The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-04-11
scorr's CHARACTERISTICS,
IExchsnre.l

iExchsnge.l
 The third volume of Mir. Mason s Personal Traits ot British Authors s gives a good deal of space to Sir Walter Scott. Perhaps the most convincing testimony to the hahitual geniality and generosity of the attitude of Scott towards ais se.!ow beings Is supplied by R. K Haydon, who had an eye like giuale, tor the defects of other people. "MAat. ever you praise to ScotLs Hayaon tells Miss Milford, in letter, 'he joins heartily with yourself. and directs your attention to some additional beauty" Edward Cheney also testties that ; ,ott was "to- tally free from the morbid ego,ism of some men of genius, and viewed his own success with sort of surprise" To the same effect wrote Washington Irving 1; ' never met wish sn author so com. pletely void of all the pe,ulsnce, egotisIn and peculiarities of the craft" ames Hogg" knew several unsuccessful authors who for years depended upon Scouts bounty for their daily bread.H What a picture this is of the mighty wizard of the north, protecting and supporting, in stead of chilling and derding, the stumbling and starving prole,ariat of he- erature. One more witness to this rare and princelv kind of magnanimity; No being attirms William Erskine, was ever more entirely free than Scott from even the slightest feelings oi eavy, jeal- ousy, or consciousness ;n regard to brother authors"
 Mir. Mason quotes from Loekhart an account Of the circumstance that first led $ ,ott to equip his chapters with mottoes ct hia owr fabrication. 70 had hap pened, il seems, to ask John Ballantyne to hunt for particulav passage in Beau mont and Fletcher In spite of pA,icn, research, the lines could not be dis covered. "Hang it, Jahn," cried Scott "l believe that could make motto sooner than you would find one" He did so then, and often atterward, labeling such pseseaded quotations, as it is well known, "old play" or "old ballad" Some other facts chronicled by Lockhart, and reproduced by Mir. Mason, indicate that Scott's powers of memory were every whit as marvellous as those ot Macaulay. Like Campbell, Scott was noticeably in- sensible to music. J. (. Young records that "a young lady in the house sang divinely, but her singing gave him no pleasure. He was much too honest to affect to be what he was not thus he ad mitted that he had "a reasonable good ear for a iig,' but confessed that solos and sonatas gave him the spleen.'" Yet he liked to hear his daughter play Charlie is My Darling;" but this was manifestly from the association of ideas. | Another unexpected trait is brought out | kuf D I AatsA aAI. hot ,.,k,IA talked oi scenery, as he wrote of 1t, like painter, yet for pictures as works of art he had little or no taste, nor did he pre- tend to any. There was not one picture of sterling merit on his walls. It is hard to reconcile this lack of discrimin alton with the extraordinary development Of the pictorial faculty with which Scott has been credited by so high an authority as Ruskin.
 IL was in iSio. when he was forty eight years old, and five years after the pab!!- cation of Waverly," that Scott first em- ployed amauuenses. The greater p 'rt of Ivanhoe," oi the Legend of Montrose," |" and "The Bride of Lammermoor." was dictated while the author was writhing with acute suffering upon his bed. When his health was firmly Teestablished, he returned and adhered to the old plan of penning everything with his own hand. It is we'll known that Scott was very rapid writer; far too rapid, George Eliot thought, to give his great powers of ex- pression fair play. Appropos of his stu- dious and prolonged attempt to preserve anonymity of the Wavcrly novels, Mr. Mason quotes from Barham's diary mos. striking piece of evidence that we do not remember to have seen. 1, seems that Murray, the publisher, taxed Scott with being the author of" Old Mortality" whereupon Scott "not only denied hav- ing written it, but added: h order to convince you that am not the author, will review the book for you in the Gu arterly which he actually did, and Murray still has the manuscript in his handwriting"