The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 571 (Supplementary Number)Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 571 (Supplementary Number)
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
To particularize Sir Walter's contributions to periodical literature
would occupy considerable space. He wrote a few papers in the early
numbers of the _Edinburgh Review_, and several in the _Quarterly
Review_, especially during the last ten volumes of that journal, of
which his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, is the accredited editor. Sir
Walter likewise contributed the articles Chivalry, Drama, and Romance
to the sixth edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. _Paul's
Letters to his Kinsfolk_, the fruits of Sir Walter's tour through
France and Belgium, in 1815, were published anonymously; and the
_Field of Waterloo_, a poem, appeared about the same time. We may also
here mention his dramatic poem of _Halidon Hill_, which appeared in
1822; and two dramas, _the Doom of Devergoil_ and _Auchindrane_, in
1830--neither of which works excited more than temporary attention.
Sir Walter likewise contributed a _History of Scotland_, in two
volumes, to Dr. Lardner's _Cabinet Cyclopaedia_, in 1830; and in the
same year a volume on _Demonology and Witchcraft_, to Mr. Murray's
_Family Library_: both which works, of course, had a circulation
co-extensively with the series of which they form portions. We may
here notice a juvenile History of Scotland, in three series, or nine
volumes, under the title of _Tales of a Grandfather_, affectionately
addressed to his grandchild, the eldest son of Mr. Lockhart, as Hugh
Littlejohn, Esq.
ABBOTSFORD--BARONETCY.
The large sums received by Sir Walter for the copyright of his earlier
works had enabled him to expend nearly one hundred thousand pounds
upon Abbotsford, so as to make it his "proper mansion, house, and
home, the theatre of his hospitality, the seat of self-fruition, the
comfortablest part of his own life, the noblest of his son's
inheritance, a kind of private princedom, and, according to the degree
of the master, decently and delightfully adorned."[12] Here Sir Walter
lived in dignified enjoyment of his well-earned fortune, during the
summer and autumn, and was visited by distinguished persons from
nearly all parts of the world. He unostentatiously opened his treasury
of relics to all visitors, and his affability spread far and wide. He
usually devoted three hours in the morning, from six or seven o'clock,
to composition, his customary quota being a sheet daily. He passed the
remainder of the day in the pleasurable occupations of a country
life--as in superintending the improvements of the mansion, and the
planting and disposal of the grounds of Abbotsford; or, as Walpole
said of John Evelyn, "unfolding the perfection of the works of the
Creator, and assisting the imperfection of the minute works of the
creature;" so as to render Abbotsford as Evelyn describes his own dear
Wotton, "large and ancient (for there is an air of assumed antiquity
in Abbotsford), suitable to those hospitable times, and so sweetly
environed with those delicious streams and venerable woods, as in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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