- Irving's Verses The Antichrist — A his Head - Important Crisis Irving's own Evidence on the Opening of National Scotch Subject-Reality - Cessation of "The Plate Irving's Offering The Bible Society - A May Meeting — A Moment of Depression - Projects - EDWARD IRVING. CHAPTER I. HIS PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD. In the autumn of the eventful year 1792, at the most singular crisis of the world's history which has arisen in modern times, when France was going mad in her revolution, and the other nations of Christendom were crowding in, curious and dismayed, to see that spectacle which was to result in so many other changes; but far away from all those outcries and struggles, in the peaceful little Scotch town of Annan, Edward Irving, the story of whose life is to be told in the following pages, was born. He was the son of Gavin Irving, of a long-established local kindred, well known, but undistinguished, who followed the humble occupation of a tanner in Annan,- and of Mary Lowther, the handsome and high-spirited daughter of a small landed proprietor in the adjacent parish of Dornoch. Among the Irving forefathers were a family of Howys, Albigenses, or at least French Protestant refugees, one of whom had become parish minister in Annan, and has left behind him some recollections of lively wit worthy his race, and a tombstone, with a quaint in 2 THE IRVINGS AND LOWTHERS. scription, which is one of the wonders of the melancholy and crowded churchyard, or rather burying-ground; for the present church of the town has left the graves behind. The same dismal enclosure, with its nameless mounds, rising mysterious through the rugged grass, proclaims the name of Irving on every side in many lines of kindred; but these tombstones seem almost the only record extant of the family. The Lowthers were more notable people. The eldest brother, Tristram, whom Edward characterises as "Uncle Tristram of Dornoch, the wilful," seems to have been one of the acknowledged characters of that characteristic country. He lived and died a bachelor, saving, litigious and eccentric; and, determined to enjoy in his lifetime that fame which is posthumous to most men, he erected his own tombstone in Dornoch churchyard, recording on it the most memorable of his achievements. The greatest of these were, winning a lawsuit in which he had been engaged against his brothers, and building a bridge. It appears that he showed true wisdom in getting what satisfaction he could out of this autobiographical essay while he lived; for his respectable heirs have balked Tristram, and carried away the characteristic monument. Another brother lives in local tradition as the good-natured giant of the district. It is told of him that, having once accompanied his droves into England (they were all grazier farmers by profession), the Scottish Hercules, placid of temper, and perhaps a little slow of apprehension, according to the nature of giants, was refreshing himself in an oldfashioned tavern-locality uncertain-supposed to be either the dock precincts of Liverpool, or the eastern PECULIARITIES OF THE RACE. 3 wastes of London. The other guests in the great sanded kitchen, where they were all assembled, amused themselves with an attempt to "chaff" and aggravate the stranger; and finding this tedious work, one rash joker went so far as to insult him, and invite a quarrel. George Lowther bore it long, probably slow to comprehend the idea of quarrelling with such antagonists; at last, when his patience was exhausted, the giant, grimly humorous, if not angry, seized, some say a great iron spit from the wall, some a poker from the hearth, and twisting it round the neck of his unfortunate assailant, quietly left him to the laughter and condolences of his comrades till a blacksmith could be brought to release him from that impromptu pillory. Gavin Irving's wife was of this stout and primitive race. Her activity and cheerful, high-spirited comeliness are still well remembered by the contemporaries of her children; and even the splendour of the scarlet ridingskirt and Leghorn hat, in which she came home as a bride, are still reflected in some old memories. The families on both sides were of competent substance and reputation, and rich in individual character. No wealth, to speak of, existed among them: a little patriarchal foundation of land and cattle, from which the eldest son might perhaps claim a territorial designation if his droves found prosperous market across the border; the younger sons, trained to independent trades, one of them, perhaps, not disdaining to throw his plaid over his shoulder and call his dog to his heels behind one of these same droves, a sturdy novitiate to his grazier life; while the inclinations of another might quite as naturally and suitably lead him to such 4 HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY. study of law as may be necessary for a Scotch "writer," or to the favourite and most profoundly respected of all professions, "the ministry," as it is called in Scotland. The Irving and Lowther families embraced both classes, with all the intermediary steps between them and Gavin Irving and his wife, in their little house at Annan, stood perhaps about midway between the homely refinement of the Dumfriesshire manses and the rude profusion of the Annandale farms. Of this marriage eight children were born,-three sons, John, Edward, and George, all of whom were educated to learned professions; and five daughters, all respectably married, one of whom still survives, the last of her family. All the sisters seem to have left representatives behind them; but John and George both died unmarried before the death of their distinguished brother. The eldest, whom old friends speak of as "one of the handsomest young men of his day," and whom his father imagined the genius of the family, died obscurely in India on Edward's birthday, the 4th of August, in the prime of his manhood, a medical officer in the East India Company's service. He was struck down by jungle fever, a sharp and sudden blow, and his friends had not even the satisfaction of knowing fully the circumstances of his death. But henceforward the day, made thus doubly memorable, was consecrated by Edward as a solemn fast-day, and spent in the deepest seclusion. Under the date of a letter, written on the 2nd of August some years after, he writes the following touching note:-"4 August, Dies natalis atque fatalis incidit," translated underneath by himself" The day of birth and of death draweth nigh." |