New-York tribune., 1911-01-22

agile pen. but those two take the high
,si rank i'm the list.
Tho author was born Lucy Bethia
roImlroun. the daughter of an ancient
scottish family. Her father was that
CoIouhuuu. naturalist and sportsman
,.nosr hook THE Moor and the Loch,' Is
still famous tie sought wild game IN
MANY parts of Scotland, and Of the sue
..ssi,c abodrs of the family leased IN
fh. ,..urs, of his sporting adventures ms
ga,lant.r has many engaging recollec-
-i,r. Thar. were still quaint persons
and quaint customs lingering IN those
regions i'm the 51's Of the last century
and here we find sprightly glmpses OF
them as well as anecdotes of an earlier
time preserved i'm the family. The
ay,bor.s grrat-grandfather was that Sir
John Sinclair whose splendid portrait by
Raeburn is known to all students OF ART.
lie was one of the handsomest OF men,
as that picture shows, and he was proud
of the children who inherited his remark
able beautv Of person. He was accus-
toned to say that he had "siX-and-
thirty feet Of daughters There were
six Of them. and each was SIX feet IN
height. Some Of these daughters he had
inoculated for smallpox, and the result
was not i'm each case satisiactory-som
of them were marked for life. Mrs.
Walford tells us that the disappointed
father called upon the doctor 10 skin the
girls faces. and was furious at q re-
fusal Another Of Sir Johns cccen-
tricities as a father, by the way, was
strange habit Of rewarding with half a
crown any one of his children who made
good pun proved TO be original
The ColquhOuns were not quite 50 odd
AS their Sinclair relative, but the author
admits that Sir James Of that ilk, her
grandfather. was "as stupid a county
magnate as existed" Rob Roy is a
story Of the Colquhoun country, and its
most effective scenes are set on the
Colauhoun lands-whcrefore, then, is
there no mention Of the family in the
novel. and why are there sighting state
ments in "The Lady Of the Lake? 1t
appears that Scott, when engaged on the
novel. sought material and local color on
the spot, and, confident Of welcome and
assistance" presented himself at the
door Of Rossdhu Sir Jamess mansion.
Who and what was q mere Edinburgh
lawyer to the Chief Of ColquhOun? Mr..
Walter Scott-hc was not yet Sir Walter
might be a clever man of letters. but
he was person Of no consequence, as
Sir James esteemed consequence, and ne
skunk ont by back way 10 avoid an in
trusiye. pryins body. having ordered the
butler 10 show him around Such an
arfront was never forgotten nor forgiven,
i'm Rob Roy the COlquhOuns were absO-
utcly ignored. and the scene Of The
Lady Of the Lake, originally intended TO
hc laid on the banks Of Loeb Lomond.
was removed to Loeb Katrine.' Sir
Walter IT, is added made no secret Of
his reasons This pompous Colquhoun
might have small respect for literature,
hut the humber Scots Of that period
were apt TO be readers and poetry
lovers. Mrs WalfOrd remembers COM
ing upon a copy Of Dante" in the orig
inal lying open in little Argyleshire
hut. and discovering, 10 her amazement,
that its owner and reader was the poor,
hard working peasant woman Of the hut,
10 whom in her school days the book had
been given as q prize for her proficiency
in Italian.
I'm Edinburgh society fifty years ago
there still ruled odd characters Of the
sort Scott loved 10 draw A certain
Miss Helen Walker, a little old maid Of
no fortune, who lived in a very small
and plain house, was the fashion, and
entertained continuously, being much
sought by important guests whom richer