Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to James Stanier Clarke, 4 September 1813
“Abbotsford, 4th September, 1813.
“Sir,
“On my return to this cottage, after a short
excursion, I was at once surprised and deeply interested by the receipt of your
letter. I shall always consider it as the proudest incident of my life that his
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, whose
taste in literature is so highly distinguished, should have thought of naming
me to the situation of poet laureate. I feel, therefore, no small embarrassment
lest I should incur the suspicion of churlish ingratitude in declining an
appointment in every ![]()
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point of view
so far above my deserts, but which I should chiefly have valued as conferred by
the unsolicited generosity of his Royal Highness, and as entitling me to the
distinction of terming myself an immediate servant of his Majesty. But I have
to trust to your goodness in representing to his Royal Highness, with my most
grateful, humble, and dutiful acknowledgements, the circumstances which compel
me to decline the honour which his undeserved favour has proposed for me. The
poetical pieces I have hitherto composed have uniformly been the hasty
production of impulses, which I must term fortunate, since they have attracted
his Royal Highness’s notice and approbation. But I strongly fear, or
rather am absolutely certain, that I should feel myself unable to justify, in
the eye of the public, the choice of his Royal Highness, by a fitting discharge
of the duties of an office which requires stated and periodical exertion. And
although I am conscious how much this difficulty is lessened under the
government of his Royal Highness, marked by paternal wisdom at home and
successes abroad which seem to promise the liberation of Europe, I still feel
that the necessity of a regular commemoration would trammel my powers of
composition at the very time when it would be equally my pride and duty to tax
them to the uttermost. There is another circumstance which weighs deeply in my
mind while forming my present resolution. I have already the honour to hold two
appointments under Government, not usually conjoined, and which afford an
income, far indeed from wealth, but amounting to decent independence. I fear,
therefore, that in accepting one of the few situations which our establishment
holds forth as the peculiar provision of literary men, I might be justly
censured as availing myself of his Royal Highness’s partiality to engross
more than my share of the public revenue, to the preju-![]()
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dice of competitors equally meritorious at least, and otherwise unprovided
for; and as this calculation will be made by thousands who know that I have
reaped great advantages by the favour of the public, without being aware of the
losses which it has been my misfortune to sustain, I may fairly reckon that it
will terminate even more to my prejudice than if they had the means of judging
accurately of my real circumstances. I have thus far, sir, frankly exposed to
you, for his Royal Highness’s favourable consideration, the feelings
which induce me to decline an appointment offered in a manner so highly
calculated to gratify, I will not say my vanity only, but my sincere feelings
of devoted attachment to the crown and constitution of my country, and to the
person of his Royal Highness, by whom its government has been so worthily
administered. No consideration on earth would give me so much pain as the idea
of my real feelings being misconstrued on this occasion, or that I should be
supposed stupid enough not to estimate the value of his Royal Highness’s
favour, or so ungrateful as not to feel it as I ought. And you will relieve me
from great anxiety if you will have the goodness to let me know if his Royal
Highness is pleased to receive favourably my humble and grateful apology.
“I cannot conclude without expressing my sense of
your kindness and of the trouble you have had upon this account, and I request
you will believe me, sir, your obliged humble servant,
