Page images
PDF
EPUB

bulky volumes of State trials, he will find copious illustrations of the curious practice referred to. But surely enough illustration has been given of how full Scott was of old Scotch law and of old Edinburgh life; he did not drag those subjects into his page, rather you fancy he restrained himself.

I turn now from Saddletree to Peter Peebles, one of the best-drawn figures in all the Waverley gallery. Peter is a man of some little education and ability, and he does not make the mistakes that the other does; nay, he uses legal terms quite correctly. No finer picture of the ruined demented suitor was ever drawn; he is comical enough at times, and plays strange pranks, and yet there is no exaggeration. There is no touch of caricature as there is in the legal sketches of Dickens. Peter Peebles is a real creature of flesh and blood, as real as Bailie Nicol Jarvie or Jeanie and Davie Deans, and he is not all comic; there is a note of tragedy and pathos subdued, yet distinct. distinct. What could be finer than the speech he makes to Joshua Geddes, the Quaker, about his splendid position in occupying the attention of the Lords of Session for so many hours and days, and then the reflection on the ruin litigation has brought upon him, so that at times he rues ever having gone to law, though he is sure his hearer will scarce believe this when he considers the great renown and credit he has acquired? I will not attempt here to furnish a glossary of Peter's law terms; enough has been said for the purpose of illustration.

And it would be wearisome to discuss the minor references, such as the trial and execution of Fergus Mac-Ivor at Carlisle in Waverley, the examination and torture of McBriar before the Privy Council in Old Mortality, the portrait of Lord Stair as Sir William Ashton in The Bride of Lammermoor. I will only note that Scott was interested in the legal antiquities of other countries besides Scotland. The strange system of the law of the forest under which huge tracts of England were administered for centuries is referred to in Ivanhoe, and the scene in the same novel where the hero comes forward as the champion of Rebecca reminds us of the picturesque wager of battle, which, having lain dormant for centuries, was so strangely revived in 1817 in the case of Mary Ashford, and only got its legal quietus two years later; and as one might expect, the right of sanctuary, one of the most curious parts of old English law, could not fail to attract our author's notice. Indeed, the picture of Alsatia in The Fortunes of Nigel contains perhaps the only passages in modern English literature which keep alive to the general reader the memory of one of the strangest of those old customs.

Abbotsford-

INDEX

Collection, 28, 32; description, 67,
214; completing of, 141, 171, 210;
distinguished visitors at, 151, 163, 302,
317; reported attack on, 164; visit
of Miss Edgeworth, 204; settled on
Scott's eldest son, 210, 240; £10,000
borrowed on, 234; return of visitors,
252-4; Queen Victoria visits, 292;
Cabinet Council at, 305; Burns's son
at, 317; print of, at Mainz, 328;
passes to the Lockharts, 334
Abbotsford Hunt, Scott discontinues, 231
Abercorn, Duchess of—

Correspondence with Scott, 22, 43,
62, 113, 142, 188; on St. Ronan's
Well, 204

Abingdon, Earl of, and Kenilworth, 166
Abud, Jewish broker, 276-7

Adam, Chief Commissioner at Blair-
Adam, 161

Adam, Dr., 7, 143

Adelphi Theatre, Scott at, 256
Adolphus, Mr., at Abbotsford, 267
Ainsworth, Harrison, 255
"Aldiborontiphoscophornio" (James Bal-
lantyne), 58, 137
Ale River, 49

Alexander, Czar, and Scott, 99, 100
Allan, Sir William-

Visits Scott, 140; accompanies Scott
to Kelso, 272; makes drawings of
Abbotsford rooms, 332

Alnwick Castle, Scott visits, 274
Alvanley, Scott meets, 290

Apennines, Scott in the, 327
Appleby Castle, Scott visits, 255
Arbuthnot, Mrs., Scott visits, 259
Argyll, Duke of—

Protector of Rob Roy, 125; in Heart
of Midlothian, 131, 134, 136
Arkwright, Mrs. (d. of Stephen Kemble),
Songs of, 176, 288, 290

Ashestiel, Scott removes to, 42
Ashford, Mary, case of, 348
"Auld Watt of Harden," 2
Austen, Miss, Scott's reference to, 203
Aylesbury, 289

Bailie of Jerviswood, trial of, 346
Baillie, Joanna-

Tragedies of, 60; correspondence with
Lady Byron, 93; correspondence with
Scott, 119; Scott's speech on, 279
Ballantyne and Co.-

Printers for Scott, 36; Scott's con-
nection with, 47, 58, 237; issues
Lady of the Lake, 63; unbusinesslike
partners, 74-5; Constable's relations
with, 75; printers for Mr. Joseph
Train, 88; stock taken over by Con-
stable, 105; publication of Tales of
My Landlord, 122; failure of, Scott's
decision, 238

Ballantyne, James-

Printer of the Minstrelsy, 36; Scott
shares in printing business of, 47;
and the comparison between Scott
and Burns, 65; opinion of Waverley,
77, 78; and the sale of The Lord of

the Isles, 87; relates Scott's estimation
of Byron, 91-2; letter from Scott re
Rob Roy, 126; the "launching" of a
Waverley novel, 137-9; and Con-
stable, 138; statement regarding The
Bride of Lammermoor, 148; Weekly
Journal of, 170, 242; and The For-
tunes of Nigel, 178; at Abbotsford,
219; Scott visits, 236, 308; inefficiency
of, 239; criticism of Woodstock, 246–7;
approves of Napoleon, 251; urges
Scott to extend Napoleon, 263; and
Anne of Geierstein, 297; and the fourth
Malachi Letter, 305; on Count Robert,
311; coolness towards Scott, 313.
Ballantyne, John-

Chief partner in the Border Press, 58;
and Ballantyne and Co., 74-5; reck-
lessness of, 105; and Scott, 110; and
publication of Rob Roy, 124; levity of,
138-9; amanuensis to Scott, 144;
Scott writes introduction to the Novel-
ist's Library for, 155; death of, 169;
portrait at Abbotsford, 216
Bartley, Mrs. See Smith, Miss
Bathurst, Lord, visits Scott, 275

Beaconsfield, Earl of, visit to Abbots-

ford, 231

"Beardie." See Scott, "Beardie"
Beaumont and Fletcher, 110

Belsches, Williamina—

and Scott, 14-22; marriage of, 21;
character of, 23

Bell, the anatomist, 28

Bell Rock Lighthouse, 84

Bergen-op-Zoom, fortress of, 96

Biggar town, inhabitants greet Scott, 314

Biggleswade, Scott visits, 255

Birmingham, 261

Black, Messrs., III

Blackford Hill, in Marmion, 52

Blackwood, Messrs.-

and The Black Dwarf, 116; publish
Letters of Malachi, 242

Blair-Adam, Scott visits, 161, 254
Blair-Adam Club, 294

Blake, 229

Blarney, Scott visits, 226
Blücher and Scott, 99

Bodleian Library, Oxford, 261
Border Press. See Ballantyne and Co.
Borthwick Water, 49

Boswell, James, 140

Boswell, Sir Alexander, and Scott, 140
Bothwell Castle, Scott visits, 114
Bourbons, reception by the Parisians, 98
Bourges, the "Athens of lawyers," 344
"Bow'd Davie." See Ritchie, David
Bower, Johnny, custodian of Melrose,

120

Bowhill in Marmion, 50

Bowness, Bay of, Regatta at, 230
Branksome Tower, 45

Brasenose College, Scott's rooms at, 261
and note

Brewster, Sir David, friendship with
Scott, 160

Bridge of Sighs, Scott visits, 328
Brignal slate quarries, 72

Broadfoot, Mr., original of "Jedediah
Cleishbotham," 111

Brown, Lucky, 8

Brown, Mrs., Scott lodges with, 252, 261
Brown, publisher, 139
Browning, Robert, 2
Brussels, life in, 97
Buccleuch, Duke of-

and Scott, 29, 44, 75, 122; home of,
38; death of, 150; -, the second,
and Scott, 189; the third, christen-

ing of, 319-20

Buchan, Earl of, and Scott, 143-4

Burghley, Scott visits, 255

Burke, French Revolution, 242

Burley, murderer of Archbishop Sharpe,

112

Burney, Fanny (Mme. D'Arblay)—

Meets Scott, 259; Scott calls on, 293

[blocks in formation]

Campsie Lynn, 287

Canning, George-

Scott meets, 61, 229, 260; regatta on
Windermere, 230; Miss Burney's
opinion of, 259

Canongate Churchyard, Edinburgh, 169
Carlisle, Scott visits, 255
Carlisle Castle, 293-4

Carlton House, Scott at, 81, 93
Carlyle-

on Scott, 128; opinion of Cromwell,
245; remembrance of Scott, 335
Carpenter, Miss C. See Scott, Lady
Cashel, Scott visits, 226
"Castle Dangerous," 314
Castlereagh, Lord, visits Scott, 275
Cathcart, Lord, introduces Scott to Czar
Alexander, 100

Cauldshiels Loch, purchased by Scott,

104

Chalk Farm, duel at, 168
Chambers's Journal, 335

Chantrey, Sir Francis, busts of Scott,
158, 171, 293

Charlecote Hall, 289

Charles X. of France, speaks to Scott,
258; at Holyrood, 304

Charles XII. of Sweden, 163
Cheltenham, Scott stays at, 261

Cheney, Sir John, armour of, at Abbots-
ford, 217

Chiefswood, Scott's affection for, 171
Christie, Mr., duel of, 168
Clachan of Aberfoyle, 129

Claverhouse. See Dundee, Viscount
Clerk, William—

Friendship with Scott, 13, 37, 76, 139;
and the authorship of Waverley, 80;
proposed "second" to Scott, 264
Clutterbuck, Captain, 177

Cockburn, Sir George, journal of, found
by Scott, 257

Coke of Norfolk (Earl of Leicester), 293
Colburn, publisher, 271

Coleridge, Christabel, 46, 83; Scott
meets, 290

Comines, Chronicler, 200

Congreve, Sir William, rockets of, at
Woolwich, 159

Constable, Archibald—

Publishes Marmion, 54; Scott's alien-
ation from, 58; relations with Ballan-
tyne and Co., 75, 105, 138; renewed
connection with Scott, 75; and Waver-
ley, 78; publishes Guy Mannering
and The Lord of the Isles, 87; issues
Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk, 95;
takes over complete stock of Ballan-
tyne and Co., and publishes The
Antiquary, 105; anecdote of, 139;
friction with Scott over The Abbot,
165; on popularity of Nigel, 178;
remainder of copyright purchased, 193;
stipulates for the "Four Works of

« PreviousContinue »