be a good man-be virtuous,- be religious,-be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here.” These were nearly his last words though he lived for several days in stupor. By the aid of friends Abbottsford had been saved to the family as Scott knew, so that when on the 21st of September, 1832, the end came, he died a free man. "It was a beautiful day," says Lockhart, "so warm that every window was wide open- and so perfectly still that the sound of all others most delicious to his ear, the gentle ripple of the Tweed over its pebbles was distinctly audible as we knelt around the bed and his eldest son kissed and closed his eyes."

He was laid to rest in Dryburgh Abbey, formerly owned by his ancestors. "The day was dark and lowering, and the wind high. The wide enclosure at the abbey of Dryburgh was thronged with old and young; and when the coffin was taken from the hearse, and again laid on the shoulders of the afflicted serving-men, one deep sob burst from a thousand throats."

In spite of his sickly boyhood Scott grew into a tall and well-formed man. He was always a little lame but not so much as to be seriously inconvenienced. His hair and even his eyebrows and lashes were light and became quite gray before he passed middle life. His blue eyes were shrewd and penetrating and gave when he was interested

a brightness to a face that was usually somewhat dull in expression. His forehead was high, his nose short and his mouth large, with a long upper lip. It was a face indicating good sense and often beaming with a kindly smile that made him hosts of friends.

His laborious life shows the dominant force of his character, but nothing has been said of his courtly hospitality to the hundreds of people who came, many of them great distances, to see him, and whom he entertained as generously as though they were friends of a lifetime. Nothing has been said of his entertaining conversation in which the treasures of his extraordinary memory were brought into view and enlivened by his ready wit and genial nature, which never permitted him to be unkind or caustic in his speech, however much the foibles of mankind might invite criticism. His was a nature full of love and sympathy. This was manifest not only in his veneration for the past and the achievements of his race, but also in his devotion to his relatives, his personal family and the servants of his household. Akin to this sentiment was his great fondness for animals which led him to surround himself with pets of all kinds and especially with dogs, for some of whom he had a fondness approaching that for his own family.

Scott's acquaintance with the great men of his time was extended and intimate. He saw Burns on his visit to Edinburgh, and was delighted when

the elder poet gave him a look and a word in thanks for mentioning the author of a few lines that Burns had deeply admired. Wordsworth was a guest of Scott while the latter was writing The Lay of the Last Minstrel and the friendship then established remained cordial and intimate till the end of Scott's life. Southey was also a guest at Ashestiel, and Washington Irving, Thomas Moore and Henry Hallam were among the men who visited the author at Abbottsford. He and Byron exchanged gifts and each had a high regard for the genius of the other. Byron wrote: "I think that Scott is the only very successful genius that could be cited as being as generally beloved as a man as he is admired as an author; and, I must add, he deserves it; for he is so thoroughly goodnatured, sincere, and honest that he disarms the envy and jealousy his extraordinary genius must excite."

It is difficult to say just what is the most prominent characteristic of Scott's writing. Perhaps it is the vigorous and rapid movement, the intense, fiery energy of prose and poetry alike. He was,

it is true, a close observer of nature and to that insight he added the power to delineate in brilliant colors whatever he saw. He was dramatic, too, and made his characters speak and act their parts like men and women. Doubtless there are among the hundreds of persons who throng his pages many who can claim little as positive creations,

but Jeanie Deans and a few others are as certainly living realities. He was a devout admirer of woman and drew his love scenes with passionate intensity. However, he never lost himself in metaphysical by-ways nor had he the power of spiritual analysis. He was a story-teller, a romancer pure and simple, to whom the occult and supernatural were, if necessary, realities in the elaboration of his plots. He gave to the world a new literature and made for himself an imperishable name by writings so vivid and entertaining that the wisest have been charmed by them, and so pure in sentiment that he could truthfully say he had never written a line he wished to recall.

Studies

1. What was happening in America during the sixty years following 1780 ?

2. What noted reforms were accomplished in England during this period?

3. Contrast in form and substance the writings of the Romanticists with those of the age of Pope. What other age seems to resemble the Modern Age?

4. What are the chief merits in the poetry of Burns? Did his life affect the influence of his writings ?

5. Who were the Lake Poets and why were they so called? Study the pictures of the Lake region and see if you can understand the influence these scenes had upon the poets who lived there.

6. Find what you can of the personal relations of Cowper, Burns, Coleridge, Southey and Wordsworth. Compare them in character, in personal appearance and in the quantity and excellence of their work.

7. What have you found in the writings of Lamb that would classify him among the Romanticists ?

8. Study the map of England and locate the writers of this period.

9. What admirable traits can you find in the character of Sir Walter Scott? Do you find any of them reflected in his writings?