m 



tives. But surely it will not be maintained that Sir 

 Walter Scott's ' Ivanhoe' would have been better had he 

 not tried to paint the manners of our Saxon and Norman 

 forefathers at a particular period ; or that it would have been 

 more instructive had he avoided the details of scenery and 

 character which identify it with a peculiar age, and adhered 

 to a naked narrative so general that it might suit any period. 

 On the contrary, it is often a great improvement for the 

 author to present some general principle to his own mind ; 

 he illustrates a particular period, and he requires to know 

 the events and characters thoroughly ; he shows a peculiar 

 trait of character, and he draws upon Ms knowledge of 

 human nature. He is of necessity the student of geography, 

 history, and antiquities, that, if it were merely for his own 

 sake, the real circumstances may be violated as little as 

 possible. But when some one sits down to write a book 

 whose mind is as immature as that of aD unfledged school- 

 boy, what can we hope for of useful, or interesting, or in- 

 structive detail ? It is a story, simply a story, like thou- 

 sands that have gone before — like a new turn of the kaleido- 

 scope, it gives us a new combination and arrangement ; but 

 it is old in every tiling else, even in the feeling of temporary 

 excitement, and without any of the respect which is due to age. 

 Yet, alas ! how many of our modern Novels are of this kind ! 

 They figure in the advertisement columns of a newspaper — 

 they are duly chronicled in a bookseller's catalogue — they 

 look large on the shelves — they have cost money that, like 

 the price of Franklin's whistle, might have procured a 

 thousand better things — and they have contributed to ease 

 a number of silly young people of an intolerable burthen 

 called time. For this we are perhaps indebted to them ; 

 but, certainly, all beyond may be expressed in the words of 

 Hamlet — they are 'weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.'" 



