James Beattie

The poet James Beattie was born on October 25^th, 1735.  Perhaps the most significant connection between Beattie and Sir Walter Scott is the discovery, this past May, of Beattie’s lost  9,000 word poem “Grotesquaid” in the Abbotsford library.  Beattie’s poem “Minstrel” is his most famous. 

Bibliophiles

Sirs Robert Bruce Cotton and Walter Scott have at least one thing in common.  Both can be classified as bibliophiles.  Scott's library holds 9,000 volumes, according to the Abbotsford website (link on dashboard).  Cotton's library may have been smaller overall (1,000 volumes), but it was no less significant, as several leading intellects of the day (e.g. Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Walter Raleigh, James Ussher) utilized his book collection.  Cotton's collection included many legal documents, and was the most extensive source of these records in its day. Cotton is credited with proposing the first national library.  Sir Robert Bruce Cotton died on May 6, 1631.

Maria Edgeworth

Maria Edgeworth was an author, daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, also an author. Ms. Edgeworth published more than 20 books during her lifetime, the first being Rackrent, which brought the Irish peasant to life for many people. Rackrent had a significant influence on Scott's Waverly, which was published in 1814. Upon reading Waverley, Ms. Edgeworth immediately wrote to Scott, thus beginning what was to be a long correspondence between the two. In 1823, Edgeworth spent two weeks with Scott at Abbotsford. Scott returned the favor two years later, visiting Edgeworth at Edgeworthstown in County Longford, Ireland.

On this day in 1827, Sir Walter wrote to Maria Edgeworth to thank her for acknowledging reciept of a volume (of Life of Napoleon? Chronicles of the Canongate?):

"My dear Miss Edgewowrth-I received your acknowledgement this day, which is more than a hundred of the volumes acknowledged..."