William Clerk, Scott's father, and himself, the novelist, quoting the above lines, makes the elder Fairford write, "On Friday he puts on the gown, and gives a bit chack of dinner to his friends and acquaintances, as is, you know, the custom." And he makes this letter end with, "P.S.- Alan's thesis is upon the title, De periculo et commodo rei vendita." The novel in question was published in 1824; at which time Scott had become careless as to his incognito, and wore his mask loosely. Any curious person at that time, who had taken the trouble of referring to the minutes of the faculty of advocates, would have seen that the title of Scott's thesis in 1792 was the same as Alan Fairford's in the novel.

CHAPTER V.

Retrospect.-Cultivating the Graces.-Raids in Liddesdale.-Border Ballads. At the Bar. The Stove School. - Dressing up a Story. - Learning German.-A Client's Advice. - O'Connell.-A Young Man's Acquirements. - Mangled French. - Brougham and Arago.- Accomplishments.. Horsemanship.-Field Sports.-Angling.-Chess.-Billiards. — A Pair of

Cards.

Ν

1792.

IN the preceding pages, fully believing in Words

worth's declaration, that "the child is father of the man," I have given details of Scott's early life, extending to the time when, on the eve of his legal majority, he entered the world of action, wearing the advocate's gown. In his case, very particularly, the transition-period of his life has to be noted. When John Home, then well advanced in years, saw him at Bath, a helpless, sickly child, he said to his aunt, who had charge of him there, "I grieve for that poor little fellow with the withered limb. What a painful sight to his anxious parents to witness a loved one so suddenly doomed to a life of inertness and mortification!" At that time, the child was only four years old: and the kind-hearted poet may have thought that the vigorous sports and exercises of boyhood were not for him; that, be his life long or short, he would probably be inactive and feeble; that for him, if he attained manhood, there would not be the smile of beauty and the tender endearments of love; that he would be a burden on his family; and that, in short, his death would be rather a relief than a deprivation. He lived to see him, through the recu

perative power of Nature, aided by strong personal will, a living refutation of the darkly-prophetic thought; thrown by the feebleness of his body into fellowship with elder associates, in scenes peculiarly suitable for impressing the fancy, and developing the intellect; next running the gantlet, as it were, through a crowd of vigorous boys in a public school, and taking part in all their sports, invigorating, if rough; attaching many of his companions to him by that natural bonhomie which remained one of his leading characteristics to the last; drawing his youthful friends around him to listen to the romantic stories which he composed as he related them again prostrated by heavy illness, and, at a time when he was forbidden to raise his voice above a whisper, literally reading through a large library; again exulting in renewed health, which this time became permanent; teaching himself modern languages which were not in his college-course; diligent, as an act of duty, in the study of the law; and at last, when he put on the toga virilis of the profession, starting in life, manly in mind and body, equal to any fortune, and admitted by all to be of singular promise. In fact, though I anticipate in saying so, John Home the poet, who had so pityingly regarded the afflicted, sickly child, lived to see him honored above all others in the land, not merely for the zeal and success with which he had collected, and the judgment and ability with which he had edited, the Border Minstrelsy, but also to witness and rejoice in the unprecedented popularity of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," and its brilliant successor, "Marmion."

Some little time before his legal studies were completed, Walter Scott began to pay some attention to the graces. It was a period when a great deal was thought of dress; and, now to manhood grown, he

ÆT. 21.]

CULTIVATES THE GRACES.

67

could not, if he would, continue the carelessness on that point which had previously been the source of some amusement to his gay companions. A lady of rank, who remembered him at fashionable gatherings in Edinburgh, described his personal appearance forty years after by the sentence, "Young Walter Scott was a comely creature."

The long vacation in the Scottish courts began the very day after Scott was called to the bar; after which, he went to his uncle at Rosebank, where promiscuous reading, on a seat which he constructed amid the branches of a large tree close to the Tweed, and occasional indulgence in coursing and shooting, occupied his time. He took courage, and attended the assize court in Roxburghshire, where he was one of the briefless. He meditated a visit to the lakes of Cumberland, but contented himself, instead, with a "raid," as he called it, into the then scarcely-explored district of Liddesdale, in company with a new acquaintance, Mr. Robert Shortreed, who, during the greater part of his subsequent life, was sheriff-substitute of Roxburgh. His wished to see the country, and to gather some of the ancient riding-ballads still remembered by descendants of the moss-troopers there. For seven successive years, that is, up to his marriage, Scott went into Liddesdale, where his frank manners, agreeable conversation, and facility of accommodating himself to those whom he encountered, made him always acceptable. The country was so rough, that it was only on the last of these raids (in 1799), that, for the first time, a gig was introduced; Scott using it during part of his journey. Inn or public-house there was none in that district at the time. They had to throw themselves on the hospitality, always warm, if sometimes rough, of gentle and simple, now received in the minister's manse; anon in the farmer's homestead or the shepherd's hut.

In these excursions, Scott was picking up copious materials for "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," and met many persons with such marked individuality, that by and by they glided naturally, as it were, into his prose fictions. Here, for example, was found the original of Dandie Dinmont, who is as much a gentleman in his way as the high and mighty Col. Mannering was in his. But the scenery, even more than the people, became impressed upon his mind. Liddesdale was made the scene of many an incident, romantic and familiar, in his poetry and tales. In his apprenticeship, he had thrice explored the Highlands, and also the northeastern Scottish counties, even to the extremity of "Aberdeen awa," besides visiting Argyll and the midland counties of Perth and Stirling; but, once his own master, he devoted his leisure hours, year after year, to acquire a thorough acquaintance with the country traversed by the Tweed, the border-lands of Scotland and England.

In November, 1792, Scott commenced practice as an advocate in Edinburgh, continuing to reside in his father's house in Queen Square. To him, always an early riser, the necessity of being in what is called "the Outer House" at nine o'clock in the morning, as if waiting to be hired, was no penalty. The young Scottish lawyer was and is expected to walk the boards of this legal gathering-place, when not joining the crowd around a great stove in the centre, every court-day, from nine until two. Hence the briefless have received the appellation of "Brethren of the Stove School." Many young gentlemen of fashion, who became advocates without intending to pursue the profession, did not object to meeting their friends in the outer hall, duly robed and wigged, passing the time in conversation, - sometimes it happened not of a very grave or elevating character.