On March 15, he left for the last time his house in Castle Street; on April 3; “Woodstock” was sold for the creditors’ behoof, realising L8228; on May 15, Lady Scott died, after a short illness, at Abbotsford.  “I think,” writes Scott in his Diary, “my heart will break.  Lonely, aged, deprived of all my family—­all but poor Anne; an impoverished, embarrassed man, deprived of the sharer of my thoughts and counsels, who could always talk down my sense of the calamitous apprehensions which break the heart that must bear them alone.  Even her foibles were of service to me, by giving me things to think of beyond my weary self-reflections.”

An expedition to Paris, in October, to gather materials for his “Life of Napoleon.” was a seasonable relief.  On his return through London, the King undertook that his son, Charles Scott, then at Oxford, should be launched in the diplomatic service.  The elder son, heir to the baronetcy, was now with his regiment in Ireland.

The “Life of Buonaparte” was published in June, 1827, and secured high praise from many, among whom was Goethe.  It realised L18,000 for the creditors, and had health been spared him, Scott must soon have freed himself from all encumbrances.  Before the close of 1829 he had published also the “Chronicles of the Canongate,” “Tales of a Grandfather,” “The Fair Maid of Perth” and “Anne of Geirstein,” but he had been visited also by several threatenings of apoplexy, and on February 15, 1830, was prostrated by a serious attack.  Recovering from this illness, Scott resigned his office as Clerk of Session, and during the rest of the year produced a great quantity of manuscript, including the “Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,” and the series of “Tales of a Grandfather” dealing with French history.  April, 1831, brought with it a distinct stroke of paralysis, yet both “Castle Dangerous” and “Count Robert of Paris” were finished in the course of the year.

Sailing in October, in the “Barham,” Sir Walter Scott visited Malta and Naples, and came to Rome in April, 1832.  In May he set out for home by Venice, Munich and the Rhine, but his companions could hardly prevail on him to look at the interesting objects by the way, and another serious attack fell upon him at Nimeguen.  He reached London on June 13, and on July 7 was carried on board the steamer for Leith, and was at Abbotsford by the 11th.  Here the remains of his strength gradually declined, and his mind was hopelessly obscured.

As I was dressing on the morning of September 17, a servant came to tell me that his master had awoke in a state of composure and consciousness, and wished to see me immediately.  I found him entirely himself, though in the last extreme of feebleness.  “Lockhart,” he said “I may have no more than a minute to speak to you.  My dear, 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.”  He scarcely afterwards gave any sign of consciousness, and breathed his last on September 21, in the presence of all his children.