Panza and the Duchess? And, after all, he quite mistook what Scott had
said to him; for certainly there was, neither on this, nor on any
similar occasion at Bowhill, any _high table for the nobility_, though
there was a _side-table for the children_, at which, when the Shepherd
of Ettrick was about to seat himself, his friend probably whispered
that it was reserved for the "_little_ lords and ladies, and their
playmates." This blunder may seem undeserving of any explanation; but
it is often in small matters that the strongest feelings are most
strikingly betrayed--and this story is, in exact {p.088} proportion
to its silliness, indicative of the jealous feeling which mars and
distorts so many of Hogg's representations of Scott's conduct and
demeanor.

It appears from the account of this football match in the Edinburgh
Journal, that Scott took a lead in proposing a renewal of the contest.
This, however, never occurred; and that it ought not to do so had
probably occurred from the first to the Duke of Buccleuch, who is
mentioned as having alone abstained from laying any bets on the final
issue.

When Mr. Washington Irving visited Scott two years afterwards at
Abbotsford, he told his American friend that "the old feuds and local
interests, and rivalries and animosities of the Scotch, still slept in
their ashes, and might easily be roused; their hereditary feeling for
names was still great; it was not always safe to have even the game of
football between villages;--the old clannish spirit was too apt to
break out."[27]

[Footnote 27: Irving's _Abbotsford and Newstead_, 1835,
p. 40.]

The good Duke of Buccleuch's solitary exemption from these heats of
Carterhaugh might read a significant lesson to minor politicians of
all parties on more important scenes. In pursuance of the same
peace-making spirit, he appears to have been desirous of doing
something gratifying to the men of the town of Selkirk, who had on
this occasion taken the field against his Yarrow tenantry. His Grace
consulted Scott about the design of a piece of plate to be presented
to their community; and his letter on this weighty subject must not be
omitted in the memoirs of a Sheriff of Selkirk:--

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH, ETC., BOWHILL.

EDINBURGH, Thursday.

MY DEAR LORD,--I have proceeded in my commission about the
cup. It will be a very handsome one. But I