ttempts to represent historic events. The greatest of these
novels are _Guy Mannering, The Heart of Midlothian, The Antiquary, and
The Bride of Lammermoor_.

Scott said that his most rapid work was his best. _Guy Mannering_, an
admirable picture of Scottish life and manners, was written in six
weeks. Some of its characters, like Dominie Sampson, the pedagogue,
Meg Merrilies, the gypsy, and Dick Hatteraick, the smuggler, have more
life than many of the people we meet.

A century before, Pope said that most women had no characters at all.
His writings tend to show that this was his real conviction, as it was
that of many others during the time when Shakespeare was little read.
_The Heart of Midlothian_ presents in Jeanie Deans a woman whose
character and feminine qualities have won the admiration of the world.
Scott could not paint women in the higher walks of life. He was so
chivalrous that he was prone to make such women too perfect, but his
humble Scotch lass Jeanie Deans is one of his greatest creations.

[Illustration: SCOTT'S DESK AT ABBOTSFORD.]

When we note the vast number of characters drawn by his pen, we are
astonished to find that he repeats so little. Many novelists write
only one original novel. Their succeeding works are merely repetitions
of the first. The hero may have put on a new suit of clothes and the
heroine may have different colored hair, or each may be given a new
mannerism, but there is nothing really new in character, and very
little in incident. Year after year, however, Scott wrote with
wonderful rapidity, without repeating his characters or his plots.

General Characteristics.--All critics are impressed with the
healthiness of Scott's work, with its freedom from what is morbid or
debasing. His stories display marked energy and movement, and but
little subtle analysis of feelings and motives. He aimed at broad and
striking effects. We do not find much development of character in his
pages. "His characters have the brilliance and the fixity of
portraits."

Scott does not particularly care to delineate the intense passion of
love. Only one of his novels, _The Bride of Lammermoor_, is aflame
with this overmastering emotion. He delights in adventure. He places
his characters in unusual and dangerous situations, and he has
succeeded in making us feel his own interest in the outcome. He has on
a larger scale many of the qualities that we may note in the American
novelist Cooper, whose best s