[ [92] 193. Fyke; fret.
[ [93] 194. Byke; hive.
[ [94] 200. Eldritch; unearthly.
[95] 201. Fairin'; reward.
[ [96] 208. According to an old superstition, witches are unable to pursue their victims over running water. Compare the story of the Headless Horseman in Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
[ [97] 213. Ettle; aim.
[WALTER SCOTT]
Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1771, of an old Border family. Up to the age of four he was rather feeble, an attack of fever having left him with a shrunken right leg. This disability, though it did not prevent his becoming a strong, sturdy man, still gave him ample leisure for wide reading while he was young. In high school and at the University of Edinburgh he was not known as a scholar, though he was popular with his companions, especially as a storyteller. In obedience to his father's wishes he took up law and toiled unenthusiastically at this profession for some years. Some trips of his into the Scotch Highlands led him to make a collection of old ballads, published in Border Minstrelsy (1802). From this time on he devoted himself exclusively to literature. His first important original poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, came out in 1805, followed by Marmion (1808), The Lady of the Lake (1810), The Vision of Don Roderick (1811), and others of less merit. He had about this time become a silent partner in the printing firm of Ballantyne Brothers, contributing largely to the capital. In 1812 he purchased a farm on the river Tweed and built the famous house Abbotsford. The estate was an unprofitable investment, as it led him into extravagances apparently justified by an increasing income but really based on a false optimism.
In 1814 Scott wrote Waverley, the first of the long series of novels which made him distinguished as a prose-writer. From this time on his major work was in prose. He recognized without envy that Byron was beating him on his own ground in poetry, and accordingly changed to a field where success was surer. He was apparently prospering financially when, in 1827, the firm of which he was a member went into bankruptcy, largely because of poor business management, and he was left shouldered with a debt of about $600,000. Undaunted he set to work at the age of fifty-five to satisfy his creditors, and book after book poured from his pen until in four years he had paid off $270,000. The effort, however, was too much for his health; he broke down, and, after a short visit to Italy, died at Abbotsford in 1832.