386 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 17. 1855- 



grossest falsehoods ever deliberately uttered by 

 mortal man. 



To show that this last issue is in the balance, 

 let us examine Sir Walter's own words, when, on 

 Feb. 23, 1827, he announced on the previous in- 

 vitation of Lord Meadowbanlc, that the " Great 

 Unknown" was no less than Sir Walter Scott. 

 After saying that the secret had been communi- 

 cated to more than twenty people, and had been 

 remarkably ivell hept, he observed : 



" I have now to say, however, that the merits of these 

 works, if they had any, and their faults, are all entirely 

 imputable to myself. Like another Scottish criminal of 

 more consequence, one Macbeth : 



" ' / am afraid to think what I have done ; 

 Look on't / dare not ! ' 



" / have thus unbosomed myself, and / knoto that my 

 confession will be reported to the public. I mean, then, 

 seriously to state, that when I say I am the author, I mean 

 the total and undivided author. With the e.rceptioH of 

 quotations, there is not a siiigle word that was not derived 

 from myself, or suggested in the course of my reading." 



Let us ponder on this expression. If the 

 " Wizard of the North," as Sir Walter has been 

 appropriately called, was, after all, the master of 

 only a portion of his presumed power, his name 

 can only henceforth be associated with Chatterton 

 and the fabricator of the Rowley poems, with 

 Ireland and the perpetrator of the Shakspeare 

 forgeries ! J. Wodderspoon. 



Norwich, 



In corroboration of the opinion put forth by 

 W. J. Fitz-Patrick, that Sir Walter Scott did 

 not write, or was not the author of all the Wave?-- 

 ley Novels, reference may be made to a strong 

 assertion made in 1820, in two articles on Sir 

 Walter in the London Magazine. In the first 

 (p. 115.) it is said: 



" The fact is, that these works were written by a near 

 relative of Sir Walter Scott ; they were severally sent to 

 him by that relative in an unfinished state for revision, 

 correction, and methodising. Nearly the whole of the 

 poetry is his own composition, as well as many of the 

 descriptions. . . . These facts were communicated by the 

 real author of the novels to a colonel in the army, who is 

 well known, and eminently respected for the gallantry of 

 his services, the powers of his mind, and the extent and 

 depth of his erudition." 



In a second article (p. 381.) appears the follow- 

 ing statement : 



" From the interest which has been excited in conse- 

 quence of our remarks, although we cannot at present 

 justifiably mention any other names, we feel no hesita- 

 tion in gratifying the curiosity of our readers by inform- 

 ing them, that Mrs. Scott, formerly Miss M'Culloch, the 

 lady of Thomas Scott, Esq., Paymaster to the 70th regi- 

 ment, at present in Canada, is the writer of these novels, 

 and not Mr. Thomas Scott himself, as lately erroneously 

 stated in the daily papers." 



In a subsequent number of the same London 

 Magazine (p. 555,), appeared an extract from the 

 No. 316.) 



Dumfries Courier, with a note of the history of 

 Helen Walker, on which was founded the tale of 

 The Heart of Mid Lothian ; which note was made 

 by Mrs. Scott, long before that series of The 

 Tales of my Landlord had been announced. 



These coincidences are undoubtedly curious, 

 both occurring in the year 1820: but how far 

 they can be trusted in the face of Sir Walter's 

 public declaration of his own sole authorship, is 

 a question not easy to determine. F. C. H. 



ON DRYING BOTANICAL SPECIMENS. 



(Vol.xii., p. 346.) 



Unskilled is not sufficiently explicit in his 

 Query, especially as to leguminous plants, most of 

 which may be prepared with but little trouble. 

 Blotting-paper, or coarse sugar-paper, will, with 

 proper care, serve for the drying of most plants ; 

 but the process should be hastened by the aid of 

 heat. Warm the blotting-paper, using it in thick 

 masses, say a dozen sheets, between every pair of 

 specimens ; press the whole moderately by means 

 of straps, weights, or a press made for the pur- 

 pose, and place them in a slow oven. After some 

 hours, remove them, place them in fresh paper, 

 press more closely, and submit them again to heat. 

 In this manner plants of a very succulent cha- 

 racter may be successfully prepared. 



Sea-weeds can be dried in the same way ; I 

 have di'ied hundreds so, and without serious loss 

 of colour. But a quick and more certain method, 

 is to place the weeds between folds of dry linen, or 

 blotting-paper, and apply a hot' iron, which in- 

 stantaneously dessicates them. The great point 

 in all cases is " sudden and quick." 

 • Plants which contain resin, as pines for instance, 

 are apt to shed their foliage some time after having 

 been prepared. This may be prevented by im- 

 mersing the specimens in boiling water as soon as 

 they are collected. They are then to be dried 

 quickly, and not a leaf will crumble off. 



There is one admirable, but little known plan, 

 which answers admirably for fungi and^ tender 

 succulents. It is to drop the specimens in their 

 fresh state into tin boxes of silver sand, and cover 

 them some inches with the same material, shaking 

 it well about them, so as to fill up every interstice 

 of the place. Then submit the boxes to heat in 

 a slow oven for some days ; and on removing the 

 specimens, the sand will crumble from them, and 

 the shape and colour of the fungus will be found 

 well preserved, however delicate ; and the speci- 

 men so well dried, as to last for years. 



Compound flowers, such as dandelion, are trou- 

 blesome to manage, on account of their tendency 

 to run to seed while drying. You pack away 

 specimens in bloom, and they come out with ripe 



