charactery
Held, like rich garners, the full-ripened grain."

As to Scott's best invention, the historical romance, I shall not pursue
its fortunes to the end. The formula once constituted, its application
was easy, whether the period chosen was the Middle Ages or any old period
B.C. or A.D. Here and there an individual stands forth from the class,
either for its excellent conformity with the Waverley type or for its
originality in deviation. Of the former kind is Charles Reade's "The
Cloister and the Hearth" (1861); and of the latter Mr. Maurice Hewlett's
"The Forest Lovers" (1898). The title page of Reade's novel describes
the book as "a matter-of-fact romance." It is as well documented as any
of Scott's, and reposes especially upon the "Colloquies" of Erasmus, the
betrothal of whose parents, with their subsequent separation by the
monastic vow of celibacy, is the subject of the story. This is somewhat
romanticised, but keeps a firm grip upon historical realities. The
period of the action is the fifteenth century, yet the work is as far as
possible from being a chivalry tale, like the diaphanous fictions of
Fouque. "In that rude age," writes the novelist, "body prevailing over
mind, all sentiments took material forms. Man repented with scourges,
prayed by bead, bribed the saints with wax tapers, put fish into the body
to sanctify the soul, sojourned in cold water for empire over the
emotions, and thanked God for returning health in 1 cwt, 2 stone, 7 lbs.,
3 oz., 1 dwt. of bread and cheese." There is no lack in "The Cloister
and the Hearth" of stirring incident and bold adventure; encounters with
bears and with bandits, sieges, witch trials, gallows hung with thieves,
archery with long bow and arbalest--everywhere fighting enough, as in
Scott; and, also as in Scott, behind the private drama of true love,
intrigue, persecution, the broad picture of society. It is no idealised
version of the Middle Ages. The ugly, sordid side of mediaeval life is
turned outwards; its dirt, discomfort, ignorance, absurdity, brutality,
unreason and insecurity are rendered with crass realism. The burgher is
more in evidence than the chevalier. Less after the manner of the
Waverley novels, and more after that of "Hypatia," "Romola," and "Fathers
and Sons," it depicts the intellectual unrest of the time, the
conflicting ideals of the old and new generations. The printing-press is
being set up, and the hero finds his art of ca