The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-04-25
SIR WALTER SCOTT
QUEEN VICTORIA HONORED HIS
MEMORY. WITH A GIFT.
Made Il New BarOnet who Falls Heir
10 AbbOtsfOrd, the Home of
the Great Poet.

Queen Victoria, upon the coming Of
age of Walter Maxwell Scott, great
grandson of Sir Walter Scott
and heir to Abbotsford, conferred
a baronetcy upon him. Young SCOTS
mother is the daughter of the late James
Hope Scott. Her mother was the daughter
of Lockhart, who married the daughter
of Sir Walter. Walter Maxwell Scott is.
through the female line the direct heir
of the great author. Next TO Stratfc.d,
with its Shakespearean treasures. no lit
erary shrine is dearer to English-speaxing
people than Abbotsford. 1t is more than
the Shakespeare houses a creation OF
the poet. The Abbotsford property lies
on the Tweed, about three miles above
Melrose Scott acquired it from the pro-
ceeds of his annuity in 1871. A year after
he removed there. 1t was originally a
farm in front of which was pond, from
which the place had received the name
of Clasty C'flthy') Hale. Scott, on whose
sensitive and poetic nature the coarse
name grated, changed it to Abbotsford,
taking the appellation from the adioin-
ing ford. The land had belonged to the
Abbey of Merose. Scott had always
been a lover of the grand old days of me-
diaeval splendor. His poetry shows
clearly the hold those feudal magnii-
cences had upon him. One of his biog-
raphers says Scott was a strange but
interesting mixture of the feudal chieftain
and nineteenth century gentleman. His
deep study of border ballads and legends.
his intimate knowledge of the feudal laws
and customs-all joined to form in his
mind strong desire to put into concrete,
substantial shape some of his many
dreamngs. At first he built small villa
upon it. but as he plunged more deeply
into the romantic past and the great in
cidents which he put into "Marmion,"
'Rokeby" and other poems pervaded
his thoughts, he began to add to it in
1917. producing in the end large castell-
sted and gabled mansion, of which the
interior is finished in the late MEDIEVAL
style. Seen through the trees, mellowed
by the distance, the modern towers took
on an antiquated look, and stranger
seeing it from one of the surrounding hills
in the cleaning would have thought him
self in face of place full of those mys-
terious tragedies associated with moats
and drawbridges.
An unrecorded incident of the poets life,
well known to the poets intimate friends,
! but never published in any of his Lives,
! Is associated with such a view of the
castle which Scott caught one evening re-
turning from a hunt Among his COM
panions was a beautiful young lady of
the vicinity, who entered deeply into the
spirit of her famous friends composition.
| Scott refined his horse to a standstill on
reaching the height and seemed lost in
reflection, his eyes fixed on the towers
| that reared themselves in the distance.
The lady finally broke in upon his mus
ings by saying: with little fancy one
could hear the clash of swords off toward
your home yonder."
Yes" replied the poet in his broad
Scotch. Its a dull soul that could not
hear more than that" and waving to his
companion to proceed homeward he took
from his pocket a scrap of paper and
| wrote these lines:
When on thy walls of gray 1 gaze,
| / live again the days gone by
! When knights drew blood for lady's praise,
Or smiled at death to win a sigh
He handed the paper to the lady and
the two rode home in silence.
It is to this interesting poetry that
young Scott falls heir Unlike the homes
of other poets, 1t did not have to wait
till after his death to receive the attention
of strangers. During the latter years OF
the poets life ADbOtStOrd was often
thronged with visitors from all lands to
whom the poems and tales had appealed
so strongly. Scott had foul children two
sons and two daughters. They were much
beloved by him. making up for him in
great part the want of intellectual COM
partnership on the part of his wife. for
whom his affection, however, never
waned 1t is through the female line that
the Scott line has been perpetuated. II
is understood that the young heir will do
nothing to change the style or decorations
which his distinguished ancestor gave to
the place. The armory at Abbotsford.
filled with the trophies of the chase, has
been one of the sights of the mansion,
and hundreds of local admirers and globe
trotters, especially Americans. would be
grieved If any of its glories were taken
away.
The young man who is to be Sir Walter
will not be depressed by the great name
he is to carry. He is light-hearted, and
what Whittier would have called a whole
some" lad. His popularity among the
people with whom his future will be cast
is great. He has not as yet SHOWN that
any of the poets genius will
Leap Ger generations
Again to bless the world.
However. as the Scotch say there 5
mickle hidden in a little" and 1t was not
till the first Sir Walter was well alone
in years that he showed his great talents
Whether the title viii snuff any Stun.
bering affiatus in his descendants remains