Page:The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.djvu/13

Rh 1795 he was appointed one of the curators of the Advocates' Library. This office enabled him to gratify fully those tastes most congenial to him, and all the antiquarian collections in the establishment were searched with wonderful perseverance and industry. During the autumn of this very year, the recital by a lady of portions of Mr. William Taylor's translation of Bürger's "Leonora," awakened in Scott's mind his early love of versification, and he immediately set to work on a rhymed translation of the poem. This was published anonymously, with a version of another of Bürger's ballads, "The Chase," in 1796, and was well received.

Five years' practice at the bar did not produce quite £150, and this, considering his father's position and influence, cannot be regarded as very encouraging. In 1797 Walter assisted in forming a corps of volunteer cavalry, of which he became paymaster, quartermaster, and secretary. In July of the same year he set off with some friends on a tour of the English lakes, and while riding, met a young lady, with whose beauty he was singularly impressed. At a ball the same evening Scott obtained an introduction to the lady—Charlotte Margaret Carpenter. She was the daughter of a royalist of Lyons, whose family, on the death of the father, had sought refuge in England. They were Protestants, and enjoyed the powerful protection of the Marquis of Downshire. To this lady he was married, after a short courtship, in the winter; and in the following year he removed to a cottage at Lasswade, on the Eske, near Edinburgh. A translation of Goethe's "Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand," with his own name upon the title-page, was published early in 1799. For this the poet received a small sum. Soon after its appearance he took his wife to London, and mingled freely with the literary and fashionable society of the metropolis, but was suddenly recalled to Edinburgh by the serious illness of his father, which terminated in his death.

Lewis, author of "The Monk," induced our young author to contribute some ballads for his collection, entitled, "Tales of Wonder," which did not, however, appear until 1801. In addition to other short pieces