Between the appearance of _the Lay of the Last Minstrel_ and
_Marmion_, hopes were held out to him from an influential quarter of
the reversion of the office of a Principal Clerk in the Court of
Session; and, Mr. Pitt, having expressed a wish to be of service to
the author, of _the Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Sir Walter applied for
the reversion. His desire was readily acceeded to; and, according to
Chambers, George III. is reported to have said, when he signed the
commission, that "he was happy he had it in his power to reward a man
of genius, and a person of such distinguished merit." The King had
signed the document, and the office fees alone remained to be paid,
when Mr. Pitt died, and a new and opposite ministry succeeded. Sir
Walter, however, obtained the appointment, though not from the favour
of an administration differing from himself in politics, as has been
supposed; the grant having been obtained before Mr. Fox's direction
that the appointment should be conferred as a favour coming directly
from his administration. The duties were easy, and the profits about
1,200_l._ a year, though Sir Walter, according to arrangement,
performed the former for five or six years without salary, until the
retirement of his colleague.