182 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS 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 in- formation relative to border life, conveyed in a beautiful style, and enlivened with a higher interest than poetic fiction. This work at once obtained an exten- sive 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 feel- ings 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 ^500, 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 writ- ers 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 pen- cil, the rude but generous gallantry of a primitive period, softened by the more airy and magical inventions of Italian romance, and conveyed in tones of mel- ody such as had not been heard since the strains of Bums." 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 happi- ness 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 ap- pearance, 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 estab- lishment of the Ballantynes. This last step involved him in grievous embarrass- ments, but it stimulated him to exertions such as none but a man of his prodig- ious 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 use- ful to those whose circumstances do not admit of giving their farm a summe fallow." The ' Lady of the Lake " was his next poem ; it appeared in 181 1, 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 thou- sand guineas. It may be noticed as a curious proof of the effect it produced
