20 GENIUS OF GALT. 



said, as of Shakspeare, though of course the remark does not apply 

 with the same force that he has seen and drawn ( 'each many-coloured 

 scene of life." The prince and the peasant, and every intervening 

 gradation of rank, with the varied habits of each, have all, at one 

 time or other, formed subjects for his graphic pen. The various 

 conformations of the human mind, with the feelings and sentiments 

 peculiar to its several states, are all depicted with greater or less 

 fidelity in one or other of his works. He at once charms us with 

 his portraitures of love and friendship, and the other kindlier affec- 

 tions of the heart, and terrifies and appals us by his delineations of 

 hatred and revenge, and the other fiercer passions which rankle in the 

 unhallowed breast. 



We have said that Mr. Gait shines in all the walks of fiction. If 

 our judgment may be depend on, he shines with special splendour in 

 that walk which embraces the description of the opinions, manners, 

 and habits of the peasantry, particularly of his own country. Here 

 he is quite at home; as much so as if he had never seen aught else 

 in his life than the thatched cottage and some insignificant village. 

 He enters thoroughly into their feelings, and speaks their language 

 with a truth and faithfulness which cannot be surpassed. It is diffi- 

 cult for the time to divest one's mind of the idea that it is not 

 one of the author's heroes, but the author himself who is speaking 

 to us. Mr. Gait himself is utterly lost sight of and forgotten in the 

 living creation of his own brain. And this we hold to be one of the 

 greatest proofs of the merits of a writer of fiction. 



That Mr. Gait should have thus entered so completely into the 

 feelings of the Scottish peasantry before he quitted Scotland, does 

 not so much surprise us ; but that he should still be able to think 

 and speak like them after an absence from his native country of more 

 than a quarter of a century during which time he has visited many 

 nations of the world, and mixed more or less with people of every 

 rank in all of them is truly passing strange. That he can be as 

 thoroughly Scottish as he pleases, is abundantly proved by some of 

 his latest productions. 



And here we may throw out a hint that may be worthy the con- 

 sideration of Mr. Gait. It is this that the more he confines himself to 

 the delineation of real character, and the less he trusts to his inventive 

 faculties, the greater will be his success. In accordance with this 

 notion, it will be found that his most successful works hitherto are 

 those in which there has been least invention. The remark does not 

 hold good in the case of every novelist, inasmuch as few have the 

 same capabilities for correct conception and graphic description of 

 character as he. 



Sir Walter Scott was also happiest on Scottish ground. We are 

 sure that that Mr. Gait himself would feel annoyed were we for one 

 moment to put his writings, either as respects their matter or manner, 

 in comparison with those of the Great Magician. But though we 

 may not do this,we are justified in saying, that in many respects, in ad- 

 dition to the one we have specified, there existed a striking parallel 

 between the accompaniments of their respective geniuses ; and in 

 no one instance does this hold more true than in that of their modesty 



