Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott was a superstar novelist of the early 19th century, and a pioneer in the art of the historical novel. His special interest was Scotland's history and culture; his first literary success was a collection of Scottish ballads and narrative poems, the five-volume Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-03). Over the next 30 years he produced a tremendous amount of novels, biographies, stories and poems. The best-known is probably Ivanhoe (1819), a romantic tale of chivalry with a cast that included Richard the Lion-Hearted and Robin Hood. Other works include The Lady of the Lake (1810), the Waverly novels (first published in 1814), Rob Roy (1818), The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), and the epic poem Marmion (1808) which includes his famous ballad Lochinvar. Never a prudent man with money, Scott suffered a calamity when the publishing firm of which he was part-owner went bankrupt in 1826. Scott resolved to pay off the debt by writing, but the tremendous exertion ruined his health and led to his death in 1832.

Extra credit: Scott's estate on the River Tweed was known as Abbotsford... The Waverly novels were published anonymously, and not until 1827 did Scott admit his authorship... American abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a former slave who took his name from Scott's 1810 book The Lady Of the Lake... The title of the same book was altered ironically by Raymond Chandler for his 1943 murder mystery The Lady In the Lake.