LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. THERE is an old prejudice which strikes its roots very deep in human nature. Christianity and commerce have hitherto striven in vain to destroy it. It takes different forms everywhere. In Scotland and Saxon England it exhibits itself in the distinction created by society between gentle and simple. The imaginary separation of humanity into these classes is the key to the literary as well as the private character of Sir Walter Scott. The spirit of caste is indeed the source of frightful mischief in general, but it has its periods of utility and its graceful aspects. The latter appeared in their greatest elegance in the works and character of the Scottish bard. To inquire whether so amiable, so gifted, and so popular a person descended upon an age, which his genius was fitted to bless, were to open a question which the civilized world has long since settled for itself, by universal and prolonged acclamation. Walter Scott was born on the 15th August 1771. The site of the house, which was his father's, is now covered by a part of the Edinburgh University. The poet's infancy and childhood were principally spent at his grandfather's farm of Sandyknowe, surrounding the village of Smailholm, near the banks of the Tweed, in the upper part of Berwickshire. Associations connected with this district accompanied him through life. The memories of his ancestry, and the traditions of the wide family of his name, determined for ever the bent of his genius. The child was remarkably vivacious. It seemed as if the tide of life could not sustain the double strain exerted by the infantine activities of spirit and body. The body yielded. The little imp was only eighteen months old, when his frolics were suspended by a sudden loss of power in the right leg. He was lame for life. Every effort failed to restore the proper powers of the limb. Yet the removals from place to place, involved in these attempts, excited the child's predispositions, and produced indelible local impressions. The growing boy indemnified himself by LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. THERE is an old prejudice which strikes its roots very deep in human nature. Christianity and commerce have hitherto striven in vain to destroy it. It takes different forms everywhere. In Scotland and Saxon England it exhibits itself in the distinction created by society between gentle and simple. The imaginary separation of humanity into these classes is the key to the literary as well as the private character of Sir Walter Scott. The spirit of caste is indeed the source of frightful mischief in general, but it has its periods of utility and its graceful aspects. The latter appeared in their greatest elegance in the works and character of the Scottish bard. To inquire whether so amiable, so gifted, and so popular a person descended upon an age, which his genius was fitted to bless, were to open a question which the civilized world has long since settled for itself, by universal and prolonged acclamation. Walter Scott was born on the 15th August 1771. The site of the house, which was his father's, is now covered by a part of the Edinburgh University. The poet's infancy and childhood were principally spent at his grandfather's farm of Sandy knowe, surrounding the village of Smailholm, near the banks of the Tweed, in the upper part of Berwickshire. Associations connected with this district accompanied him through life. The memories of his ancestry, and the traditions of the wide family of his name, determined for ever the bent of his genius. The child was remarkably vivacious. It seemed as if the tide of life could not sustain the double strain exerted by the infantine activities of spirit and body. The body yielded. The little imp was only eighteen months old, when his frolics were suspended by a sudden loss of power in the right leg. He was lame for life. Every effort failed to restore the proper powers of the limb. Yet the removals from place to place, involved in these attempts, excited the child's predispositions, and produced indelible local impressions. The growing boy indemnified himself by |