From Lockhart's _Memoirs of Scott._
[``There appeared in The Scots Magazine for February 1st, 1814, an announcement, that `Waverley; or, 'tis Sixty Years Since, a novel, in 3vols.12mo,' would be published in March.And before Scott came into Edinburgh, at the close of the Christmas vacation, on the 12th of January, Mr.Erskine had perused the greater part of the first volume, and expressed his decided opinion that Waverley would prove the most popular of all his friend's writings.The MS.was forthwith copied by John Ballantyne, and sent to press.''
In a letter to his friend J.B.S.Morritt of Rokeby, dated July 9, 1814, Sir Walter says:---``Now, to go from one important subject to another, I must account for my own laziness, which I do by referring you to a small anonymous sort of a novel, in three volumes, Waverley, which you will receive by the mail of this day.It was a very old attempt of mine to embody some traits of those characters and manners peculiar to Scotland, the last remnants of which vanished during my own youth, so that few or no traces now remain.
I had written great part of the first volume, and sketched other passages, when I mislaid the MS., and only found it by the merest accident as I was rummaging the drawers of an old cabinet; and I took the fancy of finishing it, which I did so fast, that the last two volumes were written in three weeks.''
Again, in a subsequent note, he adds---
``As to Waverley, I will play Sir Fretful for once, and assure you that I left the story to flag in the first volume on purpose; the second and third have rather more bustle and interest.I wished (with what success Heaven knows) to avoid the ordinary error of novel writers, whose first volume is usually their best.But since it has served to amuse Mrs.Morritt and you _usque ab initio,_ I have no doubt you will tolerate it even unto the end.''
The above statement respecting the time occupied in the composition of the two last volumes is borne out by the following anecdote, told by his future son-in-law, J.G.Lockhart:---``Happening to pass through Edinburgh in June 1814, I dined one day with William Menzies (afterwards Judge at the Cape of Good Hope), whose residence was then in George Street, situated very near to and within sight of the back windows of Scott's house in North Castle Street.It was a party of very young persons, most of them, like Menzies and myself, destined for the Bar of Scotland, all gay and thoughtless, enjoying the first flush of manhood, with little remembrance of the yesterday, or care of the morrow.
``When my companion's worthy father and uncle, after seeing two or three bottles go round, left the juveniles to themselves, the weather being hot, we adjourned to a library which had one large window looking north-wards.