Letters, hitherto unpublished, written by members of Sir Walter Scott's family to their old governess

150 SCOTT LETTERS
praised for his conduct and temper on the
occasion, I hope some time hence he may
have an opportunity of being promoted.
Charles, for him, has been pretty well this
winter, although worked very hard at the
Foreign Office, Sunday and Saturday all
the same ; he hardly is able to dine with
me. I do not know what our summer
plans will be : if we remain in this house a
little painting and papering will be neces-
sary, and will oblige me to go out of town
for a couple of months, but where I do not
know, and it will depend upon many cir-
cumstances. Miss Macdonald Buchanan
has been staying some time with me this
winter, to my great delight, but since her
return to Edinburgh has had the scarlet
fever, poor soul. Let me hear what you
are about, and believe me to remain yours
in haste,
Sophia Lockhart.
and esteemed in it by officers and men as much, I believe,
as any gentleman ever was in any corps of the British army,
and there was no officer of his rank who stood higher in the
opinion of the heads of his profession.' (Lockhart, Ibidem,)