At one extreme is St. Ronan's Well, a tale of 1800; at the other is Count Robert of Paris, the scene of which is laid in Byzantium, 1090. In Scotland, England, or on the Continent, "The Wizard" seemed equally at home. We may pardon him if in covering so much ground he fell frequently into minor inaccuracies. A good romancer is rarely a good historian. The first nine novels dealt entirely with Scotland. Ivanhoe, published late in 1819, was the tenth of the series, and the first that dealt with English history. It was a question in Scott's mind whether he could with success pass from Scottish manners and history with which he was so familiar, to English history, an untried field. But just as Waverley outstripped all novels that had appeared up to that time, so Ivanhoe outstripped the other Waverley novels and is to-day perhaps the favorite. In reading it, two things should be kept in mind. First, it was written when Scott was at the pinnacle of fame. He was a newly made baronet. He had declined the laureateship of England. The reading world was at his feet. In the second place, it was written when Scott was in poor health, hardly expecting to live to see the romance completed. Much of it was dictated by the author when he was unable to sit up, paroxysms of pain frequently interrupting the work. Besides the romantic poems and the Waverley novels, Scott wrote a life of Napoleon in nine volumes, edited the works of Dryden and Swift, and turned out many essays, reviews, and tales of minor importance. Such unprecedented industry becomes the more wonderful when we learn that the writing of books was but a small part of Scott's life. To explain this, we must go back again to Scott the young man. When twenty-eight he was appointed sheriff of Selkirkshire, a life position with an annual salary of £300. Eventually his clerkship in the Court of Sessions yielded him an income of £1500 a year. He had a small fortune of his own. His books brought phenomenal returns. What did he do with his rapidly increasing fortune? From early manhood his fondest dream had been to become a great landowner and live in grand baronial style, entertaining with old-time, open-handed hospitality all his friends. He wished to do "the honors for all Scotland." He wished to be "the founder of a race of Scottish lairds." In time this dream was realized, and all the world knows of Abbotsford, on the river Tweed. But this could not be accomplished in a day. First there was a little home at Lasswade, near Edinburgh, to which at twenty-seven he brought his bride, Charlotte Carpenter, daughter of a French Royalist. A few years later, his income warranting the change, he moved to Ashiestiel on the Tweed near Yarrow, where he lived eight years. It was here that the Lay of the Last Minstrel was completed. Mr. Collier gives this delightful picture of his manner of life in these early days: At "Rising at five, he lit his own fire (if it was cold weather), dressed with care, and went out to see his favorite horse. six he was seated at his desk in his shooting-jacket, or other out-of-doors garb, with a dog or two couched at his feet. There he wrote till breakfast time, at nine or ten; and by that hour he had, in his own words, broken the neck of the day.' A couple of hours after breakfast were also given to the pen, and at twelve he was 'his own man'-free for the day. By one he was on horseback, with his greyhounds led by his side ready for some hours' coursing; or he was gliding in a boat over some deep pool on the Tweed, salmon spear in hand, watching in the sunlight for a silver-scaled twenty-pounder. Such sport, varied with breezy rides by green glen and purple moorland, closed the day, whose early hours had been given to the battle of Flodden, or the romantic wanderings of Fitzjames." In 1812, two years before Waverley was published, he purchased the first of the many farms which eventually were comprised by the estate of Abbotsford. The building of his great home is a story too well known to need repeating. Everything was on a grand scale, no expense being spared. Appar ently every wish was gratified. For many years the greathearted novelist lived here with his family and friends, writing industriously, personally superintending every improvement, a busy, happy man. Then came a reverse which would have crushed an ordinary mortal. In 1826 the publishing house which had issued the poems and the Waverley novels, a concern in which he was silent partner, failed, and Scott found himself at fifty-five a bankrupt owing over £120,000. And now the true spirit of this "Wizard of the North" shone forth. Every offer of aid was promptly rejected. He made it a point of honor to pay every penny. To do this he redoubled his energy, turning out novels with unprecedented rapidity, and rarely did his spirits lag. But so intense a strain could not long be endured. His health, which had been none too good for many years, rapidly declined. A six months' residence in Italy failed to do him any good. His great task all but accomplished, he died at Abbotsford, September 21, 1832. His body rests amid the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, not many miles down the Tweed from his famous home. The characteristics of Scott, the man and the author, are apparent. We have seen that he was a hard worker and an equally hard player; that he had a fearless, open, winning nature; that he loved the past that rings with tilt and tourney; and that very dear to him was his native Scotland. The careful reader will have no difficulty in adding to this list of characteristics. A parting word of caution, however, may not be amiss: Scott was a great and good man, an author whom we may safely make a life companion; but he was not perfect. The spirit of his entire life tells us that the great man would prefer that we do not put him on a cold pedestal for blind worship, but rather treat him as a fellow-creature, human like ourselves. The standard biography of Scott is by his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart. A good short biography is that by Richard H. Hutton. A GROUP OF WAVERLEY NOVELS The Talisman. This is a story of the Third Crusade, the scene being laid in the East. The time is that of Ivanhoe. The Heart of Midlothian. The heroine is Jeanie Deans, most lovable of all Scott's woman characters. Old Mortality. This is called, by some, the best of Scott's historical novels. It deals with the encounters of 1679 between the Cavaliers and the Covenanters. Rob Roy. Rob Roy is "the Robin Hood of Scotland," a clever outlaw of the early eighteenth century. Kenilworth. Contains the sad story of Amy Robsart. Queen Elizabeth is one of the principal characters. The Monastery and The Abbot. These have for heroine Mary, Queen of Scots. IVANHOE A ROMANCE Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart, PRIOR |