But although the cause of concealing the Author's name in the first
instance, when the reception of Waverley was doubtful, was natural
enough, it is more difficult, it may be thought, to account for the same
desire for secrecy during the subsequent editions, to the amount of
betwixt eleven and twelve thousand copies, which followed each other
close, and proved the success of the work. I am sorry I can give little
satisfaction to queries on this subject. I have already 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 for desiring personal reputation, the
desire, namely, to float amidst the conversation 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 life, would
doubtless have operated upon me.
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