The Washington herald., 1907-03-31

think ana say was what ought 70 De
thought and said, and what true hearts
everywhere woAld sympathize with and
approve as they have ever done.
HE was a Tory in politics. and Ca
Waller il sympafhies. and devoted TO the
exiied Stuarts, probably because OF the
poetic and romantic fascination Of the
olden time more than for an other rea-
son. He has been felt to be unfair 70 the
Covenanters aud the Puritans. whom he
probably did not understand But he was
not unfair as Butler was In 'Hudibras.' He
gives those old-time Dlssenters the credit,
OF course. determination, and honest
though, as he believes misguided sim
cerity. but he could net easily forgive
them for being so queer. and making the
king and the aristooracy so much trouble.
''Of his novels as class, il must be
said that critics find lapses In his syn
tax and precipitation and inlprObabilities
IA his plots. Yet the style is so flowing
and charming that We glide unconscious
~ over its faults till the critic halts Us
and insists that we spoil our interest and
brand the error. These things could not
bat be so. The style IS that Of learned
and cultured gentleman. writing often as
he might talk. with unstudied ease. car
ing only to convey his meaning effective.
~ anu VitdEAlHlfs fAN1HllAS la2AE gave
him no time 10 revise. The wonder is
than the style is so beautiful. often so
near perfection. For his plots he cared
only as the means OF exhibiting his char
acters and interesting the reader in them
-as he never falls 10 do. One reads with
absorbing intensity Of interest TO the end
It is only after the tale is finished. and
the book laid down, when the enchant-
meat is over. and the mind has leisure to
turn back with cool reminiscence that
the improbabilities are stumbled upon
The same may be said of Shakespeare's
plays, where the plots are often the thin
nest. and the anachrOnisms the most stu
pendous, as when Hector sends out the
challenge Of medieval knight-errant
during the siege Of Troy. But neither
the dramatist nor the novelist wrote 70.
the critics. Both captured the humau
audience for whom they did write. Scott
created the historical novel, and IN that
line of authorship stlll holds the place
Of solitary pre-emineuce.
scott is always wholesome His best
characters are good with a not impOssi-
bic goodness. bat with enough of human
fault or fOibie 10 make Us feel sympathy
and kinship with them His villains are
evil with viciousness that is not allur-
ing. We rise from the reading Of one Of
his stories with feeling OF the possible
grandeur nobility. and beauty Of ife-the
feeling that Longfellow utteFe.l ia verse,
when he wrote:
Lives Of ali great men remind us
We may make Olr lives sublime
Scott is said not to be realistic he
cause he always suggests the ideal that
hovers above the commonplace. For those
who believe that high purpose is as real
as low intent. virtue as real as vice truth
as substantial as falsehood. Loyalty as
genuine as treachery, and courage. kind
ness. tenderness, and generosity not more
himsy or unnatural than cOWariice. hard
ness Of heart. brutality. and aeldshnees.
Scott Is real in a high-true sense. though
belonging technically to the romantic
rather than the realistic school"
The lecture on Wednesday night by DR.
Fernald. at the y. NJ C. A.. viii be de-
voted to a discussion Of Burke and Web
ster. those representatives of the best OF
the English oratory.