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 his 'Dissertations' what was then regarded as the enormous sum of 1,600l. In 1813 Scott, on account of the embarrassments of the firm of John Ballantyne & Co., was forced to open negotiations with Constable, who, Lockhart states, 'did a great deal more than prudence would have warranted in taking on himself the results of unhappy adventures, and by his sagacious advice enabled the partners to procure similar assistance at the hands of others.' In 1814 the opening chapters of 'Waverley' were shown to Constable, who at once detected the author, and arranged to publish it by dividing the profits with Scott. By the advice of John Ballantyne, Scott afterwards occasionally deserted Constable for other publishers, but this led to no open breach in their friendly relations. On the failure in 1820 of Hurst, Robinson, & Co., the London agents of Constable & Co., the latter firm became insolvent, as did also that of James Ballantyne & Co., printers. Sir Walter Scott being involved in the failure of the two latter firms to the amount of 120,000l. Possibly the business of Constable & Co. might again have recovered had not a breach occurred between the partners. On their separation Scott continued his connection with Cadell on the ground, according to Lockhart, that Constable 'had acted in such a manner by him, especially in urging him to borrow large sums of money for his support after all chance of recovery was over, that he had more than forfeited all claims on his confidence.' Scott's judgment was probably more severe than the facts warranted. In any case, he admitted in reference to Constable's house that 'never did there exist so intelligent and so liberal an establishment.' Previous to his bankruptcy Constable had been meditating a series of cheap original publications by authors of repute issued monthly, which in a glowing interview with Scott he affirmed 'must and shall sell not by thousands or tens of thousands, but by hundreds of thousands — aye by millions.' This scheme his bankruptcy prevented him carrying out on the gigantic scale on which it was originally planned, but a modification of the original project was at once commenced by him in 1827, under the title of 'Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Works in Literature, Art, and Science.' Already, however, the dropsical symptoms with which he had been threatened for some time developed with alarming rapidity, and the 'portly man became wasted and feeble ' (Archibald Constable and his Correspondents, iii. 447). 'Constable's spirit,' says Lockhart in his 'Life of Scott,' 'had been effectually broken by his downfall. To stoop from being primus absque secundo among the Edinburgh booksellers, to be the occupant of an obscure closet of a shop, without capital, without credit, all his mighty undertakings abandoned or gone into other hands, except, indeed, his "Miscellany," which he had no resources for pushing on in the fashion he once contemplated, this reverse was too much for that proud heart. He no longer opposed a determined mind to the ailments of the body, and sunk on the 21st of this month [July 1827], having, as I am told, looked, long ere he took to bed, at least ten years older than he was. He died in his fifty-fourth year; but into that space he had crowded vastly more than the usual average of zeal and energy, of hilarity and triumph, and perhaps of anxiety and misery.' His first wife having died in 1814, Constable in 1818 married Miss Charlotte Neale. He had several children by both wives. His portrait was painted by Sir Henry Raeburn. He edited in 1810 the 'Chronicle of Fife, being the diary of John Lamont of Newton from 1649 to 1672,' and was the author of a 'Memoir of George Heriot, Jeweller to King James, containing an Account of the Hospital founded by him at Edinburgh.'

 CONSTABLE, CUTHBERT, M.D. (d. 1746), antiquary, was son of Francis Tunstall, esq., of Wycliffe Hall and Scargill Castle, Yorkshire, by Cicely, daughter of John Constable, second viscount Dunbar. He was educated in the English college at Douay, which he entered in 1700, and afterwards he took the degree of M.D. in the university of Montpellier. In 1718 he inherited from his uncle, the last Viscount Dunbar, the estate of Burton Constable, near Hull, Yorkshire, and in consequence assumed the name of Constable. He has been styled the 'catholic Mæcenas of his age.' He was an accomplished scholar, and corresponded with the most eminent literary men of the kingdom, particularly with the antiquary Thomas Hearne. He rendered great assistance to Bishop Challoner in the compilation of the 'Memoirs of Missionary Priests,' and contributed to the cost of publishing Dodd's 'Church History.' At Burton Constable he formed an extensive library, enriched with valuable manuscripts. Among the latter was a biography by himself of Abraham Woodhead; his correspondence with Mr. Nicholson, formerly of University College, Oxford, in reference to Woodhead; and a volume of his correspondence with Hearne. Constable died 27 March 1746. 