Since Sir Walter's appointment to the sheriffdom of Selkirkshire, he
had resided at Ashiesteel, on the banks of the Tweed, of which he was
but the tenant. He was now desirous to purchase a small estate, and
thereon build a house according to his own taste. He found a desirable
site six or seven miles farther down the Tweed, in the neighbourhood
of the public road between Melrose and Selkirk, and at nearly an equal
distance from both of those towns: it was then occupied by a little
farm onstead, which bore the name of Cartley Hole. The mansion is in
what is termed the castellated Gothic style, embosomed in flourishing
wood. It takes its name from a ford, formerly used by the monks of
Melrose, across the Tweed, which now winds amongst a rich succession
of woods and lawns. But we will borrow Mr. Allan Cunningham's
description of the estate, written during a visit to Abbotsford, in
the summer of 1831:--"On the other side of the Tweed we had a fine
view of Abbotsford, and all its policies and grounds. The whole is at
once extensive and beautiful. The fast rising woods are already
beginning to bury the house, which is none of the smallest; and the
Tweed, which runs within gun-shot of the windows, can only be
discerned here and there through the tapestry of boughs. A fine,
open-work, Gothic screen half conceals and half shows the garden, as
you stand in front of the house--(_see the Engraving_.) It was the
offspring of necessity, for it became desirable to mask an unseemly
old wall, on which are many goodly fruit-trees. What we most admired
about the estate, was the naturally useful and elegant manner in which
the great poet has laid out the plantations--first, with respect to
the bounding or enclosing line; and secondly, with regard to the
skilful distribution of the trees, both for the contrast of light and
shade, and for the protection which the strong affords to the weak.[8]
The horizontal profile of the house is fine, crowded with towers and
clustered chimneys: it looks half castle, half monastery. The
workmanship, too, is excellent: indeed we never saw such well-dressed,
cleanly, and compactly laid whinstone course and gage in our life: it
is a perfect picture."[9] "The external walls of Abbotsford, as also
the walls of the adjoining garden, are enriched with many old carved
stones, which, having originally figured in other situations, to which
they were calculated by their sculptures and inscriptions, have a very
curious effect. Among the various relics which Sir Walter has
contrived to collect, may be mentioned the door of the old Tolbooth of
Edinburgh, which, together with the hewn stones that composed the
gateway, are now made to figure in a base court at the west end of the
house."[10]
[8] Sir Walter possessed a practical as well as theoretical
knowledge of Landscape Gardening, as may be seen in a
valuable paper contributed by him to No. 47, of the
_Quarterly Review_. The details of this paper were,
however, disputed by some writers on the subject.
[9] Communicated to No. 199, of _The Athenaeum_. The mansion
was built from designs by Atkinson. Sir Walter may,
however, be termed the amateur architect of the pile, and
this may somewhat explain its irregularities. We have been
told that the earliest design of Abbotsford was furnished
by the late Mr. Terry, the comedian, who was an intimate
friend of Sir Walter, and originally an architect by
profession. His widow, one of the Nasmyths, has painted a
clever View of Abbotsford, from the opposite bank of the
Tweed; which is engraved in No. 427, of _The Mirror_.
[10] Picture of Scotland, by Chambers.
[Illustration: (_Armoury_.)]
It would occupy a whole sheet to describe the _interior_ of the
mansion; so that we select only two apartments, as graphic memorials
of the lamented owner. First, is the _Armoury_, (from a coloured
lithograph, published by Ackermann)--an arched apartment, with a
richly-blazoned window, and the walls filled all over with smaller
pieces of armour and weapons, such as swords, firelocks, spears,
arrows, darts, daggers, &c. These relics will be found enumerated in a
description of Abbotsford, in _the Anniversary_, quoted in vol. xv. of
the _Mirror_. The second of the _interiors_ is the poet's _Study_--a
room about twenty-five feet square by twenty feet high, containing of
what is properly called furniture, nothing but a small writing-table
and an antique arm-chair. On either side of the fire-place various
pieces of armour are hung on the wall; but, there are no books, save
the contents of a light gallery, which runs round three sides of the
room, and is reached by a hanging stair of carved oak in one corner.
There are only two portraits--an original of the beautiful and
melancholy head of Claverhouse, and a small full-length of Rob Roy.
Various little antique cabinets stand about the room; and in one
corner is a collection of really useful weapons--those of the forest
craft, to wit--axes and bills, &c. Over the fire-place, too, are some
Highland claymores clustered round a target. There is only one window,
pierced in a very thick wall, so that the place is rather sombre.
[Illustration: (_Study_.)]