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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text
Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 edition. Excerpt: ... LETTER LXXV. Melrose. Melrose--My companion--Walter Scott, clothier--Melrose Abbey--Annoyance--Village in commotion--A caravan of animals--Female Van Amburgh--Sir Walter''s advice to Lockhart--His death scene--The funeral--Dryburgh Abbey--Scott''s grave. Fortunate has been my stay at Melrose; an agreeable gentleman on the coach, who hailed from London, informed me he was bound on a similar pilgrimage with myself to the home in which Sir Walter so much delighted; that, moreover, he had an introduction to the house-keeper, who has a reputation for crustiness, being the bearer of a despatch and a present from one of her friends, a clerk in the Bank of England; all his facilities he kindly offered to share with me. We drove into the village of Melrose, an old, but neat town, when the very first name we saw on a sign, was Scott; a little further, and Walter Scott, clothier, in gold letters, sounded familiar if it did not look poetical; the town is full of Scotts, some of them no doubt proud to claim a kith and kin with the most eminent of the clan, and others who know not what a world''s reputation he made himself. Packed away in closets of the little Melrose inn, so thronged with company that we are thankful to get standing-room, I commenced writing on my knees for want of a table, but sallied out before dinner to get a peep of fair Melrose Abbey. Its approach is through a narrow lane, filled with children and old women, and the access to it is barred by a gate of considerable height, so that fees are necessary here, as every where that celebrity has been earned. An outside view, followed by a long tarry within, a moonlight ramble in sight of it, and Sir Walter''s description, conned and now more readily understood, have been a...
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