Under the influence of this infatuation, Scott produced a series of novels, of which it will suffice to state the names and dates.
To _Waverley_ succeeded, in 1815, _Guy Mannering_; in 1816, _The Antiquary_, and the first series of the _Tales of My Landlord_, containing _The Black Dwarf_ and _Old Mortality_; in 1818, _Rob Roy_ and the second series of the _Tales of My Landlord_, containing the _Heart of Mid Lothian_; and, in 1819, the third series, containing the _Bride of Lammermoor_ and a _Legend of Montrose_. _Ivanhoe_ was to have been issued as a separate work, by another anonymous author, so as to spur the interest of a public that might possibly be flagging; but the publication of a novel in London, pretending to be a fourth series of the _Tales of My Landlord_, determined him to produce it as the veritable production of the author of _Waverley_. This was followed in quick succession by _The Monastery_ and _The Abbot_, in 1820; _Kenilworth_ and _The Pirate_, in 1821; _The Fortunes of Nigel_ and _Hallidan Hill_, a dramatic poem, for the copyright of which Constable gave £1000, in 1822; _Peveril of the Peak_, _Quentin Durward_, and _St. Ronan’s Well_, in 1823; _Red Gauntlet_, in 1824; and _Woodstock_, in 1825.
The vast amount of business arising from these publications, produced in Constable’s mind a conviction that he was a wealthy and prosperous man. Though never possessed of much free capital, he saw around him every day such proofs of an enlarging amount of stock, that nothing less than the demonstration of figures--a demonstration he cordially hated--could have given him greater assurance of his affluent condition. Like Scott, he, too, was intoxicated with success. He had a magnificent way of transacting all business, and living rather like a princely father of letters, than a tradesman aiming at making them subservient to his use, he was led into an expenditure beyond his means.
Another error lay in his yielding to Scott’s desire for money, and the means of raising money by pre-payment for literary work yet to be accomplished. Of Scott’s profits on his works, Lockhart makes the following statements: “Before Sir Walter went to London, in November, 1821, he concluded another negotiation of importance with the house of Constable and Co. They agreed to give, for the remaining copyright of the four novels published between December, 1819, and January, 1821--to wit _Ivanhoe_, _The Monastery_, _The Abbot_, and _Kenilworth_--the sum of five thousand guineas. The stipulation about not revealing the author’s name under a penalty of £2000, was repeated. By these four novels, the fruits of scarcely more than a twelve months’ labour, he had already cleared at least £10,000 before this bargain was completed.... I cannot pretend to guess what the actual state of Scott’s pecuniary affairs was at the time when John Ballantyne’s death relieved them from one great source of complication and difficulty.... He must (in his improvements at Abbotsford) have reckoned on clearing £30,000, at least, in the course of two years, by the novels written within the period, and the publishers, as we have seen, were willing to give him £6000, within the space of two years, for works of a less serious sort, likely to be despatched at leisure hours, without at all interfering with the main manufacture. But, alas! even this was not all.... Before _The Fortunes of Nigel_ issued from the press, Scott had exchanged instruments, and received his bookseller’s bills for no less than “four works of fiction,” not one of them otherwise described in the deeds of agreement. And within two years all this anticipation had been wiped off by _Peveril of the Peak_, _Quentin Durward_, _St. Ronan’s Well_, and _Red Gauntlet_; and the new castle was at that time complete, and overflowing with all its splendour; but by that time the end was also approaching!”