"A novel now is nothing more
Than an old castle and a creaking door,
A distant hovel,
Clanking of chains, a gallery, a light,
Old armor and a phantom all in white,
And there's a novel."
—George Colman, "The Will."
[23] Several of her romances were dramatized and translated into French. It is curious, by the way, to find that Goethe was not unaware of Walpole's story. See his quatrain "Die Burg von Otranto," first printed in 1837.
"Sind die Zimmer sämmtlich besetzt der Burg von Otranto:
Kommt, voll innigen Grimmes, der erste Riesenbesitzer
Stuckweis an, and verdrängt die neuen falschen Bewohner.
Wehe! den Fliehenden, weh! den Bleibenden also geschiet es."
[24] Ossian.
[25] See her "Journey through Holland," etc. (1795)
[26] cf. Keats, "The Eve of Saint Agnes":
"The arras rich with hunt and horse and hound
Flattered in the besieging wind's uproar,
And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor."
[27] "Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne."
[28] See Julia Kavanagh's "English Women of Letters."