Not one of the
whole series of novels appears to have been written more completely
extempore than the great bulk of _Waverley_, including almost
everything that made it either popular with the million or fascinating
to the fastidious; and it is even likely that this is one of the
causes of its excellence.
"The last two volumes," says Scott, in a letter to Mr. Morritt, "were
written in three weeks." And here is Mr. Lockhart's description of the
effect which Scott's incessant toil during the composition, produced
on a friend whose window happened to command the novelist's study:--
"Happening to pass through Edinburgh in June, 1814, I dined
one day with the gentleman in question (now the Honourable
William Menzies, one of the Supreme Judges at the Cape of
Good Hope), whose residence was then in George Street,
situated very near to, and at right angles with, North
Castle Street. It was a party of very young persons, most of
them, like Menzies and myself, destined for the Bar of
Scotland, all gay and thoughtless, enjoying the first flush
of manhood, with little remembrance of the yesterday, or
care of the morrow.
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