e at this almost tabular statement will show the scope and
versatility of his mind, the historic range of his studies, the fertility
of his fancy, and the rapidity of his pen. He had attained the height of
fame and happiness; his success had partaken of the miraculous; but
misfortune came to mar it all, for a time.

PECUNIARY TROUBLES.--In the financial crash of 1825-6, he was largely
involved. As a silent partner in the publishing house of the Ballantynes,
and as connected with them in the affairs of Constable & Co., he found
himself, by the failure of these houses, legally liable to the amount of
L117,000. To relieve himself, he might have taken the benefit of the
_bankrupt law_; or, such was his popularity, that his friends desired to
raise a subscription to cover the amount of his indebtedness; but he was
now to show by his conduct that, if the author was great, the man was
greater. He refused all assistance, and even rejected general sympathy. He
determined to relieve himself, to pay his debts, or die in the effort. He
left Abbotsford, and took frugal lodgings in Edinburgh; curtailed all his
expenses, and went to work--which was over-work--not for fame, but for
guineas; and he gained both.

His first novel after this, and the one which was to test the
practicability of his plan, was _Woodstock_, a tale of the troublous times
of the Civil War, in the last chapter of which he draws the picture of the
restored Charles coming in peaceful procession to his throne. This he
wrote in three months; and for it he received upwards of L8000. With this
and the proceeds of his succeeding works, he was enabled to pay over to
his creditors the large sum of L70,000; a feat unparalleled in the history
of literature. But the anxiety and the labor were too much even for his
powerful constitution: he died in his heroic attempt.

HIS MANLY PURPOSE.--More for money than for reputation, he compiled
hastily, and from partial and incomplete material, a _Life of Napoleon
Bonaparte_, which appeared in 1827. The style is charming and the work
eminently readable; but it contains many faults, is by no means
unprejudiced, and, as far as pure truth is concerned, is, in parts, almost
as much of a romance as any of the Waverley novels; but, for the first two
editions, he received the enormous sum of L18,000. The work was
accomplished in the space of one year. Among the other _task-work_ books
were the two series of _The Chronicles of the Canong