- Born
- Died
- Sir Walter Scott was born August 15, 1771, in Edinburgh, Scotland, as the ninth child (and the fourth surviving) of Walter Scott, a solicitor, and his wife Anne Rutherford. Polio, contracted when he was two, resulted in a crippled left leg, but even this illness did not prevent Scott from growing into a tall and energetic man.
Raised on the old Border tales and ballads that would later influence his historical novels, Scott was a clever and active child. Unfortunately, poor health interrupted his studies at Edinburgh University, and after being apprenticed to his father's legal firm for a year, Scott decided to study law. While visiting the Highlands on business in 1786 and 1787, he met not only Alexander Stewart of Invernahyle (who once fought a duel with Rob Roy MacGregor) but also the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
After his first love broke his heart by marrying another man, Scott married a Frenchwoman, Charlotte Charpentier, on Christmas Day, 1797, after a whirlwind romance. They remained happily married until her death in 1826.
Scott began writing poetry at an early age, and so distinguished himself in this that he was offered the Poet Laureateship in 1813, which he turned down. He published his first novel, "Waverley," in 1814, and it quickly became one of the most successful English language novels ever published. Scott chiefly concentrated on novels in his latter years, putting aside his poetry to publish "Ivanhoe" in 1819 and "Rob Roy" in 1817.
After suffering a stroke and apoplectic paralysis in 1831, Scott died on 21 September 1832.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Nichol
- SpouseMarguerite Charlotte Charpentier(December 25, 1797 - May 15, 1826) (her death, 4 children)
- He had four children: Charlotte Sophia Scott, born 1799; Walter Scott, born 1801; Anne Scott, born 1803; and Charles Scott, born 1805.
- In 1820 he was created a baronet.
- The line "Oh, what a tangled web we weave" is often thought to be from Shakespeare's Macbeth, but it was written by Scott in his poem, Marmion in 1808.
- Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
- Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.
- True love's the gift which God has given, to man alone beneath the heaven.
- The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
- One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honor or observation.
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