SIR WALTER SCOTT 131 ing of truth and reality which is forced upon us while perusing his fictions. He was born at Edinburgh, August 15, 1771. His father was one of that respectable class of attorneys called, in Scotland, writers to the signet, and was the original from whom his son subsequently drew the character of Mr. Saunders Fairford, in " Redgauntlet." His mother was a lady of taste and imagination. An acci- dental lameness and a delicate constitution procured for Walter a more than or- dinary portion of maternal care, and the influence of his mother's instructions was strongly impressed on his character. In early childhood he was sent for change of air to the .country seat of his maternal grandfather, where he first developed his extraordinary powers of memory by learning the traditionary legends of bor- der heroism and chivalry, which used to be recited at the fireside on a winter's evening. His early taste for the romantic was a little checked when he returned to Edinburgh, in his eighth year, for his father was rather a strict adherent to forms, and looked upon poetry and fiction as very questionable indulgences. The discovery of a copy of Shakespeare, and an odd volume of Percy's " Relics," enabled him to resume his favorite pursuits, though the hours he devoted to them were stolen from sleep. He was sent at an early age to the high-school of Edinburgh, but was not particularly distinguished in the regular course of study. His companions, however, soon discovered his antiquarian tastes, and his passion- ate love for old tales of chivalry and old chronicles scarcely less romantic ; he became noted, too, for reciting stories of his own invention, in which he intro- duced a superabundance of the marvels of ancient superstition, with a plentiful seasoning of knight-errantry. He even pursued his favorite subject into the con- tinental languages, and by his own exertions enabled himself to peruse the works of Ariosto and Cervantes in their original form. After a brief residence at the university he was indented as an apprentice to his father in 1 786. Though the daily routine of drudgery in an attorney's office must have been painful to a young man of ardent imagination, 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 low- land 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 ; Burger'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 Won- der," which are almost the only fragments of that work which have escaped ob- livion. At last, in 1802, he gave to the world the two first volumes of his " Bor- der Minstrelsy," printed by his old schoolfellow, Ballantyne ; its literary merits were enhanced by the beauty of its typographical execution, and its appearance
