In 1814 Scott had written, Lockhart believes, the greater part of the "Life of Swift," most of "Waverley" and the "Lord of the Isles;" he had furnished essays to the "Encyclopaedia," and had edited "The Memorie of the Somervilles." The spider might well seem spun out, the tilth exhausted.

But Scott had a fertility, a spontaneity, of fancy equalled only, if equalled at all, by Alexandre Dumas.
On November 7 of this laborious year, 1814, Scott was writing to Mr.
Joseph Train, thanking him for a parcel of legendary lore, including the Galloway tale of the wandering astrologer and a budget of gypsy traditions.

Falling in the rich soil of Scott's imagination, the tale of the astrologer yielded a name and an opening to "Guy Mannering," while the gypsy lore blossomed into the legend of Meg Merrilies.

The seed of the novel was now sown.

But between November 11 and December 25 Scott was writing the three last cantos of the "Lord of the Isles." Yet before the "Lord of the Isles" was published (Jan.