IV. BUST BY MACDONALD. 1831. (No. 7.) MR. LOCKHART pronounces a very decided opinion regarding this marble bust, when he says, that "it was modelled by Mr. Lawrence Macdonald, in the unhappy winter of 1830. The period of the artist's observation would alone have been sufficient to render his efforts fruitless. His bust may be, in point of execution, good; but he does not seem to me to have produced what any friend of Sir Walter's will recognise as a likeness." From a letter written by Mr. George Combe, and printed in the Phrenological Journal, 1839, it appears that this bust was actually modelled at Abbotsford by Mr. Macdonald in January 1831. The statement respecting it is as follows, dated Edinburgh, August 10, 1838 :— "In January 1831, Mr. Lawrence Macdonald, sculptor, now settled in Rome, lived for several days at Abbotsford, and modelled a bust of Sir Walter Scott. Mr. Macdonald was then a practical phrenologist. He knew that no bust, authentic in the measurements, of Sir Walter's head existed; and he bestowed every possible attention to render his work a true representation of nature. He assured me that he measured the size of the head in different directions with callipers, and preserved the dimensions in the clay; while he modelled every portion of the surface with the utmost care, so as to exhibit the outlines and proportions as exactly as his talents could accomplish. Sir Walter sat four hours at a time to him, dictating a romance all the while to his amanuensis, Mr. Laidlaw. Sir Walter's vigour, both bodily and mental, had by that time declined; and his features had lost part of their mental expression. The bust bears evidence in the features of this decay of power; but there is no reason to believe that the disease had at that time existed so long as to cause any diminution of the skull. This bust, therefore, forms the best record which now exists of the dimensions and relative proportions of the different parts of Sir Walter Scott's head; and as it is in my possession, I present you with the following measurements, and note of the size of the organs. It will be seen that the head was really large." Sir Walter Scott came from Naples to Rome in April, and left on his return home May 11, 1832. If during that interval the artist was enabled to avail himself of the opportunity at Rome to obtain one or more sittings, it might well be called an unhappy period. The Sculptor, who is a native of Trinity-Gask, Perthshire, still resides |