Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Sir Walter Scott to John Gibson Lockhart, 16 April 1827
* * * * * “Your letter has given me the vertigo—my
head turns round like a chariot-wheel, and I am on the point of asking
‘Why, how now? Am I Giles, or am I not?’ |
The Duke of Wellington out?—bad news at home, and worse abroad. Lord Anglesea in his situation? does not much
mend the matter. Duke of Clarence in the
Navy? wild work. Lord Melville, I suppose,
falls of course—perhaps cum totâ
sequelâ, about which sequela, unless Sir W.
Rae and the Solicitor, I
care little. The whole is glamour to one who reads no papers, and has none to
read. I must get one, though, if this work is to go on, for it is quite
bursting in ignorance. Canning is
haughty and prejudiced but, I think, honourable as well as able—nous verrons. I fear Croker will shake, and heartily sorry I should
feel for that.” * * * * *
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)
Secretary of the Admiralty (1810) and writer for the
Quarterly
Review; he edited an elaborate edition of Boswell's
Life of
Johnson (1831).
John Hope (1794-1858)
Scottish judge, eldest son of Charles Hope, lord justice-general of the court of session;
educated at Edinburgh High School, he was solicitor-general for Scotland (1822-30) and lord
justice clerk (1841-58).
Henry William Paget, first marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854)
Originally Bayly, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford; he was MP
(1790-1810), commander of cavalry under Sir John Moore, lost a leg at Waterloo, and raised
to the peerage 1815; he was lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1828-29, 1830-33).
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.