New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-08-10
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Coptir.aed from First PAGE.

faith 10 corrupt mans principles, ana thSt nave
written pothng which, on my death-bed, should
wish blotted." When at length he lay upon that
assth-bed the same thought animated and sustained
him. my dear he saiS.-to Lockhart-"be GOOD
mao-be virtuous-be religious-be @ good man.
Nothing else will give you any comfort when you
scn,e 10 lie here" TIE mind that thus hab,tuaiiy
swelt upon goodness, as the proper object OF human
ambition and the chief merit of human life, was not
nsely TO have vavtnted itself on its own labors OF
tndulg eG any save modest and chastened priue III
Its own achievements.
This view il ako seems to us, affords some ekp,a-
nation of the ,aectionato reverence with when 'n0
memory of Scott is cherished. lie was pr
sminently, "a type of all that IS lovely III 49, 49,.
But his virtue was not decorun', aho ~ " -
soodyism. He does not, with Addiso'@ ~
elegant ansferity; and he Goes "o'' WIZ -,
uomery. nepresent amable tamehees' - -.
''yy,,s,ls bis goodness not Yaplu IL w. Wv -
deprcss hut il gladdens. 1t Is ardent w" - =;
and passion; it is brilliant Wlth and
fTrsnt with taste and grace; it Is alert aouNo,
- - -;,,, mental achievements and pracucNi
GOOD dceds And il is the goodness OF Sto'I a.
\, enIs ,vpres,ion and influence tlrouE" -
,.d;,, -, NJ an art whose magic is like tno mae
sunrf so and sunset the somber am. MY o. Ill,
lonely mountains the penslVe so'i'"0e -
voels. the pathos of ancient gray ~ 60
y,r-,s and oceans solemn, eyeTN's'Ihs ' :ttt
,,,,z.,rs have sprung up in English LteI"t"o I'm
lie last City years; but-Wnch an 10 80
.,,,-,,or las busbed the voice OF the Au'hor VI
Syavcrle,, and harp has drowned 'Ie in"''0 "a
d. a., Minstrel Of the North.
sco7-l'S C,EEEn-rIIE STORY or HIS LIFE.
waiter Scott was born at Edinburgh, on the l''h
IF August III. His father was lawyer. Ills pa
te,psl descent Was derived from Border family
Known a, the SCOTS Of Harden--a branch OF the
l. sc Of Bucceuch His mother, Anne Rutherford
CO., he daughter of DR. John Rutherford, Pr0fes-
~ 4 medicine in the University of Edinburgh. Ills
r-rel,ts were married in 1888, and they had numer
GUS family-twelve children-Of which walter was
,,a Of tho Younger members. His birthplace was
house in College Wynd, the gate of the UmveI-
s;ty of Edinburgh. 1t has since been demolished
SCOTS infant years were passed partly in this honse
and partly in Snallhclm Grange the farmhouse q
his Maternal grandfather, at place called SANDY
Knave in the vale of the lower Tweed. Drei poI-
tion of his infancy spent at Bath IN Ehglaiu'
and at restOnpans. In his eighth year ne WAS ''h'n
home TO his fathers house, at No. p GeorgeSquue'
Edinburgh and entered as pupil az INC h'sh
School where he is said to have dSpiayed E'e"t'I
proficiency in storytelling than III pursu, Vi tlc
regular course Of studies The boys, indeed called
him DUN Scotus, on account OF his blackIelter
scholarship In November 1888, he was trans
for,o1 to the University Of Edinburgh, where
l.. ACCOMPLISHED considerable amount OF de-
.u;lorv study and reading, but where
La use0uence of a serious illneSs-he did not long
remaln. In May. 1856, he was apprentlced to his
father-one of those attorneys that are called IN
Seo.l.nd writer's to the signet-and began the STUDY
of Law. This he prosecuted with conlnendable as
,auity considering that he found it distastef1l TILL
in p he passed the requisite examination ana was
called to the Bar.
HIS success a lawyer was lndlhereht' from
CHI hood he had been trihing with the Muse, walk
inc nd riding about the Border Country IN quest OF
Inst rio tradition and character portrait, and storing
ms capaaious and unerring memory with poetcal
Iesey,d The result was natural-and 1t was Tor
iupatc. As his nature ripened into manhood the
Vaccinations of Literature won an easy victory, in
his mind aud heart, the destinations of the law
~, d,d relinquish his legal avocations. To the
vi of his life, indeed he held legal Office. But he
gave himself, more and more as the days passed
N 10 those pursuits of poetry and romance T.
which he was both impelled and fitted by the latent
rover and interior consciousness of genius. Hi
first publication appeared in 1896, and was
translation of Burgers Lenore." This he made in
tn curse Of one night in fulillment of promise Il
Mis CrGnstoun-afterward Countess of Pungstal,-
m accomplished and discerning lady, who thereupon
pTophesed that he would turn ont poet; some
thing of q cross between Burns and Gray" Prescott,
in thoughtful aud gentle essay Sir Walter Scott,
he poticed-with a delicate touch of taste
.bsl scotts first production, by singular chance
ca into the world in the very year Burns dying III
i7s in which the Ayrshire Minstrel was withdrawn
from as if Nature had intended that the chain of
ooetic inspiration should not be broken" In 1893
Scott contributed to Monk" Lewis's Tales OF
Wonder'-a fantastic and short-lived compilation
three ballads. entitled " Glengnlas" 1.-THE Eve of
S. John" and "The Grey Brother" These ballads
nf1a nf EIrHra
character and merit in his Minstrelsy Of the Scot
tisl Border" In December, 1897, Scott married.
Fis wife vas Miss Charlotte Margaret Carpenter,
the daurhter of French parents but educated III
England under of Lord DownshiTe His first
licences after marriage in Edinburgh IN GeOrgest,
and in South Casost; but in 1898 he took his abode
IN aloycly rural cottage at Lasswade SCOTS married life
was yory happy lie had suffered in 1885, grievous
spD9ntmeut in love- his manly heart had thoroughly
eonmlcrci this sorrow and he displayed the least
morbid seu5ibity on the subject.
Tho Mstrcs Of the Scottish Border" to which refer
enee has made. appeared in 1902 II comprised the
result OF Investigations commenced before he ten
years ola i printed in beautiful style by his school
fellow James Ballautyne, and il welcomed with
svidity aad read with delight. This his first EN-
phac success in literature. Three incidents of note
should be mentioned that occurred prior % the pubca
tlJDO ais book On the 10th OF December, 1892 Scott
appointed sheriff Of selkirk. IL the year he
published translation Of Goethcs tragedy of
"GOetz yOn BeIlichingcu" Also he visited London
In company with his wife, and inspected antiquities
at Westminster Abbey, the Tower, aud the British
Museum lie had first these memorable places
when than four years Old, yet he remembered them
Wei - was asOniehed," he says, i'll his fragment OF
Autobiography, to end how accurate my recOlecons
Of taese celebrated places OF visitation proved 10 be,
End have csef since trusted implicitly TO my
iuveic "reminiscences" In 1904 Le published his
tated edition Of the old poem Of Sir Irisian,"
lcp1 In tho
donnc. called TIE RyJHeI- This enhanced bis reputation
ANT 1t WIS not RAJ the next year, 1905 made the