LOCKHART'S SCOTT.

IN point of biographical events, the present volume is not perhaps equal to its predecessors. No new class of writing was originated b) Scow in the period of which it treats; nor, it' we except the marriage of his daughter and the acquisition of' the baronetcy, are the fatuity incidents of much importance. The four )cars (16 16—

1820) witnessed the appearance of' Rob Roy, the Tates of My Landlord, Ivanhoe, and the Monastery ; and their succe-s enabled SCOTT to get rid of the pecuniary difficulties in which the BALL ANTI' NE partnership had itivolved him, and stimulated him to lay the foupdation of fresh ones, although with an income a 10,000/. a year, in the endeavour to raise up a Kiraly caste anal domain at Abbott:6,rd. his health was also shaken during this epoch, by an attack of cramp in the stomach; and he lost his old friend the Duke of Bucctsucn. When to this is adtl,s1, i lint he visited Loudon, had his portrait painted by LAWRENCE nild his bust taken by CITANTREY, got his son into the Huss it ;e:d heil the *cube to decline civilly an offer of Isis told Cam to make hitn a Doctor of Laws, at e beliese the leading facts of the volume are exhausted.

It, however, has considerable interest of another kind. Many of the letters of Scorr to his family and confidential people, ale strongly characteristic of his shrewd sound sense, worldly saga- city, and a determination to " lose nothing; 16r want of asking for" or looking after; whilst a temper occasionally peeps out, which displays a disposition that might have been arbitrary, and, in the Tory practice, insolent enough. if opposition or ill success had provoked its development. In this volume, too. Mr. Loot- II ART appears upon the scene, speaking of matters within 'thews knowledge; painting domestic details, of course, with greater freshness, and describing collateral things, such as the serous society of Edinburgh in which SCOTT mixed, with a portrait- ike reality, but with a dash of vinegar, and a spirit that smacks more of contemptuous indifference than rigid impartiality. His picture of the brothers 13 ALLANTYNE, and of the party given by JAMES when a new Waverley novel was on the tapis, is richly ludicrous. But we are left to learn how Mr. LOCKHART, who has not pre- served any details of SCOTT'S conversation, because "he never thought it lawful to keep a journal of what passes in private society,- reconciles it to himself to take advantage oh' the oppor- tunity which hospitality afforded him, to hold up his host I* Perhaps the most characteristic letters in the hook are a couple to the BALL ANTYNES, respecting the first series of the Tales if My Landlord. Scorr, wautiog money, and suspecting that CON- STABLE, who had just published the Antiquary, might at least delay the printing, directed his go-between, JAMES BALLANTYNI, to open a communication with somebody else; but JAMIE seems to have exceeded his commission. Here are the reasons for the non-ratification of the treaty—another sample of sharp shrewd- ness.

" TO HR. JOHN HALL•NTYNE, HANOVER, STREET.

"Abloutsfuttl, Vila April IKE. "Dear John—James has made one or two important mistake* its the bargaia with Murray and Blackwood. Briefly as follows.

"

Italy. Having only authority for sue to promise 6000 copies, he proposes they shall have the copyright fur ever. 1 will see their noses cheese first.

"2,11y. He proposes I shall have twelve mouths' bills : I have always got GIL However, I would not stand on that.

"Bully. Ile talks of volumes being put into the publishers' hands to con- sider and decide on. No such thing ; a bare perusal at Sr. John Siteet• only. " Then for omissions. It is our stipulated that we supply the paper fail print of successive editions. This must be nail,d, and not left to meletstandiag. Secondly, I will have London bills as well as Blackwood's.

• Jaws Ballantywiesdeetlinglonse was in this stmt, adjoiraog the Caueugate of Eitaburgb.

" If they agree to these conditioi 5, g Hid and well. If they denim: Con. .stable must be instantly tried; givit g hill to the Longmans, and we drawing On them for that moiety, or Conetalee lodging their bill in our hands. You will understand it is a four volume touch—a work totally different in style and structure from the others ; a new cast, in short, of the net which has hitherto nude miraculous draughts. I do not limit you to terms, because I think you will make them better then I can do. But he must do more than others, since be will not or cannot print with us. For every point but that. I would rather deal with Constable than any one: he has always shown himself spirited, judi- cious, and liberal. Blackwood must be brought to the point instantly ; and whenever he demurs, Constable must be treated with, for there is no use in suffei ing the thing tube blown on. At the same time, you need not conceal from him that there were some proposals elsewhere ; hut you a4l, with

truth, I would rather close with him. Yours truly,

When the proof was perused by BLACKWOOD, (then little known.) he objected to the falling-off in the conclusion of the Black Dwarf; fortified his opinion by consulting "some literary person ;" suggested the rewriting of the part he disapproved of; offered to pay for the cancelling of the sheets, and ventured to transmit a plan of his own for the denouement. All this was put into the epistolary form; and BALLANTYNE was requested to send the letter to the author ; who returned the following settler.

"Dear James—I have received Blackwood's impudent letter. G— d— his soul! Tell him and his coadjutor that I belong to the Black Hussars of Lite- rature, who neither give nor receive criticism. I'll be cursed but this is the most impudent proposal that ever was made. "W. S."

We may judge from this ebullition, how Scan. must have smarted under JEFFREY'S criticism of his poetry ; especially when he could hardly avoid some internal misgiving that posterity would confirm 'the verdict of the critic.

There are many other passages we should like to ta', e; but we can only spare room for two, personally concerning the man.

SCOTT'S SENSES.

It is a fact, which some philtelophers may think worth setting down, that Scott's organization, as to more than one of the senses, was the reverse of x quisite. Ile had very little of what musicians call an ear. His smell was haid:y more delicate. I have seen him Mare about, quite unconscious of the cause, when his whole company betrayed their uneasiness at the approach of an over kept haunch of venison ; and neither by the nose nor the palate could he dis • tinguiah corked wine from sound. Hecould never tell madeira from sherry : nay, an Oriental friend having sent him a butt of sheeraz, when he remembered the circumstance some time afterwards, and called for a bottle to have Sir John Malcolm's opinion of its quality, it turned out that his butler, mistaking the label, had already served up half the binn as sherry. Port he CoIlSilleled as physic : he never willingly swallowed more than one glass of it, and was sure 40 anathematise a second, if offered, by repeating John Home's epigram-

" Bold and erect the Caledonian stood. Ohl was his motion. told his claret good; lirt him di ink port. the English statesman cried: lie drank the pviS011, owl his spirit died."

In truth, he liked no wines except sparkling champagne and claiet ; but even as to this last he was no connoisseur ; and sitivetely preferred a tumbler of whisky-ttehly to the most precious "liquid ruby" that ever flowed in the cup of a mince. He rarely took any other potation when quite alone with his family ; but at the Sunday boat if he circulated the champagne briskly during dinner, and consitleied a pint of claret each nialr's fair 'share efterwaids. I should not omit, however, that his Bourdeaux was uniformly preceded by a small libatinn of the genuine mountain-dew, which he poured with his own hand, more majornm, for each guest—making use for the purpose of such a multi- farious collection of ancient Highland tire:Vie (little curie of curiously dove. tailed wood, inlaid with silver) as nu Lowland sideboard but his was ever equipped with.

SCOTT'S FIRST ILLNESS. "I hasten to acquaint you that I um in the land of life, and thriving, though I have had a slight shake, and still feel the consequences of medical treatment. I had been plagued all throu:th this winter with cramps in my stomach ; which lendured as a man of mould might, and endeavoured to combat them by drinking Scalding water and so forth. As they grew rather unpleasantly frequeut, I had reluctant recourse to Bernie; but before his answer arrived, on the 5th, I had a most violent attack, which broke up a small party at my house, and sent me to bed roaring like a bull. calf. All sorts of remedies wereapplied, as in the case of Gil Illas' pretended colic ; but such was the pain of the real disorder, that it out- witted the Doctor hollow. Even heated salt, which was applied in such astute that it burned my shirt to rags, I hardly felt when clapped to my stomach. At length the symptoms became inflammatory, and dangerously so, the treat being the diaphragm. They only gave way to very profuse bleeding and blistering ; which, under higher assistance, saved my life. Sly recovery was slow and tedious from the state of exhaustion. I could neither stir for weakness and gid- diness, nor read for dazzling in my eyes, nor listen for a whizzing sound in icy ears, nor even think for lack of the power of arranging my ideas. So I had a 'comfortless time of it for about a week.