`Incompatibility of temper' probably caused this secession from
the newspaper.
After various attempts to find occupation, he did some proof-reading
for Messrs. Constable. Among other things he `read' the journal of
Lady Mary Coke, privately printed for Lord Home. Lady Mary, who
appears as a lively child in The Heart of Midlothian, `had a taste
for loo, gossip, and gardening, but the greatest of these is
gossip.' The best part of the book is Lady Louisa Stuart's
inimitable introduction. Early in October he decided to give up
proof-reading: the confinement had already told on his health. In
the letter which announces this determination he describes a sermon
of Principal Caird: `Voice, gesture, language, thought--all in the
highest degree,--combined to make it the most moving and exalted
speech of a man to men that I ever listened to.' `The world is too
much with me,' he adds, as if he and the world were ever friends, or
ever likely to be friendly.
October 27th found him dating from St. Andrews again. `St. Andrews
after Edinburgh is Paradise.' His Dalilah had called him home to
her, and he was never again unfaithful.
Pages:
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70