A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM
THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF THE
PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED
(PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).

1802-3Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (edited).
1804Sir Tristrem (edited).
1806Original Memoirs written during the Great Civil War; the Life of Sir H. Slingsby, and Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson (edited).
1808Memoirs of Capt. Carleton (edited).
1808The Works of John Dryden (edited).
1808Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, and Fragmenta Regalia (edited).
1808Queenhoo Hall, a Romance; and Ancient Times, a Drama (edited).
1809The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler (edited).
1809-15The Somers Tracts (edited).
1811Memoirs of the Court of Charles II, by Count Grammont (edited).
1811Secret History of the Court of James the First (edited).
1813Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I, by Sir Philip Warwick (edited).
1814The Works of Jonathan Swift (edited).
1814-17The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland.
1816Paul's Letters.
1818Essay on Chivalry.
1819Essay on the Drama.
1819-26Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland.
1820Trivial Poems and Triolets by Patrick Carey (edited).
1821Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland; and the Contemplative and Practical Angler (edited).
1821-24The Novelists' Library (edited).
1822Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701 (edited).
1822Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War (edited).
1824Essay on Romance.
1826Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency.
1827The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte.
1828Tales of a Grandfather, first series.
1828Religious Discourses, by a Layman.
1828Proceedings in the Court-martial held upon John, Master of Sinclair, etc. (edited).
1829Memorials of George Bannatyne (edited).
1829Tales of a Grandfather, second series.
1829-32The "Opus Magnum" (Novels, Tales, and Romances, with Introductions and Notes by the Author).
1830Tales of a Grandfather, third series.
1830Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
1830History of Scotland.
1831Tales of a Grandfather, fourth series.
1831Trial of Duncan Terig, etc. (edited).
1890The Journal of Sir Walter Scott.
1894Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Importance of a study of Scott's critical and scholarly work—Connection between his creative work and his criticism—Chronological view of his literary career.

Scott's critical work has become inconspicuous because of his predominant fame as an imaginative writer; but what it loses on this account it perhaps gains in the special interest attaching to criticism formulated by a great creative artist. One phase of his work is emphasized and explained by the other, and we cannot afford to ignore his criticism if we attempt fairly to comprehend his genius as a poet and novelist. The fact that he is the subject of one of the noblest biographies in our language only increases our obligation to become acquainted with his own presentation of his artistic principles.

But though criticism by so great and voluminous a writer is valuable mainly because of the important relation it bears to his other work, and because of the authority it derives from this relation, Scott's scholarly and critical writings are individual enough in quality and large enough in extent to demand consideration on their own merits. Yet this part of his achievement has received very little attention from biographers and critics. Lockhart's book is indeed full of materials, and contains also some suggestive comment on the facts presented; but as the passing of time has made an estimation of Scott's power more safe, students have lost interest in his work as a critic, and recent writers have devoted little attention to this aspect of the great man of letters.[1]

The present study is an attempt to show the scope and quality of Scott's critical writings, and of such works, not exclusively or mainly critical, as exhibit the range of his scholarship. For it is impossible to treat his criticism without discussing his scholarship; since, lightly as he carried it, this was of consequence in itself and in its influence on all that he did. The materials for analysis are abundant; and by rearrangement and special study they may be made to contribute both to the history of criticism and to our comprehension of the power of a great writer. In considering him from this point of view we are bound to remember the connection between the different parts of his vocation. In him, more than in most men of letters, the critic resembled the creative writer, and though the critical temperament seems to show itself but rarely in his romances, we find that the characteristic absence of precise and conscious art is itself in harmony with his critical creed.