Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)Howitt, William
General
Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
host, 'I well know what hand it is--'tis Sir Walter Scott's.' This was
the hand that in the evenings of three summer weeks, wrote the two
last volumes of Waverley."
I went with Mr. Robert Chambers into this house to get a sight of this
window, but some back wall or other had been built up and shut out the
view. In the next house, occupied I think by a tailor, we, however,
obtained the desired sight of this window on the second story at the
back of Scott's house, and could very well have seen any hand at work
in the same situation. The house is now inhabited by Professor Napier,
the editor of the Edinburgh Review.
The houses and places of business of the Ballantynes and Constable are
not devoid of interest, as connected with Scott. In all these he was
frequently for business or dining. The place of business of Constable,
was at one time that which is now the Crown hotel, at the east end of
Princes-street. That which is now the commercial room, or the first
floor, was Constable's book-dépôt, and where he sat a good deal; and a
door near the window, looking out toward the Register Office, entered
a lesser room, now altered, where Scott used to go and write
occasionally. The private residence of Constable was at Palton, six or
seven miles from Edinburgh. James Ballantyne's was in St. John-street,
a row of good, old-fashioned, and spacious houses, adjoining the
Canongate and Holyrood, and at no great distance from his printing
establishment. John Ballantyne's auction-rooms were in Hanover-street,
and his country house, styled by him Harmony-hall, was near the frith
of Forth by Trinity. Of both the private and convivial entertainments
at these places we have full accounts given by Lockhart. Sometimes, he
says, Scott was there alone with only two or three intimate friends;
at others, there were great and jovial dinners, and that all guests
with whom Scott did not wish to be burdened were feasted here by John
Ballantyne, in splendid style; and many were the scenes of uproarious
merriment amid his "perfumed conversations," and over the Parisian
delicacies of the repast.
But, in fact, the buildings and sites in and around Edinburgh, with
which associations of Scott are connected, are innumerable, almost
universal. His Marmion, his Heart of Mid-Lothian, his Tales of the
Canongate, have peopled almost every part of the city and neighborhood
with the vivid characters of his creation. The Canongate, the Cowgate,
the Nether and West Bows, the Grass-market, the site of the old
Tolbooth, Holyrood, the Park, Muschat's cairn, Salisbury-craig, Davie
Dean's cottage, Liberton, the abode of Dominie Butler, Craigmillar
Castle, and a thousand other places, are all alive with them. We are
astonished, on visiting Edinburgh, to find how much more intense is
the interest cast over different spots by his genius than by ordinary
history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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