pursue a literary career. For this latter appointment, he was indebted to the
interest of the Buccleuch and Melville families, which he had conciliated, partly
by his talents, and partly by the zeal with which he entered into the volunteer
system at the close of the past century. He succeeded Mr George Home, upon
an arrangement, by which that gentleman was to enjoy the salary for life; so
that it was not till 1811 that the poet reaped any actual benefit from it. The
appointment was given by Mr Pitt, but was formally completed under the ensuing administration of Lord Grenville.
In 1808, Mr Scott published his second poem of magnitude, "Marmion," which displayed his metrical genius in greater perfection than the Lay of the Last Minstrel, and greatly increased his reputation. While the latter work, had produced him £600, the present secured one thousand guineas. Previously to 1825, no fewer than thirty-six thousand copies of Marmion were sold. In the same year, Mr Scott published an edition of Dryden's works, with notes, and a life of that poet. In 1809, he edited the State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler; and soon after he became a contributor to the Edinburgh Annual Register, started by Mr Southey.
"The Lady of the Lake," in which his poetical genius seems to have reached the acme of its powers, was published in 1810. His earlier efforts were less matured and refined ; and the later are all, in various degrees, less spirited and effective. In 1811 appeared "Don Roderick," a dreamy vaticination of modern Spanish history; in 1813 he published "Rokeby," in which he attempted, but without success, to invest English scenery and a tale of the civil war with the charm which he had already thrown over the Scottish Highlands and Borders, and their romantic inhabitants. Rokeby met with a decidedly unfavourable reception; and, it cannot be denied, the public enjoyed to a greater extent a burlesque, which appeared upon it, under the title of "Jokeby." The evil success of this poem induced him to make a desperate adventure to retrieve his laurels; and in 1814 he published "The Lord of the Isles." Even the name of Bruce, however, could not compensate the want of what had been the most captivating charm of his earlier productions the development of new powers and styles of poesy. The public was now acquainted with his whole "fence," and could, therefore, take no longer the same interest in his exhibitions. As if to try how far his name now operated in promoting the sale of his writings, he produced, anonymously, two small poems in succession, "Harold the Dauntless," and "The Bridal of Triermain." Neither made any considerable impression upon the public; and he, therefore, seems to have concluded that poetry was no longer a line in which he ought to exercise his talents.
Many years before, while as yet unknown as a poet, he had commenced a prose tale upon the legendary story of Thomas the Rymer, which never went beyond the first chapter. Subsequently, he contemplated a prose romance, relating to an age much nearer our own time. "My early recollections," says he,[1] "of the Highland scenery and customs made so favourable an impression in the poem called the 'Lady of the Lake,' that I was induced to think of attempting something of the same kind in prose. I had been a good deal in the Highlands at a time when they were much less accessible, and much less visited, than they have been of late years, and was acquainted with many of the old warriors of 1745, who were, like most veterans, easily induced to fight their battles over again, for the benefit of a willing listener like myself. It naturally occurred to me that the ancient traditions and high spirit of people, who, living in a civilized age and country, retained so strong a tincture of manners belonging to an early period of society, must afford a subject favourable for romance, if it should not prove a curious tale marred in the telling.
- ↑ In the auto-biographical introduction to the revised editions of his works.
