334
(to use the language of his own favourite minstrelsy)
"far from the Tweed." His journey was performed
too rapidly for his strength. For six days he tra-
velled seventeen hours a day. The consequence
was, that in passing down the Rhine he experienced
a severe attack of his malady, which produced com-
plete insensibility, and would have inevitably carried
him off, but for the presence of mind of his servant,
who bled him profusely. On his arrival in London
he was conveyed to the St. James' Hotel, Jermyn
Street, and immediately attended by Sir Henry
Halford and Dr. Holland, as well as by his son-in-
law and daughter. All help was now, however,
useless. The disease had reached nearly its most
virulent stage, producing a total insensibility to the
presence of even his most beloved relatives—
-----------"omni
Membrorum damno major, dementia, quse nee
Nomina servorum, nec vultum agnoscit amici."
After residing for some weeks in London in the
receipt of every attention which filial piety and
medical skill could bestow, the expiring poet desired
that, if possible, he might be removed to his native
land—to his own home. As the case was reckoned
quite desperate, it was resolved to gratify him in his
dying wish, even at the hazard of accelerating his
dissolution by the voyage. He accordingly left
London on the 7th of July, and, arriving at New-
haven on the evening of the 9th, was conveyed with
all possible care to a hotel in his native city. After
spending two nights and a day in Edinburgh, he
was removed, on the morning of the 11th, to Abbots-
ford.
That intense love of home and of country which
had urged his return from the Continent, here seemed
to dispel for a moment the clouds of the mental at-
mosphere. In descending the vale of Gala, at the
bottom of which the view of Abbotsford first opens,
it was found difficult to keep him quiet in his car-
riage, so anxious was he to rear himself up in order
to catch an early glimpse of the beloved scene. On
arriving at his house he hardly recognized anybody
or anything. He looked vacantly on all the objects
that met his gaze, except the well-remembered visage
of his friend Laidlaw, whose hand he affectionately
pressed, murmuring, "that now he knew that he was
at Abbotsford." He was here attended by most of
the members of his family, including Mr. Lockhart,
while the general superintendence of his deathbed
(now too certainly such) was committed to Dr.
Clarkson of Melrose. He was now arrived at that
melancholy state when the friends of the patient can
form no more affectionate wish than that death may
step in to claim his own. Yet day after day did the
remnants of a robust constitution continue to hold
out against the gloomy foe of life, until, notwith-
standing every effort to the contrary, mortification
commenced at several parts of the body. This was
about twelve days before his demise, which at length
took place on the 21st of September (1832), the
principles of life having been by that time so tho-
roughly worn out that nothing remained by which
pain could be either experienced or expressed. On
the 26th the illustrious deceased was buried in an
aisle in Dryburgh Abbey, which had belonged to one
of his ancestors, and which had been given to him
by the Earl of Buchan.
Sir Walter Scott was in stature above six feet;
but having been lame from an early period of life
in the right limb, he sank a little on that side in
walking. His person was, in latter life, bulky, but
not corpulent, and made a graceful appearance on
horseback. Of his features it is needless to give any
particular description, as they must be familiar to
every reader through the medium of the innumerable
portraits, busts, and medallions by which they have
been commemorated. His complexion was fair and
the natural colour of his hair sandy. The portrait
by Raeburn, of which an engraving was prefixed to
the Lady of the Lake, gives the best representation
of the poet as he appeared in the prime of life. The
bust of Chantry, taken in 1820, affords the most faith-
ful delineation of his features as he was advancing
into age. And his aspect in his sixtieth year, when
age and reflection had more deeply marked his coun-
tenance, is most admirably preserved in Mr. Watson
Gordon's portrait, of which an engraving accom-
panies the present memoir. There is likewise a very
faithful portrait by Mr. Leslie, an American artist.
Sir Walter Scott possessed, in an eminent degree,
the power of imagination with the gift of memory.
If to this be added his strong tendency to venerate
past things, we at once have the most obvious fea-
tures of his intellectual character. A desultory course
of reading had brought him into acquaintance with
almost all the fictitious literature that existed before
his own day, as well as the minutest points of British,
and more particularly Scottish, history. His easy
and familiar habits had also introduced him to an
extensive observation of the varieties of human char-
acter. His immense memory retained the ideas thus
acquired, and his splendid imagination gave them
new shape and colour. Thus, his literary character
rests almost exclusively upon his power of combin-
ing and embellishing past events, and his skill in
delineating natural character. In early life accident
threw his opinions into the shape of verse—in later
life into prose; but in whatever form they appear,
the powers are not much different. The same magi-
cian is still at work re-awaking the figures and events
of history, or sketching the characters which we
every day see around us, and investing the whole
with the light of a most extraordinary fancy.
It is by far the greatest glory of Sir Walter Scott
that he shone equally as a good and virtuous man
as he did in his capacity of the first fictitious writer
of the age. His behaviour through life was marked
by undeviating integrity and purity. His character
as a husband and father is altogether irreproachable.
Indeed, in no single relation of life does he appeal-
liable to blame, except in the facility with which he
yielded his fortunes into the power of others, of
whom he ought to have stood quite independent.
Laying this imprudence out of view, his good sense
and good feeling united, appear to have guided him
aright through all the difficulties and temptations of
life. Along with the most perfect uprightness of
conduct, he was characterized by extraordinary sim-
plicity of manners. He was invariably gracious and
kind, and it was impossible ever to detect in his
conversation a symptom of his grounding the slightest
title to consideration upon his literary fame, or of
his even being conscious of it.
By dint of almost incredible exertions Sir Walter
Scott had reduced the amount of his debts, at the
time of his decease, to about £20,000, exclusive of
the accumulated interest. On the 29th of October
a meeting of his creditors was called, when an offer
was made by his family of that sum against the
ensuing February, on condition of their obtaining a
complete discharge. The meeting was very numer-
ously attended, and the proposal was accepted with-
out a dissentient voice. In addition to the resolution
accepting the offer, and directing the trustees to see
the acceptance carried into effect, the following re-
solution was moved and carried with a like unani-
mity:—
" And while the meeting state their anxious wish