Author: Walter Scott
Release Date: Sep, 1993 [EBook #82] [Yes, we
are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file
was first posted on August 4, 2002] [Most recently
updated: September 5, 2004]
Edition: 15
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** Start of the project gutenberg
EBOOK, Ivanhoe ***
Prepared by “John P Roberts, Jr” jprpater@mindspring.com
A romance.
Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart,
And often took leave,——but seemed
loath to depart!*
* The motto alludes to the Author returning to the
stage * repeatedly after having taken leave.
Prior.
The Author of the Waverley Novels had hitherto proceeded
in an unabated course of popularity, and might, in
his peculiar district of literature, have been termed
“L’Enfant Gate” of success.
It was plain, however, that frequent publication must
finally wear out the public favour, unless some mode
could be devised to give an appearance of novelty
to subsequent productions. Scottish manners,
Scottish dialect, and Scottish characters of note,
being those with which the author was most intimately,
and familiarly acquainted, were the groundwork upon
which he had hitherto relied for giving effect to his
narrative. It was, however, obvious, that this
kind of interest must in the end occasion a degree
of sameness and repetition, if exclusively resorted
to, and that the reader was likely at length to adopt
the language of Edwin, in Parnell’s Tale:
“‘Reverse the spell,’ he cries,
’And let it fairly now suffice. The gambol
has been shown.’”
Nothing can be more dangerous for the fame of a professor
of the fine arts, than to permit (if he can possibly
prevent it) the character of a mannerist to be attached
to him, or that he should be supposed capable of success
only in a particular and limited style. The public
are, in general, very ready to adopt the opinion,
that he who has pleased them in one peculiar mode of
composition, is, by means of that very talent, rendered
incapable of venturing upon other subjects. The
effect of this disinclination, on the part of the
public, towards the artificers of their pleasures,
when they attempt to enlarge their means of amusing,
may be seen in the censures usually passed by vulgar
criticism upon actors or artists who venture to change
the character of their efforts, that, in so doing,
they may enlarge the scale of their art.
