John Bowring, engraved by William Holl the Younger after Bryan Edward Duppa

From: Robert Chambers (ed.), A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (Glasgow: Blackie, 1835)

The political economist and linguist John Bowring visited Scott at Abbotsford in 1830. Scott thought him a 'clever' and 'very agreeable' man (letter to Robert Cadell, 23 April 1830). A description of the visit and a biographical sketch of Scott are included in the posthumously printed Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring (London: Henry S. King, 1877). During the last months of his life Bowring was part of the Committee which organized the celebration of the centenary of Scott's birth in Melrose in 1871. The engraving by Willam Holl the Younger was first published in 1840; the original portrait was probably completed shortly beforehand.