But the publishing firm in Hanover Street, begun in pique, was never prosperous. Scott’s goodness of heart led him to help on many books which he ought to have known could never be successful. These included a ponderous “History of the Culdees,” by his friend Dr. Jamieson; a poor edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, by Henry Weber; three volumes of the Poems of Anna Seward, already referred to; a bulky collection of the Tixall Poetry and Letters; and, worse than all, the _Edinburgh Annual Register_, for which he himself did much work, but which left the firm with about £1000 a year on the wrong side of the ledger. Besides all this, John Ballantyne proved an indifferent and irregular book-keeper; and it was in vain that Scott repeatedly wrote letters of remonstrance to him, though in doing so he frequently made the bookseller’s habits the subject rather of his jokes than of his indignation. John was happy-go-lucky in his methods, and as Mr. Andrew Lang says, “was like the proverbial spendthrift who can never be induced to give his benevolent kinsfolk a full schedule of his debts.” The consequence was that the business was neglected and allowed to drift; and in 1813, when it was wound up, a great amount of useless stock had been accumulated, which was partly cleared off by forced sales to Constable and others. Scott by this time had resumed friendly relations with Constable, whose partner Hunter was now out of the firm. The printing business at Paul’s Work was sadly hampered by these publishing transactions, and Constable himself was seriously injured by the burden of almost unsaleable stock, which he had to take over as part of the price he agreed to pay for the copyright of forthcoming works by Scott, and much of which he had afterwards to sell to other booksellers at a heavy loss to himself.[18] Archibald Constable was one of the most sagacious men who have ever followed the profession of publisher.[19] Though he made no pretensions to literature, he was well skilled in it generally, and was of most essential service to Scott on many occasions. He came from Fife, served his apprenticeship with Peter Hill, and then set up for himself in a “small way” in a shop forming part of the Royal Exchange buildings, next door to Allan’s Close, High Street. It was a mere box of a place, but as his business increased he enlarged his premises by opening a communication with the tenement behind. At first he devoted his attention to the collection of old and rare books, and the sign above his door had in large letters, “Scarce Books.” Shortly after he began business the public were amused one morning to find the preposition “of” inserted in the sign, advertising that the bookseller was “Scarce of Books.”