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Sir Walter Scott
Buchan vividly and affectionately describes the writer whose novels and poems made him the most popular author of his day. Scott was born in 1771 to a powerful Border family. Buchan is eminently qualified to write with sympathy about his Scottish upbringing, disappointment in love and decline into illness and bankruptcy. His feeling for Scott's novels brings them alive and provide a deeper understanding of such major works as 'Ivanhoe' and 'Waverley'.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1932
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About the author
John Buchan
1,710 books466 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 15, 2011
The writer is John Buchan, so it's a 5 there for quality and style.
The subject is Sir Walter Scott, so it's a 5 there for personality and character.
But then, this is a different Buchan than the one we meet in his adventure novels, and here's where the 4 comes in. Despite the next paragraph, read on--it was amazing!
Although this biography is about an amazing writer and man who lived an incredibly varied and momentous life, and it is written by a man who was just the same and also an incredible writer himself, the book is not that accessible for the non-Scot, non-liberally educated individual. There is a smattering of untranslated French, Latin & others, as well as very detailed book reviews in the midst of the text (Buchan reviews Scott's books right where their publication fell in with Scott's life. These read almost like a Scotland Who's Who—and if you, like me, don't know Scotland's Who's Who, you may not get the fun or the meaning!) Those were just minor distractions though, so really the whole book would be a 4 ½ if I could do that on goodreads. The reviews, when they talked about the actual plot/characters etc. of the book were informative, but not totally relevant—although I'll look back to them when I feel like visiting my Scott shelf next.
Things I loved:
-Scott's life. WOW! What a man! I wish I could share all the wonderful things I learned about him. He was a giant. An interesting thing to those of my faith, I also just finished the bio of President Monson, and I was amazed at the similarities between these two men. What a strange and unexpected thing to notice. They share some important personality traits, some physical characteristics (both large, jovial men), and many ideas such as in giving charity and how they treated people of all walks of life.
That aside, Scott is a man very well worth learning about. He was a man of great integrity and genius. He was also a man of great personal charity, financially and in personality. He always shared what he had been given.
Some of the insights into Sir Walter Scott that I loved reading about:
-He was a literate child! I loved this letter send to a friend by one of Scott's relaives:
“I last night supped at Mr. Walter Scott's. He has the most extraordinary genius of a boy I ever saw. He was reading a poem to his mother when I went in. I made him read on; it was the description of a shipwreck. His passion rose with the storm. 'There's the mast gone,' says he. 'Crash it goes! They will all perish!' After his agitation he turns to me. 'That is too melancholy,' says he. 'I had better read you something more amusing.' I proposed a little chat and asked his opinion of Milton and other books he was reading, which he gave me wonderfully. One of his observations was, 'How strange it is that Adam, just new come into the world, should know everything—that must be the poet's fancy,' says he. But when he was told that he was created perfect by God, he instantly yielded. When taken to bed last night, he told his aunt he liked that lady. 'What lady?' says she? 'Why Mrs. Cockburn (the writer of the letter), for I think she is a virtuoso, like myself.' 'Dear Walter,' says Aunt Jenny, 'what is a virtuoso?' 'Don't you know? Why, it's one that wishes and will know everything.' Now sir, you will think this is a very silly story. Pray, what age do you suppose that boy to be? Name it now, before I tell you. Why, twelve or fourteen. No such thing; he is not quite six years old...”
In a letter he once wrote: “I cannot at the moment tell how or when I learned to read, but it was by fits and snatches, as one aunt or another in the old rumble-tumble farmhouse could give me a lift, and I am sure it increased my love and habit of reading more than the austerities of school could have done.”
But far from being a snobbish intellectual-type human, he was the epitome of loving to all he knew. In fact, there are only two recorded instances of him showing anything like dislike or disgust or disappointment to another individual in his whole life, in relation to cowardice—and he repented of these instances later in his life. He had no enemies.
Some sort of malady when he was 18-months old left him with a lame leg. I can't tell exactly what that meant to him, besides keeping him out of the army, since later it was written that he could walk over 30 miles a day and ride a horse as long as the poor thing could carry him. It didn't seem to slow him down any, but it did give him more time, perhaps, as a child, to reflect on life and to read, and also gave him empathy.
I loved the descriptions about how children and animals loved him and how he loved them. As soon as his children could sit a horse they accompanied him constantly as he rambled the hills performing one of his jobs as sheriff of the territory he lived in. He personally attended to much of their education. Besides the many dogs who loved him, at one time there was a chicken who followed him everywhere and also a little black pig who tried to.
He wasn't an organized religion type of fellow but was a man of great faith in the general idea of Christianity and its precepts. Just before he died he told his biography/son-in-law “Lockhart,” he said, “I may have but a minute or two to speak to you. My dear, be a good man—be virtuous—be religious—be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here.” That was the model of Scott's life.
Even though he would have preferred to be a bit reclusive and more alone with his thoughts, he put himself out to give other people pleasure and make others happy because he thought that was what we were here on earth for—to bring joy to each other.
His journal entry upon the death of his dear wife had me in tears. It was incredibly sweet.
One of the greatest of all things in Scott's life (one of the reasons I wanted to re read this biography was to find out more about this part of his life) is that he made one really huge business mistake. In short, a bank failed and thereby Scott and his business partners failed and owed hundreds of thousands of pounds. Scott was counseled by good friends and associates to take many courses, from bankruptcy, to leniency, to letting others pay. They told him that his service to his country should absolve him of this responsibility or that surely the world would put be happy to subscribe to a benefit for him and help him pay his debts. This happened when Scott was an old man, and about the same time his wife died.
Nonetheless, Scott felt that it was a point of personal honor to pay back the debt and he literally wrote himself into the grave to pay the debt. He died just short of the goal, but soon after his death, from proceeds of re-issues of books and things, the debt was paid in full. What an amazing example of honor and integrity! This was a perfect example of his life model. He always tried to give employment rather than handouts and he lived the principle of doing one's duty.
The part of the book that I would give a rating of 10 stars, if possible, was at the very end. Buchan's last two chapters are entitled “The Writer” and “The Man” and they are two of the most powerful pieces I've read about the purpose of writing, what it means to be a writer, a writer's responsibility etc., and then what it means to be a good man. Anyone who has writing aspirations might do well to find this section of the book. I've been trying to locate an online text, haven't found one yet. It is well worth looking at and I can't believe that, though written in 1932, it is so incredibly pertinent and modern, (Of course, since it accords with my feelings on literature in general I would say that.)
And the chapter on “The Man?” So if there's a little hero-worship going on here, so what? Scott's life entitled men to feel that of him. He really was a most admirable man. Some highlights from the text:
- “In these days of emotional insecurity we are apt to confuse the normal with the mediocre, and to assume that largeness is also shallowness. We are a little afraid of the high road and find more attraction in the crooked by-ways.” Scott liked the high roads.
- “[Scott] was impatient of nothing that God had made; and he did not merely tolerate, for he was eager to understand.”
- “He told his daughter that he thanked God that 'nothing really worth having or caring about in this world is uncommon.'”
- “...he resented—as many have resented since his time—the claims of a little coterie of intellectuals to speak for a people of whom they knew nothing.”
- “He envisaged life in terms rather of duties than of rights.”
- “...of Scott the report was that he talked to everyone as if he were a blood relation.”
- “Scott had not the metaphysical turn of his countrymen, and he had no instinct to preach, but the whole of his life and work was based on a reasoned philosophy of conduct. Its corner-stones were humility and discipline. The life of man was difficult, but not desperate, and to live it worthily you must forget yourself and love others. The failures were the egotists who were wrapped up in self, the doctrinaires who were in chains to a dogma, the Pharisees who despised their brethren. In him the 'common sense' of the eighteenth century was coloured and lit by Christian charity. Happiness could only be attained by the unselfregarding.”
- “there is no royal road to heart's ease, but there is a path for a humble pilgrim. The precepts for such
are—'to narrow our wishes and desires within the scope of our present powers of attainment; to consider our misfortunes as our inevitable share in the patrimony of Adam; to bridle those irritable feelings which, ungoverned, are sure to become governors; to shun that intensity of galling and self-wounding reflection which our poet (Burns?) has described in his own burning language; to stoop, in short, to the realities of life, repent if we have offended, and pardon if we have been trespassed against; to look on the world less as our foe than as a doubtful and capricious friend whose applause we ought as far as possible to deserve, but neither to court nor to condemn.”
I took a break from writing this to eat lunch and began reading Chesterton's “Charles Dickens, The Last of the Great Men.” Astonishing! And here he says, in speaking of what makes a man truly great, “...the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.” That says it all—completely eulogizes Scott to a “T.”
Despite the detractions I mentioned above, I highly recommend this study of greatness.
The subject is Sir Walter Scott, so it's a 5 there for personality and character.
But then, this is a different Buchan than the one we meet in his adventure novels, and here's where the 4 comes in. Despite the next paragraph, read on--it was amazing!
Although this biography is about an amazing writer and man who lived an incredibly varied and momentous life, and it is written by a man who was just the same and also an incredible writer himself, the book is not that accessible for the non-Scot, non-liberally educated individual. There is a smattering of untranslated French, Latin & others, as well as very detailed book reviews in the midst of the text (Buchan reviews Scott's books right where their publication fell in with Scott's life. These read almost like a Scotland Who's Who—and if you, like me, don't know Scotland's Who's Who, you may not get the fun or the meaning!) Those were just minor distractions though, so really the whole book would be a 4 ½ if I could do that on goodreads. The reviews, when they talked about the actual plot/characters etc. of the book were informative, but not totally relevant—although I'll look back to them when I feel like visiting my Scott shelf next.
Things I loved:
-Scott's life. WOW! What a man! I wish I could share all the wonderful things I learned about him. He was a giant. An interesting thing to those of my faith, I also just finished the bio of President Monson, and I was amazed at the similarities between these two men. What a strange and unexpected thing to notice. They share some important personality traits, some physical characteristics (both large, jovial men), and many ideas such as in giving charity and how they treated people of all walks of life.
That aside, Scott is a man very well worth learning about. He was a man of great integrity and genius. He was also a man of great personal charity, financially and in personality. He always shared what he had been given.
Some of the insights into Sir Walter Scott that I loved reading about:
-He was a literate child! I loved this letter send to a friend by one of Scott's relaives:
“I last night supped at Mr. Walter Scott's. He has the most extraordinary genius of a boy I ever saw. He was reading a poem to his mother when I went in. I made him read on; it was the description of a shipwreck. His passion rose with the storm. 'There's the mast gone,' says he. 'Crash it goes! They will all perish!' After his agitation he turns to me. 'That is too melancholy,' says he. 'I had better read you something more amusing.' I proposed a little chat and asked his opinion of Milton and other books he was reading, which he gave me wonderfully. One of his observations was, 'How strange it is that Adam, just new come into the world, should know everything—that must be the poet's fancy,' says he. But when he was told that he was created perfect by God, he instantly yielded. When taken to bed last night, he told his aunt he liked that lady. 'What lady?' says she? 'Why Mrs. Cockburn (the writer of the letter), for I think she is a virtuoso, like myself.' 'Dear Walter,' says Aunt Jenny, 'what is a virtuoso?' 'Don't you know? Why, it's one that wishes and will know everything.' Now sir, you will think this is a very silly story. Pray, what age do you suppose that boy to be? Name it now, before I tell you. Why, twelve or fourteen. No such thing; he is not quite six years old...”
In a letter he once wrote: “I cannot at the moment tell how or when I learned to read, but it was by fits and snatches, as one aunt or another in the old rumble-tumble farmhouse could give me a lift, and I am sure it increased my love and habit of reading more than the austerities of school could have done.”
But far from being a snobbish intellectual-type human, he was the epitome of loving to all he knew. In fact, there are only two recorded instances of him showing anything like dislike or disgust or disappointment to another individual in his whole life, in relation to cowardice—and he repented of these instances later in his life. He had no enemies.
Some sort of malady when he was 18-months old left him with a lame leg. I can't tell exactly what that meant to him, besides keeping him out of the army, since later it was written that he could walk over 30 miles a day and ride a horse as long as the poor thing could carry him. It didn't seem to slow him down any, but it did give him more time, perhaps, as a child, to reflect on life and to read, and also gave him empathy.
I loved the descriptions about how children and animals loved him and how he loved them. As soon as his children could sit a horse they accompanied him constantly as he rambled the hills performing one of his jobs as sheriff of the territory he lived in. He personally attended to much of their education. Besides the many dogs who loved him, at one time there was a chicken who followed him everywhere and also a little black pig who tried to.
He wasn't an organized religion type of fellow but was a man of great faith in the general idea of Christianity and its precepts. Just before he died he told his biography/son-in-law “Lockhart,” he said, “I may have but a minute or two to speak to you. My dear, be a good man—be virtuous—be religious—be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here.” That was the model of Scott's life.
Even though he would have preferred to be a bit reclusive and more alone with his thoughts, he put himself out to give other people pleasure and make others happy because he thought that was what we were here on earth for—to bring joy to each other.
His journal entry upon the death of his dear wife had me in tears. It was incredibly sweet.
One of the greatest of all things in Scott's life (one of the reasons I wanted to re read this biography was to find out more about this part of his life) is that he made one really huge business mistake. In short, a bank failed and thereby Scott and his business partners failed and owed hundreds of thousands of pounds. Scott was counseled by good friends and associates to take many courses, from bankruptcy, to leniency, to letting others pay. They told him that his service to his country should absolve him of this responsibility or that surely the world would put be happy to subscribe to a benefit for him and help him pay his debts. This happened when Scott was an old man, and about the same time his wife died.
Nonetheless, Scott felt that it was a point of personal honor to pay back the debt and he literally wrote himself into the grave to pay the debt. He died just short of the goal, but soon after his death, from proceeds of re-issues of books and things, the debt was paid in full. What an amazing example of honor and integrity! This was a perfect example of his life model. He always tried to give employment rather than handouts and he lived the principle of doing one's duty.
The part of the book that I would give a rating of 10 stars, if possible, was at the very end. Buchan's last two chapters are entitled “The Writer” and “The Man” and they are two of the most powerful pieces I've read about the purpose of writing, what it means to be a writer, a writer's responsibility etc., and then what it means to be a good man. Anyone who has writing aspirations might do well to find this section of the book. I've been trying to locate an online text, haven't found one yet. It is well worth looking at and I can't believe that, though written in 1932, it is so incredibly pertinent and modern, (Of course, since it accords with my feelings on literature in general I would say that.)
And the chapter on “The Man?” So if there's a little hero-worship going on here, so what? Scott's life entitled men to feel that of him. He really was a most admirable man. Some highlights from the text:
- “In these days of emotional insecurity we are apt to confuse the normal with the mediocre, and to assume that largeness is also shallowness. We are a little afraid of the high road and find more attraction in the crooked by-ways.” Scott liked the high roads.
- “[Scott] was impatient of nothing that God had made; and he did not merely tolerate, for he was eager to understand.”
- “He told his daughter that he thanked God that 'nothing really worth having or caring about in this world is uncommon.'”
- “...he resented—as many have resented since his time—the claims of a little coterie of intellectuals to speak for a people of whom they knew nothing.”
- “He envisaged life in terms rather of duties than of rights.”
- “...of Scott the report was that he talked to everyone as if he were a blood relation.”
- “Scott had not the metaphysical turn of his countrymen, and he had no instinct to preach, but the whole of his life and work was based on a reasoned philosophy of conduct. Its corner-stones were humility and discipline. The life of man was difficult, but not desperate, and to live it worthily you must forget yourself and love others. The failures were the egotists who were wrapped up in self, the doctrinaires who were in chains to a dogma, the Pharisees who despised their brethren. In him the 'common sense' of the eighteenth century was coloured and lit by Christian charity. Happiness could only be attained by the unselfregarding.”
- “there is no royal road to heart's ease, but there is a path for a humble pilgrim. The precepts for such
are—'to narrow our wishes and desires within the scope of our present powers of attainment; to consider our misfortunes as our inevitable share in the patrimony of Adam; to bridle those irritable feelings which, ungoverned, are sure to become governors; to shun that intensity of galling and self-wounding reflection which our poet (Burns?) has described in his own burning language; to stoop, in short, to the realities of life, repent if we have offended, and pardon if we have been trespassed against; to look on the world less as our foe than as a doubtful and capricious friend whose applause we ought as far as possible to deserve, but neither to court nor to condemn.”
I took a break from writing this to eat lunch and began reading Chesterton's “Charles Dickens, The Last of the Great Men.” Astonishing! And here he says, in speaking of what makes a man truly great, “...the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.” That says it all—completely eulogizes Scott to a “T.”
Despite the detractions I mentioned above, I highly recommend this study of greatness.
September 17, 2023
Stellar good writing - it's hard to describe how much literary goodness and lively insight are packed into every paragraph of this book. I was enriched by reading it - yes, I became rather well acquainted with Walter Scott's life, but it's one of those books that is so well-written that it's a privilege to read whether you were interested in the topic or not. I certainly have added some Scott novels to my reading list.
"There was a clearing-house in his soul where all impulses were ordered and adjusted, and this repose gave him happiness. That was the secret of his geniality, for throughout his crowded life, he was at peace with himself and had the gift of communicating his peace to the world."
"There was a clearing-house in his soul where all impulses were ordered and adjusted, and this repose gave him happiness. That was the secret of his geniality, for throughout his crowded life, he was at peace with himself and had the gift of communicating his peace to the world."
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August 15, 2018One of the best biographies I ever read.
January 12, 2021
Buchan's writing is masterful, and Scott's life is fascinating. When I began reading I felt John Buchan covered Scott's early years in great haste and by middle age I was wondering what could sustain Buchan for so many more pages of his book: in fact, the greatest adventure of Scott's life seems to have been in his final years, when he was racing against death, working ceaselessly to pay off all his debts. It is brilliantly written: gripping, inspiring, thought provoking and profoundly moving. But I also loved Buchan's wonderful capacity to evaluate Scott's work, and to understand it in the context of the history of literature. I enjoyed Buchan's brilliant company as much as I felt I would have enjoyed Scott's warmth, generosity and charm. Reading this book made all of life feel more vital and worthwhile.
June 27, 2018
Good with massive excerpts from the major novels. This would serve as a perfect introduction to Scott's works,
September 24, 2019
Very little about Scott’s actual life; mainly made up of extracts from Scott’s novels which are, admittedly, fun to read. But not a biography in any way.
March 28, 2025
A treat.
June 20, 2024
By no means a comprehensive biography, but a good short overview of Scott's life and work with lots and lots of very long excerpted passages. I gather, though I can't confirm it, that this was written for his publisher Thomas Nelson as part of a series of introductions to major authors intended for students. Made me want to read both more of Sir Walter himself as well as Buchan's second, longer biography, Sir Walter Scott, which was published several years after this one. Full review for John Buchan June here.
May 24, 2012
This is the way biography and criticism should be done.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews