Page:The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore - A Study in English and German Romanticism - Emerson (1915).djvu/57

 soon came to be known, printed his Ambrosio or The Monk, and at once attained considerable fame. Scott mentions especially, however, the ballads "with which Mr. Lewis had interspersed his prose narrative." Reading these had now revived a boyish interest in making verses, as he tells us in the following words:

This passage is immediately followed by the account of the Lenore translation, the occasion for putting into action his new idea.

As to the incident which the Countess Purgstall related with such vividness to Captain Hall, it occurred; says Lockhart, with absolute definiteness, "in the beginning of April, 1796." This date, although at variance with what Scott himself says, fits in with every other detail we know. Lockhart also confirms the Countess Purgstall by adding, "A few days afterwards, Scott went to pay a visit at a country house where he expected to meet 'the lady of his love'." If the account by the Countess of printing Scott's William and Helen without his knowledge is to be trusted, and there seems no reason to doubt it, the first copies of the poem were struck off in the spring of 1796, perhaps before Mr. Spencer's edition had been issued. So far as I know no copy of this print is now in existence. It was clearly printed very privately, and probably only a few copies were made.