34= OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [G-ge Sqmm
over the head with sufficient strength to cut him
down. When this was seen, the casualty was so
far beyond what had ever taken place before that
both parties fled different ways, leaving poor Green
Breeks, with his bright hair plentifully dabbled in
._? blood, to the care of the watchman, who (honest ? man) took care not to know who had done the
mischief. The bloody hanger was flung into
one of the meadow ditches, and solemn secrecy
sworn on all hands j but the remorse and terror of
the actor were beyond all bounds, and his apprehensions
of the most dreadful character. The
wounded hero was for a few days in the infirmary,
the case being only a trifling one; but though
inquiry was strongly pressed on him, uo argument
could make him indicate the person from whom he
had received the wound, though he must have
been perfectly well known to him. When he recovered,
the author and his brother opened a
communication with him, through the medium of a
popular gingerbread baker, with whom both parties
were customers, in order to tender a subsidy in the
name of smart-money. The sum would excite
ridicule were I to name it ; but I am sure that the
pockets of the noted Green Breeks never held so
much money of his own. He declined the remittance,
saying he would not sell his blood ; but
at the same t h e repudiated the idea of being an
informer, which he said was clam-that is, base or
mean With much urgency he accepted a pound
of snuff for the use of some old woman-aunt,
grandmother, or the like-with whom he lived.
We did not become friends, for the bickers were
more agreeable to both parties than any other
pacific amusement; but we conducted them ever
after under mutual assurances of the highest consideration
for each other.??
Lockhart tells us that it was in No. 25 that, at a
later period, an acquaintance took place which by
degrees ripened into friendship with Francis Jeffrey,
born, as we have said, at No. 7, Charles Street,
about 150 yards distant from Scott?s house. Here
one evening Jeffrey found him in a small den on
the sunk floor, surrounded by dingy books, and
from thence they adjourned to a tavern and supped
together. In that den ? he was collecting ?? the
germ of the magnificent library and museum of
Abbotsford.? Since those days,? says Lockhart,
? the habits of life in Edinburgh have undergone
many changes ; and ? the convenient parlour ? in
which Scott first showed Jeffrey his collection of
minstrelsy is now, in all probability, thought hardly
good enough for a tnenial?s sleeping-room.?
There it was, however, that his first assay-piece
a~ a poet-his bold rendering of Burger?s weird
hre-was produced ; and there it was, too, that
by his energy his corps of Volunteer Horse. was
developed. The Ediiiburg4 Herald and Chronicle
for 20th February, I 7 9 7, announced the formation
of the corps thus :-
LrAn offer of service, subscribed hy sixty gentlemen and
upwards of this city and neighbourhood, engaging to serve
as a Corps of Volunteer Lqht Dragoons during the present
war, has been presented to His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch,
Lord Lieutenant of the county, who has expressed his high
approbation of the pIan. Regular drilb have in consequence
been established.
? Such gentlemen as wish to become members of this corps
will make their application through &fr. Wulfer Scott,
Advacuft-, Gmrge Square, secretary to the committee of
management.
?The service is limited to Midlothian, unless in case of
actual invasion or the imminent hazard, when it extends to
all Scotland. No member of the corps can be required to
join unless during his residence within the county.?
Of this corps Scott was the quartermaster.
In one of his notes to ?Wilson?s Memorials,?
the cynical C. K. Sharpe says :-?? My grand-aunt,
hfrs. Campbell of Monzie, had the house in
George Square that now belongs to Mr. Borthwick
(of Crookston). I remember seeing from the
window Walter limping home in a cavalry uniform,
the most grotesque spectacle that can be conceived.
NoSody then cared much about his two
German balIads. This was long before I personally
knew him.?
In 1797 Scott ceased to reside in No. 25 on his
marriage, and carried his bride to a lodging in the
second floor of No. 108, George Street ; however,
the last rod he was under in his ?own romantic
town? was that of the Douglas Hotel, St. Andrew
Square, where, on his return from Italy, on the 9th
of July, 1832, he was brought from Newhave4 in
a state of unconsciousness, and after remaining
there two nights, was taken home to Abbotsford
to die. His signature, in a boyish hand, written
with a diamond, still remains on a pane in one
of the windows in 25, George Square, or did so
till a recent date.
On the 19th of June, 1795, Lord Adam Gordon,
Commander of the Forces in Scotland, had the
honour of presenting, in George Square, a new set
of British colours to the ancient Scots Brigade of
immortal memory, which, after being two hundred
years in the Dutch service, had-save some fifty
who declined to leave Holland-joined the British
army as the 94th Regiment, on the 9th October in
the preceding year, under Francis Dundas.
Lord Adam, who was then a very old man,
having entered the 18th Royal Irish in 1746, said,
with some emotion:--? General Dundas and officers
*
