Reverting to Sir Walter's domestic life, we should mention that in
1797, he married Miss Carpenter, a lady of Jersey, with an annuity of
400_l._; soon after which he established himself during the vacations,
in a delightful retreat at Lasswade, on the banks of the Esse, about
five miles to the south of Edinburgh. In 1799, he obtained the Crown
appointment of sheriff of Selkirkshire, with a salary of 300_l._ a
year; the duties of which office he is said to have performed with
kindness and justice. Mr. Cunningham relates that Sir Walter had a
high notion of the dignity which belonged to his post, and sternly
maintained it when any one seemed disposed to treat it with unbecoming
familiarity. On one occasion, it is said, when some foreign prince
passed through Selkirk, the populace, anxious to look on a live
prince, crowded round him so closely, that Scott, in vain attempted to
approach him; the poet's patience failed, and exclaiming "Room for
your sheriff! Room for your sheriff!" he pushed and elbowed the gapers
impatiently aside, and apologised to the prince for their
curiosity.[7]
[7] Memoir in the _Athenaeum_.
By the death of Sir Walter's father, his income was increased, and
this addition, with the salary of his sheriffdom, left him more at
leisure to indulge his literary pursuits. Soon after this period,
about 1803, Sir Walter finding that his attempts in literature had
been unfavourable to his success at the bar, says:--"My profession and
I, therefore, came to stand nearly upon the footing on which honest
Slender consoled himself with having established with Mrs. Anne Page.
'There was no great love between us at the beginning, and it pleased
Heaven to decrease it on farther acquaintance!' I became sensible that
the time was come when I must either buckle myself resolutely to 'the
toil by day, the lamp by night,' renouncing all the Dalilahs of my
imagination, or bid adieu to the profession of the law, and hold
another course.
"I confess my own inclination revolted from the more severe choice,
which might have been deemed by many the wiser alternative. As my
transgressions had been numerous, my repentance must have been
signalized by unusual sacrifices. I ought to have mentioned that,
since my fourteenth or fifteenth year, my health, originally delicate,
had been extremely robust. From infancy I had laboured under the
infirmity of a severe lameness, but, as I believe is usually the case
with men of spirit who suffer under personal inconveniences of this
nature, I had, since the improvement of my health, in defiance of this
incapacitating circumstance, distinguished myself by the endurance of
toil on foot or horseback, having often walked thirty miles a-day, and
rode upwards of a hundred without stopping. In this manner I made many
pleasant journeys through parts of the country then not very
accessible, gaining more amusement and instruction than I have been
able to acquire since I have travelled in a more commodious manner. I
practised most sylvan sports also with some success and with great
delight. But these pleasures must have been all resigned, or used with
great moderation, had I determined to regain my station at the bar."
After well weighing these matters, Sir Walter resolved on quitting his
avocations in the law for literature; though he determined that
literature should be his staff but not his crutch, and that the
profits of his labour, however convenient otherwise, should not become
necessary to his ordinary expenses.