Chapter IV: Scott’s Poetical Romances

For many years after its institution the Ballantyne Press was in continuous action, and the number of volumes that issued from it can hardly be reckoned. Besides work for publishing houses in London and Edinburgh, all Scott’s writings were first printed there, and the printing-house was constantly occupied in pouring forth edition after edition of his works. “Sir Tristrem” was published in May 1804 by Constable, who expected so little popularity for it that the edition consisted of 150 copies only, which were sold at the high price of two guineas. In due time, however, the work had its share in the celebrity attached to the name of its editor, and it was through the printing of this poem that the intimate connection of Constable and the Ballantyne Press began.

“The Lay of the Last Minstrel” was published in January 1805. It was a splendid quarto volume, with “meadows of margin,” and was greeted with unbounded applause, both for its intrinsic merits and for its beautiful printing.

It may be doubted if, in the history of British poetry, any other work ever equalled the demand for the “Lay.” In 1825 the poem had reached its fourteenth edition, upwards of 33,000 copies having been circulated; and before 1830 11,000 copies more were printed and disposed of. Scott entrusted the revision of the manuscript of the poem to his two friends—William Erskine and James Ballantyne. Regarding the latter at this time, Lockhart observes—and in the light of his strictures after the financial crash the passage may well be deemed worthy of note: “The printer was himself a man of considerable literary talents: his own style had the incurable faults of pomposity and affectation, but his eye for more venial errors in the writings of others was quick, and though his personal address was apt to give a stranger the impression of insincerity, he was in reality an honest man, and conveyed his mind on such matters with equal candour and delicacy during the whole of Scott’s brilliant career. In the vast majority of instances he found his friend acquiesce at once in the propriety of his suggestions; nay, there certainly were cases, though rare, in which his advice to alter things of much more consequence than a word or a rhyme was frankly tendered, and on deliberation adopted by Scott.[13] Mr. Erskine was the referee whenever the poet hesitated about taking the hints of the zealous typographer, and his refined taste and gentle manners rendered his critical alliance highly valuable.”[14]

Shortly after the publication of the “Lay,” Ballantyne found his capital inadequate to meet the business which was flowing to his press. He accordingly applied to his great patron for assistance, and Scott assented, on condition of his becoming partner with Ballantyne, and having a third share in the profits. This arrangement was kept strictly private.[15] Attracted by Ballantyne’s superior taste and beauty of workmanship, Scott made it a point from the first, that whatever he wrote or edited should be printed at the Ballantyne Press; and his personal connection with it stimulated his inventive genius, directly and indirectly, to add to the rapidly growing printing-house.

In April 1805 Scott wrote to Ballantyne: “I have imagined a very superb work. What think you of a complete edition of British poets, ancient and modern?” This work he proposed to edit for thirty guineas a volume. The publishers did not quite respond to his views in the matter, as the booksellers refused to admit into the series certain poets whom the editor was insisting upon, and the scheme was abandoned. But it is interesting to know that, if not so complete in all respects as Scott would have desired, a Library Edition of the British Poets, begun in 1853, was issued from Paul’s Work in forty-eight demy octavo volumes, in every respect worthy of its reputation. This series was edited by the Rev. George Gilfillan, and published by James Nichol in Edinburgh.

“An Historical Enquiry respecting the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland” should find its proper place here, though not in any way connected with Scott. It has the date 1807, and was printed at Paul’s Work for Constable.

Mr. John Murray, in a letter to Constable, bears this early and remarkable testimony to the worth of James Ballantyne as a printer:

“_June 6, 1807._—I am quite delighted with the appearance of Mr. Gunn’s work upon the Harp, which is a splendid and honourable specimen of Scotch typography, which I think cannot be surpassed in Britain. I showed the book to Mr. Wright, a printer who stands foremost in the second class, and he admired and praised it greatly, and said that he thought that Ballantyne’s _general_ style of printing was superior to that of any other printer, and that it was a matter of nicety if Bentley and Bulmer exceeded him even occasionally.”[16]

“Marmion” was begun in 1807 and published in February 1808, as a splendid quarto volume, price one guinea and a half. Of this work 4000 copies were printed in the year of its publication, 6000 in the year following, and prior to 1836 as many as 50,000 in all.

In April 1808 William Miller of Albemarle Street published an edition of the Works of John Dryden in eighteen volumes. This was edited by Scott and printed at the Ballantyne Press. The speculation was considered a bold one at the time, but it must have been a success, as the entire work was reprinted in 1821.

“Queenhoo Hall,” in four volumes, Carleton’s “Memoirs of the War of the Spanish Succession,” and the “Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth,” published in 1808, also Sadler’s “Life and State Papers,” three volumes quarto, published in 1809, followed by the Somers Tracts, in thirteen volumes quarto, were all edited by Scott, and printed by Ballantyne.

In May 1810 there appeared “The Lady of the Lake,” perhaps the most popular of all Scott’s poems. The first edition was in quarto, and the second in octavo; and the successive editions, as in the case of “Marmion,” amounted in 1836 to 50,000 copies.

The “Poetical Works of Miss Seward,” in three volumes, with a Prefatory Memoir by Scott, was published from Paul’s Work in the autumn of 1810. This was one of the unfortunate speculations of Scott, and the unsaleable stock had afterwards to be taken over by Constable at a ruinous loss.[17] “It is most curious,” says Professor Saintsbury, “how Scott, the shrewdest and sanest of men in the vast majority of affairs, seems to have lost his head whenever books or lands were concerned.”

In 1810 were also issued the two first volumes of the _Edinburgh Annual Register_, in the production of which Scott largely aided. James Ballantyne was editor, and other contributors included the poet Southey, Professor Leslie, the “Man of Feeling,” and William Erskine.

“The Vision of Don Roderick,” which was Scott’s contribution to the fund in aid of the sufferers from Massena’s campaign in Portugal in 1810, was published in a quarto volume in July 1811; and the romance of “Rokeby,” another quarto, in January 1813. The edition consisted of 3250 copies, of which only eighty remained unsold on the second day of publication. “Rokeby” was followed within two months by a small volume, “The Bridal of Triermain.” The MS. of this poem was transcribed by one or other of the Ballantynes, in order to guard against any indiscretion in the printing-office, as the little work was to be issued at first anonymously, “as a trap for Jeffrey.” He was not deceived, however, although other critics thought the work an imitation of Scott.

The “Life and Works of Swift,” in nineteen volumes, undertaken by Scott for Constable, was issued from the Ballantyne Press on the 1st of July 1814. The impression consisted of 1250 copies, and a second impression of the same number was required in 1824. This work was again printed at Paul’s Work in 1882-84 for Bickers & Son, London.

How much longer Scott would have continued to work out the vein of poetry within him we cannot say. He was still turning out rich ore when Byron electrified the world with his “Childe Harold.” Scott at once recognised that he had met his superior, and that his supremacy as a popular poet was seriously threatened. Many years after, only a few months before he died, he was talking over the events of his career with Lockhart, his son-in-law.

“‘I asked him,’ said Lockhart, ‘why he had ever relinquished poetry.’

“‘Because Byron _bet_ me,’ Scott replied, pronouncing the word _beat_ short. ‘He _bet_ me out of the field in the description of the strong passions, and in deep-seated knowledge of the human heart; so I gave up poetry for the time.’”

But when we look at the rich legacy that Scott has left us in his Waverley Novels we cannot regret this. One morning, in searching an old desk for some fishing-flies, he found the forgotten MS. of the first two or three chapters of “Waverley,” which he had written some time before. He read over the fragment, thought it had promise of good in it, and determined to finish the story. This trifling circumstance led to the unparalleled series of romances which were read with wonder and delight when they first appeared, and which will continue to charm so long as our language endures.