Sir Walter Scott always spoke in high praise of the
Christabel
, and more than once of his obligations to Coleridge; of this we have proof in his
Ivanhoe
, in which the lines by Coleridge, entitled
The Knight's Tomb,
were quoted by Scott before they were published, from which circumstance, Coleridge was convinced that Sir Walter was the author of the
Waverly
Novels. The lines were composed as an experiment for a metre, and repeated by him to a mutual friend — this gentleman the following day dined in company with Sir Walter Scott, and spoke of his visit to Highgate, repeating Coleridge's lines to Scott, and observing at the same time, that they might be acceptable to the author of
Waverley