“I should not think it necessary to trouble you with
a direct acknowledgment of the very acceptable present which you were so good
as to send me through Mr William Rose, if
I had not happened to hear that some of those persons who could not indeed be
expected to be pleased with your composition, have thought proper to be very
loud and petulant in the expression of their disapprobation. Those, therefore,
who approve and are thankful for your exertions in a cause which they have much
at heart, owe it to themselves, as well as to you, that the expressions of
their gratitude and pleasure, should reach you in as direct a manner as
possible. I hope that, in the course of next year, you are likely to afford
your friends in this part of the world an opportu-
110 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |