Francis Arkwright

‘May 7 [1828]--Breakfasted with Lord Francis Gower, and again enjoyed the

great pleasure of meeting Mrs. Arkwright, and hearing her sing. She is,

I understand, quite a heaven-born genius, having scarce skill enough in

music to write down the tunes she composes. I can easily believe this.

There is a pedantry among great musicians that deprives their

performances of much that is graceful and beautiful. It is the same in

the other fine arts, where fashion always prefers cant and slang to

nature and simplicity…’

Part of the talented Kemble family, Francis Arkwright (nee Kemble) was first cousin to actress Fanny Kemble.  Francis Arkwright didn’t achieve as much public acclamation as much of the rest of her extended family, but clearly her talents were appreciated by Walter Scott.  He describes her performances in several journal entries, including the one above.

New Orleans

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded the city of New Orleans on May 7, 1718.  According to Mark Twain, who was critical of Sir Walter Scott, Scott is responsible for its capital building.  Writes Twain, in "Life on the Mississippi":


'Sir Walter Scott is probably responsible for the Capitol building; for it is not conceivable that this little sham castle would ever have been built if he had not run the people mad, a couple of generations ago, with his mediaeval romances...'

The Rough Wooing

One of the phrases coined by Walter Scott, the Wars of the Rough Wooing referred to the effort on the part of England's Henry VIII to force a marriage between his son Edward and Mary Stuart.  On May 7, 1542, the Earl of Hertford, who was Queen Jane Seymour's brother, invaded the Borderlands of Scotland, reaching Edinburgh in support of Henry's wishes.

Sir Walter Scott covers the Earl's (the Queene's brother) incursion the poem "Lord Ewrie", published in his Poetical Works:

Lord Ewrie was as brave a man
As ever stood in his degree;
The King has sent him a ftioad letter,
All for his courage and loyalty.!
...
 
With our Queene's brother * he hath been,
And rode rough shod through Scotland of late;
They have burn'd the Mers and Tiviotdale,
And knocked full loud at Edinburgh gate.
 
*The Earl of Hertford, afterward duke of Somerset, and brother of Queen Jane Seymour, made a furious incursion into Scotland, in 1545.