hes and wanderings, he had imbibed the very spirit
of Scottish life and history; and the Waverley novels are among the most
striking literary types and expounders of history.

PARTICULAR MENTION.--In 1815, before half the reading world had delighted
themselves with _Waverley_, his rapid pen had produced _Guy Mannering_, a
story of English and Scottish life, superior to Waverley in its original
descriptions and more general interest. He is said to have written it in
six weeks at Christmas time. The scope of this volume will not permit a
critical examination of the Waverley novels. The world knows them almost
by heart. In _The Antiquary_, which appeared in 1816, we have a rare
delineation of local manners, the creation of distinct characters, and a
humorous description of the sudden arming of volunteers in fear of
invasion by the French. _The Antiquary_ was a free portrait or sketch of
Mr. George Constable, filled in perhaps unconsciously from the author's
own life; for he, no less than his friend, delighted in collecting relics,
and in studying out the lines, praetoria, and general castrametation of the
Roman armies. Andrew Gemmels was the original of that Edie Ochiltree who
was bold enough to dispute the antiquary's more learned assertions.

In the same year, 1816, was published the first series of _The Tales of my
Landlord_, containing _The Black Dwarf_ and _Old Mortality_, both valuable
as contributions to Scottish history. The former is not of much literary
merit; and the author was so little pleased with it, that he brought it to
a hasty conclusion; the latter is an extremely animated sketch of the
sufferings of the Covenanters at the hands of Grahame of Claverhouse, with
a fairer picture of that redoubted commander than the Covenanters have
drawn. _Rob Roy_, the best existing presentation of Highland life and
manners, appeared in 1817. Thus Scott's prolific pen, like nature,
produced annuals. In 1818 appeared _The Heart of Mid-Lothian_, that
touching story of Jeanie and Effie Deans, which awakens the warmest
sympathy of every reader, and teaches to successive generations a moral
lesson of great significance and power.

In 1819 he wrote _The Bride of Lammermoor_, the story of a domestic
tragedy, which warns the world that outraged nature will sometimes assert
herself in fury; a story so popular that it has been since arranged as an
Italian opera. With that came _The Legend of Montrose_, another historic
sketch of