The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-08 00:00:00

SALE OF THE SCOTT MSS.

When the history of all the remarkable sales at
those rooms of Messrs. Christie, Manson, and
Wood, in King-street, St. James's, shall come to
be written, one of the principal chapters will relate
to the disposal of Sir Walter Scott's manuscripts.
It was by direction of the trustees of the late Mr.
Robert Cadell, of Edinburgh, that these treasured
relics were brought to the hammer List Saturday.
Written uniformly on paper of quarto size, and in
a clear character, which is free without being
straggly and bold without being inelegant, these
autograph works are " readable," in the strictest
sense of the word. They had been bound, as volumes,
by their late possessor, and their solid-looking
Russia backs might be overlooked on a shelf, for
any promise they give of extraordinary interest.
Readers of Scott may guess, as much from the flow-
ing, right-onward language of his
pages, whether
verse or prose, as from the voluminous quantity of
what he wrote, that the manuscript would be little
disfigured by erasures and emendations. This is,
The pictures
fforollot hwe
in opoatrht ,
uanbf
oc
tt .tedLsiencieL lines together
are hit off at once, not without careful art, but rather
perhaps with the more scrupulous and unvarying
attention, because of the necessity of spontaneous
finish. Sir Walter knew that he would have no
time for retouching; and his
manuscript is there-
fore a contrast to Pope's
never-ending, still-
beginning exercise of alterations. He polished,
so far as polish was needed, as he went
on. " Day set on Norham's
castled steep, and
Tweed, fair river, broad and deep, and Cheviot
mountains lone," with no hesitation as to the kind
of evening sky athwart which the stalwart forms of
warriors, moving on the turrets, "seemed forms of
giants height." The scraps of other men's manu-
scripts are precious as relics ; but Sir IValter's au-
tographic remains have the higher value of monu-
ments. The
poems in Scott's handwriting are, we
believe, compl.ete, excepting "The Lay of the Last
Minstrel," the MS. of which was not preserved.
The novels and other prose works arc more frag-
mentary. The portion of " Ivanhoe" is supposed
to be all that Sir Walter wrote himself ; for be
was but recovering from a severe illness when he
commenced that tale, and he employed Mr. John
Ballantyne as his amanuensis. The room was
crowded on Saturday, in great part by men of let-
ters ; and one of the principal bidders was Mr.
Hope Scott, Q.C. " Maranon" fetched 191 guineas;
" The Lady of the Lake," 2G4 guineas ; "'rho
Vision of Don Roderick," 37
guineas ; " RokebY"
The
(in detached pieces partly,
bearing the post-mark
of various districts), 130 guineas ; " Lord of the
Isles," 101 guineas ; " Introductory History of
Ballad Poetry," 54 guineas ; " Auchindrane," 27
guineas ; , ,
Anne of Geierstein," 121 guineas ;
" Waverley," "Ivanhoe," "The Bridal of Tre-
mgnaimais ' ; "Talesiine' autograph, 130
and other
of a
withherpa)ers,
Grandfather" (portion of the
original manuscript, with autograph), 145 guineas;
" Castle Dangerous," 32 guineas ;, Count Robert de
Paris" (a portion olily), 23 guineas. The sale
therefore realised 1,205 guineas.

,Dvititi,h Barry's:slth,
Beletcoet
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—Avoid Medicines: they always aggravate
delicious health-restoring,
three times the nourish-
ment of the best meat, saves 50 times its cost in other remedies,
and invariably restores perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound
lungs, healthy liver, pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional
11 ei en
teat'ArnriillAicuat complaints: but
regularity, anti energy to the most disordered or enfeebled. We
extract a few out of 63.000 cures;—" The Pope's health restored
by Du Barry's Food. Cure No. 68,413.---,, "Rome, July 21, 1866.
—The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since,
abandoning all other remedies, he has confined himself entirely
to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, of which he consumes
a plateful at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly bene-
ficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot, praise this excel
lent food too highly." From the " Gazette de Midi, Jul:y.2s. Cure
No. 58,216, of the Marchioness de Brehan, of seven years' liver
complaint, wasting way, debility, nervousness, with a nervous
palpitation all over, bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, and
the most intolerable nervous agitation.." Cure No. 1,771; Lord
Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years'
dyspepsia. No. 49,832: " Fifty years' indescribable agony from
dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency,
spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Joly."—Cure No,
46,270: Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years
diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derang,ement, and
partial deafness. Important Caution.—Beware of the many
unsavoury and more than sloppy imitations to which, without
authority, Baron Liebig's name is most audaciously attached.
Iu tins at ls. 14d.; 1 lb., 2s. 9d.; 2 lbs., 4s. 6d.• 5 lbs., lls. ;
12 lbs., 225.; '24 lbs., 40s BARRY DU BARRY and Co., No. 77,
Regent-street, London; also Fortnam and Mason, 132, Piccadilly ;
and at 61, Gracechurch-street; 4, Cheapside; 63, 150, and 20,
Oxford-street; 330, Strand; and all grocerkand cien:deta.