THE SCOTT SCHOLARSHIP.

Evening Star, Issue 2962, 16 August 1872, Page 2

THE SCOTT SCHOLARSHIP.

The meeting of last evening must have been termed a conversazione in satire for we never recollect one that less realised our ideal of such an assembly. No room for moving about; tiers of seats arranged for a church or a concert room ; everybody fixed in their niches lest any one else should take them ; gentlemen in rows, ladies in rows~all fixtures—all grave and solemn prepared for martyrdom or sacrifice—patient, speaking in whispers—excessively respectable and well behaved, albeit there were no refreshments, no badinage, no conversational coteries. With few exceptions the people were stiff, starch and demure. Yet the meeting was not without its redeeming features. The music, through the exertions of Mr Towsey, assisted by a few amateurs, members of the Dunedin Choral Society, was pleasant and good of its kind, which is the more to be wondered at as very little time was given for preparation, and none for prior rehearsal. His Honor Judge Chapman presided, and introduced the business of the evening. Ho referred to the centenary gathering of last year, and the resolution to honor the memory of Sir Walter Scott by establishing a Scholarship connected with the Otago University. The University had Just then been inaugurated, and was, so far as promise was concerned, launched in a successful manner. The Hon. Major Richardson, the Chancellor of the University, and Mr Barron, a well known merchant of this town, without previous concert propounded the same idea ; and he (Judge Chapman) teok occasion to suggest to the meeting that all those who felt disposed to take up the idea should at once put down their names. It was agreed that the subscriptions should be at that time limited to one guinea,

About forty gentlemen put their names down ; and Mr E. B. Cargill, who sat afc his right hand in the chair, agreed, on his suggestion, to act as Treasurer. That was the first subscription raised towards the Scholarship ; and he was sorry to say it had remained the only subscription. No one individual took the mater up, although he believed that if any one man at the time had taken it up, canvassed the City, and placod the whole question pro erly before the public, he would have been successful However, the public, were not properly addressed, and perhaps all enthusiasm subsided ; nobody thought of the matter, and consequently it remained in abeyance to the present moment. The object of the meeting to-night was like the second visit of the Ghost to Hamlet—- “ To whet thy aim st blunted purpose,”— to animate each and every person in the room to use, in their private spheres, their best exertions to raise such a sum as would enable the Committee to establish a Scott Scholarship ; and was not the obj ct of promoting the interests of education in the Province woi thy of the name of Sir Walter Scott ? and was not his name a worthy name to be united with that great object? There could hardly be any doubt upon that score. Scotchmen in the community ought to feel proud—and did he believed feel proud of the career of that man whom the Southern inhabitants of Britain bad tailed the Wizard of the North. They ought to feel such a pride in his memory as to load them to give a small subscription, and by stimulating their friends to give their small subscriptions to connect Sir Walter Scott’s name with an Institution which he hoped would last for centuries. Now there was no doubt that Sir Walter Scott might be locked at in various aspects. The first lame of Sir Walter Scott was as a poet. Not that he could rank amongst the greatest of poets, take the highest rank, or be considered of the highest order—but for its special purposes .Jiis poetry stood at the head of its class. Sir Walter Scott’s great fame must always rest upon his novels and tales. Nothing that he ever performed in any walk of literature could compare with them ; and all the charms of that poetry—all its fea tures—were better carried out in the novels. His wonderful power of narrative was one great charm. Who could read the narratives to be found in his early novels—for the later ones he thought fell off through overwork—without feeling that charm ? It was his great but not his only power. His power of delineating character was very great, both in prose and poetry. To Sir Walter Scott’s other works the same praise could not bo awarded. After having written novels for a vast number of years, he attempted, but failed in history. He produced two historical works, one admirable of its class ; the other even below mediocrity. But before referring to that branch of the subject, it was well to consider what Sir Walter Scott did for the novel. There had been good novelists before that time. Fielding, Smollett, and some others. After their day, Miss Burney, whose novels were very much admired, and Richardson. Richardson’s novels were clever, but so prosy—so lengthy—that hardly anyone at the present day would venture to go through Clarissa, or Sir Charles Grandison. In his young days they were more popular, but no one ever heard of them now ; and probably only two or three in the room had read one of Richardson’s novels. But after that period, the novel and the writing of novels, fell to the lowest pitch of literary degradation. The novels of the Minerva Press were paltry twaddling stories, written in bad English, false sentiment—in fact, everything that was bad pervaded all those novels. And yet they were current when he was a boy. They pleased school-boys ; they pleased maidservants ; they pleased old women ; and they pleased nohody else.—(Laughter and applause.) About 1814 or 1815- it might have been 1813-carae out “Waverley,” without any name. It was read with avidity by everybody ; by the highest judges of literature, and by those who only read to be amused. All were charmed with the wonderful character of the narrative. That was the commencement of the new school of novels which had been brought to such perfection of late years. “Waverley” was followed by “Guy Mauneriug,” “The Antiquary,” “Rob Roy,” “Old Mortality,” and “Tales of my Landlord.” Nobody knew who wrote these novels, nor even guessed, until a gentleman of high literary attainments, a barrister on the Northern Circuit, whom he knew very well —Mr John L, Adolphus—'wrote a book to prove that the author of “ Waverley” could be no other than the writer of Scott’s Poems. Not long after Scott acknowledged himself to be the author of “ Waverley." Critical sagacity had unearthed him, dug him out of his concealment before he chose to declare himself. Scott published two works on history : ‘ ‘ Tales of a Grandfather,” and “ Life of Napoleon,” in nine volumes. The “Talcs of a Grandfather,” as a book of its class, was one of the best he ever read. It did not go to dusty shelves of old libraries to dig into manuscripts scarcely read foi centuries, in order to verify a date or a name, or to correct a mistake of fact. It took the current history of Scotland narrated by tbe best and most trustworthy writers, putting Scott’s peculiar power into it, and producing a series of tales calculated to charm the young. It was written, in fact, for his grandson, or grandsons, and dedicated to one of them. Thcs? separate narratives, linked and connected together, made something like a history of Scotland for the period over which they ran. To place in the hands of young people, and stimulate them to the study of history, no book could be better suited. Rather unfortunately for his fame, Scott undertook to wiite the Life of Napoleon. It was evident throughout a great part of the narrative that he had not taken the trouble to verify a date or a fact, trusting to his memory for everything, and writing against time. That was not the way to write history. It was inferior to hia other writings, and inferior on every other ground upon which writing should be judged. There was one other feature in Sir Walter Scott’s character which entitled his name to connection with the Scholarship. It was his private relations in life. Whoever read the life of Sir Walter Scott by his son-in-law, Lockhart, could not fail to come to the conclusion that the subject of that biography must have been a person worthy of affection.—(Applause.) Whatever may have been Sir Walter Scott’s strong political, and strong social prejudices, they in no wise affected that amiability of character in all the relations of life, which was one of its remarkable feature*. It was only when his political and religious prejudices came prominently into action, that he appeared illiberal, and even unfair te those opposed to him. That, no doubt, was a slight blemish in hia character 3 but who had not blemishes

in their characters ? It is quite right to take some account of thc'e things, but were we to be so straight-laced on account of those blemishes to deny hiin the character of a great and good man ? Looking to what he had done for literature, the example set in many of the relations of li f c, especially in his domestic relations, let us acknowledge his name was worthy, an<l full worthy, of being connected with the Scholarship of the University ; and it ought to stimulate every person to endeavor to bring that Scholarship into active operation.—(Applause). After some vppropriatc music by the band a difficult bass solo, and a duet by two ladies, all of which were well given, Professor Black was invited to say a few words. He said he only appeared in compliance with a pressing request by the SubCommittee. He considered that to do justice to the memory of Sir Walter Scott, a student of literature should have been invited to speak, not himself, for his pursuits were but little connected with literature. He certainly felt it an honor to be associated with the object of the meeting, but his rising to speak resembled the Scotch schoolboy who attended his school at Horae. He rushed in and said, “ My mother sent me to say I was na cornin’ the day.” His object in rising was merely to say he was not about to make a speech. The name of Scott was revered by all true and Scotchmen. Bom amongst them, he was their historian, and no better history thau bis had been written. It bad given such an impetus to the study of history in Scotland, that the average Scotchmen was bettor acquainted with the history of his country than the inhabitant of any other country of that country. Scott had drawn portraits of national character with great faithfulness. He had done ample justice both to the Highland clans and the Lowlauders—to the nobles, whose wisdom in council and daring in the field had, through his writings, been published all the . world over. In one sense Sir Walter Scott may be said to have created a desire to look upon the beauties of Scottish scenery, through the descriptions he gave of its lovely glens, mountain scenery, and silent lakes, with which he had connected associations that added a charm to them. With regard to his Life of >apoleon, it was written against time* Through no fault of his own he had become involved in (.ftfficultics. By a simple process he might have gob out of them, but rather than dishonour should bo attached to his name, he chose to work far harder than was good for him and the result was the inferior character of a word written under such ter* ritvc circumstances But he cleared L 40,000 which he devoted to the payment of the debts.for which he had become liable. (Pro* fessor Black gave a recitation from Bob Roy’s conversation with Baillie Nicol Jarvey and made some remarks upon the beautiful character of Jeanuie Deans and her interview with the Queen.) In conclusion he recommended the establishment of a Scholarship as a just tribute to the memory of fcir Walter Scott, on three grounds It was honoring worthily a great name—it would do honor to the founders who devised such liberal things, and it would be a benefit to the students whose talents entitled them to enjoy the privileges it conferred. After an interval, and some very well ex* ccuted vocal and instrumental music,

Profess: r Macgregor came forward and said that he appeared under unusual circumstances, for he had received a letter saying Mr Anthony Trollope was expected to be present and to make a speech. Should he not, however, if he (Professor Macgregor) did not speak, the whole affair would be a failure. As that was the case, he felt bound to make the best of it. On asking himself what he would say about Sir Walter Scott, he felt himself in Augustine’s difficulty when asked what time was. He said before that be knew, but when he wished to answer the question, he found he knew nothing about it. This would be uudcrstood when le said that when a boy at school he read Scott’s works. He had read “ ivanhoe,” and invariably associated one of his schoolfellows with the Templar, and he thought it his duty to thrash him. This feeling led to his receiving, on different occasions, black eyes and a bruised face. This shewed the effect of Scott’s writiugs on the imagination. He could not think about history without thinking of Scott It was so with most, so that instead of asking him to make a speech, were they to interrogate themselves as to their impressions they would discover enough matter to make so many speeches that they could not make one. He therefore threw himself on their sympathies. Scott had done for history what was done to the dry bones in the vision of Ezekiel —he to 'k the dry facts, clothed them with ilesh, and breathed into them the breath of life. (Applause.) He had done that for boys in all countries. Scott had laid upon mankind a debt that could not be repaid. He (Professor Macgregor) did not however go so far as some did, and say he was a trustworthy guide in everything. He would endeavour to illustrate his idea. Take two men to the top of one of those hills in the neighborhood, and let them look at the landscape. One would be struck with its beauty—the other would say, ‘ ‘ What a fine country for sheep. ” It was in connection with that variety of impression that he understood Scott. On reflection it would be found that most men throughout the greater part of their lives were engaged in works of utility ; but that was not all they were capable of. Above and beyond daily toil there was another idea-a wish to escape from the dull round of fact they were compelled to live in. He might compare them to the oyster, one of the singular qualities of which was that if his shell were damaged, be repaired it with pearls. Just so with humanity ; and it was that that gave promise of future perfectibility. There was a tendency in the mind to recoil from the dominion of fact and to find pleasure in the ideal of future. It was absurd to believe that poets and painters sought merely to imitate nature. Their object was to seize upon this tendency of the human mind to escape from strict fact, and to produce works that were pleasing An author of fiction who did otherwise, ought to have his books burned, ami it was a duty to put down such rubbish, lu this idea Emmerson coincided with him, So it was with Scott, he drew pictures that were pleasing. When he told them he admired Scott, he did not hold him guiltless. From what cause he did not know, nor it he did would it become him to say that he was to be relied on for the accuracy of his facts. But one thing he might say before going further, no man could treat of one subject only. He could always treat of two. A boy would never learn one lan-guage-let him learn two. Similarly no clear idea could be formed of Scott from his workss until he was compared with some other author. H« thought both Scott and Thackeray might be considered social re*

formers ; but why were Thackeray’s writings read only by a few. whi e Scott «mvere read almost universally ? ticßelieved it was because Thackeray thought it In. mission to leave th« world better than he found it and to declare war against humbug wherever met with. This led him to make fun of dinner parties and social follies. Men, therefore, did not like his message, and said what did it mean ? Like an Ishmaelite, his hand was against every man, and every man’s hand against him. Scott, he believed, saw the follies though he never said so. In his sketches, he was not a historian, but a historical romancer. He had rendered luminous the history of the past and rendered familiar the great personages of history. It became ua to try to render history truly. It was a record of of past experience, and was written for guide ance in the future. But that was not the point of view from which Scott wrote it. He was descended from a noble family and never felt the hardships of life. He told of barons, baronets, feudal systems and their paraphernalia, and the resulting idea on reading his works was “The good old times. sor Macgregor) was one who looked for the Bood times coming, Those who like Fhackeray believed in something better than the piesent, believed they were bound by their consciences bring it nearer were at facia disadvantage for they roused prejudices. After a few more masterly observations, Professor Macgregor commended the object of the meeting and sat down. , , w .. , After a little more music, and the National Anthem was played and sang, the audience Cargill came forward and said fW although no effort had been made to coffect money for the Scholarship the matter would not be allowed to rest, but the City would bo canvassed. Some little disorder was created by Mr Grant evincing a desire to speak, and m a uomewhat irregular manner a vote of thanks was passed to the Chairman and the ladies and gentlemen who had given their services in the orchestra.