La Vallette

November 29. [1831]—… Made another pilgrimage, escorted by Captain Pigot and several of his officers. We took a more accurate view of this splendid structure [Church of St. John]. I went down into the vaults and made a visiting acquaintance with La Valette, whom, greatly to my joy, I found most splendidly provided with a superb sepulchre of bronze, on which he reclines in the full armour of a Knight of Chivalrie.

Sir Walter Scott is touring Malta on November 29^th, 1831, as he records in his journal.  La Vallette is known best for his leadership in resisting Ottoman Turks during the Siege of Malta (1565), despite being vastly outnumbered.  The Siege of Malta was the subject of Scott’s last novel, which was published only recently. 

A Letter from Southey

Poet Robert Southey was somewhat of a radical from an early age.  He got himself expelled from Westminster School in 1792 (approx. 18 years old) for publishing an article in the school paper against flogging.  In 1794, he contemplated migrating to Pennsylvania with Samuel Taylor Coleridge to establish a commune.  He seems to have been temperamental, as evidenced by Sir Walter Scott's journal reaction to a letter he received from Southey on November 29, 1825.

'A letter from Southey, malcontent about Murray having accomplished the change in the Quarterly without speaking to him, and quoting the twaddle of some old woman, male or female, about Lockhart's earlier jeux d'esprit, but concluding most kindly that in regard to my daughter and me he did not mean to withdraw. That he has done yeoman's service to the Review is certain, with his genius, his universal reading, his powers of regular industry, and at the outset a name which, though less generally popular than it deserves, is still too respectable to be withdrawn without injury. I could not in reply point out to him what is the truth, that his rigid Toryism and High Church prejudices rendered him an unsafe counsellor in a matter where the spirit of the age must be consulted; but I pointed out to him what I am sure is true, that Murray, apprehensive of his displeasure, had not ventured to write to him out of mere timidity and not from any [intention to offend]. I treated [lightly] his old woman's apprehensions and cautions, and all that gossip about friends and enemies, to which a splendid number or two will be a sufficient answer, and I accepted with due acknowledgment his proposal of continued support. I cannot say I was afraid of his withdrawing. Lockhart will have hard words with him, for, great as Southey's powers are, he has not the art to make them work popularly; he is often diffuse, and frequently sets much value on minute and unimportant facts, and useless pieces of abstruse knowledge. Living too exclusively in a circle where he is idolised both for his genius and the excellence of his disposition, he has acquired strong prejudices, though all of an upright and honourable cast. He rides his High Church hobby too hard, and it will not do to run a tilt upon it against all the world. Gifford used to crop his articles considerably, and they bear mark of it, being sometimes décousues. Southey said that Gifford cut out his middle joints. When John comes to use the carving-knife I fear Dr. Southey will not be so tractable. Nous verrons. I will not show Southey's letter to Lockhart, for there is to him personally no friendly tone, and it would startle the Hidalgo's pride. It is to be wished they may draw kindly together. Southey says most truly that even those who most undervalue his reputation would, were he to withdraw from the Review, exaggerate the loss it would thereby sustain. The bottom of all these feuds, though not named, is Blackwood's Magazine; all the squibs of which, which have sometimes exploded among the Lakers, Lockhart is rendered accountable for. He must now exert himself at once with spirit and prudence.  He has good backing—Canning, Bishop Blomfield, Gifford, Wright, Croker, Will Rose,—and is there not besides the Douglas?  An excellent plot, excellent friends, and full of preparations? It was no plot of my making, I am sure, yet men will say and believe that [it was], though I never heard a word of the matter till first a hint from Wright, and then the formal proposal of Murray to Lockhart announced. I believe Canning and Charles Ellis were the prime movers. I'll puzzle my brains no more about it.'

Roger Mortimer

On November 29, 1330, Earl of March Roger Mortimer was hanged at Tyburn. The charge was treason. The charges were brought by King Edward III of England, who had been under Mortimer's tutelage while a minor, after Edward II was forced to abdicate the throne.

Edward II's departure was brought on by Mortimer himself, along with Edward's own wife Isabella of France. Mortimer and Isabella had become lovers while both were in France; Mortimer due to refusing Edward's summons, Isabella merely to escape from Edward. Mortimer launched an invasion of England from Flanders, and successfully deposed Edward (1327).

As Edward III was underage at the time his father abdicated, he could not take the throne. Mortimer effectively ruled for three years, until Edward, now 18 and weary of Mortimer's control, decided to take matters into his own hands. Around Michaelmas 1330, Edward summoned a parliament at Nottingham, to approach Mortimer's castle. The castle being heavily guarded, the castle gatekeeper was approached instead. Sir William Eland knew of an underground passage into the castle that even Mortimer himself was unaware of. The opening, which became known as Mortimer Hole, was used to gain access, arrest Mortimer, and take him out with none of the guards being aware.

Scott includes a reference to Roger Mortimer in his Kenilworth.