[Footnote 248: Scott wrote a poetical epitaph for the burial place of Miss Seward and her father. See _Edinburgh Annual Register_, Vol. II, pt. 2. In the introduction to _The Tapestried Chamber_, Scott said, "It was told to me many years ago by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, among other accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a country house, had that of recounting narratives of this sort with very considerable effect; much greater, indeed, than anyone would be apt to guess from the style of her written performances." It must be remembered that Miss Seward was one of the first persons of any literary note, outside of Edinburgh, to show an interest in Scott's work, and he committed himself to admiration of her poetry when he was still in a rather uncritical stage. In regard to his later feeling about her see _Recollections_, by R.P. Gillies, _Fraser's_, xiii: 692, January, 1836.] [Footnote 249: J.L. Adolphus, in an interesting passage in his _Letters to Heber on the Authorship of Waverley_, noted many of the references to contemporary poets. See pp. 53-4. See also Hazlitt's _Spirit of the Age_, art. _Sir Walter Scott_] [Footnote 250: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 341. See also a similar anecdote in Forster's _Life of Landor_, Vol. II, p. 244.] [Footnote 251: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 116-17.] [Footnote 252: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 132.] [Footnote 253: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 321.] [Footnote 254: Review of _Cromek's Reliques of Burns_, _Quarterly_, February, 1809.] [Footnote 255: _Ibid._] [Footnote 256: _Ibid._] [Footnote 257: Crabbe Robinson, in his diary (quoted by Knight in his edition of Wordsworth, Vol. X, p. 189), says that Coleridge and his friends "consider Scott as having stolen the verse" of _Christabel_. On this point see also a letter by Coleridge, given in Meteyard's _Group of Englishmen_, pp. 327-8. In 1807 Coleridge wrote to Southey: "I did not over-hugely admire the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' but saw no likeness whatever to the 'Christabel,' much less any improper resemblance." (_Letters of Coleridge_, ed. by E.H. Coleridge, Vol. II, p. 523.) Yet Mr. Lang seems to think that in this matter Scott "showed something of the deficient sense of _meum_ and _tuum_ which marked his freebooting ancestors." (_Sir Walter Scott_, p. 36.) Apparently Scott never dreamed that the matter could be looked at in this way. In Lockhart's _Scott_ (Vol. II, pp. 77-8) we find described an occasion on which the two men once met in London, when they were asked, with other poets who were present, to recite from their unpublished writings. Coleridge complied with the request, but Scott said he had nothing of his own and would repeat some stanzas he had seen in a newspaper. The poem was criticised adversely in spite of Scott's protests, till Coleridge lost patience and exclaimed, "Let Mr. Scott alone; I wrote the poem." Coleridge's lines: