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diff --git a/16715-8.txt b/16715-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3471d9f --- /dev/null +++ b/16715-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9238 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature +by Margaret Ball + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature + +Author: Margaret Ball + +Release Date: September 18, 2005 [EBook #16715] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR WALTER SCOTT AS A CRITIC *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Lynn Bornath, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: All footnotes have been gathered at +the end of the text.] + + +SIR WALTER SCOTT + +AS A CRITIC OF LITERATURE + + +BY + +MARGARET BALL, PH.D. + + + +New York +THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS +1907 + + + + +Copyright, 1907 +BY THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS +Printed from type November, 1907 + + +PRESS OF +THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY +LANCASTER, PA. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The lack of any adequate discussion of Scott's critical work is a +sufficient reason for the undertaking of this study, the subject of +which was suggested to me more than three years ago by Professor Trent +of Columbia University. We still use critical essays and monumental +editions prepared by the author of the Waverley novels, but the +criticism has been so overshadowed by the romances that its importance +is scarcely recognized. It is valuable in itself, as well as in the +opportunity it offers of considering the relation of the critical to the +creative mood, an especially interesting problem when it is presented +concretely in the work of a great writer. + +No complete bibliography of Scott's writings has been published, and +perhaps none is possible in the case of an author who wrote so much +anonymously. The present attempt includes some at least of the books and +articles commonly left unnoticed, which are chiefly of a critical or +scholarly character. + +I am glad to record my gratitude to Professor William Allan Neilson, now +of Harvard University, and to Professors A.H. Thorndike, W.W. Lawrence, +G.P. Krapp, and J.E. Spingarn, of Columbia, for suggestions in +connection with various parts of the work. From the beginning Professor +Trent has helped me constantly by his advice as well as by the +inspiration of his scholarship, and my debt to him is one which can be +understood only by the many students who have known his kindness. + +MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, +June, 1907. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + +Introduction: An Outline of Scott's Literary Career 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +Scott's Qualifications as Critic 9 + + +CHAPTER III. + +Scott's Work as Student and Editor in the Field of Literary History + + 1. The Mediaeval Period + (a) Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border 17 + (b) Studies in the Romances 32 + (c) Other Studies in Mediaeval Literature 40 + + 2. The Drama 46 + + 3. The Seventeenth Century: Dryden 59 + + 4. The Eighteenth Century + (a) Swift 65 + (b) The Somers Tracts 70 + (c) The Lives of the Novelists, and Comments on other + Eighteenth Century Writers 72 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Scott's Criticism of His Contemporaries 81 + + +CHAPTER V. + +Scott as a Critic of His Own Work 108 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Scott's Position as Critic 134 + + +APPENDICES + +I. Bibliography of Scott, Annotated 147 +II. List of Books Quoted 174 +Index 179 + + + + +A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF +THE PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED (PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED). + + +1802-3 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (edited). + +1804 Sir Tristrem (edited). + +1806 Original Memoirs written during the Great Civil War; the Life of + Sir H. Slingsby, and Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson (edited). + +1808 Memoirs of Capt. Carleton (edited). + +1808 The Works of John Dryden (edited). + +1808 Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, and Fragmenta Regalia + (edited). + +1808 Queenhoo Hall, a Romance; and Ancient Times, a Drama (edited). + +1809 The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler (edited). + +1809-15 The Somers Tracts (edited). + +1811 Memoirs of the Court of Charles II, by Count Grammont (edited). + +1811 Secret History of the Court of James the First (edited). + +1813 Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I, by Sir Philip Warwick + (edited). + +1814 The Works of Jonathan Swift (edited). + +1814-17 The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland. + +1816 Paul's Letters. + +1818 Essay on Chivalry. + +1819 Essay on the Drama. + +1819-26 Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland. + +1820 Trivial Poems and Triolets by Patrick Carey (edited). + +1821 Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland; and + the Contemplative and Practical Angler (edited). + +1821-24 The Novelists' Library (edited). + +1822 Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701 + (edited). + +1822 Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War (edited). + +1824 Essay on Romance. + +1826 Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency. + +1827 The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte. + +1828 Tales of a Grandfather, first series. + +1828 Religious Discourses, by a Layman. + +1828 Proceedings in the Court-martial held upon John, Master of + Sinclair, etc. (edited). + +1829 Memorials of George Bannatyne (edited). + +1829 Tales of a Grandfather, second series. + +1829-32 The "Opus Magnum" (Novels, Tales, and Romances, with + Introductions and Notes by the Author). + +1830 Tales of a Grandfather, third series. + +1830 Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. + +1830 History of Scotland. + +1831 Tales of a Grandfather, fourth series. + +1831 Trial of Duncan Terig, etc. (edited). + + * * * * * + +1890 The Journal of Sir Walter Scott. + +1894 Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + Importance of a study of Scott's critical and scholarly + work--Connection between his creative work and his + criticism--Chronological view of his literary career. + + +Scott's critical work has become inconspicuous because of his +predominant fame as an imaginative writer; but what it loses on this +account it perhaps gains in the special interest attaching to criticism +formulated by a great creative artist. One phase of his work is +emphasized and explained by the other, and we cannot afford to ignore +his criticism if we attempt fairly to comprehend his genius as a poet +and novelist. The fact that he is the subject of one of the noblest +biographies in our language only increases our obligation to become +acquainted with his own presentation of his artistic principles. + +But though criticism by so great and voluminous a writer is valuable +mainly because of the important relation it bears to his other work, and +because of the authority it derives from this relation, Scott's +scholarly and critical writings are individual enough in quality and +large enough in extent to demand consideration on their own merits. Yet +this part of his achievement has received very little attention from +biographers and critics. Lockhart's book is indeed full of materials, +and contains also some suggestive comment on the facts presented; but as +the passing of time has made an estimation of Scott's power more safe, +students have lost interest in his work as a critic, and recent writers +have devoted little attention to this aspect of the great man of +letters.[1] + +The present study is an attempt to show the scope and quality of Scott's +critical writings, and of such works, not exclusively or mainly +critical, as exhibit the range of his scholarship. For it is impossible +to treat his criticism without discussing his scholarship; since, +lightly as he carried it, this was of consequence in itself and in its +influence on all that he did. The materials for analysis are abundant; +and by rearrangement and special study they may be made to contribute +both to the history of criticism and to our comprehension of the power +of a great writer. In considering him from this point of view we are +bound to remember the connection between the different parts of his +vocation. In him, more than in most men of letters, the critic resembled +the creative writer, and though the critical temperament seems to show +itself but rarely in his romances, we find that the characteristic +absence of precise and conscious art is itself in harmony with his +critical creed. + +The relation between the different parts of Scott's literary work is +exemplified by the subjects he treated, for as a critic he touched many +portions of the field, which in his capacity of poet and novelist he +occupied in a different way. He was a historical critic no less than a +historical romancer. A larger proportion of his criticism concerns +itself with the eighteenth century, perhaps, than of his fiction,[2] and +he often wrote reviews of contemporary literature, but on the whole the +literature with which he dealt critically was representative of those +periods of time which he chose to portray in novel and poem. This +evidently implies great breadth of scope. Yet Scott's vivid sense of the +past had its bounds, as Professor Masson pointed out.[3] It was the +"Gothic" past that he venerated. The field of his studies, +chronologically considered, included the period between his own time and +the crusades; and geographically, was in general confined to England and +Scotland, with comparatively rare excursions abroad. When, in his +novels, he carried his Scottish or English heroes out of Britain into +foreign countries, he was apt to bestow upon them not only a special +endowment of British feeling, but also a portion of that interest in +their native literature which marked the taste of their creator. We find +that the personages in his books are often distinguished by that love of +stirring poetry, particularly of popular and national poetry, which was +a dominant trait in Scott's whole literary career. + +With Scotland and with popular poetry any discussion of Sir Walter +properly begins. The love of Scottish minstrelsy first awakened his +literary sense, and the stimulus supplied by ballads and romances never +lost its force. We may say that the little volumes of ballad chap-books +which he collected and bound up before he was a dozen years old +suggested the future editor, as the long poem on the Conquest of +Grenada, which he is said to have written and burned when he was +fifteen, foreshadowed the poet and romancer. + +Yet Scott's career as an author began rather late. He published a few +translations when he was twenty-five years old, but his first notable +work, the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, did not appear until +1802-3, when he was over thirty. This book, the outgrowth of his early +interest in ballads and his own attempts at versifying, exhibited both +his editorial and his creative powers. It led up to the publication of +two important volumes which contained material originally intended to +form part of the _Minstrelsy_, but which outgrew that work. These were +the edition of the old metrical romance _Sir Tristrem_, which showed +Scott as a scholar, and the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, the first of +Scott's own metrical romances. So far his literary achievement was all +of one kind, or of two or three kinds closely related. In this first +period of his literary life, perhaps even more than later, his editorial +impulse, his scholarly activity, was closely connected with the +inspiration for original writing. The _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ was the +climax of this series of enterprises. + +With the publication of the _Minstrelsy_, Scott of course became known +as a literary antiquary. He was naturally called upon for help when the +_Edinburgh Review_ was started a few weeks afterwards, especially as +Jeffrey, who soon became the editor, had long been his friend. The +articles that he wrote during 1803 and 1804 were of a sort that most +evidently connected itself with the work he had been doing: reviews, for +example, of Southey's _Amadis de Gaul_, and of Ellis's _Early English +Poetry_. During 1805-6 the range of his reviewing became wider and he +included some modern books, especially two or three which offered +opportunity for good fun-making. About 1806, however, his aversion to +the political principles which dominated the _Edinburgh Review_ became +so strong that he refused to continue as a contributor, and only once, +years later, did he again write an article for that periodical. + +In the same year, 1806, Scott supplied with editorial apparatus and +issued anonymously _Original Memoirs Written during the Great Civil +War_, the first of what proved to be a long list of publications having +historical interest, sometimes reprints, sometimes original editions +from old manuscripts, to which he contributed a greater or less amount +of material in the shape of introductions and notes. These were +undertaken in a few cases for money, in others simply because they +struck him as interesting and useful labors. It is easy to trace the +relation of this to his other work, particularly to the novels. He once +wrote to a friend, "The editing a new edition of _Somers's Tracts_ some +years ago made me wonderfully well acquainted with the little traits +which marked parties and characters in the seventeenth century, and the +embodying them is really an amusing task."[4] Among the works which he +edited in this way the number of historical memoirs is noticeable. After +the volume that has been mentioned as the first, he prepared another +book of _Memoirs of the Great Civil War_; and we find in the list a +_Secret History of the Court of James I._, _Memoirs of the Reign of King +Charles I._, Count Grammont's _Memoirs of the Court of Charles II._, _A +History of Queen Elizabeth's Favourites_, etc. Such books as these, +besides furnishing material for his novels, led Scott to acquire a mass +of information that enabled him to perform with great facility and with +admirable results whatever editorial work he might choose to undertake. + +These labors Scott always considered as trifles to be dispatched in the +odd moments of his time, but the great edition of _Dryden's Complete +Works_, which he began to prepare soon after the _Minstrelsy_ appeared, +was more important. This, next to the _Minstrelsy_, was probably the +most notable of all Scott's editorial enterprises. It was published in +eighteen volumes in 1808, the year in which _Marmion_ also appeared. +When the poet was reproached by one of his friends for not working more +steadily at his vocation, he replied, "The public, with many other +properties of spoiled children, has all their eagerness after novelty, +and were I to dedicate my time entirely to poetry they would soon tire +of me. I must therefore, I fear, continue to edit a little."[5] His +interest in scholarly pursuits appears even in his first attempt at +writing prose fiction, since Joseph Strutt's unfinished romance, +_Queenhoo Hall_, for which Scott wrote a conclusion, is of consequence +only on account of the antiquarian learning which it exhibits. + +Having become seriously alarmed over the political influence of the +_Edinburgh Review_, Scott was active in forwarding plans for starting a +strong rival periodical in London, and 1809 saw the establishment of the +_Quarterly Review_. By that time he had done a considerable amount of +work in practically every kind except the novel, and he was recognized +as a most efficient assistant and adviser in any such enterprise as the +promoters of the _Quarterly_ were undertaking. Moreover, his own +writings were prominent among the books which supplied material for the +reviewer. He worked hard for the first volume. But after that year he +wrote little for the _Quarterly_ until 1818, and again little until +after Lockhart became editor in 1825. From that time until 1831 he was +an occasional contributor. + +1814 was the year of _Waverley_. Before that the poems had been +appearing in rapid succession, and Scott had been busy with the _Works +of Swift_, which came out also in 1814. The thirteen volumes of the +edition of _Somers' Tracts_, already mentioned, and several smaller +books, bore further witness to his editorial energy. The last of the +long poems was published in 1815, about the same time with _Guy +Mannering_, the second novel, and after that the novels continued to +appear with that rapidity which constitutes one of the chief facts of +Scott's literary career. For a few years after this period he did +comparatively little in the way of editorial work, but his odd moments +were occupied in writing about history, travels, and antiquities.[6] + +In 1820 Scott wrote the _Lives of the Novelists_, which appeared the +next year in Ballantyne's _Novelists' Library_. By this time he had +begun, with _Ivanhoe_, to strike out from the Scottish field in which +all his first novels had been placed. The martial pomp prominent in this +novel reflects the eager interest with which he was at that time +following his son's opening career in the army; just as _Marmion_, +written by the young quartermaster of the Edinburgh Light Horse, also +expresses the military ardor which was so natural to Scott, and which +reminds us of his remark that in those days a regiment of dragoons was +tramping through his head day and night. Probably we might trace many a +reason for his literary preoccupations at special times besides those +that he has himself commented upon. In the case of the critical work, +however, the matter was usually determined for him by circumstances of a +much less intimate sort, such as the appeal of an editor or the +appearance of a book which excited his special interest. + +When Scott was obliged to make as much money as possible he wrote novels +and histories rather than criticism. His _Life of Napoleon Buonaparte_, +which appeared in nine volumes in 1827, enabled him to make the first +large payment on the debts that had fallen upon him in the financial +crash of the preceding year, and the _Tales of a Grandfather_ were among +the most successful of his later books. His critical biographies and +many of his other essays were brought together for the first time in +1827, and issued under the title of _Miscellaneous Prose Works_. The +world of books was making his life weary with its importunate demands in +those years when he was writing to pay his debts, and it is pleasant to +see that some of his later reviews discussed matters that were not less +dear to his heart because they were not literary. The articles on +fishing, on ornamental gardening, on planting waste lands, remind us of +the observation he once made, that his oaks would outlast his laurels. + +By this time the "Author of Waverley" was no longer the "unknown." His +business complications compelled him to give his name to the novels, and +with the loss of a certain kind of privacy he gained the freedom of +which later he made such fortunate use in annotating his own works. From +the beginning of 1828 until the end of his life in 1832, Scott was +engaged, in the intervals of other occupations, in writing these +introductions and notes for his novels, for an edition which he always +called the _Opus Magnum_. This was a pleasant task, charmingly done. +Indeed we may call it the last of those great editorial labors by which +Scott's fame might live unsupported by anything else. First came the +_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, then the editions of Dryden and +Swift. Next we may count the _Lives of the Novelists_, even in the +fragmentary state in which the failure of the _Novelists' Library_ left +them; and finally the _Opus Magnum_. When, in addition, we remember the +mass of his critical work written for periodicals, and the number of +minor volumes he edited, it becomes evident that a study of Scott which +disregards this part of his work can present only a one-sided view of +his achievement. And the qualities of his abundant criticism, especially +its large fresh sanity, seem to make it worthy of closer analysis than +it usually receives, not only because it helps to reveal Scott's genius, +but also on account of the historical and ethical importance which +always attaches to the ideals, literary and other, of a noble man and a +great writer. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SCOTT'S QUALIFICATIONS AS CRITIC + + Wide reading Scott's first qualification--Scott the + antiquary--Character of his interest in history--His + imagination--His knowledge of practical affairs--Common-sense in + criticism--Cheerfulness, good-humor, and optimism--General aspect of + Scott's critical work. + + +Wide and appreciative reading was Scott's first qualification for +critical work. A memory that retained an incredible amount of what he +read was the second. One of the severest censures he ever expressed was +in regard to Godwin, who, he thought, undertook to do scholarly work +without adequate equipment. "We would advise him," Scott said in his +review of Godwin's _Life of Chaucer_, "in future to read before he +writes, and not merely while he is writing." Scott himself had +accumulated a store of literary materials, and he used them according to +the dictates of a temperament which had vivid interests on many sides. + +We may distinguish three points of view which were habitual to Scott, +and which determined the direction of his creative work, as well as the +tone of his criticism. These were--as all the world knows--the +historical, the romantic, the practical. + +He was, as he often chose to call himself, an antiquary; he felt the +appeal of all that was old and curious. But he was much more than that. +The typical antiquary has his mind so thoroughly devoted to the past +that the present seems remote to him. The sheer intellectual capacity of +such a man as Scott might be enough to save him from such a limitation, +for he could give to the past as much attention as an ordinary man could +muster, and still have interest for contemporary affairs; but his +capacity was not all that saved Scott. He viewed the past always as +filled with living men, whose chief occupation was to think and feel +rather than to provide towers and armor for the delectation of future +antiquaries.[7] A sympathetic student of his work has said, "There is +... throughout the poetry of this author, even when he leads us to the +remotest wildernesses and the most desolate monuments of antiquity, a +constant reference to the feelings of man in his social condition."[8] +The past, to the author of _Kenilworth_, was only the far end of the +present, and he believed that the most useful result of the study of +history is a comprehension of the real quality of one's own period and a +wisdom in the conduct of present day affairs.[9] + +The favorite pursuits of Scott's youth indicate that his characteristic +taste showed itself early; indeed it is said that he retained his boyish +traits more completely than most people do. We can trace much of his +love of the past to the family traditions which made the adventurous +life of his ancestors vividly real to him. The annals of the Scotts were +his earliest study, and he developed such an affection for his +freebooting grandsires that in his manhood he confessed to an +unconquerable liking for the robbers and captains of banditti of his +romances, characters who could not be prevented from usurping the place +of the heroes. "I was always a willing listener to tales of broil and +battle and hubbub of every kind," he wrote in later life, "and now I +look back upon it, I think what a godsend I must have been while a boy +to the old Trojans of 1745, nay 1715, who used to frequent my father's +house, and who knew as little as I did for what market I was laying up +the raw materials of their oft-told tales."[10] What attracted him in +his boyhood, and what continued to attract him, was the picturesque +incident, the color of the past, the mere look of its varied activity. +The philosophy of history was gradually revealed to him, however, and +his generalizing faculty found congenial employment in tracing out the +relation of men to movements, of national impulses to world history. But +however much he might exercise his analytical powers, history was never +abstract to him, nor did it require an effort for him to conjure up +scenes of the past. An acquaintance with the stores of early literature +served to give him the spirit of remote times as well as to feed his +literary tastes. On this side he had an ample equipment for critical +work, conditioned, of course, by the other qualities of his mind, which +determined how the equipment should be used. + +That Scott was not a dull digger in heaps of ancient lore was owing to +his imaginative power,--the second of the qualities which we have +distinguished as dominating his literary temperament. "I can see as many +castles in the clouds as any man," he testified.[11] A recent writer has +said that Scott had more than any other man that ever lived a sense of +the romantic, and adds that his was that true romance which "lies not +upon the outside of life, but absolutely in the centre of it."[12] The +situations and the very objects that he described have the power of +stirring the romantic spirit in his readers because he was alive to the +glamour surrounding anything which has for generations been connected +with human thoughts and emotions. The subjectivity which was so +prominent an element in the romanticism of Shelley, Keats, and Byron, +does not appear in Scott's work. Nor was his sense of the mystery of +things so subtle as that of Coleridge. But Scott, rather than Coleridge, +was the interpreter to his age of the romantic spirit, for the ordinary +person likes his wonders so tangible that he may know definitely the +point at which they impinge upon his consciousness. In Scott's work the +point of contact is made clear: the author brings his atmosphere not +from another world but from the past, and with all its strangeness it +has no unearthly quality. In general the romance of his nature is rather +taken for granted than insisted on, for there are the poems and the +novels to bear witness to that side of his temperament; and the +surprising thing is that such an author was a business man, a large +landowner, an industrious lawyer.[13] + +Scott's imaginative sense, which clothed in fine fancies any incident or +scene presented, however nakedly, to his view, accounts in part for his +notorious tendency to overrate the work of other writers, especially +those who wrote stories in any form. This explanation was hinted at by +Sir Walter himself, and formulated by Lockhart; it seems a fairly +reasonable way of accounting for a trait that at first appears to +indicate only a foolish excess of good-nature. This rich and active +imagination, which Scott brought to bear on everything he read, perhaps +explains also his habit of paying little attention to carefully worked +out details, and of laying almost exclusive emphasis upon main outlines. +When he was writing his _Life of Napoleon_, he said in his _Journal_: +"Better a superficial book which brings well and strikingly together the +known and acknowledged facts, than a dull boring narrative, pausing to +see further into a mill-stone at every moment than the nature of the +mill-stone admits."[14] Probably his high gift of imagination made him a +little impatient with the remoter reaches of the analytic faculties. Any +sustained exercise of the pure reason was outside his province, +reasonable as he was in everyday affairs. He preferred to consider +facts, and to theorize only so far as was necessary to establish +comfortable relations between the facts,--never to the extent of trying +to look into the center of a mill-stone. It was not unusual for him to +make very acute observations in the spheres of ethics, economics, and +psychology, and to use them in explaining any situation which might seem +to require their assistance; but these remarks were brief and +incidental, and bore a very definite relation to the concrete ideas they +were meant to illustrate. + +Scott was a business man as well as an antiquary and a poet. Mr. +Palgrave thought Lockhart went too far in creating the impression that +Scott could detach his mind from the world of imagination and apply its +full force to practical affairs.[15] Yet the oversight of lands and +accounts and of all ordinary matters was so congenial to him, and his +practical activities were on the whole conducted with so much spirit and +capability, that after emphasizing his preoccupation with the poetic +aspects of the life of his ancestors, we must turn immediately about and +lay stress upon his keen judgment in everyday affairs. To a school-boy +poet he once wrote: "I would ... caution you against an enthusiasm +which, while it argues an excellent disposition and a feeling heart, +requires to be watched and restrained, though not repressed. It is apt, +if too much indulged, to engender a fastidious contempt for the ordinary +business of the world, and gradually to render us unfit for the exercise +of the useful and domestic virtues which depend greatly upon our not +exalting our feelings above the temper of well-ordered and well-educated +society."[16] He phrased the same matter differently when he said: "'I'd +rather be a kitten and cry, Mew!' than write the best poetry in the +world on condition of laying aside common-sense in the ordinary +transactions and business of the world."[17] "He thought," said +Lockhart, "that to spend some fair portion of every day in any +matter-of-fact occupation is good for the higher faculties themselves in +the upshot."[18] Whether or not we consider this the ideal theory of +life for a poet, we find it reasonable to suppose that a critic will be +the better critic if he preserve some balance between matter-of-fact +occupation and the exercise of his higher faculties. Sir Walter's maxim +applies well to himself at least, and an analysis of his powers as a +critic derives some light from it. + +The thing that is waiting to be said is of course that his criticism is +distinguished by common-sense. Whether common-sense should really +predominate in criticism might perhaps be debated; the quality +indicates, indeed, not only the excellence but also the limitations of +his method. For example, Scott was rather too much given to accepting +popular favor as the test of merit in literary work, and though the +clamorously eager reception of his own books was never able to raise his +self-esteem to a very high pitch, it seems to have been the only thing +that induced him to respect his powers in anything like an appreciative +way.[19] His instinct and his judgment agreed in urging him to avoid +being a man of "mere theory,"[20] and he sought always to test opinions +by practical standards. + +More or less connected with his good sense are other qualities which +also had their effect upon his critical work,--his cheerfulness, his +sweet temper and human sympathy, his modesty, his humor, his +independence of spirit, and his enthusiastic delight in literature. That +his cheerfulness was a matter of temperament we cannot doubt, but it was +also founded on principle. He had remarkable power of self-control.[21] +His opinion that it is a man's duty to live a happy life appears rather +quaintly in the sermonizing with which he felt called upon to temper the +admiration expressed in his articles on _Childe Harold_, and it is +implicit in many of his biographical studies. His own amiability of +course influenced all his work. Satire he considered objectionable, "a +woman's fault,"[22] as he once called it; though he did not feel himself +"altogether disqualified for it by nature."[23] "I have refrained, as +much as human frailty will permit, from all satirical composition,"[24] +he said. For satire he seems to have substituted that kind of "serious +banter, a style hovering between affected gravity and satirical +slyness," which has been pointed out as characteristic of him.[25] +Washington Irving noticed a similar tone in all his familiar +conversations about local traditions and superstitions.[26] + +He was really optimistic, except on some political questions. In his +_Lives of the Novelists_ he shows that he thought manners and morals had +improved in the previous hundred years; and none of his reviews exhibits +the feeling so common among men of letters in all ages, that their own +times are intellectually degenerate. It is true that he looked back to +the days of Blair, Hume, Adam Smith, Robertson, and Ferguson, as the +"golden days of Edinburgh,"[27] but those golden days were no farther +away than his own boyhood, and he had felt the exhilaration of the +stimulating society which he praised. One of his contemporaries spoke of +Scott's own works as throwing "a literary splendour over his native +city";[28] and George Ticknor said of him, "He is indeed the lord of the +ascendant now in Edinburgh, and well deserves to be, for I look upon him +to be quite as remarkable in intercourse and conversation, as he is in +any of his writings, even in his novels."[29] But he could hardly be +expected to perceive the luster surrounding his own personality, and +this one instance of regret for former days counts little against the +abundant evidence that he thought the world was improving. Yet of all +his contemporaries he was probably the one who looked back at the past +with the greatest interest. The impression made by the author of +_Waverley_ upon the mind of a young enthusiast of his own time is too +delightful to pass over without quotation. "He has no eccentric +sympathies or antipathies"; wrote J.L. Adolphus, "no maudlin +philanthropy or impertinent cynicism; no nondescript hobby-horse; and +with all his matchless energy and originality of mind, he is content to +admire popular books, and enjoy popular pleasures; to cherish those +opinions which experience has sanctioned; to reverence those +institutions which antiquity has hallowed; and to enjoy, admire, +cherish, and reverence all these with the same plainness, simplicity, +and sincerity as our ancestors did of old."[30] + +By temperament, then, Scott was enthusiastic over the past and cheerful +in regard to his own day; he was imaginative, practical, genial; and +these traits must be taken into account in judging his critical +writings. These and other qualities may be deduced from the most +superficial study of his creative work. The mere bulk of that work bears +witness to two things: first that Scott was primarily a creative writer; +again, that he was of those who write much rather than minutely. It is +obvious that to attack details would be easy. And since he was only +secondarily a critic, it is natural that his critical opinions should +not have been erected into any system. But while they are essentially +desultory, they are the ideas of a man whose information and enthusiasm +extended through a wide range of studies; and they are rendered +impressive by the abundance, variety, and energy, which mark them as +characteristic of Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SCOTT'S WORK AS STUDENT AND EDITOR IN THE FIELD OF LITERARY HISTORY + + +THE MEDIAEVAL PERIOD + +_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ + + Scott's early interest in ballads--Casual origin of the + _Minstrelsy_--Importance of the book in Scott's career--Plan of the + book--Mediaeval scholarship of Scott's time--His theory as to the + origin of ballads and their deterioration--His attitude toward the + work of previous editors--His method of forming texts--Kinds of + changes he made--His qualifications for emending old poetry--Modern + imitations of the ballad included in the _Minstrelsy_--Remarks on + the ballad style--Impossibility of a scientific treatment of + folk-poetry in Scott's time--Real importance of the _Minstrelsy_. + + +We think of the _Border Minstrelsy_ as the first work which resulted +from the preparation of Scott's whole youth, between the days when he +insisted on shouting the lines of _Hardyknute_ into the ears of the +irate clergyman making a parish call, and the time when he and his +equally ardent friends gathered their ballads from the lips of old women +among the hills. But we have seen that the inspiration for his first +attempts at writing poetry came only indirectly from the ballads of his +own country. We learn from the introduction to the third part of the +_Minstrelsy_ that some of the young men of Scott's circle in Edinburgh +were stimulated by what the novelist, Henry Mackenzie, told them of the +beauties of German literature, to form a class for the study of that +language. This was when Scott was twenty-one, but it was still four +years before he found himself writing those translations which mark the +sufficiently modest beginning of his literary career. His enthusiasm for +German literature was not at first tempered by any critical +discrimination, if we may judge from the opinions of one or two of his +friends who labored to point out to him the extravagance and false +sentiment which he was too ready to admire along with the real genius of +some of his models.[31] Apparently their efforts were useful, for in a +review written in 1806 we find Scott, in a remark on Bürger, referring +to "the taste for outrageous sensibility, which disgraces most German +poetry."[32] His special interest in the Germans was an early mood which +seems not to have returned. After the process of translation had +discovered to him his verse-making faculty, he naturally passed on to +the writing of original poems, and circumstances of a half accidental +sort determined that the Scottish ballads which he had always loved +should absorb his attention for the next two or three years. + +The publication of a book of ballads was first suggested by Scott as an +opportunity for his friend Ballantyne to exhibit his skill as a printer +and so increase his business. "I have been for years collecting old +Border ballads," Scott remarked, "and I think I could with little +trouble put together such a selection from them as might make a neat +little volume to sell for four or five shillings."[33] From this casual +proposition resulted _The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, published +in three volumes in 1802-3 and often revised and reissued during the +editor's lifetime. + +This book and the prefaces to his own novels are likely to be thought of +first when Scott is spoken of as a critic. The connection between the +_Minstrelsy_ and the novels has often been pointed out, ever since the +day of the contemporary who, on reading the ballads with their +introductions, exclaimed that in that book were the elements of a +hundred historical romances.[34] The interest of the earlier work is +undoubtedly multiplied by the associations in the light of which we read +it--associations connected with the editor's whole experience as an +author, from the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ to _Castle Dangerous_. + +Important as the _Minstrelsy_ is from the point of view of literary +criticism, the material of its introductions is chiefly historical. The +introduction in the original edition gives an account of life on the +Border in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the outlines of +many of the events that stimulated ballad-making, and an analysis of the +temper of the Marchmen among whom this kind of poetry flourished; then +by special introductions and notes to the poems an attempt is made to +explain both the incidents on which they seem to have been founded, and +parallel cases that appear in tradition or record. Some enthusiastic +comment is included, of the kind that was so natural to Scott, on the +effect of ballad poetry upon a spirited and warlike people. The writer +continues: "But it is not the Editor's present intention to enter upon a +history of Border poetry; a subject of great difficulty, and which the +extent of his information does not as yet permit him to engage in." It +was, in fact, nearly thirty years later[35] that Scott wrote the +_Remarks on Popular Poetry_ which since that date have formed an +introduction to the book, as well as the essay, _On Imitations of the +Ancient Ballad_, which at present precedes the third part. The more +purely literary side of the editor's duty--leaving out of account the +modern poems written by Scott and others--was exhibited chiefly in the +construction of texts, a matter of which I shall speak later, after +considering his views of the origin and character of folk-poetry in +general. + +But first we may recall the fact that Scott was following a fairly well +established vogue in giving scholarly attention to ancient popular +poetry. A revival of interest in the study of mediaeval literature had +been stimulated in England by the publication of Percy's _Reliques_ in +1765 and Warton's _History of English Poetry_ in 1774. In 1800 there +were enough well-known antiquaries to keep Scott from being in any sense +lonely. Among them Joseph Ritson[36] was the most learned, but he was +crotchety in the extreme; and while his notions as to research were in +advance of his time, his controversial style resembled that of the +seventeenth century. George Ellis,[37] on the other hand, was +distinguished by an eighteenth-century urbanity, and his combination of +learning and good taste fitted him to influence a broader public than +that of specialists. At the same time he was a delightful and +stimulating friend to other scholars. Southey was becoming known as an +authority on the history and literature of the Spanish peninsula. A +review in the _Quarterly_ a dozen years later mentions these +three,--Ellis, Scott, and Southey,--as "good men and true" to serve as +guides in the remote realms of literature.[38] Ellis's friend, John +Hookham Frere, had great abilities but was an incurable dillettante. +Scott particularly admired a Middle-English version of _The Battle of +Brunanburgh_ which Frere wrote in his school-boy days, and considered +him an authoritative critic of mediaeval English poetry. Robert +Surtees[39] and Francis Douce[40] were antiquaries of some importance, +and both, like all the others named, were friends of Scott. Mr. Herford +calls this period a day of "Specimens" and extracts: "Mediaeval romance +was studied in Ellis's _Specimens_," he says, "the Elizabethan drama in +Lamb's, literary history at large in D'Israeli's gently garrulous +compilations of its 'quarrels,' 'amenities,' 'calamities,' and +'curiosities.'"[41] But the scholarship of the time on the whole is +worthy of respect. In the case of ballads and romances notable work had +been done before Scott entered the field,[42] and he and his +contemporaries were carrying out the promise of the half century before +them--continuing the work that Percy and Warton had begun. + +Among the problems connected with ballad study, that which arises first +is naturally the question of origins. Scott made no attempt to formulate +a theory different in any main element from that which was held by his +predecessors. He agreed with Percy that ballads were composed and sung +by minstrels, and based his discussion on the materials brought forward +by Percy and Ritson for use in their great controversy.[43] Ritson +himself never doubted that ballads were composed and sung by individual +authors, though he might refuse to call them minstrels. The idea of +communal authorship, which Jacob Grimm was to suggest only half a dozen +years after the first edition of the _Minstrelsy_, would doubtless have +been rejected by Scott, even if he had considered it. But we have no +evidence that he did so. Probably he did not, as he never felt the need +of a new theory.[44] + +Scott's opinion in regard to the transmission of ballads followed +naturally from his theory of their origin. His aristocratic instincts +perhaps helped to determine his belief that ballads were composed by +gifted minstrels, and that they had deteriorated in the process of being +handed down by recitation. He called tradition "a sort of perverted +alchymy which converts gold into lead." "All that is abstractedly +poetical," he said, "all that is above the comprehension of the merest +peasant, is apt to escape in frequent repetition; and the _lacunae_ thus +created are filled up either by lines from other ditties or from the +mother wit of the reciter or singer. The injury, in either case, is +obvious and irreparable."[45] From this point of view Scott considered +that the ballads were only getting their rights when a skilful hand gave +them such a retouching as should enable them to appear in something of +what he called their original vigor.[46] + +We may learn what qualities he considered necessary for an editor in +this field, from the latter part of his _Remarks on Popular Poetry_, in +which he discusses previous attempts to collect English and Scottish +ballads. Of Percy he speaks in the highest terms, here and elsewhere. We +have seen that he felt a strong sympathy with Percy's desire to dress up +the ballads and make them as attractive to the public as their intrinsic +charms render them to their friends. He did not of course realize the +extent to which the Bishop reworked his materials, as the publication of +the folio manuscript has since revealed it, and Ritson's captious +remarks on the subject were naturally discounted on the score of their +ill-temper. But it is not to be doubted that Ritson had an appreciable +effect on Scott's attitude, by stirring him up to some comprehension of +the things that might be said in favor even of dull accuracy. Ritson's +collections are cited in their place, with a tribute to the extreme +fidelity of their editor. It is a pity that this accurate scholar could +not have had a sufficient amount of literary taste, to say nothing of +good manners, to inspire others with a fuller trust in his method. Scott +expresses impatience with him for seeming to prefer the less effective +text in many instances, "as if a poem was not more likely to be +deteriorated than improved by passing through the mouths of many +reciters."[47] He admitted, however, that it was not in his own period +necessary to rework the ballads as much as Bishop Percy had done, since +the _Reliques_ had already created an audience for popular poetry. His +purpose evidently was to steer a middle course between such graceful but +sophisticated versions as were given in the _Reliques_, and the exact +transcript of everything to be gathered from tradition, whether +interesting or not, that was attempted by Ritson. In his later revisions +he gave way more than at first to his natural impulse in favor of the +added graces which he could supply.[48] + +It is easy to see how his own contributions of word and phrase might +slip in, since his avowed method was to collate the different texts +secured from manuscripts or recitation or both, and so to give what to +his mind was the worthiest version. Believing that the ballads had been +composed by men not unlike himself, he assumed, in the manner well known +to classical text-critics, that his familiarity with the conditions of +the ancient social order gave him some license for changing here and +there a word or a line. In determining which stanzas or lines to choose, +when choice was possible, he was guided by his antiquarian knowledge and +by the general principle of selecting the most poetic rendering among +those at his command. This was his way of showing his respect for the +minstrel bards of whom he was fond of considering himself a successor. + +So far it is perfectly easy to take his point of view. But it is more +difficult to reconcile his practice with his professions. We find this +declaration in the forefront of the book: "No liberties have been taken +either with the recited or written copies of these ballads, farther than +that, where they disagreed, which is by no means unusual, the editor, in +justice to the author, has uniformly preserved what seemed to him the +best or most poetical rendering of the passage.... Some arrangement was +also occasionally necessary to recover the rhyme, which was often, by +the ignorance of the reciters, transposed or thrown into the middle of +the line. With these freedoms, which were essentially necessary to +remove obvious corruptions and fit the ballads for the press, the editor +presents them to the public, under the complete assurance that they +carry with them the most indisputable marks of their authenticity."[49] +In the face of this fair announcement we are surprised, to say the +least, at the number of lines and stanzas which scholars have discovered +to be of Scott's own composition.[50] + +Occasionally his notes give some slight indication of his method of +treatment, as for instance this, on _The Dowie Dens of Yarrow_: "The +editor found it easy to collect a variety of copies; but very difficult +indeed to select from them such a collated edition as might in any +degree suit the taste of 'these more light and giddy-paced times.'" +Notes on some others of the ballads say that "a few conjectural +emendations have been found necessary," but no one of these remarks +would seem really ingenuous in a modern scholar when we consider how far +the "conjectural emendations" extended. Moreover, changes were often +made without the slightest clue in introduction or note.[51] + +The case was complicated for Scott by the poetical tastes of his +assistants. Leyden[52] was apparently quite capable of taking down a +ballad from recitation in such a way as to produce a more finished poem +than one would expect a traditional ballad to be. And Hogg,[53] who +supplied several ballads from the recitations of his mother and other +old people, was probably still less strict. "Sure no man," he is quoted +as having said, "will think an old song the worse of being somewhat +harmonious."[54] Yet it is easy to see that Scott's friends might have +acted differently if his own practice had favored absolute fidelity to +the texts. + +A remark in Scott's review of Evans's _Old Ballads_ seems a pretty +definite arraignment of his own procedure. "It may be asked by the +severer antiquary of the present day, why an editor, thinking it +necessary to introduce such alterations in order to bring forth a new, +beautiful, and interesting sense from a meagre or corrupted original, +did not in good faith to his readers acquaint them with the liberties he +had taken and make them judge whether in so doing he transgressed his +limits. We answer that unquestionably such would be the express duty of +a modern editor, but such were not the rules of the service when Dr. +Percy first opened the campaign."[55] + +One wonders whether the "rules of the service" did not in Scott's +opinion occasionally permit a little wilful mystification. The case of +_Kinmont Willie_ tempts one to such an explanation. Besides the capital +instance of his anonymity as regards the novels, Scott several times +seemed to amuse himself in perplexing the public. There was the case of +the _Bridal of Triermain_, which he tried by means of various careful +devices to pass off as the work of a friend. But perhaps the best +example appears in connection with _The Fortunes of Nigel_. He first +designed the material of that book for a series of "private letters" +purporting to have been written in the reign of James I., but when he +had finally complied with the advice of his friends and used it for a +novel, he said to Lockhart, "You were all quite right: if the letters +had passed for genuine, they would have found favour only with a few +musty antiquaries."[56] This suggests comparison with the conduct of his +friend Robert Surtees, who palmed off upon him three whole ballads of +his own and got them inserted in the _Minstrelsy_ as ancient, with a +plausible tale concerning the circumstances of their recovery. Surtees, +one is interested to observe, never dared tell Scott the truth, and +Scott always accepted the ballads as genuine--a lack of discernment +rather compromising in an editor, though one may perhaps excuse him on +the ground of his confidence in his brother antiquary.[57] + +In one direction Scott seems to have been more conscientious than we +might be inclined to suppose after seeing the discrepancy between the +standard of exactness that his own statements lead us to expect and the +results that actually appear. I believe that he intended to preserve the +manuscript texts just as he received them, and that he would have wished +to have them given to the public when the public was prepared to want +them. To support this theory we have first the fact that most of his own +emendations have been traced by means of the manuscripts which he +used.[58] It is significant that in speaking of a poet who had altered a +manuscript to suit a revised reading he grew indignant over that fault +far more than over the mere change in the published version. _The Raid +of the Reidswire_, he said, "first appeared in Allan Ramsay's +_Evergreen_, but some liberties have been taken by him in transcribing +it; and, what is altogether unpardonable, the manuscript, which is +itself rather inaccurate, has been interpolated to favour his readings; +of which there remain obvious marks."[59] Scott said also that the time +had come for the publication of Percy's folio manuscript; though we must +believe that he would not have wished to see the manuscript published +until the ballads had become familiar to the world in what he considered +a beautified form. + +The changes Scott made were usually in style rather than in substance. +Often he merely substituted an archaic word for a modern one; but often +whole lines and longer passages offered temptations which the poet in +him could not resist, and he "improved" lavishly. For example, we have +his note on _Earl Richard_--"The best verses are here selected from both +copies, and some trivial alterations have been adopted from +tradition,"--with the comment by Mr. Henderson--"The emendations of +Scott are so many, and the majority relate so entirely to style, that no +mere tradition could have supplied them."[60] His versions are in +general characterized by a smoothness and precision of meter which to +the student of ballads is very suspicious. But he seems occasionally to +have altered or supplied incidents as well as phrases. The historical +event which furnished the purpose for the expedition of Sir Patrick +Spens seems to have been introduced into the ballad by Scott, and Mr. +Henderson thinks that "when the deeds of his ancestors were concerned it +was impossible for him to resist the temptation to employ some of his +own minstrel art on their behalf."[61] + +Certainly Scott's qualifications for evolving true poetry out of the +crude fragments that sometimes served as a basis formed a very unusual +combination when they were united with his knowledge of early history +and literature. He had such confidence in his own powers in this +direction that he at one time intended to write a series of imitations +of Scottish poets of different periods, from Thomas the Rhymer down, and +thus to exhibit changes in language as well as variations in literary +style.[62] He evidently thought that the ballads as they appeared in the +_Minstrelsy_ were truer to their originals than were the copies he was +able to procure from recitation. Lockhart gives him precisely the kind +of praise he would have desired, in saying, "From among a hundred +corruptions he seized with instinctive tact the primitive diction and +imagery."[63] + +It is evident that Scott's public did not wish him to be more careful +than he was in discriminating between new and old matter. One of his +moments of strict veracity seems even to have occasioned some annoyance +to the writer of the _Edinburgh_ article, who apparently preferred to +believe in the antiquity of _The Flowers of the Forest_ rather than to +learn that "the most positive evidence" proved its modern origin. The +editor's introduction to the poem seems perfectly clear; he names his +authority and quotes two verses which are ancient;[64] but the reviewer +says with a perverse irritability: "Mr. Scott would have done well to +tell us how much he deems ancient, and to give us the 'positive +evidence' that convinced him _the whole_ was not so."[65] This review +was, however, for the most part favorable. + +The fact that Scott included modern imitations of the ballad in his book +is another indication that his attitude was like that of his +predecessors.[66] Doubtless these helped the _Minstrelsy_ to sell, but a +more modern taste would choose to put them in a place by themselves, not +in a collection of old ballads. An essay on _Imitations of the Ancient +Ballad_ was written, as were the _Remarks on Popular Poetry_, for the +1833 edition. It is chiefly interesting for its autobiographical matter, +though it also contains criticisms of Burns and other writers of ballad +poetry--"a species of literary labour which the author has himself +pursued with some success."[67] Scott's statement that the ballad style +was very popular at the time he began to write, and that he followed the +prevailing fashion, was one of many examples of his modesty, taken in +connection with the remark in another part of the essay to the effect +that this style "had much to recommend it, especially as it presented +considerable facilities to those who wished at as little exertion or +trouble as possible to attain for themselves a certain degree of +literary reputation." To complete the comparison, however, we need an +observation found in one of Scott's reviews, on the spurious ballad +poetry, full of false sentiment, sometimes written in the eighteenth +century. "It is the very last refuge of those who can do nothing better +in the shape of verse; and a man of genius should disdain to invade the +province of these dawdling rhymers."[68] + +Scott's criticism of ballad style probably suffered from his interest in +modern imitations of ballads. Perhaps also the real quality of ancient +popular poetry was a little obscured for him by his belief that it was +written by professional or semi-professional poets. If he wrote _Kinmont +Willie_, he succeeded in catching the right tone better than anyone +since him has been able to do, but even in this poem there are turns of +phrase that remind one of the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ rather than of +the true folk-song.[69] After his first attempts at versifying he +received from William Taylor, of Norwich, who had made an earlier +translation of Bürger's _Lenore_, a letter of hearty praise intermingled +with very sensible remarks about the tendency in some parts of Scott's +_Chase_ toward too great elaboration.[70] Scott's answer was as follows: +"I do not ... think quite so severely of the Darwinian style, as to deem +it utterly inconsistent with the ballad, which, at least to judge from +the examples left us by antiquity, admits in some cases of a +considerable degree of decoration. Still, however, I do most sincerely +agree with you, that this may be very easily overdone, and I am far from +asserting that this may not be in some degree my own case; but there is +scarcely so nice a line to distinguish, as that which divides true +simplicity from flatness and _Sternholdianism_ (if I may be allowed to +coin the word), and therefore it is not surprising, that in endeavouring +to avoid the latter, so young and inexperienced a rhymer as myself +should sometimes have deviated also from the former."[71] This was +Scott's earliest stage as a man of letters, and he evidently learned +more about ballads later. But there appears in much of his criticism on +the subject a limitation which may be assigned partly to his time, and +partly, no doubt, to the fact that he was a poet and could not forget +all the sophistications of his art. + +The true nature of ballad poetry could hardly be understood until +scholars had investigated the structure of primitive society in a way +that Scott's contemporaries were not at all prepared to do. Even Scott, +with all his intelligent interest in bygone institutions and modes of +expression, could hardly have foreseen the anthropological researches +which the problem of literary origins has since demanded. We do not +find, then, that Scott's work on ballads was marked by any special +originality in point of view or method. _The Minstrelsy of the Scottish +Border_ was a notable book because it did better what other men had +tried to do, and especially because of the charm and effectiveness of +its historical comment. It was more trustworthy than Percy's collection +and more graceful than Ritson's; it was richer than other books of the +kind in what people cared to have when they wanted ballads, and yet was +not, for its time, over-sophisticated. Scott's conclusions cannot now be +accepted without question, but the illustrations with which he sets them +forth and the wide reading and sincere love of folk-poetry which +evidently lie behind them produce a pleasant effect of ripe and +reasonable judgment. The admirable qualities of the book were at once +recognized by competent critics, and it will always be studied with +enthusiasm by scholars as well as by the uncritical lover of ballads. + + +_Studies in the Romances_ + + Scott's theory as to the connection between ballads and + romances--His early fondness for romances--His acquaintance with + Romance languages--His work on the _Sir Tristrem_--Value of his + edition--Special quality of Scott's interest in the Middle + Ages--General theories expressed in the body of his work on + romances--His type of scholarship. + +Ballads and romances are so closely related that Scott's early and +lasting interest in the one form naturally grew out of his interest in +the other. He held the theory that "the romantic ballads of later times +are for the most part abridgments of the ancient metrical romances, +narrated in a smoother stanza and more modern language."[72] It is not +surprising, then, that a considerable body of his critical work has to +do with the subject of mediaeval romance. + +Throughout his boyhood Scott read all the fairy tales, eastern stories, +and romances of knight-errantry that fell in his way. When he was about +thirteen, he and a young friend used to spend hours reading together +such authors as Spenser, Ariosto, and Boiardo.[73] He remembered the +poems so well that weeks or months afterwards he could repeat whole +pages that had particularly impressed him. Somewhat later the two boys +improvised similar stories to recite to each other, Scott being the one +who proposed the plan and the more successful in carrying it out. With +this same friend he studied Italian and began to read the Italian poets +in the original. In his autobiography he says:[74] "I had previously +renewed and extended my knowledge of the French language, from the same +principle of romantic research. Tressan's romances, the Bibliothèque +Bleue, and Bibliothèque de Romans, were already familiar to me, and I +now acquired similar intimacy with the works of Dante, Boiardo, Pulci, +and other eminent Italian authors." Writing some years later he +remarked: "I was once the most enormous devourer of the Italian romantic +poetry, which indeed is the only poetry of their country which I ever +had much patience for; for after all that has been said of Petrarch and +his school, I am always tempted to exclaim like honest Christopher Sly, +'Marvellous good matter, would it were done.' But with Charlemagne and +his paladins I could dwell forever."[75] Scott learned languages easily, +and he read Spanish with about as much facility as Italian. Don Quixote +seems often to be the guide with whom he chooses to traverse the fields +of romance.[76] In Scott's boyhood one of his teachers noticed that he +could follow and enjoy the meaning of what he read in Latin better than +many of his school-fellows who knew more about the language, and it was +the same all through his life--he got what he wanted from foreign +literatures with very little trouble. + +Scott constantly refers to the work of Percy, Warton, Tressan,[77] +Ritson, and Ellis, in the study of ancient romances, but in editing _Sir +Tristrem_ he made one part of the field his own, and became the +authority whom he felt obliged to quote in the Essay on Romance. + +Thomas the Rhymer of Erceldoune was at first an object of interest to +Scott because of the ballad of _True Thomas_ and the traditions +concerning him that floated about the countryside. The "Rhymer's Glen" +was afterwards a cherished possession of Scott's own on the Abbotsford +estate. In the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, of which Scott was in +1795 appointed a curator, was an important manuscript that contained +among other metrical romances one professing to be a copy of that +written by Thomas of Erceldoune on Sir Tristrem. From a careful piecing +together of evidence furnished by this poem and by Robert of Brunne, +with the assistance of certain legal documents which supplied dates, +Scott built up about the old poet a theory that he elaborated in his +edition of _Sir Tristrem_, published in 1804, and that continued to +interest him vividly as long as he lived. It reappears in many of his +critical writings[78] and also in the novels. In the _Bride of +Lammermoor_ Ravenswood goes to his death in compliance with the prophecy +of Thomas quoted by the superstitious Caleb Balderstone. And in _Castle +Dangerous_ Bertram, who is unconvincing perhaps because he is endowed +with the literary and antiquarian tastes of a Walter Scott himself, is +actuated by an irrepressible desire to discover works of the Rhymer. + +Scott's edition of _Sir Tristrem_ gives--besides the text, introduction, +and notes--a short conclusion written by himself in imitation of the +original poet's style. Much of his theory has fallen. He considered this +_Sir Tristrem_ to be the first of the written versions of that story, a +supposition that was not long tenable. The poem is now known to be based +upon a French original, and many scholars think the name Erceldoune was +arbitrarily inserted by the English translator; though Mr. McNeill, the +latest editor, thinks there is a "reasonable probability" in favor of +Scott's opinion that the author was the historic Thomas, who flourished +in the thirteenth century. It is important, however, that Scott's +scholarship in the matter passed muster at that time with such men as +Ellis, who wrote the review in the _Edinburgh_, in which he said, "Upon +the whole we are much disposed to adopt the general inferences drawn by +Mr. Scott from his authorities, and have great pleasure in bearing +testimony to the very uncommon diligence which he has evinced in +collecting curious materials, and to the taste and sagacity with which +he has employed them.... With regard to the notes, they contain an +almost infinite variety of curious information, which had been hitherto +unknown or unnoticed."[79] John Hookham Frere said, as quoted in a +letter by Ellis, "I consider _Sir Tristrem_ as by far the most +interesting work that has as yet been published on the subject of our +earliest poets."[80] Scott's opinions were in 1824 thought to be of +sufficient importance, either from their own merits or on account of his +later fame, to call forth a dissertation appended to the edition of +Warton's _History of English Poetry_ published in that year. + +The first edition of the text swarms with errors, according to +Kölbing,[81] a recent editor of the romance, and later editions are +still very inaccurate.[82] It could hardly be expected that a man with +Scott's habits of mind would edit a text accurately. But no one of that +period was competent to construct a text that would seem satisfactory +now. The study of English philology was not sufficiently developed in +that direction, nor did scholars appreciate either the difficulties or +the requirements of text-criticism. It is not to be wondered at that +Scott failed, in this instance as well as afterwards in the case of the +text of Dryden, to give a version that would stand the minute scrutiny +of later scholarship. + +His sympathies were rather with the scholar who opens the store of old +poetry to the public, than with him who uses his erudition simply for +the benefit of erudite people. The diction of the Middle Ages was +interesting to him only as it reflected the customs and emotions of its +period. He used the romances as authorities on ancient manners. The +_Chronicles_ of Froissart, because they give "a knowledge of +mankind,"[83] were almost as much a hobby with him as Thomas the Rhymer, +and in this case also he endows characters in his novels with his own +fondness for the ancient writer.[84] The fruit of Scott's acquaintance +with Froissart appears prominently in his essay on _Chivalry_ and in +various introductions to ballads in the _Minstrelsy_, as well as in the +novels of chivalry. Scott at one time proposed to publish an edition of +Malory, but abandoned the project on learning that Southey had the same +thing in mind.[85] + +The first periodical review Scott ever published was on the subject of +the _Amadis de Gaul_, as translated by Southey and by Rose. The article +is long and very carefully constructed, and expresses many ideas on the +subject of the mediaeval romance in general that reappear again and +again, particularly in the essay on _Romance_ written in 1823 for the +_Encyclopædia Britannica_. Among these general ideas that found frequent +expression in his critical writings, one which in the light of his +creative work becomes particularly interesting to us is his judgment on +the distinctions between metrical and prose romances. He always +preferred the poems, though he was so interested in the prose stories +that he talked about them with much enthusiasm, and it sometimes seems +as if he liked best the kind he happened to be analyzing at the moment. + +Other matters that necessarily presented themselves when he was treating +the subject of romance were the problem of the sources of narrative +material, especially the perplexed question concerning the development +of the Arthurian cycle, and the problem, already discussed in connection +with ballads, concerning the character of minstrels. The minstrels +reappear throughout Scott's studies in mediaeval literature, and were +perhaps more interesting to him than any other part of the subject. +Though, as we have seen, he formulated a compromise between the opposing +opinions of Percy and Ritson, no one who reads the description of the +Last Minstrel can doubt what was the picture that he preferred to carry +in his mind. + +His ideas on the subject of the origin and diffusion of narrative +material were those of the sensible man trying to look at the matter in +a reasonable way. Here again he adopted an attitude of compromise, in +that he admitted the partial truth of various theories which he +considered erroneous only in so far as any one of them was stretched +beyond its proper compass. "Romance," he said, "was like a compound +metal, derived from various mines, and in the different specimens of +which one metal or other was alternately predominant."[86] + +On the subject of the Arthurian cycle, the origin of which has never +ceased to be matter for debate, he held essentially the opinions that +the highest French authority has adopted that Celtic traditions were the +foundation, and that the metrical romances preceded those in prose.[87] +The important offices of French poets in giving form to the story he +underestimated. When he said, "It is now completely proved, that the +earliest and best French romances were composed for the meridian of the +English court,"[88] he fell into the error that has not always been +avoided by scholars who have since written on the subject, of feeling +certitude about a proposition in which there is no certainty. + +Scott's work on romances, though it does not always rise above +commonplaceness, escapes the perfunctory quality of hack writing by +virtue of his keen interest in the subject. He continued to like this +prosaic kind of literary task even while he was writing novels with the +most wonderful facility. We may judge not only by the fact that he +continued to write reviews at intervals throughout his life, but by an +explicit reference in his _Journal_: "I toiled manfully at the review +till two o'clock, commencing at seven. I fear it will be uninteresting, +but I like the muddling work of antiquities, and besides wish to record +my sentiments with regard to the Gothic question."[89] + +It is evident that Scott did not himself find the "muddling work of +antiquities" dull, because he realized, emotionally as well as +intellectually, the life of past times. This led him to form broader +views than the ordinary student constructs out of his knowledge of +special facts. An admirable illustration of this characteristic occurs +in the essay on Romance, at the point where Scott is discussing the +social position of the minstrels, in the light of what Percy and Ritson +had said on the subject. He goes on: "In fact, neither of these +excellent antiquaries has cast a general or philosophic glance on the +necessary condition of a set of men, who were by profession the +instruments of the pleasure of others during a period of society such as +was presented in the Middle Ages." There follows a detailed and very +interesting account of what the writer's own "philosophic glance" leads +him to believe. The method is useful but dangerous; in the same essay +occurs an amusing example of what philosophy may do when it is given +free rein. Within two pages appear these conflicting statements: "The +Metrical Romances, though in some instances sent to the press, were not +very fit to be published in this form. The dull amplifications, which +passed well enough in the course of a half-heard recitation, became +intolerable when subjected to the eye." "The Metrical Romances in some +instances indeed ran to great length, but were much exceeded in that +particular by the folios which were written on the same or similar +topics by their prose successors. Probably the latter judiciously +reflected that a book which addresses itself only to the eyes may be +laid aside when it becomes tiresome to the reader; whereas it may not +always have been so easy to stop the minstrel in the full career of his +metrical declamation." Flaws like this may be picked in the details of +Scott's method, just as we may sometimes find fault with the lapses in +his mediaeval scholarship. We do him no injustice when we say that aside +from certain aspects of his work on the ballads and _Sir Tristrem_, his +achievement was that of a popularizer of learning. + +But if he lacked some of the authority of erudition, he escaped also the +induration of pedantry. In writing of remote and dimly known periods, +critics are perhaps most apt to show their defects of temper, and Scott +often commented on the acerbity of spirit which such studies seem to +induce. "Antiquaries," he said, "are apt to be both positive and +polemical upon the very points which are least susceptible of proof, and +which are least valuable if the truth could be ascertained; and which +therefore we would gladly have seen handled with more diffidence and +better temper in proportion to their uncertainty."[90] Of Ritson he says +many times in one form or another that his "severe accuracy was +connected with an unhappy eagerness and irritability of temper." Scott +rode his own hobbies with an expansive cheerfulness that did not at all +hinder them from being essentially serious. + + +_Other Studies in Mediaeval Literature_ + + Scott's attitude on the Ossianic controversy--His slight + acquaintance with other northern literatures--Anglo-Saxon + scholarship of the time--Character of his familiarity with + Middle-English poetry--His opinions in regard to Chaucer--General + importance of Scott's work on mediaeval literature. + +Part of Scott's critical work on mediaeval literature falls outside the +limits of the two divisions we have been considering--those of ballad +and romance. He knew comparatively little about the early poetry of the +northern nations, but at some points his knowledge of Scottish +literature made the transition fairly easy to the literature of other +Teutonic peoples. But he was especially bound to be interested in the +Gaelic, for a Scotsman of his day could hardly avoid forming an opinion +in regard to the Ossianic controversy then raging with what Scott +thought must be its final violence. He did not understand the Gaelic +language,[91] but he had a vivid interest in the Highlanders. The +picturesque quality of their customs made it natural enough for him to +use them in his novels, and by the "sheer force of genius," says Mr. +Palgrave, who considers this Scott's greatest achievement, "he united +the sympathies of two hostile races."[92] + +As early as 1792 Scott had written for the Speculative Society an essay +on the authenticity of Ossian's poems, and one of his articles for the +_Edinburgh Review_ in 1805 was on the same subject, occasioned by a +couple of important documents which supported opposite sides, and which, +he said, set the question finally at issue. This article represents +Scott the critic in a typical attitude. The material was almost +altogether furnished in the works which he was surveying.[93] His task +was to distinguish the essential points of the problem, to state them +plainly, and to weigh the evidence on each side. In this he shows +notable clearness of thought, and also, throughout the rather long +treatment of a complicated subject, great lucidity in arrangement and +statement. He was led by this study to change the opinion which he had +held in common with most of his countrymen, and to adopt the belief that +the poems were essentially creations of Macpherson, with only the names +and some parts of the story adopted from the Gaelic.[94] Other +references to Ossian occur in Scott's writings, and it is evident in +this case, as in many others, that an investigation of the matter in his +early career, whether from original or from secondary sources, gave him +material for allusion and comment throughout his life. For, as we have +constant occasion to remark in studying Scott, with a very definite +grasp of concrete fact he combined a vigorous generalizing power, and +all the parts of his knowledge were actively related. He seems to have +made little preparation for some of his most interesting reviews, but to +have utilized in them the store gathered in his mind for other purposes. + +Of the northern Teutonic languages Scott had slight knowledge, though he +was always interested in the northern literatures. In a review of the +_Poems of William Herbert_, of which the part most interesting to the +reviewer consisted of translations from the Icelandic, Scott says: "We +do not pretend any great knowledge of Norse; but we have so far traced +the 'Runic rhyme' as to be sensible how much more easy it is to give a +just translation of that poetry into English than into Latin." In the +same review we find him saying, after a slight discussion of the style +of Scaldic poetry, "The other translations are generally less +interesting than those from the Icelandic. There is, however, one poem +from the Danish, which I transcribe as an instance how very clearly the +ancient popular ballad of that country corresponds with our own." So we +see him drawing from all sources fuel for his favorite fire--the study +of ballads. Very characteristically also Scott suggests that the author +should extend his researches to the popular poetry of Scandinavia, +"which we cannot help thinking is the real source of many of the tales +of our minstrels."[95] It seems probable that Scott's acquaintance with +northern literatures came partly through his ill-fated amanuensis, Henry +Weber.[96] His acknowledgement in the introduction to _Sir Tristrem_ +would indicate this, taken together with other references by Scott to +Weber's attainments. + +Scott could hardly be called a student of Anglo-Saxon, though he was +perhaps able to read the language. His remarks on the subject may, +however, mean simply that he was familiar with early Middle English.[97] +In his essay on Romance he referred to Sharon Turner's account of the +story of Beowulf, but called the poem Caedmon, and made no correction +when he added the later footnote in regard to Conybeare's fuller and +more interesting analysis published in 1826.[98] The researches of these +men indicate the state of Anglo-Saxon scholarship in England. Sharon +Turner's very inaccurate description of _Beowulf_ was published in 1805. +Danish scholars made the first translations of the poem, but no one +could give a really scholarly text or translation until the year after +Scott died, when the first edition by J.M. Kemble appeared. There were +students of the language, however, who were doing good work in feeling +their way toward a comprehension of its special qualities. One of these +was George Ellis. In his _Specimens_ he published examples of +Anglo-Saxon and Middle-English poetry, and his information was helpful +in enlarging Scott's outlook. Scott's own knowledge of Anglo-Saxon +literature did not amount to enough to be of importance by itself, but +it served perhaps to fortify the basis of his generalizations about all +early poetry. + +A review of the _Life and Works of Chatterton_ gave Scott an opportunity +to discuss the characteristics of Middle-English poetry, but his general +thesis, that the Rowley poems exhibit graces and refinements which are +in marked contrast to the tenuity of idea and tautology of expression +found in genuine works of the period, is supported by an argument which +seems to be based on a characterization of the romances rather than on a +close acquaintance with other Middle-English poetry. We notice a similar +quality in what Scott says elsewhere concerning Frere's translation into +Chaucerian English of the _Battle of Brunanburgh_: "This appears to us +an exquisite imitation of the antiquated English poetry, not depending +on an accumulation of hard words like the language of Rowley, which in +everything else is refined and harmonious poetry, nor upon an +agglomeration of consonants in the orthography, the resource of later +and more contemptible forgers, but upon the style itself, upon its +alternate strength and weakness, now nervous and concise, now diffuse +and eked out by the feeble aid of expletives."[99] Of Middle-English +poets other than Chaucer and the author or translator of _Sir Tristrem_, +Laurence Minot was the one to whom Scott alluded most frequently, +doubtless because in Ritson's edition of Minot that poet had become more +accessible than most of his contemporaries. Whatever detailed work Scott +did on the poetry of this period was chiefly in connection with _Sir +Tristrem_, which has naturally been considered in relation with his +other studies in romances. + +Scott's familiarity with Chaucer appears in his numerous quotations from +that poet, but usually the passages are cited to illustrate mediaeval +manners rather than for any specifically literary purpose. Yet there are +Chaucer enthusiasts among the characters of _Woodstock_ and _Peveril of +the Peak_.[100] Chaucer's fame was well enough established so that Scott +seems on the whole to have taken his merit for granted, and not to have +said much about it except in casual references.[101] Among general +readers he must have been comparatively little known, however, +notwithstanding the respect paid him by scholars. In 1805 we find Scott +writing to Ellis that his scheme for editing a collection of the British +Poets had fallen through, for, he said, "My plan was greatly too liberal +to stand the least chance of being adopted by the trade at large, as I +wished them to begin with Chaucer. The fact is, I never expected they +would agree to it."[102] + +Scott's review of Godwin's _Life of Chaucer_, one of the best known of +his periodical essays, is altogether concerned with the manner in which +Godwin did his work, and so exhibits Scott's ideas on the subject of +biography and his methods of reviewing rather than his attitude towards +Chaucer's poetry. His most definite remarks concerning Chaucer are to be +found in his comments upon Dryden's _Fables_, as for example: "The +Knight's Tale, whether we consider Chaucer's original poem, or the +spirited and animated version of Dryden, is one of the best pieces of +composition in our language";[103] "Of all Chaucer's multifarious +powers, none is more wonderful than the humour with which he touched +upon natural frailty, and the truth with which he describes the inward +feelings of the human heart."[104] Yet he once called _Troilus and +Criseyde_ "a somewhat dull poem."[105] _The Cock and the Fox_, on the +other hand, he speaks of as "a poem which, in grave ironical narrative, +liveliness of illustration, and happiness of humorous description, +yields to none that ever was written."[106] + +In estimating the importance of Scott's studies on any one period we +have to think of them as part of a greater whole. The wide range of his +investigations would evidently make it impossible to expect a complete +treatment of all the subjects he might choose to discuss, and we have +found, in fact, that his criticism of mediaeval literature led to +systematic results in no other lines than those of the ballad and the +romance. But these were large and important matters. Moreover, to all +that he wrote in connection with the Middle Ages there attaches a +special interest; for with that work he made his real start in +literature; and it reflected the peculiarly delightful vein in his own +nature which was constant from youth to age, and which gave to his poems +and novels some of their most brilliant qualities.[107] + + +THE DRAMA + + Scott's fondness for the drama and his acquaintance with actors--His + ideas about plot structure--His own dramatic experiments--His + opinion of the theaters of his day--His knowledge of English + dramatic literature--Familiarity with Elizabethan plays shown in his + novels--His Essay on the Drama--Ancient drama--French + drama--Dramatic unities--German drama--Elizabethan + drama--Shakspere--Ben Jonson--Dryden and other Restoration + dramatists--Morality of theater-going--Character of Scott's interest + in the drama. + +Like most of his characteristics, Scott's taste for the theater was +exhibited in his childhood. We find him reverting, in a review written +in 1826,[108] to his rapturous emotions on the occasion of seeing his +first play; and in the private theatricals which he and his brothers and +sister performed in the family dining-room he was always the manager. In +1810 he was active in helping to bring out in Edinburgh the _Family +Legend_ of his friend Joanna Baillie.[109] One of the actors on that +occasion was Daniel Terry,[110] who became an intimate friend of +Scott's. For Terry Scott wrote _The Doom of Devorgoil_, but the piece +was not found suitable for presentation. Several of the novels were more +successfully dramatized by the same friend, so that we find the "Author" +humorously complaining in the "Introductory Epistle" to _The Fortunes of +Nigel_, "I believe my muse would be _Terry_fied into treading the stage +even if I should write a sermon." Among Scott's friends were several +other actors, particularly Mrs. Siddons and her brother John Kemble, and +the comedian Charles Mathews. In Scott's review of _Kelly's +Reminiscences and the Life of Kemble_ we find recorded many of the +discriminations he was fond of making in regard to the talents of +particular actors. + +In his childhood Scott felt well qualified to take the part of Richard +III., for he considered that his limp "would do well enough to represent +the hump."[111] After a similar fashion we find him commenting on the +improbabilities of the tragedy of _Douglas_: "But the spectator should, +and indeed must, make considerable allowances if he expects to receive +pleasure from the drama. He must get his mind, according to Tony +Lumpkin's phrase, into 'a concatenation accordingly,'[112] since he +cannot reasonably expect that scenes of deep and complicated interest +shall be placed before him, in close succession, without some force +being put upon ordinary probability; and the question is not, how far +you have sacrificed your judgment in order to accommodate the fiction, +but rather, what is the degree of delight you have received in +return."[113] + +Scott disclaimed any special knowledge of stage-craft. "I know as little +about the division of a drama as the spinster about the division of a +battle, to use Iago's simile,"[114] he once wrote to a friend. Yet as a +critic he had of course some general ideas about the making of plays, +without having worked out any subtle theories on the subject. In +criticising a play by Allan Cunningham, who had asked for his judgment +on it, he remarked first that the plot was ill-combined. "If the mind +can be kept upon one unbroken course of interest, the effect even in +perusal is more gratifying. I have always considered this as the great +secret in dramatic poetry, and conceive it one of the most difficult +exercises of the invention possible, to conduct a story through five +acts, developing it gradually in every scene, so as to keep up the +attention, yet never till the very conclusion permitting the nature of +the catastrophe to become visible,--and all the while to accompany this +by the necessary delineation of character and beauty of language."[115] +And again he said to the same person, "I hope you will make another +dramatic attempt; and in that case I would strongly recommend that you +should previously make a model or skeleton of your incidents, dividing +them regularly into scenes and acts, so as to insure the dependence of +one circumstance upon another, and the simplicity and union of your +whole story."[116] Here we find Scott giving advice which by his own +admission he was not himself able to follow in the composition of +fiction. "I never could lay down a plan, or having laid it down I never +could adhere to it," he wrote in his journal[117]. And the "Author" in +the introductory epistle to _Nigel_ remarks, "It may pass for one good +reason for not writing a play, that I cannot form a plot." + +The few experiments that he made he did not seem to regard seriously at +any time, though he was rather favorably impressed on rereading the +_Doom of Devorgoil_ after it had lain unused for several years.[118] Of +_Halidon Hill_ he said, "It is designed to illustrate military +antiquities and the manners of chivalry. The drama (if it can be called +one) is in no particular either designed or calculated for the +stage."[119] He seems to have been "often urged" to write plays, if one +may trust Captain Clutterbuck's authority, and the effectiveness of the +many poetical mottoes improvised by the Author of Waverley for the +chapters of his novels, and subscribed "Old Play,"[120] was naturally +used as an argument.[121] Scott's own judgment in the matter was +expressed thus: "Nothing so easy when you are full of an author, as to +write a few lines in his taste and style; the difficulty is to keep it +up. Besides, the greatest success would be but a spiritless imitation, +or, at best, what the Italians call a _centone_ [_sic_] from +Shakspeare."[122] When Elliston became manager of Drury Lane in 1819 he +applied to Scott for plays, but without effect.[123] Scott seems never +to have felt any concern over the fact that the dramatized versions of +his novels were often very poor, but Hazlitt wished that he would "not +leave it to others to mar what he has sketched so admirably as a +ground-work," for he saw no good reason why the author of Waverley could +not write "a first-rate tragedy as well, as so many first-rate +novels."[124] + +Scott felt that to write for the stage in his day was a thankless and +almost degrading occupation. "Avowedly I will never write for the stage; +if I do, 'call me horse.'" he said in a letter to Terry.[125] Again in +a letter to Southey: "I do not think the character of the audience in +London is such that one could have the least pleasure in pleasing +them.... On the whole, I would far rather write verses for mine honest +friend Punch and his audience";[126] and to a would-be tragedian he +said: "In the present day there is only one reason which seems to me +adequate for the encountering the plague of trying to please a set of +conceited performers and a very motley audience,--I mean the want of +money."[127] This degraded condition of the London stage Scott thought +to be a consequence of limiting the number of theaters. We can hardly +suppose, however, that he was pessimistic in regard to the written drama +of his day, when he could say of Byron, "There is one who, to judge from +the dramatic sketch he has given us in Manfred, must be considered as a +match for Aeschylus, even in his sublimest moods of horror";[128] or +when he could place Joanna Baillie in the same class with +Shakspere[129]. + +Scott probably did much reading in the drama in his early life. We know +that by 1804 he had "long since" annotated his copy of Beaumont and +Fletcher sufficiently so that he wished to offer it to Gifford, who, +Scott erroneously understood, was about to edit their dramas.[130] The +edition of Dryden, published in 1808, shows familiarity with Elizabethan +as well as Restoration dramatists. He seems to have had first-hand +knowledge of such men as Ford, Webster, Marston, Brome, Shirley, +Chapman, and Dekker, whom he mentions as being "little known to the +general readers of the present day, even by name."[131] But 1808 was +the very year in which appeared Lamb's _Specimens of English Dramatic +Poets_ and Coleridge's first course of lectures on Shakspere. The old +dramatists were beginning to come to their own, through the sympathetic +appreciation of the Romantic critics. Scott never refers, however, to +the work of Lamb, Coleridge, or Hazlitt[132] in this field and we +conclude that his researches in dramatic literature were the recreation +of a man who realized that his business lay in another direction. But in +preparing the _Dryden_, he doubtless read more widely in Restoration +drama than he would otherwise have done. Throughout his life he +continued to read plays at intervals, as we know from occasional +references in the _Journal_; but after the _Dryden_ appeared we can +point to no time in his career when such reading was his especial +occupation. His familiarity with Elizabethan drama he showed even more +emphatically than by serious critical writings on the subject, in his +fragments from mythical "Old Plays,"[133] in his frequent references to +single plays, and in the substance of some of the novels, particularly +_The Fortunes of Nigel_ and _Woodstock_, which make use of settings, +situations, and characterizations suggested by the drama.[134] Mr. Lang +says of _The Fortunes of Nigel_, "The scenes in Alsatia are a distinct +gain to literature, a pearl rescued from the unread mass of +Shadwell."[135] + +His serious critical writings on the subject comprise little else than +his _Essay on the Drama_, which appeared in the supplement to the +_Encyclopædia Britannica_, published in 1819, and the discussions given +in connection with Dryden's plays.[136] Although the Essay was written +ten years later than the _Dryden_, we have no reason to think that Scott +changed his views or added greatly to his knowledge in the interval, and +using these two sources we may discuss his account of the drama in +general without regard to the particular date at which his opinions were +expressed. + +His exposition in the _Essay on the Drama_ rested on the basis furnished +by a historical study of the stage. He did not, of course, pretend to +have formed his own conclusions on all points, and we find him quoting +from various authorities, sometimes naming them and sometimes only +indicating, perhaps, that he was "abridging from the best antiquaries." +This, however, was chiefly in connection with the ancient drama. As I +have already remarked, we do not find him referring to recent studies on +the English drama. And though Scott had forgotten all his Greek we +observe that he is bold enough to disagree with "the ingenious Schlegel" +in regard to the comparative value of the Greek New Comedy. In his +treatment of the ancient drama the main point for note is the success +with which he gives a broad and connected view of the subject. His +account of the drama in France needs correction in certain +respects,[137] but it seems to indicate some first-hand knowledge and +very definite opinions. He quotes Molière frequently throughout his +writings, and always speaks of him with admiration; but with no other +French dramatist does he seem to have been familiar to such a degree. +Judging French tragic poets too much from the Shaksperian point of view, +he was not prepared to do them justice.[138] On the dramatic unities, of +which he remarked, "Aristotle says so little and his commentators and +followers talk so much," Scott wrote, here and elsewhere, with decision +and vivacity. The unities of time and place he calls "fopperies," though +time and place, he admits, are not to be lightly changed.[139] He +connects the whole discussion with the study of theatrical conditions, +and never bows down to authority as such. He says, "Surely it is of less +consequence merely to ascertain what was the practice of the ancients, +than to consider how far such practice is founded upon truth, good +taste, and general effect"; and again, "Aristotle would probably have +formulated different rules if he had written in our time." And though he +adopted and applied to the drama the Horatian dictum that the end of +poetry is to instruct and delight, it was not because Horace and a long +line of critics had said it, but because he thought it was true. +Doubtless his phrase would have been different if he had not taken what +was lying nearest, but his habit was never carefully to avoid the common +phrase. His general opinion of French drama was decidedly unfavorable, +and he thought it was doubtful whether their plays would ever be any +nearer to nature. "That nation," he observes calmly, "is so unfortunate +as to have no poetical language." + +His remarks on German drama are general in character, though we know +that in his early days he was much interested in translating +contemporary German plays. His version of Goethe's _Goetz von +Berlichingen_ was the most important of these translations. A letter of +Scott's contains the following reference to this play:[140] "The +publication of Goetz was a great era ... in German literature, and +served completely to free them from the French follies of unities and +decencies of the scene, and gave an impulse to their dramas which was +unique of its kind. Since that, they have been often stark mad but +never, I think, stupid. They either divert you by taking the most +brilliant leaps through the hoop, or else by tumbling into the custard, +as the newspapers averred the Champion did at the Lord Mayor's dinner." + +When he is on English ground we can best trace Scott's individual +opinions, yet even here he reflects some of the limitations of the less +enlightened scholarship of his time, especially in connection with early +Elizabethan writers. He passes from _Ferrex and Porrex_[141] and _Gammer +Gurton's Needle_ directly to Shakspere, and quite omits Marlowe and the +other immediate predecessors. He was not ignorant of their existence, +for against a statement of Dryden's that Shakspere was the first to use +blank verse we find in Scott's edition the note,--"This is a mistake. +Marlowe and several other dramatic authors used blank verse before the +days of Shakespeare";[142] and one of his youthful notebooks contains +this comment on _Faustus_: "A very remarkable thing. Grand subject--end +grand."[143] In 1831 Scott intended to write an article for the +_Quarterly Review_ on Peele, Greene, and Webster, and in asking +Alexander Dyce to have Webster's works sent to him he said, "Marlowe and +others I have,--and some acquaintance with the subject, though not +much."[144] Webster he considered "one of the best of our ancient +dramatists." The proposed article was never written, because of Scott's +final illness. + +In spite of his statement that "the English stage might be considered +equally without rule and without model when Shakspeare arose," Scott did +not seem inclined to leave the great man altogether unaccounted for, as +some critics have preferred to do, for he says, "The effect of the +genius of an individual upon the taste of a nation is mighty; but that +genius in its turn is formed according to the opinions prevalent at the +period when it comes into existence." These opinions, however, Scott +assigns very vaguely to the influence of "a nameless crowd of obscure +writers," and thinks it fortunate that Shakspere was unacquainted with +classical rules. The critic had evidently made no attempt to define the +influence of particular writers upon Shakspere. His criticism is at some +points purely conventional, as for instance when he calls the poet "that +powerful magician, whose art could fascinate us even by means of +deformity itself "; but on the whole Scott seems to write about +Shakspere in a very reasonable and discriminating way. + +He has a good deal to say of Ben Jonson, in other places as well as in +this Essay on the Drama.[145] He was evidently well acquainted with that +poet, and admired him without liking him. Somewhere he calls him "the +dry and dogged Jonson,"[146] and again he speaks of his genius in very +high terms. The contrast between Shakspere and Jonson moved him even to +epigram:[147] "In reading Shakespeare we often meet passages so +congenial to our nature and feelings that, beautiful as they are, we can +hardly help wondering they did not occur to ourselves; in studying +Jonson, we have often to marvel how his conceptions could have occurred +to any human being." It was characteristic of Scott to note the fact +that Shakspere wrote rapidly, Jonson slowly, for he was fond of getting +support for his theory that rapid writing is the better. + +As early as 1804 Scott referred to _The Changeling_ as "an old play +which contains some passages horribly striking,"[148] and in so doing +voiced, as Mr. Swinburne says, "the first word of modern tribute to the +tragic genius of Thomas Middleton."[149] Scott also praised Massinger +highly, especially for his strength in characterization, and once called +him "the most gentleman-like of all the old English dramatists."[150] He +discussed Beaumont and Fletcher sympathetically, for he knew them well +and frequently quoted from them. He named Shirley, Ford, Webster, and +Dekker in a group, and spoke of the singular profusion of talents +devoted in this period to the writing of plays, an observation which is +made more explicitly later in the _Journal_, when he has just been +reading an old play which, he says, "worthless in the extreme, is, like +many of the plays in the beginning of the seventeenth century, written +to a good tune. The dramatic poets of that time seem to have possessed +as joint-stock a highly poetical and abstract tone of language, so that +the worst of them often remind you of the very best."[151] This +circumstance he accounts for by a reference to the audiences, and this +in turn he seems to ascribe partly to the great number of theaters then +open in London. He dwells so much on the evils of limiting the number of +play-houses to two or three, that we may fairly consider it one of his +hobbies, and it is possible that he had some slight influence toward +increasing that public opposition to the theatrical monopoly which +finally, in 1843, resulted in the nullification of the patents. + +Scott's discussion of Restoration drama is admirably vigorous and clear. +He probably simplified the matter too much at some points, indeed, as +for example in over-estimating the influence exerted upon the stage by +Charles II. and his French tastes, and in tracing the origin of the +French drama to romances. But in general his facts are right and his +deductions fair. Mr. Saintsbury has accused him of depreciating Dryden's +plays, especially the comedies, out of disgust at their indecency; yet +in judging the period as a whole he seems to discriminate sufficiently +between indelicacy and dulness. "The talents of Otway," he says, "in his +scenes of passionate affection rival, at least, and sometimes excel +those of Shakspeare." Again: "The comedies of Congreve contain probably +more wit than was ever before embodied upon the stage; each word was a +jest, and yet so characteristic that the repartee of the servant is +distinguished from that of the master; the jest of the cox-comb from +that of the humorist or fine gentleman of the piece." Lesser writers of +the time are also sympathetically characterized,--Shadwell, for +instance, whom he thought to be commonly underestimated.[152] The heroic +play Scott discussed vivaciously in more than one connection, for, as we +should expect, his sense of humor found its absurdities tempting.[153] +On the rant in the _Conquest of Granada_ he remarked, "Dryden's apology +for these extravagances seems to be that Almanzor is in a passion. But +although talking nonsense is a common effect of passion, it seems hardly +one of those consequences adapted to show forth the character of a hero +in theatrical representation."[154] Scott's opinion of the form of these +plays appears in the following comment: "We doubt if, with his utmost +efforts, [Molière] could have been absolutely dull, without the +assistance of a pastoral subject and heroic measure."[155] Concerning +the indecency of the literature of the period Scott wrote emphatically. +He was much troubled by the problem of whether to publish Dryden's works +without any cutting, and came near taking Ellis's advice to omit some +portions, but he finally adhered to his original determination: "In +making an edition of a man of genius's works for libraries and +collections ... I must give my author as I find him, and will not tear +out the page, even to get rid of the blot, little as I like it."[156] + +The question of the morality of theater-going was one Scott felt obliged +to discuss when he was writing upon the drama. He found its vindication, +characteristically, in a universal human trait,--the impulse toward +mimicry and impersonation,--and in the good results that may be supposed +to attend it. In naming these he lays what seems like undue stress on +the teaching of history by the drama, in language that might quite as +well be applied to historical novels. His argument on the literary side +also is stated in a somewhat too sweeping way:--"Had there been no +drama, Shakespeare would, in all likelihood, have been but the author of +_Venus and Adonis_ and of a few sonnets forgotten among the numerous +works of the Elizabethan age, and Otway had been only the compiler of +fantastic odes."[157] A final plea, in favor of the stage as a +democratic agency--though this of course is not Scott's phrasing--seems +slightly unusual for him, although not essentially out of character. +"The entertainment," he says, "which is the subject of general +enjoyment, is of a nature which tends to soften, if not to level, the +distinction of ranks."[158] In another mood he admitted the greater +likelihood that immoral plays would injure the public character than +that moral plays would elevate it.[159] + +It is sufficiently apparent to any student of Scott's work that he was +personally very fond of the drama. Many of the literary references and +allusions which appear in great abundance throughout his writings are +from plays, and show, as we have seen, a wide acquaintance with English +dramatic writers, from Shakspere to such comparatively little-known +playwrights as Suckling and Cowley. In the _Letters of Malachi +Malagrowther on the Currency_, for example, Scott's unusual range of +reading reveals itself even in connection with a subject remote from his +ordinary field, and here as elsewhere he shows himself prone to quote +from the drama.[160] But Scott was interested in plays for what he found +in them of characters and manners, of witty and sententious speech, of +situations and incidents, and only secondarily in the technical aspects +of the drama. Reading his novels we could guess that he would care more +for the concrete elements of a play than for the orderly march of events +through the various stages of a formally proper construction. In this +respect he differs from Coleridge; but indeed the two men may be +contrasted at almost every point. In summing up this part of Scott's +criticism we must remember also that it was chiefly incidental. Perhaps +whatever qualities it exhibits are on this account particularly +characteristic: at any rate his opinions on the drama were the reaction +of an unusually capable mind upon a department of literature in which +his reading was all the more fruitful because it followed the lines of a +natural inclination. + + +THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + +_Dryden_ + + Scott's preparations for his edition of Dryden--Wide Scope of the + work--Scott's estimation of Dryden--Grounds for putting Dryden above + Chaucer and Spenser--Admirable style of the biography--Comments by + Scott on other seventeenth century writers. + +The edition of _Dryden's Complete Works_ deserves further notice, +especially since only eight of the eighteen volumes are occupied with +the plays, and these have less commentary than other parts of the works. +In 1805 Scott wrote to his friend George Ellis, "My critical notes will +not be very numerous but I hope to illustrate the political poems, as +_Absalom and Achitophel_, the _Hind and Panther_, etc., with some +curious annotations. I have already made a complete search among some +hundred pamphlets of that pamphlet-writing age, and with considerable +success, as I have found several which throw light on my author."[161] +He added that another edition of Dryden was proposed, and Ellis wrote in +answer, "With regard to your competitors, I feel perfectly at my ease, +because I am convinced that though you should generously furnish them +with all the materials, they would not know how to use them; _non cuivis +hominum contingit_ to write critical notes that anyone will read."[162] + +When Scott's Dryden was reëdited and reissued in 1882-93 by Professor +Saintsbury, the new editor said: "It certainly deserves the credit of +being one of the best-edited books on a great scale in English, save in +one particular,--the revision of the text."[163] The elaborate +historical notes are left untouched, as being "in general thoroughly +trustworthy,"[164] though the editor considers them somewhat excessive, +especially as sometimes containing illustrative material from perfectly +worthless contemporaries. On the other hand, the "explanation of word +and phrase is a little defective."[165] + +The most notable quality of the _Life of Dryden_ which composes the +first of the eighteen volumes is its breadth of scope. Scott's aim may +best be given in his own words in the Advertisement: "The general +critical view of Dryden's works being sketched by Johnson with +unequalled felicity, and the incidents of his life accurately discussed +and ascertained by Malone, something seemed to remain for him who should +consider these literary productions in their succession, as actuated by, +and operating upon, the taste of an age where they had so predominant +influence; and who might, at the same time, connect the life of Dryden +with the history of his publications, without losing sight of the fate +and character of the individual."[166] + +Errors of judgment appear in places; sometimes they are due to the +imperfect scholarship of the time; sometimes they arise from prejudices +of Scott's own. In the very first chapter we find him condemning Lyly +and all writers of "conceited" language--particularly of course the +Metaphysicals--with a thoroughness that a truly catholic critic ought +probably to avoid. Scott had a constitutional dislike for a labored +style, and at the same time a fondness for the direct and +straightforward way of looking at things. So, though he was open to the +emotional appeal of a poem like _Christabel_, he took no pleasure in the +devious processes by which the cold intellect has sometimes tried to +give fresh interest to familiar words and ideas. They quite prevented +him from seeing the passion in the work of Donne, for example, and he +considered all metaphysical poets, in so far as they showed the traits +of their class, to be without poetical feeling. + +Scott placed Dryden after Shakspere and Milton as third in the list of +English writers. I think he would even have been willing to say that +Dryden was the third as a poet. For greatly as he admired Chaucer, Scott +did not feel Chaucer's full power, and indeed it was only beginning to +be possible to read Chaucer with any appreciation of his metrical +excellence. Spenser, of whom he once wrote: "No author, perhaps, ever +possessed and combined in so brilliant a degree the requisite qualities +of a poet,"[167] was more of a favorite with Scott than Chaucer. But at +another time he spoke of Drayton as possessing perhaps equal powers of +poetry,[168] and he seems to have felt that Spenser becomes tedious +through the continued use of his difficult stanza and even more because +of the "languor of a continued allegory."[169] In comparing his +judgments on Spenser and Dryden we may conclude that the critic found +more in the later poet of that solid intellectual basis which he +emphasizes in characterizing him. "This power of ratiocination," says +Scott, "of investigating, discovering, and appreciating that which is +really excellent, if accompanied with the necessary command of fanciful +illustration and elegant expression, is the most interesting quality +which can be possessed by a poet."[170] Again he lays emphasis on +Dryden's versatility,--greater, he says, than that of Shakspere and +Milton. In _Old Mortality_ Dryden is referred to as "the great +High-priest of all the Nine." Scott would have called this another point +of his superiority over Spenser, if he had made the comparison. + +Yet he saw Dryden's deficiencies. "It was a consequence of his mental +acuteness that his dramatic personages often philosophized and reasoned +when they ought only to have felt,"[171] Scott remarks and he frequently +deplores Dryden's failure "in expressing the milder and more tender +passions."[172] Of Dryden's great gift of style, Scott speaks in the +highest terms. "With this power," he says, "Dryden's poetry was gifted +in a degree surpassing in modulated harmony that of all who had preceded +him and inferior to none that has since written English verse [_sic_]. +He first showed"--and here we see Scott's eighteenth-century +affinities--"that the English language was capable of uniting smoothness +and strength."[173] + +Such criticism as Scott gives on specific parts of Dryden's work is +clear-cut, fair for the most part, and has the sanity and reasonableness +which are the most noticeable qualities of his criticism in general. It +would be easier to find illustrations of shrewdness than of subtlety +among his notes, but his discriminations are often effective and +satisfying. His discussion, for example, of prologues and epilogues +considered in relation to the theatrical conditions which determined +their character is admirable.[174] A note on "the cant of supposing that +the _Iliad_ contained an obvious and intentional moral"[175] is also +full of sense and vigor, but these qualities are so thoroughly diffused +through the work that there is no need of particularizing. His praise of +_Alexander's Feast_ may be referred to, however, as showing his +characteristic delight in objective poetry.[176] As a lyric poet, he +says, Dryden "must be allowed to have no equal."[177] + +The peculiarly congenial qualities of the subject may have had something +to do with the fact that the style in which the _Life of Dryden_ is +written is noticeably better than that of Scott's ordinary work. It is +marked with a care and accuracy that were not, unfortunately, habitual +to him. Perhaps it was an advantage that when he wrote the book he had +not yet become altogether familiar with his own facility; certainly the +substance and the manner of treatment unite in making this the most +important of his critical biographies. + +Various references indicate that Scott was acquainted in at least a +general way with English writers throughout the whole of Dryden's +century. He speaks of the poems of Phineas Fletcher as containing "many +passages fully equal to Spenser"[178]; he says that Cowley "is now ... +undeservedly forgotten"[179]; he calls _Hudibras_ "the most witty poem +that ever was written,"[180] but says, "the perpetual scintillation of +Butler's wit is too dazzling to be delightful"[181]; he talks of Waller +and quotes from him[182]; he refers to the charming quality of Isaac +Walton's work;[183] and he adopts Samuel Pepys as a familiar +acquaintance.[184] These references occur mostly in the _Dryden_ or in +the novels, and we may conclude that the work for the _Dryden_ gathered +up and strengthened all Scott's acquaintance with the literature of the +seventeenth century, from Shakspere and Milton down to writers of +altogether minor importance; and gave him material for many of the +allusions that appear in his later work. It is probably true that there +are more quotations from Dryden in Scott's books than from any other one +author,[185] though lines from Shakspere occurred more often in his +conversation and familiar letters. + + +THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY + +_Swift_ + + The preparation of _Swift's Complete Works_--Comparison of the + _Dryden_ and the _Swift_--The bibliographical problem presented by + Swift's works--Inaccuracies in the biography--Scott's success in + portraying a perplexing temperament--Judicious quality of his + literary criticism. + +As soon as the _Dryden_ was completed Scott was offered twice as much +money as he had received for that work, for a similar edition of +Swift.[186] He readily undertook the task, and in the midst of many +other editorial engagements set to work upon it. The preparation of the +book extended over the six years during which Scott ran the greater part +of his poetical career. On its appearance one of his friends expressed +the feeling which every student of Scott must have had in regard to the +large editorial labors that he undertook, in saying, "I am delighted and +surprised; for how a person of your turn could wade through, and so +accurately analyze what you have done (namely, all the dull things +calculated to illustrate your author), seems almost impossible, and a +prodigy in the history of the human mind."[187] The work was first +published in 1814. Ten years later it was revised and reissued; and +Scott's _Swift_ has, like his _Dryden_, been the standard edition of +that author ever since. + +In each case Scott had to deal with an important and varied body of +literature in the two fields of poetry and prose, though the proportions +were different; and in each case he had occasion for illustrative +historical annotations of the kind that he wrote with unrivalled +facility. He was master of the political intrigues of Queen Anne's reign +no less completely than of the circumstances which gave rise to _Absalom +and Achitophel_, and the fact that his notes are less voluminous in the +_Swift_ is probably to be accounted for by the comparative absence of +quaintness in the literary and social fashions of the eighteenth +century. + +The peculiar conditions under which Swift's writings had appeared, and +his remarkable indifference to literary fame, gave the editor +opportunity to look for material which had not before been included in +his works. The diligent search of Scott and his various correspondents +enabled him to add about thirty poems, between sixty and seventy letters +from Swift, and about sixteen other small pieces. The most noteworthy +item among these additions was the correspondence between Swift and Miss +Vanhomrigh, of which only a very small part had previously been made +public.[188] + +Scott's notes seem to indicate that most of the necessary searching +through newspapers and obscure pamphlets for forgotten work of Swift was +performed by "obliging correspondents," and that the editor himself had +only to pass judgment on what was brought to his attention. This +impression may arise largely from his cordiality in expressing +indebtedness to his helpers, but it is certain that his position as a +popular poet gave Scott the assistance of many people who would not have +been enlisted in the work by an ordinary editor. But Scott had the +difficult task of deciding whether the unauthenticated pieces were to be +assigned to Swift. The bibliography of Swift is still so uncertain that +it is impossible to say how many of the small pamphlets in verse and +prose added in this edition are really his work.[189] Scott had good +reason for his additions in most cases, though sometimes, as he was +aware, the Dean had merely revised the work of other people. The editor +was occasionally over-credulous in attributing pieces to Swift, but he +was perhaps oftener too generous in giving room to things which he knew +had very little claim to be considered Swift's work. When he was in +doubt he chose to err on the safe side, according to the principles set +forth in the following note on the _Letter from Dr. Tripe to Nestor +Ironside_: "The piece contains a satirical description of Steele's +person, and should the editor be mistaken in conjecturing that Swift +contributed to compose it, may nevertheless, at this distance of time, +merit preservation as a literary curiosity."[190] The ample space +afforded by the nineteen volumes of the book gives room to Arbuthnot's +_History of John Bull_--because it was "usually published in Swift's +works,"--to the verses addressed to the Dean and those written in memory +of him, as well as to the prose and verse miscellanies of Pope and +Swift, and the miscellanies and _jeux d'esprit_ of Swift and Sheridan. +Swift's correspondence fills the last four and a half volumes. + +The biography, which occupies the first volume, is admirable in tone, +but the facts Scott gives are less to be relied upon than the inferences +and conclusions he derives from them. He corresponded with persons who +were in a position to know about Swift from his friends and +acquaintances, and probably he trusted too much to these "original +sources." We find, as perhaps the most noteworthy instance, that the +marriage to Stella is stated as an ascertained fact, on authority that +is not now considered convincing. Later biographers of Swift,--Sir Henry +Craik, Leslie Stephen, Mr. Churton Collins,--have borne witness to the +human interest of Scott's biography, and its preeminence, in spite of +inaccuracies, among all the Lives of Swift that have been written. But +Mr. Churton Collins thinks Scott did not present a really clear view of +Swift's mysterious character, and Craik says he took only the +conventional attitude towards Swift's politics, misanthropy, and +religion. The charge indicates Scott's weakness, and perhaps also much +of his strength, as a biographer and critic, for he had no prejudice +against the conventional as such, and was never anxious to exhibit +special "insight" of any kind. Yet I think his portrayal of Swift has +seemed to most readers a clear presentation of a real and comprehensible +character.[191] + +Scott's remark when he undertook the work, that Swift was of his early +favorites,[192] seems surprising when one remembers how his genial +nature recoiled from misanthropy and cynicism; but his treatment of the +Dean was so sympathetic that Jeffrey thought him decidedly too lenient, +and was moved to express righteous indignation in the pages of the +_Edinburgh Review_.[193] The rebuke was unnecessary, for Scott did not +omit to record Swift's failings and to express wholesomely vigorous +opinions concerning them, though he felt that they ought to be looked +upon as evidences of disease rather than of guilt. He felt also, with +perhaps some excess of charity but surely not such as could be in the +least harmful, that "if the Dean's principles were misanthropical, his +practice was benevolent. Few have written so much with so little view +either to fame or to profit, or to aught but benefit to the +public."[194] Jeffrey's condemnation of Scott's point of view was +mingled with just praise. He said of the biography: "It is quite fair +and moderate in politics; and perhaps rather too indulgent and tender +towards individuals of all descriptions,--more full, at least, of +kindness and veneration for genius and social virtue, than of +indignation at baseness and profligacy. Altogether it is not much like +the production of a mere man of letters, or a fastidious speculator in +sentiment and morality; but exhibits throughout, and in a very pleasing +form, the good sense and large toleration of a man of the world." + +The very practical motives that inspired most of Swift's pamphlets would +naturally attract Scott. Probably it was the remembrance of the +_Drapier's Letters_ that suggested to him a similar form of protest +against proposed changes in the Scottish currency; certainly the +_Letters of Malachi Malagrowther_ had an effect comparable to that of +Swift's more consummately ingenious appeal. Another quality in Swift's +work that would naturally arouse Scott's admiration was the remarkable +directness and lucidity of the style. Scott appreciated the originality +force of Swift, even when it was used in the service of satire. +Sometimes, he says, "the intensity of his satire gives to his poetry a +character of emphatic violence which borders upon grandeur."[195] The +editor's discussion of _Gulliver's Travels_ an acute and illuminating +little essay, contains one comment that gives an amusing revelation of +his point of view. He says in regard to the fourth part of the story: +"It is some consolation to remark that the fiction on which this libel +on human nature rests is in every respect gross and improbable, and, far +from being entitled to the praise due to the management of the first two +parts, is inferior in plan even to the third."[196] This is a sound +verdict, even if it does contain an extra-literary element. Scott +surpassed most of his contemporaries, except the younger Romantic +writers, in his ability to eliminate irrelevant considerations in +estimating any literary work; and if occasionally his strong moral +feeling appears in his criticism, it serves to remind us how much less +often this happens than a knowledge of his temperament would lead us to +expect. In spite of the qualities in his subject that might naturally +bias Scott's judgment, his criticism throughout this edition of Swift +seems on the whole very judicious. It defines the literary importance +and brings out plainly the power of a man whose work presents unusual +perplexities to the critic. + + +_The Somers Tracts_ + + Character of the collection and of Scott's work on it--Occasional + carelessness--Purpose of the notes--Scott's attitude towards these + studies. + +While Scott was working on his _Dryden_ and before he began the _Swift_ +he undertook to edit the great collection which had been published fifty +years before as _Somers' Tracts_. His task was to arrange, revise, and +annotate pamphlets which represented every reign from Elizabeth to +George I. He grouped them chronologically by reigns, and separated them +further into sections under the headings,--Ecclesiastical, Historical, +Civil, Military, Miscellaneous; he also added eighty-one pamphlets, all +written before the time of James II. The largest number of additions in +any one section was historical and had reference to Stafford. Among the +miscellaneous tracts that he incorporated were Derrick's _Image of +Ireland_ from a copy in the Advocates' Library, and Gosson's _School of +Abuse_. Scott's statement in the Advertisement as to why he did not omit +any of the original collection shows his unpedantic attitude toward the +kind of studies which he was encouraging by the republication of this +series. He says: "When the variety of literary pursuits, and the +fluctuation of fashionable study is considered, it may seem rash to pass +a hasty sentence of exclusion, even upon the dullest and most despised +of the essays which this ample collection offers to the public. There +may be among the learned, even now, individuals to whom the rabbinical +lore of Hugh Broughton presents more charms than the verses of Homer; +and a future day may arise when tracts on chronology will bear as high a +value among antiquaries as 'Greene's Groats' Worth of Wit,' or 'George +Peele's Jests,' the present respectable objects of research and +reverence." + +In editing this collection Scott made little attempt to decide disputed +problems of authorship when the explanation did not lie upon the +surface. Indeed the following note regarding the tract called _A New +Test of the Church of England's Loyalty_ shows that he sometimes +neglected very obvious sources of information, for the piece is given in +one of Defoe's own collections of his works: "This defence of whiggish +loyalty," says Scott, "seems to have been written by the celebrated +Daniel De Foe, a conjecture which is strengthened by the frequent +reference to his poem of the True-born Englishman."[197] He was not +often so careless, but the rapidity and range of his work during these +years undoubtedly gave occasion for more than one lapse of accuracy, +while at the same time it perhaps increased the effectiveness of his +comment. + +His notes and introductions vary in length according to the requirements +of the case, for he aimed to provide such material as would prevent the +necessity of reference to other works. Matters that were obscure he +explained, and he wrote little comment on those that were generally +understood. When he left himself so free a hand he could indulge his +personal tastes somewhat also, and we are not surprised to find an +especial abundance of notes on an account of the Gowrie Conspiracy which +presented a perplexing problem in Scottish history. + +The connection of _Somers' Tracts_ with other things that Scott did has +already been remarked upon.[198] That he found some sort of stimulation +in all his scholarly employments is sufficiently evident to anyone who +studies his work as a whole, and this fact might well serve as a motive +for such study. Yet it is only fair to remember that Scott was not a +novelist during these years when he was performing his most laborious +editorial tasks. We are accustomed to think of the brilliant use he was +afterwards to make of the knowledge he was gaining, but the motives +which influenced him were those of the man whose interest in literature +and history makes scholarly work seem the most natural way of earning +money. "These are studies, indeed, proverbially dull," he once wrote, +speaking of Horace Walpole's antiquarian researches, "but it is only +when they are pursued by those whose fancies nothing can enliven."[199] + + +_The Lives of the Novelists, and Comments on Other Eighteenth Century +Writers_ + + The _Novelists' Library_--Writers discussed--Value of the + _Lives_--General tone of competence in these essays--Scott's + catholic taste--Points of special interest in the + discussion--Relations of the novel and the drama--Supernatural + machinery in novels--Mistakes in the criticism of + Defoe--Realism--Motive in the novel--Aim of the prefaces--Scott's + familiarity with eighteenth century literature. + +It has already been said that a large part of Scott's critical work +concerned itself with the eighteenth century. Of his greater editorial +labors two may be considered as belonging to that period, for +Ballantyne's _Novelists' Library_, though an enterprise which was +commercially a failure and which consequently remained incomplete, may +from the point of view of Scott's contributions fitly be compared with +the _Dryden_ and the _Swift_. Such parts as were published appeared in +1821. The bulk of the volumes and the small type in which they were +printed were considered to be the cause of their failure, and it was not +until the critical biographies were extracted and published separately, +by Galignani the Parisian bookseller, in 1825, that they seem to have +attracted notice. + +Scott wrote these _Lives of the Novelists_ at a time when his hands were +full of literary projects, altogether for John Ballantyne's benefit. The +author afterwards spoke of them as "rather flimsily written,"[200] but +we may surmise that to the fact that they were not the result of special +study is due something of their ripeness of reflection and breadth of +generalization. "They contain a large assemblage of manly and sagacious +remarks on human life and manners,"[201] wrote the _Quarterly_ reviewer. + +The writers considered were all British, with the exception of LeSage. +The choice, or at least the arrangement, seems more or less haphazard. +Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett naturally began the group, and Sterne +followed after an interval. Johnson and Goldsmith were treated briefly, +for the prefaces were to be proportioned to the amount of work by each +author included in the text. Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve, and Mrs. +Radcliffe represented the Gothic romance. Charles Johnstone, Robert +Bage, and Richard Cumberland were among the inferior writers included. +Henry Mackenzie, who was still living and was a personal friend of +Scott, completes the list so far as it went before the series was +terminated by the publisher's death. When Scott's _Miscellaneous Prose +Works_ were collected he added the lives of Charlotte Smith and Defoe, +but in each of these cases the biographical portion was by another hand, +the criticism being his own.[202] + +The study of the novel as a _genre_ was naturally undeveloped at that +time. Dunlop's _History of Prose Fiction_ had appeared in 1814, +evidently a much more ambitious attempt than Scott's; but Scott could +treat the British novelists with comparative freedom from the trammels +of any established precedent. Of course his position as one who had +struck out a wonderful new path in the writing of novels gave to his +reflections on other novelists a very special interest. The _Lives of +the Novelists_ are not to be neglected even now, and this is the more to +be insisted on because the criticism of novels has been practiced with +increasing zeal since Scott himself has become a classic and since his +successors have made this field of literature more varied and popular, +if not greater, than the first masters made it. A recent writer on +eighteenth century literature says: "By far the best criticism of the +eighteenth century novelists will be found in the prefatory notices +contributed by Scott to Ballantyne's _Novelists' Library_."[203] But the +same writer adds: "Sir Walter Scott, indeed, considered _Fathom_ +superior to _Jonathan Wild_, an opinion which must always remain one of +the mysteries of criticism."[204] + +This comment indicates that there was no lack of assuredness in Scott's +treatment, and we do indeed find a very pleasant tone of competence +which, though liable to error as in the exaggerated praise bestowed upon +Smollett, gives much of their effectiveness to the criticisms. The +quality appears elsewhere in Scott's critical work, but it is perhaps +especially noticeable here. For example, we find this dictum: "There is +no book in existence, in which so much of the human character, under all +its various shades and phases, is described in so few words, as in the +_Diable Boiteux_."[205] The illustration is perhaps a trifle extreme, +for Scott is not often really dogmatic. From this point of view as from +others we naturally make the comparison with Johnson's _Lives of the +Poets_, and we find that without being so sententious, so admirably +compact in style, Scott is also not so dictatorial. + +We cannot accuse Scott of liking any one kind of novel to the exclusion +of others. He ranks _Clarissa Harlowe_ very high;[206] he says _Tom +Jones_ is "truth and human nature itself."[207] _The Vicar of Wakefield_ +he calls "one of the most delicious morsels of fictitious composition on +which the human mind was ever employed." "We return to it again and +again," he says, "and bless the memory of an author who contrives so +well to reconcile us to human nature."[208] He praises _Tristram +Shandy_, calling Uncle Toby and his faithful Squire, "the most +delightful characters in the work, or perhaps in any other."[209] The +quiet fictions of Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen, the exciting tales of +Mrs. Radcliffe, the sentiment of Sterne, even the satires of Bage,--all +pleased him in one way or another. Scott's autobiography contains the +following comment on his boyish tastes in the matter of novels: "The +whole Jemmy and Jenny Jessamy tribe I abhorred, and it required the art +of Burney, or the feeling of Mackenzie, to fix my attention upon a +domestic tale. But all that was adventurous and romantic I devoured +without much discrimination."[210] In later life he learned to exercise +his judgment in regard to stories of adventure not less than those of +the "domestic" sort, and perhaps the liking for quiet tales grew upon +him; at any rate his taste seems remarkably catholic. + +The most interesting portions of the _Lives of the Novelists_ are those +which show us, by the frequent recurrence of the same subjects, what +parts of the theory of novel-writing had particularly engaged Scott's +attention. For example we find him discussing, most fully in the _Life +of Fielding_, the reasons why a successful novelist is likely not to be +a successful playwright. The way in which he looks at the matter +suggests that he was thinking quite as much of the probability of +failure in his own case should he begin to write plays, as of the +subject of the memoir; for Fielding wrote his plays before his novels, +but the argument assumes a man who writes good novels first and bad +plays afterwards. One of his statements seems rather curious and hard to +explain,--"Though a good acting play may be made by selecting a plot and +characters from a novel, yet scarce any effort of genius could render a +play into a narrative romance." Perhaps he expected the "Terryfied" +versions of _Guy Mannering_ and _Rob Roy_ to hold the stage longer than +fate has permitted them to do. From another point of view also he was +interested in the connection of the novel and the drama. He felt that +the direction of the drama in the modern period had been largely +determined by the influence of successful novels; and he probably +overestimated the effect of the "romances of Calprenède and Scudéri" on +heroic tragedy.[211] + +A subject which recurs even oftener than that of the distinction between +drama and novel is the question of supernatural machinery in novels. +Horace Walpole is commended for giving us ghosts without furnishing +explanations. Indeed the _Castle of Otranto_ is highly praised;[212] but +so also is Mrs. Radcliffe's work, except on the one point of the attempt +to rationalize mysteries. The kind of romance which she +"introduced"[213] is compared with the melodrama, and its particular +mode of appeal is analyzed in very interesting fashion. In the _Life of +Clara Reeve_ the proper treatment of ghosts is discussed at length, for +that author had contended that ghosts should be very mild and of "sober +demeanour." Scott justifies her practice, but not her theory, on the +following grounds: "What are the limits to be placed to the reader's +credulity, when those of common-sense and ordinary nature are at once +exceeded? The question admits only one answer, namely, that the author +himself, being in fact the magician, shall evoke no spirits whom he is +not capable of endowing with manners and language corresponding to their +supernatural character." + +Scott writes with much enthusiasm about Defoe's famous little +ghost-story, _The Apparition of Mrs. Veal_, praising Defoe's wonderful +skill in making the unreal seem credible. In connection with this tale +Scott developed a very interesting anecdote to explain the fact that +Drelincourt's _Defence against the Fear of Death_ is recommended by the +apparition. "Drelincourt's book," he says, "being neglected, lay a dead +stock on the hands of the publisher. In this emergency he applied to De +Foe to assist him (by dint of such means as were then, as well as now, +pretty well understood in the literary world) in rescuing the +unfortunate book from the literary death to which general neglect seemed +about to consign it." Scott goes on to assert that the story was simply +a consummately clever advertising device. He may have found the germ of +his hypothesis in a bookseller's tradition, but he states it as an +assured fact, and doubtless believed it firmly because it seemed so +beautifully reasonable. His explanation became the basis of later +statements on the subject, and now obliges everyone who discusses Defoe +to supply a contradiction; for the truth is that Drelincourt's book was +so highly popular as to have gone through several editions before the +ghost of Mrs. Veal mentioned it. Moreover, if Scott's little tale was +fictitious, Defoe's, on the other hand, was really a reporter's version +of an experience actually related by the person to whom he assigns it, +and his skill in achieving verisimilitude was perhaps in this case less +wonderful than his critics have generally supposed.[214] + +On the subject of realism, Scott was not in general very rigid. In his +_Life of Richardson_ he says: "It is unfair to tax an author too +severely upon improbabilities, without conceding which his story could +have no existence; and we have the less title to do so, because, in the +history of real life, that which is actually true bears often very +little resemblance to that which is probable."[215] But this is perhaps +only a plea for one kind of realism. He also refers to the question of +historical "keening," and concludes that it is possible to have so much +accuracy that the public will refuse to be interested, as _Lear_ would +hardly be popular on the stage if the hero were represented in the +bearskin and paint which a Briton of his time doubtless wore.[216] + +The motive of the novel is a subject which naturally engages the +attention of the novelist-critic. Romantic fiction, he thinks may have +sufficient justification if it acts as an opiate for tired spirits. A +significant antithesis between his point of view in this matter and the +more common attitude taken by critics in his time is illustrated by two +reviews of Mrs. Shelley's _Frankenstein_, to which we may refer, though +the book was later than those included in the _Novelists' Library_. +Scott wrote in _Blackwood's_: "We ... congratulate our readers upon a +novel which excites new reflections and untried sources of +emotion."[217] The _Quarterly_ reviewer took the opposite and more +conservative attitude and expressed himself thus: "Our taste and our +judgment alike revolt at this kind of writing, and the greater the +ability with which it may be executed the worse it is--it inculcates no +lesson of conduct, manners, or morality; it cannot mend, and will not +even amuse its readers, unless their taste has been deplorably +vitiated--it fatigues the feelings without interesting the +understanding; it gratuitously harasses the heart, and wantonly adds to +the store, already too great, of painful sensations."[218] In general +Scott minimizes the effect of any moral that may be expressed in the +novel, but occasionally he seems inconsistent, when he is talking of +sentiments that are peculiarly distasteful to him.[219] But his thesis +is that "the direct and obvious moral to be deduced from a fictitious +narrative is of much less consequence to the public than the mode in +which the story is treated in the course of its details."[220] In the +_Life of Fielding_ he says of novels: "The best which can be hoped is +that they may sometimes instruct the youthful mind by real pictures of +life, and sometimes awaken their better feelings and sympathies by +strains of generous sentiment, and tales of fictitious woe. Beyond this +point they are a mere elegance, a luxury contrived for the amusement of +polished life." + +He conceived that his prefaces might be useful to warn readers against +any ill effects that might otherwise result from the reading of the +accompanying texts; and our comments on the _Lives of the Novelists_ may +fitly close with a quotation which shows the writer's attitude toward +the novels and his own criticisms upon them. The passage is taken from +the _Life of Bage_. "We did not think it proper to reject the works of +so eminent an author from this collection, merely on account of +speculative errors.[221] We have done our best to place a mark on these; +and as we are far from being of opinion that the youngest and most +thoughtless derive their serious opinions from productions of this +nature, we leave them for our reader's amusement, trusting that he will +remember that a good jest is no argument; that the novelist, like the +master of a puppet-show, has his drama under his absolute authority, and +shapes the events to favour his own opinions; and that whether the Devil +flies away with Punch, or Punch strangles the Devil, forms no real +argument as to the comparative power of either one or other, but only +indicates the special pleasure of the master of the motion." + +Scott was deeply in sympathy with the literature of the century within +which he was born. To the evidence of his _Swift_ and of the _Lives of +the Novelists_ it may be added that he contemplated making a complete +edition of Pope, and that he professed to like _London_ and _The Vanity +of Human Wishes_ the best of all poems. James Ballantyne said, rather +ambiguously, "I think I never saw his countenance more indicative of +high admiration than while reciting aloud from those productions."[222] +In one of his letters Scott spoke of the "beautiful and feeling verses +by Dr. Johnson to the memory of his humble friend Levett, ... which with +me, though a tolerably ardent Scotchman, atone for a thousand of his +prejudices."[223] Not only did he admire the great biography, but he +called Boswell "such a biographer as no man but [Johnson] ever had, or +ever deserved to have."[224] But he once said that many of the +_Ramblers_ were "little better than a sort of pageant, where trite and +obvious maxims are made to swagger in lofty and mystic language, and get +some credit only because they are not understood."[225] + +Among other eighteenth century writers, Addison is distinguished by high +praise in a few casual references,[226] but Scott once admitted that he +did not like Addison so much as he felt to be proper.[227] A collection +of Prior's poems Scott calls "an English classic of the first +order."[228] He speaks of Parnell as "an admirable man and elegant +poet,"[229] and mentions "the ponderous, persevering, and laborious +dullness of Sir Richard Blackmore."[230] But these observations are of +little importance except as they indicate that Scott had read the +authors of the eighteenth century and acquiesced in the conventional +judgments upon them. It is seldom in his brief and casual comments that +Scott is particularly interesting as a critic, except when he is +speaking of living writers, for he lacked the gift of conciseness. When +he has a large canvas he is at his best, and this he has in the +principal works described in this chapter:--_The Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border_, the _Works of Dryden_, the _Works of Swift_, and the +_Lives of the Novelists_. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SCOTT'S CRITICISM OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES + + Scott's freedom from literary jealousy--His disapproval of the + typical reviewer's attitude--Jeffrey, Gifford, and Lockhart--His own + practice in regard to reviewing--His informal critical + remarks--Opportunity for favorable judgments afforded by the number + of important writers in his period. + + Poets--Burns--Coleridge--Relation of _Christabel_ to + Scott's work--Scott's dislike for extreme + Romanticism--Wordsworth--Southey--Scott's review of + _Kehama_--Byron--Scott's opinion of Byron's + character--Campbell--Moore--Allan Cunningham--Hogg--Crabbe--Joanna + Baillie--Matthew Lewis--Scott's judgment on his early taste for + poetry--Absence of comment on the work of Lamb, Landor, Hunt, + Hazlitt, and DeQuincey. + + Novelists--Jane Austen--Maria Edgeworth--Cooper--Personal relations + between Scott and Cooper--Scott's verdict on Americans in + general--Washington Irving--Goethe--Fouqué--Scott's interest in men + of action. + + +To study Scott's relations with contemporary writers is a very pleasant +task because nothing shows better the greatness of his heart. His +admirable freedom from literary jealousy was an innate virtue which he +deliberately increased by cultivation, taking care, also, never to +subject himself to the conditions which he thought accounted for the +faults of Pope, who had "neither the business nor the idleness of life +to divide his mind from his Parnassian pursuits."[231] "Those who have +not his genius may be so far compensated by avoiding his foibles," Scott +said; and some years later he wrote,--"When I first saw that a literary +profession was to be my fate, I endeavoured by all efforts of stoicism +to divest myself of that irritable degree of sensibility--or, to speak +plainly, of vanity--which makes the poetical race miserable and +ridiculous."[232] The record of his life clearly shows that his kindness +towards other men of letters was not limited to words. One who received +his good offices has written,--"The sternest words I ever heard him +utter were concerning a certain poet: 'That man,' he said, 'has had much +in his power, but he never befriended rising genius yet.'"[233] We may +safely say that Scott enjoyed liking the work of other men. "I am most +delighted with praise from those who convince me of their good taste by +admiring the genius of my contemporaries,"[234] he once wrote to +Southey. + +It is commonly supposed that Scott's amiability led him into absurd +excesses of praise for the works of his fellow-craftsmen, and indeed he +did say some very surprising things. But when all his references to any +one man are brought together, they will be found, with a few exceptions, +pretty fairly to characterize the writer. His _obiter dicta_ must be +read in the light of one another, and in the light, also, of his known +principles. Temperamentally modest about his own work, he was also +habitually optimistic, and the combination gave him an utterly different +quality from that of the typical _Edinburgh_ or _Quarterly_ critics. + +His disapproval of their point of view he expressed more than once.[235] +It seemed to him futile and ungentlemanly for the anonymous reviewer to +seek primarily for faults, or "to wound any person's feelings ... unless +where conceit or false doctrine strongly calls for reprobation."[236] +"Where praise can be conscientiously mingled in a larger proportion than +blame," he said, "there is always some amusement in throwing together +our ideas upon the works of our fellow-labourers." He thought, indeed, +that vituperative and satiric criticism was defeating its own end, in +the case of the _Edinburgh Review_ since it was overworked to the point +of monotony. Such criticism he considered futile as well on this account +as because he thought it likely to have an injurious effect on the work +of really gifted writers. + +An admirer of both Jeffrey and Scott, who once heard a conversation +between the two men, has recorded a distinction which is exactly what we +should expect.[237] He says: "Jeffrey, for the most part, entertained +us, when books were under discussion, with the detection of faults, +blunders, absurdities, or plagiarisms: Scott took up the matter where he +left it, recalled some compensating beauty or excellence for which no +credit had been allowed, and by the recitation, perhaps, of one fine +stanza, set the poor victim on his legs again." + +On Jeffrey Scott's verdict was, "There is something in his mode of +reasoning that leads me greatly to doubt whether, notwithstanding the +vivacity of his imagination, he really has any _feeling_ of poetical +genius, or whether he has worn it all off by perpetually sharpening his +wit on the grindstone of criticism."[238] His comment on Gifford's +reviews was to the effect that people were more moved to dislike the +critic for his savagery than the guilty victim whom he flagellated.[239] +In the early days of _Blackwood's Magazine_ Scott often tried to repress +Lockhart's "wicked wit,"[240] and when Lockhart became editor of the +_Quarterly_ his father-in-law did not always approve of his work. "Don't +like his article on Sheridan's life,"[241] says the _Journal_. "There is +no breadth in it, no general views, the whole flung away in smart but +party criticism. Now, no man can take more general and liberal views of +literature than J.G.L."[242] + +With these opinions, Scott was not likely often to undertake the +reviewing of books that did not, in one way or another interest him or +move his admiration; and he would lay as much stress as possible on +their good points. Gifford told him that "fun and feeling" were his +forte.[243] In his early days he was probably somewhat influenced by +Jeffrey's method, and his articles on Todd's _Spenser_ and Godwin's +_Life of Chaucer_ indicate that he could occasionally adopt something of +the tone of the _Edinburgh Review_. Years afterwards he refused to write +an article that Lockhart wanted for the _Quarterly_, saying, "I cannot +write anything about the author unless I know it can hurt no one +alive"[244] but for the first volume of the _Quarterly_ he reviewed Sir +John Carr's _Caledonian Sketches_ in a way that Sharon Turner seriously +objected to, because it made Sir John seem ridiculous.[245] Some of +Scott's critics would perhaps apply one of the strictures to himself: +"Although Sir John quotes Horace, he has yet to learn that a wise man +should not admire too easily; for he frequently falls into a state of +wonderment at what appears to us neither very new nor very +extraordinary."[246] But if admiration seems to characterize too great a +proportion of Scott's critical work, it is because he usually preferred +to ignore such books as demanded the sarcastic treatment which he +reprehended, but which he felt perfectly capable of applying when he +wished. Speaking of a fulsome biography he once said, "I can no more +sympathize with a mere eulogist than I can with a ranting hero upon the +stage; and it unfortunately happens that some of our disrespect is apt, +rather unjustly, to be transferred to the subject of the panegyric in +the one case, and to poor Cato in the other."[247] + +Besides Scott's formal reviews, we find cited as evidence of his extreme +amiability his letters, his journal, and the remarks he made to friends +in moments of enthusiasm. These do indeed contain some sweeping +statements, but in almost every case one can see some reason, other than +the desire to be obliging, why he made them. He was not double-faced. +One of the nearest approaches to it seems to have been in the case of +Miss Seward's poetry, for which he wrote such an introduction as hardly +prepares the reader for the remark he made to Miss Baillie, that most of +it was "absolutely execrable." His comment in the edition of the +poems--the publication of which Miss Seward really forced upon him as a +dying request--is sedulously kind, and in _Waverley_ he quotes from her +a couple of lines which he calls "beautiful." But the essay is most +carefully guarded, and throughout it the editor implies that the woman +was more admirable than the poetry. Personally, indeed, he seems to have +liked and admired her.[248] + +The catalogue of Scott's contemporaries is so full of important names +that his genius for the enjoyment of other men's work had a wide +opportunity to display itself without becoming absurd. An argument early +used to prove that Scott was the author of _Waverley_ was the frequency +of quotation in the novels from all living poets except Scott himself, +and he felt constrained to throw in a reference or two to his own poetry +in order to weaken the force of the evidence.[249] The reader is +irresistibly reminded of the following description, given by Lockhart in +a letter to his wife, of a morning walk taken by Wordsworth and Scott in +company: "The Unknown was continually quoting Wordsworth's Poetry and +Wordsworth ditto, but the great Laker never uttered one syllable by +which it might have been intimated to a stranger that your Papa had ever +written a line either of verse or prose since he was born."[250] + +Scott's opinions in regard to his fellow craftsmen may best be given +largely in his own words--words which cannot fail to be interesting, +however little evidence they show of any attempt to make them quotable. + +In considering Scott's estimation of his contemporaries it is +chronologically proper to mention Burns first. As a boy of fifteen Scott +met Burns, an event which filled him with the suitable amount of awe. He +was most favorably impressed with the poet's appearance and with +everything in his manner. The boy thought, however, that "Burns' +acquaintance with English poetry was rather limited, and also, that +having twenty times the abilities of Allan Ramsay and of Ferguson, he +talked of them with too much humility as his models."[251] Scott's +admiration of Burns was always expressed in the highest and, if one may +say so, the most affectionate terms. He refused to let himself be named +"in the same day" with Burns.[252] "Long life to thy fame and peace to +thy soul, Rob Burns!" he exclaimed, in his _Journal_; "when I want to +express a sentiment which I feel strongly, I find the phrase in +Shakespeare--or thee."[253] On another day he compared Burns with +Shakspere as excelling all other poets in "the power of exciting the +most varied and discordant emotions with such rapid transitions."[254] +Again, "The Jolly Beggars, for humorous description and nice +discrimination of character, is inferior to no poem of the same length +in the whole range of English poetry."[255] Scott wished that Burns +might have carried out his plan of dramatic composition, and regretted, +from that point of view, the excessive labor at songs which in the +nature of things could not all be masterpieces.[256] + +Of writers who were more precisely contemporaries of Scott, the Lake +Poets and Byron are the most important. The precedence ought to be given +to Coleridge because of the suggestion Scott caught from a chance +recitation of _Christabel_ for the meter he made so popular in the +_Lay_.[257] Fragments from _Christabel_ are quoted or alluded to so +often in the novels[258] and throughout Scott's work that we should +conclude it had made a greater impression upon him than any other single +poem written in his own time, if Lockhart had not spoken of Wordsworth's +sonnet on Neidpath Castle as one which Scott was perhaps fondest of +quoting.[259] _Christabel_ is not the only one of Coleridge's poems +which Scott used for allusion or reference, but it was the favorite. "He +is naturally a grand poet," Scott once wrote to a friend. "His verses on +Love, I think, are among the most beautiful in the English language. Let +me know if you have seen them, as I have a copy of them as they stood in +their original form, which was afterwards altered for the worse."[260] +The _Ancient Mariner_ also made a decided impression on him, if we judge +from the fact that he quoted from it several times.[261] Scott evidently +felt that Coleridge was a most tantalizing poet, and once intimated that +future generations would in regard to him feel something like Milton's +desire "to call up him who left half told the story of Cambuscan +bold."[262] "No man has all the resources of poetry in such profusion, +but he cannot manage them so as to bring out anything of his own on a +large scale at all worthy of his genius.... His fancy and diction would +have long ago placed him above all his contemporaries, had they been +under the direction of a sound judgment and a steady will."[263] Such, +in effect, was the opinion that Scott always expressed concerning +Coleridge, and it is practically that of posterity. In _The Monastery_ +Coleridge is called "the most imaginative of our modern bards." In +another connection, after speaking of the "exquisite powers of poetry he +has suffered to remain uncultivated," Scott adds, "Let us be thankful +for what we have received, however. The unfashioned ore, drawn from so +rich a mine, is worth all to which art can add its highest decorations, +when drawn from less abundant sources."[264] These remarks are worth +quoting, not only because of their wisdom, but also because Scott had +small personal acquaintance with Coleridge and was rather repelled than +attracted by what he knew of the character of the author of +_Christabel_. His praises cannot in this case be called the tribute of +friendship, and his own remarkable power of self-control might have made +him a stern judge of Coleridge's shortcomings. + +One of his most interesting comments on Coleridge is contained in a +discussion of Byron's _Darkness_, a poem which to his mind recalled "the +wild, unbridled, and fiery imagination of Coleridge."[265] _Darkness_ is +characterized as a mass of images and ideas, unarranged, and the critic +goes on to warn the author against indulging in this sort of poetry. He +says: "The feeling of reverence which we entertain for that which is +difficult of comprehension, gives way to weariness whenever we begin to +suspect that it cannot be distinctly comprehended by anyone.... The +strength of poetical conception and beauty of diction bestowed upon such +prolusions [_sic_], is as much thrown away as the colors of a painter, +could he take a cloud of mist or a wreath of smoke for his canvas." It +is disappointing that we have no comment from Scott upon Shelley's +poetry, but we can imagine what is would have been.[266] Scott's +position as the great popularizer of the Romantic movement in poetry +makes particularly interesting his very evident though not often +expressed repugnance to the more extreme development of that movement. + +Wordsworth's peculiar theory of poetry seemed to Scott superfluous and +unnecessary, though he was never, so far as we can judge, especially +irritated by it.[267] Of Wordsworth and Southey he wrote to Miss Seward: +"Were it not for the unfortunate idea of forming a new school of poetry, +these men are calculated to give it a new impulse; but I think they +sometimes lose their energy in trying to find not a better but a +different path from what has been travelled by their predecessors."[268] +Scott paid tribute in the introduction to _The Antiquary_ to as much of +Wordsworth's poetical creed as he could acquiesce in when he said, "The +lower orders are less restrained by the habit of suppressing their +feelings, and ... I agree with my friend Wordsworth that they seldom +fail to express them in the strongest and most powerful language." In a +letter to Southey Scott calls Wordsworth "a great master of the +passions,"[269] and in his _Journal_ he said: His imagination "is +naturally exquisite, and highly cultivated by constant exercise."[270] +At another time he compared Wordsworth and Southey as scholars and +commented on the "freshness, vivacity, and spring" of Wordsworth's +mind.[271] + +The personal relations between Scott and Wordsworth were, as Wordsworth's +tribute in _Yarrow Revisited_ would indicate, those of affectionate +intimacy. And if Scott took exception to Wordsworth's choice of subjects +and manner, Wordsworth used the same freedom in disagreeing with Scott's +poetical ideals. "Thank you," he wrote in 1808, "for _Marmion_, which I +have read with lively pleasure. I think your end has been attained. That +it is not in every respect the end which I should wish you to purpose to +yourself, you will be well aware, from what you know of my notions of +composition, both as to matter and manner."[272] When, in 1821, Chantrey +was about to exhibit together his busts of the two poets, Scott wrote: +"I am happy my effigy is to go with that of Wordsworth, for (differing +from him in very many points of taste) I do not know a man more to be +venerated for uprightness of heart and loftiness of genius. Why he will +sometimes choose to crawl upon all fours, when God has given him so +noble a countenance to lift to heaven, I am as little able to account +for as for his quarrelling (as you tell me) with the wrinkles which time +and meditation have stamped his brow withal."[273] + +These remarks upon Wordsworth and Coleridge touch merely the fringe of +the subject, and indeed we do not find that Scott exercised any such +sublimated ingenuity in appreciating these men as has often been +considered essential. We can see that he admired certain parts of their +work intensely, but we look in vain for any real analysis of their +quality. But as he never had occasion to write essays upon their poetry, +it is perhaps hardly fair to expect anything more than the general +remarks that we actually do find, and as far as they go they are +satisfactory. + +Like most of his distinguished contemporaries, Scott held the work of +Southey in surprisingly high estimation.[274] Southey, more than anyone +else except Wordsworth, and more than Wordsworth in some ways, was the +"real poet" of the period, devoting his whole heart to literature and +his whole time to literary pursuits. Scott commented on the fact, +saying, "Southey's ideas are all poetical," and, "In this respect, as +well as in many others, he is a most striking and interesting +character."[275] Nevertheless Scott found it easy to criticise Southey's +poems adversely, as we may see from his correspondence. Writing to Miss +Seward he pointed out flaws in the story and the characterization of +_Madoc_,[276] yet after repeated readings he saw enough to convince him +that _Madoc_ would in the future "assume his real place at the feet of +Milton."[277] _Thalaba_ was one of the poems he liked to have read aloud +on Sunday evenings.[278] A review of _The Curse of Kehama_, in which he +seemed to express the opinion that this surpassed the poet's previous +work, illustrates his professed creed as to criticism. He wrote to Ellis +concerning his article: "What I could I did, which was to throw as much +weight as possible upon the beautiful passages, of which there are many, +and to slur over the absurdities, of which there are not a few.... This +said _Kehama_ affords cruel openings for the quizzers, and I suppose +will get it roundly in the _Edinburgh Review_. I could have made a very +different hand of it, indeed, had the order of the day been _pour +déchirer_."[279] If Scott had to make an effort in writing the review, +he made it with abundant energy. Some absurdities are indeed mentioned, +but various particular passages are characterized in the most +enthusiastic way, with such phrases as "horribly sublime," "impressive +and affecting," "reminds us of the Satan of Milton, yet stands the +comparison," "all the gloomy power of Dante." It may be noted that Scott +used Milton's name rather freely in comparisons, and that for Dante his +admiration was altogether unimpassioned,[280] but the review, after all, +is on the whole very laudatory.[281] In it Scott awards to Southey the +palm for a surpassing share of imagination, which he elsewhere gave to +Coleridge. Possibly Scott was the less inclined to be severe over the +absurdities of _Kehama_ because Southey agreed with his own theory as to +the evil of fastidious corrections.[282] At any rate he seems to have +been quite sincere in saying to Southey, in connection with the +poet-laureateship which, according to Scott's suggestion, was offered to +him in 1813, "I am not such an ass as not to know that you are my better +in poetry, though I have had, probably but for a time, the tide of +popularity in my favour."[283] + +Much as Scott admired Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, he considered +Byron the great poetical genius of the period. He once spoke of Byron as +the only poet of transcendent talents that England had had since +Dryden.[284] At another time his comment was: "He wrote from impulse, +never from effort; and therefore I have always reckoned Burns and Byron +the most genuine poetical geniuses of my time, and half a century before +me. We have ... many men of high poetical talent, but none, I think, of +that ever-gushing and perennial fountain of natural water."[285] The +likenesses between Byron's poetical manner and Scott's own must have +made it easy for the elder poet to recognize the power of the younger, +since Scott was innocent of all repining or envy over the fact which he +so freely acknowledged in later years, that Byron "beat" him out of the +field.[286] From the time of the appearance of the first two cantos of +_Childe Harold_ he acknowledged the author's "extraordinary power,"[287] +and even before that he had tried to soften Jeffrey's harsh treatment of +_Hours of Idleness_.[288] In 1814 he was ready to say, "Byron hits the +mark where I don't even pretend to fledge my arrow."[289] + +It was Byron, rather than Scott, who realized the debt of the new +popular favorite to the old; and their personal relations were of the +pleasantest, though they were never intimate as Scott was with Southey +and Wordsworth. As poets, Scott and Byron seem to have understood each +other thoroughly.[290] None of the other great poets of the period did +justice to Scott, nor did he succeed so well in defining the power of +any of the others. His first review of _Childe Harold_ is the most +important of all his articles on the poetry of his time; and his remarks +written at the death of Lord Byron, though brief, are not less full of +good judgment. Originality, spontaneity, and the ability and inclination +to write rapidly were traits Scott admired most in Byron, and in the +vigor and beauty of the poems he found the fine flower of all these +qualities. "We cannot but repeat our conviction," he says, "that poetry, +being, in its higher classes, an art which has for its elements +sublimity and unaffected beauty, is more liable than any other to suffer +from the labour of polishing.... It must be remembered that we speak of +the higher tones of composition; there are others of a subordinate +character where extreme art and labour are not bestowed in vain. But we +cannot consider over-anxious correction as likely to be employed with +advantage upon poems like those of Lord Byron, which have for their +object to rouse the imagination and awaken the passions."[291] + +Byron's temperament was far from being of a sort that Scott could +admire, though he was very susceptible to his personal charm: "Byron's +countenance is a thing to dream of," he once said;[292] but he felt that +popular estimation did Byron injustice. His articles on this poet +contain some of his most characteristic moral reflections. Something of +Byron's gloominess Scott attributes to the sensitive poetic organization +which he felt that Byron had in an extreme degree; but more to the +perverted habit of looking within rather than around upon the realities +of life, in which Providence intended men to find their happiness. The +philosophy is not novel or brilliant; it is only very sincere and very +just; and it supplies to Scott's criticism of Byron that element of +moral reflection which we feel was necessary to the occasion.[293] + +But though Scott never failed to express disapproval of Byron's attitude +toward life, he kept his criticism on this point essentially distinct +from his judgment on the poetry. In a way it was impossible to separate +the two subjects, and the public demanded some discussion of the man +when his poetry was reviewed. But Scott's verdict on the importance of +the poems as such was unaffected by his disapproval of the author's +point of view. He praised _Don Juan_ no less heartily than _Childe +Harold_. + +His criticism of _Don Juan_ is, however, to be gathered only from short +and incidental remarks, as he never reviewed the poem. A satire written +by R.P. Gillies is commemorated thus in Scott's _Journal_: "This poem +goes to the tune of _Don Juan_, but it is the champagne after it has +stood two days with the cork drawn."[294] He called Byron "as various in +composition as Shakspeare himself"; and added, "this will be admitted by +all who are acquainted with his _Don Juan_.... Neither _Childe Harold_, +nor any of the most beautiful of Byron's earlier tales, contain more +exquisite morsels of poetry than are to be found scattered through the +cantos of _Don Juan_."[295] The defence of _Cain_ which Scott wrote in +accepting the dedication of that poem to himself is well known.[296] He +calls it a "very grand and tremendous drama," and continues, "Byron has +certainly matched Milton on his own ground. Some part of the language is +bold, and may shock one class of readers, whose tone will be adopted by +others out of affectation or envy. But then they must condemn the +_Paradise Lost_, if they have a mind to be consistent." + +Scott's comments on Byron are closely paralleled by those of Goethe, who +considered that Byron had the greatest talent of any man of his +century.[297] The opinions of continental critics in general were +similar. Among English critics Matthew Arnold aroused many protests when +he ranked Byron as one of the two greatest English poets of the +nineteenth century, but his views seem perfectly rational now; and +though he remarked upon the extravagance of Scott's phrases his own +verdict was not very unlike that we have been considering. + +Scott's enthusiasm about the literature of his own time seems natural +enough when we consider that the list of his notable contemporaries is +far from exhausted after Burns, the Lake Poets, and Byron have been +named. Campbell was a poet of whose powers he thought very highly, but +who, he believed had given only a sample of the great things he might do +if he would cease to "fear the shadow of his own reputation." Before he +wrote about Byron Scott had given in his review of _Gertrude of Wyoming_ +an exposition of his opinion as to the dangers of extreme care in +revision. "The truth is," he says, "that an author cannot work upon a +beautiful poem beyond a certain point without doing it real and +irreparable injury in more respects than one."[298] He felt that +Campbell had worked, in many cases, beyond the "certain point." For the +"impetuous lyric sally," like the _Mariners of England_ and the _Battle +of the Baltic_, Scott rightly thought that Campbell excelled all his +contemporaries. Moore was another lyrist whose poetry Scott greatly +admired. In Moore's case, as in Southey's, the contemporary estimate was +higher than can now be maintained, but Moore is to-day underrated. From +what Scott says about him we conclude that the man's personality and his +way of singing added much to the exquisiteness of his songs. "He seems +almost to think in music," Scott said, "the notes and words are so +happily suited to each other";[299] and, "it would be a delightful +addition to life if T.M. had a cottage within two miles of one."[300] +Allan Cunningham was a young protege of Scott whose songs, "Its hame and +it's hame," and "A wet sheet and a flowing sea," seemed to him "among +the best going."[301] Another poet who received Scott's good offices was +Hogg, whose relations with the greater man are described so vividly and +at some points so amusingly by Lockhart. Scott called him a "wonderful +creature for his opportunities."[302] + +For the poet Crabbe, Scott, like Byron and Wordsworth,[303] had a steady +and high admiration. In the Sunday evening readings that Lockhart +describes as being so pleasant a feature of the life of the family in +Edinburgh, Crabbe was perhaps the chief standing resource after +Shakspere.[304] His work was particularly recommended to the young +people of the family,[305] and when the venerable poet visited the +Scotts in 1822, he was received as a man whom they always looked upon as +nobly gifted. Scott once wrote of him: "I think if he had cultivated the +sublime and the pathetic instead of the satirical cast of poetry, he +must have stood very high (as indeed he does at any rate) on the list of +British poets. His _Sir Eustace Grey_ and _The Hall of Justice_ indicate +prodigious talent."[306] Scott did not like Crabbe's choice of +subjects,[307] but he appreciated the "force and vigour" of a poet whom +students of our own day are once more beginning to admire, after a +period during which he was practically ignored. + +Scott's very high estimation of Joanna Baillie has already been +mentioned.[308] In this case as in many others he was proud and happy in +the personal friendship of the writer whose works he admired. He once +wrote to Miss Edgeworth: "I have always felt the value of having access +to persons of talent and genius to be the best part of a literary man's +prerogative."[309] Almost the earliest of the writers for whose +friendship Scott felt grateful was Matthew Lewis, famed as the author of +_The Monk_. Lewis was also something of a poet, and was really helpful +to Scott in giving him advice on literary subjects. Though Scott +perceived that Lewis's talents "would not stand much creaming"[310] he +continued to regard him as one who had had high imagination and a "finer +ear for rhythm than Byron's." + +Scott felt that his own taste in respect to poetry became more rigorous +as he grew older. In 1823 in a letter to Miss Baillie he commented on +Mrs. Hemans as "somewhat too poetical for my taste--too many flowers, I +mean, and too little fruit--but that may be the cynical criticism of an +elderly gentleman; for it is certain that when I was young I read verses +of every kind with infinitely more indulgence, because with more +pleasure than I can now do--the more shame for me now to refuse the +complaisance which I have had so often to solicit."[311] Similarly he +speaks in the preface to _Kenilworth_ of having once been delighted with +the poems of Mickle and Langhorne: "There is a period in youth when the +mere power of numbers has a more strong effect on ear and imagination +than in after-life." With these comments we may put Lockhart's sagacious +remark: "His propensity to think too well of other men's works sprung, +of course, mainly from his modesty and good nature; but the brilliancy +of his imagination greatly sustained the delusion. It unconsciously gave +precision to the trembling outline, and life and warmth to the vapid +colours before him."[312] This and his kindness would account for the +latter half of the observation made by his publisher: "I like well +Scott's ain bairns--but heaven preserve me from those of his +fathering."[313] + +I have found no reference to Landor, a poet whom Southey and Wordsworth +read with eagerness, but Mr. Forster makes this statement in his +_Biography of Landor_: "Among Landor's papers I found a list, prepared +by himself, of resemblances to passages of his own writing to be found +in Scott's _Tales of the Crusaders_. There were several from _Gebir_.... +The poem had made a great impression on Scott, who read it at Southey's +suggestion."[314] Forster also notes the fact that Southey, in a letter +to Scott written in 1812, spoke very highly of Landor's _Count +Julian_.[315] I am similarly unable to cite any comment by Scott on the +writings of Lamb. Was it because Scott's genius clung to Scotland and +Lamb's to London, that the two seemed so little to notice each other? It +does seem odd that Scott never refers to the delightful _Specimens of +English Dramatic Poets_. At one time Lamb wrote to Sir Walter asking a +contribution toward a fund that was being raised to help William Godwin +out of pecuniary troubles, and Scott replied, through the artist Haydon, +with a cheque for ten pounds and a pleasant message to Mr. Lamb, "whom I +should be happy to see in Scotland, though I have not forgotten his +metropolitan preference of houses to rocks, and citizens to wild rustics +and highland men."[316] Hazlitt and Hunt were two other writers whose +literary work Scott ignored.[317] This, as well as his neglect of Lamb's +and DeQuincey's essays, may be due largely to the fact that he seldom +read newspapers and magazines, and these writers were journalists and +contributors to periodicals. Voracious reader as Scott was, he had to +economize time somewhere, and the hours saved from papers could be given +to books. We do find one or two references to these men as political +writers. Scott hoped Lockhart would learn, as editor of the _Quarterly_, +to despise petty adversaries, for "to take notice of such men as Hazlitt +and Hunt in the _Quarterly_ would be to introduce them into a world +which is scarce conscious of their existence."[318] + +Among novelists, those of Scott's contemporaries to whom he gave the +highest praise were women. This is, however to be expected, and it is +natural to find Jane Austen receiving the highest praise of all; since +Scott was emphatically not of the tribe of critics who are able to +appreciate only one kind of novel or poem. Her novels seemed to grow +upon him and he read them often. It was in connection with her +"exquisite touch" that he was moved to reflect, in the words so often +quoted from his _Journal_, "The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like +any now going."[319] Among the expressions of admiration which occur in +his review of _Emma_,[320] Scott records a characteristic bit of protest +in regard to the tendency of Miss Austen and other novelists to make +prudence the guiding motive of all their favorite young women +characters, especially in matters of the heart. He did not like this +pushing out of Cupid to make way for so moderate a virtue as prudence; +he thought that it is often good for young people to fall in love +without regard to worldly considerations. Scott rated Miss Edgeworth +nearly as high as Miss Austen, and hers is the added honor of having +inspired the author of _Waverley_ with a desire to emulate her +power.[321] With these two novelists he associated Miss Ferrier, as well +as the somewhat earlier writer, Fanny Burney.[322] + +Aside from these women and Henry Mackenzie, perhaps the highest praise +that Scott bestowed on any contemporary novelist was given to Cooper. +Here, as in the case of Byron, Scott seemed to ignore the other writer's +indebtedness to himself. He speaks, in the general preface to the +Waverley Novels, of "that striking field in which Mr. Cooper has +achieved so many triumphs"; and at another time calls him "the justly +celebrated American novelist." In his _Journal_ he comments on _The Red +Rover_[323] and _The Prairie_;[324] _The Pilot_ he recommends warmly in +a letter to Miss Edgeworth.[325] + +The personal relations between "the Scotch and American lions," as Scott +called himself and Cooper, when they met in Parisian society in +1826,[326] had some interesting consequences. Cooper suggested to Scott +that he try to secure for himself part of the profits arising from the +publication of his works in America, by entering them as the property of +some citizen.[327] They finally concluded to substitute for this plan +one suggested by Scott, which involved the writing by the Author of +Waverley, of a letter addressed to Cooper, to be transmitted by him to +some American publisher who would undertake the publication of an +authorized edition of which half the profits should go to the author. +Future works were to be sent over to this publisher in advance of their +appearance in England. The letter was really an appeal to the justice of +the American people, and contained an allusion to the publication of +Irving's works in England according to a plan very similar to that +proposed by Scott. But the scheme failed here in America, and apparently +the letter was not made public until Cooper, irritated by the appearance +in Lockhart's _Life of Scott_ of Sir Walter's comments on his personal +manner,[328] explained the affair (except the reason for dropping the +plan), and published the correspondence in the _Knickerbocker Magazine_ +for April, 1838.[329] Later in the same year Cooper wrote a severe +review of the biography of Scott, attacking his character in a way that +seems absurdly exaggerated.[330] Yet Charles Sumner seems to have +thought that Cooper made his points, and Mr. Lounsbury is inclined to +agree with him.[331] + +One of the milder strictures in Cooper's review was as follows "As he +was ambitious of, so was he careful to preserve, his personal +popularity, of which we have a striking proof in the studied kindnesses +that for years were laid before this country in deeds and words, as +compared with his real acts and sentiments toward America and Americans +which are now revealed in his letters." A passage which doubtless roused +Cooper's ire may be quoted. Of the Americans Scott said, in a letter to +Miss Edgeworth, "They are a people possessed of very considerable +energy, quickened and brought into eager action by an honourable love of +their country and pride in their institutions; but they are as yet rude +in their ideas of social intercourse, and totally ignorant, speaking +generally, of all the art of good breeding, which consists chiefly in a +postponement of one's own petty wishes or comforts to those of others. +By rude questions and observations, an absolute disrespect to other +people's feelings, and a ready indulgence of their own, they make one +feverish in their company, though perhaps you may be ashamed to confess +the reason. But this will wear off and is already wearing away. Men, +when they have once got benches, will soon fall into the use of +cushions. They are advancing in the lists of our literature, and they +will not be long deficient in the _petite morale_, especially as they +have, like ourselves, the rage for travelling."[332] + +Scott liked George Ticknor,[333] and he called Washington Irving "one of +the best and pleasantest acquaintances I have made this many a +day."[334] In later life he congratulated himself on having from the +first foreseen Irving's success.[335] When we remember also that Scott +quotes from Poor Richard,[336] refers to Cotton Mather's +_Magnalia_,[337] and speaks of "the American Brown" as one whose novels +might be reprinted in England,[338] we ought probably to conclude that +his acquaintance with our literature was as comprehensive as could have +been expected. + +Among continental writers belonging to his period, Goethe was very +properly the one for whom Scott had the strongest admiration. But we +find comparatively few references to his reading the great German after +the early period of translation. Throughout Lockhart's _Life of Scott_ +it is evident that the biographer had a more thorough acquaintance with +Goethe than had Scott, and it seems probable that the younger man +influenced the elder in his judgment on _Faust_ and on Goethe's +character. In the Introduction to _Quentin Durward_ we find an +interesting comment on Goethe's success in creating a really wicked +Mephistopheles, who escapes the noble dignity that Milton and Byron gave +to their pictures of Satan. Goethe and Scott exchanged letters once in +1827,[339] and it was a personal grief to Sir Walter that the German +poet's death prevented a visit Scott proposed to make him in 1832. In +_Anne of Geierstein_ Goethe is called "an author born to arouse the +slumbering fame of his country";[340] and in the _Journal_ Scott +characterizes him as "the Ariosto at once and almost the Voltaire of +Germany."[341] The suggestion for the character of Fenella in _Peveril +of the Peak_ was taken from Goethe, as we learn by Scott's +acknowledgment in the Introduction. Another German from whom Scott +borrowed a suggestion--this time for the unlucky "White Lady of +Avenel"--was the Baron de la Motte Fouqué. Scott was evidently +interested in his work, though he thought Fouqué sometimes used such a +profusion of historical and antiquarian lore that readers would find it +difficult to follow the narrative.[342] Sir Walter asked his son to tell +the Baroness de la Motte Fouqué that he had been much interested in her +writings and those of the Baron, and added, "It will be civil, for folks +like to know that they are known and respected beyond the limits of +their own country."[343] + +In the literary circles of Paris Scott more than once experienced the +pleasure of finding himself "known and respected" by foreigners,[344] +and he had intimate relations with men of letters in London. On one of +his visits there he saw Byron almost every morning for some time, at the +house of Murray the publisher. In Edinburgh society Scott was naturally +a prominent figure, being noted for his fund of anecdote and his +superior gifts in presiding at dinners. But however much his kindly +personal feeling is reflected in his comments on the literary work of +his friends, he was too well-balanced to assume anything of the +patronizing tone that such success as his might have made natural to +another sort of man. His fellow-poets thought him a delightful person +whom they liked so much that they could almost forgive the preposterous +success of his facile and unimportant poetry. + +His full-blooded enjoyment of life and literature tempered without +obscuring his critical instinct, and though he was "willing to be +pleased by those who were desirous to give pleasure",[345] he noted the +weak points of men to whose power he gladly paid tribute. Wordsworth, +Coleridge, Southey, and Byron, whom he classed as the great English +poets of his time, may, with the exception of Southey, be given the +places he assigned to them. In regard to Byron, Scott expressed a +critical estimate that the public is only now getting ready to accept +after a long period of depreciating Byron's genius. The men whose work +Scott judged fairly and sympathetically represent widely different +types. With some of them he was connected by the new impulse that they +were imparting to English poetry, but he was so close to the transition +period that he could look backward to his predecessors with no sense of +strangeness. He was never inclined to quarrel with the "erroneous +system" of a poem which he really liked. His comments on Byron's +_Darkness_ suggest that if he had read more than he did of Shelley and +others among his younger contemporaries he might have found much to +reprehend, but he held that "we must not limit poetical merit to the +class of composition which exactly suits one's own particular +taste."[346] Among novelists even less than among poets can we trace a +"school" to which he paid special allegiance. He read and enjoyed all +sorts of good stories, growing in this respect more catholic in his +tastes, though perhaps more severe in his standards, as he grew older. + +In speaking of Scott's relations with his contemporaries, we must +especially remember his ardent interest in those realities of life which +he considered greater than the greatest books. In one of his reviews he +laid stress on the merit of writing on contemporary events,[347] and he +seemed to think there was too little of such celebration. There are many +evidences of his great admiration for those of his contemporaries who +were men of action, but it is sufficient to remember that the only man +in whose presence Scott felt abashed was the Duke of Wellington, for he +counted that famous commander the greatest man of his time. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SCOTT AS A CRITIC OF HIS OWN WORK + + Lack of dogmatism about his own work--Harmony between his talents + and his tastes--His conviction of the value of spontaneity and + abundance--Merits of a rapid meter--Greater care necessary in verse + writing a reason why he turned to prose--His attitude in regard to + revision--Modesty about his own work--His opinion of the popular + judgment--Importance of novelty--Rivalry with Byron--Scott's + attempts to keep ahead of his imitators--Devices to secure + novelty--His resolution to write history--Historical motives of his + novels--His comments on the use of historical material--His verdict + in regard to his descriptive abilities and methods--Lack of emphasis + on the ethical aspect of his work--His judgment on the position of + the novel in literature. + + +"Scott is invariably his own best critic," says Mr. Andrew Lang.[348] Of +this Scott was not himself in the least convinced, and when we recall +how, to please his printer, James Ballantyne, he tacked on a last scene +to _Rokeby_, resuscitated the dead Athelstane in _Ivanhoe_, and +eliminated the main motive of _St. Ronan's Well_, we wish he had been +more uniformly inclined to trust his own critical judgment. + +He never scheduled the qualities of his own genius. A man who could +sincerely say what he did about literary immortality would not be apt to +develop any dogma in regard to his artistic achievement. "Let me please +my own generation," he said, "and let those that come after us judge of +their taste and my performances as they please; the anticipation of +their neglect or censure will affect me very little."[349] His opinions +about his own work are to be deduced largely from casual remarks +scattered through his letters and journals. His introductions to his +novels, in the _Opus Magnum_, are valuable sources, however, and the +"Epistle" preceding _The Fortunes of Nigel_ is a mine of material, +though, unlike the later introductions, it was written "according to the +trick," when he was still preserving his anonymity. We have an article +which he wrote for the _Quarterly_ on two of his own books, the review +of _Tales of My Landlord_.[350] His criticism of the work of other +people is also very helpful in this connection, since from it we may +learn what qualities he wished to find in poetry and in the novel, as +well as in history, biography, and criticism, the fields in which he did +much, though less famous work. + +The student of his criticism is struck at once by the fact that the +qualities which Scott particularly admired in literature were those for +which he was himself preëminent. Yet he cannot be accused, as Poe may +be, of constructing a theory that those types of art were greatest which +he found himself most skilful in exemplifying. Scott's nature was of +that most efficient kind that enables a man to do such things as he +likes to see done. We cannot argue that he was incapable of attending to +minute niceties and on this account chose to emphasize the large +qualities of literature. For notwithstanding that lack of delicacy which +characterized his physical senses and which we might therefore conclude +would affect his literary discernment, we have among his small poems +some that show his power, occasionally at least, to satisfy the most +fastidious critic of detail. Evidently he could write in more than one +style, and though the style he used most is undoubtedly that which was +most natural to him, it was also that which he thought, on other grounds +than the character of his own talents, best worth while. Yet he had so +little vanity in regard to his own work that he could hardly understand +his success, though it depended on those very qualities which, in other +authors, excited his utmost admiration. + +One of his fundamental opinions about literary work was that to write +much and with abundant spontaneity is better than to polish minutely. +Over and over again we find this idea expressed, most noticeably in +connection with the poet Campbell, whom Scott could scarcely forgive for +making so little use of his poetical gifts. He applauded the +much-criticised fertility of Byron, whose genius was in that respect +akin to his own. "I never knew name or fame burn brighter by over-chary +keeping of it,"[351] Scott said. The greatest writers he observed, have +been the most voluminous. His position was one that could be fortified +by inductive reasoning, contrasting in this respect with theories which +seem plausible only until they are tested by actual facts, as, for +example, Poe's idea that long poems lose effectiveness by their length. +But perhaps Scott did not sufficiently take into account the circular +nature of his argument; for since the world has refused to consider the +men very great who "never spoke out," the truth is not so much that a +great man ought to write copiously as that if a man does not write +copiously he will not be counted great. Scott seemed to think it was +mere wilfulness that prevented a man of such gifts as Campbell's from +writing abundantly. + +The corresponding disadvantages of rapid composition were of course +evident to him. From the first appearance of the _Lay_ to the end of his +career he lamented his inability to plan a story in an orderly manner +and follow out the scheme; he admitted also that "the misfortune of +writing fast is that one cannot at the same time write concisely."[352] +Of _Marmion_ he told Southey, "I had not time to write the poem +shorter."[353] + +His grief on these points seems qualified, however, by a conviction that +he could not write with deliberation and method and still produce the +effect of vivacious spontaneity. He thought Fielding was almost the only +novelist who had thoroughly succeeded in combining these various +admirable qualities,[354] and he said in this connection, "To demand +equal correctness and felicity in those who may follow in the track of +that illustrious novelist, would be to fetter too much the power of +giving pleasure, by surrounding it with penal rules; since of this sort +of light literature it may be especially said--_tout genre est permis, +hors le genre ennuyeux_."[355] "To confess to you the truth," says the +"Author" in the Introductory Epistle to _Nigel_, "the works and passages +in which I have succeeded, have uniformly been written with the greatest +rapidity; and when I have seen some of these placed in opposition with +others, and commended as more highly finished, I could appeal to pen and +standish, that the parts in which I have come feebly off were by much +the more laboured." He attempted to write _Rokeby_ with great care, but +threw the first version into the fire because he concluded that he had +"corrected the spirit out of it, as a lively pupil is sometimes flogged +into a dunce by a severe schoolmaster."[356] He was better satisfied +with the result when he resumed his pen in his "old Cossack +manner."[357] Similarly he writes of John Home's tragedy, _Douglas_, +that the finest scene was, "we learn with pleasure but without +surprise," unchanged from the first draft;[358] and elsewhere he speaks +of the greater chance for popularity of the "bold, decisive, but +light-touched strain of poetry or narrative in literary composition," +over the "more highly-wrought performance."[359] + +A good exposition of Scott's real opinion in regard to his own style is +to be found in his review of _Tales of My Landlord_. Some parts of the +article were probably inserted by his friend William Erskine, but the +section I quote bears unmistakable evidence that it was written by the +author himself, for it expresses that combined reprobation and approval +of his style which is amusingly characteristic of him. He says: "Our +author has told us that it was his object to present a series of scenes +and characters connected with Scotland in its past and present state, +and we must own that his stories are so slightly constructed as to +remind us of the showman's thread with which he draws up his pictures +and presents them successively to the eye of the spectator.... Against +this slovenly indifference we have already remonstrated, and we again +enter our protest.... We are the more earnest in this matter, because it +seems that the author errs chiefly from carelessness. There may be +something of system in it, however, for we have remarked, that with an +attention which amounts even to affectation, he has avoided the common +language of narrative and thrown his story, as much as possible, into a +dramatic shape. In many cases this has added greatly to the effect, by +keeping both the actors and action continually before the reader and +placing him, in some measure, in the situation of an audience at a +theater, who are compelled to gather the meaning of the scene from what +the dramatis personae say to each other, and not from any explanation +addressed immediately to themselves. But though the author gain this +advantage, and thereby compel the reader to think of the personages of +the novel and not of the writer, yet the practice, especially pushed to +the extent we have noticed, is a principal cause of the flimsiness and +incoherent texture of which his greatest admirers are compelled to +complain."[360] + +Lockhart points out that the fruit of Scott's study of Dryden may have +been to fortify his opinion as to what the greatness of literature +really consists in, and applies to Scott himself some of the phrases +used in the characterization of the earlier poet. "'Rapidity of +conception, a readiness of expressing every idea, without losing +anything by the way'; 'perpetual animation and elasticity of thought'; +and language 'never laboured, never loitering, never (in Dryden's own +phrase) cursedly confined,'" are set over against "pointed and nicely +turned lines, sedulous study, and long and repeated correction and +revision," and are pronounced the superior virtues.[361] The concluding +paragraph of Scott's review of a poem on the Battle of Talavera +exemplifies his use of this doctrine. "We have shunned, in the present +instance," he says, "the unpleasant task of pointing out and dwelling +upon individual inaccuracies. There are several hasty expressions, flat +lines, and deficient rhymes, which prove to us little more than that the +composition was a hurried one. These, in a poem of a different +description, we should have thought it our duty to point out to the +notice of the author. But after all it is the spirit of a poet that we +consider as demanding our chief attention; and upon its ardour or +rapidity must finally hinge our applause or condemnation."[362] + +Scott's opinions about meters reflect the same taste. He persuaded +himself, when he was writing _The Lady of the Lake_, that the +eight-syllable line is "more congenial to the English language--more +favourable to narrative poetry at least--than that which has been +commonly termed heroic verse,"[363] and he proceeded to show that the +first half-dozen lines of Pope's _Iliad_ were each "bolstered out" with +a superfluous adjective. "The case is different in descriptive poetry," +he added, "because there epithets, if they are happily selected, are +rather to be sought after than avoided.... But if in narrative you are +frequently compelled to tag your substantives with adjectives, it must +frequently happen that you are forced upon those that are merely +commonplaces." He mentions other beauties of his favorite verse,--the +opportunities for variation by double rhyme and by occasionally dropping +a syllable, and the correspondence between the length of line and our +natural intervals between punctuation,--but gives as his final excuse +for using it his "better knack at this 'false gallop' of verse." The +argument is ingenious enough, but his analysis of heroic verse has only +a limited application, and his last reason probably was, as he was +candid enough to admit, the most weighty. George Ellis replied to his +defence thus: "I don't think, after all the eloquence with which you +plead for your favourite metre, that you really like it from any other +motive than that _sainte paresse_--that delightful indolence--which +induces one to delight in those things which we can do with the least +fatigue."[364] This seems hardly a fair return for the poet's appeal to +Ellis in one of the epistles of _Marmion_:[365] + + "Come listen! bold in thy applause, + The bard shall scorn pedantic laws." + +Another introduction in the same poem is given up to a justification of +the author's "unconfined" style, on the score of his love for the wild +songs of his own country and the freedom of his early training.[366] + +Scott practically never rewrote his prose, and the result gave Hazlitt +opportunity to say:[367] "We should think the writer could not possibly +read the manuscript after he has once written it, or overlook the +press."[368] His habit of carrying two trains of thought on together was +also responsible for slips in diction and syntax. An amanuensis working +for him noticed this peculiarity, and Scott said in his _Journal_: +"There must be two currents of ideas going on in my mind at the same +time.... I always laugh when I hear people say, Do one thing at once. I +have done a dozen things at once all my life."[369] + +But the making of poetry required more attention. "Verse I write twice, +and sometimes three times over,"[370] he said, and one is moved to +wonder whether the distaste for writing poetry, that he professed about +1822, arose largely from a growing aversion to what he probably +considered extreme care in composition.[371] A series of three comments +on his own poetry may be given to illustrate his widely varying moods in +regard to it. They are all taken from letters written not far from the +time when _Marmion_ was published. "As for poetry, it is very little +labour to me; indeed 'twere pity of my life should I spend much time on +the light and loose sort of poetry which alone I can pretend to +write."[372] "I believe no man now alive writes more rapidly than I do +(no great recommendation), but I never think of making verses till I +have a sufficient stock of poetical ideas to supply them."[373] "If I +ever write another poem, I am determined to make every single couplet of +it as perfect as my uttermost care and attention can possibly +effect."[374] In spite of this momentary resolution to take more pains +with his next poem, he was unable to do so when the time came; or if, as +in the case of _Rokeby_ he did make the attempt, the results seemed to +him unsatisfactory. Yet verse required much more careful finishing than +prose, even when it was written by Scott, and this fact has been too +little emphasized in discussions of his transition from verse to prose +romances. + +Scott's temperamental aversion to revising what he had once written was +evidently sanctioned by his literary creed. Near the end of his life he +recalled how he had submitted one of his earliest poems to the criticism +of several acquaintances, with the consequence that after he had adopted +their suggestions, hardly a line remained unaltered, and yet the changes +failed to satisfy the critics.[375] He said: "This unexpected result, +after about a fortnight's anxiety, led me to adopt a rule from which I +have seldom departed during more than thirty years of literary life. +When a friend whose judgment I respect has decided and upon good +advisement told me that a manuscript was worth nothing, or at least +possessed no redeeming qualities sufficient to atone for its defects, I +have generally cast it aside; but I am little in the custom of paying +attention to minute criticisms or of offering such to any friend who may +do me the honour to consult me. I am convinced that, in general, in +removing even errors of a trivial or venial kind, the character of +originality is lost, which, upon the whole, may be that which is most +valuable in the production." This position appears doubly significant +when we remember that it was assumed by a man who had only the slightest +possible amount of paternal jealousy in regard to his writings.[376] + +Scott did not always adhere to this resolution, for he did accept +criticism and make alterations, more in compliance with the wishes of +James Ballantyne, his friend and printer, than to meet the desires of +anyone else. He considered that Ballantyne represented the ordinary +popular taste, and he was ready to make some sacrifice of his own +judgment in order to satisfy his public. He sent the conclusion of +_Rokeby_ to Ballantyne with this note: "Dear James,--I send you this out +of deference to opinions so strongly expressed, but still retaining my +own, that it spoils one effect without producing another." + +When one of his books was adversely criticised by the public he received +the judgment with open mind, and often analyzed it with much acuteness. +The introduction to _The Monastery_ is a good example of frank, though +not servile, submission to the decree of public opinion. That he was +deeply impressed with his blunder in managing the White Lady of Avenel +may be surmised from the fact that in several later discussions of the +effect of supernatural apparitions in novels, he emphasized the +necessity of keeping them sufficiently infrequent to preserve an +atmosphere of mystery. Of _The Monastery_ he said: "I agree with the +public in thinking the work not very interesting; but it was written +with as much care as the others--that is, with no care at all."[377] But +sometimes he felt inclined to rebel against a popular verdict, as when +Norna, in _The Pirate_, was said to be a mere copy of Meg +Merrilies.[378] + +In his later days he grew more and more unsure of himself, as he felt +compelled to work at his topmost speed. His _Journal_ for 1829 has the +following record in regard to a review he was writing: "I began to warm +in my gear, and am about to awake the whole controversy of Goth and +Celt. I wish I may not make some careless blunders."[379] The criticisms +of "J.B." became more frequent and more irritating to him as he felt a +growing inability to achieve precision in details.[380] When Lockhart +pointed out some lapses in his style, he wrote in his _Journal_, "Well! +I will try to remember all this, but after all I write grammar as I +speak, to make my meaning known, and a solecism in point of composition, +like a Scotch word in speaking, is indifferent to me."[381] Until he +felt his powers failing, he was for the most part at once good-natured +and independent in his manner of receiving criticism. Whether or not he +agreed with the opinion expressed, he usually thought that what he had +once written might best stand, though he might be influenced in later +work by the advice that had been given.[382] + +"I am sensible that if there be anything good about my poetry or prose +either," Scott wrote, in a passage that has often been quoted, "it is a +hurried frankness of composition which pleases soldiers, sailors and +young people of bold and active disposition."[383] I have tried to show +that this quality was one which he not only enjoyed, in his own work and +in that of other writers, but that as a critic he very seriously +approved of it. + +Yet in spite of his belief that the greatest literature is not the +result of slow and painful labor, it was probably the ease with which he +wrote which led him to undervalue his own work. However we may account +for it, he found difficulty in regarding himself as a great author.[384] +When this modesty of his came into conflict with the other opinion that +he had always been inclined to hold--that the popularity of books is a +test of their merit--the result is amusing. He was impelled at times to +utter contemptuous words about the foolishness of the public, and of +course he could not help being moved also in the other direction--to +believe there was more in his writings than he had realized. In one mood +he said, "I thank God I can write ill enough for the present +taste";[385] and "I have very little respect for that dear _publicum_ +whom I am doomed to amuse, like Goody Trash in _Bartholomew Fair_, with +rattles and gingerbread; and I should deal very uncandidly with those +who may read my confessions were I to say I knew a public worth caring +for, or capable of distinguishing the nicer beauties of composition. +They weigh good and evil qualities by the pound. Get a good name and you +may write trash. Get a bad one and you may write like Homer, without +pleasing a single reader."[386] Looking back from the end of his career +to the time when _The Lady of the Lake_ was in the height of its +success, he wrote: "It must not be supposed that I was either so +ungrateful or so superabundantly candid as to despise or scorn the value +of those whose voice had elevated me so much higher than my own opinion +told me I deserved. I felt, on the contrary, the more grateful to the +public as receiving that from partiality which I could not have claimed +from merit; and I endeavoured to deserve the partiality by continuing +such exertions as I was capable of for their amusement."[387] The +perfect respectability of these remarks tempts the reader to set over +against them this earlier observation by the same writer in the guise of +Chrystal Croftangry, "One thing I have learned in life--never to speak +sense when nonsense will answer the purpose as well."[388] + +Whatever Scott might think of the worth of public admiration, he frankly +attempted to write what would be popular. He had none of the feeling +which has characterized many very interesting men of letters, that the +desire for self-expression is the one motive of the author; his personal +literary impulse, on the contrary, was always guided by the thought of +the audience whom he was addressing. "No one shall find me rowing +against the stream," says the "Author" in the Introductory Epistle to +_Nigel_. "I care not who knows it--I write for general amusement; and +though I will never aim at popularity by what I think unworthy means, I +will not, on the other hand, be pertinacious in the defence of my own +errors against the voice of the public." Of his last "apoplectic books," +he wrote, "I am ashamed, for the first time in my life, of the two +novels, but since the pensive public have taken them, there is no more +to be said but to eat my pudding and to hold my tongue."[389] Early in +his career he seems to have felt that he could make a good deal of money +by writing, if he should wish.[390] Towards the end he said, "I know +that no literary speculation ever succeeded with me but where my own +works were concerned; and that, on the other hand, these have rarely +failed."[391] + +The popularity of his own books was so great that they required a +special category. He seemed to be incapable of ascribing their success +to extraordinary excellence, and he settled down to the opinion that it +was simply their novelty that the public cared for. The enthusiastic +welcome given him by the Irish when he visited Dublin caused him to say +in one of his letters, "Were it not from the chilling recollection that +novelty is easily substituted for merit, I should think, like the booby +in Steele's play,[392] that I had been kept back, and that there was +something more about me than I had ever been led to suspect."[393] + +He assumed that he had studied popular taste enough to have some +knowledge of its shiftings, so that he might "set every sail towards the +breeze."[394] "I may be mistaken," he once wrote, "but I do think the +tale of Elspat M'Tavish in my bettermost manner, but J.B. roars for +chivalry. He does not quite understand that everything may be overdone +in this world, or sufficiently estimate the necessity of novelty. The +Highlanders have been off the field now for some time."[395] His comment +on _Ivanhoe_ was still more emphatic. "Novelty is what this giddy-paced +time demands imperiously, and I certainly studies as much as I could to +get out of the old beaten track, leaving those who like to keep the +road, which I have rutted pretty well."[396] + +Believing from the beginning of his career that novelty was the chief +merit of his work, he was prepared to live up to his principles. So it +was that when he was "beaten" by Byron in metrical romances, he dropped +with hardly a regret, so far as we can judge, the kind of writing in +which he had attained such remarkable popularity, and turned to another +kind. "Since one line has failed, we must just stick to something else," +he remarked, calmly.[397] This was when the small sales of _The Lord of +the Isles_ as compared with the earlier poems warned Scott and his +publisher in a very tangible way that the field had been captured by +Byron. At this time _Waverley_ was in the market and _Guy Mannering_ was +in process of composition. Though it was to his poetry that he chose to +give his name, Scott had little reason to feel forlorn, as the sale of +the novels from the very beginning was a pretty effective consolation +for any possible hurt to his vanity. He could have owned them as his at +any moment, had he chosen to do so. He did not read criticisms of his +books, but was satisfied, as one of his friends observed, "to accept the +intense avidity with which his novels are read, the enormous and +continued sale of his works, as a sufficient commendation of them."[398] +In the case of Byron, as always when the public approved the works of +one of his brother authors, he considered the popular judgment right. + +Scott did not altogether stop writing poetry, however, as is sometimes +supposed. _The Field of Waterloo_ and _Harold the Dauntless_ were both +written after this time; and the mottoes and lyrics in the novels +compose a delightful body of verse. The fact seems to be that he lost +zest for writing long poems, partly because of the favor with which +Byron's poems were received, and his own consequent feeling of +inferiority in poetic composition; partly because of his discovery of +the greater ease with which he could write prose, and the greater scope +it gave him. The more ambitious attempts among the poems which he wrote +after 1814 are comparative failures. But the poetry in his nature +prevented him from entirely giving over the composition of verse, and he +found real delight in the occasional writing of short pieces that +required no continued effort. They were usually made to be used in the +novels, for after the publication of _Guy Mannering_ novel-writing +became specifically Scott's occupation.[399] + +The price of his success in any direction was that he was unable to keep +his field to himself. Having set a fashion, he was more than once +annoyed by the crowd who wrote in his style and made him feel the +necessity of striking out a new line.[400] It was comparatively easy for +the vigorous man who wrote _Waverley_, but in the end, when through his +losses he was more than ever obliged to hit the popular taste, to feel +that he must find a new style seemed a hard fate. Yet he meant to be +beforehand in the race. This is the record in his _Journal_: "Hard +pressed as I am by these imitators, who must put the thing out of +fashion at last, I consider, like a fox at his last shifts, whether +there be a way to dodge them--some new device to throw them off, and +have a mile or two of free ground while I have legs and wind left to use +it. There is one way to give novelty: to depend for success on the +interest of a well-contrived story. But woe's me! that requires thought, +consideration--the writing out a regular plan or plot--above all, the +adhering to one--which I never can do, for the ideas rise as I write, +and bear such a disproportioned extent to that which each occupied at +the first concoction, that (cocksnowns!) I shall never be able to take +the trouble; and yet to make the world stare, and gain a new march ahead +of them all! Well, something we still will do."[401] + +By an easy extension of his principle, he came to believe that novelty +would always succeed for a time. The opinion is expressed often in his +reviews, and in his journal and letters is applied to his own work. So +it was that when any one of his books seemed partially to fail with the +public, his immediate impulse was to look for something new to be +done.[402] One of his schemes was a work on popular superstitions, +projected when _Quentin Durward_ seemed to be falling flat; but the +success of the novel made the immediate execution of the plan +unnecessary.[403] + +It was largely his desire to secure variety that encouraged him to +undertake historical writing. He had also a theory about how history +should be written, and so he felt that the novelty would consist in +something more than the fact that the Author of Waverley had taken a new +line. He wished, as Thackeray did later when he proposed to write a +history of the Age of Queen Anne, to use in an avowedly serious book the +material with which he had stored his imagination; and he believed he +could present it with a vivacity that was not characteristic of +professional historians. The success of the first series of _Tales of a +Grandfather_ served to confirm the opinion he had expressed about +them,--"I care not who knows it, I think well of them. Nay, I will hash +history with anybody, be he who he will."[404] + +Scott had a very just sense of the value of his great stores of +information. He did say that he would give one half his knowledge if so +he might put the other half upon a well-built foundation,[405] but as +years went on he learned to use with ease the accumulations of knowledge +which in his youth had proved often unwieldy; and more than once he +congratulated himself that he beat his imitators by possessing +historical and antiquarian lore which they could only acquire by +"reading up."[406] Though he testified that in the beginning of his +first novel he described his own education, he could hardly apply to +himself what is there said of Waverley, that, "While he was thus +permitted to read only for the gratification of his amusement, he +foresaw not that he was losing forever the opportunity of acquiring +habits of firm and assiduous application, of gaining the art of +controlling, directing, and concentrating the powers of his mind for +earnest investigation."[407] It was otherwise with Scott himself. The +result of the wide and desultory reading of his youth, acting upon a +remarkably strong memory, was to put him into the position, as he says, +of "an ignorant gamester, who kept a good hand until he knew how to play +it."[408] So it was that he said of those who followed his lead in +writing historical novels, "They may do their fooling with better grace; +but I, like Sir Andrew Aguecheek, do it more natural."[409] His +knowledge of history and antiquities was that part of his intellectual +equipment in which he seemed to take most pride. He had the highest +opinion of the value of historical study for ripening men's judgment of +current affairs,[410] and indeed there were few relations of life in +which an acquaintance with history did not seem to him indispensable. + +But he felt that historical writing had not been adapted "to the demands +of the increased circles among which literature does already find its +way."[411] Accordingly he resolved to use in the service of history that +"knack ... for selecting the striking and interesting points out of dull +details," which he felt was his endowment.[412] The original +introduction to the _Tales of the Crusaders_ has the following burlesque +announcement of his intention, in the words of the Eidolon Chairman: "I +intend to write the most wonderful book which the world ever read--a +book in which every incident shall be incredible, yet strictly true--a +work recalling recollections with which the ears of this generation once +tingled, and which shall be read by our children with an admiration +approaching to incredulity. Such shall be the _Life of Napoleon_, by the +_Author of Waverley_." He wished to controvert "the vulgar opinion that +the flattest and dullest mode of detailing events must uniformly be that +which approaches nearest to the truth."[413] There is no doubt that his +histories are readable, yet we feel that Southey was right in his +comment on the _Life of Napoleon_,--"It was not possible that Sir Walter +could keep up as a historian the character which he had obtained as a +novelist; and in the first announcement of this 'Life' he had, not very +wisely, promised something as stimulating as his novels. Alas! he forgot +that there could be no stimulus of curiosity in it."[414] A recent +critic has said, "Scott lost half his power of vitalizing the past when +he sat down formally to record it--when he turned from his marvellous +recreation of James I. to give a laboured but very ordinary portrait of +Napoleon."[415] His partial failure in this instance may have been due +to an unfortunate choice of subject. Only a few years before he wrote +the book Scott had been thinking of Napoleon as a "tyrannical +monster,"[416] a "singular emanation of the Evil Principle,"[417] "the +arch-enemy of mankind,"[418]--phrases which, in spite of their +vividness, hardly seem to promise a life-like portrayal of the man.[419] + +In one notable respect, Scott's conception of how history should be +written was very modern: he would depict the life of the people, not +simply the actions of kings and statesmen. His historical novels, said +Carlyle, "taught all men this truth, which looks like a truism, and yet +was as good as unknown to writers of history and others, till so taught: +that the bygone ages of the world were actually filled by living men, +not by protocols, state-papers, controversies, and abstractions of +men."[420] One who has the academic notion that a novel, to be great, +must be written with no ulterior purpose, is almost startled to observe +how definitely Scott considered it the function of his novels to portray +ancient manners. Speaking of old romances as a source which we may use +for studying about our ancestors, he said: "From the romance, we learn +what they were; from the history, what they did: and were we to be +deprived of one of these two kinds of information, it might well be made +a question, which is most useful or interesting."[421] He wished to make +his own romances serve much the same purpose as those written in the +midst of the customs which they unconsciously reflected. Of _Waverley_ +he said, "It may really boast to be a tolerably faithful portrait of +Scottish manners."[422] He interrupts the story of _The Pirate_ to +describe the charm of the leaden heart, and offers this excuse: "As this +simple and original remedy is peculiar to the isles of Thule, it were +unpardonable not to preserve it at length, in a narrative connected with +Scottish antiquities."[423] His comment on _Ivanhoe_ was as follows: "I +am convinced that however I myself may fail in the ensuing attempt, yet, +with more labour in collecting, or more skill in using, the materials +within his reach, illustrated as they have been by the labours of Dr. +Henry, of the late Mr. Strutt, and above all, of Mr. Sharon Turner, an +abler hand would have been successful."[424] + +Scott's early reading was only the basis for the research that he +undertook afterwards.[425] Much of this later study was accomplished +when he was engaged upon such books as _Somers' Tracts_, _Dryden's_ and +_Swift's Works_, and the other historical publications that make the +bibliography of Scott so surprising to the ordinary reader; but some of +his investigations were undertaken specifically for the novels. The +_Literary Correspondence_ of his publisher, Archibald Constable, +contains many evidences of Scott's efforts, assisted often by Constable, +to get antiquarian and topographical details correct in the novels. In +1821 Constable suggested that Sir Walter write a story of the time of +James I. of England, and was told, "If you can suggest anything about +the period I will be happy to hear from you; you are always happy in +your hints."[426] Some years earlier the author and the publisher had a +correspondence concerning a series of letters on the history of Scotland +which the former was planning to write, and which he wished to publish +anonymously for the following reason: "I have not the least doubt that I +will make a popular book, for I trust it will be both interesting and +useful; but I never intended to engage in any proper historical labour, +for which I have neither time, talent, nor inclination.... In truth it +would take ten years of any man's life to write such a History of +Scotland as he should put his name to."[427] He called his _Napoleon_ +"the most severe and laborious undertaking which choice or accident ever +placed on my shoulders."[428] + +More than once Scott expresses the opinion that though novels may be +useful to arouse curiosity about history, and to impart some knowledge +to people who will not do any serious thinking, they may, on the other +hand, work harm by satisfying with their superficial information those +who would otherwise read history.[429] It seems as if he designed the +_Life of Napoleon_ and the _History of Scotland_ for a new reading class +that the novels had been creating, and as if he wished to make the step +of transition not too long. We can almost fancy them as a series of +graded books arranged to lead the people of Great Britain up to a +sufficient height of historical information. The _Tales of a +Grandfather_ were intended for the beginners who had never been infected +by the common heresy concerning the dulness of history, and who were +blessed with sufficiently active imagination to make the sugar-coating +of fiction superfluous.[430] + +But great as was the interest that Scott took in the historical aspect +of his work, his artistic sense guided his use of materials, and he was +well aware of the danger of over-working the mine. The principles on +which he chose periods and events to represent are illustrated in many +of the introductions. Of _The Fortunes of Nigel_ he said: "The reign of +James I., in which George Heriot flourished, gave unbounded scope to +invention in the fable, while at the same time it afforded greater +variety and discrimination of character than could, with historical +consistency, have been introduced if the scene had been laid a century +earlier."[431] + +His first published attempt at fiction-writing was a conclusion to the +novel, _Queenhoo-Hall_,[432] of which his opinion was that it would +never be popular because antiquarian knowledge was displayed in it too +liberally. "The author," he says, "forgot ... that extensive neutral +ground, the large proportion, that is, of manners and sentiments which +are common to us and to our ancestors, having been handed down unaltered +from them to us, or which, arising out of the principles of our common +nature, must have existed in either state of society."[433] Scott's +practice in regard to the language of his historical novels was based on +much the same theory. He intended to admit "no word or turn of +phraseology betraying an origin directly modern,"[434] but to avoid +obsolete words for the most part; and he never attempted to follow with +fidelity the style of the exact age of which he was writing. The +translation of Froissart by Lord Berners seemed to him a sufficiently +good model to serve for the whole mediaeval period.[435] In his review +of _Tales of My Landlord_ he says of the proem to his book: "It is +written in the quaint style of that prefixed by Gay to his _Pastorals_, +being, as Johnson terms it, 'such imitation as he could obtain of +obsolete language, and by consequence, in a style that was never written +or spoken in any age or place.'" + +His _Journal_ contains observations on several historical novels which +were of little consequence, as, for example, on one by a Mr. Bell,--"He +goes not the way to write it; he is too general, and not sufficiently +minute";[436] and on _The Spae-Wife_, by Galt,--"He has made his story +difficult to understand, by adopting a region of history little +known."[437] On the other hand he remarked, when someone had suggested a +number of historical subjects to him,--"People will not consider that a +thing may already be so well told in history, that romance ought not in +prudence to meddle with it";[438] and at another time he spoke of "the +usual habit of antiquarians," to "neglect what is useful for things that +are merely curious."[439] + +Aside from the familiar knowledge of ancient manners which he thought +enabled him to give his tales the necessary touch of novelty, and from +the "hurried frankness," or spontaneity of style which endowed them with +vitality, Scott believed that his talents included a special knack at +description. He felt, however, that a sense of the picturesque in action +was a different thing from a similar perception in regard to scenery, +and that though the first was natural to him, he was obliged to use +effort to develop the second.[440] Some study of drawing in his youth +helped him to comprehend the demands of perspective, and he endeavored +to carry out the principle of describing a scene in the way in which it +would naturally strike the spectator, neither overloading with confused +detail nor over-emphasizing what should be subordinate.[441] That his +plan was consciously adopted may be seen from his discussion of Byron's +skill in description and from his comments on the descriptive passages +of the mediaeval romances.[442] + +At the same time he understood the advantages of the realistic method. +On one occasion he stated as his creed, "that in nature herself no two +scenes were exactly alike, and that whoever copied truly what was before +his eyes would possess the same variety in his descriptions, and exhibit +apparently an imagination as boundless as the range of nature in the +scenes he recorded; whereas, whoever trusted to imagination would soon +find his own mind circumscribed and contracted to a few favourite +images, and the repetition of these would sooner or later produce that +very monotony and barrenness which had always haunted descriptive poetry +in the hands of any but the patient worshippers of truth."[443] +Wordsworth disapproved of Scott's method in description. He is quoted as +having said: "Nature does not permit an inventory to be made of her +charms! He should have left his pencil and note-book at home [and] fixed +his eye as he walked with a reverent attention on all that surrounded +him."[444] Somewhat like a rejoinder sounds another remark of Scott's, +in phrases that Wordsworth would have detested. Scott said cheerfully, +"As to the actual study of nature, if you mean the landscape gardening +of poetry ... I can get on quite as well from recollection, while +sitting in the Parliament house, as if wandering through wood and +wold."[445] At another time he said, "If a man will paint from nature, +he will be likely to amuse those who are daily looking at it."[446] + +Though Scott prided himself somewhat on his descriptive powers he +realized that he could not do his best work on minute canvases. We have +already seen how he contrasted himself with Jane Austen. "The exquisite +touch," he said, "which renders ordinary commonplace things and +characters interesting from the truth of the description and the +sentiment, is denied to me."[447] + +Of Scott's opinion in regard to the ethical effect of novels, I have +already spoken.[448] The fact that he refused to use the conventional +plea of a desire to improve public morals, and that he understood how +little a reader is really influenced by the exalted sentiments of heroes +of fiction, gave Carlyle a fit of righteous indignation;[449] but it is +futile to say that Scott "had no message to deliver to the world." He +might have retorted, in the words which he once used about +Homer,--"Doubtless an admirable moral may be often extracted from his +poem; because it contains an accurate picture of human nature, which can +never be truly presented without conveying a lesson of instruction. But +it may shrewdly be suspected that the moral was as little intended by +the author as it would have been the object of an historian, whose work +is equally pregnant with morality, though a detail of facts be only +intended."[450] It was a comfort to Scott at the end of his life to +reflect that the tendency of all he had written was morally good,[451] +and we can well believe that he was pleased by the enthusiastic tribute +of his young critic, J.L. Adolphus, who said of his books: "There is not +an unhandsome action or degrading sentiment recorded of any person who +is recommended to the full esteem of the reader."[452] + +That Scott considered poetical power very important for a writer of +novels, he made evident in his _Lives of the Novelists_. Mr. Herford has +said, but surely without good reason, that Scott wholly lacked the sense +of mystery, and that in this respect Mrs. Radcliffe was more modern than +he.[453] Yet it was Scott who censured Mrs. Radcliffe for explaining her +mysteries. He had a vein of superstition in his nature, too, about which +he might have said, using the words given to a character in one of his +stories,--"It soothes my imagination, without influencing my reason or +conduct."[454] A liking for the wonderful and terrible, which he felt +from his earliest childhood, was one manifestation of a poetical +temperament which is so apparent that there is no need of reciting the +evidence. The poetical qualities in the Waverley novels gave Adolphus +one of his favorite arguments in the attempt to prove that Scott was the +author. + +Yet Scott seemed to feel that his position as a writer of popular +fiction, however much the novel is capable of being the vehicle of +imagination and poetical power, was not a really high one. James +Ballantyne persuaded him to omit from one of his introductions a passage +that seemed to belittle the occupation of his life,[455] but in the +introduction to _The Abbot_ he wrote: "Though it were worse than +affectation to deny that my vanity was satisfied at my success in the +department in which chance had in some measure enlisted me, I was +nevertheless far from thinking that the novelist or romance-writer +stands high in the ranks of literature." The ideal which he set for +himself is indicated in the following passage of his article on _Tales +of My Landlord_: "If ... the features of an age gone by can be recalled +in a spirit of delineation at once faithful and striking ... the +composition is in every point of view dignified and improved; and the +author, leaving the light and frivolous associates with whom a careless +observer would be disposed to ally him, takes his seat on the bench of +the historians of his time and country." He once expressed the opinion +that the historical romance approaches, in some measure, when it is +nobly executed, to the epic in poetry.[456] When a medal of Scott, +engraved from the bust by Chantrey, was struck off, he suggested the +motto which was used: + + "Bardorum citharas patrio qui reddidit Istro," + +and said, "because I am far more vain of having been able to fix some +share of public attention upon the ancient poetry and manners of my +country, than of any original efforts which I have been able to make in +literature."[457] The following commendation, which he wrote for a book +of portraits accompanied by essays, might be made to apply to his +novels: "It is impossible for me to conceive a work which ought to be +more interesting to the present age than that which exhibits before our +eyes our 'fathers as they lived'"[458] He felt strongly the value and +importance of past manners, faiths and ideals for the present, and from +this point of view took satisfaction in the social and ethical teaching +of his novels. + +On the whole, Scott's opinions about his own work fitted well with his +general literary principles, except that his modesty inclined him to +discount his own performance while he overestimated that of others. With +this qualification we may remember that he always spoke sensibly about +his work, without affectation, and with abundant geniality. We are +reminded of the comment on Molière quoted by Scott from a French +writer,--"He had the good fortune to escape the most dangerous fault of +an author writing upon his own compositions, and to exhibit wit, where +some people would only have shown vanity and self-conceit."[459] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SCOTT'S POSITION AS CRITIC + + Comparison of Scott with Jeffrey and with the Romantic critics--His + criticism largely appreciative--Romantic in special cases and + Augustan in attitude--Comparison with Coleridge--Scott's respect for + the verdict of the public--His opinion that elucidation is the + function of criticism--Use of historical illustration--Hesitation + about analysing poetry--Political criticism--Verdict of his + contemporaries on his criticism--Influence as a critic--Literary + prophecies--Character of his critical work as a whole--His attitude + towards it--Lack of system--Broad fields he covered--His greatness a + reason for the importance of his criticism. + + +Important as Scott's poetry was in the English Romantic revival, as a +critic he can hardly be counted among the Romanticists. His attitude, +nevertheless, differed radically from that of the school represented by +Jeffrey and Gifford. We have already seen that he disliked their manner +of reviewing, and that he was conscious of complete disagreement with +Jeffrey in regard to poetic ideals. Of Jeffrey Mr. Gates has said: "[He] +rarely _appreciates_ a piece of literature.... He is always for or +against his author; he is always making points."[460] That Scott was +influenced in his early critical work by the tone of the _Edinburgh +Review_ is undeniable, but temperamentally he was inclined to give any +writer a fair chance to stir his emotions; and he did not adopt the +magisterial mood that dictated the famous remark, "This will never do." +Scott's style lacked the adroitness and pungency which helped Jeffrey +successfully to take the attitude of the censor, and which made his +satire triumphant among his contemporaries. Scott declined, moreover, to +cultivate skill in a method which he considered unfair. Compared with +Jeffrey's his criticism wanted incisiveness, but it wears better. + +The period was transitional, and Jeffrey did not go so far as Scott in +breaking away from the dictation of his predecessors. But his attitude +was on the whole more modern than the reader would infer from the +following sentence in one of his earliest reviews: "Poetry has this much +at least in common with religion, that its standards were fixed long ago +by certain inspired writers, whose authority it is no longer lawful to +call in question."[461] He considered himself rather an interpreter of +public opinion than a judge defining ancient legislation, but he used +the opinion of himself and like-minded men as an unimpeachable test of +what the greater public ought to believe in regard to literature. We may +remember that the enthusiasm over the Elizabethan dramatists which seems +a special property of Lamb and Hazlitt, and which Scott shared, was +characteristic also of Jeffrey himself. It was Jeffrey's dogmatism and +his repugnance to certain fundamental ideas which were to become +dominant in the poetry of the nineteenth century that lead us to +consider him one of the last representatives of the eighteenth century +critical tradition. Scott praised the Augustan writers as warmly as +Jeffrey did, but he was more hospitable to the newer literary impulse. +"Perhaps the most damaging accusation that can be made against Jeffrey +as a critic," says Mr. Gates, "is inability to read and interpret the +age in which he lived."[462] + +Scott's criticism was largely appreciative, but appreciative on a +somewhat different plane from that of the contemporary critics whom we +are accustomed to place in a more modern school: Hazlitt, Hunt, Lamb, +and Coleridge. His judgments were less delicate and subtle than the +judgments of these men were apt to be, and more "reasonable" in the +eighteenth-century sense; they were marked, however, by a regard for the +imagination that would have seemed most unreasonable to many men of the +eighteenth century. + +Scott had not a fixed theory of literature which could dominate his mind +when he approached any work. He was open-minded, and in spite of his +extreme fondness for the poetry of Dr. Johnson he was apt to be on the +Romantic side in any specific critical utterance. We have seen also that +he resembled the Romanticists in his power to disengage his verdicts on +literature from ethical considerations. On the other hand he seems +always to have deferred to the standard authorities of the classical +criticism of his time when his own knowledge was not sufficient to guide +him. In discussing Roscommon's Essay on Translated Verse he wrote: "It +must be remembered that the rules of criticism, now so well known as to +be even trite and hackneyed, were then almost new to the literary +world."[463] + +Perhaps the main reason why one would not class Scott's critical work +with that of the Romanticists is that he had no desire to proclaim a new +era in creative literature or in criticism. Like the Romanticists he was +ready to substitute "for the absolute method of judging by reference to +an external standard of 'taste,' a method at once imaginative and +historical";[464] yet he talked less about imagination than about good +sense. The comparison with Boileau suggests itself, for Scott admired +that critic in the conventional fashion, calling him "a supereminent +authority,"[465] and Boileau also had said much about "reason and good +sense." But Scott had an appreciation of the _furor poeticus_ that made +"good sense" quite a different thing to him from what it was to Boileau. +He did not say, moreover, that the poet should be supremely +characterized by good sense, but that the critic, recognizing the facts +about human emotion, should make use of that quality. + +The subjective process by which experience is transmuted into literature +engaged Scott's attention very little: in this respect also he stands +apart from the newer school of critics. The metaphysical description of +imagination or fancy interested him less than the piece of literature in +which these qualities were exhibited. His own mental activities were +more easily set in motion than analysed, and the introspective or +philosophical attitude of mind was unnatural to him. Because of his +adoption of the historical method of studying literature, and the +similarity of many of his judgments to those which were in general +characteristic of the Romantic school, we may say that Scott's criticism +looks forward; but it shows the influence of the earlier period in its +acceptance of traditional judgments based on external standards which +disregarded the nature of the creative process. + +From Coleridge Scott is separated in the most definite way. Coleridge +began at the foundation, building up a set of principles such as the new +impulse in literature seemed to demand. Scott preferred the concrete, +and was stimulated by the particular book to express opinions that would +never have come to his mind as the result of pursuing a train of +unembodied ideas. Coleridge's judgments, moreover, would be unaffected +by public estimation, for he sought to found them on the spiritual and +philosophic consciousness that exists apart from the crowd.[466] Scott, +on the other hand, was ready to use popular judgment as an important +test of his opinions. Coleridge himself pointed out another interesting +contrast. He wrote: "Dear Sir Walter Scott and myself were exact, but +harmonious opposites in this;--that every old ruin, hill, river, or +tree, called up in his mind a host of historical or biographical +associations, ... whereas, for myself, notwithstanding Dr. Johnson, I +believe I should walk over the plain of Marathon without taking more +interest in it than in any other plain of similar features."[467] We +might perhaps say that Coleridge's affection was given to ideas, +Scott's, to objects; hence Coleridge was a critic of literary principles +and theories, Scott a critic of individual books and writers. It follows +that Scott was on the whole an impressionistic critic. A study of his +personality is essential to a consideration of his critical work, for he +was not so much a systematic student of literature, guided by fixed +principles, as a man of a certain temperament who read particular things +and made particular remarks about them as he felt inclined. The +inconsistencies and contradictions which would naturally result from +such a procedure are occasionally noticeable, but they are fewer than +would occur in the work of a less well-balanced man than himself. + +His ideas about criticism were influenced by his feeling that the +judgment of the public would after all take its own course, and that it +was in the long run the best criterion. He used his opinion that an +author, even in his own lifetime, commonly receives fair treatment from +the public, as an argument against establishing in England any literary +body having the power of pensioning literary men.[468] On this subject +he said, "There is ... really no occasion for encouraging by a society +the competition of authors. The land is before them, and if they really +have merit they seldom fail to conquer their share of public applause +and private profit.... I cannot, in my knowledge of letters, recollect +more than two men whose merit is undeniable while, I am afraid, their +circumstances are narrow. I mean Coleridge and Maturin." + +Scott's whole attitude toward criticism shows that he felt its supreme +function to be elucidation. It should also, he believed, warn the world +against books that were foolish, or pernicious, intellectually or +morally; but unless there were good reason for issuing such warnings the +bad books should be ignored and the good treated sympathetically, not +without such discrimination as should distinguish between the better and +the worse in them, but with emphasis on the better. His literary creed, +though not formulated into a system, was conscious and fairly definite; +but it consisted of general principles which never resolved themselves +into intricate subtleties requiring great space for their development. +Scott could not think in that way, and he felt convinced that such +thinking was useless and worse than useless. A magazine-writer of his +own period who said of him,--"The author of _Waverley_, we apprehend, +has neither the patience nor the disposition requisite for writing +philosophically upon any subject,"[469] was mistaken, for much of +Scott's criticism, without making any pretensions, is really +philosophical. But any fine-drawn analysis seemed to him to serve the +vanity of the critic rather than the need of the public; and he despised +that arrogance in the critic which leads him to assume to direct +literary taste. + +Historical illustration was that kind of editorial work which he found +most congenial, and which harmonized best with his critical principles; +for when he could bring definite facts to the service of elucidation he +felt that he was doing something worth while. Among all the +introductions and annotations that we have from his hand, including +those of the _Dryden_ and the _Swift_, this kind of explanation greatly +predominates over the more strictly literary comment; in his reviews, +also, it is evident that he seized every opportunity for turning from +literary to historical discussion. He was in the habit of "embroidering +the subject, whatever it might be, with lively anecdotic +illustration,"[470] as one of his biographers says. We are not to +conclude that in writing on specifically literary subjects he felt ill +at ease. He felt, on the contrary, that the objection lay in the too +great ease with which the critic might become dictatorial. He was fond +enough of details when they were concrete and vital. The facts of +literary history were in this category to him, as distinguished from the +notions of literary theory; and we find that his critical principles are +apt to appear incidentally among remarks on what seemed to him the more +tangible and important facts of literary and social history. The books +he chose to review were chiefly those which gave him a chance to use his +historical information and imagination. His ideas were concrete, as +those of a great novelist must inevitably be. Indeed the dividing line +between creative work and criticism seems often to be obliterated in +Scott's literary discussions, since he was inclined to amplify and +illustrate instead of dissecting the book under consideration. As a +critic he was distinguished by the qualities which appear in his novels, +and which may be described in Hazlitt's words, as "the most amazing +retentiveness of memory, and vividness of conception of what would +happen, be seen, and felt by everybody in given circumstances."[471] + +Scott felt that there was especial danger of futile theorizing in the +criticism of poetry. In writing about _Alexander's Feast_ he discussed +for a moment the possibility of detecting points at which the author had +paused in his work, but almost immediately he stopped himself with the +characteristic remark--"There may be something fanciful ... in this +reasoning, which I therefore abandon to the reader's mercy; only begging +him to observe, that we have no mode of estimating the exertions of a +quality so capricious as a poetic imagination."[472] Early in his career +he gave this rather over-amiable explanation of the fact that he had +never undertaken to review poetry: "I am sensible there is a greater +difference of tastes in that department than in any other, and that +there is much excellent poetry which I am not nowadays able to read +without falling asleep, and which would nevertheless have given me great +pleasure at an earlier period of my life. Now I think there is something +hard in blaming the poor cook for the fault of our own palate or +deficiency of appetite."[473] We have seen that he did review poetry +afterwards, but that he was inclined to do it with the least possible +emphasis on the specifically aesthetic elements. On the subject of +novel-writing he developed a somewhat fuller critical theory, but here +also his discussions concerned themselves rather with the kind of ideas +set forth than with the manner of presentation. + +It does indeed seem as if Scott's feelings were more easily aroused to +the point of formulating "laws" in the field of political criticism than +in that which appears to us his more legitimate sphere. He has his +fling, to be sure, at Madame de Staël, because she "lived and died in +the belief that revolutions were to be effected, and countries governed, +by a proper succession of clever pamphlets."[474] But in proposing the +establishment of the _Quarterly Review_ he made no secret of the fact +that his motives were political. The literary aspect of the periodical +was thought of as a subordinate, though a necessary and not unimportant +phase of the undertaking. The _Letters of Malachi Malagrowther_ contain +some very definite maxims on the subject of political economy, and just +as decided are the remarks made in the last of _Paul's Letters_, as well +as in the _Life of Napoleon_ and elsewhere, as to how Louis XVIII. ought +to set about the task of calming his distracted kingdom of France. But +however emphatic Scott may be in the comments on government which appear +throughout his writings, he was as strongly averse in this matter as in +literary affairs to any separation of philosophy from fact: his maxims +are always derived from experience. The following statement of opinion +is typical: "In legislating for an ancient people, the question is not, +what is the best possible system of law, but what is the best they can +bear. Their habitudes and prejudices must always be respected; and, +whenever it is practicable, those prejudices, instead of being +destroyed, ought to be taken as the basis of the new regulations."[475] + +It was Scott's political creed that roused the ire of such men as +Hazlitt and Hunt, though they may also have been exasperated at the +unprecedented success of poetry which seemed so facile and so +superficial to them as Scott's. Leigh Hunt calls him "a poet of a purely +conventional order," "a bitter and not very large-minded politician," "a +critic more agreeable than subtle."[476] But Scott's politics may be +looked at in another way. "In his patriotism," says Mr. Courthope, "his +passionate love of the past, and his reverence for established +authority, literary or political, Scott is the best representative among +English men of letters of Conservatism in its most generous form."[477] + +Though it seems to have been a common opinion among the literary men of +his own time that Scott's criticism was superficial, his knowledge of +mediaeval literature was, as we have seen, recognized and respected. +Favorable comments by his contemporaries on other parts of his critical +work are not difficult to find. For example, Gifford wrote to Murray in +regard to the article on _Lady Suffolk's Correspondence_: "Scott's paper +is a clever, sensible thing--the work of a man who knows what he is +about."[478] Isaac D'Israeli made the following observation on another +of Scott's papers: "The article on Pepys, after so many have been +written, is the only one which, in the most charming manner possible, +shows the real value of these works, which I can assure you many good +scholars have no idea of."[479] A more recent verdict may be set beside +those just quoted, and it is in perfect agreement with them. "His +critical faculty," says Professor Saintsbury, "if not extraordinarily +subtle, was always as sound and shrewd as it was good-natured."[480] + +Scott's influence as a critic was not very great, but his creative work +exerted a strong influence on criticism as well as on the whole +intellectual life of his age. His own novels demanded of the critic that +kind of appreciation of the large qualities and negligence of the small +which he had insisted on considering the function of criticism; and they +became a fact in literature which determined to some degree the attitude +taken toward ephemeral ideas. Newman notes the popularity of Scott's +novels as one of the influences which prepared the ground for the +Tractarian movement, for Scott enriched the visions of men by his +pictures of the past, gave them noble ideas, and created a desire for a +greater richness of spiritual life.[481] Much of his criticism also was +inspired by the wish to construct an adequate picture of the past; so +far it worked in the same direction with the novels. Its most important +offices aside from this were perhaps to present large and kindly views +of literature and literary characters, especially through biographical +essays; and to ameliorate somewhat the prevailing asperity of periodical +criticism. + +A man of Scott's temperament was little likely to set himself up for a +prophet, and probably no literary prophecies of his were in the least +influential. Though he sometimes boasted that he understood the varying +currents of popular taste, his experience in the publishing business +taught him the fallibility of his impressions when the work of writers +other than himself was concerned. He once wrote,--"The friends who know +me best, and to whose judgment I am myself in the constant habit of +trusting, reckon me a very capricious and uncertain judge of poetry; and +I have had repeated occasion to observe that I have often failed in +anticipating the reception of poetry from the public."[482] But it is +beyond the strength of flesh and blood to resist saying things about the +future sometimes, and Scott occasionally yielded to the temptation, +helped, no doubt, by his amiability. Southey's _Madoc_, however, has not +yet assumed that place at the feet of Milton which, as we have seen, he +ventured to predict for it. Yet, if we may trust the memory of one of +his friends, Scott foresaw the literary success of two of his greatest +contemporaries. R.P. Gillies said in his _Recollections_: "I remember +well how correct Scott's impressions were of such beginners in the +literary world as had not then acquired any fixed character. Of Lord +Byron he had from the first a favourable impression.... Of Wordsworth he +always spoke favourably, insisting that he was a true poet, but +predicting that it would be long ere his works obtained the praise which +they merited from the public."[483] Scott explicitly prided himself on +two of his prophecies: that Washington Irving would make a name for +himself, and that Sir Arthur Wellesley would become known as an +extraordinary man. + +Though Scott's critical work is comparatively little known, and though +it presents no solidly organized front by which the public may be +impressed, the opinions of so notable a writer have always had a certain +weight. Mr. Churton Collins thinks Scott's judgment on Dunbar has led +modern editors to indulge in very exaggerated statements concerning the +merit of that poet.[484] A heavier charge has been laid at Scott's door +on the score of his edition of the _Memoirs of Captain Carleton_. He +concluded on very insufficient evidence, says Colonel Parnell, that +these memoirs were genuinely historical, published them as such, and by +the weight of his opinion falsified "the whole stream of +nineteenth-century history bearing on the reign of Queen Anne."[485] +Stanhope, Macaulay, and other historians were ready to accept Scott's +judgment without further investigation, it seems; and if the accusation +be true we may conclude that his influence as a critic has reached +farther than might at first sight appear. Yet we may be content to +follow his lead in general, except in those bits of enthusiasm over his +friends which bear witness to a generously optimistic nature rather than +to a rigid critical attitude such as we should hardly demand in any case +from a man of letters commenting on his contemporaries and friends. +George Ticknor was greatly impressed by the "right-mindedness" of the +young Sophia Scott,[486] and we may fairly adopt the word to describe +the father whom she so much resembled. There was in him, as Carlyle +said, "such a sunny current of true humour and humanity, a free joyful +sympathy with so many things; what of fire he had all lying so +beautifully latent, as radical latent heat, as fruitful internal warmth +of life;--a most robust, healthy man!"[487] + +Writers upon Scott have made much, perhaps too much, of his feeling that +his position as a landed gentleman was more enviable than his prominence +as a writer. The point would be of greater consequence if it performed +so important a function in explaining his work as has commonly been +assigned to it. We are told that he wrote much and hastily because he +wanted money to establish and support an estate; but the truth is that +if he wrote at all he had to write in this way. He justly believed that +he could do his best work so. Yet it was a natural result of his +facility that he should look upon the literature he produced as of +comparatively little moment. Some of his remarks about his critical +work, however, show that he really regarded creative writing as the +business of his life, and that in contrast with it he considered his +criticism a relief from more arduous labor. After the publication of +_Marmion_ he wrote: "I have done with poetry for some time--it is a +scourging crop, and ought not to be hastily repeated. Editing, +therefore, may be considered as a green crop of turnips or peas, +extremely useful for those whose circumstances do not admit of giving +their farm a summer fallow."[488] After years of novel-writing he said +of writing a review, "No one that has not laboured as I have done on +imaginary topics can judge of the comfort afforded by walking on +all-fours, and being grave and dull."[489] + +From what Scott said about Dryden as a critic we may conclude that the +unsystematic character of his own scholarly work may have been a matter +of principle as well as inclination. "Dryden," he wrote, "forebore, from +prudence, indolence, or a regard for the freedom of Parnassus, to erect +himself into a legislator."[490] The words remind us of comments made +upon Scott's own work, as for example by Professor Masson, who spoke of +"the shrewdness and sagacity of some of his critical prefaces to his +novels, where he discusses principles of literature without seeming to +call them such."[491] Scott was quick to notice "cant and slang"[492] in +the professional language of men in all arts; and he valued most highly +the remarks of those whose intelligence had not been overlaid by a +conventional pedantry. + +Knowing that criticism was not the main business of his life, we are +inclined to be surprised at the broad fields which he seemed to have no +hesitation in entering upon. His remarkable memory doubtless had +something to do with this, but he lived in a period when generalization +was more possible and more permissible than it is in this era of special +monographs. The large tendencies and characteristics that he traced in +his essay on Romance, for instance, are undoubtedly to be qualified at +numberless points, but writing when he did, Scott was comparatively +untroubled by these limitations. Moreover, he had the gift of seeing +things broadly, so that in essentials his survey remains true. But the +amount of his work is almost as astonishing as its scope and variety. He +could accomplish so much only by disregarding details of form; and that +he did so we know from our study of his principles of composition, +confirmed by the evidence of the passages from him that have here been +quoted. It is clear, also, that he was not limited by that "horror of +the obvious," which, as Mr. Saintsbury says, "bad taste at all times has +taken for a virtue."[493] Beyond this we have to fall back for +explanation on the unusual qualities of his mind. An observing friend +said of him that, "With a degree of patience and quietude which are +seldom combined with much energy, he could get through an incredible +extent of literary labour."[494] + +Every quality which made Scott a great man contributes to the interest +and importance of his criticism. Such a body of criticism, formulated by +a large creative genius, would be of special consequence if it served +merely as the basis for a study of his other work, a commentary on the +principles which underlay his whole literary achievement. But it would +be strange if a man of Scott's intellectual personality could write +criticism which was not important in itself, and we can only account for +the general neglect of this part of his work by considering how large a +place his poems and novels give him in the history of our literature. If +he deserves a still larger place, we may remember with satisfaction that +as a man he was great enough to support honorably any distinction won by +his mind. + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +The bibliography of Scott's writings is given in three parts, as +follows: + +1. Books which Scott wrote or edited, or to which he was an important + contributor. The list is chronological. + +2. Contributions to periodicals. + +3. Books which contain letters written by Scott. These titles are + arranged approximately in the order of their importance from the + point of view of a study of Scott. + + +1. _Books which Scott wrote or edited, or to which he was an important +contributor_. + +(In the following list the first editions of the poems and novels +are noted without bibliographical details. In the case of other +works the main facts in regard to publication are given; and an +attempt is made to indicate the nature of the books named, unless +they have been discussed in the text.) + +1796 + The Chase and William and Helen. (Translated from Bürger.) + +1799 + Goetz of Berlichingen. (Translated from Goethe.) + + Apology for Tales of Terror. + + Twelve copies were privately printed, to exhibit the work of the + Ballantyne press at Kelso. The title was occasioned by the delay + in the publication of Matthew Lewis's Tales of Terror, and the + little book contains poems which Scott had contributed to that + work. (The contents are named in the Catalogue of the Centenary + Exhibition.) + +1800 + The Eve of St. John, a Border ballad. + +1802-3 + Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border; consisting of historical and + romantic ballads, collected in the southern counties of Scotland; with + a few of modern date founded upon local tradition. + + 3 vols. Vols. I and 2, Kelso, 1802; vol. 3, Edinburgh, 1803. + Second edition, 1803. The book was republished frequently before + 1830, when it was included in the collected edition of Scott's + poems. It has also been reprinted independently since then several + times. The latest and most complete edition is that published in + 1902, edited by T.F. Henderson. Other books in which part of + Scott's ballad material was used in such a way as to give his name + a place on the title-page are named below: + + Kinmont Willie: a Border ballad, with an historical introduction, + by Sir Walter Scott. (Carlisle Tracts No. 6) Carlisle, 1841. + + A Ballad Book by C.K. Sharpe. MDCCCXXIII. Reprinted with notes and + ballads from the unpublished manuscripts of C.K. Sharpe and Sir + Walter Scott ... edited by ... D. Laing. Edinburgh, 1880. + +1804 + Sir Tristrem: a metrical romance of the thirteenth century, by Thomas + of Ercildoune, called the Rhymer. Edited from the Auchinleck + manuscript by Walter Scott. Edinburgh. + + Only 12 copies of Sir Tristrem were printed in the form in which + Scott had intended to publish it, without the expurgation which + his friends insisted upon. (_Letters to R. Polwhele_, etc., p. 18; + _Lockhart_, I. 361). The following book contains a part of the + same material: + + A Penni worth of Witte, Florice and Blancheflour, and other pieces + of ancient English poetry, selected from the Auchinleck + manuscript. (With an account of the Auchinleck manuscript by Sir + Walter Scott) Edinburgh, 1857. Printed for the Abbotsford Club. + +1805 + The Lay of the Last Minstrel. + +1806 + Original Memoirs written during the great civil war; being the life of + Sir H. Slingsby, and memoirs of Capt. Hodgson. With notes, etc. + Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott anonymously.] + + Ballads and Lyrical Pieces. [Poems which had already appeared in + various collections.] + +1808 + Marmion. + + Memoirs of Captain Carleton, ... including anecdotes of the war in + Spain under the Earl of Peterborough, ... written by himself. + Edinburgh. (8vo, but 25 copies were printed on large paper.) [Edited + by Scott anonymously.] + + Scott was probably mistaken in considering this to be a genuine + autobiography. (See Col. Parnell's argument in _The English + Historical Review_, vi:97.) It has been attributed to Defoe, and + Col. Parnell attributes it to Swift, but the question of its + authorship is still unsolved. The book was first published in + 1728, but Scott used the edition of 1743, which he was so + inaccurate as to take for the original edition; and as at that + date Defoe had long been dead and Swift had lost his mind, the + possibility of attributing it to either of them naturally would + not occur to him. Scott wrote scarcely any notes, but his short + introduction contains some interesting general reflections which + are quoted by Lockhart. + + The Works of John Dryden, now first collected; illustrated with notes, + historical, critical and explanatory, and a life of the author, by + Walter Scott, Esq. 18 vols. London. + + Second edition, 18 vols., Edinburgh, 1821. + + Another edition, revised and corrected by George Saintsbury, + Edinburgh, 1882-1893. + + The Life of John Dryden (4to, only 50 copies printed). + + Memoirs of John Dryden, Paris, 1826. + + Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, written by himself, and + Fragmenta Regalia, being a history of Queen Elizabeth's favourites, by + Sir Robert Naunton. With explanatory annotations. Edinburgh. [Edited + by Scott anonymously.] + + Scott contributed no introductions, but his notes are copious, + especially with regard to the history of the Border. This is one + of the books of which Scott is reported to have said to his + publisher, Mr. Constable, "Did I not do Hodgson, Carey, Carleton, + etc., to serve you; and did I ever ask or receive any + remuneration?" (_Ballantyne's Refutation_, etc., p. 76.) + + Queenhoo-Hall, a romance; and Ancient Times, a drama. By the late + Joseph Strutt, author of Rural Sports and Pastimes of the People of + England. [Edited by Scott, who wrote a conclusion for Queenhoo-Hall. + This conclusion is given in an appendix to the introduction of + Waverley.] Edinburgh. + +1809 + The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler ... edited by Arthur + Clifford ... to which is added a memoir of the life of Sir Ralph + Sadler, with historical notes, by Walter Scott, Esq. 2 vols. + Edinburgh. (Also the same work in 3 vols., with same date.) + + The biography is included in all the editions of Scott's Prose + Works. + + The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury, written by himself. With + a prefatory memoir. Edinburgh; printed by James Ballantyne & Co. for + John Ballantyne & Co. and John Murray. (A reprint of Walpole's + edition, with the prefatory memoir added.) + + It is a question whether Scott edited this book, but it has been + ascribed to him, and is given under his name without hesitation in + the British Museum catalogue. The prefatory memoir is short and + largely made up of quotations, but it sounds as if Scott might + have written it. The book is one to which he often refers. Mr. + Sidney Lee, in his edition of the Autobiography, says merely, + "Walpole's edition was reprinted in 1770, 1809, and in 1826." + Reprinted in the Universal Library: Biography, vol. I, London, + 1853. + +1809-15 + A Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts on the most interesting and + entertaining subjects: but chiefly such as relate to the history and + constitution of these kingdoms. Selected from an infinite number in + print and manuscript, in the Royal, Cotton, Sion, and other public, as + well as private, libraries; particularly that of the late Lord Somers. + The second edition, revised, augmented, and arranged by Walter Scott, + Esq. 13 vols. London. + + There are some additions. Scott says in the Advertisement: "The + Memoirs of the Wars in the Low Countries by the gallant Williams, + and the very singular account of Ireland by Derrick, are the most + curious of those now published for the first time.... The + introductory remarks and notes have been added by the present + Editor, at the expense of some time and labour. It is needless to + observe, that both have been expended upon a humble and + unambitious, though not, it is hoped, an useless task. The object + of the introductions was to present such a short and summary view + of the circumstances under which the Historical and Controversial + Tracts were respectively written, as to prevent the necessity of + referring to other works. Such therefore, as refer to events of + universal notoriety are but slightly and generally mentioned; such + as concern less remarkable points of history are more fully + explained. The Notes are in general illustrative of obscure + passages, or brief notices of authorities, whether corroborative + or contradictory of the text." The following book contains a part + of the same material: + + The Image of Irelande with a Discoverie of Woodkarne. By John + Derricke, 1581. With Notes by Sir Walter Scott. Edited by John + Small. Edinburgh, 1883. (See _Somers' Tracts_, Vol. I.) + +1810 + English Minstrelsy. Being a selection of fugitive poetry from the best + English authors, with some original pieces hitherto unpublished. 2 + vols. Edinburgh. + + The Centenary Catalogue says that Scott and his friend William + Erskine edited this book together. In the Advertisement the + publishers (John Ballantyne & Co.) say: "To one eminent + individual, whose name they do not venture to particularize, they + are indebted for most valuable assistance in selection, + arrangement, and contribution; and to that individual they take + this opportunity to present the humble tribute of their thanks, + for a series of kindnesses, of which that now acknowledged is + among the least." There is no critical apparatus. The book + contains original poems by Scott, Southey, Rogers, Joanna Baillie, + and others not so well known. + + The Lady of the Lake. + + Memoirs of the Duke of Sully. Translated from the French [by Charlotte + Lennox] ... a new edition ... corrected, with additional notes, some + letters of Henry the Great, and a brief historical introduction + embellished with portraits. 5 vols. London. + + Another edition, 4 vols. London 1858, has these words on the + title-page: "A new edition, revised and corrected; with additional + notes, and an historical introduction, attributed to Sir Walter + Scott." I have found no external evidence that Scott was the + editor. The introduction sounds as if Scott wrote it, but that so + much work could have been done by him without occasioning any + record seems unlikely. There is a historical introduction of 35 + pp., and copious notes. The book is one with which Scott was + familiar. See Memoirs of Robert Carey, pp. 34 and 41. + + The Poetical Works of Anna Seward, with extracts from her literary + correspondence. Edited by Walter Scott, Esq. 3 vols. Edinburgh. + + The biographical preface is given in the Miscellaneous Prose + Works. The notes are by Miss Seward. + + Ancient British Drama, in three volumes. London. (Printed for William + Miller, by James Ballantyne & Co., Edinburgh.) + + I find no evidence that Scott was the editor of this book, but it + is sometimes ascribed to him in library catalogues. It contains + merely a two-page introduction and brief notes, and a collection + of plays. (See above, p. 52, note.) + +1811 + The Modern British Drama, in five volumes. London. (Printed for + William Miller, by James Ballantyne & Co., Edinburgh.) + + Vols. I and II, Tragedies, with introduction in vol. I. + + Vols. III and IV, Comedies, with introduction in vol. III. + + Vol. V, Operas and Farces, with introduction. + + These volumes apparently belong to the same collection as the + Ancient British Drama, noted above, and the external evidence for + Scott's authorship is the same. But the introductions are fuller, + and they sound very much like Scott. (See above, p. 52, note.) + + The Vision of Don Roderick. + + Memoirs of the Court of Charles II, by Count Grammont. With numerous + additions and illustrations. London. [Edited by Scott.] + + Reprinted in 1846, 1853, 1864. This last edition, in the Bohn + Library, has about 100 pp. of historical notes. + + Secret History of the Court of James the First. With notes and + introductory remarks. 2 vols. Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott + anonymously.] + + The book contains 1. Osborne's Traditional Memoirs; 2. Sir Anthony + Welldon's Court and Character of King James; 3. Aulicus + Coquinariae; 4. Sir Edward Peyton's Divine Catastrophe of the + House of Stuarts. + +1813 + Rokeby. + + Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I., by Sir Philip Warwick. + Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott anonymously.] + + The Bridal of Triermain. + +1814 + Illustrations of Northern Antiquities from the earlier Teutonic and + Scandinavian romances, by Robert Jamieson ... with an abstract of the + Eyrbyggja-Saga; being the early annals of that district of Iceland + lying around the promontory called Sudefells, by Walter Scott. + Edinburgh. + + See also Northern Antiquities by P.H. Mallet, London, 1847; and + the edition in Bohn's Library, 1890. + + Lockhart says: "Any one who examines the share of the work which + goes under Weber's name will see that Scott had a considerable + hand in that also. The rhymed versions from the _Nibelungen Lied_ + came, I can have no doubt, from his pen." (_Lockhart_, II, 320.) + + The Works of Jonathan Swift, containing additional letters, tracts, + and poems, not hitherto published; with notes and a life of the + author, by Walter Scott. 19 vols. Edinburgh. + + Second edition, revised, Edinburgh, 1824. + + Memoirs of Jonathan Swift, Paris, 1826. + + The Letting of Humour's Blood in the Head Vaine, etc. By Samuel + Rowlands. Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott. His name is not given, but the + Advertisement is dated at Abbotsford.] + + This is an exact reproduction of the 1611 edition, except for the + addition of a few pages containing the Advertisement and the + notes. Another edition was printed in 1815. + + Waverley. + +1814-17 + The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland; comprising specimens + of architecture and sculpture, and other vestiges of former ages, + accompanied by descriptions. Together with illustrations of remarkable + incidents in Border history and tradition, and original poetry. By + Walter Scott, Esq. 2 vols. 4to. London. + + Another edition, in 2 vols. folio, London, 1889. + + Lockhart says the introduction to this work was written in 1817, + but this is a mistake, for it is in the first volume, which was + published in 1814. + +1815 + The Lord of the Isles. + + Guy Mannering. + + The Field of Waterloo. + + The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, by Robert Kirk. + + The attribution of this to Scott rests on a letter by George + Ticknor, in Allibone's Dictionary (vol. II, p. 1967) in which he + says: "Kirk's Secret Commonwealth, a curious tract, of about a + hundred quarto pages, on Fairy Superstitions and second sight, + originally published in 1691, and of which, in 1815, Mr. Scott had + caused a hundred copies to be privately printed by the + Ballantynes, with additions, a circumstance, I think, not noted by + Lockhart." Mr. Lang thinks the book was never printed until 1815. + (See his edition, London, 1893). This 1815 edition of 100 copies + was made, he says, from a manuscript copy preserved in the + Advocates' Library, for Longman & Co. He quotes one of Scott's + references to the book, but does not intimate that Scott was the + editor. + + Memorie of the Somervilles; being a history of the baronial house of + Somerville, by James, eleventh Lord Somerville. 2 vols. Edinburgh. + [Edited by Scott anonymously.] + + The additions by the editor consist of a short preface and + abundant notes. + +1816 + Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk. Edinburgh. + + These letters were anonymous, but Scott was always recognized as + the author of them. They are contained in the Miscellaneous Prose + Works. + + The Antiquary. + + Tales of my Landlord. First series: + The Black Dwarf. + Old Mortality. + +1817 + Harold the Dauntless. + + Rob Roy. + +1818 + Tales of my Landlord. Second series: + The Heart of Midlothian. + + Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland ... the fifth edition, with + a large appendix, containing various important historical documents, + hitherto unpublished; with an introduction and notes, by the editor, + R. Jamieson ... and the history of Donald the Hammerer, from an + authentic account of the family of Invernahyle (by Scott: see a note + accompanying the text). 2 vols. London. + + Scott's contribution is short. See also Appendix IV, which is + taken "from a manuscript in the possession of the Gartmore Family, + communicated by Walter Scott Esq." Scott's name had become so + valuable that the publishers tried to put it on the title-page of + this book, to his great indignation. (See _Constable_, III, III, + 119-20.) + +1818-24 + The Encyclopædia Britannica: Supplement. [For this work Scott wrote + the following essays:] Chivalry, published in 1818; The Drama, + published in 1819; Romance, published in 1824. (These are given in the + Miscellaneous Prose Works.) + +1819 + Tales of my Landlord. Third series: + The Bride of Lammermoor. + A Legend of Montrose. + + The Visionary, by Somnambulus. (A political satire in three letters, + republished from the Edinburgh Weekly Journal.) Edinburgh. + + Description of the Regalia of Scotland. Edinburgh. + + This has been reprinted many times. It was included also in + Provincial Antiquities. + + Ivanhoe. + +1819-26 + The Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, with + descriptive illustrations by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. [First published + in ten parts between 1819 and 1826.] 2 vols. London, 1826. 4to. + +1820 + The Monastery. + + The Abbot. + + Memorials of the Haliburtons. Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott + anonymously.] + + 30 copies were printed in 1820, and 30 more in 1824. + + Reprinted, London, 1877, for the Royal Historical Society, in + Genealogical Memoirs of the Family of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., of + Abbotsford, by the Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D. + + Trivial Poems and Triolets. Written in obedience to Mrs. Tomkin's + commands. By Patrick Carey. London. [Edited by Scott. His name is not + given, but the introduction is dated at Abbotsford.] + + A thin 4to, with a short introduction and a few notes. A part of + the material had been used in the Edinburgh Annual Register for + 1810. + +1821 + Northern Memoirs, calculated for the meridian of Scotland. To which is + added the contemplative and practical angler. Writ in the year 1658. + By Richard Franck. A new edition, with preface and notes. Edinburgh. + [Edited by Scott.] + + Kenilworth. + + The Pirate. + +1821-4 + The Novelists' Library. Edited, with prefatory memoirs, by Sir Walter + Scott. 10 vols. London. + + Also Lives of the Novelists, 2 vols., Paris, 1825. A recent + edition is that published, with an introduction by Austin Dobson, + by the Oxford University Press (No. 94 in The World's Classics). + When these Lives were issued among the Miscellaneous Prose Works + some of the biographical prefaces were put with them, and also + biographical notices, reprinted from the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, + of Charles Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, John Lord + Somerville, King George III, Lord Byron, and The Duke of York. I + give below the names of certain books in which Scott's biographies + were utilized, but the list is probably far from complete: + + An Account of the death and funeral procession of Frederick Duke + of York, etc. To which is subjoined Sir Walter Scott's Character + of His Royal Highness. By John Sykes. Newcastle, 1827. + + The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman. By Laurence + Sterne, A.M., with a life of the author, by Sir Walter Scott. + Paris, 1832. (Baudry's Foreign Library.) + + Beauties of Sterne, with some account of his writings by Sir + Walter Scott. Amsterdam, 1836. + + Select Works of Smollett. Memoir by Sir W. Scott. Philadelphia, + 1849. + + The Novels and Miscellaneous Works of Daniel De Foe. With a + biographical memoir of the author, literary prefaces to the + various pieces, illustrative notes, etc., including all contained + in the edition attributed to the late Sir Walter Scott, with + considerable additions. 20 vols., London, 1840. + + The Novels and Miscellaneous Works of Daniel de Foe. With prefaces + and notes, including those attributed to Sir Walter Scott. 6 + vols., London, 1854-6. (Bonn's British Classics.) + + The Rambler, by Samuel Johnson LL.D., with a sketch of the + author's life by Sir Walter Scott. 2 vols., London, 187? + +1822 + Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs, from 1680 till 1701; being + chiefly taken from the diary of Lord Fountainhall. Edinburgh. [Edited + by Scott.] + + See Historical Notices of Scotish Affairs, selected from the + manuscripts of Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, bart. 2 vols. + Edinburgh, 1848, printed for the Bannatyne club. Here Scott's + edition is referred to, and his introduction is reprinted. The + book was re-edited because Scott did not use the original + manuscript, but an interpolated transcript, and he had no means + for accurately determining the original text. + + Halidon Hill, a dramatic sketch. + + Macduff's Cross (in Joanna Baillie's Poetical Miscellanies). + + Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War. Being the military memoirs of + John Gwynne; and an account of the Earl of Glencairn's expedition, as + general of His Majesty's forces, in the highlands of Scotland, in the + years 1653 and 1654, by a person who was eye and ear witness to every + transaction.... Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott. His name is not given, + but the introduction is dated at Abbotsford.] + + There are some notes, and a short historical introduction. + + Sketch of the Life and Character of the late Lord Kinneder. [Edited by + Scott. A postscript says: "This notice was chiefly drawn up by the + late Mr. Hay Donaldson."] Edinburgh. + + Only a few copies were printed, for private distribution. + + The Fortunes of Nigel. + +1823 + Peveril of the Peak. + + Quentin Durward. + + St. Ronan's Well. + +1824 + Lays of the Lindsays, being poems by the ladies of the House of + Balcarras. Edinburgh. [Edited by Scott, and designed as a contribution + to the Bannatyne Club, but suppressed after being printed.] + + Redgauntlet. + +1825 + Auld Robin Gray; a ballad. By the Rt. Honourable Lady Anne Barnard, + born Lady Anne Lindsay, of Balcarras. [Edited by Scott for the + Bannatyne Club.] + + Tales of the Crusaders: + The Betrothed. + The Talisman. + +1826 + Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency. (To the editor of the + Edinburgh Weekly Journal.) 3 parts. Edinburgh. + + Woodstock. + +1826? + Shakspeare [edited by Scott and Lockhart?], volumes II, III, and IV, + without title page and date. Printed by James Ballantyne & Co. + + Scott and Lockhart began in 1823 or 1824 to prepare an edition of + Shakspere. In Jan., 1825, Constable wrote to a London bookseller: + "It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the first sheet of + Sir Walter Scott's Shakspeare is now in type ... This I expect + will be a first-rate property." (_Constable's Correspondence_, II, + 344.) At the time of Constable's bankruptcy in 1826 there was a + disagreement in regard to the ownership of the property. Scott + wrote to Lockhart, May 30, 1826, "What do you about Shakspeare? + Constable's creditors seem desirous to carry it on. Certainly + their bankruptcy breaks the contract. For me _c'est égal_: I have + nothing to do with the emoluments, and I can with very little + difficulty discharge my part of the matter, which is the + Prolegomena, and Life and Times." (Lang's _Lockhart_, I, 409.) In + 1827 the question of carrying on the work was still undecided, and + it was also mentioned in a letter in 1830. (Lang's _Lockhart_ II, + 13 and 59). The project was ultimately abandoned, and the fate of + that part of the work which was actually in print is unknown. In + the Barton Collection in the Boston Public Library is preserved + what is perhaps a unique copy of three volumes of the set of ten + that Scott and Lockhart undertook to prepare. But as the books are + bound up without title-pages, and as the commentary contains + nothing that would determine its authorship, the attribution is + probable rather than certain. These volumes include twelve of the + comedies. On the fly-leaf of one of them is a note written by Mr. + Rodd, a London bookseller. He says: "I purchased these three + volumes from a sale at Edinburgh. They were entered in the + catalogue as 'Shakespeare's Works, edited by Sir Walter Scott and + Lockhart, vols. ii, in, iv, all published, _unique_'." It was not + positively known that such a work had been planned until the + publication of Constable's _Correspondence_ in 1874. At that time + Justin Winsor wrote a letter to the _Boston Advertiser_ (March 21, + 1874) in which he said: "The account of the Barton collection, + which was printed fifteen years ago, contained the earliest public + mention, I believe, of the supposition that Scott ever engaged in + such a work, which this life of Constable now renders certain. + These later corroborative statements give a peculiar interest to + the volumes which are now in this library and which are perhaps + the only ones of the edition now in existence." The introductions + to the plays are each only a page or two long, and are mainly, + like the notes, compilations. The book corresponds fairly well + with the description given in _Constable_. (See Vol. III, pp. 183, + 193, 237-8, 241, 242, 244, 246, 305, 321, 442. See also Lang's + _Lockhart_, I, 308-9, 395-6, and Lang's Introduction to _Peveril + of the Peak_.) + +1827 + The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French. With a + preliminary view of the French Revolution. By the author of Waverley. + 9 vols. Edinburgh. + + Chronicles of the Canongate. First series: + The Highland Widow. + The Two Drovers. + The Surgeon's Daughter + + Memoirs of the Marchioness de la Rochejaquelin. Translated from the + French. Edinburgh. (Constable's Miscellany, Vol. V. Introduction and + notes by Scott.) + + The Miscellaneous Prose Works of Sir Walter Scott. + + 6 vols. Edinburgh, 1827, and Boston, 1829. + + 9 vols. Paris, 1827-34. + + 30 vols. London, 1834-46. (Containing many of the reviews + contributed by Scott to periodicals.) + + Same, first 28 vols. (Omitting the Letters on Demonology and + Witchcraft.) Edinburgh, 1842-6, 1851, and 1861. + + 7 vols. Paris, 1837-8. + + 8 vols. Paris, 1840? + + 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1841-2, 1846, and 1854. + +1827-55 + The Bannatyne Miscellany; containing original papers and tracts + relating to the history and literature of Scotland. (Edited by Sir + Walter Scott, D. Laing, and T. Thomson.) 3 vols. + +1828 + Tales of a Grandfather. First series. 3 vols. Edinburgh. Religious + Discourses. By a layman. London. + + Two sermons written by Sir Walter for George Huntly Gordon, then a + Probationer. Afterwards published by Gordon, with the author's + permission, to raise money. + + Chronicles of the Canongate. Second series: + The Fair Maid of Perth. + + Proceedings in the Court-martial held upon John, Master of Sinclair, + captain-lieutenant in Preston's regiment, for the murder of Ensign + Schaw of the same regiment, and Captain Schaw, of the Royals, 17 + October, 1708; with correspondence respecting that transaction. + Edinburgh. + + Edited by Sir Walter Scott and presented by him to the Roxburghe + club. Some of the same material seems to have been used in the + book named below: + + Memoirs of the Insurrection in 1715, by John, Master of Sinclair. + With notes by Sir Walter Scott. Edinburgh, 1858, printed for the + Abbotsford Club. + +1829 + Papers relative to the Regalia of Scotland. Edinburgh. Edited by Sir + Walter Scott and presented to the members of the Bannatyne Club by + William Bell, Esq. + + Memorials of George Bannatyne, 1545-1608. Edited by Sir Walter Scott + for the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh. + + Scott wrote the memoir of George Bannatyne which occupies the + first 25 pages of the book. This memoir is also to be found in the + publications of the Hunterian Club, part 8, published in 1886. + + Anne of Geierstein. + + Tales of a Grandfather. Second series. + +1829-32 + Novels, Tales, and Romances, with introductions and notes by the + author. (The "Opus Magnum.") + + The same material is used in the following books: + + Introductions and notes and illustrations to the novels, tales, + and romances of the author of Waverley. 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1833. + + Autobiography of Sir Walter Scott. Philadelphia, 1831. Anderson, + in his bibliography of Scott, gives this as a supposititious work, + but with the exception of the title it is genuine, for it is + simply the piecing together of Scott's introductions to his + novels. + +1830 + Tales of a Grandfather. Third series. + + The Doom of Devorgoil, and Auchindrane or The Ayrshire Tragedy. + + Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, addressed to J.G. Lockhart, + Esq. London. (The Family Library.) + + Other editions: New York, 1845; London, 1868 and 1876, + (illustrated by Cruikshank); London 1884, with an introduction by + Henry Morley. Included in the 30 vol. edition of the Miscellaneous + Prose works, but not in the 28 vol. edition. + + Poems, with prefaces by the author. 11 vols. Introductory Remarks on + Popular Poetry (prefixed to Minstrelsy, Vol. I) and Essay on Imitations + of the Ancient Ballad (prefixed to Minstrelsy, Vol. III). + + These essays were printed in 1830 and attached to the edition of + the poems then on sale. They were first regularly included in the + edition of 1833. + + The History of Scotland. (Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia.) 2 vols. + London. [Not in the Miscellaneous Prose Works.] + +1831 + Tales of a Grandfather. Fourth series. History of France. + + The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., including a Journal of his Tour to + the Hebrides, by James Boswell, Esq. New edition with numerous + anecdotes and notes by The Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, M.P.... 10 + vols. London. [Scott wrote and signed the notes for the Tour to the + Hebrides.] + + Trial of Duncan Terig, alias Clerk, and Alexander Bane Macdonald, for + the murder of Arthur Davis, Sergeant in General Guise's regiment of + foot. June, A.D. 1754. Edinburgh. + + "To the members of the Bannatyne Club, this copy of a trial, + involving a curious point of evidence, is presented, by Walter + Scott." There is an introduction of 11 pages, giving the story of + the crime, and bringing together instances from literature and + history of the evidence of ghosts being cited in trials. That is + the "curious point of evidence" referred to. The proceedings of + the court are then reprinted without annotation. + +1832 + Tales of my Landlord. Fourth series: + Count Robert of Paris. + Castle Dangerous. + +1848 + Two Bannatyne Garlands from Abbotsford. + + This little book was prepared for members of the Bannatyne club by + the secretary, D. Laing. It contains two ballads--of which one is + ancient and one a modern imitation written by Robert + Surtees--annotated by Scott. + +1889 + Reliquiae Trottosienses, or Catalogue of the Gabions of the late + Jonathan Oldbuck. (Partially published in _Harper's Magazine_ for + April, 1889: Vol. lxxviii, pp. 778-788. This fragment describing the + main apartments at Abbotsford is the only part of the Reliquiae + Trottosienses that has been printed. There is a short introduction by + Mary Monica Maxwell Scott.) + + The same material was included in the following book: Abbotsford, + the personal relics and antiquarian treasures of Sir Walter Scott, + described by the Hon. Mary Monica Maxwell Scott. London, 1893. + +1890 + The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, from the original manuscript at + Abbotsford. (Edited by David Douglas.) 2 vols. Edinburgh. + + Second edition, 1891. Large extracts from this Journal had + previously been published in Lockhart's Life of Scott. + + +2. _Contributions to Periodicals_. + +(a) Reviews + +(Most of these essays are reprinted in the 28 and 30 volume editions of +Scott's Miscellaneous Prose Works. Articles not included in that +collection are marked by a note indicating the evidence on which they +are attributed to Scott.) + +1803 + Amadis de Gaul, translated by Southey and by Rose. (_Edinburgh + Review_, October. Vol. III.) + + Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry. (_Edinburgh_, October. Vol. + III. Not in M.P.W. See Lockhart, Vol. I, p. 335.) + +1804 + Godwin's Life of Chaucer. (_Edinburgh_, January. Vol. III.) + + Ellis's Specimens of the Early English Poets. (_Edinburgh_, April. + Vol. IV.) + + The Life and Works of Chatterton. (_Edinburgh_, April. Vol. IV.) + +1805 + Johnes's Translation of Froissart. (_Edinburgh_, January. Vol. V.) + + Colonel Thornton's Sporting Tour. (_Edinburgh_, January. Vol. V.) + + Fleetwood, a novel by William Godwin. (_Edinburgh_, April. Vol. VI.) + + The New Practice of Cookery. (_Edinburgh_, July. Vol. VI.) + + The Ossianic Poems. (_Edinburgh_, July. Vol. VI. Not in M.P.W. See + Lockhart, Vol. I, p. 409.) + + Todd's Edition of Spenser. (_Edinburgh_, October. Vol. VII.) + +1806 + Ellis's Specimens of English Romance, and Ritson's Ancient English + Metrical Romances. (_Edinburgh_, January. Vol. VII.) + + The Miseries of Human Life. [By Rev. James Beresford.] (_Edinburgh_, + October. Vol. IX.) + + Miscellaneous Poetry by the Hon. William Herbert. (_Edinburgh_, + October. Vol. IX.) + +1809 + Reliques of Burns, collected by R.H. Cromek. (_Quarterly Review_, + February. Vol. I.) + + Southey's Translation of The Cid. (_Quarterly_, February. Vol. I.) + + Sir John Carr's Caledonian Sketches. (_Quarterly_, February. Vol. I.) + + Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming and other poems. (_Quarterly_, May. + Vol. I.) + + John de Lancaster, a novel by Richard Cumberland. (_Quarterly_, May. + Vol. I.) + + The Battles of Talavera, a poem [by John Wilson Croker]. (_Quarterly_, + November. Vol. II.) + +1810 + The Fatal Revenge or The Family of Montorio, a romance [by C.R. + Maturin]. (_Quarterly_, May. Vol. III.) + + Collections of Ballads and Songs by R.H. Evans and John Aiken. + (_Quarterly_, May. Vol. III.) + +1811 + Southey's Curse of Kehama. (_Quarterly_, February. Vol. V.) + +1815 + Emma and other novels by Jane Austen. (_Quarterly_, October. Vol. XIV. + Not in M.P.W. See Lockhart, Vol. IV, p. 3.) + +1816 + The Culloden Papers. (_Quarterly_, January. Vol. XIV.) + + Childe Harold, Canto III, and other poems by Lord Byron. (_Quarterly_, + October. Vol. XVI.) + +1817 + Tales of My Landlord. [Probably written with the help of William + Erskine. See Lockhart, Vol. III, p. 81. See also the Introduction to + Waverley, written in 1830.] (_Quarterly_, January. Vol. XVI.) + +1818 + Douglas on Military Bridges. (_Quarterly_, May. Vol. XVIII. Not in + M.P.W. See Lockhart, Vol. III, p. 173.) + + Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland, edited by C.K. Sharpe. + (_Quarterly_, May. Vol. XVIII.) + + Letters from Horace Walpole to George Montague. (_Quarterly_, April. + Vol. XIX. Not in M.P.W. See Memoir of John Murray, Vol. II, p. 12.) + + Childe Harold, Canto IV. (_Quarterly_, April. Vol. XIX.) + + Women or Pour et Contre, a tale [by C.R. Maturin]. (_Edinburgh_, June. + Vol. XXX.) + + Frankenstein, a novel [by Mrs. Shelley]. (_Blackwood_, March. Vol. + II.) + + Remarks on General Gourgaud's Narrative. (_Blackwood_, November. Vol. + IV. Not in M.P.W. See Lockhart, Vol. III, p. 238.) + +1824 + The Correspondence of Lady Suffolk. (_Quarterly_, January. Vol. XXX.) + +1826 + Pepys' Diary. (_Quarterly_, March. Vol. XXXIII.) Boaden's Life of + Kemble, and Kelly's Reminiscences. (_Quarterly_, June. Vol. XXXIV.) + + The Omen [by John Galt]. (_Blackwood_, July. Vol. XX.) + +1827 + Mackenzie's Life and Works of John Home. (_Quarterly_, June. Vol. + XXXVI.) + + The Forester's Guide, by Robert Monteath. On Planting Waste Lands. + (_Quarterly_, October. Vol. XXXVI.) + + On the Supernatural in Fictitious Composition, and particularly on the + Works of Hoffman. (_Foreign Quarterly Review_, July. Vol. I.) + + See also Contes Fantastiques de E.T.A. Hoffmann, traduits de + l'Allemand par M. Loève-Veimars, et précédés d'une notice + historique sur Hoffmann par Walter Scott. Paris, 1830. 16 vols. + +1828 + The Planter's Guide, by Sir Henry Steuart. On Landscape Gardening. + (_Quarterly_, March. Vol. XXXVII.) + + Sir Humphrey Davy's Salmonia or Days of Fly-fishing. (_Quarterly_, + October. Vol. XXXVIII.) + + Molière. (_Foreign Quarterly Review_, February. Vol. II.) + +1829 + Hajji Baba in England; and The Kuzzilbash, a tale of Khorasan. + (_Quarterly_, January. Vol. XXXIX.) + + Ritson's Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots, etc. + (_Quarterly_, July. Vol. XLI.) + + Tytler's History of Scotland. (_Quarterly_, November. Vol. XLI.) + + Revolutions of Naples in 1647 and 1648. (_Foreign Quarterly Review_, + August. Vol. IV. Not in M.P.W. See Journal, Vol. I, p. 145, and Vol. + II, p. 278.) + +1830 + Southey's Life of John Bunyan. (_Quarterly_, October. Vol. XLIII.) + +1831 + Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials. (_Quarterly_, February. Vol. + XLIV.) + + +(b) Contributions to the Edinburgh Annual Register + +(The dates given are those on the volumes. In most cases the book was +issued about a year and a half after the nominal date. Most of Scott's +contributions are unsigned. Those which were afterwards included in the +collected edition of his poems are in this list marked "Poems"; in other +cases (unless the article is signed) a note is made of the reason for +attributing it to Scott). + +1808 Vol. I, part 2. + + The Bard's Incantation. Poems. + + To a Lady, with Flowers from a Roman Wall. Poems. + + The Violet. Poems. + + Hunting Song. Poems. + + The Resolve. Poems. + + View of the changes proposed and adopted in the administration of + justice in Scotland. (See _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 154.) + + Living Poets of Great Britain. (From internal evidence I think this + article may have been written by Scott, and am sure that he dictated + many of the opinions it expresses, if he is not responsible for the + whole.) + +1809 Vol. II, part 2. + + The Vision of Don Roderick. (Reprinted from the first edition.) Poems. + + Epitaph designed for a Monument to be erected in Lichfield Cathedral + to the Rev. Thomas Seward. Poems. + + Cursory remarks upon the French order of battle, particularly in the + campaigns of Buonaparte. (See _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 161.) + + Periodical Criticism. (From internal evidence I am sure that this was + written by Scott. The style is decidedly more interesting than that of + the article on the poets, in the volume for the preceding year.) + + The Inferno of Altisidora. (This immediately follows the article on + Periodical Criticism, and is a burlesque sketch on the same subject. + It serves to introduce the following imitations, respectively, of + Crabbe, Moore, and Scott himself.) + + The Poacher. + + "Oh say not, my love, with that mortified air." + + The Vision of Triermain. + +1810 Vol. III, part 2. + + Account of the poems of Patrick Carey, a poet of the seventeenth + century. (Afterwards prefixed to the volume of Carey's poems published + in 1820. See _Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 245-8.) + +1811 Vol. IV, part 2. + + Biographical memoir of John Leyden, M.D. (In the Miscellaneous Prose + Works.) + +1812 Vol. V, part 2. + + Extracts from a journal kept during a coasting voyage through the + Scottish Islands. (Published in complete form in _Lockhart_, Vol. II.) + +1813 Vol. VI. + + The Dance of Death. Poems. + + Romance of Dunois, from the French. Poems. + + Song for the anniversary meeting of the Pitt Club of Scotland. Poems. + + Song on the lifting of the banner of the House of Buccleuch, at a + great football match on Carterhaugh. Poems. + +1814 Vol. VII. + + Historical Review of the Year. (See _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 76.) + +1815 Vol. VIII. + + Historical Review of the Year. (See _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 124.) + + The Search after Happiness, or the Quest of Sultaun Solimaun. + (Reprinted from the _Sale-Room_. See _Lockhart_, Vol. III, pp. 89-90.) + +1816 Vol. IX. + + The Noble Moringer. Translated from the German. Poems. (See also the + introduction to _The Betrothed_.) + +1817 Vol. X. + + Farewell Address, spoken by Mr. Kemble to the Edinburgh Theatre, on + the 29th March, 1817. (Reprinted from the _Sale-Room_. ) Poems. + +1824 Vol. XVII. + + To Mons. Alexandre. + + +(c) Contributions to other periodicals + +Scott contributed frequently to _The Edinburgh Weekly Journal_, edited +and published by James Ballantyne. Some of the articles are reprinted in +the Miscellaneous Prose Works. Lockhart reprints in the Life Scott's +account of the coronation of George IV., and his Reply to General +Gourgaud. + +Scott also contributed to _The Sale-Room_, a weekly paper edited and +published by John Ballantyne from January 4 to July 12, 1817 (28 +numbers). (See _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 89.) + +To _The Keepsake_, an annual, Scott contributed in 1828 The Tapestried +Chamber, My Aunt Margaret's Mirror, and The Laird's Jock, and in 1830 +The House of Aspen. + +In _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, Vol. I, appeared three articles +entitled "Notices concerning the Scottish Gypsies," for which Scott +furnished a large part of the material. (Numbers for April, May, and +September, 1817.) Lockhart says that Scott dictated to Thomas Pringle "a +collection of anecdotes concerning Scottish gypsies, which attracted a +good deal of notice." The first article refers to "Mr. Walter Scott, a +gentleman to whose distinguished assistance and advice we have been on +the present occasion very peculiarly indebted, and who has not only +furnished us with many interesting particulars himself, but has also +obligingly directed us to other sources of curious information." Scott +quotes from the first of the three articles in his review of _Tales of +My Landlord_, and he afterwards used the same anecdotes in the +introduction to _Guy Mannering_. + + +3. _Books which contain letters written by Scott_. + +(As there is no complete collection of Scott's letters it has been +thought wise to name the various sources, so far as the letters have +appeared at all in print, from which such a collection might be made. +The list includes only those books or articles in which letters were +published for the first time; yet it is probably far from exhaustive. +Notes are given in regard to the number or kind of the letters from +Scott to be found in some of the less-known books.) + +Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott, by J.G. Lockhart. + + Edinburgh, 7 vols. 1837-8. 10 vols. 1839. Abridged edition 1848. The + edition referred to throughout this study is that published by + Macmillan and Company in 5 volumes, 1900. + +Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott [edited by D. Douglas]. + + 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1894. + +Letters and Recollections of Sir Walter Scott, by Mrs. Hughes (of +Uffington), edited by Horace G. Hutchinson. + + London, 1904. (First published in _The Century_, xliv: 424 and 566; + July and August, 1903.) + +The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart, by Andrew Lang, from +Abbotsford and Milton Lockhart mss. and other original sources. + + 2 vols. London, 1897. + + These volumes contain many letters from Scott to Lockhart. + +Memoir and Correspondence of the late John Murray, with an account of +the origin and progress of the House, 1768-1843, by Samuel Smiles. + + 2 vols. London, 1891. + + This book contains many letters from Scott to Murray, who published + some of Scott's works and was the proprietor of the _Quarterly + Review_. + +Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents. A Memorial by his +son Thomas Constable. + + 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1873. + + The third volume is wholly taken up with an account of Scott's + relations with Constable, his publisher, and many letters are given. + See also Vol. II, pages 347 and 474. + +[The Ballantyne and Lockhart Pamphlets.] + +I. Refutation of the Misstatements and Calumnies contained in Mr. +Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, bart., respecting the Messrs. +Ballantyne, by the trustees and son of the late Mr. James Ballantyne. +(1835.) + +II. The Ballantyne Humbug Handled by the author of the Life of Sir +Walter Scott. (1839.) + +III. Reply to Mr. Lockhart's Pamphlet, entitled "The Ballantyne-Humbug +Handled," etc. (1839.) + + The two last pamphlets contain numerous letters of Scott's. For a + history of Scott's publishing operations these pamphlets should be + studied in connection with the Memoirs of Lockhart, Murray, and + Constable. + +Annals of a Publishing House; William Blackwood and his sons, their +magazine and friends. By Mrs. Oliphant. + + 3rd edition, 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1897. + + About half a dozen letters not elsewhere published are given in this + book. + +Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., edited by +Alexander Allardyce, with a memoir by Rev. W.K.R. Bedford. + + 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1888. + + Lockhart wrote to Sharpe in 1834: "He had preserved so many letters + of yours.... that I must suppose the correspondence was considered + by himself as one not of the common sort." (Vol. II, p. 479.) Both + men were authors and antiquaries, and their letters as given in this + book illustrate their favorite studies. + +Lady Louisa Stuart. Selections from her manuscripts, edited by Hon. +James Home. + + London, 1899. (One section of the book is entitled "Unpublished + Letters of Sir Walter Scott and Lady Louisa Stuart.") + +Abbotsford Notanda, by Robert Carruthers. Subjoined to the Life of Sir +Walter Scott by Robert Chambers, edited by W. Chambers. + + London, 1871. + + Letters from Scott to Hogg and Laidlaw are included. + +Memorials of Coleorton, being letters from Coleridge, Wordsworth and his +Sister, Southey, and Sir Walter Scott, to Sir George and Lady Beaumont +of Coleorton, Leicestershire, 1803 to 1834. Edited, with introduction +and notes, by William Knight. + + 2 vols. Boston, 1887. + + The second volume contains three letters by Scott. + +The Letters of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe to Robert +Chambers, 1821-45. With original memoranda of Sir Walter Scott, etc. +[Edited by C.E.S. Chambers.] + + Edinburgh, 1904. + +Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott, by John Gibson. + + Edinburgh, 1871. + + Besides nine letters from Scott this book gives in full a memorial + written by him in regard to the claim of Constable's trustee on + _Woodstock_ and _Napoleon_. + +Traditions and Recollections, Domestic, Clerical, and Literary; in which +are included letters of Charles II, Cromwell, Fairfax, Edgecumbe, +Macaulay, Wolcot, Opie, Whitaker, Gibbon, Buller, Courtenay, Moore, +Downman, Drewe, Seward, Darwin, Cowper, Hayley, Hardinge, Sir Walter +Scott, and other distinguished characters. By the Rev. R. Polwhele. + + 2 vols. London, 1826. + + Vol. II. contains five letters from Scott. + +Letters of Sir Walter Scott, addressed to the Rev. R. Polwhele; D. +Gilbert, Esq.; Francis Douce, Esq.; etc. + + London, 1832. + + Twenty-eight letters from Scott are given, of which at least one had + previously been published. + +A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the late William Taylor of Norwich, +... containing his correspondence of many years with the late Robert +Southey, Esq., and original letters from Sir Walter Scott, and other +eminent literary men. Compiled and edited by J.W. Robberds, F.G.S., of +Norwich. + + 2 vols. London, 1843. + + Vol. I. contains two letters from Scott, of which the second has + decided critical interest. See pp. 94-100. Vol. II. has one letter + from Scott. See p. 533. + +Memoirs of Sir William Knighton, Bart. G.C.H. ... including his +correspondence with many distinguished personages. By Lady Knighton. +Philadelphia, 1838. + + Fourteen letters from Scott are given. + +Letters between James Ellis, Esq., and Walter Scott, Esq. + + Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1850. + + The letters from Scott are two in number. + +Haydon's Correspondence and Table-talk, with a Memoir by his son, +Frederick Wordsworth Haydon. + + 2 vols., London, 1876. + + The first volume contains a few letters by Scott. + +The Life and Letters of Washington Irving, by his nephew, Pierre M. +Irving. + + 4 vols., New York, 1865. + + Vol. I, p. 240, contains a letter to Brevoort; pp. 439-40, 442-4 and + 450-1 contain three letters to Irving. + +Memorials of James Hogg, by M.G. Garden. + + London, 1903. + + Four letters by Scott are included. + +Memoirs of a Literary Veteran, including sketches and anecdotes of the +most distinguished literary characters from 1794 to 1849, by R.P. +Gillies. + + 3 vols. London, 1851. + + Vol. II, pp. 77-83, contains three letters from Scott; Vol. III, pp. + 143-4, contains one. + +Sir Walter Scott. The story of his life, by R. Shelton Mackenzie. + + Boston, 1871. + + See p. 471 for a letter not published elsewhere. + +Byron's Letters and Journals. Rowland E. Prothero, ed. + + 6 vols., London, 1898-1901. + + See Vol. VI, p. 55 for a letter of Scott's not published elsewhere. + +Catalogue of the Exhibition held at Edinburgh in July and August, 1871, +on occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Sir +Walter Scott. + + Edinburgh, 1872. + + This catalogue contains notices of the autograph letters which were + exhibited, and prints a few of the letters. + +A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American +Authors.... By S. Austin Allibone. + + 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1870. + + Two letters from Scott to Ticknor are given in the article on Scott. + +Fragments of Voyages and Travel, by Basil Hall. Third series. + + Chapter I. contains a letter written by Scott in the original + manuscript of _The Antiquary_, explaining why the author + particularly liked that novel. + +Letters, hitherto unpublished, written by members of Sir Walter Scott's +family to their old governess. Edited, with an introduction and notes, +by the Warden of Wadham College, Oxford. + + London, 1905. + + See pp. 13-15 for a letter from Scott, and pp. 37-38 for a note of + instructions in regard to his daughter Sophia's history lessons. + +Correspondence between J. Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott. + + _The Knickerbocker Magazine_, xi: 380; April, 1838. + + The letter from Scott to Cooper quoted above, p. 102, is here given. + +Fiction, Fair and Foul. By John Ruskin. + + _Nineteenth Century_, viii: 195; August, 1880. + + A footnote on pp. 196-7 contains fragments of five letters from + Scott to the builder of Abbotsford. + +Wordsworth's Poetical Works. Edited by William Knight. + + II vols. Edinburgh, 1882. + + See the index. Vol. XI, p. 196 has a letter from Scott which I think + had not previously been published. Vol. X, p. 105, gives one which + Lockhart quotes "very imperfectly," according to Prof. Knight. + +Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain ... with +biographical and historical memoirs of their lives and actions, by +Edmund Lodge. + + London, 1835. + + Vol. I contains, in the appendix to the preface, a letter from Scott + to the publisher, dated 25th March 1828. (See _Lockhart_, V, 350.) + +The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, edited by Augustus J.C. Hare. + + 2 vols. Boston, 1895. + + This contains a few letters of Scott's, but only one which is not + published elsewhere. + +A Short Account of successful exertions in behalf of the fatherless and +widows after the war in 1814; containing letters from Mr. Wilberforce, +Sir Walter Scott, Marshal Blücher, etc. By Rudolf Ackermann. + + Oxford, 1871. + + There is only one letter by Scott. + +The Courser's Manual, etc., by T. Goodlake. 1828. + + This book contains one letter by Scott, dated 16th October, 1828, + about an old Scottish poem entitled "The Last Words of Bonny Heck." + (See _Lockhart_, V. 219, for what is doubtless the same letter.) + +The Chimney-sweeper's Friend and Climbing-boy's Album. Arranged by James +Montgomery. + + London, 1824. + + The Preface contains part of a letter from Scott, in which he + describes the construction of the chimneys at Abbotsford. (See + _Lockhart_, IV. 158-9.) + + + + +APPENDIX II. + + +1. _Bibliographies of Scott_ + +Allibone, S.A. Dictionary of British and American Authors and +Literature. 3 vols. Phil., 1870. + +Anderson, J.P. Bibliography of Scott, in the Life of Scott by C.D. Yonge +(Great Writers Series). London, 1888. + +Lockhart's Life of Scott; the Centenary Catalogue (see above, p. 171); +the British Museum Catalogue; the Dictionary of National Biography. + + +2. _A partial list of the books used in the preparation of this Study_, +aside from those given in the bibliography of Scott's works. (See +particularly the list of books which contain letters written by Scott: +Appendix I. 3.) + +Adolphus, J.L. + Letters to Richard Heber, Esq., containing critical remarks on the + series of novels beginning with "Waverley," and an attempt to + ascertain their author. Second edition. London, 1822. + +Aitken, G.A., ed. + Romances and Narratives by Daniel Defoe. 16 vols. London, 1895. + +Arnold, Matthew. + Byron. In Essays in Criticism. Second series. London, 1889. + +Carlyle, Thomas. + Sir Walter Scott. In Critical and Miscellaneous Essays. 4 vols. + London, 1857. + +Chambers, E.K. + The Mediaeval Stage. 2 vols. Oxford, 1903. + +Chesterton, G.K. + Varied Types. New York, 1903. + +Child, Francis J. + English and Scottish Popular Ballads. 5 vols. Boston, 1882-96. + + English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited from the collection of + Francis James Child by Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge. + Boston, 1904. + +Clemens, S.L. (Mark Twain). + Life on the Mississippi. Boston, 1883. + +Cockburn, Henry. + Memorials of His Time. Edinburgh, 1874. + +Coleridge, S.T. + Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 2 vols. + London, 1835. + + Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, edited by E.H. Coleridge. 2 vols. + Boston, 1895. + +Collins, J. Churton. + Ephemera Critica. London, 1901. + +Courthope, W.J. + A History of English Poetry. 4 vols. New York, 1895-1903. + + The Liberal Movement in English Literature. London, 1885. + +Cunningham, Allan. + Life of Scott. Boston, 1832. + +Dowden, Edward. + Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2 vols. London, 1886. + +Fitzgerald, Percy. + New History of the English Stage, from the Restoration to the liberty + of the theatres, in connection with the patent houses. 2 vols. London, + 1882. + +Forster, John. + Walter Savage Landor, a biography. 2 vols. London, 1869. + +Freeman, E.A. + The History of the Norman Conquest of England. 5 vols. New + York, 1873. + +Gates, L.E. + Three Studies in Literature. New York, 1899. + +Gillies, R.P. + Recollections of Sir Walter Scott. (Republished in book form from + _Fraser's Magazine_, Sept., Nov., Dec. 1835, and Jan., 1836.) + +Hazlitt, William. + Collected Works, edited by A.R. Waller and Arnold Glover. 12 vols. + London, 1902-4. (Spirit of the Age, Vol. IV; Plain Speaker, Vol. VII; + Dramatic Essays, Vol. VIII.) + +Herford, C.H. + The Age of Wordsworth. (Handbooks of English Literature.) London, + 1905. + +Hogg, James, ed. + Jacobite Relics of Scotland, being the songs, airs, and legends of the + adherents of the House of Stuart. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1819-21. + + Domestic Manners and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott. Glasgow, 1834. + +Hudson, W.H. + Sir Walter Scott, London, 1901. + +Hunt, J.H. Leigh. + Autobiography; with reminiscences of friends and contemporaries. 2 + vols. New York, 1850. + + Feast of the Poets. London, 1814. + + Lord Byron and some of his contemporaries. Second edition. 2 vols. + London, 1828. + +Hutton, R.H. + Sir Walter Scott. (English Men of Letters.) New York, 1878. + +Irving, Washington. + Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey. (First volume of the "Crayon + Miscellany.") London, 1835. + +Lang, Andrew. + Sir Walter Scott (Literary Lives). New York, 1906. + + Border edition of the Waverley Novels, 48 vols. London, 1892-1894. + +Laing, Malcolm, ed. + Poems of Ossian, containing the poetical works of James MacPherson in + prose and verse. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1805. + +Legaré, H.S. + Writings.... Edited by his sister. Charleston, S.C., 1846. + +Lounsbury, T.R. + James Fenimore Cooper. (American Men of Letters.) Boston, 1882. + +Maigron, Louis. + Le Roman Historique à l'Époque Romantique: essai sur l'influence de + Walter Scott. Paris, 1898. + +Masson, David. + British Novelists and Their Styles. Cambridge, Eng., 1859. + +Matthews, Brander. + The Historical Novel, etc. New York, 1901. + +Meteyard, Eliza. + A Group of Englishmen (1795-1815), being records of the younger + Wedgwoods and their friends. London, 1871. + +Millar, J.H. + The Mid-Eighteenth Century. (Periods of European Literature.) New + York, 1902. + +Moore, Thomas. + Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with notices of his life. 2 vols. + London, 1830. + +Myers, F.W.H. + Wordsworth. (English Men of Letters.) New York, 1881. + +Newman, J.H. + Apologia Pro Vita Sua. London, 1892. + +Nichol, John. + Byron. (English Men of Letters.) New York, 1880. + +Palgrave, F.T. + Biographical and Critical Memoir of Sir Walter Scott. (In Poetical + Works of Scott. London, 1866, Macmillan and Company.) + +Paris, Gaston. + La Littérature Française au Moyen Age. Paris, 1890. + +Percy, W. + Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, consisting of old heroic ballads, + songs, and other pieces of our earlier poets (chiefly of the lyric + kind) together with some few of later date. 3 vols. London, 1765. + +Pierce, E.L. + Memoirs and Letters of Charles Sumner. 2 vols. Boston, 1877. + +Ruskin, John. + Modern Painters. New edition, 5 vols. London, 1897. + +Saintsbury, George. + Life of Scott. (Famous Scots Series.) New York. [1897.] + + A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe.... 3 vols. New + York, 1900-1904. + +Scott, Temple, ed. + The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. (Bohn's Standard Library.) + London, 1898-1905. + +Southey, Robert. + Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, edited by John Wood + Warter. 4 vols. London, 1856. + +Stephen, Leslie. + English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century. (Ford + Lectures, 1903.) London, 1904. + + Swift. (English Men of Letters.) New York, 1882. + +Taine, H.A. + Histoire de la Littérature Anglaise. 4 vols. Paris, 1863-64. + +Ticknor, George. + Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor. Sixth edition. 2 vols. + Boston, 1877. + +White, A.D. + Autobiography. 3 vols. New York, 1905. + +Wylie, L.J. + Studies in the Evolution of English Criticism. Boston, 1894. + + +3. _Periodicals and articles referred to, aside from the articles +written by Scott._ + +_The Bibliographer_: Notes for a Bibliography of Swift, by Stanley +Lane-Poole. Vol. VI, pp. 160-71. + +_The Edinburgh Review_: Review of The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, +Vol. I, pp. 395-406; Review of Sir Tristrem, Vol. IV, pp. 427-43; Review +of Scott's edition of Swift, Vol. XXVII, pp. 1-58; Border Ballads, Vol. +CCIII, pp. 306-26. + +_The English Historical Review_: Dean Swift and The Memoirs of Captain +Carleton, by Col. the Hon. Arthur Parnell, R.E. Vol. VI, pp. 97-151. + +_Fraser's Magazine_: Review of Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, +Vol. II, pp. 507-519. + +_The Knickerbocker Magazine_: Review by J. Fenimore Cooper of Lockhart's +Life of Scott, Vol. XII, pp. 349 ff. + +_Macmillan's Magazine_: The Historical Novel: Scott and Dumas, by Prof. +Saintsbury, Vol. LXX, pp. 321-330. + +_The Nineteenth Century_: Defoe's "Apparition of Mrs. Veal," by G.A. +Aitken, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 95 ff. + +_The Quarterly Review_: Review of Dunlop's History of Fiction, Vol. +XIII, pp. 384-408; Review of Frankenstein, Vol. XVIII, pp. 37-385; +Review of The Lives of the Novelists, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 349-378. + + + + +INDEX. + + +_Abbot, The_, 88, 132, 155 +_Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey_, 15, 176 +_Abbotsford, described by the Hon. Mary Monica Maxwell Scott_, 161 +_Abbotsford Notanda_, 169 +_Absalom and Achitophel_, 60, 63-4, 66 +_Account of the Death of Frederick, Duke of York, An_, 156 +Addison, Joseph, 80 +Adolphus, J.L., see _Letters to Heber_ +Aeschylus, 50 +_Age of Wordsworth, The_, 10, 20, 125, 131, 136, 175 +_Aiken's Collection of Songs_, Scott's review of, 26, 163 +Aitken, G.A., 77, 174, 178 +_Alastor_, 89 +_Alexander's Feast_, 63, 139 +Allibone, S.A., 56, 153, 172, 174 +_Amadis de Gaul_, Scott's review of, 4, 37, 128, 129, 162 +_Ancient British Drama_, 52, 151-2 +_Ancient Criminal Trials_, Scott's review of, 46, 143, 165 +_Ancient English Metrical Romances_, Scott's review of, 125, 162 +_Ancient Mariner, The_, 87-8 +_Ancient Times_, 149 +Anderson, J.P., see _Bibliography of Scott_ +_Annals of a Publishing House_, 169 +_Annals of the Caledonians_, etc., Scott's review of, 164 +_Anne of Geierstein_, 51, 65, 104, 127, 160 +_Antiquary, The_, 3, 50, 51, 89, 154, 172 +_Apologia_, Newman's, 142, 176 +_Apology for Tales of Terror_, 147 +_Apparition of Mrs. Veal, The_, 76-7, 178 +Arbuthnot, John, 68 +Ariosto, 33, 105 +Aristotle, 53, 54 +Arnold, Matthew, 95-6, 174 +_Auchindrane, or The Ayrshire Tragedy_, 160 +_Auchinleck Manuscript, The_, 34, 148 +_Auld Robin Gray_, 157 +Austen, Jane, 75, 100, 130 +_Autobiography of Scott_, 160 + + +Bage, Robert, 73, 75, 79 +Baillie, Joanna, 46, 85, 97, 98, 114, 118, 151, 156 +_Ballad Book, The_, 28, 148 +_Ballads and Lyrical Pieces_, 148 +_Ballantyne and Lockhart Pamphlets, The_, 149, 169 +_Bannatyne, Memoir of_, 44, 160 +_Bannatyne Miscellany, The_, 159 +Barnard, Lady Anne, 157 +_Bartholomew Fair_, 118 +_Battle of Brunanburgh, The_, 20, 43 +_Battles of Talavera_, Scott's review of, 106, 112-13, 163 +Beaumont and Fletcher, 42, 50, 51, 52, 56 +_Beggar's Bush, The_, 50 +_Beggar's Opera, The_, 50 +_Beowulf_, 42 +Berners, John, Lord, 128 +_Betrothed, The_, 157, 167 +_Bibliographer, The_, 67, 177 +_Bibliography of Scott_, Anderson's, 174 +_Bibliothèque Bleue_, 33 +_Bibliothèque de Romans_, 33 +_Black Dwarf, The_, 3, 87, 109, 154 +Blackmore, Sir Richard, 80 +_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, 78, 83, 100, 164, 167, 169 +Blair, Hugh, 15 +_Boaden's Life of Kemble_, Scott's review of, 46, 47, 58, 164 +Boiardo, 33 +Boileau, 136 +_Border Antiquities_, 153 +Boswell, James, 80, 161 +_Brennoralt_, 51 +_Bridal of Triermain, The_, 27, 152 +_Bride of Lammermoor, The_, 3, 34, 155 +_British Novelists and Their Styles_, 3, 145, 176 +Brome, Richard, 50 +Broughton, Hugh, 71 +Brown, Charles Brockden, 104 +Buchan, Peter, 27 +Bunyan, Scott's review of Southey's Life of, 111, 165 +Bürger, Gottfried, 18, 31, 147 +Burney, Fanny, 100 +Burns, Robert, 22, 30, 86, 93, 96 +_Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland_, 154 +Butler, Samuel, 64 +Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 11, 50, 86, 88-9, 91, 92-6, 97, 98, 99, 101, + 104, 105, 106, 110, 121, 129, 143, 163, 171, 176 + + +_Cadyow Castle_, 30 +_Cain_, 95 +_Caledonian Sketches_, Scott's review of, 84, 163 +Calprenède, 53, 76 +Campbell, Thomas, 96, 100, 118, 163 +Carey, Patrick, 155 +_Carey, Robert, Memoirs of_, 149, 151 +_Carleton, Captain, Memoirs of_, 68, 144, 148, 178 +Carlyle, Thomas, 125, 131, 144, 174 +Carr, Sir John, 84, 163 +Cartwright, William, 50 +_Castle Dangerous_, 18, 34, 161 +_Castle of Otranto, The_, 76 +_Catalogue of the Centenary Exhibition_, 147, 151, 171, 174 +Chambers, E.K., 21, 174 +Chambers, Robert, 50, 169, 170 +_Changeling, The_, 56 +Chapman, George, 50 +_Chase, The_, 31, 147 +Chatterton, Scott's review of the Life and Works of, 43, 162 +Chaucer, 43, 44-5, 62, 162 +Chesterton, G.K., 11, 174 +_Childe Harold_, 14, 88, 93, 94, 95, 129, 163 +Child, Francis J., 24, 28, 31, 174 +_Chimney-Sweeper's Friend_, 173 +_Chivalry_, Essay on, 36, 46, 154 +_Christabel_, 62, 86-7, 88 +Christie, W.D., 60 +_Chronicles of the Canongate_, 2, 3, 80, 119, 129, 159 +_Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs_, 156 +_Chrononhotonthologos_, 50 +_Cid, The_, Scott's review of, 92, 163 +_Clarissa Harlowe_, 74 +Clemens, Samuel L., 142, 174 +Clifford, Arthur, 149 +_Cock and the Fox, The_, 45 +Cockburn, Henry, 15, 175 +Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 11, 22, 51, 86-9, 90-91, 92, 106, 135, 137, + 138, 169, 175 +Collins, Churton, 68, 143-4, 175 +Colvin, Sidney, 100 +Congreve, William, 57, 60 +_Conquest of Granada, The_, 57 +_Constable, Archibald, Literary Correspondence of_, 12, 33, 48, 52, 98, + 104, 121, 126, 127, 154, 158, 168, 169 +Conybeare, John J., 42 +Cooper, J. Fenimore, 14, 101-3, 172, 178 +_Correspondence of Lady Suffolk_, Scott's review of, 142, 164 +_Count Julian_, 99 +_Count Robert of Paris_, 161 +_Courser's Manual, The_, 173 +Courthope, W.J., 21, 141, 175 +Cowley, Abraham, 59, 64 +Cowper, William, 64 +Crabbe, George, 97, 166 +Craik, Sir Henry, 68 +_Critic, The_, 50 +Croker, J.W., 161, 163 +_Cromek's Reliques of Burns_, Scott's review of, 22, 86, 163 +_Culloden Papers_, Scott's review of, 45, 163 +Cumberland, Richard, 73, 163 +Cunningham, Allan, 47-8, 81-2, 96, 175 +_Curse of Kehama, The_, Scott's review of, 91, 92, 163 + + +Dante, 33, 92 +_Darkness_, 88-9 +Davy, Sir Humphrey, see _Salmonia_ +_Dean Swift and the Memoirs of Captain Carleton_, 68, 144, 148, 178 +Defoe, Daniel, 71, 73, 76-7, 148-9, 156, 178 +Dekker, Thomas, 50, 56 +_Demonology and Witchcraft, Letters on_, 45, 104, 138, 160, 178 +DeQuincey, Thomas, 99 +Derrick, John, 71, 150 +_Description of the Regalia of Scotland_, 155 +_Diable Boiteux, Le_, 74 +_Dictionary of British and American Authors_, 56, 153, 172, 174 +D'Israeli, Isaac, 20, 142 +_Domestic Manners and Private Life of Sir Walter Scott_, 114, 175 +_Don Juan_, 95 +Donne, John, 62 +_Don Quixote_, 33 +_Doom of Devorgoil, The_, 46-7, 48, 160 +Douce, Francis, 20 +_Douglas_, 47, 51, 111 +Douglas, David, 161, 168 +_Douglas on Military Bridges_, Scott's review of, 163 +Dowden, Prof. Edward, 91, 175 +_Drama_, Essay on, 50, 52-9, 136, 154 +_Drapier's Letters, The_, 69 +Drayton, Michael, 62 +Drelincourt's _Defence_, etc., 76-7 +Dryden, John, 44, 59-65, 93, 112, 145 +_Dryden's Works_, edited by Scott, 2, 5, 7, 36, 44-5, 50, 51, 52-8, + 59-65, 66, 70, 73, 80, 126, 131, 136, 139, 145, 149 +Dunbar, William, 44, 143-4 +Dunlop, J.C., 73, 178 +Dyce, Alexander, 55 + + +Eberty, Felix, 2 +Edgeworth, Maria, 75, 76, 97, 100, 101, 103, 173 +_Edinburgh Annual Register, The_, 6, 26, 85, 91, 118, 141, 155, 165-7 +_Edinburgh Review_, 4, 5, 18, 25, 26, 29, 31, 35, 36, 38, 40, 43, 44, + 46, 61, 69, 82, 84, 91, 125, 128, 129, 134, 135, 162, 164, 178 +_Edinburgh Weekly Journal, The_, 155, 156, 157, 167 +Elliott, Hon. Fitzwilliam, 25 +Ellis, George, 4, 20, 34, 35, 43, 44, 58, 60, 91, 113, 162 +Ellis, James, Letters of Scott to, 171 +_Emma_, Scott's review of, 100, 163 +_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 37, 46, 52, 154 +_English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, 24, 28, 31, 174 +_English Historical Review, The_, 68, 144, 148, 178 +_English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century_, 97, 177 +_English Minstrelsy_, 151 +_Ephemera Critica_, 143-4, 175 +_Evans's Old Ballads_, Scott's review of, 26, 163 +_Eve of St. John, The_, 30, 147 +_Evergreen, The_, 28 +_Eyrbyggja Saga, The_, 42, 152 + + +_Fables_, Dryden's, 44-5, 64 +_Fair Maid of Perth, The_, 159 +_Fair Maid of the Inn, The_, 50 +_Family Legend, The_, 46 +_Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott_, 5, 13, 14, 33, 37, 40, 47, 50, + 62, 80, 84, 85, 87, 89, 96, 97, 103, 104, 108, 110, 114, 115, 116, + 118, 120, 138, 143, 168 +_Fatal Revenge, The_, Scott's review of, 163 +_Faust_, 104 +_Faustus_, 55 +_Ferdinand, Count Fathom_, 74 +Fergusson, Robert, 86 +_Ferrex and Porrex_, 54 +Ferrier, Susan, 100 +Fielding, Henry, 73, 74, 75-6, 78-9, 110 +_Field of Waterloo, The_, 121, 153 +Fitzgerald, Percy, 49, 175 +_Fleetwood_, Scott's review of, 162 +Fletcher, John, 42, 50, 51, 52, 56 +Fletcher, Phineas, 64 +Ford, John, 50, 56 +_Foreign Quarterly Review_, 57, 58, 105, 132, 133, 164 +_Forester's Guide, The_, Scott's review of, 164 +Forster, John, 85, 91, 98-9, 175 +_Fortunes of Nigel, The_, 27, 47, 48, 49, 51, 77, 108, 110, 111, 118, + 119, 128, 131, 157 +Fouqué, Baron de la Motte, 105 +_Fragmenta Regalia_, 55, 149 +_Fragments of Voyages and Travel_, 172 +France, Anatole, 127 +Franck, Richard, 155 +_Frankenstein_, 78, 89, 164, 178 +_Fraser's Magazine_, 85, 106, 130, 138, 143, 146, 175, 178 +Freeman, Edward, 126, 127, 175 +Frere, John Hookham, 20, 35 +Froissart, 36, 128, 162 + + +Galt, John, 129, 164 +_Gammer Gurton's Needle_, 54 +Gates, Prof. L.E., 134, 135, 175 +Gay, John, 128 +_Gebir_, 98 +_Gertrude of Wyoming_, Scott's review of, 82, 96, 163 +Gibson, John, 170 +Gifford, William, 50, 52, 83, 84, 134, 141 +Gilfillan, George, 1 +Gillies, R.P., 14, 85, 95, 106, 130, 143, 146, 171, 175 +_Glenfinlas_, 30 +Godwin, William, 9, 44, 99 +_Godwin's Life of Chaucer_, Scott's review of, 9, 44, 84, 124, 162 +Goethe, 54, 95, 104-5, 125, 147 +_Goetz von Berlichingen_, 54, 147 +Goldsmith, Oliver, 73, 75 +Gosson, Stephen, 71 +_Gourgaud's Narrative, Remarks on_, 164 +Grammont, Count, 5, 152 +_Gray Brother, The_, 30 +Greene, Robert, 55, 71 +Grimm, Jacob, 21 +_Groat's-worth of Wit_, 71 +_Group of Englishmen, A_, 87, 176 +_Gulliver's Travels_, 70 +_Guy Mannering_, 3, 6, 46, 50, 76, 117, 120, 121, 153, 167 +_Gwynne, John, Military Memoirs of_, 157 + + +_Hajji Baba in England_, Scott's review of, 164 +_Halidon Hill_, 48, 156 +_Hall of Justice, The_, 97 +_Harold the Dauntless_, 121, 154 +_Harper's Magazine_, 161 +Hawkesworth, John, 65 +Haydon, B.R., 99, 171 +Hazlitt, William, 49, 51, 85, 99, 114, 135, 139, 141, 175 +_Heart of Midlothian, The_, 3, 46, 154 +_Heber, Richard, Letters to_, 10, 15-16, 49, 65, 85, 88, 97, 114, 129, + 131, 132, 174 +Hemans, Mrs. Felicia, 98 +Henderson's edition of _The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, 22, 23, + 24-5, 26, 28, 29, 148 +Henry, Robert, 126 +Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury, 150 +Herbert, William, Scott's review of the Poems of, 18, 31, 41, 162 +Herford, C.H., see _Age of Wordsworth_ +_Highland Widow, The_, 120, 159 +_Hind and the Panther, The_, 60 +_History of Criticism_, Saintsbury's, 146, 177 +_History of English Poetry_, Courthope's, 21, 175 +_History of English Poetry_, Warton's, 19, 21, 34, 35 +_History of John Bull_, 68 +_History of Prose Fiction_, Dunlop's, 73, 178 +_History of Queen Elizabeth's Favourites_, 5, 149 +_History of Scotland_, Scott's, 127, 160 +_History of Scotland_, Tytler's, Scott's review of, 45, 124, 164 +_History of the Church of Scotland_, Defoe's, 77 +_History of the Church of Scotland_, Sharpe's Kirkton's, Scott's review + of, 163 +_History of the Norman Conquest of England_, 126, 127, 175 +_History of the Years 1814 and 1815_, 6, 166 +_Hodgson, Captain, Memoirs of_, 148, 149 +Hoffman, Scott's review of the Works of, 89, 105, 132, 164 +Hogg, James, 26, 96, 114, 169, 171, 175 +Home, Scott's review of the Life of, 15, 80, 82, 106, 164 +Homer, 63, 71, 118, 131 +Horace, 54, 84 +_Hours of Idleness_, 93 +_House of Aspen, The_, 167 +_Hudibras_, 64 +Hudson, W.H., 2, 175 +Hughes, Mrs., 54, 168 +Hume, David, 15 +Hunt, Leigh, 99, 100, 135, 141, 176 +Hutton, R.H., 1, 176 +Hutchinson, H.G., 54, 168 + + +_Iliad, The_, 63, 131 +_Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_, 152 +_Image of Ireland, The_, 71, 150 +_Imitations of the Ancient Ballad_, Essay on, 19, 30, 41, 42, 88, 115, + 160 +_Indian Emperor, The_, 53 +_Introductions, etc., to the Novels, Tales, and Romances, of the Author + of Waverley_, 160 +Irving, Washington, 15, 97, 101, 103-4, 117, 143, 171, 176 +_Ivanhoe_, 6, 87, 108, 120, 126, 127, 128, 142, 155 + + +_Jacobite Relics_, 26, 175 +Jamieson, Robert, 42, 152, 154 +Jeffrey, Francis, 4, 69, 83, 84, 93, 134-5 +_Jests of George Peele_, 71 +_Jonathan Wild_, 74 +_John de Lancaster_, Scott's review of, 163 +_Johnes's Froissart_, Scott's review of, 36, 162 +Johnson, Samuel, 60, 61, 64, 68, 73, 74, 79-80, 102, 128, 135, 137, 161 +Johnstone, Charles, 73 +_Jolly Beggars, The_, 86 +Jonson, Ben, 50, 51, 56, 118 +_Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_, 161 +_Journal, Scott's_, 12, 38, 51, 56, 84, 100, 117, 122, 129, 161, 164 + (see the footnotes for the many references not here indexed) +_Judicial Reform_, Essay on, 141, 165 + + +Keats, John, 11, 100 +_Keepsake, The_, 167 +_Kelly's Reminiscences_, Scott's review of, 46, 47, 58, 164 +Kemble, Scott's review of the Life of, 46, 47, 58, 164 +Kemble, J.M., 43 +_Kenilworth_, 10, 51, 98, 155 +_Kinmont Willie_, 24, 26, 31, 148 +Kirk, Robert, 45, 153 +_Kirkton's History, etc._, Scott's review of, 163 +_Knickerbocker's History of New York_, 103 +_Knickerbocker Magazine, The_, 102, 172, 178 +Knight, Prof. William, see _Memorials of Coleorton_, and _Wordsworth_ +_Knight's Tale, The_, 44 +_Knighton, Sir William, Memoirs of_, 12, 171 +Kölbing, E., 35, 36 +_Kuzzilbash, The_, Scott's review of, 164 + + +_Lady of the Lake, The_, 46, 97, 113, 118, 119, 151 +_Lady Suffolk's Correspondence_, Scott's review of, 142, 164 +_Laird's Jock, The_, 167 +Laing, Malcolm, 40, 176 +Lamb, Charles, 20, 51, 99, 100, 135 +_Landor_, Forster's _Life of_, 85, 91, 98-9, 175 +_Landscape Gardening_, see _Planter's Guide_ +Lane-Poole, Stanley, 67, 177 +Lang, Andrew, + _Border Edition of the Waverley Novels_, 51, 89, 108, 158, 176 + _Life of Lockhart_, 52, 84, 99, 100, 158, 168 + _Life of Scott_, 87, 100, 126, 127, 176 + _Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies_, 153 +Langhorne, John, 98 +_Lay of the Last Minstrel, The_, 4, 18, 31, 87, 110, 148 +_Lays of the Lindsays_, 157 +Lee, Sidney, 150 +Lee, William, 77 +Legaré, H.S., 94, 176 +_Legend of Montrose, A_, 51, 155 +Lennox, Charlotte, 151 +_Lenore_, 31, 147 +Le Sage, 73, 74 +_Letter from Dr. Tripe to Nestor Ironside_, 67 +_Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency_, 59, 69, 116, 140, 157 +_Letters of Sir Walter Scott_, 168-173, see also _Familiar Letters_, + Hutchinson, Polwhele, and Stuart, Lady Louisa +_Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft_, 45, 104, 160, 178 +_Letters to Richard Heber, etc._, 10, 15-16, 49, 65, 85, 88, 97, 114, + 129, 131, 132, 174 +_Letting of Humour's Blood in the Head Vaine, The_, 153 +_Levett, Robert, Verses on the Death of_, 80 +Lewis, Matthew, 30, 97-8, 147 +Leyden, John, 25, 30, 166 +_Liberal Movement in English Literature, The_, 141, 175 +_Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, The_, 7, 12, 78, 102, 124-5, 127, 140, + 158, 170 +_Life on the Mississippi_, 142, 174 +_Life of Sir Walter Scott, The_, see Cunningham, Gilfillan, Hudson, + Hutton, Lang, Lockhart, Mackenzie, and Saintsbury +_Littérature Française au Moyen Age, La_, 38, 177 +_Little French Lawyer, The_, 50 +_Lives of the Novelists_, 6, 7, 15, 72-9, 128, 131, 156, 178 +_Lives of the Poets_, 74 +_Living Poets of Great Britain_, Article on, 118, 165 +_Livre de Mon Ami, Le_, 127, 175 +Lockhart, John Gibson, 6, 22, 25, 27, 29, 52, 83, 84, 85, 98, 99, 112, + 117, 158, 160, 168, 169 +_Lockhart's Life of Scott_, 1, 11, 12, 13, 96, 98, 101, 102-3, 112, 148, + 149, 152, 153, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 172, 173, + 174, 178 (see the footnotes for the many references not here indexed) +Lodge, Edmund, 132, 172 +_London_, 79 +_Lord Byron and Some of his Contemporaries_, 99-100, 176 +_Lord of the Isles, The_, 120, 153 +Lounsbury, Prof. T.R., 14, 102, 176 +_Love_, 87 +Lyly, John, 61 + + +Macaulay, T.B., 144 +_Macduff's Cross_, 156 +Mackenzie, Colin, 30 +Mackenzie, Henry, 17, 73, 75, 100, + see also Home, John +Mackenzie, R. Shelton, 1, 52, 123, 139, 171 +_Macmillan's Magazine_, 51, 142, 178 +McNeill, G.P., 35 +Macpherson, James, 40, 41, 176 +_Madoc_, 91 +_Magnalia_, 104 +Maigron, Louis, 105, 176 +_Malachi Malagrowther, Letters of_, 59, 69, 116, 140, 157 +Malone, Edmund, 60, 61 +Malory, 37 +_Manfred_, 50, 51 +Mark Twain, 142, 174 +Marlowe, Christopher, 55 +_Marmion_, 5, 6, 31, 90, 93, 97, 110, 113, 115, 145, 148 +Marston, John, 50 +_Masque of Owls, The_, 51 +Massinger, Philip, 56 +Masson, David, 3, 145, 176 +Mather, Cotton, 104 +Matthews, Prof. Brander, 76, 176 +Maturin, C.R., 138, 163, 164 +_Mediaeval Stage, The_, 21, 174 +_Memoirs of a Literary Veteran_, 14, 171 +_Memoirs of Captain Carleton_, 68, 144, 148-9, 178 +_Memoirs of Captain Hodgson_, 148, 149 +_Memoirs of Robert Carey_, 149, 151 +_Memoirs of the Court of Charles II._, 5, 152 +_Memoirs of the Insurrection in 1715_, 159 +_Memoirs of the Duke of Sully_, 151 +_Memoirs of the Marchioness de la Rochejaquelin_, 159 +_Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I._, 5, 152 +_Memorials of Coleorton_, 169 +_Memorials of George Bannatyne_, 44, 160 +_Memorials of His Time_, Cockburn's, 15, 175 +_Memorials of James Hogg_, 171 +_Memorials of the Haliburtons_, 155 +_Memorie of the Somervilles_, 154 +_Merry Devil of Edmonton, The_, 50 +Meteyard, Eliza, 87, 176 +_Mezeray's History of France_, 80 +Mickle, W.J., 98 +Middleton, Thomas, 50, 56 +_Mid-Eighteenth Century, The_, 74, 176 +Millar, J.H., 74, 176 +_Military Bridges_, Scott's review of, 163 +_Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War_, 5, 157 +Milton, 40, 62, 65, 88, 91, 92, 95, 104, 143 +Minot, Laurence, 43 +_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, 3, 4, 7, 17-32, 33, 36, 45, 80, + 147-8, 160, 178 +_Mirror for Magistrates, The_, 55 +_Miscellaneous Prose Works_, Scott's, 7, 26, 73, 149, 151, 154, 156, + 159, 160, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167 +_Miseries of Human Life_, Scott's review of, 162 +_Modern British Drama, The_, 52, 152 +_Modern Painters_, 10, 129, 177 +Molière, 53, 57, 58, 133, 164 +_Monastery, The_, 88, 105, 116, 155 +_Monk, The_, 98 +Moore, Thomas, 96, 97, 166, 176 +_Murray, John, Memoir and Correspondence of_, 83, 84, 93, 105, 141, 142, + 163, 168, 169 +_My Aunt Margaret's Mirror_, 131, 167 +Myers, F.W.H., 130, 176 +_Mysterious Mother, The_, 50 + + +_Napoleon_, Scott's _Life of_, 7, 12, 78, 102, 124-5, 127, 140, 158, 170 +Nash, Thomas, 59 +Naunton, Sir Robert, 149 +_Neidpath Castle_, Wordsworth's sonnet on, 87 +_New History of the English Stage_, 49, 175 +Newman, J.H., 142, 176 +_New Practice of Cookery, The_, Scott's review of, 162 +_New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty, A_, 71 +Nichol, John, 95, 176 +Nichols, John, 65 +_Nineteenth Century, The_, 77, 172, 178 +_Norman Conquest of England, The_, 126, 127, 175 +_Northern Antiquities_, 42, 152 +_Northern Memoirs_, 155 +_Notices concerning the Scottish Gypsies_, 167 +_Novelists' Library, The_, 6, 7, 72-79, 156 + + +_Ode on Scottish Music_, 30 +_Oedipe_, 53 +_Old Mortality_, 36, 62, 77, 89, 109, 128, 154 +Oliphant, Mrs., 169 +_Omen, The_, Scott's review of, 164 +_Opus Magnum, The_, 7, 108, 160 +_Original Memoirs Written during the Great Civil War_, 4, 148 +Ossian, 40-41, 162, 176 +Otway, Thomas, 50, 57, 58 + + +_Paradise Lost_, 95 +_Palamon and Arcite_, 64 +Palgrave, Francis, 13, 40, 177 +_Papers relative to the Regalia of Scotland_, 160 +Paris, Gaston, 38, 177 +Parnell, Col., the Hon. Arthur, 68, 144, 148, 178 +Parnell, Thomas, 80 +_Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk_, 6, 88, 125, 140, 154 +Peele, George, 55 +_Penni Worth of Wit, A_, 148 +Pepys, Samuel, 65, 142, 164 +Percy, Thomas, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 32, 34, 37, 38, 177 +_Periodical Criticism_, Article on, 165 +Petrarch, 33 +_Peveril of the Peak_, 44, 105, 157 +Pierce, E.L., 177 +_Pilot, The_, 101 +_Pioneers, The_, 14 +_Pinner of Wakefield, The_, 59 +_Pirate, The_, 3, 117, 125-6, 155 +_Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials_, Scott's review of, 46, 143, 165 +_Planter's Guide, The_, Scott's review of, 164 +_Planting Waste Lands_, Scott's review of, 164 +_Plays on the Passions_, 50 +Poe, Edgar Allan, 109, 110 +_Poems, with Prefaces by the Author_, 160 +Polwhele, R., Letters of Scott to, 132, 148, 170 +_Poor Richard's Almanac_, 104 +Pope, Alexander, 79, 81, 93, 97, 106, 113 +_Popular Poetry, Remarks on_, 19, 22, 30, 34, 160 +_Portraits of Illustrious Personages_, 132, 172 +_Prairie, The_, 101 +Prior, Matthew, 80 +_Proceedings in the Court-martial, etc._, 159 +_Provincial Antiquities_, 6, 56, 59, 155 +Pulci, 33 + + +_Quarterly Review_, 2, 5-6, 20, 22, 26, 45, 46, 55, 73, 77, 78, 82, 83, + 84, 94, 96, 99, 100, 109, 112, 113, 114, 124, 129, 140, 143, 163, + 164, 165, 168, 178 +_Queenhoo Hall_, 5, 128, 149 +_Quentin Durward_, 88, 104, 122, 127, 157 + + +Radcliffe, Mrs. Anne, 73, 75, 76, 131 +_Rambler, The_, 80, 156 +Ramsay, Allan, 28, 86 +_Recollections of Sir Walter Scott_, R.P. Gillies', 106, 130, 143, 146, + 175 +_Redgauntlet_, 3, 89, 157 +_Red Rover, The_, 101 +Reeve, Clara, 73, 76, 78 +_Religio Laici_, 64 +_Religious Discourses by a Layman_, 159 +_Reliquiae Trottosienses_, 161 +_Reliques of Burns_, Scott's review of, 22, 86, 163 +_Remarks on Gen. Gourgaud's Narrative_, 164 +_Remarks on Popular Poetry_, 19, 22, 30, 34, 160 +_Remarks on the Death of Lord Byron_, 93, 95 +_Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott_, John Gibson's, 170 +_Revolutions of Naples_, Article on, 164 +Richardson, Samuel, 73, 74-5, 77, 78 +Ritson, Joseph, 19, 20, 21, 23, 32, 34, 37, 38, 39, 45, 162, 164 +Robert of Brunne, 34 +Robertson, William, 15 +Robinson, Crabbe, 87 +_Rob Roy_, 3, 76, 154 +Rogers, Samuel, 151 +_Rokeby_, 108, 111, 115, 116, 152 +_Romance_, Essay on, 34, 37, 38-9, 42, 46, 146, 154 +_Roman Historique à l'Époque Romantique, Le_, 105, 176 +Roscommon, Earl of, 136 +Rose, W.S., 37, 92, 162 +Rowlands, Samuel, 153 +Rowley, 43, 50 +Ruskin, John, 10, 129, 172, 177 + + +Sackville, Thomas, 54-5 +_Sadler, Sir Ralph, State Papers and Letters of_, 149 +_Saint Ronan's Well_, 51, 64, 88, 100, 108, 157 +Saintsbury, Prof. George, 2, 51, 53, 57, 60, 61, 63, 142, 146, 177, 178 +_Sale-Room, The_, 166, 167 +_Salmonia_, Scott's review of, 164 +Schlegel, 53 +_School of Abuse, The_, 71 +Scott, Temple, 67, 177 +Scudéri, 53, 76 +_Secret Commonwealth, The_, 45, 153 +_Secret History of One Year, The_, 71 +_Secret History of the Court of James I._, 5, 55, 152 +Severn, Joseph, 100 +Seward, Anne, 30, 85, 89, 91, 151 +Shadwell, Thomas, 51, 57 +Shakspere, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55-6, 57, 58, 59, 62, 65, 86, 95, 97, 157-8 +Sharpe, C.K., 27, 28, 30, 31, 66, 81, 97, 114, 118, 148, 163, 169 +Shelley, Mrs. Mary, 78, 163 +Shelley, P.B., 11, 89, 91, 106, 175 +Sheridan, Thomas, 65 +Shirley, James, 50, 56 +_Short Account of Successful Exertions, etc._, 173 +_Sibbald's Chronicle_, Scott's review of, 46, 162 +_Sir Eustace Grey_, 97 +_Sir John Oldcastle_, 59 +_Sir Tristrem_, 4, 34-6, 39, 42, 43, 56, 148, 178 +_Sketch Book, The_, 104 +_Sketch of Lord Kinneder_, 157 +_Slingsby, Sir H., Life of_, 148 +Smith, Adam, 15 +Smith, Charlotte, 73 +Smollett, Tobias, 73, 74, 156 +_Somers Tracts, The_, 4, 6, 60, 63, 70-72, 126, 150 +Somerville, Lord, 154 +Southerne, Thomas, 50 +Southey, Robert, 4, 20, 37, 46, 49, 82, 87, 89, 90, 91-2, 93, 96, 98, + 99, 106, 110, 111, 118, 124, 143, 151, 162, 163, 165, 169, 170, 177 +_Spae-Wife, The_, 129 +_Specimens of Early English Romances_, Scott's review of, 125, 162 +_Specimens of English Dramatic Poets_, 20, 51, 99 +_Specimens of the Early English Poets_, Scott's review of, 43, 44, 162 +Spenser, 33, 62, 64 +Staël, Mme. de, 140 +Stanhope, Philip, Earl, 144 +Steele, Sir Richard, 67, 120 +Stephen, Sir Leslie, 65, 68, 97, 177 +Sterne, Laurence, 73, 75, 103, 156 +_Story of Rimini, The_, 99 +Strutt, Joseph, 5, 126, 149 +_Stuart, Lady Louisa, Letters of_, 10, 83, 127, 128, 169 +_Studies in the Evolution of English Criticism_, 137, 177 +Suckling, Sir John, 51, 59 +_Sumner, Charles, Memoirs and Letters of_, 102, 177 +_Supernatural in Fictitious Composition, The_, 164 +_Surgeon's Daughter, The_, 159 +Surtees, Robert, 20, 27, 30, 161 +Swift, Deane, 65 +Swift, Jonathan, 65-70, 103, 148-9, 177 +_Swift's Works_, edited by Scott, 6, 7, 65-70, 73, 79, 126, 139, 153, 178 + + +Taine, H.A., 125, 177 +_Tales of a Grandfather_, 7, 123, 127, 141, 159, 160 +_Tales of My Landlord_, 77, 109, 111-12, 128, 132, 154, 155, 161, 163, + 167 +_Tales of the Crusaders_, 98, 124, 157 +_Talisman, The_, 157 +_Tapestried Chamber, The_, 85, 167 +Taylor, William, 31, 170 +_Tender Husband, The_, 120 +Terry, Daniel, 46, 49 +Thackeray, W.M., 80, 123 +_Thalaba_, 91, 135 +Thomas the Rhymer, 29, 30, 34-6, 148 +Thorkelin, 42 +_Thornton's Sporting Tour_, Scott's review of, 162 +_Three Studies in Literature_, 134, 135, 175 +Ticknor, George, 15, 56, 103, 144, 153, 177 +Tieck, 10 +Tierry, 127 +_Todd's Spenser_, Scott's review of, 61, 62, 84 +_Tom Jones_, 75 +_Traditions and Recollections, etc._, 170 +Tressan, 33, 34 +_Trial of Duncan Terig, The_, 161, +_Tristram Shandy_, 75, 156 +_Trivial Poems and Triolets_, 155 +_Troilus and Criseyde_, 45 +_True-born Englishman, The_, 71 +_Trustworthiness of Border Ballads, The_, 25, 178 +Turner, Sharon, 42, 126 +_Two Bannatyne Garlands_, 161 +_Two Drovers, The_, 159 +_Tytler's History of Scotland_, Scott's review of, 45, 124, 164 + + +_Varied Types_, 11, 174 +_Vanity of Human Wishes, The_, 79 +_Venis and Adonis_, 58 +_Vicar of Wakefield, The_, 75 +_Virgin Queen, The_, 51 +_Visionary, The_, 155 +_Vision of Don Roderick, The_, 152, 165 +Voltaire, 78, 105 + + +Waldron, Francis, 51 +_Wallenstein_, 51, 88 +Waller, Edmund, 64 +Walpole, Horace, 71, 72, 73, 76, 150, 163 +Walpole, Robert, 71 +Walton, Isaac, 64-5 +_War Song of the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons_, 30 +Warton, Joseph, 60 +Warton, Thomas, 19, 21, 34, 35 +Warter, J.W., 124, 177 +Warwick, Sir Philip, 152 +_Waverley_, 3, 6, 36, 85, 100, 120, 122, 123, 125, 149, 153, 163 +Weber, Henry, 42, 52, 152 +Webster, John, 50, 55, 56 +White, Hon. Andrew, D., 127, 177 +_William and Helen_, 147 +Wilson, John, 50, 83 +_Women_, Scott's review of, 164 +_Women Pleased_, 50 +_Woodstock_, 44, 51, 141, 157, 170 +Wordsworth, William, 85, 87, 89-91, 92, 93, 97, 98, 106, 130, 143, 169, + 172, 176 +Wylie, L.J., 137, 177 + + +_Yarrow Revisited_, 90 + + + + [Footnote 1: Mr. Hutton's _Life of Scott_, in the English Men of + Letters series, contains no chapter nor any extended passage on + Scott's critical and scholarly work, though there is a chapter on + "Scott's Morality and Religion," and one on "Scott as a Politician." + This, like the other short biographies of Scott, is professedly a + compilation, so far as its facts are concerned, from Lockhart's book. + The Lives of Scott by Gilfillan and by Mackenzie, published about the + time of the Scott centenary in 1871, are longer than Hutton's, but + contain no more extended references to the critical writings. + Mackenzie's book out of nearly five hundred pages gives only one to a + discussion of the edition of Dryden, and half a page to an account of + the establishment of the _Quarterly Review_. Gilfillan characterizes + the critical work in almost as short a space, but with a good deal of + judgment. The German biography of Scott contemporary with these, by + Dr. Felix Eberty, is concerned with the man rather than his works. Of + later Lives of Scott, Prof. Saintsbury's gives, in proportion to its + length, more space than any other to Scott's critical work, but the + book has only a hundred and fifty-five pages in all. Another recent + biographer, Mr. W.H. Hudson, says of Scott's editorial and critical + work, "these exertions, though they call for passing record, occupy a + minor place in his story"; and he gives them only "passing record." + Mr. Andrew Lang's still more recent and briefer _Sir Walter Scott_ + devotes only a few lines here and there to comment on Scott as a + critic, and contains hardly even a reference to the little-known + volumes that he edited.] + + [Footnote 2: Ten of Scott's twenty-seven novels (counting the first + series of _Chronicles of the Canongate_ as one) have scenes laid in + the eighteenth century. They are as follows, arranged approximately in + the order of their periods: _The Bride of Lammermoor_, _The Pirate_, + _The Black Dwarf_, _Rob Roy_, _The Heart of Midlothian_, _Waverley_, + _Guy Mannering_, _Redgauntlet_, _Chronicles of the Canongate (First + series)_, _The Antiquary_. The long poems all found their setting in + earlier periods.] + + [Footnote 3: _British Novelists and their Styles_, pp. 167-8.] + + [Footnote 4: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 9.] + + [Footnote 5: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 194.] + + [Footnote 6: See particularly _Paul's Letters; Provincial + Antiquities_; and the Histories of the years 1814 and 1815, each a + respectable volume, written for the _Edinburgh Annual Register_.] + + [Footnote 7: Ruskin's remark that "The excellence of Scott's work is + precisely in proportion to the degree in which it is sketched from + present nature," should not necessarily lead on to the condemnation + which follows: "He does not see how anything is to be got out of the + past but confusion, old iron on drawing-room chairs, and serious + inconvenience to Dr. Heavysterne." (_Modern Painters_, Part IV, ch. + 16, § 32.)] + + [Footnote 8: _Letters to Richard Heber_, etc. (by J.L. Adolphus), pp. + 136-137.] + + [Footnote 9: Mr. Herford distinguishes two lines of romantic + sentiment--"the one pursuing the image of the past as a refuge from + reality, the other as a portion of it: the mediaevalism of Tieck and + the mediaevalism of Scott." _The Age of Wordsworth_, Introduction, p. + xxiv, note.] + + [Footnote 10: _Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart_, p. 249.] + + [Footnote 11: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 333; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 81. + The edition of Lockhart's _Life of Scott_ to which reference is made + throughout this study is that in five volumes, published by Macmillan + & Co. in the "Library of English Classics."] + + [Footnote 12: Chesterton, _Varied Types_, pp. 161-2.] + + [Footnote 13: The fact that Scott was a Clerk of the Court of Sessions + is remembered less frequently than the fact that he had business + complications. But this employment of his, which could be undertaken + only by a lawyer, occupied a large proportion of his time during + twenty-four years. He once wrote, "I cannot work well after I have had + four or five hours of the court, for though the business is trifling, + yet it requires constant attention, which is at length exhausting." + (_Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 195.) Again he wrote, "I + saw it reported that Joseph Hume said I composed novels at the clerk's + table; but Joseph Hume said what neither was nor could be correct, as + any one who either knew what belonged to composing novels, or acting + as clerk to a court of justice, would easily have discovered." + (_Memoirs of Sir William Knighton_, p. 252.)] + + [Footnote 14: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 60; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 390.] + + [Footnote 15: See the Memoir prefixed to the Globe Edition of Scott's + poems.] + + [Footnote 16: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 217.] + + [Footnote 17: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 447.] + + [Footnote 18: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 122.] + + [Footnote 19: Cooper measured his own success by the same test. At the + conclusion of the Letter to the Publisher with which _The Pioneers_ + originally opened he said he should look to his publisher for "the + only true account of the reception of his book." (Lounsbury's _Life of + Cooper_, pp. 43-4.)] + + [Footnote 20: _Napoleon_, Vol. I, ch. 2.] + + [Footnote 21: "He fixed his attention on his employments without the + slightest consideration for his own feelings of whatever kind, either + in regard to state of health or domestic sorrows." (_Memoirs of a + Literary Veteran_, by R.P. Gillies, Vol. III, p. 141.)] + + [Footnote 22: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 365.] + + [Footnote 23: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 112.] + + [Footnote 24: _Journal_, Vol. 1, p. 303; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 68.] + + [Footnote 25: _Letters to Heber_, p. 69.] + + [Footnote 26: Irving's _Abbotsford_.] + + [Footnote 27: _Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor_, Vol. I, + p. 282. See also Scott's review of the _Life of Home_; and _Lockhart_, + Vol. III, p. 304.] + + [Footnote 28: _Cockburn's Memorials_, p. 181.] + + [Footnote 29: _Ticknor_, Vol. I, p. 280.] + + [Footnote 30: _Letters to Heber_, p. 63; _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. + 496.] + + [Footnote 31: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 177.] + + [Footnote 32: Review of _Poems of William Herbert_, _Edinburgh + Review_, October, 1806.] + + [Footnote 33: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 275-6.] + + [Footnote 34: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 333.] + + [Footnote 35: In 1830.] + + [Footnote 36: Ritson's principal works were as follows: _Select + Collection of English Songs_ (1783); _Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry + from Authentic Manuscripts and Old Printed Copies_ (1791); _Ancient + Songs from the Time of Henry III. to the Revolution_ (1792); _Scottish + Songs with the Genuine Music_ (1794); _Poems by Laurence Minot_ + (1795); _Robin Hood Poems_ (1795); _Ancient English Metrical Romances_ + (1802).] + + [Footnote 37: Ellis published his _Specimens of the Early English + Poets_ in 1790, and it was reissued with the addition of the + Introduction in 1801 and 1803. He edited also Way's translations of + the Fabliaux (1796), and _Specimens of Early English Romances in + Metre_ (1805).] + + [Footnote 38: Review of Dunlop's _History of Fiction_, July, 1815.] + + [Footnote 39: The _Magnum Opus_ of Robert Surtees was his _History of + Durham_, published 1816-1840.] + + [Footnote 40: Douce published _Illustrations of Shakespeare_ in 1807. + Later he edited _Arnold's Chronicle; Judicium, a Pageant_; and a + metrical _Life of St. Robert_. The two latter, which appeared in 1822 + and 1824, were done for the Roxburghe Club. In 1824 he also wrote some + notes for Warton's _History of English Poetry_.] + + [Footnote 41: _Age of Wordsworth_, p. 39.] + + [Footnote 42: A number of volumes containing old ballads together with + modern imitations had been published both before and after the + appearance of Percy's _Reliques_, but Ritson's collections were the + first, except Percy's, to treat the material in a scholarly way.] + + [Footnote 43: The discussion centered upon the social and literary + position of minstrels. The first edition of the _Reliques of Ancient + English Poetry_, published in 1765, contained an essay on the History + of Minstrelsy, and one on the Origin of the Metrical Romances, which, + taken together, says Mr. Courthope, "may be said to furnish the first + generalized theory of the nature of mediaeval poetry." (_History of + English Poetry_, Vol. I, p. 426.) Percy considered the minstrels as + the authors of the compositions which they sang to the harp, and as + holding a dignified social position similar to that of the Anglo-Saxon + scôp or the old Norse scald. This theory was vigorously attacked by + Joseph Ritson in the preface of his _Select Collection of English + Songs_ in 1783, and again in his _Ancient English Metrical Romances_ + in 1802, and in his essay On the Ancient English Minstrels in Ancient + Songs and Ballads (1792). Ritson contended that minstrels were musical + performers of a low class, or even acrobats, and that they were not + literary composers. Scott used his knowledge of ballads and romances + and the customs depicted in them to reinforce his own decision that + the truth lay somewhere between the two extremes. He pointed out that + the word may have covered a wide variety of professional entertainers. + A modern comment (by E.K. Chambers, in _The Mediaeval Stage_, Vol. I, + p. 66) seems like an echo of Scott: "This general antithesis between + the higher and lower minstrelsy may now, perhaps, be regarded as + established. It was the neglect of it, surely, that led to that + curious and barren logomachy between Percy and Ritson, in which + neither of the disputants can be said to have had hold of more than a + bare half of the truth."] + + [Footnote 44: Scott's theory as to the authorship of ballads is even + now held by Mr. Courthope. At the end of his chapter on Minstrelsy, in + _The History of English Poetry_, he thus sums up the matter: "All the + evidence cited in this chapter shows that, so far from the ballad + being a spontaneous product of popular imagination, it was a type of + poem adapted by the professors of the declining art of minstrelsy, + from the romances once in favour with the educated classes. Everything + in the ballad--matter, form, composition--is the work of the minstrel; + all that the people do is to remember and repeat what the minstrel has + put together." This statement represents a position which is actively + assailed by the adherents of the communal origin theory. Another + critical idea which originated in Germany, and in which Scott had no + interest, though he knew something about it, was the Wolffian + hypothesis in regard to the Homeric poems. He once heard Coleridge + expound the subject, but failed to join in the discussion. (_Journal_, + Vol. II, p. 164; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 193.) He said the theory could + never be held by any _poet_. See a note by Lockhart on the essay on + _Popular Poetry_. Henderson's edition of _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, p. 3.] + + [Footnote 45: Review of Cromek's _Reliques of Burns_. _Quarterly + Review_, February, 1809.] + + [Footnote 46: "No one but Burns ever succeeded in patching up old + Scottish songs with any good effect," Scott wrote in his _Journal_ + (Vol. II, p. 25). And in his review of Cromek's _Reliques of Burns_ he + said on the same subject of Scottish songs: "Few, whether serious or + humorous, past through his hands without receiving some of those magic + touches which, without greatly altering the song, restored its + original spirit, or gave it more than it had ever possessed." + (_Quarterly_, February, 1809.)] + + [Footnote 47: _Remarks on Popular Poetry_, Henderson's edition of + _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, p. 46.] + + [Footnote 48: Henderson's edition of _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, p. xix.] + + [Footnote 49: Henderson's edition of _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, pp. 167-8.] + + [Footnote 50: The matter may be traced in Child's collection of + ballads, or more easily in the latest edition of the _Minstrelsy_, + edited by T.F. Henderson and published in four volumes in 1902. Mr. + Henderson's views of ballad origins are quite in accord with Scott's + own, but he notes the points at which Scott failed to follow any + originals. There seems to be some reason to believe, however, though + Mr. Henderson does not say so, that Scott wrote _Kinmont Willie_ + without any originals at all, except the very similar situations in + three or four other ballads. See the introduction by Professor + Kittredge to the abridged edition of Child's ballads, edited by + himself and Helen Child Sargent. + + It is unnecessary to give here any detailed account of Scott's + procedure, as the matter has been thoroughly worked out by students of + ballads. A few examples may be given as illustrations, however. In + _The Dowie Dens of Yarrow_ (Henderson's edition, Vol. III, p. 173) 28 + lines out of the 68 are noted by Mr. Henderson as either changed or + added by Scott. Scott writes (beginning of fifth stanza), "As he gaed + up the Tennies bank" for "As he gaed up yon high, high hill," and we + find from a note of Lockhart's that _The Tennies_ is the name of a + farm belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch. In the sixth stanza Scott + changes the lines, + + "O ir ye come to drink the wine + As we hae done before, O?" to + "O come ye here to part your land, + The bonnie forest thorough?" + + In the seventeenth stanza he changes, + + "A better rose will never spring + Than him I've lost on Yarrow?" to + "A fairer rose did never bloom + Than now lies cropp'd on Yarrow." + + In _Jellon Grame_ (Vol. III, p. 203), Mr. Henderson notes changes in + 15 different lines, and points out 2 whole stanzas, out of the 21, + that are interpolated. In the _Gay Goss-hawk_ (Vol. III, p. 187) 6 + stanzas out of 39 are noted as probably wholly or mainly by Scott, and + 30 stanzas were changed by him. Sometimes his alterations occurred in + every line of a stanza. It is probable that Scott changed _Jamie + Telfer_ enough to make the Scotts take the place of prominence that + had been held by the Elliotts in the original form of the story. See + _The Trustworthiness of Border Ballads as Exemplified by 'Jamie Telfer + i' the Fair Dodhead' and other Ballads_; by Lieut.-Col. the Hon. + Fitzwilliam Elliott. Reviewed in _Edinburgh Review_, No. 418, p. 306 + (October, 1906).] + + [Footnote 51: See the examples given in the preceding note. Most of + the changes there spoken of were made without annotation.] + + [Footnote 52: This extraordinary young man was poet and scholar on his + own account by 1800, though he was four years younger than Scott. His + erudition in many fields was remarkable, and he was as enthusiastic as + Scott himself about Scotch poetry, and was the chief assistant in + gathering ballads for the _Minstrelsy_. He also collected the material + for the essay on Fairies in the second volume, which was especially + praised by the reviewer in the _Edinburgh Review_ (January, 1803). + Leyden's chief fame was derived from his wonderfully varied activities + in India, from 1803 to his early death in 1811. Any reader of + Lockhart's _Life of Scott_ or of Scott's delightful little memoir, + published first in the _Edinburgh Annual Register_ for 1811, and + included in the _Miscellaneous Prose Works_, must feel that the + uncouth young genius is a familiar acquaintance.] + + [Footnote 53: The Ettrick Shepherd, who, after reading the first two + volumes of the _Minstrelsy_, sought an acquaintance with Scott, and + offered assistance which was gladly made use of in the preparation of + the third volume. Scott in his turn provided much of the material for + Hogg's _Jacobite Relics_, published in 1819. The following note on one + of the songs in that work adds to the reader's doubts concerning the + accuracy of Scott's texts: "I have not altered a word from the + manuscript, which is in the handwriting of an amanuensis of Mr. + Scott's, the most incorrect transcriber, perhaps, that ever tried the + business." (_Jacobite Relics_, Vol. I, p. 282. Note on song lxiii.)] + + [Footnote 54: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. I, p. + 284.] + + [Footnote 55: _Quarterly_, May, 1810.] + + [Footnote 56: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 514.] + + [Footnote 57: Still more striking evidence that Scott lacked an + infallible sense of the difference between genuine and spurious ballad + material is afforded by his comments on Peter Buchan's collection, + which is now considered particularly untrustworthy. He thought that + with two or three exceptions the pieces in the book were genuine, and + said: "I scarce know anything so easily discovered as the piecing and + patching of an old ballad; the darns in a silk stocking are not more + manifest." (_Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. II, p. 424.)] + + [Footnote 58: Scott's manuscript collections of ballads dropped + partially out of sight after his death, and it was only about 1890 + that their magnitude and importance became known. Professor Child and + later editors have found them of very great service. (On Child's use + of the Abbotsford materials, see the Advertisement to Part VIII of his + collection, contained in Volume IV.) In 1880 appeared a reprint of the + _Ballad Book_ of C.K. Sharpe, "with notes and ballads from the + unpublished manuscripts of C.K. Sharpe and Sir Walter Scott," but the + contributions from Scott's papers did not amount to much. Scott's + materials were at the service of his friend for use in the original + edition of the _Ballad Book_, published in 1823. See _Sharpe's + Correspondence_, Vol. II, pp. 264, 271 and 325, for letters from Scott + on this subject.] + + [Footnote 59: Note on _The Raid of the Reidswire_, in the + _Minstrelsy_.] + + [Footnote 60: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. III, p. + 232.] + + [Footnote 61: Henderson's edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. II, p. + 57.] + + [Footnote 62: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 360.] + + [Footnote 63: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 332.] + + [Footnote 64: First edition of the _Minstrelsy_, Vol. II, pp. 156-7.] + + [Footnote 65: _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1803.] + + [Footnote 66: The _Minstrelsy_ is arranged in three parts: I., + Historical Ballads; II., Romantic Ballads; III., Imitations of the + Ballad. The first part is preceded by the Introductory Remarks on + Popular Poetry, and by the historical introduction. The second part is + preceded by the essay on The Fairies of Popular Superstition; and the + third by the essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad. The poems by + Scott given in this third part are as follows: _Thomas the Rhymer_ + (parts 2 and 3), _Glenfinlas_, _The Eve of St. John_, _Cadyow Castle_, + _The Gray Brother_, _War Song of the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons_. + Besides these there are three poems by John Leyden (and he has also an + _Ode on Scottish Music_ preceding the Romantic ballads), two by C.K. + Sharpe, three by John Marriott, who was tutor to the children of the + Duke of Buccleuch, and one each by Matthew Lewis, Anna Seward, Dr. + Jamieson, Colin Mackenzie, J.B.S. Morritt, and an unnamed author. In + the other parts of the book there are a few imitations, notably the + three by Surtees--_Lord Ewine_, the _Death of Featherstonhaugh_, and + _Barthram's Dirge_, which Scott supposed were old; and one or two like + the _Flowers of the Forest_, which he noted as largely modern, or + which he had found, after arranging his material, to be wholly modern. + Nearly forty old ballads were published in the _Minstrelsy_ for the + first time.] + + [Footnote 67: _Remarks on Popular Poetry_, conclusion.] + + [Footnote 68: Review of the Poems of William Herbert. _Edinburgh + Review_, October, 1806.] + + [Footnote 69: Stanzas 10-12, and 31, are noted by Child as + particularly suspicious. "Basnet," which occurs in stanza 10, is not a + very common word in ballads. It is used in _The Lay_, Canto I., stanza + 25, and in _Marmion_, Canto VI, st. 21.] + + [Footnote 70: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 221.] + + [Footnote 71: _Memoir of William Taylor_, Vol. I, pp. 98-99, and see + _Sharpe's Correspondence_, Vol. I, pp. 146-7, for a letter to Sharpe + on a similar point.] + + [Footnote 72: _Minstrelsy_, Introduction to _Lord Thomas and Fair + Annie_.] + + [Footnote 73: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 101.] + + [Footnote 74: _Ibid._, Vol. I, pp. 35-6.] + + [Footnote 75: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 244. See also _Lockhart_, + Vol. V, p. 408.] + + [Footnote 76: Sometime before 1821 (probably a good while before, but + the date cannot be fixed), Scott began a translation of _Don Quixote_, + and afterwards gave the work over to Lockhart, who completed it. See + _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 161.] + + [Footnote 77: Louis-Elizabeth de la Vergne, Comte de Tressan, was born + in 1705 and died in 1783. In early life he was sent to Rome on + diplomatic business, and it is said that in the Vatican library he + acquired his taste for the literature of chivalry. His chief works + were _Amadis de Gaules_ (1779); _Roland furieux_ (translated from the + Italian, 1780); _Corps d'extraits romans de chevalerie_ (1782). His + translations were partly adaptations, and were far from being rendered + with precision.] + + [Footnote 78: See particularly his article on Ellis's and Ritson's + _Metrical Romances_ (_Edinburgh Review_, January, 1806), the essay on + _Romance_, and _Remarks on Popular Poetry_ in the _Minstrelsy_.] + + [Footnote 79: _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1804. Ellis and Scott had had + much correspondence on _Sir Tristrem_, and it was Ellis's queries that + first led Scott into the detailed investigation which resulted in the + separate publication of the work. He had intended to print it in the + _Minstrelsy_ (_Lockhart_, Vol. I. p. 289). The letters are given in + _Lockhart_, Vol. I.] + + [Footnote 80: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 381.] + + [Footnote 81: _Die nordische und die englische Version der + Tristan-sage_--II. _Sir Tristrem_. Heilbronn, 1882. Mr. George P. + McNeill's edition of _Sir Tristrem_ was printed for the Scottish Text + Society, Edinburgh, 1886.] + + [Footnote 82: Kölbing thinks Scott probably hired a transcriber who + knew nothing of Middle English--a usual method of procedure in the + beginning of the nineteenth century. In later editions more errors + were introduced by the carelessness of printers, until, after 1830, + when the book was included in the complete editions of Scott's poems, + the text was collated with the manuscript. But it was still far from + correct. Kölbing enumerates about a hundred and thirty mistakes (see + his Introduction, p. xvii). Of these I took twenty-one at random, and + found that eight of them did not occur in the 1806 edition--in other + words, the person who collated the text nearly thirty years after + Scott or his hired transcriber had done it was far from infallible. A + few illustrations may be given of mistakes that occur in both the 1806 + and the 1833 editions: l. 117, _send_ is given for _sent_; l. 846, + _telle_ for _tel_; l. 863, _How_ for _Hou_; l. 912, _mak_ for _make_; + l. 1212, _leuedi_ for _leuedy_; l. 1580, _wende sche weren_ for + _whende sche were_; l. 1334. _have_ for _han_; l. 1514, _as_ for + _als_.] + + [Footnote 83: Review of Johnes's Translation of Froissart, _Edinburgh + Review_, January, 1805.] + + [Footnote 84: Waverley, and Claverhouse in _Old Mortality_.] + + [Footnote 85: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 480 and 482. _Familiar Letters_, + Vol. I, p. 147.] + + [Footnote 86: _Essay on Romance_.] + + [Footnote 87: See Gaston Paris, _La Littérature Française au Moyen + Age_, 1ère partie, ch. IV.] + + [Footnote 88: Review of _Metrical Romances_, _Edinburgh Review_, + January, 1806.] + + [Footnote 89: _Journal_, Vol. II, pp. 258-259.] + + [Footnote 90: _Essay on Romance_.] + + [Footnote 91: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 46.] + + [Footnote 92: Memoir in the Globe edition of Scott's poems.] + + [Footnote 93: Scott adopted the conclusions of Malcolm Laing, who + edited Macpherson's poems and adduced parallel passages from "a mass + of poetry, enough to serve any six gentle readers for their lifetime," + as the reviewer says. The most of these parallels were found in + "Homer, Virgil, and their two translators; Milton, Thomson, Young, + Gray, Mason, Home, and the English Bible." Although he was convinced + by the argument, Scott saw that the editor was in some cases misled by + his own ingenuity.] + + [Footnote 94: Later, however (in the essay on Imitations of the + Ancient Ballad, 1830), he said: "In their spirit and diction they + nearly resemble fragments of poetry extant in Gaelic." By this time he + was probably reverting to the earlier opinion which had made the more + vivid impression.] + + [Footnote 95: For the _Northern Antiquities_, edited by Robert + Jamieson and published in 1814, Scott wrote an abstract of the + _Eyrbyggja Saga_, using, as one would conclude from his introductory + words, the Latin version made by Thorkelin, who published the saga in + 1787. The purpose of the publication required the historical and + antiquarian rather than the literary point of view, and accordingly we + find Scott's notes occupied with historical comment.] + + [Footnote 96: In 1804 Weber came to Edinburgh in a deplorable + condition of poverty, and was employed and assisted in literary work + by Scott during the following nine years. In 1813 he was seized with + insanity, and challenged Scott, across the study table, to an + immediate duel with pistols. Scott supported Weber during the + remaining five years of his life in an insane hospital. He was much + liked by the Scott family. Scott rated his learning very highly, and + gave him valuable assistance in various literary projects. Weber's + chief publications were: _Metrical Romances of the Thirteenth, + Fourteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries_, with Introduction, Notes and + Glossary (1810); _Dramatic Works of John Ford_, with Introduction and + Explanatory Notes (1811); _Works of Beaumont and Fletcher_, with + Introduction and Explanatory Notes (1812): to this Scott's notes were + the most valuable contribution; _Illustrations of Northern + Antiquities_ (1814), with Jamieson and Scott.] + + [Footnote 97: See his essay on _Imitations of the Ancient Ballad_.] + + [Footnote 98: _Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, translated by the + Vicar of Batheaston_. Conybeare had died two years before the + publication of the book.] + + [Footnote 99: Review of Ellis's _Specimens_, _Edinburgh Review_, + April, 1804.] + + [Footnote 100: Bletson and Richard Ganlesse.] + + [Footnote 101: But see the dictum quoted by Scott in a somewhat + over-emphatic way from Ellis's _Specimens of the Early English Poets_, + to the effect that Chaucer's "peculiar ornaments of style, consisting + in an affectation of splendour, and especially of latinity," were + perhaps his special contribution to the improvement of English poetry. + (_Edinburgh Review_, April, 1804.) Scott said of Dunbar, "This darling + of the Scottish muses has been justly raised to a level with Chaucer + by every judge of poetry to whom his obsolete language has not + rendered him unintelligible." (_Memoir of Bannatyne_, p. 14.) After + naming the various qualities in which Dunbar was Chaucer's rival, he + pronounces the Scottish poet inferior in the use of pathos. The + relative position here assigned to the two poets seems to be rather an + exaltation of Dunbar than a degradation of Chaucer.] + + [Footnote 102: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 408.] + + [Footnote 103: _Dryden_, Vol. XI, p. 245.] + + [Footnote 104: _Dryden_, Vol. XI, p. 396.] + + [Footnote 105: _Ibid._, Vol. VI, p. 243.] + + [Footnote 106: _Ibid._, Vol. XI, p. 338.] + + [Footnote 107: The discussion of popular superstitions given in the + introduction to the _Minstrelsy_ and in the Essay on Fairies, which is + prefixed to the ballad of _Young Tamlane_, suggests comparison with + the _Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft_ which Scott wrote in the + year before he died. He collected a remarkable library in regard to + superstition, and thought at various times of making a book on the + subject, but the project was pushed aside for other matters until + 1831. The _Letters_ which he wrote then are full of pleasant anecdote + and judicious comment, and though they lack the vigor of his earlier + work they have remained fairly popular. An edition of Kirk's _Secret + Commonwealth of Elves and Fairies_, published in 1815, has been + attributed to Scott. (See below, the Bibliography of books edited by + Scott.) Reviews of his which have not been mentioned in this chapter, + but which naturally connect themselves with the subjects here + discussed, are the following: _The Culloden Papers_--an account of the + Highland clans, largely narrative (_Quarterly_, January, 1816); + Ritson's _Annals of the Caledonians, Picts and Scots_--an article of + more than forty pages, discussing the early history of Scotland and + the historians who have written upon it (_Quarterly_, July, 1829); + Tytler's _History of Scotland_--an article similar to that on Ritson's + book (_Quarterly_, November, 1829); Pitcairn's _Ancient Criminal + Trials_--a long article, which begins with an extended digression on + booksellers and collectors and on the Roxburghe and Bannatyne clubs + (_Quarterly_, February, 1831); Sibbald's _Chronicle of Scottish + Poetry_--merely a series of notes on special points (_Edinburgh + Review_, October, 1803); Southey's _Chronicle of the Cid_ + (_Quarterly_, February, 1809). For the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ Scott + wrote an essay on Chivalry, as well as the one on Romance to which + reference has been made.] + + [Footnote 108: Review of _Kelly's Reminiscences and the Life of + Kemble_, _Quarterly Review_, June, 1826.] + + [Footnote 109: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 97.] + + [Footnote 110: Terry had been educated as an architect, and his + knowledge and taste were of assistance to Scott in connection with the + building and furnishing of Abbotsford. After 1812 he played chiefly in + London. In 1816 his version of _Guy Mannering_, the first of his + adaptations from Scott, was presented. Before this he had taken the + part of Roderick Dhu in two dramatic versions of _The Lady of the + Lake_. In 1819 he was the first David Deans in his adaptation of _The + Heart of Midlothian_. Six years later he became manager of the Adelphi + theater, in association with F.H. Yates. At this time Scott became + Terry's security for £1280, a sum which he was afterward obliged to + pay with the addition of £500 for which the credit of James Ballantyne + was pledged. When financial embarrassment caused Terry to retire from + the management his mental and physical powers gave way, and he died of + paralysis in 1829. Terry admired Scott so much that he learned to + imitate his facial expression, his speech and his handwriting.] + + [Footnote 111: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 94.] + + [Footnote 112: The phrase, which was a favorite one of Scott's, is + spoken not by Tony Lumpkin, but by one of his tavern companions. + Scott's use of it is an indication of the way in which he was familiar + with the drama. Very likely he never reread the play after his youth, + but his strong memory doubtless retained a pretty definite impression + of it.] + + [Footnote 113: _Review of the Life and Works of John Home_, + _Quarterly_, June, 1827.] + + [Footnote 114: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 143.] + + [Footnote 115: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 427. It may be noted that this + criticism does not show much dramatic insight.] + + [Footnote 116: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, pp. 445-6.] + + [Footnote 117: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 117; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. + 447.] + + [Footnote 118: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 94; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 419.] + + [Footnote 119: Advertisement to _Halidon Hill_. When the publisher + Cadell closed a bargain with Scott in five minutes for _Halidon Hill_, + giving him £1000, he wrote as follows to his partner: "My views were + these: here is a commencement of a series of dramatic writings--let us + begin by buying them out." (_Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. + 217.)] + + [Footnote 120: "That well-written, but very didactic 'Old Play'," as + Adolphus calls it. (_Letters to Heber_, p. 55.)] + + [Footnote 121: Introductory epistle to _Nigel_.] + + [Footnote 122: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 414.] + + [Footnote 123: Fitzgerald's _New History of the English Stage_, Vol. + II, p. 404.] + + [Footnote 124: _Dramatic Essays_, Hazlitt's _Works_, Vol. VIII, p. + 422.] + + [Footnote 125: _Lockhart_, Vol. III. p. 176.] + + [Footnote 126: _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 265.] + + [Footnote 127: _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 332.] + + [Footnote 128: _Essay on the Drama_.] + + [Footnote 129: In 1808 he wrote to a friend: "We have Miss Baillie + here at present, who is certainly the best dramatic writer whom + Britain has produced since the days of Shakspeare and Massinger." + (_Fam. Let._, Vol. I. p. 99.) But Wilson also put Joanna Baillie next + to Shakspere, and quite seriously. The article in the _Dictionary of + National Biography_, on Joanna Baillie says that when the first volume + of _Plays on the Passions_ was published anonymously in 1798, Walter + Scott was at first suspected of being the author. But as Scott had + done nothing to give him a literary reputation in 1798, the assertion + is incredible. It seems to be based on the following very inexact + statement in _Chambers's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent + Scotsmen._ (Vol. V, Art. _Joanna Baillie_.) "Rich though the period + was in poetry, this work made a great impression, and a new edition of + it was soon required. The writer was sought for among the most gifted + personages of the day, and the illustrious Scott, with others then + equally appreciated, was suspected as the author."] + + [Footnote 130: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 380.] + + [Footnote 131: _Life of Dryden_, ch. I. In _Guy Mannering_ and _The + Antiquary_, the first two novels in which Scott habitually used + mottoes to head his chapters, most of the selections are from plays. + Eighteen plays of Shakspere are represented by twenty-nine quotations. + Other mottoes are from _The Merry Devil of Edmonton_, from Jonson, + from Fletcher (_The Little French Lawyer_, _Women Pleased_, _The Fair + Maid of the Inn_, _The Beggar's Bush_), from Brome, Dekker, Middleton + and Rowley, Cartwright, Otway, Southerne, _The Beggar's Opera_, + Walpole's _Mysterious Mother_, _The Critic_, _Chrononhotonthologos_, + Joanna Baillie. For the latter part of _The Antiquary_ many of the + mottoes were composed by Scott himself. _Kenilworth_ presents a + similar list, with some variations: Jonson's _Masque of Owls_ was + used, more than one play by Beaumont and Fletcher, Waldron's _Virgin + Queen_, _Wallenstein_, and _Douglas_. In _St. Ronan's Well_ there is a + larger proportion of non-dramatic mottoes, as in most of the later + novels, but we find represented nine of Shakspere's plays and one of + Beaumont and Fletcher's. _The Legend of Montrose_ (chapter XIV) has a + motto from Suckling's _Brennoralt_. In _Anne of Geierstein_ ten of + Shakspere's plays were drawn upon, and _Manfred_ was twice used. Scott + made his chapters much longer in these later novels, and used fewer + mottoes, but the evidence of the selections would seem to indicate + that he had lost something of his early familiarity with dramatic + literature.] + + [Footnote 132: Hazlitt's _Characters of Shakespeare's Plays_ appeared + in 1817; his _Lectures on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Queen + Elizabeth_ in 1821.] + + [Footnote 133: Scott first began to fabricate occasional mottoes for + his chapters during the composition of _The Antiquary_ in 1816.] + + [Footnote 134: Saintsbury in _Macmillan's Magazine_, lxx: 323. Scott's + style in many sages is strongly colored by the influence of + Shakspere.] + + [Footnote 135: Introduction by Lang to _The Fortunes of Nigel_.] + + [Footnote 136: It is possible that among the various jobs of editing + undertaken by Scott with a view to keeping the Ballantyne types busy, + were certain collections of dramas. _Ancient British Drama_, in three + volumes, and _Modern British Drama_, in five volumes, published in + 1810 and 1811, are sometimes attributed to Scott in library + catalogues, but on what authority it seems impossible to discover. + There is almost no commentary in the _Ancient British Drama_, but the + _Modern British Drama_ contains three brief introductions which I + believe were written by Scott. They show a striking likeness to some + parts of the _Essay on the Drama_ written several years later, and it + is not probable that Scott took his criticism ready-made from another + author. In the preface to the _Ancient British Drama_ we find this + statement: "The present publication is intended to form, with _The + British Drama_ and _Shakspeare_, a complete and uniform collection in + ten volumes of the best English plays." The Shakspeare here referred + to is doubtless that of which Constable the publisher afterwards spoke + in his correspondence with Scott as "Ballantyne's Shakespeare," and + Scott had no hand in the editorship. (_Constable's Correspondence_, + Vol. III, p. 244.) + + It is true, however, as R.S. Mackenzie says in his _Life of Scott_, + that Scott "had not only meditated, but partly executed an edition of + Shakespeare." The work was suggested by Constable in 1822, was begun + in 1823 or 1824, and three volumes of the proposed ten were printed by + the time of Constable's financial crash in the beginning of 1826. The + project was sometime afterwards abandoned, and the printed sheets, + which apparently were not bound up, disappeared from view. The first + volume was to be a life of Shakspere by Scott, and this was probably + not begun at all. Of the commentary in the other volumes, Scott was to + have the oversight but Lockhart was to do most of the work. It was not + designed that the critical apparatus should to any great degree + represent original ideas furnished by Lockhart or Scott, but the book + was to be "a sensible Shakespeare, in which the useful and readable + notes should be condensed and separated from the trash." (See the + discussion of the matter in letters between Scott and his publisher + given in the third volume of _Constables Correspondence_. See also + Lang's _Life of Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 409, and Vol. II, p. 13, and + Mackenzie's _Life of Scott_, pp. 475-6.) The Boston Public Library + contains three volumes which are thought to be a unique copy of so + much of the Scott-Lockhart Shakspere as was printed. (See below, the + Bibliography of books edited by Scott.) + + Scott's notes on Beaumont and Fletcher, which he had wished in 1804 to + offer to Gifford, were actually used by Weber in his _Beaumont and + Fletcher_, published about 1810, an edition which was characterized by + Scott as "too carelessly done to be reputable." (_Lockhart_, Vol. IV, + p. 472.)] + + [Footnote 137: He seems to have connected heroic plays too closely + with "the romances of Calprenède and Scudéri." See his introduction to + _The Indian Emperor_, Dryden, Vol. II, pp. 317-20; also Vol. I, p. 56, + and Vol. VI, p. 125. On his opinion in regard to the relation between + novels and plays see below, pp. 75-6.] + + [Footnote 138: See his comment on Corneille's _Oedipe_, _Dryden_, Vol. + VI, p. 125 and Mr. Saintsbury's note.] + + [Footnote 139: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 446.] + + [Footnote 140: Hutchinson's _Letters of Scott_, p. 224.] + + [Footnote 141: That Scott admired Sackville greatly is evident from + more than one comment. Of _Ferrex and Porrex_ he says, "In Sackville's + part of the play, which comprehends the two last acts, there is some + poetry worthy of the author of the sublime Induction to the Mirror of + Magistrates." (_Dryden_, Vol. II, p. 135.) Elsewhere Scott calls + Sackville "a beautiful poet." (_Fragmenta Regalia_, p. 277. _Secret + History of the Court of James I._, Vol. I, p. 278, note.)] + + [Footnote 142: _Dryden_, Vol. II, p. 136.] + + [Footnote 143: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 229. See also Vol. III, p. 223.] + + [Footnote 144: _Ibid._, Vol. V, p. 322.] + + [Footnote 145: See, for example, _Hawthornden_, in _Provincial + Antiquities_.] + + [Footnote 146: _Dryden_, Vol. XV, p. 337.] + + [Footnote 147: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 10.] + + [Footnote 148: Note on _Sir Tristrem_, Fytte II., stanza 56.] + + [Footnote 149: See Middleton's Plays in the Mermaid edition: + Introduction, Vol. I, pp. viii-ix.] + + [Footnote 150: Ticknor, in Allibone's _Dictionary_, Vol. II, p. 1968.] + + [Footnote 151: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 234; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 23.] + + [Footnote 152: See Scott's article on Molière, _Foreign Quarterly + Review_, February, 1828.] + + [Footnote 153: _Essay on Drama_; _Dryden_, Vol. I, p. 101 ff., Vol. + II, pp. 317-20, Vol. IV, p. 4.] + + [Footnote 154: _Dryden_, Vol. IV, p. 4.] + + [Footnote 155: Article on Molière, _Foreign Quarterly Review_, + February, 1828.] + + [Footnote 156: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 431.] + + [Footnote 157: Review of _Kelly's Reminiscences and the Life of + Kemble_, _Quarterly Review_, June, 1826.] + + [Footnote 158: _Ibid._] + + [Footnote 159: _Dryden_, Vol. VI, p. 128.] + + [Footnote 160: _In Provincial Antiquities_ (Borthwick Castle). Scott + cites parallels from _Sir John Oldcastle, The Pinner of Wakefield_, + and one of Nash's pamphlets, for a curious incident in Scottish + history.] + + [Footnote 161: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 431. This search among + seventeenth century pamphlets may have suggested to Scott the need of + a new edition of _Somers' Tracts_. Apparently he arranged with the + publishers in 1807 to undertake this task, but the first volume did + not appear till 1809. (_Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 10, and see below, pp. + 89-90, for an account of Scott's edition of the _Tracts_.) Some of his + materials for the _Dryden_ were taken from this collection, but more + from the Luttrell collection, to which he refers in the + Advertisement.] + + [Footnote 162: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 433. Scott's _Dryden_ appeared + in 1808, and with some slight changes in 1821; as reëdited by Mr. + Saintsbury it was published in 1882-1893. It was the first complete + and uniform edition of Dryden's works, and it remains the only one. + The dramatic works had appeared in folio in 1701. They were edited by + Congreve in 1717, and Scott used Congreve's text. The non-dramatic + poems were also published in 1701 in folio. They appeared in more + convenient forms in 1741, 1743, and 1760, but of these editions only + the last was reasonably complete. In 1800 the Critical and + Miscellaneous Prose Works were edited by Malone, who added a Life of + Dryden which has furnished a large part of the material used by + biographers since his time. This biography was badly written, but with + Johnson's brilliant essay it was the only Life of Dryden before + Scott's that was worth considering. An edition of Dryden's poems, with + notes by Joseph Warton and others, appeared in 1811, but seems to have + been prepared before Scott's edition was published. The text of this + is very incorrect. Since then the non-dramatic poems have been + published several times. Mr. Christie said in his preface to the Globe + edition: "Sir Walter Scott's is the last important edition of Dryden, + as it is indeed still the only general collection of his works; and it + is to be regretted that that distinguished man did not give as much + pains to the purification of Dryden's text as he did to his excellent + biography and to the notes which enrich the edition."] + + [Footnote 163: Editor's Preface.] + + [Footnote 164: _Dryden_, Vol. IX, p. 226.] + + [Footnote 165: _Ibid._, Vol. IX, p. 2.] + + [Footnote 166: In this connection Scott's review of Todd's edition of + Spenser is interesting. He takes exception to the lack of an + appearance of continuity in the biography, caused by the long + quotations included in the body of the narrative; and censures the + editor for not having used the history of Italian poetry in + elucidating Spenser's work. (_Edinburgh Review_, October, 1805.)] + + [Footnote 167: Review of Todd's _Spenser_.] + + [Footnote 168: _Dryden_, Vol. I, p. 6.] + + [Footnote 169: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 229; and _Dryden_, Vol. + I, p. 6.] + + [Footnote 170: _Dryden_, Vol. I, pp. 402-3.] + + [Footnote 171: _Dryden_, Vol. I, p. 403.] + + [Footnote 172: _Ibid._, p. 404. Mr. Saintsbury thinks that Scott's + prefatory introductions to the plays are often "both meagre and + depreciatory"; also that Scott's judgment on Dryden's letters is + rather harsh, for him, and that after he had begun to write novels he + would not have been so impatient of remarks on "turkeys, + marrow-puddings, and bacon."] + + [Footnote 173: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 405.] + + [Footnote 174: _Ibid._, Vol. X, p. 307 ff.] + + [Footnote 175: _Ibid._, Vol. XIV, pp. 136 and 146.] + + [Footnote 176: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 405.] + + [Footnote 177: In order to give a more specific view of Scott's + methods, two or three of the introductions to well-known poems may be + briefly analysed. The introduction to _Absalom and Achitophel_ + occupies 111/2 pages, of which about 21/2 are given to quotation from a + tract which Scott thought furnished the argument to Dryden, and which + was unnoticed by any former commentator. Scott's remarks follow this + outline: Position of the poem in literature, and history of its + composition; origin of the particular allegory as applied to modern + politics; a parallel use of the allegory (with a quotation from + _Somers' Tracts_ in illustrations); aptness of the allegory; merits of + the satire--treatment of Monmouth and other main characters; changes + in the second edition to mitigate the satire; characterization of the + poem as having few flights of imagination but much correctness of + taste as well as fire and spirit; other objections by Johnson refuted; + success of the poem; history of the first publication and of the + replies and congratulatory poems; editions, and Latin versions. The + notes on this poem are historical and very full, but the introduction + contains as much literary as historical comment. _Religio Laici_ is + prefaced by 8 pages of introduction, in which are discussed the motive + of the writing, the argument, the title, the purpose of the poem, and + its reputation. Dryden's style in didactic poetry is compared with + Cowper's, to the disadvantage of the later poet. The introduction to + _The Hind and the Panther_ is 20 pages long, and discusses the history + of the period as well as the argument of the poem, its style, the + subject of fables in general, and the effects the poem produced. The + notes on this poem are copious. As he discussed the _Fables_ in the + _Life of Dryden_, Scott gave them no general introduction, and for + each poem he wrote only a slight preface, telling something of the + source and pointing out special beauties. His notes vary greatly in + abundance. Those on _Palamon and Arcite_, _e.g._, are brief, + explaining terms of chivalry and heraldry, but not giving literary or + linguistic comment.] + + [Footnote 178: _Dryden_, Vol. XIII, p. 324.] + + [Footnote 179: _Ibid._, Vol. XII, p. 20.] + + [Footnote 180: _Ibid._, Vol. X, p. 213.] + + [Footnote 181: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 411.] + + [Footnote 182: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 98. See also _St. Ronan's Well_, + Vol. I, p. 105, and various mottoes in the novels. The edition of the + novels used for reference is that published in Edinburgh (1867) in 48 + volumes.] + + [Footnote 183: _Dryden_, Vol. X, p. 26.] + + [Footnote 184: For example see _Anne of Geierstein_, Vol. II, p. 307.] + + [Footnote 185: _Letters to Heber_, p. 292.] + + [Footnote 186: The price offered for the _Swift_ was £1500. This must + have been a rather rash speculation on the publisher's part, as there + had been several editions of Swift's works published. The first + appeared in twelve volumes in 1755, edited by Hawkesworth. Deane + Swift, Hawkesworth, and others, added thirteen more volumes in the + course of the next twenty-five years, and when the whole was completed + it was reissued in three different sizes. In 1785 an edition in + seventeen volumes was published, edited by Thomas Sheridan. In 1801 + the edition by Nichols was published, and it reappeared in 1804 and in + 1808. Hawkesworth and Thomas Sheridan supplied biographies which + Leslie Stephen characterized by saying that Hawkesworth's gave no new + material and that Sheridan's was "pompous and dull." (Preface to + Leslie Stephen's _Life of Swift_.)] + + [Footnote 187: _Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. II, p. 178.] + + [Footnote 188: This correspondence consisted of 28 letters from Swift, + and 16 "Vanessa."] + + [Footnote 189: A comparison of the index with the bibliography in the + _Dictionary of National Biography_ and with Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole's + _Notes for a Bibliography of Swift_ (_Bibliographer_, vi: 160-71) + shows that Scott was usually right in his judgment on the main + articles. But since Mr. Lane-Poole ends his list thus: "And numerous + short poems, trifles, characters and short pieces," it is evident that + one cannot carry the investigation far without undertaking to make a + complete bibliography of Swift. Mr. Temple Scott says, in the + Advertisement of his edition of Swift's Prose Works, begun in 1897, + that since Sir Walter's edition of 1824 "there has been no serious + attempt to grapple with the difficulties which then prevented and + which still beset the attainment of a trustworthy and substantially + complete text."] + + [Footnote 190: _Swift_, Vol. IV, p. 280. Two more of Scott's comments + may be given, further to illustrate his method. "This piece [William + Crowe's Address to her Majesty, _Swift_, Vol. XII, p. 265] and those + which follow, were first extracted by the learned Dr. Barrett, of + Trinity College, Dublin, from the Lanesborough and other manuscripts. + I have retained them from internal evidence, as I have discarded some + articles upon the same score." "The following poems [poems given as + "ascribed to Swift," Vol. X, p. 434] are extracted from the manuscript + of Lord Lanesborough, called the Whimsical Medley. They are here + inserted in deference to the opinion of a most obliging correspondent, + who thinks they are juvenile attempts of Swift. I own I cannot + discover much internal evidence in support of the supposition."] + + [Footnote 191: Colonel Parnell, writing in the _English Historical + Review_ on "Dean Swift and the Memoirs of Captain Carleton," has + spoken of the biography as "this most partial, verbose, and inaccurate + account of the dean's life and writings." He says also that in editing + _Carleton's Memoirs_ Scott adopted, without investigation and in the + face of evidence, Johnson's opinion that the memoirs were genuine; + that Scott was mistaken about the date of the first edition and + misquoted the title page; and that his "glowing account" of Lord + Peterborough, in the introduction, was amplified (without + acknowledgment) from a panegyric by Dr. Birch in "Houbraken's Heads." + (_English Historical Review_, January, 1891; vi: 97. For a further + reference to the article see below, p. 144.)] + + [Footnote 192: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 20.] + + [Footnote 193: September, 1816.] + + [Footnote 194: _Swift_ Vol. XVII, p. 4, note.] + + [Footnote 195: _Life of Swift_, conclusion.] + + [Footnote 196: _Swift_, Vol. XI, p. 12.] + + [Footnote 197: Vol. IX, p. 569. The tract had already been correctly + assigned. A similar note on another tract indicates more careful + research on the part of the editor. The paper is _A Secret History of + One Year_, which had commonly been attributed to Robert Walpole. Scott + says: "This tract in not to found in Mr. Coxe's list of Sir Robert + Walpole's publications, nor in that given by his son, the Earl of + Oxford, in the Royal and Noble Authors.... It does not seem at all + probable that Walpole should at this crisis have thought it proper to + advocate these principles." (Vol. XIII, p. 873.) The piece is now + attributed to Defoe.] + + [Footnote 198: See above, p. 4.] + + [Footnote 199: _Horace Walpole_, in _Lives of the Novelists_.] + + [Footnote 200: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 512.] + + [Footnote 201: _Quarterly_, September, 1826.] + + [Footnote 202: See his explanation, in the articles themselves.] + + [Footnote 203: _The Mid-Eighteenth Century_, by J.H. Millar, p. 143, + note.] + + [Footnote 204: _Ibid._, p. 159. Scott compares Fielding and Smollett + at some length in the _Life of Smollett_.] + + [Footnote 205: _Life of Le Sage_.] + + [Footnote 206: _Life of Richardson_.] + + [Footnote 207: _Life of Fielding_.] + + [Footnote 208: _Life of Goldsmith_. As we might expect, Scott speaks + rather too favorably of Goldsmith's hack work in history and science.] + + [Footnote 209: _Life of Sterne_.] + + [Footnote 210: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 35.] + + [Footnote 211: See above, p. 53, note.] + + [Footnote 212: See also the Introductory epistle to _Ivanhoe_; and the + Review of _Walpole's Letters_. "In attaining his contemporary + triumph," says Mr. Brander Matthews, "Scott owed more to Horace + Walpole than to Maria Edgeworth." _The Historical Novel_, p. 10.] + + [Footnote 213: Scott uses the word.] + + [Footnote 214: Mr. G.A. Aitken has given convincing evidence that the + story was not invented by Defoe. Mr. Aitken also shows the falsity of + Scott's statement that Drelincourt's book was in need of advertising, + as William Lee, in his _Life of Defoe_, had previously done. (See _The + Nineteenth Century_, xxxvii: 95. January, 1895; and also Aitken's + edition of Defoe's _Romances and Narratives_, Vol. XV, Introduction.) + A passage from Defoe's _History of the Church of Scotland_ is quoted + in the review of _Tales of My Landlord_, by Scott, who says that it + probably suggested one of the scenes in _Old Mortality_. Scott there + speaks of Defoe's "liveliness of imagination," and says he "excelled + all others in dramatizing a story, and presenting it as if in actual + speech and action before the reader." (_Quarterly Review_, January, + 1817.)] + + [Footnote 215: See also _The Fortunes of Nigel_, Vol. II, pp. 88-9.] + + [Footnote 216: _Life of Clara Reeve_.] + + [Footnote 217: Blackwood, March, 1818.] + + [Footnote 218: _Quarterly_, May, 1818.] + + [Footnote 219: See a reference to Voltaire and other French authors; + _Napoleon_, Vol. I, ch. 2.] + + [Footnote 220: _Life of Richardson_.] + + [Footnote 221: We gather from Scott's article that he considered the + following to be the chief "speculative errors" of Bage: he was an + infidel; he misrepresented different classes of society, thinking the + high tyrannical and the low virtuous and generous; his system of + ethics was founded on philosophy instead of religion; he was inclined + to minimize the importance of purity in women; he considered + tax-gatherers extortioners, and soldiers, licensed murderers.] + + [Footnote 222: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 132.] + + [Footnote 223: Familiar Letters, Vol. I, p. 192. In his _George the + Third_, Thackeray said: "Do you remember the verses--the sacred + verses--which Johnson wrote on the death of his humble friend Levett?" + (Biographical edition of Thackeray, Vol. VII, p. 671.)] + + [Footnote 224: _Life of Johnson_.] + + [Footnote 225: Introduction to _Chronicles of the Canongate_.] + + [Footnote 226: _Dryden_, Vol. XI, p. 81, note; Review of the _Life and + Works of John Home_, _Quarterly_, June, 1827.] + + [Footnote 227: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 44.] + + [Footnote 228: _Swift_, Vol. XVI, p. 275, note. On one of the last sad + days before Sir Walter left Scotland for his Italian journey he quoted + in full Prior's poem on Mezeray's History of France. (_Lockhart_, Vol. + V, pp. 339-40.)] + + [Footnote 229: _Swift_, Vol. III, p. 36.] + + [Footnote 230: _Ibid._, Vol. XIII, p. 24.] + + [Footnote 231: _Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. II, p. 194.] + + [Footnote 232: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 67; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 401.] + + [Footnote 233: Allan Cunningham's _Life of Scott_, p. 96.] + + [Footnote 234: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 483.] + + [Footnote 235: See the satirical paragraph in his review of _Gertrude + of Wyoming_, on the habits of reviewers in general. "We are perfectly + aware," he says, "that, according to the modern canons of criticism, + the Reviewer is expected to show his immense superiority to the author + reviewed, and at the same time to relieve the tediousness of + narration, by turning the epic, dramatic, moral story before him into + quaint and lively burlesque." (_Quarterly_, May, 1809.) In his review + of the _Life and Works of John Home_ he speaks of "the hackneyed rules + of criticism, which, having crushed a hundred poets, will never, it + may be prophesied, create, or assist in creating, a single one." + (_Quarterly_, June, 1827.)] + + [Footnote 236: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 363.] + + [Footnote 237: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 501. For a further comparison of + Scott and Jeffrey as critics see below, pp. 134-5.] + + [Footnote 238: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 204.] + + [Footnote 239: _Ibid._, Vol. V, p. 97.] + + [Footnote 240: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 262] + + [Footnote 241: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 173] + + [Footnote 242: In general Scott admired Lockhart. "I have known the + most able men of my time," he once wrote, "and I never met any one who + had such ready command of his own mind, and possessed in a greater + degree the power of making his talents available upon the shortest + notice, and upon any subject." (_Life of Murray_, Vol. II, p. 222.) + But in Lockhart's earlier days Scott said, "I am sometimes angry with + him for an exuberant love of fun in his light writings, which he has + caught, I think, from Wilson, a man of greater genius than himself + perhaps, but who disputes with low adversaries, which I think a + terrible error, and indulges in a sort of humour which exceeds the + bounds of playing at ladies and gentlemen, a game to which I have been + partial all my life." (_Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart_, p. 225.)] + + [Footnote 243: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 400.] + + [Footnote 244: Lang's _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 406.] + + [Footnote 245: _Life of Murray_, Vol. I, pp. 146-7.] + + [Footnote 246: _Quarterly_, February, 1809.] + + [Footnote 247: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 327.] + + [Footnote 248: Scott wrote a poetical epitaph for the burial place of + Miss Seward and her father. See _Edinburgh Annual Register_, Vol. II, + pt. 2. In the introduction to _The Tapestried Chamber_, Scott said, + "It was told to me many years ago by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, + among other accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a + country house, had that of recounting narratives of this sort with + very considerable effect; much greater, indeed, than anyone would be + apt to guess from the style of her written performances." It must be + remembered that Miss Seward was one of the first persons of any + literary note, outside of Edinburgh, to show an interest in Scott's + work, and he committed himself to admiration of her poetry when he was + still in a rather uncritical stage. In regard to his later feeling + about her see _Recollections_, by R.P. Gillies, _Fraser's_, xiii: 692, + January, 1836.] + + [Footnote 249: J.L. Adolphus, in an interesting passage in his + _Letters to Heber on the Authorship of Waverley_, noted many of the + references to contemporary poets. See pp. 53-4. See also Hazlitt's + _Spirit of the Age_, art. _Sir Walter Scott_] + + [Footnote 250: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 341. See also a similar + anecdote in Forster's _Life of Landor_, Vol. II, p. 244.] + + [Footnote 251: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 116-17.] + + [Footnote 252: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 132.] + + [Footnote 253: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 321.] + + [Footnote 254: Review of _Cromek's Reliques of Burns_, _Quarterly_, + February, 1809.] + + [Footnote 255: _Ibid._] + + [Footnote 256: _Ibid._] + + [Footnote 257: Crabbe Robinson, in his diary (quoted by Knight in his + edition of Wordsworth, Vol. X, p. 189), says that Coleridge and his + friends "consider Scott as having stolen the verse" of _Christabel_. + On this point see also a letter by Coleridge, given in Meteyard's + _Group of Englishmen_, pp. 327-8. In 1807 Coleridge wrote to Southey: + "I did not over-hugely admire the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' but saw + no likeness whatever to the 'Christabel,' much less any improper + resemblance." (_Letters of Coleridge_, ed. by E.H. Coleridge, Vol. II, + p. 523.) Yet Mr. Lang seems to think that in this matter Scott "showed + something of the deficient sense of _meum_ and _tuum_ which marked his + freebooting ancestors." (_Sir Walter Scott_, p. 36.) Apparently Scott + never dreamed that the matter could be looked at in this way. In + Lockhart's _Scott_ (Vol. II, pp. 77-8) we find described an occasion + on which the two men once met in London, when they were asked, with + other poets who were present, to recite from their unpublished + writings. Coleridge complied with the request, but Scott said he had + nothing of his own and would repeat some stanzas he had seen in a + newspaper. The poem was criticised adversely in spite of Scott's + protests, till Coleridge lost patience and exclaimed, "Let Mr. Scott + alone; I wrote the poem." Coleridge's lines: + + "The Knight's bones are dust + And his good sword rust, + His soul is with the saints, I trust," + + are probably much better known as they appear in _Ivanhoe_, + incorrectly quoted, than in their proper form. Scott also added a note + on Coleridge in this connection. (_Ivanhoe_, Chapter VIII.)] + + [Footnote 258: But apparently not in any earlier than _The Black + Dwarf_, which was written in 1816, the year in which the poem was + published. It was about 1803 that Scott heard _Christabel_ recited. + See _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 221.] + + [Footnote 259: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 356.] + + [Footnote 260: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 315.] + + [Footnote 261: See _Letters to Heber_, p. 293; _On Imitations of the + Ancient Ballad_; _Lockhart_, Vol. III, pp. 56 and 264; _Quentin + Durward_, Vol. II, p. 394.] + + [Footnote 262: Note in _The Abbot_.] + + [Footnote 263: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 223.] + + [Footnote 264: Note in _St. Ronan's Well_. See also the comment on + _Wallenstein_ in _Paul's Letters_, Letter XV.] + + [Footnote 265: Review of _Childe Harold_, _Canto III_, _Quarterly_, + October, 1816.] + + [Footnote 266: In 1818 Scott wrote a review of _Frankenstein_ in which + it appears that he thought Shelley was the author. Shelley had sent + the book with a note in which he said that it was the work of a friend + and he had merely seen it through the press; and Scott took this for + the conventional evasion so often resorted to by authors. (See Mr. + Lang's note in his Introduction to the Waverley Novels, p. lxxxvi.) + Scott praises the substance and style of the book, and advises the + author to cultivate his poetical powers, in words which make it + evident that he did not know Shelley as a poet, though _Alastor_ had + appeared in 1816. Scott also praises _Frankenstein_ in his article on + Hoffmann. In reading Scott's novels I have noted two reminiscences of + the line, "One word is too often profaned." They are to be found in + _Old Mortality_, Vol. II, p. 93, and in _Redgauntlet_, Vol. I, p. + 224.] + + [Footnote 267: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 179.] + + [Footnote 268: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 40.] + + [Footnote 269: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 97.] + + [Footnote 270: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 333] + + [Footnote 271: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 190.] + + [Footnote 272: I quote from the letter as given in Knight's + _Wordsworth_, Vol. II, p. 105. Prof. Knight says that Lockhart quotes + the letter less exactly (Vol. I, p. 489.)] + + [Footnote 273: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 428.] + + [Footnote 274: Even Byron admired Southey. He once wrote, "His prose + is perfect. Of his poetry there are various opinions: there is, + perhaps, too much of it for the present generation; posterity will + probably select. He has _passages_ equal to anything." (Byron's + _Letters and Journals_, ed. Prothero, Vol. II, p. 331.) Shelley also + had a high opinion of Southey's work. (Dowden's _Life of Shelley_, + Vol. I, p. 158, and pp. 471-2.) Landor liked _Madoc_ and _Thalaba_ so + much that, when he found Southey hesitating to write more poems of a + similar kind because they did not pay, he offered to bear the expense + of the publication. Southey refused the assistance, but was stimulated + by the kindness and considered Landor's encouragement responsible for + his later work in poetry. (Forster's _Life of Landor_, Vol. I, pp. + 209-214.)] + + [Footnote 275: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 307.] + + [Footnote 276: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 415.] + + [Footnote 277: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 477; see also _Edinburgh Annual + Register_ for 1809, part 2, p. 588.] + + [Footnote 278: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 197.] + + [Footnote 279: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 127.] + + [Footnote 280: In his youth Scott read Dante with other Italian + authors, but he did not become well acquainted with him, and later + even expressed dislike for his work. (See _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 408.) + In 1825 he wrote to W.S. Rose, "I will subscribe for Dante with all + pleasure, on condition you do not insist on my reading him." (_Fam. + Let._, Vol. II, p. 356.)] + + [Footnote 281: It may be interesting to have Southey's comment on the + same article. (See _Southey's Letters_, Vol. II, p. 307.) He says, + "Bedford has seen the review which Scott has written of it, and which, + from his account, though a very friendly one, is, like that of the + 'Cid,' very superficial. He sees nothing but the naked story; the + moral feeling which pervades it has escaped him. I do not know whether + Bedford will be able to get a paragraph interpolated touching upon + this, and showing that there is some difference between a work of high + imagination and a story of mere amusement." Either Bedford was + mistaken in saying that Scott had ignored the moral aspect of the + poem, or else he succeeded in getting a passage interpolated, for the + review is sufficiently definite on that point.] + + [Footnote 282: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 481.] + + [Footnote 283: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 296.] + + [Footnote 284: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 413.] + + [Footnote 285: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 112; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. + 429.] + + [Footnote 286: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 391.] + + [Footnote 287: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 211.] + + [Footnote 288: Introduction to _Marmion_; _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 82.] + + [Footnote 289: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 508.] + + [Footnote 290: Byron did not altogether approve of Scott's poetry, but + he felt its effectiveness. In his "Reply to Blackwood's Edinburgh + Magazine," Byron wrote: "What have we got instead [of following Pope]? + A deluge of flimsy and unintelligible romances, imitated from Scott + and myself, who have both made the best of our bad materials and + erroneous system."] + + [Footnote 291: Review of _Childe Harold_, _Canto III_, _Quarterly_, + October, 1816.] + + [Footnote 292: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 182.] + + [Footnote 293: It should be remembered also that Scott's first review + of _Childe Harold_ appeared at a time when all England was condemning + Byron for his treatment of Lady Byron, and that the article was + thought by many to be altogether too lenient. Byron wrote to Murray + expressing his pleasure in the review before he knew who was + responsible for it, and some years later he wrote to Scott as follows: + "To have been recorded by you in such a manner would have been a proud + memorial at any time, but at such a time ... was something still + higher to my self-esteem.... Had it been a common criticism, however + eloquent or panegyrical, I should have felt pleased, undoubtedly, and + grateful, but not to the extent which the extraordinary + good-heartedness of the whole proceeding must induce in any mind + capable of such sensations." (_Byron's Letters and Journals_, Vol. VI, + p. 2.) See _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 510, for quotations from Byron + showing his admiration for Scott. An interesting contrast between the + characters of the two poets is drawn by H.S. Legaré. (See his + _Collected Writings_, Vol. II, p. 258.)] + + [Footnote 294: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 221] + + [Footnote 295: _Remarks on the Death of Lord Byron_.] + + [Footnote 296: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 525] + + [Footnote 297: See Nichol's _Byron_ (English Men of Letters), p. 205; + and Arnold's essay on Byron.] + + [Footnote 298: _Quarterly Review_, May, 1809.] + + [Footnote 299: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 341.] + + [Footnote 300: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 9.] + + [Footnote 301: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 70.] + + [Footnote 302: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 306.] + + [Footnote 303: Byron said, "Crabbe's the man, but he has got a coarse + and impracticable subject." (Moore's _Life and Letters of Byron_, Vol. + IV, pp. 63-4.) Leslie Stephen remarks that Crabbe "was admired by + Byron in his rather wayward mood of Pope-worship, as the last + representative of the legitimate school." (_English Literature and + Society in the 18th Century_, p. 207.)] + + [Footnote 304: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 197.] + + [Footnote 305: The reader will at once recall the ingenuous remark of + Sophia Scott when she was asked, shortly after its appearance, how she + liked _The Lady of the Lake_. She said, "Oh, I have not read it; Papa + says there's nothing so bad for young people as reading bad poetry." + (_Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 130. See also the _Life of Irving_, Vol. I, + p. 444.)] + + [Footnote 306: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 94.] + + [Footnote 307: _Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. I, p. 353.] + + [Footnote 308: See _Marmion_, introduction to Canto III, and other + passages noted by Adolphus in the _Letters to Heber_, p. 295. See also + _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 198, and the passage in _Lockhart_ + (Vol. II, p. 132), in which James Ballantyne reports Scott as saying + to him, "If you wish to speak of a real poet, Joanna Baillie is now + the highest genius of our country."] + + [Footnote 309: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 306.] + + [Footnote 310: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 359; also Vol. I, p. 255; and + _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 300.] + + [Footnote 311: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 117.] + + [Footnote 312: _Ibid._, Vol. V, p. 448.] + + [Footnote 313: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 14.] + + [Footnote 314: _Forster_, Vol. I, p. 84, note.] + + [Footnote 315: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 95.] + + [Footnote 316: _Haydon's Correspondence_, Vol. I, p. 356.] + + [Footnote 317: Hunt says Scott was interested in reading _The Story of + Rimini_. See Hunt's _Autobiography_, Vol. I, p. 260.] + + [Footnote 318: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 22. Scott wrote as follows to + Lockhart after the appearance of _Lord Byron and Some of his + Contemporaries_: "Hunt has behaved like a hyena to Byron, whom he has + dug up to girn and howl over him in the same breath." Mr. Lang makes + this comment: "Leigh Hunt ... had gone out of his way to insult Sir + Walter and to make the most baseless insinuations against him. Scott + probably never mentioned Leigh Hunt's name publicly in his life, and + he refers to the insults neither in his correspondence nor in his + _Journal_." (Lang's _Life of Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 22 and 24.) Hunt + evidently thought that Scott was partly responsible for the articles + in _Blackwood_ on the Cockney School. He says, "Unfortunately some of + the knaves were not destitute of talent: the younger were tools of + older ones who kept out of sight." (Hunt's _Lord Byron_, etc., Vol. I, + p. 423.) In his _Autobiography_, Hunt says, "Sir Walter Scott + confessed to Mr. Severn at Rome that the truth respecting Keats had + prevailed." (Vol. II, p. 44.) Mr. Lang points out that though Colvin + said of Scott (in his _Life of Keats_) "that he was in some measure + privy to the Cockney School outrages seems certain," he afterwards + recanted the statement. (In his edition of _Keats's Letters_, p. 60, + note. See Lang's _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 196-8.) Scott invited Lamb to + Abbotsford when Lamb was looked upon as a leader of the Cockney + School. (Lang's _Scott_, p. 52.)] + + [Footnote 319: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 155; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 476, + and Vol. V, p. 380.] + + [Footnote 320: _Quarterly_, October, 1815.] + + [Footnote 321: Postscript to _Waverley_, and General Introduction.] + + [Footnote 322: For references to the group of women novelists who were + so successful in depicting manners, see the _Life of Charlotte Smith_; + the Postscript to _Waverley_; the Introduction to _St. Ronan's Well_; + _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 164.] + + [Footnote 323: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. III.] + + [Footnote 324: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 116.] + + [Footnote 325: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, 164.] + + [Footnote 326: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 299; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 65.] + + [Footnote 327: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 295; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 62.] + + [Footnote 328: The reference as given by Lockhart is as follows: "This + man, who has shown so much genius, has a good deal of the manners, or + want of manners, peculiar to his countrymen." (_Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 62.) Cooper observes in regard to this point: "The manners of most + Europeans strike us as exaggerated, while we appear cold to them. Sir + Walter Scott was certainly so obliging as to say many flattering + things to me, which I, as certainly, did not repay in kind. As Johnson + said of his interview with George the Third, it was not for me to + bandy compliments with my sovereign. At that time the diary was a + sealed book to the world, and I did not know the importance he + attached to such civilities." It is a pity that the transcriber of the + passage in the _Journal_ changed "manner," which was the word Scott + wrote, to the more objectionable "manners." (_Journal_, Vol. I, p. + 295.)] + + [Footnote 329: Scott's letter was substantially as follows: "I have + considered in all its bearings the matter which your kindness has + suggested. Upon many former occasions I have been urged by my friends + in America to turn to some advantage the sale of my writings in your + country, and render that of pecuniary avail as an individual which I + feel as the highest compliment as an author. I declined all these + proposals, because the sale of this country produced me as much profit + as I desired, and more--far more--than I deserved. But my late heavy + losses have made my situation somewhat different, and have rendered it + a point of necessity and even duty to neglect no means of making the + sale of my works effectual to the extrication of my affairs, which can + be honorably and honestly resorted to. If therefore Mr. Carey, or any + other publishing gentleman of credit and character, should think it + worth while to accept such an offer, I am willing to convey to him the + exclusive right of publishing the _Life of Napoleon_, and my future + works in America, making it always a condition, which indeed will be + dictated by the publisher's own interest, that this monopoly shall not + be used for the purpose of raising the price of the work to my + American readers, but only for that of supplying the public at the + usual terms.... + + "At any rate, if what I propose should not be found of force to + prevent piracy, I cannot but think from the generosity and justice of + American feeling, that a considerable preference would be given in the + market to the editions emanating directly from the publisher selected + by the author, and in the sale of which the author had some interest. + + "If the scheme shall altogether fail, it at least infers no loss, and + therefore is, I think, worth the experiment. It is a fair and open + appeal to the liberality, perhaps in some sort to the justice, of a + great people; and I think I ought not in the circumstances to decline + venturing upon it. I have done so manfully and openly, though not + perhaps without some painful feelings, which however are more than + compensated by the interest you have taken in this unimportant matter, + of which I will not soon lose the recollection." (_Knickerbocker + Magazine_, Vol. XI, p. 380 ff., April, 1838.)] + + [Footnote 330: _Knickerbocker_, Vol. XII, p. 349 ff., October, 1838.] + + [Footnote 331: In a letter written in January, 1839, Sumner said, + speaking of Cooper's article, "I think a proper castigation is applied + to the vulgar minds of Scott and Lockhart." (See _Memoir and Letters + of Charles Sumner_, by Edward L. Pierce, Vol. II, p. 38; and + Lounsbury's _Cooper_, p. 160.)] + + [Footnote 332: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, pp. 163-4.] + + [Footnote 333: _Ibid._, Vol. III, p. 262.] + + [Footnote 334: _Ibid._, Vol. III, p. 131, note; _Fam. Let._, Vol. I, + p. 440. "Walter Scott was the first transatlantic author to bear + witness to the merit of Knickerbocker," wrote P.M. Irving in his _Life + of Washington Irving_. Henry Brevoort presented Scott with a copy of + the second edition in 1813, and received this reply: "I beg you to + accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of entertainment which I + have received from the most excellently jocose history of New York. I + am sensible that as a stranger to American parties and politics I must + lose much of the concealed satire of the piece, but I must own that + looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I have never read + anything so closely resembling the style of Dean Swift, as the annals + of Diedrich Knickerbocker.... I think too there are passages which + indicate that the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has + some touches which remind me much of Sterne." (_Life of Irving_, Vol. + I, p. 240.) When, in 1819, Irving needed money, he wrote to Scott for + advice about publishing the _Sketch Book_ in England. "Scott was the + only literary man," he says, "to whom I felt that I could talk about + myself and my petty concerns with the confidence and freedom that I + would to an old friend--nor was I deceived. From the first moment that + I mentioned my work to him in a letter, he took a decided and + effective interest in it, and has been to me an invaluable friend." + (Vol. I, p. 456.) At this time Scott asked Irving to accept the + editorship of a political newspaper in Edinburgh, an offer which + Irving of course refused. (_Fam. Let._, Vol. II, p. 60; _Life of + Irving_, Vol. I, pp. 441-2, and Vol. III, pp. 272-3.) Scott called the + _Sketch Book_ "positively beautiful." He was by some people supposed + to be the author. In this connection it was said of him that his "very + numerous disguises," and his "well-known fondness for literary + masquerading, seem to have gained him the advantage of being suspected + as the author of every distinguished work that is published." (Letter + by Lady Lyttleton, in _Life of Irving_, Vol. II, p. 21.)] + + [Footnote 335: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 131; _Life of Irving_, Vol. I, + p. 240.] + + [Footnote 336: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 161.] + + [Footnote 337: _Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft_, Letter II.] + + [Footnote 338: _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 199.] + + [Footnote 339: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, pp. 100-104.] + + [Footnote 340: Vol. I, p. 371.] + + [Footnote 341: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 359; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 100. + See also _Journal_, Vol. II, pp. 483-4.] + + [Footnote 342: Review of Hoffmann's novels, _Foreign Quarterly + Review_, July, 1827.] + + [Footnote 343: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 19.] + + [Footnote 344: M. Maigron says, speaking of the vogue of Scott in + France: "On peut affirmer mème que, de 1820 à 1830, aucun nom français + ne fut en France aussi connu et aussi glorieux." (_Le Roman Historique + à l'Époque Romantique_, p. 99. See also pp. 100-133.)] + + [Footnote 345: The phrase is quoted from Scott's article on the _Life + and Works of John Home_, in which it is applied to Home's critical + work. The same idea occurs frequently in Scott's books, as indicating + one of the finest graces of life. It was one which Sir Walter was + foremost in practicing in all his social relations.] + + [Footnote 346: He was talking about Pope. See the _Recollections_, by + R.P. Gillies, _Fraser's_, xii: 253 (Sept., 1835).] + + [Footnote 347: Review of _The Battles of Talavera_, _Quarterly_, + November, 1809.] + + [Footnote 348: Editor's Introduction to _Montrose_, Border edition of + the Waverley Novels.] + + [Footnote 349: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 125.] + + [Footnote 350: _Quarterly_, January, 1817. Scott evidently wrote this + article chiefly for the purpose of defending the historical accuracy + of _Old Mortality_. He also wished to show that _The Black Dwarf_ was + founded on fact; and he devoted some space, as will appear in the + passage quoted below (pp. 111-112), to a discussion of the artistic + aspects of these and the earlier Waverly novels.] + + [Footnote 351: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 269.] + + [Footnote 352: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 276.] + + [Footnote 353: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 96.] + + [Footnote 354: Introductory epistle to _Nigel_; _Fam. Let._, Vol. I, + p. 28.] + + [Footnote 355: Introduction to the _Monastery_.] + + [Footnote 356: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 258.] + + [Footnote 357: _Rokeby_, Canto VI, stanza 26; _Waverley_, Vol. II, pp. + 399-400; _Journal_, Vol. 1, p. 117; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, pp. 447-8.] + + [Footnote 358: Review of the _Life and Works of John Home_, + _Quarterly_, June, 1827.] + + [Footnote 359: Review of Southery's _Life of Bunyan_, _Quarterly_, + October, 1830.] + + [Footnote 360: _Quarterly_, January, 1817.] + + [Footnote 361: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 7-8.] + + [Footnote 362: _Quarterly_, November, 1809.] + + [Footnote 363: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 128.] + + [Footnote 364: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 129.] + + [Footnote 365: Epistle prefixed to Canto V.] + + [Footnote 366: Epistle prefixed to Canto III.] + + [Footnote 367: Hazlitt's _Spirit of the Age_, art. _Sir Walter Scott_; + see _Letters to Heber_, p. 75 ff.] + + [Footnote 368: It is hard to say just how much he accomplished by the + proof-reading, which, to judge by his Journal, he habitually + performed. He wrote to Kirkpatrick Sharpe in 1809, after seeing a new + number of the _Quarterly_: "I am a little disconcerted with the + appearance of one or two of my own articles, which I have had no + opportunity to revise in proof." (_Sharpe's Correspondence_, Vol. I, + p. 370.) Lockhart gives an interesting sample of a sheet of Scott's + poetry tentatively revised by Ballantyne and reworked by the author. + (_Lockhart_, Vol. III, pp. 32-5.) It is certain that Ballantyne made + many suggestions, some of which Scott accepted and some of which he + summarily rejected. In Hogg's _Domestic Manners of Scott_ we find the + following account of what the printer said when Hogg reported that Sir + Walter was to correct some proofs for him: "He correct them for you! + Lord help you and him both! I assure you if he had nobody to correct + after him, there would be a bonny song through the country. He is the + most careless and incorrect writer that ever was born, for a + voluminous and popular writer, and as for sending a proof sheet to + him, we may as well keep it in the office. He never heeds it.... He + will never look at either your proofs or his own, unless it be for a + few minutes amusement" (pp. 242-3). When he wrote to Miss Baillie that + he had read the proofs of a play of hers which was being published in + Edinburgh, he added, "but this will not ensure their being altogether + correct, for in despite of great practice, Ballantyne insists I have a + bad eye." (_Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 173.)] + + [Footnote 369: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 79; also 234 and 239; + _Lockhart_, Vol. V, pp. 116 and 240.] + + [Footnote 370: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 117; _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. + 448.] + + [Footnote 371: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, pp. 2 and 391.] + + [Footnote 372: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 72.] + + [Footnote 373: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 101.] + + [Footnote 374: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 113.] + + [Footnote 375: Essay on _Imitations of the Ancient Ballad_.] + + [Footnote 376: A friend of Scott's once wrote to him, "You are the + only author I ever yet knew to whom one might speak plain about the + faults found with his works." (_Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 282.) He + took great pains, contrary to his usual custom, in revising and + correcting the _Malachi Malagrowther_ papers, but these were + argumentative and in an altogether different class from his poems and + novels; and besides he felt a special responsibility in writing upon a + public matter "far more important than anything referring to [his] + fame or fortune alone." (_Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 460.)] + + [Footnote 377: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 379.] + + [Footnote 378: Introduction to the _Pirate_.] + + [Footnote 379: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 250.] + + [Footnote 380: This was, of course, an effect of overwork and disease. + Irving quotes Scott as saying: "It is all nonsense to tell a man that + his mind is not affected, when his body is in this state." (_Irving's + Life_, Vol. II, p. 459.)] + + [Footnote 381: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 181.] + + [Footnote 382: See _Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 265-6.] + + [Footnote 383: _Journal_, Vol. I, pp. 212-13; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 13.] + + [Footnote 384: See _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 309; _Lockhart_, + Vol. I, p. 216; Vol. IV, pp. 128 and 498; Vol. V, pp. 128, 412, 448.] + + [Footnote 385: _Correspondence of C.K. Sharpe_, Vol. I, p. 352.] + + [Footnote 386: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 276. In the _Edinburgh Annual + Register_ for 1808 (published 1810) is an article on the _Living Poets + of Great Britain_, which if not written by Scott was evidently + influenced by him. Speaking of Southey, Campbell and Scott, the writer + says: "Were we set to classify their respective admirers we should be + apt to say that those who feel poetry most enthusiastically prefer + Southey; those who try it by the most severe rules admire Campbell; + while the general mass of readers prefer to either the Border Poet. In + this arrangement we should do Mr. Scott no injustice, because we + assign to him in the number of suffrages what we deny him in their + value." He once wrote to Miss Baillie, "No one can both eat his cake + and have his cake, and I have enjoyed too extensive popularity in this + generation to be entitled to draw long-dated bills upon the applause + of the next." (_Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 173.) But in the + Introductory Epistle to _Nigel_ he said, "It has often happened that + those who have been best received in their own time have also + continued to be acceptable to posterity. I do not think so ill of the + present generation as to suppose that its present favour necessarily + infers future condemnation."] + + [Footnote 387: Introduction to the _Lady of the Lake_; _Lockhart_, + Vol. II, p. 130.] + + [Footnote 388: Introduction to _Chronicles of the Canongate_.] + + [Footnote 389: _Journal_, Vol. II, p 473.] + + [Footnote 390: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 355.] + + [Footnote 391: _Ibid._, Vol. V, p. 164.] + + [Footnote 392: See speech of Humphry Gubbin, in _The Tender Husband_, + Act I, Sc. 2.] + + [Footnote 393: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p 297; see also _Familiar + Letters_, Vol. I, p. 55.] + + [Footnote 394: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 104 and 124.] + + [Footnote 395: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 222; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 18.] + + [Footnote 396: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 350.] + + [Footnote 397: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 508.] + + [Footnote 398: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 229.] + + [Footnote 399: When Constable was proposing to publish the poetry of + the novels separately, Scott wrote to him that it was beyond his own + power to distinguish what was original from what was borrowed, and + suggested the following Advertisement for the book: + + "We believe by far the greater part of the poetry interspersed through + these novels to be original compositions by the author. At the same + time the reader will find passages which are quoted from other + authors, and may probably debit more of these than our more limited + reading has enabled us to ascertain. Indeed, it is our opinion that + some of the following poetry is neither entirely original nor + altogether borrowed, but consists in some instances of passages from + other authors, which the author has not hesitated to alter + considerably, either to supply defects of his own memory, or to adapt + the quotation more explicitly and aptly to the matter in hand." + (_Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, pp. 222-3.)] + + [Footnote 400: "I have taught nearly a hundred gentlemen to fence very + nearly, if not altogether, as well as myself," he said. (_Journal_, + Vol. I, p. 167. See also pp. 273-5.)] + + [Footnote 401: _Journal_, Vol. I, pp. 275-6; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 45.] + + [Footnote 402: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, pp. 322 and 492; Vol. V, p. 186.] + + [Footnote 403: _Ibid._, Vol. IV, p. 110.] + + [Footnote 404: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 106, and _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 162.] + + [Footnote 405: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, pp. 33-4.] + + [Footnote 406: _Ibid._, Vol. III, p. 259.] + + [Footnote 407: _Waverley_, Vol. I, pp. 112-3. See also Mackenzie's + _Life of Scott_, p. 364.] + + [Footnote 408: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 29.] + + [Footnote 409: _Journal_, Vol. I, pp. 274-5; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 44. See also his review of Godwin's _Life of Chaucer_.] + + [Footnote 410: _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 103.] + + [Footnote 411: _Ibid._, Vol. IV, p. 260.] + + [Footnote 412: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 96.] + + [Footnote 413: Review of Tytler's _History of Scotland_, _Quarterly_, + November, 1829.] + + [Footnote 414: _Southey's Letters_, Vol. IV, p. 62.] + + [Footnote 415: Herford's _Age of Wordsworth_, pp. 39-40.] + + [Footnote 416: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 60.] + + [Footnote 417: _Paul's Letters_, Letter XVI.] + + [Footnote 418: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 320.] + + [Footnote 419: On Goethe's favorable opinion of the _Napoleon_, see a + letter given in the appendix to Scott's _Journal_ (Vol. II, pp. 485-6 + and note).] + + [Footnote 420: Carlyle's _Essay on Scott_. See also Taine's _History + of English Literature_, Introduction, I.] + + [Footnote 421: Review of _Metrical Romances_, _Edinburgh Review_, + January, 1806.] + + [Footnote 422: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 333.] + + [Footnote 423: _The Pirate_, Vol. II, p. 138.] + + [Footnote 424: Introductory Epistle to _Ivanhoe_. Freeman, in his + _Norman Conquest_, vigorously attacks _Ivanhoe_ for its unwarranted + picture of the relations between Saxons and Normans in the thirteenth + century. (Vol. V, pp. 551-561.)] + + [Footnote 425: Mr. Lang points out that he made many written notes of + his reading, as we should hardly expect a man of his unrivalled memory + to do. (_Life of Scott_, p. 27.)] + + [Footnote 426: _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 161.] + + [Footnote 427: _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, pp. 93-4.] + + [Footnote 428: _Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart_, p. 247.] + + [Footnote 429: Mr. Lang's theory that Scott was responsible for a + decline in serious reading cannot be either proved or refuted + completely, but more than one man has given personal testimony + concerning the stimulating effect of the Waverley novels. Thierry's + _Norman Conquest_ was directly inspired by _Ivanhoe_, and with + _Ivanhoe_ is condemned by Freeman for its mistaken views. Mr. Andrew + D. White says in his _Autobiography_ that _Quentin Durward_ and _Anne + of Geierstein_ led him to see the first that he had ever clearly + discerned of the great principles that "lie hidden beneath the surface + of events"--"the secret of the centralization of power in Europe, and + of the triumph of monarchy over feudalism." (Vol. I, pp. 15-16.)] + + [Footnote 430: Scott had theories as to what children's books ought to + be. They should stir the imagination, he said, instead of simply + imparting knowledge as certain scientific books attempted to do. + (_Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 27.) But he seriously objected to any attempt + to write down to the understanding of children. Of the _Tales of a + Grandfather_ he said: "I will make, if possible, a book that a child + shall understand, yet a man will feel some temptation to peruse, + should he chance to take it up." (_Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 112. See also + _ib._, Vol. I, p. 19.) Anatole France has expressed ideas about + children's books which are practically the same as those of Scott. + (See _Le Livre de Mon Ami_, 3me partie: "A Madame D * * *.")] + + [Footnote 431: Introduction to _The Fortunes of Nigel_.] + + [Footnote 432: See the Introduction to _Waverley_.] + + [Footnote 433: Introductory Epistle to _Ivanhoe_.] + + [Footnote 434: _Ibid._ In _Old Mortality_, Claverhouse was made to use + the phrase "sentimental speeches," but when Lady Louisa Stuart pointed + out to Scott that the word "sentimental" was modern, he struck it out + of the second edition.] + + [Footnote 435: Introductory Epistle to _Ivanhoe_. For other references + to the use of a moderately antique diction see the essays on Walpole + and Clara Reeve in _Lives of the Novelists_, and the review of + Southey's _Amadis de Gaul_, _Edinburgh Review_, October, 1803.] + + [Footnote 436: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 226.] + + [Footnote 437: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 319.] + + [Footnote 438: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 216.] + + [Footnote 439: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 323.] + + [Footnote 440: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 40.] + + [Footnote 441: Introduction to _Chronicles of the Canongate_. See also + _Letters to Heber_, pp. 128-32, and 154; and Ruskin's analysis of + Scott's descriptions: _Modern Painters_, Part IV, ch. 16, § 23 ff.] + + [Footnote 442: See particularly his reviews of _Childe Harold_, _Canto + III_, _Quarterly_, October, 1816; and of Southey's translation of the + _Amadis de Gaul_, _Edinburgh Review_, October, 1803.] + + [Footnote 443: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, pp. 232-3.] + + [Footnote 444: Quoted in _Wordsworth_ (English Men of Letters) by + F.W.H. Myers, p. 143.] + + [Footnote 445: _Recollections of Scott_, by R.P. Gillies. _Fraser's_, + xii: 254.] + + [Footnote 446: _Lockhart_, Vol. III, p. 62.] + + [Footnote 447: _Journal_, Vol. I, p. 155, and Vol. II, p. 37; + _Lockhart_, Vol. IV, p. 476, and Vol. V, p. 380.] + + [Footnote 448: In the discussion of _Lives of the Novelists_.] + + [Footnote 449: See his _Essay on Scott_.] + + [Footnote 450: _Dryden_, Vol. XIV, p. 136.] + + [Footnote 451: _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 415, and Introductory Epistle to + _Nigel_.] + + [Footnote 452: _Letters to Heber_, p. 44.] + + [Footnote 453: _Op. cit._, p. 120.] + + [Footnote 454: _My Aunt Margaret's Mirror_.] + + [Footnote 455: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 8.] + + [Footnote 456: Review of Hoffmann's Novels, _Foreign Quarterly + Review_, July, 1827.] + + [Footnote 457: _Letters to R. Polwhele_, etc., p. 102.] + + [Footnote 458: Lodge's _Illustrious Personages_, Preface.] + + [Footnote 459: Article on Molière, _Foreign Quarterly Review_, + February, 1828.] + + [Footnote 460: _Three Studies in Literature_, p. 12.] + + [Footnote 461: _Edinburgh Review_, No. 1, October, 1802: review of + _Thalaba_.] + + [Footnote 462: _Three Studies in Literature_, p. 38.] + + [Footnote 463: _Dryden_, Vol. XI, p. 26.] + + [Footnote 464: Herford, _op. cit._, pp. 51-2.] + + [Footnote 465: _Essay on the Drama_.] + + [Footnote 466: Wylie, _Studies in Criticism_, pp. 107-8.] + + [Footnote 467: _Table Talk_, August 4, 1833. _Works_, Vol. VI, p. + 472.] + + [Footnote 468: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. II, p. 402.] + + [Footnote 469: Article on Scott's _Demonology and Witchcraft_, + _Fraser's_, December, 1830.] + + [Footnote 470: Mackenzie's _Life of Scott_, p. 118.] + + [Footnote 471: _The Plain Speaker_, Hazlitt's _Works_, Vol. VII, p. + 345.] + + [Footnote 472: _Dryden_, Vol. I, p. 342. See above, pp. 136-7.] + + [Footnote 473: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, p. 84.] + + [Footnote 474: _Life of Bage_, in _Novelists' Library_.] + + [Footnote 475: _Essay on Judicial Reform_, _Edinburgh Annual + Register_, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 352. Everyone knows that Scott was a + decided Tory, and it is commonly supposed that he was an extremely + prejudiced partisan. But he closes a political passage in _Woodstock_ + with these words: "We hasten to quit political reflections, the rather + that ours, we believe, will please neither Whig nor Tory." (End of + Chapter 11.) From the definitions of Whig and Tory given in the _Tales + of a Grandfather_, no one could guess his politics. (Chapter 53.)] + + [Footnote 476: Leigh Hunt's _Autobiography_, Vol. I, p. 263. See also + pp. 258-260, and the notes on his _Feast of the Poets_.] + + [Footnote 477: Courthope's _Liberal Movement_, p. 122.] + + [Footnote 478: _Life of Murray_, Vol. II, p. 159.] + + [Footnote 479: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 232] + + [Footnote 480: _Macmillan's Magazine_, lxx: 326.] + + [Footnote 481: Newman's _Apologia_, pp. 96-97. Mark Twain thinks the + influence of the novels was pernicious. He says: "A curious + exemplification of the power of a single book for good or harm is + shown in the effects wrought by Don Quixote and those wrought by + Ivanhoe. The first swept the world's admiration for the mediaeval + chivalry-silliness out of existence; and the other restored it.... Sir + Walter had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed + before the war, that he is in great measure responsible for the war." + (_Life on the Mississippi_, ch. xlvi.)] + + [Footnote 482: _Familiar Letters_, Vol. I, pp. 216-17. See also his + remarks upon booksellers in his review of Pitcairn's _Ancient Criminal + Trials_, _Quarterly_, February, 1831.] + + [Footnote 483: _Fraser's_, xiii: 693.] + + [Footnote 484: Essay on Dunbar in _Ephemera Critica_.] + + [Footnote 485: _English Historical Review_, vi: 97.] + + [Footnote 486: _Life, Letters and Journals of George Ticknor_, Vol. I, + p. 283.] + + [Footnote 487: Carlyle's _Essay on Scott_.] + + [Footnote 488: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 9.] + + [Footnote 489: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 259; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. + 248.] + + [Footnote 490: _Dryden_, Vol. I, conclusion.] + + [Footnote 491: _British Novelists and their Styles_, p. 204.] + + [Footnote 492: _Journal_, Vol. II, p. 173; _Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 99.] + + [Footnote 493: _History of Criticism_, Vol. I, p. 156.] + + [Footnote 494: _Recollections of Scott_ by R.P. Gillies, _Fraser's_, + xii: 688.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of +Literature, by Margaret Ball + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR WALTER SCOTT AS A CRITIC *** + +***** This file should be named 16715-8.txt or 16715-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/7/1/16715/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Lynn Bornath, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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