The transition school, as we have seen, in returning to nature, had
redeemed the pastoral, and had cultivated sentiment at the expense of the
epic. As a slight reaction, and yet a progress, and as influenced by the
tales of modern fiction, and also as subsidizing the antiquarian lore and
taste of the age, there arose a school of poetry which is best represented
by its _Tales in verse_;--some treating subjects of the olden time, some
laying their scenes in distant countries, and some describing home
incidents of the simplest kind. They were all minor epics: such were the
poetic stories of Scott, the _Lalla Rookh_ of Moore, _The Bride_ and _The
Giaour_ of Byron, and _The Village_ and _The Borough_ of Crabbe; all of
which mark the taste and the demand of the period.

WALTER SCOTT.--First in order of the new romantic poets was Scott, alike
renowned for his _Lays_ and for his wonderful prose fictions; at once the
most equable and the most prolific of English authors.

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, on the 15th of August, 1771. His
father was a writer to the signet; his mother was Anne Rutherford, the
daughter of a medical professor in the University of Edinburgh. His
father's family belonged to the clan Buccleugh. Lame from his early
childhood, and thus debarred the more active pleasures of children, his
imagination was unusually vigorous; and he took special pleasure in the
many stories, current at the time, of predatory warfare, border forays,
bogles, warlocks, and second sight. He spent some of his early days in the
country, and thus became robust and healthy; although his lameness
remained throughout life. He was educated in Edinburgh, at the High School
and the university; and, although not noted for excellence as a scholar,
he exhibited precocity in verse, and delighted his companions by his
readiness in reproducing old stories or improving new ones. After leaving
the university he studied law, and ranged himself in politics as a
Conservative or Tory.

Although never an accurate classical scholar, he had a superficial
knowledge of several languages, and was an industrious collector of old
ballads and relics of the antiquities of his country. He was, however,
better than a scholar;--he had genius, enthusiasm, and industry: he could
create character, adapt incident, and, in picturesque description, he was
without a rival.

During the rumors of the invasion of Scotland by the French, which he has
treated w