smitten with lameness which remained with him through life,
although he matured into a man of robust health. He was
educated for the law, which he began to practise in 1792.
Although he had fair success in his profession, he soon began
to occupy his leisure time with literature, and his first work
was published in 1796. The first of the "Waverley" series made
its appearance anonymously in 1814. As the series progressed,
it became known that Walter Scott was the author of the famous
novels, and he became the idol of the hour. In 1820 a
baronetcy was bestowed upon him. Six years later he joined an
old friend in the establishment of a large printing and
publishing business in Edinburgh, but the venture was not
successful, and Scott soon found himself a bankrupt. Here his
manhood and proud integrity were most nobly shown. With stern
and unfaltering resolution, he set himself to the task of
paying his debts from the profits of his pen. Within a space
of two years he realised for his creditors the amazing sum of
nearly forty thousand pounds, but the limits of endurance had
been reached, and in 1830 he was smitten down with paralysis,
from which he never thoroughly rallied. He died at Abbotsford
on September 31, 1832. As a lyrist Scott especially excelled,
and as a novelist he takes rank among the foremost. Although
many of his works are lax and careless in structure, yet if a
final test in greatness in the field of novel writing be the
power to vitalise character, very few writers can be held to
surpass Sir Walter Scott. According to Basil Hall, "The
Antiquary" was Scott's own favourite romance. It was published
in May, 1816, the third of the Waverley Novels, and in it the
author intended to illustrate the manners of Scotland during
the last ten years of the eighteenth century. "I have been