Chronicles of the Canongate | Page 8

who
afterwards reviewed with far too much partiality the Tales of my
Landlord, for the Quarterly Review of January 1817. [Lord Kinedder

died in August 1822. EHEU! (Aug. 1831.)] In the same article are
contained other illustrations of the Novels, with which I supplied my
accomplished friend, who took the trouble to write the review. The
reader who is desirous of such information will find the original of Meg
Merrilies, and, I believe, of one or two other personages of the same
cast of character, in the article referred to.
I may also mention that the tragic and savage circumstances which are
represented as preceding the birth of Allan MacAulay in the Legend of
Montrose, really happened in the family of Stewart of Ardvoirlich. The
wager about the candlesticks, whose place was supplied by Highland
torch-bearers, was laid and won by one of the MacDonalds of Keppoch.
There can be but little amusement in winnowing out the few grains of
truth which are contained in this mass of empty fiction. I may, however,
before dismissing the subject, allude to the various localities which
have been affixed to some of the scenery introduced into these Novels,
by which, for example, Wolf's Hope is identified with Fast Castle in
Berwickshire, Tillietudlem with Draphane in Clydesdale, and the valley
in the Monastery, called Glendearg, with the dale of the river Allan,
above Lord Somerville's villa, near Melrose. I can only say that, in
these and other instances, I had no purpose of describing any particular
local spot; and the resemblance must therefore be of that general kind
which necessarily exists between scenes of the same character. The
iron-bound coast of Scotland affords upon its headlands and
promontories fifty such castles as Wolf's Hope; every county has a
valley more or less resembling Glendearg; and if castles like
Tillietudlem, or mansions like the Baron of Bradwardine's, are now less
frequently to be met with, it is owing to the rage of indiscriminate
destruction, which has removed or ruined so many monuments of
antiquity, when they were not protected by their inaccessible situation.
[I would particularly intimate the Kaim of Uric, on the eastern coast of
Scotland, as having suggested an idea for the tower called Wolf's Crag,
which the public more generally identified with the ancient tower of
Fast Castle.]
The scraps of poetry which have been in most cases tacked to the
beginning of chapters in these Novels are sometimes quoted either from
reading or from memory, but, in the general case, are pure invention. I
found it too troublesome to turn to the collection of the British Poets to

discover apposite mottoes, and, in the situation of the theatrical
mechanist, who, when the white paper which represented his shower of
snow was exhausted, continued the storm by snowing brown, I drew on
my memory as long as I could, and when that failed, eked it out with
invention. I believe that in some cases, where actual names are affixed
to the supposed quotations, it would be to little purpose to seek them in
the works of the authors referred to. In some cases I have been
entertained when Dr. Watts and other graver authors have been
ransacked in vain for stanzas for which the novelist alone was
responsible.
And now the reader may expect me, while in the confessional, to
explain the motives why I have so long persisted in disclaiming the
works of which I am now writing. To this it would be difficult to give
any other reply, save that of Corporal Nym--it was the author's humour
or caprice for the time. I hope it will not be construed into ingratitude
to the public, to whose indulgence I have owed my SANG-FROID
much more than to any merit of my own, if I confess that I am, and
have been, more indifferent to success or to failure as an author, than
may be the case with others, who feel more strongly the passion for
literary fame, probably because they are justly conscious of a better
title to it. It was not until I had attained the age of thirty years that I
made any serious attempt at distinguishing myself as an author; and at
that period men's hopes, desires, and wishes have usually acquired
something of a decisive character, and are not eagerly and easily
diverted into a new channel. When I made the discovery--for to me it
was one--that by amusing myself with composition, which I felt a
delightful occupation, I could also give pleasure to others, and became
aware that literary pursuits were likely to engage in future a
considerable portion of my time, I felt some alarm that I might acquire
those habits of jealousy and fretfulness which have lessened, and even
degraded, the character even of great authors,