The "Flitting^ 275 



At first Scott was fain to be his own coachman, and 

 to drive Mrs. Scott about the district; but he was so 

 awkward in this bit of business, we learn, that more 

 than once he put his wife in jeopardy through the 

 threatened overturn of the little phaeton, and a coach- 

 man a relative of Tom Purdie, his trusty servant 

 was engaged. Often, no doubt, he walked or drove 

 over that bridge we see in the picture that lay, indeed, 

 on the direct way to his house from important points, 

 and delighted in the view from it up the water when 

 the sun shone bright upon it. 



Here, James Hogg, rapidly rising into fame, visited 

 the " Shirra," and not a few other men of note. 



His lease ran out in 1811, and then he was some- 

 what uncomfortable ; and as he was now in a position 

 to buy a house, we find him writing 



" I now sit a tenant at will, under a heavy rent, and 

 at all the inconvenience of one when in the house of 

 another ; I have, therefore, resolved to purchase a piece 

 of ground sufficient for a cottage and a few fields." 



After looking at various places, he fixed on a small 

 estate at Abbotsford, where by-and-by the stately 

 mansion arose which is so associated with his name ; 

 but it was not so far distant from Ashestiel but that 

 the removal was accompanied with little pictures and 

 associations which must have been dear to the heart of 

 Scott, and often recalled by him and talked of by him 

 and his. , 



The "flitting" from Ashestiel, we read, "though so 

 full of delight and pride to themselves, was a sad one 

 for the poorer neighbours they left behind them, for 

 they had been the kindest of friends to all whom 

 poverty or sickness reduced to need aid or counsel, Mrs. 

 Scott having even some knowledge of the treatment 



