"If I have a very strong passion in the world," he once wrote
of himself--and the whole story of his life seems to confirm it--"it
is pride."[30] In James Ballantyne he had a faithful, but almost humble
friend, with whom he could deal much as he chose, and fear no wound to
his pride. He had himself helped Ballantyne to a higher line of
business than any hitherto aspired to by him. It was his own book
which first got the Ballantyne press its public credit. And if he
could but create a great commercial success upon this foundation, he
felt that he should be fairly entitled to share in the gains, which
not merely his loan of capital, but his foresight and courage had
opened to Ballantyne.
And it is quite possible that Scott might have succeeded--or at all
events not seriously failed--if he had been content to stick to the
printing firm of James Ballantyne and Co., and had not launched also
into the bookselling and publishing firm of John Ballantyne and Co.,
or had never begun the wild and dangerous practice of forestalling his
gains, and spending wealth which he had not earned.
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