| 232 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
The reader has already seen that Sir
Walter had many misgivings in contemplating his final retirement from the
situation he had occupied for six-and-twenty years in the Court of Session. Such a breach
in old habits is always a serious experiment; but in his case it was very particularly so,
because it involved his losing, during the winter months, when men most need society, the
intercourse of almost all that remained to him of dear familiar friends. He had besides a
love for the very stones of Edinburgh, and the thought that he was never again to sleep
under a roof of his own in his native city cost him many a pang. But he never alludes
either in his Diary or in his letters (nor do I
| WINTER OF 1830. | 233 |
| 234 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
Affliction, as it happened, lay heavy at this time on the kind house of Huntly-Burn also. The eldest Miss Ferguson was on her deathbed; and thus, when my wife and I were obliged to move southwards at the beginning of winter, Sir Walter was left almost entirely dependent on his daughter Anne, William Laidlaw, and the worthy domestics whom I have been naming. Mr Laidlaw attended him occasionally as amanuensis when his fingers were chilblained, and often dined as well as breakfasted with him: and Miss Scott well knew that in all circumstances she might lean to Laidlaw with the confidence of a niece or a daughter.
A more difficult and delicate task never devolved upon any man’s friend, than he had about this time to encounter. He could not watch Scott from hour to hour above all, he could not write to his dictation, without gradually, slowly, most reluctantly taking home to his bosom the conviction that the mighty mind, which he had worshipped through more than thirty years of intimacy, had lost something, and was daily losing some-
* On Sir Walter’s death Nicolson passed into the service of Mr Morritt at Rokeby, where he is now butler. Mrs Street remained in my house till 1836, when she married Mr Griffiths, a respectable brewer at Walworth. |
| WINTER OF 1830. | 235 |
“Along the chords the fingers stray’d, And an uncertain warbling made.” |
During the early part of this winter the situation of Cadell and Ballantyne was hardly less painful, and still more embarrassing. What
doubly and trebly perplexed them was that, while the MS. sent for press seemed worse every
budget, Sir Walter’s private letters to them, more
especially on points of business, continued as clear in thought, and almost so in
expression, as formerly; full of the old shrewdness, and firmness, and manly kindness, and
even of the old good-humoured pleasantry. About them, except the staggering penmanship, and
here and there one word put down obviously for another, there was scarcely any thing to
indicate decayed vigour. It is not surprising that poor Ballantyne, in
particular, should have shrunk from the notion that any thing was amiss,—except the choice
of an unfortunate subject, and the indulgence of more than common carelessness and rapidity
in composition. He seems to
| 236 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
In himself and his own affairs there was enough to alarm and perplex him
and all who watched him; but the aspect of the political horizon also pressed more heavily
upon his spirit than it had ever done before. All the evils which he had apprehended from
the rupture among the Tory leaders in the beginning of 1827 were now, in his opinion, about
to be consummated. The high Protestant party, blinded by their resentment of the abolition
of the Test Act and the Roman Catholic disabilities, seemed willing to run any risk for the
pur-
| WINTER OF 1830. | 237 |
| 238 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
Towards the end of November Sir Walter had another slight touch of apoplexy. He recovered himself without assistance; but again consulted his physicians in Edinburgh, and by their advice adopted a still greater severity of regimen.
The reader will now understand what his frame and condition of health and spirits were, at the time when he received from Ballantyne a decided protest against the novel on which he was struggling to fix the shattered energies of his memory and fancy.
“If I were like other authors, as I flatter myself I
am not, I should send you ‘an order on my treasurer for a hundred
ducats, wishing you all prosperity and a little
| WINTER OF 1830. | 239 |
“Although we are come near to a point to which every man knows he must come, yet I acknowledge I thought I might have put it off for two or three years; for it is hard to lose one’s power of working when you have perfect leisure for it. I do not view James Ballantyne’s criticism, although his kindness may not make him sensible of it, so much as an objection to the particular topic, which is merely fastidious, as to my having failed to please him, an anxious and favourable judge, and certainly a very good one. It would be losing words to say that the names are really no objection, or that they might be in some degree smoothed off by adopting more modern Grecian. This is odd. I have seen when a play or novel would have been damned by introduction of Macgregors or Macgrouthers, or others, which you used to read as a preface to Fairntosh whisky, on every spirit shop—yet these have been wrought into heroes. James is, with many other kindly critics, perhaps in the predicament of an honest drunkard when crop-sick the next morning, who does not ascribe the malady to the
* Archbishop of Grenada in Gil Blas. |
| 240 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“Now, such being my belief, I have lost, it is plain, the power of interesting the country, and ought, in justice to all parties, to retire, while I have some credit. But this is an important step, and I will not be obstinate about it, if necessary. I would not act hastily, and still think it right to set up at least half a volume. The subject is essentially an excellent one. If it brings to my friend J. B. certain prejudices not unconnected, perhaps, with his old preceptor Mr Whale, we may find ways of obviating this; but frankly, I cannot think of flinging aside the half finished volume, as if it were a corked bottle of wine. If there is a decisive resolution for laying aside Count Robert (which I almost wish I had named Anna Comnena), I shall not easily prevail on myself to begin another.
“I may perhaps take a trip to the Continent for a year or two, if I find Othello’s occupation gone, or rather Othello’s reputation. James seems to have taken his bed upon it—yet has seen Pharsalia. I hope your cold is getting better. I am tempted to say as Hotspur says of his father—
‘Zounds! how hath he the leisure to be sick?’* |
|
* 1 King Henry IV. Act IV. Sc. 1 . |
| WINTER OF 1830. | 241 |
“I send you sheet B of the unlucky Count—it will do little harm to correct it, whether we ultimately use it or no; for the rest we must do as we dow, as my mother used to say. I could reduce many expenses in a foreign country, especially equipage and living, which in this country I could not do so well. But it is matter of serious consideration, and we have time before us to think. I write to you rather than Ballantyne, because he is not well, and I look on you as hardened against wind and weather, whereas
‘Man but a rush against Othello’s breast, And he retires.’* |
“I send a volume of the interleaved Magnum. I know not whether you will carry on that scheme or not at present. I am yours sincerely,
“P.S.—I expect Marshal Bourmont and a French Minister, Baron d’Haussez, here to-day, to my no small discomfort, as you may believe; for I would rather be alone.”
“I am much obliged for your kind letter, and have taken a more full review of the whole affair than I was
* Othello, Act V. Sc. 2. |
| 242 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
| WINTER OF 1830. | 243 |
——‘The first bringer of unwelcome news, Hath but a losing office’—* |
“I certainly am quite decided to fulfil all my engagements, and, so far as I can, discharge the part of an honest man, and if any thing can be done mean-time for the Magnum, I shall be glad to do it.
“I trust James and you will get afloat next Saturday. You will think me like Murray in the farce ‘I eat well, drink well, and sleep well, but that’s all, Tom, that’s all.’† We will wear the thing through one way
* 2 King Henry IV. Act I. Sc. 1. † Sir Mark Chace in the farce of “A Roland for an Oliver.” |
| 244 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
This letter, Mr Cadell says,
“struck both James B. and myself with
dismay.” They resolved to go out to Abbotsford, but not for a few days,
because a general meeting of the creditors was at hand, and there was reason to hope that
its results would enable them to appear as the bearers of sundry pieces of good news.
Mean-time, Sir Walter himself rallied considerably, and
resolved, by way of testing his powers, while the novel hung suspended, to write a fourth
epistle of Malachi Malagrowther on the
public affairs of the period. The announcement of a political dissertation, at such a
moment of universal excitement, and from a hand already trembling under the misgivings of a
fatal malady, might well have filled Cadell and
Ballantyne with new “dismay,” even had they both been
prepared to adopt, in the fullest extent, such views of the dangers of our state, and the
remedies for them, as their friend was likely to dwell upon. They agreed that whatever they
could safely do to avert this experiment must be done. Indeed they were both equally
anxious to find, if it could be found, the means of withdrawing him from all literary
labour, save only that of annotating his former novels. But they were not the only persons
who had been, and then were, exerting all their art for that same purpose. His kind and
skilful physicians, Doctors Abercromby and Ross of Edinburgh, had over and over preached the same
doctrine, and assured him, that if he persisted in working his brain, nothing could prevent
his malady from recurring, ere long, in redoubled severity. He answered—“As for
bidding me not work, Molly might as well put the
kettle on the fire, and say,
| WINTER OF 1830. | 245 |
The meeting of trustees and creditors took place on the 17th—Mr George Forbes (brother to the late Sir William) in the chair. There was then announced another dividend on the Ballantyne estate of three shillings in the pound—thus reducing the original amount of the debt to about L.54,000. It had been not unnaturally apprehended that the convulsed state of politics might have checked the sale of the Magnum Opus; but this does not seem to have been the case to any extent worth notice. The meeting was numerous, and not contented with a renewed vote of thanks to their debtor, they passed unanimously the following resolution, which was moved by Mr (now Sir James) Gibson Craig, and seconded by the late Mr Thomas Allan—both, by the way, leading Whigs:—“That Sir Walter Scott be requested to accept of his furniture, plate, linens, paintings, library, and curiosities of every description, as the best means the creditors have of expressing their very high sense of his most honourable conduct, and in grateful acknowledgment for the unparalleled and most successful exertions he has made, and continues to make for them.”
Sir Walter’s letter, in answer to the chairman’s communication, was as follows:—
| 246 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“I was greatly delighted with the contents of your letter, which not only enables me to eat with my own spoons, and study my own books, but gives me the still higher gratification of knowing that my conduct has been approved by those who were concerned.
“The best thanks which I can return is by continuing my earnest and unceasing attention—which, with a moderate degree of the good fortune which has hitherto attended my efforts, may enable me to bring these affairs to a fortunate conclusion. This will be the best way in which I can show my sense of the kind and gentlemanlike manner in which the meeting have acted.
“To yourself, my dear sir, I can only say, that good news become doubly acceptable when transmitted through a friendly channel; and considering my long and intimate acquaintance with your excellent brother and father, as well as yourself and other members of your family, your letter must be valuable in reference to the hand from which it comes, as well as to the information which it contains.
“I am sensible of your uniform kindness, and the present instance of it. Very much, my dear sir, your obliged humble servant,
On the 18th, Cadell and
Ballantyne proceeded to Abbotsford, and found
Sir Walter in a placid state—having evidently been
much soothed and gratified with the tidings from Edinburgh. His whole appearance was
greatly better than they had ventured to anticipate; and deferring literary questions till
the morning, he
| WINTER OF 1830. | 247 |
Next morning, in Sir Walter’s study, Ballantyne read aloud the political essay which had (after the old fashion) grown to an extent far beyond what the author contemplated when he began his task. To print it in the Weekly Journal, as originally proposed, would now be hardly compatible with the limits of that paper: Sir Walter had resolved on a separate publication.
I believe no one ever saw this performance but the bookseller, the
printer, and William Laidlaw; and I cannot pretend
to have gathered any clear notion of its contents, except that the panacea was the
re-imposition of the income-tax; and that after much reasoning in support of this measure,
Sir Walter attacked the principle of Parliamentary
Reform in toto. We need hardly suppose that he
advanced any objections which would seem new to the students of the de-
| 248 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
The critical arbiters, however, concurred in condemning the production.
Cadell spoke out; he assured Sir Walter, that from not being in the habit of reading the
newspapers and periodical works of the day, he had fallen behind the common rate of
information on questions of practical policy; that the views he was enforcing had been
already expounded by many Tories, and triumphantly answered by organs of the Liberal party;
but that, be the intrinsic value and merit of these political doctrines what they might, he
was quite certain that to put them forth at that season would be a measure of extreme
danger for the author’s personal interest: that it would throw a cloud over his
general popularity, array a hundred active pens against any new work of another class that
might soon follow, and perhaps even interrupt the hitherto splendid success of the
Collection on which so much depended. On all these points Ballantyne, though with hesitation and diffidence, professed himself to be
of Cadell’s opinion. There ensued a scene of a very unpleasant
sort; but by and by a kind of compromise was agreed to—the plan of a separate pamphlet,
with the well-known nom de guerre of Malachi, was dropt; and Ballantyne was
to stretch his columns so as to find room for the lucubration, adopting all possible means
to mystify the public as to its parentage. This was the understanding when the conference
broke up; but the unfortunate manuscript was soon afterwards committed to the flames.
| WINTER OF 1830. | 249 |
Mr Cadell opens a very brief account of this affair
with expressing his opinion, that “Sir Walter
never recovered it;” and he ends with an altogether needless apology for his
own part in it. He did only what was his duty by his venerated friend; and he did it, I
doubt not, as kindly in manner as in spirit. Even if the fourth Epistle of Malachi had been more like its precursors than
I can well suppose it to have been, nothing could have been more unfortunate for
Sir Walter than to come forward at that moment as a prominent
antagonist of Reform. Such an appearance might very possibly have had the consequences to
which the bookseller pointed in his remonstrance; but at all events it must have involved
him in a maze of replies and rejoinders; and I think it too probable that some of the fiery
disputants of the periodical press, if not of St Stephen’s Chapel, might have been
ingenious enough to connect any real or fancied flaws in his argument with those
circumstances in his personal condition which had for some time been darkening his own
reflections with dim auguries of the fate of Swift
and Marlborough. His reception of Ballantyne’s affectionate candour may suggest what
the effect of really hostile criticism would have been. The end was, that seeing how much
he stood in need of some comfort, the printer and bookseller concurred in urging him not to
despair of Count Robert. They assured him
that he had attached too much importance to what had formerly been said about the defects
of its opening chapters; and he agreed to resume the novel, which neither of them ever
expected he would live to finish. “If we did wrong,” says
| 250 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
On the 20th, after a long interval, Sir Walter once more took up his Journal: but the entries are few and short:—e. g.
“December 20, 1830.—Vacation and session are now the same to me. The long remove must then be looked to for the final signal to break up, and that is a serious thought.
“A circumstance of great consequence to my habits and comforts was my being released from the Court of Session. My salary, which was L.1300, was reduced to L.800. My friends, before leaving office, were desirous to patch up the deficiency with a pension. I did not see well how they could do this without being charged with obloquy, which they shall not be on my account. Besides, though L.500 a-year is a round sum, yet I would rather be independent than I would have it.
“I had also a kind communication about interfering to have me
named a P. Counsellor. But besides that, when one is old and poor, one should avoid
taking rank, I would be much happier if I thought any act of kindness was done to help
forward Charles; and having said so much, I made
my bow, and declared my purpose of remaining satisfied with my knighthood. All this is
rather pleasing. Yet much of it looks like winding up my bottom for the rest of my
life. But there is a worse symptom of settling accompts, of which I have felt some
signs. Ever since my fall in February, it is very certain that I have seemed to speak
with an impediment.
| JANUARY 1831. | 251 |
“December 24.—This morning died my old acquaintance and good friend, Miss Bell Ferguson, a woman of the most excellent conditions. The last two, or almost three years, were very sickly. A bitter cold day. Anne drove me over to Huntly-Burn. I found Colonel Ferguson, and Captain John, R. N., in deep affliction, expecting Sir Adam hourly. I wrote to Walter about the project of my Will.
“December 29.—Attended poor Miss Bell Ferguson’s funeral. I sat by the Reverend Mr Thomson. Though ten years younger than him, I found the barrier between him and me much broken down. The difference of ten years is little after sixty has passed. In a cold day I saw poor Bell laid in her cold bed. Life never parted with a less effort.
“January 1, 1831.—I cannot say the
world opens pleasantly for me this new year. There are many things for which I have
reason to be thankful; especially that Cadell’s plans seem to have succeeded and he augurs that the next
two years will well-nigh clear me. But
| 252 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
‘With mortal crisis doth portend, My days to appropinque an end.’* |
“January 5.—Very indifferent, with more awkward feelings than I can well bear up against. My voice sunk and my head strangely confused. When I begin to form my ideas for conversation expressions fail me, yet in solitude they are sufficiently arranged. I incline to hold that these ugly symptoms are the work of imagination; but, as Dr Adam Ferguson, a firm man, if ever there was one in the world, said on such an occasion, what is worse than imagination? As Anne was vexed and frightened, I allowed her to send for young Clarkson. Of course he could tell but little save what I knew before.
“January 7.—A fine frosty day, and my spirits lighter. I have a letter of great comfort from Walter, who, in a manly, handsome, and dutiful manner, expresses his desire to possess the library and moveables of every kind at Abbotsford, with such a valuation laid upon them as I shall choose to impose. This removes the only delay to making my Will.
“Jan. 8.—Spent much time in writing instructions
* Hudibras. |
| JANUARY, 1831. | 253 |
‘A hundred pounds? Ha! thou hast touch’d me nearly.’ |
The letter here alluded to contains some striking sentences.
“ * * * Unassisted by any intercourse with the
existing world, but thinking over the present state of matters with all the
attention in my power, I see but one line which can be taken by public men,
that is really open, manly, and consistent. In the medical people’s
| 254 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
| JANUARY, 1831. | 255 |
“I am old enough to remember well a similar crisis. About 1792, when I was entering life, the admiration of the godlike system of the French Revolution was so rife, that only a few old-fashioned Jacobites and the like ventured to hint a preference for the land they lived in; or pretended to doubt that the new principles must be infused into our worn-out constitution. Burke appeared, and all the gibberish about the superior legislation of the French dissolved like an enchanted castle when the destined knight blows his horn before it. The talents, the almost prophetic powers of Burke are not needed on this occasion, for men can now argue from the past. We can point to the old British ensign floating from the British citadel; while the tricolor has been to gather up from the mire and blood—the shambles of a thousand defeats—a prosperous standard to rally under. Still, however, this is a moment of dulness and universal apathy, and I fear that, unless an Orlando should blow the horn, it might fail to awaken the sleepers. But though we cannot do all, we should at least do each of us whatever we can.
“I would fain have a society formed for extending
mutual understanding. Place yourselves at the head, and call yourselves sons of
St Andrew, any thing or nothing—but let there be a mutual understanding. Unite
and combine. You will be surprised to see how soon you
| 256 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“Diary, January 11.—Wrote and sent off about three of my own pages in the morning, then walked with Swanston. I tried to write before dinner, but with drowsiness and pain in my head, made little way. A man carries no scales about him to ascertain his own value. I always remember the prayer of Virgil’s sailor in extremity.
‘Non jam prima peto Mnestheus, nee
vincere certo,
Quanquam O!—Sed superent quibus hoc, Neptune,
dedisti! Extremes pudeat rediisse: hoc vincite, cives, Et prohibete nefas!’* |
“January 17.—I had written two hours, when various
* Æneid. V, |
| JANUARY, 1831. | 257 |
“January 18.—Dictated to Laidlaw till about one o’clock, during which time it was rainy. Afterwards I walked, sliding about in the mud, and very uncomfortable. In fact, there is no mistaking the three sufficients,* and Fate is now straitening its circumvallations around me.
‘Come what come may, Time and the hour run through the roughest day.’† |
“January 19.—Mr Laidlaw came down at ten, and we wrote till one. This is an important help to me, as it saves both my eyesight and nerves, which last are cruelly affected by finding those who look out of the windows grow gradually darker and darker. Rode out, or, more properly, was carried out into the woods to see the course of a new road, which may serve to carry off the thinnings of the trees, and for rides. It is very well lined, and will serve both for beauty and convenience. Mr Laidlaw engages to come back to dinner, and finish two or three more pages. Met my agreeable and ladylike neighbour, Mrs Brewster, on my pony, and I was actually ashamed to be seen by her.
* Sir W. alludes to Mrs Piozzi’s Tale of the Three Sufficient Warnings. † Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 3. |
| 258 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
‘Sir Denis Brand, and on so poor a
steed!’* |
“I believe detestable folly of this kind is the very last that leaves us. One would have thought I ought to have little vanity at this time o’ day; but it is an abiding appurtenance of the old Adam, and I write for penance what, like a fool, I actually felt. I think the peep, real or imaginary, at the gates of death should have given me firmness not to mind little afflictions.”
On the 31st of January, Miss Scott being too unwell for a journey, Sir Walter went alone to Edinburgh, for the purpose of executing his last will. He (for the first time in his native town) took up his quarters at a hotel; but the noise of the street disturbed him during the night (another evidence how much his nervous system had been shattered), and next day he was persuaded to remove to his bookseller’s house in Athol Crescent. In the apartment allotted to him there he found several little pieces of furniture, which some kind person had purchased for him at the sale in Castle Street, and which he presented to Mrs Cadell. “Here,” says his letter to Mrs Lockhart, “I saw various things that belonged to poor No. 39. I had many sad thoughts on seeing and handling them—but they are in kind keeping, and I was glad they had not gone to strangers.”
There came on next day a storm of such severity that he had to remain under this friendly roof until the 9th of February. His host perceived that he was unfit for any company but the quietest, and had sometimes one old friend, Mr Thomson, Mr Clerk, or Mr Skene to dinner—but no more. He seemed glad to
| EDINBURGH—FEBRUARY, 1831. | 259 |
“The storm increases—’tis no sunny shower, Foster’d in the moist breast of March or April, Or such as parched summer cools his lips with. Heaven’s windows are flung wide; the inmost deeps Call in hoarse greeting one upon another; On comes the flood in all its foaming horrors, And where’s the dike shall stop it!” (The Deluge: a
Poem.) |
On the 4th February, the will was signed, and attested by Nicolson, to whom Sir Walter explained the nature of the document, adding, “I deposit it for safety in Mr Cadell’s hands, and I still hope it may be long before he has occasion to produce it.” Poor Nicolson was much agitated, but stammered out a deep amen.
Another object of this journey was to consult, on the advice of
Dr Ebenezer Clarkson, a skilful mechanist, by
name Fortune, about a contrivance for the
support of the lame limb, which had of late given him much pain, as well as inconvenience.
Mr Fortune produced a clever piece of handiwork, and Sir Walter felt at first great relief from the use of it:
insomuch that his spirits rose to quite the old pitch, and his letter to me upon the
occasion overflows with merry applications of sundry maxims and verses about Fortune. “Fortes Fortuna
adjuvat”—he says—“never more sing I
| 260 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
‘Fortune, my Foe, why dost thou frown on me? And will my Fortune never better be? Wilt thou, I say, for ever breed my pain? And wilt thou ne’er return my joys again?’* |
‘Fortune, my Friend, how well thou favourest me! A kinder Fortune man did never see! Thou propp’st my thigh, thou ridd’st my knee of pain, I’ll walk, I’ll mount—I’ll be a man again.’”—
|
This expedient was undoubtedly of considerable service; but the use of it was not, after a short interval, so easy as at first: it often needed some little repair, too, and then in its absence he felt himself more helpless than before. Even then, however, the name was sure to tempt some ludicrous twisting of words. A little after this time he dictated a reviewal (never published) of a book called Robson’s British Herald; and in mentioning it to me, he says, “I have given Laidlaw a long spell to-day at the saltires and fesses. No thanks to me, for my machine is away to be tightened in one bit, and loosened in another. I was telling Willie Laidlaw that I might adopt, with a slight difference, the motto of the noble Tullibardine:—‘Furth Fortune and file the Fetters.’”†
Of this excursion to Edinburgh, the Diary says:—“Abbotsford, February 9.—The snow became impassable, and in Edinburgh I remained immovably fixed for ten days, never getting out of doors, save once or twice to dinner, when I went and returned in a sedan-chair. Cadell made a point of my coming to his excellent house, where I had no less excellent an apartment and the
* I believe this is the only verse of the old song (often alluded to by Shakspeare and his contemporaries) that has as yet been recovered. † “Fill the fetters,” in the original. No. bad motto for the Duke of Athole’s ancestors—great predatory chiefs of the Highland frontier. |
| FEBRUARY, 1831. | 261 |
“During this unexpected stay in town I dined with the Lord Chief Commissioner, with the Skenes twice, with Lord Medwyn, and was as happy as anxiety about my daughter would permit me. The appearance of the streets was most desolate; the hackney-coaches strolling about like ghosts with four horses; the foot passengers few, except the lowest of the people. I wrote a good deal of Count Robert, yet, I cannot tell why, my pen stammers egregiously, and I write horridly incorrect. I longed to have friend Laidlaw’s assistance.
“A heavy and most effective thaw coming on, I got home about
five at night, and found the haugh covered with water; dogs, pigs, cows, to say nothing
of human beings, all that slept at the offices in danger of being drowned. They came up
to the mansion-house about midnight, with such an infernal clamour, that Anne
| 262 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
After this the Diary offers but a few unimportant entries during several weeks. He continued working at the Novel, and when discouraged about it, gave a day to his article on Heraldry: but he never omitted to spend many hours, either in writing or in dictating something; and Laidlaw, when he came down a few minutes beyond the appointed time, was sure to be rebuked. At the beginning of March, he was anew roused about political affairs; and bestowed four days on drawing up an address against the Reform Bill, which he designed to be adopted by the Freeholders of the Forest. They, however, preferred a shorter one from the pen of a plain practical country gentleman (the late Mr Elliott Lockhart of Borthwickbrae), who had often represented them in Parliament: and Sir Walter, it is probable, felt this disappointment more acutely than he has chosen to indicate in his Journal.
“February 10.—I set to work with
Mr Laidlaw, and had after that a capital
ride; my pony, little used, was somewhat frisky, but I rode on to Huntly-Burn. Began my
diet on my new regime, and like it well, especially porridge to supper. It is wonderful
how old tastes rise.—Feb. 23, 24, 25.—These three days I can
hardly be said to have varied from my ordinary. Rose at seven, dressed before
eight—wrote letters, or did any little business till a quarter past nine. Then
breakfasted. Mr Laidlaw comes from ten till one. Then take the
pony, and ride—quantum mutatus—two or three
miles, John Swanston walking by my bridle-rein
lest I fall off. Come home about three or four. Then to dinner on a single plain dish
and half a tumbler, or, by’r Lady, three fourths of a tumbler of whisky and
| FEBRUARY, 1831. | 263 |
| 264 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“March 7, 8, 9, 10.—In these four days I drew up, with much anxiety, an address in reprobation of the Bill, both with respect to Selkirkshire, and in its general purport. Mr Laidlaw, though he is on t’other side on the subject, thinks it the best thing I ever wrote; and I myself am happy to find that it cannot be said to smell of the apoplexy. But it was too declamatory, too much like a pamphlet, and went far too generally into opposition, to please the county gentlemen, who are timidly inclined to dwell on their own grievances, rather than the public wrongs. Must try to get something for Mr Laidlaw, for I am afraid I am twaddling. I do not think my head is weakened—yet a strange vacillation makes me suspect. Is it not thus that men begin to fail, becoming, as it were, infirm of purpose?—
——‘That way madness lies—let me shun that. No more of that.’—— |
“March 11.—This day we had our meeting
at Selkirk. I found Borthwickbrae (late member)
had sent the frame of an address, which was tabled by Mr
Andrew Lang. It was the reverse of mine in every respect. It was short,
and to the point. It only contained a remonstrance against the incorporation with
Selkirkshire, and left it to be inferred that they opposed the bill in other respects.
As I saw that it met the ideas of the meeting (six in number) better by far than mine,
I instantly put that in my pocket. But I endeavoured to add to their complaint of a
private wrong a general clause, stating their sense of the hazard of passing at once a
bill full of such violent innovations. But though Harden, Alva, and Torwoodlee voted for this measure, it was refused by
the rest of the meeting, to my disap-
| MARCH, 1831. | 265 |
“I will make my opinion public at every place where I shall be called upon or expected to appear; but I will not thrust myself forward again. May the Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this vow!”
He kept it in all its parts. Though urged to take up his pen against the ministerial Reform Bill, by several persons of high consequence, who, of course, little knew his real condition of health, he resolutely refused to make any such experiment again. But he was equally resolved to be absent from no meeting at which, as Sheriff or Deputy-Lieutenant, he might naturally be expected to appear in his place, and record his aversion to the Bill. The first of these meetings was one of the freeholders of Roxburgh, held at Jedburgh on the 21st of March, and there, to the distress and alarm of his daughter, he insisted on being present, and proposing one of the Tory resolutions, which he did in a speech of some length, but delivered in a tone so low, and with such hesitation in utterance, that only a few detached passages were intelligible to the bulk of the audience.
|
* Hotspur in King Henry IV., Act II., Scene 3. |
| 266 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“We are told” (said he) “on high authority, that France is the model for us, that we and all the other nations ought to put ourselves to school there, and endeavour to take out our degrees at the University of Paris.*—The French are a very ingenious people; they have often tried to borrow from us, and now we should repay the obligation by borrowing a leaf from them. But I fear there is an incompatibility between the tastes and habits of France and Britain, and that we may succeed as ill in copying them, as they have hitherto done in copying us. We in this district are proud, and with reason, that the first chain-bridge was the work of a Scotchman. It still hangs where he erected it, a pretty long time ago. The French heard of our invention, and determined to introduce it, but with great improvements and embellishments. A friend of my own saw the thing tried. It was on the Seine, at Marly. The French chain-bridge looked lighter and airier than the prototype. Every Englishman present was disposed to confess that we had been beat at our own trade. But by and by the gates were opened, and the multitude were to pass over. It began to swing rather formidably beneath the pressure of the good company; and by the time the architect, who led the procession in great pomp and glory, reached the middle, the whole gave way, and he, worthy, patriotic artist, was the first who got a ducking. They had forgot the great middle bolt, or rather, this ingenious person had conceived that to be a clumsy looking feature, which might safely be dispensed with, while he put some invisible gimcrack of his own to supply its place.”——Here Sir Walter was interrupted by violent hissing and hooting from the populace of the town, who
* See Edinburgh Review for October, 1830, p. 23. |
| MARCH, 1831. | 267 |
Of this meeting there is but a very slight notice in one of the next
extracts from his Diary; another of them refers to that remarkable circumstance in English
history, the passing of the first Reform Bill in the
| 268 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“March 20.—Little of this day, but that it was so uncommonly windy that I was almost blown off my pony, and was glad to grasp the mane to prevent its actually happening. I began the third volume of Count Robert of Paris, which has been on the anvil during all these vexatious circumstances of politics and health. But the blue heaven bends over all. It may be ended in a fortnight, if I keep my scheme. But I will take time enough. I thought I was done with politics, but it is easy getting into the mess, but difficult, and sometimes disgraceful to get out. I have a letter from Sheriff Oliver, desiring me to go to Jedburgh on Monday, and show countenance by adhering to a set of propositions. Though not well drawn, they are uncompromising enough, so I will not part company.
“March 22.—Went yesterday at nine
o’clock to the meeting; a great number present, with a mob of Reformers, who showed
their sense of propriety by hissing, hooting, and making all sorts of noises. And these
unwashed artificers are from henceforth to select our legislators. What can be expected
from them except such a thick-headed plebeian as will be ‘a hare-brained Hotspur,
guided by a whim?’ There was some speaking, but not good. I said something,
for I could not sit
| MARCH, 1831. | 269 |
“March 25.—The measure carried by a single vote. In other circumstances one would hope for the interference of the House of Lords, but it is all hab nab at a venture, as Cervantes says. The worst is, that there is a popular party, who want personal power, and are highly unfitted to enjoy it. It has fallen easily, the old constitution; no bullying Mirabeau to assail, no eloquent Maury to defend. It has been thrown away like a child’s broken toy. Well—the good sense of the people is much trusted to; we shall see what it will do for us. The curse of Cromwell on those whose conceit brought us to this pass. Sed transeat. It is vain to mourn what cannot be mended.
“March 26.—Frank Grant and his lady came here.* Frank will, I believe, if he attends to his profession, be one of the celebrated men of the age. He has long been well known to me as the companion of my sons and the partner of my daughters. In youth, that is in extreme youth, he was passionately fond of fox-hunting and other sports, but not of any species of gambling. He had also a strong passion for painting, and made a little collection. As he had sense enough to feel that a younger brother’s fortune would not last long under the expenses of a good stud and a rare collection of chefs d’œuvre, he used to avow his intention to spend his patrimony, about L.10,000, and then again to make his fortune by the law. The first he soon accomplished. But the law is not a profession so easily acquired, nor did Frank’s talents lie in that direction. His passion
* Mr Francis Grant had recently married Miss Norman, a niece of the Duke of Rutland’s. |
| 270 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
| MARCH, 1831. | 271 |
I must insert a couple of letters written about this time. That to the Secretary of the Literary Fund, one of the most useful and best managed charities in London, requires no explanation. The other was addressed to the Rev. Alexander Dyce, on receiving a copy of that gentleman’s edition of Greene’s Plays, with a handsome dedication. Sir Walter, it appears, designed to make Greene and Webster the subject of an article in the Quarterly Review. It is proper to observe that he had never met their editor, though two or three letters had formerly passed between them. The little volume which he sent in return to Mr Dyce, was “the Trial of Duncan Terig and Alexander Macdonald,” one of the Bannatyne Club books.
I am honoured with your obliging letter of the 25th
current, flattering me with the information that you had placed my name on the
list of stewards for the Literary Fund, at which I am sorry to say, it will not
be in my power to attend, as I do not come to London this season. You, sir, and
the other gentlemen who are making such efforts in behalf of literature, have a
right to know, why a person, who has been much favoured by the public, should
decline joining an institution whose object it is to relieve those who have
been less fortunate than himself, or, in plain words, to contribute to the
support of the poor of my own guild. If I could justly accuse myself of this
species of selfishness, I should think I did a very wrong thing. But the wants
of those whose distresses and merits are known to me, are of such a nature,
that what I have the means of sparing
| 272 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“I cannot express myself sufficiently upon the proposal which supposes me willing to do good, and holds out an opportunity to that effect. I am, with great respect to the trustees and other gentlemen of the Fund, Sir, your obliged humble servant,
I had the pleasure of receiving Greene’s Plays, with which, as works of great curiosity, I am highly gratified. If the editor of the Quarterly consents, as he probably will, I shall do my endeavour to be useful, though I am not sure when I can get admission. I shall be inclined to include Webster, who, I think, is one of the best of our ancient dramatists; if you will have the kindness to tell the bookseller to send it to Whittaker, under cover to me, care of Mr Cadell, Edinburgh, it will come safe, and be thankfully received. Marlowe and others I have,—and some acquaintance with the subject, though not much.
“I have not been well; threatened with a
determination of blood to the head; but by dint of bleeding and regimen, I have
recovered. I have lost, however,
| APRIL, 1831. | 273 |
“I will send you, by Whittaker, a little curious tract of murder, in which a ghost is the principal evidence. The spirit did not carry his point, however; for the apparition, though it should seem the men were guilty, threw so much ridicule on the whole story, that they were acquitted.*
“I wish you had given us more of Greene’s prose works. I am, with regard, dear sir, yours sincerely,
To resume the Diary—“March 30.—Bob Dundas† and his wife (Miss Durham that was) came to spend a day or two. I was heartily glad to see him, being my earliest and best friend’s son. John Swinton, too, came on the part of an Anti-Reform meeting in Edinburgh, who exhorted me to take up the pen, but I declined and pleaded health, which God knows I have a right to urge. I might have urged also the chance of my breaking down, but that would be a cry of wolf, which might very well prove real.—April 2.—Mr Henry Liddell, eldest son of Lord Ravensworth, arrives here. I like him and his brother Tom very much, although they are what may be called fine men. Henry is accomplished, is an artist and musician, and certainly has a fine taste for poetry, though he may never cultivate it.—April 8.—This day I took leave of poor Major John Scott,‡ who, being afflicted with a distressing asthma, has resolved
* See Scott’s Letters on Demonology, p. 371. ‡ This gentleman, a brother to the Laird of Raeburn, had made some fortune in the East Indies, and bestowed the name of Ravenswood on a villa which he built near Melrose. He died in 1831. |
| 274 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
The next entry relates to the last public appearance that the writer ever made, under circumstances at all pleasant, in his native country. He had taken great interest about a new line of mail-road between Selkirk and Edinburgh, which runs in view of Abbotsford across the Tweed; but he never saw it completed.
“April 11.—This day I went with Anne, and Miss Jane Erskine,* to see the laying of the stones of foundation for two bridges in my neighbourhood over Tweed and the Ettrick. There were a great many people assembled. The day was beautiful, the scene was romantic, and the people in good spirits and good-humour. Mr Paterson of Galashiels† made a most excellent prayer: Mr Smith‡ gave a proper repast to the workmen, and we subscribed sovereigns a piece to provide for any casualty. I laid the foundation-stone of the bridge over Tweed, and Mr C. B. Scott of Woll,‖ the foundation-stone of that of Ettrick. The general spirit of good-humour made the scene, though without parade, extremely interesting.
“April 12.—We breakfasted with the Fergusons, after which Anne and Miss Erskine walked up the Rhy-
* A daughter of Lord Kinnedder’s. † The Rev. N. Paterson, now one of the Ministers of Glasgow. ‡ Mr John Smith of Darnick, the builder of Abbotsford, and architect of these bridges. ‖ This gentleman died in Edinburgh on 4th February, 1831. |
| APRIL, 1831. | 275 |
| 276 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
The Captain Watson, R. N., alluded to in one of these, extracts, was distantly related to Sir Walter’s mother. His son, Mr John Watson Gordon, has risen to great eminence as a painter; and his portraits of Scott and Hogg rank among his best pieces. That of the Ettrick Shepherd is indeed perfect; and Sir Walter’s has only the disadvantage of having been done a little too late. These masterly pictures are both in Mr Cadell’s possession.
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