It is an unwritten tradition that such knowledge of anonymous authorship is never carried outside the printing-house, although the manuscript might be well enough known to the compositors; and there have been instances in which attempts to pry into secrets of this nature have been made. Though suspected and sometimes taxed with the authorship of the novels, before the fact was made publicly known, Scott’s invariable reply to those who asked his reason for concealment was that it was his humour. The author, in his works of fiction, displayed wonderful skill and resource, and no one understood better how to turn the public favour to a thrifty advantage. He knew the value of the incognito after the publication of “Waverley,” and made excellent use of it, while his denials were intended rather as rebuffs to persons asking questions they had no right to ask than as conveying a false impression. He may also have wished to escape the annoyance of having productions known to be his made the topic of discussion in his presence. So well was the secret kept, however, that even William Blackwood and John Murray did not know who the author was, though they had their surmises, as appears from the following under the date of February 1816: “Mr. Blackwood, like Mr. Murray, was anxious to have a share in the business of publishing the works of Walter Scott, especially the novels teeming from the press by ‘The Author of “Waverley.”’ Although Constable and the Ballantynes were necessarily admitted to the knowledge of their authorship, to the world at large they were anonymous, and the author still remained unknown. Mr. Murray had, indeed, pointed out to Mr. Canning that ‘Waverley’ was by Walter Scott; but Scott himself trailed so many red herrings across the path, that publishers as well as the public were thrown off the scent, and both Blackwood and Murray continued to be at fault with respect to the authorship of the Waverley Novels.” Again, a few months after: “The controversy still continued as to the authorship. ‘For these six months past,’ wrote Blackwood (6th June 1816), ‘there have been various rumours with regard to Greenfield being the author, but I never paid much attention to it; the thing appeared to me so very improbable.... But from what I have heard lately, I now begin to think that Greenfield may probably be the author.’ On the other hand, Mr. Mackenzie called upon Blackwood, and informed him that ‘he was now convinced that Thomas Scott, Walter’s brother in Canada, writes all the novels.’ The secret, however, was kept for many years longer.”[29]