Scottish Stories

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1777. He was educated inEdinburgh and called to the bar in 1792, succeeding his father asWriter to the Signet, then Clerk of Session. He published anonymoustranslations of German Romantic poetry from 1797, in which year he alsomarried. In 1805 he published his first major work, a romantic poemcalled The Lay of the Last Minstrel, became a partner in a printing business, and several other long poems followed, including Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). These poems found acclaim and great popularity, but from 1814 and the publication of Waverley,Scott turned almost exclusively to novel-writing, albeit anonymously. Ahugely prolific period of writing produced over twenty-five novels,including Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818), The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Kenilworth (1821) and Redgauntlet(1824). Already sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, Scott was created abaronet in 1820. The printing business in which Scott was a partner raninto financial difficulties in1826, and Scott devoted his energies towork in order to repay the firm’s creditors, publishing many morenovels, dramatic works, histories and a life of Napoleon Bonaparte. SirWalter Scott died on 21 September 1832 at Abbotsford, the home he hadbuilt on the Scottish Borders.