“My dear Lockhart,—I
have been every day anxiously expecting to hear from or see you. Your bed here
is ready, and your presence anxiously hoped for. On the 20th we go to
Abbotsford, so you may consider whether you had rather come there, and pass a
few days of January in town when the Session recalls me, or come hither at
once. All
| ADVICE FROM SCOTT | 39 |
“I still wish you much to see the Duke before you come down. I would have you be the man you ought to be with these great folks, and that can only be by taking upon you a little more than the modesty of your nature will readily allow you to do. Men are always rated as they rate themselves, and if you let them suppose that either the publisher or any of the contributors are the moving source of the great engine which you command, your personal services will be coldly estimated. They are all, I believe, convinced of your consequence to the cause, and you need not let them forget that it is to yourself they owe them.—Always yours, with affectionate love to dear Johnnie, Walter, little miss, not forgetting mama.”
