Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/89

 from Sir William Alexander, earl of Stirling [q. v.], the friend of Ben Jonson. Mrs. Scott was short, and ‘by no means comely.’ She was well educated for the time, though with old-fashioned stiffness; was fond of poetry, and was of light and happy temper of mind. Though devout, she was less austere than her husband. Her son Walter had no likeness, it is said, to her or to his father, but strongly resembled his great-grandfather ‘Beardie,’ and especially his grandfather Robert.

Walter Scott, the writer to the signet, had a family of twelve, the first six of whom died in infancy. The survivors were Robert, who served in the navy under Rodney, wrote verses, and was afterwards in the East India Company's service. John, the second, became a major in the army, retired, and died in 1816. The only daughter, Anne, suffered through life from an early accident, and died in 1801. Thomas, who showed much talent, entered his father's profession, failed in speculations, was made paymaster of the 70th regiment in 1811, accompanied it to Canada in 1813, and died there in April 1823. Daniel, the youngest, who was bred to trade, ruined himself by dissipation, and emigrated to Jamaica. There he showed want of spirit in a disturbance, and returned a dishonoured man, to die soon afterwards (1806). His brother Walter refused to see him, and afterwards felt bitter regret for the harshness.

Walter Scott, the fourth surviving child, was a very healthy infant, but at the age of eighteen months had a fever when teething, and lost the use of his right leg (on this illness see a medical note by Dr. Creighton to the article on Scott in the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ 9th ed.). After various remedies had failed he was sent to Sandy Knowe, where his grandfather was living with his second son, Thomas. Scott's earliest recollections were of his lying on the floor in this house, wrapped in the skin of a sheep just killed, and being enticed by his grandfather to crawl. Sheepskins and other remedies failed to cure the mischief, which resulted in a permanent deformity; but he recovered his general health, became a sturdy child, caught from his elders a ‘personal antipathy’ to Washington, and imbibed Jacobite prejudices, due partly to the fall of some of his relations at Culloden. He learnt from his grandmother many songs and legends of the old moss-troopers and his border ancestry. In his fourth year he was sent with his aunt, Miss Janet Scott, to try the waters at Bath. He was taken to London shows on his way; and at Bath was petted by John Home, the author of ‘Douglas,’ and by his uncle, Captain Robert Scott. He learnt a little reading at a dame school, and saw ‘As you like it’ at the theatre. He returned after a year to Edinburgh and Sandy Knowe, where he learnt to ride. Mrs. (Alison) Cockburn [q. v.] describes him in a letter of December 1777 as the ‘most extraordinary genius of a boy’ she ever saw. In his eighth year he was sent for sea-bathing to Prestonpans, where a veteran named Dalgetty told him stories of the German wars, and where he first made acquaintance with George Constable, the original of Jonathan Oldbuck.

In 1778 he returned to his father's house in George's Square, Edinburgh, and after a little preparation was sent, in October 1778, to the high school. A sturdy presbyterian, James Mitchell, also acted as private tutor to him and his brother. Scott had many ‘amicable disputes’ with the tutor about cavaliers and roundheads, and acquired some knowledge of the church history of Scotland. Mitchell testifies to his sweetness and intelligence. He did not, however, distinguish himself at school, where he was for three years under Luke Fraser, and afterwards under Alexander Adam [q. v.], the rector. He was an ‘incorrigibly idle imp,’ though ‘never a dunce.’ He was better at the ‘yards’ (or playground) than in the class, and famous, in spite of his infirmity, for climbing the ‘kittle nine stanes’ on the castle rock and taking part in pugilistic ‘bickers’ with the town boys. Under Adam, however, he became a fair latinist, and won praise for poetical versions of Horace and Virgil. His mother encouraged him to read Shakespeare, and his father allowed the children to act plays occasionally after lessons. His rapid growth having weakened him, he was sent for a half-year to his aunt at Kelso, where he attended school and made the acquaintance of James Ballantyne. Ballantyne reports that he was already an incomparable story-teller. An acquaintance with Thomas Blacklock [q. v.], the blind poet, had led to his reading Ossian and especially the ‘Faerie Queen,’ of which he could repeat ‘marvellous’ quantities. He also read Hoole's Tasso, and was, above all, fascinated by Percy's ‘Reliques.’ He was already beginning to collect ballads. He says that he had bound up ‘several volumes’ of them before he was ten (, ch. iv.), and a collection at Abbotsford dates from about 1783. To the Kelso time he also refers his first love of romantic scenery.

In November 1783 Scott began to attend classes at the college. He admired Dugald