“Upon the throne, in such a glorious state
As earth’s adored favorites, there sat
The image of a monarch, vested in
The spoils of nature’s robes, whose price had been
A diadem’s redemption; his large size,
Beyond this pigmy age, did equalize
The admired proportions of those mighty men
Whose cast-up bones, grown modern wonders, when
Found out, are carefully preserved to tell
Posterity how much these times are fell
From nature’s youthful strength.”
[38] Houghton MSS.
[40] Severn in Houghton MSS.
[41] Houghton MSS.
[42] Dilke (in a MS. note to his copy of Lord Houghton’s Life and Letters, ed. 1848) states positively that Lockhart afterwards owned as much; and there are tricks of style, e.g. the use of the Spanish Sangrado for doctor, which seem distinctly to betray his hand.
[43] Leigh Hunt at first believed that Scott himself was the writer, and Haydon to the last fancied it was Scott’s faithful satellite, the actor Terry.
[44] Severn in the Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XI., p. 401.