The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Xxi
But the list of works in which his poetical
genius shone forth, continued rapidly to increase
amidst his multiplicity of other avocations. From
the summer of 1804 till that of 1812, the spring
and autumnal vacations of the court were spent
by him and his family at Ashestiel, a small mansion romantically overhanging the Tweed some
miles above Melrose, and rented from one of the
poet's kinsmen. In this beautiful retreat, at intervals during twelve months, was chiefly composed the magnificent poem of Marmion, which
was published in the beginning of 1808. At the
same place, likewise, in 1805, were composed the
opening chapters of a novel which, on the disapproval of one of the author's critical friends, was
thrown aside and not resumed for years.
Scott's commercial engagements must now again
be adverted to. In the year 1808 he took a part,
perhaps as suggester, certainly as a zealous promoter, of a scheme which terminated in the establishment of the Quarterly Review in London, as
a political and literary counterpoise to the Edinburgh Review, the advocate of Whig opinions.
But the poet had other than political grounds for
embarking in this opposition. He had seriously
quarrelled with the firm of Constable and Company, the publishers of the Edinburgh Review,
and of several of his own earlier works; and his
wish to check the enterprising head of that house
in his attempts to obtain a monopoly of Scottish