SCOTT’S POETICAL ROMANCES
For many years after its institution the Ballantyne Press was in
continuous action, and the number of volumes that issued from it can
hardly be reckoned. Besides work for publishing houses in London and
Edinburgh, all Scott’s writings were first printed there, and the
printing-house was constantly occupied in pouring forth edition after
edition of his works. “Sir Tristrem” was published in May 1804 by
Constable, who expected so little popularity for it that the edition
consisted of 150 copies only, which were sold at the high price of two
guineas. In due time, however, the work had its share in the celebrity
attached to the name of its editor, and it was through the printing of
this poem that the intimate connection of Constable and the Ballantyne
Press began.
“The Lay of the Last Minstrel” was published in January 1805. It was a
splendid quarto volume, with “meadows of margin,” and was greeted with
unbounded applause, both for its intrinsic merits and for its beautiful
printing.
It may be doubted if, in the history of British poetry, any other work
ever equalled the demand for the “Lay.” In 1825 the poem had reached its
fourteenth edition, upwards of 33,000 copies having been circulated;
and before 1830 11,000 copies more were printed and disposed of.
Scott entrusted the revision of the manuscript of the poem to his two
friends—William Erskine and James Ballantyne. Regarding the latter at
this time, Lockhart observes—and in the light of his strictures after
the financial crash the passage may well be deemed worthy of note: “The
printer was himself a man of considerable literary talents: his own
style had the incurable faults of pomposity and affectation, but his
eye for more venial errors in the writings of others was quick, and
though his personal address was apt to give a stranger the impression
of insincerity, he was in reality an honest man, and conveyed his mind
on such matters with equal candour and delicacy during the whole of
Scott’s brilliant career. In the vast majority of instances he found his
friend acquiesce at once in the propriety of his suggestions; nay, there
certainly were cases, though rare, in which his advice to alter things of
much more consequence than a word or a rhyme was frankly tendered, and on
deliberation adopted by Scott.[13] Mr. Erskine was the referee whenever
the poet hesitated about taking the hints of the zealous typographer,
and his refined taste and gentle manners rendered his critical alliance
highly valuable.”[14]
Shortly after the publication of the “Lay,” Ballantyne found his
capital inadequate to meet the business which was flowing to his press.
He accordingly applied to his great patron for assistance, and Scott
assented, on condition of his becoming partner with Ballantyne, and
having a third share in the profits. This arrangement was kept strictly
private.[15] Attracted by Ballantyne’s superior taste and beauty of
workmanship, Scott made it a point from the first, that whatever he
wrote or edited should be printed at the Ballantyne Press; and his
personal connection with it stimulated his inventive genius, directly and
indirectly, to add to the rapidly growing printing-house.
In April 1805 Scott wrote to Ballantyne: “I have imagined a very superb
work. What think you of a complete edition of British poets, ancient
and modern?” This work he proposed to edit for thirty guineas a volume.
The publishers did not quite respond to his views in the matter, as
the booksellers refused to admit into the series certain poets whom
the editor was insisting upon, and the scheme was abandoned. But it is
interesting to know that, if not so complete in all respects as Scott
would have desired, a Library Edition of the British Poets, begun in
1853, was issued from Paul’s Work in forty-eight demy octavo volumes,
in every respect worthy of its reputation. This series was edited by the
Rev. George Gilfillan, and published by James Nichol in Edinburgh.
“An Historical Enquiry respecting the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland”
should find its proper place here, though not in any way connected with
Scott. It has the date 1807, and was printed at Paul’s Work for Constable.
Mr. John Murray, in a letter to Constable, bears this early and
remarkable testimony to the worth of James Ballantyne as a printer:
“_June 6, 1807._—I am quite delighted with the appearance of Mr. Gunn’s
work upon the Harp, which is a splendid and honourable specimen of Scotch
typography, which I think cannot be surpassed in Britain. I showed the
book to Mr. Wright, a printer who stands foremost in the second class,
and he admired and praised it greatly, and said that he thought that
Ballantyne’s _general_ style of printing was superior to that of any
other printer, and that it was a matter of nicety if Bentley and Bulmer
exceeded him even occasionally.”[16]
“Marmion” was begun in 1807 and published in February 1808, as a splendid
quarto volume, price one guinea and a half. Of this work 4000 copies were
printed in the year of its publication, 6000 in the year following, and
prior to 1836 as many as 50,000 in all.
In April 1808 William Miller of Albemarle Street published an edition of
the Works of John Dryden in eighteen volumes. This was edited by Scott
and printed at the Ballantyne Press. The speculation was considered a
bold one at the time, but it must have been a success, as the entire work
was reprinted in 1821.
“Queenhoo Hall,” in four volumes, Carleton’s “Memoirs of the War of the
Spanish Succession,” and the “Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth,”
published in 1808, also Sadler’s “Life and State Papers,” three volumes
quarto, published in 1809, followed by the Somers Tracts, in thirteen
volumes quarto, were all edited by Scott, and printed by Ballantyne.
In May 1810 there appeared “The Lady of the Lake,” perhaps the most
popular of all Scott’s poems. The first edition was in quarto, and
the second in octavo; and the successive editions, as in the case of
“Marmion,” amounted in 1836 to 50,000 copies.
The “Poetical Works of Miss Seward,” in three volumes, with a Prefatory
Memoir by Scott, was published from Paul’s Work in the autumn of 1810.
This was one of the unfortunate speculations of Scott, and the unsaleable
stock had afterwards to be taken over by Constable at a ruinous loss.[17]
“It is most curious,” says Professor Saintsbury, “how Scott, the
shrewdest and sanest of men in the vast majority of affairs, seems to
have lost his head whenever books or lands were concerned.”
In 1810 were also issued the two first volumes of the _Edinburgh Annual
Register_, in the production of which Scott largely aided. James
Ballantyne was editor, and other contributors included the poet Southey,
Professor Leslie, the “Man of Feeling,” and William Erskine.
“The Vision of Don Roderick,” which was Scott’s contribution to the
fund in aid of the sufferers from Massena’s campaign in Portugal in
1810, was published in a quarto volume in July 1811; and the romance
of “Rokeby,” another quarto, in January 1813. The edition consisted of
3250 copies, of which only eighty remained unsold on the second day of
publication. “Rokeby” was followed within two months by a small volume,
“The Bridal of Triermain.” The MS. of this poem was transcribed by one
or other of the Ballantynes, in order to guard against any indiscretion
in the printing-office, as the little work was to be issued at first
anonymously, “as a trap for Jeffrey.” He was not deceived, however,
although other critics thought the work an imitation of Scott.
The “Life and Works of Swift,” in nineteen volumes, undertaken by Scott
for Constable, was issued from the Ballantyne Press on the 1st of July
1814. The impression consisted of 1250 copies, and a second impression
of the same number was required in 1824. This work was again printed at
Paul’s Work in 1882-84 for Bickers & Son, London.
How much longer Scott would have continued to work out the vein of poetry
within him we cannot say. He was still turning out rich ore when Byron
electrified the world with his “Childe Harold.” Scott at once recognised
that he had met his superior, and that his supremacy as a popular poet
was seriously threatened. Many years after, only a few months before he
died, he was talking over the events of his career with Lockhart, his
son-in-law.
“‘I asked him,’ said Lockhart, ‘why he had ever relinquished poetry.’
“‘Because Byron _bet_ me,’ Scott replied, pronouncing the word _beat_
short. ‘He _bet_ me out of the field in the description of the strong
passions, and in deep-seated knowledge of the human heart; so I gave up
poetry for the time.’”
But when we look at the rich legacy that Scott has left us in his
Waverley Novels we cannot regret this. One morning, in searching an old
desk for some fishing-flies, he found the forgotten MS. of the first two
or three chapters of “Waverley,” which he had written some time before.
He read over the fragment, thought it had promise of good in it, and
determined to finish the story. This trifling circumstance led to the
unparalleled series of romances which were read with wonder and delight
when they first appeared, and which will continue to charm so long as our
language endures.