My early recollections of the Highland scenery and customs made so favourable an impression in the poem called the Lady of the Lake, that I was induced to think of attempting something of the same kind in prose.I had been a good deal in the Highlands at a time when they were much less accessible and much less visited than they have been of late years, and was acquainted with many of the old warriors of 1745, who were, like most veterans, easily induced to fight their battles over again for the benefit of a willing listener like myself.It naturally occurred to me that the ancient traditions and high spirit of a people who, living in a civilised age and country, retained so strong a tincture of manners belonging to an early period of society, must afford a subject favourable for romance, if it should not prove a curious tale marred in the telling.
It was with some idea of this kind that, about the year 1805, Ithrew together about one-third part of the first volume of Waverley.
It was advertised to be published by the late Mr.John Ballantyne, bookseller in Edinburgh, under the name of ``Waverley, or 'Tis Fifty Years Since,'' a title afterwards altered to ``'Tis Sixty Years Since,'' that the actual date of publication might be made to correspond with the period in which the scene was laid.Having proceeded as far, I think, as the Seventh Chapter, I showed my work to a critical friend, whose opinion was unfavourable; and having then some poetical reputation, I was unwilling to risk the loss of it by attempting a new style of composition.I therefore threw aside the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or remonstrance.
I ought to add, that though my ingenious friend's sentence was afterwards reversed on an appeal to the public, it cannot be considered as any imputation on his good taste, for the specimen subjected to his criticism did not extend beyond the departure of the hero for Scotland, and, consequently, had not entered upon the part of the story which was finally found most interesting.
Be that as it may, this portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the drawers of an old writing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at Abbotsford in 1811, was placed in a lumber garret, and entirely forgotten.Thus, though I sometimes, among other literary avocations, turned my thoughts to the continuation of the romance which I had commenced, yet as I could not find what I had already written, after searching such repositories as were within my reach, and was too indolent to attempt to write it anew from memory, I as often laid aside all thoughts of that nature.
Two circumstances in particular recalled my recollection of the mislaid manuscript.The first was the extended and well-merited fame of Miss Edgeworth, whose Irish characters have gone so far to make the English familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland, that she may be truly said to have done more towards completing the Union than perhaps all the legislative enactments by which it has been followed up.
Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich humour, pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which pervade the works of my accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted for my own country of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland---something which might introduce her natives to those of the sister kingdom in a more favourable light than they had been placed hitherto, and tend to procure sympathy for their virtues and indulgence for their foibles.
I thought also that much of what I wanted in talent might be made up by the intimate acquaintance with the subject which I could lay claim to possess, as having travelled through most parts of Scotland, both Highland and Lowland; having been familiar with the elder as well as more modern race; and having had from my infancy free and unrestrained communication with all ranks of my countrymen, from the Scottish peer to the Scottish ploughman.Such ideas often occurred to me, and constituted an ambitious branch of my theory however far short I may have fallen of it in practice.
But it was not only the triumphs of Miss Edgeworth which, worked in me emulation, and disturbed my indolence.I chanced actually to engage in a work which formed a sort of essay piece, and gave me hope that I might in time become free of the craft of Romance-writing, and be esteemed a tolerable workman.
In the year 1807--8 I undertook, at the request of John Murray, Esq., of Albemarle Street, to arrange for publication some posthumous productions of the late Mr.Joseph Strutt, distinguished as an artist and an antiquary, amongst which was an unfinished romance, entitled ``Queenhoo-Hall.'' The scene of the tale was laid in the reign of Henry VI., and the work was written to illustrate the manners, customs, and language of the people of England during that period.The extensive acquaintance which Mr.Strutt had acquired with such subjects in compiling his laborious ``Horda Angel Cynnan,'' his ``Royal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities,'' and his ``Essay on the Sports and Pastimes of the People of England,''
had rendered him familiar with all the antiquarian lore necessary for the purpose of composing the projected romance; and although the manuscript bore the marks of hurry and incoherence natural to the first rough draught of the author, it evinced (in my opinion)considerable powers of imagination.
As the Work was unfinished I deemed it my duty, as Editor, to supply such a hasty and inartificial conclusion as could be shaped out from the story, of which Mr.Strutt had laid the foundation.
This concluding chapter<*> is also added to the present Introduction, * see Appendix No.II.p.<? p479>.<! p10>
for the reason already mentioned regarding the preceding fragment.
It was a step in my advance towards romantic composition; and to preserve the traces of these is in a great measure the object of this Essay.