Who wrote the Waverley novels? Being an investigation into certain mysterious circumstances attending their production, and an inquiry into the literary aid which Sir Walter Scott may have received from other persons

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F559

WHO WROTE

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS?

AN INVESTIGATION

CERTAIN MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THEIR

PRODUCTION, AND AN INQUIRY INTO THE LITERARY

AID WHICH SIR WALTER SCOTT MAY HAVE

RECEIVED FROM OTHER PERSONS.

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LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., 65, CORN-HILL.

EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES, 61 AND 62, PRINCE'S-STREET.

DUBLIN: W. B. KELLY, 8, GRAFTON -STREET.

1856.

Trice One and Six-pence.

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INTRODUCTION.

When my first article on "Scott, and the Waverley Novels,"
had appeared in Notes and Queries, and had subsequently
gone the rounds of the press, I was greeted on all sides
with — " Oh, the arguments are very ingenious certainly,
but of course Lockhart's Life of Scott must, when referred
to, set them at rest."

As this opinion is somewhat general, I deem it relevant,
before entering on the task I propose, to call my reader's
attention to some characteristically acute views expressed
twenty years since by the Quarterly Review — a wo]-k Oi-igi-
nally started under Sir Walter Scott's auspices, and edited
from the year 1825 by his son-in-law and biographer, John
Gibson Lockhart. The sarcastic critic, laughing at the
popular credulity in so blindly swallowing volume after
volume of " extemporaneous and contemporaneous bio-
graphy,"'goes on to say: —

" We fear it must be confessed that at this moment bio'-
graphy is perhaps the very lowest of all the classes of litera-
ture : it has become a mere manufacture, which seems in a
great measure to have superseded that of novels — much to
the damage of the light reader, as well as the graver — the
biographical romance being, for the most part, infinitely in-
ferior in point of interest, and not very much superior in
veracity.

" There are some still more serious objec-
tions to this system of extemporaneous, and cotemporaneous
biography, to lohich even the best ivorks of the class are
liable. The principal of these (with which indeed all the
others are connected) is the almost inevitable sacrifice of
historical truth^ to personal feelings.

* " Lady Glenbervie told me that her father, Lord North, disliked reading
history, because he always doubted its truth." — Table Talk of Samuel Rogers.

rif^Gr;^^

4 INTRODUCTION.

" Whether a man writes his own life, or that of some dear
friend lately deceased, it is evident that there must be such a
favourable colour spread over the picture that its fidelity
must be rather ivorse than dubious : for even in a court of
law the evidence of a party can only be admitted in the
rare case in which it shall be against himself. Unfavourable
or discreditable circumstances are generally passed over in
silence ; or if they should be of too much notoriety to be
wholly unnoticed, they are so covered by the veil of par-
tiality as hardly to be recognized Upon the whole,

we feel corroborated in our doubts, whether the very best
of this species of biography can be considered in any other
light than a romance of real life — a picture of which the
principal figure miist be considerably fiattered* and every-
thing else sacrificed to its prominence and effect'']

The sarcastic acumen of these paragraphs is worthy of
Mr. Lockhart, and very possibly they owe their existence
to his pen4 The critique, from which I have cited them,

* For Sir William Gell's opinion of Mr. Lockhart's want of candour, in the
^' life of Scott," see Appendix.

f Tliese observations are introductory to an analysis of Sir James Jlacliin-
tosh's Life, by his son. (^Quarterly Revieio, vol. liv., p. 251.) " Sydney Smith,"
writes Moore, in his Diai-y (March 18, 1833), "in speaking of the meditated
' Life of Mackintosh,' by his son, said to me, ' HowJ wish it was in the hands
of a certain friend of mine instead!'"

J Moore, in his " Thoughts on Editors," raises the following poetical monu-
ment to Lockhart's " tartarly pen," in the Quarterly, at this period : —

" No, editors don't care a button

What false, and faithless things they do;
They'll let you come and cut their mutton,
And then they'll have a cut at you.
* * * *

Alas, and must I close the list

\\'ith4hee, my ' Lockhart, of the Quarterly,'
So kind, with bumper in thy fist —

With pen, so very gruff, and tartarly.
Now in thy parlour feasting me.

Now scribbling at me from thj' garret —
Till 'twixt the two in doubt 1 be

Which sourest is, thy wit or claret."

INTRODUCTION. 5

appeared in the Quarterly Review three years previous to
the puLlication of the " Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott." Of
course that interesting biography, taken as a whole, does
not deserve to be classed among the unreliable " Lives"
sneered at by the Quarterly; but I certainly think it is not
exempt from some traces of those very characteristics which
the clearsighted reviewer pauses to notice.

Let it not be imagined that, in undertaking this work, I
am actuated by any feeling of dislike towards the late Sir
Walter Scott. On the contrary, I entertain a high respect
for his genius, and fully appreciate the Shakspearean benefit
which society has derived from its exercise. I do not aspire,
with rough, unsparing hand, to tear down the laurels which
shadow the grave of Scott. My purpose is mainly to collect
some offshoots (which can well be spared), and having
searched the churchyard for two uninscribed and forgotten
graves, to set amidst their grass a simple wreath to indicate
that genius sleeps below. Whilst there are cynics who may
stigmatize this conduct as an unwarrantable intrusion, there
are, no doubt, many friends to literature and justice who
will regard it as a generous and a sacred task. I can with all
sincerity say, that no personal feelings of prejudice, or par-
tiality, influence me. With the families of Sir Walter or
Thomas Scott, I never had the smallest infercourse. Most
of the materials for the inqixiry came to my hands un-
sought. They appeared to gather, day by day, without
any effort on my part. At length I directed the attention
of some literary friends, whose opinion I valued, to them —
and they assured me, with every semblance of sinceritv,
that I possessed sufficient evidence to warrant me in publiclv
expressing my views.

It is a fact singularly strange (and in the present instance
it will probably be exemplified) that the literary world are
prone to regard as much more venial, the act of withdraw-
ing a portion of a small author's fame, than to follow the
same course in the case of one whose memory is prodigally
loaded with panegyric. Which is really the more culpable,

b INTRODUCTION.

he who takes from Dives, to give to Lazarus, or the man who
takes Lazarus's mite to add to Dives' wealth ? Rej)eatedly
has the Rev. Charles Wolfe's authorship of the well known
Ode on the Burial of Sir John INIoore been offensively
questioned. The literary press and public, so far from
denouncing, aided the unhandsome attempt to deprive the
poor poet of — his all ! With a blind fascination towards
brighter and more seductive names, men, scarcely knowing
why, scoiFed at the country curate's claims,* and succes-
sively declared that Moore, Campbell, or Barry Corn-
wall, must have written an ode, unsurpassed by any in the
English language. There is much of the ignis fahms about
a brilliant name, which often leads astray, to the injury of
many a good man's cause and reputation. Alexander Pope
has been ridiculed and reviled for advancing the opinion, in
his edition of Shakspeare, that the great Protagonist on the
arena of modern poetry was not the author of the Winter's
Tale, but some comparatively obscure and unknown poet.
Can it be denied, that had the inferior dramatist written

* The following extract from Blackwood's Magazine (vol. xix. p. 334),
affords a fair specimen of the tone not imfrequently pm-sued, by literary journals,
towards the claims of Charles Wolfe. The observations conclude a favourable
review of Russell's Memoirs of Wolfe. — " In conclusion, how could Mr. Russell
publish the celebrated lines on the death of Sir John Moore, as the production of
Mr. Wolfe, without giving us any proof whatever that they ai'e so. What sig-
nify long rigmarole letters in newspapers ? [This alludes to the Rev. Dr. Millar's
letter, which Notes and Queries said, " clearly established W^olfe's claims to the
authorship."] Jlr. Russell is called upon to do this in the next edition of his
admirable friend's remains. For our own part, we at this moment know nothing
of the evidence on which Mr. Wolfe's claims to the authorship of these fine lines is

founded That Mr. Wolfe had feeling and genius to write the lines we believe.

But we have our doubts, and now assert them, in a spirit which Mr. Russell
cannot after this article misunderstand." — About twelve year-s since, Doctor
Anster, T.C.D., introduced to the notice of the Royal Irish Academy an
interesting letter of the Rev. Charles Wolfe, which had been recently found
among the papers of a deceased friend. The letter contained a copy of the Ode
in \A^olfe's autograph, and the several post marks fully corroborated its authen-
ticity. Dr. Anster having observed that BjTon, Moore, Campbell, and Barry
Cornwall, had occasionally got the credit of these noble lines, recommended that
.1 /ar simile of the letter should be lithographed and preserved with the Reports
rif the Academy, in order to set the disputed )M>int at rest for ever.

INTllODUCl ION.

a play, wliich some new commentator, centuries after, dis-
covered, on questionable authority, to have been — " most
probably " — a Shakspearean creation, the world would
cordially congratulate the commentator, and rush, con amove,
to shove the humbler poet from his pedestal?

The author of the following pages, with a conscientious
conviction of the justice of liis labour, asjjires to transfer a
portion from the rich to the poor — not from the poor to the
rich, as is every day exemplified in Sir Walter Scott's case,
and especially in Mr. Lockhart's memoirs of that great man.
The remarkable pamphlet published in 1837, entitled,
" Refutation of Mr. Lockhart's Mis-statements and Misrepre-
sentations," that gentleman's reply, and the opinions* of the
independent press on the controversy, exhibit, in vivid
colours, the disingenuous system of unfairly sacrificing every
subordinate character in the work to the prominence and
effect of tke principal one.f It is this system which the
Quarterly Review, in the passages already quoted, so justly
and trenchantly condemns. With the general reading pub-
lic, howevf r, who do not take tlie trouble of analvsing what
they read, such books as the critic refers to are extremely
popular; and even many professional Reviewers, of noted
intellectual depth and discernment, are too much dazzled by
the brilliancy of those rays which surround the biographee,
to see what others, less influenced by strong partiality
towards an existing prestige, must without difficulty detect.

My opening statement appeared, some time since, in
Azotes and Queries, and was inserted by the editor in as
conspicuous a position as the importance of the subject
seemed to demand. It was at once copied into the N^atlon
and other journals of a literary character; and my argu-
ments having, through tlieir agency, received a ten-fold cir-

* For some of those opiuious .see Appendix.

f "Mr. Lockliart endeavours, throughout the whole of liis -work, to aggrandize the
cliaracter of Sir Walter Scott, by depreciatiug that of the friends whom he most
esteemed and trusted." — liefututlun of Mr. LockharVs Misrepresentations in the Life
of Sir Walter Scott. Bart.

INTRODUCTION.

culation, I was perfectly inundated, for several days, with
letters, some, as a matter of course, abusive, and others full
of friendly offers of assistance.

The newspapers which copied the article from Notes and
Queries, concluded a short commentary thereupon to the
following efi'ect: —

" Immediately on the appearance of the above, Mr. Francis
Ballantyne published a letter va. Notes and Queries, exhorting
the public to ' suspend their judgment,' and requesting a
* fortnight's time' to collect information, and prepare a ' re-
butting case,' but has quite failed in doing so. We believe
a second and stronger communication will appear in this
week's Notes and Queries, and we wait to see it, in order to
give a resume of the progress and close of the controversy."

" The second and stronger communication" never ap-
peared. It was returned in a courteous letter from the editor,
stating that, with every disposition to meet my wishes, he
could not insert the article, as Sir Walter Scott's declaration
in 1829 (revived in Notes and Queries of the previo\is week),
that Thomas Scott was not " the author of the whole, or a
great part of the Waverley Novels," must close a contro-
versy, against the agitation of which he had received more
remonstrances than I could h^ve possibly anticipated.

For upwards of a month the subject liad been vigour-
ously debated. Curious corroboratory evidence, previously
unknown to me, was adduced. At length two offensive
documents, without a shadow of pretence to legitimate
argument, were addressed to me. These formed the text
of " the second, and stronger communication" already
alluded to, and no delay occurred in preparing it. The
editor, however, could not be induced to insert it; and the
rio-ht of admission was vainly claimed on the strength of the
established principle of the press — that when its columns
are opened to an attack, the same privilege ought to be con-
ceded to a reply. To remove the objection of length whlcli
the article no doubt possessed, I considerably reduced it,
confmlug myself to such direct answers to the questions and

INTRODUCTION. 9

remarks of Messrs. Ballantyne and Shilletto,* as I considered
the editor would have hardly hesitated to insert. I urged
my arguments with temper and respect. I begged of him to
reflect on tlie nature of my position, and see how humiliat-
ing it must prove to the dignity of a gentleman to be
obliged to receive truculent attacks, in silence, when a single
paragraph of reply would blow them to the winds. I felt
that an unjust construction would be put upon this silence,
and that Messrs. Ballantyne and Shilletto, together with that
large segment of the public, whose prejudices they expressed,
would exultingly regard it as a sure symptom of defeat.
My arguments and remonstrances went for nought. Both
communications were rejected, and I conceive that Notes and
Queries, in pvirsuing this course, ceased, to some extent, to
be what it professes — " a Medium of Intercommunication
for Literary Men." ^

The temperate and respectful manner in which my re-
monstrances were urged, no doubt obtained for me the fol-
lowing civil paragraph, in reply to a private letter, express-
ing a determination to publish, at once, the evidence and
arguments on the subject of the Wavei'ley Novels, which
the editor considered himself justified in suppressing. It
appeared in that obscure department (doubly obscure from
the insignificance of nonpareil type) known as "Notices to
Correspondents,"' and which few, save those expectant of
replies, ever take the trouble of poring over.

That gentlemanly courtesy which I, in common with
many more, have received at other times from the editor
and proprietor of Notes and Queries, is traceable in the fol-
lowing:— ,

" Waverley Novels. — We regret that W. J. F. should
feel we do him an injustice in closing this subject before
admitting his reply ; his silence, in our columns, will not,
we trust, after our explanation, be misconstrued. There
can be little doubt that the pamphlet, which he is preparing
on this question, will receive the attention of all who are of

* Two fif the ]innrip.il controvursialists of my views.

10 INTllODUCTION.

opinion that the subject is one deserving of further investi-
gation."

" Our exj^lanation" alludes to the paragraph of editorial
commentary which immediately succeeded the attack from
Messrs. Ballantyne and Shilletto. — " We have inserted what,
we fear, many of our readers may think more than enough,
although not all the communications which have reached
us on the question started by W. J. F. But in justice
to Sir Walter Scott, whom we believe to have been
incapable of uttering a falsehood, we quote from his General
Preface to the novels his own distinct contradiction of the
report ' which ascribed a great part, or the whole of these
Novels to the late Thomas Scott, Esq.' "^'

Sir Walter Scott might safely make this declaration with-
out telling an absolute falsehood, as the sequel will shew,
but certainly not without a certain amount of mental reser-
vation, which, as the sequel will also shew, he never scrupled
in his literary transactions.

I felt that Notes and Queries had treated me unfairly in
refusing insertion to what temperately analysed two virulent
attacks, and this feeling of irritation on my mind was not
diminished, when I found Mr. S. W. Singer, F.S.A., a
fortnight after asserting that I endeavoured to " deprive
Sir Walter Scott of his novels," and that my "attempt"
proved " abortive." Three weeks elapsed when the follow-
ing extract from a letter, received on January 8 from an
English gentleman of talent and integrity, probed the old
wound : — " I think tlie editor of Notes and Queries has acted
unfairly and injudiciously, but the time has not yet arrived
when the popular, or literary world, will endure to hear the
truth about Sir Walter Scott. This is corroborated by the
courteous, but most cautious review of Mr. French's pamph-

* Sir Walter Scott goes on to say, that " the report had some alliance to
probability, and indeed miglii have proved, in some degree, true.'''' — See General
Preface to the " Wavei-ley Novels." When I first started the question, I was
unac(juainteJ with this " denial'" respecting Thomas Scott's claims to the " whole"
aiitliorsliij) of the Tales.

INTRODUCTION. 11

let in last Athemeion. Have you noticed that the subject
is indirectly opened again in Notes and Queries of Saturday
last, by a long letter on the ' Bride ol" Lanimermoor,' from
James Haywood Markland, of Bath, in which he says that
' after the papers which have lately appeared in Notes and
Queries, "Avhatever evidence connects Sir Walter yet more
closely with the works which bear his name, should be
produced.' Dr. Markland is an old personal friend of
Scott."*

It was after much hesitation that I started the subject in
Notes and Qrteries at all, and I now, thus conspicuously,
come before the public, with a not unnatural feeling of rC'
luctance. The natural tendency of Truth is boldly to assert
itself; but independent of this powerful consideration, I
regard the course as unavoidable, my silence having been
pertly triumphed over by some, and much misconstrued by
raany.f ^

Lest my readers should expect much, and be disappointed
at the result, perhaps it is as well to let them know, before
they have the trouble of going through the pages of this
pamphlet, that I possess no autograph dying confession by
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott, of their share in the Waverley
Novels. I had no personal knowledge of what I sincerely
believe occurred. Their amanuensis, if such ever existed,
is not forthcoming. Thomas Scott's letters to Sir Walter
Scott, and the Baronet's letters to his sister-in-law, which
ought by right to have appeared in Mr. Lockhart's book,

* It was to Mr. Jlarkland that these comniunicatlons were addressed on the
incipient arrangements of King's College, which Sir Walter declares (July 14,
1828) he " wrote himself blind and sick in composing." Mr. Lockhart, p. 688,
speaks of " James Hayivood Markland, Esq.," as the " excellent friend of Scott."
He edited the Chester Mysteries.

•f It is in tliis latter spirit that the Athenaum of January 5, 1856, while
taking a retrospective glance at the upshot of a controversy which, as stated in
Notes and Queries, "literary persons awaited with an interest amounting to
excitement," — finding that the pen which started the subject had ceased to
pursue it, the Athenceum observed, after briefly viewing the progress of the
inquiry, " These speculations, however, 7na>/ he said to have died out where they
arose."

12 INTRODUCTION.

remain veiled from tlic profane gaze. Suffice it to say, that
my convictions rest on a long and a strong chain of strik-
ing circumstantial evidence, which, if it continues to gather
with the rapidity it has done since I commenced my inquiry,
must, in a short time, become irresistible.

In the following pages I place the evidence which has
reached me honestly before the Public Tribunal, and let it
there be judged. Not to give the world an oppiortunity of
deciding a question, which in a very limited state of pre-
sentation'^ excited so wide and marked a sensation, would
be a piece of inexcusable negligence on my part.

W. J. F.

April 2)1(1, 1856.

* Sef Appendix, p. 75.

INYESTIGATION

INTO

CERTAIN MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES ATfENDING THE

AUTHORSHIP OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.

THE ORIGINAL COMMUNICATION TO " NOTES AND QUEEIES.

" It has often seemed to me, and I believe to others, that the
seventy-four vohmies of the Waverley Novels could hardly have been
the work of Sir Waiter Scott''s pen exclusively. People have latterly
whispered that Alexander Dumas* and Mr. G. P. K. James receive,
sub rosa, considerable assistance in their Novel manufactures. The
interesting ' Tales of the O'Hara Family,' which some thirty years
ago excited a marked sensation in literary circles, were, until quite
recently, believed to owe their popularity entirely to John Banim. A
memoir of Mr. Banim, at present appearing in the Irish Quarterhi
Review, informs the public that his brother Michael, ex-Mayor of
Kilkenny, wrote ' Crohoore of the Bill Hook,' the Croppy,' — in fact,
some of the very best of the O'Hara Tales. f Recent memoirs of
Hannah More assure us that Bishop Porteous flung his masculine
thought and sense into her famous novel of ' Ccelebs in Search of a
Wife.' Sir Walter Scott had a brother who died in America, on
Valentine's Day, 1 823, singularly endowed with literary taste and
talent. There is little known of him; and, except by a few personal
friends, he was, even at Sir Walter Scott's death, forgotten. Various
accounts which have reached me from time to time, decidedly warrant

* M. E. de Saint Maurice Cabany, Perpetual Director General of the " Societe
fles Archivistes de France," in a letter to the author apropos to the above article,
writes : — " Ce que vous dites d' Alexandre Dumas, au debut de vos articles est
vrai : son principal coUaborateur a ete M. Auguste Maquet ; mais Dumas etait
si essential a la ^^talite de ces oeuvres que depuis que, Maquet est seul, ce dernier
n'a rien produit de boa." — [^Published by jiennission.^

t This assertion was received by an anon3'mous writer in the Brighton Guar-
dian with a storm of wrath ; and he declared that if the Irish Quarterly Review
made any such allegation in its memoir of Banim, it must have been "done" by
myself, in order to give colour to the article on Scott. From these hostile insi-
nuations a correspondence grew out, which appears at fidl length in the Irish
Quarterly Review for March, 1856.

14 INVESTIGATION INTO THK AUTHORSHIP

tlie opinion that Thomas Scott, Paymaster of the 70th Regiment,
together with his gifted wife, had some important share in the com-
position of the ' Waverley Novels.' Some of these masterpieces of
fictitious narrative appeared in such rapid succession, that the mere
manual labour of transcribing could not possibly have been accom-
plished by any oidinary writer in the time. Sir Walter must have
had friendly assistance ; but he was not a man likely ever to have
revealed any secret calculated to lower his literary prestige. The
whole secret, if any, died thirty-three years ago far away in the
plantations of Canada. Nobody expected to find any startling reve-
lations in Scott's ' Life,' by his son-in-law, and none were found. In
any case, it would have been most difficult for Lockhart to know all
Scott's literary doings. In chap, xxxvi. he ekpresses his ignorance
of how far Sir Walter was concerned in Terry's dramatised version
of ' Guy Mannering,' but presumes ' that he modified the plot,
and re-arranged the dialogue.' Similar expressions of doubt
appear in the book. Nor is it surprising. The vigour of the
' Waverley Novels' had begun to flag before Lockhart ever saw
Scott.

" In the Quelec Herald of July 15, 1820, a curious article may be
found. It consists of selections from the correspondence of a literary
gentleman in Canada with a friend in the States, and the following
I considered well worth extraction. I send the original scrap:— 7

'''York, Dec. 12, 1818.

" ' With respect to these new publications, " Rob Roy," &c., I have
no hesitation iu saying 1 believe them to be the production of the
Scotts. I say the Scotts, because Mr. Thomas Scott (who wrote the
principal part of them) was often assisted by Mrs. Scott; and the
works were generally i-evised by his bro"lher Walter before going to
press. The '' Antiquary" I can answer for particularly, because Mr.
Thomas Scott told me himself that he wrote it, a very iavf days
after it appeared in this country. Any person who had the least
intimacy with the paymaster would at once recognize him as the
author of these celebrated works. The same native humour, the
same cast of expression, and that intimate acquaintance with
Scottish manners and the Scottish annals, which are in almost every
page of those works, could be traced in his conversation by any
person of the least observation. Besides this, 1 have often heard
Mrs. Scott describe the very originals from whom the principal
characters are drawn. The Antiquary himself was an intimate
acquaintance of the paymaster ; his name I have now forgotten,
but he lived in Dumfries;* and that finely drawn character, Dominie

* Almost the onl}' reference made by Lockhart to Mrs. Thomas Scott is that
at p. '239 (^Edit. 1845), wliere she is mentioned as having passed much of her

OF THK WAVKHLKY NOVELS. 15

Sampson, was an old college acquaintance. Flora M'lvor's character
was written by Mrs, Scott herself. I have seen several of the manu-
scripts, in Mr. Scott's possession, of his other works; but I do not
recollect seeing any of the novels in manuscript except the " Anti-
quary."' I am pretty certain tliat it is his own handwriting.'

" Thomas Scott lived but a few years after this remarkable dis-
closure. Among the few letters from Sir Walter to him, which
appear in Lockhart"s book, I was particularly struck with the follow-
ing passages in a letter written during the autumn of 1814: —

" ' Send me a novel, intermixing your exuberant and natural
humour with any incidents and descriptions of scenery yon may
see, particularly with characters and traits of manners. I will give
it all the cobbling that is necessary, and, if you do but exert your-
self, I have not the least doubt it will be worth £500; and to
encourage you, you may, when you send the manuscript, draw on me
for £ 1 00 at fifty days' sight ; so that your labours will, at any rate,
not be quite thrown away. Yon have more fun and descriptive
talent than most people ; and all that you want, i. e. the mere practice
of composition, I can supply, or the devil's in it. Keep this a dead
secret, and look nothing when Waverley is spoken of. If you are
not Sir John FalstaflF, you are as good a man as he, and may, there-
fore, face Colville of the Dale. . . . Mind that your MS. attends the
draft. I am perfectly serious and confident, that in two or three
months you might clear the cobs. I beg my compliments to the
hero who is afraid of Jeffrey's sciilping knife. '■■'

" Throughout the remainder of the book, I can find no further re-
ferences to this matter ; but six years after (July 23rd, 1 820), Sir
Walter concludes a letter to Thomas, then stationed at Kingston,
Canada, with the following curious passage: — ' ]\Iy dear Tom., it
will be a happy moment, when circumstances shall permit us a meet-
ing on this side Jordan, as Tabitha says, to talk over old stories,
and lay neiv plans.' The biographer, Mr, Lockhart, does not venture
an opinion as to what these ' old stories' and ' neiv plans' meant.

early life at Dumfries. Many of the more finely drawn characters introduced in
the " Scotch Novels" are professedly daguerreot}'ped from Dumfries' originals.
Mrs. Scott's maiden name was Elizabeth IMacCulloch. ^^llen resident at Dum-
fries, she and her brother enjoyed the friendship and intellectual society of Robert
Burns. Mrs. Thomas Scott was educated at Dumfries. Her family (the
MacCuUochs of Ardwell) resided there occasionally — her maternal grandmother,
Mrs. Corsand, constantly. It is hardly probable that Mrs. Scott resided in Dum-
fries for any time after her marriage.

* Probably this playful allusion was to Jlrs. Thomas Scott, whom Sir
Walter, on the strength of an old friendship, loved to banter. IVIore of this
hereafter. Jeffrey had shortly before complained in the Edinburgh lieview of
the carelessness of style, and inartificialities of plot in Waverley, but clearly
discerned, and frankly applauded, its substantial merit of tone and design.

IG INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

How many of the ' Waverley Novels' did Thomas Scott forward to
his brother for revision, is a question to which these notes of mine
may elicit a reply. What amount of matter each originally con-
tained, is not my present inquiry; Sir Walter, no doubt, supplied
much, and omitted much. Many of the humorous characters are,
most likely, Thomas Scott's creation. As Beaumont curtailed the re-
dundancies of Fletcher's wit, so, probably, acted Scott towards his
brother's ebullitions. That Mrs. Thomas Scott furnished much cha-
racter, legendary lore, and topographical matter, 1 have reason to
believe.

" On December 22, 1815, Sir Walter, in a letter to Mr. J. B. S.
Moriitt, M. P., announces his intention of applying himself seriously
to the 'Antiquary,' ofwhfth he had in his position a 'general
sketch.' On May 16, 1816, addressing the same party, Scott speaks
of the ' Antiquary,' then three days published, as not so interesting
as its predecessors, Scott discerned its defects with a critic's, not a
father's eye. That able critic, Francis Horner, in a letter to his
sister (Life, vol. ii. p. 355), pronounces the ' Antiquary' 'inferior
as a story to the other two.'

" From the American letter, it would also appear that Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Scott gave important assistance to ' Waverley' and ' Guy
Mannering.' Very likely. I do not see how Sir Walter could well have
accomplished them in the time. In the year 1814, according to Lock-
hart, he produced the ' Lord of the Isles,' the voluminous ' Life
and Works of Swift (19 vols.), Essays on 'Chivalry,' and the
'Drama,' his elaborate ' Yacht Diary,' the curious ' Memorie of the
Somervilles,' ' Rowland letting off the Humours of the Blood, with
Annotations,' the best part of ' Waverley' (of course). Account of
the ' Eyrbriggia Saga,' and other compositions of lesser importance.
' He had also,' writes his son-in-law, 'kept up his private corres-
pondence on a scale \\hich I believe never to have been exemplified
in the case of any other person who wrote continually for the press,
except, perhaps, Voltaire; aad, to say nothing of strictly profes-
sional duties, he had, as a vast heap of documents before me proves,
superintended from day to day, except during his Hebridean voyage,
the still perplexed concerns of the Ballautynes, with a watchful
assiduity that might have done credit to the most diligent of trades-
men. The '• machine" might truly require " refreshment." '

" Mr. Lockhart is of opinion (p. 306, Edit, of 1&45) that, on
December 25, 1814, no part of ' Guy Manneriug' had been written
by Sir Walter Scott. On that day he wrote to Constable, that ho
had corrected the last proofs of his ' Lord of the Isles,' and was
setting out for Abbot:>ford to refresh the machine. We will allow
him, I suppose, at least a week of repose after the intellectual
labour described by Mr. Lockhart. On or about January 2, 1815,

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. ^ 17

flicn, Sir Walter, nccordingto the family accounts, commenced ' Guy
Maunering.' ' Before the " Lord of the Isles''* was published (con-
tinues ]\Ir. LocUhart), which took place on January 18, 1815, two
volume? of " Guy Maunering" had been not only written and copied
by an amanuensis, but ])rinted.'

" Eight hundred pages of ' Guy Mannering' composed, written,
transcribed, and printed,f in sixteen days ! I confess I am sceptical
of the statement. The printing and proof-correcting alone could
hardly have been accomplished within twice the time.l Had this
rate of easy, " refreshing" occupation been followed up, no less than
four volumes a month, or forty-eight volumes a year, would have
appeared.

"Mr. Lockhart mentions, p. 419, that three large sheets of
writing, equal to about fifteen pages of print, were regarded by
Scott, when in the full vigour of his power, as a good day's work :
and to illustrate his statement, the biographer appends a fan simile
page of the manuscript. Sir Walter, however, who ought to know
best, records in his diary, of January 23, 1826. the fact, that he
' wrote on that day until twelve o'clock, a.m., finishing half of what
he called a good day's work — ten or twelve pages of print.' Accord-
ing to this standard (ten pp.) Sir Walter would seem to have taken
eighty instead of sixteen days, to achieve the eight hundred pages
of 'Guy Maunering.' He was never able, however, to continue
working even at the rate of ten or twelve pages of print per dievi.
His journal reveals the multifarious engagements and interruptions
which constantly beset the path of his progress. Some days we
find him writing only two pages and a-half of print, while on others
even less. Viewing the evidence furnished by Scott's own diary
and correspondence, it appears reasonable to assume, that about five
pages daily may be regarded as the average of his literary labour.
But considering that, at the very time when 'Guy Maunering' is

* Alluding to this poem, Mr. Lockhart writes : — " Its appearance so rapidly
following ' Waverley,' and accompanied with the announcement of another
prose tale, just about to be published, by the same hand, puzzled and confounded
the mob of dulness" — rattier an ungracimis alhision to that extensive body
generally styled " a discerning pnblic."

■f I liave not been able to see the tirst edition of " Guy Mannering," but judging
from the style in whicli most of its contemporary fictions were brought out,
" Tales of the O'Hara Family"' for instance, each volume contained about four
hundred pages of large Pica type.

X A respectable master printer tells me, it is utterly impossible the mere
" working oft"" (t. e. printing after the tjqie had been set) could have been
accomplished within the time stated. Wlien people take into account that " Guy
Mannering" was published forty-two years ago, the statement bears impossibility
upon the very face of it. Printing was then, comparatively speaking, in its
infancy. No printing office could boast, in those days, of the advantages of a
steam-press. In the Tivie s of&ce there were always two " settings-up" of type
to save time.

18 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

presumed to Lave been in progress, Sir Walter was ^refreshing'
himself in the country after one of the most laborious literary cam-
paigns on record, it is surely generous to concede even the average
of five printed pages daily. At this rate one hundred and sixty,
instead of sixteen days, would seem necessary to tbe task. On
some future occasion I may state in detail tlie grounds on which I
rest my opinion, that Scott's labour in preparing tbe exquisite
romance of ' Guy Mannering' for the press was not greater than
that of a careful editor, who fluenily fills up, and judiciously strikes
out. Of course its success depended on that delicacy of artistic
touch, and Shakspearean breadth of judgment, which Sir Walter
Scott could alone impart and wield.*

'' Pei'haps some person, disposed to upset the startling statements
of the Quebec Herald, may, if it be in his power, refer to the manu-
script of the Antiquca-y, and find it to be in Sir Walter Scott's
handwriting. I should not be surprised to hear this. Sir Walter
Scott thought nothing of transcribing, even when no particular object
was to be gained by doing so. Moore mentions in his Diary, that
when he got books for review he copied the extracts sooner than cut
them in the usual way. Mr. Lockhart relates several instances in
which Scott, for the jiurpose of mystification, transcribed the writings
of certain cotemporaries of his acquaintance.''

The foresoinsr, with some trillinoj alteration, is as it oriffi-
nallj appeared in Notes and Queries. Ere I had cut the
leaves of my presentation copy, a shoal of unexpected letters,
arriving in brisk succession, proved that my article liad pro-
duced a stronger impression than I had either anticipated or
desired. The anonymous portion of this correspondence
scurrilou^ attacked me for daring to intrude my sacri-
legious pen on ground exclusively occupied by Sir Walter
Scott's son-in-law, and literary executor ; while other letters,
viewing the matter in a more rational light, courteously
offered assistance to the pending inquiry. I had always
respected highly Sir Walter Scott's character, and in endea-
vouring to prove that he exercised one of the prerogativesf

* The writer of tlic article " Scotl" in Rose's Blograjuhicnl Dictionary, vol. xi.,
exijr('s.se.s his conviction that " many of the Waverlcy Novels bear evidence of
reading for the purpose of finding materials to fill up a previonslj- sketched outline."

f Spealiing of Shakspeare, a writer says: — "That he got large aid from
people, often unconsciouslj' to themselves, there caivbe no doubt. It is the singular
prerogative of high genius to exact tribute from eveiy mind it meets ; and it
would be a curious study to analyse (if it were possible) the ideas and incidents
that he i)orro\ved and assimilated." The same miglit be said of Mirabeau.

OF THK WAVERLEY NOVELS. 19

of genius in exacting tribute from inferior minds, it did not
appear to me, as it did to some, that my arguments were
calculated to draw contempt upon his memory. I felt
amazed and pained at the idea of such a thought existing,
as that, from a feeling of dislike towards the late Sir Walter
Scott, I was seeking to wound his posthumous fame. Panic-
stricken at the stream of scurrility which dripped upon me,
I addressed a sliort letter to Notes and Queries, mentioning
the unexpected effect of my paper, and disclaiming having
entertained aught but deep respect for the memory of so
great a man. " If," said I, " he received any assistance in
lais Herculean and generous labour, it is no disgrace. That
there still exists some mystery to be cleared vip in connexion
with the composition of the ' Waverleys' is, I think, most
probable ; and as the main objects of Notes and Queries is
to elicit facts, I cannot be blamed for liaving contributed an
inquiry interesting without being insidious, and certainly
not obtrusive." From the instantaneous cessation of that
evidence, which at first indicated to me the posture of pviblic
opinion in respect to my simple statement of views, this
short note would seem to have removed the undesired im-
pression ; but strange to say, four weeks after, it was made
the subject of a direct attack upon me by Mr. Richard Shil-
letto, of the University of Cambridge.

In juxtaposition with my own letter, I was gratified to
see the following manifesto authenticated by a name familiar
to all who have read the life of Sir Walter Scott. That the
Ballantyne family possessed, for many years, his confidence
and friendship is well known.

" SCOTT AND THE WAVEKLEY NOVELS.

" In reference to W. J. F.'s article in the last number of your in-
teresting journal, headed — ' Were all the Waverley Novels written by
Sir Walter Scott f I have noiv only to say that his statements and
arguments are certainly startling ; but I am. not without hope that in
about a fortnight's time 1 shall be able to collect such information as
cannot fail to rebut the charge he now so plausibly makes. I re-
quest your readers to suspend their judgment.

" Francis Ballantyne.

^^ Liverpool."

This appeal to the literary world, coupled with some

20 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

curious communications in support of my own views, ex-
cited a marked sensation. On the following Saturday, Mr.
John Wodderspoon, author of " Historic Sites of Suffolk,"
and " Memorials of Ipswich," wrote as follows: —

" The question which has been raised, through the medium of
Notes and Queries, relative to the assistance given to Sir Walter
Scott in the composition of the 'Waverley Novels,' is one of the
most important that has yet been mooted in your interesting pages.
Litei'ary persons wait with impatience for the appearance of the in-
formation whicii Mr. Francis Ballantyne believes he may be able
to afford us in about a fortnight's time, proving a negative to the
acute^uggcstions and presumptions of W. J. F. This information,
it is hoped, may not be longer delayed than the period stated."

A writer, well known to the readers of periodical literature
under the signature of " F'. C. H.," followed up Mr. Wod-
derspoon's letter, with a communication displaying charac-
teristic research "in corroboration," as he said, "of the
opinion put forth by me." Weeks elapsed, and the interest
increased. At length Mr. F. Hughes, of Chester, in " adding
his mite to the materials lor solving the question," ex-
claimed— " Mr. Ballantyne's fortnight has expired !

During this interval of suspense, I drew up the following
note, and published it in Notes and Queries: —

" I have received a very characteristic letter from an eminent
litterateur, in reference to my recently expressed doubts as to whether
Sir Walter Scott was the exclusive writer of the ' Waverley Novels.'
The gentleman I refer to does not wish his name to be brought be-
fore the public in connexion with this subject, but I suppose has no
objection that I transcribe a portion both of his letter and ray reply.
Perhaps, I ought to preface the former by observing, that with some
of the views expressed I do not concur.

" ' I see Notes and Queries weekly, and I should have been as
blind as a bat not to have seen your interesting paper. Of course,
the ghosts of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott appeared to you, else what

the d 1 could have put it into your head to urge sucli " startling

arguments," as Kallanfyne snys, in favour of their claims to the
authorship ? They demand a share of the laurels, and as far as I
can judge, they are fairly entitled to a sprig or two. Scott's intel-
lect was like granite, massive and sparkling. The world might
throw their fool's cap at seeing through it, and I perfectly agree with
you that a literary secret or two, after remaining many a year quiet
ill his granite mind, i)etrified congenially, and could never after by

OF THK WAVERLEY NOVELS. 21

possibility be extracted, no matter what insinuating engine of impor-
tunity was brought to bear. Scott was a great man, and, lilce every
other great man, a strange man. Through life he loved and fat-
tened on mystification. It was a striking characteristic of Scott that
love for mystery. He never was candid about his productions or
their history, although he sometimes feigned, and appeared to be so.
. . . . There is one point I want you to clear up for us. I
never heard the name of Thomas Scott until you mentioned it. Yon
say he was ' singularly endowed with literary taste and talent.' He
may have been, but as well as I can remeisber, you do not give your
authority for this statement, as you do for the others; and in the
present day of imposture and incredulity, by Jove 1 nobody will
believe anything without irrefragable proof.

" ' Ever yours, &c.'

" To which I replied : —

" ' My dear Sir, — Your question is, I am happy to say, easily
answered. If you look to Lockhart's " Life of Scott," chap, xviii.,
you will find a letter from Sir Walter to his brother, furnishing ample
evidence to prove that Thomas Scott, now forgotten, was once a man
of known "literary taste and talent.'' In 1809, the Quarterly Re-
view was first established. Scott laboured to enrol an efficient lite-
rary staS^, and amongst others sought the aid of " Thomas, who on
the breaking up of his affairs in Edinburgh," writes Mr, Lockhart,
" had retired to the I>le of Man, and who shortly afterwards obtained
the oflice, in which he died, of Paymaster to the 70th Regiment.
The poet had a high opinion of his brother's literary talents, and
thought that his knowledge of our ancient dramatists, and vein of
comic narration, might render him a very useful recruit.'

" ' To Thomas Scott, Esq., Isle of Man.

"'Dear Tom, — Owing to certain pressing business, I have not yet
had time to complete my collection of Shadwell for you, though it is
now nearly ready. I wish you to have all the originals to collate
with the edition in 8vo.* But I have a more pressing employment
for your pen, and to which I think it particularly suited. You are
to be informed, but undertlie seal of the strictest secrecy, that a
plot has been long hatching by the gentlemen who were active in
the Anti-Jacobin paper, to countermine the Edinburgh Review, by
establishing one which should display similar talent and independence,

with a better strain of politics Now, as I know no one

who possesses more power of humour, or perception of the ridiculous,

* Thomas Scott had projected an edition of Shadwell's plays, as much for-
gotten in 180'.\ as he himself has become since. — AV. ,1. F.

^'1 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

than yourself, I think your leisure hours might be most pleasantly
passed in this way. Novels, light poetry, and quizzical books of all
kinds, might be sent to you by the packet ; you glide back your Re-
views in the same way, and touch, upon the publication of the num-
ber (quarterly), ten guineas per printed sheet of sixteen pages. If
you are shy of communicating directly with Gifford,--' you may, for
some time at least, send your communications through me, and /
will revise them. We want the matter to be a profouud secret till
the first number is out. If you agree to try your skill, I will send
you a novel or two. You must understand, as Gadshill tells the
Chamberlain, that you are to be leagued with ' Trojans that thou
dreamest not of, the which, for sport's sake, are content to do the
profession some grace;' and thus far I assure you, that if by paying
attention to your style and subject, you can distinguish yourself
creditably, it may prove a means of finding you powerful friends
were anything opening in your island.

" ' Yours aflfectionately,

" ' W. S.' "

" Thomas Scott survived eleven years after this date. It is pro-
bable that ' the style' of a man of such promise matured richly
during the interim,

" I await with anxiety and impatience the promised rebutting
case of Mr. Francis Ballantyne. 1 am happy to find F. C. H.
' corr-ohorating' by ' strong' evidence, previously unknown to me, my
opinion."

This communication was followed by a somewhat unex-
pected missive from Mr. Edgar MacCulloch of Guernsey, a
cousin of Mrs. Thomas Scott's.

" Mr. Thomas Scott married Elizabeth MacCulloch, of Ardwell,

near Gatehouse of Fleet, in Kirkcudbrightshire Her

knowledge of the legendary lore of her native province of Galloway
is said, by those who had the pleasure of her acquaintance, to have
been very great. It was generally thought in her family that she
had supplied many of the anecdotes and traits of character which Sir
Walter Scott worked up in his Scotch novels. Much of the scenery
described in Guy Manncring appears to have been sketched from
l(»calitics in the immediate vicinity of Mrs. Scott's birthplace, a re-
markable cavern, the cove of Kirkclaugh, for example, being pointed
out to tourists as Dirk Ilattcraick's cave. It is asserted (for the fact,
of course, I cannot vouch),|- that Sir Walter Scott never was in that

* The Kditor.

t /can vouch, on the strength of reliable evidence just received, that Sir AV.
Scott never was in Gallowny.— W. J. F.

OF THE AVAVEKLEY NOVELS. 23

part of the country. If this be the case, the minute description of
phxccs answering so closely to real localities is, to say the least, a
very remarkable coincidence, and warrants the supposition that, in
this point, Sir Walter may have been indebted to the assistance of
some one well acquainted with the scenes so vividly depicted.

" Many of the features in the character of the miser, Morton of
Milnwood, in Old Mortality, are traditionally ascribed to a Mr.
MacCuUoch of Barholm, who lived about the time of the civil wars
described in that novel.''

Mr. MacCullocli went on to say that these circumstances
appeared to him worthy of being recorded, and might, per-
haps, tend to eHcit further information on the subject.

A gentleman, well known and respected in the Alma
Mater of his native country, followed Mr. MacCulloch with
this interesting communication : —

" I knew Tiionias Scott well; he always appeared to me to have
a much more brilliant intellect than his brother Walter. Major
Scott (the third brother) was a sleepy-minded man, who entertained
a ' pro-di-gi-ous' dislike to all intellectual effort, except, indeed, it
might have been a game of whist, and of this he was remarkably
fond. Walter often seemed dull and absent in society. Thomas had
a certain amount of indolence, however, which prevented him from
following a regular literary life; in which, otherwise, he could not
have failed to be distinguished. His wife (?ie'e Elizabeth MacCulloch,
of Ardwell) was also highly gifted, and" was stored with old Scotch
traditions, anecdotes, and historical reminiscences. I always knew
she had a talent for writing; she, however, was sensitive on this
point, and her friends rarely alluded to it. I am certain she had
more literary industry than Thomas Scott. J believe she is dead;
at least, I have heard nothing of her for very many years. When I
knew her, she had a son (Walter), a lieutenant in the East India
Company's service; and eitlier three or four daughters, named Jessie,
Anne, and Eliza. Of these only one was married. She Avas a Mrs.
Huxley. Elizabeth MacCulloch, alias Scott, had a brother named
David. Both knew Burns intimately, when living at Dumfries;
David was considered the best singer of Burns' songs. Burns, it is
said, used to secure David's assistance when composing, and make
him try over the words vocally. I have to apologize fur occupying
so much space, but I think it likely that Mrs. Thomas Scott gave
more assistance to the Wuverley Novels than her husband.
Walter, even as a poet, nuist, to the end of time, be regarded as
possessing a powerful and sparkling genius, and no man dare dim its
lustre by breathing sus])icion ; but I certainly think, witii W. J,
F. and F. C. H., that the matter is well worth inquiring into, and

24 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

that any person who studies the dates in Lockhart's Memoiis must,
without any other evidence, entertain grave suspicion that Sir Walter
was not the author of all the Waverley Novels. Literary persons
await the decision of this question with an interest absolutely amount-
ing to something like excitement.

"R. E. B.
" Trinity College, Dublin."

The "suspended judgment" of the literary world was at
length relieved by Mr. Ballantyne's long-promised " rebut-
ting case." Here it is : —

" From what Mr. Wodderspoon says, I believe your correspon-
dents expect much from me on the subject lately mooted by W.
J. F. and backed by F. C. H. Alas, 1 fear they will be, in
some degree, disappointed; for, notwithstanding diligent inquiry in
quarters where I expected to find much zeal and information, I met
with indifference among some, and ignorance with others: but from
what I knew already, I hope to be able to shake the force of W.
J. F.'s arguments.

" Sir Walter Scott was well known to possess as much honour and
integrity as any gentleman in Scotland. Can his assurance to Lord
Meadowbank, on Feb. 23, 1827, be seriously discredited by W.
J. F. when Sir Walter emphatically declared (and this declaration
remains on rctuixl to confront him) that he was the sole and un-
doubted author of the Waverley Novels ? Who but Scott possessed
the ability to write such masterpieces of composition? I am not
aware that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott ever distinguished themselves
in literary pursuits.

" Whatever circumstantial evidence W. .J. F. has produced to
prove The Antiquary not to be the work of Sir W. Scott (and even
this I do not subscribe to), he has not brought forward, as 1 take it,
a single authority to substantiate the assumption that Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Scott 'gave imi)ortant assistance to Waverley and Guy
Mannering.' Guy Maroiering, above all the other novels, Scott has
been frequently heard to declare was ' the work of a few weeks
at Christmas:' The Antiquary was avowedly his favourite novel, and
certainly if he was not the author of those books, 1 think it most
improbable (and you, Mr. Editor, will, I am sure, agree with me)
that a man of such unblemished integrity and honour would com-
placently refer to them, over and over, as his own. Would he risk
his fair fame by placing it on a pedesdal so rickety? No, sirl W.
J. F.'s efforts, and F. C. IL's efforts, to 'lay the bairn at a cer-
tain do or,' are futile, and deserve nought but ridicule.

" Francis Bai.lantvne.

,, Liverpool."

OF THE WAVERLKY NOVELS. 25

An analysis of this ''rebutting case" would not, I should
say, be attended with the discovery of much legitimate
argument. In this instance, Mr. Ballantyne acted, no doubt,
as the mouthpiece of a large portion of the public. A
larger portion, however, were, I am inclined to think,
dissatisfied with his reply.

There appeared, co-operatively, in the same impression
of Notes and Queries, a hostile missive, signed Richard
Shilletto, and whose modest position (the last of six com-
munications on the subject) would seem at first inconsistent
with his swaggerincr attitude and inflated tone. Havinor
stigmatized as " a mare's nest," what I and others considered
a rather strong case, he concluded by saying that heretofore
he signed his "notes" and "queries?" with the anagram
" Charles Thiriold," but that on the present occasion he
would depart from this custom, and actually reveal " for
obvious reasons" (not obvious to me), his veritable cognomen
Richard Shilletto — a name much more like an anagram
surely than Charles Thiriold. This gentleman, who gave his
address as Cambridge, grappled with my supplemental letter
{ante, p. 19) declaratory of the respect 1 entertained for
Scott's memory, and expressive of the opinion that a literary
inquiry into the presumed share which Mr. and Mrs. Tliomas
Scott had in the Waverley Novels was not calculated to
blight (as some of my anonymous correspondents imagined)
the great man's fame. Mr. Shilletto, having hunted up soTne
declarations of Sir Walter Scott in 1827 and 1829, first that
he was " the sole and unassisted author of all the novels,"
and secondly that Thomas Scott was not the author of " the
whole or a great part of the Waverley Novels," offered me,
as he said, " either horn of a dilemma," either to uphold un-
truths as respectable, or confess ignorance. " Upholding a
standard of literary morality, which is profoundly low, or
entitling myself to an eminently high niche in Castle
Ignorance !"

I at first felt a little staggered by these revived declara-
tions of Sir Walter Scott (not having been acquainted with
them when I started the subject), but after some reflection
and inquiry arrived at the conclusion that they merely con-
stituted a temporary obstacle, and were not of sufficient
weight (when duly analysed) to warrant the t.jtal abandon-
incut of llie in{[uiry.

I promptly drew u]> an answer to the joint onslaught of

26 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

Messrs. Ballantyne and Shilletto, believing that having been
assailed I had every license and right to reply. The ex-
pressed determination of the Editor to terminate all further
agitation of the controversy has been noticed, and recorded
in the preface.

My answer formed the skeleton of the following somewhat
elaborate article. I have dovetailed into it many points,
observations, and particles ofevidence, which, in the course of
some reading and some intercourse since, I deemed worthy
of notinof. The origfinal communication would have formed
m size about the one-twelfth part of the following.

Mr. Ballantyne's long promised " rebutting case" has at
length appeared. It has been looked forward to by literary
persons with " impatience," as we are assured by Mr.
Wodderspoon, of Norwich. Many parties, to my knowledge,
interested in the question, refrained from uttering their views,
until the " important information," promised by Mr. Ballan-
tyne in a "fortnight's time," should have appeared. It is well
known that the Ballantyne family possessed, for a consider-
able period, more of Sir Walter Scott's confidence than even
his immediate family. Every reader of Lockhart's Life of
Scott must be aware of this. I was, therefore, surprised
and gratified, when Mr. Francis Ballantyne started forth
from his retirement, and while the effect of my searching
inquiry into Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott's presumed share in
the authorship of the Waverley Novels was yet fresh on
the public mind, exhorted every reader of iV. <$• Q.,to ^^ sus-
pend his judgi7ie7it" until he could produce such "informa-
tion as could not fail" to shake my " startling arguments,"
and " rebut the charge I so plausibly made." I was gratified
to see this, because it justified me in believing, that I had
sufficient grounds to undertake what I much fear has ap-
peared to many, as an ungracious task.

During the interval the " interest," according to another
of your correspondents, swelled to such a degree, as " abso-
lutely to amount to excitement." This feeling, day by day,
increased. At length Mr. Thos. Hughes, of Chester, while
adding his mite to the materials " for solving the ques-
tion," announced, "Mr. Ballantyne's fortnight has expired!""

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 27

Mr. Ballantyne at last emerged into notice, not confident
in the strength of his " rebutting case," as many sangulnely
expected, but tremulously expressing a " hope, that he
might be able to shake the force of W. J. F.'s arguments."
When I started the subject I was totally unacquainted
with, or had totally forgotten, the assurances of Sir W.
Scott, in 1827, to Lord Meadowbank and others, to the
effect that he was the sole and unassisted author of the
Waverley Novels. These assurances have just been raked
up to render any persistence of mine in their curious
inquiry awkward. I had not read the *' Waverleys," or Lock-
hart's Life^" for several years, and merely referred to the
index of the latter lately to find the allusions to Thomas
Scott. My impression was, that from 1824 Sir Walter went
to no trouble whatever in assuring the public either way,
bvit let them draw their own conclusions. I considered that
his authorship of the novels was quite an understood thing
from 1822. The Dublin Inquisitor for February, 1821, re-
cords the fact, that Sir Walter's son, then a cornet in the
18tli Hussars, and quartered at Portobello Barracks, near
Dublin, was in the habit of openly avowing his father's
paternal interest in the " Scotch romances."

Having advanced into the arena, it is, of course, impos-
sible to go back, and it now behoves me, not only to main-
tain my position with every available argument, and thus
armed, dispute the ground, inch by inch, but bring to
the rescue a reserved guard, wliich has hitherto remained
concealed.

That the author of " Marmion" would descend to the de-
grading practice of falsehood, in his ordinary intercourse
with society, I do not, nor ever will, believe ; but certainly
there is ample evidence to show that he never scrupled very
broad equivocation (to say the least) in matters immediately
connected with literature. There are many who consider
such things allowable. Sir Walter Scott would appear to
have been one of them.

Mr. Ballantyne's first question is an embarrassing one, but
I cannot avoid answering it seriously, and steadily, as a
counsel would, were he appealed to by the opposing lawyer.

*This passage, and those preceding, are precisely as they stood in the original
communication to Azotes and Queries. Since then I liave read Lockhart thi'ough,
as will be evident to the reader in the Kequel.

28 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHTP

" Sir W. Scott," he writes, " was well known to possess as
much honour and integrity as any gentleman in Scotland.
Can his assurance to Lord Meadowbank be seriously discre-
dited by W. J. F. (and this declaration remains on record
to confront him), that he was the sole and undoubted author
of the Waverley Novels ?"

Why should Sir Walter Scott's assurance to Lord Meadow-
bank, that he was the real author of the novels, be entitled
to greater credence than his reiterated denials, extending
over fifteen years, that he had any " hand, act, or part" in
their composition ? These solemn renunciations of all know-
ledge of their paternity are distinctly remembered by many
at the present day who heard them, and to whom they were
made. It is easily seen that Mr. Lockhart, in the discharge
of his duty as Scott's " literary executor," wishes to place as
few of them on record as possible. Three or four detailed
cases, however, appear; but the descriptive circumstances
are usually so diluted, that their introduction here can only
prove of partial A^alue.

At a dinner given by the Prince Regent, in Carlton
House (vol. V. p. 48), his Royal Highness, towards mid-
night, called for a bumper, with all the honours, to the
author of " Waverley," looking significantly at Scott as he
charged his own glass. Scott filled also, and said, " Your
Roval Highness looks as if you thought I had some claims
to the honours of the toast. I have no such pretensions."
The company present comprised the Dukes of York and
Gordon, Lords Hertford, Fife, and Melville, the Right
Hon. John Wilson Croker (then Secretary to the Admi-
ralty), and Lord Chief Commissioner Adam. Li the second
edition of Lockhart's " Life of Scott," the editor tells vis that
he has been assured by two gentlemen, who were at the
dinner, that the Prince did not, on this occasion, run " so
near the wind" as was originally represented in the text.
This statement is corroborated by an entry in Moore's
Diary, on May 13th, 1829:— "Dined with C[roker].
Party at dinner — Lord Palmcrston, Lord Lowther, Sir
George Clerk, and Spencer Pcrcival. The conversation
agreeable. The King, it appears, did not ask Scott (as I
have always understood) whether he was the author of the
novels ; he only pointedly alluded to some character in
them, upon which Scott said, " Sir, it is impossible to -mis-

OF TliE WAVERLKY NOVELS. 29

take the meaning, &c., &c., and I beg to say," disclaiming
in the most decided manner his being the author. This
was going out of his way to deny ; had the Prince asked
him, he ^wf^/zHiave been justified in doing so; but volun-
teering an untruth in this way is unintelligible; always
taking it for granted that the story is true, which it may not
be. C[rokcr], however, said he was by when it happened."

The following curious extract, from Moore's Diary (vol.
ii. p. 199), forms a fitting companion to the precedmg: —

" Talked (with Rogers) of the Scotch novels. When
Wilkie was taking his portraits of Scott's family, the eldest
daughter said to him, ' We don't know what to think of
these novels. We have access to all papa's papers. He
has no particular study ; writes everything in the midst of
us all, and yet we never have seen a single scrap of the
manuscript of any of these novels ;* but still we have one
reason for thinking them his, and that is, that they are the
only works published in Scotland of which copies are not
presented to papa.' The reason against is stronger than the
reason /or. Scott gave his honour to the Prince Regent
they were not his; and Rogers heard him do the same to
Sheridan, who asked him, with some degree of brusquerie,
whether he was the author of them. AH this rather con-
firms me in my first idea, that they are not Scott's. Another
argument between us, on the justifiablcness of a man as-
serting so solemnly that a book was not his, when it really
ivas. I maintained that no man had a right to put himself
into a situation which required lies to support him in it.
R. quoted Palcy about the expediency of occasionally lying,
and mentioned extreme cases of murder, &c., which had
nothing whatever to do with the point in question, and
which certainly did not convince me that Scott could be at
all justified in such a solemn falsehood. At last Rogers ac-
knowledged that saying ' on his honour was going too far,
as if the simple, solemn assertion was not equally sacred."

But to return to Lockhart. The following examples of
" literary denial" are possibly diluted to a proportionate

* Contrasted with Miss Sopbia Scott's declaration the following extract
from the General Preface sounds oddly: — "The truth is, that 1 never ex[)ected
or hoped to disguise my connexion with these novels from any one who lived
on terms of intimacy with me." And again, "Those who were in habitual
intercourse with tbe real author had little hesitation in assigning the literary
property to him."

30 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

extent as that already cited. In a letter to John Murray,
dated December 18th, 1816, in answer to one from that
eminent publisher panegyrising " The Tales of my Landlord,"
Scott writes : — "My dear Sir, — I give you heartily joy of the
success of the ' Tales,' although I do not claim that paternal
interest in them which my friends do me the credit to assign
me. lassure you I have never read a volume of them until they
were printed, and can only join with the rest of the world
in applauding the true and striking portraits which they
present of old Scottish manners ... I have a mode of con-
vincing you that I am perfectly serious in my denial — pretty
similar to t'lat by which Solomon distinguished the real
mother — and that is by reviewing the work, Avhich I take
to be an operation equal to that of quartering the child."

On 18th January, 1819, Scott, writing to Mr. Richardson,
goes on to say, after informing him of an attempt made by,
the wife of one of the Edinburgh judges to ascertain the
author of the Waverley Novels : — " I gave in dilatory defences,
imder protestation, to add and eik ; for I trust, in learning a
new slang, you have not forgot the old. In plain words, I
denied the charge, and as she insisted to know who else could
write these novels, I suggested Adam Ferguson, as a person
having all the iiiforraation and capacity necessary for that
purpose."

Six years after, du.ring Sir Walter Scott's visit to Dublin,
as appears from the Irish journals of the day, and from Lock-
hart's Life, vol. viii. p. 23, he assured the College librarian,
who began to talk about " Redgauntlet," that he had not
even seen the book. Well might " the Memoir of Sir Walter
Scott," in the New Monthly 3Iagazine, declare that he
" positively rejects the merit of having written those in-
teresting stories."

In Scott's Diary (p. GOG), he speaks of putting a couplet
of Fielding's into the mouth of a previously existing person.
"Then Fielding's lines were not written. What then?
It is an anachronism for some sly rogue to detect. Besides,
it is easy to sicear they icere written, and that Fielding
adopted them from tradition."

It is evident that Sir Walter Scott considered fibs and tricks
in literature as perfectly venial. A few of his deliberate
denials of the autliorship, I jiave already transcribed. It is
only comparatively lately that tlie extracts purporting to be

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. SI

from old Englisli plaj^s and ballads were found to be, as
Lockliart terms them, " fabrications." Trivial as these were,
we must remember that it is the very same disagreeable
mystery, practised on a larger scale, which hangs over the
fame of Chatterton. For reviewing his own "Tales of My
Landlord," in the Quarterly, Jan. (1817), he has been
severely censured. Taking advantage of this tempting op-
portunity, he devoted a large portion of the article to an
elaborate defence of his own picture of the Covenanters,
which Dr. Macrie had trenchantly attacked, through the
medium of the Edinburgh Christian Instructor. Speaking
of this attack in a letter to Lady Louisa Stewart, sister of
the late Primate of all Ireland and an influential person in
her way, Scott writes: — " I have not read it, and certainly

never shall I make it a rule never to read attacks

made on me."

This letter is dated January 31, 1817. In the number of
the Quarterly, published on January 1, 1817, appears Scott's
Reviewal of his own " Tales of my Landlord," — the greater
part of which Reviewal is occupied with a clever confutation
of Dr. Macrie's still cleverer attack. It was the zeal with
which Scott entered into the matter which at first aroused sus-
picion as to the author, and this the Morning Chronicle of the
day did not hesitate to express. Mr. Lockhart, when he gave
this celebrated Review a place in " Scott's Miscellaneous
Prose Works," would seem to have forgotten the Historical
Introduction of 1829. "The plan of this edition," writes
Scott, " leads me to insert here some accounts of the incidents
on which the novel of ' Waverley' is founded. They have
been already given to the public by my friend William Ers-
kine, afterwards Lord Kinneder, when reviewing the ' Tales
of my Landlord,' in the Quarterly Hevieiv, in 1817 !" Mr.
Lockhart, in the " Life of Scott," gives it as his opinion that
a portion of the critique was written by Erskine. Certes, all
the original MS. of the Reviewal was in Scott's autograph.
Erskine died in August, 1822. (aS^^ Appendix.)

A writer in Notes and Queries has said that if my opinion
turned ovit to be correct, Sir Walter Scott would stand guilty
of the grave offence of having " imposed upon the public
confidence."

It appears to me that he almost always enjoyed the idea
of imposing upon the public —of drawing suspicion from

32 IKVESTIGATION IKTO THE AUTHORSHIP

himself on others — wliich he did witli such tact as to earn
the name of a consummately ingenious actor. Certainly, the
characteristic referred to is no novelty in Scott's case.

But even in the most trifling minutire, he always would
appear to have rather relished the notion of hoodwinking
Avhat Mr. Lockhart calls " the mob of dulness." Hogg
published a voluumeof " Jacobite Relics." The Edinhnrgh Re-
fferrtookawarm fancy to one fine old Jacobite strain, "which
Hogg," writes Mr. Lockhart, p. 391, "had /a6?'z'cafefZ the year
before. Scott, too, enjoyed this joke, almost as muck as the
Shepherd." In getting rid of some lumber by auction, in-
cluding " a set of most wretched daubs of landscapes" received
at various times from a friend, which, if declined, would
seriously offend the giver, Sir Walter writes (Diary,
p. 610), " It would be a good joke enough to cause it to be
circulated, that they were performances of my ow^n in early
youth." This anecdote is very trifling, and only deserving
of notice as shewing the tendency to regard as a good joke,
any species of deception, however trivial, upon the public.

Mr. Lockhart, p. 466, describes a series of " Private Let-
ters" which Scott wrote, " giving a picture of manners in the
reign of James L," and pretending that they had been "dis-
covered in the repository of an old English family." The
printing of tliis ingenious piece of imposition had been more
than half accomplished, when, at the request ofErskine and
Ballantyne, it was suddenly discontinued. " You were all
quite right," said Scott; " if the letters had passed for genu-
ine, they would have found favour only with a few musty
antiquarians." If such tricks were permitted, how could
historians refer with safety or confidence to those collections
of old Letters and Diaries, which form some of their most
valuable materials?

Within the last few days, the Rev. Alexander Dyce's
Recollections of Rogers's Table-Talk has been published. I
■find at p. 1'J3, a detailed account of one of those deliberate
denials on the part of Scott, which Moore has alluded to
in his Diary. After dining with Rogers, Scott accompanied
him to a party given by Lady Jersey. Sheridan was among
the guests. He asked Scott if he had written " Waverley."
Scott replied, " On my honour, I did not." Rogers of course
condemned this reply.

I will beg to ask Mr. Ballantyne one question. Which

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 33

would lie sooner credit — the solemn assurance of a gentle-
man who volunteers " upon his honour''' — or an assurance
without that strengthening phrase?*

But independent of all this, I hold it, that on the princi-
ple adopted in Courts of Justice, a man's own personal as-
sertion (in a case where the legitimacy of aposition influenced
by said assertion is being tested and inquired into) should
never be received with implicit confidence. The personal
evidence of a directly interested party rarely carries weight
in a Court of Law ; and the present inquiry should, to a cer-
tain extent, be guided by similar principles. The late Hugh
Boyd, an able political writer of the last century, and as far as
Iknow, a man of rectitude and truth,! confessed to M. Bonne-
carrere, French Minister Plenipotentiary, his immediate
connexion with the authorship of Junius, which had been
repeatedly before, and occasionally since, ascribed on internal
evidence to Boyd. The confession was regarded as confi-
dential, and M. Bonnecarrere, did not avow the fact until
circumstances demanded it, two and tliirty years subsequent
to Boyd's death. He did so through the medium of a long
and interesting letter to tlie editor of the Moniteur,X in
August, 1816. This letter has been known to all who made
the authorship of Junius an object of inquiry; but Boyd's
declaration to M. Bonnecarrera, with tears in his eyes, ac-

* Sir Walter Scott, in refily to General Gourgaud (Sep. 14, 1^27), who threw
doubts on the authenticity of a document iniroduced in Napoleon's Life, "because
it rested oiilv on a verbal cuniiiiunication, made before responsible witngsses,"
Avrites : — " I have been accustomed to consider a gentleman's word as e(]ually
worthy of credit with his handwriting." Further on, Sir Walter speaks of his
inability to suppose a gentleman capable of departing from truth in a statement
made upon his "A\'ord of Honour."

t A very complimentary jNIemoir of Hugh Boyd appears in the Biotp'apliee
Universelle, (vol. v., p. 420.) An edition of Boyd s acknowledged political wri-
tings was brought out in two volumes in 1800. The conviction that Boyd was
Junius continued steady and unwavering in Chalmers' mind until his death. In
18'i0, appeared " Dociunents for the opinion tiiat Hugh M'Aulay Boyd wrote
Juiiius's Letters, by George Chalmers, F.R S., S.A." In liS17, he publi>hed
"Junius ascertained, from a Concatenation of Circumstances amounting to moral
Demonstration;" and two years later (1819), ai)peared anew edition with a
postscript, "evincing that lle^yd wrote Junius, and not Francis." An edition of
" Junius's Letters" was published in 18(10, edited by iSIr. Almon, wherein he ad-
duced strong jiresumptive evidence in support of Mr. Campbell's iireviously
expressed conviction, that Boyd was Junius.

X This letter has been lately revived in Notes and Queries, by the writer of f l\cso
pages. The editor, in introducing it to his readers, mentioned, that although
known to all who made the .Tuiiiu.s fpiestiim their study, he was not aware of its
existence in any permanent form, and for that reason he felt inclined to preserve it.

C

34 INVESTIGATION INTO TUK AUTHORSHIP

companied by the actual exhibition of some of the original
Junius MSS., did not prevent the literary investigators of
the subject from examining the evidence in favour of
Burke's, Francis's, and Lord Sackville's presumed share in
their production.*

It has been said that when Scott's literary mask partially
slipped from his countenance, and everybody recognized in
him the author of '' Waverley," George IV., recollecting his
solemn assurances to him (for the truth of which he staked
his honour), manifested diminished instead of increased
attention towards him. So accomplished a gentleman as
George IV. could never have been guilty of absolute rude-
ness ; but it is a positive fact, that throughout his intercourse
Avith Scott, on the occasion of the royal visit to Scotland,
his cold courtesy was observed to contrast unpleasantly
with that warm familiarity which those who discovered tlie
change had themselves been witnesses of previously.

We have already seen Moore's recorded opinion in 1818,
that Scott was not the author of the " Scotch Novels."
This belief very generally prevailed. In 1820 the Prince
was crowned King, and Scott was created a Baronet. As
a staunch Ministerialist, and consistent Tory, he Avas fairly
entitled to the dignity. Tlie Spectator, in reviewing Lock-
hart's " Life," declared that " Scott was one of the most vio-
lent amonsr the Edinburgh Tories." No one then imagined
that to " Waverley" or " Guy Mannering" he owed this
elevation.f

Until 1822, Scott, as "the Great Unknown," continued
to exercise his mysterious sway. In the leading reviews of
" Kenilworth" (March, 1821), no venture at speculation as
to the real author Avas hazarded. The rcA^ews of the
" Pirate" (January, 1822), unreservedly spoke of Scott as

* The testimony of Sir John Macpherson, Bart., of Brompton Grove (once
Governor-General of India), wlio spol^e from personal iinowledge, went far in
.strengthening the claims made by Mr. Boyd's friends. A'ide Gentleman's Mac/a-
zine, vol. Ixxxiv., p. 224. This occurred two years previous to Mr. Bonnn-
carrcre's letter.

f A sliort anecdote will illustrate the thorougli conservatism of Scott's principles.
Lf'igli Hunt took a dislike to Scott, as he assures us (A utobiograpliy, chap, xii.),
in consequence of a solitary passage in his edition of Drydcn — " A more das-
tardly or deliberate piece of wickedness," writes Hunt, " than allowing a sliip,
witli its crew, to go to sea, knowing the vessel to be leaky, believing it likely to
founder, on purpos(^ to destroy one of the passengers, it is not easy to conceive ;
yet, l»fcau8e tliis was done by a Tory King, the relater could find no severer term
for it than " ungenerous."

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 35

the author ;*• and continued successively to do so until the
last of the series had appeared. In August, 1822, King
George IV. made his celebrated visit to Scotland.

Here, to substantiate my assertion relative to the sove-
reign's unusvial reserve towards Scott, on the occasion of the
royal visit to Edinburgh, I ought, perhaps, to subjoin a
leading article of the limes newspaper, which must be con-
sidered of some weight as an authority. Its tone will be
observed to jar inharmoniously with that pervading Mr.
Lockhart's description of the same scenes: —

" It is somewhat ludicrous to observe the pains with which the
Edinburgh Government scribes endeavour to press Sir Walter Scott
into the first rank of the personages who occupied the proscenium
during the arrangements for his Majesty's reception in Scotland.
' From first to last,' they say, ' Sir Walter received from the King
the most condescending marks of attention.' It is a pity that
the author of ' Waverley' should deem it important to figure in every
part of a corporation pageant, and should suffer his friends, if such
they are, to force npon liim a feeling of vulgar vanity, which may
be their's for excellent reasons, but which never can, or, at least,
never ought to be his. Why is not Sir Walter Scott contented
with having received a gentleman's reception from the King ? Wliy
does he suifer it to be insinuated that he was a cordial guest at Dal-
keith House, as well as being a welcome vit-itor to the Lord Provost?
He dined at Dalkeith House but once — the more favoured guests
were daily theref — it was, (or, at least, it ought to be,) enough for
Sir Walter to have had his turn in the round of hospitable civilities

* Th.Q Examiner, iu noticing the "Pirate," says: — " Sir Walter Scott — for
we presume it will now be considered affected to say "the Great Unknown," &c.
In reviewing " Kenilworth" (March previously), the critic did not venture to spe-
culate as to the authorship.

f Mr. Lockhart (vol. vii. p. G2) writes, in strange contradiction : — " The
King took u[) his residence at Dalkeith Palace, a noble seat of the Buccleuch fa-
mily ; and here his dinner partj' almost daily included Sir Walter Scott ;" and in
the same breath Lockhart speaks of " all the flattering condescension lavished by
his Majesty on him." Referring to this period, Mr. Lockhart, seven -years pre-
viously (vol. v. p. 50), intimates indirectly, that a similar scene to that described
by Moore («?ite, p. 28), took place at Dallieith. " lam inclined to believe," he
writes, "that a scene at Dalkeiih, in 1822, may have been unconsciously blended
with Carlton House — 181.5." The two entries of Moore's Diaiy, however, on this
subject, upset INIr. Lockhart's assumption. Mr. Lockhart's allusion (Jciivp. 181.5)
to " a scene at lialkeith in 1822," furnishes a still stronger clue to the causes of
that " reserve," which the Times notices so sharply. Mr. Lockhart makes no
allusion to this mysterious "scene" at Dalkeith, when describing the Sovereign's
visit to Scotland, and the " flattering condescension which he lavished" on Sir
Walter.

36 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

arranged by the Kinji for his most distinguished Scottish subjects.
Nobody has said that Sir Walter, " from first to last," incurred the
displeasure of the King; all that has been said is, that his court recog-
nition had nothing to distinguish it from the formalities observed
towards others, and that he was not of the King's private circle at
Dalkeith. Everybody knew that, ' from first to last,' Sir Walter
permitted himself to be put forward as director of the most trivial
matters connected with the arrangements of the Edinburi^h pageants.
That while meddling in all the details of matters for which his habits
and pursuits so ill fitted him, he should, like other men who moved
from their own proper sphere, have committed odd acts, was only
■what might have been expected ; but his friends should not have
forced these eccentric aberrations into light: for instance, was it fair
for them to have told how he broke the glass out of which the King
drank to him as he descended from the royal yacht to his boat, and
then bewailed the loss as if it were that of the antique spur which
he had preserved for the head of the Dalhonsie family? The anec-
dote was simply this, Sir Walter, with very bad taste, went on bonrd
the royal yacht uninvited, on the evening of the King's arrival in
Leith roads, in stormy and wet weather, and selected the moment
his Majesty was receiving the news of Lord Londonderry's death*
(for whom, by the way. Sir Walter always professed such a
respect, as to make his dress and manner at the coronntion the
theme of a laboured adulatory article in an Edinburgh paper), as the
proper opportunity for presenting the King with the Ladies' Silver
Cross. The King, who had ju<t descended from the deck, was pre-
vailed upon by some of the attendants to guard against the dangers
of hazy weather, by tasting a glass of brandy; the cordial was just
poured out, his Majesty put it to his lips, and then presented the
glass to Sir Walter, who, as in duty bound, finisiied the royal
bumper, but not with the gout of a Higiilander: he was determined,
however, to preserve the glass either as a memento of the exploit, or
as a royal trophy, and he placed it in his pocket for the purpose ;
but Neptune, who has committed nianv a treasure to the waves, de-

* Lord Castlereagli, Enf:-lish IMiiiister for Foreicn Affairs, had Just coni-
niittcd suicide. The followini;; flamiiiL; account of the inlpi-\'iew between liis IMa-
jesty and Scott appears in IMr. Lockhait's work. p. 482. When his arrival aloncr
.side the yacht was announced to the King — '" What,' exclaimed liis Majesty, ' Sir
Walter Scott! the man in Scotland 1 most wish to see! let him come up.'
The distingiii.-^hed baronet then ascended the ship, and was presented to the
King on the quarter deck, wliere, after an appropriate speech in name of the
ladies of ICdinliurgh, he presented his jrajesty with a St. Andrew's Cross in
xilver, which his fair subjects had jirovided for him. The King, with evident
marks of satisfaction, made a gracious reply to Sir Walter, received the gift in
the most kind aird condesci iid-ng manner, and promised to wear it in public, in
token of acknowledgment toth" fair donors."

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 37

feated the baronet's intention, and the glass was broken in his pocket,
to liis great mortification, according to the idle tattle of his friends.
So much for the baronet's ' first' visit to the King, 'ihen for his
' last,' which was at the Lord Provost's banquet.* Sir Walter was
there placed at the head of the centre table, and immediately facing
the King. It was, of all others, the place best adapted for any per-
son who wislied to attract his Majesty's notice, and the manner of Sir
Walter during the dinner was such, as to manifest no disinclination
to be the object of that distinction ; but how vain are human specu-
lations ! '1 he King drank repeatedly to the personages around him
at the head table, but Sir Walter did not immediately catch the
royal eye ; he had, however, an expedient left, and he lost no lime
in trying it — it was a bottle conttiining some soul-melting beverage,
which he uncorked and sent to the King. His Majesty then filled a
glass to the baronet, who rose, and made two suitable obeisances
iu acknowledging the honour, and thus he took leave of his sovereign."!

As a set oft' to the Thunder of the 7imes, it is proper to
add, that Mr. Croker was assured by the King on his return
to London, that no " coohiess had existed between himself
and Scott." This statement appears in Lockhart.j Without
any actual " coolness," however, it is quite possible that his
JNlajesty, on discovering Scott to have pledged his honour to
him on an untruth, felt his respect for him weakened, and
his tendency to gracious familiarity checked. That this re-
serve continued beyond the first blush of the detection, I
do not believe. Four years after Scott was entertained by
tlie King at Windsor. He first made his acquaintance in
1815 : so friendly was their intercourse at this period, that
the Kegent invariably addressed him as " Walter."

* Mr. L(X-khart, in describing this entertainment, leather extravagantly tortured
one of the King's toasts into a coniphnient to Sir Walter Scott. " The most
striking homage," he writes (tliougli apparently an unconscious one), that his
genius received during tbia festive period, was when his Majesty, after propos-
ing the healtli of his hosts, the Magistrates and Corporation of the northern
capital, rose and said, ' There was one toast more, and but one, in which
he must request the assembly to join him. I shall simply give you,' said he,
' the Chieftains and Clans of Scotland, and Prosperity to the land of cakes.' "
This speech was only of a piece witli tlie King's blarney in 1821 to the Irish
people, when he told them, pointing to a Limich of shamroclis in liis button hole,
tliat he would drink their healths, and the health of St. Patrick, in a tumbler of
Irish poteen punch.

f Further uncomplimentaiy allusiuns to Scott succeed this passage. Suthcient
has been given to sustain my statement.

J Moore adds, iu his Diary of August 19, 1824, a conversation with a man of
very few words, the Hev. George Crabbe. Crabbe was on a visit with Scott,
when the King was in Edinburgh, and he told Moore two years after, tliat the
smasli of the wine glass "seemed to be a prognostic ol' tlie disfavour which Scott
fell into with his Majesty." Such discrepancies are certainly curious.

38 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHir

I have said that sucli skilful revision may Scott have be-
stowed on Mr. and Mrs. T. Scott's writings, as to consider
their success owing to himself, and that he might safely
class them among his other works. There is evidence to
prove that, under certain circumstances, he did not scruple
to place his name on the title page of works, not altogether
written by himself. The following book would still seem to
be viewed as the sole offspring of Sir Walter Scott. In " the
London Catalogue of Books, 1816 to 1851," I find the se-
cond item in the list of Scott's works is " Border Antiqui-
ties, 2 vols., 4to. £9, large paper, £13 13s. — Longman!''
How few appreciate, or even are aware of Mr. Mudford's la-
bours when reading this valuable work. Is it unreasonable
to suppose possible that some co-operative labour may be
secretly sank in the Waverley Novels as well?

From the " TAterary Gazette^' of November 7, 1818.

" CURIOUS LITERAKY CASE.
" To the Editor of the '■Literary Gazette.''

" Sir, — If you agree with main thinking that the following state-
ment deserves to be made public, you will probably allow it a' place
in tlie pages of your really excellent publication. I am aware there
are few things about which the world in general are less interested
than the squabbles of authors; but as I intend to make no angry
accusation, and am conscious that my assertions will be irrefragable,
I may indulge the hojje that this letter will not come under the above
description.

"You and many of your readers have, perhaps, seen advertised a
work by AValter Scott, entitled the ' Border Antiquities of England
and Scotland, in 2 vols. -Ito.' With what justice, however, that
gentleman assumes to himself the entire authorship of the work iu
question, you will be able to judge, when I tell you that very nearly
half of it ivas written by myself. It is not necessary that I should
retail the circumstances which induced me to relinquish proceeding
with it, after having completed tlie fir.'^t vol. It is ' enough ' for my
purpose that I did relinquish it ; that Mr. Walter Scott afterwards
completed it, and that, upon its publication in an entire form (for it
came out originally in quaitorly parts), he has placed his name in
the title-page as the writer of tlie whole, without any intimation to
the contrary in any part of the introductoiy matter, whicii, for
aught I know to the contrary, is entirely his. Most person.^, I
appreiiend, will consider" this proceeding as not quite rcconcileable
with candour.

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 39

" I have been partly prompted to advance this claim, for the sake of
ir.entioiiing two amusing facts, as connected with the sagacity of
periodical critics. During the time that the work was publishing in
detached portions, it was reviewed in one of our most respectable
monthly journals, and the reviewer, misled, no doubt, by the nature
of the subject, confidently affirmed, from the internal evidence of the
style, that it was from the pen of Walter Scott, and when, by an odd
coincidence, it afterwards came forth with the name of that gentleman
in the title-page, I assure you the said reviewer reminded his readers,
with no little exultation, of the accuracy of his previous judgment. I
need hardly add, that at the time it was thus gratuitously assigned
to the pen of Walter Scott, he had not written a line of it.

"Similarly unfortunate has been a more recent critic, who, in review-
ing the work as Walter Scott's, has perversely, however, selected
most of his examples from that portion of it which was written by
myself, and which are cited as felicitous specimens of Mr. Scott's
style.

''Now, Mr. Editor, ought I to be angry or pleased at these blun-
ders? they who admiie Mr. Scott's prose as much as they do his
poetry, will decide for the latter ; but for myself, it is really so
weighty a point, that, without your assistance, I am afraid I cannot
make up my mind upon it.*'. . . .

" Your obedient Servant,

" Wm. Mudford."!

An old statement of Sir W. Scott has just been revived
in Notes and Queries by Mr. Shilletto, to tlie effect that
" he was the sole and unaided author" (p. xii of General
Preface), and " sole and unassisted author" (p. xxviii of the
Novels). These long forgotten assurances have been ex-
humed for the piu'pose of shaking my .well groimded opinion
that J\Ir. and Mrs. Thomas Scott gave assistance to the
Waverley Novels.

To say he was " the sole and unassisted author" appears

* The letter concludes with an expression wliicb I willingly omit.

f Mr. Mudford was the editor of the Courier, a journal which existed for
upwards of three-quarters of a century. He was author of " Campaign of the
Netherlands" (a 4 guinea book); "An Examination of the Writings of Cumber-
land" (2 vols.); " The Contemplatist ;" and four novels now forgotten.

Mr. Mudford was not opposed in politics to Scott. They were brother minis-
terialist.s. This is evidenced from the following passage in the Examiner of
January 7, 18-2 1: "Bravo, William INIiidCord, daily panegyrist of George IV.
Bravo thou eulogist of Castlereagh. and Sidmouth. and Eldon, of George Can-
ning, and John Wilson Croker ; and bitter libeller of Fitzwilliam, aiul Grey, and
Lambton, and Bennett, and Burdett."

40 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

to me as simply ridiculous : inasmuch as Sir Adam Ferguson,
William Erskine,*" Mr. Joseph Train, f and others, were
known to have given Sir Walter valuable assistance at
various tinies. But to enumerate all those who aided Scott
in his novels, from Lord Haddington^ to that able critic,
James Ballantyne,§ woidd be tedious.

Mr. Ballantyne's second point|| is, that Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Scott were not, as far as he knows, ever skilled in
literary composition.

On the very opposite page of Notes and Queries, I pub-
lished, for the information of the public, my answer to the
gentleman who requested to "know my grounds for stating
that Thomas was endowed " with literary taste and talent."
Sir Walter's letter to his brother, in 1814, begging the Pay-
master to write an experimental novel, and send it to him
for revision, proves them. The great novelist has repeatedly
borne evidence to the literary talent of Thomas Scott. In

* William Erskine is thus noticed in the Index to the edition of 1845, ''Scott's
literaiy Keferee, pp. 118, 127, 225, 255, 301, 300, 338. 427, 463, 589"

f Mr. Joseph Train is thus noticed in the Index: " His usefulness to Scott in
collecting traditions, anecdotes, and curiosities — pp. 303, 304, 339, 343." It
■\j*s Train who induced Scott to write " Old JNJortalit)'," and " Kob lioy." Nay
more, Mr. Lockhart says, p. 340 : "To his intercourse with Mr. Train we owe
the whole maciiinery of the ' Tales of my Landlord.' "

J "Many ludicrous delineations he (Scott) owed to the late Lord Haddington,
a man of rare pleasantry, and one of the best tellers of old Scotch stories I ever
heard." — Lac/c/uirt, p. 402.

§ Constable proved also a very judicious critic, and so many and so able were
the suggestions which Scott acted upon, that the publisher, as his partner
Cadell, assured Lockhart, p. 438, used sometimes stalk up and down the room,

exclaiming " By G I am all but the author of the Waverlej' Novels !" " His

letter," says Lockhart, "(now before me), proposing the subject of 'The
Armada,' furnished the novelist with such a catalogue of materials for the
illustration of the period, as may, probably enough, have called forth some very
energetic e.xprcssidn of thankluluess."

II A gentleman, who at first rather co-operated with Mr. Ballantyne in the
original controversy in Notes mid Queries, addressed a letter to me within the
last few days, of which the following is an extract: — "This question continues
to interest me deeply, and many other persons also. I must confess I cannot
bring mjself to any conclusive ])oint upon it. The evidence you brought ap-
peared so strangely conclusive that I considered the world stood ujxm the brink
of a discovery wliich shouki pniclaim another and less doubted author of the
Waverley novels. Sir ^Valter liad been, and still is, a great favourite of mine,
and I solaced myself with the jirecise and decided terms of the avowal he made
at the Edinbru' dinner, and trusted to be fortilied in due time with the evidence
promised by Mr. liallantync, as should render any further p(M\sistence on your
l)art unavailable. I need nut say iiow woful was my disappdintiiient. 'J"he
impression pniiliucil on my mind was this — that ho had nol only nothing to
.say in support of Sir Waller, Nut that he hail someliiing to conceal."

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 41

1809, as may be remembered, he requested him to furnisli
literary papers to the Quarterly Revieiv* " R. E. B.," ot"
Trinity College, Dublin, wlio knew the Seotts, as he tells
us, intimately (see R. E. B.'s letter, p. 23), avers that
Thomas always seemed to him to have a much more bril-
liant intellect than Walte?^ but that a natural indolence
prevented him from following that regidar literary lile, in
which otherwise he could not fail to have been distinguished.
He, however, was always fond of " dabbling" with his pen,
though seldom .deeply; and like most persons of liteiary
propensities, made but an indifierent man of business. Mr.
Ijockhart (chap, xiv.), speaking of Thomas Scott's connex-
ion with the " Signet" establishment, writes: — "It ought to
be mentioned that the business in George's-square, once ex-
tensive and lucrative, had dwindled away in the hands of
his brother Thomas, whose varied and powerful talents
were, unfortunately, combined with some tastes by no means
favourable to the successful prosecution of his prudent
father's vocation."

" R. E. B." goes on to say, that Mrs. Thomas Scott,
nee Elizabeth M'Culloch, had a remarkable taste for writing,
but as she was sensitive on tliis point, her friends had the
delicacy rarely to allude to it. She was stored, he tells
us, with old Scotch traditions and anecdotes. Strangely
enough, on the same page appears a remarkable letter from
Mr. Edgar M'Culloch, of Guernsey, a cousin of the late
Mrs. Thomas Scott. " It was generally thought in her
family," he writes, " that she had supplied many of the
anecdotes and traits of character which Sir Walter Scott
worked up in the Scotch novels. Much of the scenery
described in ' Guy Mannering ' appears to have been
sketched from localities in the immediate vicinity of Mrs.
Scott's birthplace, a remarkable cavern, the Cove of Kirk-
laugh, for example, being pointed out to tourists as Dirk
Hatteraick's cave. It is asserted that Scott never was in
that part of the country. \i this be the case, the minute
description of places answering so closely to real localities
is, to say the least, a very remarkable coincidence, and war-
rants the supposition that in this point Sir Walter may have
been indebted to the assistance of some one well acquainted

* In 1810 we liiiil liim iutively ^■n;^il^cd in i-ullocting iiiatcrial.s for a Ilistnrv
of the Isle of Man.

42 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

with the scenes so vividly depicted. Many of the features
in the character of the miser Morton, of Milnwood, in ' Old
Mortality,' are traditionally ascribed to a Mr. M'Culloch, of
Barholra, who lived about the time of the civil wars de-
scribed in that novel."

Anion CT the letters, friendly and abusive, which reached
me immediately subsequent to the starting of the subject in
Notes and Queries, was one from a barrister personally un-
known to me, who stated that Dr. G , of Elm-grove,

near Dublin, one of the last surviving members of Thomas
Scott's brother officers, was still living. I accordingly put
myself in communication with the Doctor, and received
from him the following interesting scraps of informa-
tion : —

He was surgeon'to the 70th Regiment from 1812 to 1828.
Soon after joining the regiment it was ordered to Canada,
where for many years after it remained stationed. Thomas
Scott was one of the most agreeable companions he ever

knew. Dr. G loved him dearly, and so did all who were

fortunate enough to possess his friendship. He bitterly de-
plored his death. It caused a general gloom. Although
thirty- three years dead, he remembers his wit, anecdote, and
extensive information, as vividly as the events of yesterday.
Few had a more keen perception of the ludicrous in cha-
racter than Tom Scott. Dr. G often heard him say,

in allusion to some eccentric friend, " What a capital cha-
racter that fellow would make!"

The Scotts were very literary people, and their society
was much courted by persons of congenial tastes. They
read every new publication that appeared. He knew Mrs.
Scott intimately, and always called her " Bessie." She was
a remarkably clever woman ; and he and the other officers
loved to hear her pour forth that fund of Scottish anecdote
and reminiscence to which she occasionally gave full rein.
He always knew that she had a taste and a talent for
writing; but never heard her say that she contributed to
the " Waverley novels."

Mr. and Mrs. Scott were in constant communication with

" the Great Unknown." Dr. G was an eye-witness to

it. He has even seen large packages interchanging. T
suggested that perhaps it may have been manuscript. Dr.

(jr replied, " pos.-^ibly." lie added tliut the "Scotch

Jii)\eL-," almost wet I'roin the })ress, regularly arrived, and

OF THE WAVKRLEY NOVELS. 43

that both these and the other packages always came via
New York.

Dr. G was fond of reading, and generally got a loan

of the novels from Bessie Scott. When Walter Scott was
" the Great Unknown," and every quid nunc was puzzling
his brains to detect the author, both he and every other
officer of the 70th were perfectly well aware of Sir Walter's
connexion with the Scotch novels. Tom Scott never
maintained much reserve about them, and what is more
remarkable, he "would allude to compositions in petto,
saying, " He is on the second volume of so and so — now ;
you will see so and so next month."

Sir Walter Scott loved his sister-in-law, Bessie Scott,
warmly. A true friendship existed between them ; they
regularly corresponded. After Tom Scott's death, he pro-
cured for her from the Archbishop of Canterbury* a nice
residence, rent free, where she lived and died.f Her
circumstances were comfortable, though hardly affluent?

Tom Scott died on Valentine's day, 1823. He was
buried in Quebec. The officers bore his' coffin to the tomb.
All the soldiery folloAved ; many a tear was brushed away in

the course of the procession. Scott was. Dr. G says,

greatly respected and beloved.

After my first interview with Dr. G , I procured an

old Army List, and no sooner discovered the 70th Regiment
in its pages, than I at once became struck with some very
remarkable coincidences. I perceived that the name of
almost every officer in the regiment was introduced, some-
times identically, sometimes slightly altered, in the Waverley
novels. What is still more coincident, the real names are
generally given to imaginary military characters. Those
who are in the habit of writing fictitious narrative well know
how naturally it comes to the author to pause occasionally,
and select from real life names and character for the lite-
rary crucible. Of course, some modification of shape must,
in the composition, take place. Some of the following
ingredients, it will be observed, remained undiluted and
intact.

* Tlie house was situated in the liiy <>( Canterbury.

t They continued in constant coninjunication, and intercourse, and Lord
Ttalhousie, and others, who were coj^-nizant of tlio geniality of disposition and
solidity of fiiendsiiip which existed heiween .Sir Walter and his sister-in-law,
invited them totiether on visits to their houses.

44

INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

Colonel Kenneth Lord Howard of
Effingham, G.C.B.,

Colonel Champagne,

Colonel Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole^
G.C.B.*

Lieut. -Colonel Louis Grant
Major MacGregor,

Major Evans,

Captain Allan Cameron, .

Captain de la Hay,

Captain O'Neil, ,
Captain Kelsall, .

Captain Howard, .

ARMY LIST.

Officers of the 70th Regiment quartered in Canada, from 1813 to \ 827.

(Some of the following had died or retired within this period.)

Sir Kenneth (Knight), "Talisman."
Howard, " Anne of Geierstein."
Lord Effingham, father of Leicester's se-
[_ cond wife, " Kenil worth."

Champagne (Crusader), " Talisman."
r Major Galbraith, " Rob Roy."
J Lowrie, " St. Ronan's Well."
^ Major Coleby, " Peveril of the Peak."
[_ Captain Colepepper, " Fortunes of Nigel."
J Louis (a Retainer), " Monastery."
\ Grantmesnil(Knt. Challenger), "Ivanhoe."
The MacGregor, "Rob Roy."

{Master Evans, "Peveril of the Peak."
Evandale (in the Royal Army), "Old
Mortality."
r Serjeant Allan Cameron, under Captain
J Campbell,! "Highland Widow."
I Major Allan, " Old Mortality."
I Long Allan (Guardsman), " Talisman."
j Colonel Hay, " Legend of Montrose."
■; John Hay, of EUangowan, "Guy Man-
[^ nering."
Lieutenant O'Kean, " Guy Mannering."
Kelsie, " Abbot."
( Howard (a Royal Retainer), " Anne of
7 Geierstein."

Captain Donald Mackay, .
Lieutenant T. Hunt,

Lieutenant Ross Lewin, .

Lieutenant R. Armstrong,

Lieutenant John Graham,

Lieutenant Mahon,
Lieutenant Alston,
lieutenant Crawford,

Lieutenant MacLaiirin,

Lieutenant Landon,

Lieutenant R. Kirk,

Donald, " Legend of Montrose."

Ronald Maceagh, " Leaend of Montrose."

Huntly, "Legend of Montrose."
r Itoss (an Officer in the King's Army),
! " Old Mortality."!
I Levin (Parliamentary Leader), " Legend
[^ of Montrose."
J Armstrong, " Fortunes of Nigel."
I Grace Armstrong, " Black Dwarf."
r Colonel John Graham (of the Royal
< Army), "Old Mortality."
[^ Cornet Graham, " Old Mortality."
Mahony, " Waverley."
Alison, " Kenilwortli."
Captain Crawford, " Q.uentin Durward."

{Captain MacLouis, " FairlNlaid of Perth."
Maclean (Highland Chief), "Legend of
Montrose."
Landais, "Anne of Geierstein."

{" Kirk's Pets" (a Regiment commanded
by T. Kirk) " Old Mortality."
Julm Kirk ( Foreman on Ellie Dean's
Trial), " Heart of Mid-Lothian."
* See Ai)i)cndi.\.

f LieuleiiaMt-Ciiloiii'l t'ani|ib(!l appears one of the commanders of the "(Kli
until IHl.'!. (u'ueral Camiibell (igures in " Redgauntlet," and Duncan Ca iqi-
bell in Argyle's army in the " Legend of Montrose."

J Major-Gcneral Ross was Colonel of the 7()th until 18 15.

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.

45

Lieutenant White,
Lieutenant Stevenson,

Lieutenant Goldfrap,

Lieutenant Smith,

Lieutenant Dixon,
TJeutenant Maclvor,
Lieutenant J. Hunter,
Lieutenant Gaston,
Lieutenant Finlay,
Ensign Dalgetty,

Ensign Ingall,

Ensign John Pennington,
JLn.sign Martin,
Ensign IMereer,
Ensign Jlaxwell, .
Ensign Braekenbuiy,

Ensign Jonathan Browne,

Paymaster,
Adjutant J Sampson,
Quartermaster Norman, .
A. Surgeon Swindall,

Whitecroft, " Peveril of the Peak."

(Stevens (detainer of Lord Sussex), " Ko-
nilworth."
Count Stephen, " Quentin Durward."

( Goklthred, " Kenilworth."

( Goklicbird, " Antiquary."

( H. Smith (the Armourer), " Fair Maid of

\ Perth."
Dixon, " Bkack Dwarf"
ISIacIvor (Higliland Chief), "Waverley."
Huntinglen, "Fortunes of Nigek"
Geierstein ! " Anne of Geierstein."
Fiulayson, " Guy Mannering."
Capt.,Da1getty, " Legend of Montrose."

f Ingalram, " Monastery."

^ Ingelwood, " Rob Eoy."

l^ Corporal Inglis, " Okl Jlortality."
Jock Penny, " Guy jManneriiig."
INIartin, " Redgauntlet," and " Monasteiy."
Jlajor Mercer, "Surgeon's Daughter."
Maxwell, " Fortunes of Nigel."
Bracke!, "Peveril of the Peak."
General Browne, " Tapestried Chamber."
John B;owne, "Rob Roy."
Yanbeest Browne, " Guy Mannering."
Thomas Scott.

Dominie Sampson, " Guy Mannering."
Norman, " Bride of Lammerraoor."
A. Sydall, " Rob Roy."

Agent — Messrs. Cox, Green-wood, and Hammersley.

Captain Coxe, "Kenilworth." Grecnleaf, "Castle Dangerous." Hammerlein,
" Qui/ntin Dm'ward."

I showed the forejjoinsj table to Dr. G —

• The old

man appeared much affected as he read tlie names ofhis long
deceased comrades. " Since 1828 I completely lost sight of
them,"' said he, " and I heard nothing of tliem till I read their
deaths at intervals in the newspapers since. Most of them
died in the West Indies." Every successive name awakened
a train of long forgotten associations.

Dalgetty appeared to be g, great favourite with the regi-
ment. " We used to call him ' Dal,' " said Dr. G ; " he

went by no other name. He was a great humourist, and a
good fellow."

No person Avho ever read the Waverley Novels can forget
Captain Dalgetty in the " Legend of IMontrose." He stands
out bold and bright, when many of the contemporary cha-
racters fade. From some questions that I put to Dr.
G , I found that several points of charactei'istic simi-
larity existed between the real and the (ictitious Dalgetty.
Among other unimportant quet^tions, I inquired if he kept

46 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

a horse. " Yes," replied Dr. G , " and very fond he

was of it. I, as a surgeon, was entitled to a horse, and Tom
Scott as Paymaster; but it is somewhat unusual for minor
officers, especially an ensign like Dalgetty, to keep one.

" ' Dal,' however," said Dr. G , " was an exception.* His

father (a sergeant in the King's Guards) kept ' Daf well
supplied with pocket-money."

Dr. G again spoke of " Tom Scott." He said, he

was a first-rate Latin and classical scholar.! He received .
an education for the bar, and gave to the languages that
study, which Walter was early remarkable for bestowing
on ancient tomes of historical, legendary, and diabolical lore.

I asked Dr. G ■ where Tom Scott received his edu-
cation. He replied, "At the Mareschal College, Aberdeen."
Captain Dalgetty's favourite allusion in the novel to his
early Alma Mater will, doubtless, be in the recollection of
the reader, j

In answer to a question from me, desiring to know what

sort of a fellow Sampson, the adjutant, was. Dr. G

replied: " We used to call him ' Dominie Sampson,' a queer,

* Dalgetty's fatherly affection for his horse will be remembered by most readers
of " A Let^end of Montrose."

f "His (Sir Walter Scott's) knowledge of Latin does not appear to have ever
extended further than enabling him to catch loosely the meaning of his author.''
Enc. Brit. Article, Scutt — by William Spaulding, Advocate, Professor of Rhetoric,
Edinburgh. There are pedantic characters in the Waverley Novels constantly
enunciating Latin sentences, Avhich could hardly have been put together by one,
who, in translating, conld "only catch loosely the meaning of his author."
Captain Dalgetty, King James, in " P'ortunes of Nigel,"' &c. &c , are instancfe.
Apropos of Nigel. In the preface to the first edition, ttie author speaks of him-
self as having been in the British army. The principal figure in that novel is
(Jcorge Ilcriot, a prominent purtrait of whom is prefixed to Black's Libraiy
Edition. Some mysterious impulse led me to try whether if in the Army List of
the day any George Ileriot would be found. The alphabetical index referred nie
to the list of lieutenant-colonels, which numbered nine Inmdred and ten names.
The onli/ olficer of that name who appeared, commanded the Canadian Vnlti-
gueurs— Colonel F. George Ileriot. Colonel Sir Galbraith Cole was one of the
commanders of the 70th Regiment stationed in Canada. Captain Co^epepper
will be remembered in the " Fortunes of Nigel." Lieutenant Hunt, of thoTOtli —
Himtm{r\nn in "Nigel." luisign JNlaxwell, of the 70th — MuxweU. Chamberlain
at White Hall in "Nigel." Lieutenant Armstrong, of the 70tli — Armnfronff,
Court Jester in " Nigel." Trapaud was a previous colonel of the 70th — Traboix
is the old miser in " Nigel." Mr. Beaujou was one of the few members, in Scott's
time, constituting the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. ANlio can forget
M. le Chevalier de Beaujou, keejier of tlie gambling house in the " Fortunes of
NigelV" Except the Canadian legislator, I never heard of any i)erson named
Beaujou. Forfiirther coineidmces of name apropos to " the Fortunes of Nigel,"
&c., see the last document but one in the Appendix.

X " Truly, my Lord," said the trooper, " my name is Dalgetty. . . l^fy

father having, by unthrifty courses, reduced a fine patrimony to a nonentii)',

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 47

but honest fellow." " Why did you call him Dominie
Sam2:)Son ?" I asked. " lie used to be drilling and lecturing
us," replied the Doctor; " and whenever flogging or other
punishment was necessary among the men, it was his duty,
as adjutant, to oversee it. At mess, should there be any
point in dispute among the officers, they always appealed to
Sampson for his decision; sometimes in joke — often se-
riously. ' Well ! I leave it to the Dominie,' they would
say, and Sampson, thus appealed to, would sonorously enun-
ciate his views."

Since the foregoing reminiscences were supplied by Dr.
G , communication has been opened with a distin-
guished officer and accomplished gentleman, formerly be-
lonsincr to the 70th Reefiment, but now unattached, and

residing at Guernsey. Colonel W 's evidence is more

striking than Dr. G 's.

" In those days," said Colonel W , " a regiment was

one large family, and officers were really brother officers."

Colonel W used to be constantly in and out of the

house, and he scarcely ever entered without finding Mrs.
Scott at her desk, with a heap of AISS. before her. What
was the destination of these writings he knows not.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Scott abovmded in anecdote. Colonel

W^ 's recollections state, that it was not until after Tom

Scott's death at Quebec, and when there no longer existed

I had no better shift, wheu eighteen years old, than to carry the learning whilk
I had acquired at the Mareschal College of Aberdeen" &c. — Legend of Montrose.
" Mareschal" is the name given to one of the characters in the " Black Dwarf."

It appears from Mr. Lockliart's work tliat the "Bride of Lammermoor,"
" Ivanhoe," and the " Legend of Montrose" wore produced at a time when Sir
Walter Scott was suffering such bodily pain that, as he avowed to Mr. Lock-
hart, six daj-s' longer agony must have killed him. Southey, in a letter to Mr.
Bedford, at this period (Life of Kobert Southey, vol. iv., p. 341), describes
" Scott as on the very brinli of the grave." If Sir Walter really accomplished
those splendid works under circumstances so eminently awful, without the aid of
.some active co-operating intellect, the achievement deserves to be viewed witli
feelings of respect and admiration; but unless human nature has changed in my
time, 1 cannot repose full confidence in the statement. Mr. Lockhart savs that
Scott was utterly unable to correct even tlieproof sheets of tiiose splendid worl<s.
The richh' humorous cliaracter of Dalgetty set all wondering who knew the
state of mental depression and bodily agon}* which Scott laboured under at tlie
time when tlie " Legend of ]\Iontrose" was believed to liave been in composition.
]\Ir. Lockhart, speaking of tliis comical character, says that it was worked out in
all the details as if it had formed the luxurious entertainment of a chair as casv
as was ever sliaken by Kabelais. I remember liaving been told some vears
since by a gentleman who saw tlie original JISS. of the " Legend of Jlontrose,"
tiiat but scanty portions of it ajipeared to be in Scott's autograph. My informant
added that Scott's liberal revision wa.s dearlv traceable throu>;hout.

48 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

any doubt in the literary world concerning the supposed
author of the Waverley novels, that he had any suspicion of
Tom Scott and his wife having had any hand in them. He
and some other officers then called to mind his having said
one evening, after having drank pretty freely, addressing
some of them, " Ah, you'll be astonished to find yourselves
some day or other in print." Thomas Scott was a hon vivant.
Dalgetty was a gay, lively fellow, but rather an indifferent
soldier. Among the many communications from Walter
Scott, which were continually arriving, were remittances of

money, though not to a large amount. Colonel W 's

impression is, that neither Thomas Scott nor his wife wrote
any of the novels ; but that they assisted their brother con-
siderablv in supplying anecdotes, traits of claaracter, &c. &c.

In the latter end of 1821-, appeared a volume entitled
"Letters to Richard Heber, Esq., containing Critical Remarks
on the Series of Novels beginning with Waverley, and an
Attempt to ascertain the Author."

" At this time," writes Mr. Lockhart, " the opinion that
Scott 'was the aiithor of Waverley had indeed become well
settled in the English, to say nothing of the Scottish mind."
Mr. John Leycester Adolphus, however, an alumnus of Ox-
ford, and an ardent admirer of Scott, resolved to strengthen
this opinion by an accumulation of minute coincidences of
style, idea, and taste between Sir Walter's poetical and
prose peribrmances. " Unimportant, indeed, they are," wrote
Mr. Adolphus, " if looked upon as subjects of direct criti-
cism ; but considered with reference to our present purpose,
they resemble those light substances which, floating on the
trackless sea, discover the true setting of some mighty cur-
rent." INlr. Adolphus, dwelt at considerable length on the
love for dogs, which the author of Marmion and Waverley
displayed so prominently, — the eloquent touch with which
the pure and tender relation of father and daughter were
laid before the reader by " both these writers." The cor-
rectness in morals, and refinement in manners, which
characterized the poems and novels. The equally extensive
sprinkle of quaint similes and metaphors — the dramatic and
picturesque fancy in the author — neat colloquial turns in the
novel and poetic dialogue — the introduction of Scottish
words and idioms, with various other coincidences of greater
or lesser importance. Contrary to general expectation,
Sir Walter did not wax angry at this direct and searching

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 49

charge at liis literary identity, but on the contrary sent Mr.
Adolphus, who was previously unknown to liim, an invitation
to pass some time at Abbot!^t'ord.

Mr. Lockhart fills twenty-two pages of his biography with
extracts from this ingenious little work, and wishes he had
space for more. Amongst them one is particularly deserving
of notice, and appears founded on considerably less striking
grounds of coincidence than the other numerous and inge-
nious points. Mr. Adolphus noticed that the author of
" Waverley" dealt out the peculiar terms and phrases of the
science of law with a freedom and confidence beyond the
reach of any uninitiated person, and he proved incontest-
ably that the subject of law — a stumblingblock to other
novelists — was to Scott a spot of repose. Mr. Adolphus
argued that he must have been a lawyer; and he was right.

But Mr. Adolphus, at a further stage of the inquiry, noticed
the taste for martial subjects, and the acquaintance with
military tactics, which distinguished the author of the
" Waverley Novels."

" In every warlike scene that awes and agitates, or
dazzles and inspires," observed Mr. Adolphus, " the poet
triumphs ; but where any effect is to be produced by dwell-
ing on the magnitude of military habits and discipline, or
exhibiting the blended hues of individual humour, and pro-
fessional peculiarity,- as they present themselves in the mess-
room, or the guard-room, every advantage is on the side of
the novelist. I might illustrate this by tracing all the gra-
dations of character marked out in the novels, from the Baron
of Brudwardine to Tom Halliday ; but the examples are too
well known to require enumeration." Mr. Adolphus went on
to say that Scott " must have bestowed a greater attention
on military subjects, and have mixed tnore frequently in the
society of soldiers., than is usual witli persons not educated to
the profession of arms." *

Thomas Scott had from his youth. Dr. G tells me, a

passion for the army;* and conjointly with his gifted wife,
there can be little doubt, I think, that after he had joined
the 70th Regiment, he furnished Sir Walter with much of
that military sketch work, and technicality of phrase, which
led people at first to imagine that Captain Adam Ferguson
gave them birth.

* Previous to receiving the Pavmastership of the 70th, he was an Officer in the
Edinburgh Volunteers, and subsequently in the Manx Fencibles.

D

50 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

A kindly suggestion reached me, about two months since,
to refer to the Portfolio^ for 1818, a magazine published in
Philadelphia, by the late Mr. Harrison Hall. It is, however,
not only extremely " scarce" here, but in the Ncav World
also ; and it was only within the last week that I obtained
access to the late Thomas Moore's copy, now preserved, with
the rest of his books, in the Royal Irish Academy. I at

once found the paragraph to which Mr. C called my

attention. It was written a2}ropos to the following on dit
from the Morning Chronicle, of May , 23,1817 : — " Mr. Walter
Scott is said to be the author of the critique on the ' Tales of
my Landlord,' in the Quarterly Revieio, and it is insinuated
in the concluding paragraph, that his brother is the writer
of the novels which have made so strong an impression on
the public mind."

" Mr. Thomas Scott," said the Portfolio, " the gentleman
here mentioned, holds the office of Paymaster of the 70th
Regiment, stationed in Upper Canada, and resides in King-
ston." It went on to say that an acknowledgment of the
truth of the report had been made by a member of Mr.
Scott's family within the last autumn ; in addition to which
a Philadelphian gentleman had seen the manuscript of one
of those celebrated works. Suspicion had been considerably
strengthened by a recent circumstance. Mrs. Thomas Scott
had passed, a short time previously, throngh New York, on her
way to Great Britain. Her arrival was immediately distin-
guished by an advertisement in one of the- New York papers
of a New Tale, in three volumes, entitled " Rob Roy," as
having been put to press in England, by the " Author of
Waverley and other Novels." Tliis is certainly a striking
coincidence. Mrs. Scott probably calculated the time
that " Rob Roy" would be put out of her brother-in-law's
hands, and Ballantyne's presses in full play upon it. The
Americans would appear to have first heard of " Rob Roy"
indirectly from Mrs. Thomas Scott. Her arrival in Ne\y York
seems to have been instantaneously followed by the literary
announcement. Having done this she started straight for
England.

Our fathers and grandfathers remember a Review which,
forty years ago, wielded as much influence as the Edinhurrjh
or Quarterly of the present day. I allude to the MontJily
Review and Literary Journal. It extended to upwards of a
hundred volumes, and is still often referred to as a high

OF THE AVAVERLEY NOVELS. 51

literary autliority. Having adverted to the general assump-
tion, that Walter Scott was the author of " Waverley," it
says (vol. Ixxxv. p. :2G2) : —

" We have, however, before expressed our unwillingness
to commit our high and grave reputation by any surmises
on so weighty a matter. It is impossible for us to say,
whether some fifty years hence inquisitive sagacity may
not build iip and destroy its own hypothesis respecting his
person, as it has long been doing with Junius.

" A statement in the preface informs us that ' Rob Roy'
is not altogether the legitimate offspring of our old friend,
but that this tale was supplied from some other hand, and
having been since entirely remodelled, is now presented to
the public. Some readers, we are aware, have attributed
this allegation to a little coyness on the part of the author,
and are not inclined to give credence to it, hut ice are dis-
posed to acquit the author of any such coy behaviour, except
in the concealment of his name^

The advertisement to the first edition of " Rob Roy" is in-
deed written with every appearance of seriousness. Sir
Walter says, that

" Six months previously, lie received a parcel of papers, containing
the outlines of tliis narrative, with a permission, or rather with a
request, that they might be given to the public, with such alterations
as should be found suitable. These were of course so numerous,
that besides the suppression of names, and of incidents approaching
too much to reality, the work may in a great measure be said to be

new written. Several anachronisms have probably crept in, and

the mottoes for the chapters have been selected without any reference
to the supposed date of the incidents. For these of course the editor
is responsible. Some others occurred in the original materials, but
they are of little consequence. In point of minute accuracy it may
be stated that the bridge over the Forth, or rather the A vondu (or Black
river), near the hamlet of Aberfoil, had not an existence thirty years
ago. It does not, however, become the editor to be the first to point
out these errors : and he takes tliis public opportunity to thank the
unknown and nameless correspondent to whom the reader will owe
the principal share of any amusement which he may derive from the
following pages."

Scott, avowedly nervous of anachronisms and other errors,
assures his readers, in the above, that he is only the editor
of the work, having received the rough sketch of it in MS.
aboitt six months previously. It is not very likely that if

52 INVKSTIGATION INTO THE AUTIIORSUIP

Scott's massive brain, and proverbially retentive memory,
had wholly produced that able novel, he would feel ner-
vously apprehensive of the discovery of mistakes, even aided,
as he always was, by the able critic, James Ballantyne. He
steadily protests that he is only editor, and that whatever
mistakes or beauties the novel possesses are attributable to
an tinnamed person.

In the winter of 1817, about two months previous to the
appearance of " Rob Roy," a report oozed out of Ballantyne s
printing office, that the next tale of the series would be com-
memorative of the exploits of that distinguished Highland
freebooter. Mr., afterwards Sir David Wilkie,* Avent on a
visit to Abbotsford in October, 1817. The following ex-
tract from a letter to his sister, dated October 30, 1817, will
be read with interest.

"I have never been in any place where there is somuch real
good humour and merriment. There is nothing but amuse-
ment from morning till night ; and if Mr. Scott is really
writing ' Rob Roy,' it must be while we are sleeping. He
is either out planting trees, superintending the masons, or
erecting fences the whole of the day. He goes frequently out
hunting, and this morning there was a whole cavalcade of
us out with Mr. and Mrs. Scott hunting hares.

" The family here are equally in the dark about whether
Mr. Scott is the author of the novels. They are quite per-
plexed about it; they hope he is the author, and would be
greatly mortified if it were to turn out that he was not. He
has frequently talked about the different characters himself
to us ; and the young ladies express themselves greatly pro-
voked with the sort of unconcern he affects towards them.
He has denied the novels to various people that I know."

Wilkie remarks, that if Scott was really writing " Rob
Roy," in October, 1817 (less than two months before its
publication), it must have been when he and the other inha-
bitants of Abbotsford were asleep. As Scott proverbially
retired to rest early, " Rob Roy" could not have been in pro-
gress of composition then. Was Scott writing it before his
guests arose, is a question which naturally and eagerly
arises. Washington Irving happened to be at Abbotsford
at the very period that Wilkie expressed his astonishment at
never seeing Scott engaged in any occupation but out-door

* Life of Sir Dnvid Wilkie by Allan Cunningham, vol. i. p. 483.

OF THK WAVERLEY NOVELS. 53

amusement and the society of his family and guests. Wilkie
communicated his views to Irving, and the great American
author placed them on record.

Irving published his visit to "Abbotsford and Newstead"
in 1818. After describing Scott's easy life of pleasure from
morning till night, he writes: —

" I rose at an early lioiir, and looked out between the
branches of eglantine which overhung the casement. To my
surprise, Scott was already up, and forth, seated on a frag-
ment of stone, and chatting with the workmen employed in
the new building. I had supposed, after the time he had
wasted upon me yesterday, he would be closely occupied
this morning, but he appeared like a man of leisure, who
had nothing to do but bask in the sunshine and amuse him-
self. I soon dressed myself and joined him.

"Not long after my departure from Abbotsford, my friend
Wilkie arrived there to paint a picture of the Seott family.
He found the house full of guests. Scott's whole time was
taken up in riding and driving about the country, or in
social conversation at home. ' All this time,' said Wilkie
to me, ' I did not presume to ask INlr. Scott to sit for his
portrait, for I saw he had not a moment to spare. I waited
for the guests to go away ; but as fast as one set went another
arrived, and so it continued for several days, and with each
set he was completely occupied. At length all went off,
and we were quiet. I thought, however, Mr. Scott wilknow
shut himself \ip among his books and papers, for he has to
make iip for lost time, it will not do for me to ask him now
to sit for his picture.

" 'Laidlaw, who managed his estate, came in; and Scott
turned to him, as I supposed, to consult about business.
'• Laidlaw," said he, '' to-morrow morning we will go across
the water, and take the dogs with us ; there is a place where
I think we shall be able to find a hare." In short,' added
Wilkie, ' I found that, instead of business, he was thinking
only of amusement, as if he had nothing in the world to
occupy him. So I no longer feared to intrude upon his
time.' "

This routine was no occasional indulgence, but Scott's
uniform system of life. " The humblest person," writes jNIr.
Lockhart, "' who staved merely for a short visit, must have
departed with the impression that what he witnessed was
an occasional variety ; that Scott's courtesy prompted him

54 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

to break in upon his habits when lie had a stranger to
amuse ; but that it was physically impossible that the man
who was writing the Waverley Romances, at the rate of
nearly twelve volumes in the year, could continue — week
after week, and month after month — to devote all, but a
hardly perceptible fraction of his mornings to out-of-door
occupations, and the whole of his evenings to the entertain-
ment of a constantly varying circle of guests

" The hospitality of his afternoons must alone have been
enough to exhaust the energies of almost any man ; for his
visitors did not mean, like those of country houses in gene-
ral, to enjoy the landlord's good cheer, and amuse each
other ; but the far greater proportion arrived from a distance,
for the sole sake of the poet and novelist himself, whose
person they had never seen before, and whose voice they
might never again have any opportunity of hearing. No
other villa in Europe was ever resorted to from the same mo-
tives, and to anytliing like the same extent, except Ferney.
Voltaire never dreamt of being visible to his hvmters,
except for a brief space of the day ; few of them even dined
with him, and none of them seem to have slept under his
roof. Scott's establishment, on the contrary, resembled, in
every particular, that of the affluent idler, who, because he
has inherited, or would fain transmit, political influence in
some province, keeps open house, receives as many as he
has room for, and sees their apartments occupied, as soon as
they vacate them, by another troop of the same description.
Even on grentlemen o-uiltless of inkshed, the exercise of hos-
pitality, upon this sort of scale, is found to impose a heavy
tax. . . . Scott was the one object of the Abbotsford pil-
grims, and evening followed evening only to show him
exerting, for their amusement, more of animal spirits, to say
nothing of intellectual vigour, than would have been consi-
dered by any other man in the company as sufHcient for the
whole expenditure of a week's existence."

Scott, addressing Allan Cunningham on November 14,
18:^0, writes: — " I have been meditating a long letter to
you for many weeks past ; but company, and rural business,
and rural sports are very unflivourable to Avriting letters."

Very true, and must prove, one would think, still more
unfavourable to writing novels. Be this as it may, novel
after novel appeared in electrical succession. Men were
struck dumb with wonder and admiration. The critics and

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 55

reviewers* could hardly believe their eyes. In fact, each new
novel was greeted by them with something of the same feel-
ing of consternation with which Macbeth beheld the inter-
minable line of phantom kings : —

" Whj' do you show me this? a fourth ! stai't eyes!
Wliat! will tlie line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet? — a seventh ? I'll see no more.
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more."

It is quite evident, that amid this constant round of occu-
pation,! such moments as it was in Sir Walter's power to
snatch Irom his watchful and admiring visitors, + could never
have sufficed to construct one of the Waverley novels, from
foundation to roof; even allowing three times a longer
period for its composition than usually appeared consumed.
The unassisted construction of any one of those powerful
fictions must have necessitated a steady application of
thought and time, impossible, as it appears to me, amid the
round of occupation which the world daily witnessed in Sir
Walter Scott's case. After the death of Thomas Scott, and
the failure of Constable, — when Sir Walter's circumstances
suddenly became involved in serious embarrassment, — when
the great mair declared, that an intellectual mine existed,
which, if worked, must eventually produce value sufficient to
smooth matters once more, — when he abandoned the once
gay Abbotsford, and his quondam friends, with few excep-
tions, abandoned him, — when quietly taking up his residence
in an obscure house at Edinburgh, § with ample leisure at
his disposal in order to draw forth the yet hidden treasures of
his fertile mind, he contrasted in his Diary the luxurious

* The 5)-iV?W( ffeiv'eeo (August, 1818) says: — "In concluding our ^e^^ew of
' Rob Roy,' in the number for February, we had certainlj- no expectation that in
so short a time four new volumes from the same hand could again be conjured
on our table." And at the close of the article : " Since we sent these few paragraphs
to the press, we have been informed that there is a third series of 'Tales of my
Landlord ' going forward at Edinburgh."

The Monthly Itevieio says : — " ^^'e find it impossible to extend our remarks
upon this inexhaustible story teller. The intervals between his productions are
indeed scarcely long enough to allow us to finish the perusal of one before ano-
ther challenges its place."

t See Appendix.

J From tiie following extract of a letter to James Ballantyne (Sep. 2, 1813),
written before Scott bad commenced his career as a novelist, it is evident that
visitors proved a complete barrier to literary progress. " My temper is really
worn to a hair's breadth. The intruder of yesterday hung on me till twelve to-day.
Wheir I had first taken my pen, he was relieved, like a sentry leaving guard, by
two other lounging visitors."

§ No. 6, Gt. David-street.

56 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

advantages of leisure, with the fatal antagonism which mis-
cellaneous occupation must ever present to successful lite-
rary exertion. " I stay at home,* and add another day's
perfect labour to ' Woodstock,' which is worth five days of
snatched intervals, when the current of thought and inven-
tion is broken in upon, and the mind shaken and diverted
from its purpose, by a succession of petty interruptions."

Again, on February 23, 182(3, he writes: — " Corrected two
sheets of' Woodstock.' These are not the days of idleness.
The fact is, that the not seeing company gives me a com-
mand of my time which I possessed at no other period of my
life — at least since I knew how to make some use of my
leisure. Tliere is a great pleasure in sitting down to write,
with the consciousness that nothing will occur during the
day to break the spell."

On the 6th February, addressing Lady Davy, Sir Walter
Scott writes: — "As my wife and Anne propose to remain
all the year round at Abbotsford, I shall be solitary enough
in my lodgings. ... I propose to slam the door in the face
of all and sundry for these three years to come, and neither
eat nor give to eat."

Unpursued by lion-hunters, as Scott was at this period ;
his round of outdoor recreation discontinued; relieved from
the absorbing duties of hospitality, and, in short, Avith ample
time at his disposal, we find him consuming a longer timef
in the composition of " Woodstock," tlian many previous
talcs presumed to have been written under very disadvan-
tageous circumstances.

I will here introduce the substance of a conversation
which I have just had with Lieutenant-Colonel Kelsall,
who commanded for a considerable time the 70th Regi-
ment. I mention the name of that respected officer with
his own permission.

He was Captain of the 70th in Thomas Scott's time. He
commanded the firing-party at Scott's funeral, and remem-
bers the general feeling of regret which his death caused.
They had to dig through two feet of snow, when preparing
his grave. Colonel Kelsall always suspected that some lite-
rary connexion existed between Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott
and Sir Walter. Of its extent he could form no idea; the
matter always appeared wrapped up in much mystery, and

* Diary, January 31, 182G.

j "Woodstock" was begun in Jamiary. and puhlisliedin June, 1826. The political
squibs of " Malachi Malagrowtber" were likewise thrown ofl" during this interval.

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 57

as it was easy to collect that any direct inquiries would
not be welcome, he had too much delicacy to investigate
the subject.

In the year 1816, he left the regiment on leave of ab-
sence, and passed several months in England and Ire-
land. On his retixrn to Canada, which was some time in
1818, he had a conversation with Sampson, the Adjutant,
which left a fixed impression on his mind. Mr. Sampson
was a countryman of the Scotts, and he was understood in
the regiment to possess much of their confidence and friend-
ship. Colonel Kelsall, in the course of a tete-a-tete colloquy
with the Adjutant, was distinctly given to understand by
him, that during his absence in Europe certain literary
manufactures had been in full vigour of operation. Mr. and
Mrs. Scott had been much closeted together; manuscripts
were preparing,*' and Mrs. Scott had even been to England
in the interim, to look after their publication, and whatever
pecuniary arrangements were connected with it. — (See ante,
p. 50.) This is the full impression on Colonel Kelsall's
mind ; and he now regards, as he then regarded, Mr. Samp-
son's statement as excellent authority. The Colonel looked
upon the communication as confidential at the time, and he
did not mention it for many years after.

Thomas Scott was quite celebrated in the regiment, and
in his own immediate circle of friends, for his extraordinary
tact and talent for story telling. Colonel Kelsall and the
other officers often remarked, what an admirable story Tom
Scott could make out of very indifterent materials. He
could rivet the breathless attention of his hearers, or, like
Yorick, " set the table in a roar." A narrative of the most
common-place circumstances could, in his hands, be made a
strangely fascinating story. He embellislied largely, but,
nevertheless, so adhered to actual lact, that the narrative
lost none of its interest even to those who had before heard
it, or who were aware of his tendency to amplify.

Colonel Kelsall is not of opinion that Thomas Scott wrote
much himself He thinks that any literary co-operation
which existed between him and Mrs. Scott was, in his case,
accompllslied by dictation. For some years before he died,
his hand shook nervously, in part owing to his frequent in-
dulgence in the pleasures of conviviality.

* Suspicion of co-operation also attached to a member of Mrs. Scott's family
still livinfr.

58 INVESTIGATION INTO TUE AUTHORSHIP

Mrs. Scott Colonel Kelsall describes as a most stroni?-
minded woman, higldy accomplished, and abounding in
anecdote and literary knowledge. She asked Colonel Kel-
sall, on his return to Canada, if he had read " the Scotch
Novels," and was greatly astmiished to hear from him, that
in consequence of his extensive professional occupation pre-
viously, he had not. She at once made him promise that
he should read them then and there. Not content with the
Colonel's affirmative assurances, however, Mrs. Scott retired
to her room, brought them forth, placed them in his hands,
and saw that he was fairly " under way," before she appeared
quite satisfied. The Colonel thought, and very naturally,
that Mrs. Scott's zeal indicated something approaching a
parental interest. Colonel Kelsall always knew that Mrs.
Scott was " a good penswoman," and a person of much judo--
ment and talent. /She appeared continnally engaged in some
absorbing occujxition, the nature of ivhich could only be sur-
mised.

Colonel Kelsall remembers the remarkable letter in the
Quebec Herald (ante, p. 14). He thinks the writer of it
was Lieutenant Goldfrap, long deceased. He was a man of
literary tastes, and a pleasing writer. The name of the
editor of the Quebec Herald he does not recollect. His son
was an officer in the Quebec Militia. Colonel Kelsall re-
members Tom Scott's unguarded exclamation, mentioned

by Colonel W , of Guernsey (a?ite, p. 47). Tlie names

of his brother officers worked up in the Waverley Novels
often struck him as very strange. " Dalgetty" is an espe-
cially uncommon name. Major M'Gregor, the Colonel
says, seemed as though he had sat for his portrait in " Rob
Roy." The appearance of the Highland chieftain, as therein
given, was strongly suggestive of Major M'Gregor. The
Major was a broadshouldered, swarthy man, of stern aspect;
but never appeared to suspect that a literary limner's pen
had traced his outline.

But in the meantime, I must not forget Mr. Ballantyne's
third point. Whatever circumstantial evidence, he writes,
" W. J. F. has produced to prove ' the Antiquary' not to be
the work of Sir W. Scott, he has not brought forward
a single authority to substantiate the assumption that
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott gave important assistance to
'Waverley' and 'Guy Mannering.' " Mr. Edgar MacCulloch's
letter in Notes and Queries encourages the presumption I
advanced (ante, p. 22). In the curious article from the

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 59

Quebec Herald., of July, 1820 {ante, p. 14), the writer of it
positively and distinctly stated that he was told by Mr. and
Mrs. Scott that Dominie Sampson, the celebrated cha-
racter in " Guy Mannering," was an old college acquaintance
of the former, and that Flora Mclvor's* character in
" Waverley," was supplied by Mrs. Scott herself The writer
goes on to say, that the Paymaster and his wife assisted each
other in writing, but that Walter revised. " I have often
heard," said he, " Mrs. Scott describe the very originals from
whom the principal characters were drawn." Mr. Lockhart,
p. 239, mentions that Mrs. Scott passed much of her early
life at Dumfries (see ante, p. 15). The American writer goes
on to say — " His" (the Antiquary's) name I have now for-
gotten, hid lie lived at Dumfries.] He mentions having
seen many MSS. in their possession — especially that of the
" Antiquary." This was the only novel which they acknow-
ledged as undoubtedly their own. I am very sure, however,
that without Sir Walter's filling up, and artistic touch, it
never could have succeeded. So much revision may Sir
Walter have bestowed on it, that it is quite possible he con-
sidered its success owing to himself, and that for this reason
he miglit safely class it among his other works. Canova
always employed a workman to execitte in the rough what-
ever piece of sculpture ^lis fancy planned. It was the sta-
tu arist's finishing touch that gave life and spirituality to the
conception.

I have still strong presumptive evidence tending to the
conclusion, that the exquisite novel of " Guy Mannering"
(written by Sir VV. Scott in about three weeks, according
to his son-in-law) was originally drawn up in the rough by
some other hand, and only prepared for the press by Scott.

* It has often been remarked, as contrasiting with the works of the male no-
velists of tlie present and past generation, wliat a vast throng of female charac-
ters— all fascinating for their purity and perfection — have been introduced on the
stage of the AVaverley Novels. No Becky Sharps, or Blanche Amorj-s, or Lady
Pelhams, or Miss Murdstones, mingle with the throng. If the character of Flora
Mclvor was supplied by Mrs. Scott, for how many more are we indebted to that
gpnial hand? Several volumes of beautifully engraved portraits of the female
characters have been published separately. The male characters — for the most
part — are unfavourably portrayed. As to the " Highlanders in the Scotch no-
vels," Moore's Diarj-, of July 1, 1827, records an amusing piece of chat with
Allen, Sir W. Scott's friend. " Allen remarked to-day on the contempt Scott
shows for the Highlanders in his novels, always represents them as shabby
fellows. ' Quentin Durward,' Allen said, is the most gentlemanlilve of his heroes."

t Sir 'Walter, in his Introduction to the " Antiqnarj%" furnishes no more ex-
planatory information respecting the original character than that he had known
iiim in his vouth. There is no allusion to Dumfries.

60 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

The literary world are acquainted with a valuable pamph-
let from the pen of Mr. Gilbert J. French, which, in the
month of December last, was brought out by that gentleman,
and extensively distributed among his literary friends. It
is entitled " Parallel Passages from two Tales, elucidating
the Origin of the Plot of 'Guy Mannering.'"* Rabidly
denounced by some,t it has met a courteous* reception from
the more respectable portion of the press. They admit that
Mr. French has clearly proved, by parallel passages, that
the story of " Guy Mannering" is merely a mechanical adap-
tation from tlie " Memoirs of an Unfortunate Young Noble-
man" (pub. in 1743), and the singular history of Jarnes
Annesley, claimant of the honours and estates of the Earls
of Annesley, published in the Gentleman s Magazine for
1743. " The manuscript of Mr. French's pamphlet," ob-
serves the Athenceum of January 5, 1856, "• was submitted
to Mr. Lockhart, who acknowledged its ingenuity and inte-
rest, and half pledged himself | to advert to the matter in
a second edition of his ' Biography of Scott.' None, how-
ever, who are familiar with Mr. Lockhart's method of
precedure, will be surprised to find that his part in the
business terminated by the acknowledgment referred to."
Finding that Mr. Lockhart had declined to notice the
matter in subsequent editions, Mr. French at length pub-
lished the substance of his pamphlet in Chambers' Edinburgh
Journal, and the Gentleman s Magazine. The article excited
much interest in literary circles ; and, having now become
public, Mr. Lockhart could not well avoid alluding to it.
In the edition of 1845 (p. 310), he writes : " Since the last
of these" (previous editions) " appeared, a writer in the
Gentlemans Magazine has pointed out some very remark-
able coincidences between the narrative of' Guy Mannering'
and the very singular history of James Annesley, &c. That
Sir Walter must have read the records of this celebrated
trial, as well as Smollett's edition of the story in ' Peregrine
Pickle,' tliere can be no doubt. IIoio the circumstance had
not recurred to his memory when tenting the explanatory
introduction to his novel, I can offer no conjecture !"

* Mr. French states in his rreface (p. viii.) that it was in consequence of my
article in Notes awl Queries that he was induced to present the subject to a few
literary friends, believing that the time has arrived, at wliich it may prove
of interest.

t For a specimen of the hostile criticisms, see Appendix. It is good for me to
know wliat may, in m^' own case, be expected.

I Mr. Lockliart imsilirdy in-omised to do so. See Appendix.

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 61

Sir Walter, in his Preface to the collected edition of the
Waverley novels (p. iii.), promises " to publish on this
occasion the various legends, family traditions, or obscure
historical facts, which have furnished the groundwork of
these novels, "••' and at p. xxxviii. writes: " I have done
all that I can do, to explain the nature of ray materials, and
the use I have made of them." Scott accordingly produced
satisfactory particulars of the groundwork of every tale except
" Guy Mannering," which was prefaced by an absurd, super-
natural story, in no way siiggestive of that splendid novel.
Scott's chosen biographer regards as imaccountable, his
omission to acknowledge and detail what there " can be no
doubt'' the author of " Guy Mannering" must have read
and studied, to have been able to design that intricately
planned tale. There is only one solution to the mystery.
A proverbially retentive memory like Scott's could never
have forgotten the obvious groundwork of his best novel.
The parties who probably sent the rough sketch of " Guy
Mannering," for filling up and revision, were alone compe-
tent to write its historical introduction. That Sir Walter
failed to perform his promise is evident in the case of" Guy
Mannering."!

The coincidences of names pointed out by Mr. French
are as striking as the coincidences of fact. Some of the
names are slightly altered, — the greater number, i.e., Barnes,
Kennedy, Jans, Brown, Dawson, Abel, &c., are identical
in both.

So ingenious an adaptation must have taken a much
longer period to accomplish, than a story written currente ca-
lamo. To give the tale a novel freshness, and smooth over the
seams of the arras, was no easy task. The plot of "Guy Man-
nering" is exquisitely intricate, and has always been more
generally popular than its predecessors or successors.}

• "As wellasa statement of particular incidents founded on fact." — Gen. Pre.

f Sir Walter, in his Diarj', refers slightingly to Horace Smith, for working up,
without acknowledguient, " whole pages of Defoe's History of the Plague," into
his historical novel of " Brambletye House." Scott would hardly express him-
self in this manner, if he were cognizant of having "borrowed" to a considerably
wider extent himself, as is clear in the case of " Guy Mannering." In my opinion
he was whollj' unaware of the evidently studied coincidences in question.

X Lockhart calls it " a delicious romance," as indeed it is. By the way, could
there be any of that mental reservation already noticed, in the denial {cinte, p.
10), that Thomas Scott wrote the whole or a great part of the novels ? Some of
the " Waverley Novels" arc, in the original editions, styled i-omances. For in-
stance, " Kenilworth, — a Romance;" the " Monasterj-," "Abbott," " Ivanhoe,"

G2 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

My observations relative to the time (inferred by Mr.
Lockhart) as having been consumed by Scott in writing
" Guy Mannering," will possibly be in the recollection of
the reader. I would, however, wish him to reperuse them
(ante, p. 17), as calculated to throw additional light on this
stage of my progress.

Even assuming, however, that the intricately planed tale
of " Guy Mannering" was not attended with the labour of
adaptation (so as to escape detection), but, on the contrary,
solely constructed in Scott's brain, I take it, that no incon-
siderable lapse of time would have been necessary to the
task. Sir Walter, in a satiric onslaught on those whom he
rather unreasonably called his " imitators," — William H.
Ainsworth, and Horace Smith — and observant of the neces-
sity that existed for brisker action (Diary, Oct. 18, 1826),
three years after the death of Thomas Scott, and when the
skiltiil plot of the novels was observed to flag,*' writes: —
" There is one way to give novelty — to depend for success
on the interest of a well-contrived story. But wo's me !
that requires thought, consideration — the writing out a
regular plan or plot — above all, the adhering to one."

" Two volumes of ' Guy Mannering,' composed, written,
transcribed, and printed in sixteen days," sounds oddly after
all this.

With all the ingenious mechanical adaptation which Mr.
French proves, irrefragably, to have been wrought in the
case of " Guy Mannering," there was intermingled a mass
of local portraiture and sketch- work, so exquisitely coloured,
as to give a peculiarly fresh hue to the broad sheet of can-
vass. A more delicious romance than " Guy Mannering"
has never been produced.

" Mrs. Scott's knowledge of the legendary lore of her
native province of Galloway," writes her cousin, Mr. Edgar
MacCulloch {ante, p. 22), is said by those who had the plea-
sure of her acquaintance to have been very great. It was ge-
nerally thought in her family that she had supplied many of
the anecdotes and traits of character, which Sir Walter Scott
worked up in his Scotch novels. Much of the scenery

&c. Dr. Webster, in his " Dictionaiy of the English Language" (p. 962),
writes: — " Romance ditfers from the novel, as it treats of actions, and adventures
of an unusual and wonderful character." ]\Ir. Lockhart says (p. 4()9), that
" Ivanhoc," "Monastery," "Abbot," and " Kenihvorth," were scarcely more
than a twelve months' labour.

*The Examiner of .Jan. 4, 1824, reviewing " St. Ronan's Well," says, " We
unequivocally and decidedly rank it below every one of its predecessors."

OF THE WAVERLFA' NOVELS. 63

described in ' Guy Mannering' appears to have been
sketched from localities in the immediate vicinity of Mrs.
Scott's birth-place — a remarkable cavern, the cove of Kirk-
claugh, for example, being pointed out to tourists as Dirk
Hatteraick's cave." After alluding to tlie statement, that
Scott never was in Galloway, Mr. MacCuUoch says, " If
this be the case,* the minute description of places answering
so closely to real localities is, to say the least, a very re-
markable coincidence, and warrants the supposition, that in
this point Sir Walter may have been indebted to the
assistance of some one well acquainted with the scenes so
vividly depicted."

Mr. MacCuUoch concluded his letter to Notes and Queries
with — " Many of the features in the character of the Miser,
Morton of Milnwood, in ' Old Mortality ,*t are traditionally
ascribed to a Mr. MacCuUoch of Barholm (in Galloway),
who lived about the time of the civil wars described in that
novel." In juxta-position with this, I will add some extracts
from a letter addressed to me, on February 12, 1856, by a
cousin of the late Mrs. Thomas Scott. " The late Mr. Mac-
CuUoch, of Barholm, a strangely eccentric man, was fully
persuaded that he was in some respects the type of Harry
Bertram, J and I have heard, wrote a pamphlet exposing the
villany of lawyers, who, like Giossin, had taken advantage of
his father's old age and infirmities, and his own minority, to
alienate large portions of his estate, as he said, to their own
advantage. The old tower of Barholm, from which he takes
his territorial designation, was thus disposed of to the pro-
prietors of the contiguous estate of Kirkdale. Any one,

* It is the ease. See ante^ p. 22. By the waj', tlie wilds of Galloway are
crowded with graves of the slaughtered Covenanters.

t Mr. Paterson, the original of " Old Mortality," was a noted Galloway per-
sonage. When Mr. Train, as appears from Lockhart (vol. v., p. 179), mentioned
Mr. Paterson's name colloquially, Scott did not appear to know who he was, or
what constituted his characteristics. This conver.station occurred in May, 1816.
"Old Mortality," said Scott, "who was he?" "Mr. Train," writes Lockliart,
"then told him, what he could remember of old Paterson, and seeing how mucli
his story interested the hearer, offered to inquire furtlier about that enthusiast
on his return to Galloway." " Uo so by all means," said Scott. Mr. Lockhart
adds, that Scott made no allusion to his own meeting with Paterson, in the old
churchyard of Dunottar, hut that Mr. Train's observation probably recalled it
to his memorJ^ Mr. Lockhart records his opinion, that "to this intercourse with
Mr. Train we owe the whole machinery of the ' Tales of my Landlord' !"

X Novel readers will remember, that Harry Bertram, alias Vanbeest Brown,
is, from his birth, a prominent character in " Guy Mannering." The watchful
anxiety of Meg Merrilies, at his birth, and afterwards over his interests, will also
be rememiiered.

(i4 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

with the descriptions of " Guy Mannering'' fresh in hig
mind, cannot but be struck with the resemblance between
the old tower of Barholm, on a height' overlooking the
modern hoiise of Kirkdale, at no great distance from the sea-
shore— the cave of Kirkclaugh,-''' with the spreading bay of
Wigton, and the wooded glen (a very haunt for gypsies),
and the description of the auld and new places of Ellan-
gowan, and their surrounding scenery. I know that some
persons in the neighbourhood consider Carlsleuth, formerly
the seat of the Browns, as the prototype, but this place is
in a low situation."

It has been remarked, that the sirnames of certain mem-
bers of Mrs. Scott's family were often bestowed on fictitious
characters in the novels: Mr. Corsand, for example, the
magistrate who examined Dirk Hatteraick, in " Guy Manner-
ing," — Mrs. Corsand, of Dumfries, Mrs. Scott's grandmother,
will be remembered (cmte, p. 15).

Mr. Edgar MacCulloch, of Guernsey, writing to me,
says : " With respect to Meg Merrilies (in Guy ' Mannering'),
I remember one of my cousins, now dead, telling me an
anecdote concerning a gypsy woman who, in the last cen-
tury, itsed to frequent Galloway^ and often managed to be
at hand when a birth was expected in any considerable
family. On these occasions she used to spin a hank of
thread, as Meg is described as doing, and from the ap-
pearance it presented when finished, draw an augury as to
the future fate of the new-born babe.f Many singular pre-
dictions of her's are said to have had their accomplishment.
The only one my cousin remembered was this: after wind-
ing off the thread, the gypsy cried out, " A dark night and
a deep ford, many seekers and no finder f She was im-
portuned to express herself more openly, but declared she
could not. The boy grew up to man's estate. One night
his horse returned home without his rider; the servants
went in search of their master; they found the ford he
must have passed overflowed, but the body of the unfor-
tunate gentleman was never more seen."

* Kirkclau},'h and Barholm are situated about half way between Ardwell and
Creetuwn. Ardwell was the residence of ]\Ir. MacCulloch, the father of Mrs.
Thoniiis Scott. '

t " And now," said Meg Jlerrilies, " some of you maun lay down your
watch, and tell me the very minute o' the hour the wean's born, and I'll spae
its fortune." — Guy ^fan}>eving, vol. i. p. 27.

OF THE WAVERLY NOVELS. 65

" I was a child," continues Mr. Mac Cullocli,* in 1814,
" when the novel of ' Waverley' appeared, but I well
remember hearing my grandf'atherf say, that Sir Walter
Scott was the author of that and the si;bsequent novels, and
that he teas assisted in them hy his sister-in-laic, Elizabeth
Mac Culloch. I fancy his informant was Dr. Mac Culloch.":^

It is well known in the family of Sir Walter Scott, that
he never was in Galloway. The fact is a remarkable one,
and the reader is requested to bear it in mind, when weigh-
ing the foregoing evidence.

Having expressed some sui'prise to a relative of the late
Mrs. Thomas Scott's, that the entire of Sir Walter Scott's
letters to her,§ and her letters to him, should have been
suppressed by his literary executor, he replied in a letter
now before me: " As lor Lockhart's reticences, any one

* Letter to the author, Feb. 15, 1856.

t First cousin to Elizabeth Mac Culloch, afterwards Mrs. Thomas Scott.

X Dr. John Mac Culloch was born at Guernsey, in 1773. In 1790, he was
sent to Edinburgh to study medicine ; and at the early age of eighteen received
the diploma of a phj-sician, being the youngest student who had ever passed the
required examination. Though mature in intellect, however, he was boyish in
countenance ; and considering himself too yovmg to succeed as a private prac-
titioner, he entered the artilleiy as Assistant-Surgeon. In 1803, he became Che-
mist to the Ordnance, and in 1816, was engaged by Government in the survey
of Scotland. Mac CuUoch's mineralogical and geological survey of that country
is considered his most important public work. For the map alone he received
j£7,000. The London Catalogue will furnish a list of his many voluminous
scientific works. In the East India Company's establishment at Addiscombe, he
fiUed the office of Lecturer on Chemistry. In 1835, he married; but his nup-
tial happiness was of short duration. By an unfortunate accident he was
thrown out of a chaise, which so much injured one of his legs, as rendered am-
putation indispensable. Throughout the operation he displayed the most philo-
sophic firmness, even to directing the surgeon who performed it. It was all to
no avail, however ; Mac Culloch expired in the arms of his young bride im-
mediately after.

§ All suppressed, with the exeeption of one diminutive extract, just sufficient
to show the friendship and confidence that existed between them. Mr. Lock-
hart, in the Preface to his Biography, publicly thanked those correspondents of
Scott, who i)laced their letters in his hands. " For the copious materials," he
writes, " which the friends of Sir Walter have placed at my disposal, I feel just
gratitude." Mrs. Thomas Scott's name is introduced at the termination of the
list. ]\Iany of Sir Walter's letters to Thomas Scott are evidently suppressed.
A plentiful sprinkling of stars in those really printed, clearly intimate the ob-
literation of entire paragraphs. It is worthy of remark, that in none of Sir
Walter's" letters to his brother in Canada (as published by Lockhart), does there
appear the slightest allusion to any of those splendid works, which at that
period/onned the theme of universal praise and wonder. Is this natural '? The
letter to Thomas Scott {ante, p. 15), wherein he tells him to look nothing when
" Waverley" is spoken of, is the only reference to the novels. This was in 181 J.
Several letters," extending over a subsequent period of nine years, are scattered
through tlie book.

K

(!6 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

wlio lias read his Life of Sir Walter cannot fail being aware
of them. He is said to have been vindictive ; and I have
heard that personal dislike led him to suppress any allusion
to individuals, whose names one would otherwise have ex-
pected to find in that work. Such I believe to have been
the case with my uncle, Dr. JohnMac Culloch, whose valuable
and erudite work on ' the Highlands and Islands of Scotland'
was written in the form of letters, addressed to Sir Walter
Scott."

It is worthy of remark, that the strong assertion respecting
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scotfs share in the " Waverley Novels"
(made on the 'authority of their own personal assurance)
was published in a Canadian paper, under the very eye of
Mr. and Mrs. Scott, who had been for eight years previously
resident in Canada. The remarkable admission was copied
into every American newspaper. The Paymaster or his
gifted wife never contradicted the statement, but by their
silence converted into a public, what was originally a
private admission. Thomas Scott died two years after.

I have referred {ante, p. 20) to an interesting communi-
cation addressed by " F. C. H." to Notes and Queries, soon
after the " Scott question" had been started. " In corro-
boration of the opinion put forth by W. J. F." he writes, "that
Sir Walter Scott did not write, or was not the exclusive
author of the ' Waverley Novels,' reference may be made
to a strong assertion made in 1820, in two articles on Sir
Walter Scott, in the London Magazine^ " F. C. H.'' ap-
pended some extracts, well worthy of attention, and furnished
such references of page as enabled me to find, without dif-
culty, other equally valuable matter.

The second volume of the London Magazine from July
to December, 1820,* commences with 'a "Memoir of Sir

* Sir Thijmas Noon Talfourd, D.C.L., in his " Final Memorials of Charles
Lanil)," p. 21^, thus adverts to the estahlishmcnt of the London Maffirzine: —
" Lamb's association Avith Hazlitt, in 1820, introduced him to that of the London
Magazine, which supplied the tinest stimulus his intellect had ever received, and
induced the composition of essays fondly and familiarly known under the title of
'Pllia.' Never was a periodical work commenced with hap]iier auspices, num-
bering a list of contributors more original in tliouglit, more fresh in spirit, more
sportive in fancy, or directed by an editor better qualKied by nature and study
to preside, thiiii this ' London.' There was Lamb, with liumanity ripened among
towu-ljred experiences, and pathos matured by sorrow, at his wisest, sagesl,
airiest, i/wliscrcetest, best. BaiTy ('ornwall, in the first bloom of his modest and
enduring fimo, streaming the darkest passiun with beauty; John Hamilton
Revnoid^, liglitiiig up the wildest eccentricities and most striking features of

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 67

Walter Scott."' It is written with great power and vivacity,
and traces, with a friendly and admiring pen, the records of
his literary and private life. After enumerating Sir Wal-
ter's poetical and prose worhs, the biographer, at p. 115,
startles the reader with the following paragraphs : —

" We now come to the question which has been so long
and so earnestly argued. Is he, or is he not, the author of
what are emphatically denominated ' The Scotch Novels?'
We expressly and confidently declai'C — he is not.

"In hazarding this bold assertion, we know and feel the
responsibility we have voluntarily incurred. We know,
likewise, that in stating it in this unqualified manner we
shall not be justified by any argument deduced from any
fancied internal proof in the works themselves, or from any
opinion we may have been induced to form from mere cir-
cumstantial evidence.

" The fact is, that these works were written by a near
relative of Sir Walter Scott; they were severally sent to
him by that relative in an unfinished state, for revision, cor-
rection, and methodizing.

" Through his agency the arrangements for disposing of the
copyright, and the time and manner of publication, were
made ; and notwithstanding the continued mystery in which
the whole affair is enveloped, it is firmly believed by the
parties with whom he has been obliged to be immediately
connected, that they are solely the pi'oductions of his own
pen. These facts were communicated by the real author of
the novels to a colonel in the army, who is well known and
eminently respected for the gallantry of his services, the
powers of his mind, and the extent and depth of his erudi-
tion; and we have no doubt that wc shall obtain from him,
permission, previous to the publication of our next number,
to set this question for ever at rest, by giving up the name
of the real writer of those admirable works of fiction, as
well as his own.

"The reasons for throwing, and continuing to throw, the
garb of anonymity over these novels, must be obvious to every
inquiring mind. Since their commencement they have been
almost universally attributed to Sir Walter Scott : hence any

many-coloured life with vivid fancy; and Hazlitt, whose pen, unloosed from
the chain which earnest thought and metaphysical dreamings had woven, gave
radiant expression to the result of the solitary musings of many years."

68 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

iidvantage that might accrue from a name so pre-eminently
j^opular and successful, they inherit in the fullest degree ;
and, in addition, possess that peculiar air of mystery, which,
by continuing to excite the attention and elicit the inquiries
of literary men, will press the novels themselves continually
before the public eye. We much doubt, notwithstanding
their intrinsic excellence, whether the letters of Junius
would have been half so niucli read, if, instead of preserving
sucli a mysterious silence respecting the author, his curtain
bad been witlidrawn and his vizor unlocked."

The foregoing appeared in the August number of the
London Magazine, for 1820. Three months elapsed, and the
curiosity of the public for some definite information in-
flamed to a high state of intensity. The editor of the
London Magazine was inundated with letters. At length,
in his October number (p. 381), he published the following
article : —

" THE AUTHOR OF THE SCOTCH NOVELS.

"In the memoirs of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., we stated that we i<;e?'c
in possession of facts ■which justified us in asserting that the admir-
able works of imagination under this title were not from the pen of
that distinguished writer. We then said: — [Here follows a repeti-
tion of the paragraphs ah'eady quoted. The editor goes on to say]: —

" The officer, to whom we alhided, had then recently formed a
matrimonial connexion with the family of a distinguished nobleman ;
and had left town, a short time previous to the publication of the
number referred to; hence we have been unable to procure his per-
mission to use his name, as the authority on which we made the
statement.*

However, from the interest which has been excited, in consequence
of our remarks, although we cannot at present justifiably mention
any other names, we feel no hesitation in gratifying the curiosity of
our readers, by informing them, that Mrs. Scott, formerly ]\Iiss
MacCulloch, the lady of Thomas Scott, Esq., Paymaster to the
70th Regiment, at present in Canada, and Brother to Sir Walter
Scott, is the writer of these novels, not Mr. Thomas Scott."

* Why not write to tlie countiy after him ? All this appears to me as a
delicate excuse to the public for omitting to give tlie Colonel's name, as the
editor had previously half pledged himself to do. The Colonel certainly had no
right to reveal what was communicated to him confidentially, and it is more tlian
probable that wlien he found the substance of his conversation printed in the
London Magazine, he declined to let his name thus publicly accompany it. The
officer was prol)al)ly Colonel Sir Louis (Jrant, who succeeded Sir G. Cole as
connnander of the 7<ith Rerjiment.

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVLES. 69

The New Monthly Magazine^ for October, 1818, edited by
Thomas Campbell, states that " they have tlie best reasons"
lor knowinof of a certain Canadian connexion with the
" Waverley "Novels."

Let it not be imagined that I subscribe to every word of
the foregoing string of extracts from the London Magazine.
I believe them to be only, to a certain extent, true. An
old aphorism says "there is never smoke without fire;"
and appreciating its wisdom, 1 attach some value to the
editor's allegations. There is a fearless confidence about the
statement, which almost carries conviction ; there are also
traces, I conceive, of a somewhat ardent and impulsive
temperament in the writer, which may have led him, un-
wittingly, to amplify facts.

" F. C. H." an erudite writer, and distinguished divine,
having called my attention in Notes and Queries to the above
paragraphs, went on to say: — " At p. 555 of the same Lon-
don Magazine appears an extract from The Dumfries
Courier, with a note of the liistory of Helen Walker, on
Avhich was founded the tale of " The Heart of Mid Lothiafi;''^
which note was made by Mrs. Scott, long before that series
of " The Tales of my Landlord''^ had been announced.
These coincidences are undoubtedly curious."

I have already spoken of Mrs. Scott's peculiarly extensive
acquaintance with Galloway, and the vicinity of Dumfries.
" It is not, we believe, very generally known," says the
above referred to extract from the Dumfries Courier, " that
the celebrated tale of ' tlie Heart of Mid Lothian'' is founded
on fact, and that its heroines resided, for the greater part of
their lives, in the immediate neighbourhood of Dumfries,"
&c.

The remains of Helen Walker (Jeannie Deans) are
interred in the churchyard of Irongray, a romantic little
cemetery on the banks of the Cairn, situated within a few
miles of Dumfries.

Mr. Ballantyne's " reply" concluded witli a declaration
that my efforts, and those of " F. C. H.,'' to " lay the bairn
at a certain door, merit nought but ridicvde." Such an
observation comes badly from JNIr. Ballantyne. If he con-
sidered that the case I made out deserved nought but
ridicule, why did he impetuously rush forward, immediately
on the appearance of my very short article, exhorting the
public to suspend their judgment, and begging a " fortnight's
time" to prepare his " rebutting case?"

70 INVESTIGATION INTO THE AUTHORSHIP

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.

In conclusion, I have only to say that the concealment of
Mr. and Mrs. TJionias Scott's presumed share in the author-
ship of the " Waverley Novels" appears to me grounded on
politic reasons. Several of them will be obvious to the
readers of this pamphlet. One may not be so. When
Mr. Lockhart was engaged upon the " Memoirs of Sir W.
Scott," committees* were being organized, and subscriptions
raised, to free his property from incumbrances, and purchase
for ever, with a view to entailing on the family, the splendid
mansion and grounds of Abbotsford, its library, and mu-
seum— to raise colossal cenotaphs in Edinburgh, Glasgow,
and Selkirk — and to place, what has not since been placed,
a statue to his memory in Westminster Abbey. Thirty
thousand pounds were generously advanced by Mr. Cadell,
the publisher, who accepted as security the right to the
profits accruing from Sir Walter's copyright property, and
literary remains. Mr. Lockhart, in his ably compiled
biography, adverted at some length to the undiminished
sale of the Novels, and expressed a hope that it would
"please the Legislature to extend the period for which
literary property had hitherto been protected;" which
prayer Mr. Sergeant Talfourd rapidly followed up by five
attempts to introduce a bill for that purpose.

To rush forward with these pages at such a juncture would
have been, in the highest degree, uncalled for, and intru-
sive— but twenty-four years having since elapsed, during
which time the copyright has been exhausted, and the
" Waverley Novels" have travelled the world wide in
shilling volumes, I can see no substantial objection to the
course I now pursue.

I believe it is an established fact, that any avowedly joint
production, no matter how ably executed, is never viewed by
the public with that feeling of interest, and admiration,
which the work of one brain solely invariably elicits. The
dramas of Beaumont and Fletcher are thought nothing of
beside these of Congreve, Jonson, Rowc, or Massinger.

* IMoore, as appenrs from his Diary (vol. vi. p. 294,) \va.s put ou one of the
committees for promoting these objects. " A statement of the amount of
propprtylcft by him, how disposed of. and how incumbered, was laid before us."

OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 71

Their plays are, I conceive, superior to those of the last
mentioned dramatists; but a vast segment of the public,
nevertheless, attach comparatively small importance to them.
The plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, although excellent in
their way, are never acted ; they are generally unread, and
almost unknown. An edition of their works, in ten vo-
lumes, published by Sherlock, of London, lies before me.
" Considering," writes the editor,* "the acknowledged excel-
lence of our authors, loudly acknowledged by the most
eminent of their contemporaries and successors, it appears
wonderful that in the space of one hundred and fifty years
which have elapsed since the death of these poets, no more
than three complete editions of their works have been pub-
lished To what causes are we to attribute this

amazing disparity between the reputation of the writers,
and the public demand for their productions? .... Their
plays, we will be bold to say, have the same excellencies,
as well as the same defects, each perhaps in an inferior
degree, with the dramas of their great master, Shakspeare.
.... In comedy, the critics of their own days, and those
immediately succeeding, gave Beaumont and Fletcher the

preference to Shakspeare Some of their plays are so

much in his manner that they can scarcely be distinguished
to be the work of another hand."

Pope, in his edition of Shakspeare, is of opinion that Beau-
mont and Fletchers " Two Noble Kinsmen" is really the
work of the great dramatist.

The public indifierence to their fame and works is still
further illustrated. "It is really surprizing," says Mr.
Simpson, in the edition of 1750, " that all we know of two
such illustrious authors is that — we know nothing. The
editor of their works, in 1711, gives an ' Account of their
Lives,' &c., but he greatly miscalls it, for that they were
born in such a year, and died in such a one, is all he has
given us of their history and actions."

No matter what Shakspeare may have said to the con-
trary, there is, certainly, something, and a great deal, in a
name. Although for years not publicly avowed, the world
assumed the " Waverley Novels" to be solely the offspring
of Sir Walter Scott's brain ; and read and admired them to

* George Colman, as we are informed by " the Hi.-*tory of the English Stage,"
vol. vi. p. 39.

72 INVESTIGATION INTO THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.

an extent which, unquestionably, would not have been the
case had the impression of their being a joint concern ex-
isted in the public mind.*

It was, of course, Mr. Lockhart's business, in the dis-
charge of his duty, as Scott's "Literary Executor," unflinch-
ingly to represent him, and act precisely as Sir W. Scott
would have acted. If Scott did not think well of publicly
avowing, previous to the fatal break-vip of his intellect, what
1 and others have no doubt took place, it was Mr. Lock-
hart's duty to follow the same stern course. If Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Scott, previous to their demise, chose to re-
frain from making public the secret of their co-operation,
it will, probably, be conceived the duty of whoever repre-
sents them to pursue the same course now.

Scott's whole life was a life of mystery. A secret was, I
verily believe, in some degree, necessary to his existence.
" The practice of mystery," observes Mr. Lockhart, at the
close of his work, " is, perhaps, of all practices the one
most likely to grow into a habit — Secret breeds secret /"
Some, of which the world know nothing, may have perished
in the collapse of his great mind.

* The " Waverley Novels" proved a source of unprecedented profit. Writing
to John Ballantyne, the printer, Sir Walter, in August, 1817, says: "lam
afraid the public will take me up for coining. Indeed, these Novels, while their
attractions last, are something like it." In a letter to Captain Ferguson (Jan.
15, 1819), Scott observes ; "Constable has offered me £10,000 for the copy-
rights of published works, which have already produced more than twice that
sum. I hold out for £12,000." Mr. Lockhart mentions (p. 367), that the
average profit from the Novels had been for several years not less than £10,000.
" In 1821," observes Mr. Lockhart (p. 469), he "reckoned on clearing £33,000
on the Novels within two years."

APPENDIX.

SIR WILLIAM GELL AND MR. LOCKHART.

{See iMroduction, p. 4.)

[The letters from which the following sentences are extracted appear in Dr.
Madden's Life of Lady Blessington.]

Sir William Gell, in a letter to Lady Blessington, dated Naples,
April 4tb, 1833, writes: — "Miss Scott wrote to me, by the desire
of Mr. Lockhart, to beg I would send him my reminiscences of Sir
Walter, because I was ' the last of his friends.' I had generally the
care of him while in Italy." (Sir William filled fifty pages of MS.)
" It contains," he continued, " even to a certain degree, information
as to his future literary projects, which could not have been recorded,
I believe, by any other means."

Seven months afterwards (Nov. 19, 1833) Sir William writes: —
" I observed to you that my life of Sir Walter Scott in Italy was
very entertaining in its way, and I sent it to Mr. L., by Mr. Hamil-
ton. He has never, however, thanked me for it, nor even acknow-
ledged the receipt of it, nor sent me Sir Walter's works, which he
ordered for me with almost the last sentence he uttered that was in-
telligible, and if it does not appear in the work it will be really worth
publishing, and I shall send it to you."

Two months later (January 22, 1834) Sir William Gell writes: —
" As to Mr. Lockhart, I much fear that he is not good for much,
and I am certain he got the work, for I sent it to Mr. W. Hamilton,
who gave it with a request that he would not omit a word of it in
printing. There are no remarks, except such as tend to explain
away, and render less ridiculous, the total want of classical taste
and knowledge of the hero, in a situation full of classical recollec-
tions, and which I have added that I might not seem insensible to
his real merits. They were written for the family, and, therefore,
nothing offensive could have been inserted. ... I think it
scarcely possible that any of those most attached to him could be
displeased at my manner of representing him ; and, at all events, I
have repeated what he said, and related what he did in Italy, in a
way that satisfied every one here, who was a witness of his sayings
and doings. However, I shall send the copy to you, and if the life
is published by the said Lockhart, without use of my papers, the
best way will be to sell it to the bookseller, and to let it come

74 APPENDIX.

before the public. I will prefix. MLss Scott's rr>(piest that I would
write it.'"' Five months later (June 2, 1834) Sir William goes on
to say: — " You have had a great deal of trouble in fishing for a
decent escape from the business of Mr, L., and I thank you for
it. I do not wish to do anything disagreeable to the wishes of
the family, but I think it vern ill-judged of them not to 'place every-
thing in its true liglit." Sir William concludes the subject with an
allusion to " that want of candour which spoils the book without
hiding the truth." A portion of Sir William GelPs " Life of Sir
Walter Scott in Italy,"' was subsequently inserted by Mr. Lock-
hart, under the title of " Memoranda."

REFUTATION' OF MU. LOCKIIAKT'S MrSREPKESENTATIONS IN THE LIFE OF
SIR WALTER SCOTT, BY THE SON AND EXECUTORS OF JAMES BALLAN-
TTNE. EDINBURGH, 1837.

{See Introduction^ p. 7.)

This pamphlet has become very scarce. Its arguments ought not
to be forgotten, and for this reason, coupled with the fact, that we
have frequently seen it stated in biographical sketches, that Scott
was ruined by his connexion with the Ballantyne?, we revive a few
of the more respectable opinions of the Press on the case. Chambers'
Edinburgh Journal said : — "Mr. Ballantyne's friends triumphantly
vindicate his fair fame, and show that, so far from his being in any
degree the cause of the ruin of Scott, the latter was the cause of his
ruin." The Literanj Gazette said: — " Warmly and powerfully vindi-
cated." The Naval and Military Gazette said : — " The letters written
by Lockhart to Ballantyne on his death bed, full of professions of
the warmest gratitude, and most cordial attachment, afford a lament-
able specimen of the hollowness of the world." The Spectator said : —
" It disproves the statements of Lockhart, by the production of
counter-evidence, leaving the biographer in no very enviable plight.
It shows Scott more rash and reckless in his miserable object of
founding a family estate, and more selfish in his pursuit of it, than
he appeared even in his son-in-law's narrative." The Times said: —
" Goes far to unsettle ^Mr. Lockliart's conclusion." 27ie Morning
Chronicle said: — "Lockhart has been led to do great injustice to the
Messrs. Ballantyne." The /Sun said: — "There are few who, before
reading this plain, straightforward statement of facts, could persuade
themselves that the son-in-law of Scott could misrepresent, as he is
proved to have done, the character and conduct of two excellent
persons, who were the victims of the aristocratical ambition of his illus-
trious relative." The Edinburgh Chronicle sixid: — " Will ever after-
wards divest Lockhart's woid of any authority.'' The Eclectic Review
said: — " If Mr. Lockhart be the man we take him to be, he will make
ju-ompt and full reparation for the injustice he has committed."

APPENDIX. 75

This able pamphlet appeared in August, 1838. Not till March 8,
1 839, did Mr. Lockhart appear before the public with a reply. So
far from making the amende honorable, it showered forth renewed
vituperation, descending frequently to the most undignified person-
ality. Speaking of John Ballantyne, who was originally in the
tailoring trade, he said: — " I have been told that Rigdum was consi-
dered as rather an expert snip among the Bruramels and D'Orsays of
Kelso." His answer extended to 122 pages. " Bad as it is,"
replied Messrs. Ballantynes' executors, in a second pamphlet, " we
are aware that it does not contain a tithe of the scurrility, which it
originally possessed when it dropped from the pen of the author; and
we have no doubt that we are indebted for the pruning it received,
to the good-humoured counsel by whom the proof sheets were revised."
From all this, it is evident, that implicit confidence ought not to be
reposed in every statement made by Mr. Lockhart in his Life of Sir
Walter Scott.

THE IMPRESSION PRODUCED BY THE ORIGINAL LETTER IN " NOTES AND

QUERIES."

{See p. 18.)

Since the foregoing sheets passed through the press, No. LXIIL
of Willis's Current Notes has appeared. It contains five columns
exclusively devoted to Sir Walter Scott, of which three are the pro-
fessed properly of James Maidmcnt, Esq., an old personal friend of
Sir Walter, and, like him, a Clerk of Session in Edinburgh. His
letter is dated March 8, 1856. Its text is the original short com-
munication to Notes and Queries, ante, page 13. When I contrast
that comparatively meagre document, with the mass of evidence
which has been since adduced, I almost wonder at the impression
produced by it on such minds as Messrs. Maidment's, Markham's,
and Ballantyne's. The fact, however, is a significant one. Five
months have elapsed since the question was first raised in Notes and
Quei'ies; it is four since the editor brought it to a premature close.
The general reading public considered the subject dead and buried,
and accordingly forgot it. Not so the thinking class. It fermented,
and still ferments, uneasily in their minds ; and even those old per-
sonal friends of Scott, who aflfect to scoff, know not in reality what
to think. Professing to contemn, they confess their own uneasiness
and perplexity, by periodically reviving the subject, and volunteering
laboured " rebutting cases," long after the editor of Notes and
Queries had closed its columns against any further agitation of the
question. On January 5, the Athenaeum said, that my " speculations
may he said to have died out where they arose." I allowed the
public to imagine that the subject was dead. I silently accumulated

76 APPENDIX.

niv points, and watclied the curious indications of uneasiness wiiicli,
during tlie interval, emanated from tlie reflective class. Several
letters appeared in tlie public journals. It is not my intention now
to notice any but Mr. Maidment's. It is entitled to attention ; he
possessed the friendship and confidence of Sir Walter Scott. He fills
a\i onerous public office, and is, I understand, much respected in
Edinburgh. He urges his arguments temperately, and furnishes
some new information.

Mr. Maidment assumes more than I desire to prove. " What is
said?" he inquires. " Why, that Thomas Scott wrote the whole or the
best part of the novels prior to 'Rob Roy;' and that in particular
he was the author of ' The Antiquary.' What is the proof of this won-
drous statement? An alleged letter in the Quebec Herald o{ J a\y, 1820.
It has the date of December, but no year." I forwarded the original
letter to Notes and Queries. The year was 1818, as I can prove to
Mr. Maidment, by a duplicate in my possession. Mr. Maidment
attaches more importance to the year than, I think, is called for.
Further on, he asks, " What is the date — that is to say, the year in
which it was written? Where," continues Mr. Maidment, "is the
alleged manuscript of ' The Antiquary,' in Thomas Scott's auto-
graph?" If it was considered judicious to keep secret Mr. and Mrs.
Scott's presumed co-operation so far, it is not likely that any manu-
scripts in their autograph would be preserved — or if preserved, that
the public would obtain access to them.

Mr. Maidment, in the course of his letter, assumes that
Thomas Scott did make the declaration in question, and he asks,
" Was it done seriously, or in jest ? Was it over his cups, or was
anybody else present?'' A man over his cups is more likely to dis-
close truth unguardedly than to invent ingenious tales. " Like the
late excellent Peter Robertson," proceeds Mr. Maidment, " he could
not resist a joke; and to mystify a Yankee, could there be a greater
treat? Sir Walter, at the dinner at which the secret of his author-
ship was made known, desired Robertson to announce himself as the
murderer of Begbie." Mr. Maidment here alludes to "■the assurance
to Lord Meadoivhanh, on Feb. 23, 1827," revived by Mr. Ballau-
tync, f/?ite, p. 24. Requesting an "excellent'' man, in the same
breath, to confess the guilt of murder (as we are reminded by Mr.
Maidment), throws an air of waggery on the literary confession,
which had never struck me until Mr. Maidment casually called my
attention to it.

Mr. Maidment relates an interesting fact, not previously known,
respecting the literary assistance given to Scott by Erskine. I will
transcribe it, were it only to render still more absurd the observa-
tion revived by Mr. Shilletto (ante., p. 25), that Scott was the " un-
aided" and "unassisted" author of all the Waverley Novels: —
"Before leaving ' The Antiquary,' I may niention a circumstance

APPENDIX. 77

connected with its publication, which might give rise to another
claimant for its authorship. The late Lord Kennedder, then William
Erskine, was frequently employed by the legal house where I was
acquiring professional knowledge. Upon one occasion, a clerk called
upon him late in the day with papers. Erskine was at dinner, and
as there was something to communicate verballj', the young man was
shown into the office. Some time elapsed, and the youth getting
weary, he looked about him, and beheld, to his astonishment, two or
three sheets of the novel, then advertised for publication, corrected in
the well-known hand of Erskine. Upon returning to the office, he
mentioned what he had seen, and never doubted that ' The Antiquary'
was the veritable production of the learned lawyer. Suppose, after
the lapse of years, a letter had been found bearing date, signature,
and address, detailing all this, would it not have been better evidence
of Erskine's authorship than allegations, founded on an imsigncd, un-
dated, and unaddressed paper, said to have turned up in America.''
Mr. Maidment proceeds: — " The original MSS. of most of the novels
in Scott's autograph are still extant. The MS. of Waverley, not
quite perfect, is, by the donation of James Hall, Esq., in the library
of the Faculty of Advocates." {Vide p. 18 of this pamphlet.)

" The sources from whence he derived his stories are candidly dis-
closed. That his brother gave his assistance in the same U'ay that
Train and others did, we have from his own pen; but furnishing
materials for a pudding is one thing, making it another." Mr.
Maidment must confound some admission made by Scott in the
course of casual conversation with the Explanatory Introductions of
1829. There is no passage in any of Scott's writings, that I am
acquainted with, which acknowledges having received from Thomas
even " materials for the pudding."

DENIAL OF AUTHORSHIP — THE REVIEW IN THE QUARTERLY.

(5'eep. 30.)

There is an autograph letter of Sir W. Scott's preserved in the
MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin, in which he distinctly
assures his correspondent, Mr. C. G. Gavelin, that he had nothing
whatever to do Avith the revision or publication of the second edition
of Swift. Dr. Wilde, in the second edition of his able and valued
"Closing Years of Swift's Life," makes reference (p. 78) to this
extraordinary letter. It had not turned up when Mr. Lockhart in-
troduced the following passage into the 60th Chapter of his " Me-
moirs of Scott." Mr. Lockhart had at this period (1824) been a
member of Sir Walter's family for four years, and spoke from per-
sonal knowledge. Thomas Scott had died the preceding year. "This
year — mirabile dictu.'" writes Mr. Lockhart, "produced but one

78 APPENDIX.

novel* . . . He had, however, a hibour of some weight to go
througli in preparing for the press a second edition of his vohiminous
Swift. The additions to this reprint were numerous, and he cor-
rected his Notes, and his Life of the Dean throughout, with consider-
able care."

The Quarterly critique occupies fifty pages, commencing at p. 430,
and terminating at p. 480. Scott's letter to Murray is dated Dec.
16. As the review was required for the January number, great
haste was necessary in preparing it. As might have been expected,
some blunders crept in. Sir Walter quoted too long paragraphs
(pp. 4.39-441 ), relative to the gypsy tribes, from "a new periodical
called the Edinburgh Magazine."" Not until the April following did
BlackwooiV s Edinburgh Magazine appear. The article on gypsies
occupied a prominent position. It was written by Scott.

ONE OF THE NEWSPAPEE CRITICISMS ON MK. FEEXCh's PAMPHLET.

{Ante, p. 60.)

" Mr. French has issued a pamphlet for the purpose of demolish-
ing Sir Walter Scott. He produces passages from two tales, the one
published in the Gentleman s Magazine, in 1744, and the other
in 1743, under the title of ' Memoirs of an Unfortunate Young No-
bleman,' which he prints in parallel columns; with extracts from
' Guy Manncring,' for the purpose of showing that Sir Walter cribbed
tiie ' Plot.' Mr. French must be a i-emarkably dull man, not to
know that the whole world is fully aware of all that he here tells
us. Scott, in an advertisement to the collected editions of the
Wavcrley Novels, refers himself to the various sources from which
he drew the 'Plots,' not only of this, but of all the other Novels;
and it wouldnotbe difficult to jjoint out to this Bolton Sage much more
prolific fields of investigation in the same line.f Mr. French reveals
how, although he communicated his discovery of the ' Guy Manner-

* Mr. Lockliart might well exclaim, " Mlrahile dicttiP See footnote to p. 72.

f This criticism afTords a c;of"i specimen of the absurdly unfair tone, which not
onlj' pervades the above article, but in all probability will pervade most of tbc re-
views of the present i)aniplilct. 1 transcribe the first sentence of Mr. French's
introduction : — " In an advertisement to the collected edition of the "Waverley
Novels (p. iii.), Sir Walter Scott states that ' he proposes to publish, on this oc-
casion, the various legends, family traditions, or obscure historical facts, which
have formed the groundwork of these Novels,' and in the General Preface
(p. xxxviii.) he adds, ' I have done all that I can do to explain the nature of my
materials, and the use I have made of them.' It is the purpose of the following
pagrs to show that tliis eminent author failed to fulfil the voluntary promise of
the advertisement."

APPKNDIX. 79

ing' Plot* to Mr. Lockhart in 1 837, the son-in-lavv of the author of
' Waverley' did not think it proper to introduce the exposure into
any of the subsequent editions of the ' Life of Scott.' The inference
the blockhead draws evidently being, that Lockhart was afraid of his
father-in-law's fair fame. . . . We have rarely read anything
more calculated to raise one's bile, than this insufferably cool and
impudent production of Mr. French's, but it were useless to chastise a

donkey who will remain obstinate to the last One does feel

an inclination to visit Bolton, for the express purpose of applying a
cudgel to the back of this obtuse and conceited Laird of Thornydykes."

COINCIDENT NAMES.

{Ante, pp. 44, 46.)

Sir Galbraith Cole, of the 70th, was a brother of Willoughby,
Earl of Enni^killen, who married, in 1805, Lady Charlotte Paget.
The Lady Paget, and the Lord Willoughby, will both be remembered
in " Kenilworth."

After having written the note {cmte, p. 46), relative to certain
coincident names in "Nigel," a list of some officers of the 104th
Foot, who were placed upon half-pay in 1817, fell, accidentally,
under my observation. At the first glance I noticed three names
introduced in " Nigel," and I made a note to ascertain whether the
1 04th Foot had ever been quartered in Upper Canada.

The number of the Portfolio {ante, p. 50) for October, 1816,
opens with an article entitled, " British liegular Troops in Upper
Canada, July 13, 1814," By it we find that, at Kingston (the
very Canadian arsenal where Mr. and Mrs. Scott remained for three
years), the Canadian Fencibles, and 104th Regiment of Foot, were
also quartered. Colonel George Heriot {ante, p. 46) belonged to
the former, Lieutenant Gabriel Tunstall, and Ensigns Roberts and
Armstrong to the latter. Tunstall will be remembered as Ramsay's
apprentice; Roberts as George Ileriot's cash-keeper; and Armstrong
as the court jester in "Nigel." The Philadelphian Magazine nien-

* Here is another specimen of the critic's unfairness. He sneers at Mr. French
for imagining that he made any " discovery," relative to the Plot, — that in
fact everybody knew what Mr. French considered he had discovered ; but in
the same introduction to wliich I have already referred, a very conclusive letter
appears from the best possible authority, confronting the critic's flippancies : —
'■'■ ]\Iilton Loclchdrt, Lanarlc, July lA, \S?,~ . — Sui, I have this morning received
your very curious communication about the origin of the Plot of ' Guy Manner-
ing,' and regret much that it did not reach me wliile engaged on the second
volume of my ' Memoirs of Scott.' Sliould that volume be reprinted, 1 shall
avail myself of your valuable paper, and the authorities to Avhich you refer, and
I am led to believe, that I shall have the opportunity at no great distance of time.
Meanwhile accept my best thanks for your courteous and liberal attention and
believe me to be your verj' obedient and much obliged servant, — J. G. Lockhart."

80 APPENDIX.

tioned, among much interesting data of the recent war, that the
entire British military force in Upper Canada, on July 13, 1814,
consisted of the 8th, 41st, 100th, 1st Royals, Royal Artillery,
103rd, Giengarys, the Canadian Fencibles, 104th and 89th Regi-
ments. These were distributed at Forts Niagara, George, and
Eri, at Kingston, Prescott, and Burlington Heights.

In the autumn of 1814, the English and United States armies had
some hot encounters. The former was reinforced, between July 1st
and September 15, with the following British regiments — 6th, 82nd,
97th, 90th, 37th, 16th, 26th, and 57th. Like Thomas Scott's
regiment, they remained in Upper Canada for several years after.
They changed constantly, and the 70th was brought into frequent
intercourse with them.

Before I proceed to examine the officers' names in detail, I may
observe, as relevant to the above remarks respecting " Nigel," that
Lieutenant Mansell was in the 82ud, Lieutenant Vincent in the 89th,
and Windsor Stewart, and Lieutenants Duke and Black, in the 6th
Grenadiers. Mansell is Lieutenant of the Tower in " Nigel ;" Vin-
cent, the fellow-apprentice of Tunstall, in "Nigel;" Windsor, the
friend of George Heriot, the King's Goldsmith, in " Nigel ;" Duke
Hildebrod)* of the Alsatian Club, in "Nigel;" and Lady Black-
chester, the sister of Lord Dalgarno, in the same novel. Captain
Ramsay, a distinguished officer in the United States army, figured in
the Canadian campaign of 1814. Ramsey is the old watchmaker,
at Temple-bar, in " Nigel," to whom Vincent and Tunstall were
apprenticed.

In looking over the Army List of the day, I noted the following-
additional coincidences of name, which may amuse the curious in
such matters. Some of them are well worth attention. They
were manifestly borrowed in Upper Canada, and nowhere else.

Scott, in his Introduction to " Guy Mannering," says that " he
looked about for a name and a subject,'' and from this observation we
may infer that such was his invariable habit when commencing a
fictitious narrative. The practice is, I believe, usual among authors.

Had I leisure minutely to analyse the subject, the following tabu-
lar statement would, doubtless, be much more startling ; but pro-
bably enough is here given to show that it must have have been in
Canada (which Sir Walter Scott never visited) that some person,
intimately concerned in the production of the Waverley Novels,
mainly " looked about for names" : —

* Sir TliWobrand Oakcs was full colonel of the Eoyal Artillery, large dotach-
ments of wliich were stationed in Upper Canada at this period. Sir Hildebraiul
in " Rob Hoy" is not to be forgotten. Pritchard and Cleaveland, were cap-
tains under him. Captain Pritchard, " Guy Manncring;" Captain Cleaveland,
" Pirate."

APPENDIX.

81

82nd Regiment of Foot, or Prince of Wales' Volunteers.

Captain Hutclieson,
Lieutenant Wm. Lampheir,

Captain Irwin,

Lieutenant Pennefeather,

Lieutenant Potts,

Quartermaster Gow,

Lieutenant Mansell,

Lieutenant Elliott,
Lieutenant Crabtree,
Lieutenant Fennell,
Ensign Hodgson,
Paymaster W. Wetherall,

Surgeon Butler Kell,

Hutcheon, "Redgauntlet"and "Monaster}'."
Will Lamplugh, Smuggler, " Redgauntlet."

(H. Irwin, Clara Mowbray's Confidaute, " St.

I Ronan's Well."

(Lady Penfeather, the Lady Patroness at

( the Spa, " St. Ronan's Well."

JMr. and Mrs. Pott, Librarians at the Spa,

\ " St. Ronan's Well."
Neil Gow, the Fiddler, " St. Ronan's Well."

/Mansell, Lieutenant of the Tower of London,

\ "Nigel."
Halbert Elliott, &c., &c., " Blact Dwarf."
Crabtree (at Fairport), " Antiquary."
Fenella, Lady Derby's Attendant, " Peveril."
Hodgeson, a Puritan, " Peveril of the Peak."
Wetheral, in Fitzurse's Troop, " Ivanhoe."

(Wm. Butler, Military Chaplain at Madras,

\ "Surgeon's Daughter."

\OZrd Regiment of Foot.

r„^t„- n r^ ^ L /-111 , (Colonel Guy Mannering, " Guv Man."
Captam Guy Carleton Colclough, jcaptain Cafleton, " Pev;ril of the Peak

Captain Griffiths,

Lieutenant Owen,

Lieutenant Hector Maclean,
Lieutenant Grimshaw,

("Griffiths, Lord Derby's Steward, " Peveril

I of the t'eak."
• I Griffiths, Redgauntlet's Agent in London,

[_ " Redgauntlet."

rOwen, Latimer's Groom, " Redgauntlet."
. ■< Mr. Owen, the Senior Osbaldistone's Confi-

{ dential Clerk, " Rob Roy."

(Sir Hector Maclean, Highland Chief, " Le-
■ \ gend of Montrose."
Grimsbj-, " Kenilworth."

Lieutenant Henderson Thompson, j"*"jf u°K:lMt3h^'''"' ""* ^°''^^''^" ^^''

Lieutenant Harrison,

Ensign Jones,
Ensign Geddes, .

\ tie, " Kenilworth.'
("General Harrison, " Woodstock."
•< Harrison, Major Bellenden's Steward, " Old
( Mortality."

(Mrs. Jones, Lady Penfeather's Waiting Wo-
\ man, " St. Ronan's Well."*
Joshua Geddes, the Quaker, " Redgauntlet."

The 6t/i, or JFanvichshire Grenadiers {Peninsula, Niagara).
Lieut. Col. Archibald Campbell

rJohn Archibald, Argyle's attendant, "Heart
. -^ of Mid- Lothian."
(General Campbell, " Redgauntlet."

* Sir Peregrine Maitland was Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada — Pere-
grine, the Traveller, in " St. Ronan's Well." Chief Justice Blower was a re-
markable pubhc character in British America thirty years ago — Mrs. Blower,
the Widow at the Spa, in " St. Ronan's Well," was probably called after him!
The 2Gth Regiment was sent to Upper Canada in 1814. Lieutenants A. Aruott
and Chatterton, of that regiment, remind us of Chatterley at the Spa, in " St.
Ronan's Well," and A. Amott, the Guardsman, in " Quentin Durward."

82

APPENDIX.

Lieutenant Meredith,

Lieutenant Dutton,
Captain Ronald, .
Captain Stephens,
Captain Bennett,
Everest, .
Captain Delacher-ois Smith,

Lieutenant Tarleton,

Lieutenant Duke,
Lieutenant Black,

Lieutenant Crawford,

Lieutenant Brock,
Lieutenant Ormsby,

Ensign Windsor Stewart,

Ensign Lee Martin,

Ensign Francis, .
Surgeon Heriot, .
Surgeon Fisher, .
Assistant Surgeon Goodrich,

^Meredith, the Man of Wealth at the Spa,
■} "St. Kenan's Well."

(iNIeredith, a Conspirator, " Eedgatmtlet."
Doll.y Dutton, " Heart of Mid-Lothian."
Konaldson, the old Ranzelman, " Pirate."
Stevens, a Messenger, " Kenilworth."
Bennett, " Monastery."
Everett, a Hired Witness, " Peveril."
Captain Delasere, " Guy Manneruig."

(Captain Carleton, an Officer of the Guards,

\ " Peveril of the Peak."
Duke Hildebrod, " Nigel."
Lady Blackchester, " Nigel."

(Crawford, Captain of the Guard, " Quentin

( Durward."

Breck, one of Rob Roy's Troop, "Rob Roy."
Ormston, Sheriff's Officer, " Antiquaiy."

TRev. Mr. Windsor, Friend of George Heriot,

J " Nigel."

(Colonel Stewart, "Waverley."

("Colonel Lee, Charles the Second's Friend,

■i "Woodstock."

(Martin, the Verdurer, " Woodstock."
Father Francis, " Fair Maid of Perth."

(George Heriot, the King's Goldsmith,

(^ " Nigel."
Fisher, of Avenal Castle, " Abbot."

(Rev. Mr. Goodrich, a Catholic Priest, "Sur-

\ geon's Daughter."

Is^ Royals.

[This Regiment, with others, garrisoned Fort Erie during the assault made by
the United States army on August 15, 1814.]

Colonel the Marquis of Huntlej',

Lieutenant- Colonel Barnes,
Major Nixon,

Major Swann Hill,
Major Colin Campbell,

IMajor Wetherall,

Captain Saville Spear,
Captain Rowen, .

Ca])tain Jolui Wilson,

Captain Glover,
Captain Dods,

(Marquis of Huntley, in the King's Service,

( " Legend of Montrose."
. Barnes, " Guy Mannering."
. Nixon, the Agent, " Redgauntlet."

(Swanton, "Redgauntlet."

(Captain Hillaty, "Surgeon's Daughter."

f "Black Colin Campbell" (General Camp-

1 bell), " Redgauntlet."

■ I "Green Colin," or Captain Campbell,
[^ " Highland Widow."

(Wetherall, alias Steelheart, a Trooper,
( "Ivanhoe."
J Saville, " Peveril."
(Spears of Springbow, "Ivanhoe."
Rowena, " Ivanhoe."
fJohn Wilson, (Jolonel Mannering's Groom,
. -! " Guy Mannering."
1^ Wilson, Introduction to "Black Dwarf."
(Catherine Glover, "The Fair Maid of
• \ I'erth."
J Meg Dods, Landlady of the Inn at St. Ro-

■ ( nan's Old Town, " St. Ronan's Well."'

APPENDIX.

83

Lieutenant Mainwaring, .

Lieutenant Ilewett,

Lieutenant Ewart,
Lieutenant Glen, .

Lieutenant Weir, .

Lieutenant Jenkins,

Lieutenant Sibbald,

Lieutenant Lorimer,

Lieutenant Orrock,
Lieutenant Wardrop,
Lieutenant Gordon,

Lieutenant Moms,*

Lieutenant Vernon Fletcher,

Lieutenant Yallancey,
Lieutenant Dixon,
Ensign Williamson,

Ensign Duff,

Ensign Colin Campbell, .
Ensign Bolton,

Colonel Mannering, " Guy Manncring.".
(Hewet, natural son of Mr. Bertram's, "Guy
( Mannering."

Captain Ewart, " Redgauntlet."
Glendale, a Conspirator, " Redgauntlet."
(Major Weir, Sir Eobert Kedgauntlet's fa-
( vourite baboon, '• Redgauntlet."
(Jenkins, one of Avenal's retainers, "Mon-
( astery."

J Sibbald, Monteitli's Attendant, " Legend of
J Montrose."

(Lorimer, on guard at Ardenvohr Castle,
( " Legend of Montrose."
(Orrock, a Sheriff's Officer at Fairport, " An-
( tiquary."

Wardlaw, of Osbaldistone Hall, " Rob Roy."
(Rev. Mr. Gordon, Chaplain in Cromwell's
( Troop, " Woodstock."
(Mr. Morris, Frank Osbaldistone's Nervous
I Travelling Companion, " Rob Roy."
(Diana Vernon, " Rob Roy."
(Fletcher, " Pirate."

JVallance, De Walton's Lieutenant, "Castle
( Dangerous."

Dixon, Vere's Servant, "Black Dwarf."
(Wiilioson, Jacobite Conspirator, "Black
\ Dwarf."

(Duff", the Idiot Boy at Ellangowan, "Guy
( Mannering."
(See Major Campbell.)
Bolton, an English Officer, " Monastery."

The 57 til, or West Middlesex.

Major Hector M'Lean
Captain SlacDougall,
Lieutenant Hartley,
Lieutenant Charteris,

Sir Hector M'Lean, " Legend of Montrose."
(MacDougal, a Highland Chief, " Legend of
( Muntrose."

Dr. Hartly, " Surgeon's Daughter."
JCharteris, Provost of Perth, " Fair Maid of
( Perth."

fGeneral Leslie, Parliamentary Leader,
" Legend of Montrose."t

Lesley, Friend of Capt. Jlaclntyre, "Anti-
quary."

Assist. Surgeon Duncan Campbell, -I ^".r^" S''"7Jf"l in Argyle's Aiw,
° I > j^ II Legend of Montrose."

Adjutant J. Leslie,

* Added to the various coincident names i
already cited, it may be mentioned that Major
to the (jovernor of Canada at tiiis period. It
which encounters Helan MacGregor's army
44-45, ante.

f Tlie name of the Surgeon of the 90th was
Montrose, in tlie novel. Ensign Pattison, (
"Heart of Mid-Lothian." (,'aptain Dalton,
Housekeeper, " Heart of Mid-Lothian."

n "Rob Roy," which have been
Thornton was Military Secretary
is Captain Thornton's Regiment
in the mountains. See, also, pp.

Ewing — Ewan, a Yeoman under

)f the same Regiment — Pattison,

of the 90th— Mrs. Dalton, the

84

APPENDIX.

89th Regiment of Foot.

Major ClifFiTd, .

Lieutenant Aylmer Dowdall,

Lieutenant Dougau,
Lieutenant Vincent,

Lieutenant Cunningham,

Lieutenant Dugald Cameron,

Lieutenant Bowen,
Lieutenant Davenport,

Ensign Hazlewood,*
Ensign Masters, .
Quarter-Master Selway, .
Surgeon Duncan Goodsir,

General Clifford, " Castle Dangerous."
J Mrs. Aylmer, a Neighbour of Sir H. Lee,
( "Woodstock."

Dougal, "Rob Roy."

Jenkin Vincent, an Apprentice, " Nigel."
(Archie Cunningham, Guardsman, "Quentin
( Durward."

jCapt. Dui,'aldDalgetty, "Leg. of Montrose."
(Serjeant Cameron, "Highland Widow."

Master Bowyer, " Kenilworth."

D'Avenant, "Woodstock.'
(Sir Robert and Charles Hazlewood, " Guy
( Mannering."

(Dr. Masters, the Queen's Physician, " Ke-
( nil worth."

(Captain Selby, " Peveril."
(Selby, a INIessenger, " Redgauntlet."
(Captain Duncan, "Heart of Mid-Lothian."
^Goodsire, the Weaver, " Guy Mannering."

8/A, or King's Regiment of Foot ( Whitehorse, Niagara).

Major Langton, .

Major Melville Brown,

Captain Davies, .
Captain Eustace,

Lieutenant Wayland,
Lieut. Mortimer M'Mahon
Lieutenant Williams,
Lieutenant Bradford,
Ensign Calder,
Ensign Ward,
Surgeon Douglas,

Surgeon Crofton,

Gerard Ball,

(Langton, Jacobite Conspirator, "Black

\ Dwarf't

(Major Melville, " Waverley."

-; Lieutenant Brown, " Guy Mannering."

{General Brown, " Tapestried Chamber."

John Davies, "Redgauntlet."
(Eustace, Sir Reginald's Attendant, " Ivan-
( hoe."

(Wayland, the Farrier at Whitehorse, J
\ " Kenilworth."

Mortimer, an Exiled Noble, "Talisman."
JNed Williams, Cicely Jopson's Sweetheart,
( " Waverley."

Bradbounie, " Abbot."
(Quartermaster Calder, at Madras,
( geon's Daughter."

Wardlaw, " Rob Roy."
(George Douglas, "Abbot."
(Lord Douglas, " Fair Maid of Perth.
fMr. Croftongry, (Introduction to)
\ Maid of Perth."
(Gerard, " Fair Maid of Perth."
\Balldie, the Quaker's Boy, " Redgauntlet.'

'Sur-

Fair

* I think it right to state that Ensign Hazlewood bad been placed on half
pay pre\'ious to the appearance of " Guy Mannering."

t The number of coincident names in the " Black Dwarf" has doubtless
already stnick the reader. I understand that a worthy officer, named Henry
Elliott, was Colonel of the 70th (Thomas Scott's) shortly prior to Colonel Sir
G. Cole. We have Henry Elliott in the " Black Dwarf"

X This Regiment distinguished itself at tlie battles of Whitehorse and Niagara,
as the Army List informs us. Whitehorse was emblazed in gold letters on its colours.

APPENDIX.

85

Lieiitenaut-Colonel Wood,

Captain Saunders,
Captain Saunderson,

Captain Cox,

Lieutenant Slapleton,

Lieutenant Maclntyre,

Captain Denniss,
Lientenant Johnston,

Lieutenant Greg. Gardiner,

Ensign Ashe,
Ensign Berenger,

"ilst Reghnent of Foot.

rWoodville, Friend of General Browne,
. -< " Tapestried Chamber."

(^Woodstal, a Guardsman, "Talisman."
. < Saunders Satmderson (at the Baron Brad-
. ( -vvardine's) " Waverley."

(Captain Coxe, one of the Masquers, " Ke-

\ nilworth."
Staples, the Head Jailer, " Kenihvorth."

(Captain Maclntyre, Nephew of Jonathan

( Oldbuck, "Antiquary."
Dennisson, an Attendant, " Old Mortality."
. Johnstone, " Guy Mannering."

TGregson, a Messenger, " Eedgauntlet."

J Gardiner, Miss Arthiiret's Porter, " Red-
■ j gauntlet."

(^Colonel Gardiner, "Waverley."
. Colonel Ashton, " Bride of Lammermoor.
. Berenger, a Norman Warrior, "Betrothed."

\OAth Regiment of Foot.
[Quartered in the same Fort as the 70th.]

Lieutenant Stewart,
Lieutenant Macleuchlan,

Lieutenant Gray,
Lieutenant Jobling,

Lieutenant Jar^'is,

Lieutenant Campbell,

Lieutenant Pigot,
Lieutenant Lindsay,

Lieutenant Crossgrove,

Lieutenant Pears,
Lieutenant Tunstall,

Lieutenant Playfair,

Ensign Roberts, .
Ensign Armstrong,

Ensign Simpson, .

Chaplain, Rev. Mr. Fletcher,
Surgeon, Dr. Harrison,

(Colonel Stewart, Governor of Doune Castle,
\ " Waverley."

(Mrs. Macleuchar, book-keeper at the coach
\ office, " Antiquary."

(Dr. Gray, Physician at Middlemas, " Sur-
"J^ geon's Daughter."
Jobson, Inglewood's clerk, " Rob Roy."

(Baillie Nicoll Jarvie, " Rob Roy." [Colonel
} Nicoll commanded Thomas Scott's Regi-

(^ ment until 1813.]

(Captain Campbell, " Highland Widow," and
\ " Redgauntlet."
Pigal, the Dancing Master, "Peveril."
Lindsay, a Guardsman, "Quentin Durward."

(Mr. Crossloof, the lawyer, " Heart of Mid-
\ Lothian."

(Captain Pearson, in Cromwell's ai-my,

\ " Woodstock."

Tunstall, Ramsay's Apprentice, " Nigel."
rBeaujou, (fair-play ?) Keeper of the Gam-
■ bling table, "Nigel."
) Playdell, SherifT at Ellangowan, " Guy
1^ Mannering."

(Master Roberts, Heriot's Cash-keeper,

I "Nigel."
Armstrong, the Court Jester, " Nigel."

iJean Simpson, of Middlemas, "Surgeon's
Daughter."
Tam Simpson, the Barber, " Redgauntlet."
Fletcher, one of the Pirates, " Pirate."
^Harrison, the Steward, "Old Mortality."
iGeneral Ilarrison, " Woodstock."

SQ APPFNDIX.

TJte dith or North Hampshire.

Captain Richard Graham, . Cornet Richard Graham, " Old Mortality."

r. t„:„ ri^i^:« (Goldiebird, a Creditor of Sir A. Wardour,

Captain Goldie, . . • - n » »■ >>

'^ ( Antuiiiary.

Ensign G. Gosslin, . . i^' .p^^^l'"- Landlord of the Black Bear,

° ' ( Keiiihvorth.

T ■ . , T (Lane-ham, of the Coimcil Chamber, " Ken-

Lictenant Lane, . . . - ., ^, ,, '

' ( ilworth.

Adjutant Lang, . . _ (Langcale, in the Covenanter's army, » OW

•> ^^ ^ Mortality.

Lieutenant Griffin, . . Griffin, the Landlord, "Fair Maid of Perth."

T- , , iM • (Rev. Mr. Fleming, Meg Murdockson's con-

Lieutenant tieramg, . ■ -\ e axj i ^-Tir-j t n- u

°' ( fessor, "Heart of Mid-Lothian."

The officers of the other reghiicnts, stationed in Upper Canada at
this period, are all more or less striking in the similarity of their
names Avith those worked np in the Waverley Novels. For instance,
in the 97th there are two Ensigns, one named Butler, the Christian
name of the other Reuben. Who can forget Reuben Bntler, the
Presbyterian Minister, married to Jeanie Deans? One of the Cap-
tains of the 97th was T. Paterson — Pate Paterson in the " Pirate."
Another Cai)tain's name was Monk — General Monk in "Woodstock."
For Lieutenant Gibson, we have Janet Gibson in " Guy Manncring;"
and the uncommon name of Ephraim, belonging to another Lieutenant,
is given to one of Cromwell's soldiers in '' Woodstock." Lieutenant
Crampton, also attached to the 97th, is transferred to the novel of
" Rob Roy," as Corporal Cramp.

In the 16th Regiment, there is Major Berkely and Lieutenant
John Walton. John De Walton is the Governor of Douglass Castle,
in "Castle Dangerous;" Lady Berkely in the same novel, after her
disguise as the ministrel's son, marries De Walton. Lieutenants
Shafts and Dalzell belong to the same Regiment. We have
General Dalzell, of the Royal Army, in " Old Mortality ;" and
Shafton, imprisoned with Sir Hildcbrand, in "Rob Roy."' ,

The 19th Light Dragoons were also "out" from 1812. For
Cornet Talbot, we have Colonel Talbot in " Waverley.'' Thomas
Talbot was a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada.
For Paymaster Wm. Neville, we have Major Neville, in the " Anti-
quary"— the name assumed by William Lord Geraldine. H. Skel-
ton, J. Wakefield, and Sir Rowley Eustace, were captains. We
have Rowley, one of Avcnal's retainers, in the " Monastery,"
and Prior Eustace, also in the *■' Monastery.'" Wakefield will be re-
membered in the "Two Drovers,"' and Skclton in " Redgauntlet."

The Portfolio, the Philadelphian magazine already referred to,
circulated extensively in North America, and was sufficiently well
conducted to merit, in Tom Moore's estimation, a place in his library.
U])on glancing over its six volumes, 1 sec many articles and poems
signed " Eliza,'' which may i)0ssibly have come from the pen of Mrs.

APPENDIX. 87

Scott. The " Scotch Novels" appear regularly and carefully re-
viewed. The review of " Waverley''' was forwarded in the form of
a letter to the editor. That gentleman introduced it, with a few
aniraadversive observations on the careless style of composition
which the novel presented, and disagreed with his correspondent in
the remark, " a novel attributed to Mr. Scott must have already
been in the hands of every one." The editor supported that AValter
Scott could never have thrown off such clumsy composition. The
letter in the Quebec Herald {ante, p. 1 4) asserted, on apparent
authority, that the character of Flora Maclvor was supplied by Mrs.
Scott. The reviewer in the Portfolio declared, that the English
characters, introduced in "Waverley," were by no means as happily
portrayed. " Feargus and Flora," wrote the critic, " are, after all,
the principal characters who copiniand a passionate and continued
interest." This reviewal must, I think, have been written by some
person in the secret of "Waverley."' At p. 327 it says: — "We
cannot give the author higher praise than that of successfully imitat-
ing what he proposed as his model — the delineations of Miss Edge-
worth, that peculiar portrayer of Irish characteristics." I do not
recollect having seen it stated in any of Scott's prefaces, anterior
to the General Introduction of 1829, that the success of Miss Edge-
worth's novels had suggested " Waverley." In that preface, how-
ever, he distinctly mentions the fact. Ballantyne, in a letter to
Miss Edgeworth, published in Lockhart, and dated Nov. 11, 1814,
tells the authoress that it was her novels Scott proposed to himself
as his model.

While turning over the leaves of the Portfolio, I observed, in the
Number for July, 1817, a list of some officers of the United States'
army, who had figured in the Canadian campaign. Of these Cap-
tain G. M'Glassin probably suggested the uncommon name of G.
Glossin in " Guy Mannering." For Captains Kean, Baillie, and
Allan, we have Lieutenant O'Kean, Mrs. Bertram's former admirer,
also in "Guy Mannering;" General Baillie, in the "Legend of
Montrose ;" and Major Allan, in " Old Mortality." Captain Wil-
liam Christian appears as Colonel William Christian, in " Feveril of
the Peak."

There are two engravings of General Browne, and one of General
Harrison, in the Portfolio. Both a General Browne and a General
Harrison are introduced fictitiously. The striking predominance in
this and the preceding tables of military characters with coincident
names is, doubtless, something more than accidental.

ONEROUS OCCUPATION.

{See p. 55.)
When Sir Walter visited Edinburgh, his time was almost exclu-
sively occupied with official drudgery. He filled two troublesome

50 APPENDIX.

offices — that of Sheriff from 1799, and Clerk of Session from 1805.
Of the latter Mr. Lockhart (p. 203) writes: — " It never brought
him aaything but labour, and he, consequently, complained from
time to time of the inroads this labour made on hours, which might
otherwise have been more profitably bestowed." When, in addition
to this, the easy life of pleasure at Abbotsford is taken into consi-
deration, well might the experienced publisher, Cadell, and the prac-
tised writer, Irving, have expressed bewilderment at the " magic"
with which Scott contrived to keep Ballantyne's press in play.

The two editions of Lockhart, referred to in the course of this
pamphlet, are those of 1839 and 1845 — the first in ten volumes,
the latter in one.

ERRATA-.

! 55, last line but two, for first read just.
61, last line of text, /or predecessors read predecessor.
GO, 14th line from top, for Earls of Annesley read Anglesey.

THE END.

AN

ACCOUNT

OF THE FIRST

EDINBURGH THEATRICAL FUND
DINNER,

HELD AT EDINBURGH,
On Friday 23d February 1827;

CONTAINING

A CORRECT AND AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE SPEECHES ; WHICH IN-
CLUDE, AMONG OTHER INTERESTING MATTER, THE FIRST PUBLIC
AVOV/AL, BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, CF BEING THE AUTHOR
OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.

EDINBURGH

JOHN ANDERSON, JUN. 55. NORTH BRIDGE STREET;

AND SOLD BY SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, AND CHARLES TAIT, LONDON

ROBERTSON & ATKINSON, GLASGOW ; AND A. BROWN & CO.

ABERDEEN.

M.DCCC.XXVII.

THEATRICAL FUND DINNER,

&c.

X HE Edinburgh Theateical Fund was established 2d
April 1819, under the patronage of His late Royal High-
ness Frederick Duke of York, who was distinguished for
his benevolent attention to charitable institutions. The
Institution, however, from various circumstances which are
more particularly detailed in the following pages, slumber-
ed till the present year, when, following the plan adopt-
ed by the Directors of the London Fund, a public din-
ner, in aid of the Edinburgh Fund, was announced. Sib
Walter Scott, Bgrt. in the Chair. The circumstance of
this being the first occasion on which the Shakespeare of the
present age had ever consented to preside at a public din-
ner, and also considerable interest being excited by the na-
ture of the institution, a great demand for tickets immediately
ensued, and the number to which it was limited, three hun-
dred, was speedily filled up. Nearly two hundred appli-
cants for tickets were consequently disappointed.

Thedinner took place in the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh,
on Friday 23d February 1827. The evening will long be
remembered and referred to as the first time on which Sir
Walter Scott publicly declared himself to be the author
of Waverly, — the total and undivided author of it and the
other immortal Scottish Novels ; and those who were pre-
sent felt doubly gratified that they had been induced to
attend on this remarkable occasion. The original publica-
tion of Waverley took place in 1813, so that there was a
mystery cast over the authorship of these works of genius
for fourteen years ; and the public, all the while, speculat-
ing on various individuals being the author. Indeed, with-
in a fortnight of this public declaration, a magazine wa^^iHl

published, ridiculing the very idea of Sir Walter Scott
being the author, and ascribing them positively to Mr
Greenfield. In Edinburgh, the well-informed never doubt-
ed regarding the author of these works, still this public
avowal was not the less interesting ; and, notwith-
standing the native modesty and unassuming style of the
Author"'s statement, the effect was exceedingly dramatic ,
from the occasion, and being in the presence of three hun-
dred gentlemen. — But to proceed to our account of the
dinner :

Sir Walter Scott took the Chair, amid entliusiastic greet-
ings, at six o"'clock, supported on his right hand by the
Earl of Fife, and on the left by Lord Meadowbank. On
the right of the Earl of Fife Avere Sir John Hope of
Pinkie, Bart. Admiral Adam, Robert Dundas, Esq. of
Arniston, and several officers of the 7th Hussars ; and on
the left of the Chair sat Baron Clerk Rattray, Gilbert Innes,
Esq. of Stow, James Walker, Esq. of Dairy, and several
officers : Patrick Robertson, Esq. Advocate, and Sir Sa-
muel Stirling of Glorat, Bart. Croupiers.

The cloth being removed, " Non Nobis Domine"" was
sung by Messrs. Thorne, Swift, Collyer, and Hartley,
after which the following toasts v/ere given from the
chair : —

" The King"" — all the honours.

" The Duke of Clarence and the Rgyal Family."

Sir Walter Scott, in proposing the next toast, which
he wished to be drank in solemn silence, said it was to the
memory of a regretted Prince, whom we had lately lost.
Every individual would at once conjecture to whom he
alluded. He had no intention to dwell on his military
merits. They had been told in the senate ; they had been
repeated in the cottage ; and whenever an Englishman
was near, his name was never far distant. But it was chiefly
in connection with the business of this meeting, which his
late Royal Highness had condescended in a particular man-
ner to patronize, that they were called on to drink to his
memory. To that charity he had sacrificed his time, and
had given up the little leisure which he had from import-
ant business. He was always ready to attend on every
occasion of this kind, and it was in that view that he pro-
posed to drink to the memory of his late Royal Highness
the Duke of York. — Drank in solemn silence.

Sir Walter Scott then requested that gentlemen would

fill a bumper, as full as it would hold, while he would say

Ibnly a few words. He was in the habit of hearing speeches.

and he knew the feelings with which long ones were regard-
ed. He was sure that it was perfectly unnecessary for him
to enter into any vindication of the dramatic art, Avhich
they had come here to support. This, however, he consi-
dered to be the proper time, and proper occasion, for him
to say a few words on that love of representation which was
an innate feeling in human nature. It was the first amuse-
ment that the child had — it grew greater as he grew up ;
and, even in the decline of life, nothing amused so much as
v/hen a common tale is well told. The first thing a child
does is to ape his schoolmaster, by flogging a chair. It
was an enjoyment natural to humanity. It was implanted
in our very nature, to take pleasure from such representa-
tions, at proper times, and on proper occasions.

In all ages the theatrical arthad kept pace with the improve-
ment of mankind, and with the progress of letters and the
fine arts. As man has advanced from the ruder stages of socie-
ty, the love of dramatic representation has increased, and all
works of this nature have been improved, in character and in
structure. They had only to turn their eyes to the history
of ancient Greece, although he did not pretend to be very
deeply versed in ancient history. Its first tragic poet com-
manded a body of troops at the battle of Marathon. The
second and next, were men who shook Athens with their
discourses, as their theatrical works shook the theatre itself.
If they turned to France in the time of Louis the Four-
teenth, they would find, that it was referred to by all
Frenchmen as the golden age of the drama there. And
England, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, began to mingle
deeply and wisely in the general politics of Europe, not
only not receiving laws from others, but giving laws to the
world, and vindicating the rights of mankind, (cheers.)
There have been various times when the dramatic art sub-
sequently fell into disrepute. Its professors have been
stigmatised ; and laws have been passed against them, less
dishonourable to them tlian to the statesmen by whom they
were passed, and to the legislators by Avhom they were
adopted. What were the times in Avhich these laws were
passed — was it not when virtue was seldom inculcated as a
moral duty, that we were required to relinquish the most
rational of all our amusements, when the clergy were en-
joined celibacy, and when the laity were denied tlie right
to read their Bibles .'* He thought that it must have been
from a notion of penance that they erected the drama into
an ideal place of profaneness, and the tents of sin. He did
not mean to dispute, that there were many excellent per-

sons who thought differently from him, and they were en-
titled to assume that they were not guilty of any hypocrisy
in doing so. He gave them full credit for their tender con-
sciences in making these objections, which did not appear
to him relevant ; and if they were persons of worth and
piety, he Avould crave the liberty to tell them, that the
first part of their duty was charity, and that, if they did
not choose to go to the Theatre, they at least could not de-
ny that they might give away, from their superfluity, what
was required for the relief of the sick, the support of the
aged, and the comfort of the afflicted. These were duties
enjoined by our holy religion itself. (Loud cheers.)

The performers are in a particular manner entitled to the
support or regard, when in old age or distress, of those who
had partaken of the amusements of those places which they
render an ornament to society. Their art was of a peculiarly
delicate and precarious nature. They had to serve a long
apprenticeship. It was very long before even the first-rate
geniuses covild acquire the mechanical knowledge of the
stage business. They must languish long in obscurity be-
fore they can avail themselves of their natural talents ; and
after that, they have but a short space of time, during
which they are fortunate if they can provide the means of
comfort in the decline of life. That comes late, and lasts
but a short time ; after which they are left dependent.
Their limbs fail, — their teeth are loosened, — their voice is
lost, — and they are left, after giving happiness to others, in
a most disconsolate state. The public were liberal and
generous to those deserving their protection. It was a sad
thing to be dependent on the favour, or, he might say, in
plain terms, on the caprice of the public ; and this more
particularly for a class of persons, of whom extreme pru-
dence is not the character. There might be instances of
opportunities being neglected ; but let them tax themselves,
and consider the opportunities they had neglected, and the
sums of money they had wasted ; let every gentleman look
into his own bosom, and say whether these were circum-
stances which would soften his own feelings, were he to be
plunged into distress. He put it to every generous bosom,
— to every better feeling, — to say what consolation was it
to old age to be told, tliat you might have made provision
at a time which had been neglected — (loud cheers) — and to
find it objected, that if you had pleased you might have
been wealthy. He had hitherto been speaking of what, in
theatrical language, was called sta7-s^ but they were some-
times fallen ones. There were another class of sufferers

naturally and necessarily connected with the Theatre, with-
out whom it was impossible to go on. The sailors have a
saying, every man cannot be a boatswain. If there must
be persons to act Hamlet, there must also be persons to act
Laertes, the King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, other-
wise a drama cannot go on. If even Garrick himself were
to rise from the dead, he could not act Hamlet alone.
There must be generals, colonels, commanding-ofRcers, sub-
alterns. But what are the private soldiers to do .-' Many
have mistaken their own talents, and have been driven in
early youth to try the stage, to which they are not compe-
tent. He would know what to say to the poet and the ar-
tist. He would say that it was foolish, and he would re-
commend to the poet to become a scribe, and the artist to
paint sign-posts — (loud laughter) — But you could not send
the player adrift, for if he cannot play Hamlet, he must
play Guildenstern. Where there are many labourers, wages
must be low, and no man in such a situation can decently
support a wife and family, and save something off his in-
come for old age. What is^this man to do in latter life .^
Are you to cast him off like an old hinge, or a piece of use-
less machinery, which has done its work ? To a person who
had contributed to our amusement, this would be unkind,
ungrateful, and unchristian. His wants are not of his own
making, but arise from the natural sources of sickness and
old age. It cannot be denied that there is one class of suf-
ferers, to whom no imprudence can be ascribed, except on
first entering on the profession. After putting his hand to
the dramatic plough, he cannot draw back ; but must con-
tinue at it, and toil, till death release him, or charity, by
its milder assistance, steps in to render that want more to-
lerable. He had little more to say, except that he sincere-
ly hoped that the collection to-day, from the number of re-
spectable gentlemen present, would meet the views enter-
tained by the patrons. He hoped it would do so. They
should not be disheartened. Though they could not do a
great deal, they might do something. They had this con-
solation, that every thing they parted with from their su-
perfluity would do some good. They would sleep the bet-
ter themselves when they have been the means of givino-
sleep to others. It was ungrateful and unkind, that those
who had sacrificed their youth to our amusement, should
not receive the reward due to them, but should be reduced
to hard fare in their old age. We cannot think of poor
FalstaiF going to bed without his cup of sack, or Macbeth
fed on bones as marrowless as those of Banquo. — (Loud

cheers and laughter.) — -As he believed that they were all as
fond of the dramatic art as he was in his young days, he
would propose that they should drink " The Theatrical
Fund," with three times three.

Mr Mackay rose on behalf of his brethren to return
their thanks for the toast just drank. When he looked
around on the large assembly, met for the, benevolent pur-
pose of aiding them in their intention of providing for the
comfort of their aged brothers and sisters, he feared he was
unable to express in proper terms his feelings. To him this
was the proudest day of his life, to have the honour, at the
first Theatrical Fund dinner in his native land, to address
so brilliant an assemblage of the rank and talent of his na-
tive city; and inspired with confidence, he exulted and re-
joiced that he was born between the Cross and Lucken-
booths. (Cheers.) Many of the gentlemen present, he
said, were perhaps not fully acquainted with the nature
and intention of the institution, and it might not be amiss
to enter into some explanation on the subject. With whom-
soever the idea of a Theatrical Fund might have originat-
ed, (and it had been disputed by the surviving relatives of
two or three individuals), certain it was, that the first le-
gally constituted Theatrical Fund owed its origin to one
of the brightest ornaments of the profession, the late David
Garrick. — That eminent actor conceived that, by a weekly
subscription in the Theatre, a fund might be raised among
its members, from which a portion might be given to those
of his less fortunate brethren, and thus an opportunity
would be ofFeretl for prudence to provide what fortune had
denied — a comfortable provision for the winter of life.
With the welfare of his profession, the zeal with which
he laboured to uphold its respectability, and to impress
upon the minds of his brethren not only the necessity,
but blessing of independence, the Fund became his pe-
culiar care. — He drew up a form of laws for its govern-
ment, procured, at his own expense, the passing of an
Act of Parliament for its confirmation, bequeathed to
it a handsome legacy, and thus became the Father of the
Drury Lane Fund. So constant was his attachment to this
infant establishment, that he chose to grace the close of
the brightest theatrical life on record, by the last display
of his ti-ansccndent talent on the occasion of a benefit for
this child of his adoption, which ever since has gone by the
name of the Garrick Fund. In imitation of his noble ex-
ample, Fimds liad been established in several provincial
theatres in England ; bnt it remained for Mrs Henry Sid-

9

dons and William Murray to become the founders of the
first Theatrical Fund in Scotland— (cheers.) This Fund
commenced under the most favourable auspices ; it was li-
berally supported by the management, and highly patro-
nized by the public. Notwithstanding, it fell short in the
accomplishment of its intentions. What those intentions
were, he (Mr Mackay) need not recapitulate, but they fail-
ed ; and he did not hesitate to confess that a want of ener-
gy on the part of the performers was the probable cause.
A new set of llules and Regulations were lately drawn up,
submitted to and approved of at a general meeting of the
members of the Theatre ; and accordingly the Fund was
re-modelled on the 1st of January last. And here he
thought he did but echo the feelings of his brethren, by
publicly acknowledging the obligations they were under to
the management, for the aid given, and the warm inte-
rest they had all along taken in the welfare of the Fund. —
(Cheers.) The nature and object of the Profession had
been so well treated of by the President, that he would say
nothing ; — but of the numerous offspring of science and
genius that court precarious fame, the Actor boasts the
slenderest claim of all ; — the sport of fortune, the creatures
of fashion, and the victims of caprice, — they are seen, heard,
and admired, but to be forgot — they leave no trace, no me-
morial of their existence — they " come like shadows, so.
depart." — (Cheers) — Yet, humble though their pretensions
be, there was no profession, trade, or calling, where such a
combination of requisites, mental and bodily, were indis-
pensable. In all others the principal may practise after he
has been visited by the afflicting hand of Providence — some
by the loss of limb — some of voice — and many, when the
faculty of the mind is on the wane, may be assisted by du-
tiful children, or devoted servants. Not so the Actor — he
must retain all he ever did possess, or sink dejected to a
mournful home. — (Applause.) — Yet while they are toiling
for ephemeral theatric fame, how very few ever possess the
means of hoarding in their youth that which would give
bread in old age ! But now a brighter prospect dawned
upon them, and to the success of this their infant esta-
blishment they looked with hope, as to a comfortable and
peaceful home in their declining years. Such being the
real — such the laudable and benevolent intention, every"
lover of the drama must be anxious for its success. —
(Cheers.) — When he beheld so many present, and the warm
interest displayed on this occasion, it augured most favour-
ably for its ultimate prosperity, and left no room to doubt,

B

10

that witli proper management and attention, and a continu-
ation of support from the public, it would fully answer the
end proposed. He had, he was afraid, trespassed too long
on the time of the meeting, and thanked them for the at-
tention they had paid to him. He concluded by tendering
to the meeting, in the name of his brethren and sisters,
their unfeigned thanks for their liberal support, and beg-
ged to propose the health of the Patrons of the Edinburgh
Theatrical Fund. — (Cheers).

Lord Meadowbank begged to return the thanks of the
patrons for the honour now conferred on them. He could
bear testimony to the anxiety which they all felt for
the interests of the institution, which it was this day's
meeting to establish. For himself, he was quite surprised
to find his humble name associated with so many others
more distinguished, as a patron of that institution. But
he then happened to hold a high and important public sta-
tion in the country. It was matter of regret that he had
so little the means in his power of being of service. But it
would afford him at all times the greatest pleasure to give
assistance. As a testimony of the feelings with which he
now rose, he begged to propose a health, which he was sure,
in an assembly of Scotsmen, would be received, not with an
ordinary feeling of delight, but with rapture and enthusi-
asm. He knew that it would be painful to his feelings if
he were to speak to him in the terms which his heart prompt-
ed ; and that he had sheltered himself under his native mo-
desty from the applause which he deserved. But it was
gratifying at last to know that these clouds were now dis-
pelled, and that the Great Unknown — the mighty magician
— (here the room literally rung with applauses, which
were continued for some minutes) — the minstrel of our
country, who had conjured up, not the phantoms of depart-
ed ages, but realities, now stands revealed before the eyes
and affections of his country. In his presence it would ill
become him, as it would be displeasing to that distinguish-
ed person, to say, if he were able, what every man must
feel, who recollects the enjoyment he has had from the
great efforts of his mind and genius. It hias been left for
him, by his writings, to give his country an imperishable
name. He had done more for his country, by illuminating its
annals, by illustrating the deeds of its warriors and states-
men, than any man that ever existed, or was produced,
within its territory. He has opened up the peculiar beau-
ties of this country to the eyes of foreigners. He has
exhibited the deeds of those patriots and statesmen to whom
we owe the freedom we now enjoy. He would give the

11

health of Sir Walter Scott, which was drank with enthusi-
astic cheering.

Sir Walter Scott certainly did not think that, in coming
here to-day, he would have the task of acknowledging, be-
fore 300 gentlemen, a secret which, considering that it was
communicated to more than 20 people, was remarkably well
kept. He was now before the bar of his country, and might
be understood to be on trial before Lord Meadowbank as
an offender ; yet he was sure that every impartial jury
would bring in a verdict of Not Proven. He did not now
think it necessary to enter into the reasons of his long silence.
A variety of reasons had led to the concealment ; perhaps
caprice had the greatest share in it. He had now to say,
however, that the merits of these works, if they had any,
and their faults, were entirely imputable to himself. {Long
and loud cheering.) He was afraid to think on what he had
done. " Look on't again I dare not." He had thus far
unbosomed himself, but as this would go to the public, he
wished to speak seriously ; and when he said that he was
the author, he meant that he was the total and undivided au-
thor. With the exception of quotations, there was not a
single word that was not derived from himself, or suggest-
ed in the course of his reading. The wand was now bro-
ken, and the rod buried. You will allow me further to say,
with Prospero, " your breath has filled my sails ;" and to
crave one single toast in the capacity of the author of these
novels ; and he would dedicate a bumper to the health of
one who has represented some of those characters, of which
he had endeavoured to give the skeleton, with a degree of
liveliness which rendered him grateful. He would propose
the health of his friend Bailie Nicol Jarvie, (loud applause)
— and he was sure, that when the author of Waverley and
Rob Roy drinks to Nicol Jarvie, it would be received with
that degree of applause to which that gentleman has always
been accustomed, and that they would take care that on the
present occasion it should be prodigious ! — (Long and ve-
hement applause.)

Mr Mackay, after a short pause, exclaimed, with
great humour in the character of Bailie Jarvie, — " My
conscience ! My worthy faither the deacon could not have
believed that siccan a great honour should befa* me his son
—that I should hae had sic a compliment paid to me by
the Great Unknown."

Sir Walter Scott — Not unknown now, Mr Bailie.

Mr Mackay. — He had been long identified with the
Bailie, and he was vain of the cognomen which he had

b2

12

now worn for eight years ; and he questioned if any of his
brethren in the Council had gi'en sic universal satisfaction
to a' parties — (loud laughter and applause.) — Before he sat
down, he begged to propose *' The Lord Provost and the
Cjty of Edinburgh."

Bailie Bonae returned thanks.

Sir Walter Scott apologized for the absence of the
Lord Provost, who was going to London on public business.

Tune — " Within a mile of Edinburgh town."

Sir Walter Scott gave, " The Duke of Wellington
and the army." Glee — " How merrily we live."

" Lord Melville and the Navy, that fought till they left
nobody to fight with, like an arch sportsman, who clears all,
and goes after the game."

Mr Patrick IIobertso>j. — They had heard this evening
a declaration which had been received with intense delight ;
which will be published in every newspaper, and will be
hailed with joy by all Europe. He had one toast assigned
him which he had great pleasure in giving. He was sure
that the stage had in all ages a great effect on the morals
and manners of the people. It was very desirable that the
stage should be well regulated ; and there was no criterion
by which its regulation could be better determined than by
the moral character and personal respectability of the per-
formers. He was not one of those stern moralists who ob-
jected to the Theatre. The most fastidious moralist could
not possibly apprehend any injury from the Stage of Edin-
burgh, as it was presently managed, and so long as it was
adorned by that illustrious individual, Mrs Henry Siddons,
whose public exhibitions were not moi*e remarkable for fe-
minine grace and delicacy, than was her private character
for every virtue which could be admired in domestic life.
He would conclude with reciting a few words from Shake-
speare, in a spirit not of contradiction to those stern mora-
lists, who disliked the theatre, but of meekness : — " Good,
my lord, will you see the players well bestowed ? do you
hear .'* let them be well used, for they are the abstract and
brief chronicles of the time." He then gave Mrs Henry
Siddons, and success to the Theatre-Royal of Edinburgh.

Mr Murray. — Gentlemen, I rise to return thanks for
the honour you have done Mrs Siddons ; in doing which,
I am somewhat difficulted, from the extreme delicacy which
attends a brother's expatiating upon a sister's claims to ho-
nours publicly paid — (hear, hear) — yet. Gentlemen, your
kindness emboldens me to say, that were I to give utterance
to all abrothcr's feelings, I should not exaggerate those claims
— (loud applause.) I therefore, Gentlemen, thank you most

13

cordially foi* the honour you have done her, and shall now
request permission to make an observation on the establish-
ment of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund. — Mr Mackay has
done Mrs Henry Siddons and myself the honour to ascribe
the establishment to us ; but, no, Gentlemen, it owes its
origin to a higher source — the publication of the novel of
Rob Koy — the unprecedented success of the opera adapt-
ed from that popular production — (hear, hear.) It was
that success which relieved the Edinburgh Theatre from
its difficulties, and enabled Mrs Siddons to carry into eft'ect
the establishment of a fund she had long desired, but was
prevented from effecting, from the unsettled state of her
theatrical concerns. I therefore hope, that, in future years,
when the aged and infirm actor derives relief from this fund,
he will, in the language of the gallant Highlander, " cast
his eye to good old Scotland, and not forget Rob Roy.'' —
(Loud applause.)

Sir Walter Scott here stated, that Mrs Siddons want-
ed the means, but not the will, of beginning the Theatrical
Fund. He then alluded to the great merits of Mr Murray's
management, and of his merits as an actor, which were of
the first order, and of which every person who attends the
Theatre must be sensible ; and after alluding to the embar-
rassments with wdiich the Theatre was threatened, he con-
cluded by giving the health of Mr Murray, which was drank
with three times three.

Mr Murray. — Gentlemen, I wish I could believe that,
in any degree, I merited the compliments with which it
has pleased Sir Walter Scott to preface the proposal of my
health, or the very flattering manner in which you have
done me the honour to receive it. The approbation of such
an assembly is most gratifying to me, and might encourage
feelings of vanity, were not such feelings crushed by my
conviction, that no man holding the situation I have so long
held in Edinburgh could have failed, placed in the peculiar
circumstances in which I have been placed. Gentlemen, I
shall not insult your good taste by eulogiums upon your
judgment or kindly feeling; though to the first I owe any
improvement I have made as an actor, and certainly my
success as a Manager to the second — (Applause.) When,
upon the death of my dear brother, the late Mr Siddons,
it was proposed that I should undertake the management
of the Edinburgh Theatre, I confess I drew back, doubt-
ing my capability to free it from the load of debt and diffi-
culty with which it was surrounded. In this state of anxiety
I solicited the advice of one who had ever honoured me

14

with his kindest regard, and whose name no member of my
profession can pronounce Avithout feelings of the deepest
respect and gratitude — I allude to the late Mr John Kem-
ble. — (Great applause.) To him I applied ; and with the
repetition of his advice J shall cease to transgress upon your
time — (Hear, hear.) — " My dear William, fear not, inte-
grity and assiduity must prove an overmatch for all diffi-
culty ; and though I approve your not indulging a vain
confidence in your own ability, and viewing with respectful
apprehension the judgment of the audience you have to act
before, yet be assured that judgment will ever be tempered
by the feeling that you are acting for the widow and the
fatherless." (liOud applause.) Gentlemen, those words have
never passed from my mind ; and I feel convinced that you
have pardoned my many, many errors, from the feeling that
I was striving for the widow and the fatherless. (Long
and enthusiastic applause followed Mr Murray's address.)

Sir Walter Scott gave the health of the Stewards.

Mr Vandenhoff. — Mr President and Gentlemen — The
honour conferred upon the Stewards, in the very flattering
compliment you have just paid us, calls forth our warmest
acknowledgments. In tendering you our thanks for the
approbation you have been pleased to express of our hum-
ble exertions, I would beg leave to advert to the cause in
which we have been engaged. Yet, surrounded as I am by
the genius — the eloquence of this enlightened city, I cannot
but feel the presumption which ventures to address you on
so interesting a subject. Accustomed to speak in the lan-
guage of others, I feel quite at a loss for terms wherein to
clothe the sentiments excited by the present occasion. (Ap-
plause.) The nature of the Institution which has sought
your fostering patronage, and the objects which it contem-
plates, have been fully explained to you. But, gentlemen,
the relief which it proposes is not a gratuitous relief — but
to be purchased by the individual contribution of its mem-
bers toward the general good. This fund lends no encou-
ragement to idleness or improvidence ; but it offers an op-
portunity to prudence, in vigour and youth, to make pro-
vision against the evening of life and its attendant infirmity.
A period is fixed, at which we admit the plea of age as an
exemption from professional labour. It is painful to be-
hold the veteran on the stage (compelled by necessity) con-
tending against physical decay, mocking the joyousness of
mirth with the feebleness of age ! when tlie energies decline,
when the memory fails, and the " big manly voice," " turn-
ing again towards childish treble, pipes and whistles in the

15

sound." We would remove him from the mimic scene^
where fiction constitutes the charm ; we would not view
old age caricaturing itself. — (Applause.)— -But as our means
may be found, in time of need, inadequate to the fulfilment
■ of our wishes — fearful of raising expectations which we
may be unable to gratify — desirous not " to keep the word
of promise to the ear, and break it to the hope"" — we have
presumed to court the assistance of the friends of the dra-
ma to strengthen our infant institution. Our appeal has
been successful beyond our most sanguine expectations.
The distinguished patronage conferred on usby your presence
on this occasion, and the substantial support which your
benevolence has so liberally afforded to our institution,
must impress every member of the Fund with the most
grateful sentiments — sentiments which no language can ex-
press, no time obliterate. — (Applause.) — I will not trespass
longer on your attention. I would the task of acknowledg-
ing our obligation had fallen into abler hands. — (Hear,
hear.) — In the name of the Stewards, I most respectfully
and cordially thank you for the honour you have done us,
which greatly overpays our poor endeavours. — (Applause.)
—for,

" All our service
In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and single business, to contend,
Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith
Your patronage loads our house. For those.
And the late dignities heaped up to them,
We rest your hermits."

Mr V. then proposed ** The memory of Garrick — the
father and founder of Theatrical Funds ; whose benevolence
in consulting the welfare of his brethren reflected a lustre
on his moral worth, equal to the splendour which his talents
shed over the profession of which he was so distinguished
an ornament.'"

Mr J. Cay apologized for the absence of Professor Wil-
son, from indisposition, and gave the University of Edin-
burgh, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments.

LoED Meadowbank, after a suitable eulogium, gave
the Earl of Fife, which was drunk with three times three.

The Earl of Fife expressed his high gratification at the
honour conferred on him. He intimated his approbation of the
institution, and his readiness to promote its success by every
means in his power. He concluded with giving the health
of the Theatrical Company of Edinburgh.

Ma Jones was truly grateful for their kindness ; and he
now experienced, in appearing before them, all the terrors

16

which he felt when he beheld hhngelf announced in the bills
as a young gentleman who had never before appeared on
any stage. After expressing gratitude to the Professional
Society of Musicians, who had deferred their Concert to
oblige them, he proposed to drink their prosperity.

Sir Walter Scott gave — " Colonel Fraser and the
other Officers of the 7th Hussars.*"

Captain Broadhead returned thanks, and apologized
for the absence of Colonel Fraser. He expressed his grati-
tude for the kindness and hospitality they had experienced
in Scotland.

Mr Patrick Robertson rose to propose the health of
an illustrious friend — Mr Jeffrey, (loud cheers,) who was
unfortunately prevented from attending this meeting by ill
health. In Scotland he was acknowledged as the most
distinguished advocate who had ever appeared at the bar,
— as the highest ornament of literature, — and throughout
Europe he was equally known and admired as a critic.
(Applause.) If he could pay him an additional compli-
ment, he would only have to speak the sentiments of the
junior members of his profession, whose hearts were endear-
ed to him by his kindness, frankness, and cordial manner,
no less than his splendid talents attracted their admiration.
(Applause.) To say more, particularly in Edinburgh,
where his talents and accomplishments were so well known
and appreciated, would only heap coals of fire on his own
head. He would conclude by once more proposing the
health of Mr Jeffrey, which was drank with great enthu-
siasm.

Mr J. Maconochie gave " the health of Mrs Siddons
senior — the most distinguished ornament of the stage."

Sir Walter Scott said, that if any thing could recon-
cile him to old age, it was the reflection that he had seen
the rising as well as the setting sun of Mrs Siddons. He
remembered well their breakfasting near to the theatre —
waiting the whole day — the crushing at the doors at six
o'clock — and their going in and counting their fingers till
seven o'clock. But the very first step — the very first word
which she uttered, was sufficient to overpay him for all his
labours. The house was literally electrified ; and it was
only from witnessing the effects of her genius, that he could
guess to what a pitch theatrical excellence could be carried.
Those young fellows who have only seen the setting sun of
this distinguished performer, beautiful and serene as that
was, must give us old fellows, who have seen its rise, leave
to hold our heads a little higher.

17

Mr Dundas of Arniston proposed a name, which he
said had been too long unnoticed, but which must be re-
vered by all who took an interest in the drama ; " The me-
mory of Home, the author of Douglas," a name which must
be remembered as long as the stage, the drama, or the
language of England continues to exist." — Drank in silence.

Mr Mackay here announced that the subscription of
the evening amounted to L. 280 ; — (Applause,) and he beg-
ged to return thanks for the interest which the company
took in the Theatrical Fund.

Mr Mackay then sung, — " O Duncan, Donald's ready,"
which was heard with much pleasure, and followed with
ioud applause.

Sir Walter Scott said he had too long delayed propos-
ing a toast which must be ever hailed with pleasure in a
Scottish meeting. He meant the land that bore us, — the
Land of Cakes ; every river, every loch, every hill, from
Tweed to Johnnie Groat's house — every lass in her cottage
and countess in her castle ; — (Applause.) So long as her sons
should stand by her, as their fathers had done, she must be
a happy country and a respected one. And he Avho would
not drink a bumper to this toast, may he never drink whisky
more.

Sir W. ScoTT here proposed the health of Lord Mea-
dowbank, though he had plucked the mask from his face.
Lord M. returned thanks.

Mr H. G. Bell said, that he should not have ventured
to intrude himself upon the attention of the assembly, did
he not feel confident, that the toast he begged to have
the honour to propose, would make amends for the very
imperfect manner in which he might express his sentiments
regarding it. It had been said, that notwithstanding the men-
tal supremacy of the present age, notwithstanding that the
page of our history was studded with names destined also
for the page of immortality, — that the genius of Shakespeare
was extinct, and the foundation of his inspiration dried up.
It might be that these observations were unfortunately cor-,
rect, or it might be that we were bewildered with a name,
not disappointed of the reality, — for though Shakespeare had
brought a Hamlet, an Othello, and a Macbeth, an Ariel, a
Juliet, and a Rosalind upon the stage, were there not authors
living who had brought as varied, as exquisitely painted,
and as undying a range of characters into our hearts ?
The shape of the mere mould into which genius pour-
ed its golden treasures, was surely a matter of little moment
— let it be called a Tragedy, a Comedy, or a Waverley

C

18

Novel. But even among the dramatic authors of the pre-
sent clay, he was unwilling to allow that there was a great
and palpable decline from the glory of preceding ages, and
his toast alone would bear him out in denying the truth
of the proposition. He would not at present insist either
upon the merits of our distinguished countrywoman whose
genius gave birth to " De Monfort," or of the younger, but
perhaps no less inspired authoress of " The Vespers of Pa-
lermo ;" or of that other female pen, rendered so deserved-
ly celebrated by the recent tragedy of " The Foscari." Nor
would he enlarge upon the talents, already so well known,
eitheu of a Croly, a Byron, a Shiel, a Coleridge, or a Matu-
rin. But there was one name to which he was sure the
Chairman would forgive him for venturing to call his at-
tention,— a name connected with the most spirit-stirring
recollections of the modern drama — a name universally en-
deared to those who were fortunately acquainted with him
who bore it, and no less universally admired by those
who knew the value of fearless intrepidity and originality
of thought, richness and strength of expression, exuberance
of fancy, and delicacy and depth of feeling. He was sure
that the Chairman, and many who heard him, already an-
ticipated that the works to which he alluded was that of the
author of " Virginius," " Caius Gracchus," and " William
Tell." When he mentioned the name of Mr Knowles, he pro-
nounced his eulogy, and it would be superfluous to attempt
to enhance its force. Mr Knowles' monument was in his works,
and his fame in the spontaneous applause of the crowded
theatre ; in the tear M^hich glistened in the eye, and the
smile which played on the lip. Nor could the approbation
of a meeting, such as this, fail to be grateful to him. It was
his intention, if possible, to have been present this evening,
had not other avocations prevented him, which he regretted
much. He begged to have the honour to propose the
health of James Sheridan Knowles.

Sir Walter Scott. — Gentlemen, I crave a bumper all
over. The last toast reminds me of a neglect of duty. Un-
accustomed to a public duty of this kind, errors in conduct-
ing the ceremonial of it may be excused, and omissions par-
doned. Perhaps I have made one or two omissions in the
course of the evening, for which I trust you will grant me
your pardon and indulgence. One thing in particular I
have omitted, and I would now wish to make amends for
it by a libation of reverence and respect to the memory of
Shakespeare. He was a man of universal genius, and from a
period soon after his own era to the present day, he has been

19

universally idolized. \Vheu 1 come to hit. honoured nau;v'.,
I am like the sick man who htaig up his crutches at the shrine,
and was obliged to confess that he did not walk better than
before. It is indeed difficult, gentlemen, to compare him
to any other individual. The only one to whom I can at
all compare him, is the wonderful Arabian dervise, Avho
dived into the body of each, and in the way became fami-
liar with the thoughts and secrets of their hearts. He was
a man of obscure origin, and as a player, limited in his ac-
quirements. But he was born evidently with a universal
genius. His eyes glanced at all the varied aspects of life,
and his fancy pourtrayed with equal talents the King on
the throne, and the clown who cracks his chesnuts at a
Christmas^ fire. Whatever note he takes, he strikes it just
and true, and awakens a corresponding cord in our own
bosoms. Gentlemen, I propose " The memory of William
Shakespeare."

Glee, " Lightly tread his hallowed ground."

After the glee Sir Walter arose, and begged to propose
as a toast, the health of a lady, whose living merit is not a
little honourable to Scotland. The toast (said he) is also
flattering to the national vanity of a Scotchman, as the lady
whom I intend to propose is a native of this country.
From the public, her works have met with the most favour-
able reception. One piece of hers in particular was often act-
ed here of late years, and gave pleasure of no mean kind to
many brilliant and fashionable audiences. In her private
character she (he begged leave to say) is as remarkable as
in a public sense she is for her genius. In short, he would
in one word name — " Joanna Baillie."

This health being drank, Mr Thorne Avas called for a
song, and sung, with great taste and feeling, " The An-
chor's weighed."

W. Menzies, Esq. Advocate, rose to propose the health
of a gentleman for many years connected at intervals with
the dramatic art in Scotland. Whether we look at the
range of characters he performs, or at the capacity which
he evinces in executing those which he undertakes, he is
equally to be admired. In all his parts he is unrivalled.
The individual to whom he alluded is (said he) well known
to the gentlemen present, in the characters of Malvolio,
Lord Ogelby, and the Green Man ; and, in addition to his
other qualities, he merits, for his perfection in these cha-
racters, the grateful sense of this meeting. He would wish,
in the first place, to drink his health as an actor ; but he
was not less estimable in domestic life, and as a private

C 2

^0

gentleman ; and when he announced him as one whom the
Chairman had honoured with his friendship, he was sure
that all present would cordially join him in drinking " The
health of ]\Ir Terry."

Mil William Allan of Glen, said that he did not rise
with the intention of making a speech. He merely wish-
ed to contribute in a few words to the mirth of the evening
— an evening which certainly had not passed off without
some blunders. It had been understood — at least he had
learnt or supposed from the expressions of Mr Pritchard —
that it would be sufficient to put a paper, with the name of
the contributor, into the box, and that the gentleman thus
contributing would be called on for the money next mor-
ning. He, for his part, had committed a blunder, but it
might serve as a caution to those who may be present at
the dinner of next year. He had merely put in his name,
written on a slip of paper, without the money. But he
would recommend that, as some of the gentlemen might be
in the same situation, the box should be again sent round,
and he was confident that they, as well as he, would redeem
their error.

Sir Walter Scott said, that he was somewhat in the
situation of Mrs Anne Page. We have already got, said
he, L. 280 for civility, but I should like, I confess, to have
the L. 300. He would gratify himself by proposing the
health of an honourable person, the Lord Chief Earon,
whom England has sent to us, and connecting with it that
of his " yokefellow on the bench," as Shakespeare says, Mr
Baron Clerk — The Court of Exchequer. , ..

Baro^j Clerk Rattray regretted the absence of his learn-
ed brother. None, he was sure, could be more generous in
his nature, or ready to help a Scottish purpose. He is a
patron of the institution, the friend of genius and of liberal
principles, and it gave him the highest pleasure to find such
a judge joined with him in an official situation.

Sir Walter observed, that he hoped we would long
have the benefit of his services.

Baron Clerk resumed — I will go farther : like the
stern moralist at the other end of the table, I am no enemy
to innocent conviviality. We have heard this night the
confession of a distinguished individual, and far be it from
us to suppose, that it is like the confession of the culprit —
his last. We have heard the confession of the Unknown,
may wc not yet have heard his last words.

Sir Walter Scott. — It was a good old proverb, "that
we should keep our ain fish-guts to our ain sea-maws," —

21

and this reminded him that there was one name which had
a particular right to notice on this occasion. It was that
of the person who first established dramatic entertainments
in Edinburgh, — one, in short, to whom the drama in this
city owes much. He succeeded, not without trouble, and
perhaps at some considerable sacrifice, in establishing a
Theatre. The younger part of the company may not re-
collect the Theatre to which I allude ; but there are some
who with me may remember by name, the Theatre in Car-
rubber''s Close. There Allan Ramsay established his little
Theatre. His own pastoral was not fit for the stage, but
it has its own admirers in those Avho love the Doric lan-
guage in which it is written ; and it is not without merits
of a very peculiar kind. But, laying aside all considera-
tions of his literary merit, Allan was a good jovial honest
fellow, who would crack a bottle with the best — The Me-
mory of Allan Ramsay.

Mr James Maconochie said that he had had two bets,
one of which is to go to the fund. Sir Walter regretted
they could not both go.

Mr Murray, on being requested, sung, " 'Twas merry
in the hall," and at the conclusion was greeted with repeat-
ed rounds of applause.

Mr Jones. — One omission I conceive has been made.—
The cause of the fund has been ably advocated, but it is
still susceptible, in my opinion, of an additional charm :

" Without the smile from partial beauty won,
Oh what were man ? — a world without a sun !"

And there would not be a darker spot in poetry than would
be the corner in Shakespeare Square, if, like its neighbour,
the Register Office, the Theatre were deserted by the ladies.
They are, in;fact, our most atti'active stars — " The Pa-
tronesses of the Theatre — the Ladies of the city of Edin-
burgh." This toast I ask leave to drink with all the ho-
nours which conviviality can confer.

Mr Patrick Robertson. — I feel that I am about to
tread on ticklish ground. I am approaching the often dis-
puted point of the North Loch, concerning which, public
opinion has been so much excited. The subject is un-
doubtedly one of importance. What shall be done with it
is yet uncertain. I have studied the law, but cannot de-
termine on its complexity. The talk is of a new Theatre,
and a bill may be presented for its erection, saving always,
and provided the expenses be defrayed, and carried through,
provided always it be not opposed. Bearsford Park, or

some such place, miglit be selected, provided always duo
notice was given, and so wc might have a playhouse, as it
were, by possibility. But wherever the new theatre may
be erected, I trust we shall meet the Old Company. I mean
to take no advantage of the absence of the Lord Provost,
neither am I the advocate of Mr Cockburn. But reserving
considerations of the interests of both parties, there should
be advertisements placarded on the parish kirk doors, hereby
intimating that the citizens of Edinburgh intend to erect in
this city, for the better accommodation of the Old Com-
pany, a new theatre — site unknown — (Great laughter.)

Sir Waltkr Scott. — Wherever the new Theatre is
built, I hope it will not be large. There are two errors
which we commonly commit — the one arising from our
pride, the other from our poverty. If there are 12 plans,
it is odds but the largest, without any regard to comfort,
or an eye to the probable expense, is adopted. There was
the College projected on this scale, and undertaken in the
same manner, and who shall see the end of it ? It has been
building all my life, and may probably last during the
lives of my children, and my children's children. Let it
not be said, when we commence a new theatre, as was said
on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a certain
building, " behold the endless work begun." Play-going
folks should attend somewhat to convenience. The new
theatre should, in the first place, be such as may be finish-
ed in 18 months or two years ; and in the second place, it
should be one in which we can hear old friends Avith com-
fort. It is better that a Theatre should be crowded now
and then, than to have a large Theatre with benches conti-
nually empty, to the discouragement of the actors, and the
discomfort of the spectators. (Applause.) He then rose,
and commenting in flattering terms on the genius of Mac-
kenzie, and his private worth, proposed " The health of
Henry Mackenzie, Esq.""

Immediately afterwards he said : Gentlemen, — It is now
wearing late, and I shall request permission to retire. Like
Partridge I may say, " non sum qualis eram.^'' At my
time of the day, I can agree with Lord Ogelby as to his
rheumatism, and say, " There's a twinge." ' I hope, there-
fore, you will excuse me for leaving the chair. — The wor-
thy Baronet then retired amidst long, loud, and rapturous
cheering.

Me Patrick Robertson was then called to the Chair
by common acclamation.

Gentlemen,— said Mr Robertson,— I take the liberty of

23

ask jug you to fill a bumper to the very brim. There is
not one of us who will not remember, while be lives, being
present at this day's festival, and the declaration made this
night by the gentleman who has just left the Chair. That
declaration has rent the veil from the features of the Great
Unknown — a name which must now merge in the name of
the Great Known. It will be henceforth coupled with the
name of Scott, which will become familiar like a household
word. We have heard the confession from his own immor-
tal lips — (Cheering), and we cannot dwell with too much
or too fervent praise, on the merits of one of the greatest
men which Scotland has produced.

Mil Robertson said, he would not trouble the meeting
with a speech ; but, as he considered the business of the even-
ing was concluded, that is to say, the stated business, he beg-
ged to propose the health of a gentleman who had entertain-
ed them that night with his speeches, and whom they had
all seen on the stage. He gave the health of Mr Jones.

Mr Jones said the honour had been as unexpected as it
was gratifying, so much so, that he was utterly at a loss to
express his feelings. It was often remarked, in common
life, that a man was less able to do justice to his good than
to his bad fortune, and that was peculiarly his situation.
He begged they would accept his best thanks, his gratitude
was overflowing. In Edinburgh he had not only been pa-
tronized, but had found a home ; and would certainly con-
sider the greatest misfortune of his life, the cause which
would compel him to leave this city. (Cheers.)

Mr Robertson said he had understood he had been mis-
taken in supposing the selected toasts of the evening had
been concluded. They had noticed the drama with all re-
spect, and he begged to notice a modest retiring gentleman
in the sister art of painting, a man who added honour to"
the name of Scotland ; and while, from the Castle-hill to
the Luckenbooths, Auld Reekie could produce such geniuses,
they need not yet be ashamed of the name of the modern
Atliens. He proposed " The health of Mr William Allan,
and the Artists of Scotland."

Mr Allan returned thanks, but in a very low tone of
voice.

Mr James Hope, son of the Lord President, after an
eulogium on the rising genius of Scotland, proposed *' The
health of Mr J. G. Lockhart, the son-in-law of Sir Walter
Scott."

Mr William Allan of Glen begged to propose " The
healths of the Ladies of the Theatre."

£4

Me Robertson begged to propose the health of a dis-
tmguished cavalry officer. He would, as use is, state that
he was an old soldier, not at all used to public speaking.
Of the last assertion they had that night abundant proof ;
and, as to the former, he could assure them that he was
discharged rear-rank man of Captain Bonar*s company.
And as being a foot soldier, (no horse being able to carry
such a burden), he could not be supposed to entertain any
jealousy of the other branch of his Majesty's service. He
therefore would propose " The health of Sir Hussey Vi-
vian." He did so with peculiar pleasure, as his son was
now in the room. (Cheers.)

Mr Vivian, in reply, said, if his father had been pre-
sent, he would have duly appreciated the honour done him.
He laegged to return thanks in his name, and to drink all
their good healths.

Mr Robertson then proposed to drink the health of Mr
Bum the architect, which was received with great ap-
plause.

After which several other toasts were given, and Mr
Robertson left the room about half-past eleven. A few
choice spirits, however, rallied round Captain Broadhead,
of the 7th Hussars, who was called to the Chair, and the
festivity was prolonged till an early hour in the morning.
Thus ended this most delightful meeting — a meeting which
will not easily be forgotten by any one who had the grati-
fication of being present.

J. PILIiANS & SON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

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