Sir Walter Scott Biography

Dromo's Den

SCOTT, Sir Walter (1771–1832). A famous British novelist and poet. He was born in Edinburgh, Aug. 15, 1771, of an old border family, the Scotts of Harden, an offshoot from the house of Buccleuch. Although he became a robust and healthy man, as a child Scott was sickly. His childhood was passed for the most part at Sandy Knowe, the farm of his grandfather, in Roxburghshire. His early familiarity with the ballads and legends then floating over all that part of the country probably did more than any other influence to determine the sphere of his future literary activity. Between 1778 and 1783 he attended the high school of Edinburgh, where, despite occasional flashes of talent, he shone considerably more as a bold, high-spirited boy with an odd turn for story-telling than as a student. In 1783 he began attending the University of Edinburgh, where he continued about two years, it would seem, not greatly to his advantage. Afterward, at the height of his fame, he was wont to speak with deep regret of his neglect of early opportunities. But, though leaving college scantily furnished with the knowledge formally taught there, he had been hiving up in his own way stores of valuable though unassorted information. From his earliest childhood onward he was an insatiable reader, and of what he either read or observed he seems to have forgotten almost nothing. He was a fairly good Latinist, of Greek he knew nothing, but he acquired a serviceable knowledge of French, Italian, Spanish, and German.

In music he showed no talent. In 1786 he was articled apprentice to his father; in 1788 he began to study for the bar, to which he was called in 1792. In his profession he had fair success, and in 1797 he married Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, the daughter of a French refugee named Jean Charpentier. Towards the end of 1799, through the interest of his friends Lord Melville and the Duke of Buccleuch, he was made sheriff depute of Selkirkshire, an appointment which brought him £300 a year with not very much to do for it. Meantime, in a tentative and intermittent way, his leisure had been occupied with literature, which more and more distinctly announced itself as the main business of his life. Excepting a disputation on being called to the bar, his first publication, a translation of Bürger's ballads Lenore and The Wild Huntsman, was issued in 1796. In 1799 appeared his translation of Goethe's drama of Götz von Berlichingen; and at this time he was writing for Monk Lewis the fine ballads, Glenfinlas, the Eve of St. John, and the Grey Brother. In 1802 Scott published the first two volumes of his Border Minstrelsy, which were followed in 1863 by a third and final one. This work, the fruit of those "raids"—as he called them—over the border counties, in which he had been wont to spend his vacations, won for him at once prominence among the literary men of the time. In 1804 he issued an edition of the old poem Sir Tristram, admirably edited and elucidated by valuable dissertations. Meantime The Lay of the Last Minstrel had been in progress, and on its publication in 1805 Scott found himself the most popular poet of the day. During the next 10 years, besides a mass of miscellaneous work, the most important items of which were elaborate editions of Dryden (1808) and of Swift (19 vols., 1814), including in each case a memoir, he gave to the world the poems Marmion (1808); The Lady of the Lake (1810); The Vision of Don Roderick (1811); Rokeby (1813); The Bridal of Triermain (1813); and The Lord of the Isles (1815). The enthusiasm with which the earlier of these works were received somewhat abated as the series proceeded. The charm of novelty was no longer felt, and the poetry had deteriorated. Moreover, in the bold outburst of Byron, with his deeper vein of sentiment and energy of passion, a formidable rival had appeared. All this Scott distinctly noted, and after what he felt as the comparative failure of The Lord of the Isles in 1815, he published, with the trivial exception of the anonymous Harold the Dauntless (1817), no more poetry. But already in Waverley, or 'Tis Sixty Years Since, which appeared without his name in 1814, he had achieved the first of a new series of triumphs. Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary (1816), Old Mortality, The Black Dwarf (1817, really 1816), Rоb Roy (1818), and The Heart of Midlothian (1818) rapidly followed. The remainder of the famous group known as the Waverley novels form the most splendid series of historical portraits in any language. The Bride of Lammermoor (1819); The Legend of Montrose (1819); Ivanhoe (1820, really 1819); The Monastery (1820); Kenilworth (1821); Quentin Durward (1823); The Talisman (1825)—these are among the most enduring of those great stories which enchanted Europe and had an immense influence on the development of fiction.

Scott was now at the height of his fame and prosperity. He was living at Abbotsford, the "romance in stone" he had built for himself in the border country which he loved. There he entertained with princely hospitality admirers of many types. In 1820 he was created Baronet. But his fortunes, secure as they seemed, were built upon insecure foundations. In 1805 Scott's income, as calculated by his biographer, was about £1000 a year, irrespective of what literature might bring him, a competency shortly increased, on his appointment to a clerkship of the Court of Session, by £1300. But what was ample for all prosaic needs seemed poor to Scott's imagination. In 1805, lured by the hope of immense profits, he secretly joined James Ballantyne, an old schoolfellow, in a large printing business in Edinburgh. To this, a few years afterward, a publishing business was added, under the nominal conduct of John Ballantyne, a brother of James; Scott in the new adventure becoming, as before, a partner. Gradually the affairs of the two firms became complicated with those of the great house of Constable & Co., in the sudden collapse of which in 1826 the Ballantynes were involved to the extent of £120,000. Compromise with their creditors would have been easy. But Scott regarded the debt as personal. "If I live and retain my health," said Scott, "no man shall lose a penny by me." And, somewhat declined as he now was from the first vigor and elasticity of his strength, he set himself to liquidate by his pen this large sum. The stream of novels now flowed swiftly. A Life of Napoleon (1827), in nine volumes, was undertaken and completed, with much other miscellaneous work; and within a space of two years Scott had realized for his creditors nearly £40,000. A new and annotated edition of the novels (begun in 1829) was issued with immense success; and there seemed every prospect that within a reasonable period Scott might again face the world, as he had pledged himself to do, owing no man a penny. In this severe labor he broke down. In 1830 he was smitten with paralysis, from which he never thoroughly rallied. It was hoped that the climate of Italy might benefit him. The Admiralty placed at his disposal a man-of-war on which he took a Mediterranean voyage, touching at Malta and Naples. But in Italy he pined for the home to which he returned only to die. At Abbotsford, on Sept. 21, 1832, he passed away, with his children round him. On the 26th he was buried beside his wife (died 1826) in the beautiful ruins of Dryburgh Abbey. By the sale of copyrights all Scott's debts were liquidated in 1847.

In regard to Scott's poetry there is now little difference of opinion. Its genuine merits continue to secure for it some part of the popular favor with which it was at first received. Deficient though it be in certain of the higher and deeper qualities and in finish, it is admirable in its frank abandon, in its boldness and breadth of effect, its succession of clear pictures, and its rapid and fiery movement. Scattered here and there are little snatches of ballad and song scarcely surpassed in our language. As a novelist Scott had some shortcomings. With the artistic instinct granted him in largest measure, he had little of the artistic conscience. Writing offhand, he would not watch his work as it proceeded. Hence he is an exceedingly irregular writer; many of his works are in structure most lax and careless, and some of the very greatest of them are marred by occasional infusions of obviously inferior matter. Yet it may be doubted whether in mass and stature Scott is quite reached by any other English novelist. Of Scott's novels, those dealing most intimately with Scottish life are the best. As a force Scott's influence has been immense. He discovered the historical novel, and from him proceed the countless tales of national life since written in Great Britain, throughout Europe, and in the United States. Scott, too, gave to fiction that encyclopædic character since exemplified in Balzac, Dickens, and Thackeray. He did more than all other men of his time to enlarge our vision by extending it over wide stretches of history. He also revolutionized the current conceptions of history as a body of dry facts. His logical successor was Macaulay.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 614-615.