The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-08-25
3MllsttlIanfous.
For tie HSis and Lntelligencer.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.

ellis life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, "This was man p
The name of Sir Walter Scott awakens
"feclipgs teadcreSt chords.' This charm
arises not from the mere fact that We love
the "lays" of this immortal "Minstrel,"
and are enchanted by his novels, but chief.
ly we revere the name and love the mem
DRY of Sir Walter Scott, because his own
life was poenl-his own life was the re-
Election of all that was beautiful and chiv-
alrous iu his writings.
In pcrusing the history Of the lives of
the eminent in literature, we are saddened
by the discovery that genius is accessible
to the same sad yicissitudcs of ignorance,
and by the observation of the fralIies and
errors of those who knew the right, but
chose to perform the evil. Iu reading
the sublime pages of Paradise Lost, we
must forget its author, or we should hear,
amid the seraphic harmonies of Paradise,
that voice which was raised only in behalf
of anarchy and crime. Those ignorant
fanatics who, as Macauley says, "made it
a crime to read over the dead the ancient
and beautiful service of the English
Church." deserve only pity. But we must
ever regard as monster to be forever
execrated, man of great genius, Of re-
fned and cultivated taste, who dcbased
these fair gifts of Nature, by hooting on
the ignoront and tickle mob, against the
respectable part of society Aud such a
man was John Milton-without parallel,
until modern times furnished Wendell
Phillips. Byron has left us, "anid much
that can perish only with the English Ian
guage," perennial fountain, from whence
the seusualist and misanthrope draw their
dazzling and fallacious systems Of misery
and death. But we will not multiply in
stances to show that literary history, no
less than that of modern times, is tissue
of mistakes, disappontmonts and ruin
1t was reserved for Sir Walter Scott to
illustrate by his life that just harmony
which should exist between theory aud
practice. He alone (without we except
Thackeray), by his lite, has given to his
works such an additional charm, that his
memory blends with his heroes, and reali-
ty is interviewer with romance.
Sir Walter Scott was a descendant of
the ancient and powerful family of Buc.
cleugh, now, as then, one of the greatest
families of Scotland. lie possessed in an
eminent degree that spirit of clanship,
which is the most prepossessing part of
Scottish character. A Tory in principle,
be held just views of the House of s uart,
and its enemies, the Puritans. While
admitting those blcmishes in the lives of
the two Charles, he saw also their better
Iarts While, with all the wisely good
and great, he looked upon the Puritan s
the representation of the worst form of
fanaticism, that form which, when Success
full, overthrows all the sweet ameni les Of
life, and renders it woeful pageant of
hypocrisy. Holding these views, bis
prose works are invaluable as correct de.
scriptions of those two opposing classes,
the Cavaliers and Puritans, and as incul-
eating that love of order in society, with
out which it is devoid of grace aud beauty.