J. G. Lockhart: Life of Walter Scott

During April, May, and June of this year, Scott’s thoughts were much occupied with a plan for securing Melrose Abbey against the progress of decay, which had been making itself manifest to an alarming extent, and to which he had often before directed the attention of the Buccleuch family. Even in writing to persons who had never seen Melrose, he could not help touching on this business—for he wrote, as he spoke, out of the fulness of the heart. The young Duke readily concurred with his guardians in allowing the poet to direct such repairs as might seem to him adequate; and the result was extremely satisfactory to all the habitual worshippers of these classical ruins.

On the 12th of July, Sir Walter, as usual, left Edinburgh, but he was recalled within a week, by the business to which the following note refers—

We have him here in the hot bustle of preparation for King George the Fourth’s reception in Scotland, where his Majesty spent a fortnight in the ensuing August, as he had a similar period in Ireland the year before, immediately after his coronation. Before this time no Prince of the House of Hanover was known to have touched the soil of Scotland, except one, whose name had ever been held there in universal detestation—the cruel conqueror of Culloden,—‘the butcher Cumberland.’ Now that the very last dream of Jacobitism had expired with the Cardinal of York, there could be little doubt that all the northern Tories, of whatever shade of sentiment, would concur to give their lawful Sovereign a greeting of warm and devoted respect; but the feelings of the Liberals towards George IV. personally had been unfavourably tinctured, in consequence of several incidents in his history—above all—(speaking of the mass of population addicted to that political creed)—the unhappy dissensions and scandals which had termi-

* There is in the armoury at Abbotsford a sword presented by Charles I. to the great Marquis of Montrose with Prince Henry’s arms and cypher on one side of the blade, and his own on the other. Sir Walter had sent it to Terry for a new sheath, &c.

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nated, as it were but yesterday, in the trial of his Queen. The recent asperities of the political press on both sides, and some even fatal results to which these had led, must also be taken into account. On the whole it was, in the opinion of cool observers, a very doubtful experiment, which the new, but not young King, had resolved on trying. That he had been moved to do so in a very great measure, both directly and indirectly, by Scott, there can be no question; and I believe it will now be granted by all who can recall the particulars as they occurred, that his Majesty mainly owed to Scott’s personal influence, authority, and zeal, the more than full realization of the highest hopes he could have indulged on the occasion of this northern progress.

Whether all the arrangements which Sir Walter dictated or enforced, were conceived in the most accurate taste, is a different question. It appeared to be very generally thought, when the first programmes were issued, that the Highlanders, their kilts, and their bagpipes, were to occupy a great deal too much space in every scene of public ceremony connected with the King’s reception. With all respect and admiration for the noble and generous qualities which our countrymen of the Highland clans have so often exhibited, it was difficult to forget that they had always constituted a small, and almost always an unimportant part of the Scottish population; and when one reflected how miserably their numbers had of late years been reduced in consequence of the selfish and hard-hearted policy of their landlords, it almost seemed as if there was a cruel mockery in giving so much prominence to their pretensions. But there could be no question that they were picturesque—and their enthusiasm was too sincere not to be catching; so that by and by even the coolest-headed Sassenach felt his heart, like John of Argyle’s, “warm to the tartan;” and high and low

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were in the humour, not only to applaud, but each, according to his station, to take a share in what might really be described as a sort of grand terryfication of the Holyrood chapters in Waverley; George IV., anno ætatis 60, being well contented to enact “Prince Charlie,” with the Great Unknown himself for his Baron Bradwardine, “ad exeuendas vel detrahendas caligas domini regis post battalliam.”

But Sir Walter had as many parts to play as ever tasked the Protean genius of his friend Mathews; and he played them all with as much cordial energy as animated the exertions of any Henchman or Piper in the company. His severest duties, however, were those of stage-manager, and under these I sincerely believe any other human being’s temper and patience would very soon have given way. The local magistrates, bewildered and perplexed with the rush of novelty, threw themselves on him for advice and direction about the merest trifles; and he had to arrange every thing, from the ordering of a procession to the cut of a button and the embroidering of a cross. Ere the greenroom in Castle Street had dismissed provosts, and bailies, and deacon-conveners of the trades of Edinburgh, it was sure to be besieged by swelling chieftains, who could not agree on the relative positions their clans had occupied at Bannockburn, which they considered as constituting the authentic precedent for determining their own places, each at the head of his little theatrical tail, in the line of the King’s escort between the Pier of Leith and the Canongate. It required all Scott’s unwearied good-humour, and imperturbable power of face, to hear in becoming gravity the sputtering controversies of such fiery rivals, each regarding himself as a true potentate, the representative of Princes as ancient as Bourbon; and no man could have coaxed them into

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decent co-operation, except him whom all the Highlanders, from the haughtiest MacIvor to the slyest Callum-Beg, agreed in looking up to as the great restored and blazoner of their traditionary glories. He had, however, in all this most delicate part of his administration an admirable assistant in one who had also, by the direction of his literary talents, acquired no mean share of authority among the Celts—namely, the late General David Stewart of Garth, author of the “History of the Highland Regiments.” On Garth (seamed all over with the scars of Egypt and Spain) devolved the Toy-Captainship of the Celtic Club, already alluded to as an association of young civilians enthusiastic for the promotion of the philabeg—and he drilled and conducted that motley array in such style, that they formed, perhaps, the most splendid feature in the whole of this plaided panorama. But he, too, had a potential voice in the conclave of rival chieftains,—and, with the able backing of this honoured veteran, Scott succeeded finally in assuaging all their heats, and reducing their conflicting pretensions to terms of truce, at least, and compromise. A ballad (now included in his works), wherein these magnates were most adroitly flattered, was widely circulated among them and their followers, and was understood to have had a considerable share of the merit in this peacemaking; but the constant hospitality of his table was a not less efficient organ of influence. A friend coming in upon him as a detachment of Duniewassails were enjoying, for the first time, his “Cogie now the King’s Come,” in his breakfast parlour, could not help whispering in his ear—“You are just your own Lindesay in Marmion—still thy verse hath charms;”—and, indeed, almost the whole of the description thus referred to might have been applied to him when arranging the etiquettes of

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this ceremonial; for, among other persons in place and dignity who leaned to him for support on every question, was his friend and kinsman, the late worthy Sir Alexander Keith, Knight-Marischal of Scotland; and—

To this record let me add, that, on receiving the poet on the quarter-deck, his Majesty called for a bottle of Highland whisky, and having drunk his health in this national liquor, desired a glass to be filled for him. Sir Walter, after draining his own bumper, made a request that the King would condescend to bestow on him. the glass out of which his Majesty had just drunk his health; and this being granted, the precious vessel was immediately wrapped up and carefully deposited in what he conceived to be the safest part of his dress. So he returned with it to Castle Street;—but to say nothing at this moment of graver distractions—on reaching his house he found a guest established there of a sort rather different from the usual visiters of the time. The poet Crabbe, to whom he had been introduced when last in London by Mr Murray of Albemarle Street, after repeatedly promising to follow up the acquaintance by an excursion to the north, had at last arrived in the midst of these tumultuous preparations for the royal advent. Notwithstanding all such impediments, he found his quarters ready for him, and Scott entering, wet and hurried, embraced the venerable man with brotherly affection. The royal gift was forgotten—the ample skirt of the coat within which it had been packed, and which he had hitherto held cautiously in front of his person, slipped back to its more usual position—he sat down beside Crabbe, and the glass was crushed to atoms. His scream and gesture made his wife conclude that he had sat down on a pair of scissors, or the like; but very little harm had been done except the breaking of the glass, of which alone he had been thinking. This was a damage not to be repaired: as for the scratch that

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accompanied it, its scar was of no great consequence, as even when mounting the “cat-dath, or battle-garment” of the Celtic Club, he adhered, like his hero Waverley, to the trews.

By six o’clock next morning, Sir Walter, arrayed in the “Garb of old Gaul” (which he had of the Campbell tartan, in memory of one of his great grandmothers), was attending a muster of these gallant Celts in the Queen Street Gardens, where he had the honour of presenting them with a set of colours, and delivered a suitable exhortation, crowded with their rapturous applause. Some members of the Club, all of course in their full costume, were invited to breakfast with him. He had previously retired for a little to his library, and when he entered the parlour, Mr Crabbe, dressed in the highest style of professional neatness and decorum, with buckles in his shoes, and whatever was then considered as befitting an English clergyman of his years and station, was standing in the midst of half-a-dozen stalwart Highlanders, exchanging elaborate civilities with them, in what was at least meant to be French. He had come into the room shortly before, without having been warned about such company, and hearing the party conversing together in an unknown tongue, the polite old man had adopted, in his first salutation, what he considered as the universal language. Some of the Celts, on their part, took him for some foreign abbé or bishop, and were doing their best to explain to him that they were not the wild savages for which, from the startled glance he had thrown on their hirsute proportions, there seemed but too much reason to suspect he had taken them; others, more perspicacious, gave into the thing for the joke’s sake; and there was high fun when Scott dissolved the charm of their stammering, by grasping Crabbe with one hand, and the nearest of these figures with the

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other, and greeted the whole group with the same hearty good-morning.

It is, I believe, of the dinner of this 15th August in Castle Street, that Crabbe penned the following brief record in his Journal:—“Whilst it is fresh in my memory, I should describe the day which I have just passed, but I do not believe an accurate description to be possible. What avails it to say, for instance, that there met at the sumptuous dinner, in all the costume of the Highlanders, the great chief himself, and officers of his company. This expresses not the singularity of appearance and manners—the peculiarities of men all gentlemen, but remote from our society—leaders of clans—joyous company. Then we had Sir Walter Scott’s national songs and ballads, exhibiting all the feelings of clanship. I thought it an honour that Glengarry even took notice of me, for there were those, and gentlemen too, who considered themselves honoured by following in his train. There were also Lord Errol, and the Macleod, and the Fraser, and the Gordon, and the Ferguson;* and I conversed at dinner with Lady

* Sir Walter’s friend, the Captain of Huntleyburn, did not, as far as I remember, sport the Highland dress on this occasion, but no doubt his singing of certain Jacobite songs, &c. contributed to

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Glengarry, and did almost believe myself a harper, or bard, rather for harp I cannot strike; and Sir Walter was the life and soul of the whole. It was a splendid festivity, and I felt I know not how much younger.”—Life of Crabbe, p. 273.

“Sir Walter Scott took an active lead in these ceremonies. On the day on which his Majesty was to pass from Holyroodhouse, he proposed to me to accompany him up the High Street, to see whether the arrangements were completed. I said to him, ‘You are trying a dangerous experiment—you will never get through in privacy.’ He said, ‘They are entirely absorbed in loyalty.’ But I was the better prophet; he was recognised from the one extremity of the street to the other, and never did I see such an instance of national devotion expressed.”

The King at his first levee diverted many, and delighted Scott, by appearing in the full Highland garb,—the same brilliant Steuart Tartans, so called, in which certainly no Steuart, except Prince Charles, had ever before presented himself in the saloons of Holyrood. His Majesty’s Celtic toilette had been carefully watched and assisted by the gallant Laird of Garth, who was not a little proud of the result of his dexterous manipulations of the royal plaid, and pronounced the King “a vera pretty man.” And he did look a most stately and imposing person in that beautiful dress—but his satisfaction therein was cruelly disturbed, when he discovered, towering and blazing among and above the genuine Glengarries and Macleods and MacGregors, a figure even more portly than his own, equipped, from a sudden impulse of loyal ardour, in an equally complete set of the self-same conspicuous Steuart tartans:—

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“He caught Sir William Curtis in a kilt—

While throng’d the chiefs of every Highland clan

To hail their brother, Vich Ian Alderman.”*

In truth, this portentous apparition cast an air of ridicule and caricature over the whole of Sir Walter’s Celtified pageantry. A sharp little bailie from Aberdeen, who had previously made acquaintance with the worthy Guildhall Baronet, and tasted the turtle-soup of his voluptuous yacht, tortured him, as he sailed down the long gallery of Holyrood, by suggesting that, after all, his costume was not quite perfect. Sir William, who had been rigged out, as the auctioneers’ advertisements say, “regardless of expense,” exclaimed that he must be mistaken—begged he would explain his criticism—and as he spoke threw a glance of admiration on a skene dhu (black knife), which, like a true “warrior and hunter of deer,” he wore stuck into one of his garters. “Oo ay—oo ay,” quoth the Aberdonian; “the knife’s a’ right, mon,—but faar’s your speen?”—(where’s your spoon?) Such was Scott’s story, but whether he “gave it a cocked-hat and walking-cane,” in the hope of restoring the King’s good-humour, so grievously shaken by this heroical dappel-ganger, it is not very necessary to enquire.

“At ten minutes past eight, the shouts of the multitude announced the approach of the King, which was confirmed by an outrider, who galloped up with the intelligence. The universal feeling of breathless suspense which at this moment pervaded the audience, cannot be described, and will never be forgotten. Our gracious King now stood before his assembled subjects. The momentary pause of death-like stillness which preceded the King’s appearance, gave a deep tone of enthusiasm to the shout—the prolonged and heartfelt shout, which for more than a minute rent the house. The waving of handkerchiefs, of the plumed bonnet, and the tartan scarf, added much to the impressive gladness of the scene which, at this instant, met the eye of the Chief of Chiefs. His Majesty, with his wonted affability, repeatedly bowed to the audience, while the kindly smile which beamed from his manly countenance expressed to this favoured portion of his loving subjects the regard with which he viewed them.

“The play was Rob Roy, which his Majesty, in the best taste, had been pleased to command, out of compliment, doubtless, to the country. During the whole performance, the King paid the greatest attention to the business of the stage, and laughed very heartily at some of the more odd incidents, such as the precipitate retreat of Mr Owen beneath the bed-clothes—the contest in which the Bailie displays his prowess with the het poker—and the Bailie’s loss of an essential part of his wardrobe. His Majesty seemed fully to comprehend and to relish very much the good-natured wit and innocent sarcasms of the Glasgow magistrate. He laughed outright when this most humorous of functionaries said to Frank Osbaldiston, who was toying with Matty,—‘Nane o’ your Lon’on tricks;’ when he mentioned the distinguishing appellatives of Old and Young Nick, which the citizens had bestowed upon his father and himself; when he testified his distrust of Major Galbraith, who ‘has mair brandy than brains,’ and of the Highlanders, of whom he says, ‘they may quarrel amang themselves now and then, and gie ane anither a stab wi’ a dirk or a slash wi’ a claymore; but, tak my word on’t, they’re ay sure to join in the lang run against a’ wha hae

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purses in their pockets and breeks on their hinder-ends;’ and when he said to the boy who returned him his hat and wig, ‘that’s a braw callant! ye’ll be a man before your mither yet.’”

On the 24th of August the Magistrates of Edinburgh entertained their Sovereign with a sumptuous banquet in the Parliament-House; and upon that occasion also Sir Walter Scott filled a prominent station, having been invited to preside over one of the tables. But the most striking homage (though apparently an unconscious one) that his genius received during this festive period, was, when his Majesty, after proposing the health of his hosts the Magistrates and Corporation of the northern capital, rose and said there was one toast more, and but one, in which he must request the assembly to join him, “I shall simply give you,” said he, “The Chieftains and Clans of Scotland—and prosperity to the Land of Cakes.” So completely had this hallucination taken possession, that nobody seems to have been startled at the time by language which thus distinctly conveyed his Majesty’s impression that the marking and crowning glory of Scotland consisted in the Highland clans and their chieftains.

Scott’s early associations, and the prime labours and honours of his life had been so deeply connected with the Highlands, that it was no wonder he should have taught himself to look on their clans and chiefs with almost as much affection and respect as if he had had more than a scantling of their blood in his veins. But it was necessary to be an eye-witness of this royal visit, in order to comprehend the extent to which he had allowed his imagination to get the mastery over him as to all these matters; and perhaps it was necessary to understand him thoroughly on such points, in his personal relations, feelings, and demeanour, before one could follow his genius to advan-

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tage in some of its most favoured and delightful walks of exertion. The strongest impression, however, which the whole affair left on my mind was, that I had never till then formed any just notion of his capacity for practical dealing and rule among men. I do not think he had much in common with the statesmen and diplomatists of his own age and country; but I am mistaken if Scott could not have played in other days either the Cecil or the Gondomar; and I believe no man, after long and intimate knowledge of any other great poet, has ever ventured to say, that he could have conceived the possibility of any such parts being adequately filled on the active stage of the world, by a person in whom the powers of fancy and imagination had such predominant sway, as to make him in fact live three or four lives habitually in place of one. I have known other literary men of energy perhaps as restless as his; but all such have been entitled to the designation of busy-bodies—busy almost exclusively about trifles, and above all, supremely and constantly conscious of their own remarkable activity, and rejoicing and glorying in it. Whereas Scott, neither in literary labour nor in continual contact with the affairs of the world, ever did seem aware that he was making any very extraordinary exertion. The machine, thus gigantic in its impetus, moved so easily that the master had no perception of the obstructions it overcame—in fact, no measure for its power. Compared to him all the rest of the poet species that I have chanced to observe nearly—with but one glorious exception—have seemed to me to do little more than sleep through their lives—and at best to fill the sum with dreams; and I am persuaded that, taking all ages and countries together, the rare examples of indefatigable energy, in union with serene self-possession of mind and character, such as Scott’s, must be sought for in the

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roll of great sovereigns, or great captains, rather than in that of literary genius.

The very few letters that Sir Walter addressed to friends at a distance during the King’s stay in Scotland, are chiefly occupied with the calumny which proved fatal to Erskine,—the pains which his friends took, at his request, to sift it to the bottom,—their conviction that he had been charged with an improper liaison, without even a shadow of justice,—and their ineffectual efforts to soothe his morbid sensibility. In one of these letters Scott says,—“The legend would have done honour to the invention of the devil himself, especially the object (at least the effect) being to torture to death one of the most soft-hearted and sensitive of God’s creatures. I think it was in his nature to like female society in general better than that of men; he had also what might have given some slight shadow to these foul suspicions, an air of being particular in his attentions to women, a sort of Philandering which I used to laugh at him about. The

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result of a close investigation having been completely satisfactory, one would have thought the business at an end—but the shaft had hit the mark. At first, while these matters were going on, I got him to hold up his head pretty well; he dined with me, went to the play with my wife—got court dresses for his daughters, whom Lady Scott was to present, and behaved, in my presence at least, like a man, feeling indeed painfully, but bearing up as an innocent man ought to do. Unhappily I could only see him by snatches—the whole business of the reception was suddenly thrown on my hands, and with such a general abandonment, I may say, on all sides, that to work from morning till night was too little time to make the necessary arrangements. In the mean-time, poor Erskine’s nerves became weaker and weaker; he was by nature extremely sensitive, easily moved to smiles or tears, and deeply affected by all those circumstances in society to which men of the world become hardened; as, for example, formal introductions to people of rank, and so forth; he was unhappily haunted by the idea that his character, assailed as it had been, was degraded in the eyes of the public, and no argument could remove this delusion. At length fever and delirium came on; he was bled repeatedly and very copiously, a necessary treatment perhaps, but which completely exhausted his weak frame. On the morning of Tuesday, the day of the King’s arrival, he waked from his sleep, ordered his window to be opened that he might see the sun once more, and was a dead man immediately after. And so died a man whose head and heart were alike honourable to his kind, and died merely because he could not endure the slightest stain on his reputation.—The present is a scene of great bustle and interest, but though I must act my part, I am not, thank God, obliged at this moment to write about it.”

In another letter, of nearly the same date, Scott says—“It would be rather difficult for any one who has never lived much among my good country-people, to comprehend that an idle story of a love-intrigue, a story alike base and baseless, should be the death of an innocent man of high character, high station, and well advanced in years. It struck into poor Erskine’s heart and soul, however, quite as cruelly as any similar calumny ever affected a modest woman—he withered and sunk. There is no need that I should say peace be with him! If ever a pure spirit quitted this vale of tears it was William Erskine’s. I must turn to and see what can be done about getting some pension for his daughters.”

The following letter to his son Walter, now a lieutenant in the 15th Hussars, but not yet returned from his German travels, was written a few days later:—

Circumstances did not permit Sir Walter to fulfil his intention of being present at the public dinner given in Liverpool, on the 30th August, to Mr Canning, who on that occasion delivered one of the most noble of all his orations, and soon afterwards, instead of proceeding, as had been arranged, to take on him the supreme government of British India, was called to fill the place in the Cabinet which Lord Londonderry’s calamitous death had left vacant. The King’s stay in Scotland was protracted until the 29th of August. He then embarked from the Earl of Hopetoun’s magnificent seat on the Firth of Forth, and Sir Walter had the gratification of seeing his Majesty, in the moment of departure, confer the honour of knighthood on two of his friends—both of whom,

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I believe, owed some obligation in this matter to his good offices—namely, Captain Adam Ferguson, deputy-keeper of the Regalia, and Henry Raeburn, R.A., properly selected as the representative of the fine arts in Scotland. This amiable man and excellent artist, however, did not long survive the receipt of his title. Sir Henry died on the 8th of July, 1823 the last work of his pencil having been, as already mentioned, a portrait of Scott.

Sir Walter forwarded copies of Mr Peel’s paragraph touching the Highlanders to such heads of clans as had been of late in his counsels, and he received very grateful letters in return from Macleod, Glengarry, Sir Evan MacGregor, and several others of the order, on their return to the hills as also from the Countess (now Duchess-Countess) of Sutherland, whose son, Lord Francis, had, as she playfully expressed it, “been out” as her representative at the head of the most numerous and best appointed of all the kilted detachments. Glengarry was so delighted with what the Secretary of State had said, that the paragraph in question soon found its way to the newspapers; and then there appeared, in some Whig journal, a sarcastic commentary upon it, insinuating that, however highly the King might now choose to eulogize the poet and his Celtic allies, his Majesty had been considerably annoyed with much of their arrangements and proceedings, and that a visible coolness had, in fact, been manifested towards Sir Walter during the King’s stay in the north. As this idle piece of malice has been revived in some formal biographies of recent date, I may as well dispose of it for ever, by extracting the following notes, which passed in the course of the next month between Scott and the Secretary of the Admiralty, whose official duty, I presume, it was to be in waiting at Ramsgate when the King disembarked from his yacht.—The “Dean Cannon” to whom these notes allude, was a clerical humorist, Dean of a fictitious order, who sat to Mr

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Theodore Hooke for the jolly “Rector of Fuddle-cum-Pipes” in his novel of “Maxwell.”

If Sir Walter lost something in not seeing more of Dean Cannon—who, among other social merits, sang the Ballads of Robin Hood with delightful skill and effect—there was a great deal better cause for regret in the unpropitious time selected for Mr Crabbe’s visit to Scotland. In the glittering and tumultuous assemblages of that season, the elder bard was (to use one of his friend’s favourite similitudes) very like a cow in a fremd loaning; and though Scott could never have been seen in colours more likely to excite admiration, Crabbe had hardly any opportunity of observing him in the everyday loveableness of his converse. Sir Walter’s enthusiastic excitement about the kilts and the processions, seemed at first utterly incomprehensible to him; but by degrees he caught not a little of the spirit of the time, and even indited a set of stanzas, which have perhaps no other merit than that of reflecting it. He also perceived and appreciated Scott’s dexterous management of prejudices and pretensions. He exclaims, in his Journal,—“What a keen discriminating man is my friend!” But I shall ever regret that Crabbe did not see him at Abbotsford among his books, his trees, and his own good simple peasants. They had, I believe, but one quiet walk together, and it was to the ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel and Muschat’s Cairn, which the

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deep impression made on Crabbe by the Heart of MidLothian had given him an earnest wish to see. I accompanied them, and the hour so spent, in the course of which the fine old man gave us some most touching anecdotes of his early struggles, was a truly delightful contrast to the bustle and worry of miscellaneous society which consumed so many of his few hours in Scotland. Scott’s family were more fortunate than himself in this respect. They had from infancy been taught to reverence Crabbe’s genius, and they now saw enough of him to make them think of him ever afterwards with tender affection.

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Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) Irish novelist; author of Castle Rackrent (1800) Belinda (1801), The Absentee (1812) and Ormond (1817).

Francis Egerton, first earl of Ellesmere (1800-1857) Poet, statesman, and Tory MP; a younger son the second marquess of Stafford, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, was chief secretary for Ireland (1828-30), and translated Goethe and Schiller and contributed articles to the Quarterly Review.

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.

Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) Professor of philosophy at Edinburgh University; author of An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) and other historical and philosophical works.

Sir Adam Ferguson (1771-1855) Son of the philosopher and classmate and friend of Sir Walter Scott; he served in the Peninsular Campaign under Wellington, afterwards living on his estate in Dumfriesshire.

Thomas Alexander Fraser, twelfth baron Lovat (1802-1875) The Chief of clan Fraser, succeeding Archibald Campbell Fraser in 1815.

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

Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count Gondomar (1567-1626) The Spanish ambassador to England (1613-22), regarded as a Machiavellian schemer.

George Gordon, fifth duke of Gordon (1770-1836) After service in the Napoleonic wars he entered the House of Lords in 1807 as marquess of Huntly.

Elizabeth Leveson- Gower, duchess of Sutherland [née Sutherland] (1765-1839) In 1785 she married George Granville Leveson-Gower, afterwards duke of Sutherland, and was sister-in-law to Lord Carlisle and mother of Francis Egerton Gower, earl of Ellesmere.

James Graham, first marquess of Montrose (1612-1650) Scottish Cavalier, famed for his exploits as lieutenant-general in Scotland (1644-1645).

William George Hay, eighteenth earl of Erroll (1801-1846) The son of William Hay, seventeenth Earl, whom he succeeded in 1819; he was a Scottish representative peer (1823-1831) after which he was raised to the UK peerage.

John Henderson (1747-1785) English actor called the “Bath Roscius” who excelled in Shakespearean roles.

Henry I, king of England (1068 c.-1135) The youngest son of William the Conqueror; he was king of England (1100-35).

Prince Henry, duke of Gloucester (1640-1660) The younger brother of Charles II who served in an Irish regiment in the Spanish service before his early death from smallpox.

Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841) English novelist, wit, and friend of the Prince of Wales; he edited the John Bull (1820) and appears as the Lucian Gay of Disraeli's Conigsby and as Mr. Wagg in Vanity Fair.

James Hope Johnstone, third earl of Hopetoun (1741-1817) Son of the second earl (d. 1781); he fought at the Battle of Minden (1759) and was a Scottish representative peer.

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English dramatist, critic, and epigrammatist, friend of William Shakespeare and John Donne.

Alexander Keith of Dunotter and Ravelston (1737-1819) Scottish writer to the signet (1763), antiquary, and friend of Walter Scott, to whom he was distantly related.

Sir Alexander Keith of Dunotter and Ravelston (1780-1832) The nephew and heir of Alexander Keith (d. 1819); he was Knight Marischal during the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822.

John Knox (1514 c.-1572) The founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland.

Sophia Lockhart [née Scott] (1799-1837) Walter Scott's eldest daughter, who married John Gibson Lockhart in 1820.

Sir David Lyndsay (1486 c.-1555) Scottish poet and herald, author of Ane Pleasant Satyre on the Thrie Estaitis.

Alexander Ranaldson Macdonell of Glengarry (1773-1828) Highland chieftain and friend of Walter Scott; he is thought to have been a model for Fergus MacIvor in Waverley.

Rebecca Macdonell [née Forbes] (1779-1841) The daughter of the banker Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo; in 1802 she married Alexander Macdonell of Glengarry.

Sir Evan John Murray- MacGregor, second baronet (1785-1841) Scottish military officer and governor of Barbados (1836-1841) who succeeded his father as baronet in 1822.

John Norman Macleod (1788-1835) The 24th Chief of Macleod; educated at Harrow and Oxford, he was MP for Sudbury (1828-30); Walter Scott visited him in his island tour of 1814.

Malcolm III King of Scotland (d. 1093) The son of Duncan I and successor to Macbeth, he was king of Scotland (1054-93).

Charles Mathews (1776-1835) Comic actor at the Haymarket and Covent Garden theaters; from 1818 he gave a series of performances under the title of Mr. Mathews at Home.

Peter Mathieson (1770-1854) Sir Walter Scott's coachman.

Henry James Scott- Montagu, second baron Montagu of Boughton (1776-1845) The son of Henry Scott, third Duke of Buccleuch; he was educated at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge; he was Lord-Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (1823).

Jane Margaret Montagu [née Douglas] (1779-1859) The daughter of Archibald James Edward Douglas, first Baron Douglas of Douglas; in 1804 she married Henry James Montagu-Scott, second Baron Montagu, son of the third Duke of Buccleuch.

Sir Robert Munro, sixth baronet (1684-1746) Scottish MP and military officer; he was lieutenant-colonel of the Black Watch regiment, fought at Fontenoy, and was killed fighting the Jacobites at the Battle of Falkirk.

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.

William Henry Murray (1790-1852) Actor and theater manager, the illegitimate son of the playwright Charles Murray; he performed in Ediburgh adaptations of Walter Scott's novels.

Sir Robert Peel, second baronet (1788-1850) Byron's schoolmate at Harrow, afterwards prime minister from 1834-1835 and 1841-1846.

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) Scottish portrait painter and friend of Sir Walter Scott.

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).

Anne Scott (1803-1833) Walter Scott's younger daughter who cared for him in his old age and died unmarried.

Charles Scott (1805-1841) The younger son of Sir Walter Scott; educated at Oxford, he pursued a career in diplomacy and died in Tehran.

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

Thomas Scott (1731-1823) Walter Scott's uncle, the second son of Robert Scott of Sandyknowe. He was twice married, first to Anne Scott, daughter of the fourth laird of Raeburn, and secondly to Jean Rutherford of Knowsouth.

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.

Walter Scott of Satchells (1613-1688 fl.) In his youth he served in the Netherlands under Walter Scott, earl of Buccleuch; in his old age he published, in rhyme, True History of several honourable Families of the right honourable Name of Scot (1688).

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 Francis Montagu-Douglas- Scott, fifth duke of Buccleuch (1806-1884) Son of the fourth duke whom he succeeded in 1819; he was educated at Eton College and at St John's College and was lord privy seal in Peel's ministry (1842-46).

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.

Sir Samuel Shepherd (1760-1840) English barrister educated at Merchant Taylors' School and the Inner Temple; he was king's serjeant (1796), solicitor-general (1813), attorney-general (1817) and a friend of Sir Walter Scott.

David Stewart of Garth (1772-1829) Military officer in the 42nd Highlanders who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and published Sketches of the Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders (1822).

Robert Stewart, viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822) British statesman who was foreign secretary (1812-1822). He fought a duel with George Canning in 1809 and died a suicide in 1822.

Charlotte Albina Stopford, countess of Courtown [née Scott] (1799-1828) The daughter of the fourth duke of Buccleuch; in 1822 she married James Thomas Stopford, fourth earl of Courtown.

James Thomas Stopford, fourth earl of Courtown (1766-1837) The son of the third earl of Courtown (d. 1835); he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and was a Tory MP for County Wexford (1820-30).

Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807) The second son of James Francis Edward (1688–1766) and brother of Charles Edward Stuart; he was Duke of York in the Jacobite peerage.

Lady Louisa Stuart (1757-1851) The youngest child of John Stuart, third earl of Bute; she corresponded with Sir Walter Scott. Several volumes of her writings and memoirs were published after her death.

William Stuart, archbishop of Armagh (1755-1822) The son of John Stuart, third earl of Bute and brother of Lady Louisa Stuart; he was educated at Winchester College and St John's College, Cambridge and was archbishop of Armagh (1800).

Daniel Terry (1789-1829) English actor; after a career in provincial theater made his London debut in 1812. A close friend of Walter Scott, he performed in theatrical adaptations of Scott's novels.

Thomas Thomson (1768-1852) Scottish lawyer and man of letters; he was one of the projectors of the Edinburgh Review and succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the Bannatyne Club (1832-52).

Thomas Thomson (1773-1852) Friend of James Mill and professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow; he contributed to the Quarterly Review.

Hugh Warrender of Burntsfield (d. 1820) He was Deputy Keeper of the Signet (1797-1820), cousin of Sir George Warrender bt., and a near relation of Hugh Blair.

William Augustus, duke of Cumberland (1721-1765) The son of George II; he was a military officer and politician remembered in Scotland as “The Butcher of Culloden.”

James Boswell the younger (1778-1822) The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare: with the Corrections and illustrations of various Commentators: comprehending a Life of the Poet, and an enlarged History of the Stage. (London: F. C. and J. Rivington, 1821). The “third variorum” edited by Boswell from materials left by Edmond Malone.

George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) The Age of Bronze; or, Carmen seculare et annus haud mirabilis. (London: J. Hunt, 1823).

William Chafin (1733-1818) Anecdotes and History of Cranbourn Chase. (London: J. Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1818). Reprinted with additions the same year.

George Crabbe (1754-1832) The Borough: a Poem in Twenty-four Letters. 2 vols (London: J. Hatchard, 1810). Three editions in 1810.

George Crabbe the younger (1785-1857) “The Life of George Crabbe” in The Poetical works of the Rev. George Crabbe. (London: J. Murray, 1834).

Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) “Vivian” in Tales of Fashionable Life. 6 vols (London: J. Johnson, 1812). The fourth volume of the Tales.

Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841) Maxwell. By the author of "Sayings and Doings". 3 vols (London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1830). A novel.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) “Macduff's Cross, a Drama” in A Collection of Poems, chiefly manuscript, and from Living Authors. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823). Contributed to the collection edited by Joanna Baillie.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) “The Heart of Mid-Lothian” in Tales of my Landlord, second series. 4 vols (Edinburgh: Constable, 1818). The story of Effie Deans, set in eighteenth century Edinburgh.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) “His Majesty's Visit to Scotland” in Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. 92 (August 1822): 164. A Scots song composed for the occasion.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field. (Edinburgh: Constable, 1808). A narrative poem set in the sixteenth century; the six cantos are introduced by epistles addressed to William Stewart Rose, James Marriot, William Erskine, James Skene, George Ellis, and Richard Heber.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Rob Roy. 3 vols (Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1818). Published anonymously, as the rest of the Waverley novels.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) St. Ronan's Well. 3 vols (Edinburgh: Constable & Co, 1824).

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Waverley: or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since. 3 vols (Edinburgh: Constable, 1814). Scott's first historical novel, set against the backdrop of the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) “Works of John Home, Esq.” in Quarterly Review. Vol. 36 (June 1827): 167-216.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Hamlet. (London: 1603). First published in a “bad” quarto in 1603.

David Stewart of Garth (1772-1829) Sketches of the Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland: with Details of the Highland Regiments. 2 vols (Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co., 1822).

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

Availability: Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License