Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to Lady Louisa Stuart, 19 January 1808
“Edinburgh, 19th January, 1808.
“I am much flattered, dear Lady Louisa, by your kind and encouraging
remembrance. Marmion is, at this instant,
gasping upon Flodden field, and there I have been obliged to leave him for
these few days in the death pangs. I hope I shall find time enough this morning
to knock him on the head with two or three thumping stanzas. I thought I should
have seen Lady Douglas while she was at
Dalkeith, but all the Clerks of Session (excepting myself, who have at present
no salary) are subject to the gout, and one of them was unluckily visited with
a fit on the day I should have been at the Duke’s, so I had his duty and my own to discharge. Pray,
Lady Louisa, don’t look for Marmion in Hawthornden or any where else,
excepting in the too thick quarto which bears his name. As to the fair
* * * * * * *, I beg her pardon with
all my heart and spirit; but I rather think that the habit of writing novels or
romances, whether in prose or verse, is unfavourable to rapid credulity; at
least these sort of folks know that they can easily make fine stories
themselves, and will be therefore as curious in examining those of other folks
as a cunning vintner in detecting the sophistication of his neighbour’s
claret by the help of his own experience. ![]()
| LETTER TO LADY LOUISA STUART—1808. | 137 |
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Talking of fair ladies and fables
reminds me of Mr
Sharpe’s ballads,* which I suppose
Lady Douglas carried with her to Bothwell. They
exhibit, I think, a very considerable portion of imagination, and occasionally,
though not uniformly, great flow of versification. There is one verse, or
rather the whole description of a musical ghost lady sitting among the ruins of
her father’s tower, that pleased me very much. But his language is too
flowery and even tawdry, and I quarrelled with a lady in the first poem who
yielded up her affection upon her lover showing his white teeth. White teeth
ought to be taken great care of and set great store by; but I cannot allow them
to be an object of passionate admiration—it is too like subduing a lady’s
heart by grinning. Grieved am I for Lady Douglas’s
indisposition, which I hope will be short, and I am sure will be tolerable with
such stores of amusement around her. Last night I saw all the Dalkeith family
presiding in that happy scene of mixed company and Babylonian confusion, the
Queen’s Assembly. I also saw Mr Alison there. I hope
your ladyship has not renounced your intention, of coming to Edinburgh for a
day or two, and that I shall have the honour to see you. We have here a very
diverting lion and sundry wild beasts; but the most meritorious is Miss Lydia White, who is what Oxonians call a
lioness of the first order, with stockings nineteen times nine dyed blue, very
lively, very good-humoured, and extremely absurd. It is very diverting to see
the sober Scotch ladies staring at this phenomenon. I am, with great respect,
your ladyship’s honoured and obliged
Lady Frances Douglas [née Scott] (1750-1817)
The daughter of Francis Scott, earl of Dalkeith (1721-1750); in 1783 she became the
second wife of Archibald, Lord Douglas. She resided at Bothwell Castle and was the friend
of Sir Walter Scott and other literati.
Lady Lucy Douglas [née Graham] (1751-1780)
The daughter of William Graham, second Duke of Montrose; in 1771 she married Archibald
James Edward Douglas, first Baron Douglas of Douglas
Miss Lally (1820 fl.)
The daughter of the exiled French politician Gérard de Lally-Tollendal (1751-1830); she
was governess in the family of Lord Landsdown.
Henry Scott, third duke of Buccleuch (1746-1812)
The son of Francis Scott, styled earl of Dalkeith (1721-1750), he succeeded his
grandfather in the dukedom. He was an improver and close friend of Henry Dundas.
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (1781-1851)
Scottish poet, painter, editor, antiquary, and eccentric; he edited James Kirkton's
Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland (1817) with
elaborate notes mocking his author.
Lady Louisa Stuart (1757-1851)
The youngest child of John Stuart, third earl of Bute; she corresponded with Sir Walter
Scott. Several volumes of her writings and memoirs were published after her death.
Lydia White (d. 1827)
Born in Wales, the “Miss Diddle” of Byron's “Blues” held literary conversazione at her
house in Park Street; Walter Scott and Samuel Rogers were among her admirers.
