Be damn'd he that dare not--
For my part I'll spare not
To beauty afflicted a tribute to give;
Fill it up steadily,
Drink it off readily,
Here's to the Princess, and long may she live."
But whoever "stood up" for the Princess's right, certainly Scott did
not do so after his intimacy with the Prince Regent began. He
mentioned her only with severity, and in one letter at least, written
to his brother, with something much coarser than severity;[45] but the
king's similar vices did not at all alienate him from what at least
had all the appearance of a deep personal devotion to his sovereign.
The first baronet whom George IV. made on succeeding to the throne,
after his long Regency, was Scott, who not only accepted the honour
gratefully, but dwelt with extreme pride on the fact that it was
offered to him by the king himself, and was in no way due to the
prompting of any minister's advice. He wrote to Joanna Baillie on
hearing of the Regent's intention--for the offer was made by the
Regent at the end of 1818, though it was not actually conferred till
after George's accession, namely, on the 30th March, 1820,--"The Duke
of Buccleuch and Scott of Harden, who, as the heads of my clan and the
sources of my gentry, are good judges of what I ought to do, have both
given me their earnest opinion to accept of an honour directly derived
from the source of honour, and neither begged nor bought, as is the
usual fashion.
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