Archiv der Kategorie: Scott, Sir Walter

Scott, Sir Walter. Sir Walter Scott, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1771. He was educated at the high school and university of Edinburgh. In 1786 he entered his father‘s law office, and was admitted to the practice of the law in 1792. Literature. however, soon engrossed his thoughts. In 1797 he married Miss Charlotte M. Carpenter, and in 1799 he was appointed to a sheriff’s office. In 1806 he became one of the principal clerks in the Scottish court of session, with a good salary and plenty of time for literary pursuits. Previous to 1817 he had written most of the poems, tales in verse, ballads, translations and metrical romances that have made him famous as a poet. He also edited Dryden‘s works and wrote a life of that poet. „Waverley,“ his first distinguished novel, was published in July, 1814, anonymously, but paved the way by its literary excellence for the extensive series of „Waverley Novels,“ on which his reputation is based. In the meantime he had founded and built his castellated mansion of „Abbotsford,“ to which his literary fame has given a popular interest. In 1815 „Guy Mannering“ succeeded „Waverley“ and from that period to 1825 he wrote his other novels in rapid succession. Besides these he had written some of his dramas, edited the works of Swift and other authors, contributed to the leading reviews and other periodicals of the day, and wrote several articles for the „Encyclopedia Britannica.“ His wealth and popularity made Abbotsford a great resort for visitors of every degree and rank. In 1820 King George IV. conferred upon him a baronetcy. In 1826 he became pecuniarily embarrassed by the failure of his Edinburgh publishers, and another firm, by its failure, also involved his means. He owed the creditors of both houses about $600,000, and at the age of fifty-five years he set about the task of paying off these demands by his literary labor. In 1826 appeared his „Life of Napoleon Bonaparte,“ and other works well-known to his readers, but it was not until 1827 that he acknowledged himself to be the author of Waverley and the Waverley Novels, although he had long been credited with that distinction. He continued to write voluminously, including two series of his „Tales of a Grandfather;“ his „History of Scotland,“ „Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,“ and reduced his indebtedness materially. His health began to fail about 1830 and a hereditary disease manifested itself so severely that literary labor was suspended by medical advice, and he visited Italy in a vessel furnished by the admiralty. Finding himself failing, he desired to be taken home, but was insensible when London was reached in June, 1832, and died within a short time after his arrival at Abbotsford. He was buried in Dryburgh Abbey, and a noble Gothic structure, erected at Edinburgh in 1844-36, perpetuates his memory.