“It is close firing to answer letters the day they
come to hand, but I am afraid of losing opportunities, as in the case of the
mirror, not to be retrieved. I am first to report progress, for your
consideration and Mr Atkinson’s,
of what I have been doing here. Every thing about the house has gone
à rien mieux, and the
shell is completely finished; all the upper story and garrets, as well as the
basement, have had their first coat of plaster, being first properly fenced
from the exterior air. The only things which we now greatly need are the
designs for the ceilings of the hall and drawing-room, as the smiths and
plasterers are impatient for their working plans, the want of which rather
stops them. I have taken actual, real, and corporal possession of my
sitting-room, which has been fitted with a temporary floor, door, and
window—the oratory, and the door into the library, being bricked up
ad interim. This was a stop
of necessity, as my books began to suffer in Peter’s garret, so they were brought up to the said room,
and are all ranged in their old shelves and presses, so as to be completely
comeatable. They have been now there a fortnight without the least appearance
of damp, so dry
| JANUARY, 1823. | 239 |
| 240 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“The plan preferred for the door between the entrance-hall and ante-room, was that which was marked B. To make this plain, I reinclose A and C—which mode of explaining myself puts me in mind of the evidence of an Irish officer—‘We met three rebels, one we shot, hanged another, the third we flogged and made a guide of.’—‘Which of the three did you flog and make a guide of?’—‘Him whom we neither shot nor hanged.’ Understand, therefore, that the plan not returned is that fixed upon. I think there is nothing left to say about the house excepting the chimney-pieces. I have selected for the hall chimney-piece one of the cloister arches of Melrose, of which I enclose an accurate drawing. I can get it finished here very beautifully, at days’ wages, in our dark red freestone. The chimneys of drawing-room, library, and my own room, with grates conforming, will be got much better in London than any where else; by the by, for the hall I have got an old massive chimney-grate which belonged to the old persecutor Bishop Sharp, who was murdered on Magus Muir. All our grates must be contrived to use wood as well as coal, with what are called half-dogs.
“I am completely Lady
Wishfort as to the escritoire. In fact, my determination would
very much depend on the possibility of showing it to advantage; for if it be
such as is set up against a wall, like what is called, par excellence, a writing-desk, you know
we have no space in the library that is not occupied by book-presses. If, on
the contrary, it stands quite free, why, I do not know—I must e’en leave
it to you to decide between taste and prudence. The silk damask, I fancy, we
must have for the drawing-room curtains; those in the library we shall have of
superfine crimson cloth from Galashiels, made of mine own wool. I should like
the silk to be sent down in the bales, as I wish these curtains to be made
| JANUARY, 1823. | 241 |
“Another and most important service would be to procure me, from any person whom Mr Atkinson may recommend, the execution of the enclosed commission for fruit-trees. We dare not trust Edinburgh; for though the trade never makes a pause in furnishing you with the most rare plants, insomuch that an old friend of mine, the original Jonathan Oldbuck, having asked one of them to supply him with a dozen of anchovies, he answered ‘he had plenty of them, but, being a delicate plant, they were still in the hothouse’ yet, when the said plants come to bear fruit, the owner may adopt the classical line—
‘Miratur novas frondes et non sua poma.’ |
| 242 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“Peveril has been stopped ten days, having been driven back to Leith
Roads by stress of weather. I have not a copy here, but will write to Ballantyne to send you one forthwith. I am
sick of thinking of it myself. We hear of you often, and always of your
advancing favour with the public. It is one of many cases in which the dearly
beloved public has come round to my decided opinion, after seeming to waver for
a time. Washington Irving’s
success is another instance of the same. Little
Walter will, I hope, turn out all we can wish him; and Mrs Terry’s health, I would fain hope,
will be completely re-established. The steam-boats make a jaunt to Scotland
comparatively so speedy and easy, that I hope you will sometimes cast both of
yourselves this way. Abbotsford, I am sure, will please you, when
| JANUARY, 1823. | 243 |
“John Thomson, Duddingstone, has given me his most splendid picture, painted, he says, on purpose for me a true Scottish scene. It seems to me that many of our painters shun the sublime of our country, by labouring to introduce trees where doubtless by search they might be found, but where most certainly they make no conspicuous part of the landscape, being like some little folks who fill up a company, and put you to the proof before you own to have seen them. Now this is Fast Castle, famous both in history and legend, situated near St Abb’s Head, which you most certainly must have seen, as you have cruized along the coast of Berwickshire. The view looks from the land down on the ragged ruins, a black sky and a foaming ocean beyond them. There is more imagination in the picture than in any I have seen of a long time a sort of Salvator Rosa’s doings.—Revenons à nos moutons. I find that the plans for the window-shutters of the entrance-hall are much wanted. My wainscot will not be altogether seven feet—about six. Higher it cannot be, because of the pattern of the Dunfermline part; and lower I would not have it, because the armour, &c. must be suspended beyond the reach of busy and rude fingers, to which a hall is exposed. You understand I mean to keep lighter, smaller, and more ornate objects of curiosity in the present little room, and have only the massive and large specimens, with my fine collection of horns, &c., in the hall. Above the wainscot, I propose the wall to be planked and covered with cartridge paper, and then properly painted in wainscot, to match the arrangement beneath.
“I have now, as your own Dogberry says, bestowed all my tediousness upon you;—yet I have
still a question
| 244 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
|
* I presume this alludes to the English edition of Retsch’s Outlines from Faust. † Mr Cohen is now Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. |
| PEVERIL OF THE PEAK—JANUARY, 1823. | 245 |
“P.S. Direct to Edinburgh, where I shall be on the 14th. Perhaps the slightest sketch of the escritoire might enable me to decide. If I could swop my own, which cost me L.30, it might diminish my prudential scruples. Poor little Johnnie would have offered the prime cost at once. Your letter shall go to James Ballantyne. I think I have something new likely to be actually dramatical. I will send it you presently; but, on your life, show it no one, for certain reasons. The very name is kept secret, and, strange to tell, it will be printed without one.”
