THE TIMELESS WIT OF SIR WALTER

As always, your latest issue did not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed Stuart Kelly’s character study of Sir Walter Scott. That Sir Walter had a fondness for rogues reminded me of a murder trial he attended and followed with rapt attention.

In 1826, farmer’s wife Mary Smith from West Denside near Dundee had poisoned her maid. Her trial in Edinburgh captured national attention. The courtroom was packed when her lawyers, Lord Henry Cockburn and Lord Francis Jeffrey persuaded the jury to deliver the peculiarly Scottish verdict of Not Proven. Closely observing the Wife o’ Denside, as Mary became known, Sir Walter intimated that she had ‘a face to do or die, or perhaps to do to die’.

Wryly Sir Walter summed up the thoughts of many observers. ‘Well, sirs, all I can say is, if that woman was my wife, I should take care to be my own cook!’

Thank you for always producing such interesting and beautiful magazines.

J. Marie Bassett, Austin, Texas