That Sir Walter Scott should have sprained his foot in running
round the room when a child, may seem unworthy of notice in his
biography; yet 'Ivanhoe,' 'Old Mortality,' and all the Waverley
novels depended upon it. When his son intimated a desire to enter
the army, Scott wrote to Southey, "I have no title to combat a
choice which would have been my own, had not my lameness
prevented." So that, had not Scott been lame, he might have
fought all through the Peninsular War, and had his breast covered
with medals; but we should probably have had none of those works
of his which have made his name immortal, and shed so much glory
upon his country. Talleyrand also was kept out of the army, for
which he had been destined, by his lameness; but directing his
attention to the study of books, and eventually of men, he at
length took rank amongst the greatest diplomatists of his time.
Byron's clubfoot had probably not a little to do with determining
his destiny as a poet. Had not his mind been embittered and made
morbid by his deformity, he might never have written a line--he
might have been the noblest fop of his day. But his misshapen
foot stimulated his mind, roused his ardour, threw him upon his
own resources--and we know with what result.
So, too, of Scarron, to whose hunchback we probably owe his
cynical verse; and of Pope, whose satire was in a measure the
outcome of his deformity--for he was, as Johnson described him,
"protuberant behind and before.
Pages:
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364