[17] “The book was among the most unfortunate that James Ballantyne printed, and his brother published, in deference to the personal feelings of their partner.”—Lockhart’s “Life,” iii. 298. See further on this point, Chapter V., p. 46. [18] “The conclusion of the matter was that the Ballantyne publishing company found a haven in the capacious bosom of Constable, who believed in the Star of Scott, advanced some £4000, and took off the sinking ship the useless burden of the valueless books.”—A. LANG. [19] “He was a prince of booksellers.... He knew, I think, more of the business of a bookseller in planning and executing popular works than any man of his time.”—Scott’s “Journal,” July 23, 1827. [20] Willison was his own press-reader. He was rigid in his ideas of punctuation, and gave much trouble to the Reviewers by his finical particularity in this respect. A story is told of his having on one occasion sent Jeffrey a second proof (technically _revise_) of a portion of one of his criticisms, with a note on the margin, that “there appeared to be something unintelligible in this passage.” Jeffrey returned the proof unaltered, with a note to the effect that “Mr. Jeffrey can see nothing unintelligible in this passage, unless in the number of commas, which Mr. Willison seems to keep in a pepper-box beside him, for the purpose of dusting the proof with.” [21] A complete set of the _Sale Room_ in good condition is very rare. [22] Charles Cowan’s “Reminiscences.” [23] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” vi. 67. [24] “Perhaps the very best specimens of Scott’s powers in this direction are the prefaces which he contributed much later and gratuitously to John Ballantyne’s ‘Novelists’ Library’—things which hardly yield to Johnson’s ‘Lives’ as examples of the combined arts of criticism and biography.”—Saintsbury’s “Sir Walter Scott” (Famous Scots Series). [25] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” vi. 328, 329. [26] “Literary Lives” (Hodder & Stoughton). [27] “To dethrone the Scot’s one-pound note, the Palladium of the ancient kingdom.”—A. LANG. [28] “Meadowbank taxed me with the novels, and to end that farce at once I pleaded guilty, so that splore is ended.”—Scott’s “Journal,” Feb. 24, 1827. [29] Smiles’ “Life of John Murray,” i. 457, 461.