LL, which some interpret NOTHING.
However, we shall do well enough.

W. S.

Constable had been admitted, almost from the beginning, into the
_secret_ of the Novels--and for that, among {p.108} other reasons, it
would have been desirable for the Novelist to have him continue the
publisher without interruption; but Scott was led to suspect, that if
he were called upon to conclude a bargain for a fourth novel before
the third had made its appearance, his scruples as to the matter of
_printing_ might at least protract the treaty; and why Scott should
have been urgently desirous of seeing the transaction settled before
the expiration of the half-yearly term of Whitsunday is sufficiently
explained by the fact, that though so much of the old unfortunate
stock of John Ballantyne and Co. still remained on hand--and with it
some occasional recurrence of commercial difficulty as to floating
bills was to be expected--while James Ballantyne's management of the
pecuniary affairs of the printing-house had continued to be highly
negligent and irregular[37]--nevertheless, the sanguine author had
gone on purchasing one patch of land after another, until his estate
at Abbotsford had already grown from 150 to nearly 1000 acres. The
property all about his original farm had been in the hands of various
small holders (Scottice _cock-lairds_;) these persons were sharp
enough to understand, erelong, that their neighbor could with
difficulty resist any temptation that might present itself in the
shape of an offer of more acres; and thus he proceeded buying up lot
after lot of unimproved ground, at extravagant prices,--his "appetite
increasing by what it fed on," while the ejected yeomen set themselves
down elsewhere, to fatten at their leisure upon the profits--most
commonly the anticipated profits--of "The Scotch Novels."

[Footnote 37: In February, 1816, when James Ballantyne
married, it is clearly proved by letters in his
handwriting, that he owed to Scott more than L3000 of
personal debt.--(1839.)]

He was ever and anon pulled up with a momentary misgiving,--and
resolved that the latest acquisition should be the last, until he
could get rid entirely of "John Ballantyne and Co." But John
Ballantyne was, {p.109} from the utter lightness of his mind, his
incapacity to look a day before him, and his eager impatience to enjoy
the passing hour