his time, and amidst their dulness he seems to have underrated the
incidents of his private life, which he afterwards related to the
world with some share of self-satisfaction.

He appears to have succeeded tolerably in his legal lucubrations; for,
in 1792, he was called to the bar as an advocate. He established
himself in good style in Edinburgh, but had little practice; though
the accounts of his progress are somewhat contradictory. That he
passed much of his time in acquiring other than professional knowledge
is more certain, though he rarely attempted composition. Mr. Chambers,
with all his diligence and advantages for research, (and they are very
meritorious and considerable,) "has not been able to detect any
fugitive pieces of Sir Walter's in any of the periodical publications
of the day, nor even any attempt to get one intruded (?) unless the
following notice in Dr. Anderson's _Bee_ for May 9, 1792, refers to
him:--'The Editor regrets that the verses of _W.S._ are _too defective
for publication_.'"

FIRST LITERARY ATTEMPTS.

About this time Sir Walter employed his leisure in collecting the
ballad poetry of the Scottish Border. His inducement to this task was
subsequently described by him as follows:--

"A period," says Sir Walter, "when this particular taste for the
popular ballad was in the most extravagant degree of fashion, became
the occasion, unexpectedly indeed, of my deserting the profession to
which I was educated, and in which I had sufficiently advantageous
prospects for a person of limited ambition. * * I may remark that,
although the assertion has been made, it is a mistake to suppose that
my situation in life or place in society were materially altered by
such success as I attained in literary attempts. My birth, without
giving the least pretension to distinction, was that of a gentleman,
and connected me with several respectable families and accomplished
persons. My education had been a good one, although I was deprived of
its full benefit by indifferent health, just at the period when I
ought to have been most sedulous in improving it." He then describes
his circumstances as easy, with a moderate degree of business for his
standing, and "the friendship of more than one person of
consideration, efficiently disposed to aid his views in life." In
short, he describes himself as "beyond all apprehension of want." He
then notices the low ebb of poetry in Britain for the previous ten
years; the