ver, he held himself ready, as a brave
man will, to transact with composure and in silence."

[Footnote 3: Bested, got the better of.]

But, as it proved, there was no need for resignation. The reign of
metrical romance, brilliant but brief, was past, or nearly so. But what
of prose romance, which long ago, in picking out _Don Quixote_ from the
puzzling Spanish, he had promised himself he would one day attempt? With
some such questioning of the Fates, Scott drew from his desk the sheets
of a story begun seven years before, and abandoned because of the
success of _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. This story he now completed,
and published as _Waverley_ in the spring of 1814--an event "memorable
in the annals of British literature; in the annals of British
bookselling thrice and four times memorable." The popularity of the
metrical romances dwindled to insignificance before the enthusiasm with
which this prose romance was received. A moment before quietly resolved
to give up his place in the world's eye, and to live the life of an
obscure country gentleman, Scott found himself launched once more on the
tide of brave fortunes. The Ballantyne publishing and printing houses
ceased to totter, and settled themselves on what seemed the firmest of
foundations. At Abbotsford, buying, planting, and building began on a
greater scale than had ever been planned in its owner's most sanguine
moments.

The history of the next eleven years in Scott's life is the history, on
the one hand, of the rapidly-appearing novels, of a fame gradually
spreading outward from Great Britain until it covered the civilized
world--a fame increased rather than diminished by the _incognito_ which
the "author of _Waverley_" took great pains to preserve even after the
secret had become an open one; on the other hand, of the large-hearted,
hospitable life at Abbotsford, where, in spite of the importunities of
curious and ill-bred tourists, bent on getting a glimpse of the "Wizard
of the North," and in spite of the enormous mass of work, literary and
official, which Scott took upon himself to perform, the atmosphere of
country leisure and merriment was somehow miraculously preserved. This
life of the hearty prosperous country laird was the one toward the
realization of which all Scott's efforts were directed; it is worth
while, therefore, to see as vividly as may be, what kind of life that
was, that we may the better understand what kind of man he was who cared