The Fortunes of Nigel

The Fortunes of Nigel

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Title: The Fortunes of Nigel
Author: Sir Walter Scott
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A TALE WHICH HOLDETH CHILDREN FROM PLAY & OLD
MEN FROM THE CHIMNEY CORNER --SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
The FORTUNES OF NIGEL
by Sir WALTER SCOTT Bart

INTRODUCTION
But why should lordlings all our praise engross? Rise, honest man, and
sing the Man of Ross.
Pope
Having, in the tale of the Heart of Mid-Lothian, succeeded in some
degree in awakening an interest in behalf of one devoid of those
accomplishments which belong to a heroine almost by right, I was next
tempted to choose a hero upon the same unpromising plan; and as
worth of character, goodness of heart, and rectitude of principle, were
necessary to one who laid no claim to high birth, romantic sensibility,
or any of the usual accomplishments of those who strut through the
pages of this sort of composition, I made free with the name of a person
who has left the most magnificent proofs of his benevolence and
charity that the capital of Scotland has to display.
To the Scottish reader little more need be said than that the man alluded
to is George Heriot. But for those south of the Tweed, it may be
necessary to add, that the person so named was a wealthy citizen of
Edinburgh, and the King's goldsmith, who followed James to the
English capital, and was so successful in his profession, as to die, in
1624, extremely wealthy for that period. He had no children; and after
making a full provision for such relations as might have claims upon

him, he left the residue of his fortune to establish an hospital, in which
the sons of Edinburgh freemen are gratuitously brought up and
educated for the station to which their talents may recommend them,
and are finally enabled to enter life under respectable auspices. The
hospital in which this charity is maintained is a noble quadrangle of the
Gothic order, and as ornamental to the city as a building, as the manner
in which the youths are provided for and educated, renders it useful to
the community as an institution. To the honour of those who have the
management, (the Magistrates and Clergy of Edinburgh), the funds of
the Hospital have increased so much under their care, that it now
supports and educates one hundred and thirty youths annually, many of
whom have done honour to their country in different situations.
The founder of such a charity as this may be reasonably supposed to
have walked through life with a steady pace, and an observant eye,
neglecting no opportunity of assisting those who were not possessed of
the experience necessary for their own guidance. In supposing his
efforts directed to the benefit of a young nobleman, misguided by the
aristocratic haughtiness of his own time, and the prevailing tone of
selfish luxury which seems more peculiar to ours, as well as the
seductions of pleasure which are predominant in all, some amusement,
or even some advantage, might, I thought, be derived from the manner
in which I might bring the exertions of this civic Mentor to bear in his
pupil's behalf. I am, I own, no great believer in the moral utility to be
derived from fictitious compositions; yet, if in any case a word spoken
in season may be of advantage to a young person, it must surely be
when it calls upon him to attend to the voice of principle