Louisa Stuart,--the Hon. Mrs. Warrender, and the Hon. Catharine
Arden,--Lady Davy,--Miss Edgeworth,--Mrs. Maclean Clephane, of
Torloisk,--Mrs. Hughes, of Uffington,--Mrs. Terry now (Richardson),--Mrs.
Bartley,--Sir George {p.xl} Mackenzie of Coul, Bart.,--the late Sir
Francis Freeling, Bart.,--Captain Sir Hugh Pigott, R. N.,--the late
Sir William Gell,--Sir Cuthbert Sharp,--the Very Rev. Principal
Baird,--the Rev. William Steven of Rotterdam,--the late Rev. James
Mitchell, of Wooler--Robert William Hay, Esq., lately Under Secretary
of State for the Colonial Department,--John Borthwick, of Crookstone,
Esq.,--John Cay, Esq., Sheriff of Linlithgow,--Captain Basil Hall, R.
N.,--Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.,--Edward Cheney, Esq.,--Alexander
Young, Esq., of Harburn,--A. J. Valpy, Esq.,--James Maidment, Esq.,
Advocate,--the late Donald Gregory, Esq.,--Robert Johnston, Esq., of
Edinburgh,[16]--J. J. Masquerier, Esq., of Brighton,--Owen Rees, Esq.,
of Paternoster Row,[17]--William Miller, Esq., formerly of Albemarle
Street,--David Laing, Esq., of Edinburgh--and John Smith the Youngest,
Esq., of Glasgow.

J. G. LOCKHART.

[Footnote 16: Bailie Johnston died 4th April, 1838, in his
73d year.]

[Footnote 17: Mr. Rees retired from the house of Longman
and Co. at Midsummer, 1837, and died 5th September following,
in his 67th year.]

TO {p.xli}

JOHN BACON SAWREY MORRITT

OF ROKEBY PARK, Esq.

THESE MEMOIRS OF HIS FRIEND

ARE RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY

INSCRIBED

BY

THE AUTHOR

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
OF
SIR WALTER SCOTT

CHAPTER I {p.001}

Memoir of the Early Life of Sir Walter Scott, Written by
Himself.

ASHESTIEL, April 26, 1808.

The present age has discovered a desire, or rather a rage, for
literary anecdote and private history, that may be well permitted to
alarm one who has engaged in a certain degree the attention of the
public. That I have had more than my own share of popularity, my
contemporaries will be as ready to admit as I am to confess that its
measure has exceeded not only my hopes, but my merits, and even
wishes. I may be therefore permitted, without an extraordinary degree
of vanity, to take the precaution of recording a few leading
circumstances (they do not merit the name of events) of a very quiet
and uniform life--that, should my li