116-655: Portobello Swim Centre is a multi-facility leisure venue in Portobello, Edinburgh . Built by Edinburgh City Architect Robert Morham in 1898, it comprises swimming pools, a gym and fitness studio, and Edinburgh's only authentic and publicly available Victorian Turkish bath , one of three remaining in Scotland, and one of only eleven in the whole of the UK. The salt water baths were completed in 1901. It has been given Category A listed building status by Historic Environment Scotland. In 1934,
232-567: A PR event, with the King dressed in tartan and greeted by his people, many of them also in similar tartan ceremonial dress. This form of dress, proscribed after the Jacobite rising of 1745 , became one of the seminal, potent and ubiquitous symbols of Scottish identity. In 1825, a UK-wide banking crisis resulted in the collapse of the Ballantyne printing business, of which Scott was the only partner with
348-442: A Gothic anomaly, and the work is complete long before I have attained the point I proposed." Yet the manuscripts rarely show major deletions or changes of direction, and Scott could clearly keep control of his narrative. That was important, for as soon as he had made fair progress with a novel he would start sending batches of manuscript to be copied (to preserve his anonymity), and the copies were sent to be set up in type. (As usual at
464-402: A Sunday Times panel to be one of the top eight places to live in Scotland. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) classed the quality of the swimming water as "sufficient" in its 2019 survey, a small improvement on the previous year, when dolphins were sighted off the coast. In 2020 there was a sighting of what was thought to be a swordfish. A wild swimmers' club has been braving
580-461: A charge in 1802 he was kicked by a horse and confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel . The Scots Magazine in 1806 noted that the lands were "a perfect waste covered almost entirely with whins or furze ". Portobello grew into a bathing resort, and in 1807 new salt-water baths at the foot of Bath Street and Regent Street were erected at
696-547: A cost of £5,000. In 1822, a visit of King George IV to Scotland organised by Scott included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the dunes. Before Portobello had a promenade and public beach, there was only a belt of dry sand between the firmer sand of the beach and the private properties adjoining the shore. Access to the beach was restricted by these property holders, as Sir William Rae discovered in 1842 when he tried to gain access to his favourite section for bathing. The proprietor of
812-569: A declined aristocratic family, with Edgar Ravenswood and his fiancée as victims of the wife of an upstart lawyer in a time of political power-struggle before the Act of Union in 1707. In 1820, in a bold move, Scott shifted period and location for Ivanhoe (1820) to 12th-century England. This meant he was dependent on a limited range of sources, all of them printed: he had to bring together material from different centuries and invent an artificial form of speech based on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. The result
928-634: A determined walker, he experienced greater freedom of movement on horseback. Scott began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh in November 1783, at the age of 12, a year or so younger than most fellow students. In March 1786, aged 14, he began an apprenticeship in his father's office to become a Writer to the Signet . At school and university Scott had become a friend of Adam Ferguson , whose father Professor Adam Ferguson hosted literary salons. Scott met
1044-620: A financial interest. Its debts of £130,000 (equivalent to £13,500,000 in 2023) caused his very public ruin. Rather than declare himself bankrupt or accept any financial support from his many supporters and admirers (including the King himself), he placed his house and income in a trust belonging to his creditors and set out to write his way out of debt. To add to his burdens, his wife Charlotte died in 1826. Despite these events or because of them, Scott kept up his prodigious output. Between 1826 and 1832 he produced six novels, two short stories and two plays, eleven works or volumes of non-fiction, and
1160-498: A journal, along with several unfinished works. The non-fiction included the Life of Napoleon Buonaparte in 1827, two volumes of the History of Scotland in 1829 and 1830, and four instalments of the series entitled Tales of a Grandfather – Being Stories Taken From Scottish History , written one per year over the period 1828–1831, among several others. Finally, Scott had recently been inspired by
1276-605: A local inn during the circuit. In 1804, he ended his use of the Lasswade cottage and leased the substantial house of Ashestiel , 6 miles (9.7 km) from Selkirk, sited on the south bank of the River Tweed and incorporating an ancient tower house . At Scott's insistence the first edition of Minstrelsy was printed by his friend James Ballantyne at Kelso. In 1798 James had published Scott's version of Goethe 's Erlkönig in his newspaper The Kelso Mail , and in 1799 included it and
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#17330859867421392-738: A member of a cadet branch of the Clan Scott and a Writer to the Signet , and his wife Anne Rutherford, a sister of Daniel Rutherford and a descendant both of the Clan Swinton and of the Haliburton family (descent from which granted Walter's family the hereditary right of burial in Dryburgh Abbey ). Walter was, through the Haliburtons, a cousin of the London property developer James Burton (d. 1837), who
1508-492: A modest price of five shillings (60p) these were an innovative and profitable venture aimed at a wide readership: the print run was an astonishing 30,000. In a "General Preface" to the "Magnum Edition", Scott wrote that one factor prompting him to resume work on the Waverley manuscript in 1813 had been a desire to do for Scotland what had been done in the fiction of Maria Edgeworth , "whose Irish characters have gone so far to make
1624-494: A monthly local food market, a youth theatre (now using a new web address), and culture and music. Artistic activity has become popular, including the annual Art Walk Porty. In April 2020 the Portobello Pencil Sharpening Project, thought to be an art installation, went viral on Twitter. In 2019 Portobello was voted the best neighbourhood in the UK at the 2020 Urbanism Awards. In 2021 it was considered by
1740-617: A narrative poem in which I felt the sense of Progress so languid." But the metrical uniformity is relieved by frequent songs and the Perthshire Highland setting is presented as an enchanted landscape, which caused a phenomenal increase in the local tourist trade. Moreover, the poem touches on a theme that was to be central to the Waverley Novels: the clash between neighbouring societies in different stages of development. The remaining two long narrative poems, Rokeby (1813), set in
1856-562: A neighbouring ford used by the monks of Melrose Abbey . Following a modest enlargement of the original farmhouse in 1811–12, massive expansions took place in 1816–19 and 1822–24. Scott described the resulting building as 'a sort of romance in Architecture' and 'a kind of Conundrum Castle to be sure'. With his architects William Atkinson and Edward Blore Scott was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture, and Abbotsford
1972-504: A niece of Lady Margaret Ferguson. In 1799 Scott was appointed Sheriff-Depute of the County of Selkirk , based at the courthouse in the Royal Burgh of Selkirk . In his early married days Scott earned a decent living from his work as a lawyer, his salary as Sheriff-Depute, his wife's income, some revenue from his writing, and his share of his father's modest estate. After the younger Walter
2088-498: A novelist in 1814 did not mean he abandoned poetry. The Waverley Novels contain much original verse, including familiar songs such as "Proud Maisie" from The Heart of Mid-Lothian (Ch. 41) and "Look not thou on Beauty's charming" from The Bride of Lammermoor (Ch. 3). In most of the novels Scott preceded each chapter with an epigram or "motto"; most of these are in verse, and many are of his own composition, often imitating other writers such as Beaumont and Fletcher . Prompted by Scott,
2204-582: A number of undertakings, including extension of the Promenade, building of the Baths, surfacing various streets, providing drainage, extending the trams, providing a public park and a new town hall for public meetings. The new Portobello Town Hall was intended to hold at least 800 people and was built on the site of Inverey House to a design by the City Architect, James A. Williamson, opening in 1914. In June 2019,
2320-488: A poet and the tentative nature of Waverley ' s emergence, it is not surprising that he followed a common practice in the period and published it anonymously. He continued this until his financial ruin in 1826, the novels mostly appearing as "By the Author of Waverley " (or variants thereof) or as Tales of My Landlord . It is not clear why he chose to do this (no fewer than eleven reasons have been suggested), especially as it
2436-556: A raid on his Lowland host's cattle, it "seemed like a dream ... that these deeds of violence should be familiar to men's minds, and currently talked of, as falling with the common order of things, and happening daily in the immediate neighbourhood, without his having crossed the seas, and while he was yet in the otherwise well-ordered island of Great Britain." A more complex version of this comes in Scott's second novel, Guy Mannering (1815), which "set in 1781‒2, offers no simple opposition:
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#17330859867422552-595: A seaman called George Hamilton, who had served under Admiral Edward Vernon in the capture of Porto Bello , Panama , in 1739, and he named the cottage Portobello Hut in honour of the victory. By 1753 there were other houses around it. The cottage remained intact until 1851, when it became a hostelry for travellers known as the Shepherd's Ha. In 1763 the lands known as the Figgate Whins were sold by Lord Milton to Baron Mure for about £1,500. They were afterwards feued out by
2668-619: A seaside location, although the Tower Amusements arcade remains in business. The 21st century has seen the emergence of community activities, some focused on the Promenade. The beach hosts regular beach volleyball, including Olympic beach-volleyball qualifiers, and the annual Big Beach Busk event. Other community activities focus more on the sea. They include the Portobello, Sailing, Kayaking and Rowing Club, Rowporty, and Eastern Amateur Coastal Rowing Club. Others concern community gardens,
2784-408: A succession of poetasters had churned out conventional and obsequious odes on royal occasions." He sought advice from the 4th Duke of Buccleuch , who counselled him to retain his literary independence. The position went to Scott's friend, Robert Southey . Scott was influenced by Gothic romance , and had collaborated in 1801 with 'Monk' Lewis on Tales of Wonder . Scott's career as a novelist
2900-632: A terminal to be built in Leith using public funds, which failed to materialise. The Promenade and beach host two annual four-mile (6.4-kilometre) running races: Portobello Beach Race every summer since 2013, and the Promathom most New Year's Days since 1987. A weekly five-kilometre (3 mi 188 yd) Park Run every Saturday in Figgate Park provoked press-reported controversy and exhibitionism in 2018. As an independent burgh, Portobello had aspirations for
3016-408: A thousand copies were printed, but the work was an immediate success and 3,000 more were added in two further editions the same year. Waverley turned out to be the first of 27 novels (eight published in pairs), and by the time the sixth of them, Rob Roy , was published, the print run for the first edition had been increased to 10,000 copies, which became the norm. Given Scott's established status as
3132-696: A town hall, the town council having first met in rooms in Brighton Place and then in Rosefield House. The first purpose-built hall (now the Baptist Church in the High Street) was designed by David Bryce and erected in 1862. This proved inadequate for the purpose and was replaced in 1877 by a building designed by Robert Paterson, which is now Portobello Police Station . The Edinburgh Extension Act 1895, which amalgamated Portobello with Edinburgh, gave effect to
3248-564: A villa adjoining the shore had extended his garden to include the sand and had built a wall leading right down to the sea. Sir William, a former Lord Advocate , viewed this as interfering with his right of way, as a private citizen and as an officer of the Crown. After legal action over several years and an appeal right up to the House of Lords, the proprietor and his neighbours were forced in July 1849 to demolish
3364-487: Is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland . It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth , between the suburbs of Joppa and Craigentinny . Although historically it was a town in its own right, it is officially a residential suburb of Edinburgh . The promenade fronts onto a wide sandy beach. The area was originally known as Figgate Muir, an expanse of moorland through which
3480-482: Is as much myth as history, but the novel remains his best-known work, the most likely to be found by the general reader. Eight of the subsequent 17 novels also have medieval settings, though most are set towards the end of the era, for which Scott had a better supply of contemporaneous sources. His familiarity with Elizabethan and 17th-century English literature, partly resulting from editorial work on pamphlets and other minor publications, meant that four of his works set in
3596-487: Is festooned with turrets and stepped gabling. Through windows enriched with the insignia of heraldry the sun shone on suits of armour, trophies of the chase, a library of more than 9,000 volumes, fine furniture, and still finer pictures. Panelling of oak and cedar and carved ceilings relieved by coats of arms in their correct colours added to the beauty of the house. It is estimated that the building cost Scott more than £25,000 (equivalent to £2,600,000 in 2023). More land
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3712-509: Is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand!— If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell. Three years after The Lay Scott published Marmion (1808) telling a story of corrupt passions leading up as a disastrous climax to the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The main innovation involves prefacing each of
3828-451: The 2020 Coronavirus Lockdown , police praised the public for curbing the spread of the virus by avoiding Portobello over Easter weekend, although as the weather improved in May the visitor numbers increased, causing concern to politicians. Portobello continued busy over the summer of 2020, with some disturbances reported. In August a Ferris wheel appeared on the old Fun City site, but its licence
3944-501: The Battle of Melrose (1526). During the summers from 1804, Scott made his home at the large house of Ashestiel, on the south bank of the River Tweed, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Selkirk. When his lease on this property expired in 1811, he bought Cartley Hole Farm, downstream on the Tweed nearer Melrose. The farm had the nickname of " Clarty Hole", and Scott renamed it "Abbotsford" after
4060-501: The County of Roxburgh , Scotland, on 22 April 1820; the title became extinct upon his son's death in 1847. Walter Scott was born on 15 August 1771, in a third-floor apartment on College Wynd in the Old Town , Edinburgh, a narrow alleyway leading from the Cowgate to the gates of the old University of Edinburgh . He was the ninth child (six having died in infancy) of Walter Scott (1729–1799),
4176-527: The Edinburgh Corporation modernised the facilities, installing a filtration system for the seawater pool. In 1967, a £48,000 refurbishment saw the building's indoor pool, changing area and toilets renovated along with the installation of an illuminated ceiling and metal-cored sheeting to conceal the original Victorian balconies. The original cast iron columns were also enclosed in mosaic and their ornamental column caps wrapped in mooring rope. In 1998,
4292-617: The Edinburgh Evening Courant of 11 June 1795, according to a report in the Evening Dispatch . It says the bathing machines have steady horses and careful drivers, and the bathing sands are perfectly free from stones and "danders", the water clear and the beach very retired. Portobello Sands were used at that time by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott was their quartermaster . While riding in
4408-568: The Figgate Burn flowed, from Duddingston Loch fed by the Braid Burn to the west, to the sea, with a broad sandy beach on the Firth of Forth . The name "Figgate" has been thought to come from an Old English term for "cow's ditch", but the land was used as pasture for cattle by the monks of Holyrood Abbey and the name is more likely to mean "cow road", as in Cowgate in Edinburgh. In 1650 it
4524-531: The Tay Bridge disaster . The iron supports rusted away and the pier was demolished as uneconomic to repair in 1917. The Edinburgh Marine Gardens laid out north of Kings Road in 1908–1909 included an open-air theatre, an industrial hall, a ballroom (later a skating rink), a scenic railway, a "rustic mill and water-wheel" and a speedway track. It fell out of use in the First World War and never recovered, although
4640-731: The Yorkshire estate of that name belonging to Scott's friend J. B. S. Morritt during the Civil War period, and The Lord of the Isles (1815), set in early 14th-century Scotland and culminating in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Both works had generally favourable receptions and sold well, but without rivalling the huge success of The Lady of the Lake . Scott also produced four minor narrative or semi-narrative poems between 1811 and 1817: The Vision of Don Roderick (1811, celebrating Wellington's successes in
4756-427: The 1679 Covenanters as fanatical and often ridiculous (prompting John Galt to produce a contrasting picture in his novel Ringan Gilhaize in 1823); The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818) with its low-born heroine Jeanie Deans making a perilous journey to Richmond in 1737 to secure a promised royal pardon for her sister, falsely accused of infanticide; and the tragic The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), with its stern account of
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4872-607: The 1790s for modern German literature. Recalling the period in 1827, Scott said that he "was German-mad." In 1796, he produced English versions of two poems by Gottfried August Bürger , Der wilde Jäger and Lenore , published as The Chase, and William and Helen . Scott responded to the German interest at the time in national identity, folk culture and medieval literature, which linked with his own developing passion for traditional balladry. A favourite book since childhood had been Thomas Percy 's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry . During
4988-457: The 1790s he would search in manuscript collections and on Border "raids" for ballads from oral performance. With help from John Leyden , he produced a two-volume Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border in 1802, containing 48 traditional ballads and two imitations apiece by Leyden and himself. Of the 48 traditionals, 26 were published for the first time. An enlarged edition appeared in three volumes
5104-495: The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland . In spite of having only three weeks to work with, Scott created a spectacular, comprehensive pageant, designed not only to impress the King, but in some way to heal the rifts that had destabilised Scots society. Probably fortified by his vivid depiction of the pageant staged for the reception of Queen Elizabeth in Kenilworth he and his "production team" mounted what in modern days would be
5220-505: The 20th century. Whilst visitors were mainly from Edinburgh, it was also once popular with Glaswegians , particularly as the Glasgow Fair "trade holiday" signalled the start of a two-week holiday for the west of Scotland. By the 1960s, it had become an area of amusement arcades and permanent funfair attractions. From the 1980s these gradually disappeared, and by the end of the 20th century the Promenade had hardly any attractions specific to
5336-465: The Canongate (1827). Crucial to Scott's historical thinking is the concept that very different societies can move through the same stages as they develop, and that humanity is basically unchanging, or as he puts it in the first chapter of Waverley that there are "passions common to men in all stages of society, and which have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under the steel corslet of
5452-485: The Canongate to Castle Dangerous ). In his last years Scott marked up interleaved copies of these collected editions to produce a final version of what were now officially the Waverley Novels , often called his 'Magnum Opus' or 'Magnum Edition'. Scott provided each novel with an introduction and notes and made mostly piecemeal adjustments to the text. Issued in 48 smart monthly volumes between June 1829 and May 1833 at
5568-672: The England of that period – Kenilworth (1821), The Fortunes of Nigel and Peveril of the Peak (1821), and Woodstock (1826) – present rich pictures of their societies. The most generally esteemed of Scott's later fictions, though, are three short stories: a supernatural narrative in Scots, "Wandering Willie's Tale" in Redgauntlet (1824), and "The Highland Widow" and "The Two Drovers" in Chronicles of
5684-563: The English familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland, that she may be truly said to have done more towards completing the Union, than perhaps all the legislative enactments by which it has been followed up [the Act of Union of 1801]." Most of Scott's readers were English: with Quentin Durward (1823) and Woodstock (1826), for example, some 8000 of the 10,000 copies of
5800-476: The Last Minstrel (1805), in medieval romance form, grew out of Scott's plan to include a long original poem of his own in the second edition of the Minstrelsy : it was to be "a sort of Romance of Border Chivalry & inchantment". He owed the distinctive irregular accent in four-beat metre to Coleridge 's Christabel , which he had heard recited by John Stoddart . (It was not to be published until 1816.) Scott
5916-751: The Literary Society in 1789 and was elected to the Speculative Society the following year, becoming librarian and secretary-treasurer a year after. After completing his law studies, Scott took up law in Edinburgh. He made his first visit as a lawyer's clerk to the Scottish Highlands, directing an eviction. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1792. He had an unsuccessful love suit with Williamina Belsches of Fettercairn, who married Scott's friend Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet . In February 1797,
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#17330859867426032-753: The Past and the Ancient, the Desire & the admiration of Permanence, on the one hand; and the Passion for increase of Knowledge, for Truth as the offspring of Reason, in short, the mighty Instincts of Progression and Free-agency , on the other." This is clear, for example, in Waverley , as the hero is captivated by the romantic allure of the Jacobite cause embodied in Bonnie Prince Charlie and his followers before accepting that
6148-614: The Peninsular Campaign, with profits donated to Portuguese war sufferers); The Bridal of Triermain (published anonymously in 1813); The Field of Waterloo (1815); and Harold the Dauntless (published anonymously in 1817). Throughout his creative life Scott was an active reviewer. Although himself a Tory he reviewed for The Edinburgh Review between 1803 and 1806, but that journal's advocacy of peace with Napoleon led him to cancel his subscription in 1808. The following year, at
6264-597: The Prince Regent (the future George IV ) gave Scott and other officials permission in a Royal Warrant dated 28 October 1817 to conduct a search for the Crown Jewels (" Honours of Scotland "). During the Protectorate under Cromwell these had been hidden away, but had subsequently been used to crown Charles II . They were not used to crown subsequent monarchs, but were regularly taken to sittings of Parliament, to represent
6380-450: The Scotland represented in the novel is at once backward and advanced, traditional and modern – it is a country in varied stages of progression in which there are many social subsets, each with its own laws and customs." Scott's process of composition can be traced through the manuscripts (mostly preserved), the more fragmentary sets of proofs, his correspondence, and publisher's records. He did not create detailed plans for his stories, and
6496-618: The Scottish Borders: there he attended Kelso Grammar School , where he met James Ballantyne and his brother John , who later became his business partners and printers. As a result of his early polio infection, Scott had a pronounced limp. He was described in 1820 as "tall, well formed (except for one ankle and foot which made him walk lamely), neither fat nor thin, with forehead very high, nose short, upper lip long and face rather fleshy, complexion fresh and clear, eyes very blue, shrewd and penetrating, with hair now silvery white". Although
6612-545: The absent monarch, until the Act of Union 1707 . So the honours were stored in Edinburgh Castle, but their large locked box was not opened for more than 100 years, and stories circulated that they had been "lost" or removed. On 4 February 1818, Scott and a small military team opened the box and "unearthed" the honours from the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle . On 19 August 1818 through Scott's effort, his friend Adam Ferguson
6728-511: The area, continuing towards Joppa and Eastfield to Musselburgh, Port Seton, Tranent or North Berwick, down Brighton Place to Fort Kinnaird or Royal Infirmary, and from Kings Road to Craigentinny. The former electric tramways operated by Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department were replaced by diesel buses in November 1956. Portobello's first railway station was initially served by the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway . The Portobello (E&DR) railway station operated from 1832 until 1846, when it
6844-422: The beach. These, now known as Portobello Swim Centre, include one of only three remaining public Turkish baths in Scotland. Portobello Pier was a pleasure pier near the end of Bath Street, open from 23 May 1871 until the start of the First World War . At 1,250 feet (381 m) long with a restaurant and observatory at the end, it cost £7,000 to build to a design by Sir Thomas Bouch , who was infamously linked to
6960-415: The blind poet Thomas Blacklock , who lent him books and introduced him to the Ossian cycle of poems by James Macpherson . During the winter of 1786–1787, a 15-year-old Scott met the Scots poet Robert Burns at one of these salons, their only meeting. When Burns noticed a print illustrating the poem "The Justice of the Peace" and asked who had written it, Scott alone named the author as John Langhorne and
7076-416: The city and the surrounding countryside. His reading included chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books. He was given private tuition by James Mitchell in arithmetic and writing, and learned from him the history of the Church of Scotland with emphasis on the Covenanters . In 1783, his parents, believing he had outgrown his strength, sent him to stay for six months with his aunt Jenny at Kelso in
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#17330859867427192-402: The context of the last judgment with the introduction of a version of the " Dies irae " at the end. The work was an immediate success with almost all the reviewers and with readers in general, going through five editions in one year. The most celebrated lines are the ones that open the final stanza: Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This
7308-418: The cost and duration: the main road was closed to traffic until the end of 2019 while the work was done. Ultimately, the new surface proved of high quality, including smooth sets for cycling and a refuge for safe turning into the Christian Path. The final cost of about £750,000 was less than predicted. Minor problems remaining with drainage were to be dealt with when the spring 2020 lockdown was lifted. During
7424-467: The debts encumbering his estate were discharged shortly after his death. Scott was raised as a Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland. He was ordained as an elder in Duddingston Kirk in 1806, and sat in the General Assembly for a time as representative elder of the burgh of Selkirk. In adult life he also adhered to the Scottish Episcopal Church : he seldom attended church but read the Book of Common Prayer services in family worship. Scott's father
7540-438: The defects noted in Marmion largely absent. In some ways it is more conventional than its predecessors: the narrative is entirely in iambic tetrameters and the story of the transparently disguised James V (King of Scots 1513‒42) predictable: Coleridge wrote to Wordsworth : 'The movement of the Poem... is between a sleeping Canter and a Marketwoman's trot – but it is endless – I seem never to have made any way – I never remember
7656-409: The depiction of an unfamiliar society, while having no difficulty in relating to the characters. Scott is fascinated by striking moments of transition between stages in societies. Samuel Taylor Coleridge , in a discussion of Scott's early novels, found that they derive their "long-sustained interest " from "the contest between the two great moving Principles of social Humanity – religious adherence to
7772-401: The diaries of Samuel Pepys and Lord Byron , and he began keeping a journal over the period, which, however, would not be published until 1890, as The Journal of Sir Walter Scott . By then Scott's health was failing, and on 29 October 1831, in a vain search for improvement, he set off on a voyage to Malta and Naples on board HMS Barham , a frigate put at his disposal by the Admiralty. He
7888-456: The epistles did not link up with the narrative, there was too much antiquarian pedantry, and Marmion's character was immoral. The most familiar lines in the poem sum up one of its main themes: "O what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive" Scott's meteoric poetic career peaked with his third long narrative, The Lady of the Lake (1810), which sold 20,000 copies in the first year. The reviewers were fairly favourable, finding
8004-421: The fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present day." It was one of Scott's main achievements to give lively, detailed pictures of different stages of Scottish, British, and European society while making it clear that for all the differences in form, they took the same human passions as those of his own age. His readers could therefore appreciate
8120-464: The first edition went to London. In the Scottish novels the lower-class characters normally speak Scots, but Scott is careful not to make the Scots too dense, so that those unfamiliar with it can follow the gist without understanding every word. Some have also argued that although Scott was formally a supporter of the Union with England (and Ireland) his novels have a strong nationalist subtext for readers attuned to that wavelength. Scott's new career as
8236-414: The first had been completed. Constable's faith was justified by the sales: the three editions published in 1808 sold 8,000 copies. The verse of Marmion is less striking than that of The Lay , with the epistles in iambic tetrameters and the narrative in tetrameters with frequent trimeters. The reception by the reviewers was less favourable than that accorded The Lay : style and plot were both found faulty,
8352-448: The following year. With many of the ballads, Scott fused different versions into more coherent texts, a practice he later repudiated. The Minstrelsy was the first and most important of a series of editorial projects over the next two decades, including the medieval romance Sir Tristrem (which Scott attributed to Thomas the Rhymer ) in 1804, the works of John Dryden (18 vols, 1808), and
8468-556: The former graveyard, but several stones survive, for instance in the narrow gap behind the back of the hall and the boundary. In 2017 the church was sold by the Church of Scotland to the local community and reopened in 2018 as Bellfield community centre . Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet FRSE FSAScot (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature , notably
8584-510: The great men who have loved dogs no one ever loved them better or understood them more thoroughly". The best known of Scott's dogs were Maida , a large stag hound reported to be his favourite dog, and Spice, a Dandie Dinmont terrier described as having asthma , to which Scott gave particular care. In a diary entry written at the height of his financial woes, Scott described dismay at the prospect of having to sell them: "The thoughts of parting from these dumb creatures have moved me more than any of
8700-484: The height of his poetic career, he was instrumental in establishing a Tory rival, The Quarterly Review to which he contributed reviews for the rest of his life. In 1813 Scott was offered the position of Poet Laureate . He declined, feeling that "such an appointment would be a poisoned chalice," as the Laureateship had fallen into disrepute due to the decline in quality of work suffered by previous title holders, "as
8816-513: The latter to William Jameson or Jamieson at the rate of £3 per acre. Jameson discovered a valuable bed of clay near the burn, and built a brick and tile works beside the stream. He later built an earthenware pottery factory, and the local population grew into a thriving village. Land values subsequently rose, and by the beginning of the 19th century some parts had been sold at a yearly feu duty of £40 per annum per acre. An advertisement for bathing machines for hire on Portobello beach appeared in
8932-543: The nave of Carlisle Cathedral ). After renting a house in Edinburgh's George Street , they moved to nearby South Castle Street. Their eldest child, Sophia, was born in 1799, and later married John Gibson Lockhart . Four of their five children survived Scott himself. His eldest son Sir Walter Scott, 2nd Baronet (1801–1847), inherited his father's estates and possessions: on 3 February 1825 he married Jane Jobson, only daughter of William Jobson of Lochore (died 1822) by his wife Rachel Stuart (died 1863), heiress of Lochore and
9048-495: The novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature. As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire . He
9164-472: The pool opened after a £4.25 million modernisation and renovation. In 2019, it was announced £2.5 million had been allocated to refurbish the interior of the building, create new changing rooms, upgrade fitness and gym facilities, and install energy-saving technology to make the baths more environmentally-friendly. 55°57′11″N 3°06′25″W / 55.9531°N 3.1070°W / 55.9531; -3.1070 Portobello, Edinburgh Portobello
9280-409: The reflections I have put down". Between 1805 and 1817 Scott produced five long, six-canto narrative poems, four shorter independently published poems, and many small metrical pieces. Scott was by far the most popular poet of the time until Lord Byron published the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812 and followed them up with his exotic oriental verse narratives. The Lay of
9396-464: The remarks by the figure of "the Author" in the Introductory Epistle to The Fortunes of Nigel probably reflect his own experience: "I think there is a dæmon who seats himself on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and leads it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under my hand; incidents are multiplied; the story lingers, while the materials increase – my regular mansion turns out
9512-450: The resort, whose facilities came to include a large open-air swimming pool , heated by waste from the power station. The actor Sean Connery once worked there as a lifeguard. The pool was closed in 1979. There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent funfair, which closed in 2007 and was also eventually demolished to make way for new housing. Portobello Baths were constructed in 1898 and completed in 1901 on The Promenade overlooking
9628-451: The ruin of Smailholm Tower , the earlier family home. Here, he was taught to read by his aunt Jenny Scott and learned from her the speech patterns and many of the tales and legends that later marked much of his work. In January 1775, he returned to Edinburgh, and that summer with his aunt Jenny took spa treatment at Bath in Somerset, southern England, where they lived at 6 South Parade . In
9744-421: The six cantos with an epistle from the author to a friend: William Stewart Rose , The Rev. John Marriot , William Erskine , James Skene , George Ellis , and Richard Heber : the epistles develop themes of moral positives and special delights imparted by art. In an unprecedented move, the publisher Archibald Constable purchased the copyright of the poem for a thousand guineas at the beginning of 1807, when only
9860-561: The speedway/motor cycle track remained in use until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The site was cleared in 1966 for the Lothian Buses Marine bus depot. The 1983 Portobello was at the centre of police and media attention with the abduction of five-year-old Caroline Hogg from the Promenade area and her murder by Robert Black . Portobello's peak as a resort in the late 19th century gave way to slow decline through
9976-498: The threat of a French invasion persuaded Scott and many of his friends to join the Royal Edinburgh Volunteer Light Dragoons , where he served into the early 1800s, and was appointed quartermaster and secretary. The daily drill practices that year, starting at 5 a.m., indicate the determination with which the role was undertaken. Scott was prompted to take up a literary career by enthusiasm in Edinburgh in
10092-516: The time for such enthusiasms has passed and accepting the more rational, humdrum reality of Hanoverian Britain. Another example appears in 15th-century Europe in the yielding of the old chivalric world view of Charles, Duke of Burgundy to the Machiavellian pragmatism of Louis XI . Scott is intrigued by the way different stages of societal development can exist side by side in one country. When Waverley has his first experience of Highland ways after
10208-568: The time, the compositors would supply the punctuation.) He received proofs, also in batches, and made many changes at that stage, but these were almost always local corrections and enhancements. As the number of novels grew, they were republished in small collections: Novels and Tales (1819: Waverley to A Tale of Montrose ); Historical Romances (1822: Ivanhoe to Kenilworth ); Novels and Romances (1824 [1823]: The Pirate to Quentin Durward ); and two series of Tales and Romances (1827: St Ronan's Well to Woodstock ; 1833: Chronicles of
10324-519: The town hall in Portobello, and in February of this year the Corporation decided to implement the bargain". A formidable red-brick power station was built in 1923 at the west end of the beach. It was extended by Ebenezer James MacRae in 1938, and operated until 1977 when it was closed. It was demolished in the following 18 months. Between 1846 and 1964 a railway station provided access for visitors to
10440-508: The town hall project, money provided by the Scottish Government under its Place Based Investment Programme. Portobello Central indicated that it hoped the funding would enable it to re-open the building by April 2022. The Town Hall opened for business on 1 June 2023, under a 25-year, full repairing lease from the City of Edinburgh Council at £1 per year rent. In birth order: The building
10556-494: The town hall was closed by the city council after the masonry and plasterwork were found to be in poor condition. The city council put the building on the market for lease in February 2020, and, following a competitive process, it agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a local community organisation known as Portobello Central in May 2021. The city council confirmed, in June 2021, that it had allocated £350,000 of capital investment to
10672-507: The two Bürger translations in a privately printed anthology, Apology for Tales of Terror . In 1800 Scott suggested that Ballantyne set up business in Edinburgh and provided a loan for him to make the transition in 1802. In 1805, they became partners in the printing business, and from then until the financial crash of 1826 Scott's works were routinely printed by the firm. Scott was known for his fondness of dogs , and owned several throughout his life. Upon his death, one newspaper noted "of all
10788-399: The walls they had erected. Fifteen years later, Portobello Town Council began to build the Promenade, so securing public access to the beach along its two miles (three kilometres). Portobello became industrialized in the 19th century, manufacturing bricks ("Portobello brick"), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap and mustard. Joppa to the east was important as a salt producer. In 1833 the town
10904-520: The waves through the year since 2010. Meanwhile, a warmer alternative is provided by the Turkish Baths in Portobello Swim Centre. In October 2016 Portobello became the first urban community in Scotland to register a Community Right to Buy after the 2016 expansion of Land reform in Scotland to cover urban areas. Purchase of Bellfield Old Parish Church and Halls by Action Porty for £600,000
11020-612: The winter of 1776, he went back to Sandyknowe, with another attempt at a water cure at Prestonpans the following summer. In 1778, Scott returned to Edinburgh for private education to prepare him for school and joined his family in their new house, one of the first to be built in George Square . In October 1779, he began at the Royal High School in Edinburgh (in High School Yards). He was by then well able to walk and explore
11136-624: The works of Jonathan Swift (19 vols, 1814). On a trip to the English Lake District with old college friends, he met Charlotte Charpentier (Anglicised to "Carpenter"), a daughter of Jean Charpentier of Lyon in France and a ward of Lord Downshire in Cumberland , an Anglican. After three weeks' courtship, Scott proposed and they were married on Christmas Eve 1797 in St Mary's Church, Carlisle (now
11252-405: Was a Freemason, being a member of Lodge St David, No. 36 (Edinburgh), and Scott also became a Freemason in his father's Lodge in 1801, albeit only after the death of his father. When Scott was a boy, he sometimes travelled with his father from Selkirk to Melrose, where some of his novels are set. At a certain spot, the old gentleman would stop the carriage and take his son to a stone on the site of
11368-711: Was a fairly open secret, but as he himself said, with Shylock , "such was my humour." Scott was an almost exclusively historical novelist. Only one of his 27 novels – Saint Ronan's Well – has a wholly modern setting. The settings of the others range from 1794 in The Antiquary back to 1096 or 1097, the time of the First Crusade , in Count Robert of Paris . Sixteen take place in Scotland. The first nine, from Waverley (1814) to A Legend of Montrose (1819), all have Scottish locations and 17th- or 18th-century settings. Scott
11484-405: Was able to draw on his unrivalled familiarity with Border history and legend acquired from oral and written sources beginning in his childhood to present an energetic and highly coloured picture of 16th-century Scotland, which both captivated the general public and with its voluminous notes also addressed itself to the antiquarian student. The poem has a strong moral theme, as human pride is placed in
11600-501: Was appointed Deputy Keeper of the " Scottish Regalia ". The Scottish patronage system swung into action and after elaborate negotiations the Prince Regent granted Scott the title of baronet : in April 1820 he received the baronetcy in London, becoming Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet. After George's accession, the city council of Edinburgh invited Scott, at the sovereign's behest, to stage-manage
11716-401: Was attended with uncertainty. The first few chapters of Waverley were complete by roughly 1805, but the project was abandoned as a result of unfavourable criticism from a friend. Soon after, Scott was asked by the publisher John Murray to posthumously edit and complete the last chapter of an unfinished romance by Joseph Strutt . Published in 1808 and set in 15th-century England, Queenhoo Hall
11832-517: Was better versed in his material than anyone: he could draw on oral tradition and a wide range of written sources in his ever-expanding library (many of the books rare and some unique copies). In general it is these pre-1820 novels that have drawn the attention of modern critics – especially: Waverley , with its presentation of the 1745 Jacobites drawn from the Highland clans as obsolete and fanatical idealists; Old Mortality (1816) with its treatment of
11948-526: Was born in 1801, the Scotts moved to a spacious three-storey house at 39 North Castle Street, which remained his Edinburgh base until 1826, when it was sold by the trustees appointed after his financial ruin. From 1798, Scott had spent summers in a cottage at Lasswade , where he entertained guests, including literary figures. It was there his career as an author began. There were nominal residency requirements for his position of Sheriff-Depute, and at first he stayed at
12064-540: Was born with the surname 'Haliburton', and of the same's son the architect Decimus Burton . Walter became a member of the Clarence Club , of which the Burtons were members. A childhood bout of polio in 1773 left Scott lame, a condition that would greatly affect his life and writing. To improve his lameness he was sent in 1773 to live in the rural Scottish Borders , at his paternal grandparents' farm at Sandyknowe, by
12180-549: Was confirmed by Scottish Government Ministers on 3 May 2017. The purchase was funded partly by the Scottish Land Fund and partly by community donations and borrowing. The buildings and grounds formally passed from the Church of Scotland to Action Porty on 6 September 2017 and opened as Bellfield (Community Centre), Portobello on 23 June 2018. Work in 2019 on re-laying the paving setts in Brighton Place caused controversy over
12296-486: Was designed by William Sibbald and the foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1808 with the church opening for worship in 1810. It originally had the status of Chapel of Ease for Duddingston Parish Church to the west. In May 1834 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland gave it the status of a quoad sacra church. It received full independent parish status in 1861. The church hall, built in 1964, stands on
12412-463: Was landed in England, Scott was transported back to die at Abbotsford on 21 September 1832. He was 61. Scott was buried in Dryburgh Abbey , where his wife had earlier been interred. Lady Scott had been buried as an Episcopalian; at Scott's own funeral, three ministers of the Church of Scotland officiated at Abbotsford and the service at Dryburgh was conducted by an Episcopal clergyman. Although Scott died owing money, his novels continued to sell, and
12528-466: Was made a burgh , and jointly with Leith and Musselburgh , it was represented by one member of Parliament. Then in 1896 Portobello was incorporated into Edinburgh by Act of Parliament. The Scotsman in 1912 noted that "It was by the provisions of the Edinburgh Extension Act of 1895 under which Portobello was amalgamated with the city, that Edinburgh gave an undertaking to build and maintain
12644-437: Was not a success due to its archaic language and excessive display of antiquarian information. The success of Scott's Highland narrative poem The Lady of the Lake in 1810 seems to have put it into his head to resume the narrative and have his hero Edward Waverley journey to Scotland. Although Waverley was announced for publication at that stage, it was again laid by and not resumed until late 1813, then published in 1814. Only
12760-583: Was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory establishment , active in the Highland Society , long time a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1827–1829). His knowledge of history and literary facility equipped him to establish the historical novel genre as an exemplar of European Romanticism . He became a baronet of Abbotsford in
12876-440: Was purchased until Scott owned nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km ). In 1817 as part of the land purchases Scott bought the nearby mansion-house of Toftfield for his friend Adam Ferguson to live in along with his brothers and sisters and on which, at the ladies' request, he bestowed the name of Huntlyburn. Ferguson commissioned Sir David Wilkie to paint the Scott family resulting in the painting The Abbotsford Family in which Scott
12992-565: Was replaced by the Portobello (NBR) railway station operated by the North British Railway . The station closed in 1964 under the Beeching cuts . For two weeks in 2007 there was an experimental hovercraft service to Kirkcaldy in Fife. Stagecoach was interested in running a regular service, but the local authority refused planning permission for the infrastructure. Stagecoach planned to use
13108-485: Was suspended before it opened, as it broke government rules on the reopening of funfairs; despite this, some smaller attractions in the area have come and gone since. Concerns about overcrowding on Portobello promenade continued into 2021. In September 2021, it was announced that the Swim Centre would shortly close for a £2.5 million refurbishment. Portobello is served by Lothian Buses which provide eleven services to
13224-600: Was thanked by Burns. Scott describes the event in his memoirs, where he whispers the answer to his friend Adam , who tells Burns; another version of the event appears in Literary Beginnings . When it was decided that he would become a lawyer, he returned to the university to study law, first taking classes in moral philosophy (under Dugald Stewart ) and universal history (under Alexander Fraser Tytler ) in 1789–1790. During this second university spell Scott became prominent in student intellectual activities: he co-founded
13340-579: Was the supposed scene of a secret meeting between Oliver Cromwell and Scottish leaders. A report from 1661 describes a race in which twelve browster -wives ran from the Burn (recorded as the Thicket Burn) to the top of Arthur's Seat . By the 18th century the area had become a haunt of seamen and smugglers . A cottage was built in 1742 on what is now the High Street (close to the junction with Brighton Place) by
13456-423: Was welcomed and celebrated wherever he went. On his journey home he boarded the steamboat Prins Frederik going from Cologne to Rotterdam. While on board he had a final stroke near Emmerich . After local treatment, a steamboat took him to the steamship Batavier , which left for England on 12 June. By pure coincidence, Mary Martha Sherwood was also on board. She would later write about this encounter. After he
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