letter of introduction, with a request to know whether it would be
agreeable for Mr. Scott to receive a visit from me in the course of
the day. The glorious old minstrel himself came limping to the gate,
and took me by the hand in a way that made me feel as if we were old
friends; in a moment I was seated at his hospitable board among his
charming little family, and here I have been ever since.... I cannot
tell you how truly I have enjoyed the hours I have passed here. They
fly by too quickly, yet each is loaded with story, incident, or song;
and when I consider the world of ideas, images, and impressions that
have been crowded upon my mind since I have been here, it seems
incredible that I should only have been two days at Abbotsford."

And here is Scott's impression of Irving: "When you see Tom Campbell,"
he writes to a friend, "tell him, with my best love, that I have to
thank him for making me known to Mr. Washington Irving, who is one of
the best and pleasantest acquaintances I have made this many a day."

When the "Sketch Book" was coming out in the United States, and Irving
was thinking of publishing it in England, he received some advice and
assistance from Scott; and finally Scott persuaded the great English
publisher Murray to take it up, even after that publisher had once
declined it. On this occasion Irving wrote to a friend as follows:

"He (Scott) is a man that, if you knew, you would love; a right
honest-hearted, generous-spirited being; without vanity, affectation,
or assumption of any kind. He enters into every passing scene or
passing pleasure with the interest and simple enjoyment of a child."