These literary productions, however, must be regarded as

only "imping his wings for flight;" and at length in January, 1805, appeared the "Lay of the last Minstrel," a work of great genius and originality, which instantly stamped him as one of the greatest of living poets. It was the first vigorous poetical narrative that had been produced in Britain for more than a century, and its success was immediate and unexampled. Scott's legendary lore, his love of the chivalrous and the supernatural, and his great descriptive powers, were all brought into play in this work; and if the "Lay" be inferior to some of his later poems in mechanism, and less rich in strikingly poetical passages, it was more true than any of them to his design of reconstructing the chivalrous romance, in a shape accommodated to modern sympathies. Of this remarkable poem forty-four thousand copies were disposed of in this country, before the publication of the uniform edition of Scott's works in 1830. "In the history of British poetry," says his biographer, "nothing has ever equalled the demand for the 'Lay of the last Minstrel.'" In 1808 appeared his poem of "Marmion," the most powerful and magnificent of his chivalrous tales, containing in its description of the battle of Flodden one of the most spirited passages in the whole range of English poetry, and which Jeffrey declared to be the noblest battle piece, save in Homer. In 1810 Scott published the beautiful metrical romance of the "Lady of the Lake," which was still more popular than either of its predecessors, and is now generally regarded as the most interesting, romantic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems. Simultaneously with the preparation of these works he pursued with eagerness and assiduity literary labours of a totally different and severely-tasking kind, such as an edition of the works of Dryden, a publication of Sadler's State Papers, a reprint of Somers' Collection of Tracts, and later a complete edition of Swift; while the publishing house of which he was secretly a partner issued an Annual Register, an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, and of Defoe's novels, and various other heavy works, which involved a large outlay, and were ultimately attended with a serious loss. At the same time the poet devoted much of his attention to organizing and disciplining a volunteer corps of horse; to politics, in which he took a deep interest; and to the establishment of the Quarterly Review. These diversified and somewhat incongruous labours, however, did not interfere with the steady preparation of new poems. The "Vision of Don Roderick" was published in 1811; "Rokeby" in 1812; and "The Bridal of Triermain" (which came out anonymously) in 1813. The "Lord of the Isles," and the "Field of Waterloo," which appeared in 1815, may be said to have virtually closed the series of Scott's poetical works since "Harold the Dauntless," was published in 1817, without the author's name. These poems, though containing many passages of great beauty, are universally acknowledged to be inferior to their predecessors. Besides this, his style had now become familiar, and "the trick of it" was caught by a host of imitators, whose feeble verses had surfeited the public with this peculiar form of poetical composition. Another great poetical star too—Byron—had arisen in the horizon, and multitudes thronged to worship at the new shrine. Scott was too shrewd not to perceive this change in the public taste, but too dauntless and intrepid, and conscious of his great resources, to despond under this reverse. He lost no time in directing his efforts to a new field, in which his genius earned triumphs even more splendid than those it had gained in the domain of poetry. "As the old mine gave symptoms of exhaustion," says Bulwer, "the new mine, ten times more affluent, at least in the precious metals, was discovered; and just as in 'Rokeby' and 'Triermain' the 'genius of the ring' seemed to flag in its powers, came the more potent 'genius of the lamp' in the shape of ' Waverley.' "

So early as 1805 Scott had entered on the composition of that wonderful romance, the first of his illustrious progeny of tales, and had written about seven chapters, but discouraged by the disapproval of one of his critical friends, had thrown the work aside. Eight years afterwards he met accidentally with the fragment, and determined to finish the story. This was accomplished in three weeks—a literary feat rarely if ever paralleled, and in July, 1814, the work was given anonymously to the public. It was hailed with a degree of enthusiasm which equally surprised and gratified the author. For a dozen years after, the "Waverley novels" as they were called, popular beyond all precedent, admired and lauded by critics, and ravenously devoured by the public, were poured out in ceaseless succession. No fewer than eighteen of these novels, comprising about sixty volumes, appeared in eleven years. "Guy Mannering," the second of the series, appeared in 1815, and was followed in 1816 by "The Antiquary," and the first series of the "Tales of my Landlord." "Rob Roy" appeared in 1817; the second series of the "Tales" in 1818, and in 1819 the third series, and "Ivanhoe." In 1820 came "The Monastery" and "The Abbot," and in the following year "The Pirate" and "Kenilworth." With the publication of the latter, says Professor Moir, "the sun of Scott's fame may be said to have 'touched the highest point of all its greatness;' but like that luminary during a polar summer, it seemed for a time rather to revolve than to descend, and its rays continued to look bright and beautiful long after it was journeying toward the west." Only one novel, "The Fortunes of Nigel," appeared in 1822; but to make up for this deficiency no fewer than three—"Peveril of the Peak," "Quentin Durward," and "St. Ronan's Well"—were issued in 1823; and were followed by "Redgauntlet" and the "Tales of the Crusaders" in 1824-25. The unprecedented success of this long series of fictions was no doubt owing mainly to their intrinsic merits, but something was also due to the thin veil of mystery in which the authorship was enveloped, and which served to pique the public curiosity, and to add a factitious interest to the novels, at the time of their publication. Strange to say, though suspicion pointed strongly towards Scott from the outset, and the secret was confided to no fewer than twenty persons, no direct evidence that Sir Walter was "the Great Unknown" ever came before the public until after his insolvency, when at a dinner for the Edinburgh theatrical fund, in February, 1827, he made a distinct avowal that he was the sole author of the Waverley novels.

The fame of these immortal fictions rests not so much on their plots, which are frequently unskilful and defective, as on the creative and graphic power they display in the invention and delineation of character; the life and vigour of the narrative; the unequalled brilliancy, ease, force, and felicity of the descriptions; the deep and large insight into human nature exhibited by the author; his profound sympathy with its various passions, and with all classes of society; and his combination of great genius with great good sense and good nature, of sagacity and pathos, of warm, generous, and exalted feelings, with a keen sense of humour. The novels of Scott far surpass the literary productions even of his most eminent contemporaries, and can be compared only with the dramas of Shakspeare in the endless variety of original characters, scenes, historical incidents, and adventures which they present. The most enthusiastic admirers of the novelist indeed will hardly venture to claim for him an equality with the dramatist in respect to originality, richness, and sweetness of fancy, or pure and lofty poetry; but in their delineations of historical personages or events these two great masters evince kindred tastes and not dissimilar powers—a compliment which can be paid to no other writer in our language. An eminent critic indeed claims superiority for Scott in the wonderful art with which he has contrived to impress the reader with the reality of the scenes which he describes at their several historical periods. "He has been able to mark most distinctly the age to which each separate story belongs, by a modification in the style and language of the dialogue, by a careful avoidance of anachronisms, by representing his characters as knowing neither more nor less than was appropriate to persons in their respective spheres, and by the most minute and careful attention to manners and costume; while Shakspeare, on the contrary, very rarely, and never strongly, indicates period by language—his characters for the most part might belong to any age, and not unfrequently they are made to talk even absurdly and incongruously." Scott's historical portraits indeed want the deep and subtle traits by which Shakspeare so wonderfully individualizes his characters; but the novelist's sketches of Charles Edward, the luckless descendant of a spirited, brave, accomplished, yet ill-fated race—"the bloody Clavers," the merciless but brave and skilful soldier—the brutal, scoffing Lauderdale and savage Dalzell—the courageous Scottish freebooter, Rob Roy, the Robin Hood of the hills—the gallant Montrose, the hero of a hundred fights, and the model of a partisan warrior, and his wily rival, the marquis of Argyle, the Ulysses of the civil war—Richard the Lion-hearted—Mary, the beautiful, accomplished, fascinating, impulsive, headstrong, sinning and sinned-against queen of Scotland—her great rival and sister of England, sagacious, firm, energetic, vain, capricious, jealous,