{p.034} TO WALTER SCOTT, ESQ., EDINBURGH.

CARLTON HOUSE, January 19, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR,--You are deservedly so great a favorite with
the Prince Regent, that his librarian is not only directed
to return you the thanks of his Royal Highness for your
valuable present, but to inform you that the Prince Regent
particularly wishes to see you whenever you come to London;
and desires you will always, when you are there, come into
his library whenever you please. Believe me always, with
sincerity, one of your warmest admirers, and most obliged
friends,

J. S. CLARKE.

On hearing from Mr. Croker (then Secretary to the Admiralty) that
Scott was to be in town by the middle of March, the Prince said, "Let
me know when he comes, and I'll get up a snug little dinner that will
suit him;" and, after he had been presented and graciously received at
the levee, he was invited to dinner accordingly, through his excellent
friend Mr. Adam (now Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court in
Scotland),[14] who at that time held a confidential office in the
royal household. The Regent had consulted with Mr. Adam also as to the
composition of the party. "Let us have," said he, "just a few friends
of his own--and the more Scotch the better;" and both the Chief
Commissioner and Mr. Croker assure me that the party was the most
interesting and agreeable one in their recollection. It comprised, I
believe, the Duke of York--the late Duke of Gordon (then Marquis of
Huntly)--the Marquis of Hertford (then Lord Yarmouth)--the Earl of
Fife--and {p.035} Scott's early friend Lord Melville. "The Prince and
Scott," says Mr. Croker, "were the two most brilliant story-tellers in
their several ways, that I have ever happened to meet; they were both
aware of their _forte_, and both exerted themselves that evening with
delightful effect. On going home, I really could not decide which of
them had shone the most. The Regent was enchanted with Scott, as Scott
with him; and on all his subsequent visits to London, he was a
frequent guest at the royal table." The Lord Chief Commissioner
remembers that the Prince was particularly delighted with the poet's
anecdotes of the old Scotch judges and lawyers, which his Royal
Highness sometimes _capped_ by ludicrous traits of certain ermined
sages of his own acquaintance. Scott told, among others, a st