THIS EDITION OF THE WAVERLEY NOVELS, THE BORDER EDITION, IS DEDICATED BY THE PUBLISHER ΤΟ THE HON. MRS. MAXWELL SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD AND HER CHILDREN, WALTER, MARY, MICHAEL, ALICE, MALCOLM, GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER AND GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF THE AUTHOR α ΤΟ The king's Most Gracious Majesty. SIRE, The Author of this Collection of Works of Fiction would not have presumed to solicit for them your Majesty's august patronage, were it not that the perusal has been supposed in some instances to have succeeded in amusing hours of relaxation, or relieving those of languor, pain, or anxiety, and therefore must have so far aided the warmest wish of your Majesty's heart, by contributing in however small a degree to the happiness of your people. They are therefore humbly dedicated to your Majesty, agreeably to your gracious permission, by Your Majesty's Dutiful Subject, ABBOTSFORD, 1st January, 1829. WALTER SCOTT. LIST OF ETCHINGS. PRINTED BY F. GOULDING, LONDON. VOLUME THE FIRST. PORTRAIT OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. Painted by Sir Henry Frontispiece ABBOTSFORD (from the Tweed). Drawn by D. Herdman. TULLY-VEOLAN. Painted by W. J. Leitch. To face page lxxii Etched by EDITOR'S NOTE. THE purpose of the added matter in this edition of the Waverley Novels -a reprint of the magnum opus of 1829-1832 is to give to the stories their historical setting, by stating the circumstances in which they were composed and made their first appearance. Sir Walter's own delightful Introductions, written hastily, as Lockhart says, and with a failing memory, have occasionally been corrected by Lockhart himself. His "Life of Scott" must always be our first and best source, but fragments of information may be gleaned from Sir Walter's unpublished correspondence. The Editor owes to the kindness of Mrs. Maxwell Scott permission to examine the twenty-four large volumes of letters to Sir Walter, and some other manuscripts, which are preserved at Abbotsford. These yield but little of contemporary criticism or remark, as is natural, for Scott shared his secret with few, and most topics were more grateful to him than his own writings. Lockhart left little for his successors to do, and the more any one studies the Abbotsford manuscripts, the more must he admire the industry and tact of Scott's biographer. The Editor has also put together some examples of contemporary published criticism which it is now not uninteresting to glance over. In selecting these he has been aided by the kindness of Mrs. Ogilbie. From the Abbotsford manuscripts and other sources he has added notes on points which have become ob |