Ivanhoe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (2 page)

Although he worked throughout his life as an advocate and later as principal clerk to the Court of Session, Scott’s literary ambitions surfaced early in the form of ardent love poetry. He also developed a passion for collecting ballads; in 1802 he published a compendium,
The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
He also wrote tremendously popular narrative poems, including
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
(1805) and
The Lady of the Lake
(1810).

During the second decade of the nineteenth century, Scott was offered the position of poet laureate, which he declined, and a baronetcy, which he accepted. Although his fame was assured by the popularity of his poems, he chose to publish his novels under a pseudonym—perhaps uncertain how they would be received. In 1814 the anonymously published
Waverley
sold out the entire first run in a matter of days. Critics and readers alike loved Scott’s historical romances; his subsequent novels, such as
Guy Mannering
(1815),
Rob Roy
(1817), and his master-piece,
Ivanhoe
(1819), set sales records and sparked fervent speculation about their authorship. Scott did not reveal that he had written the novels until 1827.

Sir Walter Scott was at the apex of his powers in the early 1820s, when he published one or more works each year; he entertained King George IV in Edinburgh and received honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. He had made a fortune publishing his work through a company he owned with childhood friend James Ballantyne, but even Scott was not immune to the recession that gripped Britain in 1825. By the end of 1826 he had lost everything, his wife had died, and his health was failing. Determined not to declare bankruptcy, Scott pledged the future earnings of his writings to pay off his debts. In addition to burdensome hack work he took to increase his income, he wrote at least one book a year, including
Woodstock
(1826),
Life of Napoleon Buonaparte
(1827), and
The Fair Maid of Perth
(1828). At work on a complete collection of his writings, Scott had a stroke in 1831 and died on September 21, 1832, at his Scottish estate, Abbotsford.