Letters, hitherto unpublished, written by members of Sir Walter Scott's family to their old governess

6 SCOTT LETTERS
graver faculties also. He exercised the
memory by selecting for tasks of recita-
tion passages of popular verse the most
likely to catch the fancy of the children,
and gradually familiarised them with the
ancient history of their own country by
arresting attention in the course of his own
oral narrations on incidents and characters
of a similar description. His Sunday talk
was just such a series of biblical lessons
as that which we have preserved for the
permanent use of rising generations in the
Tales of a Grandfather on the early history
of Scotland. He had his Bible, the Old
Testament especially, by heart, and on
these days inwove the simple pathos, or
sublime enthusiasm of Scripture, in what-
ever story he was telling, with the same
picturesque richness as he did in his week-
day tales, the quaint Scotch of Pitscottie,
or some rude romantic old rhyme from
Barbour's Bruce or Blind Harry's Wallace.
By many external accomplishments, either
in girl or boy, he set little store. He
delighted to hear his daughters sing an old