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this immortal History given to me, when there is no mention of Sir Walter Scott throughout the work, even in places where it seems impossible that the historian should resist paying the becoming tribute which genius owes, and loves to pay, to genius. . . . Meanwhile be so good as to make my grateful and deeply felt thanks to the great author for the honor which he has done me.""

Perhaps this omission may be explained by the following passage from a letter to Mr. Napier. His estimate of the personal character of Scott is widely at variance with the facts as known to us.

"Then, again, I have not, from the little I do know about him, formed so high an opinion of his character as most people seem to entertain, and as it would be expedient for the Edinburgh Review to express. He seems to me to have been most carefully and successfully on his guard against the sins which most easily beset literary men. On that side he multiplied his precaution, and set a double watch. Hardly any writer of note has been so free from the petty jealousies and morbid irritabilities of our caste. But I do not think that he kept himself equally pure from faults of a very different kind, from the faults of a man of the world. In politics, a bitter and unscrupulous partisan; profuse and ostentatious in expense; agitated by the hopes and fears of a gambler; perpet

ually sacrificing the perfection of his compositions, and the durability of his fame, to his eagerness for money; writing with the slovenly haste of Dryden, in order to satisfy wants which were not, like those of Dryden, caused by circumstances beyond his control, but which were produced by his extravagant waste or rapacious speculation; this is the way in which he appears to me. I am sorry for it, for I sincerely admire the greater part of his works; but I cannot think him a highminded man, or a man of very strict principle."

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With this unfavorable estimate of Scott by Macaulay it is interesting to compare that of the great critic, Taine, which is illustrated by the following extracts: "He (Sir Walter Scott) is a good Protestant, a good husband, a good father and very moral. In critical refinement and benevolent philosophy, he resembles Addison. He resembles him again by the purity and endurance of his moral principles. His amanuensis, Mr. Laidlaw, told him that he was doing great good by his attractive and noble tales, and that young people would no longer wish to look in the literary rubbish of the circulating libraries. When Walter Scott heard this, his eyes filled with tears. On his death-bed he said to his son-in-law: 'Lockhart, I have but a minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man,-be virtuous, be religious, be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when

you come to lie here.' This was almost his last word. By this fundamental honesty and this broad humanity, he was the Homer of modern citizen life."

It is possible that Macaulay's judgment may have been biased by the fact that while he was an ardent Whig, Scott was an equally ardent Tory.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDENT

READING to be profitable must be careful and intelligent. The careless and hasty reader not only fails to gain the knowledge and culture which are the legitimate products of all reading, but even dissipates his intellectual energies, and eventually destroys his ability to appreciate good literature. That method of reading only is intelligent which leads to a clear comprehension of the author's spirit and intent; and its necessary conditions are a knowledge of his style and vocabulary and such a warm interest in the development of his line of thought and investigation as will serve for an inspiration to a careful and earnest study of his works.

Much that is written in literary form is not worth the reading, but no true work of literature will ever fail to repay the student for his labor upon it. The wise selection of a course of reading is therefore a matter of the highest importance; yet there are so many prepared lists and helpful suggestions which

are easily accessible that no earnest student need go astray.

Before beginning the study of an author it is well to learn something about his character and the position which he occupies in the literary history of his age. Oftentimes a knowledge of his personal life will lead to a better comprehension of his works. Such study should not be minute, and must be taken up not merely to satisfy curiosity, but with the sustained purpose of ascertaining, as far as possible, the sources of his inspiration and the general character and trend of his thought.

Many authors who are thought to be obscure by the general reader are so only because their spirit and motives are not understood, and therefore their literary productions seem illogical, and sometimes almost or quite meaningless. Browning, who is one of the richest and most fruitful of modern writers, furnishes a good illustration of this fact. The ordinary reader fails to understand him because he does not even apprehend his real personality and truest and deepest purposes; and thus his language, which is so heavily laden with the rarest treasures of thought, becomes unintelligible.

The student who is seeking to develop a love for good literature should never cultivate a critical or censorious spirit. His aim should be to search for the true and

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