[Footnote 125: _Lockhart_, Vol. III. p. 176.] [Footnote 126: _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 265.] [Footnote 127: _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 332.] [Footnote 128: _Essay on the Drama_.] [Footnote 129: In 1808 he wrote to a friend: "We have Miss Baillie here at present, who is certainly the best dramatic writer whom Britain has produced since the days of Shakspeare and Massinger." (_Fam. Let._, Vol. I. p. 99.) But Wilson also put Joanna Baillie next to Shakspere, and quite seriously. The article in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, on Joanna Baillie says that when the first volume of _Plays on the Passions_ was published anonymously in 1798, Walter Scott was at first suspected of being the author. But as Scott had done nothing to give him a literary reputation in 1798, the assertion is incredible. It seems to be based on the following very inexact statement in _Chambers's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen._ (Vol. V, Art. _Joanna Baillie_.) "Rich though the period was in poetry, this work made a great impression, and a new edition of it was soon required. The writer was sought for among the most gifted personages of the day, and the illustrious Scott, with others then equally appreciated, was suspected as the author."] [Footnote 130: _Lockhart_, Vol. I, p. 380.] [Footnote 131: _Life of Dryden_, ch. I. In _Guy Mannering_ and _The Antiquary_, the first two novels in which Scott habitually used mottoes to head his chapters, most of the selections are from plays. Eighteen plays of Shakspere are represented by twenty-nine quotations. Other mottoes are from _The Merry Devil of Edmonton_, from Jonson, from Fletcher (_The Little French Lawyer_, _Women Pleased_, _The Fair Maid of the Inn_, _The Beggar's Bush_), from Brome, Dekker, Middleton and Rowley, Cartwright, Otway, Southerne, _The Beggar's Opera_, Walpole's _Mysterious Mother_, _The Critic_, _Chrononhotonthologos_, Joanna Baillie. For the latter part of _The Antiquary_ many of the mottoes were composed by Scott himself. _Kenilworth_ presents a similar list, with some variations: Jonson's _Masque of Owls_ was used, more than one play by Beaumont and Fletcher, Waldron's _Virgin Queen_, _Wallenstein_, and _Douglas_. In _St. Ronan's Well_ there is a larger proportion of non-dramatic mottoes, as in most of the later novels, but we find represented nine of Shakspere's plays and one of Beaumont and Fletcher's. _The Legend of Montrose_ (chapter XIV) has a motto from Suckling's _Brennoralt_. In _Anne of Geierstein_ ten of Shakspere's plays were drawn upon, and _Manfred_ was twice used. Scott made his chapters much longer in these later novels, and used fewer mottoes, but the evidence of the selections would seem to indicate that he had lost something of his early familiarity with dramatic literature.]