Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Sir Walter Scott to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, September 1831
“Abbotsford, September, 1831.
“I pray you to honour me with your acceptance of the
last number of Mr
Lodge’s Illustrious Persons. My best thanks to you for the genealogy, which
com-
* Sir
Walter’s letter to Mr
Lodge’s publisher is now prefixed to that
magnificent book; the circulation of which has been, to the honour of
the public, so great, that I need not introduce the beautiful eulogium
here. |
306 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. | |
pletes a curious subject, I am just setting off for the
Mediterranean, a singular instance of a change of luck, for I have no sooner
put my damaged fortune into as good a condition as I could desire, than my
health, which till now has been excellent, has failed so utterly in point of
strength, that while it will not allow me to amuse myself by travelling,
neither will it permit me to stay at home.
“I should like to have shaken hands with you, as
there are few I regret so much to part with. But it may not be. I will keep my
eyes dry if possible, and therefore content myself with bidding you a long
(perhaps an eternal) farewell. But I may find my way home again, improved as a
Dutch skipper from a whale fishing. I am very happy that I am like to see
Malta. Always yours, well or ill—
Edmund Lodge (1756-1839)
English herald, author, and book collector; he was Bluemantle pursuivant-at-arms (1782)
and Clarenceux king of arms (1838).
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (1781-1851)
Scottish poet, painter, editor, antiquary, and eccentric; he edited James Kirkton's
Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland (1817) with
elaborate notes mocking his author.