[In one of the recent prize essays of the Highland Society of
Scotland, the Ettrick Shepherd writes thus of his distinguished
contemporary. The general subject of the Essay is the statistics of
Selkirkshire: after referring to Sir Walter as sheriff of Ettrick
Forest for thirty years, Mr. Hogg observes:]
To speak of Sir Walter Scott as a literary man, would be the height of
absurdity in a statistical writer. In that light he is known and duly
appreciated over the whole world, wherever letters have found their
way. But I shall say, that those who know him only by the few hundreds
of volumes that he has published, know only the one half of the man,
and that not the best half neither. As a friend, he is steady, candid,
and sincere, expressing his sentiments freely, whether favourable or
the reverse. He is no man's enemy, though he may be to his principles;
and I believe that he never in his life tried to do an individual
hurt. His impartiality as a judge is so well known, that no man,
either rich or poor, ever attempts to move him from the right onward
path. If he have a feeling of partiality in his whole disposition, it
is for the poachers and fishers, at least I know that they all think
that he has a fellow-feeling with them,--that he has a little of the
old outlaw blood in him, and, if he had been able, would have been a
desperate poacher and black-fisher. Indeed, it has been reported that
when he was young he sometimes "leistered a kipper, and made a shift
to shoot a moorfowl i' the drift." He was uncommonly well made. I
never saw a limb, loins, and shoulders so framed for immoderate
strength. And, as Tom Purdie observed, "Faith, an he hadna' been
crippled he _wud_ ha'e been an unlucky chap."
* * * * *
*** "An Old Friend of the late Mr. Terry" has requested us to insert
the following correction: "In our notices respecting Sir Walter Scott,
(see _Mirror_, No. 571, p. 254,) we stated that Mrs. Terry had in her
possession a tragedy written by Sir Walter for her son W.S. Terry, and
intended by the author as a legacy for Walter's first appearance on
the stage. We have been since assured that it never was intended by
his parents, nor was it ever in the contemplation of his godfather,
that Walter Scott Terry should appear at all upon the stage. The youth
is in fact at this time a cadet at the Military College, Addiscombe,
to which establishment he obtained an appointment through the kind
exertions of Sir Walter, who has thus placed young Terry in a
situation to distinguish himself in a line of life perfectly according
with his own talents and inclinations."
* * * * *
_Islington Stages_--The stage-coaches to Islington, sixty years ago,
were drawn by three horses, on account of the badness of the roads.
The inside fare was at that time sixpence each person. H.B. ANDREWS.
_Dr. Ken and Nell Gwynne_.--When Charles II. went down to Winchester
with the Court, the house of Dr. Ken was destined to be the residence
of Nell Gwynne. The good little man declared that she should not be
under his roof: he was as steady as a rock; and the intelligence was
carried to the king, who said, "Well, then, Nell must take lodging in
the city." All the Court and divines were shocked at Dr. Ken's strange
conduct, saying that he had ruined his fortune, and would never rise
in the church. Sometime after, the bishopric of Bath and Wells became
vacant: the ministers recommended some learned and pious divines; to
whom the king answered, "No, none of them shall have it, I assure you.
What is the name of that little man at Winchester, that would not let
Nell Gwynne lodge at his house?"--"Dr. Ken, please your
majesty."--"Well, he shall have it then; I resolved that he should
have the first bishopric that fell, if it had been Canterbury."--Bishop
Ken every morning made a vow that he would not marry on that day. Mr.
Cherry used frequently, on entering the breakfast-room, to say, "Well,
my lord, is the resolution made this morning?"--"Oh, yes, sir, long
ago," was the constant reply. M.J.T.
_Accession of Territory without Bloodshed._--The Venetians, desirous
of possessing the island of Curzola, which belonged to the little
republic of Raguza, and was situate in their neighbourhood, made use
of a singular stratagem to render themselves masters of it. They
erected in one night, on a little rock, which belonged to them, very
near Raguza, a card-board fortress, painted of a brick-colour, and
armed with wooden cannons. The next day the Ragusans, alarmed at
seeing themselves so closely invested, entered into a negotiation with
the Venetian State, to which they ceded Curzola, in exchange for this
miserable rock, on which there was scarcely room for a moderately
sized dwelling. W.N.
_Excuses for not Marrying_.--Thales, who was ranked among the seven
wise men of Greece, declined involving himself by marriage in the
cares of a family, that he might devote his whole time and attention
to the study of philosophy,--alleging to his mother, who urged him to
marry, at an early age, "_it is too soon_," and at a more advanced
period, "_it is too late_." P.T.W.
* * * * *
_Epigram on Sir P----p F----n----s being bit by a cobracappo_:--
A serpent bit F---- ----s, that virulent knight;--
What then? 'twas the serpent that died of the bite.
_Anon._
_Latiné._
Dente venenato stimulatur Zoilus Anguis,
Quid Tum? vivit adhuc Zoilus, Anguis obit.