Sir Walter's secession from the law was followed by the production of
his noblest poem--_the Lay of the Last Minstrel_--the origin of which
is thus related by the author:
"The lovely young Countess of Dalkeith, afterwards Harriet, Duchess of
Buccleuch, had come to the land of her husband, with the desire of
making herself acquainted with its traditions and customs. Of course,
where all made it a pride and pleasure to gratify her wishes, she soon
heard enough of Border lore; among others, an aged gentleman of
property, near Langholm, communicated to her ladyship the story of
Gilpin Horner--a tradition in which the narrator and many more of that
county were firm believers. The young Countess, much delighted with
the legend, and the gravity and full confidence with which it was
told, enjoined it on me as a task to compose a ballad on the subject.
Of course, to hear was to obey; and thus the goblin story, objected to
by several critics as an excrescence upon the poem, was, in fact, the
occasion of its being written."
Sir Walter having composed the first two or three stanzas of the
poem--taking for his model the _Christabel_ of Coleridge--showed them
to two friends, "whose talents might have raised them to the highest
station in literature, had they not preferred exerting them in their
own profession of the law, in which they attained equal preferment."
They were more silent upon the merits of the stanzas than was
encouraging to the author; and Sir Walter, looking upon the attempt as
a failure, threw the manuscript into the fire, and thought as little
as he could of the matter. Sometime afterwards, Sir Walter meeting his
two friends, was asked how he proceeded in his romance;--they were
surprised at its fate, said they had reviewed their opinion, and
earnestly desired that Sir Walter would proceed with the composition.
He did so; and the poem was soon finished, proceeding at the rate of
about a canto per week. It was finally published in 1805, and produced
to the author 600_l._; and, to use his own words, "it may be regarded
as the first work in which the writer, who has been since so
voluminous, laid his claim to be considered as an original author." We
thus see that Sir Walter Scott was in his 34th year before he had
published an original work.