2»d S. No 60., Dec. 13. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



463 



that it took me a whole day to separate and ar- 

 range them. Mr. W. J. F. does not appear to 

 know that these MSS. have been sold by auction 

 since Constable's death. 



Tom Scott partook of his brother's talent as a 

 conteur, and may have told him some of the stories 

 which he afterwards worked up into his immortal 

 productions. But this may be said of Shakspeare 

 himself. How many of his plots have been traced 

 to obscure books ! He often pilfered the shape- 

 less stones with which he reared his glorious struc- 

 tures. I very much doubt if Tom Scott could 

 have penned a page worth printing ; but I am 

 very sure he was too indolent to have taken the 

 trouble of even trying to produce an article for 

 the Quarterly, as Sir Walter recommended. It is 

 astonishing to me that W. J. F. can doubt Sir 

 Walter's rapidity of composition when in health, 

 after reading Lockhart's interesting account (de- 

 rived from the undoubted testimony of John Bal- 

 lantyne, on that occasion one of the amanuenses) 

 of the dictation of two of his most finished tales, of 

 most engrossing interest — Ivanhoe, and The Bride 

 of Lammermoor * (see Life of Scott, ch. 44.) 

 while he was suffering from, severe cramp in the 

 stomach. But I do not believe they were written I 

 with more celerity than Sir Edward Bulwer's, 

 with the exception of two or three, the 2nd and 

 3rd vols, of Waverley, for instance, in less than a 

 month, and Kenilworth in three months to a day ! 

 The latter was transcribed by me, and I made a 

 note of the time when I received the beginning 

 and end. The tale, however, had been in a latent 

 state, in Scott's mind, for several years. 



I have read nearly the whole of the vast col- 

 lection of letters addressed to Scott, and there is 

 not a line there which could in the slightest degree 

 support W. J. F.'s theory of T. Scott's joint au- 

 thorship. 



There was a person to whom Scott was more 

 indebted than to his brother — but only for the 

 groundwork of some of his tales — Mr. Joseph 

 Train, to whose family Lord Aberdeen very pro- 

 perly granted a small pension for assistance ren- 

 dered by their father to Sir Walter Scott. Train 

 picked up some curious and interesting legends in 

 the course of his rides as an exciseman, which he 

 communicated by letter to Sir Walter, who made 

 a liberal use of them, which he amply acknow- 

 ledged in the annotated edition. Mr. Train's 

 letters are now at Abbotsford, and I have read 

 several of these " long yarns." Though they show 

 much zeal in Scott's service, they are not remark- 

 able for any particular talent. In truth, there is 

 as much difference between Mr. T.'s disjecta 

 membra and the tales to which they partly gave 



* Lockhart is mistakea in saying " the whole of the 

 Legend of Montrose was dictated," the greater portion 

 having been transcribed by me from Scott's MS. 



birth, as there is between a rough block of free- 

 stone from the quarry and the " living marble " 

 which shines forth, to captivate generation after 

 generation, in the Apollo Belvidere.* 



Geo. Huntly Gordon. 



JOHN CHURCHILI- AND THE DUCHESS OP 

 CLEVELAND. 



Mr. Macaulay, speaking of the 5000^. given by 

 the Duchess of Cleveland to Churchill, says 

 (vol. i. p. 461.): 



" I hope there is no truth in an addition to the story 

 which may be found in Pope : 



* The gallant, too, to whom she paid it down. 

 Lived to refuse his mistress half-a-crown.' 

 Curll calls this a piece of travelling scandal." 



In looking through the New Atalantis I found 

 what I have no doubt is the original story. Count 

 Fortunatus is the Atlantic name of John Churchill, 

 and the Duchess de L'Inconstant that of the 

 lady (vol. i. p. 57. ed. 1720): 



" Her Pension was so ill paid, that she had oftentimes 

 not a Pistole at Command ; then she solicited the Count 

 (whom she had raised) by his Favour with the Court, 

 that her Affairs might be put into a better Posture ; but 

 he was deaf to all her Intreaties. Nay, he carried his In- 

 gratitude much farther : One Night at an Assembly of 

 the best Quality, when the Count tallied to 'em at Basset, 

 the Dutchess lost all her Money, and begged the Favour 

 of him, in a very civil Manner, to lend her Twenty Pieces ; 

 which he absolutely refused, though he had a Thousand 

 upon the Table before him, and told her coldly. The 

 Bank never lent any Money. Not a Person upon the 

 Place but blamed him in their Hearts: As to the 

 Dutchess's part, her Resentment burst out into a Bleeding 

 at her Nose, and breaking of her Lace ; without which 

 Aid, it is believed, her Vexation had killed her upon the 

 Spot." 



Without passing any judgment upon the first 

 accusation, it will probably be thought that on the 

 charge circumstantially made, Churchill must be 

 honourably acquitted, as having done the kindest 

 thing that could be done. It may be added that 

 probably the money was not his own, or rather, 

 would not have been his own if the story had 

 been true. A. De Morgan. 



THE PEN AND THE SWORD. 



Literary pursuits are but little in accordance 

 with those of warfare ; still I have met with two or 

 three instances, and those in remarkable persons, 

 who have become gens de Vepee ; and perhaps some 



* [However unwilling to open the columns of " N. & 

 Q." to any farther discussion upon this subject, we do not 

 feel justified in excluding a communication supplj'ing 

 important facts, with which Mr. Huntly Gordon had 

 peculiar facilities of becoming acquainted. — Ed. " N. & 

 Q."] 



