The Crown of Wild Olive
_blood_, _then_ the charm is firm and good.' The two frescoes in the
colossal handbills which have lately decorated the streets of London
(the baboon with the mirror, and the Maskelyne and Cooke decapitation)
are the final English forms of Raphael's arabesque under this influence;
and it is well worth while to get the number for the week ending April
3, 1880, of _Young Folks_--'A magazine of instructive and entertaining
literature for boys and girls of all ages,' containing 'A Sequel to
Desdichado' (the modern development of Ivanhoe), in which a quite
monumental example of the kind of art in question will be found as a
leading illustration of this characteristic sentence, "See, good
Cerberus," said Sir Rupert, "_my hand has been struck off. You must make
me a hand of iron, one with springs in it, so that I can make it grasp a
dagger._" The text is also, as it professes to be, instructive; being
the ultimate degeneration of what I have above called the 'folly' of
_Ivanhoe_; for folly begets folly down, and down; and whatever Scott and
Turner did wrong has thousands of imitators--their wisdom none will so
much as hear, how much less follow!
In both of the Masters, it is always to be remembered that the evil and
good are alike conditions of literal _vision_: and therefore also,
inseparably connected with the state of the health. I believe the first
elements of all Scott's errors were in the milk of his consumptive
nurse, which all but killed him as an infant, L. i. 19--and was without
doubt the cause of the teething fever that ended in his lameness (L. i.
20). Then came (if the reader cares to know what I mean by Fors, let him
read the page carefully) the fearful accidents to his only sister, and
her death, L. i. 17; then the madness of his nurse, who planned his own
murder (21), then the stories continually told him of the executions at
Carlisle (24), his aunt's husband having seen them; issuing, he himself
scarcely knows how, in the unaccountable terror that came upon him at
the sight of statuary, 31--especially Jacob's ladder; then the murder of
Mrs. Swinton, and finally the nearly fatal bursting of the blood vessel
at Kelso, with the succeeding nervous illness, 65-67--solaced, while he
was being 'bled and blistered till he had scarcely a pulse left,' by
that history of the Knights of Malta--fondly dwelt on and realised by
actual modelling of their fortress, which returned to his mind for the
theme of its last effort in passing away.
[157] 'Se dit par denigrement, d'un chretien qui ne croit pas les dogmes
de sa religion.'--Fleming, vol. ii. p. 659.
[158] 'A son nom,' properly. The sentence is one of Victor Cherbuliez's,
in _Prosper Randoce_, which is full of other valuable ones. See the old
nurse's 'ici bas les choses vont de travers, comme un chien qui va a
vepres, p. 93; and compare Prosper's treasures, 'la petite Venus, et le
petit Christ d'ivoire,' p. 121; also Madame Brehanne's request for the
divertissement of 'quelque belle batterie a coups de couteau' with
Didier's answer. 'Helas! madame, vous jouez de malheur, ici dans la
Drome, l'on se massacre aussi peu que possible,' p. 33.
[159] Edgeworth's _Tales_ (Hunter, 1827), 'Harrington and Ormond,' vol.
iii. p. 260.
[160] Alice of Salisbury, Alice Lee, Alice Bridgnorth.
[161] Scott's father was habitually ascetic. 'I have heard his son tell
that it was common with him, if any one observed that the soup was good,
to taste it again, and say, "Yes--it is too good, bairns," and dash a
tumbler of cold water into his plate.'--Lockhart's _Life_ (Black,
Edinburgh, 1869), vol. i. p. 312. In other places I refer to this book
in the simple form of 'L.'
[162] A young lady sang to me, just before I copied out this page for
press, a Miss Somebody's 'great song,' 'Live, and Love, and Die.' Had it
been written for nothing better than silkworms, it should at least have
added--Spin.
[163] See passage of introduction to _Ivanhoe_, wisely quoted in L. vi.
106.
[164] See below, note, p. 25, on the conclusion of _Woodstock_.
[165] L. iv. 177.
[166] L. vi. 67.
[167] 'One other such novel, and there's an end; but who can last for
ever? who ever lasted so long?'--Sydney Smith (of the _Pirate_) to
Jeffrey, December 30, 1821. (_Letters_, vol. ii. p. 223.)
[168] L. vi. p. 188. Compare the description of Fairy Dean, vii. 192.
[169] All, alas! were now in a great measure so written. _Ivanhoe_, _The
Monastery_, _The Abbot_ and _Kenilworth_ were all published between
December 1819 and January 1821, Constable & Co. giving five thousand
guineas for the remaining copyright of them, Scott clearing ten thousand
before the bargain was completed; and before the _Fortunes of Nigel_
issued from the press Scott had exchanged instruments and received his
bookseller's bills for no less than four 'works of fiction,' not one of
them otherwise described in the deeds of agreement, to be produced in
unbroken succession, _each of them to fill up at least three volumes,
but with proper saving clauses as to increase of copy money in case any
of them should run to four_; and within two years all this anticipation
had been wiped off by _Peveril of the Peak_, _Quentin Durward_, _St.
Ronan's Well_, and _Redgauntlet_.
[170] _Woodstock_ was finished 26th March 1826. He knew then of his
ruin; and wrote in bitterness, but not in weakness. The closing pages
are the most beautiful of the book. But a month afterwards Lady Scott
died; and he never wrote glad word more.
[171] Compare Mr. Spurgeon's not unfrequent orations on the same
subject.
[172] There are three definite and intentional portraits of himself, in
the novels, each giving a separate part of himself: Mr. Oldbuck, Frank
Osbaldistone, and Alan Fairford.
[173] Andrew knows Latin, and might have coined the word in his conceit;
but, writing to a kind friend in Glasgow, I find the brook was called
'Molyndona' even before the building of the Sub-dean Mill in 1446. See
also account of the locality in Mr. George's admirable volume, _Old
Glasgow_, pp. 129, 149, &c. The Protestantism of Glasgow, since throwing
that powder of saints into her brook Kidron, has presented it with other
pious offerings; and my friend goes on to say that the brook, once famed
for the purity of its waters (much used for bleaching), 'has for nearly
a hundred years been a crawling stream of loathsomeness. It is now
bricked over, and a carriage way made on the top of it; underneath the
foul mess still passes through the heart of the city, till it falls into
the Clyde close to the harbour.'
[174] The following fragments out of the letters in my own possession,
written by Scott to the builder of Abbotsford, as the outer decorations
of the house were in process of completion, will show how accurately
Scott had pictured himself in Monkbarns.
'Abbotsford: April 21, 1817.
'Dear Sir,--Nothing can be more obliging than your attention to the old
stones. You have been as true as the sundial itself.' [The sundial had
just been erected.] 'Of the two I would prefer the larger one, as it is
to be in front of a parapet quite in the old taste. But in case of
accidents it will be safest in your custody till I come to town again on
the 12th of May. Your former favours (which were weighty as acceptable)
have come safely out here, and will be disposed of with great effect.'
'Abbotsford: July 30.
'I fancy the Tolbooth still keeps its feet, but, as it must soon
descend, I hope you will remember me. I have an important use for the
niche above the door; and though many a man has got a niche _in_ the
Tolbooth by building, I believe I am the first that ever got a niche out
of it on such an occasion. For which I have to thank your kindness, and
to remain very much your obliged humble servant,
'WALTER SCOTT.'
'August 16.
'My dear Sir,--I trouble you with this [_sic_] few lines to thank you
for the very accurate drawings and measurements of the Tolbooth door,
and for your kind promise to attend to my interest and that of
Abbotsford in the matter of the Thistle and Fleur de Lis. Most of our
scutcheons are now mounted, and look very well, as the house is
something after the model of an old hall (not a castle), where such
things are well in character.' [Alas--Sir Walter, Sir Walter!] 'I intend
the old lion to predominate over a well which the children have
christened the Fountain of the Lions. His present den, however,
continues to be the hall at Castle Street.'
'September 5.
'Dear Sir,--I am greatly obliged to you for securing the stone. I am not
sure that I will put up the gate quite in the old form, but I would like
to secure the means of doing so. The ornamental stones are now put up,
and have a very happy effect. If you will have the kindness to let me
know when the Tolbooth door comes down, I will send in my carts for the
stones; I have an admirable situation for it. I suppose the door itself'
[he means, the wooden one] 'will be kept for the new jail; if not, and
not otherwise wanted, I would esteem it curious to possess it. Certainly
I hope so many sore hearts will not pass through the celebrated door
when in my possession as heretofore.'
* * * * *
'September 8.
'I should esteem it very fortunate if I could have the door also, though
I suppose it is modern, having been burned down at the time of
Porteous-mob.
'I am very much obliged to the gentlemen who thought these remains of
the Heart of Midlothian are not ill bestowed on their intended
possessor.'
[175] Henceforward, not in affectation, but for the reader's better
convenience, I shall continue to spell 'Ryme' without our wrongly added
_h_.
[176] L. ii. 278.
[177] 'Che nella mente mia _ragiona_.' Love--you observe, the highest
_Reasonableness_, instead of French _ivresse_, or even Shakespearian
'mere folly'; and Beatrice as the Goddess of Wisdom in this third song
of the _Convito_, to be compared with the Revolutionary Goddess of
Reason; remembering of the whole poem chiefly the line:--
'Costei penso chi che mosso l'universo.'
(See Lyell's _Canzoniere_, p. 104.)
[178] [Greek: horan tes terpsios]--Plato, _Laws_, ii., Steph. 669.
'Hour' having here nearly the power of 'Fate' with added sense of being
a daughter of Themis.
[179] 'Gunpowder is one of the greatest inventions of modern times, _and
what has given such a superiority to civilised nations over barbarous_'!
(_Evenings at Home_--fifth evening.) No man can owe more than I both to
Mrs. Barbauld and Miss Edgeworth; and I only wish that in the substance
of what they wisely said, they had been more listened to. Nevertheless,
the germs of all modern conceit and error respecting manufacture and
industry, as rivals to Art and to Genius, are concentrated in '_Evenings
at Home_' and '_Harry and Lucy_'--being all the while themselves works
of real genius, and prophetic of things that have yet to be learned and
fulfilled. See for instance the paper, 'Things by their Right Names,'
following the one from which I have just quoted (The Ship), and closing
the first volume of the old edition of the _Evenings_.
[180] Carlyle, _French Revolution_ (Chapman, 1869), vol. ii. p. 70;
conf. p. 25, and the _Ca ira_ at Arras, vol. iii. p. 276.
[181] _Ibid._ iii. 26.
[182] Carlyle, _French Revolution_, iii. 106, the last sentence altered
in a word or two.
[183] I have been greatly disappointed, in taking soundings of our most
majestic mountain pools, to find them, in no case, verge on the
unfathomable.
[184] 'It must be put by the original, stanza for stanza, and verse for
verse; and you will see what was permitted in a Catholic country and a
bigoted age to Churchmen, on the score of Religion--and so tell those