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1

ADVERTISEMENT TO EDITION 1833.

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE LAY OF THE LAST MIN-
STREL, written in April, 1830, was revised by the
Author in the autumn of 1831, when he also made
some corrections in the text of the Poem, and sev-
eral additions to the notes. The work is now
printed from his interleaved copy.

It is much to be regretted that the original MS.
of this Poem has not been preserved. We are
thus denied the advantage of comparing through-
out the Author's various readings, which, in the
case of Marmion, the Lady of the Lake, the Lord
of the Isles, &c., are often highly curious and in-
structive.-ED.

INTRODUCTION TO EDITION 1830.
A POEM of nearly thirty years' standing' may be
supposed hardly to need an Introduction, since,
without one,
it has been able to keep itself afloat
through the best part of a generation. Neverthe-
less, as, in the edition of the Waverley Novels now
in course of publication [1830], I have imposed on
myself the task of saying something concerning the
purpose and history of each, in their turn, I am
desirous that the Poems for which I first received
some marks of the public favor, should also be ac-
companied with such scraps of their literary his-

1 Published in 4to (£1 5s.), January, 1805.

tory as may be supposed to carry interest along
with them. Even if I should be mistaken in think-

ing that the secret history of what was once so
popular, may still attract public attention and cu-
riosity, it seems to me not without its use to record
the manner and circumstances under which the
present, and other Poems on the same plan, at-
tained for a season an extensive reputation.

I must resume the story of my literary labors at
the period at which I broke off in the Essay on the
Imitation of Popular Poetry [see post], when I had
enjoyed the first gleam of public favor, by the suc-
cess of the first edition of the Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border. The second edition of that work,
published in 1803, proved, in the language of the
trade, rather a heavy concern. The demand in
Scotland had been supplied by the first edition, and
the curiosity of the English was not much awaken-
ed by poems in the rude garb of antiquity, accom-
panied with notes referring to the obscure feuds of
barbarous clans, of whose very names civilized his-
tory was ignorant. It was, on the whole, one of
those books which are more praised than they are
read."

At this time I stood personally in a different po-
sition from that which I occupied when I first dipt
my desperate pen in ink for other purposes than
those of my profession. In 1796, when I first pub-

"The Lay' is the best of all possible comments on the
Border Minstrelsy."-British Critic, August, 1805.

by the general consent of his brethren, recently elected to be their Dean of Faculty, or President,

lished the translations from Bürger, I was an insulated individual, with only my own wants to provide for, and having, in a great measure, my own-being the highest acknowledgment of his proinclinations alone to consult. In 1803, when the second edition of the Minstrelsy appeared, I had arrived at a period of life when men, however thoughtless, encounter duties and circumstances which press consideration and plans of life upon the most careless minds. I had been for some time married-was the father of a rising family, and, though fully enabled to meet the consequent demands upon me, it was my duty and desire to place | myself in a situation which would enable me to make honorable provision against the various contingencies of life.

It may be readily supposed that the attempts which I had made in literature had been unfavorable to my success at the bar. The goddess Themis is, at Edinburgh, and I suppose everywhere else, of a peculiarly jealous disposition. She will not readily consent to share her authority, and sternly demands from her votaries, not only that real duty be carefully attended to and discharged, but that a certain air of business shall be observed even in the midst of total idleness. It is prudent, if not absolutely necessary, in a young barrister, to appear completely engrossed by his profession; however destitute of employment he may in real ity be, he ought to preserve, if possible, the appearance of full occupation. He should, therefore, seem perpetually engaged among his law-papers, dusting them, as it were; and, as Ovid advises the fair,

"Si nullus erit pulvis, tamen excute nullum."'1 Perhaps such extremity of attention is more especially required, considering the great number of counsellors who are called to the bar, and how very small a proportion of them are finally disposed, or find encouragement, to follow the law as a profession. Hence the number of deserters is so great, that the least lingering look behind occasions a young novice to be set down as one of the intending fugitives. Certain it is, that the Scottish Themis was at this time peculiarly jealous of any flirtation with the Muses, on the part of those who had ranged themselves under her banners. This was probably owing to her consciousness of the superior attractions of her rivals. Of late, however, she has relaxed in some instances in this particular, an eminent example of which has been shown in the case of my friend, Mr. Jeffrey, who, after long conducting one of the most influential literary periodicals of the age, with unquestionable ability, has been,

1 If dust be none, yet brush that none away.

Mr. Jeffrey, after conducting the Edinburgh Review for twenty-seven years, withdrew from that office in 1829, on being

fessional talents which they had it in their power to offer. But this is an incident much beyond the ideas of a period of thirty years' distance, when a barrister who really possessed any turn for lighter literature, was at as much pains to conceal it, as if it had in reality been something to be ashamed of; and I could mention more than one instance in which literature and society have suffered much loss, that jurisprudence might be enriched.

Such, however, was not my case; for the reader will not wonder that my open interference with matters of light literature diminished my employment in the weightier matters of the law. Nor did the solicitors, upon whose choice the counsel takes rank in his profession, do me less than justice, by regarding others among my contemporaries as fitter to discharge the duty due to their clients, than a young man who was taken up with running after ballads, whether Teutonic or national. My profession and I, therefore, came to stand nearly upon the footing which honest Slender consoled himself on having established with Mistress Anne Page: "There was no great love between us at the beginning, and it pleased Heaven to decrease it on farther acquaintance." I became sensible that the time was come when I must either buckle myself resolutely to the "toil by day, the lamp by night," renouncing all the Delilahs of my imagination, or bid adieu to the profession of the law, and hold another course.

I confess my own inclination revolted from the more severe choice, which might have been deemed by many the wiser alternative. As my transgressions had been numerous, my repentance must have been signalized by unusual sacrifices. I ought to have mentioned, that since my fourteenth or fifteenth year, my health, originally delicate, had become extremely robust. From infancy I had labored under the infirmity of a severe lameness, but, as I believe is usually the case with men of spirit who suffer under personal inconveniences of this nature, I had, since the improvement of my health, in defiance of this incapacitating circumstance, distinguished myself by the endurance of toil on foot or horseback, having often walked thirty miles a day, and rode upwards of a hundred without resting. In this manner I made many pleasant journeys through parts of the country then not very accessible, gaining more amusement and instruction than I have been able to acquire since I have travelled in a more commodious manner. I practised most elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1830, under Earl Grey's Ministry, he was appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland, and, in 1834, a Senator of the College of Justice by the title of Lord Jeffrey.-ED.

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