Scottish Poet

circa 1800: An engraving after a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830) of Scottish poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832). Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh and worked as a clerk at his father's law firm until he qualified as an advocate in 1792. Popular success as a writer came with 'The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' (1802-3), an edition of ballads, and 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel' (1805), a narrative poem. He is perhaps best remembered for his novels which include 'Waverley' (1814), 'Rob Roy' (1817) and 'Ivanhoe' (1820). In 1811 he built a country seat at Abbotsford near Galashiels. Scott had many debts from an unfortunate business venture but refused to declare himself bankrupt and continued to publish his writing to try and recover his money. His output was varied, ranging from novel-writing and poetry to history and biography. Scott died shortly after returning from a tour of the Mediterranean and the rights of his work were sold to cover his losses. He remains a popular Romantic poet and is considered to be the first historical novelist. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)