Part 3
‘The author of Waverley’ was still continuing to issue the apparently inexhaustible “coinage of his brain,” at the rate of from three to eight volumes a year, exclusive of as much additional poetry and prose ‘by Sir Walter Scott’ as would have built up a goodly reputation for any ordinary author,--when, in January, 1826, the house of Constable and Co. became bankrupt. It then became known, to the extreme surprise and universal regret of the public, that their great literary benefactor and favourite was involved by the failure to an extent which appeared utterly ruinous. By bill transactions with Messrs. Constable and Co., and by other means not yet very distinctly detailed, he had become responsible for debts to the enormous amount of £120,000, of which not above one half were actually incurred on his own account. How a man of Sir Walter’s characteristic prudence and knowledge of business should have been so incautious as to entangle himself in such transactions is most surprising, and scarcely well accounted for by any explanation that has yet appeared of these concerns. Probably the very large sums expended in the purchase and embellishment of Abbotsford, amounting, it is said, to from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds, was one chief originating cause of these involvements. These points will be all developed when his life comes to be published. But whatever may have been the causes of this crushing misfortune, his conduct under it was admirable; and the honour which rests upon his memory for his gigantic exertions to pay off this immense debt without deduction, is a far nobler heritage to his posterity than the most princely fortune. Though this period of his life is one of the most interesting passages of his whole history, we must of necessity now hurry forward to the close of his career.
He encountered adversity with dignified and manly intrepidity. On meeting the creditors he refused to accept of any compromise, and declared his determination, if life was spared him, to pay off every shilling. He insured his life in their favour for £22,000; surrendered all his available property in trust; sold his town house and furniture, and removed to a humbler dwelling; and then set himself calmly down to the stupendous task of reducing this load of debt. The only indulgence he asked for was time; and, to the honour of the parties concerned, time was liberally and kindly given him.
A month or two after the crash of Constable’s house Lady Scott died--domestic affliction thus following fast on worldly calamity.
The divulgement of the Waverley secret became, by the exposure of Constable’s concerns, indispensable, and took place at an anniversary dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund Association in February, 1827. The original MSS. of these works falling into the possession of the creditors, were afterwards sold in London by public auction.
For five years after his pecuniary misfortunes, namely, from January, 1826, to the spring of 1831, Sir Walter continued his indefatigable labours, and in that period, besides some eight or ten new works of fiction, produced the ‘Life of Napoleon,’ in nine volumes; a ‘History of Scotland,’ in two volumes; ‘Tales of a Grandfather,’ in nine small volumes; ‘Letters on Demonology;’ ‘Malagrowther’s Letters,’ and a variety of smaller productions. The profits of these works, and of the new edition of the Waverley Novels, which was commenced in 1829, were so considerable, that towards the end of the year 1830, £54,000 of debt had been paid off; all of which, except six or seven thousand, had been produced by his own literary labours.
The prodigious labour which these numerous and voluminous works necessarily required, was too much, however, for even the most ready intellect and robust frame. The present writer, when he saw Sir Walter for the last time at Abbotsford, in the autumn of 1830, was exceedingly struck by the change which a comparatively short period had produced on his personal appearance. A few years previously he looked a hale and active man in middle life; now, at the age of sixty, he appeared at least ten or twelve years older. His hair had become thin and perfectly white; the marks of old age were gathering fast upon his countenance; and from increased decrepitude he “hirpled” (as he expressed it) much more than formerly in his gait. His cordial kindness and conversational felicity remained unimpaired, but something of his former hilarity of spirit was wanting. When told of the death of a gentleman of his acquaintance by paralysis, a few days previously, he appeared much struck, and made a remark which seemed at the time to indicate some secret apprehension in his own mind of that fatal malady then lurking in his own overwrought frame.
He had then just retired from his office as a principal Clerk of Session, but the relief he thereby gained (if indeed the time saved was not filled by more exhausting labours) came too late. The springs of life, so long overtasked, began to give way. During the ensuing winter symptoms of gradual paralysis (a disease of which his father, it seems, had also died, but at an advanced age) began to be manifested. His lameness became more distressing, and his utterance began to be obviously affected. Yet even in this afflicting and ominous condition he continued to work with undiminished diligence.
During the summer of 1831 he grew gradually worse. His medical attendants strictly forbade mental exertion; yet he could not be restrained altogether from composition. In the autumn a visit to Italy was recommended and a passage to Malta in a ship of war was readily obtained for him. He was with difficulty prevailed on to leave Scotland; but yielded at length to the entreaties of his friends, and sailed in October, accompanied by his eldest son and his unmarried daughter. His health seemed improved by the voyage; but after visiting Naples and Rome, at both of which cities he was received with almost regal honours, his desire to return to his native land became irrepressible, and he hurried homeward with a rapidity which, in his state of health, was highly injurious, and doubtless accelerated the catastrophe which perhaps no degree of skill or caution could have long delayed. He experienced a further severe attack of his disorder in passing down the Rhine, and reached London in nearly the last stage of physical and mental prostration. Medical aid could only, it was found, for a short period protract dissolution; and to gratify his most ardent dying wish, he was conveyed by the steam-packet to Leith, and on the 11th of July, 1832, reached once more his favourite house at Abbotsford,--but in such a pitiable condition, that he no longer recognised his dearest and nearest relations. After lingering in this deplorable state till, in the progress of this melancholy malady--this living death--mortification had been some time proceeding in different parts of the mortal frame--he expired without a struggle on the 21st of September, 1832.
The funeral was attended chiefly by the personal friends and relatives of the deceased, and by the gentlemen of his acquaintance in the vicinity; but the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns and villages evinced their respect for his memory by spontaneously suspending all business and generally assuming the emblems of mourning, while the funeral train were proceeding to deposit the body in its last narrow dwelling. He was interred in his family burial aisle amidst the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey,--a spot of great picturesque beauty, lying on Tweed Side about half way between Smailholm, the scene of his simple infancy, and Abbotsford, the stately home of his latter years.
[Illustration: Dryburgh Abbey.]
The death of Sir Walter Scott, though it had been for some time expected, produced a great sensation; and the exaggerated rumours of the amount of his debts remaining unpaid, and the probability of Abbotsford being in consequence lost to his family, called forth a very general wish for some generous manifestation of national gratitude to avert so afflicting a result. It has been since ascertained that the whole of the debts now remaining do not much exceed £20,000--a sum which his family have, it is understood, declared their ability and determination to meet without assistance.
Meetings have in the meanwhile been held on Tweed Side, in Edinburgh, and in London, to give expression to the national sorrow for his loss, and to decide on the erection of more than one monument of national respect and admiration.
Sir Walter Scott has left a family of two sons and two daughters. The elder son, the present Sir Walter, is a Major in the 15th Hussars; Charles the younger, is an Attaché to the Neapolitan Legation. The elder daughter was married in 1820 to Mr. J. G. Lockhart, editor of the Quarterly Review; the younger, Miss Ann Scott, remains still unmarried.
In person Sir Walter Scott was about six feet in height, but from his somewhat stooping gait did not look quite so tall. In middle life he was considered a powerful and robust man. His dress and manners were distinguished by a dignified simplicity. The character and expression of his countenance have been rendered familiar to the world by engravings from several fine portraits, and casts from the admirable bust by Chantry. His literary and social habits we have already cursorily noticed. He was beloved by all classes from the prince to the peasant; with all classes he was equally at home; and the characters and manners of all he has described in his writings with equal truth and felicity. In this respect, he is equalled by Shakspeare alone. He had a kindly sympathy for human nature in all its aspects, and, though naturally of decidedly aristocratic predilections, he respected the feelings of the humblest individual. He was most punctual in answering letters, though the labour which this task involved (and much of it caused by uninvited correspondents) was often a real affliction. Of his kindliness of heart we could relate many most pleasing traits--especially in acts of friendship to literary men whom he found struggling in obscurity or adversity. To the Ettrick Shepherd he was an early and active patron. Mr. Allan Cunningham has gratefully recorded his obligations to him, in obtaining, through his interest, appointments for two of his sons in India. Mr. T. Pringle (another of his border acquaintance) was warmly recommended by him when he went abroad in 1820, for a government appointment at the Cape. Some of the sons of the poet Burns have been effectually helped forward in life by his generous intervention. The widow of Johnson, the engraver, (the early friend and correspondent of Burns,) received in her destitute old age a monthly allowance from his purse. And the catalogue of such generous acts (though all carefully concealed by himself) might be enlarged tenfold were we at liberty to disclose merely all those that have become known to ourselves. His graceful mode of doing a friendly act was even more meritorious than the act itself: he always endeavoured to represent himself as the obliged person. With all these great and good qualities Sir Walter Scott had, like all of Adam’s race, his foibles and defects; but we have neither space nor inclination to attempt their impartial delineation. His colossal character, intellectual and moral, with all its lights and shades, (and the latter were but few,) will be, doubtless, ere long depicted by hands fully competent to the task; and the influence of his genius on the literature not of England merely, but of Europe, at the same time, justly appreciated.
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Footnote 1:
Memoir of Sir Walter Scott, by Mr. Cunningham, in the Athenæum.
Footnote 2:
In ‘Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal’--a little work published weekly, at three-halfpence;--which deserves, as it has received, extensive support. We are happy to have an opportunity of recommending this labourer in the same field with ourselves, especially as the large sale of the Edinburgh Journal offers one of many proofs that sound and accurate information, conveyed in a familiar and agreeable shape, will be acceptable to the large body of readers, without any of those attractions, whether of violence as to public subjects, or frivolous tattling about private ones, which have been formerly considered essential to popularity.
Footnote 3:
The following is the title of this his first publication:--‘The Chace; and William and Helen: Edinburgh; Manners and Miller, 1796.’
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Transcriber’s Notes
This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized changes from the original text:
• p. 297: Added period after phrase “alien to those their parent had conscientiously adopted.” • p. 299: Added closing double quotation mark after phrase “any of the periodical publications of the day.” • p. 300: Added closing single quotation mark after title “The Wild Huntsman.” • p. 302: Replaced “marraige” with “marriage” in phrase “pecuniary difficulties about the time of his marriage.” • p. 304: Added period after phrase “Panyer Alley.”