LETTERS AND RECOLLECTIONS IR WALTER SCOTT MR H GH E O F FFI S . U S ( U N GTON ) ED ITED BY HORACE G . HUTCHIN SON WITH PO R TRA IT S A N D A FA C S IM I LE‘ LO N D O N SMITH D 1 AT L P A E EL ER co . 5 W ER OO L C , , 1 904 [ A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d] P R E F A C E ATELY FORTUN alike for myself and for the reader , all necessity for an elaborate introduction to these letters and diaries is taken o ff my hands by the vivid little H Uffin ton memoir of Mrs . ughes , of g (to whom the letters , and by whom the diaries , were written) , which was contributed to the Century magazine when the letters were given to the public for the first time . F o r the reproduction of thi s memoir I am indebted to the courteous permission of its writer and of the editor ’ T of the Century . o the latter I am further indebted for leave to publish the letters in the present volume . I have also to record my thanks to Mr . David Douglas for allowing me to complete the series of letters , ir H S S . written by Walter cott to Mrs ughes , by the insertion of several which have been previously ’ published in the Familiar Letters . The diaries , which form the major part of the H volume , were written by Mrs . ughes herself on the A 1 824 1 occasion of two visits to bbotsford , in and 828 respectively, and have not before been given to the di rea ng world . A r g eat many of the anecdotes cited by Mrs . T ETC OF SIR NVALTER SCOTT LET ERS . ’ H ughes from Sir Walter Scott s table - talk will be familiar to the reader , but perhaps it will not be any the less interesting on that account to find them here as drawn at first hand from the fountain head . Atla I n To Mr . J . B . y owe especial tha ks for invaluable help in suggesting comments and references . R ED ITO . October 1904 . C O N T E N T S PREFACE I TR I BY MR. H . N ODUCT ON , W HUGHES CHAPTER I MRS . I. S S R T S T S LETTER OF WAL ER COTT O HUGHE , UP T O APRIL 1824 ’ II MRS . H UGHES S I RY THE R Y . D A OF JOU NE TO ABB O T SFORD IN 1824 ’ III. R H HES S I Y I I S M S . UG D AR WH LE ON HER F R T VISIT TO ABB OTS FORD I I Y J Y R M BB S V . D AR OF THE RETURN OURNE F O A OT FORD TO UFFINGTON W V S SIR S MRS . S . LETTER OF ALTER COTT TO HUGHE , UP TO SIR WALTER’ S VISIT TO LONDON IN OCTOBER 1826 MRS H GHES ’ S T S SIR R 'S V I. U . NO E OF WALTE CON VERSATION IN LONDON IN 1826 T RS IR S T MR S VII . S S . LE TE OF WALTER COTT O HUGHE , UP T O THE DATE OF HER SECOND VISIT TO AB BOT S FORD i LETTER SIR vi i S ETC . OF WALTER SCOTT PAG E H H ES ’ I Y MRS . UG S D AR OF THE JOURNEY TO ABB O TS FORD IN 1828 ’ I& . MR H GHES S I RY W I R S S . U D A H LE ON HE ECOND VISIT TO ABB OTS FORD & I Y J Y M N 1828 . D AR OF THE OURNE HO E I &I S AN D R I . LA T LETTERS ECOLLECT ONS LIST OF ILLUSTRATION S F r on tis iece PORTRAIT OF MRS . HUGHE S p 124 PORTRAIT O F SIR WALTER S CO TT to fac e 17 . o m he r z d Fr t por t a it by S r Ed wtn La n seer , R.A., m the N a tw na l Por tr a z t Ga l l ery. R I S PO TRA T OF DR . HUGHE t zt b ha w n From a por ra y t m O e , RA . FAC SIMILE OF A LE TTE R FROM SIR WALTER S TT TO MRS . S I B R CO HUGHE , DATED ED N U GH DECEMBER 15 [1807] LETTERS AND RECOLLECTIONS SIR WALTER S COTT IN TRODU TORY SKETCH OF MR HU HES C S. G BY HER S URVIV IN G GRAN DSON H W. HUGHE S D SIR -You I EAR , are about , as understand, to publish some le tters from Sir Walter Scott to my H grandmother ughes , and wish me to tell you some thing about her and the friendship between the N ’ Wizard of the orth , as he was called in those days E . by his nglish admirers , and herself and family H er First as to my grandmother . maiden name n he 1 0 was Mary An Watts . S was born about 77 at Uffin ton g , a little village two miles north of King Al ’ H H ‘ fred s White orse ill , in the royal county of ’ Berks , the only child of the last of a line of clergymen who had , for several generations , succeeded one another in the cure of souls at that little place . One of these parsons , whose ministry fell in the I I . u time of George , m st have been well known as a preacher in his day , for he was appointed one of the B OF SIR W 2 LETTERS ETC . A LTER SCOTT chaplains whose duty it was , from time to time , to H C R . e preach in the hapel oyal was not , however, called upon for a second sermon in that capacity ; for (the King attending the service in doubtful company) he took the seventh commandment as the subject of his ’ Thou 1 first discourse , and as his text , art the man . With such forbears , it is perhaps natural that Mary Anne Watts was markedly independent and fearless ; also that , not being able to hold the family living in her own right , she should manage to attain to T H Rev D . D . it through the . homas ughes , , whom she marr ied when she was still quite young , and he verging h ffi . S e on middle age had no di culty , it may be sup in posed , inducing the clergyman who had now become vicar of her paternal parish to exchange that living for the much more valuable one which her husband held , ’ St . C in virtue of his canonry in Paul s athedral , the reward for his earnest endeavours to bring up the I I I. C younger sons of George as hristian gentlemen . An d so a great part of every year was spent at the Uffin ton C g parsonage by the anon and his wife , she continuing the benevolent despotism begu n by her T l there in the days of her father . here also their on y son John was born , grew up , settled , and brought up part of his family ; continuing to live there till the C ff death of the anon , and quite unconsciously a ording T S to his second son , homas , the model of the quire in ’ ’ Tom Brown s School Days . S E . N My ister, Jane lizabeth , afterward Mrs assau S John enior , was the only granddaughter, and inherited not only the lovely voice of the subject of this memoir, her but a persistence which enabled , under our dear 1 ’ Thi W t s w M he T m e . Hu he s ut en Mr. l T o spok a t as aster o f t e p v . g s s M ir o B — emo s f a rother , p . ED . K MRS H UGHES 3 IN TRODUCTORY S ETCH OF . mi ’ friend Manuel Garcia , to sub t to two years severe The . training , and thereby become a finished artist grandmother brought tears to the eyes of Sir Walter Scott and her other friends by her rendering of the Old English and Scotch ballads ; the granddaughter not only did this for an equally distinguished private circle , but was so ught by Jenny Lind to sing classical music The with her in public . same inherited persistence , L brought to bear on the iberal Government of her day , led to her appointment as inspector of, and her reports t o on , workhouse schools , and her suggestions as to boarding out , which are well known , on both sides of A the tlantic and elsewhere , to those interested in the care and education of poor children . Six Uffin ton of us were born at g , in a house near the vicarage occupied by my father . We all had the utmost respect for our grandmother, in return for her numberless gifts to us and her untiring interest in our welfare , but not so much love as might have been hers had she not been S O determined to run us (in common th the rest of the parishioners) without regard to our wishes and tastes . For She r T om W instance , took from my b other hen i he was a small boy , without his consent , a gu nea given him by one of her friends , and therewith bought ’ for him a duodecimo copy of Milton s poetry , in ’ u - r ddy binding and gilt edged , and on its first page T H wrote homas ughes , from declaring that he would value the book when he grew up ’ as a m ’ ‘ ’ me orial , whereas , had he kept the money , he would only have wasted it on marbles and tops and ’ ff & C to ee Perhaps ; but , referring to this xperience , Of E he writes , in a little book arly Memories for his children : I owe to my grandmother a dislike to B 2 SIR 4 LETTERS ETC .