Walter Scott
Walter Scott - A Famous Scottish Writer
'The noblest man of letters in history'
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Scott was born at College Wynd, Edinburgh, on 15 August, the youngest son of the 13 children of Walter Scott, lawyer, and his wife, Anne Rutherford. At the age of 18 months Scott was struck with polio, which left him lame for life, and until he was eight years old, he lived in the country at his grandfather's farm at Sandyknowe, near Smailholm, and his uncle's house at Kelso, Roxburghshire. During the winter of 1786/7, when he was 15, Scott met Robert Burns at Sciennes Hill House, Edinburgh, the home of Professor Adam Ferguson. Educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and Edinburgh University, Scott studied law and became an advocate (barrister) in 1792. He married Margaret Charlotte Charpentier, a French woman, in Carlisle, in 1797. Setting up home in Edinburgh, Scott was made sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire in 1799; finding it necessary to obtain a house nearer to his work, he moved to Ashiestiel, on the River Tweed in 1804. The Scotts had four children of whom the elder daughter, Sophia, married John Gibson Lockhart in 1820, the year Scott became a baronet.
In 1811 Scott purchased the farmhouse and steading of Cartleyhole from Dr Robert Douglas, parish minister of Galashiels, for 4000 guineas (4200); he was to develop this property into his home of Abbotsford. Here, he began to write his famous series of Waverley novels with Waverley as the first, published anonymously in 1814. Scott's first published work, though, was rhyming versions of the ballads of the German lyric poet Gottfried August Burger (1747-94) of 1796. Translation of Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen followed, and his absorption of Border folklore and ballad from childhood soon led to his first major work, The Border Minstrelsy (1802-3). He became the most popular poet of the day with The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805). Scott felt that this seam of his inspiration in verse was played out with The Lord of the Isles (1815) : although he did dabble with verses thereafter, he concentrated on work as a novelist, essayist and biographer with his Life of Napoleon (1827) winning much praise.
Scott's passion to play the beneficent local laird started him on the task of expanding his estate, as well as his mansion, to 1400 acres; this project was begun in 1822. A passionate collector, Scott filled Abbotsford with a wide range of artifacts from Prince Charles Edward Stuart's quaich (drinking cup) to Rob Roy's sword, as well as amassing a library of over 9000 books. His extravagance and unlucky business ventures with publishers John and James Ballantyne led to his bankruptcy, which meant an unremitting toil of writing to rid himself of debt. A Legend of Montrose (1819), The Talisman (1825) and Woodstock (1826) and all his other novels were lapped up by an eager public; his last work being Count Robert of Paris (1832). However, the hard work had a deleterious effect on his health and with his daughter, Anne, and son-in-law, Lockhart, he went on a Mediterranean cruise. Scott rallied briefly but declined rapidly once he arrived home. He died on 21 September 1832 in the dining-room of Abbotsford, his bed having been brought down so that he could see and hear his beloved River Tweed. Scott is buried in the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, Berwickshire.
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