[183] See _ante_, vol. i. p. 14. Lady Francis Leveson Gower was the
eldest daughter of Charles Greville.
[184] Mr. Lockhart writes:--"Among other songs Mrs. Arkwright delighted
Sir Walter with her own set of--
'Farewell! farewell! the voice you hear Has left its last soft tone with
you; Its next must join the seaward cheer, And shout among the shouting
crew,' etc.
He was sitting by me, at some distance from the lady, and whispered, as
she closed, 'Capital words--whose are they? Byron's, I suppose, but I
don't remember them.' He was astonished when I told him they were his
own in _The Pirate_. He seemed pleased at the moment, but said next
minute, 'You have distressed me--if memory goes, all is up with me, for
that was always my strong point.'"--_Life_, vol. ix. p. 236.
[185] Milton's _L'Allegro,_ ver. 137, 294.
[186] Afterwards second Earl Powis.
[187] Regarding the Chancery business, see _infra_, p. 191, _n_.
[188] Sir Walter had shortly before been one of the contributors to a
subscription for Mr. Haydon. The imprisonment from which the
subscription released the artist produced, I need scarcely say, the
picture mentioned in the Diary.--J.G.L. Haydon died in June 1846. See
his _Life_, 3 vols., 1853, edited by Tom Taylor.
[189] The Duke of Wellington, in after years, said to Lord Mahon, "He
had observed on several occasions that Sir Walter was talked down by
Croker and Bankes! who forgot that we might have them every
day."--_Notes_, p. 100.
[190] _Romeo and Juliet_, Act III. Sc. 1.
[191] Sir W. Knighton, as a Devonshire man, naturally wished to have the
portrait painted by Northcote, who was a brother Devonian. Cunningham
said of tins picture that the conception was good, and reality given by
the introduction of the painter, palette in hand, putting the finishing
touch to the head of the poet. "The likenesses were considered
good."--_Cunningham's Lives_, vol. vi. p. 124. It was exhibited in 1871
in Edinburgh; its size is 4 ft. 2 in. x 3 ft. 2 in. Mr. David Laing,
differing from Allan Cunningham, considered that the picture presented
"anything but a fortunate likeness." Northcote died July 13th, 1831, in
his eighty-fifth year.
[192] Act III. Sc. 2.
[193] John Fuller, long M.P. for Surrey, an eccentric character, and
looked upon as standing jester to the House of Commons. Scott first met
him in Chantrey's studio in 1820.--See _Life_, vol. vi. pp. 206, 207. He
died in his 77th year, in 1831, without apparently having carried out
his intention of editing Foote.
[194] A process in English copyhold law.
[195] Hazlitt said of Northcote, that talking with him was like
conversing with the dead: "You see a little old man, pale and fragile,
with eyes gleaming like the lights hung in tombs. He seems little better
than a ghost, and hangs wavering and trembling on the very verge of
life; you would think a breath would blow him away, and yet what fine
things he says!"--_Conversations_.
[196] Born 1752, died 1832; Master of the Rolls from 1801 to 1817.
[197] The _Magnum Opus_ was dedicated to George IV.--J.G.L.
[198] Whose son afterwards married Dora, Wordsworth's daughter.
[199] At the last sitting Northcote remarked, "You have often sat for
your portrait?"
"Yes," said Sir Walter; "my dog Maida and I have sat frequently--so
often that Maida, who had little philosophy, conceived such a dislike to
painters, that whenever he saw a man take out a pencil and paper, and
look at him, he set up a howl, and ran off to the Eildon Hill. His
unfortunate master, however well he can howl, was never able to run
much; he was therefore obliged to abide the event. Yes, I have
frequently sat for my picture."--Cunningham's _Painters_, vol. vi. pp.
125-6.
[200] See _ante_, May 1st, p. 170, note.
[201] Mr. Ellis, afterwards created Baron Dover, was the author of
_Historical Inquiries into the Character of Lord Clarendon_. 8vo, Lond.,
1827.
[202] Sir F. Chantrey was at this time executing his _second_ bust of
Sir Walter--that ordered by Sir Robert Peel, and which is now at
Drayton.--J.G.L.
[203] Lady Shelley of Maresfield Park. Mr. Lockhart says the young lady
was Miss Shelley, who became in 1834 the Hon. Mrs. George Edgcumbe.
[204] Scott had dined at Holland House in 1806, but in consequence of
some remarks by Lord Holland in the House of Lords in 1810, on Thomas
Scott's affairs, there had apparently been no renewal of the
acquaintanceship until now.
[205] See _Miscellaneous Prose Works_, vol. iv. p. 20.
[206] David Hinves, Mr. W. Stewart Rose's faithful and affectionate
attendant, furnished Scott with some hints for his picture of Davie
Gellatly in _Waverley_.
Mr. Lockhart tells us that Hinves was more than forty years in Mr.
Rose's service; he had been a bookbinder by trade and a preacher among
the Methodists.
"A sermon heard casually under a tree in the New Forest contained such
touches of good feeling and broad humour that Rose promoted the preacher
to be his valet on the spot. He was treated more like a friend than a
servant by his master and by all his master's intimate friends. Scott
presented him with all his works; and Coleridge gave him a corrected (or
rather an altered) copy of _Christabel_ with this inscription on the
fly-leaf: 'Dear Hinves,--Till this book is concluded, and with it
_Gundimore_, a poem by the same "author," accept of this _corrected_
copy of _Christabel_ as a _small_ token of regard; yet such a
testimonial as I would not pay to any one I did not esteem, though he
were an emperor.
"'Be assured I will send you for your private library every work I have
published (if there be any to be had) and whatever I shall publish. Keep
steady to the FAITH. If the fountainhead be always full, the stream
cannot be long empty.--Yours sincerely, S.T. COLERIDGE.
"'11 _November_ 1816, _Mudford.'"--Life,_ vol. iv. pp. 397-8.
Hinves died in Mr. Rose's service _circa_ 1838, and his master followed
him on the 30th April 1843, a few weeks after his friend Morritt.
[207] An analysis of these letters was published by Mr. Lockhart in the
_Life_, vol. vi. pp. 346-386.
[208] Created Earl of Leicester in 1837.
[209] It is worth noting that Sir Walter first wrote "grasp"--and then
deleted the word in favour of the technical term--"fathom."
[210] W. Withers had just published a _Letter to Sir Walter Scott
exposing certain fundamental errors in his late Essay on
Planting_,--Holt: Norfolk, 1828.
[211] A deep pool in the Tweed, in which Scott had had a singular
nocturnal adventure while "burning the water" in company with Hogg and
Laidlaw. Hogg records that the crazy coble went to the bottom while
Scott was shouting--
"An' gin the boat were bottomless, An' seven miles to row."
The scene was not forgotten when he came to write the twenty-sixth
chapter of _Guy Mannering_.
[212] This refers to the splendid edition of Walton and Cotton, edited
by Nicolas, and illustrated by Stothard and Inskipp, published in 1836
after nearly ten years' preparation, in two vols. large 8vo.
[213] Sir William Scott, Lord Stowell, died 28th January 1836, aged
ninety.
[214] Moore writes: "On our arrival at Hampton (where we found the
Wordsworths), walked about,--the whole party in the gay walk where the
band plays, to the infinite delight of the Hampton _blues_, who were all
_eyes_ after Scott. The other scribblers not coming in for a glance. The
dinner odd; but being near Scott I found it agreeable, and was delighted
to see him so happy, with his tall son, the Major," etc. etc,--_Diary_,
vol. v. p. 287.
[215] The author of _Evelina_ died at Bath in 1840, at the age of
eighty-eight. Subsequent to this meeting with Scott she published
memoirs of her father, Dr. Burney (in 1832). It is stated that for her
novel _Camilla_, published in 1796, she received a subscription of 3000
guineas, and for the _Wanderer_, in 1814, £1500 for the copyright. This
was the year in which _Waverley_ appeared, for the copyright of which
Constable did not see his way to offer more than £700.
[216] This item refers to money which had belonged to Lady Scott's
parents.
[217] It contains half of Chancellor Clarendon's famous collection--the
other half is at Bothwell Castle.
[218] William Elliot Lockhart of Cleghorn and Borthwick-brae, long M.P.
for Selkirkshire.
[219] Weare, Thurtell, and the rest were professed gamblers. See _ante_,
July 10, 1826, and _Life_, vol. viii. p. 381.
[220] The first volume had just been published in 1828. The book was
completed in 6 vols. in 1840.