SOURCE: A review of The Lady of the Lake, in Edinburgh Review, Vol. XVI, No. 32, August, 1810, pp. 263-93.

In this review, Jeffrey comments on the Scott's ability to create verse that appeals to a wide audience. Though the reviewer detects a number of imperfections in The Lady of the Lake, including its similarity to Scott's other poetic works, he finds the book superior to The Lay of the Last Minstrel and Marmion.

[Mr] Scott, though living in an age unusually prolific of original poetry, has manifestly outstripped all his competitors in the race of popularity; and stands already upon a height to which no other writer has attained in the memory of any one now alive. We doubt, indeed, whether any English poet ever had so many of his books sold, or so many of his verses read and admired by such a multitude of persons, in so...