ÆT. 45.]

ABBOTSFORD.

255

but a mansion of imposing and picturesque aspect, which should somewhat resemble the ancient castles and towers he loved so well, and also possess the social comforts, and even the elegances, of an advanced state of civilization. With the assistance of Mr. Blore, an architect of considerable taste, an extension of the cottage originally designed by Mr. Terry was commenced, with handsome elevations to the river and the road. Mr. Bullock, who deserved the character of "a virtuoso," which Scott had claimed for himself in childhood, undertook to take care of the interior; and readily, with his own hands, made many casts of masks and grotesque carvings from Melrose Abbey for the ornamentation of Scott's private study. Already Mrs. Terry (whose father, Alexander Nasmyth, painted the best portrait of Burns) had offered the use of her pencil in designing those windows of painted glass which now shed a "dim religious light" in the armory. Some decorations from the old Tolbooth of Edinburgh, the prison which Scott designated "the Heart of MidLothian," particularly the copestones of the doorway, or lintels, may now be seen half-way up the front-wall of the house, giving entrance to no place! Mr. Atkinson, a famous London architect, also took great interest in the new mansion, revising the plans, and assisting with his excellent judgment and considerable experience.

Long before the autumn was over (it is several weeks later on Tweed-side than on the Thamesside), the new house was roofed, that is, the western portion of it; for great additions to it were subsequently made. In front was placed the old stone fountain which formerly stood upon the Cross of Edinburgh, in "the auld toun," at which royal and civic proclamations were made with no small pomp and ceremony. This fountain flowed with wine at

the coronations of Scottish kings, and upon some other occasions of public rejoicing. In the following autumn, with his old friends Lord Melville and Adam Fergusson as guests, besides several neighbors, including John Wilson and J. G. Lockhart (his guests for the first time), Scott had a gay party, the handsel; for he would now allow it to be considered the house-heating of the new Abbotsford.

The year 1817 had commenced with the publication of "Harold the Dauntless,' by the author of 'The Bridal of Triermain," " part of which had been printed some years back. It did not maintain Scott's fame as a poet. About this time, too, appeared, in a little weekly periodical called "The Sales-Room," published by John Ballantyne, the humorous poem, entitled "The Sultan of Serendib, or the Search after Happiness."

A project for raising him to the judicial bench fell through at this period. An expected vacancy in the Court of Exchequer led to his entertaining this idea. But Scott, though as good a lawyer as a man whose whole earnings at the bar had not amounted to fifteen hundred pounds in ten years, certainly did not possess the requisite judicial mind; and though very few cases came before the Court of Exchequer, still some little business was to be done. As one of the principal Clerks of Session, his duties in court were little more than clerical, and need not occupy his mind after the daily rising of the Court. But he must have known that a judge has a great deal to do besides hearing motions, giving decisions, and trying cases, in court. Besides, though some of the eminent men who have worn the ermine have flirted with the Muses, the constant occupation of producing works of fancy would have been scarcely compatible with the dignity of the Bench. The Duke of Buccleugh, whose opinion he sought, and on whose influence he would

ÆT. 46 ]

THOMAS THE RHYMER.

257

mainly have relied, did not encourage the idea, which was then abandoned. All further consideration, at that time, was also checked by Scott's illness, -a severe attack of cramp in the stomach, to which he continued more or less of a martyr for the next two years, weakening his constitution, and evidently aging his appearance. The first attack prostrated him for three weeks, and fortunately occurred in Edinburgh, where the best medical advice could be instantly obtained. Immediately after his recovery, he wrote the "Farewell to the Stage," which Kemble delivered with touching effect. He installed his humble friend, William Laidlaw, in a cottage on his own newly-acquired property of Kaeside, obtained for him some literary work to execute, and (April 5, 1817) concluded a contract with Constable for a new romance.

It was Constable who suggested the title of "Rob Roy, by the author of Waverley ;" and the bookseller was so much delighted at being again "let in on the ground-floor," that he allowed himself to be talked over, on his return from Abbotsford, into taking all the dead stock of the Ballantyne publishers. In July, Scott made an excursion to refresh his memory of Rob Roy's haunts, visiting Glasgow to revive his recollection of Bailie Jarvie's place of residence. On his return, he increased his estate so as to include most of the country associated with the strains of Thomas the Rhymer. The additional cost was ten thousand pounds; and, changing the name of the place from Totfield to Huntley Burn, he placed Adam Fergusson and his sisters there as tenants of an excellent mansion recently built, thus bringing within an easy walk of Abbotsford one of his oldest and dearest friends. The garden of the Fergussons was the traditional scene of Thomas the Rhymer's inter views with the Queen of the Fairies.

CHAPTER XVI.

"Knickerbocker." — Henry Brevoort.-Scott's New-England Tracts.-Washing Irving at Abbotsford.-Parlor Sketch. -Other American Visitors: Edward Everett, George Ticknor, J. G. Cogswell, G. Stuart Newton, Charles R. Leslie. Miss Coutts.-John Inman's Reminiscences.-S. G. Goodrich.— J. Fenimore Cooper. - Brockden Brown.

1813-1826.

WALTER Scott, says the biographer of Wash

ington Irving,

was the first trans-Atlantic author to bear witness to the merits of Knickerbocker.'" The work had been placed in his hands by Mr. Henry Brevoort of New York, one of Irving's oldest and dearest friends; and a letter from Abbotsford, in April, 1813, to Mr. Brevoort, expresses the uncommon degree of entertainment which the writer had received from that "excellently jocose history of New York." While he could not understand the concealed satire of the piece, as a stranger to American parties and politics, he said, "I must own, that, looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I have never read any thing so closely resembling the style of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and two ladies who are our guests; and our sides have been absolutely sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has some touches which remind me much of Sterne."

ÆT. 42.]

66

HENRY BREVOORT.

259

Mr. Brevoort - who, as early as 1810, had begun to form the fine library now possessed and enjoyed by his son, Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, attended lectures at the University of Edinburgh in 1812-13, where he became acquainted with Scott, Jeffrey, Wilson, and other notabilities of that time and place, and with Irving, Ticknor, Everett, and J. G. Cogswell (finally superintendent and first organizer of the Astor Library) came under Scott's definition of "another well-accomplished Yankee." It is stated in Dr. James Wynne's Libraries of New York," that Scott was so much interested in the romantic personal narratives of an elder relative, who had spent a number of years upon the frontiers, and was well acquainted with the Indian character and mythical legends, as to have seriously thought of visiting America in person, and of examining the spots for himself whose associations had taken such deep root in his fancy. Thomas Scott, his brother, might have been this "elder relative; for he had lived many years in Canada, where he died in 1823 but Thomas Scott had never returned to Scotland even for a short time, and therefore could not have spoken to him about Indian warfare and myths. Scott, we are told, had conceived the idea of writing some work requiring a full knowledge of early New-England history, manners, and customs, and an acquaintance with the traits and characteristics of the tribes of the American Indians. Thomas Campbell, it will be remembered, had published "Gertrude of Wyoming," with Pennsylvania scenery and incidents; and Robert Southey's posthumous poem, "Oliver Newman," is a New-England tale. When Scott abandoned the idea of taking up this American subject, he sent to Mr. Brevoort the most rare and curious of the quaint narratives of the early settlers and travellers in New England with a brief note, saying, "As the enclosed tracts must have more interest for you