“Bullock has
not gone to Skye, and I am very glad he has not, for to me who knew the
Hebrides well, the attempt seemed very perilous at this season. I have
considerably enlarged my domains since I wrote to you, by the purchase of a
beautiful farm adjacent. The farm-house, which is new and excellent, I have let
to Adam Ferguson and his sisters. We
will be within a pleasant walk of each other, and hope to end our lives, as
they began, in each other’s society. There is a beautiful brook, with
remnants of natural wood, which would make Toftfield rival Abbotsford, but for
the majestic Tweed. I am in treaty for a field or two more; one of which
contains the only specimen of a Peel-house, or defensive residence of a small
proprietor, which remains in this neighbourhood. It is an orchard, in the
hamlet of Darnick, to which it gives a most picturesque effect. Blore admires it very much. We are all well
here, but crowded with company. I have been junketting this week past at
Bowhill. Mr Magrath has
| 100 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“P.S.—I agree with you that the tower will look rather rich for the rest of the building; yet you may be assured, that with diagonal chimneys and notched gables, it will have a very fine effect, and is in Scotch architecture by no means incompatible. My house has been like a cried fair, and extreme the inconvenience of having no corner sacred to my own use, and free from intrusion. Ever truly yours,
