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RECOLLECTIONS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.* : 



I WAS introduced to Sii- Walter Scdlt, in ISil. The introduc- 

 tion took place in the house of Mr. D. Sir Walter was then on one 

 of the few visits he paid to the metropolis. Mr. D. had asked a 

 party of litei'ary gentlemen to meet Sir Walter at dinner, several of 

 whom, like myself had never seen him before, though they were 

 among the most ardent of his admirers. I never was a physiogno- 

 mist. Had I been so at this time, the more intellectual character of 

 Sir Walter, contrasted with the expression of his countenance, would 

 at once have shaken my faith in the system, if indeed it had not 

 made me formally renounce it. His face had a remarkably dull ap- 

 pearance, something, in fact, which was calculated to make any 

 person who was a stranger to his intellectual character to associate 

 with it the attribute of stupidity. This I know has repeated- 

 ly been the case where persons have met with Sir Walter without 

 knowing who cr what he was. A few minutes' conversation with 

 him, however, was generally found sufficient to rectify the er- 

 roneous impression. He had great conversational powers .Perhaps, 

 with the exception of Coleridge, and two or three others, none of 

 his contemporaries excelled him in this respect. His matter was 

 almost invariably racy — his mnnner pre-eminently pleasing. On 

 the evening in question we sat for at least six hours, during which 

 time the conversation scarcely flagged for a sirgle moment. Sir 

 Walter in this, as in almost every other similar case, had a compa- 

 rative monopoly of the talk. Not, certainly, that he wished to en- 

 gross the right of speaking to himself, but because we were all so 

 fascinated with what fell from his lips as to forget what, at other 

 times some of us, perhaps, are to oapl to remember — that we have 

 or imagine we have — " most sweet voices" of our own. The topics 

 introduced into the conversation in the course of the evening were 

 exceedingly varied, and Sir Walter seemed agreeably at home on 

 them all. Scottish poetry — modern literature in general — the dif- 

 ficulties with which genius has oflen to struggle, and which in many 

 instances prove more than a match for it — the king's f visit to Ha- 

 nover, and his promised visit to Scotland, &c., were subjects which 

 were all introduced and discussed at some length. Sir Walter was, 

 perhaps, one of the greatest admirers of kings that ever lived. In- 

 deed, I doubt not that he went fully into the " right divine" notion. 

 Still his attachment to his country, occasionally got the better of his 

 loyalty. He seemed to think that George the Fourth had sinned 

 against kingly propriety, if not against morals,in giving the preference 

 to his Hanoverian subjects, by visiting his German dominions be- 



• It may be proper to mention tliat this paper consists of " the Recollections" of 

 two friends of Sir Walter Scott, but that for the sake of greater convenience they 

 are given as if the "|Kecollections" of one. 



t George the Fourth, whom Sir Walter as much admired for the elegance of his 

 oiannerft as he respected him on account of his high station. 



Z 2 



