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

LORD OF THE ISLES. 7
needless to say how the author's feelings, or the
composition of his trifling work, were affected by
a circumstance which occasioned so many tears
and so much sorrow.' True it is, that " The Lord
of the Isles" was concluded, unwillingly and in
haste, under the painful feeling of one who has a
task which must be finished, rather than with the
ardour of one who endeavours to perform that
task well. Although the Poem cannot be said to
have made a favourable impression on the public.
the sale of fifteen thousand copies enabled the author to retreat from the field with the honours of
war.
In the mean time, what was necessarily to be
considered as a failure, was much reconciled to
my feelings by the success attending myr attempt
in another species of composition. " Waverley'
had, under strict incognito, taken its flight from
the press, just before I set out upon the voyage
already mentioned; it had now made its way to
popularity, and the success of that work and the
volumes which followed, was sufficient to have satisfied a greater appetite for applause than I have
at any time possessed.2
I may as well add in this place. that, being much
urged by my intimate friend, now unhappily no
1 [Harriet, Duchess of Buccleuch, died 24th August, 1814.
Sir Walter Scott received the mournful intelligence while visiting the Giant's Causeway, and immediately returned home.]
2 [The first edition of Waverley appeared in July 1814.]