Very probably, as he himself
hints, the exercise of fitting a conclusion to Strutt's "Queenloo Hall"
may have helped to bring his fancy back to his own half-forgotten story
of "Waverley." In 1811 Scott went to Abbotsford, and there, as he tells
us, he lost sight of his "Waverley" fragment. Often looked for, it was
never found, till the accident of a search for fishing-tackle led him to
discover it in the drawer of an old bureau in a lumber-garret. This
cabinet afterwards came into the possession of Mr. William Laidlaw,
Scott's friend and amanuensis, and it is still, the Editor understands,
in the hands of Miss Laidlaw. The fishing-tackle, Miss Laidlaw tells the
Editor (mainly red hackles, tied on hair, not gut), still occupies the
drawer, except a few flies which were given, as relics, to the late Mr.
Thomas Tod Stoddart. In 1813, then, volume i. of "Waverley" was finished.
Then Scott undertook some articles for Constable, and laid the novel
aside. The printing, at last, must have been very speedy. Dining in
Edinburgh, in June, 1814, Lockhart saw "the hand of Walter Scott" busy at
its task. "Page after page is finished, and thrown on the heap of
manuscripts, and still it goes on unwearied.
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