Probably few men have charmed so many fellow-creatures of all classes.
His family was now growing up. Scott had made companions of his children, and never minded their interruptions. He cared little for the regular educational systems, but tried to interest them in poetry and history by his talk, and taught them to ride and speak the truth. The boys were sent to the high school from their home. In 1819 the eldest, Walter, joined the 18th hussars, in spite of his father's preference for the bar. Scott's letters to him are full of admirable good sense and paternal confidence. The eldest daughter, Sophia, married John Gibson Lockhart [q. v.] in April 1820. The Lockharts took the cottage of Chiefswood upon the Abbotsford estate, where they became valuable elements of Scott's circle.
At the end of 1818 Lord Sidmouth informed Scott of the prince regent's desire to confer a baronetcy upon him. Scott's hesitation was overcome by the prospect of an inheritance from his brother-in-law, Charles Carpenter, who had left a reversion of his property to his sister's children. It was estimated at 40,000l. or 50,000l., though it turned out to be only half that amount. The actual appointment was delayed by his illness till 30 March 1820, when he went to London, and kissed the new king's hands. George IV at the same time directed Lawrence to paint a portrait of Scott, as the beginning of a series for the great gallery at Windsor. Both Oxford and Cambridge offered him an honorary degree in 1820; but he was unable to present himself for the purpose. In the same year he was induced to accept the rather incongruous position of president of the Royal Society of Scotland. If he knew little of science, he succeeded in making friends of scientific men and giving charm to their meetings. Scott was informed in 1823 that the ‘author of “Waverley”’ was elected member of the Roxburghe Club, and consented to act as locum tenens of the ‘great unknown.’ He founded the Bannatyne Club the same year, and took a very active part in it for the rest of his life. He was also about 1823 elected to ‘The Club.’
In 1821 Scott attended the coronation of George IV, and wrote a description for Ballantyne's ‘Edinburgh Weekly Journal’ (given in Lockhart, p. 454, &c.). In 1822 he took a leading part in the reception of George IV at Edinburgh. He arranged the details; coaxed highland chiefs and lowland bailies into good humour, wrote appropriate ballads, and showed an enthusiasm scarcely justified by the personal character of the monarch. He begged a glass out of which the king had drunk his health to be kept as a relic, and sat down upon it, fortunately injuring only the glass (Lockhart, ch. lvi.) He was amused by the visit at this time of the poet Crabbe, with whom he had previously corresponded, and profoundly saddened by the melancholy death of his old, and it seems his dearest, friend, William Erskine. Scott had to snatch opportunities in the midst of the confusion to visit the dying man. During this period Scott's toryism and patriotic feelings were keenly excited. In January 1819 he had taken extraordinary interest in the discovery of the Scottish regalia, which had been locked up at the time of the union and were reported to have been sent to England. On the king's visit, he applied for the restoration to Edinburgh of ‘Mons Meg,’ then in the Tower of London, which was ultimately returned in 1829. He petitioned at the same time also for the restoration of the Scottish peerages forfeited in 1715 and 1745. He had some connection with more important political affairs. The popular discontent in 1819 had induced Scott and some of his neighbours to raise a volunteer force in the loyal districts, to be prepared against a supposed combination of Glasgow artisans and Northumberland colliers. The force was to be called the ‘Buccleuch legion,’ and Scott was ready to take the command. The political bitterness roused by this and the queen's trial led to the starting of the notorious ‘Beacon’ in 1821. Scott was induced to be one of the subscribers to a bond for raising the necessary funds. He was considered to be partly responsible for the virulent abuse which the paper directed against the whigs, and which led to the duel in which Sir Alexander Boswell [q. v.] was killed in March 1822. Sir James Gibson Craig [q. v.] intended, according to Cockburn (Memorials, p. 382), to send a challenge to Scott, but refrained on receiving an assurance that Scott was not personally concerned. The paper was suppressed, and Scott was as much disgusted by the cowardice as by the previous imprudence. Cockburn complains that the young tories who indulged in this warfare were encouraged by his ‘chuckling’ over their libels instead of checking them. He was, as Cockburn says, flattered by their admiration into condoning offences, though there ‘could not be a better natured or a better hearted man.’ It must be added that, as Mr. Lang has shown (Life of Lockhart, i. 194, &c.), Scott seriously disapproved of the personalities, and remonstrated effectually with Lockhart. Scott in 1821 adopted plans
