112 



NOVELS AND NOVELISTS. 



tion, except to take breakfast and 

 dinner, which were served in the 

 room beside us, so that no time was 

 lost ; we rose from our desks when 

 everything was ready, and resumed 

 our labours when the meals were 

 over. I need not tell you, that dur- 

 ing these intervals Sir Walter con- 

 versed with me as if I had been on 

 a level of perfect equality with him- 

 self. 



" I had no notion it was possible 

 for any man to undergo the fatigue 

 of composition for so long a time 

 at once, and Sir Walter acknow- 

 ledged he did not usually subject 

 himself to so much exertion, though 

 it seemed to be only the manual 

 part of the operation that occa- 

 sioned him any inconvenience. Once 

 or twice he desired me to relieve 

 him, and dictated while I wrote 

 with as much rapidity as I was 

 able. I have performed the same 

 service to several other persons, 

 most of whom walked up and down 

 the apartment while excogitating 

 what was to be committed to writ- 

 ing ; they sometimes stopped too, and 

 like those who fail in a leap and 

 return upon their course to take 

 the advantage of another race, en- 

 deavoured to hit upon something 

 additional by perusing over my 

 shoulder what was already set down 

 mending a phrase, perhaps, or 

 recasting a sentence, till they should 

 recover their wind. None of these 

 aids were necessary to Sir Walter : 

 his thoughts flowed easily and feli- 

 citously, without any difficulty to 

 lay hold of them, or to find appro- 

 priate language ; which was evident 

 oy the absence of all solicitude 

 (iniseria cogitandi) from his coun- 

 tenance. He sat in his chair, from 

 which he rose now and then, took 

 a volume from the bookcase, con- 

 sulted it, and restored it to the 

 shelf all without intermission in 

 the current of ideas, which con- 

 tinued to be delivered with no less 

 readiness than if his mind had been 



wholly occupied with the words he 

 was uttering. It soon became ap- 

 parent to me, however, that he wa* 

 carrying on two distinct trains of 

 thought, one of which was already 

 arranged, and in the act of being- 

 spoken, Avhile at the same time he 

 was in advance considering what 

 was afterwards to be said. This I 

 discovered by his sometimes intro- 

 ducing a word which was wholly 

 out of place entertained instead of 

 denied, for example but which I 

 presently found to belong to the 

 next sentence, perhaps four or five 

 lines further on, which he had been 

 preparing at the very moment that 

 he gave me the words of the one that 

 preceded it. Extemporaneous ora- 

 tors, of course, and no doubt many 

 writers, think as rapidly as was 

 done by Sir Walter ; but the mind 

 is wholly occupied with what the 

 lips are uttering or the pen is trac- 

 ing. I do not remember any other 

 instance in which it could be said 

 that two threads were kept hold of 

 at once connected with each other 

 indeed, but grasped at different 

 points. I was, as I have said, two 

 or three days beside Sir Walter, 

 and had repeated opportunities 

 of observing the same thing. I 

 am, Sir, respectfully your obliged 

 humble servant, 



" ROBERT HOGG." 



SIR WALTER SCOTT's EARLY LIFE. 



Walter Scott was twenty years 

 of age when, in 1791, he was ad- 

 mitted to the Speculative Society 

 of Edinburgh. He was chosen 

 librarian, and shortly afterwards 

 the secretary and treasurer. He 

 kept the accounts and records very 

 faithfully, and wrote essays and 

 joined in debates on the common- 

 place questions usually proposed in 

 such clubs. The following, from 

 the Life of Scott by Lockhart, re- 

 lates to this part of his life : 



" Lord Jeffrey remembers being 

 struck, the first night he spent at 



