[289] This entry reminds one of Hannah More's account of Mrs. Garrick's conduct after her husband's funeral. "She told me," says Mrs. More, "that she prayed with great composure, then went and kissed the dear bed, and got into it with a sad pleasure."--See _Memoirs of Mrs. More_, vol. i. p. 135.--J.G.L. [290] Campbell's _Turkish Lady_, slightly altered. The poet was then editor of the _New Monthly Magazine_, but he soon gave it up.--J.G.L. [291] Viz.: the first series of _Chronicles of the Canongate_, which was published in 1827. The title originally proposed was _The Canongate Miscellany_ or _Traditions of the Sanctuary_. _Woodstock_ had just been launched under the following title:--_Woodstock, or the Cavalier; a Tale of the Year Sixteen Hundred and Fifty-one_, by the author of _Waverley, Tales of the Crusaders_, etc. "He was a very perfect gentle knight" (Chaucer). Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, London, 1826. (At the end) Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. 3 vols. post 8vo. JULY. [_Edinburgh_,] _July 1st._--Another sunny day. This threatens absolutely Syrian drought. As the Selkirk election comes on Monday, I go out to-day to Abbotsford, and carry young Davidoff and his tutor with me, to see our quiet way of managing the choice of a national representative. I wrote a page or two last night slumbrously. [_Abbotsford_,] _July_ 2.--Late at Court. Got to Abbotsford last night with Count Davidoff about eight o'clock. I worked a little this morning, then had a long and warm walk. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton from Chiefswood, the present inhabitants of Lockhart's cottage, dined with us, which made the society pleasant. He is a fine, soldierly-looking man[292]--though affected with paralysis--his wife a sweet good-humoured little woman. He is supposed to be a writer in Blackwood's _Magazine_. Since we were to lose the Lockharts, we could scarce have had more agreeable folks. At Selkirk, where Borthwickbrae was elected with the usual unanimity of the Forest freeholders. This was a sight to my young Muscovite. We walked in the evening to the lake. _July_ 5.--Still very hot, but with thunder showers. Wrote till breakfast, then walked and signed the death-warrant of a number of old firs at Abbotstown. I hope their deaths will prove useful. Their lives are certainly not ornamental. Young Mr. Davidoff entered upon the cause of the late discontents in Russia, which he imputes to a deep-seated Jacobin conspiracy to overthrow the state and empire and establish a government by consuls.