ion of
Sir Walter Scott. On the death of his father, in 1824, Ainsworth went to
London to finish his legal education, but whatever intentions he may
have formed of humdrum study and determined attention to the details of
a profession in which he had no interest, were dissipated by contact
with the literary world of the metropolis. He made the acquaintance of
Mr. John Ebers, who at that time combined the duties of manager of the
Opera House with the business of a publisher. He it was who issued "Sir
John Chiverton," and the verses forming its dedication are understood to
have been addressed to Anne Frances ("Fanny") Ebers, whom Ainsworth
married October 11, 1826. Ainsworth had then to decide upon a career,
and, acting upon the suggestion of Ebers, his father-in-law, he began
business as a publisher; but after an experience of about eighteen
months he abandoned it. In this brief interval he introduced the Hon.
Mrs. Norton, and Ude, the cook, to the discerning though unequal
admiration of the British public. He was introduced to Sir Walter Scott,
who wrote the "Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee" for an annual issued by him.
Ainsworth gave him twenty guineas for it, which Sir Walter accepted, but
laughingly handed over to the little daughter of Lockhart, in whose
London house they had met. Ainsworth's literary aspirations still burned
with undiminished ardor, and several plans were formed only to be
abandoned, and when, in the summer of 1830, he visited Switzerland and
Italy, he was as far as ever from the fulfilment of his desires. In 1831
he visited Chesterfield and began the novel of "Rookwood," in which he
successfully applied the method of Mrs. Radcliffe to English scenes and
characters. The finest passage is that relating Turpin's ride to York,
which is a marvel of descriptive writing. It was written, apparently in
a glow of inspiration, in less than a day and a half. "The feat," he
says, "for feat it was, being the composition of a hundred novel pages
in less than twenty-four hours, was achieved at 'The Elms,' a house I
then occupied at Kilburn." The success of "Rookwood" was marked and
immediate. Ainsworth at a bound reached popularity. This was in 1834,
and in 1837 he published "Crichton," which is a fine piece of historical
romance. The critics who had objected to the romantic glamor cast over
the career of Dick Turpin were still further horrified at the manner in
which that vulgar rascal, Jack Sheppard, was elevated into a