Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-22
HAYS EULoGY ON SCOTT
Delivered at thaiBnvsiling Of Bust in
Westminster Abbey.
Effort Aroused lEnt usaasm ard wn.
Characteriaedihy-Dc Bradley M
"Wise, El0quentand Truthful"

The Duke of cBIcGleuch unveiled at
Westminster Abbey yesterday afternoon
memorial bust of Sir 1Walter Scott. in the
presence of a distinguished assemblage.
The bust is by Me-. Hutchinson. r. s. A..
and is a copy Of Sir Francis Chantroy's
well-known portrait.
Col. John Hay, ambassador of the United
States, delivered an eulogy on Sir Walter
Scott, which was received with the great
est enthusiasm and was described by Dean
Bradley as being wise, eloquent and
truthful"
Mr.. Hay said. in part: His lines have
gone out through the earth and his words
to the end Of the world. No face in mod
ern history, If we may except the maeis-
terial profile of Napoleon. Is so well known
as the winning. irregular features Of the
Squire of Abbotsford.'
1t is rather the worldwide extent of his
fame that has seemed hitherto to make 1t
unnecessary that his visible image should
be shrined here among Englands writer's.
HIS spirit Is everywhere; he is revered
wherever the English speech has travelled
and TRANSACTIONS have given some glimpses
of his brightness through the vale of many
alien tongues, but the vaStness of his name
Is no Just reason why 1t may not have a
local habitation also; it is, therefore, most
fitting that his bust should be placed to-
day among those Of his mighty peers, in
this great pantheon of immortal English
men.
I'm this most significant and interesting
ceremony should have no excuse for ap-
pearing, except as representing for the
time being large section Of Walter Scott
immense constituency. doubt If any
where his writings have had a more loving
welcome than in America. The books a
boy reads are the most ardently admired
and the longest remembered; and Ameri-
cans revelled in Scott when the country
was young.
II have heard from my father, a pioneer
of kentucky, that in the early days of this
century men would saddle their horses and
ride from all the neighboring counties to
the principal post town Of the region. when
a new novel by the author of 'Waverley'
was expected.
"AH over our struggling states and ter
ritories in the east, where civilization of
slender resources but boundless hopes was
building; in the west. where the stern con-
f1iet was going on, OF the pioneer subduing
the continent, the books most read were
those poems of magic and sentiment, those
tales of bygone chivalry and romance.
which Walter Scott was pouring forth upon
the world with rich facility, a sort of
joyous fecundity like that of nature in her
most genial moods.
Through all these important formative
days of the republic Scott was the favorite
author of Americans. and while his writ
ings may not be said to have had any
special weight in our national and political
development, yet their influence was enor-
nous upon the taste and sentiment CT
people peculiarly sensitive to such inf1u-
cnces from the very circumstances of their
environment.
THE romances Of courts and castles were
specially appreciated Tin the woods and
plains of the frontier, where a pure de-
mocracy reigned. The poems and novels of
Scott, saturated with the glamour OF legend
and tradition. we've sreedily cevoured by
Il people without perspective, conscious that
they themselves were ancestors of redoubt-
able lines whose battle was with the pass
ing hour, whose gior;es were all in the
Gays to come. IL
"Since the time of Scott we have seen
many fashions in fiction come and go; each
generation naturally seeks different ex-
but the author of .Waverley.' amidst all
vicissitudes of changing modes. has kept
his pre-eminence in two hemispheres as the
master of imaginative narrative. 81 {.
Even those of US who make no preten-
sion to the critical faculty may see the
twofold reason ofn this enduring master
food. Both; mentally and rneEally Scott was
one Of the greatest writers who ever lived
and relating serYiceable facts was almost
lnconceiyable to ordinary men, and his in
structive imagination was nothing short of
prodigious. -,
THE lochs and hills of Scotland swarm
with the imaginary phantoms with which
he has peopled them for all time; the his
toricai personages of rast centuries are
1ostlec In our memories by the characters
nc IDS as1o more viVld In vitality and
color than the real soldiers and lovers with
whom he has cast their lives
But 1t Is probably the morality of Scott
mat appeals more strongly to the many
tnan even his enormous mental power His
ideals are lofty and pure; his heroes are
brave and strong. not exempt from human
innrmities, but always devoted to ends
more or less noble
his heroines. whom he frankly asks YOU
to admire, are beautiful and true. They
walk IN womanly dignity through his
pages. whether CARRIED as peasants or prtn-
cesses, with honest brows uplifted, with
eyes gentle but fearless. pure in heart and
delicate in speech These are the essential
and undying elements of the charm with
wnich this great magician has soothed and
iulleo the WEAKNESS of the world through
thFee tormented generations. For this he
has received the uncritical unprudpine
love of grateful millions"