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

XXvi MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
expanded itself, in like manner with its master's
waxing means of expenditure, till it had become
that baronial castle which we now reverentially
visit as the minstrel's home. The hospitality of
the poet increased with his seeming prosperity;
his mornings were dedicated to composition, and
his evenings to society; and from the date of his
baronetcy, in 1820, to the final catastrophe in
1826, no mansion in Europe, of poet or of nobleman, could boast suchl a succession of guests illustrious for rank or talent, as those who sat at Sir
Walter Scott's board, and departed proud of having been so honoured. His family meanwhile
grew up around him; his eldest son and daughter
married; most of his early friends continued to
stand by his side; and few that saw the poet in
1825, a hale and seemingly happy man of fiftyfour, could have guessed that there remained for
him only a few more years (years of mortification
and of sorrow), before he should sink into the
grave, struck down by internal calamity, not by
the gentle hand of time.
And yet not only was this the issue, but, even
in the hour of his greatest seeming prosperity,
Scott had again and again been secretly struggling
against some of the most alarming anxieties. On
details as to his unfortunate commercial engagements we cannot here enter. It is enough to say
that the printing company, of which he was a
partner, which seems to have had considerable