SIR WALTER SCOTT

AS A CRITIC OF LITERATURE

BY

MARGARET BALL, PH.D.

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New York
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1907

PRESS OF
THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER, PA.

PREFACE

The lack of any adequate discussion of Scott's critical work is a sufficient reason for the undertaking of this study, the subject of which was suggested to me more than three years ago by Professor Trent of Columbia University. We still use critical essays and monumental editions prepared by the author of the Waverley novels, but the criticism has been so overshadowed by the romances that its importance is scarcely recognized. It is valuable in itself, as well as in the opportunity it offers of considering the relation of the critical to the creative mood, an especially interesting problem when it is presented concretely in the work of a great writer.

No complete bibliography of Scott's writings has been published, and perhaps none is possible in the case of an author who wrote so much anonymously. The present attempt includes some at least of the books and articles commonly left unnoticed, which are chiefly of a critical or scholarly character.

I am glad to record my gratitude to Professor William Allan Neilson, now of Harvard University, and to Professors A.H. Thorndike, W.W. Lawrence, G.P. Krapp, and J.E. Spingarn, of Columbia, for suggestions in connection with various parts of the work. From the beginning Professor Trent has helped me constantly by his advice as well as by the inspiration of his scholarship, and my debt to him is one which can be understood only by the many students who have known his kindness.

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE,

June, 1907.

CHAPTER I.
Introduction: An Outline of Scott's Literary Career	1

CHAPTER II.
Scott's Qualifications as Critic	9

CHAPTER III.
Scott's Work as Student and Editor in the Field of Literary History

1. The Mediaeval Period
(a) Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border	17
(b) Studies in the Romances	32
(c) Other Studies in Mediaeval Literature	40

2. The Drama	46

3. The Seventeenth Century: Dryden	59

4. The Eighteenth Century
(a) Swift	65
(b) The Somers Tracts	70
(c) The Lives of the Novelists, and Comments on other Eighteenth Century Writers	72

CHAPTER IV.
Scott's Criticism of His Contemporaries	81

CHAPTER V.
Scott as a Critic of His Own Work	108

CHAPTER VI.
Scott's Position as Critic	134

APPENDICES
I. Bibliography of Scott, Annotated	147
II. List of Books Quoted	174
Index	179

A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM
THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF THE
PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED
(PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).

1802-3	Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (edited).
1804	Sir Tristrem (edited).
1806	Original Memoirs written during the Great Civil War; the Life of Sir H. Slingsby, and Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson (edited).
1808	Memoirs of Capt. Carleton (edited).
1808	The Works of John Dryden (edited).
1808	Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, and Fragmenta Regalia (edited).
1808	Queenhoo Hall, a Romance; and Ancient Times, a Drama (edited).
1809	The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler (edited).
1809-15	The Somers Tracts (edited).
1811	Memoirs of the Court of Charles II, by Count Grammont (edited).
1811	Secret History of the Court of James the First (edited).
1813	Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I, by Sir Philip Warwick (edited).
1814	The Works of Jonathan Swift (edited).
1814-17	The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland.
1816	Paul's Letters.
1818	Essay on Chivalry.
1819	Essay on the Drama.
1819-26	Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland.
1820	Trivial Poems and Triolets by Patrick Carey (edited).
1821	Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland; and the Contemplative and Practical Angler (edited).
1821-24	The Novelists' Library (edited).
1822	Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701 (edited).
1822	Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War (edited).
1824	Essay on Romance.
1826	Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Currency.
1827	The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte.
1828	Tales of a Grandfather, first series.
1828	Religious Discourses, by a Layman.
1828	Proceedings in the Court-martial held upon John, Master of Sinclair, etc. (edited).
1829	Memorials of George Bannatyne (edited).
1829	Tales of a Grandfather, second series.
1829-32	The "Opus Magnum" (Novels, Tales, and Romances, with Introductions and Notes by the Author).
1830	Tales of a Grandfather, third series.
1830	Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
1830	History of Scotland.
1831	Tales of a Grandfather, fourth series.
1831	Trial of Duncan Terig, etc. (edited).

1890	The Journal of Sir Walter Scott.
1894	Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature

SIR WALTER SCOTT

AS A CRITIC OF LITERATURE

BY

MARGARET BALL, PH.D.

PREFACE

CONTENTS

A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM
THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF THE
PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED
(PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature

SIR WALTER SCOTT

AS A CRITIC OF LITERATURE

BY

MARGARET BALL, PH.D.

PREFACE

CONTENTS

A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED (PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).

A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM
THE POEMS AND NOVELS, AND OF THE
PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE EDITED
(PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).