Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 1Houghton, Mifflin, 1901 - Authors, Scottish |
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Adam Ferguson admiration afterwards amusement ancient appears Ashestiel ballads Ballantyne beautiful believe Border Border ballads brother Buccleuch called Castle copy course Court of Session DEAR delight doubt early Edinburgh edition Ellis English Ettrick Ettrick Forest father favor feelings genius GEORGE ELLIS George's Square happy heard Highland honor hope James James Hogg Jedburgh John Kelso kind labor lady Laird Lasswade Last Minstrel letter Leyden Liddesdale literary Lord manner matter Minstrelsy Miss Moorhall moss-troopers mother never Newmains night occasion original perhaps period person pleasure poem poet poetical poetry present Raeburn reader recollection Redgauntlet remember romance Rosebank Roxburghshire Sandy-Knowe says scene Scotland Scottish Selkirkshire Sir Tristrem Sir Walter soon story Sunning Hill suppose taste tell thing Thomas tion verses Walter Scott whole William Clerk William Laidlaw write young youth
Popular passages
Page 211 - Ah me! for aught that ever I could read. Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth: But, either it was different in blood; Her.
Page 474 - tis no laughing matter : little by little, whatever your wishes may be, you will destroy and undermine until nothing of what makes Scotland Scotland, shall remain.
Page 107 - Scotch school, ie none of your modern agriculturists who keep laborers for their drudgery, but the douce gudeman who held his own plough. There was a strong expression of sense and shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, which glowed (I say literally glowed) when he spoke with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time.
Page 241 - Sore trembled the father ; he spurr'd thro' the wild, Clasping close to his bosom his shuddering child ; He reaches his dwelling in doubt and in dread, But, clasp'd to his bosom, the infant was dead ! BOTHWELL CASTLE.
Page 166 - ... welcome keg mounted on the table without a moment's delay, and gentle and simple, not forgetting the dominie, continued carousing about it until daylight streamed in upon the party. Sir Walter Scott seldom failed, when I saw him in company with his Liddesdale companion, to mimic with infinite humour the sudden outburst of his old host, on hearing the clatter of horses...
Page 55 - Thus while I ape the measure wild Of tales that charmed me yet a child, Rude though they be, still with the chime Return the thoughts of early time; And feelings, roused in life's first day, Glow in the line and prompt the lay.
Page 210 - The violet in her greenwood bower, Where birchen boughs with hazels mingle, May boast itself the fairest flower In glen or copse or forest dingle. " Though fair her gems of azure hue Beneath the dewdrop's weight reclining, I've seen an eye of lovelier blue More sweet through watery lustre shining. " The summer sun that dew shall dry. Ere yet the sun be past its morrow, Nor longer in my false love's eye Remained the tear of parting sorrow ! " In turning over a volume of MS.
Page 212 - ... there is much prospect of its being brought to a happy issue. The state of artificial society opposes many complicated obstructions to early marriages ; and the chance is very great, that such obstacles prove insurmountable. In fine, there are few men who do not look back in secret to some period of their youth, at which a sincere and early affection was repulsed, .or betrayed, or became abortive from opposing circumstances. It is these little passages of secret history, which leave a tinge of...
Page 107 - His person was strong and robust ; his manners rustic, not clownish ; a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity, which received part of its effect, perhaps, from one's knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features are represented in Mr Nasmyth's picture, but to me it conveys the idea, that they are diminished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits. I would have taken the poet, had I not known what he was, for a very sagacious...
Page 55 - Glared through the window's rusty bars, And ever, by the winter hearth, Old tales I heard of woe or mirth, Of lovers...