son of Melrose. For two months he lingered in a state of almost total insensibility and mental deprivation, sometimes raving frantically, as if he supposed himself to be exercising the functions of a judge, but in general quite low and subdued. On one occasion he slept the uncommonly long period of twenty-seven hours; and it was hoped that, on awakening, there might be some change for the better. But in this hope his anxious friends were disappointed. He was now arrived at that melancholy state, when the friends of the patient can form no more affectionate wish than that death may step in to claim his own. Yet day after day did the remnants of a robust constitution continue to hold out against the gloomy foe of life; until, notwithstanding every effort to the contrary, mortification commenced at several parts of the body. This was about twelve days before his demise, which at length took place on the 21st of September, 1832, at half-past one o'clock in the afternoon. On his head being opened, part of the brain was found injured; several globules of a watery nature were pressing upon it. Sir Walter Scott left four children-two sons and two daughters. The elder daughter, Sophia Charlotte, was married, April 28, 1820, to John Gibson Lockhart, esq. Advocate. The elder son, sir Walter, who entered the army, and is now a major in the 15th regiment of Hussars, was married, some years ago, to Miss Jobson, a young lady of considerable fortune. The younger son, Charles, who is a clerk in the Foreign Office, and lately attached to the Legation at Naples, and the younger daughter, Anne, are both unmarried. Lady In Scott died May 15, 1826. stature, sir Walter Scott was upwards of six feet, bulky in the upper part of the body, but never inclining in the least to what is called corpulency. His right leg was shrunk from an early period of boyhood, and required to be supported by a staff, which he carried close to the toes, the heel turning a little inwards. The other leg was perfectly sound, but the foot was too long to bring it within the description of handsome. The chest, arms, and shoulders, were those of a strong man; but the frame, in its general movements, must have been much enfeebled by his lameness, which was such as to give an ungainly, though not inactive, appearance to the figure. The most remarkable part of sir Walter's person was his head, which was so very tall and cylindrical, as to be quite unique. The measurement of the part below the eyes was full an inch and a half less than that above, which, upon the old and new system of phrenology, must be held as a striking mark of the intellectuality of his character. In early life, the hair was of a sandy pale colour; but it was changed by his illness in 1819 to a light grey, and latterly had become rather thin. The eyebrows, of the same hue, were so shaggy and prominent, that when he was reading or writing at a table, they completely shrouded the eyes beneath. The eyes were grey, and somewhat small, surrounded by numerous diverging lines, and possessing the extraordinary property of shutting as much from below as from above, when their possessor was excited by a ludicrous idea. The nose was the least elegant feature, though its effect in a front view was by no means unpleasing. The cheeks were firm and close; and the chin was small and undistinguished. The mouth was straight in its general shape, and the lips were rather thin. Between the nose and mouth was a considerable space, intersected by a hollow, which gave an air of firmness to the visage. When walking alone, sir Walter generally kept his eyes bent upon the ground, and had a somewhat abstracted and even repulsive aspect. But when animated by conversation, his countenance became full of pleasant expression. ANECDOTES of the DUKE of REICHSTADT. THE first instruction attempted to be communicated to the son of Napoleon was a knowledge of the German language. To this he opposed a most determined resist ance; not one word of German would he pronounce, and even resisted the endeavours to teach him as an insult and an injury; for his age he kept up this resolution a long time; when it was conquered by the mildness and persuasion of his teachers, he learned the language with a prodigious facility, and soon spoke it in the imperial family like one of themselves. M. Foresti, whose duty it was to teach him to read, found the difficulty insurmountable, until he introduced a rival and a fellow pupil. The son of one of the valets de chambre of the empress was procured, and in company with him the young Napoleon quickly devoured his task. "From the very first," says his tutor M. Foresti, and he was with him full sixteen years, nearly the entire of the poor youth's Austrian life, "he exhibited the marked characteristics of his disposition. He was good natured to his inferiors, friendly to his tutor, without any lively expressions of his feel ings, he only obeyed on conviction, and always began with resistance. He loved to produce an effect, and generally it was evident that he thought a great deal more than he said: the difficulty then was, to prevent this habit from growing into dissimulation. He always received reprimands with firmness, and however annoyed he might have been by them, never retained any rancorous feeling, but always ended by allowing the justice of the representations that had been made to him. When any mutual coldness had taken place in the course of the day, owing to some severe lecture, in the evening, on taking leave of us, he was always the first to hold out a friendly hand, at the same time requesting that we would pardon his faults, and overlook the wrong he had done." One of the youth's governors was a M. Collin, a poet and dramatist of celebrity. This gentleman could not help feeling that the young Napoleon's abhorrence of fiction was a sort of censure on his profession, and it is not to be wondered at, that he endeavoured to dress up fiction in the garb likely to be most agreeable to the taste of the imperial pupil. In resorting to Robinson Crusoe for aid, may be perceived a tacit compliment to the youth's acuteness; for, assuredly, no other fiction was ever more like truth. "The poetical genius of Collin," says M. Foresti, "appeared to triumph somewhat over this obstinate resolution to reject every thing which did not appear to be true in all the exactitude of truth. On the heights which overlook Schönbrunn, on the right of the elegant arcades of La Gloriette, and at the bottom of a dark avenue of trees, may be found a spot, altogether shut out from a view of Vienna, by deep thickets, and an impervious mass of wood; a spot, from which nothing can be viewed save the cheerful but solitary as pect of mountain tops, smiling valleys, and rugged peaks, that go on ascending and ascending until they reach the lofty elevation of the summits of the Schneeberg. Here there is a hut constructed after the fashion of Switzerland, or rather of the Tyrolese mountains, whence it is called the Tyrol's House. In this rustic abode and its neighbourhood, there is nothing to remind the spectator of the vicinity of the capital. To this wild and quiet spot Collin would often bring the young duke. He there told him the story of Robinson Crusoe. The imagination of the child warmed to the tale. Solitude and silence completed the illusion; he fancied himself in a desert, and Collin suggested that he should set himself to fabricate the utensils that would be necessary to him, were he under the necessity of providing for his own subsistence in a similar spot. He acquitted himself of the task with much handiness. A collection has been made of these things; they are placed in the pavilion, which still goes by the name of the house of the duke de Reichstadt. The governor and his pupil, by uniting their efforts and their industry, succeeded in scooping out a cavern resembling that described as the abode of Crusoe on his desert island." During the first period of the young Napoleon's instruction at Schönbrunn, his tutors were sadly perplexed by his extreme curiosity respecting his father, as to what had become of him, the causes of his fall, &c.: evasive answers did not satisfy him. "It was,", says M. Foresti, "for us a species of torture. Happily the emperor came at length; we hastened to inform him of the perpetual questions that were put to us, and to request his instructions on this point. The emperor answered, truth should be the basis of the education of the prince; answer all his questions freely; it is the best, indeed it is the only way of calming his imagination, and of inspiring him with confidence, which will be necessary for you who have to guide him.' "At first, he overwhelmed us with questions, and exhibited an affluence of ideas perfectly surprising. Finding that we were authorised, we answered him with perfect candour. That which the emperor had foreseen came to pass. After a few days, he seemed satiated with this conversation, and thenceforward became more calm, more reserved on the subject. It may seem incredible, but it is nevertheless true, that at no time, under any circumstances, was he ever heard to utter one word of regret in connection with it. Later in life, we saw that he was fully aware of the faults his father had committed, but it was a subject to which he never on any occasion alluded. "The news of his father's death was brought to Vienna by one of the couriers of MM. de Rothschild. At this moment the comte de Great pains were taken with the duke's education. The dead languages he was taught by M. Collin, and afterwards, when Collin died, by M. Obenaus, who had been classical preceptor to half the imperial family. To these instructions, however, he inclined but an indifferent ear, and, of all his Latin books, took heartily only to Cæsar's Commentaries. His military studies took the alternate days with his classical ones, and to them he gave himself up with all possible ardour. From the time that he attained his fifteenth year he had access to every book, without exception, relative to the history of his father and the French revolution. He read them with avidity, and is said to have been a more perfect master of every thing that has been written on these subjects than any of the persons about him. His collections in French on history, chronology, and travels, are said to be immense. His military enthusiasm showed itself in the ardour with which he pursued every thing which had any connection with the accomplish ments necessary to the soldier. "I wish him to have the education of a superior officer," said the emperor; but this was only seconding the taste he had demonstrated from his earliest years. At the age of seven, he was indulged with the uniform of a private ;—after a time, in reward for the exactness with which he performed his exercise, he received the marks of the grade of sergeant, and his delight knew no bounds. He afterwards went through every other rank, and learned the duties of each in its minutest details. In his rank of private soldier, he used to stand centinel at the door of the apartments of the emperor. Whenever a member of the court passed-if a man-he used to present arms with the utmost gravity; but never if a woman. Some one rallied him on the subject; this answer was much more French than German; "I am ready," he answered, with much liveliness, "to present to the ladies-every thing but my arms." His respect for every thing mili tary was remarkable. One day, when admitted to dine in company with the emperor on a public day, he retreated from the place he usually occupied next to the archdukes, and attempted to sit at the lower end of the table: when asked the reason, "I see generals here," said he; "they ought to precede me." The empress one day at a fête wished him to sit among the ladies. He declined, saying, with the utmost gravity, " my place is among men.' It was remarked by the people about him that he never was a child; he had scarcely ever associated with children, and had adopted the reflective manners of those about him. Without being any thing extraordinary as a child, his intelligence was from the first precocious. His answers were as quick as judicious; he expressed himself with precision and exactness, and with great elegance of phrase. He was a perfect master of the theory of the French and German languages, and wrote them with remarkable purity. Up to a certain age, the young prince had been permitted to store his memory with facts, and to interpret them according to his own judgment. At length, however, it was deemed right that the Austrian version of the European story should be made known to the young prince. No fitter person could be found for the due execution of this task than the prince de Metternich, who, under the name of lectures on history, gave him at length, and in a series of interviews, the whole theory of imperial politics. Under the pretence of a sketch of his father's history, he pointed out to the young man the danger of rising above the station in which he was placed, and proved, in fact, that the very qualities which enable an individual to rise are precisely those which must afterwards ensure his fall. These lectures are described as having had the happiest results. The young Napoleon, or François, as he had been re-christened, eagerly accepted Metternich's instructions, and, in cases of any difficulty or doubt, always resorted to him for their solution. Both the emperor and his minister, in short, seem to have succeeded in thoroughly winning the entire confidence of the youth; the practical result of which was, that no communication was ever made to him that he did not feel it a point of duty instantly to communicate. This was very convenient; and, if any proof were wanting, would prove the skill and true jesuitical dexterity of the Austrian minister, The youth is reported to have said to the emperor and Metternich, "the essential object of my life ought to be to make myself not unworthy of the glory of my father. I shall hope to reach this point of my ambition, if I can appropriate to myself any of his high qualities, taking care to avoid the rocks on which he split. I should be lost to a proper sense of his memory, if I became the plaything of faction, and the instrument of intrigue. Never ought the son of Napoleon to condescend to play the miserable part of an adventurer.” It was said the young prince was surrounded with intrigues, and the utmost vigilance, which he knew and approved of, was necessary to protect him from attempts to draw him into them. One of the very few friends whom the duke of Reischstadt made for himself, was a very deserving young officer, M. Prokesch, who had distinguished himself by his travels in the East, and several military publications. From him M. de Montbel gained much interesting information. The manner in which the acquaintance was formed is thus described by M. Prokesch : "After my long travels and my numerous missions, I had gone to visit my family at Gratz. The emperor, who, at that time was traversing Styria, stopped at this town. Pleased with my conduct, and the documents I had been able to lay before him, his majesty testified his satisfaction by inviting me to his table. I found myself placed next the duke of Reichstadt, whom I had often regarded with the interest generally inspired by him; but up to that moment I had never spoken to him, or heard him speak. "I have known you long,' said he to me; I have been taken up a great deal by you.' |