Quaker mistress, Ruskin's perfect type of womanhood, Rachel Geddes, have been probably enough held to represent the house in Kelso and Mrs. Waldie its owner, who allowed Scott when at school in the town. the pleasant privilege of access to her library.

As to the great cause of Peter Peebles v. Plainstanes which Alan Fairford deserted in order to attempt the rescue of his friend from Redgauntlet, the author was of opinion that he himself had at one time the honour to be counsel for the plaintiff, though the celebrated consultation, which ended in the client's intoxication, he declared to have been entirely imaginary.

It is

one of the very best in the book. Indeed, whenever the ruined litigant appears the movement is always living. He is a comic, yet not altogether comic, figure. There is a subtle touch of pathos about him, delicately suggested, rather than openly expressed. Another memory of Scott's youth was the escape from the soldiers, who were taking him to Carlisle, of Pate-in-Peril, effected by his rolling down Errickstane brae under cover of a fog. The novelist had seen the Jacobite who was the real hero of the exploit which he causes Maxwell of Summertrees to relate for the benefit of young Fairford at the house of the Provost of Dumfries.

As a historical novel Redgauntlet may be considered as a worthy sequel to Waverley. The scene of action is more restricted, being confined to Edinburgh and the two shores of the Solway Frith, instead of ranging over

England and Scotland; and the actual incident of the Young Pretender's abortive rising in Cumberland did not of course take place. Yet nothing can be truer to the spirit of history than the picture of the pitiful proceedings of the half-hearted band of conspirators, glad of the excuse afforded by the refusal of the Prince to dismiss his mistress, to avoid engaging upon an enterprise that involved peril to person and property at the bidding of a few desperadoes who had little to lose save lives they did not greatly prize. And although at the date of the supposed conspiracy Charles Edward had, as a literal fact, actually parted with Clementina Walkinshaw, it is perfectly true that some years before he had firmly refused to put her away, and so conciliate those of his followers who looked upon her as a mere spy in communication with her sister, the housekeeper of the Princess Dowager of Wales. That the Chevalier was also, as a fact, in England more than once after the Forty-five seems practically certain; but the real scene of the Jacobite council where he refused to yield to his partisans' demand, is believed to have been, not a Cumberland inn, but Mereworth Castle in Kent.

"The Tale of Wandering Willie," a masterpiece within a masterpiece, is said by competent critics to be the finest short story in the English language. Few passages in literature equal the scene where the persecutors in "their appointed place" hold ghastly and mirthless revel. The terrible Sir Robert appears to have been a blend of Grierson of Lagg and Scott's

One

favourite hero Claverhouse, as he was thought of by the Covenanters, whom he hunted down. It was still believed of the latter, when Scott wrote the Notes to his Border Minstrelsy, that a cup of wine presented to him by his butler changed into clotted blood, and that when he plunged his feet into cold water their touch caused it to boil. A lightly touched and artistically elusive character is Wandering Willie himself. pictures him as a humbler Neil Gow. It is curious to think that for the model of the villainous Cristal Nixon, Scott used the person of his well-beloved henchman Tam Purdie. In Nanty Ewart, the man who prevents him receiving the reward of his treachery, he gave us a perfect smuggler, far more convincing than the pirate of a previous novel. Of that fine creation I know of no suggested original.

P

Τ'

CHAPTER XVIII

ABBOTSFORD AND ITS OWNER

HE Christmas of 1824 saw the realisation of
Scott's fondest ambitions. The home which

for years he had been bit by bit building up"neither castle nor priory, but an attempt at the old manor-house of a comfortable country family' length complete; and the whole suite of apartments, brilliantly lighted with the newly adopted oil gas, were thrown open for a dance in honour of the betrothal of the heir of Abbotsford and the niece and heiress of Sir Adam Ferguson. The clan Scott mustered in great force, especially the Harden branch. Sir Walter settled Abbotsford on his eldest son, though for the present he could only give him a small annuity to match the rich estate of Lochore which the young bride had in possession; but soon after the marriage he was able to advance a large sum for the purchase of young Walter's captaincy. The marriage pleased him almost as much as that of his daughter with Lockhart, and the tender regard which he felt for his daughter-in-law is shown in some of his most charming letters. He considered the bride very pretty, both in form and face, but "so little as to make almost a ludicrous contrast to her Hussar,'

who stood over six feet. Though she had "walked the course as a wealthy heiress for two years," no one, he declares, had even heard of a flirtation. And she had won his admiration by the staunchness and good sense with which she had met her mother's opposition to her match with a soldier. In truth, Sir Walter himself had helped to make the course of true love run as smoothly as might be.

After the marriage he watched over his little Jane with tender solicitude, helping her to overcome her shyness in society and corresponding with her in a vein of delicate kindness. He was one of those rare people who understand that "officious affection" (his own phrase) may be as trying as cold formality. There is so much of the man revealed in this correspondence, that I give a short extract from one of Sir Walter's letters, written soon after the wedding. After deprecating any desire of "inflicting kindness" upon his little daughter-in-law, he proceeds :

"On the other hand, remember it is our bargain that you are never so much as to mend a pen when you write me, or think a moment either about subject or about expression. Sometimes, perhaps, I shall suggest topics, as I did in my last which you answered so faithfully from Abbotsford [Scott was on duty in Edinburgh]. I will, however, be extremely prudent in this. For instance, I may ask you if you liked Warwick Castle, or if you thought it belonged to the class of old châteaux, which your classical neighbour calls stupit things. But, on the other hand, I will be careful not to inquire whether you were very glad to be rid of papa and his old stories, as you passed the Border land, and whether you did not feel his