Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to Adam Ferguson, 16 April 1819
“Abbotsford, April 16, 1819.
“Having only been able last night to finish a long
letter to the Chief, I now add a few lines
for the Aide-de-Camp. I have had the pleasure to hear of you regularly from
Jack,† who is very regular in
steering this way
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| 250 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. | |
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when packets arrive; and I observe with great
satisfaction that you think our good Duke’s health is on the mending
hand. Climate must operate as an alterative, and much cannot perhaps be
expected from it at first.—Besides, the great heat must be a serious drawback.
But I hope you will try by and by to get away to Cintra, or some of those
sequestered retreats where there are shades and cascades to cool the air. I
have an idea the country there is eminently beautiful. I am afraid the Duke has
not yet been able to visit Torres Vedras, but you must
be meeting with things every where to put you in mind of former scenes. As for
the Senhoras, I have little doubt that the difference betwixt your military
hard fare and Florence’s high sauces and jellies
will make them think that time has rather improved an old friend than
otherwise. Apropos of these ticklish subjects. I am a suitor to the Duke, with
little expectation of success (for I know his engagements) for the kirk of
Middlebie to George Thomson, the very
Abraham Adams of Presbytery. If the
Duke mentions him to you (not otherwise) pray lend him a lift. With a kirk and
a manse the poor fellow might get a good farmer’s daughter, and beget
grenadiers for his Majesty’s service. But as I said before, I daresay all
St Hubert’s black pack are in full cry upon the
living, and that he has little or no chance. It is something, however, to have
tabled him, as better may come of it another day.
“All at Huntly Burn well and hearty, and most kind in
their attentions during our late turmoils. Bauby* came
over to offer her services as sick-nurse, and I have drunk scarce any thing but
delicious ginger beer of Miss Bell’s brewing, since
my troubles commenced. They
* Bauby—i.e. Barbara, was a kind old housekeeper
of the Miss Fergusons. |
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| LETTER TO CAPTAIN FERGUSON. | 251 |
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have been, to say the
least, damnable; and I think you would hardly know me. When I crawl out on
Sybil Grey, I am the very image of Death on the
pale horse, lanthorn-jawed, decayed in flesh, stooping as if I meant to eat the
poney’s ears, and unable to go above a footpace. But although I have had,
and must expect, frequent relapses, yet the attacks are more slight, and I
trust I shall mend with the good weather. Spring sets in very pleasantly and in
a settled fashion. I have planted a number of shrubs, &c. at Huntly Burn,
and am snodding up the drive of the old farm house, enclosing the Toftfield,
and making a good road from the parish road to your gate. This I tell you to
animate you to pick up a few seeds both of forest trees, shrubs, and
vegetables; we will rear them in the hot-house, and divide honourably.
Avis au lecteur. I have been
a good deal intrusted to the care of Sophia, who is an admirable sick-nurse. Mamma has been called to town by two important avocations, to
get a cook—no joking matter—and to see Charles, who was but indifferent, but has recovered. You must
have heard of the death of Joseph Hume,
David’s only son. Christ! what
a calamity—just entering life—with the fairest prospects—full of talent, and
the heir of an old and considerable family—a fine career before him. All this
he was one day, or rather one hour—or rather in the course of five minutes—so
sudden was the death—and then a heap of earth. His disease is unknown;
something about the heart, I believe; but it had no alarming appearance,
nothing worse than a cold and sore throat, when convulsions came, and death
ensued. It is a complete smash to poor David, who had just
begun to hold his head up after his wife’s death. But he bears it
stoutly, and goes about his business as usual. A woful case. London is now out
of the question with me; I have no ![]()
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prospect of being now
able to stand the journey by sea or land; but the best is, I have no pressing
business there. The Commie* takes charge
of Walter’s matters—cannot, you
know, be in better hands; and Lord Melville
talks of gazetting quam primum. I
will write a long letter very soon, but my back, fingers, and eyes ache with
these three pages. All here send love and fraternity. Yours ever most truly,
“P.S.—By the by, old
Kennedy, the tinker, swam for his life at Jedburgh, and was
only, by the sophisticated and timid evidence of a seceding doctor, who
differed from all his brethren, saved from a well-deserved gibbet. He goes
to botanize for fourteen years. Pray tell this to the Duke, for he was
‘An old soldier of the Duke’s, And the Duke’s old soldier.’ |
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Six of his brethren, I am told, were in court, and kith and kin
without end. I am sorry so many of the clan are left. The cause of quarrel
with the murdered man was an old feud between two gipsey clans, the
Kennedies and Irvings, which,
about forty years since, gave rise to a desperate quarrel and battle on
Hawick Green, in which the grandfathers of both
Kennedy, and Irving whom he
murdered, were engaged.”
William Adam (1751-1839)
Scottish barrister, Whig MP (1784-1812) and ally of Charles James Fox (whom he once
wounded in a duel); he was privy councillor (1815) and a friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Adam Ferguson (1771-1855)
Son of the philosopher and classmate and friend of Sir Walter Scott; he served in the
Peninsular Campaign under Wellington, afterwards living on his estate in
Dumfriesshire.
John Macpherson Ferguson (1783-1855)
Scottish naval officer, youngest son of the philosopher Adam Ferguson and the brother of
Sir Walter Scott's friend Sir Adam Ferguson.
David Hume (1757-1838)
The nephew of the philosopher; he was educated at University of Edinburgh and Glasgow
University and was a member of the Speculative Society, professor of Scots law in the
University of Edinburgh, and baron of the exchequer. He contributed to
The Mirror and
The Lounger.
Joseph Hume (d. 1819)
Scottish advocate, the son of David Hume of Ninewells; he was a friend of Walter Scott
and John Gibson Lockhart.
Charles Scott (1805-1841)
The younger son of Sir Walter Scott; educated at Oxford, he pursued a career in diplomacy
and died in Tehran.
Sir Walter Scott, second baronet (1801-1847)
The elder son and heir of Sir Walter Scott; he was cornet in the 18th Hussars (1816),
captain (1825), lieut.-col. (1839). In the words of Maria Edgeworth, he was
“excessively shy, very handsome, not at all literary.”
George Thomson (1792-1838)
The son of George Thomson (1758-1835), clergyman at Melrose; he was the wooden-legged
tutor and chaplain in the family of Sir Walter Scott. He was the model for Dominie Sampson
in
Guy Mannering.
