translations when he was twenty-five years old, but his first notable
work, the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, did not appear until
1802-3, when he was over thirty. This book, the outgrowth of his early
interest in ballads and his own attempts at versifying, exhibited both
his editorial and his creative powers. It led up to the publication of
two important volumes which contained material originally intended to
form part of the _Minstrelsy_, but which outgrew that work. These were
the edition of the old metrical romance _Sir Tristrem_, which showed
Scott as a scholar, and the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, the first of
Scott's own metrical romances. So far his literary achievement was all
of one kind, or of two or three kinds closely related. In this first
period of his literary life, perhaps even more than later, his editorial
impulse, his scholarly activity, was closely connected with the
inspiration for original writing. The _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ was the
climax of this series of enterprises.

With the publication of the _Minstrelsy_, Scott of course became known
as a literary antiquary. He was naturally called upon for help when the
_Edinburgh Review_ was started a few weeks afterwards, especially as
Jeffrey, who soon became the editor, had long been his friend. The
articles that he wrote during 1803 and 1804 were of a sort that most
evidently connected itself with the work he had been doing: reviews, for
example, of Southey's _Amadis de Gaul_, and of Ellis's _Early English
Poetry_. During 1805-6 the range of his reviewing became wider and he
included some modern books, especially two or three which offered
opportunity for good fun-making. About 1806, however, his aversion to
the political principles which dominated the _Edinburgh Review_ became
so strong that he refused to continue as a contributor, and only once,
years later, did he again write an article for that periodical.