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

X11 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
Scott's attempts in poetry had now become
more ambitious; for, about the completion of his
fifteenth year, he is said to have composed a poem
in four books on the Conquest of Granada, which,
however, he almost immediately burned, and no
trace of it has been preserved. During some
years after this time, we hear of no other literary
compositions than essays for the debating societies.
In July, 1792, he was called to the bar. Immediately after his first circuit, he commenced
that series of "raids," as he playfully called them,
or excursions into the secluded border-districts,
which, in a few years, enabled him to amass the
materials for his first considerable work. His
walks on the boards of the Parliament House, the
Westminster Hall of Scotland, if they gained him
for a time few professional fees, speedily procured
him renown among his fellow-lawyers as a storyteller of high excellence; his father's connections
and his own friendships opened for him a ready
admission into the best society of the city, in which
his cheerful temper and his rich store of anecdotes
made him universally popular; and his German
studies produced, in 1796, his earliest poetical
efforts that were published, namely, the translations of Burger's ballads, Lenora, and the Wild
Huntsman. The same year witnessed the disappointment of a long and fondly-cherished hope,
by the marriage of a young lady, whose image,
notwithstanding, clung to his memory through life,