342 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 3. 1855. 



tower. Within tlie building, over the south door, 

 are some remains of Norman zig-zag moulding ; 

 whilst over the north porch is a parvise, having a 

 fireplace and "armarium" for the convenience of 

 the chantry priest, who probably attended from 

 Gloucester, as the church was anciently served by 

 the monks of the Priory of St. Oswald. The pa- 

 tronage of the living, a perpetual curacy, is vested 

 in the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, who, as the 

 rectors, take out of the parish annually 1214/., 

 and pay 201. a year to the curate. The word 

 Churchdown, anciently Circesdune, has been cor- 

 rupted into " Chosen," by which designation it is 

 most generally known. This parish gave birth to 

 John Harman, who was professor of Greek at 

 Oxford, and wrote a Life of Cicero, a Greek Ety- 

 mological Lexicon, and other works, and died in 

 1670. 



There is a legend extant relating to the elevated 

 site of the church, which is situated about 700 feet 

 above the plain, and commands a charming and 

 an extensive view of the richly cultivated vale of 

 Gloucester. The vulgar tradition is, that the arch- 

 fiend, on observing that the church was being 

 built at the foot of the hill, repaired every night 

 to the spot after the workmen had left, and carry- 

 ing the blocks of stone to the top of the hill, thero 

 placed them in situ, and so persevered until he 

 bad enforced compliance with his will in their 

 building the church where it now stands. Another 

 point may be mentioned in reference to an inquiry 

 in " N. & Q." (Vol. xi., p. 8.), that the custom 

 still prevails at Churchdown of ringing the church 

 bells on Holy Innocents' Day, — a fact the more 

 remarkable, as the ringers are not much addicted 

 to ringing on other and greater occasions. F. S. 



Churchdown. 



€LVitXXti. 



WERE ALL "the WAVERLET NOVELS " WRITTEN 

 BY SIR WALTER SCOTT ? 



It has often seemed to me, and I believe to 

 others, that the eighty volumes of The Waverley 

 Novels could hardly have been the work of Sir 

 Walter Scott's pen exclusively. People have lat- 

 terly whispered that Alexander Dumas and Mr. 

 G. P. R. James receive, suh rosa, considerable 

 assistance in their novel manufactures. The in- 

 teresting Tales by the O'Hara Family., which some 

 thirty years ago excited quite a sensation in lite- 

 rary circles, were, until quite recently, believed 

 to owe their popularity entirely to John Banim. 

 A memoir of that individual at present appearing 

 in the Irish Quarterly Review, informs the public 

 that his brother Michael, ex-mayor of Kilkenny, 

 wrote "Crohoore of the Bill-Hook," "The Croppy," 

 in fact, some of the very best of the O' Hara Tales. 

 Sir Walter Scott had a brother who died in Ame- 



No. 314.] 



rica, during the month of April, 1823, singularly 

 gifted with literary taste and talent. I'here is 

 little known of bim ; and, except by a few per- 

 sonal friends, he was, even at Sir Walter's death, 

 completely forgotten. Various accounts which 

 have reached me from time to time, decidedly 

 warrant the opinion that Thomas Scott, paymaster 

 of the 70th regiment, had some important hand 

 in the composition of the Waverleys. Some of 

 these far-famed novels appeared in such rapid 

 succession, that the mere manual labour of tran- 

 scribing could hardly have been accomplished in 

 the time. Sir Walter must have had friendly 

 assistance ; but he was not a man likely ever to 

 have revealed any secret calculated to lower his 

 literary prestige. The whole secret, if any, died 

 thirty-three years ago, far away in the plantations 

 of Canada. Nobody expected to find any start- 

 ling revelations in Scott's Life by his son-in-law, 

 and none were found. In any case, it would have 

 been most difficult for Lockhart to know all 

 Scott's literary doings. In chap, xxxvi. he ex- 

 presses his ignorance of how fiir Sir VV^alter was 

 concerned in Terry's dramatised version of Guy 

 Mannering, but infers " that he modified the plot, 

 and re-arranged the dialogue." 



In the Quebec Herald of July 15, 1820, a 

 curious article may be found. It consists of selec- 

 tions from the correspondence of a literary gen- 

 tleman in Canada witii a frieml in the States, and 

 the following I considered well worth extraction. 

 I send the original scrap : — 



" York, Dec. 12. 



" With respect to these new publications, Rob Roy, &c., 

 I Iiave no hesitation in saying I believe them to be the pro- 

 duction of the Scotts. I saj' the Scotts, because Mr.Thomtis 

 Scott (who wrote the principal part of them) was often 

 assisted by Mrs. Scott; and the works were generally 

 revised by his brother Walter, before going to press. 

 The Antiquary / caji answer for particularly, because Mr. 

 Thomas Scott told me himself that he wrote it, a very few 

 days after it appeared in this country. Any person who 

 had the least intimacy with the paj'master, would at 

 once recognize him as the author of those celebrated 

 works. The same native humour, the same cast of ex- 

 pression, and that intimate acquaintance with Scottish 

 manners and the Scottish annals, which are in almost 

 every page of those works, could be traced in his conver- 

 sation by any person of the least observation. Besides 

 this, I have "often heard Mrs. Scott* describe the very 

 originals from whom the principal characters are drawn. 

 The Antiquary himself was an intimate acquaintance of 

 the paymaster ; his name I have now forgotten, but he 

 lived in Dumfries f; and that finely drawn cliaracter. 

 Dominie Sampson, was.an old college acquaintance. Flora 

 M'lvar's character was written entirely by Mrs. Scott 

 herself. / have seen several of the manuscripts in Mr. 

 Scott's possession, of his other tvorks ; hut I do not recollect 

 seeing any of the novels in manuscript except the Antiquary. 



* Mrs. Thomas Scott was, so Sir Walter says, an old 

 friend of Burns (see Lockhart, p. 239., edit. 1845).— 

 W. J. F. 



t Mrs. Scott passed much of her early life at Dumfries 

 (see Lockhart, p.239.). — W. J. F. 



