“I was glad to find you got safe to the hospitable quarters of Piccadilly, and were put on the way of achieving your business well and expeditiously. You would receive a packet of introductory letters by John Ballantyne, to whom I addressed them.
| 290 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“I had a very kind letter two days ago from your Colonel.* Had I got it sooner it would have saved some expense in London, but there is no help for it now. As you are very fully provided with all these appointments, you must be particular in taking care of them, otherwise the expense of replacing them will be a great burden, Colonel Murray seems disposed to show you much attention. He is, I am told, rather a reserved man, which indeed is the manner of his family. You will, therefore, be the more attentive to what he says, as well as to answer all advances he may make to you with cordiality and frankness; for if you be shy on the one hand, and he reserved on the other, you cannot have the benefit of his advice, which I hope and wish you may gain, I shall be guided by his opinion respecting your allowance: he stipulates that you shall have only two horses (not to be changed without his consent), and on no account keep a gig. You know of old how I detest that mania of driving wheel-barrows up and down, when a man has a handsome horse and can ride him. They are both foolish and expensive things, and, in my opinion, are only fit for English bagmen—therefore gig it not, I pray you.
“In buying your horses you will be very cautious. I see Colonel Murray has delicacy about assisting you directly in the matter—for he says very truly that some gentlemen make a sort of traffic in horse-flesh—from which his duty and inclination equally lead him to steer clear. But he will take care that you don’t buy any that are unfit for service, as in the common course they must be approved by the commandant as chargers. Besides which, he will probably give you some private hints, of which avail yourself, as there is every chance of your needing much advice in this business. Two
* The then commandant of the 18th Hussars was Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Henry Murray, brother to the Earl of Mansfield. |
| LETTER TO CORNET SCOTT. | 291 |
“You will remain at Cork till you have learned your
regimental duty, and then probably be despatched to some outquarter. I need not
say how anxious I am that you should keep up your languages, mathematics, and
other studies. To have lost that which you already in some degree possess—and
that which we don’t practise we soon forget—would be a subject of
unceasing regret to you hereafter. You have good introductions, and don’t
neglect to avail yourself of them. Something in this respect your name may do
for you—
| 292 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“The girls were very dull after you left us; indeed the night you went away, Anne had hysterics, which lasted some time. Charles also was down in the mouth, and papa and mamma a little grave and dejected. I would not have you think yourself of too great importance neither, for the greatest personages are not always long missed, and to make a bit of a parody,
‘Down falls the rain, up gets the sun, Just as if Walter were not
gone.’ |
“I enclose a letter from Sophia, which doubtless contains all the news. St
Boswell’s Fair rained miserably, and disappointed the misses. The weather
has since been delightful, and harvest advances fast. All here goes its old
round—the habits of age do not greatly change, though those of youth do. Mamma
has been quite well, and so have I—but I still take calomel. I was obliged to
drink some claret with Sir A. Don,
Sir John Shelley, and a funny little
Newmarket quizzy, called Cousins, whom they brought here
with them the other day, but I was not the worse. I wish you had Sir
J. S. at your elbow when you are buying your horses—he is a very
knowing man on the turf. I like his lady
very much. She is perfectly feminine in her manners, has good sense, and plays
divinely on the harp; besides all which, she shoots
| LETTER TO CORNET SCOTT. | 293 |
“Write what your horses come to, &c. Your outfit will be an expensive matter; but once settled it will be fairly launching you into life in the way you wished, and I trust you will see the necessity of prudence and a gentlemanlike economy, which consists chiefly in refusing oneself trifling indulgences until we can easily pay for them. Once more, I beg you to be attentive to Colonel Murray and to his lady. I hear of a disease among the moorfowl. I suppose they are dying for grief at your departure. Ever, my dear boy, your affectionate father,
