an any other novelist, and that his work will
outlive that of all his detractors. It ignores the fact that
Thackeray's wit, pathos, tenderness and knowledge of human nature make
him immortal in spite of many defects. It forgets that Dickens' humor,
joy of living and keen desire to help his fellow man will bring him
thousands of readers after all the apostles of realism are buried
under the dust of oblivion.

Scott had the ideal training for a great historical novelist. Yet his
literary successes in verse and prose were the result of accident. It
is needless here to review his life. The son of a mediocre Scotch
lawyer, he inherited from his father his capacity for work and his
passion for system and order. From his mother he drew his love of
reading and his fondness for old tales of the Scotch border. Like so
many famous writers, his early education was desultory, but he had the
free run of a fine library, and when he was a mere schoolboy his
reading of the best English classics had been wider and more thorough
than that of his teachers.

Forced by boyish illness to live in the country, he early developed a
great love for the Scotch ballads and the tales of the romantic past
of his native land. These he gathered mainly by word of mouth. Later
he was a diligent student and collector of all the old ballads. In
this way his mind was steeped in historical lore, while by many
walking tours through the highlands he came to know the common people
as very few have ever known them.

[Illustration: WHITE HORSE INN FROM AN ILLUSTRATION TO "WAVERLEY"
DRAWN BY G. CATTERMOLE AND ENGRAVED BY E. FINDEN]

Thus for forty years, while he was a working lawyer and a sheriff of
his county, he was really laying up stores of material upon which he
drew for his many novels. His literary tastes were first developed by
study of German and by the translation of German ballads and plays.
This practice led him to write _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, and its
success was responsible for _Marmion_, and _The Lady of the Lake_. But
great as was his triumph in verse, he dropped the writing of poems
when Byron's work eclipsed his own.

Then, in his forty-third year, he turned to prose and began with
_Waverley_; that series of novels which is the greatest ever produced
by one man. The success of his first story proved a great stimulus to
his imagination, and for years he continued to produce these novels,
three of which may be ranked as the best i