In July 1814 appeared Waverley, or It is Sixty Years since, anonymously; and in February 1815, Guy Mannering. Only a month before this Scott had brought out his last great poem, The Lord of the Isles, which met with a cool reception; and Scott was obliged to resign the poetical supremacy to his young rival, Lord Byron. In July he visited the field of Waterloo, which had been so nearly won by the French in the preceding month. On this subject he wrote Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, and a poem, which failed to excite popular approbation.

In the same year the novelist was introduced to the Prince Regent, who received him in the most flattering manner at Carlton House, and afterwards sent him a present of a gold snuff-box, set in brilliants.

Scott's income was now adequate to any reasonable expenditure he might choose to incur; and who can wonder that, with the facility he had of adding a few thousands to his means by the labour of a few months, he involved himself in expenses which subsequent events seemed to condemn ?

In 1816 appeared The Antiquary, which of all his novels perhaps bears most the impress of his own mind.

In 1817 appeared Harold the Dauntless, the failure of which confirmed Scott in his resolution never to write any more poetical fictions.

In the spring of the year 1818 he produced Rob Roy; and from this time till the close of 1825, the novels of Heart of Mid Lothian, Bride of Lammermoor, Legend of Montrose, Ivanhoe, The Monastery, The Abbot, The Pirate, Kenilworth, The Fortunes of Nigel, Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward, St. Ronan's Well, Red Gauntlet, and the Tales of the Crusaders, threw a halo of glory over the already great reputation of the author.

In 1820 Scott was made a baronet; an honour which was unsolicited on his part. At this time he was no whit different from what he had been in his humble cottage on the Esk: the same charitable feeling towards the indigent, the same sympathy with the tastes and sentiments of persons of humbler station, towards whom he never exhibited an air of condescension.

In 1822 he was invited to assist in the arrangements for the royal visit to Scotland. Here every thing reminded one of a simpler and more romantic period, and seemed little suited to the habits or feelings of a man who had passed most of his time in the fashionable circles of London. Plaided clansmen, with their stout claymores at their sides, recalled the old time when Scotland was free. The romantic tone which prevailed in the Waverley Novels seemed to breathe throughout the arrangements on that occasion. Scott's personal appearance at this time was rather prepossessing tall, robust, and handsome: his limping gait, owing to the misfortune before mentioned, was modified by the support of a stout walking-cane. In town he usually wore a black suit; in the country a grey pair of trousers, a short green jacket, and a white hat. His face was ruddy with the glow of health, and it was only the thin grey hair which betokened advanced years. At this time he settled his

estate of Abbotsford on his son Walter, who had married a young heiress, only reserving to himself the life-rent.

At this time Scott was writing (1825) his Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, which appeared in alternate order with the Waverley Novels; a cheaper edition of which Constable, with Scott's approval, was bringing out, in order to place them within the reach of the people. Scott, before setting seriously to his task, had paid a visit to his son in Ireland, where, to his surprise, he was received by all classes with the greatest enthusiasm. The Life of Buonaparte, which was originally to have been in four volumes, increased in bulk, in the end, to more than twice that size.

His eldest daughter, Sophia, had been married, in 1820, to Mr. J. G. Lockhart, a young barrister, who for the first five years of their union had resided in the immediate neighbourhood of Abbotsford,

where Mrs. Lockhart delighted the social circle with the ballads she sang in accompaniment to her harp; and in Mr. Lockhart the baronet found a useful adviser in literary matters, and an agreeable friend. Their removal to London, in consequence of Mr. Lockhart's acceptance of the editorship of the Quarterly Review, was a serious loss to the family circle at Abbotsford; but yet trifling if set against the overwhelming misfortune which lay in store for him, who might hitherto have been called, justly, "the favourite of fortune."

The years 1824-5 were remarkable by a mania for speculation, which worked a ruinous effect on all men who had been maintaining

their commercial reputation on the strength of fictitious credit. Of this class, it soon appeared, was the firm of A. Constable and Co. Mr. Constable, in his mercantile speculations, introduced an aspiring and grandiose temper, contumelious of all common commercial calculations. He had been fortunate in the proprietorship of the Edinburgh Review, and in the publication of some of the works of Scott. Scott that is to say, James Ballantyne and Co.-was imprudent enough to take bill payments from Constable for works yet unwritten, that he might make new purchases of land. The natural result of this was, that Constable made the printing firm of J. Ballantyne and Co.-that is, Scott-the means of raising large sums among the banks. Scott respected the supposed sagacity of Constable Constable relied on his amount of stock and literary property; and James Ballantyne relying in the sagacity of both, troubled himself very little about the matter. Thus it was that, each relying on the other, all fell together.

Sir Walter Scott seems to have had some presentiment of the coming catastrophe as far back as the middle of 1825; and, indeed, on the 18th December of that year he writes in his Diary: "Men will think pride has had a fall. Let them indulge their own pride, in thinking that my fall will make them higher, or make them seem so. I have the satisfaction to recollect, that my prosperity has been of advantage to many; and to hope that some at least will forgive my transient wealth on account of the innocence of my intentions, and my real wish to do good to the poor. Sad hearts, too, at Darnick and in the cottages of Abbotsford. I have half resolved never to see the place again," &c.

In 1826 Mr. Constable came to London to raise money on his copyrights, but failed to realise any adequate sum. He fell back, in this emergency, on Sir Walter, and obtained from him 10,000%., which the latter raised by mortgage upon the Abbotsford estate,—a right he had reserved to himself for the purpose of providing for his younger children. He afterwards, when he heard of his ruin, regretted this last sacrifice more than all the rest. The news was received on the 17th January, and he bore the first shock with great fortitude. It appeared that his obligations, as the leading man of the firm of James Ballantyne and Co., amounted to 117,000l.

About this time the ministry essayed to allay the ruinous effect of the speculative mania, and for that purpose introduced a bill for the limitation of bank-note circulation, and the suppression of all notes under 57. This measure was finally defeated; and the Laird of Abbotsford was mainly instrumental in inciting the Scotch to resist a bill which he regarded as injurious to his country. He thus created some coolness among his titled friends; and Lord Melville went so far as to show his displeasure. The three letters which he wrote on this occasion, under the fictitious name of Malachi Malagrowther, were afterwards made into a pamphlet, which seems to have had a large sale.

The new novel of Woodstock was now advancing rapidly to completion; the first edition of it was sold in the printed sheets for 82287. Soon after, as a sort of relief to his Napoleon, Scott commenced the Chronicles of the Canongate; and towards the close of the

winter season he removed to Abbotsford, where he set more diligently to work than ever. In the May of this year he lost his wife, who died of water in the chest, superinduced, no doubt, by the late disasters. It is somewhat remarkable, that the Waverley secret was not divulged till February 1827, when Scott, at a dinner for the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund, revealed himself as the mighty magician who had conjured up those visions of the past.

In June 1827, Scott's great task was completed; and the first and second editions of the Napoleon, in nine volumes, brought the creditors 18,0002. This work was done in great haste, and therefore presented numerous errors both in facts and style; and the price which it realised must be solely attributed to the great reputation of the author of Waverley. Immediately on its completion he commenced the Tales of a Grandfather. Scott was at this time relieved from great embarrassment by the kindness of Sir William Forbes, who paid for him a bill of Constable's for 20007. on a Jewish house, which had proceeded to a threat of arrest. This generous man paid the money out of his own pocket, although Sir Walter believed it to be the result of an arrangement of the body of creditors. Before the end of 1827 appeared the first series of the Tales of a Grandfather, which were received with great favour. About this time, too, a sale of the copyrights of the Waverley Novels was effected for 85007.

Scott, in his adversity, seems always to have preserved a kindly tone towards his old friends; even towards Mr. Constable, who had been to a great extent the cause of all the mischief.

In the spring of 1828 appeared The Fair Maid of Perth, his last popular novel; and after its completion he went to visit the Lockharts in London, and other attached friends. But he soon returned to his task; and in February 1829 a new edition of the Waverley Novels was issued, and sold 35,000 copies. In February 1830 he experienced the first symptoms of that malady which was destined to prove fatal. It seems to have been an hereditary affection in the family, and therefore gave him the greater apprehension. But the hand of the writer proceeded uninterruptedly on, a volume on Demonology, for Murray's Family Library, being now in hand. In order to accelerate, if possible, the even now magic rapidity of his pen, he resigned his clerkship for a retiring allowance of 800l. a-year, and fixed himself at Abbotsford. He also commenced a new novel, called Count Robert of Paris, which showed by its cool reception how much he had lost in popular estimation.

At this time, too, he took part in the political struggle of the day, and published a pamphlet against the reform then in progress. In December 1830, his creditors, to show their sense of his exertions in their behalf, returned him his household furniture, plate, and library, valued at 10,000l. His debts were now reduced to 54,000l.; and as Scott had insured his life for 22,0007., thus leaving a difference of only 32,000!., he had no doubt of being able in time to clear off the whole incumbrance.

At this time he was offered a seat in the Privy Council, which he peremptorily refused, as inconsistent with his position. Time, however, which was all he asked, was not vouchsafed to him; for as early

as April 1831 he underwent a distinct paralytic affection; yet, in the midst of this dark crisis, he began a new tale called Castle Dangerous.

At length, in October 1831, he yielded to the solicitations of his friends; and agreeing to spend the ensuing winter in Italy, sailed, in a vessel placed at his disposal by the government, for Naples, where he arrived on the 17th December, and was received by the king and the best society, who did all in their power to alleviate his sufferings. Here he seems to have written two novels, neither of which was deemed by his friends fit to see the light. He visited Rome, and proceeded by Venice through the Tyrol to Frankfort, with a rapidity which all lamented, but none could control. On the 13th June

he reached London, totally exhausted. Here he was kept three weeks; and then, to gratify him, he was taken by sea to Edinburgh, and thence to Abbotsford. When he arrived at his home, his dogs came about his knees, and he sobbed over them till he was reduced to a state of stupefaction. Thus he lingered out two months. When his mind became at times more clear, he would ask to be placed at his desk and write; but the fingers refused to grasp the pen, and he sank back weeping. He was more generally in a state of slumber. At length, on the 21st September, he gently expired, in the sixtysecond year of his age.

JAMES HOGG.

(1772-1835.)

James Hogg, later known as the Ettrick Shepherd, from_being a native of that district, was born of very humble parents, 25th January, 1772. He was a bare half-year at a village school, where he acquired a commencement of reading and writing; and then, in order that he might no longer waste his time on such vanities, he was put out to work as a cowherd. When he was fourteen, he had managed to save five shillings, which he invested in the purchase of a fiddle; whereon it was his wont, from dewy eve till the small hours of night, to saw away, much to his own satisfaction, and equally to the annoyance of his unwilling auditors.

At the age of eighteen he made his first attempts in verse: "bitterly bad" he admits them, but voluminous and varied; eclogues, epistles, comedies, pastorals, &c. &c. Later, Sir Walter Scott, having heard of his talents, procured the publication of a volume of ballads, the Mountain Bard, the success of which and of his Essay on Sheep, which gained the Highland Society premium, enabled him to embark in some wild agricultural scheme, which of course failed; and he then determined on settling in Edinburgh as a literary man.

His next volume, the Forest Minstrel, was a failure, as was a periodical he started called The Spy. The production of the Queen's Wake, however, by its marked and merited success, extricated him from his difficulties, and brought him into the full sunshine of popularity and fame.