Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to George Ellis, 14 February 1802
“14th February, 1802.
“I have been silent but not idle. The Transcript of
King Arthur is at length finished, being a
fragment of about 7000 lines. Let me know how I shall transmit a parcel
containing it, with the Complaynt and the Border Ballads, of which I expect every day
to receive some copies. I think you will be disappointed in the Ballads. I have
as yet touched very little on the more remote antiquities of the Border, which,
indeed, my songs, all comparatively modern, did not lead me to discuss. Some
scattered herbage, however, the elephants may perhaps
find. By the way, you will not forget to notice
the mountain called Arthur’s Seat, which overhangs
this city. When I was at school the tradition ran that King Arthur occupied as his throne a huge rock upon its summit,
and that he beheld from thence some naval engagement upon the Frith of Forth. I
am pleasantly interrupted by the post; he brings me a letter from William Dundas, fixing Leyden’s appointment as an assistant
surgeon to one of the India settlements—which is not yet determined; and
another from my printer, a very
ingenious young man, telling me, that he means to escort the ‘Minstrelsy’ up to London in person. I shall,
therefore, direct him to transmit my parcel to Mr
Nicol.” . . . .
James Ballantyne (1772-1833)
Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the
financial collapse of 1826.
William Dundas (1762-1845)
The nephew of Viscount Melville; he was a Pittite MP for Anstruther (1794-96), Tain
(1796-1802), Sutherlandshire (1802-08), Elgin (1810-12), and Edinburgh (1812-31).
John Leyden (1775-1811)
Scottish antiquary, poet, and orientalist who assisted Walter Scott in compiling the
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
George Nicol (1740 c.-1829)
London bookseller who compiled the Roxburghe sale catalogue. He partnered with his son,
William Nicol.