Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to Miss Christian Rutherford, 5 September 1794
“Advocates’ Library, 5th Sept. 1794.
“My dear Miss
Christy will perceive, from the date of this epistle, that I
have accomplished my purpose of coming to town to be present at the trial of
the Edinburgh traitors. I arrived here on Monday evening from Kelso, and was
present at Watt’s trial on
Wednesday, which displayed to the public the most atrocious and deliberate plan
of villany which has occurred, perhaps, in the annals of Great Britain. I refer
you for particulars to the papers, and shall only add, that the equivocations
and perjury of the witnesses (most of them being accomplices in what they
called the great plan) set the abilities of Mr
Anstruther, the King’s counsel, in the most striking point
of view. The patience and temper with which he tried them on every side, and
screwed out of them the evidence they were so anxious to conceal, showed much
knowledge of human nature; and the art with which he arranged the information
he received, made the trial, upon the whole, the most interesting I ever was
present at. Downie’s trial is just
now going forwards over my head; but as the evidence is just the same as
formerly brought against Watt, is not so interesting. You
will easily believe that on Wednesday my curiosity was too much excited to
retire at an early hour, and, indeed, I sat in the Court from seven in the
morning till two the next morning; but as I had provided my-![]()
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self with some cold meat and a bottle of wine, I contrived to support the
fatigue pretty well. It strikes me, upon the whole, that the plan of these
miscreants might, from its very desperate and improbable nature, have had no
small chance of succeeding, at least as far as concerned cutting off the
soldiers, and obtaining possession of the banks, besides shedding the blood of
the most distinguished inhabitants. There, I think, the evil must have stopped,
unless they had further support than has yet appeared. Stooks was the prime mover of the whole, and
the person who supplied the money, and our theatrical disturbances are found to
have formed one link of the chain. So, I have no doubt, Messrs
Stooks, Burk, &c., would have
found out a new way of paying old debts. The people are perfectly quiescent
upon this grand occasion, and seem to interest themselves very little in the
fate of their soi-disant friends. The Edinburgh
volunteers make a respectable and formidable appearance already. They are
exercised four hours almost every day, with all the rigour of military
discipline. The grenadier company consists entirely of men above six feet. So
much for public news.
“As to home intelligence—know that my mother and Anne had projected a jaunt to
Inverleithing; fate, however, had destined otherwise. The intended day of
departure was ushered in by a most complete deluge, to which, and the
consequent disappointment, our proposed travellers did not submit with that
Christian meekness which might have beseemed. In short, both within and without
doors, it was a devil of a day. The second was like unto
it. The third day came a post, a killing post, and in the shape of a letter
from this fountain of health, informed us no lodgings were to be had there, so,
whatever be its virtues, or the grandeur attending a journey to its streams, we
might as well have proposed to visit ![]()
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the river Jordan, or the walls of Jericho.
Not so our heroic John; he has been
arrived here for some time (much the same as when he went way), and has formed
the desperate resolution of riding out with me to Kelso to-morrow morning. I
have stayed a day longer, waiting for the arrival of a pair of new boots and
buckskin &cs., in which the soldier is to be equipt. I ventured to hint the
convenience of a roll of diaculum plaister, and a box of the most approved
horseman-salve, in which recommendation our doctor* warmly joined. His impatience for the journey has been
somewhat cooled by some inclination yesterday displayed by his charger (a pony
belonging to Anne) to lay his warlike rider in the dust—a
purpose he had nearly effected. He next mounted Queen
Mab, who treated him with little more complaisance, and, in
carters’ phrase, would neither hap nor wynd, till she got rid of him. Seriously, however, if
Jack has not returned covered with laurels, a crop
which the Rock† no longer produces, he has brought back all his own
good-nature, and a manner considerably improved, so that he is at times very
agreeable company. Best love to Miss R.,
Jean, and Anne (I hope they are
improved at the battledore), and the boys, not forgetting my friend
Archy, though least not last in my remembrance. Best
compliments to the Colonel.‡ I
shall remember with pleasure Ashestiel hospitality, and not without a desire to
put it to the proof next year. Adieu, ma chère amie.
When you write, direct to Rosebank, and I shall be a good boy, and write you
another sheet ![]()
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of nonsense soon. All friends here well. Ever yours
affectionately,
Sir John Anstruther, fourth baronet and first baronet (1753-1811)
Educated at Glasgow under John Millar, he was a Whig MP for Anstruther Easter burghs
(1783-90, 1796-97, 1806-11) and Cockermouth (1790-96). He broke with Charles James Fox over
France and as solicitor-general to the prince of Wales was prosecutor in the Edinburgh
treason trials of 1794.
David Downie (1795 fl.)
Edinburgh goldsmith in Parliament Square; he was a political radical who was convicted
and exiled in the treason trials of 1794-95.
William Russell of Ashiestiel (d. 1803)
Military officer who served under Clive in India; in 1776 he married Jean Rutherford; he
was Walter Scott's uncle.
Christian Rutherford (1759-1819)
The daughter of Professor John Rutherford by his second wife; she was the half-sister of
Anne, mother of Sir Walter Scott (who referred to her as “Miss Critty”).
Daniel Rutherford (1749-1819)
Scottish physician and botanist, the son of Professor John Rutherford; after study at
Edinburgh University he was physician-in-ordinary to the Royal Infirmary (1791). He was Sir
Walter Scott's uncle.
Anne Scott [née Rutherford] (1739 c.-1819)
Walter Scott's mother, the daughter of Professor John Rutherford who married Walter Scott
senior in 1755.
Anne Scott (1772-1801)
Walter Scott's younger and only sister; an earlier sister of the same name had died in
childhood.
John Scott (1769-1816)
Walter Scott's elder brother who served in the 73rd Regiment before retiring to Edinburgh
in 1810.
John Edmunds Stock (1774-1835)
Unitarian physician and biographer of Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808); while a medical student
at Edinburgh he was involved in the treason plots but fled before he could be put on
trial.
Robert Watt (d. 1794)
Edinburgh wine-merchant and radical convicted of treason and hung in the state trials of
1794.
