tory itself scarcely
intelligible. Take two of the most popular romances of two justly
celebrated living novelists, Sir E. L. Bulwer and Mr James--_The Last of
the Barons_, and _Philip Augustus_. The period of history, leading
characters, and subject of both, are admirably chosen; and the greatest
talent has been displayed in both, in the conception of the characters,
and the portrait of the ideas and manners of the times which both present.
But the grand defect of both, and which chills to a great degree the
interest they otherwise would excite, is the crowding of historic
incident, and complication of the story. Bulwer's novel is so crowded with
rebellions, revolutions, and dethronements, that even the learned reader,
who has some previous acquaintance with that involved period of English
history, has great difficulty in following the story. Ample materials
exist for two or three interesting historical novels in its crowded
incidents. _Philip Augustus_ labours equally plainly under the same
defect. There is a triple plot going forward through nearly the whole
piece; the story of the King and Queen, with the Papal interdict; that of
Prince Arthur Plantagenet and his cruel uncle, John of England; and that
of De Coucy and Isadore of the Mount. No human ability is adequate to
carrying three separate stories abreast in this manner, and awakening the
interest of the reader in each. The human mind is incapable of taking in,
at the same time, deep emotion of more than one kind. What should we say
if Shakspeare had presented us with a tragedy in which were brought
forward scenes or acts about the ambition of Macbeth, the loves of Romeo
and Juliet, and the jealousy of Othello? Assuredly, they would have
mutually strangled each other. This is just what happens in these
otherwise admirable novels; the complication of the events, and the
variety of interests sought to be awakened, prevent any one from taking a
strong hold of the mind. Rely upon it, there is more truth in the
principle of the Greek unities than we moderns are willing to admit. The
prodigious overpowering effect of their tragedies is mainly owing to the
unity of emotion which is kept up. It bears the same relation to the
involved story of modern romance, which the single interest of the
_Jerusalem Delivered_ or _Iliad_ does to the endless and complicated
adventures of Ariosto's knights, or the sacred simplicity of the Holy
Families of Raphael to the crowded canvass of