[15] Mr. Chambers describes Sir Walter's eyebrows as so shaggy
and prominent, that, when he was reading or writing at a
table, they _completely_ shrouded the eyes beneath; and
the Ettrick Shepherd speaks of Sir Walter's shaggy
eyebrows dipping deep over his eyes.

[16] One of the amusements of Sir Walter's retirement was to
walk out frequently among his plantations at Abbotsford,
with a small hatchet and hand-saw, with which he lopped
off superfluous boughs, or removed an entire tree when it
was marring the growth of others. The author of
_Anastasius_ delighted in a similar pursuit; he would
stroll for hours through the winding walks of the
Deepdene plantation, and with a small hatchet or shears
lop off the luxuriant twigs or branches that might spoil
the trim neatness of the path.

Among the accredited portraits of Sir Walter Scott is that painted by
the late Sir Henry Raeburn, which has been engraved in a handsome
style; another portrait, by Mr. Leslie, was engraved in the
_Souvenir_, a year or two since, and was styled in the Noctes of
_Blackwood's Magazine_, "the vera man himsel;" but the latest, and
perhaps the best, was painted not many month's since, by Mr. Watson
Gordon, and admirably engraved by Horsburgh, of Edinburgh, for the
revised edition of the Novels. A whole-length portrait of the Poet in
his Study, at Abbotsford, was painted a few years since, in masterly
style, by Allan, and engraved by Goodall for the _Anniversary_, edited
by Mr. Cunningham, who informs us that "a painting is in progress from
the same hand, showing Sir Walter as he lately appeared--lying on a
couch in his principal room: all the windows are closed save one,