“Alas! the night cometh when no man can work, as is the case with that mighty genius which seems now completely quenched.  Well might he be styled ‘a bright and benignant luminary,’ for while all will deplore the loss of that bright intellect which has so long charmed a world, many will still more deeply lament the warm and steady friend, whose kind and genuine influence was ever freely diffused on all whom it could benefit.  I trust, however, he may be spared yet awhile; it might be salutary to himself to con over the lessons of a death-bed, and it might be edifying to others to have his record added to the many that have gone before him, that all below is vanity.  But till we feel that we shall never believe it!  I ought to feel it more than most people, as I sit in my dark and solitary chamber, shut out, as it seems, from all the ’pride of life’; but, alas!  Worldly things make their way into the darkest and most solitary recesses, for their dwelling is in the heart, and from thence God only can expel them.”

Her first visit to the author of Waverley was in the autumn of 1811, when she accompanied her father to Ashestiel.  The invitation came from Scott to Mr. Ferrier:—­

Walter Scott, Esq., to James Ferrier, Esq.

“My DEAR SIR—­We are delighted to see that your feet are free and disposed to turn themselves our way—­a pleasure which we cannot consent to put off till we have a house at Abbotsford, which is but a distant prospect.  We are quite disengaged and alone, saving the company of Mr. Terry the comedian, who is assisting me in planning my cottage, having been bred an architect under Wyat.  He reads to us after coffee in the evening, which is very pleasant.  This letter will reach you to-morrow, so probably Thursday may be a convenient day of march, when we shall expect you to dinner about five o’clock, unless the weather should be very stormy, in which case we should be sorry Miss Ferrier should risk getting cold.  To-day is clearing up after a week’s dismal weather, which may entitle us to expect some pleasant October days, not the worst of our climate.  The road is by Middleton and Bankhouse; we are ten miles from the last stage, and thirty from Edinburgh, hilly road.  There is a ford beneath Ashestiel generally very passable, but we will have the boat in readiness in case Miss Ferrier prefers it, or the water should be full.  Mrs. Scott joins in kind respects to Miss Ferrier, and I ever am, dear Sir,—­yours truly obliged,

W. SCOTT.

“Ashestiel, October 7.”

It was in 1811 that Scott was appointed a clerk of session, and to Mr. Ferrier he was in some measure indebted for that post.

Her last visit to Abbotsford is touchingly alluded to by Lockhart in his Life of Scott:—­