CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOGS.

One of my pleasant recollections is that of seeingSir Walter Scott out on a stroll with his dogs;the scene being in the neighbourhood of Abbotsford,in the summer of 1824, while as yet thegloom of misfortune had not clouded the mindof the great man. There he was limping gailyalong with his pet companions amidst the ruralscenes which he had toiled to secure and loved sodearly.

Scott's fondness for animals has perhaps neverbeen sufficiently acknowledged. It was with hima kind of second nature, and appears to have beenimplanted when as a child he was sent on a visitto the house of his grandfather, Robert Scott, atSandyknowe, in the neighbourhood of Dryburgh.Here, amidst flocks of sheep and lambs, talked toand fondled by shepherds and ewe-milkers, andrevelling with collies, he was impressed with adegree of affectionate feeling for animals whichlasted through life. At a subsequent visit toSandyknowe, when his grandfather had passedaway, and the farm operations were administeredby 'Uncle Thomas,' he was provided with a Shetlandpony to ride upon. The pony was little largerthan many a Newfoundland dog. It walked freelyinto the house, and was regularly fed from theboy's hand. He soon learned to ride the littlepony well, and often alarmed 'Aunt Jenny' bycantering over the rough places in the neighbourhood.Such were the beginnings of Scott's intercoursewith animals. Growing up, there was somethingextraordinary in his attachment to his dogs,his horses, his ponies, and his cats; all of whichwere treated by him, each in its own sphere, asagreeable companions, and which were attachedto him in return. There may have been somethingfeudal and poetic in this kindly associationwith humble adherents, but there was also muchof simple good-heartedness. Scott added not alittle to the happiness of his existence by thisgenial intercourse with his domestic pets. FromLockhart's Memoirs of Sir Walter, and otherworks, we have occasionally bright glimpses ofthe great man's familiarity with his four-footedfavourites. We can see that Scott did not, as istoo often the case, treat them capriciously, ascreatures to be made of at one time, and spokento harshly when not in the vein for amusement.On the contrary, they were elevated to the positio

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