Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to Joanna Baillie, 18 March 1810
“Edinburgh, March 18, 1810.
“Nothing, my dear Miss
Baillie, can loiter in my hands, when you are commanding
officer. I have put the play
in progress through the press, and find my publishers, the Ballantynes, had previously determined to make
Mr Longman, the proprietor of your
other works, the offer of this. All that can be made of it in such a cause
certainly shall, and the booksellers shall be content with as little profit as
can in reason be expected. I understand the trade well, and will take care of
this. Indeed, I believe the honour weighs more with the booksellers here than
the profit of a single play. So much for business. You are quite right in the
risk I run of failure in a third
poem; yet I think I understand the British public well enough to set
every sail towards the popular breeze. One set of folks pique themselves upon
sailing in the wind’s eye another class drive right before it; now I
would neither do one or t’other, but endeavour to go, as the sailors
express it, upon a wind, and make use of it to carry me my own way, instead of
going precisely in its direction; or, to speak in a dialect with which I am
more familiar, I would endeavour to make my horse carry me, instead of
attempting to carry my horse. I have a vain-glorious presentiment of success
upon this occasion, which may very well deceive me, but which I would hardly
confess to any body but you, nor perhaps to you neither, unless I knew you
would find it out whether I told it you or no,—
“You are a sharp observer, and you look Quite through the eyes of men.— |
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“I plead guilty to the charge of ill-breeding to
Miss ***. The despair which I used
to feel on receiving poor ![]()
| MISS SEWARD’S LETTERS, ETC. | 277 |
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Miss Seward’s letters, whom I
really liked, gave me a most unsentimental horror for sentimental letters. The
crossest thing I ever did in my life was to poor, dear Miss
Seward; she wrote me in an evil hour (I had never seen her, mark
that!) a long and most passionate epistle upon the death of a dear friend, whom
I had never seen neither, concluding with a charge not to attempt answering the
said letter, for she was dead to the world, &c. &c. &c. Never were
commands more literally obeyed. I remained as silent as the grave, till the
lady made so many enquiries after me, that I was afraid of my death being
prematurely announced by a sonnet or an elegy. When I did see her, however, she
interested me very much, and I am now doing penance for my ill-breeding, by
submitting to edite her posthumous poetry, most of which is absolutely execrable. This,
however, is the least of my evils, for when she proposed this bequest to me,
which I could not in decency refuse, she combined it with a request that I
would publish her whole literary
correspondence. This I declined on principle, having a particular
aversion at perpetuating that sort of gossip; but what availed it? Lo! to
ensure the publication, she left it to an Edinburgh
bookseller; and I anticipate the horror of seeing myself
advertised for a live poet like a wild beast on a painted streamer, for I
understand all her friends are depicted therein in body, mind, and manners. So
much for the risks of sentimental correspondence.
“Siddons’ play was truly flat, but not unprofitable; he
contrived to get it well propped in the acting, and—though it was such a thing
as if you or I had written it (supposing, that is, what in your case, and I
think even in my own, is impossible) would have been damned seventyfold,—yet it
went through with applause. Such is the humour of the multitude; and they will
quarrel with venison for being dressed a day sooner than fashion ![]()
| 278 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. | |
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requires, and batten on a neck of mutton, because, on the
whole, it is rather better than they expected; however,
Siddons is a good lad, and deserves success, through
whatever channel it comes. His mother is
here just now. I was quite shocked to see her, for the two last years have made
a dreadful inroad both on voice and person; she has, however, a very bad cold.
I hope she will be able to act Jane de
Montfort, which we have long planned. Very truly yours,
W. S.”
Joanna Baillie (1762-1851)
Scottish poet and dramatist whose
Plays on the Passions
(1798-1812) were much admired, especially the gothic
De Montfort,
produced at Drury Lane in 1800.
John Ballantyne (1774-1821)
Edinburgh publisher and literary agent for Walter Scott; he was the younger brother of
the printer James Ballantyne.
Archibald Constable (1774-1827)
Edinburgh bookseller who published the
Edinburgh Review and works
of Sir Walter Scott; he went bankrupt in 1826.
Margaret Hodson [née Holford] (1778-1852)
English poet popular in the interval between Anna Seward and Felicia Hemans; she
published
Wallace, or, The Fight of Falkirk (1809) and
Margaret of Anjou (1816). She married Septimus Hodson in
1826.
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
Anna Seward [the Swan of Lichfield] (1742-1809)
English poet, patron, and letter-writer; she was the center of a literary circle at
Lichfield. Her
Poetical Works, 3 vols (1810) were edited by Walter
Scott.
Henry Siddons (1774-1815)
English actor and playwright, the son of the actress Sarah Siddons; with the assistance
of Walter Scott he obtained patent of the Edinburgh Theatre Royal in 1809.
Sarah Siddons [née Kemble] (1755-1831)
English tragic actress, sister of John Philip Kemble, famous roles as Desdemona, Lady
Macbeth, and Ophelia. She retired from the stage in 1812.
