THE BALLANTYNE BROTHERS
The business of Paul’s Work was immediately prosperous, and rapidly
increased. James Ballantyne was an excellent man of business. He was also
an artist in his profession, as is shown by many of his productions,
and especially by the beautiful 1829 edition of Sir Walter Scott’s
novels printed at his press. It is to this edition that Mr. Percy
Fitzgerald makes particular reference, when he writes: “The press of the
Ballantynes, under the inspiration of Sir Walter Scott, issued marvels
of brilliant and effective printing, which seem to ripen with age....
There is a calm dignity, an unobtrusive harmony, in the large page and
its proportions and tint, that at once excites admiration.... A more
beautiful, legible, and satisfactory edition could not be well imagined
than that of the long set of the Waverley Novels, published about
‘sixty years since.’ The size, paper, illustrations, and extraordinary
brilliance of the type make it quite a favourite edition—indeed, the
famous tales seem to read differently in this than in later editions of
more show and pretence.”[9]
John Ballantyne, the next of the family to James, came to Edinburgh
soon after the removal to Paul’s Work, and was employed as a clerk.
He is described at a later date, in the famous “Chaldee Manuscript,”
published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ of October 1817, as “John, the
brother of James, a man of low stature, who giveth out merry things,
and is a lover of fables from his youth up.” He was originally destined
for a mercantile life, but after a brief business training in London
he returned to Kelso, and remained there till 1805, when he joined his
brother James in Edinburgh. Lockhart thus pictures the two brothers:
“James was a short, stout, well-made man, and would have been considered
a handsome one but for grotesque frowns, starts, and twistings of his
features, set off by a certain mock-majesty of walk and gesture, which
he had perhaps contracted from his usual companions, the emperors and
tyrants of the stage. His voice in talk was grave and sonorous, and
he sang well, in a fine rich bass. John’s tone in singing was a sharp
treble; in conversation something between a croak and a squeak.” As a
storyteller John was unrivalled, having an infinite fund of ludicrous and
characteristic anecdote, which he set off with a humour endless in its
variety of shades. “Scott used to call the one Aldiborontiphoscophornio;
the other Rigdumfunnidos. They both entertained him; they both loved and
revered him; and I believe would have shed their hearts’ blood in his
service.”[10] “Fatsman” was another of Scott’s playful nicknames for
James Ballantyne, as was also “Mr. Basketfill,” used by Constable, in
allusion to the well-known printer Baskerville.
A favourite entertainment of Scott was the reciting or singing by John
Ballantyne of the “Cobbler of Kelso.” On one occasion, when Scott,
Constable, and the Ballantynes were discussing at Abbotsford the
arrangements for the publishing of “Rob Roy,” at the end of the business
Scott turned to John, and said:—
“‘By-the-by, ’tis a long time, Johnny, since we have had the “Cobbler of
Kelso.”’ Mr. Puff (a name sometimes given by Scott to John Ballantyne)
forthwith jumped up on a mass of stone, and seating himself in the proper
attitude of one working with his awl, began the favourite interlude,
mimicking a certain son of Crispin—at whose stall Scott and he had often
lingered when they were schoolboys—and a blackbird, the only companion
of his cell, that used to sing to him, while he talked and whistled
to it all day long. With this performance Scott was always delighted:
nothing could be richer than the contrast of the bird’s wild sweet notes,
some of which he imitated with wonderful skill, and the accompaniment
of the Cobbler’s hoarse cracked voice, uttering all manner of endearing
epithets, which Johnny multiplied and varied in a style worthy of the Old
Women in Rabelais at the birth of Pantagruel.”[11]
John’s private residence was called Harmony Hall, a villa at Trinity on
the Firth of Forth, surrounded by gardens, and about three miles distant
from Paul’s Work. Here he kept up an expensive style of living—in all
things showing a great contrast to the sober and staid conduct of his
brother James.
After James Ballantyne’s removal to Edinburgh, he continued to edit
the _Kelso Mail_ for about three years, when the pressure of the
printing-office compelled him to relinquish the editorial chair. He was
succeeded by his youngest brother, Alexander, who conducted the paper
with marked ability and success for the next twenty years. Alexander
ultimately came to Paul’s Work, and was made a partner in the firm in
1829.[12] He was a good musician, and Sir Walter Scott, several times in
his “Journal,” tells us how much he enjoyed his playing upon the violin
and the flageolet. Here is an entry under May 31, 1827: “Dined at James
Ballantyne’s, and heard his brother Sandy sing and play on the violin,
beautifully as usual. James himself sang the ‘Reel of Tullochgorum’ with
hearty cheer and uplifted voice.” And again, on July 28 of the same year,
he writes: “We heard Sandy’s violin after dinner—
‘Whose touch harmonious can remove
The pangs of guilty power and hopeless love.’
I do not understand or care about fine music, but there is something in
his violin which goes to the very heart.”
Alexander was an amiable and modest man, never connected with Scott in
any business matters, but always his favourite in private. During some
temporary financial difficulty of Scott in 1826, he was able to lend him
£500. He was the father of Mr. John Ballantyne, R.S.A., a well-known
artist in London, who died in May 1897, and of the late Mr. R. M.
Ballantyne, celebrated for his tales of travel and adventure, published
by Messrs. James Nisbet & Co., which are still popular with young people.