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

MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Xxvii
liabilities even before the establishment of the
publishing house, was now inextricably entangled
with the concerns of the latter, many of whose
largest speculations had been completely unsuccessful; that, besides this, both firms were involved to an enormous extent with the house of
Constable; and that large sums, which had been
drawn by Sir Walter as copyright-money for the
novels, ihad been paid in bills which were still
current, and threatening to come back on him.
In the beginning of 1826, Constable's house
stopped payment; and the failure of the firm of
Ballantyne, for a very large sum, followed instantly
and of course. Probably even the utter ruin
which this catastrophe brought upon Scott, was
not more painful to him than the exposure which
it necessarily involved, of those secret connections,
the existence of which even his most confidential
friends could till now have at most only suspected.
But if he had been imprudent, he was both courageous and honorable; and in no period of his life
does he appear to such advantage, as when he
stood, as now, beggared, humbled, and covered
with a load of debt from which no human exertions seemed able to relieve him. He came forward, without a day's delay, and refused to be
dealt with as an ordinary bankrupt, or to avail
himself of those steps which would have set him
free from the claims of his creditors, on surrendering his property to them. He insisted that these