[13:  Alluding to Lady Scott.]

Scott endeavoured to secure Mrs. Grant a pension; merited as he observes, by her as an authoress, ‘but much more,’ in his opinion, ’by the firmness and elasticity of mind with which she had borne a great succession of domestic calamities.’  ‘Unhappily,’ he adds, ’there was only about L100 open on the Pension List, and this the minister assigned in equal portions to Mrs. G——­ and a distressed lady, grand-daughter of a forfeited Scottish nobleman.  Mrs. G——­ , proud as a Highlandwoman, vain as a poetess, and absurd as a blue-stocking, has taken this partition in malam partem, and written to Lord Melville about her merits, and that her friends do not consider her claims as being fairly canvassed, with something like a demand that her petition be submitted to the king.  This is not the way to make her plack a bawbee, and Lord M——­ , a little miffed in turn, sends the whole correspondence to me to know whether Mrs. G——­ will accept the L50 or not

Now, hating to deal with ladies when they are in an unreasonable humour, I have got the good-humoured Man of Feeling to find out the lady’s mind, and I take on myself the task of making her peace with Lord M——­ .  After all, the poor lady is greatly to be pitied:—­her sole remaining daughter deep and far gone in a decline.’

The Man of Feeling proved successful, and reported soon afterwards that the ‘dirty pudding’ was eaten by the almost destitute authoress.  Scott’s tone in the letters which refer to this subject does little credit to his good taste and delicacy of feeling, which were really attributable to his character.

Very few notices occur of any intercourse between Scott and Sydney Smith in Lockhart’s ‘Life,’ It was not, indeed, until 1827 that Scott could be sufficiently cooled down from the ferment of politics which had been going on to meet Jeffrey and Cockburn.  When he dined, however, with Murray, then Lord Advocate, and met Jeffrey, Cockburn, the late Lord Rutherford, then Mr. Rutherford, and others of ‘that file,’ he pronounced the party to be ’very pleasant, capital good cheer, and excellent wine, much laugh and fun.  I do not know,’ he writes, ’how it is, but when I am out with a party of my Opposition friends, the day is often merrier than when with our own set.  It is because they are cleverer?  Jeffery and Harry Cockburn are, to be sure, very extraordinary men, yet it is not owing to that entirely.  I believe both parties meet with the feeling of something like novelty.  We have not worn out our jests in daily contact.  There is also a disposition on such occasions to be courteous, and of course to be pleased.’

On his side, Cockburn did ample justice to the ‘genius who,’ to use his own words, ’has immortalized Edinburgh and delighted the ‘world.’  Mrs. Scott could not, however, recover the smarting inflicted by the critiques of Jeffrey on her husband’s works.  Her—­’And I hope, Mr. Jeffrey, Mr. Constable paid you well for your Article’ (Jeffrey dining with her that day), had a depth of simple satire in it that ever, an Edinburgh Reviewer could hardly exceed.  It was, one must add, impertinent and in bad taste.  ‘You are very good at cutting up.’