Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott Volume VI Part 24

CONTENTS.

"LETTER I.--Introduction--General reasons for believing the novels to have been written by the author of Marmion.

"LETTER II.--Resemblance between the novelist and poet in their tastes, studies, and habits of life, as ill.u.s.trated by their works--Both Scotchmen--Habitual residents in Edinburgh--Poets--Antiquaries--German and Spanish scholars--Equal in cla.s.sical attainment--Deeply read in British history--Lawyers--Fond of field sports--Of dogs--Acquainted with most manly exercises--Lovers of military subjects--The novelist apparently not a soldier.

"LETTER III.--The novelist is, like the poet, a man of good society--His stories never betray forgetfulness of honorable principles, or ignorance of good manners--Spirited pictures of gentlemanly character--Colonel Mannering--Judicious treatment of elevated historical personages--The novelist quotes and praises most contemporary poets, except the author of Marmion--Instances in which the poet has appeared to slight his own unacknowledged, but afterwards avowed productions.

"LETTER IV.--Comparison of the works themselves--All distinguished by good morals and good sense--The latter particularly shown in the management of character--Prose style--Its general features--Plainness and facility--Grave banter--Manner of telling a short story--Negligence--Scotticisms--Great propriety and correctness occasionally, and sometimes unusual sweetness.

"LETTER V.--Dialogue in the novels and poems--Neat colloquial turns in the former, such as cannot be expected in romantic poetry--Happy adaptation of dialogue to character, whether merely natural, or artificially modified, as by profession, local habits, etc.--Faults of dialogue, as connected with character of speakers--Quaintness of language and thought--Bookish air in conversation--Historical personages alluding to their own celebrated acts and sayings--Unsuccessful attempts at broad vulgarity--Beauties of composition peculiar to the dialogue--Terseness and spirit--These qualities well displayed in quarrels; but not in scenes of polished raillery--Eloquence.

"LETTER VI.--The poetry of the author of Marmion generally characterized--His habits of composition and turn of mind as a poet, compared with those of the novelist--Their descriptions simply conceived and composed, without abstruse and far-fetched circ.u.mstances or refined comments--Great advantage derived by both from accidental combinations of images, and the a.s.sociation of objects in the mind with persons, events, etc.--Distinctness and liveliness of effect in narrative and description--Narrative usually picturesque or dramatic, or both--Distinctness, etc., of effect, produced in various ways--Striking pictures of individuals--Their persons, dress, etc.--Descriptions sometimes too obviously picturesque--Subjects for painters--Effects of light frequently noticed and finely described--Both writers excel in grand and complicated scenes--Among detached and occasional ornaments, the similes particularly noticed--Their frequency and beauty--Similes and metaphors sometimes quaint, and pursued too far.

"LETTER VII.--Stories of the two writers compared--These are generally connected with true history, and have their scene laid in a real place--Local peculiarities diligently attended to--Instances in which the novelist and poet have celebrated the same places--they frequently describe these as seen by a traveller (the hero or some other princ.i.p.al personage) for the first time--Dramatic mode of relating story--Soliloquies--Some scenes degenerate into melodrame--Lyrical pieces introduced sometimes too theatrically--Comparative unimportance of heroes--Various causes of this fault--Heroes rejected by ladies, and marrying others whom they had before slighted--Personal struggle between a civilized and a barbarous hero--Characters resembling each other--Female portraits in general--Fathers and daughters--Characters in Paul's Letters--Wycliffe and Risingham--Glossin and Hatteraick--Other characters compared--Long periods of time abruptly pa.s.sed over--Surprises, unexpected discoveries, etc.--These sometimes too forced and artificial--Frequent recourse to the marvellous--Dreams well described--Living persons mistaken for spectres--Deaths of Burley, Risingham, and Rashleigh.

"LETTER VIII.--Comparison of particular pa.s.sages--Descriptions--Miscellaneous thoughts--Instances in which the two writers have resorted to the same sources of information, and borrowed the same incidents, etc.--Same authors quoted by both--The poet, like the novelist, fond of mentioning his contemporaries, whether as private friends or as men publicly distinguished--Author of Marmion never notices the Author of Waverley (see Letter III.)--Both delight in frequently introducing an antiquated or fantastic dialect--Peculiarities of expression common to both writers--Conclusion."

[Footnote 131: [John Leycester Adolphus, son of John Adolphus, eminent as a barrister and the author of various historical works, was born in 1795, and was educated at Merchant Taylors', and St. John's College, Oxford, where in 1814 he gained the Newdigate prize for English verse.

He held a reputable position in his father's profession, and, beside the work described in the text, published _Letters from Spain in 1856 and 1857_. He also wrote a number of clever metrical _jeux d'esprit_.

He was engaged in completing his father's _History of England under George III._ at the time of his death in 1862.]]

I wish I had s.p.a.ce for extracting copious specimens of the felicity with which Mr. Adolphus works out these various points of his problem.

As it is, I must be contented with a narrow selection--and I shall take two or three of the pa.s.sages which seem to me to connect themselves most naturally with the main purpose of my own compilation.

"A thorough knowledge and statesmanlike understanding of the domestic history and politics of Britain at various and distant periods; a familiar acquaintance with the manners and prevailing spirit of former generations, and with the characters and habits of their most distinguished men, are of themselves no cheap or common attainments; and it is rare indeed to find them united with a strong original genius, and great brilliancy of imagination. We know, however, that the towering poet of Flodden Field is also the diligent editor of Swift and Dryden, of Lord Somers's Tracts, and of Sir Ralph Sadler's State Papers; that in these and other parts of his literary career he has necessarily plunged deep into the study of British history, biography, and antiquities, and that the talent and activity which he brought to these researches have been warmly seconded by the zeal and liberality of those who possessed the amplest and rarest sources of information. 'The Muse found him,' as he himself said long ago, 'engaged in the pursuit of historical and traditional antiquities, and the excursions which he has made in her company have been of a nature which increases his attachment to his original study.' Are we then to suppose that another writer has combined the same powers of fancy with the same spirit of investigation, the same perseverance, and the same good fortune?

and shall we not rather believe, that the labor employed in the ill.u.s.tration of Dryden has helped to fertilize the invention which produced Montrose and Old Mortality?...

"However it may militate against the supposition of his being a poet, I cannot suppress my opinion, that our novelist is a 'man of law.' He deals out the peculiar terms and phrases of that science (as practised in Scotland) with a freedom and confidence beyond the reach of any uninitiated person. If ever, in the progress of his narrative, a legal topic presents itself (which very frequently happens), he neither declines the subject, nor timidly slurs it over, but enters as largely and formally into all its technicalities, as if the case were actually 'before the fifteen.' The manners, humors, and professional _bavardage_ of lawyers, are sketched with all the ease and familiarity which result from habitual observation. In fact, the subject of law, which is a stumbling-block to others, is to the present writer a spot of repose; upon this theme he lounges and gossips, he is _discinctus et soleatus_, and, at times, almost forgets that when an author finds himself at home and perfectly at ease, he is in great danger of falling asleep.--If, then, my inferences are correct, the unknown writer who was just now proved to be an excellent poet, must also be p.r.o.nounced a follower of the law: the combination is so unusual, at least on this side of the Tweed, that, as Juvenal says on a different occasion--

... 'bimembri Hoc monstrum puero, vel mirandis sub aratro Piscibus inventis, et foetae comparo mulsae.'

Nature has indeed presented us with one such prodigy in the author of Marmion; and it is probable, that in the author of Waverley, we only see the same specimen under a different aspect; for, however sportive the G.o.ddess may be, she has too much wit and invention to wear out a frolic by many repet.i.tions....

"A striking characteristic of both writers is their ardent love of rural sports, and all manly and robust exercises.--But the importance given to the canine race in these works ought to be noted as a characteristic feature by itself. I have seen some drawings by a Swiss artist, who was called the Raphael of cats; and either of the writers before us might, by a similar phrase, be called the Wilkie of dogs. Is it necessary to justify such a compliment by examples? Call Yarrow, or Lufra, or poor Fangs, Colonel Mannering's Plato, Henry Morton's Elphin, or Hobbie Elliot's Kilbuck, or Wolfe of Avenel Castle:--see Fitz-James's hounds returning from the pursuit of the lost stag--

'Back limped with slow and crippled pace The sulky leaders of the chase'--

or swimming after the boat which carries their Master--

'With heads erect and whimpering cry The hounds behind their pa.s.sage ply.'

See Captain Clutterbuck's dog _quizzing_ him when he missed a bird, or the scene of 'mutual explanation and remonstrance'

between 'the venerable patriarchs old Pepper and Mustard,' and Henry Bertram's rough terrier Wasp. If these instances are not sufficient, turn to the English bloodhound a.s.sailing the young Buccleuch,--

'And hark! and hark! the deep-mouthed bark Comes nigher still and nigher; Bursts on the path a dark blood-hound, His tawny muzzle tracked the ground, And his red eye shot fire.

Soon as the wildered child saw he, He flew at him right furiouslie....

I ween you would have seen with joy The bearing of the gallant boy....

So fierce he struck, the dog, afraid, At cautious distance hoa.r.s.ely bayed, But still in act to spring.'

Or Lord Ronald's deerhounds, in the haunted forest of Glenfinlas,--

'Within an hour return'd each hound; In rush'd the rousers of the deer; They howl'd in melancholy sound, Then closely couch beside the seer....

Sudden the hounds erect their ears, And sudden cease their moaning howl; Close press'd to Moy, they mark their fears By s.h.i.+vering limbs and stifled growl.

Untouch'd the harp began to ring, As softly, slowly, oped the door,' etc.

Or look at Cedric the Saxon, in his antique hall, attended by his greyhounds and slowhounds, and the terriers which 'waited with impatience the arrival of the supper; but, with the sagacious knowledge of physiognomy peculiar to their race, forbore to intrude upon the moody silence of their master.' To complete the picture, 'One grisly old wolf-dog alone, with the liberty of an indulged favorite, had planted himself close by the chair of state, and occasionally ventured to solicit notice by putting his large hairy head upon his master's knee, or pus.h.i.+ng his nose into his hand. Even he was repelled by the stern command, "Down, Balder, down! I am not in the humor for foolery."'

"Another animated sketch occurs in the way of simile:--'The interview between Ratcliffe and Sharpitlaw had an aspect different from all these. They sate for five minutes silent, on opposite sides of a small table, and looked fixedly at each other, with a sharp, knowing, and alert cast of countenance, not unmingled with an inclination to laugh, and resembled, more than anything else, two dogs, who, preparing for a game at romps, are seen to crouch down, and remain in that posture for a little time, watching each other's movements, and waiting which shall begin the game.'

"Let me point out a still more amusing study of canine life: 'While the Antiquary was in full declamation, Juno, who held him in awe, according to the remarkable instinct by which dogs instantly discover those who like or dislike them, had peeped several times into the room, and, encountering nothing very forbidding in his aspect, had at length presumed to introduce her full person, and finally, becoming bold by impunity, she actually ate up Mr. Oldbuck's toast, as, looking first at one, then at another of his audience, he repeated with self-complacence,--

"'Weave the warp, and weave the woof.'--

You remember the pa.s.sage in the Fatal Sisters, which, by the way, is not so fine as in the original--But, hey-day! my toast has vanished! I see which way--Ah, thou type of womankind, no wonder they take offence at thy generic appellation!"--(So saying, he shook his fist at Juno, who scoured out of the parlor.)'

"In short, throughout these works, wherever it is possible for a dog to contribute in any way to the effect of a scene, we find there the very dog that was required, in his proper place and att.i.tude. In Branksome Hall, when the feast was over,--

'The stag-hounds, weary with the chase, Lay stretched upon the rushy floor, And urged, in dreams, the forest race From Teviot-stone to Eskdale-moor.'

The gentle Margaret, when she steals secretly from the castle,

'Pats the s.h.a.ggy blood-hound As he rouses him up from his lair.'

When Waverley visits the Baron of Bradwardine, in his concealment at Janet Gellatley's, Ban and Buscar play their parts in every point with perfect discretion; and in the joyous company that a.s.sembles at Little Veolan, on the Baron's enlargement, these honest animals are found 'stuffed to the throat with food, in the liberality of Macwheeble's joy,' and 'snoring on the floor.' In the perilous adventure of Henry Bertram, at Portanferry gaol, the action would lose half its interest, without the by-play of little Wasp. At the funeral ceremony of Duncraggan (in The Lady of the Lake), a princ.i.p.al mourner is

----'Stumah, who, the bier beside, His master's corpse with wonder eyed; Poor Stumah! whom his least halloo Could send like lightning o'er the dew.'

Ellen Douglas smiled (or did not smile)

----'to see the stately drake, Lead forth his fleet upon the lake, While her vexed spaniel from the beach, Bayed at the prize beyond his reach.'

"I will close this growing catalogue of examples with one of the most elegant descriptions that ever sprang from a poet's fancy:--

'Delightful praise! like summer rose, That brighter in the dew-drop glows, The bashful maiden's cheek appeared, For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard.

The flush of shame-faced joy to hide, The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide; The loved caresses of the maid The dogs with crouch and whimper paid; And, at her whistle, on her hand, The falcon took his favorite stand, Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye, Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly.'

"Their pa.s.sion for martial subjects, and their success in treating them, form a conspicuous point of resemblance between the novelist and poet. No writer has appeared in our age (and few have ever existed) who could vie with the author of Marmion in describing battles and marches, and all the terrible grandeur of war, except the author of Waverley. Nor is there any man of original genius and powerful inventive talent as conversant with the military character, and as well schooled in tactics, as the author of Waverley, except the author of Marmion. Both seem to exult in camps, and to warm at the approach of a soldier. In every warlike scene that awes and agitates, or dazzles and inspires, the poet triumphs; but where any effect is to be produced by dwelling on the minutiae of military habits and discipline, or exhibiting the blended hues of individual humor and professional peculiarity, as they present themselves in the mess-room or the guard-room, every advantage is on the side of the novelist. I might ill.u.s.trate this position by tracing all the gradations of character marked out in the novels, from the Baron of Bradwardine to Tom Halliday: but the examples are too well known to require enumeration, and too generally admired to stand in need of panegyric. Both writers, then, must have bestowed a greater attention on military subjects, and have mixed more frequently in the society of soldiers, than is usual with persons not educated to the profession of arms.

"It may be asked, why we should take for granted that the writer of these novels is not himself a member of the military profession? The conjecture is a little improbable if we have been right in concluding that the minuteness and multiplicity of our author's legal details are the fruit of his own study and practice, although the same person may certainly, at different periods of life, put on the helmet and the wig, the gorget and the band; attend courts and lie in trenches; head a charge and lead a cause. I cannot help suspecting, however (it is with the greatest diffidence I venture the remark), that in those warlike recitals which so strongly interest the great body of readers, an army critic would discover several particulars that savor more of the amateur than of the practised campaigner. It is not from any technical improprieties (if such exist) that I derive this observation, but, on the contrary, from a too great minuteness and over-curious diligence, at times perceptible in the military details; which, amidst a seeming fluency and familiarity, betray, I think, here and there, the lurking vestiges of labor and contrivance, like the marks of pickaxes in an artificial grotto.

The accounts of operations in the field, if not more circ.u.mstantial than a professional author would have made them, are occasionally circ.u.mstantial on points which such an author would have thought it idle to dwell upon. A writer who derived his knowledge of war from experience would, no doubt, like the Author of Waverley, delight in shaping out imaginary manoeuvres, or in filling up the traditional outline of those martial enterprises and conflicts, which have found a place in history; perhaps, too, he would dwell on these parts of his narrative a little longer than was strictly necessary; but in describing (for example) the advance of a party of soldiers, threatened by an ambuscade, he would scarcely think it worth while to relate at large that the captain 're-formed his line of march, commanded his soldiers to unsling their firelocks and fix their bayonets, and formed an advanced and rear-guard, each consisting of a non-commissioned officer and two privates, who received strict orders to keep an alert look-out:' or that when the enemy appeared, 'he ordered the rear-guard to join the centre, and both to close up to the advance, doubling his files, so as to occupy with his column the whole practicable part of the road,' etc.

Again, in representing a defeated corps retiring and pressed by the enemy, he would probably never think of recording (as our novelist does in his incomparable narrative of the engagement at Drumclog) that the commanding officer gave such directions as these: 'Let Allan form the regiment, and do you two retreat up the hill in two bodies, each halting alternately as the other falls back. I'll keep the rogues in check with the rear-guard, making a stand and facing from time to time.' I do not offer these observations for the purpose of depreciating a series of military pictures, which have never been surpa.s.sed in richness, animation, and distinctness; I will own, too, that such details as I have pointed out are the fittest that could be selected for the generality of novel-readers; I merely contend, that a writer practically acquainted with war would either have pa.s.sed over these circ.u.mstances as too common to require particular mention, or if he had thought it necessary to enlarge upon these, would have dwelt with proportionate minuteness on incidents of a less ordinary kind, which the recollections of a soldier would have readily supplied, and his imagination would have rested on with complacency. He would, in short, have left as little undone for the military, as the present author has for the legal part of his narratives. But the most ingenious writer who attempts to discourse with technical familiarity on arts or pursuits with which he is not habitually conversant, will too surely fall into a superfluous particularity on common and trivial points, proportioned to his deficiency in those nicer details which imply practical knowledge....

"'The prince of darkness is a gentleman.'[132]

"Another point of resemblance between the author of Waverley and him of Flodden Field is, that both are unquestionably men of good society. Of the anonymous writer I infer this from his works; of the poet it is unnecessary to deduce such a character from his writings, because they are not anonymous. I am the more inclined to dwell upon this merit in the novelist, on account of its rarity; for among the whole mult.i.tude of authors, well or ill educated, who devote themselves to poetry or to narrative or dramatic fiction, how few there are who give any proof in their works, of the refined taste, the instinctive sense of propriety, the clear spirit of honor, nay, of the familiar acquaintance with conventional forms of good-breeding, which are essential to the character of a gentleman! Even of the small number who, in a certain degree, possess these qualifications, how rarely do we find one who can so conduct his fable, and so order his dialogue throughout, that nothing shall be found either repugnant to honorable feelings, or inconsistent with polished manners! How constantly, even in the best works of fiction, are we disgusted with such offences against all generous principle, as the reading of letters by those for whom they were not intended; taking advantage of accidents to overhear private conversation; revealing what in honor should have remained secret; plotting against men as enemies, and at the same time making use of their services; dishonest practices on the pa.s.sions or sensibilities of women by their admirers; falsehoods, not always indirect; and an endless variety of low artifices, which appear to be thought quite legitimate if carried on through subordinate agents. And all these knaveries are a.s.signed to characters which the reader is expected to honor with his sympathy, or at least to receive into favor before the story concludes.