Sir Walter Scott by John Gibson Lockhart
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THE LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT BY JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART VOLUME VII EDINBURGH PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE FOR T. C. AND E. C. JACK CAUSEWAYSIDE 1902 : CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII CHAPTER LV. 1822 William Erskine promoted to the Bench : Joanna Baillie's Miscellany : Halidon Hill and Macduft^s Cross : Letters to Lord Montagu : Last Portrait by Raeburn : Constable's Letter on the appear- ance of the Fortunes of Nigel : Halidon Hill published ........ CHAPTER LVI. 1822 Repairs of Melrose Abbey : Letters to Lord Montagu and Miss Edgeworth : King George IV. visits Scotland : Celtic mania : Mr. Crabbe in Castle Street : Death of Lord Kinnedder : Departure of the King : Letters from Mr. Peel and Mr. Croker CHAPTER LVII. 1822-1823 Mons Meg: Jacobite Peerages: Invitation from the Galashiels Poet : Progress of Abbotsford House Letters to Joanna Baillie, Terry, Lord Montagu, etc.: Completion and Publication of Peveril of the Peak 78 V :::: CONTENTS CHAPTER LVIII. 1823 PAOE Quentin Durward in progress: Letters to Constable, of Waverley and and Dr. Dibdin : The Author the Roxburghe Club: The Bannaityne Club founded: Scott Chairman of the Edinburgh Oil Gas Company, etc.: Mechanical Devices at Abbotsford: Gasometer: Air-Bell, etc. etc.: The Bellenden Windows 117 CHAPTER LIX. 1823 Quentin Durward published: Transactions with Con- stable : Dialogues on Superstition proposed Article on Romance written: St. Ronan's Well ' ' begun : Melrose in July —Abbotsford visited by Miss Edgeworth, and by Mr. Adolphus: His Memoranda : Excursion to AUanton : Anecdotes Letters to Miss Baillie, Miss Edgeworth, Mr. Terry, etc. : Publication of St. Ronan's Well . 147 CHAPTER LX. 1824 Publication of Redgauntlet : Death of Lord Byron ' Library and Museum : The Wallace Chair ' House-Painting, etc. : Anecdotes : Letters to Con- stable, Miss Edgeworth, Terry, Miss Baillie, Lord Montagu, Mr. Southey, Charles Scott, etc. Speech at the opening of the Edinburgh Academy: Death and Epitaph of Maida: Fires in Edin- burgh 195 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER LXI. Dec. 29, 1824-Jan. 10, 1825 Tales of the Crusaders begun : A Gfaristmas at Abbots- ford, in Extracts from the MS. Journal of Captain Basil Hall, R.N 261 CHAPTER LXII. 1825 Marriage of Lieutenant Walter Scott : Letter to Lady Davy: Project of Constable's Miscellany: Terry and the Adelphi Theatre: Publication of the Tales of the Crusaders ; Preparations for the Life of Buonaparte : Letters to Mr. Terry, Mrs. Walter Scott, etc. : Description of Abbotsford in 1825 316 VU LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME VII SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS LITERARY FRIENDS AT ABBOTSFORD . Frontispiece v Painter: Thomas Faed, R.A. (1826-1900). Date: 1849. Size : 63 x 45J ins. In the possession of Captain Dennistoun of Golfhill. This, the only picture not strictly contemporary repro- duced in these volumes, was painted in 1849 by Thomas Faed, from authentic portraits, for Mr. Keith, an Edinburgh publisher, and had very great success as an engraving. The picture was acquired by Mr. Dennistoun of Golfhill, in whose family it remains, and some years later (1856) the artist painted a smaller replica in which five of the figures towards the left were left out and their places filled by portraits of Lord Byron and Washington Irving. From that version a second engraving was made for the American market. Taking the figures in order, beginning at the extreme right, the people represented in the original are James Hogg, Sir Walter Scott, Henry Mackenzie, John Wilson, Rev. George Crabbe, J. G. Lockhart, Wordsworth, Jeffrey, Sir Adam Fergusson, Tom Moore, Thomas Campbell, A. Constable, James Ballantyne, and Thomas Thomson ; while Sir W. Allan, Sir David Wilkie, and Sir Humphry Davy (with the sword) stand behind towards the left. The interior is that of the library at Abbotsford. REV. GEORGE CRABBE {see p. 49), To face page ^(f Painter : Thomas Phillips, R.A. (1770-1845). Date: 1820: signed 'T.P. 1820.' Size : 36 x 28 ins. In the possession of Mr. John Murray. Poet ; author of The Village, The Parish Register, Tales of the Hall, etc. Born 1764, died 1832. ix ' ; LIST OF PLATES THOMAS CAMPBELL (see vol. ii. p. 206), Tofacepage 80 ^ Painter: Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830). Size : S5^ x 27^ ins. In the National Portrait Gallery. Negative by Messrs. Walker and Cockerel. Poet : born in Glasgow 1777 ; author of The Pleasures of Hope, Qertrude of Wyoming, Ye Mariners of England, The Battle of the Baltic, etc. ; editor of the New Monthly and Metropolitan Magazines; thrice Lord Rector of Glasgow University ; died 1844. Painted for Mr. James Thompson of Citheroe, it was en- graved, in mezzotint, by Samuel and Henry Lucas in 1834, and, for the frontispiece to his poems, in 1835 by W. H. Watt. In 1866 the Duke of Buccleuch presented it to the National Portrait Gallery. KING GEORGE IV. ENTERING HOLYROOD {see p. 52), ..... To face page 120 y Painter: Sir David Wilkie, R.A. (1785-1841). Date : 1822-30. Size : panel ; 72 x 50 ius. Edward, In the possession of H.M. King Windsor Castle ; reproduced by His Majesty's gracious permission. Com- missioned by King George IV. to commemorate his first visit to Scotland in 1822, it was not completed until 1830, when it was shown at the Royal Academy. The event depicted took place on 16th August 1822. ' We '11 show him wit, we '11 show him lair, With gallant lads and lassies fair And what wad kind heart wish for mair, Carle, now the king 's come ! 'In front of His Majesty, the Duke of Hamilton, first peer of Scotland, in the plaid of the Earls of Arran, is presenting the keys of the palace, of which he is hereditary keeper. On the right of the King is the Duke of Montrose, Lord Chamberlain, pointing towards the entrance of the palace, where is stationed the Duke of Argyll, in his family tartan, as hereditary keeper of the household. Behind him is the crown of Robert the Bruce, supported by Sir Alexander Keith, hereditary knight-marshal, attended by his esquires with the sceptre and sword of state. Near him is carried the mace of the Exchequer, anciently the Chancellor's mace X — LIST OF PLATES when Scotland was a separate kingdom. On the left of the picture, in the dress of the Royal Archers who served as the King's bodyguard, is the late Earl of Hopetoun ; and close to him, in the character of historian or hard, is Sir Walter Scott. These are accompanied by a varied crowd, among whom are some females and children, pressing forward with eagerness to see and to welcome their Sovereign upon this joyous and memorable occasion.' Royal Academy Catalogue, 1830. SIR WALTER SCOTT, SECOND BARONET (see p. 373), . .... To face page 160 v Painter : Sir William Allan, P.R.S.A. (1782-1850). Date : About 1822. In the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell Scott, Abbots- ford. Only a part of the picture is repi'oduced. Sir Walter's eldest son and second child, born on 28th October 1801, married Miss Jobson of Lochore in 1825, but dying in 1847 without issue the estate of Abbotsford passed to his sister's, Mrs. J. G. Lockhart's, son, whose sister, Mrs. Hope Scott, heired it in turn. The present owner, the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell Scott, is Mrs. Hope Scott's daughter. The second baronet joined the 18th Hussars in 1819, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 16th, which he commanded in India, when he died. He never saw active service. In Sir William Allan's picture, a very large equestrian full- length which hangs over the chimney-piece in the library at Abbotsford, he is represented in the uniform of his regiment. CHIEF-COMMISSIONER ADAM {see vol. vi. p. 236), "^ To face page 200 Sculptor: unknown, but probably Samuel Joseph, R.S.A. (d. 1850J. In the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell Scott, Abbots- ford. William Adam (1751-1839), a nephew of the celebrated architects, before he became Lord Chief-Commissioner of the Scottish Jury Court in 1816, had a long and honourable career as a lawyer and politician, and although on opposite sides of politics he and Sir Walter Scott were intimate friends. He was founder of the Blair-Adam Club, so called after his place in Kinross-shire. xi ;; LIST OF PLATES SIR WALTER SCOTT'S STUDY, ABBOTSFORD (seep. 372), .... To face page 240 Photograph by Messrs. T. and R. Annan and Sons. SIR HENRY RAEBURN, R.A. {see -p. 12), To face page 280 Draughtsman : Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A. (1781-1841). Date: 1818. Size : 10| x 6| ins. ; pencil. In the Scottish National Portrait Gallery ; presented by Mr. Fairfax Murray. Inscribed in lower right corner, ' Por- trait of H. Raeburn, R.A., drawn by F. Chantrey, R.A., in Princes Street, Edinburgh, 1818.' Although Raeburn (1766-1823), the greatest Scottish por- trait-painter, was to a great extent self-taught, his work is no less conspicuous for the brilliance and certainty of its technique than for the wonderful grip of character it reveals and, as art, his portraitures are now esteemed in the very first rank. Scott sat to him for two distinct portraits, of each of which several versions exist, but did not care greatly for his art. Raeburn became R.A. in 1816, and in 1822 he was knighted. JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO.'S PRINTING OFFICES, .... Tofacepage 320 From a drawing, by an unknown artist, made upon the spot before the buildings were demolished. Size : 6J x 3J ins. ; sepia. In the possession of the Hon. the Board of Manufactures Watson Bequest. The offices, known as ' Paul's Work,' were situated near the top of the Canongate, Edinburgh. COLIN MACKENZIE OF PORTMORE {see vol iii.