The Centenary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott was
celebrated at Edinburgh on Wednesday with great enthusiasm, the great speech at a splendid banquet held in the Corn Exchange being delivered by W. Stirling-Maxwell. His speech, a most eloquent one, was in the main a description of the influence Scott has exer- cised over all succeeding English litterateurs ; but its best points, the ones which convey the greatest truths, are in these sentences : —" To the history of this little corner of Northern Europe, this single Sootehman, bending his big brow over his desk, has given a wide and splendid celebrity, far beyond the reach, at least far beyond the attainment, of the strong hands and stout hearts and busy brains of the whole perfervid race of other days at home and abroad. His reading of our national story is probably the version which will long be accepted by the world. When land is to be sold in any district of the Scott countries, his scenes and his characters therewith con- nected, and even his passing allusions, are carefully chronicled among other attractions in the advertisement, and duly inven- toried among the title-deeds of the estate." Scott revealed Scotland to the world. That is his claim, and we can imagine none bigger, to the gratitude of his countrymen. We are not sure that it is not also his claim on England. His works may perish, but the unity between Englishmen and Scotchmen is the mainstay of our Empire, and he was its cause. Up to his day " Scot " was a term of reproach, but from the day of his fame it has never been so used again.
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