“I shall wait with some impatience for this night’s Gazette. I have written to Coutts to pay the money so soon as you are in possession.
“On Saturday 11th, I went to Blair-Adam, and had a delicious stroll among the woods. The roe-deer are lying as thick there as in the Highlands, and, I daresay, they must be equally so at Lochore: so you will have some of the high game. They are endeavouring to destroy them, which they find very difficult. It is a pity they do so much mischief to the woods, for otherwise they are the most beautiful objects in nature; and were they at Abbotsford, I could not I think have the heart to make war on them. Two little fawns came into the room at tea-time and drank cream. They had the most beautiful dark eyes and little dark muzzles, and were scarce so big as Miss Ferguson’s Italian greyhound. The Chief Commissioner offered them to me, but to keep them tame would have been impossible on account of the dogs, and to turn them loose would have been wilfully entailing risk on the plantations which have cost me so much money and trouble. There was then a talk of fattening them for the kitchen, a proposal which would have driven mamma distracted.
“We spent Monday on a visit to Lochore, and in
planning the road which is so much wanted. The Chief
Commissioner is an excellent manager, and has under-
| JUNE, 1825. | 41 |
“I am glad Jane looks after her own affairs. It is very irksome to be sure; but then one must do it, or be eaten up by their servants, like Actæon by his hounds. Talking of hounds, I have got a second Maida, but he is not yet arrived. Nimrod is his name.
“I keep my purpose as expressed in my last. I might, perhaps, persuade mamma to come, but she is unhappy in steam-boats, bad beds, and all the other inconveniences of travelling. Sir Adam and Lady Ferguson, as I hear, are thinking of stirring towards you. I hope they will allow our visit to be over in the first instance, as it would overtax Jane and you—otherwise I should like to see the merry knight in Ireland, where I suppose he would prove Ipsis Hybernis Hybernior, more Irish than the natives.
“I have given Charles his choice between France and Ireland, and shall have his answer in two or three days. Will he be de trop if we can pack him up in the little barouche?
“Your commentary on Sir D. Dundas’s confused hash of regulations, which, for the matter of principle, might be shortened to a dozen, puts me in mind of old Sir William Erskine’s speech to him, when all was in utter confusion at the retreat from before Dunkirk, and Sir William came down to protect the rear. In passing Sir David, the tough old veteran exclaimed, ‘Davie, ye donnert idiot, where’s a’ your peevioys (pivots) the day?’
“As to your early hours, no man ought to be in bed at seven in summer time. I never am; your four o’clock is rather premature.—Yours, with kindest remembrances to Jane,
| 42 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“P. S.—Yours just received, dateless as was your former. I suppose it is a family fault. What I have written will show that the cash, matters are bang-up. A comparison of the dates will show there has been no voluntary delay on my part; indeed, what motive could I have for leaving money without interest in the hands of a London banker? But we are corresponding at a triangle, when you write to me and I to London. I will write to Jane to scold her for her ladylike fears about our reception; to find you happy will be the principal part of my welcome; for the rest, a slice of plain meat of any kind—a cigar—and a little potheen, are worth turtle and burgundy to my taste. As for poor dear stupid ——, there is only one answer, which the clown in one of Shakspeare’s plays says will be a fitting reply to all questions—Oh Lord, sir!!!”
