SCOTT 



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SCOTT 



on an insecure foundation. Years before he 

 had become a silent partner in the printing firm 

 of James Ballantyne & Company, and more 

 than once he had been called upon to rescue it 

 from misfortune. In 1826 the failure of the 

 great publishing business of Constable & Com- 

 pany brought Scott's firm into bankruptcy, the 

 amount of indebtedness being about $600,000. 

 The Ballantynes withdrew, and the creditors 

 themselves offered compromise; but Scott's 

 sense of honor caused him to assume the whole 

 vast sum as a personal debt. "Time and I," 

 he declared, "against any two;" and again, "If 

 I live and retain my health, no man shall lose 

 a penny by me." The struggle that followed 

 was heroic, and Scott's facility in composition 

 stood him in good stead. Woodstock, The 

 Fair Maid of Perth, Anne of Geierstein, a Life 

 of Napoleon in nine volumes, four volumes of 

 historical sketches known as Tales of a Grand- 

 father, were but a part of what came from his 

 pen between 1826 and 1831. Friends and the 

 public stood by him, and the new edition of his 

 novels sold rapidly. Within two years from the 

 date of the crash he had paid to his creditors 

 nearly $200,000, and it seemed as if he might 

 in time free himself from the debt. His health 

 broke under the strain, however, and at length 

 he consented to try a change of air. The gov- 

 ernment placed a vessel at his disposal, and he 

 cruised about the Mediterranean, stopping at 

 Naples and at Malta. It was in vain, and he 

 begged to be taken back to Abbotsford before 

 he died. His mind had partially failed after 

 several paralytic strokes, and he came to be- 

 lieve firmly that the last of his debts had been 

 paid. Happy in this belief he died, on Sep- 

 tember 21, 1832. He was buried at Dryburgh 

 Abbey, where his wife had been laid six years 

 before. In 1847 all of his voluntarily assumed 

 obligations were paid off by the sale of copy- 

 rights, and his name was left as free as he him- 

 self would have had it. 



Estimate of the Novelist. As in Scott's boy- 

 hood his playmates gathered round him and 

 made him the center in their games, so in his 

 .manhood he drew to him all who knew him. 

 His sunny, genial nature, his unfailing kindli- 

 ness, the simplicity with which he bore his 

 honors, made him one of the most attractive 

 figures in all literary history. The crowds 

 which visited him at Abbotsford often intruded 

 on his time, but never did they find him other 

 than courteous. And the influence which comes 

 from his works is as strong and as wholesome 

 as that from his life. While his poems have 



not kept the immense popularity which they 

 had in their own day, they are still read wideb- 

 and with pleasure for the stories they tell, the 

 pictures they present and their constant move- 

 ment. Occasionally, too, in his little lyrics, 

 Scott reaches a great height. His novels are 

 r,ead perhaps more than those of any other 

 author, and the modern tendency toward his- 

 torical fiction may be traced largely to their 

 influence. A.MC c. 



There are several biographies of Scott, but that 

 written by his son-in-law, Lockhart, is easily the 

 best. Indeed, it ranks with Boswell's Life of 

 Johnson as one of the greatest biographies in 

 English. Consult, also, Jenks' In the Days of 

 Scott; Stevenson's Memories and Portraits. 



SCOTT, WALTER (1867- ), a Canadian 

 journalist and statesman, for a generation one 

 of the best known men in the Canadian North- 

 west, and for many years the foremost Liberal 

 in politics. It was in 1892, as part owner of the 

 Regina Standard, that Scott first came into 

 prominence. He was a native of Middlesex 

 County, Ontario, but went west in early man- 

 hood and eventually settled in Regina. In 

 1894 he assumed the ownership and editorship 

 of the Moose Jaw Times, which he relinquished 

 after a year for the Regina Leader. Since 1900 

 the two papers have been under his control. 



Previous to 1906 Scott combined political life 

 with journalism. In 1900 and 1904 he was 

 'elected Liberal member of the House of Com- 

 mons for Assiniboia West. In Parliament he 

 was conspicuous in the negotiations which led 

 to 4 the organization of the provinces of Alberta 

 and Saskatchewan. In 1905 he resigned from 

 the Commons to become first premier of Sas- 

 katchewan; from 1905 to 1912 he was also min- 

 ister of public works, and thereafter until 1916 

 minister of education. In 1916 ill health com- 

 pelled him to resign the premiership, although 

 he remained in the provincial assembly as a pri- 

 vate member. The last years of his premier- 

 ship were disturbed by the temperance agita- 

 tion and by corruption in the Liberal party. 

 Scott at first opposed the temperance move- 

 ment, but later realized its strength and in 



1915 took steps in the direction desired by the 

 reformers by ordering all bars in the province 

 closed after seven o'clock at night, and by other 

 measures with temperance as their end. In 



1916 the speaker of the assembly and several 

 other members were involved in charges of 

 bribery by the liquor interests and of misappro- 

 priation of funds intended for railway subsidies. 

 Scott was personally absolved from all blame, 



