Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-12-15
SATURDAY, E1oaNnTss 1GGgMM sa 1882 5

y
Almost bv return of post came back an article,
with note, to say-sI have not written the no
vel, and hare reviewed it, The article was
publs he'd accordingly. and very excellent and
fair critique it is. 1t accuses the author OF Pla
siarisn,. and prints out. as the reviewer well
could do, the different quarters, especially the
works of Defoe, to which the author OF the
Tales of My Landlord was indebted for some
Of his most striking scenes,
He was, however, seldom put to the trouble
of direct denial The most remarkable IN.
stance was that in which he dlsclaImed the au-
thorship to the Prince Regent. Ab'ut the year
1917, when the fame Of the novels was at the
highest. and public curiosity still anxious about
them. Scott was on v,si, To LondOn, aud had
the honor of dining with the Prince. at Carlton
House Lord Lo,sther, Mr.. Croker, and seye.
raj oShers we're Of the party. After dinner, the
Prince flied glass, and said, Il have neither
blessed bear, nor yet tapplt hen see "aVeriy)
but have, at least as good cIaret a. ever the pa
ron OF Bradwine had, and in that claret drink
to the health Of the greatest genius Of my coun-
try, the author OF Wavery.' The toast was OF
course, duly honored, as toasts OF Princes gene
rally are, and every one waited with some curl
osity to know what Mr.. Scott would do. he
stood up, and said that he did not pretend to
misunders and what his Royal Hishness M ant,
and accepted the Intended compliment with gra-
titude, but Sir am not the auihor0f Wa'er'
lew The Prince Immediately rejoned; am
excessively happy to hear it, because now ind
that reckon tooo of the greatest men OF Europe
as nv subjects, instead of one,-I have now both
the author Of the y Lady of the Lake and the
author of .Waverly' The Prince, from that
time forward, always maintained that the novels
could not have been written by Scott; because
he held tt Impossible that anybody should take
the liberty of mistifying him. Sir Walter. on
the other hand, said that the Prince had no right
10 pry into his secret, which he would nave con.
fided to him without any scruple u they had
been alone, but winch he had no notion OF pub
fishing before company-especia!ly when that
company consisted of people In any way con-
nected with literary labor.
An Irish gentleman, OF the name OF DeSer-
eux we believe, endeavoured to extort the Sc
cret bv attempting 10 fasten quafei upon Tue
author, who he maintained, had injured MN III
some very material manner. He wrote some
letters, and afterwards published them, in which
he called upon Scott, as man OF honour, to
came forward aud ayow himself as the author OF
w,irlnss so personally injurious TO his Mr.. DIS
character. Scutt conlented himself with a &c.
nsra, denial that in ans work whatever had he
alluded, directly. or indirectly, to Mr.. Deve-
reux, and of course the attempt was unsuccess-
full. The Iris man was, in all probability, 10
sane. Something about the same time. we
think, that lis letters we're published, an IN
nriocjpled felluw wrote novel, by the Author
Of Wayerly,' called Pontefract Castle;' and
when his identity with the real author was deni:
ed b, Mr.. John B,llantyne. who truly described
h,msel as the principal desposilory OF the secret,
the pubIisher uf the spurious novel had the i'm
nudsnce TO maintain that Bal!antyne was decel-
VIM the public. That pubic, however, very
soon settled the question by looking ut the IN
internal evidence, which proved clearly enough
that Pontefract Castle was not the production
of the same genius to which they owed WAIVER
lew Five or six years ago, German author
nIayed a somew what similar trick. but Wal
t.dmor.' which he passed off as translation
from the English of Sir Walter Scott, Is really
book of some talent.-and its preface contains
most amusing history Ut the translation manu-
factory in Germany, its mIshaps anu lis o'un-
ders. The German writer was uniucky. now
ever, in pitching his scene IN England; because
he makes woful havoc in unr locaitles-placing
Bristol, If we mistake not, at the FOOT OF snow.
don. &c, and committing slips as to our customs
and manners, which no native author cou'd nave
made. Sir Walter himself Numbered OCCASION
ally when ne ialu tht s'"un" W ma
foreign countri e.. but never al home.
The history Of writing, copying, &c &c. OF
these celebrated productions has been so often.
before the public, that we shall not repeat mere
Ra,lantyne was the frs, amanuensls-a gentle
man Of the name of Gordon, we believe, sue
ceeJed. Sir Walter sometimes, however, when
he was i'll. accepted other aid 1t is curious
nroof of the strength Of his intellect. that he dc
lated The Bride OF Lammermoor' and Inc
Legend of Mun,rose' from his bed, to which he
uas confined with an acute spasmodIc disorder III
nis chest, of so excruciating nature, that pow
s,fu,. both in mind and body, as he was. he was
compelled. by the severity Of his suiferinss' to
scream almost continually, with such vehemence
a. tn he heard a, a distance from the house. The
6ts Of pain would leave him for short intervals,
and then. when freed for the moment from the at
,a,k he would resume the thread of the story ne
had been debating, as if nothing had occurreo III
the inter, ening time; and both these books con-
raj, .oms If the drollest things he ever wrote
viz III. scenes in which Caleb BaIderstone' and
Dnsald Dalg.tty are engaged:
D"SA'" sc his Sprrpf having