great power, and especially famous for the character of Major
Dugald Dalgetty, soldier of fortune and pedant of Marischal College,
Aberdeen. The year 1819 also beheld the appearance of _Ivanhoe_, which
many consider the best of the series. It describes rural England during
the regency of John, the romantic return of Richard Lion-heart, the
glowing embers of Norman and Saxon strife, and the story of the Templars.
His portraiture of the Jewess Rebecca is one of the finest in the Waverley
Gallery.

The next year, 1820, brought forth _The Monastery_, the least popular of
the novels thus far produced; and, as Scott tells us, on the principle of
sending a second arrow to find one that was lost, he wrote _The Abbot_, a
sequel, to which we are indebted for a masterly portrait of Mary Stuart in
her prison of Lochleven. The _Abbot_, to some extent, redeemed and
sustained its weaker brother. In this same year Scott was created a
baronet, in recognition of his great services to English Literature and
history. The next five years added worthy companion-novels to the
marvellous series. _Kenilworth_ is founded upon the visit of Queen
Elizabeth to her favorite Leicester, in that picturesque palace in
Warwickshire, and contains that beautiful and touching picture of Amy
Robsart. _The Pirate_ is a story the scene of which is laid in Shetland,
and the material for which he gathered in a pleasure tour among those
islands. In _The Fortunes of Nigel_, London life during the reign of James
I. is described; and it contains life-like portraits of that monarch, of
his unfortunate son, Prince Charles, and of Buckingham. _Peveril of the
Peak_ is a story of the time of Charles II., which is not of equal merit
with the other novels. _Quentin Durward_, one of the very best, describes
the strife between Louis XI. of France and Charles the Bold of Burgundy,
and gives full-length historic portraits of these princes. The scene of
_St. Ronan's Well_ is among the English lakes in Cumberland, and the story
describes the manners of the day at a retired watering-place. _Red
Gauntlet_ is a curious narrative connected with one of the latest attempts
of Charles Edward--abortive at the outset--to effect a rising in
Scotland. In 1825 appeared his _Tales of the Crusaders_, comprising _The
Betrothed_ and _The Talisman_, of which the latter is the more popular, as
it describes with romantic power the deeds of Richard and his comrades in
the second crusade.

A glanc