"Where, where was Roderick then!
One blast upon his bugle horn
Were worth a thousand men."
Probably he does not. This is all doubtless very old-fashioned, and we
doubt if the modern school would quite rise to the situation, even when
Roderick makes himself known to Fitz-James, "And, stranger, I am
Roderick Dhu;" but in the days we wot of, you and I, this was the most
thrilling climax in all literature. Have the boys outgrown "Ivanhoe"
too? And do they prefer to hear Du Chaillu tell about the gorillas he
invented, or go with Jules Verne twenty thousand leagues under the sea?
We hope not, for their sakes, but wish that they may enjoy the
tournament as we did, and delight in the "clang of the armor," "the
lifting of the vizor," and everything connected with "the lists." We
trust, too, that they will walk with Sir Walter everywhere throughout
the Highlands, until every mount and loch and ruined castle has become
their own; that they will follow poor Jeanie Deans through the "Heart of
Mid-Lothian;" that they will shed true, heartfelt tears over
"Kenilworth," and love as did the older generations the "Bride of
Lammermoor."
Let us be steadfast in our love of the old books; let us never grow
weary of the world-read classics. Who cares for the books of the year?
Next twelvemonth we shall not know whether we have read them or not; but
what a fadeless possession is the memory of one of the world-books! Life
is too brief to be spent upon ephemera; let us go back from our
wanderings in the wilderness of new books, and draw nearer to the wells
of English undefiled.
To this end let us study this man "than his brethren taller and
fairer,"--this kingly Sir Walter of the ancient line.
He says that "every Scotchman has a pedigree." It is a national
prerogative, as inalienable as his pride and his poverty. Sir Walter's
pedigree was gentle, he being connected, though remotely, with ancient
families upon both sides of the house. He was lineally descended from
Auld Watt, an ancient chieftain whose name he often made ring in border
ballads. He was one of twelve children, and was not specially
distinguished through childhood; though, being lame, he got much comfort
from books. He took the usual amount of Latin, but obstinately rebelled
at the Greek, and even in his college days would have none of it. He was
distinguished there by the name of "The Greek Blockhead," and even his
excellent professor was betrayed into saying that "dunce he was and
dunce he would remain,"--"an opinion," says Scott, "which my excellent
and learned friend lived to revoke over a bottle of Burgundy after I had
achieved some literary distinction." He read everything he could lay
hands on, in English, all through his youth, and his reading seems to
have been entirely undirected. He tells about discovering "some odd
volumes of Shakspeare," and adds: "Nor can I forget the rapture with
which I sat up in my shirt reading them by the light of a fire in my
mother's apartment, until the bustle of the family rising from supper
warned me it was time to creep back to my bed, where I was supposed to
have been safely deposited since nine o'clock." He soon after became
enamoured of Ossian and Spenser, whom he thought he could have read
forever.
His first acquaintance with the Highlands he was to immortalize was made
in his fifteenth year. The same year he became apprenticed to the law in
his father's office. The Highland visits were repeated nearly every year
thereafter, and from the first afforded him the greatest delight. Of
this first visit he says: "Since that hour the recollection of that
inimitable landscape has possessed the strangest influence over my mind
and retained its place as a memorable thing, while much that was
influential on my own fortunes has fled from my recollections."
His appearance at this time was very engaging. He had outgrown his early
sallowness and had a fresh, brilliant complexion. His eyes were clear,
open, and well set, with a changeful expression; his teeth were dazzling
white, and his smile delightful. In very early youth he formed a strong
attachment for a young lady very highly connected, and of position far
above his own, and of great personal attractions. Their acquaintance
began in the Grey Friars Churchyard, where, rain beginning to fall one
Sunday as the congregation were dispersing, Scott happened to offer his
umbrella, and, the offer being accepted, he escorted her to her
residence. The acquaintance proved pleasant to both, and they met
frequently, until it became an understood thing that he should escort
her home from church. When Scott's father learned of it he deemed it his
duty to warn the young lady's father of the interest the young pair were
taking in each other, but the gentleman did not think it necessary to
interfere. This affection was nourished through several years, and Scott
had no thought but that marriage would be its final result, as the young
lady warmly reciprocated his attachment, and the parents apparently
threw no obstacles in the way. But the little romance, like so many
other youthful dreams, was destined to be rudely broken, and the lady
was married in due time, by her friends, to a gentleman of high rank and
character, who later in life acted the part of a generous patron to his
early rival. His hopes of marriage with this lady had rendered him very
industrious and devoted to business, and kept him from all youthful
follies. These things were certainly clear gains to the young man from
the connection, if we say nothing of the pleasant store of memories with
which it furnished his whole after-life. But the blow was a severe one
when the parting came, and Scott could not refer to it without emotion
even after many years. But he was still quite young--not over
twenty-five years of age--and he soon saw a lady in whom he grew much
interested. Riding, Lockhart tells us, "one day with Ferguson, they met,
some miles from Gilsland, a young lady taking the air on horseback, whom
neither of them had previously remarked, and whose appearance instantly
struck them both so much they kept her in view until they had satisfied
themselves that she also was one of the party at Gilsland. The same
evening there was a ball, at which Captain Scott appeared in
regimentals, and Ferguson also thought proper to be equipped in the
uniform of the Edinburgh Volunteers. There was no little rivalry among
the young travellers as to who should first get presented to the unknown
beauty of the morning's ride; but though both the gentlemen in scarlet
had the advantage of being her dancing-partners, young Walter succeeded
in handing the fair stranger to supper; and such was his first
introduction to Charlotte Margaret Carpenter." She was very
beautiful,--a complexion of clearest and lightest olive, eyes large,
deep-set, and dazzling, of the finest Italian brown, and a profusion of
black hair. Her manners had the well-bred reserve of an Englishwoman,
and something of the coquetry of the French from whom she was descended.
She spoke with a slight accent, and with much vivacity. Madame
Charpentier had made her escape to England during the Revolution,--her
husband having been a devoted Royalist and Government officer,--and she
had brought up her children as Protestants. No lovelier vision than that
of Margaret had ever dazzled the eyes of our young hero, and he became
her devoted cavalier at once.