Sir Walter Scott. 583 



" And now," said he, addressing his son-in-law as they walked 

 home, " you shall not want money to go on with. You're an honest 

 fellow, and your wife tells me you're a good fellow, and I believe 

 her. You shall dine with me to-day, the children and all.'* 



And thus ended this eventful meeting of creditors. 



It was about three years afterwards, that Mr. Eager was seated on 

 the Highflyer fast coach to Manchester (whither he was going for 

 the purpose of undermining another man's connexion), when, just as 

 he was about to enter the town of Macclesfield, the coach overturned, 

 and the neck of Mr. Eager was unfortunately dislocated. 



Mr. Grasp has since discovered that the state of trade renders a wife 

 and eight children an inconvenient number to provide for; and al- 

 though he does manage to totter on, it is not without requesting occa- 

 sional credit from Mr. Walton. 



And Shark, the other day, had some difficulty in persuading a body 

 of gentlemen who met together, to accept the handsome arid grati- 

 fying composition of five-pence-halfpenny in the pound. 



As for Walton, when I last saw him, he was doing very well ; in- 

 deed, I suspect him to be rather rich than otherwise. 



SIR WALTER SCOTT THE POET AND THE NOVELIST. 



(Continued from page 45 5 J 



IN the last number of this Magazine certain remarks were made on 

 the character of the late illustrious Magician of the North, which, 

 however severe they may appear to those, whom past gratification 

 or party feeling have prejudiced in his favour, will undoubtedly ap- 

 pear quite just to those, who, throwing aside every thing except the 

 sincere desire of ascertaining the truth, feel disposed to enter into 

 the investigation of the facts on which the opinions that we have 

 advanced are grounded. To comprise in one brief sentence what 

 we before stated more at length, Sir Walter Scott was a profound 

 antiquarian, an acute and retentive observer of national character and 

 individual peculiarities, a dry and facetious humourist, a graphic 

 describer both of still and animated^ scenery, and above all he was 

 unequalled as a composer into one consistent whole of the various 

 materials that came under his plastic hand : in short one quality in 

 addition would have made him perfect ; but he possessed it not, the 

 poetic imagination. Leaving those who would further understand 

 our meaning to consult our last number, we resume our account of 

 Mr. Lockhart's admirable biography, keeping our intention con- 

 tinually in view of deducing some conclusions therefrom that shall 

 serve as the basis for a philosophical analysis of Scott's character. 



The following extract from the Ashestiel memoir, in which Sir 

 Walter Scott speaks of his tutor Mr. James Mitchell, a simple-hearted 

 but amiable minister of the Kirk of Scotland, and subsequently one 



