![SCOTT, Sir Walter (1771-1832). Autograph manuscript (fair copy) of 'The Raid of Rittersford An Ancient Border Ballad', comprising forty-eight stanzas of four lines (192 lines of verse) written on recto with explanatory notes for each page on facing verso, also including an introduction dated 'Rosebank, 20 Sept[ember] 1796', and, at the end, a glossary, altogether approximately 28 pages, 8vo, on 16 leaves, stitched with red thread in centre folds, in a wrapper inscribed in a 19th century hand, in black, blue and red ink. Provenance: Lady Polwarth (i.e. Harriet, wife of Hugh Hepburne Scott of Harden, 6th Baron); her second son, the Reverend William Hugh Scott (inscription signed on verso of title page 'Given to my mother by Sir Walter Scott the year after she married [1795] and given by her to me. Mertoun, 5th Feb[ruar]y 1837'.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2006/CKS/2006_CKS_07275_0069_000(010411).jpg?w=1)
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SCOTT, Sir Walter (1771-1832). Autograph manuscript (fair copy) of 'The Raid of Rittersford An Ancient Border Ballad', comprising forty-eight stanzas of four lines (192 lines of verse) written on recto with explanatory notes for each page on facing verso, also including an introduction dated 'Rosebank, 20 Sept[ember] 1796', and, at the end, a glossary, altogether approximately 28 pages, 8vo, on 16 leaves, stitched with red thread in centre folds, in a wrapper inscribed in a 19th century hand, in black, blue and red ink. Provenance: Lady Polwarth (i.e. Harriet, wife of Hugh Hepburne Scott of Harden, 6th Baron); her second son, the Reverend William Hugh Scott (inscription signed on verso of title page 'Given to my mother by Sir Walter Scott the year after she married [1795] and given by her to me. Mertoun, 5th Feb[ruar]y 1837'.
A BORDER BALLAD, FROM THE OUTSET OF SCOTT'S CAREER. The manuscript is the earliest known version by Sir Walter Scott of the ballad published as Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead, 'an ancient border ballad', in The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders (1802). The manuscript includes significant variants from the published text. Scott refers in a letter of 18 December 1793 to the ballad of 'Jemmy Telfer which is a great favourite of mine'. It was amongst the tales told to him in his childhood by his grandmother (J.G. Lockhart. Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott (1900), vol. 1, page 14). The Minstrelsy was of great importance in introducing Scott as an original writer to the English public. It was printed at Kelso in three volumes, and published in an edition of 800 copies, with a frontispiece based on the author's sketch of Hermitage Castle, and a dedication to the Duke of Buccleuch. Jamie Telfer is one of twenty-two historical ballads in the first volume.
In the unpublished introduction to the manuscript Scott describes the poem 'if it deserves the name [as] one of many rude productions of the same sort, in which the Scottish Borderers celebrated their frequent skirmishes with their English neighbours', justifying their preservation and referring modestly to his kinship with the Scotts of Harden, 'Interested as I have the honour to be in some of these warriors, I do but justice to their memory in communicating this record of their fame to those who will probably be induced to set some value upon it from the more near & intimate connection which they have with its heroes'. It includes a glossary of over 40 words and place names (the published work gives only ten). The twenty-five explanatory notes of varying length include an unpublished 10 line description of Bewcastle where Michaelmas was the time chosen for raids 'on account of the long moonlight nights', a definition of 'Black Mail', variant accounts of 'Wat of Harden', 'Branksome ... the gathering word or war cry of the Scotts', and others; some of the notes were rephrased or shortened for publication and others omitted. The poem itself includes many variants, of words, names and phrases (while the published version includes one verse not present in the manuscript). Scott's method of composition for the ballads involved much correcting and improving of phraseology and sometimes re-writing whole stanzas.
Harriet Polwarth (d. 1853), a particular favourite of Scott's, was married in 1795 to Hugh Hepburne Scott of Harden (1758-1841). Walter Scott, who regarded him as the 'chief' of his family, visited them at Mertoun in October 1797 when he referred to Mrs Scott as 'considerably addicted ... to the practice of quizzing'. Lockhart observes that she assisted Scott with his German studies, and corrected his 'Scotticisms', as did Harden and his mother, Lady Diana Scott. The manuscript of the ballad containing many references to an earlier Harden ('Auld Wat of Harden') would thus have been a particularly appropriate gift.
A BORDER BALLAD, FROM THE OUTSET OF SCOTT'S CAREER. The manuscript is the earliest known version by Sir Walter Scott of the ballad published as Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead, 'an ancient border ballad', in The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders (1802). The manuscript includes significant variants from the published text. Scott refers in a letter of 18 December 1793 to the ballad of 'Jemmy Telfer which is a great favourite of mine'. It was amongst the tales told to him in his childhood by his grandmother (J.G. Lockhart. Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott (1900), vol. 1, page 14). The Minstrelsy was of great importance in introducing Scott as an original writer to the English public. It was printed at Kelso in three volumes, and published in an edition of 800 copies, with a frontispiece based on the author's sketch of Hermitage Castle, and a dedication to the Duke of Buccleuch. Jamie Telfer is one of twenty-two historical ballads in the first volume.
In the unpublished introduction to the manuscript Scott describes the poem 'if it deserves the name [as] one of many rude productions of the same sort, in which the Scottish Borderers celebrated their frequent skirmishes with their English neighbours', justifying their preservation and referring modestly to his kinship with the Scotts of Harden, 'Interested as I have the honour to be in some of these warriors, I do but justice to their memory in communicating this record of their fame to those who will probably be induced to set some value upon it from the more near & intimate connection which they have with its heroes'. It includes a glossary of over 40 words and place names (the published work gives only ten). The twenty-five explanatory notes of varying length include an unpublished 10 line description of Bewcastle where Michaelmas was the time chosen for raids 'on account of the long moonlight nights', a definition of 'Black Mail', variant accounts of 'Wat of Harden', 'Branksome ... the gathering word or war cry of the Scotts', and others; some of the notes were rephrased or shortened for publication and others omitted. The poem itself includes many variants, of words, names and phrases (while the published version includes one verse not present in the manuscript). Scott's method of composition for the ballads involved much correcting and improving of phraseology and sometimes re-writing whole stanzas.
Harriet Polwarth (d. 1853), a particular favourite of Scott's, was married in 1795 to Hugh Hepburne Scott of Harden (1758-1841). Walter Scott, who regarded him as the 'chief' of his family, visited them at Mertoun in October 1797 when he referred to Mrs Scott as 'considerably addicted ... to the practice of quizzing'. Lockhart observes that she assisted Scott with his German studies, and corrected his 'Scotticisms', as did Harden and his mother, Lady Diana Scott. The manuscript of the ballad containing many references to an earlier Harden ('Auld Wat of Harden') would thus have been a particularly appropriate gift.
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