Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/104

240 where he had left off, and so on for day after day, till the novel was finished.

It happened very unfortunately, that the severe task which he imposed upon himself, for the purpose of discharging his obligations, came at a period of life when he was least able to accomplish it. It will hardly be believed that, even when so far occupied with his official duties in town, he seldom permitted a day to pass over his head without writing as much as to fill a sheet of print, or sixteen pages; and this, whether it was of an historical nature, with of course the duty of consulting documents, or of fictitious matter spun from the loom of his fancy. Although this labour was alleviated in the country by considerable exercise, it nevertheless must have pressed severely upon the powers of a man nearly sixty by years, and fully seventy by constitution. The reader may judge how strong must have been that principle of integrity, which could command such a degree of exertion and self-denial, not so much to pay debts contracted by himself, as to discharge obligations in which he was involved by others. He can only be likened, indeed, to the generous elephant, which, being set to a task above its powers, performed it at the expense of life, and then fell dead at the feet of its master.

His retirement from official duty might have been expected to relieve in some measure the pains of intense mental application. It was now too late, however, to redeem the health that had fled. During the succeeding winter, symptoms of gradual paralysis, a disease hereditary in his family, began to be manifested. His contracted limb became gradually weaker and more painful, and his tongue less readily obeyed the impulse of the will. In March, 1631, he attended a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Roxburgh, to aid in the expression of disapprobation, with which a majority of those gentlemen designed to visit the contemplated reform bills. Sir Walter was, as already hinted, a zealous Tory, though more from sentiment, perhaps, than opinion, and he regarded those regenerating measures as only the commencement of the ruin of his country. Having avowed this conviction in very warm language, a few of the individuals present by courtesy, expressed their dissent in the usual vulgar manner; whereupon he turned, with anger flashing in his eye with him a most unwonted passion—and said, that he cared no more for such expressions of disapproval than he did for the hissing of geese or the braying of asses. He was evidently, however, much chagrined at the reception his opinions had met with, and in returning home was observed to shed tears.

During the summer of 1831, the symptoms of his disorder became gradually more violent; and to add to the distress of those around him, his temper, formerly so benevolent, so imperturbable, became peevish and testy, insomuch that his most familiar relatives could hardly venture, on some occasions, to address him. At this period, in writing to the editor of the present work, he thus expressed himself:—

"Although it is said in the newspapers, I am actually far from well, and instead of being exercising (sic), on a brother novelist, Chateaubriand, my influence to decide him to raise an insurrection in France, which is the very probable employment allotted to me by some of the papers, I am keeping my head as cool as I can, and speaking with some difficulty.

"I have owed you a letter longer than I intended, but write with pain, and in general use the hand of a friend. I sign with my initials, as enough to express the poor half of me that is left. But I am still much yours,

"W. S."

Since the early part of the year, he had, in a great measure, abandoned the pen for the purposes of authorship. This, however, he did with some difficulty,