New-York tribune., 1880-06-27

III
whom my soul delights, and the monuments
| which set me to dreaming, are both OIL quite an
| other description. .
After q good refreshing look at the statue OF
| DR.. Livingstone, and having had enough OF the
Riories of the Waverley monument / went to
| Castle-st., where the MAN Scott lived and
labored for 80 many years; In winch hls nOveis
| and poems were written ana MS cnudren O1In
| and In which he gave that beautiful example OF
| the domestic virtues which is worth quite as
much to the world as the manifold productions
| uf his ti:eless pen. This house in which Scott
resided for twenty-six years (from $500 to
| 1890 is No. SO Castle-st and Is plain, small
| structure, now given ND, 1t seemed, to office
| of some commercial description. Scott speaks
of it in his diary as q convenient cabin which
! has sheltered me from the fprime OF life to lis
| decline and now | must bid goodbye TO 1t.
| This pathetic entry was made after the money
crash had come, that dark close or bnlilant
career, tor which the insolvencles OF Constable
| & Co. and of the BalIantyDes were responsible,
| together with the folly of buying land and OF
| building AbbOtsf0rd. stood in the room IN
| which was undoubtedly written thisSmemoran-
| dunn, and thought Of how this valiant man, the
pride of ScUtcbmep," as Carlyle calls him,
| grded himself for fight tar harder than those
| in which, at the touch of his wizard wand, the
mOss-trOOpers and men-at-arms and gallant
| knights of long ago reengaged In this time OF
cOttOn-spinning. One hundred and fifty
thousand pounds sterling owing to creditors by.
one who was the soul of honor, and whose
| whole nature recOlled from bankruptcy as from
pOllution Ibid not think much, as | stood In the
| room IN which this remarkable man had oiled so
| fearfully, of his Marmlons and Rob RoyS, OF III
Vernon or of Meg Merrliies, of Dandie DinmOnt
| or of Dominic Sampson, of RebeCca or ROwena.
| But thought great deal, and trust to great
| deal better purpose, OF the wOndlOns courage
| which Scott exhibited, when the catastrophe OF
| his career came crashing down upon him. The
| wife of his youth was soon TO die the gay
elasticity of early manhood had changed to
kind Of grim defiance; he was to battle single
handed and lOnesomely alone for what he
| thought to be honor, and for the credit OF bls
good name; and the victory was to be won not
lance i'll hand, or with broad sword or battle
axe, but by the drudgery Of the desks hard
wood" by the persistent writing or book after
book. bv days and weeks and months and years
devoted to the production Of original manu-
script We think sometimes we small men OF
letters, that we have rather hard lot OF 1t, and
fret and groan ut what We call the slavery OF
our brains. Good heavens Suppose that any
pounds sterling of debt, which he must pay or
die of broken heart He might TAX of GRID
ing up his kins for the task, but doubt il the
lOlns would be much the better for the glrdIng.
1t certainly is what Dickenss dandy called "a
dem'd horrd grind to be compelled to produce
great numbers of newspaper articles aud maya
zine articles and suen like wares in order that
we may not be in debt to Our landlords and our
tailOrs and our bO0t-makers; bur this man,
this Scott had mountain of difficulties 10
level. and he was fifiy-fve years old. The
creditors who offered composition little knew
him-he was not of tie compromising sort.
do not care q dOit whether the books written
under this pressure Of circumstances are .EO0i
or merely mediocre! How, under the tlightfnl
circumstances, were they to be OF the best
The wonder was that the task was accomplished
at all-that brain and heart and hand Kept their
strength so long as they did and did not before
succumb to paralysis. All the rest IS tragedy
says Carlyle after citing the entry III the diary
recording the death of l. idy Scott. Yes it was
tragedy in sense, but 1t was tragedy Whlcl
should iDviGOrate and ennOOle. We should not
have known how great was the nature OF Scott
if it had not given him this OppOrtun ty. The
monument is all very we'll IN ITS way; but why
did not the people OF EdlnDulgh buY lhls htiie
house in Castle st. made sacred by such an ad
mnab,e exhibition OF moral herOISm, and pre-
serve it forever that their Chidrens chlldien
might know how nObiy the gIeat author slIug-
ged there against a Sea OF tIOubcSf
OF course not much rs To be slld OF 50 Su9-
gestive city as Edinburgh within the limits OF
q single paper; but ! do not know a spot where
one Is kept so perpetualy thinking. The mo1u-
ents furnish their share Of this mental stlm-
ulus. The old is very old and full or Lay ami OF
legend; the comparatively modern Is a con-
slant reminder of books which you read in boy
hood. AT every step are ttrOnglng asS0cia-
tions. AS you stroll down Prlnces-st., for
single instance, YOU look ut the Castle where
Mary Stuart gave birth TO that boy, the son of
Darnley, wi o was afterWard to he King Of Eng
land and of Scotland bCrh. Then there Is Holy
rOOl, where the festivities OF certain March
evening over three hundred years ago. were
rudely Interrupted; and where Motion, and
Ruthven, and Lludsly. aud the rest went
stealtliiy creeping up private staircase, ana
iudcly burst into tne closet of Their nifrightcd
Queen; where the Italian minstrel crOuched
and shrlel:cd behind his royal mistress,
and clutched her robes as II they had
royal virtue enough to shield him. They
show the room now; they show
vCu the wretcl's bloudstains at the stalr-head
md ltp
1t was 50 long age, and 1t Was RzzlO! 1heh
there is the audience chamber, in Wnlcn stern
old John Knox gave good advice 10 one VINO
never needed IT,, and who, ms great spirit
aflame at the bad way in which things were
going. sometimes forgot cOuItcSles and con-
ventIOnaliteS, and Tebuked this light-headed
Queen, who never needed lesson and never
prOlitcd by experience-sO sOleIy Tebukcd her
that there was nothing tor her to do but to
cry. Well, you can read history enough
at IloyTOOd-sermOns i'll the stones, II
You will. | amused myself by thinking
10 or there how fortunate, after all, this
~ Stuart has been. Her execution
s one of the most picturesque as well as
80 of the most curious events III English
history. To-day it is a question whether
she was legally executed or merely murdered
this being one of the many problems
winch the Virgin Queen has bequeathed
u.s. Men have squabbled about her character
for three hundred years to no purpose-the
women, | have usually observed. are upon
her side, as becomes their tender and less
critical natures The Scotch, who never agree
about anything, continue to disagree about
her. There is evidence enough to
convict her of various imprudences.
Yet as she was beautiful and un-
fortunate. the possessOr OF great number
OF superficial Rraces, suppose that she will
continue to be admired and pitied, and that
the world will dispute about her until she
passes into perfectly mythical parsonage with
every conceivable virtue. " should like very
much to know" said, as musingly strolled
down the High street, "whether Elizabeth did
really sign the warrant or whether it was a
scampish trick Of Burleleh and Walsinghan."
and shall probably reflect upon it occasionally
for the rest of my days.
Having a natural love of marine sights and
smells, strolled over to Leith, which, as the
reader knows, is the seaport of Edinburgh.