Ossian Collection > Scottish eccentrics

SIR THOMAS URQUHART 27
But despite the extravagances of his style, subsequent
research has shown that Urquhart told the truth to a far
greater extent than was generally believed to be possible.
It must also be remembered that Urquhart was utterly
opposed to the side that won in his time and has since
dominated Scotland. Practically all those who have
written about it were not only on that side, opposed to
his, but were constitutionally incapable of understanding
him, since "only a mind like his own could trace the maze
of its windings and turnings, and fathom the depths of
its eccentricity. In his thoughts 'truth is constantly be-
coming interfused with fiction, possibility with certainty,
and the hyperbolical extravagance of his style only keeps
even pace with the prolific shootings of his imagination'."
His vanity is perhaps, as Mr Willcock agrees, the most
striking trait of his character, "but only a very hard-
hearted moralist would call it a vice in his case, for it is
as artless as it is boundless, and is combined with so much
kindness of heart and generosity of feeling, that we are
more entertained by it than indignant at it. No one who
looks into his works can doubt the intensity of his patriot-
ism. Indeed, his passionate longing after personal fame is
in all cases combined with the wish to confer additional
glory upon the land of his birth. His devotion to the
Royalist cause is of the purest and most heroic type, and
the general tone of his character, as revealed to us in his
books, is elevated and noble. At the same time there is an
element of the grotesque in it, so that in his disinterested
and chivalrous disposition he reminds us of Don Quixote,
while in his frequent allusions to struggles with pecuniary
difficulties, as well as in his use of magniloquent language,
he distinctly recalls Wilkins Micawber. A lively fancy, a
strain of genuine erudition beneath his pedantry, and
some sparks of insanity, are other elements in his fan-
tastical character. ... It is perhaps expected that one
should, in a measure, apologise for the eccentricities of
Urquhart 's character and literary style by explaining that
he was a humorist. But, unfortunately, humour is a quality