Excerpt from Sir Walter Scott It is perhaps needless to say that I have no new facts to present. The greater part of my book is, of course, made out of Lockhart's great life of his father in-law, supplemented, equally of course, by Scott's own Diary, the two volumes of Familiar Letters, edited by Mr Douglas, and such other works of biography and reminiscence as would naturally be turned to in search of aid. As for my criticisms, such as they are, they stand in every case, save where the contrary is distinctly noted, for my own study and conclusions. But while I may fairly claim this much for them, I am not vain enough to imagine that they will be found to be anywhere marked by freshness or originality. Scott has been too much written about, wisely and unwisely, for one to hope, at this time of day, to contribute anything new to the general judgment of the man and his work. I may add that, while it is hard, when one has read a good deal on the subject about which one is writing, to be certain at all times of dividing one's own opinions from Opinions one has picked up from others, I have tried to acknowledge direct indebtedness wherever I have felt such acknowledgment to be due. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.