his investment in real estate, and is not of transcendent merit.
Obscurer men than he had performed such literary drudgery with more
ability, but no writer was ever more industrious. The amount of work
which he accomplished at this period was prodigious, especially when we
remember that his duties as sheriff and clerk of Sessions occupied eight
months of the year. He was more familiar with the literary history of
Queen Anne's reign than any subsequent historian, if we except Macaulay,
whose brilliant career had not yet begun. He took, of course, a
different view of Swift from the writers of the Edinburgh Review, and
was probably too favorable in his description of the personal character
of the Dean of St. Patrick's, who is now generally regarded as
"inordinately ambitious, arrogant, and selfish; of a morose, vindictive,
and haughty temper, utterly destitute of generosity and magnanimity, as
well as of tenderness, fidelity, and compassion." Lord Jeffrey, in his
Review, attacked Swift's moral character with such consummate ability as
to check materially the popularity of his writings, which are
universally admitted to be full of genius. His superb intellect and his
morality present a sad contrast,--as in the cases of Bacon, Burns, and
Byron,--which Scott, on account of the force of his Tory prejudices, did
not sufficiently point out.
But as to the novel, when it suddenly appeared, it is not surprising
that "Waverley" should at once have attained an unexampled popularity
when we consider the mediocrity of all works of fiction at that time, if
we except the Irish tales of Maria Edgeworth. Scott received from
Constable £1000 for this romance, then deemed a very liberal
remuneration for what cost him but a few months' work. The second and
third volumes were written in one month. He wrote with remarkable
rapidity when his mind was full of the subject; and his previous studies
as an antiquary and as a collector of Scottish poetry and legends fitted
him for his work, which was in no sense a task, but a most
lively pleasure.
It is not known why Scott published this strikingly original work
anonymously; perhaps it was because of his unusual modesty, and the fear
that he might lose the popularity he had already enjoyed as a poet. But
it immediately placed him on a higher literary elevation, since it was
generally suspected that he was the author. He could not altogether
disguise himself from the keen eyes of Jeffrey and other critics.
The book was received as a revelation. The first volume is not
particularly interesting, but the story continually increases in
interest to its close. It is not a dissection of the human heart; it is
not even much of a love-story, but a most vivid narrative, without
startling situations or adventures. Its great charm is its quiet
humor,--not strained into witty expressions which provoke laughter, but
a sort of amiable delineation of the character of a born gentleman, with
his weaknesses and prejudices, all leaning to virtue's side. It is a
description of manners peculiar to the Scottish gentry in the middle of
the eighteenth century, especially among the Jacobite families then
passing away.
Of course the popularity of this novel, at that time, was chiefly
confined to the upper classes. In the first place the people could not
afford to pay the price of the book; and, secondly, it was outside their
sympathies and knowledge. Indeed, I doubt if any commonplace person,
without culture or extended knowledge, can enjoy so refined a work, with
so many learned allusions, and such exquisite humor, which appeals to a
knowledge of the world in its higher aspects. It is one of the last
books that an ignorant young lady brought up on the trash of ordinary
fiction would relish or comprehend. Whoever turns uninterested from
"Waverley" is probably unable to see its excellencies or enjoy its
peculiar charms. It is not a book for a modern school-boy or
school-girl, but for a man or woman in the highest maturity of mind,
with a poetic or imaginative nature, and with a leaning perhaps to
aristocratic sentiments. It is a rebuke to vulgarity and ignorance,
which the minute and exaggerated descriptions of low life in the pages
of Dickens certainly are not.
In February, 1815, "Guy Mannering" was published, the second in the
series of the Waverley Novels, and was received by the intelligent
reading classes with even more _éclat_ than "Waverley," to which it is
superior in many respects. It plunges at once _in medias res_, without
the long and labored introductory chapters of its predecessor. It is
interesting from first to last, and is an elaborate and well-told tale,
written _con amore_, when Scott was in the maturity of his powers. It is
full of incident and is delightful in humor. Its chief excellence is in
the loftiness of its sentiments,--being one of the healthiest and
wholesomest novels ever written, appealing to the heart as well as to
the intellect, to be read over and over again, like "The Vicar of
Wakefield," without weariness. It may be too aristocratic in its tone to
please everybody, but it portrays the sentiments of its age in reference
to squires and Scottish lairds, who were more distinguished for
uprightness and manly duties than for brains and culture.
The fascination with which Scott always depicts the virtues of
hospitality and trust in humanity makes a strong impression on the
imagination. His heroes and heroines are not remarkable for genius, but
shine in the higher glories of domestic affection and fidelity to
trusts. Two characters in particular are original creations,--"Dominie
Sampson" and "Meg Merrilies," whom no reader can forget,--the one,
ludicrous for his simplicity; and the other a gypsy woman, weird and
strange, more like a witch than a sibyl, but intensely human, and
capable of the strongest attachment for those she loved.
"The easy and transparent flow of the style of this novel; its beautiful
simplicity; the wild magnificence of its sketches of scenery; the rapid
and ever brightening interest of the narrative; the unaffected kindness
of feeling; the manly purity of thought, everywhere mingled with a
gentle humor and homely sagacity,--but, above all, the rich variety and
skilful contrast of character and manners, at once fresh in fiction, and
stamped with the unforgeable seal of truth and nature, spoke to every
heart and mind; and the few murmurs of pedantic criticism were lost in
the voice of general delight which never fails to welcome the invention
that introduces to the sympathy of the imagination a new group of
immortal realities."
Scott received about £2000 for this favorite romance,--one entirely new
in the realm of fiction,--which enabled him to pay off his most pressing
debts, and indulge his taste for travel. He visited the Field of
Waterloo, and became a social lion in both Paris and London. The Prince
of Wales sent him a magnificent snuff-box set with diamonds, and
entertained him with admiring cordiality at Carlton House,--for his
authorship of "Waverley" was more than surmised, while his fame as a
poet was second only to that of Byron. Then (in the spring of 1815) took
place the first meeting of these two great bards, and their successive
interviews were graced with mutual compliments. Scott did not think that
Byron's reading was extensive either in poetry or history, in which
opinion the industrious Scottish bard was mistaken; but he did justice
ta Byron's transcendent genius, and with more charity than severity
mourned over his departure from virtue. After a series of brilliant
banquets at the houses of the great, both of rank and of fame, Scott
returned to his native land to renew his varied and exhausting labors,
having furnished his publishers with a volume of letters on the subjects
which most interested him during his short tour. Everything he touched
now brought him gold.
"Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk," as he called this volume concerning
his tour, was well received, but not with the enthusiasm which marked
the publication of "Guy Mannering;" indeed, it had no special claim to
distinction. "The Antiquary" followed in May of the next year, and
though it lacked the romance of "Waverley" and the adventure of "Guy
Mannering," it had even a larger sale. Scott himself regarded it as
superior to both; but an author is not always the best judge of his own
productions, and we do not accept his criticism. It probably cost him
more labor; but it is an exhibition of his erudition rather than a
revelation of himself or of Nature. It is certainly very learned; but
learning does not make a book popular, nor is a work of fiction the
place for a display of learning. If "The Antiquary" were published in
these times, it would be pronounced pedantic. Readers are apt to skip
names and learned allusions and scraps of Latin. As a story I think it
inferior to "Guy Mannering," although it has great merits,--"a kind of
simple, unsought charm,"--and is a transcript of actual Scottish life.
It had a great success; Scott says in a letter to his friend Terry: "It
is at press again, six thousand having been sold in six days." Before
the novel was finished, the author had already projected his "Tales of
My Landlord."
Scott was now at the flood-tide of his creative power, and his industry
was as remarkable as his genius. There was but little doubt in the
public mind as to the paternity of the Waverley Novels, and whatever
Scott wrote was sure to have a large sale; so that every publisher of
note was eager to have a hand in bringing his productions before the
public. In 1816 appeared the "Edinburgh Annual Register," containing
Scott's sketch of the year 1814, which, though very good, showed that
the author was less happy in history than in fiction.
The first series of "Tales of My Landlord" was published by Murray, and
not by Constable, who had brought out Scott's other works, and the book
was received with unbounded enthusiasm. Many critics place "Old
Mortality" in the highest niche of merit and fame. Frere of the
Quarterly Review, Hallam, Boswell, Lamb, Lord Holland, all agreed that
it surpassed his other novels. Bishop Heber said, "There are only two
men in the world,--Walter Scott and Lord Byron." Lockhart regarded "Old
Mortality" as the "Marmion" of Scott's novels; but the painting of the
Covenanters gave offence to the more rigid of the Presbyterians. For
myself, I have doubt as to the correctness of their criticisms. "Old
Mortality," in contrast with the previous novels of Scott, has a place
similar to the later productions of George Eliot as compared with her
earlier ones. It is not so vivid a sketch of Scotch life as is given in
"Guy Mannering." Like "The Antiquary," it is bookish rather than
natural. From a literary point of view, it is more artistic than "Guy
Mannering," and more learned. "The canvas is a broader one." Its
characters are portrayed with great skill and power, but they lack the
freshness which comes from actual contact with the people described, and
with whom Scott was familiar as a youth in the course of his wanderings.
It is more historical than realistic. In short, "Old Mortality" is
another creation of its author's brain rather than a painting of real
life. But it is justly famous, for it was the precursor of those
brilliant historical romances from which so much is learned of great men
already known to students. It was a new departure in literature.
Before Scott arose, historical novels were comparatively unknown. He
made romance instructive, rather than merely amusing, and added the
charm of life to the dry annals of the past. Cervantes does not portray
a single great character known in Spanish history in his "Don Quixote,"
but he paints life as he has seen it. So does Goldsmith. So does George
Eliot in "Silas Marner." She presents life, indeed, in "Romola,"--not,
however, as she had personally observed it, but as drawn from books,
recreating the atmosphere of a long gone time by the power of
imagination.
The earlier works of Scott are drawn from memory and personal feeling,
rather than from the knowledge he had gained by study. Of "Old
Mortality" he writes to Lady Louisa Stuart: "I am complete master of the
whole history of these strange times, both of persecutors and
persecuted; so I trust I have come decently off."
The divisional grouping of these earlier novels by Scott himself is
interesting. In the "Advertisement" to "The Antiquary" he says: "The
present work completes a series of fictitious narratives, intended to
illustrate the manners of Scotland at three different periods. WAVERLEY
embraced the age of our fathers [''Tis Sixty Years Since'], GUY
MANNERING that of our own youth, and THE ANTIQUARY refers to the last
ten years of the eighteenth century." The dedication of "Tales of My
Landlord" describes them as "tales illustrative of ancient Scottish
manners, and of the traditions of their [his countrymen's] respective
districts." They were--_First Series_: "The Black Dwarf" and "Old
Mortality;" _Second Series:_ "The Heart of Mid-Lothian;" _Third Series:_
"The Bride of Lammermoor" and "A Legend of Montrose;" _Fourth Series:_
"Count Robert of Paris" and "Castle Dangerous." These all (except the
fourth series, in 1832) appeared in the six years from 1814 to 1820, and
besides these, "Rob Roy," "Ivanhoe," and "The Monastery."
With the publication of "Old Mortality" in 1816, then, Scott introduced
the first of his historical novels, which had great fascination for
students. Who ever painted the old Cameronian with more felicity? Who
ever described the peculiarities of the Scottish Calvinists during the
reign of the last of the Stuarts with more truthfulness,--their
severity, their strict and Judaical observance of the Sabbath, their
hostility to popular amusements, their rigid and legal morality, their
love of theological dogmas, their inflexible prejudices, their lofty
aspirations? Where shall we find in literature a sterner fanatical
Puritan than John Balfour of Burley, or a fiercer royalist than Graham
of Claverhouse? As a love-story this novel is not remarkable. It is not
in the description of passionate love that Scott anywhere excels. His
heroines, with two or three exceptions, would be called rather tame by
the modern reader, although they win respect for their domestic virtues
and sterling elements of character. His favorite heroes are either
Englishmen of good family, or Scotchmen educated in England,--gallant,
cultivated, and reproachless, but without any striking originality or
intellectual force.
"Rob Roy" was published in the latter part of 1817, and was received by
the public with the same unabated enthusiasm which marked the appearance
of "Guy Mannering" and the other romances. An edition of ten thousand
was disposed of in two weeks, and the subsequent sale amounted to forty
thousand more. The scene of this story is laid in the Highlands of
Scotland, with an English hero and a Scottish heroine; and in this
fascinating work the political history of the times (forty years earlier
than the period of "Waverley") is portrayed with great impartiality. It
is a description of the first Jacobite rising against George I. in the
year 1715. In this novel one of the greatest of Scott's creations
appears in the heroine, Diana Vernon,--rather wild and masculine, but
interesting from her courage and virtue. The character of Baillie Jarvie
is equally original and more amusing.
The general effect of "Rob Roy," as well as of "Waverley" and "Old
Mortality," was to make the Scottish Highlanders and Jacobites
interesting to English readers of opposite views and feelings, without
arousing hostility to the reigning royal family. The Highlanders a
hundred years ago were viewed by the English with sentiments nearly
similar to those with which the Puritan settlers of New England looked
upon the Indians,--at any rate, as freebooters, robbers, and murderers,
who were dangerous to civilization; and the severities of the English
government toward these lawless clans, both as outlaws and as foes of
the Hanoverian succession, were generally condoned by public opinion.
Scott succeeded in producing a better feeling among both the conquerors
and the conquered. He modified general sentiment by his impartial and
liberal views, and allayed prejudices. The Highlanders thenceforth were
regarded as a body of men with many interesting traits, and capable of
becoming good subjects of the Crown; while their own hatred and contempt
of the Lowland Saxon were softened by the many generous and romantic
incidents of these tales. Two hitherto hostile races were drawn into
neighborly sympathy. Travellers visited the beautiful Highland retreats,
and returned with enthusiastic impressions of the country. To no other
man does Scotland owe so great a debt of gratitude as to Walter Scott,
not only for his poetry and novels, but for showing the admirable traits
of a barren country and a fierce population, and contributing to bring
them within the realm of civilization. A century or two ago the
Highlands of Scotland were peopled by a race in a state of perpetual
conflict with civilization, averse to labor, gaining (except such of
them as were enrolled in the English Army) a precarious support by
plunder, black-mailing, smuggling, and other illegal pursuits. Now they
compose a body of hard-working, intelligent, and law-abiding laborers,
cultivating farms, raising cattle and sheep, and pursuing the various
branches of industry which lead to independence, if not to wealth. The
traveller among the Highlanders feels as secure and is made as
comfortable as in any part of the island; while revelations of their
shrewd intelligence and unsuspected wit, in the stories of Barrie and
Crockett, show what a century of Calvinistic theology--as the chief
mental stimulant--has done in developing blossoms from that
thistle-like stock.
Scott had now all the fame and worldly prosperity which any literary man
could attain to,--for his authorship of the novels, although
unacknowledged, was more and more generally believed, and after 1821 not
denied. He lived above the atmosphere of envy, honored by all classes of
people, surrounded with admiring friends and visitors. He had an income
of at least £10,000 a year. Wherever he journeyed he was treated with
the greatest distinction. In London he was cordially received as a
distinguished guest in any circle he chose. The highest nobles paid
homage to him. The King made him a baronet,--the first purely literary
man in England to receive that honor. He now became ambitious to
increase his lands; and the hundred acres of farm at Abbotsford were
enlarged by new purchases, picturesquely planted with trees and
shrubberies, while "the cottage grew to a mansion, and the mansion to a
castle," with its twelve hundred surrounding acres, cultivated and made
beautiful.
Scott's correspondence with famous people was immense, besides his other
labors as farmer, lawyer, and author. Few persons of rank or fame
visited Edinburgh without paying their respects to its most eminent
citizen. His country house was invaded by tourists. He was on terms of
intimacy with some of the proudest nobles of Scotland. His various works
were the daily food not only of his countrymen, but of all educated
Europe. "Station, power, wealth, beauty, and genius strove with each
other in every demonstration of respect and worship."
And yet in the midst of this homage and increasing prosperity, one of
the most fortunate of human beings, Scott's head was not turned. His
habitual modesty preserved his moral health amid all sorts of
temptation. He never lost his intellectual balance. He assumed no airs
of superiority. His manners were simple and unpretending to the last. He
praised all literary productions except his own. His life in Edinburgh
was plain, though hospitable and free; and he seemed to care for few
luxuries aside from books, of which life made a large collection. The
furniture of his houses in Edinburgh and at Abbotsford was neither showy
nor luxurious. He was extraordinarily fond of dogs and all domestic
animals, who--sympathetic creatures as they are--unerringly sought him
out and lavished affection upon him.
When Scott lived in Castle Street he was not regarded by Edinburgh
society as particularly brilliant in conversation, since he never
aspired to lead by learned disquisitions. He told stories well, with
great humor and pleasantry, to amuse rather than to instruct. His talk
was almost homely. The most noticeable thing about it was common-sense.
Lord Cockburn said of him that "his sense was more wonderful than his
genius." He did not blaze like Macaulay or Mackintosh at the
dinner-table, nor absorb conversation like Coleridge and Sydney Smith.
"He disliked," says Lockhart, "mere disquisitions in Edinburgh and
prepared impromptus in London." A _doctrinaire_ in society was to him an
abomination. Hence, until his fame was established by the admiration of
the world, Edinburgh professors did not see his greatness. To them he
seemed commonplace, but not to such men as Hallam or Moore or Rogers or
Croker or Canning.
Notwithstanding Scott gave great dinners occasionally, they appear to
have been a bore to him, and he very rarely went out to evening
entertainments, although at public dinners his wit and sense made him a
favorite chairman. He retired early at night and rose early in the
morning, and his severest labors were before breakfast,--his principal
meal. He always dined at home on Sunday, with a few intimate friends,
and his dinner was substantial and plain. He drank very little wine, and
preferred a glass of whiskey-toddy to champagne or port. He could not
distinguish between madeira and sherry. He was neither an epicure nor
a gourmand.
After Scott had become world-famous, his happiest hours were spent in
enlarging and adorning his land at Abbotsford, and in erecting and
embellishing his baronial castle. In this his gains were more than
absorbed. He loved that castle more than any of his intellectual
creations, and it was not completed until nearly all his novels were
written. Without personal extravagance, he was lavish in the sums he
spent on Abbotsford. Here he delighted to entertain his distinguished
visitors, of whom no one was more welcome than Washington Irving, whom
he liked for his modesty and quiet humor and unpretending manners.
Lockhart writes: "It would hardly, I believe, be too much to affirm that
Sir Walter Scott entertained under his roof, in the course of the seven
or eight brilliant seasons when his prosperity was at its height, as
many persons of distinction in rank, in politics, in art, in literature,
and in science, as the most princely nobleman of his age ever did in the
like space of time."
One more unconscious, apparently, of his great powers has been rarely
seen among literary men, especially in England and France,--affording a
striking contrast in this respect to Dryden, Pope, Voltaire, Byron,
Bulwer, Macaulay, Carlyle, Hugo, Dumas, and even Tennyson. Great lawyers
and great statesmen are rarely so egotistical and conceited as poets,
novelists, artists, and preachers. Scott made no pretensions which were
offensive, or which could be controverted. His greatest aspiration seems
to have been to be a respectable landed proprietor, and to found a
family. An English country gentleman was his beau-ideal of happiness and
contentment. Perhaps this was a weakness; but it was certainly a
harmless and amiable one, and not so offensive as intellectual pride.
Scott indeed, while without vanity, had pride; but it was of a lofty
kind, disdaining meanness and cowardice as worse even than
transgressions which have their origin in unregulated passions.
From the numerous expletives which abound in Scott's letters, such as
are not now considered in good taste among gentlemen, I infer that like
most gentlemen of his social standing in those times he was in the habit
of using, when highly excited or irritated, what is called profane
language. After he had once given vent to his feelings, however, he was
amiable and forgiving enough for a Christian sage, who never harbored
malice or revenge. He had great respect for the military
profession,--probably because it was the great prop and defence of
government and established institutions, for he was the most
conservative of aristocrats. And yet his aristocratic turn of mind never
conflicted with his humane disposition,--never made him a snob. He
abhorred all vulgarity. He admired genius and virtue in whatever garb
they appeared. He was as kind to his servants, and to poor and
unfortunate people, as he was to his equals in society, being eminently
big-hearted. It was only fools, who made great pretensions, that he
despised and treated with contempt.