Had it been the work of a later period of life, it
would have been different in some respects from what it is now. The
plot would have been something more complex, and a greater variety of
characters introduced to relieve the mind from the pressure of
incidents so mournful. The manners also would have been more attended
to. My care was almost exclusively given to the passions and the
characters, and the position in which the persons in the drama stood
relatively to each other, that the reader (for I had then no thought
of the stage) might be moved, and to a degree instructed, by lights
penetrating somewhat into the depths of our nature. In this endeavour,
I cannot think, upon a very late review, that I have failed. As to the
scene and period of action, little more was required for my purpose
than the absence of established law and government, so that the agents
might be at liberty to act on their own impulses. Nevertheless, I do
remember, that having a wish to colour the manners in some degree from
local history more than my knowledge enabled me to do, I read
Redpath's 'History of the Borders', but found there nothing to my
purpose. I once made an observation to Sir W. Scott, in which he
concurred, that it was difficult to conceive how so dull a book could
be written on such a subject. Much about the same time, but little
after, Coleridge was employed in writing his tragedy of 'Remorse'; and
it happened that soon after, through one of the Mr. Poole's, Mr.
Knight, the actor, heard that we had been engaged in writing plays,
and upon his suggestion, mine was curtailed, and I believe Coleridge's
also, was offered to Mr. Harris, manager of Covent Garden. For myself,
I had no hope, nor even a wish (though a successful play would in the
then state of my finances have been a most welcome piece of good
fortune), that he should accept my performance; so that I incurred no
disappointment when the piece was _judiciously_ returned as not
calculated for the stage. In this judgment I entirely concurred: and
had it been otherwise, it was so natural for me to shrink from public
notice, that any hope I might have had of success would not have
reconciled me altogether to such an exhibition. Mr. C.'s play was, as
is well known, brought forward several years after, through the
kindness of Mr. Sheridan. In conclusion, I may observe, that while I
was composing this play, I w