Some of his once gained for him a high literary name. own contributions to the ballads of the volumes were among the very finest poems he ever wrote. In 1805 appeared his first great poem, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." This composition, a romance in verse, was the first realization of Scott's special genius, the power of portraying romantic incident and character; and though "The Lay" was a somewhat less perfect manifestation of this genius than some of his later poems, as these again were less perfect manifestations of it than were afterward his brilliant prose romances, it was, nevertheless, a great and notable production, and immediately placed its author in the very front rank of British poets. "The Lay," too, had the merit not only of excellence but of novelty. It constituted a distinct accession to the realm of literature. It was indeed an excursion into a field of poetic composition hitherto utterly untrod. In 1808 appeared "Marmion," Scott's greatest poem, and one of the world's great literary masterpieces. In 1810 "Marmion" was followed by "The Lady of the Lake," Scott's most popular poem; a composition, however, in which the poetic treatment of the theme is less striking than the development of its narrative interest. In 1813 followed "Rokeby," and in 1815" The Lord of the Isles," poems in which, in a still more marked degree than in "The Lady of the Lake," the interest depends less upon poetic power and feeling than upon mere dramatic narration. But Scott had by this time discovered that vein in his genius from which its richest treasures were to be extracted. In 1805 he had begun a prose romance entitled "Waverley," which, however, he had laid aside 66 unfinished and forgotten. In the summer of 1814 he chanced upon the unfinished manuscript again, and at once he set at work to complete it. This he did with almost incredible speed, for he wrote at least two-thirds of the story in less than three weeks. Waverley" was published anonymously, but it took the world by storm. It was followed early in 1815 by "Guy Mannering," and in 1816 by "The Antiquary" and "Old Mortality," the first and second being among his very best works, and the third perhaps the very best of all. In 1817, although suffering from an exceedingly painful illness of the stomach, he turned out "Rob Roy" and "The Heart of Midlothian," each an immortal production. And so the stream flowed on. Much of his best work was dictated to amanuenses amid fits of suffering so acute that his assistants would urge him to desist; but the unconquerable will never faltered, even for an instant. "The Bride of Lammermoor," "The Legend of Montrose," and "Ivanhoe," the first the most pathetic, the last perhaps the most popular of the novels, were all produced in this way. Then followed "The Monastery" and "The Abbot," the former thought by some a failure, the latter, which is a supplement to it, adjudged by every one to be a triumphantly redeeming success. Then, within three years, were produced "Kenilworth," his great historical romance, "The Pirate," "The Fortunes of Nigel," noted for its dramatic characterization of King James I, "Peveril of the Peak," "Quentin Durward," "St. Ronan's Well," and "Redgauntlet," the two. latter thought by many critics to be among the poorest of the series. Ronan's Well," however, though severely criticised and "St. much condemned, has its defenders, and with many readers of the Waverley novels it ranks as the very best. A curious circumstance connected with the publication of the Waverley novels (as these romances are always termed) was their anonymity; for Scott chose to continue throughout the plan of concealing his name which he had adopted at the beginning. The author of the novels was familiarly spoken of as "The Great Unknown"; and who he was remained for some years a secret known only to a few. Even after his identity with the author of "Waverley" was an open secret, Scott himself and all of Scott's friends took the greatest pains to maintain the fiction that the two were not the same; and sometimes their actions led to what seemed to be the most authoritative denial of the truth. He himself reviewed the novels in the Quarterly Review. Nor did he openly acknowledge his responsibility for any of the first twenty-three novels which he wrote. until about the end of his career. What intensified the mystery as to the authorship of these novels was the fact that, though many unmistakable signs pointed to Scott as their author, his wellknown most laborious industry and marvellous productivity in other branches of literature seemed utterly to preclude the possibility of it. To mention only the names of his many literary productions outside of poetry and romance would be tedious; but as a single instance of his laborious activity his "Dryden" may be cited. This was a new edition of Dryden's works in eighteen volumes, accompanied by a "Life,”—a piece of work that is considered by competent judges to be quite sufficient to have employed the entire energies of one man for at least eight years! And yet his "Dryden" was only a fraction of his other work during the years he was turning out the Waverleys. Scott was undoubtedly the most brilliantly successful literary worker the world has ever known. Some may perhaps have equalled him in money earnings, though this is scarcely probable. Some may perhaps have won a higher social recognition. But, taken all in all, Scott's success is unparalleled. His money earnings in his own lifetime approximated three-quarters of a million of dollars. He was the most popular, the most highly esteemed, the most sought-after author of his time. He had won undying fame in two great departments of literature, — poetry and prose romance; while as a historian, an antiquarian, a biographer, an editor, and a critic, his performances were ranked with the very best. He held two offices of high social rank and ample emoluments; and his discharge of the duties involved in them was so faithfully methodical and painstaking that, far from diminishing the credit of his literary career, they very much enhanced it. He had bought a fine estate in his favorite Liddesdale, and had gratified his natural taste by planting it with forests, whose growth he watched with loving solicitude, until his domain resembled that of some medieval baron. He had built upon it a mansion, "Abbotsford," a "romance in stone and mortar," which was a place of pilgrimage to the literati of all nations, and where he indulged in a hospitality that was almost boundless. He had been made a baronet at the hands of his king; and the honor was bestowed upon him in such a manner as to be peculiarly significant of the esteem in which he was held, not only by the king, but |