Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-03-23

ton for poor puss. The scene interested me
the more, as tallying so precisely with the
description of Xenophen in the first book of
the Cyrop9dia.
MONDAYS READINGS AND RECREATToSs.
On Monday. Sir Walter told Sophia to show
me the house and grounds. adding playfnlly
that she knew great deal more about both
than he did. 1t was plain to see, from the
manner in which he always spoke TO her, that
she was the object of his entire confidence
and boundiess love. The house was not
wholly finished. For the, ornaments of the
hall and passages, Sir Walter had introduced
| casts of the carved work of the Abbey, and
while was there, the workmen were putting
up masks taken from the .'Cnrbells grotesque
| and grim" mentioned in The Lay" As we
walked through the grounds, had a long
| conversation with Sophia about the author
ship of the novels. l omit the details of
| what was said by her on this subject, having
| furnished them to friend for insertion in
| another publication, which has not yet APP
| peared. | will only say here that. though
| she firmly believed. as did, that her father
was the author of the novels, she did not at
| that time know it. We passed an hour or
two this day in reading the Heart of Mid
Lothian" aloud. Sir Walter taking his turn
with the rest, and remarking with unconcern
| on the passages that struck him. He was
| much amused at my attempt to initiate the
| Scottish cadence. and said ''if l would bide
awhile in Tweedale. they would give me
| very pretty accent"
| | asked Sophia to manage to have dinner
little earlier. that We might go to Melrose, and
| to get her father to go with us. She said he
| had so often been there with visitors, when he
| first came to ADbotsford, that he had got
tired of it and had seldom been of late but
she thought he would go with us, which he
was kind enough to do. / am not ashamed
l Al, IL.
Sir Walter Scott and his family, kindled my
imagination, at the age of twenty-five, as it
has perhaps never been excited on any other
occasion. i have attempted to describe the
feelings awakened by the scene, in a speech at
the anniversary of the Scots Charitable So
ciety in Boston, on fhe 30th of November,
1889. Nor was it, own, without emotion
:. too deep for tears" that in the solitude of
my room at night, after contemplating these
interesting ruins in the company of him who
has made the spot which they cover holy
ground. reflected that in all human proba-
bility, after one or two more days, L should
never see him or them again. This is a re-
Fiction which not seldom ningles a shade of
sadness with the pleasure one derives from
meeting agreeable aud congenial acquaint-
ances and friends in our travels through for
eign countries and distant parts of our own.
| must own that in two or three days | had
become strongly attached to every member of
the amiable family at Abbotslord.
AGREEABLE MEMORIES.
Our whole time passed together in
conversation, reading or singing, on the part
of the ladies; at dusk, a dance on the lawn;
in walks or drives. Sir Walter poured out
all the treasures of his memory, in traditions
of the border times, anecdotes of celebrated
characters, interspersed with constant salies
of quiet pleasantly; and Charles contracted
great fOndness for the American guest
that he asked his fathers permission to ac-
company me on my approaching journey to
Greece and Constantinople. which in cOnsid-
Grafton of his being under thirteen years of
aye, was withheld. Later in life, this inter-
esting young man was attached to the British
Embassy in Persia. In 1889 he wrote to me
from the Foreign Office in London, reminding
me of my visit twenty-one years before, to
his fathers; but many years since, he, with
all the rest of the family, one after another,
passed away.