llantry of a primitive period, softened by the more airy and magical
inventions of Italian romance, and conveyed in tones of melody such as
had not been heard since the strains of Burns." Its popularity was
unprecedented, and its success determined the course of his future
life.

Scott's position enabled him to encounter the hazards of literary life
with comparative safety. He held two offices, that of Sheriff of
Selkirk, and Clerk of the Court of Sessions, which yielded him a
competent income. He received some accession to his fortune on his
marriage, and the tastes of his lady prevented her from indulging in
any of the extravagance of fashionable life. Domestic happiness and
rural retirement were favorable to literary exertion. He soon produced
a second poem, "Marmion," which many critics prefer to all his other
poems. It was, however, rather harshly attacked in the _Edinburgh
Review_ on its first appearance, which the author felt keenly, as he
had been himself a contributor to that journal. This was the origin of
the _Quarterly Review_, which was established mainly in consequence of
his exertions. About the same time he established a new _Annual
Register_, and became a silent partner in the great printing
establishment of the Ballantynes. This last step involved him in
grievous embarrassments, but it stimulated him to exertions such as
none but a man of his prodigious powers could attempt. His
biographical, historical, and critical labors, united with his
editorial toils, were of appalling magnitude, but in all his works he
proved himself to be vigorous and effective. "Poetry," he says in one
of his letters, "is a scourging crop, and ought not to be hastily
repeated. Editing, therefore, may be considered as a green crop of
turnips or peas, extremely useful to those whose circumstances do not
admit of giving their farm a summer fallow."

The "Lady of the Lake" was his next poem; it appeared in 1811, and
soon outstripped all his former productions in fame and popularity.
More than fifty thousand copies of it were sold, and the profits of
the author exceeded two thousand guineas. It may be noticed as a
curious proof of the effect it produced on the public mind, that the
post-horse duty rose to an extraordinary degree in Scotland, from the
eagerness of travellers to visit the localities described in the poem.
He was now at the zenith of his fame. The sale of his next poem,
"Rokeby," showed that his popularity had decli