172 Unpublished Verses hy Sir W. Scott, by Jas. B. Kerr, 



own signature and address, viz : — Hotel Windsor, E,ue de 

 Eivoli, No. 38. 



3. Diploma of th.e Society of Antiquaries of Normandy in 

 favour of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., President of the Eoyal 

 Society of Edinburgh, and dated A Caen, le 19 Janvier, 

 1829, and bearing the signature of le President, le Sec- 

 taire, le Secretaire adjoint, le Cusorier. 



What now follows in this paper refers to the supposed unpub- 

 lished verses. 



The last words written by Sir Walter are said to be in the 

 Gruest Book of a small inn in the Tyrol : — 



" Sir Walter Scott, for Scotland, 1832." 



In the verses submitted this day to the Club, some gentlemen 

 are of opinion that they were the last ever written by him, and 

 that no clean copy was made of them. I differ from this view, 

 and think that a clean copy was made and presented to the 

 Countess Wollenluss, and that the rough draft in my possession 

 was cast aside, picked up by Nicholson, and preserved with 

 many other relics of Sir Walter. 



In Lockhart's "Life" it is mentioned, that, when at Eome, a 

 lady had requested him to do something which was disagreeable to 

 him. He was asked whether he had consented. His answer 

 was " Yes. Why,- as I am now good for nothing else, I think it 

 as well to be good natured." Perhaps this anecdote may refer 

 to the Countess of Wollenluss, and it would be interesting to 

 trace where her family is, and if such a completed document is 

 to be found in their possession. 



Assuming that there is no other copy in existence, these verses, 

 as the first rough draft, are, no doubt, a literary- curiosity. 



The evidence is in them that they were written in Eome in 

 April, 1832 ; and we know from Lockhart's "Life" to what extreme 

 weakness Scott was reduced. Infirmity had checked his curi- 

 osity. He was unable to walk. Only the aspect and society of 

 Eome had for a moment checked his irritation and impatience, 

 and it gave great pain to many of his old friends to see the 

 ravages disease had made upon him, and that it was only when 

 warmed with his subject that the light blue eye shot from under 

 the pent-house brow the fire and spirit of other days. 



The hand-writing of the verses is feeble in the extreme. 

 There are two mistakes in the spelling — eleven words deleted — 



