The Davydov's

November 18 [1827].—This has been also a day of exertion. I was interrupted for a moment by a visit from young Davidoff with a present of a steel snuff-box [Tula work], wrought and lined with gold, having my arms on the top, and on the sides various scenes from the environs and principal public buildings of St. Petersburg—a joli cadeau—and I take it very kind of my young friend. I had a letter from his uncle, Denis Davidoff, the black captain of the French retreat. The Russians are certainly losing ground and men in Persia, and will not easily get out of the scrape of having engaged an active enemy in a difficult and unhealthy country. I am glad of it; it is an overgrown power; and to have them kept quiet at least is well for the rest of Europe.

The Russian Davidoff’s, or Davydov’s, make the pages of Sir Walter Scott’s journal on several occasions.  Denis Davydov, who claimed descent from Ghengis Khan, was famous for his guerilla war tactics which helped push Napoleon’s Grand Armee out of Russia.  He also wrote poetry.

Denis Davydov is mentioned in the works of Russian writers, including Alexander Poushkin’s “The Shot”, and his military tactics figure in Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.  His nephew, the young Count Davydov, spent some time with Scott at Abbotsford in 1826.  Count Davydov is mentioned in other journals, including the “Memoirs of Sir William Hamilton”: ‘Sir William, besides mixing to some extent in the ordinary society of Edinburgh, had a very considerable amount of intercourse with strangers who came to visit the city, and whom his reputation, even at this early period, attracted to his mother's house. Among these, many of whom became his friends, were Baron Schwarzkopf, a young Prussian nobleman; G. H. Bernstein, afterwards Professor of Oriental Literature at Breslau; Mr Edward Everett, afterwards editor of the 'North American Eeview,' and Minister in London from the United States. At a somewhat later period (1826) Count Davidoff (now Count Orloff Davidoff), the representative of a well-known Bussian noble family, spent two or three years in Edinburgh with his tutor, Mr Colyar, and was much with Sir William and his brother. The young Count carried with him to his native country very vivid and permanent impressions of Edinburgh social life and feeling, and set himself, on his return to his large estates, to ameliorate as far as he could the condition of his numerous serfs.'

William Tell

"I say not but that he deserved death," replied the Landamman; "but for your own sake and for ours, you should have forborne him till the Duke's pleasure was known."


"What tell you us of the Duke?" answered Laurenz Neipperg, the same blue cavalier whom Arthur had seen at the secret rendezvous of the Balese youth, in company with Rudolph,—" Why talk you of Burgundy to us, who are none of his subjects? The Emperor, our only rightful lord, had no title to pawn the town and fortifications of La Ferette, being as it is a dependency of Bale, to the prejudice of our free city. He might have pledged the revenue indeed] and supposing him to have done so, the debt has been paid twice over by the exactions levied by yonder oppressor, who has now received his due. But pass on, Landamman of Uuterwalden. If our actions displease you, abjure them at the footstool of the Duke of Burgundy; but, in doing so, abjure the memory of William Tell, and Staufbacher, of Furst, and Melchtal, the fathers of Swiss freedom."


" You speak truth," said the Landamman; " but it is in an ill-chosen and unhappy time. Patience would have remedied your evils, which none felt more deeply, or would have redressed more willingly, than I. But O, imprudent young man, you have thrown aside the modesty of your age, and the subjection you owe to your elders. William Tell and his brethren were men of years and judgment, husbands and fathers, having a right to be heard in council, and to be foremost in action. Enough —I leave it with the fathers and senators of your own city, to acknowledge or to reprove your actions. —But you, my friends,—you, Banneret of Berne,— you, Rudolph,—above all, you, Nicholas Bonstetten, my comrade and my friend, why did you not take this miserable man under your protection? The action would have shown Burgundy, that we were slandered by those who have declared us desirous of seeking a quarrel with him, or of inciting his subjects to revolt. Now, all these prejudices will be confirmed in the minds of men, naturally more tenacious of evil impressions than of those which are favourable."
 
The Swiss set "Anne of Geierstein" is an appropriate place for Walter Scott to bring in Swiss patriot William Tell.  November 18, 1307, is considered the date when he famously sent an arrow through an apple sitting atop his son's head.

Sir David Wilkie

The Scottish painter David Wilkie was born this day in 1785. The son of a minister in Fife, Wilkie took to art early in life, and began formal training under John Graham. Wilkie traveled extensively through Europe, which greatly influenced his style. In 1823, Wilkie was named Royal Limner for Scotland, and he undertook sittings with King George IV, to commemorate his visit to Scotland. In 1830, Wilkie was appointed painter in ordinary to the king, and he was knighted in 1836.

Wilkie and Scott were familiar to each other. Wilkie visited Abbotsford in 1818, and painted Scott's family. All were depicted in Scottish peasant dress for the painting. which is titled "The Abbotsford Family".