Page:Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron (1824).djvu/215

 I asked him if he was certain about the Novels being Sir Walter Scott’s?

“Scott as much as owned himself the author of ‘Waverley’ to me in Murray’s shop,” replied he. “I was talking to him about that novel, and lamented that its author had not carried back the story nearer to the time of the Revolution. Scott, entirely off his guard, said, ‘Ay, I might have done so, but’There he stopped. It was in vain to attempt to correct himself: he looked confused, and relieved his embarrassment by a precipitate retreat.

“On another occasion I was to dine at Murray’s; and being in his parlour in the morning, he told me I should meet the author of ‘Waverley’ at dinner. He had received several excuses, and the party was a small one; and, knowing all the people present, I was satisfied that the writer of that novel must have been, and could have been, no other than Walter Scott.

“He spoiled the fame of his poetry by his superior prose. He has such extent and versatility of powers in writing, that, should his Novels ever tire the public, which is not likely, he will apply himself to something else, and succeed as well.