[i]

ABBOTSFORD

'O bear me back to all to Memory dear,
'Twill to my faded brow be health restored
To feel the breeze that waves the woods of Abbotsford.'

4

ABBOTSFORD FROM THE RIVER TWEED

'Within that pile he dwelt whose ardent soul
Filled with bright dreams, and aspirations high,
And boundless knowledge, wonder-chained the whole
Of human kind, but turned its glorious eye
Of love on Caledon's bleak hills and cloudy sky.'

[ii]
[iii]

ABBOTSFORD

PAINTED BY
WILLIAM SMITH, Jr.

DESCRIBED BY
W. S. CROCKETT
MINISTER OF TWEEDSMUIR; AUTHOR OF 'THE SCOTT COUNTRY,' ETC.

WITH

TWENTY FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR

LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1905

[iv]
[v]

TO
SIR WALTER'S SUCCESSORS
AT
ABBOTSFORD,

THE HON. MRS. MAXWELL SCOTT,

HIS GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER,

AND

WALTER MAXWELL SCOTT,
GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON,

THESE CHAPTERS ARE DEDICATED.

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[vii]

Preface

Abbotsford merits a volume in the presentseries will be readily conceded. In preparing theletterpress I have found myself, not unnaturally,playing to some extent the part of a biographer, andin this I have generally followed Lockhart, alwaysthe ultimate authority on Sir Walter. A numberof fresh facts, however, will be found here and therethroughout the work. Mrs. Maxwell Scott haskindly read the proof of 'The Later Abbotsford,'and for the 'Treasures' chapter I am indebtedsomewhat to her admirable little 'Catalogue,' whichno visitor to Scott's home should miss.

W. S. CROCKETT.

The Manse,

Tweedsmuir,

June 15, 1905.

[viii]
[ix]

Contents