Poetical Works: Edited, With a Critical Memoir (Classic Reprint)
Book Details
Author(s)Walter Scott
PublisherForgotten Books
ISBN / ASIN1440043558
ISBN-139781440043550
AvailabilityUsually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank99,999,999
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
Excerpt from Poetical Works: Edited, With a Critical Memoir
Sir Walter Scott came of a family of Scotch gentlemen. One of his ancestors, six generations before him, whose name also was Walter Scott, is celebrated in "The Lay of the Last Minstrel;" and his grandfather, Robert Scott, is described in the poetical introduction to "Marmion," the third canto. Sir Walter's father, who was a successful solicitor in Edinburgh, was the first man "of the great riding and sporting and fighting clan to adopt a town life and a sedentary profession." It was in Edinburgh that Sir Walter, the ninth of twelve children, was born on August 15, 1771, precisely two years, (as the date has usually been fixed) after the birth of Napoleon, whose life he wrote; a piece of literary work that was done for profit that brought a large sum, and that has long ago been forgotten. Several more or less important dates in English literature fall near this time. During this very year, 1771, Gray died; the next year Coleridge was born, and the year thereafter Goldsmith died. Dr. Johnson lived thirteen years after Scott's birth, and Byron was his contemporary, although he was seventeen years younger. The three great Scotchmen of our literature were alive at the same time, for a brief period; for Carlyle was born the year before Burns died, and Scott was then twenty-five years old.
In his early childhood, Scott was left lame by a fever which, as he said, rather disfigured than disabled him; for, in spite of his lameness, he became a very robust man, and he was exceedingly handsome. During the weakly period of his childhood he was sent to his grandfathers, where he lived much in the open air and much alone. Since he was five years old, he once said, a troop of horse had been exercising in his head; and at a very early time he took the keenest delight in the ballads of border warfare - in all sorts of brave tales, indeed. He was thirteen when he first saw a copy of the collection of ballads called Percy's "Reliques of Ancient Poetry." "I remember well the spot," he wrote many years afterwards, "where I read these volumes for the first time." He forgot the hour for dinner and "was sought for with anxiety." He stored them in his memory and was never tired of declaiming them, and he confesses that he never read any other book so frequently or with such enthusiasm.
During his youth his studies were pursued somewhat irregularly. Late in life he read in a volume of anecdotes that he had been distinguished at school "as an absolute dunce;" and he wrote in a footnote to his autobiography, "I was never a dunce, nor thought to be so, but an incorrigibly idle imp who was always longing to do something else than what was enjoined him." But so far was he from idleness in fact that his feats of endurance, both in sport and in work, were extraordinary.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Sir Walter Scott came of a family of Scotch gentlemen. One of his ancestors, six generations before him, whose name also was Walter Scott, is celebrated in "The Lay of the Last Minstrel;" and his grandfather, Robert Scott, is described in the poetical introduction to "Marmion," the third canto. Sir Walter's father, who was a successful solicitor in Edinburgh, was the first man "of the great riding and sporting and fighting clan to adopt a town life and a sedentary profession." It was in Edinburgh that Sir Walter, the ninth of twelve children, was born on August 15, 1771, precisely two years, (as the date has usually been fixed) after the birth of Napoleon, whose life he wrote; a piece of literary work that was done for profit that brought a large sum, and that has long ago been forgotten. Several more or less important dates in English literature fall near this time. During this very year, 1771, Gray died; the next year Coleridge was born, and the year thereafter Goldsmith died. Dr. Johnson lived thirteen years after Scott's birth, and Byron was his contemporary, although he was seventeen years younger. The three great Scotchmen of our literature were alive at the same time, for a brief period; for Carlyle was born the year before Burns died, and Scott was then twenty-five years old.
In his early childhood, Scott was left lame by a fever which, as he said, rather disfigured than disabled him; for, in spite of his lameness, he became a very robust man, and he was exceedingly handsome. During the weakly period of his childhood he was sent to his grandfathers, where he lived much in the open air and much alone. Since he was five years old, he once said, a troop of horse had been exercising in his head; and at a very early time he took the keenest delight in the ballads of border warfare - in all sorts of brave tales, indeed. He was thirteen when he first saw a copy of the collection of ballads called Percy's "Reliques of Ancient Poetry." "I remember well the spot," he wrote many years afterwards, "where I read these volumes for the first time." He forgot the hour for dinner and "was sought for with anxiety." He stored them in his memory and was never tired of declaiming them, and he confesses that he never read any other book so frequently or with such enthusiasm.
During his youth his studies were pursued somewhat irregularly. Late in life he read in a volume of anecdotes that he had been distinguished at school "as an absolute dunce;" and he wrote in a footnote to his autobiography, "I was never a dunce, nor thought to be so, but an incorrigibly idle imp who was always longing to do something else than what was enjoined him." But so far was he from idleness in fact that his feats of endurance, both in sport and in work, were extraordinary.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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