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SIR WALTER SCOTT'S

POETICAL WORKS.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,

PAUL'S WORK.

THE

POETICAL WORKS

OF

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

88727

With Memoir and Critical Dissertation,

BY THE

REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN.

VOL. II.

CONTAINING

MARMION,

AND

THE VISION OF DON RODERICK;

WITH THE ORIGINAL NOTES OF THE AUTHOR,
UNABRIDGED.

EDINBURGH:

JAMES NICHOL, 9 NORTH BANK STREET.
LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO. DUBLIN: W. ROBERTSON.

M.DCCC.LVII.

MEMOIR OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.

PART IL

WITH AN ESTIMATE OF HIS GENIUS.

WE left Scott at the culminating, if not culminated, point of his life and powers. His prestige as a poet had indeed, in some measure, faded, but he had established his name, and had newly opened up a mine of virgin richness in." Waverley." He was in the prime of life; and there was as yet no indication of those complicated maladies which were destined first to shake and then prematurely to destroy one of the most robust constitutions, both in body and mind, that ever existed. Having propelled "Waverley to the point of publication, he joyfully threw down the oar, and started on a long, delightful excursion round the northern coast of Scotland. There is something peculiarly exhilarating in a tour undertaken immediately after some strenuous and successful literary effort. The mind continues cheerfully to chew the cud of its recent felicitous endeavour, and is at the same time, having shaken off a load, free to welcome every new impression, and ready to feel that idleness is a duty as well as an exquisite delight. Scott, too, had so much enthusiasm for the scenery of the North, that he must have looked forward to this excursion as to a long gala day; and so it proved. Surrounded by sympathetic friends, William Erskine among the number,-every new morning lighting in some new scene of loveliness, grandeur, or romantic interest,-their time and their vessel at the entire disposal of the party, Scott was thoroughly in his

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