Letter from W. S. (attrib. to Walter Scott) to William Spencer
Pages
1 Page 1
line 1: Paris 4 November 1826
line 2: My dear W—S—
line 3: I am concluded to make of this note a
line 4: letter of initials for I am not quite satisfied with myself in agreeing
line 5: to write it and there is no saying into whose hands it may fall.
line 6: The story which Anne has told me about your daft friend
line 7: the foreign monomaniac is as clearly the case of a man who requires
line 8: to be cognosced as I ever met with but as it appears to me that
line 9: she has taken most sedulously to heart we have brought over
line 10: discussion of it to a conclusion by my consenting to her doing
line 11: what you would not be told of unless he had received the permission of
line 12: papa.
line 13: She has possessed herself for a long time past of a tale which
line 14: I had at one time the intention of making the first of a series of such
line 15: things drawn from the history of Scotland - another which I afterwards
line 16: gave up – for Anne however that story has always possessed a
line 17: great charm and I allowed her to keep at it because I was under
line 18: the impression that a mere story which offers no particular
line 19: merits but those of events and a plot would not appear advan-
line 20: tageously amongst works which had the higher object of
line 21: painting character – that would be to take a step backward
line 22: which would never do – besides as far as I can recollect there
line 23: are a great many anachronisms and freedoms used with
line 24: persons and places which are not in keeping with the character
line 25: of historian to which I now aspire.
line 26: I consider then that in authorising my daughter to give
line 27: you that work as a panacea for the imaginary ills of a
line 28: foreign monomaniac I only permit a change of proprie
line 29: torship. At the same time in allowing Anne to make a
line 30: present to you of what is but a trifle after all I must make
line 31: a most serious stipulation regarding it – for I tell you candidly
line 32: that I believe WS himself to be the real malade imaginairemalade imaginaire translates as 'imaginary patient' which was also a 1673 play by Moliere.
line 33: that stipulation is that if at any time you take the fancy
line 34: of publishing that I ask you will do so with the initials
line 35: only – and that you will do all that you can in fairness
line 36: do to countenance the idea that it is a bairn of your ain.
line 37: I wish I could do something for you personally
line 38: of some less doubtful character than that of humouring
line 39: the caprices of a clansman but you know how I am
line 40: placed at present – believe however that you have
line 41: no more sincere friend than
line 42: W S