Abbotsford (Scotland); Scott, Walter, 1771-1832 -- Homes and haunts
'Thou, who with tireless hand didst sweep
Away the damps of ages deep
And fire with wild, baronial strain
The harp of chivalry again,
And bid its long-forgotten swell
Thrill through the soul, farewell! farewell!'
Other objects of interest may be briefly noted:
Sir Walter's chair.
Of green morocco; in the Empire style, which prevailed early in
the last century.
The Wallace chair.
Presented by Joseph Train in 1822. Made of wood from Robroyston,
near Kirkintilloch, the scene of Wallace's betrayal. A MS. volume
in Train's handwriting, contained in a drawer under the seat,
tells the story of the chair (see Lockhart, vol. vii., p. 223;
note inscription).
Lockhart's chair.
Of plain horse-hair.
Scott's card-plate.
Carries the simple address: 'Sir Walter Scott, Castle Street.'
A small folding box-writing-desk.
Made from wood of the Spanish Armada, and inscribed: 'Afflavit
Deus et dissipantur.'
Print of Stothard's 'Canterbury Pilgrims' (over the mantelpiece).
The best-known of Stothard's paintings. Engraved in 1817. 'Sir
Walter made the characteristic criticism upon it that, if the
procession were to move, the young squire who is prancing in
the foreground would in another minute be off his horse's head'
(Adolphus's 'Memoranda').
Portrait of Claverhouse.
Painter unknown.
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth.
Painter unknown.
Portrait of Rob Roy.
Painter unknown.
'The eagle, he was lord above,
And Rob was lord below.'
Bust of Lord Chief Commissioner Adam.
Sculptor probably Samuel Joseph, R.S.A. Founder of the Blair-Adam
Club (see Lockhart, vol. viii., p. 200). 'I have lived much
with him, and taken kindly to him as one of the most pleasant,
kind-hearted, benevolent men I have ever known.'
Scott's walking-sticks, pipes, etc.
In cabinet to the right.
A small turret-room off the study is of peculiar interest. Sir
Walter styled it his 'Speak-a-bit.' Here he enjoyed many a happy
_tête-à-tête_. It is said to be panelled with the oak of the
bedstead on which Queen Mary slept at Jedburgh in 1566. Scott's
death-mask is the only article the room contains. The dead face is
so tired that nobody can look upon it without a gush of pity, and
a feeling of thankfulness that at last the man is in his grave. We
are not moved by the grandeur of its modelling; the appeal it makes
is to a larger humanity than that. It is the face of a brother
man, stretched out too long upon the rack of this tough world. The
majesty of the forehead, and the dour earnestness of the features,
tell of Walter Scott, the genius; but it is in the corners of the
mouth that all the pathos lies. In them there is the droop of an
infinite weariness, and it makes the heart ache (see _Temple Bar_,
1904).
LIBRARY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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