“Paul’s Letters to his Kinsfolk,” a series of letters describing a visit to Belgium and the field of Waterloo, appeared in January 1816 as an octavo volume,—the first edition consisting of 6000 copies, followed in the course of a few years by second and third editions of 3000. The work, avowedly by Scott, was hailed as a specimen of his prose writing, suggesting a comparison with that of the “Great Unknown.” The last of the “copy” of these letters reached James Ballantyne on the 26th December 1815, and contained a few lines of Scott’s playful doggerel, having reference also to his next novel:— “DEAR JAMES, I’m done, thank God, with the long yarns Of the most prosy of Apostles—Paul; And now advance, sweet Heathen of Monkbarns, Step out, old quiz, as fast as I can scrawl.” “The Antiquary,” begun towards the close of 1815, was issued in May 1816. Six days sufficed to exhaust the edition, which consisted of as many thousand copies. This work attained a popularity not inferior to that of its predecessors. It was while correcting the proof-sheets of this novel that the author took to fabricating mottoes for the chapter headings. One day John Ballantyne, who was sitting beside him, was asked to hunt for a certain passage in Beaumont and Fletcher, and as he did not succeed, “Hang it, Johnnie,” said Scott, “I believe I can make a motto sooner than you will find one.” From that time he had recourse to his own invention, attributing the mottoes to “old ballad” or “old play.” The same year, October 1816, saw the publication of another volume of the _Edinburgh Annual Register_, containing an historical sketch of the year 1814 by Scott, sufficient of itself to form the contents of a large volume. On the 1st of December 1816 the First Series of the “Tales of My Landlord,” containing “Old Mortality” and “The Black Dwarf,” appeared, but minus the talismanic words “By the Author of ‘Waverley.’” This work, published by John Murray, was received with undiminished favour; and all doubt as to whether these “Tales” proceeded from the pen of the author of “Waverley” was set at rest in a week, and within two months three editions of 2000 each were printed. Murray and Blackwood had still in stock a large number of copies of this book, when John Ballantyne advertised a new edition, in disregard of arrangements with the publishers. He was expostulated with, and threatened with an action for damages; but as this would have revealed the author, who was still the “Great Unknown,” the matter was compromised and the books were transferred to Constable. “Harold the Dauntless, by the Author of ‘Triermain,’” was published in January 1817. The “History of the Year 1815,” by Scott, appeared in the _Register_, published in August 1817; and time was also found to prepare an Introduction to a richly illustrated quarto edition of the “Border Antiquities,” which was issued a month later.