Walter Scott.
This letter is dated the 22d of December. On the 26th, John Ballantyne, being then at Abbotsford, writes to Messrs. Constable: "Paul is all in hand;" and an envelope, addressed to James Ballantyne on the 29th, has preserved another little fragment of Scott's playful doggerel:—
"Dear James—I'm done, thank God, with the long yarns
Of the most prosy of Apostles—Paul;
And now advance, sweet Heathen of Monkbarns,
Step out, old quizz, as fast as I can scrawl."[Back to Contents]
CHAPTER XXXVII.
publication of paul's letters to his kinsfolk. — guy mannering "terry-fied." — death of major john scott. — letters to thomas scott. — publication of the antiquary. — history of 1814 for the edinburgh annual register. — letters on the history of scotland projected. — publication of the first tales of my landlord by murray and blackwood. — anecdotes by mr. train. — quarterly review on the tales. — building at abbotsford begun. — letters to morritt, terry, murray, and the ballantynes.
1816.
The year 1815 may be considered as, for Scott's peaceful tenor of life, an eventful one. That which followed has left almost its only traces in the successive appearance of nine volumes, which attest the prodigal genius, and hardly less astonishing industry of the man. Early in January were published Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, of which I need not now say more than that they were received with lively curiosity, and general, though not vociferous applause. The first edition was an octavo, of 6000 copies; and it was followed, in the course of the next two or three years, by a second and a third, amounting together to 3000 more. The popularity of the novelist was at its height; and this admitted, if not avowed, specimen of Scott's prose must have been perceived, by all who had any share of discrimination, to flow from the same pen.
MAIDA
After Landseer's painting.