Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of Literature

Sir Walter Scott as a Critic of 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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[Transcriber's note: All footnotes have been gathered at the end of the text.]
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 Currency.
1827 The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte.
1828 Tales of a Grandfather, first series.
1828 Religious Discourses, by a Layman.
1828 Proceedings in the Court-martial held upon John, Master of Sinclair, etc. (edited).
1829 Memorials of George Bannatyne (edited).
1829 Tales of a Grandfather, second series.
1829-32 The "Opus Magnum" (Novels, Tales, and Romances, with Introductions and Notes by the Author).
1830 Tales of a Grandfather, third series.
1830 Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
1830 History of Scotland.
1831 Tales of a