Sir Walter Scott
SCOTT, SIR WALTER (1771-1832).
—Poet, novelist, and
biographer, s. of Walter S., a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, and
Margaret Rutherford, dau. of one of the Prof. of Medicine in the
Univ. there. Through both parents he was connected with several
old Border families; his f. was a scion of the Scotts of Harden, well
known in Border history. In early childhood he suffered from a
severe fever, one of the effects of which was a permanent lameness,
and for some time he was delicate. The native vigour of his constitution,
however, soon asserted itself, and he became a man of
exceptional strength. Much of his childhood was spent at his
grandfather's farm at Sandyknowe, Roxburghshire, and almost
from the dawn of intelligence he began to show an interest in the
traditionary lore which was to have so powerful an influence on his
future life, an interest which was nourished and stimulated by
several of the older members of his family, especially one of his aunts.
At this stage he was a quick-witted, excitable child, who required
rather to be restrained than pressed forward. At the age of 7 he was
strong enough to be sent to the High School of Edinburgh, where he
was more remarkable for miscellaneous and out-of-the-way knowledge
and his powers of story-telling than for proficiency in the
ordinary course of study; and notwithstanding his lameness, he was
to be found in the forefront wherever adventure or fighting were
to be had. Thereafter he was for three sessions at the Univ., where
he bore much the same character as at school. He was, however, far
from idle, and was all the time following the irresistible bent, which
ultimately led to such brilliant results, in a course of insatiable reading
of ballads and romances, to enlarge which he had by the time he
was 15 acquired a working knowledge of French and Italian, and
had made the acquaintance of Dante and Ariosto in the original.
Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, pub. in 1765, came into his hands
in 1784, and proved one of the most formative influences of this
period. At 15 he was apprenticed to his f., but preferring the higher
branch of the profession, he studied for the Bar, to which he was
called in 1792. He did not, however, forego his favourite studies,
but ransacked the Advocates' Library for old manuscripts, in the
deciphering of which he became so expert that his assistance soon
came to be invoked by antiquarians of much longer standing.
Although he worked hard at law his ideal was not the attainment of
an extensive practice, but rather of a fairly paid post which should
leave him leisure for his favourite pursuits, and this he succeeded in
reaching, being appointed first in 1799 Sheriff of Selkirk, and next in
1812 one of the Principal Clerks to the Court of Session, which
together brought him an income of £1600. Meanwhile in 1795 he
had translated Bürger's ballad of Lenore, and in the following year he
made his first appearance in print by publishing it along with a translation
of The Wild Huntsman by the same author. About the same
time he made the acquaintance of "Monk" Lewis, to whose collection
of Tales of Wonder he contributed the ballads of Glenfinlas, The
Eve of St. John, and The Grey Brother; and he pub. in 1799 a translation
of Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen. In 1797 he was m. to Miss
Charlotte Margaret Charpentier, the dau. of a French gentleman of
good position. The year 1802 saw the publication of Scott's first
work of real importance, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, of
which 2 vols. appeared, the third following in the next year. In
1804 he went to reside at Ashestiel on the Tweed, where he ed. the
old romance, Sir Tristrem, and in 1805 he produced his first great
original work, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, which was received with
great favour, and decided that literature was thenceforth to be the
main work of his life. In the same year the first few chapters of
Waverley were written; but the unfavourable opinion of a friend led
to the MS. being laid aside for nearly 10 years. In 1806 S. began,
by a secret partnership, that association with the Ballantynes which
resulted so unfortunately for him 20 years later. Marmion was
pub. in 1808: it was even more popular than the Lay, and raised his
reputation proportionately. The same year saw the publication of
his elaborate ed. of Dryden with a Life, and was also marked by a
rupture with Jeffrey, with whom he had been associated as a contributor
to the Edinburgh Review, and by the establishment of the
new firm of J. Ballantyne and Co., of which the first important publication
was The Lady of the Lake, which appeared in 1810, The
Vision of Don Roderick following in 1811. In 1812 S. purchased
land on the Tweed near Melrose, and built his famous house, Abbotsford,
the adornment of which became one of the chief pleasures of
his life, and which he made the scene of a noble and kindly hospitality.
In the same year he pub. Rokeby, and in 1813 The Bridal of
Triermain, while 1814 saw The Life and Works of Swift in 19 vols.,
and was made illustrious by the appearance of Waverley, the two
coming out in the same week, the latter, of course, like its successors,
anonymously. The next year, The Lord of the Isles, Guy Mannering,
and The Field of Waterloo appeared, and the next again, 1816,
Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, The Antiquary, The Black Dwarf, and Old Mortality, while 1817 saw Harold the Dauntless and Rob Roy.
The enormous strain which S. had been undergoing as official, man
of letters, and man of business, began at length to tell upon him, and
in this same year, 1817, he had the first of a series of severe seizures
of cramp in the stomach, to which, however, his indomitable spirit
refused to yield, and several of his next works, The Heart of Midlothian
(1818), by many considered his masterpiece, The Bride of
Lammermoor, The Legend of Montrose, and Ivanhoe, all of 1819, were
dictated to amanuenses, while he was too ill to hold a pen. In 1820
The Monastery, in which the public began to detect a falling off in
the powers of the still generally unknown author, appeared. The
immediately following Abbot, however, showed a recovery. Kenilworth
and The Pirate followed in 1821, The Fortunes of Nigel in 1822;
Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward, and St. Ronan's Well in 1823;
Redgauntlet in 1824, and Tales of the Crusaders (The Betrothed and
The Talisman) in 1825. By this time S. had long reached a pinnacle
of fame such as perhaps no British man of letters has ever attained
during his lifetime. He had for a time been the most admired poet
of his day, and though latterly somewhat eclipsed by Byron, he
still retained great fame as a poet. He also possessed a great reputation
as an antiquary, one of the chief revivers of interest in our
ancient literature, and as the biographer and ed. of several of our
great writers; while the incognito which he maintained in regard to
his novels was to many a very partial veil. The unprecedented profits
of his writings had made him, as he believed, a man of wealth;
his social prestige was immense; he had in 1820 been made a baronet,
when that was still a real distinction, and he had been the acknowledged
representative of his country when the King visited it in 1822.
All this was now to change, and the fabric of prosperity which he had
raised by his genius and labour, and which had never spoiled the
simplicity and generosity of his character, was suddenly to crumble
into ruin with, however, the result of revealing him as the possessor
of qualities even greater and nobler than any he had shown in his
happier days. The publishing and printing firms with which he had
been connected fell in the commercial crisis of 1826, and S. found
himself at 55, and with failing health, involved in liabilities amounting
to £130,000. Never was adversity more manfully and gallantly
met. Notwithstanding the crushing magnitude of the disaster and
the concurrent sorrow of his wife's illness, which soon issued in her
death, he deliberately set himself to the herculean task of working
off his debts, asking only that time might be given him. The secret
of his authorship was now, of course, revealed, and his efforts were
crowned with a marvellous measure of success. Woodstock, his first
publication after the crash, appeared in the same year and brought
£8000; by 1828 he had earned £40,000. In 1827 The Two Drovers,
The Highland Widow, and The Surgeon's Daughter, forming the first
series of Chronicles of the Canongate, appeared together with The Life
of Napoleon in 9 vols., and the first series of Tales of a Grandfather;
in 1828 The Fair Maid of Perth and the second series of Tales of a
Grandfather, Anne of Geierstein, a third series of the Tales, and the
commencement of a complete ed. of the novels in 1829; a fourth and
last series of Tales, History of Scotland, and other work in 1830.
Then at last the overworked brain gave way, and during this year he had more than one paralytic seizure. He was sent abroad for
change and rest, and a Government frigate was placed at his disposal.
But all was in vain; he never recovered, and though in
temporary rallies he produced two more novels, Count Robert of
Paris and Castle Dangerous, both in 1831, which only showed that
the spell was broken, he gradually sank, and d. at Abbotsford on
September 21, 1832.
The work which S. accomplished, whether looked at as regards its
mass or its quality, is alike marvellous. In mere amount his output
in each of the four departments of poetry, prose fiction, history and
biography, and miscellaneous literature is sufficient to fill an ordinary
literary life. Indeed the quantity of his acknowledged work in
other departments was held to be the strongest argument against
the possibility of his being the author of the novels. The achievement
of such a result demanded a power of steady, methodical, and
rapid work almost unparalleled in the history of literature. When
we turn to its quality we are struck by the range of subject and the
variableness of the treatment. In general there is the same fulness
of mind directed by strong practical sense and judgment, but the
style is often heavy, loose, and even slipshod, and in most of his
works there are "patches" in which he falls far below his best. His
poetry, though as a whole belonging to the second class, is full of
broad and bold effects, picturesqueness, and an irresistible rush and
freshness. As a lyrist, however, he stands much higher, and in such
gems as "Proud Maisie" and "A weary lot is thine, Fair Maid," he
takes his place among our greatest singers. His chief fame rests, of
course, upon the novels. Here also, however, there is the same inequality
and irregularity, but there is a singular command over his
genius in virtue of which the fusing, creating imagination responds
to his call, and is at its greatest just where it is most needed. For
the variety, truth, and aliveness of his characters he has probably no
equal since Shakespeare, and though, of course, coming far behind,
he resembles him alike in his range and in his insight. The most
remarkable feature in his character is the union of an imagination
of the first order with practical sagacity and manly sanity, in this
also resembling his great predecessor.
SUMMARY. — B. 1771, ed. Edin., called to Bar 1792, Sheriff of Selkirk
1799, Principal Clerk of Session 1812, first pub. translation of
Lenore, etc., wrote ballads and made translation from German, pub.
Minstrelsy of Scottish Border 1802-3, Lay of Last Minstrel 1805, began
Waverley 1805, partner with Ballantynes 1806, pub. Marmion 1808,
Lady of Lake 1810, began to build Abbotsford 1812, Waverley novels
began and continued 1814-31, health began to fail 1817, made
Baronet 1820, ruined by failure of Ballantynes 1826, devotes rest of
his life to clearing off debt by novels and historical works, Tales of a
Grandfather, Life of Napoleon, etc., health finally gave way 1830, d.
1832.
The great authority is the Life by Lockhart, but it has been supplemented
by the Journal (1890) and Letters (1893). Short Lives by
C. Gilfillan, R.H. Hutton, etc., etc.
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