“Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton, an English officer; including Anecdotes of the War in Spain under the Earl of Peterborough, and Many Interesting Particulars relating to the Manners of the Spaniards in the beginning of last century. Written by Himself. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co., for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and J. Murray, London, 1808, 8vo.”
Originally published in London in 1728, this work was attributed to Dean Swift, but is now known to have been written by Defoe. In Boswell’s “Johnson” there is the following reference to it: “Lord Eliot: ‘The best account of Lord Peterborough that I have happened to meet with is in Captain Carleton’s Memoirs.’ Johnson said he had never heard of the book. Lord Eliot sent it to him. Johnson was about going to bed when it came, but sat up till he had read it through; and remarked to Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘I did not think a young lord could have mentioned to me a book in English history that was not known to me.’”
“The Novels of Daniel de Foe. In Twelve Volumes. Vol. I. containing Life of Defoe and Robinson Crusoe. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co., for John Ballantyne and Co., and Brown and Crombie, Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London. 1810.”
“Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, chiefly written during the early part of the Fourteenth Century, to which is prefixed An Historical Introduction, intended to illustrate the Rise and Progress of Romantic Composition in France and England. By George Ellis, Esq. Second Edition in Three Volumes. Vol. I. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row. 1811.”
The first edition of this interesting and valuable work was issued in 1805. The author was a great friend of Sir Walter Scott, who says of him that “George Ellis was the best converser I ever knew. His patience and good breeding made me often ashamed of myself, going off at score upon some favourite topic.”[49] Sir Walter addressed to Ellis the fifth canto of “Marmion,” in which the following lines occur:—
“Dear Ellis! to the bard impart
A lesson of thy magic art,