Some short time ago there appeared in _The Times_ certain letters relative
to a song of Sir Walter Scott in disparagement of Fox, said to have been
sung at the dinner given in Edinburgh on the acquittal of Viscount
Melville. In one letter, signed "W. Napier," it is asserted, on the
authority of a lady, that Scott _sang_ the song, which gave great offence
to the Whig party at the time.
Now, I must take the liberty of declaring this assertion to be incorrect. I
had the honour of knowing pretty intimately Sir Walter from the year 1817
down to the period of his departure for the Continent. I have been present
at many convivial meetings with him, and conversed with him times without
number, and he has repeatedly declared that, although fond of music, he
could not sing from his boyhood, and could not even hum a tune so as to be
intelligible to a listener. The idea, therefore, of his making such a
public exhibition of himself as to sing at a public meeting, is
preposterous.
But in the next place the cotemporary evidence on the subject is
conclusive. An account of the dinner was published in the _Courant_
newspaper, and it is there stated "that _one_ song was sung, the poetry of
which was said to come from the muse of 'the last lay,' and was sung with
admirable effect by the proprietor of the _Ballantyne Press_."
It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the singer was the late John
Ballantyne, and I have my doubts if the song referred to in the controversy
was the one sung upon the occasion. This, however, is merely a speculation
arising from the fact, that this was a song not included in Sir Walter
Scott's works, which upon the very highest authority I have been informed
was sung there, but of which Lord Ellenborough, and not Charles Fox, was
the hero. It is entitled "Justice Law," and is highly laudatory of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. It has been printed in the _Supplement to the
Court of Session Garland_, p. 10., and the concluding verse is as follows:
"Then here's to the prelate of wisdom and fame,
Tho' true Presbyterians we'll drink to his name;
Long, long, may he live to teach prejudice awe,
And since Melville's got justice, the devil take law."
Again I repeat this conjecture may be erroneous; but that Sir Walter never
sung any song at all at the meeting is, I think, beyond dispute.