Deo. 1. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



435 



really the case, the minute description of places 

 answering so closely to real localities is, to say 

 the least, a very remarkable coincidence, and 

 warrants the supposition that, in this point. Sir 

 Walter may have been indebted to the assistance 

 of some one well acquainted with the scenes so 

 vividly depicted. 



Many of the features in the character of the 

 miser, Morton of Milnwood, in Old Mortality, are 

 traditionally ascribed to a Mr. MacCuUoch of 

 Barholm, who lived about the time of the civil 

 wars described in that novel. These circum- 

 stances are far from proving any participation in 

 the authorship of the novels, either on the part of 

 Mr. or Mrs. Thomas Scott ; but they appear to 

 me worthy to be recorded, and may perhaps tend 

 to elicit further information on this subject. 



Edgar MacCulloch. 



Guernsey. 



I knew Thomas Scott well ; he always appeared 

 to me to have a much more brilliant intellect than 

 his brother Walter. Major Scott (the third bro- 

 ther) was a sleepy-minded man, who entertained 

 a " pro-di-gi-ous" dislike to all intellectual effort, 

 except indeed it might have been a game of whist, 

 and of this he was remarkably fond. Walter 

 often seemed dull and absent in society. Thomas 

 had a certain amount of indolence, however, which 

 prevented him from following a regular literary 

 life ; in which, otherwise, he could not have failed 

 to be distinguished. His wife (nee Elizabeth 

 M'Culloch, of Ardwell,) was also highly gifted ; 

 and was stored with old Scotch traditions, anec- 

 dotes, and historical reminiscences. I always knew 

 she had a talent for writing; she, however, was 

 sensitive on this point, and her friends rarely al- 

 luded to it. I am certain she had more literary 

 industry than Thomas Scott. I believe she is 

 dead ; at least, I have heard nothing of her for 

 very many years. When I knew her, she had a 

 son (Walter), a lieutenant in the East India Com- 

 pany's service ; and either three or four daughters, 

 named Jessie, Anne, and Eliza. Of these only 

 one was married. She was a Mrs. Huxley. Eliza- 

 beth M'Culloch, alias Scott, had a brother named 

 David. Both knew Burns intimately, when living 

 at Dumfries. David was considered the best 

 singer of Burns's songs. Burns, it is said, used to 

 secure David's assistance when composing, and 

 make him try over the words vocally. I have to 

 apologize for occupying so much space, but I 

 think it likely that Mrs. Thomas Scott gave more 

 assistance to the Waverley Novels than her husband. 



Some of the parties whom I mention above, are 

 doubtless still living ; they possess the papers, I 

 suppose, of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott. Would 

 not a careful examination of those papers (if any), 

 and a candid avowal of the result, set the matter 

 at rest ? The children of Mr. and Mrs. Scott 



No. 318.] 



would, I should think, naturally be desirous of 

 immortalising their parents. Uncle Walter, even 

 as a poet, must, to the end of time, be regarded as 

 possessing a powerful and sparkling genius, and 

 no man dare dim its lustre by breathing suspicion; 

 but I certainly think, with Mr. W. J. Fitz- 

 Patrick and F. C. H., that the matter is worth in- 

 quiring into ; and that any person who studies the 

 dates in Lockhart's Memoirs, must, without any 

 other evidence, entertain grave suspicion that Sir 

 Walter was not the author of all the Waverley 

 Novels. Literary persons await the decision of 

 this question with an interest absolutely amount- 

 ing to something like excitement. R. E. B. 

 Trinity College, Dublin. 



From what Mr. Woddersfoon says, I believe 

 your correspondents expect much from me on 

 the subject lately mooted by Mr. Fitz-Patrick, 

 and backed by F. C. H. Alas, I fear they will be 

 in some degree disappointed ; for notwithstanding 

 diligent inquiry in quarters where I expected to 

 find much zeal and information, I met with in- 

 difference among some, and ignorance with others : 

 but from what I knew already, I hope to be able 

 to shake the force of Mr. Fitz-Pateick's argu- 

 ments. 



Sir Walter Scott was well known to possess as 

 much honour and Integrity as any gentleman in 

 Scotland. Can his assurance to Lord Meadow- 

 bank on Feb. 23, 1827, be seriously discredited by 

 Mr. Fitz-Patrick, when Sir Walter emphatically 

 declared (and this declaration remains on record to 

 confront Mr. Fitz-Patrick) that he was the 

 sole and undoubted author of the Waverley 

 Novels ? Who but Scott possessed the ability to 

 write such master-pieces of composition ? I am 

 not aware that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott ever 

 distinguished themselves in literary pursuits. 



Whatever circumstantial evidence Mr. Fitz- 

 Patrick has produced to prove The Antiquary 

 not to be the work of Sir W. Scott (and even this 

 I do not subscribe to), he has not brought forward, 

 as I take It, a single authority to substantiate the 

 assumption that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott 

 " gave important assistance to Waverley and Guy 

 Manncring." Ouy Mannering, above all the other 

 novels, Scott has been heard frequently to declare 

 was "the work of a few weeks at Christmas;" The 

 Antiquary was avowedly his favourite novel, and 

 certainly if he was not the author of those books, 

 I think it most improbable (and you, Mr. Editor, 

 will, I am sure, agree with me) that a man of such 

 unblemished integrity and honour would com- 

 placently refer to them, over and over, as his own. 

 Would he risk his fair fame by placing it on a 

 pedestal so ricketty ? No, Sir! Mr. Fitz- 

 Patrick's efforts, and F. C. H.'s efforts, to " lay 

 the bairn at a certain door," are futile, and deserve 

 naught but ridicule. 



