VII — ‘The Letters of Malachi Malagrowther’
By Sir Walter Scott
(To what has been said in the Introduction respecting the Letters of Malachi Malagrowther it is only necessary to add that their immediate cause was a Bill due to the very commercial crisis which indirectly ruined Scott himself, and introduced in the spring of 1826 for stopping the note circulation of private banks altogether, while limiting that of the Bank of England to notes of £5 and upwards. The scheme, which was to extend to the whole of Great Britain, was from the first unpopular in Scotland, and Scott plunged into the fray. The letters excited or coincided with such violent opposition throughout the country that the Bill was limited to England only. As Scott was a strong Tory, his friends in the Government, especially Lord Melville and Croker (who was officially employed to answer ‘Malachi’), were rather sore at his action. He defended himself in some spirited private letters, which will be found in Lockhart.)