_July_ 4, [_Edinburgh_].--Worked a little in the morning, and took a walk after breakfast, the day so delicious as makes it heart-breaking to leave the country. Set out, however, about four o"clock, and reached Edinburgh a little after nine. Slept part of the way; read _De Vere_ the rest.[1] It is well written, in point of language and sentiment, but has too little action in it to be termed a pleasing novel. Everything is brought out by dialogue--or worse: through the medium of the author"s reflections, which is the clumsiest of all expedients.
_July_ 5.--This morning worked, and sent off to J.B. the Introduction to the _Chronicles_, containing my Confessions,[2] and did something, but not fluently, to the Confessions themselves. Not happy, however; the black dog worries me. Bile, I suppose. "But I will rally and combat the reiver." Reiver it is, that wretched malady of the mind; got quite well in the forenoon. Went out to Portobello after dinner, and chatted with little Johnnie, and told him the history of the Field of Prestonpans.
Few remain who care about these stories.
_July_ 6.--This morning wrought a good deal, but scarce a task. The Court lasted till half-past three; exhausting work in this hot weather.
I returned to dine alone, Anne going to Roslin with a party. After noon a Miss Bell broke in upon me, who bothered me some time since about a book of hers, explaining and exposing the conduct of a Methodist Tartuffe, who had broken off (by anonymous letters) a match betwixt her and an accepted admirer. Tried in vain to make her comprehend how little the Edinburgh people would care about her wrongs, since there was no knowledge of the parties to make the scandal acceptable. I believe she has suffered great wrong.[3] Letter from Longman and Co. to J.B.
grumbling about bringing out the second edition, because they have, forsooth, 700 copies in hand out of 5000, five days after the first edition[4] is out. What would they have? It is uncomfortable, though.
_July_ 7.--Night dreadfully warm, and bilious; I could not be fool enough surely to be anxious for these wise men of the East"s prognostication. Letters from Lockhart give a very cheerful prospect; if there had been any thundering upsetting broadside, he would have noticed it surely more or less. R. Cadell quite stout, and determined to go on with the second edition. Well, I hope all"s right--thinking won"t help it. Charles came down this morning penniless, poor fellow, but we will soon remedy that. Lockhart remits 100 for reviewing; I hope the next will be for Sophia, for cash affairs loom well in the offing, and if the trust funds go right, I was never so easy. I will take care how I get into debt again. I do not like this croaking of these old owls of Saint Paul"s when all is done. The pitcher has gone often to the well.
But--However, I worked away at the _Chronicles_. I will take pains with them. I will, by Jove!
_July_ 8.--I did little to-day but arrange papers, and put bills, receipts, etc., into apple-pie order. I believe the fair prospect I have of clearing off some enc.u.mbrances, which are like thorns in my flesh, nay, in my very eye, contribute much to this. I did not even correct proof-sheets; nay, could not, for I have cancelled two sheets, _instante Jacobo_, and I myself being of his opinion; for, as I said yesterday, we must and will take pains. The fiddle-faddle of arranging all the things was troublesome, but they give a good account of my affairs. The money for the necessary payments is ready, and therefore there is a sort of pleasure which does not arise out of any mean source, since it has for its object the prospect of doing justice and achieving independence.
J.B. dined with me, poor fellow, and talked of his views as hopeful and prosperous. G.o.d send honest industry a fair riddance.
_July_ 9.--Wrote in the morning. At eleven went by appointment with Colin Mackenzie to the New Edinburgh Academy. In the fifth cla.s.s, Mr.
Mitch.e.l.l"s, we heard Greek, of which I am no otherwise a judge than that it was fluently read and explained. In the rector Mr. Williams"s cla.s.s we heard Virgil and Livy admirably translated _ad aperturam libri_, and, what I thought remarkable, the rector giving the English, and the pupils returning, with singular dexterity, the Latin, not exactly as in the original, but often by synonymes, which showed that the exercise referred to the judgment, and did not depend on the memory. I could not help saying, with great truth, that, as we had all long known how much the pupils were fortunate in a rector, so we were now taught that the rector was equally lucky in his pupils. Of my young friends, I saw a son of John Swinton, a son of Johnstone of Alva, and a son of Craufurd Tait.[5] Dined at John Murray"s; Mr. and Mrs. Philips of Liverpool, General and Charles Stuart of Blantyre, Lord Abercromby, Clerk and Thomson. Pleasant evening.
_July_ 10.--Corrected proofs, but wrote nothing. To Court till two o"clock. I went to Cadell"s by the Mound, a long roundabout; transacted some business. I met Baron Hume coming home, and walked with him in the Gardens. His remarkable account of his celebrated uncle"s last moments is in these words:--Dr. Black called on Mr. D. Hume[6] on the morning on which he died. The patient complained of having suffered a great deal during the night, and expressed a fear that his struggle might be prolonged, to his great distress, for days or weeks longer. "No, sir,"
said Dr. Black, with the remarkable calmness and sincerity which characterised him, "I have examined the symptoms, and observe several which oblige me to conclude that dissolution is rapidly approaching."
"Are you certain of that, Doctor?" "Most a.s.suredly so," answered the physician. The dying philosopher extended his arm, and shook hands with his medical friend. "I thank you," he said, "for the news." So little reason there was for the reports of his having been troubled in mind when on his deathbed.
Dined at Lord Abercromby"s, to meet Lord Melville in private. We had an interview betwixt dinner and tea. I was sorry to see my very old friend, this upright statesman and honourable gentleman, deprived of his power and his official income, which the number of his family must render a matter of importance. He was cheerful, not affectedly so, and bore his declension like a wise and brave man. I had nursed the idea that he had been hasty in his resignation; but, from the letters which he showed me confidentially, which pa.s.sed betwixt him and Canning, it is clear his resignation was to be accomplished, not I suppose for personal considerations, but because it rendered the Admiralty vacant for the Duke of Clarence, as his resignation was eagerly snapped at. It cannot be doubted that if he had hesitated or hung back behind his friends, forcible means would have been used to compel to the measure, which with more dignity he took of his own accord--at least so it seemed to me. The first intimation which Lord Melville received of his successor was through Mr.----, who told him, as great news, that there was to be a new Duke of York[7]. Lord M. understood the allusion so little, as to inquire whether his informant meant that the Duke of Cambridge had taken the Duke of York"s situation, when it was explained to refer to the Duke of Clarence getting the Admiralty. There are some few words that speak volumes. Lord Melville said that none of them suspected Canning"s negotiations with the Whigs but the Duke of Wellington, who found it out through the ladies ten days before. I asked him how they came to be so unprepared, and could not help saying I thought they had acted without consideration, and that they might have shown a face even to Canning. He allowed the truth of what I said, and seemed to blame Peel"s want of courage. In his place, he said, he would have proposed to form a government disclaiming any personal views for himself as being Premier and the like, but upon the principle of supporting the measures of Lord Castlereagh and Lord Liverpool. I think this would have been acceptable to the King. Mr. Peel obviously feared his great antagonist Canning, and perhaps threw the game up too soon. Canning said the office of Premier was his inheritance; he could not, from const.i.tution, hold it above two years, and then it would descend to Peel. Such is ambition! Old friends forsaken--old principles changed--every effort used to give the vessel of the State a new direction, and all to be Palinurus for two years!
_July_ 11, [_Abbotsford_].--Worked at proofs in the morning; composed nothing. Got off by one, and to this place between six and seven.
Weather delicious.
_July 12_.--Unpacking and arranging; the urchins are stealing the cherries in the outer garden. But I can spare a thousand larch-trees to put it in order with a good fence for next year. It is not right to leave fruit exposed; for if Adam in the days of innocence fell by an apple, how much may the little _gossoon_ Jamie Moffatt be tempted by apples of gold in an age of iron! Anne and I walked to Huntly Burn--a delicious excursion. That place is really become beautiful; the Miss Fergusons have displayed a great deal of taste.
_July_ 13.--Two agreeable persons--Rev. Mr. Gilly[8], one of the prebendaries of Durham, with his wife, a pretty little woman--dined with us, and met Mr. Scrope. I heard the whole history of the discovery of St. Cuthbert"s[9] body at Durham Cathedral. The Catholics will deny the ident.i.ty, of course; but I think it is _constate_ by the dress and other circ.u.mstances. Made a pleasant day of it, and with a good conscience, for I had done my task this morning.
_July_ 14.--Did task this morning, and believe that I shall get on now very well. Wrote about five leaves. I have been baking and fevering myself like a fool for these two years in a room exposed to the south; comfortable in winter, but broiling in the hot weather. Now I have removed myself into the large cool library, one of the most refreshing as well as handsomest rooms in Scotland, and will not use the study again till the heats are past. Here is an entry as solemn as if it respected the Vicar of Wakefield"s removal from the yellow room to the brown. But I think my labours will advance greatly in consequence of this arrangement. Walked in the evening to the lake.
_July_ 15.--Achieved six pages to-day, and finished volume i. of _Chronicles_. It is rather long; but I think the last story interesting, and it should not be split up into parts. J.B. will, I fear, think it low; and if he thinks so, others will. Yet--vamos. Drove to Huntly Burn in the evening.
_July_ 16.--Made a good morning"s work of the _Tales_. In the day-time corrected various proofs. J.B. thinks that in the proposed introduction I contemn too much the occupation by which I have thriven so well, and hints that I may easily lead other people to follow my opinion in vilipending my talents, and the use I have made of them. I cannot tell.
I do not like, on the one hand, to suppress my own opinion of the _flocci-pauci-nihili-pilification_ with which I regard these things; but yet, in duty to others, I cannot afford to break my own bow, or befoul my own nest, and there may be something like affectation and _nolo episcopari_ in seeming to underrate my own labours; so, all things considered, I will erase the pa.s.sage. Truth should not be spoke at all times. In the evening we had a delightful drive to Ashestiel with Colonel and Miss Ferguson.
_July 17_.--I wrote a laborious task; seven pages of _Tales_. Kept about the doors all day. Gave Bogie 10 to buy cattle to-morrow at St.
Boswell"s Fair. Here is a whimsical subject of affliction. Mr. Harper, a settler, who went from this country to Botany Bay, thinking himself obliged to me for a recommendation to General M"Allister and Sir Thomas Brisbane, has thought proper to bring me home a couple of Emus. I wish his grat.i.tude had either taken a different turn, or remained as quiescent as that of others whom I have obliged more materially. I at first accepted the creatures, conceiving them, in my ignorance, to be some sort of blue and green parrot, which, though I do not admire their noise, might scream and yell at their pleasure if hung up in the hall among the armour. But your emu, it seems, stands six feet high on his stocking soles, and is little better than a kind of ca.s.sowary or ostrich. Hang them! they might [eat] up my collection of old arms for what I know. It reminds me of the story of the adjutant birds in Theodore Hook"s novel[10]. No; I"ll no Emuses!
_July 18_.--Entered this morning on the history of Sir William Wallace.
I wish I may be able to find my way between what the child can comprehend and what shall not yet be absolutely uninteresting to the grown readers. Uncommon facts I should think the best receipt. Learn that Mr. Owen Rees and John Gibson have amicably settled their differences about the last edition of _Napoleon_, the Trustees allowing the publishers nine months" credit. My nerves have for these two or three last days been susceptible of an acute excitement from the slightest causes; the beauty of the evening, the sighing of the summer breeze, brings the tears into my eyes not unpleasingly. But I must take exercise, and caseharden myself. There is no use in encouraging these moods of the mind. It is not the law we live on.
We had a little party with some luncheon at the lake, where Mr.
Bainbridge fished without much success. Captain Hamilton and two Messrs.
Stirling, relatives of my old friend Keir, were there, and walked with me a long round home. I walked better than I had done for some days. Mr.
Scrope dined with us; he was complaining of gout, which is a bad companion for the stag-shooting.
_July 19_.--I made out my task this forenoon, and a good deal more. Sent five or six pages to James Ballantyne, _i.e._ got them ready, and wrote till the afternoon, then I drove over to Huntly Burn, and walked through the glens till dinner-time. After dinner read and worked till bed-time.
Yet I have written well, walked well, talked well, and have nothing to regret.
_July 20_.--Despatched my letters to J.B., with supply of copy, and made up more than my task--about four leaves, I think. Offered my Emuses to the Duke of Buccleuch. I had an appointment with Captain Hamilton and his friends the Stirlings, that they were to go up Yarrow to-day. But the weather seems to say no.
My visitors came, however, and we went up to Newark. Here is a little misfortune, for Spice left me, and we could not find her. As we had no servant with us on horseback, I was compelled to leave her to her fate, resolving to send in quest of her to-morrow morning. The keepers are my _bonos socios_, as the host says in the Devil of Edmonton[11], and would as soon shoot a child as a dog of mine. But there are scamps and traps, and I am ashamed to say how reluctantly I left the poor little terrier to its fate.
She came home to me, however, about an hour and a half after we were home, to my great delectation. Our visitors dined with us.
_July_ 21.--This morning wrote five pages of children"s history. Went to Minto, where we met, besides Lord M. and his delightful countess, Thomas Thomson, Kennedy of Dunure[12], Lord Carnarvon, and his younger son and daughter-in-law; the dowager Lady Minto also, whom I always delight to see, she is so full of spirit and intelligence. We rubbed up some recollections of twenty years ago, when I was more intimate with the family till Whig and Tory separated us for a time. By the way, n.o.body talks Whig or Tory just now, and the fighting men on each side go about muzzled and mute like dogs after a proclamation about canine madness. Am I sorry for this truce or not? Half and half. It is all we have left to stir the blood, this little political brawling; but better too little of it than too much.
_July_ 22, [_Abbotsford_].--Rose a little later than usual, and wrote a letter to Mrs. Joanna Baillie. She is writing a tragedy[13] on witchcraft. I shall be curious to see it. Will it be real witchcraft--the _ipsissimus diabolus_--or an impostor, or the half-crazed being who believes herself an ally of condemned spirits, and desires to be so? That last is a sublime subject. We set out after breakfast, and reached this about two. I walked from two till four; chatted a long time with Charles after dinner, and thus went my day _sine linea_. But we will make it up. James Ballantyne dislikes my "Drovers." But it shall stand. I must have my own way sometimes.
I received news of two deaths at once: Lady Die Scott, my very old friend, and Archibald Constable, the bookseller.
_July_ 23.--Yes! they are both for very different reasons subjects of reflection. Lady Diana Scott, widow of Walter Scott of Harden, was the last person whom I recollect so much older than myself, that she kept always at the same distance in point of years, so that she scarce seemed older to me (relatively) two years ago, when in her ninety-second year, than fifty years before. She was the daughter (alone remaining) of Pope"s Earl of Marchmont, and, like her father, had an acute mind and an eager temper. She was always kind to me, remarkably so indeed when I was a boy.
Constable"s death might have been a most important thing to me if it had happened some years ago, and I should then have lamented it much. He has lived to do me some injury; yet, excepting the last 5000, I think most unintentionally. He was a prince of booksellers; his views sharp, powerful, and liberal; too sanguine, however, and, like many bold and successful schemers, never knowing when to stand or stop, and not always calculating his means to his objects with mercantile accuracy. He was very vain, for which he had some reason, having raised himself to great commercial eminence, as he might also have attained great wealth with good management. He knew, I think, more of the business of a bookseller in planning and executing popular works than any man of his time. In books themselves he had much bibliographical information, but none whatever that could be termed literary. He knew the rare volumes of his library not only by the eye, but by the touch, when blindfolded. Thomas Thomson saw him make this experiment, and, that it might be complete, placed in his hand an ordinary volume instead of one of these _libri rariores_. He said he had over-estimated his memory; he could not recollect that volume. Constable was a violent-tempered man with those that he dared use freedom with. He was easily overawed by people of consequence, but, as usual, took it out of those whom poverty made subservient to him. Yet he was generous, and far from bad-hearted. In person good-looking, but very corpulent latterly; a large feeder, and deep drinker, till his health became weak. He died of water in the chest, which the natural strength of his const.i.tution set long at defiance. I have no great reason to regret him; yet I do. If he deceived me, he also deceived himself.[14]
Wrote five pages to-day, and went to see Mr. Scrope, who is fast with the gout--a bad companion to attend him
"to Athole Braes, To shoot the dun deer down, down-- To shoot the dun deer down."
_July_ 24.--Finished five pages before eleven o"clock, at which time Mr.
Deputy Register[15] arrived from Minto, and we had an agreeable afternoon, talking about the old days we have had together. I was surprised to find that Thomson knew as little as I do myself how to advise Charles to a good course of Scottish History. Hailes and Pinkerton, Robertson and Laing--there is nothing else for it--and Pinkerton is poor work. Laing, besides his party spirit, has a turn for generalising, which renders him rather dull, which was not the nature of the acute Orcadian.
_July_ 25.--Thomson left us this morning early. I finished four pages, and part of a fifth, then drove to Huntly Burn and returned through the Glen; I certainly turn _heavy-footed_, not in the female sense, however.
I had one or two falls among the slippy heather, not having Tom Purdie to give me his arm. I suppose I shall need a go-cart one of these days; and if it must be so--so let it be. _Fiat voluntas tua_.
A letter from John Gibson in the evening brought me word that Lord Newton had adjudged the profits of _Woodstock_ and _Napoleon_ to be my own. This is a great matter, and removes the most important part of my dispute with Constable"s creditors. I waked in the middle of the night.
Sure I am not such a feather-headed gull as not to be able to sleep for good news. I am thankful that it is as it is. Had it been otherwise, I could have stood it. The money realised will pay one-third of all that I owe in the world--and what will pay the other two-thirds? I am as well and as capable as when those misfortunes began--January was a year. The public favour may wane, indeed, but it has not failed as yet, and I must not be too anxious about that possibility.
James B. has found fault with my tales for being too historical; formerly it was for being too infantine. He calls out for starch, and is afraid of his cravat being too stiff. O ye critics, will nothing melt ye?
_July_ 26.--Wrote till one o"clock, and finished the first volume of _Tales_--about six leaves. To-morrow I resume the _Chronicles_, tooth and nail. They must be good, if possible. After all, works of fiction, viz., cursed lies, are easier to write, and much more popular than the best truths. Walked over to the head of the Roman road, coming round by Bauchland and the Abbot"s Walk. Wrote letters in the evening.
_July_ 27.--In the morning still busied with my correspondence. No great desire to take up the _Chronicles_. But it must be done. Devil take the necessity, and the folly and knavery, that occasioned it! But this is no matter now. Accordingly I set tightly to work, and got on till two, when I took a walk. Was made very happy by the arrival of Sophia and her babies, all in good health and spirits.
_July_ 28.--Worked hard in the morning. The two Ballantynes, and Mr.
Hogarth with them. Owen Rees came early in the day. Fergusons came to dinner. Rees in great kindness and good-humour, but a little drumlie, I think, about _Napoleon_. We heard Sandie"s violin after dinner--
"----Whose touch harmonious can remove The pangs of guilty power and hopeless love."[16]
I do not understand or care about fine music; but there is something in his violin which goes to the very heart. Sophia sung too, and we were once more merry in hall--the first time for this many a month and many a day.
_July_ 29.--Could not do more than undertake my proofs to-day, of which J.B. has brought out a considerable quant.i.ty. Walked at one with Hogarth and Rees--the day sultry, hot, and we hot accordingly, but crept about notwithstanding. I am sorry to see my old and feal friend James rather unable to walk--once so stout and active--so was I in my way _once_. Ah!
that vile word, what a world of loss it involves!
_July_ 30.--One of the most peppering thunder-storms which I have heard for some time. Routed and roared from six in the morning till eight continuously.
"The thunder ceased not, nor the fire reposed; Well done, old Botherby."