The number of coincidences which necessarily existed between
narratives recounted, 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 Waverley; and I believe they were all morally convinced of it. But
while I was myself silent, their belief could not weigh much more with
the world than that of others; their opinions and reasoning were liable
to be taxed with partiality, or confronted 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 be made, would be sufficient
to put me in undisputed possession of that character.
I have been often asked concerning supposed cases, in which I was said to
have been placed on the verge of discovery; but, as I maintained my point
with the composure of a lawyer of thirty years' standing, I never
recollect being in pain or confusion on the subject.
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