Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/57

 the ablest of English animal engravers, and his ‘Sportsman's Cabinet, a correct delineation of the Canine Race,’ 1804; ‘History and Delineation of the Horse,’ 1809; and ‘Sportsman's Repository, comprising a series of engravings representing the horse and the dog in all their varieties, from paintings by Marshall, Reinagle, Gilpin, Stubbs, and Cooper,’ 1820, earned for him great celebrity. A pair of large plates, ‘Breaking Cover,’ after Reinagle, and ‘Death of the Fox,’ after Gilpin, issued in 1811, are regarded as his masterpieces. Scott also did much work for publications of a different kind, such as Tresham and Ottley's ‘British Gallery,’ Ottley's ‘Stafford Gallery,’ Britton's ‘Fine Arts of the English School,’ Hakewill's ‘Tour in Italy,’ and Coxe's ‘Social Day.’ He laboured unceasingly at his profession until 1821, when a stroke of paralysis practically terminated his career; during the last years of his life he was assisted by the Artists' Benevolent Fund, of which he had been one of the originators. Scott died at his residence in Chelsea, on 24 Dec. 1827, leaving a widow, several daughters, and one son, John R. Scott, who also became an engraver, and executed a few plates for the ‘Sporting Magazine.’

A portrait of Scott, drawn by J. Jackson, R.A., in 1823, was engraved by W. T. Fry and published in 1826. A crayon portrait by his son is in the print-room of the British Museum.



SCOTT, JOHN (1777–1834), divine. [See under, 1747–1821.]

SCOTT, JOHN, first (1751–1838), lord chancellor, third son of William Scott of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by his second wife, was born in Love Lane, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 4 June 1751. Heraldic conjecture has sought to connect his family with the noble house of Scott of Balwearie, Fifeshire [see, (d. 1532)]; but, beyond the name, there is nothing but vague tradition to indicate a Scottish origin. The pedigree cannot be authentically traced further back than William Scott's father, also William Scott, who is described as yeoman of Sandgate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The future chancellor's father, William Scott, born about 1696, was apprenticed on 1 Sept. 1716 to Thomas Brummel, ‘hoastman’—i.e. coal-factor, or, in the local dialect, ‘coal-fitter’—of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; received the freedom of the town on 25 Aug. 1724, and was admitted to the full privilege of the ancient guild of hoastmen on 7 Sept. following. He prospered in business, became the owner of several ‘keels’—i.e. barges—and a public-house, and died on 6 Nov. 1776, having been twice married. His first wife, Isabella Noble (m. 11 May 1730), died in January 1734, leaving issue. By his second wife, Jane, daughter of Henry Atkinson of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (m. 18 Aug. 1740, d 16 July 1800), he had issue thirteen children, of whom six reached mature age. Of these three were sons, viz. (1) (afterwards Lord Stowell) [q. v.]; (2) Henry (baptised 2 Nov. 1748, d. 8 Dec. 1799); and (3) John, the subject of the present article.

A dominie named Warden taught the boys their letters by the Scottish method of ‘muffling’ the consonants, i.e. placing the vowel before instead of after them; and they were then grounded in the church catechism and the classics by [q. v.] at the Newcastle free grammar school, where they sat on the same form with [q. v.] For Moises, John Scott retained so much regard that, as lord chancellor, he made him one of his chaplains. Though a fair scholar, John was at first intended for business; but at the suggestion of his elder brother, William, he was allowed to join the latter at Oxford in 1766. During the journey the Latin adage ‘Sat cito si sat bene,’ which the coach bore painted on its panel, made so deep an impression on his mind that in after life he was never weary of quoting it as an apology for his inordinate procrastination. He matriculated on 15 May 1766 from University College, where on 11 July in the following year he obtained a fellowship, for which his Northumbrian birth made him eligible. He graduated B.A. on 20 Feb. 1770, proceeded M.A. on 13 Feb. 1773, was appointed high steward of the university on 18 Sept. 1801, and received the degree of D.C.L. by diploma on 15 Oct. following.

In 1771 Scott gained the English-essay prize by a stilted Johnsonian dissertation on ‘The Advantages and Disadvantages of Travelling into Foreign Countries’ (see Oxford English Prize Essays, Oxford, 1836, vol. i.). At this time he had thoughts of taking holy orders, but abandoned the idea on gaining the hand of Elizabeth, the beautiful daughter of Aubone Surtees, a wealthy banker of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The lady's heart had been his for some time, and, her parents refusing their consent to the match, she eloped with him by an upper story window and a ladder on the night of 18 Nov. 1772. Next day, at Blackshiels, near Edin-