It was
advertised to be published by the late Mr. John Ballantyne, bookseller in
Edinburgh, under the name of Waverley; or, 'Tis Fifty Years Since--a
title afterwards altered to 'Tis Sixty Years Since, that the actual date
of publication might be made to correspond with the period in which the
scene was laid. Having proceeded as far, I think, as the seventh chapter,
I showed my work to a critical friend, whose opinion was unfavourable;
and having then some poetical reputation, I was unwilling to risk the
loss of it by attempting a new style of composition. I therefore threw
aside the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or
remonstrance. I ought to add that, though my ingenious friend's sentence
was afterwards reversed on an appeal to the public, it cannot be
considered as any imputation on his good taste; for the specimen
subjected to his criticism did not extend beyond the departure of the
hero for Scotland, and consequently had not entered upon the part of the
story which was finally found most interesting.
Be that as it may, this portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the
drawers of an old writing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at
Abbotsford in 1811, was placed in a lumber garret and entirely forgotten.
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