tests as the
lighter literature of the present day.

"Some authors," says Madame de Stael, "have lowered the romance in
mingling with it the revolting pictures of vice; and while the first
advantage of fiction is to assemble around man all that can serve as a
lesson or a model, it has been thought that a temporary object might be
gained by representing the obscure scenes of corrupted life, as if they
could ever leave the heart which repels them as pure as that to which they
were unknown. But a romance, such as one can conceive, such as we have
some models of, is one of the noblest productions of the human mind, one
of the most influential on the hearts of individuals, and which is best
fitted in the end to form the morals of nations."[21] It is in this spirit
that romance should be written--it is in this spirit that it has been
written by some of the masters of the art who have already appeared,
during the brief period which has elapsed since its creation. And if, in
hands more impure, it has sometimes been applied to less elevated
purposes; if the turbid waters of human corruption have mingled with the
stream, and the annals of the past have been searched, not to display its
magnanimity, but to portray its seductions; we must console ourselves by
the reflection, that such is the inevitable lot of humanity, that genius
cannot open a noble career which depravity will not enter, nor invent an
engine for the exaltation of the human mind, which vice will not pervert
to its degradation.

As the historical romance has been of such recent introduction in this
country and the world, it is not surprising that its principles should as
yet be not finally understood. It may be doubted whether its great master
and his followers themselves have been fully aware of the causes to which
their own success has been owing. Like travellers who have entered an
unknown but varied and interesting country, they have plunged fearlessly
on, threading forests, dashing through streams, traversing plains,
crossing mountains, and in the breathless haste of the journey, and the
animation of spirit with which it was attended, they have become, in a
great degree, insensible to the causes which produced the charm which
surrounded their footsteps. Yet, like every other art, the historical
romance has its principles; and it is by the right comprehending and
skilful application of these principles, that its highest triumphs are to
be gained. They are the s