SCOTT, SIR WALTER
Authorial holograph portions of the introduction to the first Canto of Marmion, each framed with a portrait of the subject of the verse. Annotated and signed "W. Scott/Bothwell Castle/1 January 1808" Two oblong leaves of manuscript, each a fair copy in three columns, of portions of the Introduction to Canto First; the passage on William Pitt, beginning "Nor mourn ye less his perish'd worth;" to "He, who preserved them, PITT, lies here!"; and the succeeding passage on Charles James Fox, beginning "Nor yet suppress the generous sigh" to "Of two such wonderous men the dust"; the verso with a repeat of the first stanza above. The text on the rectos 47 and 40 lines respectively, written in dark brown ink on paper, each sheet 4 1/2 x 14 inches (12 x 36 cm); each framed with full-sheet period engraved portraits of Pitt and Fox by George Clint after Hoppner (Pitt) and S. W. Reynolds after Smith (Fox), the latter dated 1802. On the verso of mount for the portion on Fox is written in pencil "This pair of prints with the mss extract of Marmion in the autograph of Sir Walter Scott under each were formerly in the Possession of the great Novelist." A few pale spots to the manuscript, and to the print of Fox, both manuscript leaves lightly adhered to old card mounts; the verso of the second can be lifted to view the repeated text.
According to Kirsty Archer-Thompson of The Abbotsford Trust, these are "holograph portions of the introduction to the first Canto of Marmion. They do not form part of the compositional (working) manuscript nor are they a fair copy. They were most likely written by Scott from memory during a visit to Bothwell Castle in January 1808."
Scott visited the castle, the residence of Lord and Lady Douglas, in 1799.
We are indebted to Kirsty Archer-Thompson, Collections and Interpretation Manager of The Abbotsford Trust, for the descriptive note above.