Sir George Beaumont

'...Talking of Wordsworth, he told Anne and me a story, the object of which was to show that Crabbe had not imagination. He, Sir George Beaumont, and Wordsworth were sitting together in Murray the bookseller's back-room. Sir George, after sealing a letter, blew out the candle, which had enabled him to do so, and, exchanging a look with Wordsworth, began to admire in silence the undulating thread of smoke which slowly arose from the expiring wick, when Crabbe put on the extinguisher. Anne laughed at the instance, and inquired if the taper was wax, and being answered in the negative, seemed to think that there was no call on Mr. Crabbe to sacrifice his sense of smell to their admiration of beautiful and evanescent forms. In two other men I should have said "this is affectations," with Sir Hugh Evans; but Sir George is the man in the world most void of affectation; and then he is an exquisite painter, and no doubt saw where the incident would have succeeded in painting. The error is not in you yourself receiving deep impressions from slight hints, but in supposing that precisely the same sort of impression must arise in the mind of men otherwise of kindred feeling, or that the commonplace folks of the world can derive such inductions at any time or under any circumstances.'

The interchange recorded above is from Scott's Journal, dated January 3, 1827.  George Crabbe was posted about in December.  Scott mentions Sir George Beaumont several times in his journal.  Scott is clearly deferential to this patron of the arts.  Wordsworth and Beaumont were friends, Beaumont having supported Wordsworth by allowing the use of his farm in the Lake District.  Baronet Beaumont, who helped establish London's National Gallery, was to live just one month past Scott's journal reference.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge

On September 3, 1802, William Wordsworth composed his sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”:

Earth hath not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Walter Scott knew Wordsworth well, and seems fond of him, from several entries in his journal. For example, on January 2, 1827:

‘Talking of Wordsworth, he told Anne and me a story, the object of which was to show that Crabbe had not imagination. He, Sir George Beaumont, and Wordsworth were sitting together in Murray the bookseller's
back-room. Sir George, after sealing a letter, blew out the candle, which had enabled him to do so, and, exchanging a look with Wordsworth, began to admire in silence the undulating thread of smoke which slowly arose from the expiring wick, when Crabbe put on the extinguisher. Anne laughed at the instance, and inquired if the taper was wax, and being answered in the negative, seemed to think that there was no call on Mr. Crabbe to sacrifice his sense of smell to their admiration of beautiful and evanescent forms. In two other men I should have said "this is affectations," with Sir Hugh Evans; but Sir George is the man in the world most void of affectation; and then he is an exquisite painter, and no doubt saw where the _incident_ would have succeeded in painting. The error is not in you yourself receiving deep impressions from slight hints, but in supposing that precisely the same sort of impression must arise in the mind of men otherwise of kindred feeling, or that the commonplace folks of the world can derive such inductions at any time or under any circumstances.’

On the Departure of Sir Walter Scott from Abbotsford, for Naples

The poem named in the title bar (displayed below) was written by Scott's contemporary William Wordsworth.  Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, (a year before Scott) at Cockermouth, in the Cumberland Lake District.  With Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wordsworth jointly published "Lyrical Ballads", demarking the beginning of the Romantic Age in English literature.

Wordsworth and Scott met and became friends, around 1803.  That Wordsworth made an impression on Scott is evident from the more that 30 entries in his journal, either referencing his work or a social gathering.  Clearly, the feeling was mutual:

On the Departure of Sir Walter Scott from Abbotsford, for Naples

A trouble, not of clouds, or weeping rain,
Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light
Engendered, hangs o'er Eildon's triple height:
Spirits of Power, assembled there, complain
For kindred Power departing from their sight;
While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain,
Saddens his voice again, and yet again.
Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might
Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes;
Blessings and prayers in nobler retinue
Than sceptred king or laurelled conqueror knows,
Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true,
Ye winds of ocean, and the midland sea,
Wafting your Charge to soft Parthenope!

The People's MP

"March 21 (1826).—Perused an attack on myself, done with as much ability as truth, by no less a man than Joseph Hume, the night-work man of the House of Commons, who lives upon petty abuses, and is a very useful man by so doing. He has had the kindness to say that I am interested in keeping up the taxes; I wish I had anything else to do with them than to pay them. But he lies, and is an ass, and not worth a man's thinking about. Joseph Hume, indeed!—I say Joseph Hum,—and could add a Swiftian rhyme, but forbear."

- From Scott's Journal.

According to Sir Robert Peel, Hume was "one of the most useful members to sit in the House of Commons".  He was known for challenging every expenditure in the budget.  Hume was in favor of free trade, and opposed to the Corn Laws.  His nickname as the People's MP had to do partly with his efforts against "combination laws" that favored masters, and hindered laborers.  William Wordsworth and Charles Lamb would have been attuned to Scott's feelings on the subject of Joseph Hume.  These men saw their pensions severed, due, as Lamb put it, to "the foul enchanter, Joseph Hume".