forward in such a way as to give
variety while they do not detract from unity. It is impossible to conceive
more perfect models of the historical romance, both in point of subject,
conception, and execution, than _Ivanhoe_ and the _Abbot_. In both, the
subject is national and generally interesting--in both, the historical
characters brought forward are popular, and connected with early
associations--in both, the period chosen is one in which great national
questions were at stake, and the conversations and characters afforded the
means of bringing them prominently before the mind of the reader--in both,
the incidents of the piece are few and simple; and the lesser plots or
characters which they contain, serve only to amuse the mind and give
variety to the composition, without interfering with the unity of its
general effect. How few and simple are the events in the _Bride of
Lammermoor_! The tragedies of Sophocles do not exhibit a more perfect
example of the preservation of the unity of emotion. Yet how interesting
is the whole story--how completely does it carry along every class of
readers--how well does every incident of moment prepare the mind for the
dreadful catastrophe in which it terminates! How few are the incidents in
the _Abbot_--how scanty the materials on which the story is built! A page
riding from a castle in Dumfries-shire to Edinburgh, his introduction to
the Regent Murray, and adventures during a few days in Holyrood, his
attendance on the imprisoned Queen in Lochleven Castle, her escape from
thence, and final overthrow at Langside--form the whole incidents out of
which the web of that delightful romance has been woven. Its charm
consists in a great degree in the simplicity itself, in the small number
of historic incidents it records, the interest of those incidents in
themselves, and the room thereby afforded for working up all the details,
and the minor plot of the piece, the loves of the page and Catharine, in
perfect harmony with the main event, and without disturbing their
development.

It were to be wished that later writers had followed the example thus set
by the father of historical romance in the selection of their subject, and
the construction of their plot. But, so far from doing so, they have in
general run into the opposite extreme, and overlaid their story with such
a mass of historical facts and details as has not only destroyed the unity
of interest, but has in many cases rendered the s