out-of-the-way incident had he chosen. But, as a rule, he did not so
choose: and, in the majority of cases, he preferred to take his
out-of-the-way incident from historical sources. Not here,
unfortunately, can we allow ourselves even a space proportionate to that
given above in Miss Austen's case to the criticism of individual novels:
but luckily there is not much need of this. The brilliant overture of
_Waverley_ as such, with its entirely novel combination of the
historical and the "national" elements upon the still more novel
background of Highland scenery; the equally vivid and vigorous narrative
and the more interesting personages of _Old Mortality_ and _Rob Roy_;
the domestic tragedy, with the historical element for little more than a
framework, of the _Heart of Midlothian_ and the _Bride of Lammermoor_;
the little masterpiece of _A Legend of Montrose_; the fresh departure,
with purely English subject, of _Ivanhoe_ and its triumphant sequels in
_Kenilworth, Quentin Durward_, and others; the striking utilisation of
literary assistance in the _Fortunes of Nigel_; and the wonderful
blending of autobiographic, historical, and romantic interest in
_Redgauntlet_:--one cannot dwell on these and other things. The magic
continued even in _Woodstock_--written as this was almost between the
blows of the executioner's crow-bar on the wheel, in the tightening of
the windlasses at the rack--it is not absent, whatever people may say,
in _Anne of Geierstein_, nor even quite lacking in the better parts of
_Count Robert of Paris_. But we must not expatiate on its effects; we
must only give a little attention to the means by which they are
achieved.

Another of the common errors about Scott is to represent--perhaps really
to regard--him as a hit-or-miss and hand-to-mouth _improvisatore_, who
bundled out his creations anyhow, and did not himself know how he
created them. The fallacy is worse than a fallacy: for it is down-right
false witness. We have numerous passages in and out of the novels--the
chief of them being the remarkable conversation with Captain Clutterbuck
in the Introduction to the _Fortunes of Nigel_ and the reflections in
the _Diary_ on _Sir John Chiverton_ and _Brambletye House_--showing that
Scott knew perfectly well the construction and the stringing of his
fiddle, as well as the trick of applying his rosin. But if we had not
these direct testimonies, no one of any critical faculty could mistake
the presence of co