Excerpt from Waverley, or 'Tis Sixty Years Since I must refer to a.very early period of my life, were I to point out my first achievements as a tale teller  but I believe some Of my Old schoolfellows can still bear witness that I had a distinguished character for that talent, at a time when the applause of my companions was my recompense for the disgraces and punishments which the future romance-writer incurred for. Being idle himself, and keeping Others idle, during hours that should have been employed on our tasks The chief enjoy ment of my holidays was to escape with a chosen friend, who had the same taste with myself, and alternately to. Recite to each other such wild adven tures as we were able to devise. We told, each. In turn, interminable tales Of_~knight-errantry and battles and enchantments, which were continued from one day tolanother as opportunity offered, without our ever thinking of bringing them to a conclusion. As we observed a strict secrecy on the subject Of this intercourse,'it acquiredall the character of a concealed pleasure, and we used to select, for the scenes Of our indulgence, long walks through the solitary. And romantic environs of Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, {braid Hills, and similar places in the vicinity of Edinburgh; and the recollection of those holidays still forms an. Oasis in the pilgrimage which. I have to look back upon. I have only to add, that my friend still lives.
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. British writer Sir Walter Scott popularized and refined a genre of ballads and historical novels; his works include Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819). Sir Walter Alva Scott created and called a series. Scott arranged the plots and characters so that the reader enters into the lives of great and ordinary persons, caught in violent, dramatic changes. Work of Scott shows the influence of the 18th century Enlightenment. He thought of every basically decent human, regardless of class, religion, politics, or ancestry. A major theme tolerates. They express his theory in the need for social progress that rejects not the traditions of the past. He first portrayed peasant characters sympathetically and realistically and equally justly portrayed merchants, soldiers, and even kings. In central themes, cultures conflict and oppose. Normans and Saxons warred. In The Talisman (1825), Christians and Muslims conflict. He deals with clashes between the new English and the old Scottish culture. Other great include Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Midlothian (1819), and Saint Ronan's Well (1824). His series includes Rob Roy (1817), A Legend of Montrose (1819), and Quentin Durward (1823). Amiability, generosity, and modesty made Scott popular with his contemporaries. He also famously entertained on a grand scale at Abbotsford, his Scottish estate.
