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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



in the vein for amusement. On the contrary, 

 they were elevated to the position of friends. 

 They possessed rights to be respected, feelings 

 which it would be scandalous to outrage. At all 

 times he had a soothing word and a kind pat 

 for every one of them. And that, surely, is the 

 proper way to behave toward the beings who are 

 dependent on us. 



Among Sir Walter's favorite dogs we first 

 hear of Camp, a large bull-terrier, that was taken 

 with him when visiting the Ellises for a week at 

 Sumiinghill in 1803. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis having 

 cordially sympathized in his fondness for this 

 animal, Scott, at parting, promised to send one 

 of Camp's progeny in the course of the season 

 to Sunninghill. As an officer in a troop of yeo- 

 manry cavalry, Scott proved a good horseman, 

 and we are led to know that he was much at- 

 tached to the animal which he rode. In a letter 

 to a friend written at this period (1803), he says : 

 " I have, too, an hereditary attachment to the ani- 

 mal — not, I flatter myself, of the common jocky 

 cast, but because I regard him as the kindest and 

 most generous of the subordinate animals. I 

 hardly even except the dogs ; at least, they are 

 usually so much better treated that compassion 

 for the steed should be thrown into the scale 

 when we weigh their comparative merits." 



For several years Camp was the constant par- 

 lor-dog. He was handsome, intelligent, and fierce, 

 but gentle as a lamb among the children. At the 

 same time there were two greyhounds, Douglas 

 and Percy, which were kept in the country for 

 coursing. Scott kept one window of his study 

 open, whatever might be the state of the weather, 

 that Douglas and Percy might leap out and in as 

 the fancy moved them. He always talked to 

 Camp as if he understood what was said — and 

 the animal certainly did understand not a little 

 of it ; in particular, it seemed as if he perfectly 

 comprehended on all occasions that his master 

 considered him a sensible and steady friend ; the 

 greyhounds as volatile young creatures whose 

 freaks must be borne with. 



William Laidlaw, the friend and amanuensis 

 of Scott, mentions in the " Abbotsford Notanda" 

 a remarkable instance of Camp's fidelity and at- 

 tention. It was on the occasion of a party visit- 

 ing a wild cataract in Dumfriesshire, known as the 

 Gray Mare's Tail. There was a rocky chasm to 

 be ascended, up which Scott made his way with 

 difficulty, on account of his lameness. " Camp 

 attended anxiously on his master ; and when the 

 latter came to a difficult part of the rock, Camp 

 would jump down, look up to his master's face, 



then spring up, lick his master's hand and cheek, 

 jump down again, and look upward, as if to show 

 him the way and encourage him. We were 

 greatly interested with the scene." 



The most charming part of Scott's life was, as 

 we think, that which he spent with his family at 

 Ashestiel, from about 1804 to 1808, part of which 

 time he was engaged in writing " Marmion." 

 Ashestiel was a country mansion situated on the 

 south bank of the Tweed, half-way between In- 

 nerleithen and Galashiels, and in what would be 

 called a solitary mountain district. There was 

 the river for fishing, and the hills for coursing, 

 and no other amusement. To enliven the scene 

 literary friends came on short visits. There was 

 an odd character in the immediate neighborhood, 

 called from his parsimony Old Nippie, whose 

 habits afforded some fun. When still at Ashes- 

 tiel in 1808, there is presented a pleasant picture 

 by Lockhart of the way in which Scott passed 

 the Sunday. The account of it is a perfect 

 idyl. " On Sunday he never rode — at least not 

 until his growing infirmity made his pony almost 

 necessary for him — for it was his principle that 

 all domestic animals have a full right to their 

 Sabbath of rest ; but, after he had read the 

 Church service, he usually walked with his whole 

 family, dogs included, to some favorite spot at a 

 considerable distance from the house — most fre- 

 quently the ruined tower of Elibank — and there 

 dined with them in the open air on a basket of 

 cold provisions, mixing his wine with the water 

 of the brook beside which they were all grouped 

 around him on the turf; and here, or at home, 

 if the weather kept them from their ramble, his 

 Sunday talk was just such a series of biblical les- 

 sons as that preserved for the permanent use of 

 the rising generation in his ' Tales of a Grand- 

 father.' He had his Bible, the Old Testament 

 especially, by heart ; and on these days inwove 

 the simple pathos or sublime enthusiasm of 

 Scripture, in whatever story he was telling, with 

 the same picturesque richness as he did, in his 

 week-day tales, the quaint Scotch of Pitscottie, 

 or some rude romantic old rhyme from Barbour's 

 ' Bruce ' or Blind Harry's ' Wallace.' " 



Failing from old age, Camp was taken by the 

 family to Edinburgh, and there he died about 

 January, 1809. He was buried in a fine moon- 

 light night in the little garden behind the house, 

 No. 39 Castle Street, immediately opposite the 

 window where Scott usually sat writing. His 

 daughter, Mrs. Lockhart, remembered " the whole 

 family standing round the grave as her father 

 himself smoothed down the turf above Camp with 



