Some Account of the Life and Works of Sir Walter Scott - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1832. Excerpt: ... ter, and not assumed for the sake of tranquillity and repose. The first fruit of his defection from the weightier matters of the law, was the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,'--a poem of such beauty and spirit, as more than justified his choice, had any one been disposed to censure him for forsaking the law's ' dry musty arts,' and entering into the service of the muse. This I look upon as one of the noblest of his works; there are probably more stirring and high wrought scenes in some of the succeeding poems; but with all their martial ardor, there is a certain wildness which lifts the 'Lay' high into the regions of imagination, and ever and anon are passages of the most exquisite loveliness and repose. There is more quiet beauty about the work, than the great poet indulged in afterwards. The spirit of Scotland acknowledged at once the original vigor and truth of the poem: every paper was filled with the favorite passages--every mouth was filled with quotation and praise; and they who lamented the loss of Burns, and persisted in believing that his place could not be supplied, were constrained to own that a poet of another stamp had appeared, whose strains echoed as truly and fervently the feelings of their country as the songs of the Bard of Ayr. The history of the rise and progress of this poem, the author has himself related. It chanced that the young Countess of Dalkeith came to the land of her husband; and as she was desirous to become acquainted with its customs and traditions, she found many willing to satisfy her curiosity; amongst others, Mr. Beattie, of Mickeldale, who declared he had a memory for an old-world idle story, but none for a sound evangelical sermon, was ready with his legends, and, with some others of a less remarkable kind, related the s...