Boston,
minister of Ettrick." Concerning Laidlaw's evidence, Colonel Elliot
says not a word.
This copy of Auld Maitland, with the superscription outside -
MR. WILLIAM LAIDLAW,
BLACKHOUSE,
all in Hogg's hand, is now at Abbotsford. We next have, through
Carruthers using Laidlaw's manuscript, an account of the arrival of
Scott and Leyden at Blackhouse, of Laidlaw's presentation of Hogg's
manuscript, which Scott read aloud, and of their surprise and
delight. Scott was excited, so that his burr became very
perceptible. {23a}
The time of year when Scott and Leyden visited Yarrow was not the
AUTUMN vacation of 1802, as Lockhart erroneously writes, {23b} but
the SPRING vacation of 1802. The spring vacation, Mr. Macmath
informs me, ran from 11th March to 12th May in 1802. In May,
apparently, Scott having obtained the Auld Maitland MS. in the vernal
vacation of the Court of Session, gave his account of his discovery
to his friend Ellis (Lockhart does not date the letter, but wrongly
puts it after the return to Edinburgh in November 1802).
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