In speaking about life’s supremacies, F W Boreham refers to this entry in Lockhart's diary at Abbotsford:‘He [Sir Walter Scott] then desired to be wheeled through his rooms in the bath-chair. We moved him leisurely for an hour or more up and down the hall and the great library. “I have seen much,” he kept saying, “but nothing like my ain hoose—give me one turn more!”
Next morning he desired to be drawn into the library and placed by the central window, that he might look down upon the Tweed. Here he expressed a wish that I should read to him. I asked, from what book. He said, “Need you ask? There is but one!” I chose the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel.’
He listened with mild devotion, and, when Lockhart had finished reading of the Father's house and the many mansions, he said, ‘That is a great comfort!’
F W Boreham, ‘The Supremacies of Life’, The Luggage of Life (London: Charles H Kelly, 1912), 44-45.
Image: Scott’s library at Abbotsford House.