“Nothing will give us more pleasure than to have the
honour of showing every attention in our power to Mr and Mrs Morritt, and
I am particularly happy in a circumstance that at once promises me a great deal
of pleasure in the acquaintance of your Ladyship’s friends, and affords
me the satisfaction of hearing from you again. Pray don’t triumph over me
too much in the case of Lydia. I stood a
very respectable siege; but she caressed my wife, coaxed my children, and made,
by dint of cake and pudding, some impression even upon the affections of my
favourite dog:—so, when all the outworks were carried, the mere fortress had no
choice but to surrender on honourable terms. To the best of my thinking,
notwithstanding the cerulean hue of her stockings, and a most plentiful stock
of eccentric affectation, she is really at bottom a good-natured woman, with
much liveliness and some talent. She is now set out to the Highlands, where she
is likely to encounter many adventures. Mrs
Scott and I went as far as Loch Catrine with her, from which
jaunt I have just returned. We had most heavenly weather, which was peculiarly
favourable to my fair companions’ zeal for sketching every object that
fell in their way, from a castle to a pigeon-house. Did your Ladyship ever
LETTER TO LADY LOUISA STUART. | 181 |
“It is not with my inclination that I fag for the
booksellers; but what can I do? My poverty, and not my will consents. The
income of my office is only reversionary, and my private fortune much limited.
My poetical success fairly destroyed my prospects of professional success, and
obliged me to retire from the bar; for though I had a competent share of
information and industry, who would trust their cause to the author of the
Lay of the Last Minstrel? How,
although I do allow that an author should take care of his literary character,
yet I think the least thing that his literary character can do in return is to
take some care of the author, who is unfortunately, like Jeremy in Love for Love,
furnished with a set of tastes and appetites which would do honour to the
income of a Duke if he had it. Besides, I go to work with Swift con
amore; for, like Dryden, he is an early favourite of mine. The Marmion is nearly out, and I have
made
182 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |