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 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 OF EDINBURGH.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 By A. H. Moncur Sime. 
 
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 « * • » » 
 
 LONDON : JAMES CLARKE & CO. 
 13 & 14, Fleet Street. 1898.
 
 I ^ « t c 
 
 c •- • « * t
 
 s 
 
 
 The Literary Life of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 The literary history of Edinburgh, 130O- 
 in any special sense, began about 
 1500. Before that time there was 
 in manuscript only a good deal of 
 scattered literary activity in Scot- 
 land generally, in which Edin- 
 burgh had shared, but in the 
 reigns of James IV. and James Y., 
 dating from 1488 to 1542, Edin- 
 burgh became the central seat 
 of literature in Scotland. The 
 leaders in literature, the"Makars," 
 as they were called, at this period 
 were William Dunbar, Gavin 
 
 Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay. 
 
 1 
 
 48S2S7
 
 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 The patent for establishing a 
 printing - press in Scotland was 
 granted in 1507 by the king, 
 James IV., to one, Walter Chep- 
 man, a merchant, and another, 
 Andrew Myllar, a working printer, 
 both bm-gesses of Edinbrn-gh. 
 The *' Golden Targe" and other 
 poems, by Dunbar, were, so far as 
 we can say, the first productions 
 Dunbar, of the press. Dunbar was born in 
 East Lothian not later than 1460. 
 In 1475 he was at the University 
 of St. Andrews, the oldest of the 
 four Scotch Universities, evidently 
 educating for the Church. For a 
 time he seems to have worn the 
 habit of the Franciscans, but he 
 at length threw it off with disgust, 
 since it had become to so many 
 men a cloak of hypocrisy.
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 3 
 
 Good family connections^ a 
 liberal education, and rare natural 
 ability, led to the employment of 
 Dunbar as a servant of the King. 
 Dui'ing James's life, his home was 
 almost constantly in Edinburgh. 
 The King liked the poet's wit, saw 
 him readily, and was f amilar with 
 him. Dunbar's finest efforts are 
 his " The Thrissel and the Eose," 
 a poem celebrating the marriage 
 of Margaret Tudor, daughter of 
 Henry VII., to the Scottish King, 
 and the "Golden Targe," which 
 we have already mentioned. Both 
 these works represent him very 
 clearly as a student of Chaucer, 
 and of the literature of the Middle 
 Ages 
 
 Contemporary with Dunbar at Gavin 
 the Court of James lY., but per- ^**^ '^*'
 
 THE LITEEARY LIFE 
 
 haps some fourteen years younger, 
 was the poet Gavin Douglas, who 
 lived to become a bishop. In 1501 
 or 1502 he was made Provost or 
 Dean of the Collegiate Church of 
 St. Giles in Edinburgh, a well-paid 
 and important benefice, that 
 brought him into close contact 
 with the life of the Court. He 
 had written the first of his poems, 
 " The Palace of Honour," in 1501, 
 and had dedicated it to the King. 
 By far the most important literary 
 work that came from Douglas's 
 hands was his translation of 
 Virgil's " Aeneid," which has led 
 the way very worthily in the long 
 line of Virgilian translation. It 
 has freshness, vigour and native 
 genius, and is altogether the 
 production of a true poet. The
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 
 
 description of a June evening in 
 the " Vision of Mapliaeus Yegius " 
 — with its woods and streams, its 
 cattle and meadows, its flowers 
 and bees, the red skj with sun 
 wholly on fire — lives in the 
 memory of every poetic reader 
 like some long happy summer day 
 that has been really lived and 
 felt. 
 
 Before the voice of Dunbar was sir 
 
 quite silent Lyndsay had taken ^«^\^^ 
 
 . LTjndsay. 
 
 up the strain, and he struck notes 
 of the deeper poetry of life. He 
 was born about 1490. He also 
 was in prominent service at the 
 Scottish Court, though it does not 
 appear that he belonged to the 
 highest rank of the gentry. 
 Lyndsay's sympathies were all 
 with the people, and his writings
 
 THE LITERAKY LIFE 
 
 indicate pretty conclusively that 
 while taking part in the life of 
 the Court he never hesitated to 
 rebuke its vices and corruption. 
 He vp-as a personal favourite with 
 King James V., but he did not 
 scruple to protest against his im- 
 morality and the flattery of his 
 false friends. He survived far 
 into the Eeformation struggle, 
 and by his vigorous writings 
 against the tyranny of the Church 
 proved himself a notable ally of 
 Knox and other reformers. From 
 this time the temper of the 
 thought in Scotland generally, and 
 in Edinburgh as its centre, com- 
 pletely changed. The literary 
 history of Edinburgh at this 
 time is not without lustre, but 
 its literary life became wholly
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 merged in its political and religious 
 life. 
 
 John Knox and George Buch- JoJm 
 anan returned from their exile q'^'^^^'^'^^' 
 and wanderings on the Continent, Bu- 
 
 and gathered round them the 
 thoughtful and cultured of Edin- 
 burgh, hut the thought was not 
 that which buds and blossoms 
 into poesj and writes itself into 
 literature, but that which concen- 
 trates itself into character and 
 expends itself in action. From 1580 
 to the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century the literary history 
 of Scotland is almost a blank page. 
 That period which in England 
 was the golden age of literature, 
 the Elizabethan age of peace and 
 plenty, when " England became a 
 nest of singing birds," saw Scot-
 
 8 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 land grave and silent, steeped 
 heart and soul in the vexed and 
 momentous questions of religion 
 and of Church government, Pres- 
 T)}i:erianism versus Episcopacy, 
 and all the issues which to Scot- 
 tish minds were of such serious 
 import, and to Scottish life of all- 
 engrossing interest. 
 
 The removal of the Coiu't from 
 Edinburgh to London in 1603 
 still further deepened the gravity 
 of life in the capital north of the 
 Tweed, robbing it of the pageantry 
 which surrounds a Court, and 
 of the Court atmosphere which, 
 although it may not produce great 
 men or poets, always breeds 
 gallants and rhymsters. 
 
 It was in May, 1559, that Knox 
 finally landed at Leith, and became
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 9 
 
 the covenanted leader of the Re- 
 forming Party. The rehgious in- 
 stitutions raised to piety and learn- 
 ing were as guiltless of letters 
 as of godliness, and had become 
 nurseries of evil lives and indolence. 
 Society had become utterly care- 
 less of the ordinary rules of a 
 high morality, and Knox saw 
 clearly enough the danger of 
 leaving anything, either of the 
 government or worship of the 
 Church, which encouraged or 
 sheltered radical misconceptions 
 as to the meaning and end of 
 true religion. From 1559 till 
 his death in 1572 Knox laboured 
 unceasingly, and successfully, too, 
 we think, for the overthrow of 
 all injustice and wickedness in 
 the government of his native land.
 
 10 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 The daily press was not then 
 born, but he, by his sermons and 
 addresses, did what is now done 
 by editors in their cohmms, and 
 by statesmen in their political 
 campaigns. He sleeps within call 
 of St. Giles's Church, that so often 
 echoed to his words of strong- 
 sense and liberty. No monument 
 but two letters and a date mark 
 the resting-place of the man who^ 
 as Robert Louis Sterenson puts it, 
 " made Scotland over again in his 
 own image, the indefatigable and 
 midissuadable John Knox." He 
 wrote a great deal, mostly of a 
 polemical character, and his style 
 is terse, clear, and easy. 
 
 loSO — We have indicated the woeful 
 
 1700 
 
 change that had taken place in
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 11 
 
 the literary life of Scotland from 
 1580 onwards, and we can almost 
 dispose in a sentence of the few 
 individuals in this second period 
 who are at all worthy of mention. 
 Of these the most notable by far 
 is William Drummond, of Haw- William 
 thornden, whose sonnets are ad- r^^ond' 
 mitted, on the highest literary 
 authority, to be the best in the 
 English language between the 
 time of Shakespeare and that 
 of Milton. Though not resident 
 in Edinburgh, he was intimately 
 associated with it, and he be- 
 queathed his collection of books to 
 the University of that city. He 
 was a singer, sweet and pure. 
 Could anything be prettier than 
 that address to the lady who had 
 been stmig by a bee ? —
 
 12 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 O, do not kill that bee 
 
 That thus hath wounded thee. 
 
 Sweet, it was no despite 
 But hue did him deceive : 
 For, when thy lips did close. 
 He deemed them a rose : 
 
 What wouldst thou further crave ? 
 He, wanting wit, and blinded with delight, 
 Woidd fain have kissed, but, mad with, 
 joy, did bite. 
 
 Samiuil The only other names we would 
 ^•q^.^j^ mention as belonging to this 
 
 period are Samuel Rutherford, 
 whose delightful letters have 
 commanded a widespread renown 
 on account of their deep spirit- 
 uality and the beautiful and quaint 
 diction in which they are couched. 
 Bishop ^ii<i the good Bishop Leighton, of 
 Leiyhton. Dunblane, whose works, forty or 
 fifty years ago, were widely known 
 and highly prized. 
 
 J700— 
 
 1786. The literary revival in Scotland
 
 OF EDINBURGH. ]o 
 
 came at the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, and it began 
 with Allan Ramsay, a quaint, Allan 
 shrewd little periwig maker of ^«»^*^«2/- 
 Edinburgh. A delightful, re- 
 markable personage he would 
 have been at any time, but 
 coming, as he did, between two 
 eras of Scottish literature, and 
 forming the connecting link, he 
 has had an interest and importance 
 that his work alone might scarcely 
 have won for him. 
 
 He was well fitted for the 
 mission, uniting, as he did, a 
 hearty patriotic admiration for 
 the old native Hterature of Scot- 
 land and a keen desire to see his 
 country take her place again in 
 the literature of the world. 
 
 He was the first, too, to make
 
 14 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 it felt that the union of England 
 had not been a merely political one, 
 but that Scotland had a share too, 
 and by no means an unimportant 
 share, in the glorious literature 
 that England had been producing. 
 He himself was perfectly conscious, 
 in his own quaint way, of his 
 position and importance, and, 
 with a meagre interest in what 
 his English contemporaries were 
 doing, he was determined that 
 Scotland should show, too, what 
 she could do. 
 
 It was in 1712 that Edinburgh 
 recognised that in this little man, 
 who loved his ease and enjoyed an 
 evening's social intercourse and a 
 good laugh, she had a poet of her 
 own, and a worthy successor to 
 Sir David Lyndsay.
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 15 
 
 About that time a number of 
 little pieces of verse came out in 
 succession, in tbe form of humbly- 
 printed leaflets, " by permission of 
 the Easy Club," a small club of 
 about a dozen persons of professed 
 literary taste, of which club Ram- 
 say was a member, and for which 
 he had written these verses. 
 
 Between 1712 and 1718 he 
 published several satires and 
 moralisings, in rather crude 
 English, under the influence of 
 the Satirical School in London, 
 also much better work in the 
 colloquial Scotch of his own day, 
 and a new edition, with several 
 additional cantos of his poem, 
 " Christ's Kirk on the Green." 
 
 By this time he had begun to 
 combine bookselling with wig-
 
 16 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 selling, removing with his family 
 to a house in High Street. Here 
 he spent eight prosperous and 
 ^''iPPy years, enjoying his growing 
 reputation, which attracted to his 
 shop all the well-to-do and literary 
 residents in Edinburgh, and not 
 less his growing fortune, the fruit 
 of his double business and his 
 poetical work. He himself fully 
 appreciated the humour of his sit- 
 uation, as is evidenced in these 
 lines : — 
 
 I theek the out and line the inside 
 
 Of many a donee and witty pash [head] 
 
 And baith ways gather in the cash. 
 
 Nor did the humble citizens of 
 Edinburgh ignore the presence of 
 the poet in their midst. Busy and 
 economical housewives sent put 
 their children to bring them
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 17 
 
 Ramsay's latest piece, whatever it 
 might be, which they eagerly read 
 and enjoyed, and talked over with 
 their neighbours. But Ramsay's 
 fame was not merely local ; it had 
 penetrated to England, and in 
 London his name was well known. 
 In 1720, when he sent out sub- 
 scription papers for a collected 
 edition of his works, his appeal 
 was immediately responded to. 
 Dukes, earls, marquises, judges, 
 lawyers, were among the sub- 
 scribers, and some very widely 
 known names were in the list, 
 among others Alexander Pope, Sir 
 Richard Steele, and Richard 
 Savage. 
 
 In 1724 he still further 
 enhanced his reputation by the 
 " Tea Table Miscellany " and the
 
 18 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 " Evergreen," a collection of Scots 
 poems, written by the ingenious 
 before 1600. In the following: 
 year he reached the zenith of his 
 fame in his well-known and much- 
 loved " Gentle Shepherd," a Scots 
 pastoral comedy. It was received 
 on all hands with enthusiastic 
 admiration. 
 
 At this time, too, he embarked 
 on a successful commercial enter- 
 prise by the establishment of a 
 circulating library in Edinburgh. 
 In 1728 and 1730 respectively, he 
 published a second volume of 
 poems and a collection of thirty 
 fables; and thereafter he was 
 content to rest on his well-won 
 laurels. 
 
 For twenty-eight years he en- 
 joyed the distinction of being a
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 19 
 
 living literary celebrity, and his 
 shop was one of the chief resorts 
 and meeting-places of men of liter- 
 ary tastes, and was instantly sought 
 out by distinguished visitors. 
 
 In 1736 Ramsay made a brave 
 effort, and devoted much of his 
 savings to establish a regular 
 theatre in the Scottish capital. 
 The enactment of a foolish statute 
 almost immediately thereafter by 
 George II. that there should be no 
 performance of stage plays out of 
 London and Westminster, save 
 when the king chanced to be 
 residing in another town, necessi- 
 tated its being closed. Eamsay 
 must have lost heavily, but he 
 evidently soon tided over his loss, 
 for in 1743 we find that he built a 
 fine house for himself on the north
 
 20 THE LITEKARY LIFE 
 
 side of the Castle Hill, a curious 
 octagonal villa nicknamed by the 
 wags of the day " the Goose Pie " 
 and " the Bird's Cage/' because of 
 a certain resemblance to these in 
 its shape. His entrance into it was 
 darkened for him bv the death of 
 
 ft/ 
 
 his wife, but for fourteen years he 
 lived in it with his two daughters, 
 charming and vivacious as ever, 
 full of enthusiasm and kindliness, 
 and greatly loved by all who came 
 in contact with him. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the 
 morning star of that reformation 
 which has resulted in the universal 
 cheapening of literary publica- 
 tions was an Edinburgh book- 
 seller of these times, one Alexander 
 Donaldson, who reprinted in Edin- 
 burgh, and sold in London,
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 21 
 
 English books, of which the 
 author's fourteen years' copyright 
 had expired. 
 
 Throughout the revival period so 
 brilliantly inaugurated by Eamsay 
 the hidden fires of literature that 
 had been stifled under the load of 
 the last century blazed forth in 
 many ways. Amid the many David 
 lights m the northern capital dur- 
 ing our third period, there was no 
 brighter than David Hume, by far 
 the greatest philosophical writer 
 who had appeared since Berkeley. 
 He was the leader of the Utili- 
 tarians, and one of the greatest 
 critics of thought. Hume not 
 only made excursions into litera- 
 ture as an essayist, an historian, 
 and philosopher, but in all three 
 he is durably eminent.
 
 22 THE LITERAKY LIFE 
 
 He was a native of Edinbui-gh, 
 and from childliood displaj-ed a 
 very strong inclination to books. 
 When about eig'ht-and-twenty he 
 published his first work in two 
 volumes, ^^ A Treatise on Human 
 Nature." It was far from being 
 successful ; but a third volume, 
 published in the following year, 
 created considerable attention and 
 discussion. Then some dozen 
 years after appeared his " Political 
 Discourses," which has really 
 pointed the way for all future 
 students of political economy. 
 
 By this time he would be about 
 forty years of age. Through strict 
 economy he had arrived at a sort 
 of competence. He became libra- 
 rian of the Advocate's Library, 
 a post which was valued more for
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 23 
 
 the opportunity it afforded for 
 study than anything else, as the 
 salary attached was paltry. 
 
 From 1751 tiU his death in 1776 
 Hume lived the greater part of 
 his time in Edinburgh — part of 
 the time in Riddel's Close, Lawn 
 Market, now partly occupied by a 
 band of aesthetic colonists, who 
 are hoping in this way to influence 
 the artistic sense lying dormant in 
 the minds of the other occupants, 
 people of a doubtful enough order, 
 skulking gaol-birds, dirty, ragged, 
 pilfering children, "big-mouthed, 
 robust women, in a sort of imif orm 
 of striped flannel petticoat and 
 short shawl." 
 
 It was from this quarter that he 
 wrote in 1753 to a friend, describ- 
 inof his new home.
 
 24 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 " I sliall exiilt and triiimpli to you a 
 little that I have now at last, being 
 turned of forty — to my own honour, to 
 that of learning, and to that of the 
 present age — arrived at the dignity of 
 being a householder. About seven months 
 ago I got a house of my own, and com- 
 pleted a regular family, consisting of a 
 head, namely, myself, and two inferior 
 members, a maid and a eat. My sister 
 has since joined me, and keeps me 
 company. With frugality I can reach, I 
 find, cleanliness, warmth, light, plenty, 
 and content. "What woiild you have 
 more? Independence? I have it in a 
 supreme degree. Honom* ? That is not 
 altogether wanting. Grace ? That ■\\-ill 
 come in time. A wife? That is none 
 of the indispensable requisites of life. 
 Books? That is one of them, and I 
 have more than I can itse. In short, I 
 cannot find any pleasure of conse- 
 quence which I am not possessed of in 
 a greater or less degree; and without 
 any effort of philosophy I may be easy 
 and satisfied. As there is no happiness 
 without occupation, I have begim a 
 work which will occupy me several
 
 OF EDINBUKGH. 25 
 
 years, and wliicli yields me niucli satis- 
 faction." 
 
 The work to whicli lie here 
 refers was his famous " History of 
 Great Britain," the fii*st volume of 
 which appeared iii 1754. 
 
 Hume was miserably disap- 
 pointed at the reception his his- 
 tories met with. 
 
 There was a good deal about 
 Hume that repelled his fellow- 
 countrymen and townsmen. Still, 
 Edinburgh was very proud of her 
 gifted son, and there gathered 
 round him all the best society 
 of Edinburgh. That house of his 
 in James's Conrt — one of the 
 many-storeyed, sky-seeking build- 
 ing of the old city — was famous 
 indeed. Boswell and Blair lived 
 in the same tenement; Adam
 
 26 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 Smith had his chamber in Hume's 
 flat ; Benjamin Frankhn was his 
 guest there for several weeks to- 
 gether. 
 
 Hume's agreeable and sociable 
 disposition, which grew more 
 striking with his years, gained for 
 him many friends, women as well 
 as men, and these he never failed 
 to please by his coui-tesy and 
 gentle raillery, which only amused 
 and delighted without ever wound- 
 ing even those against whom it 
 was directed. 
 
 We know how consistently and 
 doggedly atheistic he was, but he 
 never failed in courtesy and for- 
 bearance towards those who, even 
 in an obtrusive way, sought to 
 force views of an opposing char- 
 acter upon him.
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 27 
 
 A story from Hill Burton's 
 ^' Life of Hume " may fittingly 
 conclude our sketch, of this re- 
 markable man. In his last illness 
 a woman called upon him with 
 information that she had been 
 entrusted with a message to him 
 from on high. "This is a very 
 important matter, madam," said 
 the dying philosopher, ^'we must 
 take it with deliberation — perhaps 
 you had better get a little temporal 
 refreshment before you begin." 
 "Lassie," addressing his servant, 
 " bring this good lady a glass of 
 
 wine." 
 
 While the " good woman " was 
 preparing for the attack he good- 
 humouredly entered into conversa- 
 tion with her ; and, discovering 
 that her husband was a chandler,
 
 28 THE LITEEAEY LIFE 
 
 he announced that he was much 
 in want of some temporal lights at 
 that time, and entrusted her with 
 a large order. This unexpected 
 stroke of business completely di- 
 verted her thoughts, and, for- 
 getting all about her special 
 mission, she trotted contentedly 
 home to tell her husband the good 
 news. 
 
 In the latter part of the eight- 
 eenth centiu-y there was congre- 
 gated in Edinburgh a cluster of 
 brilliant men who made Edinburgh, 
 for the first time, the literary rival 
 of London. We can only give a 
 passing notice to a few of these. 
 A notable poet in the capital at 
 John this period was John Home, the 
 ■H^o""'- author of "Douglas." Henry 
 Mackenzie, the biographer of
 
 OP EDIJTBURGH. 29 
 
 Home, kno-\vn always as "the 
 man of feeling," because lie had 
 published a novel with that title 
 and had the title transferred to 
 himself, took no small share in 
 supporting the literary reputation 
 of his country ; and we should not 
 forget that a review of the first 
 edition of Burns's Poems^ contri- 
 buted by Mackenzie to "The 
 Lounger," practically decided the 
 fate and fame of the poet. Burns 
 was on the point of emigrating 
 when this article brought him into 
 public notice, and secured him the 
 help that encom-aged his later 
 efforts. 
 
 Adam Smith was resident in ■^'^^"."^ 
 
 o mith. 
 Eidmburgh for some twelve years, 
 
 but his gi-eat book, a book which 
 
 has, perhaps, done quite as much
 
 30 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 for the good of humanity as any 
 other ever produced in Scotland, 
 was the work of ten quiet, studious 
 years previous to his coming to 
 Edinburgh. Smith was one of the 
 simplest and most retiring of men, 
 and some one has remarked that 
 it was strange how one who had 
 written so well on the principles 
 of exchange and barter was obliged 
 to get a friend to buy his horse 
 corn for him. The author of the 
 " Wealth of Nations " never 
 married. His household affairs 
 were managed by a Miss Jeanie 
 Douglas, a cousin of his own, of 
 whom he appears to have stood in 
 considerable awe. It is even said 
 that the amiable philosopher, 
 being fond of a bit of sugar, and 
 remonstrated mth by her for tak-
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 31 
 
 ing it, would watch, and saunter 
 backwards and forwards along the 
 parlour floor till Miss Jeanie's 
 back was turned in order to help 
 himself to his favourite morsel. 
 
 Dugald Stewart, the famous Dtiyald 
 
 n n 1 1 M 1 • Stewart. 
 
 professor of moral philosoj)hy m 
 
 the University of Edinburgh, was 
 another important figure in the 
 literary life of this period. Lord 
 Cockburn, who was one of his 
 pupils, sjjeaks of his ethical teach- 
 ing as of great value, and says 
 that whoever, either in the busi- 
 ness of life or in the prosecution 
 of philosophy, has occasion to 
 recur to principles, always finds 
 that either for study or practice 
 Stewart's doctrines are his surest 
 guides. 
 
 Stewart was one of the learned
 
 32 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 men in Europe who refused to 
 give any countenance to the idea 
 that was then coming into view, 
 that language in its essential 
 principles was one. To say that 
 the classic tongues of Athens and 
 Rome had any kinship with '^ the 
 jargon of savages" was prepos- 
 terous. Stewart said there was no 
 such language as Sanskrit at all, 
 and he wrote his now incredible 
 essay to show how "those arch- 
 forgers and liars — the Brahmans," 
 had tried to patch together a vast 
 imposition of language, after the 
 style of the Greek and Latin, 
 wherewith to deceive credulous 
 people. 
 
 His position seems to thought- 
 ful men to-day incredible, and 
 would be amusing did it not warn
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 33 
 
 US of the lamentable errors into 
 
 which even intelligent and learned 
 
 men may fall through the blind 
 
 leadership of prejudice and a too 
 
 absolute devotion to a worn-out 
 
 creed. 
 
 Robert Fergusson, the poet, Robert 
 T T T • J.1 Ferqus- 
 
 whose memory awakened m the g^^^ 
 breast of Burns an almost exces- 
 sive passion of admiration and re- 
 gret ; Lord Monboddo, a judge of 
 the Supreme Coiu-t and a man of 
 great learning; James Bos well, the 
 biographer of Johnson ; and many 
 more of scarcely less note, com- 
 bined to make this third period in 
 Scottish literary history full of 
 activity and full of glory. 
 
 Hardly one of these men had 
 adopted literature as a profession. 
 When a Scotchman, then as now, 
 
 3
 
 34 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 was led to adopt the literary pro- 
 fession out and out, he almost as 
 a matter of course migrated to 
 London, which was the centre of 
 the publishing world, and where 
 there was a literary market. 
 
 Perhaps it was this feature, 
 this absence of professionalism in 
 literature, which gave to the 
 literary society of Edinburgh its 
 special and peculiar tone and 
 characteristic. " Free and cordial 
 communications, the natural play 
 of good humour prevailed among 
 that circle of men," said Henry 
 Mackenzie. 
 
 These were the days which are 
 known, politically, as the time of 
 the Dundas despotism, the period 
 when Henry Dundas was the 
 actual dictator of Scotland and
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 85 
 
 the people had no voice in, and 
 took no heed of, political matters. 
 Dundasism was the political creed, 
 and those who were wise in their 
 generation simply professed it and 
 were at peace. 
 
 Edinburgh was sociable in those 
 days — ^more sociable than any place 
 can well be nowadays, since the 
 struggle for display has crept into 
 society everywhere. " When shall 
 I see Scotland again ? " exclaimed 
 Sydney Smith in one of his letters. 
 "Never shall I forget the happy 
 days passed there. My good for- 
 tune will be very great if I should 
 ever again fall into the society of 
 so many liberal, correct, and in- 
 structed men, and to live with 
 them on such terms of friendship 
 as I have done at Edinburgh."
 
 36 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 Perhaps the most striking fea- 
 ture of Edinburgh society at that 
 time was its intellectuaHsm. Much 
 strong and sound thought circu- 
 lated at these free, delightful 
 supper parties, contributed equally 
 by men and women. Smith com- 
 plained that the conversation ran 
 too much to disputation and 
 dialectic, insisting that many of 
 the young ladies in Edinburgh did 
 even their love-making in a meta- 
 physical way. " I overheard," he 
 says, " a young lady of my 
 acquaintance, at a dance in Edin- 
 burgh, exclaim, in a sudden pause 
 of the music, 'What you say, my 
 lord, is very true of love in the 
 aibstractj but ' — here the fiddlers 
 began fiddling furiously, and the 
 rest was lost."
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 37 
 
 This fault of which Sydney com- 
 plained probably owed something 
 to his wit, as well as to the little 
 peculiarities of the young ladies of 
 Edinburgh. That there was, how- 
 ever, a great deal of sententious- 
 ness and pompous parade of intel- 
 lectualism, we have good proof in 
 a curious custom which prevailed 
 at this time. At dinner or supper 
 parties each guest, lady or gentle- 
 man, was expected, was indeed 
 required, to furnish what was 
 called a " sentiment " — that was, 
 a moral reflection of one kind or 
 another. Naturally enough, this 
 was a disquieting demand for the 
 timid and unready ; and in spite 
 of there being a large number of 
 stock " sentiments " available, 
 such as "May the distractions of
 
 38 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 the evening bear the reflection of 
 the morning," the inexorable 
 demand for a " sentiment " was 
 often a source of much confusion 
 and distress. It is told of one of 
 the guests at such a gathering, 
 that his turn came, and found him 
 without any reflection, and, after 
 much writhing and agonising 
 under the collective eye of the 
 assembly, the unfortunate man 
 managed to stammer forth, " The 
 reflection of the moon in the calm 
 bosom of the lake." 
 
 It is not very probable that 
 such a custom would have origi- 
 nated in any country but Scotland, 
 and it is sure enough that it would 
 not have long sundved anywhere 
 else. 
 
 "There has ahvays been in
 
 OP EDINBURGH. S9 
 
 Edinburgh," says Professor Mas- 
 son, '^a free under-current of 
 speculative opinion, a tough, tra- 
 ditional scepticism, a latitude of 
 jest at things clerical and presby- 
 terian. Towards the end of the 
 eighteenth century no city in 
 Britain sheltered such a quantity 
 of cosy infidelity." We question 
 the statement very much. Be that 
 as it may, however, there was cer- 
 tainly at that time much vigour 
 and independence of thought and 
 speech. 
 
 The debating societies, of which 
 the "Speculative," in comiection 
 with the University, founded in 
 1764, was the chief, had bred 
 among the members habits of 
 independent thinking and free and 
 fearless debate. This critical
 
 40 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 spirit, which had not yet found or 
 made organs for itself, permeated 
 the community. 
 
 Nor was this originality of 
 thought confined to young men. 
 At the close of the century, there 
 lived in the Old Town, mostly in 
 the Canongate, a race of old 
 ladies — a delightful set, strong- 
 headed, warm-hearted, high- 
 spirited, merry even in solitude, 
 resolute, indiiferent to the modes 
 of the modern world, adhering to 
 their own ways, so as to stand out 
 like primitive rocks above modem 
 society. They belonged to good 
 old Scottish families, and were 
 intensely Scottish in their language 
 and habits. They were an impor- 
 tant element in the life of the 
 city, and exercised a salutary and
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 41 
 
 delightful influence, being as 
 caustic and unsparing in their 
 speech as they were kindly in 
 their thought and action. 
 
 Many are the anecdotes that are 
 told concerning them. One of the 
 most remarkable, Sophia Johnston, Sophia 
 of the Hilton family, evidently 
 inherited her originality from her 
 father, for he, in order to see how 
 she would turn out if left to her- 
 self, gave her no education what- 
 ever. 
 
 Sophia, thus cut off from ordin- 
 ary sources of occupation, made 
 herself a good carpenter and 
 blacksmith, even shoeing horses 
 occasionally till after middle Hfe. 
 When she became a woman she 
 taught herself to read and write, 
 and developed very good powers of
 
 42 THE LITEEAET LIFE 
 
 intellect, so that her opinions, 
 bluntly and forcibly expressed as 
 they were, were deferentially 
 accepted by men of high intellec- 
 tual standing-. Her dress was as 
 peculiar as her character. When 
 out of doors she wore a man's hat, 
 and even when within a garment 
 like a man's great coat, buttoned 
 from the chin to the ground, 
 thick worsted stockings, and 
 strong shoes with brass clasps. 
 And in this attire she sat in any 
 drawing-room and at any table, 
 amidst all the fashion and aristo- 
 cracy of the land, and was 
 welcomed and respected. 
 
 It is told of another of these 
 old ladies, that once, when an 
 audacious and rash young clergy- 
 man ventured to disagree with her
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 43 
 
 on some point of theology, she 
 drew herself up stiffly, and said, 
 with scathing- emphasis, " Ye 
 speak, sir, as if the Bible had just 
 newly come out." One more 
 incident ere we bid these charm- 
 ing old ladies farewell. It is told 
 of the mother of Sir David 
 Dundas. One day her grand- 
 daughter was reading a newspaper 
 to her, and came to a paragraph 
 in which a lady's reputation suf- 
 fered rather severely through the 
 Prince Regent, by remarks passed 
 by himself. The old dame of 
 eighty sprang to her feet, 
 brandishing her silver-topped cane 
 furiously, and exclaimed "The 
 villain, does he kiss, and syne 
 tell." 
 
 An amusing story is told of
 
 44 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 another of these old ladies in the 
 Canongate and a dream she had 
 of heaven. One morning she said 
 to a friend, " Eh, what a dismal 
 dream I had last nicht — it was 
 maist gruesome. I dreamt I was 
 in heaven, o' a' place on earth ; 
 and the whole place was crowded 
 wi' stark naked weans. And ye 
 ken I never could abide bairns. 
 Eh, but it was a dismal dream." 
 
 17S6— In 1786 we get an interesting 
 
 '■'' little glimpse of the two men who 
 
 were to be the twin-lights, one 
 creative, the other critical, of the 
 giant epoch of literatui'e in Edin- 
 burgh. It was in the winter of 
 that year that Burns, the famous 
 Kilmarnock edition of whose 
 poems had been published in
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 45 
 
 July, made his memorable visit 
 to Ediiiburg-li. In the house of 
 Dr. Adam Ferguson, the historian 
 of Rome, Burns happened to 
 inquire the name of the author 
 of some lines on a print which 
 he had been inspecting. Nobody 
 knew except one pale, lame boy, 
 who, too modest to speak the 
 name himself, whispered it to a 
 friend near, who repeated it to 
 Burns. The boy was Walter g^^. 
 
 Scott. f^'l^f'' 
 
 . Scott. 
 About the same time, durmg 
 
 this visit of Burns to the capital, 
 
 another boy stood in the High 
 
 Street, and stared at the striking 
 
 figure of the poet. This was the 
 
 boy who afterwards criticised and 
 
 censured him so pitilessly — Francis 
 
 Jeffrey.
 
 46 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 Many of the biographers of 
 Burns seem to imply, many of 
 them indeed say it outright, that 
 this visit of Burns to Edinburgh 
 had a bad effect upon him, and 
 made him discontented with his 
 humbler state at home. We can- 
 not for a moment think so. Bm'iis 
 was far too manly, and had too 
 much insight, to be greatly affected 
 by the enthusiasm of the pass- 
 ing hour. He himself best settles 
 this matter, once for all, in a 
 letter to a friend at Kilmarnock, 
 in which he says : 
 
 " Novelty may attract tlie attention of 
 mankind awliile — to it I owe my present 
 fame — but I see the time not far distant 
 when the popular tide, which has borne 
 me to a height of which I am, pei'haps, 
 unworthy, shall recede and leave me a 
 barren waste of sand to descend at my
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 47 
 
 leisure to my foi-mer station. I had 
 been at a good deal of pains to form 
 a jiTst, impartial estimate of my intel- 
 lectiial powers before I came here ; I 
 have not added, since I came to Edin- 
 burgh, anything to the accoimt, and I 
 trust I shall take every atom of it back 
 to my shades, the coverts of my un- 
 noticed, early years." 
 
 In the year 1802 party feeling 
 ran very high in Scotland ; and in 
 Edinbiu-g'h there was actual house- 
 to-house battle between the firmly- 
 rooted old Scottish Toryism, which 
 had received so overpowering a 
 blow in the downfall and expul- 
 sion from power of Dundas, and 
 the new Scottish Whiggism, which 
 claimed most of the rising younger 
 men in Edinburgh, with the not- 
 able exception of Scott. 
 
 The required party standard 
 was raised by the young Whigs.
 
 48 THE LITEEARY LIFE 
 
 Sydney Smith states its origin in 
 his own characteristic way. 
 
 " Towards tlie end of my residence in 
 Edinburgh, Brougham, Jeffi-ey, and my- 
 self happened to meet in the eighth or 
 ninth storey or flat in Buccleuch-place, 
 the then elevated residence of Mr. 
 Jeffrey. I proposed that we should set 
 up a review. This was acceded to with 
 acclamation. The motto I proposed for 
 the review was — "We cultivate litera- 
 ture on a little oatmeal." 
 
 But this was too near the truth to 
 be admitted. 
 
 The time was ripe for a new 
 publication, for there was an utter 
 absence of enlightened public 
 opinion. Consequently, the 10th 
 of October, 1802, saw the first 
 apj)earance of the "Edinburgh 
 Eeview," of which, after the 
 first few numbers, Jeffrey, who 
 had been one of the most ener-
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 49 
 
 g-etic of its promoters, assumed 
 control. 
 
 Archibald Constable was tlie 
 publisher. He seemed to his 
 amazed fellow- citizens to have 
 passed almost at one step from 
 being a boy in Hill, the book- 
 seller's shop, to an enterprising 
 publisher. Constable saw his 
 opportunitj, and took immediate 
 advantage of it. He came for- 
 ward with such liberal and un- 
 heard of terms for a review, an 
 article, a poem, that he tempted 
 out all the talent that lurked in 
 Edinbm'gh, and very soon made 
 the capital a literary mart, famous 
 among strangers and the pride 
 and glory of its own citizens. 
 Edinbm-gh, from 1802 to 1832, 
 is often called the Edinburgh of
 
 50 THE LITERAEr LIFE 
 
 Walter Scott. His authorship 
 began in a peculiar and accidental 
 way enough. He made a trans- 
 lation from the German of Biir- 
 ger's " Lenore/' and this trans- 
 lation he had made into a little 
 book, daintily printed and bound. 
 From this he stepped into the 
 "Border Minstrelsy," gaily scour- 
 ing the country in search of old 
 ballads. 
 
 His first original poem, "The 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel," waa 
 written at the suggestion of one 
 of the ladies of the house of 
 Buccleuch, who told him the story 
 of the Elfin page, and begged 
 him to make a ballad of it. 
 
 Thus casually, and lightly, and 
 naturally did Scott step into liter- 
 ature. His original poem, pub-
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 51 
 
 lished in 1805, was an immediate 
 and complete success, and dis- 
 closed to him at once his power 
 and his field. The start made, 
 he proceeded rapidly and with 
 ever-increasing success, so that 
 his poetical work threw a liter- 
 ary splendour over the city. 
 
 Opinion was much divided as to 
 the superiority of Scott's poetry 
 or his talk. He is described as 
 being " most striking and delight- 
 ful in society, where the halting 
 limb, the burr in the throat, the 
 heavy cheeks, the high Goldsmith 
 forehead, unkempt locks, and 
 general plainness of appearance, 
 Scottish accent, and stories and 
 sayings, all graced by gaiety, 
 simplicity and kindness, made an 
 enjoyable combination."
 
 o2 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 If we are to form our estimate 
 of Scott's character from the lov- 
 ing delineation of John Gibson 
 Lockhart, we must conclude that 
 among the sj)lendid works of the 
 great enchanter there was none 
 greater or nobler than himself. 
 Scott's career as a novelist began 
 as unexpectedly, and with as little 
 premeditation, as his poetical. 
 
 He conceived the idea, by a 
 passing impulse, of writing a 
 prose story on the events of the 
 Rebellion of 1745. He showed 
 the MSS. to a friend, who read 
 it, and strongly advised the 
 author not to attempt story writ- 
 ing. 
 
 Scott accordingly tossed the 
 MSS. into a drawer, and there it 
 lay neglected, till he discovered
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 53 
 
 it some years later, when he was 
 looking for fishing tackle. He 
 read it over again, and thought 
 it not so bad as his friend had 
 said. The result was that in 
 1814 '^ Waverley " appeared. It 
 was received with a burst of 
 enthusiasm and delight. 
 
 In 1826 Constable's house 
 stopped payment ; and the fail- 
 ure of the firm of Ballantyne, in 
 which Scott was involved for a 
 very large sum, followed imme- 
 diately after. Scott's friends in 
 the Parliament House offered to 
 unite and give him what assist- 
 ance they could to help to clear 
 off his awful debt. He was 
 deeply moved by the offer, in 
 which opponents as well as 
 friends united. But "No," he
 
 54 THE LITEKARY LIFE 
 
 said, "this right hand shall 
 work it all off " ; and the result 
 of his literary efforts from 
 January, 1826, to January, 1828, 
 brought close on £40,000 to his 
 creditors. 
 Francis Francis Jeffrey made a good 
 
 Mrey. gecond to Scott in the Hterary 
 history of Edinburgh at that time ; 
 and with his sharp look and 
 manner, with few anecdotes and 
 no stories, delighting in the inter- 
 change of thought and speculation, 
 formed a great contrast to him. 
 
 In 1815 Jeffrey was at the 
 height of his fame. No unofficial 
 house in Scotland has had a 
 greater influence on literary and 
 political opinion than his. He 
 had his little faults and foibles, 
 but withal he was a brilliant
 
 OF EDmBURGH. 55 
 
 thinker and powerful critic. He 
 had a thorough scorn of mystifica- 
 tion either in men or books. 
 
 Carlyle speaks in a very kindly 
 way of Jeffrey, though you feel 
 the little sneer in such a remark 
 as "Jeffrey had much the habit 
 of flirting about with women, 
 especially pretty women, all in a 
 weakish, most dramatic, and 
 wholly theoretic way (his age now 
 fifty gone)," Sic. 
 
 That Jeffrey could enjoy him- 
 self in a thoroughly simple and 
 natural sort of way, is indicated in 
 the report we have of a dinner in 
 the Assembly Eooms, in George- 
 street, which was held in honour 
 of Burns. Jeffrey's attitude to- 
 wards Burns had, at least, con- 
 siderably modified by this time, so
 
 56 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 we are not surj^rised to find him 
 Jmnes at such a gathering-. Hogg, the 
 Sogg. «Ettrick Shepherd," author of 
 many beautiful IjT-ics, was there, 
 and acted as one of the croupiers. 
 Dr. Morris, a Welsh physician, 
 who was on a visit to Edinburgh, 
 and who describes the scene, tells 
 us he sang a Scottish song, the 
 author of which he did not know. 
 Hogg listened with growing excite- 
 ment, edging his way nearer the 
 singer, till at the close he seized 
 his hand and exclaimed " Od, sir, 
 Od, Dr. Morris, I wrote that song 
 wlien I was a herd on Yarrow, and 
 little did I think ever to live to 
 hear an English gentleman sing 
 it." 
 
 And so the full, hearty, glorious 
 swing of jollity went on, hearts
 
 OF EDINBUKGH. 57 
 
 growing warmer, and heads not 
 wiser, till communion of spirit 
 had melted into confusion of 
 spirits. One president gave way 
 to another, till Patrick E-obertson, 
 who was the third or fourth, 
 " made speeches, which, unHke 
 epic poems, had neither begin- 
 ning, middle, nor end ; sang songs 
 in which music was not ; proposed 
 toasts in which meaning was not." 
 And the end of it all is not quite 
 clear. 
 
 There were never many women 
 of literary propensity or ability in 
 Edinburgh. Mrs. Brunton, Mrs. 
 Johnstone, and Miss Terrier had 
 published novels. Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Hamilton, authoress of " The 
 Cottagers of Glenburnie," a 
 charming book ; Mrs. G-rant, of
 
 58 THE LITEEARY LIFE 
 
 Laggan, authoress of " Letters 
 from the Mountains " ; Lady 
 Nairne, the writer of the '^ Laird 
 o' Cockpen," and the still more 
 popular " Land o' the Leal," 
 shared the honours of this period, 
 and, despite the smallness of their 
 means, their literary conversa- 
 tional gatherings were highly 
 popular. 
 
 In the beginning of 1817 the 
 first number of the " Scotsman " 
 newspaper appeared. When it 
 started it was published only once 
 a week, and took only literary 
 advertisements. It soon attained 
 a very large circulation, and exer- 
 cised considerable influence. 
 
 The only monthly periodical at 
 tliis time was the old Scots Maga- 
 zine. Constable changed its title 
 
 ^&'
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 59 
 
 and structure, and William Black- 
 wood, an active and enterprising 
 l^ookseller, caught the opening for 
 a new venture. It became Black- 
 wood's Magazine, and was soon a 
 powerful organ. The famous 
 *' Noctes Ambrosianse " of Wilson John 
 (Christopher North) long enlivened 
 its pages. These were a series of 
 scenes supposed to have occurred 
 in a tavern in Register Street, 
 kept by one Ambrose. It is a 
 singular and delightful outpouring 
 of criticism and politics, descrip- 
 tions of feeling, character, and 
 scenery, in prose and verse, 
 maudlin eloquence and wild fun. 
 
 Wilson himseK was one of the 
 most remarkable-looking men in 
 the city, and has been described 
 as looking "like a fine Sandwich
 
 60 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 Islander who liad been educated 
 in the Highlands." 
 Timnas Carljle's share in the literary 
 
 ** V ^- ijfg, Qf Edinburgh was not a very 
 large one. In 1820 he was dis- 
 covered by Sir David Brewster, 
 and was employed by him on the 
 Edinbm-gh Encyclopaedia, which 
 Brewster had begun to edit in 1810. 
 In 1820 George IV. paid a visit to 
 Edinburgh, an event which is not 
 of much importance to us, save as 
 it illustrates the different charac- 
 ters of two of Edinburgh's greatest 
 men. Scott was greatly excited 
 over the event, and took a large 
 share in the preparation and the 
 decorations in honour of it, and 
 played his part in the pageantry 
 and enjoyed the bustle and the 
 stir. Carlyle, with his fierce
 
 OP EDINBUKGH. 61 
 
 democratic feelings, fled for a 
 week to Annandale, to be quite 
 out of sight and hearing of all the 
 foolishness and empty show. 
 
 An anecdote relating to this 
 journey must not be forgotten. 
 On his way to Annandale he put 
 up for the night at a little country 
 inn. The partitions were thin, 
 and in the room next to him a 
 woman suffering from toothache, 
 or some other pain, groaned cease- 
 lessly, so that she " murdered 
 sleep " for poor Carlyle. He 
 knocked on the partition as an 
 intimation to her that she was 
 disturbing his rest, but this had 
 no effect. So at last he shouted — 
 " For God's sake, woman, can you 
 not cease that groaning ? If any- 
 thing can be done for you, though
 
 62 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 it be to ride ten miles in the dark 
 for a doctor, say so, and it shall 
 be done. If not, endeavour to 
 compose yourself." The rebuke 
 was effectual, and the groaning 
 ceased. So like Carlyle ; and the 
 last touch is very characteristic. 
 
 In 1827 he formed his memor- 
 able acquaintance ^th Jeffrey, 
 and thereafter, by contributions to 
 the Ed'inhurgh Revietv and other 
 periodicals, his prospects became 
 much brighter. He also became 
 acquainted with Sir William 
 Hamilton, then Professor of 
 Logic, whom he had previously 
 admired from a distance, often, as 
 he tells us himself, watching the 
 light in Hamilton's window, and 
 thinking of the earnest philoso- 
 pher at work within that lighted
 
 OP EDINBURGH. 
 
 63 
 
 room. One other frequent visitor 
 at the Carlyles' house in Comely 
 Bank was that most fascinating 
 and most graceful of writers, De j)g 
 Quincey, whose sojourn in the Q't^ncey. 
 northern city was chequered in the 
 extreme. 
 
 Carlyle, in his own grim way, thus 
 speaks of this altogether remark- 
 able man as he knew him in 1827: — 
 
 " He is one of the smallest men you 
 ever in youi* life beheld, but with a most 
 gentle and sensible face, only that the 
 teeth are destroyed by opium, and the 
 little bit of underlip projects like a shelf. 
 He speaks with a slow, sad, and soft 
 voice, in the politest manner I have 
 almost ever witnessed, and with great 
 gracefulness and sense, were it not that 
 he seems decidedly given to prosing. 
 Poor little fellow, it might soften a very 
 hard heai-t to see him so courteous, yet 
 so weak and poor, tottering home with 
 his two children to a miserable lodging- 
 house, and wi-iting all day for that
 
 64 THE LITERAKY LIFE 
 
 prince of donkeys, the loroprietxjr of 
 The Saturday Postr 
 
 We must not forget, as belong- 
 ing- to the latter part of om- fourth 
 Hugh period, Hugh Miller, eminent in 
 Miller. journalism, but far more widely- 
 known in connection with geologi- 
 Thomas cal science ; Dr. Thomas Chalmers, 
 iners' ^ gifted and voluminous writer, 
 but a genivis for organisation, and 
 one of the greatest pulpit orators 
 of modern times ; and the brothers 
 
 William William and Eobert Chambers, 
 
 and 
 
 Robert who, against tremendous odds, 
 
 f^""'' fought their way to the front 
 
 rank of journalism, and have left 
 
 a name, not less renowned for 
 
 integrity and goodness, than for 
 
 literary judgment and remarkable 
 
 business talent. 
 
 As links between the fouii;]!
 
 OF EDINBUEGH. 65 
 
 period and our own day, we can 
 
 only name Dr. Jolm Brown, wlio John 
 
 £ J5 J.1 Brown. 
 
 tor many years was one or the 
 
 most distinguished and best-loved 
 literary men in Edinburgh, and 
 whose inimitable sketch of " Eab 
 and his Friends " is known where- 
 ever the English language is 
 spoken ; John Stuart Blackie, the John 
 man of the plaid and stick, the f JjJ^^'Jg 
 poet, philosopher, and educational- 
 ist; and another, whose name is 
 worthy to stand among the many 
 who have brought honour to their 
 fatherland by their genius and 
 their patriotism — a very king in 
 the realm of letters — Eobert Louis Robert 
 
 And with Stevenson we reach son. 
 the end of our survey, though not 
 the end of our subject. The 
 
 5
 
 66 THE LITERARY LIFE 
 
 literary life of Edinburgh is not 
 ended, "but tlie life of the present 
 is a story for the future. 
 
 There are not wanting many 
 who tell us that the literary glory 
 of Edinburgh has died out, that 
 kings of thought and princes of 
 poesy tread her streets, and adorn 
 her law courts, and thunder from 
 her pulpits, and speak from her 
 professional chairs, with voice that 
 reaches far beyond her bounds, no 
 
 more. 
 
 The past is past, and it produced 
 great giants. We know them, 
 know their height, their power, 
 their achievement. But how im- 
 just to measure our growing men 
 against those whom death has 
 stretched and time has measured. 
 We revere the mighty dead.
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 67 
 
 but our hope is in those whose last 
 word has not been spoken, and in 
 those whose first word has yet to 
 be written. In the historic and 
 sacred graveyards of old Edin- 
 burgh rest many of her great sons, 
 but in her streets, among the 
 living, who can tell that we do not 
 brush heedlessly by some Scott 
 whom happy fortune has not yet 
 led into his kingdom, some Carlyle 
 frowning out upon the world from 
 beneath his load of thought. 
 
 Edinburgh has every require- 
 ment for the centre of a Scottish 
 literature, with her grand historic 
 objects and grander associations, 
 with her stirring and varied 
 memories and her unquestioned 
 power ; but she does not recognise 
 her possibility, neither does she
 
 6S THE LITERAET LIFE 
 
 make provision for those who 
 mio'ht make her o-lorious. 
 
 Are these not times that can 
 produce great men as well as the 
 time gone by? Or, is it that now 
 and then great men come, and 
 make their times great ? History 
 answers "Yes " to both. The 
 mighty in literature are those 
 who translate the feeling of 
 their time and of their nation 
 into thought and give it to the 
 world. 
 
 They are the product of their 
 time, but the shapers of it also, 
 for they give it a new impetus, 
 and a new direction. 
 
 Scotland is ripe for a revival of 
 Scottish literature, a national 
 literatm-e that shall embody the 
 spirit that animates Scotsmen, the
 
 OF EDINBURGH. 69 
 
 spirit that has made Scotland 
 what it is. 
 
 The genius of Scottish literature 
 is something far other and some- 
 thing far greater than a happy- 
 trick of the vernacular ; some- 
 thinor far wider than local senti- 
 ment and thought, whether these 
 be accurately produced or no. 
 
 True Scottish literature needs 
 the ancient capital for a foster- 
 mother to give it dignity, and to 
 call forth its best and richest 
 power, and Edinburgh is well 
 fitted for the task. But Edinburgh 
 must tempt them to her by her 
 provision for them ; she must make 
 room for proud, philosophic 
 thought that knows its worth and 
 will not truckle nor scramble for 
 place ; she must prepare a hearty
 
 70 THE LITEEAKY LIFE, ETC. 
 
 welcome for the shy muse of 
 poesy that plays like a sunbeam 
 around and ahove its common life 
 and with sudden, striking ray 
 pierces into the heart of it. 
 
 Then shall her old-time glory 
 be regilded, and she shall make 
 it clear that — 
 
 The present moves attended 
 By all of brave, and excellent, and fair 
 Tliat made the past time splendid.
 
 LOXDOK 
 
 Vf. SPEAIGHT AND SONS, PRINTERS, 
 
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 Paul Haupt, Ph.D. 
 
 ESTHER. 
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 CHRONICLES. 
 
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 The Bible 5tory Retold 
 
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 Young People. 
 
 The Old Testament Story. 
 
 By W. H. BENNETT, M.A. 
 
 (Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis at 
 Hackney and New Colleges, London.) 
 
 The New Testament Story. 
 
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 Contents of the Parts : 
 
 I.— Hebrew 5tory to the Time of 5aul. 
 II.— The King:doni of all Israel. 
 III.— 5ainaria and Judah to the Exile. 
 IV. — From the Exile to Nehemiah. 
 v.— Hebrew Legislation. Tales and Prophecy. 
 VI. — Hebrew Poetry and Wisdom. 
 VII.— The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke. 
 VIII. — The Acts and General Epistles. 
 iX.— The Epistles of Paul. 
 X.— The Epistle to the Hebrews. The Reve= 
 lation of John. The Gospel of John. 
 The First Epistle of John. 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 1 
 
 
 
 JUL 2 5 1983 
 
 
 
 315
 
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