SIR W. SCOTT.

Walter Scott was born in the Old Town of Edinburgh, April 15, 1771, in a house at the head of the College Wynd, which has been pulled down to make way for the new buildings of the University. His father was a writer to the signet, his grandfather a farmer resident in Roxburghshire, who traced his descent to the ancient Border family of Scott of Harden. His infancy gave no promise of the robust manhood which he attained: and in addition to general weakness of constitution, his right foot received an early injury, which rendered him lame through life. This delicacy of health induced his parents to send him, when almost an infant, to his grandfather’s farm at Sandyknow in Roxburghshire, adjoining the Border fortress called Smailholm Tower, in the heart of that romantic pastoral district whose scenery and legends he has rendered famous.[5]“His residence at this secluded spot, which after early boyhood was, we believe, occasionally renewed during the summer vacations of the High School and College, was undoubtedly fraught with many advantages, physical and mental. It was here that his feeble constitution was, by the aid of free air and exercise, gradually strengthened into robustness; and though he never got rid of his lameness, it was so far overcome as to be in after life rather a deformity than an inconvenience. It was here that his love of ballad lore and border story was fostered into a passion; and it was here doubtless, and at the house of one of his uncles, Mr. Thomas Scott, of Woolee, also a Roxburghshire farmer, that he early acquired that intimate acquaintance with the manners,character, and language of the Scottish peasantry, which he afterwards turned to such admirable account in his novels.”

5.This, and the other passages marked with inverted commas, except those taken from Scott’s Autobiography, are derived from a memoir of Sir Walter Scott published in the Penny Magazine, No. 37, and written by Scott’s countryman and acquaintance, the late Mr. Pringle.

In October, 1779, he entered the High School of Edinburgh, which he attended during four years. He there acquired the character of being “a remarkably active and dauntless boy, full of all manner of fun, and ready for all manner of mischief;” and so far from being timid or quiet on account of his lameness, that very defect, (as he himself remarked to be usually the case in similar circumstances with boys of enterprising disposition) prompted him to take the lead among all the stirring boys in the street where he lived, or the school which he attended. In Greek and Latin he made little progress, and obtained little credit for talent or industry from his masters; but he has invoked his surviving school-fellows, in the Introduction to the last edition of the Waverley Novels, “to bear witness that I had a distinguished character for talent as a tale-teller, at a time when the applause of my companions was the recompense for the disgraces and punishments which the future romance-writer incurred for being idle himself, and keeping others idle, during hours of the day that should have been employed upon our tasks.”

He entered the University of Edinburgh in October, 1783; but his attendance there was only for two sessions. About the age of fifteen the rupture of a blood-vessel again reduced him to a very weak state, and during the space of two years bodily and mental exertion were forbidden. He had recourse for amusement to a circulating library, “rich,” he says, “in works of fiction, from the romances of chivalry, and the ponderous folios of Cyrus and Cassandra, down to the most approved works of later times. I was plunged into this great ocean of reading without compass or pilot, and unless when some one had the charity to play at chess with me I was allowed to do nothing, save read, from morning to night.... I believe I read almost all the old romances, old plays, and epic poetry in that formidable collection, and no doubt was unconsciously amassing materials for the task in which it has been my lot to be so much employed. At the same time I did not in all respects abuse the license permitted me. Familiar acquaintance with the specious miracles of fiction brought with it some degree of satiety, and I began by degrees to seek in histories, memoirs, voyages and travels, and the like, events nearly as wonderful as those which were the work of the imagination, with the additional advantage that they were at least in a great measure true. The lapse of two years, during which I was left to the service of my own free will, was followed by a temporary residence inthe country, where I was again very lonely but for the amusement which I derived from a good though old-fashioned library. The vague and wild use which I made of this advantage I cannot describe better than by referring my reader to the desultory studies of Waverley in a similar situation; the passages concerning whose reading were imitated from recollections of my own.”

After recovering from this illness his constitution changed, and he became unusually robust, and capable of enduring great bodily and mental fatigue; even his lameness occasioning no serious inconvenience. He then applied himself in earnest to the study of law, and, to acquire a thorough knowledge of its technicalities, went through the duties of a clerk in his father’s office. He completed the usual course of legal education, and was called to the bar in July, 1792. He seemed however little anxious for business; and as usual, business unsought came slowly: in his legal capacity he acquired neither wealth nor distinction. But, in amends for this, in those days of volunteer corps, he made an admirable quarter-master to the Edinburgh Light Dragoons; and his zeal and skill, and the popularity which his high powers of social entertainment procured, recommended him to the friendship of the Duke of Buccleugh, by whose interest he obtained, in December, 1799, the appointment of Sheriff of Selkirkshire, with a salary of 300l.He had married in 1797 Miss Carpenter, a lady of foreign birth but English parentage, possessed of fortune sufficient, when added to the salary of his office, and his own patrimonial inheritance, to release him from the necessity of labouring at the bar for a livelihood. This was a step on which his mind had been some time bent. “My profession and I,” he says, “came to stand nearly on the footing which honest Slender consoled himself on having established with Mistress Anne Page—‘There was no great love between us at the beginning, and it pleased Heaven to decrease it on farther acquaintance.’ I became sensible that the time was come when I must either buckle myself resolutely to ‘the toil by day, the lamp by night,’ renouncing all the Dalilahs of my imagination, or bid adieu to the profession of the law, and hold another course.”

Scott was not a premature writer; he had reached his twenty-fifth year before he tried his strength in composition, excepting a few trivial attempts in childhood; and his name was still unknown to the public, when he resolved to devote his powers to literature. His first essays were made about 1796, when his attention was caught by the Leonora, and other poems of Bürger, which he translated and publishedanonymously. “The adventure,” he says, “proved a dead loss, and a great part of this edition was condemned to the service of the trunk-maker.” His next performance was a translation of Goethe’s drama, Goetz of Berlichingen, published in 1799. But he continued his devotion to ballad poetry, and as his confidence rose, essayed his strength in Glenfinlas, and the Eve of St. John, his first original compositions. At Lasswade on the banks of the Esk, about five miles from Edinburgh, where he spent several summers after his marriage, he prosecuted with increased zeal and success his favourite inquiries into the antiquities and legendary song of his country, and commenced the work which gave him a name in literature, the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. “The materials for this work were collected during various excursions, orraids, as Sir Walter was wont to call them, through the most remote recesses of the border glens, made by the poetical compiler in person, assisted by one or two other enthusiasts in ballad lore. Pre-eminent among his coadjutors in this undertaking was Dr. John Leyden, an enthusiastic borderer and ballad-monger like himself, and to whom he has gratefully acknowledged his obligations both in verse and prose.”

“Some amusing anecdotes have been printed, and others are still extant in oral tradition among the border hills, of the circumstances attending the collection of these ballads. The old women, who were almost the only remaining depositories of ancient song and tradition, though proud of being solicited to recite them by ‘so grand a man’ as an Edinburgh Advocate, could not repress their astonishment that ‘a man o’ sense and lair’ should spend his time in writing into a book ‘auld ballads and stories of the bluidy Border wars, and paipish times....’ The Minstrelsy was printed at Kelso, in 1802, at first in two volumes, to which a third was added in the second edition. Two years subsequently Scott published the romance of Sir Tristram, a Scottish metrical tale of the thirteenth century, which he showed, in a learned disquisition, to have been composed by Thomas of Ercildown, commonly called the Rhymer.”

“These works, especially the Border Minstrelsy, were favourably received by the public, and established Scott’s reputation on a very respectable footing, as an excellent poetical antiquary, and as a writer of considerable power and promise, both in verse and prose. As yet, however, he had produced no composition of originality and importance sufficient to secure that high and permanent rank in literature, to which his secret ambition led him to aspire. But he had now a subject in hand which was destined to attain for him apopularity far beyond what his most sanguine hopes could have ventured to anticipate.”

“The Lay of the Last Minstrel appeared in 1805. The structure of the verse was suggested, as the author states, by the Christabel of Coleridge; a part of which had been repeated to him about the year 1800. The originality, wildness, poetical beauty, and descriptive powers of Scott’s Border romance produced an effect on the public mind, only to be equalled perhaps by some of the earlier works of Byron.”

“In the spring of 1806 Sir Walter obtained an appointment, which, he says, completely met his moderate wishes as to preferment. This was the office of a principal Clerk of Session, of which the duties are by no means heavy, though personal attendance during the sitting of the courts is required. Mr. Pitt, under whose administration the appointment had been granted, having died before it was officially completed, the succeeding Whig ministry had the satisfaction of confirming it. The emoluments of this office were about 1200l.a year; but Scott received no part of the salary till 1812, the appointment being a reversionary one.”

His reputation and his fortune seemed now to be completely established. Marmion, published in 1808, and the Lady of the Lake, in 1810, were received each with greater favour than its predecessor. Don Roderick, 1811, was not successful; Rokeby, 1813, and The Lord of the Isles, 1814, were generally thought inferior in merit to his earlier works. This might arise, in part, from the extraordinary rapidity of their composition: for Rokeby was commenced September 15, and finished December 31, 1812; and the Lord of the Isles was written in the following autumn, with equal rapidity, but under circumstances which rendered the task a burden, and damped the fire of his muse. Still these, like their predecessors, commanded very large sales, and brought in large sums to the author, and large profits to the publishers. His popularity, however, was on the ebb, and it was the general impression that Scott had nearly written himself out. At the time when this was said, he had already published one anonymous poem, the Bridal of Triermain, 1810, as if ashamed of his prolific pen. Afterwards, in 1817, he published Harold the Dauntless, in the same way. The censure, however, was not unfounded; and the two last acknowledged poems of Scott were inferior in interest and execution to his earlier productions. Another reason for the decrease of Scott’s popularity he has himself assigned, in the rapid growth of Lord Byron’s.

It was about the end of 1813 that accident threw in his way the mislaid manuscript of the beginning of Waverley, seven chapters of which he had composed in 1805, and had thrown aside, in deference to the unfavourable opinion of a critical friend. At different times he had been inclined to resume this work, but had been prevented by the loss of the manuscript: which he now applied himself in earnest to complete. Waverley was published in the summer of 1814; and obtained success beyond the author’s fondest expectations. The history of this wonderful series of works of fiction, and the author’s reasons for adopting and retaining his incognito, are familiar to the public, through his own account in the Introduction to the Waverley Novels. The manner in which the secret was kept is a remarkable anecdote in literary history: for, whatever conclusions might be drawn from internal evidence by Scott’s intimate friends, and from putting things together by the public, not a particle of external evidence was produced to fasten it upon him, until the failure of Constable’s house in 1826 led to Scott’s public avowal of the authorship in 1827. Perhaps this mystery tended to keep alive the public interest: perhaps also Scott had a keener relish of the homage paid to the Great Unknown, than if it had been offered to him in his own person.

Scott’s metrical romances, as they were composed with unexampled rapidity, commanded also unexampled prices from the booksellers. And at the same time he found leisure for a variety of laborious works in criticism, biography, and miscellaneous literature, which added considerably both to his funds and his reputation. Among these were new editions of the works of Dryden and Swift, with biographical accounts; Sadler’s State Papers; Somers’s Tracts; Lives of the Novelists; besides numerous contributions to encyclopædias, reviews, and other periodical publications. His scheme of devoting himself to literature had borne fruit of fame and profit beyond his brightest anticipations. His certain income (we presume after the year 1812) is said by Mr. Pringle to have exceeded 2000l.: and he was supposed to double that sum by the exuberant harvest of his brain.

“Amidst all this labour Scott found abundant leisure not only for his official avocations, but for social enjoyment and rural recreation. While the Court of Session was sitting, he lived in Edinburgh, in a good substantial house in North Castle Street. During the vacations he resided in the country, and appeared to enter with ardour into the ordinary occupations and amusements of country gentlemen. After he was appointed Sheriff of Selkirk he hired for his summerresidence the house and farm of Ashiesteil, on the banks of the Tweed; and here many of his poetical works were written. But with the increase of his resources grew the desire to possess landed property of his own, where he might indulge his tastes for building, planting, and gardening. Commencing with moderation, he purchased a small farm of about one hundred acres, lying on the south bank of the Tweed, three miles above Melrose, and in the very centre of that romantic and legendary country which his first great poem has made familiar to every reader. This spot, then called Cartly Hole, had a northern exposure, and at that time a somewhat bleak and uninviting aspect: the only habitable house upon it was a small and inconvenient farm-house. Such was the nucleus of the mansion and estate of Abbotsford. By degrees, as his resources increased, he added farm after farm to his domain, and reared his chateau, turret after turret, till he completed what a French tourist not inaptly terms ‘a romance of stone and lime,’ clothing meanwhile the hills behind, and embowering the lawns before, with flourishing woods of his own planting. The embellishment of his house and grounds, and the enlargement of his landed property, became, after the establishment of his literary reputation, the objects, apparently, of Scott’s most engrossing interest; and whatever may be the intrinsic value of the estate as a heritage to his posterity, he has at least succeeded in erecting a scene altogether of no ordinary attractions, and worthy of being associated with his distinguished name.”

“During the greater part of the summer and autumn he kept house at Abbotsford like a wealthy country gentleman, receiving with a cordial, yet courtly, hospitality, the many distinguished persons, both from England and the Continent, who found means to obtain an introduction to his enchanted castle. Anything more delightful than a visit to Abbotsford, when Sir Walter was in the full enjoyment of his health and spirits, can scarcely be imagined. After his morning labours, which, even when busiest, were seldom protracted beyond mid-day, (his time for composition being usually from seven to eleven or twelve o’clock,) he devoted himself to the entertainment of his guests with so much unaffected cordiality, such hilarity of spirits, and such homely kindliness of manner, and above all with such an entire absence of literary pretension, that the shyest stranger found himself at once on terms of the easiest familiarity with the most illustrious man in Europe.”

In the spring of 1820, Scott was created a baronet by George IV., as a testimony of personal regard; and on the King’s visit to Scotlandin 1822, he was appointed to superintend the arrangements for his Majesty’s reception; an office gratifying to his national feelings and antiquarian tastes, as well as to his aristocratical predilections.

The profusion of his expenditure no doubt had considerable effect in strengthening the general belief that Scott was the author of the Waverley Novels; inasmuch as he possessed no ostensible means from which the sums expended in the purchase and improvement of Abbotsford, as well as the liberal hospitality which he there exercised, could be defrayed. His urbanity, his innate kindliness of nature, his unassuming demeanour, and readiness to foster humble merit, had almost disarmed ill-will, besides softening the asperity of party feelings; and men looked without envy on a fortune which, to be the produce of one man’s literary labours for the short space of twenty years, seemed almost beyond belief, as well as beyond example, and acknowledged it to be deserved, without a doubt of its continuance, or reality. In this belief, (for otherwise he would have acted differently, being naturally a prudent man,) Scott himself rested secure, until January, 1826, when the house of Constable and Co. became bankrupt, at the close of that calamitous season which pressed so heavily upon all branches of trade. He then, to use his own words, found himself called on to meet the demands of creditors upon commercial establishments with which his fortunes had long been bound up, to the extent of no less a sum than 120,000l.How and why he was led into so deep a confidence, and how far the prices received for his works were connected with his commercial transactions, has never, we believe, been clearly explained, nor does it much import the public to know; the error, so far as his reputation is concerned, (and the only charge against him was want of prudence,) he amply redeemed by the nobleness of his conduct under this crushing misfortune; and it has been truly said that “the honour which rests upon his memory for his gigantic exertions to pay off this immense debt without deduction, is a far nobler heritage to his posterity than the most princely fortune.”

“On meeting his creditors, he refused to accept of any compromise, and declared his determination, if life was spared him, to pay off every shilling. He insured his life in their favour for 22,000l.; surrendered all his available property in trust (Abbotsford being rendered inalienable by the marriage articles of his eldest son); sold his town house and furniture, and removed to a humbler dwelling; and then set himself calmly down to the stupendous task of reducing this load of debt. The only indulgence he asked for was time; and, to the honour of the partiesconcerned, time was liberally and kindly given him. A month or two after the crash of Constable’s house, Lady Scott died; domestic affliction thus following fast upon worldly calamity.”

For five years after his pecuniary misfortunes, namely, from January 1826 to the spring of 1831, Sir Walter continued his indefatigable labours; and in that period, besides several new works of fiction, he produced the History of Scotland, published in Lardner’s Cyclopædia, Tales of a Grandfather, Letters on Demonology, and a number of smaller pieces. The Life of Napoleon was in part composed anterior to the calamity of which we speak: it was published in 1827, and though read with interest, did not display the research and impartiality which the character of an historian requires. He also superintended a new edition of the Waverley Novels, with prefaces and illustrative notes; and the profits of all these works were so considerable, that by the close of 1830, 54,000l.had been paid off; all of which, except six or seven thousand, had been produced by his own literary labours. The copyright of the published novels was sold by Constable’s creditors for 8,400l., half of which was assigned to Sir Walter by his creditors, in consideration of his assistance in furnishing prefaces and notes to the new edition.

But over-exertion in the evening of life, and under circumstances too well calculated to weaken the elasticity of his spirits, and to destroy the pleasure which he used to feel in composition, broke his constitution and brought on premature old age. In the autumn of 1830 he retired from his office of Clerk of Session. In the following winter, symptoms of paralysis began to appear. Still he continued to labour until the summer of 1831, in the course of which mental exertion was strictly forbidden. He was advised to visit Italy in the following autumn, and even in his declining condition must have been gratified by the sympathy and the honour rendered to him. A passage to Malta in the Barham man-of-war was granted to him by the British Government; and at Rome and Naples he was received with honours rarely paid except to royal blood. But his desire to return to his native land became irrepressible; and he hurried homewards, taking the route by the Rhine, with a rapidity which proved very injurious. He reached London in nearly the last stage of physical and mental weakness. Still the love of his native land was strong in death, and after remaining some weeks in the metropolis, he was conveyed at his own earnest desire by sea to Leith, and reached Abbotsford, July 11. After lingering two months, almost without consciousness, in the last stage of his most afflictive malady,he expired, September 22, 1832. His body was laid in his family burial-place in the ruined abbey of Dryburgh on the Tweed.

Throughout the kingdom his death was regarded like the loss of a friend; and the general admiration of his talents, respect for his conduct, and sympathy for his misfortunes, was shown by the favourable reception of a project for raising a subscription to discharge the incumbrances existing on the Abbotsford estate, and to preserve it by entail in Sir Walter’s family, as a lasting memorial of his genius.

Scott’s works, in the last uniform edition, fill eighty-eight closely printed duodecimo volumes. Of these his poems occupy twelve, the novels forty-eight, the miscellaneous prose works twenty-eight. The Letters on Demonology, History of Scotland, and a few minor productions are not included herein, in consequence of the copyrights being vested in different hands. From his numerous unnamed works, we may select for mention his Border Antiquities, Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, his share in Weber and Jameson’s Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, Paul’s Letters, which contain the liveliest description ever given of the Battle of Waterloo, and three dramas, Halidon Hill, the Doom of Devorgoil, and the Auchindrane Tragedy.

[View of Abbotsford.]

In closing this Series, an apology may be thought necessary for the omission of many portraits which have formerly been advertised for publication. In a few instances this has arisen from the nonexistence of authentic portraits; in some from their remoteness, or the difficulty of obtaining leave to copy those which are known to exist: the latter causes have compelled us to engrave from prints to a greater extent than was at first contemplated. But where access could be had to the originals, in France and Italy as well as England, artists have been employed to copy them for the engraver’s use; and it is our duty to express our gratitude for the liberality with which applications for this purpose have, for the most part, been acceded to. One important branch of science, metaphysics, has been left with very few representatives, in consequence of the highly controversial nature of the subject. This work was planned to include those, and those only, of all nations, who since the revival of art and within the era of authentic portraiture, have been great originators and inventors in arts, sciences, and literature: but the line which separates those who have originated from those who have improved or greatly excelled, is so hard to draw, that many persons have been admitted, whose claims may not be reconcilable with a strict adherence to the principle at first laid down; and one extension forms a precedent and reason for another. Regarding it as a collection of the most distinguished men of modern times, completeness is impossible, from the vast extent of the subject and the diversities of judgement which differences in character, the bias of natural prejudices, and greater or less familiarity with the results of their lives, cause men to pass upon the worth and eminence of others. A Briton may think the foreigners in our collection too numerous; a foreigner will be as likely to say, that in choosing full one half from our own countrymen, we have given way to national pride: but to every nation its own great men are the most interesting and the most important. We believe, however, that except where no portraits can be found, as in the cases of the inventor of Printing, and the discoverer of the New World[6], no branch of science is without one or more of its fittest and most distinguished representatives; and we claim the meritof having brought together, in a book of easy access, a greater number of the genuine likenesses of men eminent in every branch of honourable distinction than has ever been included in a similar scheme.

6.There is a Portrait of Columbus at Naples, but it is of a late age.

An extension of the work would no doubt have allowed us to approximate somewhat nearer to completeness. But in every undertaking of this sort there is a limit in respect of size and expense which it is inexpedient to pass: and this consideration prescribes that for the present we should end our labour. But death has added many illustrious names to our list since it was first drawn up; and as every year lays some honoured head in the grave, a fresh fund of interest, and fresh reasons for the resumption of the work, will be continually accruing. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the Gallery of Portraits may hereafter be resumed and continued in a similar form.

A series of Indexes is subjoined, which present the portraits in alphabetical and chronological order, and classed according to the pursuits in which they have excelled, and the nations to which they belong. This it is hoped will make amends for the absence of any system in the order of their issuing, which would have rendered it almost impossible to maintain the monthly publication with punctuality.

We avail ourselves of this opportunity to correct a few mistakes in the text; but have not thought it necessary to give a list of obvious or unimportant errata.

Life of Fox, vol. i., p. 107, par. 3. The anecdote here told, applies, we have been informed, not to the debate on the Test Act, but to the application of dissenting ministers for relief on the subject of Subscription.

Life of Banks, vol. i., p. 193,forFebruary 13,readJanuary 4: on the authority of his baptismal register. See Penny Cyclopædia.

Life of More, vol. ii., p. 32, line 22,for1555,read1535.

Life of Pascal, vol. ii., p. 51,forSir W.,readSir John Herschel.

Life of Bentley, vol. iii., p. 51, three lines from bottom,for1781,read1701.

Life of Schwartz, vol. iii., p. 93, last line but one,forbeing,readbesides.

Life of D’Aguesseau, vol. iv., p. 5, eleven lines from bottom,read, in which, it was said, the obnoxious.

Life of Blake, vol. v., p. 77,read, Robert Blake was born at the seaport town of Bridgewater in Somersetshire, where his father followed the occupation of a merchant, in August, 1598.

Ib., p. 82, line 5,afterApril 20,insert1657.

Ib., p. 83, line 15,forrevolution,readrestoration.

Life of Maskelyne, vol. vi., p. 21, last line but six,omitdid.

Life of Jenner, vol. vi., p. 28, line 18. We believe this statement to be exaggerated; but have not the means before us of tracing the error.

Back to Index Next