Page:The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.djvu/14

viii he was busily engaged collecting materials for his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," of which Vols. I. and II. appeared early in 1802. Through the interest of kind friends, Scott had, in 1799, obtained the office of Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire; and, as the emoluments amounted to £300 per annum, he was enabled to pursue his favourite studies without prejudice to the welfare of his family. The complete edition of the "Minstrelsy" came out in 1803, and met with a cordial reception. In addition to other literary undertakings, he, about this time, contributed to the "Edinburgh Review," which commenced its career in 1802.

For several years Scott wavered between literature and the legal profession, as if unwilling to dedicate his powers exclusively to either. The success of his first purely literary and original experiment, the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," published in January, 1805, and a growing intimacy with an old school-fellow, James Ballantyne, whose acquaintance he had renewed by chance, in 1799, led not only to his gradual abandonment of the legal profession, and his almost entire devotion to literary pursuits, but also to a partnership in a commercial concern, which eventually proved most disastrous. He edited the "Edinburgh Annual Register;" wrote a Life of Dryden, and superintended the publication of his works; and when this was completed, did the same for those of Swift. The former appeared in 1808, the latter in 1814. In addition to various other literary labours, having broken off his connection with the "Edinburgh Review," he assisted with his powerful pen, its great rival, the "Quarterly," established in 1808. We have to deal more particularly with Walter Scott as a poet, and shall therefore merely give such passing notice of his prose works as the nature of our narrative seems to demand.

One of Scott's most cherished schemes, which became gradually the aim of his existence and his labours, was to possess landed property; in other words, to enjoy some portion of the power and authority once wielded by those olden chieftains whose characters and achievements it was his delight to depict. In 1804 he gave up Lasswade Cottage, eagerly embracing an op-