Sir Walter Scott
historical figure · 2 works · 5 mentions · 8 anchored passages
Scott
in the texts
Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England
Novelist cited as an example of a formerly persuasive opponent of reform.
The arguments in favour of practical conservatism which, put forward by Burke or Paley, satisfied at least two generations, so lost their popular force that modern Conservatives, no less than modern Liberals, find it hard to understand the attitude towards reform of men as able as Canning or Sir Walter Scott.
No doubt Sir Walter Scott, with all his sound judgment, and others who possessed his good sense without his genius, defended institutions struck with decay, on the true plea that under these institutions the English had become the freest and the most wealthy among the nations of the earth;
“The unhappy dislocation,” writes Sir Walter Scott, “which has taken place betwixt the employer and those in his employment has been attended with very fatal consequences.
The Law of Torts
Author and lawyer quoted objecting to notice boards threatening prosecution, and identified as the author of the Waverley Novels.
“Nothing on earth,” said Sir Walter Scott, “would induce me to put up boards threatening prosecution, or cautioning one’s fellow-creatures to beware of man-traps and spring-guns.
In this third flight the squib meets with Scott, strikes him in the face, and explodes, destroying the sight of one eye.