Sir Walter Scott, the prolific Scottish historical…

Sir Walter Scott, the prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet, had gone into dire financial straits again beginning in 1825, as his company nearly collapsed.

That he was the author of his novels had become general knowledge at this time as well.

Rather than declare bankruptcy, he had placed his home, Abbotsford House, and income into a trust belonging to his creditors, and had proceeded to write his way out of debt.

Writing incessantly to clear his name and recover money lost in his business failure, he had penned the historical novel Anne of Geierstein, or The Maiden of the Mist in 1829.

He had kept up his prodigious output of fiction (as well as producing a biography of Napoléon Bonaparte) until 1831.

Ill and spent from overwork, he takes a vacation cruise to Italy and returns more wasted than ever.

By now, his health is failing, and he dies at Abbotsford in September 1832 at sixty-one.