William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. XI. 1824-1832
Sir Walter Scott to William Godwin, 22 November 1824
“Edinburgh, Nov. 22, 1824.
“Dear Sir,—I did not
answer your letter of the 20th August, being prevented by something at the
moment, and intending to do so whenever I should come to Edinburgh, for in the
country I had little opportunity of procuring the information you wanted. I
came here only on the 15th of this month, and since that time we have been
visited by a succession of the most tremendous fires with which this city has
ever been afflicted. A very large portion of the Old Town of Edinburgh, the
dwelling of our ancestors, is at present a heap of ruins. Everybody was obliged
to turn out; the young to work, the old to give countenance and advice, and to
secure temporary refuge and support to upwards of 200 families turned naked in
many instances into the street: and I had my share of labour and anxiety. We
are now, I thank God, in quiet again. Our princely library (that of the
Advocates’), worth commercially at least half a million, but in reality
invaluable as containing such a mass of matter to be found nowhere else,
escaped with the utmost difficulty, and in consequence only of the most
strenuous exertions. This will, I am sure, be an apology for my not writing
sooner what I now have to say.
“Your letters are a little vague in respect to the
precise nature of the information you require. In Thurlow’s state papers you will find an accurate list of
the Council of State by which Cromwell
governed Scotland. But his well-disciplined army under Monk was the real force of his government, and they were
exer-![]()
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cised, as they would have
termed it, by more than one insurrection, particularly that made first by
Glencairn and afterwards by General Middleton, and by the constant though
useless harassing manoeuvres of the cavaliers and discontented Scottish,
forming a kind of guerillas termed mosstroopers, who seem to have existed in
all the wilder districts, and to have carried on a war rather of a harassing
than an effectual character. A person named Nichol kept a
large and copious diary of the events of the period, which I caused to be
transcribed some years since. The transcriber, I am sorry to say, was rather
careless, in fact, a person to whom I had given the book more out of
consideration to his wants than to his competence. If this transcript could be
useful to you, I will with pleasure give you the use of it, begging only you
will take care of it. It is voluminous and contains much trash (as diaries
usually do,) but there are some curious articles of information which occur
nowhere else. Some of the Diurnals of the Day also contain curious minutiæ, but
these you have in the Museum more complete than we. I picked up some weeks ago
a contemporary account of the battles of Kilsyth and Philiphaugh. I am
particularly interested in the last, as the scene lies near my abode and my own
ancestor was engaged in it—at that time a keen covenanter. I am thinking of
publishing, or rather printing, a few copies of these tracts, and, if you wish
it, I will send you one. Brodie’s
Diary has also some interest, though stuffed with fanatical trumpery. The Lord,
as he expresses himself, at length intimated to this staunch Presbyterian that
he should, in conformity to the views of Providence for our Scottish Israel,
embrace the cause of the Independent Cromwell, and he
became one of our judges. His diary is very rare, but I have a copy, and could
cause any extracts to be made which you want. I am not aware that our records
could add much to the mass of information contained in
Thurloe’s collection, where there are many
letters on the state of the country. The haughty and stubborn character of the
Scottish people looked back on the period of
Cromwell’s domination with anger and
humiliation, and they seem to have observed a sullen silence about its
particular events. There is no period respecting which ![]()
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we have less precise information. If, however, you will shape your enquiries
more specifically respecting any points which interest you, I will be happy to
make such researches as may enable me to answer them, or to say that I cannot
do so. I made a scandalous blunder in my prosody sure enough, in doing honour
to a deceased friend. I should have remembered I had been, ‘Long enamoured of a barbarous age, A faithless truant to the classic page.’ |
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Anything, however, is pardonable but want of candour, and my comfort is
that of Miss Priscilla Tomboy, ‘I am
too old to be whipped’—I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant,
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)
English general and statesman; fought with the parliamentary forces at the battles of
Edgehill (1642) and Marston Moor (1644); led expedition to Ireland (1649) and was named
Lord Protector (1653).
George Monck, first duke of Albemarle (1608-1670)
Soldier and politician who, as lieutenant-general under Cromwell, subdued Scotland in
1651 and afterwards played a prominent part in the Stuart restoration.
