278 



TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



with perfect equanimity the novel I by, like a good cavalier, he took to 

 usage to which her chintz was ex- the designation kindly. He was 



posed. The Shepherd, however, 

 remained nothing of all this dined 

 heartily and drank freely, and, by 

 jest, anecdote, and song, afforded 

 plentiful merriment to the more 

 civilized part of the company. As 

 the liquor operated, his familiar- 

 ity increased and strengthened; 

 from "Mr. Scott," he advanced to 

 "Sherra," and thence to "Scott," 

 "Walter," and "Wattle," until at 

 supper, he fairly convulsed the 

 whole party by addressing Mrs. 

 Scott as " Charlotte." 



PEVEEIL OF THE PEAE, AND PETEP, 

 OF THE PAUNCH. 



One morning (says Mr. Lock- 

 hart, in his Life of Scott} soon after 

 Peveril came out, one of our most 

 famous wags (now famous for bet- 

 ter things), namely, Mr. Patrick 



well aware that his own family 

 and younger friends constantly 

 talked of him under this sobriquet. 

 Many a little note have I had from 

 him (and so probably has Peter 

 also), reproving, or perhaps encou- 

 raging, Tory mischief, and signed, 

 " Thine, PEVEP.IL." 



FAHEWELL VISIT TO 

 SCOTT. 



A few days before Scott's depar- 

 ture for Italy in search of health, 

 in 1831, Mr. Wordsworth and his 

 daughter arrived from W estmore- 

 land to take farewell of him. This 

 was a very fortunate circumstance ; 

 nothing could have gratified Sir 

 Walter more, or sustained him 

 better, if he needed any support 

 from without. On the 22d all 

 his arrangements being completed, 



Kobertson, commonly called by and Laidlaw having received a 

 the endearing Scottish diminutive ' paper of instructions, the last arti- 

 " Peter," observed that tall conical cle of which repeats the caution to 

 white head advancing above the be " very careful of the dogs" 

 crowd towards the fireplace, where these two great poets who had 

 the usual roar of fun was going j through life loved each other well, 

 on among the briefless, and said, and, in spite of very different theo- 

 " Hush, boys, here comes old Peve- j ries as to art, appreciated each 

 ril I see the Peak" A laugh en- ! other's genius more justly than 

 sued, and the Great Unknown, as ! inferior spirits ever did cither of 

 he withdrew from the circle after j them spent the morning together 

 a few minutes' gossip, insisted that , in a visit to Newark ; hence tho 

 I should tell him Avhat our joke | last of the three poems by which 



upon his advent had been. When 

 enlightened, being by that time 

 half-way across the " babbling- 

 hall," towards his own Division, 

 he looked round with a sly grin, 

 and said, between his teeth, " Ay, 

 ay, my man, as weel Peveril o' the 

 Peak ouy day, as Peter o' the 

 Painch" (paunch) which, being- 

 transmitted to the brethren of the 

 stove school, of course delighted all 

 of them, except their portly Cory- 

 phseus. But Peter's application 

 stuck ; to his dying day, Scott was 

 in the Outer House Peveril of the 

 Peak, or Old Peveril and, by and 



Wordsworth has connected his 

 name to all time with the most 

 romantic of Scottish streams. Biit 

 I need not transcribe a piece so 

 well known as the Yarrow RQ- 

 msited. 



Sitting that evening in the li- 

 brary, Sir Walter said a good deal 

 about the singularity that Fielding 

 and Smollett had both been driven 

 abroad by declining health, and 

 never returned which circum- 

 stance, though his language was 

 rather cheerful at this time, ho 

 had often before alluded to in a 

 darker fashion; and Mr. Words- 



