I am very glad you like Rokeby, which is nearly out of fashion and memory with me. It has been wonderfully popular, about ten thousand copies having walked off already, in about three months, and the demand continuing faster than it can be supplied. As to my imitator, the Knight of Triermain, I will endeavor to convey to Mr. Gillies (_puisque Gillies il est_) your Ladyship's very just strictures on the Introduction to the second Canto. But if he takes the opinion of a hacked old author like myself, he will content himself with avoiding such bevues in future, without attempting to mend those which are already made. There is an ominous old proverb which says, _Confess and be hanged_; and truly if an author acknowledges his own blunders, I do not know who he can expect to stand by him; whereas, let him confess nothing, and he will always find some injudicious admirers to vindicate even his faults. So that I think after publication the effect of criticism should be prospective, in which point of view I dare say Mr. G. will take your friendly hint, especially as it is confirmed by that of the best judges who have read the poem.--Here is beautiful weather for April! an absolute snow-storm mortifying me to the core by retarding the growth of all my young trees and shrubs.--Charlotte begs to be most respectfully remembered to your Ladyship and Lady D. We are realizing the nursery tale of the man and his wife who lived in a vinegar bottle, for our only sitting-room is just twelve feet square, and my Eve alleges that I am too big for our paradise. To make amends, I have created a tolerable garden, occupying about an English acre, which I begin to be very fond of. When one passes forty, an addition to the quiet occupations of life becomes of real value, for I do not hunt and fish with quite the relish I did ten years ago. Adieu, my dear Lady Louisa, and all good attend you. WALTER SCOTT. Footnotes of the Chapter XXV. [1: The epitaph of this favorite greyhound may be seen on the edge of the bank, a little way below the house of Abbotsford.] [2: The Reverend Alexander Dyce says, "N. T. stands for _Nathaniel Thompson_, the Tory bookseller, who published these _Loyal Poems_."--(1839.)] [3: An edition of the British Dramatists had, I believe, been projected by Mr. Terry.] [4: Mr. Thomson died 8th January, 1838, before the publication of the first edition of these Memoirs had been completed.--(1839.)] [5: _Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott_, p. 56.] [6: [From a passage in a letter to Lady Abercorn, written September 10, 1818, on the return from a similar journey (see _Familiar Letters_, vol. ii. p. 24), it seems probable that some at least of the incidents of this visit belong to that of the later date.]]