e Minister." And finally
those whose taste or lot has kept them "raking in the dirt of mankind"
will think their view of truth best expressed by "L'Assommoir" or
"Nana."

But we would not be understood to mean that a novelist or a painter is
realistic, because he represents nature as it appears to him, whether
he look at it through a glass _couleur de rose_, or with the distorted
eye of a cynic. He may describe the sublime, the ordinary, or the vile,
as nature supplies examples of all three, and yet be realistic, so long
as he presents any one of these conditions without exaggeration, and
without too extended an application.

The writers who have devoted themselves to the novel of life and
manners have all sought to be realistic, and the value of their work
largely depends on the success which has attended their efforts in this
direction. The enduring vitality of "Tom Jones" is due to Fielding's
fidelity to nature, and it is safe to predict that no novel which fails
in this respect can have more than an ephemeral reputation. Nothing
could be more false than the views of contemporary life contained in a
large part of the fiction of the present day, and the future historian
who looks to the novel of the nineteenth century for information
concerning morals and social habits will have to exercise a constant
discrimination.

III.

Scottish life and manners have been made familiar to the world by a
series of brilliant novelists, first among whom stands the greatest
figure in the history of English fiction. Sir Walter Scott was
qualified to an extraordinary degree for the great work he was destined
to perform for his country and for the novel. His ancestry, the
traditions among which he grew up, his in-born love of legendary lore,
his vivid imagination and keenness of sympathy all fitted him to
appreciate and to put into enduring form the latent romance which
pervaded his beloved Scotland. His practical experience as a lawyer and
as a sheriff, gave him a clear insight into the institutions of his
country. Previous to the publication of "Waverley," Scotland was a
comparatively unknown land. Even Englishmen had little knowledge of its
national habits, of its traditions, or its scenery. To Scotchmen, the
history of their country was little more than a skeleton, till the
magic wand of Scott it filled it with flesh and blood, and gave it new
life and animation. "Up to the era of Sir Walter," says an eminent
Scotchman, "li