INVITATION

Abbotsford. « Si le Roi vient à Edimbourg^ coatiDuait-il, je serai obligé d'y passer un jour ou deux. Je crois que vous voudrez éviter celte période d'agitation et de tumulte. Mais, si votre sauté vous permettait d'y assister, ce serait un spectacle curieux... )) Scott terminait en informant son ami que, pour gagner Edimbourg, on avait le choix entre deux trajets : par mer en soixante heures, ou par la « grande route de l'Ouest », en traversant Carlisle et SelkirkQ. Accom-

1. Sir W. Scott to Crabbe, « Abboisford, Melrose> i6 July 1822 : My very dear and much respected Sir, I had the great pleasure of receiving your letter and am deligbted witb the hopes it affords of seeing you in Scotland. A letter addressed for you stood long on my chimney-piece two years since and great was the expectation that you would arrive to claim [it], but alas ! I was at last obliged to return it in despair. »

<K I bave no call whatever from this place and shall bave no greater pleasiu^ tban receiving you bere. I bad some tbougbts of going to tbe Higblands for a few days about the middle of September, but I can easily postpone that trip, should it interfère witb your most welcome visit. If tbe king cornes, I must be at Ëdinburgb for a day or two, but I fancy you will avoid that period of tumult and bustle, though if your health permitted it would be a curions sight to see. If you do not fear the sea, the steamboat brings you down to Edinbiu'gb in sixty hours witb as much ease as if you were in an easy chair. At Ëdinburgb you are about tbirty-five miles from Abbotsford witb ail convenience of public coaches. One called the Blucher starts at eight and lands you withîn a mile of us at three... If on the contrary you corne by land you wlU do best to take us on your road to Ëdinburgb, coming down the west or great Carlisle road, and turning off at Selkirk, which is four miles to. the west of us.

a I am a little anxious about yoiu* travelling so far alone, and I wish you would bring your son witb you. I am building a considérable addition to my house, but I hâve plenty of accommodation, and remember you are to count your slay wilh us not by days, but by wceks. You shall be as quiet as at home, and as comfortable as wc can make you.

« AU my little household rejoice in the prospect of seeing you bere and none more than, my dear Sir, Your very faithful and obliged Servant...

a Of the Royal motions, so far as Ihey may détermine yours, you are likely to hear sooner than I, who can leam nothing but that they are

GEORGE IV EN écOSSB 667

« Comment, s'écria le monarque, lorsque le visiteur lui fut annoncé, Sir Walter Scott ! C'est l'homme d'Écosse'que j'ai le plus à cœur de voir. Qu'il monte I » Avec une affectueuse condescendance, le Roi très gracieux demanda une bouteille de whisky des Hautes-Terres, qu'il appréciait autant que celui d'Irlande (*), et porta un toast au poète, qui lui fit raison. Scott, grand collectionneur et Tory fervent, implora de son souverain l'octroi du verre dans lequel sa santé venait d'être royalement bue. II l'obtint, l'enveloppa et le serra soigneusement dans l'une de ses poches. Ému de ce bienveillant accueil et trempé par les averses, Scott, nous dit Lockhart, rentrait dans sa maison de Castle Street, lorsqu'il aperçut « le poète Crabbe », nouvellement arrivé. <c Avec une affection fraternelle, il embrassa le vénérable vieillard », oubliant, dans sa surprise et dans sa joie, la précieuse relique qu'il portait. Un instant après, il s'asseyait sur le verre et le pulvérisait.

Cette ingénieuse anecdote mériterait d'être vraie de tout point. Malheureusement, à la date que lui assigne Lockhart, Crabbe était à Castle Street depuis une semaine (^), et sa

1 . Dont il s'était largement abreuvé l'année précédente, au cours de son voyage à Dublin.

2. Voici quelques passages de deux lettres inédites qui le prouvent : Crabbe à son fils John : « August 9, 1823, Sir Walter Scott, Castle Street, Edinborough, — Mj dear John, Do pray consider my distance and let roe hear from you once at least before I leave Edinborough. There is a letter for me on the road, I will conclude and hope for it evcry day till it arrives.

« I am very happy and very well — a pain now and then excepted — at Sir Walter^s, who is more engaged than any man in England at thîs time, but who does ail he can to make me comfortable and in this îs joined by bis whole family.

« Nor that only, for hère are friends... Hère is Mr. Mackensie — with surprise I heard it — the author of the Man of Feeling — and indeed be is so called. Hère is Mr. JefTery to whom I always count myself obliged, hère is Mr. Lockhart, Sir Walter's son-in-4aw, and his plea»-

558 CRABBB CONTKUR ET MORALISTE

présence ne pouvait plus guère surpreodre son bdie.

' eat wife — hère Js a Mr. Murry (i. t. John Archibatd Murray, WUg et plus lard u Judye n) wilh whom I dined lo~day, aud laslly, — oo, DOt loatly, for there are many more — but hère îi Mr. Blackwood, ihe Editer of ihe MaqaEÎne which rjoes uoder bis name and who ihJi mominç) — in modo Mr. Murry oX Londoa — very kindly pressed me to accepi a vnlitine, aad a very pteasing volume, of Miacellatiies whïch I will takp wilh me if I live (o reacfa Trowbridge again.

n AU is, you may Bupposf, buslle and a coaiinual accession of straogers. The Highland Chieftain and his ofiîcera and followera niake a respectable but singular appearauce. We had quite a day of il ycslerday, and wine and music, and more tfaan I can or perhaps oughl to lell you in a leller, but we shall meel, I hope, and you will hear my slories if 1 do oot forget or lose ail before 1 see you... I fiod time in ail this confuBion lo walk aod evea to rhyiue and bare a few ver«es on Ibe occasion, which are not mucb smiss. I daresayHr. Blackwood would give me tbanks for ihem, and I do not know but I may gire Ihem 10 him, if I can do it with perfecl concealmeni, but I will consult Sir Walter.

a Mollis (son domestique) is quite a gentleman. He has found a friend iu Sir Waliei'a attendant afler hia own beart i bolh good quiet fellows, both bachelors of a certain âge, bolh curious, ïnqutsitive, obedieni, orderly men ; there is quile a friendship. I did noi know Ihat he was in the house lill lo-day. Lady Scotl, who by Ibe way is a (avourile wiib me, gave her orders secrelly, aad Hollis bas a good bertb of it. No wonder Ibe man is pleased.

n It is late, but I shall be engarjed in ihe mornjng.,. We expeci the kinrj on or about Tucsday... No quarries hère, bul mnny mountaius; no pila nor fossils, but granîte in abundaucc, and Ihe views of <he Ciiy very fine indeed. Nothing near Londoa equals it...

n ... I should like to eam a lillle money during Ibis excursion, and will if possible make a litlle volume like a tbin ooe of ihe Taies of the Hall. I wonder whel Murray would eay. 1 know thaï Consiable bere would like to hear of il, but I will not do uufaondsomely by my friend in Albemarle Street. » (Collection Mackay.)

Crabbc à ses fils ; « Casile Street, Sg. August iS'"» (erreur pour i4''')> I was favourcd wilh your leltcr as I retumed home from a dianervisil to a gentleman wbom I thouyhl long since in hia grave, Mr. Mackenzie (cf, B., p. 77, col. a)... Wc are in daily and now almost hourly expectetion of ihe king, but he is not yet in sight. The City is a litJe intoxicated, but (bal is no wonder.,. I am in ibe very centre of p^epa^■ ation : ihe Hiijbland cbiefs come faitbcr, and soroe of iheir followen

GRABBE A EDIMBOURG 55g

avait eu le temps d'explorer Edimbourg, de visiter, au Palais de Holyrood, la « petite chambre » où, sous les yeux de Marie Stuart, Rizzio fut « écharpé par ses agresseurs » : « On montre encore, remarque Crabbe, des taches sur le parquet, et il n y a aucune raison qui nous empêche de croire, si nous le pouvons, que ce sont des traces de son sang. » Après avoir remonté la rue historique qui, de la plaine, conduit vers la « Colline » dominée par le « Château », antique forteresse, Crabbe s'était arrêté, sur l'indication de Lockhart, son guide, devant la maison de plaisance d'Âllan Ramsay, libraire et poète dont il ignorait jusqu'au nom. Le soir même, il lisait le Noble Berger, et cette aimable pastorale lui plaisait, mais, ajoutait-il, « il y a très loin de Ramsay à Bums ». Un autre jour, il avait gravi les « rochers de Salisbury », qui se dressent au sud de Holyrood, et s'était intéressé à leur stratification, non moins qu'au vaste paysage que l'œil embrasse de leur sommet : « Edimbourg, dit-il, est vraiment curieux... Comment décrire la vue qu'on a sur cette hauteur : le groupe de belles constructions dont se compose le Château; les ponts qui joignent les deux villes (') et le superbe panorama du Frith et de ses îles ? Le dimanche, les rues sont abandonnées, le silence règne sur

who speak no language except Galic exhibited yesterday spécimens of the costume and manners of thé Highiands... I am rather at a loss respecting my stay, but, I think, not for another letter. — I will however write as soon as I koow myself. I just learn from HoIIîs that the king is seen, the boat at least (donc, écrit le 14), and of course he will be hère to-day. I am almost ashamed to say I shall be glad when il be over, and yet I hâve donc somelhing for I hâve written ^vt and forly congratulatory lines for him, tho' I will not underlake to say they will be presenled or that he will read them, but somebody will... Sir Waller is gone or going to meel him and do the bonours appertaining to his ofGce. Indeed he is the guiding figiu^ in the exhibition... » (Collection Mackay.)