Part 2 (2/2)
_Sir Walter Scott to Miss Ferrier._
DEAR MISS FERRIER--If I had a spark of grat.i.tude in me I ought to have written you well-nigh a month ago, to thank you in no common fas.h.i.+on for _Destiny,_ which by the few, and at the same time the probability, of its incidents, your writings are those of the first person of genius who has disarmed the little pedantry of the Court of Cupid and of G.o.ds and men, and allowed youths and maidens to propose other alliances than those an early choice had pointed out to them. I have not time to tell you all the consequences of my revolutionary doctrine. All these we will talk over when you come here, which I am rejoiced to hear is likely to be on Sat.u.r.day next, when Mr. Cadell [1] will be happy to be your beau in the Blucher, [2] and we will take care are met with at the toll. Pray do not make this a flattering dream. You are of the initiated, so will not be _de trop _with Cadell.--I am, always, with the greatest respect and regard, your faithful and affectionate servant,
WALTER SCOTT.
[1] Destiny was published by Cadell through Sir Walter's intervention, and by it the author realised 1700.
[2] Name of the Stage-coach.
In 1832, the year after the birth of his G.o.dchild _Destiny,_ poor Sir Walter began to show signs of that general break-up of mind and body so speedily followed by his death. Of this sad state Miss Ferrier writes to her sister, Mrs. Kinloch (in London):--
”Alas! the night cometh when no man can work, as is the case with that mighty genius which seems now completely quenched. Well might he be styled 'a bright and benignant luminary,' for while all will deplore the loss of that bright intellect which has so long charmed a world, many will still more deeply lament the warm and steady friend, whose kind and genuine influence was ever freely diffused on all whom it could benefit.
I trust, however, he may be spared yet awhile; it might be salutary to himself to con over the lessons of a death-bed, and it might be edifying to others to have his record added to the many that have gone before him, that all below is vanity. But till we _feel_ that we shall never believe it! I _ought_ to feel it more than most people, as I sit in my dark and solitary chamber, shut out, as it seems, from all the 'pride of life'; but, alas! Worldly things make their way into the darkest and most solitary recesses, for their dwelling is in the heart, and from thence G.o.d only can expel them.”
Her first visit to the author of _Waverley_ was in the autumn of 1811, when she accompanied her father to Ashestiel. The invitation came from Scott to Mr. Ferrier:--
_Walter Scott, Esq., to James Ferrier, Esq._
”My DEAR SIR--We are delighted to see that your feet are free and disposed to turn themselves our way--a pleasure which we cannot consent to put off till we have a house at Abbotsford, which is but a distant prospect. We are quite disengaged and alone, saving the company of Mr.
Terry the comedian, who is a.s.sisting me in planning my cottage, having been bred an architect under Wyat. He reads to us after coffee in the evening, which is very pleasant. This letter will reach you to-morrow, so probably _Thursday_ may be a convenient day of march, when we shall expect you to dinner about five o'clock, unless the weather should be very stormy, in which case we should be sorry Miss Ferrier should risk getting cold. To-day is clearing up after a week's dismal weather, which may ent.i.tle us to expect some pleasant October days, not the worst of our climate. The road is by Middleton and Bankhouse; we are ten miles from the last stage, and thirty from Edinburgh, hilly road. There is a ford beneath Ashestiel generally very pa.s.sable, but we will have the boat in readiness in case Miss Ferrier prefers it, or the water should be full. Mrs. Scott joins in kind respects to Miss Ferrier, and I ever am, dear Sir,--yours truly obliged,
W. SCOTT.
”Ashestiel, _October_ 7.”
It was in 1811 that Scott was appointed a clerk of session, and to Mr.
Ferrier he was in some measure indebted for that post.
Her last visit to Abbotsford is touchingly alluded to by Lockhart in his _Life of Scott:--_
”To a.s.sist them in amusing him in the hours which he spent out of his study, and especially that he might make these hours more frequent, his daughter had invited his friend the auth.o.r.ess of _Marriage_ to come out to Abbotsford, and her coming was serviceable. For she knew and loved him well, and she had seen enough of affliction akin to his to be well skilled in dealing with it. She could not be an hour in his company without observing what filled his children with more sorrow than all the rest of the case. He would begin a story as gaily as ever, and go on, in spite of the hesitation in his speech, to tell it with highly picturesque effect--but before he reached the point, it would seem as if some internal spring had given way. He paused and gazed round him with the blank anxiety of look that a blind man has when he has dropped his staff. Unthinking friends sometimes gave him the catch-word abruptly. I noticed the delicacy of Miss Ferrier on such occasions. Her sight was bad, and she took care not to use her gla.s.ses when he was speaking, and she affected also to be troubled with deafness, and would say, 'Well, I am getting as dull as a post, I have not heard a word since you said so and so,' being sure to mention a circ.u.mstance behind that at which he had really halted. He then took up the thread with his habitual smile of courtesy, as if forgetting his case entirely in the consideration of the lady's infirmity.”
A very interesting account of her recollections of visits to Ashestiel and Abbotsford appeared in the February (1874) number of this magazine: it is short, but gives a sad and pathetic picture of the great man and his little grandson as they sat side by side at table.
The following letter on _Destiny_ is from Mrs. Fletcher, [1] a distinguished citizen of Edinburgh at the commencement of this century, and a leader of the Whig society there. For that reason it is worthy of insertion here. Her son married Miss Clavering, as before mentioned:--
[1] Her _Memoir,_ by her daughter, Lady Richardson, was published not long since.
_Mrs. Fletcher to Miss Ferrier._
”TADCASTER, _April_ 16, 1831.
”My DEAR MISS FERRIER--I should not have been so long in thanking you for your kind present, had I not wished to subject _Destiny_ to a severer test than that chosen by the French dramatist. _His_ old woman probably partook of the vivacity of her nation, but my old aunt, as Mary will tell you, is sick and often very sorrowful, and yet _Destiny_ has made her laugh heartily, and cheated her of many wearisome hours of lamentation. My grandson, Archibald Taylor, too, forsook football and cricket for your fascinating book, and told me 'he could sit up all night to see what had become of Ronald.' Mr. Ribley and 'Kitty, my dear,' hit his comic fancy particularly. My two most bookish neighbours, one an Oxford divine, and the other a Cambridge student, declare that, Glenroy and M'Dow are exquisite originals.' My own favourite, 'Molly Macaulay,' preserves her good-humour to the last, though I thought you rather unmerciful in shutting her up so long in Johnnie's nursery. The fas.h.i.+onable heartlessness of Lady Elizabeth and her daughter is coloured to the life, and the refreshment of returning to nature, truth, affection, and happiness at Inch Orran is admirably managed. Mary tells me you have returned from Fife with fresh materials for future volumes.
Go on, dear Miss Ferrier, you are accountable for the talents entrusted to you. Go on to detect selfishness in all its various forms and foldings; to put pride and vanity to shame; to prove that vulgarity belongs more to character than condition, and that all who make the world their standard are essentially vulgar and low-minded, however n.o.ble their exterior or refined their manners may be, and that true dignity and elevation belong only to those to whom Milton's lines may be applied:
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