During this period Scott's affections were deeply engaged, and but
for the interference of parents he would probably have married a
young woman of singularly beautiful nature. His love had a very deep
influence on his character, and it remained to the end the great
passion of his life. In 1797 he married the daughter of a French
royalist who, after her brother's death, came to England. She was
described as a "lively beauty," of no great depth of nature, but she
had humor and high spirits and she was true-hearted. He protected her
from care, and their life together was a happy one. She was not a mate
for her husband, but she basked in the sunshine of his prosperity, and
she was brave in adversity.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS FRIENDS AT ABBOTSFORD
From the painting by Thomas Faed. Those in the picture, reading from
left to right, are, sitting: Sir Walter Scott; Henry Mackenzie, the
Scottish novelist; George Crabbe, the English poet; John Gibson
Lockhart, the son-in-law of Scott, and his biographer; William
Wordsworth, the English Poet Laureate from 1843 to 1850; Francis, Lord
Jeffrey, the Scottish critic, essayist, and jurist; Adam Ferguson, the
Scottish philosopher and historian; John Moore, the Scottish physician
and writer; Thomas Campbell, the writer, and Lord Rector of the
University of Glasgow from 1826 to 1829; Archibald Constable, Scott's
publisher from 1805 to 1826; standing: John Wilson, who wrote under the
pseudonym of Christopher North; John Allen, the British political and
historical writer; Sir David Wilkie, the Scottish painter.]