before his readers, Mackenzie wrote "Julia de Roubigne," in which a
wife brings death upon herself and her husband by indiscreetly, though
innocently, arousing his jealousy. Sir Walter Scott ranked this novel
among the "most heart-wringing histories" that ever were written--a
description which justly becomes it. Mackenzie's aim was less to weave
a complicated plot, than to study and move the heart; and to the lover
of sentiment his novels may still be attractive.

The "Fool of Quality," by Henry Brooke, has had a singular history. The
author was a young Irishman of a fine figure, a well-stored mind, and a
disposition of particular gentleness. He was loved by Pope and
Lyttleton, caressed by the Prince of Wales, and honored by the friendly
interest of Jonathan Swift. Married before he was twenty-one to a young
girl who presented him with three children before she was eighteen, his
life was a constant struggle to provide for a family which increased
with every year. After a long period of active life, passed in literary
occupations, he retired to an obscure part of Ireland, and there died,
attended by a daughter, the only survivor of twenty-two children, who
remembered nothing of her father "previous to his retirement from the
world; and knew little of him, save that he bore the infirmities and
misfortunes of his declining years with the heroism of true
Christianity, and that he was possessed of virtues and feelings which
shone forth to the last moment of his life, unimpaired by the
distractions of pain, and unshaken amid the ruins of genius."[194]

The "Fool of Quality" was first published in 1766, and received a
moderate share of public attention. Its narrative was extremely slight.
Harry, the future Earl of Moreland, was stolen from his parents by an
uncle in disguise; and the five volumes of the work consist almost
entirely of an account of the education of the child, and the various
incidents which affected or illustrated his mental growth. One day John
Wesley chanced to meet with it, and although he required his followers
"to read only such books as tend to the knowledge and love of God," he
was tempted to look into this particular novel. The "whimsical title"
at first offended him, but as he proceeded, he became so enthusiastic
over the moral excellence of the work, that he expunged some offensive
passages it contained, and republished it for the benefit of the
Methodists. "I now venture to recommend the following