The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-05-25

Of The Series Of those, celebrated novels, now
ni7ssuiinng Rom the psess OF Lippuc6tt, Grambo Il
Co. in Philadelphia.s Thepablishers have con,
: suited the convenience efthe novel reading pub
lie by putting them I'M tiie ddodecimo forml.a
f9tmmuchi better adapted to 11he ,conveniedce
,ofaiAe, sesderg slian tie heavy, .octavos which
aare now sd much ii fashion, An issue, Gem
-psisiug' Ahentire noyei, will be- made once a
fortnight The sptge whole shall have been
= completed. a,tt59taani9 71inia' 8.
10 There haye lived fewpsrsons TO whom she
World, is ppreJaIgely mdebtsdahan Sir Waiter
:, Sep1, if ,iyabe admnted that he who inyents' an
:. inpocent plsasure1uis a public benefactoS~
; There, probablyoqias existed no one, in any
ase,whohas ", era more decided .tope to HE
taste of This generation, Or has left more sIaIbp1
ssaasiai memorials Of the estimation in WHICH,
= he was held by lhem,G In order to estmase'
With some degree of ACCURACY, the immense
change which he produced, in she class of VIII
tings in which be 90 particularly exceIled, il Isl
necessary to be acquainted; in some degree,
With the works which he 'suppfanted. TIE
:. novel, through means 81 which Boccaco as
ya;sted, SO powerfully to forin the mind and fix
sihe,ianguage of his COMMUNICATIVE had
u been the vehicle that conveyed. to posterity
u the 'inimitable Wit and deep, wisdam of Ger.
II vatites, and the profound knowledge of man
which distinguished the author ofGil Bias
which HAD furnished to Shakespeare the incl
dents. whereon TO construct large portion of
his inimitable dramasAthrough which Field
ing reached the hearts of his contemporaries,
Strengthening their love for the pure and the
yirtnous, deepening their adherence of the vi
cious and the base-had become the eppro-
brium Of ail literature. 1t not only initiated
nature most abominably in every case where
even an imitation was attempted, but in the ma.
jorhy of instances, il did not even affect TO
draw its pictures from that only source. of ex-
cellenee to the writer of fiction. .Fapltless
young gentlemen, whose names, as soft as their
heads, melted in the mouths of insipid young
ladies, who. were too perfect to DE inte-
resting, and too beautiful to find it necessity
Eighty young gentlemen, too wicked to lay
claim to a ,singls, virtue, had NOT the whole
stock been menopslized by their opponents
a just allnded todd serving men, too deaf 10
hear aanditoo dull TO be listened to--an OYER.
bearing father or guardiaa-a chatterng lady's
maidH-ai whole regiment Of Belmours, Bel
grades. Belnonts, and Heaven knows whatb be-
.sides-lthe interior Of a damsers apartment
wi,hna tower, where she has been confined by.
some tyrannfcal father, OF, unprincipled lover
harp; the companion, of the heroine in all her
pefigrinatioEs, no matter, whether she be ira
yelling, I'M, stage coach, trudgng ATOM g
on foot jumping out of al window, or riding
post on horseback--alb ttrese were brought So
regularly,intoaeach successive novel, written
by different persons having no communication
with each other, that if snch. material, was
wanting" The work was not regarded as com,
plete. Nothing could be more depIorable than
thetastgl Which created, these monstross fic.
tions,' excep, the TASTE which encouraged them.
The degradation Of the. lnoyel had reached
its LOWEST point, when Wayerly made tits .iap.,
pearance, in the year 1914, Never vas there
a'more sudden or a more complete reaciion.-
The Whole swarm Of literary monsnosities, to
whiehthe bad taste of the age, had given en-.
courgeneht, disappeared, as it were ina day.
They were succeeded by the novels of which
this was. the first insaheaseries. The whole
world recognised at once the hand Of master
Scorning 10 follow in the beaten track, Scott
turned at once, into anew,and unemployed field !,
OF unexampled fertility. He had seen'how suc-
cessful the greatest Of dramatic poets had Beeh
in bringing upon the stage, ainstead Of fnge
niously eon,rived fctions, representations son.
necsed with the stirring memories of the pas,
in his own country. He knew that ingenious.
ly wrought as any fiction might be, facts have
far deeper hold of the mag and leave
upon the mind an impression which it is far
more difficult to erase. He believed that by
bringing before the public historical characters.
who had oncefiled the world with their names,
but whOsen memory was now only preserved
thropghihe records of history, he could more
deeply affect the minds EFF his counrymen..
than if he confined himself 6ione to tie realms
of fancys When we read OF persons Or things
IN the pages Of history, the impression which
they make upon us, is moie' Or less vivid in
proportion to the warmth, or weakness of the
imagination: A ,warm Imagination finds full
employment in working up. the scenes and
transactions of history. 1t feels with the &C.
tors' accompanies them to the battlefield or the
couneii chamber, fnsituates' itself into their
private moments, partakes Of their councils
scans their motives, rsipices 10 their success
and laments theirI defeat, or. the contrary, IN
proportion as. they happen to, be friendly or
adverse to the cause it sspopses. :; ..E,.5sl ;
No mans Imagination was-evermore power.
fully wrought upon by the persons and events ~
of history than that Of Sir Walter Scott. "a and
il is for that reason that his pictures are SO Won.
derfully impressive, that we cannot but believe.
them true, whether they bess OF not. History
relates facts 70 US, and presents Characters
but they all appear dim and shadowy. and we
are left With aconxiciioa. aAss-saeh= things7dsa-
happen, and such men did lives without being
able to form anysysry distinct idea about them.