Early in May, 1810, “The Lady of the Lake” came out, like her two elder sisters, in all the majesty of quarto, at the price of two guineas, the author receiving two thousand guineas for the copyright.  The whole country rang with the praises of the poet, and crowds set off to view the scenery of Loch Katrine.  The critics were in full harmony with one another and with the popular voice.

The Waverley Novels

On returning, in 1810, from an excursion to the Islands of the western Scottish coast, where he had been collecting impressions for “The Lord of the Isles,” Scott was searching one morning for fishing-flies in an old desk at Ashestiel, when he came across a forgotten manuscript, written and abandoned five years before.  It contained the first two chapters of “Waverley.”  He submitted it to Ballantyne, whose opinion was on the whole against completion of the novel, and it was again laid aside.

Although his publishing venture had begun to wear a bad aspect, Scott was now in receipt of L1300 a year as Clerk of Session, and when the lease of Ashestiel ran out in May, 1811, he felt justified in purchasing, for L4000, a farm on the banks of the Tweed above Galafoot.  This farm, then known as “Garty Holes,” became “Abbotsford,” so called because these lands had belonged of old to the great Abbey of Melrose; and in his own mind Scott became henceforth the “Laird of Abbotsford.”

The last days at Ashestiel were marked by a friendly interchange of letters with Lord Byron, whose “Childe Harold” had just come out, and with correspondence with Johanna Baillie and with Crabbe.  At Whitsuntide the family, which included two boys and two girls, moved to their new possession, and structural alterations on the farmhouse began.

The poem “Rokeby” appeared in January, 1813.  A month or two later the crisis in the war affected credit aniversally, and many publishing firms, including that of the Ballantynes, were brought to extremity.  The difficulty was relieved for a time by the sale of copyrights and much of the stock to Constable, on the understanding that the publishing concern should be wound up as soon as possible.  But Scott was preparing fresh embarrassments for himself by the purchase of another parcel of land; a yet more acute crisis in the Ballantyne firm forced him to borrow from the Duke of Buccleuch; and when planning out his work for the purpose of retrieving his position he determined to complete the fragment of “Waverley.”

The offer of the post of poet-laureate was made to Scott at this time, but holding already two lucrative offices in the gift of the Crown, he declined the honour and suggested that it should be given to Southey, which was accordingly done.  The “Swift” in nineteen volumes, appeared in July, 1814, and had a moderate success.