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.'

Sydney Smith found Jeffrey and Cockburn rising barristers. Horner, on
leaving Edinburgh, had left to Jeffrey his bar wig, and the bequest had
been lucky. Jeffrey was settl