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1890 The Journal of Sir Walter Scott.

1894 Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott.




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Importance of a study of Scott's critical and scholarly
work--Connection between his creative work and his
criticism--Chronological view of his literary career.


Scott's critical work has become inconspicuous because of his
predominant fame as an imaginative writer; but what it loses on this
account it perhaps gains in the special interest attaching to criticism
formulated by a great creative artist. One phase of his work is
emphasized and explained by the other, and we cannot afford to ignore
his criticism if we attempt fairly to comprehend his genius as a poet
and novelist. The fact that he is the subject of one of the noblest
biographies in our language only increases our obligation to become
acquainted with his own presentation of his artistic principles.

But though criticism by so great and voluminous a writer is valuable
mainly because of the important relation it bears to his other work, and