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because they took the strongest hold on the author's imagination. 

 What series followed out of Waverley, and how and with what 

 result, is known to all men, and was witnessed and watched with 

 a kind of rapt astonishment by all. Hardly any literary reputa- 

 tion ever rose so high in our island ; no reputation at all ever 

 spread so wide. Walter Scott became Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, 

 of Abbotsford; on whom Fortune seemed to pour her whole 

 cornucopia of wealth, honour, and worldly goods ; the favourite 

 of princes and peasants, and all intermediate men. His 

 " Waverley series, swift-following one on the other apparently 

 without end, was the universal reading ; looked for like an annual 

 harvest, by all ranks, in all European countries." 



MiSFOETUNE, AND HOW ScOTT BORE IT. 



In 1825, Constable's publishing firm became insolvent, and the 

 Ballantynes were deeply involved. Scott was a partner in the 

 house, and the whole weight of their liabilities fell upon his 

 shoulders. Their obligations amounted to no less than £117,000. 

 His determination was taken at once. He would with his own 

 pen, retrieve those losses, and pay the debt in full. Adversity, 

 he says, was to him " a tonic and a bracer." He was then a 

 man past the meridian of life, and within a few days of the 

 failure, his health began to break. A few months after this 

 his wife, who had been in failing health lor some time, during 

 which he had watched her tenderly, died at Abbotsford. The 

 entries in his diary at this time, many of them dated from a 

 solitary lodging-house in Edinburgh, are of the most touching 

 character ; so touching that even after a lapse of sixty years 

 it is hardly possible to read them with dry eyes. But he 

 struggled on manfully to the end. His wife was dead. His 

 house in Edinburgh was sold. His estate was conveyed to 

 trustees for the benefit of his creditors. But in Mr. Brown's 

 lodgings in St. David street, the brave, proud man struggled on 

 to pay his debt. In two years, between January, 1826, and, Jan- 

 uary, 1828, he earned for his creditors forty thousand pounds. 

 Had his health lasted, he would have redeemed his obligations to 

 the uttermost farthing. But this was denied to him. His health 

 failed more and more, but he still struggled on with little more 

 than half a brain. In February, 1830, he had a paralytic stroke. 

 He was then engaged on " Count Eobert of Paris." He dictated 

 that novel, and " Castle Dangerous " also to Laidlaw, for he 

 could hardly write himself. In dictating he would fi-equently 

 pause and look around him, like a man " mocked with shadows." 

 Then he bestirred himself. His iron will aud indomitable cour- 

 age were summoned to his aid, he rallied all his forces, and the 

 style again flowed clear and bright ; but not for long ; the clouds 

 would gather again, and the mental block recur ; his troubles 

 went on increasing until the end came. 



