Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Sir Walter Scott to Alexander Dyce, 31 March 1831
“Abbotsford, March 31, 1831,
“Dear Sir,
I had the pleasure of receiving Greene’s Plays, with which, as
works of great curiosity, I am highly gratified. If the editor of the Quarterly consents, as he probably will, I shall
do my endeavour to be useful, though I am not sure when I can get admission. I
shall be inclined to include Webster,
who, I think, is one of the best of our ancient dramatists; if you will have
the kindness to tell the bookseller to send it to Whittaker, under cover to me, care of Mr Cadell, Edinburgh, it will come safe, and
be thankfully received. Marlowe and
others I have,—and some acquaintance with the subject, though not much.
“I have not been well; threatened with a
determination of blood to the head; but by dint of bleeding and regimen, I have
recovered. I have lost, however, ![]()
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like
Hamlet, all habit of my exercise, and,
once able to walk thirty miles a day, or ride a hundred, I can hardly walk a
mile, or ride a pony four or five.
“I will send you, by Whittaker, a little curious tract of murder, in which a ghost is the
principal evidence. The spirit did not carry his point, however; for the
apparition, though it should seem the men were guilty, threw so much ridicule
on the whole story, that they were acquitted.*
“I wish you had given us more of Greene’s prose works. I am, with regard,
dear sir, yours sincerely,
Robert Cadell (1788-1849)
Edinburgh bookseller who partnered with Archibald Constable, whose daughter Elizabeth he
married in 1817. After Constable's death and the failure of Ballantyne he joined with Scott
to purchase rights to the
Waverley Novels.
Robert Greene (1558-1592)
Flamboyant Elizabethan author of romances, plays, and pamphlets.
John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854)
Editor of the
Quarterly Review (1825-1853); son-in-law of Walter
Scott and author of the
Life of Scott 5 vols (1838).
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Elizabethan poet and dramatist, author of
The Jew of Malta and
Dr. Faustus.
John Webster (1580 c.-1638 c.)
English dramatist, author of
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfi.
George Byrom Whittaker (1793-1847)
London bookseller, the London agent for Robert Cadell, who published, among other things,
educational titles and works by Mary Russell Mitford.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
