Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Abbotsford, Scotland. He was a poet, playwright, and historian, and is often considered both the inventor and the greatest practitioner of the historical novel. In April 1820, he received the baronetcy in London, England, becoming Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), Rob Roy (1817), The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Ivanhoe (1819), and the narrative poems "Marmion" (1808) and "The Lady of the Lake" (1810). Mary Baker Eddy recalled to her secretary, Adam H. Dickey, that she enjoyed reading Scott's novels when she was a teenager.

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