Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to J. B. S. Morritt of Rokeby, 14 January 1818
“Our fat friend
has remembered a petition which I put up to him, and has granted a Commission
to the Officers of State and others (my unworthy self included)—which trusty
and well-beloved persons are to in-![]()
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stitute a search after the Regalia of Scotland. There has an odd mystery hung
about the fate of these royal symbols of national independence. The spirit of
the Scotch at the Union clang fondly to these emblems; and to sooth their
jealousy, it was specially provided by an article of the Union, that the
Regalia should never be removed, under any pretext, from the kingdom of
Scotland. Accordingly, they were deposited, with much ceremony, as an authentic
instrument bears, in a strong chest, secured by many locks, and the chest
itself placed in a strong room, which again was carefully bolted up and
secured, leaving to national pride the satisfaction of pointing to the barred
window, with the consciousness that there lay the Regalia of Scotland. But this
gratification was strangely qualified by a surmise, which somehow became
generally averred, stating, that the Regalia had been sent to London; and you
may remember that we saw at the Jewel Office a crown, said to
be the ancient Crown of Scotland. If this transfer (by the way highly
illegal) was ever made, it must have been under some secret warrant; for no
authority can be traced for such a proceeding in the records of the Secretary
of State’s Office. Fifteen or twenty years ago, the Crown-room, as it is
called, was opened by certain Commissioners, under authority of a sign-manual.
They saw the fatal chest, strewed with the dust of an hundred years, about six
inches thick: a coating of like thickness lay on the floor; and I have heard
the late President Blair say, that the
uniform and level appearance of the dust warranted them to believe that the
chest, if opened at all after 1707, must have been violated within a short time
of that date, since, had it been opened at a later period, the dust accumulated
on the lid, and displaced at opening it, must have been lying around the chest.
But the Commissioners did ![]()
| 114 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. | |
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not think their warrant
entitled them to force this chest, for which no keys could be found; especially
as their warrant only entitled them to search for records—not for crowns and sceptres.
“The mystery, therefore, remained unpenetrated; and
public curiosity was left to console itself with the nursery rhime—
‘On Tintock tap there is a mist, And in the mist there is a kist.’ |
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Our fat friend’s curiosity,
however, goes to the point at once, authorizing and enjoining an express search
for the Regalia. Our friend of Buccleuch is
at the head of the commission, and will, I think, be as keen as I or any one to
see the issue.
“I trust you have read Rob by this time. I think he smells of the
cramp. Above all, I had too much flax on my distaff; and as it did not consist
with my patience or my plan to make a fourth volume, I was obliged at last to
draw a rough, coarse, and hasty thread. But the book is well liked here, and
has reeled off in great style. I have two stories on the anvil, far superior to
Rob Roy in point of interest. Ever yours,
Robert Blair, Lord Avontoun (1741-1811)
Scottish advocate and Lord President of the Court of Session (1808); he was the son of
the author of
The Grave and a friend of Walter Scott.
