The Daily Sir Walter

William Shenstone

2012-02-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER XXX

  Yet though thou shouldst be dragg'd in scorn

  To yonder ignominious tree,

  Thou shall not want one faithful friend

  To share the cruel fates' decree.

                   Ballad of Jemmy Dawson.

Chapter XXX of Walter Scott’s “The Fortunes of Nigel” begins with the motto above. The work quoted from is included in “Description of the Leasowes" by William Shenstone. Shenstone's friend Robert Dodsley felt that the poet had had a strong influence on Walter Scott. According to Arthur Raleigh Humphreys, in his biography of Shenstone:

‘..Robert Dodsley paid tribute to his friend’s memory by adding to his edition of Shenstone’s Works a “Description of the Leasowes” with a map – a description which powerfully affected the imagination of Sir Walter Scott as a boy….’

English poet William Shenstone died on February 11, 1763.

Battle of Champaubert

2012-02-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

‘…Buonaparte fell upon the central division of Alsufieff, at Champaubert, surrounded, defeated, and totally dispersed them, taking their artillery, and 2,000 prisoners, while the remainder of the division fled into the woods, and attempted to escape individually. The whole force of the emperor was now interposed between the advanced guard under Sacken, and the main body under Blucher…’

The Battle of Champaubert was fought on February 10, 1814. Napoleon’s forces held the day in this encounter with Russian and Prussian forces. The text above comes from Walter Scott’s “Life of Napoleon Buonaparte”.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2012-02-09T00:09:00.000-08:00

‘He received his first education from his father and mother and private instructors. Later he was placed in a very good boarding-school in Moscow. Here the boy, who had shown a passionate fondness for books, read a great deal, especially tales of travel, and the novels of Sir Walter Scott and the works of the Russian poet, Pushkin. …’

The text above comes from Thomas Seltzer’s introduction to Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s first novel “Poor People”. It illustrates Walter Scott’s importance to and influence on Russian writers of the generation immediately following Scott.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky died on February 9, 1881.

Hudibras

2012-02-08T00:08:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER  III

     Do not the hist'ries of all ages

     Relate miraculous presages

     Of strange turns in the world's affairs,

     Foreseen by astrologers, soothsayers,

     Chaldeans, learned genethliacs,

     And some that have writ almanacks?

          Hudibras.

The text above, from Samuel Butler’s Hudibras, forms the motto to chapter III of Walter Scott’s “Guy Mannering”. All the factions of the English Civil War appear in “Hudibras”. English poet Samuel Butler was born on February 8, 1612.

Dickens at 200

2012-02-07T00:07:00.000-08:00

Charles Dickens needs little introduction, but on the 200th anniversary of his birth, deserves a more lengthy post. Dickens was 20 years old when Walter Scott died, in 1832. His first story, “A Dinner at Poplar Walk” was published a year later. What concerns us here, of course, is a connection between the two great authors. One significant connection comes through Lady Magdelene DeLancey’s “A week at Waterloo”, which relates how she nursed her husband Colonel William Howe DeLancey after the Battle of Waterloo. The connection to this work comes through Captain Basil Hall, with whom both authors corresponded, concerning De Lancey’s narrative.

The two men saw distinctly different aspects to this writing. Scott’s interest in DeLancey’s writing stems, at least directly, from his writing of Napoleon’s life. To Captain Hall, Scott wrote:

"My dear Captain Hall,

‘…"I am infinitely obliged to you for Captain Maitland's plain, manly, and interesting narrative. It is very interesting, and clears Bonaparte of much egotism imputed to him. I am making a copy which, however, I will make no use of except as- extracts, and am very much indebted to Captain Maitland for the privilege.

"Constable proposed a thing to me which was of so much delicacy that I scarce know how [sic] about it, and thought of leaving it till you and I met.

"It relates to that most interesting and affecting journal kept by my regretted and amiable friend, Mrs Hervey (Lady DeLancey, after she remarried), during poor De Lancey's illness. He thought with great truth that it would add very great interest as an addition to the letters which I wrote from Paris soon after Waterloo, and certainly I would consider it as one of the most valuable and important documents which could be published as illustrative of the woes of war. But whether this could be done without injury to the feelings of survivors is a question not for me to decide, and indeed I feel unaffected pain in even submitting it to your friendly ear who I know will put no harsh construction upon my motive which can be no other than such as would do honour to the amiable and lamented authoress. I never read anything which affected my own feelings more strongly or which I- am sure would have a deeper interest on those of the public. Still the work is of a domestic nature, and its publication, however honourable to all concerned, might perhaps give pain when God knows I should be sorry any proposal of mine should awaken the distresses which time may have in some degree abated. You are the only person who can judge of this with any certainty or at least who can easily gain the means of ascertaining it, and as Constable seemed to think there was a possibility that after the lapse of so much time it might be regarded as matter of history and as a record of the amiable character of your accomplished sister, and seemed to suppose there was some probability of such a favour being granted, you will consider me as putting the question on his suggestion. It could be printed as the Journal of a lady during the last illness of a General Officer of distinction during her attendance upon his last illness, or something to that purpose. Perhaps it may be my own high admiration of the contents of this heartrending diary which makes me suppose a possibility that after such a lapse of years, the publication may possibly (as that which cannot but do the highest honour to the memory of the amiable authoress) may not be judged altogether inadmissible. You- may and will, of course, act in this matter with your natural feeling of consideration, and ascertain whether that which cannot but do honour to the memory of those who are gone can be made public with the sacred regard due to the feelings of survivors…'

Dickens’s reading affected him deeply, as he related in his letter to Captain Hall in 1841. Dickens sees Defoe in Lady Delancey’s memoir.

' ..."Devonshire Terrace,
"Tuesday evening, 16th March 1841.

"My dear Hall,

"For I see it must be 'juniores priores,' and that I must demolish the ice at a blow.

"I have not had courage until last night to read Lady De Lancey's narrative, and, but for your letter, I should not have mastered it even then. One glance at it, when through your kindness it first arrived, had impressed me with a foreboding of its terrible truth, and I really have shrunk from it in pure lack of heart.

"After working at Barnaby all day, and wandering about the most wretched and distressful streets for a couple of hours in the evening—searching for some pictures I wanted to build upon—I went at it, at about ten o'clock. To say that the reading that most astonishing and tremendous account has constituted an epoch in my life—that I shall never forget the lightest word of it—that I cannot throw the impression aside, and never saw anything so real, so touching, and so actually present before my eyes, is nothing. I am husband and wife, dead man and living woman, Emma and General Dundas, doctor and bedstead—everything and everybody (but the Prussian officer—damn him) all in one. What I have always looked upon as masterpieces of powerful and affecting description, seem as nothing in my eyes. If I live for fifty years, I shall dream of it every now and then, from this hour to the day of my death, with the most frightful reality. The slightest mention of a battle will bring the whole thing before me. I shall never think of the Duke any more, but as he stood in his shirt with the officer in full-dress uniform, or as he dismounted from his horse when the gallant man was struck down.

"It is a striking proof of the power of that most extraordinary man Defoe that I seem to recognise in every line of the narrative something of him. Has this occurred to you? The going to Waterloo with that unconsciousness of everything in the road, but the obstacles to getting on—the shutting herself up in her room and determining not to hear—the not going to the door when the knocking came—the finding out by her wild spirits when she heard he was safe, how much she had feared when in doubt and anxiety—the desperate desire to move towards him—the whole description of the cottage, and its condition; and their daily shifts and contrivances; and the lying down beside him in the bed and both falling asleep; and his resolving not to serve any more, but to live quietly thenceforth; and her sorrow when she saw him eating with an appetite so soon before his death; and his death itself—all these are matters of truth, which only that astonishing creature, as I think, could have told in fiction...'

Capability

2012-02-06T00:06:00.000-08:00

‘I know that you, Alan, will condemn all this as bad and antiquated; for,ever since Dodsley has described the Leasowes, and talked of Brown's imitations of nature and Horace Walpole's late Essay on Gardening, you are all for simple nature--condemn walking up and down stairs in the open air and declare for wood and wilderness. But NE QUID NIMIS. I would not deface a scene of natural grandeur or beauty, by the introduction of crowded artificial decorations; yet such may, I think, be very interesting, where the situation, in its natural state, otherwise has no particular charms.’

The Brown referred to in the passage from “Redgauntlet” above, is famous landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown, who died this day, February 6, 1783. The passage seems to indicate that Scott didn’t agree with all of Brown’ s approach. Scott delved deep into the subject of landscape gardening in his “On Landscape Gardening”. The following passage from that essay, discusses Brown as part of the new English style of gardening that Brown’s mentor, William Kent was an originator of.

‘…It is worth notice, that, while exploding the nuisance of graven images in the ancient and elaborate gardens, Kent, like some of the kings of Israel, though partly a reformer, could not altogether wean himself from every species of idolatry. He swept, indeed, the gardens clear of every representation of mythology, and the visitor’s admiration was no longer excited by beholding

“Statues growing that noble place in,
All heathen godesses most rare,
Homer, Plutarch, and Nebuchadnezzar,
All standing naked in the open air.”

But to make amends for their ejection, Kent and his followers had temples, obelisks, and gazabos of every description in the park, all stuck about on their respective high places, with as little meaning, and at least as little pretension to propriety, as the horticultural Pantheon which had been turned out of doors.

The taste for this species of simplicity spread far and wide. Browne, the successor of Kent, followed in his footsteps; but his conceptions, to judge from the piece of artificial water at Blenheim (formed, we believe, chiefly to blunt the point of an ill-natured epigram,) were more magnificent than those of his predecessor. We cannot, however, suppose old Father Thames so irritable as this celebrated professor intimated, when he declared that the river would never forgive him for having given him so formidable a rival.

The school of spade and mattock flourished the more, as it was a thriving occupation, when the projector was retained to superintend his improvements — which seldom failed to include some forcible alteration on the face of nature. The vanity of some capability-men dictated those violent changes which were recommended chiefly by the cupidity of others. While the higher-feeling class were desirous, by the introduction of a lake, the filling up a hollow, or the elevation of a knoll, to show to all the world that Mr. — – had laid out those grounds; the meaner brothers of the trade were covetous of sharing the very considerable sums which must be expended in making such alterations. ..’

General Paoli

2012-02-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

James Boswell befriended General Pasquale Paoli on a visit to Corsica, later making Paoli famous throughout all Europe, by publishing his “An Account of Corsica” (1768). Paoli was perhaps one of the more honorable of Boswell’s companions, many of which were a point of concern for Boswell’s strict father. An account of the elder Lord Auchinleck’s feelings in this regard is taken from John Gibson Lockhart’s “Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott”.

‘The following notices of Boswell himself, and his father, Lord Auchinleck, may be taken as literal transcripts from Scott’s Table-Talk:—

….“Old Lord Auchinleck was an able lawyer, a good scholar, after the manner of Scotland, and highly valued his own advantages as a man of good estate and ancient family; and, moreover, he was a strict Presbyterian and Whig of the old Scottish cast. This did not prevent his being a terribly proud aristocrat; and great was the contempt he entertained and expressed for his son James, for the nature of his friendship, and the character of the personages of whom he was engoué one after another. ‘There’s nae hope for Jamie, mon,’ he said to a friend. ‘Jamie is gane clean gyte. What do you think, mon? He’s done wi’ Paoli—he’s off wi’ the land louping scoundrel of a Corsican; and whose tail do you think he has pinned himself to now, mon?’ Here the old judge summoned up a sneer of most sovereign contempt. ‘A dominie, mon—an auld dominie! he keeped a schule, and caud it an acaadamy.’…’

Pasquale Paoli died on February 5^th, 1807.

Crown of Scotland

2012-02-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

A Royal Commission had been issued in 1794 authorising certain persons to enter the jewel room in the Castle of Edinburgh, and by breaking the door if necessary, in order to ascertain whether the historical conjecture was true that the Crown of Scotland and its pertinent were there. But that attempt to discover them had failed; because after breaking the lock of the door, a punctilious commissioner doubted whether their warrant sanctioned their also using force against a chest that they found within. This obstacle was suggested, I have heard, by Blair the Solicitor-General; and it being formidable, the chest was left untouched, the outer door was relocked, and the commissioners retired. After another pause of twenty-four years, the experiment was renewed by a better instructed Commission, and on the 4^th of February 1818 the Commissioners proceeded with due pomp to their work. They unlocked the door and opened the chest. And there, as Thomas Thomson had told them, they found the Regalia sleeping beneath the dust that had been gathering around them ever since the Union. It was a hazy evening, about four o’clock, when a shot from the Castle and a cheer from a regiment drawn up on the Castle Hill announced to the people, that the Crown of heir old kings was discovered. ..John Kemble asked Scott If the Crown was not splendid? “The last time that I saw you as Macbeth you had a much grander one.”

The text above, including the quote of Walter Scott, comes from Lord Henry Cockburn’s “Memorials of his Time”.

Whitehall Palace

2012-02-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

‘Sunday 3 February 1666/67

(Lord’s day). Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen to White Hall, and there to Sir W. Coventry’s chamber, and there staid till he was ready, talking, and among other things of the Prince’s being trepanned, which was in doing just as we passed through the Stone Gallery, we asking at the door of his lodgings, and were told so. We are all full of wishes for the good success; though I dare say but few do really concern ourselves for him in our hearts..’.

In Samuel Pepys’s Diary, Prince Rupert of the Rhine was a topic of discussion in the Stone Gallery; Whitehall Palace on February 3rd. These two subjects play a role in Walter Scott’s “Peveril of the Peak” as well, though the setting is ten years later than Pepys’s diary entry. Another twenty years, or so, and Whitehall Palace which was the largest palace in Europe at the time, was destroyed by fire (1698). The following is from Scott’s Peveril:

‘Sir Geoffrey was unwilling, like most prudent persons, to own the existence of expectations which had proved fallacious, yet had too little art in his character to conceal his disappointment entirely. "Who, I, madam?" he said; "Alas! what should a poor country knight expect from the King, besides the pleasure of seeing him in Whitehall once more, and enjoying his own again? And his Majesty was very gracious when I was presented, and spoke to me of Worcester, and of my horse, Black Hastings--he had forgot his name, though--faith, and mine, too, I believe, had not Prince Rupert whispered it to him. And I saw some old friends, such as his Grace of Ormond, Sir Marmaduke Langdale, Sir Philip Musgrave, and so forth; and had a jolly rouse or two, to the tune of old times."…’

Joyce's Ulysses

2012-02-02T00:02:00.000-08:00

From James Joyce’s Dubliners:

‘He stopped when he came level with us and bade us goodday. We answered him and he sat down beside us on the slope slowly and with great care. He began to talk of the weather, saying that it would be a very hot summer and adding that the seasons had changed gready since he was a boy -- a long time ago. He said that the happiest time of one's life was undoubtedly one's schoolboy days and that he would give anything to be young again. While he expressed these sentiments which bored us a little we kept silent. Then he began to talk of school and of books. He asked us whether we had read the poetry of Thomas Moore or the works of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Lytton. I pretended that I had read every book he mentioned so that in the end he said:

"Ah, I can see you are a bookworm like myself. Now," he added, pointing to Mahony who was regarding us with open eyes, "he is different; he goes in for games."

He said he had all Sir Walter Scott's works and all Lord Lytton's works at home and never tired of reading them…’

Walter Scott figured strongly in author James Joyce’s upbringing. Joyce mentions Scott, or his work, in several of his own writings, from Dubliners to Araby, to Ulysses. Neil Davison/Anthony Julius, in their James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Construction of the Jewish Identity Culture comment as follows:

‘…the appearance of The Bride of Lammermoor in the “gigantic” heroes in the “Cyclopes” episode of Ulysses further implies Joyce’s adult opinion of the overly romantic tenor of Scott’s stories. But regardless of his later facetious allusions to Scott, Joyce’s youthful reading of Ivanhoe affected his earliest conception of “The Jew” and in many ways challenged what he had learned from the Jesuits. Although the novel form was considered improper extra-curricular reading for a student of the Jesuits, Joyce ws tempted to read Ivanhoe because of a controversy surrounding the work that occurred about the time he entered the College.

The incident…involved J.F. Byrne, who directly afterwards made friends with a new “frail looking lad named James Augustus Joyce.”…Byrne’s instructor, Father Fagan…suggested that his students read novels to improve their vocabulary, and one of his recommendations was Scott’s work (like Ivanhoe)..’

Enlightened Father Fagan was found out by Byrne’s older cousin, which put an end to novel reading recommendations. The author’s speculate that Byrne mentioned the incident to Joyce when Joyce joined Belvedere two months later.

Joyce’s work Ulysses, was published on February 2^nd, 1922; on his 30^th birthday (born in 1882).

Mary Shelley's Death

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

“Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley, died on February 1, 1851, at the young age of 53. Ms. Shelley at one point felt compelled to defend her authorship in a letter to Sir Walter Scott. Scott reviewed “Frankenstein” for Blackwood’s magazine. Scott clearly liked the novel. The last paragraph of that review is below:

‘…Upon the whole, the work impresses us with a high idea of the author's original genius and happy power of expression. We shall be delighted to hear that he has aspired to the paullo majorica; and, in the meantime, congratulate our readers upon a novel which excites new reflections and untried sources of emotion. If Gray's definition of Paradise, to lie on a couch, namely, and read new novels, come any thing near truth, no small praise is due to him, who, like the author of Frankenstein, has enlarged the sphere of that fascinating enjoyment.’

Cumnor Hall

2012-01-31T00:31:00.000-08:00

Cumnor Hall was to have been the original title of what became Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth”, which was published in 1821. The balled of the same name, by William Julius Mickle, provided inspiration for Scott in taking on this endeavor.

The dews of summer nighte did falle,
The moone (sweete regente of the skye)
Silver'd the walles of Cumnor Halle,
And manye an oake that grewe therebye....

On January 31^st, 1829, we find Scott reading another Cumnor Hall: ‘…Looked over Cumnor Hall by Mr. Usher Tighe of Oxford. I see from the inscription on Tony Foster's tomb that he was a skilful planter, amongst other fashionable accomplishments….’

The book in question is Hugh Usher Tighe’s “An Historical Account of Cumner…”, which reached the public in 1821, the same year “Kenilworth” was published. Tighe provides useful background on Cumner and Scott’s “Kenilworth” in the introduction to his work.

‘The deep interest so deservedly felt, and so openly evinced for every production which emanates from the highly gifted “Author of Waverley”, reflects a corresponding interest on every subject connected with a Tale on which the finest feelings of the mind are unavoidably concentrated. These sentiments, so universally excited by the perusal of this author’s former Tales, can assuredly not have been lessened by his last production of “Kenilworth”, which, perhaps from the circumstances of the case, form the melancholy story of a very young and lovely woman, contending with villainy and treachery, and struggling with the most trying hardships and privations, appeals more closely to the human heart, and is more calculated to excite the warm emotions of pity, than any of his earlier works. It is on the prevalence of these feelings, that I venture to hope, that some account of Cumner where the scene of this fascinating story is principally laid, and the narration of the facts, as given by Ashmole in his Antiquities of Berkshire, may not be deemed utterly devoid of interest….I annex the facts of this melancholy story, as related by Ashmole, and which is alluded to in the latter part of “Kenilworth”. The same narration, in the same words, may be found in Anthony Wood’s MSS in the Ashmoleon collection…’

William Carleton

2012-01-30T00:30:00.000-08:00

Irish novelist William Carleton, according to many who knew something of both he and Walter Scott, bore a fair resemblance to the Wizard of the North. According to David O’Donohue, who edited Carleton’s autobiography, it was a comparison that Carleton enjoyed. From that work: ‘I (Irish artist Edmund Fitzpatrick)went with Father Meehan in Mr. (James) Duffy’s brougham to visit Carleton, and got a most kind reception from him. After taking stock of me for a minute or two, he said: ‘Come, now, tell me who am I like?’ I said he was exactly like busts I had seen of Sir Walter Scott. ‘So I am,’ said he, giving the table a whack; ‘I am glad you perceived the likeness.’

For some, the comparison went beyond physical similarities, placing Carleton on near footing with Scott. Carleton aimed, according to himself, to be a “historian of their (the Irish) habits and manners…”, and quoting again from his autobiography comes the comment that ‘..He is not a mere chronicler – not more so, at any rate, than Sir Walter Scott, whom universal testimony declares to be a great writer, notwithstanding- for Irish people have too many points of similarity with those of other nations to be reckoned a race apart. ‘

The author of “Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry” died on January 30^th, 1869.

George III Passes

2012-01-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

‘The long reign of George the Third was brought to a close on the 29^th of January, 1820. The chief interest of the people in this event, seemed to consist in its depriving them of their sixty years holiday on the 4^th of June. On the following Sunday Sir Harry Moncreiff not satisfied with merely praying for the new sovereign generally, said in plain terms, giving the very date, that there might be no mistake about it, “And oh Lord, stablish his heart in righteousness, and in the principles of the glorious revolution of sixteen hunder and ecthy echt”…’

The text above comes from Lord Henry Cockburn’s “Memorials of his Time”. Concerning this Hanoverian monarch, Sir Walter Scott wrote: ‘George the Third labored under some disadvantages, which for a long time obscured his highly estimable qualities. Notwithstanding what we have said of his personal qualities, his education had been narrow and confined in an unusual degree, and no adequate pains had been taken either to form his external manners, or to cultivate his mind in classical or polite literature…’

Cooper's Prairie

2012-01-28T00:28:00.000-08:00

‘January 28 [1828].—I am in the scrape of sitting for my picture, and had to repair for two hours to-day to Mr. Colvin Smith—Lord Gillies's nephew. The Chief Baron had the kindness to sit with me great part of the time, as the Chief Commissioner had done on a late occasion. The picture is for the Chief Commissioner, and the Chief Baron desires a copy. I trust it will he a good one. At home in the evening, and wrote. I am well on before the press, notwithstanding late hours, lassitude, and laziness. I have read Cooper's Prairie—better, I think, than his Red Rover, in which you never get foot on shore, and to understand entirely the incidents of the story it requires too much knowledge of nautical language. It's very clever, though.’

“The Prairie” was Scott’s friend James Fenimore Cooper’s third novel, published in 1827, which Scott certainly enjoyed more than “The Red Rover”, which was published early in 1828. Scott read "The Red Rover" two weeks earlier. The text above comes from Scott's journal.

Tally ho to the Fox

2012-01-27T00:27:00.000-08:00

‘On June 27, 1806, Scott wrote his “Health to Lord Melville”, the Tory governing spirit of Scotland, whom the Whigs were impeaching. James Ballantyne sang this lay at a public dinner on Lord Melville’s acquittal. The Princess of Wales was saluted in this song, which contained the words “Tally ho to the Fox” (C.J. Fox). This does not appear an amazing indiscretion, in a parcel of party verses, but the Whigs were greatly shocked…’

Walter Scott’s Tory sentiment is evident in the text above, which comes from Andrew Lang’s “Sir Walter Scott”. Whig Charles James Fox did not last much past June of 1806, dying the following September (13^th). Fox was opposed to the war with Napoleon, who he met three times in 1798. Fox was, therefore, at odds with William Pitt (the younger) who had pushed for war with France. Pitt died earlier, in January of the same year.

Jupiter Carlyle

2012-01-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

The Reverend Alexander Carlyle was born on January 26, 1772. Known as Jupiter, from his striking profile, Carlyle rose to a very high position in the Church of Scotland. From his autobiography comes the following, concerning Sir Walter Scott:

‘Sir Walter Scott has left a colloquial sketch of him, which, though of the briefest, is broad and colossal as a scrap from the pencil of Michael Angelo. He is discoursing of the countenances of poets; some that represented the divinity of genius, and others that signally failed in that respect. " Well," said he, " the grandest demigod I ever saw was Dr Carlyle, minister of Musselburgh, commonly called Jupiter Carlyle, from having sat more than once for the king of gods and men to Gavin Hamilton ; and a shrewd clever old carle was he, no doubt, but no more a poet than his precentor."…’

Passion Gutted

2012-01-25T00:25:00.000-08:00

In 1938, author Virginia Wolff traveled north for the first time, though she had previously published Skye-based “To the Lighthouse”. As related in Robert Crawford’s “Scotland’s Books”, reaching Dryburgh Abbey, she ‘gutted my passion for Scott on his tomb – like chocolate blanc-mange’.

Virginal Wolff was born on January 25, 1882.

Chevalier Yelin

2012-01-24T00:24:00.000-08:00

‘January 24 [1826].—…Went to the funeral of Chevalier Yelin, the literary foreigner mentioned on 22d. How many and how various are the ways of affliction! Here is this poor man dying at a distance from home, his proud heart broken, his wife and family anxiously expecting letters, and doomed only to learn they have lost a husband and father for ever. He lies buried on the Calton Hill, near learned and scientific dust—the graves of David Hume and John Playfair being side by side…’

In Lockhart’s note to Scott’s Journal, he points out that Chevalier Yelin was told by his wife that he could not leave Edinburgh without meeting the great bard (Scott). He hoped to meet Scott at a meeting of the Royal Society, days earlier, during which he was to deliver a paper. The meeting with Scott never occurred. Scott was not there that night, and Yelin died before reaching the Royal Society event. The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal published the following on Chevalier Yelin:

‘M. Le Chevalier Yelin, a learned Bavarian, discovered some time ago, that needles of steel become magnetic when placed in a glass tube surrounded by a magnetic spiral, and when electrical sparks or the charge of a Leyden battery were transmitted along the spiral…’

A Walk with Skene

2012-01-23T00:23:00.000-08:00

On January 23^rd, 1826, in his journal, Walter Scott recorded walking with old friend JamesSkene, after midnight, during a particularly difficult stretch of writing.

‘…Wrote till twelve A.M., finishing half of what I call a good day's work—ten pages of print, or rather twelve. Then walked in Princes Street pleasure-grounds with good Samaritan James Skene, the only one among my numerous friends who can properly be termed amicus curarum mearum, others being too busy or too gay, and several being estranged by habit…’

Lockhart’s notes to Scott’s Journal include this item from “Mr’s Skene’s Reminiscences” of Scott:

On his return from this walk, Mr. Skene wrote out his recollections of the conversation that had taken place. Of his power to rebuild his shattered fortunes, Scott said, "'But woe's me, I much mistrust my vigour, for the best of my energies are already expended. You have seen, my dear Skene, the Roman coursers urged to their speed by a loaded spur attached to their backs to whet the rusty metal of their ager—ay! it is a leaden spur indeed, and it goads hard.'

"I added, 'But what do you think, Scott, of the bits of flaming paper that are pasted on the flanks of the poor jades? If we could but stick certain small documents on your back, and set fire to them, I think you might submit for a time to the pricking of the spur.' He laughed, and said, 'Ay! Ay!—these weary bills, if they were but as the thing that is not—come, cheer me up with an account of the Roman Carnival.' And, accordingly, with my endeavour to do so, he seemed as much interested as if nothing had happened to discompose the usual tenor of his mind, but still our conversation ever and anon dropt back into the same subject, in the course of which he said to me, 'Do you know I experience a sort of determined pleasure in confronting the very worst aspect of this sudden reverse,—in standing, as it were, in the breach that has overthrown my fortunes, and saying, Here I stand, at least an honest man. And God knows, if I have enemies, this I may at least with truth say, that I have never wittingly given cause of enmity in the whole course of my life, for even the burnings of political hate seemed to find nothing in my nature to feed the flame. I am not conscious of having borne a grudge towards any man, and at this moment of my overthrow, so help me God, I wish well and feel kindly to every one. And if I thought that any of my works contained a sentence hurtful to any one's feelings, I would burn it. I think even my novels (for he did not disown any of them) are free from that blame.'

"He had been led to make this protestation from my having remarked to him the singularly general feeling of goodwill and sympathy towards him which every one was anxious to testify upon the present occasion. The sentiments of resignation and of cheerful acquiescence in the dispensation of the Almighty which he expressed were those of a Christian thankful for the blessings left, and willing, without ostentation, to do his best. It was really beautiful to see the workings of a strong and upright mind under the first lash of adversity calmly reposing upon the consolation afforded by his own integrity and manful purposes. 'Lately,' he said, 'you saw me under the apprehension of the decay of my mental faculties, and I confess that I was under mortal fear when I found myself writing one word for another, and misspelling every word, but that wore off, and was perhaps occasioned by the effects of the medicine I had been taking, but have I not reason to be thankful that that misfortune did not assail me?—Ay! few have more reason to feel grateful to the Disposer of all events than I have.'"

Regent James Hamilton

2012-01-22T00:22:00.000-08:00

‘…The Government of the kingdom was claimed by the late Prime Minister, Cardinal Beaton, in virtue of a testament of the deceased king [James V of Scotland], which, however, was universally regarded as a forgery perpetrated by that ambitious churchman…The nobles, who had no mind to perpetuate the power under which they had long groaned, unanimously rejected the claim, and preferred that of the Earl of Arran, representative of the house of Hamilton, and next heir to the Scottish crown, who was recognized accordingly as regent…’

James V of Scotland left his infant daughter, the future Mary Queen of Scots, as last representative of his royal line when he died (December 14, 1542). The 2^nd Earl of Arran, James Hamilton, was selected as regent for Mary, as noted in Walter Scott’s “History of Scotland”. James served as Regent until 1554, when he surrendered his regency to Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise. James Hamilton lived more than twenty years more, dying on January 22^nd, 1575.

James Quin

2012-01-21T00:21:00.000-08:00

‘…Nothing could be more different than his whole appearance seemed to be from the confidant of a desperate man, and the associate of outlaws in their unlawful enterprises. He was a tall, thin, bony figure, with white hair combed straight down on each side of his face, and an iron-gray hue of complexion; where the lines, or rather as Quin said of Macklin, the cordage, of his countenance were so sternly adapted to a devotional and ascetic expression, that they left no room for any expression of reckless daring, or sly dissimulation…’

English actor James Quin, referenced by Scott in his “Redgauntlet”, died on January 21^st, 1766. Quin was most renowned for his role as Falstaff, in King Henry IV. A note to the text of “Redgauntlet” explains that Quin and fellow actor Charles Macklin did not like each other.

Edward Balliol Abdicates

2012-01-20T00:20:00.000-08:00

‘…At no period of her history was Scotland devoid of brave men, willing and able to defend her rights. When the scandalous treaty by which Baliol had surrendered the independence of his country to Edward [Edward III of England] came to be known in Scotland, the successors of Bruce’s companions were naturally among the first to assert the cause of freedom. John Randolph, second son of the Regent, had formed a secret union with Archibald Douglas, a younger brother of the Good Lord James, and they proceeded to imitate the actions of their relatives. They suddenly assembled a considerable force, and attacking Baliol, who was feasting near Annan, they cut his guards in pieces, killed his brother, and chased him out of Scotland in such haste, that he escaped on horseback without time to clothe himself, or even to saddle his horse…’

The text above comes from Walter Scott’s “History of Scotland”. Edward Balliol abdicated the throne of Scotland on January 20^th, 1356.

Venner's Rising

2012-01-19T00:19:00.000-08:00

"Charity is a fine thing and a fair," answered Sir Geoffrey; "but I must tell you, you do ill, dame, to wander about the country like a quacksalver, at the call of every old woman who has a colic-fit; and at this time of night especially, and when the land is so unsettled besides."
"I am sorry to hear that it so," said the lady. "I had heard no such news."
"News?" repeated Sir Geoffrey, "why, here has a new plot broken out among the Roundheads, worse than Venner's by a butt's length;[*] and who should be so deep in it as our old neighbour Bridgenorth? There is search for him everywhere; and I promise you if he is found, he is like to pay old scores."

[*] The celebrated insurrection of the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchy

    men in London, in the year 1661.

A cooper named Thomas Venner, and the Fifth Monarchy Men, once attempted to overthrow Oliver Cromwell; in 1657. Extreme religious sentiment is evident in England well after Cromwell, and the Civil Wars. Scott’s “Peveril of the Peak”, from which the text above is taken, centers around the alleged Popist Plot of 1678, many years after Venner’s time. Venner and his associates believed that Christ’s time to return to earth, the time of the Fifth Monarchy, was at hand. Venner attempted a coup against Charles II, as well, which is what Scott’s text refers to. Armed action began on January 1, 1661. By the 4^th, General Monck had suppressed the rebellion, and captured Venner. Venner was executed, by being hanged, drawn and quartered, on January 19, 1661.

Montesquieu

2012-01-18T00:18:00.000-08:00

‘Historical, philosophical, or moral works, seem more rarely to have been resorted to for the amusement of Longwood. We have, indeed, been informed, that the only books of this description for which Napoleon showed a decided partiality, were those of Machiavel and Montesquieu, which he did not perhaps consider as fit themes for public recitation…’

Enlightenment figure Charles-Louis de Secondat, the Baron of La Brede and Montesquieu, was born on January 18, 1689. It is Montesquieu’s writing that is recalled when we discuss the separation of powers of church and state today. In “The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte”, Walter Scott mentions Napoleon’s appreciation of Montesquieu’s work.

Huguenots

2012-01-17T00:17:00.000-08:00

"My tale is soon told--I was introduced into the castle of Avenel to

be page to the lady of the mansion."

"She is a strict Huguenot, is she not?" said the maiden.

"As strict as Calvin himself. But my grandmother can play the puritan

when it suits her purpose, and she had some plan of her own, for

quartering me in the Castle--it would have failed, however, after we

had remained several weeks at the hamlet, but for an unexpected master

of ceremonies--"

Scott’s Lady of Avenel, in “The Abbot”, is described as a Huguenot by hero Roland Graeme. The novel’s time span is July 1567 to May 1568, or roughly five to six years after Catherine de Medici, acting as regent of France, officially recognized the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint Germain. John Calvin himself died in 1564, and had begun his reform work in the 1530’s. Catherine de Medici’s decree was dated January 17, 1562.

Sir John Moore at Corunna

2012-01-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

‘…The French, having declined the proffered engagement, Sir John Moore continued his retreat under the same disadvantageous circumstances, until he arrived at Corunna, the original object of his destination. He was preparing to embark his forces in the transports, which lay prepared for their reception, when his pursuer, Soult, now pressing boldly forward, made it evident that this could not be accomplished unless either by a convention with him, or by the event of battle, which might disqualify him from opposing the embarcation. Sir John Moore, with the dignity becoming his character, chose the latter alternative, and occupied a position of no great strength in front of the town, to protect the embarcation. The attack was made by the French on the 16^th January, in heavy columns, and with their usual vivacity; but it was sustained and repelled on all hands. The gallant general was mortally wounded in the action, just as he called on the 42^nd Highland regiment to “remember Egypt”, and reminded the same brave mountaineers, that though ammunition was scarce, they had their bayonets.

Thus died on the field of victory, which atoned for previous misfortunes, one of the bravest and best officers of the British army. His body was wrapped in his military cloak, instead of the usual vestments of the tomb; it was deposited in a grave hastily dug on the ramparts of Corunna; and the army, completing its embarkation upon the subsequent day, their late general was left with his glory…’

Sir John Moore died at the Battle of Corunna, on January 16, 1809. Sir Walter Scott’s treatment (above) comes from his “Life of Napoleon Buonaparte”. Poet Charles Wolfe wrote the following concerning Moore’s burial:

The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna

Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note,

As his corse to the rampart we hurried;

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot

O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,

The sods with our bayonets turning;

By the struggling moonbeam's misty light

And the lanthorn dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,

Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him;

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest

With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,

And we spoke not a word of sorrow;

But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,

And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed

And smoothed down his lonely pillow,

That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,

And we far away on the billow!

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him,--

But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on

In the grave where a Briton has laid him.

But half of our heavy task was done

When the clock struck the hour for retiring:

And we heard the distant and random gun

That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory;

We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,

But left him alone with his glory.

John Graham Gilbert

2012-01-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

January 15.—Day began with beggars as usual, and John Nicolson has not sense to keep them out. I never yield, however, to this importunity, thinking it wrong that what I can spare to meritorious poverty, of which I hear and see too much, should be diverted by impudent importunity. I was detained at the Parliament House till nearly three by the great case concerning prescription, Maule v. Maule. This was made up to me by hearing an excellent opinion from Lord Corehouse, with a curious discussion in apicibus juris. I disappointed Graham of a sitting for my picture.

Scott refers in his January 15, 1829 journal entry to Graham, who was John Graham Gilbert. Gilbert ultimately was able to complete a portrait of Sir Walter. A Glaswegian by birth, according to James MacLehose (“Memoirs and Portraits of one hundred Glasgow men”) Gilbert produced 39 portraits for exhibition by the Scottish Academy during his time in Edinburgh (1827 – 1841). An image of Gilbert’s portrait of Sir Walter is available at Edinburgh University’s Walter Scott archive:

http://www.jamessmithnoelcollection.org/images/sir%20walter%20scott.jpg

Treachery

2012-01-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Today is the day a man whose name, in America, is synonymous with the word traitor was born. The name is Benedict Arnold. The date was January 14, 1741. Isaac Newton Arnold, in his “Benedict Arnold: his patriotism and his treason”, tells of the approach to capturing and handling Arnold, after his treachery had become known. In a note to the text, Isaac Arnold draws on Sir Walter Scott to help illustrate a point.

‘…Had Arnold been captured in battle his execution would have been summary and prompt, and by his own treacherous conduct at West Point he was estopped from complaining of any falsehood or treachery practiced upon him. But would it not have been more in accordance with our highest ideal of Washington – an ideal of almost immaculate nobility and excellence – if this kidnapping and gagging business, a scheme to be accomplished by treachery and breach of trust, had been left to the provost-marshal? ¹

In Washington’s instructions to LaFayette, when the latter was sent to Virginia to act against Arnold, he was told “You are to do no act whatever with Arnold that directly or by implication may screen him from the punishment due to his treason and desertion, which if he should fall into your hands, you will execute in the most summary way”….’

Note:

1 1) Perhaps from an American standpoint, even this criticism may be thought over-nice. Arnold was, to the army he had deserted, an outlaw: and a sanction of the proposed abduction of higher authority than that of Sir Walter Scott might be found, when he says:

“The beast of game,

The privilege of chase may claim.

…

Though space, and law the stag we lend,

E’er hound we slip, or bow we bend,

Who ever recked, where, how, and when,

The prowling fox was trapped or slain?”

Elisa Bonaparte

2012-01-13T03:10:00.000-08:00

‘All that is known with certainty of Napoleon’s family, may be told in a few words…I. Joseph, the eldest, who though placed by his brother in an obnoxious situation, as intrusive King of Spain, held the reputation of a good king, and moderate man…The females were, I Maria Anne, afterwards Grand Duchess of Tuscany, by the name of Elisa….’

Sir Walter Scott provided a sketchy view of Napoleon’s family in his “Life of Napoleon Buonaparte”. Napoleon’s sister Elisa was born this day, January 13^th, in 1777. Others have filled in more of Elisa and others of the Bonaparte family’s lives, and one source of information is the Napoleon Historical Society. According to this group, Elisa and her husband, M. Felice Bacciochi, were crowned at Lucca in 1805. Elisa’s lowly husband became Elisa’s chamberlain. Her reign is remembered as supportive of the arts.