PUBLICATION OF MR. ADOLPHUS'S LETTERS ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF WAVERLEY
1821
During Scott's visit to London in July, 1821, there appeared a work which was read with eager curiosity and delight by the public—with much private diversion besides by his friends—and which he himself must have gone through with a very odd mixture of emotions. I allude to the volume entitled "Letters to Richard Heber, Esq., containing critical remarks on the series of novels beginning with Waverley, and an attempt to ascertain their author;" which was soon known to have been penned by Mr. John Leycester Adolphus, a distinguished alumnus of the University then represented in Parliament by Sir Walter's early friend Heber.[131] Previously to the publication of these letters, the opinion that Scott was the author of Waverley had indeed become well settled in the English, to say nothing of the Scottish mind; a great variety of circumstances, external as well as internal, had by degrees coöperated to its general establishment: yet there were not wanting persons who still dissented, or at least affected to dissent from it. It was reserved for the enthusiastic industry, and admirable ingenuity of this juvenile academic, to set the question at rest by an accumulation of critical evidence which no sophistry could evade, and yet produced in a style of such high-bred delicacy, that it was impossible for the hitherto "veiled prophet" to take the slightest offence with the hand that had forever abolished his disguise. The only sceptical scruple that survived this exposition was extinguished in due time by Scott's avowal of the sole and unassisted authorship of his novels; and now Mr. Adolphus's Letters have shared the fate of other elaborate arguments, the thesis of which has ceased to be controverted. Hereafter, I am persuaded, his volume will be revived for its own sake;—but, in the mean time, regarding it merely as forming, by its original effect, an epoch in Scott's history, I think it my duty to mark my sense of its importance in that point of view, by transcribing the writer's own summary of its
CONTENTS.
"Letter I.—Introduction — General reasons for believing the novels to have been written by the author of Marmion.
"Letter II.—Resemblance between the novelist and poet in their tastes, studies, and habits of life, as illustrated by their works — Both Scotchmen — Habitual residents in Edinburgh — Poets — Antiquaries — German and Spanish scholars — Equal in classical attainment — Deeply read in British history — Lawyers — Fond of field sports — Of dogs — Acquainted with most manly exercises — Lovers of military subjects — The novelist apparently not a soldier.
"Letter III.—The novelist is, like the poet, a man of good society — His stories never betray forgetfulness of honorable principles, or ignorance of good manners — Spirited pictures of gentlemanly character — Colonel Mannering — Judicious treatment of elevated historical personages — The novelist quotes and praises most contemporary poets, except the author of Marmion — Instances in which the poet has appeared to slight his own unacknowledged, but afterwards avowed productions.
"Letter IV.—Comparison of the works themselves — All distinguished by good morals and good sense — The latter particularly shown in the management of character — Prose style — Its general features — Plainness and facility — Grave banter — Manner of telling a short story — Negligence — Scotticisms — Great propriety and correctness occasionally, and sometimes unusual sweetness.
"Letter V.—Dialogue in the novels and poems — Neat colloquial turns in the former, such as cannot be expected in romantic poetry — Happy adaptation of dialogue to character, whether merely natural, or artificially modified, as by profession, local habits, etc. — Faults of dialogue, as connected with character of speakers — Quaintness of language and thought — Bookish air in conversation — Historical personages alluding to their own celebrated acts and sayings — Unsuccessful attempts at broad vulgarity — Beauties of composition peculiar to the dialogue — Terseness and spirit — These qualities well displayed in quarrels; but not in scenes of polished raillery — Eloquence.
"Letter VI.—The poetry of the author of Marmion generally characterized — His habits of composition and turn of mind as a poet, compared with those of the novelist — Their descriptions simply conceived and composed, without abstruse and far-fetched circumstances or refined comments — Great advantage derived by both from accidental combinations of images, and the association of objects in the mind with persons, events, etc. — Distinctness and liveliness of effect in narrative and description — Narrative usually picturesque or dramatic, or both — Distinctness, etc., of effect, produced in various ways — Striking pictures of individuals — Their persons, dress, etc. — Descriptions sometimes too obviously picturesque — Subjects for painters — Effects of light frequently noticed and finely described — Both writers excel in grand and complicated scenes — Among detached and occasional ornaments, the similes particularly noticed — Their frequency and beauty — Similes and metaphors sometimes quaint, and pursued too far.