The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-09-24
The Heiress Of Ahbotsford.

"When one remembers the herculean
tolls of Walter Scott to purchase and adon
Abbotsford, as the future home of his fam
lily for many generations, it is melancholy
to reflect that his family is entirely extinct,
and the place fast going to decay"
AS the above paragraph is now going
the rounds ofthe papers, and has found its
way into the columns of several usually well
informed journals, we think it time to cor
rect its misstatements. Sir Walters family
is not extinct, nor is his loved domain
going to decay. Abbotsford, when we
visited it was in the most perfect order;
and friend, who was there in July, writes
to us that the grounds have been beautifed
and improved in various ways, since his
previous visit during the summer of 1856.
The only change made in this most inter-
esting medieval mansion, since the death
of Sir Walter Scott, is the addition, to the
north end of the building, of Romish
chapel, its present occupant being mem
Der of that Church.
"The great unknown" died on a sunny
September day, 1882, realizing before he
passed away, in reference to all his fame,
honor, and renown, the truth of Solomon;
VANITY of vanities, sayeth the preacher
all is vanity and vexation of spirit" He
left four children-Walter, who succeeded
to the baronetcy; Charles; Sophia the wife
of John Gibson Lockhart and Anne, who
died on the twenty fifth of June, 1888, her
health and high spirits being broken by
her fathers misfortunes, and the care with
which she had attended Sir Walter and La
dy Scott, in May, 1887. When Lockhart
concluded his Life of his father-in-law, he
said: "There remain of Sir Walters race
only his two sons, Walter, his successor in
the baronetcy, major in the 18th Regiment
of Huzzars, and Charles, a clerk in the of
flee of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, with two children left by
their sister Sophia boy and a girl"
Charles died few years after Mrs. Lock
hart, leaving his elder brother, Walter, to
perpetuate the name of the author of "Wa-
verify" Walter was six feet one, and as
handsome fellow as ever put foot in
stirup. He married, but died at the Cape of
Good Hope, 1947, without issue. Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Sir Walter Scott, Bart, was sue
ceeded by Walter Scott Lockhart, cornet
in the 10th Lanccrs, the only son of the ed
itor of the Quarterly Review, and the only
grandson of the great author. He, too,
passed away childless, many years ago, and
was succeeded by his sister Charlotte, wife
of James Hope, the eminent parliamentary
counsel, who took the name of Scott on
the death of his brother-in-law Walter
! Scott Lockhart. Mary Monica Hope Scott
a fair-haired, ,blue-cyed girl, whose next
birthday will occur on the 9Th of October,
| when she will be seventeen years of rye is
the sole survivor of the SCOTS of Abbots-
ford, her mother having passed away, few
summers since, to join two of her children
who preceded her to
"Those everlasting gardens
Where angels walk and Seraphs the wardons,"
leaving this fair young girl as the only re-
preventative ofall that noble race. Mr.. Hope
Scott has since married daughter of the
Duke of Norfolk, and erected the Romish
chapel, he and his wife being members of
that Church. Miss Scott, the great grand
child of Sir Walter by the female side, is
the heiress ofAbbotsford house and estate,
her father being merely the administrator,
in respect to the property, at present.
Should Mary Monica marry, her husband
must take the name of Scott; and, should
she die without issue, then the property,
but not the title, which is now extinct, will
revert to the nephews of Sir Walter, sons
of his elder brother Thomas, who reside in
Canada. Thus although there is no hope
OF founding family In the direct male
line, there may yet exist long line of
SCOTS of Abottstord.
Strange and sad is the fatality which has
attended the family of the modern Shak-
speare. Sir Walters brothers all died
young. His sons and daughters were sum-
moned early to the silent land. Lockhart,
his gifted son-in-law, died broken-hearted
in 1854; and SCOTS daughter-in-law, the
pretty heiress of Lochore, has also gone to
the mysterious realm whence no traveller
returns Let us hope that the surviving
scion Of the great minstrel's race may be
long spared, that she may hand down to
posterity, the name and the features of the
distinguished Scotchman whose presence
was so dear to the generation who knew
and revered him, and whose genius is one
of the brightest inheritances of his native
land !-Appleton's Journal.