that first led to such an undertaking are worthy of notice. Mr. Tytler having,
during the course of a summer excursion, paid a visit to Abbotsford, was received with that warm-hearted welcome, and ushered into that choice intellectual society, for which the illustrious owner and his hall were at all times
so distinguished; and during the hours of that happy evening, tale, and song,
and literary discussion, and old remembrances, followed each other in rich and
rapid succession. Matters, however, of more lasting moment occupied, as
usual, the mind of Sir Walter Scott, and during the evening he took Mr. Tytler
aside for the purpose of some bye-conversation. It was to advise him to write
a History of Scotland. He had long, in common with many of our most distinguished countrymen, felt the want of such a work;[1] and several years before this period he had himself been almost persuaded by the publishers to undertake so congenial a task, and had thought that, by interspersing the narrative with romantic anecdotes, illustrative of the manners of his countrymen, he might produce a work such as the public would gladly welcome. He had, indeed, he added, made a partial commencement, in the form of an introductory essay—the same which was afterwards published in the "Quarterly Review" for January, 1816, as an article upon the Culloden Papers. But on thinking further on the subject, he found difficulties in his way which, in his (Sir
Walter's) case, could not easily be surmounted. He saw that a Scottish history must be something more important than a popular romance; and that
although the materials for it were so abundant in the form of national records, old Scottish authors, public and private documents, and other such sources, yet the task of digesting, elucidating, and arranging these materials, would engross more time than he could spare. He also found that the task must be pursued not only in Scotland, but in London, among the national archives, and wherever else such information could be found—a kind of labour which his official duties and other avocations would completely prevent. Perceiving
these difficulties, he had abandoned the alluring enterprise, notwithstanding his conviction that a History of Scotland had still to be written, and his own wish to supply the deficiency; and he had at last settled into the purpose of attempting nothing more in this way than a collection of historical anecdotes for the young, such as might impress upon their memories the brave and good deeds of illustrious Scotsmen, and inspire them with sentiments of nationality.[2]
- ↑ In a letter written upon this subject, A.D. 1823, Sir Walter Scott thus summed up our national deficiency:—"We are still but very indifferently provided with Scotch histories of a general description. Lord Hailes' 'Annals' are the foundation-stone, and an excellent book, though dryly written. Pinkerton, in two very unreadable quartos, which yet abound in information, takes up the thread where Hailes drops it and then you have Robertson, down to the union of the crowns. But I would beware of task-work, which Pinkerton at least must always be, and I would relieve him [his correspondent's pupil] every now and then by looking at the pages of old Pitscottie, where events are told with so much naïveté, and even humour, and such individuality, as it were, that it places the actors and scenes before the reader. The whole history of James V. and Queen Mary may be read to great advantage in the elegant Latin of Lesly, bishop of Ross, and collated with the account which his opponent Buchanan, in language still more classical, gives of the same eventful reigns. Laing is but a bad guide through the 17th century, yet I hardly know where a combined account of these events is to be had, so far as Scotland is concerned."
- ↑ This Sir Walter Scott accomplished by his "Tales of a Grandfather," published
