J. G. Lockhart: Life of Walter Scott

“I received yesterday your very acceptable letter, containing the news of Jessie’s approaching marriage, in which, as a match agreeable to her mother and you, and relieving your minds from some of the anxious prospects which haunt those of parents, I take the most sincere interest. Before this reaches you, the event will probably have taken place. Mean time, I enclose a letter to the bride or wife, as the case may happen to be. I have sent a small token of good-will to ballast my good wishes, which you will please to value for the young lady, that she may employ it as most convenient or agreeable to her. A little more fortune would perhaps have done the young folks no harm; but Captain Huxley, being such as you describe him, will have every chance of getting forward in his profession; and the happiest marriages are often those in which there is, at first, occasion for prudence and economy. I do certainly feel a little of the surprise which you hint at, for time flies over our heads one scarce marks how, and children
LETTER TO THOMAS SCOTT. 313
become marriageable ere we consider them as out of the nursery. My eldest son, Walter, has also wedded himself but it is to a regiment of hussars. He is at present a cornet in the 18th, and quartered in Cork barracks. He is capital at most exercises, but particularly as a horseman. I do not intend he shall remain in the cavalry, however, but shall get him into the line when he is capable of promotion. Since he has chosen this profession, I shall be desirous that he follows it out in good earnest, and that can only be done by getting into the infantry.

“My late severe illness has prevented my going up to London to receive the honour which the Prince Regent has announced his intention to inflict upon me. My present intention is, if I continue as well as I have been, to go up about Christmas to get this affair over. My health was restored (I trust permanently) by the use of calomel, a very severe and painful remedy, especially in my exhausted state of body, but it has proved a radical one. By the way, Radical is a word in very bad odour here, being used to denote a set of blackguards a hundred times more mischievous and absurd than our old friends in 1794 and 1795. You will learn enough of the doings of the Radical Reformers from the papers. In Scotland we are quiet enough, excepting in the manufacturing districts, and we are in very good hands, as Sir William Rae, our old commander, is Lord Advocate. Rae has been here two or three days, and left me yesterday—he is the old man, sensible, cool-headed, and firm, always thinking of his duty, never of himself. He enquired kindly after you, and I think will be disposed to serve you, should an opportunity offer. Poor William Erskine has lost his excellent wife, after a long and wasting illness. She died at Lowood on Windermere, he having been recommended to take her upon a tour
314 LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.
about three weeks before her death. I own I should scarce forgive a physician who should contrive to give me this addition to family distress. I went to town last week to see him, and found him, upon the whole, much better than I expected. I saw my mother on the same occasion, admirably well indeed. She is greatly better than this time two years, when she rather quacked herself a little too much. I have sent your letter to our mother, and will not fail to transmit to our other friends the agreeable news of your daughter’s settlement. Our cousin, Sir Harry Macdougal, is marrying his eldest daughter to Sir Thomas Brisbane, a very good match on both sides. I have been paying a visit on the occasion, which suspends my closing this letter. I hope to hear very soon from you. Respecting our silence, I like a ghost only waited to be spoken to, and you may depend on me as a regular correspondent, when you find time to be one yourself. Charlotte and the girls join in kind love to Mrs Scott and all the family. I should like to know what you mean to do with young Walter, and whether I can assist you in that matter. Believe me, dear Tom, ever your affectionate brother,

W. Scott.”

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, baronet (1773-1860) Educated at Edinburgh, he served under Wellington in the Peninsular War and was governor of New South Wales (1821-25); he was president of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828).

Euphemia Erskine [née Robison] (d. 1819) The daughter of the natural philosopher John Robison (1739-1805); in 1800 she married the barrister William Erskine, friend of Walter Scott, who wrote an epitaph for her.

William Erskine, Lord Kinneder (1768-1822) The son of an episcopal clergyman of the same name, he was a Scottish advocate and a close friend and literary advisor to Sir Walter Scott.

King George IV of Great Britain (1762-1830) Prince Regent (1811-20) and King of Great Britain (1820-1830).

Sir Henry Hay Macdougal of Mackerston, fourth baronet (1752-1825) The son of the third baronet (d. 1777); he was a neighbour of Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford.

Jesse Huxley [née Scott] (1800-1870) The daughter of Walter Scott's younger brother Thomas; she married Captain Thomas Huxley of the 70th Foot in 1819.

Thomas Huxley (d. 1826) Military officer in Canada, the husband of Sir Walter Scott's niece Jesse Scott; he died a suicide.

Sir William Rae, third baronet (1769-1842) Educated at Edinburgh University, he was Lord Advocate (1819-30, 1834-35) and MP for Anstruther (1819-26), Harwich (1827), Buteshire (1830, 1833-42) and Portarlington (1831-32). He was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott.

Anne Scott [née Rutherford] (1739 c.-1819) Walter Scott's mother, the daughter of Professor John Rutherford who married Walter Scott senior in 1755.

Elizabeth Scott [née McCulloch] (1776-1848) Walter Scott's sister-in-law, who married his younger brother Thomas in 1799.

Lady Margaret Charlotte Scott [née Carpenter] (1770-1826) The impoverished daughter of French parents who married Walter Scott in 1797.

Thomas Scott (1774-1823) The younger brother of Walter Scott rumored to have written Waverley; after working in the family legal business he was an officer in the Manx Fencibles (1806-10) and Paymaster of the 70th Foot (1812-14). He died in Canada.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Scottish poet, novelist, antiquary, biographer, editor, and sheriff.

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.”

Walter Scott (1807-1876) Sir Walter Scott's nephew and ward, the son of Thomas Scott; he was a military officer and served in the East India Company.

INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER

Source Description:

Author: Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson), 1794-1854

Title: Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 7 vols (Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1837).

Electronic Edition:

Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org

Encoding Description: Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed. Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.

Markup and editing by: David Hill Radcliffe

Completed January 2011

Publication Statement:

Publisher: Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech

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