Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature

Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of
Literature

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Literature
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Title: Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature
Author: Margaret Ball
Release Date: September 18, 2005 [EBook #16715]
Language: English
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WALTER SCOTT AS A CRITIC ***

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SIR WALTER SCOTT
AS A CRITIC OF LITERATURE
BY
MARGARET BALL, PH.D.

New York THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1907

Copyright, 1907 BY THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Printed
from type November, 1907
PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY LANCASTER,
PA.

PREFACE
The lack of any adequate discussion of Scott's critical work is a
sufficient reason for the undertaking of this study, the subject of which
was suggested to me more than three years ago by Professor Trent of
Columbia University. We still use critical essays and monumental
editions prepared by the author of the Waverley novels, but the
criticism has been so overshadowed by the romances that its
importance is scarcely recognized. It is valuable in itself, as well as in
the opportunity it offers of considering the relation of the critical to the
creative mood, an especially interesting problem when it is presented
concretely in the work of a great writer.
No complete bibliography of Scott's writings has been published, and
perhaps none is possible in the case of an author who wrote so much
anonymously. The present attempt includes some at least of the books
and articles commonly left unnoticed, which are chiefly of a critical or
scholarly character.

I am glad to record my gratitude to Professor William Allan Neilson,
now of Harvard University, and to Professors A.H. Thorndike, W.W.
Lawrence, G.P. Krapp, and J.E. Spingarn, of Columbia, for suggestions
in connection with various parts of the work. From the beginning
Professor Trent has helped me constantly by his advice as well as by
the inspiration of his scholarship, and my debt to him is one which can
be understood only by the many students who have known his
kindness.
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, June, 1907.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Introduction: An Outline of Scott's Literary Career 1
CHAPTER II.
Scott's Qualifications as Critic 9
CHAPTER III.
Scott's Work as Student and Editor in the Field of Literary History
1. The Mediaeval Period (a) Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border 17 (b)
Studies in the Romances 32 (c) Other Studies in Mediaeval Literature
40
2. The Drama 46
3. The Seventeenth Century: Dryden 59
4. The Eighteenth Century (a) Swift 65 (b) The Somers Tracts 70 (c)
The Lives of the Novelists, and Comments on other Eighteenth Century
Writers 72

CHAPTER IV.
Scott's Criticism of His Contemporaries 81
CHAPTER V.
Scott as a Critic of His Own Work 108
CHAPTER VI.
Scott's Position as Critic 134
APPENDICES
I. Bibliography of Scott, Annotated 147 II. List of Books Quoted 174
Index 179

A DATED LIST OF SCOTT'S BOOKS, ASIDE FROM THE POEMS
AND NOVELS, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HE
EDITED (PERIODICAL CRITICISM NOT INCLUDED).
1802-3 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (edited).
1804 Sir Tristrem (edited).
1806 Original Memoirs written during the Great Civil War; the Life of
Sir H. Slingsby, and Memoirs of Capt. Hodgson (edited).
1808 Memoirs of Capt. Carleton (edited).
1808 The Works of John Dryden (edited).
1808 Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth, and Fragmenta
Regalia (edited).
1808 Queenhoo Hall, a Romance; and Ancient Times, a Drama
(edited).

1809 The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler (edited).
1809-15 The Somers Tracts (edited).
1811 Memoirs of the Court of Charles II, by Count Grammont (edited).
1811 Secret History of the Court of James the First (edited).
1813 Memoirs of the Reign of King Charles I, by Sir Philip Warwick
(edited).
1814 The Works of Jonathan Swift (edited).
1814-17 The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland.
1816 Paul's Letters.
1818 Essay on Chivalry.
1819 Essay on the Drama.
1819-26 Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland.
1820 Trivial Poems and Triolets by Patrick Carey (edited).
1821 Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland; and
the Contemplative and Practical Angler (edited).
1821-24 The Novelists' Library (edited).
1822 Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701
(edited).
1822 Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War (edited).
1824 Essay on Romance.
1826 Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the