Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to John Murray, 23 March 1818
“Abbotsford, 23d March, 1818.
|
‘Grieve not for me, my dearest dear,
I am not dead but sleepeth here’—
|
![]()
“I have little to plead for myself, but the old and
vile apologies of laziness and indisposition. I think I have been so unlucky of
late as to have always the will to work when sitting at the desk hurts me, and
the irresistible propensity to be lazy, when I might, like the man whom
Hogarth introduces into Bridewell
with his hands strapped up against the wall, ‘better work than stand
thus.’ I laid Kirkton* aside half finished, from a desire to get the original
edition of the lives of
Cameron, &c., by Patrick
Walker, which I had not seen since a boy, and now I have got it,
and find, as I suspected, that some curious morceaux have been cut out by subsequent
editors.† I will, without loss of time, finish the article, which I think you will like.
Blackwood kidnapped an for his
Magazine on the Frankenstein
* Scott’s article on Kirkton’s History of the Church of
Scotland, edited by Mr C. K.
Sharpe, appeared in the 36th number of the Quarterly Review. See Miscellaneous Prose
Works, vol. xix. p. 213. † Scott
expressed great satisfaction on seeing the Lives of the
Covenanters—Cameron,
Peden, Semple, Wellwood,
Cargill,
Smith, Renwick, &c., reprinted without mutilation in the
“Biographia
Presbyteriana. Edin. 1827.” The publisher of this
collection was the late Mr John
Stevenson, long chief clerk to John Ballantyne, and usually styled by
Scott “True
Jock,” in opposition to one of his old master’s
many aliases—viz.: “Leein’
Johnnie.” |
![]()
![]()
![]()
story,* which I intended for you. A
very old friend and school companion of mine, and a gallant soldier, if ever
there was one, Sir Howard Douglas, has
asked me to review his work on Military Bridges. I
must get a friend’s assistance for the scientific part, and add some
balaam of mine own (as printers’ devils say) to make up four or five
pages. I have no objection to attempt Lord Orford if I
have time, and find I can do it with ease. Though far from admiring his
character, I have always had a high opinion of his talents, and am well
acquainted with his works. The letters you have published are, I think, his
very best—lively, entertaining, and unaffected.† I am greatly obliged to
you for these and other literary treasures, which I owe to your goodness from
time to time. Although not thankfully acknowledged as they should be in course,
these things are never thanklessly received.
“I could have sworn that Beppo was founded on Whistlecraft, as both were on Anthony Hall,‡ who, like Beppo, had more wit than grace.
“I am not, however, in spirits at present for
treating either these worthies, or my friend Rose, though few have warmer wishes to any of the trio. But
this confounded changeable weather has twice within this fortnight brought back
my cramp in the stomach. Adieu. My next shall be with a packet. Yours truly,
John Ballantyne (1774-1821)
Edinburgh publisher and literary agent for Walter Scott; he was the younger brother of
the printer James Ballantyne.
William Blackwood (1776-1834)
Edinburgh bookseller; he began business 1804 and for a time was John Murray's Scottish
agent. He launched
Blackwood's Magazine in 1817.
Richard Cameron (d. 1680)
Scottish covenanter and field preacher killed in a fight with government forces at
Ayrsmoss. He was at one time chaplain to Sir William Scott of Harden.
Donald Cargill (1627 c.-1681)
Scottish Covenanter and rebel leader, convicted of treason and executed at
Edinburgh.
Anthony Hall (1679-1723)
English antiquary; he was a fellow of Queen's College, Oxford who edited John Leland's
Commentarii de scriptoribus Britannicis (1709).
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
English satirical painter whose works include
The Harlot's
Progress,
The Rake's Progress, and
Marriage à la Mode.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Alexander Peden (1626 c.-1686)
Scottish Covenanter, born in Ayrshire; he was declared a rebel in 1666 and spent time as
an exile in Ireland.
James Renwick (1662-1688)
Scottish Covenanter active from his ordination in 1683 to his execution at Edinburgh in
1688.
William Stewart Rose (1775-1843)
Second son of George Rose, treasurer of the navy (1744-1818); he introduced Byron to
Frere's
Whistlecraft poems and translated Casti's
Animale parlante (1819).
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.
John Stevenson (d. 1831)
Edinburgh bookseller in Princes Street (1824-30); he had been chief clerk to John
Ballantyne and was an acquaintance of Walter Scott.
Patrick Walker (1666 c.-1745 c.)
Scottish pedlar and biographer; he was of the Cameronian sect.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
Biographia Presbyteriana. 2 vols (Edinburgh: D. Speare and J. Stevenson, 1827). Most of the lives are reprinted from Patrick Walker.
