As he was by no means of an over-sanguine temperament, it is possible that by following his advice the subsequent embarrassments might have been avoided.” Again, as late as 1897, the _British Weekly_, in noticing Leslie Stephen’s article on Scott in the _Cornhill Magazine_ of April that year, says: “Although nothing will ever explain Scott’s extraordinary recklessness, one comes nearer to an understanding when reading that Scott drew from the Ballantyne business in four years £7000 for building at Abbotsford, £5000 for his son’s commission, and nearly £900 to a wine-merchant. Altogether it appears that during the four years (1822-1826) Ballantyne & Co. had paid on Scott’s account £15,000 more than they had received from him.” This chapter may be concluded with Sir Walter’s own testimony to James Ballantyne. In his “Journal” under date of December 18, 1825, he writes: “Ballantyne behaves like himself, and sinks his own ruin in contemplating mine. I tried to enrich him indeed, and now all—all is gone.” In a letter to Lockhart, January 20, 1826, Scott again exonerates James Ballantyne from being a primary cause of his misfortunes, and says: “It is easy, no doubt, for any friend to blame me for entering into connection with commercial matters at all. But I wish to know what I could have done better.... Literature was not in those days what poor Constable has made it; and with my little capital I was too glad to make commercially the means of supporting my family.... I have been far from suffering by James Ballantyne. _I owe it to him to say that his difficulties as well as his advantages, are owing to me_.” We have here the crux of the whole matter; and with this manly admission on the part of Sir Walter a painful controversy may now be allowed to rest. [Illustration: JAMES BALLANTYNE & CO’S. PRINTING OFFICE.] CHAPTER XI THROUGH OLD PAUL’S WORK, CANONGATE In the early years of last century, when the New Town of Edinburgh was beginning to show itself along the northern slopes of the valley of the Nor’ Loch, beneath the Castle and the High Street, all the printing-houses were to be found either down the closes or lanes or in some blind alley approached from the High Street or the Cowgate. The precincts were frequently noisome with the dirt and rubbish of long-past years. The building itself would have a peculiar odour of its own—a combination of rancid oil, mouldy paste, and printer’s ink, and few people would ever care to pass that way except on business. The printing-office would probably be located in what had at one time been a private dwelling-house, and rendered serviceable by the removal of partitioning walls, the erection of narrow winding stairs, and the joining of several apartments of neighbouring houses into one, not infrequently on varying levels.