Sir Walter Scott had a far-reaching legacy that went beyond his novels and poetry and that had a major impact on what we recognise as modern Scottish identity. His poem, The Lady of The Lake, formed the basis for the US presidential anthem ‘Hail to the Chief’. Tartan, the Scots dialect and the gathering of highland clans were all reinvented by Scott for the visit of George IV to Scotland in 1822. Many great novelists, including Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pushkin and Tolstoy, all cite Scott as their greatest inspiration and influence.

Mark Twain blamed Scott for the American Civil War, using the curse ‘Great Scott’ in his novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. This novel was written to parody romanticised ideas of chivalry, and of the idealisation of the Middle Ages common in the novels of Sir Walter Scott and other 19th century literature. Twain had a particular dislike for Scott, blaming his kind of romanticism of battle for the southern states deciding to fight the American Civil War.

He writes in Life on the Mississippi:
‘It was Sir Walter that made every gentleman in the South a Major or a Colonel, or a General or a Judge, before the war; and it was he, also, that made these gentlemen value these bogus decorations. For it was he that created rank and caste down there, and also reverence for rank and caste, and pride and pleasure in them. [...] Sir Walter had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed before the war, that he is in great measure responsible for the war.’

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Washington Irving became a close friend of Sir Walter and stayed at Abbotsford in 1815. During this visit Scott was instrumental in promoting Irving’s collection of short stories that included The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. With the help of Scott, Irving’s works were published in Europe. In return, legend has it that Irving told Scott of an American Jewish heiress he knew and a tale of unrequited love in her past. She was called Rebecca Gratz and Scott used the story as a basis for the character of Rebecca in Ivanhoe.

Scott’s influence has rippled out across the Atlantic to North America, along with the many Scottish emigrants that left this country to start a life in the new world. If you would like to help the Abbotsford Trust save Abbotsford then please do donate via the American Fund for Charities.

For more information visit www.caledonianfoundationusa.org