Scott wrote The Surgeon"s Daughter in 1827, the first of his last six hard years as he struggled to write enough to solve the financial problems that had come to consume his life. Much of the character and particulars of Mr. Gideon Gray -- a principal in the story -- were, according to Scott"s biographer, Lockhart, "considered at the time by Sir Walter"s neighbors in Tweedside as copied from Dr. Ebenezer Clarkson of Selkirk... A true picture - a portrait from the life, of Scott"s hard-riding, benevolent, and sagacious old friend, to all the country dear."