himself never knows it much less do others give him room give him impulse he reaches down to the infinite with that so imprisoned soul of his and can do miracles if need be it is one of the truths that great men abound though in the unknown state nay as above hinted our greatest being also by nature our are perhaps those that remain unknown philosopher took comfort in this belief when from all and and and stationary he could hear nothing but the infinite chattering and of the life of scott of commonplace become ambitious and in the infinite stir of motion and of din which should have been silence all seemed into one and the stern almost desired taxes on knowledge to it a little � he comforted himself we say by the belief that thought did still exist in germany that thinking men each in his own corner were verily doing their work though in a silent latent manner walter scott as a latent walter had never amused all men for a score of years in the course of centuries and or gained and lost say a hundred thousand pounds sterling by literature but he might have been a happy and by no means a useless � nay who knows at bottom whether not a still walter however that was not his fortune the genius of rather a singular age � an age at once destitute of faith and terrified at with little know ledge of its with many sorrows to bear or front and on the whole with a life to lead in these new circumstances � had said to himself what man shall be the temporary or were it but the spiritual of thia my poor singular age to solace its dead and manifold sorrows a little so had the genius said looking over all the world what man and found him walking the dusty outer parliament house of with his advocate gown on his back and exclaimed tha is he the of the border proved to be a well from which flowed one of the rivers which in due time pass into prose the old life of men for us it is a mighty word not as dead tradition but as a palpable presence the past stood before us there they were the rugged old fighting des � s � men in their simplicity and strength with their heart their their stout self help in their iron leather jack boots in their of manner and costume there as they looked and lived it was like a new discovered continent in literature for the new century a bright el � or else some fat land of and paradise of to the opening nineteenth century in its languor and nothing could have been most unexpected most refreshing and behold our new el our fat where one can enjoy and do nothing it was the time for such a new literature and tliis walter scott was the man for it the lays the the and of lake and followed in quick succession with ever profit and praise how many thousands of guineas were paid down for each new lay how many thousands of copies fifty and more sometimes were printed off then and subsequently what renown and there was all is recorded in these seven volumes which will be valuable in literary it is a history brilliant remarkable the outlines of which are known to all the reader shall recall it or conceive it no blaze in his fancy is likely to mount higher than the reality did at this middle period of his life therefore scott enriched with with new official and rich in money rich in presents himself as a man in the full career of success health wealth and wit to guide them as his proverb says all these three are his the field is open for him and victory there his own faculty his own self itself � the highest that can befall a man wide circle of friends personal loving admirers warmth of domestic joys vouchsafed to all that can true of the life of scott down among them light of radiance and renown given only to a few who would not call scott happy but the happiest circumstance of all is as we said above that scott had in himself a right healthy soul rendering him little dependent on outward circumstances things showed themselves to him not in or borrowed light or gloom but as they were endeavor lay in him and endurance in due measure and clear vision of what was to be endeavored after were one to preach a sermon on health as really were worth doing scott ought to be the text theories are true in the way of logic and then in the way of practice they prove true or else not true but here is the grand experiment do they turn out well what boots it that a man s creed is the wisest that his system of principles is the if when set to work the life of him does nothing but jar and fret itself into holes they are in that were it in nothing else these principles of his openly convicted of � only shall we say to be rejected as and to the dogs we say not that but we do say that ill health of body or of mind is defeat is battle in a good or in a bad cause with bad success that health alone is victory let all men if they can manage it contrive to be healthy he who in what cause sinks into pain and disease let him take thought of it let him know well that it is not good he has arrived at yet but surely evil � may or may not be on the way towards good scott s showed itself in all things and nowhere more than in this the way 