The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-05 00:00:00

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

LIVERPOOL.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3.—High water 13 nainntes past
twelve o'clock.—Wind W.N.W.—Arrived the Clarence,
from Pernamlmco; James Cropper, Garey, from
Virginia ; Carricks, Walker, from Demerara ; Ann Pa-
ley, , from Lisbon ; Arotava, Smith, from Pa-
lermo ; Ebenezer, --, from Genoa; Fortitude, —,
from Messina ; Ann, --, from Rotterdam ; Charlotte,
from Barcelona.
CLEARED OUTWARDS.-The Anue, Toole, for Barba-
does; Alfred, Rees, for Harnburgh ; Hope, —, fur
Labrador ; Sappho, Wallace, for Jamaica ; Livingstone,
Pearce, fur Calcutta ; and Mary Ann, Waugh, fur Cape
Hayti.

Such was the influence of the renowned MA-
VOMET PACHA'B wife over him (an influence which she
never abused), that whatever she required was instantly
granted. "It is enough," he used to say ; "by my two
eyes if she requires it the thing must be done, be it through
fire, water, or stone."
ST. PAUL, COVENT-GARDEN.—Yesterday
the Act of Parliament which this parish has recently ob-
tained for the government of its affairs, came into operation
for the first time, when a Committee of Management,
consisting of twenty-seven of the parishioner*, was im-
mediately appointed.

MOTIVES OP SIR. WALTER SCOTT

FOR NO2 ACKNOWLEDGING 11131sELF
THE AUTHOR OF THE WAVERLI NOVELS.

We extract the following highly interesting
passage from Sir Walter Scott's preface to his
collection of the Waverley Novels. He is speak-
ing of the reasons why he kept his authorship of
these admirable Works concealed :--

" I am sorry (he says) I can give little satis-
faction to queries on this subject. I have al-
ready stated elsewhere that I can render little
better reason for choosing to remain anonymous
than by saying, with Shylock, that such was my

humour. It will be observed that I had not the
usual stimulus fur desiring personal reputation,
the desire, namely, to float amidst the conversa-

ion of men. Of literary fame, whether merited

or undeserved. I had already as much as might
have contented a mind more ambitious than
mine ; and, in entering into this new contest for
reputation, I might be said rather to endanger
what I had than to have any considerable chance
of acquiring more. I was affected, too, by none
of those motives, which, at an earlier period Of
my life, would doubtless have operated upon
me. My friendships were formed—my place in
society fixed--my life had attained its middle
course. My condition in society was higher,
perhaps, than 1 deserved, certainly as high as I
wished, and there was scarce any degree of
literary success which could have greatly altered
or improved my personal condition. -I was not,
therefore, touched by the spur of ambition,
usually stithulating on such occasions ; and yet I
ought to stand exculpated from the charge of
ungracious or unbecoming indifference to public
applause. I did not the less feel gratitude for the
public favour, although I did not proclaim it—
as the lover who wears his mistress's favour
is his bosom, is as proud, though not so
vain of possessing it, as another who dis-
plays the token of her grace upon his bon-
net. Far from such an ungracious state of mind,

I have seldom felt more satisfaction than when
returning from a pleasure voyage, 1 found Wa-
verley in the zenith of popularity, and public
curiosity in full cry after the name of the author.
The knowledge that I had the public approba-
tion, was like having the property of a hidden
treasure, not less gratifying to the owner than if
all the world knew that it was his own. Another
advantage was connected with the secrecy
which I observed. I could appear or retreat
from the stage at pleasure, without attracting
any personal notice or attention, other than what
might be founded on suspicion only. In my
own person, also, as a successful author in ano-
ther department of literature, I might have been
charged with too frequent intrusions on the public
patience ; but the author of Waverley was in this
respect as impassible to the critic as the ghost
of Hamlet to the partizan of Marcellus. Perhaps
the curiosity of the public, irritated by the exist-
ence of a secret, and kept afloat by the discus-
sions which took place on the subject from time
to time, went a good way to maintain an un,
abated interest in these frequent publications.
There was a mystery concerning the author,
which each new novel was expected to assist in
unravelling, although it might in other respects
rank lower than its predecessors. I may perhaps
be thought guilty of affectation, should I allege
as one reason of my silence, a secret dislike to
enter on personal discussions concerning my own
literary labours. It is in every case a dangerous
intercourse for an author to be dwelling con-
tinually among those who make his writings. a
frequent and familiar subject of conversation,
but who must necessarily be partial judges of
' works composed in their own society. The
habits of self importance, which are thus acquired
by authors, are highly injurious to a well-regu-
lated mind ; for the cup of flattery, if it does
not, like that of Circe, reduce mere to the level
of beasts, is sure, if eagerly drained, to
bring the best and the ablest down to that
of fools. This risk was in some degree pre-
vented by the mask which I wore ; and my own
stores of self-conceit were left to their natural
course, without being enhanced by the partiality
of friends, or adulation of flatterers. If I am
asked further reasons for the conduct I have long
observed, I can only resort to the explanation
supplied by a critic as friendly as he is intelligent,
namely, that the mental organization of the no-
velist must be characterised, to speak craniolo-
gically, by an extraordinary developement of the
passion for delitescency ! I the rather suspect
some natural disposition of this kind ; for, from
the instant I perceived the extreme curiosity ma-
nifested on the subject, I felt a secret satisfac-
tion in baffling it, for which, when its unim-
portance is considered, I do not well know how
to account. My desire to remain concealed, in
the character of the author of these novels, sub-
jected me occasionally to awkward embarrass-
ments, as it sometimes happened that those who
were sufficiently intimate with me would put the
question in direct terms. In this case, only one
of three courses could be followed. Either I
must have surrendered my secret—or have re-
turned an equivocating answer—or, finally, must
have stoutly and boldly denied the fact. The
first was a sacrifice which I conceive no one had
a right to force from me, since I alone was con-
cerned in the matter. The alternative of ren-

dering a doubful answer must have left me open
to the degrading suspicion that I was not wil-
ling to assume the merit cif tlkere was any) which
I dared not absolutely lay claim to ; or those
who might think more justly of me, must have
received such an equivocal answer as an indirect
avowal. I therefore consider myself entitled,
like an accused person put upon trial, to refuse
giving my own evidence to my own conviction,
and flatly to deny all that could not be proved
against me. At the same time I usually quali-
fied my denial by stating that, had I been the
author of these works, I would have felt myself
quite entitled to protect my secret by refusing my
own evidence when it was asked for to
accomplish a discovery of what I desired to
conceal. The real truth is, that I never expected
' or hoped to disguise my connection with these
novels from any one who lived on terms of in-'
titnacy with me. The number of coincidences
which necessarily existed between narratives re-
counted, modes of expression, and opinions
broached in these Tales, and such as were used
by their author in the intercourse of private life,
must have been far too great to permit any of
my familiar acquaintances to doubt the identity
betwixt their friend and the author of Waverlev ;
and I believe they were all morally convinced of
it. But while I was myself silent, their belief
eould not weigh much mere with the world than
that of others ; their opinions and reasoning
were liable to be taxed with partiality, or con-
fronted with opposing arguments and opinions ;
and the question was not so much, whether I
should be generally acknowledged to be the
author, in spite of my own denial, as whether
even my own avowal of the works, if such should

I

tut&
be made,..wadd sufficieNt put me in
puted possession of that character." -I
-
In the remaining portion of this intere
paper, Sir Walter refers to the rumours ton
his brother, Mr. Thomas Scott,. of
the
regiment, who had once entertained 3 ilw""
tion of entering upon a similar field of liter f
but who never had the least connezion.with
reforg'
Waverley Novels. " The volumes, the pal
(he continues) to which the present page
I.th°
a preface, are entirely the composition 0,4 a;
author by whom they are now acknow„.:Lel'isi
with the exception, always of avowed qua
and such unpremeditated and involuntary-°P
giarisms as can scarce be guarded againsthtiiili,
one who has read and written a great deal..
original manuscripts are all in existence,
sir
entirely written (horresco referens) in t4e.0.:
thor's own hand, excepting during the 1,„)$11
1818 and 1819, when, being affected-0,
severe illness, he was obliged to employ tue:,.
sistance of a friendly amanuensis."