Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/280

242 242 CHAMBERS, KNIGHT, AND CASSELL left the review of it to fellows who knew nothing about the subject, at least had not yet thought of it half so much as I had, who was quite aufait with the whole matter." From this period Robert Chambers' books were marketable productions, and publishers began to seek out the young author. On the occasion of the great fires in November, 1824, when hundreds of poor families were rendered destitute, having no money wherewith to aid the victims, he wrote an account of the historical " Fires in Edinburgh," and assigned the profits, which were considerable, to the fund collected for the benefit of the sufferers ; and from this time books flowed from his pen in rapid succession. In 1825, he composed, for a bookseller, his "Popular Walks in Edinburgh," partly the result of rambles in the nooks and corners of the quaint old city, in com- pany with Sir Walter Scott. In 1826, he published his " Popular Rhymes of Scotland," and then started on foot, as if to cure his ailment by pedestrianism, on a rambling journey through the country, and pub- lished the result of his explorations in his " Pictures of Scotland," which passed through several editions, and is still a lively companion to the tourist. In this same year, 1827, he contributed to Constable's Mis- cellany the five volumes containing his " Histories of the Scottish Rebellion" of which, that concerning the affairs of 1845, while true to facts, had all the glowing charms of a romance and a " Life of James I.," in two volumes. Next appeared three volumes of " Scottish Ballads and Songs," followed by a " Bio- graphical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen " the four volumes being commenced in 1832 and concluded in 1835 one of the most trustworthy and most enter-