On the footing of unreserved communication which the
Author has established with the reader, he may here
add the trifling circumstance, that a roll of Norman
warriors, occurring in the Auchinleck Manuscript,
gave him the formidable name of Front-de-Boeuf.
Ivanhoe was highly successful upon its appearance,
and may be said to have procured for its author the
freedom of the Rules, since he has ever since been
permitted to exercise his powers of fictitious composition
in England, as well as Scotland.
The character of the fair Jewess found so much favour
in the eyes of some fair readers, that the writer
was censured, because, when arranging the fates of
the characters of the drama, he had not assigned the
hand of Wilfred to Rebecca, rather than the less interesting
Rowena. But, not to mention that the prejudices
of the age rendered such an union almost impossible,
the author may, in passing, observe, that he thinks
a character of a highly virtuous and lofty stamp,
is degraded rather than exalted by an attempt to reward
virtue with temporal prosperity. Such is not
the recompense which Providence has deemed worthy of
suffering merit, and it is a dangerous and fatal doctrine
to teach young persons, the most common readers of
romance, that rectitude of conduct and of principle
are either naturally allied with, or adequately rewarded
by, the gratification of our passions, or attainment
of our wishes. In a word, if a virtuous and self-denied
character is dismissed with temporal wealth, greatness,
rank, or the indulgence of such a rashly formed or
ill assorted passion as that of Rebecca for Ivanhoe,
the reader will be apt to say, verily Virtue has had
its reward. But a glance on the great picture
of life will show, that the duties of self-denial,
and the sacrifice of passion to principle, are seldom
thus remunerated; and that the internal consciousness
of their high-minded discharge of duty, produces on
their own reflections a more adequate recompense,
in the form of that peace which the world cannot give
or take away.
Abbotsford,
1st September, 1830.
TO
The Rev. Dr dryasdust, F.A.S.
Residing in the Castle-Gate, York.
Much esteemed and dear Sir,
It is scarcely necessary to mention the various and
concurring reasons which induce me to place your name
at the head of the following work. Yet the chief
of these reasons may perhaps be refuted by the imperfections
of the performance. Could I have hoped to render
it worthy of your patronage, the public would at once
have seen the propriety of inscribing a work designed
to illustrate the domestic antiquities of England,
and particularly of our Saxon forefathers, to the
learned author of the Essays upon the Horn of King
Ulphus, and on the Lands bestowed by him upon the
patrimony of St Peter. I am conscious, however,
