gination, he did not neglect any of the tasks which his
father imposed, and he thus formed habits of method, punctuality, and
laborious industry, which were important elements of his future
success. But in the midst of these duties he did not lose sight of the
favorite objects of his study and meditation. He made frequent
excursions into the lowland and highland districts in search of
traditionary lore; his investigations led him to the cottage of the
peasant as frequently as to the houses of the better class, and his
frank manners secured him a favorable reception from all.

In 1792 he changed his profession for that of an advocate, but did not
obtain much practice at the Scottish bar. His first publication was a
translation from the German; Buerger's wild romantic ballads captivated
his youthful imagination, and his version of them proved that he
entered deeply into the spirit of the original. Soon afterward he
contributed some pieces to Lewis' "Tales of Wonder," which are almost
the only fragments of that work which have escaped oblivion. At last,
in 1802, he gave to the world the two first volumes of his "Border
Minstrelsy," printed by his old schoolfellow, Ballantyne; its literary
merits were enhanced by the beauty of its typographical execution, and
its appearance made an epoch in Scottish literary history. The
ballads of this collection had been very carefully edited, while the
notes contained a mass of antiquarian information relative to border
life, conveyed in a beautiful style, and enlivened with a higher
interest than poetic fiction. This work at once obtained an extensive
sale, and its popularity was increased by the appearance of the third
volume, containing various imitations of the old ballad by Mr. Scott,
in which the feelings and character of antiquity were faithfully
preserved, while the language and expression were free from the
roughness of obsolete forms. The copyright of the second edition was
sold to the Messrs. Longman for L500, but the great extent of the sale
made the bargain profitable.

Three years elapsed before he again took the field as an author; but
the poem which he then produced, at once placed him among the great
original writers of his country. "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" was a
complete expansion of the old ballad into an epic form. "It seemed,"
says Prescott, "as if the author had transferred into his page the
strong delineations of the Homeric pencil, the rude but generous
ga