The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-02-19
THE RUTLAND GLOBE THURSDAY MORNING FEBRUARY 49, 1874

commissions inaugurated by the fiery APP
peals Of Peter the Hermit, and of England
in the flush of the Norman conquest, when
prlnccsses even, were obliged to become
nuns to escape the unbridaled passions of
brutal mobiles. In Quentin Durward they
had picture of the great reformation. In
Kenilworth they had the most perfect de-
lineatiOn of the Court of Elizabeth. nclud-
ing the great men that rendered her reign
illustrious. In the Monastery they had
representation of border life at about the
time when the old religion was reccding
before the reformation. In Rob Roy and
Red Gauntlet they had described the incl
dents OF the efforts of the Pretcnder in
1715 and 1745 to recover the throne of the
Stuarts, aud in the former especially a
picture OF the life of the clans. In Guy
Mannering they had life on the east coast
of Scotland and II description Ut the ravages
of Claverhouse and his bloody dragons.
great riots of Edinburgh in 1875. So he
went through the list showing how the
principal events In English and Scottish
history were illustrated In his novels
One characteristic of SCOTS genius was
his ability TO awaken an interest in the
places he described. Everybody was fam
liar with L0ch Katrine and with the
mountains surrounding it Ben Lali, Ben
Venue and Ben An. The Trosachs were
also household words. Another and
most cummcndable characteristic was the
pr rty of the female characters drawn by
him and OF the sentiments advanced by
him In his old age 1t was SCOTS COM
fort and boast that he had not written
line whose publication he regretted Of
his female characters there were such gems
as the Jcwess Rebecca, Constance, Ellen
Douglass, Helen McGregor, and Jennie
Deans.
But the great characteristic the one
which would perpetuate his memory was
his fidelity to humanity. 1t was this which
cndeared him to the world, and which on
the occurrence of the centennial anniver-
sary of his birthday caused the entire
world TO engage in its celebration
The lecturer recited several passages
in which this power to touch the
great heart of humanity was eX-
hihiicd among which was tho pa
thetic appeal of Jennie Deans to Queen
Caroline. AS an indication of his kindly
nature Washington Irving's visit to him
was mentioned. The question had been
much discussed whether Scott had not
abandoned poetry, finding himself eclipsed
by Byron. 1t might be so, but it was
glory enough for Sc 1T to have founded Il
new school Of poetry. In abandoning that
field Ia a successful rival he had only im-
tated Ccrvanies, who had left the drama to
de Vega to write the immortal Don QliX-
Olc.
In conclusion. the lecturer drew par
allel between Scott and Bonaparte. SCOTS
monument was erected by the contibu-
tons ct his counirymen, spontaneous tr-
butte to his virtues. Nap0leOns monument
WAS erected by himself out of 200 cannon
captured in battle to crafty his own van
ily Yet that monument had been torn
down. Wellington came out of Waterloo
the greatest general England had produced,
yet he lived to see his house assailed by an
Indignant mob. The conclusion was that
only those who were true tohnmanity were
sure of lasting fame among men,