The Waverley Novels have so long stood in the forefront of Scott's
literary achievements that it is difficult to put them out of view
and remember that in 1814, when Scott was forty-four years old, he was
known to the world as a poet who had laid a spell on the imagination of
his generation. He had "broken the record" so far as monetary returns
for poetry were concerned. Milton received about one hundred dollars
for "Paradise Lost" and Dr. Johnson was paid about seventy-five dollars
for "The Vanity of Human Wishes," while "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"
brought Scott nearly four thousand dollars; for "Marmion" he received
five thousand dollars in advance of publication, and for one-half the
copyright of "The Lord of the Isles" he was paid over seven thousand
five hundred dollars. He was unaware of the enormous earning powers
which he was later to develop; he had given up his profession, and
he longed for an income which would support his family on the scale
which his tastes and natural generosity dictated. To secure financial
independence he brought James Ballantyne, a former school-mate and
editor of a local newspaper, to Edinburgh and lent him money enough
to start a printing business. This was in 1802; three years later he
became a silent partner with Ballantyne and his brother. In 1809 he
took a still more venturesome step and started the publishing house of
John Ballantyne & Company. The two brothers were men of small ability,
and entirely without knowledge of the business on which they embarked;
they knew something about printing but nothing about publishing. Scott
was equally ignorant of business methods; he was a man of generous
nature and lavish tastes, and between the recklessness of his partners,
for which he was largely responsible, and his lavish use of money, he
was soon in financial difficulties and a crash would have come early if
the phenomenal popularity of the novels had not postponed the evil day.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SCOTT
By Sir Thomas Lawrence]
In 1812 he bought the farm at Abbotsford, to the ownership of which he
had long looked forward. The country was lovely, the four acres grew
into a great estate, the farm cottage became a stately mansion, as all
traveled Americans know, and the owner lived like a Scotch laird but
without a laird's steady income. He entertained lavishly and lived in
feudal state, happy in his friends, his tenants, his horses and dogs.
But the land alone cost more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars!
[Illustration: A GLIMPSE OF ABBOTSFORD]
In 1805 Scott was the most popular poet in Great Britain. He had opened
a fresh field, he had command of the magic of romance which always has
and always will, in spite of temporary changes of taste, cast a spell
over the imagination of men; his style was simple and his method plain;
all classes of readers could understand him. During the next ten years
he published six or seven long poems of varying merit. When the last of
these, "The Lord of the Isles," appeared in 1815, the popular interest
had diminished in volume and intensity, and the poet was in serious
financial difficulties as the result of his lavish scale of living and
the mismanagement of his business enterprises.