I thought also, that much of what I wanted
in talent might be made up by the intimate acquaintance with the subject
which I could lay claim to possess, as having travelled through most
parts of Scotland, both Highland and Lowland, having been familiar with
the elder as well as more modern race, and having had from my infancy
free and unrestrained communication with all ranks of my countrymen, from
the Scottish peer to the Scottish plough-man. Such ideas often occurred
to me, and constituted an ambitious branch of my theory, however far
short I may have fallen of it in practice.
But it was not only the triumphs of Miss Edgeworth which worked in me
emulation, and disturbed my indolence. I chanced actually to engage in a
work which formed a sort of essay piece, and gave me hope that I might in
time become free of the craft of romance-writing, and be esteemed a
tolerable workman.
In the year 1807-08 I undertook, at the request of John Murray, Esq., of
Albemarle Street, to arrange for publication some posthumous productions
of the late Mr. Joseph Strutt, distinguished as an artist and an
antiquary, amongst which was an unfinished romance, entitled Queenhoo
Hall.
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