Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Walter Scott to Joanna Baillie, [11? December 1818]
“My dear Friend, I am going to tell you a little
secret. I have changed my mind, or rather existing circumstances have led to my
altering my opinions in a case of sublunary honour. I have now before me
Lord Sidmouth’s letter,
containing the Prince’s gracious and
unsolicited intention to give me a Baronetcy. It will neither make me better
nor worse than I feel myself—in fact, it will be an incumbrance rather than
otherwise; but it may be of consequence to Walter, for the title is worth something in the army, although
not in a learned profession. The Duke of
Buccleuch and Scott of
Harden, who, as the heads of my clan and the sources of my
gentry, are good judges of what I ought to do, have both given me their earnest
opinion to accept of an honour directly derived from the source of honour, and
neither begged nor bought, as is the usual fashion. Several of my ancestors
bore the title in the 17th century; and were it of consequence, I have no
reason to be ashamed of the decent and respectable persons who connect me with
that period when they carried into the field, like Madoc—
‘The crescent, at whose gleam the Cambrian oft, Cursing his perilous tenure, wound his horn’— |
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so that, as a gentleman, I may stand on as good a footing as other new
creations. Respecting the reasons peculiar to myself which have made the Prince
show his respect for general literature in my person, I cannot be a good judge,
and your friendly zeal will make you a ![]()
| 216 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. | |
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partial one: the
purpose is fair, honourable, and creditable to the Sovereign, even though it
should number him among the monarchs who made blunders in literary patronage.
You know Pope says ![]()
So let the intention sanctify the error, if there should be one, on this
great occasion. The time of this grand affair is uncertain; it is coupled with
an invitation to London, which it would be inconvenient to me to accept, unless
it should happen that I am called to come up by the affairs of poor Carpenter’s estate. Indeed, the
prospects of my children form the principal reason for a change of sentiments
upon this flattering offer, joined to my belief that, though I may still be a
scribbler from inveterate habit, I shall hardly engage again in any work of
consequence.
“We had a delightful visit from the Richardsons, only rather too short; he will
give you a picture of Abbotsford, but not as it exists in my mind’s eye,
waving with all its future honours. The pinasters are thriving very well, and
in a year or two more Joanna’s Bower will be worthy of the name. At
present it is like Sir Roger de
Coverley’s portrait, which hovered between its resemblance
to the good knight and to a Saracen. Now the said bower has still such a
resemblance to its original character of a gravel pit, that it is not fit to be
shown to ‘bairns and fools,’ who, according to our old canny
proverb, should never see half done work; but Nature, if she works slowly,
works surely, and your laurels at Abbotsford will soon flourish as fair as
those you have won on Parnassus. I rather fear that a quantity of game which
was shipped awhile ago at Inverness for the Doctor, never reached him: it is rather a tran-
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sitory commodity in London; there were
ptarmigan, grouse, and black game. I shall be grieved if they have miscarried.
My health, thank God, continues as strong as at any period in my life; only I
think of rule and diet more than I used to do, and observe as much as in me
lies the advice of my friendly physician, who took such kind care of me; my
best respects attend him, Mrs Baillie,
and Mrs Agnes. Ever, my dear friend,
most faithfully yours,
W. S.”
Agnes Baillie (1760-1861)
The daughter of the Scottish cleric James Baillie and elder sister of the poet Joanna
Baillie with whom she lived in Hampstead for many decades.
Matthew Baillie (1761-1823)
Physician and brother of Joanna Baillie; as successor to the anatomist William Hunter he
treated the pedal deformities of both Walter Scott and Lord Byron.
Sophia Baillie [née Denman] (1771-1845)
The daughter of the obstetrician Thomas Denman and sister of Lord Denman; in 1791 she
married the physician Matthew Baillie, brother of Joanna Baillie.
Sir Richard Blackmore (1654-1729)
Physician, poet, and critic who was the subject of much abuse among the wits; he was
author of
Prince Arthur: an Heroick Poem in Ten Books (1695) and
several other epics allegorizing Whig doctrines.
Charles Carpenter (1772-1818)
The brother of Lady Scott; after service in the East India Company (1789) he was
Commercial Resident at Salem in India.
King Charles I of England (1600-1649)
The son of James VI and I; as king of England (1625-1649) he contended with Parliament;
he was revered as a martyr after his execution.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
English poet and satirist; author of
The Rape of the Lock (1714)
and
The Dunciad (1728).
Francis Quarles (1592-1644)
English poet and royalist whose
Emblems (1635) were long
reprinted.
John Richardson of Kirklands (1780-1864)
Scottish lawyer and parliamentary solicitor in London from 1806; he was Thomas Campbell's
legal advisor and a friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Walter Scott, second baronet (1801-1847)
The elder son and heir of Sir Walter Scott; he was cornet in the 18th Hussars (1816),
captain (1825), lieut.-col. (1839). In the words of Maria Edgeworth, he was
“excessively shy, very handsome, not at all literary.”
