AROUND ABBOTSFORD
Whilst this work deals mainly with Abbotsford, it will be fitting
to refer briefly to one or two places within what may be called the
Abbotsford radius. At least half a dozen scenes of interest can
be visited with profit by the literary pilgrim. Abbotsford is his
Mecca _par excellence_, and it is here that homage must rise to its
full height. Abbotsford is but the centre, however, of a widely
historic locality, in which it may be possible to discover shrine
after shrine, each demanding some show of devotion. Of course,
Scott is the chief attractive force to the Scottish Border. But
long before his day Tweedside and the country around Abbotsford
lay in the very lap of 'glamourie.' And it was, as we have seen,
largely because of the romance which haunted the whole district
that Abbotsford took shape, to become by-and-by perhaps the most
romantic spot in Europe.
Melrose--the Kennaquhair of the 'Monastery'--is the most convenient
headquarters for studying the homes and following the footprints
of Sir Walter Scott. Scott may be said to have made Melrose. It
was a mere village when Abbotsford was building. It really grew
with the growth of Abbotsford, and in the wake of Scott's success.
The name--_maol-ros_, 'the open or naked headland'--is a transfer
from Old Melrose, two and a half miles further down the Tweed,
where flourished the first monastic settlement, fragrant with the
memories of Aidan, Boisil (whence St. Lessuden and St. Boswells),
and most celebrated of them all, Cuthbert, that Leaderside shepherd
lad, who rose to be head of the great See of Durham. It was David,
'the Sair Sanct,' who founded the second religious house of Melrose
between the years 1136 and 1146. Dedicated to the Virgin, and
tenanted by a colony of Cistercians from Rievalle, in Yorkshire,
the pioneers of their Order in Scotland, Melrose quickly came to
the front as the most famous establishment of its kind in the
kingdom. For four centuries, like the rest of the Border Abbeys,
Melrose held its place, and was a power in the land. During the
Edwardian Wars it suffered frequently from fire and assault, and,
indeed, about 1322, it was more or less a ruin. Mainly through the
munificence of Robert the Bruce, it was rebuilt in 1326, 'in the
most magnificent style of the period,' at a cost of £50,000 in
modern money. By 1384 it was again sacked, this time by Richard
II., and again restored. In 1544 Evers and Latoun, the English
generals at Ancrum Moor, desecrated and demolished the Douglas
tombs at Melrose, and in the following year, on the Hertford
invasion, the work of destruction was complete. At the Reformation
the Abbey was finally dismantled, and for long afterwards the ruin
was used as a quarry by the towns-people. Not a little of the
original Abbotsford found its way from Melrose Abbey. The statues,
specially numerous and costly, were 'ground to powder' in 1649, and
up to 1820 the nave was used as the parish church. Scott's genius
and patriotism have done more for Melrose than anything else. To
him, in large measure, as the Biography shows, the place owes its
preservation as the finest ecclesiastical ruin in the country. None
knew Melrose Abbey better, or bore a dearer regard to it, than
Scott, and its architecture is nowhere more faithfully described
than in the 'Lay.' To read the 'Lay' at Melrose is one of the
delights of a lifetime. The best view is from the south-east
corner of the churchyard. By the high altar Bruce's heart was
interred. Here also lie the bodies of the brave Earl Douglas,
hero of Otterburn, and of that other Douglas, the 'dark knight of
Liddesdale,' a prominent figure in Border story. There, too, is
the traditional grave of 'the wondrous Wizard,' Michael Scot, from
whose cold dead hand Deloraine snatched the Book of Might. And many
another--monarch and monk, priest and warrior, Border laird and
lady--are at rest under these time-worn canopies. How interesting
and touching to follow the inscriptions around the walls, and the
numerous chaste carvings on 'pillar and arch and lintel high.' Two
epitaphs outside call for attention, both connected with Scott.
One, which he was fond of repeating--it is surely one of the most
pregnant in epitaphian literature--runs:
'The earth goeth on the earth,
Glist'ring like gold;
The earth goes to the earth
Sooner than it wold;
The earth builds on the earth
Castles and towers;
The earth says to the earth,
"All shall be ours."'
The other, his own simple and sincere words, covering the grave of
honest Tom Purdie:
IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE
OF
THE FAITHFUL
AND ATTACHED SERVICES
OF
TWENTY-TWO YEARS,
AND IN SORROW
FOR THE LOSS OF A HUMBLE
BUT SINCERE FRIEND,
THIS STONE WAS ERECTED
BY
SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.,
OF ABBOTSFORD.
HERE LIES THE BODY
OF
THOMAS PURDIE,
WOOD-FORESTER
AT ABBOTSFORD,
WHO DIED 29 OCTOBER,
1829,
AGED SIXTY-TWO YEARS.
'Thou hast been faithful
Over a few things,
I will make thee ruler
Over many things.'
MATTHEW, chap. xxv. v. 21st.
Close under the Abbey windows reposes all that is mortal of the
great Christian philosopher, Sir David Brewster. 'The Lord is my
Light' is a not unfitting text for one who was the acknowledged
master of optics in his day. Melrose Cross, in the centre of the
town, with the date of its restoration (1642), is believed to be
the oldest 'mercat-cross' in the Borders. From Melrose we may climb
the clefted Eildons, always in vision, the supreme landmarks and
sentinels of the Borderland. Here Scott loved to linger. 'I can
stand on the Eildon Hill,' he said, 'and point out forty-three
places famous in war and verse.' Or the romantic green-woods of
the Fairy Dean may attract us, despite the 'White Lady' and her
vagaries. And we may be led to explore Elwyndale and the fine
open country to the head of the glen, with the three towers
of the 'Monastery,' Hillslap or Glendearg--Dame Glendinning's
home--Langshaw, and Colmslie.
As a rule, the visitor to Abbotsford has also Dryburgh as an
objective, and ample provision has been made for his ease and
comfort in getting thither. By far the most picturesque route is to
follow that of Scott's funeral-day. Past Newstead first, quaintest
of old-world hamlets, the supposed Roman Trimontium (from the
Eildons, at whose base it nestles). Note its wealth of sun-dials.
Thence, still keeping by the serpentine Tweed, to Leaderfoot,
across its old Bridge--where was Scott's last passing of the
Tweed--up by Gladswood and Bemersyde Hill, pausing for a moment or
two at 'Sir Walter's gate,' on the crest of the whinny road--
'Where fair Tweed flows round holy Melrose,
And Eildon slopes to the plain.'
This was Scott's favourite view, and it has few equals. Did not
Elihu Burritt affirm that 'it is the most magnificent view I ever
saw in Scotland, excepting, perhaps, the one from Stirling Castle'?
Still pursuing our way Dryburghwards, we catch a glimpse of
Sandyknowe[36] to the east, the scene of Scott's child-years, and
enshrined in some of the noblest verse of 'Marmion.' Then, dipping
down through the thickest and tallest of wild-woods, and the most
luxuriant of bracken and broom, we reach Dryburgh, which, if it
cannot boast the architectural glories of Melrose, far surpasses
it for queenly situation. Surrounded on three sides by the Tweed,
itself unseen from the Abbey precincts, and amidst a 'brotherhood
of venerable trees,' in picturesqueness and seclusion it is perhaps
the most charming monastic ruin in Great Britain. And here, in
the lap of legends old, in the heart of the land he has made
enchanted, and among his ancestral dust (for Dryburgh belonged to
his forebears, and might have come to himself but for the stupidity
of a spendthrift relative), Walter Scott waits the breaking light
of morn. There are the inscriptions which we must read, and as
reverent and worshipful pilgrims, heads are bared for this sacred
duty. In 1847 a massive granite sarcophagus was placed over Scott's
grave, where thousands upon thousands from all the winds that blow
have treasured its simple words:
SIR WALTER SCOTT, BARONET,
DIED SEPTEMBER 21, A.D. 1832.
[Illustration: DRYBURGH ABBEY]
'Slender as a reed
Is the slim pillar on the transept tall,
Where the lush wall-flower blooms, and over all
A rowan grows, where some wind-wafted seed
Had lodged, and all is silent as a dream,
But for a throstle on the ancient yew,
But for the low faint murmur of the stream;
And sweet old-fashioned scents are floating through
The arch from thyme and briar, as for ever
Shall his sweet nature haunt this fabled river.'
The other inscriptions are:
DAME CHARLOTTE MARGARET CARPENTER,
WIFE OF
SIR WALTER SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD, BARONET,
DIED AT ABBOTSFORD, MAY 15, 1826.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SIR WALTER SCOTT
OF ABBOTSFORD, SECOND BARONET,
DIED AT SEA, 8 FEBRUARY, 1847, AGED 45 YEARS.
HIS WIDOW PLACED THIS STONE OVER HIS GRAVE.
* * * * *
DAME JANE JOBSON,
HIS WIDOW,
DIED AT LONDON, 19 MARCH, 1877, AGED 76 YEARS.
These tombs and inscriptions follow each other from the back to the
front of the aisle. And on the right of the others is Lockhart's,
at right angles, with a bronze medallion at the top:
HERE,
AT THE FEET OF SIR WALTER SCOTT,
LIE
THE MORTAL REMAINS OF
JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART,
HIS SON-IN-LAW,
BIOGRAPHER AND FRIEND.
BORN 14 JUNE, 1794.
DIED 25 NOV., 1854.
If we be wise, we shall make the return journey by Dryburgh village
and Newtown. What a magnificent river the Tweed is here, looking
either up or down from the Baillie Suspension Bridge, or the high
red bank beyond! Surely the Eildons never backgrounded a pleasanter
picture than this. All the landscape is, in sooth, among the
fairest of fair scenes, on which we shall want to feast the eye
again and again, to be dreaming of Dryburgh when, it may be, over
the seas and far away. On a summer's day, or at the early autumn,
or even 'mid winter's mantling white, it seems to carry a perpetual
charm.
Kelso, as a shrine of Scott, may not be left unvisited. Here he
was schooled (partly), but better, it was at Kelso that the whole
world of Romance opened out to his delighted fancy. Robert Burns
is said to have gazed in wondrous and even prayerful rapture
on the vision of Kelso Bridge and the Tweed, forming an almost
perfect picture. And this, with the Abbey, 'like some antique Titan
predominating over the dwarfs of a later world'; ruined Roxburgh,
between Tweed's and Teviot's flow; and the near neighbourhood of
other memory-moving spots, were just the scenes which made the
best appeal to Scott, which influenced him most, and the fruits
of whose inspiration we still daily reap. Jedburgh has some claim
on the Scott student and for the lover of old romance. His best
hours will be spent by its venerable Abbey, in the most excellent
of situations (how well those old monks could gauge the lie of the
land!), girt about with well-kept gardens, overlooking the bosky
banks of the Jed--a veritable poem in Nature and Art.
[Illustration: KELSO ABBEY AND BRIDGE]
'Bosom'd in woods where mighty rivers run,
Kelso's fair vale expands before the sun;
Its rising downs in vernal beauty swell,
And fringed with hazel winds each flowery dell;
Green-spangled plains to dimpling lawns succeed,
And Tempé rises on the banks of Tweed.
Blue o'er the river Kelso's shadow lies,
And copse clad isles amid the waters rise.'
There is one place which should not be overlooked. To him who
writes it is the sweetest and the best, entwined with memories
lasting as life itself. With the story of Thomas of Ercildoune
he first heard that of Sir Walter Scott. Under the weird shadow
of the Rhymer's Tower, other names fell upon his ear--Ashestiel,
Abbotsford, 'Marmion,' 'Waverley.' Much has been since then! But
home and the days of youth are never forgotten. One hears still
in memory the music of the Leader. Across the years comes there
again and again a sweet old-time fragrance of yellow broom from
Cowdenknowes.
INDEX
Abbotsford, 3, 114
Armoury, 191
Dining-room, 203
Drawing-room, 188
Entrance Hall, 199
Family, 90
Ferry, 168
Hunt, 57
Library, 181
'Noctes,' 79
'Notanda,' 82
Pronunciation of, 3
Study, 176
the Treasures of, 167
Abbotstown, 60
Adolphus, John Leycester, 93
Ale Water, 135
Allan, Sir William, 53
Allerly, 102
Ambrose, 79
American, ubiquitous, 67
Apsley House, 183
Ariosto, 91
Ashestiel, 13, 112, 219
Atkinson, 36
Baillie, Joanna, 29, 81
Baird, Rev. Principal, 121
Ballantyne, 52, 80
James, 24, 196
John, 108, 135
Ballingry, 149
Balliol, 128
Bemersyde, 18, 121, 136
Hill, 215
Berwick, 16
Biggar, 112
Blore, Edward, 36
'Blucher,' the, 52
Boswell, 81, 125
Bowden Moor, 135
Braes of Yarrow, 87, 88
Brewster, Sir David, 102, 214
'Bride of Lammermoor,' 108
British Peerage, 68
Broadmeadows, 19
Broomielees, 60, 182
Brown, Dr. John, 171
Bruce, Heart of, 126
Bullock, George, 36
Burne the Violer, 137
Burnfoot, 42
Burns, Captain, 143
Robert, 12, 218
Burritt, Elihu, 215
Byron, Lady, 89
Lord, 13, 30, 81, 89
Cadell, the publisher, 52, 113, 115, 119, 120, 167
Calais, 12
Cambusnethan, 125
'Camp,' 72
Campbell, 80
Tom, 83
Cardross, 128
Carlyle, 77, 137, 148, 171
Carpenter, Charles, 26
Charlotte, 50
Carruthers, Robert, 82
Carterhaugh, 135
Cartleyhole, 21
'Castle Dangerous,' 112, 113
Castle Street, 33, 105, 130
Catrail, 24
Cauldshiels, 93, 106, 114
Loch, 41
Chambers, Robert, 171
Chantrey Bust, 183
Charge Law, 5
Chiefswood, 42, 139, 140
days, 141
Clarty Hole, 22
Cleghorn, 112, 127
Cock-a-Pistol, 5
Cockburn, Alison, 6
Lord, 102
Colmslie, 214
Constable, 80
Contin, 66
'Count Robert of Paris,' 111, 113
Court Clerkship, 49
Cowdenknowes, 18, 87, 136, 219
Crabbe, 80
Crash, the, 67
Croker, 114, 120
Cross of Edinburgh, 172
Cunningham, Allan, 115
Cuthbert (St.), 210
Dalgleish, 65
Darnick, 43, 121
Tower, 42, 121
Davy, Sir Humphry, 54, 81, 91
Deloraine, 212
'Den,' the, at Castle Street, 133
Dial-stone, 113
Dickens, Charles, 102, 203
Dickson, Dr., 121
Disraeli, Benjamin, 142
Douglas, 112
Dr. Robert, 21
Douglasdale, 143
Drumlanrig, 40
Dryburgh, 23, 122, 136, 214
Drygrange, 18
Dunfermline Abbey, 199
Earlston, 136, 219
Fair, 129
Edgeworth, Mr. Lovell, 93
Maria, 81, 91
Edgeworthstown, 93
Edinburgh, 114
Cross of, 172
Eildon, 23
Hall, 18
Tree Stone, 42
Eildons, the, 42, 114, 134, 214
Elibank, 112
Eliot, George, 102
Elwyndale, 214
Ercildoune, Thomas of, 219
Erskines of Cardross, 128
Ettrick, 88, 98
Faed's (Thomas) 'Scott and his Literary Friends,' 80
Fairnalee, 26
Fairy Dean, 214
Faldonside, 42
Ferguson, Captain, 71
Sir Adam, 80, 90
Ferrier, Susan, 98
Fielding, 101
FitzGerald, Edward, 102
Floors, 18
Froude, 148
Galashiels, 21, 88, 169
Gala Water, 87, 88
Gattonside, 169
Gibson, Elizabeth, 127
Gilfillan, George, 171
Gladstone, 163
Gladswood, 18, 121, 215
Gleig, G. R., 147
Glendearg, 214
Goethe, 128
Goodfellow, William, 182
Gordon Arms in Yarrow, 102
Great King Street, 139
Guizards, 61
Gustavus, Prince, 68
Hall, Basil, 40, 83
'Journal' of, 61
Hallam, Arthur Henry, 96
Hamilton, Thomas, 102, 142
'Hardyknute,' 114
Harleyburn, 42
Heart of Bruce, 126
'Heart of Midlothian,' 173
Heiton, John, 42
Hemans, Mrs., 98
Hillslap, 214
Hogg, James, 59, 65, 101
James's alleged insult, 101
Hogmanay, 61
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 102
Hope, James Fitzalan, M.P., 154
Howitt, William, 102
'Huntlee Bankis,' 42
Huntlyburn, 41, 71, 95, 139
Innerleithen, 112
Irving, Washington, 57, 82, 114
Italian tour, 114
'Ivanhoe,' 108
James V. (King), 5
James, G. P. R., 102
Jedburgh, 112, 117, 218
Abbey, 218
Jeffrey, Francis, 80
'Jock o' Hazeldean,' 114
John of Skye, 134
'Journal,' Basil Hall's, 61
Kaeside, 41
Kelso, 16, 79, 218
Bridge, 218
'Kennaquhair,' 210
Kensal Green Cemetery, 153
Ker, Andrew, 42
Killarney, 93
'Kingdom of Border Romance,' 136
Kinnedder, Lord, 140
Kirn, the, 60
Knox, John, 42
'Lady Anne,' 56
Laidlaw, 54, 65, 66, 82, 108, 113, 116, 122
Lammermoor, 88
Landseer, Sir Edwin, 54
Lang, Mr., 138
'Life of Lockhart,' 125
Langshaw, 214
Lasswade, 79
Cottage, 99
Leaderfoot, 121, 215
Lee, in Lanarkshire, 125
Penny, 126
Leopold, Prince, 68
Lessuden, 210
'Letters to Heber,' 93
'Life of Lockhart' (Mr. Lang's), 125
Lilliesleaf, 135
Lochore, 152
Lockhart, Charlotte Harriet Jane, 154
John Gibson, 4, 115-122, 125-148, 160
'Abridgment of the Life' by, 163
novels of, 140
verses on Immortality, 147
John Hugh, 141
Mrs., 145
Rev. John, D.D., 127
Walter Scott, 153
London, 44
'Lucy's Flittin',' 82
Mackenzie, Henry, 54, 80, 91
'Maga,' 129
Maida, 55, 72, 86, 174
Manning, Cardinal, 161, 162
'Marmion,' 91, 215, 219
Mary, Queen, 180
Mathieson, Peter, 65, 122, 196
Mediterranean, 143
Melrose, 5, 121, 169, 210
Abbey, 23, 39, 86
Bridge, 116, 169
Cross, 214
Session Records, 21
Melville, Lord, 134
Mercer, 63
Merse, the, 136
Mertoun, 18, 136
Miller, Hugh, 171
Milman, 114
Milne, Nicol, 42
Milton-Lockhart, 112, 145
Minchmoor, 135
'Minstrelsy,' 82
Moffat, 14
Moffatdale, 136
'Monastery,' 210
Montagu, Lord, 39
Moore, Tom, 94, 114
Morritt of Rokeby, 29
'Muffled drum,' the, 43
Murray, John, 89
Patrick, 12
Naples pilgrimage, 153
Newark, 19, 99
Newman, John Henry, 162, 164
Newstead, 214
Newtown, 217
Nicholson, 118
Nimmo the Covenanter, 128
'Nixon, Cristal,' 65
Norham Castle, 17
'North, Kit,' 80
25, Northumberland Street, 139
O'Conor, Sir Nicholas, 155
Old Melrose, 210
Oxford, 128
Paterson, Adam, 44
Peebles, 112
Penrith, 172
'Peter's Letters,' 137
'Peveril of the Peak,' 109
Philiphaugh, 135
Piræus, 90
'Pirate, The,' 140
Purdie, Tom, 34, 65, 117, 196, 213
grave of, 66
Queensberry, Duke of, 40
Raeburn, 72
Ragman Roll, 157
Ravenswood, 18
'Redgauntlet,' 65
'Reliquiæ Trottcosianæ,' 167
Rhymer's Glen, 139
Tower, 219
Richardson of Kirklands, 83
Rizzio, 42
'Rob Roy,' 90
'Rokeby,' 25
Rome, Scott's residence in, 114
Rose, William Stewart, 91
Rosebank, 13
Roxburgh, 218
Ruskin, 12, 102, 171
Russell, General, 18
St. Boswells, 210
St. Mary's Chapel of the Lowes, 93
Saintsbury, Mr., 125
Sampson, Dominie, 134
Sandyknowe, 79, 136, 215
Scot, Michael, 212
Scott, Charles, 153
Charlotte Sophia, 153
Dr., of Darnlee, 63
James Robert Hope, 146, 155-163
Lady (second), 152
Lady Victoria Hope, 155
Major, 143
Mary Monica Hope (Hon. Mrs. Maxwell Scott), 155, 164
Sophia, 138
Scott, Sir Walter, 3, 5, 12, 219
death-mask, 180
desk, 178
grave, 216
laugh, 94
visitors, 67
'Scott and his Literary Friends' (Thomas Faed), 80
Sir Walter (the second), 183
Walter Joseph, 155
Scrope, William, 102
Selkirk, 5, 23
Shakespeare, 12, 122
Sheriffdom, 49
Shillinglaw, Joseph (Darnick), 183
Shortreed, 59
Siddons, Mrs., 105
'Sir Walter's Gate,' 215
Skene of Rubislaw, 102
Skirmish Hill, 5
Skye, John o', 60
Smailholm, 88
Smith, John, of Darnick, 43
Smollett, 101
Snell Exhibition, 128
Stanley, Dean, 171
Stark, 35
Stevenson, R. L., 102
Stuart, Lady Louisa, 35
Swanston, John, 65, 196
Symington, 125
'Tales of a Grandfather,' 140
'Talisman,' 126
Teheran, 153
Tennyson, 147
Terry, Daniel, 29
Teviotdale, 88
Thomson, Thomas, 81
Threave Castle, 172
Toftfields, 41
Tolbooth of Edinburgh, 37
Torres Vedras, 80
Torwoodlee, 88, 128
Trimontium, 214
Turn-Again, 5, 41, 173
Turner, J. M. W., 102
Tweed, 12, 121
'Up Yarrow,' 135
Upper Yarrow, 93
Usher, John, 65
Versailles, 154
Victoria, Queen, 102
Wallace statue, 44
Ward, Wilfred Philip, 155
Warner, Richard, 16
Wat of Harden, 11
Watson, Dr. Thomas, 115
'Waverley,' 219
Waverley Hydropathic, 5, 169
Weirdlaw Hill, 106
Wellington, Duke of, 78
Wilkie, Sir David, 37, 90, 114
Williams, Archdeacon, 122
Wilson, John, 129
Wollaston, Dr., 54, 91
Wordsworth, 80, 99, 143, 147
Dorothy, 15
Yair, 112
Yarrow, 98
'Yarrow Revisited,' 99
'Yerd-hunger,' 43
THE END
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Abbotsford, with the accent on the 'ford,' A modern
pronunciation accentuates the first syllable. This is wrong. Scott
himself said Abbotsfòrd.
[2] Turn-Again, where Ker of Cessford was slain and the victorious
party turned from the pursuit. Skirmish Hill, Charge Law, and
Cock-a-Pistol are other landmarks of the fight. The Waverley
Hydropathic is said to mark the immediate scene of the struggle.
[3] Lockhart and others have fallen (not unnaturally perhaps) into
the error of supposing that 'Clarty Hole' was the real designation.
Cartleyhole, however, was a very old name. Some wag possibly
nicknamed the place 'the Clarty Hole,' which seems to have stuck to
it.
[4] Charles Carpenter, in the Indian Civil Service at Salem, Madras.
[5] George Bullock and Edward Blore, London architects and
furnishers. Atkinson was the artist who arranged the interior of
Abbotsford.
[6] The 'Huntlee Bankis' lie between Melrose and Newtown, on the
eastern slope of the Eildons, on the left side of the highway as it
bends round to the west, going towards, and within about two miles
of, Melrose. The spot is indicated by the famous Eildon Tree Stone.
[7] The place belonged in 1566 to Andrew Ker, one of the murderers
of Rizzio. In 1574 Ker married the widow of John Knox, the
Reformer. Nicol Milne was proprietor in Scott's day.
[8] See, however, facsimile of Allan's 'Gala Day at Abbotsford'--a
sepia sketch--in Scott Centenary Exhibition Catalogue.
[9] In the possession of Captain Dennistoun of Golfhill. The
picture has been frequently on exhibition, and frequently engraved.
[10] See 'Memoir of Mrs. Hemans' and her beautiful poem on 'The
Funeral-Day of Sir Walter Scott.'
[11] See 'Memoir and Correspondence of Susan Ferrier,' edited by J.
A. Doyle, for account of her visits to Ashestiel and Abbotsford.
[12] 'Domestic Manners and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott,' first
published 1834; reprinted 1882.
[13] Of other Abbotsford visitors, mention may be made of Skene of
Rubislaw, a friend of long standing; Sir David Brewster, who lived
at Allerly, on the Gattonside bank of the Tweed; William Scrope,
author of 'Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing on the Tweed,' who
leased the Pavilion, 'and lived on terms of affectionate intimacy
with Scott'; G. P. R. James, the novelist, who rented Maxpoffle,
near Bowden; Thomas Hamilton, Lockhart's tenant at Chiefswood;
Lord Cockburn, a frequent guest; J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and a host
of artists who found their way at all seasons to Abbotsford. Of
celebrated visitors _after_ Scott's day, there were Queen Victoria
in 1867; George Eliot in 1845; Charles Dickens, John Ruskin, Edward
FitzGerald, William Howitt, Oliver Wendell Holmes, R. L. Stevenson,
with men and women of note from every land.
[14] Dickens, however, had a somewhat similar experience, though
not, of course, to the like extent.
[15] The Burke and Hare murders were recent.
[16] A reissue of the Poetry, with biographical prefaces, and a
uniform reprint of the Novels, each introduced by an account of the
hints on which it had been founded, and illustrated throughout by
historical and antiquarian annotations.
[17] Scott resided for a month in the Casa Bernini. In 1882 the
Earl of Haddington unveiled a marble tablet in commemoration of the
visit, when the venerable Duc de Salmonetta, with whom Sir Walter
travelled in Italy, was present and took part in the proceedings.
[18] As all the world knows, Scott stood indebted in 1826, on the
Ballantyne-Constable crash, for no less a sum than £120,000, and
a further £10,000 raised on Abbotsford with the view of averting
the disaster. He determined to give every man his own. 'If my
life is spared, nobody shall lose a penny by me,' he said, 'and
this right hand shall work it all off.' Between 1826 and 1832 the
debt was diminished by £66,000, an average of £11,000 a year.
Against the remaining £54,000, a sum of £22,000 was received for
his life insurance, and a generous advance from Cadell enabled his
executors to settle in full with the Ballantyne creditors. By 1847
the loan was reduced to one-half, and the mortgage on the lands
to £8,500. On May 11, 1847, Lockhart writes to Croker: 'I have
finally settled all our Sir Walter's affairs. There remained debt
secured on the lands, £8,500; to Cadell, £16,000; and sundries,
£1,000. I have taken the £1,000 on myself, and Cadell obliterates
the £24,500 on condition of getting the whole remaining copyright
of Scott's works, and also of the Life.' At the time of the failure
Scott surrendered his Collection at Abbotsford to his creditors;
but so pleased were they with his fair and honourable response
to their claims that they requested him to accept the furniture,
plate, paintings, library, and museum, as a mark of sympathy and
appreciation of his conduct. He valued his Collection at £10,000,
and left it in his will to his eldest son, burdened to the extent
of £5,000, for division among his younger children. In order to
effect this, the second Sir Walter would have been obliged to
disperse the Collection but for a subscription raised among a
number of Scott's admirers to purchase the Abbotsford Collection
and hold it in trust for the public and the family. This trust is
vested in the Dean and Council of the Faculty of Advocates, who
are empowered to leave the Collection in the charge and keeping of
Scott's representatives at Abbotsford, or, should occasion arise,
to remove it to some other building. The copyrights purchased by
Cadell in 1847 were sold in 1851 by private bargain for £27,000
to Messrs. Adam and Charles Black, the publishers of the present
volume. Messrs. Black's editions of Scott's works may, therefore,
be trusted to contain the exact text as left in the 'Magnum Opus,'
the MSS. of which are still in their possession.
[19] Scott was an intense favourite with the Darnickers, who
playfully dubbed him 'Duke of Darnick.'
[20] Mr. Lang's 'Life of Lockhart' gives the date as _July_ 14; the
month is probably a printer's error, however. At Dryburgh the date
is _June_ 14; but the Cambusnethan Records read _June_ 12.
[21] There is no foundation for the fanciful etymology of the name
Lockhart, _quasi_ Lock-heart (purely _post facto_). There were
Locards in Scotland long before 1330.
[22] Yet we find Lockhart, at the Jedburgh circuit of 1823,
'pleading,' so Scott says, 'for a clansman of mine (Rob Scott),
who, having sustained an affront from two men on the road home
from Earlston Fair, nobly waylaid and murdered them both,
single-handed.' Lockhart lost his case, and his client was hanged.
[23] Carlyle, curiously, had a fondness for the same verses, and
was frequently quoting them.
[24] 'Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk'--the name was, of course,
borrowed from Scott's 'Paul's Letters' (see vol. ii. for
Abbotsford)--is seldom read nowadays, and there has been no new
edition for years. Still, it is a faithful, if pungent, picture
of the period, and, notwithstanding a certain ill odour, really
contains far more good than evil. There was no first edition, the
first actual publication being called the second edition. Why,
would be difficult to say.
[25] Some of Lockhart's own best work was done at
Chiefswood--_e.g._, 'Valerius,' a romance of the times of Trajan;
'Adam Blair'--a Scottish 'Scarlet Letter'; and several of his
Spanish Ballads.
[26] It may be noted here that while Lockhart 'regarded his
son-in-law's conversion to Romanism as a grief and a humiliation,
nevertheless, the nobleness of his nature, and the deep regard he
always felt for his virtues, prevailed without an effort.'--_Life
of Hope Scott._
[27] Miss Jobson appears to have been a young lady of great beauty.
When George IV. came to Edinburgh, she was one of the maids of
honour at Holyrood. She was Sir Adam Ferguson's niece, and it was
he who practically arranged the match. Following her marriage, she
and her husband lived for a time at Lochore (purchased in 1813 by
her father, a prosperous Dundee merchant). Sir Walter Scott himself
was often there. Reference is made in 'The Abbot' to Ballingry
Kirk. After 1832 Lochore was let to tenants, and in 1867 was sold
for £60,000 to the Lochore Coal Company, in whose hands it still
remains.
[28] A friend who knew her writes: 'Lady Scott was exceedingly
sensitive and reserved. She hardly ever mentioned her husband's
name after his death. She was very kind-hearted, but rarely
expressed her feelings. She was very fond of children. She lived a
quiet and retired life, interesting herself much in politics, and
could talk and argue well on the subject. She was clever and well
read. She would never speak of Abbotsford.'
[29] 'I have the liveliest impression of that good, honest Scotch
face and character, though never in contact with the young man but
once.'--THOMAS CARLYLE.
[30] The entries in the 'Journal' show this strongly,--his
resignation to God's will, and thankfulness for blessings.
[31] In 1868 Gladstone urged Mr. Hope Scott to produce an abridged
version of Lockhart, ignorant, apparently, of Lockhart's own
Abridgment. And in 1871 Hope Scott asks leave to dedicate a reprint
of it to Gladstone as 'one among those who think that Scott still
deserves to be remembered, not as an author only, but as a noble
and vigorous man.'
[32] In addition to Abbotsford, Mr. Hope Scott owned the estate of
Dorlin, on Loch Shiel; the Villa Madona, Hyères, South France; and
property in County Mayo.
[33] Mrs. Maxwell Scott has taken a deep interest in all the
affairs of Abbotsford. Literary in her leanings, quite a number
of volumes have come from her pen: 'The Making of Abbotsford, and
Incidents in Scottish History'; 'Abbotsford and its Treasures';
'The Tragedy of Fotheringay'; 'Life of Henry Schomberg Kerr, Sailor
and Jesuit'; 'Joan of Arc,' and many articles besides, with the
Prefaces to the 'Melrose' edition of the Novels.
[34] See the Abbotsford Library Catalogue, a handsome quarto,
edited by John G. Cochrane for the Maitland and Bannatyne Clubs,
1838.
[35] The slogan of the Scotts of Buccleuch--'A Bellenden!' from
Bellendean, near the head of the Borthwick Water, in Roxburghshire.
The windows show the shields of eight families of the clan.
[36] Sandyknowe appears to be the correct designation of the tower.
In most books on Scott it is generally referred to as Smailholm
Tower. Smailholm, however, had another Keep of that name (now
demolished) close to the village. Many old records and maps read
Sandeknow, etc., and local usage confirms this. Scott himself liked
to speak of Sandyknowe.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
-Plain print and punctuation errors fixed.