whose name occurs accordingly more than once in the notes to the Border Minstrelsy. Perhaps the commu- «799 SHERIFF OF SELKIRK 3, to the Duke of Buooleuoh, that Seott might fltly^S Clerk BegiZ *" ""* ^*^ "* Control, and now Lord 32 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. aS have felt in ooosidermg the prospect of an inoreaaing family, along with the ever precarious chances of a pro- fession, in the daily drudgery of which it is impossible to suppose that he ever could have found much pleasure.* The duties of the office were far from heavy; the district, small, peaceful, and pastoral, was in great part the pro- perty of the Duke of Bucdeuch; and he turned with redoubled zeal to his project of editing the ballads, many of the best of which belonged to this very district of his favorite Border — those "tales," which, as the Dedica- tion of the Minstrelsy expresses it, had "in elder times celebrated the prowess and cheered the halls" of his noble patron's ancestors. 1 "My piofemon and I o«m« to stud nesrl; opoB Om tontiiig wbioh hosMt Sleoder conaoled himflalf on having Mtabliabed vith Mutn« Anne Pag« : ' There vn no great love between u» at the beginning, and it pleued hearen to deorean it on farther aoqnaintance.* " — Introdoetioii to nt Lay iiflht Lot MinHrtl, 1830. CHAPTEB X HEME. - JOHN LETDElf. — WILLIAM LAIDLAW _ ^ °°0°;-C0»BE8POm.ENCE WITH QEOBOE OP THE BOBDEB MINSTBEL8T 1800-1802 tini^tH-^^^'f™™' " •■" Memorandum, after men- bonmg bu ready acceptance of Scott's proposal to print Sfstt7T''^'"'t' "' •'o »'•* believe, Vteve^^t StLI t' ''«„»«"»™ly <»»te°>plated giving himself much addre««d to BaUantyne in the spring of 1800, inolinei re to question the accuracy of this impression. After ^ndmg to an intention which he had entertained, in con»«,uence of the deUy of Lewis's coUection. to jmbm « edition of the bJUd. contained in hi. owl liX "d- mne. entitled Apolop for Tales of Terror, he goes on to deteU pl^s for the future direction of his printer'. M«er, which were, no doubt, primarily suggested by the friendly interest he took in BaUanty^e's^nesTbut SrjT T" ?"■? "'■'''''• «"»idering what afterward, did take ph«!e, lead me to suspect, that even thus early ae writer contompUted the possibility at least of being ijmelf very mtimately connected with the result of thesi air-drawn schemes. The letter is as foUows : — . BALLiSlTm, KBISO MAIL OITFICB, KlMa Casiu Srun, 22d April, 1800. , — I have your favor, since the receipt of thmgs have occurred which indu TO VOL. n to 34 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 28 'I poatpone my intention of publishing my ballads, partica- larly a letter from a friend, assuring me that The Tales of Wonder are actually in the printer's hand. In this situation I endeavor to strengthen my small stock of patience, which has been nearly exhausted by the delay of this work, to which (though for that reason alone) I almost regret having promised assistance. I am still resolved to have recourse to your press for the Ballads of the Border, which are in some forwardness. I have now to request your forgiveness for mentioning a plan which yonr friend Gillon and I have talked over together with a view as well to the public advantage as to your individual interest. It is nothing short of a migration from Kelso to this place, which I think might be effected upon a prospect of a very flattering nature. Three branches of printing are quite open in Edin- burgh, all of which I am weU convinced you have both the ability and inclination to unite in your person. The first is that of an editor of a newspaper, which shall con- tain something of an uniform historical deduction of events, distinct from the farrago of detached and uncon- nected plagiarisms from the London paragraphs of The Sun. Perhaps it might be possible (and Gillon has promised to make inquiry about it) to treat with the pro- prietors of some established paper — suppose the Cale- donian Mercury— and we would all struggle to obtain for it some celebrity. To this might be added a Monthly Magazine, and Caledonian Annual Register, if you will; for both of which, with the excellent literary assistance which Edinburgh at present affords, there is a fair opening. The next object would naturally be the execution of Session papers, the best paid work which a printer undertakes, and of which, I dare say, you would soon have a considerable shares for as you make it yonr business to superintend the proofs yourself, your educa- tion and abilities would insure your employers against the gross and provoking blimders which the poor com- i8oo I^TTER TO BALLANTYNE 35 posers are often obliged to .ubmit to Ti. of work., either anoint or mJS^^l, ^ P-Wioatioa field for ambition aTi»!.„i.,' "P*"" * ">'«» f"' -ything in tl.arw.y^V"^M' wj'" ''"^'"'"» at any rate, compliment eX^rt^ *^''" °" "»" L witheqJaCInLtrbll'rlrZr '^^ perior advantages even tT&^JT^ ^^ *""« '"• though I woulf not aSvL Wh nf inrW' '"'' once, yet it would be easv to 7 , '°8^ mto that line at your press i. ,His ^^ on ItltZ^t^J "^-^^"^ so arranged as to tTsJl. .' . ^**^ "'ght be yon; andld^^v if -^.IT"^ °f """* advantage to you wiU readUy eu™ f t^ T^^' """ "' ''''«'> uuputemy in..4rce'-to l^Llt''^' ^"" ''^^ tmeut intermeddline with ,^^ *" "* ""Pe'- -^a^ Sir, your offi t^rt."""^' '"' '^ P"* »*• Walteb Scott. em^e:.lrrmS'i™siTilft-'"r"'''^' "^ »- humor, for whom ^« asi^t^^^^""r7'' ""•• oTs^^U-s^^ei-'Sr?'^"'^ health, a^d It ewfl?^ unde i„ed his business, his EdinbWh, wLc^c; '^2^rs^!:^'Z"»™« "fterwa™. to obuin a humbj. st^Z^S^rZH^' « tat Uttt I „,^ „y j,.^ p°J™- '^•U." qnoth GiUon, " mJ u n't 36 SIR WALTER SCOTT -«T. 28 ) w of Lords — in which he died.' The answer of Ballantyne has not been preserved. To return to the Minstrelsy. — Scott found' able as- sistants in the completion of his design. Richard Heber (long Member of Parliament for the University of Oxford) happened to spend this winter in Edinburgh, and was welcomed, as his talents and aceomplishments entitled him to be, by the cultivated society of the place. With Scott his midtifariouB learning, particularly his profound knowledge of the literary monuments of the Middle Ages, soon drew him into habits of close alliance; the stores of his library, even then extensive, were freely laid open, and his own oral commentaries were not less valuable. But through him Scott made acquaintance with a person still more qualified to give him effectual aid in this under- taking; a native of the Border — from infancy, like him- self, an enthusiastic lover of its legends, and who had already saturated his mind with every species of lore that oould throw light upon these relics. Few who read these pages can be unacquainted with the leading facts in the history of John Leyden. Few can need to be reminded that this extraordina^^ man, bom in a shepherd's cottage in one of the wildest valleys of Koxburghshire, and of course almost entirely self- educated, had, before he attained his nineteenth year, confounded the doctors of Edinburgh by the portentous mass of his acquisitions in almost every deputment of learning. He had set the extremest penury at utter de- fiance, or rather he had never been conscious that it could operate as a bar; for bread and water, and access to books and lectures, comprised all within the bound of his wishes; and thus he toiled and battled at the gates of I The post oamaUy mHtinff Jowph in the itrmt, oa one of hu vUta to London, vxpnmtd hu ngnt »t Iiatui; loot hi* tooiety in Edinbnigh; JoMph rMpond«d br n ipiototian from Uu Sootch Metrioal Vonion of tb« Tba lind'i hoiai would I kMp ft door, Than dw«U la taota of iln." i8oo HEBER — LEYDEN 37 Mienoe after soienoe. nntU bi. unoonquerable penever. ano* earned everything before itj and yet with thi> mo- iia.tio abstomiouMieM and iron hardnew of will, perplex- ing a,o« about him by manners and habits in which it wa. hard to uy whether the mow-trooper or the whool- m»a of former day. most prevailed, he was at heart a Archibald ConsUble, in after-life one of the most «nment of British publishers, was at this period the keeper of a smaU book-shop, into which few, but the poor studento of Leyden's order, had hitherto found their wot. Heber, m the course of his bibliomaniacal prowling, discovered that it contained some of re. " Tli«roi»n oM TOlume., dMk with tMBiilMd gdd," wUoh were already the Delilahs of his imagination: and moreover, that the young bookseUer had himself a strong taste for such charmers. Frequenting the place accord- ingly, he observed with some curiosity the barbarous as- pect and gestures of another daUy visitant, who came not to purchase, evidently, but to pore over the more recondite articles of the collection— often balanced for hours on a ladder with a folio in his hand, Uke Dominie bampson. The English virhioso was on the lookout for my books or MSS. that might be of use to the editor of tie projected MinstreUy, and some casual coUoquy led to Hie discovery that this unshorn stranger was7^dst fte endless labynnfli of his lore, a master of legend and tradition — an enthusiastic collector and most skilful ^under of (iese very Border ballads in particuUr. boott heard with much interest Heber's account of his odd acquaintance, and found, when introduced, ihe person "iose mifals, affixed to a series of pieces in verse, ^iefly translations from Greek, Latin, and the northern lan- gnages, scattered, during the last three or four years over the paps of the Edinburgh Magazine, had often much excited h« curiosity, as various indications pointed t , 38 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. 49 out the Sootoh Border to b« the native diitriot of thii unlmowii "J. L." Theae new friendihipa led to a great change in Iiey- den'i position, purposes, and prospects. He was pre- sently received into the best society of Edinburgh, where his strange, wild uncoutbness of demeanor does not seem to have at all interfered with the general appreciation of his genius, his gigantic endov ments, and really amiable virtues. Fixing bis ambition on the East, where he hoped to rival the achievements of Sir William Jones, he at length, about the beginning of 1802, obtained the promise of some literary appointment in the East India Company's service ; but when the time drew near, it was discovered that the patronage of the season had been ex- hausted, with the exception of one aurgeon-assiatant't commission — which had been with difficulty secured for him by Mr. William Dundas; who, moreover, was obliged to inform him, that if he accepted it, he must be qualified to pass his medical trials within six monthg. This news, which would have crushed any other man's hopes to the dust, was only a welcome fillip to the ardor of Leyden. He that same hour grappled with a new science, in full confidence that whatever ordinary men could do in three or four years, his energy could accom- plish in as many months; took his degree accordingly in the beginning of 1803, having jnst before published his beautiful poem, the Scenes of Infancy; sailed to India; raised for himself, within seven short years, the reputa- tion of the most marvellous of Orientalists; and died, in the midst of the proudest hopes, at the same age with Bums and Byron, in 1811. But to return : Leyden was enlisted by Scott in the service of Lewis, and immediately contributed a ballad, called The Elf-King, to the Tales of Terror. Those highly spirited pieces, The Cout of Keildar, Lord Soulis, and The Mermaid, were furnished for the original depart- ment of Scott's own collection : and the Dissertation on i8oo JOHN LEYDEN ^^' ^r^ *?J^ •^'^ 'o'™*. "although .r. »ng^«.d digested by the editor, abound, with iXZ, rf .uch curjou. telling „ Leyden only had read ^d WM onpua^Iy «,„pued by him, " but not ZlZtoiXt we d,aU turn out three or four .uch vowTatW " An mterestmg fragment had been obtained of ranl^; h«tonoal baUad, but the remainder, to ^e ^TdSb ^ ZZ '" •^':^^' while the editor wa, sitting rit ,-T'T"'y ^^'' *""""• » «»>»d was heard at Jdutenoe Idee that of the whistling of a tempest tWh ^ torn r.gg,ng of the vessel which «=„d8 befVre it. lie Mdfd ni.^t !^\' ?'*<"'"»«»«'" of such of the ^esto as did not know hun) burst into the room, ohanti^Z desiderated ballad with the m«t enthusiksticl^^C and all the enerp of what he used to call the sZZ^ for^ JdT.;. It t«n>ed out that he had walked ZtZl Ir::^::! an'ji^ufty^^r ""-' p— •> «>■» p-^- Various allusions to the progress of Leyden's fortunes the reader, for further particulars, to the biog^pUcJ 40 SIR WALTER SCOTT iCT. 39 sketch by Soott from which the preceding anecdote ia taken. Many tribute! to his memory are scattered over his friend's other works, both prose and verse; and, above all, Soott did not forget him when exploring, three years after his death, the scenery of his Mermaid: — **Saarl)«*i UU, whow tortoMd •faota Still ring* to CorritTnktn's tosr. And lonalj Colonaay ; — Smom mng by him who liagl BO man I Hii bright ond briof Conor ii o'or, And unto hii ttmof ul itnuiu ; QnoBoh'd 11 Ilia lomp of Toriod loro. That lored tho light of wmg to poor ; A distant and a daadly ihors Hao Lojdon'a oold romalaa I " ^ During the years 1800 and 1801, the Minstrelsy formed its editor's chief occupation — a labor of love truly, if ever such there was; but neither this nor his sheriffship interfered with his regular attendance at the Bar, the abandonment of which was all this while as far as it ever had been from his imagination, or that of any of his friends. He continued to have his summer head- quarters at Lasswade ; and Mr. (now Sir John) Stoddart, who visited him there in the course of his Scottish tour,' dwells on "the simple unostentatious elegance of the cot- tage, and the domestic picture which he there contem- plated — a man of native kindness and cultivated talent, passing the intervals of a learned profession amidst scenes highly favorable to his poetic inspirations, not in churlish and rustic solitude, but in the daily exercise of the most precious sympathies as a husband, a father, and a friend." His means of hospitality were now much enlarged, and the cottage, on a Saturday and T nday at least, was sel- dom without visitors. Among other indications of greater ease in his circum- stances, which I find in his letter-book, he writes to > Lord of Ike Ma, Canto ir. at. 11. * Tho aoooont of thia tour waa publishod in 1801. i8oo WILLIAM LAIDLAW 4, Hebw, after hU return to London in M»y, 1800. to re- qoMt hi. good offloM on bdijf of Mr.. Soott, who l»d Mt her heut on * phaeton, at onoo .trong, uid low «d h«.d«,me. and not to oo.t more th«. thirty guinea.'' which combination of advantage, Heber MemI to have found by no mean, eaay of attainment. The phaeton wa., however, di«overedi and it. .pring. muTt Mon have been put to a .ufflcient trial, for «.i. wa. "the tot wheeled carrjage that ever penetrated into LiddeKlale " _ namely m Augu.t, 1800. The friendrfiip of the Buc- deuch amily now pUoed better me^i, „f „aearch at hi. dupo«a and Lord Dalkeith had taken .pecial car, th^ the« .hould be a band of pioneer, in ^ting for H. order, when he reached Hermitage no3''ri'' ''•! ^ "°* ^T "P La«wade, hi. dieriffehip n»de It necewary for him that he should be fre- ,u«.tly in Ettrick Fo«.t. On .uch occa,ion. he t«k up hi. lodging, m the little inn at Clovenford, a favorite r».^**h' r T *^' T^ *""" Edinburgh to Selkirk. r«.m thi. place he could ride to the county town when- ever bu.ine.. required hi. p«,«nce, and he wat aUo where he obtained large acoewion. to hi. .tore of baliad.. It wa. m one of a,e« exoureion. that, penetrating beyond farm of Blackhouse, .itnated on the Douglas-bum, then tenanted by a remarkable famUy. to which I have abeady made allusion - that of William LaidUw. He wa. then a very young man, but the extent of hi. acquiremento ^ abeady a. noticeable a. the vigor and originality of h^. mmd; and their correspondence, where "Sif " pZ^, at a few bounds, tirongh "Dear Sir," and "Dew Mr UidUw," to "Dear WUlie," .hows'how speedy Z, IZ^^T"^ ^1 r^"^ "*° » ^'y tender ^.ffeo. bon Laidlaw'a »al about tie ballads was repaid by .nhl'r"rK*1'''"'?" *" «"* ''™ "moved from a sphere for which, he writes, "it is no flattery to say that I' (■ 49 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 49 yoa an mnoh too good." It wu then, and tlwaya oon- tinned to be, hie opinion, that hit friend wai particularly qualified for entering with advantage on the itndy of the medical profeuion ; but luoh deeigni, if Laidlaw hinualf ever took them up terioualy, were not ultimately pena- Tared in; and I question whether any worldly lucoeu oonld, after all, ha-e overbalanced the retroipect of an honorable life apent happily in the open air of nature, amidtt wenei the moit captivating to thu eye of genine, and in the intimate confidence of, perhaps, the gi«ateit of contemporary mindi. Jamea Hogg apent ten yean of hie life in the aervioe of Mr. Iiaidlaw'a father, but he had paaaed into that of another aheep farmer in a neighboring valley before Scott flrat visited Bbckhouse. William Laidlaw and Hogg were, however, the moat intimate of friends, and the former took care that Scott should see, without delay, one whose enthusiasm about the minstrelsy of the Forest was equal to his own, and whose mother, then an aged woman, though she lived many years afterwards, was celebrated for having by heart several ballads in a more perfect form than any other inhabitant of the vale of Ettrick. The personal history of James Hogg must have intereated Scott even more than any acquisition of that sort which he owed to this acquaintance with, perhaps, the moat reuiarkable man that ever wore the maud of a shepherd. But I need not here repeat a tale which his own hinguage will oonvey to the kteat poaterity. Under the garb, aspect, and bearing of a rude peasant — and rude enough he was in most of these things, even after no inconsiderable experience of society — Scott found a brother poet, a true son of nature and genius, hardly con- scious of his powers. He had taught himself to write by copying the letters of a printed book as he lay watching his flock on the hillside, and had probably reached the utmost pitch of his ambition when he flrat found that his artless rhymes could touch the heart of the ewe-milker i8oo JAMES HOGG 43 who putook the theltor of bit nuuitle during the putioir ■torn,. A, yet hi. n.tur«Uy kind and timple oh««ct«r h^ not been expoeed to u,y of the du,g«„uB fl«tterie. of the world; hu heut wm pure — hi. enthu.iiuini buoy- unt «. that of . h.ppy child; uid well u, Soott knew th«t reflection, wgacity, wit, ud wi«lom, were Mattered •bundanUy among the hunible.t ranger, of thew po.toral Mhtude., there wa. here a depth and a btightno.. that flUed hun with wonder, oombiucd with a quaiutnes. of humor, Md a thou.and litUe touohe. of ab.urdity, which afforded him more entertainment, a. I have often heard hun My, than the be.t comedy that ever wt the pit in a roar. '^ Soott opened in the same year a corwapondence with the venerable Bi.hop of Dromore, who wem., however, to have done little more than expre.. a warm intere«t in an undertaking «> nearly reiembUng that which will ever keep hi. own name in remembrance. He had more .uc oew in hi. appUcation. to a more unpromising quarter — namely, with Joseph Kitwn, the ancient and virulent asMuhmt of Bishop Percy's editorial character. This narrow-minded, «.ur, and dogmatical Uttle word-catcher bad hated the very name of a Scotsman, and was utterly incapable of sympathizing with any of the higher view, rf his new correspondent. Yet the bUnd courtesy of hoott disarmed even this half-orazy pedant; and he com- municated the store, of hi. really valuable learning in a ^Tl^ that seems to have greatly surprised all who had hitherto held any intercourse with him on antiquarian topics. It astonished, above aU, the late amiable and elegant George EUis, whose acquaintance was about the same tmie opened to Scott through their common friend Heber Mr. Ellis was now busily engaged in eoUecting the materials for his charming works, entiUed Specimens of Ancient Englirfi Poetry, and Specimens of Ancient English Romance. The correspondence between him and Scott soon came to be constant. They met personally, 44 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 29 not long after the oorrespondence had commenced, con- ceived for each other a cordial respect and affection, and continued on a footing of almost brotherly intimacy ever after. To this valuable alliance Scott owed, among other advantages, his early and ready admission to the acquaint- ance and familiari^ of Ellis's bosom friend, his coad- jutor in the Anti-Jacobin, and the confidant of all his literary schemes, the late illustrious statesman, Mr. Can- ning. The first letter of Scott to Ellis is dated March 27, 1801, and bei^s thus: "Sir, as I feel myself highly flattered by your inquiries, I lose no time in answering them to the best of my ability. Your eminence in the literary world, and &e warm praises of our mutual friend Heber, had made me long wish for an opportunity of being known to you. I enclose the first sheet of Sir Tristrem, that yon may not so much rely upon my opin- ion as upon that which a specimen of the style and versi- fication may enable your better judgment to form for itself. . . . These pages are transcribed by Leyden, an excellent young man, of uncommon talente, patronized by Heber, and who is of the utmost assistance to my literary undertakings." As Scott's edition of Sir Tristiem did not appear until May, 1804, and he and Leyden were busy with the Bor- der Minstrelsy when his correspondence with Ellis com- menced, this early indication of his labors on the former work may require explanation. The truth is, that both Scott and Leyden, having eagerly arrived at the belief, from which neither of them ever permitted himself to falter, that the Sir Tristrem of tiie Auchinleck MS. was virtually, if not literally, the production of Thomas the Rhymer, laird of Ercildoune in Berwickshire, who flourished at the close of the thirteenth century — the original intention had been to give it, not only a place, but a very prominent one, in the Minstrelsy of the Scot- tish Border. The doubts and difSculties which Ellis i8oi LETTERS TO ELLIS 4J •uggested, howerer, though they did not ahake Scott in his opinion u to the panntage of the romance, induced researches which occupied so much time, and gave birth to notes so bulky, that he eventually found it expedient first to pass it over in the two volumes of the Minstrelsy which appeared in 1802, and then even in the third, which followed a year later; thus reserving Tristrem for a separate publication, which did not take ph«!e until after Leyden had sailed for India. I must not swell these pages by transcribing the entire correspondmee of Scott and Ellis, the greater part of which consists of minute antiquarian discussion which could hardly interest the general reader; but I shaU give such extracts as seem to throw light on Scott's personal history during this period. TO OBOBOE KLLK, ESQ. Lahwask Cottaoe, 20lli April, 1801. Mt deab Sib, — I should long ago have acknow- ledged your instructive letter, but I have been wandering about in the wilds of Liddesdale and Ettrick Forest, in seareh of additional materials for the Border Minstrelsy. I cannot, however, boast much of my success. One of our best reciters has turned religious in his later days, and finds out that old songs are unlawful. If so, then, as Falstaff says, is many an acquaintance of mine damned. I now send you an accurate analysis of Sir Tristrem. Philo-Tomas, whoever he was, must surely have been an Englishman; when his hero joins battle with Moraunt, he exclaims — ** QoA lulp Trutrem tbe Eniglit, St/onjlU/br Ingtand." This strain of national attachment would hardly have proceeded from a Scottish author, oven though he had laid his scene in the sister country. In oHier respecto the Unguage appears to be Scottish, and certainly con- tains the essence of Tomas's work. . . . You shall have 46 SIR WALTER SCOTT MT. 29 W '■ i WpV'- Sir Otuel in a week or two, and I sliall be happy to compare your Romance of Merlin with our Arthur and Merlin, which is a very good poem, and may supply you with some valuable additions. ... I would very fain lend your elephant ' a lift, bat I fear I can be of little use to you. I have been rather an observer of detached facts respecting antiquities, than a regular student. At the same time, I may mention one or two circumstances, were it but to place your elephant upon a tortoise. From Selkirkshire to Cumberland, we We a ditch and bulwark of great strength, called the Catrail, running north and south, and obviously calculated to defend the western side of the island against the inhabitants of the eastern half. Within this bulwark, at Drummelzier, near Peebles, we find the grave of Merlin, the account of whose madness and death you will find in Fordun. The 1 Thia phnue will be bent •zpUined by an extract finm ft letter kddmisd by Sir Walter Seott, on the 12th Febrnuy, 1830, to William Brookedon, Ekq., ftokDowledgiog that gendeman'a oomteey in lendiiiff him a oapj of the beantifnl work entitled Pomm of the Alps : — " Hy friend the late Oe<«ge Ellii, one of the moit aooompliihed Khol< ■n, and deliy htfol oompaoioiui whcnn I have erer known, himself a great Koognpher on the moat extended and liberal plan, need to tell me an anec- dote (tf the eminent antiquary General Melville, who waa oroating the Alpe, with LiTy and other historical aceoonta in his post-chaiae, determined to follow the Tonte <^ Hannibul. He met XHlis, I foi^g^t where at this moment, on the western side of that tremendons rid^, and pnshed on- wards on his jonrney after a day spent witb his brother antiquary. After journeying aKve slowly than lus friend, Mlis was astonished to meet Gen- eral Melrillc coming baek. ' What is the matter, my dear friend ? how come yon back on the jonmey yon had so much at heart ? ' — ' Alas I * aaid Melrille, very dejectedly, ' I woald have got on myself well enough, but I oonld not get my etgAanta over the pass.' He had, in idea, Hanni- bal with hia tnun of elephants in his party. It beoame a aort of by-word between KDis and me ; and in aaainting eaoh other dnring a cloae eorre- apoodenoe of soma years, we talked of a lift to the elephants. " You, Sir, have pnt this theoretioal diffienlty at ao end, and show how, without bodily labor, the antiquary may tmrana the Alps with hia ele- phants, without the neceisity of a retrog r ade movonsent. In giving a dis- tinct picture of so tnterestii^ a country aa Swituriaad, ao peculiar in its habits and its history, yon hare added a valuable chapter to the history of Europe, in which the Alpine regions make so distinguidied a flgnra. Aoeept my beat ooi^ytnlationa on ■ehieving so intsnstiiv > taak." i8oi LETTERS TO ELLIS 47 same "nthor say. he was seized with L« madness dnrine l^ ^**^' T *^ ^'^^"^ '""='' dividea Cumber! land from SootUnd. AU this ««m. to favor your in- gemous hypothesis, that tie sway of the British cCpi„n ^J^^l^T'^^'t T/ ^'^^'^^ and Stratholuyd, as Ca^ -EroiHoune is hardly five mUes from the Leyden has taken up a most absurd resolution to m to Ataca on a journey of diwjovery. Will you have the ^nes, to beg Heber to write to him seriously! so ridiculous a plan, which can promise nothing either plea- in Scotland with a little patience and prudence, and it gives me great pam t» see a valuable young man of un- common gemus and acquirements fairly throw himself away. Yours truly, W. Scott. TO THE SAME. „ . '■ UusniBDBOH, llth M.y, 1801. ... 1 congratnUto you upon the health of your elephants -as an additional mouthful of provender for Oiem, pray observe that the tale of Sir Gawain's Foul Udie, m Percy's Beliques, is originally Scaldic, as you wUl see m tiie history of Hrolf e Kraka, edited by Tor- sens from a.e ancient Sagas regarding that prince. I tonk I could give you some more erumbs of information IT./ f T' ^"* ^ "° '* P"'*"' discharging the duhes of qu«termaster to a regiment of volmiSer cav- any— an office altngether inconsUtent with romance- Md oom; (iat Sir Lancelot du Lao distributed billets; or that any Knight of the Bomid Table condescended to o^'lT^ ! ^'^ °' "f*"^ ^"o'' ^'"B' "»" kft for fL ff k"^ "^'y'' '■'*■' '"' '^^^ """nds his horn dT^ r* ^^v'^" " the pma chevalier approaches to to «jream us out of bed at five in the moming-hospi- 48 SIR WALTER SCOTT iST. 29 talitf snoh u the Mneiahals of Don Qaixote'i oaides were woni to offer him — and all to troopers, to whom, for valor eke and oourteay, Major Sturgeon* hinuelf might yield the palm. In the midst of this soene of motley confusion, I long, like the hart for vater-brooks, for the arrival of your grande opu». The nature of your researches animates me to proceed in mine (though of a much more limited and local nature), even as iron sharp- eneth iron. I am in utter despair about some of the hunting terms in Sir Tristrem. There is no copy of Lady Juliana Bemers's work' in Scotland, and I would move heaven and earth to get a sigiit of it. But aa I fear this is utterly impossible, I must have recourse to your friendly assistance, and communicate a set of doubts and queries, which, if any man in England can satisfy, I am well assured it must be yon. You may therefore expect, in a few days, another epistle. Meantime I must invoke the spirit of Nimrod." " EDmuxoH, loth Jon, 1801. "Mt deab Sib, — A heavy family misfortune, the loss of an only sister in the prime of life, has prevented, for some time, my p'.-oposed communication regarding the hunting terms of Sir Tristrem. I now enclose the pas- sage, accurately copied, with such explanations as occur to myself, subject always to your correction and better judgment. ... I have as yet had only a glance of The Specimens. Thomson, to whom H ber entrusted them, had left them to follow him from London in a certain trunk, which has never yet anived. I should have quar- relled with him excessively for making so little allowance for my impatience, had it not been that a violent epi- demic fever, to which I owe the loss already mentioned, has threatened also to deprive me, in his person, of one of > Sm ttatt't tuM oi Tk Jliiyor f/'Odrraf. • Tk Btkt If St. ^lOaiu— 8nt prioted is 1466— npriitoil bj Hr. HadaWMdialSlO. i8oi LETTERS TO ELLIS 49 my dearest friend., and the Soottidi literary world of one 01 its most promising members. "Some prospect seems to open for getting Leyden out to Indm, under tie patronage of Mackintosh, who goes as chief of the intended academical establishment at Cal- cutta. That he is highly qualified for acting a distin- gnished part in any literary undertaking will be readUy granted; nor do I think Mr. Mackintosh wiU meet with many ht« so likely to be useful in the proposed institu- tion. The extent and versatility of his talents would soon raise him to his Wei, even although he were at first to go out m a subordinate department. If it be in your power to second his application, I rely upon Heber's in- terest with you to induce you to do so." " EDDtsinuiB, 13tli July, 1801. . . "I am infinitely obliged to you, indeed, for your mterference m behalf of our Leyden, who, I am sure, will do credit to your patronage, and may be ot essential service to the proposed mission. What a difference from broUmg himself, or getting himself literally broUed, in Africa. ' Que dUble vouloit-U faire dans cette galire? ' ... His brother U a fine lad, and is likely to enjoy some advantages which he wanted — I mean by heme more early introduced int» society. I have intermitted hu faanscript of Merlin, and set him to work on OtueL of which I send a specimen." ... "EomBCBoH, Tib DMnnlMr, 1801. . . . "My literary amusements have of late been much retarded and interrupted, partly by professional avooa- tions, and partly by removing to a house newly furnished J^re It wiU be some time before I can get my few books put into order, or clear the premises of painters and workmen; not to mention that these worthies do not nowadays proceed upon the pian of Solomon's archi- tects, whose saws and hammers were not heard, but w !fe,' 50 SIR WALTER SCOTT xr. 30 rather npon the more ancient system of the builders of Babel. To augment this confusion, my wife has fixed npon this time as proper to present me with a fine chop- ping boy, whose pipe, being of the shrillest, is heard amid the storm, like a boatswain's whistle in a gale of wind. These various causes of confusion have also inter- rupted the labors of young Leyden on your behalf; but he has again resumed the task of transcribing Arthour, of which I once again transmit a part. I have to ac- knowledge, with the deepest sense of gratitude, the beau- tiful analysis of Mr. Donee's Fragments, which throws great light upon the romance of Sir Tristrem. In ar- ranging that, I have anticipated your judicious hint, by dividing it into three parts, where the story seems natu- rally to pause, and prefixing an accurate argument, refer- ring to the stanzas as numbered. "I am glad that Mrs. Ellis and you have derived any amusement from the House of Aspen. It is a very hur- ried dramatic sketch; and the fifth act, as yon remark, would require a total revisal previous to representation or publication. At one time I certainly thought, with my friends, that it might have ranked well enough by the side of the Castle Spectre, Bluebeard, and the other dram and trumpet exhibitions of the day; but the Plays on the Passions ' have put me entirely out of conceit with my Germanized brat; and should I ever again attempt dramatic composition, I would endeavor after the gen- nine old English model. . . . The publication of The Complaynt* is delayed. It is a work of multifarious lore. I am truly anxious about Leyden's Indian jour- ney, which seems to hang fire. Mr. William Dundas was BO good as to promise me his interest to get him I TIm flnl TolnnM ol JoMuu BilUle'l Plaft appointed Seoretaty to the Iiutitation ; > but whether he haa aucceeded or not, I have not yet learned. The vari- ou» kinda of diatreaa under which litoraiy men, I mean auoh aa have no other piofeaaion than lettera, must labor, m a oommerolal country, ia a great disgrace to aooiety. I own to you I alwaya tremble for the fate of genius when left to Its own exertions, which, however powerful, are . usually, by some bizarre dispensation of nature, useful to every one but themselves. If Heber could learn by Mackintosh, whether anything could be done to fix Ley- den's situation, and what sort of interest would be most likely to succeed, his friends here might unite every ex- ertion in his favor. . . . Direct Castle Street, as usual; my new house being in the same street with my ohi dwelling." " Edibbubob, 8th Jnxuirj, 1802. . . . "Your favor arrived just as I was sitting down to write to you, with a sheet or two of King Arthur. I fear, from a letter which I have received from Mr. Wil- liam Dundas, that the Indian Establishment is tottering, and will probably faU. Leyden has therefore been in- duced to turn his mind to some other mode of making his way to the East; and j.uposes taking his degree as a physicianand surgeou, with the hope of getting an ap. pointment in the Company's Service as suigeon. If the Institution goes forward, his having secured this step will not prevent his being attached to it; at the same time that it will afford him a provision independent of what seems to be a veiy precarious establishment. Mr. Dundas has promised to exert himself. ... I have just returned from the hospitable halls of Hamilton, where I have spent the Christmas." . . , " Wtk Ttlmtij, 1802. "I have been silent, but not idle. The transcript of King Arthur is at length finished, being a fragment of ' A ftofimd lotatBtJon for pB ti in m of EdimaiiiG «t Cjlciittm. 51 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 30 about 7000 lines. Let me know how I tliall tnuumit a panel containing it, with The Complaynt and the Border Balladi, of which I expect every day to receive »ome oopiei. I think yon will be disappointed in the Ballads. I have as yet touched very little on the more remote an- tiquities of the Border, which, indeed, my songs, all comparatively modem, did not lead me to discuss. Some scattered herbage, however, the elephants may perhaps find. By the way, you will not forget to notice the mountain called Arthur't Seat, which overhangs this city. When I was at school, the tradition ran that King Arthur occupied as his throne a huge rock upon its sum- mit, and that he beheld from thence some naval engage- ment upon the Frith of Forth. I am pleasantly inter- rupted by the post; he brings me a letter from William Dundas, fixing Leyden's appointment as an assistant-sur- geon to one of the India settlements — which, is not yet determined; and another from my printer, a very ingen- ious young man, telling me, that he means to escort the Minstrelsy up to London in person. I shall, therefore, direct him to transmit my parcel to Mr. Nicol." . . . ••2dH»h, 1802. "I hope that long ere this you have received the Bal- lads, and that they have afforded you some amusement. I hope, also, that the threatened third volume will be more interesting to Mrs. Ellis than the dry antiquarian detail of the two first could prove. I hope, moreover, tbsi^ I shall have the pleasure of seeing you soon, as some cir- cumstances seem not so much to call me to London, as to furnish me with a decent apology for coming up some time this spring; and I long particularly to say that I know my friend Mr. Ellis by ^ght as well as intimatdy. I am glad you have seen the Marquess of Lorn, whom I have met frequently at the house of his charming sister. Lady Charlotte Campbell, whom, I am sure, if you are acquainted with her, you must admire as much as 1 do. i8oi LETTERS TO ELLIS S3 Her Onoe of Gordon, m gmt idmirer of youn, tpent •ome days hen lately, and, like Lord Lorn, was highly entertained with an acooant of our f riendahip h la du- tance. I do not, nor did I ever, intend to fob yon off with twenty or thirty line* of the aecond part of Sir Guy. Young Leyden haa been much engaged with his atudiea, otherwiw you would have long since received what I now send, namely, the combat between Guy and Colbronde, which I take to be the cream of the romance. ... If I do not come to London this spring, I will Hnd a safe opportunity of returning Lady Juliana Bemera, with my very best thanks for the use of her reverence's work." The preceding extracts are picked out of letters, mostly verylong ones, in which Scott discusses questions of antiquarian interest, suggested sometimes by Ellis, and sometimes by the course of his own researches among the MSS. of the Advocates' Library. The passages which I have transcribed appear sufficient to give the reader a distinct notion of the tenor of Scott's life while his first considerable work was in progress through the press. In fact, they pkoe before us in a vivid light the chief features of a character which, by this time, was completely formed and settled — which had passed un- moved through the first blandishments of worldly ap- plause, and which no subsequent trials of that sort could ever shake from its early balance: His calm delight in bis own pursuits — the patriotic enthusiasm which min- gled with all the best of his literary efforts; his modesty as to his own general merits, combined with a certain do^ed resolution to maintain his own first view of a subject, however assailed; his readiness to interrupt his own tasks by any drudgery by which he could assist those of a friend; his steady and determined watchfulness over the struggling fortunes of young genius and worth. The reader has seen that he spent the Christmas of 1801 at Hamilton Palace, in Lanarkshire. To Lady 54 SIR WALTER SCOTT *t. 30 Anne Hamilton he had been introdooed by her friend, Lady Charlotte Campbell, and both the late and the preaent Dukei of Huuilton appear to hare partaken town hid prodoged. Ai for the editorial part of the talk, my attempt to imitate the plan and itjle ot Biihop Ferey, obeerring only more •triot fldelity conoeming my originala, wai farorably re> oeired by the pnblio." The first edition of Volnmee I. and II. of the Min- •treliy ooniiited of eight hundred oopiei, fifty of which were on large paper. One of the embelliilimentt waa a view of Hermitage Cairtle, the history of which ii rather onrious. Soott executed a rough sketch of it during the hut of his "Liddesdale raids" with Shortreed, standing for that purpose for an hour or more up to his middle in the snow. Nothing can be ruder than the performance, which I have now before me; but his friend William Clerk made a better drawing from it; and from his, a third and further improved copy was done by Hugh Wil- liams, the elegant artist, afterwards known as "Greek Williams." > Scott used to say, the oddest thing of all was, that the engraving, founded on the labors of three draughtsmen, one of whom could not draw a straight line, and the two others had never seen the place meant to be represented, was nevertheless pronounced by the natives of Liddesdale to give a very fair notion of the ruins of Hermitage. The edition was ezhauited in the oonrse of the year, and the terms of publication having been that Scott should have half the clear profits, his share was exactly £78 10s. — a sum which certainly could not have repaid him for the actual expenditure incurred in the collection of his materials. Messrs. Cadell and Davies, however, complained, and probably with good reason, that a pre- mature advertisement of a "second and improved edition " had rendered some copies of the first unsalable. I shall transcribe the letter in which Mr. George Ellis aclmowledges die receipt of his copy of the book : — 1 Ml. WaUua'i Tnnli in Italr ml OlMM wm fnUidied in 182a l803 LETTER FROM ELLIS 57 I'^l TO WALTnt foorr, bq., m>tocati, CAITU RrnKKT, BourBinoH. Svinniio Bnx, Uanh S. 1800. Mt dkab Sim, — Tlw TolnmM bm srriTed, and I hare betn d«Toaring Uwm, not aa a pig doM a panal of graUu (by which iimU* yon will judge that X mut ba brewing, aa indeed I am), patting in iti moat, ahntting ita eyaa, and iwallowing aa faat aa it ean without conaideration — bat aa a achoolboy doea a piece of gingerbread t nibbling a little bit here, and a little bit there, amaeking hia lipa, aurreying the number of aquare inehea whieh •till remain for hu gratifleation, endeaToring to look it into larger dimenaiona, and making at every mouthful a tacit vow to protract hia enjoyment by reatraining hia appetite. Nov , therefore — but no! I muat firat aaaure you on the part >' lira. £., that if you cannot, or will not come to England aoon, •he must gratify her earioaity and gratitude, by aetting oft for Scotland, though at the riak of being tempted to puU cape with Ura. Scott when she arrivea at the end of her jou-ney. Next, I muat requeat yon to convey to Mr. Leyden my very aincere acknowledgment for hia part of the precioua parcel How truly vexatioua that such a man ahould embark, not for the " finea Atticae," but for thoae of Aaia ; that the genius of Scot- land, inatead of a poor ComplairU, and an addreaa in the atyle of " Navia, quie tibi ereditum debea Virgilium — reddaa inco- lumem, precor," ahould not interfere to prevent hia Iom. I wish to hope that we ahould, aa Sterne aays, " manage these matters better " in England ; but now, aa regret ia unavailing, to the mun point of my letter. Ton will not, of coarse, expect that I ahould aa yet g^ve yoa anything like an opinion, aa a erUiOt of your volumea ; first, becaase you have thrown into my throat a cate of such magni- tude that Cerberoa, who had three throata, could not have awat lowed a third part of it without abutting hia eyea ; and aecondly, becauae, although I have gone a little farrier than George Nicol the bookseller, who cannot ceaae exclaiming, ** What a beaatif ul book I " and is distracted with jealoosy of your Kelso Buhner, yet, as I said before, I have not been able yet to digest a great deal of your Border Minab«lay. I have, however, taken auch a sor- vey aa satisfies me that your plan is neither too comprehensive Hill I .^1 58 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 30 nor too oontncted ; that the parts are properly distinct ; and that they are (to preserve the painter's metaphor) made out just as they onj^t to be. Tour introductory chapter is, I think, particularly good ; and I was much pleased, although a little sarprised, at finding that it was made to serve as a recueil des pihee$ justifieativea to your view of the state of manners among your Borderers, which Z venture to say will be more thumbed than any part of the volume. Yon will easily believe that I east many an anxious look for the annunciation of Sir Tristrem, and will not be surprised ^t I was at first rather disappointed at not finding anything like a solemn engagement to produce him to the world within some fixed and limited period. Upon reflection, however, T. really think yon have judged wisely, and that yo" nave best promoted the interests of literature, by sending, as the Tiarbinger of the Knight of Leonaia, a collection which must form a par- lor-window book in eveiy house in Britain which contains a parlor and a window. I am happy to find my old favorites in their natural situation — indeed in the only situation which can enable a Southern reader to estimate their merits. You re- member what somebody sud of the Prince de Condi's army during the wars of the Fronde, namely, — " that it would be u, very fine army whenever it came of f^fe." Of the Murrays and Armstrongs of your Border Ballads, it might be said that th^ might grow, when the age of good taste should arrive, to a Glenfinlas or an Eve of St John. Zieyden's additional poems are also very beautifuL I meant, at setting out, a few simple words of thanks, and behold I have written a letter ; but no matter — I shall return to the chai^ after a more attentive perusal. Ever yours very faithfully, G. Elus, I might fill many pages by transcribing simiLir letters from persons of acknowledged discernment in this branch of literature; John, Duke of Boxburghe, is among the number, and he conveys also a complimentary message from the late Earl Spencer; Finkerton issues his decree of approbation as ex cathedr&; Chahners overflows with heartier praise ; and even Joseph Bitson extols his pre- sentation copy as "the most valuable literary treasure iu l802 MISS SEWARD 59 hi> poneasion." There follows enough of female admi- ration to have been dangerous for another man; a score of fine ladies contend vho shall be the most extravagant in encomium — and as many professed blue stoclmigs come after; among or rather above the rest, Anna Sew- ard, "the Swan cf LichCeld," who laments that her "bright luminary," Darwin, does not survive to partake her raptures; — observes, that "in the Border Ballads the first strong rays of the Delphic orb illuminate Jellon Graeme;" and concludes with a fact indispufaible, but strangely expressed, namely, that "the Lady Anne Both- well's Lament, Cowdenknowes, etc., etc., climatically preceded the treasures of Bums, and the consummate Olenfinlas and Eve of St. John." Scott felt as acutely as any malevolent critic the pedantic affectations of Miss Seward's epistolary style, but in her case sound sense as well as vigorous ability had unfortunately condescended to an absurd disguise; he looked below it, and was far from confounding her honest praise with the flat superla- tives either of wordy parrots or weak enthusiasts. ''it CHAPTEB XI PBEPABATION OP TOLUMB m. OF THE MDIgTBIXST — AMD OF Sm TBISTBEH. — COBBESFOITDENCE WITH MISS SEW ABO AUD MB. ELLIS. — BALLAD OF THE BETVEB'S WEDDINO. — COMUENCEHEltT OF THE LAY OF THE LAST MIS8TBEL VISIT TO LONDON AND OXFOBD. — COMPLETION OF THE MINSTBELST OF THE SCOTTISH BOBDEB 1802-1808 The approbation nith whinh the first two volumes of the Minstrelsy were received stimulated Scott to fresh diligence in tlie preparation of a third; while Sir Tris- trem — it being now settled that this romance should form a separate volume — was transmitted, without de- lay, to the printer at Kelso. As early as March 80, 1802, Ballantyne, who had just returned from London, writes thus: — TO WALTER SCOTF, ESQ., CASTLS STREET, EDINBUSOH. Dear Sir, — By to-morrow's Fly I shall send the remaining materials for Minstrelsy, together with three sheets of Sir Tristrem. ... I shall ever think the printing the Scottish Minstrelsy one of the most fortunate circumstances of my life. I have gained, not lost by it, in a pecuniary light ; and the prospects it has been the means of opening to me may advan- tageously influence my future destiny. I can never be snfS- ciently grateful for the interest you unceasingly take in my wel- fare. Tour query respecting Edinburgh^ X vm yet aX tk loss to answer. To say truth, the expenses I have incurred in my >8oa TO MISS SEWARD g, bZr^iZ^'''^'' •" «""• ^ «»■ D- Sir, y^ J. B. On learning that a third volume of tie M;n»t«l„ „. ^w t Farewell a Scotch ballad of her ow^ ^. "facture, meaning, no doubt, to place it at his disno^ urgt rr^f S'x ^ """^ ci'^ s AdU Wni?« r ^^.*'?^\»f'«' -"any compliments to the W^^S ' 7'""'' ^ "«d» tb^ °» «iat had b«^ intended, proceeds as follows: — ""i laa been in rt '"''*.'"'°« <*<>»SJ'ta of attempting a Border ballad werouTT"!"' «■?' L-^-'o'-'^'Pa-of brLgZ^ Z~, A "*'^° ^" W™»°> Scott, from whom I oT^rTdeo -r ""-^r^ ™»''8'' '^ Pl-^Tthet^te ii.jra i^iipanfc. rhe marauder was defeated seized .nJ ir^. • ^^ **"™y (agreeably to the custom of all lad.es m ancent tales) was seated on the battlemrntf and descn^ the return of her husband with his prUoner' She immediately inquired what he meant to do C^^ Gideon, we 'II force him to marry our Me? > V™\1 dition say, that Meg Murray:^ Z u'JSst .oZX ^lerorr?' "" "^i "■« '" '^' » ^^^^^y aialeot of the time, meikle-mcmtAed Meg. (I will not II 6i SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 30 afiront yoa by an explanation.) > Sir Gideon, like a good husband and tender father, entered into his wife's senti- ments, and proffered to Sir William the alternative of becoming his son-in-law, or decorating with his carcase the kindly gallows of EUbank. The lady was so very ugly, that Sir William, the handsomest man of his time, positively refused the honor of her hand. Three days were allowed him to make up his mind; and it was not unta he found one end of a rope made fast to his neck, and the other knitted t» a sturdy oak bough, that his resolution gave way, and he preferred an ugly wife to the literal noose. It is said they were afterwards a very happy couple. She had a curious hand at pickling the beef which he stole; and, marauder as he was, he had litrie reason to dread being twitted by the pawky gowk. This, either by its being perpetuaUy told to me when young, or by a perverted taste for such anecdotes, has always struck me as a good subject for a comic ballad, and how happy should I be were Miss Seward to agree in opinion with me. "This little tale may serve for an introduction to some observations I have to offer upon our popular poetry. It will at least so far disclose your correspondent's weak side, as to induce you to make allowance for my mode of arguing. Much of its peculiar charm is indeed, I be- lieve, to be attributed solely to its locality. A very commonplace and obvious epithet, when applied to a scene which wc have been accustomed to view with plea- sure, recalls to us not merely the local scenery, but a thousand little nameless associations, which we are unable to separate or to define. In some verses of that eccen- tric but admirable poet, Coleridge, he talks of ■ Jut old nida tale tlut •oited veil Tfaa Foinl wild and hoary.' 1 It 1. commonly and that aU Mog'a dewendaiit. kayo inherited Kime. thing of her oharaeterinio feahm. The Poet oeitainlj waa no eioeption to the rale. i8a2 TO MISS SEWARD 63 I think there an few who have not been in aome degree touched with tUs local sympathy. TeU a peasant an ordinaiy tale of robbery and murder, and perhaps you may faU to interest him; but to excite his terrors, you assure him it happened on the very heath he usually crosses, or to a man whose family he has known, and you rarely meet such a mere image of Humanity as remains entirely unmoved. I suspect it is pretty much the same with myself, and many of my countrymen, who are charmed by the efEect of local description, and sometimes impute that effect to the poet, which is produced by the BKJoUections and associations which his verses excite. Why else did Sir Philip Sidney feel that the tale of Percy and Douglas moved him Uke the sound of a tmm- pet? or why is it that a Swiss sickens at hearing the famous Kanz des Vaohes, to which the native of any other country would have listened for a hundred days, without any other sensation than ennui? I fear our poetical taste 18 in general much more linked with our prejudices of birth, of education, and of habitual thinking, than our vanity will allow us to suppose; and that, let the point of the poet's dart be as sharp as that of Cupid, it is the wings lent it by the fancy and prepossessions of the gen- tle reader which carry it to the mark. It may appear like great egotism to pretend to illustrate my position from the reception which the productions of so mere a ballad-monger as myself have met with from the public; but I cannot help observing that all Scotehmen prefer The Eve of St. John to Glenfinlas, and most of my English friends entertain precisely an opposite opinion. ... I have been writing this letter by a paragraph at a time for about a month, this being the season when we are most devoted to the * Dromy bench and babbling balL' "I have the honor," ete., ete. . . . Miss Seward, in her next letter, offers an apology for j 9 :'' f m i, ■i .) i i< [I I 64 SIR WALTER SCOTT jn. 30 not baving aoonar b«g|«d Scott to plaM her name arang the mbucriberi to hii tkfad whme. H« tmvm u in thew words:— , , ■— . "I am very sorry to have left you under a miatake about my third volume. The truth is, that highly as I should feel myself flattered by the encouragement of MiM Seward's name, I cannot, in the present instance, avafl myself of it, as the Ballads are not published by sub- seription. Providence having, I suppose, foreseen that my literary qualifications, like those of many more dis- ti^uished persons, might not, par hatard, support me exactly as I would like, allotted me a small patrimony, which, joined to my professional income, and my ap- pointments in the characteristic office of Sheriff of Et- triok Forest, serves to render my literary pursuits more a matter of amusement than an object of emolument. With this explanation, I hope you will honor me by accepting the third volume as soon as published, which will be in the beginning of next year, and I also hope, that under the circumstances, yon will hold me acquitted of tie silly vanity of wishing to be thought a gentleman- auther. "The ballad of The Reiver's Wedding is not yet writ- ten, but I have finished one of a tragic cast, founded upon the deatfc of Regent Murray, who was shot in Linlithgow, by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh. The foUowing verses contain the catastrophe, as told by Hamilton him- self to his chief and his kinsmen : — * With luekbiit bent,' ate., •«& "This Bothwellhaugh has occupied such an unwarrant- able proportion of my letter, that I have hardly time to tell you how much I join in your admiration of Tam o' Shanter, which I verily believe to be inimitable, both in the serious and ludicrous puts, as well as the singularly [|; i8o2 THE REIVER'S WEDDING 6j Uppy oombiMtion of both. I nqomt Miu Seward to believe," eto. The Reiver's Wedding never wa> completed, but I Have found two copies of its oonunencement, and I shaU make no apologies for inserting here wliat seems to have been the second one. It will be seen that he had meant to mm^e with S^ William', capture, Auld Wat's Foray of flw Bassened BnU, and the Feast of Spurs; and tbat, Iknow not for what reason, Lochwood, the ancient for! tress of the Johnstones in Annandale, has been snbsti- w^v J^*"* '^ '*'»'''? 0* •»" ancestor's drum-head Wedding Contract: THE RETVEB'S WEDDING. will j0 htAr a mirtU ul board ? Or will 76 hear of oowtaoio 7 Or will ;« hear how a gallant lord Waa wedded to a jfay ladye ? " Ca' ont the kj«," qao the Tillage herd, Aa he itood ob the knowe, " Ca' thia aaet ttat kafk mUKL Hm MiflhiT^-'" moon had (totend thou, And M« ih* wMi Um foil, To might iM by bar ll(bt ia Haidaa flan A bow o' kja aad a baw r ^ baU. And load aad load ia Hat^iaa towar Tba qaai(b taad roaad V < ' iUoflaa, For tha Oigliak boat wm^"- « i < bowai, Aad tlwKBgliah alaflo.7« - urrilia. AadmooraBwakfron '. And YafTDw'a Braaa wtira thoia ; Wh narar a loid in ScoUaad wido Tbat mada mofa daintj faxa. Thoy ata, thaj laagb'd, Ihay iaag and qaaTd, IW Bungbt on board via aaaa, ^nwn bnigbt and iqaira wan boaaa to dina, Bat a ipai Ii iUe, And QiaM vm banld ud bisw ; Bat tba Igal-fut burt bar braaat witbin It weal waa wortb tham a*. Haf latbat 'a ptaaked bar riatan twa Witb malUa Jot aad prida I But Uaiyaiat mana aaak Daadzannan'a wa* — Sba aa'or eaa bo a brido. Od apaai aad eaaqaa by (allaata gent Har aiatata' aearia wara boma. Bat navar at tilt or tonmamant Wara Maifaiat'a aokn worn. a rod* to Tbirlatana bowar, Bat aba waa left at baa» To woador roond tba gloomy towar, Aad d(b joaa( Hudaa'a aaaia. "Of aU tba kai^ta, tba kaifbla moat fair, n«n Tfurow to tba l^aa," 9aA aicrbad tba maid, " a Hardaa'a bair, Bat aa'or oaa ba ba miaa ; " Of aU tba OHida, tba f oolaat maid Flom Tariatto tba Daa, AkI" ai(bia( aad, tkat ladyaaid, " Caa aa'ar ;aH( Haidaa'a ba." — Sba kwhad op tba briery ilaa, Aad ap tba mooay line, Aad aba law a eaore of bar fatbar'e mea Talad ia tba Jokaaiaaa (ray. O fM aad taat tbey dowawarda «ad Tba maaa aad beina amoM. 6S SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 31 Ai4 i> tb« nUat tiM ttiwptn M Ai loon M the antiinm vacktion set Soott at liberty, he proceeded to the Borden with Leyden. "We have juit concluded," he telle EllU on hi* return to Edinburgh, "an exourtion of two or three weeks through my jurisdic- tion of Selkirkshire, where, in defiance of mountains, rivers, and bogs damp and dry, we have penetrated the very recesses of Ettriok Forest, to which district if I ever have the happiness of welcoming you, you will be con- vinced that I am truly the sheriff of the ' cairn and the scaur.' In the course of our grand tour, besides the risks of swamping and breaking our necks, we encountered the formidabU hardships of sleeping upon peat-stacks, and eating mutton sUin by no common butcher, but deprived of life by the judgment of God, as a coroner's inquest would express themselves. I have, however, not only escaped safe ' per varies casus, per tot disorimina rerum,' but returned loaded with the treasures of oral tradition. The principal result of our inquiries has been a complete and perfect copy of ' Maitland vrith his Auld Berd Graie,' referred to by Doughis in his Palice of Hon- our, along with John the Reef and other popular char- acters, and celebrated also in the poems from the Mait- land MS. You may guess the surprise of Leyden and myself when this was presented to us, copied down from the recitation of an old shepherd, by a country farmer, and with no greater corruptions than might be supposed to be introduced by the lapse of time, and the ignorance of reciters. I don't suppose it was originally composed hiter than the days of Blin^ Ut-rf. Many of the old words are retained, which neitiif ; the reciter nor the cop- ier understood. Such are the military engines aowiet, apringwallt (springalds), and many others. Though the poetical merit of this curiosity is not striking, yet it has an odd energy and dramatic effect." i8oi JOSEPH RITSON 69 A few wseki later, ha thai aniwen Ellu'i inquiriei ■• to the progKH of the Sir Triitrem: "The worthy knight i* still in embryo, though the whole poetry ii printed. The fact is, that a seoond edition of the Min- strelsy has been demanded more suddenly than I ex- pected, and has oocupied my immediate attention. I hare also my third volume to compile and arrange; for the Minstrelsy is now to be completed altogether inde- pendent of the ^reuz chtvalier, who might hong heavy upon iU skirte. I assure you my Continuation is mere doreerel, not poetry — it is argued in the tame dirition with^ Thomas's own production, and therefore not worth sending. However, you may depend on havmg the whole long before publication. I have derived much informa- tion from Turner: he combines the knowledge of the Welsh and northern authorities, and, in despite of a most detestable Gibbonism, his book is interesting.' I intend to study the Welsh triads before I finally commit my- self on the subject of Border poetry. ... As for Mr. Ritson, he and I still continue on decent terms; and, in truth, he makes patte de velourt ; but I dread I shall see ' a whisker first and then a claw ' stretehed out against my unfortunate lucubrations. Ballantyne, the Kelso printer, who has a book of his in hand, groans in spirit over the pecidiarities of his orthography, which, sooth to say, hath seldom been equalled since the days of Elphin- stone, the ingenious author of the mode of spelling ac- cording to the pronunciation, which he aptly termed 'Propriety ascertoined in her Picture.' I fear the re- mark of Festus to St. Paul might be more justly applied to this curious investigator of antiquity, and it is a pity such research should be rendered useless by the infirmi- ties of his temper. I have lately had from him a copie of Ye litel wee Mon, of which I think I can make some use. In return, I have sent him a sight of Auld Mait- ■ Tin flnt pu-t of Mr. Sharon Tomer'! Hinor) of lit Axgto-auxmt tm piUidud in 1799 i Oa ■uond in 1801. «e«ocor» nsouirioN tut chaot (ANSI and ISO TEST CHAKT No. 2) IM 1^ 12.0 A /APPLIED IM/GE Ini 1GS3 Caal Main SIthI RuchMlBT. Nto fork t*K (7t6) *e; - OMO - Phon. (716) 3M-S989-FO. 7° SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 31 land, the original MS. If you are curious, I dare say you may easily see it. Indeed, I might easily send you a transcribed copy, — but I wish him to see it in puria naturalibus.** Ritson had visited Lasswade in the conrse of this au- tumn, and his conduct had been such as to render the precaution here alluded to very proper in the case of one who, like Scott, was resolved to steer clear of the feuds and heartburnings that gave rise to such scandalous scenes among the other antiquaries of the day. Leyden met Bitson at the cottage, and, far from imitating his host's forbearance, took a pleasure of tormenting the half-mad pedant by every means in his power. Among other circimistances, Scott delighted to detail the scene that occurred when his two uncouth allies first met at dinner. Well knowing Ritson's holy horror of all ani- mal food, Leyden complained that the joint on the table was overdone. "Indeed, for that matter," cried he, "meat can never be too little done, and raw is best of all." He sent to the kitchen accordingly for a plate of literally raw beef, and manfully ate it up, with no sauce but the exquisite ruefulness of the Pythagorean's glances. Mr. Robert Pearse Gillies, a gentleman of the Scotch Bar, well known, among other things, for some excellent translations from the German, was present at the cottage another day, when Bitson was in Scotland. He has described the whole scene in the second section of his Recollections of Sir Walter Scott, — a set of papers in which many inaccurate statements occur, but which con- vey, on the whole, a lively impression of the persons introduced.' "In approaching the cottage," he says, "I was struck with the exceeding air of neatness that prevailed around. The hand of tasteful cultivation had been there, and all methods employed to convert an ordi- ^ Thsie pftpsn ftppctred in Fraser^t Magazine for Septembu, Nanm- Iwr, aad Omember, 18.3S, and Juiiiwy, 1836. [Tbay iri onlused form in m little Tolnme in 1837.] i8oi LASSWADE 71 nary thatched cottage into a handsome and comfortable abode. The doorway was in an angle formed by the original old cabin and the additional iwms which had been built to it. In a moment I had pa88e one aesgion, to enter tiie Parl.«nent Hou«e. ' - • And you 'U udc Kitaon, per- hap,, „,d Scott, ' to .tay with you, and help to oon.^e tte cabbage.. Best amured we .haU both «t on the bench one day; but, heighol we shall both have become very old and philosophical by that time. ' - - ' Did you not expect Lewis here this morning?'-' Lewis, I venture to say u not up yet, for he dined at Dalkeith yesterday, Md of course found the wine very good. Besides, yon know, I have entrusted him with Fiuella till his own steed gets weU of a sprain, and he could not join our walking excursion. - 1 see yon are admiring that broken sword, he added, ..ddressing me, 'and your interest would increase if you knew how much labor was required to bring It mto my possession. In order to grasp that mouldenng weapon, I was obliged to drain the weU at tte CasUe of Dunnottar. But it is time to set out; and here IS one fnend ' (addressing himself to a large doe') who IS very impatient to be in the field. He teUs me he faiows where to find a hare in the woods of Mavis- bank. And here is another ' (caressing a terrier), ' who longs to have a battle with the weaseU and water-rats and the foumart that wont near the oaves of (Jorthv so let us be off.'" ' Mr. Gillies telh us that in the course of their walk to Bosslyn, Scott's foot slipped, as he was scrambling to- wards a cave on the edge of a precipitous bank, and that, had there been no trees in the way, he must have been killed, but midway he was stopped by a large root of hasel, when, mstead of struggUng, which would have made matters greatly worse, he seemed perfectly resigned to his fate, and slipped Jhrough the tangled thicket till he lay flat on the river's brink. He rose in an instant from his recumbent attitude, and with a hearty Uugh i8o2 RITSON— LEYDEN 73 when they drew near the famous chapel of Bossl™, E^! .hne expressed a hope that they mi^t, a, habiS v^s .tors, escape hearing the usual endlefs tory of ttesX J-here is a pleasure in the sone which none ,„f rtTl "Jtress knows, and by telling L wfknow i< 1 1'" «»%, we should make the poor devil unhapp^" /«^«i aa"*^ *° "" ™"»Se' So"" inquired for „« „tZl. f J^'''-"'^''' •""»°'°e Ki'*'-. who had Len «Teetodtod.nner. "Indeed." answer' -^X^^ may be happy he is not here, he is so > JisaereeaC Mr. Leyden, I believe, frightened hirn away " CZi 10 oonect hun by ridicule, and then, on the madman rowing more violent, became angry ii his turn ^^HJ *tl„ A*'""?"''c*^' « "o we^noTsCTe wLl Swd K ^™" """'' "» •"»<• «' this .^M which Leyden observing, grew vehement in his owTins W blh^f? ?.'' "1 " ™«' » "P'y- •>"» t^^i a oTir Ld r^"". ''I'**'"^ '^ ' ■«*• d^no-inaU hi ' ^i r J^!^"*.'?* '*"•'«'"''' «"» tin he An i~ "•'onged the subject." „l.ti^i ".''^'y "iMraoteristic of the parties. Scott's playful aversion to dispute w«, a trait b his mind L 74 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 31 manners that could alone have enabled him to make use at one and the same time, and for the same purpose, of two such persons as Bitson and Leyden. To return to Ellis. In answer to Scott's letter last quoted, he urged him to make Sir Tristrem volume fourth of the Minstrelsy. "As to his hanging heavy on hand," says he, "I admit, that as a separate publication he may do so, but the Minstrelsy is now established as a library book, and in this bibliomaniac age no one would think it perfect without the preux chevalier, if you avow the said chevalier an your adopted son. liet him, at least, be printed in the same size and paper, and then I am persuaded our booksellers will do the rest fast enough, upon the credit of your reputation." Scott replies (No- vember) that it is now too late to alter the fate of Sir Tristrem. "Longman, of Paternoster Bow, has been down here in summer, and purchased the copyright of the Minstrelsy. Sir Tristrem is a separate proper^, but will be on the same scale in point of size." The next letter introduce;: to Ellis's personal acquaint- ance Leyden, who had by this time completed his medical studies, and taken his degree as a physician. In it Scott says, "At length I write to you per favor of John Ley- den. I presume Heber has made you sufficiently ac- quainted with this original (for he is a true one), and therefore I will trust to your own kindness, should an opportunity occur of doing him any service in furthering his Indian plans. You will readily judge, from convers- ing with him, that with a very uncommon stock of ac- quired knowledge, he wants a good deal of another sort of knowledge — which is only to be gleaned from an early intercourse with polished society. But he dances his bear with a good confidence, and tiie bear itself is a very good-natured and well-conditioned animal. All his friends are much interested about him, as the qualities both of his heart and head are very uncommon." He adds, "My third volume will appear as soon after the ELLIS- ^.EYDEN '804 iii^x^io- ,r,ijjr,i>i ye others u the despatch o' > printers wUl admit. Some parts will, I think, into- you; particularly the preser- vation of the entire Auld Maitland by oral tradition probably from the reign of Edward II. or III. As I have never met with such an instance, I must request you to inquire aU about it of Leyden, who was with me when I received my first copy. In the third volume I intend to pubhsh Cadyow Castle, a historical sort of a ballad upon the death of the Regent Murray, and besides this, a long poem of my own. It wiU be a kind of romance of JBorder chivalry, in a light-horseman sort of stanza." He appears to have sent a copy of Cadyow Castle by Leyden, whose reception at Mr. Ellis's villa, near Wind- sor, 18 thus described in the next letter of the correspond- ence: "Let me thank you," says Ellis, "for your poem, which Mrs. E. has not received, and which, indeed, I could not help feeling glad, in the first instance (though we now begin to grow very impatient for it), that she did not receive. Leyden would not have been your Leyden if he had arrived like a careful citizen, with aU his packages carefnUy docketed in his portmanteau. If on the point of leaving for many years, perhaps for- ever, his country and the friends of his youth, he had not deferred to the last, and tiU it was too late, all that could be easily done, and that stupid people find time to do — if he had not arrived with all his ideas perfectly bewildered — and tired to death, and sick — and without any settled plans for futurity, or any accurate tecoUeo- tion of the past — we should have felt much more dis- a^winted than we were by the non-arrival of your poem, which he assured us he remembered to have left somewhere or other, and therefore felt very confident of recovermg. In short, his whole air and countenance told us, ' I am come to be one of your friends,' and wo mimediately took him at his word." By the "romance of Border chivalry," which was de- signed to form part of the third volume of the Minstrelsy, 76 SIR W/LTER SCOTT •«T. 31 the reader is to understand the first draft of The Lay of the Iiast Minstrel; and the author's description of it as being "in a light-horsenum sort of stanza," was prob- ably suggested by the ciroumstances under vhich the greater part of ^t original draft was composed. He has told us, in his Introduction of 1880, that the poem originated in a request of the young and lovely Countess of Dalkeith, that he would write a ballad on the legend of Gilpin Homer: that he began it at Lasswade, and read the opening stanzas, as soon as they were written, to his friends, Erskine and Cranstoun : that their recep- tic "f these was apparently so cold as to discourage him, and disgust him with what he had TOod.taU«| It k tlu BON ,tv 79 "H. ^l*n fiaith a«iat and kaat fc wd h. iHrk.* U «k. lh,„ TIM >hm lu commM, I toU ;i t ™ h (M wilaomi (MM. & Aad hk looks boD alio knw, LoToUcba to puMDonr, BrowQ M aoon bto Ua faia^ Hia f ao« la tUa ai brtt.1 aa. TlutifaabthdMadom. Hk irit b.0 both k,,,, ^^ j„,^ To bdit or dame that oa>U laa i™, BtheriabaUorboTOi Iliailb»m.ttlM,»f,oBlcl.hadb«ip«rtdoloi«. "U Urn lek «ai.a noo othn ooU, Saw that Ua ooatril lo doth aiiwL It k oot in;oh» mj oholoa. B.tthju.hk,itb«.op„,oi„, Thai thjiika Dot o( hk Toka. "Jl^S!^ "* °"* «"'•' "l™ bh «k it war bothe ain ni Jane. iMloknottxUToo: ShokaUdjaofridipw To laroii ai that dama'a aarrtai Uani war fa] fain. •Hirwltkftak.a.'aad,«,,.,, Airf hir itatan amale aad not, °«>»lMhstoUa9aDai I SIR WALTER SCOTT xt. 31 01 pMri b«H> Uwi>| ThM dwarf h« to M ftU of noodo Tho ;• aboM d>;>k hk hort blodo, Ood* mid M >tm flndo. ». ■"That dwarf ho boa boaidlaaa and ban Aad waaaolblowMi boa al Ua bair, Lika an ympo or aUi ; Aad In tUa worid batb al aad balo Boa Botbrafo that ba lorath aa dolo SalabiaowaaaaUo." . . . The fotirth of these venet refen to the Ion of the Hindostan, in which ship Leyden, but for Mr. EUii'i interference, must have uiled, and which foundered in the Channel. The dwarf ia, of course, Kition. After various letters of the same kind, I Bnd one, dated Isle of Wight, April the 1st (1808), the morning before Leyden finally sailed. "I have been two days «n board," he writes, "and yon may conceive what an excel- lent change I made from the politest society of London to the brutish skippers of Portsmouth. Our crew con- sists of a very motley party ; but there are some of them very ingenious, and Robert Smith, Sydney's brother, is himself a host. He is almost the most powerful man I have met with. My money concerns I shall consider you as trustee of; and all remittances, as well as divi- dends from Longman, will be to your direction. These, I hope, we shall soon be able to adjust very accurately. Money may be paid, but kindness never. Assure your excellent Charlotte, whom I shall ever recollect with affection and esteem, how much I regret that I did not see her before my departure, and say a thousand pretty things, for which my mind is too much agitated, being «8o3 THE MINSTRELSY j, In tlM litrntion of CoLridg.'. devU wd hU imn.u„ •^ctugMd hoping th. tiLpet to blow. ' . A^V^' », d«, Scott, ««,„. Think of „e w"^ iodt. *' 5^L r^'*^'.'!:^^"' •"<• '■> whatever .uS* ^tu^^tr.""'- "^ - ■"•"""'^ >" P"- "-i bu?^r'*^' W" "oeiy«J b, Seott. not in Edinbunfh ^ Co.^ fr^. "" ^ •'IT"' "P to town „ Z^Z no^. ot .Ming hi. friend once more before he left En». ^ he"iJr Tt" "? '"'*• "" ^' however ion. hfi rTeek b^ ^^•^''\^'>^ «"ongh Me..™. Lo„g«„ • week before; and on the back of that bill there ia^the X M^'h^r""'"''",'?^ "^- I^yen-. total deMtom, «160j he alK> owe. XSO to my uncle." "I iL™"; '7i'"J° »«""^'». <»• the 21«t Vpril, 1808: I have to thank you for the aoour^y , : , wh oh the MuMtrehy i. thrown off. LonpnaTui, I« .- ju on^hfi"^"'""' ~P'"' '^'^ ' F«»» the Editor^ Jjme. Hogg Ettrick Hon*,, can, of Mr. Oliver. Hawiok — by the carrier - a complete wt. Thoma. Scott (my brother), ditto. ^Colm Mackenzie, E«,.. Prince'. Street, third volume Mr.. Scott, George Street, ditto. Dr. Rutherford, York Place, ditto. Captain Scott, Rowbank, ditto. I mean aU thcM to bo ordinary paper. Send one »t P.^,1^..'^' ^"""^ '»^"' to Lady Charlott^ Vol. m. which may be on fine paper, to be unt to mo vol. n '" "^ "* *'''''*^'">' '•«»*« M«*i»»«lu 82 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 31 by sea. I think they will give you some idat here, where printing is bo much valued. I have settled about print- ing an edition of the Lay, 8vo, with vignettes, provided I can get a draughtsman whom I think well of. Vfe may throw o£E a f -J^ayxlvLing also oM fri^: ^^^ ""^y^ "«'«>»« Scott in toin as «™,t?!.rt ' ^T"' ^'"'^ Stewart Eose, and ^r^^\ T ,-* ^f^ """'""""">' 'ere at the same toe added to the hst of his acquaintance. His principal object, however, -having missed Leyden.-wM to C. ruse and make e^ts from some MSS. in the library of Trisl^ o* Koxburghe, for the illustration Tthf Tristrems and he derived no smaU assistance in other ^searches of the like kind from the coUectTon, whichte mdefahgable and obliging Douce pbced at his dispo^ rt„^ J ^ ^T; *° ^""""S Hill, where they spen a hapi^ week, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellis heard the firrt two or thr^ canto, of The Lay of the Last Minst^l ™S under an old oak in Windsor Forest. this '^^,T '"°'! *" '"y '^*' ^« '^ ""ended on uus trip by a very large and fine buU-torrier bv nama n tS, / fij'd'Bg that the Ellise, cordiaUy sjmpatiized u^their fondness for this animal, and indL fo^aU^ ^eenv in r."^' S<»« P'""''*"! to send one of Camp's progeny, m the course of the season, to Sunning HiU. H .1! 84 SIR WALTER SCOTT M.T. 31 From thenoe they proceeded to Oxford, accompanied by Heber; and it was on this occasion, as I believe, that Scott first saw his friend's brother, Reginald, in after-days the apostolic Bishop of Calcutta. He had just been de- clared the successful competitor for that year's poetical prize, and read to Scott at breakfast, in Brasenose College, the MS. of his Palestine. Scott obserred that, in the verses on Solomon's Temple, one striking cir- cumstance had escaped him, namely, that no tools were used in its erection. Beginald retired for a few minutes to the comer of the room, and returned with the beauti- ful lines, — " No haountt fell, no pondannu am nui|r, Like some tall palm the mTitio fabxio ipnuig. Majeitic sileiioe," etc. ^ After inspecting the University and Blenheim, under the guidance of the Hebers, Scott returned to Iiondon, as appears from the following letter to Miss Seward, who bad been writing to him on the subject of her projected biography of Dr. Darwin. The conclusion and date are lost: — "I have been for about a fortnight in this huge and bustling metropolis, when I am agreeably surprised by a packet from Edinburgh, containing Miss Seward's let- ter. I am truly happy at the information it communi- cates respecting the life of Dr. Darwin, who could not have wished his fame and character entrusted to a pen more capable of doing them ample, and, above all, dis- criminating justice. Biography, the most interesting perhaps of every species of composition, loses all its in- terest with me, when the shades and lights of the princi- pal character are not accurately and faithfully detailed; nor have I much patience with such exaggerated daubing as Mr. Hayley has bestowed upon poor Cowper. I can no more sympathize with a mere eulogist, than I can with a ranting hero upon the stage; and it unfortunately hap- ' See Ufi own; but hii dili- gent leal had put him in pouemion of a variety of oopiea in different >tages of preurration; and to tite task of •electing a standard text among laoh a divenity of mate- riala, he brought a knowledge of old manners and phraae- ology, and a manly limplicity of taste, such as had never before been united in the person of a poetical antiquary. From among a hundred corruptions he seized, with in- stinctive tact, the primitive diction and imagery; and produced strains in which the unbroken energy of half- civilized ages, their stem and deep passions, their daring adventures and cruel tragedies, and even their rude wild humor, are reflected with almost the brightness of a Homeric mirror, interrupted by hardly a blot of what deserves to be called vulgiirity, and totally free from any admixture of artificial sentimentalism. As a picture of manners, the Scottish Minstrelsy is not surpassed, if equalled, by any similar body of poetiy preserved in any other country; and it unquestionably owes its superiority in this respect over Percy's Seliqnes, to the Editor's conscientious fidelity, on the one hand, which prevented the introduction of anything new — to his pure taste, on the other, in the balancing of discordant recitations. His introductory essays and notes teemed with curious knowledge, not hastily grasped for the occasion, but gradually gleaned and sifted by the patient labor of years, and presented with an easy, nnaffcted propriety and elegance of arrangement and expression, which it may be doubted if he ever materially surpassed in the happiest of his imaginative narrations. I well remem- ber, when Waverley was a new book, and all the world were puzzling themselves about its authorship, to have heard the Poet of the Isle of Palms exclaim impa- tiently, "I wonder what all these people are perplexing themselves with : have they forgotten the prose of the Minstrelsy?" Even had the Editor inserted none of his own verse, the work would have contained enough, and i8o3 MINSTRELSY OF THE BORDER 91 mow thu, enough, to found . luting ad gncf ul repu- ^J^A Border 1». derired . veiy large «oe«ion of intermit from the luhMquent ou«er of ito Editor. One of the ont.0, tl>« note., rtich tte happy ramble, of hi. youth had gathered to! getier for their lUnstration. In the edition of the Min- .trelsy publirfied since hi. death, not a few rach in.tanoe. are pomted out; but the U,t might have been extended far beyond the limit, which .uch an addition aUowed. The taste and fancy of Scott appear to have been formed ~.^ {wu" ^^^"^ oharacter; and he had, before he pa..ed the thre.bold of autior.hip. assembled about him, mthe uncalculatmg delight of native enthusiasm, ahnost aJl ae material, on which his geniu. wa. destined to be employed for the gratification and instruotJon of the world. CHAFTEB Xn k COMTBIBimom TO TBI KDimiUBGH BEVIIW, — FBO> OKE88 OF TBI TBUTBEM — ASV OF THE LAT OF THB UihT MmtTBEL. — vnn of WORMWOBTU. — PUBU- CATION OF 8IB TBUTBEM 1808-1804 Shobtlt after the complete Minatnlay Usned from the press, Scott made his first appearance as a reviewer. The Edinburgh Review had been commenced in October, 1802, tmder the superintendence of the Rev. Sydney Smith, with whom, during his short residence in Scot- land, he had lived on terms of great kindness and famil- iarity. Mr. Smith soon resigned the editorship to Mr. Jeffrey, who had by this time been for several yean among the most valued of Scott's friends and companions at the !>ar; and, the new journal being far from commit- ting itself to violent politics at the outset, he appreciated the brilliant talents regularly engaged in it far too highly, not to be well pleased vrith the opportunity of occasion- ally exercising his pen in its service. His first contribu- tion was an article on Southey's Amadis of Oaul, in- cluded in the number for October, 1808. Another, on Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, appeared in the same number; — a third, on Godwin's Life of Chaucer; a fourth, on Ellis's Specimens of Ancient English Poetry ; and a fifth, on the Life and Works of Chatterton, fol- lowed in the course of 1804.' ^ Sfiott'f oontribntioni to onr pcriodiul litemtare 1ut« be«D, with Kina triTial exoeptioiw, inolodfld in tlw rwMnt ooUsotioii of hja JfucetioiMow Prom Writingt, i8o3 MUSSELBURGH TV.. " Dunng the BimmMr of 1808, bowerer, bii chW Utenir Ubo, WM .tai on th. Tri.t«ta, ««1 I .hjj pJ^Z wui amply iUuitr»te the ipirit in which he continued hi« ««wche. about the Seer of Ercildoune, and the im,r. niptions which the« owed to the prevaknt ahi- . of trench .nv8.i«"«" i» which his Lordship complain, that the incewant driUi fh fiK"-"* "' MuMelburgh and Portabello prevented the Sheriff from attending county meeting, held at Sel- kirk in the coume of thi. .ummer and autunm, for the purpoM of organixing the trained band, of the Forest. on a «)de hitherto unattempted. Lord Napier .tronelT mp. the propriety of hi. H»ig„ing hi. comiection with the Edinburgh troop, and fixing hi. .ummer reeidence wmewhere within the limibi of hi. proper juririictionj v'',5\*^' »o far a. to hint, that if thew suggestion, .hould be neglected, it must be hi. duty to state the caw to tte Government. Scott could not be induced (least of aU by a threat), while the fear, of inva.ion .tiU prevailed to resign hi. phice among hi. old companions of "the voluntary band; " but he Kcm. to have prewnUy acqui- owed in the propriety of the Lord-Lieutenanf. advice respeotug a removal from Laa.wade to Ettrick Forest. The following extract U from a letter written at Mu^ Mlburgh durmg thi. .ummer or autumn : — "Miss Seward's acceptable favor reaches me in a phwe, and at a tune, of great bustle, as the corps of voluntarv oavahy to which I belong is quartered for a short time in this viUa.-^, for the sake of driUing and discipline. Nov- erthelew, Lad your letter announced the name of the 'I 94 SIR WAITER SCOTT MT.il n gmtldun who took tlw tn. lU* of tonnuding it, I woold ban mad* it mj buiioeu U. find Ilim ont, and to pnrail oa him, it poMible, to tpeod a day or two with tu fai qnartan. We an her* aHumiog a very military aptiear- anoe. Three regimeati of militia, with a formidable park of artillery, are encamped juat by lu. The Edin- burgh troop, to which I have the honor to be quarter- nuuter, coniiita entirely of young gentlemen of family, and ie, of conne, admbmbly well mounted and armed. There are other four troope in the ragiment, coniiating of yeomanry, whoee iron faoee and muaoular formi an- nounce the hardneM of the climate againit which they wrestle, and the powers which nature has given them to contend with and subdue it. These corps have been easily raised in Scotland, the fanners being in general a high-spirited race of men, fond of active exercises, and patient of hardship and fatigue. For myself, I must own that tc one who has, ^'ke myself, la ^te un peu exaltee, the ' pomp and circumstance of war ' gives, for a time, a very poignant and pleasing sensation. The im- posing appearance oi cavalry, in particular, and the rush which marlu their onset, appear ti> me to partake highly of the sublime. Perhaps I am thr, more attached to this sort of sport of twords, because my health requires much active exercise, and a lameness contracted in childhood renders it inconvenient for me to take ii otherwiiie than on horseback. I have, too, a hereditary attachment to the animal — not, I flatter myself, of the common jockey oast, but because I regard him as the kindest and most generous of the subordinate tribes. I hardly even except the dogs; at least they are usually so much better treated, that compassion for the steed should be thrown into the scale when we weigh their compai'ative merits. My wife (a foreigner) never sees « horse ill-used without asking wliat that poor horse has done in his state of preexist- ence? I would fain hope they have been carters or hackney-coachmen, and are only experienciug a retort of i8oj LETTER TO ELLIS 95 y/htt think tU m-uiHt they hare fonnarlr infliotcd. yon?" It >ppMn tttrt MiM SMTUd had Mnt Soott wme olwnn. maguine oHtioiun on hU MinrtreUy, in which tto OMuor had condemned Mme phnu m naturaUy eujt. g«»ttng a low Idea. The bdy', letter not having been prewirTed, I cannot expUin iarther the wquel of that f«m which I hare been quotmg. Scott uyi, howeyeri- 1 am inanitely amu«d with your Mg«;iou, critic. V °S ' """'• "^^^ the vulgar lubtlety of •noh muds ai can with a depraved ingenuity attach a niMn or dioguating eenie to an epithet capable of Uiine otherwise understood, and more frequenUy, porhape! used to exprejs an elevated idea. In many part, rf Scot- land the word virtue is limited entirely to induttru ; and a young divine who preached upon the moral beauties of irtue was considerably surprised at learning that the whole diMourse was supposed to be a panegyric upon a particular damsel who could spin fourteen spindles of yam in the course of a T,eek. This was natural; but your literary critic has the merit of going very far a-fleld to fetoh home his degrading association." To return to the correspondence with Ellis — Scott write, thus to him in July: "I cannot pretend imme- diately to enter upon the serious discussion which vou propose respecting the age of ' Sb Tristrem; ' but yet. as It seems likely to strip Thomas the Prophet of thS honors due to tne author of the English Tristrem, I can- not help hesitatmg before I can agree to your theory,- and here my doubt lies. Thomas of ErcUdoune, caUed Un Khymer, i. a character mentioned by almost every Scottish historian, and the date of whose existence ii idmos. as weU known as if we had the parich register. Now hi8 great reputation, and his designation of Sumour, could only be derived from his poetical perfoni^oes and in what did these consist excepting in the Romance of Sir Tristrem,' mentioned by Robert de Brunne? I 96 SIR WALTER SCOTT iET. 31 I li hardly think, therefore, we >hiill be justified in assuming the existence of an earlier Thomas, who would be, in fact, merely the creature of our system. I own I am not prepared to take this step, if I can escape otherwise from you and M. de la Bavaillere — and thus I will try it. M. de la B. barely informs us that the history of Sir Tristrem was known to Chretien de Troyes in the end of the twelfth century, and to the King of Navarre in the beginning of the thirteenth. Thus far his evidence goes, and I think not one inch farther — for it does not estab- lish the existence either of the metrical romance, as you suppose, or of the prose romance, as M. de la R. much more erroneously supposes, at that very early period. If the story of Sir Tristrem was founded in fact, and if, which I have all along thought, a person of this name really swallowed a dose of cantharides intended to stimu- late the exertions of his lucle, a petty monarch of Corn- wall, and involved himself of course in an intrigue with his aunt, these facts must have taken place during a very early period of English history, perhaps about the time of the Heptarchy. Now, if this be once admitted, it is clear that the raw material from which Thomas wove his web must have been current long before his day, and 1 am inclined to think that Chretien and the King of Na- varre refer, nut to the special metrical romance contained in Mr. Donee's fragments, but to the general story of Sir Tristrem, whose love and misfortunes were handed down by tradition as a historical fact. There is no diffi- culty in supposing a tale of this kind to have passed from the Armoricans, or otherwise, into the mouths of the French; as, on the other hand, it seems to have been preserved among the Celtic tribes of the Border, from whom, in all probability, it was taken by their neighbor, Thomas of Ercildoune. If we suppose, therefrre, that Chretien and the King allude only to the general and well-known story of Tristrem, and not to the particular edition of which Mr. Douce has some fragments — (and i8o3 LETTER TO ELLIS 97 I see no evidence that any such special aUusion to these fragments is made) -it wiU follow that they may be as kte as the end of the thirteenth cent^iy, and tiiat the Ihomas mentioned in them may be Me Thomas of whose existence we have historical evidence. In short the question IS, shaU Thomas be considered as a landiiark .Lttt '"*?*'" ""* '"'"l''''y "f *^« fragments, or sh^ the mpposed antiquity of the fragments be held a suflicieut reason for supposing an earlier Thomas? For aught yet seen, I incline tK) my former opinion, that those fragments are coeval with the ipsMmus Thomas. I acknowledge the internal evidence, of which you are so accurate a judge, weighs more with me than the reference to the Kmg of Navarre; but, after aU, the extreme diffl- culty of judging of style, so as to bring us within sixty or seventy years must be fully considered. Take notice, I have never pleaded the matter so high as to say, that 4e Thomas the Khymer. On the contrary, I have alwavs LtL!?f!^ I""" *'" """"''y' "^'^V^ ««•« from the antiquity, oi the romance. Enough of -iir T. for the present. -How happy it will makers if you can fuli Whether m the cottage or at Edinburgh, we will be equally happy to receive you, and show you all the lion! of our vicmity Charlotte is hunting out music for M™ 1'n.W., ."'*"'"^ '".'^'^ "'''*'"°»'^ """""i™. which ^ough the tunes are simple, and often bad sets, contain much more origmal Scotch music than any other." About this time, Mr. and Mrs. EUis, and their friend Uouce, were preparing for a tour into the North of Eng. ^^ T •''°" "*? '""'"^ ^^ ''™g'y '^'"Pted to join them at various points of their progress, particuUrly at the Grange, near Botierham, in Yorkshire, a seat of the 98 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 32 Earl of Effingham. But he found it impossible to escape again from Scotland, oving to the agitated state of the country. — On returning to the cottage from an excur- sion to his Sheriffship, he thus resumes: — TO OEOBOE ELLIS, ESQ. Lauwade, AngTut 27, 180S. Deab Ellis, — My conscience has been thumping me as hard as if it had studied under Mendoza, for letting your kind favor remain so long unanswered. Neverthe- less, in this it is, like Launcelot Oobbo's, but a hard kind of conscience, as it mu!t know how much I have been occupied with Armies of Beserve, and Militia, and Pikemen, and Sharpshooters, who are to descend from Ettrick Forest to the confusion of all invaders. The truth is, that this country has for once experienced that the pressure of external danger may possibly produce in- ternal unanimity; and so great is tiie present military zeal, that I really wish our rulers would devise some way of calling it into action, were it only on the economical principle of saving so much good courage from idle evap- oration. — I am interrupted by an extraordinary acci- dent, nothing less than a volley of small shot fired through the window, at which my wife was five minutes before arranging her flowers. By Camp's assistance, who run the culprit's foot like a Liddesdale bloodhound, we detected an unlucky sportsman, whose awkwardness and rashness might have occasioned very serious mischief — so much for interruption. — To return to Sir Tris- trem. As for Mr. Thomas's name, respecting which yon state some doubts,' I request you to attend to the following particulars : In the first place, surnames were of very late introduction into Scotland, and it would be difficult to show that they became in general a hereditary ^ Mr. ElltB had hinted that " Rgmer might not more neceisarily indicate an actnal poet, than the name of Taj/lor doea in modem timea an aotnal knight o{ the thimhle." ,8o3 LETTER TO ELLIS distinction, unta after the time of ThomM the Hh^ with hi:. n«alTeS™rof'"Z;*'^'^^'3'^°''8 not Med Durward, becau8rrtr„ ^J^ard were cirenmstanoe from wS C ^aJV°' ^"'''"'' *"■« the surname was dJvTt ^ *'"' °"°«- ^^en raUyh^rtaTat r^i"""rP«f^' ''* •«««»« natu- tinc^ion apS eValIyrth:tr''°''.'lt''''" ''"' "''■ S^ntetii^tr^^Sen^ :trjm;l£S-r^-^^^^^^^^ because the oharte7q"oS '^. .?„ ^fT "^"'^"*' ^..n e.^.. that^rcprtf^Ct':-"^ I»r to our Thomas, and was dropped by his son, who Lord Chief C„„Li»„„eVAl„„Tstll "J^ "'r"'* «™»<1>, the We been (r.n.»^Ir dU,i^ti!r{7'.r' ""* " "' ''°°°'^' ■»•■» •» Th. chief n,4S.f 7^ f* ■°° " The™. U,e Smith. „, „,„ JJ their herediiLj deriiZSo™. ^" *■ 7°* F"*^' '"'* """ »' ■»""» .«d«fe™.7':r:r2:f„„^H."j°;^r°-°^ ~ """ --^ SIR WALTER SCOTT iBT. 31 i '; designs himself simply, Thomas of Enddaune, ton of Thoma» the Eymour of Enddoune; which I think is uonclttsire upon the subject. In all this discussion, I have scorned to avail myself of the tradition of the coun- try, as well as the suspicious testimony of Boece, Demp- ster, etc., grounded probably upon that tradition, which uniformly affirms the name of Thomas to have been liear- mont or Leirmont, and that of the Rhymer a personal epithet. This circumstance may induce us, however, to conclude that some of his descendants had taken that name — certain it is that his castle is called Leirmont's Tower, and that he is as well known to the country peo- ple by that name, as by the appellation of the Rhymer. Having cleared up this matter, as I think, to every one's satisfaction, unless to those resembling not Thomas himself, but his namesake the Apostle, I have, secondly, to show that my Thomas is the Tomaa of Douce's MS. Here I must again refer to the high and general rever- ence in which Thomas appears to have been held, as is proved by Robert de Brunne ; but above all, as you ob- serve, to the extreme similarity betwixt the French and English poems, with this strong circumstance, that the mode of telling the story approved by the French min- strel, under the authority of his Tomas, is the very mode in which my Thomas has told it. Would you desire better sympathy? I lately met by accident a Cornish gentleman, who had taken up his abode in Selkirkshire for the sake of fishing — and what should his name be but Caerlion f You will not doubt that this interested me very much. He tells me that there is but one family of the name in Cornwall, or as far as ever he heard, anywhere else, and that they are of great antiquity. Does not this circumstance seem to prove that thei« existed in Cornwall a place called Caerlion, giving name to that family? Caerlion would probably be Castrum Leonenge, the chief town of Liones, which in every romance is stated to have been Tristrem's J8o3 letter from ELLIS ,o, cmmtj, and from which he deriyed his surname of Tri.- oTS,. /ir*- ^'' ''"'™*' " y°» °»'i«e in the note, on the Fahhaux, was swaUowed up by the sea. I ne^d not remmd you that aU this tends to iUustrarke c2 ^« mentioned by Tomas, which I alway7l^,2^ be a very different place from Caerlion oTuZ^^ch which '"'^"1, ^°T I '^g"' the number of lel^^es which prevented my joining you «ad the sapient dS ^d how much ancient lore I have lost. Where I hTve be» the people talked more of the praises of R^„ t™ S T ?•"""' ^'^'' •>"* '■™ ^""'t greyhounds wodShJl "" "^^.r"'^ *^'"' ^ '""y '^"e™. they e!^!^- w °- ^^ P™"*""" »* Sir Tristrem, or of 'evy era masse. Yours ever, ^_ Scorr Ellis says in teply Mt DEAK S<=orr: Immt begin by congratulating yon on Mr, SeT^r/ r™ V" "■ "'' "■* "^"J^ in detecting U« stupid mark^uu., who, i^hUe he took «n, at . bird on f tree, was «> near shootinc vour fair " bird in bower." It there were many ™ch shooters, it would become then a sufficient ex- cu» for the relucumce of Govermnent to famish arms indiffer- enUy to aU volunteer. In the next place, I am glad to hear ftat you are disposed to adopt my chamiel for transmitting the S™ U '^T'".?" •^''^ ^' '^»y»- ""» »°« 1 Have thought on aie subject, the more I am convinced that the Nor- mans^ong before the Conquest, had acquired from the Britons t^^w '[^'T^'^^^ knowledge of our old British fables, ^d that this led Uiem, after the Conquest, to inquire after such «e apposed to have taken pW I am «ti,fied, from the mtoml evidence of Geoffrey of Momnouth's History, that it mart have been fabricated in Bretag^.e, and that he M, as he ^^ "f/ '™'"'^", "• ^'"'' " ^»™' "'«' iivd aiout a century later, certatnlD translated also from the Breton a series 1 r. 1"*' I""^""" ""• ^ '°^8'"«' it"" foUowthat the first poets who wrote in France, such as Chretien, etc 'ft: I 101 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. 32 mint haye ac(|nired their knowledge of our tradition! from BreUgne. Observe, that the paeudo-Tnrpin, who is auppoaed to have been anterior to Geoffrey, and who, on that supposition, cannot have borrowed from hini mentions, among Charle- magne's heroes, Hoel (the hero of Geoffrey also), " de quo canitnr cantilena usque ad hodiemum diem." Now, if Thomas ras able to estaMish his stoty as the most authmtic, even by the avowal of the French themselves, and if the sketch of that story was previously known, it must have been because he wrote in the country which his hero was supposed to have inhabited ; and on the same grounds the Norman minstrels here, and even their English successors, were allowed to fill up, vrith as many circumstances as they thought proper, the tales of which the Ar- morican Bretons probably furnished the first imperfect outline. What you tell me about your Cornish fisherman is very curious ; and I think with you that little reliance is to be phwed on our Wehih geography — and that Caerlion on Uske is by no means t/u Caerlion of Tristrem. Few writers or readers have hitherto considered sufficiently, that from the moment when Hengist first obtained a settlement in the Isle of Thanet, that settlement became England, and all the rest of the country became Wales; that these divisions continued to represent different proportions of the island at different periods ; but that Wales, during the whole Heptarchy, and for a long time after, comprehended the whole western coast very nearly from Corn- wall to Dunbretton ; and that this whole tract, of which the eastern frontier may be easily traced for each particular period, pretsrved most probably to the age of Thomas a community of language, of manners, and traditions. As your last volume announces your Lay, as well as Sir Tristrem, as in the press, I begin, in common with all your friends, to be uneasy about the future disposal of your tir e. Having nothing but a very active profession, and your military pursuits, and your domestic occupations, to think of, and Leyden having monopolized Asiatic lore, you will presently be quite an idle man I You are, however, still in time to learn Erse, and it is, I am afraid, very necessary that you should do so, in order to stimulate my laziness, which has hitherto made no progress whatever in Welsh. Tour ever faithful, G. E. P. S. — Is Camp married yet ? i803 LETTER TO ELLIS ,03 gPpsfE:£sf aone, till we see the produce of the union An 1^,^Z hare-Mim At *i . ""' merely to dme upon u^kowVo, T ,r' *'""*• ^ ««^it and profit cine ^rSt ' 7^"'"' "" "O" q""™! with them than hopcl^^wm noff j''^/°".'™.'° •"" ""ghborhood, I PC you will not faJ tK. mquire into the history of the 104 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt, 3a valiant Moor of Moorhall and the Dragon of Wantley. As a noted barletque upon the popular romance, the ballad has some curiosity and merit. Ever yours, W. S." Mr. Ellis received this letter where Scott hoped it would reach him, at the seat of Lord Effingham; and he answers, on the 3d of October: — The beauty of this part of the country is such as to indem- nify the traveller fur a few miles of very indifferent road, and the tediouB process of creeping up and almost sliding down a succession of high hilla ; — and in the number of picturesque landscapes by which we are encompassed, the den of the dr^fon which you recommended 'm our attention is the most superla- tively beautiful and romr ntic You are, I suppose, aware that this same den ^ ^ the very spot from whence Lady Mary Wort- ley Montagu wrote mrjiy oi her early letters ; and it seems that an old housekeeper, who lived there till last year, remembered to have seen her, and dwelt with great pleasure on the various charms of her celehrated mistress ; so that its wild scenes have an equal claim to veneration from the admirers of wit and " 1- lantry, and the far-famed investigators of remote antiqm^. With regard to the o"^ ' ,inal Dragon, I have met with two dif- ferent traditions. On >f these (which I think is preserved by Percy) states him to ^^ve been a wicked attorney, a relentless persecutor of the poor, who was at length, fortunately for his neighbors, mined by a lawsuit which he had undertaken against his worthy and powerful antagonist Moor of Moorhall. The other legend, which is current in the Wortley family, states him to have been a most formidable drinker, whose powers of inglu- tition, strength of stomach, and stability of head, had procured him a long series of triumphs over common visitants, but who was at length fairly drunk dead by the chieftain of the opposite moors. It must be confessed that the form of the den, a cavern cut in the rock, and very nearly resembling a wine or ale cellar, tends to corroborate this tradition ; but I am rather tempted to believe that both the stories were invented aprh coupf and that the supposed dragon was some wolf or other destructive animal, who was finally hunted down by Moor of Moorhall, after doing i8o3 LETTER FROM ELLIS ,oj e^dmbl, mi«hid to th. flock. «d h«d. of hU .apentitiou m^ir^"" K°°" '"^ to I»Te g«mn to it. CTM, ,ow A. pre,ent .cuUery te.tifl«, of "li.temng to the Hirti, belL" ^i^ .1^ , "" ~''°'^^' "^ »'">>»»P»g the riTer Don, which ,n thi, ph«e .. litUe mor. th« . mountain to,rent^ though It become. n«„g»ble . few mUe. lower at Sheffield. A great part of Uie ro«l from hence (which i. .even mile. di.tant) run. through forest ground, and I have no doubt that the whole wa. at no d«tant period covered with wood, becau,e the modem unprorement. of the country, the re.ult of flouri.hing manu- factone., have been carried on almott within our own time in eonMquence of the abundance of coal which here break, out in many place, even on the mrface. On the oppo.ite .ide of the mer begin almoet immediately the Mten.i»e moor, which rtnke alcng the highest Und of Yorkehire and Derbyshire, and foUowing the chain of hill., probably communicated not many centan« ago with thoM of NorthumberUnd, Cumberhind, and ScotUnd. I therefore doubt whether the general face of the Munby u not better evidence a. to the miture of the mon.ter than the parbcuUr appearance of the cavern j and am inclined to beheve that Moor of MoorhaU was a hunter of wUd beast., rather than of attorney, or hard drinker.. You are unjust in saying that I flag over the Mabinogion : I have been ve^r con.tantly employed upon my preface, uid wa. proceeding to the kst wction when I set off for thi. place — «, you .ee I am perfecUy exculpated, and aU over a. white a. snow. Anne being a true aristocn-t, and considering purity of blood « CMential to lay the foundation of aU the virtue, she expects to cidl out by a laborious wlucation of a true son of Cam- — she highly approve, the strict and even prudish severity ^th which yoo watch over the moral, of hi. bride, and expect, you, uuumuch as aU the good knight, die U, read of havrbeen re^ markable for their incomparable beauty, not to neglect that important requirite in selecting her future guard=an We poe- w» a vulgar dog (a pointer), to whom it i. intended to coninit ,it; io6 SIR WALTER SCOTT MT.31 the eharg* of onr hoiiM daring our abieiuw, and to whom I mean to girr orden to npel by (oree any attempt! of onr neigh- bor! daring the timee that I thall be occupied in preparing han^uup ! but Fiti-Camp will be ^er companion, end die tnuta that jou will itrictly examine him while yet a varlet, and only aend him up when yon think him likely to become a true knight Aditu — miUt ehotu. Q, E, Soott telli Ellif in reply (October 14), that be wu "infinitely gratified nith hii ooconnt of Wortley Lodge and the Dragon," and refen him to the article "Kem- pion," in the Minitrelay, for a similar tradition retpeot- ing an ancestor of the noble house of Somerrille. The reader can hardly need to be reminded that the gentle knight Sir Thomas Wortley's love of hearing the deer bell was often alluded to in Scott's subsequent writings. He goes on to express his hope, that next summer will be "a more propitious season for a visit to Scotland. The necessity of the present occasion," he says, "has kept almost every individual, however insignificant, to his post. God has left us entirely to our own means of defence, for we have not above one regiment of the line in all our ancient kingdom. In the mean while, we are doing the best we can to prepare ourselves for a contest, which, perhaps, is not far distant. A beacon light, com- municating with that of Edinburgh Castle, is jast erect- ing in front of our quiet cottage. My field equipage is ready, and I want nothing but a pipe and a tchmirbart- ehen to convert me into a complete hussar.' Charlotte, with the infantry (of the household troops, I mean), is to beat her retreat into Ettrick Forest, where, if the Tweed is in his usual wintry state of fiood, she may weather out * Seknurbarlchen is Gflrraau for mmtaohio. It appean from a page of •n Mply note-book preTiowly tratuoribed, that Scott had been lometiniea a nnoker of tobaooo in the fint daya of his light-horsemanship. He had laid aside the habit at the time when this letter was written; but he twioa again resomed it, thongh he neTsr carried the indalgenoe to any iSoj LETTER TO ELLIS 107 . d«cnt from Ottend. Next yew I hop. uj tiu. wiU be OTer, wd tUt not only I rfuUl h.ve the pleMurt of "oemng you in pe«e and quiet, but al« of S^wiSi you thro^.h every part of CaledonU, in wUryou c„ p««b y be interested. Friday «-ennight our 00^ tak" ^n?h .'^"i,'^^— '" "'•' •«"""* timewitSnthr^ lib It ^rV"' ^^ """ *« "vertU-e evil day. which. I under.tand. wa. preceded by n.adne«i. It m,i be worth whUe to inquire who ha. got hi. MSS..-I mean hi, own note, and writing.. The Life of Arihur. for example, mu8t contain many curiou. fact, and quota tion,, which the poor defunct had the power of Zm- Umg to an astonishing degree, without being able to combine anything like a narrative, or even to dLoe one Z^ f """"f-witnes- hi. E«ay on Rom«.ce and .."l^ T T'""'' "'""•'■ »■'« "f « ^P of rubbish which h«l either turned out unfit for the a«hiteJ?. pt: rr Z ^T? ^A *'" t" n"*"™ of. The ballad, he had coUccted in CumberUnd and Northumberland, too, wodd greatly ,ntere.t me. If they have fallen inti the hand, of any liberal collector, I dare «y I might be in! dulged with a right of them. Pray inquire a1»nt tW. to Mr,. E A ro.y b,,. the sister of a bold yeoman in our neighborhood, entered our cottage, towing in a mon. stoou. sort of buU-dog, called emphatically Cerberus, whom she came on the part of her brother to beg our acceptance of, understanding we were anxious to have a SOD of Camp. Cerberus was no sooner loose (a pleasure riS'l' V"T?' '" ""^ "^'y ""J"?*-') »•"" hi. father 0.«/yo8e-) and he engaged in a battle which might have been celebrated by the author of the Unnatu4l Com! bat, and which, for aught I know, might have turned i a io8 SIR WAITER SCOTT MT.Ji out • oombat b t'outrance, if I had not isterfered with s hone-wliip, initead of a baton, ujugt de Camp, Tlw oddi were indeed greatljr against tlw etranger kniglit — two fierce Foreit greylwund* liaring arrived, and, con- trary to tlie law of arms, itoutly amailed him. I hope to •end you a pnppy initead of iku redoubtable Cerberu^ , Love to Mn. E. W. S." After giring Scott lome information about Ritaon'e literary treaaurei, moat of which, aa it turned out, had been diapoeed of by auction shortly before his death, Mr. Ellis (10th November) returns to the charge about Tris- trem and True Thomas. "You appear," he says, "to have been for some time so military, that I am afraid the most difficult and important part of your original plan, namely, your History of Scottish Poetry, will again be postponed, and must be kept for some future publication. I am, at this moment, much in want of two such assistants as you and I^eyden. It seems to me, that if I had some locid knowledge of that wicked Ettrick Forest, I could extricate myself tolerably - - but as it is, although I am convinced that my general idea is tolerably just, I a-t unable to guide my elephants in tliat quiet and decorous step-by-step march which the nature of such animals requires through a country of which I don't know any of the roads. My comfort is, that you cannot publish Tristrem without a preface, — that you can't write one without giving me some assistance, — and that you must finish the said preface long before I go to ress with my Introduction." This was the Introduction to Ellis's Specimens of An- cient English Romances, in which he intended to prove, that as Valentia was, during several ages, the exposed frontier of Roman Britain towards the unsubdued tribes of the North, and as two whole legions were accordingly usually quartered there, while one besides sufficed for the whole southern part of the island, the manners of Valentia, which included the district of Ettrick Forest, iSoj WORDSWORTH 109 of M tuny Koman troops. "It i. proUble, therefore " he «^. in «,other letter, "tluit tU ciriliiit^- o'"h. north.™ p,rt bec.„,o gr«lujl, the moet pX TW ~«nfa7 g,ve birth. « you have ob«rved. to Cr in. «d ri.„ n'n • "t"'"' "" P"*""? '^^ «»» " the hi.t<^ •in - It wa. the oountTr of Bede and Adonnan." my tun, to the publuhed euay for Mr. Ellis', matured vember 10. 1803, he proceed.: "And now let me a.k you about The Uy of the U»t Min.trel. Thit Ithirk may go on a. weU i„ your tent. amid.t the chmg of tr^' pe . and the du,t of the field, a. in your quieri,;tarL perhaps .„deed .tiU better-nay, I an. not sure whfu,er « ««/ .nvaaion would not be. a. far a. your poetry Z ooncemed, a thing to be wished." ^^^ saw Wordsworth. Their common acqunintance, Stod- dart. h«l so often talked of them to o«.h other, .> Z, f^en"s. ^"^ •** ""' '^" """8""' "■» "^oy P"^ Mr and Miss Wordsworth had just completed that tour ,n the Highlands, of which ,0 Lny incfdeJS live tTh.^." r"""^^"1' '»"' '- *''« ^•' vert »d In the hardly less poetical prose of his sister's Dianr. On the morning of the 17th of September, having Irft thdr ca^mge at Rosslyn. they walked down the vallfyt W rll • '^.'L""™'^ *'""1 ^•'"' **'• ■""» M"- S""" h^ m^'with tLrr r'™?- ','*''• ^-■•-'-th has toU me, with that frank cordiality which, under whatever circumstance, I afterwards met him, always milked lis manners; and, indeed, I found him then in every rcsn^J higher -precisely the same man that you knew him in SIR WALTER SCOTT MT. 32 later life ; the same lively, entertaining conversation, full of anecdote, and averse from disquisition ; the same un- affected modesty about himself; the same cheerful and benevolent and hopeful views of man and the world. He partly read and partly recited, sometimes in an enthusi- astic style of chant, the first four cantos of The Lay of the Last Minstrel; and the novelty of the manners, the clear picturesque descriptions, and the easy glowing energy of much of the verse, greatly delighted me." After this he walked with the tourists to Rosslyn, and promised to meet them in two days at Melrose. The night before they reached Melrose they slept at the little quiet inn of Clovenford, where, on mentioning his name, they were received with all sorts of attention and kind- ness, — the landlady observing that Mr. Scott, "who was a very clever gentleman," was an old friend of the house, and usually spent a good deal of time there during the fishing season; but, indeed, says Mr. Wordsworth, "wherever we named him, we found the word acted as an open sesamum ; and I believe, that in the character of the Sheriff's friends, we might have counted on a hearty welcome under any roof in the Border country." He met them at Melrose on the 19th, and escorted them through the Abbey, pointing out all its beauties, and pouring out his rich stores of history and tradition. They then dined and spent the evening together at the inn ; but Miss Wordsworth observed that there was some difficulty about arranging matters for the night, "the landlady refusing to settle anything until she had ascer- tained from the Sheriff himtdf that he had no objection to sleep in the same room with William." Scott was thus far on his way to the Circuit Court at Jedburgh, in his capacity of Sheriff, and there his new friends again joined him ; but he begged that they would not enter the court, "for," said he, "I really would not like you to see the sort of figure I cut there." They did see him cas- ually, however, in his cocked hat and sword, marching Wlf.Ll.U! WORl,,„OKTH SCOT • of '-hiu', W- . "Wia^tfei; and ■ >i«*f {Masiuiitsqiie rteBcriiHi . energy uf inui^h of the vmrm, ^ Mttiv this Im w.ilkeit with Uit '^ pn/mia&i to rauct Ihcni in tivo i! - uiglii beforn tlwy rcn !icc! Melrose u quitit inn oC riftiTHford ''j- fui ansf M. H.. -itthiiTii. I^V of vH.'ll,,. ii'l-t «1 til, null' %rhei^. on nieutiouitig hiri njmje. .. ■,»..,■.. -..,■.;..-( . ,n. all ,*.irts of attMition aiul fcirnl- jervinj; j!-.Bt Mr. ^<'Ott, "wliu was ■ . a . .1, >i(l frifiid of the !iim*>, ' ■= ihv-.Tt^ during the *■*. Wijrd'iworth, ^t^ arreil ;i,i rt*>unteom uitli Williim." Saitt ws. !l;-...j far on liis wav t>. rhe Cirtmtt f'tmrt at JeJburgh, ill ilia esi.aeitry- .if Shuriff. aii.1 them \ur. »«>•• frieji.ls again icined him; bnt he h^$Kilh-X\mif'<1».iir:^ »'* tntir the >«rt, "for," saiil J«h.i\4,*t«;j-,,**J*i*. „i*4'l"' you to •<«- ?*# »'••- irf fSgEr.' r 1,-ut th. •• ■ iVr Jill sec him ra i8o3 WORDSWORTH ) h3 rt. „ • • ; r '""^ ™"" "* t''* Castle of Fernie- sav "WJ.»t i:f„ *i • . """"worth happened to ?: „ **™' "'« Uiero 18 in trees! "— "Hnm ,!!« ^ V, led them next mom ng to the brow of a l,ili f ^M. he Ill SIR WALTER SCOTT jet. 31 that neither their engagements nor bis own would permit them to make at this time an excursion into the wilder glens of Liddesdale, "where," said he, "I hare strolled so often and so long, that 1 may say I have a home in every farmhouse." "And, indeed," adds Mr. Words- worth, "wherever we went with him, he seemed to know everybody, and everybody to know and like him." Here they parted — the Wordsworths to pursue their journey homeward by Eskdale — he to return to Lasswade. The impresi'ion on Mr. Wordsworth's mind was, that on the whole he attached much less importance to his literary labors or reputation than to his bodily sports, exercises, and social amusements ; and yet he spoke of his profession as if he had already given up almost all hope of rising by it; and some allusion being made to its profits, observed that "he was sure he could, if he chose, get more money than be should ever wish to have from the booksellers." * This confidence in his own literary resources appeared to Mr. Wordsworth remarkable — the more so, from the careless way in which its expression dropt from him. As to his despondence concerning the Bar, I confess his fee- book indicates much less ground for such a feeling than 1 should have expected to discover there. His practice brDught him, as we have seen, in the session of 1796-97, ^144 10s. ; — its proceeds fell down, in the first year of his married life, to £19 lis. ; but they rose again, in 1798-99, to il35 9s. ; amounted, in 1799-1800, to £129 13s.; in 1800-1, to ^6170; in 1801-2, to je202 12s.; and in the session that had just elapsed (which is the last in- cluded in the record before me), to £228 IBs. On reaching his cottage in Westmorelard, Wordsworth ^ I hAve drawn np the account of thie meeting from m; recollection partly of Mr. Wordaworth'e oooTcisation — partly from that of hie sitter's charming Diary, which he was so kind as to read over to me on the 16th May, l&W. [Dorothy Wordsworth's Recollectiont of a Tour made in Scot- tand, 180S, was first published in foil in 1874, under the editorship of Frin- eipal Shairp.] '8o3 WORDSWORTH addressed « letter to Scott, from which I must quote a few «sntencc8 It i. dated Grasmere, Octobo"l6 IMg We had a delightful j„„„ey home, delighXl weaTer' little cottoge m high spirits, aud thankful to God for Jl ? n^ f • **' f^" ""^ "^""J "«" both weU, a^d^ I ne«J not say, we had aU of us a happy meeting We passed Branxhohne-vonr BraniLlml " ' ' posed-about four miles o^ "his "d" „f^ Ul '\ looks better in vour nnom ♦!,._ • 'T 'wwicit. It The situation hoCerTdeSt^S 'trT "'^■'■'»- for an ordinary mansiin S w^„',e of Sf T T""*.' ticmgJohnnieA.S:tron?rKX. bSr^inTpUr fore I S ™., K 7' " ""^ ^ '"'''*'• =»" n"«=l' of be- i^rthat we^^nit ytr oS^y^ul t '"T -t occur often in life/ If Jel^; sh'a^lt«t"Zin° ^ lidldT'f'T ""'''' ^ '^»'' 0* th^ thS^: b^tod and England sound like division, do what « Zth.^r "i^^^^^ *"" neighbors, and if you were no teU G^ '"'• '" ^'"^^' ""^ '^"^^ think so. W weU God prosper you, and all that belongs to you. 114 SIR WALTER SCOTT iBT. 32 ; J Your sincere friend, for such I vill call myself, though slow to use a word of such solemn meaning to any one, W. Wordsworth." The poet then transcribes his noble Sonnet on Neidpath Castle, of which Scott had, it seems, requested a copy. In the MS. it stands somewhat differently from the printed edition ; but in that original shape Scott always recited it, and few lines in the langtutge were more fre- quently in his mouth.* I have already said something of the beginning of Scott's acquaintance with "the Ettrick Shepherd." Shortly after their first meeting, Hogg, coming into Edinburgh, with a flock of sheep, was seized with a sud- den ambition of seeing himself in type, and he wroi'? out that same night Willie and Katie, and a few other bal- lads, already famous in the Forest, which some obscure bookseller gr.'vtifled him by printing accordingly; but they appear to have attracted no notice beyond their ori- ginal sphere. Hogg then made an excursion into the Highlands, in quest of employment as overseer of some extensive sheep-farm; but, though Scott had furnished ^ [More than a year later, Wordiworth lent to Scott a copy of Yarrow Uimnted, «ayu,g of th« poem : " Yoa will find a few Btaazas, which 1 hope (for the anbject at least) will give yoa aoine pleaenre. 1 wrote them, not without a view of pleaaing you, loon after our return from Scotland. . . ■ They are in the lame aort of metre aa the Leadtr Haagkt" Scott says in his reply : " I am very much flattered by yonr ohooaing Yarrow for the aub- jeet of the Teiaea Bent me, which ahall not paaa out of my own hand, nor be read except to those worthy of being listeners. At the same time, I by no means admit your apology, however ingenionsly and artfully ptated, for not visiting the bonnie holms of Yarrow, and certainly will not rest till I have prevailed upon you to compare the ideal with the real stream. . . . There are Home good lines in the old ballad, the hnnted hare, for ioatanae, who mourns that she must leave fair Leaderbaugh, and cannot win to Yar- row. And thia from early youth baa given my bcaom a thrill when song or repeated. < ¥ot many a place itands in hard case, Where blithe folks kend use aonow ; 'Uoocat Homes that dwelt on Leader dde, And Bcotte tluu lived 00 Tamw.' " FaiaUiar Litteri, vol. I p. 28.] i8o3 THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD „j a number of traditional fact., and ,et about imit^t°n^ the manner of the ancients mvielf " Th^.7--yZ-^ he ^.n^mitted to Scott. who"Ja™iy ,^Z 'ZtZ .toA.ng beauties scattered over their ^u^h surface The he it.' """ "«^«'' •""'■""» ""^^ him to Ed nlrgh Se Cet r° ^''°"' "J" ""'*'' J--- t" dinner in Cat tie Street, m company with William Laidlaw who hln pened also to be in town, and some oth„ aZVers of 1 Z^iTL- ""^1. "?«^ «"*«""' the1:rg.lm M«. Soctt, being at the time in a delicate state of health legible marks of a recent sheep-smearing, the Crof tt^ usage to which her chintz was exposed. The Shenherd »nS.kTf ' Tt' °' ^this-dLed hS; rowed plentiful merriment to the more civilized d^ of the company. As the liquor operated, CTJZ^ ii6 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 32 inoreaaed and •trengthened; from "Mr. Soott," be ad- vanced to "Sherra," and thenoe to "Scott," "Walter," and"Wattie," — nntil, at supper, he fairly conrulaed the whole party by addreuiog Mn. Soott as "Charlotte." The collection entitled The Mountain Bard was event- ually published by Constable, in consequence of Scott's recommendation, and this work did at last afford Hogg no slender share of the popular reputation for which he had so long thirsted. It is not my business, however, to pursue the details 01 his story. What I hare written wai only to render intelligible the following letter : — i TO WALTBB SCOTT, ZSQ., ADVOCATE, CASTLE STREET, KDiNBUBOH. Ettuck-Houbk, Dseambw 24, 1603. Dear Mr. Scott, — I have been very impatient to hear from yon. There is a certain affair of which you and I talked a little in private, an.i wMch must now be concluded, that nat- urally increaaetfa tnii». I am afraid that I was at least half-seas over the night I was with you, for I cannot, for my life, recollect what passed when it was late ; and, there being certainly a small vacuum in my brain, which, when emp^, is quite empty, bat is sometimes suppUed with a small distillation of intellectual matter — this must have been empty that night, or it never conld have been taken possession of by the fumes of the liquor so easily. If I was in the state in which I suspect that I was, I must have spoke a very great deal of nonsense, for which I beg ten thou- sand pardons. I have the consolation, however, of remembering that Mrs. Scott kept in company all or most of the time, which she certainly could not have done, had I been very rude. I remember, too, of the filial injunction you gave at parting, cau- tioning me against being ensnared by die loose women in town. I am sure I had not reason enough left at that time to express either the half of my gratitude for the kind hint, or the utter abhorrence I inherit at those seminaries of lewdness. You once promised me your best advice in the first lawsuit in which I had the particular happiness of being engaged. I •8oj THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD „, .nd .boo. ;r.TS prints J'l''^Tr'*"''''"'«'' •Ithoagh I wiU not p^eJd^,^^, M,n«tfel.y i.. Now, nei^borho^dZ^M "S"/^ '" P«-k .nd if copie^«.dpr„mi.i„g JJ'XhTL''^'''' '^'^ """"« yon ple««, to triLS pl„g A" 'orTT^'l'."'"'-'' " pnbUshing a book withont . Tt^r.nrf I 1, *^ ' """■' " "' my eye, and of which T 2in -^ ' '"™ ""» "^ «»" '" give y'o; the l^tVoh'^crtet" irtirT' V""' Advocate, Sh.riffHjepute of EttrS p„». ^I^f .j"""'. ««?- I wiU addre»« von in » ,llj- •• . '' ^^°^ '' Pennitted, James Hogo. wir'onr„t *r'"' ^ '■'"''" "''*• •« P-^tioularly amused with one of the suggestions in this letter; namely, tS ii8 SIR WALTER SCOTT MT. 32 Scott thould truKribe the Shepherd '• nuntire in /on of hit life and eduostion, and merely putting " He " for "I," adopt it a> hia own ooni]MMition. Jamea, however, would have had no hesitation almut offering a aimilar tuggeation either to Scott, or Wordaworth, or Ujrron, at any period of their renown. To aay nothing about mod- eaty, hia notiona of literary honeaty were always exceed- ingly looae; but, at the aame time, we muat take into account hia peculiar notiona, or rather no notiona, aa to the proper limits of a joke. Literature, like miaery, makes men acquainted with atrange bedfellows. Let ua t«tum from the worthy Shepherd of Ettrick to the courtly wit and acholar of Sunning Hill. In the last quoted of hia letters, he ex- presses hia fear that Scott'a military avocationa might cause him to publiah the Triatrem unaccompanied by hia Essay on the History of Scottish Poetry. It is need- less to add that no such Essay ever was completed ; but I have heard Scott say that his plan had been to begin with the age of Thomas of Ercildoune, and bring the subject down to his own, illustrating each stage of his progress by a specimen of verse — imitating every great master's style, as he had done that of the original Sir Tristrem in his Conclmion. Such a series of pieces from his hand would have been invaluable, merely as bringing out in a clear manner the gradual divarication of the two great dialects of the English tongue ; but seeing by his Verses on a Poacher, written many years after this, in pro- fessed imitation of Crabbe, with what happy art he could pour the poetry of his own mind into the mould of an- other artist, it is impossible to doubt that we have lost better things than antiquarian illumination by the non- completion of a design in which he should have embraced successively the tone and measure of Douglas, Dunbar, Lindesay, Montgomerie, Hamilton, Ramsay, Fergusson, and Burns. The Tristrem was now far advanced at press. He i8o4 SIR TRISTREM 119 worM of thing, to «y to you, I have been culimljylmt m«t n.tu«Uly .ilent. When you turn , bottk wUh iu he«l downmott, you n.».t have remarke.1 that the e" t«n.e impatience of the content, to get out JI atoned g™.tly unpe.le. their getting out at M. I Uve. how! ever, been forming the rewlution of wnclinB a crand Pjoket with Sir Wrem. who wiU ki„ your h^ndHn Heber, and Mr. Douce, who, I am wUling o hope wU ~cept thi, niarkof my g^at respect and warmT^em brance of h.s kindnew while in London. - Pray «„7mo w"tion ofT"*""- ^" *"•" '"'"8 ''■"">'«' "if- the position of he enemy, I am rewlved to carry it at tho point of the bayonet, and, like an able gene,^ to attack :, pUrf *" f """'^ *° ""''"'■ Without metaptr or parable, I am determined, not only that mv Toma» fuJ^or f,r"T-,f V'""™' •"" ""«' >« 'hTu 2e The author of Ilomehild also. I muat, however, rea.1 over the romance, before I can make my arrangementr I Wd ^LT ^'^r^f"" *>■« ^Py i» ^" collection i. tranl lated from the French, I do not see why we should not jnppose that the French had been origfnally a vt Jon from our Thomas. The date doe, notVeafly frighten Te'tti "T"^"^ ^'"'■"»' "^ Ereildoune's Wet the threescore ^d ten years of the Psalmist, and conse- quenUy removed back the date of Sir Tristram to Tas" ^ll^Lr T t^""' ^ '^««'' f« «»t matter M-d I can allow a few years. He lived on the Border of Northumberland, where there were many more. Eto MoreUr .f V"'"'*"^ "' *^' P''"''-' the Veseies, i» Morells the Grais, and the De Vaui, were not ac qnainted with honest Thomas, their ne.t'drr ne^hb^^' who was a poet, and wrote excellent tales _ and, mo^I SIR WALTER SCOTT AT. 32 over, a laird, and gave, I dare be sworn, good dinners? And would they not anxiously translate, for the amuse- ment of their masters, a story like Homchild, so inti- mately connected with the lands in which they had set- tled? And do you not think, from the whole structure of Homchild, however often translated and retranslated, that it must have been originally of northern extraction? 1 have not time to tell you certain -suspicions I entertain that Mr. Deuce's fragments are the work of one Baoull de Beauvais, who flourished about the middle of the thir- teenth century, and for whose accommodation principally I have made Thomas, to use a military phrase, drtis backwards for ten years." All this playful language is exquisitely characteristic of Scott's indomitable adherence to his own views. But his making Thomas dress bacheards — and resolving that, if necessary, he shall be the author of Homchild, as well as Sir Tristrem — may perhaps remind the reader of Don Quixote's method of repairing the headpiece which, as originally constructed, one blow had sufficed to demolish; — "Not altogether approving of his having broken it to pieces with so much ease, to secure himself from the like danger for the future, he made it over again, fencing it with small bars of iron within, in such a manner, that he rested satisfied of its strength — and, without caring to make afresh expeririient on it, lie ap- proved and looked upon it as a most excellent helmet." Ellis having made some observationa on Scott's article upon Godwin's Life of Chaucer, which implied a notion that he had formed a regular connection with the Edin- burgh Review, he in the same letter says, "I quite agree with yon as to the general conduct of the Keview, which savors more of a wish to display than to instruct; but as essays, many of the articles are invaluable, and the principEd conductor is a man of very acute and uni- versal talent. I am not regidarly connected with the work, nor have I either incHnation or talents to use the i8o4 SIR TRISTREM 131 critical scalping knife, unless as in the case of Godwin where flesh and blood succumbed under the temptation. I don t know it you have looked into his tomes, of which a whole edition has vanished -I was at a loss to know how, tiU I conjectured that, as the heaviest materials to be come at, they have been sent on the secret expedition, planned by Mr. Phillips and adopted by our^apient Government for blocking up the mouth of our enemy's P^^"' Vl? ^^"^ ^"^ '■"^ "y ^"^ «™«'" t" tie Phillips and Godwm, and all our other lumber, literary and political, for the same beneficial purpose. But in general, I think it ungentlemanly to wound any person's feelings through an anonymous publication, unless where CTnoeit or false doctrine strongly calk for reprobation. Where praise can be conscientiously minglad in a larger proportion than blame, there is always some amusement in throwing together our ideas upon the works of our felJow-laborers, and no injustice in publishing them. On such occasions, and in our way, I may possibly, once or twice a year, furnish my critical friends with an article." », ,X!!*'*'" "** »' '^S''' PuWished on the 2d of May, 1804, by Constable, who, however, expected so Me popdarity for the work that the edition consisted only of 150 copies. These were sold at a high price (two gnmeas), otherwise they would not have been enough to cover the expenses of paper and printing. Mr. EUis md Scott's other antiquarian friends, were much dissatl isfled with these arrangements; but I doubt not that Constable was a better judge than any of them. The work, however, partook in due time of the favor attend- mg Its editor's name. In 1806, 750 copies were called fori and 1000 in 1811. After that time Sir Tristrem was included in the collective editions of Scott's poetry: but he had never parted with the copyright, merely allow- ing his general publishers to insert it among his other works, whenever they chose to do so, as a matter of cour- tesy. It was not a perfortimce from which he had ever I 122 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 32 anticipated any pecuniary profit, but it maintained at least, if it did not raise, his reputation in tlie circle o£ bis fellow-antiquaries; and his own Conclusion, in the manner of the original romance, must always be admired as a remarkable specimen of skill and dexterity. As to the arguments of the Introduction, I shall not in this place attempt any discussion.* Whether the story of Tristrem was first told in Welsh, Armorican, French, or English verse, there can, I think, be no doubt that it had been told in verse, with such success as to obtain very general renown, by Thomas of Ercildoune, and that the copy edited by Scott was either the composition of one who had heard the old Rhymer recite his lay, or the identical lay itself. The introduction of Thomas's name in the third person, as not the author, but the author's authority, appears to have had a great share in convin- cing Scott that the Auchinleck MS. contained not the original, but the copy of an English admirer and con- temporary. This point seems to have been rendered more doubtful by some quotations in the recent edition of Warton's History of English Poetry ; but the argument derived from the enthusiastic exclamation "God help Sir Tristrem the knight — he fought for England!" still re- mains; and stronger perhaps even than that, in the opinion of modem philologists, is the total absence of any Scottish or even Northumbrian peculiarities in the diction. All this controversy may be waived here. Scott's object and delight was to revive the fame of the Rhymer, whose traditional history he had listened to while yet an infant among the crags of Smailholme. He had already celebrated him in a noble ballad;' he now devoted a vol- 1 The eritioal reader vill find all the leamiiig OQ the lahject hrooKht together with much ability in the Preface t» The Poetical Bomancta of Triitan, in Frenoh, in Anglo-Norman, and in Greek, compoaed in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centoriea — Edited by Franoisqne Michel, 2 Toli., Load™, 1836. „ . , » See the Miialnlty (Edition 1833), Tol. ir. p. lia [Al«> PodieoJ W nar- raw, and the upect in eveiy diraotion U that of perfect paatoral rapoae. The heights immediately hehind are those vhich divide the Tweed from the Yarrow; and the latter celebrated stream lies within an easy ride, in the course of which the traveller passes through a variety of the finest mountain scenery in the south of Scotland. No town is within seven miles but Selkirk, which was then still smaller and quieter than it is now; there was hardly even a gentleman's family within visiting distance, except at Yair, a few miles lower on the Tweed, the an- cient seat of the Pringles of Whytbank, and at Bowhill, between the Yarrow and Ettrick, where the Earl of Dal- keith used occasionally to inhabit a small shooting-lodge, which has since grown into a magnificent ducal residence. The country all around, with hero and there an insignifi- cant exception, belongs to the Buccleuch estate ; so that, whichever way he chose to turn, the bard of the clan had ample room and verge enough, and all appliances to boot, for every variety of field sport ihat might happen to please his fancy; and being then in the prime vigor of manhood, he was not slow to profit by these advantages. Meantime, the concerns of his own little farm, and the care of his absent relation's woods, gave him healthful occupation in the intervals of the chase; and he had long, solitary evenings tor the uninterrupted exeroise of his pen; perhaps, on the whole, better opportunities of study than he had ever enjoyed before, or was to meet with elsewhere in later days. When he first examined Ashestiel, with a view to being his cousin's tenant, he thought of taking home James Hogg to superintend the sheep-farm, and keep watch over the house also during the winter. I am not able to tell exactly in what manner this proposal fell to the ground. In Jani y, 1804, the Shepherd writes to him : "I have no intenuuu of waiting for so distant a pros- peot as that of being manager of your farm, though I i8o4 JAMES HOGG 'Ji h»TO DO donbt of oar joint endeaTor proving .ucceMful m>ryet of your wiUingnew to employ me in that capacity a. Grace the Dulce of Bnocleuch hath at prewnt rtari. vacant m Eakdale, and I have been importuned by friend, to get a letter from you and apply for it. You can hardly be oonacious what importance your protection hath given me already, not only in mine own eye., but even in thoae of other.. You might write to him. or to any of the family you are best acquainted with, stating that .uch and .uch a character wa. about leaving his native country for want of a residence in the farming line " I am ve^ doubtful if Scott - however willing to encounter the n.k of employing Hogg „ hi. own griei-e or bailiff -would have felt himwlf justified at this, or indeed at any tune, in recommending him a. the tenant of a consid- erable farm on the Duke of Buccleuoh'. e.tate. But I am also quite at a lo>. to comprehend how Hogg should have conceived it poMible, at this period, when he oer- tainly had no capital whatever, that tie Duke's Cham- berlain .should agree to accept him for a tenant, on any attestation, however strong, as to the eioeUence of his chwacter and intentions. Be that as it may, if Scott made the application which the Shepherd suggested, it laued. ho did a negotiation which he certainly did enter upon about the same time with the late Earl of Caemar- von (then Lord Porchester), through that nobleman's aun^Mrs. Scott of Harden, with the view of obtaining for Hogg the situation of bailiff on 'le of his Lordship's estates in the west of England; and such, I believe, was the result of several other attempts of the same kind with landed proprietors nearer home. Perhaps the Shepherd had already set his heart so much on taking rank as a farmer in his own district, that he witnessed the faUure of any such negotiations with indifference. As regard. the management of Ashestiel, I find no trace of that pro- posal having ever been renewed. In truth, Scott had hardly been a week in possession iji SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 33 of hit new donMini, befori) be nude tequtinUnoe with • obuactar much better suited to hit purpoae than Jame* Hogg ever cuuld have been. I mean honeet Thoniaa Purdie, hit faithful lervant — hit affectionately devoted humble friend from this time until death parted them. Tom wat fint brought before him, in hit capacity of Sheriff, on a charge of poaching, when the poor fellow gave tuoh a touching acoonnt of hit oircumttanoet, — a wife, and I know not how many children, depending on his exertions — work scarce and grouse abundant, — and all this with a mixture of odd sly humor, — that the Sheriff's heart was moved. Tom escaped the penalty of the law — was taken into employment as shepherd, and showed such zeal, activity, and shrewdness in that capa- city, that Scott never had any occasion to repent of the step he soon afterwards took, in promoting him to the position which had been originally offered to James Hogg. It was also about the tame time that he took into his service as coachman Peter Mathieson, brother-in-law to Thomas Purdie, another faithful servant, who never afterwards left him, and still survives his kind master. Scott's awkward management of the little phaeton bad exposed his wife to more than one perilous overturn, be- fore he agreed to set up a close carriage, and call in the assistance of this steady charioteer. Daring this autumn Scott formed the personal ac- quaintance of Mungo Park, the celebrated victim of Afri- can discovery. On his return from his first expedition. Park endeavored to establish himself as a medical practi- tioner in the town of Hawick, but the drudgeries of that calling in tuoh a district soon exhausted bis ardent tem- per, and be was now living in seclusion in his native cot- tage at Fowlsheils on the Yarrow, nearly opposite Newark Castle. Hit brother, Archibald Park (then tenant of a large farm on the Bucclencb estate), a man remarkable for strength both of mind and body, introduced the trav- i8o4 MUNGO PARK ^33 eUer to the 8heri«f. They won became much tttachcd to eioh others ud Scott fupplied wme interatiog anecdote, of their brief wterooarw to Mr. Wiihaw, the editor of rark ■ poethumoiu Journal, with which I ihaU blend a few minor oiroumstanoe., gathered from him in cooveru- tion long afterward.. "On one occasion," he wy., "the tMveUcr communicated to him Mme very remarkable adventure, which had bcfaUen him in Africa, but which he had not recorded in hi. book." On Scotf. a«king the cauw of thit Bilcnoe, Mungo an.wered, "That in all M«« where be had information to communicate, which he thought of importance to the pubUo, he had .tated the fact, boldly, leaving it to hi. reader, to give .uch credit to hi. statement, a. they might apj^ar justly to dewrve; but that he would not .hock their faith, or render hi. traveU more marveUou., by introducing circumstance., which, however true, were of little or no moment, a. they related »lelyto hi. own personal adventure, and ewapes." This reply .truck Scott a. highly characteristic of the man- and though .trongly tempted to .et down some of these marvehi for Mr. Wishaw'. use, he on reflection abstained from doing «>, holding it unfair to record what the adven- turer had dehberately choun to suppress in his own nar- ratite. He confirms the account given by Park's bio- grapher, of his cold and reserved manners to strangers- Md, m particular, of his disgust with the indirect quesi hon. which curiou. visitor, would often put t» him upon the subject of his travels. "This practice," said MunVo expose, me to two risks; either that I may not under- stand the questions meant to be put, or that my answers to them may be misconstrued; " and he contrasted such conduct with the frankness of Scott's revered friend, Dr Adam Ferguson, who, the very first day the traveUer dined with h«n at Kailyards, spread a Urge map of Africa on the table, and made him trace out his progress thereupon, mch by inch, questioning him minutely as to every step he had taken. "Here, however," say. Scott, >34 SIR WALTER SCOTT i*T. 33 "Dr. F. was using a pririlege to which he was well enti- tled by his venerable age and high literary character, but which could not have been exercised with propriety by any common stranger." Calling one day at Fowlsheils, and not finding Park at home, Scott widked in search of him along the banks of the Yarrow, which in that neighborhood passes over various ledges of rock, forming deep pools and eddies between them. Presently he discovered his friend stand- ing alone on the bank, plunging one stone after another into the water, and watching anxiously the bubbles as they rose to the surface. "This," said Scott, "appears but an idle amusement for one who has seen so much tirring adventure." "Not so idle, perhaps, as you suppose," answered Mungo: "This was the manner in which I used to ascertain the depth of a river in Africa before I ventured to cross it — judging whether the at- tempt would be safe, by the time the bubbles of air took to ascend." At this time Park's intention of a second expedition had never been revealed to Scott; but he in- stantly formed the opinion that these experiments on Yarrow were connected with some such purpose. His thoughts had always continued to be haunted with Africa. He told Scott, that whenever he awoke suddenly in the night, owing to a nervous disorder with which he was troubled, he fancied himself still a prisoner in the tent of All ; but when the poet expressed some surprise that he should design again to revisit those scenes, he answered, that he would rather brave Afric and all its horrors, th^i* wear out his life in long and toilsome rides over the hills of Scotland, for which the remuneration was hardly enough to keep soul and body together. Towards the end of the autumn, when about to quit his country for the last time. Park paid Scott a farewell visit, and slept at Ashestiel. Next morning his host accompanied him homewards over the wild chain of hills between the Tweed and the Yarrow. Park talked much i804 MUNGO PARK ,3^ of his new scheme, and mentioned his determination to toU his famUy that he had some business for a day or two m Edinburgh, and send them his blessing from thence without returning to take leave. He had married, not long before, a pretty and amiable woman; and when they reached the WUliamhope ridge, "the autumnal mist Boating heavily and slowly down the vaUey of the Yar- row "presented to Scott's imagination "a striking em- blem of the troubled and uncertain prospect which his imdertaking afforded." He remained, however, un- shaken, and at length they reached the spot at which they had agreed to separate. A small ditch divided the moor from the road, and, in going over it. Park's horse stumbled and nearly feU. "I am afraid, Mungo," said the Sheriff, "that is a bad omen." To which he an- swered, smiling, "FreUa (omens) foUow those who look to them." With this expression Mungo struck the spurs into his horse, and Scott never saw him again. His parting proverb, by the way, was prol-ably suggested by one of the Border ballads, in which species of lore he was ahnost as great a proHoient as the Sheriff himself: for we read in Edom o' Gordon, — ' Them look to freits, my master dear, Than freita will foUov them." I must not omit that George Scott, the unfortunate companion of Park's second journey, was the son of a tenant on the Bucoleuoh estate, whose skiU in drawing having casually attracted the Sheriff's attention, he wm recommended by him to the protection of the family, and by this means established in a respectable situation in the Ordnance department of the Tower of London; but the stories of his old acquaintance Mungo Park's discov- eries had made such an impression on his fancy, that nothing could prevent his accompanying him on the fatal expedition of 1805. The brother of Mungo Park remained in Scott's neigh- borhood for some years, and was frequently his compan- '1 136 SIR WALTER SCOTT XT. 33 ion in Lis mountain rides. Thongh a man of the most dauntless temperament, he was often alarmed at Scott's reckless horsemanship. "The de'il 's in ye, Sherra," he would say; "ye '11 never halt till they bring you hame with your feet foremost." He rose greatly in favor, in consequence of the gallantry with which he assisted the Sheriff in seizing a gypsy, accused of murder, from amidst a group of similar desperadoes, on whom they had come onexpectedly in a desolate part of the country. To return to The Lay of the Last Minstrel: Ellis, understanding it to be now nearly ready for the press, writes to Scott, urging him to set it forth with some engraved illustrations — if possible, after Flaxman, whose splendid designs from Homer had shortly before made their appearance. He answers, August 21: "I should have liked very much to have had appropriate embellish- ments. Indeed, we made some attempts of the kind, but they did not succeed. I should fear Flaxman's . genius is too classic to stoop to body forth my Gothic Borderers. Would there not be some risk of their resembling the antique of Homer's heroes, rather than the iron race of Salvator? After all, perhaps, nothing is more difficult than for a painter to adopt the author's ideas of an imagi- nary character, especially when it is founded on traditions to which the artist is a stranger. I should like at least to be at his elbow when at work. I wish very much I could have sent yoa the Lay while in MS., to have had the advantage of your opinion and corrections. But Ballantyne galled my kibes so severely during an unusual fit of activity, that I gave him the whole story in a sort of pet both with him and with it. ... I have lighted upon a very good amanuensis for copying such matters as the Lay le Frain, etc. He was sent down here by some of the London booksellers in a half -starved state, but begins to pick up a little. ... I am just about to set out on a grand expedition of great importance to my comfort in this place. You must know that Mr. Plum- i8o4 LETTER TO ELLIS '37 mer, my predeoessop in this oonaty, waa a good aati- quMy, and left a valuable coUeotion of books, which he entailed with the estate, the first successors being three of his sisters, at feast as old and musty as any Caiton or Wynkyn de Worde in his library. Now I must contrive to coax aiose watchful dragons to give me admittance into ^is g^en of the Hesperides. I suppose they trouble the volumes as httle as the dragon did the golden pippins; but they may not be the more easily soothed on that aceount. However, I set out on my quest, like ipreux ch-valicr, takmg care to leave Camp, for dirtying the carpet, and to cany the greyhounds with me, whore ao- pearanoe wiU indicate that hare*,up may be forthcoming in due season. By the way, did I tell you that Fitz- Camp IS dead, and another on the stocks ? As our stupid postman might mistake Reged, address, as per date, Ashestiel, Selkirk, by Berwick." ' I believe the spinsters of Sunderland Hall proved verv generous dragons; and Scott Uved to see them succeeded in tie guardianship of Mr. Plummer's literary treasures by an amiaUe young gentleman of his own name and » ^" S^ half-starved amanuensis of this letter was Mmry Weber, a laborious German, of whom we shall hear more hereafter. With regard to the pictorial em- bellishments contemplated for the first edition of The Lav of the Last Minstrel, I believe the artist in whose de- signs the poet took the greatest interest was Mr. Mas- quener, now of Brighton, with whom he corresponded at some length on the subject; but his distance from that ingenious gentleman's residence was inconvenient, a-d the booksellers were probably impatient of delay, when the Ms. was once known to be in the hands of the pnnter. There is a circumstance which must already have struck such of my readers as knew the author in his latter days namely, die readiness with which he seems to have Jm- municated this poem, in its progress, not only to his own 138 SIR WALTER SCOTT -«T. 33 familiar friends, but to nmr and casual aoquaintanoes. We sliaU find him following the same course with his Marmion — but not, I think, with any of his subsequent works. His determination to consult the movements of his own mind alone in the conduct of his pieces was probably taken before he began the lAy; and he soon resolved to trust for the detection of minor inaccuracies to two persons only — James Ballantyne and William Erskine. The printer was himself a man of considerable literary talents: his own style had the incurable faults of pomposity and affectation, but his eye for more venial errors in the writings of others was quick, and, though his personal address was apt to give a stranger the impres- sion of insincerity, he was in reality an honest man, and conveyed his mind on such matters with equal candor and delicacy during the whole of Scott's brilliant career. In the vast majority of instances he found his friend ac- quiesce at once in the propriety of his suggestions ; nay, there certainly were cases, though rare, in which his advice to alter things of much more consequence than a word or a rhyme was frankly tendered, and on delibera- tion adopted by Soott. Mr. Erskine was the referee whenever the poet hesitated about taking the hints of the zealous typographer; and his refined taste and gentle manners rendered his critical alliance highly valuable. With two such faithful friends within his reach, the lauthor of the Lay might safely dispense with sending his MS. io be revised even by George Ellis. Before he left Ashestiel for the winter session, the printing of the poem had made considerable progress. Ellis writes to him on the 10th November, complaining of bad health, and adJs: "Tu quid agis? I suppose you are still an inhabitant of Beged, and being there, it is impossible thai your head should have been solely occupied by the ten thousand cares which you are likely to have in common with other mortals, or even by the Lay, which must have been long since completed, but i8o4 LITERARY FEUD ^39 amt have started during the summer new projects suffl- ment to employ the Uves of half-a-dozen patriarchs. Pray teU me all about it, for as the present state of my frame precludes me from much activity, I want to enjoy that of my friends." Scott answers from Edinburgh: I fear you faU too much into the sedentary habits inci- dent to a Uterary life, like my poor friend Plummer, who used to say that a walk from the parlor to the garden once a day was sufficient exercise for any rational being, and that no one but a fool or a fox-hunter would take more. I wish you could have had a seat on Hassan's tapestry, to have brought Mrs. EUis and you soft and fair to Ashestiel, where, with farm mutton at 4 p. m., and goat's whey at 6 A. M., I think we could have re- established as much embonpoint as ought to satisfy a poetical antiquary. As for my country amusements, I have finished the Uy, with which and its accompanying notes the press now groans; but I have started nothing except some scores of haies, many of which my gallant greyhounds brought to the ground." Ellis had also touched upon a literary feud then raging between Scott's allies of the Edinburgh Review, and the Ute Dr. Thomas Young, illustrious for inventive genius, displayed equally in physical science and in philological literature. A northern critic, whoever he was, had treated with merry contempt certain discoveries in natu- ral phUosophy and the mechanical arts, more especiaUy that of the undnbting theory of light, which ultimately oo^erred on Young's name one of its highest distinctions. 'He had been for some time," says Ellis, "lecturer at tte Eoyal Institution; and having determined to publish his lectures, he had received from one of the booksellers the offer of £1000 for the copyright. He was actually preparing for the press, when the bookseller came to him, «id told him that the ridicule thrown by the Edinburgh Beyiew on some papers of his m the PhUosophioal Trans- actions had so frightened the whole trade that he must 140 SIR WALTER SCOTT ■«T. 33 requeat to be releaied from his bargain. Thit conae- quence, it ia true, could not have been foreseen by the reviewer, who, however, appears to have written from feelings of private animosity; and I atill continue to think, though I greatly admire the good taste of the liter- aiy easaya, and the perspicuity of the dissertations on political economy, that an apparent want of candor is too generally the character of a work which, from its inde- pendence on the interests of bookaellera, might have been expected to be particularly free from this defect." Scott rejoins, "I am aorty for the very pitiful catastrophe of Dr. Young's publication, because, although I am alto- gether unacquainted with the merits of the controversy, one must always regret so very serious a consequence of a diatribe. The truth ia that these gentlemen reviewers ought often to read over the fable of the boys and frogs, and should also remember it ia much more easy to destroy than to build, to criticise than to compose. While on this subject, I kiss the rod of my critic in the Edinburgh, on the subject of the price of Sir Tristrem; it was not my fault, however, that the public had it not cheap enough, as I declined taking any copy-money, or share in the profits; and nothing, surely, was as reasonable a charge as I could make." On the 30th December he resumes: "The Lay ia now ready, and will probably be in Longman and Rees's hands shortly after this comes to yours. 1 have charged them to send yon a copy by the first conveyance, and shall be impatient to know whether you think the entire piece corresponds to that which you have already seen. I would also fain send a copy to Gifford, by way of intro- dnction. My reason is that I understand he is about to publish an edition of Beaumont and Fletoher, and I think I could offer him the use of some miscellaneous notes, which 1 made long since on the margin of their works. ^ ^ It WM hil Matlinger that Gifford had at thia time in hand. Hia Btn JoHioH followed, and then hia Ford. Some time later, tie projected edi- '8o4 LETTER FROM ELLIS ,4, Be.ide., I Uve a good esteem of Mr. Gifforf as a manly i-nghrii poet, very different from mo>t of our modern versifier.. - We are «> fond of Heged, that we are just going to Mt out for our farm in the middle of a .now- .torm; all that we have to comfort ourselves with is, that our march has been ordered with great military talent — a detachment of minced pies and brandy having preceded us. In case we are not buried in a snow-wreath, our •tay will be but short. Should that event happen, we must wait the thaw." EUi8,not having as yet received the new poem, answers, on the 9th January, 1805, "I look daily and with the greatest anxiety for the Last Minstrel — of which I stiU hope to see a future edition decorated with designs a la Maxman, as the Lays of Homer have already ]£en. I think you told me that Sir Tristrem had not excited much sensation in Edinburgh. As I have not been in Ixmdon this age, I can't produce the contrary testimony of our metropolis. But I can produce one person, and that one worth a considerable number, who speaks of it with rapture, and says, ' I am only sorry that Scott has not (and I am sure he has not) told us the whole of his creed on the subject of Tomas, and the other early Scotch Mmstrels. I suppose he was afraid of the critics, and detennined l- lay very little more than he was able to estabhsh by incontestable proofs. I feel infinitely obliRed to him for what he has told us, and I have no hesitation m saying that I consider Sir T. as by far the most inter- esting work that has as yet been published on the subject of OUT earliest poets, and, indeed, such a piece of literary antiquity as no one could have, a priori, supposed t» exist. This IS Frere — our ex-ambassador for Spain, whom you would delight to know, and who would delight tiom both of Bmnmow ,.«/ Flaclm' ud of SluAufean : Irat, to tU rte». ^^ ^ pn-entl, ,h., b«»m. of S«*f. Not- on fi„™«, a«i Hi SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 33 ] m; to know you. It u remarkable that you were, I belioTe, the mott ardent of all the admirers of bis old English version of the Saxon Ode;' and be is, per contra, the warmest panegyrist of your Condution, which he can repeat by heart, and afBrms to be the very best imitation of old English at present existing. I think I can trust you for having concluded thii Last Minstrel with as much spirit as it was begun — if you have been capable of any- thing unworthy of your fame amidst the highest moun- tains of Beged, there is an end of all inspiration." Scott answers, *'Frere is so perfect a master of the ancient style of composition, that 1 would rather have his suffrage than that of a whole synod of your vulgar antiquaries. The more I think on ovr system of the origin of Romance, the more simplicity and uniformity it seems to possess; and though I adopted it late and with hesitation, I believe I shall never see cause to aban- don it. Yet I am aware of the danger of attempting to prone, where proofs are but scanty, and probable suppo- sitions must be placed in lieu of them. I think the Welsh antiquaries have considerably injured their claims to confidence, by attempting to detail very remote events with all the accuracy belonging to the facts of yesterday. You will hear one of them describe you the cut of Lly- waroh Hen's beard, or the whittle of Urien Beged, as if he had trimmed the one, or out his cheese with tK other. These high pretensions weaken greatly our belief 1 " I hBTe only met, in my mMsrelM* into tbew mntten," uyi Seott in 1830, " with one poem, vhiob, if it had be«n pNduc?d as ancient, oonld not haTe been deteeted on internal evidenee. It il tu j War Song ipoa (Ae Victory at Brunnanburgh, tnuulated from the Anglo-Saxon into Anglo- Norman, hj the Right Hon. John Hookham Fnn. See Ellis's 8pecim£iu of Ancient Engliih Poetry, TtA. I p. 32. The accomplished editor telle ns, that this very ti"g"^*'' poem was intended aa an imitation of the etyla and lai^nage of the fourteenth century, and wae written dnring the controversy occasioned by the po* attribnted to Rowley. Mr. Ellis adds, *The reader will probably hear with some snrprise, that this singolar instanee of critical ingenuity was the composition of an Eton aehoolboy.*" — Any oa laittaligM ijfllit AncUnl Ballad, p. 19. i8oj LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL 143 in the WeUh poema, which probably contain real trea- •ures. 'T is a pity tome lober-minded man will not take the trouble to «ift the wheat from the chaff, and give ua a good account of their MSS. and traditions. Pray what is become of the Mabinogion? It is a proverb' that children and fools talk truth, and I am mistaken if even the same yaluable quaUty may not sometimes be extracted out of the tales made to entertain both. I presume, while we talk of childish and foolish tales, that tte Uy is already with you, although, in these points, Long-manum ett errare. Pray inquire for your copy." In the first week of January, 1805, the Uy was pub. lished; and its success at once decided that literature should form the main business of Scott's life. In his modest Introduction of 1830, he had himself told us all that he thought the world would ever desira to know of the origin and progress of this his first great original production. The prosent Memoir, however, has tOready included many minor particulars, for which I believe no student of literature will reproach the com- piler. I shall not mock the reader with many words as to the merits of a poem which has now kept its place for nearly a third of a century; but one or two additional remarks on the history of the composition may be par- doned. It is curious to trace the small beginnings and gradual development of his design. The lovely Countess of Dal- keith hears a wild rude legend of Border diablerie, and sportively asks him to make it the subject of a baUad. He had been already laboring in the elucidation of the "quaint Inglis " ascribed to an ancient seer and bard of the same district, and perhaps completed his own sequel, mtending the whole to be included in the third volume of the Minstrelsy. He assents to Lady Dalkeith's re- quest, and casts about for some new variety of diction and rhyme, which might be adopted without impropriety m a closing strain for the same collection. Sir John i ,!l I; 144 SIR WALTER SCOTT -.t. 33 Stoddart'i ounal reoiUtioD, ■ year or two before, of Coleridge's anpubliihed CbriiUbel, liad fixed the muiio of that noble fragment in hii memory; and it occurt to him, that by throwing the story of Gilpin Homer into ■omewhat of a aimilar cadence, he might produce inch an echo of the htter metrical romance, a* would aerre to connect his Condution of the primitive Sir Tristrem with his imitations of the common popular ballad in the Gray Brother and Eve of St. John. A single scene of feudal festivity in the hall of Btanksome, disturbed by some pranks of a nondescript goblin, was probably all that he contemplated ; but his accidental confinement in the midst of a volunteer camp gave him leisure to meditate bis theme to the sound of the bugle; — and suddenly there flashes on him the idea of extending his simple outline, so as to embrace a vivid panorama of that old Border life of war and tumult, and all earnest passions, with which his researches on the Minstrelsy had by degrees fed his imagination, until every the minutest feature had been taken home and realized with unconscious intenseness of sympathy; so that he had won for himself in the past another world, hardly less complete or familiar than the present. Erskine or Cranstoun suggests that he would do well to divide the poem into cantos, and prefix to each of them a motto explanatory of the action, after the fash- ion of Spenser in the Faeiy Queen. He pauses for a moment — and the happiest conception of the framework of a picturesque narrative that ever occurred to any poet — one that Homer might have envied — the creation of the ancient harper, starts to life. By such steps did The Lay of the Last Minstrel grow out of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. A word more of its felicitous machinery. It was at Bowhill that the Countess of Dalkeith requested a ballad on Gilpin Homer. The mined castle of Newark closely adjoins that seat, and is now indeed included within its pUatance. Newark had been the chosen residence of the I (! i8o5 LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL 145 flnt Duchei. of Buodeuoh, ud he .ooordingiT shadowt ont h» own beautiful friend in the penon of her lord'i •noertrew, the lut of the original stock of that neat hOMe; himielf the favored inmate of BowhiU, introduced certainly to the familiarity of iU circle in con««uenoe of hu devofon to the poetry of a bypa,t age, in that of M «ged mmttrel, "the lant of all the race," seeking .hel- tor at the gate of Newark, in day, when many an Idher- ent of the fallen cause of Stewart -his own bearded ancestor, vho had fought at AMUcrankU, among the rest - ■ owed their safety to her who " h prida of power, tai bwotj'i bloom, otA wapt o'm Mounoalfc'i blood; tomb." The arch allusions which run through all these Introduo- tions, without m the least interrupting the truth and grace- lul pathos of their main impression, seem to me exquisitely characteristic of Scott, whose delight and pride was to pUy with the genius which nevertheless mastered him at wui. For, m truth, what ia it that gives to all his works theu unique and marking charm, except the matchless effect which sudden effusions of the purest heart-blood of nature derive from their being poured ont, to all appear- «nce involuntarily, amidst diction and sentiment ^t equally m the mould of the busy world, and the seemingly habitual des™ to dweU on nothing but what might be wrely to excite curiosity, without too much disturbing deeper feelmgs, in the saloons of polished life? Such outbursts come forth dramatically in all his writings; but in the mterludes and passionate parentheses of The Lav of the Last Minstrel we have the poefs own inner soul Md temperament laid bare and throbbing before us. J!-ven here, mdeed, he has a mask, and he trusts it -but tortanately it is a transparent one. Many minor personal allusions have been explained in the notes to the last edition of the Lay. It was hardly neoessary even then to say that the choice of the hero •ad^n dictated by the poefs affection for the living 146 SIR WALTER SCOTT mr. 33 «■ i ■ It 1; (•• Um kulli« o< IW ibn i A>d Yamw, m hi nllxl aW, BwbadM to lk> MiMnl'i n^." fortune of U. W. th.t thi. vi.ion wj uot Zuu>. ^ooe«of th. poem iUeU clanged "the ,„i,; , , 1,:, dream. The £„„ which it at onoe afia , ( „, b«,n equaled mtheo.« of anyone p..,., ,F.o,„ij.,,. W .'^•^"^« »» l-t twogener.;.,,,,.. > ,,-„ , i^ no been app«»ched in the «« i „„y , „ ,,; „ po«n .moe the day. of Dryden. Bef., .. u L .,: J •neprew It had received warm commendutmn ., „., ,.e Mr. Jefcey .«,v«wal appeared, a month after ,..,.! ,,. taon Uudatoiy m ,t. Unguage wa., it «.»ely came up to the opmion which b^ already tJcen ™ot in the pubil^ 1 at bberty to mwrt eome letters which paued between l?tut'S.''-7T "' '^ T"" •" isSn^wo^Tb^ «en that the.r feelmg, toward, each other were tho« of mutual oonfldenoe and gratitude. Indeed, a «vere do- meetic affl.ct.on which about thi. time befell Mr. Jeffrey cJled out the expre...on of .uoh «ntunent. on both .id« m a very touohmg manner.' to S^^*^ *~" tran«ribing the letter, which oonyeyed LT^ .^-^'■"T*^/?"'""" °* P*"""' them^dve. emi- TfV'! ^f"*^ " P~"y' •"" ^ tJ^k it ju.t to .tato that I have not diwovered in any of them-nr not even .n tho« of Wordsworth or Campbell-a .tr^°,^ ofapprobation higher on the whole than that of the chief proWnal revewer of the period. When the happy day, of youth are over, even the mo,t genial and gener- J t^*"!™ WU»n, J,l!„j; art ,Hf., dW AnpMt 8 1806 A t.„l, J-M.", ToL i. p. 80.]^ •T"P«''>J. wUl b« foMd in tl» FamUiir 148 SIR WALTER SCOTT •«T. 33 ona of minds are Beldom able to enter into the strain* of a new poet with that full and open delight which he awakens in the bosoms of the rising generation about him. Their deep and eager sympathies have already been drawn upon to an extent of which the prosaio part of the species can never have any conception ; and when the fit of creative inspiration has subsided, they are apt to be rather cold critics even of their own noblest appeals to the simple primary feelings of their kind. Miss Sew- ard's letter, on this occasion, has been since included in the printed collection of her correspondence; but perhaps the reader may form a, sufficient notion of its tenor from the poet's answer — which, at all events, he will be amused to compare with the Introduction of 1830 : — TO MISS SBWABD, LICHFUSLD. Edimbdbqb, 21it Hanh, 1806. Mt deab Miss Sewabd, — I am truly happy that you found any amusement in The Lay ci the Last Min- strel. It has great faults, of which no oiu. can be more sensible than I am myself. Above all, it is deficient in that sort of continuity which a story ought to have, and which, were it to write again, I would endeavor to give it. But I began and wandered forward, like one in a pleasant country, getting to the top of one hill to sea a prospect, and to the bottom of another to enjoy a shade; and what wonder if my course has been devious and desultory, and many of my excursions altogether unpro- fitable to the advance of my journey? The Dwarf Page is also an excrescence, and I plead guilty to all the cen- sures concerning him. The truth is, he has a history, and it is this: The story of Gilpin Homer was told by an old gentleman to Lady Dalkeith, and she, much di- verted with his actually believing so grotesque a tale, insisted that I should make it into a Border ballad. I don't know if ever you saw my lovely chieftainess — if you have, you must be aware that it is impoamble for any i805 LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL ,49 one to refase hep request, ., she ha. more of the angel •n f«» and temper than any one alive; so that if shS asfad -e to write a baUad on a broomstickrT m„^t h'^ attempt^ ,t. I began a few verses, to L called Ke of wme friends whose judgment I valued induced me to resmne the poem; so on I wrote, knowing no more than story appeared so uncouth, that I was fain to put it int! ^ouS°h^ "• "J "" Minstrel-lest the nature „1: should be mismiderstood, and I should be suspected of «ttmg up a new school of poetry, instead ofVifeeblB .ttempt to imitate the old. I^^'e p,Zs of thf"! mance, the page, intended to be a principal person 7n tike work, contrived (from the baseness of hi^s naS prl" pensities, I suppose) to slink downstairs into the kitehe" and now he must e'en abide there. I mention these cirt .-nstances to you, and to any one whose appkuse I value, because la.; unwUli^Z should suspect me of trifling with the publicin «i^ ^ense. A, to the herd of critics, it is impoLibTe fo" me to pay much attention to them; for, as they do not understand what I call poetry, we talk in a kZCZ. gnage U> each other. Indeed, many of these gendemen ™TL^ ""^*" be a sort of tinkers, who, ^able to maie pots and pans, set up for mender, of them, and, Gcd knows, often make two holes in patehing one ^ujT^'^\" "^y"^' redundant; for the^poem when th^'^^^^ '^^ "'"■ ^^ "»™ of «"' •»™". IAa7 1 T^ • i T- """ "' *" «■"•• B"t "hot co-Id Jal I "f •T^r'7'' ""^ "y P»C« »'i" 0° "ny hands, n n r "^ °* """" " *" ''™'"«- M«,age them M Iwould, their catastrophe must have been insXient to occupy an entire canto; so I was fain to eke it out with lf«7 1 th'.^i-^t"!'- I wiU now descend f i^m ^he ^nfessional, which I th nk I have occupied long enough for the patience of my fair confessor. I am hippy yfu I fll Ml i^\ d • i! ■ I, 150 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 33 are dispoaed to give me ab«lution, notwithatanding all my sins. We have a new poet oome forth amongst us — James Grahame, author of a poem called The Sabbath, which I admire very much. If I can find an opportunity, I will send you a copy. Your affectionate humble servant, Waltee Scott. Mr. Ellis does not seem to have written at any length on the subject of the Lay, until be had perused the arti- cle in the Edinburgh Review. He then says: "Though I had previously made up my mind, or rather perhaps because I had done so, I was very anxious to compare my sentiments with those of the Edinburgh critic, and I found that in general we were perfectly agreed, though there are parts of the subject which we consider from very different points of view. Frere, with whom I had not any previous communication about it, agrees with me; and trusting very much to the justice of his poetical feelings, I feel some degree of confidence in my own judgment — though in opposition to Mr. Jeffrey, whose criticism I admire, upon the whole, extremely, as being equally acute and impartial, and as exhibiting the fairest judg- ment respecting the work that could be formed by the mere assistance of good sense and general taste, without that particular sort of taste which arises from the study of romantic compositions. "What Frere and myself think, must be stated in the shape of a hypereritidam — that is to say, of a review of the reviewer. We say that The Lay of the Last Min- strel is a work mi generis, written with the inte/aion of exhibiting what our old romances do indeed exhibit in point of fact, but incidentally, and often without the wish, or rather contrary to the wish of the author; — namely, the manners of a particular age; and that therefore, if it does this truly, and is at the same time capable of keep- ing the steady attention of the reader, it is so far perfect. i8o5 ELLIS AND FRERE ,j, Thii is also a poem, and ought therefore to oontain a great deal of poetical merit This indeed it does by the admission of the reviewer, and it must be admitted that he has shown much real taste in estimating the mast beautiful passages; but he finds fault with many of the lines as careless, with some as prosaic, and contends that the story is not sufficiently fuU of incident, and that one of the incidents is borrowed from a merely local supersti- hon, etc., etc. To this we answer — Ist, That if the Lay were intended to give any idea of the Minstrel com- positions, it would have been a most gUring absurdity to have rendered the poetry as perfect and uniform as the works usuaUy submitted to modem readers — and as in teUmg a story, nothing, or very little, would be lost, though the merely connecting part of the narrative were in plain prose, the reader is certainly no kser by the mcorrectness of the smaUer parts. Indeed, who is so unequal as Dryden? It may be said, that he was not intentionally so - but to be t>«ry mxooth is very often to be tame; and though this should be admitted to be a less important fault than inequality in a common modem poem, there can be no doubt with respect to the necessity of subjectmg yourself to the Utter fault (if it is one) in an imitation of an ancient model. 2d, Though it is naturally to be expected that many readers will expect Ml ahnost infinite accumulation of incidents in a romance this 18 only because readers in general have acquired all their ideas on the subject from the prose romances, which commonly contained a farrago of metrical st»ries. The only thing ettmiial to a romance was, that it should be 6rfW by the hearers. Not only tournaments, but battles, are indeed accumulated in some of our ancient romances, because tradition had of course ascribed to every great conqueror a great number of conquests, and the minstrel would have been thought deficient, if, in a ww-like age, he had omitted any military event. But in other respects a paucity of incident is the general char- 152 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 33 aoteristic of our Minstrel poema. 8d, With respect to the Goblin Page, it is by no means necessary that the superstition on which this is founded should be univer- sally or even generally current. It is quite sufficient that it should exist somewhere in the neighborhood of the castle where the scene is placed ; and it cannot fairly be required, that because the goblin is mischievous, all his tricks should be directed to the production of general evil. The old idea of goblins seems to have been that they were essentially active, and careless about the mis- chief they produced, rather than providentially malicious. "We therefore (». e., Frere and myself) dissent from all the reviewer's objections to these circumstances in the narrative; but we entertain some doubts about the pro- priety of dwelling so long on the Minstrel songs in the last canto. I say we doubt, because we are not aware of your having ancient authority for such a practice; but though the attempt was a bold one, inasmuch as it is not nsual to add a whole canto to a story which is already fin- ished, we are far from wishing that yon had left it un- attempted. I must tell you the answer of a philosopher (Sir Henry Englefield) to a friend of his who was criticis- ing the obscurity of the language tised in the Minstrel. ' I read little poetry, and often am in doubt whether I exactly understand the poet's meaning; but I found, after reading the Minstrel three times, that I understood it all perfectly.' 'Three times?' replied his friend. 'Yes, certainly; the first time I discovered that there was a gi«at deal of meaning in it; a second would have cleared it all up, but that I was run away with by the beautiful passages, which distracted my attention; the third time I skipped over these, and only attended to the scheme and structure of the poem, with which I am delighted.' At this conversation I was present, and though I could not help smiling at Sir Henry's mode of reading poetry, was pleased to see the degree of interest which he took in the narrative." '. II. f\^ '53 i8oj ELLIS AND FRERE Mr. Morritt infomu me that he weU remembers the dmner where this oonversation occurred, and thinks Mr. Ellis has omitted in his report the best thing that Sir Hany Englefield said, in answer to one of the Dii JUinonm Gentium, who made himself conspicuous by the severity of his censure on the verbal inaccuracies and careless lines of the Lay. "My dear sir," said the Bar- onet, "you remind me of a lecture on sculpture, which M. Falconet delivered at Rome, shortly after completing the model of his equestrian statue of Czar Peter, now at Petersburg. He took for his subject the celebrated horse of Marcus Aurelius in the Capitol, and pointed out as many faults in it as ever a jockey did in an animal he was about to purchase. But something came over him, vain as he was, when he was about to conclude the ha- rangue. He took a long pinch of snuff, and eyeing his own faultless model, exclaimed with a sigh, Cependant, Memeurs, U faiU avouer que cette vUaine bete la eat vivante, et que la mienne eat mortef " To return to Ellis's letter, I fancy most of my readers will agree with me in thinking that Sir Henry Engle- field's method of reading and enjoying poetry was more to be envied than smiled at; and in doubting whether posterity wUl ever dispute about the "propriety " of the Canto which includes the Ballad of Bosabelle, and the Bequiem of Melrose. The friendly hypercritica seem, I confess, to have judged the poem on principles not less pedantic, though of another kind of pedantry, than those which induced the critic to pronounce that its great pre- vailing blot originated in "those local partialities of the author," which had induced him to expect general inter- est and sympathy for such personages as his " Johnstones, Elliots, and Armstrongs." "Mr. Scott," said Jeffrey, "must either sacrifice his Border prejudices, or offend his readers in the other parts of the empire." It might have been answered by Ellis or Frere, that these Border clans figured after all on a scene at least as wide as the Troad; »54 SIR WALTER SCOTT •«T. 33 and that their chiefs were not perhaps inferior, either in rank or yower, to the majority of the Homeric kinga ; but even the moct zealous of its adourers among the pro- fessed literators of the day would bardfy have ventured to suspect that The Lay of the Last Minstrel might hare no prejudices to encounter but their own. It was des- tined to charm not only the British empire, but the whole civilized woi 1 J ; and had, in fact, exhibited a more Homeric genius than any regular epic rince the days of Homer. "It would be great affectation," says the Introduction of 1880, "not to own that the author expected some suc- cess from The Lay of the Last Minstrel. The attempt to return to a more simpleiand natural poetry was likely to be welcomed, at a time when the public had become tired ol: heroic hexameters, with all the buckram and binding that ijelong to them in modem days. But whatever might have been his expectations, whether moderate or unreasonable, the result left them far behind ; for among those who smiled on the adventurous minstrel were num- bered the great names of William Pitt and Chailes Fox. Neither was the extent of the sale inferior to the charac- ter of the judges who received the poem with approba- tion. Upwards of 30,000 copies were disposed of by the trade; and the author had to perform a task difficult to human vanity, when called upon to make the necessary deductions from his own merits, in a calm attempt to account for its popularity." Through what channel or in what terms Fox made known his opinion of the Lay, I have failed to ascertain. Pitt's praise, as expressed to his niece. Lady Hester Stanhope, within a few weeks after the poem appeared, was repeated by her to Mr. William Stewart Rose, ^ho, of course, communicated it forthwith to the auth-^r ; and not long after, the Minister, in conversation with ^^tt's early fnend die Right Hon. William Dundas, signified that it would give him pleasure to find some opportunity i8o5 LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL ijj of advancing the fortunes of such a writer. "I remem. ber," writes this gentleman, "at Mr. Pitt's table in 1806, the Chancellor asked me about you and your then situa- tion, and after I had answered him, Mr. Pitt observed, I He can't remain as he is,' and desired mo to ' look to it.' He then repeated some lines from the Lay, describ- ing the old harper's embarrassment when asked to play, and said, ' This is a sort of thing which I might have ex- pected in painting, but could never have fancied capable of being given in poetry. ' " ' It is agreeable to know that this great statesman and accomplished scholar awoke at least once from his sup. posed apathy as to the elegant literature of his own time. The poet has under-estimated even the patent and tan- gible evidence of his success. The first edition of the Lay was a magnificent quarto, 750 copies; but this wag soon exhausted, and there followed an octavo impression of 1500; in 1806, two more, one of 2000 copies, another of 2250; in 1807, a fifth edition, of 2000, and a sixth, of 8000; in 1808, 8650; in 1809, 3000 — a small edition in quarto (the ballads and lyrical pieces being then an- nexed to it) — and another octavo edition of 8250; in 1811, 3000; in 1812, 3000; in 1816, 3000; in 1823, 1000. A fourteenth impression of 2000 foolscap ap- peared in 1825; and besides all this, before the end of 1886, 11,000 copies had gone forth in the collected edi- tions of his poetical works. Thus, nearly forty-four thou- sand copies had been disposed of m this country, and by the legitimate trade alone, before he superintended the edition of 1830, to which his biographical introductions were prefixed. In the history of British Poetry nothing had ever equalled the demand for The Lay of the Last Minstrel. The publishers of the first edition were Longman and Co. of London, and Archibald Constable and Co. of ' I advance of rr^l i!VT^ ™P"^ '^'-e inadequate for the bnsi- ■ese which had been accumulated on his press, in oonse- r,^!Ll*^! reputation it had .quired for beauty and Ballantyn. had received "a KberJ Iomi ; " _ "a„d n^' Mys he, bemg compelled, mang« aU delicacy, to renew "^Wlioation, he c««lidly answered that he was not ^ sure that it would be jmident for him to comply, birt m order to evuioe his entire confidence in me, he was waling to make a suitable advance to be admitted as a Wvjf^Ln '°^ '"^«8»-" 1° t«th, Scott now em- twtod m Ballantyne's concern almost the whole of the caprtal which he had a few m-kmati.in, I an hare m over til.' prejudi'X's aJli^ ' * - ■" .tc.ffivv'-: :: '.t- r iiil.t tiiat ill. ' have bef'r - ' I nun - •■■itiiiK' ia»- ■i, '<,'.. tl- ■ ^1 cli;iT^u:t' uy hi. iiitfJ' ' id U- >^ f..r at iii^ imu' t. th i8oj BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY 159 ttink it quite poMible, that had he been entrusted with one .uoh ca» after h.8 repu«tion wa, e«tabli8hed, and he had been compeUed to do hi, abilities some mea- sure of justice m h,s own secret estimate, he might have d^/ed very considerable power, even as a forensic JpeaJter. Hut no opportunities of this engaging kind Wg ever been presented to him - after hTh^ per- Msted for more than t»n year, in sweeping the aoorof the PMliament House, without meeting with any emplov- ment but what would have suited the dullest drudge, and seen hunself termly and yearly more and more diftonoed by contemporaries for whose general capacity he could have had httle respect - while, at the same time, ha al- ready felt his own position in the eyes of society at large to have been signally elevated in consequence of his atrl professional exertions -it is not wonderful that disgust should have gradually gained upon him, and that the sudden blaze and tumult of renown which - jid^ the author of the Lay should have at Ust dete, 3d him to ooncentoat* all his ambition on the prjsuits which had alor^a brought him distinction. It ought to be men- tioned, that the business in George's Square, once exton- sive and lucrative, had dwindled away in the hands of ms brother Thomas, whose varied and powerful talents were unfortunately combined with some tastes by no means favorable to the successful prosecution of his pru- dent father's vocation; so that very possibly even the humble employment of which, during his first years at the Bar, bcott had at least a sure and respectable allow- anoe, was by this time much reduced. I have not his fee-books of later date than 1803: it is. however, mv impression from the whole tenor of his conversation and correspondence, tiat after that period he had not only not advanced as a professional man, but had been retro- grading in nearly the same proportion that his literary reputation advanced. We have seen that, before he formed his contract with ,6o SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 33 Ballantyne, he was in possession of such a fixed income u might have satisfied aU his desires, had he not fomid his famUy increasing rapidly about him. Even as that was, with nearly if not quite £1000 per annum, he might perhaps have retired not only from the Bar, but from Edinburgh, and settled entirely at Ashestiel or Broadmeadows, without encountering what any man of his station and habits ought to have considered as an imprudent risk. He had, however, no wish to cut him- self 08 from the busy and inteUigent society to which he had been hitherto accustomed; and resolved not to leave the Bar until he shoiUd have at least used his best efforts for obtaining, in addition to his Shrievalty, one of those Clerkships of the Supreme Court at Edinburgh, which are usually considered as honorable retirements for advo- cates who, at a certain standing, finally give up aU hopes of reaching the dignity of the Bench. "I determmed, he says, "that literature should be my staff but not my oruteh, and that the profits of my literary labor, however convenient otherwise, shorld not, if I could help it, be- come necessary to my ordinary expenses. Upon such a post an author might hope to ret-.eat, without any per- ceptible alteration of circumstances, whenever the time should arrive that the public grew weary of his endeavors to please, or he himself should tire of the pen. I pos- sessed so many friends capable of assisting me in this object of ambition, that I could hardly overrate my own prospects of obtaining the preferment to which I limited my wishes; and, in fact, I obtained, in no long period, the reversion of a situation which completely met them. The first notice of this affair that occurs in his corre- spondence is in a note of Lord Dalkeith's, February the 2d, 1805, in which his noble friend says, "My father desires me to teU you that he has had a communication with Lord Melville within these few days, and that he thinks your badness is in a good train, though not cer- 1 IntrodnoUoB to The Lat ilf Oit L(ut Jfimfrrf — 1830. 1 805 BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY i6i tain." I consider it as cle- then, that he began his negotiations concerning a se , the cleric's table inime- dUtely after the Lay was puuiished; and that their com- meucement had been resolved upon in the strictest con- neotion with his embarliation in the printing concern of James Ballantyne and Company. Such matters are sel- dom speedily arranged; but we shaU find him in posses- sion of his object before twelve months had elapsed. Meanwhile, his design of quitting the Bar was diralged to none but those immediately necessary for the purposes of his negotiation with the Government; and the nature of his connection with the printing company remained, I believe, not only unknown, but for some years wholly unsuspected, by any of his daily -ompanions except Mr. Erskine. The forming of this commercial connection was one of Uie most important steps in Scott's life. He continued bound by it during twenty years, and its influence on his literary eiertions and his worldly fortunes was productive of much good and not a little evil. Its effects were in truth so mixed and balanced during the vicissitudes of a long and vigorous career, that I at this moment doubt whether it ought, on the whole, to be considered with Eiore of satisfaction or of regret. With what zeal he proceeded in advancing the views of the new copartnership, hU correspondence bears ample evidence. The brilliant and captivating genius, now acknowledged universaUy, was soon discove'ed by the leading booksellers of the time to be united with such abundance of matured information in many departments, and, above aU, with such indefatigable habits, as to mark hun out for the most valuable workman they could en- gage for the furtherance of their schemes. He had, long before this, cast a shrewd and penetrating eye over the field of literary enterprise, and developed in his own mmd the outlines of many extensive plans, which wanted nothing but the command of a sufficient body of able i62 SIR WALTER SCOTT *r. 33 •ubaltoms to b« oarried into execution with iplendid succeu. Such of these as he grappled with in his own person were, with rare exceptions, carried to a tnum- phant conclusion; but the alliance with Ballantjne soon infected him with the proverbial rashness of mere mer- cantile adventure — while, at the same time, his generous feelings for other men of letters, and his cbaracteristio propensity to overrate their talente, combined to hurry him and his friends into a multitude of arrangements, the results of which were often extremely embarrassing, and ultimately, in the aggregate, all but disastrous. It is an Old saying, that wherever there is a secret there must be something wrong; and dearly did he pay the penalty for the mystery in which he had chosen to involve this trans- action. It was his rule,' from the beginning, that what- ever he wrote or edited must be printed at that press; and had he catered for it only as author and sole editor, all had been well; but had the booksellers known his direct pecuniary interest in keeping up and extending the occupation of those types, they would have taken mto account his lively imagination and sanguine temperament, as well as his taste and judgment, and considered, far more deliberately than they too often did, his multifa- rious recommendations of new literary schemes, coupled though these were with some dim understanding tiat, if the BaUantyne press were employed, his own literary skill would be at his friend's disposal for the general superintendence of the undertaking. On the other hand, Scott's suggestions were, in many cases, perhaps m the majority of them, conveyed through Ballantync, whose habitual deference to his opinion induced him to advo- cate them with enthusiastic zeal; and the printer, who had thus pledged his personal authority for the merits of the proposed scheme, must have felt himself committed to the bookseller, and could hardly refuse with decency to take a certain share of the pecuniary risk, by allowing the time and method of his own payment to be regulated I So J LITERARY PROJECTS ,63 •oozing to the employer', .onyenieBce. Hence, by tfr''n« T!!"" " *«'' "^ «°tongl«n.ent from which neither BJhmtyne nor hi» adviser hil «ny mean, of e, 2^L"T ™'^'° 'I"" ''«J'»""«We spirit, the main- S .1! '"T-'^ '".'''""y •''"S*""" unp«raUeled. to ttl'n ?'i°.°'°«»°' tho «oHd owes iti most gigan! tie monument of hteraiy genius. *■ ne foUowing is the Brst letter I have found of Scott to h.s PAHTXEK. The Mr. Foster mentioned in the te pnmng of .t was a literary gentleman who had proposed TO MR. JAMES BALLAlTmfK, PBISTEB, EDI.VBUBQH. rv„. D AsanTun, April 12, 1806. f»v„!:^ B*l^A=nTNE, -I have duly received your two favor. - also Foster's. He stiU howls about the expen» of prmting. but I think we shaU finally settle.^n" «g«nent is that you print too fine, aid too dear. I intend to stiok to my answer, tiat I know nothing of the wbi^"b *'"'* ""'" '■* '"'"y"" -'' •"• -""it ml'; be prmted by you, or can be no concern of mine. This gives you an advantage in driving tie bargain. As to TseTa? "'",' ' '""'' ."' '""^ ••»' "«» I will ndfavo^ to set a few volumes agoing on the plan you propose. I have imagined a very superb work. What think mil? """P'^'o .edition of British Poets, ancient and BeU s, which IS a LiUiputian thing; and Anderson's, the nlr7 L'." rf "^ """•«'' i«">»»t contemptible m execution both of the editor and printer. There is a «!heme for you! At least a hundred volumes, to b^ me a1^ ^ °>«i™mmer. If the booksellers will giv^ me a decent aUowance per volume, say thirty guine^, I .- 3>\ . i ■ 64 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 33 ■hall hold myaelf well paid on the urriting hand. Thii ia a dead secret. I think it quite right to let Doig' have a share o{ Thomson;' but he is hard and slippery, so settle your bargain fast and firm — no loop-holes I I am glad you have got some elbow-room at last. Cowan will come to, or we will find some St place in time. If not, we miirt build — necessity has no law. I see nothing to hinder you from doing Tacitus with your correctness of eye, and I congratulate you on the fair prospect before us. When you have time, you will make out a list of the debts to be discliarged at Whitsunday, that we may see what cash we shall hare in bank. Our book-keeping may be rery simple — an accurate cash-book and ledger is all that is necessary ; and I think X know enough of the matter to assist at making the balance sheet. In short, with the assistance of a little cash I have no doubt things will go on a meneille. If you could take a little pleasuring, I wish you could come here and see us in all the glories of a Scotti&h spring. Yours truly, W. ScOTT. Scott opened forthwith his gigantic scheme of the British Poets to Constable, who entered into it with eagerness. They found presently that Messrs. Cadell and Davies, and some of the other London publishers, had a similar plan on foot, and after an unsuccessful negotiation with Mackintosh, were now actually treating with Campbell for the Biographical prefaces. Scott pro- posed that the Edinburgh and London houses should join in the adventure, and that the editorial task should be shared between himself and his brother poet. To this both Messrs. Cadell and Mr. Campbell warmly assented; but the design ultimately fell to the ground, in conse- quence of the booksellers refusing to admit certain works 1 A bookiellar in Edinbargh. > A proJMtad tditioii of Uu Woxki of the author of tho Sea$oiu. i8o5 VOLUNTEERS i6j *h ch both Scott «,d C^pUU in,i,tea upon. Such and from aaalogou. o.u«.. ha. leen th, f.^of y^ZZ .uo.l.r jcbeme. both before ,. • inoe. Butlpuul had no trivial oomi»n«tion upo- the preJnt^^ln «»ce the failure of the original'^^jfc: CT. cTlli t^^K?'"..*"'^?'^ "'"'«' SP^-'i'iensofEnglUhK ^^n of the EnglUh Poet,. u/dei'llit^Tncel; Precisely at the time when Scotf. poetical ambition had been .timulated by the first outbC of un"ver°a" Wlau» and when he waa forming tho« eVgl ment 8ibU ties, a frerii unpetu. was given to the volunteer mama .n Scotland, by the appointment of the ut j^J of Mo,ra (afterward. Marquis of Hastings) toZct"! ™htary command in that part of the empire. The S had married the year befoH,. a Scottish Peeress, the Countess of Loudon, and entered with great zeallto her sj^pathy with the patriotic enth„si„n hrcou^tS- men. Edmburgh was converted inio a camp: indeoend. fenc bles and volunteers w.re ahnost constantly uider «m.. The kwyer wore his uniform under hif gown; the shopkeeper measured out his wares n scarkf in »hort. the citizen, of all cL,se, made more uHor'^," eral month, of the military .^ „f any other irZ, Zd fte new commander-m^hief consulted equally his owl C™slT\"' 'he-, by devising a succession of m" noeuvre, which presented a vivid image of the art of war 1 66 SIR WALTER SCOTT -■T. 33 conducted on a large and acientiflo acale. In the tham battlm and nharn tifgtf of 1805, Craigmillar, Oilmerton, Braidbillit, and other formidable poaitioni in t' "< neigh- borhood of Edinburgh, were the icene* of many a daih- ing assault and resolute defence; and occasionally the spirits of the mock combatants — English and Scotch, or Lowland and Highland — became so much excited that there was some difficulty in preventing the rough mock- ery of warfare from passing into its realities. The High- landers, in particular, were very hard to be dealt with ; and once, at least. Lord Moira was forced to alter at the eleventh hour his programme of battle, because a battal- ion of kilted fencibles could not or would not understand that it was their duty to be beat. Such days as these must have been more noWy spirit-stirring than even the best specimens of the fox-chase. To the end of his life, Scott delighted to recall the details of their counter- marches, ambuscades, charges, and pursuits, and in all of these his associates of the Light Horse agree that none figured more advantageously than himself. Yet these military interludes seem only to have whetted his appetite for closet work. Indeed, nothing but a complete publi- cation of his letters could give an adequate notiou of the facility with which he already combined the conscientious magistrate, the martinet quartermaster, the speculative printer, and the ardent lover of literature for its own sake. A few specimens must suffice. TO aSOROB BLUS, KSQ. EonncBnn, Hsjr !fl, 1806. Mr DEAR Ellis, — Your silence has been so long and opinionative, that I am quite authorized, as a Border ballad-monger, to address you with a "Sleep yon, or wake you?" What has become of the Romances? — which I have expected as anxiously as my neighbors around me have watched for the rain, which was to bring the grass, which was to feed the new-calved cows; and to as little >805 LETTER TO ELLIS .c^ of Lorn, weing Bruce coveriuB the lelreat of hi. * n « diapanigement. and he >»<-. »i,„ t ''""""'" 'Mroour n— k """(, nunseu m the manner mentioned hv kagth ,Um by EitiyMdu^ a„ Ewl-ManhU of d^ \l I 1 68 SIR WALTER SCOTT JET. 33 India, but one of his sons. The work is in decided Scotch, and adds something to our ancient poetry, being by no means despicable in point of composition. The author says he translated it from the Franch, or Romance, and that he accomplished his work in 1438-39. Barbour must therefore have quoted from the French Alexander, and perhaps his praises of the work excited the Scottish trans* lator. Will you tell me what you think of all this, and whether any transcripts will be of use to you? I am pleased with the accident of its casting up, and hope it may prove the forerunner of more discoveries in the dusty and ill-arranged libraries of our country gentlemen. I hope you continue to like the Lay. I have had a flattering assurance of I^r. Fox's approbation, mixed with a censure of my eulogy on the Viscount of Dundee. Although my Tory principles prevent my coinciding with his political opinions, I am very proud of his approbation in a literary sense. Charlotte joins me, etc., etc. W. S. In his answer Kllis says : — " Longman lately informed me that yon have projected a Gen- eral Edition of our Poets. I expresfied to him my anxiety that the booksellers, who certainly can ultimately sell what they please, should for once nndertake something calculated to please intelligent readers, and that they should confine themselves to the selection of paper, types, etc. (which they possibly may understand), and by no means interfere with the literary part of the business, which, if popularity be the object, they mnst leave exclusively to yon. 1 am talking, as you perceive, about your plan, without knowing its extent, or any- of its details ; for these, therefore, 1 will wait — after confessing that, mnch as I wish for a eorptu poetaruniy edited as you would edit it, 1 should like still better another Minstrel Lay by the last and best Minstrel ; and the general demand for the poem seems to prove that the public are of my opinion. If, however, you don't feel disposed to take a second ride on Pegasus, why not under- i8oj LETTER TO ELLIS ^(,^ W.. wmrthing f„ !«, i^f ^i,. ^ , ^^ jr!^H- .•^ ""'undertake what Gibbon once undertook- «. edihon of our hi>tori.n,f I have never been ^ZZx^V ''^'Zl^^jr^ '^- »' «■« ->, F^n^bt' .Jtl- ^"if »PI»»" to have communicated all hig notions Man^e (Ashestiel, September 6), "I have h ™a vis^ from Bees yesterday. He is anxious about a cZuahU t^narun., or fuU edition of the Chronicles oTg^i an unmense work. I proposed to him beginnKS; press. I oongraulato you on Clatendon, which, uider Thom«>ns direction, will be a glorious publicatio;."' Ihe prmtmg^ffice m the Canongate was by this time u. very great request; and the lettefl hav^Wn '„ott! eontams evidence that the partners had aLe^y ffu necessary to borrow fresh ca&_on the p^Zial ^ "t I r' r,! ■" i^"^' "' ^o" himse?? He Tys As I have full confidence in your applying the accom ZZT. Z/"'t'" T^"'' ^ '"'™ ■>° •'"Station to '^ the bonds subscribed as you desire. This will put you in cash for great matters." But to return. To Ellis himself he says : _ I have had bookseUers here in the plural number SuT.iiTl^u'" »?,«^«'i™We work, but should, I to the MSS. of Oxford and Cambridge, as one cannot toust much to the correctness of printed copies. I wiU wi,. it " TT"^' " ""^ "y ti"* « "ot other, wise taken up. As for the British Poets, my pbm was greatly too hberal to stand the least chance of bel" 170 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 33 lU- adopted by the trade at large, as I wished them to begin with Chaucer. The fact is, I never expected they would . agree to it. The Benedictines had an infinite advantage over us in that esprit d» corps which led them to set labor and expense at defiance, when the honor of the order was at stake. Would to God your English Uni- versities, with their huge endowments and the number of learned men to whom they give competence and leisure, would but imitate the monks in their literary plans I My present employment is an edition of John Dryden's Works, which is already gone to press. As for riding on Pegasus, depend upon it, I will never again cross him in a serious way, unless I should by some strange acci- dent reside so long in tbe Highlands, and make myself master of their ancient manners, so as to paint them with some degree of accuracy in a kind of companion to the Minstrel Lay. ... I am interrupted by the arrival of two gentU bachelors, whom, like the Count of Artois, I must despatch upon some adventure till dinner time. Thank Heaven, that will not be difficult, for although there are neither dragons nor boars in the vicinity, and men above six feet are not only scarce, but pacific in their habits, yet we have a curious breed of wild-cats who have eaten all Charlotte's chickens, and against whom I have declared a war at outrance, in which the assistance of these gentes demoiseaux will be fully aa valuable as that of Don Qnixote to Fentalopin with the naked arm. So, if Mrs. Ellis takes a fancy for oat-skin fur, now is the time." Already, then, he was seriously at work on Dryden. During the same summer, he drew up for the Edinburgh Beview an admirable article on Todd's edition of Spen- ser; another on Godwin's Fleetwood; a third, on the Highland Society's Report concerning the Poems of Ossian; a fourth, on Johnes's Translation of Froissart; a fifth, on Colonel Thornton's Sporting Tour; and a sixth, on some cookery books — the two last being excel- i8o5 WAVERLEY BEGUN ,7, lent specimens of his humor. He had beside n „„„ stant succession of minor cares in the su'perintdeLnf But there is yet another important item t» be included in ^tet I V "7'?'^" °' *^'' »«"«'• The Gener:^ ft«face to his NoveU mforms us, that "about 1805 " he ♦i J^ , J ^ ^''"' ^'°™' selected, as he savs "that h!w ^ "?.*'" '"'■'* ™ "^id-" l«a™» no doubt that ™b«l- ^? ?! "°* " *"'y '° ISOS »« •» contemplate The Lady of the Lake, to think of giving some of his te~^f d? iT "'**"'"' "* ^^^ i»8e»uraey as to mati tfZJl^^l the Lake was not published until five years after the first chapters of Waverley were written -its sucee,,, therefore, eould have had no share in i^^^tiig the onpnal design of a Highhmd novel, though no doubf CZ f ""'"™"^ '■'" *" '^o "P «"« design Xr It had been long suspended, and almost forgotten Thus ture of Highland manners as might "make a sort of com- C- ",Id h^'t J' ""."J? ^"^ '"« ■- 'he mI::^! wLrW W '"^ P"»"'% begun and suspended his hiTiT'* ".'"/=^""*^ *° ™^ hi^ f^«'!°g that he ought to reside for some considerable time in the country to be delineated, before seriously coL^tt „g himself in the execution of such a task. ^ "Having proceeded," he says, "as far as I think tho seventh chap.»r, I showed mylU to Tcritiii 'friend whose opmion was unfavorable; and having then some the i^7t m^il 'Z'J^ ET'" r"^"' *" • ■°"" ■»« «« i7» SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. 34 poetical reputation, I was unwilling to riak the loss of it by attempting a new style of composition. I, therefore, then threw aside the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or remonstrance. I ought to add, that though my ingenuous friend's sentence was afterwarda reversed, on an appeal to the public, it cannot be consid- ered as any imputation on his good taste ; for the speci- men subjected to his criticism did not extend beyond the departure of the hero for Scotland, and consequently had not entered upon the part of the story which was finally found most interesting." A letter to be quoted under the year 1810 will, I believe, satisfy the reader that the first critic of the opening chapters of Waverley was Wil- liam Erskine. The following letter must have been written in the course of this autumn. It is in every respect a very in- teresting one ; but I introduce it here as illustrating the course of his rp^^ections on Highland subjects in general, at the time when the first outlines both of The Lady of the Lake and Waverley must have been floating about in his mind : — TO loss SBWABI), LICHFIELD. ASBBRIZI. [180S]. Mt deab M188 Sewabd, — You recall me to some very pleasant feelings of my boyhood, when you ask my opinion of Ossian. His works were first put into my hands by old Dr. Blacklock, a blind poet, of whom you may have heard; he was the worthiest and kindest of human beings, and particularly delighted in encouraging the pursuits, and opening the minds, of the young people by whom he was snrrounded. !, though at the period of our intimacy a very young boy, was fortunate enough to attract his notice and kindness ; and if 1 have been at all successful in the paths of literary pursuit, I am sure I owe much of that success to the books with which he supplied me, and his own instructions. Ossian and i8o5 OSSIAV '73 Spenier were two book, which the good old barf put i„t„ Their tale, we« for . long time «, m„ch my deS that I «,dd repeat without remorse whole Cantos of the one «,d Duan, of the other, and woe to thrunLky of my enthusiasm I was apt to disregard all hints that quence of progress m taste, that my fondness for the» authors should experienoe some abatement. OssUn^ poems, m particUar, have mo« charms for youth than for a mo™ advanced stage. The eternal reSn of the «ime ideas and imagery, however beautifXin them -elves, ,s apt to paU upon a reader whose tasto hash", come somewhat fastidious; and, although I agrJentirelv not to be confounded with that of their Uterary mefrt yet skepticism on that head takes away their "faimfo; age and what is perhaps more natural, it destroys that filing of reality which we should otherwiseTmbine with our sentiments of admiration. As for the JZ dispute, I should be no Scottishman if I had not ^^ attentively considered it at some period of my studTe? and indeed I have gone some lengths in my r^searehes for I have bes de me tnmslations of »me twenty H^^ of the miquestioned originals of Ossian's poems. AftS ™hng eve^r allowance for the disadvantages of a hW c^JS""' '"\*^' '"'f '" debasement which those „^ coUected may have suffered in the great and violent ^^i^hf'f m'* P^"™-^' ""^ nnrrgon?si„r he Zrf W °*,?"'«*''«"<»'. I o^ compeUed to admit that int.^,^^^ Macpherson himself, and that his whole for?n"es ' """'' "'"■' '*"■' "* "■ '"'»'"*« '-"o "^ In aU the ballads I ever uw or conM hear of, Fin and '<■ . ;J «74 SIR WALTER SCOTT ieT.34 Ouin are described u natives of Ireland, although it is not unusual for the reciters sturdily to maintain that this is a corruption of the text. In point of merit, I do not think these Gaelic poems much better than those of the Scandicavian Scalds ; they are very unequal, often very vigorous and pointed, often drivelling and crawling in the very extremity of tenuity. The manners of the he- roes are those of Celtic savages ; and I could point out twenty instances in which Macpherson has very cun- ningly adopted the beginning, the names, and the leading incidents, etc., of an old tale, and dressed it up with all those ornaments of sentiment and sentimental manners, which first excite our surprise, and afterwards our doubt of its authenticity. The Highlanders themselves, recog- nizing the leading features of tales they had heard in in- fancy, with here and there a tirade really taken from an old poem, were readily seduced into becoming champions for the authenticity of the poems. How many people, not particularly addicted to poetry, who may have heard Chevy Chase in the nursery or at school, and never since met with the ballad, might be imposed upon by a new Chevy Chase, bearing no resemblance to the old one, save in here and there a stanza or an incident? Besides, there ij something in the severe judgment passed on my coun- trymen — "that if they do not prefer Scotland to truth, they will always prefer it to inquiry." When once the Highlanders iiad adopted the poems of Ossian as an arti- cle of national faith, you would far sooner have got them to disavow the Scripture than to abandon a line of the contested tales. Only they all allow that Macpherson's translation is very unfaithful, and some pretend to say inferior to the original; by which tbey can only mean, if they mean anything, that they miss the charms of the rhythm and vernacular idiom, which pleases the Gaelic natives; for in the real attributes of poetry, Macpher- son's version is far superior to any I ever saw of the frag- ments which he seems m have used. '8o5 OSSIAN ,j. J.f/Ii, !^ \'*°"'<' «y. ooUecting material, to de of nl-i, 1 °f "".t^l^ they have found seems to be that 176 SIR WALTER SCOTT iST. 34 and oharacler; so that, in fact, he might be oonaidered as a Highland poet, even if he had not left us some Eane translations (or originals of Ossian) unquestionably writ- ten by himself. These circumstances gave a great advan- tage to him in forming the style of Ossian, which, though exalted and modified according to Macpherson's own ideas of modem taste, is in great part out upon the model of the tales of the Sennachiea and Bards. In the trans- lation of Homer, he not only lost these advantages, but the circumstances on which they were founded were a great detriment to his undertaking; for although such a dress was appropriate and becoming for Ossian, few people cared to see their old Orecian friend disguised in a tartan plaid and philibeg. In a word, the style which Macpherson had formed, however admirable in a High- land tale, was not calculated for translating Homer; and it was a great mistake in him, excited, however, by the general applause his first work received, to suppose that there was anything homogeneous betwixt his own ideas and those of Homer. Macpherson, in his way, was cer- tainly a man of high talents, and his poetic powers as honorable to his country, as the use which he made of them, and I fear his personal character in other respects, was a discredit to it. Thus I have given yon with the utmost sincerity my creed on the great national questim of Ossian; it has been formed after much deliberation and inquiry. I have had for some time thoughts of writing a Highhind poem, somewhat in the style of the Lay, giving as far as I can a real picture of what that entiiusiastic race ac- tually were before the destruction of their patriarchal government. It is true, I have not quite the same facili- ties as in describing Border manners, where I am, as they say, more at home. But to balance my comparative deficiency in knowledge of Celtic manners, you are to consider that I have from my yOuth delighted in all the Highland traditions which I could pick up from the old "Oi MISS SEWARD ,,, beauty which e«»p^l^theCr ""r* ***" ""«''' y*. by the way, iV»^Tl. ^ ^""'^- ^'^ (-^^^"^ I ««.not feel /„i4" trTte-.* l"'" ' .T-^yU-We a. hut) what by Ben Jon^d o hi' M """l' '*"'"''• °"> <>' A««or,. which r,i,^ °'SL?- ?k""^''"" "«" «^'«> «ome individual p« ™ or „?^ "v"" {»'«.niflcation of mdividual man'^ir I ^Tr-'' ^"^ °* "" "^"^ that what wa, ,tric%1„e T^l^^ "L"' "''J™""'. I waa to write a fictitious book ^ w ? r V ^"PP"" <»i«Jy do ill to copy ewcShT tk • m ' ^ ''""'" ««'- Mungo Park or B™LTkL t,"""^?*' "''''''' ^^"^ then, would incontoTblv n^v . ^>' "" '™« "* the incident, are natu^ b'°™?'\, ^.^ » "?' but what happened, which striL^ „. "h '' \^" '»"''» 'J«»dy i™«P»ary persons Co,.M ^? "* transferred to "^d Is^l^';^.t-lZ. ^f^^ ^^ of a yet I should nofdf hV^^ "ST" *° y°"= "«» you have fnrmJ iJ- V P™'"*'"*, beoause I am afraid y- wo:Sd':S''to''S: ^ f tj't ' "-"- «lf much to l^r!L^ T^° ''''° ^ dedicated him- rattle-sk^,^ lSri7w?eTi:Sj .lV°" ""^ ""-^ »« » be-l a regiment oiZ^'C'ZTZ^J'^'"'^ "'T »?» five years old; h.uJ^J^^J^^'""^sin^ be friends sometimes toll !■■•«, ,,"■*" "au-erazy, as his Miss Seward-s mul ^flffTt^''^' ""* '"'"^^ servant, oouged, affectionate, and faithful voun Waiteb Scott. 178 SIR WALTER SCOTT -«T.34 i* His comcpondenec ibowt how Urgelj be wu netting himielf all thU while in the Mnrice of authon lew fortu- nate than himaelf. Jamea Hogg, among other*, contin- ued to occupy from time to time his attention; and he sui>ted regularly and auiduoualy throughout thii and the luooeeding year Mr. Robert Jameaon, an induatrioni and intelligent antiquary, who had engaged in editing a collection of ancient popular ballad* before the third volume of the Minatrelay appeared, and who at length published hi* very curiou* work in 1807. Meantime, Aaheatiel, in place of being leu reaorted to by literary atrangers than Lasawade cottage had been, shared abun- dantly in the fresh attraqtions of tlie Lay, and " bookaell- era in the plural number " were preceded and followed by an endleaa variety of enthusiastic "gentil bachelor*," whose main temptation from the south had been the hope of seeing the Borders in 'Company with their Minstrel. He atill writea of himaelf as "idling away hia hours; " he had already learned to appear as if he were doing so to all who had no particular right to confidence respecting the details of hia privacy. But the most agreeable of all his visitants were his own old familiar friends, and one of these has furnished me with a Aetch of the autumn life of Ashestiel, of which I shall now avail myself. Scott's invitation was in these terms: — TO JAMES aXBNE, ESQ., OV BUBISLAW. AsasflnxL, IStli Anfiut, 1800. Dear Skene, — I have prepared another edition of the Lay, ISOO strong, moved thereunto by the faith, hope, and charity of the London booksellers. ... If you could, in the interim, 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, the moat dreadful storm of thunder and lightning I ever witnessed. The lightning broke repeatedly in "°5 ASHESTIEL our imiMdUt, yJoinitv i . h-._. » wood. CWlotta ^U^ 'tJ ^,"^f " "d th. Peel •nd of the world, and I -« t,!' "^ '^ P"'' -• to the W»ed«yoh,«otorfor.^"i.^;fM,Pf"<» -t «.i„. •<>•»« »«rit. „ I had nodoTbt ,tt i""™^."" ^ that I would hare iriven., 1 ""^ " t"»n<"idou. to n»ke a .keXof Tt tL ,itK' 'I- ^ '^'^ ^^ in>P«.«ble for all the next dVj i^ '".'"'?'"' '""k "•• obliged to .enrACdl 1 '^^f, 't'T* ,^ ""^o •«•- converted into a deep pool Vj^ " '""'• "'''''' "«• tionately, "•ePP^'i- Bel"*™ me ever yours affec- W. S. Mr. Skene lays: *or «me time .fu,, thi, it^„l,™ "T',* «^ ""«• »"'' «. himself th. ar,rto .ti!Z .^ ""^ • ■""• I-"'™'- He M«k horse C.pt^ w^„ ^7^1*? P"^ »» W. favorite with hi, burden. It 4^. "l^K^T"" *" """'"'•' "''« aat service is te«hni«Hy caU^lTtf. i. J? T "" 8™te for "gly ford. IT,. ho»rLT^2 "" ''"f*Jy •"« -I-rt in thi. •«t the grate r^r^tTj'Z.^'^.t^"^*' «»' »•"• •tream to do duty h, , ho™Lt! jT "" ""* "'<'<"« »' the . fP^ joke when Mr. ^^^'^1,'""^ ™''J"' '" -""X perfection of her kitc^nXtC-.'" "•"""•" »' '^'' -' ttae. ^revio^wTt^'Lt f'."""' » d»tribution of hi, fe«ional busine« or^^J" ^^ ™"°"'' 'h»-er pro- middle part of his day to J^^'"? °^f'^ «•« "^^ Be was 3UPP0 J'^'hTvertUTll^-'^-S i8o SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 34 eUn tnggMtod tb.t thU wu my likely to iggnvito bli nervout baidaoliM, the only miOady h* was rabJMt to in the prim* of hii manhood; and, oc-itamplatiiig with iteady qr* a oouna not only of mminittiog but of In- enating induitiy, b« molnd to nTone hii plan, and car- ried hi* pnrpow into axooution with nnflinohing energy. In thort, be had now adopted the habito in which, with rery ilender Tariation, he erer after penevered when in the country. He rote by flre o'clock, lit hie own fire when the aeaion required one, and thaved and dreeeed with great deliberation — for he waa a veiy martinet at to all but the mere ooxoombriee of the toilet, not abhorring effeminate dandyism itMlf io cordially a* the alighteit approach to punonal ilorenlineu, or even tboie "bed- gown and slipper tricks," as he called them, in which literary men are so aj.t to indulge. Arrayed in his shoot- ing-jacket, or whatever dress he meant to use till dinner time, he wa seated at his desk by six o'clock, all his paper* arranged liefare him in the most accurate order, and hi* books of reference m a rshall ed around him on the floor, while at least one favorite dog lay watching his eye, ju*t beyond the line of ciroumvallation. Thos, by the time the family assembled for breakfast between nine and ten, he had done enough (in his own Ungoage) "to break the neck qf the day'e vmrk." After breakfast, a inr.ple of hours moiw were given to his solitary tasks, and by noon he wo*, as he n*ed to say, "hi* own man." ■When the weather was bad, he woijd labor inceesantly all the morning; but the general rule was to be ont and on horseback by one o'clock at the lateet; while, if any more distant excursion had been proposed over night, he vras ready to start on it by ten; his occai-ionai rainy days of unintennitted study forming, c ■ he said, a fund in his favor, out of which he was entitli'l to draw for accommo- dation whenever tho sun shone with spec'al brightness. It was another rule, that every letter he received ■hould be answered that same day. Nothing else could i8o5 ASHESTIEL , i8i li«»e enabled him to Imp tbnut witli Oa fl«nJ „» dwD^LliS^' ^ n«««nr bu.in.« which mu.t U 1 ought not to omit, that in tho» dan Scott wa. f». ^b^dr "E t "^ '^'' • p-^Ki:" i" ■"Die anqr. Before beginning hia dealc-work in .K. moramg he nnifomly vi.ited U. fa^rite rtLJ '^ SenlH^?^""^ •ameneaa found it convenient to malce um anH .tJ^ ttere, .Uent «.d motionJe« a. a rocnLtrhe "a^ ftS^ l82 SIR WALTER SCOTT AT. 34 window of his study open, whatever might be the stote of the weather, that they might leap out and in as the fancy moved them. He always talked to Camp as if he under- stood what was said — and the animal certainly did un- derstand not a little of it; in particular, it seemed as if he perfectly comprehended on all occasions that his mas- ter considered him as a sensible and steady friend — the greyhounds as volatile young creatures whose freaks must be borne with. "Every day," says Mr. Skene, "we had some boura of coursing with the greyhounds, or riding at random over the bills, or of spearing salmon in the Tweed by sunlight : which last sport, moreover, we often renewed at night by the help of torches. This amusement. of burning the watery as it is called, was not without some hazard ; for the large salmon generally lie in the pools, the depths of which it is not easy to estimate with precision by torchlight, — so that not unfrequently, when the sportsman makes a determined thrust at a fish apparently within reach, his eye has grossly deceived him, and instead of the point of the weapon encountering the prey, he finds him- self launched with corresponding vehemence heels over head into the pool, both spear and salmon gone, the torch thrown out by the concussion of the boat, and quenched in the stream, while the boat itself has of course receded to some distance. I remember the first time I accompanied our friend, he went right over the gunwale in this manner, and had I not acciden- taiUy been close at his side, and made a successful grasp at the skirt of his jacket as he plunged overboard, he must at least have had an awkward dive tor it. Such are the contingencies of burning the water. The pleasures consist in being pene- trated with cold and wet, having your shins broken agfunst the stones in the dark, and perhaps mastering one fish out of every twenty you take aim at." In all these amusements, but particuJ-irly in the burti' ing of the water^ Scott's most regular companion at this time was John, Lord Somerville, who united with many higher qualities a most enthusiastic love for such sports, and consummate address in the prosecution of them. I ASHESTIEL i8oj MR. SKENE '83 Tow amiable nobleman then naaiml »■!..*. Drettv uot „» A , *" "I™ passea his autumns at h s tCS "^^Iwyn, or the Pavilion, situated on the Tweed, some eight or nine miJes below Asherti!? V interchanged visits almost every w^k »?? tl'jM '^ faU to profit largely by ulZZT' J^ ^cott did not ne laird of Bubislaw seldom failed «, spend . part of the summer and autumn at Ashestiel, as long as S remained there, and during these visit^ they rften tv! a wider scope to their expeditions. ' *^™ nmMM. We raversed tlie entire vales of the Yarrow and »»gi^»te, e««mely popuUr if t^f !,«' :.'^^'. "^'^ ™tt^ eould be more gratifying than the Zl^Th^ pected. The eihilaratmg air of the mountains, and the health exerc™ of the day, secured our relishing homerfl Z^tl found mexhaustible entertainment in theLiXCw oTc J,! acter which tie affabiUty of the 5A««,fZw forth n ^^Ki;rff '•-^^- ^^-^-rfZt^e^ ga^e full employment to my pencil, v^th the free and freoueM exercise of which he never seemed -^ feel impatient He ,^ at^bmes «ady and willing to alight when any obit ^ ^ my notice, and used to scat himself beside meC^e brae, to con over some baUad appropriate to the ocJL"^ or »«™te the trad tlon of the glen -sometimes, per^ ZoJ a passmg idea in his pocket-book, but this ™1^ t^Tn ^t :^t "*!: ""^'^"' "" '^' -' -to" hTs; o/hL memoiy. And much amusement we haa, as you may suppoT m Whng over the diilerent incidents, convcritions, L7S of manners that h«i occurred at the Ust hospitable fiS 1 84 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 34 where we had mingled wth the natireB. Thai the minatee glided away until my sketch was complete, and then we moanted i^pain with fresh alacrity. " These exennions derived an additional zest from the ancer> tainty that often attended the issue of our proceedings ; for, following the game started by the dogs, our unfailing comrades, we frequently got entangled and bewildered among the hills, until we had to trust to mere chance for the lodging of the night. Adventures of this sort were quite to his taste, and the more for the perplexities which on such occasions befell our at- tendant squires, — mine a lanky Savoyard, his a portly Scotch butler — both of them uncommonly bad horsemen, and both equally sensitive about their personal dignity, which the rugged- ness of the ground often mftde it a matter of some difficulty for either of them to maintain, but more especially for my poor foreigner, whose seat resembled that of a pair of compasses astride. Scott's heavy lumbering beauffetier had provided himself against the mountain showers with a huge cloak, which, when the cavalcade were at gallop, streamed at full stretch from his shoulders, and kept flapping in the other's face, who, having more than enough to do in preserving his own equilibrium, could not think of attempting at any time to control the pace of his steed, and had no relief but fuming and pestinff at the aacrS manieauy in language happily unintelligible to its wearer. Now and then some ditch or turf-fence rendered it indispensa- ble to adventure on a leap, and no farce could have been more amusing than the display of politeness which then occurred be- tween these worthy equestrians, each courteously declining in favor of his friend the honor of the first experimer , the horses fretting impatient beneath them, and the dogs clamoring en- couragement. The horses generally terminated the dispute by renouncing allegiance, and springing forward without waiting the pleasure of the riders, who had to settle the matter with their saddles as they best could. " One of our earUest expeditions was to visit the wild scenery of the mountainous tract above Moffat, including the cascade of the Grey Mare's Tail, and the dark tarn called Loch Skene. In our ascent to the lake we got completely bewildered in the thick fog which generally envelopes the rugged features of that lonely region ; and, as we were groping through the maze of i8o5 MR. SKENE igj wl^I »^ l!, ^"*'' "' '**'y "Ud „d bl«k water, ™t of ™*J'ai r!i "" T.°""" •" 8^' extricated. Indeed, unl^ Md borrowed h.U ponle, for the oceuion, the result mieht W- been w„™ than laughable. A, it w.., ;e rcTht tl' pHt^ tm w& ™"'«».~i-^ -ith dhne, to free themS from which, our wily ponie, took to rolling .bout on Z h^v^^' ^,T 'PP'^whed the gloomy loch, a huge eitle hMved himself from the margin and rose right over u,,.ci3 u« h.8 «om of the intruder, , and altogether it 3d bT^™ ^bleto picture anything more desoUtei; LZ^.t^ Z ^» wbch opened, a, if raised by enchantment on^pm^, J gratify the poefs eye; thick fold, of fog rolling inZsantlv Erection, and then in another - so a, to afford us a glimpse of Tf^r I™'' ".'"*'^ P°"* »' "^d, or islanding l^ZTi^ "^^ °' pine-and then closing again in^? If OM m:^!"""" T "'T'™ ™'«- M-'of'Sies^en^ ot Old MortaLly was drawn from that day's ride LI i„^ •' ,?""«'' '^' "PPelation by which he wa! known m the neig'.borhood was 'Tod WilKe.' He was onJ^ those itmerants who gain a subsistence among ^eToorfLl dZr I s^;™„^ ?"" "' '?™' p»'^-'«- "■'' tre iirdepT' " HaX^ . n'T ™^' ""^ °""'' »"s!nal creature. Havmg explored aU the wonders of Moifatdale we turned ««r«ve» towards Bla.ki.use To«,er, to visit Scott" wortht mtacate nde, having been again led off our course by the grev- hounds, who had been educed by a strange dog CjoS Fe»™ed to be either a for or a roe^eer. The chase was pro- but at length we reached the scene of slaughter, and were much temedtt' "t' »r'«'y "" '.e-go.^had beenrbevi:^ ae seemed to have fought a stout batUe for hie Ufe, but now 1 86 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^t. 34 lay mangled in the midst of ha panting enemiei, who betrayed, on our approach, strong conflciousnoM of delinqaeney and ajh ' prehension of the lash, which was administered accordingly to soothe the manes of the luckless Capricorn — though, after all, the dogs were not so mnch to blame in mistaking his game flavor, since the fogs must have kept him out of view ^:U the last moment. Our visit to Blackhouse was highly interesting ; — the excellent old tenant being still in life, and the whole family group presenting a perfect picture of innocent and sim- ple happiness, while the animated, intelligent, and original con- versation of our friend William was quite charming. " Sir Adam Ferguson and the F.ttrick Shepherd were of the party that explored Loch Skene and hunted the unfortunate he-goat. '* ± need not tell you thai Saint Mary's Loch, and the Loch of the Lowes, were among the most favorite scenes of our excur- sions, as his fondness for them continued to his last days, and we have both visited them many times together in his company. I may say the same of the Teviot and the Aill, Borthwick- water, and the lonely towen of Bucdeuch and I' .den, Minto, Roxburgh, Gilnockie, etc. I think it was either in 1805 or 1806 that I nt explored the Borihwick with him, when on our way to pass week at Langholm with Lord and Lady Dalkeith, upon which occasion the otter-hunt, so well described in Guy Mannering, was got up by our noble host ; and I can never for- get the delight with which Scott observed the enthusiasm of the high-spirited yeomen, who had assembled in multitudes to par- take the sport of their dear young chief, well moonted, and dash- ing about from rock to rock with a reckless ardor which recalled the alacri^ of their forefathers in following the Bnccleuchs of former days through adventures of a more serious order. " Whatever the banks of the Tweed, from its source to its ter- mination, presented of interest, we frequently visited ; and I do verily believe there is not a single ford in the whole course of that river which we have not traversed together. He had an amazing fondness for fords, and was not a little adventurous in plunging through, whatever might be the state of the flood, end this even though there happened to be a bridge in view. If it seemed possible to scramble through, he scorned to go ten yaids about, and in fact preferred the ford ; and it ia to be remarked i8o5 CUMBERLAND i»7 W thnn^i. k- . "' "O""*""™ oven attempted them on STt * •'^" '''P'^'y "°-'«- Upon one o,i«ion ol uX exploit before hi, clothe, were haU dried upon hi, back." About this time Mr. and Mr,. Scott made a short ex cursion to the lakes of Cumberland and WettZTlZ', » h„ ^ V 7'r''u' ^.''*™ "*'«» ••«»"» S™tt speak with enftusiastic delight of tie reception he met wfth -JZ hamble cottage whioh his brother poet then inhibit^ „„ Z^^i ^^T ."^ "' '•'^""^ °f theda;, th^; spent together was destined to fumi,h a theme for th« o™ l^lT™' "T^'^' ^'" r"""' «■«' gave to th/1 ^ ot ilelTeUyn, where, in the nourse of the Dreoedin». fS'terT ".rf',.'^t«™a«'s, stiU watched by "a „l„t '^"■"-'''tob, bis constant attendant duri-g fre- quent ramble, among the wilds." i This day they Z, ' Se« sotio, imflied to the song — u. W._Po«..o, «■-*'. '»^ -i. p. 370 [C».. Kd. p.87]; „. „„.,„ " Inmito o( a moimtaln dmllinf , rhoa hMt clomb tlolt, lad j[««d rniii a» ntoh-towm of BanUn, A»«l, dellibUd, ud uiued." S. Word.worth'1 Portico; Hort,, toL iiL p. 98. i88 SIR WALTER SCOTT AT. 34 aocompwiied b; *n Uluitrioui philonopher, who wu >1m a true poet — and might have been one of the greatwt of poets had he chown ; and I have heard Mr. Wordiworth •ay that it would be difficult to expreu the feelings with which he, who ao often had climbed Helvellyn alone, found himself standing on its summit with two such men as Scott and Davy. After le&ving Mr. Wordsworth, Scott carried his wife to spend a few days at GUshtnd, among the scenes where they had first met; and his reception by the company at the wells was such as to make him look back with some- thing of regret, as well as of satisfaction, to the change that had occurred in bis circumstances since 1797. They were, however, enjoying themselves much there, when be received intelligence which induced him to believe that a french force was about to land in Scotland : the ahum indeed had spread far and wide; and a mighty gathering of volunteers, horse and foot, from the liothians and the Border country, took place in consequence at Dalkeith. He was not slow to obey the summons. He had luckily chosen to accompany on horseback the carriage in which Mrs. Scott travelled. His good steed carrier] bim to the spot of rendezvous, full a hundred miles from Gilsland, within twenty-four hours; and on reaching it, though, no doubt to his disappointment, the alarm had already blown over, he was delighted with the general enthusiasm that had thus been put to the test — and, above all, by the rapidity with which the yeomen of Ettrick Forest had poured down from their glens, under the guidance of his good friend and neighbor, Mr. Pringle of Torwoodlee. These fine fellows were quartered along with the Edin- burgh troop when be reached Dalkeith and Musselburgh ; and after some sham battling, and a few evenings of high jollity, bad crowned the needless muster of the bea- con fires,^ he immediately turned his horse again towards the south, and rejoined Mrs. Scott at Carlisle. ^ See note " AUnn at laTMion,'* Aatiguarjif obap. sir. i805 LETTER TO ELLIS 189 to Dalkeith, on the oocuion abore mentioned tWh! oo»po«d h . W. Incnution. fl„t p«bS.ft2. »ft«w«d. ,n the Edinburgh Annual K«gi.teT7_ ' " Tk« foiMt of OUmnon U dnv, It b aU of bbok l>ii»Mdtli.dMko.ktM,»«o. «^^J. ve«e. bear the full .tamp of the f«,ling. of the Shortly after he wai reeatablished at A>l>..»i<.l 1. W-ited there b, Mr. Southey ; thttbg^Meve till" -.fetter highly ohar«,teri.tio in more .-espeot. than TO OEOBOK ELLM, KaQ., «CJWr»0 HUL. Deak Fit,. nr .V ^""TO". "th Ortob.r, 1805. • ^" ^-UJ".— More than a month hat elided awa„ m th.. bu.y «lit„de, and yet I have ney^r «t dowZ ».wer your kmd letter. I have only to plej^ a ho^^ of pen and ink with which thi. country, in 8ne weatW «.dour» h" been mo,t beautiful), re^w/Xto me In reoompen^,, I ride, walk, fl.h, cour^ eat'and drZ' with might and main, from morning to night. iZm to partake her rural amusement.!- lie only comfort I have IS that your vi.it would have been over, andTow .•nfi V f'^i!^ to >t «« to a pleaeure to come. I .hall be mfl-toly "bhged to you for your advice and tJZn^ m the cour« of Dryden. I fear littfe can be procur^ for a Life beyond what Malone ha. compiled, bT<^ tomly hj. fact, may be rather better toldLd arraug^ 1 am at present busy with the dramatic department Jir "f^K'"! ''" ""^'' ""y '■'"S in Londonr^^^'g a matter of absolute necessity. * And now let me teU you of a diMovery which I have ^■' fi.^iS'l' "''''''' ^^^ Jameson ha. made, i^ copying the MS. of True Thoma. and the Queen of m. ^.1 I90 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 34 Und, In the Lincoln Cathedral. The queen, at part- ing, beitowt the gifti of harping and carping upon the prophet, and mark hii reply : — ** To haip ud AMts Tmbm, wUn w tw J« gw — Tkonaa, uka Ikm lk«> wilk lln«." — " Harping," 1m Hid, " lua I bmw, For Tiaf U •halt cl m;Htnbh." If poor Riteon could contradict his own lyatem of mate- rialism by riling from the grave to |ieep into this MS., he would slink back again in dudgeon and dismay. There certainly cannot be more respectable testimony than that of True Thomas, and you see he describes the tongue, or recitation, aa the principal, or at least the most dignified, part of a minstrel's profession. Another curiosity was brought here a few days ago by Mr. Southey, the poet, who favored me with a visit on hii way to Edinburgh. It was a MS. containing sundry metrical romances, and other poetical compositions, in the northern dialect, apparently written about the middle of the fifteenth century. I had not time »» make aii > alysia of its contents, but some of them seem highly valuable. There is a tale of Sir Gowther, said to be a Breton Lay, which partly resembles the history of Robert the Devil, the hero being begot in the same way; and parti} that of Robert of Sicily, the penance imposed on Sir Gowther being the same, as he kept table with the hounds, and was discovered by a dumb ladj i be the stranger knight who had assisted her father the emperor in his wars. There is also a MS. of Sir Isanbras; item a poem called Sir Amadas — not Amadis of Gaul, but a courteous knight, who, being reduced to poverty, travels to conceal his distress, and gives the wreck of his fortune to pur- chase the rites of burial for a deceased knight, who had been refused them by the obduracy of his creditors. The rest of the story is the same with that of Jean de Calais, in the Bibliothfeque Bleue, and with a vulgar ballad called the Factor's Garland. Moreover there is a merry '8oj LETTER FROM ELLIS ,5, magnifloent. who« libr,nr ,u,d ceTar >?™ •'' *■" all other, in the world? iT: T . ^ ^ '"J*""'" «« i>^de„. A„y:o7u"4a.iT.r? •" •"" '^'■' Voura truly, 'W. §_ Mr. EUis, in hi» anawer, iaya.— much doubf. bX« r ^ "-"tance, which I very which coold ^r^^^^^.'PP'J^J: "• "»' the be.t e,Ii.i„T Whether ^^ey^JtZ ptL't^he^rrhV^ uS igi SIR WALTER SCOTT ^T. 34 compilation. The late Dr. Warton, you may have heard, had a project of editing Dryden h. la Hurd ; that is to say, upon the same principle as the castrated edition of Cowley. His reason was, that Dryden, having written for bread, became of necessity a most voluminous author, and poured forth more nonsense of indecency, particularly in his theatrical compositions, than al- most any scribbler in that scribbling age. Hence, although his transcendent genius frequently breaks out, and marks the hand of the master, his comedies seem, by a tacit but general consent, to have been condemned to oblivion ; and his tragedies, being printed in such bad company, have shared the same fate. But Dr. W. conceived that, by a judicious selection of these, together with his fables and prose works, it woxdd be possible to exhibit him in a much more advantageous light than by a republication of the whole mass of his writings. Whether ihe Doctor (who, by the way, was by no n^ans scrupiUously chaste and delicate, as you will be aware from his edition of Pope) had taken a just view of the subject, you know better than I ; but I must own that the announcement of a general edition of Dryden gave me some little alarm. However, if you can suggest the sort of assistance you are desirous of receiving, I shall be happy to do what I can to promote your views. . . . And so you are not disposed to nibble at the bait I throw out ! Nothing but " a decent edition of Holinshed " ? I confess that my project chiefly related to the later historical works respecting tikis coimtry — to the union of Gall, Twisden, Camden, Leibnitz, etc., etc., leaving the Chronicles, properly so called, to shift for them- selves. ... I am ignorant when you are to be in Edinboi^h, and in that ignorance have not desired Blackburn, who is now at Glasgow, to call on you. He has the best practical under- standing I have ever met with, and I vouch that you would be much pleased with his acquaintance. And so for the present God bless you. G. £. Soott*s letter in reply opens thus: — I will not castrate John Dryden. I would as soon castrate my own father, as I believe Jupiter did of yore. What would you say to any man who would castrate '80s DRYDEN ,., Wtf lewd, haK methodistio, that debauches thTnndef: .tondmg, mflame, the sleeping passions, and p™ the reader to give way as soon as rtempter appe^ T of Diyden s comedies: they are very stupidfas well m I^i,- '"' ""^ '""°'"' »°^ »" of th^m present extoaordmary pictures of fie age in which he lived Mv critical notes wUl not be veif^umerous, but I hipe^ throw light on my author. I am told that I am ta be r^u ""^ "^ " "^ «™»te''i»g an edition of 194 SIR WALTER SCOTT JET. 34 Dryden. I don't know whether to be most vexed that some one had not undertaken the task sooner, or that Mr. Crowe is disposed to attempt it at the same time with me; — however, I now stand committed, and will not be crowed over, if I can help it. The third edition of the Lay is now in the press, of which I hope you will accept a copy, as it contains some trifling improvements or additions. They are, however, very trifling. I have written a long letter to Rees, recommending an edition of our historians, both Latin and English; but I have great hesitation whether to undertake much of it myself. What I can, I certainly will do; but I should feel particularly delighted if you would join forces with me, when I think we might do the business to purpose- Do, Lord love you, think of this grande opui. I have not been so foHunate as to hear of Mr. Black- bum. I am afraid poor Daniel has been very idly employed — Codum tum animum. I am glad you still retain the purpose of visiting Beged. If you live on mutton and game, we can feast you ; for, as one wittily said, I am not the hare with many friends, but the friend with many hares. W. S. Mr. Ellis, in his next letter, says : — " I will not diatarb you by contesting any part of your in- genious apology for your intended complete edition of Dryden, whose genius 1 venerate as much as you do, and whose negli- gences, as he was not rich enough to doom them to oblivion in his own lifetime, it is perhaps incumbent on his editor to trans- mit to the latest posterity. Most certainly I am not so sqaeam- ish as to qnarrel with him for his immodesty on any moral pre- tence. Licentiousness in writing, when accompanied by wit, as in the case of Prior, La Fontaine, etc., is never likely to ex- cite any jxuston, because every passion is serious ; and the grave epistle of Eloisa is more likely to do moral mischief, and convey infection to love-sick damsels, than five hundred stories of Hans Carvel and Paulo Porganto ; but whatever is in point ■8°5 DRYDEN ,5^ mach. rfter promising T^o^T r J '^t "*■ '" ^'^ " "d I »ll«Jl™rtainl7™7, I, u '^ "■different .lition, it in myXe™ WW. "^'f >«««' "^ whenever y„„ put fectly at Zewe W"«^ "» yo»r competitor,, I 4l ^^ / «!. iDjT ease, because I am convitiPf>/1 ♦»,-*- *i. i_ .honld generouriy f„„i,h thenT^TrT),. . "I*"" ''™ woold not know how to 0.7.1^ *». n"""""],, they *in^ to write critical nlTthat^ny Z '^i:^^'''''^ ^ tim?befo™':t'?hB"fl'"'"^^°" '»'' ^^"'-'J »■»« ofOxford Fn- °'*°*" "^ "' ™''* to the libraries Of Oxford, E11.S says, in another of these letters:- meat^n?TI.'lu'*' ".t"'"'"'' "'^.' "' »»»'«»» P'-ty of was only a J, d,?' T ^"^^ """^ (Leyden's breakfast b^«rtte«3fr-'^^ =tt\-rr"^"^'---"^^^^^ I:i 196 SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 34 Pattxbdau, IfoTemb«r 7, 1806. Ml DEAB Seorr, I wm much pleued to hear of your engagement with Dryden : not that he is, aa a poet any great favorite of mine : I admin hi» talenta and genira highly, — but hi> u not a poetical genini. The only qualities I can find in Dryden that are eumtiaUy poetical, are a certain ardor and impetnoaity of mind, with an excellent ear. It may seem strange that I do not add to this, great command of language : That he certainly has, and of such language, too, as it is most desirabl? that a poet should possess, or rather that be should not be without. But it is not language that is, in the highest sense of the word, poetical, being neither of the imagination nor of the passions ; I mean the amiable, the ennobling, or the intense passions. 1 do not mean to say that there is nothing of this in Dryden, but aa little, 1 think, as is possible, consider- ing how much he has written. You will easily understand my meaning, when I refer to his versification of Palamon and Arcite, as contrasted with tho language of Chaucer. Dryden had neither a tender heart nor a lofty sense of moral dignity. Whenever his language is poetically impassioned, it is mostly upon unpleasing subjects, such aa the follies, vices, and crimes of classes of men or of individuals. That his cannot be the language of imagination, must have necessarily followed from this, — that there is not a single image from nature in the whole body of his works ; and in his tranahition from Virgil, wherever Virgil can be fairly said to have hia eys upon his object, Dry- den always spoils the passage. Vut too much of this. I am glad that you are to be his e/litor. His political and satirical pieces may be greatly bene- fited by illustration, and even absolutely require it A correct text is the first object of an editor ; then such notes as explain difficult or obscure pa8ei%ges; and lastly, which ia much less important, notes pointing out authors to whom the poet has been indebted, — not in the fiddling way of phrase here and phrase there (which ia detestable as a general practice), — but where he has had essential obligations eitlier as to matter or manner. If I can be of any use to you, do not fail to apply to me. One thing I may take the liberty to suggest, which is, when you come to thfi fables, mi^t it not be advisable W prist ihe i8oj DRYDEN «97 I.ho«ld crUuUy m^e ™ch ext,«ta « would .how wh"« "ipnal. I think his traMbtioM from Boccwe In January, 1806, however, Scott had by no means measured either the character, the feelings, or the ar- rangements of great public functionaries, by the standard ^ Intzodoctioti to Marmion — 1830. i8o6 CLERKSHIP OF SESSION 201 the Parliament House • FjILk .. V*"^ ""''«• »' thew letter, were written^:, , '"' ""»•«"'". "hen TO GEORGE HilS, e.„., stojTOO HUL. Bood wi«h«r^ 4 iV- '""'««'•. upon your oordiid aoa SIR WALTER SCOTT mt. 34 with an elderly and inflrm gentleman, Mr. Oeorge Honw, to be awooiated with him in the office which he holdi ae one of the Principal Clerk* to our Supreme Court of Seuion; I being to diacbarge the duty gratuitouily dur- ing hii life, and to aucceed bim at bit deceaae. Thi* could only be carried into effect by a new commiaaion from the Crown to him and me jointly, which ban been iasued in aimilar caaea very lately, and ia in point of form quite correct. By the intereat of my kind and noble friend and chief, the Duke of Buccleuch, the countenance of Government waa obtained to thia arrangement, and the affair, as I have every reaaon to believe, ia now in the Treaaury. I have written to my aolicitor, Alexander Mundell, Fludyer Street, to uae every deapatch in hurry- ing through the commiaaion; but the newa of to-day giving uB every reaaon to apprehend Pitt'a death, if that lamentable event haa not already happened,' makes me get nervoua on a aubjeot ao intereating to my little for- tune. Jiy folitical aentimenta have been always oonati- tutioni.1 f.n J open, and although they were^ never rancor- oua, yet I cannot expect that the Scottiah Oppoaition party, ahould circumatancea bring them into power, would conaider me aa an object of favor: nor would I aak it at their handa. Their leaders cannot regard me with male- volence, for I am intimate with many of them; — but they must provide for the Whiggiah children before they throw their bread to the Tory dogs; and I shall not fawn on them because they have in their turn the superintend- ence of the larder. At the same time, if Fox's friends come into power, it must be with 'Windham's party, to whom my politics can be no exception, — if the politics of a private individual ought f>t any time to be made the excuse for intercepting the bounty of his Sovereign, when it is in the very course of being bestowed. The situation is most desirable, being £800 a year, besides being consistent with holding my sheriffdom; 1 Mr. Pitt died JauuAry 23, two daji befon) thia Utter wea written. i8o6 CLERKSHIP OF SESSION aoj kud I oonU afford Tery weU to wiit tiU it ommA to «- b^h. death of my colleague, without wiZ?,*;:^* ZrTTh.r"'''^- ^''■"y<»»'»fi".fewhour labor m th. forenoon, when the Court .it., leaving ^. even»g. and whole v«,.tion open for Uter^ pu^„it wi^out^'effT ','":'? ■"•■"u"' ""'• «^bCn; without an effort, if ,t i. po«,ible without dereliction of m principle, to attain the «H>„n,pli,hu.ent of it A. I W .uffered in my profe.,ional Une by addicting my«U to the prefane and unprofitable art of poem.„,fking I M. veor dcirou. to mdcmnify my«,lf by availing n^tu of any prepo.««..on which my literary reputation ^v however unmeritedly, have created iniy favor I Zl' found It u«, ul when I applied for other.? ani I «;« no -on why I 3tould not t^ U it can do' an^'thinTf^ f„~"^r »*'*' "R-ry oo'on'iMion may be got out be- fore a change of Mini.t:y, if ,uch «. event .hall tdL pUce, a. It «Han. not far distant. If it i. otherwi» wm you be „ good a. to think and devi« „„« mje t which my oa« may he .tated to Windham or Lorf G«" worthy of attention, I am sure I .haU be contented W to hZ h? ^'"''' »•"«•" '» '"'' " f"™'. "^d^ithe to hope that a transaction, already fully completed by the private partie., and approved of by L existineAd min^t^tion, shall be permLd to taheXtTfa^r ff 2«^offendmg individual. I believe I shall see you"™ can be done for certain without my coming up I wiU not. If I can help it, be Bayed like a sheepfo^'^e ben^ 1^ .r" r""°«^°« '"*y" « """"oy- I have ^tod the matter to you very bluntly, indeed, I am nrt S.^ ^ait^; ' W^'everf '''^•''"'^"^ "^^ ^ Waltee Scon. 104 SIR WALTER SCOTT mi. 34 u TO WALTXB KOTT, BIQ., SDIKBUBOH. Bats, 0th Fabtvary, 1800. Mt dear Scott, — Yoo mnit lum iMn by the Uiti of the new Miniitry already pnblithed tn all the papers, that, althoagh the death of our excellent Minliter has been certainly a mott unfortunate erent, in ae far u it mutt tend to delay the object of your preeent wiihei, there ie no eauie for your aUrm on a^ eonnt of the change, excepting ai far ai that change it very extensive, and thut perhape much time may elapM before th* butinett of ^veiy kind which wat in arrears can be expedited by the new Administration. There it no change of principle (at far as we can yet judge) in the new Cabinet — or rather the new Cabinet has no general political creed. Lord Grenrille, Fox, Lord Lansdowne, and Addington were the four nominal heads of four distinct parties, which must now by some chem- ieal process be amalgamated ; all must forget, if they can, their peculiar habits and opinions, and unite in the pursuit of a com- mon object. How far this is possible, time will show ; to what degree this motley Ministry can, by their joint influence, com- mand a majority in the House of Commons } how far they will, as a vfhole^ be assisted by the secret influence and power of the Crown ; whether, if not to seconded, they will be able to appeal some time hence to the people, and dissolve the Parliar ment — all these, and many other questions, will receive very different answers from difl^erent speculators. But in the mean time it it self-evident that every individual will be extremely iealout of the patronage of his individual dei>artment ; that individually at well as conjointly, they will be cautious of pro- voking enmity ; and that a measure patronized by the Duke of Buccleuch is not very likely to be opposed l^ any member of tuch a Cabinet If, Indeed, the object of your wishet were a sinecure, and at the disposal of the Chancellor (Erskine), or of the President of the Board of Control (Lord Minto), you mi^t have strong cause, perhaps, lor apprehension ; but what you ask would suit few candidates, and there probably is not one whom the Cabi- net, or any peraon in it, would feel any strong interest in oblig- ing to your disadvantage. But farther, we know thai Lord Sidmonth is in the Cabinet^ so is Lord Ellenborough, and these i8o6 CLERKSHIP OF SESSION aoj T«rjr nn Uut U»/, or wnio other of the Kim'. Iriend. Jn Sr"Z',*'T""'"' '"-" ■- "» ■»»• I^" ^ »« *.' U^ tnli nmmely, the •a|ien'Mian of the Kimr', !n«„.„^ t^Hu "jit'T^;- ' "-"""• -"^ O™^ wL-etrlTbt": mw in the Cbuwt who, » Minieter, h« it in h™Dow., J Parent your uuinment of ,«., „bj«.. ^.S lielZ j! know, mu in , p,., „^„^ ^ reprMentoti™ ol r K- ™ P.r«n^ ijUiuenc, in S™U.nd, „d 7rt;t".lt« tl! he u no longer «,, bat be th.t m it J^y, it JuT iZ-!^ dent^y t,Te you ,., th.t wh.t you r.pre„„t .. ,. principaTdl floolty .. r'U,,ma!„nary, „d th.t your own HUiadCnc - P^»i «. exactly lho.e which «, mo.t likely to be i^iSe /Ln^^'o/rr.L'Tt t VX-^z^i Ever truly yours, q, e^^^ TO OEOROE ELLIS, ESQ., JATH. •KK— ■« LoxDOJr, Febmerr 20. 180(1 IM. ^ t ?^ "."^y K°»^y "808ies. ha, blown „y 1ft ,""° *?" ""*'' f" ''■'<'•' •''O was bound, and if Z^'thJ ^ •'^*°^^ -"fortune, of cy fri;nd. Ld^^f^ r"^*' "^"^ *^* """Se frigate., {he Moira "a oMhe c1%"*" «"•?'? «<»-»»'i°e for the domin- r „ i5! *^,'^*?°"'"' °'»". I wa, fortunate enough to ^l^b^",*^ "^^ ^ '"P Spencer, and leave thfm to ««Je the,r deputes at leu.nre. It i. «.id to be a violent ground of controversy in the new Ministry, which of tho» two noble lord, i, to be St. Andrew fo ^Ld ao6 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 34 I own I tremble for the oonseqnencea of so violent a tem- per as Lauderdale's, irritated by long-disappointed ambi- tion and ancient feud with all his brother nobles. It is a certain truth that Lord Moira insists upon his claim, backed by all the friends of the late Administration in Scotland, to have a certain weight in that country; and it is equally certain that the Hamiltons and Laudeidales have struck out. So here are people who have stood in the rain without doors for so many yean, quarrelling for the nearest place to the fire, as soon as they have set their feet on the floor. Lord Moira, as he always has been, was highly kind and courteous to me on this occa- sion. Heber is just come in, with your letter waving in his hand. I am ashamed of all the trouble I have given you, and at the same time flattered to find your friend- ship even equal to that greatest and most disagreeable of all trials, the task of solicitation. Mrs. Scott is not with me, and I am truly concerned to think we should be so near, without the prospect of meeting. Truth is, I had half a mind to make a run up to Bath, merely to break the spell which has prevented our meeting for these two years. But Bindley,' the collector, has lent me a parcel of books, which he insists op. my consulting within the liberties of Westminster, and which I cannot find else- where, so that the fortnig'ic I propose to stay will be fully occupied by examination and extracting. How long I may be detained here is very uncertain, but I wish to leave London on Saturday se'ennight. Should I be so delayed as to bring my time of departure anything near tluit of your arrival, I will stretch my fnrlough to the utmost, tiiat I may have a chance of seeing you. 1 Jamw Bitidit;, Eaq., famed for hii lioh Metmralation of booki, prints, And medals, held the office of a oommissioner of Stamps dnrinf the long period of 63 yeais. He died in 1818, in his Slat year. At the sale of his library a cdUeetion of penny ballads, etc., in 8 Tolnnisa, pro- dnoed.£837. i8o6 LONDON 207 perform that opo™ C j V" T j' new b«H,o, to «• to give room to apprehem) rtl ''««' -«»«*. "deed, hx neglected the pSol ^^t'^J"'"'• ^ ^«" !>« nity. Eemember me kinX^ T "^ '""' "npu- Elli. and believe mTe^eSuTLt'SSSr^ *° ^"• «cqui»itioM wire^rof hi, ° ^^"Z "^ *"«'°S "^era^ IthiiAonhisXtln- "^- ^y'««rtWee *™ns«,- andapprobaC I^d ttt^nt""'^ '^ T" "«-■«» own filing,. fZ, o"*' '° « "ay very pleasing to my t™n«ctiontinXfe;' r°,.'''^ "''*"" "^ «"• »ot^n£L°'biSgT:-d^r^-- I 308 SIR WALTER SCOTT -ST. 34 ; doing the thing handaomely, and like an English noble- man. I have been very much feted and caressed here, almost indeed to suffocation, but hare been made amende by meeting some old friends. One of the kindest wai liord Somerrille, who volunteered introducing me to Lord Spenoer, as much, I am convinced, from respect to your Lordship's protection and wishes, as from a de- sire to serve me personally. He seemed very anxious to do anything in his power which might evince a wish to be of use to your prot^g^. Lord Minto was also infi- nitely kind and active, and his influence with Lord Spencer would, I am oonvinced, have been stretched to the utmost in my favor, had nut Lord Spencer's own view of the subject been perfectly sufficient. After all, a little literary reputation is of some use here. I suppose Solomon, when he compared a good name to a pot of ointment, meant that it oiled the hinges of the hadl-doors into which the possessors of that inestimable treasure wished to penetrate. What a good name was in Jerusalem, a known name seems to be in London. If you are celebrated for writing verses or for slicing cu- cumbers, for being two feet taller or two feet less than any other biped, for acting plays when you should be whipped at school, or for attending schools and institu- tions when yon should be preparing for your grave, your notoriety beccHues a talisman — an "Open Sesame" be- fore which everything gives way — till you are voted a bore, and discarded for a new plaything. As this is a consummation of notoriety which 1 am by no means am- bitions of experiencing, I hope I shall be very soon able to shape my course northward, to enjoy my good fortune at my leisure, and snap my fingers at the Bar and all it» works. There is, it is believed, a rude souffle betwixt our late commander-in-chief and Lord Lauderdale, for the patron- age of Scotland. If there is to be an exclusive adminis- tration, I hope it will not be in the hands of the latter. i8o6 LONDON 209 ?!?**^ J'"'*". °^ «""We«, that by means of Lord. Smooth and EUenborough, the King poUL, the ^po^r of carting the balance betwift tt^Tve Gr^! vdhte, ,«.d fonr Foxite. who compose the C.bineri <»nnot thmk they wiU find it an Zy matte, to fo J A J . ^"^ therefore suppose that the disposal of St Andrew's Cro„ wUl be deUyTtiU the newEsl U a bttle oon«,hdated. if that time shall ever come l£« » mnch loose gunpowder amongst them, and one smk would make a fine explosion. Pardon theV'lS eSnuons; I am infected by the atmosphe^ Sl breathe, and cannot restrain mv i«.n fr^™ a- ■ 2*»««-. Ihopetheyo^g^^iran^^^rtSf ^the family here! y'utow';^" Hg^: ^^^^ ^^ the pleasure .t will afford me to obey. Will y^ Lorf a^p be so kind „ to acquaint the Duke S e^et grateful and respectful acknowledgment on Ly part, X I have ti,s day got my commission from the S^^j!?, ^oe? I dme to-day at Holland-house; I refusTto ^ before lest it should be thought I was soUcTtb^uterS m that quarter, as I abhor even the ,h^ow of c WW or tummg with the tide. onangmg I am ever with grateful ackndwledgment, your Lord ship's much indebted, faithful humble fTrvant, Walies Scott, to oeoboe eildp, esq. Mr DEAB EiU8,_I have waited in vain f»^he at a distance 1^ by one quarter thta in general divides Z'J^T7 1 "" ^^ """^ *» depa^forle „"^' ^^'/ ^™^'"^' *° '»°*<"* "'y»«" "ith the hope that BUdnd wiU mfmn, a double influence into his tepU 210 SIR WALTER SCOTT xt. 34 ■pringa, and that you will feel emboldened, by the quan- tity of reinforcement which the radical heat shall have received, to undertake your expedition to the tramontane region of Beged this season. My time has been spent very gayly here, and I should have liked very well to have remained till you came up to town, had it not been for the wife and bairns at home, whom I confess I am now anxious to see. Accordingly I set off early to-mor- row morning — indeed I expected to have done so to-day, but mv companion, Ballantyne, our Scottish Bodoni, was afBicted with a violent diarrhcea, which, though his phy- sician assured him it would serve his health in general, would certainly have contributed little to Ms accomplish- ments as an agreeable companion in a post-chaise, which are otherwise very respectable. I own Lord Melville's misfortunes affect me deeply. He, at least his nephew, was my early patron, and gave me countenance and as- sistance when I had but few friends. I have seen when the streets of Edinburgh were thought by the inhabitante almost too vulgar for Lord Melville to walk upon; and now I fear that, with his power and influence gone, his presence would be accounted by many, from whom he has deserved other thoughts, an embarrassment, if not something worse. All this is very vile — it is one of the occasions when Providence, as it were, industriously turns the tapestry, to let us see the ragged ends of the worsted which compose its most beautiful figures. God grant your prophecies may be true, which I fe—^ are rather dictated by your kind heart than your experience of political enmities and the fate of fallen statesmen. Kindest compliments to Mrs. Ellis. Your next will find me in Edinburgh. Walteb Scott. TO OEOKOS ELLIS, ES<). AsHximii, April 7, 1800. Mt dbab Elus, — Were I to begin by telling you all the regret I had at not finding you in London, and at i8o6 ASHESTIEL if not so much as you «3ed SJZ °' •'^"''^' northward direction ^7'^!^' "7.*"^ exeniae in a day,, and I have 1^ ■„■» A»™ '*«'' here these two of pea^ntJ J h^'chMreTn ^ „*"" '"'*"8'" '"« on L X^ Th« ^^ ?^"''°" °* "y "«'' offi™ SSi a^^-'e^fr fs ^» '-^«i™ " t's f™ro:?a tTCnTrhrXh ■^.f^-''^- »Dr. Forteona. 414 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 34 poems and decide for me. Have you nen my friend Tom Thomson, who is just now in London? He has, I believe, the advantage of knowing you, and I hope yon will meet, as he understands more of old books, old laws, and old history, than any man in Scotland. He has lately received an appointment under the Lord Begister of Scotland, which puts all our records under his imme- diate inspection and control, and I expect many v^uable discoveries to be the consequence of his investigation, if he escapes being smothered in the cloud of dust which his researches will certainly raise about his ears. I sent your card instantly to Jeffrey, from whom you had doubt- less a suitable answer.' I saw the venerable economist and antiquary, Macpherson, when in London, and was quite delighted with the simplicity and kindness of his manners. He is exaotiy like one of the old Scotchmen whom I remember twenty years ago, before so close a union had taken place between Edinburgh and London. The mail-coach and the Berwick smacks have done more than the Union in altering our national character, some- times for the better and sometimes for the worse. I met with your friend, Mr. Canning, in town, and claimed his acquaintanc as a friend of yours, and had my claim allowed; also Mr. Frere,— both delightful companions, far too good for politics, and for winning and losing places. 'When I say I was more pleased with their society than I thought had been possible on so short an acquaintance, I pay them a very trifling compliment and myself a very great one. I had also the honor of dining with a fair friend of yours at Blackheath, an honor which I shall very long remember. She is an en- chanting princess, who dwells in an enchanted palace, and I cannot help thinking that her prince must labor under some malignant spell when he denies himself her » Mr. ElliiluidimttmtoMr. Jel&eT,tIiropodligtodimw up in «aol« for the Edinlmglt Raitw «a tka ilmK* ijf Cmmtnx, tkeii reoently pabliihed hj Mr. DsTld UaeplunoD. i8o6 THE PRINCESS OF WALES 213 lid Me?^*! '^*?'^'"^ "* "^ "<»»^ yon take in poor one know, no Xt to S t^ V " Itf^""'' "^^ now in the wilds (alan T «.__ i. * wsweg, 1 am «nd hear little „/"^t'p^°* cLZ^' "" ''"'^ .thonsandkind «n.en.b^-to M-T'Em^aT^ eTeryonr,„.oettrnly. Wal^ ^oi™ coJd«^'"i„°l^:-" " r"*"* "I"" Sett's n.eth«J of ^™Z'reLt™r:i::r---^"" une, ^ aside from the mere wantonness of caprice 314 SIR WALTER SCOTT at. 34 man, a lady of her bedchamber, HTetal of whoM notaa and letter! oooor about thii time in the eolleotion of hit correspondence. The careleM levity of the Prinoeu's manner wa* obaerred by him, ai I hare heard him *ay, with much regret, aa Ukely to bring the purity of heart and mind, for which he gave her credit, into auipicion. For example, when, in die oourae of the evening, she conducted him by himself to admire tome flowers in a conserra >ry, and, the phice being rather dark, his lame- ness occasioned him to hesitate for a moment in follow- ing her down some steps which she had taken at a skip, she turned round, and said, with mock indignation, "Ah! false and faint-hearted troubadour t you will not trust yourself with me for fear of your neck! " I find from one of Mrs. Hayman's letters, that on being asked, at Montague House, to recite some verses of his own, he replied that he had none unpublished which he thought worthy of Her Royal Highness's atten- tion, but introduced a short account of the Et^iok Shep- herd, and repeated one of the ballads of the Mountain Bard, for which he was then endeavoring to procure subscribers. The Princess appears to have been inter- ested by the story, and she affected, at all events, to be pleased with the lines; she desired that her name might be placed on the Shepherd's list, and thus he had at least one gleam of royal patronage. It was during the same visit to London that Scott first saw Joam ™'i"3actio" both of the Judges and the Bar, during the long period ^ of the 25th January, he has hinuelf (charaoterUti- caUy enough) understated them. ^raoierist.- ■nje Court of Session sits at Edinburgh from the 12th SHf M "f "-ru"^"? ^'*™' «* Christmas, to the m of March. The Judges of the Lmer Co,^ took amount of busmess ready for despatch, but seldom for 2l6 SIR WALTER SCOTT H len than {oar or mora than lis lioaTt daily; during which qMue the Prinui|Mj Ckrln continued seated at a table below the Bench, to watch the progreM of the luiti, and record the deciaioni — the caaea, of all chuaei, being equ^y apportioned among their number. The Court of Senion, however, doea not ait on Monday, that day being referred for the criminal bnaineu of the High Court of Jnaticiary; and there ia alao another bUnk day every other week, — the Teind Wtdnuday, aa it is called, when the Judges are assembled for the hearing of tithe questions, which belong to a separate jurisdiction, of comparatively modem creation, and having its own sepa- rate establishment of officen. On the whole, then, Scott's attendance in ' Court may be taken to have amounted, on the average, to tvom four to six hours daily during rather less than six months out of the twelve. Not a little of the Clerk s business in Court is merely formal, and indeed mechanical; but there are few days in which he is not called upon for the exertion of his higher faculties, in reducing the decisions of the Bench, orally pronounced, to technical shape; which, in a new, comply, or difficult case, cannot be satisfactorily done without close attention to all the previous proceedinga and written documents, an accurate understanding of the principles or precedents on which it has been determined, and a thorough command of the whole vocabulary of legal forms. Dull or indolent men, promoted through the mere wantonness of political patronage, might, no doubt, contrive to devolve the harder part of the?r duty upon hum- bler assistants: but, in general, the office had been held by gentlemen of high character and attainments; and more than le among Scott's own colleagues enjoyed the reputation w^ legal science that would have done honor to the Bench. Such men, of course, prided themselves on doing well whatever it was their proper function to do; and it was by their example, not that of the drones who condescended to lean upon unseen and irresponsible infe- Iji; '8o6 CLERK OF SESSION 1,7 which he h«l to go through out of Court; h. W. toj ^d. -.nd, on the whole, it fonn. on. of the m«t remrlable features in hi. hi.tory. that, throughout the *«<»d . large proportion of hi. hour., during half at f^o^lrSr"' *" '^ *"""•"'""" "'"'"^ »' p- Henceforth, then, when in Edinburgh, hi. literary work wa. perfonned ehiefly before bre^U; wi^Z a.r..t.nce of .uch evening hour, a. he co.Ud JtrTve to ««oue fr^m the eon.ideration of Court paper,, „d f«m tho« wc,al engagement, in which, yeT^, T«r ° hi, celebritT advanm/l !■« _. i ■ ' ' m«~> 1. 1 .■°™«f' ' ire waa of neceuity more and T .. i'^i' "'™''"^' ""^ >'* *h°« «"«« day. during m«tof^H''Tu-^r" *"•' -" -it-day, whicrby mo.t of tho« holdmg the ™ne oiHcial .tation, were given to rdaxation and amu»ment. So long a, be contSued Q^«rterma.ter of the Volunteer Cavalry, of Z^^ thjtj«pert a. maetive a, hi. counfy life ever wa, thS reveiK,. He «omed for . long while to attach ^ r2ST. ^ *^" f ■"?'*** '^'*™''™ »f habit,, Z we .M find hun oonfcing in the «quel, that it p^v^ lughly mjuriou. to hi, bodUy health. «" ?«•»««« I may here obwrve, fiat the dutje. of hi, clerlahiD with the most cordial affection and confidence. One of u27. """""Sne, wa, David Hume (the nephew of the histonan), whoM lectnire, on the Law of Scotland are I 3l8 SIR WALTER SCOTT Mr.34 eliUMt«ri«d with jiut eulogy in the Atheetiet Memoir, moa .'Ho lubeequently beomma a Baron of the Elxaheqner; a num u virtuous and amiable, as conspiouons for maa- ouline vigor of intellect and variety of Imowledge.' An- other was Hector Maodonald Buchanan of Drummakila, a frank-hearted and generous gentleman, not the less aooeptable to Soott for the Highhuid prejudices which ha inherited with the high blood of Clanranald; at whose beautiful seat of Koaa Priory, on the shores of Looh Lo> mond, he was henceforth almost annually a visitor — a circumstance which has left many traces in the Waverley Novels, A third (though I believe of later appointment) with whom his intimacy was nut less strict, was the late excellent Sir Robert Dundas of Beeohwood, Bart. ; and a fourth was the friend of his boyhood, one at the dearest he ever had, Colin Mackeniie of Portmore. With these gentlemen's families, he and his lived in such constant familiarity of Icindnesa, that tha children all called their fathers' colleagues UTida, and the mothers of their little friends aunts; and, in truth, the establishment was a brotherhood. Scott's nomination as Clerk of Session appeared in the same Gazette (March 8, 1806) which announced the in- stalment of the Hon. Henry Erskine and John Clerk of Eldin as Lord Advocate and Solicitor-Gieneral for Scot- land. The promotion, at such a moment, of a distin- guished Tory might well excite the wonder of the Parlia- ment House, and even when the circumstances were explained, the inferior local adherents of the triumphant cause were far from considering the conduct of their superiors in this matter with feelings of satisfaction. The indication of such humors was deeply resented by > lb. Buon Hiiiu dM si Edinbiiqili, 2701 Jul;, 1838, In hk 83i jw. I had gn»t gratifioKtion in n«eiTinff s iiiumg^ fnun tb« Tencmbh man ■iMntlj before hia death, eaaTejinghia warn approliatioD of tluae Hemoin afbiafiiud. — (ISSd.) i8o6 LORD MELVILLE 219 h« h.Bghty .pmti Md h. in hi. turn .bow.d hi. irriu- - \"T" "•" "»^»1»'«> *° •«««'>a to hilhJr |J-«^« th. .pken with which hi. iulv«.oe.„e„t h.d C J*P^«1 by per«„. wboUy unworthy of hi. .ttentbn to dhort. ,t w« ahno.t imm«lUt«ly irfur . Whig Mini.. tZ t™l **""*? ''," •PI»i°'™''t to «> office which hod tion th.t, rebel mgiig.in.t the implied .u.,,ioion of hi. hjmng «cepted «n.ething lilce . 'per«n.l 'obli^ . ^ httd. of advert politiciu... he for the flr.t tin., put hunjelf forward u , decided Tory p.rti«n ^ The impeachment of Urd Melville wa. among the flnt mea.u™. of the new Government; and peL««l »al wth which Scott watched the i«ue of ihi., in hi. .y», vmd.ct.ve proceeding; but. though the ox-m n .ter" «^ l^""^ w»; » to all the cWge. involving hi per»nal honor, complete, it mu.t now be allowed that the mvcfgaton brought out many circumstance, by n„ LTilf '""L'"'''" f"""""; "-l the rejoicing"? fubikitS^T .""'*• ^"'^''"'' *° ^^ b^en «omfully burgh; «,d Scott took hi. ri»re in d big : 1?*^"'^ T "^' " " WUtb^rf h.d b;.«d it, And the pig-non duty • ehame to > pig. In Tain ia their vaanting, ^ Too anrely there 'e wanting What judgment, oipjrienoe, and ateadinia giw • Come, i»! . «. Drink about merrily, — Hoallb to aag. JUiTnil, and long nay be lire 1 OnrKing^-on, P,i,TOe,_I4„ ^ Ma, ftorUene. ,atdi them with mere, and might I WM. th« -e <«, S«rtt»h hand that oan wag a daymor,, dr, IHey 1^ ne'er want a friend to etand up for their right Be damn'd he that dare not, — '"f my part, 1 11 epare not To bauty aflieted a tribnte to give : nil it op steadily. Drink it off readily — H.»',totb.Prinoeee,aiidIo.gmayeli,U„| , And dne. wo mnat not eat Anld Reikie in glory, A^dmd» be, brown ™ag. „ light a. her heart i 1 Tin eaoh man iUnmine his own nppor atory Kor Uw-beok nor Uwyer shaU fotea na to part. In Gbbtvillb and Spkncbb, _^ And aome few good men, sir, Higk talents we honor, slight differenoe forgiTo ; Bnt the Brewer we 11 hoax, TaUy-hotothaFoa, And drink M«i,to,l« f oreyer, aa long aa we lira I m^ ^ttftlL"' ^'^J\ bjd -,j««^ an applie«ioo fa, flln- ™«- of lb. tow., on th. aai,.! rf th. ..w. of Uri Mahflb'. 223 SIR WALTER SCOTT ^.34 This song gave great ofiFence to the many sincere per- sonal friends whom Soott numbered among the upper ranks of the Whigs; and, in particular, it created a marked coldness towards him on the part of the accom- plished and amiable Countess of Rosslyn (a very intimate friend of his favorite patroness, Lady Dalkeith), which, as his letters show, wounded his feelings severely, — the more so, I have no doubt, because a litUe reflection must have made him repent not a few of its allusions.' He was consoled, however, by abundant testimonies of Tory approbation; and, among others, by the following note from Mr. Canning: — TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDDrBUBOH. LOHDOV, J11I7 14, 1806. Deas Sir, '-~ I should not think it necessary to trouble yon with » direct acknowledgment of the very acceptable present ^ Mr. W< Saraigv Landor, a ram of great leaniiiig and ^reat abUiti«, haa in a noent ooUaotiTo editioii of hia writiiiffi nproduced many nncharitabla jadgmenta on diatin^niahed oontaniporariea, -which the reflection of ad- ▼anoed Ufa might hare been expected to cancel. Sir Walter Scott baa hia full abare in theae, but he vnffen in good company. I moat, howevar, no- tioe the diatinet aaaertion (vol. i. p. 330) that Soott " cunpoaed and aang a trinmphal aong on the death of a minister whom, in hia lifetime, he bad flattered, and vho waa juat in hia coffin when the minBtrel sang Thtfox ia rvn to earth. Conateble of Edinhnig^ beard him, and related the fact to Corran, who expreaaed hia incrednlity with great Tabemence, and hia ab- hnrenoa was greater than hia inerediUity." The only poaaible fonndatioB on whioh thia atory can hare been bnilt ia the ooeorrenee In on* stama of the aoBg nuntionad in my text of the words, Talli/-ho to the Fox, The aong waa written and aong in Jnne, 1806. Mr. Fox waa then miniiter, and died la September, 1606. The linaa which Mr. Landor apeaka of aa " flattering Fox dving Ua lifetime " we rery oelebrated tinea : thay appeared in the epiatle prefixed to the firat eanto of MarmioH, which waa pnbliabed in Fsb- roary, 1806, and their snbjeot ia the juxtaposition of the tombs of Pitt and Fox in Westmisater Abbey. Eyerybody who knew Scott knows that he neTer sang a aong in hia life ; and if that had not been notorioos, who bat Hr. Landor could haTe heard without " incredulity " that hi. ^i;7<^ a triamphal sftng on the death of Fox in the presence of the publisher of JforsitDii and proprietor of the Edinburgh Review f 1 may add, though it is needless, that Conatable^s son-in-law and partner, Mr. Cadell, ** nerer beard of anoh a aoag m Uiat deseribed by Mr. Laador.**— (1848.) i8o6 POLITICS 4JJ ^.y™J™" ■» Pwl " to Mnd me throogh Mr WiDi™ the expreerionof their di«.pprobationnl^eS™"lH approve and are thankfnl tZ ioose, tneretore, who thw have murff .TTT ^°" '""'°'" " » "»»« "Wch George Cas ndjo. v.^'-.J°7 ^*!"°^ 'PP*" *» ''»^e been kept in a in tl T; .,"*/''^°' f" tfae fi"t time, mingled k^nlv -l^t^ ml'"™'^ politic, -canvaJd el^.^^ Banmgued meetings; and, in a word, made himself oonspic-ous as a leading instrument of hiT^t^ specially as an indefa4ableT:;mLa^,'^?h;r:: taBbehef that the new rulers of the country were di7 ^.«^'^' "r "'■■?• ""»*-'J->'le7n,Sot. and He regarded with special jealousy certain schemes «f •nnovataon with respect to the couri^ of W ^FthfJ ^I^.T^'" *" ^*'^''- ^* » ••"l"'** of the F^X of AdTooates on some of these DrowwiH™. i. J" "^ .p«ch much longer th«. any^ hKf S« d^:^:ed" IV^^}^'^^ ""^"^ ''» J-e*"! it have «s™S 314 SIR WALTER SCOTT iBT. 34 him on the rhetorioal powers he had been displaying, and would willingly have treated the subjeet-matter of the discussion playfnlly. But his feelings had heen moved to an extent far beyond their apprehension: he azokiimed, "No, no — 'tis no laughing matter; little by little, whatever your wishes may be, you will destroy and undermine, until nothing of what makes Scotland Scotland shall remain." And so saying, he turned round to conceal his agitation — but not until Mr. Jeffrey saw tears gushing down his cheek — resting his head until he recovered himself on the wall of the Mound. Seldom, if ever, in his more advanced age, did any feelings obtain ■uch mastery. BUD OF VOLnMB TWO