The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart
Chapter 13: 1826
Sir Walter Scott to John Gibson Lockhart, 27 March 1826
“Abbotsford, 27th
March 1826.
“I grieve to say, my dear Lockhart, that we have but bad news to send up from this
country in answer to your deplorable intelligence of my dear Johnnie’s health. Lady Scott is far from
well; the asthmatical complaint has assumed the character of hydropsy, and
Dr. Abercrombie, who has been
consulted, looks very grave on the subject. They work by some new medicine, but
I own I am not very hopeful of the result, at least as to perfect cure.”
John Abercrombie (1780-1844)
Educated at Marischal College and Edinburgh University, he was king's physician for
Scotland and Edinburgh's leading practitioner.
John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)
Editor of the
Quarterly Review (1825-1853); son-in-law of Walter
Scott and author of the
Life of Scott 5 vols (1838).
John Hugh Lockhart (1821-1831)
The first child of John Gibson Lockhart and his wife Sophia, for whom Sir Walter Scott
wrote
Tales of a Grandfather (1828-1831).
