a variety of other particulars are to be found in the excerpts of the sederunt book of the meetings of Messrs Ballantyne's creditors, a copy of which was in private circulation soon after their failure. Hence the sudden, and, it must be added, part of Sir Walter. As he was well aware that the circumstances would soon make their way through the press, he determined to catch at some little éclat, while yet there was time-some little credit for disclosing that himself, which all the world were soon to learn from others. a These are items from the accounts. 'Value of Sir Walter Scott's literary property. 1. Copyright of published works, estimated at the rate obtained from Constable and Co. for similar works.' think it necessary to enter into the reasons of his long silence. Perhaps he might have acted from caprice. He had now to say, however, that the merits of these works, if they had any, and their faults, were entirely imputable to himself. (Long and loud cheering.) He was afraid to think | rather awkward avowal of the authorship on the on what he had done. Look on't again I dare got. He had thus far unbosomed himself, and he knew that it would be reported to the public. He meant, when he said that he was the author, that he was the total and undivided author. With the exception of quotations, there was not a single word that was not derived from himself, or suggested in the course of his reading. The wand was now broken, and the rod buried. You will allow me further to say, with Prospero, 'T is your breath that has filled my sails; and to crave one single toast in the capacity of the author of these navels; and he would dedicate a bumper to the health of one who has represented some of those characters, of which he had endeavoured to give the skeleton, with a degree of liveliness which rendered him grateful. He would propose the health of his friend Bailie Nicol Jarvie (loud applause),-and he was sure, that when the author of Waverley and Rob Roy drinks to Nicol Jarvis, it would be received with that degree of applause to which that gentleman has always been accustomed, and that they would take care that, on the present occasion, it should be PRODIGIOUS!" (Long and vehement applause.) When Sir Walter had thus declared, à propos to nothing, that he was the man who had so long concealed his features under the mask of the auDior of Waverley, all the world stared, not so much at the unexpectedness of the disclosure, for it was virtually well-known before, but that the declaration should be made at that particular moment, when there appeared no reason for revealing the quasi secret. The reason, however, was but too soon made known to the world. The unfortunate position of the affairs of Constable and Co., and of Ballantyne and Co., with the latter of which firms Sir Walter Scott was connected, rendered it necessary that their accounts should not only be looked into, but exposed to the creditors. The transactions recorded there show explicitly enough who was the author of Waverley;—we not only find Sir Walter Scott receives payment for these works, but we find hia stipulating for the purchase-money of works then unconceived, and of yielding up every stiver, or its worth, which he could command, but actually pledging future labours akin to former ees, for the liquidation of his debts. These, and St Ronan's Well 1,300l. 2,000 4,600l. 2. Eventual rights to works sold to Constable and Co. for which bonds to the extent of 7,800l. are granted, but for reasons above stated, no value can be rated in this state.2 3. Works in progress.3 As none of these are completed, no value is put on them at present beyond what is before stated as due to Ballantyne and Co. for printing works in progress, and on the value of Messrs Constable and Co.'s paper on hand; but ultimately will be very valuable. See Appendix as to these works. << In the debtor and creditor account of Constable and Co. with Ballantyne and Co., the following item occurs on the credit side:-Sums advanced by Constable and Co. to Sir Walter Scott, being their two-third shares of sums stipulated to be paid in advance for two works of fiction not named, and not yet written, as per missives, dated 7th and 20th March, 1823. These works being undelivered, it is considered the author has an undoubted right to retain them, and impute the sums paid to account in the general balance owing to Constable and Co. In Appendix, No. II, being estimates of funds that may accrue to Ballantyne and Co. within a «This price is that given for the subsequent editions, after the first of 10,000. 2 « It is a condition of these bonds, that if they are not paid, the copyrights revert to the author; so that, in spite of the failure of the granters, it is supposed they will be paid. 3 « This alludes to the Life of Napoleon.>> 4 « Were the right the other way, it would be a very difficult matter to enforce it. An author of works of fiction is not to be delivered against his will; a legal process Mr Mackay, the well-known representative of that to force Sir Walter Scott to produce a couple of novels, der on the Edinburgh boards. would be the Cæsarcan operation in literature.>> Produce of Woodstock . 2. Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, 5 vols. 8,000 copies, shop-price 52s. 6d. boards. Deduct one-third, as L. S. 14,962 10 8,212 10 6,750 1,300 O d. ° literary works, entitled Woodstock, and The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, having been considered; the trustees expressed their opinion, that so far as they understood the nature of the bargain between Sir Walter Scott and Constable and Co., the latter had no claim in law for the proceeds of either of these books; but think it desirable for all parties that they should be finished, which should be communicated to Sir Walter; and also, that he should be requested to give his aid to the sale of them to the best advantage.-Mr Gibson was instructed to endeavour to concert some arrangement with Constable and Co. for consigning in some bank the price of the works, until all questions concerning them were decided.' On the 26th May, 1826, a meeting was held, o when Mr Gibson reported particulars of sale of Woodstock, 7,900 copies of which had been sold 0 to Hurst and Robinson, at 6,500l.: but they being unable to complete the bargain, they had been transferred to Longman and Co. on same terms. « The money had been paid, and was deposited with Sir W. Forbes and Co., to wait the issue of the decision as to the respective claims of Constable and Co. and Sir W. Scott's trustees, regardoing this work. The remainder of the impression had been sold to Constable and Co.'s trustee at 18s. 6d. each copy, 'at a credit of ten months from delivery, with five per cent. discount for any earlier payment,' of which the trustees approved. In consequence of advice from Sir Walter Scott and Longman and Co., it had been thought advisable 0 to restrict the first edition of the Life of Napoleon to 6,000, instead of 8,000 copies, as originally intended. 4 2,166 13 11,260 13 4 1,000 0 «At the second meeting of creditors, held 3d February, 1826, a resolution is entered, that the printing establishment should be continued, both as a source of profit, and as necessary for the publication of Sir W. Scott's works: who had requested of Mr Gibson to communicate, that he was to use every exertion in his power on behalf of the creditors; and by the diligent employment of his talents, and adoption of a strictly economical mode of life, to secure, as speedily as possible, full payment to all concerned. The excerpts contain a great number of items, which lay open the precise state of Sir Walter's private affairs; a hundred years hence they may be a great curiosity, and their publication may then be correct; at present it would certainly be indelicate and unhandsome, not only to the admirable writer himself, but also to several other private individuals. Every thing belonging to a great national genius is public property, and in the course of a short time these excerpts will be sought for with avidity, and published with as little hesitation as Mr Todd lately printed Milton's pecuniary squabbles with his mother-in-law. » The public disclosure of this long-preserved secret, though immediately occasioned by a heavy misfortune, has in its result been productive of much advantage both to the author and the public, by affording an opportunity for the publication of the new edition of the novels now in progress, which appearing under the sanction of the author's The cause of the delay in the publication of the Life of Napoleon will be found in the follow-name, and with notes and historical illustrations ing minute : a added by himself, has attained a popularity eclip The circumstances connected with the two sing even the most brilliant success of the original publications. From the general Preface to this edition we quote the following passage, in which the author gives an account of his motives for preserving the incognito so long. - Waverley was published in 1814, and as the title-page was without the name of the author, the work was left to win its way in the world without any of the usual recommendations. Its progress was for some time slow; but fter the first two or three months, its popularity had increased in a degree which must have satisfied the expectations of the author, had these been far more sanguine than he ever entertained. ther merited or undeserved, I had already as much as might have contented a mind more ambitious than mine; and in entering into this new contest for reputation, I might be said rather to endanger what I had, than to have any considerable chance of acquiring more. I was affected, too, by none of those motives which, at an earlier period of life, would doubtless have operated upon me. My friendships were formed,-my place in society fixed,-my life had attained its middle course. My condition in society was higher perhaps than I deserved, certainly as high as I wished, and there was scarce any degree of literary success which ⚫ Great anxiety was expressed to learn the name could have greatly altered or improved my perof the author, but on this no authentic informa-sonal condition. tion could be attained. My original motive for I was not, therefore, touched by the spur of publishing the work anonymously, was the consci- ambition, usually stimulating on such occasions; cusness that it was an experiment on the public and yet I ought to stand exculpated from the taste which might very probably fail, and there- charge of ungracious or unbecoming indifference fore there was no occasion to take on myself the to public applause. I did not the less feel gratitude personal risk of discomfiture. For this purpose for the public favour, although I did not proclaim considerable precautions were used to preserve se-it,—as the lover who wears his mistress's favour in crecy. My old friend and schoolfellow, Mr James his bosom, is as proud, though not so vain of posBallantyne, who printed these Novels, had the sessing it, as another who displays the token of exclusive task of corresponding with the author, her grace upon his bonnet. Far from such an unwho thus had not only the advantage of his pro- gracious state of mind, I have seldom felt more safessional talents, but also of his critical abilities. tisfaction than when, returning from a pleasure The original manuscript, or, as it is technically voyage, I found Waverley in the zenith of populacalled, copy, was transcribed under Mr Ballantyne's rity, and public curiosity in full cry after the name eye by confidential persons; nor was there an in- of the author. The knowledge that I had the stance of treachery during the many years in public approbation, was like having the property which these precautions were resorted to, although of a hidden treasure, not less gratifying to the various individuals were employed at different owner than if all the world knew that it was his times. Double proof-sheets were regularly printed own. Another advantage was connected with the off. One was forwarded to the author by Mr Bal-secrecy which I observed. I could appear, or relantyne, and the alterations which it received were, by his own hand, copied upon the other proof-sheet for the use of the printers, so that even the corrected proofs of the author were never seen in the printing-office; and thus the curiosity of such eager inquirers as made the most minute investigation, was entirely at fault. treat from the stage at pleasure, without attracting any personal notice or attention, other than what might be founded on suspicion only. In my own person also, as a successful author in another department of literature, I might have been charged with too frequent intrusions on the public patience; but the Author of Waverley was in this respect as impassible to the critic as the Ghost of Hamlet to the partisan of Marcellus. Perhaps the curiosity of the public, irritated by the existence of a secret, and kept afloat by the discussions which took place on the subject from time to time, went a good way to maintain an unabated interest in these frequent publications. There was a mystery concerning the author, which each new novel was expected to assist in unravelling, although it might in other respects rank lower than its predecessors. . But although the cause of concealing the author's name in the first instance, when the reception of Waverley was doubtful, was natural enough, it is more difficult, it may be thought, to account for the same desire for secrecy during the subsequent editions, to the amount of betwixt eleven and twelve thousand copies, which followed each other close, and proved the success of the work. I am sorry I can give little satisfaction to queries on this subject. I have already stated elsewhere, that I can render little better reason for chusing to remain anonymous, than by saying with Shylock, I may perhaps be thought guilty of affectation, that such was my humour. It will be observed, should I allege as one reason of my silence, a sethat I had not the usual stimulus for desiring per- cret dislike to enter on personal discussions consonal reputation, the desire, namely, to float amidst cerning my own literary labours. It is in every the conversation of men. Of literary fame, whe-case a dangerous intercourse for an author to be e dwelling continually (among those who make his writings a frequent and familiar subject of conversation, but who must necessarily be partial judges of works composed in their own society. The habits of self-importance, which are thus acquired by authors, are highly injurious to a well-regulated mind; for the cup of flattery, if it does not, like that of Circe, reduce men to the level of beasts, is sure, if eagerly drained, to bring the best and the ablest down to that of fools. This risk was in some degree prevented by the mask which I wore; and my own stores of self-conceit were left to their natural course, without being enhanced by the partiality of friends, or adulation of flatterers. « If I am asked further reasons for the conduct I have long observed, I can only resort to the explanation supplied by a critic as friendly as he is intelligent; namely, that the mental organization of the Novelist must be characterised, to speak craniologically, by an extraordinary development of the passion for delitescency! I the rather suspect some natural disposition of this kind; for, from the instant I perceived the extreme curiosity manifested on the subject, I felt a secret satisfaction in baffling it, for which, when its unimportance is considered, I do not well know how to account.» We may here mention, that in addition to the literary labours which we have particularised, Sir Walter Scott edited and wrote memoirs for Ballantyne's edition of the Novelists. He was also the Editor of the historical portion of the Edinburgh Annual Register for the years 1814 and 1815, and during the years 1818 and 1819 published his communications to Mr Jameson's edition of Burt's Letters, two volumes of Provincial Antiquities, and an account of the Regalia of Scotland. In 1820 he published « The Visionary in the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, and in 1822 edited Gwynne's Memoirs of the Great Civil War in 1653-4. In 1826, some letters originally published by him in one of the journals, under the signature of Malachi Malagrowther, were collected in a small volume; and in the early part of the following year, in addition to the Preface to the Memoirs of Larochejaquelin, for Constable's Miscellany, he brought out an edition of his own Miscellaneous Prose Works in 6 volumes, in which were comprised his Lives of Dryden, Swift, the Novelists, Sir R. Sadler, Miss Seward, Dr Leyden, Duke of Buccleugh, Lord Somerville, King George III, Lord Byron, and the Duke of York, and also Paul's Letters, and some Essays on Chivalry, Romance, and the Drama, originally printed in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The same year he produced his LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, a production of which neither our limits, nor our inclinations, will allow us to say much. In an historical point of view it possesses few merits, and, we are constrained to admit, is equally unworthy of the extraordinary character it treats of, as of its author's splendid literary reputation. The extent and importance of the subject were calculated to afford an ample scope for the display of the very highest ability. A more exciting theme of narration—a fairer field of philosophical contemplation, was never before given to kindle the eloquence, to exercise the wisdom and skill, or to stimulate the intellectual ambition of the historian. Yet, notwithstanding the unquestionable powers of the celebrated author-notwithstanding the fame which he had set upon the cast »> — the magnitude of the occasion, and all the inspiring circumstances of the undertaking, it would be vain to deny that the work, upon the whole, is a failure. The book has, evidently, been written in haste and with negligence; the author has given himself no time either for the well-digested arrangement of facts, or profound reflection on the great combinations of political action. He has not, in simple language, studied his subject; but has put together an immense mass of materials, as rapidly as they accumulated under his hands, with little care in the selection, and no thought for their relative importance and measurement. It is, in short, a voluminous compilation, executed indeed with wonderful celerity, and adorned with brilliant passages, but nothing worthy either of the genius of Walter Scott or the true dignity of history. But the real cause of his failure in writing the history of our eventful times must not be traced either to ignorance or incapacity. It is too visible that lower considerations than the generous love of fame inspired the author. Hence, only, the haste, the negligence, the prolixity of the composition, the want of compression, of reviewing, of deliberate arrangement.-At the same time, we should be guilty of great injustice if we failed to remark the extraordinary skill displayed by Sir Walter Scott in the relation of military events. Not only are the shifting alarums of the battlefield exhibited with all the eager animation, all the picturesque and dramatic energy of description, which were to be looked for from the « Author of Waverley,» but the plans of campaign, and the movements of armies, are explained in a clear and methodical style, which evinces a perfect acquaintance with the principles of strategy.-Finally, of the third volume we are bound to speak in terms of unqualified commendation. It forms the most exciting and delightful fragment of heroic biography with which we are acquainted.' It is with much regret that we feel ourselves obliged to notice an unpleasant epistolary discussion, which has arisen between General Gourgaud and Sir Walter Scott. in consequence of some passages in the latter's «Life of " The family of Sir Walter Scott consists of two daughters, Sophia and Ann (the eldest of whom is married to Mr John Gibson Lockhart, author of Adam Blair, Reginald Dalton, and Matthew Wald), and two sons, one a captain in the 10th Hussars, and the other a student at Oxford. Since the publication of this work, in addition and some of the annuals, are too numerous to be to the Novels mentioned in their proper place, particularised, even were it possible to ascertain Sir Walter Scott has published three Series of Tales them correctly. Some of these scattered pieces, of a Grandfather, being stories selected from Scot-particularly two stories in prose, written for the tish History, and told in an easy unpretending Keepsake, and the Essay on Molière, inserted style; this work is principally intended for youth, in the Foreign Quarterly Review, have been reand is both interesting and amusing, though in printed in a small duodecimo volume by Messrs many parts too strongly tinctured with the politi-Galignani. cal feelings and prejudices of the author, to deserve unqualified praise as an historical work. He has also written a small History of Scotland for Dr Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, which although necessarily merely an epitome, is a work of judgment and merit; a small volume entitled, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, addressed to Mr Lockhart; and two Religious Discourses, originally given to a young friend in manuscript, but subsequently published. His miscellaneous works, such as songs, biographical sketches, and articles in periodical publications, particularly the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and Foreign Quarterly Reviews, Blackwood's Magazine, Ballantyne's « Sale-Room,» Napoleon,» in which the general's fidelity to his late exiled master is more than called in question. To this charge the general, in a long letter inserted in the Paris journals, has given the «lie direct,» and termed the whole work a romance. Sir Walter has since published a spirited reply in the English newspapers, and produced copies of the official documents, etc., on which the passages in discussion were founded. We cannot better conclude this sketch than by quoting the following paragraph from the Edinburgh Journal, which records an incident equally honourable to both parties concerned in it : At the meeting of the creditors of Sir Walter Scott, held at Edinburgh on the 17th of December, 1830, the following resolution was unanimously passed :—That Sir Walter Scott be requested to accept of his furniture, plate, linen, paintings, library, and curiosities of every description, as the best means the creditors have of expressing their very high sense of his most honourable conduct, and in grateful acknowledgment for the unparalleled and most successful exertions he has made, and continues to make for them.» |