LITERARY LIFE (_continued_).
_Illness--Resignation of office--Sale of Craighouse--Morton--Domestic
life--'Queen Anne'--Letters about ballad-lore--Singular incident
connected with it--Letters from abroad._
In the end of the year 1877 Dr Burton had the first severe illness of
his life. On the 18th day of December of that year, Mrs Cunningham,
widow of Lord Cunningham, died at Morton House, which had been the
summer home of her twenty years of widowhood, and at which illness had
detained her during the winter of 1877. The editor of the 'Scotsman'
applied to Dr Burton for an obituary notice of Mrs Cunningham--an old
friend of his, and still older of his wife. He was then too ill to be
applied to on any subject, or to be told of his old friend's death.
For several days at that time he was alarmingly ill from bronchitis,
accompanied by unusually high fever. This passed off but slowly. The
bodily health and strength appeared to be fully restored at the end of a
few weeks, but there was an undefinable change. Shortly after this
illness, though not in consequence of it, Dr Burton resigned his office
of Prison Manager. He retired on an allowance of two-thirds of his
former salary, remaining chairman of the Board of Prisons and
Statistics, of which he was an honorary member.
He had not fully regained strength when, to the unspeakable sorrow of
its inmates, they learned that Craighouse was sold to the Committee of
the Lunatic Asylum, was to be immediately adapted to the purposes of an
asylum, and that they must quit it at Whitsuntide.
They had held it first on a lease, then on a second short lease, but
afterwards had merely rented it from year to year, not imagining that
any other tenant would covet it with all its pretty heavy
responsibilities. Dr Burton had, from his natural irritability,
sometimes said he would prefer to be elsewhere; but when it came to
finding some other place which would hold his books--some place not too
far to move them to--to the abandonment of his own carpentery, &c.,--he
lamented the departure as much as others. His one proviso as to the new
abode was, that it was not to be in the town, or nearer the town than
Craighouse.
The whole spring Dr Burton's family sought in all directions for a
suitable abode, and at last pitched on that left vacant by Mrs
Cunningham's death as most nearly combining all the various requisites.
On the 20th of May 1878 the flitting from Craighouse to Morton was
completed. Morton is fully two miles farther from Edinburgh than
Craighouse, the approach to it from the town being a continuous ascent
on to a shoulder of the Pentlands. Its situation is pretty and entirely
rural, but with nothing of the unrivalled beauty of that of Craighouse,
which commanded a view extending from North Berwick Law to Ben Lomond,
yet lay well sheltered among its lovely hills and splendid trees. The
great drawback of Morton House, for Dr Burton's family, lay in the
greater distance from the town. The time spent in travelling the up-hill
road was a serious loss, to say nothing of the fatigue. Dr Burton never
would allow this to be a disadvantage, so far as he was concerned, but
the writer is persuaded it was seriously prejudicial to his health.
During the summer of this year Dr Burton was invited to Oxford to
receive the honour of a D.C.L. degree. He went, and was highly delighted
with his visit. He had some years previously received a similar
compliment from the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Burton, by way of setting a good example to his family, who continued
to lament the loss of Craighouse, attached himself excessively to
Morton. He was farther attached to it by the recollection of having been
Mrs Cunningham's guest there. It was one of the very few houses at which
he occasionally dined after he went to Craighouse. Soon after he had
gone to Craighouse, he formed a resolution against dining out _in the
town_. His neighbours in the country were so few that he had no reason
to dread too frequent invitations from them; and he occasionally dined,
as has been said, with Mrs Cunningham at Morton, and with his nearest
neighbour, equally at Craighouse as at Morton, Mr John Skelton, at the
beautiful Hermitage of Braid. Dr Burton was generally invited by the
latter to meet his distinguished friend, the historian, Mr Anthony
Froude. He may during these years have been once or twice a guest at
Colinton House, then inhabited by Lord Dunfermline, and as often at
Bonally, the house of his old friend the late Professor Hodgson. During
his residence at Morton, Dr Burton and his family dined with their
neighbours, Mr and Mrs Stevenson, at Swanston Cottage, once. On one
occasion he was persuaded to actually _drive_ with his wife as far as
Duddingston, where he dined and enjoyed a pleasant summer evening with
Professor and Mrs Laurie and their family. Once he went still farther
and dined with his old friend Mr Jenner, at Easter Duddingston. Mr
Jenner and he had been associated with Lord Murray, Angus Fletcher, and
others, in the foundation of the First Ragged School, as it was then
called, in Edinburgh, and had remained friends ever since. On the
Committee of the Ragged School splitting up on the question of religious
instruction, all the gentlemen named had espoused the principle carried
out in the United Industrial School--that of combined secular and
separate religious instruction.
With these exceptions, and that of a very few visitors at home, the life
at Morton was entirely domestic. During the whole of his three years'
stay at Morton, Dr Burton always hoped to induce the remains of his
circle of old friends to dine with him once more. They had become few
indeed--were limited to Professor Blackie and Dr John Brown. He never
succeeded in persuading these gentlemen to come. Insuperable
difficulties on one side or other always intervened. During these three
years there never was any social gathering at Morton except
entertainments which Dr Burton's family gave to the country people, and
which sometimes included a few young friends as assistants. Dr Burton
was no longer called on to visit his office daily. To attend the Board
meetings once a-week was sufficient.
As soon as he had finished his 'History of Scotland' in 1870, he
conceived the project of writing a 'History of the Reign of Queen Anne.'
It was an ambitious attempt. Lord Macaulay's too early death had
prevented his performing the task, and Mr Thackeray was understood to
have contemplated it, but to have shrunk from its vastness. Dr Burton
had been collecting material for this work in all his summer tours
during the past ten years, and in all his visits to the British Museum
while in London. He had written a great part of it before he was
interrupted by his illness in the end of '77, and the removal from
Craighouse early in '78. The most marked change in Dr Burton after that
illness was in his impaired power of mental application. His general
health was good, even strong; he still enjoyed long rambles with his
sons, and walked to town and back at his former rapid rate; but now that
he had no longer any office work, now that he might sit and read or
write all day if he would, he did not do so. Instead of, as formerly,
resenting all interruption while engaged in his library, he seemed to
seek every excuse for leaving it and his literary occupation. Though
not rising earlier than formerly, he would go to bed comparatively
early, and several times a-day would propose to his wife to go to visit
her flowers, to do a little gardening, to go and feed the fowls--in
short, to share in any little diversion going.
A visit of the writer's to her sister in Argyleshire gave occasion for
the following notes on ballad-lore, in which Major Mackay of Carskey,
Mrs Burton's brother-in-law, was also strong:--
"MORTON, _2d May 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--I recollect having come across the ballad incident
you mention upwards of fifty years ago, when I was zealous in
ballad-lore. If it had been in one of those accepted as genuine and
poetical I would have remembered the ballad, but my impression is
that it was condemned as a fabrication for this and other
neologies. The _button_ is not a conspicuous item of female attire
as of the male, and Shakespeare has been attacked for the vulgarity
of even making Lear say, 'Prithee, undo this button,' though I
think it fine.
"If the Major is curious in ballad-lore, I can give him abundant
information in it. For the musical item, the best collection I know
is Motherwell's, both for good poetic taste in selection, and the
tunes accompanying some of the contents....--Your affectionate
"J.H. BURTON."
* * * * *
"MORTON, _Wednesday Evening_, _8th May 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--Looking for the ballad you want, and not finding it
by recollection, I came by accident to the very line--
'When she cam' to her father's land
The tenants a' cam' her to see;
Never a word she could speak to them,
But the buttons aff her claes would flee.'
The ballad is known by the title of The Marchioness of Douglas, but
better known by the--
'O waly, waly, up yon bank,
And waly, waly, doon yon brae.'
It was printed first in Jamieson's collection--1806; again in
Chambers's, p. 150. The 'waly' has been by Cockney critics called
Scotch for 'wail ye.' The word may come from the same etymological
source as 'wail,' but it is a Scots adverb, indicative of the
intensity of sorrow.
"It will be hard to find any one who is my master in ballad-lore
(though other things have of late taken the preponderance). My
services in the cause are certified by Robert Chambers in his
collection, published in 1829--fifty years ago.
"I had then collected several versions from old people in
Aberdeenshire. While writing this it dawns on my recollection that
I lost the bulk of the collection, and that some years ago I got a
letter from America, written by some one publishing Scots ballads,
asking me to help him. Making a search for any remnant of the old
collection, I found one ballad only, and sent it. Then came the odd
conclusion--he had the rest of the collection, as he found by
comparison of handwriting.
"This little affair coming in upon others of so much more moment to
me--I can't tell exactly how many years ago--was forgotten utterly
until your inquiry about the 'buttons' brought it up. When I am
through with 'Queen Anne' I may look back on it and other
trifles....
"I do not think I have any news for you. Mary says the violet roots
were sent on Monday.--Your affectionate
"J.H. BURTON."
In the summer of 1879 Dr Burton went abroad for the last time, for the
purpose of tracing the course of Marlborough's campaigns. From his daily
letters home a few passages may be selected:--
"MONS, _18th June 1879_.
"MY DEAR WILL,--I think you may well write to Ratisbon after
receiving this.
"I leave the Low Country when I have completed my inquiries.
"What little remains belongs to the Danube district, which I shall
haunt for the remainder of my time. It got its name because the
Romans found it a _ratis-bona_, or good pier for crossing. It is by
the Germans called Regensberg, or the town of rain.--_N.B._ I went
through the old Scots College there when its inmates had been
driven out, and the only article I found left behind was a large
umbrella. After three days' cessation the thunder and torrents have
returned yesterday. I walked three hours in rain, which soused me,
and then I had as long of sunshine to dry me, and arrived in very
comfortable condition, but I had been starved and was afraid to
make up by a heavy supper; I had consequently, after a long sleep,
such an appetite, that though I had breakfast, I joined the _table
d'hôte_ dinner at one o'clock.
"Yesterday and the day before I went over the marching grounds of
our army in 1709, especially the battle-field of Malplaquet. If you
look into any of the histories of the period, or lives of
Marlborough in the library, you will see all about it. They are
concentrated in the room which I latterly used, and are
concentrated opposite to the fireplace.
"I have had extreme interest in pursuing my inquiries, yet don't I
long to go about in some country where one can get a drink of pure
water by the roadside, such as you and I have enjoyed on occasion.
The country people only get it in deep draw-wells. They have plenty
of water for their agriculture--too much; it is like the Ancient
Mariner's complaint--'Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to
drink.' The peasantry are amply provided with brandy. I passed
yesterday about thirty houses where they get it for two sous, not
quite a penny a glass. I wonder all your friends at Brown
Brothers' do not swarm to such a land....
"I have no doubt everything is beautiful, I hope also fruitful,
about Morton. I feel sure of one thing, that mamma has abundance of
her favourite flowers.--Love to all from your affectionate papa,
J.H. BURTON."
* * * * *
"REGENSBERG, _21st June 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--I have but a scrap of paper available....
"Fine weather at last. Eating cherries. Last night I got a
comfortable sleep for nothing. For reasons good no doubt, but
unknown, the train stopped from 9 P.M. to 5 A.M., at a country
station. I lay on a bench, with my head on my small bag, and never
had a sounder sleep.--Your affectionate
J.H. BURTON."
* * * * *
"DONAUWÖRTH, _27th June 1879_.
"MY DEAR COS,--This afternoon I expect to be at Blenheim, and so at
the farthest limits of my battle-fields. I spoke of not going to
the Alps, in consideration of the depressing of our neighbours the
Pentlands; but being so close to them, I can't resist a step
farther, and then the Pentlands are not so very ill used, for they
are put much on a level with the Grampians. At the beginning of
next week I expect to be moving homewards, and I still think, as I
wrote to mamma, the last place to catch me at, before taking to the
water, is Antwerp.
"This is a very fishy place, not of the Danube rolling majestically
not many yards from where I am writing, but of the sea. The inn I
am in is called the Krebs or Crab, round the corner is the
Crawfish, and somewhere else the Shrimps.
"I wonder what you are now all doing in the Belvidere,[20] and what
projects you are all making for the summer, and whether you have
ripe strawberries, and there is good promise of cherries and
apples; and so, with kind love to all, adieu from your affectionate
papa, J.H. BURTON."
[Footnote 20: A tower within the grounds of Morton, used by his
sons as a workshop.]
* * * * *
"DEGGENDORF, BAYERISCHER WALD,
_1st July 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--I had a misgiving that I had given a false prospect
of reaching me at Regensburg, so I came round that way again, and
was rewarded by yours of the 24th, and Willy's of what he calls the
_22d July_.
"I did not pursue the plan I spoke of to Cos, of getting a peep of
the Alps, my investigations cutting off the time assigned to it.
But I have gone into a siding here to see the much-boasted, and, it
would seem, newly discovered touring ground of the Wald.
"I have got through my work now, but I can still find some in the
neighbourhood of Antwerp,--so that is my point, and there I shall
hope for letters.
When I last went to Blenheim, some five years ago, the railway only
reached a point some fifteen miles from it, and I could not get
back to my inn until its opening at five o'clock. Now there is
train all the way. It must be supported by agricultural produce.
Such wealth of fertility I never saw. I think, standing at any
point in the great haugh of the Danube, I could see as much grain
as all Scotland could produce. This had a curious social influence,
causing me some hardships.
"The towns are all conglomerates of farm-steadings. The country was
of old so cursed by war, that a steading in the fields was a lost
affair. The old habit still rules, and in a town the size, say, of
Linlithgow, there is not a shop or an inn except the store, whence
the farmers draw their oceans of beer in great jugs, or sometimes
meet to quaff it on the premises. I had to bribe the owner of such
an establishment to give me brown bread and cheese; hard living of
this kind, however, suits my constitution. Luckily, in
consideration, I suppose, of there being no refuge for belated
travellers, the station-master had a nice clean bedroom, which he
was entitled to let.
"I propose remaining here till to-morrow, that I may have a glimpse
of the much-lauded Wald.--Love to all from your affectionate
goodman, J.H. BURTON."
* * * * *
"EGER, _4th July 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--The best account I can give you of where I am is,
that I expect to reach Leipzic this evening. But it will still be
some time ere I reach Antwerp, and you may as well write me
somewhat. If any letters I get there prompt me to return with the
least possible delay, I shall do so, but otherwise I shall wait,
occupying myself in the Netherlands for the Antwerp steamer on
Saturday, the 12th I think it is, to-morrow week.
"In going into the Bayerischer Wald I went where it was not easy to
get speedily out, though I found a railway right through just
opened. The night before last I slept, I suppose, some 4000 or 5000
feet above the sea, in a huge garret with some twenty beds in it.
Somebody was sound asleep in one, but disappeared before I awoke. I
supposed the house to have been temporary, for accommodating the
workers making the railway, but I found it to be the _hospice_ of
the old road across the mountains. It has been a sort of
pilgrimage, I think--_gasthaus zur Landes Grenze_.
"The scenery is naught in comparison with the Scots Highlands, or
even our Pentlands. It is only in Scotland and the Lakes that hills
of humble height look Alpine. The Wald is something like your Harz,
but higher; so adieu.--Love to all from J.H. BURTON."
* * * * *
"THALE, _Monday, 5th July 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--I think you know this place. I found that if
anything out of the direct line to Antwerp, it was only so to the
extent of its short side line, some ten miles or so. When scenery
is good, I enjoy a second visit to it more than the first, and this
was specially so in the present instance; for in my visit from
Grund, I took the most difficult and least profitable course, by
climbing laterally to the level of the Ross Treppe, instead of
going along the stream, and seeing the variety of cleft granite,
unexampled, I think, elsewhere in that class of rock....
"I am longing to see your beautiful gardens, and all--but have
nothing to grumble at--health never better.--Affectionate
remembrances to the rest, from your affectionate gudeman, J.H.
BURTON."
* * * * *
"ANTWERP, _11th July 1879_.
"MY DEAR LOVE,--To my great contentment I received here this
morning your three letters, the latest dated on the 9th. I expect
to-morrow, at 8 p.m., to sail by the steamer Windsor.
"I have had a grand time of it--everything going right with me, and
yet I have a longing for home.
"From sultry, the weather has drifted into cold and rain. Yesterday
the rain poured powerfully all morning, and having some arrears of
sleep to make up, I slumbered as long as it continued. Adieu, my
dear.--Yours,
"J.H. BURTON."
During this summer, Dr Burton and his eldest son walked from Morton to
North Berwick and back in the same day, a walk of at least fifty miles.
In former years sixty was an ordinary day's work. Once during Captain
Speke's stay at Craighouse, Dr Burton traversed a distance within
twenty-four hours, which Captain Speke computed at seventy miles.